The Eden Crisis

“Welcome, heroes of Eden,” the director says. Before I can say anything, Zack runs past me and attacks him, but Veren pulls out his long katana and blocks the attack. Veren knocks Zack backward, and he slides on his feet near us. The director puts his weapon away. He holds his hand out. “Ethereal beam,” he says in a cold, calm tone. A blue beam shoots from his hand and through Zack.

The raven-haired member of SOLDIER falls to his knees. Veren casts a lightning spell that lifts Zack into the air causing his HP to drain quickly. I go to use a spell to heal Zack, but Veren uses his free hand to knock me back with a fire spell.

The others try to stop Veren, but like me he repels them with strong magic. In moments, Zack’s body shatters as his HP drops to zero. I can’t believe it. Another member of our group is gone. Raziel uses healing magic and restores us to full. He runs in front of us and confronts the director.

“Veren! It’s me . . . it’s your little brother,” Raziel says pleadingly. Veren looks at Raziel, but with the mask there is no telling what is going through his mind. “I’m sorry, Raziel . . . but your time in this game is over, as well as yours, Lucifer,” Veren says. Raziel looks at us and then quickly turns his attention back to Veren, “No, don’t!” Raziel yells. Veren snaps his fingers, and it appears as though Lucifer and Raziel are logged out of the game.

I pull out my new sword and point it at Veren. “You are going to die!” I say. “You have taken my brothers from me! The lives of countless people in this world! You have targeted me and those I care about.” Veren chuckles. “Is that right? Your brothers died because you are a failed hero. I targeted those you care about to test your will. Only the worthy can beat Eden,” he says.

I’ve had enough. I run toward Veren and slash at him. He dodges the attack as though it were nothing to him. I slash continuously, and he dodges everything! He eventually pulls out his katana and shows off his strength by wielding it with one hand. Our blades clang; it is as though we are dancing.

I’ll never be able to beat him like this, I realize. I quickly command a new skill. “Twilight storm!” I yell. My attack manages to connect, and I slash Veren several times. I finish the attack and land on the ground gently. Veren is in the air and in slow descent. I can see cracks forming on his mask. While he falls he mutters a spell, I think, and his sword disappears from his hand. It looks as if it was sheathed into another dimension.

Veren lands on the ground. His mask is falling apart. I run toward him to attack him again. He holds up his hand. “Gravity blast.” A black ball of energy hits me and knocks me back toward the others. Nero catches me, preventing me from falling.

Music begins playing. It is slow and sounds cold and uncaring, like the man before us now. Veren’s mask continues to fall apart and his face is becoming more visible. The mask finally falls off, and what I see makes my heart seem to stop. “What? How? You’re dead!” I yell.

“They don’t call me the weaver of all schemes for nothing,” he says. It’s Cain!

“Cain? Why? How?” I say. “There’s no way you had two characters. I mean, the game doesn’t allow it.” Veren chortles. “Very true, Dante. That’s why the director was never in a party. You can only see the character ID when they’re in your party. Anytime there was both me as Cain and me as the director, the director was an illusion I made. Cain was my real character name.”

Claire pushes past me. “You are lying! You are not Veren Tempus. I saw him all the time when I visited my father. Veren Tempus has black hair and red eyes!” “It’s called hair dye and colored contacts,” Veren says. “It was a condition of working there.”

I put a hand on Claire for comfort. I look at Veren with anger. “Why did you do this?” Veren shakes his finger at me. “Come now, Dante, you can’t expect me to just give you my motive. You have to earn it. You did make it this far, though, so I will allow you one question that isn’t vague.”

“Fine. Why did you trap everyone in the game?” Veren shakes his head. “I had two reasons. One was to ensure that my brother and I were cured of an unfortunate genetic disease. The other was to get revenge on Lucien.” Claire and I let out a gasp at his words.

“Now, let’s see how strong you have become,” Veren says. “If you can impress me, then I will reveal more of my motives.” He slowly ascends into the air. His two scythes appear. He holds one in his hand, and the other floats around him. Nero and Claire pull out their swords, and Apollo and the rest of us ready ourselves for the fight of our lives.

Claire and I run toward Veren. As he is not floating very high, we swing our swords at him, but he’s able to block our attack with his scythes. Nero uses the opening and delivers a slash right off the bat. Without the death cloak, Veren isn’t immune to physical attacks.

Claire, Nero and I back off and Apollo uses a fire spell against Veren. He blocks the magic with one of his scythes. The three of us go for another set of attacks against him. He laughs us off and uses his whirlwind slash to knock us all back. He then charges me and knocks me into the air with a swipe from a scythe.

He slashes me several times. Apollo uses healing magic to keep my health high. I fall to the ground. Claire and Nero, seeing that his attention is focused on Dante, attack Veren while his guard is lowered. The two get hits in and Veren backs away. “Oh, my,” he says, his voice dripping with sarcasm, “who would have thought you’d all have become so strong? Perhaps you deserve a reward. You want to know why I trapped everyone, right? I will tell you why.”

I was ten when my mother told me that she had Electric Impulse Degradation. She only had a month or so left. I was crushed. I was only ten; how was I to care for myself and my brother? It was then that my mother told me who my father was. His name was Luther Crescent, she said. This was the man who was going to take care of me after my mother died.

My little brother Adam was supposed to come, too, but Lucien, Luther’s oldest son, didn’t even want me living with them, so as a concession, my brother was left to live with my grandparents.

I was considered beneath them for being born out of wedlock, so I was never allowed to visit my brother. Luther was a kind man, and he treated me like a son. Unfortunately, Lucien hated me and demanded I stay in the eastern wing of the mansion. You, young Claire, were told that the eastern wing was haunted, so you never went there and thus were never aware I lived there.

Father ensured I was the best in my class. So much so that I graduated high school at the young age of sixteen. I went to college and by nineteen, I was a neurologist with a specialization in nerve disorders and a secondary degree in game design. My research led me to creating the prototype VR equipment for Eden.

Due to my love of video games, I created Eden so I could reunite with my brother. I created the story long ago. When father disappeared and Lucien took over the company, he moved for me to be removed from my position as director of gaming. Members of the board, including you, Apollo, all voted in agreement. However, members demanded I stay on as an employee, and in secret they allowed me administrative control of the game. What they failed to realize is that with administrative control, I was able to manipulate aspects of the game.

Even more-so, I knew the technical data on the VR equipment better than anyone, which allowed me easy access to manipulating the equipment.

Lucien took everything from me. First, my brother was taken from me because Lucien was such a bratty child. Then my chance at having a relationship with a little sister, Claire, was ruined because he didn’t want to share his family and then, to top it off, he took my fantasy world from me!

Claire runs towards Veren and slashes at him. He blocks the attack with his scythes, knocking Claire away. He casts a lightning spell from his free hand. Claire takes the hit and lets out a scream from the pain. Veren flies to her to hit her again, this time with his scythes. I run to intercept him.

I block the attack, and Nero comes from the side and slashes Veren across the back. The creator of the game backs away. “Ah, you have some fight in you,” he says. “You’re not the only one,” Veren says with amusement as he comes at us with his most powerful attack, using his prodigious skill final reaping. The move knocks me and Nero into the air. Veren slashes through us several times, restoring his health with the move and depleting our health to one.

Apollo restores our health and then casts his holy spell at Veren, who is unable to deflect the magic and takes serious damage. Claire runs past us and attacks Veren directly. He stops her attack with a gravity spell and then Veren goes over to her and with his free hand picks her up by the throat. “What’s wrong, sister? Do you not want to hug your big brother?” he says with a smirk.

Claire spits in his face. “You are not my brother. Lucien is!” she says with acid in her voice. Veren frowns. “Disappointing. I was hoping to comfort you now that Lucien is dead. Oh, well.” He tosses Claire to the ground. I run to her and cast a holy spell at Veren. He blocks the attack and casts a lightning spell at me.

Apollo steps between us and uses his reflective magic to counter Veren’s spell. The magic bounces back at him and knocks Veren away. I heal Claire and then place my hands on the ground. “Raijin! Judgmental stream!” Lightning blasts against the ground and my great summon appears. The large bird shoots a lightning beam at Veren.

Veren laughs at the sight and holds up his hand. “Death awaits you,” he says to Raijin, as a stream of energy shoots from his hand. The energy disperses the lightning from Raijin and hits the giant bird. Whatever magic Veren used, it destroyed my summon. “No Entitas you have can beat me,” a gleeful Veren boasts.

“How could you do this?” I say, anger in my voice. “What about your friends in Shadow XIII? They all believed in you. Sion . . . he would have done anything for you.” Veren shakes his head. “Lyken and Noel were the only ones I cared about. Killing them was a mistake, Dante. I will make your suffering last. As for Sion . . . I never encouraged his foolish obsession, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t use it to my advantage. I honestly never thought you would win against him. He was the most powerful Siren in the game. If it wasn’t for that pesky phoenix Entitas, you’d be dead. Why in the world did I make that Entitas?”

With his free hand he shoots lightning at me. I hold up my hand. “Holy lightning!” White lightning shoots from my hands and collides with Veren’s lightning spell. Our two spells fight for dominance. Veren lets out a self-satisfied laugh as his magic begins to overpower mine. Apollo joins me with his own magic, forcing Veren to stop his attack on me so he can defend himself against Apollo.

Apollo’s magic hits Veren and opens him up for attack. I run toward Veren and attack him. He blocks my attack with his scythes and counters with his whirlwind slash. “It’s over, Dante,” he says. I am in the middle of the air and completely vulnerable. Veren is going to use his final reaping. It’s going to kill me!

Veren smiles devilishly. “Final rea—″ Veren says but is interrupted by Claire using her Ragnarok level two. Her attack stops Veren’s final reaping move. Claire slashes through Veren several times. In the middle of the attack, I see cracks form in Veren’s scythes. Claire’s attack goes into the final stage of shooting several holy-based beams at Veren. She finishes off the move with a downward slash on our opponent. “Is this . . . really happening?” Veren murmurs as he stumbles backward.

Claire comes over to me and uses a healing potion. Is it over? I wonder. Veren’s scythes shatter into pieces and fade into darkness. Veren regains his composure. “I applaud your abilities, but this fight is far from finished. After

all . . . ,” he says as he ascends high into the air, and the background music that was playing abruptly changes to a more aggressive tempo and a different melody, “. . . what final boss doesn’t have a secondary form?” He stretches his body and screams oudly. A bright light shoots from his body, and the entire room is blown apart.

When the light dims, I see what has happened. Veren has transformed into an indescribable being. All I can say is he looks like what God might look like if he were visible. His face looks divine but in a horrifying way. He has grown to a tremendous size, bigger than the room had been.

A large scythe-like staff appears in his hands, and Veren swings it through the air. The swing makes a sound like thunder. This is dangerous, I think. The walls are gone, so if we get knocked off the tower’s edge, we are dead.

“All right, everyone, this is it!” I say. “We fight for everyone in the game! We know he can be beaten! Let’s end this now!” I yell as wind blows around us. The aggressive music becomes more gentle and fluid. It seems to match the divine appearance of Veren. He holds his staff up and lightning shoots down.

Apollo and I use defensive magic. The magic diminishes the lightning’s damage. Veren seems to be immobile, which might allow for an easier fight. I cast a regeneration spell on us all. “All right, everyone, use your most powerful techniques against him!” I say.

Claire, Nero, and I attack Veren with our best sword skills while Apollo uses his powerful magic. Our attacks assault him without mercy, but Veren doesn’t seem fazed in the least as he swings his staff and knocks us back. His attacks are strong, and even with the regeneration spell we lose a lot of our HP.

I quickly heal us before Veren attacks again. He uses a powerful magic against us. Apollo and I attempt to defuse it, but the magic takes a significant portion of our health. I restore our health after the attack and place my hand on the ground. “Yeshua, divine flare,” I say as I summon my great dragon.

Yeshua teleports us to his area above all of Eden and proceeds to attack Veren with the ghosts of all the divine dragons and then launch his final attack. We transport back to the room and Veren lets out an ear-shattering yell. He gathers energy into his staff and discharges it, an attack that inflicts massive damage on us.

Apollo and I quickly heal before Veren can attack again. Claire and Nero attack him with powerful sword skills while Apollo and I use holy magic for our attack. Veren retaliates with lightning magic. This knocks us all back, but Veren isn’t done yet. He holds his free hand up, and black energy begins to form. “Infinite zero!” he says, his voice booming like thunder.

In the center of the mass of energy is a white light. Veren throws the ball of energy at us. The skill, one I’ve never heard of, looks powerful. It must be unique to Veren, whose HP is low at this point. It should be the time he’d be using his best skills. This attack could kill us.

Nero looks at me and nods. Is he about to do what I think he is? No, don’t, Nero! He runs past us and toward the energy. “Nero!” I yell. He jumps into the air. “It’s OK, I’ll protect you all,” He says before the energy hits him. He saves us but at the cost of his own life. He is flung backward after the attack and drops near us.

Apollo falls to his knees and holds our fallen friend. I prepare to use my resurrection magic, but it’s too late. Nero utters a goodbye and then shatters. Apollo stands up and slowly walks toward Veren.

He shoots a fireball at Veren, who is unable to dodge it. “Enough of you, Veren! You think because you were wronged in the past you can do as you please! You are a child! I will show you the folly of your ambitions! Meet my ultimate Entitas . . .” Apollo says, shouting as he walks. He stops and places his hands on the ground. “Azrail, chaotic oblivion!” A black glyph appears. Energy soars from the glyph, and a large, immobile being appears. The being is half submerged in a dark portal. It is what I imagine a demon looks like.

The level of the summon is too high! It will kill Apollo! Azrail lets out a shriek and sweeps its claws through the air. It roars, and balls of energy form in each claw as it begins to pummel Veren with blast after blast of destructive raw power. .

The summon finishes with a final blast and disappears. Veren roars and begins to twist and convulse from the attack. I can see cracks form on Veren, and light begins to erupt from the cracks. His body begins to slowly fade.

Claire and I go to Apollo’s side. He lets out a hoarse laugh. “Good luck, you two. Finish him off . . . I know you can do it . . .” he says before his body shatters into pieces. We both look and as the divine form finishes fading, Veren is visible sitting on the ground. He is shirtless now and holding his side. The celestial seal is plainly visible on his muscled abdomen. He is still alive. Is this his final form? One last fight, I hope.

Claire points her sword at Cain. “I’m ENDING this!” she says. “Die!” She runs toward Veren. He seems weak, but I think this is an act. I notice a slight smirk on his face. He is holding one hand out. It looks as though he is reaching for something.

No! “Claire! Stop!” I yell as she jumps to do a strong sword skill against Veren. “You’re too late!” he yells with a diabolical cackle. He makes the katana he made disappear earlier, appear. As Claire comes down for her attack, he shoves his sword through her and because of the lightning spell earlier she is too weak to repel the hit.

Veren throws Claire off of his sword and she slides across the ground in my direction. I hold her, and she looks at me with tear-filled eyes. “Dante! Kill the bastard . . .” she says before shattering into pieces. At that moment, something in me snaps, and rage fills my entire being.

I now have all of Claire’s items because we are married in the game. I take her Excalibur EX and combine it with my weapon Twin Sorrow, using the dark matter I got earlier. The weapon is transformed into a beautiful sword known as the sword of creation. Veren seems surprised by this.

“So you will fight, then? Are you that determined? You seem to forget: you have failed!” he says tauntingly. The music in the background changes to the final boss music. It is very fast paced and fuels my determination to defeat Veren. I restore my health with a spell.

“So be it . . . come and show me the true power of a hero, my friend. I will send you to meet the ones you love!” We run toward each other and crash our swords together. I attack quickly, but Veren is too fast. He is able to block my every attack and counter my every move.

I back away long enough to use a healing and regeneration spell on myself, after which I attack Veren again. He again blocks my attack. I push against him to try to overpower him. “Oh, where did you find this strength?” he says with amusement. Anger flashes in my eyes. I push harder and knock my mocker backward. I slash at him but again he blocks me.

Veren swings his blade, and a dark wave shoots from his sword. I use my own sword and defuse the wave with a slash. The sword of creation can defuse all magic. Veren charges me and shoves me with his shoulder. He swings his blade and slashes me across the chest. My HP drops a little.

Veren continues his assault. I block the best I can, but he is too strong. He slashes at me several times before knocking my sword from my hand. The sword falls and pierces the floor. Veren smirks and slashes me several more times to further deplete my health. He finally pierces my abdomen with his katana.

Veren smiles viciously and lifts me up with his sword. He is holding his katana with one hand to show off his strength. I cough. My HP is dropping steadily. “Almost over, Dante. It won’t be long now,” he says with a light laugh. “Five hundred HP and dropping . . .” he says, now taunting me. He twists his sword to hurt me and drain my HP a little faster.

I’m sorry Claire, brothers . . . forgive me. “Three fifty . . . come on . . .” Veren continues with his sick pleasure. I feel as though I’ve failed everyone trapped in the game. “One hundred . . . ha, ha . . .” Veren laughs. I can feel my life leaving me. “Twenty . . . fifteen . . . ,” Veren says, his voice cold as his heart. The words “bleeding effect” appear in front of my eyes. Then “Death imminent.

Ten . . . seven . . . four . . . two . . . one . . . zero. What? Zero!” Veren looks at me with confusion. “Why won’t your HP go to zero?” He scans my body. His eyes grow wide when he sees the ring of creation on my finger. That’s why my HP won’t go to zero.

White fire burns the ground below us and forms into a glyph. Veren looks down. Symbols begin forming inside the glyph. Seventeen unique Eden-language characters appear in the glyph. The characters surround the glyph in a circular pattern. Veren looks at me. “How in blazes? You can’t have this summon!” His words carry a hint of fear mixed with anger. I grab the sword I am impaled on and pull myself further down. This gives me better control, and I lift Veren into the air as he holds onto his katana.

“Not possible . . .” Veren says with shock. I use the last ounce of my strength and throw my adversary into the air. As he flies the glyph shatters and a knight comes flying from a void. The knight slashes through Veren. In moments fifteen more knights come from the void and attack Veren. The damage he receives exceeds limit.

A final knight comes from the void. This one has a long platinum-colored cape and a unique helmet that has a crown designed into it and that covers his face. The knight pulls out his sword and flies up to Veren, raising the sword high, bringing it down and slashing it through Veren. “Dante . . .” Veren says as the knight’s sword hits him. My name seems to echo in the sky.

The summoning ends and Veren falls to the ground. He lands on his feet. He looks at me with shock in his eyes. Cracks begin to form in his body and light shoots from them. He reaches out to me before he finally explodes in a brilliant blast of light.

My HP finally hits zero. The last thing I see is the word Victory, and my body shatters as Veren is defeated and the ordeal is over.