RievaX quickly stood up and took a small step back when her first heard the girl's voice, it was rather loud and sudden for only having been unconscious mere minutes ago. His look of surprise was immediately replaced with a look of confusion when she had asked him a question. "W-Whaa... w-what do you... mean how much?" He said slowly as he shook his head from left to right , squinting his eyes in a confused manner. What is she talking about... how much for want... All I did was... His eyes widened when it dawned on him that she might be referring to healing her. "No, I... I...uh... I mean there's no...there's no" Reivax paused to take a deep breath as he lowered his head to the ground and brought his right hand up to pinch the bridge of his nose between his eyes. He would lightly shake before adding "There's no need to compensate me for healing you." While casually moving his hand from eyes to his mouth he looked back to the girl who was still there on the ground in front of him, waiting to see if she was going to say something.

The confusion on the black-haired swordman's face spread over to Thessalia as she look over to him; blinking a few times as she felt her eyes wanting to close again. Was he wondering how much he wanted? His inital words, asking about what she meant, brought about a slow lifting of one hand to whereabout her health bar ought to be from his point of view; correlating it from where she saw his. It didn't take long for him to catch on - and to deny any need for recompensation. Relief came over over Thessalia at that - although a nagging thought crept its way into her mind in its place; the possibility that he might somehow try to leverage it at some later point. "I... see. Than... you..." she muttered more than she spoke - even as she closed her eyes again; her exhaustion returning in full swing after the previous surprise had briefly stirred her. Within moments, the only sound that came from her was that of her breathing as the non-stop grinding before the boss fight and the event itself finally took their toll; sending her to sleep despite the circumstances she was in.

Bachus was all alone, just outside the second floor, first town. He was in a area filled with boulders and sharp rocks. Ox after Ox was slain, and Bachus felt sadder and sadder with each kill. "So much death... is that all we are capable of now?" He murmered to himself as another Ox spawned. It was safe to say Bachus was pretty unstable. He swung blade clean through the Ox, causing it to burst into blue data. Bachus was strong, truly strong. But not in mind.

Cash gave Raven a sympathetic look before speaking,"We all have our own problems. But that's why we stick together, so we can face what ever comes our way as a team...a family. I agree with Faeron and Ryan though, I think you'll make a great leader." Cash looked down for a second, unsure if it was appropriate to consider the group his family. It's only been a little over a week or so and already does Cash feel like he's been with these people for months. Cash looked up from the ground, revealing a smirking face to anybody looking. He looked at everyone's faces, even the ones he wasn't all too familiar with. In the brief silence between Cash speaking and anybody else, a slight sting became aparant on his missing leg. Cash hesitantly looked down to the missing leg of his and watched as data gathered to form his leg, Cash ignored the stinging of the regrowth as the sight of a lost limb coming back was much more awe filled. the gathering data stopped as it finally pieced together the toe of his show. "Ha!" Cash said in relief as he continued to look down. After the last piece of data found it's way back to it's rightful spot, Cash slumped down on the leg. Cash walked a few steps to test and prove to himself that his leg was actually back. He looked up at the others, the smirk on his face now turned to a wide smile that barred teeth and tongue."It's back!" Cash said enthusiastically.

Mina had been standing in the corner of the room, observing the group that had invited her as they discussed the apparent new guild they were setting up.
She had no idea as to why she was invited to this. She just met that guy Raven, she knew none of the others really, just by face.
She felt a bit out of place among these people, not knowing what to do.

Mina never was really social, being in a room of people she didn't know didn't make it any better.
She didn't trust them, had no reason to trust them, nor saw a reason to meddle in their affairs. Oh they could be very nice people, she wasn't judging them or make up ideas of how they were, she just wasn't willing to place her life in the hands of people she did not know.

With a soft sigh she brushed through Izanagi's fur, causing the feline to purr as it rested on her shoulder. She moved away from the wall and leisurely walked around the room, moving to the window the other player just left and sat down in it.

ReivaX cocked his head and leaned to the same side his head was tilted when he saw the girl fall back to the ground. She must be exhausted... I mean she was unconscious with low health when I found her... maybe she is still tired... ReivaX thought as he looked around not really sure of what to do next. "Uhm... miss?" His voice soft and quite as he lowered himself into a squat like position. "Miss..." He said again, placing his right hand on her shoulder nudging her repeatedly causing her to slightly rock back and forth. ReivaX let out a deep sigh as he became more and more impatient waiting for the black haired girl to wake up as he himself was fairly tired as well. "What am I going to do... I just want to get some rest, but I can't leave you here like this." Following what he said with a groan before burying his face in his palms where he began began to mumble inaudible words. Wait! I'll just put her in my room... then rent another room... He thought in the spur of the moment due to his impatience. Placing one arm under her neck and the other behind her knees, ReivaX lifted the girl from the ground and began to walk to the room he originally rented. His steps were heavy as he dragged his feet, the girl was a little heavy for him to carry in his tired state. Never the less he managed to make it to his room, stepping into the room as he pushed the door open with his back. The wooden door would close shut behind him as he walked over to the bed with the girl in his arms. Gently placing her down on the bed he would let out a yawn while stretching his arms above his head. Maybe I should sit for just a little bit before renting a next room... He thought to himself as he saw the sofa chair accompanied by a little end table next to a window. As he sat in the sofa chair he found himself rather comfortable and it didn't take him long at all to fall asleep in it. ReivaX unintentionally fallen asleep in the chair next to the window, his arms hanging off the arms of the chair, his legs stretched straight out in front of him, and his head leaning to his left should as he leaned back in his position.

[Double Post]

Skullcrusher smiled beneath her helmet, and smashed the creep with the side of her massive blade after it hit her. She didn't do much damage, but this was a war of attrition, and the creep was losing. The red flashing bar was amusing, considering she was still in the low end of the green, and so with a quick over-head lift, her sword glowed purple and cleaved the creep in half, shattering into a group of pixels. She then turned to the girl she had saved, and took off her helmet, smiling.
"I love this game. Perverts think that 'ohh, this is a game, I can do what I want and get away with it' and then it's all 'ohh god, you are cutting me in half with a sword bigger than I am! What the hell?!' and then death. Sucks you don't get exp from PKing, makes you wonder why PKing is worth it" she exclaimed, holding out her hand to pick the girl up, and then trading her a health potion. "So, we should get you back to town, no?" Skullcrusher asked, and when the girl started to refuse, she got headbutted. "Rhetorical question! I need new gear anyway, and you need to get back to the first floor and grind some more" She told her, turning to walk off with the girl quickly trailing in her tail.

Ryan nodded. Depression could lead to bad choices later on, but he was going to trust Raven despite the possibility. "I'm fine with it... We're all battling demons in some way or another." He nodded to him before looking back at Cash who seemed to have finally regenerated his leg. "Great, then we can begin with training whenever everyone's ready." He looked to Raven again, "The only thing left for you to do is to create the guild itself." He looked around at everyone, confirming once and for all that they all seemed okay with the agreement.

Raven smiled and held back tears. His family in the real world had been just the same when he'd finally come clean about his depression, albeit in a more personal way. Of course, blood family and this family were kinda different. "Right, before I make it, we still need a guild name. What to make it..." He started to think of some of the names he'd used on characters in other games like this and remembered one that seemed to fit the situation perfectly. "What about Spero? It's Hope in latin." He made a mental note to thank Google for quick and easy translations when he got out of this hell hole.

He looked at each face as he waited for replies, offering an encouraging smile to each of them. With this group, Raven was certain they'd make it out of here alive.

1 month later -
Floor 4-
The sun beamed on the beauty of the fourth floor. 1 month in, and players were starting to settle in, making the game their home. In all truth, the world they lived in now was much more peaceful than their own, despite the death concept. This floor was a farming floor, filled with fields, hilly areas and meadows.
Bachus sat on the stone wall a meadow. He had been pretty much alone this past month. And had disappeared completely from anyone. He had changed his clothing, and tried to make his appearance best as he could. Sooner or later, someone would discover him and he would have to go back to front lining, but today was not that day. He was in open view, enjoying the sun. The one recognizable part about him was his weapons. His double handed longsword was still his pride and joy.

In the month of fighting, training, and farming, Skullcrusher had not gotten any more subtle. Her huge armour, more huge and upgraded to +6 -as levels grew. upgrading became more and more efficient when faced with the difficulty or obscene pricing of obtaining new gear - and massive sword equally upgraded, a ominous clank followed her every step. However, people that knew her knew that she was much more friendly than her armour let on. She was not exactly looking for anything, but was hoping to run into some secret boss that spawned in the middle of nowhere. It was a long shot, but this game was designed for long shots. In her marching of the meadow, she saw a man sat on a wall, clearly - to Skullcrusher's mind - having the same idea as her.

With little better to do, she walked over to him, with her visor up, and a smile on her face.
"Morning!" She exclaimed. Over the weeks she had gronw more confident of her gender, there really was no reason to get all worked up about a name or your voice when death could be around any corner.

bachus jolted as he was spoken to. He turned his head to her, looking sad. "Hi." He turned his head back to facing forwards, staring blankly into the meadow. Spending 6 weeks all by yourself wasn't exactly great for your social skills. He huffed, realizing she wasn't just going to move along. "I'm sorry, I don't do well with others, its probably best you leave." He mumbled staring into the meadow. He was broad and well built, but was bent over like a small child. "Or sit down, I dont care." His expression was stone cold.

Skullcrusher smiled, and did neither, instead leaning on the wall with her very big grin. It was a surprise to find someone still like this and on the top floor as well. Maybe he was a Breezer, or lost his guild, or something else rather bad. But, none of that concerned her. Folding her arms under the top of her breastplate where her breasts would be, she took and breath, and then looked out onto the meadow.
"Either your amazing at this game, or incredibly lucky not to be dead. Most of the anti-people people got cut down on the first and second floors, so you might not have noticed, but the community is rather tightly knit now" She explained, laughing softly. "So, whichever it is, you now have a follower. Because there has to bed a super secret boss around here somewhere, and you can help me take it down, or I can help you not die" She told the guy, her armour rattling softly as she moved her hips casually.

Ryan, in the time since he had called the meeting to decide definitely whether or not they'd make a guild, had been training as hard as he could. He never wanted to see another friend die here, and that was the one thing he kept in his mind every day. Memories and thoughts came and went, but that one idea persisted in his mind as he, along with the other frontliners, persisted through floors. He never quite got over the idea that Bachus was the reason that one of his friends died, but never really got the chance to say anything to him, because he seemed to disappear.
For now though, Ryan wasn't letting time dull his determination. Instead, he was farming for EXP on the fourth floor while others searched for the boss door. That kind of became some people's roles, while others did a mix of farming and searching. Of course, searching made it more difficult to farm, as you wouldn't know exactly where there would be monsters or not, but it was necessary to proceed further, and if one thing was true about this game, it had made people fill in the roles that were needed to survive in this world. Some people had become traders or merchants, others had become blacksmiths, cooks, even informants or thieves. Then there were, of course, the frontliners, which had basically become a large, and separate, but cohesive army. At least, in Ryan's mind, this was how it had all turned out, and of course... Within that army, he knew everyone needed their role, and after time, his had lost the fearful exterior it had once had in his mind. Now, Ryan was all for being the tank... Being that one soldier who stood up front and took the damage so that no one else would have to. Of course, he wasn't alone, but when you're in the front for your party, made up mostly by damage dealers, the subconscious thought that you're alone up there is hard to get rid of, and Ryan was still working on that.

Weeks had passed by since Mina was invited to the guildmeeting and since then she hadn't legt.
During her time with the group she had started trusting them, something she had found basically impossible when she first started to play.
It felt nice to have friends, besides Izanagi who was always with her.
During her time with the guild she had tried to make herself useful by scouting the lands for the door to the next boss, after all she could farm easy with her hard hits, but she had bad defense, so she took along some defensive players when she went scouting.

After another unsuccesful search she returned, searching Raven and Ryan's location on the map. Raven was their guildmaster, so she had to report to him, but she often reported to Ryan as well.
She had realized Ryan had troubles since what happened with his old guild and she wanted to keep him informed.

Ryan was closest by for now, so she said goodbye to her party and teleported to his location.
She walked up to the farming tank and grinned a bit as Izanagi started killing the weaker monsters around thrm. 'Ryan, another unsuccesful scout, but we're getting close.' she said.

Raven sat on a hill over looking one of the fields that everyone had been using to grind in, waiting for the scouts to come back with a report of how much more of the area with the boss door in it they now had mapped out. He didn't have any guards, he didn't think they were necessary. If PKers wanted to come after him, they were more than welcome, but they'd have a more than angry guild to deal with afterwords. Raven chuckled, reflecting on the last month of activity. They'd all gained significant levels in all their skills and even managed to secure floor three and begin working on heading up to floor five. Overall, things had gone well.

Still, the guild wasn't all that big, having only gained a few more members in the last month since Raven had formed it during the meeting. Cash's leg coming back as quick as it had had been amazing and it certainly made everyone more comfortable with loosing limbs in other fights, even though the pain was still intense. Of course, they'd all agreed that pain was better than death. Opening his menu, Raven scrolls through the guild list until he finds Ryan and Cash's names and sends them both a message.

He chuckled. Her comments meant he was blending in perfectly. "I'm neither. I'm just a single soul trying to amend for his crimes." He looked blank again. "I was in the legion of light before it disbanded you know." He sighed. He made sure he implied he was only a member and not in fact the former leader. "I dont need protecting. Nor am I in need for companionship... not again." He thought about Karen for a brief moment. He folded his arms. "There is no such thing as what you seek either. Should such a thing exist, it would be in the floor dungeon anyway." He huffed.

Skullcrusher frowned softly, looking at the guy. He seemed sad, but this game had one to many moping emos to begin with, and she wasn't going to suffer the creation of a new one. Her favoured pass-time was to chase brooders around the safe-zones and smash them about until they stopped brooding. She wasn't sure what Legion of Light was though.
"Ehh, never kept track of guilds much myself. I would like to find one but none have really meshed yet. Can't just join for joining ya know, even if we weren't stuck in a Death Game" She told him, before flicking her visor down and gesturing to the wide open fields. "Come on, massive fields, sparse creeps, musta taken ages to program all this, and it won't be done unless it was chocked full of mobs - which it isn't - or there was something secret to be found. Maybe the Boss Room, but maybe a Special Spawn mixed in with the norms" She said, grinning widely before hefting her sword up and pointing to some distant mobs.

"Imma go kill them, see if any are the secret boss, or drop clues for the secret boss. Don't go anyway, kay?" she asked, clanking off without waiting for a reply.

Bachus sighed and shook his head. She left, and he hopped over the wall backwards. He muttered under his breath. "I'll just go thanks." He turned on the spot, whipped his cloak around and took off. After some time, he stopped, admiring the view. This floor really was beautiful. In the corner off his eye he saw something. He saw blue. He rubbed his eyes and it was still there. "K-k-karen." She was standing there, perfectly fine. He ran over, stumbling as he went. "KAREN!" He grinned, tears rolling down his cheek. She just stood there smiling. He reached her, and launched himself into her for a hug. He missed. 'Over here, Bachus.' She was now behind him. He thought nothing of it, turning around a hugging her again. 'Come on! Over here!" She was now behind him a good 10 yards away, giggling. She was wearing the same clothes, her rapier at her hilt. "No..." Bachus dropped a little. "No... please no." He opened his inventory. Karen's rapier was still there. 'Come on Bachus!' She smiled. He swallowed and closed his inventory. This wasn't real. She was a hallucination. "Y...You aren't real, are you...?" He called out dishearteningly. She shook her head. 'No silly! Of course not, I'm in your head.' She put her hands on her hips. 'Look... please dont give up. I'm as real as you want me to be, and i'll never leave your side, I promise.' She crossed her heart.

After a conversation with fake Karen they set off. Bachus walking in front. No matter where he went, His hallucination of Karen wouldn't go away. Every time he turned around, she was about 30 yards behind him, staring at him. Nobody else could see her either. This was it. He had finally gone crazy.