After several devastating meteor shower, strange things beckoned as foreign elements sparked deadly mutations in animals, and micro-organisms invisible to the naked eye unleashed countless epidemics.
On top of their own diseases, mankind had to deal with mutated creatures. Threats loomed everywhere and a torrent of microbiological mutations lurked as illness and disaster halted progress and curved productivity.
Bustling place were reduced to ruins and vast plots of fertile land turned to hellish wastelands. The blood moon started.
Luna couldn’t remember how long she lingered in that strange world, how long she fought... in that nightmare.
Ninety-odd years? Or perhaps 100 years?
She could no longer remember. She suddenly woke up in the world where her family and friends are all dead. She's sitting on her bed feeling lost and frustrated.
Before, she was a somewhat well-known technophile whose career was on the rise. Just as she was about to release what she considered his best work, a bunch of Fantasy creatures arrived. She fled for survival and begins the battle.
When conquered lands were recovered one after another, people thought the battle would end soon and prosperous times would emerge. Yet this was when she collapsed, in the darkness before the dawn.
"If you don’t have the determination to fight to the death, then this war will certainly be lost."
Someone said in the back of her head.
"That’s why our population has dwindled from 8 billion to 80 million."
"Do you think we will win?" the other one said.
"We will."
"I’m not afraid of death, but I am afraid of a powerless victory."
"We will win."
"That’s good. When we win, I’m going to find a place and start herding again. Hey, how I loved the ranch where we lived when I was a little—the blue skies and the green pastures. What about you, ? Are you going to relaunch your career as a technophile?"
"Relaunch? I never stopped in the first place. Who are you?! What's happening??? Where I am?!!"
"You're in Lunacia. The virtual world that you've created for us Axies. We need you here, save us!" said by the little one who looks like a fish because of its tale.
Luna feels scared suddenly, she doesn't know where and what the voice came out.
"Who are you?! I don't understand you're saying. I don't know you!" she frustratedly said.
Darkness came. Slowly, her visions becomes blurred until she doesn't remember anything again.
In Luna's head, a conversation she once had with that someone suddenly popped up.
The cries everyone facing imminent death and the howls of the mutated animals began to fade. The extreme pain from decades of illnesses and deadly wounds had been wiped from her memory as her body began to recover its senses.
The vitality of a Bamboo patch that meets the spring was confusing to Luna. After all, she was more than 100 years old, an emaciated old woman with damaged fingers. Even though her body had mutated and strengthened as a function of her immune system, she was still bogged down by injury and illness. She was also an old woman. She felt like an overheated engine all the time and could no longer relax at will.
Just when Luna was about to carefully feel out her body, her brain was assaulted by a pain resembling pricking needles and barraged with images she couldn’t recognize, crowding her head to its breaking point.
As she gradually gained control of her body, Luna's eyelids spasmed and she sat up to take deep breaths. The overloading of her brain blurred her vision, but as her headache faded, her vision resumed too, and Luna took in her unusual surroundings acutely.
With instincts and sensitivity honed from countless battles, Luna could tell without looking that she was in a foreign location.
No.
It wasn’t an unknown location.
A scene appeared in her mind, a seemingly very familiar scene.
This is where she used to live. To survive, to play. The game she once dreaming when she was a kid. Her creation before she disappeared.
She was Luna and not Luna at the same time.
She died in that end-of-days battle, but now she was reborn into the body of another person also called Luna. She survived.
Luna raised her hands and examined her 10 young, intact fingers. She dangled her legs, which were weak but felt no pain.
This was a young and healthy body.
Luna's brain contained her own memories—the battles that led to her death were crystal clear, as were her nearly 100 years of fighting and being on the run. But at the same time, she was also equipped with the memories of her new host body.
This young lady also named Luna was merely 23 years old and was about to complete her tertiary studies.
She was a young gamer.
Unfortunately…
She was dumped after graduation and cheated just when she started her new job. A friend she considered a blood brother betrayed her and stole three months’ worth of her work. Succumbing to the blows, this woman chose the final resolution—suicide.
Luna was puzzled. Tragedy had been avoided. Why would anyone give up on life in such a beautiful world?
After all, it was merely a case of heartbreak, piracy, and betrayal.
So what?
Did the world fall apart?
The more memories she uncovered, the more amazed Luna was.
There really was a new world. A virtual world to be exact.
Her heart is pounding so fast, like it would be the cause of her death once again.
All those years of battle and all those of years of hellish living were worth it. While searching the memories of her new body, Luna remained vigilant toward her surroundings as well. Even when she was in a safe environment, Luna couldn’t relax. It was an old habit cultivated during the end of days, which was also why she was able to survive for so many years.
As a whining sound from nearby grew, Luna stopped searching her new memory and looked over.
There is ongoing battle. 3 versus 3.
The other 3 looks like in crisis, while in the other side, they are wearing a victorious aura.
She felt it. A mix of emotions was there again.
"Is this they were talking about? The Lunacia?" she mumbled, afraid that someone would heard her.
"Yes, it was. Welcome back creator".
"What are you?"
"We are the Axies that you've created. Because of you, we are still existing. You are back in the modern world, we are living in this amazing virtual world you have given to us." answered by the creature that looks like a pet but in different form.
"How could this happens?" she curiously ask to the creature.
"You are inside the game that you developed many years ago. You called us, the Axies. There are 9 classes of us. The aquatic, beast, bird, bug, dawn,dusk, mech, the reptile, and me ~ the cutest one...I am the bird."
"Don't believe. Im your favourite, im the beast!" the other one mockingly said.
"Stop that already! Hey boss, its okay if you don't remember us. We can make new adventure together. We will guide you all throughout!, Im a plant. "
"Ohh, you don't really look like a plant, im sorry." Luna said.
"HAHAHAHA!" they laugh together.
While walking, Luna remember the battle she saw a while ago.
"Hey, what kind of battle they are doing. I saw it before i met you." Luna asked the Axies.
" Oh, we, the Axies are fantasy creatures that players can battle, collect, and raise. Humans are the players. Each Axie has different traits which determine their role in battle." the Dawn said.
"Each of us has 4 stats, Health, Morale, Skill, and Speed. Each of us has 6 body parts: eyes, ears, horn, mouth, back, and tail. Horns, Mouths, Backs, and Tails determine which cards an Axie can use in battle." Added by the Dusk.
"The Axie battle system is turn-based card game where the goal is to eliminate all enemies your team of 3 Axies is facing. Each turn, a player must strategically play cards that maximize their chance of victory. Well, that's how i win most of the time." the Reptile boastfully said.
"These are all happens in one place, and we called it the Arena." the Mech said.
"Wow! I am the creator of this crazy game! I must be really good! HAHA!" Luna proudly answered.
"Well, there's a lot of things you need to know, we hope you remember quickly, human." they said.
~~
As times comes by, Luna and the Axies get along. They treat each other like family who breath in the same world.
Luna slowly remember the past including herself in the human world. She decided to stay with the Axies and explore her creation again.
Looks like i have to continue this journey.
I need to make this possible again, I want to continue, I need to explore again. Luna said in her thought.
2 Years later ...
Luna successfully open the adventure she puts a lot of idea, concepts, wild imaginations, and hard work.
"Let the battle begins again!" she excitedly shouted.
.
.
.
.
One step, two steps...
Soon the probing steps became confident moves, as every cell in her body came alive with her heightened mood.
A big shadow suddenly appear in front of her. It was tall, taller than the average man. Its eyes held a certain light, were they green, or were they the eyes of a serpent?
The darkness was kind to his features, but somehow there was a brooding sense of evil beneath the surface, and a hint of sulfur from hell itself. It unfurled its wings, bat like, and then smiled, long fangs and jagged teeth gleaming in the moonlight.
Luna feels suffocated. She can't breathe.
"W..who are you?, " she said unconsciously.
Staring at the eyes of the unknown creature, the creature said in a serious tone,
"I’m taking over the life you abandoned."
"I will destroy all your creations."
"You will never win against us ."
Then it suddenly vanished like a strong wind.
.
.
.
"So your dream is to become a world-famous gamer? It just so happens I used to be one." the man in a suit asked.
"Yes Dad, I will be in the right time." Luna said.
Luna wakes up weakly. Feeling scared and mad at the same time.
"....who are you?"
This is not the end. She thought.