A thrill shot through Artemis' body as Kagero leaned towards him, and he responded in kind, ignoring the bell that had just begun to ring in the distance.  Their lips were about to touch... and then, without warning, Kagero suddenly flared blue and vanished.  With the companion he had been cuddling with suddenly gone, Artemis felt like he was about to topple over, and then suddenly there was another flash, and the scenery changed from a grassy hilltop to a large cobblestoned plaza.  Thankfully Kagero was there, but the momentary disruption quite ruined their moment -Artemis found himself grabbing on to Kagero for balance and hit heads with her rather than locking lips.  It was a very light hit -not even enough to hurt -but it still pissed Sara off.<br/><br/>"Hey!" Artemis demanded, scrambling to his feet.  Sara's anger only increased as her avatar looked around and saw that the square was filling with additional players.  Just what was so important that it had to interrupt her moment?<br/><br/>Then a section of the sky above their heads went red and began to flash, displaying a single word, in English:<em>Warning</em>.  Then other sections of the sky also began to go red, displaying either the words "Warning" or "System Announcement."  Within moments the entire sky was obscured by the messages.  And then things started getting<em>really</em>weird.<br/><br/>"What the..."<br/><br/>A reddish liquid that resembled blood began to ooze from between some of the sections of sky, coalescing into ribbons that joined together above the heads of the crowd to form a gigantic and rather sinister looking cloaked figure.  Grabbing his spear from the cobbles besides him, Artemis gripped the weapon with both hands and took up a fighting stance, then looked over to Kagero as Sara wondered whether there was really anything she would be able to do to protect her friend against so monstrous a foe.<br/><br/><em>Calm yourself,</em>she instructed.<em>It's just a game.</em>