Julia

"Now you know who the chosen five are who I decided to summon, who I chose to hopefully save the world. Normally it is forbidden for any outsider to enter this world. For this world is connected to each and every world's future. If this world, this universe even dies, then they all die but they will all learn that in time. First, I must tell you how I became to know of these five soon to be heroes.

Julia was in the library with Red and Fiona. She needed to find a way to stop these cracks. Luckily none had appeared in this world yet but if left for too long they could easily start to. As she looked through one of the books she sighed and put it down slowly. There was no information anywhere. She had no other choice. Slowly she stood up and went to the Universal Data part of the library. She had only one option left. Once there she sat herself down. The cracks could be being made by anything and this world was dangerous as it was. Whatever was making these cracks were extremely dangerous. She needed people who were willing to fight to survive.

"Bring me a list of everyone willing to fight for their or someone else's life."

Suddenly a list appeared in front of her, but the list was way too long. She sighed and thought for a moment then spoke again.

"Cut out anyone who does not have the power to do so in this world."

The list was suddenly shortened massively. Now it only showed a few hundred. She gave a sigh and nodded.

"Bring me each and every fire according to the names listed."

Suddenly hundreds of files appeared in front of her. She would read each one until she found the perfect team who could survive in this world and were willing to do whatever it took. Hours went by, the clock ticked away and one by one Julia got through the files. After an entire day had gone by, she had done it. She had her team, four people each from a different universes. Each one experienced in combat of some kind, each one having the power to survive in this world. They were her best shot.

"Come on Red, we have visitors to meet."

Red jumped on her head and slowly Julia walked out of the library. She walked to a large yard outside of the Library of Knowledge. She quickly made a portal and began to travel to different universes, different worlds. It took her weeks of preparation but, eventually she gathered the needed ingredients. When the time was right, she began the summoning ritual, telling Fiona in advanced. She placed her hand on the grass and a huge summoning circle appeared. By name she called them out.

"Bahamut, Ming, Grace and Jack I summon you all to the world of Azroh!"

With that, the summoning circle glowed brightly, and soon enough a huge flash of light appeared, so bright that Julia and even Red had to close and cover their eyes.



The courtyard where they were all summoned. I can edit new characters in if new characters are made.

Jolene

Jolene woke up and stretched herself out before getting out of bed. She got herself showered, dressed, got some breakfast and then said hello to her mum. After doing all of that Jolene got into her Ultra VR Gaming Chair, put on her Ultra VR Gaming Helmet and emerged herself within Elder Scrolls World End. Once inside of the game Jolene or Bahamut, in this case, went to the newly released DLC areas. It would have to take a teleport to access the new areas of the game and she was looking forward to it. The creators of the game gave clear instructions on how to access the new areas. So Bahamut spoke to the DLC NPC. After going through all of the dialogue Bahamut entered a cutscene. He stepped up on the teleport pad take would take him to this new DLC area. Just as the pad activated Bahamut disappeared as expected. He arrived in a courtyard of sorts, far different from where he originally was but then again he had just been transported. None of the DLC areas had been leaked before so all of this was new to him. The area itself was extremely detailed and the graphics were amazing. He could tell that a lot of money had been put into the DLC but that was no surprise it was a popular game after all.

Bahamut

Now Bahamut was in the DLC area, he made sure to take in more of his surroundings. His eyes first stopped on a lalafell in front of him with what seemed to be a red panda on her head which immediately made him think of a Final Fantasy cross over or something similar. Beside her was an Ogre. After taking note of those two, Bahamut looked to his sides to find three others had also been brought here, NPCs more likely. Two of them seemed more or less human while the last one was an Inumimi. In fact, inspecting her closer he could recognise who she was. The Inumimi was Ming whom he knew from popular comic books. "Oh wow I didn't know World End was doing massive crossovers like this. This DLC already looks pretty amazing." He looked to the Lalafell who seemed to be the main NPC for this DLC pack, or this area at least and nodded to her. "Hello there. Tell me where I am located and what my objective is." Bahamut looked at the other NPCs and took note of them. He was looking forward to interacting with the Ming NPC and was excited to see what she was going to do in this DLC. He was hoping to fight with her knowing just how powerful she was.

Grace

John had just finished off what he thought of was the final boss and just had his avatar grace loot the body when suddenly their was a flash of light and he teleported to new location. Grace looked around and saw a lalafell and an ogre standing in front of her together? Seriously? Kinda strange that they are not trying to kill each other. And what appeared to be human a inumimi and a dragonborn standing next to her Grace began talking to herself for a moment.

"So umm is this some kind of bonus end content I don’t remember reading online about a secret quest?. Not to mention inumimi haven’t appeared in this game yet must be some kind of new update released without me knowing.”

She stopped for a second realising she should introduce herself to the other players. She looked to Ming Then to Bahamut and then to Jack.

“Hi I am grace nice to meet you if you don’t mind me asking how did you unlock the inumimi race for your avatar? And I love how based your character design on Ming.”

“Hay there you probably heard but my name is grace your gear looks pretty intesting that spear in particular looks amazing judging from the eye in its centre I am guessing it’s got some pretty handy weapon skills to.”

“Hello you probably know this already since I’ve said it twice now just in case my name is grace it’s not often you see a human avatar.
They tend to be the weakest race overall but you look pretty strong you must have a pretty impressive build I can’t wait to see what your class can do.”

Grace completely ignored Julia and Fiona assuming they where NPCs.

Fiona

Saw as the hero’s Julia had chosen appeared in front of her and saw how some of them where talking about some strange things that she couldn’t understand sounding like they where crazy. Fiona Looked to Julia and back to the hero’s she honestly couldn’t work out why Julia picked them.

“Seriously Julia I don’t know about these guys most of them look they couldn’t take on the enforcers let alone some of the monsters of this world. We don’t need any dead weight slowing us down that will just make our job even harder. I think we need to put these guys to the test and see what they are really made of.”

Grace and Fiona

Grace heard Fiona talking wasn’t hard since she wasn’t exactly shy about questioning their worthiness for this quest

“Guess it’s time for the standard pre quest challenge to get the story rolling sorry” sigh “guys guess can finish the introductions later.ok then what are the conditions to this little test.”

Fiona Looked to grace who had already stepped forward ready to fight.tually causes some damage then you pass.”

Grace smiled and drew her spear as Fiona put on her mask. Grace went to activate a enhancement spell but her skill tree wouldn’t open but suddenly the spell she was thinking of activated on its own. Magic began flowing though her and wrapping around her body air swirling around her increasing her speed and agility wile also giving her a wind aura to help with offence and defence. She looked a little confused for a second now even more convinced there was a recent update magic and skill use had been streamlined allowing for speed casting she smiled making a mental note to check out the details the update online later but for as she couldn’t wait to try this new battle system. Grace flew at Fiona and threw a simple punch with her right hand but Fiona caught it

Fiona smiled
“your grace right well your gonna need a lot more then enhanced strength to beat me”

Fiona then turned around and went to slam Grace into the ground but as she did Grace used the wind around her to create a powerful gust producing a updraft strong enough to send them both into the air. Grace used this opportunity to get free of Fiona grasp then aimed her wand at her firing out a plasma blast Fiona scratched her wrist and as blood shot out she created a magic barrier around her as she was sent flying back slamming into the ground. Fiona got back up ready to fight but Grace was already behind her Grace dropped her wand and used a sprit skill covering her fist in spirit energy created from the power of her soul. She struck at her with both hands with a soul strike that. Could pass though most magic barriers attacking the soul directly. Fiona Grabbed both of her wrist and hit her with a head but as Graces head was knocked back she let out a little smile as she stomped on her spear that had now landed on the ground pushing it into the ground as her magic flowed though her spear it head began to glow as multiple spear head shot out of the ground beneath Fiona Impaling her from all directions. Fiona Screamed in pain as she let go of Grace she had a smug smile on her face

“So I guess I pass then"

Fiona Cast a healing spell on herself closing up the wounds

“Urr fine I guess your strong enough your more powerful then I expected”

With that Grace walked back and rejoined the others.

Bahamut

Bahamut took notice of one of the humans and quickly realised it was not a NPC. She wasn't talking like any normal NPC would do. He was about to reply to her comment when the Ogre NPC spoke up. Apparently, the Lalafell was called Julia. He watched as the Ogre challenged all three of them in a Test of Strength challenge. This must be an opportunity to raise his influence and fame between these two NPCs. He watched as the first player who was called Grace took up the challenge first and succeeded. She noted that the player was a pretty good battler. She also had the Ultra VR set, allowing her to quick cast spells and skills just by doing the action of said spell or skill. This player was clearly an advanced player like he was. Once the Test of Strength was done he stood up. "I'll go up next then."

He was lucky to go second. It allowed him to see some of the NPC skills that were set and he had a good idea on how to pass the test. He used his summon skill to summon the gates of hell. From the gates of hell two undead fire wolves one at each side of him. Then the gates to hell sunk underground.



One wolf ran to Fiona's left side. He howled loudly and fire covered it's entire body. With a running jump it would phase through her and bite her soul to do direct damage and internal bleeding. The second undead wolf summoned a dark shadow mist turning all undead and hellish creatures invisible. The mist itself would inflict burning and blindness. Afterwards, the first wolf turned to pure flame and sunk underground. Moments later it would shoot up underneath Fiona to eat away any mana she had. Lastly, Bahamut used his dark shadow skill, allowing him to manipulate the shadow mist into claws and fangs that would attempt to scratch and bite Fiona from every direction. He then stabbed the spear into the ground, spear side up. The Eye Of Ra would target Fiona and shoot a sunbeam going light speed powerful enough to incinerate energy or magical barriers. Now weaponless, Bahamut placed his hands together and created a lightning inferno orb and threw it into the air. This Lightning Inferno orb would cast lightning from above while raining meteors to attack Fiona.

He waited to see if he had passed the test or not. "So, what do you think, did I pass?"

Fiona watched as the dragonborn summoned two undead wolfs from the bowls of hell as one attacked from her left side the other attempted to clock them using magic mist luckily the enchantment on her mask could counter this. Flona then noticed her skin burning as her skin began regenerating healing the burns just as fast as the mist was damaging her. Fiona simply jumped over the first wolf evading its bite but almost as soon as she landed it shot out of the ground she jumped away from it but noticed it sapping her mana. Fiona cut her wrist once more and cast a barrier spell and with the difference she had created between them and the barrier around her it slowed down the mana drain enough that she could safety continue without worrying to much abot it. She dodge and weaved evading the claw and fang attacks. when she sensed magic gathering beneath her she jumped back evading the ra blast doing a couple backflps as lighting and meteors raind down at her she continued fliping backwards. She came to a stop with a surprised look on her face.

"your a ruthless basterd i like that. if those attacks had connected i may of been in trouble. But since those attacks would of done damage and i didn't have a chance to counter attack and the mist did burn me yeah that's enough for a passing grade."
@DarkShadowWolf

Jack was taking a break and decided to explore. There were many places he hadn't visited yet and he knew that there would probably be too many places to explore in one lifetime so he had to make use of it while he could. The ancients created this world which is what fascinated him the most. While he was exploring, Jack was suddenly teleported and take somewhere entirely different. He looked around quickly. This didn't seem like anywhere he was just and he didn't use the ancient warp devices to transport him. He looked around and listened to what the others said and became confused. He didn't understand what they were talking about at all and he didn't have time to really take everything in as someone, a strange creature he had never seen before gave them a challenge to test their strength. He watched the first two go up first before looking around. He wanted to get this challenge over with as soon as possible so someone could begin to explain what was going on. So he quickly used her shadow and manipulated it. It shot up instantly in the form of a dragon and went to slash at her back just as she finished talking when that was done he looked around once more.

"So where am I, how did I get here and what is an avatar? I don't understand anything that is happening right now."

He looked at the two in front of him before turning to look at the others.

Fiona
Just Fiona was finishing up with the dragonborn she sensed dark aura as her shadow suddenly attack her she jumped to the side evading a direct hit but the dragons claws managed to scratch her right arm.

"you little shit attacking like that lack honor but at least it is effective i am still nor entirely sure you have the level if power needed to survive in this would but since you did cut me i quess you past"

Grace
Grace looked to Jack "wait what are you talking about what are avatars? You've gotta be kidding there's no way your an NPC right "

Grace looked to Bahamut she knew he was a player he mentioned DLC but if this is a in game event why are only 3 players here a party of 6 with half players and half npc? Maybe we will form groups of two with the NPCs at some point allowing the players to explore more freely. She couldn't be sure though so she waled up to the two who had completed the challenge
"ok now seems like a good time to finish thoses introductions whats your name class and build?." She knew even NPCs can understand and answer that question.

Ming was currently on the battlefield. She slashed one of the Nekos and spun around, throwing her shield to attack and slash a few other nekos. She grabbed her shield again and went to block a fireball coming for her when suddenly she disappeared in the middle of the fight. She looked around now seeing she was in a courtyard with a few others. She listened to what they had to say and for now observed, trying to understand what was going on. She spoke when quickly before the test of strength challenge began.

"What do you mean I based my character around Ming? What is an avatar?"

She looked to the Ogre as she declared a test of skill and strength. It was a simple and easy challenge to overcome. She watched the others first to see what they could do then she stood up herself.

"That wasn't bad but I have seen far worse attacks in my lifetime of war. Let me show you how it is done."

Ming held out her sword confidently and smiled.

"Samurai Arts: Thousand Sword Strike!" She dropped her sword into the ground then suddenly thousands of sword appeared around Fiona. They shot at her all at once. Then Ming shouted out again.

"Samurai Arts: Shield Slash" With that, she threw her shield at Fiona but purposely missing her. The shield would bounce off an invisible wall and come back even faster straight at her. The top of the shield became as hot as lava. The moment the shield made contact it would cause a powerful and deadly electric shock. "Samurai Arts: Solar Blade!" she held out her hand and the rays of the sun moved to it. Suddenly a sword was formed. She grabbed hold of it and swung her sword. "Samurai Arts: Lava Bath!" With that, the ground would materialise and become lava instantly. She then held her sword up high. "Samurai Arts: Solar Strike, explosion-style!" With that, she did a full circle with her solar sword. A mini sun appeared in the circle then she swung. The mini sun would rush at her and then do a mini super nova, just large enough to cover the area around, but not too much to cause damage to the building a few feet away. Along with that, an intense infernal flame was sent flying at her. Both the mini sun and the solar flame was bright enough to blind.

Ming was fighting all out, completely seriously. When she was done she stepped back without a word and gave a respectful bow.

Once that was done, Julia slowly stepped forward. She didn't understand everything that was going on but she did understand that for some reason, two of the chosen she had brought thought they were in some sort of game. She had read enough in the Library Of Knowledge to know what games were and to understand them enough.

"Welcome all of you to Azroh, this is the courtyard outside of the Library of Knowledge. My name is Julia, this is Red and this is Fiona. You have all been chosen. You have been summoned here because we need your help. I am sure you have noticed by now cracks have been appearing everywhere. Not just in your world, but in all dimensions, all through space and time. These are cracks in reality. By going through them you could end up in a whole new world, dimension, universe, literally anywhere. That is if you survived. by going through the crack, before you reach the other side, you enter a place of nothingness. In between realities and by going there it rips you apart and instantly kills you. By dying like that everyone who once knew you will forget about you like you never existed. That is why I called you because we believe you can do it, we believe you can save the world before all of time and space is ripped apart. There is some bad news though, I'm afraid you will be unable to leave until you complete your mission, I will warn you, by summoning you here I and all of you are criminals. It is forbidden for any outsiders to enter this world. We will be hunted, our mission will be dangerous. Let me introduce everyone. Bahamut, Grace, Ming, Jack and Taylor. I am sorry for pulling you out of your worlds, but I had no choice, oh and one more thing. I don't know why you think this is a game, Grace and Bahamut but I am afraid that this is the reality. I wish it weren't real myself. None of us are NPCs, we are all real. If you die, there is no returning back to the world you came from. Things are quickly worsening and we cannot linger for too long. If you have any questions please ask. I will answer any questions given before we begin."

As she called out the names she pointed to the person it belonged to. With that she gave a small smile, she knew there were going to be some disagreements but she had no choice. She hoped that these people would, in fact, be the ones she needed. She then turned to Fiona.

"Fiona, I chose these people because of their ability to survive in this world and morally good choices throughout their lifetime. I am confident they can help us before it is too late."

She looked back at everyone else and waited to see what they had to say.

Fiona

Fiona Watched Ming lunched one attack after another while calling out the names of all her attacks she may not know exactly what each attack did but the names gave her rough idea of what to exactly.Fiona cut her wrist creating a blood barrier all around her turning her blood acidic melting the mini blades. Just then Mings shield flew past her and bonced back in her direction she jumped back as the floor become larva and landed on Mings shield as soon as she did she screamed as electricity ran though her body she quality covered herself in blood armor enchanted with a magic barrier protecting her from the heat and electricity. Fiona leaned back on the shield turning it to face the sun as she held on to the now vertical shield using Mings shield to block the supernova and fire blast the force of these attacks sent her and the shield flying back.

Fiona got back up and threw Mings shield back to her as she healed her wounds 'you where actually trying to kill me there. During a sparing match no less your almost as brutal as i am but calling out your moves will probably bite you in your ass sooner or later in this world. amthen listened to Julia explain the situation she and after briefly facing them each in battle she got a good idea of their fighting style and abilities and she had to admit this team had potential.

Bahamut

Bahamut listened to the NPC and smiled, he looked at his fame and influence statuses and saw that it raised slightly. Then as expected, a name appeared on the screen. "Fiona" with her social status towards him. It was slightly raised, meaning that she considered him an ally instead of an enemy. They weren't close friends yet but that could easily change. He watched everyone else perform their trials and took in their abilities and what they could do. It was when Grace asked him a question that he started to pay attention again. "I'm no NPC. I am Bahamut, a Dragonborn Arcane Shifter class so I focus on magic that summons or transforms me or the items and objects around me. I can also heal, cook as well as craft weapons and armour for us." After answering her question on his build he turned to Ming and watched her fight. As expected she didn't hold back and could have easily killed Fiona. It is then that Julia spoke.

Julia gave the name of the world they were in and explained that they had been chosen. What was strange, however, was that Julia mentioned strange cracks that were appearing everywhere in all universes and realities. He remembered very clearly that he had seen several while spending time outside as well as on the news. They were too much for the government to cover up. Then Julia said that this was not a game and it was all real. Even saying she wasn't an NPC. That was very aware for an NPC and they weren't talking how a normal NPC should. Some things weren't adding up. Bahamut took notice of the fact that he couldn't leave until the mission was done. He went to his setting to check his log out capability, and as expected there wasn't one. This wasn't normal either. It was at that moment at Julia's came on his screen. She immediately saw him as a good and trusted friend and ally. The fame and influence bar was almost maxed already. Julia had summoned them and completely trusted them. She had no doubt that they could help. "Some things aren't adding up here. I do have some questions. Why were we chosen specifically? What made us so special? How did you know we were the perfect team? Do we know what are causing these cracks to appear yet? If not could we use the Library of Knowledge?" He asked a few simple questions to try and gain more information. If this was a game then it was going to be needed for the quest and if not, well then it was still needed either way. It would just mean it was much more serious. Either way, they needed to know these things.

Jack turned to Grace and was still confused when she asked for his class and build. He had no idea what that meant or how to even answer the question. Bahamut answered Grace's question and he slowly nodded. Now he was starting to understand at least to some level what they were talking about.

"So, when you say class and build, you mean my powers and abilities? Why didn't you explain that the first time? I can use many forms of magic using the power of my soul which takes the form of a shadow."

He watched as Ming took her trial then Julia stepped up and introduced everyone as well as explain what was going on. As she spoke he nodded his head. He was starting to really understand what was going on now. He had investigated the strange cracks with Shiro and his friends but none of them knew what they were and they didn't want to get too close to them. Now he was really glad that they didn't. He continued to listen to her and nodded again. He had no problem with staying here. It would give him a chance to explore and the world was in danger anyway, not just this world but all worlds. The thing that concerned him the most was that they were criminals for being summoned here. After she had finished speaking Bahamut asked a few questions. He stepped up and spoke up as soon as he was finished.

"If the worlds are in danger, then we have no time to waste. We should get going as soon as possible, but why is a child in charge? If the situation is so serious shouldn't there be an adult responsible?"

He looked to the others before looking at Julia then slowly he turned to the Ogre. He was ready either way to move on with the adventure and figure out why this was happening.

Grace

Grace listened to Julia as she explained the situation then to the others as they asked their questions 'Bahamut was an Arcane Shifter likely a child of Sun Wu Kong known for his magical abilities and ability to shape shift as well as morphing his staff into various different forms. The other guy answered like a typical NPC would only giving basic information abot his abilities. Either or he is a player from a different game.' All the usual information was on his screen and the names of the other characters appeared over their heads as soon as sh leaned them everything looked normal that was until she noticed the log out function and system setting where missing. John thought to himself for a moment 'ok so this is likely an immersive cross over event where the NPSs are aware of different woulds although an event where the NPSs try to convince the player the story is real isn't to rare since for them it is. so i guess i didn't mis any updates. The log out and system errors sounded familiar though he was sure he heard of another game having problems with simple glitches' Grace let out a soft gigle as she thought she figured out the situation. Grace turned to Bahamut with a warm smile speaking in gentle voice.

"my class is a Battle Mage with a focus on mobility and DPS sacrificing the defense of heavy armor for agility but compensate for that weakness with magic based defenses. But i think i known whats going on do you remember Final Fantasy Online having glitches with sections of players menu missing from the screen?. I think this is a cross over event taking place on the Final Fantasy servers they are probably still having trouble fixing the issue. Since it looks like we will be forming a party with these NPSs i will send you a friend request and a party invite."

Grace knew if he accepted all his player information would appear on screen.

"i would assume part of this quest will be to discover the cause of the rifts it we where likely chosen based on information contained in the library regarding our class and build maybe they are trying out a new matchmaking algorithm. We probably could check out the library but the information available will probably be limited for plot reasons and we would have to deal with constant remembers about being sort on time probably not worth it."

Grace then looked to Julia and the Ogre "so i assume our first stop wil be at nearby town or village to restock and resupply where the inheritance will either not realize we are criminals or just not care if its someking gang hide out or den of criminals"

Julia listened to the questions and took note of them. They were easy to answer and it wouldn't take too long. She ignored Grace, she didn't have time to correct her. She could think it was a game all she liked as long as she got the mission done and the world was saved. She looked at Jack as he spoke with her fist closed.

"Firstly I am NOT a child. I'll have you know I am twenty years of age! Lalafell are naturally small and why me? I lead because I am the one who summoned you. I am from this world, I am the librarian of the Library of Knowledge, I know more about the situation here, more about this world we live in and how to survive it. I have friends and connections who can help us, I know where we need to go. That is why I am leading you. As for who or what's causing the cracks, I assume from all the research I have done, that it is a natural cause. I really hope that someone isn't causing this but if it isn't natural, we need to stop whoever is doing this quickly. Now, why you? I chose you because each and every one of you has some sort of combat experience. You are all willing to work in a team if you have no other choice, and you are willing to do whatever it takes to survive. You also have the means to do so in this specific world. You were all perfect choices. Before you ask, I read all your files, from birth to your current selves in the Library of Knowledge. Now the first thing we should do is travel through the Forest of Life. Past there is Ishaena, the Lalafell City. We will have to be quick but we can get a few supplies from there and move on. Our goal is reaching Salazo, the City of Magic. There, my good friend, Kat will be helping all. She was one of the people who helped me gather a lot of the ingredients with her vast experience and knowledge of magic. Now then let's go!"

With that she turned and walked into the forest, turning back to make sure everyone was following, then turned back to the forest. The forest was a huge place, and it was lucky that she knew exactly where to go. She continued on walking quickly through the forest although she quickly realised something about the forest was different but she couldn't put her finger on it. She slowed down and looked around some more. Something was very off here in this forest. The once so peaceful forest made her feel on edge like something was watching her. It was then that she stopped completely and held out her hand, creating a purple force field to stop the four from going on any further.

"Change of plans. We're going to visit the Guardian of the Forest, Rethynth. Stay on guard, there's something about this forest I cannot put my finger on. We could be headed for a fight. If something happens and we end up fighting, protect the forest with you're lives! I will warn you now, the forest is connected to everything. If the Forest Guardian dies, the Tree of Life dies, if the Tree of life Dies, the Guardian of Life Dies, need I go on?"

Her voice spoke with concern and urgency and with that the purple barrier disappear. She wanted to make sure everyone understood clear as day. She took a sharp left turn to go deeper into the forest. After a few minutes walk, she came to a large tree that shot up for miles until it reached far into the clouds. This was the Tree of Life! Protecting it was a large green dragon.





Julia signalled everyone to stay back, even putting up a purple barrier once more.

"He knows me. Our bond is far stronger than any Lalafell in the village. There is something wrong with him, something that is disturbing him. I can feel it, he's not himself. I will go first, be very careful."

Slowly she walked to the dragon and spoke to him.

"Rethynth I need to speak to you. Are you able to talk? Are you safe? Is the Forest of Life safe?"

The dragon's eyes shot open and at that moment Julia fell back in fear. It was clear as day now. The eyes of the dragon were filled with hate and bloodlust. Something was affecting the guardian. Suddenly he roared out loudly and his warriors rose to the ground. Quickly Julia stood up and ran to the barrier. She turned to face the dragon before undoing it.

"Remember! Do not kill the Rethynth, whatever you do! He is connected to the Tree of Life, if he dies, the entire forest dies and our mission fails! Only attack the forest maidens!"

Now she shouted, this was an urgent matter that could not be dealt with a heavy hand and intent to kill. This was a very serious and delicate situation.

Bahamut

Bahamut understood what Grace was saying but there were still holes. He didn't have time to answer her as Julia spoke up. He listened to her answers to the questions that were asked and nodded. So the cracks who assumably caused by natural causes but that was only an assumption and could easily be wrong which meant someone could be behind the scenes causing these cracks but it isn't confirmed. They were all chosen because of Julia studying their files in the library of knowledge which he found interesting. He would have to ask Julia more questions about the library but right now they hadn't the time. Their first stop was going through the Forest of Life which instantly caught his attention. It was certainly an interesting area to explore. Just before they went into the Forest Bahamut accepted the party invite then while they walked Bahamut decided to clear the silence. "Final Fantasy was taken down, too many MMORPGS that became way more popular. They are remaking the game slowly but with all the problems they had, there is no way it would be out at least three or four years. Most of our time here will be solving the mystery of these cracks and trying to work out how to fix them. Normally MMORPGS in my time usually have some sort of major decision making in the games that affect the story as you play. That would be interesting." He followed Julia but he started to get weary as she slowed down and even more so when she completely stopped. He listened to her and readied his weapon. This entire situation just screamed boss fight to him.

They walked into the forest even more and he awed when he saw the magnificent dragon laying down around the Tree of Life but hearing Julia and saw her slowly approach the dragon he knew something was about to go wrong. He could feel it and moments later Rethynth went into attack mode. He liked these sorts of fights. Ones where you couldn't kill the boss otherwise you lose but had to find another way to 'defeat' it. He swung his spear around quickly creating several runes then thrusted his hand forward. He had created five runes and from each rune, an angelic wolf shot out of them.



Each angelic wolf would use celestial light to destroy the maidens. He then used his shapeshift skill on himself once more turning himself into a Pegasus. This form naturally made all enemies calmer towards him. It would also grant protection to his allies from status effects and boost their morale.



Now as a pegasus he flew up into the air and celestial light began to shine through the trees brightly causing a calming effect. The clouds shifted and the sun went down, causing the moon to rise. The stars and moon shined a celestial light. Once he landed he forged celestial light into his hooves and kicked the maidens whenever they came close to him or allies. Typically in games, the goal wasn't to win but the goal was to last for a certain amount of time or to find a way to calm the boss down. He knew that this form could do both of those things easily. It wasn't as much of a fight as he was hoping for but maybe after this, they could have a more serious boss fight later on.

Fiona

Fiona was getting pretty frustrated at the two treating this like a game but they didn't have time to deal with that at the moment. Fiona walked with Julia towards the lalafell city but as they got closer to the forest of life Fiona could sense something was off. Julia stopped and put up a barrier forcing the others to do the same. Julia explained the situation as the maidens grew out of the ground Bahamut quickly reacted transforming into a Pegasus while summoing winged wolfs. The wolfs attacked the maidens she Bahamuts Pegasus form cast a blessing on them protecting them from various curses. Fiona cut her wrists and blood gushed out of her vains creating a puddle of blood formed under her. Fiona turning some of her blood into a poisonous mist with a sweat sent that would make all who smelled it feel drowsy and put them to sleep. Meanwhile she turned the rest of her blood into a poisonous liquid that would sink into ground targeting the maidens roots poisoning them as they lost energy and began to fall asleep the poison would cause them to start rotting and falling apart. All the while she was doing this she remained by Julias side in case any of the maidens attempted to attack her.

Grace

Listened to Bahamut but this just started to confuse her even more but before she could get any clarify anything Julia stopped and explained that the tree of life was in danger so Yggdrasil exists in this would as wellonly in this would it protected by a dragon and squirrel well definitely can't let anything happen to that. Grace pulled out her spear and shield and le out a soft whistle as she did Fenrir jumped out of her shadow

"Fenrir target the maidens and don't let anything happen to Yggdrasil or the dragon that's guarding it"

With that the runes on Fenrirs body began to glow as it summoned a powerful blue flame and shot it in the maidens direction. However this was no ordinary flame this fire would freeze its targets instead of burning them. Fenrirs continued shooting the blue flame at any maiden that rose out of the ground and pretty soon the fire began to spread though the forest freezing the trees and plants as well. With Yggdrasil behind Fenrirs it and the dragon was safe from the fire for the moment at least.

Meanwhile Grace took a quick look at her screen she couldn't see a timer suggesting that they would likely have to defeat a set number of maidens or possibly their leader to continue their quest. Grace took a look around seeing most the maidens where drowsy asleep poisoned or frozen with so many satus effects there wasn't much they could do. Grace decided the quickest way to end this was with a large AOE spell and she had just the ting a spell she learned from Zueus she pointed her wand to the sky creating a large black thunder cloud and with in seconds lighting began raining down striking the maidens then the bolts would bounce to a new target striking and continue bouncing to more targets soon enough there was lighting blots bouncing every as more chain lighting blots shot down from the sky and the maidens began dropping like flies struck down by the relentless lighting storm.

Jack listened to Julia's explanation of everything that was going on. It made a lot more sense now. They were chosen because they were hand selected through intense research. They were the best for the job even if two of them seemed a little off. They walked into the forest and it seemed that something was wrong, enough for Julia to completely change direction to check on the Tree of Life and it's guardian. Once there he stayed far back as Julia said but it turns out that things were going to go wrong anyway.

He quickly cloaked himself in shadow then used lightning from both hands to kill the Maidens as fast as possible, making sure to avoid the dragon. He didn't have to do too much, everyone else seemed to have the maidens under control. All they had to do was keep themselves alive for now while making sure no damage came to the tree or it's guardian.

Ming

Ming listened to Julia and smiled. All of this made a lot of sense to her. Of course she was chosen in that case. She was one of the best samurai she knew. She found it stupid how they were criminals for just entering this world, especially when it wasn't their conscious choice and who in the right mind would try to stop someone who was trying to save the world? Either way, it didn't matter to her. She followed everyone else into the forest and kept herself aware of her surroundings. She noticed something was wrong almost as fast as Julia did. She could feel it in the air. Everything wasn't quite right. They took a detour to the Tree of Life and waited for Julia's signal as she tried to speak to the Guardian. That did not work, however. Maidens were summoned to attack and defend. Everyone else was quickly on cue and there wasn't much she needed to do. She knew she didn't need any special techniques for these maidens.

She threw her shield one end and used her sword to slash the maidens on the other end. The shield cut through the maidens easily and whenever it returned to Ming she would just throw it out again. She kept checking the dragon to see if it was safe whenever she could. She didn't want anything to happen and have her existence just erased. It would not be good for her health. Besides, after this, she had a war to go back and finish.

Julia

Julia watched as everyone got into action right away in trying to fight off the Maidens and calm down Rethynth, it was starting to work. She could feel the effect of the Pegasus, it's calming and soothing skills make the whole situation better. The drowsiness was also affecting him then there as the sudden change in temperature. All of it helped calm him down. She turned to Rethynth who was already starting to calm and fall asleep, the maidens growing weaker and more sluggish. It was then that Julia began to softly sing as she walked slowly past Rethynth. After all, Lalafell were the protectors of the Forest of Life, the protectors of the Tree of Life and the Protectors of the Guardian of Life. They were all connected emotionally. She could feel his pain, his fear, his despair. Julia walked up to the Tree of Life and placed her hand on it gently. Her eyes closed and her hand glowed green. It was then that she sang the ancient song of healing.



As she sang Rethynth let out a loud roar but she continued to sing using the power of the Tree of Life itself to heal him. Now, even animals gathered around to watch. Birds tweeted the song while wolves howled the tune. Everyone was doing their part. It calmed him down almost completely but it didn't put him to sleep as she intended.

"Rethynth please rest for now."

He stared at her for a moment and then gave a small nod. She then turned to everyone else when he laid himself down and instantly fell asleep. The tree warriors sunk back into the ground as he did.

"He needs his rest while his soul is healed. I believe the cracks, in reality, are causing him to lose himself. He would be able to feel their darkness through the cracks, even if nothing comes through them. He is able to do this because he is connected to all life on this planet which means he is connected to all worlds and universes also. So it could also be the fact that he can feel other worlds, and the panic and fear of others is driving him to attack. Whatever it is, we must continue on to Ishaena, City of the Lalafell. I will speak to him once he has rested for a little while."

She walked up to Rethynth and placed her hand on his head. Her hand glowed green and she spoke once more.

"Rest Rethynth, my dear friend. We will speak soon, I promise."

With that, she began to walk further through the forest for about five minutes. After walking through the forest for some time they reached the gate to the city. She held out her hands and the gate slowly opened. She stared in through the gate for a moment before slowly turning to the others.

"Welcome to Ishaena, the city of the Lalafell. Please, try to do your best to watch where you step, and do your best to not draw attention to yourselves."

She walked in a few feet and smiled brightly. There had never been any outsiders entering the city before. In the middle of it, all was a large glowing tree surrounded by magical flowers of all kinds. Julia looked around before noticing a younger looking Lalafell approach her.





He looked to Bahamut, Grace, Ming and Jack then he turned his gaze to Julia with a questioning look. He spoke in a soft deep tone in his voice.

"Julia, who are these people?"

Julia looked to the four for a moment in silence before looking back to the man. She let out a soft sigh before speaking to him.

"These are foreigners, Chief Yoal. I summoned them here myself not long ago to help me solve this problem. You should know about the Forest of Life by now. They helped me settle Rethynth down. He will be fine for now but if something isn't done soon things will get a lot worse."

Yoal looked to the four again then looked at Fiona before shaking his head with a disappointed look. It was then that he looked back to Julia with wisdom in his eyes.

"Julia, you know about the law right? It is punishable by death. If anyone finds out Law Enforcers will try to apprehend you. I knew you were serious on your study on these cracks but I never thought you'd be willing to become a criminal for it."

He looked around seeing many Lalafell had gathered now. They looked fearful of Julia, no Lalafell had ever committed a crime so serious before. He looked back to her and gave a soft nod.

"We won't tell anyone about this but sooner or later people are going to find out and the Law Enforcers will come for you. Don't worry about the Forest of Life, we'll take care of that. You just do whatever you need to do and quickly too. There isn't much time Julia."

She gave a small bow and watched him leave. She knew she could trust her own kind to keep her criminal activities a secret. After a small sigh, she turned to her three friends.

"We can rest here for now until you're all ready to leave but we can't stay too long. Do what you need to do as quickly as you can. Once we get outside the city things will get much more complicated and difficult. Considering your size though you won't be able to do much. If you need supplies I can summon things for you or if you want to buy anything let me know. I doubt you have any Xeon Cash on you anyway."

She gave a cheery smile then gave everyone a large bag of Xeon Cash before walking off. She quickly blended in with all the other lalafell considering her size. The only thing that made her stand out was Red that was sitting on her head.

Bahamut

The dragon was quickly calmed down and the maidens retreated underground after everyone helping and Julia singing a healing song. Bahamut watched as Julia spoke to Rethynth then she explained why he may have gone crazy and attacked them all. It was understandable, connected to that much life much of taken a lot. After that, they continued onward through the forest until they reached the first city. It was called Ishaena and it was the lalafell city. The city looked stunningly beautiful, game or not. This place seemed to be filled with magic. He could feel it in the air. He couldn't imagine what the actual city of magic must be like and how much magic must be in that one area.

It was then that another lalafell came over to them. Julia clearly knew him and from his name, he seemed to be the leader of this city. He promised to not tell anyone of them arriving here and with that Julia spoke a few words then vanished in the crowd of lalafell. "This is an interesting place. There was never a lalafell city in Final Fantasy." He looked around quickly and saw a Chocobo station. "They have Chocobos in this world too. Well, I have everything I need anyway. So we can leave whenever everyone else is ready to leave." He walked through the small city and stopped at the other side of it, waiting at the exit for the others to join him so they could leave.

Kiyu

Kiyu had just arrived in Ishaena and hadn't been there long. He knew that Julia would be arriving soon. It had been weeks of preparation for the summon. She wouldn't give any information to him at all as to who she was summoning either. The only thing that he had heard from her since was that she was close to getting everything she needed for the summon. It is what made him decide to travel to Ishaena in order to meet her and her new companions whenever they arrived. The moment he came into the city he sensed there was something wrong with the Tree of Life and Rethynth. He wasn't too close with Rethynth and their bond hadn't properly formed but he could sense that the dragon was troubled. Just as he was about to rush to find out what was happening Chief Yoal came up to him. "Don't worry, the situation is already being handled by Julia."

Kiyu smiled and gave a quick nod. It was good that the city was so close to the Tree of Life. The lalafell here could sense anything that was going on. He had to try and get his bond up with Rethynth at some point, he wanted to feel what they felt when they were in the city. Knowing that Julia was so close he waited for her casually. It took around five or so minutes for her to show up and come into the city. He let Chief Yoal speak to Julia first and when they were done talking he walked over to Julia before she could get too far away from her companions. "Greeting Julia. I came from Salazo. Since you told me you were close to performing the summon I decided to come here and meet you all." He stepped forward and bowed. "I am Kiyu. It is nice to finally see all of you. What are all of your names?" He looked at them one by one. His eyes widened when he saw Ming, a pure inumimi and quickly ran up to her. "Oh wow! A pure Inumimi! It is a great pleasure to meet one of my own. I look forward to learning from you." Kiyu smiled brightly before turning to the rest of the group. His tail wagged happily as he waited for each one to introduce themselves.

Fiona

Fiona watched as the heroes dealt with the maidens with relative ease not needing any guidence or orders. They almost seemed to know what to do like they had done this before. After the battle when Julia finally put the dragon to sleep they all headed for the Lalafell City. After a few minutes walking they made it to the city gates where the chief welcomed them. Fiona had no interest in pleasentries. She headed for the markets ignoring the armour stores since they never seemed to have anything her since they never seemed to have anything in her size. Instead she headed for the weapon store to see if they had any new gear. She took a look around at all the enchanted weapons looking for something that could actually prove useful. When she came across a simple looking broad sword enchanted with the power to change it's size, shape and weight. She picked it up and despite it looked like she was holding a dagger instead of a sword she thought about the size, shape and weight that would be ideal for her. Suddenly it turned into a large spike club similar to her current one. She then began to increase the weight to test the limits of how heavy it could become. Eventually it became so heavy that even with her enhanced strength it was becoming too heavy for her. She turned it back to it's original form and walked over to the owner of the shop, paid and put the dagger in her pocket then headed back to the others. By the time she got back she saw that Julia and the others met up with Kiyu. After he introduced himself to the chosen heroes. As Fiona walked over to rejoin the others she called out to Kiyu.

"Hey Kiyu. It's been a while. You been staying out of trouble? Cause' uhh if you're sure about coming with us that's about to change. Forgetting the aiding and abetting charges you will have to fight and most likely even kill enforcers. I know from experience they will never stop hunting you after that."

Grace

With the maidens being being so easily overwhelmed and overpowered Julia had plenty of time to deal with the dragons. She recognised the song from one of her favourite fantasy series all she was missing was the ocarina with that done they all headed towards the lalafell city. Once there they met the city chief and recruited their first party member. As he introduced himself his named appeared over his head. Once the introductions were over Julia handed them some money saying they a few minutes to explore and shop. Grace took this chance to look around. The conversation that was cut short with Bahamut previously bugging her in the back of her mind. She continued to think about what she said about Final Fantasy while she looked around. While looking around a weapon store she stopped for a second noticing something in the corner of her eye. She saw what appeared to be a normaa sized bow in the back of the store. She asked the owner about it and found out it was a magic bow that a previous adventurer left behind a few weeks ago and never came back for. He couldn't sell it in store as it was too big for any lalafell and kept it in the back in case he ever returned. She asked if she could buy it and if so how much he would charge. He thought about it for a moment and after deciding the adventurer would likely never return agreed to sell it. He gave a good deal on it since it would be unusable for most of his customers. Grace hung the bow over her shoulder and walked back to the others. Once she rejoined the group she walked over to Bahamut.

"We didn't get to finish our conversation before with the dragon going beserk. What did you mean when you said Final Fantasy wouldn't be remade for a few years? I was playing it myself about a year ago before the Gods at War came out and I still know people who play it to this day. They are the ones that told me it has been having problems with glitches. It has honestly been bugging me since we last spoke about it and I can't wrap my head around it."

Bahamut

Bahamut turned to Grace when she started the Final Fantasy discussion again. She was baffled by what she had said, there was no way that was possible. It made no sense to her at all. "Wait hold on, you still play Gods at War? That came out in 2123. There have been several sequels since. Final Fantasy was shut down because it could no longer keep up with the rest of the MMORGS and it was having too many problems anyway. They were losing money too quickly trying to fix them all. Eventually, they brought down for maintenance for years in 2125 but never brought it back up again. It wasn't until 2130 that they officially called the game a loss and unable to bring the game back up. How do you not know this? It was like the biggest thing in gaming history for years." There were things that didn't make any sense no matter how hard he tried to figure them out. He waited for her to answer eagerly hoping to understand what was going on, ignoring Kiyu for now. He was interesting, a lalafell crossed with a inumimi but right now his focus was on the conversation between him and Grace.

Kiyu

Kiyu smiled at Fiona when she came. He was glad that she was still around. Despite being an Ogre she was a warrior just like he was. He respected her for her strength. He knew what she had said was true, Enforcers would probably die during the course of this mission and he would be the one to kill them but that only gave him more motivation to join. "Yes I'm sure. I couldn't bring myself to care less for the Enforcer scum. They are nothing but a band of criminals in my opinion. They know about the cracks but what are they doing to try and save this world? Nothing as far as I'm aware. I have already cut all contact with everyone who declined Julia's plea just like everyone who has decided to help has done." He smiled at her then looked back at the others and waited for Julia to be ready to leave.

@PharaohAtem