Ch@des

Introduction

A decade ago,a company called @erosoft created a state of the art virtual reality game. The game was called The World is a Vampire. It was a semi-futuristic MMORPG, pioneering in the technology of virtual psyche immersion. With this technology, a user could completely dive into his character and literally feel whatever it felt. In the day of the official inauguration of the "World" server, just as thousands of players connected, a tragedy of previously unknown proportions occurred in the gaming world. Each and every person connected to the video game died. No struggle, no reason--there was no sign of cause of death. The company was ruined.

In the current day, a new company made an MMORPG that uses state of the art technology so that it only needs one server. However, the dirty little secret is that the reason they are able to do this was by connecting and making a mirror server of The Word is a Vampire. Although they are completely different games, they function in unison. You might say the old game is now a ghost server, affected by the come and go of data on the main, stronger, new game. But it is ignored. A single supervisor noticed a change in the data. A peculiar, random shift in the data. However, as he was dragged out of the building(fired for saying the server was alive) his last words echoed through the halls of Ch@osoft Co.
"The World, the world is really a vampire"


Chapter One

I felt tingles. Wait a minute. I was feeling. I felt disoriented, as if I had overslept. Still confused, I recalled some fuzzy images of putting on the Game Gear. I connected. Then I felt tingles. "Awesome" I thought. A bright flash and I was suddenly in a wide circular room. It had nothing in it, but there were lights in the walls that lit up in all kinds of colors that made me dizzy. I didn't like that.
"Welcome to "The World is a Vampire" a loud robotic voice said. I instinctively tried to turn to the source of the voice only to realize it didn't come from one place, but rather everywhere. It surrounded me."You are registered as Vain"
"Vain" I repeated."Nice"
"Now we will proceed with character creation" following these words, several screens surrounded me swamping me with options for clothes, weapons and all kinds of other nifty stuff.

The basics were simple. My class decided my abilities and special skills. They were roughly divided in 3 main types: Melee, Long-range and Support. Then there were hybrid classes. I chose one of the latter, the Trickster class. The description read The Trickster class relies on speed and cunning to outmaneuver foes. Though lacking on brute power, they have very useful skills and unorthodox tactics.. Then I had to receive a Cyborg Enhancement. The setting of the game was a world in which all humans had mutated to become machine-hybrids. Everyone was born and, after a few years as a human child, mutated in some way. Eyes that could light up, powerful bionic legs, hyper-voice-- all kinds of powerful or useful upgrades. This could become stronger as I upgraded them or it could mutate under mysterious in-game circumstances. An orb flashed in front of me, scanned me and after what must have been a coupe of eons finally displayed my mutation only for a split second before I felt my body changing.
"You have the Cyborg Trait of Mimic, want to her a description?" the robotic voice boomed
"Sure"
"The Mimic Trait is a powerful trait that grants you the ability to observe and copy other classes and Traits powers.The conditions are you must observe for long enough+ to understand how the ability in question and works.In the case of cyborg traits you must also touch the target to absorb data on it's trait. Which path will you choose?"
"I choose the path of Trait Mimicry" it was after all the more interesting of the two
"Do note that this ability will not be as strong or effective as the original one.However you can have up to two mimicked abilities, up to an hour since you touched the target."
After this explanation of my cyborg trait, I spent the rest of my time in the room choosing my attire.
"Done" I said triumphantly. I had picked all my gear, complete with a long red scarf. I picked a katana and laser pistols as my weapons(tricksters used a special dual wield style that included a long and short range weapon). I was loving the myriad of options this game had.
"Very well"the mechanical voice ringed again around me." You are now being loaded to the server" Not a heartbeat passed(OMG this game was so detailed I had a heartbeat!) and I was being teleported to the game through a very cliche(and cool) bright tunnel of light. Then I found myself standing on a world that kept growing around me, flooding my eyes and getting lost in the horizon. It was an amazing experience. The people around me where all alive with detail, and I could not wait to jump in on the action. I approached the first NPC with a tutorial quest and started my adventure.

Hours later I found myself finally killing monsters. According to the setting of the game, big metropolitan cities had big barriers that protected it from monsters to terrorize the populace. However, mercenaries(like me) went out to hunt these creatures. Some, referred to as "hunters" did it for glory, sport or money in the form of sales. Selling monster parts was a huge way of money-making in The World is a Vampire.Of course there were "soldiers" who did it to protect the city. I was one of the ladder, no use for someone with my talents to work in the local militia. As I neatly diced a huge mutant boar and shot down a rabid eagle that tried to take me by surprise I could really feel myself getting the hang of things. My cybernetic avatar had impressive agility, though my strength was lacking. Of course my katana was perfect for the job, it could deal damage by quickly slicing as opposed to the crushing strength of other swords. The guns came in handy too, I could switch from all-out hack and slash to hybrid gun/sword to dual gun-slinging awesomeness.

Basking in my own awesomeness on my way back to sell the boar skin I just collected, a giggle made me get on my guard. I turned aiming my gun at the sound but there was no one. Funny, there is nowhere to hide in miles around. I turned around and--"Oh sweet honey from my dream comb!" my heart almost left my chest through my mouth. A girl was standing there, smiling--oh such a radiant smile-- out of nowhere. When my heart was safely sitting on his spot in my chest again I took a careful look at her preoccupied face. She was cute. Pink hair and porcelain white skin complete with a rocking athletic body clad in a very tight spy-looking suit. And then I got hopelessly lost(by the gods I swear when did I become such a soap?) in her eyes. I got two words for you: hetero and chromia. Or maybe that was just one word I was not sure anymore. One was a deep indigo and the other was a bright red.
"Are you ok?" oh spirits of all gamers that lived for a moment like this don't leave me now.
"Um, ummm, er" I cleared my throat in a very loud and exaggerated way"I am-am fine" I managed a sheepish smile.
"Oh I am so glad. I kinda startled you didn't I?" she bit her lip. Was she being flirty? Oh dear lords of the 7 Crystal Dungeons(my favorite console game ever) guide me.
"You are beautiful" and Mother Earth kindly swallow me now.
She tilted her heads with a small smile and giggled. Maybe not just yet Gaia.
"Thank you! My name is Lili. Whats yours?"
"Vain"
"Are you really vain?" she pouted" I don't like vain people"
"Me vain? Hell no! I am so modest modest people look up to me. Even though I am clearly awesome I never make a big deal of it. Which I could because I am amazing." mental self-slap. Way to go Vain, you just proved yourself wrong. Scumbag rain, always abandoning me at the worst times.
"Hahahaha, I will give you points for effort" her smile was contagious, and I found myself laughing as she giggled, standing in the middle of a monster infested plain.

I knew it was my fault. I had to think about the monster infested plain and so a swarm of bat-monkeys appeared out of Buddha-knows-where to piss on my moment. She had some sort of weird gadget on her arm that had morphed into an arm gun. We turned and fired periodically trying to keep them at bay as we ran for cover.Her panting was heavy now and I too was straining to look cool and not fatigued.
"Hah, hah what are we going to do?" her voice was weak and desperate.
"I don't know" my fatigue hid my fear.
I prayed to all the gods of man,machine and beast to send us a hand. And of course I am unlucky enough they answered. We had approached what we thought was a small hill. We were wrong. As we approached, the noise of the swarm of bat-monkeys woke the sleeping baby. Except the baby was a small, bright, red---dragon.

Chapter 2

Everything happened too fast for me to really describe the events. The dragon roasted half the monkeys with one fiery breath and ate like ten more before the rest scattered. We wanted to run, but we were frozen in place by the sheer terror of the scene unfolding in front of us. Then, still munching on a bat-monkey whose head was hanging from a shred of tissue from it's mouth,he turned our way. He had noticed us. Our movement was restored and we jumped to the side as a fire stream scorched the grass we were just standing in.
"We have no choice but to fight!" I screamed over the dragons roar.
In response Lili just looked at me in a terrified agreement. Minutes into the fight we were already losing hope. I tried slashing the beast but his glossy scales shrug off my slices.And of course the bastard could fly, but our guns were not strong enough to do anything but annoy him. We needed a plan. Or a miracle.
I glanced in Lili's direction. We hadn't had any time to recover from the bat-monkeys and she was sweating and panting. Her once graceful dodges were now sloppy and close. I was not one to talk. My legs hurt(I was not so excited about how real the game was anymore) and my lungs burned.
"Lili, I think he is a grass dragon!" I shouted dodging a flying charge.
"A what?!"
"You know that animals and beasts are also just mechanical mutations right? Grass dragons were lizards who not only evolved with a dragon-like appearance but a camouflage program that allowed them to create holographic images to hide!"
I could see comprehension dawning on her face--the beast had looked like a hill until it woke up. But then she quickly frowned and looked at me after dodging a fireball."How the hell does that help us moron?"
"They are weak to cryogenic powers!" she was confused again"Ice! We need ICE!"
"We have no---"she got cut off by a yell coming from a few meters away.
This my friends was one of the most disturbingly ridiculous and funny things I'e ever seen in my life. A guy was running at the dragon, which looked at him puzzled by his apparent stupidity. Looking at him I had one word that came readily to my mind: faggot. He had curly hair, neck long and a bandanna covering his mouth. He raised his daggers and he--he got swatted away by the monster's tail.
Lili and I ran to him as the dragon circled, probably sizing up our new strength from an added member.
"Are you alright" Lili's question echoed my thoughts but her concerned tone was so awfully cute I forgot we were in combat for a second while my heart skipped a couple beats.
"I am alright" he said on a drunken tone,probably still dazed by the hit.
I looked around us. The fight had taken us to a part of the plains close to a series of big, craggy rocks I pointed at them just as the dragon showered us with a series of small fireballs. We ran to the rocks, dragging the mysterious faggot with us.
"Hey, pull yourself together man." I could hear the dragon flying and shooting fire at random rocks, looking for us.
"Tomatoes man"he replied"Fuckin' tomatoes"
And then Lili did something that made me fall a it more in love with her. He slapped him, full force. No holding back, hell no. With a scared, bewildered look he touched his reddening cheek. He caressed it and seemed about to cry. But he did not.
"Ouch" he whined
"Listen to me, er..." my face voiced my question
"Oh,my name is Darkside186. Call me Dark."he puffed his chest"I am an assassin"
As I thought about how much more like a kamikaze terrorist than an assassin he was,I tried to use my Download ability to analyze his mutation. He hadn't used it, so I could not learn much aside from its name.
"Glitch? What kind of mutation is that"
He looked at me,kind off hurt.
"It is an AWESOME ability. It gives me a random power. Anything really. It is pretty much a gamble"
"We need ice,so you better feel lucky."Lili said grimly(which was still SO freakin' cute).
I looked at Dark as he prepared to use his ability. Suddenly a roulette appeared in front of him. Two actually. He spun them both.
"One gives me a power" he said" The other gives me a glitch"
"What do you mean a glitch?" I asked
"A handicap you might call it. It will get in the way." he frowned"But its what I got."
As the wheels slowed down we braced ourselves.It all came down to this. An image with a big blue iceberg showed on the right wheel. Then the other stopped on a little stick figure with weird motion lines around his waist.
"This will be fun" Dark said, smiling.

Before I could ask what the figure meant, Dark responded. Or maybe more like his body did. He was dancing. Frantically, slowly--he had almost zero control over his body
"Time to improvise" he laughed, dancing his way out of hiding"get me an opening pals"
Lili and I got out, we had rested enough that we were no longer dragging our limbs. We distracted the dragon, and the battle was looking good. Even when the dragon realized that Dark was throwing icy rays at him and focused his power on him, he was able to dodge while dancing. But his power was running out. I was also getting tired again, this thing was too damn tough. Even though we were causing damage now that his defenses were lowered by the damage from the cryo-powers Dark had gained, it was still powerful. And then, a gear moved in my head and I had a plan.
"Dark, we must win with the next attack."
"And how do you suggest we do that?!"
"I have a plan, duh!" his look was poisonous"Listen, Lili, make it so that he has a clear shot at the dragons chest!"
"And then what?!"their simultaneous question was funny, but no time to laugh."Then Dark you have to use what power you have left to smite him"
"It wont be enough!" he screamed"He is not that weak"
"I know, I just need that part to be weak" I smiled maniacally at my crazy plan.
It all went better than I thought. Lili got dangerously close to our monster friend, shooting him in the weakened parts of his scaly armor. He reared, preparing to stomp her(he was no longer in shape to fly).
"NOW!" I screamed
Dark who was doing a weird dance on a spot a few meters away from me, put his hands on front of him, circling his waist as he screamed
"Macarena Snow Flash!" his hands glowed with hazy blue light and he shot a ray of ice and doom at the dragon. It hit him dead in the chest. It was not enough, to bring him down, but it didn't have to be. I dashed, taking full advantage of the slow down effect of the ice. I thrust my sword with all my power. My blade crashed his chest, breaking it into pieces--the ice made his metallic hide stiff and weak to impact. And my katana found his mechanic heart. It was over in a heart beat.


Chapter 3

"Dale a tu cuerpo alegria macarena, que tu cuerpo es pa' darle alegria y cosa buena, dale a tu cuerpo alegria macarena eeeeh macarena!" while Dark kept singing and dancing on top of a boulder me and Lili took out w/e parts we could salvage from the dragon.It was a shame it's heart was shattered, dragon hearts fetched a high price in the market. We got it's claws and teeth, and some scales. The ice attacks had also ruined his holographic function so nothing to get there.
About an hour later we were all heading to town. Darkside was formally invited by Lili to form a party with us. He said "Yeeeaaaaaaaaah!" in an overly exaggerated, melodramatic way that made me want to kick his balls.
"So, Dark, what can you do?" I asked
"As a character you mean?" he replied
"Yup"
"Well I am a melee specialist, I rely on quick combos. But thanks to my Glitch ability I can do all sorts of shit." he said excitedly. For an ability he had so little real control over he liked it very much.
"Well your ability seems like it could be very useless in a pinch" Lili said blankly. God I love this girl.
"Hey! It saved our asses in a pinch so get off my case." he had a point
"Three words Superman: You-got-lucky." saying this she closed her eyes and walked ahead of us in a "I don't wanna talk with you anymore" way.
We arrived at the city shortly, we all took our ways but we decided to return here in an hour and a half. I sold my part of the hunt easily, with about forty-five minutes to spare. So I did what any guy in position would do. i walked to the place were all the action takes place, the town square.

Performers, crazy men, and even idiots PvPing can all be found in the town square. It is literally an ever changing show. I was watching a guy do some simple prestidigitation tricks when I heard a weird sound behind me. Then a more severe sound exploded. Something actually exploded.
"Dafuq?" I turned to see a guy running around in flames. In the chaos of the running people, and awestruck gazers, one stood out. I guessed he was the perpetrator. What gave him away? It could be the goggles, the sooth covered face,the detonator in his left hand--but mostly it was the laughing face of a madman he sported.
Then the policemen came. Defenders of the city arriving to protect it from villains, although I am pretty sure this guy was just missing a few nuts and bolts.
"Hey, hey!Don't arrest me!" he told the policemen when they started reciting his rights, guns pointed. By this time I was one of the few bystanders, and I realized I was too close too late. He dashed to were I was and said something that I swear I will pay him back for. "We are compromised buddy, it's swim or sink now"

Now the policemen thought I was his accomplice so I had to fuckin' fight for my freedom.There we go Vain, you are just starting and you already became an enemy of justice. Fuck my life. He was a madman. He threw grenades, laid down mines and stuck explosives to their heads. I slashed my way through a few and soon we were running.
"Where are we going?" he smiled at me, throwing a grenade over his shoulder and snickering when he heard a scream of pain.
"WE?!?!?" the nerve of this fucking guy" we aren't going anywhere, there is no we. there's you then there's I"
"Awww"he said in mock pity"Such a cliched break up line sweetie. Can't you just say you don't love me anymore"

He followed me all the way to were I was supposed to meet Dark and Lili. They were already there looking impatient.
"Hi guys!" the maniac with the bombs said
"Who the hell is this guy?" Dark asked
"I guess I kinda got stuck with him" I replied honestly. Sirens boomed behind us and Lili looked puzzled at the two of us.
"Guys, we better run" I panted. The run was taking its toll alright.
"Yeah guys. Lets run!" the crazy mofo said, panting too.
"First, who are you?" Dark insisted as he got ready to run.
"The names G.S. Baowlz nigga, and I am your new best friend"