Legend: Episode 7

Legend

Episode 7: Fox Fangs and Angel Wings

<---First Episode <---Previous Episode

              The fox cocked its head and seemed to smile slyly. Sapphire and Shadow stood ready with weapons ready in hand. It made a strange barking/laughing noise and began to playfully hop around. They tightened their grip on their weapons and readied themselves to attack, but before they could attack, the fox began running towards them.

              It seemed to be charging straight for them, straight toward Sapphire that is. The fox was moving fast so she held up her sword to block any oncoming attack. Just before that attack would most likely happened, the fox did a front flip and a cloud of orange smoke sprang up around it. Less than 2 seconds later the smoke cleared to reveal its true form.

              In the foxes place was a deep brown eyed boy. On top of his reddish-brown hair sat the same tiny top hat as before, it still even had the same orange crown around it. His clothes looked very casual, he wore a white t-shirt with a foxes tail print on it. Over the t-shirt he had an orange quarter sleeve hoodie that hung loosely on him. His shorts that were a little baggy were a light tan/cream color, it was actually very similar to the fluff in the fox form’s ears. His tennis shoes floated a few inches above the ground as he hovered in almost a sitting position.

              A mischievous smile spread across his face, he swiftly floated over right in front of Sapphires face. She recoiled a little in surprise, but otherwise, she was completely frozen. He held his chin thoughtfully with a sly smile.

              “I should stab him…” Sapphire thought, he was right there and didn’t seem to be defending himself or anything. She thrust her sword forward but it only met empty air. He had floated back quickly and now hovered with a mischievous smile by the dark hall way. She cursed herself for having been so slow to react.

              The fox boy crossed his arms with satisfaction, “They don’t look too tough…” He rolled his eyes in disappointment, “Man, I was hoping for more of a challenge… Oh well, you’ll have to do.”

              Sapphire scrunched up her nose, “You haven’t even fought us yet! And where is your partner? I thought the players fight in pairs.”

              “Then you would be right.” Out of the shadows came another player. This one was a girl, or more accurately, a girl angel. She had golden-brown hair was mostly pulled back into a ponytail that was being held in place by 3 silver pins. Her bangs was the only thing not in the ponytail, they hung to the right side over her similarly colored eyes. Her dress was a purple color with a simple gold and silver belt. Her silver sandals had ribbons winding up her legs and had a Greek flare to them. Her feathery wings of pure white had golden stars upon them with silver lines connecting the stars like a constellation.

              She held out her hand in front of her and in a flash of light a staff appeared. On the tip of the staff was a large amethyst the same color as her dress. It was a flat round disk being held in place by several golden pins that were attached to a silver ring that was in turn hooked to the wooden part of the staff. She was obviously a magic user but she may be able to get off some melee damage if you got too close.

              She smirked, “Well, let’s get to it my dears!” They both leapt into action, the boy transformed into a fox again and the girl flew up into the air above. The fox charged, it snarled as it ran, revealing its fangs. Sapphire raised her sword to counter any on coming attack that may be directed toward her, but to her surprise, it attacked Shadow instead.

              It chomped down on his leg, teeth clanking on the tough armor he wore. Shadow swung his scythe down but the fox quickly jumped out of the way.

              “Are you all right Shadow? Did you take a lot of damage?” Sapphire asked.

              He nodded, “I’m ok; my defense is too strong for a simple bite to get through. But my armor makes me slow so his attacks are going to add up quickly, that could be a problem.”

              Sapphire was going to reply, but before she could even get a word out, a bright glowing beam shoot between them, they barely got out of the way. The angel girl chuckled a little as she tossed her staff between her hands.

              “Come on! Are you just going to sit there and talk? Come face us!” She rolled her eyes and drifted lazily above the stage.

              “That’s it.” Sapphire said, “I’m going to destroy her.” She turned to Shadow, “Since we both can fly, I think I’ll have a better chance against her. Are you ok with fox boy?” Shadow’s eyes twinkled and he nodded. Just then, the fox came charging towards them.

Sapphire held her sword ready, “Skyward Slash!” She cut across the fox, causing is some damage and slowing it down a bit. Now airborne, she spun around, looking for her opponent. She spotted her on the other side of the arena. They eyed each other and slowly flew in circles around each other. They waited to see who would strike first.

Shadow was pretty equally matched with fox boy. The fox was quicker and could get off several hits, but his attacks were repetitive and Shadow could guess where he would be next to land a more powerful strike. He swung his scythe down, hitting it on the head. The fox yipped and backed off, it paused before flipping and turning back into its boy form.

He shrugged, “We’re getting nowhere. So… How about we mix things up!”  He raised his open palm above his head. “Here we go!” Orange smoke poofed over his head and in its midst appeared a few tiny, sparkling hippos.

“Wat.” Shadow’s eye brows pressed together in confusion.

“Now go my adorable and murderous magic minions!” Fox boy pointed at Shadow and the hippos leapt forward with adorable squeaks and a terrifying glint in their eyes. Shadow skillfully swung his scythe around with both hands, striking all the hippos and deflecting them to the side. Fox boy prepared another volley of hippos when suddenly, FSSSHHH. A bright beam of light from above shot down toward Shadow. He barely avoided it.

“I thought you said you were going to destroy her.” He shot angrily up at Sapphire.

“Ach! Sorry! I didn’t see that coming.” Sapphire looked at angel girl a little more cautiously, apparently she could pull a fast one. “Here goes.” She mumbled to herself. Holding her sword ready, she opened her wings up wide. Then she lunged forward sword held out, ready stab into angel girl. At the last moment possible, angel girl pulled up a shield of light, protecting her from Sapphires attack and knocking her back.

She swung her staff around her in a big circle, in its path it left five glowing balls of frost. They reminded Sapphire of the time her younger brother almost knocked her out with a snowball to the face.

“Comet Dust!”  Angel girl shouted before the frost balls came hurdling at Sapphire. She tried to use her shield move but it was too late, they crashed into her. Her health dipped down and was about half way depleted.

“Ok, this isn’t working.” She mumbled under her breath, “Time for a new approach.” She drew back and caught her breath while calmly looking at her opponent. After a few seconds where time seemed to hold still, she let out a cry, “Raaaaaagh!” She flew forward at a faster speed than she had ever done before, she swung her sword horizontally across her opponent. Angle girl had put up a shield and had lessened the blow but she did take damage. Sapphire didn’t stop there, she struck again but from a different side, then again from another side. She constantly changed where she was striking from and she seemed to gain momentum with each passing blow. Angel girl was backed into a corner as far as the arena boundaries would let her; she desperately held up her shield trying to lessen the furious strikes from Sapphire.

Shadow and fox boy’s battle was heating up as well. Fox boy was trying to spam him with hippos and other random spells but Shadow was using his scythe as an axle, swinging away from any attacks faster than if he ran away. For the most part, fox boy was keeping him at bay, attacking so that Shadow couldn’t get close to him to hurt him while he was able to land a few blows every once in a while. What he didn’t see though, was that Shadow was getting closer; with ever dodge, he inched closer to fox boy. By the time he realized what Shadow was doing, he was scrambling to get away from a scythe slash. Turning back into fox form, he nimbly leapt away.

“Looks like you have no corner to hold yourself up in anymore. So come and fight me!” A strategic fight soon became an all-out brawl between scythe and fox fangs.

Angel girl’s health had passed the halfway point, she would soon be in the danger zone, and something had to be done. If by pure luck, she was able tipped the scales. At just the right moment, the kicked Sapphire away; redirecting the momentum she had built up in an opposite direction. Sapphire quickly recovered and speed back to continue sucking away her opponent’s health, but as she drew near, angel girl swung her staff downward, smacking Sapphire on the head and sending her tumbling below.

Sapphire crashed into Shadow, landing on top of him. “Oof! That… could have gone better…” Sapphire moaned.

“What happened up there?” Shadow asked.

“Let’s say I got shoot down.”

Angel girl began laughing, “Hahaha! I think we’ve got this in the bag!” She held her staff in ready position. Sapphire noticed that it was glowing, in fact it had begun glowing while she was shielding against Sapphires attacks. “Coronal mass ejection!” She yelled, from out of her staff came a pillar of light, similar to the one Shadow dodged earlier but much, much larger. The light rained upon them with great force, pushing them down as if they were on the sun. Their health drained until it was completely gone.
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              “Well that sucked.” Sapphire pouted. They had respawned just outside of the coliseum and now sat outside, listening to the crowds cheering inside. “What even happened anyway?”

              “I would guess that that kernel mass whatever it was, was a chargeable attack. So while you pounded on her, she charged it and waited for the right moment to release it.” Shadow said thoughtfully as he leaned against the coliseums yellowed walls.

              Sapphire groaned, “Ugh, I feel like we lost cause of me… Sorry I dragged you into that Shadow.”

              He shrugged, “I dunno, it was kind of fun. But your right, you’re the reason we lost.”

              She snorted and smacked his shoulder, “Hehe, you jerk.” The sighed and stared up at the virtual blue sky. “Hey, why did we respawn in front of the coliseum?”

              “That was the closest check point, at check points you respawn and you can teleport to previously visited check points.”

              “Ooooh, ok. So if I wanted to go back to Keith’s town I could just teleport to a nearby Check point.”

              Shadow nodded. People began to leave the coliseum.

              “I wonder if the pair we fought won.”

              “Why don’t you ask them yourself?” He pointed at the entrance, there stood the very same fox boy and angel girl from before. Before Sapphire could even think about talking to them, they walked over with smiles on their faces.

              “Hey! It’s you two from before!” said angel girl, “I have to say, you were probably the hardest fight we had! Even the finalists were a piece of cake.” Sapphire mumbled an embarrassed thanks. “You really got that flying battle down! I’m impressed!”

              Fox boy elbowed her in the rib, “Where are your manners you chub! Introduce yourself!”

“Oh right!” She extended her hand, “I’m Andem Stellvis, Sorceress of the Stars; you can just call me Andie.” She motioned to fox boy, “And this is Tora Kitsune, or just Tora, it depends on his mood.”

Sapphire shook their hands, “I’m Sapphire Shard and this is Shadow Wanderer”       

Andie smiled, “You know, I wouldn’t mind making a party with you guys.”

Legend: Episode 6

Legend

Episode 6: The First Battle

<---First Episode <---Previous Episode  Next Episode--->

              Sapphire and Shadow were ushered into a waiting room after they had signed up. The room was pretty small and only had two chairs, the wall on the far side was made of metal bars so you could see through them to the arena in the center. Though the hall leading out to the arena was poorly lit so there wasn’t much to see.

              Shadow stared anxiously through the bars, he just wanted to get out there and get it over with. Sapphire wondered why he didn’t want to participate, it wasn’t like he was weak and afraid to be defeated. So, what did he have against making a public appearance?

              “So, how did you end up with a copy of Legend in the first place?” he asked. “Oh! Well, it’s quite a story…” she looked off into the distance, remembering the events. Just by her reaction, Shadow was already regretting that he asked.

              “There was a contest in my state to write an essay about a form of media. Most people wrote about age rating system on movies or about how television came to be. But wrote about something completely different…” She paused and waited to Shadow to ask what she had written about. Shadow didn’t get the hint so he just sat there.

              “Anyway, I wrote about whether video games should be considered a form of art of not.” He sat up, becoming interested. “The main point of my paper said that video games are just a good art form as writing, painting, and so on. The reason we create art is to give and feel emotions, to inspire and get people to imagine. Do people not feel a sense of awe when viewing Van Goh’s Starry Night? Well, people can feel the same kind of awe in a video games from its scenery, story, or game play. Whether it’s rage over a failed level or sadness that the game has ended, it inspires us.

              Some people are inspired to play again and again, or to try to complete everything. Some create music, drawings, and fanfictions, others create all new games. So, video games are a form of art. In fact they have even inspired me…” She paused for a moment, “And I guess that I must have made a pretty good point because I won a copy of Legend.”

              Shadow sat silent, “So you play video games to be inspired?” She nodded. He sat for a moment, looking at the ground, ‘What a great purpose you have… I wish I was the same” She looked at him with questioning eyes.

              Before she could get an answer the metal bar wall rose up out of the ground like a castles portcullis. They stood up at the same time. Cheers from the crowd echoed down the hall way. They made their way down it and out into the sunny arena.

              The coliseum rose up around them. The stands were full of players and NPC’s alike. The stands started about 10 feet above them and their upper rim was lined with inward facing wooden spikes. The ground was just dirt but it stood out against the yellow colored walls.

              They stood there for a moment, not sure what to do. There was no opponent in sight and they didn’t think they were going to have to fight each other. Just then, a crashing sound came from one of the halls in front of them. They stared down the hall looking to see what was down there.

              Suddenly, two large bolfs came running out, these were larger than the ones they had fought before. But before they could thing about attacking, three peonies rushed out as well. They were extremely quick and could run circles around the bolfs.

              “So, we are just fighting stronger versions of older enemies?” Sapphire asked. Shadow nodded, “It’ll take me more than one hit to defeat these buggers.” She nodded in understanding, “All right, let’s get them!” She used Skyward Slash instantly on one of the peonies, it fled and scared the others, now all of them were running.  Until they calmed down a little, there was no way to catch them. She turned her attention to Shadow and the bolfs.

              He was focusing on one of the bolfs, he was hitting it with several powerful blows. Sapphire noticed one was coming up behind him and he hadn’t noticed. “Shadow! Behind you!” she cried, but she knew he wouldn’t get her warning in time. She flew down straight for the beast, her sword held out in front of her.

              She sliced horizontally across the creature as she landed and skidded to a stop. It howled in pain and jumped back. The crowd cheered with excitement. Sapphire and Shadow stood back to back. The peonies were still running in crazy circles while the bolfs eyed them cautiously.

              “So we have one almost dead bolf, one damaged bolf, a damaged peony, and two unharmed ones as well.” said Shadow.  She nodded, “What do you suggest?” He paused and looked around him for a moment, “I’ll charge and finish off the first bolf while you go and get a few hits off on the other. Then we’ll try to get the peonies. You ready?” She nodded, “All good here!” He started to count down, “3…2…1…Go!”

              They rushed out at the same time. Shadow hit his with a powerful strike and it crumpled to dust. Sapphire hit with small quick attacks, it tried to get her but she dodged and moved around it swiftly and precisely, like a dance. After a few seconds if crumpled as well. They turned and met each other’s eyes as the crowd chanted for them to finish the rest of them off.

              The peonies had retreated to the perimeter of the arena, leaving Sapphire and Shadow in the center. They were still moving very quickly and they almost seemed to blur. It they tried to hit one, they were going to be trampled for sure. Sapphire watched them run around and around her.

              “They are moving so fast… How can we get one to calm down to we can defeat it? Are they going to attack us at all? Will they…..Wait, are they moving in closer?” Sapphire was right, it wasn’t that they were fleeing, they were trapping them in! Once the circle got small enough, they would trample them!

              Suddenly, she got an idea, “Shadow! Let me grab onto your legs!” He looked at her like she had gone mad. “Look, I know I sounds weird but you have to trust me.” The look on his face remained but he nodded. She smiled, “Great, I’ll also need you to hold out your scythe above your head as far as you can.” He silently complied.

              There he stood, scythe above is head, ready to have his legs grabbed; he felt ridicules. Sapphire reached down and grabbed just above his ankles. She took off and hovered in the air just high enough for his scythe to only be a few inches off the ground as he dangled.

              “Hang on.” She said. Slowly, she began to spin in place, swinging him out on front of her. She started to gain momentum and soon she became the center of a spinning top with Shadow’s scythe being a dangerous outer rim.

              She slowly lowered him down to the peonies. They saw the spinning wheel of death but they were moving too fast to avoid it. When Shadow’s scythe struck them, they instantly crumbled. Sapphire strained to slow them down. She finally let go and they both plopped on the ground.

              The crowd was ecstatic. They jumped up and cheered, their top attack had left them impressed.  Sapphire was sprawled on the ground, breathless. Even though that took no actual physical labor it still left her heart pounding and feeling exhausted. It was an amazing feeling.

              Shadow reached out his hand to help her up. She gratefully took it. He pulled her up beside him. Their eyes locked, her blue eyes met his green ones. In their silent stare, Sapphire thought she saw something in his eyes. Some sort of fire or emotion, whatever it was, it let her know that he trusted her. And if he trusted her, she would trust him.

              He nodded and she nodded back. In unison, they turned to the crowd around them. An announcer’s voice boomed over the arena, “And the winners are, Shadow Wanderer and Sapphire Shard!” The crowd cheered began clapping to celebrate their victory.

              “I think we did well. What do you think?” she asked. He pulled his scarf up, “It’s not over yet…” She looked at him confused, “But I thought we won?”

              The announcer spoke again, “Now for round two! I wonder who they will fight!?!” She turned to Shadow, “All ready?” He folded his arms, “It appeared so.” He turned to her, “But I’m sure we’ll be fine.” She felt the trust in his voice, the same trust she had seen in his eyes. She smiled, “Yeah! Let’s do this!”

              They drew their weapons and waited for their next opponent to come. They heard one of the metal bar walls rise up behind them. They turned to see what they would be fighting. They stood ready, sword and scythe in hand. They sat there, waiting and watching for their new enemy.

              After a few seconds, nothing came. The crowd began to murmur among themselves. Some of them wondered if there even was an enemy. Shadow and Sapphire were thinking no such thoughts, they stared forward ready for any sort of attack. There was the possibility that this whole thing was their opponent trying to get them to lower their guard before attacking. They wouldn’t give them the satisfaction.

              Finally, something slowly emerged from the darkness for the hallway where they had heard the noise. Sapphire squinted to try to see just what exactly it was, but while it was in the shadows, it was impossible to tell. So they stood ready for whatever may be coming their way.

              Slowly, out of the darkness emerged their opponent, it was…. A fox? It was very large, almost wolf size. Otherwise, it looked like your average fox. The only thing that was strange about it was its little top hat with a little crown around it that it wore over one of its ears.

              “What’s that monsters name?” Sapphire asked. “That’s no monster.” said Shadow, “It’s a player.”

Legend: Episode 5

Legend

Episode 5: Exploring the Meadows of Sanctuary

<---First Episode <---Previous Episode   Next Episode--->

              Maddie laid on her bed restless, she was excited to play Legend again, but the wait till tomorrow seemed to take forever. So, to occupy her mind, she tried to come up with characters for her brother. She loved Legend so much all ready, and she wanted to share that with someone she loved. But she had as much trouble coming up with one as he did. Did you make him human or another creature? Did you make him swift or strong? Melee or ranged? Magic or technology? There was a lot to decide when your character had no limits on what it could be.

She groaned and rolled over, sleep was essential but it seemed to evade her. Questions about the mysterious Shadow Wanderer also plagued her mind. Why was he so quiet? He was mostly silent during the duration of their journey together. Did he have something to hide? No answers came to her so she tried to fall asleep.

After a restless night and a very boring day, her parents finally let her back on. She logged on right away.  The music box opened to reveal Sapphire Shard. Just seeing her put a smile on her face and temporarily forget the questions that had plagued her mind.  She pressed play and put on her head set.

She appeared in the same place as before, still holding the Story Box. Looking around she saw Keith vigorously working in his field, every seed he planted got him one step closer to his dream. She waved to him and called out.

“Hey Keith!” He looked up and waved back before returning to his work. Sapphire shifted her eyes around her and saw Shadow leaning against the same tree as before. She walked over to him, “I hope you weren’t waiting too long.” He shook his head to confirm that he hadn’t been waiting for very long. “I was a little worried that you would abandon me. So it’s great to see you here!”

He motioned to the main road out of the village, “Shall we get going?” She rocked on her feet and nodded eagerly. He began to walk away and she followed.

Sapphire turned the Story Box around in her hands, it was small but her character had no pockets to put it in. Where was she supposed to put it when she didn’t need it? Shadow noticed her messing with it and mumbled something. She looked up with questioning eyes.

“What was that?” she asked. “It looks like you don’t know what to do with that. Why don’t you just put it in your inventory?” She just stared at him with confusion. He stopped and turned to face her, “Let me guess, you don’t know how to open it. You really are a noob.” She folded her arm angrily, “Hey!’ He sighed, “All right, I’ll show you.”

“You’ve used your inventory before but you just haven’t realized it. You know when you summon your sword?” She nodded. “That’s using the quick equip option of your inventory.” He stopped to see if she followed, she nodded to inform him to continue. “How about you try to use the button to summon your sword but hold it down longer.”

              She nodded and did as he said. Oh her screen a semi-transparent tab opened up. It was white in color and in a grid like system. Around its border was a swirling ornamental. In a slot on the top right hand corner of the grid was golden in color and a picture of her sword was inside.

              “Can you see this Shadow?” He shook his head, “No, it’s only visible to you… Anyway, do you see a differently colored square?” She nodded, “Ok, that is your quick equip square, just like I told you earlier. Whatever you put in there you will be able to summon quickly.

Now. Hold out the Story Box to it.” She held it out to her inventory, it vanished in a white light similar to how Shadow did when he logged off. It appeared up right next to her sword. “To close out of your inventory, just press the button again” said Shadow. And with that, she closed out of her inventory.

“You ready to go now?” he said. “Yup! Thanks for that quick tutorial.”

They began to head out of the town on the main road. Since the town as surrounded with trees, the main road was the only visible path. It was curvy so the only thing you could really see in front of you was a wall of trees.

It was a quiet journey between them, Shadow seemed to space out and almost looked like he was walking through a dream. Sapphire occasionally glanced over worriedly but she said nothing. A gentle breeze blew through the pine trees and their needles rustled. It may have sounded like just ambient noise to someone else, but to Sapphire it almost seemed like music.

After what must have been around 5 minutes they emerged into a field. It was massive, it stretched as far as the eye could see. Tall grasses and wild flowers waved in the breeze, a river cut through the green expanse, and a few trees were sprinkled here and there. Some birds in a V pattern flew overhead in the blue sky. Other creatures also appeared to inhabit the field.

One such creature was horse like but had amazing camouflage. So great was it in fact, that Sapphire hadn’t noticed that they were there until a herd of them had crossed the river. Their main point was their mane, it was wide, thin, and ran along the length of their spine and around their heels. It was green in color as to look like blades of grass. Most of their upper body was a more yellow color and faded into light brown. They were rather small in size, only about 4 ½ feet tall.

“What are those?” asked Sapphire as she pointed to them. He took one look and them and turned back to her, “Those are Peonies, plural for Peony.” She scrunched up her nose, “Peony? Isn’t that some type of flower?” He shrugged, “Well, they are small like ponies and they have a plant theme so I guess Peony makes sense.” She mouthed a silent, “Ah” and they continued along the path.

Everything was absolutely beautiful, Sapphire just wanted to run through the field and laugh. She wanted to play in the river and lay on the grass and watch the clouds roll by. But her desire to explore what was at the end of the path was even greater. So she kept walking on and didn’t let her legs stop.

They had not been walking for more than a few minutes when a Peony jumped out in front of them on the path. Shadow turned to Sapphire, “Why don’t you defeat it.” She blinked at him, “Oh! Um, ok… Let’s do it then!” He held out is hand and shook his head, “No, I want to see if you can defeat it on your own… It’s no good to have a partner it you have to do everything.” She folded her arms, “All right, I accept your challenge. I’ll defeat that thing before you can say ham and pineapple pizza!”

She summoned her sword and charged at the Peony. It saw her coming and tried to dodge. Her sword only nicked it giving very little damage.  It fled a short distance before turning around and staring at her. They both stood ready and staring at each other like in a western standoff. Sapphire racked her brain for a strategy to quickly defeat it. It was quick and like most prey, had eyes on the side of its head for a greater range of vision. If she was going to beat it, she was going to have to either hit it from a distance, which she wasn’t the best at, or she was going to have to out-speed it.

She counted slowly in her head until the perfect moment. For a brief second the Peony’s stare faltered; she struck. Using Skyward Slash she caught the Peony completely by surprise. Its health dropped dramatically and even though it was fleeing, it moved a lot slower. Because she was airborne after Skyward Slash, she just flew down after it and finished it off with a few quick slashes.

Shadow raised an eyebrow, “Not bad, when you said that you were going to defeat it quickly, I was worried that you would keep trying to defeat it blindly. But you actually stepped back and tried to figure out how to do it. Well done, that’s a skill you will use here in Legend.” Sapphire smiled and curtsied, “Why thank you sir Shadow. Now then, shall we get a move on?” He rolled his eyes but motioned for her to follow him.

“So… are we at the capital yet?” she asked. He shook his head, “No, it’s still about 15 minutes away. That is… If we don’t run into any interruptions.” She thought for a moment, “So, with the time we’ve already took getting this far… Plus 15 more minutes… So the capital is about 35 minutes away from where we started?”

“That sounds about right.”

“Jeez, I though Keith’s dad said it wasn’t going to take long.”

“Compared to some of the distances you have to travel later on, it’s really not.”

“Wow. How does anyone get anywhere?”

Shadow fell silent.

“You know something don’t you?”

He seemed to smirk under his scarf. “You will just have to find out for yourself.” She sighed with annoyance. “Well anyway, before we get to the capital there is a city just up ahead.” She jumped up with excitement, “Oh! What is it like?” He turned and pointed up the path, “See for yourself.”

Up ahead was a city, it was a little larger than the last one but it still was relatively small. One thing that it defiantly had over the last city was its large coliseum right in the center. Its stone was a yellow shade and it had white gargoyles around its upper rim. Several people could be seen entering it at its base, many of the people looked like player characters with their extravagant designs.

“There are a lot of people there. Is there some sort of event going on?” Shadow sat for a moment, thinking about it. “I think there is a tournament today. A pair can enter and fight other players and monsters for prizes.” Her eyes lit up with excitement, “Really?!?” He nodded, “Yeah, I hear it’s a good way to get experience… Oh, and they also say it’s fun to talk to your opponents afterward or whatever.”

A smile spread across Sapphire’s face slowly, “We should enter together Shadow!” He pulled back in horror, “What? No! Absolutely not! I am not entering any tournament of any kind!” His reaction made Sapphire laugh, “Aw, why not! I’m sure we would make a great team!” He turned away from her in embarrassment, “I-I just don’t want to have to deal with so many people. Ok?”

“I understand that you like to work alone, but why are you afraid of people?”

“…”

“Look Shadow, I don’t want to push you too much but… Please? I promise that won’t ever ask you to go into a tournament again. Ok?”

“…Oh…All right, let’s enter…”

With a squee of glee she ran off to the town as fast as her legs could carry her. Shadow hurried after her.

He finally caught up to her just outside of the coliseum. She was staring up at its arches with awe. She turned to him and smiled, not saying anything. Her expression said it all.

They headed in and went to sign up for the tournament. 

Legend: Episode 4

Legend

Episode 4: The Story of Legend

<--First episode   <--Previous episode   Next Episode--->

              Sapphire ducked through the door way into Keith’s house, the bag of seeds was on the table and Keith and his dad were talking excitedly. They both turned to look at her, their faces were full of relief. The dad walked up to her and bowed with gratitude, “Thank You! Thank you for saving my farm.” She smiled and shook her head.

“It was nothing, I was just glad to help.” He smiled and slowly shook his head, “How about you come in and rest a while, you look a little tired.” She just nodded and followed him to a chair at their small table.

              Keith and his dad sat across from her and stared at her in awe. She felt a little embarrassed, it was only the first mission and despite her troubles, it wasn’t really that hard. She felt like they were exaggerating a bit with their praise.

              After a moment, Keith stood up and went to grab something. He returned and placed a small wooden box on the table. It was actually a pyramid with four little legs and its top was cut off and replaced with a glass marble. Swirls and other patterns were carved into its red stained wood. A small grey button pocked out of one of its sides. It was very nice looking and looked hand made. “This I for you, It’s not much but I hope you like it.” said Keith’s dad.

Sapphire studied it up and down, trying to figure out just what it was. “It’s beautiful, just… What is it?”

Keith’s dad leaned back in his chair, “It’s a Story Box.” he said, “It uses a magic crystal to tell a story, It…. Well, it’d probably be best to just show you.” He leaned over the table and pressed the grey button.

              The glass marble began to glow a pale white color, sparks of light leapt from its surface and swirled upward. More and more sparks leapt up, they were all different colors and twinkled like stars. The sparks began to form a picture; each spark was like a pixel, they slowly began to form picture. After a few moments, the sparks formed a picture of a night sky, the constellations were like none on Earth but they were just as amazing. A feminine voice emitted from the box; it was calm and gentle, like a mother telling a bed-time story. It said, “In the beginning, the worlds we call home were nothing. All there was, was the sky full of distant stars. One day, six gods came to this empty section of space. Each of them representing a sacred element.” The sparks changed color and a new image appeared, this time showing six differently colored lights. The sparks were showing images to match the story, like a video. The voice continued, “Combining their power together, they created nine small star systems; each containing one world that housed life.

Once they saw that their worlds were good, they gathered together and used the last of their power to create the ultimate weapon, one that could change worlds and be used for good or evil. They created it so that ever the need to assist or destroy the life that inhabited their planets arose, they could do it with ease. But they understood the greed of the mortal creatures of the worlds, so they split it into six parts. Each part bear a symbol, a letter; these letters can be combined to form the word LEGEND, which is the name of the ultimate weapon.

              Each of the gods took one piece and fled to world where they would rest, regaining their strength over thousands of years. They would guard these treasures and if the need ever arose, the champions of the worlds must travel and collect every piece from the gods to create Legend.

              If the parts Legend ever needs to be united, let it be known that the gods preside in worlds of their elements. Even the parts that they guard represent their power. So if you search for these gods remember this:

.     .      E  .     .    .

.    W    n   .     .    .

.     a     e   .   W    .

.     t      r   .     I    .

L    E     G    E   N    D

I     r     y   a   d    a

g    .      .    r    .     r

h    .      .    t    .     k

t     .      .    h   .     .

                                   

              Even if you don’t search for Legend, you will find its influence in all that you do. So be brave; adventure into the unknown of our worlds and become the strongest you can. Travel across these many worlds and defeat any danger that stands in your path. For evils of the unknown can come on at any time and we may need the champions to become our saviors. There are countless problems in our worlds that only those who are strong can fix. So, may the gods bless you as you find your purpose in these worlds. Adventure onward!”

              The sparks flew down back to the glass marble in a colorful whirlpool of light. Once all the sparks had disappeared into the marble, its light slowly faded until it was once again just a glass marble. The room was once again silent, the voices, “Adventure onward!” had seemed to echo throughout the room for a while but now all was quiet. Sapphire’s face was frozen in an expression of awe, now she knew the story of Legend and in a way she had never expected.

              Despite her joyous face, Keith scratched his head and in an apologetic voice said, “I’m sorry it’s only a low quality Story Box with a very short story in it…”

Sapphire smiled and shook her head, “No! It was amazing! I’ve never seen anything like it!”

He smiled shyly, “Thank ya Sapphire. I had hoped you would like it,” He picked up the box and slowly walked around the table, he cradled it in his hands as he approached Sapphire. He held it out to her, “I really want you to have this.” She took it from his hands and held it, “Thank you...” Keith sat back down in his seat with a sigh.

His dad leaned in, “So, what do you plan to do?” She tilted her head thoughtfully, “Well, I’d like to explore more of the Meadows of Sanctuary, I might do some more quests. But I’m really curious about how to get to these, ‘other worlds.’ How do I get to them?” “You go to the bridge gate.” said his dad, “The closest one is a little bit far at the capital but it doesn’t take long to get there.”

“What’s the bridge gate?”

“Well, it’s more of a monument than a gate, but it’s how you get to the bridge between worlds.”

“What’s the bridge like?”

“I wouldn’t know, only those of great blood can pass through.”

“Why is that?” 
            Keith piped in, “They say it’s because the gods want to make sure we only stay where our purpose is… Most people never get to see the bridge but I hear it’s beautiful, like an aurora borealis that lifts you up and carry’s you to other stars.” He stared off distantly with a look of longing on his face. She remembered the first time she met his, he was beating up on a scare crow because he wanted to be a warrior. She felt a little bad for him, stuck on a farm with almost no chance to fulfill his dreams.

“Hey, Keith?’ she asked.

“Hmm?”

“Didn’t you want to be warrior? Maybe you might get a chance to see the bridge for yourself someday.”

              Keith looked down, his dad raised an eyebrow, “So, you want to become a warrior eh?” Keith’s face turned bright red. His dad closed his eyes and folded his arms, “Well, you know that I need you on the farm.” Keith nodded slowly, his face full of heartbreak.  His dad grinned, “Well, I knew you would want to leave the farm someday. Tell you what, if we get a good crop this year, you can go train at the capital in the winter months.”

              Keith looked at his dad with amazement, “R-really?!?” His dad nodded and they embrace; tears filled their eyes.

              Sapphire stood up and began to leave. Just before she reached the door, Keith stopped her. “I want to thank you one last time, for everything you’ve done for me. “ She smiled, “It was my pleasure.” She slipped out the door and left them to celebrate the return of their seeds.

              Shadow Wanderer was leaning against a tree while he swung his scythe around him. When he saw her approaching, he stood up and set his scythe down.

              “Well… did you learn the story of Legend?” he quietly asked. She nodded, holding out her new Story Box to show him. “Sweet…” Sapphire didn’t reply, she still didn’t know if he was going to leave her or not. Shadow took a deep breath, “Listen…. About earlier…I...I want…I want to travel with you, even if it’s only for a little while.” Her mouth slowly crept into a smile. She didn’t have to say anything for Shadow to understand. He pulled up his scarf, “Now, this doesn’t mean we are a team or anything yet, but I will be happy to help you get started here in Legend.”

              “I completely understand!” she said with enthusiasm. “All right. I have to log off. See you tomorrow…” Shadow’s character became stiff, he glowed white and quickly faded way.

              Sapphire could not stop smiling, she clutched the Story Box and sat on the ground. She felt so excited to play again, she couldn’t wait till tomorrow came. She took a deep breath and logged out.

Legend: Episode 3

Legend

Episode 3: A Friend?

<--First episode <--Previous episode   Next episode-->

              Shadow Wanderer sat there, staring at Sapphire Shard for no more than two seconds before turning away from her and beginning to walk away. "Wait!" she said, she stood up and hurriedly ran after him. "I wanted to thank you for saving me, even though it wasn't necessary. I mean- I would have just re-spawned, it's not that bad." He continued to walk, not saying a word. Sapphire shifted nervously, "Soooooo. Why did you help me anyway?" He just grunted, not even breaking stride.

              She folded her arms and smirked mischievously, "Ooooh. Are you one of THOSE players that are quiet around everybody until they find that ONE person that they care about then they spend every POSIBLE second they can with them. Then they try to protect them and sacrifice themselves even though they don't have too and the whole thing is OVERLY dramatic. Then they fall in love and meet each other in real life and get married hand have little geek babies!"

              He stopped in his tracks and slowly turned around. He had one of the best, "What the crap?!?" looks on his face that she had ever seen. "Bwahahahahahh! The look on your face!" She fell on the ground laughing her little virtual head off; Shadow Wanderer face palmed. He took a deep breath before replying, "No I don't think I'm one of those people, and I don't think I want little geek babies in this stage of my life."

              Sapphire finally stood up after a long laughing session, "Sorry, I couldn't resist. Let me formally introduce myself; my name is Sapphire Shard and I all ready know your name Shadow Wanderer." She stretched out her hand, he cautiously took it, they shook hands. He cleared his throat, "So then, Sapphire Shard, I assume you're on your beginner’s quest?" She nodded, "Yup! I didn't expect the first enemy to be so hard though..." He turned away from her, “That’s because you skipped right to the mini boss, you were supposed to walk through the woods and fight smaller groups of enemies, getting you experience. Plus you used all your wing stamina and you didn't counter attack. Talk about a noob."

              She looked at the ground, a saddened expression on her face. No one likes being called a noob, even if they are one, but having all those flaws pointed out hurt more than it should of. "I-I guess I wasn't really thinking... I-I guess I'll go finish my quest....Thanks for the help..." she whispered as she slowly walked away.

              Shadow Wanderer felt bad, he had never felt bad about calling someone a noob before. Maybe he felt bad because he was used to the hateful replied most people give, he wasn't used to this sad but polite reply. "Wait, Sapphire Shard... I'm sorry. I was just trying to let you know what you did wrong, sorry for being rude." She turned back around, her sad expression instantly turned to one of understanding, "It's ok, thought I still have to finish my quest, want to come along?"

              Shadow was surprised by the quick forgiveness, this girl was something special. But her request for him to tag along made him a little nervous, he was always a loner king of guy so he didn't know what it was like to fight with another player. "Umm...... I guess I can come along..."

              Sapphire's face instantly lit up, "That's great! I'm sure we'll beat up those wolf monster creatures with no problem!" She jumped up and down with excitement. Shadow wasn't sure if this was still a good Idea but he didn't want to douse her excitement, plus she was kind of adorable when she was happy. "You know, most people call those wolf creatures Bolfs." She stopped hopping, "Bolfs? What kind of a name is that? That doesn't sound cool, I mean what am I going to tell my friends? Oh, I fought some bolfs in Legend yesterday! See it doesn't sound cool."

              Shadow sighed and face palmed, "Can we get a move on. Please?" Sapphire stepped back embarrassed, "Oh. Yeah. Sorry."  And so, the two of them set off deeper into the forest.

              They strode forward in an awkward silence; Sapphire wanted to break it but she didn’t have the guts. Shadow Wanderer walked through the silence better than Sapphire, he almost seemed at home in it. He was a curious fellow, Sapphire couldn’t quite understand him. What are his motives? Why did he agree to come along? Why did he choose a samurai for his character? These questions plagued her mind.

              After a few minutes of walking a group of four bolfs emerged from the trees, they snarled and growled as they slowly approached. Shadow Wanderer readied his scythe and Sapphire summoned her sword, “Soooo, what’s the plan?” She asked. He looked at her like he’d forgotten she was there. He stood there, not quite knowing what to say. “He must never have been in a commanding position before.” She thought. The bolfs stood there, growling, ready to attack at any time. Sapphire finally said, “You know what, How about I take two bolfs and you take two bolfs. Ok?” he nodded looking relived that the leadership position was taken off of his shoulder.

              They stood in attack position, Shadow spread his knees apart and griped his scythe; Sapphire held her sword at her side and stood on the balls of her feet ready to dodge any attacks. She jumped forward and slashed the first bolf several times, killing it, before it even had the chance to attack. The second bolf jumped forward, trying to attack her before she could withdraw, she easily jumped out of the way and its jaws only caught air. She swiftly slashed at the creature and turned it to dust.

              She smiled to herself and turned to see how Shadow was coming. He was leaning against a tree, scythe at his side and no bolfs to be seen. She looked at him confused, he seemed to smirk under his scarf. “It took me one swing to kill them” he said to answer the confusion on her face, “Nice job this time, Using your characters advantages to overcome any of the enemies attacks” She folded her arms and made a pouty face, “I asked if you wanted to come with me, not be my teacher.” He rolled his eyes picked up his scythe and they continued on.

              After about thirty minutes of slaying small hordes of bolfs they finally entered into a large, gray clearing. Dozens of bolfs were gathered around an area where there were several boulders set up like a stage. A plain bag was set in the middle of the stage with two bolfs on either side of it. Sapphire pointed to the bag, “Is that the bag off seeds I need?” Shadow covered her mouth and dashed behind a tree with her. “What was that?” she asked. He shushed her, “If they hear you they will be on you before you can cry for help.” He whispered. Realization dawned on her face and she nodded with understanding

              They peeked out from behind the tree and watched the bolfs. The two that were by the bag must have been the ones to steal the bag. Some bolfs tried to leap up on the stage but were swiftly pushed back into the crowed. The two on stage began to howl and soon all the bolfs had their nose turned upward in a howl. Sapphire and Shadow turned to each other. “Do bolfs eat seeds? Their half bore so I guess that makes sense.” whispered Sapphire. Shadow shrugged, “I don’t know, when I did the quest, they had stolen bag of meat from the butcher. The first quest is different for everyone.” he whispered back.

              Sapphire folded her arm thoughtfully, “How are we going to get that bag?” after not even five seconds, she jumped up with excitement, “I know! I’ll fly in, defeat the two bolfs on the stage and fly out! Easy peasy lemon squeezey!” Shadow Wanderer groaned, “Even if you were able to get the bag and fly out, you would have dozens of bolfs on your tail. And like before, you would run out of flight stamina and fall. It won’t work, trust me.” Sapphire smirked, “Ah, but you have only heard the first step in my plan. Next, I would fly onto one of the branches of the surrounding trees, the blofs can’t climb the tree so they will surround it and wait for me to come down or fly off, and in that time you can pick them off in the back. I’ll even help weaken them by using my ranged attack.”

              Shadow stared at her, not sure whether to think she was crazy, or a genius. He folded his arms and let out another groan, “All right, let’s give it a shot. But if thing go wrong, don’t say I didn’t warn you!” Sapphire nodded and took to the air, she summoned her sword and pointed it at the nearest of the two bolf. She kicked off the tree and flew toward the bolf as fast as she could. Her sword point slammed into the creature with great force, instantly killing it. The second bolf turned to her and snarled with rage. A few slices later and it was dust. She grabbed the seed bag and held it under her arm. With a quick jump she took to the air, hovering there for a moment she heard all the growls and snarls of the bolfs below. Her eyes shifted from tree to tree looking for the ideal branch, she picked one that was roughly 10 feet off the ground. At that height the bolfs could see her but not jump to reach her

              She nimbly landed on the branch and gazed at the surrounding trees, trying to catch a glimpse of Shadow Wanderer. There was no sign of him. Doubt crept into her mind, did he leave her to fend for herself? Her gaze swept across the trees over and over, hoping to see him. A flash of red appeared in the corner of her eyes, maybe it was his scarf. She turned to look but he wasn’t there, but a bolf at the back of the group gathered around the tree crumbled into dust. She saw the red again and turned just in time to see Shadow’s scarf disappear into the shadows. Sapphire laughed, realizing what was going on, “He must be using some kind of concealment spell to hide himself so the bolfs don’t turn to attack him!”

              In fact it was Shadow Wanderer’s special ability, just like how Sapphire Shard can fly. Shadow can become invisible in the shadows, it’s impossible to discover him as long as he is in the shadows.

              Sapphire aimed at the bolfs below shouted, “Swift Shard!” A crystal hurled towards the bolfs below and shattered upon contact of one, it was damaged but not dead. She continued to send crystals hurdling down at them while Shadow picked them off in the back. He started to pick up speed, destroying 2 or 3 of them at a time. Soon there were only 12 of them left, they stopped barking up the tree and started to sniff around; they knew something was hunting them. Shadow stayed hidden, not wanting to be overwhelmed be them. One barked at the group and 5 bolfs started ramming the tree, it shook with such force that Sapphire struggled to hold her balance, she fell. It happened so fast that she didn’t have any time to react, so she fell head first into the open jaws of the bolfs below. She screamed as she fell.

              “Sapphire! No!” shouted Shadow. He came rushing out of the shadows, red scarf trailing behind him as leapt an impossible height over the heads of the bolfs; he caught her and skidded to a stop on the ground. Sapphire looked as surprised as the bolfs; she burst from his arms and hovered a few feet in the air, bag of seeds still in her arms. “You ok?” he asked. She just nodded and stared at the remaining bolfs. They growled and charged at them; Sapphire and Shadow readied their weapons and attacked.

              Soon all that was left of the bolfs was a pile of dust. Sapphire dropped the bag of seeds and laid down on the ground. Shadow leaned over her and stared at her. “You’ve got to stop saving me, I don’t need you as a guardian. But thanks for saving my butt back there.” He rolled his eyes and picked up the bag of seeds and said, “Come on, let’s get your quest finished.” She smirked and stood up; and with that they were on their way.

              Keith was sitting on the fence when they got back, when he saw them approaching he rushed over. Sapphire held out the bag to him. He held the bag bewildered, “I can’t believe it; you actually got it back! Oh, thank you Sapphire Shard! Thank you!” She smiled a gentle smile, “Your welcome Keith.” He cradled the bag in his arms, “Oh, I can’t wait to tell dad. He’ll be so happy.” He turned to Sapphire, “How about you come inside. I’m sure my dad will reward you for saving our farm.” She smiled again, “I’ll be happy to come inside.” Keith nodded and towards his front door; Sapphire began walking that way when she realized that Shadow stood still back where Keith met them.

              She turned to face him, “You coming?” she asked. He gazed at the ground, “Your quest is done, our partnership is through. This was fun…..Sapphire Shard.” He turned to leave. “Wait! Don’t go… I still haven’t found out Legend’s story, that’s the whole reason I went on this quest. Please…don’t leave me yet.” He paused, “Go into their house, you’ll learn the story there… I’ll wait for you out here…” A smile spread across her face; she ran up and hugged him, “Thank you…” she whispered.

              Shadow stood shocked; this girl was something special. He watched as she ran into the house. She made him enjoy the game in another way than he was used too. He was so determined to leave her but for some reason… He felt like staying with her. He leaned against his scythe, trying to decide what to do. “Maybe a traveling companion wouldn’t be so bad.” He thought. He made up his mind and waited for her return.

This was the start of a legendary friendship.

Legend: Episode 2

Legend

Episode 2: A Quest!

<--Previous episode Next episode -->

                Maddie ran through the house to find her mother; she had been waiting all day to be let back on to Legend and now was her chance. She finally caught up to her in the laundry room, “Can I play Legend?” Her mom put down the basket of clothes she was carrying, “Are all your chores done?” Maddie nodded, “Yes.”

“Did you clean your room?”

“Yes.”

“Did you put your clothes away?”

“Yes.”

“Did you sweep the kitchen floor?”

“Ugh… Yes mom.”

“Did you….”

“YES, I vacuumed the living room.”

                Her mom smiled with amusement, “Ok sweet heart, you can go play.” Maddie fist pumped with excitement and ran to her room. On her way there her brother stopped her, “Hey, what you doin’.” “I’m going to play Legend.” Her brother straightened up with interest, “Can I watch?” She rolled her eyes, “Are your chores done?” He slumped over and mumbled, “No...” “That’s your answer.” She swung her door shut and her brother walked away disheartened.

                She clicked on the icon for Legend and swiftly typed in her password. A sweet tune played as Sapphire Shard rose out of the music box. Maddie once again squeed with excitement over her character. She clicked on the play button and set up her head set. For a moment she laid there, staring at the blank screen over her eyes. After taking a deep breath she said, “Let’s do this.” The screen flashed a bright white.

                Once again she lay in the field staring at the sky. Shakily, she got up onto her feet. It was amazing how quickly she forgot how to control her character. After a few more steps she started to get back to the point she was at yesterday. “I’m going to have to set up a stretching routine or something for every time I get on.” She thought.

                She slowly walked back to the scare crow, which still stood in the middle of the field. A few birds flew away as she approached. It was actually pretty cool to watch. Once she was in front of the scare crow she tried out some of her moves. That reminded her of Keith, “I wonder where he went.” She thought. Then she remembered him running off into the woods saying something about getting home. There must be a village just through the woods.

                She decided to head there next, she had hoped to get more exploring in or to get a quest. A village seemed like the right place to get either of those. And so, she headed off through the forest of pine.

She tried to imagine the forest being cool as she trotted over the undergrowth and pine needles. Taking a deep breath, she almost hoped she could smell the pine. But all she smelt was her stuffy room. She was about ready to log off and get one of her mother’s pine scented candles, but she didn't want to ruin the moment so she continued on.

                After less than a minute of jogging, she emerged through the trees into a village of brown medieval English style homes. The streets were a light gray cobble stone and a few NPC’s wandered it with baskets of goods. A large clock tower stood over a large court yard with colorful banners hanging all around, and there were also many stalls selling products of many sorts.

As she approached what she presumed to be the town square with the big clock tower, she began to see other players. They also had spared no expense in designing their character. Many of them were at stalls, buying things like food or what appeared to be magic charms or even guns. It was all so amazing she couldn't help but stare.

She looked up at the buildings around her in wonder; they looked like there were handmade and not created in a computer program. The building even had little quirks and details that set each building apart. She began to slowly spin around just looking at all of it.

In her state of wonder she bumped into a large male player character, “Hey! Watch where you’re goin’ mate!” She spun around, “Oh I’m so sorry! I didn't see you there!” He grumpily looked her up and down before smirking, “Its ok. You must be a new player huh.” Sapphire’s face lit up,” That I am! How could you tell?” He gave a hearty chuckle, “I could tell by the look in your characters eyes. Full of wonder and excitement.”

“I guess the game makers did a really good job modeling my character!”

“Yup, they sure did. By the way, my name is Mapledew.”

“I’m Sapphire Shard.” They shook hands.

“So, do you know the story of legend yet?”

She shook her head, “No, I didn't even know this game had a story.”

“Ah well, here’s a tip to get you going on the right path. Find the person who did your tutorial and take a quest form them.”

                This made sense; it was kind of what she was thinking about doing anyway. “All right, I guess I’ll do that.” Mapledew smirked and held his right hand in a fist over his heart, “Adventure onward Sapphire.” She tilted her head in confusion. “It’s a customary goodbye between players.” replied Mapledew. “Oohh.” said Sapphire, “Well, Adventure onward Mapledew!”

                They parted ways. She was very happy with how polite he was, she was a little afraid that other players might be mean to her because she was a noob but that didn't

seem to be the case, at least with Mapledew that is.

                She looked down the street of the village, how was she supposed to find Keith again? Even though the village wasn't that big, it would be a pain to look in every house. What was it that Keith has said? Then she remembered, “That’s right! He said he wanted to move away from the farm.” So he must be in a farm house somewhere. And it wouldn't make sense if the farm was in the middle of the town so she decided to look around the outskirts of the village.

                Sure enough when she walked out of the town she saw Keith swinging a hoe at the ground in the middle of a field. She did her best to get her character to wave at him, “Hello Keith!” He looked up from his work, “Sapphire! Fancy meeting you here!” He walked over to the fence that separated the field from the road. “I hope I’m not interrupting your work.” She said. He shook his head, “Naw, I was just finishing up. What have you been up to?”

“Not much, I was just exploring your village. It’s very beautiful.”

“Let’s hope it stays that way longer than expected.”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

                Keith opened his mouth to reply when a shout from the field rang out. “Keith! You done?” A man that resembled Keith came walking up. “Yeah dad, I’m done I’m just talking to a friend.” So the man was his dad; he came up to the fence and mumbled a greeting. “Keith, IT took all of our seeds.” Keith looked taken aback by this comment, “What?!? No! That can’t be!” Sapphire stood there confused, “What? What can’t be?” The dad turned to her, “Why don’t you come inside, and I’ll explain.”

                Keith’s dad set out some bread on the table as everyone sat around. “You see, there have been monsters attacking the town.” This was beginning to sound like a quest to Maddie. Keith jumped in, “They took our seeds, and we can’t grow a crop without em.” His dad leaned back in his chair with a depressed look on his face, “And none of us are strong enough to stop them.” Sapphire rubbed her chin, “I think I might be able to get your seeds back. Both their faces lit up, “Really?!?” they said in unison. A message saying, “Quest accepted.” flashed across her screen. She stood up and summoned her sword, “Sure! What could possibly go wrong?”

                And so, she set off into the forest with a farmer’s livelihood riding on her shoulders. The trees were incredibly thick in the area Keith's dad said the monsters went. It was very dark and it felt like anything could pop out at any time. Glancing back and forth she began to wonder what these monsters looked like, no one had given her a description of any sort.

                After a minute or so of walking through the tall pines and undergrowth. She began to doubt that there was a monster this way. Everything looked peaceful and quiet, not what she would expect from a monster's supposed hide out. "Maybe I should try checking other parts of the forest." she thought to herself. Besides, she wasn't making any progress here.

                Just then she steeped on a twig, creating a loud, "Snap!" noise. Some growling emitted from the trees. A grey creature that was camouflaged in the trees leaped forwards. There stood a wolf like creature, It was relatively large. It had bore like tusks at the back of its snout and spikes all the way down its spine. It made another horrible growl as it stared at Sapphire Shard with its yellow eyes.

                A health bar appeared at the top left corner of her field of view. It was pretty small so she assumed it belonged to the wolf creature. It pounced and bit her, lighting the edges of her screen a light red. Now was the time to act, she leaped towards the creature and slashed at it a few times making its health bar drop a bit. The creature tried to attack again but she  swiftly dodged it and took to the air. It snarled and leaped up to try and get her but she easily  avoided it. She dived down and struck it hard on its skull, lowering its health bar to less than 1/3 of its total health. The creature began to slow down significantly and seemed to be trying to shield its self more, but it was by no means giving up. Sapphire ran forward and activating Sword-point Slash, completely draining the rest of its health.

                The creature froze in its final position and began to crack like a marble statue before exploding into dust which settled on the ground. Sapphire smiled and flew into the air and did a loop-de-loop, "Woo hoo! I did it! Bag of seeds here I come!" And with that she flew off to find the other monsters.

                She flew for a minute or two, just happy to be there. "Why didn't I just fly into that village, this is so much fun!" She tried another loop-de-loop but at the peak of the loop her wings froze up and she fell to the ground. Pushing herself off the ground and brushing herself off she thought, "I guess I can only fly for so long..." With a sigh she walked forward, she was a little embarrassed that she fell.

                Growling once again emitted from the trees, except it seemed to come from all around her. She summoned her sword and stood ready. More of the wolf like creatures sprang out of the trees, they had completely surrounded her. There wasn't any room to dodge them without leaving herself open to others attacks. The one in front of her attacked, she instinctively jumped back. The one behind her took the chance and attacked. She stumbled forwards. Another attacked, she tried to jump and fly but her wings froze up again, a wolf creature bit her ankle and threw her on the ground. The others were instantly on her, biting and scratching. There was nothing she could do to get them off.

                A slicing sound rushed through the air. All the wolf creatures froze and crumbled, covering her in dust. She slowly sat up and squinted around her, the red at the edge of her screen had grown and was now throbbing, making it hard to see. She eventually saw a man wearing dark colored samurai armor standing next to the closest tree. He was turned away from her so she couldn't see his face but she saw his black hair and red scarf wrapped around his mouth. He cared a scythe as well.

                "W-who are you?" Sapphire asked. He turned and looked at her with mysterious green eyes, "Shadow Wanderer."

Legend

Legend

Episode 1: Maddie

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                Maddie sat in front of the computer monitor scrolling through her e-mails, brushing her brown hair aside to reveal her deep green eyes. Her parents and younger brother stood around her, anxiously scanning the screen for what they were looking for. Maddie's small room felt very congested with everyone in there but she didn't mind, she was too excited to notice.

                After what felt like forever scrolling through spam and junk mail she finally found what she was looking for. She clicked on the message and swiftly read its contents. She raised her hands triumphantly above her head, "Yes! I'm approved!" Everyone in the room relaxed, "That's great honey." said her mom. Her younger brother started hopping with excitement, "This is great Maddie! Now you can start playing Legend!"

                Legend is a revolutionary MMO video game. It uses a virtual reality game engine and an advance control system called Neuro Sensors. Neuro Sensors uses a mostly harmless type of radio waves called Neuro-ray. Neuro-ray is used to sense certain signals in the brain; this is used to make an avatar move so it seems to the player that they are moving like they normally would. It can also be used to give the player some touch sensations, shape is preserved but texture is distorted and temperature is non-existent. So it’s similar to wearing gloves. But the controls aren't perfect so some buttons are placed in boxes that the player wears over their hands.

                The Neuro Sensors technology is placed in headphones and a visor from the company Rare Vision is put over the player’s eyes, surrounding their field of view so they feel more immersed in the game. A micro phone is also put on the head phones so communication with other players, NPC's, and quest givers feels a lot more organic and not pre rendered.

                All the players characters are custom made, ether in the games extremely advanced character creator or by sending in a drawing for the creators of the game can create a model of it. Plus they put in a description of their character and their fighting style so the creators can make a fitting move set. The only down side is that it takes 3-4 days for the creators to approve the character, make the moves, make sure the character moves correctly, and clean up the design. But the end result was always worth the wait.

                 This technology is so new that the headset used to play the game costs $75 alone. Plus the price of the game its self costs around $80 if your luck to find it. The game is so hard to find that at the moment only about 500 people play it, but the reception from those few individuals is phenomenal.

                Maddie excitedly clicked on the icon for Legend and logged in. After a few seconds of loading the computer monitor displayed a simple music box that slowly opened to reveal Maddie's character inside. Maddie squeed with excitement, her character was named Sapphire Shard and she looked exactly like the drawing she had submitted. She was a blue eyed, brown haired, energetic fairy. Her hair was done in a half ponytail with her bangs parted on either side of her face and a gold circlet around her fore head with a little sapphire blue gem in the center. She wore a turquoise wide-sleeved t-shirt whose coaler was made to look like a bigger version of the gold circlet (gem included). She had a simple gold belt and a turquoise layered skirt that went to her knees and turquoise flats that also had the same gold circlet pattern. Her sapphire blue wings were made to like they were a cut gem. She had very long and thin appendages and wielded a long thin sword similar to a rapier. Some people had questioned why her arms and legs were so long, Maddie simply replied that she wanted to make her quick and light on her feet.

                A play button appeared at the base of the music box, Maddie eagerly pressed it. A warning appeared on the screen saying, "Removal of the head set before logging out of the game may result in severe neurological damage. If others would like to communicate wile someone is in the game, press the button on the side of the head phones and the games audio will temporarily shut off. We thank you for understanding." Maddie turned to her parents, "You hear that. If you want to talk to me, press the red button on the side of the head phones!" Her parents nodded in reply. Maddie turned back to the computer and pressed the next button at the bottom of the message. A new message appeared saying, "Please put on the head set."

                "We'll leave you in peace." said her dad, "Come on, let's go kiddo." Maddie's little brother was hesitant, "But I want to watch her through the computer monitor! It displays what's she's doing!" The dad stared disapprovingly, "No, Leave her in peace. Plus you can check Legend out when you finish your character for your account."  Her little bro sighed; he was having a really hard time coming up with character. He slowly walked out of the room, disappointed. Her mom was the last to leave, "I'll come and get you at dinner time, ok?" Maddie smiled and nodded, her mother left.

                She plugged in the head set to the computer and began slipping on the button boxes and finally the head set its self. She laid back on her bed and sighed, "Ok, let's do this." And with that, the screen shone a bright white color. Maddie squinted at the light and thought about raising her hand to block it, when surprisingly; her character did it for her

instead, revealing the white light was the sun amide a beautiful blue sky. Maddie was no longer Maddie, she was now Sapphire Shard!

                She began to feel something brush against her skin, it was quite a sensation. But because of the touch technology limitations, she wasn't quite sure what it was. She decided to try and get moving. She lifted her other arm and felt her real-life arm rise to, she put her arm back down. She was going to need to remember to just think about moving and not actually move. She resolved to get these controls down, she may be a noob now but she was determined to become a master!

                Sapphire Shard awkwardly sat up in the middle of a grassy field.  The field was dotted with many flowers and everything was a bright green color, she could even hear a creek flowing nearby. The field stretched for quite a ways in all directions, but you could see the start of a pine forest on the horizon. Shifting her eyes around, she saw a young brown haired man in farmer clothing hitting a scare crow with a stick.

                “Of course!” she thought, “This must be the tutorial level!” The boy must have been the NPC to teach her the ropes of Legend. She slowly and awkwardly stood up, she thought very precisely how she wanted her character to move but she still teetered back and forth. That’s what she got for making her character have extremely skinny and long legs. It would be a while before the quick-footed Sapphire Shard was a reality.

                After finally steadying herself, she slowly and stiffly stepped forward into the swaying grass.   A title appeared on her screen in a fancy font saying, “The Meadows of Sanctuary.” After a brief pause she started off again, one foot at a time. She may be having a hard time now but she could see how people would love this control system, it gives a character so much freedom, it was amazing! A minute or two passes with her trying to walk properly, she finally reached the boy; who was still hacking away at the scare crow. He must have been practicing to fight on it.

                She nervously spoke up, “H-Hello.”(Though she couldn't see it, Sapphire’s mouth synced perfectly with her words.) The boy turned around startled, he obviously hadn't heard her stumble towards him. “Y-ya scared me!” Sapphire took a step back, “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn't mean to scare you.” That seemed to calm his nerves, “I-it’s all right, sorry for screaming at you.”

“It’s ok; I don’t mind being yelled at every so often.”

“Yeah, still….. There have been a lot of things showing up everywhere and you can’t be sure what’s friend and what’s foe.”

“I completely understand…… Anyway, let’s start again. My name is Mad- I mean Sapphire Shard.”

“I’m Keith” They both shook hands.

“You've really been beating up that scare crow.”

                He kicked at the dirt, “Yeah, I've always wanted to be a warrior and to move away from the farm.” They sat in an awkward silence for a while but Maddie didn't mind, she was just amazed at how this conversation was going. She had remembered reading that the AI conversation technology was derived from this project called Clever Bot but this went way beyond what it said Clever Bot could do.

                Keith finally spoke up, “Hey, you’re a fairy and you look like a real warrior. Do you have a magical weapon? Could you show it to me?” “Ummm.” She shifted nervously, she remembered her character having a thin sword but so far she hadn't seen it anywhere on her person. A message flashed across her screen, “Press the Index finger button on the right hand controller to draw weapon.” Maddie pressed the prompted button. A white light in the shape of Sapphire’s sword appeared in her right hand but the light soon faded to reveal her blade.

                Keith smiled with awe, “That was amazin’! Try hitting the scare crow; I want to see how much power you got!” She nodded and stepped towards the scare crow, a message didn't appear. “I guess some attacks have to be manually done.” She thought. She took a deep breath and swung the sword diagonally across the scare crow. It shook from her hit and a little bit of hay flew out. She smirked and tried again and again and again. The whole time Keith jumped up and down with excitement.

                Another message flashed across the screen giving her another button to press. Upon pressing it she discovered that she began to hover. She had forgotten that she had wings; she began to try to fly around and discovered it was a little easier for her to figure out. Angling her sword at the scare crow she went into a dive attack, striking the scare crow with great force before flying off again. Keith whooped with excitement.

                Upon landing she was shown more buttons that were her automatic moves. She had a melee attack she called Sword-point Slash, she would jump up at the left side of an enemy and slash across them to the right, then the same thing but to the left instead, finally she would jump up directly above them and stab them with the tip of her sword. The next one she called Skyward Slash, It was also a melee attack; she would slash across an enemy while taking off into flight. There was also a ranged attack that was probably put in there to keep her move set balanced, she called it Swift Shard, and basically she would just swing her sword and a razor sharp blue gem would go flying out in front of her, exploding into tiny sharp fragments on impact. It was an ok move. The last one she was given was a defensive move, she would raise her hand and a crystal wall would appear in front of her to shield her, but after a few seconds it would crumble and vanish. It was ultimately named Crystal Wall.

                Unexpectedly, Keith ran up to Sapphire Shard and gave her a hug. “Uhh, ok…?” she said. Keith let go, “That was awesome! Thank you for showin’ me that stuff.” She smiled shyly. “Any way, I better get back home. So I guess I’ll see ya later Sapphire Shard!” he hurried off to some woods nearby, Sapphire waved as she watched him leave.

                She just stood there for a while, alone in the field. Finally she jumped up with her fist thrust triumphantly in the air, “Yes! I’m officially in the world of Legend!” She, slowly at first, began to walk around, then once she felt comfort able she began to run. She was getting the hang of it! The breeze ran through her hair and she listened to the sound of her feet thumping against the ground and the random birds and other thing in the field. She hopped and skipped all around, she laughed with joy until she fell on the ground. There she lay, staring at the sky as the clouds moved by and a faint back ground music played. For now she was happy to just be in the game.

                Suddenly the audio cut out, “Dear, dinner is ready. Log out.” Maddie groaned; it was her mom. It looked like she wouldn't be able to get on till tomorrow. The audio resumed and she logged out and took off her head set. Her mother let out a chuckle, “What is it?” Maddie asked. Her mother sighed, “Oh it’s just that you hair is a mess now.” Maddie grunted and slid off her bed and turned off her computer.

                She was sad that she had to get off but she wouldn't let that bug her. She was excited to get on tomorrow and explore or do quests. Maybe she might meet someone who would be her friend. She was excited just thinking about it, but all that would have to wait. Right now she had a dinner to eat.