The Blademaster stepped out into the field, its beautiful blue sky and soft green grass permeated his senses. “I wonder where he is… It’s odd. He didn’t tell me to bring someone with me this time.” Wren pondered to himself as he stood there. A calm breeze blew up from behind him, swaying the blades of grass gently and pushing his hair up around his face.

Ah, so you showed up alone this time. Good, good. You always seem to get out safely with your friends here. Lets see how you do on your own, shall we? Welcome to my HELL!

When the Wavemaster finished speaking the sky grew dark and foreboding, clouds rushed in from the edges of the horizon, and the only source of light came from the thousands of Magic Portals that sprung up all across the field. It looked as if there was a portal for every blade of grass on the field.

“How am I supposed to get to the dungeon through… this.” Wren looked around, wondering what these portals would hold upon opening them. With a single step forward, five portals opened, revealing 3 Cadet Valkyries and 2 Magic Goblins. “This is going to be a long day,” he thought.

The Cadet Valkyrie lunged forward, leaving Wren to leap back away from the thrust. From behind him, he heard the sounds of several other portals opening. The snarling of Goblins and cracking sound of Snip Snaps’ claws rang true through the air. “I’m in trouble here!”

Without hesitation, Wren quickly Gated Out of the area. Upon arriving back at Mac Anu, which was now scarcely populated by Knights of War, one at the Chaos Gate, and maybe four or five walking around town, he walked down towards the bridge calmly.

FLASH MAIL

From:
To: Wren

Awww… Why did you leave? I was just starting to have fun. Were my friends too much trouble for you? Come back, and I promise they’ll play nice.

“Tch…” Wren muttered, ignoring the Flash Mail. He slowly began to walk down the stairs into Mac Anu. The Record NPC was shouting his usual phrase. “You’ll be sorry if you don’t save! Save before going on the adventure!” Disregarding the mindless babble, Wren continued down the next flight of stairs that took him to the heart of Mac Anu, looking around its beautiful buildings.

It was at this moment he had an idea. If he could somehow contact the Wavemaster like the Wavemaster contacts him through Flash Mail. Then maybe he could get a better idea of what’s going on.

Wren quickly began to compose a Flash Mail:

FLASH MAIL

From: Wren
To:

Who are you? Why did you select me? I’m sick of playing your games, and I’m never going to an area you tell me to go to again. If you want to face me so bad, do it yourself, don’t send in some lackies to do it for you. So just leave me alone.

When Wren tried to send the message, he got a window:

ERROR!
Please Specify A Sender.

Again Wren tried to send the message, but it didn’t go through. Wren clicked the Cancel button, then Send again, and a window popped up:

MESSAGE SENT

“Wow… It worked.” Seconds later Wren received a response from the Wavemaster

FLASH MAIL

From:
To: Wren

That’s too bad… I have a nice surprise for you if you return to the field. I don’t think you want to miss this. But, if you don’t care, well, I’d hate to see there be one less player in The World to play with.

“Argh! What is he TALKING about!? … I guess I have to go back.” With a sigh, Wren started up the stairs towards the Chaos Gate.

Once again Wren stepped out into the field, there were maybe a handful of portals scattered across the plains. Everything was back to the way it had been. The sun was shining, the grass was green and soft, and there wasn’t but one or two white clouds in the sky. “This is really irritating… I wish he’d just leave me alone.”

Welcome back, Wren. I’m glad to see you returned. I’d hate to have my favorite toy go away, unless you died of course. Oh! I have an idea… Come to the dungeon as fast as your feet will carry you. Don’t tarry in any one place too long. The life of your friend rests in your hands. Hahaha… Have fun!

The voice faded away with laughter. “My… friend? – No way, he can’t have Adaron or any of them… Hmm. Maybe it would be best if I went anyway.” Wren started off at a run straight to the dungeon, the crisp wind rushing up into his face as he sprinted across the plains. One of the portals to his right bulged out and then opened, releasing a Cadet Valkyrie. Wren came to a skidding halt and he spun around to meet this foe, drawing forth his sword, gripping the hilt with both hands.

“I can’t spend too much time here!”

The Valkyrie lashed out at him with its spear, cutting downwards at his right shoulder. Quickly Wren parried the blow and then thrust his blade out at the Valkyrie in return. The stroke failed to connect, as the Valkyrie slashed upwards with its spear, cutting into Wren’s lower torso, which ran a sharp pain into his body.

“Argh…” Wren staggered back, muttering to himself, “I can’t stay here… I have to go.” With that, he leapt out at the Valkyrie again, slashing down at its shoulder as it had done to him. The Valkyrie rose its spear shaft to block the onslaught, but at the last second, Wren shifted his body and swung the blade in an arc around into the Valkyrie’s armored torso. There was a mighty clang, which sent the Valkyrie sprawling back onto its right shoulder.

Wren stood gripping at his wounded side, panting for breath. Beads of sweat ran down his brow and became intermingled in his eyebrows and his bangs, which caused the thin brown locks of hair to stick to his body. The Valkyrie stood up and made a lunge at the Blademaster once again. Without a moment to spare, Wren pivoted his body to the left, and the Valkyrie slid on by him, then, turning elegantly and with great speed upon his right heel, Wren came down upon the Valkyrie’s backside with his sword and yelled out “Vak Slash!” The attack sent the Valkyrie face first into the ground. Once again Wren stood still for a moment to catch his breath. “Now… To finish it.” He panted.

In one final strike, Wren stepped forward to the Valkyrie and brought his blade up and aimed the tip down for a lunge into the creature’s lower torso, which wasn’t armored. When he inhaled to thrust down, the Valkyrie rolled over and thrust the blunt side of the spearshaft into his stomach. This winded Wren and threw him backwards. “I feel like I’m going to throw up…” The Valkyrie made a quick slash at Wren, which was weakly parried by the Blademaster, who was losing blood profusely through his left side which was cut open.

His mind began to drift, and Wren became weary.

I must… go on.

Mustering the last of his strength, Wren rushed forward the five steps to his opponent, slamming his good shoulder into the Valkyrie, which caused it to stumble back. Then, he slashed across its torso, the blade cleaving clean into the Valkyrie’s body.

“Repth!” Wren muttered, just before falling to the ground with his foe. The white orbs of light engulfed him, causing him to glow like a white silhouette. When the light faded, the wound was gone and Wren was free to stand.

Quickly now, you wouldn’t want your friend to die? Would you?

“Curse you! I’m coming!! … who ever you are…” Wren rushed forward, portal after portal opening on either side of him. “I have to get there!” he screamed, barely escaping the attacks of the Valkyries, Swordmanoids, Magic Goblins, and the like, that were sprouting up all around him.

Wren was within 5 yards of the dungeon, hundreds of monsters following up behind, slashing and jumping and shrieking and howling. Just before he reached the threshold of the dungeon’s entrance, a massive shadow came lurking out of it. When the shadows took form, there were three Hell Dobermans standing at the entrance, barking and snarling. One had a flame of White, with blond fur. The second one had a flame of Blue, with red fur, and the third had a flame of Green, with black fur.

“Good lo—“

Meet my new toys, Wren. They should prove more of a challenge for you than my previous one, so I invite you to test your luck against them at your leisure. I noticed that you had success in Flash Mailing me. Congratulations. However, I am not ready to answer your questions yet. It happens far too often that the bad guy becomes overconfident and gives away his plans too early in the plot, and then the hero, that being you, devises a clever countermeasure. So, in light of that being said, please enter this dungeon.

The three Hell Dobermans ran out and started slaying the myriad creatures that followed behind the Blademaster, leaving him to enter the dungeon. When he finally stepped off of the last stair, he found himself nowhere… He was standing in a void. Wren, in complete surprise, turned back towards the stairs, only to see them fade away before his eyes.

Do you like the new design? I find it quite intriguing. Never knowing what’s ahead, or what you’ve left behind. It is a full mystery. It took me forever to develop, so please enjoy the darkness.

“Where do I go!? You said I should get to the Gott Statue to save my friend! How can I do that if there’s no door!” Wren cried out in frustration.

Oh, yes, yes, fear not, Blademaster. All comes to those who wait.

Stars began to glow beneath Wren’s feet, as if he was standing on glass. Then, they all converged at one point, and began to flow upwards in a bottle shape. Within the fountain of light formed by the stars, a white silhouette began to take form. When it gained detail and color, Wren found himself a standing before a door. The stars faded away and the door slid open, allowing Wren to continue on into the void.

His footsteps made no noise as Wren walked into the next room. The door behind him slammed shut and then faded away, much like the stairs had before. All around the area, stars were flashing by as if Wren was moving forward at great speed. This in particular made him dizzy and sick to his stomach.

Then, up from nowhere a Magic Portal floated into view. “Oh god… Not here. All these… stars.” Wren closed his eyes tightly trying to get a hold of himself as he drew his sword from its scabbard. When he heard the portal break open, Wren opened his eyes and leaped out in the Portal’s direction. His blade clashed against another, which sent him flying back through the air. To his surprise, Wren landed with no pain, and when he looked to his assailant, he found it to be two Swordmanoids.

“I’ve done this before… No problem!” Wren smirked as he stood up. The two Swordmanoids rushed at him, their blades out to the sides, hoping that one would pass on either side and cut him in two places. Without hesitation, Wren dove down and to the right, knocking the feet of a Swordmanoid out from under itself.

Wren quickly leapt to his feet and rushed at the other Swordmanoid who had its back turned. With one foul swoop he slashed down into the back of the creature, causing it to scream out in pain. Unbeknownst to Wren, it pulled its arm across its chest, pivoting around into a backhanded slash at Wren’s torso. When Wren went to block the blow, he found himself too slow, and the blade passed into his shoulder.

“Sh-t,” Wren skid back a few feet to get out of blade range, “That’s smarts! I’ll get him back!” With a smirk on his face, Wren rushed forward at the Swordmanoid, who had just begun to turn around. He noticed that off to his right was the second Swordmanoid, dashing to cut the Blademaster off.

One leap, and Wren’s feet connected with the shoulder of the first Swordmanoid, knocking him forward, and propelling Wren off of its body at the second. With his blade raised, Wren shouted out, “Vak Slash!” His sword swung down unrelenting upon the passing Swordmanoid. When Wren’s feet and knee touched down onto an unseen surface and he skid for a few feet, he saw the arm of the Swordmanoid collapse and drop down beside its feet.

Wren rushed forward and lunged into the back of the single-armed Swordmanoid, and it became monochromatic on his blade, fading off into strands of binary data. A blade pierced into Wren’s side, and he screamed out in pain. But no sound came forth, the screams and yells were snatched away from his lungs before they had a chance to exhale. He hadn’t seen the original Swordmanoid coming because no sound is made when one runs. “Curse you!!”

With his body beind the slash, Wren took the sword into his left hand and slashed in a backhanded motion at the Swordmanoid’s head. The Swordmanoid failed to parry or dodge because its blade was still embedded in Wren’s side. The Swordmanoid fell to the ground and faded away into data just as Wren was using Repth upon himself, the wounds that he had received slowly faded away and he sighed in relief.

Several of the stars that were whisking by Wren on all sides concentrated down into three doors, one beside the other. Wren stared at them in awe, wondering why there were three doors on a single wall.

Pick and choose… Pick and choose… Sound familiar? You have but one choice, Wren. Make it, and make it wisely, the doors vanish behind you remember. Two of them lead back to this room, and the third will take you onwards. However, it changes constantly and randomly, it is not guaranteed to cycle through until each door has been the right one. So choose correctly…

“Getting into puzzles, are you? This is certainly a change…” Wren scoffed, hoping to irritate the Wavemaster. “Do you play Dungeons and Dragons by any chance? You certainly do seem like a GM. Oh, and by the way, I’m going through the right door.”

The door on Wren’s right slid open slowly and then vanished, leaving a rim of stars to light the doorway. After Wren passed through it, the stars faded away along with the other doors. Without warning, a Goblin’s knife struck out at Wren’s back. He quickly spun around and slashed down upon the creature’s head with his sword. “Vak Slash!” The Goblin quickly turned to data and faded from existence.

“What’s with the simple enemies? Are you running out of ideas? I’m used to seeing huge things from you!” Wren called out, hoping the Wavemaster would respond. But alas, there came no voice on the air, simply a door to his right. “Well, only one way to go I guess…”

Wren walked through the doorway and found himself standing before three doors again. “Did I choose wrong? … Come ON! Talk to me!”

I already told you the rules to this game. I won’t repeat them for you.

“Well, I guess I did… I’ll take the Right path again.”

So be it…

Once again the right door opens and fades away, leaving starlight lining the doorway. Wren passes through the door and the stars fade away, along with the other two doors. Wren stands there waiting for another attack, his sword in hand and ready. But nothing happens.

“I wonder what he’s planning…” Wren crouches down ready to expel any opponent. He waits there for a few minutes and nothing happens, the same breeze flows through his hair and around his body, and the same stars rush by from all sides, converging at a single point far off where the horizon would typically be.

There is laughter so thick and vile it permeates the air and chokes Wren.

“You – I’m coming for you! So be ready!” Wren rushed forward as fast as he could, realizing that nothing was going to come for him. Off to his right a door appears forcing him to skid to a halt. Wren nearly falls onto his hind side when he stops, catching himself on his left hand and standing back up before the door, then the door opens up so he can pass. When Wren takes a step into the doorway a massive blade crashes down in front of him, causing him to jump back in surprise.

“What the—!”

A red Swordmanoid crept out of the door wielding a gargantuan silver sword with a black shield twined and garnished with yellow and silver intricate curving lines. Upon its head was a helmet capped with a single spike, a Unicorn’s horn.

“Woah…” Wren stepped back in surprise, wondering what this really was.

The Swordmanoid quickly slashed out at Wren’s chest, wasting no time. All Wren could think to do in that moment was to submit. So he did. Wren fell to his knees, barely missing the deadly blade of his opponent, a few stray brown hairs fluttering down past his knees and getting intermixed with the constant flow of stars beneath his body.

The Swordmanoid reached out to grab the Blademaster, at that moment, Wren shut his eyes and grabbed up his sword, slashing out in a raised arc. His Phase Blade shattered against the Swordmanoid’s armored arm. This only phased the Swordmanoid for a moment before it continued to reach down. Wren rose to his feet and stumbled backwards away from the beast. “Wha--… How’d it do that? You can’t… That’s… Impossible.”

The fact that Wren’s sword was shattered against a foe sent his mind spiraling out of control. Yet another rule of The World was broken, and that was one more thing that he had been sure about, that suddenly became obscure.

Holding the hilt of the Phase Blade in his hand, he looked at it carefully, out of the corner of his eye he could see the Swordmanoid advancing towards him with its shield hand outstretched.

“I’ve been outmatched this time…” he sighed, and then lunged at the Swordmanoid using the hilt of the Phase Blade. It smashed into the helmet of the Swordmanoid. In response to this, the Swordmanoid slammed its sword’s blunt edge down upon the side of Wren’s neck, paralyzing his body. Then the Swordmanoid grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and dragged him through the door. The door faded away behind the two, and the Swordmanoid, dragging Wren, faded from sight suddenly.

His vision was foggy, Wren could hardly see and his back, neck, and head were throbbing with pain. There was a vague figure standing before him, mixtures of blue, green, and a grayish-white color that formed a body. The pain in Wren’s neck began to linger and fade away, after blinking a little bit and shaking his head, Wren regained his vision, for the most part.

There, standing before him was the Wavemaster. “It’s about time you’re awake. Here. I noticed you broke yours.” The Wavemaster tosses Wren a new 8-Phase Blade. It stops falling at about Wren’s shoulder level, and slides in mid air over to him. After he remembers where he is, and why the sword did that, Wren reaches up and grasps the weapon by the hilt.

“This isn’t going to— break, is it?” Wren looks skeptically at the Wavemaster.

“No, no. I actually had an NPC of mine go and buy that. I hope you’re ready to use it, though.” The Wavemaster turned his back to Wren, looking out at the never ending flow of stars.

“The World… A limitless online RPG with over twenty-million users. Could you imagine the power one would have if they could control that realm? You would be… well… God.”

“THAT realm? What do you mean ‘That’ realm? Where are we?” Wren looks around, worried about no longer being in The World.

“We’re not in a completed area of The World right now. But all the same rules apply, except for the ones that I altered, of course. The Gott Statue is still present, but I’ve corrupted it,” the Wavemaster motions off to his right and a spotlight comes down upon a pit with a mangled Gott Statue floating in it, “And the chest is right here.” Another spotlight flashes down between the Wavemaster and Wren, revealing the Gott Chest.

“I was wondering… Why did you give me a new Phase Blade? Whats going on?” Once again Wren looks to the Wavemaster suspiciously.

“I have my reasons. Mainly I want to fight you. And that cannot happen properly if you don’t have a weapon. However…”

“You want to what!” Wren jumped to his feet, alarmed, “But you’re a Wavemaster, and a hacker to boot! You’ll lay waste to me! That’s hardly fair…”

“Well, I did say I was going to finish you off myself, didn’t I? That, and I will fight with minimal magic. My stats are boosted far enough that I should be able to match your skill. So don’t hold back… There is a catch, now that I recall. You must fight a Sky Fish first, and then two Swordmanoids before we fight. I am merely a Wavemaster, even though my stats are just below yours, your weapon far outweighs mine, and you’re of a bigger build. With the leverage of weight alone you could topple the scales. So we’ll just even the playing field.” The Wavemaster turned his head and looked to Wren out of the corner of his eye, and began to laugh maliciously.

Shaking his head and trying to ignore all the stars rushing by, Wren gripped the Phase Blade tightly around the hilt. “Okay! Let’s see that Sky Fish…”

“Oh? You’re ready so soon? Are you sure you want to rush to an early death like that? I’m surprised, impressed, actually. You really are changing, from what I saw before in Mac Anu, it looked like you were going to break down and cry. You’ve toughened up.” Wren jeered at the Wavemaster, reaffirming his grip on the Phase Blade.

“Let’s go!”

“Alright, alright… You can die now if you want to.” Slowly the Wavemaster, along with his voice, faded off into the background behind the stars, invisible as a spinning golden Magic Portal floated up from the nothingness. When it was fully in view, the portal opened, allowing the Sky Fish within to fly down. Not wasting a second, the Sky Fish rushed straight at Wren, bearing its fangs.

With narrowed eyes, Wren lunges his body forward and slashes out at the Sky Fish. No longer is he worried about dodging attacks, wasting precious movement on evasion. The Sky Fish ducked beneath his blade and came out at the center of his chest, quickly Wren released his blade, trusting that it wouldn’t fall beyond the confines of the area, and used his hands to stop the onslaught of the Sky Fish. The force from the Fish’s charge nearly toppled Wren to the ground.

Putting all his force behind his arms, Wren throws the Sky Fish backwards over his head, then dashes forward and skids to a halt beside the Phase Blade. With the Blade in hand once again, Wren rushes at the Sky Fish, which is just now turning around. Wren jumps into the air and slashes down upon the Fish, but the Fish evades the blow and loses the tip of its left wing. In response, the Sky Fish bites down on Wren’s right forearm, drawing blood and leaving the skin around the fang wounds purple and infected.

Wren grimaced and knelt down on the ground, clenching his left hand down over the wound. The Sky Fish makes another rush at Wren while he is on the ground. But Wren simply leans off to the side to avoid the Fish’s attack. Pivoting around as he stands up, gripping the Phase Blade in his right hand, and his left hand still holding his right arm tightly, Wren faces the Sky Fish, moving his left hand to the hilt of the Phase Blade.

“Okay… Now you’re mine!” The Sky Fish makes another rush at Wren. This time Wren steps to the left and slashes down at the body of the Fish as it passes by. The strike came a bit too late, as the Phase Blade slices into the tail of the Sky Fish. Wasting no time, the Sky Fish circles around and raises up to begin flapping its wings.

As the wings of the fish begin to flap faster and faster, Wren quickly lunges forward, piercing the Fish through the stomach with his Phase Blade. The fish becomes monochromatic and fades into binary data.

“Alright… Now for those Swordmanoids! Then I’ll heal and I can fight the Wavemaster…” Wren turns to the next Magic Portal as it rises up out of the void.

When the portal opened Wren found himself faced with two Swordmanoids. “I’ve seen you guys before… heh” A smirk crosses Wren’s usually calm face as he rushes forward at the space between the Swordmanoids, holding the Phase Blade out directly in front of him like a separating bar. This causes the two Swordmanoids to separate from one another, allowing Wren to land and skid to a halt. Wren’s feet drag together as he remains crouched over, then he uses the power in his knees and legs to propel himself at one of the Swordmanoids, holding the Phase Blade back in his posture, so he can slash up and forward at his opponent. The Swordmanoid sees what’s coming, and begins to move just as Wren pulls his sword up. The Phase Blade cuts into the shoulder of the Swordmanoid and Wren lands crouched on the ground beyond him.

At that moment, the other Swordmanoid comes rushing up to Wren’s left, with a nimble jump backwards, he evades the vertical slash of his opponent. But, Wren forgets about the Swordmanoid right behind him. A blade pierces into his back with a sharp stinging pain that runs up his spine. Wren jumps up, tears flowing down his face from the pain.

“Crack Beat!” With one slash, he cuts into the chest of the injured Swordmanoid, sending it sprawling backwards. As Wren turns back to face the other way, the fully functioning Swordmanoid rushes up at him and takes a wanton slash into the upper left arm. The power behind the blow sends the Swordmanoid sprawling to his right, and onto the ground. Wren lifts up the Phase Blade to hew down upon the fallen creature, but at that moment another Swordmanoid’s blade punctures the already wounded right forearm, and Wren screams out in agony, dropping the Phase Blade.

Gripping his right forearm with his left hand, covered in blood, Wren crouches over gritting his teeth. One of the Swordmanoids slashes down at his unprotected shoulder, and Wren barely escapes by rolling off to his right. He doesn’t stand up, but crouches over again, then dives out at the weakened Swordmanoid’s ankles. Wren’s shoulder pummels through the Swordmanoid’s legs, knocking it to the ground. Upon standing up again, Wren slowly takes the Phase Blade into hand. “I have to finish you off… Crack Beat!” With a single slash Wren finishes off the gravely wounded Swordmanoid, leaving himself one to deal with.

“I still have just enough SP to use one more Crack Beat, and by the end of the fight I’ll have enough for a Repth… But that will leave me with nothing for my duel with the Wavemaster…” Wren stood contemplating as the Swordmanoid took an attacking posture.

With a burst of energy, the Swordmanoid leapt out at Wren with its shield out like a ram and the sword arched off to the right. Wren took the Phase Blade into both hands and slashed down upon the shield, forcing the Swordmanoid back, then quickly after he ducked to avoid the upswing of his foe’s blade. In response, Wren pushed up and straight at the Swordmanoid with his Phase Blade straight out, clipping the side of the creature’s torso. Now, standing so close to the Swordmanoid, he slammed his forehead against the beasts. This unorthodox action triggered irrational actions from the Swordmanoid.

It wasn’t but seconds before it recovered and was attacking Wren again. The Swordmanoid leaped up into the air at Wren, thrusting its sword out hoping to hit the Blademaster in his shoulder. However, Wren just rolled and thrust his blade up into the air. The tip sliced into the right leg of the Swordmanoid. When the enemy stopped falling, it was most unpleasant. Wren stood up and dashed at the beast, holding his right forearm with his left hand.

“Maybe I can finish you off here…” Wren slashed down at the Swordmanoid, who evaded by rolling, but still got nicked in the stomach by Wren’s blade. It took a return slash at Wren’s ankles, his blade grinding for an instant against the Blademaster’s bones. Wren grimaced and then faltered down onto a knee.

“I’ll finish this… if it takes everything! Crack BEAT!” Wren leaned out and with as much strength as he could muster while in that stance, he slashed down at the wounded Swordmanoid.

The blade connected, and fell through the Swordmanoid’s shoulder, and into his chest. With the Phase Blade lodged there, the creature became monotone and then faded off into binary strings of data, as it would in a complete area of The World.

“… Rep—th.” Wren collapsed, dropping the Phase Blade to his side, the stars rushing by all around him. Some of the stars, however, fell down into his body, making it a bright white silhouette. When the light faded, Wren’s body was almost fully healed, but he is now out of SP.

“I did it… Now, to face the Wavemaster.” Wren stood up, gripping the Phase Blade in both hands, eagerly awaiting his duel with the infamous hacker who has caused him so much grief in recent months.

Wren + 2 Levels + Kagayuzen!!!!

Great Job!