Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Clash of Reality part 4 - Halloween event



The night air felt cool and refreshing, the streetlights were on and Jack-o-Lanterns decorated almost every yard in the neighborhood. Jacob walked down the quiet street. It was the perfect time for a walk, the Jack-o-lanterns were still lit and the porch lights were on, but there was no one to bother him because everyone was settling down for the night. A breeze rolled in and autumn leaves rushed over Jake. He took a breath in and smiled. “If only Sarah was here with me” Jake said with a sigh.

            Jake had only seen Sarah twice that year. They met for the first time in the summer and once again in the beginning of the Fall. They both loved Halloween and Jake wished he could be with her on that day. Luckily the online game they played together had a Halloween event for the whole week before Halloween. When they played online together, explored the huge virtual world and talked all night through chat, it was almost like they were spending time together in real life.

            Jake’s cell phone beeped, he clicked it on and saw Sarah had sent him a picture. The title was “Halloween Costume” the picture was Sarah in her room with a goofy grin on her face wearing a costume that looked like her character from the game. She looked like a warrior with a sword and shield, light armor and a red cloak. The armor wasn’t metal but she got it to look like metal somehow and the cloak looked just like the cloak Jake had won for her in the game. Jake was amazed by her costume making abilities.

            As he stared at her picture with a goofy smile of his own he received another text. “We should both dress like our characters” – Sarah. Jake replied “Sounds great!” He sent the message but then remembered he didn’t know how to sew or make costumes of any kind.

            Later that night Jake logged into his game to meet up with Sarah. Sarah’s character Ayla was already there waiting when Jake signed in with his character SoulShadow. “How’s the costume coming along?” Asked Ayla with a wink. “I don’t know how to make costumes. I do have costume swords though!” Soul replied. “don’t worry about it. Lets just enjoy the game tonight” said Ayla.

            During the week of Halloween every major city in the game had a spooky celebration with games and prizes. One of the cities had a forest on the outskirts and while it was normally a bright and cheerful place, in October it became a spooky forest filled with Halloween monsters. Fairy Grove was now Pumpkin Grove and was a favorite hunting spot for players who wanted to fight rare monsters and get Halloween weapons and armor.

            “We are almost strong enough to go into the center of the forest! I remember last year we had to stay on the outer edge and fought pumplings” Ayla said with a chuckle. Jake remembered last year. Getting so over confident about killing a pumpling that he charged right into the center of the forest and was instantly killed by a monster before he even saw it coming. He had grown stronger and even killed a border guardian during the summer, so he was confident in his skills.

            Soul pulled his two swords from their sheaths, one sword burned brightly with flames and the other froze the surrounding air. His swords Frost and Ember were his most prized possessions in the game. Ayla readied her sword and shield and the two charged in. Pumplings were just living pumpkins with vines sprouting from the tops. The Pumplings could walk using the vines like spider legs and would also attack with vines. Ayla charged forward as living pumpkins smashed against her shield and exploded. Soul Shadow held his swords out slashing anything that approached from the sides.

            As they traveled deeper into the forest they saw living trees, ghosts, goblins with carved pumpkins for helmets and slightly larger pumpkin monsters. Soul had seen all of these monsters before and rushed on through. He wanted to fight the boss of the forest, The Halloween Border Guardian. Guarding the border from this world, to the next. Only a few players had ever beat the Halloween Guardian and those who did said the secret world he guarded was amazing.

            Ayla and Soul rushed toward the center of the forest, excited to see the Halloween Border Guardian. The deeper they went into the forest the more menacing the trees looked. The bark was black and the gnarled roots stuck up from the ground. the bare, jagged branches stretched up high in the air and twisted together to block out the sun. Soul felt like he had entered a cave made of black bark and wood. The two heroes came upon a clearing with a large black door in the center standing upright but not connected to anything. “This must be the center of the forest!” Ayla said with excitement. There weren’t any monsters around and the door seemed unguarded. “Ok, well this is obviously a trap. Lets slowly approach the door and watch out for danger” Soul said. “I have a better idea” Ayla replied.

            Ayla reached into her bag and pulled out a bottle that contained electricity. She threw the magical bottle and it shattered next to the door. Electricity burst out from the bottle and stuck everything within ten feet of the broken bottle. Nothing was within ten feet of the door so only the door was shocked. Then something shimmered in the air and electricity shot forward and struck the target. A loud roar echoed through the forest.

            The Halloween Guardian appeared before the Soul and Ayla. He was hidden and waiting to attack from the shadows, but the shock bottle forced him out of hiding. The guardian was eleven feet tall, had broad shoulders, long black jacket and thick sturdy boots. The guardian’s head was a fiery Jack-o-lantern that could move to form facial expressions. Fire poured from the eyes and mouth when the Guardian roared. The Halloween Guardian carried a scythe on his back and it was easily fifteen feet long. The reach of his weapon was incredible. The reach of the scythe combined with his invisibility was the reason many players never saw the forest Boss before they died.

            The Boss brought his scythe into the air and began cackling insanely. Flames burst from his eyes and mouth as he laughed. Ayla and Soul looked determined. The Pumpkin boss held the scythe tight in its thick leather glove clad hands. He swung with enough force to slice a forest or person in half. Soul went to dodge but Ayla charged forward. “What are you doing?” Soul shouted. “Only one way to know if we are strong enough to fight him” She replied as her shield collided with the scythe. Ayla was pushed back several feet but her shield held and eventually stopped the attack. Soul was amazed but realized now was his chance to attack.

            Soul moved quickly over the battlefield and stabbed his swords upward into the Halloween Guardians chest. Frost and Ember froze and burned at the Guardians stab wounds. The Halloween Guardian used his left hand to swat Soul away. Soul went flying and hit a tree. The Halloween Guardian started to turn invisible, his legs vanished and he began to float on a ghostly tail. He flew at Soul with his Scythe drawn back. The Guardian looked like specter with a Jack-o-lantern for a head. His eyes burned bright with fire and flames shot from his mouth.

            Soul rolled to dodge the flames then used Frost to slash at any remaining flames he couldn’t escape in time. The icy aura of Souls sword extinguished flames on impact. The Guardian swung his giant scythe while Soul was distracted with the flames. The Guardian stopped mid swing though because Ayla had stabbed him in the back with her sword. She held up her shield and blocked as the Guardian breathed fired down on Ayla. Soul ran straight, jumped into the air and then slashed the air with both swords. Fire and ice magic formed in the air and flew straight at the Guardians pumpkin head. The fire and ice attack ruptured the Guardian’s head and flames began to burst from the damaged areas.

            Ayla and Soul used this chance to frantically slash and stab at the Guardian. Soon the Guardian let out a howl and vanished from sight.

            Soul and Ayla smiled as they looked at the door the Halloween Border Guardian was guarding.  “after you!” Soul said with a smile then gestured to the door. Ayla walked forward and opened the door. Both heroes were transported to a Halloween world.

            The world was a full Halloween version of their game. All the cities were even not only decorated for Halloween but many structures looked haunted, old or abandoned. The beach area of the game had skeleton pirates, every forest had living trees and Pumplings, the mountain area was filled with undead trolls and pumpkin headed golems and just a few of the friendly towns in the game that players used to restock items and rest were now full of zombie versions of all of the towns people.

            “I don’t know how this could get any better!” Soul said. “Did you check your mail today? I sent you something” Ayla told Soul. “…your real life mail, not in game mail” She added as Soul looked in a post box for mail.

            Jacob jumped up from his computer chair and ran to the door. There was a large package waiting for him. He opened it and inside was a lovely note from Sarah and a Halloween costume. The note said that Sarah had made Jacob a costume so he could dress as Soul for Halloween. The box contained everything Jacob would need for his costume, except for the swords, which Jake already had.

            Jacob put the costume on and took a picture. He sent it to Ayla with the text “Happy Halloween”

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