"Who's whispering?" Kiku asks, as she too walks forward.

Twin Lightning walks forward as well, matching the party's pace.

"Who knows? I guess we'll find out soon enough." Kusardo murmus.

Kimono nods and moves forward anxious to lift this veil of mystery

"Ah, sis, you're back. Alright, are you ready?" Twin Lightning says, apparently conversing to his sister in reality, despite the sound trickling through to The World. "OK, tell me when."

Kusardo keeps walking forward, but regards Twin Lightning in his periphery with a look of question

White noise suddenly plays across everyone's vision, and the figure of Twin Lightning blurrs and distorts. Colour is inverted for a moment, and it seems like everyone's seeing double. Then, as vision returns to normal, rather than one Twin Lightning character walking behind the group, there are two. One has blue eyes, the other yellow, and rather than both being named 'Twin Lightning', the one with blue eyes has the screen name of Rei Lightning, and the one with yellow eyes has the screen name of Gho Lightning.

"Hm? What did you do?" Kusardo asks.

"Character fragmentation." Rei Lightning replies, evidently this half being played by the sister, "It lets both of us access at the same time, with the same character. Pretty handy isn't it?"

"Ah. I've never heard of that, but it sounds like a hack to me." Kusardo thinks aloud.

"It is." The brother, Gho Lightning answers simply, "But you'll be encountering something far more than simple hacking soon enough, when we reach the area at the end."

Kusardo raises an eyebrow. "I get the feeling you're going to shaft us with hacking penalties. Somewhere down the road."

As the party progresses forward, the whispering seems to get louder, or at least seems to be more noticeable.

"Shaft?" The Rei Lightning asks, looking towards Gho Lightning.

"Not a term I'm familiar with." He replies.

"I mean get us newbies into trouble with the administration. Don't get me wrong; I'm not a boy scout or anything like that, but I would be pissed if I'm booted from the game on grounds of being involved in 'hacking' it."

The twins glance at each other, then burst out laughing, "Sorry, but if you're worried about getting in trouble with CC Corp, it's a bit late for that." Rei Lightning says.

"Don't get us wrong, they're so lax nowadays that it's unlikely they noticed, but if they chose to, they'd file it as 'attempting to take advantage of a glitch within the game's programming'." Gho Lightning explains, his voice becoming somewhat of a mockery of the administrators, "For using this portal anyway."

Kusardo scowls mildly, then replies, "Forget I said anything. Let's keep moving."

He didn't seem to like being laughed at, but even more so he didn't seem to care what would happen as long as he can still play the game.

Reaching the first 'room', if the term could be used for such a place, there appears to be a trio of bizarre graphics hovering around. They have a cube that has eyes engraved upon it, which seems to function as a face for it. Their bodies are nothing more than perhaps bizarre pawn shapes from a chess set turned upside down, so its point is down.

Kusardo walks up to one of them, gauging some kind of info screen or player interaction with it whilst examining it closely.

As soon as Kusardo walks within sight of them, a red exclamation mark appears overtop of it, and the background music, which before was just a peculiar interplay of sound, becomes the default battle music as the blue barrier surrounds the party and the three monsters (not including Twin Lightning since Twin Lightning is not in the party).

Kusardo jumps back, drawing his Horizon's Edge in response. "Twin Lightning, what are these?!" He asks.

One moment later, both forms of Twin Lightning enter through the barrier, the brother holding the dual swords, the sister the blade. "Outer Bugs." Rei Lightning says calmly.

"They're anomalytic data that exists here, and take on the monster template in order to attain a specific existence." Gho Lightning adds, apparently off of memory.

Kiku pales at the monsters, and backs away slightly.

"well now this is different." Kimono murmurs.

"Is that right? Anything else we should know about them?" Kusardo asks.

Kimono draws her scythe and from a distance charges and holds 'X' forming a defensive circle if need be.

"They're a bit strong for your levels." Rei Lightning replies.

"Just hit each of them once, then back away." Gho Lightning advises, rushing forward and catching all three of the Bug Betas with a Tri Strike, slashing horizontally across all three across one side, then returning with a second, before slashing downwards with a strong blow, knocking all three back.

"If you say so Twin Lightning." Kimono replies, letting her charge go, her scythe's wide arc catching the nearest ones, which are the left and middle ones.

Kusardo smirks, taking their advice to heart as he eyes one of the 'Outer Bugs'. "All right then, let's go." With that, he charges the one Kimono hits and then rolls to a side with the momentum

The hp gauge of the Bug that's hit by both attacks hardly moves at all, and for some reason damage is not displayed here. Kiku launches a Rue Krutz, the blue icicles impacting sharply off of the bizarre graphic. Seeing that all three hit the one, Rei Lightning rushes forward.

"Sword Flash!" She calls, swiping the Bug's hp bar clean with three swift strikes from her blade.

They were right... Kusardo thinks.

"That's half a level right there for you." Gho Lightning says with a grin as he knocks the other two away with a charged hit, separating them.

Kusardo grips his sword tightly, preparing for his next attack. He leaps just within range of one of them and swipes across his enemy. He leaps back once damage has been dealt.

Kiku lets another magic ring fly at the same enemy Kusardo struck, knocking it back as it went to hover forward toward him. Rei Lightning rushes forward once more.

"Lateral Moon!" She calls, impacting hard into the bug, before sending it into the air, and launching it away, its form fading as its hp gauge is wiped.

Finally, Kiku hits the last bug with the same spell, and the brother knocks it towards Kimono and Kusardo to hit.

Kusardo sends a crushing blow to the Outer Bug in reflex to it's approach.

Kimono, eager to end this combat, hits it back with another charged shot, directly toward Rei Lightning.

"Lateral Moon!" She calls as she finishes the bug off with the repeated skill.

"Amazing," Kusardo says as the golden rings appear around his character, signifying a level up. "I see traveling in a party has it's benefits."

"Wow! Double level up!" Kiku says, surprised by the set of two rings around her character.

Individual gain for the party:
1560 exp each (instant level up for both Kimono and Kusardo, double level up for Kiku)
3120 gp each

[Now Playing: Final Fantasy VII - Fanfare]

The Edge Punisher twirls his broadsword in a propeller-like fashion for a couple of revolutions before placing it on his back. This appeared to be his 'victory dance' of sorts, except without the 'dance' part.

"Thanks," Kusardo said plainly to the Twin Lightnings.

[Now Playing: Yuki Kajiura - .hack//SIGN - Fear]

He took stock of the room they were in, walking along the walls and looking for anything out of the ordinary, as well as any path out of there but the one that they came threw. He was intrigued by the 'Outer Dungeons'; it was like nothing he had ever seen before, and he was as anxious as he was curious to discover the secrets of this place within The World, but somehow without. His anxiety was made of both excitement and apprehension, as figured well enough that he didn't have much of an idea of what he was getting into.

After making a brief round of the room, Kusardo turned to regard the two Twins and asked, "So what is the purpose of this 'Outer Dungeon'? A haven for hackers, maybe?"

"Haven? No, that is a different area, and one that is far different than this." Gho Lightning responds.

"These Outer Dungeons kind of act as pathways, connecting different regions of the World, and sometimes, like this one, leading to places that are inaccessible by most means, including hacking." Rei Lightning adds.

"Where are we going anyway?" Kiku asks.

"This corridor leads to an area in the Xi server," Rei Lightning replies, "Specifically, Xi Chatting Snaring Twins."

"Call me crazy, but doesn't that area word kind of describe you two, in a way?" Kiku asks, tilting her head at Twin Lightning.

"Perhaps, perhaps not." Gho Lightning replies mysteriously, "You can hold your own opinion, of course, but no, it refers to a different set of twins, although there is something in common between them and Rei and I."

Kimono was puzzled by everything that was happening at once, it was too much for a girl to take!.. almost. "Whatever the secrets, or the connections, we can't turn back now, we've come too far and seen too much. There is so much more to this game than what first meets the eye and I want to uncover it all, no danger or obstace will get in the way of my goals"

"Hm," intoned Kusardo, seeming to acknowledge the Twin's statement without reprisal. "The root town for the Xi Server is Reborn City Lia Fail, and there's no level range for it. I've never been there before."

Kusardo could probably have asked more about why they were headed to that server in particularly, but at this point it seemed like nothing more than a chance to babble on senselessly. He preferred to keep his peace and leave his curiosity waiting to be satisfied. Besides, it seemed like he would get nothing but riddles from the Twins anyways, so he decided he didn't want to bother with more questions.

Then again, the somewhat curt and direct Edge Punisher thought no hurt could come from inquiring perfectly benign and general information, the likes of which a newbie to The World R:3, and a former occasional R:1 and R:2 player, would not be aware of.

"The times that I've played The World have been few and far between, unfortunately. What can you tell me about the Reborn City Lia Fail?"

"Well, graphics-wise, the root town of Lia Fail is a beautiful place." Rei Lightning replies, "It is also a place that is very nostalgic for R:1 players as well, not unlike the other root towns that have been remade."

"With regards to the areas within that server, no area level range is listed because it is quite literally any area level." Gho Lightning adds, "From 1 to 150, it is a rather unique server in that its areas can be quite deadly or too tame, and the area specifications don't specify the area level either when you go to one, so you would never know until you run into monsters."

"Another thing about Xi server is that you can go to some areas that appear directly as they did off of R:1." Rei Lightning continues, "With both a field, and a dungeon that consists of obvious rooms and corridors. They also use the old portal system for spawning monsters."

"Those areas are usually caused by the use of the Keyword 'Ancient' as the first word of the area word." Gho Lightning finishes for both of them, "Although, some special areas are like that without the word 'Ancient', like Chatting Snaring Twins."

Rei Lightning begins to walk forward subtly, seeming to cue the others to do the same.

"A blast from the past..." Kiku murmurs, "No... the rebirth of the past, that's a bit less colloquial and more elegant."

Kusardo walked on with a look of slightly more interest than before. In truth, the most enjoyable memories of his playtimes in The World were from R:1. Ironically, though, it was during a time of much trouble and disaster, both for The World and for people in generation. As well as for him.

Still, there is an undeniable charm about the first revision of The World that keeps bringing him back to it. Maybe it was the more dramatic, but varying background music with a strong Celtic influence... or perhaps the more medieval and outlandish areas that stood in stark contrast with the more industrialized look of R:2. He had long forgotten what those areas they were called, but they remained poignant places in his being that he often imagined returning to. Finally, though, it may be that in his youth, before there was so much trouble, his spirit felt free and adventurous as his imagination ran rampant, romping along through The World as if it were the very palpable manifestations of his heart's dreams. Quite simply, those were very good times... but beyond that, memory remains muddled, except for the fact that he was not allowed to play The World for a while on account of the 'incidents'.

"You've piqued my interest, Twin Lightning. I liked that first revision very much back then."

Thankfully, there are only two other encounters with Outer Bugs, although, with the way the party is handling them, there might as well be more for the easy experience. Soon, the party can feel impatience gnawing at them, wanting to get to the end already.

Finally, the end is in sight, quite literally. The path just stops at a dead end. However, to the side of the bizarre floor is what appears to be a simplified graphic version of a platform, not unlike those you see in dungeons and areas. Ahead, there is a swirling vortex that appears to be made of the background graphics converging and spiralling into a single point. There is even added colour from an unknown source; this must be another portal.

"Alright. This is your last chance." Gho Lightning warns.

"Past this point, there is no turning back; logging out cannot reverse what you will see." Rei Lightning says cautiously.

"Power, some will call it that. It is power in a way, but it is also alive. Take that into consideration, and do not take it lightly." Gho Lightning adds.

"Of course, this is the power Gho and I are seeking specifically; your own will be in different places." Rei Lightning continues, "That is, of course, only if you choose to meet its challenge and embrace it."

"But if you want to back away, this will be your last and only chance to do so." Gho Lightning finishes.

Kiku's eyes widen slightly, but for some reason, she doesn't seem too surprised. "This is... more than a game." She murmurs.

Rei Lightning nods, "Yes. Far more."

Kiku turns and looks at Kimono and Kusardo, her eyes neither pleading nor warning, just curious about what they choose to do.

Net gain for the two fast-forwarded encounters:
3120 exp each (instant 3 level ups)
6240 gp each

Kimono kept fighting the Outer Bugs along with her companions, those partied or otherwise, and she could feel the level up's enhancing her character with each battle. "Yes!" She exclaimed as three more golden rings encircled her as they continued on. When they reached the 'end', and Gho Lightning explained the possibility of 'power' and the irrevocable future that advancing would mean, Kimono found her feet never slowing in their path to the destination.

"If power will allow me to protect others, and prevent those damn Pker's from running rampant, then only one path lies before me, and I'll take it to the end of the world and back if I have to." Kimono gritted her teeth and thrust her bend arm forward and up ending in a clenched fist to accentuate her dedication to her goals."

"Well then, off we go!" Rei Lightning shouts as she leaps into the vortex.

Soon enough, everyone else follows, except for Kiku, who remains for just a moment longer. "How strange... and interesting. I'm going to find out more." She resolves, before finally entering as well.

The swirling colours of the vortex quickly overload everyone's FMD, causing it to go black. When vision returns, Rei and Gho Lightning can be seen helping everyone up. The background music is dramatically different than that of the Outer Dungeon and even the other areas, and the graphics are quite different too. The walls are made of tiled stone, and upon some sections of the wall are blue graphics, likely representing different Wave attributes. Lanterns light up the square room, with one door in front and one other behind. Where the party appeared is in the centre of the room, facing the door to the north. The background music is initially a series of strong deep drum beats, almost sounding like a heartbeat at first before it is overlaid by higher pitch notes of different instruments, adding to the spooky feel of the area.

Gho Lightning smiles, "We're at the lowest level of the dungeon, next to our destination, which is through that door."

Gho Lightning points at the doorway to the north. This doorway is open, and seemingly leading to blackness, which one would expect is another room, not unlike the other behind the party. However, this particular doorway also seems to be bathed in a blue fire, which radiates and contrasts with the darkness behind it.

"Why does that one have blue fire?" Kiku asks.

"Oh, it's a warning to normal players," Rei Lightning replies, "We don't need to worry about it."

The Twin Lightning characters head toward the blue fire door, but don't get farther than a single step.

"I was beginning to think you wouldn't be coming." A female voice says from behind the group.

Immediately, both Rei and Gho Lightning visibly tense, "Maera." they almost hiss.

Turning toward the source, everyone can see that Twin Lightning is quite right; hovering above the floor not even ten paces away from the group is Maera, her wings beating softly. She hovers there, almost expectantly, her arms crossed, and her hands not holding anything.

"I'm impressed." Maera says, "It would seem you and the others are bound, perhaps destined, to run into each other. Already, you've found five of the others. You have been busy haven't you, Gorre?"

The phonetic of the name Maera calls Twin Lightning is exactly like if Gho and Rei were said together as a single word.

"What do you want, Maera?" Gho Lightning asks bluntly.

Ignoring him, Maera examines Kimono, Kusardo, and finally Kiku, her eyes slightly widening at Kiku.

"Tarvos, Skeith, and... Corbenik." She murmurs, seemingly to name each in turn.

Her lips curve into a slight smile as she looks at Kiku, regarding Kiku carefully. Strangely enough, when she calls those names, you feel something, something that can only be thought of as 'inside', yet you know it isn't in you. It is almost an acknowledgement, or perhaps it is recognition, but either way, the sensation is alarming. Unconsciously, Kiku begins to back away from Maera, her hesitant footsteps sounding sharply off of the floor.

---Before Entering the Portal---

[Now Playing: See-Saw - .hack//SIGN - Obsession (Strings Version)]

"Power, huh? I thought you said we were just going to the Xi Server," said Kusardo. He didn't seem to buy what those two were rambling about: isn't this all just a game? What could they see beyond that portal that is so irremovable from memory? Would this game turn into some survival-horror adventure? Or would it just be some joke visual feed made to scare newbies? Either way, the player behind Kusardo was convinced without a doubt that The World is no more than a game, and what one doesn't want remembered can stay that way.

After Kiku made the comment about The World being "more than a game," the Edge Punisher expressed his skepticism unplayfully. "Hmph... ridiculous. A game is a game, and The World is no different. Thanks for the dungeon crawl," he said to Gho and Rei, "but I think you just wanna waste my time with this nonsense."

With that, Kusardo turned to leave, but then stopped when he heard what Kimono said upon entering the portal, which stood as nothing more than an aberration on the fabric of this trivial "World". To protect others from PKer's, huh? ... Sounds like a good goal, I guess. Too many think they can have fun by killing off newcomers ... but ... that's not my concern.
[1:05]
Kusardo started to feel confliction about passing this... 'chance' up. A chance to do what, he had no idea except to gain some vague 'Power' that the twins spoke of. The idea just sounded ridiculous to him, and nothing more than cheese to lure the unwitting rat into something he'll probably regret. He wanted nothing of that, but...

Goddamnit
Kusardo sighed. He turned around and, seeing that everyone except Kiku has gone, walked slowly to the portal. He stuck his hand towards it and... felt nothing. He removed his hand, and a look of disappointment grew on his realistic, graphic mask of a face. He closed his eyes and posed to his mind and heart an odd question.

But... what if there's more to it than what I'm seeing? What if... this is what I've always wanted... ?
He stood there for a moment, at a loss of what to do. A sound of memory quickly intervened in his troubled reverie, however, to snap him back into motion.Stop being a dummy and just do it. You can't get what you want by just worrying about it all day.
His brows furrowed with a new, serious look of determination, he let go of his meaningless tension with a sigh. Without another thought, the renewed newbie made the stride into the unknown of a world he was sure he knew all about. Colors rushed at him like a river breaking through a floodgate, and then... nothing. He woke up in a room with a dark path lit by an archway of blue fire staring him in the face, while another stood behind him unlit.

[3:29]
Kusardo whirled around in a sudden motion, and he was surprised to see Maera there floating before him. In fact, upon hearing her utter the name "Skeith" at him, he felt... weird. "What?" he uttered, and then, "...Skeith?" with a tone unlike that of attempting to recall a faded memory, or of responding to an incredulous accusation. It seemed to be a mix of both, as he was both confused and tense from Maera's words. He began to feel afraid...strangely.

"... No," he said, attempting to shake the feeling of confusion from his head. He stood up and whipped his broadsword over his shoulders, replying to Maera gravely, "Sorry, but I'm not 'Skeith'. You've got me confused with someone else. Would you leave us newbies alone, or is this place supposed to be 'for your eyes only' or some s*** like that?" His tone grew a mild, but sharp tone of severity near the end of his words.

The Room was like an antichamber to something beautiful and terrifying at the same time. The blue flamesl ining the door before them stood as a challenge and a testament to those brave --or was it foolish-- enough to pass its threshold and glean the wonders beyond.

Kimono had just finished building herself up to take that fateful step when the voice of a stranger to some, but not to all made itself known behind them.

Turning, to find none other than the much talked about, dare said legendary Maera, wings glistening behind her as she hovered above the floor. Few word's were exchanged, but at the womans designation of the word Tarvos, her gaze affixed upon Kimono, the noob Adept rogue felt like something deep inside her character data had just lurched, as though some unknown entity inside had responded to being called by name; and back in the real world, a bead of sweat caressed a delicate forhead and cheek from beneath the headset as the player involuntarily shuddered.

"Tarvos?" Kimono asked, wondering what that meant exactly. "Is that some sort of 'The World' lingo I've not heard of yet? Cause it sounds to me like some twisted astrological sign or something, and you better not be assosciating me with a bull or nothing."

Kiku was more shaken than the other's, visibly so as she retreated from Maera. Kimono approached her, placing herself between the cleric and the infamous Emperor. "Don't worry", Kimono said smiling to her companion as she switched to party chat. PC: "Nothing to worry about, if she is the top Chaotic PK'er like its rumored, everyone just jump through the doorway into the next area and we'll take it from there."

Maera at first seems to merely ignore Kusardo, but then she turns and looks at his drawn blade, "How like you, Skeith, always the aggressive one, ready to take on more than you can."

Maera smiles unnervingly at Kimono, "A mere sign? No. It's your name. Or at least, the name of a potential you hold. Can't you feel it? You can't deny that it's there."

Twin Lightning steps forward on either side of Kimono, "What do you want, Maera?" They ask in unison.

"Corbenik," Maera says, looking over the shoulder of Kimono toward Kiku, "Where are you going?"

"A-away from you!" Kiku says defensively, turning to run toward the door.

The smile fades from Maera's lips, "I'm afraid not; you are coming, are you not?"

Kiku freezes. "What?" She asks.

"I asked you, are you coming?" Maera repeats.

"Where?" Kiku asks.

"Don't you know where?" Maera asks, sounding slightly disappointed.

Kiku's eyes widen, and it looks as though she's about to reply, when a trio of bizarre figures walk in from the door behind Maera, and she glances over her shoulder to look at them. Two of them are blade brandiers, and each hold a strange, jagged blade. One of these has a well toned bare chest, with armoured legs and a shoulder plate upon his left shoulder. His skin is tinted a greenish colour, while his face is half green, half black. The other blade brandier is almost akin to a knight in azure, plate armour, with white hair that covers his face to just above his mouth. He has what would appear to be the remnants of wings, appearing nothing more than strange metallic structures that vaguely resemble a set of avian wings, and a couple of white feathers dangle off of them. The final person and apparent leader of the trio is dressed mostly in red, with short, spiked blue-green hair and a red hat. He has a muffler that blocks view of the lower portion of his face, and only one of his eyes is visible, the other hidden under his hair, as a seemingly glowing green. In his hands are two blades, each three pronged, with two on either side of the main one, jutting out at a bizarre angle. The leader also seems to have an aura of blue fire.

"Maera," The leader says, sounding slightly cold and demanding, "We can't ignore you for much longer; you are intentionally damaging the World!"

"Azure Kite." Maera acknowledges, "Do you intend to lose again?" She asks, reaching behind her back and pulling out a blade that is identical to the ones Kite is wielding to verify the truth of her statement.

"If I must." Kite responds, "I will stop you."

Maera glances back at the group, "Gorre, Tarvos, Skeith, I expect you to look after Corbenik, alright? Give my regards to the other four if you see and recognize them."

Azure Kite also addresses the group, "Go on! We'll take care of Maera."

With the battle begun, the barrier that appears at the start of battles encases Maera and the Azure Knights, leaving Twin Lightning and the party to their own devices. The battle between Maera and the Azure Knights completely blocks off the doorway to the south.

"Let's go!" Rei Lightning calls, quickly directing everyone toward the blue flame door.

"I said," growled Kusardo lowly, "I'm not 'Skeith'." He didn't care one bit if this was Maera or not; he wasn't about to allow her to disrespect him with evasion. Nevertheless, he wasn't fool enough to try and fight her now, being only at level 5.

What the...? - was his next thought when he saw the three figures emerge from the door behind her. They were like no other characters he's ever seen, even in the old revisions. It was their eyes... he could see that they weren't normal at all. Actually, when he took stock of the rest of their appearance, they looked familiar... particularly the two characters on either side of the one Maera called "Azure Kite." He didn't remember their names, but he was certain he'd seen them before... a long time ago.

"Let's go!" called Rei Lightning.

Damn it, thought Kusardo. He wanted to see what would happen, but they stood in danger's way if they stayed. Reluctantly, he retreated with Kiku and Kimono through the blue doorway. Once the Twin Lightnings caught up with them, the Edge Punisher demanded sternly, "What happened back there?"

Kimono watched as Maera baited Kiku, taunted her and spoke to her as though she knew her innermost thoughts. To add to the surprise, a trio of figures entered the Outer Dungeon behind Maera, and the one known as Azure Kite offered challange to the infamous player, who was seeming less and less a regular player by the minute.

Kimono didn't know who would win in such a battle, and though the odds seemed three on one, the comments about continual losing did little to ease her concience.

"Let's not waste their efforts!" Kimono called, taking off after the others, grabbing Kiku's arm and diving through the portal.