《The Unholy Crusades》 Chapter 1 Birth of the Online Predator This may be a bit boring at first, but introductions have to start somehow right? Birth of the Online Predator It was cold, he was hungry, there were fucking people sleeping in tents. A lone silhouette was shivering in the moonlight. The object of our pity today is 23 year old Derrik Canadia, whom was the only one in a long line of people who was not keeping warm in a tent or sleeping bag. What was he in line for? He was waiting to create his avatar in the ground breaking new game, Nyxramas or Nyx for short. The game was the first of it''s kind with a fully immersive virtual setting, millions were clamoring for the product as soon as it was announced. Along with the game came a sort of capsule which would act as a "diving station", but oddly enough, it was released first one week before the game was set to officially begin. It was because players would have to get their brains calibrated to their headsets in the capsule to enjoy the same experience so they had to come to one of these "Nyx Stations" to do so. "You know ... I''m going to hate you forever right?" "Awww, hey don''t be like that! I did tell you it''ll be a long wait." "I DIDN''T KNOW YOU''D MEAN 15 FUCKING HOURS!" Ahhhh young love... or resentment, to be honest it''s quite hard to tell the difference. The narrator is probably an idiot. The one who was being berated was a rather average looking 18 year old girl that went by the name Panini. Now why did her parents name her after a sandwich? Probably because they were retards, but it was a cute name nonetheless, so it usually wasn''t a sore spot for teasing. Aside from her name, the rest of her was unremarkably average, with a tiny bust, short stature, and a short black ponytail , one could not think of her as anything but ordinary. Of course even this ordinary girl had the insight to bring along a sleeping bag, while her friend was shivering in the stinging winter wind. "But think of it this way, you burn more calories in the cold, and well....you are kinda chubby" And here we return to the hero of this tale, the lovable and majestic land whale. ''Oh dear god, even the narrator''s making fat jokes now'' Derrik Canadia was not a happy camper. When his friend Panini told him the details on how he needed his headset callibrated before playing, he instantly rushed out to find one of these "Nyx Stations" so he can begin his adventure in the fantasy world filled with wizards and dragons. In fact, when he met got to the Nyx station, there was only a line of 50 people, with Panini saving him a spot somewhere near the middle. With so few people, he thought it''d be an hour tops before they got to their turn. Boy was he wrong. If there was one thing Derrik underestimated, it was how indecisive people were about their character.The Nyx station only had 2 employees and capsules where players could get themselves callibrated, but some people would take hours just deciding on how they would look in game. Looking at Panini, he realized he shouldn''t be too ungrateful. At least she saved him a spot....but still...a touch of bitterness seemed necessary. "And yet I still look better than you..." It was going to be a loooong wait. *** After what seemed like an eternity, Derrik was finally at the front of the line where a rather tired looking male employee (called Bob) greeted him. He asked for his pod number before asking him to lie down in the callibration pod. He put the headset on, while Bob closed the capsule top. At first there was darkness and then there was light, as Derrik found himself suddenly floating inside of a white dome. "Testing. Testing. Can you hear me?" The voice was unmistakably from the employee just no (Bob). After yelling affirmative, Bob continued. "Great. That''s great. Now I''d like you to relax while the program is scanning your brain, and while we wait for the program to finish, why don''t we start with your character creation?" And with that last word, suddenly the empty white space around him bloomed with light and color as hundreds of people and creatures of all sizes appeared in front of him, yet all were recognizably him. "Now, you aren''t allowed to change gender because of that feminist movement a while back, but you are free to change any other features on your avatar." ''Well, it wasn''t as if I was planning on being a girl anyways, but still... damn feminists, even influencing our games now.'' "That''s fine, but why are there so many races?" Indeed even in the most expansive MMO, there usually weren''t ever more than 10 races. "Well that''s because the world of Nyxramas is twice as large as our own world, and there''s hundreds of different tribes scattered across the world. No matter which race you pick, you can only pick a village or city of that race as your starting location" If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ''Fat load of good that does me, a map hasn''t even been released yet, hell the game doesn''t even begin til tommorow.'' Derrik decided to cycle through the various races, none of them especially caught his eye, although he was certainly impressed with the intimidating beastmen, and the draconewts with their devilishly handsome looks and their scaley bat-like wings. Of course there were the classic elves and orcs, but after he saw his mirror image, he couldn''t help but grimace. ''I''ll be damned if I have to start as a human'' Though it was usually the default choice in a game, being a human just seemed so.....boring, so that was out no matter what. "Races also provide special bonuses, and some of the classes you find in the game may only be available for certain races....although I couldn''t tell you what those are, the developers want everything to be a surprise apparently." Sighing, Derrik realized he wouldn''t have much help at all. He was also in a lousy mood due his winter wind escapades. He was about to pick some default race which he didn''t hate too much, when he saw something that piqued his interest. Almost as if hiding, a rather feminine looking humanoid was hunched over in the corner. It''s hair and skin were all varying shades of navy, where there should''ve been a nose there was nothing but smooth skin, and where there should''ve been eyes there was nothing but orange, which upon closer inspection he saw that the orange eyes were made up of thousands of tiny little circles, like an insect''s compound eyes. The most distinctive feature though would have had to have been the long flowing rabbit ears which fluttered like ribbons along with the meter long navy hair. ''....It''s a Shadow Bunny Girl'' "Hey, you said we weren''t allowed to swap genders!" Looking into the monitor, Bob flatly replied, "It''s a guy." Not convinced, Derrik decided to tease him a bit "Hey can you make the boobs a bit bigger?" "I''m telling you, it''s a guy." "Yeah, but guys can have manboobs in real life too you know" A vein popped.It was a long day, and frankly Bob was already cranky from sleep deprivation, he decided that at this moment, he didn''t especially care about the consequences to the rules, he would humor this guy if at least to get this over with. "If I make you a girl, would you please hurry it up." In truth, the callibration was long finished, yet Derrik had already spent about 20 minutes looking at classes. Upon hearing Bob''s little outburst, his lips started creeping upwards to form a smile. ''Ah, should I?... She looks pretty cool compared to the rest, and even as a guy, I''d look still look like a girl...'' Derrik was thinking furiously. ''Her face also doesn''t need any real customization since it''s just 2 eyes and a mouth, but still...I can''t just go around pretending to be a girl.'' It was then, Derrik thought of something that completely outweighed the cons of playing as a girl. ''If I play as a girl, I can seduce those lonely bastards playing the game, I can then milk them dry and get free stuff!'' ....Flawless logic. Males playing female avatars were a common occurance in normal MMOs, if anything looking at a female avatar''s ass all day at least provided some entertainment as they were grinding out boss mobs, but there are always those desperate types who would do anything just to make a girl like them. During one of his experiences in normal PC MMORPGs, a high leveled player once payed a small fortune to have a female character follow him around and call him onii-chan. <> "Yes I''ll take her!" And with that, the Space Bunny Avatar''s shrunk slightly, while it''s chest grew slightly larger. Derrik felt himself being pulled towards the Bunny, and as he and his avatar collided, a blue light exploded from between them.
You have chosen DEMI-HUMAN:Shadow Demon Variant
"Welcome back" Bob said in a deadpan voice. "Well, have fun I guess....next!" "Weee, that''s me" Panini who was still waiting in the god forsaken line of doom, squealed as she hurried toward the pod, giving Derrik a Hi-5 in the process....or a Hi-shoulder, since Derrik didn''t reciprocate. Knowing how long normal people took to make their characters, he decided not to wait up for Panini, and head home...probably after a shower and a nice long nap. Bob who was still manning the machine waved him off, little did he know, that he had just started the beginnings of a cult so large, it would rock the very foundations of Nyxramas. Chapter 2. Housekeeping *Thud* ** *Thud* "Hey! You in there? Why didn''t you wait for me." Someone was knocking at the door, though Derrik could probably guess who it was. At the moment he was taking a bath in his pitifully small apartment, and wasn''t feeling too accommodating to certain annoying young girls. So, he just ignored her. There were only 3 hours left until the game launched, and he wanted to dive in as soon as possible, not that he had a real goal or anything like that in mind, but who wouldn''t be enchanted by the idea of living in a fantasy world. Until then, he wanted nothing more than to be left alone. He opened the mini fridge by the bath. Yes there is a mini fridge in the bathroom, and sighed as he let his body go limp in the steaming hot bath water. He took out a stick of moose jerky and started gnawing on it. ...The sight of him eating in the bathtub was pretty sad. Like pathetically so. ''Shaddap you damn narrator!'' Well it wasn''t as if Derrik had any qualms about his lifestyle. Especially after highschool, Derrik found that no matter what his choice in life, his parents would support him financially. Already giving him a monthly allowance comparable to the pay of a small family doctor. Having little ambition as he was already financially well off, and no higher purpose in mind, Derrik did what any normal person would do. He became a total moocher! But contrary to what you might think, he didn''t become a party animal like those college kids you always hear about. In fact, he found it tedious to have to deal with people all the time, as get-togethers were nothing more than a "who has the biggest dick" contest half the time. Serious girlfriends were also non-existent for him as most found him to not put enough if any effort into the relationships, while the others that would''ve taken him anyways seemed a bit too desperate for his tastes. His antisocial behavior didn''t make him many friends over these past 5 years, as he gradually became more and more isolated, passing the time with online games and stories. So how did he end up in a tiny little apartment? A few reasons... First and foremost is that he seriously didn''t want to clean anything if necessary. Secondly, he didn''t want to completely cut himself off from other people, so he moved into area near a university, so he bumped into a lot of young adults regularily. And lastly, although he had money, he didn''t actually want to spend it excessively on things he didn''t need. So he ended up with a cramped space with the bare necessities, a stove, a fridge, and a bathroom. It was so cramped, he had to move the bed out of his room to fit the new capsule. *Thock**Thock* *** *Click* The door slammed open as Panini huffed and puffed into the room. "I WAS YELLING FOR YOU FOR HALF AN HOUR!" Barely looking up from the tub in the next room, he asked, "How did you get in?" "I let her in." From behind the angry little yordle, was his apartment manager, a kindly looking old man with a swanky looking moustache. "She was bothering the other tenants, so I decided to help her out a bit" And with a cheeky grin totally befitting of a senior, he dashed away. "Say....can you grab my clothes from my closet?" Absolutely no shame. With her face slowly turning a brighter and brighter shade of pomegranate, whether from embarrassment or rage, Panini stiffly walked towards the closet and picked some clothes at random before throwing them in the bathroom and slamming the door. Sighing, he pulled his naked body from the bath and started drying himself off. Looking at the clothes strewn about the floor, he begun dressing himself. he also amused himself somewhat with the fact that no matter what she picked, it wouldn''t change how he looked at all. He bought most of his clothes in bulk and in the same color, so like a true NEET or anime character, his entire wardrobe consisted of black sports shirts, black socks and grey sweat pants.Some of his neighbors thought he didn''t shower or change since he literally wore the exact same thing every day. "So what do you want babe?" Leaving the bathroom, he saw Panini turn into a brighter shade of red...by now it was obvious...that it was not embarassment...probably with all the veins popping out of her forehead. "What do you mean what do I want! I saved you a spot! I thought you''d at least have the decency to wait for me!" "Maybe it was because I didn''t want to wait 6 hours while you were creating your character" "Fuuuuuuuuuuuuu Fine! I''ll stop bugging you about it, anyways let''s go to my room, we have to pick our names and starting locations. Her color palette started to return back to normal. "Say wha-?" "We have to choose a name and starting location on the computer before we can play the game." "What sort of shitty planning is this!" Not counting the insanely long wait times for character creation, they also had to go on a computer now? The PR group for Nyxramas did not provide any details to the game itself, preferring to stay vague and mysterious. In all honestly, it sounds as if the game was a scam in itself. "Well, Nyx didn''t release a map, but people would complain if they were put too far away from their friends, they can pick and choose the same starting area so they don''t have to cross an entire world to meet up. "..." "You were going to play with me right?" Oh shit.... "Well, we probably have different races, so the starting areas we can go to are probably different" Nice save. "Dummy, that''s why we check the starting areas before hand, so we can see if we have any that overlap!" "Fine fine, you''re the boss, now let''s go to your room" Satisfied that she won, she dragged him by the hand, and they lumbered towards her suite, which oddly enough was straight across from his. Her suite was slightly bigger, but for the most part it was the same except for a table with a laptop beside her capsule. Sitting on a cushion nearby, she flipped open her laptop and logged in to the Nyxramas Gaming Website. She shoved her laptop into Derrik''s hands. "You go first, I''ll watch." Entering his capsule number and case sensitive password, the entire interface of the website lit up.
Welcome to Nyxramas, Please choose your Nickname
Choosing your characters name! The bane of all RPG players. The hardest hurdle that must be passed before beginning your adventure. Like seriously...it''s the hardest part. Some players liked to use actual names like Jerry or Kato, while other''s liked titles like Ice Queen or Bloody Rose, but Derrik had absolutely no clue as to what he wanted his name to be. Nothing feminine nor boring, and it couldn''t be a male name since he was playing as a girl character.He wanted a name that had significance, but he had no idea what he was going to be in the game. Heh...Que Sera, Sera....whatever will, be will be eh? Suddenly he found his inspiration for his name. This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.
Player Name: Mon Que Sera
It sounded like something you''d call a latino dancing girl, but no matter. Thinking on it, Derrik thought that this was was definitely the right choice. Although from different languages, the bastardized term could be translated into "My Whatever Will Be". Bootleg poeticism he called it. Sounds like a term that girls would use to describe their crushes. Hue hue.
Race Demi-Human: Shadow Demon Variant Confirmed. Please Select Starting Location
"Ooh that sounds fancy." Panini exclaimed. "Indeed" Derrik smirked inwardly, as Panini had no idea that he was a girl, but just then the screen flared blue again, and both of their faces froze in surprise. Under starting locations, there was only one option available
Plains of the Shadow ButterflyElven Empire: Eltaor
"Well I guess we don''t have to cycle back and forth between our locations at least" Derrik clicked on the location, and the screen flared blue once more. *Ping*
Location confirmed. You may now log in the Nyxramas in approximately 2:11:01 hours.
"Well that was kind of half-assed" Derrik sighed. Panini snatched the laptop and "Hehe my turn" After the screen flared blue once more she typed in.
Player Name: Phantom Teddy Bear
Derrik just stared at her. "What...." "I''m not calling you Phantom Teddy Bear" He said flatly. "But whyyyy, you have a long sounding name" She whined "Just no!" "Fineeeeee" She editted her name"
Player Name: Phanto
.....This naming sense. "...Ok I take it back, call yourself Phantom Teddy Bear" "NYUUUUUUH, It''s not that bad of a name!"
Player Name: Phantom Teddy Bear
"I guess I''ll just call you Fanny in game then" "That makes me sound like a mob-bosses girlfriend!"
Unique Race: Ancient Guardian :Battle Bear Confirmed. Please Select Starting Location
He stared at her again....."Just what the heck have you been doing!" She grinned sheepishly, "Remember that guy who helped us at the Nyx Terminal?" After Derrik nodded affirmative, she continued, " Well I took so long, that people were getting really mad at us, and he was begging for me to hurry up...Well I didn''t feel like it since I wanted to try modifying all of the races, and he told me he''d give me a special one if I''d just finish faster. Indirect Extortion! Derrik didn''t know whether he was impressed or exasperated with how Panini got her special race. And damn, that Bob character really doesn''t give a rats ass about his job. They looked back to the list of starting locations as their eyes widened in shock. There were thousands upon thousands of pages each filled with dozens of locations, just what the heck did that guy do! "....Wow....." But the oddest part of it all was
Cave of Goblin King HaroldThe Savage Lands
Hot Spring CavernOrc Kingdom Dudestia
Man Bear Pig''s LairThe Land of Dreams
All the locations appeared to be caves! Panini typed into the search bar for the Elven Empire, and the amount of locations narrowed down to just a few thousand....Yeesh. "Which one should I pick?" Now even without knowing the map of Nyxramas, anything with Empire in it''s name would have to be pretty huge, so they couldn''t just decide willy nilly. "Hrmmmm...maybe try searching for a cave with butterflies" Derrik suggested being unable to come up with any better ideas. Panini typed it along with her search and sighed in relief as she found only 2 locations
Mating Grounds of the Shadow ButterflyElven Empire Eltaor
Butterfly GraveyardElven Empire Eltaor
One of the locations contained the word butterfly, but one was obviously in the same area as Derrik''s character. Both sounded equally bad to Derrik, but Panini had different ideas...."The butterfly graveyard seems pretty scary, it''s pretty lucky that we have such good locations. She clicked the location and blue light flared.
Location confirmed. You may now log in the Nyxramas in approximately 2:08:01 hours.
"Great, we still have 2 hours, wanna go grab something to eat?" She bounced up and down, and without even waiting for an answer, she started dragging him out the door, obviously hyped to be able to play so soon. Derrik only had to stifle a laugh....oh baby you have no idea what''s coming to you. Chapter 3. Hells Asshole (©¿?_?)©¿áê©ß©¥©ß
You have logged in.
With his mind going blank, his eyes opened in the body of Mon Que Sera (or Sera as he''ll be referred to from now on). His eyes widened as he found himself facing stars, thousands if not millions of tiny pin points in the sky. "Is that a planet?" And in the sky, there was a giant sphere similar to that of earth....Sera could only guess at it''s size, but she could feel a strange pull emanating from it. Sighing, She breathed in the cool night air....but wait...she pressed the spot where her nose should of been and felt nothing, but she can still feel the air...going in her....face? She pressed her hands against her face and suddenly she had a harder time breathing, and after focusing a bit, she realized that there were tiny little pores in her face where air would flow in. ''This is so gross.'' It was only then that Sera found herself amazed at her surroundings,, as far as her eyes could see, there was glowing blue grass, with shining violet butterflies sprinkling shadows all around. It would''ve been a beautiful sight, capable of moving anyone, but there was only one problem. Sera''s lips quivered...."WHAT THE HELL IS THIS" Aside from grass and butterflies there was absolutely nothing in sight. No starting city, no NPCs, not even a tutorial session. But wait, Sera remembered that this was an rpg. "INVENTORY!" Nothing happened. "STATUS WINDOW!" Nothing happened. "LOG OUT!''
Do you wish to log out? Y/N
"Oh so at least that works" She grumbled as she tapped the "N" option. Nyxramas had an unmovable policy of not revealing any information on their game. In fact, the entire company seemed like a bunch of incompetent assholes. Sera could just imagine those developers and upper business men laughing away while swilling their craft beer as players struggled to even do anything in this so called "game of the century". ''Those arrogant bastards!'' Calming down, Sera decided to look at herself. It was surreal being in a tiny blue body, she could even feel her ears dangling off her head....Like any ordinary guy in real life, Sera was tempted to squeeze her breasts....and why the fuck not! Sera copped a feel...on herself, and was sorely dissapointed, it felt exactly like his own chest(squishy cuz manboobs), any excitation he had was lost.....Not that he would touch his own breasts, but he did know the sensation..... ''Oi narrator, what the fuck!" Anyways, she also noticed that she was wearing a tunic and trousers that appeared to have been cut from a burlap sack, which wasn''t the most comfortable feeling, but tied to her pants was a leather bag, and at the sight of this Sera got excited. ''Maybe there will be a tutorial to this goddamn game!'' Untying the sack, she upended the contents to find
Purple Carrot
Type:VegetableDurability:1/1
Quality:2
It''s a carrot, dumbass.
If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.
Sera breathed in heavily as her dark blue face somehow turned a bright purple. What occurred next was language so foul, that if it were described here, the author of this story would probably be banned. After she blew off some steam, she put her carrots back in her bag and decided that she finally had to get a move on. ''How dare they mock me, I''ll kill all of you'' Sera''s ears drooped in contempt. Unbeknownst to Sera, the majority of players had actually spawned in settlements with NPCs to teach them the basics of the game. At the mean time, Sera decided to go find her friend, the Phantom Idiot....but alas, where would she begin to look in these plains of never ending grass. It was then she noticed that the sun was beginning to come up, and at the first ray of light, all the butterflies around her started to fly in the same direction. Knowing a sign when she saw one, she followed. "Holy crap, this is hard!" For 30 minutes, Sera had been walking through the plains, and she was having a hard time keeping pace. Not being the fittest person in real life, Sera was sweating up a storm as every muscle screamed in protest. Wow....It''s actually pretty sad if you think about it. ''Fuck VR, if this is what it does to me, then I don''t want it. Her stomach started grumbling and she felt a sharp pain in her gut as the hunger pangs started pulsating from within. She really didn''t want to give in to these assholes who tried to make her a Bugs Bunny wannabe, but it was really too much, she took a carrot out of her pouch and started gnawing on it. ''Bleh tastes like wood'' But even so, the pain slowly dissapeared and she kept on trucking. ''I hope I don''t get hungry again soon, I only have another one of those'' But fortunately for Sera, the butterflies finally reached their destination. It was a hole.....A GIANT FUCKING HOLE, that went straight into the ground. It was darker than it should''ve been in the hole, so dark that she couldn''t even see past 1 meter. As Sera watched the butterflies descend, she was assaulted by a blast of heat accompanied by the most nauseating smell she had ever smelt. It was like a combination of cat piss and warm garbage, with maybe a hint of orange spice. ''Yeah, I''m not going in there.'' But just as Sera was about to leave, she heard something that filler her with exasperation. "KUHIHIHIHIHIHI DIE, DAMN YOU DIE! BOW DOWN TO YOUR QUEEN!" The laugh seemed out of place, but she recognized that voice anywhere. In fact....Sera seriously did not want to go down into the hole, and as she was contemplating whether or not she should go, the perverse laughter never stopped, accompanied by a variety of sounds....that seemed suspiciously like those star wars laser beam things. "Ahh what the heck." It wasn''t as if Sera had anywhere else to go. Steeling herself/ Holding her breath, she jumped into the deep dark dank unknown.
You have entered the Shadow Butterflies Mating Grounds
Chapter 4. Choking on Your own Spit ~Slightly less boring than the previous chapters **Whump* Sera landed in a mushy heap or something....to be honest, with the smell, she didn''t even want to know what it was. Grimacing, she noticed that she fell into some sort of cavern, with light faintly shining from the other end. Now she could hear the deranged laughter even louder, so she wiped off whatever gunk was on her arms and continued onwards. As her surroundings started to brighten up, she started noticing the little clumps of mush on the ground. Curious, she picked one up, and held it up to the light. Gasping in voice that was quite befitting of a man pretending to be a woman, Sera dropped the clump, although mutilated nearly beyond recognition, it was clearly a tiny black rabbit. Horror gripped Sera''s heart. ''It couldn''t be....could it?" She ran down the path as fast as she could, towards the laughter, the insane out of character laughter. She knew....what was happening, and she didn''t like it. *** "GYAHAHAHAHAHA" Panini was in bliss, having spawned in a cave, she could barely see her own arm at first. As a new character, this was awfully disorienting, and as she was trying to gather her bearings, something ran into her. It didn''t exactly hurt, but being attacked by something in the dark was something no girl would ever be ok with. She flailed randomly and struck something as if on accident. There was a loud squishing noise, and a terrified squeak....and It wouldn''t be wrong to say that something snapped in the girl. Her lips were stretched back in an evil looking smile, and her arms got heavier as she started to smash her arms towards the ground, eliciting terrified squeaking noises. She couldn''t help but let a laugh escape through her lips as her arms flailed towards wherever the squeaking was the loudest. When she pulverized her way near an area lit with luminescent flowers, her eyes widened as she learned that her one time assailants were little black looking rabbits. They all stared wide-eyed at her quivering in fear and bolted after seeing her in the light. Laughing like a mad women, she pursued, continuing her slaughtering spree for about an hour...and more and more of the rabbits would have died if not for something that caught her attention. Coming out from a tunnel opening was a full sized humanoid black rabbit. Her feral grin returned as she prepared herself for a battle that was slightly more interesting. ''This is going to be fun'' Yeesh Panini turned out to be crazy, who knew eh....urk *gurgle gurgle* *** Gasping as she reached the end of the tunnel, she found herself in a large stone chamber, rabbit corpses littered the ground everywhere, the ground was slick with dark rabbit blood. In the center of the chamber, standing on luminescent red stones was a being more terrifying than the devil itself. It was Panini, it couldn''t be anybody else! But her body was completely covered in a strange blocky black armor, her eyes were covered with an android like visor, and from the top of her head rested two round fuzzy ears. It was as if she were a combination of a girl, a bear, and a TK-X tank. But the most terrifying feature would have to be the bloodthirsty grin that adorned her face, and suddenly Sera didn''t feel all that safe. With a roar(like a literal bear''s roar), Panini rushed towards Sera, every step making a loud boom which echoed around the chamber. "PANI**NEEEEP!" Sera tried to yell for Panini to stop, but all that managed to come out was a terrified squeak. The Man-Bear-Tank smashed an armored fist towards Sera''s face, but before it could strike, Ser''a legs buckled and the strike ended up passing over her. Sera could feel the sheer force coming from the blow, and with a rather undignified scream, she rushed away whilst on all fours, trying to gain some difference between herself and the behemoth. The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. Wow our protaganist is so manly. ''NOT NOW!'' Panini, as it were just smiled as she saw the frightened rabbit, and instead of rushing at Sera again, she planted both feet on the ground, and a bright light started shining in front of her visor. ''No....No way......'' With a Scream, Panini unleashed a shining beam of rainbow colored light from her visor. Sera flattened her body against the ground and felt her ears get torn apart from the blast. Whether from pain or sheer terror, tears gushed out of Sera''s eyes like a waterfall as she finally managed to scream. "PANINI PLURSEASE STARHP" Saliva and snot leaked all over her face as Sera coughed and pleaded. ".........Ara?" Upon hearing her name, Panini regained some degree of humanity. Nobody besides Derrik should''ve known who she was, yet this rather cute bunny girl did. "Alright start talking! Or else I''ll blast you again!" Sera''s eyes widened in shock, she....or Derrik has never seen Panini act this way. She was always the cheeky sister type, never the bloodthirsty maniac. ~Funny how people respond to power in different ways. ~~ Kukuku yeah, the hero is so pathetic. "It''s me, Derrurk!" Sera wiped away the snot covering her face. She sat in a seiza position while bawling her eyes out. "....ooh....Well ....I didn''t know, I thought you were like the lady boss monster of all these rabbits, but at least you didn''t die right?" Truthfully, though Panini put on a concerned face, she had a seriously perverted sense of satisfaction in her heart. She never managed to make Derrik open up, and now well....he kind of broke down, but it was close enough! "Hey...WAIT A MINUTE, WHY ARE YOU A GIRL!" With his heart in tatters, Derrik told her everything, and by everything he just told her about Bob. "Shhh, shhh. It''s ok baby, the Legendary Phantom Teddy Bear won''t hurt you anymore" She patted Sera''s head and gave her a hug. With Panini''s excessive sympathy, Sera''s eye''s dried up and her expression has become cold as she looked around to all the dead rabbits in the area. "Murderer..." "Aww don''t be like that, c''mon let''s find find the way out of here together!"
Phantom Teddy Bear has invited you to a party Y/N
"....Fine" Still not completely past the trauma of a rampaging armored tank, Sera grabbed Panini''s hand and pulled herself up.
Mon Que Sera has joined the party.
The two ladies, made their way towards another tunnel that shone slightly brighter than the rest. Along the way, Panini felt slightly bad for what she did to Sera so she continuously tried to hug and comfort her, resulting in rather snappy responses from the humiliated Bunny Girl. It was just as Sera was about to ask about the black armor when they reached the end of the tunnel. And at the end of the tunnel, as if Sera didn''t have enough trauma was a giant bubbling pit a green goup, with violet butterflies fluttering around it, and in the middle of the pit was a giant motherfucking caterpillar, crunching down on tiny little rabbits which were being picked up and carried to it''s mouth by the butterflies. The caterpillar was easily the size of an elephant and thrice as long. Seeing the horrifying monstrosity before her, Sera couldn''t help but make one last snide comment. "We''re so boned." Chapter 5. I will Never be a Mother. The bunny and the bear stared in horror as rabbit after tiny rabbit was crushed beneath those strong mandibles, with green acid leaking from it''s terrifying mouth. It''s black bulgy skin made the contrast to it''s orange shiny face all the more pronounced, which doesn''t really help when that face is ripping apart tiny rabbit bodies. The giant caterpillar seemed to have just noticed them as it froze up in surprise just as another butterfly dropped a screaming rabbit into it''s maw. A second past. Then two. Suddenly the giant caterpillar started seizing up, spraying green gloupy acid everywhere. Already panicking, the two girls tried to run back the way they came only to see it swarming with violet butterflies. Apparently sensing something wrong, the violet butterflies rushed the poor girls, engulfing them before they could react. There were hundreds of them working together to lift the girls up in rather unflattering positions. The butterflies carried them over the bubbling green pits, and even an idiot could see that it was going to be deadly. "Panini, I''m sorry it''s going to end this way." Sera said, with tears starting to reform in her eyes. "Awww, I love you too" Panini was all too smug, even as they were about to drop to their doom. At that moment, the giant caterpillar shook one more time and spat out the tiny rabbit skeleton which was caught in it''s throat. It rubbed it''s mandibles together. "WAIT!!!" It boomed. The butterflies unceremoniously dropped the girls in a heap beside the pool. They both quickly brushed themselves off and stared at the great hideous beast with wide eyes. "I can see that you both have found my lair..." Sera was wondering why it paused, when she realized it was probably waiting for them to respond. "Yes, we.....got lost." "Highly doubtful, seeing as how there is only one entrance and exit." ''Wow, quite polite for a hideous monster'' Sera quickly rushed to answer, "I meant that we couldn''t find our way out." "That''s fine by me, in fact I don''t mind showing you the way out, but unfortunately we have a problem." ''Uh oh...here we go.'' "You see earlier, one of my kin has told me that one of you has been killing off all our food supplies" Sera glared at Panini, "and unfortunately we''re going to need to restock. Fortunately for you, there''s a coven of shadow rabbits just the tunnel yonder and I''ll be willing to show you the way out if you can bring me sayyyy 200 of them?" ?_? *Ting*
You have been offered a Quest!
Food for the ButterfliesRank E
Completion0/200
*You have been asked by the Butterfly Prince to feed his family of butterflies. Please bring at least 200 living shadow rabbits to the Prince''s chambers. Rewards: -A way out of the dungeon. - A special item if you exceed the prince''s expectations
Seeing the quest, Sera wanted to hurl. She had to sacrifice more of her kind to this....this...thing? As if Panini''s slaughter wasn''t enough, now she had to give them up herself? Never! Make jokes at the expense of Derrik''s masculinity all you want, but he would never hurt a small cute animal. He didn''t care if it was a request from some giant worm king, he was going to refuse, maybe get Panini to lazer his slimy ass. *Ting*
Phantom Teddy Bear''s party has accepted the quest
"PANINI!!!!" ..." "Good good, now I''ll have a couple of my brood lead you to there!" As a couple butterflies motioned for the girls to follow them, Sera was muttering to Panini under her breath. "Why did you have to accept the quest, how many more will have to die before you''re happy!" "Hey, I killed them all in the first place, so I have to take responsibility and replenish the stock right? Besides, it''s our only way out." Panini replied a bit too smugly "Oh, and I thought you said you were going to call me Phanny while in game" ''Sera will remember your arrogance, and may god save you cause I sure as hell won''t'' Slowly, but steadily, Sera or more accurately Derrik was slowly changing, his speech and thoughts lowering themselves to that of a delusional 8th grader. "Alright we''re here!" Panini exclaimed as she stepped into the clearing. Sera''s jaws dropped, although they were in a cave, there was grass growing everywhere, and the walls and rocks were completely covered in moss. But the main attraction made the indoor greenery pale in comparison, as everywhere they looked, there were black rabbits of all sizes frolicking and playing around. One of the larger ones bounded up towards Sera and rubbed her foot. "Are you our mommy?" Stricken by the incredibly cute voice that piped up from the little bundle of black fur, Sera was too shocked to speak. "You can talk?" Panini who wasn''t as susceptible to the cuteness cut in. "Only if we grow past 2 moons, I''m one of the oldest here!" Not even knowing exactly how long two moons were, Sera knew it couldn''t have been an especially long, and it absolutely broke her heart. This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. *** Sera''s POV Smirking, Panini elbowed me. "Hey, you should totally tell them that you are their mom and lead them to the Caterpillar." "What? Never!" I was appalled at her outrageous idea, I would never be apart of such...such genocide. "C''monnnn, we need 200 of them anyways, and if you do this, we''ll save like 100 trips." I knew she was right, and that I had no choice, but I didn''t want it to have to be this way. Keeping my face as collected as possible as I was already on the verge of tears, ...Again I smiled and told the young rabbit "Yes, and I''ve come to bring you all back home with me." "Really? I have to tell the others" The little rabbit ran off and pretty soon, a giant gathering of black rabbits all convened in front of her. So trusting....so naive. She couldn''t help but smile at their energy even as her heart was being torn to pieces with emotion for what she was about to do. "Alright everyone, follow me!" And with that she lead them all back to the Caterpillar Prince''s Lair. The giant bulbous insect laughed. "So you''ve returned, and with much more than the 200 I''ve asked of you, very well, I''ll have my kin lead you out of this place, muhehehehe" He snapped his mandibles as if in anticipation for the feast. "Momma, what is this place?....Momma?" The little black rabbit from before asked quizzically, but as he looked toward where his "mother" was, he just saw the heels of two girls, leaving the tunnel. My eyes started flowing again,as a notification just popped up.
Quest Complete
One of the butterflies also handed me a jar filled with bright yellow liquid, complimets of the prince apparently .
Royal Jelly
Type:CondimentDurability:10/ 10
Quality:A
Don''t ask where the jelly came from.
Ew...we''re almost nearing the exit, and I thought I could get away without any more trauma to my heart, but as we were almost out of earshot of the Prince''s chambers, it started.... People often wondered what kind of noises rabbits made, whether they could cry, laugh, yell, and if you had the choice, you''d never want to hear a rabbit scream. My vision became watery again as we headed out, ignoring the death throes of thousands of my kin. *Ping*
The Champions of Nyxramas are amused by your cruelty.
Cruel? I guess that''s what I am now, I''m a monster. **POV end *Ping*
You are rewarded for your performance.
A large sword like object appeared in front of her, it was completely black and had no edge, if anything it looked like a very long black cone with a handle. Clasping it in her hand, it felt dirty, as if it were staining her very soul.
Black Widows Stinger
Type:NeedleDurability:100/ 100
Quality:B
Piercing Damage: 33-54. Blunt Damage: 10-12
She stared at the item, thinking how fitting it was. Her the betrayer, and maybe it was the constant emotional trauma, or maybe it was the fact that someone out there was enjoying her pain, but something inside Sera broke that day, was it her humanity, her hope in humanity, or something else precious? No. It was her apathy, for once in her life, Sera (Derrik) finally had a clear goal in mind. For barely any effort, for betraying thousands who trusted her, she was rewarded for amusing some sort of NPC?! A dark rage started to bloom within her heart, burning away the sadness, the guilt, the self loathing, turning into an insatiable desire to make rights for the crimes she has commited. She looked back to where the Caterpillar Prince was enjoying his spoils and past the ceiling to the skies above where the Champions may reside, and she swore. ''I will never forgive you, not any of you. I will return, and when I do ...I will kill you...I WILL KILL YOU ALL" Chapter 6. The Calm before the Storm I know it''s late, but TIME FOR SOME EXPOSITION. I''m trying to find a balance between the serious and comedic portions at the moment, so I apologize if a few parts seem out of place. *** At some random office. "Yo Bob, What''s that you''re lookin'' at?" "Hrrmm? Oh hey Pat. Just a couple of players." "Cool, can I join in?" "Go ahead." In a brightly lit cubicle, two rather affable young men were staring at a double monitor showing two rather attractive looking girls. "Is that the Battle Bear? I thought we were saving that for that summer event." "Yeah, I gave it to her." "..What?!? Why? You know we aren''t allowed to do that." "It was a long day Pat, and you know the hours we have to put into this damn company is inhuman. So sue me if I wanted to mess around a little." "Alright, but if you get caught, I was never here." "Yeah, yeah, now will you pass me a drink?" The two men watched as the battle bear ended up meeting the bunny, before it started attacking it, firing a dazzling ray of multicoloured light, which caused the wall behind the bunny to explode into hundreds of tiny pieces. Pat whistled, "Damn, Maybe we increased the specs on that race a bit too much." The company Nyxramas Industries (great naming sense) had always been secretive when asked about the nature of their game, this was because the company wanted to players to enjoy exploring the world they created, unhindered by the messy interfaces and other needless add-ons to the game. Although unconventional, they decided that it would be better to let the players figure everything out on their own, to slowly become enarmored with the fantasy lifestyle, thus they removed the health bars, stamina bars, and even names and titles. You could lie about your identity, disguise yourself amongst the world''s NPCs and no one would be the wiser. There was no friends list or whisper system, if someone wanted to continue adventuring with their friends, they would have to plan it out in real life or buy a mana clam in the game which functioned as a magic cellphone. There were stat points in this game, but you had no way of checking what they were without going to a major city or town, and they rose up passively with no notification whatsoever during your adventure. There also weren''t any concept of levels. Special skills could only be obtained through quests and certain storyline, unless you happened to be an over powered Tank Bear, then you would have a couple straight off the bat. Each race also started with slightly different stat distributions, although most of the differences were negligible at best. All in all, it made for a headache of a game experience at first, but the company thought that the players would appreciate the sense of adventure and unknown in the game in the long run. At least that was how it was supposed to go. The fight between the girls had gotten to the point where Phanny blew Sera''s ears off, and the bunny girl had started to break down. Patrick who was watching the display felt his lips involuntarily twitch upwards, his tight jeans started to bulge in a rather indecent manner, his eyes dilated as sweat started dripping down his greasy greasy temple. Unable to control himself any longer, he started squeezing the bulge, trying to seek relief from the natural urges that plagued him. He jokingly laughed. "Damn, that little is fine, a woman''s tears just get me so hard." He laughed again, and looked towards Bob wondering why he wasn''t joining in. He found Bob looking at him with his eyes filled with disgust. "...Dude...What .....the.....Fuck!" Upon seeing Pat pleasure himself, and at the video of a crying girl no less, Bob felt a mixture of both contempt and nausea. It was honestly a strange feeling, and Bob felt that he was on the verge of puking all over Patrick''s nice clean shirt. He managed to hold it in, but he wouldn''t have minded entirely if he did spew over his "trash of society" co-worker. He smacked Pat in the crotch and warned him, "Be Serious!" leaving his disgruntled co-worker rubbing his aching tangerines. They continued to watch in silent as the two girls made up and then received the quest from the giant caterpillar monster in the dank cavern. Pat was getting bored once again until a scene came along where his face scrunched up into something that would''ve gotten him arrested if he was ever on a children''s playground. Apparently, the black rabbit girl just lead a bunch of her little animal friends into a living hell, and she was just walking away as if without another care in the world. It was when she started to cry again, Patrick felt himself explode. Not even caring about the mess in his pants, he shouldered a confused Bob to the side and started tapping away on the slick keyboard. "The heck are you doing?" "We both just saw something good, don''t you think that in itself should be rewarded?" Patrick pulled up a couple of tabs on the monitor, and searched for something that would''ve been fitting for what he had just witnessed. "Hrrmmm, I think this will do. " He chose the Black Widow''s Stringer, a rather worthless weapon in the eyes of his development group, as it was the cross between a lance and a rapier. It was far too heavy to use quickly, and it was too short to be of any known fact. Even though it was considered a B Quality weapon in scale of E to SSS, it had mediocre damage and it''s only saving grace was it''s enormous durability threshold. "You know that you aren''t allowed to give players items, no matter how much they....pleased you" Patrick just cocked a saucy eyebrow at his companion and grinned, "Just between you and me, ok?" Bob exhaled, knowing full well that Patrick wasn''t doing this out of the goodness of his heart. His co-worker was always a perverse little man, shouting out cheap provocations to woman in public, and staring at young little girls with lewd eyes. "You''re a son of a bitch, you know that right?" Although Bob wanted to intervene, it wasn''t good to piss off Patrick too much, his father was the leader of the R&D team at Nyxramas, and with but a word, Bob could very easily lose his job. "You know it" *** Back to the two weary travellers. Upon leaving the tunnel, they found themselves in the same blue grass plains, however this time there was a great pine forest in the distance. As they decided that they might as well venture on, the mood returned to a rather neutral tone from their traumatic experiences in the Shadow Butterfly''s cave. "So you can shoot lazer beams and turn into a tank? This doesn''t sound like a fantasy game at all!" Sera complained while gnawing on her second carrot. Sera found that she would get hungry very frequently, whereas Phanny didn''t seem to need to eat at all. Phanny who had reverted to her human form, looked exactly as she did in real life, save for two round fuzzy ears resting on the top of her head. "Yeah, I guess, it was really cool. I just yelled, and suddenly a lazer beam came out of my face!" Unlike Sera, Phanny was having a grand time. It might seem strange to be having fun killing a bunch of woodland creatures, but isn''t that what gamings all about? "Although that black stick you''ve got seems kinda interesting as well" "Not really, It doesn''t really do much. It''s really heavy and I don''t think I can use it properly" Attempting a practice stab on a clump of tall grass, Sera thrusted her arm forward, the black needle awkwardly swished through the air, completely missing her target as she tripped over her own feet. "Pfffft!" "Don''t laugh at me!" The items in Nyxramas were a bit special compared to other typical MMORPGs. For one, they didn''t have any level requirements, however the higher tiered weapons and armour were almost impossible to attain if you weren''t already geared out or good at the game. Crafting was also incredibly pricey, and it was difficult for new players to become proficient at it. Sera Sighed as they finally reached the edge of the forest, the trees were easily at least 25 meters tall, with the tallest nearly double that. She wondered how long she had been playing for, it had been at least 5 hours already, and it would probably be time for dinner soon. She was about to ask Phanny whether she wanted to take a break, when a notification popped up.
Warning: Your Bowels are Full. You will be logged out in 60...59....58...
''The heck?'' Sera guessed that the capsule monitored their real world bodies for them as well. As Sera realized this, the timer ticked 10...9.... "Hey Phanny, I''m logging out now." "Eh? Fine, I guess I should get something to eat too." Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. The two "friends" quickly logged out, not knowing that even if they log out, their bodies would remain in the virtual world, unconscious......vulnerable. And in the distance, multiple eyes had just watched what had occurred. *** "Haaaaaa!" Derrik groaned as he was doing his business in the bathroom. The capsule wasn''t kidding when it said his bowels were full. It felt as if a log just emptied out of Derrik''s gut. He was sweaty, shirtless, his face pale after his extensive and excruciatingly painful efforts to clear his colon, his head was foggy as he looked around the bathroom. There was his mini fridge, and his mini digital clock....wait a minute.... The clock read 1:00, he and Panini started playing at 12:00, did they play for a whole 13 hours? Reaching into his pants pocket, he took out his phone and checked the time....It was 1:00P.M! They had only been playing for a single hour. "Holy Shit!" He grunted and hurriedly cleaned and dressed himself before rushing to Panini''s suite. *Bang* *Bang* The door creaked opened and a rather tired looking girl poked her head out. "....What do you want...I thought we were taking a break...." In his eagerness, took her by the waist, eliciting a small gasp as he showed her his phone. "We''ve only been playing for one hour!" "...Wha? ...wa..WAwa..WHAT??!?" Realization dawned on her as her brain started working overtime, trying to figure out how to comprehend such a discovery. She started rapidly firing off hypotheses as to how the events which transpired could''ve been possible. Goddamn Neuroscience major. "....And maybe somehow the electrical impulses allowed our brain signals to travel fa.....WAIT THIS ISN''T THE TIME FOR THIS, THIS MEANS WE CAN PLAY EVEN LONGER!" Normally, the diddling duo were never excited about anything, but this discovery was completely revolutionary in both the world of science and gaming. They guessed that the ratio was somewhere around 5 hours in game to every hour in real life, and they were ecstatic at being able to play 55 hours until the day ended. Somehow, the difficulty of their first experiences were completely forgotten, but even then they didn''t immediately rush back into their capsules. "We should have an early dinner, so we can spend more time playing!" "Should we go to the convenience store next door?" "Yeah yeah!" Panini punched the air, as the two ran out of their apartment like young children, raising eyebrows among their neighbors. Ah....Young love...was the general consensus. Coming to a screeching halt in front of a yellow building that said "Easy Food" on it''s windows, Panini stopped Derrik before they entered the building. "You know, maybe we should try for an actual restaurant. It''s been a long time, hasn''t it?" She looked towards a nearby steakhouse and then back to Derrik with pleading round eyes. Not even remembering the last time he had a good meal, he readily agreed. "I''m probably buying aren''t I" Panini grinned, showing off half a dimple, "You know it!" She pulled him along to a burgundy coloured building with a bunch of wooden tables and chairs in an outdoor lounge. A rather attractive looking brunette was there, smiling as she greeted the two. "Table for two please" The waitress had a rather distasteful look in her eye as she looked at Derrik''s rather unflattering physique. Seeing the waitress eye her friend coldly, Panini grabbed onto his arm, pressing her breasts sensually against his soft flabby arms. Derrik and the waitress both raised an eyebrow in surprise, but neither questioned it as they were lead to their table. Panini still hadn''t released Derrik''s Arm as they were seated at their table. They ended up sitting right next to each other, and when I say right next to each other, I mean they were touching asses. Derrik was feeling rather uncomfortable as the small amount of softness her her breasts was easily felt through his thin shirt. ''I wonder what the deal is with her.'' It was not as if Derrik had never been close to a girl before, but he and Panini just didn''t have that sort of relationship. His skin was soon littered in goosebumps as the waitress and Panini stared daggers at each other. They both decided to share a Pot Roast since it wasn''t that long since they last ate. She finally released his arms as the food finally came, a steaming plate of thickly sliced rare beef, resting on a bed of puffed potatoes and carrots, with golden gravy dripping generously from the meats sides. It was going to be fine meal. Eating like savage cavemen, the plate of food soon disappeared leaving nothing behind but the sense of satisfaction from it''s consumers. The spectacle of smacking lips, noisy chewing and food bits flying all over made the other customers look at them in distaste, but it wasn''t as if the two of them cared anyways. During the meal, Panini also returned to her normal non-touchy self. After quickly paying for both their meals, Derrik was then dragged back to their apartment where the two of them literally leaped back into their capsules, greedy for more game time.
You have logged in to Nyxramas.
They had been gone for 40 minutes. *** Waking in the lands of Nyxramas, Seras felt something odd pressing against her breast. It was squeezing and pulling, and to be frank, quite painful. Her eyes shot open to find a group of elves surrounding her and Panini. There were three of them grabbing whichever body part tickled their fancy. Her awakening was not lost on her captor. "Yo, she''s awake boiiiizz" The elf molesting her called out to his cronies. From his voice, she guessed that he was probably a player just like her...and a young one...maybe 15 or so. The elves were actually all 15 year old players, and rather lonely ones at that. So imagine the bliss they felt when they first discovered two rather attractive girls whom were unconscious right before their eyes. Afraid that they might wake up at any time, they were rather meek, but after hours of poking and prodding, they started to grow bolder, fondling breasts and feeling up thighs. At one point, one of the elves tried to remove her shirt, but oddly enough it wouldn''t come off. Unbeknownst to them, to remove the danger of sexual assault, players had to remove their underclothes voluntarily if they wanted to do the nasty. "Let Go of Me!" She struggled, but before she could shake his grip, a second elf helped the first pin her down. Their eyes filled with greedy lust as they thought of all sorts of perverted torments to inflict on her. ''Oh god, please don''t do this to me.'' And god heard her. "GYAHHHHHHHHH" It was Panini (Phanny), she just logged on and did not appreciate being used to satisfy a young boy''s , black metal oozed out of her body and started folding and refolding around her limbs until she resembled the Black-Man-Bear-Tank that haunted Sera''s dreams. With a scream, she blew her captors head off with a dazzling beam of multicoloured light. Green gore splatter everywhere, as the two elves who were holding her down suddenly stiffened when they saw the horror. Somehow roaring and screaming at the same time, Phanny charged towards the other two elves and with a swipe of her oversized armoured hand, she crushed the head of one Sera''s captors, allowing her to pry herself free. Phanny then swung again, smashing her arm into the last living elf. *Crunch* He flew a good 5 meters from the blow, landing near one of the corpses of his fallen comrade. It was a complete mess, 2 of their assailants had their heads destroyed beyond repair, while the last living elf was curled up the ground, moaning helplessly. His clothes were completely soaked in blood, and it looked as if half his chest was caved in. His face was scrunched up from the pain as he looked to see Sera getting up. Her shadow blotted out the sun, and he could see were her cold unfeeling eyes. In her hand, she held her needle. "Kuh..It hurts, I''m sorry, just make it stop...Kurple*" Blood gushed out of mouth mid plea. Twirling the Needle around so that she was gripping it by the blade, she swung down with all her might, the hilt smashed his head causing it to explode in spray of green goup. Without any other threats, the two girls looked around at the havoc that they created. Although it was mostly the elve''s fault, the scene was still pretty horrific, all 3 of them had their heads smashed beyond recognition, with green elvish blood completely covering the girls head to toe. Just as they were about to calm down and properly assess the situation, a war horn sounded, and all the trees in the forest began to rustle.