- KING -
I joined on January 1970, I am a proud and I've made 84 posts
|
Post by Shinamec on Dec 1, 2011 0:13:04 GMT -5
Wailing Friend's Phantom
Grand ships are docked in this famous port: pirate ships, cruise ships, naval ships, merchant ships. They’re all here. A small boat for three acts as transport from the dock back to the ships. Further out near the entrance of the port is an empty dock. But on certain days, when the water is disturbed by rain, and foggy overcasts loom low to the water, a strange ship will appear. This particular ship is pitch black, and covered in seaweed and barnacles; holes and decaying wood can be spotted on both port and starboard; its mast torn and fraying. It looks almost as if it was...haunted.
BGM: Jack Sparrow's Theme
|
|
Level 2
I joined on January 1970, I am a proud and I've made 65 posts
[Flick Reaper]
|
Post by Uelle on Dec 8, 2011 21:26:36 GMT -5
...[Gate in!]
The rings materialized her avatar into the field. The sea was gray with rain. The docks eerily empty with long shadows cast from flickering lamp lights.. She didn’t bother stare up through the rain, knowing her eyes would only meet with the great void that had replaced the nightly sky. Instead, she looked forward, at the light traffic of ships occupying the docks, half veiled with rolling fog.
Why did I come here? She wanted to question—no, accuse herself even though she already knew the answer. A stifling feeling had been grasping at her ever since she saw the words to this field. She had tried changing the key words for some other interesting combinations and even fled her computer in an attempt to distract and forget she ever typed them, but they were stuck in her head. A pirate theme was not what she had expected at all either. And yet, here she was, stupidly caught up in three simple words put together and the feeling they surged.
She even forgot what level this field was (classic newbie). Looking ahead with a blank face, she decided to step into the docks, a clear scythe in her hand, parallel to her. The absence of night life trickled down her spine like an ominous foreboding. As if on cue, just as she reached the port edges, a dark, decrepit ship cut through the mist and anchored in. It looked obviously haunted, unlike the others. The boat there could surely take her to it, but should she get on it? she asked herself, genuinely intrigued by the prospect despite herself.
|
|
Level 20
I joined on January 1970, I am a proud and I've made 1,482 posts
|
Post by ♛ L0PP3R ♛ on Dec 8, 2011 23:05:16 GMT -5
Lopper would act like Uelle's mirror image, following her exact same movements from the opposite side of the docks. Except the fear that Uelle had, except for the clueless and timid actions, Lopper's body was sparking with charisma. From her throat came a hymn, a ghastly one to fit the atmosphere of this damned place, and her head would bop from left and right to the tune she was crafting from deep within.
Her fingers were laced together behind her head, her eyes shut to envision whatever story there was unfolding in her mind's eye to the beat she was making. It wasn't until she came to stop just as Uelle did did one of eyes open to peer through the fog with those piercing yellow eyes to see the avatar of the player perfectly as if the fog was never there to begin with. Lopper knew immediately that she had never seen this female before, and from the looks of it she didn't even have to pull up any data to tell that they were new to this game. Oh, poor thing, being lost in a field like this. She must have had no idea what it was that she had just gotten herself into.
The crooked grin on Lopper's face spoke volumes.
"Hey, over there!" she cried out, waving her right hand frantically in the air like some enthusiastic cheerleader. "Hey!!! Is that someone over there!?" she cried out again, feigning her own clueless nature. She began to walk forward through the fog now with her hands limp at her sides, her dull and cold face not matching the voice that had escaped her lips prior. She would make sure to look the part of a caring player character who would be lost herself, and she'd do what she could to pretend to be friendly, but she couldn't hide the darkness those golden orbs of hers floated in that really showed what Lopper was made up of on the inside.
|
|
Level 2
I joined on January 1970, I am a proud and I've made 65 posts
[Flick Reaper]
|
Post by Uelle on Dec 9, 2011 0:20:24 GMT -5
A strange, rhythmic sound strung up against the background music. It was faint and far away, muffled further by the rain. It didn’t reach well to Uelle and she only idly wondered at the possibility of the new ship being the cause of any change in the field. Regardless…The small, wooden boat sunk a little as she put her first foot forward. She might as well try this place out and hope the knotted feeling in her chest would go away after some gameplay. It was about time she became a bit more serious anyways. She would not be a newbie forever.
A cheerful voice stopped her midway into the boat. Startled—the field had been too quiet save for the rain—she righted herself back on the dock, looking out curiously, and vainly, at the mist, waiting for it to reveal whoever had called out. She thought she saw someone waving so she stiffly waved back out of reflex.
“Over here!” A brief, slight smile lined up against her lips after calling back. Company would work just as well against the gloom that had threatened to pull her under she guessed. In fact, now that she realized, she hadn’t made much friends since starting the game. She’d been too distracted. Too any things happening at once. The girl, it was distinctly female, sounded friendly enough. This might be easy.
When the girl’s pc actually appeared though, Uelle’s little smile finished fading. Her voice and her face didn’t match. A hollow expression. Piercing yellow eyes unlike any she'd seen in other avatars yet. More than just rare, they where unsettling.
“…Hello. You are the one who called...?” Listening through the rain to her own voice, she inwardly cringed at the obvious dubiousness in it. She’d also been unable to keep her brows from furrowing and clutching the scythe with both hands instinctively. It was her sole source of protection here, she learned. The boat rocked sluggishly against the pushing waves down beside her. Until they entered the dungeon, the rain would obscure some of their avatars, which wouldn't help any.
"Can I help you?" She asked out of politeness, as if they where in real life and not in a mmorpg.
|
|
Level 20
I joined on January 1970, I am a proud and I've made 1,482 posts
|
Post by ♛ L0PP3R ♛ on Dec 9, 2011 1:10:03 GMT -5
Lopper watched the way the girl had clung to her weapon, praying to all the powers that there were left in The World that she would reel back and swing that bad boy right into her gut. Noise, like white sound, would begin to build up in her own ears as everything disappeared around her except for that blade. She wanted to feel the incision, the sharp sensational pain course through her body. The look in her eyes as she stared at the blade of the weapon were the same look a starving individual would give a piece of steak. She had to hold herself back from throwing herself onto it's sharp edge, embracing it's length with every inch of her own body.
Suddenly, she blinked, returning to the composure she had once more as she looked back up into the eyes of the other female in the field. She could tell by the other's voice that she was hoping for someone else, not the apparition that stood in front of her. Lopper wanted to apologize for being the kind of person that she was, that she wasn't who this girl was looking for, but she thought that would be a bit too much for someone she really didn't even know. Perhaps there was something about the girl that had struck a sensitive nerve in Lopper, one of the few that she had left, that took her back to a place and time that only she could remember. Perhaps there was something about this player that Lopper saw that reminded her of how she herself was a so many years ago when she had first entered the game. Perhaps it was the little connection she still had left with the core inside of her telling her to treat this one kindly, as if she played some intricate part in the grand scheme of things.
Lopper waved dismissively with a gentle chuckle, before she took a step back and put her hands above her head. "Woah, woah! Take it easy with that thing!" Lopper spoke with plastic playfulness in her voice. "I'm lost," she lied. "I've never been to this field before," she lied again. "I'm just glad to see a face that isn't big and gnarly and dangerous that wants to feast on me!" Lopper, for one reason or another, ran her tongue across her upper row of teeth as if subconsciously she was checking to make sure there were no pieces of human flesh stuck between them - as if she was only projecting an image of herself without even knowing it.
|
|
Level 2
I joined on January 1970, I am a proud and I've made 65 posts
[Flick Reaper]
|
Post by Uelle on Dec 9, 2011 2:20:41 GMT -5
Something tugged at the alarm bells in her subconscious. Something in the other pc’s fixed, almost hungry gaze. They tugged, but the bells wouldn’t ring yet. She didn't let them. She had learned not to judge a book by its cover and had noticed it was more than a true concept for the internet as well. So, should she judge this girl by the very disquieting feeling she gave off? Like wanting to pet a seemingly docile jaguar. Seemingly being the keyword.
There was a brief silence at first, making her wonder if the other girl was having some kind of a moment. The corner of her lips gave in to a nervous twitch as the yellow-eyed avatar blinked and then waved back. Her talk became playful even, as the sound of her friendly voice flowed through the speakers again. It was indeed the same girl who'd called out before.
“I wasn’t planning on using it.” Uelle bit back defensively, shamed by the fact that she’d been speculated of randomly swinging at some stranger. Did she look that edgy? Her distrust must have come off as mean. Maybe. Feeling a bit self-conscious, she loosened her hold on her weapon. It was relieving to see she was very unlike her looks too.
“Lost? Ahh then we’re stuck on the same boat then.” Why did she mention a boat? She coughed. “I’ve never been to this field either, so…I’m just another lost case myself. “ Her brow arced up as the girl visibly licked her teeth. It was getting really hard not to judge her by her cover! The only thing that was safe to wonder was whether the girl was a newbie like herself, but that didn't sound very fitting for some reason.
“I was about to head to that haunted-looking ship over there.” She explained nonchalantly, for a lack of anything better to say or break away from the awkwardness she was feeling. “You can join up, if you’d like.” Inviting her without knowing the field’s level was hard to confess though. “But there’s bound to be some of those gnarling faces there.” She warned more cheerily, trying to follow her playful mood, and looked out into the sea again, at the hulking ship and its torn sails fluttering against the screeching winds. It was a good thing she wasn’t afraid of ghosts. How did the words to the field connect with the actual place?
|
|
Level 20
I joined on January 1970, I am a proud and I've made 1,482 posts
|
Post by ♛ L0PP3R ♛ on Dec 9, 2011 4:45:48 GMT -5
When Uelle mentioned a 'haunted-looking ship', Lopper turned her head around like an owl would almost, her neck seemingly on a ball-joint instead of a swivel. She saw the ship that the other female was talking about just as she was talking about going to it for whatever reason that this player wanted to. It wouldn't hurt to indulge the girl and go with her onto some haunted ship, it'd actually be pretty comical - at least, that's how Lopper saw it anyways.
Turning her head back to Uelle, she nodded to her with a smile as her hands fell down to her sides. "Join up, huh? Sure! Don't mind if I do!" she exclaimed and took one giant step forward towards Uelle to close the distance between the two of them. Lopper would lean forward with her hands laced behind her, looking up at the female from her bowing posture with a cute little smirk before she twisted her body around to bump her hip into Uelle's soft side to nudge her gently onto the boat that had just come in. Lopper would follow, jumping into the boat without a care in the world; the boat would almost topple over into the water, or send the two of them flying off into the murky depths, but neither of them would come to meet a fate like that.
Lopper sat down on her side of the small boat with her hands neatly posed in her lap, she sat there staring straight ahead waiting for this adventure to begin. She wasn't looking at anything, she wasn't looking at Uelle, she would just be staring through her onto the other side at nothing at all; her eyes filled with hollow excitement and her lips kept in a smile by baby pins.
"This is going to be a great adventure!"
|
|
Level 2
I joined on January 1970, I am a proud and I've made 65 posts
[Flick Reaper]
|
Post by Uelle on Dec 9, 2011 11:09:21 GMT -5
An inexplicable surge of friendliness struck her. All the girl did was accept her invitation and yet, she involuntarily made Uelle smile in return. Maybe it was the buoyant tune in her voice or her easy-going responses slowly warming up to her that made her ease up with the paradox of her appearance. People weren’t usually so open in reality either, which was one of the perks of mmos. Is this how you always feel, playing these games, Ellia?
A question mark popped against Uelle’s smiling face as the other suddenly bent forward real close, those striking golden irises staring up through her lashes with a smirk and a hint of mischief. Next thing she knew Uelle was flailing her arms in the air and falling none too gracefully on the boat. If she had fallen on her scythe, would she had killed herself?
“W-whoa!” She started, grabbing hold of the side of the boat as if it would actually topple them into the water. Still, she sighed with relief while the other settled herself snugly opposite to Uelle. The boat began to row toward the ship by some invisible force once they settled in.
“Yea.” She replied simply, eyes narrowing, one of her brows twitching. “My name’s Uelle.” It seemed like keeping up with the girl’s character would be just as much of an adventure. The more she stared though, the more…off the whole situation felt.
After the boat left them and sailed itself away, she surprised herself by promptly heading in through the ghostly entrance of the dungeon ship. “Right, let’s go then.” She cheered, red specks suddenly dotting the small area map at the corner of the screen as she heedlessly entered into what seemed like a haunted corridor. It sounded kind of like she was encouraging herself rather than her companion. She really wanted a change of pace. It’s been a whirlwind of emotions ever since setting foot on [The World]. She had only just begun. Both her goals where still far away. She would steadily work toward them. The tittle changed.
Floor B1
|
|
Level 20
I joined on January 1970, I am a proud and I've made 1,482 posts
|
Post by ♛ L0PP3R ♛ on Dec 9, 2011 13:11:40 GMT -5
There they were in the dungeon then, having left the docks and sailed across the sea to the haunted boat and into it's haunted corridor. Lopper had her fingers laced behind her as she took long strides, her upper body comically moving forward and back with each other step that she took. She wandered forward in front of Uelle, her head on a casual swivel as her eyes took in the entire dungeon level that she could see for what it was worth. "My name is Lopper," she said finally in a return, coming to a halt at a fork in their little adventure. "It's a pleasure!"
The fork they had come across in their path was the one you always see in every movie, in every game, in every life situation one has ever had. The corridor they were in met a wall, and at that wall sprouted two adjacent passages; one leading to the left while the other lead to the right. There was no apparent difference in the corridors, no sounds or symbols to show which way was the right way to go (if there was even a right way to go)! It was up to Uelle to decide, because Lopper wouldn't take that sort of responsibility! She didn't care enough what happened to worry about which way to go, she'd handle anything that came their way.
Their way, huh? It was weird to Lopper to sound so protective over this broad. She could only laugh inwardly at the little connection she had left with the core. She thought that this chick better be worth this whole facade.
|
|
Level 2
I joined on January 1970, I am a proud and I've made 65 posts
[Flick Reaper]
|
Post by Uelle on Dec 9, 2011 15:25:49 GMT -5
Lopper, huh? She could remember that.
Ghostly wails skittered somewhere in the backdrop, breaking the field music here and there. The dungeon walls, which reminisced a ship’s once lustrous corridor, winding everlastingly forward, were bruised and sullen with corrosion. The floors creaked eerily upon their every step. It was all so realistic and yet, surreal. Ulliel almost fell behind in her gawking. She noticed now that Lopper had taken the lead too, Uelle’s head nodding to the side with keen interest in her PC’s strange walk But she kept being distracted by the high macabre quality of the graphics before they sauntered into a fork in the passage.
Eyeing what she thought was an indecisive Lopper, “Humm…Let’s go this way.” she said. Both split corridors looked exactly the same. No special marking or symbol or even a measly candle light broke their monotonous similarity apart. She directed her scythe to the right, however, without showing so much as a sign that she contemplated the option. It was as if she were led by her own internal compass. Or rather, there was simply no fear in her choice. No hesitation or moment’s thought for that deeper meaning of ‘a fork in the road’ and wrong and right. Not in that moment when the only thing that drove her on, gave will to her legs, was the undeniable want to push forward without regrets. Her certainty belied her utter lack of familiarity with the map.
Uelle had moved on ahead now, but they’d been oddly quiet since the beginning. And she didn’t know how else to break that silence except with petty small talk, a not too foreign concept to her thank God. Sure, she partly blamed herself for getting distracted all the time as a new player. [The World] just wouldn’t stop dazzling her! But she had thought someone like Lopper would be chattier. Maybe even annoyingly so. But she hasn’t made any progress in figuring her out.
“So…how long have you been playing?” Her first attempt.
|
|
Level 20
I joined on January 1970, I am a proud and I've made 1,482 posts
|
Post by ♛ L0PP3R ♛ on Dec 9, 2011 15:37:26 GMT -5
Uelle had chosen to go to the right, and so to the right they would go! Lopper would precede forward as soon as she mentioned the direction, her golden irises piercing through the darkness onto the other side of it's screen to see what Uelle couldn't. Her choice would bring her to some broken stairs, ones they carefully had to navigate to not fall through the cracks and down as far as they would go until there was some part of the ship structurally tight to catch their fall (which, as one can imagine, wouldn't be pretty in the least bit). Lopper didn't have any idea what it was they were going to run down here, if anything at all. Was Uelle looking for some sort of action? Wish for something hard enough and you eventually get it, sooner or later. Just what was going through that girl's head right now?
Uelle had posed a question, one Lopper found really humorous. A laugh escapes through her teeth, a single hand coming up over her mouth to muffle the sound of her laughter before bringing itself behind her once more. "Since the beginning of time" was the only answer she gave Uelle, her response filled with nostalgia and emotion that couldn't be picked apart. Why should Lopper sit there and talk about all ten years of her life in this game? Why should she try to explain everything she had seen and gone through? Why should she try and get into detail about who she was as a person and what made her the monstrosity she was today? Uelle wouldn't understand, nobody could, not unless they were there by her side all those years.
The stairs were finally navigated, bringing them down a single floor in the dungeon when traversing them felt like it took forever. What a shame, there was nothing on the first floor! Perhaps there was to the left? They could always go back up, but backtracking was never Lopper's style. Was it Uelle's? Lopper supposed she would find out soon enough. Taking a couple of steps forward into the darkness, she stood there, looking forward at something she couldn't put into words right a way. "What the hell?" she spoke through her breath, narrowing her eyes to try and get a better picture of what it was she was looking at.
The darkness in the corridor would lift up slowly, almost unnoticeably, to reveal to Uelle and Lopper a gold treasure chest that rested in the center of the corridor with just enough room on both sides for them to pass through. Lopper didn't make any motion towards the chest, for items weren't something she was really interested in, and at the same time because something in her was telling her not to touch that accursed thing. It could just be paranoia talking, or perhaps the core left inside of her telling her what the game plan was, but she couldn't really be sure.
"I don't think you should touch it." It was just a suggestion. What did Lopper know? There could be something really special inside of the chest.
|
|
Level 2
I joined on January 1970, I am a proud and I've made 65 posts
[Flick Reaper]
|
Post by Uelle on Dec 9, 2011 16:23:07 GMT -5
”Since the beginning of time”. Was Lopper trying to be cryptic? She sure couldn’t get anything else out of that answer. Her brows burrowed deeply into her forehead at her unreasonable laughter, once again falling behind the energetic PC as they trailed down a battered, tediously long stairway. It seemed barely able to withstand their weight. Helpless to her own naiveté for the game, she slid them down as carefully as she could until they reached stable flooring a loong time afterward and she sighed. The tittle changed again, swiftly scrolling above her vision. It was the next dungeon floor. Odd that they didn’t encounter anything in the first one. Had she chosen wrong? But…Could the other path have led to something even worse? Nothing was better than something once in a while. Yea…Sometimes. She didn’t want to go back and find out, in any case. But there was no one to voice out her thoughts to.
“Hey, wait!” She’d fallen behind even further in her carefulness. Lopper had almost vanished into the darkness ahead, slowly being swallowed by the haunting shadows. Rushing into the darkness after her, feeling the action a bit ominous in itself, she reached Lopper just as she spoke out loud. “What? What is it?” Uelle pressed now standing beside her, catching sight of the treasure chest just as the corridor was subtly being lit, filling the air with suspense. The chest looked very deliberate where it sat, taunting them.
“Me—open it?” Uelle started. Why had she been referred to? Wouldn’t Lopper choose to open or not the chest herself? “Why not?” Uelle continued, sounding almost innocent that time, and hadn’t even fully registered her own question when she stretched forward and tapped the chest for it to open with the back of her scythe. She wasn’t afraid. What could have possibly detained Lopper? Maybe….? But Uelle had already opened it!
|
|
Level 20
I joined on January 1970, I am a proud and I've made 1,482 posts
|
Post by ♛ L0PP3R ♛ on Dec 9, 2011 17:01:45 GMT -5
Lopper couldn't stop the other female from proceeding forward in time, she was too caught up with the voices in her head trying to make out what it was they were saying. Finally, those said voices rang clear inside of her mind, and the split second it took her to open her mouth was the split-second that Uelle had made contact with the chest. "Oh, mother fu--!!"
Lopper immediately raced forward as the chest open and the first bits of darkness began to disappear inside of it. She ran as fast as she could until she was within feet of the chest, where she let her next step fall into a straight kick that would send the chest sliding across the floorboard like grinding metal on metal. She wrapped an arm around Uelle as her right hand grabbed something invisible in the air. It would take one swift tug to yank into existence a pink blade, one that fought to exist in this realm as it faded in and out; Lopper would make sure that it wouldn't go anywhere. With the dagger, she turned her torso towards the wall to her right and used all of her upper body strength to impale her dagger into the wall and keep her grip on it as firm as it could be. What for?
The chest had opened completely, and all of the darkness around it had been immediately pulled into it like a cloth being yanked on by an invisible hand. All went silent then as the ship seemed to shift it's weight from one side to another as if a large gentle wave had passed underneath it. Lopper knew immediately it wasn't anything like that, that it was the entire field bending in this reality when the flames that flickered off the few burning torches that remained began to bend as well; refracting, cracking like glass and dropping from the post they were held in. Those shards would never reach the ground, not as a funnel of air like a vacuum exploded in their ears only to deafen them and try to pull them to their impending doom.
Lopper kept Uelle as tightly to her chest as she could with her left arm as her right hand used every bit of strength it had to keep her grip on the hilt of the dagger that she had brought into existence as everything around her began to get pulled into that god forsaken box: the textures, the lighting, the very color of the field they were in and on their own bodies. Lopper didn't want to imagine that their skin and eyes would soon follow, then their muscle, and their barrage of bones with no form to them at all. That was no way for someone like Lopper to go, and she wasn't about to let this newcomer eat shit either.
Something told Lopper to look behind her, and she twisted her head as best she could to look over her shoulder to see all the decorative blades and ornaments they had passed by earlier - and ones they had never seen before - come hurtling in their direction. Blades of all different shapes and sizes, objects the size of vases and tables bouncing off of each other like a pinball machine. This was getting bleak really fast, and with no way to dodge, Lopper had to do the responsible thing to keep the girl in her arm safe as best she could.
Her dagger would glitch, twist, and shoot upward into the wall and split in three different directions to become like a grappling hook; the hilt she was hanging onto earlier had turned into a change she had wrapped around her forearm to try and pull herself closer to the wall as best she could. The extra mass to the blade, the way it expanded out like a flower, allowed for it to keep it's grip better within the weakened structure of this damned vessel. Hopefully that was enough to--
A vase hit her over the head, shattering, her head flying forward only to bounce back up from the force when her neck wouldn't travel any further. A table came next, spinning like a top before slamming one of it's four corners into her at it's insane rate of speed. Lopper's whole body tried to wrap inside of itself, trying to get as far away from the pain as she could, but all of that pain would fade as one of the decorative daggers found it's way neatly in her back. Lopper's eyes would go wide as every sense in her body seemed to heighten before completely fading, her muscles loosening up as her eyes fell back down at the girl she was desperately trying to hold onto. Another blade would follow, this time a saber, goring her lower body; impaling right through her, barely missing Uelle herself. Of course, for good measure, the hook of the captain of whomever ran this vessel spun through the air like a magic missle aimed straight at Lopper's neck. It would hook itself in it's target, right in her jugular, and that was that.
Her eyes glazed over before they slowly shut behind those lids, her black blood seeping out of all of her wounds and being sucked into the chest as was the rest of the field. Once her once brilliant eyes shut behind those lids, her whole body fell limp and not a single sign of life could be seen from Lopper in the mess she was in the mess they were in. She was still hanging on, the chain wrapping itself around her forearm like that of an ornament; Lopper remained attached to her weapon, the one plunged into the wall by her arm like some sort of sick religious image. The grip on Uelle was gone, and all Uelle could do was try desperately to hold onto Lopper's body and wait out the chest's black hole - if it could be waited out.
|
|
Level 2
I joined on January 1970, I am a proud and I've made 65 posts
[Flick Reaper]
|
Post by Uelle on Dec 9, 2011 20:39:34 GMT -5
Wasn’t this the first treasure chest she’d opened up to this point? What would it be like, acquiring a dungeon item for the first time? It was a silly thought, she knew. Uncaring though, a faint smile was able to ghost through Uelle’s face before everything just went to hell and that surging excitement dried up to the point that it became painful.
Everything happened so fast, so disorganized; she lost all focus of the box, the corridor, the very darkness that had been encroaching with dark promise around them, and then even herself. But later on, when her thoughts finally caught up with the situation they’d been hurled into, she realized with increasing shock what happened.
A distortion spread throughout the darkness, as impossible as it sounded. Bit by bits, it rushed into the box, but then the box suddenly shot and skidded away—no, wait, Lopper kicked it away. The surprise came across her face as hurt, as if a new toy had just been kicked out of a wiggling kid’s fingers. But then, finding herself just as suddenly trapped against Lopper’s chest, she didn’t have the breath or time to ruffle herself. Something akin to a black hole opened up within the chest and literally started sucking everything in its path. Yes, even the data! The music that had been distantly playing in the background faltered and broke, replaced by the deafening sound of the ghastly hole, making it seem like it was some hellish specter that was wailing and tearing at the field in its attempt to pull them into nothingness. Uelle’s face didn’t show it, but she paled at the sight and that of the graphics seemingly tearing apart and being swallowed up. Even that of their avatars was being forcibly sucked away. What’s going on!? She screamed in her head, holding on to Lopper’s torso with her own strength now.
“What’s happening!!?” She repeated out loud, trying to lift up her chin and scream above the noise, bring her eyes over Lopper’s shoulder. Surprise seemed to enlarge her pink, startled eyes as blades, daggers, portraits, and all other furniture and decorative rushed toward them like a spell of deadly, malicious rain. “Lopper!” She shouted, trying to warn her, unable to avert her gaze from the parade of cutting items and so missing all the stuff the other pc was doing. Somehow, Lopper managed to move them into a different position against the wall, with her posing an angle that would surely—
“Ahh!” The startled cry slipped out of her mouth before she could contain it as the vase shattered against Lopper’s head. “What are you doing!? Have you gone crazy? Move!” Uelle angrily yelled, which then turned to desperate shrieking as the table struck next. This carried on as every other thing either cut across or dug into Lopper’s body until Lopper herself seemed to be losing consciousness, a blank stare falling upon Uelle’s wide, wide eyes. Her hands almost fumbled, shaking, almost as if feeling the same pain. Had she…Had she shielded her? Wha—but they barely even knew each other! Shouldn’t she be covering herself instead!?
Uelle didn’t even notice how that one saber had cut through Lopper and licked a clean little slice through her clothes around her waist. Some flesh wound. And then she couldn’t concentrate on any more of Lopper’s succumbing face and pain because her grip gave out along with her consciousness and Uelle had to cling on to Lopper for all she had. Damn it, nothing’s making any sense! She cried in her head. Betraying herself, tears threatened to well up in her eyes at the absurdity of their situation. Oh god no! This is just a game and that is not Ellia! D-don’t think, just take action!
Would the black hole ever let up? Inching up Lopper’s body slowly, Uelle worked her hand around to yank out one of the daggers stuck to her back. A stream of black blood flowed into the box along with the dagger. “Lopper, come back! I don’t know a thing about this game! How long is that thing going to go on? What am I supposed to do?” Her voice sounded surprisingly collected and casual above the noise, not at all like the mess of nerves she felt. Maybe it was that denial thing kicking in. Talking to Lopper as if she were still wide awake and listening…Yea. “Stupid saber…” She muttered as she somehow worked the entire blade out of her body with a gut-wrenching sound, which did finish paling her as she let it drop to the void. She’d lost her scythe long ago. Her avatar was a mess of blood and missing texture and color. Uelle edged up further and, avoiding staring into Lopper’s face, took hold of the captain’s hook and dispassionately jerked it out of her neck. She reflexively moved her hand to stop her throat from bleeding out, but it made her grasp slip instead and then she was desperately hanging on to Lopper’s leg. Was she even making any progress? Any difference?
|
|
Level 20
I joined on January 1970, I am a proud and I've made 1,482 posts
|
Post by ♛ L0PP3R ♛ on Dec 9, 2011 21:14:45 GMT -5
Lopper wouldn't flinch or make a sound as all of the sharp objects that had impaled her were pulled delicately out of her in that moment of chaos the two of them were sharing together. Lopper didn't have the opportunity to watch the new player remain calm in the face of something that was not part of the game. She wouldn't get the chance to recognize and witness Uella go above and beyond what she ever thought she could expect from another person, let alone someone who had just ventured into this lone hellish world just recently.
Lopper was lost inside of darkness, what felt like an eternity as the sounds of The World she was in seemed so far away. Her attunement with the game was far too great, and in moments of pain and agony such as this her conscious can't help but slip deep inside the recesses of the void. Lopper could hear something soft and gentle, something familiar and warm enter her ears and fill the inside of her mind with such a nice feeling. Just what the hell was going on out there? "Oh, who cares...?" she whispered to herself inside of her mind, speaking to the atmosphere of nothingness that enveloped this disgusting place.
The chest would continue to pull and pull and pull without ever seeming to let up, the wall that Lopper's makeshift hook was plunged into was beginning to fall apart. It was only a matter of time before the boards would rip open, her weapon holding the grip it had underneath the structure of this ship before it would lose it's grip and send the two of them plunging into whatever depths laid inside golden chest that was consuming everything the field had to offer. At this point, all the color in the field had come to disappear; the color on their own bodies were gone, as if they were in some old movie. The lighting in the game, the occlusion and ambient effects had also been sucked into the chest along with the soft shadows and particle effects. The only thing that had yet to be touched were the meshes and the polygons and the textures that their own bodies had, they still looked as normal as they always did albeit their color. Who could say for sure how long that would last though?
Suddenly, coming crashing down the wire models of what was left of the ship, a large sum of data fell through the floor above them screeching at the top of it's lungs just before it slammed onto the floor in front the two of them. It was a monster, being ripped apart and town out of the game, getting sucked into the chest at a mile per minute. It's defining features could no longer be seen, it's audio files had all been corrupted too, but with what little form it had left it wanted to make sure it wasn't the only existence to be pulled into this chest of horrors.
A giant distorted roar escaped what would be the mouth of the creature, it's giant claws reeling back before thrashing forward to try strike at Uelle who was hanging from Lopper's body. It tried and it tried with all of it's might to reach out and take her with it, but it wouldn't avail, and it's large sum of data fell into the black hole never to be seen again. It was then, once the chest had accumulated it's sum that it shut tight with a loud BANG that was just as deafening as the original vacuum it had created just moments ago.
The suction would stop, and Lopper's body would fall limp to the floor with her arm still raised up; hanging from the hole in the wall that she had made that somehow didn't give up what damaged integrity it had to let the two of them meet the same fate that monster did. Uelle would fall too, on Lopper or perhaps a few feet from her, and all would seem right with The World once more - despite the entire field being taken into this chest, leaving nothing but a single plane all torn up and broken where it wasn't completely nonexistent in some areas.
The damage, and what the hell could be done now and where they could go from there, would be left up to for later. Perhaps there was a need for Uelle to regain her composure and see where her heart was now despite what had just happened. Perhaps it was a good time to see what has happened to Lopper, if she had possibly died and her fleeting data had been sucked into the chest or if she was still amongst the living inside of her own mind instead of that vile trap.
|
|
Level 2
I joined on January 1970, I am a proud and I've made 65 posts
[Flick Reaper]
|
Post by Uelle on Dec 9, 2011 23:36:17 GMT -5
As much as she wanted to tear her FMD away and block her eyes from the horrific sights of the screen, she had been stricken numb with awe. A huge monster, what must have been the boss of the field, tore into—or rather, simply broke through what was left of the ship’s graphics and fell right at their feet. Loudly, much too loudly, its roar mangled her ears like the boom of nearby thunder. The roar became quickly distorted and fuzzy with anomalies, as did the rest of its withering body, and became something hideous. It reached out toward Uelle, screaming wildly, and then she heard her own scream before she’d flung off her goggles at her table. This was no ordinary game. She already knew that, but to be confronted with the truth so suddenly and stark planted a seed of doubt in her usually unwavering conviction. This is too hard...And messed up! Disturbed, she didn’t even look at the screen, the noise still rising up through the speakers but then suddenly snuffed out with a bang. She looked back at the screen and saw it was almost all white. Frightened at the possibility that she just let Uelle and Lopper get sucked into the vortex, she quickly put back on her FMD, her lips pressing into a thin line, choosing to ignore her feelings of distress. The memory of Ellia…
Uelle had become ‘frozen’ in the brief time she had parted with the controls, making it seem like she had lost consciousness just like Lopper. Was that what happened to Lopper though? Her pain seemed so real. Coming to, Uelle lifted herself half-way up and realized she had been flung several feet from the wall she and Lopper had clung to for their lives, in some widely open, blanched out plane that stretched over where the dungeon used to be. Uelle’s grip must have released itself after she took off her goggles, but the box must have closed just before her avatar would get sucked in. And then who knows what would have become of her.
Looking up, she took in what she surmised was e a severely damaged field. Large chunks of the eerie town were missing—or better said, some large chunks of the town still remained. The outside rain fell only here and there, sometimes broken midway into strings of sparkly characters that would dissipate and reappear elsewhere. In fact, the area of the town and the dungeon ship must somehow be overlapping because she wasn’t sure she was supposed to be seeing them together like that. There was no sound, living or not, not even from the shadowed ocean lining the far away horizon. The ship itself seemed like a conceptual skeleton of the terrific graphic quality that had captivated her just moments ago. Some walls still held, and ceilings, and Lopper dangling limply from one of them. She spared herself a moment of relief, seeing Lopper’s avatar was still in one piece, but its appearance suddenly made her want to look at herself.
Through her hands and her clothes and just about every part of her body, she realized she’d been wiped clean and white. She still seemed full and fleshed though, so it must mean only certain data of her avatar must have been stripped away. Regardless, she rushed over toward Lopper, who barely stood out from the background herself. Her hands fuzzed all over the girl’s PC, unsure of what to do. She was no longer bleeding, probably because it had all been sucked into the chest, but that only worried her more. She moved her cursor over Lopper's body, but it wouldn't tell her how many hit points she had left. For a lack of any better idea, she at least tried unwrapping the chain from her arm but it wouldn’t give out. She moved to the complex-looking hook stuck on the wall next, a pleased smile lighting up her face as the wall broke and crumbled away. Cluttering to the ‘ground’, the hook fuzzed in and out of view as if suffering from bad transmission.
“Hey! Can you hear me, Lopper? Are you there? Did you run away screaming too?” Uelle broke into a hollow laugh despite herself, thinking nothing of her confession but that it knotted her chest with surging guilt. It had only been briefly and at the very end, but she still hesitated. It was unforgivable. “Hey…How am I supposed to know if you’re away or when you’re supposed to wake up. Are you…’frozen’?” Uelle continued to ask at the unresponsive Lopper, sitting and hugging her knees to her chest besides her. Should she just wait until Lopper came back or responded? But how long would it take? Surely, she hadn’t truly lost consciousness, right? Wasn’t she just ‘frozen’? “You know, for my first time going into a dungeon with someone and opening a damn chest, this isn’t turning out to be all that fun.” She gushed, eyes watering up with a rush of emotion. Why couldn’t Ellia just stop haunting her with memories of her face? God she was being depressing. “Actually, give me a second, don’t wake up or whatever yet.” The sound of her sniffling died down as she hid her face away and rubbed at her eyes, refusing to let any of this get to her. “Oh geez I might need more than a moment…” She laughed bitterly.
|
|
Level 20
I joined on January 1970, I am a proud and I've made 1,482 posts
|
Post by ♛ L0PP3R ♛ on Dec 10, 2011 12:45:28 GMT -5
Lopper wouldn't budge at anything the female was saying, she wouldn't hear her kind words or the crying that was coming from her whimpering throat. Lopper laid there like a corpse, unmoving and unchanging as Uelle sat in a field of corruption and destruction. There were parts of the field in the far distance that could be seen cracking and breaking, falling over and disappearing into nothing but a mess of data. The field was completely unstable, everything about it was all sorts of wrong, except for the chest that she had opened up that caused all of this. That isn't to put the blame of Uelle, something like this shouldn't be possible to happen in the game, and Lopper wasn't even able to understand what the hell happened and why.
Was it Nero? Was it another hacker? Was it a virus? Was it The World herself?
The only thing that remained it's normal color and texture, that seemed to be unchanged was the gold chest itself that still was where Lopper had kicked it. It rested there in all of it's glory, the gold and chrome lining shining with light that couldn't possibly be coming from anywhere, it's features slowly turning to what would appear to be a smirk to one's mind's eye. It truly was unchanging, for one reason or another, and it was almost daring for Uelle to come open it up again. That's what that chest was there for, right?
Inside of Lopper's head, she was looking up into nothing at all, floating there in the blackness of her very essence as she waited patiently for SOMETHING to happen. She truly had lost consciousness from the pain and all of the force that had suddenly slammed into her, and instead of being able to come back too the void has closed off the way back to her consciousness; leaving her trapped in her subconsciousness for a little bit. "What are you doing?" she spoke to the atmosphere, knowing she wasn't going to get a reply. There was a reason that she wasn't waking up, and what reason could that be? Lopper tried her best to focus herself and think as to what could be so plausible to imagine is going on out there and why her very infection would turn on her this way. Was it turning on her or was it trying to move something forward? The void has always had it's own agenda, but it was not responsible for what happened in the field the two of them were in. So then what was there for it to accomplish by risking the life of it's host and leaving her unable to move or put a word in edge wise by keeping her from coming too once more?
The void was mysterious in the way that it worked, ultimately ever just trying to do what is best for it. Lopper knew without a doubt that if they had a better host that it would have left her a very long time ago, and that it has only stuck with her all this time with her absence from the core because Lopper was a one-way ticket to the very heart of everything. It had faith in her that she would do what needed to be done for it to continue to exist in a world that had forgotten it. So what was it doing now?
If Uelle were to look around, she would see that there was a crevice near by that was being created by falling texture panels that cracked and disappeared into it's depths. Upon closer inspection, she would find a staircase that lead downwards into who knows what. That golden chest was still there, unmoving, waiting to be opened once more. The field itself was an entire spectacle to behold, and there was plenty raw data everywhere that could be used for something or another if she so wanted to explore this area instead of adventuring down into the depths of the game or open up the chest once more.
|
|
Level 2
I joined on January 1970, I am a proud and I've made 65 posts
[Flick Reaper]
|
Post by Uelle on Dec 11, 2011 0:13:48 GMT -5
Her gaze fell forward again as she finished rubbing her face dry, having burned a much needed moment to gather up her dignity and composure. Lopper still wasn’t coming to and if she said any more she feared she would fall into a depressing stream of babble. Sometimes, when things seemed to stop making sense, she usually tried solving her problems through logic, even indirectly. But in an online game that wasn’t really an option. This wasn’t ‘reality’, after all.
//System error detected. Diagnosing… …… System check…OK Initializing boot sequence… Unable to initialize boot sequence. Diagnosing…//
A small window suggesting a log popped to the corner of her screen, drawing a curious eye. It popped back out of sight before she could read anything however. It didn’t appear in her actual logs either. It must be another effect from the distortion that occurred. It could also possibly mean her PC had somehow been affected in more ways than just being stripped of its color spectrum. It was increasing frustrating how she couldn’t confirm any of her speculations.
They looked like they belonged in some cold cartoon from the 70s, the thought wiggled in as she gave their surroundings another glance. So, before the feeling of helplessness would double back and crush her remaining hold on her senses, Uelle shifted into action. That’s right, don’t think. Just do.
That chest from before was still there, bright and mocking with its aureate hues still intact. Along the sides, part of the ship’s deck was visible in a muddle of broken bites and she found she could hop on unto it without any difficulty. Uelle’s smooth, continuous movements and forward action indicated the player seemed not at all perturbed by the disrupted field she crossed. Turning back with some rope, she carefully tied up the chest shut with it, thinking it was possible after Lopper having initially kicked it from its location. Plus, she had the nagging suspicions something might just crawl out of it if she left it alone.
She wanted to find help. Someone who understood what just happened. Or at least knew a little more about the game than she did. Would leaving behind Lopper to carry out the task be wise though? It didn’t seem like things could get worse, but the idea of just leaving her like that still felt far from good. But after the kind of display Lopper pulled off, it would be even worse to do nothing in return. The decision to gate out almost won over before she spotted the corrosion that yawned through the surface floor, forming a large crevice that revealed a set of stairs rolling down into pitch darkness. Rolling into...a lower level?
Maybe…the lower levels of the field were still intact? She appeared hesitant as she looked over her shoulder one more time at Lopper’s lifeless avatar. Seeming pulled into that baiting darkness, by the falseness of hidden hope, Uelle turned and descended the stairs, dragging the box with her by its rope. There’s now way I’m leaving you behind.
|
|
Level 20
I joined on January 1970, I am a proud and I've made 1,482 posts
|
Post by ♛ L0PP3R ♛ on Dec 11, 2011 2:31:13 GMT -5
Uelle descended into the blackness, all of which she had seen prior would disappear immediately as if her vision had been cut off. Everything around her was pitch black, and all she could do was keep pressing forward down the stairs. What choice did she have? She had already chosen to go down the stairs, there was no way she could turn back now with that large chest behind her blocking her rear. She would walk for what felt like miles; she would walk for so long that her player herself would feel weak at the knees from all the walking her avatar was doing. Was there ever an end to these stairs? Just where were they taking her!?
It was deathly quiet, so quiet that Uelle would hear her heartbeat resonating back and forth in this empty abyss she was entering that seemed to have no end. Were each of her steps forward fruitless? Had she been moving at all at this point? How was progress gauged when you couldn't see or hear anything that you were doing? Was just being alive enough? If Uelle had asked, Lopper wouldn't have been able to give her an answer; she had been struggling with that question her whole life herself. Perhaps Lopper being there next to her might have made the time go by quicker, or the loneliness not as bitter, or the fear not as substantial of a thing that it was growing into for Uelle. 'If only Lopper was here', that would be a first. Suddenly, in the never ending blackness, there was a sudden low noise that came from the far reaches of it's space. It sounded like someone had dropped something, or something of that nature at least. It would come again, louder and louder between a few seconds at a time. It wasn't until the noise was right on top of her that Uelle would realize that she wouldn't have been able to do anything about it even if she had any idea what was just about to happen.
There was a sudden flash of light, one that had consumed all of the darkness and Uelle into it's very nature. Uelle probably wouldn't have seen any light, or remembered any light at least, as she found herself somewhere new. She was sitting underneath a tree with her knees to her chest much like she was when Lopper hadn't woken up from her deep slumber. The grass she was on was soft to the touch, and so was the bright blue cloudless sky that hung over everything. In front of her was a yellow and chrome plated lunchbox, a makeshift one with a rope tied in two knots for a handle. In the background she could see a building with many windows and corridors, pathways above the ground that connected one building to another. What the hell? What was going on?
"Hey! Are you even listening to me!?" someone cried out next to her just to her immediate left. Uelle would come to find that the person the voice originated from was a girl, similar to her age, dressed in a school uniform (that may or may not be familiar to any Uelle had ever worn in her life) with her plain black hair and plain brown eyes. The girl was in the middle of eating her own food, a stressed out and saddened look on her face as her eyes fell back down to her own lunch in front of her. "This is really important to me, and I really need your opinion on this stuff!" Perhaps Uelle would notice then that her own clothes were different, that she was wearing the same uniform as this mysterious girl next to her was; she would realize that her weapon was gone, the menu and HUD were nonexistent, and no trace of the field she was previously in or what had happened ever existed. Had it even happened? Was she just daydreaming about joining The World, that black parade, meeting Lopper and opening that accursed treasure chest? Did The World even exist?
The female sitting next to her shook her head, digging into her bowl of rice she had brought from home in it's cute little container before she spoke again with a full mouth and a hand to over her face to cover it as she spoke. "I don't know what it is I'm gonna wear to the dance! I'm so nervous! Which of the dresses did you think looked best on me yesterday?" she asked, narrowing her eyes in a somewhat playful manner towards Uelle.
Well, Uelle? What looked good on your best friend?
|
|
Level 2
I joined on January 1970, I am a proud and I've made 65 posts
[Flick Reaper]
|
Post by Uelle on Dec 11, 2011 9:58:00 GMT -5
She didn’t want to doubt. She really didn’t. But after a long while of nothing but climbing down stairs, that earlier semblance of hope couldn’t help but fade from the light like a vanished shadow. A shadow… Hope was not like a shadow, was it? In this terribly desolate, black silence…maybe it was. Not even the chest, dragging its incomprehensibly light weight behind Uelle’s steady march at the end of its rope, made the slightest sound. Was she moving too slowly? But it was too late to look back. Likely, the beginning must be just as lost in darkness as the end. Walking and staring into nothing but the blackout for so long eventually began to simmer her senses, disorientating her, making her feel like she was trudging through muck, Uelle’s movement’s slowing into a sluggish pace, as if the strain of some heavy burden was finally taking its toll on her.
Then everything changed and she was no longer in that maddening downward spiral. She looked up and saw the sky, blue as day. A tree. And a school. Her clothes had changed too. Was she out of the game? Her senses still in a daze, she couldn’t really tell. But it all looked so real and…full of life. She suddenly wanted to believe all that’s just happened since she entered [The World], Lopper, and that nightmarish parade, had all just been some dream. And what happened before that.
She was a skinny thing in real life, with dark, long hair and eyes. She wanted to confirm this quickly, but before she could even look at herself, someone called out to her and she realized she was not alone. “What?” she yipped in a startled voice. It was a girl and she wore the same uniform. Where they in the same class? “Dance? What…dance?” She asked, her face muddled with a comical look of confusion. At the girl or at their conversation, it wasn’t clear. Dresses? Yesterday? Is..she talking about a school dance? This scene—she had seen it before. Experienced it. Yes, even the girl’s expression was similar. However, “What are you talking about?” was what she blurted out.
|
|