Written By: Omari T. Evans aka Corill

Disclaimer(s): Maplestory and all therein belong to Wizet; I make no profit from this. I do, however, own the concept of this story. This story does not promote and/or encourage hacking in any way, shape, or form.

–Welcome to my story thread. Here is my prologue peice. Hopefully you guys will think its a fresh, unique, and action-packed idea I’ve made up. If you guys like it enough I’ll add more. Laterz–
~Cor~

Chapter 00: Prologue

3 years have passed since the launch of Maple Story. During these three years a Player versus Player system (PvP) was incorporated into the game and has made it become the most played MMORPG of all time. However, as you may be aware of, there is a hacker problem in the game as well. After the implementation of PvP the hacker population quadrupled. Hackers have learned many methods to cheat during PvP and few “master” hackers have discovered ways to negatively impact game play for everyone. Gamemasters (GMs) are outnumbered unfortunately, and there’s not much time left before Maple Story is corrupted 100%.

Corill is one of the many ordinary non-hacker players in the game, except he is leader of guild Academy, known best for getting the most hackers banned. Corill and his 2nd-in-command/online-bestfriend B1ue have managed to track down the most notorious hacking guild, TruHackers, including their mysterious leader. This is where our story begins…

—

Corill and B1ue laid hidden behind two massive pillars in the Cursed Shrine, the epicenter of all things evil on Victoria Island, paying eyeful attention to the TruHackers guild passing by below them. It was a murky setting which complemented the atrocious events about to unfold.

The guild walked up and down the lower levels of the cavern nonchalant-like as if they owned the place. The large bulk of the members appeared anonymously mischievous with the exclusion of a colossal sized Bandit and a lone man ahead of the rest that emanated a dark blue aura.

A member of the TruHackers guild spoke, “Master, why are we here for? We should be doing something fun.”

“Like hacking accounts!”

“Or we could mess around with the GMs!”

The gang’s master replied, “We’re here to lay low for a while and hunt some Rogs. Now shut up and do what I say!” as he spoke icy debris fell off his face. His demeanor was ominous and something about his black robes and flowing blue hair seemed cold. His sharp-as-ice eyes said it all: He was an Ice Mage.

“But Novac!-”

With a sleight stroke of the hand, their master froze the one who spoke his
name. “You idiot! Never shout my name in public. I should kill you.”

The gang member stood frozen unaware of his grave mistake.

“No don’t do it master!” a gang member said.

“I have an idea! If it’s fun you want I’ll give you fun!” said Novac. His eyes widened in suspense of his own words. “Let’s play a game where the winner gets to choose his fate.”

…

Corill and B1ue watched in horror. “Corill, we should do something before it’s too late. They’re about to delete that guy’s character.” Said B1ue being extra careful not to speak too loudly for the hackers to hear.

“Hush! That’s nonsense. We can’t do anything right now. They’re all hackers. Besides, that guy about to die is probably a hacker too.”

“I should run off and tell our guild we know of their leader’s name!”

“No, lets find out all we can first before we go.” Corill said it with a certain definitiveness. B1ue grunted in disgust and stayed put. They continued to look on below.

…

Novac spoke again, “Okay.” He pointed to a member in the crowd. “I will give you a question. If you answer correctly, I’ll free him. BUT if you get it wrong, I will…well you know.” He laughed sinisterly.

“Okay master.”

“What is the HP difference between a Crimson Balrog and a Balrog? No one help him!”

“Uh…” The gang member broke a sweat trying to figure out the answer. His associates tried to figure it out amongst themselves. “I guess…2,000 HP difference?” He whispered ‘sorry’ to the frozen guy just in case.

“The correct answer is 45,000HP.” He turned to the frozen guy, “How unfortunate.”

The frozen member finally understood what was going to happen to him and he tried his best to break free.

“VANQUISH!!!”

The frozen guy’s skin started to glow red. He whimpered softly as his eyes almost bulged out of his sockets. A second later he exploded into nonexistence. Novac’s gang stood back in awe and amazement as well as Corill and B1ue watching from afar.

…

B1ue couldn’t wait any longer. “Holy crap! Screw this I’m gonna run and tell the guild!”

Corill tried not to panic, “Stop! They’ll catch us!” But B1ue didn’t listen. Instead he ran as fast as he could out of the dungeon.

Novac was able to hear B1ue’s faint footsteps echo within the cave-like walls of the Shrine. “Who is that I hear? Find whoever is watching us, with haste!” B1ue heard the command and rushed faster to the dungeon exit. He almost made it out but to his dismay the hacker Bandit hyper-jumped into his way, blocking the exit gates. Corill could only watch as B1ue was rapidly beaten to a pulp and thrown to Novac’s side.

“Let’s waist no time with this one, I’ll delete him quickly.” Said Novac.

“NO!” shouted Corill as he pounced out of his hiding spot to B1ue’s aid. He readied his arrows for he was –

“A level 69 Hunter believes he has a chance of defeating not only me, but my ENTIRE guild as well. Hahahahaha!!!” His gang mimicked the agonizing laughter.

“POWER SHOT” Corill managed to blast an arrow straight through one of Novac’s gang members, the same one that had answered the question wrong.

“Ouch that hurt!” said the dead member floating in ghost form.

“Impressive.” Novac winced.

The dead gang member took a good look at Corill’s slender physique. A Silver Officer suit. Blue shades. An Olympus bow? “Hey wait!” said the dead gang member recollecting a memory. “I’ve heard of Corill before! He’s the leader of guild Academy!”

The gang was shocked. “Oh really?” Novac replied. His eyes glared suddenly at Corill. “That makes this situation even more interesting, doesn’t it?”

“Enough of this!” Corill yelled as he ran directly towards Novac with 2 Arrow Bombs cradled against his bow. “ARROW BOMB!!!”

“Don’t let your arrogance get the best of you.” Said Novac. The arrows launched but Novac froze them mid-air. He smiled in admiration of his own powers. “You’re forgetting who you’re dealing with!”

Corill didn’t hesitate. He jumped past the suspended bombs and tried to swing his bow at Novac. “POWER KNOCK-BACK”. Novac blocked the strike of the bow with his bare hands and pushed Corill into the arrow bombs. They exploded on contact.

“Ahhhh!!!” screamed Corill. The hacker Bandit stepped into the fight and restrained Corill back by pressing a Dragon Tail to his throat. Corill tried to get out of the hold but the strength of the Bandit was overwhelming “Do whatever you want with me but let B1ue go!” B1ue was too paralyzed to speak. He nodded to Corill, hoping there might still be a way to escape.

One of the gang members dusted off Novac’s Ice Mage robes. “No I shall not let you or your friend leave alive.” Novac began to speak in a philosophical manner. “See, I believe in Fate, Corill, and I believe you and I were destined to cross paths eventually, as what we have witnessed today has shown. It seems that today shall be the day you and your guild will be destroyed by my hand in order to preserve my power.”

Corill whispered, “Damn you-” The hacker Bandit pressed the Dragon Tail closer to Corill’s neck. “You…you won’t get away with this.”

“Silence!” roared the hacker Bandit.

Novac grimaced at Corill’s defiance. “Well I would love to continue our chat, however my guild and I are pressed for time. I might have spared you if only you did not find out so much information about me today.” A gang member picked up B1ue and Novac slapped him in the face. “B1ue, whatever your name is…you have any final words?”

B1ue struggled to speak but he found a way, “…I’ll come back. And kill you.”

Novac couldn’t help but laugh by this. “Haha, I doubt that. I’m not only going to delete your account, but I will write up a code that will prevent you from using ‘B1ue’ as a username, and on top of that I’ll ban your account name/e-mail address from being used in Maple Story ever again! Your time is up.”

“NO! PLEASE DON’T!” Corill screamed, but his plea for help wasn’t noticed.

“VANQUISH!!!” Yelled Novac, even louder than last time.

B1ue’s body turned red similar to the guy before him. He stared at the palm of his hand and realized his fate was sealed. He looked at his friend one last time; and didn’t shed a single tear. He blew up into tiny pieces of light that scattered across the entire Shrine illuminating its cavernous walls.

[B1ue has logged off.]

…

The 17-year-old playing as Corill didn’t blink as he read those few words written on the bottom-right corner of his computer screen. ‘B1ue has logged off,’ he said to himself. He couldn’t help the sudden feelings of anxiety and despair. “Oh my god, oh my god, what do I do? I can’t report this yet, there’s no telling what they’re going to do to me!”

…

Corill stood stunned. The image of B1ue’s death was instantly burned into his memory to later haunt him for years to come.

“Loss for words?” Novac joked. His guild applauded him for vanquishing the enemy. “Well, now it’s your turn. Hey guys, what should be my one-liner this time?”

“Prepare to die!” said someone.

“Fatality!”

“How unfortunate.” said the dead floating member laughing hysterically.

“All your base are belong to us!” said the hacker Bandit.

Corill, the 17-year-old, closed his eyes.

Novac finally thought of something to say, “May the weak perish and the strong survive.”

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