WATCHMEN

I have been working on my own story for awhile now.  Have shown Karla some of it and have discussed/reviewed back and forth, now I will post the intro here for you all to read.  You may notice the intro has some similarities to another work, but it differs quite a bit as the story progresses.  One more thing, I am serious about this, so no bashing please.  Constructive criticism and reviews are welcome.

Prologue

Dusk watched the sun finally set beneath the lush green horizon.  The sky was a mixture of various shades of pink and purple, with what was left of the sun shining down upon him.  This world could be very beautiful sometimes, he thought.  However, Dusk knew that this picturesque scene served to mask the cold, dark truth of this world.  Even with this beautiful scene before him, all he could picture were the faces of his friends and comrades twisted in horror, right before the life left their eyes forever.  Shortly after that, their bodies would simply vanish into nothingness...This was how death worked here, in this world, that was separate from the real world but mirrored it all too well.  He had personally witnessed 3 deaths today as he was leveling up.  The death tally of this world reported 497,434 deaths.  Those 3 deaths he saw today would be added to that body count.  How many more will die?  How many more people will have to be sacrificed before we can get out of this sick nightmare?  He let out a heavy sigh and reflected upon this situation.  How had he gotten himself into this mess?  How did he find himself in this unending hell called War of the Elements?

Chapter 1: The Real World

It was just another day at school, another boring, uneventful day... Daniel was in college now and although he could finally get through a day of school without being picked on, it couldn't be helped that reality simply bored him.  Daniel had always been a very deep thinker even as a child.  For the past 9 years starting at 9 years old, he had been analyzing the world around him constantly, mainly trying to figure out his fellow human beings and their motivations for their actions.  Daniel observed that humanity had great potential but most of them squandered all of that potential.  The ones who actually utilized their full potential were the rare cases and usually made the news.  Inventors, philanthropists, those who made a difference in changing humanity for the better.

The common man, or about 95% of humanity however, could not see past themselves or their own small circle, nor did they want to think deeply about anything.  If they were told someone else was an enemy by their leader, then they would believe that person was an enemy without questioning why they were labeled as such.  This is what started multiple wars throughout history, for without the manpower to enforce the decisions of the leader, war would not have been possible.  Daniel would also watch the news every day and hear about constant killing, rape, stealing, and people who had general disregard for humans.  Everyone that Daniel personally knew only cared about their own lives, when they'd get their paycheck, when they could go out and get drunk with their friends, when they would get into a relationship.  The ultimate goal in this society seemed to be to get a 9-5 job that paid well, buy a comfortable house, marry someone, and then have 2 kids, one boy and one girl.  A person's worth seemed to be measured by how well they accomplished this task, combined with the amount of money they had.  Daniel thought this goal seemed utterly boring.

Daniel had been seeking something else.  Upon observing humanity, he really wanted to change it, as to him, this was not only boring, but he very much disliked how human thinking worked as a collective.  At 9 years old he had discovered MMORPGs, which stood for Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games.  He noticed he had fun here, it was a completely different world, and one which seemed more interesting to him.  The world seemed more vibrant and alive, and there was no shortage of things to do.   The object of the game is to progress your character as much as possible to the max level, best gear, and most achievements  possible.  One could do several many different things in an MMO, such as fight monsters, craft items, band together with others to do dynamic and static events, fight other people in what are called player vs player battles, and more.  There are so many things you could do in an MMO, Daniel considered it less like a game, and more like a second life.  He had spent the last 9 years playing these MMORPGs  because it was the one place where he enjoyed himself, the one place where he found solace.

That was why when he heard about the newest MMO that was coming out, War of the Elements, he preordered it immediately.   Turns out that 4 million people preordered this game, that is a record for preorders on an MMO.  It's no surprise though, because this is the world's first Virtual Reality Massive Multiplayer Role Playing Game(VRMMORPG). 

"Class dismissed" the professor said. 

Daniel sighed in relief.  "Finally"

He began walking down the halls to his car, he couldn't wait to get home to experience this, when suddenly he felt a tap on the shoulder.  It was then that he turned around to see his best friend Stacey smiling at him.  She had chocolate colored hair that was tied in a ponytail.  Her eyes were caramel brown in color.  Her skin color too was caramel colored, the result of mixed parents.  Her father was American while her mother was African.  In terms of height she only came up to Daniel's chest, but that was because he was 6'4.  So she actually wasn't that short.  She was wearing tight blue jeans with a pink Hello Kitty shirt that stopped just above her navel.  She was always bubbly and cheerful and wore a smile on her face.  At times this annoyed Daniel, but more often he enjoyed her company, which is why she was his best friend.

"Hey" she grinned. 

"Hey yourself.  What's up?" 

"Not much, I was wondering if you wanna hang out since class is over?"  

Daniel was thinking about how the game launched today.  He wanted to immerse himself in the new game without distractions from anyone, even his best friend.  "Sorry, it'll have to be another time"  he answered, feigning regret. 

"Oh I see, you're going to play that new virtual reality game aren't you?" "War of the...what was it again?

 "War of the Elements."

"You are such a nerd."

Daniel's  face twisted into a scowl.  He was clearly becoming annoyed. 

"Oh relax, I was only kidding".  "I'm actually going to play that game too!  So I was hoping you could help me with that Daniel." 

"Help you?"  "How so?" 

"Well you've played these games for years haven't you?"  "You should know your way around them." 

"No, I've never played a game in my life" he said sarcastically. 

"Very funny, but I know you're the king of nerds" she laughed.  "So basically, I want you to help me pick out a race and... I also want you to hang out with me on the game while teaching me how to play!"

Daniel just let out a heavy sigh, he had wanted to level alone. 

"Oh, one more thing Daniel, if you level without me I'll be really mad, but I'll probably get bored of this game within a week so don't worry too much about it." 

One thing about Stacey was she was bubbly and cheerful almost all of the time, but if she got mad she turned into someone else.  The intensity of her anger was scarier than anyone else he had encountered in his life.  Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, he figured.    

That settled it.  This game was no longer his own anymore.  He would have to level with Stacey and teach her the ropes.  Well, it wasn't all bad, he really did enjoy Stacey's company.  Still, if she was slowing him down for too long, he'd level without her even though she would be livid. 

"So Daniel, what race should I pick?"  He was snapped out of his train of thought.  Each race was tied to a nation.  The Harians, which were the equivalent of humans in this world, started out in the Bermian Empire, which was an empire that focused on strength through the innovation of technology.  

"I'm picking the Harian race" said Daniel.   "They are tied to an empire which believes in..." he was promptly cut off. 

"Blah blah, I don't care about the lore behind it, I just want to play the same race you're playing, so Harian it is!"  Daniel had a visible look of annoyance on his face, he really wished she cared more about details sometimes.  "So what is your name gonna be on there(War of the Elements) Daniel?" 

He stroked his chin in thought for a second.  "Hmm, my name will probably be Dusk."

Stacey laughed "what kind of a name is that?"

"Nevermind that, what is your name going to be?" 

"Staceykitty of course!" She responded with glee. 

"How original."

"You shouldn't be surprised Daniel!"  "You know I love cats!" 

"Yeah, yeah, I know" he sighed.  "So, the game officially opens at 6 PM Eastern time, can you be on at that time?" 

"Yep, sure thing!" "This is gonna be so fun I can't wait!"  She replied joyfully, barely able to contain her excitement. 

Daniel had made it home back to his barren apartment.  He never was the most artistic person.  He walked through the living room that had 2 beige couches and a big screen TV which he ironically, rarely used.  He went into the kitchen to pop a TV dinner into the microwave, he wasn't much of a cook either.  When the microwave finished cooking his dinner, he took it back into his room and set it on his black desk.  The one theme of his apartment is that most of his furniture was black, except for those 2 beige couches in the living room.  He loved the color black, there wasn't really any deep meaning as to why, he simply loved how it looked.  As he set the food down, he gazed into the object where he spent almost all of his time.  The internet, on his computer.  It was currently 5:00, one hour before the launch of War of the Elements.  He used this time to surf the internet looking at news articles.  Some of the headlines were titled as such...

-Suicide bomber kills 40, injures 143 in market area

-Woman kills husband in crime of passion

-Man found guilty of kidnapping 10 girls who were under 12 years old.

-Relations between U.S. and Russia intensify, war expected soon.

Daniel simply let out a long and disgusted sigh.  This was exactly why he couldn't wait to truly escape this world and enter the realm of War of the Elements.  This world, the real world, simply seemed to be taking a turn for the worse.  He had already downloaded the patch onto his Nexus system, which was what this new virtual reality system was called.  It was simply a pair of high tech goggles which of course had a visual interface for the user wearing them.  The commands to sort through the menus there normally worked entirely by voice.  Though one could hook it up to their computer through the USB port and use a mouse and keyboard to sort through menus if desired.

It was 5:30 now, still not time yet huh.  Daniel figured he'd use this remaining time to take a shower.  Showers were a method that melted his worries and stresses away.  The sound of the running water, the heat and the steam, all soothed him, and he was always able to relax here, even if momentarily.   He turned the handle and waited for the steaming hot droplets to touch his skin.  As soon as he felt the steaming hot water, he breathed a sigh of relief.  He closed his eyes and thought about the game that he was about to plunge into.  Daniel thought about how he could immerse himself completely in this new world and leave the old one behind, if only temporarily.  He thought about how Stacey was going to play with him.  Originally the idea of this annoyed him, as he wanted to just play as hardcore as possible to progress his virtual character as fast as he could.  However, he always enjoyed Stacey's company, and he was sure that he would have a lot of fun with her.  Reaching max level could wait.  Daniel lied down in the bathtub and cleared his mind completely, simply sitting in complete relaxation for about 10 minutes, trying to calm his nerves for what was about to come.  After completely cleansing his mind and body he walked out of the shower, fully refreshed and ready to plunge into War of the Elements.  He sat there for 5 minutes, eagerly awaiting the time when he could log on, he could barely contain himself. 

Chapter 2: The Nexus System

It was 6:00, it was time. 

"Log on" he said. 

"Greetings Daniel", the automated female voice responded.  "What can I do for you today?" 

"War of the Elements" he said while grinning from ear to ear. 

"Acknowledged"   

It was at this time where the Nexus System paralyzed his body so that he wouldn't hurt himself in the real world with his movements in Virtual Reality, much like your brain paralyzes you during sleep for the same reason.   It was at this time the Nexus System also linked with his brain to read his mind so it would know what he wished to do without him saying it vocally.  The electrical signal that went from his brain to the nerve that connected to his arm for example, would normally move his arm.  In this case, however, it would be intercepted by the Nexus System, and move his arm in virtual reality but not in the real world.  Doing a force shutdown was not possible, from the user's end at least, as to unlink your brain from the Nexus System, you had to follow the logout procedures.  Naturally there were extensive security measures in place, as if a virus was ever to spread across this system, the repercussions could be drastic.  As was said, a force shutdown was not possible from the user's end, but a system administrator could do so if there was risk to a user and they couldn't log out by themselves for whatever reason.  The Nexus System was now intercepting his brain's electrical signals, the process had started...

Daniel found himself in an empty space.  Everything around him was completely white.  There was no floor, ceiling, or walls, just pure emptiness.  Suddenly, he saw a big screen appear in front of him, which had a male character model in front of it.  The female gender option was grayed out. 

"Are they locking me from making female characters because they know I'm male?" He pondered to himself.  "I wonder why they would do that, it seems somewhat restrictive." 

There was a menu with four buttons he could press.  Two arrow keys which went back and forth through character options, an enter key to confirm the selection, and a cancel key if he wanted to cancel a selection.

This was the character select screen.  Typically in an MMO, you would choose an avatar to represent yourself.  This avatar would be extremely customizable, you could pick your gender, race, and class.  Gender and race are self explanatory.   One could also customize the way their character looks, such as creating the type of face you want, including eyes, ears, mouth, skin color, ear shape, eye shape, mouth shape, chin, hair, and more.  The body could be customized in muscle tone, height, weight, and shape.  

Class determines what your role will be in the game.  Roles are typically defined into that of a frontline fighter, a ranged fighter, a healer, and a tank.

Often in MMOs, you fight with other people to take down very hard monsters, and the proper balance of these aforementioned classes is required.  Typically, for a group of 4, you would want always one healer and a tank.  The other two slots would be filled with a combination of frontline fighters and ranged fighters.   A frontline fighter is someone who fights with a melee weapon, such as a sword, scythe, daggers, fist, katana, or any other sort of melee weapon.  A ranged fighters uses bows, guns, or magical spells.  Magical spells typically involve the elements, such as fire, wind, earth, ice, lightning, and water.  These are ranged attacks just like with bows and guns, hence they also qualify to be a ranged fighter.  A healer also uses magic, but their magic heals the member of their group when they take damage.  They can also remove negative status effects from their allies, or prevent damage entirely.  Negative status effects don't necessarily hurt you, but they can cause adverse effects to your character.  Some of the following effects would be moving slower, not being able to see, not being able to cast spells, etc.  Basically anything that would hinder your performance in some way.  The tank role absorbs the damage from an enemy monster and tries to make it so that an enemy monster attacks them and only them, as they do not want anyone else in their group to take damage.  The tank is often able to take a lot more damage than anyone else in their group. 

Furthermore, these roles can be broken down further into tanks, heals, and DPS(damage per second.)  Tanks are tanks, healers are heals, and frontline fighters and ranged fighters are classified as DPS.  Typically you want all 3 of these roles in your group if you are to succeed.  It is what is commonly referred to as The Holy Trinity in MMOs.  There are also several crafting classes if you wanted to make items for yourself, or gathering classes if you wanted to gather materials to craft with. 

It is a lot of information for a new player to take in, but having played MMOs for several years, this was all second nature to Daniel.   Needless to say, the level of customization in MMOs were one of the main draws of the genre. 

Daniel glanced at the big screen in front of him.  The first thing he needed to choice for his avatar is what race he would be.  He looked at the races, there was a brief description of each.

The Harians which belong to the Bermian Empire.  They are the most versatile race, and are fascinated with guns and other modern weaponry.  They are the only race able to hack into machinery.  Their elemental association is Earth it says? 

"Hmm I wonder what that means."

Then there were the Royalis of the Order of Sarnia, which were a race that resembled Elves.  They believed strongly in chivalry and honor.  The design of their structures was largely gothic and medieval, though they still carried all the modern amenities.  They were able to create ice if water was present.  They placed a lot of value in swords.  Their elemental association is Ice.  "Again with the elemental association huh."

The Dimis of Minutia were a race of small people that looked like cute children.   They had round faces with big eyes.  Despite their cute and cuddly appearance, they were quite deadly with the magical arts.  Their main interest was studying all the secrets of magic.  They were able to create rainstorms and lightning bolts from the heavens.  They had structures which looked Middle Eastern in appearance.  Their elemental association was lightning.  

The Rith of Razhakstan were a race of catlike people with lithe bodies.  They were very dexterous and skilled with daggers and ranged weaponry.  They are able to create strong gusts of wind.  Their structures looked very natural.  There were a lot of structures made with grass, dirt, and bamboo.  Their elemental association was wind.  

Then there was a race of wolflike people called Skrags.  They are able to walk through fire unscathed.  Their city was called the Stonopolis.  This is because almost the entire city is made of stone.  Their elemental association is fire.

The last race is Pollusks of Mecrobia.  They are a race of aquatic humanoid creatures that are able to breathe on land and underwater.  Their nation is mostly underwater with some islands here and there.  For this reason, their capital city is fully underwater.   Their elemental association is water. 

"Now that sounds interesting" Daniel grinned while stroking his chin. 

Daniel selected the Harian race, since he wanted to look human. 

Next up was the class selection...

The classes were as follows

Berserker(A class that wielded large two handed weapons and annihilated their foes with brute force.  They could be DPS(Damage per second) or Tank role. 

Cleric(A class that wields a one handed wand and is tasked with the restoration and upkeep of allies.  They were a pure healer class.)

Knight(This class wields a one handed sword and a shield.  They take all the damage for their allies.  They can cast mediocre healing magic on their allies and strong healing magic on themselves.  They are a pure tank class.)

Master of Arms(This class is a master in all firearms.  They can wield various weapons such as shotguns, sniper rifles, dual pistols, even a rocket launcher.  They can even carry a weapon called a gunblade, which is a combination of a sword and gun.  This class is a pure dps class.)

Sword Mage(This class is a master of the elements and the sword.  They fight by using the right combination of buffs and debuffs to augment their explosive power while crippling the enemy's strength.   They can be a DPS, Healer, or Tank, but only one of these at a time.  You cannot change between DPS, Healer, or Tank while in combat.  Only one buff and debuff can be active on one person at a time.  So if you had a buff on yourself and buffed someone else, the buff on you would wear off.

Enchanter(This class is the pillar of support for their party.  They can place two buffs on the entire group, remove any removable debuffs from their party, and remove any removable buffs from an enemy.  They also have mediocre healing power for their group.  This class is a full support role.)

Summoner(This class is weak on their own, which is why they have their pet.  They have a plethora of spells to augment their pet, and depending on what pet they obtain, that pet can dps, tank, heal, or support.  However, it can only do one of these roles at a time depending on the pet you use.  Various summons can be obtained throughout the world.)

Phantom(This class enjoys lurking in the shadows.  They wield a sword and a dagger.  They seek to strike their enemy and kill them before they know what hit them.  They have the highest burst in War of the Elements,  and arguably the highest skill cap as well.  They can DPS or Tank.)

Wizard(This class also is a master of the elements like the Sword Mage.  However, instead of fighting in melee range sometimes like the Sword Mage does, they seek to keep distance between them and their opponent.  They fight with ranged spellcasting, and they wield a two handed staff like the summoner.)

Monk(This class has attained complete mastery of the energy that circulates throughout their body.  Because of this bodily mastery, they have strong self heals.  They can remove debuffs from themselves, while giving short duration self buffs.  The main weapon they wield are fist weapons, of which they are capable of dealing massive damage with their relentless barrage of combo abilities.  They can fight from range with blasts of Chi if the situation calls for it.  They are a pure DPS class.) 

Dark Knight(This class deals damage while draining the enemy's health and converting it to his own.  The Dark Knight can also choose to drain one enemy stat and add it to his own stat pool.  The Dark Knight can wield all forms of two handed weapons, but their primary weapons of choice are either scythes or greatswords.  They are a pure DPS class)

"Eleven classes huh, quite a selection" Daniel thought to himself.  "Though I had already researched this game beforehand, I already know what class I'm going to pick"  With that, he selected Phantom from the menu. 

Next up was his character's appearance.  He wanted a character that looked similar to himself.  He picked out a character with spiky brown hair and blue eyes and pale skin.  For his height there was a slider there to customize your height.  He dragged it until he figured it was about 6'4 and then stopped.  There was also a slider for weight which he stopped at medium thin.  Everything was almost set now.  All that was left was a name.  A keyboard interface appeared in front of his hands.  He remembered telling Stacey his character name was going to be Dusk, so that is what he typed into the keyboard, and pressed enter.  The system responded.

Character appearance saved.

Loading....

Chapter 3: Revelation

With that, the introduction cinematic loaded before his eyes.  The narrator began speaking

"Crystallia, a world that has failed twice already." 

It showed the world of Crystallia.  There looked to be seven continents, and on zooming in on each continent there was 1 obelisk on each one.  There were 7 obelisks in total shown.  Each obelisk looked to be about 100 feet tall, and they were each a different color.  The colors were orange, blue, red, purple, green, and teal.  The exception was the 7th obelisk, which was located in the center continent.  It was 200 feet tall and seemed to be made of pure gold. 

The narrator continued  "A world where the intelligent species of this world killed each other off completely in two world wars." 

The screen showed the various races fighting each other in a gruesome, blood soaked battle, until all of them were wiped out by a yet unknown catastrophe. 

"You are a part of the third wave of intelligent life." 

On these words it showed the world again, except this time there were cities near the locations of the 6 obelisks, the continents were now teeming with life.  The exception was the 7th obelisk which still seemed to be devoid and barren of all life. 

"What will the third wave accomplish?"  "Will they perish like those before them?" 

With these words the screen showed the hundreds of thousands of dead bodies from the previous world wars. 

The narrator continued on.  "Or will the third wave break the cycle and accomplish great things?"  "It is up to you to decide, all of you will shape this era, all of you will write this story!" 

With that, the opening cinematic had vanished from his eyes, and everything turned black.

When the darkness lifted, Daniel was able to see a grand city around him.  This city consisted mostly of a combination of brick, metal and concrete.  There were cobblestone streets but no cars like he was used to seeing.  There was a large ceramic fountain before him with three ceramic dolphins facing away from each other at a 120 degree angle.  Out of their mouths each came a stream of water which flowed into the fountain bottom.  When Daniel looked to his North he noticed a vast ivory structure.  It had a domed roof and consisted of various pillars which held up a long roofed walkway that led into the entrance.  There were also two large wings that had rectangular roofs, also supported by pillars.  These wings connected to the center structure.  Seeing as it was the largest and most grand structure he figured it was probably the most important building in this city.  He also recognized this building, as he had seen it on the website before playing this game.  This building was in Bermia, which was the capital of the Bermian Empire.  From this he surmised he must have started in Bermia. 

A second later he noticed that on he had a menu that he could access by saying the word "menu." 

According to the menu there was an urgent message that needed to be read.  He would have to save that for later.  Right now he had to find Stacey. 

"Friends list" he uttered, and with that, the friends list menu came up. 

"Keyboard" he followed up, which created a virtual keyboard where he typed in the name "Staceykitty" and added her onto his friends list.  It showed her online, but she wasn't accepting his friends invite. 

"Knowing her I bet she can't figure out how to accept my invite" he snickered to himself. 

A few minutes later his invite was accepted and it showed her general location.  He invited her to his party, and she promptly accepted this time.  Friends list only told you their general location, if you wanted their exact location, you would have to invite them to your party.

"Hey Daniel, what's up, oh sorry, I mean Dusk, haha."

"Whatever, I'm coming to you Stacey, don't move" Dusk said sternly. 

"Not a problem, I'm still taking it all in."

"Yeah I know what you mean," he smiled. "The world of a Virtual Reality MMORPG is somewhat overwhelming."

"You got that right!"  "I haven't even played a game in my life besides Mimecraft, so this is all new to me!"

Five minutes later Dusk had found her location.  She was next to a shop that sold magic wands.  Her appearance was different in this game than what he knew in the real world.  She had curly blonde hair, blue eyes, and pale skin.  "What is this?" He asked.  "You don't look anything here like you do in the real world, what gives?"

 "I wanted a change!" She pouted. "Is there something wrong with that?" 

"No, no, just wondered why you chose a different appearance that's all" he waved his hands up in defeat. 

"Well then, what do you say you teach me what to do, because I have no idea!"

"Well, first thing I wanted to do is leave the city so we can fight some mobs and level up." 

"Mobs?" Stacey seemed genuinely confused. 

Dusk just sighed, "don't worry about it, I'll show you when we get there." 

"Ok, sounds good to me!"

As they got closer and closer to the entrance Dusk noticed something odd.  He noticed people crying, panicking, screaming at the top of their lungs, some were even vomiting and fainting, others were clutching their head or curled up in the fetal position, while some were laughing.  

He would hear "This can't be happening, this can't be happening." "This isn't real." "This is all just a nightmare."  The ones who were laughing were saying things like"this is all just a big joke, you'll see."  

Stacey poked Dusk on the shoulder.  "Hey Dan, why are the people around here going crazy?"

"I'm not sure, I've been wondering that myself Stacey, let's just find the exit and get out of here."  

A feeling of dread was slowly building up within him.  Dusk could notice that this was affecting Stacey as well.  She normally always had a smile on her face, but right now she looked worried.   As they finally reached the exit, they hit an invisible wall.  There was a barrier that prevented their passage.  There were words spelled out in red when they hit the barrier. 

"Please open message" it said. 

"I guess it must mean the message that I ignored, Stacey you should read it too, say menu and then click on the message to read it." 

"Ok" she responded, the look of apprehension visible on her face.  They both read the message carefully.

Greetings, Players

Welcome to War of the Elements.  This is a one of a kind virtual reality MMO.  Everything experienced here is as real as the real world.  There are quests, raids, minigames, professions, battlegrounds, arenas, almost everything you could ask for in an MMO is here!  However, there is one major difference.  The Nexus System puts you into a dreamlike state unless you log out of the system.  If you don't do that, you can never wake up.  Fortunately for you, even in cases like these, a system administrator can log you out.  Unfortunately for you, I have bypassed those systems so a system administrator can not log you out.  They are frantically searching for a countermeasure to override the hacking I did to the Nexus System as we speak, but I doubt they will find one, as it is a new state of the art virus that constantly changes its codes automatically.  You will notice there is no logout option.  In otherwords, if you don't log out of this game, you will be trapped a dreamlike state forever.  The Nexus System cannot be removed from your head once it is on either because of the safeguards, but if someone did manage to forcefully remove it from you, you would also be stuck in that dreamlike state.  But fear not!  Inside each Nexus System is a tracking device which can emit a signal which will alert the emergency medical services, so you won't die of malnutrition.  See, aren't I so generous!?  I will activate that signal tomorrow at 6 PM Eastern time.  I do wish to get more players in before it becomes known what this game is after all.  Also, if you complete the objectives of this game then you will be logged out. 

There is also more to this than simply that.  There are items that are required to complete the objective, and to obtain these items, all the races must work together.  However, you can also complete the objectives another way.  By killing those who acquire these items, you can acquire the items for your race, so it is fully possible to complete the objective for your race.  In fact, it is probably simpler this way.  If one race gives all of the items to me, I will log out everyone from the game who picked that race.  Those key items are not the only items you will inherit if you kill a player.  You will inherit all of the gear and crilla(currency) that they previously owned.  So if you kill many players, you can amass a fortune.  Be aware though, that if you make a hobby out of killing players, you will get a bounty on your head.  As to the topic of "death" here, you normally get one life, but there are exceptions, so let me go into detail.

If you die to a computer controlled monster, you die.

If you die to a player in the open world, you die.

If you die during a PvP battleground, you will be respawned at the PvP spawn area.

If you die during a PvP arena, you will be incapacitated until the arena ends, at which point you will respawn at the last place where you queued for the arena.

If you duel someone, the duel will stop when one player reaches 1 Health Point or if the duel is forfeited by a player. 

If you are wondering why I did all this, what my motivations are, I simply am not going to tell you at this time.  If you want to know my motivations, progress further into this game.  If you are one of the lucky few to progress far into the game, I will tell you my motivations.

With that being said, I hope you all enjoy your experience in War of the Elements!

Oh, I almost forgot, I'll give you all one hint as to clearing this game.   The colored obelisks play a major role.

Dusk's eyes grew increasingly wide as he read over the entire message.  "They hope we enjoy our experience on War of the Elements?" "Like hell!" Dusk punched the wall next to him with all of the fury that was pent up within him.  "Who the fuck does this maniac think they are!?" 

"Daniel, why are you getting mad?"  Stacey questioned.  "This is obviously a big joke from some prankster."  "Even if it wasn't, the authorities will figure out how to save us before long, you're worrying too much." 

Dusk wished he could believe all that, but he had the feeling this wasn't a joke.  His first thought was to level up as much as he possibly could while being as safe possible about it.  Then he looked at Stacey, he was originally going to leave her behind and level on his own because she would slow him down.  He couldn't do that now.  He definitely couldn't do that.   

-- Edited by Zabuza on Sunday 1st of June 2014 07:08:27 PM

-- Edited by Zabuza on Sunday 1st of June 2014 07:20:29 PM