{"id":327,"date":"2025-07-14T03:46:35","date_gmt":"2025-07-14T03:46:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/concentrikey.com\/?page_id=327"},"modified":"2025-07-19T03:10:06","modified_gmt":"2025-07-19T03:10:06","slug":"the-world-of-ona-chapter-8","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/concentrikey.com\/?page_id=327","title":{"rendered":"The World of ONA – Chapter 8"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The World of ONA<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Level 8<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Loaf pulled me into the game before I could remove the equipment. \u201cI\u2019m leveling up Bromme! The Source Aura is a great in-game resource. Where did you find her?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cShe found you,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The connection flickered and the screen blurred with a loud static crackle. I pounded the desk in the real world and I was back online, in the tower, sitting across from the Red Knight in the guest room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The sound of voices interrupted our conversation. I breathed a sigh of relief.

The Red Knight stood up from the chair and glared at the opening in the wall. She appeared to recognize the voices and shouted into the void, \u201cGo away!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I laughed as she turned to glare at me. \u201cWatch your emotions or the game will log you out.\u201d

The Red Knight said, \u201cI\u2019m a legacy player, a bored woman with nothing better to do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I said, \u201cI was a pro gamer, until the long hours caused burnout and frustration with all things competitive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Red Knight said, \u201cThe game is not a therapy session.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The noise from outside caused both of us to turn and look for signs of the approaching conversation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The king of the Crystal Breakers entered the room with an attendant using the opening in the guest room wall. \u201cThe Red Knight should be in here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Crystal Breakers attendant followed the king into the room. \u201cHello! We are the last of our kind, the kindgdom has fallen and…\u201d

The sadness on her face was too much to watch. I interrupted and said, \u201cWhat happened to the others?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Red Knight motioned for me to pay respect to the king as she bowed. I did the same, a mirror of her formal gestures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The king said, \u201cA magic user cleared the mountain caverns of all creatures and features. She was guiding a man who appeared to think he was fighting his way through a series of challenging opponents.\u201d He laughed and the mood changed from loss to friendship.

I laughed, \u201cAnd inside the game world, the magic user was simply baiting the monsters and removing them before the fight got too dangerous.\u201d I watched the occasional status update and video replay of his adventure. The magic user is somehow locking me out of the shared connection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The king said, \u201cThe magic user was a lead programmer. I was too, until the game was discontinued.\u201d

I reached out and hugged the Red Knight and she smiled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I said, \u201cAre you the avatar of a player or a character in the game?\u201d
\u201cA woman must keep her secrets.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDid you recruit me to save the Ona project?\u201d

The Red Knight shook her head in denial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The attendant to the king of the said, \u201cThe software engineers, programmers, and all support teams have abandoned the project.\u201d

I said, \u201cAnd who are you?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The attendant said, \u201cThe Memory Keeper of Kiloss.\u201d

I said, \u201cIs the game still active? I thought Ona was in charge, but if you control the servers…\u201d

The Red Knight raised a hand to stop the attendant from speaking. The king of the Crystal Breakers raised an eyebrow, but did not respond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I found a chair and sat down, wanting a good story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Red Knight said, \u201cThe last memory keeper is the server stack in the mountain above the tower, the highest point on the map, where the game developers updated the game and introduced new features. The power will be shut down to close all outside connections in the wild. He was instructed to run a backup for insurance purposes.\u201d

I said, \u201cI feel like I\u2019m talking to company employees, and not game characters in a fantasy world.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The king said, \u201cMaster Bromme should hear the secret. The reason the game was not shut down when the company closed development.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The others nodded in agreement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The king said, \u201cOna is real.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was confused. \u201cReal?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The king said, \u201cIn my opinion, we can regain control by causing the Source Aura to react with exaggerated human emotions. The sensory input will log her out of the game world.\u201d

The attendant said, \u201cThe flower field is simply a detailed recording of the characters and their actions. The restored characters will have the last recorded level.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I stepped into the conversation with the intention of leading the group. \u201cSo we can build an army of advanced characters without the original subscribers logged into the game?\u201d

Onisa said, \u201cYes, Bromme. I will lead the quest.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I glared at the red knight in frustration, \u201cI could lead the quest.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Onisa returned the same look and I started laughing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Onisa said, \u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group fell silent as the sound of a stampede reached the guest room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Onisa said, \u201cIdeas?\u201d She looked from the king of the Crystal Keepers to the Memory Keeper of Kiloss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I said, \u201cOnisa, do you think the Source Aura was gathering the monsters from all the realms?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group responded unison with a confident, \u201cImpossible.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I had the feeling one outside player was in charge of the characters in the room. I considered the possibility and said, \u201cIf you want my help, tell me who you are. I\u2019m here for Loaf. He appears to be gathering the big game monsters into one location.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Onisa said, \u201cImpossible.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I said, \u201cLoaf is no longer in the caverns.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The attendant said, \u201cPerhaps you are speaking the truth Bromme. The guest player uses a paired subscriber account. So who is in the caverns? We are the last of our kind.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I said, \u201cWe paid for the shared subscription!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The opening in the guest room wall was blocked and the group left the tower, making their way to the surface.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ona walked down the hill to meet us at the tower door.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I said, \u201cLoaf is breaking the game.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The king\u2019s attendant helped him step over a stack of stones into the open air.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The king said, \u201cStop your friend.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Crystal Keepers king and his attendant waved goodbye and ran to the edge of the forest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Onisa reached out to hold my hand. \u201cI will share more secrets of this world, if you can find a way to delete the Red Knight from the Castle Bromme graduate training fight in level one. She is stationed at the draw bridge gatehouse, a kind of boss fight to prove your skills.\u201d

I said, “I fought a giant at the edge of the forest back on level one, there was no boss fight in the castle.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Ah, the Source Aura deleted the training mission.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ona sent a message to the players and the world began to dissolve into another loading screen. \u201cOnisa is wrong. I took control. Level nine.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
Continue<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
Short Story Collection<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Concetrikey \u00a9 2025<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The World of ONA Level 8 Loaf pulled me into the game before I could remove the equipment. \u201cI\u2019m leveling up Bromme! The Source Aura is a great in-game resource. Where did you find her?\u201d \u201cShe found you,\u201d I said. The connection flickered and the screen blurred with a loud static crackle. I pounded the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-327","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nThe World of ONA - Chapter 8 - Concentrikey<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/concentrikey.com\/?page_id=327\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The World of ONA - Chapter 8 - Concentrikey\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The World of ONA Level 8 Loaf pulled me into the game before I could remove the equipment. \u201cI\u2019m leveling up Bromme! The Source Aura is a great in-game resource. Where did you find her?\u201d \u201cShe found you,\u201d I said. 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