"What am I even doing here?", wondered Deafmute. Sitting inconspicuously in a corner of the Adult Section cafe, the brim of his hat obscuring his facial features beyond recognition, he had hoped the members and the self-proclaimed "Staff member" who were causing a scene would overlook him as just another NPC.

He recalled visiting the land of Hikiculture on his journeys in the past and only recently he had wandered his way back here for some reason. Well at least it's not as boring as the rest of this ludicrous world...

The overly dramatic words of this so-called Soulless were meaningless to him. "Why should I care about what happens here... It has nothing to do with me.". Having traveled many places, Deafmute was well aware of the trouble trolls caused around the world, but he thought that it was simply inevitable and it would be pointless to try doing anything about it. In fact, he couldn't help but twist his lips into a slight grin recalling some of the disastrous feats he had witnessed from trolls around the world.

Despite feeling this way, he was struck by a sudden feeling of nostalgia. He remembered the time he spent here and all the threads good or bad that he partook in. He wondered to himself why there were so many more "blue names" than he remembered. Not that he cared at all about the color of his name, in fact he liked being one of the few green-named members. Having a blue name was too much trouble... people would expect things from him. Deafmute wouldn't rely on anyone and conversely didn't want anyone to rely on him either.

Thinking about the situation some more, he had an idea... "If this Soulless person was as knowledgeable as they make it seem, perhaps he knows something about my own past". For now, he decided to lay low and bide his time until an opportunity arose to get some information out of that strange-looking leper. Maybe he might have to go along with the whole anti-troll cause to win over Soulless' trust. Or maybe he could even get in touch with the one called Aillas himself through this Staff member.

Naunet looked around to see some familiar faces and many NPCs and the speech began. She had a huge smile on her face, almost forgetting about all the destruction for a moment as she pet the kitten, but her smile quickly washed away when the small cat melted in her arms. Naunet sighed, and looked up at the empty white eyes of Souless, who was speaking. She wasn't very strong, and didn't hold many capabilities. As easily as she could have just gone back home to take a glorious bubble bath, she knew that this was her problem too as a part of HC. 'Damn dirty trolls' she thought to herself, 'ruining this wonderful world'. Not knowing where she came from, she didn't have anywhere else but HC to reside in. She hadn't been in HC for very long, and wasn't quite sure of her place yet.

As time passed I listened to the dying commotion which previously roared from the area that that scum of a sailor staggered off to. I'm used to waiting in one area for months at times, but in these conditions I'm sure to be driftwood in no time.
Suddenly I heard a sound..Music!? It was an upbeat tune, one that reminded me of my old town I once held store inventory for. The tune grew louder until out of the shadows a tall clearly male figure was in sight. The man stopped a few feet from me an looked down at me.
The man spoke up "Wow. Y'know, I never thought I'd see something so nice. You definitely don't belong here though."
Haha! The man has taste! And he seems to be well practiced in the fine art of loot finding! This brought me back to a study I partook in which consisted of a corridor that split into two. One path led to the exit, and one path led to a dead end where I was placed. A sample of 100 people would be led into the corridor and which path they chose would be recorded. The results of the study showed that 45% people chose the dead end path which is consistent with the 50/50 odds, BUT only 3% of the participants who chose the path with the exit would go check to see if there was anything of value in the other path after they had already found the exit.
I watched the stranger and hoped for a method of transportation out of this humid port. The man was tanned and wearing normal clothes and wore glasses. He seemed to be an ordinary fellow, if not off in his own world slightly. Yes, he seemed to be exhibiting a different mood then the typical person that passed by. Like that one guy with the bandages. And that music....I couldn't put my fing--corner on where it was coming from.
All of the sudden I felt his two hands grab onto my lid and pull. As if it would be that easy. I'm afraid only my key or a master thief could unlock my lock.
The man looked at the sky for a few seconds, I can't imagine what, the stars aren't even visible here. He looked back down at me and said ""Well, it's not like I can just leave you here."

AAHHH OH NO!
And like that I broke the treasure chest rule number 4. "Do not play your reward song unless you are opened and the item is removed from your interior" The shame ran through my crevices....the thought of being removed from these conditions excited me and I couldn't control myself.
I soon felt myself being lifted up off the ground. Haha! Take that gravity! LEGS AT LAST!!!! HAHA!

My carrier spoke up ""Wood isn't that good out by the sea. Can't believe someone would leave something like this here." This reminded me of my purpose for coming to this land. Although I didn't care what I was here for, I did wonder where my key was, the only companion I've had since being separated from my home land. I hope to one day be reunited.

As I was being carried I noticed the chaos I had previously been oblivious to. Burnt down houses, people stacking deceased ones into a truck, and a group of people leaving the pub which I can imagine where the outrage came from before. Well people problems will be people problems.

The sun was rising from the horizon and the sky started to give it's aura of dawn, Vincent turned his head towards the countryside while he was lying on the completely torn apart attic of a house in the general section. Alongside him the bodies of a child and an adult were hugging each other, the roof of the attic was virtually gone, and of the few beams that endured, pretty much all of them were ruptured and broke some parts of the wooden floor near Vincent, everything in there was more or less burned down, the ashes mixed with the dust thickened your hair and made it and ordeal for you to breathe without making a conscious effort, except for the occasional body or piece of concrete that suddenly fell with a thump due to slight change in the city, the night was completely silent, and everywhere, there was that lingering smell of flesh and blood.

All of general was in that aura, some details changed, some places had more bodies, some had more blood, others just had burned debris or roasted children. But all of General held itself with the same feeling, almost as if it were part of a greater composition or a giant painting, an opera of bestiality and destruction, Vincent knew this since he felt it himself while he wandered through General all night thinking about Soulless's Words, which for reasons unbeknownst to him had affected the inside of him immensely.

Pretty much all of the members who attended Soulless's message agreed at the instant to help him, Vincent only looked at him and nodded in agreement, he didn't know if Soulless saw him, but he did it that way because he himself didn't knew if he could actually be of help and because inside he felt conflicted about if he really had the will to help HC.

A crow landed at the side of the man, and begun biting the man's fingers, another came and poked vincent in the head, in return vincent punched him in the eye.

This was his home now, and he existed in this place, not only in body, but also in spirit he had a position in this world wether he wanted or not, and he was one of the people who heard the message of Soulless, He decided to try, even if just half-hearterdly, to help Hikiculture and free it from this cancer and these trolls. "But" Vincent said to himself out loud as he got up to sit in the attic floor. "I don't have any idea of how to cure this "cancer" of this".

The moon already dissapeared, the sun kept rising above the heavens, hidden by the clouds turned red by the recent slaughter.

"I wonder where can i know, and from who, and how?"

The cloaked figure of Soulless chuckles a bit at the comments and the agreements. "Very well then. Come with me, I will show you all that has been wrought and all that has been hidden, HikiCulture's quiet illness." He turns and jumps off his table, beginning to walk. His steps are silent, but he doesn't seem to walk far at all before the NPC by his side, the same one that screamed at him earlier, began to gurgle oddly. Blood spilled from her nose and mouth in a river and her skin began to ribbon off into the air. It looked like a horrifying fast-pace of aging. Her withered hands clutched his cloak and he shook them off callously as she faded away into dust, as if she had never existed at all. Anyone familiar with Soulless would know he had just 'deleted' that NPC from existence.

"Come on now. Talk with each other, work together. We will need you all to work together if we have a shot at this."

Soulless looks at the remaining players curiously.

----

An NPC kneels by Vincent, putting a warm hand on him.

"If you want to help, look for places that are damaged, rotting or similar. Help those places; try to repair them. Have faith in Aillas."

The burned ragdoll hanged limp in Vincent's grasp, he held the doll from her feet and faced it against the sun, a few seconds after he looked around the general plaza in which center (just above the base of a wrecked statue) He stood. The plaza in itself wasn't in such a bad state as the rest of general, aside from limbs and rubbles that came flying from other areas during the massacre, the worst damage this place suffered was the destruction of the statue which lay in pieces, the stone was burned so much that it was practically coal. Some faraway boasts of laughters made him lift his gaze faraway up to some of the other members of Hikiculture which alongside him received Soulless's message, he recalled the warm hand of the NPC and he closed his eyes and extended his arm to say the name that the winds whispered, the name of the creator, the name of Aillas.

This would be a good place to start his part in the regeneration of the world in which everyone would be a part of. It's the least they could do, For Soulless, for the staff, and for Aillas.

After witnessing the NPC decompose into nothingness, Deafmute understood that this Soulless creature was not to be trifled with. "So, he truly is one of the staff members then..." he thought to himself.

Not being sure of how to approach a being capable of such otherworldly powers, Deafmute decided against a direct confrontation. Despite the fact that Soulless seemed to have a calm and accepting air about him that won over the confidence of the members, he had a feeling that there was more to this "manipulator of dreams" than what it was he was led to believe. Once Soulless had led the others outside, Deafmute decided to follow the group as inconspicuously as he could. Still, he couldn't shake the thought that somehow, his efforts would be in vain and that the staff member was well aware of his presence. "What the hell, it's worth a shot..." He thought to himself as he slid out the door soon after the rest of the group had left.

Peering into the distance, Deafmute had an idea of where the group was heading, however, a strange sounding tune barely audible seemed to be getting louder as he noticed a young bespectacled man approaching the place he had just left, carrying a rather hefty treasure chest.

k00ke was rather shocked after seeing the NPC die before him. It was not how Soulless kill her without remorse that he is afraid of, but the seer power of the so called staff member. He can't help but to be scared. As the group continues to march forward, he distance himself as far away as he can from Soulless.
They had just left the outskirts of adult and the members still had a tense atmosphere while they followed Soulless. Few of them would occasionally strike up conversations but they it did not last. The silence was broken when a random member says
"Hey, isn't this the road that leads to 'Love & Dating'??"
"Huh, it is.... No, don't tell me..." replies another member.
"The trolls are going to attack 'Love & Dating' next!?!" interrupts k00ke loudly.
It was as if someone hit the unmute button because the entire group started speaking with each other. While speaking all at once the group quickens the pace towards 'Love & Dating', praying nothing has happened. If they continue at this speed they'll be there within 10 minutes or so.

k00ke tightens his grip on his dagger and puts on a wry smile.
"I've got a really bad feeling about this......"

The smells and sights of destruction greeted Null as he awoke from his recuperative slumber.
"Oh heck did I cause any of this!"
Null asked himself as he saw the blasted countryside and forest in "General."
His sixth sense with it's rudimentary telepathy tingled.
He got snippets like Soulless, k00ke, rebuilding, next attack in the far reaches of his consciousness.

"No point in me worrying about something that does not directly concern me." Null says to himself as he checks his body and stretches to see if he's fully healed. Where did those powerful creatures come from he wonders.

After stilling himself and letting his sense extend, he spies a group of powerful looking individuals standing around in the "Adult" section. One in particular has a presence that is pretty strong. Cold like the Void sensei has trained him to contact in meditation.

"Hopefully I can catch up with them," Null says as he breaks out into a loping run towards the location of the group which by this time has started moving towards the 'Love & Dating'. As he runs he wonders why he is even curious about the situation. It would be better to just veer off and keep to himself because most contact with others usually does not go well.

"Gah, obviously Nihil is screwing with me again so he can get the chance to cause more destruction." Null says as he draws closer and closer to his destination.

Maybe one of them will know how to stop Nihil's existence. He thinks and then yells "kujiki san !" to boost his energy and increase his pace towards the moving band of people.

"This is embarassing" is the recurring though that hanged over Vincent as he sneaked at a distance from the group leaded by soulless. He was at a distance of around 40 meters, yet he didn't lose sight of them. After cleaning some little things and looking for any forgotten victim in the plaza wreckage, Vincent realized that if he were to be any sort of actual help, his best bet would be to follow in the command of that moderator as the other members like Kooke.

Walking nearer to the party of the cloaked figure, more and more fresh grew in his eyes the memory of that NPC fading into nothing. It wasn't Soulless's power and capacity to do that what shocked him (that the moderators were godlike was no surprise to him, some people even say that Aillas himself granted them that power, and although he always answered that he couldn't take the ramblings of drunken sailors seriously, he didn't know what to believe) but rather the cold callousness with which he eliminated completely the existence of a living being. To put it another way, he didn't care for the how, he cared for the why. But even then, can you say the NPCs are truly living beings? they make no difference, and he wasn't sure if moderators could do that to users, and he was also sure that worrying about that last thing was pointless, given that Soulless wasn't evil (his actions as well as his speech proved the contrary).

He was much closer now and even when he was still sure that Kooke and others didn't see him (he wasn't bad at being discrete) he wasn't sure about the moderator (who's to say they can't feel presences or another sort of magic?) But even if he did, he didn't say it and just let Vincent keep on behind them, either for compassion or indifference.

"I've got a really bad feeling about this......" said Kooke gripping his dagger, and indeed now Vincent noticed that there was a tension in the air, some mysterious unexplainable air, but strangely, he was certain that it wasn't caused by Soulless. Not by any logical reason, but just... A feeling.

The young man with the treasure chest seemed to be looking for something. He didn't look like an NPC, so Deafmute figured that he was probably seeking to follow Soulless' group. "Hehe... Looks like you're late to the party" he muttered under his breath. "He can catch up with them on his own..."

Focusing his attention on the group's movements once again, he makes an unsettling discovery. "I-it couldn't be 'Love and Dating'..." But alas, it was undoubtedly true that the one part of Hikiculture which he held dear was the origin of this so-called "quiet illness" Soulless referred to. 'Love and Dating' was almost like the holy ground of Hikiculture... What kind of trolls would dare desecrate it? Disregarding his past suspicions of Soulless and fueled by his disgust of the trolls who would do such a thing, he decided it was time to introduce himself...

At that very moment, he noticed another peculiar character who seemed to be similarly following the group... though he was conspicuously hidden behind some crates. Then, an idea came to him... "Time to make an explosive entrance". With a grin on his face, he began charging up a LAZOR fireball and it seemed his prey was somehow aware of his magic... but far too busy trying to hide to notice the flaming sphere of chaos sail towards his location.

The crates were completely incinerated in the blast though the startled boy was relatively unharmed, but more importantly, he was out in the open, still crouching behind nonexistent cover. The blast caught the attention of the group who all turned around to face their would-be stalker, all except for Soulless, of course.

Strolling casually by, Deafmute held his staff behind his back and wore the closest thing to a friendly smile as he could muster. "Sorry about that, buddy!" he tells the kid, as residual sparks flew from his outstretched right hand. He then walks over towards the group saying "It would seem you guys had a stalker back there. You can never be too careful around here anymore, you know. Would you mind if I'd tag along? It seems you're headed toward 'Love and Dating', I heard something important is going on down there..."

"..... A.... Aahh... aahhh... eheh..."

mouth wide open and social anxiety induced sweat trickling from his temples, barely hurt but considerably dirtied and messed by that (presumably) magician's fireball, dream was certain he was giving a very... particular first painting of himself, wether intriguing, ridiculous or pathethic. He couldn't know since the hidden panic attack didn't let him form a coherent word, let alone think something other than note that the magician who discovered him to the party was friendly chatting with them.

But there is one thing that draws Vincent's attention and mysteriously one thing he can ponder; Soulless didn't turn around, either he is incredibly confident of his companions or his abilities, or he somehow... Just knows that he can't be a threat. Who is this man? Somehow, the closer he is to that moderator, the more he is intrigued...

"You have walked behind us for a good distance now, young man, you are good at this" Vincent's breathing stopped. Soulless continued "And you, magician, at least i assume that's the reason of the staff, are very perceptive as well" He turned around to face us, his white eyes shined and drew us inside in a way "This is going well" Vincent thinks he sees a smile, but he's not sure.

All the little events that unfolded allowed Vincent to regain some control over himself, and he got on his feet, after swallowing harshly, he confessed in an ashamed voice: "I just was interested in your objective, sir, but i didn't know if i could help or be useful for anything, or if i wanted, thus why i hided" Soulless looked at him in what vincent assumed was a study of his character, and said: "Well young sailor, the only way you can discover that is by trying rather than hiding, but your sneakiness might be useful, and by the way, what is your name young man?"

For an unknown reason this made Vincent grin a cocky smile, with his right hand at his side and his left one on his hip, as if trying to make a pose for the party, he said with a confidence unapropiate for him "Well sir, my name..." looking straight at the group and tilting his hat upwards, continued "My name is Vincent Maltese!"

After some seconds of complete silence in which Soulless and his party looked at him with an atonishing attention and befuddlement, ambiguosly as if he were something out of a farse or something completely absurd. He slowly recovered from his previous cockiness realizing how much of a teathrical fool he made of himself and shyly asked "so, were are you going?" "Love and Dating" he was answered. Altough the news that their direction was that part of HC moderately dear to him (and by deduction, likely to suffer troll destruction) caused him an ominous feeling and a plot twist towards panic, he only let a pressure on his lips betray his poker face when replying "i see, then, i shall acompany you by the time being if i am allowed"

Soulless didn't respond more than turn around and keep walking, followed by the party. After standing confused a few seconds, Vincent catched up with them. Vincent felt this marked a beggining, he didn't know of what, but he knew it was big, for some reason his mind was eager to inexplainably and vanitly call it "The beggining of everything"