[center]<> The world was first bright, so bright that the pale-skinned girl could barely see anything. Then, as the light faded, there was simply utter, complete darkness, with the only thing visible being the words that welcomed her to this new world. No, 'threshold' meant entrance. This, then, would be the gateway to Kakophonia, which is what the 'world' in the game must be called. She smiled at this overanalysis then. Her excitement had cooled down, giving way to contentment. Now that she was in the game and time has slowed five times over, she could afford to take it easy. <> The next prompt came up, asking for username and race. It made sense, how there wasn't a password function. No doubt MAELSTROM read the brainwaves of others, making a security system that was many times harder to hack than an alphanumerical sequence. Closing her eyes for a moment, she took in a deep breath, and then made her decision. No, not make her decision. Simply go through with the decision that she had already made two weeks ago. With the decisiveness that made her such a good sports player before she got bored of it, Liliz cleared her virtual throat, ignored the 'error' message that popped up, and said, “L. I. L. I. Z. Human.” Liliz, the human warrior. No cosmetic changes, other than her manually changing her hairstyle. With everything confirmed, the world went black once more, and the girl, Liliz, felt a certain sense of vertigo, before there was the distinct sense of hitting something. And then, she opened her eyes. [img]http://i1047.photobucket.com/albums/b477/ERode/WindsweptOasis_zps503216bb.jpg[/img] <> <> <> It was beautiful. The world that did not exist, before her eyes. The air was dry, wind blowing over the prairie on the cliff she had spawned upon, her vantage point giving her a splendid view of the shimmering lake and the peaceful atmosphere that the town exuded. It was almost shockingly quiet, a tranquil atmosphere filled only with bird song and wind whispers. In the shade of the tree, Liliz sighed, utterly relaxed. She couldn't hear the sound of construction in the distance. She couldn't hear the incessant chatter of crowds. She couldn't hear the endless whirring of fans. An uncharacteristic, lovely quietness. And then, after that three minutes of pure, utter relaxation, the girl began to look around. Her 'character' was basically herself, with the only change being that she had a different hairstyle so her identity in real life might not be compromised as easily. She wanted Ren to become familiar with this face, but at the same time, she didn't want him to be able to straight up KNOW who she was. That'd be embarrassing, after all. Leaning backwards until she could touch the moist earth with the tups of her fingers, she sprung herself back up, did a few stretches, and finally opened her mouth to try speaking. [b]“Hello.”[/b] For a moment, she couldn't even recognize that voice, turning around to see if someone else nearby had spoken. It was a steady, yet chipper tone, one that belonged to a girl who wasn't slowly losing her motivation to go on. It was the voice of a girl who had found reasons to live, reasons to move, reasons to run once more. It was...an amazing feeling. Life. Right now, she was filled to the brim with it. Bounding up and down, warming up her legs in a manner that she hadn't done ever since she quit track-and-field, Liliz, a large, sunny smile on her face, ran down the hill, towards the town of Windswept Oasis to find people to talk to, people to help, people who shared the same elation as her own. That day, Liliz's gray eyes, normally dull, shone like quicksilver. Above her, the endless blue sky finally looked beautiful.[/center]