NormanOnline Level4 (The Face of my Ennemy)

3 Days left before the Rendez-Vous with Rarity.

>Be Norman.

>With a ding, the doors of the lift open themselves.

>Your body is on auto-pilot.

>Your mind is filled with thoughts, questions, worries and simple words you would like to share.

>But you know that once in her presence, all these ideas will be worthless.

>One of the nurses milling about gives a discreet greeting as you pass by.

>Most of the staff recognizes your face now. You come so often. Yet not enough.

>Before you now stand the door to this grim sanctuary.

>You take one deep breath and push the door.

>No matter how many times you did that same routine, you always feel a sharp pain in your heart.

>The entire room is too white, the walls, the floor, the ceiling, the bedframe, the sheets covering her… Her skin.

>Even her hair looks somehow paler, less… alive.

>The only touch of color is the flowers on the bedside table, fresh from this morning.

>You add a single flower to the vase before sitting next to her.

>You want to talk to her, but you cannot.

>You want to hold her in your arms, but your strength fails you.

>So, you just look. Memories of all the adventures you shared, of every moment of blind happiness, every single jealousy too.

>There is something different today.

>The hope you keep in your heart is even stronger than before.

>It takes you three inarticulate mumbles and 5 choking fit before promising.

“Three days before I can say, ‘I missed you’.”

>This day is spent with the team farming monsters near the Tower to be as ready as possible.

>The only thing worth noticing was that AJ wasn’t at home this afternoon, so Red had to play for her, his voice of baritone causing a sharp contrast with his sister’s avatar who was designed with great care to be fairly pretty.

 

 

Two days before the Rendez-Vous. Entrance of the second Tower.

>“Aannd… Check! Okay, I don’t think we forgot anything… Do you want a fourth check Scott?”

>“NO! I-It’s fine really Twi… Three triple checks are more than enough…”

>“Can we go now? We’ve lost more than enough time!” complains RD.

>“Don’t you want a re-match miss Dash? You came quite close to snatching a victory this time.” taunts BlueBlood, twirling a chess piece in his hand.

>“Why can’t I play with the horsies?” asks Pinkie, trying her best puppy eyes.

>“Because chess aren’t about horsies miss Pie… It’s all about-”

>“But that has a horse for a face! And this one has the funniest hat I have ever seen! Ho! I get it! Is it because it isn’t supposed to be a horse but a pony? Or is it because those aren’t faces but funny masks? Like a horse mask?”

>“No it’s because… Are you trying to make me tell all the rules for a third time?”

>“Actually… Um… it would be the fifth…” corrects Flutters.

>“Huh… Well ah wouldn’t have guessed that watchin’ RD gettin’ crushed at aboard game multiple times by ol’BlueBlood could’ve been this fun…” chuckles the farm girl.

>“Enough with this idle chit-chat! That Tower isn’t gonna conquer itself!” snaps Scott before activating the doors to the dungeon.

 

>The group progress quickly through theTower, but as you go deeper, some fights take longer than expected and after one particularly long skirmish, the team has to stop to rest a bit.

>BlueBlood is the one treating your injuries.

>“It’s a miracle you only got a single broken arm with your last stunt, even Brad was K.O. for a whole minute when he tried to block that charge. How do you do these things?” he asks, your arm glowing with a soft blue light and the unpleasant feeling of your anatomy being rearranged.

“Lady Luck smiles to the braves… Mph… And even more to the stupidly braves ones it seem- Gh! Would you please learn Anesthesia as soon as possible, your spell hurts like a bitch!”

>“Asks for Pinkie to treat you next time, she has a concoction for that.”

>Once the glow disappears you try a few exercises with your arm, satisfied after a couple of sword swings, you thank the Paladin.

>“If I got a single bit for each time I get thanked I’d be billionaire… Just keep throwing yourself in the path of charging giant beetles to save our teammates; I’ll keep gluing back your pieces together.”

“Ookay I guess. Scott, we’re ready.”

>“Okay, let’s get going, keep your eyes open, ambushes will become a possibility once we reach the 25th Floor.”

>“A-A-Ambushes?” stammers FlutterShy.

>“Another thing I read on the forums, some teams got attacked by gargoyles like monsters after triggering a trap, and there are Shadow Panthers hidden in dark corners, the first ones are immune to magic and the seconds to physical, so if you spot winged statues or red eyes peeking from the shadows, warn the others or we’ll end up in a lot of trouble.” warns the Purple haired girl.

>“Good job egghead, Flutters is shaking so much I can feel it from here.” Says Rainbow.

>Then the rumble starts to spread and the entire room seems on the verge of collapsing, before it stops as suddenly as it came.

“Oo-Kay… That was weird…”

>“Is it some kind of event?” asks Brad

>“I didn’t read anything about such a thing… A bug maybe?”

>“Maybe, but it’s over, let’s keep going, if it repeats itself it might get ugly, follow me!”

>And like that, you resume your conquest, slightly faster than before.

>Half an hour later, the paranoia of your animal loving Archer allow your team to find a secret room hidden in an obscure recess and Scott declares a small truce to share the loot that accumulated quicker than expected.

>“In the end, it’s mostly junk.” sighs RD.

>“Not exactly, I know a few ways to make these items useful, but it will be for next time we hit the town.”

>You hear another low rumble, coming from the lower levels.

“Whatever that is, it’s giving me the creeps…”

>Then a second wave of shaking goes through the room and you watch in awe as the textures of the walls vanish in clouds of 0s and 1s…

>“What the fuck?” asks Scott turning around as the very walls seem to melt.

>And before anyone can do anything, the group now floats in a sea of codes, random shapes and textures without support.

>You look to your feet and are surprised to see that the only part of the room that was spared is a disk of the floor and you stand right in the middle of it.

>Instinctively your teammates back slowly towards you to not fall from the edges of your small island.

>“What a curious phenomenon, a miscalculation?.” muses a disembodied voice.

“Who are you? What is this?” shouts Dash at the void surrounding you.

>The presence answers.

>“Ugh, your voice is like sandpapers to my ears, be a good girl and be silent.”

>A snapping sound echoes in the nothingness and you watch in terror as the athletic girl disappears without a sound.

>“In fact, I do not like seeing friends getting separated, let me re-unite you with her.”

>Another snap and you feel a lightning bolt coursing through your body as all your friends share the same fate as Rainbow.

>Instead of the ‘Disconnected’ status under their name in your ‘Team window’ their portraits become grey and a red ‘ERROR’ appear in the place of their names.

>Silence.      

>“Hm? What? Why are you still…”

>Three more snaps, three more shocks, you stagger, but you don’t fall.

>You won’t fall.

>As long as this asshole still breathes. You. Won’t. Fall.   

>“… I see… This is her strategy… Very well, we’ll play by the rules.”

>Before you, lines of codes converge together and a silhouette appears before you.

>It is blurry, glitch and barely looks like a human due to its constant flickering.

>But two shapes are perfectly clear, a silver pistol and a sword with a serrated tip and green sheen.

>Your weapons.

>But you couldn’t care less, the fear of losing everyone is not a cold embrace in your mind, it is a flame burning your heart and you draw power from it.

“Where are my friends?”

>“In here, in the game, unconscious.”

“Why?”

>“I have my reasons, but since you are with her, she certainly told you, or at least her version, which is good enough.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, but I know I’m gonna make you pay if you don’t let my friends go.”

>“Come and try.”

“With pleasure.”

>You run towards him and its stance change he’s expecting you to go close quarter, but midway to him, you shoot, three bullets, sword arm, gun arm and head.

>He parries one, dodges a second and drops the handgun.

 >You are close enough, you leap and stab.

>He was too close to the border of the disk if he goes back, he falls.

>He leaps to his death, but instead of plummeting through the void he flies over you to the other side and points the gun at you.

>When did he get it back?

>He re-created it.

>He copies your items.

>He pulls the trigger, you dodge, one, two, three, four, five bullets.

>He spins on himself, the sixth shot is a fireball, too big to dodge, too strong to parry. You cut through it, a vertical swing, when the flames vanish a bolt of lightning hits you, followed by the last bullet of the magazine.

>It’s a lot stronger than expected and you’re sent sliding back to the border of the arena.

>“I am not playing, kid, give me that item in your quest inventory and you won’t have to suffer. Prolonged pain, even from the FIGear can cause damages on the psyche.”

“Ffff… Thanks doc… I’ll make sure I give you enough pain to cause a lot of damage on the psyche of the fucker who causes comas around the globe.”

>“You are a lost cause kid.” says the flickering form, pointing the handgun at you again.

>One knee on the ground, you hold your own firearm with both hands, WyvernBite rests at your feet, and you stare at each other for an instant.

>Click.

>Bullets crash against each other mid air, followed by flames, thunder and ice.

>Eight titanic clashes.

>No hesitation, you sprint straight through the cloud of dust, smoke, sparks and mist.

>BANG

>You felt the heat from that fireball, but you knew it was coming.

>You come out of the cloud, from his left side, the one holding the gun.

>One slash, red colors the codes.

>“GAH!”

>You press your advantage, your stab is parried.

>You try to shoot him, point blank.

>His reflex is lightning fast and your bullet flies through the sky of shapes.

>You block his next swing and trade a couple with him until both blades lock in a test of strength.

>Pushing as strong as you can you can hear his breathing, it is tired, laborious, you are winning.

“Any last words before I gut you?”

>His hold on the sword is weakening.

>“You… Are surprising… I commend your skills. But I cannot lose. Not now.”

“Then you know how I feel. I cannot lose; I have nine good reasons to kill you.”

>“I only need one.”

>Your sword traces a crescent upward; his blade flies through the void, spinning like a windmill in a storm, ringing like a diapason.

>You step forward and WyvernBite follows the form you dictated, backwards.

>Your weapon erased your opponent.

>Cutting through him like a warm knife through butter.

>You did not feel any resistance.

>You wait in silence, expecting something to happen.

>Not a sound, except your own breathing and the beating of your heart punctuated with a drop of blood hitting the ground, you even searched for the copy of your sword in the air, it seems it disappeared with the hacker.

>Your vision slowly darkens.

>Are your hands shaking? You try to look at them but the texture of your fingers peeling off distracts you.

>The HUD is nowhere to be seen, your last look before total darkness is for the team window.

>Your heart stops.

>The cursed red word is everywhere, on their names, HP/Mana gauges, and even their portraits are now black squares crossed with-

>ERROR.

>A thousand questions flood your mind and they snuff out the flame that fueled your soul.

>Despair fills your heart and nothingness replaces your brain.

>You fall.

 

 

[spoiler]Game Over.

Do you want to continue?

>YES[/spoiler]