Do I, Don’t I, Do I, Don’t I?

Contemplation on whether or not to embark on a new life within a place that has caused so much pain, suffering, and emotional distress, that is what floated through each and every passing thought. Eyes smeared blue and gray stared at the flashing light of the computer screen while it asked for a password long not used. All he could do was sit there in his chair, not knowing what would be the right decision. His last time within that place had been his last for an unknown amount of time, something not even his own parents would tell him. Maybe that in itself was good enough reason to just stay away.

Bits and pieces of his memories of long ago were slowly but surely sifted in. Unfortunately, half way through the process most of the puzzle was lost. Now all he had to go by was the simple fact that he had been killed and then was out of commission for quite a while. It was an odd thought really, to think that something so fake could become so real as to affect ones life. Perhaps there should be an extra sentence or two on the warranty saying ‘If one experiences anything that directly influences your life, then please return and get your money back along with free treatment!’ Of course, that kind of event was probably scarcely known.

He sat back in his chair, leaning, the old wooden legs creaking, crying out to be let back down onto the floor. No attention was paid to this though, for his mind was too busy gathering each and every tidbit of what happened last time. There was no point in returning if he couldn’t even grasp what had exactly happened the time before, right? Then again, if he were to go back, maybe there would be something waiting to greet him and explain everything. Just maybe. With a shake of his head, he allowed the chair to come back to the floor, much to the two back legs delight, before coming to his feet and moving away from the computer.

The sound of cloth rubbing along the carpet was all that filled the room other than the humming sound coming from the machinery idly awaiting his return atop the desk. All he could do was pace back and forth, his steps dragging along which only complimented on how his brain was working as well; slow. Everything he was doing seemed so stretched out, like it was something not all that necessary. Most would have already gone back to investigate. Maybe this procrastination was really a reflection of his fear. In realizing this, or at least allowing the thought to make itself known, he quickly went back to his desktop and took his seat.

Fingers pecked at the keyboard while entering the password that he had been sitting down for hours earlier that day to remember. Before clicking the enter button, on went the headset and in his hands was the controller. Skin began to pale somewhat as a chill ran through his entire body. There was still time to turn back. He could always just forget that part of his life and do something else with his time. There was some good movies playing, maybe call up someone special to see it with? Or there was always going out to eat, then hit up the mall with some friends. There were so many options to choose from and yet he went with this one.

Enter was clicked and almost immediately he was brought to a familiar screen, one he hadn’t seen in such a long time. The same gray background he had before was there, as well as the music set from a flesh dungeon for his BGM. Everything was exactly how he had left it. News and Mail continued to flash; signifying he had unread messages and reports. News was hardly something that he cared to read right now, so with a simple click, they were refreshed and declared viewed. He knew that he wouldn’t have much mail. It was very little time that he had spent with the Radical Dreamers, so if there were any e-mail, it would be to say he was out of the clan. Then there was Rouge.

A whole minute passed by with the mouse point over Mail while all he could do was sit there. A mixture of being anxious and scared is what filled him now, a mixture no one really wanted, ever. To want to do something so bad, but then not really having the guts to do so. It was a horrible feeling indeed. There really was no point in prolonging it though. It would accomplish nothing so with a simple click, he opened his mail to reveal only four e-mails, all of them from the pink clad whip master, Rouge. Again, he found himself staring, though this time it was brief, before he opened up the first e-mail.

She was okay from that particular battle, the last thing he remembered. Exiting out of the mail, he scanned the titles of the next three e-mails. The next one was entitled ‘Where are you?’, the second ‘…’, and the last one was entitled ‘&%$@’. Though the most recent ones title had intrigued him, it would have made no sense to read them backwards. Again he clicked on en e-mail to read its contents, though from the title alone he could already deduce what the bulk of the mail would be.

But I couldn’t…

He found himself wishing he could have been there to answer her. It wasn’t his fault though that he was completely unavailable. There was no way he could have gotten in contact with her, that is unless she was telepathic, or if she somehow was able to visit him at the hospital. An almost overwhelming urge made him want to e-mail Rouge right now, log in, and then try again with a flashmail. He had to find her and see if everything was okay, see if Sysuke had been taken care of. He was so behind on everything. But he couldn’t, not yet. There were still two more e-mails to read.

Without me? You were doing it without me before too…it’s not like I even did much to begin with…

Little bits and pieces of memory skittered all through his mind. Where he had met the girl in Mac Anu and how they went out looking for a new piece of armor for her. Then meeting Sysuke for the first time and having to warp out of the dungeon. The strange flashmail from a fan wielding fist fighter, and then going through that dungeon with her and a disguised Sysuke. Everything was so planned out perfectly. In the end both Kalulu and himself were PK-ed while Rouge was able to get away. A barrage of arrows had done Kalulu in, causing her body to fall and go gray, fading away in a virtual display of golden particles.

Beaten, battered, and bruised. That’s how he was when it had all ended. Rouge ran away while he had distracted that damned archer. An arrow went straight through his skull, ripping him from ‘The World’ and throwing him back out into the real world. For a week he had stayed away from the computer before finally logging back in for that chapter’s finale, a finale that he would most certainly never forget. He sighed before inhaling deeply and holding it, eyes staring at the final e-mail with the e-mail that made him so curious. A simple click, and it was opened, finally catching him up to the present. An e-mail that was sent only a week prior to his waking up…

Net speak maybe? I…I can hardly even read it…!

Nothing was given to really go off of. The only things that really could be seen clearly were area words and the word danger. If nothing else, that was a good enough cause to forget about dilly-dallying and log in and find Rouge before something really horrible happened. Even if the garbled message was sent a week ago, perhaps, just perhaps Rouge would still be there, or maybe even a message left there somehow. Exiting his mailer, he clicked on ‘The World’ icon that brought him to a second screen with the Log In and BBS board options. Of course it was quite obvious as to which one he picked. Sifting through the BBS could wait for a later date while logging in was top priority.

Logging in was always like some phenomena that never ceased to amaze him. It had been so long that it felt as though he was seeing it all for the very first time. Darkness was first, it swirling through his vision and obscuring it until nothing of his own world was left behind. Within seconds the darkness around him shimmered with life, replacing the black with gold. From that gold came a new world, once he hadn’t seen in so long. The rings that had transported him to the Root Town slowly faded away and allowed him to move freely, something he found himself eager to do. Almost immediately he had began traversing down the flight of stone steps to the road that led out towards the bridge of Mac Anu.

“It’s like nothing has changed at all since the last time I was here.”

He continued his path towards the large bridge until he found himself at the center of the wooden structure. Much like the day he had first met Rouge, Hyruji moved to the side of the bridge and looked over to the crystalline water below. A reflection was just barely alive beneath the waters surface, the ripples skimming across the top making it hard to see himself completely. It was nice just to be here on the bridge, the smell of water, the pleasant breeze caressing his figure, everything about this place was much more enjoyable than the real world. Of course, his true intentions on coming back to this world did not lie at the bottom of Mac Anu’s river.

Hyruji sighed softly to himself, collecting his thoughts and motives before turning away from the edge of the bridge that he found such solace at. After he investigated that area and tried getting in contact with Rouge would be the only time to try and enjoy the game. Constant worrying while trying to do so would just make the experience as dull as a normal day at school listening to a boring teacher drone on and on over some piece of information he’d never need.

Either way, the wooden bridge and the glittering water below was left behind while Hyruji turned to go back to the Chaos Gate. It probably would have been smart to go and buy some things before heading out, but the inventory he had upon disappearing from The World was decent enough for one adventure. The spinning blue portal stood before him at the top of the stairs. He knew the area name, but he felt like he couldn’t even speak it. His initial feelings of excitement to be back in The World, his worry over Rouge, it all was taken over by the paranoia that Sysuke could be somewhere close, watching, listening.

I can’t think like that. So what if he follows and PKs me? All it would do is send me back to the real world and make me have to log back in. That’s it.

With his flashmail sent, Hyruji took a few steps closer to the chaos gate and raised his hand up. The keywords to the area spilled from his lips as the same golden rings that had taken him to Mac Anu enveloped him once more. This time, however, they took him away from the Root Town and to the field that he had called out. Since he had sent her a flashmail, hopefully he would find Rouge there waiting for him. Even if she didn’t show up, maybe someway, somehow, she left something behind using her hacking skills. Whether or not either possibility came to pass or not, it was all he had to go off for now…

Cold. Simple, easy, and obviously accurate. That was the easiest description of the field that he had found himself in. Everything around him was covered in snow and a thick sheet of ice that only proved to make the place even more trecherous. Hyruji took a step forward, his arms wrapped tightly around his mid-section for warmth, while emerald eyes scanned the horizon for any signs of movement and/or any golden portals. Nothing greeted him, or more so that of whale carcasses and broken down buildings that hardly posed a threat at all.

He began the trek to find the dungeon, his slight experience telling him that it should be a castle dungeon. A harsh, icy wind blew which immediately had him shivering more so than what he was. All he could do was curse himself for even coming to this field in the first place. All in all though this wasn't just about him, Rouge had sent him these keywords for a reason so something had to be there in the field. As big as the field seemed though, the blademaster was positive that whatever it was would be in the dungeon. Like him, Rouge was a stickler on wanting to get stronger so for her to be in a dungeon grueling away at the obstacles made perfect sense.

As he continued walking through the drifts of snow, he couldn't help but notice that there had been no wandering monsters or even any portals at that. No matter what the field or keywords, there was always at least a handful of portals throughout the area. By now Hyruji knew he had covered a semi-decent amount of ground so it was definitely odd to him. Considering how he had found out about this field, he wouldn't put it past either Sysuke or Rouge having something to do with it. It was through them he learned to expect the unexpected and always be aware of his surroundings and when it's obvious something is amiss.

Even still, every field has monsters...I doubt either one of them could just up and delete all of them from here...

Hyruji continued to trek through the cold, stopping here and there just to warm himself up a little. It was still amazing to him just how real this game could be and feel. If he didn't know any better, he would be terrified of freezing to death out there in the snow. Either way, with the more ground that he covered, the more he could see the beginnings of a large, looming building in the distance. From what he could tell, it was indeed the castle that he was expecting in seeing here.

A smile quickly lit his face up as he, despite the cold, ignored everything he felt and ran as fast as his legs could carry him to the horizon. Slowly but surely the castle got closer and closer until he was standing in front of the big double doors that led inside the huge structure. He only caught his breath for a moment before pushing past the doors and inside the construct, giving a sigh in relief as to how much warmer it was inside than it was out. Now catching his breath a little more, the blademaster withdrew his sword, the Executioner, and started out through the castle. If the field didn't have any monsters than the castle surely had to have a bunch but first there was something else he had to quickly do.

After he sent the flashmail out and not getting anything back saying the user name was nonexistent, like when he tried contacting Kalulu all that time ago, he could let the smile he had previously worn come back to his face and settle. With sword still in hand, Hyurji pushed past the next set of doors to enter the next room only to stop dead in his tracks. The room, though giant, was completely empty. No barrels, no skeletons, no chests, and not even a single monster portal. Of course, there were some dungeons that did that, the first room being empty but still Hyurji couldn't help but have a bad feeling.

Even still, he walked forward, his boots stomping loudly on the dark blue marble floors before padding softly on the plush red carpetleading straight into the next room. All he could think about though, despite his location, situation, and current mission was the last time he saw Rouge. They had gone down in a dungeon with Kalulu and a male archer character who had turned out to be Sysuke, the hacker they were trying to avoid. Kalulu had been easily PKed and apparently deleted from The World completely, something he still didn't understand to this day, while they were left to defend themselves against him. Of course, it didn't end well what-so-ever.

After a brief fight between them all Sysuke had begun to have the advantage over them, something they knew would certainly happen eventually. Rouge's ocarinas weren't working, a hack no doubt thanks to Sysuke, and he had easily cornered them near the front of the dungeon. As stupid as it was, Hyruji had acted as a decoy so that Rouge could escape. Even after seeing Kalulu turn gray and fade away in front of him, he didn't care. All that mattered was that Rouge was safe but even now it was clear his sacrifice that day made little difference.

Sysuke shot an arrow straight through his skull while Rouge screamed and ran from the dungeon. Despite promising her he would be there, despite telling her that he was her friend, and despite them both wanting to team up and take The World by storm, all he could do was be a coward. Fear and cowardice took him over, not only in the videogame world but in real life as well. Paranoia followed him wherever he went and it took a long time before he could even be comfortable in his own skin. It was for his own health that he had to stop playing The World, but now he knew that he let a friend down.

Ultimately, it was HIS fault that Rouge was missing, HIS fault that whatever transpired happened, and HIS fault that Sysuke was still at large.

No matter how many times that he ran it through his mind, there didn't seem like there was anything that he could have done different other than one glaring flaw. If he would have manned up and stayed playing The World, he and Rouge could have maybe found a way around Sysuke. Even though relying on maybes was unhealthy, the blademaster really couldn't help it considering his situation. Despite it only being a game, The World was so real it was like reality to most who played it, the events just as meaningful as something that would happen at home, or school, or out in general. Overall, if he would have just stayed, everything could have been so much better.

Rouge, I'm so sorry. I know you left something here for me and I'll find it and help you.

The dungeon continued on forever or so it seemed. Room by room Hyruji felt like this was more and more pointless by the moment. Though he had good intentions, he had yet to find any monsters, any signs of players, or even any signs of the way to the next level of the dungeon. Every room looked exactly the same the only exception being that of size, but the walls, floor, carpet, everything was like a movie on repeat. By this time, he was literally dragging Executioner behind him, the blades tip scratching along the cobalt floor ever so often.

His lax demeanor quickly changed when his emerald eyes saw a quick movement to the side of him. Hyruji spun on his heel while hefting his blade straight out to point in the direction of the movement. Nothing. A few blinks later he lowered his sword slightly and crept over to the other side of the room where the double doors were to lead into the next room. Monsters never left the room that they appear in so if it was something, it had to have been a player. So many thoughts rushed through his head; Sysuke? Rouge? Kalulu? Or maybe a new ally or threat.

Even with his thoughts running amuck, he stepped through the doors, which were left slightly ajar, into the next room. A smile lit up his face when a splash of the color pink was seen retreating through the doors across the room. Rouge's avatar wore nothing but pink, fuchsia, and dark reds so it just had to her! The only glaring problem was the spinning golden ring near the door across the way. How she didn't activate it was a mystery, but all Hyruji could do was chalk it up to some kind of hack.

Hyruji didn't waste any time in his pursuit though. He drew his blade back over his shoulder and ran straight towards the spinning rings. As he drew close to it, he immediately jumped into the air as the single monster materialized and came crashing back down with his blade aimed for the creature's head. The Deadly Moth screeched as the blade only nicked the side of its body, the monster moving to the left at the last second of the blademaster's attack, and fluttered away as quickly as possible. After all of the trekking he had done the first monster portal he found contained a single Deadly Moth, a monster that wasn't even that difficult to kill.

Another screech filled and echoed throughout the room as the moth monster turned towards the blademaster and began to fly towards him. He readied his blade, one hand resting against the bottom of the hilt while the other squeezed the hilt right under the blade. Once the Deadly Moth grew close, Hyruji sidestepped quickly as it tried to strike with its torso and stabbed straight forward into the insect's abdomen. To keep himself from staying too close, the blademaster yanked on the blade, pulling it up and out of the wound that he had afflicted and hopped backwards for a quick escape. Of course the moth was pissed now, its wings fluttering quicker than before to keep up with him and pay him back.

Again the moth came at him and all he could do was dodge and then swing his sword to try and slice the insect once more. It moved to side and turned, fluttering its wings and raining down pollen in attempts to poison the black haired warrior. Hyruji held his breath, ducked, rolled away to the side to avoid the mist of pollen, and then when he got back to his feet turned and threw his sword to the creature. Due to momentum of how he threw it, Executioner went spinning through the air like a boomerang, it slicing into the moth's left wing and tearing it to shreds along with a good portion of its back. Though the sword didn't come completely back to him, Hyruji knew he was faster than a Deadly Moth, especially one that was injured so while it screeched and recovered from the attack the blademaster ran to where his weapon had landed and quickly brandished it once more.

The buzzing that the moth normally made was loud and staggering while its movement was sloppy and faultering. All of that made it quite clear that it wasn't going to take much more to finish the poor little bug off for good. Despite the drawn out battle to this, Hyruji knew he could win and was quite confident about it. The only reason the distance he kept was required was that he didn't want to end up poisoned and have to use an Antidote if unnecessary. Either way, with the bug again advancing towards him, he held the hilt of his sword with both hands and took a defensive stance in order to counter the next chance he got.

When the Deadly Moth got close, it used all of its might to fly a little higher than normal, considering it only had one and one fourth wings, and began to thrust its torso down in successive jabs. The first few Hyruji merely blocked with the flat of his sword while the next few attacks in the moth's barrage he pushed his blade back against the force, knocking the monster off balance in the air. It quickly went down hill from there as the withering creature staggered to the ground, what was left of its wings fluttering hard to keep it afloat. This was the perfect opening and the blademaster quickly took it. With all of his might, Hyruji drew his sword back over top of his head before bringing it back down on top of the monster slicing straight through it.

A smirk sat smugly on his lips as he watched the pieces of moth fall to the cold floor beneath him and fade to gray before simply disappearing into bits of golden dust. It had been such a long time since he had ever killed a monster within The World. He had almost forgot just how satisfying it was in watching them gray and fade away into nothingness to only allow him to gain levels and become more powerful. In a way, he could almost understand why some players decided to PK others, due to the same effect. Only difference was that they gained no experience and tended to get bad reputations while also sometimes getting hunted down.

Still holding his sword tightly, though slightly more relaxed than during his battle, Hyruji took off as fast as he could towards the doors that he swore he saw Rouge pass through. Luckily enough, they led into the final room on B1 where the stairs leading down the next level were located. Just as quickly as he had entered the room, the blademaster made his way down the stairs only to find the room at the bottom empty. It was just a long straight hallway leading into the rest of the dungeon. No matter how disappointing it was, Hyruji just shook his head and pressed forward.

After making his way through two more empty rooms, again he caught a glimpse of a figure in pink disappear behind the door across the room. This time, however, the room was empty with no monster portal there to delay him from catching up with Rouge. Again he broke out into a run and hurried into the next room only to find it just as empty as the previous ones character and monster wise. This room though had the standard skeletons and barrels neatly spaced out around the large square perimeter. Though it wasn't exactly what he wanted to see, in a way it was almost refreshing to see something normal to the point where things could perhaps start looking up.

Of course things would be better if he and Rouge could just be reunited and talk everything out.

With the flashmail sent, Hyruji waited a few minutes for a response that he never got. Despite his want, his need to find her and set things right, he couldn't help but get a little angry. All those messages, the garbled message, the weird way that this field had been, all of it was making him worry and here she was strolling on along like nothing. No matter how much he tried to stay calm, it just wasn't working, which was obvious due to the red color beginning to take hold of his once pale white skin at his cheeks. Enough was enough to say the least, something Hyruji desperately wanted to scream at the top of his lungs.

Instead of screaming, which would have probably been a lot more theraputic, the green eyed blademaster gripped his sword and charged towards the closet barrel. A few seconds later, a yell echoed through the empty room along with the sounds of the barrel being sliced to bits. His rampage was hardly finished as he continued to run around the room sword pointed forward as he destroyed everything he could. Barrel after barrel and skeleton after skeleton fell until there was nothing left but a single skeleton near the exit into the next room. After a moment of silence he charged that one as well, beating it down with his sword until he was literally beating the broken bones into golden dust.

"Take that, that, that, and that! Why can't anything be of any help? Why can't you just stop and talk to me?! WHY CAN'T YOU JUST MAKE THIS EASY ON ME!!!!?"

He, of course, recieved no answer which only led him to hang his head in shame. Over the time that he had spent away from The World, Roland thought that he handled all of the problems he had. Not only with himself and his own issues but everything that had stemmed from his last encounter in The World as well. It was clear as day that that wasn't the case considering the unneeded anger he decided to take out on all the breakables so to speak. Change obviously didn't come easy and though he thought he had changed he now knew he couldn't until he saw Rouge again.

No matter how easy he wanted it to be for him, deep down he knew he didn't deserve anything to be so easy. Everything he had done since then hardly did anything to merit something as beneficial as that. If anything, Hyruji deserved the hardest possible route to take in making things all better not only for himself but for Rouge as well. The worst part about all of it though was the fact that he didn't even know if all of this was nothing more than a wild goose chase. Could Rouge really be THAT angry with him to simply lead him on without even speaking a word?

Even if that was the case, the best way to get this all over with was to finally catch up with her. A sigh was given, then a long needed deep breath before he continued on after Rouge and to the bottom of the dungeon. Just like what had happened on B1, most of the rooms that Hyruji encountered had no activity in it whatsoever, or even anything breakable. Ever so often a barrel or skeleton would pop up but that was it. Though the real odd thing about all of this was that there were no treasure chests, which only made him think Rouge got to them before him.

Either way, he brushed it all aside, knowing that coming to this field wasn't for item collection at all and more so to just meet with an old friend. Hyruji, as he made his way around the maze of rooms within the castle, continued to see brief pink wisps of a retreating Rouge entering the next room. No matter how fast he ran after her or how small the rooms were, nothing ever allowed him to catch up to her. She was either not in the room at all or he'd catch a brief glimpse of her once more. Maybe she had cast Ap Do on herself but then again he was thinking too logically on this, or maybe just thinking too much in general.

After making his way through so many rooms, Hyruji entered a room with another monster portal in it. Despite his excitement that there was finally going to be another battle instead of just a not so fun version of tag, at the same time all it did was hold him up even further. The blademaster readied his sword in a defensive position, expecting another Deadly Moth to appear. If not a moth, his expectation were with something a lot smaller, like a goblin monster or some sort of small warrior. Instead, it was something much bigger than even the insect from before.

"Oh lord, of all times to fight something like th--!!"

Hyruji quickly jumped to the side to avoid the pummeling blow from the huge sword of the Headhunter that had appeared before him. Though he had fought one before, it had been so long that he knew he would be a little rusty. Despite doing a good job against the moth, that monster was slower and a lot more easier to read while this thing was unpredictable and swung blindly. Again he had to dodge a blow from the huge sword, this time rolling forward, under the hunk or armor's legs and behind it where he slashed once across its back before hurrying away before it could retaliate. In a fit of rage, the Headhunter spun around and charged the blademaster, body slamming him before he even had time to run away.

In an instant the impact had hit him hard. It had hurt bad enough when the creature slammed into him, but the fly through the air only gave more room for a world of pain when his back collided with the hard granite wall. He coughed violently while he slid down the flat surface into a slump on the floor, his sword a few feet away from him. The Headhunter came barrelling towards him once more, his emerald eyes still trying to focus after the painful sensations that had erupted and still aching through his body. He blinked hard, keeping his eyes closed only for a few seconds before opening them and sliding out of the way as the monster crashed into the wall and fell through into the next room which led downstairs.

Using that as his chance, Hyruji, despite being a little disoriented, staggered over to where his blade was and held it up high. A few moments of silence past as the dust and debris from the broken wall settled allowing the blademaster ample time to calm down, collect himself, and be rid of the pain from the monster's last attack. The Headhunter soon stepped out from the gravelly mess and swung its sword wildly as if to make the point even more clear that it was angry. Hyruji inahled sharply before taking the offensive for once, pulling his blade back, and running at the creature with all intentions to strike it down. This, of course, baffled the creature at first, it stopping its wild movements before simply raising the sword and bringing it down quickly.

As hard as it was, the blademaster pivoted around the huge monster's arm and twisted his torso around to bring his own sword slicing into the side the Headhunter's arm. It recoiled away from the blow and stomped the floor loudly as it turned towards him too quickly for his liking and brought the sword down once more, though this time a little more awkward than before. In an attempt to block the blow, Hyruji brought his own sword up and matched blades with the huge monster unfortunately not exactly getting the results that he would have wished. The strength of the monster was way more than he expected due to the fact that the monster's blade was bearing down on his own, Hyruji's arm shaking from the stress and weight. If only one of his strikes would give way to the Death side effect of his Executioner, things would have been so much easier.

Hyruji, knowing full well that any longer of this would cause him defeat, turned his blade slightly to give himself a little more balance before stepping to side a little bit, and then finally pulling his blade out from underneath the Headhunter's, the sound of the metal clashing echoing through the dungeon. A plan began to formulate in his mind, a dangerous but effective one at that the only problem was that he was pushing the line on whether or not he could even handle it. Despite any thought like that, Hyruji stopped moving and allowed the lummox to turn and ram its blade down into him. The catch though was that he moved at the last second to when the blade did strike him, he was clinging to the flat side rather than the sharp edge. He grunted in pain, knowing full well that his HP was low now but he couldn't pass this oppurtunity up just to die.

Using what little leverage he had, Hyruji jammed his sword right into the wrist of the big monster's sword wielding arm causing the sword to drop with Hyruji still on it. The blademaster, though near death, stumbled back to his feet while watching the monster flail around to pull the sword out of its wrist. He couldn't help but smirk as the monster finally ripped the sword from the wrist, only causing more damage than the initial wound, and dropped it to the ground. Considering that the main source of its power was the sword, the monster's first objective was to retrieve the fallen sword but when it did turn to get it, Hyruji knew that this battle was sealed. Hurrying as quickly as he could, he grabbed Executioner from the floor below and jumped up into the air with his sword held high before bringing it back down yelling out the name of his attack.

"Crack Beat!"

With a slice, roar, and ten SP later, the big pile of armor fell to the floor in a big heap of metal. The creature never even made it to its sword, which was the first thing to gray and disperse into tiny gold particles. Slowly after the weapon's departure, the Headhunter followed suit and turned gray and fell apart as well. Due to his breath falling so hard, his heart beating so fast, and his body shaking too much, the world around him hardly even existed to his senses. The last time he had fought such a creature was so much easier than this which made him realize even more that he needed to become stronger--a lot stronger.

Knowing that he couldn't make it off of what little health he had left, Hyruji leaned against the wall next the huge hole the Headhunter had knocked down earlier and cast a Repth spell to fully heal himself. Even though he only had six SP left, by the time he got downstairs, and most likely to another battle, he'd at least have ten to use. Hyruji took a few deep breaths to ground himself before hefting his blade up and walking through the huge hole into the next room with the stairs leading down to B3. It seemed to be a pattern that every room before the room with the stairs had the single monster portal with a single monster in it. With all things considered, the blademaster couldn't help as he walked down the stairs what kind of monster would be waiting for him in front of the room holding the Gott statue.

B3 was different, he didn't know what, but somehow this floor felt very different from the rest. Down here it seemed colder, more empty, something one might be able to relate to a haunted house or a ghost town. A shudder easily ran down his spine, something the blademaster couldn't help but scold himself for. This was just a game afterall, despite some of weird things he had seen in his time playing, there were no game ghosts or whatever of the sort. Hyruji walked through the first room, eyes glancing back and forth warily from his still shaky nerve, and into the next room seeing Rouge's full figure look back at him as she walked through the next door.

"Rouge! Hey! Wait up, I know you saw me!"

Overriding everything else, excitement built up within him as he took off across the room to catch up with her. As hard as it was to believe before that she knew he was there and ignoring him, now it seemed more evident than ever that maybe that really was the case. The next room was just as cold and eerie as the last one, minus the presence of Rouge of course. Maybe that was why this floor was so creepy, maybe Rouge was really a ghost avatar of her former character or something weird of the sort? As ridiculous as that sounded, could he really vote that option out? Either way Hyruji cautiously stepped into the next room with his blade ready to strike if need be, only to freeze in place.

The room's color seemed to be off, like when a computer screen freezes or shifts and the color distorts. Hyruji swallowed hard and stepped out into the room, each step he took making the room blink and move with static and bits of 0's and 1's. Now everything started to make a little bit of sense. This entire dungeon and most likely the entire field was bugged, hacked, or maybe even down for maintence. If that was the case however, then why hadn't CC Corp detected it and shut the field down and restrict access to the players?

Despite this, Hyruji drew his sword out of curiosity and slashed at the nearest wall. Just as he expected, his sword somewhat phased through it while a flurry of data scattered into the air only to disappear moments later. He did this a few more times, watching as the wall, no matter how much data fluttered away, stayed exactly the same as it had before he even entered the room. Shaking his head, Hyruji grumbled and turned away from the wall knowing full well that the distraction had wasted a bit of time. Either way, the blademaster needed to know just what his surroundings were like, now that they weren't the norm.

Considering the fact that there was nothing in the room, Hyruji entered the next room which was one of the biggest that her had encountered within the entire dungeon. Emerald orbs glanced around, noting that this room seemed more hacked, or more so, it was falling apart worse than the room before. That's when a flash of pink caught his eye, Hyruji immediately targeting Rouge peering out behind the door that led into the next room. A smile crept along his face to see he hadn't fallen too far behind, but inwardly anger had begun to build. Why was she ignoring him and running away? Why did she call him to this dungeon?

There were just so many questions that needed to be asked, some of which he was afraid wouldn't have an answer. Shoving those thoughts aside for now, he put his sword back into its' sheath and hurried across the room to meet up with Rouge. About halfway across the room however, the data that was floating throughout the area blinked and flashed while the middle of the room, where the blademaster was, flashed along with it. Hyruji skidded to a halt, jumped back, and quickly brandished his sword as a huge golden portal appeared before him. Unfortunately, he was already too close to avoid activating it but what came from it was beyond understandable or even believable; an endless seeming swarm of Deadly Moths.

"Wh-What is this?! Monster portals and swarms of monsters don't just appear, not even in the higher leveled servers!"

Hyruji took a step back, his movement setting the Deadly Moths into motion. They all began to flutter and circle around, weaving between one another to get to the Blademaster who was their prey. He held the hilt of his sword tightly, emerald eyes glancing over to where Rouge still stood peeking around the opened door that led into the next room. Unfortunately he had to tear his eyes away from her in order to block an attack from one of the monsters, then duck and roll to avoid a barrage from a few others. It looked too impossible to even handle but there was no other way.

All he had to do was survive long enough and cut a path through the monsters in order to get to that door. It sounded easy but considering his level and the number of Deadly Moths, it was going to be a hard task. Steel sang as his sword whistled through the air and cut through one of the moth's abdomen, quickly turning it to gray and dying before him. It seemed that they were slightly weaker than the normal moth monster but their number is what was the real challenge. If that was the case, than all he had to do was keep on swinging his blade until most were nothing but bits of data fading away.

He swung his sword left and right, the sharpened edge catching bits of wings, scales, parts of the abdomen, and even across the head of some of the monsters as well. The more he seemed to kill however the more he seemed to become surrounded by them all. Until now, all they had been doing was pulling their lower half back and slamming it forward in attempts to knock the blademaster off guard but now he could tell by their movement that he was in trouble. Most of the moths in the immediate area of Hyruji all fluttered furiously as poison spores and dust began to converge in and around him. It took all he had to duck, move, and roll away from most of the falling dust but as he stood he winced as he felt bits of his HP begin to wittle away.

Damn it...they got me. They're acting like a true colony more so than what I've ever seen or heard of. These can't be regular Deadly Moths....

Again he glanced towards Rouge who had remained stationary in the exact same spot as she had the last time he looked. Why wasn't the moths attacking her at all? It made no sense whatsoever, she was a player just like him so they should be enticed to attack her just as much, but it was like she wasn't even there to them. Knowing full well that if he made it to the next room Rouge could heal him, or more so he was too selfish to use one of his own antidotes at the time, Hyruji bee-lined towards the door only to be knocked down by another one of the moths. Even as he got up a few moths all pulled the abdomens back and starting to thrust them forward in a barrage of strikes, most of which richocheted off of his blade while the rest knocked into his shoulders and side.

The blademaster pulled himself to his feet and used the swarms' numbers against them, performing a quick Crack Beat to eliminate the few moths that were surrounding him. After the few he killed fell and went gray, Hyruji spun on his heel and sliced his blade through two more insects before jumping away from another downpour of poision dust. With a decent amount of space around him for the time being, Hyruji used that in order to get himself closer to the door, his hopes getting a little higher and success being just so much closer. Hearing the fluttering directly behind him though made him pivot to the side and stab his blade forward, straight through the middle section of the moth before ripping it back out to the side, the blade cutting through a second moth's head. It was then that he turned to Rouge, who had now moved, though slightly, retreating behind the door a little more.

"Why won't you come help me?! You know that this is too much for one player to handle! Rouge, we're friends right? I came here to find and help you! You don't think I'm Sysuke in disguise do you? Cause I'm n--!"

Though he should have known better, due to his attention being focused on Rouge, Hyruji didn't see the two Deadly Moths that had flew close behind him. Both reared their abdomens back and slammed them into the small and the upper portion of the blademaster's back. Pain flooded him as his body doubled over onto the ground, the dinging sound warning him of his low HP booming in his headset back in the real world only made it all worse. The poison affliction wasn't helping any either and though he wished he didn't have to, he quickly used an antidote and cast a Repth spell to heal himself. Problem now was that he only had roughly 8 SP left and by the time his SP got to 10 again he would most likely need it for an attack skill.

Hyruji only glanced to Rouge briefly again, her form nearly hidden now but he could tell she was moving, doing something behind the door. Of course he couldn't look for long, he had to block strikes from the oncoming swarm, which only had about a 1/4 or a 1/5 taking care of, which was becoming harder and harder. The two insects that had hit him before teamed up once again to try and hit the blademaster on both sides, which he dodged, but only to be hit by a third monster, knocking him down to the floor once more. The swarm all moved in closer, beginning a series of strikes and hits to dramatically cut his HP. Above everything else, one moth on the side began to flutter higher than the rest and release more toxin like the other moths had done earlier.

He had had his eyes closed while he was trapped beneath all of the crashing weight from the moths, but he opened them wide and rolled away from an oncoming strike using a Repth spell, now that his SP was at 10 once again, and quickly standing up. Despite his HP being fully healed, he was still panting, knowing full well that he was out of options. He had no SP now either, and it would take too long to let it gradually build back up to at least 10 for healing or attacking purposes. His best bet was to make a break for it and try and reach the door where Rouge was before the insects finished him off for good.

Now he locked eyes on Rouge, not caring about the positions of all the monsters, and simply took off for the door. Rouge, now holding something he couldn't make out, looked shocked to see him simply running towards her while being chased by the monsters. The whipmaster began to shake her head furiously, waving around the hand that held something red in color. From what he could make out, it looked like a sprite ocarina, but that was impossible since they were always blue in color. A moth knocked him from his thoughts however, its abdomen ramming into the side of the blademaster knocking him forward and off of his feet.

The sounds of the moth's humming began to be overwhelming as they all quickly gathered around him. Hyruji couldn't even see past them to make out Rouge's figure anymore, though despite it all the sound of a slight 'ping' and a clatter on the floor next to him drew his attention immediately. He looked down to see the red sprite ocarina that he thought he saw in Rouge's hand. Without a second thought he grabbed onto the item and then tried to look around in hopes of seeing Rouge join the fray, but nothing. All he could see now were the golden rings that were carrying away from the battle and the dungeon.

Warmth was no longer anywhere around him, it all being sucked away by the white blankets of snow that the gold rings dropped him into. Hyruji looked down to the red ocarina in his hand, eyes widening in the fact that it hadn't faded away after use. He blinked a few times, emerald eyes easily holding a curious gaze to them as the blademaster took to his feet. Quickly, he looked around for any traces of monsters before slipping the item into the pouch along his waist. Hyruji looked back towards the dungeon, his head falling slightly knowing that Rouge was still down on the lowest level and there was nothing he could do for her.

Why did she stay? And what is this red ocarina...? Maybe it's a hacked item? I don't know, I'm so confused. I guess I should send her an e-mail and call it a day...

Without any more thought to it, Hyruji Gated Out from the field and returned to the Aqua Capital Mac Anu. Briefly he looked around for perhaps any traces of Rouge but all he could see was the big bridge in the distance and other players running around the town having fun. That was what he should have been doing, running around, forming parties, and just enjoying "The World" and everything it had to offer. Instead he logged back on into the mess he was in now with Rouge once more. No matter how much he wanted to help her, Hyruji still couldn't help but wish that everything could simply be normal.

Either way, there was nothing left for him to do in the Root Town, so he logged out, the golden rings enveloping him and taking him away from the game. His console greeted him as he quickly moved his mouse over to his mailer and checked to see if maybe Rouge had sent him an e-mail at least after what had happened. Unfortunately, much like in Mac Anu, there was no trace of her and no e-mail left by her. Roland sighed heavily, taking off his headset and opening up a new mail to be sent to Rouge. He could only hope that she would get it and respond to it, unlike his previous ones.

With that, Roland sent the mail and shut down "The World" program, hoping that by tomorrow some news would actually be given.

[[OOC: The Red Sprite Ocarina can't be used by my character. It's just a tool Rouge can use on other players and stuff so it'll just sit in my key item's list for now. ]]

Hyruji: Fortune Wire

It's good to see an old player come back. Your ability to convey the emotion of the story has stayed strong, even if your last trip into The World was a while ago. =P I can't wait to see what you throw out next.

Hyruji: 2 Levels, Oval Sword, Noble Cloak