If you are a dreamer, come in
If you are a dreamer, a wisher, a liar,
A Hope-er, a Pray-er, a Magic Bean buyer,
If you’re a pretender, come sit by my fire
For we have some flax-golden tales to spin
Come in!
Come in!

-Shel Silverstein

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Tales of Runescape: Part Two, the continuation of the story that has began to weave. For now though, Alex 43’s quote starts us off…

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“Even though it was the middle of the day, darkness covered the wasteland like a plague. Amidst the darkness, sounds of horror itself were scarcely heard over the deafening silence that was its existence. Only the bravest dare venture inside, and only the most cunning come out again.

Starting today, however, the Wilderness will never be the same again…”

…Kain sighed as the thought continuously ran through his head, replaying over and over as he stared out into the barren ground of the wild terrain, his feet not moving an inch over the borderline. He glanced at the sign marking the dangers of the wilderness that someone had written graffiti on, adding “NO ONE WHO ENTERS WILL LIVE AGAIN!” to the bottom.

It wasn’t as though he, KnightKain was scared. He was the second free-to-player who had gotten the highest combat level of 126, and for all he knew, he could face anyone who proved to be a threat to the nature environment of the Wilderness. However, his logic always came before his confidence, and he decided to do a little bit of preparing before he stepped out into the unknown. He had spent the past day gathering lobsters and strength potions, making sure that he stored all his valuables away and had all killing supplies ready before venturing out.

Kain had first heard of the strange killer from his friend Jut289. Jut had most graciously informed him of all the details that went on through his rather bad pking trip three days ago, while Kain hardly paid any attention until his friend mentioned how he had died. Apparently, Jut had seen a white dot fast approaching him from behind, but just as he swiveled around, the mysterious player had already sent him on a quick, free trip to Lumbridge. As Kain traveled around Asgarnia, he heard similar tales about the “Wilderness Killer.” This got Kain’s curiosity rolling quickly, for after reaching the highest level, life on Runescape had rapidly become increasingly boring. Now there was finally something to spark his thrill of the game once more.

Kain took a quick last check through his inventory that contained a strength potion, teleport runes (he really didn’t care right now if he was considered a “teletubbie,” he would rather be safe than sorry), a scimitar, and lobsters. A quick switch to the stats page confirmed his full health and prayer. Taking a breath, he did what no one dared do for many a day and stepped into the Wilderness.

It was an eerie feeling as Kain continued his trek, for he’d never seen it so desolate. Dark Knight’s Fortress was completely abandoned, as well as the Hill Giants near Chaos Temple. All the usual pking hotspots were empty, deserted like ghost towns. The only things that moved were the monsters, which Kain didn’t bother attacking. He had no wish to lose health before he found the killer.

As he approached the Greater Demons, Kain noticed a fresh kill on the ground, although the only thing remaining was the ashes of the demon. No doubt was in his mind that he was close when he saw it. Gripping his shortbow tightly, he cautiously stood there silently, waiting for the appearance of the killer. Minutes passed and nothing moved. He watched as the remains of the demon faded away, replaced with another fresh monster to kill. He waited longer.

Finally, as Kain was about to give up and come back another day, he saw a white dot slowly approaching. Not hesitating a second, he fired at the enemy, arrow after arrow. The “Killer”, whose name Kain saw was TempestDusk, quickly ran towards him, while Kain retreated a little to keep the distance between them. He noticed something different almost immediately – the fact that nothing showed up when the arrows hit. His range was 99; he knew he couldn’t be missing. Yet even if he did miss, no health damage showed up, nor a health bar.

That’s when Kain noticed the sheath that his opponent was wearing. It was blood red, nearly overgrowing with rubies that Kain realized were falling down as each arrow hit. Running farther away but keeping his eyes on his enemy, he glanced with shock at each gem that was falling from the sheath, disintegrating on the ground at touch. He kept firing, but the number of rubies still on the sheath was immense. TempestDusk clearly didn’t notice the strange behavior of his accessory, for he continued to run towards Kain, not hesistating to look at the dripping rubies at all.

As flabbergasted as he was, Kain continued to fire, but the length between the two was slowly decreasing. However, he noticed the number of rubies still intact with the sheath was steadily decreasing as well. Kain wasn’t sure what would happen if TempestDusk managed to hit him, but he was positive that he didn’t want to know. He nearly laughed at the ironic thought that he, nearly two times stronger than his opponent, was scared to get attacked.

He ran and fired, ran and fired, again and again. Zigzagging here and there, arrows kept flying, but TempestDusk didn’t seem to want to give up the relentless chase anytime soon. Kain was exhausted as he saw his energy hit below ten percent, but one last look at his enemy showed that there was only one more ruby on his sheath. Kain’s arm was stuck in the routine of firing as he drew a last arrow and shot, watching it fly in its usual arc and land in the body of his foe.

At that moment, the sheath itself decomposed, turning into tiny red dust. This finally got his enemy’s attention as he stopped running and looked down at his side. Kain was unable to feel what was happening inside the player, only watch as TempestDusk froze there, his protective sheath gone. Suddenly, out of nowhere, he fell to the ground, dead.

A pile of rewards lay on the ground. Kain went over and obtained enough equipment for at least a profit of a million. However, it wasn’t the loot that interested him, but the dust. He went over and examined the dust carefully, but couldn’t find anything peculiar about it. He shrugged, taking his foe’s equipment with him out of the Wilderness. At least now this region could go back to normal with its usual player killing, and that was all he cared about.

Behind him, a gust of wind picked up the scarlet dust and blew it away, not leaving one tiny particle behind.