After a night full of strange dreams, Pandora woke up, sweaty and petrified, for she had yet again seen the death of her beloved sibling in her dreams. The bloody deed that was executed by the so called Hunters, hunted her in her dreams almost every night in those years that she remained alone in this dark, hopeless world full of people who only seek their own pleasure and satisfaction, people made of greed. Humans were cruel beings, murdering their own kind, but their saviors as well. They needed someone to save them, not only from the disasters that happened, but from themselves as well. Pandora let out a sigh and walked towards the bathroom, she stood there, facing the mirror and examining her reflection, her eyes were red from the tears she had shed the night before, in her sleep, her hair was falling perfectly straight down, over her shoulders and just below her waistline. She used her hands to wash her face and carefully combed her hair. She checked her cell phone, only to find out that she would be late for work! She hurried and did her make-up and then rushed to her closet. She quickly grabbed a pair of jeans and the polo shirt that was given to her by her boss. “I need to get there quickly” She said as she donned on the clothes and was now tying her All-Stars’ shoelaces “I’m glad that these are still made or I would look like a fool” She said laughing. She rushed down, only to find out that the bus had just left, but luckily, a taxi cab was just outside, she got in and asked that the driver got her to the mall. It would be more expensive than taking the bus, but it was faster than waiting for the next and definitely more comfortable. She arrived at the mall and with five minutes to spare, walked over to the store and entered. “Good morning Destiny! Didn’t expect you to be here so early!” A familiar voice echoed, she continued towards the information desk “Morning Edward. Well… I actually thought that I would be late” She said smiling at her boss, he was quite nice and he deserved the respect and kindness he received from her. “Nonsense! If you were late, I would have no problem, since you come here by bus. Anyway, today is a big day! “He said, his excitement was barely hiding, but why? “How come?” He smiled at her “I thought you would know by now.. The new add on for a particular video game series is coming out today at 6 pm.” He said, giving her a friendly wink “By the fallen!! I can’t believe I forgot about it!” He tilted his head to the side and Pandora’s eyes widened with realization “What I meant was… Nevermind, ignore the first part.” He nodded and pointed towards a massive metallic box “Guess what’s inside.” Edward said playfully, weird behavior for a boss, but acceptable “The new version of Blade Craft Online? “ “New Beginnings, yes.” He said giving a professional tone to his voice. “Open it.” He said to her nodding She walked over and pressed the button on the top and the top layer split in two and revealed the games “Amazing!” She said in awe, it was the one game that had her so overly excited, as she loved how it looked, how it felt to be free again. It was an open world RPG, one of the few quality ones that existed. It was almost like it was urging the Hunted to rise up against the Hunters, as you could play as one of the fables. The races were Humans, Dragons, Demons, Angels, Centaurs and Dryads (Depending on your Gender), Vampires and Werewolves, Undead and last but not least, Fallen Angels. The game had a simple story, at least in Pandora’s Eyes it was. The different races were enemies, but they could be friends as well, if the players had the will to. The fate of your character lied in your hands; you could either be a hero or a villain. The main goal is to reach the castle in the sky, who is on 'The top of the world', defeating numerous enemies, etc. It had almost 2 million players in a beautiful, well designed, massive world, where you could do whatever you liked. You could fly, you could fish, cook, hunt, practice blacksmithing, open a shop, buy houses, get married and lots of other things. She usually played solo or with some friends that she had made.
The day passed fast enough and there was always someone who asked about the release of the add- on. By the time it was 5:30 there was a huge amount of people waiting in line just outside the shop, the games were nicely placed on the shelves and the employees were there to control the excited gamers. “It’s a strange feeling, isn’t it?” One of Pandora’s co-workers asked her “Kinda..” She replied shyly “I know how it is to be on the other side” She said laughing a bit, Pandora turned and examined the man, he seemed familiar “Haven’t I seen you before?” She asked him “Well maybe in the BCO convention that took place a month ago… One of the Angels in white and blue armor, with the Divine Knights crest” “Yup…” “You? Were you cosplaying as a character?” “Pandora, from the Night Hunters. Black and turquoise armor, a rapier and a dagger.” “I remember you, then! I almost spilled my coffee on you.” He smiled at her, she shifted uncomfortably in place and then checked the clock. 6pm.. Time to open the doors. The customers charged inside and cleared the shelves off the new game, by 8 o’clock all of the copies were cleared and there was nothing else to do but sit around and try to kill your time. Pandora wandered off deeper into the store to check for any remaining copies and to isolate herself from the others. After a little while, when she was just getting immersed into her thoughts, about her brother, the war, her friends and most importantly, her father. Where could he be? Is there no hope left for us Exceeds? Will the slaughtering of our kinds continue? She thought to herself “Came back to search for a remaining copy, eh?” A voice snapped her out of her thoughts “Yeah… But I had no luck so far” “You won’t have any luck here. Also… I have a little welcome gift for you.” Edward said smiling “Huh? Alright.” They ventured towards the front, where Edward’s Office was and entered “ Before I give it to you, I want something in return” Pandora was clearly shocked and wished that he wasn’t like her ex-boss. “Nothing like that” he said laughing “I just wanted your BCO name so we could play together.” He continued, beaming at her from behind his desk “Phew… Alright, It’s Pandora” His face froze for a second and then a smile shaped on his face “I know you! Wow… I should have known! Anyway… here it is” He threw a small package at her. She thanked him and they continued on chatting for an hour or two.
After their chat, it was time to lock up and go home. As she had just exited the store, a loud noise of glass shattering emitted and a dragon in was laying on the floor. As he got up their eyes met for a moment, until an explosion took place between them and the dragon sprinted away. “Weird… But He needs help…” She muttered as she stayed there, standing “Here goes nothing” She said as she discretely summoned a black fog, so that she could go and help him I can’t believe I’m helping a dragon she thought as she yet again used her powers, disarming the Hunters and sprinting out, when she was in the open, she got in a small dark alley and changed into her Fallen Angel form and armor, she checked her daggers and poisons and they were all there. “Here goes nothing” She said as she flew directly upwards so that it was easier to detect him. He was in the park, coughing up blood after he changed into his human form. She dived down and landed softly, approaching him she sensed that she knew him from before, but couldn’t recall his identity. She folded her wings over him and said “Don’t worry, You’re safe with me.” As she took him in her arms. “Tiamat… where are you?” He said before passing out. She got a good hold of him, so that he wouldn’t fall while taking flight and with all her strength, took off. He was light, for a dragon at least and she had almost no problem carrying him home.
When they were above the building she ascended, searching around for any uninvited visitors, and carried him into her apartment. She took him to her brother’s old bed and set him down. “Now for these wounds” She walked over to the bathroom, where various Fallen Angel, human and Dryad medicine were. “Hmm…” She muttered as she took out various vials, salves, bandages and pills were. “Now to fix you up” She said softly as she treated his wounds. By the time she finished it was 4am and she was exhausted. She walked towards her room and after changing, dived into her bed and slept. When she woke up it was 11 am and she felt refreshed and renewed, she slipped on her slippers and quickly wrote a text “Something came up and I can’t come to work. Thanks for the understanding”, she sent it to Edward as she walked towards the kitchen, grave thoughts haunted her. What if he isn’t that appreciative and lunges at me to kill me? What if he’s not? What would my father and the rest of the council say? Were some of her thoughts. She tried to clear her head and occupy herself in cooking breakfast.