Seeing all of the people here writing MS themed stories, I was inspired and as a result here I am.
This story was influenced by Maple (of course) , .hack// , and a little bit of Issac Asimovs science fiction…

I love writing, and I hope that you guys will like the story (Though somehow I think people will complain that there isn’t enough action, or whatever).

Here we go…

Radiance ~
1st Observation – Concerning Midnight

His footsteps echoed loudly as he hurried down the empty hall. He turned left and right as openings presented themselves, but all of the side passages seemed identical. The black stone shone menacingly under his feet and the intermittent lamps flickered with a futile light. His labored panting grew as he picked up speed, but the harsh corridors only seemed to grow longer as he ran raster. He was frantically searching, searching for something. His muscles grew tired as his mind raced, not knowing where this would end, but knowing that it would eventually. As he turned another corner he saw a pale glow at the end of the hall. But he slowed, and soon halted to gaze cautiously in its direction. Nervously, he adjusted the Meba on his arm and swallowed, though there was little, if anything, wet in his mouth. Then the man appeared. Walking up behind him, the man muttered “Wake, fool” before stepping slowly forward. The man’s outline blurred and he became translucent in the light ahead of him. The light grew in brightness, until his vision could no longer take it. His eyes burned but he could no longer close them. And then… he felt a cool breeze.

Alex shot straight up smacking his head against the ugly green lamp that was suspended above his desk. He rubbed his head and eyes at the same time, yawning. His face was slick with sweat and his eyes hurt like they’d been watching the computer screen all night. Maple story still ran on his computer, right where he had been, in Kerning, before he’d dozed off.

“This game will be the end of me…
That’s the third time this week that I’ve fallen asleep, playing it deep into the night. These dreams are crazy, and I’ve only been playing it a little over a week. I usually don’t get dreams about games until the third or fourth week after getting them” he thought.

Alex was about 14 years old and about 5’5’, a little short for his age, but his height didn’t bother him too much. His computer hummed quietly as he flattened his unruly black curls down with his hands. His pale green eyes were bloodshot from spending one hour too long in front of his PC. He stretched his stiff muscles and glanced around, noticing that the alarm clock showed 6:04.

“That’s about half an hour earlier than I normally get up but… it can’t hurt to get an early start. I don’t think I’ll be getting any more sleep anyway” he thought.

He stood and stretched again, hobbling over slowly to his dresser. His entire body felt cramped and unresponsive because of the night in the chair, but he ignored it. This wasn’t the first time that he’d fallen asleep while on the computer.

As he picked up his bag and walked downstairs, a box appeared on his computer screen. It was the first change to have happened all night.

Connection to server has been lost~

Hmm… I didn’t want to turn anyone off because it looked too long, but I think I’ll add another part… It looks a bit short in comparison to others I’ve seen~

1st Observation – Concerning Friends

“Did you hear that they released a new patch this morning?” asked Carlos, a stocky boy and one of Alex’s classmates.

“”What, urg… huh?” replied Alex, still waiting for the coffee he drank that morning to kick in.

“They’re putting a new patch in for Maple Global!” said Carlos excitedly “It has the fourth job advancement and a new area for levels 130-180 called Planes-edge”

“Wow that’s, uh, what do I care? I’m only level 28 right now anyways” replied Alex sullenly “I’ll never get that high”

“You’ve got the wrong mindset!” said Carlos “I believed that I had what it took to get to level 70 and I made it”

The two boys walked together down from their fifth period (English) towards the Cafeteria. They only had two classes together this year, so they made the most of it, largely by talking together during and between classes. They spent a lot of their time chatting about Maple but both boys played and watched rugby avidly.
They entered a throng of kids waiting to enter the Caf and let the swarm push them slowly along to their destination.

“Noobs…” muttered Carlos as they shuffled along.
“Uh, Right” was the sarcastic answer from his friend.

They sat together at their regular table and took out their lunches. Both of them packed their lunches in order to avoid the dubious substances that the Cafeteria supplied.

“I don’t know how Ethan manages to eat the Caf’s slop…” grumbles Carlos as he spies their friend coming out of the line.

“Hey guys!” Ethan calls brightly as he strides towards their table. He sits and immediately begins talking, same as always.

“Have you seen that new girl that started today? Her names Eve, she’s in my homeroom” he talks rapidly while he stuffs his mouth “She’s so weird, so quiet all the time. But she doesn’t look she at all. Oh, and her eyes! Her eyes are all purple, but she claims that she doesn’t have colored contacts”

“Right” says Alex sarcastically “And I’m in the NFL”

“Yeah, but I don’t know how we could prove that she not just lying. But still” his voice drops a bit “she is pretty hot, someone’s going to ask her out by the end of today, I bet”

“You?” volunteers Carlos jokingly, with his mouth full of sandwich.

“Well…” replies Ethan, biting his lip “She’s kinda freaky. She wouldn’t tell anyone where she’s from, or divulge anything about herself”

Silence falls over the group as they dig into their lunches.

“You know, I have IT class today” says Carlos, changing the subject “I think I’ll check out that new patch”

“If you can” jokes Alex “I still remember the last time, when you were banned for a year” A round of laughter swells from the boys as they contemplate ways to play Maple on the schools computers.