New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

From the top of the pyramid, Khalor looked back at the two pro players watching him. He smiled in a fake fashion.

"I don't want to fight you, but I will, if need be." He told them, keeping up the facade.

Killi and Blue could feel the cold aura washing off of the man. It felt like just the mere act of looking at him was robbing them of their life.

Blue was the first one to snap out of the half-trance.

"What is it you want then?" She asked, cautiously.

"I want to reach the next stage, but not before I get one more item." He replied, sitting down on the steps.

"What item?" Killi asked next.

"That is on a need-to-know basis. And you don't fucking need to know." Khalor responded, angry at the prying Ranger.

"Oh? And what if I decide I want that item." Killi said with a smirk, as he pulled his bowstring taut.

"Then you would seek death." Khalor said, his gaze piercing into Killi.

*CAW!*

Killi heard a loud cawing from high in the sky before gusts of wind kicked up around the pyramid. He was almost knocked to his ass by the sheer force of the wind.

Then a large two-headed raven landed behind Khalor. It cawed loudly another time, spreading its wings wide.

The shadow it cast upon the pyramid was immense, and Blue audibly gulped. This was most likely a boss-level monster, she thought.

"What in the hell!" Killi said, visibly shaken.

"Just who are you?" He asked the man on the pyramid.

"My name is Khalor. But you can call me The Monarch of Death." Khalor said as he smiled slightly.

"Tch! Poser! Calling yourself a monarch. Do you know who I am? I'm a real nobility!" Killi shouted, letting his anger slip from him.

"I know who you are, arrogant tea drinker. I know full well, Kiligan Norrington, what your lineage is. But I don't care." Khalor replied, brushing him off like he was nothing.

Killi just blanked, as the man had just named him by his real name. How did he know his full name?

No one had interviewed Killi with his full name in years. Most people should have already forgotten about him in the gaming circles.

Yet, this man seemed fully aware of who he was speaking to. While Killi knew nothing about this 'Khalor' guy.

Everyone knew that information was crucial in war, and gaming was a war too. But now, his opponent had a full information advantage over him.

This was bad. Terrible, even.

"Listen, both of you. I don't want to fight more than necessary. So just don't get in my way." Khalor said as he stretched lazily.

He then gave a silent order to his undead, sending them on a hunt. He had to reduce the number of players left to six hundred soon.

The undead army turned on their heels and scattered into all the zones. It didn't take long for the kill count to go up again.

It had already been an hour since they started phase one, and the remaining players still numbered a little over seven hundred. He needed to get that number down.

But not too low, and not too fast either.

He ordered his undead to hunt the players down and to stop when there were six hundred players left. Beside him, he kept two undead.

One was the giant two-headed raven. The other was a tall death knight in full-plated armor.

Khalor turned his head to the pro players, as they were still standing there. He sighed.

"Don't just stand there. Go, hunt players." Khalor told them, shooing them away.

Blue and Killi felt insulted by this, but they knew they wouldn't stand a chance against him with just the two of them. That's how strong they thought he was.

Blue clicked her tongue, as she started walking towards the volcanic region. Killi for his part looked at Khalor with a mix of hatred and fear.

Hatred from being looked down at, but fear from being totally exposed. What if that man acted on him outside the game?

Of course, his estate was protected. But he knew nothing from this newcomer.

What if the man had connections to dangerous people? Or what if he was one of those himself?

With access to his full personal information, much damage could be done to him. And that was excluding the threat to his life.

Killi carefully walked away, towards the urban zone, monitoring Khalor all the way until he could no longer see him.

"Master, he might be a problem later. Should I deal with him right away?" The death knight asked Khalor, doing a low bow.

"Hmm. No. Leave him be, for now. We have bigger fish to fry." Khalor replied, looking to the desert zone.

From the top of the pyramid, Khalor could see far into any of the zones, but the desert one was where his attention lay. That was the direction Azamus had fled to.

If any player was currently a threat to him, it would be that gnome. He could shoot him from halfway across the full map and kill him in one strike.

So he kept his eye on that zone, to be sure he could react in time if he ever heard or saw something out of the ordinary. Khalor could see many vantage points in the desert zone that could be used as sniper's nests.

That's what he was keeping his eyes on. But there were many spots, and he had to constantly move his eyes.

This was not the best way of staying safe from a sniper, but it was his only choice for now. He knew Azamus would try to shoot down the potion drinker, to eliminate an enormous threat for the next phases.

At the end of the desert, Azamus was already perched on a pillar of rocks. Climbing there had been hard on him since he was wounded, but he had made it.

Now he was looking to score as many points as he could before the phase ended. As soon as he had a clear shot on someone, he would open fire, and reap a life.

This boosted his points some more, as he already had many. But then he noticed something in the faraway distance.

A big black bird had landed on the pyramid. He could still see the pyramid, albeit poorly, even with his scope.

That was how far he had run from it. He had used every escape skill in his arsenal, just to create as much distance as he could.

To a sniper, being undetected was the ideal situation. Of course, since he could hold his own as a gunner, he had gone toe to toe with Blue and Killi, but it had cost him.

Now he was back to trying and sniping his opponents from a distance, and currently, he was seeing one in his scope. A man, sitting on the stairs of the pyramid.

The man was looking in his general location like he was searching for something. Or someone.

'What is he looking for?' Azamus wondered as he started looking around through his scope.

He thought maybe the man was looking for prey that had escaped. But after a few minutes of searching, he found nothing.

No players could be seen in the desert anymore. Probably because this was the worst place to be.

Almost totally open terrain, with barely any obstacle to hide or duck behind. Any sane person would look for a better place to fight.

The dessert was basically a death trap for any melee player, against any ranged player. Unless they were good enough to reach them.

Azamus focused back on the pyramid. Right now, he was at a range where just seeing his opponent's head was already a feat.

But he thought about the position of the man. Since he was sitting on the pyramid, did that not mean the potion was gone?

Was it he who had drunk it? Or did he just sit there after the act?

He looked through his scope again, noticing another detail. An empty glass bottle was near the man.

Azamus had to focus, just to see the sheen off the darn thing. But that made his questions vanish.

There was no way someone else drank the potion and left the bottle there intact, right? No, it was assuredly him who drank it.

Azamus jumped off his current perch. He needed to get closer, or he would never make the shot.

He ran a few hundred meters forward, making sure he stayed as much in cover as he could. He ran behind dunes and rock pillars when he could.

After walking forward for almost a kilometer, he picked the nearest stone pillar. He climbed to its top, a hard endeavor once again, before lying down.

He readjusted his scope angles, making sure they accounted for the reduced distance before he looked through it again. He now had a much better view of his target.

He could make out his traits better, and one thing stood out to him. His face seemed familiar.

He swatted away that stray thought as he breathed in, and expelled half the breath, holding in the other half.

His hands steadied, and he pulled the trigger.

*Bang!*