Clouds of dust and smoke hung in the air below the powdery sun, creating a haze which shrouded the area. The smoke's origin, wide black smears of scorched earth, decorated the already Scorched Plains of Cordendosa. Shrapnel of once towering masses of white rock hid within blades of surviving, short jade grass along profound craters.

The dead were everywhere, struck down by heavy, greenish wind, swords of the same color, or earth shattering magic, but not in blackened lines or bloody piles of bodies, but in innocent looking brown sacks fit for carrying loose change. Men and women with finely sewn green high-collared coats and cloaks of alluring gold, now tattered or shredded from battle, stalked the death stashes like wolves, eyes alert for any movement not theirs. Some even searched the neatly tied bags, small blankless screens appearing before them as they inspected the fallens belongings through baby blue displays only their eyes could see.

Ko watched in deafening silence. Seated, gagged, and tied to a lofty boulder, he occasionally heaved as a breath of soot laced air entered his flaring nostrils. The cloth in his mouth tasted like dirt. His bound bear paws for hands fidgeted as they yearned to reach for his Skull Helm which lied a few inches away in the grass. The ruined air couldn’t be doing his already acne leathered face any kinds of justice.

A combination of tightened rope and sweat had his dark-clad attire clinging to his love handles uncomfortably. Knee high boots patterned with laughing skulls hid beneath his wide criss crossed legs. Ko uncrossed them then in another attempt to reach his Skull Helm, which seemed to be getting farther and farther away as the dust blurred his vision.

The crunch of grass and stone froze him in his tracks. As he blinked away tears, the dust seemed to step aside to reveal a man and woman, both with matching high collared green coats. The man was tall and lanky and at least in his early twenties, with a handsome face and even handsomer short brown hair which lied unruffled atop his slim head. For that matter his green coat, patterned with swirling lines of gold, looked untouched. The only sign the man had been fighting at all was found in the gold hilted shortsword gripped tightly in his glowing Valor hand, the green blade broken at the tip.

The young rotund woman on the other hand, short and maybe pretty if her face was not covered in dirt, looked disheveled, yet at the same time composed. Sweat and dirt glued short unkempt blonde hair to her face. Ko wondered if she was okay but a faint smile on her thin lips suggested she probably was. Greenish wind, visible to the naked eye, danced around her tattered coat aggressively, as her dark eyes scanned the landscape. The haze continued to ‘step aside’ for them as if their very presence willed it to. Ko surmised it was the woman's doing through some sort of passive Blessing.

The hairs on his neck rose then as his own passive Blessing, Phantom Eye, activated. It was a great skill in retrospect, activating whenever another player sent him a threatening look, but here, surrounded by Wind Guard guildsman and a vision obscuring haze, the Necromancer couldn’t tell if it was the approaching man and woman who activated it or some unseen player. He silently prayed to the Winds it was the former.

“So, here lies the mole,” The man said scornfully, leaving Ko no time to investigate. “Ko of Penatara.” The woman seemed to relax as the man spoke, the dancing wind calming to barely visible wisps.

“No sign of Shade, Master Bodhi,” The woman said, resting her hand on a small wooden wand at her waist. Ko hoped she was right. “While we’ve found the Necromancer, we’ve yet to find this peculiar item The Tribunal was fussing about”

Fist rested on hip, Bodhi acknowledged the woman's comments with a slight nod without looking at her. Upon approaching Ko, Bodhi’s eyes had rested on him and never left. Ko barely masked his increased fidgeting at the Wind Guard’s cold, empty gaze of pure disinterest. Barely.

“Perhaps our Necromancer ‘friend’ here has the answers we seek, Ursula” Bodhi began, eyes drilling into Ko’s soul. A chill managed to reach his spine in the scorching heat. “After all, it was only ten years ago that all of Helm was engulfed in a war against the Nevermore, led by those silly Chaoswalkers. Ten years later, everyone forgot these guys still existed…..until you, Ko.”

“Ihafdgtehitehsnwers-” Ko started, forgetting for a moment that he was gagged. Saliva dripped down his mouth and onto his dark cloak. His heart pounded, trying to break through his chest. For months, he had communicated with The Tribunal, committing the greatest betrayal any Chaoswalker could make to their own. They had found out of course, and he evaded and evaded until they finally snatched him in the Scorched Plains. Tied to a rock, his execution was all but imminent until the arrival of Bodhi and the Wind Guard guild.

The Tribunal had sent them. Of course to rescue him! More than likely in an effort to retrieve the item he possessed, but they were here for him nonetheless! They weren’t the governing body of adventurers for nothing!

Relief supported by the remorse which led to his betrayal in the first place swelled inside him. He had never wanted to be lumped with the Chaoswalkers. Helm picked your class at random in character creation and he ended up with one of the four ‘bad guy’ classes, forced to commit atrocities across Helm with others of his breed in order to gain Valor, better Blessings, and items. Just his luck! Ko would have been fine with any other class, even the joke of a class that is Seer! He had never met a male Seer but he would have been ecstatic to be the first.

Ko’s legs once again reached for the Skull Helm nearby. It was the only cool thing to come out of Necromancer, that and the undead summonings.

“Ursula, remove the cloth,” The greenish wind aggressively returned on young Ursula as the pressure in Ko’s throat was relieved and a soggy piece of cloth retreated from is mouth. The crunched ball of saliva hung suspended in front of him, dripping into the grass between his legs. “Speak, necromancer”

The order was all Ko needed for everything to come tumbling out.

“G-Gosh, am I glad to see you guys! The item... I-it's in my inventory! You have to untie me!,” Like all players, having his hands or arms bound in any way prevented Ko from opening his displays or using non-passive Blessings of any kind, a mechanic he hated greatly.

Ko suddenly cleared his throat. “D-Do you guys have water, by chance? My mouth's as dry as this plain! Perhaps a snack or somethin’? I could go for some jerky, you guys like jerky? They have this peppered kind in Penatara. O-Oh I know I know, I look like I’ve had enough to eat already…..Are you sure you killed them al-?”

The soiled cloth returned its way into his open mouth, causing him to retch in surprise. Ko managed a frown as best as he could at the plump Stone Mage. Her faint smile seemed to grow less faint as her amber gaze took on a mocking look. He guessed he shouldn’t be surprised, his tendency to ramble incessantly had always annoyed others.

Bodhi stroked his short stubble in thought, his blue gaze studying Ko. Abruptly he frowned before nodding his head as if coming to a decision. He quickly closed the very short distance to Ko before slicing the rope constricting him with one clean, vertical arc of a slash. Ursula’s eyes flashed in a mix of surprise and displeasure but was quickly concealed. Bodhi was a guildmaster after all. He was but one of them, Ko was sure. To his knowledge, the Wind Guards were the largest guild in all of H.O, boasting hundreds of members with multiple guild masters across the South.

“This peculiar item, Mancer. Now! ...No, no do not utter a single word! The item! Now!” Ko nodded quickly with a weak smile, absently stroking the Skull Helm now gripped in his paws. The moment the rope had dropped to his large thighs, he had reached for the helm without hesitation.

Donning his helm gingerly, Ko cleared his mind of all extremities, Bodhi and Ursula, the battle, the haze, soot, and smoke, and thought of items belonging to him.

The result was instant, a screen like the ones the Wind Guards encountered appeared before him, close enough to warrant a focus of the eyes but not far enough to require any meaningful effort in doing so.

The baby blue, slightly transparent screen was not large, only about twelve inches wide and ten inches high. At the top right corner rested a white number out of fifty which indicated the amount of slots left in the inventory. Using the in-game eye tracker, Ko searched the miniature icons that rested in small squares across the display, making up a grid. As his eye met an item, smaller blue displays appeared sharing information on said item. His eyes hungrily paused over an icon of a small strip of dark meat...

Peppered Jerky: Lean meat that’ll make those buds tickle with delight! A Penataran favorite! (Hunger rating: C+)

...and quickly began moving down the grid again as Bodhi began to tap his boot, impatiently. Arms crossed, Ursula looked ready to smash his face in, her face a frozen, dirty scowl. She should really wipe that crap off, Ko thought. There was definitely a pretty face under all that grime. He thought she had nice eyes, albeit a little scary looking…

Focus. Ko ceased his screen peeking, returning to finding the item. His bad habit of constantly sorting his items using the various options found below the slots indicator, always seemed to disorganize him.

A sudden thought occurred to him, so he scrolled back up to that very location and rested his eye on an icon showing the letters ‘'N.E.W ' and focused so intently on it that it seemed to cave in as if he pressed it with a computer mouse. Those item icons shuffled then as they looked to sort to his choosing, newest first, and at the top left corner rested the sought after item.

??????: A small ball of glass harboring an enormous amount of [Shade]! Try breaking it!

Ko damn sure wasn’t going to ‘try breaking it’! He wanted nothing to do with the thing. Even as a Necromancer, whose main element of practice was shade, just looking at the ball made his stomach turn and now knowing what the ball held…

With another look of intent, the glass ball was in his sweaty open palm in an instant as if it was there all along.

Before he could close his inventory, Bodhi was there in an instant, snatching the ball from Ko before realizing it was glass and caressing with care with his free hand. Ursula moved to get a look from over the guildmasters small shoulders. Looks of confusion claimed their faces as small displays appeared with the description Ko already saw.

“This is…!” Bodhi began uncertainty before frowning, turning the darkly clouded ball here and there. Whatever he thought it was, he didn’t anymore after reading the description. “Shade…...So they’ve finally returned then. This has to be Nevermore doing, yes?”

Distracted, Ursula practically leaped out of her coat as Bodhi’s questioning eyes turned to her. “Oh yes! That can be the only explanation. I mean, finding Chaoswalkers here with the necromancer only confirms that. They must be up to something again”

Bodhi nodded in agreement and their verbal speculation continued. Ko tuned them out as he used the edge of the boulder to lift himself up. While he was sweaty, his dark cloak and trousers were still untouched, albeit a little dirty. Especially his bottom which glued grass and dirt alike to it. He hadn’t put up much of a fight when the Chaoswalkers caught him. It wasn’t his forte, fighting multiple enemies alone. Once they took out the undead army he summoned, all he could do was surrender.

The Wind Guard’s conversation suddenly brought him back to reality.

“Well, why don't we break it then” Bodhi suggested. “Whatever this ball harbors, can’t be tougher than those Chaoswalkers we took out”

Ursula nodded in agreement. “Let’s do it. I’ll gather the guar-”

“Nooooooooooo! You cannot!” Ko leaped for the ball but Ursula was there first, wand in hand and aimed at him. He slammed against the boulder before he could blink, hard. His vision shook as he staggered, gripping the edge of the boulder to steady himself.

“Why not, necromancer?” Bodhi began, lowering Ursula's Valor hand which gripped the wand. Ko failed to stay on two feet and slid down the boulder to his bottom, trying to find his breath. “It’s time you gave us answers, concisely this time. No rambling. What is this ball? Are the Nevermore back? What are yo-..the Chaoswalkers planning exactly?”

“T-That ball…” Ko started, panting. “That ball is the se-”

“Arghh! T-There's more of them! Wind Guards, on m-”

The sounds of fighting suddenly erupted behind Bodhi and Ursula as the Wind Guard was cut short. Cries and groans of pain sounded as swords clashed and the earth quaked once more. The haze obscured his view but Ko felt suddenly queasy. Someone was using Shade. He could feel the pulsing, ravaging energy from his place against the boulder.

Bodhi and Ursula were alert in an instant, the latter charging towards the direction of the fighting. Bodhi was right behind, pausing only to place the ball in his inventory. With one last glance at Ko, the guildmaster disappeared into the haze.

Ko found his feet once more, frantically looking at his clouded surroundings. Phantom Eye ceased the moment the fighting started, thank the Winds. Was it a Chaoswalker watching him then?

Ko reopened his inventory to retrieve Dying Hope, a tall, bony white staff topped with a small opened mouth skull that glowed a pale dark purple, and swung it outward.

Army Of The Dead: Summon an army of various undead monsters to do your bidding! Manipulate them with other Blessings for various effects! (Cooldown Timer: 5m)

Ko groaned in frustration as the display winked out. The rest of his Blessing kit worked around his Ultimate, without it he was defenseless.

Using the staff as a walking stick, his back still aching, Ko decided to head opposite of the fighting. His job was done. The seal was in the hands of The Tribunal now and no longer his problem. Sure, the Chaoswalkers would probably still hunt him but now they had no reason to. It would just be for revenge and revenge was a waste of time and Chaoswalkers didn’t much like wasting time.

Now he was free to do what he wanted, regardless of his chosen class. He would head for New Haven…! No, New Haven was too...social and those Red Elves were…..He shook his head of dirty thoughts. Now, Beddingfell could be the place to settle! He’d always heard good things about the small city, although like most of Cordendosa, they supported slavery which he found repulsive. The idea of owning another being, even if it’s a virtual one, made him want to throw up. Maybe he could loop around the plains and head back for Penat-

Ko froze in his retreat, his neck hair raised once more. It was then that he realized the earth no longer shook and the plains were dead silent. That throbbing tingle of shade was stronger than ever.

Turning his head slowly, he picked a spot just over the boulder and stared directly at it. Somehow, he knew he was staring directly at a Chaoswalker. He swung Dying Hope without thinking.

Army Of The Dead: Summon an army of various undead monsters to do your bidding! Manipulate them with other Blessings for various effects! (Cooldown Timer: 4m 27s)

“So, here lies the mole” A voice within the haze said, creepily. Mimicking the guildmaster.

Ko recognized the voice regardless of the impression.

“Crap!” He exclaimed as a beam of desolate, dark purple shade energy shot from the haze towards him like a torrent from a fire hose. Managing to move his body to the ground, the beam still seared his shoulder as it soared past him. Clenching it through clenched teeth, Ko banged his foot against the ground in pain as pebbles from the boulder showered him. Feelings of real pain were customary with a virtual headset for games that allowed it. H.O was one of the few who did and were even ‘nice’ enough to dull the pain almost immediately. But not fast enough!

“F-fucking grounded realism!” Ko spat, his shoulder already becoming a dull ache.

“Tsk Tsk. Now you’re blaming the devs for your punishment. How..like you, lard boy” Kuro said as he appeared from the haze. Clad in a dark robe which seemed to flow behind him like a river, the Chaoswalker seemed to be taking his time. A hood shielded a yellow face and a patient smile. His lidded eyes watched Ko in amusement. “You’re punishment for betrayal is long overdue, I’m afraid”

“Kuro, m-my man..” Ko began, slowly scooting away on his bottom and constantly swinging his staff. How long was four minutes and twenty seven seconds, anyway?! “C-can we maybe...chill? This is my last life you know and I haven’t uhh e-experienced what all of Helm.Online has to offer”

“I don’t know, I hear the third death is the most exciting” Kuro was past the boulder by now, his boots crushing grass and rock. Where was Bodhi and Ursula? Did Kuro take everyone out by himself?! Ko scooted faster.

“W-Well whoever gave you that uhhh..a-advice might have been spouting horsesh- Okay! Okay! Please don't kill me! Let me talk to Nox-ahh!” Kuro had reached him now, using a boot on Ko’s aching back to hold him place. Ko attempted to squirm free for about five seconds before giving up.

For what it was, he had fun with H.O. After three deaths, Helm.Online banned you from the game forever. Lord knows why they added that garbage. While he wished for another class, Necromancer had its moments. Who wouldn’t want to lead an army of the undead?

He hadn’t made any friends, to his regret. Not even with the Chaoswalkers. Most just tolerated his company because of his powerful class. He always had trouble forming interpersonal relationships beyond acquaintance. It seemed that transferred to the virtual world as well.

Kuro seemed to have been waiting for his surrender because he finally broke the silence, that patient smile disappearing.

“Run” Was all he said before the weight of his boot disappeared. Ko paused in confusion for only a second before taking off. “Faster, lard boy! Maybe I’ll change my mind if I still see you in the next minute!”

Ko moved faster, arms pumping and fat swinging, he had no idea why Kuro spared him but he didn’t care. He was free….He was finally free!

The Scorched Plains of Cordendosa were silent save for his hysterical laughter.