The Eden Crisis

Vergil and Asher appear in the waiting room and I congratulate them. We are going into the final round against Cain! Vergil is deliriously happy. Claire walks into our room and gives us her congratulations on winning.

We all walk out together to the stadium seats. The announcer says there will be a small intermission before the final round. We all find Cloud, Lucien and Zack. They are sitting waiting for the next round to begin.

As we approach them Cloud tells us how proud he is of our fight. “The hardest part has yet to come, though. Cain isn’t like the Siren group or even Claire. I mean, we couldn’t beat him, so it’s going to take skill.” I nod in agreement.

“I know, I say. “We will need holy magic. I don’t have any of those spells, but I have plenty of scrolls I can give Vergil and Asher.” Cloud ruffles my hair. “You’re learning. That’s good, but even with all that magic, you still need to be on guard. Cain is quick and lethal.”

Claire is talking to her brother. He is clearly still angry about losing to Cain. I would be, too, if I were as strong as he is. I listen to my brother talk more about how to win the fight. He talks strategy through the intermission.

Vergil, Asher and I head to the waiting room. Claire comes with us, saying she wants to speak to me before I go into the arena. She is holding her sword. “I want you to use my sword in the fight but only for the fight. When you win, I want it back.” I smile. “What makes you think I will win? You did beat me, after all.”

Claire laughs lightly. “Yes, but you knew how to beat me and made it happen. Now, listen, seeing as you are both a knight and a diviner, I know that you can use both skills this weapon offers before learning them on your own—the sword skill Ragnarok and the white- magic spell holy.”

I think that this will make things better and begin to actually wonder if maybe we have a chance. I thank Claire and take the weapon into my inventory. “Cheer me on,” I say, and wink at her. She rolls her eyes. “In your dreams, little hero.” I teleport into the arena with Vergil and Asher.

Cain is already standing there waiting for us. He is acting less casual than in his previous fight with my brother and Lucien. He looks almost excited. There is a blood lust in his eyes. The announcer gives his over-the-top intro for Cain and a pretty plain one for us.

The countdown begins and it’s time to see who is best. Cain smirks at us. “Come on, Vergil, let’s see how you’ve grown in the last month and a half,” He says. Vergil scowls. “You’re going to pay for what you did,” he says. Cain chuckles. “We’ll see, won’t we?”

The countdown hits zero, and I throw an examination crystal. To my surprise the crystal reveals nothing. Some unknown equipment of his is blocking me. Cain knows we know the secret to attacking him, so he isn’t pulling punches anymore.

Cain claps his hands once and places them on the ground. “Quake!” A wave shakes the ground and knocks us into the air. The great knight/sorcerer points his hands up at us. “Shadow lightning!” he commands. I act quickly and cast a defensive spell. “Reflect!” The shadow lightning bounces off the shield and directs itself back at Cain.

The attack, inevitably, goes through him, but we are safe from his counter. We land back on the ground, and I use a healing spell to restore our lost HP as Vergil and Asher both pull out scrolls. They undo them and reveal the ancient writings. “I seek the divine energy! Holy!” they say in unison, and two balls of white energy fly through the air and hit Cain. He groans in pain.

“Damn it!” he screams. “OK, fine, let’s take it even higher!” He lifts his hand up. “Soul harvest!” Our energy is stolen from us and used to restore Cain’s health. He pulls out two scythes and comes at us.

“It ends now! Final reaping!” Asher pushes us out of the way and takes the attack full on. He shatters and is out of the match. I take the time in between the attacks and restore our health. I look at Vergil. We have only one chance, I tell him. “Use the special level three holy scroll.”

Cain targets my twin to stop him. I cast the holy spell from the sword, knock Cain off balance and quickly slash him across the chest. He grunts and flips backward. When his hand touches the ground he casts a spell. “Firestorm!!” A beam of fire shoots across the arena and hits me.

My brother pulls out the scroll I gave him, letting the scroll roll open, and twirls it. “I call on the empty void and ask for the power of the ancient guardian of the holy realm!” he says. The scroll burns in a white flame, and a glyph appears high in the arena.

Vergil clutches his chest and falls to his knees. His HP begins to drop until it stops at one. Cain and I both look at the glyph, and Cain chuckles. “Fool! A level three scroll sacrifices the HP of the user!” Cain holds his hand up. “Shadow lightning stream.” A concentrated black beam of lightning shoots through the air and hits my brother. He shatters and teleports from the arena.

Cain is too late, though: the attack from the scroll begins. Beams of white energy rain down from the sky and hit him. His HP drops low. He holds up his hand. “Soul harvest!” My energy is stolen and is used to restore a portion of his health.

I have to use my one last chance to win. I order up a skill and run toward Cain. He smirks and charges a sword skill to bring me down once and for all. I come in close and use the skill. “Ragnarok!”

With the skill, I knock Cain into the air and slash him several times. I fly above him, and balls of energy shoot from the sword and hit Cain, making his HP drop to just a few points. He looks at me with surprise. I drop down low for the final slash.

Before my attack can connect, a large bell tolling in the background causes a mass teleportation. Time seems to slow down as a red wave erupts from the bell tower. Everyone in the stadium begins to teleport out as the wave hits them, even Cain and I.

I appear in Indagatus with all of the players in the game. There must be thousands here. What is going on? I can see Vergil and Cloud. I run up to them and they are just as clueless as I.

Everyone is freaking out and speculating on what’s happening. Thunder booms as people look up. Lightning bolts shoot across the sky and collide in a white-hot blast. When the blast ends, a large, dark, hooded and shadowy face appears in the sky. I can’t tell who it is.

“Attention, players,” the face says. “By now some of you will have noticed there is no longer a logout feature. I assure you this is no glitch or malfunction. I am responsible for that. I have taken control of the game, and none of you can leave till the final boss is beaten.” People begin screaming indistinctly at the shadowy figure.

I open my menu and look for the logout feature and as the figure said, it is gone. The figure explains further. “The VR equipment will keep you in the game, and if anyone in the outside world attempts to remove it, the gamer will die. Also, I’ve changed the settings of all VR equipment connected to the system. If you die in the game, you die in real life. For those of you afraid someone will take your VR helmet off, do not worry. The game is being broadcast live, and news stations across the world will be delivering this message.”

People are falling to their knees in despair. The hooded man continues. “Finally, I have reset the open-teleportation spheres. You must start back from Continent One. Unlike the previous mode in which each individual player has to beat a boss to cross to the next continent, this time as long as the boss is beaten and the sphere activated, all players may cross to the next continent. Your levels will all remain the same, but all enemies have been calibrated to accommodate your levels. Good luck, players, fight well and tempt not the fates.” The figure disperses into nothing.

My God! What will happen? We can’t die in the game! This is bad. No, this is horrible, on a level never before seen!

Lucien calls a meeting at the Indagatus Research Palace. Claire, Zack, Asher, Nero, Apollo, my brother and I all meet with him. Lucien explains how serious the problem is. Everything the hooded man said is true: the VR equipment is so well connected to the brain and its electrical impulses that it is fully possible for someone to mess with it and put all the players in danger.

It is a major flaw that Lucien had planned on correcting in a few months with a new VR equipment release. We all ask the obvious question as to how this hack is possible. Lucien says only someone in the company can directly interfere with the system.

He believes data anomalies are responsible for the hack. I have no idea, but I am terrified right now. Who could want to do this to the few-hundred-thousand people in the game? It seems senseless to me.

Lucien wants to continue with the discussion, but I think we all can use a break. “Lucien,” I say, overcoming my reluctance to interrupt him, “with all due respect, I think we need to rest. The situation can’t be resolved tonight, so please let us rest.” Everyone looks at me in shock.

Lucien scowls. “You’re only here because Cloud is your brother,” he says. “You’re a weak excuse of a player. If you want to rest and be a child, then, fine, leave.” Claire seems to agree with me and huffs at her brother. “He is right, Lucien. You can’t expect action to just start. We still have so much to learn. Let us rest and regroup tomorrow.”

Lucien concedes to his sister and allows us to take a break. I head to one of the rooms in the palace.

It turns out the rest I receive, while better than nothing, is minimal. The situation keeps me up through the night. Dawn finally breaks, and I go out to the courtyard. Cloud is sitting on the edge of the fountain. This is a common thing for him. He loves water. He usually sits near water when he wants to think about something.

I walk over and sit next to him. “Cloud . . . big brother . . . what’s on your mind?” Cloud stirs from his thoughts and smiles weakly. “Just thinking about how to protect you and Vergil.” I’m more worried about him. It’s likely Lucien is going to make him work hard.

Cloud sighs. “Perhaps I should be thinking about myself. Lucien wants Zack and me to work to recruit players. Diviners will be a necessity. Their healing powers are a must if we are to survive. They also have the ability to perform summoning. Check your data log; it will inform you of the new summoning skills for all diviners.”

I tell myself I will do that later, knowing that anything that can protect those I care about is something I need to do, no questions asked. Recruiting players? “Brother, when you say recruit . . . do you mean like an army?” Cloud nods. “Yes. “As of now there are about three hundred SOLDIER members. The majority of them are Knight class, about seventy-five percent. The other twenty-five percent are split among sorcerers, diviners and lancers.” Cloud looks away. “This will not be enough if we are to get to the one-hundredth continent.”

Lucien already wants to go for it. There needs to be scouting before anything else. If he puts my brother in danger I will kill him. “Cloud,” I say, “there has to be scouting. Have you suggested this to Lucien?”

Cloud laughs. “There is no suggesting to Lucien. He is the only one to make choices in the guild. I have to protect him, though; it is my job.” I shake my head. “No, Cloud! This is different! Our lives are in danger constantly! You have to look out for yourself.” Cloud smirks. “Maybe, brother, but, still, Lucien is one of my best friends along with Zack. They are very important to me, and I will protect them—you and Vergil, as well.”

Speaking of the devil, Vergil walks up to us and sits down. He stays quiet for a while. Cloud finally nudges him. “Something up, little brother?” he says. Vergil laughs weakly and with a sense of dread. “Noel messaged everyone in Shadow XIII. The director of Shadow XIII has called for us to be a group again. I’m afraid to meet with them all. Asher and Sion are really the only ones I like. What if it’s a trap? Noel is loyal only to Cain; he could be doing this on his behalf.”

Cloud ruffles Vergil’s hair. “Cain is a lot of things, but a murderer is not one of them. You will have Asher there, and if it makes you feel better I will be outside the meeting to make sure you are OK.” Vergil nods. “I’d like that, brother.”

The sun is getting higher in the sky and players are starting to come out. Many of them are realizing that the events of yesterday weren’t a dream. I wish they were but, sadly, that isn’t how things work. I put a hand on each of my brothers. “I need to find Claire and return her sword,” I say. “Can we meet up at the Bustling Pub later?” They both smile and say yes.

Claire is likely in one of the rooms of the palace. I go back in to find her. I walk around looking for her. Room after room is empty. I eventually find her in one of the rooms sleeping.

Should I wake a sleeping woman? I wonder. It seems as if it might be a mistake to do that. Oh, well. I nudge her. There is no response. I shake her lightly. She groans in her sleep. My god, how heavy can a person sleep? I notice a bucket in the corner. I cast a water spell and fill it up.

“Wake up!” I yell before throwing the water on her. She lets out a scream and jumps out of bed. She looks around frantically. She spots me and growls. “Dante!” She runs toward me and tackles me to the floor.

“I’m going to kill you!” She swings a fist and I catch it. She swings the other one, and I catch it, too.. “Dante! Let me go!” I roll us over and she is below me. “Are you going to calm down?” I say. She sighs and nods.

I let her go and help her up. She slaps me across the face. “Jackass!” I put my hand on my cheek. Damn, she can slap. She holds in a laugh. “What do you need, Hero?” she says. I rub my cheek. “A potion, I think.” She rolls her eyes.

I open my inventory and pull out the sword she let me have for the match. I hand it to her. “Here, thanks for letting me use it.” She takes the sword and thanks me for returning it promptly.

“Claire, I’m going into town to stock up on supplies. Want to join me?” She nods. “Let me get my armor on.”