Author: Omari Evans

Chapter 03: Past and Present

The full moon that set above the mountainous landscape of Perion at midnight was a mesmerizing sight to view. Remnant, when he was better known as Corill, came to Perion on such nights to reflect and relax from his busy life. Tonight he did the same thing, but this time everything felt different to him.

He rested under a boulder; it happened to be the same one he sat under when he thought of creating his own guild. What has happened to my guild? It must have self-destructed once my character was deleted.

And then he thought of Novac, “…today shall be the day you and your guild will be destroyed by my hand in order to preserve my power.”

Could he have gone farther than just disbanding my guild? Is it possible he searched for everyone and deleted their characters too? Remnant clenched his hands in anger. Damn him!

B1ue…I wonder what B1ue did after he was deleted? I hope he’s okay. He sighed. Remnant’s life had changed so suddenly. As Corill he felt borderline famous. But now he had lost contact with all of his friends and he made no new ones. It was the loneliest feeling a person could get. He sobbed wishing he could turn back the hands of time. The mountains of Perion did not soothe Remnant’s worries that night. Instead they made them more undeniable.

“Are you okay?”

Surprised, Remnant quickly unsheathed his Devil’s Sunrise and swung it at the voice, stopping inches away before it connected.

“Missed me?” Lorene giggled at her attempt at being ironic.

Remnant got up and lowered his weapon. “How did you know I was here?”

“Simple silly. I tracked you.”

Who is this girl? Remnant thought. “That’s impossible.”

“Why? Because you setup an anti-track hack on your character?”

“Wait. Please don’t tell me you’re a hacker…?” His eyes accused her of everything although he knew of nothing.

Lorene was slow to respond. “…Yea, but not quite the kind you’re probably thinking about.”

“It doesn’t make a difference. All hackers are the same.”

“So where does that put you?”

Remnant rolled his eyes. Lorene’s brother had told him the same thing shortly before he killed him.

“Listen, you’re gonna have to stop thinking you’re better than everyone else! Being a hacker puts you in the same category as me, my brother, and anyone else that knows a little bit of illegal coding!”

Her truthful words rang loudly into Remnant’s ears. “Why have you come here?!”

“Because I’ve realized who you are.”

“Who am I then?”

“You’re not a Gamemaster, that’s for sure. But you acted like one and even banned a hacker.”

“It was your brother I deleted.” Another thought came to him, “You came here to avenge him.”

She got tired of Remnant being so ignorant. “No…I hated him, I was kind of happy you banned him.”

“SO WHY ARE YOU HERE?!!!”

“I want to help you.”

Remnant was blown away. “What?”

“I realized who you are. You’re a vigilante aren’t you?”

The way she said it Remnant wanted to gag. Vigilante? Me? And then it was clear to him that he was. “ I guess you could put it that way.”

“Amazing!” Lorene jumped all around.

Remnant was seriously baffled. She was too innocent to terminate, yet there was something wrong about her he couldn’t put his finger on. “So explain to me how you’re a hacker?”

Lorene stopped jumping everywhere and straightened her face. “My brother was one so I learned from him. He knew a few unconventional hacking tricks. The Infinite Item Hack you saw him do was one of them. Though the only thing I picked up from him was Hack Tracking. I use…used it whenever I wanted to do Ludi Party Quest.”

“Are you sure that’s all you know?”

“That’s it. I can’t do anything else I swear!”

“So why is it you want to help me?”

“Because.” She recoiled into her feelings. “Because I want to help you get rid of hackers in this game! Well, I mean the really bad ones. The ones like my brother, who tries to mess the game up for everyone.”

“Say I let you help me.”
“Yea.”

“How could you?”

“Ummmm…I can Hack Track for you!”

“And that will do what to help me?”

“Easy. Most hackers in this game usually block people from tracking them. You did it yourself. But I know how to bypass that. And that will help you to find hackers and ban ‘em!”

Remnant considered her on-the-spot proposal. “That sounds good in theory. But I would need to know the hackers name first, wouldn’t I?”

“Perfect for you to mention that!” Lorene pulled out a sheet of paper from her pouch. “I’ve already made a hacker list! Most of these people are my brother’s friends but it’s a good start.”

He didn’t want her to join him, period. Remnant had already made up his mind. But Lorene had an alluring aroma surrounding her. He stood there watching her blankly, seeing traces of B1ue’s personality in her.

B1ue was an assassin. She was an assassin too. They even had the same outfit, a level 50 assassin set. B1ue’s set was blue/black and she had a red/black set matching her perfectly straight black hair with a red streak tilted to the side. Remnant couldn’t deny the similarities.

I don’t want to lose anyone else because of my battle. Nevertheless he gave in, and allowed his emotions to talk for him. “Sure. If you think you have what it takes, then join me.”

“Wow thanks.” She said. “I’m honored.” She put her hand out forward to him. “To our new partnership!”

Although reluctant at first, Remnant placed his hand to hers and they shook. Let’s hope I didn’t just make a stupid decision here. Lorene closed the distance between them and stroked his chest. She said to him seductively, “So, new partner, why don’t you tell me a bit about yourself?”

At the moment Remnant enjoyed himself and almost forgot about his problems. “Are you sure you really wanna know?”

…

Watching the full moon of Perion, Remnant and Lorene talked the whole night. Remnant told her his entire story and she listened carefully. Instantly they became the best of friends as if they had known each other for years. And Remnant felt good knowing that he wouldn’t be alone after all.