The Eden Crisis

The dragon roars at us. “I am the divine dragon called Yeshua. I am guardian over all creation. You have proven yourself able to unlock my seal. Will you now fight me and attempt to prove your honor to me, mortal?” I turn to Raziel. “How do we beat it, Raziel?” I ask. “You don’t, my friend,” he says. “You can only prove yourself. In that, I will aid you. You will not fail as long as I am by your side.” I give my thanks and draw my weapon.

“I challenge you, divine dragon,” I say. The beast flaps its great wings. I can feel their gust and it is immense. Raziel keeps his weapons away for now. It seems he is going to stick to magic.

“All right, let’s go!” I say with excitement. I run toward the dragon. I am running in the sky, something I will remember forever. “Unholy wave!” I yell as I swing my sword. Dark energy shoots from the blade and hits Yeshua. The dragon snorts deeply and breathes out a pale fire.

Raziel steps in front of me and holds out both hands. “Divine wall!” he charges. A green wall of magic appears and diverts the fire. The wall soon shatters but fortunately by then the fire has stopped. I hold my free hand up. “Hell fire!” I chant. A burst of fire shoots from below Yeshua. He lets out a roar as Raziel adds a wind spell to keep him on the defensive.

White bolts of lightning shoot down from the sky onto us. The damage done is surprisingly serious, and Raziel and I both must use healing magic to restore our health. The time between Yeshua’s attacks is significant. Because of this, I am going to use physical attacks to do more damage quickly. Raziel stays in the back to continue using his magic.

I attack the dragon with several slashes. Raziel joins the attacks with his magical spells. Yeshua roars louder than ever and swings his massive tail ever more violently. The tail hits me and sends me backward. I hold up my hand. “Colossal storm.” Lightning shoots down from above and hits Yeshua. He groans.

Yeshua gathers energy into his mouth and shoots a stream of energy at me. I place my hand on the invisible surface I stand on. A glyph appears below me. “Eos! Dawn breaker!” Eos appears and uses her magic to protect me from Yeshua’s attack. The energy hits the shield and bounces off.

“Ethereal beam!” I hear Raziel yell as a blue beam shoots past me and hits Yeshua. The great divine dragon’s health is dropping. Yeshua flaps his wings and floats above us. “Creations healing,” he charges. Green energy surrounds him and he heals himself. He falls back to the ground and releases a shockwave. The blast knocks me off balance.

Yeshua is acting more aggressive and runs toward me. He breathes fire and hits me. Raziel heals me and runs up next to me. My friend uses ice magic to try to slow Yeshua down. I help him by using absolute zero. The dragon slows a little bit but is still coming at us.

What can I do? I wonder. “Malthael! Come out and use your great dark power!” I yell confidently, but moments pass and nothing happens. Yeshua the great dragon begins to laugh. “My young children would not fight me under any circumstances,” he says mockingly. Damn!

Raziel puts a hand on the ground. “Raijin! Judgmental stream!” he utters as a glyph appears and summons the great thunder Entitas. Lightning shoots down and hits Yeshua, who again breathes fire at us. We are unable to block the attack.

“I grow tired of you two,” the great beast says. “Let’s end this now.” The divine dragon flaps his wings and flies high above us. The air seems to darken as he absorbs the light in the sky. The words “Creation flare” appear in the air. A large pale-green ball of energy forms in Yeshua’s mouth.

I can’t see anything, but I hear Raziel doing something behind me. Yeshua releases the energy of his flare and it soars toward us. All I can see is this green energy ripping through the sky. I realize the attack is unavoidable! I can’t use Eos again in time. This can’t be it, can it? I say to myself. I hold out my hand. “Regeneration!” I say as I cast the spell. I quickly use another spell, this one a magical defense.

The creation flare hits us head on and despite my spells our HP drops quickly and hits zero. I fall to my knees, and soon I imagine in my mind’s eye the horrible words all who are about to die see: “Bleeding effect; death in ten seconds.” My hope is revived as a fire outline of a bird appears around us in a large glyph. Raziel! You genius! The phoenix rises from the fiery glyph and attacks Yeshua.

Raziel and I are revitalized before it is too late due to the power of the phoenix’s resurrection flame. With our HP back to full, we both attack Yeshua. I use sanctimonious slash and Raziel uses ethereal beam. Yeshua lets out a roar and once again breathes fire into the air.

“Enough. You have done well,” he says. “I will grant you my strength. Take this ring as proof of your victory.” I feel the power of the divine dragon fill me as the power of the other dragons did. The ring materializes on my right ring finger. It is a beautiful platinum ring with Eden script on it.

Raziel and I go back to Castle Infinity and rejoin the others. Almost immediately there is a message in my inbox. I open the menu and look at the message. Congratulations on taming all seven original dragons. In addition to having them all as summons, you also gain the ring of creation, which allows the use of a skill called “final attack,” giving you the final move when you die. And the ultimate prize for defeating the seven original dragons is the sole skill to summon the ultimate Entitas, Knights of Creation.

I look through my skills and I see what the message is referring to. A skill is automatically linked to final attack. I look at the Entitas called Knights of Creation. They are a forbidden class of Entitas that are superior to the five-star Entitas.

The others ask us what happened and Raziel and I let them know what we did. They congratulate me on the new skills. All of us rest for a while before going to fight our next challenge. While we rest in the pub-like floor, I ask Apollo what if anything he faced. He takes a drink from his mug. “I faced Cain, and watching him die was shocking to me. Given his skill, I thought I would be watching him as I die,” he says before he begins his explanation.

Nero and I are walking on the tenth basement floor when footsteps turn our attention from our path. We look and there he is, walking, Cain. He carries himself as he always does with that confidence and all-knowing attitude.

“Hello, old man,” he says, speaking with his usual flair. “It is so good to see you, the one hailed as the god of sorcerers.”

“To what do I owe the pleasure, Cain?” I reply with hope in my voice. “Have you left Shadow XIII to join us?”

Cain smiles his smile that could charm the devil. “Not exactly,” he says. “I am here because all the other members have fallen in battle. It is only Loki, Noel, the director and I who are still alive . . . who remain loyal, anyway. You have become an inconvenience; you aid Dante too much, and he has gotten too close to the director. I am here to ensure you die and the boy with you . . . Nero, is it?”

“I don’t suppose there is a way we don’t fight?” I ask as Nero steps behind me and pulls out his sword. “Well, you could always kill yourself, old man,” Cain says. With that, I hold out my staff and use a fire spell to attack him.

The fire ball goes right through him. Damn that death’s cloak! I think. Nero runs toward him and uses a holy-based sword skill that connects and damages him. Now! I say to myself. I use a powerful dark spell and knock Cain to the ground. The weaver of all schemes is up in a flash, though.

He jumps into the air. “Shadow lightning.” Dark lightning shoots down from his hands and hits us. As Cain lands on the ground, I use a holy spell from my staff. I didn’t want to reveal that I can use both diviner and sorcerer magic, but now is as good a time as any. Cain doesn’t seem surprised by the attack in the least.

He holds up a hand and a defensive magic shields him from the attack. Nero runs at him to do a holy-based sword skill. Cain grabs his wrist as Nero swings his sword and throws Nero into the air in front of him. “You annoy me,” he charges, as a beam of blue energy shoots from his hand and into Nero.

My friend falls to the ground, seemingly dead to Cain. He doesn’t know about Nero and his seal. Cain comes toward me. I used a holy spell and he deflects it with a reflect spell. He keeps coming. If I can’t take him by surprise the holy magic will never work.

Nero is no longer in Cain’s sight. My friend gets up and runs toward Cain. Nero uses his divine slash and attacks Cain by surprise. I can see the shock in Cain’s eyes as Nero slashes through him several times. When the attack is finished, Nero comes over to me.

Cain is on one knee. His HP is low. The weaver of all schemes stands up and holds out his hand. “Shadow chains,” said he says with acid in his tone. Dark chains shoot from a different space and catch Nero and me. Cain walks over to us. He puts a gloved hand on Nero’s abdomen and slides his shirt up. “I see . . . you have obtained the power of the Reaper seal. You then took the power of a revival elixir . . . marvelous that you found a way to cheat death in this game over and over,” he says with fascination.

He holds Nero’s shirt up and with his other hand gathers magic in his hand. White flames ignite on each finger. “Unseal,” he charges, pressing his hand against Nero. The Reaper seal is burned off of him.

“Now . . . you die,” Cain says as he gathers magic into his hand. I can’t allow Cain to kill Nero. I use every ounce of my strength to break from the dark chains. I quickly use a holy spell and knock Cain backward. His cloak’s special skill is temporarily down, so I use a non- elemental spell called cataclysm.

The great spell shoots from my hand like lightning and hits Cain while he is falling backward. He falls to the ground and rolls then stands up and looks at us with shock. “I can’t . . .” His body shatters before us. The spell holding Nero breaks, and he is free along with me.

“There was nothing I could do for Nero and his seal,” Apollo says. “I was out of the required items.” Cain is dead? This is shocking. He is so strong. How did he lose? It’s not that I’m not happy, because I am, but I never thought he would fall.

“Then Noel is all that is between us and the director?” I say to everyone. It’s time to end this all, I think. I ask everyone if they are ready to finish the game and one by one they say yes. A few of us get some last-minute items at the pub-like room’s NPC.

We all go to the stairs and go to floor ten. This floor is also different from the other rooms. It is surrounded by a stained-glass wall. The color is blood red with purple swirls.

There doesn’t appear to be anything to do in this room, which makes me wonder. We walk to the other side of the room and ascend to the eleventh floor. This room is like the one on floor ten in that the walls are stained glass of the same colors. I have an ominous feeling.

The torches in the room begin to burn brighter. We all walk forward to get to the twelfth, but we are stopped by Noel using a magical attack. Noel jumps down from his vantage point and blocks the exit. “I don’t think so,” he says as he snaps his fingers. A black energy field covers the door.

“You all have put me in a very foul mood!” he says as he draws his weapons, one a light sword and the other a heavy sword. I remember how Noel has always been different from the others. For example, he never chose to wear the cloak like everyone else, seeming to have always preferred his own attire.

“Noel, why are you doing this?” I ask. “Why kill innocent people?” Noel laughs at my words as if they were the dumbest thing he has ever heard. “No one had to die,” he says. “Shadow XIII simply wanted everyone to stay in this paradise, but, no, you all have to leave. So the director, being the wise man he is, sought to keep everyone in the game. We tried to convince players to stay without violence, but so many refused that eventually Helios and Damon chose the violent path despite the director’s wishes. Even then they failed.”

“What are you talking about?” I say. “The director ordered them to attack Sanctum. Sion admitted as much. ”Hearing the anger in my voice, Noel swings his blades through the air to try to startle me. “Sion was a fool. His obsession led him to his downfall. The director knew that Raziel was more than capable of defeating Helios and Damon. He even figured you’d beat Sion. However, even in his infinite wisdom the director can sometimes be in error. He incorrectly assumed the assault on Sanctum would scare you all off from trying to finish the game.”

“You serve the director then?” I say. “What about Cain? I thought he was your best friend.” Noel shakes his head. “You know nothing of me and Cain. As for the director, I’ve known him for a few years now. He is the one who saved me from death in the real world . . .”

I was twenty two and living in New York when I was diagnosed with a rare genetic nerve disorder. My doctor informed me there was nothing he could do and that essentially I was dead in a year.

He did, however, offer a ray of hope. He told me that he had heard of a young genius doctor in St. Louis, Missouri, a neurologist, who wanted to test his cure for nerve disorders.

I was told the doctor wasn’t charging anything for the trials. This sounded crazy, but it was hope, so I went for it. I flew to St. Louis after my doctor set up a meeting with the doctor in St. Louis.

When I got to St. Louis I went to the Dignitas building where the doctor was. I wasn’t aware Dignitas offered any form of medical services. They were known for creating all sorts of electronics and appliances, and it was even rumored they were going into gaming, which was later proven to be true.

I met the doctor, whose name was Veren Tempest. At twenty, he was two years younger than I. I remember his being a kind person. He greeted me with humility. He was young looking, with raven-black hair and extraordinary crimson eyes. I assumed he wore colored contacts.

We discussed my illness at length and not once did a sign of disappointment or uncertainty come across his face. “Your illness is actually the goal I am after,” he said. “I want to cure that disease. Did your doctor tell you anything about the malady?” I shook my head. “No, he only told me that it was rare and that I will die within a year.”

“Your doctor isn’t very informative. You have electric impulse degradation. Unlike most nerve disorders, this disease is very quick. It stops the brain from sending signals throughout the body. You know when it starts when you can no longer dream and lose the restorative aspect of sleep. Physically, your body may be rested but its mental energies aren’t. There are drugs that counter this, but eventually they fail.” Veren continued as I listened. “The next step is being unable to sleep in general, then comes losing the feeling in your fingers and toes. The numbness slowly spreads and your arms or legs tingle before eventually losing all sensation. In the final months, you are bed ridden. Your breathing will be labored as electric impulses struggle to get sent out from the brain. In the last moments of life, you will wish for death but it will seem far away.” Veren seemed almost lost in thought. I was petrified by what he was saying.

“Forgive me, Noel. My mother died of this disease. I lost her to it, and I am trying to find a cure before it activates in me and my brother. I have to find my brother, actually. I haven’t seen him in years.”

“I understand,” I said. “I don’t mean to sound selfish, but what can you do to help me?” Veren chuckled at my words. “Forgive me; of course, you come first. I have invented a new type of technology that I call virtual-reality gear or VRG. The technology interacts with the brain and essentially puts its electric impulses in overdrive. I have hypothesized that by forcing the impulses to move through the body at a faster rate than normal the illness can be reversed. I’ve been trying it on other nerve disorders and have had success, but you will be the first with this particular disorder.” The idea of virtual reality sounded incredible to me.

“What exactly takes place?” I asked. Veren leaned back in his chair. “I will upload your consciousness into a virtual world after which I will make you do a series of exercises. The VRG makes your body believe what happens there happens in real life. If you are sure you want to do this, then we can begin tomorrow.”

I decided on the spot to proceed. During the next few weeks, Veren and I spent a lot of time together. His hypothesis was proven correct. The VRG cured me of my disease. Shortly afterward, Veren pitched a full-scale operation of the VRG to the head of Dignitas at the time, Luther Crescent.

Crescent was so pleased with the VRG that he agreed, but not in the way I had thought. It seemed Veren wanted the VRG to be used in conjunction with a video game that he had written that we all know as Eden. Luther immediately began the mass production of the VRG and started the gaming wing of Dignitas and had Eden designed and created.

“Veren was in charge of it all,” Noel says, “and due to our becoming close over those few weeks, he confided in me that his goal was only to cure himself and his brother Adam. He believed his little brother would hear of Eden, play it and be cured.”

I look back at Raziel and he looks away. The look in his eyes shows that what Noel says is likely true. How can Raziel fight the director now? I look at Noel with a sense of hatred. “Enough, Noel! Let us pass and talk to the director. There is no more need for fighting; no one else has to die,” I say with determination. Noel shrugs. “That is where you are wrong, Dante. I am to bring Raziel and Lucifer to Veren after I kill the rest of you. It is unfortunate, but Veren believes that Raziel can be talked down whereas you and the others will likely not listen to reason.” He points his lighter sword at me, saying, “This is the end.” Purple energy surrounds Noel. “He lifts both blades high and drives them into the floor. “Mirror clones,” he casts as two clones of himself appear.

The two clones have weapons like Noel. Cloud walks up to me and pulls out his sword. “Dante, you need to decide who is fighting Noel with you while the others fight the clones. Either Raziel or Apollo have to be in the other group for healing. Make your pick—quickly.” I think on whom I will need to beat Noel. I don’t know anything about his skills. I know he is supposed to be one of the best swordsman in the game, and his speed is said to be unrivaled.

Claire is fast, but if the clones match Noel’s speed she will be better with the second group. I need Cloud, for sure: he has sword skills that surpass those of the rest of us. Zack is close to Cloud in skills and strength; Apollo and Raziel are close in skills as well but Raziel has the seal of creation. As for Lucifer, he is physically strong, but I don’t know much beyond that. Nero is strong, but from what Apollo says he can no longer come back after dying.

I think I know whom I need. “Cloud, Raziel, help me fight the real Noel. Everyone else try to destroy the clones,” I say. Cloud swings his heavy blade through the air. Raziel walks up to me. “Let’s end this once and for all, Dante,” he says to reassure me about our hoped-for victory.

“Oh, good. I’m glad you’ll go down fighting,” Noel says with a chuckle. The clones run past us and engage the others in fighting. Good luck, my friends, I think. Cloud, Raziel and I charge Noel directly.

The eternal reaper is ready for us as Cloud and I attack from both sides and Noel blocks with his two swords. Raziel uses a lightning spell and hits Noel in the chest. The reaper stumbles backward. Noel runs toward me and swings his swords.

Our blades crash together. Noel is so fast and skilled! I can’t keep up with his attacks. I can barely even block them. Cloud comes up behind Noel and swings his massive sword. The reaper uses his heavy blade and blocks the attack. Noel stands on one foot and twists his body, kicking Cloud in the process.

“Whirlwind slash,” Noel says as he twists through the air with his swords. I get caught in the attack and suffer a medium amount of damage, with the attack knocking me to the ground. Noel comes up to me and brings his swords down to thrust into me. But before he can finish me off, he is hit by throwing cards. I look and Raziel is holding a card in his hand.

I can’t make out the words, but I can Raziel chanting a spell. He throws another card. It is glowing with magic. Noel shakes his head. As the card flies to Noel, light begins to shine from it. I move as fast as I can to get out of the blast radius. The card explodes with incredible power. Noel is caught in the blast.

Cloud and I join Raziel. Dust from the attack surrounds Noel so we can’t see him. I look to see how the others are doing. They are fighting the clones valiantly. The clones are fast, though. “If they are alive . . .” I quietly say. I quickly turn to the dust. A purple flare flies from it and toward us.

I slash at the energy and knock it away. Noel runs out of the dust with blood lust in his eyes. Raziel gathers a magic spell in his hand. Noel attacks us before Raziel can complete the magic. Noel lands a kick on Raziel and knocks him to the ground. Cloud slashes at the reaper. Noel dodges the attack flawlessly and kicks Cloud. Noel swings his swords at me. I hold my sword up to block but he knocks it from my hand.

“So ends the hero,” he says and shoves his swords toward me. I move just enough to prevent an instant kill hit, but one of the swords tears into me and sends my HP dropping. Raziel attacks Noel with lightning magic. The spell is continuous, and Noel is trapped in the magic. His sword is still in me and draining my health.

Noel reaches for Raziel and grabs him by the throat. “I can’t kill you . . . ,” he says as he head butts Raziel, “so don’t tempt me.” I grab the sword, lift it out of my body and throw it to the ground.

Noel uses his other sword and swings it at me as I get up from the ground. Cloud blocks the attack. With a quick maneuver, Cloud disarms Noel and slices through him. “Cross slash!” Cloud yells as he uses a sword skill on the reaper.

I help Raziel up and together we use strong fire magic to finish Noel off. Our antagonist stumbles and drops his sword. He backs up. His clones fade into nothing, and the rest of the group join us to watch him die.

He is breathing heavily. “I underestimated you,” he says amid labored breaths. That’s when I notice his HP isn’t at zero. “I never thought this would happen . . . ,” he says as he ascends into the air. Purple fire erupts around him and he becomes a new form, now in a tattered black cloak with two demonic wings sprouting from his back. A large scythe appears in his hand. “. . . to make it to boss mode. Now all of you will face the judgment of Eden’s eternal reaper,” he says as the notes of an organ begin to sound.

This is boss music? So much for virtual reality. The music continues and picks up as Noel begins his attack on us. He swings his scythe, and purple flames surround all of us. There is no escaping this fight. Raziel and Apollo cast healing magic and restore all of us to full health.

Noel swings his scythe again. Energy shoots from the blade and soars at us. Raziel, Apollo and I all cast magical barriers around us to block the attack. The energy wave hits the barriers and dissipates. Apollo and Raziel both use fire magic against Noel. The reaper deflects the magic with his scythe.

I hold up my hand. “Reveal,” I say. I feel a sharp pain in my eyes. There is some kind of magic blocking me. Can Noel not be examined? I look over at Raziel. “Raziel, my examination magic isn’t working! It hurt me to use it against him! You know this game! Do you know anything about this fight?”

Noel isn’t giving us much chance to talk as he moves quickly with his attacks. Nero attacks him with his divine slash. It seems to do good deal of damage. Is holy damage the answer? Noel retaliates with a magical attack. Purple flames shoot from him and hit the party.

“Dante, holy magic is the main weakness he has if his boss mode follows the story my brother told me,” Raziel says. “Noel is the boss called the eternal reaper. In the story the eternal reaper is judge of the dead. He is immune to all elemental attacks.”

Noel interrupts us with a slash from his scythe, cutting Raziel across the chest. I repel Noel with a sword skill but it does little damage. My sword is dark affiliated. I use a healing spell on Raziel. “Raziel, use holy skills on Noel,” I say. “I am going to tell Apollo, Nero and Claire. Cloud also has holy-based techniques.” Raziel shoots volley of holy magic while I run to the others and explain what to do.

Apollo joins Raziel in the holy-magic attack. Claire and Nero use their holy-sword skills. Lucifer uses powerful punches infused with holy magic, a weapon he forged some time ago. Cloud uses his creation slash.

All of this deals tremendous damage to Noel but his HP is still quite full. He flaps his demonic wings and soars into the air. “Flames of damnation,” he says. Black and purple flames erupt on the entire floor. We are all caught in the attack. The fire isn’t going out! I place my hand on the burning ground and swallow the pain. A blue glyph appears below me. “Hydra, tidal wave!” I charge. The large serpent rises from the glyph with flowing water. Hydra uses her power and the water fills the room. The flames from Noel die out, but the attack misses him, not that it would have harmed him anyway.

Noel comes back down within range. I quickly access my menu and look at the new skills I acquired. The original diamond dragon gave me a new magic called holy light. I’ve seen Raziel use it. The skill is very strong. I also have the new Entitas, Yeshua, the powerful divine dragon.

“Raziel, heal every one!” I yell out as I run toward Noel so he is in range of me. I jump into the air. “Holy light!” I yell. A white glyph appears on the ground below Noel, and white energy shoots up and hits him. Noel burns from the attack but he still has a significant amount of his health.

“Everyone, now!” I yell. We all use our holy skills or magic against Noel. He holds up his scythe. “Eternal torment,” he says. A large ball of dark energy appears in front of him. Several beams shoot from the ball. The two attacks pass one another. Noel loses more of his health and we all take significant damage from Noel.

“Let’s end this once and for all,” Noel says as he holds his scythe high. “Soul rend,” he says. We fall to our knees. The attack is painful. Our HP drops to one. I hold up my hand and use my strongest healing spell but it does nothing.

Raziel crawls over to me. “This skill stops most magic. It is like a curse,” he says through labored breathing. Noel is getting ready to swing his scythe and kill us. I concentrate and hope. “Yeshua, divine flare,” I say as I fall completely to the ground.

A white glyph appears below me, and the room is seemingly transformed into an open sky. We are all floating in this endless void. Yeshua appears. The great dragon lets out a roar and hundreds of ghost divine dragons appear in the sky. Yeshua flies above Noel and the rest of us.

The great dragon gathers pale, green energy into its mouth. All of the others dragons do the same. Each ghost dragon begins shooting its flares. Hundreds of flares bombard Noel. Yeshua is the last one to release his flare, and it is the biggest of them all.

It hits Noel and releases a brilliant blast. Yeshua roars and the room returns to normal. The boss music suddenly stops. I force myself up and look at Noel. He is twisting in the air. His scythe shatters into pieces. Noel looks up and yells loudly, more a groan than a shout. He reaches toward us in a last-ditch effort to halt the inevitable. His body begins to dissipate like smoke rather than shatter. This must be the result of being a boss in the game.

I try a potion and my health is restored. I start returning everyone to full health as well. I congratulate them on a job well done. “Great work, everyone! We are one step closer to finishing this, “I say. I see an object on the ground and pick it up. It is dark matter. This is a very rare item. It is used to combine items, like weapons.

I see that everyone is ready, so we begin our final trek up to the last floor before meeting the director himself, Veren.