Long time no post. Took a long break, thinking back saw that I needed to prioritize many things. Travelled to UK, Europe - France, Italy, Spain. Now I will be finishing things which I started, starting with this book. I know it is not perfect, I tell myself, work and rework, so if anything doesn't fit, will make it fit later.

I apologize for my internal struggle, but I will be writing one post very week(regardless of how complete or incomplete it is) , so, Hope you enjoy!

Chapter 6 : First Death - Part 2

"OFCOURSE.. I can...please don't eat me...", the buck shouted and then squealed continuously as it started to rain.

"Grr...SHUT UP!!", Dan growled at the buck looked at the trembling sprouting horns of the buck. He never thought of this, he had killed all the animals before and their squeals and the sounds they made were without meaning, but now they all had a meaning and a purpose and this made him indifferent of how he felt.

"You're too skinny for me. Get lost. ", said Dan as he let go of the buck.

"OH YES!!! I AM TOO SKINNY FOR YOU!! ALL SKIN AND BONES HERE!! I DON'T TASTE GOOD AT ALL!!! ..", the buck started to squeal with joy and kept going on how it tasted less than its excretes and on and on..

"Shut up before I change my mind.", said Dan which silenced the buck again and looked at the slowly moving away predator with fear.

As Dan slowly slipped away and burst off in the direction of the final meeting place with Crimson still hungry he thought, Had I known I was killing things which had a mind of its own, but this is a game should I care...Don't worry Dan, you had always hunted only when you were hungry, so you didn't do it for fun, but for survival, so it's justifiable or is it?

Dan was slowly questioning himself, but the feeling of hunger increased to be heard as growls from his stomach. He ignored them as he reached the meeting place, but he knew Crimson would not be not on for a couple of hours by then a day would have completed in Hundred Worlds. He without knowing how to spend him time, he logged off to have his early lunch.

---

Karen knew what she had to do next, but it was not because of H'estha. The quest which she had received suddenly let her know what she had to do next, but how to do it was the question.

Quest: The Event - Part 0

The world is going through many changes, but what changes will affect you is yet to be seen. Find for yourself the truth behind these changes and it might lead to wonder or naught.

Objectives:

Find the changes around you and unveil the cause.

She knew everyone had got the same quest as they were all swiping at the notifications and closing it. A large number of players on the tree were grumbling at the least amount of detail on the quest, while others quickly flew off searching for the change it mentioned. She too was about to leave to find the changes, but she stopped as she heard H'estha say, "So it had begun..."

Karen spent the next hour or more explaining how she had found her home in the cliffs to her mother for she was not able to or not ready to believe it and it had started raining quite a while back since the re-iteration of the story.

"And you flew up the cliff and created a home on a plant's root, ON THE SIDE OF A CLIFF!!!?"

"Yes..."

Before H'estha could start off with her questions again, Karen questioned her, "What should I do next mother? I know you know something about this quest. Please let me know what it is."

H'estha looked at Karen and gave a small laugh which bewildered her, "I was waiting when you would get straight to the point and not beat around the bush... but you seem sincere enough to want to know. Ok, I understand the quest talks about change. "

"Yeah,.. um...it says to find the change around you and to understand its cause."

"What do you think this change would be?"

"A new tree, a new mountain or lakes drying up or ...I don't know something wrong from the usual.."

"What if I told you the change is not to the world, but to the other dwellers in this world. A change to a complete race."

"How could they change?"

"That is what you must find out. I have told you all I can, the rest lies with you. Good luck young one."

"Mother, I have one more question. Why don't you take part in the quest. You must have got one as well."

"Yes, I did get a quest similar to yours, but... Let me show you.

Show Quest : The Event to Karen"

Quest: The Event

The series of changes have started in this world. Aid those that are worthy of your knowledge and lead them to the path of the truth.

Reward : The memory of time.

"... what is the memory of time?"

"A mystery in itself, but nothing for now about that, maybe later. GO! go for you know what to look for , but others might have started looking at the same place."

Karen nodded and jumped off into a flurry looking for the change.

---

Nel had just logged in after his second attempt at moulting, the whole ritual of moulting was tiresome but it made him log off for another 24 hours in game which gave him time to rest. The first time he moulted, his stats grew by a large degree and he grew in size, but his defence which was supposedly in their 300 before moulting were in the 50's. Then after a few hours it increased steadily and finally reached 400 after a few hours and it was still increasing. Nel was happy with this as 100 DEF points is equal to over 100 VIT and he already got a stat boost of 40 VIT after moulting as well. The process of moulting increased his defence by a large margin, but his attack skills were lacking, except one, "Iron Grip".

His second attempt was same as earlier and having logged in the first urge is to claw himself out of the ground he covered himself. He pulled his former exoskeleton with him and devoured it as soon as he reached the clearing. The next urge he felt was of shelter and Nel found a few large counches around, but none suited him later he found another large conch abandoned by everyone by the sea shore as it was too large, but it seemed to fit him comfortably and the feeling of paranoia left him. As if a weight left his mind and onto his back the insatiable hunger took over and he went on an eating spree from the berries in the forest to the delicacies of the sea as he delved deep into the sea.

Half way through the sea floor eating everything in his sight was when the Quest blinked at his screen. He was eating his way through a sea weed at the moment and suddenly stopped to read the contents. Delighted he moved towards the shore at full speed. He was more nimble now underwater and his movement was smoother and faster. The new conch was very helpful in protecting him against octopi as it was completely covered by spikes and it had very few weaknesses in its structure.

He didn't know what to look for, but he was sure where he needed to go. While in the forest looking for food and sanctum, he heard wild and peculiar noises away from the shore. This was where he would find what he needed and further proceed with this game.

Eating all the way he only stopped himself to hide as he heard/felt something nearby took him deep into the forest. His senses were different than in real life, now he could see things in the air mixed with colour, but he couldn't make out what they meant. He could feel things over league away and discern what was what based on their movement. The better skill he found was that he could find food around him without even looking and down it all regardless of preference.

------

"It's a good day to fly. Isn't it my dear."

"Yes, very. It will rain soon, we should stop."

Kal and Akane started their adventure as soon as they could fly six feet off the ground and it was just in two days since they started playing. They travelled everywhere together by flying and when it rained they stopped under trees for shelter, and then started to fly as it begins to fog. As they flew above the lands and clouds where they stood afloat without the need to direct the wind.

They travelled north and saw the great mountains, hot and dormant which was too mighty to steer high as a pair, the cooler valleys in the east where water from the north diverged into small banks as it flowed south east, the south where it was open shore and covered from west to east. Now they were travelling west to map the land. They tried flying outside the Island which they now assume they are a part of, but as soon as they fly a few league it's like the strength is drained from their body and even the thought of turning back would make their wings full of energy.

The reason behind the drastic but scheduled changes in climate across the lands were known to the birds, and Kal has understood it the first time he went through all these different changes.

The wind swirls around in a circular motion inside the Island that was the reason why the climate changes from sunny daylight to rain and then fog suddenly. The cycle of water was clearly seen in this application as winds blew from North to South clockwise and then counter clockwise.

The couple were playing non-stop until the Capsule forcefully logged them out for eight hours. They had got addicted to the continuous adventure and the freedom of flying.

As they disconnected from the world, or forcefully disconnected from the game. Shin looked at his wife and saw a burden fall off from his heart for since her accident, Akane had never smiled whole heartedly. He knew that whenever she smiled it was just to comfort him, but soon after having been disconnected she looked at Shin and smiled with all her heart. Shin smiled back and they fell into each other's embrace.

----

Karen was searching throughout the forest nearby and flew across different animals of the forest, she just thought they were NPC, but after having received the quest every animals in the forest were acting different. First she flew towards the south where she has found four large groups of animals - Apes, Tigers, Crabs or something similar by the shore and other birds towards the east.

On arriving at the tribe of the Apes, she found a different spectacle and this confirmed that they were players. They were now grouped under different people and they seemed to be a talk between few people who looked like their leaders. Waiting and after more waiting, there was nothing happening in the tribe as they were arguing and what more looked like their parents then talking to them. This went on for over an hour until Karen decided she would try her luck elsewhere.

Next she flew south, towards the shores and looked at the crabs( or whatever they were), they were moving around the shores like mice with no notion and suddenly as they saw Karen's shadow, a large group which looked like a wave went into the sea, which were followed by more crabs going into the sea leaving the shore abandoned. Karen flew across the complete stretch of the shore and found no crab, so she left towards the other animals nearby, the Tigers.

---

Toby was called a genius as a kid and he moved through grades every year as a child, but that had a problem, he was younger than most of his classmates and no one wanted to be friends with the smart kid who made their parents think their children are not special. Toby was bullied, but not harshly since every teacher adored him and someone always had eyes on him every time.

The treatment from other students grew harsher when there was a PTA meeting and the other parents felt indifferent and praising the young genius even after reaching home. Toby never asked for any of this and he hated going to school, at first it was interesting, something challenging that before, but even after learning things much difficult, it was easy for him. He passed every subject in school, but failed in making friends. It's not like he didn't try, but whenever he did more people started ignoring him.

One day a senior bullied him to the point of making him lick his boot in the restroom. Toby was pushed down and held there by one of the seniors legs kicking him towards the ground. Toby was crying and pleading for help to his classmates who watched, but no one helped him. He saw the look in their eyes, the look on envy and happiness in his suffering.

He finally surrendered and the senior stopped kicking, but he didn't take his foot off from his back. Toby looked at the grim covered and smelly shoes in front of him, where has he been to make it this dirty or did he just cover it with so much crap to make him lick it, as Toby looked at the disgusting boot in front of him it made him furious. Seeing that Toby was not any closer to the act, the senior kicked him and told him to get on with it and Toby did.

The next thing the senior knew before he passed out was that he was lying on the floor with blood splattered across the wall behind him. He passed out.

Toby did not come to school for another year as he was home schooled, but by then the rumours about him had spread and everyone one knew who Toby was, the kid who nearly killed a senior almost twice his age. The senior was alright and moved out of the town because the incident had left him slower than before, of course it went to court and Toby's parent settled the affair for fair price since it was the senior who started it.

As Toby entered the school after an year, he remembered the look in everyone's eyes as they saw him that day. At first, no one recognised him as he had grown taller and started to put on weight as his father made him do yoga and tai chi, it was a recommendation from his therapist for his repressed rage. After having arrived to class and during lunch, he sat down alone in a table at the corner, afraid if something would happen today, but what happened next bewildered and excited him. Everyone knew who he was by Lunch and when he went to return the plates they moved away from him, and cleared a path towards the stall. He didn't understand at first, but when he looked at the look in their eyes next, he smiled, the look which was of envy and happiness which he remembered were now of fear and respect, but mostly fear and he liked that.

He later found pleasure in pain, to be more certain in inflicting pain. He made friends for the sake of using them and by the time he graduated, he was the leader of a motorcycle gang. He didn't forsake his studies as well, he topped everything and went to a good university, but everywhere he went he was the best at everything, the best student and the best bully.

He found later on the thrill in seeing hopelessness, he had turned into a total psychopath which his parents slowly started to realise.

Toby loved his parents and listened to them without question, and when his parent asked him to play the game, Hundred Worlds, Toby did just that. Toby's parents were happy he stayed at home more after the game and that was what they were hoping for, they hoped what no parent would hope for, that their child would get addicted to something, but Toby was not addicted to the game, he was addicted to the thrill of the kill being a tiger. The blood gushing down his fangs as he thrust them into his prey, the look of fear and anguish in their eyes as life flowed out of them till there was nothing left except a paleness, he felt like God.

Toby got addicted to the game and wanted it see it through to the end. He saw that people grouped up to him because of his strength and when they had all grown stronger he grew even superior, this wanting him to test it out and as always as they found a larger prey. They rushed at it without reason, but he then had felt the same feeling he had when he was in the restroom all those years ago when he saw the useless and the worm he left alone as it was not even worth giving notice to stood him front of him showing his superiority.

"The worm ??", was what he through when Killah identified the monster before them.

Toby was confused, "How did this worm get so strong. I was...am better than, but how..."

Dan always was hard to predict, he didn't do things as they were meant to be. He always kept to himself and Toby thought him to be an idiot and let him be, he had a whole new world to discover and take over, moreover this world had no rules.

Toby predicted that it could be because of the quest or the quest was because of him, but he was more angry when Dan started to make demands on him, "The worm dares to ask me to show my Quest window to him, the nerve.", but regardless Toby knew something was wrong and went along with showing him, but he needed answers and when he tried to force it out of Dan, he felt helpless after a long time.

"Sheen, how?.. what should we do about Dan?", Sheen was not answering and pondering about it himself.

"I believe he went towards the camp. What should we do Sheen."

"I don't think we stand a chance against him.."

Sheen was speechless, but it hurt his pride. He always thought pride is what gets a man killed, but after having it for so long and having it stomped on gets a man to do stupid things.

"SHUT UP!!", Sheen shouted at the others. He had never lost his cool in front of others, but today was different. "I will get him got this, I will show him.", he kept muttering under every breath as he moved slowly towards to camp.

---

Karen reached the tigers hunting grounds and saw the spectacle she was waiting for, the tigers were no more tigers, well not all of them. She saw that most of the tigers had evolved into prehistoric like creatures. They looked larger, their fur had turned more reddish golden and the stripes had become different, more alive, and finally their canines had grown outside their mouths like a Sabre-toothed tiger.

She stayed around for a long time and saw that there was a struggle for power going on in the tiger village and no one was winning, until the largest creature she had ever seen in the game entered into the village and intimidated everyone with its presence.

The creature was not respected, but feared within the camp and he didn't care less or rather welcomed it. Finally he left the village and moved very far off. Karen followed the creature or tiger, she guessed it would lead her to something, but after a unsuccessful hunt the tiger disconnected.

"So he really was a player. ", she thought and went back to the tiger village, but on her way she found the strangest thing. She saw the largest shell moving within in the forest and this was a first. She had never seen such a large sea shell as it was almost as big as herself and it was far away from the sea.

Karen followed the sea shell and as found that whenever she went close to it, it stopped moving and stayed motionless until she was far away from a distance. Finally she saw what it was when it started to eat berries from nearby trees.

"It's one of those crabs from the sea.", she thought to herself and found it strange to see one so far away from the sea and as it had started raining, she was sure it took her a lot of time to reach here from the sea, so the crab must be travelling for a long time, she though.

Feeling this was a more bizarre discovery than any and it was very different than all those crabs near the sea. Those crabs all were in groups and never alone, so she decided that this is a player and would try to talk to it.

---

Nel was walking for hours from clear skies to rainy and only stopped to pick food. He did not know what was driving him non-stop, but he did not want to stop it as well. He was like on a rush and he liked it. Whenever he felt something nearby he would stop all movement and confine himself to the safety of his new conch.

He kept walking far inside the forest than he had hoped and now he did not know how far he had come, but neither did he stop. As he kept walking through the forest, he felt a lingering presence around him and it was different. He waited it to pass by, but it kept closing in at times then moved away to a safer distance.

After a while when he had stopped to eat some berries on a shrub nearby, the presence came very close to him. He went further inside his conch and suddenly the presence was holding onto him and lifted him up into the air. It was slow and with difficulty, but when he looked out from inside the conch, he saw the ground move farther away from him and now he was just few feet away from the top of trees.

"Let me go, you... you..I said Let me go!!!", he screamed, but he got no reply. He only had one option and he saw that the bird or creature that had picked him up was holding onto his conch at one of it spikes while another was near the entrance of the conch. Nel moved his pincers towards the feet of the bird and grabbed at it with force and he heard the creature make noises as it flew unsteadily now, but what surprised him even more was the feeling he got after touching the creature. It was like a compass or beacon in his head pointing towards the north.

---

Karen thought only one thing now and that was to pick this crab to her mother and then get her answers from her. She picked up the crab as it was eating and the crab was more heavier than she had ever thought. It was pulling her down, but she could maintain the height up to a trees length, luckily.

The crab was struggling for a while and then suddenly she felt the crabs pincers grab onto her feet.

"OUCH!!! That hurt, let go, let go!! ", she screamed, but then she realised something else, she felt the strong urge to move in the direction as if a bell had gone off in a distance. The grip was too hard for her to hold onto and she let go.

The conch was falling at a steady pace towards the ground and Karen chased after it head down and caught it just few meters away from the ground. Now she left the crab motion less for a while and then felt its pincers on her feet, she also felt that the crab's grip had loosed as well. The crab then let go of her leg and then suddenly caught hold of it again, and she felt the location in front of them. The crab did it a couple of time before he just touched her feet and not crushing it as earlier.

Karen had taken this as approval to take him across to whatever destination they had to take with each other.

---

The gang of five had always been together since high school and when the first VR game was released every one of them got a gear of themselves. More crazy than that was that they all got the same race, Entomo and that to all were Army Ants. The Army ants had a bonus which no other Entomo race had and that was as more Army Ants grouped together, the stronger they became.

They were trained by same the elder, Tresha and they were unstoppable, until they faced a certain Red Ant which was walking into their part of the hive. The five wanted to show their dominance and stopped the Red Ant surrounding him.

Ken was the leader of the group and always took his opportunity to make it well known he was the leader.

"Well, well, what do we have here. A lone wolf.", said Ken as the other four surrounded the Red ant.

"What do you want?", said the Red ant.

"Well we just want to welcome you. We never seen you here.", said Xed from behind the Red ant.

"I live across that connection of the hive, neighbour.", said the Red ant pointing towards a direction.

"Well you need permission to cross over.", said El from the side of Ken.

"Hmm.. Are you the Queen??", asked the Red ant as if he was bored.

"No, but..", said Brio in response and before he could continue, the Red ant said, "Then MOVE!!", and let out an aura which frightened the five, but the race benefit of the Army ants came into picture and it was not a blessing in any disguise.

Race Benefit : Activated

When facing a status effect as a group the effect reduces by 5 % for every person present from the same race.

25% reduction in Fear status effect.

As the Race benefit activated, their foolishness took over them and moved in to push around the lone Red ant, but before anyone could step in the Red ant threw them across the pathway and walked away as if he didn't even see them. The five slowly picked themselves up and never talked about the instance and logged out.

After couple of hours and logging in, they still felt enraged and humiliated and went out of the hive. They used to gang up on the animals around the hive and slaughtered the wolves of the area, but nowadays there were no wolves nearby and they went deeper inside the forest.

As they went closer they found something even more dangerous than a wolf and that was a bear, and it was young. It was lying down and the five surrounded it, but the bear was not afraid. It slowly got up and roared at the unwelcomed guests and this inflicted the fear status onto the five, but feeling the same they got agitated and started to climb at top of the bear.

The young bear was not strong enough to resist, but the five were not strong enough to contain the young bear for long. The problem with army ants is that they had mandibles which were used for piercing and not for cutting, so the five kept piercing at the fur of the bear until the young bear bleed to death. The five happy with the victory started to carry the bear back to the hive, but something set fear into their steps and that was the largest bear they had ever seen until today.

The large bear was the mother bear and seeing her cub dead and the five pests before her covered in the blood of her child got her into a frenzy and jumped the first ant she could see.

The mother bear was roaring and tearing the pest before her limb by limb and the other four ran away as soon as they saw the head of their comrade being chewed off from his body.

Ken was dead and he confirmed it by cussing and shouting at the window before him.

You have died.

Soul structure is unstable and the instability in the structure has split your soul across the universe.

Soul entity remaining 95%.

23 hours 11 hours 59 minutes 30 seconds until you can Login.