The Eden Crisis

“Welcome to Eden. Please enter your information so our systems may have a record of you. You will be prompted to name your character after you enter your personal information.”

Name: Jordan Strife

Age: 17

Date of birth: 10/10/2060

Gender: Male

Email: [email protected]

“Information accepted. Please name Character now.”

Character Name: Dante

“Player named Dante, you are the 100thand last randomly selected player to receive the double-class bonus. Please select the two classes you desire for a merge. The list is as follows: Knight, Sorcerer, Siren, Diviner, Lancer, Ninja, Archer.

Class: Knight/Diviner

“Accepted. Class created will be known as the Paladin class. Your character avatar will be modeled after you. The VR equipment is analyzing you now. Congratulations on your first step into Eden. Please read the following back-story as the system continues to analyze.”

The world of Eden was created by the Lord of Creation and Order. His name is Veren. He created a perfect world of five great nations, but these nations warred with one another.

This war was known as the War of the Eyes. Each of the five nations had a unique ocular ability. These abilities were forms of magic. The nations were jealous of the Eyes of destruction in the nation of Ruina and challenged them.

The war grew to such levels that the people of Ruina were completely wiped out by the other nations. Lord Veren in his anger shattered the world into 100 continents that float in an endless sky. He separated them for all time until the day a warrior of destiny can prove humanity worthy.

The Lord of Creation stripped the people of their magic except for those who were worthy. Veren has given the challenge to the people of Eden that if they want to restore their world, they must prove their worth.

Can you do it player? Can you impress the great God of Creation and Order? Show Him the strength of your will.

“Analysis complete. Avatar has been created. Enjoy Eden, player, and tempt not the fates.”

The world takes shape around me, and soon I am surrounded by a pristine beauty. Looking around I see a city of stone that is surrounded by water. Players are walking all around or talking as if this were everyday life. This is truly incredible.

“You’re late, little brother.” Startled, I jump in place. I turn to see my older brother. He looks pretty awesome. He is wearing black pants, a sleeveless charcoal top and black leather gloves to finish it off.

“Doesn’t seem like much protection, Jon,” I say. He rolls his eyes. “In here call me Cloud. As for my armor it may not look like much but it is strong.” Of course he went with that gamer tag, I thought. He is obsessed with Final Fantasy VII, a game eighty years old.

“Really? Cloud? Your obsession is crazy. You even look like him.”

“What can I say, little brother, Cloud is awesome. Anyway, Jason should be here soon. His gamer tag is Vergil.” Jason is my fraternal twin.

Cloud offers to show me around the town while we wait for “Vergil.” New players get 1,000 gold coins. Aside from fighting to get the coins, players can also buy them via credit-card—ten dollars for three hundred. It’s not a horrible deal, but I would rather do it the old-fashioned way.

Cloud decides to be nice and gives me a small portion—5,000—of his coins. He is a part of a guild in the game known as SOLDIER, which, essentially, is a guild of Final Fantasy VII fanatics.

Cloud is part of the upper chain of command under the top two members of the guild. Thus, he gets a decent amount of gold every week. I use the gold and buy some new armor, new weapons and a few items for my inventory.

As we continue to wait for Vergil, Cloud explains more about the game and how various elements work. This is a big help for things like using the inventory or doing magic.

I don’t have any spells rights now, but I will in time. As Cloud finishes with his explanations, Vergil joins us. He is waving frantically at me. “Hey, Jordy!” I cringe at the nickname.

He runs up and squeezes me tightly. “There you are, finally!” He looks at Cloud. “Sorry for being late, big brother. I was talking to Asher.”

Cloud sighs. “Whatever. It’s a Saturday, so we’re fine. No school for you two. We’re taking our brother, whose gamer tag is Dante, not Jordy . . . we’re taking him to the Forest of Darkness in the West.”

I follow my brothers to the forest and listen to them tell stories about their experiences in the game. Vergil was associated with a former guild called Shadow XIII. Though he is no longer part of the guild, he is still a member.

Vergil is hesitant about the reason he is no longer a part of the group. He is one of the lucky hundred players who received a class merge. He is a Ninja/Lancer merge.

He is wearing silver leather pants and a silver vest with a silver cloak over it. Apparently it is a custom of Shadow XIII members to wear cloaks. They were a reward for some guild quest he and the others had undertaken.

We enter into the forest and are met by monsters. My brothers let me take the lead, only offering help when needed. They want me to get experience for the attacks.

Battling monsters is incredibly real. The few hits I receive actually involve pain though it is dull. As soon as I finish with the monsters we go deeper into the forest.

We come to a fork in the road and Cloud points to the right. “That way leads to the Forsaken Temple. Inside is the level one Boss. He is decently strong. I wouldn’t recommend fighting him unless you’re at least level ten. Eight might be possible if you have plenty of potions. “

Apparently it didn’t really matter how much you leveled up. The bosses are always seven levels ahead of you. However, by being on a good- enough level I will have different magic or skills to use.

Cloud starts walking down the other road, the one leading to the left. Vergil tells me this road takes us to a basic dungeon where a higher-level monster will be and treasure. Usually, this treasure is equipment, he says.

The dungeon looks like nothing less than a rotten tree. A hole in the tree will lead us underground. “Ready yourself,” Cloud says. “The monsters here get stronger the deeper we go. The dungeon has three levels,” Cloud says, drawing his sword.

As we begin to explore and gather equipment and gold, we fight monsters. They are stronger than the others, as Cloud had said. My level rises even higher. I learn a new spell. It’s low-level-cure magic. This will come in handy, I feel certain.

We enter level three of the dungeon. According to Cloud and Vergil there is a big room where a strong enemy will appear and then the treasure room. As we continue we hear screaming.

Vergil runs ahead of us and into the room. Cloud chases after him, and I hurry to catch up. Inside the room there are several players fighting what I am assuming is the enemy.

The figure is in a black cloak with the hood up. It is fighting with a scythe. Player after player is being killed, their avatars shattering into pieces.

The three remaining members of the group are scooting on the floor away from the cloaked being. “You’re too strong! This was a mistake!” one of them yells before a scythe slices his head off.

Vergil runs while twirling a scroll he’d partly unraveled from his inventory, a long sheet of ancient paper uncoiling around him. “What I seek is the fire that burns the land! Explosion!” he shouts. At once, a ball of fire shoots across the room toward the cloaked being. Astonishingly, the fireball passes right through it.

The enemy finishes off the players and points its scythe at us. “Hello there, Vergil . . . it’s been a while.” My twin growls and pulls out a pair of kodachis. He attacks but the cloaked being blocks his every strike.

Then Vergil gets lucky, but his slash passes right through the being. The enemy, now enraged, brandishes his scythe. “Whirlwind slash!” he bellows. A blast of razor-like wind propels my brother backward.

Cloud catches him and uses a potion to heal him. I draw my sword and charge the being. I don’t have a clue as to what I am doing and I definitely am not a match. The being chuckles and puts his scythe away. He holds his hands up. “Time stop!” He snaps his fingers and I am frozen in place.

The being pulls his hood back and reveals himself. He is a player. He has platinum-blonde hair and eyes as the horizon, amber with a hint of red. He looks at me and smirks. “You must be Vergil’s brother. How sweet you are to defend him, but you are foolish if you think you can beat me.”

I snarl. “Why did you kill those players?” The being dismisses my question. “They attacked me first,” he says sarcastically. “I was only defending myself. Besides, what’s the difference? They will respawn in the city.”

“Killing other players is wrong!” I scream. His eyes narrow. “They attacked me,” he says. “I didn’t kill them just for the sake of killing them.” He looks away.“ This conversation bores me. I would love to fight you one day, dear brother of Vergil.” He opens his inventory and pulls out an item.

He throws it, and it lands on the ground next to me. It’s a sword. “Consider this a gift for our meeting.” He looks at Vergil. “If you want to know more about those days before, face me in the Platinum Tournament in two weeks. Make it to fighting me and I will let you know the truth you are blind to.”

He tosses a small crystal into the air and teleports from the room. The spell he had cast wears off and I am free to move again. I take the sword and put it in my inventory. I will need to get it appraised so I can use it.

My brothers tell me who the being is. His name is Cain in the game. Who he really is they do not know. His mysterious words were meant for Vergil and Vergil alone. I hope Vergil will tell me their meaning one day soon. It seems obvious there is something between him and Cain, with the flash of hatred Vergil showed. We go into the treasure room and retrieve the valuable items inside. Cloud uses a crystal and teleports us from the dungeon back to the town.