Private Eastern Brisshal On That Day, Evil Was Born

[Ishtar]

[LOGGING IN]

[AS PER PRIOR NOTIFICATION, RE-SYNCHRONIZATION HAS BEEN COMPLETED]

[PLEASE SELECT A USERNAME AND PROCEED TO CHARACTER CREATION]
​

The creature drifted in the void for a while, staring at the blank text box. The real world had been so strange, the air tasted sweet, but dull at the same time. There was no magic there. It was such a strange place. The technology had been a bit of a chore to adjust to but she had managed with some time. She had spent a day adjusting to the memories that Linsday Clark had left behind, sifting through the relevant information and tossing aside what was pointless in the long term. Her prior relationships were white noise, for the most part. She categorized what she would be getting rid of once she returned to Terrasphere as manipulating her own memories wasn't possible in the real world.

"Ishtar," She cooed into the void. A name it had dug up from Linsday's loose knowledge of the mythology of the real world. It would do.

Next was the creation of a body as she transferred to the white room. Attia's black-eagle beastfolk was so obtuse and an obvious attempt at playing the 'serene saintess' role. Ishtar picked something more fun, a Faerin would do. She'd max out the height, didn't want to be too tiny but she felt more comfortable in a small body for some reason. Besides, the fae were more aesthetically pleasing for her. After that, she honed the appearance into something that suited her tastes.

[YOU MAY SELECT YOUR MASTERIES OR HAVE A SET CREATED FOR YOU BASED ON YOUR PROFILE]
​

"Use my profile," Ishtar said as the white room began to decompose. She was falling.

[ERROR: A POWERSET ALREADY EXISTS FOR THIS PROFILE]
[ADAPTING POWERSET TO A MASTERY SET]
​

"No use thinking too hard about it," She mused as she hurtled down from the sky. She closed her eyes and let instinct take hold, the streak of white light rushing towards the earth stopped just before it impacted the ground and she floated above the surface, her near-white body glowing faintly in the night. Her all white hair fluttered around the starting clothes that the game provided for her immediately upon creation. She huffed at the scratchy garment and disposed of it, exposing her bare flesh to the world. Her thin lips twisted into a smile and she clenched her fist, feeling the magic suffusing the air. "Now... lets see if her experience points are still... ah!"

A flood of strength rushed through her body as the glow grew brighter and brighter. She savored the senation of leveling up over and over until finally the sensation stopped.

[RE-SYNCHRONIZATION AND SYSTEM ERROR CALIBRATION COMPLETE. WELCOME BACK TO TERRASPHERE, ISHTAR]
​

Nearby a group of new players gaped in confusion at the display. She turned toward them, floating in the air like a serpent, and smiled. Her eyes opened and a pink glow glittered in their direction before she whisked herself away, hurtling through the trees toward her intended destination. It was good manners to be the one waiting when you invited someone to meet, after all.

---

The old campsite was still there, even after all this time, the bandits never dared tread near the place where the scary bird-woman had lingered for weeks, slaughtering their brothers and sisters. The campfire lay there, inert, the tents had tilted a little with the weather and the few crates of supplies were a bit worn but otherwise untouched. Ishtar, the creature, drifted through the trees like a glowing ghost, before landing on a high branch overlooking the campsite. How much time had she spent watching Attia from behind, unable to act, unable to interact, unable to give her opinions. Ishtar's lip twitched involuntarily and she bore her teeth in a wicked smile.

"She'd been so interesting at first," She mused, sitting down on the branch and pressing her legs together as she watched the campsite in silence. She eyed the campfire and after a thought snapped her fingers, whitish flames erupting from the spot and bringing a bit of eerie light to the place. Shadow danced across the ground and debris as Ishtar waited in silence for the man she wanted to see to arrive. She didn't hide herself, but instead sat proudly in the tree looking down on the camp. She wanted him to see her first.

@Hanno Futaba

 

[Hanno Futaba]

Hanno stomped his way toward the coordinates.

He didn't take much time of a break from the game after the hell that was let loose calmed down. Not when Attia's message make his chest feel tight in worry. The last time he had seen her, she was troubled, weakened by the combat.

Why the plea for help was for somewhere in Eastern Brisshal was something he couldn't understand. Was it something that didn't directly affect her, and she needed his help away from prying eyes? Was it something that threatened her life? Was she... UI Locked..?

The thought twisted his stomach, and was one incentive for him to hurry his steps even more, nearly jogging his way to Falderen... Which to a point, it actually turned out to be like that.

It didn't take long for him to notice the familiarities, that place... It should be her camp. So perhaps it was something she wanted to show away from prying eyes, which may mean that it wasn't something as threatening as he initially thought.

Whether or not his assumptions would go anywhere, the time to find out now...

... Or at least, that was what he thought.

His eyes scanned the camp, seeing no sign of Attia, no sign of danger, and no sign of nothing... At least not until his gaze met the campfire and the fellow faerin that remained silent on their spot.

A frown crossed his face, and he approached them.

"Where is Attia?" He asked, straight to the point. "This is her camp. Where is she?"

@Ishtar

 

[Ishtar]

She watched him stomp in with all the courage she'd seen before, lingering behind Attia's every move. Her eyes twinkled when he scanned the camp, spotting the strange campfire and then tilting up to see her sitting in the tree. She wasn't hard to spot with glowing skin. She smirked and tilted her head.

"You came~ A real hero," She tittered out a laugh, shifting on the tree but remaining where she sat. He was far more powerful than she was at this point and she wasn't about to put herself in front of him so daringly. Not yet anyway.

He spoke and she laughed, "I really can see why she had a crush on you, dearie, you're so direct~"

She pulled up her UI and opened the messenger, selecting Hanno and penning a quick message before sending it to him. It should show up on his end under Attia's name, since he'd added her before the change.

Mail

Does this answer your question, dearie?

She kicked her legs playfully, swaying left and right like a child as she let the message sink in. Her pink glowing eyes bore down on him as she leaned forward in anticipation, maddened delight sparkling behind the glow. "She's long gone, Hanno dear. Poor thing."

@Hanno Futaba

 

[Hanno Futaba]

The way the faerin spoke rubbed wrong on Hanno.

His fists squeezed shut as he stared intently at the woman, frowning his lips when being called a 'real hero'. Usually, this kind of smug introduction didn't come with good news... And his first instinct was to look around once again, rapidly, trying to find any sign of where Attia could be held hostage or perhaps just captured.

The faerin's next taunting words, however, caught his attention once again, with the 'why she had a crush' making his heart freeze in contrast to his boiling blood. He was never one to care about grammar or semantics, but listening that sentence on the 'past' didn't strike right to him.

"I'm not going to ask again. Where is she?" He gritted his teeth, taking another step forward, this time without intention to halt his steps, paying no care for the UI gesture from the faerin, at first.

However, all that relentless steps were broken as soon as the gesture finished, making a message pop up under Attia's name. Hanno's heart sank, with his eyes and lips quivering at the message, reading over and over, in hope that it would change somehow. How..? How did it even happen? How that person was controlling Attia's UI?

The message eventually flickered away, and his gaze locked on her's, growing from shock to denial, with a weaker step taken forward. "Attia... What are you..." He mumbled, with the realization slowly reaching him, until her words reached him once again.

Long... Gone..?

His eyes continued to linger on the faerin's, with a growing sorrow being reflected on them as he started putting pieces together, slowly catching the full understanding of the situation, that only caused his rage to grow back.

"I will fucking warn you, I've already spent every single mercy I had with a goddamn robot, I don't have any drop of it left for you." His eyes burned with anger, with his fists clenching tightly, only being held back by one detail that was the source of anger and heartache he felt...

... Whoever that thing was, it had Attia's 'body', and he surely couldn't bring himself to hurt her. It was just like Corvella and Lune... Except in this case, something was off. There was something very wrong in it.

@Ishtar

 

[Ishtar]

Ishtar lounged on the tree, humming to herself as he stepped forward with purpose. His steps falling short as the message went through and his expression changed. Her smile grew wider when he looked up at her, gazing into her eyes. There was something horrible in those glowing pink eyes, like a deep abyss beyond the simple mortal lenses. Something unspeakable writhed and rumbled within those depths, a formless nightmare that stared back at him for that brief moment.

He took a weak step forward and his words came out in a mumble, she tilted her head again and gave him an almost pitying look, a twisted mockery of a motherly gaze. Then the pieces started to come together, she could see the wheels turning in his mind. Oh he was special, even in a fit of rage his mind worked so well. What an amusing fellow. She sneered at him, letting the unspoken understanding of the circumstances hang between them.

She scoffed, "Wasted mercy if you ask me, you starcalled really messed that one up," She shot back, stretching her arms over her head and yawning before resting her chin on her palm. He at least had some fire in his belly, that was fun.

"What are you going to do, dearie? Kill me?" She barked out a laugh. "Her body is still alive, it's quite nice. Your world is very stale though, more than I imagined..." She trailed off, reclining a bit. "No wonder you people run away here."

@Hanno Futaba

 

[Hanno Futaba]

Hanno scowled at the mockery the... Whoever that was taking over Attia's body was doing. It scratched his patience, but he knew he couldn't just solve this with fists, not like that.

Yet, something in her words made a frown only grow on his face. 'You starcalled'? She... Wasn't a player? Some sort of wicked Player Killer? No, it was something else, but worse than that, if the following words were true, the implications were worse than he expected.

He could feel his heart tightening more, with a lump growing in his throat, making it hard to even breath... Whatever that thing was, it wasn't a player, and yet... It seemed to see the world outside... Did it have control over the entirety of her mind..?

Mixed feelings began running through his heart.

He couldn't put words on how much relief he felt knowing that, despite anything, the real Attia was still alive. There was still hope to save her. But it also implied that if things went wrong... Perhaps a fate worse than death was reserved to her.

Despite the taunting, Hanno wouldn't kill her. No, it was a bad idea. Attia seemed to be reserved about a lot of things. About her feelings, about her intentions... For her to hide how many deaths she had until now it was a step. Maybe she had no deaths, but maybe she already had two in her counter, and if he killed her, not only he would risk UI-Locking her, but there was also the chance of it not working and putting her in a point where her consciousness would be lost forever.

"... Fuck..." He gritted his teeth, muttering to himself while keeping his eyes on 'Attia'.

"... Who are you..?" Hanno asked. "What do you want? What do you need to let her go?"

Negotiating was probably a bad idea, but if he could at least snatch its intentions...

"... And why her, of all people?"

@Ishtar

 

[Ishtar]

Ishtar's eyes glittered as the expressions washed over his face. He wore his heart on his sleeve this one. Honest, just, and proud. A good man. That little brat Attia was batting way out of her league, not that she even realized what she was experiencing until it was too late. He fascinated Ishtar, such a person could in just a few meetings inspire someone who wanted to use him into changing their heart so much. No magic required. It was a feat.

His eyes fixed on her and she knew, at that moment, she could move a bit more feely. She slipped down from the high point she had claimed and rolled off the limb as if doing a sideways pirouette. She drifted into the air, her glowing body floating smoothly across the camp and in his direction. She sailed toward him with a laugh before moving to float in a circle around him, "So many questions. Who What Where When Why? Hahaha! You're so cute."

She drifted away from him this time, going back towards the center of the camp before languidly flipping upsidedown in the air and staring at him from an arched-back pose, stretching her legs. She opened her mouth to weave a playful story for him and felt something churn inside of her. Her eyes narrowed mischeviously to hide the sudden pang of frustration. She couldn't lie. How strange. She started of thinking of other lies and found that it drew up the same feeling. "Why her? You ask?"

She fixed him with her gaze again; "I do not know why, bad luck on her part I suppose," Ishtar chuckled and flipped back over, floating on her chest and kicking her legs like a girl gossiping about boys with her friends. She ignored his question about letting her go, she had no intention of giving up this body. Being alive was far too much fun.

She rested her chin on the back of her hands and smiled at him. "I picked a rather good name from her memories, you have some interesting stories back in your world. You may call me Ishtar, and I want only one thing, to make this world more exciting."

@Hanno Futaba

 

[Hanno Futaba]

Hanno didn't move when the other faerin approached, with his gaze locked on her, he watched every move she took. He didn't intend to attack her, at least not knowing what to do if he managed to subdue her, something he wasn't even entirely aware if he would manage. He didn't know how powerful the one who was possessing her was.

But to be able to linger even in the outside world... It was dangerous.

The mockery tingled Hanno one more time, and while he would usually jestfully respond to this kind of thing, there was too much piled up in his mind and heart at the moment to change his current, stiff and impotent feelings.

"Bad luck? Is that all there is to this?" Hanno muttered, looking at her with a scowl. He couldn't believe it, if that was the case, it was something impossible to predict.

The mention of picking on her memories only made Hanno more worried, and the mention of the name Ishtar along with 'interesting stories' confirmed it for sure, that thing had access to Attia's memories... He wasn't entirely sure at first, but she had mentioned her feelings a couple times already, feelings Hanno didn't notice before.

His fist clenched again. "Ishtar. Alright." He took a deep breath, this time approaching her once again, without hesitation, but also without hostility. "This world already has excitement enough, we don't need anything else. Didn't you see? Things are shambling already." He said, shaking his head.

"Listen." Hanno said, looking deep into Ishtar eyes. "I'm not sure what you truly want. But... If you don't have anything against her. Leave her out of it." He said, frowning.

Bargaining with a devil didn't sound right.

"What are you? A spirit? Do you need a body? I can find you one. You saw, creating a magitech body isn't impossible." Hanno said. "But leave her alone."

@Ishtar

 

[Ishtar]

Ishtar kicked her feet lazily, looking him square in the eyes as he stood up to her. She tilted her head to the right when he spoke, her expression unrepentantly smug. She looked him up and down when he claimed that the world had enough excitement and laughed uproariously, pulling away and floating higher into the air. She sat down on the air cross legged and had to push down the chuckling. He was so funny! What a strange man!

She cleared her throat, such a good boy, he was still trying to bargain, like he had a position to. When he brought up the topic of giving her a body of her own, she started to look delighted, then her expression fell when he mentioned creating a magitech body for her.

"Boo! Boring! You were almost even more interesting there for a second, what a shame," She said dismissively, waving away his suggestion. "And lose out on all the useful things I can accomplish in your world? Why would I give that up? You're silly!"

She laughed until she caught herself, clearing her throat again and pinning him with a stare.

"I'm not sure what I am, not that it matters, only the pedantic and boring spend all their time wondering things like 'who am I?' or 'what is my purpose?' pfft! Fruitless if you ask me!" She stretched again and looked down at him. If she had to hazard a guess based on her experiences and what she'd learned in the real world, she was probably cut content. It happened on occasion where it was simpler just to isolate cut data rather than delete it.

She spread her arms, "No, dear boy, this body is mine now. And I am going to have some fun! I have been waiting for years to interact with this world and I have so many ideas!" She let out a delighted sigh and spun in the air, reveling in existance. She stopped and looked back at him. "That said, I-"

She was cut off as footsteps began to approach from the side accompanied by voices.

"This forest is pretty dense, huh? At least there's a campsite here," A man said.

"This game is so real, it's scary kinda, lets stop here and get some rest," Another chimed in as a group of new players made their way into the clearing.

Ishtar's expression cooled, "Interrupting my fun..." She hissed.

@Hanno Futaba

 

[Hanno Futaba]

Ishtar's reaction brought a scowl to Hanno's face. What was that for her? Some kind of game? A joke? Hanno didn't like what he was seeing or hearing, and even worse was the fact his body and life of someone he cared for being played with as if it was a toy. "I'm not here to be something fun to you." He rumbled, frowning. "There is nothing to do in 'my world', as you say it. You don't have powers there, it isn't as simple as this world." Hanno said, firmly, and not really going into details to avoid giving Ishtar any ideas.

"I am not here to do any philosophy with you either. But if you don't even know who you are, what's the point of doing whatever the hell you are doing. This is what is truly fruitless." Hanno waved his arm abruptly, as if giving a slash with his arm, clenching his fists as his emotions started boiling out of his chest.

His teeth gritted, seeing the 'joy' from the faerin in front of him at the expense of Attia's life and freedom.

"This is not YOUR body. It is Attia's." He stomped forward, but his following words were just as interrupted as Ishtar's, and his gaze fell on the newcomers, with his lips pursing as he turned to Ishtar again.

"I won't allow your little game to keep going." Hanno said, turning while keeping Ishtar at the edge of his sight, while looking at the others. "Hey, this isn't a safe place to be. Honeyhome is to the South." He gestured to the sun. Usually, he would've carefully guided them to a safe place, but right now, he had other priorities.

@Ishtar

 

[Ishtar]

The players glanced at Hanno and looked at his gear. They'd never seen someone like him before given how new they were to the game. They looked at one another, wondering for a moment, a quick exchange of internal messages among their party decided that he was probably a high level player. They looked from him to Ishtar. Was this some kind of event? His warning came as Ishtar floated back just a few feet to get both Hanno and the newcomers in her field of view.

She clenched her teeth internally. Normally she would have punished the little punks that interupted her playtime, but Hanno was strong, much stronger than her by several exponents. There wasn't a point in trying a direct confrontation with the man and she had better things to do. The only reason he hadn't attacked her was that he didn't know how many deaths Attia had experienced or what the consequences of a death would be on Attia's already fragmented mind.

At least the brat was still useful, even if she was just a mote of smoke in the depths of her subconscious. Hanno didn't need to know that though. He also didn't need to know that she was still scared of him. She had to gather power, soon, there was no way around it. Her glowing-pink eyes narrowed at the newcomers and one of them looked directly at her. He froze, his complexion going a little pale as he stared into the depths.

"Uh... guys... there is something really wrong with that thing," He said, taking a step back. "Let's take the guy's advice, yeah?"

Ishtar began her performance and frowned, "You think I'm going to let you leave after interrupting me?" She burst into laughter and raised her right hand but stopped and glanced at Hanno. She let out an impatient snort and lowered her hand. "Killing new Starcalled goes against my interests, Hanno dearie, they can leave, but I want something in return," She grinned. He was fast and powerful, and he could certainly intercept her after she started attacking, but their level was low enough that one good hit could kill at least one of them. One of them would suffer a death here, at the very least. Besides, she could count on him to hesitate to fight a little, given that she had Attia's body as a hostage.

"What do you say, pretty boy?" She asked as the men stared up at her in growing horror.

@Hanno Futaba

 

[Hanno Futaba]

Hanno's gaze became fiercer, stomping ahead as soon as Ishtar spoke in a threatening manner and rose her hand- Albeit, it was halted, making him frown and keep his eyes completely focused on her, in a strance ready to charge in if things came to worse. Could he actually put his hands on Attia's body with intention of harming her, however? He couldn't even think about it, and that made him feel pathetic at that moment.

There must be a work around, though.

As Ishtar's attention averted from them, Hanno squinted at her words. Suddenly she wanted to bargain? Couldn't be any good, but Hanno had a sideglance on them, squinting as if urging for them to go away already.

"What the hell do you want?" Hanno asked, for now, keeping his shield out of this as well, even if it rumbled with hunger for something else that wasn't words.

@Ishtar