As soon as Shu clicked the giant red button, everything swirled into a vortex and darkness enveloped him. When next he awoke, it was once again to darkness. However, this was a different kind of darkness than the void of unconsciousness.

It felt real and tangible.

He could feel the cold stone roughly against his naked back. He could smell the mold of a tomb in the stale air. He barely had any space to move, but he was able to bring a hand up and push. The stone above him gave way, lifting and sliding aside with a grinding noise, like a lid on an ancient stone casket.

Immediately, the stale moldy air within the enclosed space rushed out, replaced by cold and crisp oxygen that made his body sing with joy. Shu, in Edge online, had never experienced this before. Such ultra realistic sensations elicited in him a memory of visiting his uncle and aunt up north and wintering with them as he played with his cousin in the snow.This kind of clean, crisp air could only be found in places of nature like those savage and desolate mountains where his Uncle and Aunt lived. Off the grid, they had called it.

Such a nostalgic feeling made Shu forget himself for a moment, but he quickly realized that something felt off. He remembered the strange occurance after he had been forcefully logged out of Edge Online and the ominous sentence from back then echoed through his skull once more.

No Host found.

The room was dark, but the darkness didn't hinder his visual acuity much. He held up a hand and studied it. It was small and pale, nearly translucent and almost otherworldly in its delicate elegance. What the fuck was this?

Such a hand... had he become a girl?

He gently rubbed two fingers together, amazed by the tactile sensation of his own hands. The smoothness, the marble-like quality of these tiny digits was bizzare yet utterly real. In fact, everything felt so right that Shu wondered for a moment whether he was inside of a game or whether he had been ported to an alternate reality of sorts.

[Options]

He sent out the mental command to open the options menu, but nothing happened. Shu tried again and again, but the system was unresponsive.

[AI Help desk]

[Status]

[Inventory]?

Nothing worked. Nothing.

Shu glanced down at his body. The body of a 12 year old child. It seemed he was not a girl, after all. He couldn't help but chuckle. Hmm. This was utterly impossible. This couldn't be that game or it's successor could it?

That pious and self-righteous company wouldn't suddenly do a 180 on their policies would they?

In any case, standing naked in a dark stone room made him feel rather apprehensive, so he glanced around in the hope that he'd find some clothes to wear. After spawning into this world, he should be level one, right?

Would magic even work? Suddenly feeling anxious, Shu wondered what he would do if he wasn't able to cast magic anymore. He'd feel even more like a cripple that he had in real life.

The room was huge, stretching into darkness at the edge of his vision. The stone coffin from which he had emerged, seemed to be the center-piece in the giant cave-like room. Well, if he was still a mage... this would prove to be a good test wouldn't it?

[Ball of Light]

Shu cast the elementary magic, holding out a small hand. A white sphere immediately materialized on his palm, emanating a strong and sterile white light that stung his eyes a little.

Shu didn't remember light being this painful, but his pain was soon forgotten when he saw the room fully lit and a grin spread across his face.

One might be able to fit an entire starting village into this cave. Within the room there were numerous piles of gold and a huge stack of papers in one corner along with many things that he recognized. An overwhelming amount of them, in fact. Glass montres displaying familiar divine weapons stood arranged around him in a loose pentagram formation, with the stone coffin at the center.

Shock and delight warred for dominance in Shugireth's mind as he beheld his surroundings.

At the far end of the stone room, the thrones were lined up.

In the middle, dominating all other thrones, sat the seat of Pandemonium, a huge obsidian throne that menaced all the others into inferiority with its very presence.

In Edge Online, Throne collecting was one of the ways the game handled the fall of Kingdoms and Empires. Needless to say, nobody had ever claimed the throne of Pandemonium from them.

Still, just what was this place? One thing was certain. This was not an ordinary starting area.

Before the throne of Pandemonium was a small, obsidian chest. More like a box actually. A box that one could slip into a pocket with ease as it shrank and expanded according to the masters will.

Shu walked towards that chest, feeling a sense of familiarity with it. His small, bare feet slid across the cold stone floor, every step sending a shiver up his spine as he curled and flexed his small toes just enjoying the extremely realistic sensations of cold stole beneath his soles.

This was such a foreign, yet familiar sensation, so he didn't mind the cold. In fact, he loved these sensations of being alive. It was something he had not felt for a long, long time. With every step, his gait grew more and more vigorous. He wanted to laugh at this invigorating feeling of being alive.

Edge online couldn't hold a candle to this kind of realism. He doubted that any other modern VMMORPG could. Not even those secret government projects stood a chance against this. Feeling, smell, touch... the visual acuity, the sounds and sensations... Everything was perfectly clear like reality. Nay, perhaps it felt more juicy and delicious and amazing than reality itself!?

Shu reached the dark obsidian box and knelt before it, noticing a faded logo embossed on its surface. It was the mark of Pandemonium, a diamond shaped star of darkness, transposed onto a pentagram. When his hand touched that logo, the box sprung open and a long list of items, gear, potions, scrolls, books and various other things filled his mind.

He knew instantly what this was.

The guild chest. A storage item of immeasurable capacity.

His guild had spent countless resources to upgrade the guild chest and stored everything within. A raiding guild of their size needed a constant supply of the highest level consumables, along with a number of other invaluable items in the same kind of vein.

It wasn't only gear and levels that made his guild the greatest, it was preparation, resistance gear, special gadgets, skillful tactics... so many things. This chest, with its innumerable consumables and prep items, was a testimony to that.

Shu quickly took out some casual clothes from the box, because although it felt good to be alive, his body was that of a 12 year old and it somehow felt wrong to stare at himself naked.

Chuckling to himself, he produced from the box an elegant black doublet with silver embroidery and silken pants to match. A pair of black socks and sturdy dark shoes.

Perhaps he should've put on the Empyrean vestiges of Darkness set and armed himself with Apophis and the Crown of Pandemonium but... he wasn't on the warpath right now was he?

[Equip]

Shu sent out of habit, extending a hand towards the bundle of clothes on the ground. Nothing happened and he felt slightly foolish.

Sighing, Shu picked up the clothes and slipped into them the old fashioned way. Exactly how long had it been since he'd done this manually?

When the clothes shrunk to his size, he smiled. Atleast not every game mechanic was broken. To finalize his appearance, Shu took out the signet ring of Pandemonium and slipped it onto his ring finger. It was an elegant silver ring set with a large, obsidian black gem in its center. If you looked closely, the sign of Pandemonium was carved into the black gem. It was subtle, but it was his ring.

If someone stared at it long enough, it would instill in them a strong sense of foreboding, for this was the ring of the guild master of Pandemonium.

Not one day had gone by since the founding of his guild where he had not worn this ring, so why shouldn't he continue to wear it if it was there? He might aswell.

Shu straightened, smiled to himself and stretched. He felt so damn good, so alive that it almost hurt.

His revelrie was interrupted by a loud bang and sizzle, as if a spell was broken, followed by the crushing sound of stones slowly grinding together. He looked towards the huge stone gates that were slowly swinging inward. The light spilling from the opening momentarily blinded him, and just when he shielded his eyes, a small form fell forward into the dark and cold stone room.

The small humanoid form landed on the stone floor and began crawling towards the center of the room.

Shu cocked his head, studying this spectacle quietly. It had kind of taken him by surprise.

After briefly observing the pathetic form struggling forward on all fours, Shu heard shouts and agitated yelling from outside, and this made him furrow his brow.

These sounds had disturbed his meditative, peaceful state of mind, sending ripples through his consciousness and annoying him. He stayed back, watching as the small shadowy form struggled forward slowly. Was it injured? Should he do something?

He couldn't quite make it out from this distance without using magic, but doing so would give him away to the shape and its pursuers. Instead, Shu slipped behind the throne of Pandemonium and hid himself, observing the struggling shadow. It seemed to have heard the shouts from outside too, and started making its way frantically towards a pile of gold.

Just before the first knight stepped through the stone gates, the shadow dove behind the pile of gold.

A lone coin rolled towards the knights. They could obviously not see anything in the dark room, but they probably heard the coin.

More and more men and women appeared in the opening, most carrying kite shields and gleaming swords. Their armor shone silver and bright. It was the perfect image of typical medieval knights.

Shu frowned at this sudden development.

Behind the vanguards, he spotted the outline of a few robed figures being escorted inside by the knights. It was a group with organized team work, but what were they doing here?

He'd just spawned and there was already an event? Was this a game or was this reality? As that strange ethereal pressure lessened its hold on him, more and more questions arose in his mind. Gah!

Shu raked a hand through his long and silky black hair feeling like he would go mad. Why didn't the game systems work? They depended on the AI, so if the AI was down... but why was the AI down? The game couldn't run without the AI. If it was offline for maintenance, then the game was offline for maintenance. He couldn't even bring up his own stats or the inventory, to say nothing of the menu or the logout button.

Nothing worked. Not only that, this felt real. More real than any game he had ever played. More real than his memories of reality itself... Shu couldn't make heads or tails of it at all.

"Ball of Light!" a robed man shouted, and a small sphere of light surrounded the group as they advanced. "The creature has to be in here somewhere." The knight commander shouted, leading the way.

"First let's go to the tomb, we have to check... Hmm. Perhaps its goal was this accursed place all along? Milly, take your squad and guard the exit while we investigate. We're not letting the creature escape with its life!"

A female with flaming red hair saluted sharply and went to guard the entrance with her group, while the other squad advanced methodically towards the stone coffin from which Shu had moments before emerged. What the fuck?

He focused on the knight commander, narrowed his eyes and sent a mental command to [inspect] his target. But as he by now expected, it didn't work.

He felt uncomfortable not knowing the strength of others, so he decided to investigate the thing they were hunting instead of dealing with the knights right away. He glanced at the pile of gold and silently cast [Teleport], as he mentally envisioned the vectors so that he would come out right behind the pile, hidden in its shadow along the wall.

With a tiny ripple, he stepped through space.

He was happy. Atleast his magic worked, if nothing else. This gave him a measure of confidence that he hadn't had before. Casting a basic level 1 light spell was one thing, but to effortlessly cast his specialized teleportation magic was quite another.

Shu materialized, his back to the wall near the entrance. In front of him lay a young girl in bloody rags. He saw more than a few scratches and long bloody gashes in the exposed part of the girls honey colored skin. In truth, most of her was exposed due to the rips and tears of the rags that still clung to her bloodied form.

Shu grimaced, his eyes narrowing as he clenched his fists. The knights had called this a creature, but all he could see was an unmoving girl in bloody rags, lying in the middle of a growing pool of crimson liquid... If he looked at her closely, he could make out two small horns not unlike the one which adorned his own head. Her hair was a subdued brown color, closer to black than brown actually. Her horns matched that color seamlessly, almost as if they were part of her hair.

[Inspect]

[Status]

Shu tried out of reflex, but to no avail. Shit, she could be dead already!

He quickly fished out a healing potion from the guild chest, popped the cork and poured it over her body. The red liquid sizzled as it hit her minced up body, and a small white cloud of mist formed as the magical healing potion closed her external wounds.

He took out another pot. To make her drink it, he had to part her heart-shaped lips and force the potion down her throat with telekinesis.

As the last drop of the life giving red liquid disappeared down the girls throat, Shu let out a breath he wasn't aware he'd been holding. His hands shook as he carefully removed the empty bottle from the girls lips and set it down beside the pile of gold. His heart pounded in his chest as he realized just what he was doing, what was going on.

Just moments before, this girl looked like some school kid that had been hit by a truck, and now, he could see her chest rising and falling as hew fleshwounds knit together, confirming that yes indeed, she was alive.

Still shaking a little, Shu took out a small vial filled with a milky white liquid. He had to ensure her survival. What the hell... he spawned into this world, and the first thing he saw was a dying kid, all bloodied and fucked up, being chased by huge chunks of metal and hooded mages.

With a mental command, the white substance turned into a cloud of mist and entered her via her nose. Spirit revival pots were quite costly, but a guild like Pandemonium had an enormous potion repository, so to him, this was naturally not much of an investment. He was more curious about what was going on at this moment in time.

The knights had reached the stone coffin now. They stood around the open stone sarcophagus coffin in silence for a time, fidgeting nervously and mumbling amongst themselves.

"Well, this isn't good." One of the knights finally said.

"Isn't good? Are you daft? You have no idea what this means. What slept here in eons past is an existence that once stood above even that of the Ancient Demon King! Aaagh! Shit, shit shit. If it's still here then we're as good as dead." The knight commander shouted, finally rousing from his shock induced stupor.

"Barrier immediately! Cast sense! We must find the creature quickly and then be gone from this place." The knight commander said.

One of his subordinates protested, "But Commander, look at all that gold and those weapons... they shine like the sword of the king! They must be divine blades! We can't just leave them, we'd be able to buy a bloody kingdom for even one of those things!" A few other knights also nodded their heads in agreement.

They seemed to want to thoroughly loot this place, but the knight commander was having none of it. One of the robed figures pointed in Shu's direction.

"Over there sir." The mage said.

"Let's go men! Double time! I don't give a fuck if you make noise, can't wake the dead if they are already... no forget it. It's impossible that that thing would still be alive after a thousand years. Go quickly and leave! This place is cursed, so don't touch anything."

And so it came to be that about a dozen armored men and women rushed towards his position, their swords aggressively drawn, mages at the back preparing spells, the air sizzling with electric snaps and crackles as the heavy thumps of plated boots neared.

He had a decision to make. Fight or flight. To be honest, he was still a little uneasy about being unable to use inspect on his enemies. But even so, he was Shugireth Darkstar, the Master of Pandemonium. To mistake him for a noob would be the last thing someone did before they exploded in a shower of gore.

Before him, the girl stirred, slowly opening her eyes and blinking a few times in confusion. Shu covered her mouth with one hand, making a shush motion with his other, which she seemed to understand though her eyes were wide with fear. Those eyes were a startling green, flecked with specks of purple. He thought they glowed faintly, but wasn't sure.

He stepped away from the girl and she started shivering. She'd lost alot of blood, and was practically naked here in this cold stone room. But somehow, Shu got the impression that it was not due to her bare feet on the cold stone, that this girl was shivering. Eyes wide with fear, she stared over at him before swiveling her head towards the thumping noise of the soldiers charge.

There was no time. He couldn't worry about her right now. The knights were almost upon them and he would like to make a pre-emptive strike if possible.

They didn't seem to be kindly disposed towards him, if he was the thing they referred to as having slept in the tomb, which he supposed he was...

talking his way out of this was unlikely to lead to success and only a naive fool would opt to still wander out to meet those knight and attempt to negotiate. Besides, the bastards had hunted this child and nearly killed her. That was enough for him.

Using a combination of wind magic and telekinesis to control his body, Shu jumped into the air, landing on the tip of the golden coin pile without making a sound or a stir. Unnaturally silent like some shadowy wraith, he stretched out both hands and dual casted.

[Obsidian Barrier]

[Pyroclastic Shadowflames]

A translucent black dome sprung up around the pile of gold, covering both him and the girl in preparation for any magical attacks coming their way. At the same time, Sticky darkflames erupted with a roar from his other hand, spreading before him like a tsunami of flames. He had decided to use chantless casting and two high level spells just to be safe, since he had no idea about the strength of his enemies.

The pyroclastic shadowflames washed over the group of knights and mages, sticking to them like an even more sinister version of Napalm. They started screaming.

The sounds and the smell of burning flesh didn't really unnerve him. He was used to it from Edge.

This was truly a sinister spell, but a powerful one to be sure. Within a second, all that remained of the group of knights and mages were scattered pieces of melted armor and gashes in the stone floor where the flames had burned through. The result was complete annihilation.

Silence followed in the wake of destruction. The only sign of movement in the room, was in the gentle flutter of his sleeves as a breeze from the entrance flowed through the room.

Even Shu was shocked. He hadn't thought that they would die so easily, which was why he had used an Area of effect, damage over time spell instead of a pure direct damage spell. He had even put up a strong obsidian barrier to prepare for a prolonged skirmish and to make sure the girl would be alright, but what he had done looked like complete overkill now.

They hadn't even been able to block his spell, much less retaliate with spells of their own.

A sudden scream of terror came from the entrance, followed by the clanking footsteps of fleeing knights. Shu remembered the commander ordering someone called Milly to take a squad and defend the entrance, but he shrugged. Presently, he had no interest in chasing after them.

His thoughts drifted to the injured girl from before. He had to stay with her, since he couldn't very well leave her alone to go chasing after knights could he? Her well being came first.

Besides, he wasn't even sure he wanted to kill them. His hands still shook, like when he had been reviving the girl with potions. These sensations were all too real, and it was unnerving. Shit, this wasn't the time to go into shock. He took a deep breath, then let it out slowly. It worked surprisingly well.

Shu heard a gasp, and felt a presence stirring behind him. Glancing back, he found the girl forcefully struggling to stand on her small shaky legs. The rags were little more than ripped strips of cloth clinging to a body bathed in blood. She blushed furiously when she saw his gaze and realized this. "Eh... uhh. ahmm what? waagh?" She mumbled, her eyes rolling back into her head as she started falling backwards.

Shu moved swiftly, catching her before she could strike her head on the stone floor.

It was still a bit early for her to stand after taking so much damage.

In addition to this, and HP potions taking a certain toll on ones stamina, the spirit revival potion could make one feel dizzy and faint if one wasn't used to it, that whooshing sensation and the shock to the system took awhile to get used to.

He gently lowered the girl to the ground, his hands coming away wet with blood. It was a blessing to both him and her that she was unconscious right now. He wasn't quite sure how to handle a mostly naked girl, much less a young one such as her. He should give her what little dignity he could as she regained her senses.

He fished out some clothes from the guild chest and also procured an ordinary waterskin and some buff food, setting it up on a large and warm woolen blanket a bit like he was having a picnic. But the scene itself was rather ridiculous, and Shu had never before in his life experienced something like this.

He treasured unique experiences, to be sure, but was it really alright for him to treasure an experience like this? After all, there was what appeared to be a 10 year old girl lying unconscious on the blanket in front of him. He chuckled to himself as he realized how ridiculous this situation was. Only in Edge... or was this Edge? What? A pressure in his mind redirected his focus once more.

Shu thought that despite her age, she was quite adorable and would surely grow up to be a fine beauty one day. It was a terrible shame she was in such a bad way. He hoped she'd be alright after some sleep. What the hell could cause a dozen knights to chase after one small, weak girl and even injure her so much? Injure her to the point of turning her soft and plump, honey colored skin into bloody mincemeat? It was truly disgusting. He would gladly rain hell down upon them for all eternity for this kind of brutal sin.

He seethed, briefly shivering and shaking with an intense rage the likes of which he had never before felt.

Shu couldn't just leave her like this. She'd freeze and besides, his gaze had already lingered on her longer than was proper.

He covered her with a wool blanket hoping that that would be enough for the moment. He wasn't bold enough to dress her in new clothes and besides, she'd have to be washed first... and what if she woke up during the process? No, mr. Police officer, it isn't how it looks! Holding his head, he sighed.

This kind of thing taxed his mental faculties far more than drafting battle plans and creating spreadsheets. The Master of Pandemonium was used to many things, but given his physical affliction and previous social inclinations, he had never been one to find himself in this type of situation with a girl, much less one so young... The fact that he could think of her as a girl, and not just a random kid, was testiment enough to her unusual looks.

The tiny nose, the calm, steady brown locks and her smooth skin. Those eyes from before. The horns. She somehow gave him a very strong impression, stubbornly engraving herself in his heart. He wondered briefly whether it was an effect of kinship conjured up by this strange system, since they seemed to be of the same race or atleast similar, what with the horn and all.

If he had been able to use healing magic, he wouldn't have needed to resort to healing pots like this, but alas you had to optimize your spec to be a top tier player. All-rounders did not get into the top 0.1%

The girl looked utterly exhausted, so Shu decided to let the girl sleep instead of rousing her with smelling salts. Leaving several spells of protection and detection on her, Shu rose and began collecting the loot in the room. One after the other, the vast treasures of Pandemonium that had oddly been on display in the room, vanished into the small unassuming black box that he carried with him.

As soon as he had touched it, the magic that bound the guild master and the guild chest together had been reactivated. Nobody could steal it or open it without his express permission. Mountains of Empire minted gold coins, Demon king gold coins, Azurean white gold coins, the divine weapons and armor suits, and even the many thrones, were all eaten by his little black box.

He completely cleaned out the room, leaving only the barren stone sarcophagus from which he had emerged. It took him over an hour to collect everything, but half that time was spent holding the various items and reminiscing like an old man. More than a decade of top tier raid guild items wasn't some insignificant trifle after all.

When he was done, Shu went back to the girl who was still sound asleep, huddled snugly beneath mounds of woolen blankets. Her face looked blissful in sleep, and it was hard to conflate her bloody corpse-like body, and wide-eyed gaze of fear, with her now serenely sleeping form.

He could hear her breathing slowly and peacefully, air in air out, and closed his eyes just listening to that sound, reassuring himself that she was indeed alive... but why did that matter so much?

He felt a vague sense of protectiveness for this girl and settled down to wait, wondering at this weird feeling in the pit of his stomach. Whatever it was, he had not experienced it before and so he determined to examine this new feeling in more detail later on when he had more time to delve into introspection. For now though, he had to be satisfied with knowing that he wanted to protect her. That was good, right?

Besides, he'd be a fucking monster if he just left her to fend for herself in this cold, hard place, bereft of food and clothing and a weapon to defend herself with. Even if he were to fully equip her, there was no way he was just leaving her alone to fend for herself.

Shu brought out some Pandemonium wine from the chest. It was a pitch-black tar like substance with the consistency of thick oil, that combined over 100 different flavours to overwhelm the tastebuds in pleasant ways. Jamjam had tried everything to reduce its rather unappetizing appearance and viscosity, but doing so compromised its otherworldly and unique flavour.

In the end, all members of pandemonium got used to the dark and thick oil-like liquid. Drinking this now, naturally calmed his mind and settled his nerves somewhat, and he allowed himself to breathe out a sigh of relief. Just what kind of fucked up spawning location was this? What was going on... his thoughts drifted off as some strange invisible force pushed against his mind.

Shu leaned against the wall, sipping black wine from a silver goblet and thinking. He closed his eyes and searched through his memory banks, finding to his delight that each and every spell he could cast in Edge online was still there just waiting for him to activate it. He felt sure that, should the need arise, he would be able to cast all of them just like he'd done in Edge Online.

At the same time, he tried to get a sense of his mana reserves, but the few spells he had cast so far hadn't been enough to even dent his mana pool, so he was unsure if what he felt was actually his mana reserves or just another part of his being. He would find out sooner or later, but he preferred to make proper preparations prior to doing battle.

Perhaps in the future, an opportunity to conduct experiments would present itself to him, but since his character spec had leaned heavily towards mana capacity, regeneration and survival with barriers and space magic, exhausting a noticable amount of MP before the regen kicked in wasn't a small matter.

Right now, he thought that it would be wise to keep a low profile and take his time exploring and gathering intel.

A little groan from the mountain of blankets told Shu that the girl was waking up. He had no more time to prepare himself for the arrival of her lucidity, because she sat straight up and looked around with wide and panicked eyes, her small chest heaving as she hyperventilated a little. Poor thing.

"Take it easy. You're safe now." Shu said, trying not to sound awkward. He couldn't quite keep his gaze from lingering on her bare chest, covered as it was with dried blood. It was repeatedly thrust forward by her expanding ribcage. Suddenly, she stopped hyperventilating and just froze, holding her breath and staring at him blankly for a moment. Shu coughed and pointed to her chest. She yelped, burying herself beneath the mound of blankets.

He fought down the urge to grin. Even kids could get embarrassed at times like this, though the situation itself was rather absurd.

"I've got some clothes for you here. Tell me if they don't work and I can get something else, alright? " He said. His voice sounded strange to his own ears, thin and boyish, and slightly hoarse.

This would be an excellent time to determine whether the clothes would shrink and form fit everyone in this world, or if he was an abnormality. She peeked her head out from the blankets. When she saw the bundle of clothes and the food he had prepared, she made a motion as if to get up and rush over, but stopped herself just before she could once again reveal her naked chest. Shooting a meaningful glance his way, her cheeks flushed a healthy colour of red. She had a few freckles on those rapidly blushing cheeks of hers, which just served to make her even more adorable.

Shu chuckled silently, "Oh right, sorry." Turning his back to her, he silently cast a few spells to put himself at ease.

[Motion Sense]

[Film of physical protection]

[Film of magical protection]

[Rebound magic: Bind]

It was not that he thought she could hurt him. After all, she had clearly been beaten by those incredibly weak knights. It was just an old habit, and he could only feel at ease with atleast this much. He wanted to cast more spells, but didn't want to be impolite either, so he had stuck to fairly weak ones. To him this practically constituted asking her if she wanted to be friends, though he doubted she'd understand that.

"I won't look, so go ahead and change. Oh yeah, there should be enough water to wash off most of the dried blood. After that, you can eat. You look hungry. " He said. As if to accentuate his point, her stomach growled loudly.

After that, she dressed and ate the food in silence.

She tried to hide her hunger and eat with proper manners, but even so, she had a hard time not wolfing down the food like a wild animal. He could appreciate the girls restraint, but waved a hand at her. "Please don't mind your manners and eat. We're the only ones here, so it's fine even if you make a royal mess of yourself."

Her eyes widened a bit when he said royal, but she quickly remembered the food and resumed its destruction, paying him no more mind. Looking at the way she sucked the meat off of the chickenwings like a vacuum cleaner and gulped the water down, this little girl must really have been starving. Remembering her previous state, the rags, the blood, the knights... he got a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach and clenched his fists.

After she had cleaned table, an awkward silence descended on the pair.

Shu wasn't sure what to say, and the girl just sat there looking down at her feet, but occasionally sneaking glances up at him. She seemed to be extremely interested in his eyes for some reason, yet she apparently found it hard to look at him for more than a second or two without averting her gaze. Every time she did this, her face would grow a darker shade of red and her breathing would go funny. What on earth was wrong with her? Did she suffer from a fever? If she was an NPC he might suspect that her code was buggy, but she was too real... too tangible, for him to think of her as an NPC.

"Well, this is a rather gloomy place for a picnic isn't it?" Shu said, jumping to his feet. The girl stood automatically, still gazing down at her feet for some reason. A tinge of red could still be seen coloring her freckled cheeks, though it had faded a little. He had never dealt with this kind of shy and timid girl before, and wasn't really sure how to proceed.

The women he'd known in Pandemonium had all been powerful top tier players, the most elite, the strongest of the strong, and their personalities had been similarly domineering, arrogant and fiery. Shu smiled, recalling the ruckus that had occurred when Peri had announced her engagement to a fellow guildmate. In the end, the women ended up holding a dueling tournament to settle the dispute. Keklord42 was a lucky man indeed, but with such a retarded name he had to have a few good sides to him to make up for it, no?

A faint smile crept unto Shu's lips as he stood there reminiscing, the next moment, a small hand appeared, attempting to cover his eyes.

"Sto-stop looking." The girl said in a stutter. Her voice was high pitched, a little bit hoarse and very cute. Shu gently took her hand and moved it away from his eyes.

"Sorry, I was just thinking about the past." He said, letting go of her hand and stepping back. However, a sudden urge came over him and he almost laughed at his own sudden mischievious inclination. Perhaps it would serve to lighten her mood?

"My deepest apologies, miss." Shu said, bowing deeply. Laughing in his mind, he got down on one knee and bowed his head even further. "Can the exquisite little miss please forgive me for staring? This one was simply too captivated by the beauty of the little miss, and thus couldn't help his wandering eyes."

When he got to his feet, he noted with satisfaction that the face of the taciturn girl had turned bright red and she shuffled her tiny toes nervously, looking like she would explode at any moment. Well that was one thing off his bucket list of this to do before he died... which reminded him, but no. That was not important. Again there was that strange invisible pressure, and he furrowed his brows for a moment before the sensation passed. Something's not quite right. An illusion? What are you hiding!?

"Okay okay, enough of that." He said, waving a hand to clear the air, "My name is Shu. Pleased to meet you." He said, abruptly changing his tone. This seemed to startle the girl, but despite this she hesitantly took his proffered hand. It was warm and soft in his grip.

"I.. I am... Athelisa."

"Ohoho. Lisa is a fine name." At that, she blushed and looked like she wanted to protest. "Athelisa." She mouthed quietly, and Shu was just barely able to hear it. Goddamn it she was cute. Dangerously cute.

He nodded. "Lisa." He said, smiling. Seeing this, Lisa again averted her gaze.

"You look like you're all better now, so shall we go outside? As I said before, this is a rather gloomy place for a picnic." He said.

Lisa nodded hesitantly.

After introductions, Shu proceeded to collect the blankets and the empty water skin. He noted that Lisa watched with fascination as everything disappeared into his small black box, which he then pocketed. Shu started for the still open stone gates, but Lisa lagged behind, seemingly hesitant about leaving.

"What? Don't want to leave?" He asked her, but she remained silent.

"There's really nothing else in this huge stone room beside the two of us and that stone tomb."

"No, it's not that. The knights..."

"Don't worry about them, I won't let them harm a hair on your head, I promise. Come now. I'm rather curious to see the outside world." Shu said, giving her a quick smile that he hoped would set her at easy.

"Speaking of, why were they chasing you? And why did you run here of all places?" Shu looked back and saw that Lisa had frozen mid-step.

Her hands played with the hem of her dress. Well it was more like a skirt that fell to around her knees. A simple black design with silver embroidery. He had also managed to find some thigh-high black and white striped socks and a pair of black lacquered dancing shoes, the kind that was open at the top with a little strap across.

Upon seeing how cute she was, he hadn't been able to help himself. He could justify it by telling himself that the gear had been enchanted to buff its defensive stats and HP so that she wouldn't die as easily, but the truth was that he thought she would look extremely cute in the outfit and he wasn't wrong. He considered it his reward for savivng her. Not that he needed a reward of course. The fact that she was alive and breathing was more than enough for him.

"Forget it. You don't have to tell me now. I was just curious is all. Will you come with me outside? It'll be easier to protect you that way."

"Pro-protect?" she asked, looking down. "Of course! Did you think I'd just abandon you after going through all that trouble to save you? I can't just leave you here. Besides, after killing those knights, I seem to have thrown in my lot with you, atleast temporarily. Don't pay it any mind. Think of this as taking a stroll with a new friend." He said, trying to make his voice as jovial and inviting as possible.

"Friend? You.. you want to be my friend?" she asked. The tremble in her voice sent a sharp pang through his heart. He knew that feeling of loneliness, for it was easier to recognize in others what was also in oneself.

"You don't want to?" He asked, still smiling to try and seem inviting.

"No.. I mean. Yes! Eh, yes I want to be friends." Lisa said, then added more quietly. "If that is alright with you..."

He sighed inwardly. What was with this girl. She really had no confidence in herself. She was the complete opposite of all the women he had known so far. Granted, he hadn't known any small women like her, but he just couldn't see Peri or Jamjam acting like that at all.

[Add Friend]

He sent mentally, but as expected, it didn't work.

[View friendslist]

[Guild]

[World map]

Haha. Nothing worked. That was just aswell. He would take his time to slowly explore this world and see if it was anything like Edge online. The two of them, what looked like a 10 year old girl in thigh-high socks and a black skirt, rather lolita-esque fashion actually... and the young master of a medieval noble house in a doublet of silvery black, stepped through the light and into the outside world.

He greeted the warm sting of the sun on his pale face with a lazy smile.

It was good to be alive.