Ark Euhndr III (Marko)'s Story

"What the...?" Ark was confused. His surroundings were different from where he remembered saving previously. That he remembered his character was in the Main hub, now he was surrounded by cliffs made of red and orange rocks. "Isn't this Diablo?" He then looked down at his outfit. He was wearing a tattered dark cloak, a pristine black battle outfit and gauntlet's that glowed with an ominous light. "This isn't my equipment...." he muttered to himself. Then it hit him. "I logged onto the wrong character...." the words came out in a listless whisper. Isabella would kill him for playing on her character.

Just as he was about to open up the menu to log out when a torrent of bullets hit him square in the chest throwing him onto his back. He was being attacked! He was used to playing a support role, hanging to the back and buffing the players on the front line. Fighting on his own was a knew experience. Before he could pull himself to his feet, they were on him. Several swords pierced his arms and legs. A single one was thrust through his abdomen pinning him to the ground. Six figures loomed over him. All of them were male players. A female one with pistols sauntered over and joined them.

"I knew you'd show up here sooner or later, Traitor!" One of the guys laughed then spat into the dirt.

"You're mistaken!" Ark told them.

The man twisted the sword in Ark's stomach depleting more of his HP. Though it wasn't painful, the experience was still terrifying. "No! I think you're the one whose mistaken!"

"You've got the wrong guy!" Ark continued to plead.

The man laughed again. He looked to his comrades with a mocking grin. "Does it look we got the wrong guy, guys?" They all snickered in unison, then burst into a roar of chuckles.

"Listen to me!" he commanded, his eyes full of desperation.

"Ready guys?" the man ignored Ark. His comrades nodded. "We'll all attack him at once continuously...until he runs out of health." He then made eye contact with Ark. "Then we'll take all of his items and his gold. Just like he did us." He told them scornfully. "Ready, boys?!" His boys howled with excitement and began to charge their attacks.

Ark horrified, he shut his eyes and prayed. Then in the next instant his surroundings were different. Even with his eyes closed the world felt more....present. He opened his eyes to a storm of panic and confusion. He was in a town he didn't really recognize. He was unsure of which one, but his captors appeared distracted in their stupor along with everyone. No longer pinned down by swords he took this chance to escape and bolted past them. He became engulfed in the crowd. As he squirmed his way through, he brought up the menu screen before, but was shocked to see the log out option...gone.

"Honestly?!" He hollered. it appeared his pursuers had picked up on him and were looking for him still. He wasted no time disappearing down a nearby vacant road.

Ark continued stealthily down a winding path, looking over his shoulder every few feet before whisking his way into an alley. The ally was dark and narrow, but void of life which came as a relief to the young player. The commotion which was going on in the main square had all, but silenced behind him. He was far enough to where he could barely hear it. As for his pursuers it seemed for the moment that he's lost them. He slumped against the wall, sliding down until he was sitting on the cobble stone floor of the alley and ran his fingers through his hair. It's texture was soft against the skin of his fingers. It felt so real. He stared at his open palm, holding up towards the sky. "What...is this?" That's when he received a message.

After reading the message, he jumped up in anger. "What kind of prank is this!?" he yelled with his fist balled tightly. "What kind of person would do this to innocent people!?" he argued to himself. "This can't be real..." That's when he received another message.

From: Unknown
Subject: Wanted/
Message: Greetings Ark Euhndr, your reputation throughout the worlds proceeds you. The high feat of betraying the guild you created and hunting them down like pitiful dogs has gotten you noticed. Lucky you. You have been locked in this game, but I've taken pity on you. So, that you wouldn't feel lonely I ensured that at least one hundred members of your former guild were online when I initiated the wide-spread "Lock In". I've given them fifty thousand gold in order to aid them in their pursuit to keep you company and added you to their mini maps so they can always find you when you are near them. Have fun!

He could only stare at the message with his jaw hanging open. Words escaped him. His lips moved, but no sound came out. You've got the wrong guy, he mouthed. You've got the wrong guy... As he was about to reply to the message he heard the pounding of footsteps from the other end of the alley. He looked up. It was his pursuers and they were closing in. He cursed and turned to flee, but was met by a fist to his face. He was knocked back to the ground. The others caught up and together they rushed him, stomping him, kicking him, laughing madly.

"Alright enough of the games!" The leader yelled to the others. "Let's drag him out of the area so that we can do to him what he did to us." The other guild members howled in agreement.

The beating hadn't depleted his health at all. Each kick felt like he was being pelted by intense pressures of air. Not true pain, but close to it. He was yanked to his feet then dragged through the town and out to the fields. "No!" The thought hit him. He was "trapped" in the game. What happened to his real body? If he died in Second Life, how would that affect his body in Real Life. Would that cause an automatic log out? Would he be returned to his life? Or would he die in real life as well? "Please, don't kill me!" he cried, tears streaming down his cheeks. "I don't want to die! Please, don't do this! You'll be murderers!" He struggled against them, but he was held in place by his captors who had each of his arms restrained.

"Shut the fuck up!" The Leader yelled annoyed. "When your health points reach zero, we'll use a revive to bring you back." An eerie smile spread across his lips and then he spoke darkly. "Then we'll kill you again. Revive you again then kill you. Revive. Kill. Revive. Kill. Until you've died as many times as the number of people you've killed from our guild. vengeance, Ark. That's what this is."

They tossed Ark into a field and surrounded him. He counted fifteen people. His chances of escape were slim. Their weapons reappeared. He rationalized that they couldn't use their weapons in the town and now that they were outside the safe zone.

He was at their mercy.

Claudette was in the middle of crafting the next powerful Katana she could use with the posibilities of lucky upgrades when the reset happend. Right before her eyes - its like she blinked if not blacked out for a minute to see she was no longer crafting or even had the recipe for it. Not only that but she could see her gear changing and oddly enough feel the fabric of the new gear set for level 1's. Immediately after noticing even her katana changed, Stella pulled up her UI infront her scrolling through to the statistics. "Level 1 Samurai" it said even all the stats were equivalent to such a rank. She exited the section moving onward to her gear and indeed it was definately the beginning gear. She was silent but obviously looking concerned. As she swore under her breath she exited the section turning to her crafting statistics until suddenly hearing yell in panic a little ways away. "What the fuck?!" the unknown voice said. Just then, the Samurai made her way towards it.

"I can't log out!" a person said and just as Claudette herself began to check it, suddenly a message came in. Interesting - rarely if not ever, no one has messaged her because she didn't know any players... Who could it had been from - a server message came in not too long ago. She immediately checked it.


"From: Unknown.
Subject: Welcome to the Real Game
Message: Hello boys and girls, this is Day 1 of the real Star Ocean Online. First I'll tell you that yes, I am the one who disabled your log off feature. But I did much more than that...your souls are trapped within your characters. So don't try taking off your helmets, as your souls are not even within your own bodies! However, it's also in your best interests not to do so as well..as you can't return to a body someday that isn't there! Now we get to the fun part: yes, you feel pain now. Furthermore, if your HP reaches zero...you can die. I've decided to be generous. Revives still work..but only for a short time. If you do not revive in time..the death becomes permanent for your character..and you will die for real. The goal? Oh its simple really. The Beta Testers have reached Diablo before..just barely, but they did. I want you to do more than that..I want you to become strong enough not only to go to Diablo, but to defeat the Daemon leader. That is the goal I give you, if you want to ever leave this game. Also, I reserve the right to change the goals at any time I want for fun! Ciao!"

While skimming through it, her eyes looked quite shocked, her arms fell to her side in awe. To her, there was just no way the developer would get away with this. Claudette's eyes wandered seeing and hearing many people freak out during this moment. Especially after reading such a twisted message. Immediately the woman closed her interface already accepting the fact she was closed. She figured it wouldn't help talking to people in their current state - not thinking of those who actually may follow her but alas what do you think of someone who solos. Finally as she felt a breeze go by her she spoke gently even to her suprise hearing her mature voice.

"So be it.. I will find my way out ..." She said with confidence.

Just as she made her way out of the safezone she received another message and glared a little annoyed as she looked through her interface towards it.

From: Unknown.
Subject:Lady of Mercy or Death
Message: Well well well - As much as I'd love to give you "mercy" from being trapped - I just can't do that. You're to powerful to let go - getting that high alone was nearly amazing but most of all was your brutal preformance when it came to pvp and best of all you gave them mercy and revived them. See someone with your reputation of being a skilled murderer yet showing those mercy can't be ignored... Now... how would it be if I were to give you the chance to save someone and kill without showing any mercy...?

"What the hell...?" She thought to herself. She didn't even know she was called a lady of mercy but possibly through that message she could've been called a lady of death if she were to actually cruely kill other players which she did only if those had the intentions of killing. None the less she closed her interface making her way from the safezone until she noticed the boy nearly surrounded by thugs. All from the same guild most likely.

"A player killer guild...?" Claudette thought but none the less began to walk closer drawing her blade slowly. She still had two good skills that could take some of them but still chances were slim if not none at all once engaged. Yet to her, she only figured it could've meant what the message said, yet she could be terribly wrong. The boy was in danger and Stella didn't want to sit idly by as someone got murdered. Especially when the developer of this game gives such a sick function.

With Claudette's blade completely draw and over her shoulder, she stood ready to "Dash Strike" since it may be the quickest way to engage before they kill the unknown boy.

"AUGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!" Ark's heart ripping screams tore through the air as he was hit by a barrage of assaults. He dropped to his knees, clenching the earth beneath his fingers. he glared up with wild eyes. His vision was blurring, struggling from fading to darkness. This pain...it's real....this...it's all real?! I-I'm going to die! He looked up into the gleeful eyes of his assaulters as they were preparing for another round of attacks. Somewhere inside of him his fear turned into rage. He wouldn't die like this. No, he refused to die like this. Not at their mercy. He struggled to his feet. Forcing himself to stand on weak legs. "Do your worst you pitiful bastards! I'm not afraid of you! You think I fear death?! I piss on it!"

A silence fell over the group as if they were stunned by his words. They stared at him confused then again burst into laughter entertained by his final stand. He was the pitiful bastard barely able to stand let alone fight back. He felt like a fool. There was no way out. he was finished. Just as they were about to finish him off something binged loudly in his ears. A flat white screen appeared before him.



"What the?" A ray of hope being sent to him from the gods? Ark slammed his finger into accept and suddenly the world exploded. Several attacks hit the group from all sides. The guild members were being thrown to the ground and flung through the air in every which direction. Ark's eyes couldn't follow. Then a dark cloud shrouded them in darkness and lightening illuminated the field.

"Ark fell back and watched from the center in total awe. "The cavalry...have...arrived."

"Call me what you will but for the start of this version - I choose the title of death"
Claudette didn't expect the spell to come down but none the less found it to be lucky and undeniably a good timing. All of the members were in range and in a line of sight for her strike. Her eyes were slightly glowing due to the spell casted, her hand gripped the hilt of her katana as it was perched over her shoulder. Immediately wind seemed to conjure under her feet as she suddenly seemed to have began running only to nearly seem as if she disappeared.

Upon reappearing Claudette stopped and her blade was already nearly sheathed, yet once again, she positioned herself - Her ability was on cooldown and her SP was regenerating but she knew could naturally attack the other members easily. After finishing another couple with normal attacks, she once again dash striked barely gazing the guild leader leaving him alive and appearing a little ways away where her ability ended. It wasn't until now that Claudette herself very suprised not only by her speed but her reflexes to know when to pull her katana out. She looked back at the dead gang members who seemed to have died through the attacks yet only one remained. The lucky guild leader in which was only a hit a way from death. Her eyes scanned him before turning to the three players.

"They all have 10 minutes... It's not my call whether they live... but I'll leave them up to you."
Claudette said walking away towards the open field. She began to think of how lucky it was that the wizard was there other wise it may have taken a little bit of a beating if not death through waiting for the cooldown to end for her ability... and after using Dash Strike... at this level she doesn't have the SP to use Blink strike right after. Suddenly the thought came to her as she began slaying monsters. "Why were they after him in the first place...?". Only but a minute did that thought carry through her mind before claiming it was none of her business and she had to continue going back to what she lost.

As Claudette slain monsters she constantly collected drops and synthesised them increasing that as well. She knew she would have to level nearly everything at once to stay on her ground and like the beta crafting was one was way to rule the economy especially when you're a powerful character. There were many time's through this when Claudette began to think of how dangerous this game really was and in some battles actually came close to death. Yet none of that stopped her because at this point - Claudette knew she wanted out and would do anything to make that happen.

Something came to mind for Claudette while she was resting.

"What are some the player's doing about this?"

"Although I'm perfectly sane yet slightly scared, there are those who may and will die... Especially newbies... I'm also afraid for those younger then 15 playing this game, if they die..." Claudette said lightly in a worry. She had also thought of those who suicide or would try to see if this was a joke. Her thoughts twirled in her head until finally the guild and party ideas popped into her mind. She herself didn't care too much for them but in her own way she found it may be a good idea to go through this with someone if your new but some murderous guilds may be out there too..."

Gabriel played the support role in this battle, timing his magic with the attacks of the others to rack up as many chain combos as possible. The battle was short lived and soon Gabriel and his unexpected allies defeated all the enemies, but one. They decided to leave the guild leader alive to revive his dying comrades. It was a little cruel, but they got what they deserved in Gabriel's eyes. This wasn't just a game anymore. PVP and player killing held too many risks that didn't need to be taken.

As the battle winded down and things came to a hault Gabriel approached Ark to lend some aid.

"Are you alright?" he asked forgetting about his changed voice and appearance for the moment.

Ark stood up weakly. His strength was slowly returning along with his health that only moments ago was in the red zone. "Yes, thank you," he said all at once in one gasp. He was trembling the incident had him completely and utterly shaken. The young player realized that the entire time the battle was happening he was holding his breath. Ark turned away from the girl to the boy. "Thank you as well. I could feel the life leaving my body. I was really going to die." He had gone off on tangent not really speaking to his saviors anymore, but more to himself. Being out here was dangerous. There were MOBs out here that could attack them. Pain was real here. Death was real as well, not to mention that his fallen attackers were recovering. The message said there were about a hundred other members from his sister's guild stuck in the game. If that were true they were all still in the town, possibly making their way out here. Going back to the town wasn't an option. Since the other player who helped left, there were only three of them left. The odds of them winning were zero.

"Those people were apart of a pretty large guild and many more of them could be waiting in the town for us. Perhaps we should form a party and head to the next town together. If we're in a party we should gain exp points faster." he turned to Gabriel whose name he could see in the party menu. A males name? "You are the one who sent me the party request...so." he opened up the menu and found the other boy and sent him an invite to join their party. he began walking quickly urging the others to come along. He didn't want to get cornered again. "Thanks again for saving me."

Gabriel didn't understand why everyone wanted to split up. Soloing was fine normally, but it didn't make sense in this situation. If you died because no one is around to revive you then thats it. No respawns, no waypoints, no checkpoints, and no second chances. This was no longer a game. It was a kidnapping and Unknown was every enemy trying to kill you. It just didn't make sense. Gabriel raced to catch up with Ark having fell behind while distracted by his thoughts.

"Well, I guess it's just you and me now. I don't know about you, but I'd rather have someone watching my back at the moment. So I'm glad to have you along. Even if you are being hunted by a player killer guild," Gabriel said offering a smile.

"I just don't understand people ya know. This isn't a game anymore and people are still acting like it is. It feels like they won't start taking things seriously until someone dies. And then it'll be too late for them," Gabriel thought aloud as much to Ark as himself.

Ark blushed a little and hid his face by trying to keep a couple paces ahead of Gabriel. He wasn't used to conversing with a female, except his sister who he would hardly consider a woman. Despite his current appearance which had him standing at nearly six feet, on the inside he was still a short fifteen year old nerd. He cleared his throat as they continued walking through the snowy fields. "I'm glad to have you along as well." He looked back to the spot where the boy turned down their party request. The stakes have risen, he said. That much was true. Perhaps the boy was a fool for traveling alone, maybe he'd considered the possibility of betrayal. Or maybe he too smart to travel with someone who was being hunted. Either way, Ark didn't care. His only concern was his own survival. He needed to find somewhere to go into hiding.

Ark opened up his menu screen right before him, a small white square. There was number in the top right corner which was gradually rising. "I think a few deaths...may have already occurred." he said cryptically. They were heading towards Peterny. Ark wanted to get there before the small town was swarmed by all the other players. He remembered it was an important place for item creation from the guide book. "I completely understand if you would like to go separate ways at the next town." he told Gabriel. "I am being hunted...I'm sure they'll go after anyone that assists me as well. You would be putting yourself into unnecessary danger...by traveling with me-" Ark was cut off as he'd stepped on something squishy. He looked down, he'd stepped on a slime. It groaned and evaporated as it died. "Oops?" Ark scratched his head and shrugged his shoulders then began to continue walking when he felt a rumbling under the earth. "Whats going on now?" he said unsettled. The ground before him exploded. An unfathomable number of slime monsters burst upward in a geyser and rained down angry at the murder of their brother.

The boy screamed and ran with his head over his head. "It was an accident!" he exclaimed."I didn't mean to kill him!" Gabriel sprinted after him. The slimes didn't stop chasing the pair util they reached the town of Peterny.