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Chapter 1 – Introduction to the Web

As James and his pals walked through the mystic environment, they could not suppress the feeling of joy and wonder. Yet, at the same time, they felt very uneasy and afraid. The freezing temperature hovers at a quantum fraction above absolute zero. The ice’s grip cracked the floor like a nut in a vice. The howling wind was so strong; it shook the ruins that lay around them. The 7 moons cast an eerie glow on the land, throwing shadows everywhere… As they trudged through the dry and frigid remains of what was the mighty empire of the Trojans, they marvelled at how real everything looked and felt.

What? Of course it was not real! James and his gang were few of the many billions of teenagers and children “logged on” to the virtual space of the Web. The year is 2037 A.D. The two-dimensional computer games of yesterday had long gone, and what replaced it was something hundreds and thousands of times better than it ever was. Sure, people still play the Play-station VII and Dreamcast VC5, but they are considered a thing of the past. In 2024 A.D., a group of scientists had invented the Web in hopes of making the best of gaming humankind could ever want. And they succeeded, far beyond the expectations of everyone. Of course it was not only used for gaming, or the protests from ‘caring’ parents would put them out of business. The Web can be used for many things, like playing or hanging out, or working. So adults can ‘go to work’ even they are still home. There is no more war these days, as countries settled their conflict by using their army to fight it out in the Web. And since this isn’t real, there were no casualties. It was an era of peace.

James is in one of the many virtual reality bars (VR bars) where people go to log in to the web. It merely costs fifty dollars an hour, compared to the thousands you have to spend to get it installed at your own home. People do not use computers to log on anymore. Instead, they wear a “websuit” which is made of nano-fibres and electrical wires. The suit resembles a diver’s wet suit, only ten times thinner and hundreds of times tougher. The nano-fibres ripple and contort along your skin, making you feel everything that is going on in the Web. It literally is a second skin which people wear to plug into the Web. Right now, they are playing in one of the many Enhanced Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (EMMORPG). It’s sort of like a fighting game, where you destroy hordes of monsters and villains, but you control all of your movements and decisions, just like in real life. The only thing is, you won’t feel pain if you get stabbed or burned. You only will get a slight shock and maybe a splitting headache when you log off if the “injuries” are very bad.
But was this all good? There are reports that people who spend too much time online get “websick”. They get diarrhoea, loss of appetite, and spasms of dizziness and confusion. But people still play a lot, not really caring much about their own welfare.

James and co. currently are at one of the highest levels of PristonGlobal V 29.1. No one in London has ever made it past Ossyrion’s 5000 level dungeon. Nobody but them. James was the leader, a dragon knight. A slow but destructive warrior. Along with James, are Ron and Brenda. Ron is a magician, and Brenda is an archer. Though both of them are powerful (in game), they pale in comparison to James. They have worked together ever since the game has started, and have torn through many of what was thought to be impossible dungeons. But, in real life, they are only 16 year old schooling teens.
Chapter 2 – Extermination

So, they continued to walk across the ruins. Sensing danger, Brenda looked up. Up in the sky, was a battalion of stormdragons. No, the word “battalion” does not fit the bill. An ~army~ of stormdragons, circling around our group of unlikely-heroes, was waiting to pounce at any chance. Frankly, they were terrified. They have seen and killed groups of dragons, but stormdragons were the most powerful of them all, and there were more than a thousand of them. They formed a circle, back-to-back, weighing the situation.

“So guys, do you think we can take them?” Brenda asked calmly, not wanting to show her fear.
“Same drill as always then.” came James’ re-assuring reply.
“Let’s go!!!” yelled Ron.

The stormdragons blasted fire balls straight towards the three of them, but before the dragons even realized it, they were gone. Sprinting away from one another, the gang split the dragons up so each of them only had to tackle about 500 at one time. Still, 500 is a big number. It would take a miracle to get through this.

Brenda whipped out a bow that was as long as her entire body. Taking a deep breath, she concentrated. In her hand appeared 3 flaming arrows.
Ron stood calmly on the wasteland. Looking up into the dragons, he started chanting. Around him, lightning cracked and an aura of brilliance formed.
“INFERNO!”
“JUPITER STORM!”
Brenda took aim, closed her eyes, and fired the arrows deep into the heart of the horde of dragons.
Closing his eyes, Ron blasted a lightning bolt deep into the midst of his dragons.
James, as cool as ever, was doing nothing. He mocked the dragons, instigating them to attack. The dragons, unsure of this new prey, did not know what to do. Finally, when they started to dive at him, they were distracted by 2 huge explosions in the distance, and that was when James struck. Taking out his trusted Paradigm spear, he leapt up into the freezing night air, straight through the bodies of many dragons. He landed cat-footed on one of them, sliced its head off, and dived right back down to earth.
“AVENGING CRASH!”
He plunged his 7-foot spear right into the earth. The resulting explosion flashed throughout the entire galaxy, and shook the entire planet to its core...

James woke up to find himself back in the VR bar. He freed himself from his websuit, taking in the fresh air and trying to focus on what really had happened just now. He wiped his sweaty forehead, and stood up. What he saw amazed him. Everyone was clapping and cheering for him. Apparently they had seen their escapade through the plasma screen television in the lobby, and they were as amazed as he is. He caught sight of Ron and Brenda, trying to shake off the websickness.

“What, just, happened?!?!?!” Ron was trying to shout above the noise. “I thought we were not strong enough for such a huge force?!?!”
“Apparently, we were strong enough. It’s about time you noticed dimwit.” Brenda muttered, “And I thought you, as the mage and all, would have a brain...”
“Hey, did any of you notice that strange dungeon underneath the ruins?” James mumbled as they pushed their way out of the crowd.
“Must have been another 5000 level dungeon we have to go through no doubt...” sighed Ron. “I reckon it would take another few months to complete...”
“And there was this girl trapped in the dungeon...” started James, but before he could say any more, Brenda interrupted him
“Come on James, wake up already. You must be suffering from serious websickness. Let’s go home.”


~The dark is generous. Its first gift is concealment. Our true faces lie beneath our skins, our true hearts remain shadowed deeper still. But the greatest concealment lies in hiding from us the secret truths of others. The dark protects us from what we dare not know. Its second gift is comforting illusion. The ease of gentle dreams in night’s embrace, the beauty that imagination brings to our torn and tattered lives. But the greatest of its comforts is the illusion that darkness is temporary, that every night brings a new day. But it is day that is temporary Day is the illusion. Its third gift is light itself. As days are defined by the nights that divide them; as stars are defined by the infinite darkness that surrounds them.
With each victory of the light, it is the dark that really wins. ~
Chapter 3 – Unstoppable Duo

“Air is a very bad conductor of heat; so many thin blankets would be better than one thick blanket, as the heat is trapped between the spaces between the layers...”
James wasn’t even listening to his teacher rant about thermal physics. He was concentrating on yesterday’s events. James was sure of what had seen. It was a dungeon, a huge one. One more immense then anything they have ever seen or experienced. The walls were made of metal. The corridors stretched on for as far as the eye can see, and there was this small room. In the room, was a girl of about his age, locked inside the darkness. Her hands and legs were shackled to the wall, and she had scars all over her body. James could not get this horrific picture out of his mind. It troubled him greatly. First of all, there was no way anyone could be trapped inside the web. If anything goes wrong, you could just return to reality by a push of a button on your wrist. Secondly, there was no way for one to be injured that badly in the web. The cuts and bruises disappear as fast as you can say “Ouch!”. He kept repeating to himself, there is no way, there is no way...

The next day, in school...
“Hey Brenda!” Ron shouted across the hall, and ran over to her. “I did some research...”
“Calm down!” said Brenda.
“O...k, O...k. I researched on the girl James was babbling about, and found nothing! I combed forums and chat rooms of all the professional Priston players and none of them had seen such a girl. But the dungeon was real. Only 2918 people worldwide have actually completed that dungeon and continued to the next area, and only 1 person has actually seen the legendary Dark Lord that resides in the deepest, darkest, most evil part of the dungeon!”
“Looks like we are in for a rough time... I wonder if James is alright...”
“I’m sure he’s fine, and by the way, can you let me copy yesterday’s geography homework?”
“NO!”

James woke up with a start. His computer messaging alert woke him up. It was still 4:30 am. Five days after the stormdragon encounter, he was still having slight headaches and nightmares. He walked over to his laptop and opened the e-mail. To his surprise, it was all the way from Japan! He skimmed through the message, and got even more excited. It seems that news of the destruction of the stormdragon horde had reached Japan. There was this girl and her elder brother, Suki and Sky, who really wanted to meet up with James and his friends. She said that she has already completed 300 levels of the underground Trojan dungeon and wants to help him for more fun and an easier time at the dungeon. James readily agreed to her request, and asked her when she could meet up with them on cyberspace. Happy that he may finally find out more about the dungeon and that mysterious girl, he quickly fell asleep...

“When are this Suki and Sky ever going to show up?” whined Ron. It was Friday afternoon. The gang was waiting at the entrance of the dungeon killing small fry monsters. “We’ve been here for an hour now. How can we even be sure that these people even exist?”
“Shut it Ron...” James snapped. “Maybe it’s because Japan is very far away country... Ah! Here they come!”
Through the cracked metallic door, came 2 figures. The group marvelled at how strong they looked, and at how amazing the Web really was, as they could see the pair as though they were right in front of them, even though in reality they are halfway around the globe in some Japanese VR bar. Suki was a short, 13 year old girl who plays as a ninja. Sky was a tall and lean 17 year old teenager, who plays as a Magic Knight. The group can see how they got so far. The speedy Suki destroys everything with a swift, eagle-like precision, while Sky decimates anything in their path with powerful slashes and obliterating magic. They were the perfect duo, James thought, and with the 5 of us together, we would be unstoppable.
Chapter 4 – Tragedy and Love

“Shall we go?” said Suki excitedly. “We can teleport you straight to Floor 301 but from there, it’s manual labour. Let’s go!”
A second later, they plunged through the dungeon’s metallic floor, and they were in floor 301 of the dungeon. Slowly, the group of them made their way across the floor. 48 minutes later, they split up. Ron was with Brenda and James was with the siblings.

“Did you notice that Sky didn’t say anything at all throughout the journey?” Ron remarked. “He looks like a suitable guy for someone like you...”
Brenda elbowed him hardly in the chest, and Ron, caught unawares, fell down. As he hit the floor, it suddenly split open, and Ron fell through the hole! Shrieking, Brenda leapt towards the hole and grabbed Ron. His face was a mask of fear. Dying in-game meant having to start the game from the beginning. He may be super-strong, but the he has to spend to get back here would be torture. Brenda yelled out for James, but she forgot he wasn’t there. Suddenly, a giant spider pounced her from behind, and they fell through the infinite darkness...

James heard a cry for help, but couldn’t make out who it was from. He hoped Brenda would take care of Ron, that bumbling fool... His eyes jumped from corridor to corridor, hoping to catch sight of anything that resembled the small dark room with the girl he had seen. Suki said she had never seen such a room, and Sky did not reply at all. His mind wandered from Sky, to the mystery girl, and finally to Brenda. He always had a liking for her, but he never had the guts to tell her. And after that scream earlier on, he was worried sick about her. At that precise moment, a group of lumbering beasts ambushed the group, and forgetting all about his worries, James sprang into action...

“Are you alright?” Brenda asked. “I’m so sorry; I didn’t mean to hit you earlier on...” Ron was shocked. He had never seen Brenda so, human. Normally, she hardly ever shows any facial expression, or talk about her feelings. Now she was pouring her heart out. Ron reckoned he should try to calm her down.
“It’s alright Brenda, I’m fine... It’s a stupid game anyway. It doesn’t matter, as long as we are alright. We can work our way up again...”
It didn’t really work. After hearing that, she burst into tears. Ron could do nothing except put his hand gingerly around her shoulder, and let her cry it all out. With his free hand, he took out his compact laptop and started to surf at top speed, trying to search for what he needs to know... As he checked through webpage after webpage, he couldn’t help wondering why James had not logged out yet to check if they were alright. After all, James was the one who really liked Brenda...


“Hey Brenda, about last Friday, are you really sure about us? Boyfriend and...” Ron started, but Brenda quickly interrupted him.
“Quiet! I don’t really want everyone in the world that we are dating, alright? Now, what did you find out?”
“Alright, alright! Stop pinching me!! Well, that Suki girl has an amazing history in the game. She started playing around the same time as us. Funny thing is, I couldn’t find anything on Sky. Nothing at all. It’s as if he does not exist. Maybe Sky was a sprite created by Suki. Maybe she got too used with him around that she thinks Sky is her actual real brother! And I still can’t find anything on the girl James was talking about.”
“The plot thickens... I think all we can do is wait.” Brenda sighed.
“Yeah, and about Mr. Ryder’s book report...”
“DO YOUR OWN HOMEWORK!!!”
Chapter 5 – Despair
James was outraged. Just a few minutes ago, he was having a heated argument with Ron and Brenda. Apparently they were mad at him for forgetting about them when they were in trouble, and that he was too obsessed with a stupid game. So what if he did not check if they were ok? It was a game where you could not get hurt while playing. And they don’t understand that this was more than a game to him, it was his life. His real life was a mess. His family was broken up. He hardly had friends because of spending too much time on the Web. It was the only real thing he had. And worst of all, Ron and Brenda were going out! His best friend and his secret love, boyfriend and girlfriend... It was beyond sick and wrong! He stormed right into the VR bar and logged in even without having his usual soda and chat with the bar owner, Mr. Gill Bates.

Anyone who saw James in the dungeon must have thought he was a madman. He literally blasted his way through the place, level by level. He wasn’t thinking at all. He left a trail of destruction so large, that anyone else would have thought that a tornado had hit this dungeon. He was letting all his anger out on the monsters and the wall of the metal dungeon. It wasn’t until he hit broke his spear on level 764 of the dungeon that he stopped his rampage. Dragging his feet and the broken spear on the floor, he slowly walked on.

Suddenly, when he was walking along a narrow corridor, a stormdragon appeared and blocked his path. He turned around; trying to go the other way, but the way was blocked by a axe-demon. There was no way out. He cursed himself for letting his guard down, and got ready to take them on, alone, unarmed, in a tiny corridor. Simply put, he was a sitting duck for the monsters.
“SAVAGE BLOW!”
“GRAND CROSS!”
Suddenly, the axe-demon in front was vaporized by a blinding light, and the dragon behind him let out one screech, before being cut into many tiny pieces. In place of the dragons, stood Suki and Sky. He was extremely relieved to see them.
“What’s wrong James?” Suki asked kindly. “We followed the trail of blood and pieces of monster left behind, and found you here. You seem troubled.”
“I’m alright.” James said. “Thanks for saving me just now. I could have been a goner.”

It was level 1000. The 3 of them were standing in a vast chamber with nothing but a shining pedestal in the middle. They slowly approached it, but before he caught a glimpse of what was on the pedestal, a shadowy figure appeared in front of it, blocking his view.
“Watch out James, it’s a necromancer.” Suki warned him. “We had a really hard time fighting one of these. It will make fighting the stormdragons look like a walk in the park.”
But James wasn’t even listening. He drew the spear that Suki gave him, summoned up the spear’s spirit, and charged forward. Suki and Sky, as if following his cue, ran around the necromancer to surround it. The necromancer summoned a horde of undead creeps from the ground, and shot different spells at the 3 of them. Sky, who was busy cutting down the creeps, was caught full blast by the necromancer’s spells. Suki, on the other hand, was overwhelmed by the creeps. James stopped doing everything. He looked around, and noticed he was alone in this hell hole.
Chapter 6 – Newfound Power and Hope

He was left alone, against hundreds of creeps, but he didn’t mind. The necromancer shot a barrage of spells at James, but he batted them aside, like they were nothing. The necromancer got angry. It summoned more necromancers, and the necromancers in turn, summoned more undead creeps. Once again, he found himself against an army. 2 differences, this time, he was alone, and he was facing monsters in far greater numbers. There were dozens of necromancers, and millions and millions of creeps. He cursed his luck, and wished Ron and Brenda were here, beside him. Thinking about them, however, made him mad again.

“AVENGING CRASH!”
James leapt up into the air and crammed his entire 10 foot long spear into the floor, causing an explosion that blew up hundreds of thousands of creeps.
“BLADE-STORM!”
James planted his feet firmly into the floor, and started spinning around like mad. He was a tornado of fury, obliterating the undead army.
“DRAGOON BUSTER!”
James took one mighty sweep with his charged spear, slicing through the undead army, halving the number of creeps left.
“SHOCKWAVE TEMPEST!!!”
With a series of acrobatic, flashing sweeps of his Dragoon Spear, he slammed his spear into the floor, creating a massive shockwave that blew the rest of the undead into smithereens, and only the original necromancer stood standing. It fired a barrage of cutting spells at James, one of them hitting James in his arm.
“ARMAGEDDON!!!”
James drew the spear to head height, and running at the speed of light, thrust the spear through the necromancer. The last thing it ever saw was the flashing, 20 foot, elementally charged spear heading straight for its head.

“Wow! James, you have gotten SOOO strong!” came Suki’s voice, breaking him out of his trance. It seems they had survived, and were alright now.
“Go on, take the prize. You deserve it after all that.”
James walked over to the pedestal, and picked up a key, made of diamond. It felt cold and hard in his hand. Where could the key lead to? He could not find out, as he was pulled out of the Web forcefully. It seems someone had logged him out from the outside. It turned out to be the bar owner, Mr. Bates.
“It’s 10:30p.m already James. Shouldn’t you be on your way home?” James cursed his luck again, and left the virtual reality bar without another word.

Back in the pub, Mr. Bates e-mailed Ron.



“Ron,
Have you realized what is going on with James? He doesn’t seem himself lately. You should take care of him. By the way, I saw James’ right hand bleeding just now. I hope nothing is wrong with him.
Take care,
Gill Bates”

James was thinking about the day’s events. His arm was bleeding at where the necromancer had shot him. But that was impossible, as he got injured in the game, and not in reality. And there was that key of diamond. Where could it lead to? He quickly scanned through the places he had been to inside the dungeon. It all clicked into place. He had seen a large crystal door back in level 666, but he had no clue on how to get in. If he followed his trail, he could go back there! And he knew there was a perfect shortcut he could use. He just cursed himself about not thinking about using it earlier...



~The dark is generous and it is patient. It is the dark that seeds cruelty into justice, that drips contempt into compassion, that poisons love with grains of doubt. The dark can be patient, because the slightest drop of rain will cause these seeds of evil to sprout. The rain will come and the seeds will sprout, for the dark is the soil which they grow in, and it is the clouds above them, and it waits behind the star that gives light.
The dark’s patience is infinite. Eventually, even stars burn out. ~

Chapter 7 – Place of Evil

“I’m getting really worried about James...” Brenda said. “He didn’t turn up at school today, and he keeps going on about that girl he swears he had seen in that stupid dungeon...” Ron put his arm around her shoulder and gave her a little hug.
“Yeah, and Mr. Bates, the VR bar owner, e-mailed me yesterday about James’ arm bleeding after a long session. We have got to help him.”
“Like he would let us... We should go and see Mr. Bates. He should know some of the people who created the game. You really don’t use your brain, do you...?”

James was already at VR bar. He doesn’t care about his life anymore. He has sunk so deeply into the game that he can no longer differentiate the two realities. James is at level 1 of the Trojan dungeon. Why? He was looking for the crater of the explosion he had caused when they were fighting the dragons. He cursed himself for not remembering about the crater before this. At last, he had found the crater. It was almost as wide as the dungeon itself. He stared at it in disbelief. This was done by me? Shaking away all doubts in his mind, he took a deep breath, and leapt right into the heart of the crater.

“Well, I do know someone who works in the PristonGlobal Company. I’ll give him a call and see what I can do.” said Mr. Bates.
“Just look at him...” Brenda said as she walked over to James’ real life body. “He has changed so much in such a short time. I really hope he is alright...”
“Brenda, you really do like him don’t you?” asked Ron. Brenda looked guiltily at the floor. Before she could say anything, Mr. Bates came running in.
“My friend says he would meet us. He is sending someone to come pick us up now!”

The levels flashed by so quickly, they blended together to form a smooth wall. He caught sight of the floor of the crater. James blanched. He had not yet thought of how to actually land... The floor of was slowly looming up to greet him, and if he could not think of a way to land in the next 20 seconds, he was going to be pancake. James got mad at himself for letting this happen. If he were to die now, he would have to go back to the beginning of the game, which meant going through the continent of Victoria, the Cursed Shrine, Metropolis, the ice mountains of El-Nath and Ossyrion’s 5000 level dungeon. He would never live it down. Forgetting all his worries, he balanced himself in mid-air, and drew his spear. With all his might, James twisted round and round and round, forming a twister of power around him. He started to slow down, and finally, grind to halt in mid-air. In good time too, he was just a couple of feet away from the metal floor of level 666. He dropped down to the floor and looked around. It seems the explosion he had caused a few days ago could not break through the floor of Level 666. He caught his reflection on the metallic wall. He looked, different. He had an aura of evil around him, and his eyes and hands were red and burning.
Chapter 8 – Desperation Nation

They were being brought to the headquarters of PristonGlobal. It turns out that Mr. Bates’ friend was the head programmer and he wanted to see them immediately to find out more about what happened to James. They arrived at his office in a few minutes time. It was not as advanced as you would have thought. There were at least 10 computers in the office, and every remaining space was crammed with books and computer stuff. The head programmer cleared off some of the stuff on his desk, and greeted them.

“My name is John Data, but you can just call me John. I’ve heard of your friend, and I really am amazed at what has happened. We do not have much time so I will cut the explanations short. What happened to James is that he has become so obsessed with the game that he actually believes it is real. Because of this, anything that happens to the people who are infected in the game will happen to them in real life. There are many people all over the world that are also suffering from what James is. It is sort of like an infectious disease. We have traced it to a corrupted part of the game, but we cannot rectify it due to innumerous firewalls.”
“What you are saying is that if he dies in-game, then~” Mr. Bates asked.
“~his consciousness is lost forever.” completed John “We have got to help him. I have got a hack that would allow you to go into the deepest area of the game. When you reach there, you will have to delete the game using the virus I will provide you with.”
“Why did you say we have very little time left?” Brenda queried. John switched on the flat screened plasma television in his office. They were looking at James, and he was in big time trouble.

There was something different about this level. The whole area had an evil feel to it. Following the trail of scratches on the walls and floors, he slowly made his way to the crystal door. It was a thing of beauty. The diamond double-doors were at least 50 feet high. Flanking the door, stood two large crystal statues. The one on the left was a Warrior, looking a bit like him, and the one on the right was a Magician. James stopped to look at this beautiful image. He caught sight of a small key hole in the middle of the doors. With the diamond key firmly in his hand, he walked towards to door. Suddenly, a metal wall rose out of the floor and blocked off his exit. In front of him, the two crystal statues sprang into life. He cursed his luck once more, and got ready to fight for his life, again...

While John was getting the programs ready, Brenda was already logging in using some spare websuits John had lying around. She wanted to see Suki.
“What was it you wanted to see me about Brenda?” Suki asked as soon as she arrived in cyberspace.
“It’s about Sky. We know he isn’t real, and that he is a sprite created by you. I just want to let you know that we have to delete the game, and if it is deleted, Sky would be gone with it...”
“Shut up! Why are you saying this about my brother? Of course he is real! He grew up with me, he plays with me and he helps me when I’m in need! What makes you think he isn’t real?” And with that, Suki stormed away angrily, leaving Brenda alone. She wanted to go after her, but she received a message from Ron. They were going in.

James had tried everything. Nothing had worked. No matter how hard he charged, his attacks were futile against the crystal armour of the statues. No matter how smart his strategies were, he was always cut of by the statue he wasn’t attacking. Again and again he was blasted off his feet and slammed into the walls. The magician statue blasted a huge bolt of lightning at James. He rolled sideways, missing the bolt by inches, but he stumbled right into their trap. The warrior statue had grabbed a large piece of metal and, using it, slammed James into the wall with it. Half-pinned and breathless, James thought, “If this keeps up, I’m going to get mad.”

Chapter 9 – What Strategy?

James desperately searched his mind for anything that might be useful against these two pieces of crystal. The warrior statue lifted the huge piece of metal, determined to slam James again, but this time, James reacted faster. He rolled away from the metal death trap, and missing James, the warrior statue accidentally hit the magician statue! The magician statue jammed its staff into the armor of the warrior statue. The immense power behind the metal boulder and the staff caused the crystalline armor of the magician to crack, and it revealed the secret of the statues. It was made of many different layers of diamond, instead of one giant slab of diamond. The statues let out a shriek of pain, but did not give up on their assault on James. James hurriedly thought back to his previous days in the game. Nothing. He jumped up and side-stepped the magician’s fire blast. Then, his brain struck gold. He vaguely remembered what his physics teacher said in school, a day after they destroyed the dragons.

“Air is a very bad conductor of heat; so many thin blankets would be better than one thick blanket, as the heat is trapped between the spaces between the layers...”
That’s it! If he could fire off a heat so intense into the armor of the crystal warriors, he could melt their insides, as the heat couldn’t escape! Finally, he had some strategy on how to fight those statues; the only problem was how he was going to produce so much heat. Only a magician could do that. And it struck him. He was fighting a magician! He cursed himself for not thinking about it earlier. He just wished Ron was here, then the problem wouldn’t exist, as Ron is a magician as well.

James tapped into the dungeon’s evil energies. He already knew how to do it before. He needed to be angry, to be mad, and he would become a machine of destruction. He already did it when fighting the dragon army, the necromancer battle, and the journey to Level 666. And thinking about Ron, made him just that, mad. James took out his mighty Dragoon Spear, and began his approach...

Brenda and Ron were immediately warped to Level 4999. They couldn’t reach 5000 as it was protected by innumerous firewalls. They were equipped with the most powerful stuff in the game, so they could have an easier time going through that level. Once they hit 5000, they would let loose with data-eating viruses that John will provide them with. They were in constant contact with John, just in case anything went wrong when fighting the dark lord. They had this one chance only.

Brenda and Ron cautiously walked along the many corridors back-to-back, not wanting to be ambushed at this part of the dungeon. They destroyed all the monsters, and slowly made their way down to Level 5000. When they reached Level 5000, they were amazed at what it looked like. It was a vast platform with no walls, like an abyss. If you fall over the side, you would keep falling forever. All across the room was a raging fire. Brenda grabbed Ron’s arm.
“It’s alright, nothing to be afraid of.” assured Ron, “Alright, John, upload the virus.”
In front of them, appeared a barrel of black arrows and a spellbook. They reached for their equipment, but stopped dead in their tracks. They saw someone standing in the middle of all that fire. It was Sky.

“What is Sky doing down here? I thought he was nothing but a sprite created by Suki.” muttered Brenda.
Before Ron had the chance to speak, Sky charged towards them. Brenda fired a few of the data-eating arrows John gave them, but Sky easily evaded all of them. Sky leapt up into the air, and flew straight for Brenda’s throat, but Ron leapt infront and conjured up a magic barrier to deflect Sky’s offensive. But Sky was relentless, launching attack after magic after attack at the duo. Brenda and Ron kept trying to find an opening while dodging Sky’s merciless barrage. They couldn’t find any.

“FIRE CHARGE!”
Sky’s blade sucked in the fire from the surroundings, and slashed a giant wall of fire towards them. Ron countered by launching a wave of water towards the fire. They barely made it.

“We can’t hold him off for long! He’s too powerful for us!” gasped Ron.
“We need a plan, or we’re toast! Literally!” Brenda yelled.
“Why are you asking me? If only James were here. He would come up with something for sure!”
“If James were here, then we wouldn’t even be in this mess!”
“Oh yeah...”

Chapter 10 – The Gang Is Back

“DRAGOON ENCHANT!!”
James’ 10 foot long spear grew longer and longer, and a coat of ice appeared around the spear. He was using the ice as a lure. His plan worked perfectly. James had instigated the magician to fire a burst of flame towards him. In the nick of time, James switched his tactics.
“FLAME CHARGE!!!”
The sheet of ice on his blade melted away, and sucked in the fire blast. Aiming his burning spear, he charged forward and threw it into the crack of the magician statue’s armor. His blade pierced straight through, and the flaming spear continued on, spiralling into the crack of the warrior statue’s armor. At first, nothing happened. Then, the statues started to melt slowly. James was surprised his plan had worked. He leapt over to the warrior statue, and wrenched his spear out.
“DRAGOON BUSTER!!!”
With a sweeping slash from his spear, what once were two powerful entities became two multi-coloured splats on the wall. Taking a deep breath, James calmed himself down. Finally, after all this time, he was going to find out what was in that room. With the diamond key in his hand, he inserted the key, and turned...

James stepped into nothingness. He shouted out but he could not hear his own voice over the wind. He was falling and falling downwards. It was all over, he was dead.
James found himself standing. He was puzzled. He thought, I am still alive? In front of him, was the girl he had seen when he blasted open the dungeon.

“You have passed my test James. Come join me, and we shall live forever, ruling over the world.” said the mysterious girl.
“Who are you and how do you know who I am?” James demanded.
“You already know who I am. You have tapped into my energies time and time again. I feed on your anger and fear, and in return I give my limitless power. No one knows who I am, but I shall be known to you as Valkyrie.”
“What do you want from me?”
“I do not request anything, but I will grant you boundless power. You have 10 minutes to decide. Then, your time is up.”
With that, Valkyrie disappeared, and James found himself falling again. He desperately looked around. He saw a platform beneath him, about one kilometre away. It was covered in what looked like fire. And he could vaguely make out three moving figures on the platform. James quickly straightened himself in midair. The platform quickly loomed towards him. With huge effort, he grabbed the edge of the platform as was dropping past it. Hanging on for his dear life, James pulled his head up. What he saw there shocked him.

“What’s that?” Brenda asked.
“You’re not going to believe this, it’s James!” Ron shouted.
Brenda ran over to help James up onto the platform while Ron held off Sky with a magic barrier.
“What’s gotten into Sky? Why is he attacking you two?” James stuttered.
“We suspect he is in cahoots with the Dark lord. Either that or his programming has gone haywire. Oh James, its good to see you again!” Brenda threw herself into James’ arms. James, unprepared for this, almost fell over the platform.
“Nice of you to drop in James. If you two lovebirds are done being reunited, how about giving me a hand?!” Ron shouted. James grinned.
“With the three of us back together, he doesn’t stand a chance.”

Chapter 11 – Sky, The Mightiest Warrior

The four of them moved at the exact same moment. James charged directly for Sky, but Sky avoided James by leaping 30 feet into the air. Brenda and Ron, standing side by side, combined their abilities. Brenda shot a single arrow enchanted by Ron into the floor.
“ARROW ERUPTION!!!”
A thousand burning arrows burst out from the floor, all flying upwards towards Sky. But somehow, he found an opening in the barrage of arrows, and came crashing down on the floor.
“EXPLOSION!!!”
Sky crammed his sword into the floor causing a huge explosion that threw them to the edges of the platform, nearly pushing them over the edge.
“It seems like he has all my moves.” James muttered. “Alright, let’s go on the offensive!”

James leapt into the air. A burning arrow appeared in Brenda’s hand. Ron began chanting and an aura of fire appeared around him.
“BURNING JUDGEMENT!!!”
James crammed his 10 foot spear into the floor, directly infront of Sky. The explosion was as powerful as an atomic bomb. James leapt out of the explosion radius. Brenda fired the burning arrow into the air, and thousands of fire arrows rained into the explosion, causing it to manifest and burn a thousand times hotter. Ron fired a spark into the explosion causing it to burn into a huge column of fire, rising as far as the eye can see. And there was an eerie silence. The explosion died away, and their vision cleared, just in time to see a glowing barrier in the middle of the platform.

“WHAT!?!” Ron exclaimed. “He isn’t dead yet!? Just how powerful is he?” The question was answered by Sky himself. He stood there in the middle of the platform for a second, and vanished. Ron looked up just in time to see Sky above him, before everything went dark.
“RON!!!” yelled Brenda and James. But Ron vanished. He wasn’t there anymore. Sky had taken out Ron.

James pulled out all the stops. He got really angry. Summoning up the evil energies once again, he charged Sky. By the time Sky’s attention returned to James and Brenda, his vision was completely obstructed by the sole of James’ boot approaching his face with something resembling terminal velocity. The impact blasted him off his feet. He was barely able to get back onto his feet before James charged him again.

Brenda watched all this 20 feet away, not wanting to come between these 2 unstoppable warriors. She was amazed at James’ power, but was worried as well. She just got word from John that Ron was okay. He managed to pull Ron out before he was pulverized by Sky. But he could not go in there again. John was watching James fight with Sky through Brenda’s eyes.
“This is serious. It seems that James has been corrupted by the game too much already. You are his only hope. Save him before it’s too late!” John said to Brenda.
That blue spear was everywhere, flashing and whirling faster and faster until James seemed to be standing within a pulsing sphere of blue energy. Brenda wanted to help but she feared she might hit James accidentally. She could only watch their dance of death from the sidelines, helpless.

~The dark is generous and it is patient and it always wins. It always wins because it is everywhere. It is in the wood that burns in the fireplace, and in the kettle on the fire; it is under your chair and under your table and under your bed. Walk in the sun and the dark is with you, attached to the soles of your feet.
The brightest light casts the darkest shadow. ~

Chapter 12 – Ultimate Sacrifice

It all came down to this.
James took one mighty leap into the air, and slammed his spear onto Sky’s blade. The impact knocked Sky all the way across the platform to the other side. The stage was set for a showdown between the 2 unstoppable warriors.
“GRAND CROSS!!!”
“ARMAGEDDON!!!”
Sky’s sword glowed a brilliant white, and he zoomed across the platform towards James. James spear grew to twice its length, and started to flash brightly. He aimed the spear, and flew towards Sky. Both of them at the speed of light and heading for each other’s throats, a clash would be inevitable. A bright light exploded from their two blades when they collided. Brenda shielded her eyes from the blinding light. She was terrified that something bad might happen to James.

The blinding light cleared to reveal both of them still standing in the middle of the platform, blades interlocked. With all his might, James pushed Sky away. Both of them were exhausted and could fight no more. Seizing the opportunity, Brenda took aim and fired one of the virus arrows. But the arrow never got around to hitting its target. A magical shield appeared out of nowhere and deflected the arrow. The arrow flew away and almost impaled James. Suddenly, a blast of power knocked Brenda off the platform. A bright light descended from the darkness. It was Valkyrie.

“Time is up James, do you wish to join me, or do you wish to perish like that girl?” Valkyrie asked.
“Never! Not after what you did to my friends! I am going to take you down!!!” James roared.
“You and what army?” giggled Valkyrie.
“The two of us is enough to beat you!” came a voice of the darkness. It was Suki. She walked over to James’ side, helping him up.
“What are you doing here?” James asked, bewildered.
“This is personal.” Suki was glaring at Sky, her eyes never leaving him. “It’s time I faced the truth and not avoid it anymore. Let’s go!” As one, Suki and James charged Sky. Suki was attacking with everything she got. She was moving so fast that James could not see her. James was about to attack Sky, but Valkyrie stopped him.

“SHOCKWAVE TEMPEST!!!”
Every single acrobatic sweep, chop and thrust by James was evaded by Valkyrie. It was as if she wasn’t even trying. But James had expected this. He had timed his attack perfectly. He slammed his spear into the floor causing a huge shockwave to zoom towards Valkyrie. She dodged, leaving Sky wide open for it.
“THOUSAND SLASHES!!!”
In the exact same time, Suki launched her own offensive, launching light-speed slash after light-speed slash into Sky’s body. The impacts blasted Sky to the edge of the platform. They did not have anytime to celebrate. Sky was already recovering from their attacks.

“He can’t stay down!” James said exasperatedly to Suki, but she did not answer. Suki ran over to Sky, and tackled him, like what people used to do in rugby matches. Both of them toppled over the edge. James can take it no more. First Ron, then Brenda, now Suki. He can’t control his anger anymore.
“Yes James, feed me with your anger! The angrier you get, the more powerful I become! There is no way you can stop me!” Valkyrie laughed.
“But you can’t stop me from trying! Only one person will be walking away from this place today!”

~Light and dark. Good and bad. What are they?
What is the good but the teacher of the bad? What is the bad but the task of the good?
The two opposites will collide, and when they do, nothing can be done to stop the destruction that will take place. Light against dark. Winner take all.~
Chapter 13 – Power Of Love

“James! Can you hear me?” It was Brenda’s voice. He was immensely relieved to hear her voice. “You have to listen to me. That girl is the “Dark Lord”. She is a corrupted program in the game. She has already plagued the entire of cyberspace! You have to finish her, or everyone who uses the web will be trapped inside forever. You are everybody’s only hope!”
James tightened his grip on his spear, and got ready to fight. He saw the truth now. It was all a ploy by Valkyrie to trap him inside the game forever. The crystal room was just a trap, and so were the dragons and the necromancer. His thoughts and feelings chased each other aimlessly through his mind. He was excited, yet frightened at the same time. He cannot afford to lose this battle. He had to finish her off, for the sake of the millions of people who played the game. Valkyrie took out a spear the colour of the autumn sky, which was twice as long as she was tall. She lifted her spear, and beckoned.

“It’s your anger James! The angrier you get, the more powerful she gets!” said Brenda’s voice. He finally understood why she was so powerful.

James charged forward, determined to pound Valkyrie to the dust. But without tapping into the evil energies, he did not have the ability to kill her. If he did use the evil power, Valkyrie would just get stronger than him. He launched attack after attack, but Valkyrie dodged all of them effortlessly. A simple slash from Valkyrie sent him flying. He barely had time to look up before Valkyrie started attacking him full force. James quickly lifted his spear to defend himself.
Valkyrie came on, mechanically inexorable, impossibly powerful. She slammed her spear so hard that the shock of blocking it buckled James’ knees. James no longer tried to block her strikes, but to guide them slanting away; he could not meet Valkyrie strength-to-strength.
“DIVINE BLADE!!!”
Valkyrie’s spear glowed with the synthetic bloodshine of molten lava. Quick as a whip, she swung her spear into James with immense force. If he had not blocked it, he would have been cut in half. The impact of the blow blasted him off his feet and he crashed into the floor, skidding across the full length of the platform.
Getting off the floor, James concentrated on the only image in his mind that would not lead to anger, Brenda. Suddenly, he felt cleansed as all dark thoughts left him. Empty, he found purity and power. He looked at the world with renewed vision. He saw the true face of Valkyrie; she was nothing more than another computer program. And programs can be deleted.
Valkyrie charged James, but this time, he met her charge easily. They stood toe-to-toe, spears still flashing faster then the eye could see, but Valkyrie had lost her edge. She no longer had godly strength and speed. A simple change of thought in his mind caused the tides of favour to shift towards James.

“DRAGOON BUSTER!!!”
Valkyrie barely was able to block James’ light-speed slash. The immense force of the impact blasted her backwards, almost causing her to lose her balance. His shining blue spear whirled and spat at Valkyrie, and every overhead chop crashed against her defence with the unstoppable power of a meteor strike. She tried to gain some leverage by jumping up into the air, but James just kept on attacking, tirelessly ferocious. Valkyrie switched her tactics. With a twist of her mind she altered the terrain.
Suddenly, the platform below vanished, and it is replaced with a river of lava. Many pieces of rock jut out through the flow of lava. Valkyrie landed gracefully on one of the rocks, and James barely made it on one of the rocks. If he had slipped into the lava, he would be fried down to sub-atomic particles.
“So you’ve decided to play dirty huh?” James taunted. “Fine by me.”

~The dark is generous, patient, and it always wins, but in the heart of its strength lays weakness: one lone candle is enough to hold it back, no matter how dark it is.
Love is more than a candle. Love can ignite the stars~
Chapter 14 – Final Battle


“ETERNAL TSUNAMI!!!”
Valkyrie took a flying leap and thrust her spear into the lava river. Wave after wave of lava rose up from the surface and sped to James. The walls of lava were too high to leap over, too wide to dodge. James would have to meet them head-on.
“BLADESTORM!!!”
James planted his feet into the small rock he was standing on, and started twisting around and around like mad while desperately holding onto his spear. A huge tornado formed around him. The magnitude of the tornado almost sucked the river dry. It blew the waves to Timbaktu and threw Valkyrie back to her original position. But his attack had cost him a lot. His spear was starting to melt due to the incinerating heat of the lava.
James started to improvise. He took out the arrow, which Brenda had shot at Sky, but was deflected by Valkyrie. According to Brenda, it was imbued with a data-eating virus. He was planning to use it as a make shift sword. It might not look good, but it was powerful.
But before he could do anything, the arrow started to morph into a different shape. James was stunned. He was holding a spear. 12 feet long, glowing blade and a wicked paint job on it.

“Like what I did with it?” giggled Brenda. “I’m having a lot of fun with the computers here. I can’t help you physically, but this spear should be able to blow Valkyrie to hell and back, along with the entire game.”
James could feel the spear’s power flowing into him, and he felt more powerful than ever.
Valkyrie was shocked at his new weapon and power as well. Screaming like a banshee, she charged James, leaping from stone platform to stone platform to reach him. But when she did eventually reach him, James was long gone. She looked up just in time to see James come crashing down onto her. She barely escaped his attack. Where she was standing a few moments ago was vaporized, along with the entire river of lava. The tiny stone platforms became towering rock pillars reaching up to where the lava was. James was standing at the bottom of what used to be the river, while Valkyrie was precariously perched on one of the stone pillars high above the floor. James sliced into the foot of her pillar. The entire pillar crumbled and came crashing down. Valkyrie did not have time to think of anyway to escape it. She tumbled along with all the debris all the way to the bottom. She was buried under tons of rock. But James could not take any chances. There was too much at stake. Too much was lost already.

“ETHEREAL NOVA!!!!!”
Large angel wings sprouted from James’ back, and he floated a kilometre into the air. His spear turned 50 feet long and it was engulfed in a blinding white light. With a huge shout, he threw the spear towards the mountain of debris. The spear, trailing a huge beam of light, like a comet’s tail, buried itself into the debris, right into Valkyrie’s heart. An incalculably large explosion engulfed the entire universe. Its epicentre burned with the white hot intensity of a million Suns. Valkyrie had the most spectacular burial and cremation anyone could ask for. The explosion was so huge that the entire game started to collapse. James closed his eyes, and everything vanished.
An Epilogue Or Two

The year is 2050 A.D.
13 years have came and gone since James exterminated the corrupted game. I bet you would want to know what happened to everybody, wouldn’t you?

John Data, 1985-????, born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin –
He and his team of game programmers wanted to create a whole new web game using all of the data they had collected from James. Doing all that he can to prevent another virus infection like last time, he and his team had completed the new game in 2041 A.D. It became the most popular game in the world in less than 4 weeks after it was launched.
Gill Bates, 1996-????, born in Colorado Springs, Colorado –
Ever since the new game that John has released, his business has increased tenfold, and now owns many branches of VR bars.

Suki, 2024-????, and Sky, 2020-2035, both born in Osaka, Japan –
Suki has come to terms with her brother’s death, after much comforting and assuring from a certain young American man. She is now a volunteer worker that help helps counsel young children and teens who have lost family members, like a father or a brother.
Ron, 2021-????, born in Mansfield, Ohio –
He graduated from Oxford University in 2043 A.D, and went on to further studies in life sciences. He is now a doctor that specializes in sicknesses caused by over exposure to the Web. Rumor has it that he is dating a young Japanese girl...

Brenda, 2021-????, born in New York, New York –
Amazingly, Brenda is still studying. She has finished University, got many diplomas and degrees and has achieved her Masters degree. Currently she is working for her PhD.
James, 2020-????, born in New York, New York –
James was in a coma for 3 days after getting out of the disintegrating game. Extremely severe websickness, as the doctors call it. Years later, James dropped out of University after the first year. He now is a professional gamer, and is hired by John Data for game testing. You might see him at one of the VR bars owned by Gill Bates, pouring his guts out over the games. But he also spends his time accompanying Brenda while she studies.

“Congratulations on passing your exams Brenda!” James said. “Guess now I’ll have to call you ‘Doctor Brenda’ now huh?”
“Very funny James…” Brenda said. “You’ll be lucky I don’t give you ‘Permanent head Damage (PhD)’. Where’s Ron?”
“Duh, he most likely would be out dating Suki… Want to go grab a bite?”

James and Brenda were sitting in a plush restaurant, lit only by the burning candles on the table and on the walls. Music was being played live by some musicians. The ambience could not have been more romantic.
“Why bring me to such an expensive restaurant?” asked Brenda. “I won’t get angry just because to treat me to junk food…” There was a twinkle in James’ eye, but Brenda did not see it.
“Don’t worry,” reassured James, “I can afford this. It’s not as if John doesn’t pay me. Let’s stop blabbering and order some food.”
They finished their food, and slowly sipped their drinks. A waiter walked over with a huge bouquet of roses and placed it on their table.

“Ah, it arrived just in time!” said James excitedly. “This is for you Brenda.”
Brenda took the flowers with delight. She caught sight of a small red box in the middle of all the red, pink and white. Not sure of what to do, she took out the box, and opened it. It was a diamond ring. Not a humungous one, but enough to make her feel very happy.
James took a deep breath. He had been waiting for this moment for ages. His heart pounded against his ribcage, kneeling on one knee, he asked Brenda,

“Will you marry me?”

For James, time seemed to slow to a standstill. His heart skipped 10 beats every minute. He watched Brenda’s eyes for any sign of acceptance, or rejection. It seemed like a trillion years has passed. She wore a bemused expression on her face, as if her facial muscles have lost control. She was crying, from happiness or sadness James did not know. She smiled. To him, her smile was as radiant as the morning sun, her tears like the glistening dew in the morning. His heart almost stopped beating. Brenda wiped her tears away, and nodded.