For a long time, there was darkness.

Kiyomi lifted her head up from the mossy ground she was sprawled out upon. She heard it, the screams and the wails of scared people. But she couldn't see, not yet, she was...she was blind, oh [i]god[/i]....! Kiymoi took shallow, frightened breaths. 

She was in her bedroom before, lounging on her bed, laptop beside her, only half-keeping an eye on the guild chat whilst a couple of others were headed to Akihabara. Erebus, the werecat, he was somewhere in Akihabara before the blackout. Then there was Ragnar...probably running circles in the middle of Akihabara, drunk off cheap sake whilst in an internet café - but Kiyomi didn't mind him. She found him pretty funny whilst he isn't sober. From what she knew about Erebus, the poor dude suffered some pretty nasty things in real life, and Kiyomi wasn't one to pry about things like that. He was a little odd, but Kiyomi let him into her guild anyways. The others were all offline.

Admittedly, Kiyomi thought grimly, that was probably the best decision of their entire lives. Kiyomi wasn't nearly prepared for the black-out, just moments before she has her character, Chihau, sitting under the Silver-leaf Tree in the city's centre. She was eating a quick snack just before midnight, excited for the next expansion pack, having it all updated on her computer....

And then, and then...

Kiyomi screwed her eyes shut, then open again. Indistinct, blurry shapes were forming in her peripheral vision, angular and dark green in appearance. She watched as bright white letters briefly flashed - [i]LOADING...[/i] for at least a couple of seconds. Her heart rose to around the area of her esophagus as she let loose a choked gasp, unable to comprehend what was going on. It was all too much for her, and she slipped back into the darkness.

[i]LOADING COMPLETE. WELCOME TO ELDER TALE.[/i]

Kiyomi sat up again and looked around. All around her were people in armour, screaming, sobbing, yelling at shopkeepers to see a GM. The chaos was contagious, and she felt the overwhelming urge to curl up and sob pathetically into her arms, despite having no clue what's going on. A thick miasma of fear and despair hung across the overgrown paradise of Akihabara, and Kiyomi was caught up headlong in the rush of fright.

But something kicked in the back of her head, and she got to her feet and started running away from the yells. She clambered over bridges and ran away from the noise until she reached the border of the city, turned, and went back a bit. She found an old, abandoned concrete flat and kicked the door down, rushing into the cool, damp shade, climbing up the stairs to the top floor. She knew where she was, but she didn't want to believe it until she saw it.

Kiyomi looked out across the dark green splendor that is Akihabara in disbelief. She was actually [i]inside[/i] Elder Tale...But she never got a chance to really let it sink in, because all of a sudden there were a whole array of geometric dark green labels scattered over her view. Kiyomi helped, flailing her arms around, and accidentally clicked on the guild roster.

Kiyomi stared at the list of names. Only two others were lit up, saying "Logged In" on their names. Gentle, she reached out and pressed her own portrait with her fingertips. It was like pressing on thin glass. A menu slid down, with options such as "Leave Guild" and "Invite to Party". Worried, she tapped the air a couple of times to dismiss the menu. Fingers trembling, she poked Erebus' portrait, looking down the menu for-...Aha.

[i]GUILD VOICE CHAT INITIATED.[/i]

Kiyomi took a deep breath. "Guys? It's Chiharu...Are you there?" she called out into the aether, her voice carrying out to the other two. It had an odd, calm and assertive tone to it, which was ironic seeing as though Kiyomi had half a mind to leap off of the top of the flat and force herself to log out. "Are you guys in Akiba still? Don't leave the town! We've got to find each other, you two are the only ones I trust right now." she ordered, her guild leader instincts really starting to kick in.