• For a while, it was another normal morning, tutors and all that boring stuff, not even paying attention because all I wanted to do was get online. Today was the first day my father would let me get online, and I had the best prank ever to pull on my best friend Yasuhiko, who I met when I went to public school for a few weeks while one of my tutors was sick. He was very nice, super funny; he was the most sociable person I knew, well, second. But the person I was really thinking of was an old member of my father’s corporation, maybe, after I posted some questions about him on the board, I could find him! But, he wasn’t even the highest priority for me, I heard some of my dad’s Fragment players talking, it was a secret file that no one was supposed to know about, one from Germany, I wanted it to see what all the fuss was about.
    It had been made by the original game designer and chairman of The World, they said it might be able to make the perfect, AI enabled NPC, but how was that possible, a non-player character that could seem real, and with the right amount of Holographic technology anything can be made to look real, but, I wanted it to act real, to talk real, maybe it could be a way to bring my mother back. But all I had to do now was find it. I wanted to first see the Navel of Lake, from the Epitaph of Twilight. My dad gave me Administrator status, since I was a genius and already knew how to take apart and re-program all his files. I could De-code anything from my keyboard, and then, re-write it to look however I want, once when I was eight, I got in a little argument with daddy and stole all his discs, I made copies, but once that was done, I hid them and re-wrote the originals so that it would all be screwed up, he didn’t even know it had been me, since I had thought of everything I didn’t even leave fingerprints because I had gloves, someone else’s gloves. I was smug, but my dad eventually almost started crying, so I admitted it and gave him the copied discs, he was a little mad but really glad that I had thought to make copies, so I didn’t get punishment after I had explained why I did it.
    My mom had been dead for years. And I missed her a lot; I was always looking foreword of new simulation technology I could use to somehow bring her back. None of it ever worked, even with my amazing programming. Now, back on the subject of my lost friend. Before my dad actually owned the company and was just a vice chairman, there was the great Programmer, Tokuoka, he and I were best friends, or, I called him my best friend, he was always in The World but I never got to see his character, At night, if he was alone because all the others had passed out at their workstations or had gone home, he’d call me down and ask if I could get him something, it was something small, since I was only, like, five or something, he said I was good company, He smoked A LOT, but eventually I got used to the smoke an it didn’t bother me. Eventually even I passed out sitting near him, and in the morning found myself in my room with Tokuoka downstairs as always, but I didn’t go down when everyone was there, in fact I was just a rumor. It was funny, Tokuoka sent me emails daily of my newest nickname or the recent legend about me. My favorite was one made by his errand boy, a man who I now know as, the great Alberio Watarai!
    So the legend by him went like this. On nights when everything but the clicking of the keys of Tokuoka’s keyboard was silent, the little ghost of an angel came out, protecting the one who helped create the story of her world. I was laughing when I read the e-mail, I can’t recall every word of the e-mail, or the story, but it went something like that. I was happy that someone had called me something other then a menacing ghost this time, and from that day foreword the programmers and the fragment testers called me the Angels Ghost of the Epitaph. I was going to name my Avatar after that if I could, though I doubted it would fit, and if not I’d use the actual name I had given the thought of my character, and that was, The Angel Makiko. The actual mindset of my character has a lot of thought, though I’ve reprogrammed it a few times, since I’m not only the administrator I’m also the chairman’s daughter, I’m allowed to do it. Because no one really minds as long as I don’t tamper with my weapons or anything really, and I never did. I love The World, and I know only four people who share that love, and that is, Yasuhiko, Tokuoka, Alberio Watarai, and one person I have yet to mention, the great Lord Balmung of the Azure Sky, he’s one of the top players of the world, and Yasuhiko’s blade user fighting partner. I shiver every time I see his avatar, even now; he looks like your basic knight in shining armor. He has silver hair, the most beautiful, sparkling blue eyes, whoever made him must have put a lot of time into making him, like Watarai with Alberio, his avatar, I love his eyes, or as I call them, The Jeweled Eyes of the God of Cygnus. I give Alberio a lot of strange titles like that; in fact, I give a lot of people strange names like that. Actually, I made myself the Angel of the Epitaph after I heard that name. My father loved the idea that I was a legend among the company. Then, the chairman disappeared, Harald Hoerwick, the great creator of the world and the secret Black Box folder, but what was really in the folder? He was also the mysterious ghost in the church, the one that was gaunt, dead, the one that hung upside down. For what it’s worth, I’m really a quiet person.
    I remembered a lot of the time I had spent with Yasuhiko and I smiled every time I saw him, it was rare that I was like that, but it was only him and two other people who I could talk around, he had never really met my other friends, therefore he didn’t completely know me, but he does know my name Rori. Oh what? Expecting my last name? No way, that’s even a secret from my friends! Oh look, no more tutor? YAY!

    I logged into the world, I had everything all set up, my avatar name was The Angel Makiko, my avatar looked like a young, cute girl, with a dagger in each hand, and bunny ears on top of her head, her outfit was bikini bottoms with a strapless cropped shirt, both black with a red stripe, my wave was fire. I even had a little black bunny tail, of course, I wouldn’t normally look like a rabbit in her underwear, but I could just re-program it, once my prank was over anyway. I logged into Mac Anu, looking around for Orca, a large heavy-blade, his green face and torso had all been shown to me on Yasuhiko’s screen. I walked around a little until I bumped into someone rather large.
    “Oh! I’m sorry! I- Orca!” I smiled, turning to see him there.
    “I’m sorry miss, we’re looking for my friend, she’s supposed to be here today!” he was blushing in real life at the thought of my avatar, I could hear it in his voice!
    “Oh! Well, why not stop searching for her and come along with…wait…we?” I asked nervously.
    And then I saw him, and in real life my face went extremely flush, no one had told me there would be another guy!!!
    “Y-you never mentioned that…” I stuttered.
    “RORI?!” He yelled, as I stared at the partner.
    And stare I did, he was gorgeous, even for an online avatar, his long, silver hair and silver, sparkling blue eyes, he was like a knight, and yes, I’m talking about the one and only, Lord Balmung.
    “You never told me she was so...hmm…” he was examining my avatar.
    My face flushed even more,” Oh! No, I mean, this isn’t how I would usually dress!!! I only dressed like this as a joke to Orca! I swear!”
    “What joke?” Orca reminded me of his existence.
    “GAH! Oh...heh, yea, you see, the thing is…I mean…oh s**t…I’m logging out and re-programming my avatar!”
    “Your father let’s you mess with the servers?” Balmung even LOOKED skeptical.
    “Are you kidding?! I help all his programmers MAKE the Servers, but he promised after the prank was over I could re-program it…but…Orca here didn’t tell me he was bringing a guest, that kinda ruined my plans…”
    “I see, it was a big surprise like he wanted then. And you seem frantic to find this Tokuoka friend of yours, I saw all of your posts on the BBS.”
    “I haven’t seen him for almost ten years, ever since he quit form my father’s company. He used to run me around like an errand girl when his real errand boy and everyone was passed out at their stations or had gone home… but he was still a good friend.” I typed in “/smile” so my avatar would smile and show how happy I really was.
    I thought I could see him give me a smile, but it was covered by his turning around, I nodded and logged out, I came back seconds later, a short, long-sleeve shirt covered a short shirt, both still black, with the rabbit ears and tail still there. Orca and Balmung smiled at me.
    “Well, I promised to help you level up, and Balmung wanted to help, so, this is how we’ll do it, I think I’ve picked out a good level seven area, just try to stay behind us ok Makiko?”
    I smiled, He was in his role-playing mode, I could tell by how much his voice changed, and I laughed,” Ok lord Orca if that’s what you want!” I played along.
    I could hear Balmung chuckle at my sudden bow, walking back to the Chaos Gate, I was glad he found me amusing, then, we went into the gate, teleporting to a beautiful snowy place. There was no snow falling, and you couldn’t feel the soft, cold, powdery snow under your feet, even though it was a full virtual experience for me, I could move as the character, but I was limited with movement even still, this was experimental, and it did limit my movement, but it was fun, my mouth was open in real life, I had never seen a snow area, it was so beautiful, the gentle sun over the constant snow covered ground, giant snowmen for background elements, some snow-covered trees, ruins, it was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen, when I looked at Orca, in my third-person POV, he was looking at the sky too, with Balmung looking at the map.
    “It makes you wish it were real huh? This level of beautiful detail.” I smiled, wanting for one of them to respond.
    To my surprise, it was Balmung, “ Yes, it does, but, it’s not, and you, in Japan, must love it when it snows.”
    “My dad doesn’t let me go outside much, because of the smog…although, with Tokuoka around, he smoked 36 sweet cigarettes every day, so it was just as bad in his office, I kind of miss that smell when I go downstairs…”
    I looked back at the sky, when I looked back, Balmung was looking at me,” Do you ever talk about anything other then Tokuoka?”
    “Not until I find him…I think that, maybe, if someone hears me talk about him, they might know him and tell me something, I’ve posted ten messages about him on the BBS and I have several knights working for me looking to track his E-mail back to his Avatar…he’s smart though, one of the smartest guys I’ve ever known, and so I bet they won’t find him, but I still think he knows that I’m here and he’s still looking out for me, protecting me from somewhere, he won’t let me get hurt…I know he won’t!” I smiled, and I saw him smile.
    “You seem to think a lot of him, you really think he knows everything don’t you?”
    “No, but I think he knows that I believe in him still…he’s the second best programmer ever you know!”
    He laughed in the real world, Balmung didn’t move though, he smiled again,” You are the strangest girl I have ever met.”
    “Thank you. I find that very insulting, only one other…” I stopped, as my voice dropped into a sad tone.
    He knew what I was talking about, Orca chimed in,” I’m still here you know, and I’d appreciate it if you two would stop having this love-fest in front of me!”
    I glared at him,” you know I’m gonna smack you for that later right!?”
    “Oh I’m so scared!”
    “Anyway, there’s only one person who I’d like to have a love-fest with right now…and that’s a secret!”
    “Awww…tell me!”
    “Hey, you finally broke character!” I laughed, running off, but, I ran straight into a large, crab-like monster.
    I screamed, both of them came to my rescue. My health went from green to red, no health, I had died, I was a ghost now, I looked at both of them, being in their party now, I looked sad,” I’m sorry…”
    Orca sighed,” You just couldn’t stay back.” He killed the monster.
    Then, I was revived by Balmung, we went into the four floor dungeon, like a living being, that we were walking inside, it was all so big…I loved this world, and my avatar danced, just all of a sudden, I was moving in a dance, I smiled at the both of them, Orca was smiling, he knew form prior experience how much I had loved to dance, and it was more of a little gypsy dance, I smiled and stood still.
    “I’ve been practicing, my dad and I are working on a big event that I get to be a part of, you know, I’m just the showing off part but, it’s not just me, there’s another girl from the company too.”
    “So why give the both of us a sneak peak?” Balmung asked me with interest.
    “Because, I want you both to be my knights, each of the princesses gets to choose two knights to represent them, You get a reward for it too if you do it, you don’t even have to participate in the event If you don’t want to! Oh please!”
    “I’ll do it! What about you Balmung?” Orca said happily.
    “Of course, but I’m not stupid, there’s something you’re hiding isn’t there?”
    “Well, Yasuhiko, congrats, you get to come to the company, because I have to dance with one of my knights, and so, since I have no idea who Balmung is or where you live, that leaves you…”
    “What?!”
    “Well I mean, I could always have Balmung do it, I mean, his avatar looks more like a knight anyway, and the event has yet to be announced so we could postpone it to get him to the corporation, and I’m sure we could make it work.”
    “Wait! When did I agree to that?!” Balmung asked.
    “You don’t have to, but if Orca won’t do it, it’d be a great help to CC Corporation, and a great personal favor to me, I’d owe you, and of course, I could reward you with anything in The World, and my father has a lot of money, plus, you get to help me test very rare and experimental equipment. Please, I’m asking you, not as just a fellow player, but as a friend.”
    “Wow, Balmung if you won’t do it after that you’re heartless…”
    “I will, of course, I guess you found me after all.”
    “Found you…huh?”
    “It’s me…I just loved exploiting all the things you were saying about me, you’re really sweet…”
    “TOKUOKA?!”
    He nodded. I smiled, hugging him tight and happy, he couldn’t hug back, but I knew he wanted to, Orca smiled, and I got off.
    “How far away do you live anyway?”
    “About three hours if there’s no traffic.”
    “Send me your address by e-mail, mine hasn’t changed, I’ll have my dad send for you, and Yasuhiko, you’re coming too. We all have to get ready, we all get to test the equipment of course, but it’s just, less of an effort for Yasuhiko.”
    They nodded, we all logged out, and in a few hours, all three of us were reunited.
    “Well, my people have to fit you both for the equipment, but this is it, the basic FMD, but these gloves are sensitive to movement, and the boots are too, same with all the rest of these bands, it gives perfect simulations of movement, thanks to me and the third confirmed knight.”
    Watarai entered, smiling at his old boss,” It’s been a long time Tokuoka.”
    “Watarai! How have you been?!”
    “Fine, I’m married, with a little daughter.”
    After this lame talking, they were fitted and logged in with me,” Ok, well time to practice, Balmung I’m sure you know how to ballroom dance right?”
    “A little.”
    “Well then, I’ll have a lot of teaching to do huh, Orca, Alberio will teach you what you have to do for this ok?”
    “Ok!”
    And in three hours, we were done, and ready to perform. But the performance wasn’t for a few weeks and so they would all stay with us if they wanted, Yasuhiko jumped at the thought, happy to be sleeping in the same building as me I guess, and Tokuoka said it’d be good to be like old times again. I always slept there anyway, so, we were all asleep, except me, who was reading a book, it was little bits and pieces of my book, I was reading over it to make sure I hadn’t made any mistakes, this was only the first page of the first draft but it was about The World. I loved my version of it, I had to make a new addition, it was my own little play, I called it, The Second Epitaph; Twilight of the Twilight. I know, it sounds really lame, but come on, how can you expect me to come up with something epic at six, I started this when I was six years old and I have 400 pages all hand written, from barely legible writing to my current level of legibility, I loved the story, it needed to be re-written by a professional, but my dad said that eventually we might have some people do it with me! Just the part that I had done, but it would be once in a lifetime performance for the people of The World. The thought of that made me so happy that I would work on it night and day until I had at least one page done from where I was, that didn’t work so much before, but now I did it religiously, so that for the past year I’ve been doing it even during class, of course, being a certified genius, I passed each class easily, but I had already skipped three grades and didn’t want to do it anymore, mostly because I liked having the opportunity to work on my book, several notebooks were full, all at least fifty page parts of it, although, most of it didn’t make sense at first unless you knew the summary of the original Epitaph… But that didn’t stop me from writing it, I had heard the story from Alberio at least forty times, it was so beautiful, but this wasn’t really a re-make of that, it was more that another story had happened in that world, of course, I used more of The World status that we had now, I knew Alberio liked it, I had him read it once, he loved it and said that I would have made the original writer, Emma, proud. I said that the only person who I would want to be proud was my father and the creator of The World, Harald. But Harald was dead and gone, but how could I ever make such a brilliant man proud, I mean, I wasn’t related to him or anything, but in my opinion, he had been smarter then Einstein himself. I wanted to have Tokuoka read it at least once maybe, but I didn’t know if he would even be interested, but that question was soon answered.
    “What are you writing at this time of night?!” He whispered as he came in.
    I moved over and he sat next to me.
    “It’s a book that I’ve been working on, well, it’s actually a play, it’s only the first draft, but it’s about The World and I’m just adding Balmung and Orca in it, I hope you don’t mind?”
    “No, but I think Wagner would, that was where I got my name, a play by Wagner, it’s the name of a sword in his opera.”
    “Oh, maybe I’ll read that sometime. But for now, I can always change that in the final draft.” I made a mark by his name telling me that I needed to change it for copyright purposes.
    He smiled,” Is this all of the notebooks?”
    “No, I have about a total of eighty of them. They’re all in that cabinet over there, they’re labeled on the cover about which one it is.”
    He walked over, opening the cabinet and staring in amazement then, he grabbed the first five and came over to me,” I hope you don’t mind if I read it?”
    “Not at all, I was gonna ask if you would once the event was over. But, if you can read the writing in the first three notebooks, I started when I was six, so it’s pretty bad.”
    “Oh I see, well, I’ll try my best.”
    “Thanks. I’m happy that you’ll read it for me.”
    I smiled, and he smiled back, he sat next to me pretty much all night, I was writing and he read all of it, well, ten notebooks before the both of us passed out asleep. In the morning, we were found in that same spot, asleep next to one another, all those notebooks around us, it was my dad who had found us, and he smiled, coming over and pulling a blanket over us. I woke up a few hours later, he had already continued reading, and Yasuhiko was on the end of the bed reading the first notebook. I sat up, rubbing my eyes and groaning at the bright light.
    “Morning Princess.” Tokuoka smiled, patting my back a little.
    “She awake?!” Yasuhiko yelled, looking at me,” Hey! This is amazing, why didn’t you tell me Rori?!”
    “I didn’t think you’d be interested in this kind of play…” I picked up my open notebook and began writing again.”
    “I’m usually not, but this is so cool! So much drama in the middle of the biggest war ever!”
    “You’re only on the first notebook…”
    “I know! But still! So, who’s this mystery guy?!”
    “I can’t tell you, it’s ruin the whole thing.”
    “What, you mean you haven’t even said in the notebook you’re in right now?”
    “Nope, it’s not coming until, well, you’ll see, if you ever finish it. But he’s strong, and actually in The World, all these characters are actually in the world, and maybe, I can get them to do it with me in The World…If they will…”
    “SWEET!!!”
    I smiled, and kept writing, my dad came in a little while later,” Hey, Rori you’re tutors are here, come-on.”
    “Ok Daddy.” I closed the book and walked out with it, I was writing in the middle of math, she didn’t mind it, she always told me I was really adorable when I was so into this book.
    I said I’d tell her when the event was so she could get an account to watch it. She would always say, ‘we’ll see’ and then she’d go home. And when class was over, we were all suited up, ready to go, and logged in.
    “So guys, remember, be back in that area by ten ok?”
    “Ok!” they all replied, it was the whole cast so far, even my dad was suited up, my dad looked like a real king, he was the king of the castle for the next few weeks, it was the official announcement of the event, and, now, people could go in and out of the castle, a lot of our people looked like royals, some were NPC's, and this was all so fun!
    And then, there was the day of the event, my avatar was all dressed up in princess robes, not classical princess robes, but they looked royal enough, with the deep purple and blue colors. As my father made the announcement, the two princesses began dancing.
    “My people, As you know the reason you have all gathered, is to be the heroes of the kingdom, you will compete in an event for a fabulous prize, but that’s not all, there is another prize, as I’m sure you all know I have a young 18 year-old daughter, if you win the event, not only will you get the rare item, but you also, will get to actually come to the company and get a prize from us, and a kiss from my daughter,” My dad announced.
    Everyone seemed shocked, everyone knew who I was, if they had gone onto the site that is. All the participants, (except for Balmung) were sent to the tower to watch the dance, Tokuoka and I turned our FMD’s on mute and were talking in our little room.
    “Thanks for letting me help you out with this Rori.”
    “No, thank you for letting me dance with you.” I smiled, whether he could see it or not I didn’t know.
    “Well, you’re an amazing dancer.”
    “So are you when you work at it.”
    He laughed, we let each other go and bowed each turning back from mute, he went into the tower, and my father called for the event to start.

    No sooner did he call start, that a huge monster appeared…and THAT WASN’T PART OF THE EVENT!!! I started to scream, my dad freaked out, soon it was apparent that this wasn’t just a part of the event, I couldn’t do anything, this thing made me immobile! I was so scared, my consciousness and whole self jumped into the world, Balmung started to freak out because I had collapsed. The people started to run to my aid, some making last-minute parties.
    “Whoever is the MVP will get to come to Japan, and whoever deals the deathblow will get a set of rare items!” My father called to inspire them to help.
    People were hacking at the monster, when one died another filled his place, others using spells, I wanted to see Balmung and Orca, to give me some security, but I could hardly make out faces in the big crowd form that height. I was in so much pain, it was crushing me, eventually I fell to the ground, the monster disappearing, and rising to my feet in real life, my dad smiled.
    “Looks like the deathblow was dealt by…”
    I didn’t listen, I threw off the FMD and started gasping for air, I fell on my knees again, coughing and trying to get more air to my lungs, a little blood came out of my coughs, but that was just my throat, I could feel the burning of the smoke from the creatures flames, I had hurt my throat, but I was ok, soon, as I looked up, I could see Tokuoka standing over me, trying to give me room to breath, Yasuhiko and my father were at the door. I smiled a little, to show I was ok.
    “So, who’s the MVP?” I asked.
    Yasuhiko laughed, and my dad smiled.
    “Turn to your right sweetie, he’s right there.”
    I looked at Tokuoka, and blushed in shock,” WHAT?! Well then again how is that a surprise?”
    “I’m sorry, look, we don’t have to have you kiss me, and I’d rather not, mostly because it’ll look really bad.”
    “Awww come on! Everyone who plays The World is waiting to see the great Balmung kiss his princess on TV!” Yasuhiko smirked.
    “Yea, don’t pretend like you don’t wish it was you on TV instead of me…”
    Yasuhiko blushed I started laughing, he had a crush on me and I knew it. I liked him too, but no one knew, that I was in love with my best friend, and Tokuoka was gonna kiss me on world-wide TV! Wow, I had a crush on him when I was like six but now, he was more like a second dad…oh wow… this was going to be interesting, mostly because we all were gonna look like our characters.
    The next day, I was sure everyone from everywhere was watching, I was blushing like crazy at first, but once I got out onstage with the others, in between my dad and Alberio, I was happy. I didn’t listen to a thing my dad said until I heard my name, when I just looked at him; he smiled and motioned me up. I stepped forward, with Balmung, oh wow, now that he was Balmung, I felt the shivers running up my spine again, even at his age, if he looked like Balmung, well, anyone would look great as Balmung, I blushed a little, and, it was actually very romantic…at first, then there was all the cheering, which snapped me back into reality. Then I realized what this actually was, a huge crowd full of people dressed up as if they were in The World, the fake weapons, this was the ultimate audience, I looked at Yasuhiko, and walked to my dad.
    “Hey Dad, can I do something really quick? It’ll take like, five minutes, not even.”
    “Hm, of course what is it?”
    “Just give me a sec ok?”
    “Of course, I can’t wait.”
    I whispered some things to the others, and I stepped to the microphone and smiled.
    “Ok, so I know this isn’t what we really planned, but if I don’t do this now we might never get this awesome a chance to show how well we’ve all dressed up, this is like, the ultimate, The World convention with this real life event, and I want you guys to see another once in a lifetime performance, there have been many, maybe the most memorable would be The One Sin, this of course is amazing and I luckily will have this on disc and video and everything and so I’m super happy for all this. Well, what I bring you isn’t anything you’d find in The World and well, It’s more of a Garage Band performance on TV because I have the recourses, I’m happy to present the great band that I get to luckily sing for, uhm, maybe you guys can help us with a name, I mean, we don’t have one yet or anything, so, we’ll just perform now.” I laughed a little, and here we were, Kite, Orca, The Angel Makiko, Sanjuro and Natsume, I was proud to be at the front of the group, the lights went down a little, thanks to our great tech support Piros, though I still wonder how he fit into that huge armor. Well, I tool the microphone from its stand and handed the stand to my dad. Maybe this was why I loved to sing, but maybe I was just naturally that way, I think people were excited at first, though, for our first performance, and being so unrehearsed, we did pretty well I think.
    Our song was called Song of the Angel.
    Flying in the waves of the highest clouds,
    Souls end up to live in the lights.
    But even we in the spotlight can’t imagine,
    How hot those lights must be.
    And how could we,

    Only the songs of the Angels,
    Deserve the brightest lights,
    But how can we tell that they don’t,
    Even think of ours?

    It’s a song that we all have the potential to sing,
    But first we have to learn the words,
    And what is to say that the words are even spoken.

    Neither mouth nor hand can form the words,
    The songs that those Angels sing,
    And how can we tell your heart,
    What to think and do?

    Only the songs of the Angels,
    Deserve the brightest lights,
    But how can we tell that they don’t,
    Even think of ours?

    And what makes and Angel an Angel,
    What separates the gates of heaven and hell,
    How can they choose who’s an angel,
    And who gets thrown down?

    Who can tell,
    And how do they see what’s right?

    Who would know,
    And be able to tell us if we’re good or bad?

    Who is there,
    And how is it we call them god,
    We call them more then we are.

    Who are they,
    Who are the ones,
    That think they can tell us who to be,
    And try to hold us back,
    But they can’t, no one can hold us back.

    And Only the songs of the Angels,
    Deserve the brightest lights,
    But how can we tell that they don’t,
    Even think of ours.

    My heart was racing, racing what I don’t even know, but oh wow was it beating, so many people, I felt as if I was going to faint, but I luckily didn’t and I was really proud! After a few seconds’ people started clapping, I smiled, of course Yasuhiko was waving I was sure, and I started waving. How hard was it to sing in front of millions of people? I didn’t get it, it was actually really fun! And people seemed to like it. Of course, my dad announced the end of the broadcast. And when I went back home, we all got back online, I was sitting in Mac Anu, and so many people were coming up and congratulating me and Yasuhiko and Balmung, who were both with me still. I was so happy, they liked us, or, was it the kiss? But to any extent, I stood up, going into the Chaos Gate, trying to find a good place to go to, I just sighed.
    “I hate the delta server, so many weak monsters and levels, hey; do you think we can go to beta server?”
    “Sure! I think you’re ready, hey, maybe you’ll get a Grunty while you’re there?!” Orca cried.
    “I already have one, I programmed it a few days ago, it’s a wandering AI for now, but I can get it up and running when I go into contact with it, it’s an attempt at creating the perfection of my life’s work with computers. A great AI that can act on it’s own without going out of the natural boundaries of Cybernetic laws and synthesizing the natural world.” I explained, looking extremely…um… geek-like.
    “You’ve gotten too smart for your own good!” Orca yelled, getting a chuckle from Balmung, and I laughed too, starting to open my virtual key-board.
    I gated us to the Beta server, it was so pretty. Up in the air on floating ground, a strange little Grunty came up to us. It had black fur, with blue and white diamonds painted on its back, and its eyes, were different colors, one green, and the other azure blue.
    “Hey, look at those eyes!!!” Orca called.
    “I call him, Azure Grunty, a rare variety being tested by me, since it is my creation. He’ll give people items if they do missions for him if I get him right, and some day, people might even be able to raise their own Azure Grunties. I love him, he’s so cute!!!” I squealed in glee, as he licked my cheek, its animation was a little messy, but still good for someone of my age. I hugged it and it made an attempt to hug back, causing it to glitch up and I had to program a re-boot which wasn’t hard, and I did a little tweaking,” He’s currently set up on a basic question and answer system for basic spells and weapons, mine is the only Avatar he can really interact with.”
    “Hello my Angel!” he said adoringly, in a perfect voice.
    “Hello my little Azure Prince!” I cried, joyful in my success.
    “I see you have brought friends!”
    I looked at him shocked,” What?”
    “Aren’t you going to introduce us?”
    “How did you know they were there?”
    “I scanned your party data.” He still smiled and looked happy; I hadn’t programmed such a thing.
    “But, you don’t have such ability!” I cried, and Orca and Balmung gasped.
    “I don’t?” He looked confused.
    I re-checked his data and programming, and suddenly, in the middle of all my straight programming, some erratic program I didn’t know, I translated it, and all I kept reading, over and over…
    “Courtesy of your beloved ghost, to my endangered princess. Thank you.”
    I screamed as soon as it sunk in, and everyone looked, expecting another attack, but only seeing me on the ground, staring at the Grunty in disbelief. Not knowing if this was real or a joke. I was scared, and everyone knew it, someone asked me what was wrong.
    “H-he’s back??? N-no…that’s…but how?! He’s gone; please don’t let it be true… please…please!” I held my head in my hands, shaking gently,” I want to wake up and have all this be a dream, The ghost isn’t real, my dad said… oh please let it be a lie!”
    Orca came and put a hand on my shoulder,” Rori? What Ghost?”
    “The Ghost of the Church…he re-programmed my Azure Grunty… I read the programming in English…and…it… it read… ‘Courtesy of your beloved ghost’… he called me the endangered princess…he’s the one doing this to me…he’s trying to kill me!” soon it was obvious; my shaking was caused my sobbing, gentle and quiet… and dry. I took off the helmet, gating out, not wanting to see anyone’s face other then Alberio’s, he would tell me it was ok, he would tell me it was all a dream…wouldn’t he, I grew up with him, he could fix this, he had fixed all the problems before! But how?! How was he back?! I went to Alberio, him on a break, I went close to him, crying, like a sister and a brother, and he comforted me.
    “What?! What happened?!” he asked, in surprise of my sudden sobbing.
    “The ghost is back; please tell me it’s not true!!! Please tell me he’s not coming to get me!!!” I nearly screamed, fearful of the whole experience.
    “Don’t worry Rori, We’ll go and check it out, I swear.” And I sat there, watching as he and the other administrators went to look for the ghost, and what they found, was the silhouette on the ground, the reflection, but if they looked up, it was nothing, nothing but the reflection, I got back on and came to the church, then, all of a sudden music came on, gentle and loving.
    “You came, I was afraid you wouldn’t princess! I’ve been worried about you for a while now.” Said a deep, mysterious voice, I looked down to see the ghost, talking to me, footsteps resonated against the music, as the reflection came towards me, I stepped back, wanting to run away, but I couldn’t run very far anyway.
    “What?! But…my Grunty…”
    “Isn’t it everything you wanted? It can talk now, it has free-will, princess you’ve understood my world for the longest time, You wanted to make this world the perfect ideas of my love, you wanted Aura to exist as a person, you understood me, you can take this world to a whole new level, please princess help me, us.” He suddenly appeared in front of me, touching the floor, finally right-side-up, feet on the floor, and he hugged me.
    I was scared to death, but somehow, I was compelled to hug back, and I managed to use what little strength was left in my voice, just a whisper, just a gentle whisper,” Harald Hoerwick…”

    He smiled, his ghostly form finally saying it all to me, he held me tighter, my consciousness was already in the World, and I could hardly contain my joy, I had found the lost man, but, how could this be, this feeling wasn’t mine. And then, light appeared, like the chaos gate, and, I could feel it, a white streak appeared on both sides of my bangs, and my outfit became a dress, short and white, my shoes were white ballerina slippers, and my weapons, turned to two infinity signs floating a little off either of my hands. He smiled, seeing it had finally come. I had transformed, what had happened in my heart a long time ago, had now taken full form.
    “The Angel of the Twilight. I knew I was right, Aura chose you.”
    “Chose??? Me??? What?!” I was scared, his deeply sunk eyes digging into mine, he laughed a little.
    “Aura needed someone like you for her to save this world from evil people who would destroy it, like the Pluto kiss destroyed the story, but, you’ve made this world so much like that fateful story, so fantasizing and fantastic. I thank you for doing so much for me, and my little Aura, but now, I think it’s my turn to help you. I’m working on perfecting on the Grunty as we speak, my dear. It will be the perfect AI soon.”
    “That’s why!!! I remember! I need you to give me the information of the Black box Folder! Only you know! I need it…Please; I want to make an AI of my mother!” I pleaded, finally remembering why the World had been so important in the first place.
    “That folder does not exist, I’m sorry; it was a rumor, the Black box folder, is actually a little, black, ring box. I wanted to give it to my love, but I couldn’t, actually, I believe you know of it. You’re wearing it now aren’t you? That ring your father gave you?”
    I held my hand, “How did you know that?!”
    “I know everything about you sweetheart, your whole mind is in the game right now, if I wanted I could even find out your deepest secrets, who you love the most, how much you want this world to be real.” He smiled gently, and I knew he would never do such a thing.
    “I can tell you that myself if people would just ask, but no one asks me anything about myself.”
    “This is why you need this world, because it gives you a reason to be special, to be who you are.”
    “That’s true, this world gives me a sense that I AM someone… that I’m someone that my father can be proud of always, someone that my mom would have wanted me to be.” Tears glossed my eyes, but those were soon gone.
    He smiled,” And I can give you the attention you need, and you can give me what I need too Rori.”
    “And what is that?”
    “Something alive to call my own.”
    “What?”
    “I wanted a family, but the only woman I ever fell in love with was her, but now, you can give me that family if you choose, and no I’m not asking you to be in love with me, I’m asking you to be my adopted daughter.”
    “You’re wha-…I can’t…I have a father at home. And besides I can’t stay here if I’m in that much danger!”
    “I understand if you don’t want to do this, but remember, I can see into your mind, you’ve wanted this for a long time haven’t you? A father who will pay attention to you, who will care for you and not always be busy. Haven’t you? I’m not saying anything, but it’s the truth isn’t it?”
    “Harald please stop, I’m going to cry…honestly, you keep revealing my secrets to all my friends here… and they’ll tell people, and then those people…well you get it… I’ll be laughed at and everyone will hate me if this continues, and don’t think these are the only people listening, Orca and Balmung, and everyone, and…my father…”
    “Oh! I’m so sorry dear, I had no idea, you weren’t thinking about them you see, so I had no idea that they were there, and I just didn’t think about these nitwit admins' your father sends after me every time I appear here.”
    “STOP IT!” I screamed, him snapping my last thread.
    “What?!” He was shocked at my sudden outburst.
    “You can insult me! You can reveal my darkest secrets, my crushes, but when you insult my friends you’re going too far!!!” I yelled at him.
    “You think they’re your friends? I can read their minds too. And, none of them think of you as a friend, more like an annoyance.”
    “You’re a liar…” I said, knowing that this was more then likely true,” Watarai…and the others…they care…I-“
    “You know I’m right. You know they don’t… Rori you deserve better then them, Rori come with me, be like this, make this world your home, and Rori I’m begging you.”
    “Come to your senses man, do you know what you’re asking the poor girl, she’s in love with someone, you can’t ask her to choose…” Alberio said gently.
    “But she has to, and don’t pretend, if she could see what you were thinking about her just a moment ago, she wouldn’t be so keen on staying with you!” The ghost ordered.
    “I admit it, I do think bad things about her and her father, mostly out of jealousy, because they’re wealthy, she beautiful, I can’t believe I think those things though, she IS my friend, and I love her as a sister!”
    “You say you love her, you lie, and you know you lie, but if you tell her anything else, you’ll be fired!”
    “Now you’re lying, I do love her as a sister, and trust me I know more about her and her best friends then you ever could, I also know about her crush on a certain boss of mine when she was little!”
    “ALBERIO!!!” I screamed and blushed, my face red as the fire wave.
    They could hear snickering in the background and it was Tokuoka, knowing about such a crush, I wanted to kill Alberio for this. And it wasn’t that Tokuoka didn’t know about that…it was…that I still had that kind of little childhood crush on him and I, you know. I nearly started crying, wanting to run off, but kept my cool.
    “You see? You can’t even respect her privacy.” Hoerwick smiled.
    “It’s not a secret much.” Tokuoka’s gentle voice said, gating in behind me.
    I looked at him.
    “To be honest, she even still had that crush and yes, yes, I know, I’ve always known a little Rori…but that’s not the point right now! Harald is this just for you, or do you really care about her?”
    “I-…I-… It’s both…alright? I do care about her, she’s my little girl, she is aura, but, I need someone to care for…I’m still human in some ways, I crave love like any other being, and I can’t program love!” he yelled.
    “Harald…do you know how many people of this world love you, you’re the most amazing genius since Einstein…you made a world that saved people form their lives.” I said quietly, letting my consciousness fade from my body once more.” Harald, I care about you, I always have, you died when I was young, when I heard that I had cried for days, I had been so hoping to meet the man who saved me…from sadness, from people…from everything in my life that I needed to escape, you, to so many people, are so important, and I agree with them!” I nearly sobbed, trying to hold back tears of sympathy.
    “Oh what would you know?! You have all of these people who care about you!!!” He yelled, his form beginning to distort.
    “Do you think it was always that way? There was a time when no one cared…and I thought if you were only there you could understand, then, I realized, if I tried, I could make friends, I didn’t have to suffer with my life, I could be happy if I tried a little.”
    “Huh?”
    “All you have to do is be there, be there and wait, someone’s willing to care, you disappeared ten days before my father said he would let me go to Germany with one of his employees if I could find someone, so I could meet the man behind the machine. But, you disappeared, ten days before my birthday, if you had just waited, just a little more, you would know that there was someone who cared, a little girl who thought of you as her savior.”
    “You mean, you were going to come see this crazy old man, but, you’re right, after Emma died, I didn’t give life a chance, I gave up, and I didn’t want to live anymore… Do you think, you could help me, as one little request?”
    “Alright Harald.”
    “Go to Germany, to my old home, no one lives in it, they all think it’s haunted, and it is.”
    “Alright, then?”
    “Turn on my computer and use it to log into the world, I’ll explain the rest from there.”
    “Alright.”
    And so it was, I was finally getting that trip to Germany I had always wanted, Tokuoka and Alberio escorted me, and a lot happened in the conversations on the plane. But then, almost six hours later, we were in Germany, finally in Germany, where Hitler killed the Jewish, and where The World was created. I got directions to his house, walking in with a key I found in a small plant, rusted and now old. We walked into the old house, I turned the lights on, walking into the room I found the computer in, and there, in the corner, I saw something unbelievable the form of the ghost in the church, shaking and glitching, I inched to the computer as it watched me, I logged in and all of sudden, the computer glowed, the ghost screamed, I was blinded by the flash, covering my eyes, soon, I opened them, and found myself in a gentle, white room, no doors or windows, or walls for that matter, it was all white, nothing, and I was scared.
    “You did it.” I finally saw Harald, his real self, smiling,” I’m alive again, for a few years, the ones that I have left.”
    I smiled, hugging him tightly, happy that it could finally be real, the real man behind the machine, and I could actually hug him, and thank him.
    “Harald Hoerwick, the most genius man in the world. Thank you, for so much, for saving me.”
    He smiled a little, hugging me close, like a father with his daughter. Then, all the color came back, And Tokuoka and Watarai stood in the doorway, mouths open in disbelief. It was the dead being revived. And I was the cause.
    “This is like the world, I was so tempted to end my story with the… but this, this is the most exciting thing to ever happen!!! It’s perfect!” I cried, jumping up, happy, gaining a laugh from Harald.
    “Wait, so, you can now bring her father back, because didn’t her father disappear a long time ago?” Tokuoka asked gently.
    “So, you figured it out huh Tokuoka?! Hmhmhm yup, that’s right!!! The father of the main character is based on the man who created the world, and the main character is based off Aura, and myself of course.” I smiled happily.
    “Hm? What?” Harald asked confused.
    “My version of Emma’s story, the sequil if you will. I’ve been writeing it since I was six! It’s over six-hundred pages and I’ve based the whole setting on The World and the stories that Watarai tell me about the original, let’s just say this is the epic of an epic.”
    He smiled, laughing,” I see, well then, you and I should work together, I have a copy of the original.”
    “WHAT?!” We all explaimed, so surprised that a copy exists.

    Well, after I read the whole thing with Watarai and Tokuoka.