It was sudden. One moment, the two were out in the fields killing boars and wolves. The next their vision was obscured by bright blue light, the same one emanated by teleportation crystals, as Renee was kind enough to point out in her surprise just before everything went white. But quickly the light faded, and both she and Ashe were met with the familiar sight of the starting town.
They were in the courtyard of the large chapel... right at the centre of town. All around them the large space was quickly filling up with more and more people, all of them forcibly teleported in.
"H-hey... What's going on?" Ashe turned to Renee with a nervous smile on her face. "Is this some sort of event? To celebrate the game opening or something?" Unfortunately for her, her friend couldn't provide any answer to that question.
"Your guess is as good as mine."
More and more people were popping into existence in the town square by the second. Some she recognized from in the fields whom she'd seen off in the distance. She couldn't help but wonder the reason behind this.Soon enough, both girls were shoulder to shoulder with the people around them. Even from their limited view it felt like every player had just been crammed into the town square.
"Ashe.." Renee called her friend's attention and pointed up. Ashe's eyes followed. The sky above them flashed with multiple red panels, all of them reading <<System Announcement>>. More appeared, one after the other and traveled from up high to the horizon behind the city's buildings. And beneath them, but still far above the players, a figure clad in dark red robes was given form. "Those are the robes the admins used in the beta..." Renee seemed somehow excited to see the figure. Perhaps it was a celebratory event for the game's official launch after all? That would have been nice.
But things are rarely nice.
The figure above them spoke. His face was hidden but he gave his name freely. And as he spoke, Renee's smile began to falter, before falling completely. It returned after a few seconds, accompanied by shaky laughter.
"It's a joke, right? Something like that? Gotta be fake." She paused a moment, waiting for her friend to answer in agreement. Ashe said nothing. "Ashe...?" Renee turned her head to the girl. The face she found was familiar... incredibly so. Not because it was the face of her friend's avatar she'd been adventuring with out on the fields, but because it was her friend's face. Her real face.
Ashe looked over at her and their eyes met. Hers widened as she, too, realized that Renee's face had changed. She'd gotten shorter, too.
"This isn't an event... is it?" Her voice shook as she touched her face carefully with her fingertips, confirming it was her own.
"... I don't know." |