A glitch.

An odd gateway in a place that was supposed to be empty.

Even an empty name in a teleport list.

There were many ways one could get lost, but all lead to this place, this small expanse. First, there was a shrine. Empty, but detailed in ways none of the game had been. Perhaps they could have tried to examine it further, perhaps they could have entered it to seek answers, but server maintenance kicked in just then, leaving them with nothing but questions. When they returned, they returned... to a much different scene than just a shrine in a sea of black.

In the distance, there was nothing. A white expanse stretched before them, emptiness as far as the eye could see. Directly around them the white a rough ring of dirt, and grass that was listing lazily in a breeze that they couldn’t feel. Before them was gigantic red mon – a traditional style Japanese gate often seen in temples and shrines. Within it was only a piercing blackness, heavily contrasted against the white backdrop.

It was like nothing they’d ever seen in World’s End Online. In a world of castles and rolling fields reminiscent of medieval Europe there was something distinctly foreign about it. They didn’t have much time to consider it before the appearance of an unfamiliar NPC – a girl dressed as a maid with the ears of a rabbit was approaching them.

"Welcome, adventurers, to our newest campaigns! I am Frika, your guide in this epic story of conquest, and the taming of this new uncharted land, with unknown adversaries and exclusive loot to be found! If you manage to live long enough to reap the rewards of this new campaign, that is. Are you prepared, adventurers, for the Conquest of the New World!?"

It was a spirited speech, as the bunny eared maid went on her spiel about the new campaign. In short, it was the usual spiel designed to hype up the campaign as much as possible to make more people interested in it. While the campaign, setting and everything about this place was new to World's End Online, these sorts of hype tactics should be more than familiar with anyone who had ever played WE Online for a few hours, or even just looked at all WE Online's trailers online.

Nor was it any sort of surprise when she waved her hands, making scrolls appear in front of everyone present. Most everyone familiar with the game would recognize it as the usual EULA, which for some reason they had taken to popping up before every major story campaign in the game.

The scroll itself was looked like the typical piece of parchment, though it contained a scrollbar inside as well as the two buttons for accepting it and declining it. It was something that was highly unimmersive, but many agreed it saved space, especially considering how long some EULAs were.

"Alright, those who wish to participate in this newest campaign of epic proportions, please accept the End User License Agreement, and enter through this red gate. If there are any questions, I will endevour to answer them as best I can."

With that she bowed, ears flopping as she did so, before standing attentively. Those with sharp eyes would notice Frika fidgeting slightly with a nervous look on her face.

Robin was so excited to log into WEO that she'd opted to simply throw on a large shirt, bottoms and nothing else as she'd gotten out of the shower. As she took a hairdryer to her white hair she scrolled through the VR MMO's official forums. The forums weren't as active as they'd once been but there was still the occasional bit of interesting news posted every now and then. Today there didn't seem to be anything new. In the sub-forum dedicated to theories and future game content there was a thread created by a user named Sophos, it was full of people talking about a mysterious shrine in the game. Most people thought the OP was trolling, some telling them to prove it with screen shots, a few just telling them to 'kys.'

A screen shot had in fact been posted, but it was quickly dismissed as being fake. The area did look far different compared to the rest of the game for sure, Robin had been there herself and even she had a hard time believing it. The publishers hadn't put out anything regarding new content, especially something as significant as a new area. It was unlikely to simply be unused content, as it would have been found a long time ago as well.

Robin clenched her teeth and put the phone away. She was hoping to have learned something new by posting the thread, but it seemed as if the area really was a secret for the most part. She turned off her hairdryer and moved over to her bed. She quickly booted up her computer and put on her VR headgear. From there the interface was hands free, within moments she found herself inside Worlds End Online as her dark elf avatar Sophos. As soon as she had control she opened up her menu and accessed the teleport menu. Among the many listed locations was an out of place blank space, the shine she had visited by chance the other day. Selecting the blank menu item her vision was filled with stretched light of various hues as the game simulated moving through space to mask loading. It reminded her of when spaceships moved through hyperspace in science fiction stories.

The game quickly finished loading as Sophos found herself at her destination, at least she thought it was the right place. She looked around for the shrine, but as far as she could see there was nothing but grass, a white expanse, a strange red gate, and an even stranger maid with bunny ears. Other players were here as well, so she figured she hadn't entered some weird debugging area by mistake.

The bunny suddenly began to speak, using lines that sounded like rehearsed company jargon. Sophos looked at the scroll in front of her, at least this was as normal as everything else. She quickly read through the scroll just in case anything strange had been mixed in, and then accepted it. With that out of the way, Sophos approached the bunny maid, a mischievous grin on her face.

"I've never seen an NPC like this before, are these real?" She reached out with her hands, lightly grabbing the floppy ears. "Ohhh~" The ears certainly felt real, they weren't simply fancy accessories. She resisted the urge to rub them any longer and stepped back. Before she stepped into the ominous gate she assumed the bunny had more to say.

Maxwell, online again as his newly created Mage character, scratched his chin in confusing. Maintenance had clicked him off the service before investigating the glitch site and now it was.. different. An understatement to be sure.
Something had sprung from nothing in the form of a bunny eared maid spouting hype about unexplored content. Content nobody knew about, had never been announced, and certainly hadn't been executed into the game well enough.

Despite the critiquing and perhaps against his better judgement, it was undeniably exciting! New content usually meant more ecitement for a week or two as the regular players cleared content and update info sites about loot and mobs.

It also meant the tryhard no-lifers would invade and conquer every inch of this place in the span of 3 days and ruin whatvernew economy over materials came up.

When the EULA came up waiting for a signature, Bullhorn sighed inwardly and pressed the agree button. An irrational part of his brain told him he had just agreed to give the company hosting this new content the right to charge his credit card $200 for the super collectors edition of whatever was happening. The other part just ignored it and focused on the fun part. Other players were signing into the reveal event anyways.

"Oi!" Calling out over the bunny girl Max waved his dagger up high, "Any groups looking for a mage I'm free to party up!"

Being a caster made it difficult to solo content. Without any crow control or armor spells, not even a crowd control move, he had to rely on damage output and pray single mobs at a time were pulled. With a group there was no such concern. Max hoped others had the same idea.

Myra was pretty damn worn out after a day of work, the typical woes of working retail and in all honesty she was about fed up with life, at least for the moment. Once she got home where she prominently collapsed on her bed, she toyed with the idea of simply allowing herself to pass out right there, not even bother to get undressed, but indeed a certain headset caught her eye. So instead she thought about logging in for maybe half an hour, go blow off some steam, hunt down a few monsters, and forget about the day. This second idea ended up winning her over, so without much fanfare she got herself hooked up, and started her journey back into the virtual world without much delay. Some unexpected maintence did get in her way, however, although it really wasn't a big deal to wait through it. She really didn't pay it any mind.

Soon enough she got to become Naumi once more, yet no matter how many times she had done this, it took her a few seconds to get used to the sensations that came with becoming someone else. The sensation of her equipment weighing down on her, the feeling of leather armor rubbing against her, it all still amazed her technology had come so far. For a few minutes she walked around a little bit, the area she logged off at was in the middle of some forest clearing. A peaceful place for sure, but she wanted some action.

So she searched through her bag until she found a little book that handled teleports. Curiously enough Naumi spotted something odd, one slot was completely empty, at least she thought something was missing. She was never one to go roaming around on the forums, so she had no idea about the rumors surrounding an empty teleport location, and naturally she wanted to explore this interesting find, so she selected it.

The first surprise was the fact the teleport even worked in the first place, but the second was what awaited her on the other side. This shine area definitely captured her imagination, for the most part WEO was a fairly generic medieval fantasy fare, so to see something wildly different was already nothing short of exciting to Naumi, despite the relatively weird way she got there in the first place. Of course she noted the presence of the other players, a whole bunch of people she didn't recognize, and that included the bunny maid that stood before everyone. Once she started talking, however, Naumi figured out they were just dealing with a NPC, yet what this NPC had to say held great interest.

To hear about brand new content in such a way was... unconventional to put it one way, but hell Naumi didn't exactly care. After all it seemed like she didn't need to pay for this, so honestly she was game to start exploring an unknown land. She skimmed through the EULA, but didn't notice anything odd, not that she was paying any particular attention to it in the first place. Without thinking about it, she then accepted it. After that Naumi figured there wasn't any harm in sticking behind for a little bit, besides to see another player already walk up to the bunny maid and rub its ears proved there might be some interesting people mixed into the bunch. There was also the mage who called out asking if anyone wanted to join up with him, but... Naumi opted to keep her options open for a little bit longer.

Matt took a few tentative steps into the clearing, observing the changes in the environment. Obviously Eastern, obviously foreign compared to the medieval fantasy world of World’s End Online, and definitely…glitchy. Like it was incomplete, somehow. Like they stumbled into a dev’s test realm of some sort. He were here before, accidentally clicking an empty space in the teleportation window. And yet, once he tried again, on purpose this time around, the command still worked.

A flash of light, a loading screen, and here they were. Only this time, they weren’t alone. There were other players here, surrounding some NPC, who eventually introduced them to some crazy new adventure ahead.

Matt scratched his head, glancing at the scroll in front of him, then back at the AFK avatar of his friend, Darren, snoozing in its terrestrial travel water bubble. The prospect of a new adventure was most certainly exciting. Why not? He hadn’t seen anything about a hidden DLC of sort in this game so it would be amazing if this turned out to be some easter egg no one had discovered. It all came down to satisfying his curiosity, in the end.

Yet, he was hesitant to tick the ‘accept’ box. He needed to see what Darren would do, given his friend’s single minded interest in crafting material. Maybe the guy wouldn’t join, and Matt wasn’t really keen on doing quests alone.

As he waited for Darren, Matt took out his pipe and stuffed in a pinch of tobacco. VR tech was useful in this aspect as well, giving him the full taste and sensation of smoking, without the negative side effects. Best kind of e-cigarette there was, if anyone asked Matt.

After a quick moment, the lop-eared merman stirred, opening his eyes and dismissing most of the water orb until the aquatic body was half-submerged in an upside down dome of clear water floating several feet off the ground. He looked around, pulling up the map to check their location before finally floating towards Matt, looking confused.

“Yes. I don’t know where we are either.” -As if sensing his friend’s question, Matt simply shrugged, digging through the pouches on his belt for matches. His voice came out soft and smooth and perfectly human, despite the demonic appearance of his avatar -”Some DLC, I think.”

”Did you want to do quests here?” Darren asked, hovering closer and equipping his crafted ironwood staff.

“I mean, yeah. This place looks pretty cool. Very…anime.” -Matt lit his pipe and inhaled, waving the EULA scroll in his free hand -”You’re in?”

Darren picked up his own copy of the EULA, staring at it blankly. “Sure. I guess. New mats are always cool.”

“Awesome.” -Matt smiled, checking the box and dismissing the scroll with a flick of his hand. He looked around to examine the gathered players then, noting their low levels. A new player area, perhaps? -”You think this place is weird? Or is it just my buggy screen?”

“It looks weird, yeah.” A tail fin flicked against Matt’s arm in idle animation and Darren glanced quickly for a reaction, a hasty apology ready. There had been enough mishaps and angry players reporting him for unwanted physical contact in retaliation for more social crimes. It had taken weeks for one serious case to clear up when an entire party had sent in reports—their revenge for his noncompliance in a dungeon and for pushing their tank aside to get at the room everyone else had been trying to skip.

He was wary now, careful to keep his feathers and fins to himself, even around Matt.

“My bad,” he mumbled anyway, shifting further away.

“It’s fine.” -Matt turned at the unexpected contact, red eyes scanning Darren’s face carefully. He took a moment to choose his words -”You’re fine.” -Eventually, his lips stretched out into a toothy grin, gleaming with unknown intentions. He exhaled a puff of smoke and turned back to observing the players around them.

“Hurry up and sign that. Man, don’t tell me you read that shit?”

“I wouldn’t understand much of it anyway,” Darren shrugged, accepting the terms and letting the sheet disappear. “But I’m not really good with new content the first time, just so you know,” he added, checking Matt’s reaction with a brief glance.

“Derry, you literally just watched me stand in a corner for 50 minutes last night during our dungeon run.” -Matt answered with another grin -”It doesn’t get better than that.”

“I just mean I’m a bit slow on the uptake for these sorts of things. It’s why I prefer crafting.” He curled the fish tail towards his chest, fiddling with the ornate fin at the end as he tried to look busy in the glitchy waiting area.

“I’m sure you will do alright.” -Matt brushed it off, reaching out to ruffle the feathers on the mermen’s head and tousling the dark hair -”I will be right here. Not helping, but here. I’ll keep you entertained while we wait for rez, yeah?”

A quiet laugh followed, but Darren didn’t move the hand still patting his head.

“You’ll have to entertain a lot. My gear’s outdated.”

“I have no gear, Derry.” -Satisfied, Matt stepped back to puff another cloud of smoke. They kept to themselves afterward, mostly just quiet banters and idle glances at the people milling around the area.

Upon waking up, Faith barely got time to wake up properly, she logged on immediately on WEO. She didn’t bother streaming right now. Save her the embarrassment of coming back empty-handed. Maybe, just maybe, the boss’ loot was in her inventory before she got kicked out from the glitch.

And indeed, it was there! Or… it should be? There was something in Fayt’s inventory. It looked like an orb, but it was difficult to see because it looked… glitchy? Selecting the item, it had only “???” for information. But there was the option to equip it nonetheless.

Curious as to what it could do, Fayt equipped the glitchy-looking orb. And there it was again. The world seemed to lag apart, with the distorted soundtrack. He was back to the same room he had been yesterday. Only this time, the scenery was endless white. And there were a few players here already, circling around a definitely anime-looking maid in front of the portal. Was this what the maintenance was all about? There had been no announcement about it, and there were way too few players here for a new event, even though WEO wasn’t a very popular game.

Hearing over what the game’s event organizer had to say, Fayt was already excited about all this. When the EULA agreement popped in, he didn’t even read the thing, quickly scrolling over the whole deal and agreeing to the contract. Man, if he could be one of the first to get new items and materials, those sure could be sold at ridiculous high prices before everyone started flooding the new area. There was money to be made here and…

oh crap, she forgot to turn her streaming program on…

---

---

Joseph hadn’t been busy today; not that he was busy all that often anyway. Today, though, most of his clients had cancelled, which was pretty ideal. They had to pay anyway, after all, and it had just given him more time to spend with Mac. Poor guy was pretty tired out from running around all day, snoring quite loudly in the bed Joseph had spent a little too much on.

He did that a lot. Seemed like the canine was either an unstoppable ball of energy or completely unconscious, with very little in-between.
But that suited both of them. Sticking to the sort-of-schedule, and with a faintly dopey smile, Joseph turned away from the sleeping canine, relaxing into his chair as he slipped on his headset.

---

How he’d ended up here, he wasn’t quite sure. He’d headed off for a walk, partly to gather materials and partly to escape the bustle of the city. But it was a fairly familiar route, if a roundabout one he’d planned out to avoid as much combat as possible. Normally he didn’t go this way, but without a real fighter to back him up it was easier.

Still, it was kind of boring. Scenery lost some of its appeal when you’d seen it be exactly the same time after time. He knew all the interesting parts by now, and while the passing creatures were always fascinating – and adorable, from a distance – there wasn’t all that much variety.

Which was why the shrine caught his attention. It hadn’t been there on any of his other journeys, and this was a pretty remote area to be adding anything new. Curious, if a little apprehensive about risking his cart, he headed towards the new addition.
He’d barely made it close before maintenance kicked him out.

---

Upon logging back in, Joseph was fairly confused as to where he was. Definitely not where he’d been when the maintenance kicked in, anyway, but after a panicked glance around that confirmed his cart hadn’t disappeared, as well as the presence of others, he broke into a wide grin. If there were other people here, then the game couldn’t have completely broken.

Or at least there were other people here to help him roll with it. Besides, he recognised Fayt, at least, so he’d still have some supplies coming in if this was really out of the ordinary.

There was also someone who seemed to be part rabbit. Something about her seemed to catch Marken's attention, and he approached the girl in a manner that could only really be taken as intimidating, leaning down to meet her eyes.

“You.”

At least until he spoke, with all the enthusiasm and wonder of a giddy schoolgirl, and ruffled her hair just a little too hard.

“You’re fluffy!”

Very fluffy, as the ruffling confirmed. Joseph – or Marken, he supposed, although they weren’t much different, managed to resist the urge to pet her any more after several seconds’ deliberation. It was obvious enough that the man was well-meaning, if also a bit of a dope.
Oh, and he had to agree to something again. He didn’t bother reading it, just skimming to the end and checking the usual boxes right away. No-one actually read terms and conditions, and until the day he accidentally gave away his soul or something, Joseph would remain a firm believer in the value of saving the time and effort.

He heard someone talking about a party. He’d definitely need to pick one once all of these guys got set up; merchant wasn’t a class that lent itself to working alone. For now, he decided to leave the poor tormented rabbit alone, whistling an out-of-tune melody to himself as he headed back to start looking through his cart. No harm in checking all his goods had made it through that weirdness.

---

---

"You know, it's a full moon soon. You should be careful walking home at night."

"Uh... Excuse me?"

"It's the moon. It brings out the worst in some people."

"Well... The total comes comes to $72.59. How would you like to pay?"

The odd man pulled out a jet black debit card. Similar to the card, his attire consisted of a glossy black pleather tank top and pants combo that seemed to stick to his skin and accentuate his boyish physique in all of the wrong ways. With liberal coats of makeup, a spiked collar around his neck, and hair that screamed "I'm different", the man sheepishly held the card over the small POS terminal. With a beep that relieved Erin, the man grabbed his bag and left. Erin had given him a slight grin and thanked him for his patronage - something that she didn't want. Why was it that night shifts always brought the freaks out to the store? She could handle the girls that thought they were oh-so-different, but this man was a whole different story. The way he emphasized his words implied one of two things: he thought he was a werewolf or he was going to accost women in an alley. Either way, skin-tight pleather pants looked stupid.

With the store emptying, Erin went through her usual routine. Flip the signs, turn off the machines, turn off the lights, then leave and lock the doors. She hated her job. She wanted something that she could just turn her brain off and not have to deal with people. Today's job market? She could only dream of the day. The trip home was uneventful. Thankfully, those who took the late night bus were usually respectful. At least, until 3 AM. That's when the drunks would get on the bus and washed the floors with booze, gastric acid, and nuts.

At home, Erin was relieved. No more having to deal with people. No more stress. She was free. She had finished all of her studying and work for university. All that was left were the mid-terms. That meant it was time to relax and do what she wanted to do. She quickly finished her daily duties for her ordinary life and slipped on her VR gear. It was time to investigate what that hullabaloo about what that shrine was, after all.

Only, it wasn't a shrine anymore. It was a strange gate surrounded by an empty world. All that remained was the gate, the soil around it, grass, and a rabbit-eared maid.

Wait, what was that last one?

The maid introduced herself and her purpose. Standard affair - new campaign, new world, blah blah. A EULA appeared with a wave of her hands. Erin quickly glanced at the first few words and then immediately skipped down to the bottom to accept. If the guide were to not be some random NPC and instead an actual person, Erin would have slowly deliberated on the EULA, reading it out word for word. It wouldn't be a riveting experience, but it would at least be funny.

Frika had spoken more. Accept the EULA then enter. You could even ask questions! What's more important was that the rabbit maid looked nervous. As the saying goes, strike while the iron's hot. With a quick press of accept, Erin walked up to the maid. Uncomfortably close, even. Despite the maid being two inches taller than the maven, Erin's presence was domineering.

"So, were you made with fetishism in mind or did you choose to be deviant all by yourself?"

---

---

“Another nose bleed at work? What did you do this time, get hit in the nose by a door?” It was warm, the voice that called to her as she waited on the bench for him to reach her. Her brother, Marcus, had always been that way since she met him almost a year ago. He always acted as if they knew each other all their life, though she presented a cold front to him for the first month. The truth was that she had no idea how to react, they shared last names and even her parents didn’t deny it when she asked. But now, now they were inseparable.

”No, I think it is just the weather or-”

“We both know that isn’t true Maria,” He said as they started to walk together, “You keep spending too much time on that game, I don’t understand what you see in it. On top of that, you keep pushing yourself by working and attending classes in the morning.” Marcus sighed and simply looked down at Maria, though she avoided eye contact with him. He had spoken the truth and there wasn’t much she could say in response, there certainly weren’t any words that came to mind at least. “You know I worry some-”

”I know but there is no need to worry. I’ve got a break from college coming up and I’ll be able to spend some time resting,” She said with a small smile, ”I can handle myself Marcus but thank you.” A long silence stretched between the two as they continued towards their apartment, something which had become routine long in the past. It wasn’t until they reached the apartment that either of them spoke. ”I’ll eat after I’m done playing so you won’t need to make an extra plate for me. If you do, please wrap it up this time.”

----

Maria didn’t quite like the sensation of the the VR headset or, at least, hadn’t gotten use to it even though she’d been playing WEO for almost half a year. It certainly didn’t help that her hair was still wet from her shower, another routine she had started since spending hours playing the game. However, it didn’t take long for the sensation to fade and she was patched into the game, finding herself standing in the field she’d left Zeira at. As was the custom, she took a few swings of her staff before sighing and looking at her teleport book.

There wasn’t much for Zeira to do in game, at least not much that she would consider to be overly fun in the long run. However, all thought left her mind as she noticed a seemingly empty spot in her book. It was as if there was no name for the teleport yet… it still existed like it was a ghost. Her natural curiosity took over as she instantly pressed into the teleport and appeared in a white expanse with a red gate and a weird bunny maid. Several others were there too, though none she recognized right off the bat.

Her line of thought was interrupted quickly as the maid started to speak. The bunny was named Frika and, though she gave the usual spiel about content that most main quest NPCs did, she felt as if there was more energy in her words, more hype than Neira had come to expect out of the NPCs of WEO. It was no surprise that the EULA appeared before them, as it had many times in the past, and Neira simply flicked yes and looked at the gate.

”Man, this is some crazy shit. I didn’t expect to come online and see something like this,” She said as she walked towards the gate. It was odd that such a structure was in WEO, especially since it was so different than what the rest of the game had been like. ”Can we like, come back to the original game if we go through this gate? Like, I’m not going to be locked into this campaign till I finish it, right?” Zeira turned towards Frika, though she was behind her at this point, and watched the others interact.

The dimly lit bedroom of Felicity Sato had been perfectly silent that evening. Perfect, that is, until the sudden rapping on her door shattered everything. Felicity sighed, setting down a bottle of nasal spray and reaching for another tissue. She could get used to this. There'd been no sounds of vomiting from down the hall. No beeping or buzzing or groaning. No clattering dishes, either. And she certainly wouldn't miss that creaky old bed. Had it not been for the server maintainece, Felicity could perhaps have ignored the voice calling for her altogether. But alas...

"Felicity, the car's outside! Are you ready, honey?"

An old familiar voice, rank with false concern. Mrs. Mone was an old family friend, visiting from out of town for the next few weeks. And a psychiatrist.

"I'm not going!" Felicity replied through the door.

A short moment of silence followed, "Sweety, I know you're going through a lot right now, but I think--"

The door creaked open to reveal Felicity, still donning her pajamas and not at all ready to depart. To add insult to injury (or perhaps injury to insult), a steady stream of blood was presently running from her nose into a small wad of tissues. Mrs. Mone gasped and the color drained from her face. The poor woman couldn't stand the sight of blood. She stepped back, propping herself up on a nearby table.

"G-goodness," she swallowed hard, barely able to make eye contact, "Are you okay?"

"I really want to go, but I'm not feeling--" she coughed purposefully into the back of her hand, decorating the skin with ruby red droplets, "I'm not feeling so well."

Mrs. Mone seemed positively horrified, placing her hand over her stomach and gripping at the fabric of her thick black dress, "Oh God! I-is that... is that normal?"

Felicity shot her a withering smile, "It happens kind of often, yes. But I'll be alright. Don't worry."

"Right..." Mrs. Mone nodded, "I-I'll just let your parents know you... You're not well."

The woman all but sprinted for the exit, leaving Felicity to close the door behind her. She turned the lock, breathing a small sigh of relief as she heard it click.

---

Curled up on a ridiculously large pink bean bag, the body of a young woman was motionless beyond the occasional chewing of her bottom lip. An even brighter pink headset featuring rhinestone bedazzled cat ears and blinking white lights engulfed a head of pastel pink hair. The rest of the bedroom was silent and still.

In game, Ami needlessly stretched her long, lithe limbs, releasing a small yawn before she allowed herself to fully take in the surroundings. It was a pleasant surprise, seeing the adorable bunny girl as well as several other low level players gathered around for the new quest. She rushed through Terms and Conditions. There was of course a call to form a party-- not an unusual request, but one she was quite used to ignoring. Eh, she could always join a party later. With an eager grin, Ami ran for the portal.

Frederica Bernstein

---

She stared silently at the sterile white ceiling, with only the soft noises of the machine accompanying her.

Rikka looked towards her cast, full of colorful scribbles and names from all her visitors, yet all it made her feel was melancholy. She wanted to go outside and run again. If she was to stay in bed for longer, she'd lose her edge on the tracks.

The door opened, as she looked expectantly towards the nurse coming in, or rather, what she was carrying in. One of the cheaper VR units, a simple black goggle with straps and one long cord for the power source. They have decided it was better for her to play one of those VR games on it than just sitting here doing nothing.

Considering the alternative, Rikka wasn't about to question their decision. Anything was better than doing nothing.

Taking in a deep breath, she donned the headset, adjusted it over her eyes, and turned it on.



Once again, she was at the gates of the grand city of Prontera, one of the major locations of World's End Online. Most paid her no mind as Bell Pepper skipped over towards a waystone. No one really paid any mind to a novice after all, not unless they're decked in some sort of end game gear and had several accolades displayed on their person.

Not that she knew that or even actually cared. She wanted to see that shrine again, that oddly beautifully detailed shrine that, in its simple existence, managed to trump the details and authenticity of what she had seen of the game so far.

But, as she selected the empty space upon the surface of the waystone once again, she was teleported, not to the shrine, but instead to a white expanse of nothing, save for a circle of dirt and grass, with one large imposing mon with nothing but darkness within its arch. That, and the people within.

They looked... well, they looked far more experienced than she was, sporting gear she had never seen before. Granted, it was her second time actually playing the game, but still. A flying merman in a water bubble, an elf in school costume, a samurai, and what seemed like a roman soldier, etc, it seemed they had all sorts from the outlandish to the grounded in terms of characters present. After Frika's initial speech, the rest of the players seemed to start talking amongst themselves.

Listening to Zeira's question, the rabbit smiled and answered. "Ah, yes! As with all content, you will be locked into this campaign once you start it. Please do your best to complete it!"

"Hweh!?" Frika yelped a little as Sophos squished her ears in her hands. With barely any time to react, another man, Marken, started ruffling her hair. Looking more than a little nonplussed about the situation, it didn't help that Arryn stepped in closer than she'd liked.

"So, were you made with fetishism in mind or did you choose to be deviant all by yourself?"

"Eh? B-but, I... I didn't choose... "

Luckily, she was saved from having to answer that question by one of them, with a pair of rabbit ears, who had decided to hop into the blackness of the gate, before hitting an invisible wall face first and bouncing back onto the ground. Moments later, another more stylized fox avatar with a large fluffy tail dashed straight into it, bouncing away from the darkness like the fellow before her. Frika was looking noticeably more distraught at this point.

"Ah! W-wait, I have not opened the gate yet!"

"Hmm, you guys sure are energetic!" Bell Pepper grinned widely, as she accepted the EULA without a second thought. It didn't really matter to her what the campaign was, or whether she should even be here without leveling up or grinding for gears first. It was something to do after all.

It all happened rather quickly. Following the player in front of her, Ami didn't notice her impending doom until it was too late to slow down. Like a lemming, she also bounced off the wall and, with a distressed cry, landed squarely on top of the bunny-eared young man before he got a chance to get back on his feet.

A wave of embarrassment washed over her as she stared up at the NPC as well as another player named 'Bell Pepper', but a large grin quickly appeared in an attempt to dispel any awkwardness. She laughed nervously, struggling for a moment to scramble off of the thief she'd landed on, "S-sorry!"

Her ears flattened against her head as she held one hand up to her cheek, "I got a little too excited to start the quest." She laughed again.

---

---

Stein was bored. Siting in one spot for several hours bored him. The fact that during his free period was spent doing nothing but peruse the forums while his Assistant Guldmaster and best friend kept going on and on about the analytics of the upkeep and development of his Castle, and by proxy, town was a bit of an irritant. He wanted nothing more than to explore the vast world of World End Online and continue his hunt for cool sights.

The sense of adventure drove him to become who he was. It drove the man to be the first Player to receive the title of [Lord] in the game. It had required almost a years worth of questing and taking down some pretty tough bosses. But in the end, The Iron Legion gained itself it's very own Bastion, Iron Heights. Stien loved the whole affair, till he learned that now he had to watch over and protect the small village next to his property, and make sure it thrived or they would revolt.

The only person among the Officers who loved it was his Assistant. The crazy woman loved the idea of having a village to look over. Within a few months she'd made it into a Town, which boosted the Bastion to a Castle, providing even more rewards. Unlike some of the other castle and towns, no one messed with the Iron Legion. They were THE guild. All were adventurers at heart. The only way to join was through invitation and serious vetting. It made for a Guild who became the image other guilds wanted to be.

Stein smiled at his inner musings. Sure, WEO had died down a bit, but he didn't mind. There was always an adventure to be had in that world. And he would stay as long as that held true. He picked up his books and headed off, friend in tow to his next class. HE just wanted it to be over, so he could get in the game.

Once his classes are over, Stein jumps into his truck, driving straight to his apartment. Leaving his keys on the hanger he makes some dinner before grabbing his headset, getting comfortable and diving into the game. As usual, he looks over himself once in. He made his character a bit like himself, though with his stats, he's probably a bit bigger and wider. He was already a big guy IRL, but in game, he chose to take the Half Giant race, as they got bonuses to strength and constitution.

Before he could do anything, he was pulled into a minor case involving some stuff in the town outside of Iron Heights, Tempest Peak. It was fairly simple stuff, and he got through it quickly. He was itching to get out of the Castle, today and so he decided to teleport to one of the harder zones and grind. However, upon looking at the teleport list, he noticed one was blank. 'Eh, it's not like I can't handle a little danger...' Hitting the button he vanished from the castle.

A few moment later and he was standing among a small crowd of people. Being his size, he could easily see over everyone and listened as the NPC said her spiel. He read through the EULA and signed it. It was all standard procedure he guessed, and this new zone could provide some sweet new sights. The half giant grinned in anticipation.

---

Melody pushed open the door to the Hart household. There was no greeting, as always, from within the silent, empty expanse of the two-story building. For the last five years, it had only ever had two inhabitants, and one never left his room. Melody shut the door behind her before stepping from the front hall to the living room. Melody wasn't certain how long it had been since it had last seen use; dust hadn't yet begun to cover the unnecessary couches and chairs, but they gave off a clear air of disuse.

There was one clearly well-kept item, though: an old guitar that hung solemnly over the long-unused fireplace. Melody stepped timidly to it over the carpeted floor, tossing her heavy bag of textbooks on one of the couches. She stopped a few feet from the instrument, examining it's wooden construction. The acoustic guitar in front of her had belonged to her father before his death. It hadn't been played since, and neither had any of his other guitars. He almost kept a collection of sorts. The attic probably help several instruments of more interesting construction than this one, but none of them deserved to sit here, to seemingly greet Melody every day. No, this one had been her father's guitar, and his father's before him. It was important, if not particularly flashy. She stared at it for a few extra seconds before turning around and heading towards the stairs.

"Not today," she muttered as she walked up to the second floor.

Music was blaring from the first door on the left. Luckily, it was low enough that Melody couldn't hear exactly what was being blasted throug her brother's speakers today. She knocked twice, and within moments the music was silenced behind headphones, revealing the distinct, furious clacking of a mechanical keyboard. A half-bitter smile perched itself on Melody's face as she stared at the door. Everything was so close, yet maintaining an impossible distance.

She crossed the hall into the next room down, an old office that had once belonged to their mother. It was stripped of most of her documents and file cabinets shortly after the murder, leaving it relatively bare. Now, a mattress lay on the ground next to the computer desk. Melody had always preferred laying down when in VR. She took a bottle of water from a case in the corner before turning to close the door. She tossed her shoes haphazardly into the corner, her shirt soon following; It wasn't entirely necessary, but the room wasn't the most well ventilated in the house, and it could get quite warm if the VR rig was left running long enough, plus this was more comfortable. Sam wouldn't be bursting in anytime soon anyway.

Melody stretched, sighing deeply before taking a swig from the water bottle. She didn't have classes tomorrow, so she could spend long into the night in World's End Online, and she definitely planned to, having lost a few of her prime hours to hanging out with some friends after class. She would get through at least one raid tonight, even if it killed her. She put the water down by the far end of the mattress, so that there were no chances she would knock it over and end her gaming session early, and quickly kicked off her pants. Socks would be more than enough clothing for tonight's session. She decided to lock the door now, before moving over to turn on the VR machine.

She was stopped by a single post-it note on the headset.

"Maintenance. Weird Shrine."

Three words, and in barely-legible handwriting that marked it as Sam's creation. Melody's brother certainly had a way with words. She tossed the note in the garbage, deciding to decipher whatever Sam probably meant AFTER she got into the game and saw it for herself. He always tended to leave those sorts of esoteric notes of where he would leave their character, and they all made so little sense that Melody had begun to disregard them entirely. She just forgot to not read this one. Oh well.

The machine booted up fast enough once she actually pressed the button. All that was left to do was put on the headset and connect it, and she'd be back in World's End. Melody smiled, letting out a soft "woo!" as she threw herself onto the mattress and slipped the headset on.

---

Physical sensations disappeared; the real world, and all of Melody's worries fading from view. Slowly, they were replaced by something much better as the VR system tested itself in its boot-up sequence, confirming that she would feel the game's intended effects without any errors. It didn't take more than a few seconds, the test sensations shifting further. She felt the clothing form on her back, the cloak that had gently begun swaying around her, the shoes on her feet, and she heard the murmurings of players, the clearest sign that she was fully loaded into the game.

Nomine opened her eyes in an unfamiliar, endless expanse of white, which was stopped only by the grass beneath the feet of her and the players around her, who she slowly began to comb her eyes through, before remembering to check what item-set she had equipped. Sam hadn't switched back to Melody's gear before logging out like he usually did, probably due to that maintenance he mentioned. She decided not to bother him about it this time.

Within moments, Nomine looked like herself again, with a soft white cloak, wonderfully large hat, and moon staff. It was the most stylish combination she had on hand, mostly due to Sam deleting everything else, so it would have to do. She turned back to the crowd, finding her eyes fixated on a massive gate, inside it only darkness. It was certainly striking. Nomine was half tempted to approach it until an NPC appeared and addressed the crowd, inviting them into a new campaign. The EULA appeared in Nomine's hand while the rabbit maid spoke, which she gave a quick once-over before accepting.

A new campaign, in some new setting sure seemed exciting. It wasn't exactly a raid, but it certainly had it's advantages, especially if the devs had improved things this time around. Of course, Nomine still needed to party up. An acolyte was useless on her own. It was too bad that Nomine couldn't see any MOONPHASE members directly...

Scratch that.

She turned to find a tall, heavily armored figure that had been standing directly behind her. He was almost twice her height, making her look like a child in comparison. She had to sort of strain to view his face, but she was able to make out a thick, dark beard, and slicked back, mid-length hair. His relatively chiseled features made it clear that his character was at least somewhat customized, but the broad nose and wide eyes had a semblance of realness to them. Or maybe he had just told her that those were the real parts of his character's design in a conversation she half remembered. She did recall talking to him before, and he was definitely a member of MOONPHASE, with the Weird Hat on his head. It blinked at her as she tried to recall his name.

Cygnus, right. His username was CygnusDaGreat420, an unfortunate result of late night bad decisions, from what Nomine could tell. He was a relatively early member of the guild, often considered one of its best members. Of course, considering that MOONPHASE was a role-playing guild based around worshiping a single user, that often only involved putting on a persona, and not actually playing the game well. From what Nomine knew though, Cygnus was an accomplished PVP player, at least on his alts.

"Afternoon Cyggy, how's the weather up there?" She half yelled at the giant. It was always strange to Melody how Nomine's voice always seemed slightly brighter, and even more feminine than her own, which was amusing due to Sam being the one who chose the specific voice modulation settings for the character. Cygnus stepped back a few feet, kneeled, placed his fist in the dirt, and pointed his head down whilst closing his eyes.

"Praise be Nomine, the great goddess of the moon, light of the hereafter, and keeper of us mere mortals! Oh thank thee for the blessing that is your voice and presence!" He completed the obligatory saying, and brought his head back up, steel kneeling so that they were on a slightly more even height level. Nomine had long since learned that telling the MOONPHASE members to tone down their role-playing was pointless. They didn't often care about the stares their strange actions got. Even other RP guilds would laugh at them on occasion.

"Anyone else around? I want to get a party together for this new campaign," Nomine was almost bouncing with energy. She didn't want to be standing around all day. Though, it certainly made her look even more like some sort of hyperactive child.

"Your Holiness, I regret to inform you that most of your knights have not logged in on this day," he lowered his voice to a near-whisper before adding "and those that are decided to use their alts instead." Oh well. Nomine couldn't really get MOONPHASE members using their alternate accounts involved, it was best to keep those as far removed as possible. It was kind of funny that as devoted as people could act, and as obvious as some users' reasons for joining were, namely following Nomine around everywhere, they were impossibly afraid of actually being connected to MOONPHASE.

"Random party it is then!" Nomine declared, before turning from Cygnus to the crowd of random users around the pitch-black gate. "Oh yea, Cyggy," Nomine added, turning her head back to the gargantuan warrior, "I forgot to ask if you'll be partying with me, sorry. Will you?"

"I'll just follow you tonight, your Holiness." He explained that he had finished three hours of PVP before the maintenance had started, and that had only ended a few minutes prior. Cygnus would act as some sort of half-bodyguard, half-tourist, Nomine guessed. It wasn't like she was in any real danger, but either way, MOONPHASE took their role-playing quite seriously.

Nomine glanced around the area. She saw a few parties beginning to form. There were two major ones that she could see: One near the portal, consisting of two players who had run straight into and bounced off of it, and two others; and a party consisting of a guy floating in a water orb, a goat man, and two more normal looking players. She considered her options for a moment, even thinking about searching around to see if any other groups were forming, before eventually settling on the group with the water orb.

Nomine darted over, though as she approached, the goat man and the floating merman had split off towards the portal. It didn't seem like the party had split up, not exactly, but that made things slightly more annoying. Oh well. Nomine continued towards the two members of the party that hadn't run off, though she was surprised when Cygnus overtook her, stopping in front of the two players and folding one arm behind his back, the other splayed out in a show of ridiculous theatrics common only to MOONPHASE, as Nomine came to a stop.

"BEHOLD!" The giant of a man bellowed his lines, unphased by the fact that he was clearly interrupting a conversation "before you now stands Her Holiness, the moon goddess Nomine! Praise be for she is the guide to the hereafter, the keeper of mortal lives, and she who leads us into victory! By her divine wisdom, you mortals have been-" He was cut off with a sudden look of surprise. He glanced down to see Nomine holding her staff like some sort of bat, having just whacked her loyal follower in the palm of the hand to shut him up. He would survive.

"Don't mind Cyggy, he gets a bit too invested, sometimes. Mind if I party up with you and your friends?" She glanced towards the two who were now standing over by the portal, an idiotic grin plastered on her face.

Quite a lot of people had popped up in the time she'd been waiting. While she hadn't been the first arrival, the Acolyte could be counted among the first in this group to see the Gate. It wasn't much- just a little something from the oriental side of the world. It was both interesting and surprising that such a thing had caused so much fuss among the community.

Countless games have existed since their creation decades ago. It was only natural that legends and rumors about various secrets, glitches, and wonders would start to pop up. This had continued from the "cursed" ROM hacks of a bygone era to more modern VR games with rumored secret zones accessible to only a select few. Emilie took a moment to think about the various rumors that came up on the forums here and there. Certainly, the NPC next to the Gate had her attention more than the mon itself. Said rabbit was of course, shamelessly shilling a product. That gave her plenty of time to think about this new campaign and its implications.

However, in this specific case- A red mon? The devs weren't trying to attract more Taiwanese stop motion cartoon fans again, were they? It really didn't help revitalize the game or community the last time they pulled this stunt.

"Do they plan on wasting all their revenue again? That market was saturated long before WEO existed. " There were plenty of stock generic jrpg fantasy VRMMOs. Even if she had a refined appreciation for it, eastern myth didn't really belong in this particular worlds lore.

"I suppose it's nothing if the Campaign World is different. It'd be cool to see it ahead of everyone else."

Thankfully, the mention of "Conquest of the New World" regained her excitement in very short order. If it wasn't just corporate jargon, this could be good. They'd be like Conquistadors and true adventurers in a foreign land. With that premise in mind, she was positively beaming by now. This could be very fun, and hopefully done properly. The Acolyte skimmed through the EULA and accepted the terms with an expression that projected her excitable mood.

This was weird, though. They were essentially beta testers for a future expansion. That's what made sense. So then, why were they just signing a EULA? There should've been an NDA too. It was a question Emilie would need to keep in mind for the future. There was something shady about this, anyone could see that, but that was something to work with.

That aside, there was no doubt that "Riske" would jump on the chance to play the new expansion with her. Instead of taking the time to ask a dumb question, she took out the standard player book issued to all avatars. Within a few moments, she was quickly scanning the pages and examining the profiles(if public) of each and every person present. It didn't take long. "No edgy monks with a twenty thousand word bio. That was painless enough."

She stretched, before taking another look at the group gathered around the gateway. There were more than a few interesting ones and one or two rather famous faces. Weber rather liked the look of things on this end of the gate, even if none of them were really RP heavy. Of course, a few were bullying the rabbit. Given that you could buy NPCs for that express (unsaid)purpose in-game, she didn't see fit to waste her time on something like that. Rather than a very suspicious NPC, she was more interested in the various PCs.

Skuld pointed upward with her right hand. A white flare shot up with a whoosh, exploding with rather a tame bang. She called to everyone in the group who wasn't currently occupied.

"Would anyone want to be my ally while exploring this new world? We'll be far stronger as companions!"

@Ever Green

Bullhorn saw the flare go up out the cornee of his eye and turned to follow its trail up high before detonating, nodding approval to himself. A fellow warrior armed with faith and passion ready to conquer thebnew world as the bunny had said. Max didn't mirror their likely enthusiasm but pickings were slim, best to move now.
The odds of finding a structured party were slim with the players available anyways.

Approaching the player who had launched the flare, her character profile was open as Bullhorn scanned it for a name and job class before closing the opened window. Flashing a little hand wave he approached.

"Hello Miss Skuld, am I pronouncing that right?" Waving away his likely poor attempt at a foreign name, "Got room for a mage?"