Tharja

I'm not going to think of this story as a warning, but as my way of asking for help because honestly nothing good can come of reading this. All I can say for certain is that the stuff you see on TV is twice what they make it out to be. People are loons.

It started about three weeks ago. I was a big Nintendo fan, and so were my friends. We each had 3DS systems, and would StreetPass each other each morning on our way to school via the most crowded bus in North America. I would usually get about eight people on at a time, because not too many people even brought their systems to High School, they might get lost or stolen.

I kind of wish it had been. Anyways, we were riding to school, and chatting about the new hit game "Fire Emblem Awakening". This was an incredibly well designed game where you played as a master tactician in the Fire Emblem universe, and helped a Prince named Chrom make the right decisions as he defended his kingdom and conquered various forts to the west. If you paired units together with others, they could build "Support Relationships" eventually leading to marriage, each time executed through a brief exchange of dialogue.

I wasn't too crazy about this at first, but the concept of having your character have his own little family was enticing. You could potentially marry any of the characters, and I had a big decision to make. However, upon marrying somebody, you would unlock an incredibly powerful character named "Morgan", who I knew could really help my StreetPass games (Armies from one system could be sent to others to battle, and certain players could become well renowned through this feature). I was still new to the game, but I picked out a unit and began pairing mine with her repeatedly, reading through the support conversations one by one.

Her name was Tharja, and she was a dark mage who openly stalked the Avatar, cursing people who interfered in their interactions. She would constantly make up excuses to be in their presence, but overall I felt it was kind of cute, even if she was supposed to be the creepy character. She had the whole "Evil Mage" act going, but she was a decent character.

Eager to get the "Morgan" character, I allowed her to marry the Avatar, causing a brief confession screen to pop up showing her thrust into the Avatar's arms, with a voice clip "I can't believe you made me love you! 'Course if you back out... I'll murder you while you sleep". I had already heard about this being her quote online, and I laughed at the little comment before leaving to recruit Morgan. This was where things began to get strange.

The next day, I StreetPassed some new guy on the way to the bus stop. His mii was a blank, default male with the name "Tharja" and a black shirt. I figured it was a joke or a fanboy, though I was suspicious at his greeting. The smiley little mii would come to mine in the StreetPass mii plaza and say "I found you". I ignored it and went on to Awakening, where I found that not surprisingly, "Tharja" had appeared on the map.

I looked over his units and found only his Avatar, the blank Default male with the white hair and plain expression. The only unit was the male Avatar, once again named Tharja and armed with a single tome labeled "Love". When I challenged him I got the quote "I found you". Weirded out, I dispatched the guy in an instant and decided to move on. Things got stranger.

The following morning I found "Tharja again in my neighborhood, this time with his Unit and Mine. He had defeated and recruited my character, and the two were each using tomes labeled "Love". I had been turned from a Grandmaster class to a sorcerer, as had his unit. I challenged him again, and got the quote "Let me love you". I visited the mii plaza and got the guy's mii again, with the quote "Hello Marx".

I showed it to the guys on the bus, because this whole business was starting to creep me out. They shrugged it off, and suggested I try to keep an eye out for anybody with a system. I played through a little more, my visits with "Tharja" became more frequent with the quotes changing from "Let me love you" to "Where do you go"? I eventually got used to his visits, even starting to enjoy them, they were sort of funny.

I only got freaked out when I got a SwapNote from the guy, who it seemed had gotten my number somehow. It read "Please don't leave" and on the second page "Don't back out". I decided I needed a little break from Tharja, so I started leaving my system at home on weekdays.

This led to me chatting with and eventually developing a bit of a crush on a girl named "Chloe". I played the game less, and began to see her more, until I got a little blinking blue light on my 3DS.

I opened the SwapNote and saw a photograph taken from one end of my bus of Chloe and I chatting. I had no idea where the photo had been taken, but Tharja's mii soon began writing in the 3D ink above the picture. The print was messy and crude, as if done in a hurry, but it distinctly read "Don't forget me". I stared at the photo, and wondered who could have been on that bus at the time. I was getting ready to give up and call Nintendo about how to silence this nut, when I got a text from my friend.

"Dude, I think you should give Chloe a call, she's really hurt."

I called her up and got her parents, who told me some strange guy, looking to be about 16ish, same as me, had apparently followed her around downtown the previous day before finding her in private and beating her, with a large hoodie pulled over his head and strung to hide his face. There was no explanation for the guy, only that he had escaped into the crowd without a trace. She had survived, but they said her injuries were serious and it looked like somebody had really messed up her bones. I got really concerned, and asked if I could talk to her but was greeted by a doctor's voice in the background.

It seemed I would not be able to go see her. I headed down to the plaza to get her a card and some flowers, anything to help show we were sorry for her, but as I walked out of the shop I got a little green light from my 3DS, which I had been using for MP3. I opened SwapNote to find Tharja, who I hadn't seen in a while. His little mii threw up a photograph of Tharja's confession from the game, and began to write beside it in the 3D ink "I tried to keep her away from you, but I see I'm not important to you."

The next page of the note read "You backed out. Good night". With that, my system stalled for a minute, as if lagging before the screens went black. It had been bricked, and even when I tried to view the back-ups from my SD card I found nothing. I remembered exactly what the loon had said, and then I remembered the confession quote:

"I can't believe you made me love you! 'Course if you back out... I'll murder you while you sleep."

I decided to sell my game, and I didn't bother replacing the system, I just couldn't enjoy it anymore. It's been around a week since I got the note from Tharja, and I haven't slept. I can still remember the creepy little photo of us on the bus, and I can't seem to find the person on board.

EPILOGUE

I've told people the story but they insist it was just some troll. I know this was more than a troll messaging me. My friends still play, and it seems like nobody else has encountered Tharja yet, which I suppose is a good thing.

Chloe is recovering, but it's very slow, and they think she won't be able to leave the hospital for quite some time. My friends and family keep telling me it was just a joke, but I'm certain this was the guy that roughed her up and I'm not about to give up my thoughts on the matter. I guess the only reason I'm writing this is because I'm hoping someone will support me, or at least that Tharja might stumble upon it and see what he's done. Either way, I don't want to risk Chloe's safety anymore. I'm going to sleep.

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