"Hey, Ian!" A cheerful teen says as she hugs Ian from behind. Ian is sitting down on a chair and eating breakfast. "Hey. How'd you sleep?" He asks the girl behind him. "It was ok. I mean, I'm still nervous that they told me about my national fencing tournament, but it was ok." The teen girl says.

This was Ian's younger cousin. She has dark brown hair that can be mistaken for black that goes down to her shoulder, bright blue eyes that can match the clean parts of the ocean. She stands at 5' 9", only two inches shorter than her older cousin. She is wearing a blue hoodie that shows her fencing team's logo in the front and on the back it has all the other members of her fencing team, and a pair of shorts that end halfway her thighs.

"Hey, don't worry about it. It isn't until like, what, next year? Just take it easy. I'm sure you can do it." Ian says, not wanting his cousin to be all stressed about the tournament, or at least not yet that is. The younger person nods as she sits down in front of Ian. She was happy that her cousin has been set free from Fusion Online, and there's a lot she wants to do with him, mostly because he's her idol and older cousin.

"I made you breakfast. Eat up." Ian says kindly as he finishes his meal and takes his plate to the sink.

"Thanks." The short hair teen says as she starts eating her food. Ian smiles as he watches his cousin eat her food. Ian may have not been the best cousin before Fusion Online, but he will be the best person he can be now, because if he missed something from the real world, it was her.

"So, do you have anything planned for today?" She asks Ian, looking at Ian washing his plate. "Well. I'm kinda booked already. But I'm sure we can do something in the morning tomorrow." Ian says as he puts his plate away after he washed it manually. "Oh. Ok. I'll wait!" The female says with a bright smile. She has waited four years, so one day won't harm her. Besides, she has to go talk with some friends anyway. Ian smiles as he walks back to his cousin. "I'll see you in a while." Ian says as he walks up the stairs and into his room. Ian plops into bed. The ex-Mandalorian picks up his console that can send him to artificial places. The winner of Fusion Online grabs puts on his helmet like device. Once the device activates, he closes his eyes and enters CBO.

-----

Ian opens his eyes and looks around. He's still in the hotel room that his avatar slept in yesterday.

"Better prepare for another day." He mumbles as he gets out of the small bed and stands up. "Abi? Where are you?" Ian calls for her in-game daughter. "Yes daddy?" A little voice says. Ian turns around and sees Abi looking up at him. Ian smiles as he kneels down to be at eye level with the AI.

"Ready for another day?" The Hunter asks. The little girl nods multiple times. "Yes! I'm ready!" She affirms. Ian smiles as he stands up, and at the same time Abi jumps up and turns to her fairy form. Ian smirks as he exits his room with Abi sitting on his right shoulder.

-----

"When do you think she'll be here?" Abi asks as she floats around Ian's head. Ian shrugs his shoulders. It's been like an hour or so, and Ian has been playing several mini games with several people, and he's won all of them as of now. Most of them were chess and a few rounds of cards. Ian it's complaining, because he's gotten about 20,000 gold, making him semi rich at this point.

"Sorry I'm late, I had to drag Nathan along. He was playing COD and, well, it sucks." Katherine says as she walks up to Ian with Nathan behind her. "Hey! It's a pretty good game." Nathan argues. Ian and Katherine look at him like if he just said the worst joke ever. "Anyways! Nathan has agreed to scout ahead." Katherine says, quickly changing the topic. Ian puts his money away and look at Nathan.

"Wait, weren't you wearing Musketeer armor and clothing last time I saw you?" Ian asks.

"Yes. I was. I was trying out a new character, which I thought it would be cool, but musketeers are not as good as I thought." Nathan says. He is now wearing archer clothing, with a quiver equipped to his back and is carrying a bow in his right arm. The bow is green with red stripes, and the string is colored black.

"Isn't it to early for Christmas?" Ian asks as he stands up. "It's a purple level Bow I got during a Christmas event. I'm not gonna use it just during Christmas." Nathan answers. Ian nods as he walks out, followed by the archer and the female Musketeer.

--------

"Ha!" Ian grunts as he finishes off a spider mob. The spider screeches before exploding into shards of harmless glass. Ian smiles as the winning report screen appears, showing Ian the amount of XP and currency he acquired from defeating the mob.

"Nice." Nathan days as he slings his bow around his back. Katherine smiles as she sheathes her sword on the scabbard she has around her waist. Ian places his sword oh his back. "Yea. Now let's keep moving." He says as he walks deeper into the forest, right now, they haven't reached any of the Trees of Life. Ian, however, has reached level 63, only 5 levels away from Nathan and 6 from Katherine. They've been grinding mobs for almost 5 hours now, and Ian is the only one who's increase sharply and acquired new sword skills and magic abilities. The trio keep walking foreword as Nathan checks the map. "Alright. The Tree of Will should be right around there." He says, pointing towards the exit of the forest. Ian and the others walk out of the first and are greeted by a massive tree, bigger than the Pyramid of Giza. "Well. What are we waiting for. Turn to do the same raid again." Nathan says as he walks towards the massive trunk of the tree. Ian stops Nathan by grabbing his shoulder. Nathan looks back at Ian. "What's wrong?" The archer asks.

"I'm doing this by myself." Ian says as he stands in front of two giant doors that lead into the trunk of the tree. "What! Are you crazy!" Katherine exclaims. No one has ever done one of the tree raids by themselves. The least amount of players were two in a duo, which were Nathan and Katherine, and that took them half their fortune and three days of trial and error before completing the tree.

"I AM GOING TO DO IT BY MYSELF!" Ian shouts in a determined and from tone. Nathan and Katherine take a few steps back, afraid of Ian. Ian doesn't care. He just reds to defeat this tree. Ian opens the door and walks inside, his sword held tightly by his right hand. The gates then close, trapping Ian inside the trunk of the trees. Then, several iron armored fairy Knights spawn all around the tree, each one with a certain weapon. Ian looks up. He will defeat all of these fairies, and get a relic. He grits his teeth as he flies up with all his might, and fights the guardians that are guarding the relic.

-----

"Do you think he made it?" Katherine asks with a long sigh. Nathan sits up straight, for he was laying down and taking a nap. "No. If it took us half our fortune combined and three days, caliber is way out of his league." Nathan says. The female musketeer nods. She's worried about Ian, whether it's because he tried to do the raid by himself or because he's trying to prove the some sort of point. Or maybe it's because there's something about him. Ah, yes. Katherine has seen this kind of personality. Several years before a game like this came out. She knew a person that did everything solo in video games, and he always wins. Whether it's during the person's first try or not, the person wins.

A loud creaking noise is heard behind Katherine and Nathan. The two turn around and see Ian, his health displayed at 10 and his sword sheathed away. Ian has Abi sitting on his right shoulder, and on his left hand Ian is holding a relic, which looks more like a small left angel wing. "I got it." Ian sad, his voice tired and his breathing rate above normal. He is covered in red scars, which is showing where he got hit. These will disappear quickly, once Ian drinks a regeneration potion or healing potion. Nathan takes out his bow and shoot Ian in the left knee. Ian falls on his right knee and looks at Nathan. "WHAT THE FUCK!" He exclaims with anger, his health now at 5. "Oh don't worry. It's a regeneration arrow. It'll start healing you." Nathan says as he puts his bow away. Ian looks at his health and sees it rapidly regenerating, eventually hitting the full marker. Ian stands up, takes out the arrow and hands it to Nathan.

"How'd you do it?" Nathan asks, still not over the fact that Ian did it all by himself. Ian smiles. "That's a secret I can't tell. But let's just say, my determination helped." Ian says as he starts walking into the forest again. Katherine looks at Nathan before following Ian into the forest. The archer shrugs as he takes out the map and leads the two towards the Tree of Love.

-----

"He's not coming you know. He doesn't have the guts to put his Neuron Pulser on again." A teen says, wearing a red and white shirt with matching pants that are decorated with gems and other precious minerals, and a red cape with black crosses all around it.

"He's coming. I know he is." Heather says, sitting down on a white wooden chair and round table in front of her. "C'mon my queen, can't you at least act your role as my wife here? No one can see or hear us." The teen says. Heather glares at the teen inside the cage with her. "I'd die before I do anything you want, Calem!" Heather growls, her elf ears pointed up in anger. Calem chuckles as he sits in front of Heather. "You are so stubborn. You don't love Ian. He barely knows you. I, however, know your darkest secrets. I've known you my whole life, and same vice versa." Calem says in a calm tone.

"You don't know me anymore. You lost me the day you trapped me inside Fusion." Heather says as she looks at the table, ashamed that she once called Calem her beloved. But she is no longer 14 and naive. She's a young adult now, and she knows what's right and wrong, something Calem lacks.

"That's what you think. You'll be mine. One day. One day very soon." Calem says, referring to their real life wedding. Heather doesn't understand what he's talking about, because she has not been informed about her forced marriage. "You keep telling yourself that." She mumbles. Calem places his index finger under Heather's chin and forced her to look at him. "You're beautiful when your mad, you know that." Calem says, trying to flatter Heather. Heather doesn't react. She knows she can't fight back. She's trapped in his world. "Put a strong leash on a dog and they obey." Calem says as he stands up and walks behind Heather. Calem places his hands on her shoulders and lowers his head to her neck and places soft kisses on the left side of Heather's neck.

"Stop." Heather says, trying to keep herself from breaking into a million pieces. Calem stops and stands upright. "You know I'll never do anything bad to you." Calem says. An abrupt ring stops Calem from talking any longer. Calem groans as he answers a private call. Calem walks to the door do the cage and murmurs several things to the person that called him. Heather tries to over hear his conversation, but can only make out a few words Calem is saying.

"Well, I gotta go Heather. I'll see you around." Calem says as he presses a few numbers on the keypad places on a golden bar next to the door. Heather looks at the keypad and tries to memorize the code, but Calem has blurred Heather's vision specifically whenever she looks at the keypad. The door opens and Calem exits the cage. Once outside Calem closes the door and leaves Heather alone. The Ex-Commander puts her arms on the table and then covers her face by placing it on the table. She begins to cry softly. She's never felt so useless and weak. She hates it. This is the only thing she can do. Cry and hope Ian comes for her.

"Please Ian. I need you. I'm on my knees. Come for me...." She whispers.

-----

"Did you hear that!" Abi says, floating in front of Ian's face. "Hear what?" Ian asks, confused as to what Abi is talking about. "Mommy! She's in trouble! We have to hurry!" Abi says. Ian nods as he sprints ahead of Katherine and Nathan. "Wait!" Katherine yells. But it was to late. Ian was already on the entrance of the second tree, which Nathan has scouted already and given them a report. Katherine flies ahead of Ian and stops him from entering. "Get out of the way!" Ian demands, drawing his sword. Katherine unsheathes her Katana.

"Ian Stalk!" She says, discovering Caliber's identity. This lowers Ian's defense. "How do you know my name!?" Ian asks. Several tears escape Katherine's eyes as she lowers her head. "The way you talk, move, fight. The reason you are doing this is to free Heather, isn't it." Katherine speaks, a sad tone in her voice. Ian nods. "Yes. Katherine, it is." Ian affirms her assumption. "You're the only person I know who would go this far to free a person you love. You did this to me when I was bullied in school, remember. I liked video games, giving me a bad reputation among the girls and the guys bullied me because I was better than them," Katherine says, past memories rushing through her mind. Ian remembers these as well. He has always been detentions to help others, especially the ones close to him ,"If you truly love Heather. Beat me in combat, and I'll grant you access inside the tree." Katherine says as she points her sword to Ian, who is standing several steps below her, for the entrance of this tree has 100 steps. Ian puts his right foot on the step in front of him, his sword tightly gripped behind him, the top facing the ground. Ian knows why she wants to fight. Ian's always been better at video games. Katherine has never defeated Ian once in a serious competition. She wants to prove herself that she's a great gamer to her cousin. Katherine jumps up, her green eyes shining and looking straight at Ian. This is her reason she fights. To be better and be at a level as same as Ian. Ian rushes up the steps, his sword scrapping the stairs. Katherine brings her sword up and swings it down to Ian's head. The winner of Fusion Online raises his sword and blocks the attack. Katherine is floating above Ian, while Ian is beneath her. The female player knows he's not gonna hold back. He's gonna use every ounce of power in him to defeat her.

'Cousin, I know you. You're not gonna let me stop you. Fight me with everything you got. You don't know how much that'll mean to me.'