Death has a funny way of making one step back and take stock of life. When it’s the enemy, there is no thought of the consequence; well, lest you’re looking at that of failure,” Solar sat under a tiny awning conversing with a-would-be recruit.

The eager eyes of the young man dulled as he heard the rest of the speech before Solar even uttered it. And so the youth drop the question, “What happens when it’s a fellow soldier?”

Though in the World , his expression was plain as day. Damn, these headsets really can pick up a great deal ! He stared intently into the youth, looking into his depths rather than at his person. “It’s a feeling that even now sickens me. But is one that also drives, feeds the furnace that takes place of your training.”

“I wasn’t able to actually join the fight, but as I felt the built pierce my left hip-“ he paused. The feelings rushing back to him. Giacomo on the other side of the conversation withdrew from the headset for a moment. Giving a bit of sigh, he wiped his eyes, and replaced it readily.

“You grit, you bare it, and there is no other choice. Life gives you options, and it takes them. But in the end, it is up to you. The choice is, and will always be yours, up until the very end,” The recruit had taken notice of the sudden slack expression, immediate revitalization of emotion in his “superior’s” face.

The recruit nodded, and made a thoughtful expression. He looked up, low and serious, “I think I am ready then, sir.”

Both Giacomo and Solar filled their eyes to the brim in tears once more. He nodded, and smiling, “Then let’s hit a dungeon for a bit, and work on your combat tactics.” With a chuckle, he slapped the recruit on the shoulder.

Gracefully striding through the crowds of Mac Anu, Solar lead, his head high, and his spirits higher. He had discovered a recruit worth bringing in, and in a MMO of all places. The idea struck him as ironic: his escape was the recruit’s training ground.
On the move toward the Chaos Gate, however, his mood changed. Glimpses of characters following the same path he was wouldn’t usually affect him in the Merchant district of the city, but with eyes trained on him, he had a problem. They counted three in number, but it could have just as easily been one, or even two. All of them were dressed the same, wrapped in deep black cloaks as they were. Their speed was unrivaled even in reality.

Pulling a parchment from his jacket, Solar handed it to the recruit. “Take this to the gate, and head to the area specified. I will be there shortly, and in good time. Just wait it says.” the recruit nodded once more, thinking it a secret mission. Young as he was, he knew no better.

His backup plan for his paranoia seemed legit this time. For that last few days since his initial log-in to the game, he had been seeing eyes trained on him, and now, he was finding them out. He would not be stalked from such lowly shadows. If they could not properly hide themselves, he would introduce himself, forcefully.

Allowing the recruit to run the main drag, Solar noticed the figure run off after. There is definitely one, he thought to himself. He wasn’t losing his grip on grip on reality.

“Let’s see if these idiots have a clue as to who they are following,” as solar smiled, he turned down the first alley he came to. Fortunately, it was wide enough if he needed to make an escape, he could. But what was the use in thinking of his own escape. It would be these punks that would need an escape plan.

He didn’t wait too long for them to make their move. Nigh as he stepped into the barren alley, one drop before him, and one aft. Each looked exactly the same: Spiked purple hair sprouting from midnight black head wrap, red lensed goggles, and tight black leather armor, haphazardly bound by straps here and there. No features were visible. Crouched as they were, their true size was hidden.

“I am going to say this once: Tell me what this is about. Because I will not be followed by hounds, and I will not be robbed by vagrants.” Solar watched the figure before him intently. Hoping that the other didn’t make a move, turned himself into an attack position. From here he could see both, the latter in his peripheral.

Their lack of commitment, lack of interest in what was going on around them spooked Solar to no end. His hair stood up on end. His muscles twitched. Was it a fake out tactic? Were they hoping to force his hand?

“What do you want?” His rage taking hold of him, he could not stand waiting. He could not put his finger on it, but something about the two of them set him on edge, digging at him in a way he had never felt before.

His spear head whipped hard at the figure in front of his person. The tip dug in deep! Solar felt the weight, the tension as the metal ran deep through and cleanly out of the man’s chest. Flicking upward, the spear came back around, up and over to the figure behind him. He stopped suddenly!

It was a little girl. Some young player cowering on the floor of the alley. “PK! PK!”

Solar’s eyes widened. A boy, he was just a boy! But he is nothing like the figure that was just there! What is going on?

He whipped around once more to see the little girl, people had already begun to crowd around the entrance to the alley, but the girl was missing. She was right there! Where had she gone so quickly? His mind was in shock as he looked back to the boy, and saw that he was still there!

Not good, not good at all! I need to get the hell out of here. Solar charged the far end of the alley, hoping that it lead to some exit. His heart was racing, the excitement of the situation accelerating it beyond its limit, he began to fumble. He slammed walls as he turned corners. Blind to the world around him, he just ran.

This is not how I would have started off becoming a PK. I would have chosen a far better reputation to start, rather than be know as the “Slayer of Chitlins.” Gotta get to the Gate before the Knights make this even harder. Mind numb and legs pumping, Solar charged out onto a crowded street!

He zig-zagged his way between as few people as he could. Their confused faces making him even more a target. What would someone be doing running at breakneck speed without thought for others? Running for his life perhaps?

As he came to a crossroads he found the gate off on his left. Perhaps not a bad choice of alley ways, but one would hope that he could have just avoided this by heading to the gate in the first place. Oh well, bad things happen, you just grit and bare it.
Reaching the gate, he selected the pre-determined field, and off he went. As his data transferred into the gate system, appearing to shatter and fade into millions of little pieces, a figure draped in black, his spiky hair standing on end watched from the shelter of a building.

“Mi’Lady, the mission is set in motion. Project Seven is initiated,” he seemed to tap a his mouth to end the conversation with some unseen companion. His goggles lit up from within for a moment, and he seemed to data transfer as if from a chaos gate. Then, as the shadows he rested in, he disappeared .


Solar opened his eyes as he transferred into the field, the recruit just a distance off, crouched and on edge. Solar drew his large spear in close behind himself, and moved forward in a low crouch.

“What is it recruit?” Both happened to be perched upon a hill overlooking and valley. From here the field looked so small, but they both knew it to be huge. The haze in the area made everything seem so confined. This was the nature of such a field like a desert.

The recruit motioned his hand to a distant bluff, another hill like their own. Atop it stood what looked like a crane like humanoid. “He’s been standing there since I got here, just looking this way, like he was waiting on some one.”

Solar squinted in an attempt to make out what the man looked like. He assumed a man from the recruit’s words any way. Fused and distant, it was hard, but just as he began to think he would not recognize the figure the man drew his weapon.

He was a longarm, a longarm dressed like a stork? The Stork! It was a man that Solar had spoken with on the board just an hour early about getting some help with decent drops.

He stood, and waved to the stork. Looking down, he pulled the recruit to his feet. Chuckling as he did so, the recruit was even more confused by the situation.

“Who is it, sir?” His faced twisted in confusion.

“That my little friend is one of our helpers. He’s a higher level player coming to help us get some decent drops from this field’s dungeon. His name is the Stork, or so he calls himself,” Solar stopped waving, and with his hand to the recruit’s back, he usher the young man down the hill to the next rise.