The Cathedral Encounter

Throughout the next week, Tabby tried to get Haseo to change his mind about getting revenge for Shino. Haseo either ignored her or told her to leave him alone. His favorite way to end the conversation seemed to be escaping to the Chaos Gate where he would go to another area to level up. Tabby chose not to take offence at his actions. She knew that Shino’s coma would be hard on him and knew that he would be stubborn. However, even though Haseo seemed cold to everyone right now, she had seen the emotional and loving side of him.

After playing “The World" for a while, Tabby would try to track down Shino. She was eventually successful and immediately went to the hospital to visit her. In Shino’s room, she saw Haseo who was actually crying for her. She looked at her bedside and saw flowers that Haseo had brought for her. Tabby left without talking to Haseo, but from this scene she knew that in the outside world, Haseo was just as sad as she was. Probably more. Tabby needed to bring out those emotions because otherwise, Haseo would still look for revenge.

Unfortunately, Tabby didn’t get a chance. A new event known as “The Forest of Pain” had opened in “The World”. It was a gigantic dungeon filled to the brim with powerful monsters and it was said that the only way to get through it would be to avoid them. It was also said that there would be a unique treasure at the very end. Tabby read about it on the forums and knew immediately that Haseo would want to try it. What better way to become strong enough to defeat Tri-Edge then to go through a huge, monster-infested dungeon? She decided to talk to Phyllo about it.

At the Mac Anu bridge, Tabby asked Phyllo “Can you tell me about the Forest of Pain?”
“The place is filled with powerful monsters,” replied Phyllo. “The items you take with you will be the only ones. While there, you have no contact with the outside world. It is said that there is a rare treasure at the very end of the treacherous place. I wonder if it’s really worth all the trouble”
“But if the monsters are so strong, we need to stop Haseo!” Tabby said. “He will probably want to challenge the event”
Phyllo shook is head. “It is too late. Haseo has already begun the event. He is inside the forest as we speak. “
“Then I’ll wait for him to return!” Tabby said determinedly.
“He has three days to get through before the event ends. You should get some rest”, Phyllo replied.
“No” said Tabby, “I’ll stay up as long as I can”
“Suit yourself” Phyllo replied. “However, I’m going to bed” He then logged off.
Tabby sighed as she sat on the bridge beginning her long wait for Haseo.

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The third day had come, and the Forest of Pain event was set to end that afternoon. True to her word, she had only fallen asleep in the last couple of days when she absolutely couldn’t help herself. At the moment, she was waiting with Phyllo at the usual bridge for Haseo to return.

“Do you think he succeeded?” Tabby asked Phyllo.
“I don’t know”, replied the floating beast character. “But even if he fails he will fight to the bitter end” His tail wagged behind him.
“True,” said Tabby. She fell silent. Ten minutes later, Haseo finally appeared at the bridge.

“Haseo!” Phyllo gasped as he saw him. Tabby said nothing but could see why he seemed so alarmed. Whatever happened in the forest caused Haseo’s appearance to change drastically from what it used to be. His original form made him look almost like an ordinary teenager- with weapons, but now his appearance was more like a demon. Spikes seemed to be protruding all over his body and he just seemed so… dark. In addition to this, he was now holding a new weapon. It was scythe that looked like it could slice several people in half.

“What happened?” Tabby thought to herself. “What happened to the old Haseo? The one that kissed Shino so tenderly? The one that seemed cold but was actually very loving on the inside?” It seemed that that Haseo was gone and in his place did a new, darker Haseo want revenge.
“I did it!” Haseo said, his voice colder then Tabby had ever heard. “I have become strong!” He laughed a little. To Tabby, his laugh sounded almost evil. It was certainly nothing like his laugh when they were in the cathedral together with Shino.

Haseo walked off, with Tabby not knowing what he might do next. “What to do we do now?” Tabby asked Phyllo.
“There’s nothing we can do” Phyllo replied, knowing that things would probably get worse soon. “Haseo refuses to listen to either of us. All we can do is see how things play out.”
“There must be something I can do to help”, said Tabby anxious more than ever to help Haseo.
“Do yourself a favor and forget about him for now” Phyllo relied firmly. “Do something you really want to do in this world, that’s my advice”
“What about you?” Tabby asked.
“I am already doing what I most want to do”, replied Phyllo.

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Tabby took Phyllo’s advice. She made a few new friends and together they created the Paw Pad Squadron with Tabby as guildmaster. This guild was dedicated to healing people when they needed it. If players were in trouble and found themselves battling a monster too powerful for him or her, the Paw Pad Squadron would be there to help.

Tabby enjoyed being in the guild and just as Phyllo said, she didn’t think of Haseo. Since she was having fun, Haseo’s burden didn’t affect her as much, although she never allowed herself to forget about him or Shino.

Sadly, it would not last. Tabby had hoped that Haseo wouldn’t do anything stupid with his newfound power, but messages all over the forums of “The World” showed that he had done exactly that. The messages talked about a high-level Adept Rogue that wore black, had many spikes on his body, and a deadly scythe. This Adept Rogue had become a PKKer. He would find player-killers and ask them the same question: “Do you know Tri-Edge?” Anybody with an unsatisfactory answer (which so far was everyone) was killed. The PKKer would then leave the scene and find another victim.

Tabby immediately knew who the mysterious player-killer-killer was because the description matched the demonic Haseo she had met a few weeks ago. She was sad that Haseo was choosing this path to save Shino, and knew that this could be trouble for him later on.

Tabby decided she would try to help Haseo. As guildmaster, she changed the objective of the Paw Pad Squadron from healing anyone in need to following Haseo and reviving anybody who was unfortunate enough to meet the dark and determined adept rogue. They also helped to heal Haseo, much to his great annoyance.

One day, Tabby got some bad news from Phyllo. “It seems a PKer named Bordeaux has gathered many other PKers together.” Phyllo said, though his voice was still as calm as it always was. “They plan to ambush him at the Coite-Bodher Battlefield. Haseo has already taken the bait thinking Tri-Edge will be there.”
“I’ve got to go tell him!” Tabby said in alarm.
“Don’t”, Phyllo said. “He wouldn’t listen to you anyway. Perhaps losing to all those player-killers will finally show him that he is not ready to take on Tri-Edge.”
“But-”, Tabby started. “Forget about it”, Phyllo advised. But Tabby vowed to help Haseo anyway.

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Later that evening, Tabby brought together the Paw Pad Squadron. Together they went to Coite-Bodher to begin their plan of acting as healers during the ambush. The three players sat on a rock overlooking the Lost Ground waiting for the PKers and Haseo to show up.

The PKers began to warp into the Lost Ground. Tabby lost count of how many there were but estimated that there were around 100. They all loitered around waiting for their common enemy.

At last, the adept rogue appeared. He looked around at all the people also in the area, wondering what was going on. He walked up to a player and asked: “Where is Tri-Edge?”
“Tri-Edge?” said the PKer in disbelief. “You actually think he exists?”
“Wrong answer” Haseo said coldly. A split second later, the PKer found himself dead on the ground, impaled by one of Haseo’s Twin Blades.

The ambush began. The PKers continually attacked Haseo trying to defeat their worst enemy. But Haseo didn’t flinch. Instead he attacked with his broadsword, killing PKer after PKer that dared come near him.
“There are too many of them! Who do we focus on healing?” asked one of Tabby’s guild members.
“Focus on Haseo! We will keep Haseo alive!” Tabby said determinedly.
Together, the Paw Pad Squadron went into the terrible battle and focused on Haseo and nobody else.
“Stop that!” Haseo yelled at them when he realized what they were doing. But the Paw Pad Squadron continued anyway and Haseo continued to decimate the hoard of PKers trying to kill him.

Eventually, Tabby and her guild members were discovered. “Hey you! You’re helping Haseo!” shouted a PKer. He immediately killed all three of them. Tabby fell to the ground and continued to watch the battle seeing many bodies fall around her.
“Haseo!” she called, but Haseo didn’t notice her. The battle was slowly starting to end. Some of the remaining PKers fled to try to buy more supplies in town. The rest of them were starting to have second thoughts.

“You can run if you want” Haseo said, putting away his weapon. The PKers looked at him in terror and started to run. However, Haseo quickly brought out his scythe and killed the remaining PKers. Tabby had seen enough and she input the command that allowed her to be brought back to Mac Anu.

The aftermath of the battle brought along two things. The first was that all PKers were now afraid of Haseo. He had gained notoriety throughout “The World” and was now known as “The Terror of Death”.

The other thing that happened was that Tabby’s guild broke up. Her guild members could not understand why she would defend a crazy killer like Haseo and so they left, once again leaving Tabby all alone.

Once again, there was the question of what she would do next. Phyllo had been right all along. There was no getting through to Haseo. He was too consumed by the idea of getting revenge that he cared about almost nothing else. For days she thought about it and finally had an answer.

This was also the day that Tabby saw Haseo for the first time after what was now known as “The 100-PKer Incident”. However, Haseo looked different. Gone were the spikes and scythe. All that was left of Haseo was the teenage looking player who was in love with Shino. It was the character that so tenderly kissed Shino in the cathedral right in front of Tabby.

Tabby walked up to him and said, “I’ve decided what I want to do. I’m going to become a nurse in the real world and find a cure for Shino.”
Haseo looked at her and said, “Becoming a nurse takes time, right? I will probably save Shino first, but do what you want.”
“I will,” said Tabby happily.
“Maybe someday when Shino is cured, the three of us can go adventuring again, as well as take advantage of some of the more… obscure parts of “The World”
Tabby smiled knowing what he meant, “I hope so” she said. “Today will be my last day in “The World” for a while. Good bye Haseo”
“Good bye Tabby” Haseo replied. “I’ll contact you as soon as I’ve rescued Shino”

Haseo then logged out and it would be the last time Tabby saw him for a long time. Tabby followed suit. She went to bed and fell asleep with hope. Hope that someday Shino could be cured and that everything iwould be right in "The World"

The fourth and final chapter is coming soon. Reviews are always appreciated.