Where We Are

Where We Are

by eversskye

Chapter Two

The five year old opened her eyes and found herself outdoors, on an unfamiliar mountainside.

A blanket of clouds floated lazily below her, reflecting magnificent shades of red and gold as it embraced the morning sun that peeked just barely beyond the horizon.

She gasped, heart soaring at the marvelous sight. Eyes wide with wonder, she slowly scanned right and left, taking in the view while also noticing the figure that stood beside her.

"Daddy? Where..."

She drifted off, mind flooded with myriads of questions yet her young mind was unsure on how to start asking.

Her father smiled kindly, kneeling down to pat her head before reaching over to hold her hands in his.

"This place, this world...your mother and I started building it when you were born. I know your condition makes you feel different from everyone sometimes...makes you want to stay inside. But what you'll one day find is that the world is a wonderful place. It would be such a waste to live your life never having explored all there is to know."

She tilted her head and stared at him, puzzled.

"You're not old enough to understand any of this yet. But for now, this place, this world...it's yours. Take care of it, and explore...maybe you'll be surprised of what you'll find. Only you can unlock the key to this world."

As he spoke, houses seemed to grow from the land below the mountains. A flock of birds few overhead,  and a flag flew proudly in the distance from the top of a castle bathed in sunlight...one that  she could have sworn was not there a minute ago.

She stood in awe as the clouds disappeared, revealing a valley that slowly came to life before her eyes.

Elsa took  a calming breath, closing her eyes as yet another annoying ring echoed from the device inside her ear. The calls had started around six in the morning, and had continued consistently ever since. Everyone wanted to reach her- whether to express their amazement, disapproval, or  offer some sort of opinion or other.

People wanted to know if the monsters currently rampaging through Arendelle Online was her doing.

The problem was, neither Elsa nor her game developers knew what was going on. They had never planned this, and had no way of anticipating what was currently happening. Normally, if a deviation is detected in system's coding, they would immediately determine the cause and isolate it. What made this time different, however, was that the problem came from within the deepest levels of the program itself.

There was no outside attack, no viruses or hacking to be found, and when they tried to revert Arendelle Online to its former self, they found themselves locked by a high level of security that could only have come from Elsa herself.

Since the CEO had no part in it, there was only one other person.

"Father." Elsa sighed, folding the sleeves of her white office shirt towards her elbows so they wouldn't get in the way. "What were you planning?"

With a wave of her hands, a glass screen moved before her with detailed notes of Arendelle Online's codes and syntax. She perused through the notes carefully, knowing that nothing had changed from this morning.

Despite knowing the troubles it might lead to, Elsa wanted to let the programs run the way her father had probably intended it, just to see where it would lead. The only problem would be from the people who were currently playing.

It would be terrible business if she let the game be destroyed by whatever the dad had programmed into it. And yet, perhaps she could play it off as something intentional. A new event, perhaps?

She moved her hand over the top right hand corner of the glass screen , where the hologram of the snow golem AI immediately showed up.

"Marshmallow! Block all incoming calls for now unless it's been approved by Kai as an emergency. Then help me do a thorough scan of Arendelle Online. Make safety your main concern. Will the new changes effect the players at all?"

Marshmallow paused for a few minutes to perform his tasks, before reporting back to the woman who created him.

"No danger detected. New changes limited to Arendelle's new worlds. Player gameplay unaffected."

She thought for a moment, before calling on the AI once more.

"Hey Marshmallow, call Eugene for me."

The glass panel in front of her gave a few rings, before the person on the other line picked up and Eugene's smiling face appeared before her eyes.

"Heya  Els! Please tell me you know what's going on."

The seriousness in her expression quieted him, and he sighed, rubbing behind his head with one hand.

"You don't know, do you? What do you need?"

She leaned forward, voice dropped to a low whisper.

"I need Flynn Rider to sign on while I deal with everyone on the real world. Keep an eye on everyone. Help them fight the monsters if you need to. Report back to me if you notice anything odd. Tell Rory and Mulan to sign on too."

He nodded, saluting before cutting off the call.

There was no one in this area of the forest by the sea, seeing as how most people were currently busy fighting the monsters attacking Arendelle's castle. Eris was counting on this when she headed off alone, hiking back to that location where they fought yesterday and she had inadvertently sent a blast of her magic towards the water spirits. She had a sneaking suspicion that whatever happened, her ice magic was what triggered the attacks.

The truth was, ice mages and sorcerers - while rare - were not particularly more special than any other types of players in Arendelle. What no one knew was that Eris's magic extended further, faster, and stronger than anyone else's.

What no one realized was that her level was impossibly high, because Eris never logged off from the game; not entirely. No one needed to know, because they would be curious as to how she managed it. They would wonder why, and she would have to reveal that she'd been part of the game since before Arendelle even existed.

It wasn't as though she abused her powers unfairly without anyone's knowledge, anyway. For the most part, she had most of her magic sealed and chose a more passive role in the game. She never strove to be the strongest player, had never lead the champion boards. And despite the dire situation they found themselves in, Eris knew that especially now, she could not release the extent of her powers since it would bring out more harm than good.

As she approached the area her guild had hunted in the day before, she immediately felt the drop in temperature. The iciness in the air did not bother her, and she continued on, searching for the exact spot her magic had hit.

/Only you can unlock the key to this world./

Arctic blue eyes widened when sure enough, the area in which her magic had touched yesterday could not be missed. A rune of some sort now glowed from the ground below, triggered by the blast of magic she had sent out yesterday. The center of it was exactly where she stood the day before, yet the rune was large enough to expand onwards, through the forest and- as she ran forward to see where it lead- across the sea, where the fjords were now completely frozen.

Oh no.

As she watched on, hidden by the lush leaves of the forest trees, armies upon armies of spirits and monsters marched in from the other side of the fjord over to Arendelle.

She sprinted back.

I have to warn everyone.

The city was in chaos. People who had chosen less aggressive roles in the game stood inside barricades, providing healing potions and food for the protectors of the castle. The online players fought bravely, yet even then Eris could see that many people had extremely low HP. Some had died, resulting in the loss of half their experience to the monster that had dealt the last blow.

It was a harsh punishment to permanently lose half of your experience points to a monster during just one battle. Gaining them back would be much more difficult since humans don't gain experience in the same manner. But since Arendelle had never faced enemies like this before, no one had minded.

Now, though...Eris could see a lot of players becoming much more cautious than usual. Their hesitation, coupled with disorganization from the entire human population, left the battle very skewed in favor of the attackers. If everything continued in this manner, Arendelle castle would be lost.

A few of the larger guilds, however, were still able to make a couple of dents in the opponent's line of attack. Eris was proud to find her own guild amongst those in the front line.

With a quick intake of breath she leapt, kicking once on the middle of the wall that surrounded the city before she ended up on top. Not wasting her momentum, she used the force of her leap to land in a spinning motion, one leg extended to take down the two marsh demons and a fire monkey that had managed to scale the wall.

As her opponents disappeared into nothingness, she turned to greet her comrades with a smile.

"Everyone okay?"

They nodded, waving their hands in greeting.

Frost, ever loud and playful, was the first to speak up even while Tangle was still bandaging his wrist.

"Are you kidding? Of course we're fine. This is the most fun I've ever had in a long time. Ow-! Easy there."

With a rough tightening of the white wrappings, Tangle pushed the boy's arm away as he winced. She ignored him as she spoke.

"Fun, yes. But we could all use a break. I've been healing everyone nonstop since this morning, and the battle seems unending. It doesn't help that only half of our guild is here right now, and some might have to log off soon. I'm pretty sure it's the same with everyone else's guilds, and if we keep up like this, I don't know how much longer we can hold on until Arendelle falls. What were the game developers thinking?"

Eris cringed, but before she could say anything, another guild member joined the conversation.

"Yeah. If this keeps up, the game's going to be ruined. People don't take losing half their experience points easily. And the more people die, the less people we'll have with enough experience and power to defeat those monsters. Once Arendelle is overtaken, the game will go down with it. I, for one, don't want this game to be over."

The healer turned to her guildmate, surprise on her face.

"Wow, Flynn. That's the first time I've ever heard you put so much thought into something."

The young man sent Tangle a dashing smile, serious tone immediately gone.

"Don't you know? We thieves tend to be mysterious. Quiet. Handsome. But we're also very cunning. It comes with the occupation."

As he puffed out his chest, Tangle rolled her eyes, groaning.

"Nevermind."

Not sure if she should be amused or exasperated, Eris settled with a small cough to bring them back to the original conversation. Taking pity on their leader, another guild member spoke up.

"What he means is that we have to do something. And fast. The more people we lose, the less chances we have at victory."

Eris nodded, eyes dimming in thought.

"I got it. Mulan, what do you suggest? And where's Rory? She's usually online at this time, isn't she?"

The warrior frowned.

"Rory's on the southern side of the walls, I think. Like those two-" she nodded towards the thief and healer, now busy in their own argument, "-she's gotten distracted. As for the situation, I'm not really sure what we can do. Our guild doesn't feel the pressure yet, because most of our members are higher level. I'm not sure how much longer the smaller, newer guilds could take. At the very least, there needs to be more organization. A system of some sort to accommodate people's different online schedules."

Eris processed the information quickly, her mind immediately grasping the situation and strategizing the best way to defend the city with the smallest amount of casualties possible. When Mulan finished talking, Eris motioned all of her guild members over.

"You're right, Mulan. If we are to defend Arendelle, we'll need the help of all the guilds. We can't do this alone. Can I ask all of you to help me in this?"

She looked at all of them earnestly, eyes shining with determination. As usual, Frost was the first to speak, swinging his staff over his shoulders.

"Tch. What kind of question is that? You're our leader. We know you'll be able to lead us through this. So whatever you want us to do, just say it."

Enheartened, Eris smiled as her guildmates looked trustingly back at her.

"Okay. We currently don't have our entire guild online, so I'll speak to the rest as they log in. For now though...Frost, I need you to be near the walls at all times. Seal off any damages in the structure. Reinforce weak areas with your ice powers to make sure our enemies can't use their weapons to break through. Alert me if there's anything urgent, and relay information with our guild members to me."

The silver-haired boy nodded once, before sending a blast of power to his legs and flying off. Eris turned to Tangle.

"I need you to contact everyone who doesn't belong to a guild. Have them surround the barricades for now, to protect those without fighting skills and give aid to those who are injured."

With a slightly put-out expression on his face, Flynn interrupted before Eris could continue.

"Whoa there. Hold on. Shouldn't I be the one to contact the misfits? I'm a thief! Those people can be serious trouble if you-"

Mulan groaned.

"Flynn! If she sent you to that task, all you'd end up accomplishing is being killed by them yourself."

The thief was about to reply, but a hand on his right shoulder from Eris caused him to pause.

"Look, Flynn. There's absolutely no one in our guild who's better at inspiring others than Tangle. They might not enjoy being part of any guild, but they will definitely listen to her. She'll be fine. And I'm pretty sure they all adore her already, with all of the help she tends to give them as a healer. Besides, I need you to keep an eye on everyone for me. We're already dealing with enemies outside. The last thing we need is anyone trying to take advantage of the situation to cause trouble in the city. Take them down if you need to; fighting within the confined spaces of the city is your specialty."

As Flynn and Tangle depart, Mulan turned to their leader, raising one eyebrow as she waited for her instructions. Eris did not hesitate to continue.

"Contact all the group leaders for me, and have them all meet me in the castle's main hall. We need to discuss our plan of attack."

The female warrior was about to turn away, but a thought came to her and she paused.

"What about Rory?"

Eris breathed out a sigh.

"She'll be tasked with the most difficult task of us all."

Mulan stared at the blonde, puzzlement clearly shown on her face.

"Huh?"

Eris shook her head, looking at the battle around her.

"She'll be the one to persuade one of our strongest and most elusive players to join the frenzy. Having her support might change the tide of the battle."

The warrior couldn't help but open her mouth slightly in awe.

"Wait. Who?"

"Maleficent."

End Chapter Two.