ã€ŠMy Life As A Gamer G.I.R.L. (Guy in real Life)ã€‹


 Bonus Prelude: A Girls Escape

    The house was silent. A young girl, almost fifteen years of age, stared with a mix of dread and hope at the school brochure before her. Another new school... maybe this time I''ll finally get to finish a year, she thought to herself, sadly reminiscing on all the places she had been dragged around to by her mother, the diplomat. They had never stayed in one place for more than a few months. Her mother had promised that this time they wouldn''t be going anywhere for a while, but then, she had promised that several times over. Yet there was a weariness to the words this time, as if her mother was also tired of moving around. I hope that''s true.

    Briefly, she thought of the little boy she had met when she was seven years old. They had met at a playground, and had played together for nearly a week before both of them finally had to go. If only I could have that friend again... I wonder what happened to him, she wondered, almost crying. This time, however, her mother had also done something nice as an apology. She had gotten her daughter the Dream Machine, a revolutionary virtual-reality interface, along with its flagship software, a video game that was even now delivering on its promise to break new ground and explore new frontiers on that front. There were many reports of users claiming that the immersion was such that the fantasy world was nearly indistinguishable from reality in terms of sensation.

    ¡°Honey? I need to go and check things at the office; I''ll be back before midnight.¡± her mother''s voice called. The young girl made no reply. A moment later, the sound of the door shutting was heard, and a car then started up outside.

    The young lady then went to take a shower, after which she laid upon the bed in her towel for several long minutes, nearly crying before taking a deep breath and putting the towel in the laundry to get a nightgown. When this had been put on, she started up the tower for the Dream Machine; she had installed the game yesterday, but had not gotten to play it. With a smile, she laid back upon the bed, and put the helmet interface on, activating it to transport herself to the world of fantasy.

    She loaded up in a nondescript apartment. This perplexed her until she realized it was not the game itself but a character creation room. That makes sense, she thought to herself.

    Male or Female, the first option read.

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    Female, obviously, she pressed the option with amusement. Hmm... I guess some guys might do the same... and maybe some girls even choose to be a boy... not sure I''d understand them, especially the boys, but in the end it''s a fantasy, I guess. Go for it, boys! She smirked, and then saw a long list of options for race. She choose Wood Elf. For a name, she choose Ariana, which had an otherworldly feel to her. This was her first game, but she loved fantasy, and had formed a strong idea of what to be when the game came along.

    A Wood Elf Mage, or any kind of Elf, really; but the Wood Elf seemed like the best fit for her. A magic-user attuned to nature, supporting her friends and devastating her opponents. That was the kind of character she hoped to create.

    I hope I meet someone nice, she thought to herself as she adjusted the options so that the character looked a bit more like herself. Hmm... the hair isn''t quite right... I''ll have to adjust it later, she mused, and then pressed the accept panel to start the introductory cinematic, which impressed her, to say the least. A choice of doors came up.

    Of course I want to be on the good kingdom''s side--I''m an Elf! She thought indignantly, walking through that door with confidence and finding herself in the quaint market square of a woodland village populated by Humans, Elves, Dwarves, and a myriad of other fantasy beings.

    This... is... amazing!! Ariana thought to herself. She found the panel for her inventory, and saw that she had five-hundred gold to start

    with in her wallet, one of the side panels for inventory.

    I wonder if that''s a lot or a little, she wondered, and then saw another player, this one male, without a shirt on. Ah--!! Ariana pondered for a moment. She then ran to a nearby tavern and inn, paying for a room and heading upstairs. She hadn''t noticed it was a double room. Once inside, she went into a smaller room off to the side of the main room, and checked.

    W-well then, she thought bemusedly at her reflection, then decided it didn''t matter too much. She began adjusting her hair, not noticing that the room''s main door had again been opened and shut. Once she was satisfied with her look, Ariana smiled, and headed back out into the main room.

    She didn''t know it at the time, but it was a moment that she would forever remember as the night that changed her life.

 Chapter One: G.I.R.L. meets Girl

    From the time I was about, oh, say eight, I was playing video games. Wait. I guess you could say from the time I was four or five...

    Yeah. We''ll go with that. I mean, even though console racing games with characters that appeal especially to kids aren''t quite what most gamers call ¡°games¡± at a certain age, they really still are. And let''s be honest. Most of these guys who tend to ridicule those games in one way or another still play them.

    Honestly though, they''re still super fun. I mean, racing against cartoon dinosaurs or other strange but oddly cute creatures and villainous or heroic looking characters with crazy mustaches and silly voices on racetracks filled with colorful mushrooms and stuff? Childhood, man. Childhood.

    But when I turned eight I got slipped a copy of ¡°Molek¡±. At the time the graphics weren''t as great as most things that were coming out, but it was the darkness and the story that got us hooked on it. Up to that time I had been playing in fairy worlds or castle-building sims and even games where you build up whole civilizations to take over the world. Pretty generic stuff if you ask me -- or anyone. But ¡°Molek¡± changed all that.

    This dark fantasy game about fighting demons and twisted creatures and fallen heroes in this winding labyrinth to find Molek, Lord of Doom, in the very pits of darkness itself? I was not prepared. Not even a little bit. And ever since then, though I still enjoy racing that green guy with the outrageously colored shoes on the console, most of the games I''ve played followed the aesthetic of ¡°Molek¡±.

    Take the ¡°Eldritch Tomes¡± series. Its third game, ¡°Sorrowdin¡±, came out when I was nine. And then they followed it up with ¡°Void Crisis¡± two years later. I still believe ¡°Molek¡± is the darkest fantasy game ever, but the ¡°Eldritch Tomes¡± had a stark realism to them with graphics that most other games of the day weren''t even coming close to. Not that anything ever stays the same for long in that industry. A game that''s cutting edge when it comes out is considered so-so only a year later when the next thing comes out.

    I was obsessed with games, really, and I played in a lot of different worlds as a lot of different characters; ¡°The Legend of the Midgard Rings¡±, ¡°Galaxy Avengers: Knights of the Star Kingdom¡±, ¡°Age of Hyperborea¡± -- the list could go on. And, of course, being an adolescent boy of a certain age by the time these things started coming out, I had a habit of playing female characters. That''s right. I was, and still am, a gamer G.I.R.L. -- ¡°guy in real life¡±.

    Not that I never played as a guy. I really did. My character in ¡°Molek¡± is a level seventy-eight knight-templar I called Heracles. And my most played character in ¡°Void Crisis¡± is a level ninety mage-rogue hybrid named Myrddin of the Shadows. They''re by far my favorite out of all the games I''ve played in my short life. Yet when the option to roleplay as a girl, whether in single or multiplayer games, first came to my attention, the allure was just too much.

    And may I just say: that first one I created was something else.

    I was playing ¡°The Legend of the Midgard Rings¡± when I first did this in a massive multiplayer online game. I saw the option. I took it. Forest Elf, redhead, blue eyes, rogue-archer class. I didn''t really do it for the attention. Honest. But I did end up with quite a lot. If it was the right kind of attention, you know, the ¡°let''s team up and beat this thing¡± attention, I was cool with it. But if it was the wrong kind of attention--you know, the creepy kind--then I did whatever I could to shrug it off.

    Except tell the other person I was a guy.

    Which, really, would have saved me a lot of trouble. But I never did. I never told anyone. And within a few short years I had a reputation as this bad-@$$ solo-playing femme fatale in whatever game I was in, under my preferred name, ¡°Lana Wind¡±. Of course, I would alter that last name slightly in different games to suit the theme of the place I was in. I had ¡°Starwind¡± for ¡°Galaxy Avengers¡± and ¡°Windbow¡± in another fantasy game.

    And why ¡°Lana¡±? I kind of borrowed that from a bit of Irish: ¡°lann na --¡±, it means ¡°Blade of --¡±. So, more or less, my character-name is ¡°Blade of the Wind¡±.

    Because once I played that rogue-archer, I had a taste for sneaking around, for sniping, and yet being able to hold my own in close and deadly combat. Don''t get me wrong, I still play lots of other characters: mages, knights, healers, lore-keepers, even a crusader one time because the guild I was in didn''t have a tank for raids and dungeons. But I always wound back up on that deadly character, Lana Wind.

    And today was the day she was reborn in yet another new world.

    ***

    So when I turned fifteen, virtual-reality became a thing.

    No, not the kind you''re thinking about.

    Not that stupid goggles-and-gloves interface that was popular for nearly a decade and a half. We''re talking about immersive virtual reality. We''re talking about the Dream Machine. And we''re talking about its signature flagship game: Panarena Fantasy Online.

    This Dream Machine? It''s the real deal. There''s a headset interface connected to its own special tower designed specifically for Immersive VR games. You turn it on, and basically your body kind of goes to sleep but your mind wakes up in a customizable avatar in a somewhat bland but also kind of cool VR apartment. In other words the product was just as advertised. Take that, Walton Mart.

    Or course, my folks knowing my penchant for games, they naturally didn''t want me to have it. But I have this aunt who''s really fun, and she gave it to me along with the game. There were some restrictions at first, but it being my birthday at the time they decided to save them until after I had rampaged a bit through this brand-new fantasy world that had come to me.

    Panarena: a fantasy game bringing together all sorts of magic and tale and scenes from all around the world. I mean all of it. One minute you could be walking down your typical Medieval European village, and then next you''ll find a portal chamber to all sorts of places based off of stories and mythologies from not just Europe, but East Asia, the Middle East, Africa, India, the Americas, Pacifica... need I go on and explain the attraction?

    And what an ambitious project too. I can''t even imagine how hard the people who designed it had to work to get it right. Because it was done right.

    On that fifteenth birthday, after everyone had gone on home and I was left to my own devices--literally--I turned on that Dream Machine and entered Panarena as Lana Windstrider. I went with human this time, a Gael, more precisely. Dark auburn hair (my own was a sandy brown), blue eyes (same as real me), average height, average size. The thing I''m careful about is to be natural, not exaggerated and bloated like some people make their avatars.

    Now, Panarena doesn''t actually have a class system. They have a skill system with a variety of stats that you can customize to your own style of playing. But I already knew exactly what I was going to do. This game? Sure, it was new. It was cutting edge. It would be unbeatable in terms of ¡°revolutionary¡± for decades. But at its core were the basics of games I had played since I was eight. And I knew while logging in that those seven years of playing in other worlds had all been to prepare me for playing this game. I selected a voice output to complete my avatar (you can do that to alter your own voice in this game), and then pressed the ¡°Complete Character¡± option on the menu. A bright light flashed, and I was suddenly watching the introductory cinematic.

    There was the iconic epic music of course. And then the expected stylized title screen with the name of the game. It went dark for a brief moment, and then in my field of vision I saw a shining castle on top of a great mountain with a massive city sprawling around it.

    Behold, the Kingdom of Harmonia, greatest and most magnificent land in all the west, the mostly clich¨¦ yet still awingly epic deep-voiced narrator said. Then I started flying through the air. I flew across so many kingdoms and so many mindbogglingly awesome places; pyramids, pagodas, set-temples, island-kingdoms, massive walls, small villages, raging rivers, tranquil lakes, huge waterfalls, majestic mountains, towns, cities, lodges--all of it passed within the space of a few seconds. And then there it was.

    It was a castle as dark and as vile as the other one had been magnificent and beautiful. The city that grew up beneath it seemed ramshackle and filthy.

    And behold, the Kingdom of Onyxus, darkest and most twisted land in all the world. Here I saw a dragon flying around the towers of the castle; I whistled to myself in awe. Would that be a boss?

    These two kingdoms have forever warred against each other in the world of Panarena, and on both sides there have been miraculous victories and terrifying defeats.

    Now, a new era has come, a new generation of heroes rises up from the ashes and regrowth of the last great war. You, hero, will tip the balance in this newest conflict, and have your name recorded in the Annals of Time.

    Choose your side wisely, and make your deeds known to your friends and enemies alike as you battle for glory in the Sagas of Panarena.

    The voice stopped narrating, and I was suddenly at a choice of two doors. They were marked with the flags of the two kingdoms.

    A field of blue trimmed with golden fray, with a golden rampant-lion surrounded by four hearts and four swords. Under it was the word ¡°Harmonia¡±, I guessed. This was the door to my right.

    And on my left was a black ensign, frayed and worn but still defiant, a blood-red dragon etched into it. The dragon had five skills and five daggers around it. Obviously, this door went to Onyxus.

    This was a choice I had never really had before. I mean, sure, you could be a jerk in the ¡°Eldritch Tomes¡±, but you were still basically the hero on the side of right. Somehow.

    But now you''re telling me that I can choose to be good or evil?

    ¡°Wow, what a concept,¡± I said aloud. It was weird at first, hearing that female voice, but then I smiled at how good it was. ¡°Heh, they didn''t waste any money on this one. And dang it feels cold in this room!¡± I continued, and then crossed my arms. I suddenly had the oddest sensation, and then looked down.

    Of course. There they were. My -- avatar''s -- breasts. This''ll take some getting used to, I thought to myself with a funny look on my face. Then I returned my attention to the doors.

    ¡°Hmm... I like being a rogue-archer in the sort of grey area, but I don''t want to be pure evil,¡± I said to myself, and selected the door on the right. Another bright light flashed. Harmonia, here I come!

    ***

    I stepped out of the portal to find myself in a market square of this little woodland village that seemed to be made up of Humans, Elves, Dwarves, and a few other fantasy creatures. There was a Satyr for sure--or was he a Faun? And there were a lot of Fairies. Like, a lot. You know how pigeons haunt or otherwise live in train stations? It was like that. Except it was cute instead of disgusting.

    As I walked down the main road I got a lot of looks from people who were obviously players. Of course by this time I was sort of used to it, and I knew dozens of rejection lines and catchphrases to ward off anyone who wanted a pretty face in their party. But as a smug grin came to my face some of them instinctively knew not to try it. Had they seen my character name in other games? Did they recognize it from some other world I had been in? I could only wonder.

    Then I saw a guy with his shirt off, standing around near the edge of the little town. He was definitely a player. I looked away quickly, and suddenly wondered; there was an inn to my left. I entered, and asked for a room; it was cheap enough, so I took it, not bothering to even think about the fact that it was a double room. I got inside the room and closed the door behind me, and, slowly, peeled off my jerkin.

    My face turned bright red. No bra! Before my eyes were a lovely pair of--

    Suddenly, another door opened. I panicked as I then remembered it was a double room. There was someone else here?! Quickly I put my jerkin back on, and out of the door came this gorgeous girl with long, dark hair in a side-tail on the right and red eyes; she was only just shorter than I was, and her ears were pointed. A Wood Elf!

    ¡°What on earth are you doing?¡± she asked as she saw me putting my shirt back on. A smile came to her face.

    ¡°S-sorry! I thought--¡± I stammered out, and she sighed as she shook her head.

    ¡°I forgot it was a double room, too; figures they''d do this. I was just trying to fix this hairstyle I had to make it more like my real self, you know?¡± she remarked as she sat down on a chair. I began to calm down a little bit.

    ¡°Ah--ah, yeah; most games aren''t that flattering with them, after all. At least in this one you have the option to look more like yourself,¡± I replied, and she smiled back, a smile which became mischievous very quickly.

    ¡°So what were you doing?¡± she asked me again more emphatically. I hadn''t been prepared for such a question, but I hastily found an answer I was quite proud of -- well, circumstances considering.

    ¡°Eh? Oh, right... I saw this guy with his shirt off outside and I just got kind of curious; I mean, in real life I''m... they''re not so... busty... it kind of, surprised me... I mean, even though, you know...¡± I managed to stammer out, and she began to laugh.

    ¡°It''s okay, it''s okay! I actually saw the same guy. It surprised me, too, so I snuck in here to see for myself before fiddling with my hair, and wouldn''t you know there''s no underwear?¡± she giggled, and I managed to giggle back.

    ¡°Like really!¡± I laughed back. ¡°Well, I guess it''s not exactly for kids, though...¡± I added with a wry smile.

    ¡°Standards have really lightened up since we were little though, don''t you think?¡± she returned as she got up from the chair.

    ¡°They really have,¡± I nodded in agreement. ¡°I think it was Sorrowdin that really tipped the scales on that matter.¡±

    ¡°My brother played that,¡± the girl shrugged. ¡°I wasn''t really in to games for a long time, but then this thing was in the news, so I thought, why not?¡±

    ¡°It''s amazing so far,¡± I said in an awed whisper.

    ¡°You''re telling me,¡± she agreed. ¡°Sights, sounds, smells even!¡±

    ¡°And it feels, I dunno, autumny outside.¡± I nodded back.

    ¡°Yes!¡± she clapped her hands. ¡°It''s so amazing! I think I''ll definitely keep playing. What are you planning to be? Oh! I forgot, my name is Ariana!¡± she said, reaching out her hand to me. I smiled, and took it gently.

    ¡°Lana,¡± I replied as we shook hands. ¡°Lana Windstrider.¡±

    ¡°Heh? Last name too, huh? But I felt that a single name was more fitting for an Elf. This is my first game, but I''ve read a lot of fantasy books!¡± she said with a smile.

    ¡°Nice; Lana''s a name I''ve used in other places,¡± I said with a small shrug. ¡°I''m planning on a sort of rogue-archer build; agile, swift, bow-fighting and maybe a bit of swordplay...¡± I told her, half-musing on it to myself as well as I brought up the skills and stats panel.

    ¡°You''re experienced in it, aren''t you?¡± Ariana said as she did the same. ¡°I like the idea of stealth, I think, but I want to do magic too, or something sage-like.¡±

    ¡°Oh nice,¡± I said to her with a nod of approval. ¡°It''s not hard to combine the two if you want. I did that for another character, actually.¡±

    ¡°Really!¡± she turned to me with a look of excitement. ¡°Say--are you in a party of group or anything like that?¡± she then asked me.

    ¡°I''m not,¡± I shook my head. ¡°I wasn''t planning on being in a guild here, yet, but I''m not against the idea of having a party, if you want?¡± I said to her, and she smiled again.

    ¡°Absolutely yes! Heavens, I was starting to think I''d never find a decent girl in this game. Most of the real ones are so aloof, and I bet some of the ones clinging to the guys here are fake; sick, isn''t it?¡± Ariana said disapprovingly.

    ¡°I don''t get them either,¡± I admitted, with pure honesty. I really didn''t. And what the actual heck does that sort of smoochy, leeching behavior do to you as a person anyway? ¡°But between the two of us we really can get good faster. I''ve never done anything like this myself, so we''re both in for a challenge!¡± I told her with a smile, and she took my hands again, a smile on her face also.

    ¡°It''s settled then! We''re a team!¡± she announced proudly.

    ¡°Partners in everything Panarena!¡± I returned happily.

    And so began my first day with Ariana.

    ***

    After exiting the inn, we discovered that the name of the little hamlet we both arrived in (by sheer coincidence, for there were a lot of beginner towns) was called Ipping. It was surrounded by forest; there were several streams that ran through it, and a few ponds and lakes that dotted the area. The Ipping Forest Reaches, needless to say, had a lot of quests. We took a few beginner-slash-tutorial quests to get ourselves oriented first. It was kind of the same old stuff, but in this virtual reality setting they were just different enough that even a veteran gamer like me had to acclimate a bit.

    As we went through them, I told Ariana what would work best in a skill-and-stat game like this to train her ideal character. We also discovered that, if you paid the company a certain amount of money, you could open up a second build. That option, it need not be said, was put aside for the time being.

    The skills: any sort of weapon and crafting proficiency that was within the fantasy scope was here. There was even an engineering skill, which spoke to the steampunk element that had become a popular thing to add into more recent fantasy games.

    The stats: typical. Strength; melee proficiency and carry amount. Vitality; health and resilience. Agility; acrobatics, sneaking. Dexterity; precision, accuracy. Wisdom; magical prowess. Intelligence; not unlike wisdom, but more geared for scholastic or crafting skills such as engineering. Charisma; the art of persuasion, of course, and also a help for certain magical disciplines; in this game it was also a form of willpower, a resilience against magic. Perception; awareness, alertness, perfect for someone like me who wanted to be a rogue-type character. And lastly there was Luck; should I even bother explaining it? I don''t think so.

    Nine stats, and a load of skills.

    We went through our introductory quests, and then I helped Ariana set up her first few rounds of stat points (we got to level seven that day) to the kind of build she was hoping for, and after I did the same for myself we spent another hour or so hunting small creatures for crafting materials or junk-loot to sell off. It was only then we noticed it was past midnight in real-time.

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    ¡°Yikes! I need to get up early too!¡± Ariana said.

    ¡°Ah-heh, me too, actually...¡± I laughed nervously.

    ¡°What should we do?¡± she asked me.

    ¡°Let''s go back to the inn; we can get the room again and log out there until next time.¡± I told her, and she nodded.

    ¡°We''ll do that then. Will you be on tomorrow?¡± she wondered.

    ¡°Maybe, I think so, in the evening.¡± I nodded.

    ¡°Good, me too!¡± she smiled.

    We went to the inn after that; the room was still registered for us, and I put a few coins down so that we could have it as a base for a few days more. With that we went upstairs, and Ariana gave me a huge hug before logging out. I almost felt guilty, but after all, I hadn''t been rude or tried to take advantage of her. No, I had been a perfect--gentlelady?--whatever. I hugged her back, and after a few moments she let go, smiled, and then poofed. I went to lock the door, and then went into the smaller room that Ariana had come out of earlier.

    As I thought, it was a small lavatory. I considered examining myself again, but settled for looking in the mirror. It was uncanny, and I saw my cheeks coloring red in the glass.

    Yeah, wow, it''s the real thing. Oh boy. Now I''ve done it, I thought to myself as I exited the room; a sigh escaped my lips.

    ¡°Well, I didn''t plan for a partner just yet--but she''s good, for a newbie.¡± I said to myself as I headed for the bed. ¡°Let''s see how this partnership goes!¡± I added excitedly, and then logged out when I had laid down.

    It was 12:32 am when I pulled off the headgear. No one had come looking for me. Dinner, after all, had been served, and with a generous dessert too. I put the Dream Machine on top of its tower to rest, and then went to rest myself. All that night and the rest of the next day, all I could think about was Ariana, and how lucky I was to meet her -- even if she herself might say she was the lucky one for running into Lana.

    ***

    I went through the dull routine of my real life the next day; going to church, working on pre-assignments for school, or doing chores. From eight-thirty to six pm I felt as if I was just a video-game character being ordered to do this and do that by someone behind a keyboard or with a controller. As if Panarena was where I had actually started living, and this was just some bad dream of a place I wanted to wake up from.

    Come to think of it, I''d felt rested when I started awake from playing the game. Maybe it was living up to its name? But I could remember everything, unlike any dream I''d ever had. And boy do I mean everything. It took all I had not to let those details slip when asked about the game I had gone up to play last night. I told them that it seemed like a lot of fun and that I had met this really fun person and that we might be hanging out a lot in the future.

    ¡°Just so long as you don''t neglect your real life or your real friends and family,¡± my dad said, and I nodded -- even though on the inside I was thinking, what friends? No one at school likes me; and as for family, you all think of me as a day-dreaming recluse that hates everyone; you don''t understand even a little bit... except for my aunt.

    But I would never say that out loud. Mostly because I wanted to keep playing the game. If I ever vented like that it would be all over for my gaming career. And so I let the day go by me, its dull and dreary apathy gnawing on my mind until it was mostly over. Dinner was eaten, and after it was ensured that I had actually done my summer homework (I always do the homework, in spite of what they think; I''m not that dumb), I was allowed to spend the rest of the night on the game.

    As soon as I was back in that world, I let out a huge sigh of relief and flopped down on the bed. Moments later Ariana logged in, and, seeing me in a somewhat weary position, jumped onto it beside me with that miraculous smile on her face.

    ¡°La-na!¡± she called to me in a sing-song voice, poking my cheek.

    ¡°Eh?¡± I said, still a bit stressed out from the day but warming up to where I was as she continued poking me.

    ¡°Where should we go today?¡± she asked me.

    ¡°Hmm,¡± I wondered, the question beginning to ask itself in my mind too as we both sat up and I pulled out the map. ¡°We went all around the hunting grounds and stuff last time; hm? What''s this?¡± I said out loud, zooming in on a marker near one of the bigger lakes. ¡°Grotto of the Twin Dragons...¡±

    ¡°D-dragons?¡± Ariana said with a hint of nervousness. ¡°At these low levels?¡±

    ¡°It''s not unheard of,¡± I shrugged. ¡°Maybe it''s even a prank-boss. One that''s there just to destroy anything that comes near it instantly. But there''s no penalty for dying in this area, from what I''ve read.¡±

    ¡°That''s true,¡± she nodded, ¡°But it would still be so weird to die; I mean, we''d feel it eating or burning us, right?¡± she continued, and my face scrunched up. I hadn''t thought about that.

    ¡°W-well, we''re both getting good at sneaking around; we could at least take a look. Maybe if we''re lucky there''s some sort of secret loot there.¡± I said, bounding back from my agitation. I was rewarded by a sudden look of delight on Ariana''s face.

    ¡°You''re right! We can just sneak in! Ah, come on, let''s go!¡± she said, suddenly closing the map and pulling me along. I barely managed to lock the door behind us, and with that we were on our way to the grotto at the edge of Ipping Forest.

    Now I may have mentioned this before, but I''ve been playing games since I was eight. It was practical experience that had been talking when I mentioned we could try sneaking in to see this grotto and whatever lay inside; it was no noobish fantasy. You''re talking to the guy who evaded and snuck around seven world-bosses in ¡°Age of Hyperborea¡± to find a rare set of daggers. And that was something thought to be impossible by literally everyone in the game. So when I said that we could slip into the Grotto of the Twin Dragons to just take a look, let me say it again, it was practice and experience that spoke with me.

    And of course as the two of us dashed through town, hand in hand, we got a lot -- I mean a lot -- of looks. I wasn''t sure if Ariana noticed, and if she did I wasn''t sure what she thought, but in a weird way it was kind of a relief. At least, no one made a pass at us or sent us a creepy IM. That''s an instant-message, in case you didn''t know. But you probably did. Anyway. Ipping was soon behind us, and we found ourselves walking along a little used path deep in the forest, heading towards the grotto. Ariana then let out a sigh.

    ¡°I was worried I was going to get hit on in a place like this, but we got through all of those players without a problem.¡± she smiled gently.

    ¡°I think they think that we''re...¡± I remarked with a half-laugh, trailing off and giving her hand, which still clasped mine, a gentle and quick squeeze. She suddenly blushed with embarrassment. Wow, you''re cute... I thought to myself as she turned to face me.

    ¡°Does--is that--does it--bother you?¡± she stammered out.

    ¡°Ah--I mean--I''m not--it''s just--what about you?¡± I suddenly tuned red as I made my own scattered reply.

    ¡°N-not really,¡± she said, regaining a bit of composure. ¡°If it keeps them away I don''t care if they think we''re a thing.¡± she added defiantly, and I managed to smile back.

    ¡°You''re right. Well, they''re half-right, too. We are partners in adventure!¡± I said, my smile getting brighter, and she nodded back with one of her own.

    ¡°Team Us!¡± she returned happily, and with that we almost skipped the rest of the way to the grotto.

    Two small waterfalls were trickling down from the top of a hill, joining together to form a watery curtain across the entrance of the grotto. Making use of my newly acquired skills, I noticed that no one had been near this place for some time, maybe never. Come to think of it I''d seen rumors on the forums before entering the game about a high level boss dungeon in a starter area that a certain party had tried to conquer, ending up as the conquered instead.

    That couldn''t be this place, right?

    On either side of the entrance was the carved image of a dragon. One seemed sharp like a dagger, it had a sinister and shadowy aura. The other seemed ancient, wise, and powerful. That almost seemed like a coincidence to me.

    ¡°I wonder if they have lore in this game we can read about,¡± I wondered aloud as I looked at the two dragons.

    ¡°Would that be useful for playing the game?¡± Ariana asked me.

    ¡°Of course, especially for a mage-type like you.¡± I nodded back.

    ¡°Hmm,¡± she murmured back, thinking about it. ¡°Well, let''s put our sneaking to the test!¡± she then said, taking out her staff that she had won from last night''s quest. I readied my bow, which was from the same quest, and we entered the grotto.

    For the first few minutes it was a dark and dank natural corridor; Ariana had her staff lit up so we could see. The dragon motifs continued along the walls, and more and more I found myself wondering about the lore in this world. I could tell Ariana was interested as well; she paused every now and then to look at certain depictions. I soon realized they had letters or characters of some sort etched onto them.

    ¡°Wow,¡± I sad as we halted before a particularly elaborate one filled with the strange symbols that had to be some sort of writing.

    ¡°These are runes of some sort,¡± Ariana then told me.

    ¡°Hm? Like Viking runes?¡± I asked her.

    ¡°Exactly,¡± she nodded. ¡°This region is generally a Northern European fantasy area; but I don''t recognize these runes; maybe they invented their own...¡±

    ¡°Probably,¡± I nodded. ¡°Heh, the details in this game really are superb. Maybe we can find a book in them in a village somewhere and come back to find out what they say.¡±

    ¡°Wait!¡± she suddenly said. ¡°I do recognize these! Ah, I see, they''re all backwards and upside-down!¡± Ariana giggled. ¡°They sort of invented their own, at least.¡± she remarked, and I looked at her with true amazement.

    ¡°Wow, that''s cool! Do they say anything important?¡± I asked her. Just because they were legible didn''t mean it wasn''t a prank or joke by the designers.

    ¡°Hmm... most of it isn''t too relevant; or maybe it is?¡± she frowned. ¡°According to the last few lines, the twin dragons of shadow and sorcery were sealed away in this cave to prevent them from wreaking havoc across the world of Panarena ever again.¡±

    ¡°Hmm... eh? Ah? Huh?!¡± I suddenly burst out.

    ¡°What are you afraid of?¡± she suddenly smirked at me. ¡°We''re sneaking in, remember?¡± she told me, gently flicking my nose before heading on.

    ¡°I''ve got a bad feeling about this, I mumbled quietly, following my brave little partner deeper into the caverns.

    We fought a few serpent-type monsters as we wound our way down, along with a few vicious bats and the occasional biter-fish. The one thing we noted to each other along the way was that the deeper we went the bigger the serpent-things got. Soon they were holding weapons, but fortunately for us we had gotten some levels out of their predecessors already. By the time we got to the ultimate dungeon door (or so we reasonably estimated from how ornate it was--and then Ariana noting that there were runes identifying it as the resting place of the dragons), we had reached level fifteen. We paused before that final door, archetype of the practically infamous boss door of every fantasy game for decades now, and prepared ourselves.

    ¡°We could just go and call it a day; I mean, we did more than double in level.¡± I said as she read the runes on the door.

    ¡°True, but now that we''re here I want to have at least this one boss fight, win or lose, before school starts tomorrow.¡± Ariana remarked in answer.

    ¡°Oh. Right. That.¡± I sighed in a flat tone.

    ¡°You too, huh?¡± she said with a grin.

    ¡°I have a stupidly large pile of summer homework to turn in tomorrow; luckily I actually do it, unlike most of the others...¡± I said with a barely concealed disgust.

    ¡°I had a lot too. Just transferred into a new school actually. I wonder if we''re at the same one?¡± she smiled at me, then shook her head. ¡°Never mind; it''s bad form to bring up too much about real life here, people say.¡± she quickly added.

    You have no idea, I thought to myself anxiously.

    ¡°Well, this is definitely the boss room; let''s look at these twin dragons!¡± Ariana said excitedly, and I felt my own sense of thrill and wonder surging up to meet hers. We pushed the door open as quietly as we could, and stepped inside.

    One dragon was of a silver-white coloration; the other was black with hints of gold. They were both asleep. It was not they they were huge; they certainly were large, for sure, but there was more than that -- there was a certain menace to them. A menace that not even the ¡°Eldritch Tomes¡± had managed to infuse into their creatures. And let me tell you, that demon-king at the end of ¡°Void Crisis¡± was something that made Demon King Molek look like a teddy-bear.

    So I was definitely hoping that these two would not stir. Ariana and I crept towards the ledge above the main room like ghosts, making not even the slightest sound. We huddled side by side as we got closer, gazing at these magnificently terrifying beasts with awe, our hearts thumping.

    ¡°Wow...!¡± she suddenly said aloud, and then with a jolt she clamped a hand over her mouth as my eyes widened at the sound of her voice reverberating throughout the wide room.

    Too late.

    All of a sudden the door we had come in shut with a loud boom, and two pairs of eyes opened, scanning the room for intruders.

    ¡°Okay,¡± I whispered to Ariana, ¡°They have wings, so they might fly; that gives us an advantage, maybe. Dragons are usually vulnerable in the underbelly.¡±

    ¡°That''s in some of the stories I''ve read, too,¡± she whispered back quickly, getting a hold of herself. ¡°I wonder if we can combine my magic with your arrows to try and beat them?¡±

    ¡°Maybe!¡± I snapped my fingers excitedly, and then suddenly realized that was a really dumb thing to do.

    ¡°There you are!¡± one of the dragons said.

    ¡°By Razgoth''s Eyes, burn!¡± its partner said, and with that the fight began.

    Ariana rolled away from the spot like a pro. As for me, I inadvertently did something I used to do in real life; I did a cartwheel. Suddenly I realized that my real-life abilities could be used here, augmented by the stats and skills of the game. I laughed out loud at this.

    I wasn''t always an obsessive gamer. Okay, I was. But even I had to face reality now and again, and part of that was being involved in quite a few different Eastern Martial Arts classes -- you know, Kung Fu, Aikido, Tae Kwon Do, those sorts. Even one of my sitters, who I think was Vietnamese-Thai, had shown me some moves when she was called on to watch me. It was one of the few things I kind of enjoyed, but for some reason I never managed to stick with any of them. But I was still good at doing them if I had to, and it was at this moment I knew this game was probably the ultimate game in the world at this moment. I looked over at Ariana, who had literally pirouetted away from another attack. Was she a dancer? We looked at each other, locking eyes for a moment; we could do this.

    Using the skills that had been burned into me for ten years or so by various instructors, I nimbly dodged dragon fire and dragon swats while at the same time taking a shot with my bow every few moves. My first arrow glanced off the black dragon''s paw, but my second shot hit it under the forearm.

    I looked over to my partner; Ariana had distracted the silver dragon with a flashy spell, and was preparing a more deadly one to strike with next. As for me, I shot an arrow towards the black one''s nose as a feint and then shot a fourth arrow into its eye as it dodged that one. It roared at me, and I scurried away from another blast of fire, nearly getting smacked in the chest by its swift and strong tail. Missing me by millimeters, I watched with fright as it smashed up one of the stalagmites in the cave. I very quickly did a backflip from the spot and then shot a fifth arrow, but this one was deflected.

    Ariana on the other hand had managed to severely wound her dragon in the chest with some sort of ice-spell. It wasn''t even that powerful, as far as we knew, it was just that she had hit a really vulnerable spot with good luck. My next move was to perform a series of jumps, dodges, and spins as I ran towards the black dragon; I then jumped onto its back as he swatted at me, and he ended up swatting himself. It was hard not to laugh; the impact didn''t budge his hitpoints, but it was enough of a distraction so that I could get my sixth arrow into his other eye. Now he was blinded.

    As for the silver dragon, it was being more cautious. It was on the defensive, but so was Ariana. There was something in its movements that bothered me; same for the black one: something was off. This was... too easy?

    ¡°Brother!¡± the black dragon called out as I slid off and backed away, ¡°It is time! We must merge!¡±

    Oh, snap...

    ¡°I hear you, brother,¡± the silver one answered, ¡°Let it be done!¡±

    ¡°Ariana!¡± I called running over to her so that we too could stand together as one.

    ¡°I knew it was too good to be true!¡± she said as I reached her.

    ¡°Maybe,¡± I said, ¡°But it might also be our chance, if we''re lucky!¡±

    ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°Ready that ice-spell again, and wait for me to shoot!¡± I told her, and she nodded.

    ¡°By the Stars of Krosus and the Rising Moon,¡± the silver dragon began.

    ¡°By the Depths of Time and the Setting Sun,¡± its counterpart continued.

    ¡°What was sundered shall be united soon!¡± the first one said.

    ¡°We two brothers shall be as one!¡± the black dragon finished.

    They began to merge. I drew my bow. Ariana had her ice-spell ready. I waited; in certain games there was sometimes a mechanic like this, but the trade-off was that, at a certain point, there was a one-hundred percent vulnerability chance during the merge. If we were off by even a second...

    Wait--there!

    ¡°Now!¡± I said, releasing the arrow. Ariana''s ice-spell was right behind it. Just as the two of them were merging our combined attack hit them. I saw their merging health bar go way down. ¡°Again, quick!¡± I said, and once more we fired our combo attack at the merging twin dragons, killing them this time. They thrashed around piteously for a moment, and then burst apart in a shower of silver and black.

    A huge sigh of relief escape from both of us. We looked at each other, and immediately shared a hug.

    ¡°Woo-hoo!¡± Ariana cried out as she embraced me.

    ¡°Nice teamwork!¡± I said to her as we stood there for a moment, and then we looked over at where our enemies had been. There were two chests sitting there now.

    ¡°Rewards?¡± Ariana said hopefully.

    ¡°They''d better be!¡± I said as we rushed over. One chest was silver, the other was black.

    ¡°You take the black one, I''ll take the silver?¡± Ariana winked.

    ¡°Why not?¡± I winked back.

    She opened hers first; inside was a silver and white set of armor with a staff, book, and orb; it was called the Silver Sages''s Mystical Star Garb. What a relief, I thought to myself. It was almost tailored for her, and it was a quality set that wouldn''t be replaced any time soon by anything else we found.

    I opened mine then. There was a black and gold set of gear this time, with twin daggers and a venomous looking bow with matching quiver and arrows. It was called the Assassin''s Accouterments of the Golden Crescent; a gold moon with a dagger was etched onto the right shoulder. Needless to say, it was something I would definitely have chosen as gear.

    ¡°Let''s try them on!¡± Ariana said excitedly. We took off our old gear first, stowing it away. I sneakily glanced over at her; she had a lithe and graceful form. She looked over at me too. We both turned red. She giggled after a moment. ¡°Sexy you.¡± she simply remarked.

    ¡°I don''t know; I''m thinking maybe I should have tried an Elf now.¡± I managed to say in answer.

    ¡°Hmm; but I like that you''re more curvy.¡± she said with a smirk, and then began donning her armor. Blushing and stuck for words, I put on my own set of gear.

    It was not the stereotypical exhibitionist armor that certain games would employ, but it did tease that one certain area, and of course my midriff and thighs were exposed. Ariana''s was more conservative, but her navel was also showing, and that certain area was also teased on her. We looked at each other, smiling awkwardly, then laughing, and commenting about the fact that we really did look nice.

    ¡°Although if I dressed like this for real I might get in trouble,¡± she remarked.

    ¡°No kidding; same here.¡± I laughed nervously, and we giggled again.

    ¡°But it was fun anyway. Let''s get out of here and get back to the inn; we should probably get off early for our schools tomorrow.¡± she said, and I nodded.

    ¡°You''re right,¡± I agreed.

    And so we left the dungeon, returning to town to looks of awe and amazement. We entered the inn, had a quiet drink together, and then returned to our room to log out. It was 10:23 pm in real time.

    ¡°Will you get on during the week?¡± Ariana asked me.

    ¡°Probably.¡± I answered. ¡°We''d mostly likely have only a couple real hours a night though, so we''d better plan it out--ah, we got a level from the dragons, too.¡± I suddenly noticed, and began allocating skill and stat points.

    ¡°Oh!¡± she remarked with delight, doing the same. I looked at her with curiosity.

    ¡°Are you--are you a dancer of some sort?¡± I wondered, and she nodded.

    ¡°Some ballet, some classical. And you -- martial arts?¡± Ariana remarked keenly.

    ¡°You got me.¡± I smiled back.

    ¡°So things we can do for real can help us in this game.¡± she noted.

    ¡°Some things,¡± I nodded back. ¡°That''s the plus of a VR game; we''re not limited to the system mechanics, we have the freedom of our natural abilities as well.¡±

    ¡°Very cool,¡± she said with a satisfied smile. ¡°All right, so... after homework and dinner, maybe? Eight to ten?¡± she suggested, her cheeks turning a faint red.

    ¡°Eh? Ah, right; sure, that''d good.¡± I answered. There was a brief silence.

    ¡°I''ve never had a friend like you.¡± she told me softly. I smiled.

    ¡°I''ve never really had a friend myself. I hope we see lots of amazing things together here,¡± I told her, blushing a bit.

    ¡°I hope so too.¡± she smiled back. ¡°So... see you next time?¡± she asked.

    ¡°Yeah, see you next time.¡± I nodded back. We shared another hug, and then Ariana logged out for the night. I laid back upon the bed, feeling a certain anguish.

    What would she think of me if I had been a guy? And what if she finds out that I am a guy? I wondered to myself. Leaving the question be for now, I logged out, and went to bed.

 Chapter Two: Boy Meets Girl/Another Adventure

    If there is one thing that most teenagers hate, it''s going to school. If there''s another thing that some of us really hate, it''s going to school when you really want to be playing video games. Either way you sliced that cake, I, Sean Daniels, hated going to school.

    I wasn''t a bad student, though, if I''m being honest. Sure, I got into a scuffle now and again, but I had a lot of good marks on my side to make up for that. And since last year the incidents that led to by being in a scuffle had dissipated. It''s not that I was a top-dog or anything like that. Nah, I was never a top-dog; just a vicious one. At least if you set me off. I guess that''s part of the reason I ended up in a bunch of different martial classes.

    Anyway. No one bothered me on the bus, and no one bothered me in orientation. Oh, and if there''s a third thing that teenagers hate (probably second for some of us), it''s wearing matching uniforms.

    Yep, I was at one of those schools. Black uniforms with a dark red tie and brown or black shoes for guys, and the girls had pretty much the same, except they wore a red and black checkered skirt. We also had a sweater or jacket with a red stripe at the end of the sleeves for colder or more formal days. I felt like I was a drone trooper in Galaxy Avengers.

    After orientation was over I went to my locker. It was just outside the room that would be my homeroom for the next abysmal year of school. A sigh of exasperation escaped me, and then I heard voices whispering in excitement. I turned to my right; they were looking down past where I was. I turned to my left; there was a very cute -- no, I mean super hot girl with dark hair and green eyes walking towards the locker that was... right... beside... mine.

    There was something about her. And then I noticed her hairstyle. It was just like Ariana''s. I stood there for a moment in shock. Was it...? Was she...? What were the odds?

    As she opened her locker she noticed my starstruck gaze, and turned to me with a faint smile. I quickly stopped my flabbergasted expression and smiled back.

    ¡°Uh, hey... sorry, I just--¡±

    ¡°It''s fine.¡± she shrugged. ¡°I''m Rachel, Rachel Danes.¡± she said, reaching out her hand.

    ¡°Sean--Sean Daniels. And I really am sorry.¡± I said sincerely. That voice; it has to be. But I can''t say anything.

    ¡°Hmm?¡± she said with a cute smirk as we shook hands. ¡°Not the average bear, are we? Tough guy or scholar?¡±

    ¡°Me?¡± I wondered, and then shrugged. ¡°Kind of in-between; I guess I have a rep with other kids here, but the teachers usually don''t hate me because I don''t slack with assignments and stuff.¡± I told her, and she nodded.

    ¡°Huh. Kind of like that Arizona Tom character, I guess.¡± she said as she hung up her bag.

    ¡°Wh--yeah; yeah, I guess you''re right.¡± I smiled. ¡°You watch that?¡± I asked her, and she smiled back.

    ¡°All the time. I love that stuff, you know?¡± Rachel told me.

    ¡°It is pretty neat.¡± I admitted. I know I get good grades and all, but this girl is on top of things; if it is Ariana, that is. Maybe I should put in some more effort too, I thought to myself. ¡°Are you a transfer student by the way?¡±

    ¡°Mm-hm.¡± she nodded back as we gathered our books. ¡°All those assignments were a night-mare to do. How did you get through them?¡± she then asked me as we shut our lockers at practically the same moment.

    ¡°Heh, I stumbled through, somehow or another. It doesn''t stick a lot, but I do them as best I can and get good marks for the effort.¡± I said as we walked into class.

    ¡°Nice.¡± she said. ¡°You seem fun to talk to; I wonder if we''re sitting together?¡± she continued as we looked up at the board where our seating arrangement was outlined.

    I hope so, I thought to myself.

    ¡°I''d like that. You seem fun yourself,¡± I said to her with a genuine smile, which was returned in kind.

    ¡°Oh nice!¡± she then pointed. Our names were indeed right next to each other. She was in front of me, in the first row. We went to the seats assigned to us, and when I had sat down she turned around to face me. ¡°Do you know anyone here?¡± she asked me.

    ¡°Eh...¡± I began in an apologetic way, ¡°I mean, I know about them, but I don''t really know them, is the thing... I''m usually off in my own little world. Usually.¡± I replied.

    ¡°I hope I can be a part of that world. You''re the first person who actually apologized for--¡± she broke off, blushing a little bit. Her hair color really was as dark as her avatar''s, if she was Ariana; but the green eyes somehow made her way more cuter.

    ¡°Ah--! I mean, I should apologize, right?¡± I said with a wry expression. ¡°It was, kind of silly, just staring at you.¡± I continued, twiddling my thumbs as I stared down at my desk. ¡°And now that I know you''re new here I really feel stupid... that must''ve been awkward....¡± I trailed off this time, and she took my hand. A big smile was on her face.

    ¡°I have a feeling we''re going to be best friends.¡± she told me right there. I looked at her in amazement, and then smiled back.

    ¡°I''d like that. I''ve never had a best friend.¡± I said quietly, and she nodded.

    ¡°I haven''t either. Looking forward to it, Sean.¡± Rachel said, and then the bell rang.

    Two seconds later the homeroom teacher walked in, slapping a pile of folders on the desk as he called the class to order. Rachel patted my hand and turned around as we all came to attention, and the day began.

    Rachel, I thought to myself, maybe this year won''t be so bad with a best friend--and with a partner.

    ***

    Home room passed into English class. English transitioned into history. History left us and gave us up to the terrors of mathematics. Mathematics halted its torture to let us be dazzled by the wonders of science. And science then called an end to morning classes to let us have lunch.

    Those of us with packed lunches stayed in the classroom; those without them went to the cafeteria to eat. And wouldn''t you know Rachel and I both had packed lunches? Without any hesitation she began unpacking her lunch on my desk even as I was doing the same, a smirk on her face. Best friend? I thought to myself, I think I''m falling in love!

    ¡°Isn''t math a pain?¡± she whispered to me as softly as she could. Yes, I''m falling in love.

    ¡°Right?!¡± I whispered back excitedly. Her face lit up, and she let out a sigh of relief.

    ¡°Like I have enough trouble with exes without bothering with them in a math class,¡± she shook her head, and I smiled back.

    ¡°It''s too much. My dad says he''s never used any math more complicated than the basics his entire adult life.¡± I agreed, tossing a few raisins into my mouth.

    ¡°Same except it''s my mom.¡± Rachel nodded. ¡°Dude. Wavelengths. We have them.¡± she said to me then.

    ¡°History was okay, even if it is the United States all over again,¡± I remarked, and she held up her hand for a high five, which I took her up on.

    ¡°Like how many times can we hear about the American Revolution and all the things the Founding Fathers did in twelve years?¡±

    ¡°Right? I want to hear about other places!¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡± Rachel said excitedly. ¡°I wonder if that''s what this World Cultures class is about?¡± she suddenly said, turning back briefly and the placing a piece of paper down on my (our?) desk.

    ¡°That would be fun,¡± I agreed.

    ¡°Are you in this theater class too?¡±

    ¡°I hadn''t decided, officially.¡±

    ¡°I''m deciding. You''re coming with me.¡±

    ¡°Eh?¡± I blinked uncertainly.

    ¡°Yes. You are. Please?¡± she looked at me with a puppy-dog pout. Daaaang it, she is too cute.

    ¡°Uh, ah, sure!¡± I managed to stumble out, and she brightened back up.

    ¡°World Cultures, Theater and Performance, and...¡± Rachel frowned thoughtfully, gazing over the paper with scrutiny.

    ¡°All these afternoon classes are one-hour things, huh?¡± I said as I looked at it with her.

    ¡°Oh wow, some foreign language classes,¡± she suddenly noticed.

    ¡°Hm; they rotate in spring and fall, it looks like,¡± I noted, playing my head in my hand as I sat an elbow upon the desk.

    ¡°So... German and French, Chinese and Japanese, or Italian and Spanish?¡± Rachel asked.

    ¡°That''s tough. They all seem useful, or at least fun.¡± I said. ¡°Spanish is such a stereotype for kids here though, you know?¡± I added then, and she let out a soft smirk.

    ¡°That one''s out then. Though it would be fun to get a bit of Italian down.¡± she shrugged.

    ¡°If you mean the subs I''m all for it.¡± I quipped, and she put a hand over her mouth as she began laughing quietly.

    ¡°I am liking you more and more,¡± she said. ¡°Let''s do something weird. Let''s take the Chinese and Japanese.¡± she then continued, and I tossed the idea over in my head.

    ¡°That does sound neat. Let''s do it.¡± I answered her, and Rachel smiled again. I could never get tired of that smile.

    ¡°World, Theater, Chinese, and then I bus home.¡± she sighed.

    ¡°Same.¡±

    ¡°Which bus?¡±

    ¡°Forty-two.

    ¡°Hmm. Twenty-nine.¡± she told me in turn.

    ¡°North side?¡±

    ¡°Yep. And yours?¡±

    ¡°South.¡± I said with a somewhat sobered expression.

    ¡°Aw.¡± she returned, making a pouting face again. "We''ll have the weekends and the holidays, maybe... definitely holidays.¡±

    ¡°No definite weekends?¡± I wondered.

    ¡°Hmm... I got into this game recently, and met this super-cool person. You know, you kind of remind me of her a little bit. I don''t know what it is.¡± Rachel told me.

    I bet I know exactly what it is, I thought to myself as my suspicions were confirmed.

    ¡°Ah, cool. So you get wrapped up in other worlds for the weekends, huh?¡± I said to her with an interest.

    ¡°Mm-hm. What about you? Hobbies?¡± she asked me.

    Ahh... how''s this going to go?

    ¡°Eh, sometimes I play games, but mostly I just try to do homework and assignments to stay out of trouble.¡± I said in answer. It wasn''t a total lie. Actually no, it wasn''t a lie at all, when I thought about it.

    ¡°Hmm... that''s fair.¡± she nodded. ¡°What games do you like?¡±

    Derp. Derpity-deripty-derp.

    ¡°I usually go with the old standards; Molek is still one of my favorites, and I still can''t get over Void Crisis,¡± I said truthfully.

    ¡°Hmm? Classic gamer, huh?¡± Rachel nodded. ¡°I got into this VR game; it''s super awesome.¡±

    ¡°I heard about that one; it''s gotten a lot of good reviews and a lot of happy customers, from what I''ve heard.¡±

    ¡°You should get it sometime. You can meet my friend there, too, and we can be a three-person team.¡± she told me with a smile.

    Oh, Rachel, if you break down my door any more, I''m gonna buckle.

    ¡°Maybe someday,¡± I smiled.

    ¡°Or I could visit you in one of your old favorites. I think my brother mentioned that Molek has an online option?¡± Rachel mused aloud.

    Saved!

    ¡°It does!¡± I nodded back. ¡°Ah... but the discs are hard to find nowadays...¡± I then recalled.

    Back to the torture rack...

    ¡°Hmm... my brother''s still a pro-gamer. If he doesn''t have it he can find it.¡± she shrugged.

    ¡°Nice.¡±

    Saved again!

    ¡°But anyway; I think I''d actually enjoy spending my time with you in the real world more than a fantasy world, honestly.¡± she then told me, and I felt my heart skipping a beat as it got stuck in my throat. ¡°Do you... not feel that way?¡± she suddenly asked, mistaking my reaction.

    ¡°Wha--n--wait! Wait. Sorry, I just, you caught me by surprise. I would love to spend time with you wherever we can.¡± I told her frankly. Her smile when I said those words; if I had died that second I would count myself as the luckiest man on Earth to have ever lived.

    ¡°It''s settled!¡± she said to me then. ¡°And we''ll make more friends with the two of us; I know we will!¡± she added, and I could only smile back.

    Sure, that''d be fun; but right now, all I can see is you.

    You probably guessed from our conversation earlier that our school does things a little different. We get the four essentials in the morning, or at least what our faculty and staff deem as the primary ingredients of education, and then in the afternoon we have three electives. The first week or so we spend the afternoon figuring out which ones we want to take. But it seemed like Rachel had already planned it all out for us. It made me wonder if she might be planning out our wedding too; of course, that was most likely just a plain out fantasy.

    Oh, and unlike the morning classes, we have to move to different parts of the school for these final three courses.

    So for the rest of the day, we learned about things we wanted to learn about yet which were still valuable to building us up as grown adults. I do hate school, but this one isn''t so bad. At least they have the guts and gumption do do something unique, something that even a school-hater like me can tolerate and even make his own fun in if he''s given enough slack.

    World Cultures; that was probably the most difficult for us. But it was fun, and it was good. Theater; eh, I''ll warm up to it. Probably. Just so long as we don''t do any Shakespeare... or is that too much to hope for? And Chinese: at least for the fall. Six-thousand characters needed to be known for fluency in written Chinese? Snap. But then I thought about Rachel--Ariana--being able to read those runes in the game last night, and I determined that it wouldn''t slow me down.

    When it was all over and we had our homework assignments for the classes that gave it to us, the two of us almost reluctantly packed our bags, shut our lockers again, and made our way to the bus lanes. We stopped a few paces away from the door. Forty-two was up ahead; Twenty-nine was further back. Rachel let out a sad sigh.

    ¡°They''re even split apart. I won''t be able to wave at you.¡± she said in an annoyed voice, looking at me with that look I had very quickly become defenseless against.

    ¡°Ph-phones?¡± I stammered out, and she brightened back up.

    ¡°Ah, you''re so right! We never did exchange numbers! Here--¡± she said, pulling out her phone; I did the same, and we added each other as contacts. ¡°Now I can annoy you all the way home and back to school again tomorrow.¡± she smirked mischievously.

    ¡°I won''t get annoyed.¡± I said to her with a grin.

    This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

    ¡°Challenge accepted!¡± she told me, waving a finger in my face. She then spread her arms out and wrapped me in a hug. I placed my arms gently around her.

    No question, I''m in trouble.

    ¡°I really enjoyed today. Thank you. I won''t really annoy you. Honest.¡±

    ¡°I wouldn''t get mad even if you did.¡±

    ¡°You mean it?¡±

    ¡°I do.¡±

    ¡°You really mean it?¡± she asked me again.

    ¡°I really mean it.¡± I told her.

    ¡°Then I''ll message you later.¡± she said, letting go of me to squeeze my hands and then head off to her bus.

    I stood there for a moment, stunned beyond words, and then someone from my bus gently bopped my arm.

    ¡°Yo, Dans, come on.¡± the taller boy said to me; I nodded back, and we got on the bus together.

    I said I didn''t really have any friends, and I meant it. This kid who sat next to me on the bus though; well, it was kind of a friendly rivalry to be honest, even though it had started out as a huge fight three years ago.

    Ty Smith. Basketball player. Not lanky, but not hugely muscled. Yet that tall dark and sporty guy whose father was a South African naive and whose mother was from the local ''hood packed a mean punch when you riled him up. And I riled him up.

    To be fair he riled me up first. It had to do with a basketball that he had ¡°accidentally¡± hit me with. He only laughed about it at first, calling me dumb for not moving. I called him a jerky-peanut brain for throwing it at me in the first place. He called my mother fat. I called his mother something just as bad. We both threw a punch at the same time. He hit my gut, I hit his face.

    I don''t really remember much after that, except, being a martial arts kid, I was surprised by how resilient his street moves were.

    We about tore each other to pieces before the teachers finally pulled us off each other. After that we sat in the principals office for an agonizing two hours. It was near the end of that second hour that we started making faces at each other. Eventually we just burst out laughing at how stupid we both looked. We formally apologized to each other in front of parents and principal, but I think we had really apologized earlier with that laughing about our dumb looking faces. Ever since then, we didn''t really talk or become best friends, but we''d stick up for each other when it needed doing. I guess we were what some people might call night-time friends; like stars, you only see them when it''s dark. But that''s when you need them most.

    Anyway. He always called me Dans. I always called him Ty. He wasn''t the top-dog in our grade either, by the way--or the school for that matter. But I had a feeling he was pretty close.

    The bus ride home would have been so much torture, but Rachel kept her promise to ¡°annoy¡± me. Yeah, no, there''s no question. I like this girl.

    For the rest of that week, it was high school student by day, adventurer-hero by night. In the daytime I listened with an awe that wasn''t actually as fake as I thought it would be while Rachel told me about her adventures with her in-game teammate; it was actually kind of neat to disconnect myself from Lana and hear Ariana''s version of events, as Rachel told them. On the other hand, it was a little more weird to hear about the real me when we were in Panarena together during the two real hours or so before bed. What was weirder, though...

    ***

    It was Friday night. Ariana and I were leaving the Ipping Forest area. We had gotten to level twenty-five, and were now setting off to explore zones that were more challenging and dangerous. At a certain point, most of the little streams fuse together into a river, where you can hire a boat to ride down to the next area. We did this, and sat together near the side of the boat, studying the map and wondering what sorts of adventures would be there for us. It was in a lull during that conversation that the bombshell dropped.

    ¡°Hey, Lana, have you ever dated anyone? In real life, I mean?¡± she asked me as I was taking a drink from a fruity beverage. I almost choked. When I had recovered myself (in a most impressive cover, I might add), I looked over at her and shook my head.

    ¡°Not me.¡± I told her.

    ¡°Hmm.¡± she returned, a somewhat wistful tone in her voice. ¡°You know that boy from school I tell you about all the time?¡± she continued, and I nodded. ¡°I think I like him after all. Not that I have a problem being seen as ''one of those girls'' in game, but... you know.¡± she told me.

    It took everything I had not to break down at that moment.

    Then again, was I right to keep it a secret at this point? At this rate, it wouldn''t stay secret for long. Shouldn''t I just tell her and accept the consequences?

    ¡°After just a week?¡± I wondered, both genuinely curious and stalling for time.

    ¡°I know, right?¡± she said with a more chipper tone. ¡°I thought for sure a school with uniforms would be a drag.... but he has such an honesty about him and he''s so super nice and genuine with me... and I think he likes me too.¡±

    You have no idea.

    ¡°Ahh... is it no good after just a week?¡± she suddenly lamented.

    ¡°Eh? Ah... I mean, I dunno; just go for it, I guess.¡± I replied with a faint smile.

    This is totally weird. I''m giving you permission as my online self to ask my real self out on dates. This is beyond weird.

    ¡°You''re right.¡± she smiled back.

    That smile; I really can''t get enough of it.

    ¡°But anyway; where do you want to try heading after we pick a place in--what''s the area we''re headed for?¡± she resumed, and I looked back at the map.

    ¡°Oh, right, um... Aldholt, this one here,¡± I said, pointing to a larger city that was situated near a mountain range.

    ¡°Nice,¡± Ariana nodded. ¡°Hmm?¡± she suddenly looked at it closely, and brought up another panel. ¡°They have player housing here. Should we look into that?¡± she asked me.

    ¡°Hmm...¡± I blinked, looking at it for myself. ¡°I mean, we''ll have to look at the particulars when we get there, but I don''t think that''d be a bad idea. And the area around it is good for a couple dozen levels or so, most likely, so it''d be nice to have a more private retreat.¡±

    ¡°Ah, okay... that does make some sense. You think it''ll get much tougher?¡± she said as she looked over at me.

    ¡°Heh, probably. We got lucky in that dragon dungeon, so our equipment will be good for a while; but when we get to forty or so we should try and look into something else, or otherwise find a crafter willing to upgrade what we have. But crafters who can do that with rare sets like these...¡±

    ¡°Gotcha.¡± Ariana nodded back. ¡°Well, we have enough raw materials saved up to at least make a small fortune. Maybe if we find one they''d take them in compensation?¡±

    ¡°The idea itself is sound, but what we have may not be good enough,¡± I told her with a gentle smile. ¡°Let''s see... our gear is rare quality, so we''d need some rare quality materials to make it a fair bargain.¡±

    ¡°That''s true.¡± Ariana nodded again. ¡°I bet this area would have the kind of stuff we need though. You have prospecting, right?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, and Mining Five. Lucky for us crafting and gathering skills are treated in a different category than fighting skills, so they level separately.¡± I nodded back.

    ¡°And you also have Hunting, Skinning, and Woodcutting; and I have Scholar Four and Harvester Four.¡± she mused aloud, examining her crafting panel. ¡°And we both have Fishing Three.¡±

    ¡°Oh, that,¡± I said with a laugh, and she giggled too. We had spent most of Wednesday night on a fishing quest, but it had been -- well, I guess it was worth it to get Fishing Three. ¡°So we can train our fighting skills and our gathering skills while here to earn coin and materials to upgrade our gear; and we can probably get a house too, which would be nice since we might be here for a while.¡±

    ¡°Mm, that sounds like a plan!¡± Ariana agreed.

    ¡°Let''s look over the houses and such while we ride; maybe we''ll find something and then just buy it when we get there.¡± I suggested.

    ¡°Only if we look at it carefully first.¡± she returned.

    ¡°Deal.¡± I agreed.

    So we spent the rest of that river trip looking over the various houses and such that were still available; we were about to give up when we got to the final page, and then we both alighted on a house that was out by itself, up on a ridge of the mountain that overlooked the city. It was more of a homestead than a house, to be honest; it was called Cloverbell Estate.

    ¡°This one''s unique,¡± I told Ariana. ¡°It has a quest or quest chain to claim ownership. I''m surprised no one''s done it by now...¡±

    ¡°Where -- ah, I see; we have to go to the lord''s manor to get that quest.¡± Ariana said as she looked over the details.

    ¡°Hmm... if it''s from the lord it might be a tough quest...¡±

    ¡°But to get that house? I like it. Let''s do it.¡± she said to me at once. I felt like I was back in school with her. A smile leapt to my face.

    ¡°Let''s do it, partner!¡± I said as she grinned back. With that resolution in mind, we suddenly found ourselves docking at Aldholt.

    ***

    Aldholt was not unlike the town we had been staying in, visually speaking, but it was definitely larger and more than a few of the buildings were bigger. Especially the lord''s manor. It stood above the market square, across from what was probably a temple. This, as we would find out, was the capital of the Aldholt Region, the southeastern portion of Panarena as a whole.

    As we wandered towards the manor itself, Ariana and I asked questions about Cloverbell Estate; the NPCs all directed us to speak with the lord, while the players all told us to not take the quest. Apparently, some of them had at least tried it.

    But you know teenagers. The more you tell them not to do something...

    Well, by the time we got to the lord''s manor we were thoroughly curious. The steward greeted us at the door, and ushered us in for an audience.

    ¡°The AI here is amazing,¡± I remarked to Ariana, who nodded in agreement.

    ¡°I wonder what this quest is,¡± she wondered.

    ¡°My lord, visitors have arrived.¡± the steward said, and the lord bade us approach.

    ¡°Honored guests, I am Lord Aldwine; what would you have?¡±

    ¡°Lord Aldwine, I would ask you about Cloverbell Estate and the mystery around it.¡± I said in answer, and the grey-haired noble gave me a look of interest.

    ¡°Few there are who have ventured upon that quest; most of those who do come back have returned in shame, unable to face the mysterious peril that plagues the estate. Dare I hope you are of a different breed of hero at last, my brave young ladies?¡± he asked us.

    ¡°I want to conquer this unconquerable mystery.¡± Ariana said, and I nodded with her.

    ¡°Tell us what to do, Lord Aldwine.¡± I said as I knelt before him, and Ariana knelt with me.

    ¡°It is said that the house is plagued by an ancient ghoul with seven servants. Each of them will come in turn during the hours of the night so long as you are there, it is said. That is what we know, save that most who have tried to undertake the quest for Cloverbell have all returned before the midnight hour.¡± he told us, and we looked at each other. This might be tougher than we thought -- but hey, we beat the Twin Dragons. What''s a ghoul or seven?

    ¡°I understand, my lord.¡± I said in answer. ¡°We will do what we can.¡±

    ¡°If you succeed you shall have the estate and all its furnishings granted to you in perpetuity, and you shall be exempted from the citizen''s tax and recognized as thanes of the hold.¡± he told us.

    With that our audience was concluded. We were shown out respectfully, and then we made our way into the market to sell what we could and buy some potions and scrolls to aid us for the upcoming challenge.

    ¡°The real time isn''t an issue,¡± Ariana noted as we finished the last of our transactions. ¡°Every hour that goes by in real life is four hours here. But we''ll have to get there quickly, and it didn''t look like an easy path up.¡±

    ¡°True,¡± I replied, gazing back towards the mountain where we could just see Cloverbell in the distance.

    ¡°Hey, did you hear? Those two hot chicks are heading for Cloverbell,¡± someone in the market said behind us.

    ¡°Really?¡± another voice, this one filled with surprise, wondered.

    ¡°It''s true!¡± the other said.

    ¡°Five-hundred gold pieces says they come back before midnight, just like the rest of us,¡± a third said.

    ¡°Ten-thousand if they come back before ten!¡± another said, and they erupted in laughter as more bets poured in.

    A noise of disgust and anger left my throat and went out of my mouth. Ariana looked over at me, and placed her hand on my arm. I turned to her, and she shook her head.

    ¡°Never mind them, let''s go and do this!¡± she told me.

    ¡°Let me just say one thing to them.¡± I returned.

    ¡°Gotcha.¡± she replied with a wink. I think she knew exactly what I was going to do.

    I approached the peanut gallery with a stern look, and they stopped laughing to look at me. Then I affected my own winning smile, as far as female-me was concerned, and crossed my arms across my chest.

    ¡°If we complete the quest and win Cloverbell,¡± I said to them, and they stared at me as I paused, gaping, waiting for my next words. ¡°Two-thousand gold from each of you. And if we fail it, we''ll pay you our leftover earnings, all of them.¡± I announced, and the wager panel came up with the terms on it.

    ¡°Done!¡± one of them jumped up, stamping his hand on the panel. One by one they all followed suite; twenty-three players in total wagered two-thousand gold each against our entire savings. This done, I walked away with my head held high, proud as a cat in a window. Ariana smirked at me.

    ¡°What are we going to do with forty-six thousand gold?¡± she asked me.

    ¡°I dunno; buy the place some new rugs.¡± I quipped, and she burst out laughing.

    ***

    Climbing up a mountain was old hat for me; Ariana wasn''t having a hard time herself. As Rachel, she hand her family had often gone on hiking or wilderness vacations. As Ariana, this newbie gamer was quickly becoming someone I wasn''t sure I could stand up to in a fight. Sure, it had only been a week, more or less; but that second night of fighting against the Twin Dragons? She held her own as if she was the last boss. And her way of using magic was unique too. Most players in any game went down a specific discipline, but she drew from them all, sometimes combining certain spells from different disciplines to make something unexpected happen. In short, whether in real life or in video games, this girl was way out of my league. And yet she wanted to be with me. But enough about that--we were talking about the mountain.

    With our efficiency and experience, we reached Cloverbell just as the sun was setting. Down below us we could hear the bell of the temple tolling out the evening hour.

    The estate itself was somewhere between a house and a castle in design. It was grown over with ivy and mosses, but at the same time we kind of liked that. From what we could see of the inside, it was quite dusty, but winning the quest would probably change that.

    ¡°De-fi-nete-ly gonna need new rugs...¡± I said as I looked in.

    ¡°And some nice furniture,¡± Ariana nodded. We went around to another side of the house; a small stone path led a short distance away to a secluded grove. In the midst of it was what looked like a hotsprings bath--most likely. ¡°Wow!¡± she exclaimed with delight, turning to me and taking my hands. ¡°We are winning this! I don''t care if it''s not really real, I want to soak in that hotspring!¡±

    ¡°That would be something else for sure,¡± I nodded in agreement. ¡°I wonder why all these players freak out about midnight, though...¡± I then mused aloud, and she began thinking with me.

    ¡°Maybe it''s all rare monsters? Or maybe the boss shows up early instead of at the end?¡± she reasoned it out, and I nodded slowly.

    ¡°Maybe, and I think that the lord implied he wasn''t sure about how they would show up, so they could all jump out at some point unexpectedly. And if they''re all elite quality mobs, that would answer why none of the players around here have finished this quest, even with their levels,¡± I continued.

    ¡°We''re twenty-five now; this house is still near the lowest level area. But maybe that doesn''t mean much...¡± Ariana then resumed as we began walking towards the manor.

    ¡°That''s not impossible,¡± I agreed.

    ¡°Basically we have two options: full attack, or full defense.¡±

    ¡°Or we can rotate those strategies as needed until we get a better handle on the situation we''re facing at the moment.¡±

    ¡°That works too.¡± she nodded back. ¡°Wow. Why do I feel like I talk to you all day? We really click, you know? Just like me and my friend at school--¡± she said with a smile that suddenly dissolved into an alert expression as we heard a noise. In an instant our weapons were out and the conversation paused.

    ¡°Talk later; we rotate attack and defense as needed!¡± I told her.

    ¡°Got it! Either way, I''m activating Storm-Wards.¡± she replied, stamping her staff into the ground to turn on the aura of frost and lightning she had composed the other day.

    ¡°Shadow-vision.¡± I said, and suddenly the world went darker while the outlines of friends and enemies had bright colors to show them up. Ariana was blue; there were two red outlines near the front of the manor. ¡°They''re around the front, two of them. You go around to the north, I''ll slip up from the south; instant take-down.¡± I told her, and she nodded.

    We split up, racing quietly around the manor to take down our first two monsters, both walking corpses of some kind. It was barely worth describing. Ariana reduced one to cinders and soot with a lightning storm, and I chopped the other one into five or six pieces before it could even turn. I scanned the area again with Shadow-vision, seeing nothing -- for now.

    ¡°Seven minions...¡± I repeated to myself.

    ¡°Two down; six left, counting the ghoul itself.¡± Ariana whispered as we crouched down to wait near the door.

    ¡°Wait, I might have seen this pattern before,¡± I suddenly realized. ¡°Weakest two show up first, then two stronger ones will show up, and then I bet at midnight the boss shows up with the other three.¡±

    ¡°Then we can prepare a little better, if you''re right. But I trust your instincts.¡± Ariana told me, and I nodded back.

    As it turned out those instincts were right on the money. It was two game-hours of waiting, but eventually two more showed up. They were stronger, and put up a lot more of a fight than the previous two. I suddenly happened to notice that their levels were thirty, right before we finally finished them off. And then it hit me.

    Wait! The reason the other two were so easy is because they were probably just a bit under our level: the entry level for this area. These we just fought are probably mid-level for the region, making them more difficult for us at twenty-five. Which means the boss and his buddies will be at the highest possible level for the area. So the reason no one finishes this quest is because of that, and the reason no one comes back is because it''s probably not worth it once you''re at area-cap to get a house here when you can just go and get one somewhere else in a new area, where you can probably just up and buy a nice place like this... which leaves on problem... what is the area-cap for the Aldholt region and its territories?

    ¡°Lana?¡± Ariana touched my shoulder, seeing my face busied with thought.

    ¡°Let me check something,¡± I said, pulling up the area guide. I soon found what I wanted to see. ¡°Highest possible monster level, fifty...¡± I read aloud, and Ariana frowned.

    ¡°So that''s why everyone runs from it,¡± she said as she came to the same conclusion I did, looking back down towards the city. We stood there in silence for a moment, contemplating the choices before us. To fight, or to flee. I then shook my head.

    ¡°We''ll do it. Somehow we''ll do it. It''ll take all of our skills and probably a lot of our potions and stuff, though...¡± I said as I sat down beside her. She sat down as well, nodding.

    ¡°There''s a penalty from dying in this area, though, and probably the other higher level areas from here on out.¡±

    ¡°There is that.¡± I nodded. ¡°It''s not bad here, though; just a loss of gold and a reset of our current experience gains.¡±

    ¡°Which would be super painful it we were about to hit level twenty-six, but it''s only about a fifth of the way there now,¡± she agreed as she moved closer, leaning her head on my shoulder. ¡°I wonder what my classmate would think of this game,¡± she suddenly said, and I couldn''t think of a thing to say. ¡°He really is a lot like you. If I found out he was you, in some weird way, that would be strange -- but I think I''d be okay with it. I''d just wonder why. But since he is such a good guy, I''m sure he''d have a reason for being a girl in a game like this.¡±

    You''re killing me, Danes, you''re killing me.

    ¡°I''m sure some guys do it as a way to gain perspective; even if they can''t understand us girls completely, maybe roleplaying as a girl in these online worlds helps them to gain an empathy for us? I wonder if it''s like that. That wouldn''t be a bad reason, even if they do like to sneak a peek at certain places,¡± she said with a faint giggle.

    I could honestly say I had gained an empathy for girls through this. I really had. Maybe there were even other guys who had done the same--I can''t be the only one, can I? And I''d bet that in this world there were even girls who were reversing the situation.

    I could also honestly say I had, at first, ¡°taken peeks¡±. But I had quickly reasserted control of myself from those more ridiculous impulses to just play the game with Ariana, even if she didn''t know it was really me. Yet I couldn''t resist; I took her hand, squeezing it lovingly.

    ¡°I''m sure that, whatever his story is, that he''s a guy who wants your happiness more than anything, and that if you put it to him he''ll be man enough to face up. So long as you''re willing to accept him no matter what. That''s how all good relationships are, from what I understand.¡± I told her.

    Way to be Doctor Bill, genius, I thought to myself with an inward cringe.

    ¡°Well, if he was a womanizer I probably wouldn''t accept that.¡± she added with a snarky smile.

    ¡°Yeah, I wouldn''t go for that either.¡± I agreed with her immediately. ¡°Not that I wouldn''t want them to have no friends or anything, but as far as serious feelings go, I would want to be the only one in a person''s world.¡± I continued, realizing more than ever I wanted to confess to her -- about everything.

    ¡°Same.¡± Ariana gently whispered back. We stayed sitting like that for quite a long time, enjoying each other''s silent friendship and holding hands under the starry night of Panarena. And then we heard it. The eerie noise of undead creatures trampling about. Our final battle was on.

 Chapter Three: Cloverbell/Will She? Wont She?

    Once more I activated Shadow-vision. There were four creatures outlined in red, and one seemed to be hovering or floating above the ground.

    ¡°Dang it, I hate being right sometimes...!¡± I muttered as we stood up. ¡°Hunter''s Eye.¡± I then said; I had been half-right. They were level forty. The game was not as cruel as I had assumed. ¡°They''re level forty. We might stand a chance if we use all the stat potions and the boosters, along with the defense and prowess scrolls.¡±

    ¡°Gotcha!¡± Ariana nodded back. We buffed ourselves up, and then prepared ourselves mentally for the fight of the week. ¡°We beat those dragons, we''ll beat these!¡± she said to me confidently.

    ¡°Right with you, partner!¡± I said, drawing out my bow. ¡°You circle around from the south; I''m going up on the rooftops to try and snipe at least one of them, if I can.¡±

    ¡°Right!¡± Ariana said, and then we split up for the second time to enact our plan. I got up on the roof with no problem. Then I saw Ariana''s Storm-Wards activate, followed by a few firebolts. The ghoul and his three corpse-minions were on the alert.

    Not alert enough, I smiled, drawing my bowstring and activating Holy Arrow. I let loose the string; my first target was obliterated. I set another arrow on the string and activated Holy Arrow again, but this time I was deflected by the ghoul. Dang it!

    ¡°Switch out!¡± I called as the ghoul spotted me. Ariana let loose a volley of ice and fire as I changed positions; one of the corpse-minions staggered, and then fell dead in a flurry of ice and ashes as a second volley came forth. Now the remaining two were focused on her again. ¡°Holy Arrow!¡± I shouted out, blowing a hole in the third and final corpse-minion. A fireball from Ariana then sprang out of the shadows and knocked its head off as a finishing blow.

    ¡°Switch out!¡± she called over as the ghoul began advancing on her. I put my bow away and drew out my daggers, racing towards the main baddie.

    ¡°Holy Crescent Flash!¡± I cried out as I slashed its backside with my daggers, spun around, and slashed in a backwards arc as I sprang away again.

    ¡°Moonlight Sonata!¡± Ariana''s voice came again, and rays of light flashed down upon the ghoul, staggering it but not moving its health bar.

    ¡°Thousand Needle Strike!¡± I said as I raced in again.

    This one I was particularly proud of; maybe it wasn''t literally a thousand strikes, but it was as close as I could manage in five seconds. Maybe it was thirty or forty strikes all told; but hey, ¡°Thousand Needle Strike¡± sounds cooler, right?

    ¡°Dang it!¡± I cried out as I slipped away again. ¡°Shadow Veil!¡± I said to obfuscate myself. ¡°His HP is barely going down!¡±

    ¡°But we''re still good!¡± Ariana called back to me. ¡°Distract him -- I think I might have a surprise!¡±

    ¡°Just give him one good fireball before I do and I''ll keep him off you!¡± I said.

    ¡°You got it, partner!¡± she said cheerily, obliging me with one last fireball.

    I rode on its trail, turning visible again right as it struck the ghoul. I then made some crisscross slashes on its face and torso, then spun around to my left and spun around again to deliver a spinning backhook kick to its head. In response, the ghoul swung down its sword in my direction, and I parried him with all my might, holding back the stroke that could very well be fatal to me if it hit. I watched my own health bar take a hit, and then I disengaged, vanishing again for a brief moment before reengaging with a series of flurried strikes that combined elements from the martial arts forms I had learned with the added danger of the daggers.

    ¡°Ready!¡± Ariana suddenly called out.

    ¡°Holy Crescent Flash!¡± I called out a second time, this time performing the maneuver on his front side instead of his back before racing away. ¡°Switch out!¡± I called back, and hit the dirt. I didn''t know what was coming, but I saw a glimpse of her eyes, and knew it was something awesome. I rolled away, and then looked back to see her raising her staff--and then:

    ¡°Noontide Reprisal!¡± Ariana cried out.

    What in the world...?

    A glittering ball of fire that shone like the sun suddenly appeared. The ghoul staggered again, dropping its weapon, and then screeched in agony. Its health bar started going down like a rock in the water.

    ¡°Not enough! It''s not enough! I can only do it for two more seconds!¡± Ariana called over.

    ¡°That''s fine!¡± I replied. She had inspired me with that attack. I got up again, and raced towards the ghoul. Its health was almost gone. Ariana''s magnificent attack suddenly ended. But that was okay. She had done beautifully. Now it was my turn.

    The ghoul recovered just a bit, raising its head as I came flying towards it.

    ¡°Lana!¡± Ariana cried, seeing the thing pick its sword back up. I couldn''t afford to dodge or evade. I had to make this strike.

    ¡°Sunrise Vengeance!¡± I called out, and my knives lit up in a golden color. The ghoul hesitated. That was enough. With a swift motion I lopped off its head, and it disintegrated. I fell back to earth, and set my knives down, catching my breath as Ariana ran over, hugging me from behind. We sat there in silence again for several moments until she spoke.

    ¡°Don''t scare me like that again.¡± she said with a relieved tone.

    ¡°I''ll try not to.¡± I managed to say with a faint laugh.

    ¡°But we did it, right? We really did it?¡±

    ¡°Let''s make sure we did, but I think it really is over.¡± I nodded back.

    ¡°Gotcha.¡± she returned, kissing my cheek. ¡°You''re incredible by the way.¡±

    ¡°And you''re amazing. I should have thought about daylight myself; lucky me, teaming up with you.¡± I told her in reply.

    ¡°And lucky me, having you as someone who can keep up with me when I get an idea.¡± she giggled.

    ¡°Best partners for life?¡± I said as I managed to turn around.

    ¡°Best partners for life.¡± she agreed, and we hugged each other again.

    In the end it turned out that we had indeed managed to complete the quest. One by one, twenty-three dumbstruck players handed us forty-six thousand gold in total. They had actually sent a witness-slash-spy after us; this sneaky mage had been so in awe of us that he had quickly fled back down the mountain when we had completed the quest to show them everything he had recorded of our escapade at Cloverbell.

    And so it was that in the space of one game-night, we had completed a high difficulty quest, gained a small fortune in gold for future expenses and a fine house, and won the respect of every player in and adjacent to the Aldholt.

    ***

    Saturday I did a bunch of chores and stuff. In the daytime, anyway. Rachel and I texted a little bit. She said she had something she wanted to talk about after school or during break on Monday. My life being what it was, I kind of knew what she wanted to say, but I didn''t tell her that. And when the day had passed us by and dinner had been eaten, I slipped away into Panarena to spend time with her as Lana Windstrider.

    That night we spent a fourth of our hard-won fortune on furnishings and such for the manor. We also spent five-hundred gold more on seeds for plants used in making food, drinks, potions, and other alchemical commodities. And when we had finished our in-game ¡°chores¡±, we then decided to make use of the hotspring.

    First, we made sure no one could disturb us. Then, we put away our gear and settled into the nice warm water that had sprung up when the house and grounds had become ours.

    If I said it was heavenly, that would be an understatement. And no, I''m not talking about being in a bath with a girl. I''m just talking about being in the bath itself.

    ¡­ Okay. Maybe it was a little more exciting than I want to admit.

    ¡°This is magical...¡± Ariana sighed happily as we lounged in the warm water.

    ¡°Right?¡± I said in agreement.

    ¡°Just us girls, lounging in a bath; no boys at all,¡± she continued in a happy daze. I couldn''t think of a reply. More on account of the fact that I was enjoying the moment rather than being stuck for words, I should say.

    We sat there for quite a while, only speaking occasionally. Most of it was just repeating what we had just said in various incarnations of sentence structure. Eventually it just turned into holding hands. Then we turned to look over at each other. She didn''t say anything for a while, but I knew there was something on her mind. I gently squeezed her hand in support.

    ¡°Did you ever kiss anyone?¡± she suddenly asked.

    ¡°I never did,¡± I said, which was true.

    ¡°I wonder if it''s scary,¡± Ariana said as we continued gazing at each other. ¡°There really is something about you. I almost want to try kissing you first; but I want my first kiss to be him.¡± she said to me, and I smiled.

    ¡°That''s fine. I don''t know if I would be a good kisser anyway,¡± I remarked. Not as a girl, at least, I thought to myself. The pervy part of my mind wanted to find out anyway, but I could keep control of that here. I was certain, however, that in real life, a certain part of me was a little more than excited.

    ¡°Oh, I don''t know; I think you would be.¡± Ariana smirked.

    ¡°Ehh,¡± I shrugged, and we both laughed.

    ¡°What should we do tomorrow?¡± she then asked me.

    ¡°Let''s go into town and see if there''s more quests there first. Or we could just explore a bit and maybe find a dungeon?¡±

    ¡°That sounds good.¡± she nodded back. ¡°Ahh, this spot is just too good...¡± she then said with a delighted and relaxed tone in her voice.

    ¡°Right?¡± I agreed yet again. ¡°But maybe we should try and get ou--snap! It''s past midnight again,¡± I said as I checked the time, letting go of Ariana''s hand to jump out. She jumped out with me, and we ran into the house giggling like idiots. We quickly dried off, and then slipped into some night clothes to log out for the day.

    The two of us lay upon the bed together side by side, smiling merrily at each other and still giggling.

    This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    ¡°Good night, Lana.¡± she told me at last.

    ¡°Good night, Ariana.¡± I told her in return, and we logged out at the same time. As I woke up and peeled off the headgear, I let out a tired sigh.

    This can''t stay secret with her around; at least, not from her...

    ***

    Sunday came and went; we spent our evening charting out what we could of Aldholt, taking note of resource nodes and minor dungeons (marked by characters that were different than the greater dungeons) throughout the land. We returned to Cloverbell after our expedition, and then spent another evening in the hotspring before heading inside to log out for the night. And then Monday came.

    It was raining that day. Ty and I got onto the bus at the same old stop, and both of us stared out in a random direction while we rode the thing to school. When we got there it was still raining, and someone complained about it. Ty shook his head, and the two of us got out first, heading into the school with our bus-mates following us in.

    ¡°Don''t beat up nobody without me,¡± Ty said as we parted ways. I gave him a salute in reply, and he walked off with a grin while I began opening my locker. Rachel then popped out from behind.

    ¡°Don''t beat up anyone at all is what I would say,¡± she quipped. A smile broke out on my face instantly. I had to restrain myself from making a comment, but she made one herself. ¡°Hmm, maybe I shouldn''t say that after the epic showdown I had with my friend Friday night...¡±

    ¡°That good, huh?¡±

    ¡°Ugh, she''s so amazing. I really want you two to meet, somehow.¡± she said with her usual zest and enthusiasm. She opened her own locker, and looked over at me again. ¡°It''d be really funny if it actually was you. I''d laugh. You''re so alike. Would you tell me if you were in that game? Would you tell me if you were--¡± she stopped herself there; I kept cool, looking back at her with a curious expression, and she smiled. ¡°It''s bad form to use names from one world in the other, isn''t it?¡±

    ¡°Hmm,¡± I thought about it again for a moment, ¡°That''s what I''ve always heard.¡± I shrugged, and she nodded.

    ¡°Let''s have fun today. And -- can we go somewhere quiet for lunch?¡± she then asked, and I nodded back. ¡°Great!¡± she said with relief, and with that we entered homeroom.

    Homeroom. English. History. Math. Science. If I ever heard the name George Washington after this year I would punch something. And if I saw an equation that pooled not only numbers but letters from the Latin and Greek alphabet after exiting senior high I would have to be checked into an asylum. The lunch bell then rang, and as we pulled out our lunch-bags Rachel took my hand and led me to the roof. Was it my imagination, or did I get a glare from the football team? Especially... well, never mind it for now.

    There was no one on the roof. Rachel sighed in relief, and we sat down near a part of the roof that overlooked the athletic fields. We sat down and ate in silence for a few moments, and then she dropped the bombshell. Even though I knew it was coming, I had expected it to be more subtle. Yet, then again, Rachel wasn''t really the type of person to dance around something--unless that something was a high level boss in a video game.

    ¡°Hey. I know it''s only been a week, but I like you. A lot. Is that okay?¡± she said, and I let it hang for a moment, composing myself to answer.

    ¡°I have to be honest, I like you too. You really are amazing.¡± I told her in answer. I had never understood what it was to be so happy that you would cry. But I saw it on Rachel''s face in that moment. I put down my sandwich, and went to put an arm around her.

    ¡°I''m sorry! I don''t know why, I just--¡±

    ¡°It''s fine,¡± I told her with a smile, ¡°And I mean it. Every word.¡±

    ¡°I mean it too.¡± Rachel told me resolutely as she dried her eyes, a smile on her face. My heart was melting.

    ¡°And... because I like you... a lot... I want to tell you a secret.¡± I told her, and she came to attention. There was suddenly an alertness in every part of her being. My heart was pounding. ¡°You said something this morning, and I want to--¡±

    ¡°Daniels, Danes, what are you doing up here?¡± the voice of our homeroom teacher Mr. Jones called out to us from the door.

    ¡°Ah--¡± I started, uncertain of what to say.

    ¡°Sir?¡± Rachel asked him. ¡°Is it bad to be up here for lunch?¡±

    ¡°It''s not the classroom, and it''s not the cafeteria,¡± he said to us with a stern look, but there was a good deal of amusement on his face also. ¡°Just hurry up and eat, I''ll let it go--this time!¡±

    ¡°Ah--right... thank you, sir.¡± I stammered out, and he smiled, shook his head, and went back inside.

    ¡°You were telling me something?¡± Rachel said a moment later. I looked back at her. I didn''t feel like I could say it now. But I had to do something.

    ¡°Close your eyes.¡± I told her.

    She did so, veiling those emerald jewels with her beautifully pale eyelids, her lips parting as if she knew what was coming. I reached down, pressing my lips against hers, gently, and then with just enough passion to make it memorable. She met my passion with her own, our lips locked together for a wonderful and timeless moment, and then they parted. Rachel smiled at me then, and we quickly finished the rest of our lunch before packing the rubbish away and getting up to head inside.

    ¡°I still want to know what you really wanted to say,¡± she said as we entered the building again, ¡°But I''ll let it slide, for now.¡±

    I couldn''t take it. I gently took her arm, and spun her around to face me. She smiled, and I took a deep breath again. Then the bell rang. My eyes closed in disbelief. She gave me a sad smile, kissing my cheek.

    ¡°Tell me later?¡±

    ¡°Only if you keep your promise.¡± I told her, and she gave me a funny look.

    ¡°What promise?¡±

    ¡°I''ll tell you later.¡±

    She gave me a really funny look that time, but then she only laughed, and took my hand as we went to our homeroom so we could get our morning books and exchange them for our afternoon ones. I spent the rest of that day trying to figure out what to say. When our last class was over, we went to put our books away--well, the ones we didn''t have to take home, anyway. Rachel then turned back to me as we finished packing and shut the lockers, and leaned against them with that irresistible smile on her face, giving me a look that demanded words. Out of the corner of my eye I could see the principal''s daughter and her friends smiling at us. I turned to Rachel, and took her hand.

    ¡°We don''t have much time here.¡± I reminded her.

    ¡°I know. Give me a hint and text me later?¡± she replied, and I squeezed her hand gently. Her eyes then lit up in recognition. ¡°That touch... the way you just squeezed my hand...¡± she said with a quiet excitement. Her expression held so many emotions, but I knew now that she remembered her implied promise as Ariana. She cupped her free hand over her mouth, taking a deep breath. She slowly let it out, and then reached down to take my hand in both of hers. ¡°Tell me everything at the house. Promise?¡± she said to me, and I nodded.

    ¡°Promise.¡±

    ¡°Kiss on it?¡± she asked me, and I only too happily obliged her. Our lips parted twice as reluctantly as before.

    ¡°I''ll see you tonight, Lana,¡± she whispered softly in me ear, and with that she fell in step with a few of the girls that she had made friends with in Theater to head for the buses. Ty came up behind me then, and gently flicked my forehead.

    ¡°Yo. Let''s go.¡±

    ¡°Huh? Ah! Right...¡± I said as I fell in step with him.

    ¡°Damn, boy. Gone from fighter to lover, huh?¡± he quipped, and I shrugged.

    ¡°Maybe.

    ¡°Snap, boy. You ain''t gonna change much. Let me do you a favor; that senior quarterback this year? He got the hots on her too, man. So you''d damn well better be both.¡± he told me. I looked over at him, and nodded.

    ¡°I''ll remember.

    ¡°Boy, you''d better.¡±

    ***

    After homework and after dinner, I slipped away quietly to my room to log into Panarena and wait for Ariana--for Rachel. When that dark-haired Elf with red eyes appeared in the house, she stared at me for a moment, making sure it was me; I stared back at her, almost trembling.

    ¡°Rachel,¡± I squawked out in a voice near to crying.

    ¡°Sean... I knew it!¡± she said at once, coming over to kiss me. We kissed several times, and then sat down on a sofa we had gotten for the main room, holding each other tightly. She didn''t press me for answers for a few moments, but when she did, it was with an absolutely gorgeous smile that telegraphed to me she was going to enjoy every last second of interrogation.

    ¡°Go ahead.¡± I told her with my own smile of resignation.

    ¡°You were staring at me last week because you knew it was me.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°I''m so glad you did. And I''m so glad you really are someone who''s not--well, you were perving on yourself... so I don''t know...¡± she said mischievously.

    ¡°Ah--I really wasn''t--I mean, not to be--it''s just... well what if you were in a male toon yourself?¡± I suddenly managed to spring back, and she burst out laughing.

    ¡°Ahh, my; I probably would check in a game like this,¡± she said, giggling. ¡°You were that surprised, huh?¡±

    ¡°I mean...¡± I started again, this time more composed. I basically told her what I already mentioned near the beginning of this story. Maybe in more detail. And she asked me about any outstanding escapades I happened to walk into (thankfully few, if any). She loved every minute of it, and at the end she took my hands, placing them in her lap and smiling.

    ¡°Playing and identifying as a woman online and refusing to be treated like a princess or being a mooch for items and help, first on a whim, then out of a real desire to gain empathy.¡± Rachel smiled at me. ¡°Thank you for telling me. I''ll keep your secret as long as you want. But when we''re in this house, alone...¡±

    ¡°When we''re in this house, I won''t pretend. Mostly,¡± I told her, and she giggled.

    ¡°I wonder if I should make a new character as a man so it won''t be too weird!¡±

    ¡°I like your character!¡± I said at once. ¡°Unless... you want me to change...?¡± I suddenly turned red. But she shook her head.

    ¡°I like this version of you, too. And now that I know it''s you, I''m going to do whatever I want to do to you when we''re alone here, if you''ll let me?¡± she said with a wink. ¡°Kidding!¡± she added as my expression went from embarrassed to help-me-please. ¡°Let''s not get into that weird stuff.¡± she shook her head, and I nodded in agreement.

    ¡°Let''s not.¡±

    ¡°I mean it,¡± Ariana said again, ¡°I love this you. And I love you as Sean. Partners in both? Lovers for life?¡±

    ¡°In both, and for life.¡± I smiled in answer. We shared a kiss again, and then sat back together on the sofa.

    ¡°I heard a rumor that there''s a senior who has his eye on me.¡± she said after a while.

    ¡°Ty told me that too.¡± I nodded.

    ¡°That tall guy you go to the bus with?¡± she asked, and I nodded. ¡°I thought you didn''t have any friends?¡±

    ¡°Ehh, he and I have a history. I don''t quite think it''s friends, but I can''t call him an enemy at least, and even rival doesn''t seem to work anymore. I think... I think ''taker-uppers'' is probably the best word.¡± I told her.

    ¡°Hmm; but he''s willing to tell you about things that might hurt you. I''d count him as friendly.¡± she said to me.

    ¡°These days, yeah.¡± I agreed. We take up for each other when it counts, so that''s wht I can''t say rival or enemy.¡±

    ¡°And what about the senior?¡± Ariana asked me. I looked at her.

    ¡°Ty says he''s the quarterback this year.¡± I said, and she sighed.

    ¡°I hate jocks.¡±

    ¡°One of your exes?¡± I wondered, and she smirked.

    ¡°That was mostly a joke. I never did kiss anyone before you. But some of the jocks in my old school thought I was their girl.¡± she told me.

    ¡°Gotcha.¡± I nodded.

    ¡°But you''ll face this with me, right?¡± Ariana then said, and I nodded again.

    ¡°What''s a senior quarterback to a level forty ghoul?¡± I said with a grin, and she burst out laughing.

    ¡°I''ll remember that when he comes over to you, me, or us during school!¡± she told me.

    ¡°I''ll count on you too, partner.¡± I returned, and she smiled. Silence smote the house again; a gentle, calming silence. Outside the manor we could hear crickets, the bubbling of the hotspring, and owl or two, and maybe a few frogs.

    ¡°When we graduate and get real lives, let''s find a house somewhere, just like this one, get married, and live there for the rest of our lives.¡± Rachel said to me softly.

    ¡°We''ll do that,¡± I said as I took her hand, ¡°If you''ll say yes when I ask.¡±

    ¡°I''ll always say yes to you.¡±

    ¡°Always?¡±

    ¡°Always.¡± she smiled, and giggled as we laid down on the sofa together. ¡°This really is kind of weird, but it''s a wonderful weird. I could log off for the night and be happy that I accomplished something in this game tonight.¡±

    ¡°I could too, honestly. Maybe we should.¡± I returned, and she nodded.

    ¡°Kiss me goodnight?¡± she asked--as if she needed to.

    We shared another kiss, and then logged out for the night.

    So, all told, after all this time, only one person has found out (so far, and under special circumstances) that, behind the virtual avatar persona I have created, a young man is the puppeteer. As I fell asleep that night, the sensations of Rachel''s lips upon my own, a question popped up in my head.

    Would anyone else ever find out?

 Bonus Chapter: The Bully

    He watched them. They looked so happy together. It disgusted him. He had heard about the cute freshman who had transferred in this year, but her beauty absolutely defied the tales still being told about her. She was gorgeous. And he wanted her. Why did she have to hook up with Daniels, of all the no-life kids in this school? A frown crossed his face as they shared a hug. He felt a burning sensation in his chest. She should be his. He would make her his. He just had to get Daniels out of the way. Did they just kiss in front of him? They had, he angrily realized. A sort of strangled, menacing sound exited his throat. His right fist clenched, tightly. He raised it close to his chest, his teeth baring as his body shook with hatred.

    This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

    Daniels... Daniels!!

 Chapter Four: Friends and Enemies

    Well, putting that last question aside, things got interesting in the next few days for us. What do you mean, Sean?

    So, you know that kind of awkward moment when your parents find out about something and then make you sheepishly explain it? Yeah. Not fun. Especially when it''s the kind of finding out where they find out you have a significant-other. Not because it''s bad, but because they have waaay too much fun with the interrogation. And my parents loved that interrogation.

    I''ll skip the details. Let''s just say that it ended up with phone-calls and an arrangement to meet at a local mall on a Saturday. Boy was that an interesting day.

    Around 11:30 or so, we went out to the mall. Rachel and her mom met us at the food court. There were greetings, her older brother Joshua showed up after a few minutes and there was more greetings, and then we sat down while Joshua went to get a couple pizzas. He seemed like a nice guy.

    Rachel''s mother was the kind of woman you''d expect to see when you hear the word ¡°diplomat¡±, which, of course, she was. Her brother gave off the classic greaser vibe, and he was definitely less reserved.

    Of course, my own mother was nearly the same. My dad? He''s generally laid back in any sort of situation--yes, even while interrogating his only son about relationship developments. The conversations kind of started off a bit awkwardly, with me and Rachel giving each other subtle glances of apology or amusement as it began, but when the pizzas arrived with Joshua things smoothed out a bit and we got rolling.

    Long story short, Mrs. Danes was actually thrilled that her daughter had gotten off to such a good start in this town and at school, even if it had taken her completely by surprise. And my parents said more or less the same thing. There was approval, there were jokes (boy did we just... love... the jokes), and there was congratulating and an informal toasting of the Danes and Daniels'' first meeting. After that it wound down a bit, and Rachel and I were left to hang out at the mall for a while. Oh, Joshua hung around the mall as well. Not with us though. The two of us meandered around and eventually ended up at an ice-cream shop to share a treat together.

    We looked like something out of one of those films, a bowl of vanilla ice-cream with chocolate syrup and cherries adorning it between us as we relished our treat -- and the fact that we were together on what was more or less a first actual date.

    ¡°That went well.¡± Rachel suddenly remarked.

    ¡°I guess so.¡± I shrugged.

    ¡°You don''t think?¡±

    ¡°Eh, I mean, I do think; just, still processing it.¡± I amended with a small smile, which she returned.

    ¡°Gotcha.¡± she nodded. There was silence for a moment. ¡°Your dad seems nice; but your mom seems about the same as mine. Kind of...¡± she trailed off, a bemused look on her face.

    ¡°Strict? Business-y? Over-formal?¡± I returned with a wry grin.

    ¡°That. Those.¡± she said, pointing her spoon at me before returning to the ice-cream.

    ¡°Which is why I wish this world was the virtual one some days... to log out of it and be an adventurer instead of logging out of the adventurer to be a high school student.¡± I sighed, and she nodded sympathetically.

    ¡°I get that. It is really addicting... but I like this you more than the other you, you know.¡± she added with a wink.

    ¡°I know.¡± I smiled back.

    ¡°And you like this me more than Ariana?¡± Rachel continued, a sly smile on her face.

    ¡°I do.¡± I told her softly. I could feel my cheeks coloring. Hers did also, but the smile never left her face. I wish I could see that forever, I thought to myself.

    ¡°Yo, kiddos!¡± a voice said, and then something about slapped itself down next to our ice-cream. It was a copy of Molek. I looked up at the source of the voice, Joshua Danes, who had a victorious smile upon his face.

    ¡°You''re kidding. That over-priced junk store actually had one?¡± I said in disbelief as Rachel picked it up with a grin of her own to look at it.

    ¡°Yep! Never opened, never used; but I know what you mean, eh? Still, they''ve got a lot more than you think.¡± he said with a chuckle.

    ¡°Thanks, Joshy!¡± Rachel said to him with a smile as she gently waved the box around and set it back down.

    ¡°No probs, Rachy!¡± he said to her, flashing a V-sign. ¡°Don''t stay too long; unless of course it''s a movie. I''m sure the old lady''ll be fine with that.¡±

    ¡°I know.¡± she told him with a nod.

    ¡°And... dunno what to tell you... except be good to my little sister and make sure she gets home safe... or I''ll make the Slaughterer from Level Five look pleasant!¡± he said to me with a fierce grin, and Rachel gave him a scolding look, but I returned his grin with a fiendish smirk.

    ¡°Slaughterer''s nothing to the Vile King of Archnold''n; but I''ll have her back safer than the smithy''s goat!¡± I told him in reply, and he laughed, patting me on the shoulder as Rachel gave us both a blank but interested look.

    ¡°Right then! My job''s done; have fun--oh, Ray-ray! Dad said he''ll be--¡± he started to say but then she cut him off.

    ¡°I know, I don''t care.¡± she said with a dissatisfied look.

    ¡°At least he stays in one place,¡± her brother shrugged, a helpless grin on his face.

    ¡°I know. I just--¡±

    ¡°I get it. You''re still mad.¡± he said, placing a hand on her. ¡°I''m heading back to my own home for a while, but I''ll be around come Christmas or so. He might be too. Just think about it.¡± he added, patting her on the shoulder before he headed out.

    I didn''t say anything, and Rachel didn''t either. We finished our treat, and then she took my hand and squeezed it tightly. I gave her a smile; she smiled back sadly. I gently squeezed back, and she let out a sigh.

    ¡°It''s not a perfect family... and I might be mad at him for a long time...¡± she said to me softly.

    ¡°I can''t imagine. But I''ll be here for you whenever you need.¡± I said to her, and the smile grew brighter.

    ¡°I know.¡± Rachel told me.

    After that, we didn''t go and see a movie. We browsed a bookstore for several hours, looking at various stories in the fiction and fantasy section. There wasn''t too much beyond what both of us already had that piqued our interest, but then we happened to wander over to a different section, and we found a few copies of a book that caught our attention at once. It was a guide to Panarena Fantasy Online.

    ¡°Heh...?¡± I said with amazement as we both picked it up to examine it.

    ¡°Not that I don''t want to try the one Joshua found, but I think this one is definitely our go-to.¡± Rachel smiled.

    ¡°True.¡± I said as we scanned the pages. ¡°This is nuts... all sorts of guides and things--ahh, no dungeon guides!¡± I frowned.

    ¡°Couldn''t be that easy,¡± Rachel sighed.

    ¡°That''s true, but you''d think some of the more basic dungeons would--oh, I see... they have them for the higher ranked dungeons in PvP areas and the borderland between Harmonia and Onyxus.¡±

    ¡°Hmm... that makes sense... but then these aren''t dungeons, are they?¡± she asked me, and I looked again.

    ¡°Ahh--no, they''re not. They''re world-bosses.¡± I remarked with amazement.

    ¡°Whew!¡±

    ¡°You got that right.¡±

    ¡°Deadly?¡±

    ¡°In any game.¡±

    ¡°Beatable?¡±

    ¡°Not without a lot of effort from a lot of players.¡± I said to her, and she made a sour face.

    ¡°Boo! I wanted to duo one.¡± she said with disappointment.

    ¡°Even we have our limits,¡± I said with a faint laugh.

    ¡°May-be!¡± she said. ¡°Let''s buy this; we can share it!¡±

    ¡°Eh, you can keep it. Books are more your thing, right? I like learning from experience when it comes to games.¡± I said as I pulled out my wallet.

    ¡°Hmm... but I''ll let you borrow it sometime, just because.¡± she told me with a smirk.

    ¡°Okay.¡± I replied with a grin. We--I--bought the book, and then we left the mall and bused home, parting at a stop near her house before it continued on to one near mine. And so ended that little adventure-slash-date.

    Now, I sad we had our limits, and that was true. But in the intervening days between our first escapade at the Grotto of the Twin Dragons and now, which was Sunday night by the way, the two of us had racked up a reputation: in recognition of that first feat and as a reference to the color of our gear, we were called the Silvernight Twins.

    It had been a little over two weeks since our first meeting; we had rapidly advanced in level to forty-five, and we remained around the Aldholt region to continue exploring and gathering up mats and stuff for crafting, which we were just getting into. At school we had become pretty well known as a thing--except for the fact of one obnoxiously shaped jock who, well... let me just say that Sunday night in Panarena was a joy, while Monday morning...

    ***

    I had just gotten to my locker after Ty and I split for the morning, and was sorting through my books when all of a sudden--bam!--the sound of a fist connecting with and shutting my locker door resounded in my ears like a cannon blast.

    With a sigh I looked to my right. There before me he stood, tall, dark, and ugly, the star quarterback of the seniors, Justin Shrivers. His face--his entire head really--looked like an orangutan''s, especially the demented smile he enjoyed projecting. He was doing so now.

    ¡°Don''t you have a pile of bananas or something to pick at?¡± I asked him, and his smile immediately vanished. He hated it when people referred to his obviously ape-like features.

    ¡°Don''t get smart with me, twerp.¡± he retorted.

    ¡°It''s not hard to do with your grade-average.¡± I quickly shot back. Someone sniggered at those words.

    ¡°What''d you say, punk?¡± he said as he leaned down towards me.

    ¡°How can you be deaf with those ears? Don''t you pick up sonar or space aliens with them or something?¡± I said, and his face turned bright angry red as our little audience started reacting with exclamations of either awe or quickly running away.

    ¡°Why, you--¡±

    ¡°Shrivers!¡± Mr. Jones called, and the lanky ape came to attention.

    ¡°Sir!¡± he responded.

    ¡°Get to class!¡± the older man said, and the quarterback reluctantly did so. The homeroom teacher shook his head, and then returned to the classroom just as Rachel turned up and put a hand on me as I opened my locker again.

    ¡°Trouble?¡± she asked me with a funny look.

    ¡°I mean...¡± I shrugged, and she gently smiled.

    ¡°I get it.¡± she said as she opened her own locker; we sorted our things and headed on inside. Academically speaking, we had been doing pretty well in school. Socially speaking... Rachel was doing better than I was.

    She had made friends with a girl a year ahead of us in our World Cultures class, Elisabeth James. The green-eyed blonde girl had been coming over to join us for our lunch breaks, which I guess made me a friend also? Associate? Well, she didn''t hate me anyway. She thought we were cute. Which is better than a certain other person''s opinion. But enough of that.

    Classes passed us by in the usual manner; were we learning things? Yes. Were we enthusiastic about it? Not all of it. Were we glad when lunch finally came along? You betcha. And, as was becoming usual, Elisabeth or Ellie as she often preferred came over to sit with us while most of the class went out to lunch. Our usual friendly greetings were exchanged, and as was quickly becoming normal with our newfound friend, she jumped right into topic. Today''s topic was -- well.

    ¡°So have either of you played that VR-game, Panarena Fantasy?¡± she asked. I don''t know how I maintained a straight face, but I did; Rachel on the other hand lit up at once.

    ¡°I have! I love it there; you play?¡± she asked in return, and Ellie gave her a high five.

    ¡°I do! I was one of the beta-testers, and I got to keep my character and skills and stuff when the game went live.¡± the older girl told us.

    ¡°Wow!¡± Rachel commented.

    No, really, wow -- that''s super cool, I thought to myself.

    ¡°Yeah; I''m not the only one, though. There''s a lot of B.T.''s still around from what I can tell. So how new are you to the game? Or have you acclimated yet?¡± Elisabeth said with a wink.

    ¡°I think w--I''ve settled in well enough.¡± Rachel returned, quickly correcting herself before our friend noticed.

    I guess she wants to keep me a secret, I thought with bemusement.

    ¡°Oh? Settled, huh? Don''t tell me you have a house already!¡± the other girl wondered.

    ¡°My game-partner and I got one in a quest near Aldholt.¡± Rachel replied.

    ¡°Game-partner? Not Sean?¡± Ellie asked with a mischievous grin.

    ¡°We do things in real life.¡± Rachel said with a smile as she looked over at me, and I gave a smile back.

    ¡°True... wait a minute, quest? House? Aldholt?¡± the older girl remarked, and suddenly her eyes widened, and a great smile came to her face. ¡°You''re--! O-M-G, I''m sitting next to one of the Silvernight Twins!¡± she continued in an excited whisper, and Rachel affected a wry grin.

    ¡°Ah-heh... I guess that''s what they call us...¡± she said with a semi-forced laugh.

    ¡°Girl, you and your partner are something else. I would so team up with you.¡±

    ¡°We''d like that! We were thinking about forming a larger group to do more dungeons and stuff anyway.¡±

    ¡°Great! Oh, by the way, I play a sorta-tank who does better crafting than tanking. I like making gear and weapons and stuff.¡±

    ¡°Nice! We were actually hoping to run into a crafter like that for when we need to upgrade our gear.¡± Rachel said.

    ¡°Well you happened upon the right woman for the job!¡± Ellie said with a beaming grin. ¡°I''ll send you details after school and we can meet up in game later tonight.¡±

    ¡°Got it!¡± Rachel agreed.

    ¡°That is, if you don''t get flattened or kidnapped by that neanderthal.¡± Ellie said again, looking over to me this time.

    ¡°What?¡± I wondered.

    ¡°Justin Shrivers? The QB? Boy, you better watch out. I know you''ve been in this school as long as I have, but I''ve known Justin longer. He''s up to something.¡± she told me.

    ¡°If he tries anything, all I have to do is not respond, and the school will deal with him.¡± I shrugged.

    ¡°Riiight... let''s ignore the fact that his father bribes the Board to keep his son around in this school despite his crass behavior and terrible grades.¡± the older girl said to me.

    ¡°Doesn''t change the gist of the plan. And if enough of the teachers and faculty band together against him, he''s out.¡± I returned, and she conceded with a shrug of her own.

    ¡°I guess that''s one way of looking hopeful.¡± she quipped. ¡°Just be careful.¡± she added in a more serious tone.

    ¡°He will.¡± Rachel said for me, taking my hand. We smiled at each other, and Ellie rolled her eyes. We continued on to lighter topics after that, and when lunch was over we went to get our afternoon books for the next round of classes.

    World Cultures passed by quickly; the teacher hinted that we would be getting a big assignment soon. Then Theater came along; our drama teacher had a list of plays and musicals up on the board. Apparently they were candidates for the spring performance that was part of our school tradition--and part of our grade in this class as well. The one that stood out was ¡°You and I, Us and Them,¡± a lighthearted reinvention of that ubiquitously timeless romance play by the Bard of England.

    Why do I feel like that''s going to be the one...? I thought to myself with a cringe as class started, but I was soon jolted out of it to focus on the more immediate topic of the day. And when that period was over we then went through our foreign language class, and then went to pack up for the day. We were practically out the door when I felt a familiar flick on my head.

    ¡°Yo, come on, bus, now. That Shrivers guy is lookin'' for you.¡± Ty said to me as he breezed past.

    ¡°Right,¡± I replied in an automatic way.

    This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    ¡°I''ll see you in Panarena later -- or for homework!¡± Rachel told me, and after a quick hug we separated to head for our respective buses.

    Not much to say about the bus ride home. And ditto for the homework, although Rachel and I have been talking to each other with video-chat for our Chinese assignments. Sometimes for math, but mostly for Chinese. Dinner came and went, and then after polishing off my homework a bit I was finally free to head into that wonderful world of Panarena.

    ***

    As soon as I logged in I found Ariana, or Ari as she lets me shorten it, geared up and near the door of Cloverbell. We shared a hug and then she started giving me the details.

    ¡°So her game-name is ''Elizasmith'', and she wants to meet us at a tavern in a small town west of Aldholt City.¡± she told me, and I nodded.

    ¡°Gotcha; that''d probably be Noondale...¡± I said as I looked at the map to confirm.

    ¡°I think so, yes.¡± Ari nodded. ¡°Should take a couple hours to get to. Horray for time acceleration!¡±

    ¡°Like really,¡± I agreed. It was mentioned before, but every real hour is four hours in Panarena. Like actually four hours of perceived time. The technology of the Dream Machine is very literal that way; somehow they replicated the way real dreams happen in a short amount of time. But anyway.

    So we headed out the door, locked up our estate (not that anyone could actually break in or anything--coded game rules make it impossible), and began heading on our way to Noondale. It was just after noon in the world of Panarena, and pretty cloudy. Not rainy-cloudy, just cloudy, with blue sky and the sun shining through at intervals.

    ¡°Really though... it''d be nice to live in this sort of place for a while, instead of the big city...¡± I remarked softly as we walked along the worn dirt path lined with stone that permeated the region as one of its major routes. Rachel nodded in agreement, taking my hand in hers. I clasped her hand back, and we smiled at each other, picking up our pace a bit.

    As we made our way through the alternating meads, meadows, and forests of the Aldholt, passing by farms and steadings of both NPCs and the occasional player-owned estate like ours, we encountered very few people on the road. It seemed to be a slow day for Panarena traffic. Or maybe it was what I had seen on a forum earlier: outlaw guilds, players who wanted to live dangerously, outside the more lawful adventurer experience. Were even the NPCs here so intelligent that they would also avoid routes and places haunted by outlaw-players?

    ¡°Not many people around,¡± Ari noted as we passed by a more densely forested area.

    ¡°Nope.¡± I returned somewhat absently. Further in the distance I noticed a sign indicating a dungeon of some sort; I think it said ''Serenade Hollow''. ¡°That''s not a trap or anything,¡± I said with a wry expression, and Ari looked over at me and then over towards the sign I was still staring at.

    ¡°Aw! But it sounds so pleasant!¡± she remarked.

    ¡°A lot of things do,¡± I said with a goofy grin as we came to a split in the road and turned left for Noondale. ¡°There was something in Void Crisis called the Singing Tree; it was an endgame boss from one of the expansions that tried to lull you to sleep and finish you off.¡± I told her, and she looked pretty aghast about that.

    ¡°Sheesh!¡± she quipped.

    ¡°Right?¡± I agreed.

    ¡°Oh! That reminds me though; she said something about wanting to try out a dungeon tonight so we could see how well we work together.¡± Ari then told me, and I mulled it over a bit.

    ¡°Well, not quite the classic party, but we could pull through.¡± I said.

    ¡°Oh?¡±

    ¡°In most multiplayer and MMO games, a good and basic party has a tank, the beefed up distraction; a damage-dealer, self-explanatory; and a healer--also pretty obvious.¡±

    ¡°And most bigger parties more or less follow that sort of guideline?¡± she asked me.

    ¡°Right. Some might have more damage or more tanks, or even more healers; some might have people for crowd-control or combat-support. But they all basically work the same way: one part distraction, one part damage, and one part keeping the others alive.¡± I told her.

    ¡°So the reason everyone thinks we''re so awesome...¡± she began with a subtle grin.

    ¡°Is because the two of us break those norms.¡± I grinned back.

    We continued talking about the various ways a party of players could form up and do things together, and before we knew it we were looking at an outdoor tavern somewhat near the center of the little hamlet called Noondale.

    At a certain table, a female player rose up. She was a tall Nordian in heavy leather-backed steel armor, with the same blonde hair as our friend Ellie from school and the same warm yet mischievous expression. Elizasmith waved us over, and we made our way towards us. She gave us a funny look, and we suddenly remembered that the two of us were holding hands. Ari let go and smiled sheepishly.

    ¡°I get lost easily!¡± she said, but Elizasmith only shrugged.

    ¡°No worries. It is a huge world,¡± she remarked as we all sat down. ¡°Nice to see you two really are tight, though! Hope I can join in without being too much of a third wheel,¡± she added.

    ¡°We were just talking about how nice it would be to start getting at least a party going for in-game activities,¡± I said.

    ¡°Not quite what I''d expected from someone named Lana Windstrider... at least, if you''re the same Lana from Age of Hyperborea, the infamous lone femme-fatale assassin.¡± she said to me with a knowing grin.

    ¡°Hah... yeah... that''s probably me,¡± I remarked.

    ¡°Lana Windrider, who beat me in that infamous Year Four Tournament Champion''s Arena by just barely evading my last attack on your HP?¡± she continued, the grin growing stronger on her face. This time I looked at her with a dumbstruck expression for a minute before snapping my fingers.

    ¡°You''re Deathangel12! Daang it, you had me on the ropes! If I hadn''t had that rare dagger set you''d have gotten me for sure!¡± I told her, and she laughed.

    ¡°Good to know we''re going to be friends in this game!¡± she said, reaching out a hand, which I took as a smile came to my own face, and we shook hands.

    ¡°For sure!¡± I told her.

    ¡°By the way, you can call me Ellie like you do in real, or Lizzy.¡± she added, and we nodded back. ¡°So anyway! Now that we all know each other, let''s talk about this thing I want to do,¡± Ellie continued. ¡°So, I don''t know if you quite know this yet, but this game has a few different kind of dungeons. The one I''m interested in is a crafting dungeon; it has all sorts of materials like metals and precious stones that I''d like to use for my crafting. Thing is, no one''s ever completed it, and there''s not a lot of info on it from those who did go in--except that they got wiped out in short order.¡±

    ¡°Of course,¡± I remarked to myself.

    ¡°Sounds like a challenge!¡± Ariana said eagerly. ¡°We''re good at challenges, right Lana?¡± she said to me, and I had to nod.

    ¡°True!¡± I smiled back.

    ¡°That''s what I like to hear, girlfriends!¡± Ellie said with a great smile.

    ¡°What''s the name of the dungeon?¡± I asked her.

    ¡°Right! Where is it... it was close by, too...¡± she mused as she pulled out the map.

    Wait... no way... right? Right? No way it''s that one, I suddenly thought to myself.

    ¡°Oh! Here it is. Serenade Hollow.¡± she announced.

    ¡°Oh wow, we passed by that on our way here!¡± Ari said.

    ¡°Nice! So you know the way to get there,¡± our new friend returned.

    ¡°Mm-hm!¡± Ari smiled.

    Snap. Snap snap snap.

    ¡°Ah--ahh, yeah, I guess we did pass that one...¡± I remarked.

    ¡°Hesitant already?¡± Ellie wondered with surprise.

    ¡°I mean, with that name and knowing that it''s a special kind of dungeon that no one''s completed...¡± I said with a wry grin.

    ¡°Oh, hon, I know it''s a trap.¡± our Nordian comrade said to us with a nod.

    ¡°Then let''s see what we can see!¡± I then said, and with that we added Ellie to the party and made our way back to the dangerous place with the pretty name.

    After another hour of walking, we found our way back to the sign and then to the dungeon itself. Above the entrance, which was sealed by a stone door, there was a carved relief in the shape of a trident with a medusa-like creature holding it.

    ¡°There''s a hint,¡± I said as we caught sight of it.

    ¡°Possibly,¡± Ellie agreed.

    ¡°Head in?¡± Ariana asked as we reached the door.

    ¡°Let''s head on in!¡± the other girl nodded. We placed our hands on the dungeon door, and it let us in before shutting ominously behind us. ¡°You''re good on time, right?¡± she asked us.

    ¡°We should be,¡± Ari said. ¡°It''s only about eight-fifty for real, right?¡±

    ¡°Hmm... yep!¡± I said. ¡°We have at least an hour and a half of real time; so about five or six hours Panarena-time.¡±

    ¡°Responsible! I like it.¡± Ellie remarked. ¡°All-righty, let''s see what''s in here...¡± she said, pulling out a massive halberd and equipping it. The two of us equipped our own weapons, and we set off into the winding caverns.

    Along the walls there grew luminous mosses and mushrooms that had a green-blue or yellow-green luminescence to them. They illuminated some pretty colors in the passages, the twinkling of gems or a trace of some sort of ore lining the walls. The passages themselves were a touch damp, and some of them were filled with ankle-deep water. In addition to our fighting skills, our gathering skills had also levelled up quite nicely, so we were able to help our new party member gather up some of the materials she wanted and some that we also wanted.

    It wasn''t until we had finished with the first floor of the dungeon and gotten down to the second that we encountered any sort of monsters.

    Now this is a semi-typical trope in some games; lull the player into a false sense of security by having nothing around for a good while and then suddenly dial things up to eleven. Well, in this case, more like seven. But still. There they sat before us, five sirens, none of them wielding weapons, singing their hearts out to try and place some sort of status effect on us as we held our weapons at the ready -- or so I surmised that''s what was supposed to happen.

    But nothing was happening to us.

    Eh? wait a minute...

    ¡°Let''s see here...¡± I said as I brought up a menu to examine the attack. ¡°Siren''s Call: places a negative modifier on the Charisma and Luck stats; this effect is nullified if the player... is female...¡± I read, and a grin came to our faces.

    ¡°So the reason this dungeon was never completed...¡± Ellie said as she stepped forward confidently.

    ¡°Is because all the others who tried it were probably mostly if not all guys,¡± Ari smirked. ¡°And if any girls were with them, they got wiped out by sheer numbers.¡±

    ¡°Lucky us, making this sort of party!¡± I said with a cheeky grin.

    ¡°Go, team, go!¡± Ellie then called out, and we charged into the Sirens with a will as Ari backed us up with magic. We made short work of our adversaries, and collected our winnings.

    From that point on, we practically plowed through the dungeon, our confidence bolstered by the fact that we were immune to the monsters'' more potent attacks. Oh sure, there were all sorts of other things in the dungeon to bother us also; there were giant crabs scuttling around, serpentine creatures slithering about, bats flapping this way and that, and a couple of water-sprites that gave Ellie and I trouble in particular--but Ari made short work of these.

    It was when we got down to the fourth level of the dungeon that it pulled another prank on us. The denizens starting coming up out of nowhere; one moment we were walking by a solid rock wall (or so we thought) and then the next moment the wall would disintegrate and there would be a tiny horde of creatures attacking us. This, of course, put us on our guard, and Ari and I started using our special skills to see ahead and avoid any more traps.

    Mine was Shadow Vision; hers was Mystic Vision. Technically speaking, hers was slightly better because it could be paired with her Seeing Eye skill to gaze around at an area, but mine had the advantage of ¡°color-coding¡± friends and foes. Between the two of us, we were able to avoid a lot of traps in the dungeon -- which, by the way, got bigger as we got deeper in -- and in a few cases we even managed to turn the traps on the denizens themselves.

    This, by the way, is one of a gamer''s favorite things to do in these kinds of games. I mean who doesn''t enjoy taking a trap that someone set for you and turning it on the one who set the trap?

    We cleared the fourth floor of the dungeon like this at a slower pace, and then we came to the fifth, which continued with the traps but with a twist. There were some that neither Ari nor I could detect. That made things interesting again. Well, not that they weren''t before, but, you know.

    ¡°You sure you don''t see any sort of hint?¡± Ellie asked us as we scanned the wide room that now opened up before us. We had just fended off several attacks while collecting materials, and the three of us were getting a little goofy on account of it.

    ¡°Nothing.¡± I said.

    ¡°Nope...¡± Ari said hesitantly.

    ¡°I''ve never seen this sort of mechanic in a game before... it''s kinda neat,¡± I added.

    ¡°And super annoying--mostly because our time is running out!¡± Ellie pointed out.

    ¡°True...¡± I agreed. We had half an hour of real-time left. That was two hours, but still. We''d gotten seriously hampered and slowed by the monsters in this dungeon. ¡°Ahh--¡± I then started, seeing something else in my field of Shadow Vision. It was the faint outline of a door. ¡°I didn''t know I could see doors with this skill; wait... that''s not just any door, that''s the boss door... oh, I get it now, I can see just that kind of door.¡± I mused aloud.

    ¡°Boss door dead ahead?¡± Ellie said as she knelt down with us.

    ¡°Practically.¡± I nodded.

    ¡°I see it too... I don''t like it. There''s got to be something waiting for us to cross...¡± Ari remarked, and I grinned.

    ¡°See? You''re getting the hang of it.¡± I told her.

    ¡°Or we could be overthinking it and there really is nothing until we get inside the boss chamber.¡± Ellie said. ¡°Anyway, the good part about this game is that we can open the door as long as nothing has hit us ten seconds before we touch it. The way our characters are we can probably make it even if there is something out there.¡±

    ¡°That''s true.¡± I agreed.

    ¡°If both of you think so I guess that means I shouldn''t worry so much,¡± Ariana said with a faint smile.

    ¡°We''re running out of inventory space and carry weight anyway; let''s rush to the boss room and save our last few slots for whatever drops we get in there.¡± I added, and Ellie nodded.

    ¡°Let''s do it!¡± she said. The three of us got into position for a sprint, and I held up my hand for a countdown; as soon as I brought it down, we burst across the wide open cavern and booked it towards the door. In the next few seconds we heard the now-familiar sound of walls cracking.

    Ah, snap!

    ¡°We can make it!¡± I said as we kept charging. Out of the corner of my eye to the right, I could see a medusa-type creature with a bow.

    Snaaaap-p-p-p!

    ¡°He-yah!¡± Ellie called out as she drew her halberd, spun around, and thumped it onto the ground. The cavern shook, and the monsters held position or were stunned. Thurian Stomp; a guardian skill that stuns or wards off monsters for five seconds. ¡°Go, go, go!¡± she cried out.

    Four seconds...

    Three seconds...

    Two...

    One...

    The medusa-archer picked up its bow again and nocked an arrow. Ariana then used one of her skills, Improved Storm Wards, shielding us from any impact. Three more seconds to the door. The arrow came hurtling towards us, along with several others. Out of sheer desperation I lunged for the door, and the other two lunged for me. They just managed to grab on to me as I touched the door, and the three of us were transported into the boss chamber just as the arrows were about to hit us. I assume they fell to the ground uselessly and that the creatures who had shot them were now retiring to their haunts. But we were far from out of danger.

    ***

    After we collected ourselves and caught our breath, we took a look around us. It was a wide-open cavern not unlike the one we had just left, but here there was water that seemed to get deeper as you got further in; it seemed about waist-height on myself and Ariana. On the far side there were two chests.

    ¡°Two chests? Nice!¡± Ellie remarked happily.

    ¡°Yes, but where''s the boss?¡± I wondered. I wasn''t completely ignorant of crafting dungeons; typically the boss had some sort of ironic or deadly twist related to the dungeon or the materials within it. Which meant that most likely, the monster-boss guarding this trove of stuff we were hoping to get would be...

    ¡°You mean that thing rising up out of the water?¡± Ariana pointed with her staff. Out of the darkness arose the shape of a great siren monster with tentacles for hair; unlike its lesser compatriots in the dungeon, it wore a helm and heavy armor, and it had a wicked looking trident in its hands. Several lesser sirens came to its aid, along with a few water-sprites and some lake-serpents.

    ¡°Sn-nap!¡± I remarked. Ellie gave me a curious look. I remembered then that I had used that particular exclamation as myself in school quite a bit when she was around. Cover, Sean, cover...

    ¡°Here they come!¡± Ariana warned.

    ¡°We''ll take out the smaller ones and then focus on the boss!¡± I said.

    ¡°Got it!¡± Ellie said, using Guardian''s Challenge to draw their attention while Ariana warded us with defensive skills and prepared one of the few healing spells she had.

    Meanwhile, I activated one of my new favorite skills: Shadow-world. It made me invisible, granted movement bonus and immunity from all attacks, and let me execute attacks faster for a minute. Within moments I had sliced and diced several of the minions surrounding the boss, while Ariana''s healing spell activated to keep our health up as they charged into us. Elizasmith, by the way, was no slouch with that halberd. That thing flew around like it was a dang whip, and she was uncannily precise with it.

    Before too long, the boss was the only thing left. It was exactly what we had hoped for--except it ended up with another twist. See, we attacked that thing over and over several times after downing its minions, only to find that we had done practically no damage.

    ¡°No way!¡± Ellie shouted when she saw its unmoving health bar.

    ¡°Heh...?¡± I wondered in amazement.

    ¡°Regroup!¡± Ari called out, and we backed up towards her as the monster held its trident at the ready.

    ¡°I forgot to mention something about this dungeon,¡± Ellie told us. ¡°Well, crafting dungeons in general, that is. We could have saved our progress and exited earlier; but since we''re in the boss room, if we die, it resets, and I''m sure we don''t have time to get through all of these things all over again.¡± she told us with an apologetic grin.

    ¡°Go big or go home?¡± I remarked.

    ¡°Pretty much.¡± she said, and I brought up the boss monster''s health and status bar.

    ¡°Ho-ly... ''When this creature is the last one standing, its block, parry, and evasion go up to ninety-nine percent for the remainder of the fight, and its immunity rating goes up to ninety-percent''...¡± I read, and she let out a whistle.

    ¡°That explains it.¡±

    ¡°Yikes!¡± Ari remarked.

    ¡°We can do this, though...¡± I said with more confidence than I actually felt. ¡°Do you have Relentless Rage and Onslaught?¡± I asked Ellie, who nodded. ¡°Queue them up in that order; Ari, get ready with your damage-over-time attacks. I''m gonna use Shadow-world again!¡±

    ¡°Gotcha!¡±

    ¡°Okay, partner!¡± they replied.

    ¡°Lizzy, go!¡± I said, and the Nordian halberd-wielder charged in with her skills as Ariana let fly her most potent DoT attacks, while I entered Shadow-world once more and executed Thousand Needle Strike, Nightstalker''s Dagger, and Holy Crescent Flash. Its health bar began to go down slowly but surely. Ellie and I continued hammering it, and Ariana''s attacks piled on the hurt.

    The beautiful (magical?) thing about a mage or wizard''s DoTs is that they increase in potency each time they get used. That was a real bonus to our situation right now. And then a minute passed; my bonus damage ended, Ellie''s skills went on cooldown, and Ariana''s spells had gotten to the highest level of damage-over-time that they could at our levels.

    ¡°Dang it! Not enough!¡± I said. Our enemy''s health bar was at ten percent; it was still falling, but it was queuing up a regeneration spell to restore its life.

    ¡°Storm King Mode: Dragon''s Breath!¡± Ariana then called out.

    Wait, what? When the heck did you-- my brain started to say internally, but then Ellie and I both had to jump out of the way as the spell went off, interrupting the regeneration spell and incinerating the last ten percent of the monster''s health. I watched in genuine awe, and Ellie sat back with a smile on her face as the thing disintegrated with a wailing shriek.

    ¡°Whew! Nicely done!¡± she said to Ariana when the battle was over, and gave her a high five. I gave her one as well, and we went over to check out our winnings. There was gear in one chest, and there were crafting-mats in the others. ¡°All right, you take the gear, I''ll take the mats!¡± our Nordian friend said to us.

    ¡°Deal!¡± Ari replied, and I nodded.

    ¡°Fair enough, though it''s mostly jewellery; we can sort it and split it later.¡± I remarked.

    ¡°True! I''ll come over to your place tomorrow and we can do that then. Have to pack up my current rat-hole tonight first.¡± Ellie said as she deposited the crafting cache in her inventory. Ari and I split the other one, and with that we exited the dungeon via a portal that appeared upon the demise of the boss.

    We looked back at the dungeon with an almost fond look on our faces; the clear-flag had been raised. It would stay there for twenty-four real hours and then reset. The three of us exchanged high-fives again, and then split for the night, Ellie to pack up her home, and the two of us to Cloverbell. We deposited our earnings in safe places around the house after getting back, and then relaxed for a few minutes.

    ¡°We''ll have to make room for her.¡± Ariana noted.

    ¡°True; and we''ll have to organize our crafting stuff better.¡±

    ¡°That too.¡± she agreed, and then we went quiet for a moment. ¡°Think she''ll find out about you?¡± she then wondered with a wink.

    ¡°Eh, dunno. It''s... not impossible.¡±

    ¡°I don''t think she''d really mind, considering who she lives with.¡±

    ¡°Ahh--that''s true...¡± I remarked. Elisabeth James'' family has a few members with identity issues, if you take my meaning. Not that I''m one to talk...

    ¡°Well, knowing her, she''ll probably enjoy it even more than I do...¡± Ari mused aloud.

    ¡°That doesn''t comfort me...¡± I returned.

    ¡°I didn''t say it would.¡± she quipped back, kissing my cheek. ¡°Let''s head off for the night; we can organize stuff tomorrow.¡±

    ¡°Let''s do that.¡± I agreed, wrapping her up in a hug before we logged out for the night. I woke up in the real world, only to fall asleep again moments later. The last thought in my head that night was that I still couldn''t figure out when or how Ariana had gotten that last big attack.

 Chapter Five: All the Buzz

    The next morning, as I was getting ready for school, I happened to be reading the forums for Panarena. One of them immediately caught my eye.

    Serenade Hollow: who the actual f--- cleared this dungeon?

    Anon: so yeah, just like it says: that dungeon out in the Aldholt? Someone cleared it

    Anon: wait what? no way, man

    Anon: i''m telling you, i saw the clear-flag and everything

    Anon: Same. My guild and I were headed down to try it for the first time in weeks and we definitely saw the clear-flag.

    Anon: ???

    Anon: ?!?!

    Anon: that prank dungeon near Noondale? you can''t be serious!

    Anon: dude, who could have--oh wait...

    Anon: like really, who could have beaten *that* dungeon of all places?

    Anon: wait wait wait... you remember those two chicks who beat the Cloverbell quest?

    Anon: ¡­

    Anon: ¡­

    Anon: dude

    Anon: yeah

    Anon: you think?

    Anon: those two? ¡­ wouldn''t put it past them

    Anon: DUDEZ... WTF...

    Anon: the silvernight twins or whatever?

    Anon: yeah, those two

    Anon: omg

    I quietly chuckled to myself at seeing that thread go on and on with its speculations and ranting about how hard the dungeon was, and then switched off the computer for the time being to head down for breakfast.

    ***

    Half an hour later, I was on the bus and headed for school. What can one really say about bus rides, except that they''re long and boring? Upon arriving, we disembarked, and as we entered the building, Ty gave me a flick on the shoulder.

    ¡°Watch yourself, Dans. That Q-B got plans to do something about you on Friday; but that don''t mean he won''t try anything before then.¡± he told me.

    ¡°Thanks, Ty. I''ll remember.¡± I told him, and we headed our separate ways for the day.

    I had just started to get things out of my locker for the morning when I suddenly felt the unwanted weight of a simian-like hand on my shoulder. I let out a sigh. Doesn''t he have anything better to do? And how''d he get it into his head to try going after Rachel anyway?

    ¡°What do you want now?¡± I asked in a dismissive way. Not that talking down to him would make him reconsider what he was doing; but it might make him slip up a bit.

    ¡°Who do you think you are anyway, punk?¡± the voice of Justin Shrivers came to my ears. ¡°You stop with that Danes girl, you hear me? She''s mine. I want her. I''m not gonna let some little punk like you get cozy with her while I''m around.¡±

    Ugh, no wonder his father has to pay bribes to keep him here...

    ¡°Somebody''s been head-tackled waaay too many times in the field,¡± I quipped.

    ¡°What''d you say?¡± he said in an angrier voice.

    ¡°If brains were money, you''d be flat broke and in the red.¡± I said with a louder voice. Was it my imagination or were there more gasps and exclamations of astonishment than there had been yesterday? The grip on my shoulder tightened.

    ¡°You wanna take that back before I slam your face into the lockers?¡±

    ¡°Aren''t you late for an appointment with Dr. Goodall?¡± I said, poking the fire even more.

    ¡°That''s it!¡± he suddenly yelled out, but before I could do anything to slip out of his grasp (which I could have done at any time to be honest), Mr. Jones'' voice barked out the offending miscreant''s name.

    ¡°Shrivers! Get your hand off of him and get to class!¡± the older man said.

    ¡°Don''t mind me, sir, I''m sure my old man--¡±

    ¡°I said get your hand off of him and get to class, boy; I don''t care who your father is.¡± our homeroom teacher said in a stern voice. A moment passed; the hand then let go of me, and the taller boy headed off with a cocky swagger to his class. Mr. Jones came up to me, and gave me a funny look. ¡°Would you mind not poking the fire, Daniels?¡± he asked me sincerely.

    ¡°Sorry, sir.¡± I replied.

    ¡°Good; now hurry up.¡± the teacher said, heading back into the classroom. A pair of arms then gently wrapped themselves around me. Rachel.

    ¡°You okay?¡± she asked me.

    ¡°I''m okay.¡± I said as a smile came to my face. ¡°He can''t get away with it forever; he''ll cross the line sooner or later.¡± I added as she reluctantly let go.

    ¡°Though I have to say, those burns were pretty good.¡± she added with a faint grin as she began to get her books for morning classes.

    ¡°Ah-heh,¡± I sheepishly returned. She winked at me, and when we had gotten our stuff we made our way into class.

    Our classes went by with their usual rhythm of enjoyment, interest, terror, and fascination, and then almost as soon as our lunch break started Ellie popped in to sit with us. She sat down, a huge grin on her face.

    ¡°Girl, Lana. Where, where and how did you find her? She is so cool!¡± the older girl said at once.

    ¡°She thinks the same of you, by the way.¡± Rachel said. ¡°We wouldn''t have been able to do that without you!¡±

    ¡°Oh I had a blast!¡± Ellie returned. ¡°But really; you found one of the best players. I remember how she was in A-o-H, but she''s totally thriving in Panarena.¡±

    I remember how these sorts of conversations happened with Rach and me before... but it''s still weird hearing about myself in a disconnected context, I thought to myself.

    ¡°She really is something,¡± Rachel remarked with a faint smile. I don''t know how I kept a straight face. ¡°We just sort of ran into each other in a happy accident, and things went from there.¡± she recalled.

    Happiest accident of my life.

    ¡°Nice!¡± Ellie said. ¡°Though if I didn''t know you and Sean were an item, I would have totally thought the rumors were true when I first saw you two holding hands.¡± she added with a mischievous expression. ¡°Feels like you have some competition, lover-boy!¡± she said as we pulled out our lunches to eat.

    ¡°Oh he knows about Lana.¡± Rachel said.

    ¡°Cool.¡± Ellie nodded.

    Heh-heh. Heh-heh-heh-heh-heh-heh-heh.

    ¡°So anyway,¡± Ellie continued, ¡°I have my stuff ready to go; I''ll be travelling to Cloverbell as soon as I''m done with homework and stuff, and then maybe we can go out and do more crazy things.¡±

    ¡°We''ll have some space set aside for you when you get there.¡± Rachel replied.

    ¡°Don''t fuss too much; we can sort it out when I get there.¡± the other girl said.

    ¡°Oh don''t worry, it''s just a bit of clearing.¡± the reply came, and Ellie softly clapped her hands.

    ¡°This is gonna be exciting!¡± she said delightedly.

    At that moment, a bee landed on my desk. Now, let me tell you, I have faced monsters of all kinds in all sorts of games, but those bumbling little nuisances terrify me to no end. And it was a big bee. With the reflexes of a ninja a threw myself out of my chair as Rachel let out a gasp and Ellie went ¡°Whoa!¡±, and then I scrambled out into the hallway to have a meltdown near my locker.

    ¡°Holy--get it!¡± someone''s voice said as a couple of other shrieks were heard. Rachel came out and found me quivering on the floor; she knelt down and began patting me on the back.

    ¡°I hate ''em I hate ''em ihate''em ihate''em ihate''em ihate''em...¡±

    ¡°It''s okay, it''s okay,¡± she said.

    ¡°No it''s not no it''s not no i''s not no i''s not no''s not no''s not no''s''not no''s''notno''s''not...¡± I spluttered out in a deranged, mantra-like manner.

    A few minutes later there was a loud swat and a victory whoop, followed by the words--

    ¡°Uh, that''s Daniels'' desk,¡± along with some murmuring.

    ¡°Well clean it up already!¡± Ellie nearly barked, and we heard feet scrambling.

    I slowly got to my feet with Rachel''s help, and we came back in to find the offending invader being duly tossed into a trash can. There was no sign of violence on my desk, but the food had been moved around a bit. I sat back down with a quiet sigh of relief.

    ¡°Well, second round of excitement for the day, huh?¡± Ellie quipped. ¡°Aside from that drama at the lockers this morning, I mean.¡± she added with a knowing look. ¡°You''ll stand up to that football dork but you can''t stand a little bee?¡±

    ¡°That football dork doesn''t buzz around and sting people for no reason,¡± I retorted at once.

    ¡°We-ll...¡± Ellie returned with a funny grin, ¡°Not exactly the same way, no.¡± she remarked, and Rachel giggled.

    ***

    By sheer contrast, the rest of the day at school seemed to go swimmingly. We--Rachel and Ellie, that is, agreed that the gang would set out for another dungeon later that night after sorting things out at Cloverbell, and after parting post-lunch and parting again after World Cultures we had a pretty low-key and enjoyable time. The two of us stole out of the school after getting what we needed to take home, more out of Rachel''s concern that a certain thug might happen along than any desire to actually go home, and after sharing a hug we were on our separate ways home.

    Homework was a struggle that afternoon, even with Rachel''s help--or as she put it, even with my help. But we managed to get through it, and then after dinner and a couple chores I headed in to Panarena for the evening.

    Once logged in I began sorting through the massive amounts of crafting materials we had obtained since before we even met Ellie in-game, and placing them in various places around the estate that more or less made sense. Ari logged in about ten minutes later and examined my handiwork thus far.

    ¡°I like it. And I think she''ll probably go for either that space behind the house or the one downstairs,¡± she told me.

    ¡°With the empty shelves and barrels and such; that would be a really good spot for a smelter and forge down there, and all the other crafting stations she seems to have...¡± I nodded, bringing up her character panel. ¡°She has some jeweller proficiency too... oh right! The accessories... and we got a level or two from that dungeon also.¡± I remembered, and the two of us began allocating our stats and skill points.

    ¡°Nice!¡± Ari said as she finished with hers.

    ¡°Hm?¡±

    ¡°I finally got up the Ice-tree the way I wanted.¡± she told me.

    ¡°Oh right! Grats on that,¡± I said to her, and she beamed at me.

    You can literally invent any kind of spell here in Panarena. That''s one of the many wonderful things about magic in this game. But technically, every skill is a derivative from a basic skill-trees that the game provides mages: fire, ice, poison, wind, storm, manipulation, psychokinesis, holy magic, healing, and summoning. Ariana was focused on fire, ice, storm, holy magic, and psychokinesis, with bits of healing thrown in. I watched as she began crafting a new skill; it was a wintry-storm blend she called ¡°Ice Queen''s Wrath¡±.

    I''ve literally helped to create one of the more creative magical geniuses I''ve ever seen in a video game, I thought to myself with awe.

    ¡°Oh! A message from Ellie; she''ll be here in about an hour or so.¡± Rachel then said.

    ¡°Got it!¡± I nodded. ¡°Let''s go with the assumption she''ll want to be indoors with her crafting stations,¡± I then said, and she nodded back at me. We spent the next hour arranging things based on that premise, and then Ellie herself turned up at the gate of the estate.

    ¡°Nice place!¡± our Nordian comrade said as she pulled up in a waggon driven by horses. This, by the way, is a useful thing to have, especially for craft-focused players like Elizasmith. It has a much greater inventory capacity than players, and it has the bonus of being able to transport players as well.

    ¡°We''ve got a spot or two you''ll probably like,¡± I said as she dismounted.

    ¡°I''ll look over them after more adventures. For now, let''s get these crates inside!¡± she told us, and we quickly obliged her. In the next few minutes we had twenty crates of ores, gems, leather, hides, ingots, weapons, armor, jewellery, and other assorted materials and such sitting inside Cloverbell.

    Smith much? I thought to myself as the last one was set down.

    ¡°That reminds me; we sorted out what we wanted from the accessories from last night, you want to look them over?¡± I said aloud, and Ellie pondered the question for a moment.

    ¡°Nah. I''ll look later. Right now I want to get to that special dungeon I told you guys about; it''s got alchemical and scholarly resources, perfect for you, Ariana. But it takes a while to get to,¡± she told us.

    ¡°Oh? Where is it?¡± Ari wondered.

    The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

    ¡°It''s a supposedly haunted mansion in the Ghoulwood.¡± Ellie said with a grin.

    ¡°Neat!¡± the reply came.

    ¡°Nice,¡± I remarked.

    ¡°Right? So, ready to make more Panarena forums flip out?¡± she asked us, and I smiled.

    ¡°Daang it were they mad this morning,¡± I said, and Rachel giggled.

    ¡°Were they?¡± she wondered.

    ¡°O-M-G, they were.¡± Ellie nodded, and then laughed.

    ¡°Let''s head out then!¡± I said in agreement, and with that we were off once more.

    Now, the Ghoulwood was a pretty straightforward area. And if you have no idea what I mean by that, let me say it again: Ghoul-wood. Basically, it''s a forested area (very haunted looking from what I saw on the forums and promos) inhabited by lots of undead type monsters, bosses, and dungeons. We made good time getting there, too. But what I didn''t realize was that, to get to the Ghoulwood, you had to go through this place called the Vale of Stingers.

    Any guesses as to what that means?

    If you guessed that it''s filled with monsters that more or less resemble ginormous versions of that ubiquitous pest and harasser of humanity commonly referred to as ¡°bees¡± or ¡°wasps¡± and the like, congratulations, you hit the gold mark.

    As soon as we got near to the place, I heard the unmistakable sound of buzzing. A shiver ran down my spine, and my eyes widened. Ariana suddenly noticed my increasing discomfort, and put the pieces together at once. I huddled into a ball to try and contain myself, and to keep from flipping out as we passed through the area. Ari put a hand on me, just as she had done earlier in the day.

    ¡°Oh wow, there''s a special one over there!¡± Ellie said. ¡°I''m gonna go see if it drops anything; don''t worry, I''ll be right back.¡± she told us as she dismounted the driver''s seat to go and face the foe that had attracted her notice.

    ¡°We''ll be okay, we''ll be okay.¡± Ari whispered gently as we sat there together. I wanted to believe her, but the buzzing kept getting louder and louder. I finally decided that I wanted to look her in the eyes as she told me that, and slowly lifted my head--and then a big one landed on the back of the waggon. A scream erupted from my mouth, and a short shriek burst out of Ari as well when she saw it; seconds later it was disintegrated by a giant halberd, and Lizzy stood there looking at us with an expression that bordered concern and amusement.

    ¡°Dang, girl, you can scream.¡± she remarked as she put the halberd away. ¡°Got a few nice things from that; nothing too special, I think, but I''ll have to double check later.¡± she continued as she got back into the driver''s seat.

    I took deep breaths to calm down, and practically buried myself in Ariana''s arms.

    ¡°I''ve never seen anyone as scared of these things as you -- wait, scratch that... I have. Huh, who knew there were two?¡± our friend remarked as we set off again.

    When we finally got to the Ghoulwood, I hopped out to act as vanguard in an effort to redeem myself, dispatching the undead monsters that crossed our path with a will. By the time we reached our target destination, it was late afternoon in Panarena. The black and grey mansion loomed before us like a perfect stereotype of itself, eerily absorbing the light of the sunset and the shadows of barren and misshapen trees.

    ¡°What''s this place called?¡± I wondered.

    ¡°This is the home of Al-Krig Jazieer the Alchemist, a legendary potion-maker and scholar in the game''s lore who did some pretty impressive and also some very nasty things.¡± Ellie told us.

    ¡°Oh wow; I wonder if we''ll find some recipes and such inside...¡± Ari remarked as the two of them hopped down so we could head for the weathered edifice before us.

    ¡°Probably!¡± Ellie nodded.

    We entered the mansion-dungeon cautiously, finding absolutely nothing inside waiting for us. Even our special search skills didn''t reveal anything, though we had learned there were places where those skills did not reveal creatures at all. Ariana activated Storm Wards and Holy Barrier around us, and we proceeded further inside.

    There were literally tons of resources, materials, and recipe books for the taking. And despite our fears there was practically nothing inside to disturb us from taking them. We carted out quite a bit after a thorough search of the place, and then after scouring the last room we went to double check it one last time. It was picked clean of what could be picked, of course, but it was bizarrely fascinating. And there was a special looking alchemy station at the far end; I supposed it was meant to be where this manor''s owner practiced his craft. But it also gave me a bad feeling.

    ¡°Well, that was... anticlimactic. But hey! We got a ton of stuff, so no complaints here!¡± Ellie remarked as she wandered around aimlessly.

    ¡°True!¡± Ariana agreed. ¡°The stuff we got should see us through almost to middle-grade in the crafting skills.¡±

    ¡°You got that right,¡± the taller girl said in reply.

    Wait... there was something like that alchemy station in Sorrowdin... I thought to myself as I continued pondering the bad feeling I got from it. What exactly did it do? I can''t remember; man, it''s been so long since I played that game...

    ¡°And this thing is nice! Wish we could take it too,¡± Ellie added as she made her way towards it.

    ¡°That would be amazing! Though I guess it just looks fancier? It''s probably no better than a master''s workshop, from what I''ve read in the guidebook I got a few days ago.¡± Ariana said, and Ellie nodded.

    ¡°Heh, that''s probably true. Still... this design is so neat!¡± she said, and she went in for a closer look, setting her hands on it.

    It was at that exact moment I remembered, that in Sorrowdin, there was this one part of the game that was really easy to get through -- so long as you only touched what you were supposed to touch. Kind of like the Cave of Wonders in Aladdin.

    ¡°Wait, Ellie, don''t touch--¡± I started, but it was too late. She pulled back instantly, but she had touched it the second my voice reached her.

    ¡°Ahh--!!¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°Oh boy, what did I do now...?¡± the three of us said at once.

    The room darkened, and out of the shadows a ghoulish figure of green color and red eyes emerged. There was a black staff in his hands, and a devilish gleam in the crimson eyes that now glared at us.

    ¡°Foolish mortals! You did so well, only to fail my test at the very end! Die, die now, and feel the futility of trying to steal from Al-Krig Jazieer!¡± the figure said.

    ¡°Holy Barrier!¡± Ariana said as the three of us quickly banded together. Our enemy launched an attack at us, which was immediately deflected by her protection spell. I dashed forward to give him a reply.

    ¡°Holy Crescent Flash!¡± I called out as I executed the maneuver on him. As I darted away and prepared for another attack, I noticed that his health bar was only minimally affected. ¡°Even with holy damage?!¡± I ranted as I skidded to a halt near the others.

    ¡°He has an immunity!¡± Ellie noted.

    ¡°Dang it!¡± I swore, thinking fast on how to overcome this situation. ¡°Elemental resistance?¡±

    ¡°Let''s see,¡± Ariana said, and cast a few spells at him. Most didn''t seem to phase him, but her Ice Shards made him stagger a bit. He groaned, and began chanting something.

    ¡°Vulnerable to cold -- to ice!¡± I said.

    ¡°Perfect!¡± Ariana said with a smile.

    ¡°Heh? Why? Oh!¡± I wondered, and then smiled as the answer dawned on me.

    ¡°Hmm?¡± Ellie looked over at us.

    ¡°Ellie! Stomp!¡± I said to her, and she obliged me with Thurian Stomp. It stopped him from chanting, but he began to start again after a few seconds. Then I ran towards him, more to make him think twice about continuing to chant than to actually damage him. I tried to slice him up a bit--to no avail--and then scurried out of the way as I heard Ariana''s voice again.

    ¡°Ice Queen''s Wrath!¡± she called out.

    The ghoul was suddenly enveloped in a torrential hellstorm of ice and snow. It stopped his induction again and reduced his health bar massively. By the time it was done doing damage, he had practically no health left.

    ¡°Oh I get it!¡± Ellie then remarked, and swung her halberd downwards. ¡°Frost-mode!¡± she called out, and her weapon glistened with an icy chill as she rushed him, raising the halberd again and bringing it down with a force upon him. That was the polearm skill Grand Cleave. Needless to say, it finished him off, and we received a bonus chest as he disintegrated into nothingness.

    ¡°Nice!¡± Ariana clapped her hands.

    ¡°All-righty, let''s claim that and get out of here!¡± Ellie said.

    ¡°You got it!¡± Ari returned. We looted the chest, finding some bonus rare materials and a special recipe inside, and then left the mansion without further trouble.

    As we departed the Ghoulwood, I suddenly remember that we had to go through a certain area again, and my face twisted into an uneasy expression. Ariana smiled at me as we got near, and patted my hands.

    ¡°Don''t worry about it, I''ll take care of you.¡± she told me. I looked at her curiously, wondering what she was going to do; I found out when we got to the entrance of the Vale of Stingers. She brought up a few spell commands that I didn''t quite recognize, and then called out a command: ¡°Impair!¡± she intoned, and immediately I was blind.

    Wait, I can''t hear anything either. What was--oh, I get it! Ehh... except this is really disorienting!

    This odd experience lasted for another ten minutes or so, and then I felt hands on my head. After a moment I could see again, and my ears popped.

    ¡°There!¡± Ari said with a smile on her face.

    ¡°I don''t deserve you,¡± I whispered softly, and her cheeks colored as she continued smiling.

    ¡°Back at you.¡± she whispered in return.

    ¡°Whew, it got dark.¡± Ellie remarked as we began heading back into the central regions of the Aldholt.

    ¡°Let''s keep our eyes open; there could be outlaw guilds running around in the woods about now.¡± I said, and she nodded back.

    ¡°True. They''ve been getting bolder lately, especially the one... Blackwood Patrol.¡±

    ¡°I heard about that one,¡± I remarked. ¡°Isn''t their leader super notorious right now?¡±

    ¡°He is--stole a rare quality greatsword from a tank-player a few weeks ago. The guy won''t really play without it, but he logs in now and then to see if anyone accepted his quest to retrieve it.¡± Ellie told us.

    ¡°Oh, right, players can make quests here too!¡± Ariana chimed in. ¡°This game really is something else,¡± she said with wonder, and I nodded.

    Technically, players can''t create quests on the scale of the game''s own. They''re more like bounties: bounties for defeating outlaw players, acquiring a certain amount of crafting materials or making a certain amount of gear, escorting crafters or merchant players, things of that nature. But it was true that Panarena was truly a new frontier in gaming in nearly every way for having this kind of feature.

    ¡°Lana, can you get out and keep watch ahead? I''m gonna go slow through here.¡± Ellie called back to me.

    ¡°You got it!¡± I said as I hopped out, activating stealth mode.

    What are the odds we''d run into that guy and his gang, of all people? I wondered to myself, then shrugged. It was a big region. Anyway. Ellie''s tone of voice suggested that she was expecting trouble even moreso than I was, and she would know, having played here longer than the two of us. Had she already been in one of those infamous and nail-biting experiences known as a PvP battle in this game?

    Sure, we''d both experienced it in Age of Hyperborea; but here in this new and different format of game, there was bound to be a massive difference in manipulating an avatar and being your avatar. Still... Ellie didn''t seem like the kind of player who''d lose a battle in this game. Not after what I''d seen of her in action here.

    We continued along the worn road for a couple hours as the night grew stronger, and then when we got near to an S-shaped portion of it I caught sight of something and went to jump up on the waggon beside Ellie. She heard me, and slowed to a halt.

    ¡°Let me scan the area,¡± I said, activating Shadow Vision as I reappeared. There were seven player signals further ahead, all of them lurking in positions as if to jump out or pounce upon an unsuspecting target. ¡°Mostly lower in level than us; there''s a couple of upper-thirties... and there''s a level fifty. He''s got a huge greatsword. Ahh--¡± I broke off upon hearing what I had just said, and Ellie let out a low whistle.

    ¡°Wow... so that''s Tom Blackwood, the outlaw''s hero.¡± she said softly.

    ¡°That guy you mentioned earlier?¡± Ariana asked to be sure.

    ¡°Yeppers.¡± Ellie nodded.

    ¡°We can probably take them if we play it cool. I can take out those three twenty-somethings with Shadow-world, and maybe one of the thirties if I''m quick enough.¡± I told them.

    ¡°I getcha,¡± Ellie said. ¡°We roll along like it''s just the two of us to keep them off their guard, and then you take those three or four down before they have a chance to think while Ariana and I spring into action to help.¡±

    ¡°That''s pretty much what I have in mind,¡± I nodded back.

    ¡°I''ll start with some impairments and traps, if I can.¡± Ariana said.

    ¡°That''d help; do you think you can snare the leader?¡± I asked her.

    ¡°Hmm... I''d rather try it on someone I''m sure about,¡± she replied with a doubtful look in her eyes.

    ¡°No worries... we''ll figure him out on the fly, then.¡± I smiled back.

    ¡°All right, they may be getting antsy up there--go!¡± Ellie said.

    ¡°Right,¡± I returned, and slipped back into stealth to prepare for my first round of attacks.

    Slowly the waggon advanced towards the bends in the road where our would-be assailants lay in wait for us. You twerps have no idea what''s coming your way, I sniggered to myself as I crept towards them. Fortunately for me, none of them had an anti-stealth skill. If they did, I would have been detected by now. It was amusing to me that none of them had a stealth skill themselves, either. What kind of outlaw players don''t invest in that sort of thing? Heh, you''re just plain and classic highwaymen, huh? I thought to myself--which, in a way, I kind of admired. If I hadn''t met Ariana I might have joined an outlaw guild myself for the experience.

    But since I had met Ariana, I was gonna do whatever it took to stay by her side. I took refuge behind a tall oak tree. Not that I needed to, it was just instinctual from my AoH days, when doing so was a bonus to moving in stealth. The waggon was almost near them. I could see the seven of them twitching as they prepared to leap into action. Now. I activated Shadow-world, and went in for the kill.

    Just as I had planned, I downed the three lowest levels among them before they could so much as squawk, and then I went for the fourth-lowest. He somehow evaded an instant-killing blow, but I got him with a second attack. By that time, the remaining three had jumped into action, just not the action they had hoped to be taking.

    ¡°Get her! Get the sneak!¡± a gruff voice called out. That was Tom Blackwood, no doubt. I evaded two crossbow shots, and then scrambled up a tree to get my own bow out as Ariana and Ellie sprang into action themselves. Ariana wrapped up one with a binding spell and laid him out flat on the ground, while Ellie clove the other in two with her halberd as he tried to evade my arrow.

    I knew it, she''s been in a Panarena PvP battle before, I thought to myself.

    ¡°Worthless scum!¡± Tom called out angrily as he saw the remains of his team lying around, along with the prone form of the sixth who was merely trapped.

    ¡°Surrender and hand over the sword!¡± Ellie said to him.

    ¡°Hah! Oh, I see, it''s you again! Things are a little different this time, my Nordian friend!¡± he said to her, drawing out the greatsword.

    ¡°I bet you can''t even use that thing,¡± she returned with a sassy tone.

    ¡°Shall we put that to the test?¡± he retorted menacingly. Ellie held her ground, holding the halberd at the ready. ¡°Hah! Didn''t think so... now where''s that little--¡±

    I assume he was about to say something derogatory about me, but he never finished. At that moment, an ice-spell and an arrow came hurtling towards him. Choosing to take the arrow and dodge the spell, he swerved to his right, whereupon my shot hit him in the arm while Ariana''s ice-bolt shattered on a tree next to his head. She followed it up with several more attacks which he expertly dodged, while I gauged the situation from my vantage point. Why wasn''t Ellie moving to fight him?

    Then I noticed that the waggon and horses had bars for their own health-status. She was being tactical, keeping herself positioned so that she could intercept him. If she engaged him in a fight he might slip past her and wreck our transportation; he might try to do so anyway just for spite, and because his dodging was so good he might hurt Ariana as well.

    I then activated Hunter''s Eye, a critical booster for ranged skills, and queued up Piercing Barb, aiming to make sure he couldn''t dodge or evade. He was too busy trying to evade Ariana''s barrage of attacks. I drew the bow back and activated the skill; it got him right in the back, and a huge DoT began draining his health.

    No ranged defense or mitigations, huh? I thought to myself smugly. Wait, huh?

    At that moment, he apparently queued up a skill of his own; he raised the sword he had stolen above his head, preparing to bring it down as he crouched into a pouncing position. Ellie raised her halberd to block it.

    But is the quality of that halberd as good as that of the sword? I wondered, and then decided that question didn''t matter. Ellie was probably hoping for me to jump in with either another bow-shot or a sneak attack. Let''s not keep her waiting!

    I jumped down from the tree and into Shadow-world again, drawing out my daggers. Tom then turned to his left--towards me. He anticipated that!

    ¡°You''d really sacrifice yourself for your friends, huh?¡± he said to me.

    ¡°Lana!!¡± Ariana cried out. I activated a booster skill as he swung down, moving like a cat to evade his downward swing, and then I returned the favor.

    ¡°No one''s gonna hurt my friends while I can still stand -- Heart-stinger!!¡± I called out, stabbing him with both daggers squarely in the chest. The look of shock on his face pleased me to no end; the sword fell from his grasp, and I swiftly kicked it towards Ellie as he fell to the ground and disintegrated. The other players then disintegrated as well, following their leader to the resurrection point.

    ¡°Hopefully they spawn back far away from here,¡± Ellie said as she picked up the sword, and Ariana let out a huge sigh of relief.

    ¡°Thank goodness--I thought you were a goner!¡± she said to me as we came back to the waggon; I hopped up and gave her a hug.

    ¡°Not a chance, partner!¡± I told her with a smile.

    ¡°I guess we just leave him?¡± Ellie said, pointing to the survivor of our reverse ambush.

    ¡°It''ll wear off eventually.¡± Ariana shrugged.

    Daang it; remind me not to make you mad, I thought to myself with bemusement. Ellie got into the driver''s seat again, flicking the reins, and we were off once more. We encountered no more outlaws or monsters after that, and reached Cloverbell just in time for the two of us to log out.

    ¡°I''ll get these things sorted; my parents'' don''t really care how late I stay up, just as long as I get up in the morning.¡± Ellie said as we got down from the waggon.

    ¡°If you''re sure?¡± Ariana asked her.

    ¡°Don''t sweat it! Have a good night!¡± she told us with a great big smile on her face.

    ¡°Ahh... I guess we''ll let you handle things then. It was fun!¡± I told her, and she flashed us a victory sign.

    ¡°You bet! See you in school tomorrow, Ari!¡± she added. The two of us went inside after that, and after a hug we logged out for the night.

    ***

    On the forums the next morning, there were two hot topics trending for the Aldholt region of Panarena:

    Blackwood Patrol thrashed by the Silvernight Twins and a friend.

    Timidator of the Shieldwardens guild returns to tanking with the return of his greatsword Vergundel.

    I smiled to myself; we were definitely getting a reputation.

 Chapter Six: A Showdown

    Wednesday morning continued along pretty decently until I got to school. If you have to ask me why, you probably haven''t been paying attention. I mean, it started off pretty normal at first; Ty flicking me as we parted ways in the hall, me opening up my locker as usual. And then--

    Ka-bam! Went the fist against my locker door, shutting it. I turned to my right. There he was, the poster boy for gleeful idiocy.

    ¡°You know, if you damage that door, you''re gonna end up paying for it.¡± I told him calmly.

    ¡°Will I have to pay for you if I damage you?¡± he returned with an unusual wit.

    ¡°Kind of like how your mom had to pay your dad to make you, I guess.¡± I retorted at once.

    It got so quiet at that moment, it felt like the air was being sucked out of the room. I could see some of my classmates looking absolutely flabbergasted that I had actually said something like that, and I could hear someone trying to stifle their laughter and just barely succeeding.

    ¡°Say that again... punk.¡± Justin said as he leaned down towards my face.

    ¡°Justin!¡± a female voice rang out.

    He turned around in surprise, as did the rest of us. It was Mary Robertson, the principal''s daughter, senior class president, and the one most likely going to be valedictorian for her class this year at graduation. Tall, dark, and ugly seemed capable of picking up some kind of hint as to why she was here, and simply left the scene. Mary fixed her gaze on him until he was gone, then came over to me, placing a hand on my shoulder.

    ¡°Dad knows.¡± she said to me with a gentle smile. I nodded back, and she patted my shoulder before returning to her own class, two of her friends following after her. Rachel then placed her arms around me from behind, not letting go for several long moments.

    ¡°Hey.¡± I said to her softly after some time had passed.

    ¡°Hey.¡± she said to me, letting go so we could get our books for morning classes. ¡°You think he''ll get a stronger warning today?¡±

    ¡°Hope so.¡± I said as I sorted out my books and shut my locker--gently, I might add. ¡°This locker door might break off the next time he tries to start something.¡± I remarked with a look of sympathy towards it as we headed in for homeroom.

    ¡°True.¡± Rachel nodded in agreement. As we got to our seats and sat down she looked back at me with a smile. ¡°You really like to play dangerously with those comebacks.¡± she said quietly; it took me a second to remember, and then I grinned.

    ¡°That''s true,¡± I agreed.

    Morning classes went pretty well--even the ones we didn''t like. As usual, Elisabeth showed up for lunch, and boy did she look excited. We unpacked our food and drinks on my (our?) desk, and at once she began talking.

    ¡°Girl, we made a friend. Timidator''s promised to help us whenever we need it.¡± she said, and Rachel blinked in confusion for a moment before she smiled.

    ¡°That''s right, the tank!¡± she clapped her hands.

    ¡°But enough about the game; do you know Lana in real life? I was thinking about having a girls afternoon out when school gets out and I''d really like to invite her along.¡± the older girl said.

    Oh, snap, how''s this gonna go? I thought to myself as I maintained a straight face.

    ¡°I do...¡± Rachel began in a hesitant way, ¡°But... she''s not really someone who likes social-outings and such in real life, at least for now. Maybe someday.¡± she continued in a more convinced tone of voice.

    Yeah. I don''t deserve you. At all.

    ¡°Hmm? Too bad,¡± Ellie sighed. ¡°By the way, I thought about it, and it''s confusing. Call me Ellie here, and Lizzy there. But anyway,¡± she continued as Rachel nodded. ¡°So yeah, if it''s cool with you we''ll leave right after school and go to the mall or something? I drive, you know.¡±

    ¡°Oh wow,¡± Rachel returned, looking over at me. I shrugged, a helpless smile on my face.

    ¡°I don''t want to monopolize you or be one of those boyfriends. If she says it''s a girls outing only, go for it.¡± I told her sincerely.

    Not *exactly* how I feel about it, but hey. I really *don''t* want to be one of those possessive twerps who drags a girl down.

    ¡°I''ll send you pics to tease you.¡± Rachel told me with a grin.

    ¡°I know you will.¡± I said to her.

    ¡°That just leaves my mom... she''ll be fine as long as I tell her.¡±

    ¡°Great!¡± Ellie said. ¡°Oh! My friend Andrea''s the other one coming; I''ve been talking her into trying Panarena too, so maybe you can help me with that a bit. I''m sure she''d love it, she''s just not very sure of herself when it comes to these sort of things.¡±

    ¡°Andrea? Oh, right! Andrea Summers!¡±

    ¡°That''s the one!¡±

    ¡°She is so sweet; I can imagine it would be hard to talk her into something like a game,¡± Rachel smiled.

    ¡°You have no idea,¡± Ellie smirked.

    I''m starting to wonder if I should just go to the cafeteria from now on, I thought to myself as I took a drink, my expression unwittingly growing disinterested and distant.

    ¡°Oh, lover-boy!¡± Ellie then said, and I snapped back to attention. ¡°Stop poking the beast, will you? I heard that neanderthal was going on in a corner somewhere with his buddies about how he''s gonna clobber you.¡±

    ¡°I know you''ve known him longer,¡± I said to her, ¡°But I don''t think you get him. It doesn''t matter what I say or don''t say, he''s just gonna be that way.¡±

    ¡°Well,¡± Ellie began to reply, taking a bite of her sandwich first, ¡°Eh, I guess you''re right about that.¡± she remarked with a shrug.

    We didn''t really talk too much after that, and when lunch was over the three of us went to get our books for the afternoon. The next three classes passed by almost too swiftly, and then Rachel and I were back at our lockers packing up to go home. We had just finished doing so when Ty came around the corner and made a bee-line for me.

    ¡°Yo, Dans, let''s go, now!¡± he said, tapping my shoulder as he continued walking; the two of us fell in step with him at once. ¡°QB''s blabbing about how he''s not gonna wait; some of his buddies are holdin'' him back, but we need to get to the bus, now!¡± he told us.

    ¡°Heh?¡± I returned blankly as we marched through the halls to the door.

    ¡°I don''t like his style, man,¡± Ty said. ¡°If you''re gonna pick a day for a fight, pick it and stick with it. Don''t go sneak-attacking people for no reason,¡± he continued.

    ¡°I guess that makes sense,¡± I agreed.

    ¡°Thank you for doing this, Ty.¡± Rachel said as we exited the door.

    ¡°No probs; just wanna be clear that the only one to get this fool in trouble for fighting is me.¡± he said with a rare but fierce grin, patting my shoulder before he headed to the bus. I affected a wry smile at those words, and Rachel gave me a hug.

    ¡°I''m gonna meet Ellie at her car. Love you!¡± she said as I hugged her back.

    ¡°Have fun; love you too, Rach.¡± I told her, and then we parted, me for the bus, her to the car.

    As I took my seat on the bus next to Ty, I gave him a curious look. We had been rivals for a while, true... but lately, it was more like...

    ¡°Hey, Ty... are we... friends?¡± I asked him. He looked over at me with a blank surprise.

    ¡°Sure as hell ain''t your enemy.¡± he said after a moment. ¡°Yo; if he comes at you with his friends, I''m stepping in--but if it''s just him I ain''t doing a thing.¡±

    ¡°I wouldn''t expect any less or more from you.¡± I said as I sat back in the seat. A second of those rare smiles came to his lips.

    ¡°Ain''t nobody beating you ''cept for me, Dans.¡± he said, gently pounding my shoulder with a fist, and I shook with silent laughter.

    A car passed us by as the bus got moving; it was Ellie and the girls. The driver herself stuck her tongue out as she caught sight of me, but Rachel waved. I waved back as they passed us, and another figure--I guess it was Andrea--waved as well. I let out a quiet sigh.

    Have fun!

    After my usual afternoon-slash-early evening routine, I checked my phone. There were quite a few pics of Rachel and the other girls having fun, with the promise that they''d try to be in the game later that night. With nothing else to do, I typed back a warm reply and then headed into Panarena myself.

    ***

    Come to think of it, I was initially planning to go solo in this game when I first logged in, I thought to myself as I loaded up in Cloverbell, looking around. I checked my stats, my inventory, and my quest log; nothing jumped out at me. Maybe I''ll do some exploring. I''d rather explore with Ari here, though... it''s amazing how you can suddenly grow to depend on a person being with you, I continued internally as I geared up and made my way out into the Aldholt. I practically trudged down the now familiar road that led into the forests, taking a different turn-off this time for my exploratory ramblings.

    Anyway, why is that over-sized monkey waiting around for Friday anyway? What''s the point of waiting around so long? Just come at me already! I grimaced with disgust as my mind brought up the issue of our local jerk. Come to think of it, there was something happening on Friday at school... what was it? Oh, right, there was a meeting for the teachers and faculty going on. Eh? Ehh?? Snap, he might actually have a brain! Justin Shrivers, whose actual grade average should have kept him in preschool for the past fourteen years, had chosen a day when most of the faculty and staff at the school would be occupied after school let out. Tch, how do I get around that? I wondered as I wandered, looking around at the sights of the Aldholt and eventually forgetting about real life to become absorbed in Panarena.

    It was only after I got an alert from outside the game that I found out I had been exploring for nearly three hours. This, by the way, is a handy feature of the game: you can check and receive emails, phone-calls, texts, and social-media alerts from the Dream Machine''s link-up feature, which comes in handy for heavy users or students. The message was from Rachel.

    --Hey!! I''m so sorry, we *just* got back and now we''re stuck doing homework >.< -- I''ll make it up to you sometime, promise. I love you.

    I sighed again. Oh well; can''t have things my way all the time, I mused to myself with an unusually wise perspective.

    --Hey--no worries, honest! We''ll have plenty of time this weekend. Watch those math problems by the way-- they''re pure evil. I love you.

    --<3 <3

    --<3

    Well, now what... I wondered after our text exchange. Might as well head back and log out; I''ll have to remember that grove of silver oaks, though, I noted to myself as I began turning around. And then I saw him.

    He was a Memphite, one of those fairly tall and dark of skin warrior peoples in the game''s lore that hailed from Memphia, a tropical and desert kingdom on the other side of the map. For the most part he had seemingly mismatched gear, but it was all of pretty good quality. What caught my attention most was the bagh nakh--the tiger claws--that he wore.

    Daang it, he''d be dangerous in a close fight, I quickly estimated. He caught sight of me, and held up his hands in a sort of salute as he came closer. Lucky me, looks like he only wants to talk.

    ¡°Yo, you know where this dumb@$$ cave is?¡± the guy said to me.

    That voice, I mused as he pulled up his quest-log to show me. Briefly I noted his character name at the top of the panel: Tyman. No way. No freaking way. But anyway--his quest log mentioned a dungeon, Temple of the Jaguar, a lost ruin from a people that had lived here before the ones that now lived here, according to game lore. Wait, had I passed something like that?

    ¡°Hmm... I think I maybe passed it back that way,¡± I said, pointing in the direction I had come from. ¡°There was a cat statue of some sort near a big sycamore tree, anyway.¡±

    ¡°Got it; ''aight, thanks.¡± he said as he closed the panel and began heading off.

    ¡°Watch for outlaws.¡± I said to him, and then he stopped. He turned around, and gave me a strange look.

    ¡°On second thought, you come with. Anyone tries to jump us, it''s better that way, huh?¡± he said after a moment, and I nodded.

    ¡°Sure.¡± I agreed, and we fell in step together.

    He obviously doesn''t know it''s me. The voice-output is insanely good here; and he''d never connect someone who looks this cute with the usual me. Daang it, I had no idea he was in to this sort of game. That''s... kinda cool?

    ¡°You one of those, the hell they call ''em? Silvernight Twins, right?¡± he said to me then.

    I stand partially corrected. He knows about Lana.

    ¡°Ah-heh, that''s me.¡± I said with a smile.

    ¡°Where''s your twin?¡±

    ¡°She had real-life stuff to do.¡±

    ¡°Huh.¡± he remarked with a nod.

    After that, neither of us really said anything. There were no outlaws in the woods tonight, however, and about an hour or so later of Panarena-time we had reached the place I remembered. The cat statue--or jaguar statue, I guess--loomed before us.

    ¡°Yep, this is the place. ''Aight, I''mma do this alone, or I won''t get what I want; that''s what those forums say, anyway. You take care.¡± he said as he made his way towards the now visible temple.

    ¡°See ya.¡± I said, and when he had gotten inside I made my way back to a wayport I had seen for a quick ride to Aldholt City.

    Wayports are handy little things scattered across Panarena; mostly they''re for quick transit to get from one major city to another, so long as you''ve found them, but some you can find in places like this giant forest. Some people call them tele-pads, but wayports sounds a little cooler to me.

    Anyway. I made my way back to Cloverbell without incident, and then logged out for the night once inside. I curled up after that, and went straight to sleep.

    In the morning, I casually read the forums about the Temple of the Jaguar; apparently, once you mastered the tiger-claws to a certain proficiency, you were then given an opportunity to do a quest for a specific pair of your choosing. There were twelve quests for twelve different pairs of bagh nakh, each with their own special features. Those from the Temple of the Jaguar were appropriately called Fists of the Jaguar; they were razor sharp, gave a strong boost to Strength, Dexterity, and Agility, and they also had a twenty-five percent chance to leave behind a massive bleed-effect on striking a target. I let out a whistle at the thought.

    Those''d be nice, if I''d gone that route. But man, those things just aren''t my style. I wonder if that guy really was...

    Anyway. After reading a bit more I went down for breakfast, got my things ready, and then went to wait for the bus. Ty and some others were there too; it wasn''t until we were on the bus itself that I noticed he looked a little more tired than usual.

    ¡°Late night?¡± I asked him casually.

    ¡°Yeah. Was in this cool-@$$ game I picked up a few weeks ago, and got a quest to get some special rare weapon. Man, them things were worth it, yo.¡± he said.

    ¡°Nice.¡±

    ¡°Surprised I ain''t heard about you in there; people say you''re into games like that.¡±

    ¡°I''ll have to try it sometime, I guess.¡± I returned with a shrug, and he nodded back.

    Yep, that was him.

    The rest of the bus ride passed in silence for the two of us, until we got off at school and, as usual, he flicked my shoulder.

    ¡°Watch out for that dumb@$$ monkey.¡± he told me, and I grinned back.

    ¡°Will do.¡± I replied as we parted ways.

    Well needless to say, it didn''t take long for the object of our conversation to turn up. Bam! Went the fist against the locker as an unwanted visage appeared in my sight. I was about to try and make some sort of snarky comment when I suddenly got pushed to the ground by the boy in question, much to my surprise. I then saw his leg pull back for a kick as other students around started getting either excited or frantic; ehh, what do I do here... should I evade it and wait for a teacher, or let it hit me and get him in *real* trouble?

    But before Shrivers executed his would-be kick, another figure came up behind him and placed a strong, firm hand on his shoulder.

    ¡°Shrivers: my office. Now.¡±

    Everything went silent. There stood Dr. Thomas Robertson; he wasn''t tall or lean, but boy he had a presence. Even the dimwitted quarterback was taken aback by this sudden surprise. He slowly stood down, and then he was nearly frog-marched to the principal''s office by an aide. The man himself came over and helped me up. I managed to say thank you, or something along those lines, and he gave me a pat on the shoulder.

    ¡°Don''t worry, son. You won''t see him again.¡± the principal said, and then with a nod he made his way back to the office. Activity started up again as he left, and I mechanically began opening my locker to get ready for morning classes, still not registering what Dr. Robertson had just told me.

    Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

    ¡°You okay?¡± a voice I definitely wanted to hear said to me as the owner of it slowly opened her locker. I dropped whatever was in my hands and turned to give Rachel a hug. She hugged me back tightly. I could almost feel the smile lighting up on her face.

    ¡°Now I am.¡± I told her, and I felt her body gently shake with laughter.

    ¡°Good.¡± she replied. We let go after a few moments and then got our books before heading in for homeroom. ¡°I am so sorry about last night by the way.¡± she said as we sat down.

    ¡°Hey, don''t worry about it. I just did some exploring and stuff, and helped this one guy find a dungeon he was looking for.¡± I said with a smile, shrugging it off. She smiled back.

    ¡°Anyone we know?¡± she asked half-jokingly.

    ¡°I think we actually do,¡± I returned seriously, and Rachel looked at me with surprise.

    ¡°Really? Who?¡±

    ¡°Ty.¡± I replied, and she looked about floored.

    ¡°Wow! Did he recog--well, I guess he wouldn''t,¡± she remarked with a goofy grin. ¡°How''d you know it was him?¡±

    ¡°Well, his character''s name is Tyman, for one,¡± I said with an equally bemused smile, ¡°And this morning he seemed really tired; told me he was up playing a game last night.¡±

    ¡°Oh nice.¡±

    ¡°Still...¡±

    ¡°Yeah... he didn''t seem like a gamer to me, either.¡±

    ¡°Right?¡± I returned, and we both laughed.

    Nothing really notable happened the rest of that day. Well, except for one thing. By the time afternoon classes were over the news was all over the school: Justin Shrivers had been kicked from the football team and placed on suspension from school.

    ***

    In Panarena that night, the three of us spent most of our time working on our crafting skills. I mean, we''d been hoarding resources and such for about a month already. Now, most of the time, crafting is never as exciting as adventuring. Sure there''s exceptions. And there''s more than a few games where crafting is the goal of the game. Survival games, for one. The company that made ¡°Age of Hyperborea¡± was rumored to be making one of those for the Dream Machine software, but it was far from being done.

    But anyway. Crafting in Panarena was far from dull; the crafting panel and the experience for crafting is separate from a player''s experience for skills and stats. Yet certain stats, as I may have mentioned before, are conducive to crafting. Five of them, to be precise: Intelligence for scholarly and engineering crafts, along with alchemy (potion-crafting) and cooking (which is apparently a big thing in Panarena not just for player-made stat-boosters, but because the food and beverages also tasted amazing); Wisdom was also useful in that regard. Strength and Dexterity for working with metallurgical professions, leather-working, wood-working (which includes fletcher, bowyer, pole-turner, and other wood-using crafts), or jeweller proficiency. And Luck, as you might believe, also has an effect on crafting pursuits. I mean, it''s not necessary, but it helps, according to the forums and the guide.

    So Lizzy spent the night working on her smithing and leather-working while I fiddled around with fletching and poisons; and Ariana focused on more benign and beneficial alchemy and cooking pursuits. She was also planning to work on the scholar-craft to create more powerful skill or stat boosters, but she wanted to try the others first, having an intuition that doing so would be more conducive for learning the others. I''m sure that, somehow or another, she was right, even if I didn''t quite see it.

    By the end of the night we felt quite satisfied with what we had accomplished; I had gotten Fletching Ten and Poison-maker Seven, Ariana had reached Alchemy Twelve and Cooking Five, and Lizzy had maxed out one of her specializations in leather-working. She''d been here for at least three months longer, so that was a given.

    Now by the way, it''s not like we can just up and make anything we want. That''d be over-powered and ridiculous. We can only make what we want within the scope of the game and within our proficiency levels (by the way, this logic also applies to player-made skills). In other words, a level-fifteen can''t make an apocalyptic death magic, and even the best engineers in the game couldn''t replicate a nuclear bomb or a jet plane or something like that. The best one can do is to create a steampunk-zeppelin that drops primitive gunpowder bombs; but again, that''s some high-level stuff and certainly no one in the Aldholt is around that level. Those sorts of things are concentrated around the border of Harmonia and Onyxus, according to the forums.

    After we had a couple drinks to celebrate our recent victories and our successes in crafting thus far, Ariana and I ended up sitting together on the sofa while Ellie went to sort her materials again. It was moments like these that reminded me of why I truly enjoyed being with her in Cloverbell. You could hear the faint sounds of water from the hotspring, crickets and frogs, an owl or two; there were no city lights, no people outside yelling, no sounds of cars or buses or trains or any other kind of vehicle; it was peaceful, like my grandparents'' home. They didn''t live there now, but the property was kept up by us for those times we had a family holiday. The two of us were almost asleep, our heads leaning together, our hands clasped, and then the fire in the hearth popped. Ariana started awake again, and poked me.

    ¡°We should probably log out too, if we''re just gonna fall asleep here.¡± Ariana said to me.

    ¡°True,¡± I mumbled sleepily, and then yawned. ¡°Though the system would actually kick us off anyway if we did,¡± I added.

    ¡°Still, I''d rather not fall asleep in this helmet-thing.¡± she returned, and I smiled.

    ¡°There''s that.¡± I agreed. ¡°Ellie--ah, Lizzy, I mean, probably left too. Let''s head out,¡± I said. We then stood up, and were about to share a kiss when Lizzy reappeared.

    ¡°Hey! I''m heading off--what in the...?¡± she said as she saw us. Fortunately, we weren''t actually in kissing position yet, but it was still an awkward pose--which we got out of at once.

    ¡°Ahh--¡± Ariana began, but then Lizzy shook her head.

    ¡°Never mind, I was just teasing you. Good night!¡± she said, and poofed for the evening.

    ¡°Ah-heh...¡± I remarked, and Ari looked over at me with a bashful smile. We settled for giving each other a hug, and then logged out for the night.

    As I fell asleep (this time for real) that night, I had the nastiest feeling I was forgetting something, that there was something I was supposed to be alert for. I couldn''t think of what it was, though. S''pose I''ll figure it out tomorrow, I thought, and then I was conked out.

    ***

    Friday was a day of rain. I lifelessly began my morning routine, and then twice as lifelessly made my way to the bus. The rain continued all the way to school, and began picking up as we headed inside. Ty was apparently tired as well, because he didn''t even flick me as we went inside.

    Rachel and I exchanged greetings as we gathered our books, and made our way inside for classes. She turned around once we had sat down and let out a sigh.

    ¡°I hate rainy days.¡± she said to me softly.

    ¡°They''re not fun on school days, for sure,¡± I returned.

    ¡°Right? It makes school feel like it''s going so slowly!¡±

    ¡°Huh, that''s true...¡± I realized with a thoughtful look as she said it. A brief moment passed us by, and then she spoke again.

    ¡°Think we can make fifty or so this weekend?¡± Rachel wondered.

    ¡°Maybe,¡± I told her. ¡°Might even get to fifty-five or so with Ellie helping.¡±

    ¡°True! I wonder if Andrea will turn up in the game soon as well... we''d have to stay back and help her a bit, of course.¡±

    ¡°That''d be fun. She didn''t say anything about it Wednesday?¡±

    ¡°Eh, I feel like she was gaining interest, but it''s like she was playing it low-key so we didn''t get too into convincing her.¡± Rachel said with an amused smile.

    ¡°Nice.¡± I nodded back. Mr. Jones then called class to order, and we spent the next three hours and forty-five minutes going through the ¡°essentials¡± as usual before morning classes ended for lunch.

    When Ellie came over for lunch she had Andrea with her. Andrea was shorter than her, about my height (oh, yeah, Ellie''s taller than me--us--in real life too), with red hair, freckles, and green eyes behind a pair of brown-colored glasses. We opened our lunches (guess on whose desk?) and began chatting away.

    ¡°She got it.¡± Ellie said to Rachel, and Rachel smiled.

    ¡°The game?¡±

    ¡°Yep!¡±

    ¡°I mean, I read about it a bit, and decided I wanted to try it out after all,¡± Andrea herself said with a faint smile. ¡°But I''d rather be like a healer or something; being a fighter really isn''t my style,¡± she added.

    ¡°No problem!¡± Ellie said to her. ¡°We can work that in, can''t we?¡±

    ¡°I''m pretty sure,¡± Rachel agreed. ¡°And S--ahh, Lana would be happy to help her figure it out too, I''m sure.¡± she remarked, almost slipping. There was a brief pause. The other two girls didn''t notice it, but Rachel and I were exchanging silent glances.

    I''m so sorry! I almost goofed!

    N-no no, it''s okay, really! I don''t think they noticed!

    ¡°Lana seems like a real character, especially when Rachel talks about her.¡± Andrea said with a smile. ¡°I''d swear they were a thing if I didn''t know about you, Sean.¡±

    Heh. Heh-heh. Heh-heh-heh-heh-heh-heh-heh-heh-heh...

    ¡°I feel like I keep hearing that this week,¡± I said with a mild grin.

    ¡°Did you almost trip over Lana''s name just now?¡± Ellie then asked Rachel. ¡°I feel like I definitely heard a ''sh''-sound...¡±

    ¡°I derped out for a moment! It''s the rain, it''s been making me tired.¡± Rachel quickly said.

    ¡°Gotcha.¡± the older girl said with a grin, but I felt like she was gleaning more than we thought.

    ¡°I did start my character last night though; she''s in a place called Seacrest.¡± Andrea then said.

    ¡°Oh nice! We can meet you there and start questing with you if you want?¡± Ellie told her.

    ¡°I''d love that!¡±

    ¡°Seacrest?¡± Rachel wondered.

    ¡°It''s like west of Ipping Forest, south of Aldholt proper.¡± Ellie said.

    ¡°Oh cool!¡± Rachel nodded. ¡°Yes, we can definitely meet you there; and then you can meet Lana also,¡± she said to Andrea with a smile.

    ¡°I''m looking forward to it!¡± the other girl said. We ate in silence for a moment after that and then Ellie looked over at me.

    ¡°So how''s it feel without your ''buddy'' to greet you at the lockers?¡± she said with a smirk.

    ¡°Shaddup.¡± I said with my own smirk, and she laughed. ¡°I do feel a lot better though,¡± I admitted.

    ¡°Principal Robertson himself came out and stopped him,¡± Rachel remarked with a certain awe in her voice, and Ellie let out a whistle.

    ¡°Daanng it, he''s screwed,¡± the blonde girl shook her head. ¡°I mean aside from being kicked off the team. If Robertson''s taking him seriously now, I don''t think he''ll last.¡±

    ¡°Totally agree.¡± Andrea nodded. ¡°He should''ve been kicked out last year, remember that?¡± she said, and Ellie sighed.

    ¡°How could I forget?¡± she said. ¡°He got into this huge fight with a player from another school''s team, but the coach wrangled him out of it somehow and the whole fight got hushed up.¡± she remarked with disgust.

    Wow, I thought to myself with disbelief.

    ¡°That''s so stupid!¡± Rachel said, a dumbfounded look on her face.

    ¡°Like really. But hey! Good riddance!¡± Ellie said with a more animated expression. ¡°And we owe it all to Karate Kid here getting himself knocked to the ground.¡±

    ¡°If I fought back, the school would clamp down on me, too,¡± I returned with a grumble, and she laughed.

    ¡°I know, I know. I just think it''s funny that he caught you of all people off your guard.¡± she said with another smirk.

    ¡°It was the rain. Got me sluggish.¡± I shrugged.

    ¡°You two are pathetic.¡± Ellie quipped. Rachel and I exchanged a glance, and then stuck our tongues out at her. The blonde girl looked at us with mock indignation while Andrea giggled.

    When lunch ended we readied ourselves for the afternoon, and when those three classes were over we made our way to the lockers and got ready to head home. The two of us were almost to the door when Ty suddenly popped back into the school and held up his hands.

    ¡°Yo, Dans, he''s out there.¡± the other boy told me.

    ¡°Eh? Huh?¡± I wondered immediately.

    ¡°I said the QB''s out there, man, and he''s spoiling for a fight.¡± Ty repeated. I went to look for myself, and at that moment Mary also appeared.

    ¡°Sean, don''t go out there. He''s already in violation of suspension--¡± she started to say, but I interrupted her.

    ¡°He''s across the street. He''s technically not on school grounds.¡± I said, and the other three exchanged glances with each other. Andrea and Ellie then came up behind us as well.

    ¡°Hey! Want a ride home instead of the--whoa, what''s this now?¡± Ellie wondered as she registered the fairly unusual group of us at the door.

    ¡°Shrivers is outside.¡± Mary told her.

    ¡°What!¡± Ellie exclaimed in disbelief.

    ¡°I''m sick of this,¡± I said, setting my pack down.

    ¡°Sean!¡± Rachel said, grabbing my arm.

    ¡°Rachel, trust me.¡± I said to her with a faint smile. She looked at me intently.

    ¡°I trust you.¡± she said, letting go of me and picking up my pack as I headed out. The others followed me outside as well.

    It had just stopped raining, but the clouds were still in the sky. I made my way to the edge of the curb; across from me, out of uniform, was Justin Shrivers. I felt like I was in a western, like one of those old Don Payne movies.

    ¡°You ready for a beating, punk?¡± he called over to me.

    ¡°You know, the irony of you calling me a punk... well, I''m sure it''s over your head.¡± I said to him, and some of the others behind me giggled.

    ¡°Shut up!¡± he thundered back. ¡°Once I''m done with you, I''m gonna teach those &!tches behind you a lesson as well!¡± he threatened.

    That does it.

    ¡°No one''s gonna hurt my friends while I can still stand,¡± I said to him confidently.

    ¡°Huh?¡± I heard Ellie say behind me. I didn''t have time to wonder why. Like a bull for the matador, Justin Shrivers came charging towards me.

    I couldn''t believe it. He was actually gonna defy suspension rules just to try and beat me up? He picked a fine day to do it, too. Most of the faculty and staff were busy at a meeting... most of them. As he came towards me, fists swinging, I evaded him and began walking backwards. I heard Ty telling everyone else to back up or get to a side. He probably knew what I was doing.

    ¡°Stand and fight!!¡± Justin said to me.

    ¡°Come and make me!¡± I said as I quickly jumped away from him as he took another swipe, and then I dashed into the school. He followed me in without a second thought.

    Ugh, this is too easy.

    I ran through the halls, zigzagging to keep his little brain from outfoxing me. There had been at least one adult I saw out in the halls who was not at the faculty and staff meeting. I continued leading my pursuer through the halls, wondering where she had gotten to. As we got near to the main entrance, I saw what I was looking for: a mobile mop bucket, complete with mop. I smiled, picking up my speed. But Justin Shrivers was equally fast. Betting on the hope that my reflexes were better, I nimbly jumped over the bucket and skittered away. Justin, without thinking (not thinking is about his only strong point), simply blundered into the thing and fell down as he knocked it over.

    The sight of that jerk lying on the ground covered in mop-water sent practically everyone nearby into a fit of laughter. Our custodian, Margy Porter, stepped out of her supply closet and suddenly espied the unfortunate fool on the ground.

    ¡°Shrivers! You''re on suspension! Oh, I see, trying to start a fight again, are we? Let''s call Dr. Robertson down here and just see about that!¡± she said to him with a no-nonsense tone. A round of applause actually broke out, and then the crowds drifted away back to their rides home. Ty came over and gave me a pat on the back.

    ¡°Damn, squirrel.¡± he said to me, and headed off back to the buses. Mary then came over to shake my hand, smiling at me.

    ¡°Well done,¡± she said. Some of her friends did the same, and then they made their way out as well. Rachel then gave me a hug. The two of us had no need to say anything.

    And then there was Ellie. Oh, and Andrea. But Ellie had a smug look on her face, while Andrea simply looked pleased.

    ¡°So... Lana...¡± Ellie said to me, and both Rachel and I suddenly jerked at hearing the name. ¡°Wanna explain?¡± she said to me with a knowing expression.

    ¡°Hmm? Hmm?¡± Andrea wondered with confusion.

    ¡°Ah... eh... but...¡± I stammered.

    ¡°Buses are gone by now. Or didn''t you notice Ty sprinting away?¡± the blonde girl remarked. ¡°Come on, let''s get some ice-cream.¡± she said, twirling her keys on a finger. Rachel then looked at me, and smiled.

    ¡°Come on.¡± she said, and I had to admit defeat.

    ¡°Right,¡± I nodded, and with that we were on our way to Ellie''s car.

    And after much explaining and a delicious ice-cream snack, Ellie was laughing heartily while Andrea looked at me in surprise.

    ¡°You''re Lana? You''re Lana?!¡± she said to me, but then smiled and shook her head. ¡°No, it makes sense; Rachel uses the same tone of voice when talking about you as she does for Lana.¡± she said. Rachel blushed, but she did squeeze my hand.

    ¡°And that slip at lunch; you were about to say Sean, weren''t you?¡± Ellie said with a smirk.

    ¡°Ehh...¡± Rachel said with a bemused smile.

    ¡°And you--I should''ve guessed when we went through the Vale of Stingers, not to mention all the other little things I saw,¡± Ellie said to me. ¡°But did you have to use the exact same words on Justin that you used when taking down Blackwood?¡±

    ¡°Did I?¡± I wondered suddenly.

    ¡°You did. No one''s gonna hurt my friends while I can still stand, remember?¡± she said again, continuing to smirk.

    ¡°Ah... I guess I did...¡± I said.

    ¡°I think it''s cute!¡± Andrea said, giving Ellie a little flick on the shoulder. ¡°Now I definitely want to play this game.¡± she added.

    How the heck am I supposed to react to *that*?! I wondered.

    ¡°I didn''t say it wasn''t!¡± Ellie quipped, flicking her back. ¡°It really is cool. I''m glad it is you though; now I don''t have to worry about Rachel having an affair.¡± she added.

    ¡°Ah-heh...¡±

    ¡°And having a guy that can at least empathize with girls, especially online, is a plus.¡± Andrea remarked.

    What kind of hole have I dug myself into?

    ¡°I wouldn''t say I understand everything,¡± I replied hesitantly.

    ¡°True.¡± the blonde girl nodded. ¡°But anyway. What''s your address? I have to take you home, after all.¡±

    ¡°Ah--oh, right... address.¡±

    And so, once again, my secret had been found out. At least it was more or less a ¡°family¡± secret, so to speak. We were taken home by Ellie, and then after we had gotten through our homework, chores, and suppers, we met up again in Panarena Fantasy Online.

    ***

    We found Andrea as her avatar Healina after a surprisingly swift journey to Seacrest. Healina was a Sea Elf with platinum-white hair and sea-blue eyes; we waved at her, and she smiled at us.

    ¡°Hey!¡± she said to us; we added her to our party, and sat down to chat for a bit.

    ¡°So what do you want to do first?¡± Lizzy asked.

    ¡°Well, I just finished with all of the tutorial quests and stuff... now I''m not really sure what to do, and I feel like it would be hard to catch up to you guys at your levels.¡± she replied.

    ¡°Don''t worry about that, we''ll find something to catch you up.¡± our Nordian friend winked at her.

    ¡°I''ll trust you on that.¡± Healina nodded back. ¡°So like I said this morning I want to focus on being a healer or some kind of support.¡±

    ¡°That''d fit in pretty well,¡± I remarked. ¡°It''s not hard to level up healing skills with the right team, which you definitely have; and Ari prefers being an attack mage more.¡±

    ¡°That is too good. If I hadn''t found out today I would have no clue that''s you!¡± Healina said to me, and I affected a sheepish smile.

    ¡°Ah-heh...¡±

    ¡°So that''s definitely in? What else could I do?¡± she asked.

    ¡°I think maybe tamer or summoner would be up your alley.¡± I said to her. ¡°You can tame beasts or birds and stuff to help us, or summon up other kinds of creatures with magic.¡±

    ¡°Oh wow!¡±

    ¡°Definitely thinking Mountains of Night then.¡± Lizzy remarked. ¡°There''s so many things in that region that would work to help level those skills--if you want!¡± she turned to Healina, who nodded.

    ¡°It sounds like a good idea! But... the Mountains of Night...¡± she made an uncertain face. Rachel then picked out a spot on the map.

    ¡°What''s this? The Lightqueen''s Tomb? It looks like a special dungeon, like the one we first messed around in.¡± she said to me.

    ¡°Oh, like the Grotto, you mean?¡± I said as I looked over it. ¡°Sure, we could try that one first; might have some good gear in it for her, and she''ll get some levels out of it too.¡±

    ¡°Lightqueen...¡± Healina repeated to herself. ¡°She sounds nice!¡±

    ¡°Shall we, then?¡± Lizzy nudged her, a grin on her face.

    ¡°Let''s do it!¡± the other girl nodded in agreement.

    ¡°How far away is it?¡± I wondered as we stood up and began heading out of town.

    ¡°It''s pretty deep in the forests from what I can tell,¡± Ariana replied. ¡°Looks like Healina''s getting a crash course for this game!¡± she added, and we laughed.

    ¡°We should form a guild already with this group.¡± Lizzy said.

    ¡°We probably could,¡± I agreed.

    ¡°Well there was something about getting a bonus of some kind if we do it by this weekend, so let''s get on it!¡± she told us.

    ¡°Bonuses sound nice.¡± Healina said as we passed through a market.

    ¡°Look! The Silvernight Twins!¡± a random person in the crowd said. Heads turned, people started whispering; it was nothing new for Ari and me, and Lizzy was getting used to it too, it seemed.

    ¡°Silvernight... silvernight...¡± Healina repeated to herself.

    ¡°I think we''re getting our name picked out for us,¡± I said to Ari as the other two got ahead of us a ways.

    ¡°Possibly!¡± she agreed, taking my arm in hers.

    ¡°Come on, losers!¡± Lizzy called back to us, and we hurried to catch them, heading out for our next big adventure in Panarena Fantasy Online.

 Bonus Short Story: A Saturday Morning

    ¡°How''d the homework go?¡± Rachel asked me as we sat across from each other at the food court waiting for our order. We would be heading into Panarena later, but we had decided to meet up here for a change and do something in real life. It had already been a couple weeks, but the two of us had become quite famous in our little corner of the virtual world -- at least, according to the forums. But it was nice to be our real selves here in this moment.

    ¡°Eh, I guess it went okay. Thanks for the math assist by the way,¡± I said, and she smiled back.

    ¡°It''s not my strongest subject either.¡± she shrugged.

    ¡°Still better than me,¡± I softly smiled.

    ¡°I''m sure you could get it if you wanted to, Sean.¡± she told me gently.

    ¡°Dunno; they''ve been trying for ten years and I still can''t get past the most basic applications... which is really all we need, right?¡±

    ¡°True!¡±

    ¡°It''s not like I want to be a scientist or anything, after all.¡±

    ¡°What do you want to be?¡± Rachel asked me, and I stopped for a moment. What did I want to be?

    ¡°Hmm? Well what about you, Rey?¡± I asked her as a breather. ¡°Rey¡± was a nickname she had decided she wanted me to use; ¡°Rach¡± didn''t feel right and ¡°Rachy¡± was her brother''s pet name for her. So now I had my own special name for her.

    ¡°Hmm... I want to help people; I''m not exactly sure how, but maybe like a counselor or a therapist, maybe a nurse... an activist or lawyer probably isn''t out of the question either...¡± she mused aloud.

    ¡°That''s some high-end stuff, career-wise,¡± I returned.

    ¡°True. So how about you?¡± she replied with a gentle smirk. I thought about it a bit more.

    ¡°There''s not much that seems to fit me; I like games, I like the otherworldliness of it all. Maybe I could be a professional tester, or a creator, somehow...¡±

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    ¡°Hm? But being a creator might involve...¡± Rachel began with a sly wink.

    ¡°Don''t say it...¡± I returned in a low-energy voice.

    ¡°¡­ Math!¡± she giggled at me.

    ¡°Uuuggghhh.¡± I groaned.

    ¡°But that seems cool, though... maybe you''d work on the world-building part of the games?¡± she suggested, and I stopped my groaning.

    ¡°That does seem like a lot of fun...¡± I remarked with a livelier tone.

    ¡°Order up!¡± a waiter said as he came over with our food. Two sodas and a plain cheese pizza with a side of breadsticks. We thanked the man, who gave us a thumbs up and then returned to his duties.

    ¡°By the way,¡± Rachel said as we dug in, ¡°Do you have a middle name?¡±

    ¡°Hm?¡± I looked up at the question, swallowing the mouthful I had. ¡°Nah, not me. I guess the folks didn''t see a point to it.¡± I replied.

    ¡°Aw. That''s kinda boring. Now I can''t make it sound like you''re in real trouble if you do something.¡± she smirked.

    Exactly what the heck kind of scenario are you envisioning? I thought to myself with a funny look on my face.

    ¡°What the heck would I even get in to?¡± I softly grumbled.

    ¡°Dunno!¡± she quipped back cheerfully, eagerly devouring the slice of pizza she had. A moment of silence passed, and then I asked her the question as well. More or less.

    ¡°D-did you... that is... did your... parents... give you...¡±

    ¡°Anne.¡± she said in answer, gently smiling at me. ¡°Bashful Sean... I love you.¡± she continued, returning her attention to the pizza.

    Rachel Anne... Rachel Anne... the name echoed in my mind; then the wheels of my mind began turning. Rachel Anne... Danes. Rachel Anne Danes. R, A, D... thats...

    ¡°And please don''t say my name is ''rad''. I''ve heard it enough.¡± Rachel added with a grin.

    ¡°N-n-not even thinking it!¡± I hastily said, quickly eliminating the trail of thought I had thoughtlessly meandered into. She giggled again, and reached over for my hand. Her hand met mine, and they clasped together.

    ¡°No matter what, I want to help you find your path. We''ll look together, okay?¡± Rachel said to me with a smile, and I smiled back.

    ¡°Right back at you, partner.¡± I told her. ¡°Right back at you.¡±

    I''ll never get tired of it... I''ll never get tired of that smile.

 Bonus Chapter: Suspicions

    ¡°What do you think, Wild?¡± the tall man in Nordic-styled robes asked as he and his companion, clad in a druid-like robe, complete with staff, walked along the corridor of the Game Moderators'' in-world headquarters for Panarena Fantasy Online. They had just come from a very tiresome meeting with their fellow GM Gallancleeve, who was under suspicion for meddling with in-game objects and quests to help his son. But nothing had been decisively proven, yet.

    ¡°If you ask me, Forseti,¡± Wildthunder replied, ¡°We need to try probing Garth instead of Gallancleeve.¡±

    ¡°All well and good,¡± the taller man said, ¡°But we can''t quite accost him without proof.¡±

    ¡°So it''s finding that proof that''s the trouble.¡±

    ¡°I don''t want us to rummage through his inventory without more decisive evidence, after all,¡± Forseti shrugged.

    ¡°Even if doing so would grant us that evidence?¡± Wildthunder scowled.

    ¡°It''s in the terms and conditions, after all.¡±

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    ¡°I''d forgotten that,¡± the older man admitted. ¡°Perhaps we can try this a different way,¡± he then said.

    ¡°Oh?¡±

    ¡°My son, Wildeye, runs a guild called the Mountain Tigers in the same area as Garth; he''d jump at the chance to help us if we explained it to him.¡±

    ¡°Hmm... I''ll talk it over with Lumpstein and Athena; they''ll probably agree, though, and we can deputize him to keep an eye on Garth.¡± Forseti nodded.

    ¡°Let''s hope we can resolve this before either of them get out of hand.¡± Wildthunder said. ¡°I don''t know what''s worse; that pompous arse or his slippery father!¡± he added with a shake of his head, and Forseti chuckled.

    ¡°At least we have one good father-son duo on this game,¡± the taller man smiled.

    ¡°Of course you do. I''ve been a respectable programmer all my life, and my son is a veteran of the last war that those damned Neo-Soviets foisted on us. He''s got a head on his shoulders, that boy.¡±

    ¡°Ah, yes. I''d forgotten he was a real warrior. He''s certainly brightened up since you brought him here to this world, eh?¡±

    ¡°That he has, God love him. He''ll never walk again in life, but by God he can run and jump again here.¡± Wildthunder said with a smile. ¡°He''ll find what we need to find. Just be sure and get that grouchy, under-sized Father Christmas to agree!¡± he then added, and Forseti laughed again.

    ¡°I''ll do that, my friend, I''ll do that.¡±

 Chapter Seven: A New Battle Begins

    Well, two other people found out about me being Lana. But they both took it rather well. And once we started off on our new adventure in Seacrest (getting Healina some gear and levels), we developed a really strong teamwork and, after just a week, we got our newest friend to level forty-five.

    First off, we inadvertently ran across a quest related to our first destination with her, the Lightqueen''s Tomb. It promised one heck of a reward for the quest-taker upon completion, the Staff of the Lightqueen, which was perfect for Healina. It was a healing-slash-summoner''s staff with a bonus to Charisma and Wisdom.

    So we continued on our merry way with this unexpected bonus and, after fighting our way through a bunch of hostile wood-sprites and a few trolls, we came across the dungeon in question. The dungeon itself was inhabited mostly by spirit-type monsters, so I had arguably the toughest time, even with Holy Arrow and Holy Crescent Flash. Lizzy didn''t have it any easier, but since her specs were more aligned with a tank''s she had a couple reflect skills that could help her do damage to them. Ariana had the easiest time, as you might expect from a mage, and despite her initial worries about fighting Healina picked up a few skills for repelling incorporeal and undead monsters.

    And then we got to the end of the dungeon, where we faced the Lightqueen herself, who had been corrupted into a lich. Using the special items given to us by the quest-givers, we were able to slowly bring her health down and uncorrupt her, eventually putting her to rest for good. She then rewarded Healina with the set that bore her name, the Lightqueen''s Raiment, and after that we went to claim the staff from the quest-giver. That got out healer up to level thirteen pretty quick, and it tricked her out with the perfect set for her intended play-style.

    After she spent some time allocating her stats and selecting or upgrading skills, we ran around for a bit longer and then logged out for the night. On Saturday, we spent intermittent hours playing through the Mountains of Night, where we came across the semi-infamous trope of a quest chain. You know, one of those quests that leads to another and another and so on, usually getting harder and harder until you finally get to the last and hardest stage of them all.

    Well in the Mountains of Night (a region more or less based off of typical Eastern European fantasy tropes), that quest chain involved dragons. Seven dragons. And if you count the final boss, eight dragons. It took up all of our Saturday and some of Sunday night to get through it, but we got through it and then some (there were a lot and I mean a lot of side-quests for that little odyssey, half of them necessary to advance the main quest and some of them that were just conducive to it or in the same area), and by the end of it all Healina was then level thirty-two. The rest of the week we spent on more relaxed quests and quest chains, and by Friday we had gotten her up to level forty-six--and ourselves to forty-nine.

    With that finished, we spent a night relaxing in the hotspring. We also talked about our plans going forward; after all, the cap of the Aldholt Region is fifty. We would have to pick a region to start new adventures in soon; the discussion paused so we could dry off, head inside, and put on some casual wear to resume the discussion--not without a few jokes at my expense, of course. But anyway.

    The agreement we came to was to explore a few more of the level-cap dungeons in the Aldholt regions and then move on to the Marshes of the Wyrd, which was rumored to have a quest chain that sped up one''s travel there. Our actual destination was Xuanpu, an Asiatic region that Ariana and I in particular wanted to visit for the sake of honing our language skills. Lizzy and Healina agreed it was a good idea, and so the matter was settled for us.

    Incidentally, there is no true level cap for Panarena Fantasy Online. There are regional caps, like the aforementioned fifty for the Aldholt, and fifty-five for the Marshes of the Wyrd, but regarding the game as a whole, as long as you can grind something--be it quests, monsters, or even other players in PvP (that sounds gruesome I know, but it is just a game)--you can continue gaining experience as long as you keep playing the game. The highest level players in the entire game at the current moment are over three-hundred, and there''s only nine of them. I don''t know if that''s pathetic or admirable, given that the game has only been live for less than half a year, despite the six-month open beta test before that. Either way, it was certainly a testament to dedication, if nothing else.

    But anyhow. We spent the next few days working on our crafting skills rather than exploring the dungeons right off the bat, and Healina picked up some crafting skills related to her tamer specs: cooking and charm-making, in particular, but she also delved into mystic craft, which produced items that aided in spell-casting for healer and summoners.

    As for school, we were all doing pretty well there too, even if it wasn''t as enjoyable. And let me tell you it was soo enjoyable to walk up to my locker without having it slammed shut by some over-sized neanderthal orangutan. My reputation went up a little bit as well, being the one who outwitted him into getting himself expelled. Not that it was hard...

    Rachel and I have been more outgoing as well; these past few days, she''s been pretty anxious or even distant about something. She hasn''t told me yet, but I think there''s trouble at home on her end. But she brightens up when we''re together; she gets so bright, it makes me not want to ask, because I don''t want to help put the sadness back on her face. Maybe I should, though... maybe she wants me to ask. I need to ask her soon, I thought to myself on Wednesday as school was ending. Not soon; I need to ask her now, I said to myself as I took a deep breath.

    ¡°Hey, Rachel,¡± I said to her as we finished packing our bags.

    ¡°Hm?¡± she turned to me.

    ¡°Ahh... I''m not sure if this is the right place, but... are things... at home... okay?¡± I asked her. A sad smile came to her face.

    ¡°I want to talk to you about that soon. But not here.¡± she whispered as she came closer.

    ¡°That''s okay.¡± I assured her softly. ¡°I just... I don''t want you to feel alone.¡± I added. She wrapped her arms around me and buried her face in my chest.

    ¡°I know. I love you.¡±

    ¡°I love you too.¡±

    We stood like that for a moment, and then she let go so we could head for the buses. She didn''t let go of my hand until we were outside, when she kissed my cheek.

    ¡°See you for homework?¡±

    ¡°Definitely.¡± I replied with a smile, and we parted ways for the time being.

    Now, things weren''t just tense in our personal lives, mind you. The Aldholt regions were getting antsy as well, which was at least part of the reason we were planning to move on. See, there was this one guild, ?SOVEREIGN?, led by a level forty-eight player styling himself as Lord Garth. He was starting to ally or make pacts with other guilds around the area, and the stories about this sudden power play made the four of us fairly suspicious. I mean, guild alliances aren''t anything new in any game; but this seemed off-key from the reports of Garth''s personality.

    Basically he was the classic egotistical narcissist, from what we heard. There was also a rumor that his dad was working for the company that ran the game, which only fueled his boldness in being who he was. He wasn''t leader of an outlaw guild; ?SOVEREIGN? was a proud elitist guild, consisting only of players who managed to pass some of the hardest quests or obtain some of the rarest items in the Aldholt and other contiguous regions. And the rumor most prevalent right now was that he was organizing an official treaty ¡°for the good of all players in the Aldholt and nearby regions¡±, so they said.

    Somehow, I doubted that. And why was this rumor popular right now? Because tonight was supposedly the night (or day in Panarena time) that this treaty was supposed to be unveiled at the Great Pavilion in Aldholt City. And so, after homework and chores and supper had been finished off, I scurried up to my room to enter Panarena and see what was what with my friends.

    ¡°He''s becoming obsessed with that game of his,¡± I heard my mother say.

    ¡°Let him be; he does his chores, he''s done the homework, and his teachers are proud of him! Dr. Robertson gave us that extraordinary phone-call about how he...¡± my dad began replying to her.

    I didn''t hear the rest after I closed my door, but I knew my dad would eventually have mom agreeing with him. So much for calling me an irresponsible daydreamer, I thought to myself as I stuck out my tongue and put on the Dream Machine, switching it on to enter that amazing and beautiful world.

    ***

    When I logged in that night, I didn''t see anyone in the guild on yet. Oh right, I almost forgot: we made a guild with the four of us: the Silvernight Queens. We actually formed it the second night of our adventures as a quartet, and we had continued garnering a certain reputation among local players as a force to be reckoned with.

    I went to sit outside on the veranda and enjoy the sunshine; the in-game weather was just right, and it almost seemed a travesty that such a pretty day (even a virtual one) was probably about to be ruined by Garth and his scheming. If things didn''t go well, things could get quite intense really soon; and even if they did go well for him there would be a lot of bad feeling.

    Ariana soon logged in and joined me to sit in a sunny spot out on the porch; Healina and Lizzy were practically right behind her, but the two of them stayed inside. We could hear the faint sound of Lizzy''s hammer coming from the lower floor of the estate; I guess the two of them were working on their crafting for the moment.

    As the two of us sat there lazing in the bright sun like a pair of cats, I suddenly received a notification that a message had been sent. Ariana didn''t get one; I guess that meant it had only been sent out to the local guild leaders in the area. I opened the message so both of us could see it as we sat up.

    To the esteemed guild leaders of the Aldholt regions, including Aldholt, Ghoulwood, Belledown, Ipping Forest, Seacrest, Crystal Coasts, Varkstania, Mountains of Night, and the Woody Heights: greetings! I, Lord Garth of ?SOVEREIGN?, along with Angela of The Tea Cupboard, Angelfire of Flamehearts, and Wildeye of Mountain Tigers hereby cordially invite you to the ratification and signing ceremony of the Inter-Guild Aldholt Treaty, to be held two hours after you receive this message.

    If you should choose to disregard this message, that is your choice; however, your future dealings in the Aldholt Regions will prove more difficult for the doing-so from here on out. We advise you to join in our celebration of unity and player-advancement spearheaded by myself and my esteemed colleagues so that we can all continue to enjoy the game as usual! I hope that our plea for the furtherance of cooperation in this endeavor will enlist both your sympathies and your joining hands with us for the common good of all players.

    Yours in trust: Lord Garth, Angela, Angelfire, and Wildeye.

    I read and reread the message, getting more disgusted the second time through. Ariana looked over at me, her red eyes filled with concern.

    ¡°Would he really make things that difficult?¡± she asked me.

    ¡°Players in MMOs will do lots of crazy things, and some of them really are control freaks like Garth who''ll do anything to force other players into doing things their way. This could really backfire on him, though.¡± I said by way of answer.

    ¡°What should we do? Ignore it?¡±

    ¡°Nah... we''ll go down and see exactly what''s what first.¡±

    ¡°Hmm.¡± Ariana sighed as she looked down towards Aldholt City.

    ¡°What''s up?¡± I asked her after a moment, closing the message.

    ¡°I think mom is in talks for a new job already.¡± she said, a vacant look in her eyes.

    ¡°H--already?¡± I wondered in surprise. ¡°But I thought she seemed pretty decided on her job when we met at the mall...¡±

    ¡°That makes two of us,¡± she replied. ¡°I''m guessing even Joshua doesn''t know yet, but even if he did, he doesn''t have the same issue with it I do...¡±

    ¡°Yeah, that''s true...¡± I remarked. We looked over at each other, our eyes locked together.

    ¡°I don''t want to lose you right after finding you.¡± Ariana said softly, a hint of tears in her eyes.

    ¡°That makes two of us.¡± I said with a gentle smile, enveloping her in an embrace as quiet tears fell from her eyes. ¡°I don''t care if it''s a foolish hope; we''ll find a way to stay together, no matter what.¡± I vowed to her; she nodded.

    ¡°We''ll find it together.¡± she agreed. A few more moments passed, and then she brightened back up as we let go. ¡°But for now, let''s do what we can.¡± she said, and I nodded back. Lizzy and Healina then came outside.

    ¡°Hey! So did they send that message or what?¡± our Nordian smith said as they appeared.

    ¡°They want a meeting at the Grand Pavilion in a couple hours, Panarena time of course.¡± I reported to them.

    ¡°Hmm...¡± Healina frowned, looking down towards the city. ¡°What do you think will happen?¡±

    ¡°I''m not sure,¡± Lizzy said with a certain chipperness in her voice. ¡°I mean, I played a couple MMOs, but never got into anything like this before.¡±

    ¡°Heh, lucky... Midgard Rings and Galaxy Avengers got pretty intense with player-versus-player activities, especially in their open regions. It was brutal. And I guess that means you missed a lot of the Clan Wars in AoH as well...¡± I remarked, and Lizzy shrugged.

    ¡°I went to the tournaments mostly for fun, even if I was good enough to be one of two players left standing at the end of a certain event.¡± she said with a sly grin, and I grinned back.

    ¡°Well, anyway,¡± I continued, ¡°My guess is that this is not going to go well. Maybe it''ll be us, maybe it''ll be someone else; either way, this message is so obviously the opening salvo for a con...¡± I said as I pulled it up again for them to see.

    ¡°Definitely a threat,¡± Lizzy nodded.

    ¡°It''s a game for goodness'' sake,¡± Healina shook her head.

    ¡°People like Garth don''t really get that.¡± I told her. ¡°I mean, sure, I''m obsessed with games, but even I know how to face reality when I have to.¡±

    ¡°Exactly.¡± Lizzy agreed.

    ¡°It''s almost like...¡± I suddenly remarked, then trailed off. I wasn''t sure of my thoughts on the matter.

    ¡°Like what?¡± Ariana wondered.

    ¡°I dunno...¡± I returned in a thoughtful tone. ¡°Let''s go down in battle-gear though to catch them off their guard; and keep your eyes open.¡± I told them. They agreed with me, and we quickly geared up in preparation to head down.

    ¡°Let''s take a walk down for a change, get a feel for things.¡± Lizzy suggested, and the rest of us agreed to this as well.

    We made our way down to the city on foot, entering it nearly an hour and a half later to find people gathering at the pavilion. Most of them were guild leaders and their seconds, and maybe a couple other guild officers, but there were a few loners and solo players milling around to see what was going to unfold and if this ¡°treaty¡± was worth their time.

    Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

    As we reached the Grand Pavilion, I instantly recognized Lord Garth despite never having seen him. He had a rare set of armor and a sword that rumors said were nearly impossible to get at Aldholt levels; how had he gotten them, then? Next to Garth was his second, Humphrey, a more solemn individual than his boorish leader.

    Angela of The Tea Cupboard was on their right, along with Angelfire and her second; and Wildeye was on the left of Garth. Why was I not surprised to see that Ty was his second?

    Loads of players recognized us, of course, as we strode into the pavilion like--well, like queens. What? You thought we named ourselves arbitrarily? We actually snitched the name from piecing together some of the comments about us a few nights ago. But anyway. A lot of eyes were on us, and not just for our apparent celebrity, but because most players knew that we were the ones who would most likely antagonize Garth.

    ¡°There they are...¡±

    ¡°Think they''ll sign it?¡±

    ¡°I doubt it.

    ¡°Lana looks super annoyed...¡±

    ¡°So does Elizasmith. Damn.¡±

    ¡°Garth''s done it now.¡±

    ¡°Think they''ll draw weapons?¡±

    ¡°Shh! They''re at the table!¡±

    ¡°Shh!¡±

    ¡°Ohh, I gotta see this!¡±

    Ignoring the peanut gallery, I approached the table with Ariana and the others, and we scanned over the ¡°treaty¡± that Garth and his cronies had seemingly crafted painstakingly for our ¡°viewing pleasure¡±.

    In a nutshell? It was just about what I expected from Garth, and maybe a little worse. Basically Garth wanted the signees to contribute a percentage of all resources to an inter-guild stockpile so that all players regardless of their level would have something to work with. He also wanted to ensure that there were assigned time-slots for individuals or groups to harvest said resources so that no one could hoard them, along with another time-slot provision, this one for dungeon raiding. He himself, along with Angela, would take on the ¡°noble role¡± of ensuring equal distribution, taking a cut of the resources for their own guilds (which from their point of view made sense, because they were the largest guilds and therefore deemed themselves our feudal overlords). There was a lot of other stuff in it, mostly about protecting caravans or gatherers-slash-foragers, but the gist of it was that they wanted to lock up resource-gathering and questing in the Aldholt.

    I heard Lizzy almost growl as she read the terms; Healina made no reaction; Ariana let out a sigh of disgust. And then I looked up at Garth.

    ¡°What... is this...?¡± I asked him with a glare.

    ¡°Lady Lana?¡± he returned to me with a shameless smile.

    ¡°I agree that there are players who need protecting now and again, but this is too far! And locking up resources and dungeons in time-slots? This is a fantasy game, not a post-apocalyptic Earth! What kind of stupid prank are you trying to pull on us?¡± I demanded. The feeling I had earlier was starting to bug me again.

    ¡°Don''t be so hasty, my lady; I''m sure even you can see the wisdom in--¡±

    ¡°What? Wisdom in what? Removing the challenges and obstacles in a game that make it fun? Depriving people who know what they''re doing so that clueless idiots can just waltz in and take what they don''t deserve without any sort of effort on their part? My guild and I built ourselves up with a struggle; no one handed things to us for just logging in! I''m not signing this sick joke of a ''treaty''.¡± I said to him adamantly.

    ¡°How dare you!¡± Angela said indignantly. ¡°We--¡± she started to say again, but she was then interrupted by a fit of laughter--from Wildeye.

    ¡°What''s the meaning of this?¡± Angelfire asked him.

    ¡°Ah, me; I went along with this farce just to see if anyone would call you out before I did, and it looks as if they have!¡± Wildeye said with a fierce grin.

    ¡°Don''t do this, Wild; we''ve worked too hard on this to throw it away because of a few malcontents who dont--¡± Angela began, but he interrupted her.

    ¡°A few?¡± he said curiously. ¡°Unlike you, I pay attention to all sorts of players in this game, whether they''re part of my guild or not. There are many who agree this ''treaty'' of yours is a farce. I''m glad to know Lana is one of them. The Mountain Tigers withdraw their support. If you think you can pull this off without us, and indeed without the Silvernight Queens, good luck!¡± he said.

    I and the others needed no second bidding. We left the pavilion without even a backward glance, and Wildeye hastened out as well with Tyman bringing up the rear. Quite a few other players joined us as we made our exit, most notably Timidator and his second; more, it seemed, than Garth and his remaining friends had counted on. Wildeye caught us at the edge of town, holding up his hands for parley.

    ¡°Lana!¡± he said to me.

    ¡°Wildeye.¡± I replied as we halted.

    ¡°I am glad you saw through such connivance.¡± he said with relief.

    ¡°I''m glad you''re not as loyal to fools as it seemed,¡± I returned in kind, and he laughed.

    ¡°No doubt he will soon force the issue and gain an alliance of those who will heed his call; for this reason, my guild and I will arrange for a counter-alliance. Will you meet with us later tonight?¡± he asked me. I looked at the others. They nodded their support.

    ¡°We''ll join you.¡± I said, reaching out a hand.

    ¡°You can find us in Varkstania, at Mount Fang.¡± he said to us as we shook hands.

    ¡°Got it!¡± I said in reply.

    ¡°Good hunting to you!¡± he said as we parted company for the time being.

    When we got to a fork in the road, Healina and Lizzy split to do some exploring, and Ariana went with me up to Cloverbell. The two of us sat on our bench again once we returned, resuming our casual wear. Ariana sighed, and leaned on me as we gazed out at the sky, which was now fading into a sunset.

    ¡°I know I agreed, but getting involved in this seems a bit much. There really will be a war, won''t there? A player war,¡± she said sadly.

    ¡°Ehh, it looks like it,¡± I agreed.

    ¡°Hmm.¡±

    Snap. Red alert. She''s not liking this idea.

    ¡°Ahh--but it''s not like anyone really dies or gets hurt; I mean, sure, there''s some bad feeling about it, but I think it''s more just a way of players letting off some steam that''s built up; we''ve all gotten this far, and we want to test each other''s skills. I think that''s the real undercurrent driving this wave of conflict.¡± I managed to ramble out in a more or less coherent and surprisingly sensible explanation. She looked back at me with curiosity.

    ¡°Oh?¡±

    She seems interested...

    ¡°Yeah; maybe that''s the feeling I had earlier. They don''t want to wait for an official event, so they concocted this to provoke one of their own. It''ll blow out soon and we''ll all laugh about it later!¡± I said.

    ¡°Hmm... that does make sense now that you say it that way,¡± she agreed.

    Okay, that was a good explanation... even if it''s not exactly what my suspicions are; but any port in a storm if it cheers her up!

    ¡°Okay! We''ll go along with it then! But if we manage to find a peaceful solution,¡± she said to me, and I smiled back.

    ¡°Then we''ll go for it. I promise.¡± I told her.

    ¡°Good!¡± she replied, and then kissed me. We rarely did this in Panarena, mostly because it felt somewhat weird; but, sometimes, we didn''t care.

    ***

    We entered the Varkstania region as a group again a couple hours later. Varkstania was basically a continuation of the Mountains of Night thematically and aesthetically, except it was dominated by flatlands and marshes, with only a few mountains--such as Mount Fang. Like the Mountains of Night, the Russo, Slavic, and Germanic fantasy tropes were strong in the region. Mount Fang itself was nearly dead-center in the region, and it was the tallest mountain in the Aldholt regions. Lizzy let out a whistle as she caught sight of it.

    ¡°Boy, that really does look like a fang,¡± she remarked.

    ¡°Like a saber-toothed cat''s fang, almost.¡± Healina agreed.

    ¡°Dear designers: you nailed it.¡± Lizzy quipped, and we laughed.

    ¡°Wow, there''s a lot of others showing up too,¡± I said as we began ascending the path to the guildhall near the top of the mountain.

    We found Wildeye and the others in the great hall of the Mountain Tigers'' guildhall; there were several players gathered whom we knew or had heard good things about with him. Timidator, of course; Jannie Brooks of the Lightbook Bridage, a sword-and-shield user who was apparently a brilliant battle-strategist; Magisteria of Words and Sorcery, a premiere mage-player (though personally I believed Ariana might be stronger, or at least more ingenious and creative); and there was another player called Deathscythe who led the newly infamous guild Hallow''s Eve. He and his gang had, almost amusingly, formed in Varkstania itself. They had taken out one of the world bosses a few days ago; I mean, they spawned back, but still -- those things are serious business, as I told Ari a few weeks ago.

    ¡°Good, good!¡± Wildeye said as we entered. ¡°Is everyone here?¡±

    ¡°I think so, boss.¡± Tyman said. ¡°The Queens'' came in with the last group of stragglers from what Mongrel just DM''ed me.¡±

    ¡°Right,¡± the other nodded back. ¡°All right then; we''re all here because we want to oppose Garth and ?SOVEREIGN?. And we''re going to start poking holes in their plans as soon as we can; perhaps not tonight, but definitely tomorrow.¡±

    ¡°I think we know some of his flaws already,¡± Jannie said. ¡°His ''alliance'' called for ''integration of fighters'' to create larger groups, ''armies'', to enforce their will.¡±

    ¡°They want to combine fighters who haven''t worked with each other.¡± Magisteria nodded at the words. ¡°Sounds smart at first, but practically speaking it''s dumb in a game like this.¡±

    ¡°The VR world, you mean.¡± Jannie returned.

    ¡°Exactly.¡±

    ¡°But we can overcome those numbers with our strengths; we can simply fight as our usual groups with minimal coordination.¡± I said, and the others nodded.

    ¡°Agreed.¡± Wildeye grinned.

    ¡°Since he''s intent on locking up resources and dungeons, we should give him a bit of grief on those counts first. Snatch up some rare resource deposits and clear a few crafting dungeons; that should irritate them.¡± Timidator said, and more than a few people chuckled.

    ¡°We should also try something else, though you might not like it.¡± I said, and they looked over at me.

    ¡°Lana?¡± Jannie wondered.

    ¡°We should sent messages to the outlaw guilds, see if they want in on the action. Maybe even offer them a certain cut of some kind or another. I know it sounds dirty, but if they can help us end this sooner...¡±

    ¡°Then we would be foolish not to at least ask.¡± Wildeye nodded. ¡°It is a good plan, but let us not forget that the other side might try the same thing.¡±

    ¡°True.¡±

    ¡°Let us also not forget that other guilds in other regions may be watching; some may offer to join us, some may offer to join Garth. I am hoping that they will see through Garth and his honeyed slavery, as we have, but let us not get complacent.¡± Wildeye continued, and the others nodded.

    ¡°Yo, boss, me and some of the boys can take down that one crafting dungeon near Garth''s home base in two hours flat.¡± Tyman said. ¡°Think we can do it tonight, too.¡±

    ¡°I can get some to raid Belledown and the Ghoulwood for rare crafting items.¡± Magisteria added.

    ¡°My friends and I can work our magic in the Crystal Coasts.¡± Deathscythe said as he crossed his arms.

    ¡°I appreciate these gestures; do them of your own free will if you will, and let us hope Garth sees how determined we are!¡± Wildeye said, and they nodded their heads in answer.

    ¡°Let''s draw up some plans for a more coordinated series of battles tomorrow; and let''s bet on the outlaws rejecting our terms and deciding to make their own mischief for both sides,¡± Jannie then said as she gazed over the map of the Aldholt.

    ¡°I have to say I agree, despite my putting forth the idea...¡± I said with a shrug.

    ¡°You never know.¡± Wildeye remarked with his own shrug. ¡°They may yet surprise us.¡±

    ¡°Either way, the Blackwood gang is not getting my sword back!¡± Timidator quipped, smashing his fists together, and there was another round of laughter. ¡°But what do you mean, Jannie?¡± the big man then asked her.

    ¡°Both ?SOVEREIGN? and Flamehearts have guild outposts scattered throughout the region; as you know, outposts are not guildhalls--they''re vulnerable to PvP and can even be seized from a group or guild by a thoughtful attack.¡±

    ¡°Turn their defenses against them, I like it!¡± Timidator grinned.

    ¡°I have a contact who might like to help with that... I''ll have to reach out tomorrow and ask him about the matter,¡± Wildeye mused.

    ¡°What about our flagship team?¡± Magisteria said with a faint smile, looking towards us. I blinked, and pointed a finger at myself inquiringly. ¡°Yes, you!¡±

    ¡°I''m sure they''ll think of something to do once we outline our plans tomorrow,¡± Wildeye said with a grin.

    ¡°That''s true,¡± I nodded. ¡°It''s late for us now, though,¡± I said as I pulled up a menu to see the real-world time.

    ¡°Ah! Right. We should also coordinate rotations to account for our younger fighters, even if they are the stars of the Aldholt region!¡± Wildeye beamed, and the four of us looked around at each other sheepishly.

    ¡°Whatever, boss. But I''m still going for that dungeon. Ain''t no problem for this high-schooler here,¡± Tyman shrugged.

    ¡°Well, at any rate, we have plans and the gist of further plans.¡± Jannie said to us. ¡°One thing before we adjourn for the night; I agree that we should stick to our usual groups, but I also think we should designate commanders in case we have to band together.¡± she said, and there were many who agreed to this.

    ¡°Wildeye and Lana, obviously.¡± one voice said.

    ¡°Jannie should be one too.¡± I said, ¡°And some of the other guild leaders, or even seconds.¡±

    ¡°Let us not get too many, however.¡± Wildeye cautioned. ¡°Magisteria? Deathscythe? Timidator? Gerald? Wolfbane? What say you?¡±

    ¡°Not me,¡± Timidator said.

    ¡°Nor me,¡± Gerald shook his head.

    ¡°Magisteria.¡± Deathscythe said, and Wolfbane nodded his head, as did the other two.

    ¡°Are we all agreed on these choices?¡± Wildeye asked. A round of clapping was heard. ¡°Then we four and no more shall be your commanders; we appreciate your nominations and your trust. That said, as Jannie pointed out, these designations shall only be used if we have to fight a pitched battle or if we come together for a siege.¡± he said, and there was more clapping for the words.

    ¡°Right, that''s definitely enough talking for the night. Let''s do some damage and then plan things out at our next meeting!¡± Magisteria said. A short but poignant cheer rose up from all of us at those words, and then Wildeye said one last thing.

    ¡°Out of simple curiosity, should we have a name for our pact?¡± he wondered.

    ¡°Oh! That''d be groovy.¡± Jannie clapped her hands.

    ¡°Any ideas?¡± Magisteria wondered, and then smiled. ¡°No, I know.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Deathscythe asked.

    ¡°In honor of the two who so beautifully slapped Garth in the face, at least metaphorically, I propose the name ''Silver Tiger Pact''.¡± she said.

    I didn''t think it was possible for applause to be so loud, but it was. Wildeye and I exchanged a wry grin. For better or worse, the Silver Tiger Pact had been born.

    When the four of us returned to Cloverbell, Lizzy and Healina headed out for the night, and Ari and I sat down on the couch in the common room, as we usually did. The two of us were content with each other''s company for several peaceful moments, not saying a word and not needing any either. It was almost eleven in real-time. Ari looked over at me then, giving me a somewhat amused look.

    ¡°Are all player wars in games like this?¡± she wondered.

    ¡°Hmm...¡± I began as my face crinkled a bit, ¡°I mean, this is an entirely new medium, so it''s not exactly the same, but the basic principles are the same. Nothing can really get lost except fortifications and resources, and gear in this game--as we found out in Timidator''s case--and this house in particular is designated as a non-PvP area.¡±

    ¡°So... put simply, our objective is to frustrate the other side into giving up by gathering up resources and finishing dungeons to lock them out as often and as much as we can... which kind of sounds like harassment, to be honest.¡± she noted.

    ¡°That''s... not unfair... but to be more fair to us, Garth is planning to do pretty much the same thing, it was just dressed up prettier in the wording.¡± I replied.

    ¡°That''s true.¡± she said with a smile. ¡°So we''re being more honest about it is all,¡± she added with the faint hint of a smirk.

    ¡°More or less,¡± I said with a small laugh.

    ¡°I think I might enjoy myself at least a little bit. I do want to see how our skills compare to other players... but if it goes on too long...¡±

    ¡°That''d be annoying...¡± I nodded. ¡°I bet by the weekend, though, they''ll be calling for talks to settle everything again.¡±

    ¡°That''d be good.¡± Ariana smiled. ¡°You got that last bit of homework done, right?¡± she then asked me with a more serious look.

    ¡°I managed it, somehow...¡±

    ¡°Good!¡± she returned, patting my head. ¡°All right, we should get off, it''s super late.¡±

    ¡°True... see you tomorrow, then.¡± I told her, and after a tight hug the two of us logged out. As I fell asleep in the real world, I felt like my subconscious hit upon something important, but before it could actually become a thing in my conscious mind I conked out for the night.

 Chapter Eight: Night Heist

    On Thursday morning I snapped awake and almost flew through my usual morning routine. By the time I got to the bus I was pretty wound up; Ty looked more tired than the last time I had seen him after he''d been on a Panarena adventure (not that he knew I was there).

    Ever notice how when you''re feeling hyper everything seems to slow down? Like really slow down? That''s how the bus ride felt. Like it was beyond annoying. When we got to school at last, Ty didn''t even have time to flick me. I was out of the bus and making a bee-line for my locker.

    ¡°The hell''s up with you, squirrel?¡± I heard him call as he entered the building. I turned around briefly to give him an apologetic grin, and he shrugged, shaking his head. ¡°Don''t get in trouble without me.¡± he said, flashing a V-sign as he made his way to his own locker. I reached my own a moment later, and began sorting books. Someone poked me a moment later.

    ¡°What is it with the two of you always joking about trouble?¡± Rachel asked with the faint hint of a smirk as she opened her own locker.

    ¡°Ahh... ehh? Did I tell you how I met him?¡± I suddenly wondered.

    ¡°Hmm? Oh, you did! Really? That''s why?¡± she returned, shaking her head. ¡°Boys.¡±

    ¡°Y-you say that, but he''s pretty much been my bes--¡± I started, and then suddenly halted.

    My best friend. I pondered those words for a moment. Would he say the same? Neither of us really ''hung out'' with anyone (or each other) that I knew of, both of us being more or less reclusive--him a bit more so. Had I ever seen him hanging out with anyone besides the basketball team? And even then, he only did so when they were practicing or playing.

    ¡°Your best friend?¡± Rachel said to me, playfully nudging me. ¡°I thought you didn''t have any friends until I came along,¡± she remarked with a wink as I stirred myself and finished gathering my books for morning classes.

    ¡°I mean, I don''t think I did... I guess I feel different about it lately, though.¡± I replied as we went into class and sat down at our seats.

    ¡°I get that,¡± she nodded. ¡°For the first time in a long time I feel like I actually fit in somewhere.¡± she remarked, idly playing with her hair as she gazed out towards the window.

    ¡°Me too.¡± I returned softly. She turned to me with a smile, and put her left hand on my right one, softly squeezing it. We stayed like that until classes began, at which point we snapped ourselves out of our little bubble to try and focus on school.

    One by one morning classes passed us by, each handing us their own wonders or dread in turn until the lunch bell came along. When the four of us had gathered around my desk (well, plus Rachel''s, as I should point out) as usual, we broke out our lunches and began eagerly digging in. No one really said anything until Ellie finally broke the silence.

    ¡°So what''s our move tonight after school and stuff?¡± she said softly.

    ¡°Hmm...¡± Andrea mused as she leaned back, sipping her drink through a straw.

    ¡°Well if our leader doesn''t know, then I certainly don''t.¡± Rachel said with a sly grin as she looked over at me. I pondered for a moment.

    ¡°I think we''ll get more detailed plans at the meeting tonight, but I think we might be doing some resource-raiding.¡± I said. ¡°A lot of other players on our side were still up messing with the dungeons, especially the crafting dungeons, when I checked the forums this morning. The Garth-Fire Alliance seems pretty upset.¡±

    ¡°Is that what they''re called now?¡± Ellie wondered. ¡°Oh, I get it; Flamehearts and ?SOVEREIGN? are the biggest guilds on that side, after all.¡±

    ¡°True, but I think The Tea Cupboard has a more sentimental pull with Garth somehow; did you see the way Angela was at his side like a queen or something?¡± Rachel remarked. I had to admit I hadn''t noticed that much.

    ¡°I did see that,¡± Andrea nodded.

    ¡°O-M-G, yes!¡± Ellie added. ¡°Like really, girl, you can do better.¡±

    ¡°But what kind of resources will we really be going after?¡± Andrea asked then.

    ¡°High profile or rare resources that don''t replenish as quickly as others,¡± I told her in reply. ¡°I bet they''ll have people guarding them, too; they''ve enough people to do that sort of thing and still not worry about their PvP outposts. But hopefully any attack on the outposts will draw off support from the resource rich areas we might be targeting.¡±

    ¡°Most likely,¡± Ellie agreed. ¡°I think I know who Wildeye is going to talk to; there''s a guild in the Mountains of Heimgar called ''Gears and Wheels'', a Dwarf-only guild. I heard they specialize in siege-craft.¡±

    ¡°Heh?¡± I wondered. ¡°That sounds kind of cool.¡±

    ¡°They have those sorts of guilds?¡± Rachel said curiously.

    ¡°Well our plan is to be an all-girls guild, virtually speaking,¡± Ellie quipped with a grin as she looked over towards me.

    ¡°Ahh...¡± I looked up towards the ceiling with a helpless grin as Rachel smiled and Andrea giggled. ¡°But I don''t know that we''ll really get much bigger than four.¡±

    ¡°True. But tight-knit groups are more my thing.¡± the blonde girl said.

    ¡°Yes, I do like it the way it is now.¡± Andrea nodded. ¡°Maybe someday we can add a couple more, though.¡±

    ¡°That would be fun.¡± Rachel agreed.

    ¡°It would.¡± I nodded.

    ¡°But more importantly... our World Cultures teacher said something yesterday about an assignment he was going to give us today, right?¡± Ellie then said.

    ¡°I think so,¡± Rachel said after a moment, her expression thoughtful.

    ¡°Ugh. Let''s not get into a guild-war and a major assignment at the same time again, if we can help it,¡± the older girl quipped with an uneasy smile.

    ¡°Agreed.¡± I said with a bemused grin of my own, and the other two girls nodded their assent to this as well.

    We continued with lighter banter for the rest of lunch, and when it had ended the four of us headed to our lockers to get ready for afternoon classes. Of course, the top of the list for Rachel and I (and Ellie) was the aforementioned World Cultures; we sat down, in our spots, and saw that, on the board, our teacher had the assignment sketched out for us.

    Assignment: ten-page report, due in two weeks. Topic: conflict and resolution. Discuss: meaningful resolutions to conflicts over ideology, resources, nationalism, or imperialism; provide examples either from current events, past events, or hypothetical events.

    Bonus points will be awarded for outside-of-the-box solutions or for addressing multi-issue conflicts.

    The three of us looked at each other with a satisfied smirk. What kind of ironic timing was this?

    ¡°Well, I doubt we can actually report about a video-game...¡± I quietly said.

    ¡°But we can dress it up for a hypothetical scenario.¡± Rachel noted with a grin.

    ¡°I take it back. This is some really good timing.¡± Ellie remarked; a few moments later, class was called to order, putting the thought from our heads for the next hour or so, and then we copied the assignment down in our notes for future reference.

    The other two classes passed by without much in the way of major developments, except that our theater class was really leaning towards that romance play I mentioned a while back. And our Chinese lessons hammered home the fact that I really wanted to get out of this virtual war quickly and move on to Xuanpu. But at the same time I really did want to show up Garth for the fool he was, trying to pull something like this in a game world, of all places.

    Ahh--can''t think about that now, I thought to myself as I came back to the topic of learning how to describe things in Chinese. The game was pushed from my mind then, and remained out until I got home later that day and finished with homework.

    ***

    ¡°Someone''s doing rather well at keeping up with assignments,¡± my dad remarked as I set my bag near the door for tomorrow. It was just after dinner; mom was out late for a change.

    ¡°I guess I am,¡± I agreed with a shrug. ¡°Most of them aren''t that hard, and with--¡± I stopped, choking on embarrassment. He let out a grin.

    ¡°No worries, pal. I get it.¡± he said with a silent chuckle.

    Laugh it up, laugh it up, I thought to myself inwardly as I affected a wry smile.

    ¡°Your mother''s still not keen about you fooling around with that thing, but you''ve been very responsible with it--to the surprise of both of us, I have to say.¡±

    ¡°Even gamers have their pride,¡± I returned, feeling it was kind of obvious.

    ¡°True... you go on, then. Have fun in wherever-land or so,¡± he said with a wink.

    Panarena, I quipped back internally as I nodded outwardly, heading up to my room to enter that world once more.

    The others were waiting for me when I got on; we made our way to a wayport and headed to Mount Fang. We found most of the leaders of our alliance assembled; Wildeye explained that Jannie and her guild were already off on a campaign of their own, along with a few sub-leaders of the alliance.

    ¡°We want the four of you to raid this area for resources,¡± he said, pointing to a spot on the map. Something in my memory prodded at me. ¡°There''s a lot of special and rare herbal ingredients that spawn here; the Garth-Fire Alliance has sent a small squad to keep an eye on it and ''preserve it'' from ''thieves'' and such.¡± he shook his head.

    ¡°A small squad?¡± I wondered.

    ¡°Well, when I say small,¡± he replied with a shrug, ¡°I really mean about fifty or so. But that is small for the two biggest guilds in the region.¡±

    ¡°Pfft, we can handle fifty, I bet.¡± Ellie said with a smirk. ¡°For all their ''equal opportunity'' policies half of their side isn''t even at level cap.¡± she added in a sardonic tone.

    ¡°Be careful you encounter the right half, then.¡± Wildeye remarked wittily.

    ¡°Sure thing!¡± Ellie said with a big grin.

    ¡°Easy, Wuuki,¡± I said to her, and she scrunched up her face in a bemused look as she caught on to the fact that I had compared her to the tall and furry co-pilot from the Galaxy Avenger films. ¡°We''ll assess the situation first, of course. I assume that''s why you''ve sent out all these other strikes first? To keep them from reinforcing this area?¡±

    ¡°She''s brilliant, all right.¡± Magisteria smirked. ¡°If you claim those resources they''ll take three days to reset. That should make Garth and his friends rethink this idiocy.¡± she told us.

    ¡°We''ll get on it, then.¡± I nodded.

    ¡°Good; Magisteria, Timidator, go on ahead of them with your own objective.¡± Wildeye said, and the two of them nodded.

    ¡°Of course.¡±

    ¡°You got it!¡± they replied, and headed out with their guild-mates as the four of us made our way out after them. Ariana nudged me.

    ¡°Do you know the area we''re going to? You had that look on your face,¡± she whispered as I looked over at her.

    ¡°Maybe?¡± I scratched the back of my head. ¡°I feel like I wandered around there recently, but maybe I''m mixing it up with something else.¡± I remarked.

    ¡°Hmm.¡± Ari nodded.

    We made our way to the wayport, finding the others had already gone on to their own destinations. The four of us selected a wayport nearest to our objective. As we alighted on one, the strange feeling of familiarity came to me again. Deciding it could wait until we got there, I shrugged, and the four of us stepped onto the wayport for transit.

    Here we go...!

    ***

    The in-game weather got very foggy as we made our way towards the place where the herbal resources-slash-alchemy ingredients were. Not one of us made a sound; of course, I further minimized our soundless trek with one of my skills, Shadow Sharing. By the time we got to our destination (after raiding a few other promising spots) there was almost no visibility.

    This is what''s known as a ¡°double-edged sword¡±, I mused to myself as we crept closer. We halted; Ariana and I used our detection skills to spy out the lay of the land.

    ¡°Definitely no less than fifty,¡± I remarked, and Ariana nodded.

    ¡°They have five teams of three patrolling the area, and three teams of two around the perimeter.¡± she reported.

    ¡°Leaving the rest in a couple huddled masses on standby,¡± I nodded in confirmation.

    ¡°On the far side, too... lucky.¡± Ariana said. ¡°I can keep my spell going to keep a lookout while we gather up the herbs; it''ll be like like that old arcade game!¡± she said with a smirk.

    ¡°Nice-- let''s go, then!¡± Lizzy said, and we began our quiet little raid.

    For the first several minutes our plan went off without a hitch. We gathered up quite a lot, but of course there was a lot more yet to go -- hopefully our friends weren''t getting tired in their diversionary fights. Then I noticed something, and that something finally jogged my memory.

    Wait a minute, this tree... this is that area I noticed the night I ran into Ty... these are the silver oaks!

    Let me explain these a little better. Silver oaks are also a rare crafting material, used primarily in crafting things like mage''s wands or staves, magical talismans or other assorted arcane items, and other things of that nature. They were found only in the Aldholt regions, and this was one of only seven I had ever seen.

    ¡°Hey! Gather up, quick!¡± I whispered, and we went off to a side for a moment.

    ¡°What is it?¡± Lizzy whispered back.

    ¡°These are silver oaks!¡± I returned softly, tapping the side of the tree next to us. Their eyes widened.

    ¡°So they are!¡± Healina remarked as quietly as she could.

    ¡°This changes things,¡± Lizzy mused. ¡°The scouts thought they were just after the herbs for potions and boosters, but Flamehearts does have a lot of mages; and if they get their hands on these...¡±

    ¡°We need to get them first!¡± I replied. ¡°They may have numbers, but we have quality-- especially Words and Sorcery!¡±

    ¡°You''re right about that,¡± the Nordian halberd-wielder nodded. ¡°But how do we clear the field? They''ll notice if we start cutting down trees!¡±

    ¡°If it''s silver oaks, I can have them down in about twenty seconds each with Mystic Saw,¡± Healina said confidently.

    ¡°That still leaves us a huge gaping problem!¡± the other girl sighed.

    ¡°I''ll be a decoy,¡± I said. ¡°There''s only eight here who have levels on par with us; the rest I can pick off easily, so long as they don''t all bunch up at once. But I think I can counter that kind of problem...¡±

    ¡°Use these, too,¡± Ariana said, transferring some flame-charms from her inventory to mine. These could be used to start fires pretty much anywhere.

    ¡°Thanks, partner!¡± I said, and she smiled, winking at me.

    ¡°All right, this can work,¡± Lizzy agreed. ¡°How many oaks are there?¡± she asked.

    ¡°I count... thirty-three.¡± Ariana told us.

    Thirty-three trees felled at twenty seconds per tree. Allowing them time to move from tree to tree and still pick up the herbs we needed would add some time as well, but of course Ariana and Lizzy would be doing their best in that regard. All told...

    ¡°That''s about fifteen minutes of time we may be looking at.¡± Healina said to us. ¡°We can do this, I know we can!¡± she said determinedly.

    ¡°Boy, you''re psyched,¡± I remarked with a quiet awe. She smiled back.

    ¡°We''re ready when you are, Lana!¡± she replied with a wink of her own. The other two girls nodded.

    ¡°All right,¡± I nodded back. ¡°Give me a ten count after I split, and then go.¡± I told them, and they nodded in affirmation. I took off, entering Shadow-world almost as soon as I stood up.

    Instantly I downed one of the patrols, and then quickly downed another. None of the three had any sort of clue what had hit them. Then I tossed one of the flame-charms way off to the side of the area, near to one of the huddled groups on standby. They reacted instantly, trying to figure out what they should do (especially considering the fog) as they looked around. I scrambled up one of the other trees in the area and got my bow ready. Within a few moments I was ready, and I fired my first arrow.

    Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

    ¡°Borkanator! Borkanator''s down!¡± someone said as my first arrow struck, only to be downed themselves by my next shot.

    ¡°All groups! Reinforce the north side! The north side!¡± another voice cried out. I managed to take down a third patrol, and then one of the three guarding the perimeter, and then I changed positions, exchanging my bow for the daggers as I slipped into Shadow Veil.

    ¡°Where are they?!¡± my next target said just before I got them; he squawked, and burst apart into nothing.

    ¡°Goober? Goober!¡± another voice shouted.

    At least he lived up to his name, I thought with a wry grin. I looked at the time; three minutes had passed. No one seemed to have noticed the others. I set off another flame-charm, this one behind a group coming up from the east. Two of them fell to my blades soon after, and I ducked into Shadow Veil again as the others spun on their heels.

    ¡°The east! The east!!¡±

    ¡°Call for reinforcements!¡±

    ¡°They''re all tied up with the Silver Tigers!¡±

    ¡°The Silver Tigers are here, dang it!!¡±

    ¡°Where''s that sneak?!¡±

    Our opponents began dashing around wildly trying to find me; I unleashed another flame-charm to the northeast, disturbing one of the more composed groups. They came to life and almost started attacking each other before they realized what they were doing.

    Wait, are these two different guilds? I wondered to myself, and then smiled mischievously. I quickly darted into Shadow-world and sprinted as fast as I could for a drive-by framing. There was just enough space between my target and my scapegoat. Before anyone knew what was happening my target was down, and my scapegoat whirled around in a defensive position; however, it also looked as if he had just killed my target.

    ¡°What the--¡±

    ¡°Why you--!!¡±

    ¡°Traitors!¡±

    ¡°Don''t we have enough problems right now without cowards like you turning on us?!¡±

    ¡°No, wait!¡±

    ¡°Who are you calling traitors?¡±

    ¡°Don''t play dumb with us!!¡± the other players shouted at each other as a brawl broke out.

    How in the world did that work out so nicely? I really wasn''t expecting it to. I guess I was getting better at what I did--which ¡­ kind of isn''t saying much, honestly. But it''s a game!

    I continued on to my next targets, taking down three of them before heading off to distract them with another flame-charm deeper in the woods as I checked the time. Another eight minutes had passed by.

    Four minutes left, I mused to myself as I scampered about in Shadow Veil. Now there was a brawl breaking out between the survivors of the first and their ¡°friends¡± who had raced over to see what was going on and why people from their alliance were turning on each other. I picked off a couple others with my bow, and then one of them managed to blow a horn. He had a ?SOVEREIGN? guild emblem on his shield. I took him out next. After that they called a pause to their in-fighting and tried looking for me again.

    ¡°I bet that sneak is the one who started it anyway...¡± one of them growled.

    Oopsies. He sounds mad.

    ¡°Then they''re a damn good sneak.¡±

    ¡°Wait, you don''t think...?¡± another of them suddenly said.

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Is Lana Windstrider around?¡± the other voice said hoarsely.

    ¡°Oh, snap!¡± someone remarked adventurously.

    ¡°There''s only a few here who could take her on, though,¡± yet another person said.

    Heh. Personally I''d like to think none of you could actually beat me, I thought to myself as we continued our cat-and-mouse game. Fourteen minutes had passed since I split off from the others. Healina and the others had to be pretty much done by now; and of course, between the smoke and the fog, no one had even noticed. At that moment, another horn sounded. It was a horn of answer. Suddenly, I got an IM.

    We got what we needed, hurry on out! Lizzy recognized that horn -- Ari. Nodding to myself, I slipped away quietly and went to rejoin the others near the wayport.

    ¡°What''s up?¡± I said when I reached them.

    ¡°That was Humphrey''s horn; he''s Garth''s second.¡± Lizzy told me. ¡°I''ve never seen him fight, but everyone who has fought him says he''s pretty invincible.¡±

    ¡°Gotcha.¡± I nodded back. ¡°Well, since we''re done, let''s get out of here.¡± I said, and we made our way back to Mount Fang to report in.

    When we returned, we found the other groups--or at least their team leaders--starting to report in as well. Jannie flashed us a victory sign, which we returned.

    ¡°Nice!¡± she said as we shared a high-five.

    ¡°Can''t wait to see the forums tomorrow,¡± I quipped, and she snorted with laughter. As soon as we were assembled around the table we shared a round of applause for the success of our various schemes, and then the resources were laid out.

    Now Sean, how exactly did you pack up thirty-odd trees? I know it''s a video-game, but still, there''s a certain limit to carrying things, right? True, but there''s a backdoor for mage-types like Ariana and Healina: Mystic Storage, where they can store nearly an infinite amount of arcane or arcane-related items, including--you got it. Silver oaks. And when the two of them set down the pile of silver oaks we had collected, there was quite a lot of murmuring.

    ¡°Oh-ho...¡± Wildeye remarked with a fierce grin. ¡°Now I understand.¡±

    ¡°Damn, boss, that''s a lot!¡± Tyman said as he looked over at the logs. ¡°They could have had all their damn mages and stuff ready to go by tomorrow with that load,¡± he added.

    ¡°And now we get to do so.¡± Wildeye clapped his hands together. ¡°Any crafter who can make use of these, please do! Thank you all for what you''ve done tonight; we have yet again frustrated Garth and his friends, and deserve a rest for our efforts. Don''t forget that tomorrow some of the dungeons are resetting; we''ll have to be on top of them for any reprisals that may come along!¡±

    ¡°''May''?¡± Magisteria said with a raised eyebrow.

    ¡°You know what I mean.¡± the other guild leader returned with a fierce grin as scattered clapping broke out again. ¡°Oh, by the way; we got a message back from the outlaw guilds.¡± Wildeye then said. ¡°They are open to the offer, but as we suspected they warned us that if the other side offers more, we should beware.¡±

    ¡°Kind of what we thought then, huh?¡± Jannie frowned. Well, there was nothing more we could do about that any way you slice it.

    After that we divvied out what we had nabbed in our raids, and then went our own separate ways for the night. Well, most of us did. Some of them went back to go and harass any Garth-Fire members still online while they still could--no doubt Garth himself was fuming at all the reports coming in. As for the four of us, we made our way back to Cloverbell and worked on crafting for the rest of the night. Lizzy and Healina were the first to sign off for the night; Ari and I sat with each other on the couch, looking out at the stars and listening to the soothing sounds of night-time.

    ¡°This will be over soon, right?¡± she said to me after a while.

    ¡°I think so. Unless he''s more determined than he looks. But I think even he won''t be stupid enough to push the neighborhood around like this for much longer.¡±

    ¡°Hopefully.¡±

    She sounded blue. I looked over at her; she stared out at the stars, seeing them but not seeing them. I put an arm around her, and she smiled back at me.

    ¡°It was fun, though. Maybe next time we''ll be in a more honest PvP battle.¡± she then said.

    ¡°Yeah, definitely.¡± I smiled back at her.

    A moment of silence enveloped us again. I looked at the real-world time; it was almost nine. Heh, all that rampaging and running around was shorter than we expected, I thought to myself.

    ¡°We have about an hour; wanna try and so something?¡± I asked Ari, who looked over and nodded, a smile on her face.

    ¡°There is something I wanted to try with you in another area I heard about... I even saved a wayport for it a few days ago.¡± she said as we stood up.

    ¡°When did you--ah, oh, right... that day I got held up with chores...¡± I said with a faint smile.

    ¡°Change into something a little nicer, hm?¡± Ari told me as she switched into a green ¨¢o d¨¤i with interweaving floral patterns of red and yellow.

    Wha--snaaaapp, you''re hot...

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    Fwa--ehh?! It matched her ¨¢o d¨¤i almost perfectly. I looked up at her with a mixture of feelings; she continued smiling, and gently pulled me along. The destination she selected at our wayport was somewhere in Belledown, southeast of Aldholt City. Wait a minute, this is a -- well I guess that''s expected, since Lana is a girl... but still... eh? What''s that? A coastal town? Well... here we go! I thought to myself as Ariana pressed the console, and we shimmered away.

    We materialized in a coastal town that had a very peaceful atmosphere to it. There was a sign nearby the entrance to it that read ¡°Floraline¡±, which I guess was its name. Still leading me along, Ariana made her way through the streets to a destination she had obviously wanted to take me to for a while now, judging from how prepared and excited she was.

    All along the pathways of the town I saw endless varieties and colors of flowers; I''m not a flower kind of guy, so I can''t tell you exactly what they were (or even if some of them were made up, which some of them no doubt had to be), but I''m pretty sure I recognized some daisies and tulips--or were they roses? Anyhow, I guess this is how the town got its name.

    The two of us ended up at an open-air gazebo where some musicians were playing, and a few people dancing. Ariana looked at me with a smile, squeezing my hand gently.

    Oh, I get it... okay! I thought to myself as I smiled back, nodding at her. We headed on to join in, and soon the two of us were swaying together in time to the music. There were a few other players there who noticed us, but they only smiled and returned to their own dances, or to whatever they were doing. I felt my cheeks coloring, but looking back at Ariana... soon, I was only focused on her.

    Homecoming dance is coming up in a month or so. I didn''t know if you wanted to go to that, so I was planning to save this for then... but I want to do it now.¡± she told me.

    I would''ve asked,¡± I replied to her, and she smirked.

    Then think of this as practice!¡± she winked.

    Except for the yukata, sure,¡± I said with a grin, and she giggled. ¡°Are those NPCs?¡± I wondered as we caught sight of the musicians again.

    I think so; they''re exactly the same as last time.¡± she nodded.

    Wow.¡±

    Are there musician players?¡± Ariana wondered, and I nodded.

    There''s a couple forum threads where they chat, and I''ve seen recipes for instruments, but they''re way up in a specialized part of the crafting skills.¡±

    Cool!¡±

    Right? I mean, none of them are contemporary instruments, but people are probably trying to work out how to play modern music with them anyway. Or maybe their own stuff.¡±

    That''d be fun to listen to,¡± she said.

    Maybe next time we''ll find a player-concert to go to.¡± I smiled back.

    Definitely!¡± she smiled back.

    Nope. I can never get tired of that smile, in this world or the real one.

    I don''t remember too much after that; all I could think of was her. I know we eventually began making our way back to the wayport, and that there were a couple people wandering the streets who seemed suspicious to me, but nothing out of the ordinary befell us and we got to Cloverbell in one piece, so I let it go for the time being. We made our way inside, after which Ariana kissed me as we hugged, and then we logged out for the night.

    ***

    In the morning I took a look at the forums. Sure enough, there were all kinds of angry threads about the various things that had happened last night, and it kind of didn''t surprise me to see that our raid on the silver oaks was among the top of the rage-posts.

    Silvernight Queens: the silver oak raid!

    Why does this dungeon keep getting locked?!

    SOVEREIGN? and Flamehearts planning retaliations!

    How did she do it?!

    Captain Jannie Brooks and crew seize Fort Heartstone from ?SOVEREIGN?''s clutches!

    Can we agree that Timidator might be overpowered?

    So... did anyone see that hot dance last night in Belledown?

    This last post almost made me spit out coffee. I mean, sure, okay... but really. I shook my head, and continued scrolling, then saw something that caught my eye. It was kind of a rage-post, but it looked... wonky. Are those typos or nonsense words? I clicked; there were a lot more of them, interspersed among words that were intelligible.

    Wait a minute... are these... coded messages?! I took a more careful look. There was an odd pattern to what I thought were typos. It was suspicious. Wondering if the others might know anything, I printed out a copy and went to pack it for school that morning.

    That bus could not get to school fast enough. Ty didn''t even have time to quip at me when we did get there; I sorted out my things at my locker, and just as I was finishing Rachel opened hers.

    You''re quick today,¡± she looked at me with an amused smile.

    A little bit,¡± I agreed.

    What''s up?¡± she wondered.

    I think I found something that could speed up the end of our little war in Panarena,¡± I told her softly, and she looked at me with surprise. ¡°Maybe.¡± I said again.

    Wow. That''d be nice!¡± she smiled as she sorted out her own books, and then the two of us went inside for homeroom. ¡°What do you think it is?¡± she asked as we sat down.

    I think they''re coded messages; I know, weird, right? But weirder still they were on the forums...¡± I said and she adopted a more thoughtful look.

    Let''s wait for Ellie and Andrea,¡± Rachel said, and I nodded.

    Right.¡± I agreed. ¡°Oh...¡± I then said, and she looked at me curiously. ¡°Ahh... I think we''re on the forums...¡± I said to her with a nervous laugh.

    For the raid, right?¡± she said with a faint smile.

    Eh, that too... but the post was about dancing...¡± I remarked, and her expression exploded with amusement as she put a hand over her mouth to keep from laughing. ¡°I love you, too...¡± I quipped. She took my hand after she had regained control of her laughter, gently squeezing it.

    I know. I love you.¡± she told me. The bell rang, and homeroom began.

    I thought the bus went slowly, but classes seemed to drag on forever. By the time science came along I was sure I had given up the ghost. Come on... I know it''s relevant somehow, but the coded message is more important! When lunchtime finally arrived I perked up again, and began eating eagerly as we waited for Ellie and Andrea to show up--which they did about three minutes later.

    Hiya, lovebirds!¡± Ellie said as the two of them sat down with us.

    Hey!¡± Rachel said with a smile.

    What''s new?¡± the older girl asked as she and Andrea set out their own lunches.

    Well...¡± Rachel said with a sly look in her eyes as she looked over at me.

    Huh--wait, don''t tell me you''re...?¡± Ellie said with a shocked look on her face.

    Wha--no! I''m not!!¡± Rachel retorted in a panicked voice, and I vehemently added my support.

    We''ve never even--!!¡± I started, but then Ellie began guffawing as Andrea shook her head, letting out a sigh.

    You two are too easy for her,¡± the red-haired girl remarked. I softly grumbled, and Rachel gave Ellie a pout.

    Okay, okay, I''m sorry! Girl, don''t give me that face or I''ll cry!¡± Ellie pleaded, and Rachel smiled again. ¡°But seriously, what is it?¡± she asked, and I set the printed sheets down on the desk.

    I think it''s a coded message. It was on the forums today; I''m not sure why, though.¡± I told them. Andrea looked at it, and turned it around for herself. She took a few bites of her lunch as she stared at it, and then picked it up.

    This looks oddly familiar.¡± she said.

    Leave it to you.¡± Ellie said as she took a drink.

    Sellav aralc serolf... it almost sounds like...¡± Andrea mused aloud, then set the paper down and borrowed one of Rachel''s pens, writing the words down backwards... or... forwards...? ¡°Valles Clara Flores; ''Valley of Bright Flowers''. It''s Latin, spelled backwards.¡±

    Hey, there''s an area called the Vale of Bright Flowers in-game; it''s kind of in-between Aldholt, Woody Heights, and Varkstania, if I''m remembering the map right.¡± I suddenly recalled.

    I''ve been there; it lives up to its name.¡± Ellie said.

    There''s a lot more, and I don''t remember a lot of my Latin off the top of my head... can I take these, Sean?¡± Andrea asked me.

    Of course,¡± I said.

    It''ll add to homework, but I''m guessing this could help us tonight.¡± she said with a smile.

    It may also be a trap.¡± Ellie pointed out. ¡°It was out there for anyone to find.¡±

    Or they''re desperate and not thinking straight after last night.¡± I suggested.

    That''s true also.¡± she agreed.

    Either way, there''s a clue in here somewhere.¡± Andrea said.

    I''m sure you''ll find it for us, Andri.¡± Rachel smiled, and the other girl nodded back.

    I''ll do what I can!¡± she replied.

    Andri? I wondered.

    By the way, I read the forums too this morning.¡± Ellie remarked. ¡°There''s this super-cute in-game photo of you two in Belledown...¡± she continued with a smirk.

    Aw, thanks!¡± Rachel beamed happily. I looked out the window absently.

    I said of you two.¡± Ellie repeated.

    Of Rachel and... Lana?¡± I returned with a disingenuous smile as I turned back to her.

    I wonder who Lana could be.¡± Ellie quipped back at once. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Rachel and Andrea exchange a weary grin.

    I wonder too. I''d like to meet her sometime; maybe I should get on Panarena too.¡± I said at once.

    Ah, so you don''t have any mirrors in your house, then?¡± Ellie smirked.

    Now, Ellie, you of all people should be more considerate of Lana''s mild-mannered alter-ego,¡± Andrea said as she held a finger up.

    I''m being very considerate; I haven''t said their name once, have I?¡± the other girl replied.

    I didn''t see the picture...¡± I then said in a softer voice, and she turned to me with a wink.

    Teasing aside, it''s really good. Honest. I have it on my phone... maybe I should send it to every--¡±

    Please don''t!!¡±

    No!!¡± Rachel and I both said at the same time.

    Relax, dorks. I''ll just send it to both of you.¡± she said with a mischievous smile.

    And me?¡± Andrea wondered.

    Of course, love!¡± Ellie remarked.

    Ahh... I was so revved up for lunch today... now I just want it to be over...

    Aww, how cuuute!¡± Andrea said after a moment. My own phone buzzed. I opened it.

    Okay. They''re right. That is... really good, I thought to myself. Rachel smiled over at me; I knew she was thinking the exact same thing. A few moments later we put the game aside for the time being, and talked instead about things in real life (such as the encroaching homecoming dance and Rachel''s home situation--which was tensing up again) until lunch was over, and then we went to ready ourselves afternoon classes.

 Chapter Nine: Retaliations

    After lunch, the rest of the day passed by pretty quickly. The only thing I really paid attention to was Chinese; everything else kind of got unintentionally ignored. Well, consciously, anyway; I somehow had notes and stuff written down. But anyway.

    So then after school was over we made our way to the buses, as usual, and parted company in the real world for the day. Rachel and I would meet on video-call for homework, and then we would all be in Panarena later. It was really hard to wait, though. I felt like this little puzzle I had stumbled on had a bigger meaning to it. What was it?

    ¡°What in the hell''s got in to you lately, squirrel?¡± Ty quipped as I sat down in our usual seat. ¡°Runnin'' all over the damn school like that dumb QB came back or something,¡± he said as he gave me a funny look.

    ¡°Ahh... jitters. Assignment jitters and stuff,¡± I remarked. Not a complete lie, anyway.

    ¡°Huh.¡± he returned in a somewhat unconvinced tone.

    ¡°What about you? You seem tired a lot, lately.¡± I returned.

    ¡°That game, man. Yo, you should get on. We got this player fight goin'' on right now, it''s something else, Dans. Not that I''d actually want to kill anyone for real,¡± he said as he lowered his voice, ¡°But no one really dies there anyway, so I guess it don''t matter. Still, it''s probably the only place where we could finish that old fight of ours; been having lots of scrapes with the enemy players, ain''t none of them got a damn brain for it except my guild people. And I guess a lot of our friends, too.¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡± I wondered aloud, trying to keep a straight face about it. ¡°Sounds like my kind of place after all,¡± I then remarked.

    ¡°Still surprised you ain''t there.¡±

    ¡°Who do you think is the best pla--ah, fighter there?¡±

    That was close. Although maybe not really. I don''t know. I''m overthinking it, I guess.

    ¡°Hrnn...¡± he replied thoughtfully. ¡°I mean, our leader''s pretty damn good; and a lot of those mage-players too. But the one I have my eye on is some wild chick and her girl squad; she''s something else, Dans. She and her girls tore up some resource spot last night; damn enemy won''t shut the hell up about it.¡±

    W-wow... I''m a ¡°wild chick¡±... heh... heh-heh... heh... ugh.

    ¡°That good, huh?¡±

    ¡°Haven''t seen her fight myself; but I''ve seen her in person. Almost reminds me of--¡± he started, but then broke off. ¡°Naw; now I''m just thinking too much about it.¡± he shook his head.

    Reminds you of... who?

    ¡°Hmm.¡± I nodded back. The two of us fell silent after that, and the bus began moving off. Compared to this morning, the ride home passed by pretty quickly. Before I knew it I was back home and scurrying about to get things done before what was probably going to be a big night.

    ***

    ¡°Uuugghhh... like it''s my fault the leaves keep falling down in the yard...¡± I grumbled as I logged in after dinner.

    ¡°You''re raking leaves already?¡± Ariana''s voice came to my ears.

    ¡°Ahh--you''re ahead of me again,¡± I said as I spun around to greet her.

    ¡°About every third time or so,¡± she grinned, and we shared a hug. ¡°You''re still in the yukata by the way.¡±

    ¡°Heh?!¡± I looked down, and then quickly brought up my inventory to change. Once that was sorted the two of us sat down in the kitchen area of the estate. ¡°I guess Andrea had more work than we guessed... now I feel kind of bad.¡± I said after a moment.

    ¡°She texted me before I logged in; she''s actually having fun with it. I think she wants to go into cryptology and cryptography when she goes to college, so this isn''t a waste of effort for her.¡± Ariana told me.

    ¡°Even if the code is lame as heck?¡± I remarked with a sarcastic grin.

    ¡°Even then.¡± Ari said, returning the look. ¡°It is lame, isn''t it? I would have gone for something more subtle.¡±

    ¡°We can actually use books and scrolls and stuff like that in this game; maybe we can develop a code for friends and stuff for secret messages.¡±

    ¡°That''d be fun!¡±

    ¡°It would. It''s still bugging me, though... why was it so obvious?¡± I wondered. At that moment our other two guild-mates logged in.

    ¡°''Ey, lovebirds!¡± Lizzy said as she and Healina wandered in. ¡°So, Heali, should we tell them what you found or save it since we''d have to repeat it anyway?¡±

    ¡°Oh right! I guess we should save it then; but I''ll say this much. Your suspicions about it aren''t for nothing; the Vale fight is a distraction, but let''s save the rest for the others.¡± Healina told us, and we nodded back.

    ¡°Time to meet the gang!¡± I said as we headed out the door, using the wayport to head for Mount Fang.

    Once we had all arrived at the Mountain Tigers'' hall again, Healina explained what we had found. Basically, the Garth-Fire Alliance was committing a large force to the Vale of Bright Flowers, a resource heavy area that lay in the midst of three of our allied guild''s territories; the Mountain Tigers, obviously, but also the Lightbrook Brigade further to the north at the southern edge of Woody Heights and Shieldwardens at the northwestern portion of Aldholt. Each of them had some vulnerable structures in the area, too, since it was a PvP zone in addition to being a resource area--something that game developers seem to enjoy doing.

    ¡°We overlooked this area because of our focus on griefing them in areas they consider closer to home; but they seem to be making a big show of it now,¡± Wildeye frowned.

    ¡°And that raid is just a distraction, right?¡± Jannie said as she looked over at us.

    ¡°For the most part, although they do intend on winning it also,¡± Healina nodded. ¡°They''ll have several elite teams running around in high risk areas for unique resource nodes also.¡±

    ¡°The other side of the coin.¡± Wildeye shrugged. ¡°Well, let''s not be slack in preparing them a welcome party. Let''s also consider which of these nodes they would go after.¡±

    ¡°That''s the thing,¡± Healina told us. ¡°I got several names out of the coded messages, but only one corresponds to a place on the map; the rest of them are places I''ve never heard about, and Elizasmith doesn''t know them either.¡±

    ¡°If a beta-tester hasn''t heard of them they''re probably just trying to make us over-plan. What''s the confirmed place?¡± Magisteria asked.

    ¡°It should be this,¡± Healina pointed to a spot on the border between Varkstania and the Mountains of Night, ¡°The Mountain of Wrathful Ice.¡±

    ¡°Hmm... I guess one of those brats is finally going after them,¡± Magisteria said as she and Wildeye exchanged a glance.

    ¡°Who knew personal ambitions were a part of their strategy?¡± Wildeye shrugged in a sarcastic manner.

    ¡°After what?¡± I wondered.

    ¡°There''s a unique mineral up there crafters like me can use to create cold-resistant armors,¡± Lizzy said. ¡°Thing is, there''s wyverns up there, so you''d either need a party with high damage, or a really good tamer.¡± she said with a smug look at Healina.

    ¡°I just barely qualify on that count,¡± our Sea Elf said with a reluctant giggle.

    ¡°But you have the racial bonus too.¡± Lizzy poked her.

    ¡°That''s true.¡± the other girl agreed.

    ¡°Who''s going after them?¡± Ariana then asked.

    ¡°Either Angelfire or Angela,¡± Wildeye said, ¡°Although if someone goes now there''s a chance they would be able to get there before our enemy does.¡±

    ¡°Something''s fishy about this, but if it''s worth it we''ll go ahead.¡± I replied.

    ¡°You''re right, something is very suspicious about this whole affair; but what Lizzy forgot to mention is that the mineral, igerk''ruk, can also be used for weapons and high quality magic items. Whether things are suspicious or even if it''s a trap, we should at least lock up their gathering it until this is all over.¡± Wildeye told us in reply.

    ¡°You''re right.¡± I nodded.

    ¡°And since you and I both have good mining skills, and Healina is good at taming, I''d say we''re the ones to go.¡± Lizzy chimed in again.

    ¡°What about the Vale?¡± I asked.

    ¡°We''ll be fine as long as we put our plan into action--now!¡± Wildeye said to me with a goofy grin.

    ¡°Hurry, Lana, before those conniving wenches get there,¡± Jannie then added. That was too much. I gave a quick salute and the four of us headed out to let our friends begin their muster at the Vale of Bright Flowers.

    ¡°We''ll have to set off from the wayport at that one spot--what was it called?¡± Lizzy pondered as we made our way to the one near the guild hall.

    ¡°Ahh...¡± I returned uncertainly. ¡°I''m sure we''ll see it on the map when it pops up.¡±

    ¡°Falcondale?¡± Ariana piped up.

    ¡°That''s the one!¡± I nodded.

    ¡°And even then we''ll have to fight a bit through that one area before the mountain itself.¡± Healina reminded us.

    ¡°I''m not worried about those things, I''m worried about the ones on the mountain.¡± I said in reply as we set foot on the wayport and scrolled around the map for the destination we wanted.

    ¡°They were all fifty or so, weren''t they...¡± Ariana remembered with a bemused look in her eyes.

    ¡°Yep, they were.¡± Lizzy nodded. ¡°Don''t worry; we have a pretty standard party now with our little healer!¡± she beamed, putting an arm around Healina.

    ¡°I''ll do my best,¡± the other girl said.

    ¡°Counting on it!¡± I said as I selected Falcondale, and with that we were whisked away to the next stage of our adventure.

    Now, when we got there, we decided that we weren''t actually going to fight the things in the scattered forests and dells that lay before our destination. We were betting on the fact that our enemy would be nearby, and because they would be nearby we came up with a tactic that, in fairness, wasn''t really nice, but was pretty much always entertaining.

    There''s a thing some players do in certain MMOs where the monsters have an aggro-range (which is the distance at which they will attack along with the distance they will pursue you). You rush past them, rounding them all up, and then race around until you find another player or group to dump them on, and then you dart out of aggro-range, leaving the other party to flee or fight. A variation of this tactic is sometimes used in dungeons, where the monsters will simply run back to their fixed locations--sometimes.

    We were kind of doing both. Either way, anyone following us would have a doozy of a time trying to keep on our tail. And so the four of us darted across the northern trails of the Mountains of Night, hoping that we were ahead of our enemies.

    ***

    By the time we reached the foot of our mountain destination there was quite a train coming after us. The aggro-range died out just as we got there, and a literal horde of monsters ranging from Angered Sprites to Giants began stomping off in search of new targets. I watched with both fascination and expectancy as they slowly meandered into the distance, wondering if we had been followed or if they were ahead of us or if it was all a hoax to try and mess with us so that Garth could do something else.

    ¡°No one''s being targeted, huh?¡± Ariana sighed as she used Mystic Vision to scan the area.

    ¡°Not that I can see,¡± Healina shook her head.

    ¡°Let''s get going anyway; if they''re ahead of us we''ll know soon, and if no one''s here that''s just fine, too.¡± I said, and we began trudging up the mountain.

    As Lizzy had said, there would be wyverns at the top; but along the ascending pathway there were vengeful ice-wraiths, a dire wolf or two, a very angry crystalline bear, and loads of snow gremlins. We fought our way through these as quickly as possible, depending on Healina alone for restoration and buffs in case of a player-ambush; it was when we were about halfway up that I suddenly noticed something behind us. Lizzy noticed it also, and gave me a nod.

    ¡°Ari, Heali, go on ahead of us for a bit; it looks like it''s just gremlins for a while, so you should be fine.¡± I said to the other two.

    ¡°Got it!¡± Ari returned in a chipper tone.

    ¡°Will do!¡± Healina added.

    ¡°Now then,¡± I said as they scurried off and Lizzy came over, ¡°How do we deal with these?¡± I mused, looking at the players below us. I could just make out a guild symbol by using a zoom-feature; it was Flamehearts.

    ¡°This game isn''t like other games, as I''m sure you know by now--but I''m not sure you''ve grasped all the fun quite yet.¡± Lizzy said to me with a smirk.

    ¡°Hmm? What does that mean?¡± I asked her.

    ¡°We don''t really have to fight them-fight them... we could start an avalanche to delay, trap, or even eliminate them.¡± she said to me, her smile growing bigger, and suddenly I understood yet again how revolutionary this game was.

    ¡°Whoa...!¡± I remarked as the thought took hold. ¡°That''d be epic!¡±

    ¡°Right?¡±

    ¡°Can we do it?¡±

    ¡°Who do you think you''re talking to?¡± Lizzy quipped as she gave me a shoulder-bump with her fist. She then raised her halberd and began preparing one of her moves.

    That looks like a more wound-up Thurian Stomp, I thought to myself.

    ¡°Thundering Rage!¡± she then cried out, stamping her foot and the halberd into the ground so hard that it really did shake for a moment.

    Piles of snow began breaking loose, along with a couple of really big rocks and boulders that had, until now, been sitting quietly. These began combining and melding with each other as they began descending the path, rolling downwards in an ever-increasing velocity. The players below us suddenly noticed this pile of death rolling swiftly towards them and began to panic.

    ¡°Heh. Too bad. See ya, Angelfire.¡± I shrugged as we heard screams coming up from below, heading off to rejoin Ari and Heali; Lizzy let out a satisfied snort at her handiwork, and then followed after me.

    ¡°Just a few more of those dumb gremlins and we''ll be at the top.¡± she said as we reached the other two.

    ¡°Looks like there''s another bear up there near the top as well,¡± Ariana pointed.

    ¡°I''ll take care of him.¡± I said, slipping into Shadow Veil to dash ahead and attempt a one-hit assassination skill on the monster in question. That little plan went off without a hitch, and in a few minutes more we had all reached the top and begun our operation to mine the igerk''ruk.

    Now when they say rare or unique resource deposits, they mean it in this game. Even so, there was a lot of nodes up here, some of them dangerously close to the wyverns, which seemed half-asleep or unconcerned with us for the moment. Lizzy and I had our work cut out for us, even with our mining skills as high as they were (both of us had Mining Ten, as high as you could technically go in the Aldholt Regions unless you were a no-life grinder. This, by the way, is someone who spends all their time doing one thing over and over -- but you probably got that).

    We had pretty much finished up with the last node when we found company approaching yet again. Angelfire and five others who had seemingly survived or evaded our little surprise came clambering up, and boy did they look mad--except Angelfire, who looked almost smug.

    This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

    ¡°Nice.¡± she said as both sides drew weapons. ¡°Leave it to the beta-testers to know how to use everything in this game to their advantage."

    ¡°Even a third-rate sword-mage like you should have figured things out by now.¡± Lizzy quipped back. Her followers grew indignant, but Angelfire herself only smirked.

    ¡°I don''t want to hear that from a third-rate tank like you.¡±

    ¡°It''s because you''re hearing it from me that you should be more ashamed of yourself.¡± our halberd-wielder grinned, pointing her weapon towards the other girl.

    ¡°Angelfire, let''s just charge them and get it over with!¡±

    ¡°Yeah, stop wasting words on them, boss! We need to get revenge for the other seven the avalanche killed!¡± two of her allies said.

    ¡°Just a moment!¡± she said to them in an authoritative manner. ¡°First, I want to congratulate them for falling into this trap!¡±

    ¡°So it was a trap, huh? Kind of stupid to leave it hanging on the forums...¡± I said, but her smile did not fade.

    ¡°You don''t get it. We put it there purposefully, knowing that Wildeye would likely send the most elite team and guild on his side to come here. We put that post there for you to find so you four specifically would show up.¡± she said to us, and her friends laughed menacingly.

    ¡°Eh?¡± I wondered.

    ¡°This place is just a bonus; right now, we have the outlaw guilds adding to our forces at the Vale of Bright Flowers. All of the outlaw guilds in the Aldholt are now helping the Garth-Fire Alliance.¡± she told us triumphantly.

    ¡°Nrgh!¡± I bristled, thinking fast.

    ¡°Lana,¡± Ariana said to me, ¡°Trust Wildeye. We need to stick to the plan.¡± she said.

    The plan... the wyverns... wait, we were planning on just calming them if we ran into trouble... but maybe...!

    ¡°Lizzy!¡± I said. Right away she activated Thurian Stomp, rendering our enemies helpless for a few moments. ¡°Shadow-world!¡± I called out then, racing over to take down the three lowest levels before they could do anything. Lizzy was on my heels to take down one herself, and Ariana snared the other two.

    ¡°Why you--!!¡± Angelfire spat angrily as the stun ended and she came back to life.

    ¡°Heali! The wyverns! Tame the wyverns!¡± I shouted back, and our Sea Elf hurriedly ran to do so. Meanwhile, Lizzy finished off her target and engaged Angelfire as I went to take down the two that Ari had bound up. They went down quickly, to my surprise; as the second one went down I noticed that Ariana had added a draining effect to one of her binding spells.

    Again, remind me not to make you mad...!

    One of Angelfire''s skills suddenly blasted Lizzy backwards, and she went rolling for a few paces before she regained her footing. Our last remaining enemy tried to rush her, but I rushed them first, engaging them in a furious flurry that kept her on the defensive.

    ¡°I was hoping you would!¡± Angelfire said as we traded swift blows.

    ¡°What''s your stake in this, anyway? I doubt you like that creep Garth any more than we do!¡± I said as I drove her back in a spiral path, hoping she was still arrogant enough to give out clues.

    ¡°It doesn''t matter what my stake is--even with your defiance, Garth''s plans will come to pass!¡±

    No good, huh? Or did she just give out the biggest clue of all, I wonder? I could hear Healina finishing with her chants; I had to end this fight soon.

    ¡°Lana! Hurry up! We just got a message from Wildeye!¡± Ariana called over to me. I disengaged and retreated into Shadow Veil again.

    ¡°Where''d you go!?¡± Angelfire said angrily. I slipped around behind her and readied my daggers for a special skill.

    ¡°Crimson Heart Stinger!¡± I said as I thrust them into her avatar. She screamed like a dang banshee, and then went kapow. As soon as we confirmed they were all down, I went over to where Healina had managed to tame three wyverns. Three?! I thought to myself with awe.

    ¡°You and Ari are small enough for one; let''s go!¡± Lizzy said as she mounted one and Healina got on the second. Ariana and I hopped on to the last one, and we directed our incidental mounts towards the Vale of Bright Flowers.

    Skill Acquired: Airborne Mount Proficiency; Level One.

    Yeah, yeah, yeah... I said as I brushed aside the notification, only to find a second.

    Attack Skills available in flight mode: Wyvern''s Breath, Claw Strike, Bewildering Flap.

    Ehh? Oh, *this* will be good!

    The others had also noticed this little bonus, and we practiced the skills on a few creatures as we flew towards our allies. By the time we reached the Vale of Bright Flowers, the four of us on our three mounts had worked out a hasty but effective attack pattern with our new friends -- even if they were temporary.

    The first thing I noticed was that, despite the truth of Angelfire''s words about the outlaw guilds being here en masse, our allies were still holding their own. Wait a moment, where''s Jannie and her guild? I wondered as I quickly scanned through the guild flags arrayed in the center of the battle. Deciding the answer could wait, I redirected our mount towards a group of enemy healers; Ari and I used our ranged attacks to panic them and then the wyvern finished them off with its special breath attack. Lizzy was doing the same, but Healina had landed already, using her skill to keep the wyvern attacking our enemies while she healed some of our friends.

    ¡°Lizzy, I can keep yours under control as well; get down here!¡± Healina called up to the Nordian smith, who jumped down and landed with a Thurian Stomp.

    ¡°That''s gotta be difficult,¡± I remarked.

    ¡°I can handle this one, you take that one!¡± Ari said to me, and I nodded, readying myself for a jump.

    ¡°Here we go!¡± I said as I sprang off, landing on the other one just in time. The two of us split off and began wreaking havoc for our enemies around the battlefield. It was clear that we were not part of their plan, let alone the wyverns.

    ¡°As expected of the Silvernight Queens!¡± I heard Wildeye''s voice cry out, followed by a hearty laugh. ¡°Just a bit more, my friends, just a bit more!¡±

    I continued flying around, letting my mount deal damage as I fired my bow and threw a couple of throwing knives at targets of my own. I had just gotten into a groove with it when I suddenly noticed a familiar sight: it was Tom Blackwood.

    Tch! I thought with disgust, leaping down to face him one-on-one again. Someone from Words and Sorcery took control of the wyvern I had abandoned, using it to scatter another group of enemy reinforcements.

    ¡°You!!¡± Tom called out as he espied me.

    ¡°I shouldn''t be surprised, but didn''t you learn your lesson last time we met?¡±

    ¡°Hah! Garth told me to keep an eye out for you in particular, just in case you managed to come back; and I am pleased! If I humiliate you or any of your friends with defeat, when this conflict is won we will have our own unmarked territories for our guild!¡± he said to me.

    So Garth really is just stupid. Got it.

    ¡°You think we''ll let him win the war any more than we''ll let you win the battle?¡± I retorted.

    ¡°Let''s see!¡± he shouted, and then he rushed me with his new weapon, a deadly looking scimitar with a green light-effect on it.

    ¡°Lana! There''s a paralysis and health-drain enchantment on that sword! Watch out!¡± Magisteria''s voice called out to me.

    ¡°Tch! Garth!!¡± I spat angrily, one-hundred percent confident that ?SOVEREIGN?''s guild leader had given it to him as a bonus.

    I focused on parrying and evading him for the first few moments of our fight. Some of his cronies tried to pile in and overwhelm me but Ariana and her wyvern swooped down just in time to scatter or eliminate them. He and I continued our fight without interruption, and Ari began chasing down those who had survived her initial attack.

    At that moment, there came a sound of horns from the northwest. We paused briefly to look; there at the northwest passage entering the vale was Jannie and her guild, along with another guild that was comprised solely of Dwarves; Gears and Wheels had arrived from the Mountains of Heimgar to join in the fun.

    ¡°Jannie and MacYnduff are here! Let''s finish this!¡± Timidator bellowed out. The Silver Tiger Pact rallied, and Tom Blackwood and I resumed our duel with a renewed frenzy.

    ¡°What a trick!¡± the outlaw leader seethed.

    ¡°You''re one to talk!¡± I countered as I landed a blow on him with Nightstalker''s Dagger. He swung at me with a horizontal slash, narrowly missing me as I did a weird sideways backflip to evade him. I jumped back up and we began exchanging blows again.

    ¡°I won''t surrender!¡±

    ¡°Then we''ll just send you back to your rezz-pad!¡±

    ¡°Hah!!¡± he bellowed back as he swung again; this time I maneuvered out of the way and used Thousand Needle Strike on his backside. The attack kept him immobilized for a few moments, and when it was over I used Crescent Flash on him before deftly jumping out of his range again.

    On the other sides of the battlefield, our own alliance had nearly driven off or crushed the other attackers; the wyverns had been a huge advantage in that regard, to say nothing of Jannie and MacYnduff''s arrival.

    Seems as if Words and Sorcery had more healers than the Garth-Fire Alliance counted on, I thought to myself with a grin as I continued countering Blackwood''s scimitar with my daggers. I should probably get a new weapon after this is all over... they''re nice, but maybe a shortsword would handle things like this better--oop, no time for that!

    It was obvious that Tom Blackwood had no real expertise with the scimitar; he had obviously bet all his stats and skills on retaining the two-hander that we had reclaimed for Timidator. But he still fought ferociously, even moreso than the first time we had fought. Another smile came to my face.

    Let''s shake him up a bit.

    ¡°You really think Garth will let you hold territory if you somehow beat me?¡± I said, and he blanched at the remark. ¡°You''re just disposable to him; once he gets what he wants he''ll take that sword back and make sure you and your gang can''t do anything in the Aldholt ever again.¡±

    ¡°He can try!¡± the reply came, along with another furious hail of blows.

    The fighting had more or less wound down; he and I were practically the only ones left fighting. I readied myself to enter Shadow-world and finish him off, but just as I did he somehow managed to score a lucky hit on me; the paralysis effect took hold, and I saw my health bar start to go down rapidly as I fell to the ground.

    ¡°Lana!¡± Lizzy cried out as she ran over.

    ¡°Impairment: Movement!¡± Ariana''s voice called out then, and Tom Blackwood was literally frozen. ¡°Ice Queen''s Wrath: Hell-blizzard!¡± she then added, and the outlaw leader was enveloped in a frenzied wintry squall, his health bar dropping more rapidly than my own. At that moment Healina began restoring my own health, but there was no one to help Tom. His bar went to zero, and he exploded into pixels as the storm dissipated.

    ¡°Nice... partner...¡± I managed to say. My health bar then stopped dropping, and Healina removed the paralysis effect.

    ¡°Whew!¡± she sighed in relief, and Lizzy gave her a hug.

    ¡°Good timing!¡± she said, and Healina smiled, blushing. Ariana enveloped me in her own embrace. Neither of us said anything, but all around us there was a chorus of cheering and clapping. The battle had been won.

    ***

    The wyverns flew off back to their nest a few moments later, and then we began sorting out our loot and the resources we had gathered. Deciding to hold the player-item''s for ransom, we divvied out the resources again and then most of us headed off to our respective halls or homes while the leaders--including us--returned to Mount Fang.

    ¡°Well, I call that a narrow escape.¡± Wildeye said in opening. ¡°Good timing, my friend!¡± he said to MacYnduff, who nodded.

    ¡°We''ll begin plotting out our siege operations tomorrow morning; that should give us more than enough time to get things going!¡± the Tundra Dwarf remarked with a clap of his hands.

    ¡°And with the outlaw guilds thoroughly thrashed and most of their special items in our possession, Garth''s friends will start to think twice about all of this.¡± Jannie said with a smug grin.

    ¡°Including that scimitar, I hope?¡± Wildeye asked her.

    ¡°It''s here,¡± Magisteria said, removing it from her inventory to place it on the table. ¡°The Doom Crescent, player-made... this is made by Skeletor!¡± she suddenly remarked.

    ¡°That changes things,¡± Timidator said solemnly.

    ¡°I didn''t know Fear The Reapers was down here.¡± Wildeye frowned. ¡°Or perhaps they''re new arrivals, like MacYnduff.¡±

    ¡°I''d bet on that.¡± the guild leader in question nodded. ¡°We saw couriers from someone going into The Waste, west of our own region; FTR likes to haunt that area, apparently.¡±

    ¡°Leave it to Garth to find someone capable of opposing Hallow''s Eve.¡± Magisteria shook her head.

    Both guilds were made up of Renegade Vampires, Orcs, and Werefiends, in addition to magic users who adopted a necromancer, witch, warlock, or other dark-mage playing style. Deathscythe himself was a Vampire summoner who used a magical scythe, just as his name implied.

    Renegade races, by the way, are races that, in the game-lore, are intended for one side of Panarena but used on the other. For example, if I had gone to Onyxus instead of Harmonia, I would be a Renegade Gael.

    ¡°They''ve shown us already how far they''re willing to go; we need to find a way to resolve this conflict.¡± Jannie said, and the others nodded, including myself.

    ¡°But if he''s this determined,¡± I then said, ¡°He may keep a feud going for as long as he plays.¡±

    ¡°True.¡± Jannie agreed. ¡°His ego would force him into it, if nothing else.¡±

    ¡°Let''s keep a closer eye on movement within the Aldholt.¡± Deathscythe suggested.

    ¡°Yes, let''s do that. Anyone for a Friday all-nighter?¡± Wildeye asked, and a few others clapped in affirmation.

    ¡°We have something to take care of before we get off for the night,¡± I said. ¡°It was a good time--we''ll see you tomorrow or so.¡± I added, and after farewells were exchanged we headed out of there for the night.

    ¡°What are we taking care of, chief?¡± Lizzy said as we got to the wayport.

    ¡°Let''s do at least one real dungeon before we head out; something in Woody Heights, maybe.¡± I suggested.

    ¡°I getcha.¡± she smiled.

    ¡°Lizzy?¡± Healina wondered.

    ¡°Some honest game time.¡± Ariana answered for her with a smile, and our healer adopted a soft smile of her own.

    ¡°Yes. Let''s do that.¡± she agreed.

    I picked a random destination in Woody Heights, and away we went.

    We ended up in a thick forest of pine and cedar trees, fighting off bears, a few wood-spriggans, and several will''o''wisps. Eventually we made our way to a cave that lay under the roots of an enormous tree; it was a dungeon labeled ¡°Heart of the Forest¡±. The four of us exchanged nods, and headed on inside.

    ¡°I guess we''ll see a lot of the same monsters inside, plus a couple odd ones out.¡± Lizzy remarked upon our entering in.

    ¡°Wouldn''t surprise me; they might add some more incorporeal ones in here too, it has that kind of vibe.¡± I added.

    ¡°True,¡± Ariana agreed. ¡°I bet the boss at least will be something along those lines -- or maybe it''ll be a more animalistic type creature.¡±

    ¡°Or some weird combination.¡± Healina grinned.

    ¡°That''d be neat!¡± Ariana said enthusiastically.

    ¡°So what''s bugging you, Lana? Or are you really just sick of--¡± Lizzy began, but I interrupted her.

    ¡°Don''t say it. Please.¡± I asked her, and she softly smiled.

    ¡°Right! We''re on our own for the evening!¡± she said as she drew out her halberd.

    ¡°No more sneaking and plotting for the night!¡± Healina remarked with delight as she took out her staff.

    ¡°No more outlaws or enemy players!¡± Ari added as she took out her own.

    ¡°Just us, and a whole lot of dungeon mobs!¡± I said with renewed vigor, taking out my daggers. ¡°Let''s go!¡±

    ***

    As we suspected, most of the monsters inside this dungeon were similar to the ones in the region outside. With our team the way it was, very few of them gave us any sort of trouble; the incorporeal ones were a pain, but that''s what mages are for.

    What we also found were living tree roots that attacked us. It didn''t take us long to figure out that these were most likely the roots of the tree outside. Which made sense. And it made the anticipation of the final boss all the more ominous. Ariana read some of the lore on the walls; apparently, the tree outside was once the king of all trees in Woody Heights. It had since been corrupted by some unknown fiend in the depths of the dungeon, which had then begun turning the monsters in the region against the simpler folk of the realm. We had inadvertently stumbled onto a field or landscape quest, one that you can randomly find outside of towns and such.

    ¡°What''s the reward?¡± Lizzy wondered as Ariana read through the quest log. We all had it, of course, but Ari was the quickest at reading and analyzing things.

    ¡°It''s a special charm that allows access to hidden dungeons with greater unique rewards,¡± she told us.

    ¡°Sounds cool!¡± Healina remarked with interest.

    ¡°See? Now this is gaming.¡± I said as we continued along the passage.

    ¡°It''s definitely what I signed up for,¡± Healina nodded in agreement.

    ¡°Totally!¡± Ariana smiled.

    ¡°I vote Lana claims the charm as guild-master.¡± Lizzy then said.

    ¡°Seconded!¡± Healina remarked.

    ¡°It''s share-all, so any of us can take it and then give it away later... but I feel like we should give it to you anyway.¡± Ariana added.

    ¡°Hmm... all right, if you''re sure you don''t want it; you or Heali might find some place to use it quicker than I can.¡± I replied.

    ¡°We''re sure. And we''ll just plan a run for that when it happens if we do.¡± Ariana returned.

    ¡°Settled!¡± Lizzy clapped her hands, and then we came to the boss door. ¡°Right, let''s see who''s home...¡± she then said, and we pushed open the door.

    The cavernous chamber before us had ankle-deep water; it was a small underground reservoir. A pale blue light from various fungi and another pale light of violet color from precious stones illuminated the area. There was an islet in the middle, and upon it stood a black-spriggan, its red eyes glaring out towards us and its limbs bristling in anticipation of battle. Over its head, the health and identification bar came into view.

    ¡°The Dark Corruption...¡± Healina read aloud.

    ¡°It might have roots for minions, and it may try entangling us as well, judging from the ones we''ve faced so far.¡± I noted.

    ¡°I''ll have to be in its face.¡± Lizzy said.

    ¡°True.¡±

    ¡°I''ll keep any minions at bay, and I''ll try to see if I can counter any of its special attacks.¡± Ariana told us.

    ¡°That leaves me to do the healing!¡±

    ¡°And me to run around and stab the living daylights out of things.¡±

    ¡°Go, team, go!¡± Lizzy said, and we charged into battle.

    It took us nearly an hour of Panarena time to destroy the boss, but we finally managed it. Wave after wave of minions kept pouring in from the sides, and there were several regenerations before we figured out how to interrupt them and keep the boss'' health going down. We almost got taken out by a last-ditch attack several times when its health went under ten-percent, but each time Healina saved us at just the right moment, and at last the rest of us managed to launch a three-pronged assault that devastated the rest of its hitpoints. We claimed our rewards, and returned to Cloverbell.

    ***

    After that fun battle, Lizzy and Healina logged out as usual, leaving Ari and me in the house. I was still frustrated with the player war, and I could tell she was also.

    ¡°Hey... you wanna meet up in the real world tomorrow? Go to a park or take a walk or something?¡± I asked her, and she looked at me with surprise before a big smile broke out across her face.

    ¡°Absolutely.¡± she replied, taking my hands.

    ¡°What time?¡±

    ¡°Let''s try for ten-thirty or so? We can get lunch while we''re out that way, too.¡±

    ¡°Okay. Ten-thirty.¡± I smiled back, and she reached over to kiss me. Our lips parted, and we wrapped each other in a hug.

    ¡°Good night!¡± she whispered.

    ¡°''Night.¡± I whispered to her in reply, and with that we logged off for the night.

    I breathed a sigh of relief as I took off the Dream Machine; tomorrow would be a better day. As I fell asleep, that one nagging thought that had hit me earlier came back, but just like before it fizzled out before it made sense.

    Never mind; whatever it is, it can probably wait.

    Content with that, I slipped into blissful slumber.

 Chapter Ten: A Walk in the Park/A Revelation

    Saturday morning started off with some good weather, so I hurried and did some chores after breakfast and then spent another hour or so polishing off homework just to be safe before heading out to meet Rachel. Dad just kind of automatically replied as I headed out the door with a goodbye, and mom was out doing something for her job or whatever, so I was able to get out without the Spanish Inquisition torturing me first.

    It had been a while since I had actually walked around town, come to think of it. Wait. Maybe never. Eh, no, there were those times when I was younger, and we would go out for a walk in the park or so, or maybe to go look at the holiday sights downtown.

    Come to think of it I haven''t really talked about town -- this city, I should say. It''s one of those big cities. You know about the mall, I guess; and there''s the school as well; basically it''s a scattered megalopolis. There''s skyscrapers and office buildings and such in the new city, which basically forms a sort of ring around the old city; the old city is generally residential (it''s where we live), and the new city is more or less commercial.

    Our school and the mall kind of straddle the edge of the two, along with several other places such as the K.T. Theatre, a few churches (including ours), several bars, and a couple libraries and bookstores. The park is situated nearly in the center of the old city, and it takes up around a hundred acres or so. Downtown is located nearby; it kind of provides a thoroughfare towards the park itself.

    Thinking ahead a bit, I went to a local cornerstore and bought a few drinks for us to enjoy for the day. I made my way along downtown''s Main Street, idly gazing at the shops and other sights. The current overall design was geared for autumn, including Halloween and Thanksgiving, but I could definitely see some of the stores were preparing for the winter holidays as well.

    Good grief, I thought to myself with a wry expression.

    Passing by a fountain, I barely noticed the hateful glance of a certain over-sized orangutan who was lingering around. Reflecting on it later, I guess he really had nothing else to do; no other school would take him or his dad''s money. He began stomping towards me, and I finally noticed him just as he got within punching distance. Just as he did so I jumped out of the way, and he continued trying to hit or kick me until a police officer suddenly intervened.

    ¡°Hey! What''s going on here?¡± he demanded

    ¡°Nothing, officer.¡± Shrivers said angrily.

    ¡°Then why the heck are you trying to assault me in broad daylight?¡± I countered with a tired expression.

    ¡°Shut your mouth!¡± he said, attempting to punch me in the gut. But the officer''s hand caught his fist with a strong grip.

    ¡°I remember you... didn''t I pull you out of that school for this stupid behavior?¡±

    ¡°Let go! My dad can have you fired!¡± Shrivers shouted as he tried to break free.

    ¡°I don''t think so, wise guy. Let''s call this attempted assault, threatening an officer, and resisting arrest.¡± the man said, and Justin''s face froze.

    ¡°P-please don''t do that...!¡±

    ¡°I think I will. Come on. And you, kid,¡± he turned to me. ¡°I''ll deal with this. Take care of yourself, all right?¡± he added, and then he led the struggling neanderthal jerk away to a cruiser.

    ¡°See ya, dork.¡± I said, quietly sticking out my tongue at the lost cause of an ex-high school quarterback.

    After that I continued on my merry way unmolested, reaching the park entrance we had agreed upon a few minutes early. Quietly sighing in relief that I hadn''t made her wait, I leaned back against the stone wall that bordered the entryway, looking up at the sky and getting lost in thought. Suddenly that nagging feeling came to me again.

    It''s more coherent now; why is Garth doing this anyway? Sure, he has an ego; but overall it seems pretty pointless and frustrating, unless that itself is somehow the goal. But that can''t be the whole picture. There''s a bigger reason, I think. Something huge, even. What could it be?

    ¡°Sean?¡± Rachel''s voice came to my ear, snapping me out of it; her hand was on my arm.

    ¡°Hey!¡± I said as she registered and a smile came to my face. She smiled back, and then I noticed more; she was wearing a sky-blue sundress with a darker blue shirt underneath, along with the brown shoes she liked to wear outside of school. There was a bow of the same blue color tying her hair to one side, as usual.

    ¡°Let''s go!¡± she said cheerfully, linking her arm in mine, and we made our way inside the park. I suddenly noticed she had a picnic basket in her other hand as we entered, and smiled to myself. Today will be a good day, I decided.

    For the first part of our date in the park we made our way to the arboretum on the west side; the whole place is basically a wildlife sanctuary, and there''s no real difference between the arboretum on this side and the preserve on the southeast side except that the arboretum has several special exhibits where non-local birds can be found some days. And of course sometimes they highlight one of our local birds; today for example they had a barn owl near the one entrance.

    We made our way along the path slowly, listening to all of the various calls and chirps that were being tossed back and forth around the place. I could recognize a few of them; there were some crows, several sparrows and robins, and one or two doves that I could pick out.

    ¡°Oh look, a cardinal!¡± Rachel said, her eyes fixed on a spot to our left.

    ¡°Heh, neat -- oh, there''s two of them,¡± I noticed, and she noticed then too.

    ¡°Oh wow! A little family!¡± she said, gently squeezing my arm.

    ¡°Yep,¡± I smiled back.

    Further ahead we crossed a little wooden bridge that sat across a stream which ran through the park to a little lake in the midst of the whole place; we caught a glimpse of a couple frogs, along with a heron that sat poised upon an old log jutting out into the water. There were a lot of turtles as well, and something else that scurried out of sight upon seeing us.

    ¡°Probably a rabbit.¡± I shrugged.

    ¡°Aw, I hope we see one later,¡± Rachel returned.

    ¡°I''m sure we will; especially out in the open fields near the lake. They like that area,¡± I told her, and she smiled.

    ¡°I''m glad we''re out here together.¡± she said, holding on to me a little tighter.

    ¡°Me too.¡± I replied.

    As we continued along we noticed a bench off to a side in a clearing; we decided to take a rest here for a few minutes, and as we sat down and set our basket and bag on the ground, Rachel brought a camera out of her purse. She put an arm around me with one hand, and then leaned in with me.

    ¡°Smile!¡± she said; who could resist that? I smiled, and she took a couple of shots before she was satisfied.

    ¡°Just don''t give Ellie any more fuel,¡± I gently pleaded, and Rachel giggled.

    ¡°I''ll try not to,¡± she agreed.

    With our commemorative photo taken care of, she then turned the camera around to get some shots of the flora and fauna around us. Man, you''re good, I thought to myself as she checked the shots one by one.

    ¡°Why thank you!¡± she said to me.

    ¡°Ahh--I said that aloud...¡± I realized, and she reached over to kiss me.

    ¡°You did.¡± she smiled, and then took a few more before we decided to move on.

    I decided that I should carry the basket and the bag as well, to which Rachel looked surprised about but then decided to let me do so with one of those angelic smiles. As we continued through the arboretum she took several more pictures, and when we came to another entrance-slash-exit she had amassed quite a collection. We turned right to head along another path, this one heading for the aforementioned lake.

    Now, it was, technically, a lake, but it was called The Pond, or Pond Lake. Yes, I know. English, man, English. Well anyway.

    We made our way towards this, and by the time we got there it was a little after noon. Choosing an out-of-the-way picnic table near a willow tree, the two of us sat down together and opened lunch. Rachel had made us a couple different kinds of sandwiches and some fruit cups, along with -- I don''t deserve you. There beside the fruit cups were two little bags with homemade cookies.

    ¡°Hmm? Oh wow, you remembered!¡± Rachel said as she picked out the lemon-tea I had gotten from the cornerstore.

    ¡°Wh--of course I remembered,¡± I told her. ¡°And there''s water, too.¡±

    ¡°Good thinking.¡± she nodded back.

    We ate at a relaxed pace for a change, enjoying each other''s company and the scenery around us. It was nice to have a leisurely meal alone together; not that I hated being with the others, but, you know.

    Over to our left we could see a massive old tree on the north side of the park; that was the Grandfather Oak. We decided that we would go and look at it after finishing up our lunch. Before us sat Pond Lake; there were a few people relaxing near the water''s edge on this side, and I could see more around the lake as a whole. Several people were out boating in rowboats or sailboats; there were piers on the west side of the lake, and near the piers was a little row of eateries.

    ¡°Hmm, next time let''s give those a try,¡± Rachel remarked as she caught sight of them.

    ¡°Sure!¡± I agreed. ¡°It''s been a long time; I''m not even sure if they''re the same ones I can remember.¡±

    ¡°That long ago?¡± she wondered.

    ¡°It was the last time we were able to go anywhere with the grands.¡± I said with a sad smile, and Rachel affected one of her own.

    ¡°Yeah.¡± she returned softly.

    ¡°You too, huh?¡±

    ¡°A couple years ago for me.¡±

    ¡°Sorry to hear that.¡±

    ¡°They''re okay,¡± she added, ¡°Just...¡± she trailed off, and I put a hand on her.

    ¡°I know. Mine too.¡± I told her, and she nodded, laying her head on my shoulder. We shared a moment of silence together, and then she brightened up again.

    ¡°Bunnies!¡± she suddenly remarked, and quickly fished out her camera.

    ¡°Heh? Oh! Three of them--nice!¡± I exclaimed.

    ¡°Right?¡± Rachel agreed as she turned on the camera to get a few shots of them. After a few minutes of pic-taking, someone''s dog wandered by and spooked the furry little things, and we exchanged a wry smile with each other as the rabbits darted off out of sight.

    ¡°Oh well.¡± I shrugged.

    ¡°Mm, I did get a lot, though... silly dog.¡± she replied. ¡°Let''s finish lunch and hurry on over to the tree!¡± she then added cheerily. We did so, and when we had sorted out the basket again the two of us continued on our self-guided day-tour of the park, heading over to the Grandfather Oak.

    I don''t remember how this tree got its name, but it certainly lived up to the part, visually speaking. It was a huge, hoary oak that stood strong and proud, towering over the other trees nearby despite the fact that it was shorter than several of them. Something about it seemed very magical, almost as if you could touch it and step back in time or into a fantasy world of some kind. Its leaves were just beginning to turn, hints of yellow and brown seeping into the leaves that yet crowned it. A fox was sleeping peacefully at its base; Rachel quietly got her camera to get a picture of him, and then another of the big tree itself.

    ¡°I swear it looks like something in Panarena,¡± she remarked.

    ¡°It really does.¡± I agreed.

    ¡°Any good memories of it?¡± she asked with a smile. I paused for a moment, remembering all the times we used to come here when I was little.

    ¡°I used to pretend it was a portal to another world, or another time.¡± I then said with a faint smile, and she beamed at me.

    ¡°Yes! It does look like that, huh?¡± Rachel said as she turned back to the tree. ¡°We had a tree like that at my grandparent''s old house; it wasn''t as big, but something about it just... it was like...¡±

    ¡°Otherworldly, ancient... almost...¡± I began, and then--

    ¡°Sacred,¡± we both said at once, and turned to each other with a grin.

    ¡°And now we really can go to another world.¡± she mused softly.

    ¡°Sometimes I wish it was permanent.¡± I remarked.

    ¡°As Lana?¡± she turned to me with a sly grin.

    ¡°Well,¡± I shrugged. ¡°If it was permanent I''d try to be myself.¡±

    ¡°Fair.¡± Rachel smiled. ¡°Is that an outdoor theater over there?¡± she suddenly said, looking further off to our right.

    ¡°Eh? Oh, yeah, it is actually. Sometimes they do plays or skits, but it''s usually musicians these days, sometimes a magician, or even a wildlife expert or something like that.¡± I said as I turned to look.

    ¡°Oh, cool! That''d be fun to go to,¡± she said.

    ¡°It would be.¡± I agreed.

    ¡°I wonder if there''s anything on for today?¡±

    ¡°We can go look; there should be a schedule or something.¡±

    ¡°Okay!¡± Rachel returned brightly, and we were off to see the theater.

    The venerable outdoor theater stage was just as grand as I remembered it, and the scheduled performances were listed on a bulletin board off to the side. No one was really here at the moment, but there was a play scheduled for three forty-five in the afternoon.

    ¡°Oh hey, wait a minute, didn''t our theater teacher say she''d give us some extra credit for attending one of these?¡± I suddenly recalled.

    ¡°Oh yeah! Brilliant! Let''s come back around three-thirty or so, then.¡± Rachel said, checking the time. It was just coming up on one-thirty.

    ¡°We''ll do that,¡± I nodded back.

    ¡°What''s in the preserve?¡± she then asked me.

    ¡°Hmm? What was it now... I think they have some sort of special flowers or trees growing in certain areas there,¡± I said as I thought about it.

    ¡°That sounds pretty magical,¡± she said with a happy laugh.

    ¡°Let''s go, then!¡± I said, and she smiled back.

    As we made our way over, I could feel Rachel''s hold on my arm tighten again, as if she didn''t want me to disappear. I looked over at her; there was a touch of sadness in her eyes. But then she looked over at me and brightened back up.

    ¡°Things okay?¡± I asked her softly. The smile remained, but it was tinged with hurt.

    ¡°Mom has definitely been talking to some strange person about a job offer. She said that we would be here a while, and she''s kind of brushing this person off, but I can tell she really wants the job.¡±

    ¡°That''s...¡± I broke off, uncertain of what to say. How can I help her? Can I do anything? Is it just about being with her?

    ¡°But enough about her for now,¡± she said in a stronger voice. ¡°We''ll find a way to deal with it when it comes!¡± she added, and I gently nodded.

    ¡°I''ll be here for you.¡± I replied softly.

    ¡°I know.¡± she smiled.

    When we got to the preserve we found a little guide pamphlet, and Rachel picked one up to see what was around. We spent the next couple of hours wandering around to look at the special or rare flowers and trees that hung out in odd corners of the little forest, catching several glimpses of more animals and birds as well. In one part there was another stream, this one with a beaver dam on one side of it. By sheer luck Rachel managed to get a perfect shot of its occupants before they slunk back inside, and we high-fived each other.

    There was also a family of deer deeper inside; these stared at us intently, not daring to move or to do anything else until we were on our merry way to another part of the preserve. A blue-jay flew across the path once, and in the distance we could hear a woodpecker. We were so caught up exploring the place that we almost missed Rachel''s phone-alarm telling us to hurry back to the theater. As soon as we remembered what the alarm was about we dashed off together hand in hand, hurrying to catch the performance that was about to begin.

    We arrived at the theater to find that seats were filling up pretty fast; the two of us took a spot on the end of a middle row to the left of the stage and sat down to watch. Rachel pulled out the pamphlet again and we looked it over to see what was being performed: ¡°Selections from Shakespeare, starring the Merry Men Company of Bards and Thespians¡±, it read.

    ¡°Selections, huh?¡± I remarked softly.

    Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!

    ¡°I guess they''ll do some of the more famous scenes?¡± Rachel suggested.

    ¡°That''s probably it,¡± I agreed.

    The curtains then opened, and an announcer, appropriately garbed in the ubiquitously stereotypical costume most associated with the Elizabethan Era, popped out to introduce the show in a flamboyant monologue that both our brains recognized as being heavily influenced by the works of the Bard himself.

    That''s kind of impressive, although some people might be tempted to call it sad, I thought to myself as I listened to his recitation. With a grand flourish of elegant and enticing words, he introduced the key performers for the afternoon, including himself, and then the curtains closed again while the stage was set for the first selection.

    ¡°Wait, how do we prove we were here for class?¡± Rachel suddenly whispered to me.

    ¡°I think they give out some sort of souvenir at the end.¡± I whispered back. She let out a quiet sigh of relief, and then the curtains opened again to start the first of the mini-shows for the day.

    ***

    For an hour and a half or so, the company of Shakespearean performers took us on a wild and very entertaining romp through the many works which have been forever immortalized in our English-speaking culture. It started off with ¡°Hamlet¡± and then switched gears to ¡°The Merchant of Venice¡±, followed by ¡°King Lear¡± and ¡°A Midsummer Night''s Dream¡±. Then it was ¡°Julius Caesar¡±, with ¡°Macbeth¡± on its heels and scenes from ¡°Much Ado About Nothing¡± interwoven with scenes from ¡°All''s Well That Ends Well¡±. Of course, they did so much more, but it''d really be a pain to list everything that they did, but it was truly magnificent. They closed out with a lively performance of the last few scenes from ¡°The Comedy of Errors¡±, after which came their curtain call and a well-deserved applause from the audience.

    As for Rachel and myself, the two of us were recognized as students by one of the staff and given something to show our theater teacher as proof that we had been here. We thanked the lady for doing so, and then began heading out of the park. It was now five-twenty. I held on to the basket unconsciously, until we got to the entrance of the park and Rachel nudged me.

    ¡°Hm?¡± I wondered.

    ¡°I might need the basket back.¡± she said with a faint grin.

    ¡°Ah, oh! Well, how about I just walk you home?¡± I said, and she thought about it for a brief moment before nodding.

    ¡°We can do that.¡± she agreed. We took one last look at the park, and then headed on back into the city.

    It was nearly sunset, but there was more than enough light for the two of us to make it home before dark. Well, for me to get Rachel to her house, at least. The sights and sounds of the city passed us by; there was a construction crew building something at a lot that had been cleared a few blocks from the park, and further ahead we could see an art gallery being taken inside for the night. A tour-bus drove by on our left; I wondered what they were going to see, or if they had already seen it.

    We passed by a row of office buildings on one street; it was mostly lawyers and psychiatrists, judging from the signs, but there was also a bar mingled in. Of course, Rachel and I found this amusing to no end. On the next street we saw an old family bookstore, and a video-arcade next door to it.

    ¡°We should go there some day,¡± she told me as we passed them by.

    ¡°We will, I promise.¡± I said in answer. There were a few more odds and ends shops that we passed by, and then we got into what people tended to call the Food District.

    I cannot stress enough how appropriate the name is, nor can I tell you how underestimated the label is by people who don''t live here. So let me spell it out: every. Single. Building. Here. Is. A. Restaurant.

    Okay, so there''s like one gift-store, but it''s attached to a restaurant and it sells memorabilia exclusively for that restaurant, so it counts as part of the restaurant.

    It was a little after five-forty now, and the two of us were looking at some of these places pretty hungrily. And there was way too much to choose from, should we decide to try and stop in on our way home. As a final measure of torture, when we had pretty much made up our minds to just go home and have dinner there, the last restaurant we came across was an East Asian place called ¡°Three Kingdoms Soul: Korean, Japanese, and Chinese Specialties¡±.

    ¡°¡­ That''s too much...¡± I said weakly.

    ¡°¡­ I know... but it''s probably also too much...¡± Rachel said with a wavering willpower.

    ¡°¡­ Right?¡± I agreed; it was definitely going to be expensive. We looked at each other, and then looked back at the restaurant. A second look passed between us, and then our gazes returned to the building before us.

    ¡°Ugh... I want to try it...!¡± Rachel groaned.

    ¡°Right?¡± I sighed, a wry grin on my face.

    ¡°Hey, kiddos!¡± a familiar voice called out to us. It was Joshua Danes, Rachel''s brother.

    ¡°Josh! Oh, you''re on a date, too?¡± Rachel said, noticing the woman with him.

    ¡°Yep! This is Jane; Jane, this is my little sister Rachel and her boyfriend, Sean!¡± he said with a big grin.

    ¡°Nice to meet you!¡± Jane told us.

    ¡°Same,¡± I replied as we shook hands.

    ¡°Anyway, we were going to Caesar''s Palace on the other side of the street... oh-ho, I know; you two want to try this one, I bet!¡± he told us with a wink.

    ¡°Ah...¡±

    ¡°Eh-heh...¡± the two of us grinned sheepishly. Jane and Joshua looked at each other with amusement.

    ¡°We can try this one; we go to Caesar''s a lot anyway, I think one new thing a week is fair enough!¡± Jane told him, and he nodded.

    ¡°I was gonna hand them a bill and let them go, but that works too!¡± he said cheerfully. ¡°Come on, let''s go in!¡± he added, and we only too happily followed him in.

    ¡°At least it''s Josh,¡± Rachel whispered softly.

    ¡°And not one of our parents?¡± I whispered back with a grin.

    ¡°He''s more fun.¡± she winked, and I shook with silent laughter.

    Our incidental double-date at the restaurant went very well; Josh and Jane were apparently co-workers, and had been seeing each other for a while now. Jane herself seemed quite impressed that the two of us were able to order some things in Chinese, at which point Josh grinned and complimented us for it. After a very satisfying meal, he offered to drive us home, and we accepted. Once we got off at Rachel''s house (mine wasn''t too far away, maybe ten blocks or so), he headed off to let us spend a little more time together before we--well, before I had to get home. I handed her the basket back then, and she smiled.

    ¡°Well, I guess I''ll see you in Panarena later.¡± Rachel said to me.

    It was then that the thought that had been bugging me the past few days suddenly made itself known with the rapport of a thundercloud, and I was suddenly able to put a voice to it.

    ¡°Panarena... the Aldholt...¡± I said.

    ¡°Hmm?¡± Rachel wondered, seeing the expression of realization on my face.

    ¡°There really is no point to the conflict... not a single point... it''s just a distraction. What is he really after?¡± I wondered aloud, and Rachel hopped on my train of thought as well.

    ¡°Aren''t there rumors that his gear and stuff wasn''t gotten in the proper way? Like he somehow cheated to get them or something like that?¡± she asked.

    ¡°Yeah... yeah, that sort of thing... I wonder... I wonder if he''s doing this to try and cover up another ploy to get himself something he really doesn''t deserve...¡± I mused, and Rachel checked the time.

    ¡°It''s fifteen ''til eight; that''s our usual log-in time, anyway. We can tell the others and go from there,¡± she told me, and I nodded. ¡°Hey. It was really fun today. We should do this more often.¡± she then said, and I smiled back.

    ¡°Of course; I promise we''ll try to do this sort of thing more from now on,¡± I said to her, and she beamed at me happily.

    ¡°Kiss on it?¡± she asked. As before, I needed no second bidding. Our lips met for several moments, and then parted reluctantly. ¡°Hurry home!¡± she said, gently flicking my nose and dashing inside her house.

    ¡°Right,¡± I nodded back, and prepared to make a run myself. Just then a car horn beeped right next to me. It was my mother.

    ¡°Hey! Come on, I''ll give you a lift home!¡± she called after I calmed down from being freaked out. With a sigh emanating from some weird mixture of emotion, I hopped in, and the car started off again. ¡°You didn''t hear me pull alongside you?¡± mom asked with a grin.

    ¡°No,¡± I returned. ¡°I forgot how loud that thing was and how quiet this car is.¡±

    ¡°Quiet? Oh, true, we usually drive with your dad''s car -- which is louder.¡±

    ¡°Yep.¡±

    ¡°Ah, me,¡± she remarked with a giggle. ¡°Did you have fun today?¡± she asked me.

    ¡°Yep, a lot.¡± I replied softly. She slackened off with the questions then and patted my shoulder. I hate pats as much as I hate questions, you know, I thought inwardly.

    ¡°Good. I like her, kiddo. She''s good for you.¡±

    You have no idea.

    ¡°Hah, I guess you''ll be off to that little game of yours when we get home. You had dinner at least, right?¡±

    ¡°We did. Joshua found us and we had dinner at this place in the Food District.¡± I said, and then realized that was the most I''d said to her about anything for a long time. She realized it too.

    ¡°Wow. Extravagant tonight, are we?¡± she remarked with a double-meaning that did not escape me.

    ¡°¡­ Yep.¡± I replied after a moment. She shook her head, a grin on her face.

    ¡°Well good. How''s he doing, by the way?¡±

    ¡°He seems good.¡±

    ¡°Wonderful. Very enthusiastic kid, that one.¡±

    ¡°Kid?¡± I wondered.

    ¡°He may be in his twenties, but that''s still kid enough for me.¡± she shrugged.

    ¡°Heh.¡± I returned softly.

    ¡°Quiet, brat.¡± she quipped back, tugging my ear a little. I couldn''t resist a little grin.

    We got home just as it turned eight o''clock, and with that I all but darted back up to my room with a wave at dad as I hastened to rejoin the battle that was still going on in Panarena.

    ¡°Must''ve been a good time to keep him outside for nine hours,¡± I heard dad say.

    ¡°Nine hours?¡± mom returned.

    ¡°Now, Shirley--¡±

    ¡°Don''t Shirley me, Albert! He was out of the house for that long?¡±

    ¡°What are you fussing about! Being outside and socializing is good for him--it builds character!¡±

    ¡°Oh, you read too much Bill Watterson!¡± the reply came as I shut the door behind me.

    What the heck *are* you fussing about? You''re gonna be bonkers this spring when the Theater Class does its play and I''m out of the house that long on a regular basis, I thought to myself with a goofy grin. I then dressed down for the night, turning on the tower for the Dream Machine and setting the device itself on my head moments later to head back into that amazing world I was starting to think of as home.

    ***

    I found Ari and the others waiting for me at Cloverbell; Lizzy seemed as if she had been waiting around for a while, but Healina and Ari were as calm as ever. Our Nordian smith stood up, and gave me a funny look.

    ¡°Wildeye''s been sending messages all day; there were a few small skirmishes that happened while you two were out, but now they seem to be gearing up for something big. We good?¡± she asked me.

    ¡°We''re good!¡± I returned, holding my hands up defensively. ¡°It''ll all be fine, and I think he''ll forgive me once he hears me out.¡±

    ¡°Ari told me some stuff,¡± Lizzy nodded. ¡°Let''s get going then!¡± she said, and the four of us hurried off to Mount Fang, where we found the rest of the Silver Tiger Pact waiting for us patiently. Wildeye smiled as we arrived.

    ¡°Lana! You''re finally on,¡± he said. ¡°We were just discussing how to deploy you.¡±

    ¡°About that,¡± I broke in, ¡°I think Garth is up to something more nefarious than we think; I want to leave Elizasmith and Healina with one of the groups here while Ariana and I slip in to their guild hall to see what''s going on.¡±

    There were murmurs and exclamations at what I said, and I could almost feel Lizzy and Heali exchanging a glance with each other at my pronouncement. Wildeye and Magisteria looked at me in surprise and then turned to each other, subtly nodding.

    ¡°This... is not totally detrimental to our plans today, I suppose, but it would be more reassuring to have you with us.¡± he remarked.

    ¡°You''ll barely notice us being gone with the other two here to help. Besides, pulling off this bit of espionage will reward us no matter how you slice it. Ariana and I have the highest sneak rating in the area at the moment. I want to know what he''s really after instead of going on with this pointless lock-down we''re trying to pull off on each other.¡± I said to him, and even he had to give us that one.

    ¡°Hahh... Lady Lana, you are very correct about what you say. Very well! We will move ahead of schedule and launch our assaults now to divert their attention. Their guild-hall -- well, ?SOVEREIGN?''s guild-hall, is located at Diamond City in the Crystal Coasts. Someone said that they are having a crucial meeting today; I hope you are in time to attend it.¡± he said to us, and Ariana and I gave him a nod as we turned to go.

    As the two of us made our way to the wayport, Lizzy and Heali gave us nods of support, the latter with a smile on her face. To my surprise, Tyman was at the door; he held up his hand, and then began opening a panel.

    ¡°Yo, might want these.¡± he said as he transferred some items to us.

    ¡°Hmm?¡± I wondered, and then looked; they were ?SOVEREIGN? guild-uniforms. ¡°Oh, I gotcha; thanks!--wait a sec, how''d you--¡±

    ¡°Someone picked ''em up last night by damn luck. They''ve got hoods on ''em, too. Get going; this dumb fight gone on too long.¡± he said as he opened the door, and we hastened on out.

    ¡°He''s tired of fighting?¡± I muttered to myself as we reached the wayport, and Ariana giggled. We selected our destination, then quickly changed outfits before being whisked away to Diamond City.

    It was probably the most spectacular and magical looking city in the Aldholt regions, and it was certainly the most expensive to live in. I think The Tea Cupboard also had a guild-hall here by the way. Now, I had expected to be literally sneaking in, but I had no problem with disguises. This is yet another one of the ways VR games are superior to older ones: sure, you can bring up someone''s name if you want to get an idea of who they are; but with guild uniforms people took that sort of thing for granted and just gave you a pass. And the system wouldn''t alarm you either. This is because guild-halls for guilds with uniforms only recognize the uniform and pay no mind to player-identification; these settings could be altered, but for a big guild like ?SOVEREIGN? it made more sense to just track people by uniform.

    Now, if anyone were to check the guild registry, we would not turn up as players of the guild. Our hasty spy-act was gambling on the hope that they were in too much of a hurry to bother with that. That said, why are these things so gaudy? I wondered to myself with a cringed look on my face.

    And yes, I know that this system I''ve just described to you seems full of holes, but I guess the developers either hadn''t thought about this particular scenario or they had thought about it and believed it would be an interesting quirk to make the game more fun for those who enjoyed this sort of thing.

    Anyway. We made our way through the extravagant streets of Diamond City at a brisk but cautious pace. Few people paid us any mind; a couple of them darted out of our way when they saw our get-up. Ari and I looked at each other with a knowing look. Even people in the Garth-Fire Alliance''s strongholds were agitated by what was going on.

    The guild-hall wasn''t hard to find in the end; as expected of ?SOVEREIGN?, they had the most gaudy-looking building of all, situated on a small hill near the lord''s manor. It was practically a lord''s manor itself, a palatial estate decked out with the most self-serving d¨¦cor any person could think to find. As we hoped, no one paid us any mind, and we entered without trouble. Quickly I noted our surroundings, and gently took Ariana''s arm as we hastened to a stairwell I espied; there was probably a large hall behind the massive door at the end of this foyer, and the stairs probably led to an indoor overlook where we could keep hidden while we listened in.

    My instincts paid off; it was almost too perfect of a spot, and it was situated above a main hall where the leaders of the Garth-Fire Alliance were discussing their schemes. I hid us both with Shadow Sharing, and we then focused all our senses on gathering what information we could.

    ¡°I hope you''re more prepared to deal with them tonight than you were last night or even today,¡± Angelfire said angrily.

    ¡°Don''t take it out on us; you should have been more wary of Lana and the Silvernight Queens.¡± Angela retorted. ¡°If you had focused on their healer instead of Lana herself you might have gotten them!¡±

    ¡°You try beating the best shadow-warrior in the Aldholt with your snotty little fae-magic and see how far you get!¡± the reply came without missing a beat.

    ¡°Now, now, just hold on!¡± Garth said in a calm voice. ¡°Let''s forget about last night and focus on today. The Silver Tigers are probably going to be locking up the dungeons again; we need to counter or otherwise ambush them.¡±

    ¡°The outlaws aren''t going to help this time.¡± a strange voice remarked.

    ¡°No, I didn''t think they would, Aleister.¡± Garth returned.

    Aleister; Crowley''s Revenge. That''s one of the newer guilds, isn''t it?

    ¡°But what exactly are you trying to do, Garth?¡± a deep voice said. ¡°My guild and I joined to balance out Hallow''s Eve being with the Tigers, yet I am curious as to what you''re really up to.¡±

    Sn-nap, that''s Skeletor! I realized, and Ariana''s eyes widened as well.

    ¡°We should probably tell them.¡± Angela remarked.

    ¡°Yes, you''re right; very well!¡± Garth said. ¡°My purpose for this war is two-fold: one, to distract people from a quest that I''ve been trying to achieve with Angela, and two, to drive out someone I perceive as my main rival in the matter--our, rivals, I should say.¡±

    ¡°A quest?¡± Skeletor remarked in a flat tone. ¡°What sort of quest?¡± he demanded.

    ¡°A quest for an item, a very powerful item that can only be used by two players with a strong bond.¡±

    Heh? That sounds interesting... oh wait, I get where this is going.

    ¡°Ve-ry interesting!¡± Aleister said with a fascinated tone. ¡°Do tell!¡±

    ¡°I don''t know exactly what it is, all I know is where, and even for that there''s a prerequisite quest I haven''t found yet.¡± Garth replied.

    ¡°That we haven''t found, darling.¡± Angela interjected.

    ¡°Yes, I meant we.¡± the other said in a barely apologetic voice. ¡°It''s located in the Hallowed Vale, and even that''s barely a clue. I think I need the prerequisite item first, but no one has been able to determine where it is.¡±

    ¡°I see.¡± Skeletor mused. ¡°This is both less and more than I expected; but you can recapture my interest by confirming one thing -- your rivals. You wouldn''t be referring to the Silvernight Twins, would you?¡± he said in a soft but insistent tone.

    I knew it.

    ¡°They are the ones I refer to, yes.¡± Garth acknowledged. Skeletor laughed. He laughed heartily, so much so that the hall seemed to shake with the echoes of his laughter before he finally composed himself again.

    ¡°Very well! My interest is reborn! I want to test myself against that woman and her second; if your ploy is to weaken them and drive them out, that is all the more to my liking!¡±

    By this time the two of us had heard enough; we nodded to each other and slipped out as the meeting continued, hastening out of the hall and nearly flying to the wayport. We headed back to Mount Fang at once, and then slipped back into our normal gear as we entered the Mountain Tigers'' hall. There weren''t many people left; Tyman was one of the few still lingering. He looked up as we came in, and nodded.

    ¡°Yo.¡± he said as we took the disguises out of our inventories and set them on the table.

    ¡°They worked.¡± I said.

    ¡°Damn right they worked, girl.¡± he said with a tone that suggested he never thought they would have failed. ¡°What''s the scoop?¡±

    ¡°There''s a lot, but basically Garth is after something in a place called the Hallowed Vale,¡± I said to him. ¡°That, and they''re gonna try to foil our locking up dungeons tonight when the reset comes along.¡±

    ¡°I''ll let Wildeye know,¡± Tyman said, and then gave us a thoughtful look. ¡°Yo, I was out wandering a few nights ago, real nights that is, and I saw some place that might''ve been the Hallowed Vale or whatever. Lotta trees and a lotta special looking animals down that way; it was kinda in-between Vark'' and the Mountains of Night, west of Aldholt City.¡± he said to us, and I pondered this for a moment.

    Have I been down that way? I can''t remember... but this lead is better than nothing. Come to think of it, I then mused, pulling up the item we had gotten from the dungeon last night.

    ¡°Oh! The charm!¡± Ariana said as she saw my finger hover over the item in question. ¡°That''s what they were looking for--this is the key to that special dungeon they''re trying to get to!¡± she added, and I nodded in agreement.

    ¡°And to think all I wanted to do was distract myself from this little spat of Garth''s; we found it by one heck of a lucky accident,¡± I remarked.

    ¡°Dayum.¡± Tyman said with an impressed look on his face. ¡°Best hurry on over there, then; I''ll round up people for back-up in case that damn Garth grows a brain -- oh, that Hallowed Vale place is marked by a giant-@$$ gold-cedar tree.¡± he told us.

    ¡°Thanks, Ty.¡± I said, and then suddenly froze.

    Now, let me back up a bit and explain. I was literally the only person who ever called him ¡°Ty¡±--his full name was really Tyler. And as soon as the word left my mouth, I knew I had made a goof; but he didn''t comment on it all at once. He gave me a funny look, and then nodded.

    ¡°Sure thing... Lans.¡± he said in a sort of testing manner. I managed to wave innocently enough, and then Ariana and I headed out again.

    ¡°What a tense moment,¡± I said to myself exasperatedly when we were outside again.

    ¡°I think he picked up on you.¡± Ariana remarked, poking me gently.

    ¡°I think so too, but no time to worry about that. Let''s find this place he mentioned.¡± I replied, and we made our way over to the wayport again.

    ¡°Let''s see...¡± Ariana pondered aloud as she looked at the map. ¡°Maybe it''d be simpler to try Noondale and head west from there?¡±

    ¡°Hmm... west by northwest, maybe, since he mentioned it kind of straddled Varkstania and the Mountains of Night.¡±

    ¡°True! Noondale it is, then!¡± she said, and with that we were whisked away once more--hopefully, to bring a final conclusion to the strife that had engulfed the Aldholt Regions.

 Chapter Eleven: The Hallowed Pagoda/Lana Versus Garth

    It was unusually quiet as the two of us hastened along the pathways or cut across through wilder areas to head for where the Hallowed Vale should be. From what I remembered, most of the skirmishing was supposed to take place in this area in particular, on account of the crafting dungeons that were in the area, but perhaps Tyman had alerted Wildeye and the others to our plans and they had adjusted accordingly so that we could slip through undetected. We still used our stealth skills anyway for expedience.

    As we drew near to the area where the three regions touched on the map, there was almost a stillness in the air. We found a rustic trackway that wound its way in the direction we were hoping to go, and ventured upon it to see if it led to our destination. A breeze blew gently past us; leaves went skittering as they scattered before it. Something about it impressed upon me the magnitude of realism this game had.

    ¡°Do you feel... I dunno... spiritual, maybe, right now?¡± Ariana said to me softly as we continued along the way.

    ¡°Kind of? Sorta...¡± I returned. Our hands clasped together our of habit, and then, after a few paces more, we saw it.

    It was a magically golden cedar tree, towering above the rest of the trees in the area. All the other trees had similar coloration to them, but none were so royal, so elegant, so awe-inspiring as the one that now dominated our vision.

    ¡°Amazing...!¡± I exclaimed breathlessly, and Ariana nodded. Beyond the cedar, the path continued downward into a vale that seemed just as distinct in color and presence as the grove which guarded it.

    ¡°Hence the name,¡± Ariana said as we approached. ¡°Hallowed Vale.¡±

    It definitely had that vibe to it. You could almost hear chanting, or perhaps a chorus of singers harmonizing on some ancient and forgotten hymn from before the ages of man. Maybe that sounds like nonsense, but at the moment it was the only thing I could think of to make it make sense in my head. We entered the vale, and instantly the distinct vibe it gave off permeated us. Was it the system bestowing some effect, or were we actually being touched by the divine? In that moment, I couldn''t say.

    Animals watched us as we kept on our way; they had the same regal colors as the rest of the place. Ivory stags and does, silver or golden squirrels, scarlet and amber foxes, a myriad of birds with a myriad of spectacular colors, a sable bear, and a second cedar tree, this one an even richer gold than the first, situated before a very tall pagoda-type temple of marble-white walls with a wondrously fashioned veranda, probably made of cedar, and jade-turquoise roof-tiles. A set of stairs led up to a door that had been so spectacularly fashioned we thought it was a mural or a relief at first glance.

    ¡°Wow...¡± I remarked as we got closer.

    ¡°Totally,¡± Ariana agreed. ¡°Oh hey, there''s a spot for the charm,¡± she then pointed. I took it out of my inventory and slipped it into the empty space. The door glowed, and we were then teleported inside.

    Welcome to the Hallowed Pagoda! Face the three trials ahead of you and confront the Guardian of the Utmost Chamber to claim your reward!

    ¡°Well that''s straightforward,¡± I said, and she nodded in agreement.

    ¡°I wonder what kind of challenges they''ll be.¡± Ari wondered.

    ¡°I guess the kind that try to split us up or make us question our trust?¡± I replied, wondering the same.

    ¡°Hmm... even then, that''d be difficult!¡± she said to me with a bright smile.

    ¡°True.¡± I smiled back. ¡°Let''s do this, partner!¡± I said, gently squeezing her hand; she did the same, nodding to me, and we headed further in to begin our adventure.

    So in a dungeon like this, there''s usually monsters of some sort hanging around and certain mechanics you need to figure out in order to progress through it. I didn''t have a perfect idea of what our trials would be, but I was kind of unprepared for there to be no monsters at all--not even roaming ones or pathers, as we gamers like to call them. Well, I guess there might be some involved in the trials, I pondered as we moved along the corridor of upward stairs unperturbed.

    After a moment I noticed idly that our hands were still clasped. Maybe this had something to do with it? Maybe we were already facing the first trial? Some quaint yet noble sentiment about sticking with your partner no matter what?

    Hmm... I bet if we let go, something would happen... and something might yet happen to try and spook us into doing so. That would probably fail and reset the dungeon.

    ¡°Think we can fight like this?¡± Ariana suddenly said to me with a sly grin, and I turned to her.

    ¡°We''ll have to figure something out,¡± I replied. ¡°I have a feeling that if we let go it''ll fail us.¡±

    ¡°Well then I won''t let go.¡± she said, her hand grasping mine more tightly; I smiled back, nodding as I did the same. ¡°Still... that seems like an odd mechanic.¡± she mused.

    ¡°Well, it is a VR game; the system they''ve built recognizes all sorts of player interactions. I mean, you and I are doing this, after all... among other things... when no one''s around...¡± I slowly trailed off with a blush, and Ariana giggled.

    ¡°Nothing naughty,¡± she reminded me.

    ¡°True.¡± I sighed in relief.

    ¡°Hmm... it''s connected to our minds a lot more deeply than earlier interface-devices for things like this, isn''t it?¡± she pondered aloud. ¡°I wonder if it analyzes emotions and psychology...¡±

    ¡°That would be both amazing and a bit creepy at the same time.¡±

    ¡°Right?¡±

    ¡°But I don''t think it goes too deep; just deep enough so that the virtual avatar gets the signals that the real body should get from our own minds without interfering with the autonomous systems.¡± I told her, and she nodded.

    ¡°Which would be very--he-llo, what''s that?¡± she suddenly looked further past me, and I turned to look as well. There was a placard on the wall to our right. It had the ¡°common tongue¡± (English) inscribed upon it, riddle-verses that seemed to be about what lay ahead.

    The first of three is don''t let go

    No matter if they''re fast or slow;

    The second has a darker twist--

    That many here have sadly missed;

    A third to guard the final door

    Which ope''s up to the final floor;

    The guardian tries your soul:

    Shall you, O heroes, come out whole?

    ¡°Well that''s about what I expected.¡± I remarked.

    ¡°Hmm?¡± Ariana looked over at me.

    ¡°Vague and cleverly worded clues.¡± I wryly said as we moved on.

    ¡°I imagine they''ll seem more obvious as we get to them--¡± she began to reply, when all of a sudden something came whooshing out of the wall; I spun us out of the way, keeping hold of her, and the razor-disc rolled back into its receptacle.

    ¡°L-like that?¡± I nervously quipped.

    ¡°Y-yeah... j-just like th-that...¡± she nodded, a little more shaken up than I was.

    ¡°Fast or slow, huh...¡± I then remarked, looking at the stairwell looming before us.

    ¡°Oh, I get it... this is like an Arizona Tom movie.¡± Ariana said in a calmer voice.

    ¡°Heh? Oh yeah!¡± I snapped my fingers in realization. ¡°That scene in Palace of Death!¡±

    ¡°Exactly!¡± she replied, smiling again.

    ¡°All right, we can handle this... just stay calm and listen for directions,¡± I said.

    ¡°Can you see the traps?¡± she asked me.

    ¡°Now that I know there are traps like this, they should be visible to me. Shadow Vision!¡± I called out, and my sight was altered; I could still see the outline of the stairs, but now I also saw objects highlighted in red. They were in the stairs, the walls, and the ceiling. ¡°This is gonna get tricky... it''s gonna take all of our outside skills to do it,¡± I told her.

    ¡°Dancing and dodging.¡± Ariana nodded.

    ¡°Ready?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Ready!¡± she affirmed.

    With that, we set off at a brisk pace; you don''t want to rush through a hall of traps, but you don''t want to be slow going through them either. I carefully watched the objects in my field of vision, daring them to try and stop us.

    ¡°Jump; swerve; dodge!¡± I said as we avoided the first three. ¡°Swerve--jump; now duck; jump again; we''re twirling!¡± I continued as the two of us moved like ninjas to avoid being sliced or impaled. ¡°Above--duck and roll!¡±

    ¡°Yeek!¡± Ariana squeaked as we narrowly avoided a ceiling trap.

    ¡°Up and jump!¡± I resumed, guiding us over a trap-door; very briefly I noticed there were spikes at the bottom. ¡°Twirl, and twirl, and twirl... hey! This is almost--¡±

    ¡°Like a dance?¡± Ari suggested.

    ¡°Kinda--oop, jump!¡± I said, and we hastily avoided another floor trap. ¡°Swerve, and twirl, and swerve--dodge! Spin around, here we go for a jump!¡±

    ¡°Whee!¡±

    ¡°Right? Spin!¡± I called out, and we started laughing.

    The obvious danger of it all became quite fun, and for the next few minutes we cycled through our maneuvers to avoid the traps, to the point where Ari knew by feel what I was about to do--and it helped that I didn''t need to keeping calling them out. This was the sort of fun you could never have in an older game, even if you could get to the same sort of mentality with a partner or team; there was something much more rewarding about the experience in this virtual world, where the sensory sharing was much more involved.

    When we finally cleared all of the traps, we kinda felt sorry the fun was over. But of course we had to get on with things and claim the reward at the top or our purpose in being here was moot.

    ¡°Whew! That, was, amazing.¡± Ariana exclaimed as we caught our breath.

    ¡°Seriously!¡± I agreed. ¡°What was the next thing again?¡± I asked, trying to recall.

    ¡°Hmm... that was the most vague... ''the second has a darker twist that many here have sadly missed'', and that''s all it really said.¡± she recounted for me, and I frowned, letting out a sigh.

    ¡°Fun.¡± I softly groaned.

    ¡°It will be when we figure it out.¡± she winked.

    ¡°Eh. Okay. Point for you.¡± I returned.

    The stairs came to an end at a white door trimmed in floral patterns of gold and silver, with emerald and sapphires ¡°blooming¡± among the design. We opened the door, and found a wide open hall with a ladder in the middle. It rose quite a ways to the top, and it looked as if there might be more traps further up -- as well as places where monsters of some sort or another could attack us, if they so desired.

    ¡°Well... this seems obvious... but let''s keep alert. You never know when a twist will come along.¡± I remarked.

    ¡°How to get up the ladder and still hold hands, for one thing.¡± Ariana noted.

    ¡°Right; and, potentially, how to ward off monsters while holding on to it.¡± I added.

    ¡°Hmm,¡± she sighed, pondering the thought as we moved closer. We halted at the ladder, staring at it for a few moments in silence. Thankfully, the trial didn''t start just by our doing that.

    ¡°You know, I bet this ladder starts disappearing or breaking apart as we climb it.¡± I idly thought out loud, and she looked over at me blankly, trying to process what I just said.

    ¡°That''s just wrong!¡± Ariana finally shouted.

    ¡°¡­ Right?¡± I agreed, suddenly aware of what I had just said myself.

    ¡°Okay. We can still do this, I know we can.¡± she began in a calmer voice. ¡°There''s probably incorporeal monsters here; and even if they aren''t, I think I should probably be the one to deal with them.¡±

    ¡°Hmm? How are you going to--¡± I began, and then she spun me around so that I was in front of her with my back towards her. She put her other arm around my shoulder and leveraged up a bit to wrap her legs around me, bringing out her mage-orb and putting the staff away for the time being. ¡°Ehh, I get what you''re trying to do... this would be easier if we could do this the more traditional piggy-back way, though.¡±

    ¡°True! But I have a firm grip on you like this, and I don''t have to wave the orb around like I do with the staff. And besides, your Agility and Dexterity is better than mine, along with your Strength. We''ll need that to get up this ladder quickly.¡± she told me.

    ¡°Quickly!¡± I suddenly felt something click in my head. ¡°That reminds me, I never tried this skill yet...¡± I mused, using my still-free hand to scan through and take a look at it.

    ¡°Hmm?¡± Ari wondered, sneaking a look over my shoulder as I found it, reading it with me. ¡°Oh, God, are you really?¡± she asked me with a nervous voice.

    Skill: Shadow Speed; +225% Movement; Evasion and Dodge set to +35% of maximum value; Immune to knockback and stun effects; can be used to climb walls.

    ¡°I hope this thing counts as a wall,¡± I remarked hopefully.

    ¡°You''re gonna owe me another date for this. A nice date. A really, super nice date.¡± Ariana told me in a no-nonsense tone.

    ¡°You got it.¡± I told her.

    ¡°I''ll activate Holy Barrier and Storm Wards now; that should help us.¡± she said, doing so at once.

    ¡°This is why we''re the perfect partners.¡± I smiled to myself. ¡°Shadow Speed!¡± I then called out, and then -- you guessed it. I started running up the ladder at over double my usual speed. Which was already fast compared to most non-rogue players and even some who were.

    I could feel the defenses that Ariana had put around us deflecting several attacks. But I didn''t have time to think about that. Sure enough, the dang ladder started breaking apart as we went up; and I bet there''s what we like to call a jack@$$ mechanic at the very top, I mused briefly as we continued what was probably our most insane duet of skills to date.

    What kind of mechanic do you mean, Sean? I mean that I bet the ladder will start to break from the top down once we get near the end. And I also bet that there will be a doozy of a monster floating or flapping around as well.

    But I didn''t think much about that for now, because if I did, I would probably overthink it. I was already keeping myself reined in so that I didn''t panic and screw up, and I was steeling myself against the likely inevitability of the aforementioned surprise I expected to get. Ariana clung to my back desperately, trying to hold back a scream. Got it; roller-coasters: out, I thought to myself as we whooshed up the ladder. We were making good time; I estimated that we were over halfway up at the moment. My momentum had not slowed, and nothing had broken down the protection Ariana had given us. Good thing this is a toggle-skill, I smirked to myself.

    I could only speculate how Garth and Angela would have fared in this situation. I doubt that over-smug jerk would have figured it out, even with her to help him.

    Oop! Forget it for now; focus, focus!

    Arrows, bolts, and darts began to shoot out of the walls. Ariana reinforced our protection with Mystic Ward; I kept racing up the ladder, trusting her as she trusted me. This is how we beat this thing, keep trusting. The door to the next area was becoming visible now, partially illuminated by paper-lanterns that hung in alcoves still a ways above us.

    Now, I''m sure you''ve seen by this point that I have pret-ty keen instincts on things that happen in games. It''s almost annoying sometimes, especially when they tell me something bad or at least not-so-good is about to happen. This was one of those moments. We were practically three-fourths up the ladder; the projectiles had ceased, but now there were several eerie looking incorporeal-type monsters coming out to play--and the ladder was starting to crumble from the top now as well.

    I hate being right!!

    ¡°L-Lana! The ladder!¡± Ari squeaked out.

    ¡°I see it; you worry about those monsters, I''ll worry about the ladder!¡± I told her.

    ¡°They''re forty-fives; they''ll never break this triple barrier!¡± she told me in a more confident tone.

    This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

    ¡°Then hang on to me tightly!¡± I said. ¡°Shadow World!¡± I called out.

    There was just a tiny extra burst of speed with Shadow World, but right now I needed all I could get. I felt like all the sound suddenly got sucked out of my ears as I accelerated. Everything else seemed to slow way down somehow. The monsters launched some sort of attack. I didn''t see what it was. As the ladder began to crack irreparably, I managed to take us both up to the highest rung left--it was just enough of a springboard to launch us, still at full throttle, through the door. It opened for us as we passed through, and I somehow yoinked us to one side so I could land safely with Ari on top of me, still tightly holding my hand.

    We sat there for several moments to catch our breath; she gently patted my back, and we maneuvered a bit so that we were again side by side. She looked at me with a big smile, all panic gone.

    ¡°You''re crazy. But I love you.¡± she remarked.

    ¡°I love you, too.¡± I told her. She kissed me, and then we stood up to head on to the next trial.

    We enjoyed a peaceful walk up the next staircase; not a single thing came out to so much as say ¡°Boo!¡±, which was almost a let down. But then again that ladder room was rough, so the quiet was also nice. When at last we got to the final door, the two of us were again ready for anything. It was like the previous door, but this time there was writing on it. This became legible as we got closer; upon it were the following words:

    Congratulations, heroes, for making it thus far! You may now let go of each other''s hands for the final confrontation!

    Ari was about to let go when I took a firmer grasp and shook my head as she looked over at me.

    ¡°It''s a trick.¡± I told her, and she smiled wryly, squeezing my hand as she also took a firmer grip.

    ¡°How silly of me.¡± she said.

    ¡°Well done, heroes; you have passed the third test!¡± a voice called out, and the doors opened. ¡°But now you face the final challenge: me!¡± it said.

    As we entered into the room cautiously, we saw an enemy garbed in a monkish robe of black color, over which it wore red and brown samurai-style armor topped with a fearsome dragon-helm. In its hands was a strong looking nodachi, gleaming silver in the lantern light.

    ¡°Are you prepared to face me as one, or shall you prove yourselves unworthy?¡± it asked us.

    ¡°If we weren''t prepared we would have failed the third test.¡± I said in an off-the-cuff way, not really expecting a reply.

    ¡°Your candor does you credit, mortal!¡± it said to my surprise. ¡°Withstand my assault for ten minutes, and you may claim victory!¡± the figure then told us. Ariana pulled out her orb again, and I pulled out one of my daggers.

    Yeaaahh... gotta switch to a shortsword *at least* after all this... I mused to myself with a look of mixed admiration and bemusement as I looked at it in comparison to the nodachi.

    ¡°I''ll keep our protection up; I''ll also try some impairments on him.¡± Ariana told me.

    ¡°Gotcha; I''ll deflect what I can if he gets too close.¡± I replied, and she nodded back.

    ¡°Let''s go, Lana!¡± she said.

    ¡°Let''s go, Ari!¡± I returned, and with that our battle with the Guardian, I guess we should call him, commenced.

    Fortunately for us he wasn''t immune to roots or slows, like most bosses generally were. Oh, sure, he would break out of them, but Ariana always had another ready, and there were a few traps in my own arsenal of skills as well. That said--close quarter battles really are a pain. I mean, the room wasn''t small, but it wasn''t big either. It was maybe about the size of your average high school classroom. About five minutes passed us by with this little pattern of trap and defend, and then it happened.

    The Guardian withdrew for a moment, and then did one of those showy pantomimes that usually prefix some sort of devastating attack or super-annoying self-buff. With a sudden shout a special effect of energies flashed throughout his body.

    It''s a buff, I tisked as I watched. Quickly I looked for his status bar.

    ¡°Hmm... oh, there it is; ''immune to all impairments and traps, plus fifteen to all stats, plus twenty-five percent to critical damage''--¡± I read aloud, but then Ari interrupted.

    ¡°Basically this just got a lot harder.¡± she said with a poised expression on her face.

    ¡°¡­ ''and plus twenty percent movement speed''.¡± I added, and she gave me a wry look. ¡°Ahh--yes, I mean; it got harder.¡± I hastily amended, and she nodded back.

    Our enemy came after us again at that moment, and Ariana focused on wards and her few healing spells while I parried and blocked as best as I could. Lucky for me I could use my strong hand. If I''d had to use my left we would probably have failed by now. Which, admittedly, can be the fun of a game like this; but I had a nasty feeling that either we had a limited number of tries or that after this first failure we''d be sent out and would have to find another special item to open the dungeon again. Not to mention the likelihood of Garth finding one before that.

    ¡°Honestly now,¡± I vented aloud, adjusting my grip on Ari''s hand so that it was firmer. ¡°I''ve had it with that good-for-nothing pansy and his stupid little war!!¡± I practically fumed.

    I''m sure every gamer has gotten frustrated like this for whatever reason. Mine just happened to be another player. However the case, it revved me up to the point where I also started counterattacking, and I managed to get a few decent hits in while still keeping that blade from touching us. I can''t remember how I kept hold of Ari''s hand, but I managed it, and when our remaining time had passed the two of us had barely gotten a scratch, and the Guardian ceased his onslaught as he returned to a more docile position.

    ¡°Well done, heroes; your strength, and your bond, is undeniable. Step forth, and claim your prize!¡± it said, and then went back to sleep.

    Ariana and I went over to a pedestal that suddenly gleamed; a box sat on top of it. Inside the box was a pair of identical silver rings.

    ¡°Identical stats, too; plus ten Charisma and Vitality, twenty-five percent additional health regeneration, and a shared status effect between wearers.¡± I read.

    ¡°The stat bonus becomes fifteen, an additional five-percent to regeneration, and a ten-percent shielding effect, as long as you''re within thirty meters.¡± Ariana noted.

    ¡°No wonder they were after it,¡± I nodded. ¡°I wonder if it has some sort of special bonus that it would apply to all the gear he has...¡± I suddenly wondered.

    ¡°Could it do that?¡± Ari asked as we claimed the rings and set them in our inventory for now. A portal to the outside opened.

    ¡°It''s possible; there''s specific sets like ours that definitely work in tandem, but there can also be incidental sets.¡± I said as we made our way over to the portal and headed out.

    ¡°Items that aren''t tailored specifically for one another, but which work well together.¡± she nodded as we entered the vale again.

    ¡°You got it!¡± I said with a smile.

    ¡°Speaking of which, Lizzy said she would upgrade our sets when we got to fifty, but what about after that?¡±

    ¡°I think we may end up needing to find new ones after fifty-five for sure. From what I saw, you can only upgrade sets to your levels so many times, and since we''re wearing Aldholt Regions sets, the limit is probably at the regional cap.¡±

    ¡°That makes sense,¡± Ariana said as we made our way out of the Hallowed Vale.

    It felt kind of sad to leave the place. As we got to the hill leading out into the Aldholt, I wondered if there were any other quests or quest-chains that might bring us back some day. We summited the hill, and took a look back at the place together.

    ¡°So beautiful,¡± Ari remarked. I could only nod in agreement. Reluctantly, we tore our gazes from it, and turned around to see the leaders of the Garth-Fire Alliance waiting for us.

    ¡°Well, well, I wondered what it meant when someone reported that a somewhat suspicious player or two had exited our guild-hall and ran for the wayport, but to imagine that it was Lana Windstrider and her second, Ariana!¡± Garth said with a smug grin.

    ¡°Give it up, Garth. We have the items.¡± I said to him, and he shook his head, tisking at me.

    ¡°Now, now; you do have them, but I can find ways to get them from you.¡±

    ¡°You probably couldn''t have gotten them in the first place,¡± I shrugged condescendingly, making my voice sound as aloof and as bored as possible. ¡°Hard work isn''t your specialty, or so I''ve heard.¡±

    ¡°Why you--!!¡± he suddenly spluttered.

    ¡°Garth, forget about taunting them and let''s get fighting them.¡± Angelfire said to him.

    ¡°Not so fast!¡± another voice rang out. The Silver Tigers had appeared on the scene. ¡°There are more of us than of you, Garth,¡± Wildeye continued, ¡°And though they may not be as fast as Lady Lana, we have several sneaks lurking about and waiting for a command, should you try to attack her.¡±

    ¡°I see! Well played, Wildeye,¡± Garth returned with a fiendish look in his eyes. ¡°Yet you should note that I have my good friend Skeletor here with me; he of all people needs no command or indeed encouragement to do away with these--¡±

    ¡°Hahh... okay, okay... let''s try this,¡± I broke in, putting off the egotistical Garth. ¡°I know you like hearing your own voice, but how about a duel, Garthy?¡± I said, gently nudging Ariana to get back.

    Garth looked taken aback for a moment, and then his ego triumphed as a cold sneer came to his face.

    ¡°You wish to face me? The deadliest swordsman in the Aldholt Regions and commander of its greatest guild?¡±

    ¡°I was asking you to a duel, not Jannie.¡± I retorted without batting an eye. Skeletor seemed to almost break down laughing on the spot, and even Angelfire and Angela covered their mouths; I wasn''t sure if they were trying to not laugh or if they were genuinely offended. But Garth himself got riled up.

    ¡°Ah... is that... so?... well, then, let me show you... what swordsmanship is... all about!¡± he replied with a shaking rage, his eye twitching as the phony smile on his face crumbled.

    ¡°That''s fine with you, Wildeye, right?¡± I called out.

    ¡°Very well! I defer to your decision, Lana!¡± the reply came.

    ¡°Oh, damn, this gonna be one for the streams...¡± I heard Tyman say.

    ¡°Right?¡± someone else remarked.

    ¡°Hey, get a recorder going!¡± a third piped up.

    ¡°Be careful.¡± Ariana whispered to me, squeezing my hand as she withdrew to join the others.

    ¡°Always.¡± I replied, taking out my daggers.

    ¡°Ready to lose?¡± Garth said as he drew out his sword and steeled himself.

    ¡°That''s my line, you third-rate Battlecraft dropout.¡± I returned at once.

    Without another word he rushed at me, incoherently yelling. I deflected his first attack and slashed him on the cheek as he bulled by, spinning around as he came about to try some fancier moves on me. For the next few moments I deftly parried him, avoiding the sword and taking mental notes.

    He was an early tournament champion, they say, but he had this equipment then already; after winning it he never really did much fighting, not even in this conflict. His Strength and Dexterity seem to be good; but I have Agility in addition to those, so I probably outclass him stat-wise. Weapon-wise? That sword has a longer reach, but my daggers (even though I plan on replacing them soon) probably have a better damage rating.

    But now wait a minute--in the first place, does he even know what he''s doing? Does he have *any* skills going or is he just hammering away at me hoping I''ll screw up so that over-priced longsword can slice me?

    Wait, over-priced longsword? Isn''t that...?

    ¡°Nice weapon, Garthy; it looks like the one decorating the box,¡± I quipped as we traded blows and then locked weapons.

    ¡°A keen eye, Lady Lana; for it is the very same!¡± he said in reply. He withdrew only to attack again, and I resumed fending him off.

    Your ego makes you say just about anything, doesn''t it? But I thought the sword on PFO''s box was an elite rare unique item that you could only win from the highest dungeons in the central regions... wait, his dad -- is the truth even more shocking than the rumors?

    ¡°What''s the matter, Lana? Are you in awe of my skills?¡± he said with an ugly grin.

    ¡°More like, I''ve figured you out, and I can''t believe the GM''s let someone like you run around.¡± I replied. A squawk emanated from him, but he quickly regained his composure.

    ¡°Is that so?¡± Garth bantered lightly.

    ¡°Still, I''m impressed; I didn''t know you could downgrade a sword for lower-level players, especially not that one, of all swords.¡± I said in an overly loud voice. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Wildeye catch on. He opened a panel, and I rushed Garth, who was already livid, to further unbalance him.

    ¡°How dare you! I''ll have you know that my father--urgk!¡± he shouted before canning himself, but that seemed to be all the confirmation Wildeye needed. It was definitely all that I needed.

    I came after him with my most intricate skills, blended with some martial arts moves, queued up in a pattern I liked to call the Shadow''s Dance; Crescent Flash followed by Thousand Needle Strike, continued with Doomstrike and Flashing Blades. This time he actually prepared to counterattack with a skill, but then I tried something new; I unleashed Shadow-gaze on him. It was a paralytic skill, and it froze him in place.

    ¡°Kn-knight''s Ardor!¡± he shouted, breaking the effect.

    ¡°Heh... so you do know how to play,¡± I quipped blithely, rushing to hit him with another Crescent Flash as he recovered before dodging out of sword''s reach with a roll.

    ¡°Insolence!¡± Garth raged, swinging blindly after me. As I continued defending myself, I could tell that even Angela, who had been the most on Garth''s side, seemed put off somehow.

    ¡°Beth? We''re leaving.¡± she said to her second, and the two of them departed. Garth made the fatal mistake of looking away.

    ¡°Angela? Angela! Wait!¡± he cried out, and I entered Shadow-world.

    ¡°Heartstinger!¡± I called out as I neared him, and stabbed with all my might.

    Caught by complete surprise, he stood there dumbly as his health bar drained rapidly until there was only about five percent left, if he was lucky, and then he fell to his knees. Angela looked back, shook her head, and resumed making her way to a wayport. Angelfire exchanged a look with Skeletor, and with Humphrey. The latter shook his head.

    ¡°C-curse you!¡± Garth fumed at me. We then heard the sound of an incoming teleport. Turning towards the sound, we saw a regally dressed player--no, wait, it was a GM; a Game Moderator had entered the fray.

    ¡°Garth?¡± the man called out, and the player in question lifted up his head. ¡°Ah, there you are; let''s see now...¡± the man continued, opening up what I assumed was an examination panel. I looked at his ID bar; ¡°Wildthunder¡±.

    What d''ya wanna bet...? I mused to myself as I regrouped with the Silver Tigers.

    ¡°Now how could you possibly have all this at your level? Oh, I see now; ''modification downgrade by Gallancleeve''...¡± Wildthunder mused aloud.

    ¡°Downgrade?¡±

    ¡°Gallancleeve? The GM from daily updates?¡±

    ¡°Wait, so the rumors...?¡±

    ¡°They weren''t rumors?¡±

    ¡°Garth cheated to get that stuff?¡±

    ¡°And a GM helped him?¡±

    ¡°Duuude...¡± chatter like this went on for several minutes, and then the GM literally stripped Garth of his equipment and weapons, leaving him in a pair of trousers (luckily for him). The guy seemed absolutely at a loss for words.

    ¡°We''ll be resetting these items to their proper levels and restoring them to their dungeons. As for you, we''ll leave you at your current level; but you''ll have to start your equipment over from scratch -- this time, without your father''s help.¡± the man said, and then after a nod to Wildeye, he vanished. Garth cringed, and curled into a ball for a few moments. Humphrey then stepped forward.

    ¡°Lord Ga--no... Garth.¡± he said, and Garth snapped to attention once more.

    ¡°Humphrey! It''s unlike you to be so casual!¡± he remarked.

    ¡°The guild has taken a vote; you are to be cast out.¡± Humphrey said solemnly.

    ¡°Wha--?!¡± the other squawked in reply, now at a more definite loss for words.

    ¡°We strip you of your title and banish you from the guild; I doubt anyone in the Aldholt will take you in, either--not even the outlaw guilds. Good luck on your future endeavors.¡± Humphrey said; he then approached us with Angelfire and Skeletor, along with their seconds. ¡°Wildeye; I ask you to forgive this unseemly affair. However, there are yet matters which must be resolved. I believe you and I, along with Magisteria, Deathscythe, and Angelfire and Skeletor can come to a satisfactory arrangement?¡± he said, and Wildeye nodded.

    ¡°Let us bring in two of the neutral guild leaders as well; I suggest Applebell from The Farmer''s Market and Tom O''Dell from Shamrock''s Luck.¡± the other guild leader replied.

    ¡°I agree. Let''s contact them and arrange to meet at Floraline.¡± Humphrey nodded.

    ¡°Very good!¡± Wildeye said; Humphrey hesitated a moment, and then looked at me.

    ¡°Forgive me, Lady Lana, for not suggesting yourself; it was you who detected Garth''s farcical ways, after all.¡± he said to me.

    ¡°Don''t worry about it,¡± I shrugged. ¡°Just end the war; and if you do make a treaty, make it about helping people instead of controlling them.¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡± Humphrey said. The guild leaders in question then made their way to a wayport, leaving the rest of us to depart as we would. Most of their seconds went along with them, but there was one who came over and gave me a funny look. If you guessed Tyman, you got it in one. He crossed his arms and examined me silently for a few moments.

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    ¡°That you, Dans?¡± he said to me in a quiet voice. I couldn''t deny it; a faint grin came to my face, and I shrugged innocently. ¡°Damn, squirrel. I thought I recognized those moves. ''The hell you fibbin'' about, not being in the game? And I guess I know who the other Silvernight Queens are now, too.¡±

    ¡°Ah-heh... I didn''t know what you''d think...¡±

    ¡°Sure I think it''s weird... but somehow, it suits you.¡± he remarked, bumping my shoulder with a gentle fist.

    ¡°I don''t know how I should be taking that,¡± I returned with a funny look of my own.

    ¡°However the hell you want to, sister-man.¡± he grinned cheekily. ¡°Where y''all headed to after this dumb war ends?¡±

    ¡°Xuanpu, further west of here.¡± I told him as the Silvernight Queens gathered around.

    ¡°That''s a way away from here, Lans. Might take a few real days no matter which way you go.¡±

    ¡°We''re planning on going through the Marshes of the Wyrd ourselves.¡±

    ¡°Hrrn, probably the best way to go.¡± he shrugged. ¡°Yo, good luck with that; I''mma catch up with Wild at that Floraline place. Don''t know why that quack made me his second, but I appreciate him, y''know?¡± he said, reaching out a hand. I reached out as well, and we gave each other a five and a handshake.

    ¡°I think I know why. Take care... Ty.¡± I returned.

    ¡°You too... Lans.¡± he smirked back, and then headed off to join the guild meeting.

    As for the four of us, we took a look at each other, and then looked back to where Garth was. He sat there on the ground, looking as if the whole world had gone up in smoke for him. Pathetic, I shook my head. I opened my mouth to say something, and then decided against it with another shake of my head.

    ¡°No parting shots?¡± Lizzy wondered.

    ¡°Not worth it.¡±

    ¡°Agreed.¡± Ariana nodded.

    ¡°Totally.¡± Healina remarked.

    ¡°True!¡± Lizzy smiled. ¡°So... Cloverbell?¡±

    ¡°Cloverbell.¡±

    ¡°Hotspring?¡± Ariana chimed in.

    ¡°Hotspring.

    ¡°Nice.¡± Heali smiled.

    ***

    ¡°Maybe someday we can do this for real,¡± Lizzy remarked as the four of us idled away in the hotspring later that night.

    ¡°That would be miraculous,¡± Heali agreed, sounding as if she had died and gone to heaven. ¡°This is an amazing place; I''m glad we can explore it peacefully now.¡±

    ¡°At least in regards to Lord Goof and his schemes.¡± I quipped, and the other three burst out laughing.

    ¡°Daang it, why didn''t you come up with that during the battle?¡± Lizzy guffawed.

    ¡°That would have been such a buuurrn,¡± Ariana agreed; Healina was too doubled over with giggles to make a comment.

    ¡°Sometimes the best comebacks are the ones that come too late,¡± I remarked with a sigh.

    ¡°Sad yet true.¡± Lizzy replied, patting my head. ¡°Anyway; so we''re off to the next area after this?¡±

    ¡°Soon... let''s get to fifty for the last equipment revamp and then make our way north.¡± I said, and she nodded.

    ¡°Hmm... I think there''s a good dungeon for that in Varkstania, close to Heimgar.¡± she mused.

    ¡°That sounds fun!¡± Ariana said.

    ¡°We''ll try it tomorrow then?¡± I asked, and the other three nodded.

    ¡°And let''s round out our crafting a bit more, too,¡± Healina suggested.

    ¡°Right.¡± I nodded back.

    ¡°We''re almost at the limit for that in this area; should be doable by Tuesday.¡± Lizzy told us.

    ¡°Nice; so we can get going by Wednesday.¡± I noted.

    ¡°Yup!¡± our smith nodded. After a few minutes more we got out and headed inside, equipping our casual outfits. It was then that the notice arrived.

    Attention fellow players; the conflict between the Garth-Fire Alliance and the Silver Tigers Pact is hereby over. The official alliances will dissolve, and normal guild interactions will resume. There will be no further attempts to monopolize or control resources or players. An agreement to help new players and crafters has been made; requests for assistance will be put in at region capitals by those needing it.

    This discussion moderated by Tom O''Dell of Shamrock''s Luck and Applebell of The Farmer''s Market, agreed upon by Humphrey of ?SOVEREIGN?, Angelfire of Flamehearts, Skeletor of Fear The Reapers, Wildeye of Mountain Tigers, Magisteria of Words and Sorcery, and Deathscythe of Hallow''s Eve.

    Good luck in all your future endeavors!

    ¡°Well, that''s over.¡± I said with relief. The Garth-Queens War had concluded. New adventures would soon be underway.

 Bonus Chapter: Father and Son

    ¡°Good work today, boy, and for the week as well.¡± the austere man in a relaxed robe and night-pants said to his son, a young man whose wheelchair sat nearby, his accent thick with the Highlands of Scotland where he had been born. The younger man, who had been permanently lamed in one of the last real conflicts of the world, merely smiled as he continued sitting upright in his bed.

    ¡°It was not much my doing, I''m afraid.¡± he replied, his accent floating on the border of English and Scottish. ¡°Lana and her friends did most of the clue finding; perhaps you should have made her a deputy!¡± he added with a laugh, and the older man smiled.

    ¡°Someday perhaps, if we need her expertise again. But you still played your part admirably. Perhaps the young lass and her guild would not have gotten involved without a nudge from you.¡± he returned.

    ¡°I''m glad, then. And more than glad to be able to be a part of that world,¡± the younger man said, reflecting on what was now known as the Garth-Queens War, a conflict within Panarena Fantasy Online perpetrated by the titular and now apparently missing Garth.

    ¡°I''m glad my expertise in programming complex sensations in a virtual environment led me to that company in America; that machine of theirs is a wonder. You''re walking and running again there, boy, and it couldn''t make me happier to see you so lifelike again. Even if you never really did complain about it,¡± the older man remarked.

    ¡°It is wonderful that, after all this time, I can once more experience what other people experience, if only mentally. I wish mother were here to see it,¡± the young man said.

    ¡°To be sure she''s looking down with a smile, and your gran as well.¡± the other replied.

    Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

    ¡°I know.¡± his son smiled. ¡°All the items have been restored, then?¡±

    ¡°Almost. Gallancleeve did a number on that blasted helm and shield; Forseti and Lumpstein are both griping about it.¡±

    ¡°He should get in a lot of heat for that, eh?¡±

    ¡°Oh to be sure, but more likely he''ll get a slap on the wrist, even doing it as long as he has.¡±

    ¡°Pity.¡±

    ¡°Don''t fret the matter too much; like as not that rotten Yank will do something else to earn the ire of the higher-ups, then he''ll definitely go.¡± the older man said as he drank his coffee.

    ¡°If it takes something worse than this to get him fired, I can''t imagine what that would be, not in the slightest,¡± the young man shook his head.

    ¡°You and me both, lad.¡± the other said with a soft grin. ¡°That Lana, though; a fine lass, is she?¡±

    ¡°Absolutely. But definitely taken,¡± his son said with a laugh, and the father chuckled.

    ¡°That''s the way of it,¡± he said with a shrug.

    ¡°Too true.¡±

    ¡°You''ll have your hands full soon getting ready for the Grand Tournament, eh?¡±

    ¡°I''ve got a lot of Tigers to train up, so definitely!¡±

    ¡°There''ll be some tricky ones, for sure, being the first year and all.¡±

    ¡°Next year they''ll be even stronger, too; the ones that stay at least.¡±

    ¡°Oh, by the Saints, I can''t imagine.¡± his father chuckled again. ¡°But it''s time for this old fogey to get to bed. You''ll be all right, will you?¡±

    ¡°I will, dad.¡± the young man nodded back. His father stood up, and gave him a pat on the shoulder.

    ¡°I''ll see you tomorrow, then, whatever time you come back to this world.¡± the older man said, taking his cup and departing the room for the night as his son placed the Dream Machine on to visit that world of dreams as his alter-ego, Wildeye, leader of the Mountain Tigers.

 Chapter Twelve: Farewell to the Aldholt

    The rest of that weekend proceeded pretty normally. On Sunday night, when we got into Panarena, we learned that Garth had since disappeared. Not even his former guild-mates knew what had happened. ?SOVEREIGN?, by the way, elected Humphrey as their guild leader. As per their guild-system he was named Lord Humphrey, and he promised to exonerate the name of the guild from thereon out.

    All the guilds now have a friendlier relationship again, by the way. Aldholt City saw a big gathering Sunday night to both celebrate the end of the conflict and give all of us a chance to shrug off the idea of being enemies. There was music from a player-band; they were part of Shamrock''s Luck, and had created their own in-game hits as well as learning some traditional songs from the British Isles.

    In one corner I saw Wildeye and Humphrey chatting each other up like old friends; in another part of the Grand Pavilion, Angela was laughing away with Magisteria, Jannie, and Applebell. Tom O''Dell and Tyman were having a drinking contest (yes, you can do that in-game... online interactions not moderated by the ESRB and all that), and Lizzy was with Healina and a few other people from several different guilds. Ariana and I sat at a table by ourselves, sharing a drink. I felt less self-conscious about it now; especially since I had seen that no one was really paying us any mind.

    Angelfire came up to us after a while; she had a sheepish grin on her face, and she extended a hand towards me. I let out a smile, and took it to give her a friendly shake.

    ¡°I still feel the need to have a rematch with you; but Friday night I was way too wound up with Garthism. So... sorry.¡± she said before letting go, and I nodded back.

    ¡°Yeah... I am too,¡± I replied. Kinda, I inwardly smirked.

    ¡°That really was an epic beat-down, never mind the ambush.¡± she remarked with a grimace of amusement.

    ¡°Lizzy is not subtle.¡± I shrugged, and Ariana giggled.

    ¡°Yeah, really; but anyway. So what''s next for you guys? We''re gonna train up a bit for the holiday events and the guild competitions-slash-tournaments coming up; should I be extra prepared when the day comes?¡± she asked with a smirk.

    ¡°Hmm... I forgot about those; we''re gonna head through the Marshes to Xuanpu for now, though. We''ll have to look at the events sometime and see what we want to do about them.¡± I returned, and she nodded.

    ¡°Nice. That''s a long journey though, even for this game.¡±

    ¡°Like really.¡±

    ¡°I heard there was a special short-cut or so, but no one''s put anything on the forums yet. They all like to ''tough it out'' in that place and let the newcomers be surprised.¡± Angelfire said, a bemused look on her face.

    ¡°I can understand that mentality a little bit,¡± I replied.

    ¡°A bit, yeah... it''s so boyish, though!¡± she remarked with a shake of her head.

    Heh. Heheheheheh.

    ¡°Right?¡± I laughed back, and Ariana affected a sly smile.

    ¡°Well anyway, good fight--and good luck on whatever''s next for you all!¡± Angelfire said, and then she surprised both me and Ari by giving each of us a hug in turn. She then went to rejoin the main festivities, and Ari and I exchanged glances.

    ¡°What do you know, she''s actually super nice,¡± I remarked softly, and Ari nodded back smiling at me.

    ¡°At least if you''re another girl.¡± she winked.

    I had neither reply nor comeback for that. Instead, I turned back to gaze around at the party; Lizzy had inserted herself into the drinking contest. I could see Healina in the background with a mildly flustered expression on her face; it occurred to me then that she was always kind of mothery to Lizzy in real life, and that clearly didn''t stop in the game.

    ¡°Now this is enjoying a game.¡± I said as I leaned back.

    ¡°Ahh--Lana, the chair doesn''t have a--¡± Ariana called out a bit too late. I fell out of the chair and onto the floor. A few laughs were heard, and Ari came over to help me up.

    ¡°Remind me earlier,¡± I quipped as she did so.

    ¡°You commented on it when we sat down!¡±

    ¡°Did I?¡±

    ¡°Yes, you did, silly!¡±

    ¡°Oh yeah! I did... why did I forget that?¡± I wondered confusedly.

    ¡°Heavens; sometimes you can be such a ditz!¡± Ariana gently ranted at me.

    ¡°Sorry!¡± I raised my hands in surrender.

    ¡°You don''t have to apologize,¡± she said with a laugh.

    ¡°I kinda do?¡± I returned softly, rubbing the back of my head.

    ¡°Okay. True.¡± she agreed.

    ¡°''Ey, lovebirds, just kiss and make up already!¡± Lizzy called over to us, and the whole place started laughing as the two of us looked at her in shock. I could see Healina rolling her eyes, trying her best not to laugh.

    ¡°Yeah, they''re not gonna do that.¡±

    ¡°It''s just a rumor!¡±

    ¡°Weren''t they dancing somewhere though?¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°From the forums?¡±

    ¡°Oh yeah!¡±

    ¡°Maybe they will do it!¡± people began chattering.

    ¡°Ah-heh-heh-heh... ehh...¡± I nervously laughed.

    ¡°Well if Ariana won''t, then I will!¡± Angelfire suddenly piped up, heading towards us.

    Eh?! Huh!? Ehhhh???

    I backed up a pace in surprise, but apparently that jibe was more than Ariana could take. She quickly twirled me around, wrapped her arms around me, and locked our lips together. There were a few people laughing, but most of it was cheering. When the kiss ended I could see Tyman shaking his head.

    I''ll never hear the end of it from him.

    ¡°Aww, too bad!¡± Angelfire winked as she clapped her hands.

    Th-that''s your reaction? Wait a sec, you-- you were *interested* in me?!--was what I wanted to ask, but she prowled off like a cat, smirking to high heaven.

    ¡°L-let''s not go to any more parties for a while...¡± I whispered to Ari. She smiled at me.

    ¡°That won''t do. I want to see all sides of you as we keep walking together.¡±

    ¡°I know, but--¡±

    ¡°Shh,¡± she whispered back, slipping in to my arms as the music softened for a slow-dance. We began gently swaying, and I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. ¡°That''s it. This is our precious time together. Relax. Enjoy it,¡± she said to me, and I pressed her closer.

    ¡°I always do.¡± I told her earnestly.

    ¡°Even if I''ll embarrass you now and again?¡± she asked me.

    ¡°Even then.¡± I promised her. I could feel her smiling as the dance continued; the pavilion forgot about the two of us soon after that, and the party went on until we all went our separate ways for the night to log out.

    This is our precious time together--the words echoed in my mind as I pulled off the Dream Machine.

    Please. Please, God... don''t let it end.

    ***

    On Monday morning I got up and went through the same old routine of readying myself to head for school. I went to the bus-stop at the usual time; the bus arrived as it always did; and I sat in the seat next to Ty, as I had done since I had started at our current school. He looked at me, and then shook his head with amusement as the bus made its way towards school.

    ¡°What?¡± I asked him.

    ¡°Nothing, Dans, nothing.¡± he shrugged.

    ¡°Huh.¡± I returned, and settled back in the seat.

    ¡°But that''s about the goofiest damn thing I''ve ever seen or heard of you doing, just so you know.¡± he said to me.

    I wondered about that. Not that we hung out, but I had to have done something equally as goofy in his presence before.

    ¡°Yo, I''m glad you really are in that game, though. Now maybe someday we can finish that old scrap we got into,¡± he said with a subtle grin.

    ¡°No teachers or principals to pull us off each other there.¡± I nodded back with a grin of my own.

    ¡°Can''t have it be some random duel, though; I wanna have it at one of those tournament things, ''know what I mean?¡± Ty remarked.

    ¡°You got it, pal.¡± I told him. He smiled, and gently fist-bumped my shoulder.

    Monday passed by as it always did at school; then homework, and then dinner, followed by a night of crafting--which more or less got us as high as we could get to in the Aldholt Regions. Tuesday came along in much the same manner, handing us classes and more homework to do before releasing us to go home again. After taking care of real-life things that evening, we headed into Panarena to finish off anything we felt unfinished, and then we made our way to a dungeon on the border of Ghoulwood and Woody Heights.

    ¡°That doesn''t look like much,¡± Lizzy said as we approached the place.

    ¡°You think so?¡± Ariana wondered.

    We came to a halt at the base of what looked like the remnants of a redwood tree. It was--or rather, it had been huge, judging from what remained. An entryway that looked like the burrowing of some massive creature led down inside. I suddenly had a bad feeling about this.

    ¡°H-hey... what''s this place again?¡± I asked, and Lizzy pulled out the map for us.

    ¡°''The Ancient Burrow'' is what it''s called. Not much more info on it than that,¡± she reported.

    ¡°Nothing? Like at all?¡± Healina asked to be sure.

    ¡°Not even the forums had info on it,¡± our smith-slash-tank shrugged. ¡°Just that it''s a level fifty dungeon. Should get us there in one go if we do it all.¡±

    ¡°Ah-heh...¡± I briefly laughed, looking at the thing with apprehension.

    ¡°I doubt there''s bees.¡± Lizzy looked over at me with a more sincere expression.

    ¡°Let''s head inside anyway,¡± I said, and we did so cautiously, Ariana bringing up the rear while I went in as vanguard, leaving Lizzy and Healina in the middle.

    ¡°I hope we find a real tank soon,¡± Lizzy remarked. ¡°I''m more of a DPS when you get right down to it.¡± she added.

    That''s damage-per-second, in case you didn''t know. How do we rank in that category? Well, Ariana and I are somewhat tied for first in that area, although in certain situations one of us can be better than the other; Lizzy would be second; and Healina lives up to her name so she doesn''t quite have the damage we do--not that she can''t do any damage, but most of it comes from summoned minions or tamed creatures.

    ¡°We''ll run into someone eventually, I''m sure,¡± I said as I kept an eye out.

    All of a sudden I heard a chittering sound. And I stopped dead in my tracks. Now, I''ve played Sorrowdin and Void Crisis, as I mentioned before, and in those games there''s ancient ruins filled with nasty, insectoid-type creatures that are very difficult to beat, especially if there''s more than two. They made a sound not unlike the sound I heard just now. And it made me recall how much I hated those dungeons.

    ¡°Bugs...!¡± I practically cursed, and the others paused for a moment.

    ¡°You see them?¡± Healina asked.

    ¡°I hear them, can''t you?¡± I asked her. ¡°Don''t Elves have better hearing?¡± I suddenly wondered.

    ¡°We do,¡± Ariana nodded, ¡°I can hear them.¡±

    ¡°Wood Elves, anyway.¡± Healina remarked. ¡°My special hearing really works best underwater.¡±

    ¡°Ah--true... didn''t think about that.¡± I replied, gently bonking myself in the head. I then activated Shadow Vision to take a look, and Ariana turned on her Mystic Vision as well.

    ¡°Seems like there''s about five types,¡± she told us.

    ¡°I think so too,¡± I affirmed.

    ¡°The really tiny ones shouldn''t be an issue; the four bigger kinds don''t look hard... but I guess that''s deceptive.¡± she continued, ¡°Especially that super big one.¡±

    ¡°H-how big...?¡± Healina asked nervously.

    ¡°Hmm... if I had to guess, I''d say it''s as big as our house... and it''s got a lot of others with it; that''s the boss, maybe?¡± Ariana replied.

    ¡°Probably,¡± I agreed, turning off my own skill. ¡°No traps or anything, just a lot of membranous doors that shouldn''t be hard to get through.¡±

    ¡°True.¡± Ariana nodded as she looked the dungeon over with her own skill.

    ¡°W-w-what did they... they l-look like?¡± Healina wondered.

    Oh boy. She''s nervous. I didn''t peg her for the kind of girl who hates bugs, though... I thought to myself, though since I get terrified of bees maybe I shouldn''t talk.

    ¡°Ahh... what do you think, Ari?¡± I asked, wondering if maybe her words would be more reassuring than mine.

    ¡°Hmm... let''s do this.¡± she said, making it so we could see what she saw as well.

    Now, when we were in the Vale of Stingers, I found out that my avatar''s voice has a really high-pitched screaming capacity. So I was bracing myself for a scream. When Ariana put up her mystical field of vision for us to see, though, Healina didn''t scream. She kind of... crumpled? Eh, that''s about the only word I can think to use.

    ¡°I thought there would be some sort of wood-demon in here!¡± she said in a tone that bespoke of misery. ¡°Bugs! God, I hate bugs! I hate them!¡± she added, and the rest of us looked around at each other.

    This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    ¡°Ehh... is it no good? Should we try something else?¡± I wondered, and Lizzy affected a wry expression.

    ¡°P-probably... I''m sorry, Heali, I had no idea--¡± she began, and then Healina placed a hand on her shoulder.

    ¡°No--it''s not your fault. You''ve all done so much for me here. Ugh--I hate them, I really do... but let''s get this over with! I''m sure there''s worse things than this ahead!¡± she told us, and we looked around at each other again.

    ¡°Can''t talk her out of it now,¡± Lizzy remarked.

    ¡°I feel like these would be vulnerable to fire,¡± Ariana mused as she looked at them again.

    ¡°Probably,¡± I agreed. ¡°Healina, they''re probably poisonous as well, whether they spit or bite or... whatever they do. Especially the... queen, I guess?¡±

    ¡°I''d say so,¡± Ari nodded back to me.

    ¡°So we''ll need you to be extra-focused on healing and warding. You do that, and we''ll do as much damage as we can to get through it as fast as we can.¡± I continued, and our Sea Elf bravely nodded, swallowing a lump.

    ¡°I can do that,¡± she squeaked.

    ¡°Oh! Don''t forget your flame-sprites, also!¡± I reminded her, and right away she summoned them. That done, we continued on into the dungeon, warding up as we went so as to not be caught unawares.

    ***

    Well, we got through it, at least. The bugs--Woodland Creepers, to be exact; they looked like a cross between a scarab-beetle and some kind of worm--were slightly more resistant to fire than we thought, at least until their exteriors were sufficiently busted up. Once we figured that out it became easier. And they really were poison-heavy as well. Even the little ones.

    The big kicker, as you might expect, was the boss. See, what our vision-skills didn''t pick up was that the queen''s chamber was not only full of minions--but full of eggs as well. Lots. Of. Freaking. Eggs. I mean, I had expected a rough go of it from our earlier preview, but this was bonkers, man. Those things hatched every forty-five seconds or so, letting out a swarm of little ones and even a few bigger kinds now and again.

    So while Lizzy kept their attention, I ran around and began busting up the eggs with some help from Ariana every five to ten seconds or so (she was helping to burn off Lizzy''s pile as well, after all). As we hoped, Healina kept a frantic eye on our health, becoming too busy maintaining our HP and wards to bother being scared of the dungeon-mobs, to say nothing of making sure her little flame-sprites were around to help us.

    All told, this phase of our battle took nearly twenty-five minutes of Panarena-time, after which we spent the next twenty dusting up the remaining minions and helpers, and then finally we began tearing into the boss. She (he? It?) took a half-hour to take down, being especially resilient to magic until we finally cracked open her shell enough so that some major DoTs could hit her. There were a couple surprise attacks that almost got us, but thanks to our healer we narrowly avoided death and managed to beat the living daylights out of the boss and claim our reward: special charms and a few ingredients related to attacking with or defending against poisons.

    This seems like an ominous foreshadowing, I thought to myself as I examined them.

    ¡°Oh nice! We hit our goal!¡± I said as I looked at my level.

    ¡°Same!¡± Ari smiled.

    ¡°Finally,¡± Lizzy remarked.

    ¡°Hahh... okay... worth it...¡± Healina said in an exhausted manner. I couldn''t blame her; between trying to control her screaming and maintaining her magic-power to keep us healed she had to be totally spent.

    ¡°All-right, kiddos; let''s get back to our base and I''ll upgrade our armor and weapons one last time for the Marshes.¡± Lizzy said when she had finished allocating her points, and when we had done the same we made our way back to Cloverbell for the night.

    While Lizzy made the final improvements to our armor and weapons, the rest of us stayed out on the porch in casual-wear to enjoy the early evening. Healina perked back up once she had a mug of hot chocolate, taking a deep breath and letting it out in a sigh as we sat down on the side closest to the hotspring. A few animals lumbered or scurried by, gazing curiously at us while they did so.

    ¡°Well! I hope the Marshes of the Wyrd doesn''t have any dungeons like that, although I guess they might now that I say it out loud...¡± Healina remarked.

    ¡°We''ll make it through whatever happens.¡± Ariana reassured her.

    ¡°I know... but what about you, though? Things okay at home?¡± the other girl asked her gently, and I reached over to put my hand on Ariana''s as her face clouded.

    ¡°I think she''s getting serious about leaving. And I hoped we''d finally be in one place for longer than a few months, for once...¡± she told us softly. Healina''s hands joined ours, and she gave Ari a sympathetic look.

    ¡°We could probably put you up if you wanted,¡± she said hopefully.

    ¡°I don''t know... I haven''t really been able to talk about it with my mom.¡± Ariana returned.

    ¡°Or maybe Sean''s family can help; isn''t your mom involved in housing or something?¡± Heali asked me.

    ¡°Ahh... something like that; I kinda stopped paying attention to it since it''s all she ever seems to do,¡± I remarked.

    ¡°I get that.¡± Heali said with a half-smile.

    ¡°I want to stay with you.¡± Ariana said, and I felt her hand taking mine and holding it tightly. I blushed for a moment, then gently squeezed back.

    ¡°I know. I want you to stay too.¡± I replied.

    ¡°Is it no good?¡± she wondered, looking up at me with a sad expression. For the first time since I''d met her I saw tears in her eyes.

    ¡°Ari--Rachel...¡± I put my other hand over hers. Healina slipped away for a moment, giving me a nod. ¡°I promise we''ll find a way to stay together. I don''t know what I expected to find in this world, passing myself off like this... but now I don''t want it any other way. And that goes for real life, too. I want... I want...¡± I choked up, unable to go on. But she knew what I meant. We fell into each other''s arms, holding each other tightly as silent tears poured down our faces.

    Healina came out a couple minutes later with more hot chocolate, setting it down before us and hugging us both for several moments before sitting down again. We managed to turn our attention to the beverages before us, calming down as we sipped them and gently leaning on each other.

    ¡°I don''t think my parents would have an issue with you staying.¡± Healina said with a smile. ¡°And apparently we live closer to Sean than you do, so that''s a plus on your side!¡± she added.

    ¡°Why were we never on the same bus, anyway?¡± I suddenly wondered.

    ¡°Something about districts or routes, I guess.¡± Healina shrugged. ¡°And then when Lizzy got her license we just never used the bus again. The real question is why you two don''t just ride home with us,¡± she said with a soft smirk.

    ¡°Why don''t we?¡± Ariana turned to me.

    ¡°Eh? I mean, I''m used to the bus... and Ty.¡± I returned.

    ¡°Speaking of him, he''s really softened up on you since your scrap all that while ago, huh?¡± Healina noted.

    ¡°Oh he still wants to settle the fight,¡± I said with a small grin, ¡°But now he wants to settle it here someday--which is probably better.¡± I added, and Ariana sighed.

    ¡°Should''ve guessed.¡± Healina giggled. ¡°But anyway; yeah, talk to your mom. We don''t want you to go either.¡±

    ¡°What the heck, don''t talk about serious stuff when I''m not here!¡± Lizzy said as she came out to join us.

    ¡°Here, chocolate, drink!¡± Healina said, handing her a fourth mug.

    ¡°Sure! But don''t think you''re off for it!¡± Lizzy said as she plomped down with the mug in another seat. ¡°Really though; we gonna make it?¡±

    ¡°I hope so.¡± our healer returned.

    ¡°I''ll try.¡± Ariana nodded.

    ¡°Good!¡± the other two girls replied, and I smiled at her.

    ¡°I guess that leaves tomorrow; did you two do that assignment yet by the way?¡± Lizzy said to me and Ari.

    ¡°Kind of?¡± I replied.

    ¡°I''m almost done; it''s due Friday, right?¡± Ariana said.

    ¡°Yep, Friday. Lana... might want to get on it.¡± Lizzy remarked, taking a sip of her hot chocolate.

    ¡°Yeah, yeah...¡±

    ¡°Oh! Tomorrow. We''re starting off for the Marshes tomorrow, right?¡±

    ¡°That was our plan, right?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Just making sure,¡± Lizzy nodded. ¡°We can get to--what is it, Cedarville? We can get there by Friday; that''s the last major town before we get to the Marshes themselves.¡±

    ¡°Woody Heights is wilder than the Aldholt though; the Lightbrook Brigade has their guild there, don''t they?¡± I said as I tried to remember the details.

    ¡°True... and guess who else does?¡± Lizzy said.

    ¡°Who?¡± Healina wondered.

    ¡°Flamehearts.¡± she said, and I almost choked on my hot chocolate. ¡°What''s wrong, Lana? Something wrong with them? Or Angelfire, maybe?¡± Lizzy quipped with a huge grin as I tried to recover.

    ¡°Elisabeth Drew, leave her alone.¡± Healina told her scoldingly.

    ¡°Heeey... no names here, Andrea Paige.¡± the blonde girl retorted. Ariana giggled, and then broke out laughing. I smiled, gently patting her back.

    ¡°That reminds me, what''s your middle name?¡± Healina turned to her then.

    ¡°Eh? Oh right, we didn''t find that out yet!¡± Lizzy remarked.

    ¡°Anne.¡± Ariana replied.

    ¡°Aw, cute!¡±

    ¡°Ser-i-ous-ly... I can''t get over your cuteness sometimes.¡± the other two girls said, and she blushed a little.

    ¡°You think?¡± she said shyly.

    ¡°Definitely,¡± Lizzy smiled. ¡°And what about... you?¡± she then turned to me, as did the other girls.

    ¡°Eh? Oh... I don''t have one.¡± I told them.

    ¡°Boo!¡± Healina returned with disappointment.

    ¡°Liar.¡± Lizzy said as she gave me an inquisitive frown.

    ¡°I''m not!¡± I retorted.

    ¡°Some people really don''t, Lizzy.¡± Healina shrugged.

    ¡°Tch.¡± the other girl quipped with a hint of disgust, returning to her hot chocolate.

    ¡°He doesn''t.¡± Ariana vouched for me. ¡°I already asked on one of our real-life dates.¡±

    You did? Oh right, you did... I recalled, thinking back to our second official date a day or so before the Garth-Queens War.

    ¡°Hrmm...¡± Lizzy said with a huge disappointment, making bubbles in her drink. ¡°I guess that''s fine. So anyway; we should take the waggon. It''ll take longer and we won''t be able to use wayports with it, but I''d like to have as an extra storage place as well, for anything we find in the way of crafting resources and such.¡±

    ¡°Gotcha,¡± I nodded. ¡°We''ll do that then. And Cloverbell... it''ll always remain home, so it''s safe.¡± I said as I looked around.

    ¡°Whatever place we end up at in Xuanpu, it better have a hotspring.¡± the blonde girl said.

    ¡°Amen.¡± Healina nodded.

    ¡°Absolutely!¡± Ariana agreed.

    ¡°No argumen--I mean, we''ll see what turns up,¡± I said, hastily amending myself so I didn''t come off the wrong way.

    ¡°Oh don''t be shy now, Lana,¡± Lizzy grinned.

    ¡°Ah-heh...¡±

    ¡°Let''s not go there,¡± Healina interrupted her.

    Thank you.

    ¡°Okay, we won''t; but I''m still getting in anyway.¡± Lizzy said, standing up. ¡°Oh! Right; I finished reworking our equipment, so we''re good to go... here!¡± she said, returning our items to us.

    ¡°Cool!¡±

    ¡°Nice!¡±

    ¡°Thanks!¡± we all said at once.

    ¡°Now then--hotspring!!¡± Lizzy crowed, rushing over as she got out of her outfit to slip in. We joined her seconds later, spending the rest of our evening in there until it was log-out time, at which point we resumed our casual-wear and headed out for the night.

    ***

    Classes passed by slowly throughout the next couple days; homework, chores, and dinner puttered along; and then at night we were released so we could enjoy the current pinnacle of the gaming world that was Panarena Fantasy Online. Rachel also talked with her mom this week; the rest of us kept hope that it would go well and she would be able to stay in the area.

    Until Friday night, we traversed through the Aldholt with the waggon. You can''t just cut across country and such with it, after all; and the roads wind around a bit through all sorts of places. Besides that there were still the obvious dangers of outlaws, both NPCs and players, and a few non-humanoid monsters as well. To our great amusement we saw no sign of Blackwood Patrol; perhaps they, too, had left to terrorize a new area.

    We passed by the Vale of Bright Flowers that night as well. It was almost odd to see it so peaceful, but then, it was probably meant to be that way. The pristine vale looked radiant and magical to our eyes this night, and we felt a little sad when at last we came to its boundary and entered the northernmost sub-region of the Aldholt, Woody Heights.

    A no-brainer on the name, right? Lots of trees, and lots of hills and cliffs that generally sit at a higher altitude than most of the other Aldholt Regions. The landscape continues rising on the western edges where Heimgar and Varkstania are, but it descends along the border of the Marshes of the Wyrd and the Southern Plains east of them.

    Around nine pm real-time, we entered Woody Heights and set our course for Cedarville, the region capital and town with probably another obvious name explanation. It began waning into afternoon for Panarena; we passed by some large farmsteads as we rolled along the southern roads of the area. Green and golden fields stretched out almost infinitely before our eyes, and there were meadows with flowers and babbling streams crisscrossing here and there as they flowed where they would. There were a few small villages nestled in clearings or on the periphery of a farmstead (or vice versa), and in their midst we could discern a hillfort.

    ¡°That''s Duncara,¡± Ariana told us as she looked at the map.

    ¡°That''s Irish!¡± I remarked with interest.

    ¡°Really?¡± she replied as she looked over at me with interest.

    ¡°Yeah; I think it means something like... oak-fort, or fort of oak.¡± I told her as I tried to remember grandpa''s lessons.

    ¡°Cool!¡± she smiled.

    ¡°Makes sense I guess,¡± Lizzy said as she guided the waggon along the roads. ¡°Woody Heights has a generally Celtic-theme to it, for the most part.¡±

    ¡°Like Ipping Forest,¡± I nodded back.

    ¡°And what about the Marshes?¡± Healina asked.

    ¡°Hmm...¡± Lizzy pondered for a moment.

    ¡°I think that one''s more mixed-fantasy, isn''t it?¡± I said, recalling some of the forums written about it.

    ¡°Mostly?¡± Lizzy said. ¡°It has a bayou theme overall though, someone told me.¡±

    ¡°Oh cool!¡± I returned.

    ¡°Definitely!¡± Ari agreed.

    ¡°Well we''ll definitely see for ourselves by tomorrow or so,¡± our smith shrugged.

    ¡°As long as there''s no bugs...¡± Healina sighed.

    ¡°Ehh...¡± I remarked in a somewhat sympathetic way, uncertain of how to assure her. ¡°Oh! Did we find out about that short-cut or quest Angelfire mentioned?¡± I then said, and Ariana nodded at me.

    ¡°It starts at Cedarville apparently,¡± she reported. ¡°That''s literally the only information about it; you''d think after a few months people would have more things posted!¡± she said with a slight irritation.

    ¡°Posts will turn up before the end of the year I bet.¡± Lizzy said. ¡°I think we beta-testers have a sort of unspoken treaty about not spoiling too much this year,¡± she added, winking back at us.

    ¡°Heh...?¡± I said with a bit of surprise.

    This was a new one to me. Most games had help posts or guides on their forums within the first couple months or so, updated as often as the game was, for the most part. But the PFO forums were being intentionally slacked off on for the sake of an enticing mystery, I suppose; it was certainly true there was enough on there to entice even casual players into checking this place out. I could only imagine how they would look this time next year.

    Since it was Friday night, we lingered on longer than we normally would, and arrived at Cedarville around eleven in real-time. It was around the same time in Panarena as well, and we approached the simple palisade gates half-asleep.

    Cedarville, as you might expect, was named for the titular trees that grew in and around it, towering over the other trees in the area. A good part of the city was actually built into them, with a few buildings like the stables, inn, and a couple taverns on the ground, along with what was probably a barracks. We made sure to get the wayport, and then stabled our waggon and its faithful beasts for the night.

    ¡°All-righty, should we go for an inn on the ground or in the trees?¡± Lizzy asked.

    ¡°Let''s go for the trees!¡± Ariana said, her energy renewed at the prospect of being in a new place, and I nodded as well.

    ¡°Sure!¡± Healina agreed, and we wound our way up one of the spiraling stairways into the boughs of the trees where one of the inn and taverns was situated. After paying for a room, we went down to join in the night''s festivities for a bit. Ariana convinced me to join her for a dance, while Healina and Lizzy sat down and talked at one of the tables.

    It was a pretty lively dance at first, with the music rolling and flowing swiftly from the musician NPCs seated on a raised stage in the midst of the open-air plaza up in the tree-tops; after several reels and jigs it slowed to a ballad, and then progressed into a graceful air that we swayed to together.

    ¡°Doing okay at home?¡± I asked her softly.

    ¡°I think so.¡± she nodded back. ¡°Mom''s talking with Healina''s parents about the details. I''m glad you were all here to encourage me with that,¡± she smiled, and I smiled back.

    ¡°I''m glad too.¡± I replied.

    ¡°Honestly I didn''t think it would be that easy,¡± Ari said with a laugh. ¡°I''m so used to being the nearest thing to a piece of luggage, I just...¡± she trailed off, and I pulled her closer for a hug.

    ¡°We''ll be fine--you''ll be fine.¡± I told her.

    ¡°I know.¡± she replied. ¡°I almost don''t know what to think; the next few years are finally going to be stable for me... that''s a weird feeling after all this time.¡±

    ¡°I think you deserve it, though... stability, I mean.¡± I said, quickly amending myself.

    ¡°I knew what you meant.¡± she giggled back.

    The slow air continued playing as we gently swayed; a soft breeze blew by, caressing us with its touch before it meandered on elsewhere. I''m pretty sure the rest of the night passed by just as calmly; or at least that was the impression I got from how soundly I slept.

    On Saturday morning we continued our journey, making note of a few seasonal quests that were hinted at by various things in Cedarville before heading out. Most of them seemed to be pointing at winter holidays.

    ¡°It''d be nice to come back here for that sort of thing,¡± Healina said as we headed out of the northeast gates.

    ¡°It really would,¡± I agreed, and Ariana nodded. ¡°Oh, we got that quest, right?¡± I said, checking my log to make sure.

    ¡°Yep, I got it from the tavern last night and shared it before we logged out.¡± Healina replied.

    ¡°Oh, right...¡± I suddenly recalled.

    The rest of that morning was spent continuing northwards towards our destination. We talked lightly about things in both the real world and our world here in Panarena, laughing and carrying on with each other until we saw it: around noon in Panarena-time, we came to an ancient and weathered gate fashioned of wood, situated between two great trees that seemed as old as time. On it were words that were just legible enough for us to read:

    The Marsh Gate.

    We had arrived at the Marshes of the Wyrd.

 Bonus Chapter: The Principals Daughter

    On Monday morning, Mary Robertson parted ways with her dad at the main entrance of the school, father and daughter smiling at each other amiably. She had been at this school, an all-grades school, since she was little, and was widely regarded as someone who might one day come back as an adult to either teach or to be a part of the office staff. She brushed a few strands of her dark hair out of her face as she headed briskly along to her locker, one of her friends, Jenna coming up alongside her.

    ¡°You still planning on joining that little lunch crew this week?¡± the other girl said to her.

    ¡°What''s wrong with shaking things up a bit?¡± Mary returned.

    ¡°They''re such half-rates, though,¡± Jenna said with a shrug, and Mary stopped. Jenna halted a few paces later, looking back at the other girl.

    ¡°Mary?¡±

    ¡°This. This is why I''m changing things up in my life. Why are you and all the other people in my class such snobs about grades and socializing? Why can''t you see that other people are just as--¡± she began with an ardor, interrupted by a loud sigh from the other girl.

    ¡°You''re still crushing on that tenth-grader, huh?¡±

    ¡°That''s none of your concern.¡± Mary said with a shake of her head.

    This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

    ¡°It is so my concern! I''ve been your best friend for five years!¡±

    ¡°Then try being more friendly to other people besides me!¡±

    ¡°Rude!! I introduced you to Henry, but you--¡±

    ¡°Henry Walters? The guy who tried to date-rape me?¡± Mary scowled, and Jenna backed down a bit from her arguments.

    ¡°Ahh... I forgot about that... I really did... but next time I''ll--¡±

    ¡°No thanks.¡± Mary cut her off, speeding up and walking past her, then turning around once more. ¡°I''m going to join up with them. You may not get them, or even like them, but I swear to you, if you try to stop me or start spreading rumors like you did the last time I tried to make other friends here...¡± she said to Jenna with a dark look in her eyes. The other girl seemed to shrink, letting out a sigh.

    ¡°I heard enough from my mother about that incident later... and of course the black mark in my records because of it...¡± she said with a pained look.

    ¡°Hopefully that means you learned your lesson.¡± Mary said in a soft but stern voice, turning again to walk away.

    She let out a sigh of relief, a smile coming to her face. Sometime this week, she was going to meet up them, a group of students who were rumored to be involved with a certain game. Mary had been playing it herself for quite a while now, so when she had heard the stories that a few of her fellow students were into it, she had been thrilled, and not surprised one bit when she found out a hint of who they were. I can''t wait! Mary thought to herself, a bright smile crossing her face.

 Chapter Thirteen: Marshes of the Wyrd

    By the time Monday came along, we still hadn''t found exactly what we were looking for. Now you may be thinking, Sean, don''t you have a quest tracker to show you exactly where to go like most games do? The short answer is no. Panarena doesn''t have quest trackers like that. You can get an area marked for a quest, depending on the quest, but even that doesn''t show you the exact spot for an objective like a lot of old games do. That''s part of the fun here -- and part of the challenge, also.

    Because now when you''re told to go and look for that thing by an NPC which none of the characters have ever found, it''s not highlighted in some stupidly obvious place for you to walk over and grab. You have to actually look for it. Case in point: the Marshes of the Wyrd. We spent all of our Saturday and Sunday night trying to find the first place we needed to go to get the quest underway.

    The Road Through The Marshes: a strange passerby told me of a secret way to head through the Marshes of the Wyrd, if ever I venture up that way. The only clue he had about its starting point was a riddle: ¡°The first in flames before you freeze; storms lead to undying strife; belligerence guards the cunning ones; your path begins with the first of six charms¡±.

    ¡°That still doesn''t make any sense,¡± I said when we entered the Marsh Gate, and both Ariana and Healina agreed with me.

    ¡°I guess it refers to the places we''re supposed to find to get our shortcut,¡± Ariana returned, ¡°But these are very vague clues even for this game.¡±

    ¡°Let''s ignore the first bits and focus on the last line. That one seems to be the key,¡± Healina told us. ¡°So there''s six charms, and we need to find the first one; that should give us a clue to finding this ''first in flames'' place.¡±

    ¡°Sounds simple enough to me!¡± Lizzy remarked.

    It did sound simple. Yet it proved to be anything but simple. And that was for the simple reason that, no matter where we looked or what we looted, we couldn''t seem to find the charm we were looking for.

    What we did find was that, around our current position in the Marshes, the monsters here are generally reptilian, with a few vulture-like birds that occasionally come to try their luck and the inevitable trope of undead, in this case labeled as ¡°Drowned Corpses¡±. Catchy, huh? We also found several NPC trader camps that would move in a fixed pattern throughout a day in Panarena or so, and lots of caves and a few ruins. We suspected that at least one of these ruins was going to be involved in our quest, but nothing made it clear for certain.

    They had an almost Mayan feel to them; of course, the designers had taken that concept and made it their own, but it wasn''t hard for even me to notice the inspiration. Ariana and Healina had a great time discussing it as we trudged along, leaving our waggon in the securest location we could find -- a small marsh village peopled by diminutive humanoids called hauflins, a rustic, agrarian folk around half our height. Their village had several quests which we also took, wondering if one of them might clue us in to finding the charm we needed.

    Well, as I said earlier, we spent an awful lot of time looking and an equal amount of time not finding quite what we were looking for. By the end of Sunday night the four of us had fairly had it, so we paid our dues to the keepers for our room and stable and logged out for the night. I fell asleep shortly after, and I swear my dreams were of me running around endlessly through the Marshes still trying to find something.

    ***

    Monday morning started off with rain. As if running around through a virtual wetland wasn''t enough, I inwardly groaned as I saw it coming down outside, looking through my window with a weary expression. My morning routine went by sluggishly, and eventually I found myself on the bus heading towards school. Even Ty seemed asleep until we actually got there, at which point he snapped to attention as I got off the bus to head inside. He flicked my head as he usually did and continued on to his locker as I made my way to mine.

    ¡°You awake?¡± Rachel said as she arrived too, gently patting my shoulder.

    ¡°Eh, I guess.¡±

    ¡°You guess?¡± she returned with a witty smile.

    ¡°Hmm... I know school is important and I should be more alert for it, but...¡± I let out a sigh, then shook my head. ¡°Eh, never mind... we have time to worry about that.¡± I then said.

    ¡°True,¡± she smiled back. ¡°You did finish homework, right?¡±

    ¡°I finished it Friday, just like I promised you,¡± I replied.

    ¡°Just checking!¡± she winked back.

    ¡°I''m not that obsessed with games... I mean I am, but... homework...¡± I said as we finished getting our morning books and headed in for homeroom.

    ¡°I think we''re all obsessed; we got to fifty-two already just from running around all weekend,¡± Rachel remarked as we sat down.

    ¡°That''s fair.¡± I said with a shrug.

    ¡°But those hauflins,¡± she said with a grin, and I grinned back.

    ¡°Right?¡± I nodded.

    There was enough of a difference between them and a certain famous fantasy creature from a certain famous fantasy novelist whose books from a century or so ago were still top of the line story-telling and world-building, but the tributes, knock-offs, parallels, and so forth were still respectful enough to avoid calling their own half-high humanoid characters after the ones in his books. The hauflins wore shoes for one thing, and their marsh-bound lives were markedly different from the rustic countryside experiences of their ostensible progenitors. Also, they don''t have homes built into hills.

    ¡°Thing is, ''hauflin'' is actually an older concept from what I''ve read.¡± Rachel then told me.

    ¡°Eh? Ehh?¡± I returned with surprise. ¡°S-wh-eh? Then the famous ones came from that idea and Panarena''s using a more original concept?¡±

    ¡°Kind of?¡± Rachel replied, pondering for a moment. ¡°More or less, anyway.¡±

    ¡°Wow,¡± I said. So... less like progenitors and more like cousins?

    ¡°They''re cute though; and Berrydell is a super-cute village.¡± she continued, practically gushing about it. ¡°Maybe we should make our new home there!¡±

    ¡°I guess we could have something there,¡± I said.

    ¡°That''d be fun!¡± she smiled back. ¡°We can have hideaways all over Panarena!¡± she beamed, and I nodded back with a smile of my own.

    ¡°We can certainly try!¡± I agreed. The bell then sounded, and class was called to order.

    The morning felt like it went by at a mild pace today; it wasn''t rushed or lethargic, it was just right. Most of us had settled in to our class rhythms by now, and the two of us had definitely done so. Even with the ones we weren''t so fond of having. Quarterly exams were also looming before us, so anyone who was still acclimating had only a little time left before they were floundering, academically speaking. Our teachers encouraged us to ask questions because of that very fact, and there were a lot of questions asked throughout the morning classes before they finally ended to let us off for lunch.

    Rachel and I unpacked our lunches on our lunch-desk, and she let out a sigh. Most of the class wandered off for the cafeteria, leaving the two of us to await the coming of Ellie and Andrea.

    ¡°Think you''re good with the math?¡± she asked me with a little concern. It was not, after all, my strongest point.

    ¡°Enough to get at least a C on it,¡± I said with a shrug. ¡°And we both know my parents won''t mind that.¡±

    ¡°True.¡± Rachel nodded back. ¡°I''m dreading it anyway though. And that mock-up science exam we got looked pretty intense.¡±

    ¡°Like really,¡± I agreed with an anxious tone. ¡°I''m definitely feeling more confident about the afternoon ones, especially with that World Cultures assignment out of the way.¡±

    ¡°Yes, definitely.¡± she returned. At that moment we heard the now-familiar knock on the door as Ellie and Andrea came in to join us.

    ¡°Hiya, lovebirds!¡± Ellie said as she brought another desk over for the two of them to sit at with us.

    ¡°Hey!¡± Rachel smiled back, and I held up my free hand for a sorta-wave.

    ¡°Hahh... I hope you''re not looking forward to next year too much; our exams seem like they''re gonna be a pain.¡± the blonde girl told us as she set out her lunch.

    ¡°Ellie, don''t scare them too much,¡± Andrea said, and then looked over at us. ¡°It''s not that bad. Just the math.¡±

    ¡°Ugh...¡± I grimaced.

    ¡°But anyway!¡± the red-haired girl continued, ¡°How about that weekend?¡± she remarked with a faint grin. ¡°Not even a hint of a clue, and after all that searching.¡±

    ¡°We sure covered a lot of area, although that''s not saying much from the map, if I remember right,¡± I said.

    ¡°Hmm?¡± Andrea wondered.

    ¡°He''s right. We only scratched the surface of the whole region. It''s almost twice the size of the Aldholt, after all.¡± Ellie shrugged.

    ¡°Ehh?¡± Andrea returned with dismay.

    ¡°And we didn''t really go in to any of the dungeons, either,¡± I added.

    ¡°We should search those next.¡± Ellie said. ¡°Sometimes you get random quests from them that are part of the pre-reqs.¡±

    ¡°Right,¡± I nodded back.

    ¡°I wonder if there''s any other players roaming around the area,¡± Rachel remarked.

    ¡°We could always use a fifth player,¡± I agreed, ¡°Whether they want to join us or just share information now and again.¡±

    ¡°That''d be nice, though I mostly meant it in regards to trading info and stuff.¡± she returned.

    ¡°Gotcha.¡± I said.

    We fell into a silence for a few moments, and then Rachel manifested a thoughtful look on her face. She quietly pondered whatever it was for another moment or two, and then looked over at Andrea.

    ¡°Didn''t we see something fiery towards the western areas?¡± she asked.

    ¡°In the areas we were at? I think so.¡± the other girl replied.

    ¡°Maybe we should check there,¡± Rachel said.

    ¡°Let''s do it!¡± Ellie agreed.

    ¡°Sounds good to me,¡± I added.

    Another lapse of silence visited us as we refocused our attention on the food we were eating. We eagerly devoured another few mouthfuls before conversation picked up again, this time regarding things in the real world.

    ¡°So... that homecoming dance. You two ready?¡± Ellie asked us with a mischievous smile.

    ¡°I think so!¡± Rachel replied at once, leaving me with no room to object; I merely nodded.

    ¡°Hmm? Nothing to say, lover-boy?¡± the blonde girl smirked.

    ¡°Well what about you?¡± I gently retorted.

    ¡°Heh, same as always for me. I''ll just stay at home like I--¡±

    ¡°Ellie, you promised to come this year!¡± Andrea interrupted her.

    ¡°Eh? I did?¡± the other girl returned, her face blank. And then it turned a bit red. ¡°Oh... I did... right... ahh...¡±

    ¡°That is so typical of you,¡± Andrea sighed, a soft smile on her face.

    ¡°Well of course I might forget a thing or two lately, I have job interviews coming up; let''s be glad I can still game for now!¡± Ellie said in answer.

    ¡°Hmm? Where at?¡± Rachel wondered.

    ¡°Couple things at the mall, couple things in downtown; one or two around the Food District.¡± the reply came.

    ¡°Oh wow!¡±

    ¡°Gonna be light hours for most of the year, but my free-time on weekends, breaks, and holidays are gonna take a hit for sure.¡± she added.

    ¡°I bet,¡± Andrea nodded.

    ¡°So yeah, I guess I will be there this year... and I''m going to enjoy every second of watching the two of you--¡± Ellie began with a smirk, but Andrea cut her off again.

    ¡°You''re going to be enjoying every second with your best friend since kindergarten, me.¡± the red-haired girl returned with a gentle kick under the table. ¡°Leave the little turtle doves alone for their dance,¡± she added with a wink, and Ellie let out a sigh as Rachel and I shared a wry grin with each other.

    ¡°I get it, I get it!¡± the other girl replied. ¡°Ugh, you act so demure but you''re such a task-master when it comes down to it.¡± she added, and Andrea giggled.

    ¡°So anyway,¡± she said after a moment, ¡°What do you think this charm will be?¡±

    ¡°Should be something like what we found in that Woody Heights dungeon.¡± I said. ¡°I guess it''ll have some sort of marking on it related to fire or heat.¡±

    ¡°Probably.¡± Ellie agreed.

    ¡°I bet it resembles some of the architectural motifs as well,¡± Rachel remarked, and the rest of us latched on to this with agreement.

    ¡°Right!¡± I nodded back, suddenly feeling inspired again. ¡°And it''ll probably be hidden away in something like a temple or a smaller dungeon, maybe a roaming boss...¡± I mused.

    ¡°Hmm... it would make sense for it to have that Mayan or Aztec feel to it...¡± Andrea said as she pondered it further.

    ¡°There actually might be some roaming bosses in this area. We didn''t see them much in the Aldholt because it''s generally a starter-area, but now we should keep our eyes out for stuff like that.¡± Ellie told us, and we nodded back.

    ¡°But really,¡± I then said, chewing thoughtfully on a few raisins and then swallowing them down, ¡°I wonder how many places we''ll have to search before finding this thing...¡±

    ¡°Let''s not think about that yet.¡± Rachel said with a smile.

    ¡°Priorities, kiddo.¡± Ellie added. ¡°Let''s get through classes alive first.¡± she remarked, and the four of us laughed heartily at the joke.

    The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

    Despite the jest we made it through the rest of the day just fine, and then after school we went our separate ways homeward. Chores were seen to, homework was worked upon diligently, and dinners were eaten with gusto, whereupon we logged in literally one by one to Panarena to continue our adventures in the Marshes of the Wyrd.

    The first thing I noticed upon logging in was that one of the hauflins had a quest that hadn''t been visible the last time we played. Did we unlock something by accident? I wondered as I went over to her to start the dialogue.

    ¡°Hello, adventurer! Have you seen the glows coming from the west at night? My pa says that it''s the work of fire-demons, but I think there''s something less supernatural about them myself; anyway, he won''t let me go and see, of course, but if you ever head that way would you be so kind as to bring back some sort of proof as to what is happening there?¡± she said, and the Accept-slash-Reject option came up.

    From the west, huh? I pondered briefly as I hit the accept button.

    ¡°Thank you, adventurer! And mind yourself--one of the scouts reported a rather large goblin wandering around that area as well!¡± she told me, and the dialogue ended.

    Now, Sean, the way you accepted that quest was different from the way you accepted the Cloverbell quest. Why is that? Well, Panarena''s quests are a mixed bag; some have interactive dialogue like the one for Cloverbell, others are simple yes-or-no quests like this one. Generally the more interactive quests come up with more important figures in the world, and the less interactive ones are from the more common folk or even objects, and sometimes walking into an area as well. But anyway.

    As soon as the other three logged in I shared the quest with them, and we began making our way towards the west.

    ¡°Hmm... ''Investigate the six temples to the west for signs of danger and bring anything of note back to Aefa Honeylove''... six temples, huh?¡± Healina pondered as she read over the quest entry.

    ¡°Don''t forget the beware-of-goblin notice as well.¡± Lizzy added.

    ¡°Akajak the Rude?¡± Healina read with a wry expression on her face. ¡°Somehow, I don''t want to know. But we''ll probably end up finding out.¡±

    ¡°Ehh, most titles like that are just for atmosphere,¡± I shrugged. ¡°I wouldn''t put too much thought into it if I were you.¡± I added, making sure we were headed in the right direction as I played scout.

    ¡°If it''s a large one, wouldn''t that be a hobgoblin?¡± Ariana wondered.

    ¡°Probably,¡± I returned.

    ¡°Oh definitely.¡± Lizzy nodded, and then she stopped. ¡°Hey! Back here a moment! What''s this thing?¡± she called out to us, and we gathered around her, seeing an old stone covered with ancient symbols or writing upon it. Ariana and Healina both pulled out lorebooks that they had acquired in the Aldholt from either scholastic or mage-oriented guilds like Words and Sorcery or from quest rewards or NPC vendors.

    ¡°Oh, okay! This is more like it.¡± Ariana said as she found a match in her book first. ¡°I wonder why all the ruins we saw over the weekend were blank...¡± she pondered for a moment, and then shook her head. ¡°Well anyway, these are Hoh''mateca symbols,¡± she continued as Healina flipped through her own book to find the reference as well.

    ¡°Give us a minute or two, and keep a lookout for Akajak.¡± our healer added.

    ¡°Right!¡± Lizzy said, drawing out her halberd.

    ¡°Shadow Vision.¡± I intonted, looking around to make sure nothing was near. ¡°Eh. Not seeing anyth--wait...¡± I then said, catching movement to the west. I watched closely as it meandered idly towards us, and then scuttled away towards the north. It left my field of vision a few moments later, and I turned off the skill.

    ¡°Lana?¡± Lizzy asked me.

    ¡°Something was moving around west of us, but it headed off north. It may have been a player, it may have been a roaming monster.¡± I told her.

    ¡°Couldn''t tell for sure?¡± she wondered.

    ¡°It was only just in range for me to see.¡± I shrugged.

    ¡°Gotcha.¡± our Nordian smith nodded back.

    ¡°Got it!¡± Healina reported, and we turned back to the other two.

    ¡°So basically, this area is known as the Temple Plains; there''s seven of them, but the seventh is more of a palace or a crypt, I can''t tell exactly which.¡± Ariana told us.

    ¡°I''m not sure either, but it could also be both.¡± Healina said.

    ¡°That''d be weird.¡± I remarked.

    ¡°Maybe,¡± Healina nodded. ¡°But that seventh is also locked, which is probably why the quest only mentions the six.¡±

    ¡°Or the seventh is the thing we''re supposed to find by investigating the six.¡± I suggested.

    ¡°Wasn''t there a quest like that in A-o-H?¡± Lizzy said to me.

    ¡°I think so? Midgard Rings definitely had one like it,¡± I replied.

    ¡°That actually makes sense though,¡± Ariana noted. She had quickly developed some serious gamer instincts since we first logged in to this world, and was beginning to see things the way Lizzy and I did. ¡°So our main objective for the quest and possibly the charm could be in the seventh temple-slash-palace.¡±

    ¡°That''s probably the most likely scenario,¡± I agreed.

    ¡°Nice work!¡± Lizzy said, clapping her hands together. ¡°Where''s this area now? Oh wait, I see... this rock also has a map on it,¡± she continued, and the rest of us examined it as well.

    ¡°Hmm... it seems like it might be tricky to get to...¡± Healina said, examining the markings beside the map for more information.

    ¡°Terrain? Traps?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Both? I think,¡± she replied.

    ¡°I mean, I was gonna keep alert anyway,¡± I remarked.

    ¡°Let''s get going then.¡± Ariana said. ¡°We have about eight hours of Panarena time; we can probably get through half of them tonight.¡± as she and Healina put away their books.

    ¡°Or all of them, depending on how they are.¡± Lizzy said as we started off.

    ¡°True.¡± Ari nodded.

    ¡°That''d be nice,¡± I agreed. We picked our way along what seemed to be a deserted highway, advancing steadily towards our current goal of the Temple Plains.

    ***

    The major difference between the landscape that we had covered earlier and the one we were now experiencing is that this particular part of the Marshes is warmer, and on occasion, there are spots where it is literally flaming. According to the game lore (Ariana recounted for us), this particular area was devastated in an ancient magical battle between humanoid cultures and dragons. Whichever side won was apparently lost to the records (there''s some immersive lore for you) but the main thing is that the land in our more immediate vicinity was doomed to be a fire-swamp until the next major in-world disaster.

    It''s not as bad as it sounds. The place was oddly picturesque, and Healina in particular took a couple of screen-grabs (some really nice ones, too). We fought a few monsters that had some sort of relation to either flame, swamps, or both, including giant salamanders, a group of flame-wisps, one troll, and several over-sized insects of the flying variety that had both me and Healina in a near state of panic. Oh, and there was also a monster frog. Yes, you read that right. A monster frog.

    It was called the Remnant of Oxi-coahtl''Ho, and it had us on the ropes for the first few minutes of our fight. Apparently more than just the surrounding environment had been shaped by the ancient disaster. This frog was freaky, man; it belched fire every thirty to fifty seconds or so, and its tongue, if it hit you, burned like acid. Add to that some really hefty kicks and the skull-knocking headbutts it would perform on poor Lizzy and myself when we tried to get close. I actually landed splat against a poisonous tree the one time and was just barely saved by Healina; and Lizzy got knocked into the top of another tree at least once. She just loved that.

    Ironically enough the monster was very susceptible to flame attacks. Once we figured that out -- quite by accident, really; Ariana got super-frustrated at one point and defaulted to a fireball attack without thinking -- it was payback time. We piled on as much flame damage as the four of us could muster; I wasn''t sure if we incinerated or melted the thing in the end. I''m still not sure. But it died, and after a rest we continued on our way to the first of the six temples.

    ¡°Good grrrief!¡± Lizzy spouted off as we walked away. ¡°I mean, that was fun, but that was also such a dang pain!¡±

    ¡°Like really.¡± I agreed, making sure we were still headed the right way.

    ¡°I bet if there''s any bosses in these temples, they''ll be much worse.¡± Ariana said.

    ¡°Ugh.¡± Healina sighed. ¡°And I bet there''ll be more bugs...¡± she grimaced.

    ¡°We''ll make it.¡± Ari smiled at her. Healina dejectedly agreed with a nod.

    After a few minutes more we arrived at the entrance to a ruin that was pretty decrepit; we found a nice overlook nearby and went to examine the place from a better vantage point. This particular ancient temple had no roof left, and what still stood was reminiscent of a maze, but less complicated. There were several monsters lurking inside, mostly undead types. I could see a door or something that probably led further down; Ari confirmed it was there.

    ¡°Typical,¡± I commented as we turned off our vision skills and readied ourselves to fight.

    ¡°I don''t think any of them were unique though,¡± Ari remarked.

    ¡°The unique or difficult ones will be further down inside.¡±

    ¡°Ah, true...¡± she nodded.

    ¡°Might also be a surprise waiting for us down there.¡± Lizzy added.

    ¡°I''m not sure there is; I didn''t see anything--although, after that first dungeon we did as a trio...¡± I said, reflecting suddenly on the mechanics of Serenade Hollow.

    ¡°Wouldn''t surprise me if this area also nullifies player-skills like that,¡± our tank-slash-smith shrugged.

    ¡°Well,¡± I replied, looking back towards the place, ¡°There''s no feasible place for any typical trap; there could be some inside though. If anything happens out here I bet it''s that pile of corpses in the middle coming back to life. We can probably avoid them though.¡±

    ¡°Maybe?¡± Ariana said uncertainly. ¡°It looked like no matter how we make our way through we''ll run into that room somehow.¡±

    ¡°We''ll just use my Shadow Sharing in that case.¡± I shrugged.

    ¡°Let''s go, girls!¡± Lizzy said, starting down the hill to make for the temple. I was about to reply in the affirmative when I suddenly checked myself.

    Al-most got me, I thought with a faint grin as Ari took my arm to lead me along.

    ¡°How did you not reply to that?¡± she wondered with a small smirk of her own.

    ¡°Dunno,¡± I quietly giggled back.

    As we suspected, the pile of corpses was a trap; we tried to avoid it, but before I could do anything to hide us the monsters were already waking up. It was a fairly rough battle, considering there were about thirty in all and that they were around two levels higher than us, but we pulled through and kept going. One of them dropped a key; the symbol upon it resembled a moon, and the temple we were at had a few lunar motifs around, so we figured it was for something inside. The four of us made our way down into the lower level, doubly cautious of anything that might hinder us or send us back to a rez-point.

    It was creepier inside for sure. Not because there were monsters, but because we saw no signs of them as we made our way through. We came across a few special resource-nodes, and there were a couple chests or secret rooms with some nice loot, but aside from the occasional trap there was nothing that really rose up to get in our way.

    We might actually get through this with time to spare, I thought to myself hopefully. And then we stumbled into the main chamber.

    It was pretty big, and at the far end across from us there was a dais with a statue situated in front of a chest, kneeling down and facing towards us. There were also a lot of corpses on the ground. The four of us looked around at each other; none of us doubted it was a trap.

    ¡°You have the moon-key, right?¡± Ariana said quietly to me. I nodded back. ¡°Maybe you should try sneaking over; we''ll be ready here to back you up if something happens.¡± she told me, and I nodded again.

    ¡°Shadow Veil.¡± I whispered softly, and vanished from sight.

    Carefully, I picked my way along the edges of the room, finding a still-sturdy shelf I could slip up on to avoid one of the larger corpse piles. I nimbly jumped to a bookcase, and then to another, narrowly dodging a hanging cage with -- yep, more corpses. Yeesh, I quietly grimaced as I briefly glanced at them. I made my way to the edge of the bookcase, and lightly sprang off of it to land upon the edge of the dais. It was then I noticed that this particular part of the floor had symbols engraved upon them. Turning off Shadow Veil, I knelt down to examine them more closely; Lizzy let out a soft whistle, apparently impressed at how quickly I had gotten over here. A little beep then sounded.

    Ariana: Lana, what is it?

    Lana: symbols on the ground here; probably some sort of device

    Ariana: moving tiles?

    Lana: I think so, yeah

    Ariana: okay -- think lunar.

    Lana: right -- lunar; moons.

    Ariana: :)

    With that helpful hint from my partner, I re-examined what was before me. There were more than a few moons on the ground, most of them in different phases. Oh, I get it; I think... I have to walk across these in an order of lunar phases, I mused internally. At least there was only one moon in this fantasy world. Games from the Eldritch Tomes had three moons, and A-o-H had a remnant moon in the sky that hung around the big one from time to time.

    All-righty, new moon, I stepped cautiously; nothing happened. I looked around for a waxing-crescent, stepping on to this next. Then the half-moon; the three-quarter moon; the full moon, the reverse half-moon, the waning-crescent, and then another new moon. Still nothing had happened. Which meant I was on the right path. The chest was right in front of me now, and the statue was further ahead of it. What a loopy path, I thought briefly as I took out the key and used it on the chest. Inside I found a few nice accessories and a couple of rare crafting items, along with a sun-key.

    Now, I guess all I have to do is step back the way I-- I thought to myself as I did so, but as soon as I did the tile began to sink. Rats! Dang it! What the--oh, snap, *now* I see it!! I cursed as I caught sight of another moon-trail leading away from the chest. The thing I thought was a statue started to stand up.

    ¡°Oh, snap!¡± I said out loud.

    ¡°Dang it, they''re all awake!¡± Lizzy cried out, activating Thurian Stomp.

    ¡°Lana, hurry back!¡± Ariana called over as the monsters zeroed in on Lizzy. I put a stun on the dais-monster (probably the boss) and then practically flew back, looking back to make sure it was going to remain out for a few moments.

    ¡°Nice stun!¡± Healina remarked as she put up wards and prepared her healing skills.

    ¡°I thought for sure that thing was decorative; I guess it''s the dungeon boss!¡± I said as I took out my daggers to aid in fighting.

    ¡°What''d you do, anyway? You got over there so perfectly to begin with and now this!¡± Lizzy quipped as she clove through several of the surprise attackers.

    ¡°I doubled back when I should have kept going,¡± I shrugged, entering Shadow World to do some damage.

    It was a fairly long fight, moreso on account of the fact that the undead kept pouring into the room as opposed to a level difference. The boss remained under crowd-control from my stun, but then I wondered if downing him would end the fight. After all, we''d destroyed nearly a mountain of enemies and they were still coming.

    ¡°Ari! Hit the boss!¡± I said as I ducked into Shadow World again, heading for the boss as well.

    ¡°Noontide Reprisal: Sunlight''s Eye!¡± she called out, and a blistering holy attack rained down upon the target. Meanwhile, I queued up Doomstrike and Holy Crescent Flash, executing them upon the boss at nearly the same time. We took out a fourth of his health-bar.

    ¡°Keep going!¡± Lizzy told us, thumping her halberd onto the ground and stunning a new wave of attackers.

    ¡°Holy Thunder!¡± Ariana intoned, and another barrage of fury rained down upon our enemy.

    ¡°Sunrise Vengeance!¡± I shouted, striking harder this time.

    We got him down to about sixty-percent this time. I kept going even as he woke up; I practically danced around him, slicing and striking to keep his attention while Ariana cast magic on him to deplete his health, drain his energy reserves, or hinder his movements. Between the two of us we whittled him down to a little under ten-percent, and then he jumped back and began to howl.

    ¡°Oh, snap, not one of these--¡± I started to say, but then a bellow rang out from Lizzy. She barreled towards the boss in a rush, halberd held high, and brought it down with a thunderous rapport, cleaving him in twain and finishing him off. I blinked uncertainly for a moment, but at least the fight was over.

    ¡°Whew!¡± Lizzy remarked, leaning on her weapon of choice and wiping her brow. ¡°Thurian Charge is not good for nothing; although it only works under certain conditions.¡± she told us with a faint grin.

    ¡°Nice one!¡± I exclaimed.

    ¡°What was in the chest? I barely noticed before things woke up,¡± our Nordian friend continued, bringing up the panel. ¡°Ehh, kinda junk? Maybe I can improve them a bit if we hang on to them...¡±

    ¡°And a sun-key.¡± Healina said as she looked over the panel as well. ¡°I guess we should look for that symbol next.¡±

    ¡°Isn''t it opposite this one?¡± Ariana chimed in. ¡°I think I saw another structure hidden away beyond this one,¡± she continued, bringing up a map.

    ¡°Could be,¡± I said, ¡°Unless they''re being tricky about it.¡±

    ¡°True!¡± she agreed.

    ¡°Good enough for a starting point; let''s go!¡± Lizzy said, and with that we left the moon-temple and made our way over to the next one.

    ***

    Despite what we hoped, the temple across from the Moon Temple was actually the Jaguar Temple. We looked on the map again to see if there was any sort of indicator to clue us in, but the region was too unexplored for us to make a definite conclusion. That might sound like a contradiction to the fact that we had a complete map of the Aldholt, but that was a starter area, so of course it had a complete map. With higher-level regions, there''s a basic map of terrain that only updates local landmarks or other significant features (like resource areas) as you go along.

    Anyway. Near the Jaguar Temple there was a weathered stone like the one we found describing the temples, but this one actually had a map. Ari and Healina spent several minutes working on a translation while Lizzy and I kept watch; after about fifteen to twenty minutes, they showed us the result, a translated map that we could use to get around the area.

    ¡°The Sun Temple is still further west of us; there''s a Skull Temple north-by-northwest, and a Serpent and Spider Temple to the west of the Sun.¡± Healina told us.

    ¡°And directly west of the last one is that seventh; this time I think we got a better read for it: it''s called the Royal Necropolis.¡± Ariana added.

    ¡°Hmm,¡± I remarked as I looked over at the map. ¡°Well, there''s no telling apparently what order we''ll get these keys in, but at least we''ll know where to go when we get them.¡± I said with a smile.

    ¡°Totally; nice work!¡± Lizzy said with a thumbs-up, and the other two beamed back at us.

    ¡°This is fun!¡± Healina said with a glowing smile. ¡°Although it feels like we might not get through it all tonight...¡±

    ¡°Eh,¡± I shrugged, ¡°We can at least get the Sun Temple tonight; and then we can try and get the third one, whichever that is, before we have to call it quits.¡±

    ¡°I bet it gives us the Spider Temple for third, just to be rude.¡± Ariana quipped with a wry smile.

    ¡°S-spider...¡± Healina shivered.

    Oh, snap. That''s right.

    ¡°Ahh...¡± I smiled uncertainly.

    ¡°We''ll figure it out.¡± Lizzy said. ¡°For now let''s get to the Sun Temple and see what we get there!¡± she added, and with that we made our way westwards and south a touch to get to our next destination.

 Chapter Fourteen: More Temples, More Troubles

    After fighting our way through a vicious pack of salamanders and several groups of what were apparently called ¡°sun-sprites¡±, we found ourselves at the Sun Temple itself. This one was definitely more intact than either the Moon or Jaguar Temples; it was a fantastic step-pyramid, not quite a lookalike of that famous one down in Mexico, but near enough that I did a double-take on it. At the top was a stone that had been shaped into a likeness of the sun-disc motif from the mysterious writing Ari and Healina had deciphered. This particular Hoh''mateca symbol wasn''t hard to recognize; it was round, with a few radiant-points coming out of it and an eye near the top-left part of the disc.

    ¡°Bet it won''t be long before we can see real places like this,¡± Lizzy remarked as we made our way towards the steps.

    ¡°Our senior trip next year might even be virtual,¡± Healina agreed.

    ¡°That''d be a switch, but I doubt it.¡± the blonde girl shrugged.

    ¡°Oh?¡±

    ¡°There''s probably some study or another going on right now that''ll come to the conclusion that all this VR stuff is bad for us and then it''ll all be confiscated or restricted or something like that... and you know how the senior teachers, let alone our principal, are spooked about technology.¡±

    ¡°Eh, that''s... well, mostly true...¡± the Sea Elf with platinum hair shrugged back.

    ¡°I''d go on one.¡± I said as we began our ascent up to the top.

    ¡°That would be really cool,¡± Ariana smiled. ¡°Maybe they''ll even be able to simulate outer-space or something!¡±

    ¡°I bet someone''s already working on it after seeing this,¡± I grinned back.

    ¡°Oh totally.¡± Lizzy nodded, a serious expression on her face. ¡°I bet the military''s using this sort of technology too.¡±

    ¡°Yikes.¡± I returned with a bemused expression.

    We bantered on a few more minutes about virtual-reality and the possibilities it was opening up before finally reaching the top, whereupon we discovered a door that led down into the pyramid itself. I lowered myself down the ladder cautiously, and once on level-flooring I drew out my daggers to stand guard while the others followed me down.

    I looked around, using Shadow Vision to scan for nearby enemies; this time I could see that the temple here had several rooms and corridors filled with monsters waiting for passersby to walk in and be mobbed by. The largest chamber seemed to have a boss or at least an elite-level monster in it as well. Ariana used her Mystic Vision to spy on this room when she got down, and looked closely.

    ¡°There''s a door in that room; it probably leads further down. All of these monsters seem to be fire or heat-related in some way,¡± she remarked.

    ¡°Right, I guess some will have more obvious guardians than others,¡± I nodded.

    ¡°Still puzzling out the corpses from the Moon Temple?¡± Lizzy grinned.

    ¡°I mean,¡± I said with a shrug, ¡°I get it? Kind of... but also not really.¡±

    ¡°Right?¡± Healina agreed.

    ¡°Definitely.¡± Ari also nodded. ¡°I''ll use my cold-skills here; Heali? I think you should summon the ice-sprites and the frost-bird for this one,¡± she continued, and our healer-slash-summoner nodded back.

    ¡°Will do.¡± she replied.

    ¡°Ehh... no actual cold skills here...¡± I sighed, and Lizzy shrugged.

    ¡°We don''t really need them, even if they would help.¡± she said, and as I nodded back I noted Healina finishing her summons for the bird and sprites, and when that was done I began to prowl ahead, keeping wary of the monsters I had seen.

    The first group we ran into were labeled as flame-elementals; they were basically large sun-sprites, but more dangerous. As I expected, they had a moderately high resistance to the physical attacks that Lizzy and I used, but we inflicted enough damage to keep their attention on us so that Ariana could swiftly take them down. Healina''s pets helped as well; the bird placed a debuff on them to weaken their resistance to physical attacks, and the sprites lowered their accuracy with attacks, to say nothing of the incidental cold damage they inflicted by just being there. It wasn''t really all that much, but it helped.

    Once we got into a groove with that fight and then the second, we began making our way through the temple at a good pace. The elite by the door gave us some trouble, vanishing at certain points of the fight only to reappear with three clone copies of itself running around to help fight us, but we latched on to his tricks soon enough and then managed to beat him.

    We picked up our rhythm again for the next few floors, and then we found the final chamber at the bottom where a boss monster called Wyrdfire was waiting for us. This guy was a lot like the elite, except worse. In addition to cloning himself he would also summon a random wave of minions and allies of varying difficulty, including a wave of elites that also had the cloning mechanic. Yeah... that was a pain. And it was a long, long battle.

    I think we were actually about to lose the fight -- Ariana was low on magic and wasn''t using potions, which usually meant she was out; Healina was in nearly the same position, casting several minor healing spells instead of her now-usual Vivifying Jolts; Lizzy seemed more sluggish by that point; and I was running out of tricks -- when suddenly the boss began to do an induction for its split-mechanic yet again. But this time I happened to notice that, as it did, it focused all its attention on a crystal in the center of the ceiling.

    Why didn''t I notice that earlier? I wondered, then recalled that I had been too busy fending off minions to think about it. I dodged out of the way of the thing attacking me, hastily drew out my bow, and used my most powerful ranged attack on the crystal. It cracked. I looked back at the boss. His induction had been interrupted. Yes!

    ¡°What the -- nice!¡± Lizzy exclaimed, suddenly looking as if she was back to a hundred-percent.

    ¡°Lana! Again!¡± Ariana called out to me as she fended off a wave of sprites heading my way. I obliged her quickly, firing three more shots in rapid succession until the crystal in the ceiling was nothing but shards, and then to our surprise the boss merely gave up the ghost and died, exploding into shards and leaving behind the obligatory loot chests. A key for the Serpent Temple appeared in my inventory, but I only paid it a brief notice.

    ¡°Whew,¡± Healina practically gasped for breath, and the four of us slumped down.

    ¡°Daaang it,¡± Lizzy sighed. ¡°I think I''m tired for the night. Let''s find a safe place and log out.¡± she said, and Healina nodded in agreement.

    ¡°I think we should.¡± Ariana added. ¡°We can make more potions with our PATs tomorrow and continue our search after that.¡±

    ¡°We are low on potions after all that fighting,¡± I had to agree. PATs, by the way, stands for Portable Alchemy Stations, useful for potion-making or even culinary-crafters. ¡°Wasn''t there an empty house or something on a nearby hill? Let''s log out there,¡± I suggested, and we agreed to this, swiftly dividing the loot we had won and exiting the Sun Temple.

    We found the abandoned building--more a manor than a house--at a nearly perfect place for the next time we logged in, and situated ourselves in comfortable positions, marking the spot as ours until we came back.

    ¡°No one can come in here until we leave,¡± Lizzy told us. It was a useful feature for logging out in open fields like this when you didn''t have time to get to a designated safe-spot; you could mark a temporary one until your next log-in. With that, we logged out pretty much simultaneously, and when I had pulled off the Dream Machine I fell asleep.

    ***

    ¡°Mr. Daniels? Mr. Daniels, is there something wrong?¡± the voice of our math teacher suddenly clicked in my mind.

    ¡°Uh? Ah, no, sir.¡± I replied.

    ¡°Then would you mind giving us the answer to this problem, Mr. Daniels?¡± the man said, tapping the board; I heard some of the others snickering or giggling.

    ¡°Ah...¡± I started, stumbling at first but eventually I came to an answer that satisfied him. When lunch finally came around after our fourth class I was all too relieved.

    Tuesday morning had started off more or less the same old way -- except it was partly cloudy instead of rainy today. The trip to school was uneventful; Rachel and I met with a smile, arriving at the same time for a change; and our first two classes went by pretty decently. But by the time Math came around I wasn''t in a mood for it. I spaced out thinking about the game, and hence my earlier bullet-dodging.

    ¡°You okay?¡± Rachel asked as she turned around for lunch.

    ¡°I am, just got spaced out...¡± I returned with a sigh.

    ¡°Hmm?¡± she remarked pretty knowingly. ¡°Did we even get a level last night? Because I feel like we should have.¡±

    ¡°I think we did; maybe even got half of the next, too... that was a rotten fight until the last few moments.¡± I said.

    ¡°You''re telling me,¡± Rachel nodded as we began setting up our lunches. ¡°I thought we were actually going to lose for a change. Which could have been fun,¡± she shrugged, a faint smile on her face.

    ¡°Yeah, probably,¡± I shrugged as well.

    ¡°Hey!¡± Ellie said as she and Andrea showed up. ¡°Professor Tyson would not give up on the astrophysics rabbit-trail he got into last period,¡± she remarked grumpily as the two of them pulled a desk over to sit with us.

    ¡°It really was something,¡± the other girl agreed.

    ¡°Um. It was boooor-ing, hel-lo?¡± the reply came, and Rachel and I almost burst out laughing. ¡°So what about you two?¡±

    ¡°Nothing really exciting here, just spacing out in lectures.¡± Rachel replied.

    ¡°Heh.¡±

    ¡°What was that key we got?¡± Andrea wondered. ¡°I just now thought about it and realized we didn''t even look at it.¡±

    ¡°Eh, it was... for the Serpent Temple?¡± I recalled, a bit fuzzy about it. ¡°I''m pretty sure...¡±

    ¡°Lovely.¡± Ellie quipped. ¡°We''ll have to prepare antivenom as well as our normal potions.¡±

    ¡°I think some of the plants around where we are might be helpful for those, maybe,¡± Andrea said. ¡°Not that I''ve been emphasizing learning things in a game over learning things at school, but, you know.¡±

    ¡°We know.¡± Rachel smiled back.

    ¡°Oh by the way,¡± Ellie said as she downed some of her chips, ¡°We ran into Mary, the principal''s daughter, during our classroom change for third and fourth,¡± she recalled, and we nodded. The juniors and seniors change classrooms after second period--probably something I neglected to mention earlier. ¡°She said she had something she wanted to ask us about of all people, so I invited her over.¡± Ellie explained, and right on cue the girl in question appeared.

    I hadn''t seen much of her since the Justin-incidents, but she was just taller than Ellie, her black hair tied back in a ponytail and green-blue eyes that were almost piercing, like her father''s. She almost shyly waved as she entered the room and sat down with Ellie and Andrea gracefully, like some sort of princess.

    Come to think of it, where''s your pals? I wondered internally.

    ¡°Hi guys,¡± Mary said to us, and we gave her a welcoming reply, wondering what the visit was about. ¡°So... I''ve been into something lately, and because I''ve been into it I''ve heard some rumors... about an informal ''game-club'' that meets around lunch time?¡± she continued. Rachel gave me a quick smirk, and Ellie took the initiative.

    ¡°Oh cool! You play in Panarena then?¡± she quickly replied, and Mary nodded, like a giddy grade-schooler sharing some precious secret that no adult was ever supposed to know.

    ¡°I got it just before school; it''s so hard to stay on top of my grades and everything because of it but I''ve managed so far. I''m only to level fifty or so, though.¡± the older girl said.

    ¡°Hey, same as us!¡± Ellie said with a smile.

    ¡°Really!¡± Mary brightened up.

    ¡°What''s your character?¡± the blonde girl then said.

    ¡°Ah! She''s... I''m a Cymbroga shield-user.¡± the reply came.

    ¡°Oh, nice!¡± Andrea piped up. ¡°We don''t have a shield-user in our group; Ellie goes around rage-tanking with her halberd,¡± this earned a pouty-glare from the girl in question, ¡°But I bet a shield-user would be a lot easier to heal!¡± she quipped with a merry look in her eyes to Ellie.

    ¡°Shut. Up.¡± Ellie stuck her tongue out, and Mary laughed.

    ¡°Ahh, this is so good! I can finally talk about this with people who get it!¡± she said, a glowing smile on her face.

    ¡°We''re glad to talk about it with you,¡± Rachel smiled back. ¡°I had no idea you were in to games!¡±

    ¡°It''s my second. I used to play Age of Hyperborea as well, but after being beaten in the Fourth Year''s Tournament Champion Arena by someone called Lana Windrider I kind of slacked off in it.¡± she said. I couldn''t help but nearly choke. ¡°You okay?¡± Mary asked as I recovered myself.

    ¡°Ahh... yeah... I''m fine,¡± I returned somewhat sheepishly.

    ¡°Heh, you too, huh?¡± Ellie grinned.

    ¡°Oh? You played that as well?¡± Mary latched on with interest.

    ¡°I did; I was the last match-up for Lana, if you remember.¡± the other girl replied.

    ¡°Oh right! I do remember that. You totally had her, them, whoever it was; if they hadn''t magically evaded that attack you''d have won.¡±

    ¡°Don''t remind me,¡± Ellie sighed wistfully. ¡°Fun fact: Lana plays this one too. She''s on our side, though.¡± she added, and Mary nodded.

    ¡°I thought that was the same Lana. I see a lot about her on the forums, when I care to read them; she seems a lot more popular now.¡± the black-haired girl remarked. ¡°So she''s in your group? But...¡± Mary continued, looking over us. Her eyes alighted on me. ¡°¡­ No way, right?¡± she said to me with a faint grin.

    ¡°Hmm?¡± I wondered back.

    ¡°Sean, are you...?¡± Mary returned, leaving the words unspoken.

    Ehh, what do I do here... I might as well just come out and say it. It''s not like it would remain a secret for long anyway...

    ¡°I know Ellie just said ''she'', but I know how game-identities sometimes separate from real ones. I''m not judging you, honest.¡± she continued.

    Right. Here we go.

    ¡°Ahh... Lana... yeah... is me.¡± I quietly said, and the expression on her face looked ready to explode with laughter.

    ¡°I guess that means it was you in that tournament.¡± Mary said as she looked at me with a very strong amusement.

    ¡°Ahh... yeah... it was.¡± I replied with a bashful expression.

    ¡°Wow, you get the royal treatment; it took Rachel over a week and me nearly a week to figure it out,¡± Ellie quipped as she slurpingly sipped her drink. ¡°Or is it because she''s the principal''s daughter that you''re owning up so fast this time around?¡±

    ¡°N-no!¡± I retorted defensively.

    ¡°It''s okay.¡± Rachel said, patting my hands, grinning at me. ¡°He usually is squirrelly about Lana here, but once we''re in the game that goes away.¡± she said to Mary who nodded back, still grinning like a Cheshire cat. Ellie shot me an apologetic glance, and I shrugged back.

    ¡°I absolutely cannot wait.¡± she said excitedly. ¡°Where are you guys, anyway? I''m in Woody Heights, but I''m pretty much just lingering around there for no reason.¡±

    ¡°We''re north of you,¡± Ellie said, ¡°Running through the Marshes on this quest we got in Cedarville.¡±

    ¡°Oh you have that quest,¡± Mary said with surprise.

    ¡°Is it well-known?¡± I wondered.

    ¡°It kind of is? But no one says anything about it. There''s some sort of weird pact about the whole thing, but whatever. How far along are you?¡± she asked us.

    ¡°We found a side-quest that should give us the first real clues we need; I''m sure you could catch up in no time.¡± Andrea told her.

    ¡°I did mess around in... Berrydell, I think, for a little while; there was a quest from one of the hauflins that I ignored before heading back to Cedarville. I wonder if that was it...¡± Mary pondered as she chewed thoughtfully on her lunch.

    ¡°Probably. Once you join up with us we''ll know; it should advance you to our stage as well.¡± Ellie replied.

    ¡°That''d be nice,¡± the other girl nodded back. ¡°But I''ll talk to you a bit more about that once school''s over.¡±

    ¡°Gotcha.¡± the blonde girl agreed. We then spent the rest of our lunch talking about how our classes and assignments were coming along for the year; by the time lunch was over, the five of us were almost shocked at how the time had flown by, and Mary agreed to come by for lunch with us more often.

    If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    ¡°And Sean,¡± she added as she left the room, ¡°I can''t wait to see you tonight.¡± she said with a wink, and then headed off to her locker.

    ¡°Ahh...¡± I stood there uncertainly, trying to process what I had just heard.

    ¡°Don''t tell me she likes him,¡± Rachel said with a troubled expression.

    Gwahh?!

    ¡°Hmm?¡± Ellie returned. ¡°Dunno... Andrea?¡±

    Hyehh!?

    ¡°I mean, last year there was this rumor about a ninth-grader she liked...¡± Andrea told us.

    N-wh-huh?! Wha--!? EHHHH?!?!

    ¡°I''m not sure it was Sean, though.¡± she added with a shrug. ¡°It could have been George Watts.¡±

    ¡°Oh, right!¡± Ellie nodded. ¡°That makes more sense, the two of them hung out a lot last year.¡± she added, and Rachel seemed more relieved at that -- me too, by the way. I am not into that sort of thing.

    Saved... in more ways than one...

    We went our mostly separate ways for the afternoon, and when classes were over Rachel and I almost flew to our lockers, barely remembering to collect our homework assignment for the week. Our Chinese teacher had been doing this lately, instead of giving us homework every night she would give us an assignment on Monday or Tuesday to be turned in on Friday. I liked it, and everyone else in the class seemed to prefer it as well. It was, after all, one of the hardest languages to learn.

    ¡°I can''t wait! Our fifth member!¡± Rachel said as we got to our lockers. ¡°This really is exciting!¡±

    ¡°Right?¡± I agreed as we opened our lockers to begin packing up. ¡°Just in time, too; I feel like these quests are going to get a lot harder.¡±

    ¡°True!¡± she nodded. ¡°And...¡± she paused a moment, looking over at me.

    ¡°Hmm?¡± I looked back at her. She had a hand over her mouth, her cheeks red and her expression almost... hurt? Sad?

    ¡°I feel like an idiot. I don''t know what it is. I like Mary; but the way she said that to you...¡± Rachel said to me, and I rubbed the back of my head, my own face scrunching up into a bemused look.

    ¡°Ehh... she''s probably just one of those people who like to tease. I think.¡± I replied. That was what I remembered of her in previous years, but then, being a social outcast for the most part, I wasn''t certain. But it helped defuse Rachel''s tension. She gave me a hug and held me close.

    ¡°I don''t want anyone coming between us.¡± she said after a moment.

    ¡°I don''t either.¡± I replied, patting her on the back. We let go to finish packing, and then hurried off to our buses. ¡°Maybe we should just let Ellie drive us home from now on,¡± I quipped as we rushed out the door, and she gently laughed.

    ¡°Maybe!¡± she agreed as we parted with another hug. I then made my way to the usual old bus, where Ty gave me a flick as I sat down.

    ¡°Dang, boy, you late.¡± he remarked.

    ¡°Had some homework to wrangle.¡± I shrugged.

    ¡°Yeah, man; I mean, I get it. But that stuff is just a pain...¡±

    ¡°Ehh, I don''t mind some of it.¡±

    ¡°Well then you can do mine,¡± he quipped with the faintest hint of a smile. This time I gently flicked him back, and he quietly laughed. ¡°Naw, Dans, I wouldn''t do that to you. Dumb-@$$ assignment like I get you wouldn''t figure out anyway.¡±

    ¡°Oh yeah?¡± I returned.

    ¡°Yo, you wanna find out how all this city infrastructure stuff gets going?¡± he asked me, and I grimaced, a guttural noise coming out of my mouth. ¡°Didn''t think so, Dans.¡±

    ¡°What the heck kind of elective did you end up in?¡±

    ¡°Some experimental course, Infrastructure Development; my dad was a construction worker, so I figured I''d try to get into it.¡±

    ¡°Oh nice; heh, sounds like a cool way to connect with him.¡± I remarked.

    ¡°Sure is that, Dans, sure is that.¡± he nodded. ¡°What about you, anyway?¡±

    ¡°There''s nothing I want to connect with my parents about.¡± I said with conviction; he raised an eyebrow, and then shrugged.

    ¡°Bet they wouldn''t say the same,¡± he said. I couldn''t think of a reply, so I let the words hang. The bus ride was mostly quiet after that, but he did give me another flick before I got dropped off. I could only grin back, and then made my way home to get things done before game-time.

    I logged in later that evening to find Ariana and Elizasmith waiting for me; Healina was not in the room with us. I waved to the other two, and then brought up the social list.

    ¡°Oh, Heali''s heading south to get Mary.¡± Lizzy said to me as I did, and I looked up at her with a puzzled look. ¡°She tamed a salamander for a mount and rode off,¡± the blonde girl shrugged.

    ¡°H-heh?¡± I said with interest, closing the panel to look outside. ¡°That should save a lot of time, anyway,¡± I remarked.

    ¡°Yep!¡± the reply came.

    ¡°We got the Serpent Key, you said?¡± Ariana asked me.

    ¡°Oh! Right, that was it,¡± I said as I looked through my inventory and alighted upon it.

    ¡°Antivenoms!¡± Lizzy then said at once, and Ari nodded back.

    ¡°Heali has the better potion-making, but I can do a few emergency ones.¡± she said, and we headed out to collect plants, herbs, mushrooms, and anything else that might work in an antivenom potion.

    By the time Healina came back with Mary--Maryn Brightshield, as her character was called--we had amassed quite a pile of ingredients and potential ingredients. Maryn looked nearly the same as her real self, except the eyes were crystal-blue and the hair unbound. She went to shake hands with Lizzy first, then Ari, and then she stopped at me. Her almost silver armor had a mystical gleam in the light, and a tower-shield hung on her back. She smiled at me, and then wrapped me in a hug. I could see Lizzy and Heali affecting wry grins, while Ari seemed a bit put off.

    ¡°Ahh... hi...¡± I said with an awkwardness. She let go, and gave me a clap on the shoulder.

    ¡°Nice to meet you, Lana.¡± Maryn said with a wink.

    Oh boy. Don''t tell me the rumor was actually about me?

    ¡°S-same,¡± I replied; Ari came over and linked her arm in mine.

    ¡°Collecting alchemy ingredients?¡± our new shield-user asked us, and we nodded.

    ¡°I should look a bit myself, you might have missed a few that I can detect.¡± Healina said, heading off with Lizzy--as well as the salamander she had tamed.

    ¡°Oh! The quest,¡± I said, bringing up the log.

    ¡°Don''t worry, Andr--ahh, Healina already shared it. We''re on the same page.¡± Maryn told me. ¡°I don''t know, I like this you better somehow.¡± she then remarked.

    ¡°Ah-heh...¡±

    ¡°Hrrmm.¡± Ari protested with a pout.

    ¡°I''m not stealing him, don''t worry!¡± Maryn laughed at once. ¡°Can''t come between the Silvernight Twins, after all.¡± she smiled back.

    I gave Ari a smile, and she let out a sigh, smiling as well.

    ¡°Oh, well then what about a guild invite?¡± I asked her.

    ¡°Hmm? That didn''t come up yet. I''d like to join, though, if you want me to.¡± the answer came.

    ¡°Of course we do!¡± Ariana replied. ¡°Here!¡± she then said with a smile.

    Oh right, only you and I can invite people for now, I remembered as Maryn''s face lit up with a smile. She accepted the invitation, and then gave Ari a hug, which was returned in kind. Girls can be complicated like this, huh? I thought to myself with an awkward grin.

    ¡°You have no idea how fun this is so far.¡± Maryn said as the hug ended. ¡°Everyone''s so used to Mary the principal''s daughter; Mary the straight-A student; Mary can''t do anything wrong; she''d never goof off or play stupid games; la-te-ya-ti-da... uggh.¡±

    ¡°I guess people did seem to think that way...¡± I admitted. ¡°I don''t think I ever really thought about it much.¡±

    ¡°I kinda figured you had some sort of wild side.¡± Ariana said with a grin.

    ¡°H-heh?¡± I looked over at her in surprise, and Maryn grinned back.

    ¡°You think?¡± the older girl wondered.

    ¡°When you move around like I have you start to notice things about people pretty quickly.¡± Ari replied, and Maryn nodded.

    ¡°Oh right, you were a transfer-in this year. Sticking around I hope?¡±

    ¡°Definitely. There''s some things that still need to get sorted out first, but I''ll be here to finish high school at least.¡±

    ¡°Good!¡± Maryn smiled.

    Phew... I sighed inwardly.

    ¡°We''re back!¡± Lizzy announced. ¡°Get your PATs out and let''s get crafting!¡± she said, and our two potion crafters set to work. Around ten Panarena-minutes later, we had enough antivenoms and cure-alls to take care of any foreseeable issues with poison and such, and we made our way to the Serpent Temple.

    Our new pet, at least for the moment, stalked alongside me as we made our way through the swampy terrain. It got warmer as we neared the Serpent Temple; the heart of the fire-swamp region was looming closer. As we expected, there were serpentine monsters all around the area. This time, it was a lot easier to get through the masses that began to swarm us; nothing against Lizzy at all, but she herself often comments she''s not really a tank. With Maryn, the difference in crowd-control was very noticeable. Between her aggro-holding and Ari''s stun skills, we were able to practically mow down the enemies before us.

    ¡°Lana!¡± she called at me, briefly gesturing with her sword towards a large, python-looking creature heading our way. I took the cue and dashed off to distract it.

    ¡°What the--!!¡± Lizzy started to say as she caught sight of it, only to be re-immersed in her own fight a second later.

    All-righty, how do we handle-- yipes!! I pondered to myself before noticing the Great Python, as its ID read, had noticed me and was trying to enact some sort of skill on me.

    ¡°Shadow Veil!¡± I vanished from sight just in time, rushing around its side to recover myself.

    Let''s see here... snakes and serpents in video-games are usually associated with stuns and poisons... I''m not sure which was coming at me, but its eyes were glowing, so I''m guessing there was a hypnosis effect about to be placed on me. Hyeck! I suddenly skidded to a halt and scrambled up a tree. There was a second one coming. I quickly shot a message to Ariana, warning her about the second one and the possibility of hypnosis or paralyzing attacks.

    As the second Great Python slithered underneath my perch, I began thinking quickly. I brought up the monster''s ID to examine it; four-hundred *thousand* health? Seventy-five percent resistance to physical and elemental attacks? Cannot be taunted?! What the heck, man!?

    ¡°Lana?!¡± Lizzy called out. ¡°Are you alive out there!?¡±

    ¡°Run for the temple, now!!¡± I cried out, dropping from my perch and racing towards the stone structure. ¡°Run, dang it, run!¡± I shouted again as I began passing by them. Lizzy and Ari did so at once; Healina paused only to give Maryn another heal, and then those two began running after us as well.

    ¡°What is it?¡± Maryn asked me.

    ¡°They can''t be taunted, they have a lot of health, and their resistances are pretty high!¡± I told her as we made our way towards the temple.

    ¡°Flame Geysers!¡± Ariana called out, leaving behind pretty much what you might guess.

    A bunch of holes appeared in the ground behind or around us, each of them spewing up fiery liquid that hindered our larger enemies and killed the weaker ones. The Great Pythons, I was sorry to see, were not perturbed.

    ¡°How high is their health?¡± Maryn wonderd.

    ¡°Four-hundred thousand HP,¡± I reported as we gained the door.

    ¡°Ho-ly...!¡± she returned with a touch of shock.

    ¡°That''s about world-boss level,¡± Lizzy said to us.

    ¡°And a hypnosis effect, too?¡± Ariana grimaced. ¡°Sounds like a plain-out death trap!¡±

    ¡°So they''re probably just a kill-all mechanic we have to avoid.¡± Lizzy remarked as I quickly brought the key out and set it in the door.

    ¡°Come on, come on, come on!¡± I said hurriedly, and the door unlocked. ¡°Inside!!¡± I said as it opened; the five of us practically scrambled inside, and then I shut the door with a frenzy just as those two monsters got ready to attack us. I have never been so satisfied to hear a door click shut in my life. We paused to catch our breath for a few moments, and then Maryn laughed.

    ¡°Ha-ha-ha-ha; ah wow! That was great!¡± she said with a smile.

    ¡°Y-you think so?¡± I wondered.

    ¡°Our first unbeatable boss escape,¡± Lizzy remarked with a grin. ¡°I think we did pretty well!¡±

    ¡°True!¡± Ari nodded in agreement.

    ¡°It was rough...¡± Heali said. ¡°But we did make it!¡±

    ¡°I wonder what else is in store for us tonight!¡± Maryn smiled, a determined look in her eyes. ¡°I feel like I need to redeem myself a bit for running from those two,¡± she added a bit sheepishly.

    ¡°We all do,¡± Lizzy returned, a wry smile on her face.

    ¡°Well,¡± I said with my own grin, ¡°We have about six hours of Panarena time left; I''m sure we can vindicate ourselves somehow or another.¡±

    ¡°Let''s go!¡± our halberd-wielder said enthusiastically.

    ¡°Ahh--where''s our friend?¡± I said, wondering where the salamander had gotten to.

    ¡°Hmm? Oh,¡± Healina said, faintly smiling as she pointed beside me. There it was, looking at me with almost dog-like eyes.

    ¡°Wh-wha...?¡± I wondered in amazement. ¡°Shouldn''t he be imprinting on you?¡± I asked.

    ¡°I dunno,¡± Heali returned with a more thoughtful tone, ¡°I''m not sure about the specifics, but the forums say they sometimes latch on to a party member instead of the tamer for some reason.¡± she said; the salamander licked its lips in an almost bored manner. I shrugged.

    ¡°Come to think of it I think I read that too, somewhere... well, whatever. Come on, then...¡± I said to it, trying to think of a name but leaving it hanging as I headed off down the only visible corridor. And so began our adventure in the Serpent Temple.

    ***

    As we got to the third floor, it kind of felt as it we had over-prepared for the place in general. Most of the monsters had hardly used their poison attacks, if they had any to begin with. This assumption was immediately challenged upon our arrival to the floor in question. I used Shadow Vision to scan the room; there were traps in various places, carefully set so that even I had a hard time identifying them at first. Most of them seemed tied to a release-valve, no doubt intended to unleash poisonous compounds in one form or another.

    ¡°This is gonna be tricky,¡± I said as I also noted the presence of increasingly stronger monsters throughout the level. ¡°There''s a bunch of elite packs around.¡±

    ¡°We can handle them; we''ll just need to be more alert for venom or poison now.¡± Ariana said, looking with her Mystic Vision.

    ¡°True.¡± I agreed. ¡°As well as the rest of the way down, too.¡±

    ¡°Healina, you have ward-skills, right?¡± Maryn asked her.

    ¡°I do. I''ve been saving them, though, for when it gets super bad.¡± the Sea Elf replied.

    ¡°That''s fair,¡± our shield-user nodded back.

    ¡°It might get worse early on from the way these guys look, though...¡± I remarked.

    ¡°Just keep us away from the traps.¡± Lizzy said, patting my shoulder.

    ¡°I''ll try,¡± I returned, ¡°But we''ll have to have Maryn taunt pretty much all these groups to do that, or we''ll run into them anyway.¡±

    ¡°That''s what I''m here for!¡± Maryn grinned, holding her sword at the ready.

    ¡°Let''s go,¡± I nodded back, and we continued on our way.

    It was difficult to navigate through the trapped corridors and rooms, but once we got to a clear spot it was fairly simple for Maryn to taunt the groups of monsters further ahead with either Guardian''s Challenge or Shield Taunt. From there we were able to take them down within a couple minutes; as Ariana suspected, we began to actually use the store of antivenoms we had crafted, and a couple times some of the monsters even deliberately set off the traps (that was my assessment anyway; Lizzy thought it was coincidence, and the others weren''t really sure, but I swear those rotten mobs purposefully set them off just to add to the pressure).

    ¡°See? Look!¡± I said the next time; one of them, an upright komodo-looking thing, ran to pull on a lever as Maryn''s taunt caught its attention and that of its fellows. Poisonous gas began filling the corridor, and Healina raised her anti-venom wards.

    ¡°Well then!¡± Lizzy remarked in an astonished tone.

    ¡°Ruuuude.¡± Ariana groaned, aiming her first attack at that specific monster. It went down almost instantly--well, more accurately, it went flying backwards and then exploded into pixels--and then she focused her attention on the main pack.

    ¡°Gyek!¡± I gulped, once more reminding myself never to make her angry at me insofar as I could help it.

    Once we finished with the monsters, we hastened out of the area and found ourselves at the entrance to the fourth floor. We looked around at each other knowingly. It had been pretty rough here, despite the advantage of my skills; we were probably in for a more difficult fight this time.

    ¡°And Lana''s skills might not pick up traps on this floor,¡± Lizzy remarked as we opened the door and headed down the staircase.

    ¡°Thanks for that,¡± I returned flatly.

    ¡°What? It''s true! We had to make a mad dash for that one boss room, girlfriend!¡± the blonde replied at once.

    ¡°Ahh...¡± I bemusedly sighed as recalled the incident with a wry smile.

    ¡°I hope we get the Jaguar or Skull Temple next...¡± Ariana said as we got to the bottom.

    ¡°Either of those could actually be worse.¡± I softly remarked.

    ¡°What was that?¡± she said with one of those don''t-you-dare smiles, gently tugging on my ear.

    ¡°Ahh... I bet we get the Spider Temple next, just because!¡± I replied with a grin, berating myself for so quickly forgetting my own advice. She left out a little huff, and then smiled more genuinely at me.

    ¡°You''re probably right.¡± she shrugged.

    ¡°Not that I like to be...¡± I added with a sigh.

    ¡°Hey! Sneak! Scout ahead, will ya?¡± Lizzy quipped as she poked me from behind.

    ¡°Right!¡± I nodded, and once again used Shadow Vision to espy the way ahead.

    Nothing seemed to be much different from the third floor here; there was a pack of greater elites near what I assumed was the door to the boss room, and around them were about eight levers in various places. I''ll have to look more closely when we get there, I noted to myself.

    ¡°It''s about the same as before; let''s be careful in that last room, though. I don''t like it.¡± I told the others.

    ¡°Gotcha.¡± Maryn nodded.

    ¡°We haven''t died as a group yet; be a shame to ruin our reputation now!¡± Lizzy smiled.

    ¡°Hehh? Did you die before joining us?¡± I asked her curiously.

    ¡°In the beta-testing, yeah, a couple times. But not since the game went live.¡± she told us.

    ¡°Is it... weird?¡± Ariana wondered.

    ¡°I mean... kind of?¡± Lizzy replied. ¡°Depending on what gets you...¡±

    ¡°Ahh... yeah. Let''s not.¡± I sheepishly smiled.

    ¡°Onward and downwards,¡± Maryn said, and our little salamander friend licked his lips again as we started off.

    ¡°You should really give it a name; but nothing too complicated.¡± Ariana suggested as we made our way along the corridor.

    ¡°Simple, huh?¡± I mused. ¡°Then... Sally! As in Sallymander.¡± I proudly announced, quite satisfied with my dad-level pun.

    ¡°Not that simple!¡± the four real girls retorted in a nearly perfect chorus.

    By the time we got to the room I wasn''t sure about, I had (somehow or another) won the naming contest, and Sallymander seemed quite content with his (her? Its?) new name. Now I had the opportunity to examine the room more closely; there were two levers behind the mass of greater elites, one on the right wall, one on the left, and four on each of the four walls at a higher position. These four could be reached by an upward ramp that led to a platform which ran around the room. There were also two apertures on this ¡°upper level¡±, and two more on the floor level big enough for something around our sizes to get through.

    ¡°O-kay... this is where crowd-control is going to come in on a serious note.¡± I said.

    ¡°Right,¡± Lizzy nodded. ¡°I bet that those four openings let in something that pulls the levers at either random or scheduled points in the fight.¡±

    ¡°Exactly.¡± I said. ¡°And there''s four greater elites; I bet they''re tied to the mechanic somehow.¡±

    ¡°Oh definitely.¡± our Nordian agreed. ¡°We''ll have to at least get the weaker ones out of the way first, and then we should probably go after the stronger four one at a time.¡±

    ¡°That''s probably the safest strategy, aside from trying to disable the levers, which I''m sure would backfire on us.¡± I nodded back.

    ¡°What if I jam them up with Ice Block?¡± Ariana wondered. Lizzy and I exchanged a brief glance, and the blonde girl turned back to Ari.

    ¡°Worth a shot.¡± Lizzy said to her in reply.

    ¡°That would also help in case they''re quicker than we want to hope.¡± I added. ¡°I just hope it doesn''t set the traps off by accident somehow.¡±

    ¡°It''s at level eight now, so it shouldn''t backfire that easily.¡± our mage told us with confidence.

    ¡°All right, partner, counting on you!¡± I said, and she smiled, nodding back. ¡°So we''ll stick to that general plan; down the weak ones, pick off the stronger ones one by one, Ariana will lock up the levers with her ice skill to try and slow down any potential incomers who want to pull them.¡± I recounted, and the others nodded back.

    ¡°I''ll keep wards up just in case.¡± Healina added.

    ¡°Thanks, Heali.¡± I smiled back.

    ¡°All right, kids, let''s go!¡± Lizzy said, and the five of us strode into the room for our second to last challenge in the Serpent Temple.

 Chapter Fifteen: Serpentine Trials/The Dead/Cats Paw

    Well that fight went pretty much the way we thought it would. It lasted maybe thirty minutes or so, thanks to our analyzing it beforehand and then adapting to things on the fly. We found out early on that the four greater elites were not tied to the levers in some strange mechanic; instead, about every one and a half minutes, some little rascal would pop out and try to pull one of them from a random location. Ariana had frozen the levers successfully though, so all we had to do was take the thing out and refocus our attention on the main fight.

    The minion monsters went down within the first ten minutes of the battle, and then we proceeded to take down the elites one by one. Not that it really mattered, we thought, but better safe than sorry. Then we got a little cozy and started to ignore the levers, only to find out the little mobs going after the levers were flame-lizards who would try to melt the ice Ariana had used so that the lever would move. Ari herself just barely noticed in time, and so we had to redouble our vigilance there.

    And then we discovered that, upon nearing the end of their life, the greater elites would enact a suicide spell on us. We managed to finish the first one off before it could do its thing, but on the second one we got distracted by the increasing number of flame-lizards going after levers. Our enemy detonated itself as a poison-bomb, and the vaporous death began filling the room. Healina quickly strengthened her wards and placed a few heal-over-time effects on us, while summoning up a few creatures that could handle poison before returning to her healing skills.

    Once we had figured all this out we quickly reestablished a battle pattern, focusing on the minions until the elites were almost dead and then burning them down before they could poison us. By the time the fight was over we felt as if we really should have won the dungeon on account of it.

    ¡°And now we face the boss? Really?¡± Lizzy groaned as the door to the last chamber unlocked.

    ¡°I''m not gonna say anything in case I jinx it.¡± I sighed as I made my way to the door, checking to see if any loot had dropped. ¡°Oh, nice, some charms and a couple skill tomes!¡±

    ¡°Nice!¡± Ari said as she looked too. ¡°Oh, perfect! But this other one should go to Heali; and maybe that third to Maryn...¡± she mused, looking them over.

    ¡°Hmm? ''Summoner Tome: Serpent Friend''... eek!¡± Healina read with a yelp.

    ¡°Calm down, calm down.¡± Lizzy said, patting her shoulder.

    ¡°What''s this?¡± Maryn wondered as I gave her the third. ¡°Oh, I see! Very nice!¡± she then said.

    ¡°Hmm?¡± Lizzy looked over at us.

    ¡°A shield skill of some sort, I guess.¡± I shrugged.

    ¡°This one''s ''Venomous Retaliation'',¡± Maryn grinned.

    ¡°Oh, perfect!¡± Lizzy said with a grin. ¡°Not that we dare hope it will work in here, but who knows.¡±

    ¡°Exactly.¡± Maryn nodded.

    ¡°Right... last door; we all ready?¡± I then said, looking around at them.

    ¡°Right with you, partner!¡± Ari told me.

    ¡°Let''s go!¡± Lizzy added, and the other two nodded. We turned to the door at the other end of the room, and entered it.

    ***

    A corridor that was maybe five meters long led into a large chamber not unlike the one we had just left, with an inner rampart that ran around the room. There were ten levers this time instead of eight, but no apertures from where a troublesome little lizard might emerge. And dead center in the room was a great serpent.

    It was bigger than even the two we had seen outside, and its status bar gave me to know that it was even deadlier.

    ¡°Five-hundred thousand health...¡± I murmured in disbelief as I looked it over.

    ¡°Bad elemental resistance though.¡± Ariana noted.

    ¡°But terrific physical resist,¡± I grimaced.

    ¡°That looks like a very strange cobra-python hybrid,¡± Maryn said as she looked it over. ¡°I''m sure it has poison-slash-venom attacks that are much stronger than all the others.¡±

    ¡°Probably has some mesmerize or hypnosis attacks as well.¡± Lizzy added.

    ¡°There''s got to be some sort of--¡± I started, and then looked around again; what were the levers tied to? ¡°Shadow Vision.¡± I intoned, looking again; the levers seemed to be tied to these huge spikes that could come out of the walls, the floor, or the ceiling.

    ¡°Lana?¡± Ari wondered.

    ¡°Oh, I get it,¡± I said as I snapped my fingers. ¡°These levers are here to help us for a change, I think. We can probably lure the boss to certain spots and then pull them to do massive damage to it.¡±

    ¡°Nice!¡±

    ¡°Well done!¡± Lizzy and Maryn said at once.

    ¡°That makes things a lot easier.¡± Healina smiled.

    ¡°Definitely!¡± Ari said, looking confidently towards our enemy.

    ¡°There could be some sort of special order for them as well; some games do that.¡± I said.

    ¡°Like they might get a bonus to their damage at certain points in the fight,¡± Lizzy nodded back.

    ¡°Yep.¡±

    ¡°We''ll have you and Ariana keep an eye out, but let''s try using them in a clockwise pattern from nine.¡± Maryn said, pointing to one of the spots..

    ¡°Will do!¡±

    ¡°You got it!¡± the two of us replied.

    ¡°We''re still good on potions and stuff; let''s hope we get this in one shot!¡± Healina said.

    ¡°Here we go!¡± I then said, and we made our way inside.

    As soon as the fight started, the boss--named Wyrdslither, by the way--let out a guttural hiss that was almost a roar. Maryn taunted it right away, and it focused its attacks on her while Healina kept her and us healed up, placing a few wards and buffs on us. Ariana added a few of hers, and while she and I stayed on the edges to deal some ranged damage Lizzy went with Maryn to attack it up close, as did Sallymander.

    Yeah, I know she''s an okay tank when it counts, but she really shines with heavy damage, I thought to myself as I saw that halberd going around like a possessed carnival ride. Maryn was no slouch with her sword, either. I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing a couple times when the boss'' head came towards her, only to be bashed in the face by that tower-shield. The thing would reel back dizzily, its eyes doing loops like the cartoons; but it would simply resume its attacks a moment later, keeping us on guard.

    Slowly we dragged it towards the first trap we intended to use. None of the spots had glowed or shown any other kind of sign that they were asking to be used, so we were operating under the assumption that it didn''t particularly matter. When we were near our first spot, I let loose one last arrow, Fanged Vengeance, and then took off for the lever on the upper level.

    ¡°Lana, now!¡± Lizzy''s voice called up as I reached it. I pulled it, and a series of huge spikes shot out from the wall and stabbed into the boss. It gurgled angrily and painfully, and we had the satisfaction of seeing its health dwindle by around twelve percent or so.

    ¡°Yes!¡± Ariana cheered, and then decided to join me on the platforms above.

    ¡°Probably safer, and we can get the levers quicker!¡± I said to her as she nodded back to me, heading for the other side.

    ¡°Exactly!¡± she replied with a wink.

    ¡°You''re on your own -- can''t quite reach you up there!¡± Healina called.

    ¡°We should be fine!¡± I returned as I let loose another arrow.

    ¡°Taking it to the ten-thirty!¡± Maryn said.

    ¡°Watch that one! The spikes were in the floor!¡± I warned them.

    ¡°Got it!¡± the reply came. Our friends on the ground masterfully moved Wyrdslither to the next spot; the lever for this one was still on my side. ¡°Ready!¡± Maryn called.

    ¡°Jump back!¡± I said as I pulled it, and as they did another bunch of great spikes came rushing up to knock about another ten-percent off of our enemy''s health.

    ¡°Yeep! That was close!¡± Maryn exclaimed with a laugh.

    ¡°Right?¡± Lizzy replied to her.

    ¡°Next!¡± our shield-user seemed to smile back, dragging Wyrdslither to the next spot.

    Daang it, you really do look happier here, I thought to myself as the fight continued. One by one, we continued using the spike-traps on the boss; when the levers were done on my side, Ari began to pull hers. A couple times we were slowed down a bit by this poisonous breath attack it used, and we found out that it could also use hypnosis if we weren''t paying attention, but other than that it was going great -- until we got to the last spot. Then it became untauntable like its friends outside, and it started heading straight for the one doing the most damage to it.

    If you guessed me, you guessed wrong. It was Ari. Elemental damage, remember?

    ¡°I can''t get it back!¡± Maryn called to her.

    ¡°Ari! Over here!¡± I said to her.

    ¡°But the lever!¡± she protested.

    ¡°I''ll worry about the lever, you bait it over here to where the trap is!¡± I said, as I ran over towards where she was, and she nodded, heading to where I had been.

    ¡°Watch out!¡± Healina called up to us; Wyrdslither was about to do a strike attack.

    Snap!! I thought to myself as it got into pouncing position.

    ¡°Hyah!¡± Maryn''s voice called out, and the tower-shield bashed our enemy in the face one last time, stopping the attack. ¡°Go!¡± she said to us. Ariana got into position; Wyrdslither eagerly made its way towards her, sliding on to the trap; I pulled the lever, and the last set of spikes silently thundered down from the ceiling.

    The last of its HP went down, and then the boss went ka-poof in a shower of shards. As we sighed in relief a key popped up in my inventory; it was a Skull-key.

    ¡°Well, go figure.¡± I quipped to myself.

    ¡°What''s next?¡± Lizzy asked as the six of us regrouped.

    ¡°The Skull Temple, it seems,¡± I said, showing them the key.

    ¡°Heh, backtracking a bit,¡± our halberdier sighed.

    ¡°Do we have time?¡± Maryn wondered.

    ¡°Ehh...¡± I wondered. It had taken a bit longer than we thought to get through this one, after all.

    ¡°I don''t really have any problem staying up later,¡± Lizzy shrugged, ¡°Neither does Heali, really; what about you three?¡±

    ¡°I mean, it''s not like we have to get off at ten real-time; it just seemed an appropriate cut-off.¡± I replied.

    ¡°We''ve gone later on weekends and still gotten up just fine; and we''ve been good about keeping up with real life stuff, too. I say we make eleven our new cut-off.¡± Ariana said, looking at me with a searching expression.

    ¡°I mean, that''s true... and Ty doesn''t seem to be the worse for staying up late here himself; sure, let''s go another real hour.¡± I agreed, and she smiled back, nodding at me.

    ¡°I can do that, too.¡± Maryn said. ¡°Let''s hurry on, then!¡± she added eagerly.

    ¡°Maybe we can get a third done tonight as well!¡± Healina said cheerfully.

    ¡°May-be!¡± Lizzy returned.

    ¡°Well then we''re gonna have to run again; remember what''s out there,¡± I reminded them as we gathered the rest of the loot we had won before heading out.

    ¡°Ugh. Right.¡± Healina said with a hint of disgust.

    ¡°Come on, hurry!¡± Ariana said as we made our way up a flight of stairs to exit the Serpent Temple and hasten on our way north to our next destination.

    ***

    Thanks to our first encounter, we made our way past the impossible-to-beat monster snakes still slithering around without attracting notice, and then scurried towards the Skull Temple. At least that place was straight-forward. As you might expect, there were skeletal monsters and a few more flesh-covered undead (gyeck!) lumbering about, along with some bats and crawling arms.

    ¡°Elite at the door!¡± Ariana called out as we got nearer.

    ¡°Ugh, wouldn''t you know it''s a lich...¡± I grumbled as I finished slashing a couple skeletons, bringing up the ID on the monster in question.

    ¡°Just poof and assassinate him already!¡± Lizzy retorted as she swung her halberd through a second group.

    ¡°Even I can''t one-shot that thing!¡± I complained.

    ¡°We don''t need a one-shot, just take him down as much as you can.¡± Maryn said calmly, bashing one of the walking-corpses with her shield.

    ¡°Lana, there''s more gathering!¡± Ari said to me.

    ¡°Heh?¡± I looked back; there were a couple weaker monsters gathering around the elite at the door.

    ¡°I''ll distract them for a moment,¡± Ari continued, ¡°But you should probably go now.¡± she said with a grin.

    ¡°Gotcha,¡± I nodded back, vanishing from sight as Ari cast a few spells at the minions.

    I can still *technically* do some major damage to this guy, but still, his resistances are weirdly high for a lich... I grumbled inwardly as I raced towards the elite. I queued up a couple of critical and damage boosters, and then struck with Holy Crescent Flash before darting away again. Just a third or so, huh?

    ¡°Good enough!¡± Lizzy said as she finished with another wave of skeletons and barreled towards the lich with a yell. She opened up with Thurian Stomp, dazing it and finishing off its minions, and then Maryn joined in as I returned to attack with Heart Stinger. Her shield-bash smacked it in the face just as my attack and another from Ari reached it, and then the reflective ward placed on us by Healina went off and did some more damage to it.

    ¡°Almost!¡± I said as I watched the bar drop to fifteen-percent.

    ¡°Again!¡± Maryn said, and the two of us struck with our weapons while Lizzy brought her halberd down on its head. It died with a groan of rage and a shower of pixels, leaving behind a ring for our troubles.

    ¡°Heh?¡± I said as I caught it, looking it over. ¡°Hm, hm... a summoner ring.¡± I remarked as I looked over its stats: +15 to Vitality, Wisdom, and Charisma and a skill to summon undead minions. I tossed it towards Healina, who caught it and inspected it for herself.

    ¡°Oh, nice!¡± she said with a smile, equipping it to a finger.

    ¡°Good thing we can wear more than a few rings in this game, unlike normal games.¡± Lizzy grinned as we made our way to the door.

    ¡°Right?¡± I agreed. ¡°Though I wonder if some items might cancel or hinder each other...¡±

    ¡°Ahh, good thought--we''ll have to watch what we equip from now on.¡± our smith nodded back to me.

    ¡°Hmm? Oh, our friend wandered off finally,¡± Healina suddenly noticed.

    ¡°Huh?¡± I wondered, looking back. Our Sallymander had gone. ¡°Ah... oh well. I''m sure we''ll run into something--¡±

    ¡°Oh, there he is!¡± Ariana then remarked; sure enough, that dog-like lizard came trotting towards me.

    ¡°H-heh?¡± I wondered, looking down at it as the creature gazed up at me. ¡°Whaddaya want, a reward? Stay and help us fight next time, then.¡± I huffed, ignoring the smiles of the other four. Sallymander licked his lips, and I shrugged. ¡°Come on, then.¡± I said as I unlocked the temple, and the six of us made our way inside.

    I was suddenly reminded of Molek as we walked inside; the dankness of the interior, the old moldy stones, the foreboding of undead monsters lurking around every corner, it made me wonder why I hadn''t experienced the feeling in the other temples.

    Suddenly it struck me that this place was very similar to the level in that game with the traitorous monk-turned-bloodmage. Eerily so, almost. I took a look around with Shadow Vision, and Ariana used her Mystic Vision as well. Both of us took a few moments to examine the place before reporting on what we saw.

    ¡°We can probably breeze through it if there''s no traps,¡± Ari remarked, looking over at me.

    You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

    ¡°I don''t think there are any,¡± I shook my head. Our lizard friend began scuttling on ahead for some reason; as I took a closer look with my skill once more I noticed he was chowing down on rodents.

    ¡°He''s... eating rats?¡± Ari said as she also took a look.

    ¡°Pretty much,¡± I nodded.

    ¡°We can probably leave him to it.¡± Lizzy shrugged. ¡°Might be helpful somehow; who knows, the rats might have a debuff or two.¡±

    ¡°Right... let''s get going, then.¡± I said, and we set off, weapons at the ready.

    The Skull Temple was almost a cathedral of sorts; unlike the other dungeons, it didn''t really have separate levels, it just had corridors and stairwells that kept leading down. We made our way through them at a good pace, slicing, bashing, whacking, incinerating, or otherwise busting through the undead monsters that got in our way. In addition to the kinds we had fought outside, there were also spectral ones, including marsh-ghouls and accursed-souls. A couple of times we ran into some skeletal pygmies, and there were more than a few elites lurking around at odd corners, but nothing we couldn''t handle.

    In this dungeon we also found several books, including a few skill books that we could use, Ari and Heali especially. We came across some resources as well, gathering them up and storing them away as we passed through the moldy corridors filled with the risen dead.

    ¡°Think we''ll ever get to the boss?¡± Lizzy quipped as we finished getting down another long staircase.

    ¡°It''s been about an hour and a half in Panarena time, hasn''t it?¡± Maryn wondered as we readied ourselves for whatever was waiting up ahead. ¡°At this rate extending your play-time may be for nothing!¡± she said to Ariana and myself.

    ¡°Foolish heroes,¡± a deep voice said before either of us could make a reply. ¡°Thou hast come here to mine own abode, seeking treasure and glory; yea, thou hast thy fair share and more, but thinkest thou that mine temple wouldst be so easily ransacked by such vagabonds as thou seemst to be?¡± it continued, and the area around us was suddenly lit up by nine braziers of green or blue fire. At the fair end of the now-illuminated room was a figure in black robes holding a black staff with a venomous-red gem at its top.

    ¡°The Skull Lord,¡± I read as I brought up his ID.

    ¡°Major magical and elemental resistance, but average on physical.¡± Maryn noted.

    ¡°Fairly average health, too, for a boss.¡± Lizzy said.

    ¡°Looks like Ari and Heali will be focusing mostly on support this time.¡± I said with a wry grin.

    ¡°No worries!¡± Ariana smiled back.

    ¡°I guess our pet will be helping us back here with the rats,¡± Healina remarked as she looked over towards Sallymander, who was obliviously eating them up.

    ¡°Dang it, that guy can eat,¡± I remarked with surprise.

    ¡°Dost thou ignore my words, O foolish ones?¡± our enemy taunted us.

    ¡°Ahh--right, him.¡± I then said, and with a nod the three of us who were attacking rushed him.

    As soon as we struck him we were knocked back, Lizzy and I more so than Maryn, who was only knocked back half the distance we were. She then activated a skill and rushed him again. This time the Skull Lord was staggered a bit, and he began casting spells to heal himself.

    ¡°Oh no you don''t!¡± Lizzy shouted, using her interrupt on him.

    ¡°Tch!¡± I grumbled to myself. ¡°We''ll have to watch for that, and we may have to keep an eye out for that one rude mechanic...¡±

    ¡°Right!¡± Lizzy nodded back.

    ¡°What''s that?¡± Maryn asked.

    ¡°Where they activate a skill that heals them if we attack,¡± I told her, and she frowned.

    ¡°You''re right, that is a rude mechanic,¡± she remarked.

    ¡°Come, my vermin, come and feast!¡± the Skull Lord said; nothing happened. We looked around at each other and laughed.

    ¡°Niiiice.¡± I remarked. The vermin--the rats--had been more or less wiped out by our hungry lizard. And they didn''t get reinforcements, it seemed.

    ¡°So beyond the self-heals it''s just a tank-and-spank.¡± Lizzy said, flashing a smile.

    ¡°And the knockbacks,¡± Maryn nodded.

    ¡°Time for round two!¡± I called out, and we rushed him again.

    It didn''t take us much longer to figure out that the knockback had an induction which couldn''t be interrupted, but we could avoid it by jumping back out of its range. As for his self heals, they were always obvious, but we couldn''t always interrupt him. Then Ariana figured out she could uses telekinesis on random objects and hurl them at the boss to interrupt him as well, which was a huge help.

    Basically, we thrashed him before a half hour of Panarena time had gone by; and then we ended up with the Jaguar-key. We claimed our loot, and headed on out of the Skull Temple to make our way east by southeast.

    ¡°Man, we really lucked out with Healina''s taming tonight,¡± Lizzy remarked as Sallymander waddled alongside us.

    ¡°Right?¡± Ari grinned.

    ¡°I don''t even want to think about what those rats might have done to us,¡± Maryn said with a look of amusement.

    ¡°I wonder how he''ll do against these cats?¡± Healina wondered as we approached the area where the Jaguar Temple sat.

    ¡°I wonder what the heck is in the final dungeon for this quest...¡± I suddenly thought out loud.

    ¡°It''s got to be something totally annoying at this rate.¡± our smith remarked. ¡°Oh, we got to fifty-three... or I did, anyway.¡±

    ¡°Same!¡± Healina returned, and Maryn nodded.

    ¡°Jumped up to it from fifty-one thanks to you guys.¡± she smiled.

    ¡°Now we''re pretty much together!¡± Ari smiled back.

    ¡°Let''s sort that out, then, before we go on,¡± I said, and when we had done this we resumed what was left of our trek to the fifth temple.

    ¡°W-wait... if this is the fifth, then that m-means the s-s-sixth...¡± Healina stammered as we got to the entrance, and the rest of us looked around at each other sheepishly.

    ¡°Don''t worry about it yet!¡± Lizzy patted her on the head. She let out a worried sigh, but nodded her head.

    All of a sudden I heard something practically galloping towards us. I looked around, and then my eyes alighted on a house-sized saber-toothed cat barreling towards us. Instinctively sensing that this was no different than the giant serpents around the temple to the west of us, I grabbed Ariana''s hand and began dashing for the door.

    ¡°Run! Run! Run!!¡± I cried out, and the rest of them began hurrying after me, Lizzy taking a peek back.

    ¡°Whoa!!¡± she practically yelped, and burst ahead of us to the door. ¡°Key! Key! Quick the key!¡± she chattered at me, and as soon as I got to the door I put the key in; a moment later we were transported inside, just as the monstrous-sized cat came skidding to a halt before us. We found ourselves in a hall build of standstone, with a subtly Ancient Egyptian style in architecture.

    ¡°Good grief!¡± Maryn remarked as we caught our breath.

    ¡°We''ve been spoiled by the Aldholt,¡± Lizzy grumbled. ¡°I guess we''ll have to watch for that sort of thing around dungeons from now on... yeesh.¡± she remarked, shaking her head. Our pet began wandering off again; this time I had no clue what it was after, and no real inclination to find out.

    ¡°So long as he''s doing his thing we can do ours,¡± I remarked as Ari and I activated our vision skills.

    The architectural motif we had noticed continued all throughout our current dungeon; it was uncannily similar to the ancient tombs a sea and a continent away in real life. Jaguar statues and wall-paintings were in many places about the dusty halls, and there were many prominent lines of Hoh''mateca symbols on pillars or intertwined with or underneath the paintings. When I thought about it, I found it weird that a cat from the Americas was motif''ed in an Egyptian-style temple, but then it is a fantasy game. Then again the other temples were more ¡°new world¡± in style... what was with this oddity?

    ¡°According to the lore, this is the most ancient of the six temples, built in a time before the marshes were marshes. The later temple builders had different materials, and they also had their own aesthetics, despite building their own temples in a similar fashion to this one. The keys and the doors were also crafted by them.¡± Ariana recounted as she scanned the passages of the temple.

    ¡°Heh...?¡± I remarked with interest. ¡°Then either they broke in to this one back then or the place was door-less until they made one.¡±

    ¡°Probably,¡± she nodded back.

    ¡°Why is fantastical history always more interesting than real history?¡± Lizzy quipped.

    ¡°I wouldn''t go too far with that assertion, but I see your point.¡± Healina returned.

    ¡°It''s probably because we don''t have tests for the fantasy-lore.¡± Maryn grinned.

    ¡°There you go!¡± Lizzy smiled, and we all laughed. ¡°Well, kiddos, what''s out there?¡± she then asked us.

    ¡°Statues, writing, and cats.¡± Ari replied.

    ¡°I feel like some of those statues could possibly come to life as we go by,¡± I added, and Ari nodded in agreement.

    ¡°True, they do look suspicious.¡±

    ¡°Not that I hate cats or anything, but they are very sneaky critters.¡± I added, and she giggled.

    ¡°How many cats are we talking?¡± Lizzy asked then.

    ¡°Ehh...¡± I pondered, looking around again to be more certain.

    ¡°With the statues? I''d say it''s mostly elites or champions; not many minions around. We should get through at a good pace and have time to puzzle out the boss at the end.¡± Ariana said.

    ¡°What she said.¡± I nodded.

    ¡°No traps?¡± Maryn wonderd.

    ¡°Not that I can see.¡±

    ¡°Since it''s the oldest temple, let''s be cautious just in case.¡± she suggested, and we agreed to this.

    ¡°Let''s get going,¡± I said, and we headed on down into the Jaguar Temple. It was as we did so that I realized I hadn''t seen our little friend scurrying around, and Ari hadn''t seemed to have noticed him either with her skill; where had he gotten to, and what was he up to?

    Well, no immediate answer of any sort came to that question as we proceeded quietly through the halls. Moreso than the others, this temple had an overpowering silence to it; only Maryn and Elizasmith really made any sort of sound, and that was because of their heavier armor. Not even a breeze wafted through the corridors, although a couple times there were these really mysterious and intangible whispers that flitted by.

    We stepped cautiously, anxiously looking around in the dimly-lit temple for any sign that enemies were lurking or preparing to pounce. I realized after a long few minutes that I couldn''t even detect the sound of Sallymander padding around. I made a motion to Ari, wondering if she should hear our lizard ally; she shook her head.

    I guess if she and Healina can''t hear that thing, he''s either dead or really far along... I thought to myself as we slowly rounded a corner, myself as the vanguard, bow drawn and arrow nocked.

    There were cat statues lining the walls. I don''t mean the cutesy kind, or even the ones that are ceremonial in some way or even the more austere or abstract kind. I mean fierce looking. As if they could suddenly come to life and impale you with their weapon or rip your face off with a hefty paw. Most of them did resemble jaguars, but a couple of them were definitely tigerish. These last two were the most suspicious to me. As the rest of the gang came around the corner to follow me, I pointed them out. Maryn nodded, drawing her sword and readying her shield.

    ¡°Best keep an eye on the middle ranks as well, and the ones on this side; they may turn as we pass through.¡± she said as she advanced down the hall, and I nodded back. Lizzy took out her halberd, readying it for a Thurian Stomp if needed. I went with our two mages in the middle, ready to fire a shot at the first sign of trouble.

    We were almost through the hall; none of the cat-statues had moved yet, but that didn''t mean they wouldn''t. Something tickled my memory. Why did this feel familiar? Was it a mechanic from another game, or some sort of trope that I had seen in a movie or--

    ¡°A television show...¡± I said as I stared at the magnificent trident-wielding jaguar on my left.

    ¡°Hmm?¡± Ariana wondered.

    ¡°Wasn''t there some show where statue-monsters couldn''t move so long as you looked at them?¡± I softly asked.

    ¡°Was there something like that?¡± Lizzy remarked.

    ¡°I think so -- some old English thing, wasn''t it?¡± Healina said.

    ¡°That sounds familiar now,¡± I nodded back.

    ¡°But then--before, when we couldn''t see them...¡± Lizzy rightly pointed out, and we thought about it for a moment more.

    ¡°Maybe it''s a bit different here,¡± Heali suggested. ¡°Lana, Ari, you two are probably the best suited for this; can the two of you walk backwards as we go through this corridor and watch them? I think the mechanic might only work in this hallway.¡±

    ¡°And if we get through it without goofing up they won''t do anything,¡± I returned, and she nodded back.

    ¡°And if we do goof up our high damage will give the rest of you time to flip around and help,¡± Ariana added. ¡°Nice thinking, Heali!¡±

    ¡°Only if it works!¡± our Sea Elf smiled back.

    Ari and I then maneuvered to the rear, keeping our eyes on the statues around us. We then began walking backwards as the others continued on ahead of us. This time I could almost feel a menace from the statues. I was suddenly reminded that cats were sometimes notorious for not blinking for long periods of time. That''s a random thought to have right now, but it also kind of makes sense, I mused to myself.

    ¡°I wonder if this particular mechanic is a ''theme'' of the dungeon here,¡± I said as I kept my eyes on our targets, ensuring they didn''t come after us.

    ¡°Could be,¡± Maryn agreed. ¡°It''d be the first time I''ve heard of something like this in a game, though.¡±

    ¡°It''s usually reversed, more or less; stay out of something''s vision or it''ll pounce.¡± Lizzy noted.

    ¡°True,¡± I returned. ¡°There could be something like that further along as well.¡±

    ¡°Lovely,¡± the flat reply came.

    ¡°I didn''t make the game.¡± I retorted, a wry smile on my face, and Ari smirked.

    ¡°We''re almost to the turn.¡± Maryn told us.

    Another few anxious moments passed us by, and then Ariana and I carefully slipped around the corner in a way that kept our focus on the statues until we sidestepped into the new corridor, where we breathed sighs of relief after a moment had gone by. Just to be sure I used Shadow Vision; the statues had not moved.

    ¡°So we know that works in certain areas,¡± I said with a grin.

    ¡°Maybe we can even get past the boss this way, so long as there aren''t any moon-tiles around.¡± Lizzy said with a mischievous smile.

    ¡°Like you would have done better, thunderfoot.¡± I said to her with a mock glare.

    ¡°Ruuuude!¡± she returned, sticking her tongue out.

    ¡°Who opens nearly every fight with Thurian Stomp?¡± I shot back with a smirk.

    ¡°G''hyek!¡± our smith gulped sheepishly as Healina giggled.

    ¡°Now now, children, let''s get along.¡± Maryn smiled gently, nodding for me to take the lead again. I gave Lizzy a pat on the shoulder and she smiled at me, shaking her head.

    The quiet of the temple had been ominous before; now it became eerie. Instead of the mumbling whispers that had slithered by, there were now deep-throated groans or rumbles that seemed to reverberate from below. Or were they growls? Given that this is the Jaguar Temple, they could be growls...

    ¡°Ahh--¡± I suddenly stopped, looking around at the room the corridor had emptied into. The others had similar reactions. Before us was a literal army of great cat statues, and on the far end of the room there was a massive one in the likeness of a jaguar with a crown upon its head, seated upon a throne. It was situated at the top of a flight of steps that led up to its exalted dais.

    ¡°How do we get past all these...?¡± Maryn wondered blankly.

    ¡°And how are we supposed to fight that?¡± Lizzy remarked. ¡°I bet it''s another kill-all boss like that one outside; but I don''t see any spikes for him!¡±

    I looked around, examining the room more closely this time. No doubt I had missed something important with my first hasty glance and reaction. Ariana searched around with Mystic Vision, carefully scrutinizing the place.

    ¡°It''d be really handy if we could combine your Shadow Vision with my Seeing Eye,¡± she remarked as she scanned the room.

    ¡°That might be a little too overpowered for the developers'' liking.¡± I shrugged, and then I alighted on something. ¡°Cats... open eyes... shadows... light...¡± I mused aloud to myself, looking around. Ari looked over at me, and then began seeing what I had noticed.

    ¡°Back in the hall!¡± she said at once, and we jumped back just as a beam of light scanned the place we had been. I looked around quickly; above the throne there was a floating cat-head of stone with glowing eyes, slowly moving around the room as it looked for intruders.

    ¡°Nice catch,¡± I said to Ariana.

    ¡°Only because you were close to solving it,¡± she smiled back.

    ¡°Maybe.¡± I shrugged. ¡°Oh, I get it... is there more than one of those out there?¡± I suddenly wondered, and she activated her Mystic Vision-Seeing Eye combo to look again.

    ¡°Hmm... there''s three.¡± she reported as we watched with her.

    ¡°Tricky.¡± Lizzy remarked.

    ¡°There should be a pattern to their scanning the room,¡± Maryn noted. ¡°And maybe some are looking around faster than the others.¡±

    ¡°The one around the throne nearly reached us about thirty seconds or so after we got in, and the other two... hmm.¡± I said as I kept an eye on them.

    ¡°That first one is making a full rotation every minute,¡± Healina nodded after we observed them for a while longer. ¡°The other two--that one on the back-left is swiveling every fifteen seconds or so I think, and the one on the back-right looks more random...¡±

    ¡°Isn''t it making like a figure-eight search pattern?¡± Lizzy scratched her head.

    ¡°Sort of?¡± Heali replied, looking at it more thoughtfully.

    ¡°That was three loops, like a clover... or the rough outline of a jaguar''s face.¡± Maryn said after another examination. ¡°Each loop is about twenty-five seconds.¡±

    ¡°Ugh.¡± Lizzy sighed.

    ¡°Still, we can do this if we time it right.¡± Ariana said.

    ¡°Only Lana could get through that fast enough though,¡± Healina remarked. ¡°They''re set so that slow players like the rest of us would get caught.¡±

    ¡°Maybe this time claiming the treasure without getting caught will keep them asleep,¡± Ariana said with a hopeful smile on her face.

    ¡°That''d be nice,¡± the other girl agreed.

    ¡°Or maybe there''s something to stop those cat-heads up there as well,¡± Maryn remarked.

    ¡°Heh, I''ll hope for one of those two options.¡± our smith agreed.

    ¡°On to you then, Lana.¡± Ariana told me.

    ¡°Here we go again,¡± I said, steeling myself to make a dash for it and observing the patterns closely. ¡°I bet those lights nullify stealth as well; looks like I''m going to use that skill again.¡± I added with a faint smile and a wink to Ari, who gave me an uneasy smile.

    ¡°Y-you have fun with that!¡± she giggled back nervously.

    ¡°Hmm? Oh.¡± Lizzy grinned. We had told her and Heali about our escapade with the ladder in the Hallowed Pagoda, and she had cackled and cackled, much to Ari''s dismay.

    ¡°Wait!¡± Ari then said, putting a hand on my shoulder. ¡°The paw; the king''s paw. It''s empty.

    ¡°Hmm? Oh! It does look like its hand is supposed to be holding something, doesn''t it?¡± I noticed as her words caught my attention. ¡°I wonder if there''s--¡± I pondered for a moment, and then my eyes alighted on something else. ¡°Sallymander!¡± I said with surprise; there was our crazy and helpful little pal, carrying a scepter in its mouth as it waddled without fear towards our position.

    ¡°How is he not getting caught by the lights? Oh, I get it... the pets-don''t-count rule.¡± Lizzy said. ¡°Hmph -- no fair!¡±

    ¡°Considering how things are generally different in this VR game compared to older ones, I have to agree... that seems bugged.¡± I mused as our little pal reached us. ¡°But right now let''s just get the quest done before it''s noticed!¡± I then said, taking the scepter from our pet and once more readying myself for a sprint.

    ¡°The trick is that it''s possible the lights could hit you at two crucial moments; once at the bottom of the stairs, and once right next to the king on his throne,¡± Maryn said; she must have been watching Ari''s projection this whole time, making sure our plan would work.

    ¡°Any good hints on when to go?¡± I asked, making sure of my route as I crouched into a springing position to take off. Maryn watched for a moment more.

    ¡°Go between the two closer divisions on the left, then around the far-left division, and then sprint for then up the stairs to the king...¡± she advised me. I nodded back. ¡°Now!¡± she said, and I took off like a rocket.

    I was just barely missed as I got to my first checkpoint, but I kept cool and sprinted along between the rows of silent cat statues, then made a hard left to circle around the next group to the right, narrowly avoiding a beam again. When I got to the far side I quickly aligned myself for a straight shot to the stairs and ran even faster this time. I could see the eyes of the back-right and the throne guardians heading for my current position. I shut them out and focused on running; just as I dashed up the stairs I was narrowly missed for a third time, and then I practically flew up the stairs and did a front-flip to gain the last few steps before quickly sliding the scepter into the outstretched hand of the jaguar king.

    A moment passed by; the eyes of the three guardians dimmed and shut as they rotated into a final position, each of them gazing towards the center. I let out a sigh of relief, and then the sixth key appeared for me to claim.

    ¡°Ah-heh... oh boy...¡± I said with a sheepish grin as I looked over the spider-key. The others came over to me without incident, including our salamander, and Healina gulped when she saw the key in my hand.

    ¡°Come to think of it, how the heck did this crazy pet know how and where to get that scepter?¡± Lizzy suddenly wondered.

    ¡°He''s gotta be bugged or something.¡± I said as I patted its head. ¡°I changed my mind; let''s not report him--for now.¡±

    ¡°I guess the taming effect will wear off tomorrow,¡± Healina said with a faint smile. ¡°We''ll have to find a safe spot to get off for the night.¡±

    ¡°Let''s head back to our little hideaway for that,¡± Lizzy said.

    ¡°Good idea,¡± I agreed.

    ¡°Seconded!¡± Ariana nodded.

    ¡°Third!¡± Maryn smiled.

    ¡°Let''s do!¡± Heali agreed as well, and, after finding a chest with some loot in it, we departed the Jaguar Temple and returned to our abandoned manor on the hill, where we said good-bye to Sallymander and logged out for the night.

    The last thing that ran through my head before I fell asleep was an echo of Ellie/Lizzy''s words only a few moments ago; where and how did that glitched critter find the scepter?

 Chapter Sixteen: Spider Queen/The Necropolis

    Morning started off a little slowly for me, but I quickly adapted myself and got on with it enough so that I wasn''t too off from my normal routine. As I got on the bus later I could see that Ty was more than a little groggy himself. I suddenly wondered what the Mountain Tigers were up to, and if they had gone elsewhere like us. Which would be a little more difficult to coordinate on their end because they were a larger guild; or maybe they''d already been planning out their future leveling like we had since before the Garth incident and had since resumed such plans since its ending.

    ¡°Ain''t a word about you guys on the forums the past couple of days.¡± he said as the bus set off on its route.

    ¡°We haven''t died yet, at least.¡± I shrugged.

    ¡°Now that''d be news.¡± he said with a thoughtful look. ¡°Still slugging through that one place, huh?¡±

    ¡°More or less; we bugged a salamander but I guess it went back to normal now.¡±

    ¡°Da hell?¡±

    ¡°The thing kept following us and helping us with our quests.¡±

    ¡°Huh.¡± he returned, shaking his head.

    ¡°What about you guys?¡± I wondered.

    ¡°Wild''s got us goin'' two different places; Heimgar and the Southern Plains; he figures he''d rather wait around for y''all to get through the Marshes first and then try sending people that way.¡±

    ¡°Heimgar doesn''t seem too big; you might end up in the Wastes soon enough.¡± I remarked.

    ¡°True that.¡± Ty said. ¡°Mongrel and a couple others already got there last night; damn college kids and their easy schedules.¡± he shook his head again, and I smiled.

    ¡°Nice.¡±

    ¡°Everyone else is doin'' the same thing we are; you guys are probably the only guild out there in the Marshes on the fifty side of it.¡±

    ¡°Hmm... weird.¡±

    ¡°Yo, everyone else either hates that place or feels like there isn''t enough info to deal with it.¡±

    ¡°I guess that''s true,¡± I nodded. Our conversation drifted off as we fell back into a semi-conscious state for the duration of the bus ride, briefly picking up as it always did once we arrived at school. I received the usual flick, and then we parted ways. Yes, a ¡°flick¡± is a conversation for us.

    Rachel was at the lockers early again this time around; she smiled and gave me a hug, and then I went through my own locker to sort things out for the morning.

    ¡°Things okay on your end?¡± I wondered.

    ¡°Fairly,¡± she returned. ¡°Andrea''s parents are sorting out some details with my mother. Like rent and stuff.¡±

    ¡°That sounds encouraging.¡± I replied.

    ¡°It is,¡± she smiled back. We finished getting our books out, and then she looked at me with an even brighter smile.

    I can never get tired of that, I thought to myself again as I always did when I saw that look on her face.

    ¡°Let''s get through high school together, and then pick a university, and then...¡± she said quietly, trailing off as her cheeks reddened, still smiling.

    ¡°A home like Cloverbell? A place to--to get married?¡± I softly returned, and she nodded back as we headed in for class. I was so doped up from that conversation I barely remember anything that happened for the rest of the morning until lunch, when our little party of five met again around our two desks to eat and chat.

    ¡°So we still haven''t really found a flame-charm or anything like that, but I guess that whatever''s in the Spider Temple or the Necropolis should either be it or be related to it.¡± Mary said as we settled in. Just outside the door I could see one of her usual friends making a sour face before heading off elsewhere.

    ¡°Hopefully option one,¡± Andrea remarked. ¡°Uggh, I can''t get myself prepared for this place...¡± she lamented with a sigh.

    ¡°We''ll figure something out.¡± Ellie shrugged.

    ¡°We still have antivenom and stuff, right?¡± Rachel asked.

    ¡°Almost too much, really,¡± Andrea recalled.

    ¡°Better than none.¡± Mary said. ¡°This should be a good chance for me to build up some more of my resistances as well,¡± she added, thinking more about it.

    ¡°How high a resistance can you get?¡± I wondered.

    ¡°Cymbroga have a plus twenty-five all-resistance to start with, same for the Gaels, I think,¡± she said, and I nodded, ¡°But I''ve brought most of them up to at least fifty-percent through various quests and outside-skill training that still feeds into the system.¡±

    ¡°Outside-skill training?¡± Andrea wondered.

    ¡°There''s ways to improve your character''s resistances or physicality outside of skills and stats in this VR world,¡± I told her. ¡°One is to be good at things in real life, like swimming or running, or something along those lines--that''s the physicality of it; another is to subject yourself to dangerous elements in-game on purpose so that it builds up immunity to certain things, the resistances.¡± I explained, and Mary nodded. ¡°That''s pretty deep from someone who hasn''t played many games,¡± I said to her.

    ¡°I discovered it by accident.¡± she shrugged.

    ¡°Niiice.¡± Ellie nodded. ¡°And the way you set up your stats probably fed right in to doing that sort of thing.¡±

    ¡°Exactly.¡± Mary smiled back.

    ¡°Wow,¡± Andrea remarked.

    ¡°I mean, the three of us could do it too,¡± I shrugged, ¡°It''d just be more dangerous since we''re not as high into Vitality as Ellie or Mary are.¡±

    ¡°And I''m going to focus more in Strength and Dexterity from now on since Mary''s with us.¡± Ellie said.

    ¡°You can be the barbarian of the group, then!¡± Andrea teased her, and we laughed.

    ¡°There''s a dig somewhere in there, I know there is.¡± Ellie returned with a snarky grin. A moment or two passed by as we ate, and then Andrea broke the silence.

    ¡°Think things will pick up once we finally get this first charm?¡±

    ¡°I hope so,¡± I replied. ¡°And our play-time quietly being extended should help also.¡± I added, and the others nodded. We focused our attention on lunch for a few moments, and then the silence was broken again.

    ¡°Hope you''re all on top of assignments, by the way.¡± Mary said with a faint grin.

    ¡°Of course!¡± Andrea and Rachel said at nearly the same time.

    ¡°I''m doing okay-ish.¡± Ellie shrugged.

    ¡°S-same.¡± I lamely replied. Rachel gently flicked me.

    ¡°You''re doing good. Don''t sell yourself short.¡± she told me as I gave her a mock-grumpy face; Mary affected a wider grin as she watched us.

    ¡°Keep at it.¡± the older girl said to all of us.

    ¡°Hmm... but even I''m dreading the midterms, you know?¡± Andrea remarked, her face a touch scrunched up.

    ¡°Yeah, the mids always suck. Remember that!¡± Ellie nodded in agreement, directing the last words to Rachel and me.

    ¡°Ellie, don''t scare them.¡± Mary scolded the other girl.

    ¡°What''re you barking at me for? Andi started it!¡± the blonde girl rightly pointed out.

    ¡°Hey!¡± Andrea returned, softly smacking Ellie''s arm.

    ¡°Hm, that''s true...¡± Mary acknowledged; Ellie and Andrea both stuck their tongues out at each other. ¡°Hah, you two...¡± the older girl gently smiled.

    ¡°What the heck kind of lunch group have I gotten myself into...¡± I murmured quietly.

    ¡°The fun kind?¡± Rachel whispered back, grinning over at me. I couldn''t help but grin back.

    ¡°Maybe so.¡± I shrugged.

    ***

    Lunch, and afternoon classes, passed by like a breeze, as did the trip home. Homework, chores, and dinner then took their sweet time, after which I was finally released for the evening to do what I wanted to do. If you guessed extra studying for classes, you guessed wrong. I slipped on the Dream Machine, and returned to Panarena as soon as I could.

    Not a moment after I logged back in, I saw a salamander waiting outside the house we were occupying. As Ariana logged in a few seconds after I did, I suddenly realized it was the same from last night--it was Sallymander.

    ¡°What... the...¡± I wondered out loud, and Ari came over to the window with me so she could look as well.

    ¡°Huh?¡± she remarked in a nonplussed tone. ¡°Shouldn''t he have reset by now?¡±

    ¡°I thought he would have done that ages ago.¡± I replied, and then I started. ¡°He''s been here four whole days waiting for us to get back?!¡± I exclaimed as I suddenly remembered the time difference, and Ari affected a look of surprise as well.

    ¡°Woww...¡± she said with an impressed tone. The other three then logged at almost at the same time.

    ¡°What are you looking at?¡± Lizzy asked us as she went over to the other window. ¡°Ehhh?! Heali, your buddy''s still here!¡± she said to our Sea Elf healer, who looked quite surprised.

    ¡°He should be gone by now! Oh wait, I upgraded my taming skills after the Garth-Queens War but never really tested them...¡± she commented, opening up her skills panel to review them.

    Huh? So he might not be bugged, it''s just that Heali did something to her skills and forgot about it? I wondered to myself.

    ¡°Oh, I see; ''Nature''s Friend: creatures you tame will remain with you for one real week of time''. That''s kind of nice!¡± she said with a smile. ¡°And ''Companion''s Insight: your tame creature will intuit certain quest objectives and go to complete them for you depending on the quest''.¡±

    ¡°That still doesn''t explain how he evaded the light beams, unless tamed pets really are immune to landscape or dungeon mechanics.¡± I said.

    ¡°Possibly,¡± Ellie nodded.

    ¡°Well that should see us through the Marshes of the Wyrd, anyway. I doubt we''ll be here all week -- I hope.¡± Maryn remarked.

    ¡°Still Wednesday for now, huh?¡± I mused. ¡°That gives him to us until next Tuesday or so. We could be out of here by Saturday, depending on how tonight goes.¡±

    ¡°L-let''s get that Spider Temple over with...¡± Healina said reluctantly. The rest of us nodded back, and we set off westwards to conquer our next clear objective.

    The Spider Temple was the westernmost of the six, and beyond it in the distance we could see the silhouette of the Necropolis through the haze of the Fire Swamp. As to the building itself, it seemed somehow the most decrepit of the six--or maybe that was just the feeling we got from all the spiderwebs in the area. We walked along the worn path that might have once been splendid and regal, but was now dilapidated and overgrown, or sunk into the ground.

    Upon passing through what looked like an old gate, Healina immediately tensed up. We all knew the reason why. Sitting on the side of the building, just above the door we needed to go inside, was a great black spider with venomous red markings on its over-sized body. Now, I''m usually most afraid of bees; but spiders, they''re pretty creepy. And this thing was creepy as creepy could get. We could see it clicking its mandibles, as if daring us to come closer. I could see Healina literally shivering out of the corner of my eye. Ariana took her hand, and our healer looked over at her, gulping.

    ¡°N-no w-way... th-there''s n-n-no w-way...¡± she stammered out. Maryn remained on her guard, looking back at us.

    ¡°We''ve gotten this far, we can get through this somehow or another.¡± Lizzy remarked.

    ¡°Lana, Lizzy,¡± Maryn then said to us, ¡°Do you think this thing is the same as those other mechanics we faced? An unbeatable monster we have to avoid before getting inside?¡±

    ¡°That would make sense,¡± I agreed.

    ¡°Certainly fits the theme we''ve run into so far.¡± Lizzy nodded.

    ¡°Then maybe we can avoid it, somehow, and get inside.¡± Maryn said. Healina squeaked nervously.

    ¡°I-i-i-is that r-r-really...?¡± she wondered anxiously. I looked back sympathetically, and then looked around. It was night time right now in Panarena, and there was a patch of clouds lumbering slowly towards the moon, the only natural light in the sky at the moment.

    ¡°Shadow skills work best in complete darkness, especially against monsters.¡± I then said. ¡°When those clouds hide the moon, I''m going to activate Shadow Sharing; we might have ten seconds or so to get inside before the moon comes out again. Ari, Lizzy, help Heali move forward; we can''t afford to get stuck out here with that thing.¡± I said, and the two girls nodded.

    ¡°I''ll just do this,¡± Ariana said, and with a few quick commands she impaired Healina''s senses the way she impaired mine in the Vale of Stingers.

    ¡°The clouds are reaching the moon now.¡± Maryn told us.

    ¡°Shadow Sharing.¡± I said, and the five of us were then obscured.

    We dashed ahead for the door; the creature atop the entrance twitched, but made no sign that it had seen us. The ten seconds both crawled along and sped by like the wind. I heard a sound above us; it was probably the colossal fiend of an arachnid, but I paid it no mind, getting the key ready for use. Just as we got under the doorway the moon came back out again; I touched the key to the door, and the five of us were let in just as the guardian spider began picking up on us. Ariana restored Heali''s senses, and the Sea Elf recovered herself and her wits before we moved on.

    Well, the inside of this place was pretty much what you''d expect. Moldy corridors covered in spiderwebs and smelling of other filth that had accumulated over the years. I used to wonder what these kind of dungeons would smell like when I played more analog games like AOH and Molek; I wished at this moment that I could tell my slightly younger and more curious self that it was more awful than he could imagine.

    We fought out way through waves of smaller spiders, terrier-sized ones mostly, and a few that were larger than our pet Sallymander. The only real traps were the webs, and Ari''s magic could cut through the worst of that when our weapons failed us. A silence more stifling than our previous dungeon permeated the ancient and desecrated halls, broken only by the fiendish chittering of the arachnid denizens. It felt as if we wandered around in circles for hours and hours, but when I checked for the time it had only been one and a half since entering the place. That meant two Panarena-hours since we had actually logged in.

    Which means we have twelve left; practically a whole day... man, that''s weird. Come to think of it, spending even eight hours was more or less a day, to say nothing of our Saturdays when we stay in here for at least two game-days... but it really is strange to spend a whole day doing school and stuff and then a whole day fighting in dungeons in this virtual otherworld, I mused to myself as I cut through another series of webs. One of my daggers then his something hard.

    ¡°Ahh--¡± I stopped, backing up. ¡°Ari, you''re up.¡± I said to my mage partner, who nodded and did away with the rest of the webs with a spell before summoning up a light to help us examine things better. We were left facing a large door with a remarkably polished and jewelled arachnid design in its center.

    ¡°Eek!¡± our healer squeaked.

    ¡°Hehh, that''s kind of neat...¡± Lizzy remarked. ¡°I wonder if I could get those gems...¡±

    ¡°There''s no keyholes or handles or anything,¡± Ariana reported.

    ¡°Dang it,¡± I sighed, and then Lizzy''s words repeated in my head. ¡°Ahh--! Say, Lizzy,¡± I turned to her, and she looked back at me, ¡°Do you remember that temple in Kemet?¡±

    ¡°Hmm? Oh, that temple?¡± she returned, immediately catching on. ¡°Where you had to figure out how to place the gems in the right order to get to the boss... waaaiiit a minute...¡± she started as she looked back to the door. ¡°So this one''s the same, huh? We''re already at the boss chamber, then.¡±

    ¡°But I don''t remember looting any gems,¡± I said with a shrug.

    ¡°But we have looted a few gems in the other temples,¡± Ariana reminded me.

    ¡°Oh, that''s right! Wh--huh?!¡± I looked back with a flabbergasted expression. ¡°Daang it, that''s way more complicated than I would have guessed...¡±

    ¡°Right?¡± Lizzy sighed in agreement. ¡°Anyway, bring ''em out! Should be five unique or special gems or stones in our inventories.¡± she said, and we rummaged through these for a few moments before producing two jet stones, one onyx, a ruby, and a fire-gem. Each of them had a Hoh''mateca glyph on them, and we let Ariana and Healina examine them closely.

    ¡°Oh, I s-see,¡± Healina remarked after a few moments. ¡°The n-n-name of the s-spider-god, w-which I guess is the m-most important...¡± she told us.

    The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

    ¡°Oh! I getcha.¡± Ariana nodded at once. She took the other stones from Healina, and went up to the door. ¡°Hoh... nix... tlusu... gyg... merix!¡± she recited, placing the gems in order from left to right above the arachnid design. The stones and gems shone with a wicked light for a moment, and then the door began to roll into the ground.

    ¡°I h-hate b-b-being r-right!¡± Heali gulped. We advanced cautiously into the room before us.

    There were no minions, no extra doors, no traps, no aids or hindrances of any kind that we could see. It was a vast, open chamber, webbed of course in various places, and at the far end was a spider even larger than the one atop the door outside. Here Healina froze, and started going into a panic.

    Oh boy. If she panics too much the Dream Machine might kick her out... which would be okay for her, I guess... but bad for us if this is a fight... I thought to myself. But then Lizzy wrapped the other girl in her arms, pressing her close and covering her head.

    ¡°We''ll be okay.¡± she said softly; we could see Healina''s head nod, but her body trembled.

    ¡°Mortalsss...¡± a voice hissed to us. It was the great spider.

    ¡°Maryn, Ari,¡± I said, and the three of us advanced. Is this a talking scene instead of a fighting scene? Because that''d be preferable right now; a bit weird, but preferable, I thought.

    ¡°You have come a long waysss to find usss; ssspeak, and name your desiresss.¡± it said.

    ¡°We wish to advance to the Necropolis west of here to investigate the flames,¡± I said to the creature before us.

    ¡°Sssss... yesss, the flamesss... they encroach upon usss... the dead onesss sssummon it; we do not desssire their... sssupremacy in these landsss... Mortalsss; you have ssslain many to reach me, but... ssss... it isss as naught; more will alwaysss be born to me... hassst I your word you will ssstop the dead and leave usss in peace?¡±

    ¡°If that is your wish, we will do so.¡± I replied.

    ¡°It isss good enough... take you thisss... it isss the key to the Necropolissss... find the Tecuhtlimictlan, and end hisss terrorsss... sss!¡± the massive arachnid hissed at us, and an item appeared for me to accept.

    Key to the Royal Necropolis.

    I accepted the item, and a portal appeared to let us out of the dungeon. Feeling a certain amount of... well, reverence, for this matriarch of the temple, I bowed, as did Maryn and Ari, and we made our way to the portal. Lizzy and Healina were almost there themselves, the halberdier leading our healer towards it the moment it appeared. It goes without saying that our pet was with them.

    ¡°Let''s get out, quick!¡± the blonde girl said, and we went through the portal to find ourselves not very far from the Necropolis itself.

    As soon as we were out of there, Healina sat upon the ground and began taking deep breaths. We sat with her, taking a group breather for her sake. Ariana and I gazed together at the Necropolis as the older girls tended to Healina herself.

    ¡°It''s like... something out of a nightmare,¡± Ari remarked.

    ¡°I know what you mean.¡± I agreed.

    ¡°You think the place where the flame charm is will be the same?¡±

    ¡°Probably; oh! I see a wayport over there; we should get that.¡±

    ¡°Oh nice! Yes, it would be good to go back to Berrydell for a bit and visit the vendors,¡± Ari agreed.

    ¡°Yeah, we''ve got a lot of junk and a lot of crafting stuff; and our waggon is back there, after all.¡± I sighed.

    ¡°True.¡± she nodded. She then looked back at the other three. I looked as well; Heali seemed calmer now, and more embarrassed than upset.

    ¡°One of these days I''m going to have to pay you back somehow.¡± Healina remarked to Lizzy, who laughed.

    ¡°Don''t worry about it!¡± the other girl replied.

    ¡°I''m going to worry about it, you know me!¡±

    ¡°Ugghh, come on, you''re better it seems.¡± Lizzy quipped, standing to her feet and helping the other girls up.

    ¡°Thanks!¡± Maryn said.

    ¡°We''d better get up too,¡± I said, springing to my feet and helping Ari up. She smiled at me, and the five of us made our way to the wayport first before continuing on to the Necropolis looming before us.

    As we approached our destination, the heat and humidity of the region grew stronger. There were some reptilian and undead monsters lurking around the path which we had to deal with, some of them elites, and one of which was a mini-boss that jumped out of the shadows as we got near to the courtyard before the massive entrance of the Necropolis. He was an unpleasant surprise that took nearly twenty minutes to deal with, but we managed. After that we took a break for a few moments to take in our surroundings.

    The ancient and weathered courtyard looked like something out of an old National Geographic magazine on Andean or Yucatan ruins. Rusted or withering weapons could yet be seen leaning against stone shops overgrown with foliage from the Fire Swamp, including a moss that Healina identified as Solmoss, a special ingredient she decided to experiment with later. Skeletons of various sorts in various positions were all around us. Some seemed like they were guards, others merchants, still more had most likely been commoners or peasants, maybe even slaves, and a few seemed as if they had been either priestly or royal.

    Across from the spot we had entered, which was a huge gate that was cracked and falling into ruin, a wide set of stairs set off at a moderately steep angle towards an open-air floor surrounded by intricately carved columns. The roof of this building, undoubtedly the Necropolis, went up towards the sky in incrementally smaller modules, culminating in a capstone shaped in the likeness of a skull. But I was pretty sure the roof was just for show -- since it was a necropolis, we would probably find something going down when we got up the stairs. Or maybe this was just an elaborate and showy ¡°gate¡± to the actual necropolis itself.

    ¡°Haven''t seen something like this since I played Kingdoms of Heaven,¡± I remarked with a tone of awe.

    ¡°Isn''t that the mystical and martial arts MMO from that one Japanese-Korean company?¡± Lizzy wondered.

    ¡°Yeah, it is.¡± I nodded. ¡°Heh, that one was sooo much fun; I skipped out on a few AoH tournaments to explore that one.¡± I recalled with a smile.

    ¡°I bet Xuanpu will make you forget all about it.¡± our halberdier shrugged as we resumed walking, making our way towards the stairs.

    ¡°Maybe.¡± I shrugged back. ¡°I think I heard that they''re remaking it for VR now, though, to compete with this.¡±

    ¡°Oooh! Competition.¡± Lizzy remarked with interest.

    ¡°This game already seems so free, I wonder why they''d try to compete?¡± Healina said as we weaved our way through the skeletal remains littering the ground.

    ¡°Well, some people might want something more specific or niche instead of a world where you can literally do anything.¡± I said, keeping an eye on the bones in case this was some sort of trap.

    ¡°True.¡± Lizzy nodded.

    ¡°Very true.¡± Maryn agreed.

    ¡°You really have been in a lot of games, haven''t you?¡± Ari said as we reached the steps.

    ¡°It''s an obsession,¡± I returned with a laugh. She smiled back.

    ¡°Maybe someday we''ll try that one too,¡± she said, and I nodded to her.

    ¡°That''d be fun.¡±

    ¡°Fun would be if they let you convert your old character to the VR version.¡± Lizzy remarked. It took a moment for the fullness of that thought to sink in for me.

    ¡°Daaang it, that''d be sweet!--ahh! But maybe I''d want to start over from scratch, too... who knows.¡± I said, and Ari looked at me with a mischievous grin.

    ¡°What''s her name?¡± she asked me.

    ¡°Heh--?¡± I looked back at her, puzzled.

    ¡°Who''s the KoH version of you?¡± Ari said, rephrasing the question.

    ¡°Ahh...¡± I returned, and the other girls giggled. ¡°What... was the name I used in that world...?¡±

    ¡°Don''t tell me you didn''t ''Lana'' yourself there?¡± Lizzy said with a genuine surprise. We were about halfway up the steps now. Nothing had attacked us yet; I was now mentally preparing myself for a trap at the top, just in case.

    ¡°I think it didn''t seem right for that character, so I might have named them something else.¡± I shrugged as our ascent continued.

    ¡°Hmm.¡± Ari said, still smiling at me.

    ¡°Oh! Feng-Ren Hua.¡± I suddenly recalled.

    ¡°Feng-Ren Hua... cute!¡± Ari smiled. ¡°And you''re right, that does sound more lore-appropriate for that kind of game,¡± she nodded.

    ¡°How do you go from Lana to Feng-Ren?¡± Lizzy wondered with a puzzled grin.

    ¡°From Lana to Hua, actually; I knew before Chinese classes that the given name comes last over there.¡± I shrugged.

    ¡°Hmm?¡± the blonde girl remarked with interest.

    ¡°We''re almost at the top,¡± Maryn then alerted us. ¡°Lana, do you see anything yet?¡± she asked me, and I turned on Shadow Vision to examine the place. There was literally nothing I could detect.

    ¡°I don''t see anything, but in a dungeon like this that might not mean anything.¡± I said in reply.

    ¡°Gotcha.¡± she nodded, drawing out her sword and readying her shield.

    As we approached the top of the stairs, we noticed that the columns were shaped in the likenesses of exaggerated humanoid or animal beings. Ivies and mosses were intertwined along their lengths, some more covered than others; a fair few of them were cracked in some way, but they held nevertheless. I couldn''t imagine the weight of what was pressing down on them from above, but thinking about the roof collapsing for even a brief second made me churn inside.

    What a dang awful way to go, even in a game... I pondered bemusedly.

    We walked around the area to examine it, seeing no visible threats for the moment. There were no descending staircases on the other three sides of the Necropolis, but there was a group of four columns near the center, each of them fashioned in the likeness of a death-god, I suppose. They were skeletal, with expressions of grim delight plastered upon their faces, and each of them held a weapon. The first held a scythe, the second a staff, the third held a pair of jagged daggers, and the fourth wielded a sword pointed down into the floor. Each of them gazed outwards from the center.

    These four were the most prominent and extravagantly decorated statues of all, so all of us presumed they had something to do with continuing the quest. Ariana and Healina looked around for inscriptions, while the rest of us examined the statues themselves and the area around them to see if we could find any sort of mechanism.

    ¡°Heali, over here!¡± Ari called out to the other girl; I looked over. Our mage had found something on one of the other pillars.

    ¡°Oh! That''s it! Over here, girls!¡± Heali said. Lizzy responded right away, and Maryn got up to head over as well, but I kind of froze.

    You did this to yourself, you may as well walk over there and-- I thought to myself, but the thought was interrupted by an arm gently hoisting me off the ground and dragging me along.

    ¡°Huh?¡± I wondered blankly.

    ¡°Come on, Lana,¡± Maryn''s voice said to me in a playful manner.

    ¡°Ehhh.¡± I returned soullessly, beaten for the moment.

    ¡°What''s it say?¡± Lizzy asked as we all gathered around.

    ¡°Let''s see... ''Outward we gaze, and no one goes in; inward we look, and the way becomes clear''... the statues?¡± Ariana mused, looking back at the four behind us.

    ¡°So there is a mechanism of some sort or another, and we need to face them inward.¡± I said as I thought about it.

    We returned to the four in question, and looked more closely this time. None of us came up with anything; and we began wandering off again. Then I suddenly noticed a slit at the base of the one with the jagged daggers. Curious, I took out the key we had been given, and tried it; it slid in effortlessly, and I turned it. Immediately the statue began turning clockwise.

    ¡°Ahh--here we go,¡± I said, and the others turned at the sound of my voice and the grating noise of the statue.

    ¡°Good eye!¡± Heali smiled.

    ¡°I guess you click it back when the thing is facing towards the center,¡± Lizzy said, positioning herself so she could tell me when to stop. ¡°Almost there... almost -- now!¡± she called, and I turned the key again to stop the statue from moving. ¡°Perfect!¡±

    ¡°Let''s see about the others, then,¡± I said, heading to the next. This second one (the staff-holding one) was faster than the first; I just missed the mark the first time, and then out of sheer curiosity turned the key the opposite way to see if it would turn back. It did, and after about a second I turned it off again.

    ¡°Nice!¡± Maryn remarked.

    ¡°Two down; I wonder if this one speeds up again,¡± Ariana wondered as we approached the one with the sword.

    ¡°Maybe,¡± I said, and we set to work again. This one was definitely faster; it took a couple of tries to get it in the right spot, but we managed. Then we came to the scythe-statue. Part of me believed this was going to be faster still, yet another part considered that it might actually be the slowest. I turned the key, and my second instinct was proven correct. It was slooooww.

    ¡°Wouldn''t you know?¡± Lizzy smirked wryly as the thing lumbered into position.

    ¡°Better not take too long...¡± I quipped flatly. Despite my show of fussiness, it was soon positioned inwards like the others, and then a hidden stair rose up from the floor to make itself known. Putting the key back in my inventory, I readied my weapons, as did the others, and we made our way inside.

    A fell darkness enveloped us as soon as we got to the bottom; Ariana and Heali both summoned up mage-lights for us to guide with, and I used Shadow Vision to get a sense of where we were heading and what lay ahead.

    I should have guessed from the name ¡°Royal Necropolis¡±, but there were a lot of elite monsters here, all of them undead or incorporeal. Of course there were normal monsters as well, but for every three regulars, there was about one elite. And that was just what I could see on this floor alone. There was a staircase in the room adjacent to us, but we would have to wind our way around this entire floor to get to it.

    ¡°This just got interesting,¡± I said with a smirk, and with that we readied ourselves for battle.

    ***

    It took us nearly two and a half Panarena hours, but we finally got to the bottom of the Royal Necropolis, eight floors down. Most of the floors had been very maze like, and a couple of them hosted a series of traps and tricks that we struggled to deal with. The seventh had been a trap-filled maze with monsters lurking around practically every corner; by the end I was more surprised that our levels didn''t get higher than fifty-four than I was about the creatures that kept popping up out of nowhere.

    Oh, I think I''m getting it, but right now isn''t the time to think that through, I thought to myself as we entered the eighth floor, sorting out our stats and skills as we slowly approached the boss-room.

    Just before the room we were supposed to enter was a pair of liches with a small horde of zombies, wraiths, and skeletal warriors; their fiendishly glowing eyes lit up as we came into their vision, and they readied themselves to spring.

    ¡°I think we know the drill by now,¡± I said as I got myself into position.

    ¡°Root the zombs and skeletons, blast the wraiths, take care of the liches, and then sweep up what''s left.¡± Lizzy nodded.

    ¡°Ready here!¡± Maryn said.

    ¡°Ready!¡± Ariana affirmed.

    ¡°Buffs and wards set, heals prepped!¡± Healina told us.

    ¡°Go!¡± I said, and we launched our attack.

    We''d figured out through our deadly excursion that if you didn''t take out the wraiths and liches first, they would restore or buff their compatriots. But that was hard to do with a bunch of monsters with physical attacks running after you. So we ended up seeing if we could crowd-control those, and when it worked we went after the wraiths first and then the liches (which are kind of in-between corporeal and non- in this game). Why the wraiths and not the liches first? Well, we kind of take them both out at the same time, it''s just that the wraiths are easier for Ari to melt than liches are for Lizzy and I to slice up, so the wraiths die first and then Ari focuses her attacks on the liches with us. And Maryn holds their attention while we do so while Healina keeps us alive. It had only been a couple of days, but so far Maryn had woven herself in to our teamwork effortlessly.

    When this last group of monsters had been dealt with, we entered the door, and found Tecuhtlimictlan waiting for us atop a dais at the far end. He seemed more like a composite of all the undeads we had been facing here rather than belonging to any single one of them; he had skeletal and rotting features, he seemed both corporeal and incorporeal, and overall his appearance was lich-like, perhaps even vampire-like, especially the red, bat-like eyes. Lizzy let out a whistle as she registered his appearance.

    ¡°Haven''t seen this kind of thing since that dev prank in the beta-test; that''s a Ghoulish Lich King.¡± she remarked.

    ¡°Dev prank?¡± Maryn wondered, and the rest of us looked curious as well.

    ¡°They unleashed a horde of these things in the Aldholt right before the beta-test ended.¡± she said with a wry grin.

    ¡°Um. Rude.¡± Ariana exclaimed.

    ¡°Right?¡± the other girl returned.

    ¡°Gotta love game-developers and their twisted senses of humor.¡± I said with a soft smile.

    ¡°Any special attacks you remember?¡± Maryn asked.

    ¡°Nothing specific; I was only level ten, so I got wiped out pretty quick. It shouldn''t be much different from how things have been for us, though.¡± Lizzy told us.

    ¡°Let''s hope on that,¡± I nodded. ¡°We''ll stay on defense for a while, attacking minimally until we figure out its patterns and such; then we''ll go in for the kill.¡±

    ¡°Got it!¡± Maryn agreed.

    ¡°Ready!¡± Healina said.

    ¡°I''ll help with defense for a while, too,¡± Ari added.

    ¡°Let''s get this thing!¡± Lizzy said as she settled into a springing position, halberd at the ready.

    ¡°Right then -- go!¡± I said for a second time, and we sprang into action again.

    Tecuhtlimictlan didn''t really do anything except cast moderate to high level damage spells of cold and poison at us; Healina and Ari were able to deal with that fairly well while keeping our health and resistances up. When he reached ninety-percent health, he started an induction; Lizzy immediately reacted with Thurian Stomp, interrupting it and dazing him for a moment. Maryn bashed him once he was unstunned to get his attention again, and he resumed his regular attacks.

    When he was down to eighty-percent health, he tried the induction again; this time I could see what it was. He was trying to restore his health and buff himself for greater damage. This time I interrupted him, using Thousand Needle Strike. I then noticed that we had incidentally activated a debuff mechanic on him; for every induction we interrupted, he lost three-percent outgoing damage.

    So he does this every time his health drops ten-percent, and he loses three-percent damage each time we interrupt him; but if we *fail* to interrupt him, I bet he *gains* three-percent or maybe even more, I mused to myself internally. I could see Maryn and Lizzy putting the pieces together as well.

    ¡°So if we interrupt him eight more times he''ll have thirty-percent less damage?¡± Maryn noted as she coaxed him towards her with a shield-taunt.

    ¡°Sounds good to me!¡± Lizzy grinned.

    ¡°Stay alert for other tricks, though!¡± I warned.

    ¡°Don''t worry, I''m keeping a lookout!¡± Ariana called to me.

    ¡°Thanks, partner!¡± I called back to her.

    The fight continued in a more eager manner after that; when he reached seventy-five percent health he used a skill we couldn''t interrupt to summon minions, but those were nothing for Ari and me to deal with. We resumed whittling him down after that, and when he got to fifty-percent he used the interruptable one first before the summoning spell. After the second wave of minions had been dealt with we continued hacking away, defeating his last wave of allies at twenty-five percent and then finally finishing him off with a joint-attack.

    ¡°Whew!¡± Lizzy remarked tiredly. A chest of loot appeared and an item from the boss himself appeared in my inventory.

    ¡°Oh! That must be the item the NPC wants!¡± Ari said.

    ¡°Looks like you''re right,¡± I agreed, seeing my quest log update.

    ¡°So it''s not the flame charm we''re looking for here...¡± Healina mused in a dejected way.

    ¡°Well...¡± I sighed, ¡°We''ll see what happens. For now let''s get back to Berrydell and finish the quest.¡± I said. We then claimed the loot, and made our way out of the Necropolis to head for the wayport, ending up at Berrydell a few moments later.

    ¡°Oh, adventurer, you''re back! And you got me the proof I needed!¡± the hauflin said as I approached her. ¡°So it was something supernatural after all? Why, what''s this? Oh! It''s turned into something frightful! You''d better hang on to this, adventurer! My pa would be doubly frightful if he knew I had it, and I''m not so sure I''d like to keep it myself now that I see it!¡± she said, handing it back to me.

    ¡°Nice.¡± I said in a somewhat sarcastic manner.

    The quest updated as ¡°Completed¡±, and then I saw that the item really had changed; in my hands I held the flame-charm. And on my map was the location of where it could be used.

    ¡°Nice!¡± I said in a more sincere and excited tone.

    ¡°Oh nice!¡±

    ¡°Cool!¡±

    ¡°Well done!¡±

    ¡°Nice work, Lana!¡± the girls behind me chimed in.

    ¡°We have about, what? Five hours left?¡± Lizzy then said, checking our time.

    ¡°At least.¡± Ariana nodded.

    ¡°Okay. Wayport, and then we can come back here for the waggon after we finish with the place this charm works at so we can head on to the next.¡± the older girl said.

    ¡°Well, it''s a shortcut, so I''d guess this flame place would lead to the second objective of the overall quest.¡± I said as a soft counter. ¡°Which means there''s probably a portal or teleport of some kind waiting for us.¡±

    ¡°Ohh, right... we were doing all this to get through the area quicker...¡± Lizzy returned, frowning thoughtfully.

    ¡°What will we do with the waggon?¡± Healina then wondered aloud.

    ¡°Should we just disassemble it for now and put it back together later?¡± Ariana pondered. ¡°I mean, most of what we''re collecting in terms of resources are alchemical ingredients that we''re using right away to create potions and stuff,¡± she pointed out. ¡°If we''re just going to level-up through this area for now we can forget about the waggon for now and come back to scour for resources later.¡±

    ¡°That''s true...¡± Lizzy nodded.

    ¡°I vote we do that,¡± Maryn said.

    ¡°Same.¡± Heali agreed.

    ¡°I think it''s probably the best option for now.¡± Ariana said. Lizzy made a face; it was technically her waggon, after all. I shrugged helplessly.

    ¡°Eh, I bet we can improve it anyway on the other side. Let''s do it!¡± our smith finally smiled, and with that our decision was made. We disassembled the waggon, putting the parts and its contents into our inventories, freed the mounts to let them do as they would, and then we used the wayport to cross the vast distance of the Marshes once more.

 Chapter Seventeen: "The First in Flames"

    Our pet salamander was waiting for us right where we left him. Apparently he hadn''t been brought along by the wayport, although when Healina looked her skills over it seemed she could bring him through them if she wanted to do so.

    ¡°Something not toggled or what?¡± I wondered.

    ¡°He''s in ''Field Mode'' right now, which means he''ll stay in the field of play like a guard dog, I guess,¡± our healer replied.

    ¡°Hmm,¡± I remarked, and then shrugged.

    ¡°We''re pretty much headed straight into the west, right?¡± Lizzy said as she gazed across the increasingly bleak landscape.

    ¡°That''s what the map shows.¡± Ariana replied, looking over it again. ¡°I thought we''d have to search for it more though?¡±

    ¡°I guess because it''s a special magic item it updates the map for us too?¡± I mused. Maryn started off towards the west, and the rest of us followed her lead.

    ¡°We might have time, but we do need to get going if we want to make use of it,¡± our shield-user told us as we picked our way through the swamps.

    ¡°At this rate maybe I should make her leader,¡± I muttered to myself quietly, and Ari giggled beside me.

    As we moved deeper into the Fire Swamp, the heat that had already increased became stronger, and a kind of haze from steams and smoke coming up from various places began to blur our vision. Our attentive healer quickly noted it had status ailments, and raised some protective wards around us and we moved as steadily along as we could through the terrain. Of course, Sallymander seemed completely unaffected by any of it.

    That''s a salamander for you, I thought to myself. The fire-lizard trope was strong in fantasy games, and this one was no exception.

    There was nothing we could see in the distance that encouraged our trek, but we could see our dots on the map moving closer towards the intended goal. Flame wisps and enemy reptilians picked up in number as well as the heat, so we were fighting both monsters and terrain to get there. The worst part were the elites--especially the turtle-like ones. These would breathe out a venomous steam at random intervals, depleting our health severely and tasking poor Heali to her limits in keeping us alive. Sure, the salamanders and wisps had flame damage, but those steam attacks made it seem like nothing.

    And then there were the toads. Fire Swamp Toads. They had a heat aura around them, and attacking them was like trying to catch a bar of soap in the shower. As soon as you think you have it... you don''t.

    Well, somehow or another, we made our way through these venomous vermin and flaming fiends, until we got closer to the dungeon we had unlocked, and then we found it. Not the dungeon, mind you, a field boss. King Bombinatoridae, a flame toad to beat all flame toads. Which, of course, you might expect from such a pompous name and large size.

    It started off as it had started off the last several times, with Maryn, Lizzy, and myself trying to attack it up close while Healina and Ari laid down support. Finally, frustrated with my lack of hitting it face-to-face I jumped back a few paces and switched to my bow. I got off a few shots, most of them successful; I was just getting into a groove and all but patting myself on the back for making this decision when all of a sudden, the boss expanded its body to knock Maryn and Lizzy away for a moment, and then it launched its tongue... straight... at... me.

    Oh, snap, this isn''t good... I thought as I felt the slimy thing wrapping around my waist.

    ¡°Hyeek!¡± I couldn''t help but squeak as it did so.

    ¡°La--oh my Gawd that is gross!!¡± Heali said as she looked over at me. Ari was staring in disbelief.

    ¡°Don''t make stupid comments, do something -- hyaaaiigh!!¡± I squealed out again as the tongue retracted towards the large open mouth.

    Oh you are KIDDING me... this is NOT how I want to die my first time around--!! I thought to myself as I all but flew towards what could be my first death.

    ¡°Oh, snap--!!¡± Lizzy swore as I went over her head. Impulsively I nocked an arrow to my bow, activated a flame skill, and shot it directly into the thing''s mouth. As soon as it impacted the tongue loosened, and I fell into the marshy water of the fire swamp for my trouble.

    ¡°Note to self, when tongue springs out, activate a flame skill.¡± Maryn said as both the boss and I got our bearings back.

    ¡°Glad I could be of help...¡± I said in a quietly outraged tone as I stood up, a piece of marsh-grass in my hair.

    ¡°Only you would react that fast though, so it''s kinda good that it targeted you first.¡± Lizzy remarked. I couldn''t think of a reply to that one.

    ¡°No harm meant,¡± Maryn smiled at me. ¡°But it was kinda cute to hear you squeal like that.¡± she added with a wink.

    ¡°Ehh??¡±

    ¡°Quit teasing and get guarding!¡± Lizzy called over as the boss recovered itself. Maryn used a shield-taunt on it right away, and we went back to burning down its health--sometimes literally.

    The second time the tongue shot out, it was aimed at Ariana; but since she was sharper than I was, she had figured out the tongue would appear every time we took down ten-percent of its health. As soon as it had reached eighty percent she had a flame-spell ready, and the tongue never even reached her. Instead the toad got a mouth full of flames.

    ¡°Nice going!¡± I cheered, and Lizzy whooped as she and Maryn got back up from a second knock-down.

    ¡°Now we got it: every ten-percent, huh?¡±

    ¡°I''ll keep that in mind, too!¡± Maryn said.

    Armed with this knowledge, we continued to evade the monster''s attacks as we whittled down its health. Every time it tried to grab one of us with its tongue Ari or I would send something fiery into its mouth, interrupting the would-be one-shots while Maryn and Lizzy would jump back up from being knocked over. This continued at a steady pace for us until the boss reached the last ten-percent of its health, and then the attack changed. Instead of trying to grab someone after it knocked our melee fighters away, it hopped back and let out a loud bass-register croak.

    Oh snap, now what?

    It was answered by lots of higher-pitched croaking, and the boss itself raised a ward around its body as a horde of toads and frogs came hopping towards us. They were all around our size or so, and the five of us regrouped to deal with them, seeing that our main target had decided to side-line itself for a while.

    ¡°Champions!¡± Ariana noted at once.

    ¡°And an elite on this side!¡± Healina added.

    ¡°The rest are all normal,¡± Maryn said.

    ¡°Watch the attacks; we''ll decide how to go from there,¡± I said, and the others nodded back.

    The regular ones died fairly quickly; they didn''t have much substance to them, it seemed. But we figured out just as quickly that their deaths put an enrage buff on the stronger ones: +5 attack speed per death. So we had to deal with the champions and the elite before turning our attention back to the small fry. Go figure, huh? And it was while we were finishing off the elite that I saw a timer running down on the boss.

    Timer? This isn''t a timed encounter; those only happen in dungeons, right? I mean, I guess this is a field dungeon, but still, timed encounters ask for your approval. Which means that timer is something else. And the only thing I can think it would be counting down for right now...

    ¡°I think the King is about to enter the fight again!¡± I said, slicing up a couple more frogs as I frantically looked back towards it in-between taking down the enemies before me.

    ¡°Huh? Oh!¡± Lizzy said as she looked over for a moment. ¡°I getcha; good thing we figured out how to deal with these guys!¡± she said, sweeping a few of them with her halberd.

    ¡°I bet it does that tongue thing while we''re all occupied...¡± Healina grimaced.

    ¡°Probably...¡± Lizzy reluctantly agreed.

    ¡°Just a few more!¡± Maryn called over, bashing the elite in the face and stunning it. ¡°Hit it hard!¡± she shouted to us, and we obliged her as fast as we could. The monster went ka-poof, and we hastily made an end of the minions that had been with it.

    I looked over towards the boss; the timer was almost done. Lizzy''s halberd finished off the last of the mini-frogs. The timer ended. King Bombinatoridae made the motions that signaled he was going to try and snatch someone up. As fast as I could I set a flame arrow to my string, and Ari hastily brought up a flame spell while Lizzy queued up Flaming Strikes and Maryn readied a fire-reflect on her shield. Healina summoned up a few flame-sprites, and then the boss launched its final attack.

    The tongue sprang out at lightning speed; Ari and I reacted at once, and two missiles of fiery pain landed in the mouth of the great frog. This time, however, he didn''t recoil; he flinched, but the tongue kept going and grabbed Healina, who let out a scream as the slimy thing wrapped around her and began yanking her towards its mouth.

    ¡°Heali!!¡± Lizzy shouted, charging with Maryn towards the monster.

    ¡°Dang it!¡± I cried out, switching my bow for the daggers and speeding after them. Ari began chanting something as soon as I took off; no doubt some serious back-up was going to follow us.

    Oh, boy... I thought to myself as we reached the boss monster; our healer was almost to its mouth. Then Lizzy jumped into the thing''s mouth, and went with what was probably one of the oldest cliches in the book: she set her halberd in its mouth so that the creature couldn''t close it. She then grabbed Healina just as the poor Sea Elf entered the maw, holding her tightly.

    ¡°Hang on!!¡±

    ¡°Get me out of this thing!!¡± the other girl screeched.

    ¡°Left!¡± I cried out as I got to the monster.

    ¡°Right!¡± Maryn nodded back. The two of us charged in from our chosen directions and then sliced the monster''s tongue, freeing Healina. As the useless appendage fell to the ground she scampered out of the mouth and ran back to Ariana, while Lizzy snatched her halberd from the maw and did some more damage before heading back as Maryn and I dashed out after Heali.

    ¡°Now!¡± I called over to Ariana, who looked as if she was ready with her own attack.

    A literal hell-storm then enveloped the boss monster, and it croaked almost pitifully as the last remnants of its health burned away. I shot a few arrows towards it for good measure, and in a few moments more the boss was down. We collected some rare materials and a couple special items as a reward, and then continued on towards our destination.

    When we found it at last, we were in the hottest part of the fire swamp region. There was a statue, a gargoyle-type statue with a down-turned sword standing before a staircase heading into the earth below the swampy terrain.

    ¡°Is that it?¡± Maryn wondered.

    ¡°There''s herbs around here,¡± Healina told us.

    ¡°We should get them.¡± Ari said.

    ¡°Be quick, it might be cooler inside there,¡± Lizzy said to them. I wasn''t so sure, but I silently headed towards the entrance with Sallymander at my side.

    This thing... it almost looks like Molek from the game... I noted as I looked closely at the gargoyle. It was probably an homage... which meant that inside the dungeon... wait a minute, aren''t the developers of Panarena somehow connected to the makers of the older game?

    ¡°Oh this will be good...!¡± I said to myself smugly.

    ¡°Hmm?¡± Maryn looked over at me curiously.

    ¡°I''ll tell you when we find the boss.¡± I replied; she continued gazing at me with interest but softly shrugged.

    The ingredients that Healina and Ariana found turned out to be ingredients for flame-resistance potions, which we took as an incidental warning to what lay ahead in the dungeon below. After the two of them had crafted enough (we hoped), I then led our party down the stairs and into the Fire Dungeon, the first of the six dungeons we needed to get through for the main quest chain.

    When we got to the bottom of the stairs--which were pretty long--there was a wide, open subterranean area revealed to us; oozing rivers of flame slithered along or fell in cascading falls, some of them bridged by precarious-looking rock formations, and flame-type monsters nearly filled the place. Flame-sprites, fire imps, salamanders, more fire toads, hell gators, infernal tempters, burning souls, pyromancers, and conflagrated ogres.

    I examined several of them with a skill to check out their stats; there was heavy flame-resistance, as one might expect, and moderate resistance to most other elements. Even cold-skills would have a hard time wearing them down, and I wasn''t sure about poisons.

    ¡°Hmm... I wonder if I can combine a frost skill with a poison one, just to try it out...¡± I heard Ariana murmuring to herself as she examined her skill list, making some recombinations on the fly.

    De-fi-net-ly don''t want to make you mad, I inwardly thought as my face scrunched up in a bemused look.

    ¡°This whole place looks like it just spirals down to the bottom,¡± Lizzy said as she looked around. I turned my attention to the dungeon itself at her remark; it did seem to be a more abnormal dungeon, by which I mean it wasn''t divided into floors or levels in the usual sense. As Lizzy noted, the path (insofar as it could be called that) seemed to wind its way down and around towards the depths.

    I looked further down with another skill; way down there I could see something that resembled a particularly nightmarish monster that had made its mark on popular culture at the beginning of the twenty-first century in a certain film franchise based on a certain legendary book written by an English professor. Before I could spend any more thought on the matter, we heard a loud, insensible chorus of whoops and cackles heading our way. We looked to our left, where the sounds were coming from; heading straight for us was a small horde of gremlins and goblins.

    ¡°Time to get fighting!¡± I said as I rolled back and drew out my bow as the others also readied themselves.

    ¡°Hyah!¡± Maryn called out in challenge.

    ¡°Here we go!¡± Lizzy exclaimed at the same time.

    ¡°Heals ready!¡± Healina said, summoning up an ally or two as Sallymander went to stand with Lizzy and Maryn.

    ¡°Let''s do it!¡± Ari and I said at once, and the two of us let our attacks loose simultaneously, taking down five or six of the monsters and beginning the fight. After a few moments I switched to my daggers, slipping into stealth and rushing forth to assassinate a couple of the stronger ones before joining in the melee. But no matter how many we downed, they just kept coming.

    ¡°Let''s press forward and see if we can cut them off!¡± Maryn suggested as she bashed one.

    ¡°Good idea!¡± Lizzy nodded back, and I took the initiative, slipping back into stealth and queuing up a new skill: Shadow Blitz. It was kind of like Shadow World, except it was a charge skill that could only go one direction. With this I slashed through several goblins and gremlins, killing about half of those I came into contact with and leaving some bleed effects on the others. Lizzy used her own charge skill, as did Maryn; our two mages didn''t miss a beat. They came rushing after us, Heali''s pets creating a distraction while the two of them caught up to us.

    We continued forward like this, but the stream of monsters did not end -- and we were getting dangerously close to another group that would probably give us more trouble.

    ¡°Lana, Ariana! The capstone on that tunnel -- to the right!¡± Maryn shouted, and the two of us looked over.

    ¡°Left!¡± Ari said.

    ¡°Right!¡± I answered her, quickly switching to bow and stringing an arrow. We fired at the capstone, and it collapsed, killing a few monsters and trapping the rest inside. I fired a few more shots at the pile we were still dealing with, and then switched to daggers again to help finish them off. When it was done we looked around at each other, catching our breath. There would no doubt be more mechanics like that as we kept going.

    ¡°No safe space in this dungeon,¡± Healina quipped as she stood up, looking ahead to the plethora of flame creatures before us.

    ¡°Let''s keep an eye out for more capstones and tunnels, and see if we can''t be preemptive about them. Nicely spotted, though.¡± I said, and Maryn smiled.

    Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!

    ¡°Should''ve thought about that to begin with,¡± Lizzy sighed.

    ¡°Lana, some of those are elites!¡± Ari then told me, and I looked over. Sure enough, right out of the gate we had some tough monsters to deal with.

    ¡°Feeling confident about that new spell-mix?¡± I asked her with a faint grin, which she returned at once.

    ¡°As confident as I ever am with you in a tough dungeon like this,¡± she winked back.

    ¡°So much for the fifty-five level cap; this dungeon might see us to fifty-seven!¡± Lizzy said as she gave her halberd a test swing.

    ¡°I''ll bet on fifty-eight!¡± Maryn returned as she raised her shield.

    ¡°I hope we don''t run out of restorative potions...¡± Healina in a lamenting tone.

    ¡°Ready or not, here we come!¡± I said, launching myself forward with Shadow Blitz again as the others followed after me. And with that first strike, our second battle in the Fire Dungeon began.

    ***

    It really felt like an endless grind, that battle. Mostly because it never really ended. I mean, we had respites, but this dungeon really was all but packed to the brim. There were many more tunnels we had to close off to stop reinforcements, sometimes several at once. Somehow or another I got the feeling that this dungeon was meant for a raid party.

    Normal parties can have up to ten players in Panarena Fantasy Online; a half-raid is two parties, and a full raid is forty players. For some places, or so I''ve read, you can have a double raid party -- or rather you need eighty players to complete the objective, such as defeating world bosses. This feels like it''s meant for at *least* a half-raid, based upon how it''s taxing us, I thought to myself as we carved our way through a group of hell gators. An infernal temptress elite seemed to be directing them. Maryn and Lizzy both used area-stuns to create a break, and then I blitzed forward to do as much damage as I could to her before I had to retreat. Sure enough I only took out maybe a quarter of her health, even with booster skills.

    ¡°Gotta hand it to the developers, they made this one a real challenge!¡± Lizzy said as she saw me scurrying away to regroup with them.

    ¡°I think I see a clear-er spot up ahead!¡± Ariana told us. ¡°We need a breather, soon!¡±

    ¡°Let''s wait for Lana''s skills to reset, and then we''ll try that tactic again,¡± Maryn said.

    ¡°Works for me!¡± Lizzy nodded.

    ¡°You''re all healed up,¡± Heali said to me.

    ¡°Thanks!¡± I replied. ¡°Skills almost back; maybe fifteen seconds more.¡±

    ¡°And then we just do our thing three more times, hopefully.¡± Lizzy remarked.

    ¡°Hopefully!¡± Maryn agreed.

    ¡°Watch for switch-ups in their attack or defense patterns, though,¡± I cautioned.

    ¡°Will do!¡± Ariana replied. ¡°I''ll try to punctuate some on your attacks as well,¡± she added, and I nodded back.

    ¡°Counting on you, partner!¡±

    We set back to work on our fight; as planned, we repeated our strategy for the elite three more times, but nothing happened to throw us off. She went down without a problem, Ariana adding her own attacks to mine whenever I went to attack our main target. After that, we went through a few more waves before finally reaching the spot that our mage had noticed earlier, where we gained a respite at last from the constant combat in the dungeon.

    The five of us looked around at the place we had reached. It was part library, part alchemy station, and there seemed to be some sort of magic-artifice station nearby as well. Lizzy went to explore this one herself, while Healina and Ari went to examine the alchemy station to see if there was any good recipes or ingredients nearby. Which left Maryn and myself to keep watch or explore the books. Our Cymbroga tank seemed more set on watching the entrance, so I amused myself by looking around at the books, listening to the other girls chatter as they uncovered the mysteries of the place.

    ¡°Oh nice! A whole volume of alchemy recipes!¡± Ariana remarked.

    ¡°Cool! Oh, excellent, we should hang on to that.¡± Healina returned.

    ¡°I bet most if not all these ingredients are in the Marshes...¡±

    ¡°Right?¡±

    ¡°Oh wait! I see, it indexes them by regions; Aldholt, Heimgar, the Marshes, Stormwraith Hold, the Wastes...¡± Ari said as she read from the contents list.

    ¡°Xuanpu, the Yucu Jungles, Sylvanian Reaches, Kunlun Province, the Jade Sea... wow there''s a lot of places we''ve yet to visit...¡± our healer remarked.

    ¡°I bet we could spend our whole lives here and never see everything.¡±

    ¡°I bet your SO would love that.¡± Healina said in a softer voice that I could just barely hear.

    ¡°I know they would.¡± Ariana replied; I could see her softly smiling out of the corner of my eye.

    A book suddenly grabbed my attention, distracting me from any further tidbits of their conversation. On its spine were some characters on it that were a fancified, scrawling, and fairly magical looking version of normal (well, English) letters: The Six Guardians of the Wyrd.

    Wait... six... six guardians, six dungeons... this can''t be a coincidence, I thought to myself, picking up the book and blowing some dust off it as I opened the pages. I heard Lizzy let out a grunt suddenly, and turned to look in her direction.

    ¡°Ah! There we go. Now I see what it does; it''s a tuning station for weapons and gear. You can attune your weapons to do a certain kind of damage or your gear to resist it.¡± she announced.

    ¡°That sounds handy!¡± Healina said.

    ¡°Right?¡± Lizzy beamed. ¡°I just need to figure out how to set it up right...¡± she then said, and set back to work while I returned my attention to the book.

    ¡°Lana?¡± Ari said as she came to join me.

    ¡°Look at this,¡± I said to her as I adjusted the book so we both could read it.

    ¡°Hmm... ''The Six Guardians of the Wyrd''... oh!¡± she blinked in recognition. That was confirmation enough for me.

    ¡°Looks like there''s six chapters, each of them describing the lore behind the dungeon and the guardians, the bosses, in the innermost or deepest parts of them.¡± I noted as I scanned the pages.

    ¡°I wonder...¡± Ariana mused softly, then flipped through some of the pages herself. ¡°Lizzy, hang on,¡± she then said, and our Nordian smith paused, looking over expectantly. ¡°I think this book might give us details on just how to attune that thing!¡± Ari said to her.

    ¡°Well that''s great!¡± the blonde girl said as she stood up. ¡°So what''s the scoop?¡±

    ¡°It''s probably not that straightforward,¡± Ariana smiled sheepishly.

    ¡°Riddles and stuff, huh?¡± Lizzy returned in a tired tone. ¡°So long as it doesn''t take too long to figure out.¡±

    ¡°Look for odd words, patterns in the letters, sentences, or paragraphs, hints of code, that sort of thing.¡± Ari told me as she returned her attention to the book.

    ¡°Ahh--¡± I started, uncertain of how to spot them.

    ¡°Here!¡± Heali nudged me, taking over. I let go of the book to let them deal with it and shrugged, a wry smile on my face.

    ¡°Guess I did my part anyway in finding it.¡± I quipped, heading over to watch with Maryn.

    ¡°All we wanted was a breather and we find more things to help us out,¡± Maryn said with a grin.

    ¡°Funny how things work out,¡± I said with a giggle.

    It didn''t take Healina long to find out the secrets of the tome; and fortunately for us, all of what it said we needed was either in the room or in our inventories. After a few moments more, Lizzy had adjusted the magic-artifice station for fire resistance and cold damage, and we each took our turns going through the beam that it emitted to gain the bonus. As the first person through, I noticed straight away that there was a time limit to the effect.

    ¡°It''s giving us six Panarena hours to use this buff,¡± I said as the others walked through.

    ¡°Gotcha,¡± Lizzy nodded back. When the others had gone through she switched off the device, and we resumed our quest downwards with a new vigor.

    Now, even with that unexpected bonus, it still took us quite a while to get through the place. But all of us noticed that it was less hard than it had been. We weren''t using our potions as frantically, and Healina could even help us with crowd-control now and again. Boy I''d hate to think of how we''d be getting through this without Maryn, I thought as I vanished to launch a surprise strike on a few mobs that had been giving us a hard time. She had some wicked aggro-holding skills, and I could only wonder what they would be like as we all progressed in levels.

    Come to think of it, once we get to Xuanpu we may be breaking off into teams... Lizzy might be getting her jobs and stuff, after all, possibly Maryn and Heali as well... and of course things might get more intense for us in the spring -- academically, that is. We''ve gotta enjoy this while we can, huh?

    I took down three of my four targets with one hit each; the fourth survived with a handful of health that I quickly nixed before I vanished again to repeat the trick on another group. Lizzy was carving her way through another pile of mobs on the other side of the battle. She had kind of fussed at that ¡°barbarian¡± jibe earlier, but she certainly did live up to it.

    After I downed another small pack, I inadvertently blitzed my way towards a half-broken pillar, and, without thinking, jumped up on it. It took me half a moment to realize that the mobs here were too daft to try climbing up after me; with a grin, I took out my bow, and began using my archery skills on them instead. Healina and Ari both caught on to my trick moments later, and the two of them found their own perches.

    ¡°That''s nice, but we can''t stay here forever!¡± Lizzy quipped as she caught sight of us.

    ¡°Then we''ll just find others further along!¡± I quipped back, taking down a monster that was about to attack her with a well-aimed Puncturing Fury. I unleashed a more explosive shot at a capstone I sighted a few moments later, and as the monsters lessened we moved off to a new spot. Armed with the knowledge of these safe-spots (none of us could figure out if it was intentional or if we had found an actual bug this time), we raced down to the depths of the dungeon at an almost breakneck pace. By the time we had gotten to the bottom, there was still three and a half hours left on our buff.

    Quickly, we identified and destroyed the capstones to cut off reinforcements. Then we dealt with the champion elites and mini-bosses with mobs swarming around them. This took us another half-hour to do, and finally the chamber was cleared. We had gotten to level fifty-seven; as we recuperated, we allocated our skill and stat points, and then looked at the gate separating us from the boss. It was the creature I had half-imagined seeing earlier.

    I brought up its ID; ¡°Lord of Flames¡±. It had fire immunity and heavy lightning resistance, moderate physical resistance, mild cold and poison resist, and low holy resist. There was a weapon in its hand that looked like a glaive of some kind. It seemed to have some sort of wings, though they may have been just some strange effect of the smoke and flames coming off of its body. The eyes gleamed like coals in the fire, framed by jagged features, and two horns like the horns of a gazelle grew out of its head. It was massive and muscular, and it seemed to be chafing to get at us. I reported the resistances to the others, who looked around at each other somewhat anxiously; I couldn''t blame them.

    ¡°Well dang,¡± Lizzy remarked as she looked over towards it. ¡°And those bars are all that keeps him from us?¡±

    ¡°You kept the book, right?¡± Healina said to Ari.

    ¡°It''s right here,¡± the other girl replied, taking it out. ¡°There''s a series of levers in this room we need to pull in the right order to face him.¡±

    ¡°What''s the order?¡± I asked her.

    ¡°We also need to pull them in thirty seconds or less.¡± she added with a wry expression. I looked around; there were ten levers, two each in five spots spaced fairly evenly around the room.

    ¡°This should be nearly a cinch,¡± I said.

    ¡°True.¡± Lizzy agreed. ¡°Each of us gets two levers.¡±

    ¡°Right,¡± Maryn nodded, and went off to one of the lever spots. The rest of us followed her example, and when we had gotten into position, Ariana read the book again carefully.

    ¡°All right; here''s the order: Lizzy, Maryn, Heali, myself, and Lana; then Lizzy, Lana, myself, Heali, and Maryn.¡± she called out to us.

    ¡°So basically it''s clockwise from me the first time, then counterclockwise the second.¡± Lizzy called back.

    ¡°Exactly.¡± Ari replied.

    ¡°All-righty then; all ready?¡± our smith called out.

    ¡°Go!¡± Maryn nodded; we pulled the levers according to the order given to us by Ariana, and then the bars began receding into the floor and the ceiling. The boss was now let loose. Our final battle in the Fire Dungeon had begun.

    ¡°Ariana, focus on holy damage; Heali, get your cold sprites out, and that frost bird also. Don''t forget warding lores!¡± I said to the two of them as we grouped up in preparation.

    ¡°Got it!¡±

    ¡°Will do!¡± the two of them replied.

    ¡°I''ll stick with basic retaliations and adjust as I need to,¡± Maryn told us. ¡°He probably has some sort of big flame attack, and I''m positive that sword will do massive damage of some kind.¡±

    ¡°I''ll keep you healed.¡± our Sea Elf said confidently.

    ¡°Lizzy, you and I should attack it from the sides or the rear, if that''s possible.¡± I said.

    ¡°If it''s possible? Look at the size of that thing!¡± she returned.

    ¡°I mean if there''s no flame reflect or something!¡± I told her quickly.

    ¡°Ah, okay -- gotcha!¡± she nodded.

    ¡°If there is the two of us are in trouble,¡± Maryn noted.

    ¡°Not Lana?¡± the Nordian said with a funny look.

    ¡°Um, bow?¡± I quipped to Lizzy, who stuck her tongue out at me. The grinding of the bars ceased, and a heavy foot stepped forth, then another, and the Lord of Flames emerged from his alcove.

    ¡°Ohh boy.¡± Lizzy gulped nervously. ¡°That thing''s as big as a modern house.¡±

    ¡°Here''s Johnny...¡± I muttered anxiously as the undeniable boss monster halted before us.

    ¡°Mortals... prepare yourselves, prepare your souls: I am the Lord of Flames; die!¡± the creature said to us in a voice that sounded like a raspy avalanche. It swung the sword down, and the five of us scattered to avoid being hit.

    The impact on the ground alone was enough to knock us over. Healina quickly let off a heal, and then applied a few heals-over-time on us while she coordinated her cold minions to attack. Our adversary swung his sword down again. This time, Maryn stood her ground, shield raised.

    You''re bonkers!! I thought to myself as I sucked in a breath. There was a loud clang. The boss reeled back; Maryn seemed to be quivering from the blow, but amazingly her health was in the green--though it had taken a hit. I gaped in disbelief, as did Ariana beside me.

    ¡°Ho-ly...¡± she sputtered in amazement.

    ¡°We can do this!¡± Maryn called out to us. I slapped myself a couple times, and then looked over at Ariana. We nodded to each other. Ari let loose several holy bolts and then a new skill, Purifying Wave, and I rode on the tails of those skills as I dashed in with daggers this time, preparing a skill of my own.

    ¡°Holy Crescent Flash!¡± I called out as I reached the boss, striking its ankle.

    ¡°Hy-yaahh!¡± Lizzy roared, leaping into the air with her halberd raised over her head; she brought it down with a thunderous rapport, and a few of Heali''s cold minions began swarming the boss. It then stamped its feet a couple times, knocking us back. I quickly looked for its health bar; we had dealt about four-percent damage to it. But we weren''t in danger of dying ourselves any time soon.

    You''re right, we can do this! I thought to myself with a surge of confidence.

    ¡°So it''s to be a true battle, then,¡± our giant-sized adversary rumbled.

    I hope we didn''t just wake up some rude mechanic designed to one-shot us... I thought with a brief panic, but the Lord of Flames showed no signs of one.

    ¡°Very well! Prepare yourselves!¡± he then thundered out. Maryn''s response was to shield-taunt him; he swung down again, and this time our shield-user used a bashing skill to block his blade, knocking him off balance just enough for Lizzy and I to get a few hits in before we needed to scamper again.

    ¡°Ninety-three percent!¡± Ariana called out. Our enemy then stomped again, dazing us for a moment. Maryn quickly recovered herself and went on the defensive while the rest of us reoriented ourselves. I saw a particularly heavy blow descend upon her; it knocked a third of her health out. Healina quickly responded with several heal-over-time skills and a protective shield to bolster our defender.

    Nice!

    ¡°Lana, stay back here with Ari and me; there''s less damage to us, and it''ll be easier for me to heal two in this situation rather than three,¡± Heali said, and I nodded back, switching to bow again.

    ¡°You got it.¡± I said, and then queued up a few ranged skills I knew would work.

    ¡°I''ll augment whatever you fire.¡± Ariana said as she came to my side.

    ¡°Right!¡± I returned, aiming for the eyes of the boss. ¡°Twin Stars!¡± I called out, and as the arrow left the string it split into two. Ari sent a couple of holy bolts on their tails, along with a frost spear; we hit our marks, and the boss staggered for several moments, then stomped again, letting out a roar this time. Maryn and Lizzy struggled to stay on their feet this time, just barely managing. A wave of minions--elite minions, but minions all the same--came rushing in, and the boss activated an immunity shield. His health was at ninety-percent.

    ¡°One mechanic, figured out.¡± I said as I strung another arrow.

    ¡°This''ll be harder than we thought,¡± Ari added, and Heali nodded.

    ¡°But like Maryn said, we can do this.¡± I replied. Ari nodded back to me, and we returned our attention to the battle before us.

    ***

    Okay. So. It was actually a lot harder to get through in the end than we initially thought, but we did it. At eighty percent, the same thing that had happened at ninety-percent happened, but the boss also activated an uninterruptible healing skill that restored his health to ninety. Also, it may have been our imaginations, but we were fairly certain that more minions appeared this time. When the seventy percent mark had been reached (without an immunity shield stomp or minion wave happening again at eighty, thankfully), there were definitely more minions.

    And then the sixty percent fiasco happened. It was just like the eighty-percent mechanic, where he restored ten-percent of his health, but this time some champion elites came in to join the fray alongside the regular elites. Healina was hard put to keep us all alive, even with me staying on ranged; I decided in the middle of this to go daggers for a few minutes and help with the melee, which worked for a while, but I soon found myself scampering back to use my bow when one of them actually landed a hit on me, taking down nearly half my health.

    Healina and I exchanged a wry grin as I came back, and she softly shrugged, as if to say it had been worth the attempt. Ari, Lizzy, and I used a few multiple target skill for the next several moments, whittling down the minions as fast as we could. Maryn should have had a tough time keeping the three of us safe, but Ariana had put a holy-flame barrier around us to ward off attacks, allowing our shield-user to focus on keeping Lizzy from gaining too much threat.

    Eventually we ground down the pile of minions, and then we whittled the boss down to fifty percent; here we found out that he had a special healing skill that restored twenty-percent of his health. And another pile of champion elites came swarming in while his immunity shield was up. Well that drove us practically crazy. This time I merely made a brief apology to our healer before switching to daggers again, racing around the edges of the fray to do as much damage as I could. Our pet salamander wove in and around the fight, doing what it could to aid us. Several times it actually saved my hide from a deadly attack, allowing me to continue my shadowed frenzy.

    Anyway. Things went like that for pretty much the rest of the fight; fortunately he didn''t have any restorative skills once he hit zero-health. By the time we got him there, we were both very frustrated from a super long fight and very elated at seeing his health fall into single-digits. The five of us attacked as one for the final blow, and after a prolonged death scene the Lord of Flames burst apart into nothingness, leaving behind a chest and a portal that led to somewhere else in the Marshes of the Wyrd. We looted the chest without really examining what we had gotten, and made our way through the portal. It was then that I noticed my quest journal updating.

    Acquired: Frost Charm.

    ¡°Oh, wow. Nice, I guess...¡± I remarked, too tired to be enthusiastic about it.

    ¡°Hehh, screw that thing... where are we?¡± Lizzy wondered.

    ¡°Looks like a hunting camp.¡± Maryn said as we nearly staggered forward towards the light of a fire.

    ¡°So long as it''s a safe place to log out.¡± Healina remarked, and then rest of us nodded eagerly in agreement.

    ¡°You said it.¡± I returned.

    ¡°Maybe we should skip tomorrow night?¡± Ariana suggested.

    ¡°Maybe.¡± I had to agree.

    ¡°We''ll see how we feel tomorrow.¡± Lizzy said.

    ¡°Whew! It''s a safe camp.¡± Heali then said.

    We had stumbled into a hunting camp that was several long leagues northwest of either Berrydell or the Fire Dungeon. According to the map, we had traversed a fourth of the distance we needed to go -- which was still quite a ways. But all of our adventures had been quite enough for today. We paid the huntmaster a generous sum for lodgings, and then gratefully logged out for the night.

 Chapter Eighteen: A Break/To the Halls of Ice and Snow

    Thursday morning arrived with a thunderclap literally jolting me out of bed. I began readying myself for school almost immediately after my feet hit the ground, putting some serious thought into Rachel''s suggestion for a break. That was really nuts last night, I had to admit with a bemused look on my face. It would all came down to how rested from the experience we felt after school, I supposed.

    ¡°You alive, sport?¡± my dad called as I came downstairs.

    ¡°Yeah?¡± I said with a isn''t-it-obvious tone.

    ¡°Just checking. You weren''t up at the usual time.¡± he replied, turning back to his newspaper.

    ¡°Huh?¡± I looked at the clock. There were literally fifteen minutes before the bus showed up. ¡°Huhh?!¡± I repeated with exasperation, and began rushing around to get ready before heading out the door like a race horse just let loose from the gate. The one thing that stuck in my mind was that the old man just watched me with a hint of amusement as I did so.

    ¡°Careful out there!¡± he said as I flew out of the house.

    ¡°Right!¡± I replied, hurrying off to where the bus stop was.

    Apparently Ty was also having an off day today; he was not on the bus when it arrived, and I had the seat to myself for a change. It felt so weird, when I got off the bus at school I actually flicked myself just to make it feel like a more normal day. Then again, who the heck flicks themselves to feel normal... I thought to myself as I walked in the building. Someone slid their arm into mine as I turned the corridor; it was Rachel. I smiled, and she smiled back brightly.

    ¡°We''re both here at the same time!¡± she said happily.

    ¡°Now that''s a nice surprise,¡± I replied, and she smiled again. A small yawn escaped me, and she slowly nodded in agreement.

    ¡°That was rough last night.¡±

    ¡°Like really. I even woke up late somehow.¡±

    ¡°That''s not good.¡±

    ¡°Not really.¡± I had to admit.

    ¡°And you did so well with it yesterday; me too, actually, but still.¡± Rachel noted.

    ¡°Weather, maybe.¡±

    ¡°Hmm. Maybe we should give it a break tonight.¡±

    ¡°Or go back to our usual time slots.¡±

    ¡°That''d be a fair compromise.¡± she agreed.

    We reached our lockers, sorting out our morning books almost mechanically before heading in to class. One look at the board told us we were going through a wringer today with the academic side of our lives.

    ¡°But anyway; I thought we would end up at the frost place?¡± Rachel then remarked.

    ¡°Hmm? Oh, yeah... it should have done that, I thought... well the charm points the way anyway, and there''s a wayport nearby, so we should be good.¡± I said.

    ¡°Maybe it''s just they send us to towns and stuff that are further ahead,¡± Rachel thought aloud as she considered her query as well.

    ¡°That could be.¡± I admitted after a moment. ¡°Might also make a bit more sense, too.¡±

    ¡°True.¡± she nodded. A brief silence ensued, and then I dropped my voice a little.

    ¡°Things going okay at home still?¡±

    ¡°Pretty okay.¡± Rachel smiled back. ¡°I think the details are settled; now it''s just getting me moved... again.¡± she said with a sigh.

    ¡°Well at least this time it''s not that far.¡±

    ¡°Hmm.¡± she nodded idly.

    Oops. Did I say that wrong? Maybe I should have been more thoughtful about it...

    ¡°Ahh... but then...¡±

    ¡°You don''t have to worry about it.¡± she smiled at me.

    Yes I do. With that tone and that expression I absolutely do. I thought to myself with a faint panic.

    ¡°Sean, really,¡± she said in a more relaxed tone, taking my hand and squeezing it. ¡°It''s okay. You''re not wrong. I''m just a little stressed out still.¡± she told me, and I felt the tension that had been building up inside me evaporate.

    ¡°R-right... I want to help, if I can.¡± I told her, and she smiled again.

    ¡°You already are.¡± she replied, patting my hand as the homeroom bell brought us to order. We turned our attention to the front, and classes began.

    ***

    As usual, our first two classes, English and History, were fairly enjoyable, while Mathematics tortured our brains yet again with formulas that both of us knew we''d never again see in our lives once we walked out of high school, and Science rounded it off with a few interesting things about the environment -- or maybe the two of us were more into it because it focused on a more local environment, the Park, which we were planning on visiting again some time soon.

    Anyway. By the time the lunch bell came along the two of us were more than ready to switch off and turn our attention to food. We arranged our desks for our growing lunch group, and then heaved sighs of relief as we set out our own lunches.

    ¡°We should definitely go to the Park again this Saturday.¡± Rachel said as she opened up her bottle of tea.

    ¡°For the extra-credit assignment he posted? Sure.¡± I replied. ¡°And to just hang out and be together.¡± I added quickly, earning a smile.

    ¡°There you go.¡± she returned.

    Bullet: dodged.

    ¡°He focused a lot on Pond Lake, didn''t he though?¡± she asked me, and I looked up at the board which had yet to be wiped clean.

    ¡°Local aquatic ecosystems...¡± I read out loud, and she turned back to the board as well.

    ¡°Oh there we go!¡± Rachel said with a pleased tone. ¡°Hmm... but I wanted to focus more on the other animals and stuff...¡±

    ¡°Well, there''s nothing that says we can''t, and I bet it''d look good if we were expanding our focus,¡± I remarked.

    ¡°True. Let''s do that, then. You''ll have to bring a camera too, by the way.¡±

    ¡°Ehh? Did I have one?¡± I suddenly wondered. I mean, sure, phones have cameras, but even after all this time an actual camera still trumps them every time.

    ¡°Ooh, I know where we can go tonight instead of Panarena.¡± Rachel smirked as she registered my words.

    ¡°You wouldn''t about to be suggesting a camera store like the one at the mall, would you?¡± I returned with a faint and uneasy grin.

    ¡°What''s this about the mall?¡± Ellie said as she and the other two members of our impromptu ¡°gamers club¡± came in to join us.

    ¡°Oh, just something we might need for an extra assignment this weekend.¡± Rachel said in reply.

    ¡°Cool! I have to show up for a couple interviews there after school anyway; I know, Thursday of all days, right?¡± the blonde girl remarked as the three of them sat down with us. ¡°So why don''t we all go together?¡±

    ¡°That''s fine,¡± Andrea nodded.

    ¡°Hmm... I guess my father won''t mind too much.¡± Mary agreed.

    ¡°Well?¡± Rachel turned to me. ¡°Don''t say no now!¡± she added with a wink.

    ¡°E-ehh...¡± I stammered. A couple of other students walked past the classroom at that moment, both of them female.

    ¡°And she was like -- oh, hey, there''s Daniels again with all those chicks.¡±

    ¡°Like really, when did he get so popular?¡±

    ¡°Right? Even the principal''s daughter! Maybe we should find out some time...¡±

    Huh...? are there *those* kind of rumors going around? Ah-heh... maybe I should just take the bus home and go to the mall by myself on Friday...

    ¡°Heh. Guess we''re making you popular.¡± Ellie remarked with the most pleased grin I''d ever seen on a human being.

    ¡°Elisabeth Drew.¡± Andrea sighed. ¡°If you make him more anxious about deciding he''ll say no.¡±

    How right on the money can you get?

    ¡°But since your cute girlfriend suggested going in the first place I can''t imagine why you''d refuse.¡± Mary then said with a barely perceptible grin.

    ¡°A-ahh... heh-heh...¡± I stammered out, and then Rachel herself delivered the killing blow. That irrefusable pouting expression unique to all womankind, most potent against male creatures such as myself. ¡°Ah--!! N-n-n-nothing wrong with going to the mall tonight! N-nothing at all!¡± I hastily yelped out, and quick as a switch her expression changed to a beaming smile.

    No immunity, not even a little bit, I inwardly mused, uncertain of whether that was a good thing or a bad thing.

    ¡°Why don''t we just make a night of it, then? They have that student lounge near the food court, after all. We could help each other with studying and stuff, have some dinner, and then go home to do whatever.¡± Andrea suggested.

    ¡°Hey! Yeah we could!¡± Ellie jumped on board at once, and Mary nodded.

    ¡°That sounds like fun,¡± she agreed.

    ¡°It would make for a nice change after mindlessly charging through monsters all last night,¡± I admitted, and the others laughed.

    ¡°Riiiight?¡± Andrea sighed wearily. ¡°Mary''s health actually went down into the red that one time on the last boss... it was stressing me out.¡±

    ¡°And then Lana almost got one-shot a few times.¡± Mary reminded her.

    ¡°Ugh, that too.¡± the redhead groaned.

    ¡°I -- Lana never went below fifty percent, just so you know.¡± I retorted at once, and the four of them laughed again.

    ¡°Hahh, so bashful.¡± Ellie quipped.

    We continued bantering on like this until lunch was over, after which we went our more or less separate ways to afternoon classes. When those were through, Rachel and I went to pack things away, and then out to the parking lot to meet up with the other three. As we went out the main door we saw Ty walking in; he gave us a wave and continued on his way to the office. We waved back, and resumed our trek to Ellie''s car.

    ¡°Come to think of it I didn''t see him this morning,¡± Rachel said as we walked along.

    ¡°He wasn''t on the bus, no... guess he just got here... must''ve been something serious.¡± I pondered aloud.

    ¡°Hmm.¡±

    ¡°Felt so weird I actually flicked myself on the way in.¡± I recalled with a bemused look on my face.

    ¡°As long as you weren''t telling yourself to not beat anyone up.¡± she remarked.

    ¡°Though that''s not a bad sort of mantra for school.¡± I said with an amused grin, and she giggled.

    ¡°I guess you''re right about that!¡± she agreed.

    ¡°Yo! Lovebirds!¡± Ellie called out from inside her car. Andrea was in the front seat with her; Mary was seated behind Ellie. I opened the door to let Rachel in on Andrea''s side, and then got in when she was safely aboard, shutting the door behind me. ¡°All set?¡± our driver asked when we had gotten buckled. ¡°Then off we go!¡±

    I wasn''t sure what Ellie wanted to be when she got out of school. But judging from her driving skills, I''d have to guess ¡°stuntwoman¡± or ¡°race-driver¡±. It took a fair twenty minutes for my family to get to the mall; Ellie was there in less than ten. Once there, she split off for a while to do her interviews, and Andrea went with Mary to look at a bookstore, leaving Rachel and I to check out the camera shop.

    The brilliant part of this particular shop was that, like the game store a few sections away, it had a variety of wares and displays spanning from all across the era of photography, organized by decade. So it was part shop, part museum. There were ancient cameras all the way back from the 1840s, film cameras from the early twentieth century, thirty-five millimeter cameras, polaroids and digital cameras from the more modern era, and even some displays of things called ¡°Camera Obscura¡± that predated the nineteenth century. Of course, it was fascinating to look through all of these, but our more immediate design were the modern devices, which left two choices: neo-digital, or the imagers.

    Neo-digital was just an improved version of the older digital cameras from a few decades ago (the details were a bit beyond my understanding, but they produced sharper images and worked better at night-time than their predecessors). The imagers were their main competitor. Not only did they have the clarity-slash-resolution and improved nocturnal imaging of the neo-digital camera, they could also record three-dimensional images and then display them in a holographic-projection as either stills or motion-picture imagery. By the way, imager cameras had been used to help create Panarena, as I understood it.

    ¡°Hmm... some tough choices, I see...¡± Rachel said as she looked them over.

    ¡°You''d know better than I do, I guess.¡± I replied.

    ¡°The older digital ones aren''t bad. I have a neo-digital myself.¡± she continued.

    ¡°Hmm? Oh, right, like this one here.¡± I pointed, and she nodded.

    ¡°Yep! Same series, different model.¡±

    ¡°Ehh... these prices...¡±

    ¡°These are pretty nice prices actually, all things considered.¡± Rachel said.

    ¡°Hmm... I guess you''ve seen more shops than I have, after all.¡± I returned.

    ¡°True.¡± she nodded. ¡°Oh wow, this imager is really cheap!¡± she suddenly remarked, and she reached out to examine one of the more medium sized devices. It was ten-cen wide, three-cen thick, and five-cen high. Cen, as you might imagine, is short for centimeters. The price was one-hundred and fifty.

    ¡°NXI Five-thousand, Model Three-nine-three.¡± I read from the packaging. ¡°New Experimental Imager?¡± I wondered aloud.

    ¡°Not bad,¡± Rachel smiled at me. ¡°I''ve heard about the three-nine-three''s from a cousin of mine; she really likes it.

    ¡°Hrrmm... if I get it, it''ll be scaling back any fancy restaurant dates for a while...¡± I said to her with a wry grin.

    ¡°True...¡± Rachel remarked with a tone that suggested she was both sad at the prospect but determined to go through with it anyway.

    ¡°Hah, I know that tone.¡± I sighed, and she smirked.

    ¡°We''ll split it.¡± she said.

    ¡°Heh? Huh? Wha?¡± I suddenly wondered.

    ¡°It''ll be our camera! Our little baby imager!¡± Rachel said as she took it off the rack.

    ¡°Hahh... I''m feeling the birth pains already...¡± I remarked as I pulled out my phone to send her seventy-five.

    She nodded as it registered on her phone, and a few moments later we had our purchase. The two of us went to browse the bookstore after that, where Andrea and Mary soon found us. We found ourselves wandering into the fantasy, myth, and folklore section (which had finally, after all these years, separated itself from the science-fiction category), looking around at all the books and stories and such that had inspired the game we had become obsessed with.

    If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    ¡°Let''s see... ''A Comprehensive Guide to Chinese Myth''...¡± Andrea softly said as she read one of the titles aloud.

    ¡°Very formal.¡± Mary said. ¡°''Japan: From the Age of Legends to the Age of Samurai''.¡± she read from another, gazing at it curiously.

    ¡°I wonder how many of these the designers of Panarena went through...¡± Rachel wondered as she examined another on Old Germanic folklore.

    ¡°Ellie told me that she read somewhere about the company hiring nearly two-thousand experts on mythology and ancient, medieval, or pre-modern cultures around the world to help create it.¡± Andrea said, and Mary whistled in awe.

    ¡°Now that''s dedication.¡± she exclaimed.

    ¡°Wow.¡± was all that I could think to say.

    ¡°And they had just as many if not more than that doing the actual construction and programming, too.¡± Andrea added.

    ¡°That''s at least four-thousand people!¡± Rachel remarked with surprise.

    ¡°Now that part I understand.¡± I remarked. ¡°There can be dozens and even a couple hundred people working on your average game these days; the programming, mechanics, the world-building -- literal and conceptual -- the voice acting, skills, alpha-testers...¡± I added, shrugging at the end. ¡°It''s kind of amazing, really. And kind of sad in some cases.¡±

    ¡°Sad?¡± Mary wondered.

    ¡°Like if a game doesn''t really take off, then all that effort by all those people kind of goes to waste.¡± I said, and the other three nodded in understanding.

    ¡°That''s true; I never thought about that before.¡± Mary said.

    ¡°Yikes.¡± Andrea remarked.

    ¡°Did you ever play one like that?¡± Rachel asked me.

    ¡°One or two... they were fun concepts, too, but they came out when Void Crisis and Midgard Rings were a huge thing and they all got swept aside.¡± I replied.

    ¡°Oh wow.¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    ¡°All-righty... I''ve gotten all the books I really wanted here anyway, and Mary found a couple for herself; should we keep browsing or head for the lounge?¡± Andrea asked us.

    ¡°I''m gonna get a couple of these, first,¡± Rachel said, selecting the two books that Andrea and Mary had mentioned earlier.

    ¡°Sure! We''ll wait for you there, then.¡± Andrea replied, and the two older girls headed off to the lounge first.

    ¡°You should get one, too.¡± Rachel smiled.

    ¡°Eh? Hmm...¡± I paused, wondering to myself. ¡°I feel like the camera is enough for this trip...¡± I remarked softly, a wry expression on my face.

    ¡°Here!¡± she then said, planting a book in front of my face.

    Ireland: Myths and Prehistory, a study by S. Moore.

    ¡°Oh cool!¡± I couldn''t help but remark. ¡°Ehh... sure, you''re right. I''ll get it.¡± I agreed, and Rachel smiled happily at me.

    About an hour after that, Ellie joined us in a slightly exhausted and partly dejected mood. She sat down with us at the circle-booth we had commandeered, and let out a sigh. Andrea gently pushed a soda towards her, and she opened it lethargically.

    ¡°Bad interview?¡± Andrea wondered.

    ¡°The first one was okay; the second one went bad. I thought it was going well, and then I made a light joke that didn''t go over, and totally felt like I was trying to make up for it the rest of the interview... ugghh, he was dis-gust-ingly stonefaced. I can''t believe he runs the Fun Castle Wing of the mall.¡± Ellie grumbled.

    ¡°Oh wow, you actually got an interview with the Phineas Taylor Barnum the Second?¡± Mary asked with amazement.

    ¡°Huh? Oh, yeah. I guess that would be him, wouldn''t it...¡± the reply came. She then sipped on her drink idly for a few moments.

    ¡°I think you have a chance.¡± Mary then said, and Ellie about choked.

    ¡°No way!¡± the blonde girl said as she recovered herself, still coughing.

    ¡°But my father said he only personally interviews people he''s interested in.¡± the older girl returned.

    ¡°I heard that too,¡± Andrea nodded.

    ¡°Wow,¡± Rachel remarked.

    ¡°My old lady''s said something like that a couple times. ''Even if PTB the Second himself interviewed you, you''d never get a circus job!'' -- is something she likes to yammer at me now and again.¡± I added.

    ¡°Aww, that''s mean!¡± Andrea said as she tried not to laugh.

    ¡°But the point I think is that everyone he interviews gets the job no matter how bad the interview seems to go.¡± I said, and the other two nodded.

    ¡°Exactly.¡± Mary said.

    ¡°Hahh... well then.¡± Ellie sighed, ¡°I guess there''s hope for me yet -- though if that first one goes through, I''m definitely taking it.¡±

    ¡°But if the second one does go through, I''d forget the first. That guy''s ahead of the curve in the entertainment business. I heard he even invested in the Dream Machine''s development so he could begin work on a virtual arcade coming out next summer.¡± I suggested with a shrug.

    ¡°Hmm?¡± Ellie remarked as she looked at me inquisitively. ¡°So you do think about real life opportunities now and again.¡±

    ¡°I don''t want to hear that from the person who was having a stupidly fun time being a windmill of death last night.¡± I retorted at once, and Ellie snorted with laughter.

    ¡°True!¡± she agreed.

    ¡°But now that we''re here in the real world, it''s time to enjoy our pizza and focus on homework assignments!¡± Mary then said to us.

    ¡°Somehow those seem mutually exclusive,¡± Andrea said with a lopsided smile.

    ¡°Not for me!¡± Rachel and I both said at once, and we laughed.

    ***

    Homework was not as bad with the five of us collaborating together to finish it off; by the time seven o''clock rolled around, we had finished it--along with the pizzas--and at seven-ten we finally left the mall so Ellie could drive us all home. On the way, we agreed that we should at least try and find the wayport for the second dungeon, and so by the time eight-thirty came along the five of us were back in Panarena after all.

    ¡°Come to think of it, I would have felt guilty leaving this poor guy all alone for another six Panarena days or so...¡± I remarked as I loaded in near Sallymander.

    ¡°That probably would have scarred my conscience a little bit too,¡± Ari admitted as she joined me.

    Our three friends loaded in shortly after we did, and as soon as we had sold off our junk and gotten things repaired at the local traders we made our way east by northeast towards the Frost Dungeon.

    The area around here was much more marsh-like than the previous area. It was more temperate in climate, more wet, faintly humid, and the overall atmosphere had a hint of gloom about it. This area, I sensed, had the proper wyrd-ness which had given the marshes their name. Trees with thick trunks and massive roots that rose up and out of the ground to form odd tunnel-like formations at their bases, their canopies all but blotting out the skies above. Birds of the scavenger kind hung about their boughs, gazing idly or with anticipatory glances at the things going on below. Frogs and toads lounged around lazily, their half-closed eyes paying us no mind. In the distance we could see a massive turtle-shell nestled in a marsh-glade; we decided to avoid it at all costs.

    There were several strange kinds of gators waiting for us, most of them with strong physical resistance and a couple of them with magical reflects. I could see serpents and other snake-type monsters slithering or even swimming about; I kept a wary eye on these. A few of them did attack us, but we managed to down them pretty quickly. As they changed from normal to elite, I suggested that we try and skirt the area to avoid tangling with another possible field boss. The others agreed; all our attention tonight was focused on finding the dungeon. We had no desire to take up more time with unneeded side-quests.

    After at least two hours, we noticed that the terrain we were crossing into was becoming colder. All five of us looked at each other and nodded; we had found the area we were looking for. We gathered around Ariana as she used her far-seeing skills to see what she could see. A few moments later, she alighted on something that could possibly be our dungeon.

    Her range for seeing was limited, so we could only just see it, but we could make out the shape of a castle-like structure that seemed to be made out of ice and snow. That''s *too* literal, I thought to myself with a grimace. We could see the shapes of monsters and other creatures that pathed around the castle; until we got closer, we wouldn''t know exactly what they were, but I was certain that some of them were troll-like and that there were a couple which seemed to be floating, probably wisps of some kind. I mentioned this to the others, and Lizzy agreed.

    ¡°They had a special frost-maiden boss in the beta-test one time; those floating things remind me of her.¡± she remarked.

    ¡°Like a cold-banshee?¡± Maryn wondered.

    ¡°Pretty much; cold-banshee, frost-witch, something like that.¡±

    ¡°How far away are we?¡± Healina asked.

    ¡°This is like on the absolute limit of my skill-radius; it''s probably a couple game hours away.¡± Ariana replied.

    ¡°Hmm... maybe we could poke around if we get there soon enough... I mean, it''ll only have been an hour since we got on in real life, but if we''re still feeling penitent about cutting it close last night...?¡± Maryn said to us with a faint grin.

    ¡°Kind of but not really.¡± Lizzy shrugged.

    ¡°I''m good for whatever.¡± Heali added.

    ¡°If Lana goes for it, I''ll go, too.¡± Ari remarked.

    ¡°Ehh.¡± I shrugged. ¡°We''ll see when we get there.¡± I said, pulling up the map.

    ¡°Fair enough.¡± Maryn nodded back.

    ¡°Oh, the map updated,¡± I noticed. ¡°Hmm... ''Valley of Terror-Frost'', ''The Icewood'', and the ''Frozen Ascent''.¡±

    ¡°All directly in our path,¡± Lizzy sighed as she examined her own map.

    ¡°It''d take too long to go around any of this,¡± Ariana said as she examined the map I had out. ¡°Might as well travel through them, and at least find a wayport or a safe haven to log out if it takes all our time.¡±

    ¡°And then we''ll have Friday night to get it done.¡± Healina nodded in agreement.

    ¡°Sounds good to me.¡± I said, putting the map away. Lizzy did the same, readying her halberd. The rest of us readied our own weapons, and we resumed our march through the snow-bound region in the Marshes of the Wyrd.

    I don''t know exactly what I expected to find in the Valley of Terror-Frost. At the very least I figured on spectral-type monsters with ice or other cold-based attacks. And there were a couple of these every now and again to be sure. But I didn''t expect the name to be quite so literal. The frost itself would form into an incorporeal being as we passed through, and would then place an immobilizing effect on a couple of us -- a ¡°fear effect¡±, if you will. Then we would be further ambushed by ice-sprites, winter-themed creatures such as wolves, bears, or even owls, along with the occasional yeti-like beast that just would not stand and fight for anything, preferring to hurl objects at us from a distance and scamper off anytime we got close.

    Fortunately, after the first of these little ambushes we wisely decided that Healina should keep up an immunity shield on herself and Maryn, so that no matter who was attacked the two of them could at least keep our attackers from damaging the rest of us right off the bat. And if either of them or both were hit by the terror-frost ambush, they would be unaffected, leaving us free to counterattack much quicker. Healina did need a few moments to free the trapped victim, after all.

    Well, these shenanigans continued for about forty minutes or so, and then we finally came to the end of the valley, where we found more shenanigans waiting for us. This time there were three terror-frosts, and one of them was a boss. This one had the unfortunate ability to overcome Healina''s immunity spell; fortunately, the monster-algorithm goofed up a bit, and for whatever reason Healina was not targeted by any of the three. At the same time, however, the rest of us were not so lucky. Maryn, Lizzy, Ariana, and I watched helplessly -- and with great amusement -- as Healina ran around trying to avoid being attacked while she summoned minion after minion to aid her.

    After about five minutes (more or less), she had finally conjured enough to keep the attackers occupied, and at last she was able to free Maryn and Ariana. Then she got targeted again, and the whole scene basically replayed itself while Ari and Maryn scampered around to keep the aggro off of her. It settled down a lot quicker this time, and finally she was able to free Lizzy and myself, whereupon the two of us very irritably dove in to the melee and began thrashing our attackers with a will. It took us nearly twenty minutes more, but at last we finished off the boss fight in the valley, and after getting our victory rewards we continued on without even looking back at the place. Inwardly I made a mental note to keep an eye out for other places like it.

    Then we got to the Icewood. As you might imagine, this place was fairly self-explanatory. All the trees, bushes, and lesser plants in the area were quite frosted. The monsters here ranged from crystal elk to frosted wood-demons, along with another incorporeal monster, shiver-maidens. They were hauntingly beautiful creatures (literally) that hovered a few inches off of the ground; they would summon ice-spirits and ice-sprites to aid them as they cast ice-bolts at us. There was always the faint sound of bells whenever they approached, so they weren''t exactly ambushers in any sense of the word. A ghostly, muted wail would come from their lips at times; we quickly learned that this was a cold spell which could rapidly drain our health.

    After the first few fights in the Icewood we became very wary, almost paranoid, of being attacked. Ariana then wondered if we could circumvent fighting the monsters in this part of the area by climbing into the tree-tops and jumping through their boughs like a squirrel to reach the other side.

    ¡°Anything would be better than trying to stay on top of that health-drain,¡± Healina said quite eagerly.

    ¡°Once you get your skills a bit higher, something like that should be no problem.¡± Lizzy told her. ¡°And besides, you already have some great HoTs that kept us up through the fight.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, just barely,¡± our Sea Elf grumbled.

    As I half-listened to them going on back and forth about it, I decided to see if Ari''s idea would work. I walked over to a nearby pine, probably one of the easiest trees to climb in any reality, and began my ascent. It lasted maybe ten seconds before a pair of menacing eyes opened up and looked directly at me. With a scream I kicked off and landed on the snow with a thump. The others turned at once, seeing the docile pine tree suddenly come alive.

    ¡°Oh, snap...!!¡± Lizzy remarked, and the others backed up a pace as I scrambled to my feet. Then I saw it. I had accidentally woken a field boss.

    King of the Icewood.

    ¡°Ahh--!!¡± I stammered, watching as the eyes fixated on us.

    ¡°I guess climbing trees is out...¡± Ariana squeaked softly.

    ¡°No kidding!¡± Lizzy returned.

    ¡°Here it comes!¡± Maryn said, stepping forth as she tapped her shield in challenge.

    ¡°Here we go...!¡± I muttered, taking out my daggers.

    Now, this guy had a lot of attacks that were kind of similar to many other attacks by tree-type monsters in other games. Dropping bee''s nests (frozen hornets, in this case), trying to halt our moving around with roots, and even trying to outright stomp on us (two of its bigger roots served as feet or legs). But there were a few new ones on me; for one thing, it could shoot frosted pine-needles at us. Also, it had two branches that were effectively arms, and it used these to try and swat at us or grab us. Ariana got seized at one point, and it began literally squeezing the life out of her.

    A switch flipped in my brain.

    Without even really thinking about it I activated flame damage on my daggers, and began slicing and stabbing the arm that held her like a mad-person. An incoherent yell raged out of my body the whole duration of the attack. Just as her health was in the low red it finally let go, and I ceased my attack to go and catch her. She landed safely in my arms, and Healina quickly shot her with major heals while Maryn and Lizzy grabbed our enemy''s attention once more.

    ¡°Whew!¡± Healina sighed with relief. ¡°That was too close!¡± she remarked as Ariana pressed her lips against mine. I returned her kiss fervently, my mind still racing with fury about almost losing her.

    I mean, okay, sure, it''s a game; if you die, you don''t really die. You just go back to a wayport or a rezz point or something. I know that. I know it. No one knows it better than me. But reason and emotion hardly go hand-in-hand.

    Our lips parted, and she smiled at me. I helped her to her feet as Healina turned back to aiding the other two, and she let out a sigh of relief.

    ¡°This virtual reality stuff really does mess with your head, you know?¡± she said gently, trying to calm herself down. ¡°I thought for some reason I actually was going to die.¡±

    ¡°I know,¡± I returned just as softly. ¡°You okay?¡±

    ¡°I''m recovered enough to get back at that nasty tree.¡± Ari said with a determined grin, which I returned.

    ¡°Same here. Let''s go, partner.¡± I said to her, and she nodded. I took out my bow this time as she raised her staff, and we rejoined the attack.

    After that we managed to figure out what precipitated each major attack of the boss, and so avoided any more hair-raising incidents during the fight. When he reached fifty-percent health, he summoned a wave of minions, mostly frosted wood-demons but also a few crystal elk, which we kept busy with until they were all gone. We then proceeded to literally burn down his health from there, and when he was down the five of us sat together in a back-to-back circle for a few minutes to recuperate.

    ¡°Oh, look, a resource cache,¡± Lizzy said after a while.

    ¡°Nice.¡± Healina returned tiredly.

    ¡°Rare and unique ingredients for potion crafters and smiths--very nice.¡± the blonde girl corrected.

    ¡°Sure.¡± the platinum-haired girl smiled back.

    ¡°Maybe everything else will leave us alone from now on,¡± Maryn said as she got into position to get up.

    ¡°That would be nice,¡± Lizzy grunted as she stood up, ¡°But unlikely.¡±

    ¡°You never know.¡± Healina remarked, getting up with Maryn. I sprang up next, helping Ari to her feet, and we reoriented ourselves to head towards the dungeon.

    ¡°True. You never do know in this game.¡± Lizzy agreed. ¡°Heck, you can''t even climb a dang tree,¡± she quipped airily, and my face scrunched up into a wry expression.

    ¡°Oh, shut up,¡± I muttered under my breath, and Ari giggled.

    We resumed our trek. In the wake of the boss'' defeat, the creatures of the Icewood did actually give us a wide berth. I suppose it could have been part of their programming, giving the players a certain window of time to pass through unmolested until the boss regenerated for the next party. Whatever the reason it was a welcome reprieve. And then we got to the Frozen Ascent.

    Again, literal. This was a massive flight of stairs that led up to what we could now see was more of an ice palace than a castle. And the stairs -- if you guessed they were covered in ice, you guessed correctly. There were ice-soldiers and ice-knights lining their sides, and with Ariana''s far-seeing we could see a few of the yeti monsters further ahead, along with more shiver-maidens and a couple of walking trees.

    ¡°Lovely.¡± Maryn sighed, and then looked over towards the left. ¡°Oh hey! A wayport!¡± she then said, and the five of us immediately rushed over towards it, then stowed ourselves away in an empty structure nearby. Sallymander then finally reappeared, bringing a bundle of herbs and plants in its mouth.

    ¡°About time you turned back up!¡± Lizzy said scoldingly. Sallymander merely flicked its tongue, setting its burden down before us.

    ¡°Let''s see here,¡± Ariana said as she picked them up. ¡°Properties: high frost-resistance to frost-immunity; excellent to outstanding flame damage with bonus damage-over-time effects; and slip-resistance... slip resistance?¡± she suddenly wondered, and then all five of us looked over towards the stairs with dismay.

    ¡°You''re kidding.¡± Lizzy said flatly.

    ¡°They''re actually made of ice and not just covered in it,¡± Maryn remarked with a hint of amazement.

    ¡°Whew!¡± Healina shook her head. ¡°Good save, Sally.¡± she said to our pet, who flicked its tongue contentedly.

    ¡°I think we should save this shenanigan for tomorrow... after we get some potions crafted.¡± I then said.

    ¡°Good idea.¡± Maryn agreed.

    ¡°We accomplished our main objective for the night anyway; finding the place.¡± Lizzy nodded.

    ¡°I''ll log in early tomorrow and get some done.¡± Heali then said.

    ¡°Yeah, I think I''ve had enough excitement for tonight.¡± Ari said bemusedly.

    ¡°I don''t doubt it.¡± Lizzy smirked back.

    ¡°Okay; see you all tomorrow then!¡± Maryn said, and with that she logged out first. Lizzy and Heali poofed as well, leaving Ariana and I alone with the salamander.

    ¡°Poor guy... hope he doesn''t freeze.¡± Ari suddenly said, and I suddenly felt much guiltier than before about leaving him alone.

    ¡°Ahh...¡± I looked around the old building quickly. ¡°We can close the doors and windows... and there''s some meat and stuff in our inventory from the crystal elk... not sure how that works but it''s there...¡± I noted as I opened my inventory.

    ¡°Right? That is weird...¡± Ari agreed as she also opened hers.

    ¡°We can leave him enough snacks while we''re gone... oh hey! You have some of those magic crystals, right?¡± I said as I took out the meat in question.

    ¡°Hmm? Oh! I see; yes, I can definitely do something with those!¡± she smiled back as she took out her share of the meat and three of the crystals in question. We set the meat on the floor near a hearth for our little friend, and then Ari set the crystals in the hearth itself. ¡°I''ll enchant them to radiate heat in turn; the first one for now, the second one to go off when that expires, and then the third to last until we get back.¡± she continued as she operated the spell-menu on them.

    ¡°Nice!¡± I grinned.

    ¡°Hey, it was your idea.¡± Ari returned as she finished.

    ¡°Yeah, but I didn''t quite know what to do with them.¡± I shrugged, and she winked back at me.

    ¡°That''s why we''re a team!¡± she said.

    ¡°Definitely!¡± I agreed.

    ¡°Okay; Sally''s all set. See you tomorrow?¡± she then said, and I nodded.

    ¡°See you tomorrow.¡± I told her as we shared a hug. The two of us then logged out for the night, departing Panarena to the safety of our beds. I set the Dream Machine on its charger, and fell asleep moments later.

 Bonus Chapter: Daydreamer

    The young girl with her long brown hair tied back in a ponytail wandered through the streets of Zan, sighing in a bored manner. She was popular around the city, but she hadn''t joined anyone''s guild yet. The reason for that was simple. She had heard about the Silvernight Queens, and when she had read about them on the forums she determined that they were the ones she probably wanted to join. There was a rumor at her school that a group of students she had heard about were into this game, Panarena Fantasy Online, but she had no clue if they were the alter-egos of those now-infamous girls.

    ¡°Hmm...¡± she sighed to herself as she got to a set of stairs, heading up them to go and sit on the wall, one of her favorite things to do when nothing was really happening. ¡°Caocao told me a rumor that they were heading this way; I wonder if I will get to meet them... although it would be nice if I could get into a guild with my classmates... or fellow students... it would be nice to have someone to share this obsession with. Maybe then I would not feel so isolated, and be able to make new friends.¡± the girl mused to herself in Mandarin, her first language.

    Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

    The sun was going down in the west, towards Kunlun Province. She found the region of that name funny, since there was an actual Kunlun in China, but there was not much of a similarity beyond that.

    ¡°That means it''s about eleven in real time, hm?¡± she mused to herself softly. She hopped down from the wall to go back to an inn, where she logged out for the night.

    ***

    Back in her room, the young girl set the Dream Machine on its tower for the night and curled up to try and sleep. I hope I meet them soon. I hope I get to meet people whom I can call friends, to share this world of dreams with!

 Chapter Nineteen: Cold Encounters/Electric Mayhem

    On Friday I woke up on time, and was able to start my morning with a more focused state of mind. No comments were made about my lapse the day before, and after breakfast and such I left the house to head for the bus. It was cloudy, but there was no hint of rain today. When I got on the bus, Ty was again not there. I wonder if he''s doing some sort of extra-curricular thing, I wondered to myself as I sat down. The bus ride was quiet, as it usually was, and we actually got to school pretty early. I wandered in casually, a yawn escaping me as I passed through the door. Someone gently flicked the side of my head, and then an arm linked itself with mine.

    ¡°Hm? Oh, hey!¡± I said to Rachel, who smirked at me.

    ¡°Couldn''t let you flick yourself again.¡± she teased.

    ¡°Eh, I forgot anyway... but he''s not here again, it seems.¡±

    ¡°I saw that,¡± Rachel nodded. ¡°Must be something serious, whatever it is. Hope it''s not family issues.¡± she said as we made our way to our lockers.

    ¡°Hmm... he''s never seemed like the type to have problems at home,¡± I shrugged.

    ¡°That doesn''t meant too much.¡± she said with a wry grin.

    ¡°Ahh--true.¡± I returned sheepishly. ¡°How are things, anyway?¡± I asked as we got to our lockers and opened them to sort our books out for the morning.

    ¡°Good. I think I''ll be moving in next Friday.¡± she told me.

    ¡°Wow.¡± I remarked.

    ¡°Yeah. I guess mom really did want that job...¡± she added sadly. I stopped sorting out books for a moment and wrapped her in a gentle hug. She smiled, and hugged me back. A few moments later we returned to getting our books out, and then headed in for class.

    ¡°I''m not sure what to say about that; but I''m glad you don''t have to leave.¡± I said as we sat down.

    ¡°Me too.¡± Rachel told me. ¡°I''m starting to feel the way you do some days, though. It''d be nice if that other world could really be our reality... no school, no parents, and all moving decisions are ours.¡±

    ¡°That''s true,¡± I agreed with a laugh.

    ¡°Think we''ll get through math today?¡± she then said with a hapless grin.

    ¡°Ugh.¡± I slumped, and she let out a sigh.

    ¡°You too, huh?¡±

    ¡°If I don''t have to take another math class next year, I will be the happiest person in the school.¡±

    ¡°Unless of course we fail this one.¡± Rachel remarked.

    ¡°Gyeack...¡± I twitched.

    ¡°Right!?¡± she agreed. Then the bell rang, and class was called to order.

    ***

    ¡°So what d''you think? We in for a hard time tonight in-game?¡± Ellie asked as we ate lunch. Morning classes had gone by as they always did, and lunch had, as always, come as a welcome reprieve. Now the five of us were seated around the two desks that all but had our names inscribed upon them lately.

    ¡°Judging from just getting there...¡± Andrea wrinkled her nose, adjusting her glasses as she reached for one of her oranges.

    ¡°Riiiighhht?¡± the other girl sighed frustratedly.

    ¡°Whatever happens, we''ll be in for an ''ice'' time.¡± I quipped, and they groaned.

    ¡°Rachel.¡± Ellie said, and my girlfriend obliged by flicking my forehead.

    ¡°Minus five for a bad pun!¡± she giggled.

    ¡°Ow! Out of what?¡±

    ¡°Hmm... you also did the Sallymander pun too...¡± she reflected.

    ¡°You guys ended up going along with that...¡± I reminded her in a semi-flat tone.

    ¡°True, but it''s a points loss nevertheless.¡± Andrea said.

    ¡°Ughh.¡±

    ¡°Now that one was baaad.¡± Ellie nodded in agreement. ¡°Minus ten for the salamander pun.¡± she proclaimed, and the other girls nodded in near-perfect unison.

    ¡°Gyeck!¡±

    Snap, they''ve turned against me completely. And I *still* don''t know what I''m getting minus points for.

    ¡°Let''s call it out of two-hundred to be fair. Since there''s four of us and one of him.¡± Mary suggested.

    ¡°Huhh?¡±

    ¡°That''s fair.¡± Andrea agreed.

    ¡°Eh. I would''ve gone for the classic ''hundred, but that makes sense.¡± Ellie added.

    ¡°That works! Right?¡± Rachel turned to me with a smile.

    ¡°You still haven''t told me how to get my points back.¡± I then said.

    ¡°True!¡± she replied. ¡°So you''re okay with two-hundred then? Ahh -- I mean, one-eighty-five?¡± she said with a foxy smirk.

    ¡°I guess that''s fair,¡± I returned with a bemused look.

    ¡°Hm, hm... what can he do to get his points back?¡± Mary remarked with a subtle and innocent smile.

    ¡°Learn to drive.¡± Ellie quipped.

    ¡°Hahh?¡±

    ¡°Be more helpful in study sessions.¡± Andrea put forth.

    ¡°Ehh?!¡±

    ¡°I''m sure I''ll think of something later.¡± Rachel smiled.

    ¡°Ahh...¡±

    ¡°Good choices!¡± Mary said. ¡°Hmm... I''ll add... passing your exams with at least a ''B''.¡± she then winked over at me.

    ¡°Now that''s definitely out of the question...¡± I softly retorted.

    ¡°Then try refraining from puns.¡± Andrea said, sticking her tongue out at me. I gave her a grumpy look in reply. ¡°Although he might find other ways of getting points back in-game, too. If we''re going to count the salamander pun against him that is.¡± she then added.

    Saved... partially... I think.

    ¡°You''re absolutely right.¡± Mary nodded.

    ¡°Ehh. Fair.¡± Ellie reluctantly agreed. Rachel simply patted my hand, but that was all I needed. I smiled back. ¡°But really though... what could be worse than--¡±

    ¡°Don''t say it or it''ll be there.¡± I interrupted her and she quickly bit back her train of thought.

    ¡°Ahh... ha-ha-ha-heh-heh... eh-hem.¡± she laughed sheepishly.

    ¡°Obviously we have to get the potions done first.¡± Andrea said.

    ¡°I really want to try those stairs without the potion first.¡± Ellie grinned.

    ¡°That does sound really fun... stupidly so, but still fun.¡± I agreed.

    ¡°Right?¡± she returned.

    ¡°Then we''ll get a recorder going while you two derp it out that way.¡± Mary said, and Rachel giggled.

    ¡°Maybe it is a dumb idea... but in this game, you know they''ve got to have a place where you can go for some actual sledding or skiing or snow-tubing somewhere.¡± I then said.

    ¡°Ooh, I like that idea. Give him five points back.¡± Andrea remarked.

    Just five? I thought to myself with a sullen expression.

    ¡°Agree.¡± Ellie nodded.

    ¡°Should give him twenty if he comes up with a real winter-fun trip. Or even something for autumn.¡± Mary said with a sidelong glance.

    W-what''s with that all of a sudden?

    ¡°Oh, excellent!¡± Rachel suddenly interjected. ¡°Yes, we really should do that. Or maybe even just something special for the two of us sometime...¡± she said to me with that irresistible expression.

    ¡°Boo! We got sidelined!¡± Ellie protested, and Andrea sighed.

    ¡°Now we have to take points from Rachel...¡± she remarked regretfully.

    ¡°Whaaa?!¡± Rachel exclaimed, and Mary covered her mouth to hide her laughter.

    ¡°It''s not so bad once you get used to it.¡± I said as I patted her on the back.

    ¡°Boo.¡± she remarked grumpily.

    ¡°Dude, when did that dork get so chick-popular?¡± a guy''s voice remarked as a group of students walked past the classroom.

    ¡°Oh, snap, that''s--!!¡±

    ¡°Ho-ly... you''re right!¡±

    ¡°Even her? Wow,¡± a girl''s voice said. The conversation, and the students, faded down the hallway, and we shared a look with each other.

    ¡°I really don''t care what they say.¡± Mary shrugged.

    ¡°Me neither.¡± Ellie nodded in agreement. ¡°If they''re dumb enough to go thinking this kid''s a womanizer they should go back to junior high.¡±

    ¡°Sh-should I be taking that as a compliment or an insult?¡± I wondered out loud.

    ¡°The former, I think.¡± Rachel told me.

    ¡°Maybe we should just close the door when lunch happens. Or find a new hangout.¡± Andrea suggested.

    ¡°We got kicked off the roof already,¡± I said with a goofy grin as I looked at Rachel, who nodded back.

    ¡°True. That was a nice spot... but it does rain every now and then.¡± she sighed.

    ¡°Right.¡± I returned.

    ¡°Hmm...¡± Mary pondered for a moment. ¡°I''ll talk with my dad tomorrow before I get on in-game.¡± she told us.

    ¡°R-really? About what?¡± Ellie wondered.

    ¡°You''ll see.¡± the older girl replied.

    ¡°Boo.¡± the blonde girl groaned.

    ¡°Should we take them from her, too?¡± Andrea nudged her.

    ¡°Def.¡± Ellie nodded in agreement, and Mary affected an indignant look.

    ¡°Rude!¡± she scolded them, and we all burst out laughing.

    After lunch was over, we made our way to afternoon classes, and when those were done Rachel and I headed back to our lockers. For probably the first time this year, we actually had to pack all of our books to do homework.

    ¡°Sheesh, this is heavy...¡± I groaned as I hoisted the thing onto my shoulders and shut the locker door.

    ¡°Agree...¡± Rachel groaned with me. ¡°I wonder what Mary wants to talk with her dad about though,¡± she then wondered as we started moving, or staggering forward, depending on your opinion.

    ¡°Hmm... I would guess it has something to do with our lunch accommodations.¡± I said in reply.

    ¡°Ah! True.¡± she nodded back. ¡°The classroom has always been better than the cafeteria, though.¡±

    ¡°Right?¡± I said as we rounded the corner and headed to the door.

    ¡°I always hated cafeterias. Mostly because I was always the new person, the strange new outsider who had no idea how people fit in with each other... it was so awkward. So I always hid in the classrooms for lunch.¡± she confided to me.

    ¡°I can... kind of imagine. Even being here all the time, I never really got to know anyone; I did pretty much the same thing. Must''ve been harder for you, though.¡± I replied, and she gave me a smile.

    ¡°It''s all over now. I get to be in one spot, with good friends that I really like, and this super-cute guy I''m going out with.¡± she said, beaming at me.

    ¡°Must be one lucky guy.¡± I said with a grin as we reached the door. She kissed me, and then we went outside.

    ¡°He is. But not as lucky as me.¡± she winked. ¡°See you for study?¡±

    ¡°Definitely.¡± I said with a weary groan.

    ¡°Hah, right... we had a lot tonight... see you later, then!¡± she waved, and I waved back as we headed to our separate buses.

    ***

    ¡°Ughhh.¡± I groaned wearily as I loaded in. Sallymander was curled up by one of our magic heat-stones, content as he could be.

    Waaaaiit a min-ute. If *they* refer to him as Sallymander too, doesn''t that mean *they* lose points as well? I suddenly wondered. Chuckling evilly as this epiphany struck me, I sat down and waited for the others. Boy, that laugh sounds a lot better with a girl''s voice, I thought with amusement.

    The others loaded in within the next ten minutes or so; when I called their attention to my little paradox, they all exchanged looks of bemusement with each other. Gotcha! I thought with glee.

    ¡°Ehh. Nah. But we''ll give you five points back since you brought it up... we did go along with it, after all.¡± Lizzy shrugged.

    ¡°True. Your new count is five less than two-hundred, then.¡± Healina smiled.

    I adopted a grumpy pout for a moment, but then decided it was better than nothing. In about ten minutes more, Healina and Ari had our new potions prepared, and we were more or less set to make our way up to the Frost Dungeon. It was then that I pondered something else, and I looked down at our pet, who flicked his tongue as I stared at him. Ariana followed my gaze, and then suddenly realized what I was thinking.

    ¡°H-how do we get our pet to drink the potion? Or does he need it?¡± she wondered.

    ¡°Hm? He never needed them before, did he?¡± Heali wondered in turn.

    ¡°That''s true...¡± Lizzy said.

    ¡°Would he even take one if we offered it?¡± Maryn said, looking down at him. I knelt down with one of the extras I had been given, uncorking the thing and pointing it towards him. He came over and gobbled it down greedily.

    ¡°Huh.¡± I pondered as he finished it and the bottle went poof. All sorts of goofy ideas suddenly went off in my head about what we could do with pets in the future, but I restrained myself out of fear of losing more points.

    ¡°Well that answers that. Let''s get going.¡± Lizzy then said, and we made our way out and headed for the stairs.

    Once more we assembled before the massive stairs of ice that led up to the palatial dwelling of whatever boss was holed up in its deepest or innermost reaches. The ice-soldiers and ice-knights were still perfectly arranged on either side, and the yeti monsters and shiver-maidens further up the ascent seemed eager for us to climb up. We couldn''t see the walking trees this time, but none of us doubted for a second they were lurking around somewhere.

    ¡°Probably camouflaged with the real trees on the slope,¡± Lizzy remarked.

    ¡°Fun.¡± Heali quipped.

    ¡°Hmm...¡± I frowned, looking over the sight once more. Something felt different or off this time. I took out my bow, and activated Ranger''s Eye; it was kind of like Shadow Vision, but it allowed me to zoom in on things.

    ¡°Lana?¡± Ariana asked me.

    ¡°Looking for the boss.¡± I told her, and she nodded back. None of the monsters ahead of us had a boss tag, that I could see. I then tried adding Shadow Vision to Ranger''s Eye. All of a sudden I could see a massive shape underneath the icy stair, waiting to burst out. ¡°Don''t think we want to waste time with that... let''s try getting around through those trees on the side there.¡± I said, nodding towards our left.

    ¡°That bad, huh?¡± Lizzy wondered.

    ¡°This boss is lurking under the stairs; I bet he pops out when we get halfway up them.¡± I said, and she nodded.

    ¡°Did we make the potions for nothing?¡± Heali wondered with a bemused smile.

    This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

    ¡°Nope. The whole hill is ice.¡± I said as I put away my bow and turned off the skills.

    ¡°Ah. Gotcha.¡± she nodded.

    ¡°Let''s go!¡± Maryn said as soon as I was ready. The five of us scampered off towards the left, and began our ascent with Sallymander at our heels.

    I was half-afraid that this lurking boss would pop out anyway at a certain point despite our roundabout path, but to my pleasant surprise we managed to circumvent the mechanic. The five of us made it up the icy hill without too much trouble, though we did slip a few times even with our slip-resistance on. Not everything can be perfect, I guess: the fine print, so to speak, said that it increased the resistance by eighty-percent. So we were lucky not to slip up more.

    Anyway. We did end up fighting a few of the roaming monsters that were pathing around the area, but we didn''t get them all at once. An elite suddenly popped up out of nowhere when we got to the top, but still there were no bosses, and the big guy hiding underneath the stairs wasn''t waking up, so we ended up with a pretty fair deal all told. After defeating the elite and the minions that had come with him, we used the charm we had found on the door, and we were magically transported inside.

    ***

    ¡°Whose idea was it to come all the way up here for nothing?¡± Lizzy sighed exasperatedly.

    Okay, let me back up: upon entering, we had decided unanimously that, since it was a palace and not a dungeon, the boss would be at the top instead of the bottom. Let me stress one word: ¡°unanimously¡±. All of us agreed. So no one could really be blamed, though it was a fiasco for sure.

    Basically, it was just like the Flame Dungeon, every hall, room, and stairway filled with monsters much like the ones outside, except there were no tree-monsters. Ice-devils and cold-wyrms were a couple types that had not appeared outside, and most of them were of elite status. Exactly ten of them had been mini-bosses. How did I know? Because my quest log told me so. ¡°Defeat X more mini-bosses to unlock the hidden lair of Vyntir, the Frost Lord¡±. And guess where the hidden lair was?

    All.

    The way.

    Back down.

    The stairs.

    That we had just spent.

    Nearly three hours.

    Of Panarena time.

    Climbing up.

    ¡°Hahh...¡± I groaned, refusing to dignify Lizzy''s complaining -- especially as she had been the first to suggest the boss would be up here.

    ¡°It was you.¡± Heali retorted, apparently not feeling as generous or indifferent.

    ¡°Huh? Was it?¡± the blonde girl returned with a weary and somewhat dismissive air. The rest of us sighed.

    ¡°Well at least it''s straight down, and we got rid of everything in the way.¡± Maryn then said to us.

    ¡°And how...¡± I muttered.

    ¡°Did we close off that one portal or did we just skip it?¡± Ariana suddenly wondered.

    ¡°It''s halfway across the palace; let''s just go straight down.¡± Lizzy griped.

    ¡°Even if it''s still sending out monsters, once we get into the boss chamber they can''t bother us.¡± Maryn said in agreement.

    ¡°Time to run down!¡± out halberdier said with a gleeful tone this time.

    ¡°Weren''t you just fussing about it?¡± I muttered again as I got to my feet.

    ¡°Let''s let her be Lizzy.¡± Ariana patted my shoulder; I gave her a wry grin, and she returned it.

    ¡°Right; down!¡± I said, feeling reinvigorated myself. But I didn''t take the stairs. Well, not exactly.

    These stairs had a railing. And it was such, such a clich¨¦ thing to do, yet so very irresistible; I just had to do it. Instead of racing down the stairs I straddled the railing, and began sliding down. This would probably be slightly painful in a male avatar, I bet, I thought to myself as I whooshed past Lizzy and Maryn.

    ¡°What the -- hey!!¡± the blonde girl cried out as Maryn laughed. ¡°No fair!¡± she chattered, and jumped on the railing herself. Before long all five of us were sliding down the railing, the other three for expediency rather than the competitive spirit Lizzy had about it.

    ¡°Okay, this is fun! Ten points for Se--ahh! For Lana!¡± Heali said as she let out a whoop. Inwardly I congratulated myself.

    ¡°Definitely!¡± Ariana remarked as we continued whooshing along.

    It was kind of like a roller-coaster, I guess; except it just kept getting faster, and fairly monotonous. By the time I reached the bottom I was practically insensate and very disoriented, falling onto my face shortly after. Lizzy tumbled off after me, followed by Maryn, and then Healina and Ari hopped off with ease, not affected at all by the hypnotic rush we had endured.

    ¡°Wha, why''sh you not dizzies?¡± I asked them almost drunkenly as I rolled over. Heali mumbled something and then waved her staff over me; immediately I was better, and so were the other two.

    ¡°We decided to put a buff on ourselves before we slid down to avoid dizziness.¡± Ariana crossed her arms and nodded, a smile on her face. ¡°And it worked! Now we don''t have to wait for your status ailment to wear off.¡±

    ¡°Woof,¡± Lizzy said as she got to her feet. ¡°Sweet ride, though.¡±

    ¡°I could log off happy with that, but let''s get Vyntir first.¡± Maryn smiled.

    ¡°Huh? Oh right, the boss,¡± I said, looking for the quest marker on the map and heading for the revealed lair. ¡°Note to self: wait for mage buffs before doing stupid and-or silly things such as rail-coasting,¡± I remarked to myself, and Ariana giggled.

    ¡°We should try and get a fortress over a mine somewhere some day, then we could just ride around in the mine-carts all day like a real ''coaster.¡± Lizzy said as we walked along.

    ¡°Oh! Nice idea,¡± Maryn agreed.

    ¡°Let''s get out of the Marshes first. And why the heck is there an arctic landscape like this in the middle of a bayou anyway?¡± I wondered.

    ¡°No clue.¡± Lizzy shrugged.

    ¡°Let''s just roll with the game-scapes and get on with it.¡± Ari said. I looked at her in surprise. Did you just coin a new term? I couldn''t help but wonder. About five minutes later, we got to the entrance we were looking for. Our fight with the Frost Lord began shortly after.

    All right. So, long story short, that boss was immune to cold or frost, which was what we expected. What we didn''t quite expect was poison immunity, moderate heat resistance, strong electrical and physical defense, and a dazzling array spells that Healina had a super-rough time staying ahead of; just when we thought we''d found out all his tricks, he''d do something new. It was a gamer''s worst nightmare, a boss without a predictable pattern. Well, except unpredictability. But that doesn''t count. Or it shouldn''t.

    Anyway. Between adapting our defense or attack patterns, keeping a generally steady pace on whittling down his health, and trying to compensate for his minions and his regeneration skill, it literally took us an hour and a half to finish him off. We got the next charm, the Storm Charm, and looked at it wearily.

    ¡°Well. It''s Friday.¡± Lizzy reminded us.

    ¡°True.¡± Ari agreed. ¡°We can take one more dungeon.¡±

    ¡°Agree.¡± Maryn nodded.

    ¡°Same.¡± Heali said.

    ¡°Sure,¡± I said, ¡°But let''s scour the grounds of that area first. We kind of got lucky this time, honestly; you can bet the next four are going to be worse.¡± I continued as I gazed towards the portal leading to the Storm Dungeon.

    ¡°Fair.¡± Maryn nodded.

    ¡°Agreed.¡± Heali nodded.

    ¡°Let''s go, then.¡± Lizzy said, getting up first and making her way to the portal. I took the charm, and Ari helped me up.

    ¡°Think it''ll really get much worse than this?¡± she asked me with a faint grin. It was hard to remember that she was still more or less new to games until she asked questions like this.

    ¡°It''s a ''storm'' dungeon after all.¡± I grinned back. ¡°Storm, lightning, or electrically themed things are always worse. Well, in my opinion, anyway.¡± I said as we walked arm in arm to catch up with the others.

    ¡°Hmm?¡± she remarked with interest.

    ¡°He''s not all that wrong,¡± Maryn said as she turned back, ¡°But personally I think fire is worse.¡±

    ¡°Well, maybe.¡± I allowed.

    ¡°Eh?¡± Lizzy called back to us as we came through the portal. ¡°Obviously, the worst damage is poison.¡±

    ¡°Oh! We forgot last time to look for something like what we found in the first dungeon,¡± Maryn suddenly realized.

    ¡°Hmm? Ah, the tuning station.¡± our Nordian nodded. ¡°We passed it, but we were doing so well I didn''t think we needed it.¡± she shrugged.

    ¡°We''ll probably need it this time,¡± I warned.

    ¡°Gotcha,¡± she agreed. ¡°Let''s clear some stuff around here first, and then get to it, eh?¡± she then said, and we readied ourselves for the next stage of our quest.

    Now, much to our surprise, there was nothing roaming around this dungeon. Not even so much as a sprite or gremlin. But I could definitely feel something in the air, and when we were closer to the dungeon itself I could feel a sort of vibration at my feet.

    The dungeon, by the way, looked quite odd. We were back in more or less swampy terrain, with spooky-looking trees, tall grasses, fungi growing in various places, swamp bugs floating around, toads lazing on rocks and frogs idling about... anyway. Back to the dungeon. In the midst of this more proper marsh-setting rose a bizarre fortress that immediately evoked the word ¡°steampunk¡± in one''s head. Attached, fastened, or built in to the stone of the castle itself, there were gizmos, gears, gadgets, and contraptions of all sorts, spinning, turning, churning, or rotating in some fashion or another. At the very top of the thick tower in the center there was a great glass orb fastened to the tip of the tower with a springy gimbal. It seemed to be drawing in lightning strikes and absorbing them.

    ¡°Okay. That tower for sure this time has the boss room.¡± Lizzy said at one point as we observed it on a hill.

    ¡°I''m not so sure,¡± I returned, pointing towards the tower. ¡°Look, it''s got like... tubes or wires of some kind running down the side of the tower, and they head inward again near the base of it.¡±

    ¡°Hmm? Ah, I see...¡± she replied, scratching her head. ¡°Hey! You done over there yet?¡± she called over to Ariana and Heali, who were still gathering alchemical ingredients.

    ¡°Almost!¡± Heali replied.

    ¡°Gotcha,¡± Lizzy nodded. ¡°Still, that thing just looks so weird. I never even saw something like this in the ''Eldritch Tomes''.¡±

    ¡°They kind of hint at it in a few places,¡± I shrugged. ¡°I think the next game is going to look into those hints for sure.¡±

    ¡°When is the next game in that series coming out?¡±

    ¡°I bet they try and come out with it around the same time as ''Kingdoms of Heaven''s'' VR release.¡±

    ¡°Ooh, more competition.¡± she remarked with a grin as we continued surveying the castle. ¡°Dang it that looks like a maze down there, doesn''t it?¡±

    ¡°A real deadly maze...¡± I responded dryly.

    ¡°I think you''re absolutely right.¡± Maryn said as she joined us. ¡°It''s definitely a maze of some kind... I wonder if there''s some sort of timer that starts when we enter, and we have to get to the central tower by its limit?¡± she wondered out loud.

    ¡°Uughhh.¡± Lizzy groaned.

    ¡°That must be what some of these ingredients add up to,¡± Ariana remarked as our two magic-users joined us. ¡°Some of them have speed effects listed.¡±

    ¡°And of course, lightning resistance.¡± Heali added.

    ¡°Hmm,¡± I sat down, staring over at the castle. ¡°Have we been able to see enough of it from these ridges to get any good map data on that maze?¡±

    ¡°Possibly,¡± Ari returned, bringing up her map and looking it over. She sat down next to me, turning it so I could see. ¡°It''s sort of a good map, but also just vague enough that we''ll still be stumbling about in some places.¡± she told me. I could understand why at once. While the edges and middle were fairly clear, the interior of the map was not as defined.

    ¡°So we''ll just have to keep running around like rats to find out the whole maze.¡± I said.

    ¡°And don''t forget the inevitable ''Oh whoops, we actually needed to take that turn'' right when the timer gets low.¡± Lizzy frowned.

    ¡°Yike.¡± Ariana grimaced.

    ¡°Right?¡± I said with a bemused grin.

    ¡°And I think you''re wrong about the pipes. They don''t seem to go back into the tower at all; I think they go outward to fuel all those manic devices and stuff.¡± our halberdier continued, and I looked back towards the castle.

    ¡°Hm? Do they?¡±

    ¡°Here, let''s look,¡± Ari said, turning on her far-seeing skills to get a closer look. ¡°Hmm, looks like she''s right... except I think two of them do go inside. Oh! We can get mapping data this way... I think.¡± she reported, continuing to scan the area.

    ¡°So at least two do go into the tower.¡± Lizzy nodded.

    ¡°And the boss''ll be either at the top or the bottom.¡± I nodded. ¡°Hey, wait, what if it''s kind of like the last dungeon? Except we have to go up to the top of the tower to stop that orb device from collecting electric power?¡± I then said, thinking ahead.

    ¡°And then down below again to deal with the Storm Boss.¡± Maryn continued the thought. ¡°That doesn''t seem unlikely at all.¡±

    ¡°That''s true.¡± Lizzy agreed. ¡°So here''s how it''s looking: maze, into the tower, find a tuning station, go up the tower, deal with the orb, go down the tower, and then deal with the boss at the end.¡±

    ¡°Or maybe the tuning station is in the maze...¡± I thought aloud.

    ¡°Um. Rude.¡±

    ¡°Or maybe it''s right by the door.¡± Ariana said, pointing to her current field of extended vision. There by the gates we had to enter was something very similar to the station we had seen in the Flame Dungeon.

    ¡°Perfect!¡± Lizzy clapped her hands.

    ¡°All right: potions, tuning station, maze, tower, orb, boss.¡± Healina then said as she pulled out her PAT.

    ¡°Sounds about right!¡± the other girl replied.

    Let''s hope it''s not much harder than that, I thought to myself with an inward sigh, leaning back upon the ground.

    ¡°Let''s see... if we get this done tonight, that''ll take us to the next dungeon or somewhere nearby; it''s possible that odd-numbered dungeons take us to a sort of midway point and even-numbered ones go to the next dungeon, judging from how it''s gone so far... except the sixth, obviously, which should just lead us into Xuanpu. If they keep getting harder and trickier, we could probably spend most if not all our time tomorrow dealing with the fourth and fifth dungeons, after which we''d spend a while getting to the last one before finally conquering it and getting to our goal...¡± I mused aloud. A gentle finger then flicked my head.

    ¡°Don''t forget, date tomorrow.¡± Ariana reminded me.

    ¡°Of course I didn''t forget,¡± I protested.

    ¡°Almost sounded like you did.¡± Lizzy quipped, and Heali giggled.

    ¡°Well, if it does take us to a ''resting spot'', let''s say, the three of us will do some scouting ahead while you two enjoy your time together.¡± Maryn said with a grin.

    ¡°Ehh?¡± Lizzy groaned.

    ¡°Nothing too hard, we''ll just get the lay of the land.¡± the older girl returned.

    ¡°We''ll have Sallymander help us as well.¡± Healina added.

    ¡°Come to think of it, where''d he go now?¡± Ariana wondered. I then sat up again.

    ¡°Hmm? Did he wander off again?¡± I looked around, and then saw him scuttling towards us with something in his mouth. ¡°Ehh? What now?¡± I said as he got closer and then deposited it in my lap.

    ¡°The heck is that thing?¡± Lizzy scratched her head as she looked at it.

    I had certainly never seen anything like it before. It was obviously something related to the dungeon, as evidenced by its steampunk design and the fact that our lizard friend had gone out to retrieve it for us. It looked like a sort of bottle, but instead of a cap there was a tube that came from the lip of the bottle and wrapped around it in a coil, the end of which turned outward and was sealed. Inside there was multi-colored electricity brimming like a witch''s brew.

    ¡°I guess we''ll find out sooner or later,¡± I remarked, patting the salamander''s head and putting the item in my inventory. ¡°How long for potions?¡± I then asked.

    ¡°Five minutes.¡± Ariana answered.

    ¡°Got it.¡± I nodded back.

    ¡°We''d better get to sixty-two for this,¡± Lizzy half-muttered as she turned back to the castle. We had already gotten sixty from our last dungeon, by the way.

    Come to think of it, why are the Marshes supposedly capped at fifty-five? Unless that was just the near half of them and the other half goes higher? Or maybe it''s divided into three sub-regions and we''re in the second one... which might mean that fifty-five was the cap for the near third, sixty the middle third, and sixty-five the last third? I wondered to myself, suddenly getting a very bad feeling. Doesn''t that--doesn''t that mean that our gear is getting severely low for us at this point? I suddenly realized.

    I mean, getting undergeared happens to a player every now and again. But as every good gamer knows, eventually you have to get better stuff or things just aren''t gonna fly. Of course, there are games in which this is more true than others: some games are skill-based, which means as long as you know what you''re doing, it won''t matter too much how badly geared you are, so long as your skills are up to par (not without the experience of getting through things just barely, however). In other games, of course, gear was everything, and if you didn''t have the right gear you would absolutely be in a mess, no matter how good of a player you were.

    Thus far, I wasn''t exactly sure how Panarena measured up to that particular scale, because we''d always been on top of our gear. Now we were getting close to what might be a danger zone, our gear nearly ten levels out of date.

    I mean, we have a solid team, at least. I''m willing to bet that fighting in Panarena is based more on skill than gear, I reasoned internally. With a shrug, I decided to place my hope on that and let the matter slide until we got to Xuanpu. That last dungeon better give us some epic stuff... so far we''ve only gotten crafting materials and such.

    ¡°Ready!¡± Healina then announced, and when the potions had been distributed we were on our way.

    ***

    So basically the dungeon really was a pain. Oh, we found out that the tuning station here temporarily adjusted our gear to our current level, as well as giving us huge lightning resistance. There were a couple other options we might have added, but we all agreed that since adding more than two seemed to detract from each bonus it would be best to have just two. Anyway. We found out upon entering that lightning will randomly strike as you wander through the maze. Heali could keep us alive with our bonuses if we got hit, though, so it wasn''t a one-shot thing.

    However. As we progressed through the maze, the lightning became more frequent. After the first twenty minutes I thought it was designed that way as you got closer to the tower. Then about ten minutes later I noted that we were still very close to the castle, but the lightning was now back to a more infrequent rhythm. This meant one of two things to me: either it got worse as you took the right path, or it got better as you took the right path. And since we were at a dead end (even with our map) when I noticed this, I was pretty sure the lightning got worse when you were on the right path.

    As soon as Heali and Maryn picked out a likely path, we resumed our rat-race, and not five minutes later my suspicions were proven right. The lightning got worse as you neared the dungeon on the correct path.

    Well, we ran for it as I explained this interesting mechanic to them, the six of us--including our lizard--making a pretty comical sight. Healina decided early on to buff us up with more resistance and to cast a few heals-over-time every few seconds or so, so that when we got hit badly we already had the heals going and she could bolster it with another. The selected path, fortunately, was the correct path, at least in regards to getting inside the main dungeon, and after fifteen harrowing minutes or so we made it inside.

    We didn''t really see any monsters inside the place at all, to our surprise. It was mostly automatons of some sort or another, all of them elite or mini-bosses, and waaayy too many death traps. I lost count of how many times each of our health went down to literally half a percent, but each time we were saved by our wonderful healer. The layout of the place was straightforward; there were no twists or turns, only a single corridor that wound its way up to the top of the main tower, where we found an open-roofed space from which to attack the orb. That was no picnic either.

    It went down very slowly, and every thirty seconds two elite automatons would join the fight, and about every minute and a half some wild death trap would sweep the room and nearly kill us all.

    ¡°Ruuuuudde!!¡± Lizzy shouted out at one point.

    ¡°Are we sure this isn''t the boss?¡± Maryn wondered as she ducked and rolled away from an automaton.

    Yeah. It was a struggle. We managed to finally get it down -- I had lost track of time by this point -- and then to my surprise again we found out that the orb had in fact been the boss, because the charm for the next dungeon appeared in the loot we got. But there was another door now that led to the underfort in addition the portal that would lead us to our new destination. I looked at the portal, then at the door; I looked again at the portal, and then at the door with a look of indecision.

    ¡°Bonus boss?¡± Maryn wondered.

    ¡°Probably some mad scientist.¡± Lizzy shrugged. ¡°Lana?¡± she called to me.

    ¡°Hrrmm...¡± I sighed, fidgeting.

    ¡°I''d really rather not.¡± Healina sighed, but her lips seemed to be twitching with a smile.

    ¡°Nrrmmnggghh...¡± I scratched the back of my head.

    ¡°It''s times like these her real self shines through.¡± Lizzy smirked. ¡°He''s thinking, ''more loot, or just go on... more loot, or just go on''... right?¡± she added with a wink.

    ¡°Ugghhhhhh...¡± I sighed again. ¡°Let''s try it again later...¡± I said reluctantly.

    ¡°I bet we can''t.¡± Lizzy said.

    ¡°Hmm?¡± Ariana asked. ¡°You mean it''s a one-time only bonus dungeon? That''s kind of neat -- but kind of sad if we have to pass it up,¡± she said, giving me a sheepish smile.

    ¡°Hahh?¡± I returned lifelessly, turning back to the door and feebly stretching a hand towards it. ¡°Ehh. Ehhh.¡±

    At that moment another sigh made its presence known, and two hands placed themselves on my shoulders and began pushing me gently towards-- the door? Not the portal? I looked back; Healina was the one pushing me forward.

    ¡°We''ll never hear the end of it if we pass it up,¡± our healer quipped, a bemused smile on her face.

    ¡°True.¡± Ari agreed, joining her to push me along. ¡°And since Lana has all her points and a bit more, we can try this little excursion.¡± she smiled.

    ¡°More loot!¡± Lizzy marched for the door eagerly.

    Ehh?? You were on my side the whole time and were just goofing until someone else broke the ice?!

    ¡°Can''t be helped now,¡± Maryn grinned as she followed us. The door opened as we approached, and we were ushered inside.

    Long story short, Lizzy was right. There was a mad scientist down there. With--you guessed it: lightning magic and lightning gadgets. Compared to the other fight he was rather simple, though, and we finished him easily in about ten minutes. We ended up with enough resources and ingredients to keep us busy until we died of old age (well, not really, but it felt that way), and then we exited the bonus room to take the portal out.

    ¡°Okay. Worth it.¡± Healina said as she continued reviewing the loot at our exit point, a town called Lavarien.

    ¡°You''re telling me; even I can use some of these!¡± Lizzy remarked.

    ¡°Nice.¡± I nodded. ¡°Well, we also know now that the tuning stations can enhance our gear for a bit, so we can definitely get out of this by tomorrow, if we want--when we''re all back online that is.¡± I said, looking over at Ari, who smiled at me.

    ¡°Yep! You two lovebirds have fun out there,¡± Lizzy said with a beaming smile as she and the other two went to rent a spot at an inn. Ari and I gave each other a hug, lingering in it for several moments.

    ¡°See you tomorrow.¡± she whispered.

    ¡°Definitely. See you then,¡± I returned. ¡°Wait, did we pick a time?¡±

    ¡°Hm? Nine-ish okay?¡±

    ¡°Sure, that''ll work.¡±

    ¡°Okay -- see you then.¡± Ari smiled back, and I nodded.

    ¡°You got it.¡± I smiled. We logged out for the night then, and I fell asleep as soon as I had taken off the Dream Machine.

 Bonus Chapter: Lizzys Interlude

    ''Ey-o! It''s Lizzy! Your favorite member of the Silvernight Queens, expert halberdier and master smith! I am your favorite, right? No? Boo. Well anyway. I''ll be taking over the story for a little bit today while the lovebirds are out on their date. Or is it a science experiment? Or was it a bit of both? Whatever!

    So yeah. Saturday morning. Most of the family was out at some reunion or other (really weird for fall, right? Glad you agree!) -- well, okay, all of them but me were there. I avoid those things like the plague, and I have job interviews and stuff I want to focus on this fall. But anyway. After a lovely shower and a quiet breakfast, I checked my assignments to make sure I''d done everything (Andrea gets super on my case if I don''t), and when that was done (I got them all, no worries) I spent some time reading my favorite ongoing comics and a couple shows before lunch. I almost forgot to put something on when checking the mail, but luckily I dodged that bullet. Dear Mr and Mrs James, your daughter put on <u>quite</u> the sight the other day... yeah, we''re really sick of those letters here.

    Anyhow. Once lunch and checking the mail was out of the way, I logged in to Panarena Fantasy Online, the newest craze among all dedicated gamers. I was so happy when I found out I had more than a few friends at school who play it, even Sean. I kind of knew he was a recluse; I should''ve put it together sooner that he was a gamer-kid like I was. Well, a gamer G.I.R.L., to be more precise.

    Aren''t you just shocked by his exploitation of female avatars for his own amusement? Hun. I''ve played a few games, let me tell you. And I can tell you he''s not one of those guys. Plus he has Rachel for a girlfriend: they hit it off in both lives really well, and I get the feeling that any sort of pervy impulses Sean might have had pretty much died when they started hanging out. I mean, they really are so meant for each other. So no, I''m not shocked, because there''s nothing much to be shocked about. And it seems like he''s getting used to people just accepting it -- w-e-ll... I mean, not everyone knows. Just the guild. Our guild. And Tyler Smith. But I bet if more people did find out, he''d get used to it the way he''s gotten used to us knowing.

    Of course, he plays coy about it even with us in school. Such a cute little dork. Speaking of which, I wonder if Mary really does have the hots for him... you never know! Oh, but anyway.

    So yeah, we''ve been on this huge quest-line for over a week now, and the three of us, Healina (Andrea), Maryn (duh!), and myself are just going to scout ahead a bit to see what this new dungeon might have in store. Or at least the area around the dungeon. Sean and Rachel should be back as Lana and Ariana by the mid-afternoon, right? ¡­ Right?

    Ah! Get back on track, girl, get back on track.

    So the three of us met up pretty much like we planned, around one in the afternoon real-time. It was early morning in Panarena. Weird, but enjoyable. I guess you know that one hour here is only fifteen minutes in real life, due to some complicated process that accelerates our perception while using the Dream Machine. I''m no science-freak the way Andrea is, but I''d love to know how they do this. We were talking a while back in fact about how it might be used in education or exhibits and stuff some day.

    Marshes, marshes.

    I found Maryn and Heali waiting for me on the porch of the inn we had rented. We exchanged a few high-fives and a hug, and then set out to the northeast, where our quest marker was pointing.

    ¡°Come to think of it, Lana and Ari didn''t log out at the inn -- or did they?¡± Heali wondered.

    ¡°Ehh, dunno.¡± I shrugged back.

    ¡°Even if they didn''t they''ll still log back in town.¡± Maryn said.

    ¡°There ya go.¡±

    ¡°Hope they come on by three or so; or maybe they''ll get lost in each other''s eyes and forget about us for the day.¡± Healina said romantically.

    ¡°Those two? You never know, I guess.¡± I smirked back. I couldn''t help but notice Maryn seemed downcast about that. ¡°Bet they find all sorts of cool stuff today, however it ends up.¡±

    ¡°I''d guess they were on their way home by now,¡± Maryn said as we stepped through a more tree-clad area of the marsh outside of Lavarien. That was the city we logged into, by the way. Well, I guess less city and more town, but, y''know.

    ¡°We can hope!¡± I agreed. ¡°But this place. This is much more what I expected when we entered the Marshes of the Wyrd, you know?¡±

    ¡°Exactly.¡± Healina agreed with a nod. ¡°The spooky, dead-tree bayou kind of place with dried up reeds and crows or bats flying around.¡±

    ¡°Speaking of which, Halloween is almost here!¡± Maryn smiled.

    ¡°Totally!¡± I grinned back.

    ¡°We should all dress up and just wander the neighborhood!¡± Heali remarked.

    ¡°Oh yeah, totally.¡± I nodded back. Maryn suddenly held back a snort. ¡°Hmm?¡±

    ¡°No, no! Nothing! It''s nothing!¡± she replied in a giggly voice.

    ¡°That''s not nothing.¡± Heali returned with a sly grin.

    ¡°Forget it, really!¡± the older girl told us.

    This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    ¡°Not now we won''t!¡± the two of us replied at once, both turning to face her.

    ¡°Ahh...¡± she sighed, a lopsided grin on her face. ¡°Wouldn''t it just be funny if we all dressed up as queens and got Sean to do it as well? Or maybe make him a manservant in raggedy clothes?¡± she told us, breaking down into laughter again. This time we joined in the laughing.

    ¡°Oh, Gawwwd, pl-ea-se! For the love of all things Halloween, we have to make that happen, somehow!¡± I cackled back.

    ¡°Right!?¡± Heali giggled furiously. ¡°We''ll have to get Rachel in on it too! She''ll love the idea and he just can''t say no to her, he never does!¡±

    ¡°Oh, he might try this time!¡± I winked back.

    ¡°Ahh, my,¡± Maryn said as she collected herself again.

    ¡°But anyway... back to scouting.¡± I said, clearing my throat to make the laughter stop.

    We went a few miles deeper into the swamp, at least as far as we could tell. Sallymander, our pet salamander, was sneaking around with us too by the way.

    ¡°Come to think of it we never did use that bottle thing in the Storm Dungeon...¡± I suddenly realized as we observed a few tough looking monsters from the safety of some old bulrushes.

    ¡°Hmm? Oh, the one Sally handed off to Lana.¡± Maryn recalled. ¡°True. I wonder if we get to use it in the next? Or if we just missed an opportunity in the last one?¡±

    ¡°Ugh. If I find out on the forums someday that we could have made that fight easier with that bottle, I''mma smack that boy.¡± I muttered grouchily.

    ¡°Go easy on him. We didn''t think of it either.¡± Heali reminded me, and I sighed.

    ¡°You''d think he would.¡± I mumbled, and Maryn giggled.

    ¡°I think these are elites, by the way.¡± Heali then said.

    ¡°Hmm? All these gorilla things?¡±

    ¡°I see some specters further ahead, and some corpse-type monsters also.¡± Maryn added; she''d come across a spyglass in her questing before meeting us, and was using it now, since we didn''t have Ari or Lana with their special sight skills. ¡°And... that might be a trapped path...¡± she added as she settled her gaze on a particular area.

    ¡°Where at?¡± I asked her; she passed the spyglass to me and helped me zero in on the area in question.

    ¡°See those tall flowers? The ones with the long orange petals?¡± she said to me.

    ¡°Yep; ohh, I getcha. Man-eaters.¡± I noted.

    ¡°Exactly.¡±

    ¡°Eek!¡± Heali winced.

    ¡°Right?¡± I agreed.

    ¡°Should we call it a success and go wait for the other two?¡± Maryn wondered. ¡°I can''t imagine much worse in the way than those elites and the man-eaters.¡±

    ¡°Why not.¡± I agreed. ¡°Although, let''s be sure of the path a little more than this. Maybe we can find a way around some of them.¡± I then said, and the other two agreed with me.

    So we spent the next two Panarena hours wandering around carefully, trying to see if there were any shortcuts or paths that might help us avoid the greater part of the dangers. To sum it up: not really. No matter which way we took, there were man-eaters and ghouls around; and I would bet every smithing hammer I owned that some of the trees would come to life as well. We then decided to head back, and upon our arrival, or rather return to town, we found no Lana or Ariana.

    So we explored the town for a bit. No logins. Maryn said they would probably text us when they were on their way, which was true, so I logged out to check. No messages on my phone; but Rachel''s blog (oh yeah, she has a little photo-blog) showed them near Pond Lake. Sean was trying to get a shot of something and she was taking a pic of him captioned ¡°Caution: Future Biologist at Work¡±.

    ¡°Pfffffffft, I love you girl.¡± I said, putting a heart on her post. Then I realized I hadn''t locked my door, so I did that before putting the Dream Machine on again. Not that I minded being walked in on, but since I never knew who would be at the door, better safe than sorry.

    Back in Panarena, the other two were waiting for me at the market. I shrugged, and they sighed.

    ¡°They''re still at the park, it looks like.¡± I said to them.

    ¡°Oh wow. They must really want that extra-credit.¡± Maryn remarked.

    ¡°They hate math, and they''re really iffy about science some days, so yeah, they''ll take any edge they can get.¡± I nodded back.

    ¡°True.¡± Heali agreed. ¡°Oh! We found a bathhouse, by the way.¡±

    ¡°What!¡± I said, and we headed for this at once. It took all I had to not get out of my armor until we were in the changing rooms there, but a few minutes later it was all worth it.

    ¡°Oh, wow!¡± Maryn said as she slid in with us.

    ¡°Riiiight?¡± I sighed happily. ¡°We should show you the one at Cloverbell sometime.¡±

    ¡°That''s a hotspring.¡± Heali corrected me.

    ¡°What-everrr.¡± I stuck my tongue out, and we laughed. ¡°If they make us wait longer, let''s not tell them about this spot.¡±

    ¡°Agree.¡± Heali nodded.

    ¡°Aww. But okay. Fair.¡± Maryn returned. ¡°We should do this in real life sometime as well. And invite Rachel to go.¡±

    ¡°No Sean?¡± Heali smirked back.

    ¡°Girls'' night.¡± I quipped.

    ¡°Exactly.¡± Maryn nodded.

    ¡°Poor Sean.¡± our healer quietly chuckled.

    ¡°Oh please.¡± I retorted. ¡°He''s--well, never mind.¡±

    ¡°Hmm?¡± our shield-user wondered.

    ¡°Nothing.¡± the two of us said at once. She seemed dissatisfied with that answer, but left it at that for the moment.

    Now, Sean and Rachel didn''t log in for nearly a day in Panarena time; but I suppose we could forgive them in the end. That was the most heavenly bath any of us ever had in our lives. And we really did need that rejuvenation for what was ahead; but I''m sure Sean will tell you all about it next time. Anyway, we briefly logged out to get our dinners, and then hurried back on to wait for our two guildmates -- guild leaders? Whatever. See you next time!

 Chapter Twenty: A Return to the Park/Fright Night

    So it''s a... sort-of date? I thought to myself as I walked along with a small lunch bag and a satchel with notebooks, a few pencils, and the imager we had gotten. I mean, we''re out to do what we want, but it''s still related to school... finding the theater performances was much more incidental and natural, to me, anyway. Well, I guess this isn''t unnatural, honestly. Maybe just a bit surprising. This is one of our weaker subjects, however, so it''d *really* help to get some bonus points for it...

    ¡°Boo.¡± a familiar voice said next to me. I suddenly took stock of where I was, and turned to see Rachel, dressed in a grey sundress with white floral patterns underneath a sweater of darker grey color.

    ¡°Hey!¡± I said with a smile. ¡°Wow, I didn''t even notice I was here already.¡± I said as the smile became slightly goofier, and she smiled back.

    ¡°You looked like you were in deep thought.¡± she told me.

    ¡°I guess so... but anyway, where should we start?¡±

    ¡°Hmm...¡± Rachel pondered, taking my arm as we headed into the park. ¡°Let''s go to the Preserve first; there was a stream or something there, right? So that''d be good as a reference for the assignment, too.¡±

    ¡°Right, comparing or contrasting a similar ecosystem, I guess.¡± I nodded back.

    ¡°You really aren''t science-built, are you?¡± she smirked back at me.

    ¡°It''s not a video game, after all.¡± I shrugged.

    ¡°Hmm? But neither is history or literature, and you seem to do okay in those; and with Chinese, too.¡±

    ¡°Ehh. I guess that''s true? Oh, I remember now: there was a beaver dam in the Preserve!¡±

    ¡°Oh, yes!¡± Rachel exclaimed with me. ¡°Ooh, that''d be fun. Let''s hope they''re still awake for us.¡± she said as our pace picked up; well, her pace picked up first, and then mine did as well, of course.

    ¡°Were beavers herbivores, or did they eat fish, too...?¡± I wondered out loud as we hurried over to try and get some shots of the reclusive critters.

    ¡°Hmm? Herbivores.¡± Rachel said almost before I had trailed off.

    ¡°Huh, nice. So they have more of an effect on the plant life, I guess, than other animals. At least superficially?¡±

    ¡°I take it back: you have a sort-of knack for this.¡±

    ¡°Well, I dunno...¡± I said as I rubbed the back of my head.

    Well anyway. We got several shots of the dam itself, and then a few lucky shots of the beavers themselves. I even managed to get a few videos of them -- once I finally got the hang of the imager''s buttons. And we took even more photos and videos of the other occupants in and around the stream; several varieties of fish, a few turtles, lots of insects, a family of frogs, and a heron. We took some notes down about what we observed as well. It felt a little redundant to do so, considering how detailed the imager''s capturing was, but Rachel reminded me there were other things science liked to note that a camera couldn''t pick up.

    ¡°Don''t forget to get some notes and stuff on the trees and grasses here; oh, and that little flower on the other side.¡± she told me.

    ¡°Hmm? Oh right, the purple and yellow one.¡± I returned.

    ¡°Come to think of it, isn''t that some sort of transplant?¡± Rachel then asked me. I looked over at it again, took up the imager, and zoomed in on it. The two of us looked at the flower in question together on the screen.

    ¡°Now that you mention it, I saw a lot of these around my grandparents'' cabin when I was younger... I don''t remember really seeing any in the city, unless maybe they were potted or something...¡± I said as I considered her question.

    ¡°Yes! Like it''s more of a meadow flower than a riverside one.¡± she nodded.

    ¡°Hmm... maybe it''s a different variety?¡±

    ¡°Oh, cool! Maybe so,¡± she replied, laying her head on my shoulder. I panned the camera around just a tad, alighting on a red and cream-white fungus growth on a log. There was a small frog next to it. I hit the button and captured the image, then panned back to get the flower as well. ¡°Nice shot.¡±

    ¡°Didn''t even really notice the frog until I snapped it,¡± I remarked as I took the next shot.

    ¡°He was a cute little thing.¡± she smiled, and then looked up. A moment later she gently took my arms and redirected them to hold the imager upwards, where on the screen I saw a bird even I could recognize: an eagle. I sucked in a breath, my eyes widening. ¡°You see him, too?¡± she whispered, as if afraid the great bird might fly away if we were heard.

    ¡°Oh boy, and how.¡± I whispered back.

    So Sean. What''s so special about eagles? You mean besides the fact that, at the time I''m telling this story, they''re all but extinct, with maybe fifty or so not being kept in a zoo of some kind and only about another thirty in the zoos themselves? Oh, nothing, really. But seriously. A sight this rare was bound to make local news. My newborn instincts snapped a picture of the majestic bird as he sat in the tree, looking down and observing us. Suddenly I felt my heart sink.

    ¡°We can''t show this one.¡± I suddenly whispered.

    ¡°Hmm? Why not?¡± Rachel asked me as she looked over.

    ¡°Because our science teacher would probably report it to the wildlife authorities, and he''d be put in a dang zoo or shipped off to some high profile aviary...¡± I said with a frustrated expression, still looking up at our friend in the tree.

    ¡°Oh... that''s true...¡± she returned glumly. ¡°Or... well, maybe she''d make a motion to protect it. I mean, she doesn''t seem like the kind of person who''d want to put animals in captivity.¡± she then suggested.

    That was also true. I scratched my head for a moment, even so, locked in an impromptu staring contest with the great bird. A sigh then left my lips, and I looked over at Rachel.

    ¡°Maybe we can talk to her about it Monday? Before homeroom?¡± I said.

    ¡°That''s a good idea. Let''s do it.¡± she agreed.

    ¡°Okay... let''s get some more notes down and then leave him, and the others, in peace. We still have Pond Lake to look over, after all.¡± I nodded.

    ¡°Yes we do.¡± she smiled back, patting my shoulder.

    ¡°I love you.¡±

    ¡°I know. I love you too.¡±

    Three hours and a luncheon later, we had collected enough ¡°field data¡±, as I finally remembered it was called, to do a fair report for our bonus assignment. There were a lot more fish in the lake, after all, along with other aquatic life that was either indigenous or that had been brought in from some other part of the area when the big city was being developed. And of course there were all sorts of signs and displays around the lake that we used for reference as well. The more we worked at this, the more I felt as if I wasn''t really working at all; it was kind of fun, actually.

    Maybe I do have a weird knack for this... I found myself thinking.

    After our expedition, I walked Rachel home. This time we zipped around the Food District, or at least as much of it as we could, to avoid being tortured again.

    ¡°Though I do want to go back to that restaurant some time,¡± Rachel remarked.

    ¡°Maybe an early Christmas date, or a New Year''s get-together?¡± I suggested.

    ¡°Absolutely!¡± she beamed back at me.

    We got back to her house just as afternoon was ready to begin its transition to evening, and lingered near the door for a few moments, gazing at each other quietly, faint smiles on our faces.

    ¡°So... when...?¡± I asked her uncertainly, and she smiled.

    ¡°I heard next weekend. Maybe.¡±

    ¡°Gotcha.¡±

    ¡°Yep.¡± she softly sighed. A moment of silence passed.

    ¡°See you in game later?¡±

    ¡°Of course!¡±

    ¡°Okay; and maybe we can work a bit on the assignment tomorrow after church.¡± I said.

    ¡°Definitely. We''ll have to go through the painful task of sorting out what pics and vids we want to use.¡± she said with a mock grimace.

    ¡°Ah--ahh... right...¡± I returned with my own bemused look. ¡°Okay... oh, and... Happy Birthday, by the way.¡± I said, pulling a small gift and card out of my satchel and handing it to her. She looked at me with that stunned expression I''ve been told all girls get when a guy does something like this, and took it gently from my hands. Her eyes started to tear up. ¡°Wh--hey, is something -- I mean, what''s--¡± I started to say, but she cut me off at once by wrapping me in a close and tight hug. I put my arms around her gently, holding her close. I could feel her sobbing as she clutched me tighter.

    Eh--ehh? This is one of those times I should just shut up and hold her, right? I thought to myself as we stood there together. Well, I mean... I amended internally, slowly rubbing her on the back as I held her. After a few moments more she let go, and on her face was probably the most beautiful smile I''d ever seen from her in my life.

    ¡°You remembered!¡± she said happily.

    ¡°Wha--of course I remembered!¡± I said to her insistently, and she giggled.

    ¡°I love you. Be safe going home, okay?¡± she told me.

    ¡°I''ll be safe, honest.¡± I told her with a smile, and she drew close again to kiss me. The sensation of that kiss lingered all the way home, through dinner, and right up until I put the Dream Machine on once more to head back in to Panarena for the night.

    ***

    When we arrived in-world, we were nearly bombarded by IMs from Lizzy asking us to hurry up. How long ago did they log in?? I suddenly wondered to myself guiltily, thinking about the time difference. Ahhh... if they logged in early this morning and haven''t really been offline, then I bet I''ve lost a lot of points...

    ¡°There you are!¡± the familiar voice said; there were our other three guildmates, Lizzy in the lead while the other two followed her with amused grins. ¡°I was about to turn into a prune! Rude! How long did you stay at that park?¡± she jabbered at us.

    ¡°Ahh...¡± I returned sheepishly.

    ¡°Um. Schoolwork? Rude.¡± Ariana quickly retorted, and I covered my mouth as I nearly guffawed. Heali and Maryn laughed uninhibitedly, however, while Lizzy looked taken aback.

    ¡°Ah... ah-heh...¡± she then said with a sheepish look of her own. ¡°''Kay. Sorry. Ready to go then?¡± she asked us.

    ¡°We''re ready.¡± Ari smiled back.

    ¡°Prunes?¡± I suddenly wondered. ¡°Was there a hotspring or something around?¡±

    ¡°Later!¡± Lizzy said insistently. I let out a disappointed sigh, and we began heading northwest from Lavarien.

    As we trudged deeper into the foreboding landscape of the Marshes a couple Panarena hours later, Lizzy and the others told us what they had seen earlier. Marsh Apes, Wyrd Specters, Wyrd Corpses, Man-eaters (giant flowers with long orange petals), and the possibility of more attacking trees, all of them merely the obstacles in our path to the dungeon itself.

    ¡°And pretty much all of them are champions or elites.¡± Maryn remarked as we moved along through the mires.

    ¡°Hmm... not playing around with this area, are they?¡± I mused, and then my eyes alighted on something a ways from the main path. ¡°Hey... isn''t that a tuning station? Over there in that grove?¡± I said, and the others looked.

    ¡°I bet it is,¡± Lizzy nodded. ¡°Good eye; I didn''t catch that earlier.¡±

    ¡°That is really hard to see, though,¡± Heali said.

    ¡°Let''s make our way over and see what it can do for us.¡± our smith said, and we made for the tuning station. Fortunately it was not near the hordes of monsters waiting to attack us.

    So basically this particular station offered the unique bonus of Unholy Resistance and a typical gear boost. There were others, sure, but I''ve explained before how using more than two is oddly detrimental, at least if you want the best effects. We needed the resistance here; and any damage from anything not undead in this area would be countered by our bolstered gear.

    ¡°All right, we''ve got eight hours on these bonuses; let''s shoot for getting to the temple in half that time.¡± Lizzy told us, and we nodded back in agreement.

    All right. So, as Lizzy and the others had observed, there was no real way to avoid anything in our path. But as we prepared ourselves for one heck of a run-and-gun fight, so to speak, an idea struck me. Why do the Marsh Apes avoid the flowers and the undeads? Is this one of those places where certain creatures will attack each other? I pondered to myself for a moment.

    ¡°Lana?¡± Ariana said to me as I paused.

    ¡°Shadow Vision.¡± I said, and the world changed colors. I could see several trees that might come alive when we walked past them; or if I attacked them, even. Let''s see here... I mused as I pulled out an arrow and set it to string. Nope, no good... ehh, that one wouldn''t do much... oh here we go; two trees, and in the way between us and them a nice pile of apes! I smirked to myself, readying the skill Twin Shot.

    ¡°Whatcha doing?¡± Lizzy wondered.

    ¡°Get ready to run,¡± I said to the others, and then fired. The two arrows hit their marks, and the trees came alive. Not ten seconds later they ran into the apes, and a monster versus monster brawl began. ¡°Go!!¡± I said, and we ran for it, dashing past the combatants easily.

    ¡°Oh nice! I get it!¡± Ariana smiled cheekily. ¡°Let''s make it better, then -- Chaos!¡± she shouted, and a burst of energy left her staff to hit another pile of apes, who then turned on each others.

    ¡°Wicked cool!¡± Lizzy exclaimed. ¡°Pity it won''t work on the Man-eaters!¡±

    ¡°Not exactly,¡± I said, stringing another arrow and firing at a group of Wyrd Corpses ahead of us; as they tried to attack us they ran into a group of the deadly flowers, and were set upon at once.

    ¡°Wow.¡± Maryn remarked as we ran past. ¡°Not the way I want to go in a game.¡± she said with a faint grimace.

    ¡°I can''t believe things actually attack each other here!¡± Heali said.

    ¡°I mean, we saw that bear attacking a group of wolves in the Aldholt once,¡± I reminded her.

    ¡°Oh, true; that was handy, too,¡± she nodded back.

    ¡°Chaos!¡± Ari called again, this time hitting a group of specters. A few trees woke up around them, and began attacking the maddened things as they set upon each others.

    ¡°Oh nice, we get experience for them!¡± Maryn suddenly noticed.

    ¡°Hmm?¡± I wondered, and then suddenly saw a few XP gains myself (that''s shorthand for experience; some use EXP as well). ¡°Oh now that''s fun!¡± I grinned as we dashed along.

    This sort of thing isn''t really that much different from what we did that one time in the Garth-Queens War, except it was more fun and more profitable this time around. And it cut three hours from our planned travel time as well. Of course, we did end up actually fighting a couple times when there was nothing really around to set upon each other--mostly Man-eaters--but other than that it was nearly too easy. Or maybe it had been designed that way and we had just happily stumbled onto to the solution the first go-through.

    When we approached the dungeon itself there was a corridor of traps, mostly wall-darts and swinging blades, that led up to the place. It looked very much like a castle from Eastern Europe; as a matter of fact the first thing that popped into my head upon seeing it was the word ¡°Vampire¡±. Ooh, I bet I know what''s in here... I thought to myself as we continued dodging the traps. A couple Marsh Apes had followed us in, but they were already dead.

    ¡°Serves you right!¡± Lizzy shouted back at their corpses.

    All of a sudden I had to skid to a halt; we were at a dead end. Or was it? I quickly looked around. There were lots of raised tiles with what looked like pictograms carved onto them. And I could see the outline of a door in the wall before us.

    ¡°Oh, a puzzle!¡± Ariana said with interest as she examined the tiles. Out of curiosity she pressed one; part of the floor retracted beneath her, and I quickly caught her as she let out a shriek. A few moments later the floor was back to normal, and I set her down gently.

    ¡°You okay?¡± I asked her.

    Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.

    ¡°Now I am,¡± she nodded back, sighing in relief.

    ¡°O-kay... so what''s the deal here?¡± Lizzy asked.

    ¡°There are tiles we shouldn''t press, obviously,¡± Ariana replied, ¡°And there''s tiles that probably open the door outlined over there.¡±

    ¡°There''s got to be some sort of pattern,¡± I said, and she nodded back.

    ¡°This one I just pressed has a... sort of sunny thing, isn''t it?¡± she said, looking back at it.

    ¡°Hmm... that''s true.¡± I agreed. It did look like a sunny sort of scene.

    ¡°Wraiths or undead things don''t appreciate sunlight. So avoid tiles like this one,¡± Ariana told us, ¡°And keep an eye out for more gloomy or dark ones.¡±

    ¡°Got it.¡± Maryn nodded.

    ¡°Just a thought here, but this looks like that castle from the old vampire films; maybe there''s something related on the tiles, also.¡± I said as I looked back up at the place in question.

    ¡°Ooh... now that you mention it!¡± Lizzy said with a very interested tone.

    ¡°Vampires...¡± Ariana pondered out loud. ¡°No sunlight, blood, darkness, bats, minions... lust?¡± she began walking around, examining the tiles.

    For the next ten minutes or so she carefully observed them, taking mental notes as to which would be the most appropriate in this situation. When at last she seemed satisfied, she went to one in particular and pressed it; the door began to creak open, retracting upwards. She went to a second, and upon using it the door creaked open a little more. When she got to the third and pressed it, the floor gave way again, and I caught her a second time while the door itself grated shut.

    ¡°Whew!¡± she said with relief.

    ¡°Whew,¡± I agreed.

    ¡°So not that one. All right, I think I have it now.¡± she then said, going back to the first and second ones, then pressing all the others like them. When the door was opened enough for us to get through, we did so, and then it shut behind us.

    ¡°One puzzle down, one dungeon to go.¡± Heali remarked. The doors to the castle opened as we approached; a mysterious chuckle broke out as we entered the place, and again the doors shut behind us, these more ominously than the others.

    ¡°Here we come,¡± I said, drawing out my daggers. The others readied their weapons as well, and we got into our dungeon formation, me at the front with Maryn, Heali and Ari in the middle, and Lizzy at the rear, to begin exploring the place.

    Well, unlike the other dungeons so far, this place was not as densely packed as the others. It really added to the eeriness factor the place had. The interior of the place was as much reminiscent of ¡°vampire castles¡± as the outside of it: an overall Gothic style, with gargoyles and other weird statues at intervals or hunkered down in alcoves; clusters of lit candles situated about, as well as chandeliers and candelabras; red carpets with gold trimming lining the cold stone halls; darkened windows of stained glass and polyptychs at the end of halls or situated in rooms; and winding staircases that led to the tops of the towers, where we would find champion elite wraiths waiting for us.

    Oh, and Sallymander slithered off somewhere again while we were fighting-slash-exploring. This sort of thing was becoming a little too common for us, but we knew that he''d turn up again eventually, most likely with something in his mouth that was relevant to our predicament.

    Also: there were traps. And puzzles. Lots of them. It was a pain. More than a few of them involved the deceptively ¡°innocent¡± objects such as the candelabras or the gargoyle statues. Sometimes there was a hidden lever or switch that had been covered by a spooky tapestry or blood-red curtain. The ever-obvious yet sometimes subtle pressure-plates were fairly prominent, and I had a fun time disarming their mechanisms when they came up. Other times the trap just came out of nowhere. Yeah, it happens sometimes in a game, a trap that you just can''t avoid no matter what you do.

    Maryn was up front with me after a particularly vicious fight with a non-corporeal elite; we were carefully heading down a long hall, the others a few paces behind us, towards a wooden door that was probably going to lead us to either a staircase or open up into a large chamber of some sort. And then all of a sudden we heard a snick.

    ¡°Oh, snap! Get ba--¡± I tried to warn the others, but then Maryn and I felt the floor give way beneath us and we plunged downwards with a shriek.

    ¡°Lana!!¡± Ariana called out after us. The two of us continued falling for several long moments, and then landed with a violent thunk into a -- a pile of straw?

    ¡°Ughhhhh...¡± I sighed with both pain and relief. My health was down at least by half. I looked over; Maryn was in the yellow as well. We slowly got up and drank a couple of potions to rejuvenate ourselves, then I sent a message to Ari.

    Lana: made it down safely, I guess; you guys still up there?

    Ariana: OMG. You''re really okay? Both of you??

    Lana: yeah, I know, right? That was a looong fall, I grimaced as I typed my reply.

    Ariana: we''re skirting the edge of the trap you fell into; Lizzy thinks that we''ll probably find a meet up spot if we press on.

    Lana: true. Hope you guys don''t run into any more traps.

    Ariana: I know, right? You''re our trap disarmer, after all >.<

    Lana: uhhh...

    Ariana: XD

    Ariana: love you. Be safe. See you soon.

    Lana: we''ll try... love you too. I replied, and then let out a sigh. Maryn looked over at me with a wry smile.

    ¡°Well this is a new one on us.¡± she said, and I nodded back.

    ¡°Like really,¡± I agreed.

    ¡°Are the others okay?¡±

    ¡°So far; Lizzy thinks we might be able to meet up further along somewhere.¡± I told her.

    ¡°Possibly,¡± Maryn nodded back with a mildly dubious tone.

    Right? We might not meet up as well, I frowned to myself, the five of us were probably meant to all fall in here together, and that''ll make it a pain for both our parties.

    ¡°Or maybe we were meant to fall in here as a group,¡± she continued, echoing my thoughts on the matter.

    ¡°Sadly true.¡± I remarked. ¡°Well, let''s see how far we get.¡± I then said, and the two of us readied ourselves, then took stock of our surroundings.

    We were in some sort of dungeon. That probably meant locks, which could either be picked or broken. There was a low, moaning howl that echoed throughout the cells and chambers of the place, and the two of us nearly froze.

    ¡°Wh-wh-what w-was th-th-th-that?¡± Maryn stammered out.

    Eh?? Ehh?! You''re really scared by that!? Like really really scared?? I thought to myself.

    ¡°Ahh...¡± I said aloud, thinking for a moment. ¡°You know... that really sounded like a wolf of some kind... maybe a werewolf...¡± I then remarked. I heard Maryn audibly gulp, and I looked over at her with surprise. ¡°¡­ Maryn?¡± I asked her.

    ¡°I-i-it''s... just... a game!¡± she said with a panicked but determined voice.

    ¡°N-no way...¡± I said with a look of disbelief. ¡°Ah... then again, who am I to remark...¡± I sheepishly added.

    ¡°Th-that''s right! It''s a werewolf! And w-w-werewolves are s-s-s-scary!¡± she retorted.

    ¡°Ahh -- y-you''re absolutely right!¡± I replied at once.

    ¡°S-so don''t go c-c-commenting on it!¡± Maryn demanded, clearly putting on a facade of some kind.

    ¡°N-not a bit!¡± I raised my hands defensively, and she nearly collapsed to the floor. ¡°Ah! Maryn!¡± I stepped over and knelt down with her, putting a hand on her shoulder.

    ¡°I can t-t-take them at costume p-parties because they l-look so silly it''s stupid! But in g-g-games and movies they''re too m-much!¡± she whimpered.

    Ehh... how do we do this? I wondered to myself bemusedly, patting her on the back.

    ¡°P-please, let''s just g-get going,¡± Maryn then said, pulling herself up slowly. I stood up as well, giving her a helpless look as I turned to look around once again.

    ¡°We might be able to sneak by, depending on the situation. Actually, unless it''s worse, do you want to wait here while I scout ahead?¡± I asked her.

    ¡°N-n-n-n-no!!¡± she returned at once, putting her hands on my shoulders. ¡°Wh-what if it''s a r-r-roamer?¡± she asked me then, her face filled with fear.

    ¡°Ahh... true...¡± I acknowledged.

    ¡°M-make... make me feel better, at l-least...¡± she said with a pouty expression.

    ¡°H-how?¡±

    ¡°Wh-what are you afraid of?¡±

    ¡°Ehh--? That''d make you feel better?¡±

    ¡°B-b-because it''d show me you''re n-not -- not s-something! I don''t know!¡± she said to me.

    ¡°Hahh...¡± I softly sighed. ¡°Well, it''ll probably come up again anyway, so I might as well say it,¡± I then said, and she nodded vigorously. ¡°Bees. I hate them. They paralyze me.¡± I told her, feeling an involuntary shudder go through me from just saying so.

    ¡°B-b-b--¡± she stuttered out.

    ¡°D-d-d-don''t say it!¡± I pleaded. She took a deep breath, and then wrapped me in a hug.

    Ehh?! Wh-why? I wondered with a slight panic, but slowly reached my arms around her as well. D-dang it, you really are scared, I suddenly thought. This is one of those girl-things where I just need to shut up and stand with her, right? Although right now I''m a girl myself, too...

    After a few moments more, Maryn let go. She seemed calmer now, and the sound had not repeated itself. Maybe it moved on, I thought inwardly. I moved towards the door, and checked the lock. It was rusted. I took one of my daggers, and chopped it off to free us from the prison we had fallen in to. Come to think of it, I''ve never really been alone with anyone but Ari here, except that one random time I ran into Tyman, I mused as I looked back at my companion.

    ¡°I''m guessing most of the locks will be more or less like that; maybe one or two will actually need to be picked, though.¡± I said to her, and she nodded back.

    ¡°Got it.¡± she replied softly.

    Dang it she''s really shaken up.

    ¡°Come on,¡± I smiled gently, and we began making our way out of the dungeon.

    ***

    Whatever the sound had been, we didn''t run into anything in our way except locked doors. There were a couple of old chests that we looted, but no monsters of any kind appeared to bar our path. Along the way we noticed several grisly old torture chambers and skeletons held up by ancient wall-shackles, and there were several grated floors we had to cross, each of them spanning another chamber of horrors below our feet.

    Maryn eventually relaxed into her usual self, and the frightened, stammering girl who had seemed as if she might wet herself earlier was once again the calm and composed shield-user who was boldly determined to protect her friends. After maybe another hour of wandering through the maze of a prison and either picking or cutting locks open, we found the others recuperating from a fight at the bottom of a wide stairwell, a large, furry corpse at their feet. Maryn blanched at once and hid behind me; I then knew instantly what it was.

    ¡°W-wow...¡± I remarked with awe.

    ¡°Lana!¡± Ari exclaimed as she jumped up to come and give me a hug. I smiled as her arms wrapped around me, and I hugged her back warmly.

    ¡°Boo! You two didn''t have to fight an inch, did you?¡± Lizzy grumbled.

    ¡°Just locks.¡± Maryn replied. ¡°D-did you loot that already?¡± she then asked.

    ¡°Eh? Oh, the Fang Warden; yep, we did.¡± our halberdier nodded back with a grin.

    ¡°F-fang W-w-warden...¡± Maryn couldn''t help but stammer.

    ¡°Ahh... did you find another route somewhere?¡± I quickly said.

    ¡°We did,¡± Healina nodded, ¡°But then we saw a door labeled ''Dungeon'', so here we are!¡± she smiled.

    ¡°Whew.¡± I sighed to myself in relief. ¡°All right,¡± I said as Ari released me, ¡°Let''s get back to it, then -- and let''s keep an eye out for any more floor traps... that dungeon is huuuge.¡±

    ¡°Gotcha.¡± Lizzy nodded back. Maryn set off up the stairs at once, not even looking back, followed by Lizzy and Heali, who called for her to wait. Ariana looked over at me with a funny expression.

    ¡°Is she okay?¡± she asked me.

    ¡°Ehh...¡± I dropped my voice, ¡°She''s frightened of werewolves.¡± I told her quietly.

    ¡°Ohh...¡± Ari whispered back gently, slipping her arm into mine as we headed up the stairs after the others. ¡°I guess she heard that howl earlier.¡± she continued.

    ¡°She did,¡± I returned softly.

    ¡°That was some special attack it used to summon up ghost wolves.¡± Ari told me.

    ¡°Ghost wolves? That sounds kind of neat,¡± I whispered back.

    ¡°It was, kind of,¡± she agreed.

    ¡°Oh, that''s why there was only the one corpse there,¡± I then realized.

    ¡°True!¡± she quietly giggled. ¡°Hope there''s no more of them around, though, since Maryn might not be able to handle them,¡± she then added.

    ¡°With the way things have been, we might only have to face a few more champion elites and then the boss,¡± I said as we continued up the stairs. ¡°How long are these stairs, anyway?¡± I then wondered.

    ¡°Hmm, I think we''re a third of the way up?¡± Ariana told me.

    ¡°Hahh...¡± I sighed.

    When we got out of the stairwell, we crossed the upper balconies of a large hall lit by eerie lights, where we encountered a few gargoyles that came to life and attacked us, along with several specters. They had been guarding a double door at the other end, which opened to reveal a broad ascending staircase. The carpeted steps led us up to a great chamber, richly decorated in a very haunted fashion. All of the eerie, spooky, and fear-inspiring design was epitomized in this one room; and at the far end was a wicked black throne flanked by two massive gargoyles, and upon the throne sat a figure in blood-red robes trimmed with gold and black. I zoomed in on him; he, unlike the other bosses, had a name: Chronomal, the Lich Emperor.

    I then looked around quickly; there were sarcophagi lining the walls, and some situated upon the floor. Nine large ones sat upon nine daises, and each dais was surrounded by two gargoyles and four small pillars topped with a brazier emitting a sickly-green flame. Several suits of armor lined the walls as well, each of them with either a greatsword or a pike in their clutches. This is definitely going to be a pain, I thought to myself with a wry smile.

    ¡°What''s the plan, Lana?¡± Healina asked me.

    ¡°I''m gonna bet that all the things in this chamber come alive to attack us at some point or another,¡± I said, and the others nodded. ¡°Specifically whatever is in those nine sarcophagi.¡±

    ¡°You thought of them too, huh?¡± Lizzy nodded.

    ¡°I''ll summon up some fire-sprites to start with.¡± Healina said.

    ¡°Good thinking,¡± I nodded back. ¡°We''ll need your booster skills as well, and Ari''s.¡± I then said, and my partner nodded to me.

    ¡°I can use Chaos on some of them if we need to, as well,¡± she added. ¡°And of course we know very well how to deal with undead above our levels.¡± she winked at me.

    ¡°You betcha, partner!¡± I grinned back. ¡°So Maryn will keep Chronomal''s attention on her, Healina will focus on Maryn, and the three of us will cause havoc and mayhem among the adds.¡±

    ¡°You got it.¡± Maryn smiled back, apparently fully recovered from her fright.

    ¡°Ready when you are!¡± Lizzy said.

    ¡°All set!¡± Heali announced.

    ¡°Same!¡± Ari said, her staff at the ready.

    ¡°All right,¡± I then said, ¡°Let''s go!¡±

    ***

    I''ll say one thing about that fight: it went pretty much exactly as I thought it would. When the boss was at ninety-five percent health (which took at least five minutes to do), several of the coffins opened up, and a few of the armor sets woke up: Armored Ghouls, as they turned out to be. Meanwhile, Mr. Lich Emperor gave himself an immunity shield and sat there for the several minutes it took us to deal with his minions. After that little diversion, we resumed working on him until he reached ninety-percent, at which point one of the nine sarcophagi opened and another set of Armored Ghouls marched forth to do battle.

    What came out of the sarcophagus, by the way, was a champion-elite lich. Except this time Chronomal kept attacking us until we somehow got him down to eighty-five before finishing off the other lich, which turned out to be a not-so-great idea because more minions suddenly woke up--as they were meant to, of course--and we had a fairly uphill battle to get through before we finally finished off the third and second wave of adds and resumed our fight with the boss. Armed with this knowledge, we took great care during the rest of the battle to make sure we dealt with the adds first when they came up.

    During the middle of the fight, I accidentally found out that we could attack the coffins (not the sarcophagi, sadly) before their occupants woke up. Suddenly inspired, and seeing that the others had things under control (insofar as that went), I decided to go on a mini-rampage and destroy as many coffins as I could. Ariana, of course, caught on to what I was doing very quickly and started helping me while the other three dealt with Chronomal. We got quite a few down before his immunity shield came back to give him a break, and I felt for certain that we had successfully done away with the greater part of the wave due to attack us. And then to my great frustration, wraiths came out of the walls instead of the more corporeal undead.

    ¡°Oh well!¡± Ariana sighed, a wry smile on her face.

    ¡°Bleeehh!¡± I groaned.

    Well, we managed with the wraiths, and with the successive waves that came after them, as well as the remaining champion-elite liches in their turns, before we were finally left with just the boss himself. Then as he dipped just below five-percent health, he began hovering in the air and chanting in some fantasy Latin-sounding language, his staff held high. I looked at his induction bar; ¡°Revenge of the Dead¡±.

    ¡°That does not sound good!¡± I cried out, rushing forth with my daggers to try and deal major damage or at least interrupt him. At once I attacked with Thousand Needle Strike, and Lizzy joined me with Relentless Onslaught, the two of us yelling in tandem as we desperately tried interrupting him, to no avail. Ariana threw a few spells at it as well to help us, all of them major DoTs.

    ¡°It''s going off anyway!¡± she said to me.

    ¡°But he''s at three-percent health! We have him!¡± I retorted.

    ¡°Lana! The induction is almost full!¡± Maryn called to us.

    ¡°Grrrrr!¡±

    ¡°Come on, kiddo!¡± Lizzy said, hoisting me off the ground as one of my attacks finished and running back to the others with me.

    ¡°Wha--hang on! It''s two-percent now!!¡± I complained as she jogged with me over her shoulder.

    ¡°Yeah, yeah, shaddup!¡± she quipped, lightly slapping me on the behind. That shut me up. I could literally feel my cheeks turning color as I nearly choked.

    ¡°It''s full!¡± Healina said, raising a warding shield around us as Lizzy set me down. Ariana helped her with a second, and the boss'' attack went off.

    It didn''t actually do damage, per se... just psychological damage. What the attack did was summon up a werewolf... and a queen bee... and a spider. Healina shut her eyes at once, and then began her healing rhythm again with her eyes closed. Maryn slowly sank to her knees, and I curled up into a ball, trying not to fall into a panic. I don''t know if I mentioned this before, but there''s a certain point at which the Dream Machine will auto-log you if you''re in a state of panic, hyperventilation, or some other mentally-induced trauma, for the user''s safety. I heard Lizzy use a dirty word, and then she lunged forward with her halberd with a ferocious roar. Not ten seconds later I heard the sound of something exploding into pixels.

    ¡°Lana! Get up! It''s down! Help me!¡± Lizzy shouted then, and I peeked out. Lizzy, in her anger, had practically one-shot the queen bee, for it was gone. I jumped up, half out of shame and half out of gratitude, and ran to help her with the werewolf and spider. She was doing pretty well with the latter, so I attacked the former.

    ¡°What a gimmick!¡± I quipped as I slashed the furry thing across the face as it tried to swipe at me.

    ¡°Right?!¡± Lizzy grinned fiercely. ¡°Who knew the game kept tabs on our phobias?¡±

    ¡°Or at least a negative mental reaction to certain monsters,¡± I returned, dodging several more swipes and then leaping onto the thing''s back to stab it below the neck. It howled with a fury, and then did that classic move where the one being attacked leans back and then jerks their body forward like a catapult to throw off their attacker. Yep, I went flying. Several firebolts flew by me as I came to ground, and the werewolf was blinded.

    ¡°Lana, now!¡± Ariana said to me. I quickly drew my bow out, and let loose one of my stronger ranged attacks, Sky Piercer. It burned a hole through the werewolf''s upper torso, and he fell dead to the ground.

    ¡°Maryn!¡± I then called over to our shield-user, who saw the creature fall to ground dead, and then mustered her fighting spirit to help Lizzy finish off the spider, while Ariana and I raced towards Chronomal.

    ¡°Noontide Reprisal!¡± Ariana shouted.

    ¡°Sunrise Vengeance!¡± I cried out in turn; our attacks hit him at the same time, and just as the spider went up in pixels, the Lich Emperor staggered back with the fatal blows, and then burst apart into nothingness as well.

    A rewards chest appeared moments later, along with the portal to the next dungeon. The five of us sat down to recover ourselves and our wits for several long moments before dealing with them, though.

    ¡°Ruuuude.¡± Ariana groaned exhaustedly.

    ¡°Righhht?¡± Lizzy sighed in agreement.

    ¡°Ughh.¡± Maryn winced uneasily.

    ¡°We got through it, though!¡± Healina remarked, raising her hand in a victory-sign.

    ¡°True,¡± I faintly grinned in agreement.

    ¡°All right,¡± Lizzy then said, ¡°Pity party''s over for me. Next?¡±

    ¡°I think we have time,¡± Maryn agreed. ¡°And these two owe us some more action for making us wait so long.¡± she added with an amused grin. Ariana and I looked at each other sheepishly.

    ¡°I guess they''re kind of right,¡± I said.

    ¡°True. We''ll have to make them pay for it later.¡± she returned with a soft smirk, and with that we collected our rewards, including the charm for the next dungeon, and took the portal to the next part of our journey.

 Chapter Twenty-one: My Swamp/The Last Trek/The Final Dungeon

    As expected, the portal set us close to the fifth dungeon. This part of the marshes seemed more... well, I guess ¡°swampy¡± is the only word that really comes to mind. Even more so than the area around the Wraith Dungeon. There were more mires, and lots of muddy expanses. Belligerence guards the cunning ones. The words from the quest came back to my mind.

    Wait a minute; belligerence, belligerence... what could be belligerent, and living in a swamp? Don''t tell me... I suddenly thought as we pulled ourselves out of another mire, and then all of a sudden a furious bellow erupted to our left. Not fifty feet away was a greenish yellow creature nearly ten feet in height; it had a great girth, a trollish face, and in its large hand was a massive wooden club.

    ¡°O-o-o--Ogre!!¡± I managed to get out just as it charged us. We scattered, and Ariana hit it with a couple fireballs. It groaned, and sank to its knees. H-huhh!?

    ¡°Huhh?!¡± Ariana cried out in disbelief, echoing my thoughts exactly.

    ¡°Th-that''s really weak...¡± Heali remarked.

    ¡°I''m not complaining!¡± Lizzy said as she ran over and swiped off its head. The ogre disintegrated with a pitiful groan, and our halberdier set the end of her weapon in the ground to take a small rest.

    ¡°Wh-what the heck level was that thing?¡± I wondered.

    ¡°More like, it was a minion.¡± Lizzy observed.

    ¡°But if that was just a minion...¡± Maryn began, trailing off as another howling bellow sounded, and then another, and a third, and then an angry chorus of roars and growls came to our ears.

    ¡°Un-dirtyword-believable...!¡± Lizzy whistled as she turned to see the horde of ogres rampaging towards us.

    ¡°Aw, dang it, really?¡± I sighed.

    ¡°Hey, we still have our buff! Let''s make good use of it!¡± Heali reminded us then.

    ¡°Oh, sweet!¡± I said with a resurgent spirit.

    ¡°One Panarena hour left of it, though,¡± Lizzy said. ¡°Lets make this as quick as we can and then try to find another tuning station!¡±

    ¡°Here they are!¡± Maryn said, bashing the lead ogre in the face with her shield. It tipped over like a drunk cow, much to our surprise, but Maryn quickly recovered and drove her sword through its neck, finishing it off.

    ¡°Are they all minions? Because that''d be sweet,¡± I remarked, slicing one up just as quickly as Maryn had. ¡°Wow!¡±

    ¡°Maybe most of them?¡± Healina said as she cast a heal-over-time on us.

    ¡°Sick!!¡± Lizzy cheered, entering a rampage attack with her halberd as I did the same with my daggers. ¡°Let''s do this!¡± she shouted, and we tore into the angry onslaught of ogres.

    For the next Panarena hour, we waded through the swampy mires and hordes of minion-level ogres, occasionally coming up on a champion ogre, but this was (perhaps fortunately) not a very common occurrence at the moment. We came across a cave just as the hour was ending, and inside we found the tuning station we were hoping for. After a few minutes Lizzy had it set to give us our gear-boost and some major physical resistance, and then Sallymander reappeared.

    ¡°Huh? You know, come to think, we kind of left that guy behind on accident earlier...¡± our smith reminded us.

    ¡°Ahh--¡± I exclaimed sheepishly.

    ¡°Aww! Poor Sally!¡± Healina knelt down to pet it, and it set down another object at her feet. ¡°Aw, how nice of you; I''m sorry we forgot you earlier.¡± she continued, still stroking it behind the--ears? Did salamanders have ears? Whatever. He certainly looked happy, though, almost as if he might purr.

    ¡°Sh-she''s totally adopted it,¡± I remarked to Ari.

    ¡°R-right?¡± she replied with a bemused look. ¡°I wonder if she might be able to bind him permanently, somehow,¡± she continued in a more thoughtful tone.

    ¡°Hmm?¡± Heali looked up at us, and then examined Sallymander''s status. ¡°Taming status: sixty-percent. Huh?¡± she wondered with surprise. ¡°Did somebody do something?¡±

    ¡°Ahh... we fed him the one night... because we were gonna be gone for three whole game days... and we felt guilty...¡± I said, and Ari giggled.

    ¡°Oh, I get it!¡± our healer smiled. ¡°So if we want to keep him, we have to feed him some more. I bet he was nearly there a couple days ago and the status meter dropped off because you weren''t feeding him.¡±

    ¡°Hehh? So we almost accidentally got ourselves a permanent pet?¡± I wondered.

    ¡°Of course it would be the one with the punny name...¡± Lizzy shook her head.

    ¡°Gee, I wonder who keeps calling it by said punny name despite hating it.¡± I said to her with a mock glare, to which she responded with an insincere grin.

    ¡°I wonder!¡± she quipped back.

    ¡°But anyway; this item looks like it goes with the one from the Storm Dungeon,¡± Heali said to us, and I took the item in question out of my inventory. The bottle with its coiled tube did look like a perfect match for the odd item that our pet had brought us. It was some sort of release valve, obviously meant to be affixed to the end of the tube.

    ¡°So I attach it like so...¡± I said as I combined the two items; just as expected, they fit perfectly. ¡°But really, what is it?¡± I then wondered, trying to think of how it could be used.

    ¡°At this rate, I wonder if we need it for the last dungeon?¡± Maryn suggested.

    ¡°Oh! That''s possible,¡± I agreed.

    ¡°What a pain this quest is,¡± Lizzy groaned.

    ¡°Would you rather be here or working a late-shift at one of your soon-to-be jobs?¡± Heali countered.

    ¡°I love this quest!¡± the blonde girl said immediately.

    ¡°Such a simpleton,¡± I muttered, and Ari giggled softly. Heali''s ears twitched, and she tried to contain a smile. Thankfully, Lizzy didn''t hear me. ¡°Anyway, I''m not seeing an actual ''dungeon'' around here; unless it''s a cave and I just don''t see it.¡±

    ¡°Maybe it''s a field dungeon,¡± Lizzy suggested.

    ¡°Could be.¡± I nodded back.

    ¡°In which case any caves we find from now on will probably have elites, champions, mini-bosses, and then the boss.¡± Maryn said.

    ¡°Too true,¡± our smith agreed. ¡°All right, this thing is set: come get your bonuses!¡± she then said, and after we had gotten our next-to-last bolstering, we set out again across the increasingly miry terrain.

    I lost count of how many ogres we fought. The overwhelming majority of them were brutish minions that we could easily down; the only thing was they were a very overwhelming majority, and that got really old really quick. I hadn''t taken this game for a game that would do the mindless mob-grind, but that''s what we were doing at the moment: mindlessly mowing down mobs again and again and again. And this took, or perhaps wasted, three dang hours of Panarena time. Then we spent another hour dealing with champion-elite ogres and their minions as we drew nearer to the place marked by the quest indicator. And when at last we had finally overcome all of these, the Ogre Lord Kresh appeared. He was by far bigger than all of the other ogres we had seen, being at least three times the height of Lizzy, and he was also far smarter.

    ¡°Why are you here, you fiendish adventurers?? This is my swamp!!¡± he bellowed out. And with that the battle began.

    Compared to nearly every boss fight so far, this one was relatively easy. There was no immunity shield, no add-summoning, just a straight out fight with the occasional knockback or stun. And then it happened.

    Remember that Akajak the Rude we mentioned a while back? The wandering goblin? Yeah. He showed up. I had absolutely no clue that he wandered all through the Marshes of the Wyrd, but I guess he did, because here he was. With a few choice insults to both us and Kresh, he joined the battle, and it became a three-way battle between him, the ogre lord, and our five-person party.

    Akajak was not that much harder a fight than Kresh, to be honest; it''s just that he was a javelin thrower, and every time two or three percent of his health got knocked off he would run around with an immunity shield screaming out insults. It had to be some sort of dev-prank. It just had to be. There was no way it wasn''t. This guy was just plain out--

    ¡°Ruuuuuude!!¡± Lizzy hollered as the goblin ran off again, squealing out insults I won''t bother repeating. ¡°I''mma chop off your legs and stuff them in your filthy mouth to shut you up, you punk!¡± she shouted.

    ¡°I''d pay real money if you did,¡± I quipped as I dodged a blow from Kresh and retaliated with Thousand Needle Strike and Crescent Flash.

    ¡°I''ll do it for free!!¡± she returned as she lunged for the goblin and actually did manage to swipe his feet out from under him. ¡°Well I''ll be darned!¡± she said as he fell to the ground, barely able to crawl away.

    ¡°Nooo!! No-no-no-no-no-no-no!! Pl-eeeease! No kill I!!¡± the creature jabbered.

    At that moment Kresh let out another bellowing roar, and began running towards Lizzy, his club raised up high for an overhead smash. Suddenly an idea struck me; Akajak was barely getting away from our halberdier, and Kresh was almost on top of her. Heali was about to shout a warning when I held my hand up; she looked over at me in disbelief. I grinned back at her; she blinked, seeing I had something in mind. Just as Kresh was about to one-shot Lizzy, I suddenly sprang forth and knocked her out of the way. When Kresh''s club came down, it struck the hapless goblin, and he disintegrated, leaving a chest behind. Healina sighed in relief, and Lizzy looked over in surprise, then grabbed me by the collar.

    ¡°You were using me as bait just now, weren''t you, you little twerp?¡± she said to me with an angry grin.

    ¡°Ah-heh-heh-heh...¡± I returned with a helpless smile. ¡°Arriiiii...!¡±

    ¡°Don''t look at me,¡± she said with a mischievous expression. ¡°You brought this one on yourself!¡±

    ¡°Set him down, Lizzy; you''re fine, and Kresh is somehow stunned,¡± Maryn said, and the two of us looked over.

    ¡°Huh?¡± the blonde girl wondered.

    ¡°The heck?¡± I blinked in confusion.

    ¡°Tch -- that''s minus fifteen points, Lana!¡± Lizzy said as she let me go and went on the attack again.

    ¡°Hahhh...¡± I sighed, and Ari poked me.

    ¡°You alive?¡± she wondered.

    ¡°I guess.¡± I replied in an unconvincing tone.

    ¡°Come on,¡± she grinned, and I took out my bow to help her attack from range. In a few minutes more we had finished off our original enemy, and a second chest, this one bigger, appeared. Half a moment later a portal sprang out of the ground. We looted the two chests, and then entered the portal to find ourselves near Mjonid, the northwestern-most city in the Marshes of the Wyrd.

    ¡°So anyway; it''s south by southwest to the last dungeon from here. Although it was west by southwest from the previous dungeon, which was closer, I think...¡± Healina told us as she looked at the map in confusion. We had spent a few minutes at the vendors getting rid of junk and repairing things, and now we were gathered together in a room at a local inn, talking things over and preparing to log out for the night.

    ¡°Ehh, but the way from the Ogre Dungeon is blocked by the Impassible Mires,¡± I pointed out.

    ¡°Oh, I see; I guess we would have drowned or something... eek!¡± she remarked with a shake of her head.

    ¡°Not a lot of pleasant ways to go in any game, but in a VR game it seems like it''d be so much more... worse?¡± I said with a grimace.

    ¡°Definitely is.¡± Lizzy nodded.

    ¡°Oh, right, you have died in this game, before you met us at least.¡± I recalled.

    ¡°Such a weird experience, and very nerve-wracking.¡± she nodded.

    ¡°Not something I''d like to get accustomed to,¡± I said. ¡°But anyway... it''s late. Super late.¡±

    ¡°Yeah. We''ll finish this off tomorrow, and then we''ll be in Xuanpu.¡± Healina said, and the rest of us nodded back.

    ¡°Can''t wait!¡± Ariana exclaimed.

    ¡°We''ll take it easy for a bit once there; or at least I will.¡± Lizzy quipped.

    ¡°Fair enough.¡± I nodded, and then yawned. ¡°All right, I''m done. See you all next time.¡± I said.

    ¡°Right; I''m out too!¡± Lizzy said, poofing almost instantly, as did Healina, and then Maryn. Ari snagged me for a hug before I left, and then smiled as we logged out for the night together.

    ***

    Sunday passed by a bit groggily on account of our late adventures, but I managed to pass hide it pretty well. I didn''t really ¡°wake up¡± until some time after lunch, after which I was helping Rachel over video-call with our extra-credit assignment, sorting out the pics and vids we had collected yesterday. We didn''t really have to turn it in until the end of the week, but hey, might as well get it done while it''s more or less fresh on the mind. Besides, this weekend was probably going to be busy for us, and we didn''t want the assignment bogging us down, extra-credit or no.

    ¡°And don''t forget that two weeks from now is the homecoming dance, that we''re going to,¡± she said to me with a sly smirk.

    ¡°Ahh... right.¡± I nodded back with a sheepish grin. ¡°And then the week after that is Halloween...¡± I added. I swear that smirk got more mischievous.

    ¡°True! The others had some ideas about that by the way, but we''ll talk about it later.¡±

    This is a trap. I know it. I just know it, I thought to myself with a wary expression.

    ¡°Sure,¡± I managed to reply.

    ¡°Okay, I think that''s really all we can feasibly put on to this thing; now we need to arrange our notes into an essay.¡± she said, and I nodded back again.

    ¡°Right, and it has to look ''professional'', whatever that means,¡± I returned.

    ¡°Like a company report or a journal article, I guess?¡± Rachel replied. ¡°Let''s look some up for reference.¡±

    ¡°Gotcha,¡± I agreed. We spent a couple hours on this, and when we had found a format we agreed on we typed up most of our notes into a rough draft, saving it for later when dinner came along. After dinner, of course, I was released into the wild to rejoin my fellow gamers in our natural habitat.

    ¡°Right, we''re all here,¡± I said as I quickly looked around the room a few moments after logging in.

    ¡°Yep, and we''ve got a long marsh ahead of us.¡± Lizzy said.

    ¡°A long march, not marsh... although come to think of it...¡± Healina gently smirked.

    ¡°Eh? Did I say marsh?¡± the other girl wondered.

    ¡°You did.¡± Maryn said, gently patting her on the back.

    ¡°Whatever we have, let''s get going,¡± I said with a grin, restraining myself from a pun so that I didn''t lose more points.

    Mjonid was near the border of the Marshes of the Wyrd and Stormwraith Hold, a mountainous region where it was said that thunderstorms rarely ceased and clouds never left. Some day, we would explore that region, but not today. Today we continued our quest, heading along a worn path heading in a general southward direction towards the last dungeon, named as the Serpent Dungeon on our map.

    The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

    The landscape we made our way through now was not much different than the spooky, eerie, and bleak terrain that the marshes were apparently famous for. Off in the distance we could see huts jutting out of the wetlands upon stilts, and we wondered who the occupants were. Ari and I said witches, Healina said they were harmless NPCs meant for atmosphere, Maryn thought they might be some sort of werebeing, and Lizzy said with a certain level of confidence that they were probably empty. We checked one of the closer huts just for the fun of it; it was abandoned.

    ¡°I guess Lizzy is kind of right, then?¡± Maryn shrugged.

    ¡°Look at all this stuff,¡± Healina remarked. ¡°I wonder if there''s any recipes or something hidden in these books?¡±

    ¡°The ones that are intact probably have them,¡± I said.

    ¡°Not many of those that I can see... maybe ten, at most.¡± our healer said.

    ¡°Can''t get too lucky, I guess.¡±

    ¡°Let''s take them and continue on,¡± Ariana said, and Heali nodded back. They split the books between the two of them, and we resumed our journey south.

    After at least two hours of walking, I turned to the right, facing westwards, and beyond the region-border I could see it: Xuanpu, our destination. Far, far in the distance I thought I could see pillared mountains and the hint of an ocean; but what I could definitely see were the curved roofs of eastern-style houses and other buildings neatly settled in a lush and vibrant landscape. I could almost hear a sound of music, the kind our Chinese teacher would sometimes play, and I felt my heart aching inside me. A tear fell from my eye, and I felt Ariana''s hand taking my own; I looked over, a tear was in her eye as well, and a gentle smile was on her face.

    ¡°Almost.¡± she whispered to me, and I nodded back.

    ¡°Almost.¡± I returned just as softly. Someone then placed their hands on our backs.

    ¡°Come on,¡± Maryn said with a warm smile, patting us gently as she continued after the others. We recovered ourselves, and hurried after them.

    As we returned our full attention to our trek several minutes later, I suddenly had a thought, the kind that nags at you until you reason it out. Waaaiiit a minute; ''serpent''. This is the last major dungeon in the Marshes of the Wyrd, and it''s on the border of Xuanpu. The Flame Dungeon had a boss that was, more or less, ¡°in theme¡± for the two regions closest to it, Heimgar and the Aldholt, namely a demon. So wouldn''t this dungeon''s boss have some sort of similarity to monsters that are ¡°in theme¡± for Xuanpu? Or am I overthinking it? Hmm... I don''t think I am...

    ¡°Let''s see,¡± I continued aloud, unaware that I was talking. ¡°The Storm Dungeon had a steampunk boss deal; and the Wastes, the next region over, are supposed to have been affected by some sort of mysterious disaster; the Wraith Dungeon was near the Sylvanian Reaches, which is populated by Wood Elves, I think, and Elves generally hate undead of any kind, so that also makes sense... the Frost Dungeon didn''t make too much sense, being near the Yucu Jungles, and while the Ogre Dungeon didn''t quite fit either it also kind of worked... so the majority of the dungeons had a boss that was more or less in line with the theme from the nearest region over, which means that the Serpent Dungeon''s boss will most likely be ''in theme'' for Xuanpu... and that would possibly mean...¡± I trailed off, conjuring up the possibilities, still unaware I had been speaking out loud.

    ¡°What would it mean?¡± Ariana asked me, and I turned to her with a nonplussed look.

    ¡°Hmm?¡± I asked her in turn.

    ¡°You were talking about the bosses and the dungeons and how they seem related to the bordering regions closest to them?¡± she said to me, and then I finally realized I had actually been talking.

    ¡°Oh, that,¡± I nodded. ¡°Hmm... well, there''s probably a few things that might fit the idea in the end, but if it''s an apex creature of its type, then there could be an eastern dragon waiting for us in the last boss chamber.¡± I said.

    ¡°Oh cool!¡± Ariana said excitedly.

    ¡°Aren''t eastern dragons usually more benevolent than the ones we usually think of?¡± Healina then said, and I snapped my fingers.

    ¡°Oh yeah!¡± I exclaimed as the thought struck home. ¡°I wonder if we''ll actually have to fight it at all, or if there''s just some sort of test it gives us,¡± I then said.

    ¡°Ooh, wicked.¡± Lizzy remarked with interest. ¡°That''d be a nice change!¡±

    ¡°Still, if they''re going for that definition of serpent, as in ''serpentine'', then you know what that means...¡± Maryn said, pointing towards our pet.

    ¡°Oh, right, it does mean that, doesn''t it?¡± I said with a wry expression.

    ¡°Salamanders.¡± Ariana nodded.

    ¡°Speaking of dungeons and things that dwell within them,¡± Heali then said, pointing ahead.

    There before us was an eastern style fortress, with red walls and hip-and-gable roofs made of green tile, the walls patterned with majestic looping knots of gold and the roofs with jade-crafted guardians seated at their edges or at the very top of them. An elegant jade dragon of immense size was situated above the gates, its two eyes fashioned from emeralds. It was almost as if it was staring down at us for real. The gates, crafted from a darker wood and patterned in the same fashion as the walls, slowly opened.

    ¡°An invitation.¡± I said.

    ¡°Bold adventurers,¡± a deep voice said, ¡°Come forth, and receive a blessing. Fear not! I am the Guardian of the East, and I commit no treachery.¡± it told us, and we looked at each other.

    I stepped forward first, feeling pretty good about the situation. Just as the guardian promised, a blessing was bestowed upon me as I entered the gates -- a stat and gear boost, to be more specific. I gave the others a nod, and they came forward as well to receive their own boosts.

    ¡°The first test, adventurers; prove your respect for my kith and kin. Do this, and I shall permit you to take the second test.¡± the voice said.

    ¡°Prove our respect?¡± Maryn wondered.

    ¡°This is one of those more thought-out and involved quests, isn''t it?¡± Lizzy remarked, scratching her head.

    ¡°Kneeling or bowing is probably part of the answer, but that doesn''t seem like it would be enough, somehow,¡± Ariana told us.

    ¡°I think you''re right,¡± I nodded back. ¡°In which case there''s something we should do before we try that.¡±

    ¡°True,¡± she returned. I looked around at the courtyard we now stood in; a torii gate stood at the beginning of the paved road to the entrance of the main building.

    Does that make this place a shrine? I wondered to myself. But if this is a shrine, then that means we have to have the utmost respect for its guardian... and that means... I suddenly realized, looking at our little friend.

    ¡°Heali,¡± I said with an unexpectedly choked voice, and she looked over at me with concern, ¡°Set him loose. Set him free.¡± I told her.

    ¡°Huh?¡± she wondered, and then her eyes widened as she realized I was talking about Sallymander. ¡°L-Lana...¡± she stuttered, her face falling.

    ¡°Urrgh... she''s right, Heali,¡± Lizzy said in a firm but not unkind tone. ¡°We''ve been keeping him as a pet for all this time; let''s set him free now. That''ll show respect, I bet.¡± she continued. Healina sadly nodded, and then undid the charm on Sallymander, kissing his head as the effect wore off. The critter flicked its tongue out at us one last time, and then scuttled off into the Marshes of the Wyrd. I couldn''t help but watch with a pained expression until he disappeared, and then I turned back towards the shrine, and knelt down, bowing my head. The others did the same.

    ¡°Well done, adventurers. I admire your respect, and I thank you for freeing mine fellow from his charmed service. You may enter to face the second trial!¡± the voice said.

    Suddenly the path towards the main building was illuminated; the white stones of the pavement glowed like stars, radiant and mysterious. Lizzy was about to head directly for the entrance, but I put a hand out to stop her.

    ¡°We have to stay on the path,¡± I told her.

    ¡°Hmm? Some sort of symbolic thing?¡± she wondered.

    ¡°I''m pretty sure.¡± I nodded back.

    The five of us then made our way directly along the paved pathway, walking single file. We passed under the torii, and continued up to the outer porch of the great building before us. There was a basin of water at the bottom of the steps. I dipped my hands into it, and then gently shook them dry; the others did the same, Maryn saying something about following my lead carefully. Not that I knew exactly what I was doing, but I was mostly positive I was doing the right thing.

    Next to the beautifully decorated door was a bell with a rope-pull attached to it. I looked at this carefully, and then looked at the sign next to it. I couldn''t read everything, but I recognized what were probably the important characters for our situation: two, two, and one. Eh? Is this place more Japan-based than China-themed? Uh-oh... how do anime characters pray at a shrine? I quickly wondered to myself.

    ¡°Two bows, two claps, one bow.¡± Ari said to me with a smile.

    ¡°Huh? Oh; wait, you lived in Japan?!¡± I suddenly exclaimed.

    ¡°For a couple months one summer, yeah.¡± she nodded back.

    ¡°Jea-lous!¡± Lizzy said with amazement.

    ¡°Cool!¡± I replied.

    ¡°So what do we do again?¡± Healina wondered.

    ¡°Ring the bell,¡± Ariana began, ¡°Then bow twice--not too deeply, but formally, and then clap twice, and then another formal bow.¡±

    ¡°Hmm...¡± I said, pretty sure I remembered how it worked now, and then rang the bell reverently. The five of us then bowed twice, gave two claps, and then bowed again. Then the door opened, and the voice spoke again.

    ¡°Well done! You have shown reverence for my shrine; the second trial is passed. Come now, and face the third.¡± it told us, and together we entered the grand shrine.

    The atmosphere within was not unlike the Hallowed Pagoda Ariana and I had been in. It was calming, soothing almost. More jade statues of fantastical creatures or mystical warriors lined the walls or were situated upon daises, pillars and columns painted with floral patterns or dragon designs supported the floors above us, and magnificently woven carpets with fine trim and exotic designs were upon the floors we now trod.

    ¡°What do we do now?¡± Maryn whispered.

    ¡°I have no idea,¡± Ariana whispered back.

    ¡°The third trial now begins,¡± the voice said to us. ¡°Three questions, three riddles, I shall give to you. First: what is the most important, fealty, love, or honor?¡±

    ¡°Uh-oh.¡± I mumbled softly.

    ¡°This is more difficult than I thought it was gonna be,¡± Lizzy grumbled quietly.

    ¡°I''ll say; how do we solve these riddles?¡± Healina remarked glumly. I inadvertently looked to the right, and saw another placard with characters I recognized.

    ¡°Oh! I get it!¡± I then said. ¡°Honor!¡± I said confidently.

    ¡°Well done, mortal. Honor, fealty, love; this is the sacred paradigm of a warrior. The second question: what creature is more noble than a dragon?¡± it asked us then. I frowned. More noble than a dragon? I mean, even in western myths, dragons are pretty majestic and noble looking, I thought to myself.

    ¡°Hmm?¡± Ariana mused aloud; she was looking at the placard I had seen a moment ago. ¡°So it gives us the answers, we just have to look for them.¡± she noted, looking around for another and smiling when she found one. ¡°''The Wise One said that there is no creature more noble than a dragon, not even the celestial princes''.¡± she read aloud, and the voice chuckled appreciatively.

    ¡°Well done, adventurer!¡± it said in a congratulatory manner.

    Trick question, huh? I thought to myself bemusedly.

    ¡°The final question: what is the constant foe of the warrior and the king, but a constant friend to all simple and pure-minded folk?¡± the voice asked us. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Maryn smile.

    ¡°Time,¡± she said, ¡°For it brings down the ambitions of the proud, yet gives the humble every opportunity.¡±

    ¡°An excellent answer!¡± the voice replied. ¡°The third trial is passed; the fourth now begins. Come!¡± it continued, and at the far end of the chamber we now stood in, the floor opened downwards, revealing a descending staircase.

    ¡°How many more trials do you think we''ll have?¡± Healina wondered as we continued.

    ¡°I don''t think it''ll give us too many more,¡± I replied. ¡°Isn''t seven an important number in Japan?¡±

    ¡°I think so,¡± Ari nodded. ¡°Which could mean we''re about halfway through.¡±

    ¡°Right,¡± I said.

    When we got down the stairs, we found ourselves at the edge of a chasm; below, we saw a mass of serpents, and on the other side we saw a long corridor that seemed to have an ascending staircase at the far end.

    ¡°Well, this is a puzzle that even I can solve--kinda; there''s probably some sort of mystery path across, and we need to find out what it is.¡± Lizzy told us.

    ¡°Right, that old trope.¡± I nodded in agreement. Ari then put a hand on my shoulder.

    ¡°Another placard.¡± she said, and I turned to look. On it, there were twelve characters. I walked over to it and placed my hand upon it, wondering if it did anything.

    ¡°Whoa!¡± Lizzy said, and I looked back towards the chasm, which now had a bunch of glowing tiles that led across to the other side. Each of them had a character on it. I looked back at the placard, then back at the chasm, and then at the placard again.

    ¡°This is the order we have to cross them with,¡± I said to the others. ¡°I''m screen-saving this.¡± I then said, taking a pic of it and bringing it up for reference as I walked to the edge. Ariana looked at it with me, both of us trying to recall exactly what the characters were.

    ¡°Oh! It''s the Chinese Zodiac.¡± she suddenly remarked.

    ¡°Hm? Oh right, it is!¡± I nodded in agreement. ¡°So each of these characters is one of the twelve animals, and we have to cross in the proper order... waaaaiiit a minute, these are the same characters, but the order is different.¡±

    ¡°Probably for game-lore reasons,¡± Ari said.

    ¡°Hmm... I guess so. Anyway... as long as we follow the order here we should be fine.¡± I said, and with that I stepped out onto the first character listed, in this case, the dragon. I then stepped out onto the next character and almost went down, jumping back just in time. The tile reappeared after a moment, and as Lizzy pulled me to my feet something clicked in my head. ¡°Maybe it''s just the dragon tiles and I was partially overthinking it?¡±

    ¡°Is there a path of just the dragon character?¡± Maryn wondered as I thanked Lizzy.

    ¡°Yep,¡± Ariana said, stepping on to the first, and then the next dragon tile; nothing happened, and she kept crossing them one by one. We followed her, and reached the other side in nearly no time at all.

    ¡°Well done, mortals! Indeed there are twelve, but in my abode, my path is the only way!¡± the voice said to us.

    ¡°Definitely overthought it...¡± I grumbled softly.

    ¡°The third trial is passed; the fourth now begins. How swift are your souls, O mortals?¡± the voice said again, and I suddenly noticed that the corridor walls were lined with holes... the kind whence little poisonous darts usually spring in innumerable hordes.

    ¡°Shadow Vision!¡± I said, looking for more traps. It was mostly just the darts, but there were a few guillotine devices, seven to be exact.

    ¡°Traps?¡± Maryn asked me.

    ¡°Wall darts and choppers that come down from the ceiling.¡± I reported.

    ¡°Tch!¡± Lizzy griped. Ariana used her seeing skills, peering ahead to the end of the corridor.

    ¡°There''s a lever at the end; I wonder if it disarms the traps?¡± she told us.

    ¡°There''s no way to avoid setting them off; see that pressure plate ahead of us?¡± Maryn said. It was a huge one, for sure.

    ¡°No way around that thing, even with a jump.¡± Lizzy sighed.

    ¡°Lana could get through them,¡± Ariana said confidently.

    ¡°Ehh. I guess I could.¡±

    ¡°You ran up the ladder in the pagoda, you can get through this!¡± she reminded me.

    ¡°Ahh... I guess I did do that...¡± I said with a cheeky grin.

    ¡°I still get nightmares.¡± Ari quipped playfully.

    ¡°But then we''d still activate the traps even if she shuts them off from the other side,¡± Maryn pointed out.

    ¡°If we cross together, I can keep us protected long enough for Lana to pull the lever again once we''re over it.¡± Healina told her.

    ¡°Ah, there''s an idea.¡± our shield-user nodded.

    ¡°Give it a few moments before you head over, though,¡± I said to Heali, who nodded back.

    ¡°Got it.¡±

    ¡°All right, kiddo, ready?¡± Lizzy asked me.

    ¡°More or less,¡± I said, getting into a crouching position for take-off.

    ¡°Whenever you''re ready.¡± Ari smiled at me.

    ¡°Shadow Speed!¡± I said, and sprang forward like an arrow from a bow, speeding through the hallway and just barely avoiding the traps, trying not to panic as the seven guillotine devices cme thundering down with a clang behind me. As soon as I reached the stairs I almost flopped on the ground in relief, turning off the skill and looking for the lever.

    ¡°Ho-ly--!!¡± I heard Lizzy swear loudly from the far end. I found the lever, and then pulled it. Sure enough the traps stopped.

    ¡°Give it about a minute!¡± I called back to them.

    ¡°Gotcha!¡± Ariana replied. A minute was usually the minimum time it took for a switch or a lever to reset in most games. After that time had passed, Heali shielded the others with one of her skills, and they crossed the pressure plate; just in time I managed to disarm the traps for them, and soon the five of us were heading up the stairs together. When we reached the top, the voice spoke again.

    ¡°My utmost respect, mortals. The fourth trial is passed; the fifth now begins.¡± it said to us; the floor before us retracted, revealing a large pool filled with serpents, and no way but swimming to cross over, from what we could see.

    On the other side, five racks appeared, each of them with a robe and a set of weapons tailored for the five of us. The serpents lazed about in the water, not even sparing us a glance. I felt for certain that would change once we so much as set a foot in the water. Or was there some condition we could meet so that they wouldn''t attack us? Did it have to do with the robes and weapons on the other side?

    ¡°Abandon your old self and embrace the new?¡± Healina wondered.

    ¡°That might be it,¡± Ariana agreed.

    ¡°Guild-smith and beta-tester here! Just want to warn you that if we unequip our current armor and weapons, we can''t equip them ever again. They''re way too low level for us now,¡± Lizzy cautioned us.

    ¡°Understood.¡± I said, taking off all my armor and unequipping my weapons.

    I took a deep breath, and stepped into the pool; there was no reaction from the serpents. I waded deeper in, and they still made no moves. Sensing that I had somehow met the condition to swim safely across, I continued to the other side, unmolested, and then got out to don the robe and weapons that seemed meant for me.

    ¡°Well, here we go!¡± Lizzy said, and the others did the same, removing their equipment and gear to follow me over and put on the new gear that had been provided. When we were ready again, the five of us exited the chamber through a door that suddenly appeared, and found ourselves in a grand hall not unlike the entrance room in design and in splendor, except there was a majestic throne situated upon a large dais at the far end.

    ¡°Well done, adventurers; the fifth trial is passed, the sixth now begins. Show me your prowess!¡± the voice said to us, and at that moment, five of the jade dragon-statues came to life, becoming champion-elites.

    In addition to these a horde of vipers came streaming into the room, along with several salamander elites and a variety of other snake-type monsters that I couldn''t recognize all at once. We fought them off in several waves-- five to be exact, one for each champion elite-- coming through fairly unscathed, to our surprise. I guess between the blessing from the gate and this mysterious new gear we''re a better match for these mobs, I mused to myself as we finished off the fifth wave. The five champion-elites returned to their statue forms, and the room went silent once more.

    ¡°The sixth trial is passed; the seventh now begins. Come forth, adventurers.¡± the voice said to us then, materializing as a majestic king with a hint of dragonish features upon the throne. We made our way towards him, and kneeled as we approached the dais. ¡°Your respect does you credit again, mortals. Respect, wisdom, cunning, faith, endurance; these are admirable traits, and you have displayed them well. The choice of trial is yours: shall we contest our strengths, or shall I give you a final riddle?¡± he said to us with a cunning look in his eyes.

    ¡°Give us the riddle,¡± I said at once, ¡°For we dare not pit ourselves against such a guardian so noble and strong and wise.¡± I told him. The others looked over at me curiously, and the dragon-king before us smiled brightly.

    ¡°That, O Mortal, was the riddle and its correct solution. Knowing when to fight, and when not to fight. Behold! I am the Dragon King of the East, and none but another of my kind can overcome me. Take our gifts to you, mortals, and enter the realm of my people!¡± he said, clapping his hands. Five chests appeared, and he himself faded away, leaving a portal behind.

    To Lizzy went the set of the Golden Berserker, with a matching halberd of eastern style. In Maryn''s box was the set of the Jade Guardian, complete with a peerless sword and shield. For Healina, there was the set of the Floral Sage, with a flowering staff of white. Ariana''s gift was the set of the Mystic Dragon, and a silver-bound staff topped with an emerald. And for myself, there was the set of the Black Lotus, along with two deadly daggers. We equipped our new gear, and stepped through the portal to Xuanpu.

 Chapter Twenty-two: New Adventures, and a New Friend

    As we materialized in Xuanpu I could see one of the larger cities looming before us, nestled in a valley through which flowed a great river. It was perhaps less a city and more a town to be honest; there weren''t many walls, though some of the buildings looked as if they belonged to nobles of some kind. Those buildings had walls, or at least some sort of barrier between them and the rest of the place. There were lots of farms around the area as well, but only those with animals had any sort of fences. Most of them seemed communal anyway. All in all, it was like walking into a scene from a medieval fantasy anime. A sign to the right of us named the rural city before us as Ti''jori.

    ¡°All right, we made it -- and we got some excellent new gear.¡± Lizzy remarked as she examined her with a window. ¡°Looking at this... our current gear can last us a long time, so long as we find the right ingredients for upgrading the pieces. Given that we''re technically mid-levels for the game, each piece is gonna get trickier to reforge as it gains in levels; unique ingredients won''t grow on trees, after all.¡± she continued.

    ¡°On the contrary, I''d be surprised if they didn''t grow on trees.¡± I quipped back, and the other three laughed while Lizzy affected a wry grin.

    ¡°... Point taken.¡± she returned.

    ¡°But anyway; should we do anything else for the night? I feel kind of tired, and we stayed up way too late last night...¡± I then said.

    ¡°True, we broke our rule more than we intended to do.¡± Ariana agreed.

    ¡°Let''s get to a safe spot and log out, then.¡± Maryn nodded to us.

    We made our way to a traveller''s lodge near the edge of the townlands, and when we had settled ourselves into a room for the night (at least as far as real-time goes -- the game does take that into account, somehow), we logged off feeling pretty satisfied with the outcome of our time that night.

    ***

    Monday morning started off as a mostly-cloudy kind of day. Ty was back on the bus as usual, and we exchanged a nod as I sat down beside him. The bus doors closed, and we were on our way to school.

    ¡°Ain''t heard from you guys in game a while,¡± he said to me.

    ¡°Haven''t seen you on the bus for a while either; we just got out of the Marshes last night.¡± I replied.

    ¡°That''s right; you guys went thataway.¡± Ty nodded back. ¡°We got out of Heimgar pretty quick; and then we spent the rest of the week in the Wastes. Damn, that place is wack.¡±

    ¡°It''s almost steampunk, isn''t it?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, that sort of thing. All sorts of crazy gizmos and machines runnin'' around that place, and the bosses there were a real pain, let me tell you.¡±

    ¡°I can imagine; one of the dungeons we got into was steampunk as well. Probably because it was so close to the Wastes itself,¡± I told him.

    ¡°Dang, boy, you gonna have to give us cliff-notes,¡± Ty quipped back. ¡°I don''t know all that much about fantasy and stuff, but ''steampunk'' and ''marshes'' sounds like an off-the-wall combo to me,¡± he added.

    ¡°Tell me about it.¡± I agreed with a wry grimace.

    ¡°So y''all in that Asian place now, huh? Where to from there?¡± he then asked.

    ¡°Hm.¡± I looked up at the ceiling, pondering the answer. ¡°Guess we''ll explore it out for a while; it''s not as big as the Marshes, but I get the feeling it''s got a lot of adventures waiting.¡± I then said, and he nodded.

    ¡°I heard that. Our guild''s growing some more, so now we got three to four groups running around some times, helping newbies or exploring new places; ''think we''re gonna hit Stormwraith Hold next from what Wild says.¡±

    ¡°He really picks them, doesn''t he?¡±

    ¡°Boy and how.¡± Ty nodded back. ¡°We''ll see y''all at the tournaments and stuff, I guess.¡±

    ¡°Guild competitions coming up, too.¡± I grinned back, and he returned the look.

    ¡°Damn right. Let''s see that Queens power come to life again, Dans!¡± he said, holding up a hand for me to take; I took it, and he gave it a shake before letting go.

    ¡°We''ll be waiting for you, Tigers.¡± I returned. He nodded, and we lapsed into a silence until we got to school, whereupon we disembarked, I got flicked, and we went our separate ways.

    Feels like I''m forgetting something, I thought to myself, hoping it wasn''t homework or some other assignment. Oh, and I''d better start really paying attention in language classes now. That''s part of the reason we went there, after all, to get some immersion; although the game probably has an auto-translate feature we''ll need to see about... I pondered to myself. Auto-translate has come a long way since its early stages several decades ago, by the way. That''s because its newer versions are designed by people who actually work with languages and not people who program foreign language dictionaries into a database and hope for the best. Nuances, dialects, slang words: the auto-translators pick them up and render them in a properly equivalent way rather than an overly literal one, unless the settings are adjusted.

    I pretty much bumped into my locker, interrupting my train of thought and earning a few laughs as other students continued on their way. I gave the thing a tired look, and opened it up to get things sorted for the morning.

    ¡°I''ve never seen you do that before.¡± Rachel grinned as she joined me at the lockers.

    ¡°Eh, I got lost in thought... really lost, I guess.¡± I replied. ¡°Feel like I''m forgetting something today...¡±

    ¡°Oh, Mary''s surprise for us is happening today.¡± Rachel then said.

    ¡°Oh right! That''s what I forgot,¡± I said with a snap of my fingers.

    ¡°Whatever it is will have to wait for lunch, I guess,¡± she nodded back.

    ¡°Right.¡± I replied. We finished sorting out our books, and headed on inside to take our seats and await the inevitable four hours of morning classes.

    ¡°But anyway,¡± Rachel said as she turned around, ¡°We finally made it!¡± she exclaimed with a bright grin.

    ¡°We really did,¡± I smiled back.

    ¡°I liked that town we saw; I wonder if we can get a house or manor there...¡±

    ¡°Let''s look at the housing guide some time and see what''s around; maybe we''ll happen on a quest like the one we got for Cloverbell.¡±

    ¡°Oh! I miss that house, too. Now that we''ve gotten the wayport for... Ti''jori?¡± she wondered, and I nodded back. ¡°We should definitely check in at least once.¡±

    ¡°Agreed.¡± I said.

    ¡°But finding another quest house would be nice,¡± she reflected, and then smiled. ¡°I might forget to do homework this afternoon from thinking about it too much!¡±

    ¡°If you forget, there''s no way I''ll remember,¡± I grinned back, and she softly giggled. The bell rang at that moment, and homeroom began.

    Well, what can I really say about morning classes? I mean, sure, they didn''t drag on today, at least. But still. By the end of it all I felt like I was going cross-eyed. I did perk up in literature class a bit, I think, but then mathematics came along and sucked the life out of me. Science came along to poke the dead horse a bit, and then finally the sweet release of the lunch hour happened.

    Rachel and I then took our morning books to our lockers for a change, not entirely sure what Mary had in mind but pretty certain we wouldn''t be staying in the classroom. Mary herself soon happened along with Ellie and Andrea, and she took us to a quieter wing of the school, where she showed us to the door of a room none of us had seen before. Upon the door was a paper sign, neatly designed with bold print: G.A.M.E.R.s Club: Games, Activities, Media, Entertainment, and Recreation.

    ¡°Well that''s new.¡± Ellie remarked.

    ¡°Did we just get legitimized as a club?¡± Andrea wondered with amazement.

    ¡°Yep!¡± Mary grinned with satisfaction. ¡°Dad told me as long as I can make it meaningful to our education in some way that we could have our own club and a sort-of hideout for our activities and discussions!¡± she told us, flashing a victory-sign. ¡°Well, what do you all think?¡± she asked us, clearly excited.

    ¡°Cool!¡± Ellie smiled back, putting an arm around her. ¡°This is great!¡±

    ¡°Totally cool!¡± Andrea agreed.

    ¡°Definitely!¡± Rachel nodded. ¡°Sean?¡± she looked over at me. Personally, I was stuck for words. It really was cool. I felt a smile coming to my face, but also a hint of tears in my eye. I placed a hand over the half of my face that was tearing up to try and say something.

    ¡°Wow... I...¡± I started to say, then got choked up. Rachel put an arm around me, tears now in her eyes as well, and the other three exchanged knowing looks.

    ¡°Feeling a little less like a recluse now?¡± Ellie grinned at me.

    ¡°I... guess you can say that.¡± I replied with a laugh. ¡°This is really great,¡± I then said.

    ¡°Let''s go in.¡± Mary then said, and she opened the door to let us inside.

    It wasn''t a big room, but it wasn''t small either. I''d say it had enough room for maybe ten people at most, if we''re talking personal space. There were two computer desks (with computers, of course), four regular ones, a coffee-table, three chairs, and two sofas, along with four shelves that lined the walls. These were about half-filled with game-related books and media, and the coffee-table had a couple of magazines about the entertainment industry on them.

    ¡°Sweet! Let''s eat!¡± Lizzy said as she plopped down in a chair at once. The rest of us did the same, Rachel and I taking a sofa while the others took to the chairs.

    ¡°Now, just a couple things,¡± Mary told us, ¡°We have a supervisor: Mrs. Brown, from the English Department. She had some experience working in media before becoming a teacher. Next: we are a club, so we''ll have to do club activities now and again like field trips or such. Third: we may end up with new members, though I doubt we''ll get many more this late in the year. It''s been a couple months after all, and it''s nearly Halloween, too. Fourthly: we need a club president.¡±

    ¡°That should probably be you.¡± I said at once.

    ¡°I was thinking about you, actually.¡± she smirked back.

    ¡°Maybe next year?¡± I said with a wry expression and Mary adopted a thoughtful look. ¡°I mean I''m only a first-year, and you''re a senior. You, Ellie, or Andrea should be president of the club this year.¡± I continued, and the older girls looked around at each other.

    ¡°He''s got a point,¡± Ellie agreed. ¡°I know you''re busy-ish as class president, and I''m gonna be tied up with work soon; how about Andrea?¡± she suggested, poking the redhead beside her.

    ¡°M-me?¡± Andrea blurted out shyly.

    ¡°No complaints here.¡± I agreed, and Rachel nodded.

    ¡°I agree, you''d be good at it!¡± she smiled.

    ¡°I think that would definitely work.¡± Mary said with an approving nod.

    ¡°Ah--¡± Andrea started uncertainly, but then relaxed into a smile. ¡°Well, I guess I can try it out. But I''m not going to make it easy!¡± she then said with a mischievous grin.

    ¡°Looking forward to it -- ''boss''!¡± Ellie grinned back.

    ¡°Right; Club President: Andrea Summers.¡± Mary said, filling in a piece of paper.

    ¡°Ooh, it''s official.¡± Ellie quipped teasingly. ¡°But anyway; so what are we going to do now that we''re in Xuanpu? We''re gonna end up split a bit, to be honest. My one interview apparently went super well, so I''ll be starting sometime next week. I''d like to make some more epic memories this week, y''know?¡± she then said.

    ¡°We were talking earlier about finding a quest for a house in the area,¡± Rachel said.

    ¡°Nice!¡±

    ¡°Let''s get warmed up to the area a bit, then hit some major quest lines, and see about the house or such at least by Thursday or so.¡± I then said.

    ¡°That sounds like a good plan.¡± Andrea agreed.

    ¡°Still, for all that school started way early this year, I can''t believe it''s almost Halloween, not to mention Homecoming...¡± Ellie remarked.

    ¡°True...¡± Rachel said.

    ¡°Right?¡± I agreed with a sigh.

    ¡°Crazy, isn''t it?¡± Andrea nodded.

    ¡°Picked out your dresses?¡± Mary asked the girls.

    ¡°Def!¡± Ellie replied at once, and Andrea nodded.

    ¡°I did too!¡± Rachel said, raising her hand.

    ¡°H-heh?¡± I turned to her with surprise.

    ¡°Get something in blue.¡± she said to me with a wink.

    ¡°B-blue, huh...¡± I noted to myself, still mentally unprepared for the dance itself.

    ¡°Or you could get him another yukata.¡± Ellie smirked.

    ¡°Oy!¡± I quipped back, and the four girls burst out laughing. Just after that moment, there came a knock at the door.

    ¡°Oh! That''s probably Mrs. Brown,¡± Mary said as she got up to answer it, opening it to find -- not the teacher we half-expected, but a young girl about our age. She had East Asian features, and her dark-brown hair was tied back in a ponytail. ¡°Oh! Anhe Liang -- ahh, sorry, that''s the other way around for you, isn''t it?¡± Mary amended, and the other girl nodded. ¡°Come in if you like!¡±

    ¡°Thank you, Mary,¡± the other girl said.

    ¡°Liang...¡± Rachel repeated to herself. ¡°Wait, you''re Liang Chao-Xing''s daughter, aren''t you?¡± she then exclaimed, and the young girl smiled as she bowed.

    ¡°That is true, she is my mother.¡± Anhe replied.

    Huh? Ohhh, she''s our Chinese teacher''s daughter, I realized, suddenly remembering that she was part of our class at that time as well.

    ¡°What brings you by?¡± Mary asked her.

    ¡°Actually, I was walking by, and then I saw the sign on the door; I was wondering if maybe I can join this club?¡± she asked us shyly.

    ¡°Oh, wow,¡± Andrea said, and then smiled. ¡°We''d love to have you, if you want to join!¡± she said, and Anhe bowed again.

    ¡°That makes me happy!¡± she said in a clearly relieved tone.

    ¡°Come on, take a seat!¡± Ellie told her, and Anhe sat down near us on a chair while Mary moved her things to sit closer to her. It seemed like Anhe then half-moved away from me, but I paid it no mind.

    The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

    ¡°We were just discussing some basic things about the club; what games do you play, by the way?¡± Mary asked her.

    ¡°Ah, I usually play a lot of table games with family; but I also got into a new kind of game a few weeks ago. Like, more of a computer-type game.¡± Anhe replied softly.

    She''s *really* shy, huh? Is this like the first time she''s interacted with other students here? Come to think of it, she does kind of just hide in Chinese class, I thought to myself, wondering if--like me--she was now seeking a group of people she could better relate to.

    Okay, so maybe I hadn''t been actively seeking friends at first; but I guess a part of me was always hoping to, at least someday.

    ¡°Sounds like fun -- what''s the name?¡± Mary then asked.

    ¡°Hmm... what is it called... oh, the name is ''Panarena Fantasy Online'' -- have you heard of it, any of you?¡± she told us, and we all exchanged a grin.

    ¡°I think we''re going to have lots of fun together.¡± Andrea told her.

    ***

    Okay, so. Anhe was already around our level in-game (we were all at least sixty-five thanks to our recent escapades) and she had been playing in Xuanpu for most of her time there, so it seemed that the area had a greater level range than we expected, or maybe the guide just gives people the most relevant levels. She had started off in the Isles of the Seven Lucky Spirits south of Xuanpu around the same time as Rachel and I had -- though the fact that I was involved in the game somehow didn''t turn up.

    This was explained to me later as we finished lunch and left for afternoon classes by Mary; Anhe was apparently very shy about other people, especially boys, so Mary actually wanted to keep me a secret. Which was kind of funny to me considering how fast Mary herself picked up on it. I half-shrugged in agreement, wondering quietly why she had hopped in to begin with if I or other boys would frighten her off.

    ¡°Well, for starters,¡± Mary whispered back to me, ¡°She probably knows you from class and you don''t really give off the typical ''guy'' vibe.¡±

    ¡°What''s that supposed to mean?¡± I asked her with a funny look.

    ¡°Because of that,¡± she continued with an amused look on her face, ¡°It seems she''s willing to give you, and thus us, a chance. My dad has actually had a few conversations with Mrs. Liang about how anti-social she can be; this could be a really good thing for her. So for the time being, Lana is someone else.¡±

    ¡°I think I can do that... again.¡± I returned.

    ¡°Good! We''ll let her know eventually, I promise, but for right now--¡±

    ¡°Right now you just want to ease her into things,¡± I nodded back, and she smiled.

    ¡°Thanks, Sean.¡± Mary said, patting my shoulder as she headed off to her next class. Rachel and I watched her for a moment, and then looked at each other.

    ¡°Wouldn''t it be better just to tell Anhe you''re Lana?¡± Rachel wondered.

    ¡°That''s not... untrue, I guess? But it''s not like I''m gonna outright lie about it; it just, won''t be said for a while.¡±

    ¡°Hmm,¡± Rachel sighed as we headed for our lockers. ¡°It''s true you won''t be lying, I guess; Lana is a friend we met and formed a guild with.¡± she then said with a smile.

    ¡°See?¡± I returned.

    ¡°But let''s try and boost her confidence in us real quick; it''s fun to play with the secret, but it''s more fun when we all know!¡± she smiled brightly.

    ¡°Then it''s not a secret anymore...¡± I replied with a bemused grin, and Rachel giggled. ¡°This is gonna be super fun, though; I mean, Anhe would probably be open to helping us learn the language more this semester, right?¡±

    ¡°Oh, true!¡± Rachel agreed. ¡°Yes! Things will definitely be more fun from now on!¡± she said excitedly, and I grinned back, nodding.

    Anyhow. Afternoon classes went pretty okay, as usual. Anhe actually joined us in Chinese while her mother taught the lesson, which kind of surprised us but hey, it''s nice to have a new friend around. Her mother seemed really surprised, though. When class was over, Anhe talked with Rachel about meeting up later in-game, and then went to rejoin her mother after a goodbye. We heard Mrs. Liang talking to her daughter in a very surprised tone as we left the classroom.

    ¡°Heh? She really was surprised,¡± I remarked as we made our way to the lockers.

    ¡°Sure seems like it,¡± Rachel nodded in agreement. ¡°She''s super cute, too.¡±

    ¡°Hm? Anhe?¡± I wondered.

    ¡°Absolutely! Don''t tell me you didn''t notice?¡± she returned to me with surprise.

    ¡°Ahh...¡± I began uncertainly. H-how do I respond? I mean, I guess it''s fine since Rachel brought it up first, but I just--

    ¡°It''s okay to notice other girls are cute, too.¡± she told me with a faint grin.

    ¡°Sh-she is... now that you mention it... I just... wasn''t focused on that... I mean...¡± I stammered out. And I was being honest, just so we''re clear. I really hadn''t been focused on how pretty our new friend was; I was more focused on the fact that we had a new friend.

    ¡°Hey.¡± Rachel said quietly as we got to our lockers. ¡°I love you. I''m kinda surprised you''re having a tough time saying that, but at the same time I''m also happy you''re more focused on me than other girls. I guess that''s a little selfish of me.¡±

    ¡°I mean, a little selfishness is healthy, maybe, isn''t it?¡± I replied. ¡°Not that I''d stop you from having other guys as friends... that''d be stupid... but I can''t see myself with anyone but you.¡± I said to her, my cheeks feeling hot, and she smiled at me again.

    ¡°You''re so adorkable.¡± she said, giving me a hug.

    ¡°A-ad--''adorkable''?¡± I wondered to myself with a funny look as I hugged her back. She let go after a moment, and smirked at me.

    ¡°Let''s hurry!¡± she then said, and I nodded back. We sorted our things for the evening, and then dashed for the buses to head home.

    We plowed through homework easily enough for a change, and then of course after a little bit of extra studying (and some refining of our extra-credit assignment) the two of us went to our separate dinners, after which I dashed upstairs to hide away for the evening in Panarena, barely noticing the exchange between my parents as I did.

    ¡°Obsessed as always,¡± my mother remarked.

    ¡°His grades aren''t suffering any more than usual, and he''s out of the house with friends more than he was. Let him play.¡± dad returned.

    ¡°Still, it''d be nice if--¡± she began, but at that moment I quietly shut my door and didn''t hear any more of the conversation. I slipped on the Dream Machine, and was soon whisked away to that magnificent world of wonders.

    ***

    As soon as I logged in, I found Ariana and Heali waiting. The two of them waved at me, and I smiled back; Ari then came over and took my hand.

    ¡°We''re meeting her around the wayport; she''s been on another side of the map with her quests, so we''d like to help her finish those before we try and start anything new.¡± she said to me, and I nodded back.

    ¡°That''s fair,¡± I said as we left the room and began heading to the wayport. I made a brief stop to purchase a new bow, since my old one would no longer equip, and then we headed out to find Maryn and Lizzy already at the wayport. A few moments later Anhe herself appeared, and she greeted us with a smile and a gentle wave.

    By the way, yes, Anhe was also her character''s name. And her virtual self was nearly identical to her real self, the same long, dark hair bound back in a ponytail, the same soft brown eyes and slender figure, and her character''s race was Kyotan. She was dressed in brown leather with subtle floral patterns etched on to it. And it was... fairly teasing. Then I noticed one slight oddity: she had no weapon. I blinked in curiosity, and then noticed that her gloves and boots had metallic-plates worked on to them.

    ¡°Oh! Cool! You''re a fist-fighter, huh?¡± I said at once, and she smiled at me, nodding back.

    ¡°You could say that; people say fist-fighter, pugilist, martial-artist; I mean, I also have trained some staff skills, and a few healing or defensive skills also, but I use them very sparingly. Mostly I just use real-life skills.¡± Anhe replied.

    ¡°Hmm? That sounds neat,¡± I remarked.

    ¡°You are a lot cuter than they said you were.¡± Anhe said as she came closer, and I could feel myself turning red. She grinned, and then we all shook hands, Ari giving me a subtle smirk. Anhe then eagerly accepted accepted the guild invitation, and the Silvernight Queens thus grew to six.

    ¡°Welcome!¡± Maryn told her with a smile.

    ¡°I look forward to many adventures,¡± Anhe replied with a bow.

    ¡°As do we,¡± I said, bowing also.

    ¡°So, my quests are not actually that far from here. They are in the... hmm, how does it go? Ah, Forest of Lost Dreams.¡± she then told us.

    ¡°That''s west of us?¡± Ariana asked her.

    ¡°It is west, yes.¡± the other girl nodded. ¡°Shall we?¡± she said, and the six of us turned to head west through Ti''jori to start our new adventures together.

    On the way we exchanged stories; Anhe had heard about the Silvernight Twins from the forums, and everybody knew about the Garth-Queens War, of course, but she was very interested in our more recent adventures -- and of course we wanted to know about hers as well.

    As it turned out, she had been in a few groups before now, but she had never joined a guild until meeting us. That alone made us feel pretty special. Anhe had also been involved in a few PvP battles, mostly on the seas though. Apparently she had been a ¡°pirate¡± for a couple of weeks before doing an atonement quest at the Monasteries of Shushi-mei, near the border of Kunlun Province. After that she had adopted a more warrior-monk style of fighting, and had become pretty famous in the region as a solo fighter.

    ¡°And now everyone is going to be so surprised; I can hear them now: ''Anhe, Anhe, why did you not join us?? Why did you join all these Western girls and not join our guild instead??''-- but whatever.¡± she told us as we walked through the countryside of the region. In the distance I could see some qilin, as well as a few more realistic animals, such as yaks or goats.

    ¡°I never expected that; you''re so shy in school!¡± Maryn remarked.

    ¡°Hmm... school is... different.¡± Anhe returned. ¡°I feel more... relaxed? Yes, more relaxed in this place, being this Anhe.¡±

    ¡°I can understand that,¡± I said.

    ¡°But now that I know there are people who enjoy these things at school, I hope to become better at being friends, or at making them.¡± she said with a smile. ¡°By the way; Sean does not play this game?¡± she then wondered. ¡°I mean, he is a guy... and even if he is nice, guys kind of scare me.¡±

    Well then, how''s this going to go?

    ¡°Would it be fine if he did?¡± Maryn asked her.

    ¡°Um, hmm...¡±

    Wh-what kind of reaction is that?

    ¡°I am not sure I have an opinion on that, yet. I hope to get a little braver with him in class so I can get over being scared, though.¡± she then said.

    ¡°Sean''s not that scary.¡± Lizzy shrugged. ¡°To be honest, I feel like I''m more scary than he is,¡± she added with a subtle wink.

    ¡°Hmm? But he beat that really rude person earlier this year, yes?¡± Anhe asked.

    ¡°Hm? Oh, yeah, I guess he did!¡± the blonde girl replied.

    ¡°So he must be at least a little scary!¡± the other girl asserted.

    B-but all I did was let him trip over the janitor''s mop-bucket... h-how did I turn into a scary punk? I thought to myself with bewilderment; Ariana put a hand over her mouth to keep from giggling as she saw the feeling spread across my face.

    ¡°I''m sure he''d love to be your friend; you''ll just have to give him a chance. And trust me, he''s not scary at all.¡± Healina remarked.

    ¡°I will take your word for it, and I will try to be braver.¡± Anhe replied.

    ¡°Oh, we''re almost there,¡± I then noticed as we drew near to the forest. ¡°What kind of quests are we doing?¡±

    ¡°Hmm... mostly gathering quests, but also some bounties.¡± Anhe told me as she checked her log. ¡°A lot of hard bounties, I think. But in a group it should be a lot easier.¡±

    ¡°H-heh? You''ve done those bounty quests solo?¡± I wondered with awe, and Lizzy gave an impressed whistle.

    ¡°Wow,¡± she remarked.

    ¡°Hmm? Are they not solo quests?¡± Anhe suddenly wondered; I pointed to the indicator on her quest log.

    ¡°This little symbol here means it''s a party quest,¡± I explained.

    ¡°Oh! How very silly of me! I wondered why the last five were so hard,¡± she then said, and the rest of us looked at each other with amazement.

    ¡°Wh-what kind of monster player have you made yourself?¡± I asked with a nervous laugh.

    ¡°I am not a monster!¡± she protested at once, and I raised my hands defensively.

    ¡°N-no, I get that, what I meant was how exactly did you turn yourself into the kind of player that solos group quests like that?¡±

    ¡°Oh! You should have just said that to begin with!¡± she returned. ¡°Ohh, I get it; that was, what was it again? Slang?¡±

    ¡°Oh, right; sure, slang, colloquialism, something like that.¡±

    ¡°C-colloq--hm?¡± she said uncertainly, a confused smile on her face.

    ¡°Don''t worry about it,¡± I smiled back. ¡°But yeah, it was gamer slang.¡±

    ¡°Hmm,¡± Anhe nodded back.

    ¡°Now I want to know what you were soloing so I can try them myself some time!¡± Lizzy remarked.

    ¡°Ohh, I can show you where I got the quests when we turn them in,¡± the other girl said.

    ¡°Sweet!¡± our halberdier replied with a clap of her hands.

    ¡°All right, here we are,¡± I then said as we got to the forest gate. ¡°Ready?¡± I asked; the others nodded, and we ventured onward into the forest.

    The pathway leading into the Forest of Lost Dreams was a sort-of gate. Two ancient trees that had bent sideways and ended up intertwining their boughs together formed an archway that marked the division between the woods and the fields and hills of Eastern Xuanpu. There were more qilins that we could see, along with fierce gorillas and a few tigers. Anhe told us that some of the rare-elite ones were on her target list, along with a boss-champion level robber. And, of course, there were an abundance of resources and ingredients we found as well while walking around; Anhe collected some of these for her quests, while the rest of us stocked up what we could until we had a storage place for them once more. This inevitably reminded Lizzy that she had to rebuild the waggon we had disassembled in the Marshes, which I suggested we do after we got back to a town.

    ¡°Well of course, doofus,¡± she returned to me, and I affected a wry grin. ¡°Not like we can build one right here. And we''ll need to get a pair of beasts to pull it again, too.¡±

    ¡°I heard a rumor about a quest here that gives you a strong beast as a reward, if you are a merchant or crafter-type player,¡± Anhe then remarked.

    ¡°Ooh, that sounds nice!¡± our smith said gleefully.

    ¡°It does! But I have no idea where it is; I am not actually a crafter, I just like to gather stuff for those who do.¡± our new friend told us with a shrug.

    ¡°To each their own,¡± I said. ¡°I don''t actually craft much either, but it is fun to collect stuff, isn''t it?¡± I added with a smile, and Anhe smiled back.

    ¡°Yes!¡± she nodded, suddenly turning serious again as we neared one of her quest goals.

    All in all, we spent several Panarena hours in the forest working on the bounty quests. This time I stayed mostly in the back with Ari and Heali, shooting from range, on account of the fact that Anhe was a melee-fighter. And boy she could smash things up. Her unarmed attacks were disciplined and precise, and when she did use her staff she seemed twice as fast as Lizzy -- which is saying something because our halberdier-smith is a tornado in a fight.

    ¡°S-so now we have two tornadoes,¡± I muttered quietly as I observed the melee with our two mages.

    ¡°Right?¡± Healina said with an amused expression.

    ¡°You get pretty wild yourself when you''re up close.¡± Ariana quipped.

    ¡°Ahh...¡±

    ¡°Might want to rephrase that just a bit,¡± Heali smirked, and Ari blushed.

    ¡°I didn''t mean it like that!!¡± she protested, and our healer giggled.

    ¡°''Ey! Focus!¡± Lizzy called from up front, and we returned our attention to the battle.

    By the end of our battles, the six of us were decently in tune with each other for a fight. Anhe went to turn in her quests when we had finished, and after that Lizzy went to a workshop in the town to reassemble the waggon while the rest of us meandered through Ti''jori.

    ¡°There''s a lot more quests and activities here than there were in the Aldholt, and this is just a small town!¡± Healina remarked as we paused in the market square.

    ¡°And how,¡± I nodded, looking around.

    Bounties like the ones Anhe had just finished were the main thing, but there also looked to be several story-quests for the area. There were also notices for regional quests; errands for the Monks of Shushi-mei, services for the Legions of Zan, a mystery quest, a notice from a city called Yu in the north requesting aid to deal with pirates, and then my eyes alighted on one in particular. I walked over towards it in a sort of trance,

    ¡°Lana?¡± Ari said to me, then her eyes apparently caught sight of the notice as well, because she came dashing over. ¡°Is that...?¡± she wondered excitedly, and I nodded silently.

    ¡°What did you find?¡± Maryn asked as the other three came over, and then I heard her let out a soft gasp. ¡°Ooh...¡± she said with awe.

    ¡°That''s an incredible offer!¡± Healina remarked appreciatively.

    ¡°Mm, but everyone says it is too hard to beat. I was planning on trying someday, but now maybe with all of us together we would have a better chance,¡± Anhe told us.

    ¡°Too hard to beat, you say?¡± I said with a grin, looking over at Ariana, who grinned back.

    Notice: Legion General Dai-Gong Wu offers the estate overlooking the Jade Sea to any adventurous soul who will undertake a special quest of utmost importance to the legion. Come to the castle at Zan to receive more details.

    There was a picture, or painting, maybe, of the estate itself below the notice. It was a large one, almost castle-like itself, with white walls and golden or silver-tiled roofing, situated on a tiered hill overlooking a pathway down to the seaside, where we could see the hint of a dock in the distance. The estate had no name; apparently we ourselves could choose a name for it upon completion of the quest.

    ¡°That''s just asking for us to take it, then,¡± Ariana smirked.

    ¡°Hm? Hm??¡± Anhe wondered, a puzzled smile on her face. ¡°Ohh! Right! You are the Silvernight Twins, after all,¡± she then grinned. ¡°Every time you do something it ends up on the forum in some sort of confused rage post.¡±

    ¡°Ah-heh-heh-heh...¡±

    ¡°Th-that''s not... w-well, I guess it can''t be helped,¡± Ariana said with a faint laugh.

    ¡°''Ey! What''re you looking at?¡± Lizzy said as she rejoined us, and then noticed it at once. ¡°Oh, cool! We gonna do that quest, then?¡±

    ¡°I think so,¡± Maryn nodded.

    ¡°Sweet! But first; Anhe was right. I got that special quest for a special beast at the place I was rebuilding the waggon. Wanna do that first next time we get on?¡± Lizzy asked us.

    ¡°Of course!¡± I agreed.

    ¡°Cool! It involves the Forest again, though.¡± she returned. ¡°But apparently we don''t have to ''turn it in'' turn it in; we just tame the beast and then it''s done,¡± she added, looking at her log.

    ¡°Nice! Then I''ll just grab this quest anyway so we don''t have to go back for it next time,¡± I nodded back, taking the notice. My quest log updated at once, and I stowed the notice in my inventory.

    ¡°Good thought,¡± Maryn nodded.

    ¡°Gotcha.¡± Lizzy nodded as well.

    ¡°Anyway; let''s have a little celebration here and then log out for the night--still Monday, after all!¡± I said.

    ¡°True! That tavern over there?¡± Heali suggested, and the rest of us agreed. We spent a few minutes more lounging together here, trading a few more stories and wondering what lay in store for us with these new quests, and then we logged out for the night.

    Our first day there and it''s already shaping up to be an epic adventure, huh? I thought to myself as I fell asleep.

 Bonus Chapter: The Bottle

    I snapped awake about one in the AM with a sudden thought. Huh?! The bottle! That weird bottle thing! We never did find out what it does!! I suddenly realized. I scratched my head, softly grumbling to myself. It was pretty late. Although it was early in Panarena right now, I knew. Hrrmmm... I wrestled with the thought for a moment more, and then decided to log in just for a bit to try it out. A few moments later I was loaded in again, and to my surprise I found Ariana there as well.

    ¡°Huh? You too?¡± I asked her, and she nodded.

    ¡°I suddenly woke up in this weird panic, and needed something to calm down.¡± she smiled softly. ¡°What are you doing up?¡± Ari asked me.

    ¡°Hmm... I was gonna try out that bottle thing we got from the Marshes of the Wyrd...¡±

    ¡°Oh!!! We never did use it, did we?¡±

    ¡°Exactly. Wanna see what it does?¡±

    ¡°Absolutely!¡± she exclaimed, and we headed out of town a ways to experiment.

    ¡°I bet it''s some sort of bonus dungeon,¡± I mused as I brought the weird looking thing out of my storage.

    The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    ¡°Or it summons something up for us to interact with in some way... hopefully a chat instead of a fight.¡± Ari said.

    ¡°That''d be a nice switch.¡± I said, looking at the bizarre thing again. I tapped it, and found an option to activate it. ¡°Ready?¡± I said, and she nodded to me. I pressed the activate option, and the bottle then began transforming.

    ¡°Wahh!!¡± the two of us shouted in surprise as I dropped it. It then turned into some sort of steampunk automaton armed with a jagged twohanded sword that turned hostile at once.

    ¡°Bah!!¡± I groaned angrily, hastily equipping my daggers and vanishing to do a couple of attacks from behind while Ariana cast Relentless Thunder upon it, a channeled lightning attack that stunned it and wore down its health. The two of us finished it off quickly, catching our breath as we stared at the former automaton now scrap pile, exchanging a wry grin.

    ¡°Oh! It dropped a few crafting ingredients... yip-pee...¡± Ariana sighed.

    ¡°Right...?¡± I bemusedly agreed, reflecting on the literal hoard of resources we already had in our bags.

    ¡°Well that was anti-climactic.¡±

    ¡°Mm. And I''m weirdly calmer now.¡± she nodded.

    Heh? Heh?! Ehhhhh?!?!

    ¡°Let''s get a drink and go back to bed?¡± she smiled at me then, seeing my somewhat terrified expression and intuiting my thoughts.

    ¡°Heh? Ah, uh, sure!¡± I nodded. Once again, remind me to never make you mad, I thought to myself as she took my arm, and we headed back into town to get a drink and then log out for the night once more.

 Chapter Twenty-three: G.A.M.E.R.s Club/The Beast

    As the bus rolled along to school the next morning, I suddenly felt a piece of paper in my jacket pocket. Oh, right, this is that thing Mary gave us about the club, I remembered as I pulled it out to examine it. Let''s see here... Tuesdays and Thursdays we have an after-school meeting for an hour and a half... guess I''ll have to explain that to the ''rents. The rest of the time we''ll be there for lunch, mostly, away from the walking peanut galleries. Games, Activities, Media, Entertainment, and Recreation... I mean, I get how *some* of this can relate to education, but all of it? I know you''re the principal''s daughter but that''s gotta be stretching it, I thought to myself with a wry face as I read over the mandates of the club. There were three field-trips, locations to-be-determined, and three papers we would have to write, topics to-be-announced. I guess this is one of those things where you have to take the bad and the good, I sighed, folding the paper up and putting it back in my pocket.

    ¡°Da heck, man, you guys got a school club now?¡± Ty said to me as I did so.

    ¡°Hm? Oh, yeah, we do.¡± I nodded back. ¡°We meet at lunch hour unofficially, and officially after school on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I guess.¡± I told him, and he nodded to me, a look of disappointment in his eyes.

    ¡°Wish I''d known that earlier; got stuff goin'' on them nights now.¡± he said.

    ¡°You could probably hang out for lunch if you wanted,¡± I suggested, but he shook his head.

    ¡°I hang out with the team for lunch. Besides, I don''t want to get mixed up in the ''harem rumors''.¡± he said, dropping his voice, and I jerked back in the seat.

    ¡°Wh-wha...? H-h-h-harem?!¡± I said in a hoarse whisper.

    ¡°Dang, boy, you know they gonna start makin'' rumors with you hanging around all them girls.¡± he whispered back. ¡°''Course I know you only got your eyes on Rachel; don''t go yapping up my tree about it!¡± he told me before I could object.

    ¡°I wasn''t gonna blame you!¡± I returned. ¡°And isn''t that ''barking up the tree''?¡± I asked him with a sarcastic look.

    ¡°Barking dogs, yappy dogs, whatever the hell kind of dogs you want, dog.¡± he quipped back at once. I let out a sigh, and laid my head back against the seat. ¡°Might check it out one day, though, just to see how things are in there.¡± Ty then said, and I nodded back blankly.

    So anyway. Morning classes passed by as usual, and then we made our way to the club room for lunch. Mary had added a little snack-bar with a juice rack and some tea; they spent most of the time talking about what they were going to do in Panarena later that evening (well, what we would do, but since I''d been asked to keep myself secret for the time being I did just that). Anhe had certainly brightened up a lot; she still didn''t seem like she knew how to deal with me just yet, but that was okay. I''m not sure I''d know either, if I was in her position.

    Who is this boy really? How''d he get so friendly with these girls? What''s his secret? Why doesn''t he play the game with them (us?) if he''s in the club? What does he do here? Is he really as docile as he seems to be?

    ¡­ Well. I''m sure it would all come to light in some comical fashion or another on down the road.

    After lunch, afternoon classes breezed by us, and then the three of us--myself, Rachel, and Anhe--went to meet the others for our first official club meeting. Anhe''s locker was actually just down the hall from ours, so we quickly sorted our books for the evening before heading up to the club room on the second floor. This time, Mrs. Brown was there as well, though she said in her introduction that this was only a formality for the club and that for the rest of the time she would mostly be working behind the scenes for us, leaving Andrea to do the front and center work.

    ¡°I''m quite proud that we have such an innovative group of students working together for a club that usually wouldn''t get the time of day in any education system,¡± she told us cheerily, ¡°And though you''ve started a bit late in the year, I look forward to seeing what you do: how you approach this unique theme of your club and relate it to your learning experiences here at school. With that said, I''ll get out of your way and leave you in the hands of Miss Summers. Good luck, students!¡± our advisor told us, and with that she excused herself and returned to her classroom-slash-office.

    ¡°As if it was that simple,¡± Andrea sighed, a smile on her face nonetheless. ¡°Okay! So, we have to do some things that no gamer ever thought of doing in their life. I''m sure that there''s other ways to approach it besides Panarena, however.¡±

    ¡°There are tons of games and other entertainment things out there, after all,¡± I said.

    ¡°I mean, ''Media'' is part of our acronym, isn''t it?¡± Rachel noted. ¡°We could do a media presentation of some sort, or maybe an essay...¡± she mused, and I twitched at the word ''essay''.

    ¡°Say, Mary, is this three assignments thing set in stone?¡± Ellie then asked.

    ¡°Hmm? It was mostly just a guideline; why?¡± the older girl wondered.

    ¡°Wouldn''t it be better to just do, like, activity reports from the field trips and then have a big project from the whole club that we could do for the school festival in the spring?¡± the blonde girl suggested.

    ¡°Shouldn''t you be asking me?¡± Andrea poked her, a pout on her face.

    ¡°Ahh... true...¡± Ellie remarked sheepishly.

    ¡°That is true,¡± Mary smirked back. ¡°Andrea, go ahead and submit that to Mrs. Brown later. If everyone else agrees?¡± she then said.

    ¡°I''ll note it down; it''s a good idea!¡± Andrea said.

    ¡°Sure, I don''t mind.¡± I shrugged.

    ¡°Sounds good to me!¡± Rachel smiled.

    ¡°I like that idea as well,¡± Anhe nodded.

    ¡°All right! One order of business, taken care of!¡± Andrea smiled.

    ¡°That still leaves the question of where are we going or where could we go for a field trip, and what kind of assignment or presentation should we do for the school festival?¡± I then said.

    ¡°Hmm? So you can be responsible.¡± Ellie remarked.

    ¡°I''m always responsible!¡± I retorted at once, and she snickered.

    ¡°I... agree with Sean. I would like to know at least where we would field trip, even if we do not have an idea for a presentation yet,¡± Anhe said, her face coloring a bit.

    ¡°Well, it would have to be something meaningful; and maybe we could do something fun over the summer!¡± Mary said.

    ¡°Why don''t we all take some time this week to think about it and put some ideas out next week?¡± Rachel suggested.

    ¡°There you go!¡± Ellie nodded back.

    ¡°That''d definitely work,¡± I agreed.

    ¡°Excellent!¡± Mary clapped her hands.

    ¡°I agree; that would work.¡± Anhe smiled.

    ¡°Noted down for the minutes!¡± Andrea said.

    ¡°With that said,¡± I looked over at the clock with a half-smile, ¡°We''ve barely used twenty minutes, haven''t we?¡±

    ¡°We''ll have more to do by next week for sure. Let''s do some homework and stuff together; and maybe we''ll try a card game if we finish up early!¡± Andrea said as she put away her impromptu checklist.

    ¡°Ooh, nice idea, pres''!¡± Ellie grinned. With that, we turned to our homework, managing to finish it all up by the time our scheduled meeting was over. Anhe and Mary''s respective parents then came to get them, and the rest of us were taken home by Ellie. ¡°We need lots of fun tonight, kid!¡± our driver said as she dropped me off.

    ¡°We always find it!¡± I returned, and she laughed, heading off with the other girls. Rachel blew a kiss as they sped off, and I held my hand out towards her. Dad then opened the door of the house.

    ¡°Hiya, sport! Late day?¡± he asked me.

    ¡°Club day, and Thursdays too from now on.¡± I told him as I turned to come in.

    ¡°Ahh. Wait a minute, club?¡± he suddenly wondered in a surprised tone as I came in the door.

    ¡°Ahh--yeah... it just started this week... kind of a last-minute idea for us...¡± I said with a weak grin.

    ¡°Hmm... well, that''s fine. One less thing for your mom to nag you about, maybe. Did you get your homework done there?¡±

    ¡°Hm? Oh, yeah, we did.¡±

    ¡°All right; well, you can do what you like, then, until dinner-time comes along.¡± he said with a shrug, and then went back to watching the Retro-toons channel.

    Don''t ever change, you crazy old man, I thought to myself with a goofy grin as I watched him settle into his recliner with the remote to watch that crazy rabbit, duck, and hunter goof around with each other.

    ¡°Why, you scwewy old wabbit you!¡± the hunter said, firing off his gun. I headed upstairs with a shake of my head, a soft smile on my face.

    ***

    Upon arriving in Panarena after an early dinner, I found Anhe waiting by herself in a corner of the tavern we had logged out in last night. She looked over as I materialized, and waved at me with a soft smile; I returned the gesture and made my way over to her. As I did, Ariana suddenly appeared beside me, and she pounce-hugged me as soon as she had loaded. I could see Anhe suppressing a laugh as she did so, and when Ari was back on the ground we joined her at the corner table.

    ¡°Lana, are you friends with the others in real life?¡± Anhe wondered as we sat down.

    ¡°Hm? Oh; well, I know Ari, mostly... we ran into each other first.¡±

    ¡°Hmm,¡± Anhe nodded.

    ¡°And the others just kind of happened along, pretty much.¡± I said with a faint smile.

    ¡°Hm? Ahh, they joined you at different times, I see!¡± she returned.

    ¡°Yep!¡± Ariana nodded beside me. ¡°And now we''re all together.¡±

    ¡°I was curious because at school Ariana is always with her boyfriend; but you two are really close also?¡± our new friend asked us.

    ¡°True,¡± said Ari. ¡°With Lana, it''s a best-friend-forever thing, though.¡± she added with a smile, subtly winking at me.

    Heh, not even stretching the truth, I thought as I smiled back.

    ¡°Ohh, the BFF kind of couple! Cute!¡± Anhe smiled back, and both of us affected an embarrassed half-grin.

    ¡°Ahh... yep, that''s us!¡± I managed to say. Underneath the table, Ari squeezed my hand gently and I clasped hers back.

    ¡°Ah! The others are here!¡± Anhe then said excitedly, and we turned to see our other three group members-slash-guildmates heading towards us.

    ¡°We''re all set to go!¡± Lizzy said to us with a thumb-up.

    ¡°Right!¡± I returned, standing up with the other two, and then a thought struck me. ¡°Uhh... Lizzy?¡±

    ¡°Hmm?¡±

    ¡°¡­ We''re doing this quest to get a beast of burden for the waggon... right?¡±

    ¡°Ah... yeah?¡±

    ¡°And we don''t have to turn it in back here... right?¡±

    ¡°¡­ That was the idea,¡± she said to me with a funny look.

    ¡°Um... this may be a stupid question, but--what about getting it hitched to the waggon when we find it...?¡± I asked with a nervous laugh. Lizzy looked blank for a moment, and then puffed out her cheek in a pout.

    ¡°Y-you didn''t think about that?¡± Healina asked her with a faint giggle. Our smith scratched the back of her head, letting out a grumbly sort of groan, and then sighed.

    ¡°Where is the waggon, anyway?¡± Maryn wondered.

    ¡°It''s at the shop, waiting for me to retrieve it,¡± Lizzy replied. ¡°Sure enough I didn''t quite think through that bit... I mean, I guess we could cheat a little,¡± she then said, waving us to follow.

    ¡°Cheat?¡± Anhe wondered.

    ¡°I think I know where this is going,¡± I said with a bemused grin.

    Lizzy led us to the workshop, where she put the waggon in edit mode and quickly crafted a familiar type of wood into a lantern-holder that she affixed to the front of the waggon. It was a silver oak branch. I knew it, I thought to myself with a grin, shaking my head.

    ¡°All right; now, Heali, put this in your magic storage.¡± Lizzy said to our Sea Elf.

    ¡°Hm? Hmm?? Huhh?!¡± the platinum-haired healer returned with confusion.

    ¡°Just do it!¡± the other girl said with a hurried tone.

    Hmm? You''re not sure it''ll work, are you? I noted to myself, keeping it quiet so I didn''t lose a point or more. Healina sighed, and brought up the window. A surprised look appeared on her face when she hovered her finger over the waggon, but she pressed whatever panel had come up and, sure enough, the waggon vanished into her inventory.

    ¡°Nice! Let''s go, girls!¡± Lizzy clapped her hands. I stood there, dumbfounded at what I had just seen, until Ari gently pulled me along.

    ¡°Come on, Lana!¡± she said cheerily.

    ¡°Huh? But, but--huh? What?¡± I returned blankly. I mean, sure, we stored a bunch of logs in there the one time, but a waggon? I mean, I get it, kind of, but that''s also ridiculous... although I guess storing several dozen logs in it is more ridiculous... but it''s a waggon...!

    ¡°What are you surprised about? It''s a game!¡± Ariana said as she patted my shoulder.

    ¡°Hmm? Lana? You didn''t forget about that quest in Age of Hyperborea where you take a dragon''s carcass to the King, did you?¡± Lizzy said to me with a beaming smile.

    ¡°Ahh--oh... right...¡± I said, suddenly brushing it all off as yet another prime example of the inexplicable item storage that most games seem to have. What''s an elephant tusk or twenty when you''re in a virtual world? ¡°Still, that is such a cheat... we could move an entire fortress that way...¡± I half muttered.

    ¡°Ooh, nice idea!¡± Maryn remarked. ¡°We''ll have to keep that one in mind!¡±

    ¡°Y-you guys...¡±

    ¡°Brighten up, buttercup!¡± Lizzy quipped. We continued bantering like this all the way to the forest, and by then even Anhe felt comfortable joining in with a couple of jokes. I smiled as she did so, glad that she was, like myself, becoming more open to new friends.

    Entering the forest for a second time did not diminish its mysterious quality. It was as if we were entering for the first time again, the undaunted trees almost gazing at us in a passive way as we trod the winding paths once more. Since we didn''t have any bounty quests active, nothing seemed really interested in attacking us except the NPC bandits. But they weren''t too hard. Oh sure, there were a couple champions and at least one mini-boss, but in the end it just served as practice for the six of us to continue acclimating with each other''s playing-slash-fighting style. Though the mini-boss was a pain because he kept vanishing and reappearing all over the place, summoning a couple minions as he did so. It was a fairly familiar tactic to us by now though, even if the execution was slightly different.

    If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    Anyway. One of the things that Lizzy noticed in her quest log as we journeyed further into the forest was that a tamer of appropriate level was required. Fortunately Healina counted in that regard, though she did some grumbling to Lizzy about paying attention before getting a quest in the future, to which our happy-go-lucky crafting halberdier gave a big grin. Unconsciously, I was holding Ariana''s hand when we were walking instead of fighting. Neither of us noticed until we saw Anhe smiling at us; the two of us exchanged a smile, and shrugged.

    ¡°I get lost easily! Even in groups,¡± Ari said to her, and she nodded.

    ¡°Hm, it is good that Lana is here then!¡± Anhe replied. I felt a slight squeeze on my hand as those words reached us, and gently smiled to myself.

    So, after about three hours of wandering through the forest looking for the animal we were supposed to find, we ended up at a mini-dungeon. It''s exactly as it sounds: a dungeon that''s not so big or so long, usually just one chamber or two with at least a boss monster or some equivalent mob and maybe a few lesser ones, sometimes of the same kind. Lizzy smiled as we found it, and beckoned us to follow her on inside.

    ¡°This is the place?¡± Healina asked her.

    ¡°Yep! The ''Cavern of the Divine Beast'', whatever that is,¡± she remarked.

    ¡°That could really mean anything.¡± Anhe said with a sigh, a wry smile on her face.

    ¡°Eh?¡± Lizzy looked back curiously.

    ¡°She''s right,¡± I said with a bemused look. ¡°And not just normal creatures too; spirit-beasts of one kind or another might be inside.¡±

    ¡°Hmm? You know something about it, huh? Or at least more than most non-Chinese or non-Asians,¡± Anhe remarked.

    ¡°Ehh, maybe a little bit?¡± I shrugged.

    ¡°Hmm...¡± our smith scratched her head, gazing at the entrance with a dubious eye. She then marched forward confidently, and the rest of us exchanged a glance and quickly followed. ¡°No point in dithering outside, let''s go!¡± Lizzy told us, and with that we stepped into the dungeon.

    So from the outside it looked like more or less a cave, but there had been a couple of lion statues outside. Eastern-style ones, of course. And the entrance had a carved look to it, complete with logographic symbols that Anhe told us were mostly nonsensical to her but which probably had some sort of in-game lore basis. Inside, however, it was less a cave and more a temple. Twenty-eighty ratio, on average. A lot of the natural features remained to be seen, mingled and intertwined effortlessly with the more designed aspect of it. Well, I mean, it was all designed, but you get what I''m trying to say.

    A green, red, and black patterned carpeting covered nearly the entire floor except the outermost edges, where it ended in gold, lacy trimming. Along the right and left walls there were two channels of running water that flowed from the back of the room in two cascading waterfalls on either side which descended from one higher above that was situated in the middle. At the far ending of the carpet there was a great dais with two elaborate braziers upon it, a bell just below it, and a few paper lanterns hanging over it from a shaped outcropping. Upon this dais was a carpet with the inverse of the pattern on the larger one, and napping upon the carpet was our beast.

    ¡°Whoa...¡± I whispered softly.

    ¡°It''s... a dog? A hound?¡± Maryn wondered uncertainly.

    ¡°It is a dog-spirit, a yaogu¨¤i as we say in China or yokai as they say in Japan,¡± Anhe told us as she gazed at it with wonder. Lizzy checked her log and a puzzled look came to her face.

    ¡°Huh... ''offer your respects to the beast'',¡± she read.

    ¡°Oh! Like we''re at a shrine or something,¡± I snapped my fingers.

    ¡°Gotcha. Oh, there''s a plaque near the bell with that calligraphy stuff on it; you sure it''s complete nonsense?¡± Lizzy asked Anhe, who gave Lizzy a small pout.

    ¡°I should know! I am Chinese, my mother is Chinese teacher, Mandarin, Cantonese, Xiang, and some Hakka. All those characters are for language they made up for the game.¡± she returned at once.

    ¡°Heh?¡± I said with amazement. ¡°What are w--I mean, what are you learning, Ari?¡± I then asked, almost stumbling over my own secret.

    ¡°It''s Mandarin, isn''t it?¡± Ari asked Anhe, who nodded.

    ¡°Yes. Teaching Mandarin for now, but maybe we will learn some Cantonese also,¡± she replied.

    ¡°Nice!¡± our mage returned.

    ¡°Okay, so it''s gibberish unless we have a -- oh, you have it,¡± Lizzy began, suddenly noticing Healina had a guidebook.

    ¡°Of course I have it. I bought it earlier, didn''t you notice?¡± the Sea Elf healer remarked.

    ¡°Eh, was too busy I guess...¡±

    ¡°Hmm,¡± the reply came. ¡°All right, let''s look here,¡± Healina then said, walking up to the plaque. ¡°At a moderate tempo, ring the bell three times; clap twice, ring the bell twice, bow once, ring the bell once, and then kneel, saying the creature''s name.¡±

    ¡°And then you get the taming option, right?¡± Lizzy asked her.

    ¡°Probably.¡± said the other girl.

    ¡°What a weird inverse though,¡± I remarked to Ariana. ¡°One three, two twos, and three ones.¡±

    ¡°That is a little peculiar,¡± she nodded back.

    ¡°Just one thing: what''s its name?¡± Lizzy then asked us with a wry smile.

    ¡°Hmm?¡± Healina looked at the plaque again, looking from it to the book several times over the course of a few moments to check. ¡°I... don''t see it,¡± she said in a perplexed tone.

    ¡°Maybe it''s somewhere else,¡± I suggested, and we began looking around, trying to see if there was something around the temple that would tell us this critter''s name.

    Ari and I wandered around to the left side of the room (as you were facing the waterfalls, that is), the both of us drawn by a series of woven wall-hangings with fantastical creatures and more of the calligraphic logograms upon them. As with the plaque, they were written from top to bottom, and some of the words appeared more... ¡°pronounced¡±, I guess you could say. The strokes seemed thicker, or perhaps the characters themselves were just larger. A sudden thought struck me, and I looked at the opposite wall. That wall also had several wall-hangings like the ones we were examining; Anhe and Healina were studying them.

    Those two are probably coming to the same thought I''m having, I thought to myself. Our answer was probably related to the emphasized words on the wall-hangings. I looked over at Ariana, who also seemed to have gotten the trick.

    ¡°These characters, the bold ones,¡± she said to me, and I nodded.

    ¡°They probably form some sort of phrase when you put them all together; a hidden message.¡± I returned.

    ¡°True,¡± she agreed. ¡°It''ll probably take us a while to figure out the proper order, though, unless Heali has an idea of how this game-language works.¡±

    ¡°She probably does by now,¡± I remarked as I looked back over at the other side, and Ari looked with me. ¡°I think she just came to the same conclusion.¡± I added, noting how animated she seemed to be.

    ¡°Definitely!¡± my partner agreed, a smile on her face.

    ¡°It''s a good thing we started from this side first!¡± we heard our healer say, and the two of us walked over to the middle of the room where Lizzy and Maryn were.

    ¡°Chinese is written right-to-left, yes, but these characters are only based on them. It really looks more like Khitan, I think; but anyway, they do have written it left-to-right.¡± Anhe said as they continued from weave to weave.

    ¡°And they started it on the right side as a sort of joke or throw-off,¡± Healina nodded.

    ¡°Throw-off?¡± our new friend wondered.

    ¡°Like a diversion.¡± Lizzy told her.

    ¡°Ahh! Okay.¡± Anhe said in understanding.

    Healina, meanwhile, finished her observations on the right side and almost skipped over to the left side, examining the wall-hanging there to see if the pattern held; apparently it did, because a smile then crossed her face and she continued doing her thing.

    ¡°She really does like solving these, huh?¡± I remarked softly, and Lizzy nodded.

    ¡°She''s been super into puzzles of all sorts since we were kids.¡± she whispered back. A few minutes passed us by, and then Healina came back to us with a scroll she had written the characters down upon, studying it intensively as she looked for a pattern or some other kind of clue hidden within them.

    ¡°What does it say?¡± I asked her.

    ¡°It''s a riddle; each tapestry or wall-hanging here depicts a scene from a story in Xuanpu''s lore. In each of them there are a couple words made with bolder characters, which definitely have to do with this creature here, because they form a riddle related to its name.¡± Healina told us.

    ¡°And the riddle is?¡± Maryn wondered.

    ¡°Well, it says: Flowing years like a river carry downstream the hearts of those who came before; in me their hopes are renewed like the promise of spring after winter. My name can be found in the singing of the water, the laughter of the sunshine, the dancing of the stars, the merriment of the trees. It is the joy of the people, the sorrow of evil-doers, the crown of a king, the staves of the monks. With these eight things, you may call my name,¡± she read for us, and we pondered the words for a few moments.

    ¡°It''s probably meant to make us overthink a bit,¡± I then said. ¡°That first sentence could be irrelevant, from how I heard it.¡±

    ¡°That''s not impossible, but a lot of the characters are similar to characters in the lines that follow, so it''s more like another hint.¡± Healina said, and I looked at the scroll again.

    ¡°Hmm...¡± I frowned, scratching my head.

    ¡°But you''re somewhat right; the answer is in the second and third lines, and the first and fourth are just ''bookend hints'' to it.¡± she then said.

    ¡°Eight things,¡± Lizzy mumbled, a thoughtful look on her face.

    ¡°But which eight? Singing, laughter, dancing, merriment, joy, sorrow, crown, staves, or water, sunshine, stars, trees, people, evil-doers, king, and monks?¡± Maryn then asked.

    ¡°Ooh.¡± the blonde girl nodded with understanding.

    ¡°More accurately, which eight in the language of the Xuanpu,¡± Healina nodded back.

    ¡°Do not forget that often there are characters that help to build other characters in order to make a new one,¡± Anhe reminded us.

    ¡°Oh right,¡± I said. ¡°So... wait, couldn''t the name be in the first line, then?¡± I suddenly realized, and Healina looked at me with a sudden surprise and quickly re-examined her scroll.

    ¡°I think you''re on to something, Lana,¡± she remarked, carefully looking at the characters she had transcribed. Her eyes then lit up, and she smiled. ¡°You''re right; the characters related to the eights make up the ones used for ''spring'' and ''winter'' in the first line.¡±

    ¡°Cool!¡± I exclaimed. ¡°So where does that leave us?¡± I then wondered.

    ¡°It leaves us with deciding if this one''s name is ''Winter'' or ''Spring'' -- Fyu Dongtian or Hya Chuntian, to be precise.¡± Healina told us.

    We all looked over at the beast in question; it had grey-colored fur for the most part with a black nose, and there were a few patches of white upon it. It almost looked like a giant wolfhound--which I know sounds redundant but trust me, this thing was bigger. The coloration said ''winter'' to my brain, but I had learned through years of experience that the obvious answer wasn''t always the right one--especially in games like this. Suddenly I wondered if the answer was simpler than any of us had realized; I made my way back to the dais, looking closely at the beast. It had a red collar on, and there were gold characters inscribed upon it. I looked back to Healina, and waved her over; she looked at me with a curious expression as she approached.

    ¡°Not to diminish any of the hard work you''ve done, but what''s on that collar?¡± I asked her. She took one look and then let out a long sigh.

    ¡°Hahh... rude.¡± she shook her head. ¡°Fyu Dongtian, that''s its name.¡± she told us, and we looked around at each other sheepishly.

    ¡°I mean, it was fun though,¡± Lizzy smiled goofily.

    ¡°True!¡± Ariana smiled, and Maryn held back a giggle.

    ¡°All right; get your taming skill ready. I''mma do this thing.¡± Lizzy then said, and Healina nodded, the two of us backing up while Lizzy paid her respects to the beast according to the ritual, ringing the bell three times, clapping twice, then ringing the bell twice, bowing once, ringing the bell once, and then finally kneeling. ¡°Fyu Dongtian!¡± she said then, and the beast opened its eyes, which were green in color.

    The beast then stood to its feet, and I saw that it was definitely bigger than a wolfhound. It was practically the size of a horse, and not a small one either. A growl came forth from its lips, and then Healina let out a cry.

    ¡°My skills are blocked!¡± she said with fright.

    ¡°Meaning we have to do this another way,¡± Ariana noted, readying her staff just in case.

    ¡°I am Fyu Dongtian,¡± a deep voice said. It was the beast, but his mouth made no move, though it was open; was it a thought-projection? ¡°Prove your worth, mortals; why should I serve you? For countless ages I have served no master but one; when he departed for the Celestial Realm I was again free. Why should I surrender my freedom to you?¡± it asked us.

    I looked at Lizzy; she seemed stuck for words, uncertain of what to say or how to say it. Anhe seemed to be thinking, perhaps wondering if there was a real-world myth she knew that might help; Ariana was doing the same thing. Maryn held her sword at the ready, and beside me Healina was getting her staff ready also.

    ¡°Prove your worth with words, or should I test you in battle?¡± Fyu Dongtian said again.

    ¡°I''d rather not fight this thing if we can help it,¡± Maryn said.

    ¡°Neither would I,¡± Anhe agreed.

    ¡°Agree.¡± Ariana nodded. Then, it suddenly struck me; I ran over to where Lizzy was, and knelt beside her.

    ¡°Wait! Fyu Dongtian!¡± I said, and the great beast turned to me.

    ¡°Speak.¡± he ordered.

    ¡°We wish to carry the hopes of those who came before, to renew them in the coming days. To sing in the water, laugh in the sunshine, dance with the stars, and celebrate with the forests. To give joy to the people, to bring sorrow to evil-doers, to respect the crowns of kings and honor those who serve the divine: this is our wish.¡± I said to him, confident that this was the answer.

    The beast continued to stare at me, and then its face shifted to what seemed a smile. A sound of laughter came from him, not a mocking or threatening laughter, but a merry sound, a pleased sort of laughing, almost. He nodded to me then, and bowed his head.

    ¡°Your words do you credit, mortal. You have solved the Riddle of Fyu Dongtian; I bow to your wisdom, and I agree to serve you as you have need.¡± he told us. I heard Lizzy sigh with relief, and then we saw his collar adopt the symbol of our guild in front of his name. The quest completion flashed, and we walked out of the mini-dungeon with Fyu Dongtian, our ¡­ pet? Ally? ¡­ let''s say ally.

    I checked his stats as we walked out; his level was now the same as ours, but his status bars were a lot higher. He had more health, magical power, and energy, that is. I wonder if there''s more NPCs we can ally with through quests, or even hire as mercenaries or workers, maybe, I wondered to myself as we emerged in daylight again. Healina then took the waggon out of her special inventory and materialized it upon the ground.

    ¡°I see!¡± our dog-beast said. ¡°This is the least of tasks I can do for you; prepare a harness and I shall have you out of this forest in good time! Where is our destination, masters?¡± he asked of us.

    ¡°We were heading to the city of Zan after this,¡± Lizzy replied.

    ¡°It is understood.¡± Fyu Dongtian nodded.

    ¡°May we call you ''Fyu'' for short?¡± Ariana wondered. Our new ally considered the question, and then nodded again.

    ¡°Very well, I accept this moniker.¡± he replied. After a few minutes more, we had him hitched up to the waggon, and when we were aboard, Fyu took off, apparently not needing Lizzy''s guidance to steer him.

    ¡°This is a serious jackpot,¡± our smith said, ¡°And nice save back there, Lana!¡± she smiled at me.

    ¡°Ah-heh, it was nothing, really,¡± I said. ¡°I guess all that translating wasn''t for nothing after all,¡± I then said, and Healina smiled.

    ¡°Good thing, eh?¡± she quipped.

    ¡°He really is fast though,¡± Anhe observed with interest. ¡°We might get to Zan in an hour at this rate.¡±

    ¡°I can cross all the leagues of Xuanpu at a steady pace in nearly a day; to go faster is taxing, but I can indeed bring you to such a place in an hour, if that is your wish?¡± Fyu said to us.

    ¡°Please don''t exhaust yourself! We''ll be fine getting there at a steady pace,¡± I quickly said to him in reply.

    ¡°It is understood; I thank you for your consideration, mortal.¡± he said in answer.

    ¡°I wonder if we have to feed him, or if he''ll hunt for himself, maybe... come to think of it, Sallymander would eat, didn''t he?¡± I wondered aloud.

    ¡°He did eat,¡± Maryn nodded.

    ¡°I''m sure Fyu will tell us what he needs, if anything.¡± Healina remarked.

    ¡°True.¡± I agreed.

    ¡°Correct!¡± the dog-beast himself added. ¡°Fear not! I will hunt when I am not needed, and you will have these to summon me, should I be required!¡± he then said, and an item suddenly appeared in our inventories.

    ¡°Hmm, sweet!¡± Lizzy remarked. It was a Whistle of the Winter Hound; there didn''t seem to be a distance limit, so I guess it was more magical than practical. I then sat back a bit, Ariana leaning on my shoulder, and the two of us simply enjoyed the ride.

    We passed through the forest like a breeze, and were soon heading through open country again. In the distance we could see forests of bamboo, wild creatures roaming around, villages and community farms nestled around lakes or rivers, majestic mountains and wily clouds dancing about their heights, ancient and overgrown ruins tucked away in various places, and sometimes we would see a legion of soldiers, a band of merchants, or a group of travelling monks or such. Mischievous looking monkeys clambered around in the trees along one stretch of the road, and at another place we saw a family of tigers lazing about, and a herd of elephants further in the distance.

    One thing that stood out as we traversed the lands was a lone peak far in the distance to the northwest of us; this, Healina told us, was Heaven''s Peak, and directly south of it was our destination of Zan.

    ¡°I''m not sure if it''s a place to visit or if it''s a dungeon of some kind, but apparently the place is like a resort for the Celestial Beings that the Xuanpu worship.¡± she told us.

    ¡°I am not sure myself,¡± Anhe said.

    ¡°No?¡± I wondered curiously.

    ¡°There are a lot of rumors, but no one has actually been there. It is possible there is a quest or pre-quest that could lead there, though; people have reported seeing things as they get closer to it, like feasts or competitions.¡± Anhe recounted for us.

    ¡°Huh, that sounds neat,¡± I said.

    ¡°Maybe someday we will find that quest!¡± she smiled back.

    ¡°That''d be super fun,¡± Lizzy agreed, ¡°Hope I''ll be able to join it when you do. But for now I''ll settle for this house quest!¡± she said.

    ¡°Agreed.¡± Maryn nodded.

    ¡°Beg pardon, what do the masters speak of?¡± Fyu wondered as he pulled us along.

    ¡°We want to undertake a general''s quest to win the estate by the Jade Sea,¡± I explained to him. That''s incredible, he has input on our banter, even. I wonder what kind of thoughts he''ll have about us disappearing for three days or so at a time, I thought to myself with wonder.

    ¡°Ahh... of course. Even in the forest this news had reached me.¡± Fyu told us.

    ¡°Oh?¡± I asked him, now doubly intrigued.

    ¡°Of course, masters; Dai-Gong Wu is an influential man. Some even whisper that he may try to overthrow the emperor some day. His reward for an unknown quest are becoming famous throughout Xuanpu and its neighbors.¡± Fyu continued.

    Now that was something I hadn''t expected. It made me rethink for a second time Fyu''s complexity as a character, or perhaps even a distinct person with a more advanced AI than most NPCs in the game. But anyway; from what he had just told me, I had a fair few guesses as to what the General''s quest was going to be, as I''m sure some of you might as well. This opened up a lot of possibilities; and as we continued on towards Zan, I suddenly wondered if this was one of those quests where you can choose a different outcome and still get the same reward. There was only one question, basically. This quest could possibly affect the entire game, if it was what I thought it was. That is, was the emperor someone who needed to be overthrown, or was the general a scheming traitor who needed to be stopped?

 Chapter Twenty-four: The Generals Quest/An All-Nighter Begins

    We approached the City of Zan in Panarena''s late afternoon, gazing in awe at the massive gates that loomed before us. Its walls were a deep red hue of color, and the gates themselves were made from a sturdy looking wood framed with silver-steel, Anhe told us. Two towers stood on either side of them, and other towers continued around the wall in an equidistant fashion, their hip-and-gable roofs made of a dark slate. Two great lion-dog statues stood near the gates as well, along with eight guards and their captain, all of them wielding halberds. The captain nodded to someone on the wall as we approached, and the gates opened almost soundlessly to reveal the bustling city within.

    It almost reminded me of the China-town I had gone to when I was a little kid, except it was fantasy-themed and there were no modernisms around, being based upon a more medieval society. Well, insofar as that word applies to East Asia, anyway. Citizens milled about the streets, we could see many quest NPCs, tiny creatures like fantastical monkeys or larger ones in the likeness of apes and gorillas and even some with elephantine features roamed the area alongside the more human population, as well as a few that seemed either squirrelly or serpentine. Merchants and mongers were hawking their wares, whether food or drink, weapons or armor, fashion or magic, and we could see several other places where special mini-events were going on in certain areas.

    ¡°Some of these places are restricted,¡± Anhe told us as we passed one by.

    ¡°Hmm?¡± I wondered.

    ¡°I almost entered one a few days ago by accident while doing a quest; it gave me an eighteen-plus warning, so I turned away very quickly.¡± she told me.

    ¡°Hehh??¡± I said with shock. ¡°Th-then this game really is something else... I bet it probably can estimate our age, too, based upon the initial calibration... so even if someone was to just go ahead and accept the warning, the system would throw them out.¡± I mused aloud.

    ¡°Probably. But none of us are here for that junk anyway.¡± Healina remarked, and I nodded back.

    ¡°Definitely not... but it''s good to have some warning about it,¡± I said.

    ¡°True!¡± she agreed.

    ¡°Come to think of it, I''m pretty sure there was a setting kind of like that in our personal preference options...¡± Ariana then added, gazing in idle thoughtfulness as she tried to recall the details. ¡°Hmm,¡± she sighed, shaking her head.

    ¡°Probably some master setting we don''t need to know about or use,¡± I shrugged, lying back against the cart as we continued through the streets.

    ¡°Very true.¡± Ari nodded as she leaned on me. ¡°But like you said, it''s nice to have a bit of warning about these things so we can avoid them.¡±

    ¡°Hmm.¡± I nodded back.

    Fyu led us through the winding streets of the outer districts, the markets, entertainments, and residential ones, to the more ordered pathways of the inner districts, where the palace, barracks, temple, libraries, and arcane society were located. The palace itself almost looked like the Forbidden Palace, except it was pure white with silver roof tiles. All the buildings around it were likewise colored, white walls and silver-clad roofing, and there were many statues of either marble or jade situated around the area. At the heart of the city was a great courtyard and garden, with an open-walled pagoda and a majestic fountain shaped in the likeness of an eastern dragon with a regal woman at its side.

    The garden was astonishingly beautiful. As we got out of the cart and asked Fyu to hang around, ensuring that he had something to eat and drink for his services, Ari and I wandered towards it straight off, gazing at the colorful varieties of flowers and smiling as cherry blossoms fluttered down to the ground in wavy paths with the breeze.

    ¡°Now I definitely want to go back to Japan for a while, or even to China,¡± Ariana said as she took a deep breath, letting it out with a happy sigh.

    ¡°That''d be fun; maybe... maybe we can try it this summer? Or maybe for a graduation celebration further down the road?¡± I returned, and she looked at me with one of those heart-stopping radiant smiles.

    ¡°You come up with the best ideas!¡± she said to me.

    No, just when I''m with you... or just because of you, I thought to myself with a smile of my own, gently squeezing her hand.

    ¡°Hey! Quest marker leads this way!¡± Lizzy called over to us.

    ¡°Aww, let them enjoy it a bit longer; I want to see it for a bit, too!¡± Healina''s voice said to her in reply.

    ¡°It''s not as if we have to do this all now.¡± Maryn added.

    ¡°Ughhh... hel-lo? Last week of free-dom?¡± the Nordian smith retorted brusquely.

    ¡°Let''s meander towards them.¡± I said with a smirk to Ari, who smirked back and nodded at me. We made our way over, not too fast, not too slow, giving the others just enough time (we hoped) to enjoy the garden until we regrouped with them. Lizzy huffed, then shrugged as we made our way to the barracks.

    ¡°It''s just Tuesday, Lizzy. We have five days left... and Saturday will count as three or four days on account of the time acceleration.¡± Maryn smiled to her.

    ¡°Boo.¡± the other girl remarked flatly.

    ¡°Still, we''re getting caught up in something pretty huge now,¡± I said quietly, and the others stopped, turning to me.

    ¡°What do you mean, Lana?¡± Maryn wondered.

    ¡°Remember how Fyu said the general might be plotting against the emperor?¡± I said, and they nodded back. ¡°I think this might be one of those quests, where you start out on one side and have to make choices whether to continue with that side or go with the other.¡± I told them, and their eyes lit up.

    ¡°Ahh! I understand now!¡± Anhe whispered excitedly. ¡°So the general''s quest might be about his ambition to become the new emperor?¡±

    ¡°And we''ll probably get opportunities to play both sides until we''re forced to make a choice near the climax,¡± Lizzy nodded, becoming more serious again. ¡°Ooh, this is gonna be a fun week!¡± she grinned.

    ¡°But a quest like this in a game like this might not reset itself; meaning that the outcome may be permanent, and we may be altering the game itself for future players.¡± I then said.

    ¡°Or it could have a different kind of reset; the true emperor goes into hiding and spawns a quest to reclaim his throne, or the general goes into exile and generates a different version of the quest.¡± Lizzy told us, and I snapped my fingers.

    ¡°Oh! Good point! Now I feel less anxious about it!¡± I replied.

    ¡°We''re really just speculating here, but I bet you''re both right,¡± Ariana nodded. ¡°From what we''ve seen so far, this game would be ambitious enough to do something like that.¡±

    ¡°''Kingdom of Harmonia'' my foot, right?¡± Lizzy smirked.

    ¡°Pretty much.¡± I grinned back.

    ¡°Anyway, let''s get to the general and see what the quest is. There''s always the chance we''re overthinking things, you know.¡± Healina pointed out; a couple of us shrugged in answer, but we all agreed to get on with it and find the quest.

    As we approached the main door of the barracks, we were greeted by an attendant of the general; the NPC led us inside when we stated our business, and as we made our way to the general''s quarters we looked around at the austere interior now revealed to us. I felt like I was in one of those old martial arts or samurai films. Guards were at every entryway, and servants hastened about their duties. We passed by an audience chamber; there was a raised seat for the general, and a few paces away from this was a gong. Jade dragon statues lined the walls and flowery tapestries hung from the ceiling.

    A few moments after this we reached the general''s quarters. The servant knocked four times, and a voice spoke, granting us entry. We were ushered in to a large private chamber, and the door was shut behind us.

    ¡°Greetings, honored travellers; I understand you have taken up my request. It is a matter of utmost delicacy, and it is urgent, I assure you. Will you hear me out?¡± the general asked us.

    ¡°We will.¡± I said, and the general seemed to be relieved at those words. He then continued.

    ¡°I am glad, then. Listen! What I am about to say must not leave these walls; the emperor is in decline. I have received suspicious reports from my men at all corners of Xuanpu. Many strange creatures and foreign legions cross our borders, dark cultists lurk in the shadows, and wicked outlaws prey upon paths once thought safe. I do not want to place the blame at his majesty''s feet, but I need to act, and for that I need evidence. Will you be so gracious as to give these reports a thorough examination, and then come back to me with your findings, that I may know how to respond?¡± Dai-Gong Wu asked us.

    All-righty. So far this was shaping up in a way that was more or less the way I thought it might go once Fyu had given us his innocuous comments on the issue. Find evidence of wrong-doing, bad governing, or some other form of betrayal. The question now was probably whether the evidence would point to the emperor or to the general, or if it was planted by one or the other. Either way...

    ¡°We would be glad to assist you in discovering the truth,¡± Anhe replied; I nodded to her, and she smiled back.

    ¡°Then I am pleased. Here, take this scroll! It has all the details you will need; please examine each location and each situation thoroughly. We cannot have any mistakes on this matter, for the good of the kingdom rests on its outcome.¡±

    ¡°We understand, General Dai-Gong.¡± I said with a bow, and he nodded to us.

    ¡°Remember, keep these matters as secret and discreet as you can!¡± he said, and then clapped his hands. The servant showed us out of the room and then out of the barracks; I accidentally bumped one of the servant girls on the way, both of us apologizing to the other.

    Th-this game makes you forget sometimes that NPCs are NPCs, I thought to myself as we exited the barracks, suddenly noticing my inventory had a new item. From the servant girl? I wondered as we returned to the garden, taking it out; it was a note.

    Please, honored guest, my sister''s honor is in danger! It has something to do with the general''s doings, I know it does, but I am afraid to act! Please meet me in the South Gardens when the moon crowns the sky. I looked over the note twice; this was definitely related to the quest in some way.

    ¡°When the moon crowns the sky, huh...¡± I mused aloud as Ariana read it over my shoulder.

    ¡°Hmm? Part of the same quest?¡±

    ¡°Or a related sub-quest, yeah,¡± I nodded.

    ¡°Let''s split up for now,¡± Maryn said to us then. ¡°Lizzy, Heali and I will go examine the things the general wants us to examine, and you can take Ari and Anhe to follow up this lead.¡±

    ¡°Good idea,¡± I agreed.

    ¡°Fair enough,¡± our halberdier nodded. ¡°All right! We get Fyu!¡± she softly crowed, and the beast in question perked up his ears.

    ¡°Masters?¡± he asked us, raising up his head.

    ¡°We''ve gotta go places, buddy,¡± Lizzy told him, patting his head.

    ¡°Hmm, hmm, that feels very nice, I must admit; where shall we go now?¡±

    ¡°Ehh, what is it... the Mines of Xizi-jiang! I think is how you say it...¡± the blonde girl returned.

    ¡°Very well; that is at least an hour to the west. Let us go!¡± Fyu returned, and the three of them departed with a wave, hastening through the streets of Zan to their objective.

    ¡°Ahh!¡± I suddenly remembered, letting out a sigh. ¡°We forgot to set a rendezvous...¡±

    ***

    Ariana sent messages to Heali as we walked through the streets of Zan, and we agreed to try and meet up at either the second or third objective out of town, once my party had met with the secret message sender.

    ¡°Good thing it''s already late here,¡± I murmured as I saw the moon working its way up into the sky.

    ¡°It is almost crowning the sky,¡± Anhe remarked. ¡°Let us head for the South Gardens and see who is there.¡±

    ¡°Let''s go,¡± I nodded back, and I checked our position on the map to make sure we were heading the right way. ¡°The South Gardens should be down the next turn to our left, and then we''ll see them on the right,¡± I said as the three of us walked along the streets briskly.

    Sure enough, when we headed down that left avenue, we saw an ornate fence with trailings of ivy on our right, and this separated briefly into an inward-opening gate that led into one of the prettiest gardens we had seen. It reminded me of the Park, except that this place, of course, had trees, flowers, and plants that were more native to Asia rather than the Americas. A great cherry tree stood near the center, surrounded by three simple fountains and five benches, and a host of colorful flowers and bushes, all of them well-ordered and carefully trimmed. There was a young lady seated on the bench; her hair was a midnight black and she wore a simple dress with an outer robe. She looked up at our approach, and stood to her feet, clasping her hands together nervously. Immediately I recognized her as the one I had bumped into earlier.

    ¡°Honored guests, thank you for answering my message; please forgive its suddenness, and the rude way in which it was delivered, but I could think of nothing else to do!¡±

    I''ve never heard an NPC sound so distressed like this, I mused to myself internally. I wonder if she''s one of the more advanced ones, or if her programming is just that much different from the others, or--

    ¡°My sister has been held for at least two weeks now by people who claim they are bandits near the Mines of Xizi-jiang, but I work specifically for the captain who oversees those mines and he says there are no bandits! I am afraid of what will happen, and I am sure something is very amiss! Please, say you will look for her and find out what it all means!¡± she pleaded.

    ¡°Ari, call Heali and tell them to swing back for us,¡± I said to her, and she nodded at once. Anhe approached the servant girl, and put a hand on her as the other woman started crying.

    W-whoa... maybe there really are all levels of NPCs in this game; the simple ones, the more advanced, and ones that are almost... real, I suddenly thought to myself, feeling a tightness in my chest.

    ¡°She really makes you feel, huh?¡± Ariana whispered, reaching up to wipe a tear out of my eye as she finished sending the message. I looked back at her; there were tears forming in her eyes also.

    ¡°Yeah.¡± I replied.

    ¡°We will find your sister, I promise.¡± Anhe said to the servant girl. ¡°May we know your name and hers?¡± she asked, and the other woman stopped crying for a moment.

    ¡°Of course, of course, how foolish of me,¡± she said as she dried her eyes. ¡°I am W¨¨i Lisha; my sister is W¨¨i Y¨´ M¨ªng. Her hair is longer than mine, and it is the color of earth, a rich and lovely brown. If they have not taken it from her, and I pray they have not--for it would be an offense to the divine!--she will be wearing a silver pendant with an emerald, and on top of the emerald in fine gold is our family name.¡±

    ¡°Ohh! Your sister is a priestess!¡± Anhe said with interest.

    H-how, just from that little tidbit? I wondered.

    ¡°It is true; she was selected for holy duties, and she has risen quite high, while I am yet a simple maid for the general''s barrack.¡± W¨¨i Lisha returned.

    ¡°Then, Lisha, we will find Y¨´ M¨ªng as quickly as we can and bring her home; please be safe in the meantime and do not worry.¡± Anhe told her, and Lisha nodded to her slowly.

    ¡°Help me get back to my home for now; I am afraid of the streets at night!¡± she said to us in reply.

    ¡°It''ll take them about five or ten minutes to get back with Fyu''s speed.¡± Ariana told me.

    Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    ¡°P-poor Fyu...¡± I remarked.

    ¡°I know.¡± she smiled.

    ¡°Let''s go then,¡± I said in a louder voice.

    We then escorted Lisha to her family home; on the way there, I detected people following us. I looked over at Ariana, who nodded to me. She knew they were around too. Anhe gave me a look as well, as if to say she also knew. We can''t wait until we''re at Lisha''s house; they''ll probably slip away and we''ll lose them. We have to do something about them now.

    ¡°Ari... keep going. Anhe... the ones on the left.¡± I whispered, and Ariana nodded to me, murmuring ward spells as she and Lisha continued on their way while Anhe swung up to the roof like a cat and I disappeared with my shadow skills to do the same.

    A few seconds later I heard several grunts. Anhe had begun her attack. I began mine as well, using my unarmed skills instead of my daggers or my bow, disabling two and sending them down in a heap to the road below. I took down three more, intermittently looking over to see how Anhe was doing. She had managed to run into quite a lot more than I had. I may have to help her as soon as I finish with these guys here, I noted. I finished off a sixth, and then saw a seventh skittering away across the rooftops. Snap! I swore, taking out my bow at once and carefully firing an arrow; it hit him in the leg, right under the knee-joint, and he tumbled down with a cry. I turned to see if Anhe needed help, but at that moment she jumped, staff in hand, and twirled in the air, coming back down and thumping her staff onto the roof with a loud cry.

    ¡°Tian zhi sh¨§np¨¤n!¡± she shouted out, and upon her impact there was a small quake that knocked away her remaining adversaries, hurtling them to earth.

    ¡°Wh-whoa...!¡± I remarked with awe, and she stood back to her feet, letting out a sigh.

    ¡°Lana, what happened to the one you just shot?¡± she asked me.

    ¡°Ahh, they fell into that alleyway, I guess,¡± I returned.

    ¡°These are all asleep now; let us find that one and question him.¡± Anhe then said, and I nodded back.

    ¡°We sure we got them all?¡± I wondered cautiously turning on Shadow Vision to check as she jumped to the roof I was on.

    ¡°Do you see anything?¡± she asked me softly. I looked around for a few moments more and then shook my head.

    ¡°Come on, let''s get gimpy before he crawls away.¡± I said, and she nodded back as we hurried over to the alley. ¡°What was that you said back there anyway?¡± I asked her.

    ¡°Hmm? Ahh! What I said was ''Heaven''s Judgment''. It is the name of my big attack.¡± she said to me with a grin.

    ¡°N-nice... remind me not to make you angry!¡± I returned, and she giggled.

    We hopped down into the alley a few moments later and quickly looked around; there was a trail of blood. We followed this, and found our ¡°friend¡± halfheartedly slithering away. I sped up a bit and jumped in front of him while Anhe took out her staff again and came up from behind; he stopped as soon as I landed in front of him, and, seeing Anhe, let out a tired sigh.

    ¡°Why were you following us?¡± I asked him.

    ¡°Orders.¡± he said.

    ¡°From whom?¡±

    ¡°I will not say.¡±

    ¡°Why not?¡± I knelt down, drawing out one of my daggers.

    ¡°It does not matter. You will not succeed. My employers are the ones who will win this conflict!¡± he said to me, and then took out a small vial, drinking it before I could react. In a moment he was dead, and I stepped back in shock.

    ¡°Uh--!!¡± I gaped in disbelief.

    ¡°Oh my!¡± Anhe said in surprise. The two of us looked at each other uncertainly, and then decided to hurry after Ariana. As we did so I took a badge from one of the others we left lying in the street, wondering it it was a clue.

    We found her and Lisha at the entrance to the W¨¨i family manor, where we said our goodbyes to her, more assured of her safety now, and then headed to the gates to meet the others. Ariana was likewise shocked by what had happened in our encounter with the wounded man, puzzled by his words at the end.

    ¡°He emphasized it was his employers who would win whatever conflict is going on?¡± she asked me.

    ¡°That''s what it sounded like,¡± I nodded.

    ¡°What do you think, Ariana?¡± Anhe asked her. The Wood Elf girl turned the badge I had shown her over in her hand, gazing at it curiously.

    ¡°This definitely has to do with whomever we''re dealing with, whatever is going on. I wonder if it connects to the emperor or the general...¡± she wondered, handing it back to me.

    ¡°I don''t remember seeing something like that in the general''s place,¡± I said.

    ¡°So it''s most likely someone affiliated with the emperor.¡± Ariana concluded.

    ¡°I wonder.¡± Anhe remarked softly as we approached the gates. We found Lizzy and the others had just gotten there, and we exchanged sheepish looks with each other as we joined them on the waggon.

    ¡°I guess we overthought it.¡± Maryn said with a laugh.

    ¡°Shall we return to our course of the mines, masters?¡± Fyu wondered. I then hopped out to talk with him directly.

    ¡°Fyu! Do you know anything about this?¡± I said, showing him the badge. Our dog-beast stared at it for a while, and then his eyes narrowed.

    ¡°I do not know this symbol, master; and I know all the heraldry of all the clans and dynasties of Xuanpu. This is something new, or perhaps a clever reinvention of something old that is meant to obscure its identity from even such as I,¡± he said to me.

    ¡°Gotcha; we''ll keep an eye out then. For now... for now take us to a town near the mines. I doubt we have much time left for now.¡± I said as I got back in the waggon.

    ¡°We''ve got two and a half hours of Panarena time,¡± Lizzy told us. ¡°¡­ Unless, of course, you want to be naughty for a change and pull an all-nighter.¡± she suggested innocently, and the rest of us looked around at each other.

    ¡°Now that sounds fun.¡± Healina said with a faint smirk.

    ¡°I''m sure my dad might be a little angry, but as long as we don''t make a habit of it I can pass it off as getting caught up in the excitement and losing track of time.¡± Maryn shrugged.

    ¡°My mother will not greatly care; she will actually be pleased that I am doing things with friends, even if it is ''naughty'',¡± Anhe remarked.

    ¡°We all know I don''t care.¡± Lizzy said. Ariana and I then looked at each other.

    ¡°You good?¡± she asked me.

    ¡°What about you?¡±

    ¡°Maybe this will be a good thing; I move in with Heali Friday and Saturday so it''d be nice to have those days mostly free of other obligations, at least until later.¡± she said to me.

    ¡°Oh that''s true,¡± I nodded back. ¡°Ehh...¡± I then said, still hesitant. ¡°L-let''s try it.¡±

    ¡°Whoo! The boss is in!¡± Lizzy grinned.

    H-here we go... our first all-nighter... why am I not excited? I wondered to myself with a slight grimace as Fyu took off, heading across Xuanpu for a place close to the mines so that we could investigate both of the quests we had happened upon.

    ***

    At a more relaxed pace, Fyu had us to the Mines of Xizi-jiang by early morning Panarena time. I looked at the real-world clock; it was now around midnight. Best case scenario: we pulled this first part off in the next few Panarena hours and would head off around one or two in the morning. But will we actually stop there or will we keep going? Come to think of it, we did ¡°sleep¡± at least a couple times on Fridays and Saturdays in-world, and we weren''t too groggy after logging out... maybe if we catch a nap in-world and set an alarm we won''t be so badly off,  I pondered to myself as we slowed to a halt. I mentioned this to the others, who agreed with me about the matter.

    ¡°Time acceleration really messes with things sometimes, but we can get an actual eight-hour sleep in two hours here.¡± Lizzy remarked.

    ¡°I wonder if mental aging is a thing for seriously heavy users,¡± Healina wondered.

    ¡°I''m sure it is to some degree,¡± I nodded.

    ¡°That''d be crazy, to practically live in this world and be older mentally than you are physically,¡± Lizzy said as we slipped off of the waggon.

    ¡°Would be kind of cool, though,¡± I murmured softly. Ariana looked over at me with a concerned expression, but then shook her head.

    ¡°Maybe.¡± she softly agreed.

    ¡°I bet there''s testers the company takes really good care of trying out that very concept,¡± Maryn said as we readied ourselves.

    ¡°Hmm.¡± Anhe said, an intrigued look on her face.

    You too, huh?

    ¡°Masters, be careful; I see sentries in the distance.¡± Fyu rumbled to us in as soft a voice as he could muster. ¡°They should not have seen us for the trees, yet these grow sparse ahead.¡±

    ¡°No worries, Fyu,¡± I said to him, ¡°We''ll be careful.¡±

    ¡°Hmm.¡± the dog-beast nodded.

    ¡°All right; both of these quest markers lead into the Mines themselves,¡± Maryn said to us. ¡°Let''s see where being ''official'' gets us.¡±

    ¡°Hopefully inside, and without suspicion.¡± Healina said as we cautiously advanced to the entrance.

    There were five sentries situated at the entrance to the Mines, three on one side of the door and two on the other. A few palisades were ringed around their position, with just enough space for one person to safely walk through. Up on a hill to our left I could see a camp with several tents; there were archers looking down lazily, but they would probably attack at a word from the sentries if something went wrong for us. The sentries'' uniforms were similar to the general''s legion, but there was a different emblem on them, probably signifying a different unit that answered to one of the other legion generals serving the emperor.

    According to the quest log, General Dai-Gong was one of seven generals, and he was the greatest of them in rank. But the others only answered to him in times of war; the rest of the time they all took orders from the emperor alone. So this legion here was acting on imperial orders from the emperor, whatever they were doing -- unless they weren''t, and they were somehow bandits in disguise, which can be a thing in certain games. They didn''t attack us at least, and we were allowed inside to pursue the two quests.

    ¡°All right; Healina, Lizzy, and I will search for suspicious activity and incriminating evidence, you three search for the missing girl,¡± Maryn said to me, Ari, and Anhe.

    ¡°Got it,¡± I nodded back. I wrapped the three of us in shadows, and we followed the hints through the Mines to locate our objective.

    All around us we could see and hear the normal, day-to-day activity of the place going on around us; the miners were hard at work, digging for whatever it was they mined here (Anhe said she was almost positive they were iron deposits) and taking it to the refineries in the upper levels. We crossed paths with the other group at least once, though they didn''t see us. And neither did all of the legionnaires guarding or pathing around the place. From their chatter we learned that they weren''t certain what their higher-ups were thinking or planning, only that there was a lot of iron and jade being mined.

    A valuable stone and an industrial ore; sounds like someone''s planning for a war to me, I thought to myself. Granted I didn''t know much about economics and stuff, but even I know you need money and resources to back up any sort of battle.

    But as we got further in, their conversations got more specific; soon we began to hear about a prisoner that had been taken several days ago, someone from Zan who had been found inadvertently snooping around. We listened more intently as this kind of chatter increased, hoping to find a clue to Y¨´ M¨ªng''s location. Finally, after nearly three Panarena hours of sneaking around, someone dropped the clue.

    ¡°Ahh, but that girl, that priestess-in-training? She was fiery; I though the captain was going to lose a finger or more!¡± one of the guards remarked.

    ¡°You say it truthfully!¡± his companion returned. ¡°We cannot have details of the plan leaking out, however; our master pays us too much for that!¡±

    *My* employers; *our* master; hmm...

    ¡°Yes, yes! That is why we have locked her away below, near the river source where the monster dwells.¡± the first one said.

    ¡°Oh? Is that why the cells behind this door are empty now?¡±

    ¡°It is so; but you can get down there from the last cell on the left, if you are so bold. Gai-Zan had to do it this morning to check on her.¡±

    ¡°And she is still down there? That monster must be asleep!¡±

    ¡°That is also why he went down; he put some bloodied meat down there to wake it up!¡±

    ¡°Ahh, our master is a cruel one!¡± the second seemed to sigh.

    ¡°I can''t take it anymore!¡± I hissed.

    ¡°Lana!¡± Anhe said to me, and jumped ahead, rendering the two guards unconscious with her staff. I sighed in relief, and we hurried to join her. She then retrieved the keys, and we opened the door to head into the cells.

    ¡°Last cell on the left,¡± I said aloud to remind myself and the others, and we found that we had to turn a corner to the right before reaching said cell. There were no living prisoners here, only skeletons and rags. It was a gruesome sight.

    ¡°Here!¡± Ariana said, using a fire-spell to destroy the lock and open the cell door. We then found a hole in the floor with a rope-ladder neatly rolled up next to it, and we used this to go down.

    ¡°He said the monster would be baited out by the meat; we have to act quickly!¡± Anhe said as she hopped down after us.

    ¡°Right!¡± I nodded back, and we hurried off through the dark passages with Ari''s staff light to guide us.

    Eventually we came to a large cavern, where, just as the guards had said, a river sprang forth to begin making its way out above ground. And, tied to a stake on the other side, a girl with luscious brown hair and many bruises; rags were all that was left of her once-fine clothes, and her face was streaked with dirt and tears from weeping. There was a putrid pile of meat situated not far from her. We looked at this scene with shock and indignation for several moments before recovering ourselves.

    ¡°Ari!¡± I said in a choked voice, and she set fire to the bait, destroying it as I hurried over with Anhe to set Y¨´ M¨ªng free from her bonds. She opened her eyes, and shuddered.

    ¡°The creature...!¡± she said in a ragged whisper.

    ¡°It hasn''t appeared yet, we need to--¡± I began as Ariana joined us, but then we heard a low, rumbling growl.

    It occurred to me then that maybe having Ari set the bait of meat on fire probably wasn''t the best idea in the world. The rotten stuff had already been sending up a stench, and now it was sending out a greater one, one that was irresistible to our new ¡°friend¡± who was coming out of his lair to our right with slow and heavy steps. I stood up, taking out my bow as Anhe readied her staff again, and Ariana set a few defensive wards around us and Y¨´ M¨ªng.

    Two gleaming eyes suddenly shone in the darkness ahead, and a menacing, simian-like face with sharp teeth set in a crooked, grinning jaw with two down-curved horns jutting from its head slowly appeared, attached to a large, gorilla-like body of great girth and great claws on its hands that emerged soon after.

    ¡°Wh-what is th-that?¡± I said nervously, taking note that the thing was nearly three-meters in height.

    ¡°S-some kind of d-demon, I am not sure what they h-have b-based it on,¡± Anhe returned with an equal anxiety. Behind us we heard Ariana gulp.

    ¡°It d-doesn''t seem as s-stupid as it l-l-looks...!¡± she commented.

    ¡°It... is... the Harbinger... of Yan-shi, the Death Lord!¡± Y¨´ M¨ªng told us.

    ¡°Oh, fun,¡± I said in a squeaking voice.

    Now, I know what you''re thinking. Come on, Sean, you''ve been through a few dungeons by this point; why''s this thing creeping you out? Well, because it was. It was like there was some sort of literal aura the thing had that was repelling us. And knowing that it was a minion of some in-game death god somehow made it worse, you know?

    But as soon as Y¨´ M¨ªng had named the creature, Anhe activated a few skills of her own, and then with a loud yell she thumped her staff into the ground. All of a sudden the weird feeling was gone, and I was able to look at the monster before me as if it was no more than a large bear. I blinked, and turned to Anhe. She smiled at us, and nodded.

    ¡°It is a special skill I learned from the Monks at Shushi-mei; it will protect us from the evil influence long enough to defeat it!¡± she said to us.

    ¡°Nice going!¡± I said, switching from bow to daggers as the two of us rushed the monster. Behind us I heard Ariana casting several fire and lightning spells as our attack began.

    It was still a rough fight, even with Anhe''s protective aura shielding us from the Harbinger''s aura. That thing had plenty of other tricks and skills available to it. Every forty seconds or so it would let out a bellow that literally stunned us for three seconds, and then a few minion-monsters would swarm out to help it. Not of the same kind as the big guy himself, mind you. The minions were worm-like things that would try and trap you with sticky goo or put a debuff on your health. They were really conducive to their boss'' muscle-brained tactics.

    Fortunately they were very weak to fire, and Ariana was able to burn them down without too much interference. I had to switch back between daggers and bow a few times, simply because I would get trapped the most by the sticky goo, and I swear Anhe had this magical ability to jump every single time a worm tried to target her, even when she was stunned -- maybe that''s an exaggeration. But she was definitely good.

    After maybe ten minutes we finished off the boss, and it died with a long and pitiful howl before finally exploding into pixels. We then sent a message to the others, and decided to escape by following the river. Ariana pulled out a different outfit for Y¨´ M¨ªng to wear, and she changed into it gratefully before we hastened away from the place, feeling certain that the creature''s howls had attracted the notice of the guards by now and that there would be those among them who knew they weren''t the victorious kind.

    Very fortunately for us, the river led out of the caverns and away from the camps near the Mines. When I looked at the map, it said Fyu was to our right a couple hundred meters away. The four of us cautiously made our way through the forest, making sure we went unseen, and found Fyu still holding position.

    ¡°Masters! You have rescued this woman, I take it?¡± he asked us.

    ¡°That''s right; we''re waiting for the others now,¡± I told him as Anhe and Ariana helped Y¨´ M¨ªng into the waggon.

    ¡°I have not seen them, but the Mines seem agitated. Perhaps it is to do with your battle below?¡± the dog-beast said.

    ¡°Y-you knew?¡±

    ¡°I could smell battle, young master, and I knew something had gone awry in part.¡± Fyu nodded to me.

    ¡°Gotcha.¡± I nodded back. ¡°We had to defeat something called the Harbinger of Yan-shi, but we managed.¡±

    ¡°Hmm!¡± Fyu remarked with interest. ¡°But my personal curiosity must wait; I see our three friends exiting the Mines; they are unmolested, but in a hurry. Ahh, they seem to have sent the guards back inside the Mines. This will help us to get away,¡± he then said, and sure enough Maryn and the others came hurrying up to us.

    ¡°We got our clues and the quest log updated! Let''s go!¡± Lizzy said, and we jumped in, taking off towards the east.

    ¡°Where should we go, though?¡± Ariana wondered.

    ¡°Honored warriors, forgive me my selfish request, but do not bring me to Zan yet; take me to Shushi-mei, to the monasteries there, that way my family will not come to harm and I can send them a message without fear,¡± Y¨´ M¨ªng said to us.

    ¡°What say you, masters?¡± Fyu Dongtian asked us.

    ¡°We have to go there anyway; circle wide around the Mines and let''s go!¡± I said to him, and he obliged us, shifting our course to avoid the Mines as he turned to the south, and then when he judged it safe he turned directly west, and began galloping away from the Mines of Xizi-jiang as if a horde of enemies was on our trail. And so began our ride to the Monasteries of Shushi-mei.

 Chapter Twenty-five: The Monastery/The Underground/To Yu

    All right. Let me recap this for myself a moment. So, Tuesday, we logged into Panarena with our new ally, Anhe, to try and do some preliminary quests (I think), but instead ended up on a mini-epic quest to claim a new beast of burden that turned out to be more than a simple beast of burden, and we ended up with the dog-beast Fyu Dongtian, one of PFO''s more advanced NPCs. Then we claimed a quest from the bounty board, a quest from General Dai-Gong, who may or may not be plotting to seize the throne of the Emperor of Xuanpu. One of the servant girls who works for him then asked to meet with us, and after she said her piece we got attacked by -- Ninjas? Mercenaries? -- and then regrouped to head for the Mines of Xizi-jiang, where we rescued her sister, fought a demon, and gathered intel for the General''s quest. Having done that, we were now on our way to the Monasteries of Shushi-mei, both for our quest and because our rescued NPC, Y¨´ M¨ªng, had asked us to take her there. Apparently the monks were a neutral party in whatever was going on, at least for now. Oh, and we were breaking our self-imposed curfews to stay up most of the night to do that and at least talk to the monks or something before heading off for the night -- for the morning? The day? ¡­ whatever it would be, I guess. Also, Rachel-Ariana is moving into Andrea-Healina''s place this weekend as per an agreement their families have been working on. So yeah. Lots going on.

    Anyway. Fyu made excellent time to the Monasteries, and we found ourselves there in around one Panarena hour, whereupon we had Fyu take a well-deserved rest while we escorted Y¨´ M¨ªng to the monks. She was received at once, and some of the servant girls there had her come with them while we ourselves were directed to a waiting area. Ariana and I immediately spotted several objects that were possibly clues for our quest, and we checked these out together, finding that at least one of them, a letter from the emperor, bore further investigation.

    It is truly suspicious, Honored One, that X seems to have become more ambitious and less reserved in his dealings. My spies tell me that he has even gone to the lengths of hiring mercenaries for some unknown purpose. Do you suppose, Honored One, that he will truly do me harm? X has been a faithful servant for all these years, and I cannot fathom the reasons for his betrayal, if betrayal it is. I need your help to determine his motives. Please receive the messenger who bears this letter with all courtesy, as if he were myself, and when time gives you favor to reply send him back with an answer, I pray you.

    ¡°I guess ''X'' is General Dai-Gong,¡± I remarked softly as we read the missive.

    ¡°Most likely,¡± Ariana agreed. ¡°So the emperor is suspicious of him, and the general is suspicious of the emperor...¡±

    ¡°And the attackers we''ve had so far have refused to directly identify who they''re working for,¡± I mused with her, crossing my arms over my chest. No matter how many times I did that here, I could never get used to the sensation of -- well, never mind.

    ¡°That''s the most suspicious part, isn''t it?¡± she said to me.

    ¡°I agree, it is.¡± I nodded back. ¡°And Fyu didn''t recognize the badge we showed him, though he hinted it could be some sort of adaptation of one that exists,¡± I remarked.

    ¡°We need to take a closer look at it, then.¡±

    ¡°We do.¡±

    ¡°Psst!¡± Heali whispered over to us, and we returned to the others as two monks came to greet us. They wore purple-black robes with an embroidered gold shoulder-sash overtop them, and their heads were clean-shaven. One of them, who seemed older by many years, bore one of those special staffs with the ornate metal loop at the top and six dangling rings, three hanging on each side of the staff.

    ¡°A khakkhara,¡± Anhe murmured softly.

    I guess that makes him... the abbot?

    ¡°Honored guests, I am Abbot Zhu. Thank you for bringing Y¨´ M¨ªng to us. We will see that she is taken care of, and we will send messages to her family of her safety.¡± the elder man said to us, and we bowed our heads.

    ¡°We are glad to have helped her, Abbot Zhu.¡± Anhe replied.

    ¡°She has, miraculously, kept hold of her family pendant, despite her rough treatment.¡± the other monk said, and I blinked.

    Heh? Come to think of it, we forgot to check if she had that or not, I thought to myself.

    ¡°And she has told us the details of her kidnapping.¡± the man continued. ¡°She was passing by a certain building in Zan, where she overheard things about the conflict that may yet come. Those within were discussing whether they should continue to support Dai-Gong, or repent and resume their allegiance to the emperor. That was all she found out before she inadvertently let out a gasp of surprise, and then she was captured.¡± the man said with a frown.

    ¡°They handled her roughly, but seeing the medallion they could not tarnish her. Yet they found ways around such a rule without actually breaking it, according to Y¨´ M¨ªng''s account. They then hauled her out of the city by night and took her to the Mines, where she was forced to endure until at last they decided to be rid of her by offering her to the beast below. Yet she says you have defeated him!¡± the abbot said with wonder.

    ¡°We did, Abbot Zhu.¡± I replied.

    ¡°It is well, then.¡± the abbot nodded. ¡°And now, honored guests, let me confide in you. All of this has put us in a terrible position: the general''s legions and the royal legions look to us for guidance; whomever we decide to aid, that cause is right and just, and the other side is going against the will of the divine. Such is the way it has been, so it will always be. Yet I cannot decide if my emperor is right or if the general is right. Or if, perhaps, there is a third choice.¡± he said to us, and we looked around at each other.

    Th-this is shaping up to be some quest, I thought to myself as I took a deep breath.

    ¡°Forgive us, Abbot Zhu, we are not certain ourselves. But we are investigating all these things, and when we come to a conclusion we will do what we can to let you know.¡± I said. The abbot nodded, and our quest log updated.

    Optional: inform Abbot Zhu of your decision after investigating the remaining sites.

    Decision, huh? Whether to side with the General or the Emperor, or to take a third option like the abbot wondered... I mused to myself.

    ¡°It is well spoken. Them I will await your word on such matters. For now, rest here tonight, honored guests; my servants shall come and show you to the guest house soon.¡± the abbot told us, and with that he departed.

    ¡°Our objective here cleared, and we got that optional quest,¡± Lizzy remarked.

    ¡°Hmm? It cleared already?¡± I wondered, double-checking. Sure enough, our monastery objective had completed.

    ¡°That works for me,¡± Healina said, stretching her arms out. ¡°I wonder if they have a hot bath here,¡± she then said, her face lighting up with a soft smile.

    ¡°Maybe,¡± Anhe shrugged. A servant girl then came and showed us to our quarters, where we found several beds and a hotspring outside in the back.

    Needless to say, the six of us were in there shortly after a brief meal, relaxing to the fullest and enjoying each other''s company. Y¨´ M¨ªng even showed after several minutes; apparently her quarters were the house facing across the hotspring from ours. We didn''t get much more information out of her related to the quest, but she did tell us a lot about her life as a priestess and bits about her family. After a couple hours she bid us goodnight, and the six of us donned some soft night clothes as we prepared to sleep a bit.

    I sat on one of the couches and curled up into a comfortable position, and Ariana came to snuggle up beside me. Maryn took one of the other couches, as did Healina and Anhe. Lizzy went straight to one of the beds and promptly fell asleep. Ariana soon fell asleep on my shoulder, and the rest of us talked quietly amongst ourselves.

    ¡°I wonder how the game keeps us logged in while asleep?¡± Anhe softly wondered.

    ¡°If they didn''t have the acceleration, they probably would log us out; but I guess there''s some sort of protocol or criteria they have here which prevents that,¡± I returned, wondering about it myself.

    ¡°Hmm... Lana, you have that badge or whatever, right? Mind if I look at it?¡± Healina asked me. I brought it out of my inventory and tossed it to her. She caught it like a pro and looked at it closely.

    ¡°What do you think?¡± Maryn asked her after a few moments.

    ¡°Bronze, with some gold filigree, I think, for the characters. A mountain centerpiece, two lightning bolts on either side, and I guess this is a divine figure of some sort at the foot of the mountain?¡± she told us, passing it to Anhe for inspection.

    ¡°That could be either a spiritual person or a divine,¡± Anhe nodded. ¡°I guess divine from the lack of clothes.¡±

    ¡°They are pretty much naked, huh?¡± Healina giggled softly, as did the other two.

    ¡°Nice.¡± I said with a soft smile.

    ¡°She curled up on you like a cat and went right to sleep, huh?¡± Anhe then said to me, and I looked at the sleeping Wood Elf who was sleeping beside me.

    ¡°She really did,¡± I said.

    Come to think of it, this might be the first time I''ve seen her sleeping face, I thought to myself, feeling a rush of feelings swell inside me as I gazed at her, thinking how beautiful she looked.

    ¡°We should probably get to sleep as well,¡± Heali said.

    ¡°Go ahead and hold on to that badge,¡± I said with a yawn.

    ¡°You got it, leader!¡± our healer smiled back. ¡°Good night, Lana.¡± she then said, curling up herself to get some rest.

    ¡°''Night, Heali.¡±

    ¡°Sleep well, everyone.¡±

    ¡°You too, Anhe.¡±

    ¡°''Night!¡±

    ¡°Goon night!¡±

    ¡°Go to sleep, brats.¡± Lizzy mumbled from across the room. We quietly giggled, and then shut our eyes for sleep.

    ***

    When I woke up, everyone else was more or less awake too. I checked the real world clock from the menu interface. It was about two-thirty in the morning. Midnight of every fourth day in Panarena lined up with midnight in the real world, according to the design.

    So we have about eighteen hours or so; that''s about ten for activity and eight for another period of sleep. That should be fine, I mused to myself as I got up, rubbing my eyes. Boy does *this* add a whole new meaning to the ¡°falling asleep while gaming¡± thing...

    ¡°Hey.¡± Ariana said to me with a smile. I smiled back, and gave her a hug.

    ¡°Hey.¡± I replied as she hugged me back.

    ¡°You make a nice pillow, by the way.¡± she remarked.

    ¡°As a girl, anyway,¡± I returned softly, grinning, and she giggled.

    ¡°I bet it would be the same in real life.¡± she whispered back.

    ¡°Maybe.¡± I shrugged.

    ¡°What the plan, boss?¡± Lizzy called from across the room.

    ¡°Yes, what are we going to do? It is just after two-thirty in real life, from what I see on the menu,¡± Anhe added, giving us a curious look.

    ¡°Hmm... well, I guess we have about ten hours Panarena time to do something, maybe twelve, and then another round of sleep so we can wake up about six-thirty or so.¡± I put forth, and the other four looked around at each other.

    ¡°The more sensible thing would be to just go to bed, but our minds are probably too active now to get to sleep without some more activity first.¡± Healina shrugged.

    ¡°True.¡± Maryn nodded. ¡°In which case Lana''s idea is more practical,¡± she continued, ¡°So let''s pick an objective and go for it until we have to get off.¡±

    ¡°Nearest quest marker to our current position is...¡± Lizzy mused, opening up her map and quest log. ¡°It''s halfway between here and a city called Hangol, to the northeast of us. The objective there is to gather intel on some mercantile meeting in a shady underground market... sounds like fun to me!¡± she remarked with a faint grin.

    ¡°Underground market... smugglers, I bet.¡± Healina said.

    ¡°And the people who use them.¡± Maryn added.

    ¡°In which case we might get a glimpse of someone who''s wearing one of those badges,¡± I then said.

    ¡°Oh, true!¡± Heali agreed. ¡°Let''s get ourselves ready and set off, then. We don''t have time to waste!¡± she said with a wink.

    T-technically... I began to myself internally, musing on the irony. But I shoved that aside to switch to my new gear, and when the six of us were ready we headed out to where Fyu was waiting for us. We bade farewell to the monks, and to Y¨´ M¨ªng, before heading off in a northeastern direction to find the mysterious underground market.

    Fyu made good time to our destination--little less than an hour. We only had to stop a couple times, but that was because a couple of conducive side-objectives appeared, ones which clarified the location of the place in question. We soon arrived at a deep valley bordered by a small mountain range, partially obscured by dense jungle. The semi-hidden trail wound its way downwards, ending near the roots of a mountain where a small stream burst forth to make its way along the bottom of the valley. This natural entrance had a small grove of maple and ginkgo trees, and further away stood a large cypress.

    ¡°There''s a couple of watch-posts in the trees,¡± Ariana said as she used her far-seeing skills to scout ahead. I looked at the display she projected for us, thinking about the guards and all the possible dangers that might be in there, and then suddenly had an idea.

    ¡°Hey... why don''t we go in with our casual attire, keep just a couple weapons handy? You think that''d make them less likely to be hostile?¡± I suggested. Some of the others exchanged a curious glance with each other. Maryn''s face partly lit up at my words; she seemed agreeable to it, at least.

    ¡°Hmm...¡± Lizzy scratched the back of her neck as she pondered the thought. ¡°I like it, but it''s risky. Two of us should remain armed as we are; I nominate you and Maryn. The rest of us can play-act as merchants under your protection, which isn''t a complete lie since we''re crafters as well. I don''t know if Anhe has any crafting skills, though...¡±

    ¡°I do a lot of gathering, but I have yet to take up an actual craft skill.¡± Anhe told us.

    ¡°So you kind of count.¡± Lizzy nodded.

    ¡°If you say so,¡± the other girl said.

    ¡°Hmm.¡± I nodded back in response to Lizzy''s suggestion. ¡°That does make a bit more sense; we''d probably be equally suspicious if we were all unarmed. Let''s go with that plan,¡± I said, and with that decided, Lizzy, Heali, and Ariana exchanged their gear for more civilian attire. Anhe blushed, and then smiled awkwardly.

    ¡°I... do not have simple attire, really...¡± she said, her face coloring.

    ¡°Here!¡± Healina said, pulling a robe out of her inventory and handing it to her. ¡°Just wear it over your gear.¡±

    ¡°Ah! Okay,¡± Anhe nodded back, doing so.

    This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

    We then continued to the entrance of the underground market. I had to admire the carefully orchestrated double meaning of the phrase. The guards let us pass without a second look; once inside, Fyu pulled us to the stables, where we disembarked and readied ourselves to head in.

    ¡°Be careful, masters,¡± he rumbled to us softly. ¡°I shall keep an eye out, and alert you if anything suspicious happens.¡±

    ¡°Got it; thanks, Fyu.¡± I nodded back to him, and we took our leave to head into the markets.

    W-wait, how will he alert us? I suddenly wondered, and then decided we would know if the time came. Lizzy nodded at me when we got to the central plaza, tapping Heali and Maryn on the shoulder and heading off with them to the left. That left the rest of us with the option of going straight ahead or to the right. Ahead of us was the main thoroughfare of mercantilism, with all sorts of goods, supplies, and gear available. To the right was an ascending staircase; from what Ariana could read on the sign, the upper levels had more exotic goods and rarer items for sale. On the left, where Lizzy and the others had gone, was a descending stairwell; this, Ariana told us, apparently led to the shadier parts of the markets.

    ¡°Slaves, and illegal stuff, I bet,¡± I whispered softly.

    ¡°Definitely,¡± Ariana said. ¡°I get why they went down there themselves, being older, but we''re not children. And we should really stick together here.¡±

    ¡°I agree,¡± I nodded back, ¡°But for now we''ll let them play the adults in this situation.¡±

    ¡°Agree.¡± Anhe nodded. She looked ahead then, and then to the right, looking back and forth between the two paths a couple more times before turning back to us. ¡°I understand too that they might think something suspicious would be down there, but maybe whatever is hiding is hidden in plain sight. Let us look on this level.¡± she suggested to us.

    ¡°Gotcha.¡± I nodded back, as did Ari.

    The three of us then casually strolled along the market paths, keeping our eyes out for anything out of the ordinary. There was quite a lot of things for sale; it reminded me of the old street markets and fairs we used to go to with the grandparents. In some parts there were taverns, entertainment stages, and even inns. Further ahead we saw another descending passage with a sign hung over it; the characters were boldly painted in red.

    ¡°Some kind of warning sign?¡± I wondered as Ari pulled up the translation guide.

    ¡°That''s a passage to an underground player-versus-player area called the Untold Deeps,¡± she told us.

    ¡°Ohh! I have heard of that place!¡± Anhe said with excitement. ¡°There are lots of huge caverns and wide passages down there, and underground oceans. And it goes on under all of Panarena, from what I have read.¡±

    ¡°Cool!¡± I remarked with interest. ¡°I bet there''s even a world boss or two lurking down there in one of the caverns!¡± I said with a smile on my face.

    ¡°La-na!¡± Ariana said, gently tugging my ear.

    ¡°Ahh! Oh, right, the quest.¡± I sighed, and Anhe let out a giggle.

    We returned to looking around for suspicious goings-on, picking up a bite to eat from one of the merchants as we did so. It was a tasty meal, but there was an unusual sort of flavor to it that didn''t quite agree with me. I saw Ariana wobble, and reached out to steady her, suddenly noticing a debuff effect on myself as well. Anhe turned to us; she seemed unaffected.

    One of her passive skills, or something she trained up? It doesn''t matter right now!

    ¡°A-Anhe... call... L-Liz--¡± I said as I felt a weird, fuzzy sensation in my head.

    D-dang it... stupid trick t-to... fall... f-for...!

    Ariana suddenly went limp, slipping into unconsciousness, and as I joined her in unwitting sleep, the last thing I heard was Anhe shouting out our names.

    ***

    When I woke up again, Ariana was next to me. We were both tied to chairs. My gear had been taken, and I was wearing a simple knee-length tunic. I looked around; there was an alcove that seemed to function as a storage closet a few paces away. Inside it I could see my gear and weapons.

    So I don''t have to go very far to get it once we escape... they didn''t take Ari''s stuff because she didn''t have it equipped. Anhe, where''s Anhe? I suddenly wondered, not seeing our newest member tied up with us. Maybe she couldn''t help us the way she wanted and had to run; or maybe there were too many of them and she had to rezz up at a waypoint... or maybe she''s still around and they only fought her as a distraction until they hauled us away to -- wait, my quest log! I then noticed, seeing that it had updated.

    Completed: investigate the underground market.

    New objective: escape with proof of your interrogator''s allegiances.

    Interrogator, huh? I mused to myself as I heard footsteps. Ariana then woke up, looking around and then seeing me tied to a chair next to her.

    ¡°Lana?¡± she asked quickly, hearing the footsteps as well.

    ¡°We have to get out of here with some sort of proof of their allegiance. Let''s play along a bit and see what happens,¡± I whispered to her, and she nodded back.

    Two figures then showed up at the entrance of the room, and a third appeared, this one carrying a chair which he situated in front of us and then scooted off to the corner. The more elegantly dressed yet more physically grotesque of the two remaining figures then took the chair, while his plainly dressed assistant (or so I guessed) stood by his side. This man then suddenly brought out a little table, setting it before the seated man and placing a few sheaves of parchment upon it, along with an ink-block, pot. and brush. The fancy interrogator then readied his writing utensils, and then cleared his throat.

    ¡°I do beg your pardon for my very rude abduction, but there are things that have come to my attention, and because they have done so it is my duty to find out more about them.¡± he said to us. I suddenly noticed that, on the left side of his coat, there was another one of the strange badges.

    ¡°Where is our friend?¡± I said at once, partly to buy for time but mostly out of genuine concern.

    ¡°Your friend who was somehow resistant to our paralysis poison was diverted, and we were able to bring you here without resistance.¡± he told me with a smug smile.

    So she''s basically all right, and she''s probably regrouped with the others by now. I noted to myself.

    ¡°You''ve made a mistake, you know.¡± I said to him with an equally smug smile. I then noticed that, in addition to the badge he wore on his coat, there was a unique amulet around his neck. ¡°She''ll find our other allies and come looking for us. Your best option would be to let us go peacefully, before the invite themselves over.¡±

    ¡°Oh, I am sure they will do so. But we have doormen enough to remove uninvited guests from our parties,¡± he returned to me, smug as a cat.

    ¡°You think you''re so great because you got us with poison; but I bet your guys wouldn''t stand up to a real fight. They certainly didn''t seem to when they attacked us in Zan.¡± I retorted at once, and he seemed quite offended by that.

    ¡°I admit, that was not our best plan. But it led us to you, and so you need not fear for the W¨¨i family any longer. They are no longer of importance to our plans: you are.¡± he said to us.

    ¡°Oh?¡± Ariana asked him. ¡°Why would that be? And what kind of information do you think you''ll get from us?¡±

    ¡°Because I can tell. You are working under official orders from someone. I want to know who. And you are going to tell me.¡± the man replied.

    ¡°You''re working for someone too, aren''t you?¡± Ariana said. ¡°You act like you''re a king, but I think you seem more like a head servant.¡± she quipped. That really offended him.

    ¡°How rude!!¡± he squawked.

    ¡°I don''t want to hear that from a poisoner who tied us up,¡± I returned with a shrug, leaning back in my chair a bit.

    ¡°Oh-ho? So if I untie you, you might talk? Do you think I would fall for that so easily?¡± the man returned, his leering eyes gleaming at me from above his crooked nose.

    I made no reply, quietly sighing and letting out a yawn as I continued to lean back. Ariana ceased replying to him as well, gazing away casually towards one of the walls. The pig-like man made an angry face at us, and then shook his head. At that moment I suddenly felt a sort of quivering tension from the ropes.

    Waaaiiit a sec... my Strength stat is around eighty right now, and my Dexterity is nearly one-hundred... can I--can I *break* these ropes?? I wondered to myself.

    ¡°Bah, I will soon have the answers I seek, whether you give them willingly or not. Fu Shan, fetch the potion of truth-telling!¡± he ordered, and the man who had brought in the chair bowed and scurried off. The interrogator then turned back to us with a sleazy smile. ¡°Soon, my pretty flowers, your tongues will talk of what I want to hear!¡±

    Now!!

    With a yell, I expended all of my strength in a sudden stretch, and the ropes burst asunder, much to the interrogator''s shock and that of his assistant. I then kicked the table towards the two of them, bowling them over, then grabbed by chair and whacked them in the heads with this to render them unconscious. After I was sure they were out I seized the assistant''s dagger and cut Ariana free, then went over to the two of them again to retrieve the amulet and the badge. Our quest log updated, and Ariana high-fived me as we retrieved my equipment and stuff from the alcove.

    ¡°That Strength stat really pays off, huh?¡± she remarked as I threw off the tunic and donned my proper gear.

    ¡°I bet Lizzy would have been even more impressive, or Maryn,¡± I replied.

    ¡°Hmm... Maryn has more Vitality than Strength, though; the two of you might have an equal measure of that stat.¡±

    ¡°True,¡± I agreed as I buckled on my daggers once more. ¡°Anhe is probably set up similar to me with stats, though probably more Strength focused than I am.¡±

    ¡°Oh, I bet.¡± Ari nodded, switching to her battle gear as well.

    ¡°Well, we''ve got another badge, and I guess this family crest as well.¡± I said when we were both geared up. ¡°Let''s scram!¡±

    ¡°Let''s do that!¡± she nodded back, and we ran out of the room, bowling over Fu Shan on our way out. We disabled quite a few guards in our escaping the place, and were nearly at the main door when a whole host of them suddenly appeared in the room and surrounded us.

    S-snap... I hope we hang on to the evidence if we die here, I hoped to myself with grim amusement.

    ¡°Well, I kind of wondered what it''d be like to die here, anyway...¡± I remarked softly.

    ¡°T-true...¡± Ari reluctantly agreed. ¡°Might as well be--¡± she started to say, but then the front door burst open, and Fyu''s head appeared in the doorway, letting out a ferocious growl that stunned the guards.

    ¡°Fyu!¡± the two of us exclaimed at once.

    ¡°Hurry, masters!¡± the dog-beast said to us as he withdrew his head, and we ran out, finding the others in the waggon behind him. They had all switched to battle gear. We jumped into the waggon, and began racing out of the underground.

    ¡°You okay?¡± Maryn asked us worriedly.

    ¡°We''re fine,¡± I nodded back, ¡°And we got the objective!¡±

    ¡°I saw that in our log,¡± the other girl smiled back. ¡°Let''s get out of here and find somewhere safe to log out!¡±

    ¡°Once we get out of here we''ll go to Yu!¡± Healina said.

    ¡°Huh?¡± Lizzy wondered.

    ¡°Not you, ''Yu'' -- spelled Y-U.¡± our healer returned.

    ¡°Why me what?¡± the smith grinned back.

    ¡°Oh shut up.¡± Heali smirked at her.

    ¡°That will take me well into the night to do so, masters,¡± Fyu warned us.

    ¡°That''s fine, Fyu.¡± Maryn said.

    ¡°Very well! Hold on!¡± the dog-beast said as we galloped at a breakneck pace through the already swarming and now practically chaotic streets of the underground markets.

    In about ten minutes we had made it to the entrance, and we bulldozed past the poor sentries who tried to stop our escape from the place. We raced up out of the valley, and then made our way east. Fyu kept going at top speed for nearly an hour (Panarena time, of course), and then slowed to a more relaxed pace.

    ¡°Masters, if I keep this pace, we can be at the Port of Yu in nearly sixteen hours.¡± he then told us.

    ¡°We spent two hours there, all told,¡± Lizzy said. ¡°That''ll be safe for us, and then we can find or make a camp to log out at for the day.¡±

    ¡°We''ll be doing some waggon sleeping.¡± Healina noted.

    ¡°That''s fine,¡± I shrugged, and then looked over at Anhe, who seemed glum. ¡°Hey. Don''t worry about it. It all turned out for the better, in a funny sort of way.¡± I told her with a smile, and she looked up at me. She still looked sad, but she did nod back.

    ¡°Next time, I will not fail to keep you safe.¡± she told us in an unusually emotional voice. I couldn''t think of a reply, but Ariana smiled at her.

    ¡°We''ll keep you safe, too, Anhe.¡± the Wood Elf said to her, and Anhe nodded back again.

    We traversed through the rugged countryside of Xuanpu in an east-northeast direction as best we could, heading towards the coast of the Jade Sea where Yu was situated. The six of us talked idly for the next several hours as Fyu pulled us along at a steady pace, discussing school, school-work, possible trips for our club, future adventures in the game, speculating on new members in-game and for the club, and personal life stuff -- well, except me, of course. At least, insofar as I could help it... until a certain October holiday idea the girls had discussed some time earlier was put forth.

    ¡°Y-you''re really going to do that to m--ahh, to Sean, for Halloween?¡± I asked them anxiously as they giggled.

    ¡°Of course! We have to!¡± Lizzy said.

    Ughhh... really??

    ¡°And he can blame Maryn, it was her idea after all!¡±

    ¡°Y-you''re not -- I mean, I bet you''ll never get him into a princess outfit no matter how much Ari pleads!¡± I said, wondering what kind of goofy and desperate expression was on my face right now.

    ¡°Hmm? You''re really concerned for him, huh?¡± Lizzy remarked innocently. ¡°We wouldn''t be trying to butt into Ari''s happy real-life romance, would we?¡± she winked subtly.

    ¡°I''m just saying! He seems like the stubborn kind of guy when it comes to that sort of thing,¡± I managed to say without ¡°hiccuping¡±, as I thought of it.

    ¡°She''s right,¡± Maryn nodded back. ¡°I guess we''ll have to go with raggedy man-servant!¡± she grinned happily.

    ¡°True!¡± Healina giggled. I sat back with a quiet sigh, settling for that. Anhe looked over towards me curiously.

    ¡°You know a lot about them for only being in game with Ariana,¡± she remarked to me.

    ¡°Hmm?¡± I returned, looking back at her. ¡°We talk over the phone a lot too, and sometimes when we''re along here. Of course I know things,¡± I replied.

    ¡°Hmm...?¡± Anhe mused with a semi-suspicious tone. ¡°Now I definitely want to meet you in real life.¡± she said with a soft smile.

    ¡°R-really?¡± I asked her.

    ¡°Really!¡± she said with a brighter smile.

    Wh-what would you say if you already had? I wondered internally as I smiled back, shrugging gently in answer.

    ¡°Maybe.¡± I remarked. Ariana then laid her head on my shoulder again. It was getting dark in Panarena again, but all of a sudden I saw something in the distant horizon.

    Gleaming in the fading light of the sun and the encroaching light of the stars, there it stood: the seaside estate with white walls and the hip-and-gable roofs of silver and gold could be seen, and beyond it the greenish-blue expanse known as the Jade Sea. There were no lights on in the place, but it still glowed radiantly from the natural lights of the sky.

    ¡°Ari!¡± I softly nudged her, pointing towards it, and the others looked as well, taking in the sight with awe.

    ¡°There it is,¡± Anhe whispered, almost reverently. Lizzy let out an impressed whistle, and Fyu turned briefly to look at it as we passed by it.

    ¡°That estate has been abandoned for many long years,¡± he told us. ¡°It fell into the emperor''s possession, and he incorporated it into Dai-Gong''s jurisdiction, hence the general''s offer for your quest, masters. We are passing its outermost bounds, now.¡±

    ¡°Th-the territory extends all the way out to here?¡± I asked him with wonder.

    ¡°It does indeed,¡± replied Fyu, who returned his attention to the road. ¡°When you win the estate, you shall see its bounds for yourselves.¡± he added.

    ¡°Whoa,¡± I remarked.

    ¡°Definitely gotta have this as a main base for the guild, and Cloverbell can be our retreat home.¡± Lizzy remarked.

    ¡°I agree with that.¡± I nodded back. ¡°Cloverbell is more suited to peace and quiet than lots of activity.¡±

    ¡°Definitely!¡± Ariana agreed. ¡°Though I can''t imagine us being a super large guild no matter how much I think about it.¡±

    ¡°We need to see Cloverbell at least once ourselves, too,¡± Maryn sat, patting Anhe''s shoulder, and the other girl nodded.

    ¡°I want to see it too.¡± she agreed.

    ¡°We''ll go back when we can,¡± I said in reply. ¡°For now...¡± I yawned, leaning back against the waggon with Ariana.

    ¡°Let''s get our last bit of sleep until Fyu parks us somewhere,¡± Lizzy nodded, and we drifted off to sleep as our faithful dog-beast gently hauled us along in the waggon.

    ***

    As I stirred awake a few hours later, I could smell a different in the air. It was like the air at Seacrest or Floraline; we were near the ocean. I looked out at our surroundings. Fyu had halted near a grove of bamboo surrounded by berry bushes and was now unhitched from the waggon. Yu was still a distance to the northeast, but we could walk to it from here. Lizzy and Maryn were setting up tents, and the other three were just now waking up. I slowly got up, helping Ariana to her feet, and we hopped out of the waggon to help the others with the tents.

    ¡°I assume the time is near for your departure to the other realm, masters?¡± Fyu said to us then.

    ¡°We''ll get these set up and then head out, yes.¡± I replied.

    ¡°I understand. Again, fear not; I shall be here when you return, as will these tents.¡± he said in turn.

    ¡°We shouldn''t be more than a couple of days,¡± Healina said to him.

    ¡°It is well, masters. I will rest, and no one will trouble me.¡± Fyu told us, stretching himself out for a moment and then situating himself into position for a nap.

    ¡°Rest well, Fyu. You earned it.¡± I smiled.

    He opened an eye in reply, and then closed it again. Assured of his well-being by his own words, we then logged out for the time being. As I ¡°woke up¡± again in the real world, I felt remarkably well-rested.

    Well, we know that we can do this, then, in a pinch, I thought to myself as I looked at the clock. It was nearly seven. Time to wake up, I thought bemusedly, and went to get myself ready for school.

 Chapter Twenty-six: Wednesday/Pirates of Pan Zan

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    Ah-heh... ah-heh-heh-heh...

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    W-waffles? ¡°Left¡±? Don''t they usually come in a box anyway? I wondered to myself with confusion as I reached the kitchen. Heh?! I then wondered in amazement as my nose caught up with my eyes; there on the table were homemade Belgian waffles on a platter.

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    Come to think of it, if I feel fine right now why the heck was he so tired a couple weeks ago when he first started playing? Unless... of course... he just ''played'' straight through without thinking of the consequences...

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    Here we go.

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    Well it''s not wrong...

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    Still? I wondered to myself as I looked over, and then looked over at Rachel. There was a lop-sided grin on her face, as if she was thinking the same thing as I was. I softly smiled back, and then brought up our project on the computer.

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    ¡°that''s possible,¡± Ellie nodded.

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    Ahh... oh. Big oops.

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    Bleh. I gave it to you on day one.

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    Oh Mary, your little lamb isn''t quite as shy as you thought.

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    Eh? Oh... I guess it is nearly the same, huh? I thought to myself.

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    Gyeck!!

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    Wh-what do you know, I thought to myself with amazement. And then another thought took hold of me. Haaang on a second! What exactly do you mean by saying Lana seems very much a girl to you...? ¡°Tomboy¡± I get! But, but, but--!!

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    N-not my thing... it''s just not my thing! I thought to myself with a sigh as that class ended. Rachel and I made our way to Chinese, and she looked at me curiously.

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    ¡°am going to try out for the leading lady, at least... so...!¡± Rachel said to me, and I gave her a look of surprise.

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    Oh boy, I thought as I followed her in, she''s gonna do the thing if I resist, isn''t she? My face partially crumpled in the realization that I might soon be under attack from that merciless one-shot attack I refer to as ¡°the pout¡±.

    ¡°I knew it. Oh boy. Here I go...

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    Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

    ¡°that hard once you see how it works,¡± Rachel said to me, trying to explain a math problem.

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    Mathematics 201: an experimental course covering the basics of geometry, trigonometry, algebra, and statistics ¡­ Completion of this course with a satisfactory grade will exempt the student from further mathematics courses if they so choose.

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    lot of help) and dinner had been eaten, I was released into the wilds once more to resume my natural activities in my natural environment. Upon logging in to Panarena, I found Fyu sitting upright, his eyes steady on the horizon to the south and east as the rest of us materialized. I made my way over to him, and his eyes briefly turned towards me before resuming their focus in the distance.

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    ¡°if they''re a part of the quest, that is.¡± I remarked. ¡°It could just as easily be a random event, like the ones in the Eldritch Tomes.¡±

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    When we get finished with this quest, so help me, I don''t care how boring it is, I''m going back to normal grind-quests... I thought to myself as we did.

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    ¡°her do the actual asking, or maybe wait for a clue from Maryn...¡±

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    Oh, snap, again?

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    ¡°how to react sometimes.¡± I continued, and she reached a hand back to stroke my hair.

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    ¡°perfectly nice!!¡± Lizzy snapped back at once, Heali fending her off with a cheeky grin.

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    Oy...

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    Oy...!!

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    ¡­ Oy!!

    ¡°Lana?¡± Lizzy called over to me.

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    ¡°on the ship which just sailed in here?¡± she wondered as the others came over.

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    ¡°all notice us,¡± Lizzy reminded us.

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    S-seventy? Ehh, they''ll be fine as long as they keep Healina safe; actually, with Ari''s small heals and Anhe''s defensive techniques boosting Healina''s own skills, I wonder if we could take on a world-boss someday? I thought to myself as I opened the door quietly and went into the cabins. I noticed my XP bar going up several times as I stalked through the ship; party experience is not good for nothing.

    Eh...? It won''t... oh, I need to pick the lock, I mused as I tried the handle. Well *duh* I need to pick the lock, I reminded myself with a shake of my head.

    this was something I hadn''t tried since playing the Eldritch Tomes. As someone who played a shadow-type character, I had naturally put points into the lockpicking skill, but I had almost never used it. Mostly I had bought tomes from trainers to keep it up to par with the skills I used more often.

    This is a nice change after all, I decided. Suddenly I heard the hurried thumping of people racing into the interior of the ship, and a familiar voice shouting orders.

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    Ehh? Save me? From what? I wondered as I continued picking the lock, and then suddenly I felt a cold chill run down my spine.

    ¡°my safe?¡± a deep and threatening voice said from the shadows. The door burst open behind me, and my five allies rushed in.

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    ¡°now!!¡± Maryn shouted to me, and instinctively I did a barrel-roll towards them, jumping to my feet and taking out my daggers.

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 Chapter Twenty-Seven: Mystic Mountains/The Sacred Gardens

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    had

    foundemperor''ssome kindhad probably asked

    hadn''t could

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    And then of course we''ll have our club activities

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    Well, this is new, I thought to myself. Come to think of it, aside from that one night a few weeks ago I''d never really been away from Ariana in-game. Anhe and I swiftly and softly reached the smaller mountain, and I once again used my skill to see if there were any unpleasant surprises lurking.

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    ¡°were Sean I would be more disappointed because of the relationship status than because it was a boy.¡± she told me.

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    Uh, huh...

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    ¡°could ask at the moment, and I wasn''t sure how I would answer. Maryn had wanted me to wait until Anhe was ready; was she ready now?

    It''s only been a couple of days in the real world, after all, but I guess mentally it''s been nearly a week, I reflected.

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    This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    really trims things (or do they...?) -- but hey. Anyhow.

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    ¡°is locked, that is,¡± Ariana said to me with a wry grin.

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    ¡°you also have a lockpicking skill? Wanna switch places?¡± I retorted softly.

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    No, really? I thought to myself with a bemused look as I read it.

    Uh-oh. If it gets too wild I might get disconnected, I recalled as I tried to calm myself down. With slow and steady breaths I managed to bring it down a bit, but there was still a fair bit of pressure. The door opened without a sound, and we found ourselves on a sort of balcony or parapet overlooking a great chamber.

    It''s just a game, it''s just a game, it''s just a game, I reminded myself repeatedly.

    --What''s the matter?? Ariana messaged me a moment later.

    --Something about this statue; stay alert!

    --Got it -- you okay?

    --Just need a second or so

    --Okay. <3

    T-time limit...? I suddenly repeated to myself, looking up at the statue again. O-ohh, I bet that''s it; this thing might come alive or something if I goof up too many times or if I take too long to get the lock open... heh, haven''t had *that* kind of threat bearing down on me since I played ¡°Sorrowdin''s¡± Thief-Master quest line... I mused with grim amusement, sending a warning message to Ari about the situation and my thoughts on the matter. She and the others agreed to keep their weapons at the ready, expecting anything to happen as soon as I began fiddling with the locks.

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°so easy!¡± I grunted with irritation as the second-to-last minute dwindled away. Sixty seconds were left on the clock.

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    Escape the temple with the information on the L¨¢ngtou Cultists.

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°that easy, I''m sure,¡± I added, ¡°But I bet it''s as simple as a boarded-up passage somewhere down here.¡±

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    human settlement of any kind waiting up there.

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    Meet with General Dai-Gong at Heaven''s Mountain to discuss your findings.

    go to Heaven''s Mountain. Did that mean I was right, and we had inadvertently taken a quest altering side-quest? I guess we''re about to find out, I thought as I brushed the panel away.

    ¡°

    ¡°

    This is it, huh?

    I guess so--now we find out the end of the quest!

    Let''s hope we made the right choices!

    I''m sure we have. But either way...

    It was super fun, and hopefully we gave Ellie a week to remember!

    Yes, that, that exactly! I smiled, and she smiled back. And then we looked ahead again, bracing ourselves as we began ascending the steps to the palace.

 Chapter Twenty-eight: The World Boss/Queens Haven Estate

    As we entered through the double doors at the top of the stairs, I immediately sensed something. Using a special command that I had as the guild-master, I signaled Fyu to hide himself and keep watch; a positive response came back, and I looked up again as we continued through the hall. Ariana looked over at me curiously, and I tapped the side of my head near my right eye. She nodded back at once, understanding the message. Keep an eye open.

    At the end of the hall was another set of double doors. We were ushered inside these, where we found an assembly of nobles, generals, priests, and other such influential folk gathered around in a circular seating arrangement. Seated upon a grand throne at the far end of the room was, no doubt, the emperor himself. He motioned with his hand, and we were brought forward. General Dai-Gong then rose to join us, but he did not address us at once.

    ¡°General Dai-Gong; you include yourself in this audience of wandering adventurers who sell their blades for profit instead of honor?¡± one of the nobles remarked.

    R-rude. We have our kind of honor.

    ¡°I trust in the honor of such adventurers more than I trust in your pretentious honor that was bought with profit, Minister Okizawa.¡± the general returned to the man in question, who scrunched up his features in annoyance.

    Well dang!

    ¡°General Dai-Gong, what is your purpose in bringing these here today before this important gathering?¡± the emperor asked.

    ¡°Exalted One, forgive my methods! There were things I had to be sure of, things I could trust no one at this court with, and so I sent out a plea to wandering adventurers such as these who I have had helping me to put together the pieces of this mysterious darkness seeping into our lands.¡± the general replied.

    ¡°Your methods have kept this land safe for two decades; I will not dispute them now! Yet it is strange that you could trust no one, not even myself, with your concerns!¡±

    ¡°Again I must ask your pardon. It is true I did not trust you with this matter; yet it is my hope even now that what these adventurers have risked their lives to bring me will expel my doubts,¡± the other returned.

    ¡°Bold words,¡± the emperor said with a hint of displeasure. ¡°Very well! Adventurers, I will turn you over to your handler,¡± he then said, and we brought forth the scrolls and medallions we had collected. The general summoned one of his aides, who helped him scan through the items almost absurdly quickly.

    ¡°Two wolf head medallions; it seems the rumors of the L¨¢ngtou Cultists are not rumors at all!¡± the general remarked, and a stir went through the assembled court. ¡°And these records show an accounting of finances regarding arms, armor of the highest quality and weapons of the best make, being imported from across the Jade Sea, as well as a number of mercenaries being quartered in various locations around our peaceful land. And... furthermore, there are records of people in this very assembly being in league with the L¨¢ngtou!¡± Dai-Gong said with outrage, and an even greater stir made its presence known. The emperor raised his eyebrows.

    ¡°I understand now; my faithful general, you assumed that I had something to do with the influx of brutish mercenaries that I, too, have been wary about. And you hired these adventurers to exonerate or condemn me based upon what they found,¡± he said as he rose from his throne. Dai-Gong prostrated himself before the man, and we ourselves took a knee, bowing our heads.

    ¡°As I have said before, I ask your sincerest indulgences! I stand ready to obey your majesty!¡± the man said.

    ¡°Rise! And you also, adventurers, rise! It is forgiven! Call the names of those who stand guilty, and let the guards take them out of this assembly at once!¡± the emperor said with a clap of his hands, and nearly four dozen guards poured into the room.

    W-whoa... I thought to myself as we stood up.

    ¡°This is getting a little intense, huh?¡± Ariana whispered to me.

    ¡°Y-yeah,¡± I agreed. The list of names was read off, and after five minutes the guilty ones--twenty-three in all--were rounded up. But the last one simply leered at the emperor and the general with amusement.

    ¡°It is no use. Even without the sacred scrolls stolen from the Temple of L¨¢ngtou, our allies have finished their work. Kurai-oukami will awaken, and your reign will end!¡± he said as they dragged him out.

    ¡°At least, Minister, we will stand united against him instead of being divided by your duplicitous machinations!¡± Dai-Gong asserted, and the emperor nodded. When they were all gone he turned to the general.

    ¡°You did well, my friend. I admit that I also did not trust you these past few months; but see now! You did the right thing in the end, and these adventurers have prevented a terrible rift that would have ended our kingdom.¡± he said. The general bowed low, as did we. ¡°Adventurers! I shall present you with the general''s promised reward, and I shall also--¡± the emperor started to say, but then a messenger rushed in.

    ¡°Majesty! Majesty!¡± he cried, bowing low before reporting. ¡°A great demon is at the gates!¡± he said, and once again there was a stir. I suddenly got a warning notice from a follower; well, there was only one follower we had. Fyu. He had also noticed the demon, and had sent us a warning.

    ¡°By all of Heaven! It cannot be -- Kurai-oukami is already here!¡± the general shook his head. ¡°Adventurers, I am reluctant to ask anything further of you, but will you aid us one more time?¡± he turned to us, as did the emperor.

    I looked at the others, who were looking at me expectantly. Undoubtedly this was the kind of epic adventure that at least Lizzy was hoping to have before real life interrupted her gaming schedule, for she was grinning from ear to ear. I then turned back to General Dai-Gong.

    ¡°Of course we''ll help!¡± I said, and once more the quest log updated.

    Defeat the Xuanpu World Boss, Kurai-oukami.

    H-huuuuuhhhh?!?!

    ¡°W-world boss...!¡± Anhe remarked with a mixture of panic and fascination.

    ¡°Let''s go and do this!¡± Lizzy said excitedly, rushing out the door.

    ¡°We''re gonna end up in another forum post, aren''t we...?¡± I mumbled as we chased after her.

    ¡°Probably!¡± Ariana grinned.

    ¡°I have to admit that I''m excited too!¡± Healina said, and Maryn nodded.

    ¡°Definitely!¡± she agreed.

    ¡°Same!¡± Anhe smiled.

    ¡°And me!¡± said Ariana. I let out a gentle smile as we exited the palace, nodding to them.

    ¡°Me too; let''s make sure it''s a forum post to remember!¡± I then said.

    ¡°Oh wait!¡± Lizzy suddenly said, skidding to a halt like a cartoon character as we caught up to her. She flipped through a few panels, and then pressed several buttons on her interface, grinning like a Cheshire cat when she was done. ¡°Smile for the camera, girls! We''re on live-stream now!¡± she exclaimed as a magical recording device showed up to hover nearby.

    ¡°I-if our parents'' find out...¡± Ariana said hesitantly.

    ¡°Like any of our parents would be watching a gamer''s channel.¡± the blonde girl said confidently.

    ¡°She has a point,¡± I said with bemusement.

    All of a sudden, we heard an unearthly howl that seemed to make the very ground shake. The six of us rushed out of the gate, and I dashed over to where Fyu had hidden himself, releasing him from the waggon.

    ¡°I take it you desire me to fight at your side?¡± he said.

    ¡°It''d be a big confidence booster to have you along, pal,¡± I said to him. He grinned at me in satisfaction.

    ¡°Then I shall make you proud to have me as your ally!¡± the dog-beast asserted, and I smiled back.

    ¡°Let''s go, Fyu! It''s time to challenge Kurai-oukami!¡± I exclaimed as I drew out my daggers, and the two of us rushed over to the others.

    When we regrouped with them we saw a massive wolf-demon in the distance. I would later learn that this world boss'' name literally translated to ¡°dark wolf¡±, or maybe even ¡°wolf of the dark¡±; his fur was blacker than night, and an evil aura like a mist hung around him. His eyes were a venomous red, and he had gleaming fangs that looked sharper than any weapon made by mortal in this world. He howled again; it was a chilling and eerie sound that reminded me very much of an old locomotive whistle. It was answered by a plethora of other howls, and a horde of wolf minions came to his side.

    ¡°Adventurers! My men and I will handle the minions! Please do your best to defeat Kurai-oukami!¡± Dai-Gong said as he and a platoon of soldiers, along with some of the imperial guard, swarmed out of the gate to help us.

    ¡°Still...!¡± Healina softly grimaced, taking in the monster''s monstrous health bar. I could only nod in agreement.

    So, okay. Right now, Maryn is level sixty-nine; from what I understand, about sixty-five percent of her stat points go into vitality. As of now, with how high her stat is and with the gear we got from completing the secret quest in the Marshes of the Wyrd, that puts her health at around a respectable fourteen-thousand points. With her regeneration, resistances, armor-rating, and a random assortment of spell-nullify skills, it would probably take a normal boss or even a champion elite boss around twenty minutes on average to beat her. Why am I going over this? Because most bosses our level right now have comparable resistances to Maryn, and they average between fifteen to twenty-thousand health.

    This world boss we''re up against right now? It has over two-million health. And I can only assume that its resistances are better than the average bear -- I mean, boss. Its attack power had to be above average as well, which meant--

    ¡°Maryn!¡± Healina called out anxiously, warding our shield-user with a protection spell. Our enemy lifted a paw from the ground and took a swipe at her. The spell was instantly broken, and seventy-five percent of Maryn''s health was knocked out in an instant as Maryn herself was swept aside.

    ¡°Ho-ly...!¡± I exclaimed in disbelief as Healina cast several emergency spells on her. The dark-haired girl got up without one complaint, side-stepping carefully towards us as the wolf eyed her.

    ¡°Hya!¡± Anhe cried out, taking up her staff and casting several auras of her own on us as Healina put up new wards to nullify at least some of the damage we might take.

    ¡°Still... if one of the three of us gets hit...!¡± I said, referring to myself, Ari, and Heali.

    ¡°I can keep Healina safe,¡± Anhe said confidently. ¡°Even a world boss demon will have a hard time dealing with holy skills!¡±

    ¡°Let''s hope so!¡± I nodded back, reminding myself that this girl had soloed quite a few group quests before joining us to dispel my doubts. She nodded in turn, and I turned back to the boss. ¡°All right! Maryn, you and Anhe stay here to protect Healina and keep that thing''s attention away from the rest of us; Heali, focus on healing, but if you can summon up anything that might help that''d be great!¡±

    ¡°I''ll get some Moonlight Imps out now!¡± our Sea Elf replied.

    ¡°What about the rest of us?¡± Lizzy asked, her halberd at the ready.

    ¡°You, me, and Ari will attack from the sides or the rear; we still have enough potions, right?¡±

    ¡°Just barely!¡± Ariana said.

    ¡°They''ll have to do; Fyu, help the tanking group, please!¡± I said to the dog-beast.

    ¡°Of course, masters. It will be my honor!¡± he replied.

    ¡°Right! We''ll improvise and adjust as needed -- let''s go!!¡± I then shouted, speeding off to the left with Ari at my side while Lizzy charged to the right.

    Maryn challenged the world boss once again, but this time, before his paw could strike her, I saw Fyu batter it aside with his own mighty strength. Kurai-oukami actually reeled a bit from the impact, and I tore into his flank with Ari backing me up as Lizzy did the same on the opposite side. His health went down by a mere five-hundred, but we had only used basic attacks in case of a reflect. Nothing retributive happened to us, so on our next pass we used stronger skills, charging in with ferocious yells to begin the battle in earnest.

    The battle lasted for almost four hours of Panarena time. For the first hour, we were taking him down quite nicely, I thought, if slowly--which was unexpected. With Fyu''s help, the tanking party was able to avoid fatalistic damage, and Kurai-oukami''s attention was kept away from the rest of us. Dai-Gong and the NPCs put up an excellent fight against the minions as well, dispatching them handily even as new waves kept coming with each bone-chilling howl that the world boss unleashed. Partway through the fight I switched to my bow, adopting the run-and-gun style I had once used in Midgard Rings.

    I kept this up until the second hour began, when I finally ran out of arrows and was forced to switch back to daggers. The boss had around one-point-eight million health left. Which I kind of expected, considering there was only seven of us counting Fyu, but it was still just a tad discouraging. Then the boss'' aura changed; instead of a shadowy presence, there was now a stinging poison seeping from him.

    ¡°Yipe!¡± I screamed as I first felt it.

    ¡°Lana!¡± Ari cried out, casting a quick heal on me.

    ¡°Lizzy, jump back!!¡± I shouted over to our halberdier, who put on the brakes and scurried off a bit.

    ¡°What is it?¡± she called back.

    ¡°Some kind of poison mist!¡±

    ¡°Dang it!¡± she swore.

    I looked back over towards the tanking group; between Healina and Anhe, I was over ninety-five percent confident they would be fine, but sometimes things happened. Healina gave me a nod; she had heard me, and was no doubt adjusting her skill rotation, along with Anhe. Maryn--well, I was sure her resistances were decently high enough so that a poison mist of all things wouldn''t budge her health too much. And Fyu was probably classified by the game''s system as the nearest thing to a world boss that a player could ally with. Well, except that he now leveled up with us.

    ¡°Ugh, I had to run out of arrows at this juncture of the fight!¡± I said ruefully.

    ¡°No helping it now,¡± Ariana patted me on the shoulder.

    ¡°I guess this next part is up to--¡± I began, when suddenly Anhe ran up to us and tapped us with her staff, running over to Lizzy to do the same before she dashed back to the tanking group. I then noticed my poison-resist was at ninety percent.

    ¡°I have to say, we''re rounding out pretty nicely as a party -- even I can tell that much,¡± Ariana said with a smile as she noticed the effect as well, though her resistance was probably at a different percent than mine.

    ¡°You mean with a healer and a support class?¡± I grinned back.

    ¡°Exactly!¡±

    ¡°It''s true, we''ve got a pretty solid team going!¡± I agreed.

    ¡°Dang right!¡± Lizzy called over. ¡°Round two!¡± she then shouted, and we resumed our melee against the world boss.

    For the next hour, our enemy''s health bar went down faster. If I had to guess why, I''d say the dark aura he''d had earlier was a resistance aura, while this one gave him no resistance bonus at all in exchange for its potentially deadly effect. Anhe ran back to us a couple times to renew our resistances, but nothing major happened until that hour was over, at which point the boss let out a howl even louder and lengthier than the previous ones. We were practically knocked back by the force of it, and when we looked up again, it was in disbelief.

    A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

    It had taken us nearly three hours to get Kurai-oukami''s health bar down to just below half. That massive bar was now steadily refilling itself. I sank to my knees, feeling a numb shiver run through me. It had been a long time since I had felt this kind of despair in a game. The first time was when I had gone up against the Demon King Molek in my first game. He had practically one-shot me. I stopped playing that game for nearly a week before I mustered the resolve to try and beat it again.

    ¡°Y-you gotta... be... k-kidding m-me...¡± I stuttered out as Ariana''s eyes widened in shock.

    ¡°What--!!¡± she squeaked. I heard some angry choice words coming from Lizzy.

    ¡°Adventurers!¡± Dai-Gong came up to me, and I numbly turned towards him. ¡°It is no good! We cannot stand against Kurai-oukami like this! We would need to summon the emperor''s patron, but no great summoner has been in this land since the founding of the royal dynasty!¡±

    Suddenly, I found a renewed confidence rising up in me.

    ¡°A summoner, you say?¡± I said, looking over at the tanking group. I looked back at the general. ¡°Don''t worry about a thing!¡± I said to him. He looked nonplussed, but nodded back.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡± Ariana asked me.

    ¡°Regroup with Lizzy, I''ll send the others after you soon!¡± I told her, and she nodded at me as I headed over to the others while she went to Lizzy and the general followed after me.

    ¡°Lana!¡± Maryn said to me. ¡°What now?¡±

    ¡°Take Anhe and join the others, then drag this guy around for a bit!¡± I told her.

    ¡°Huh? You mean, kite him?¡± she asked me.

    ¡°Exactly!¡±

    ¡°But without Heali--¡±

    ¡°You''ll be fine with Anhe and Ari, so long as you keep out of melee range!¡± I told her. The boss'' dark aura was coming up again, and he seemed about ready to pounce on us. ¡°Trust me!¡± I implored her. Maryn looked me in the eyes, and then nodded.

    ¡°Come on, Anhe!¡± she said, and the two of them took off to join Lizzy and Ariana, taunting the boss and leading it away.

    ¡°Lana?¡± Healina asked me in a confused tone.

    ¡°General Dai-Gong! My companion here is a summoner! Please tell us what we need to do to summon the Emperor''s Patron!¡± I said with a bow, and the shocked Heali had no choice but to bow also.

    ¡°You are certain you can do it?¡± he said to Heali, who shook her head in affirmation.

    I have a feeling I might lose points for this, but right now I don''t much care, I thought as I took note of her reaction.

    ¡°Then take this sacred scroll; it was among those you reclaimed from the L¨¢ngtou Temple. I can only assume they were trying to destroy it in case his royal majesty happened to find a summoner powerful enough to read it!¡± he said, handing her the scroll.

    ¡°I''ll do my best!¡± she said, and he then bowed, heading off a moment later to rejoin his men. ¡°Y-you''re taking a big risk,¡± Heali said to me with a scolding look in her face.

    ¡°So long as I don''t lose any points,¡± I shrugged.

    ¡°Only if we fail!¡± she said with a cheeky grin.

    ¡°Fair enough.¡± I nodded, and she began reading from the scroll. Fyu glanced over at us curiously, keeping watch over us.

    While she did so, I kept one eye on the nearby wolves and the other eye on our friends who were kiting the world boss. Even if we don''t technically defeat it ourselves, this has got to be one of the most exciting Panarena Fantasy streams going on right now, I thought to myself with a sense of satisfaction and glee. Wait a minute: if Panarena time is four times faster than real time, how can anyone live-stream anything? Is there some sort of program or something that does adjustments to the feed for people in real-time?

    As I pondered this little paradox, Healina''s chanting continued, and then finished with a grand flourish as she brought down her staff. Immediately, Kurai-oukami came to a halt, setting its eyes on the two of us.

    ¡°Ahh--¡±

    ¡°Oh boy...¡± the two of us exclaimed at the same time. But our friends had noticed this a split-second before we had, and now they came racing back.

    ¡°Hang on!!¡± Lizzy cried out; the four of them reached us just as the boss began pawing the ground for a charge.

    But at that moment, a mass of clouds gathered in the sky. Everything came to a stop, and we all looked up, world boss included. Yet again, I stared in disbelief. Coming down from the sky was a beautifully regal Nine-Tailed Fox, who let out a howl that was as inspiring as the wolf''s howl had been chilling. It nullified his aura, and his minions -- and reduced his health bar to ten-thousand hitpoints.

    ¡°Ten--¡±

    ¡°--thousand?¡± Ari and I exclaimed in surprise.

    We looked at each other, and then back up at the fox in the sky, who was looking at us intently. We looked back at each other, and we readied our weapons one last time, the six of us charging with ferocious yells alongside our faithful dog-beast, who let out a howl of his own. In less than ten minutes we blasted Kurai-oukami back into nothingness, and he went up in an explosion of magic and flame. Our levels went up to seventy-two on his defeat, and a large chorus of cheers rang out from the NPCs as we shared high-fives and a few hugs.

    ¡°So no points lost?¡± I grinned to Heali.

    ¡°No way! Plus ten!¡± she grinned back.

    Then the general and the emperor came over to congratulate us. We were awarded the deed to the estate by the sea, as well as a decent sum of gold (twenty-thousand) and special cosmetic rewards. After thanking both of them for their generosity, we went back to the waggon with Fyu, and set off for our new home.

    ***

    ¡°All-righty; so we''ll see the estate, spend a night there, and then logout to real life again, huh?¡± Lizzy remarked as we rode along.

    ¡°Pretty much.¡± I agreed. ¡°We''ll have plenty of time to furbish the place up and see what all we can do with it.¡±

    ¡°There''d better be a hotspring.¡± Healina said.

    ¡°I''m sure there is,¡± Ari smiled.

    ¡°That would be lovely!¡± Anhe agreed.

    ¡°W-why are you embarrassed about skinny-dipping but not bathing together?¡± I suddenly wondered. Anhe herself suddenly looked surprised, but then came back at me with a perfectly reasonable answer.

    ¡°Because when we were bathing together it was in private, while anyone could come across us while just swimming!¡± she replied.

    ¡°Ah--oh, that''s true, now that you mention it...¡± I mumbled, my cheeks reddening.

    ¡°What''s the matter, Lana?¡± Lizzy grinned.

    ¡°Oh be quiet.¡± I quipped back, and she snickered. ¡°More importantly, it''ll be Thursday in the real world when we wake up, right?¡±

    ¡°Ahh... yep, it will be.¡± Healina replied.

    It was the late afternoon in Panarena right now; when we reached the estate, we would have plenty of time for down-time, so we would explore our new house and its grounds, do some relaxing, and then sleep until morning, at which point we would log out to our real lives again. Fyu estimated at least another hour until we reached it, so we readjusted ourselves once more to get comfortable again, and continued chattering about what we might do from now on.

    ¡°Well I''m definitely doing some smaller scale quests after this, no matter what,¡± I said.

    ¡°I''m gonna stick to crafting a lot when I can get in, so make sure you get plenty of materials if I can''t!¡± Lizzy said.

    ¡°Of course!¡± I nodded.

    ¡°I think it would be fun to see if there are quests we can do to get furniture and stuff, or maybe if we can find NPCs to hire. I heard you can get merchants, crafters, and guards, among others,¡± Anhe told us.

    ¡°Cool!¡± Ariana remarked. ¡°We''ll have to look at a guide sometime and see what professions they all have.¡±

    ¡°It really would be fun to do that sort of grind for a while, and to be more leisurely with playing!¡± Healina smiled.

    ¡°We''ll save the going-all-out for special events, I guess,¡± I agreed.

    ¡°Agreed.¡± Anhe nodded.

    ¡°Whatever you decide, masters, I will be glad to continue accompanying you on your adventures,¡± Fyu told us as he headed along the road at a steady pace.

    ¡°Any time, Fyu!¡± we said in unison.

    The sun was setting in the distance when we reached our destination. Fyu drove us to the stables of the estate, where we promptly got out and unhitched him so he could do his own thing for a while as we explored the place.

    Our new estate had dozens of rooms, some of them large halls and some of them mid-sized rooms, along with a number of small ones we decided at once would be storage rooms. Of course, we had picked up quite a lot in our recent travels, and it was starting to tax our inventory limits. We allocated all that we didn''t need, especially resources, to several of these small rooms at once, and then began divvying up the medium sized rooms for our quarters. Once this was done and we had set some personal objects in what were now our storage containers, we exchanged our gear for some relaxed vestments and continued exploring the grounds.

    Ari and I found ourselves sitting near the cliff that overlooked the sea. We could see a deserted set of piers and jetties below us on the beach. She had put on a soft green dress, and convinced me to put on a sky-blue one.

    ¡°O-only as Lana in Panarena,¡± I had remarked, and she had giggled, nodding back.

    Now I had stopped thinking about it, clasping her hand in mine as we stared out to sea together, our heads resting against each other. The gentle roar of the waves crashing upon the beach and the sound of seagulls was the only sound we could hear, aside from the others laughing and chattering at each other as they explored the grounds.

    ¡°If there''s no hotspring here, I guess we''ll be using the wayport to go back to Cloverbell for the night,¡± I suddenly said, a smile crossing my face.

    ¡°Or we could just go skinny-dipping in the ocean.¡± Ari grinned back.

    ¡°Ah-heh,¡± I grinned back shyly.

    ¡°Actually, we could use the wayport to do something else!¡± she then said, taking my hand as she got up.

    ¡°Hmm?¡± I asked as I got up with her.

    ¡°Come on!¡± she said as we dashed to the wayport.

    ¡°Where ''ya going?¡± Lizzy called over to us.

    ¡°We''ll be back soon!¡± Ariana called back, setting our destination to Ti''jori. We were teleported away, and soon found ourselves on the other side of the map.

    ¡°What are we doing?¡± I wondered as she continued leading me along.

    ¡°Getting some food and stuff!¡± she replied.

    ¡°O-oh! Right! We need to have a little party after all that,¡± I said with a grin.

    ¡°Exactly!¡± she smiled back.

    The two of us suddenly started hearing whispers and seeing people point at us. It wasn''t long before I figured out why. The internet wasn''t the only place live-streaming worked. There were places around Panarena itself where you could watch other players who were streaming their game-play. In short, there were most likely a great deal of players who had watched our fight against that world boss earlier.

    Sure enough, when we reached the market, I saw a replay-projection of the fight in question. Ariana caught sight of it too, and we watched for a few moments before grinning at each other wryly and returning our attention to what we came for. The exclamations and whispers only increased, though, and when we had finished with our purchases I was all too relieved to get going back to our new home in Xuanpu.

    ¡°Hahh...¡± I sighed as we stepped back into the newly familiar grounds, a keg under each arm, a sack of bottles over my one shoulder and another sack over the other.

    ¡°Stressed more by player gossip than by fighting?¡± Ari asked me playfully as she toted the rest of our purchases along.

    ¡°Always.¡± I grimaced.

    ¡°Ooh, nice idea!¡± Lizzy said as she and the others came to greet us.

    ¡°Definitely!¡± Maryn smiled.

    ¡°Fyu!¡± I called. ¡°We picked up a treat for you!¡± I said, handing the kegs to Lizzy, who took them inside with an all-too gleeful look on her face.

    I pulled out Fyu''s treat from the other sack as the dog-beast came over; it was a large meat roll. His eyes widened and his tail began wagging furiously. I stifled the urge to break out laughing then and there, and I could see that the other girls were doing the same as I handed it to him. He took it in his mouth, and gazed at us fondly.

    ¡°My thanks, good masters; enjoy your own respite, and rest well!¡± he said practically skipping off to enjoy his treat as we went inside.

    ¡°Oh my gawd I want to laugh so badly...!¡± Healina said in a strained whisper.

    ¡°Right?!¡± Maryn returned, barely holding it together herself. Once we got inside and shut the door, we let loose, giggling and cackling at how adorably dog-like Fyu actually was.

    ¡°The heck are you gals laughing about?¡± Lizzy wondered as she found us in the foyer.

    ¡°Ohhh, you so totally missed it!!¡± Heali remarked when she had a breath to do so, which sent the rest of us into giggle-fits again.

    After we had recovered ourselves we cooked up a fairly large feast, and spent at least an hour and a half enjoying it and each other''s company. Lizzy cackled delightedly as we described Fyu''s reaction to his treat, vowing to get him one next time so she could see it for herself. We then talked a while about all the adventuring we had done so far, once again slipping into thoughts for the future, until finally there wasn''t even a crumb left for a mouse. A few moments passed in silence, and then I raised my glass, as did the others.

    ¡°To us, and to many more adventures together!¡±

    ¡°To us!¡± the others exclaimed in unison as we clinked our glasses together.

    ¡°And to our new home!¡± Maryn added.

    ¡°To our new home!¡± we repeated after her.

    ¡°What will we call it?¡± Healina then wondered.

    ¡°Hmm...¡± Maryn paused, leaning back thoughtfully in her chair.

    ¡°Ehh...¡± Lizzy sighed, waving her hand to remove herself from the decision.

    ¡°Should be something simple.¡± was all that Ariana suggested, but I nodded in agreement.

    ¡°True.¡±

    ¡°Hmm,¡± Anhe said as she pondered the question. ¡°What does Lana say?¡±

    ¡°Eh?¡±

    ¡°You are the guild leader, after all,¡± Maryn shrugged, a smile on her face.

    ¡°Hmm...¡± I then mused. Why couldn''t this place have a name already? Well, not that I don''t appreciate them giving us the option to name it ourselves... okay, why do *I* have to name it?

    ¡°Remember -- simple!¡± Ari told me.

    ¡°Y-you got it,¡± I replied, and she patted me on the head. Anhe blinked, and then smiled at us, a gentle smile that seemed to convey an understanding. I then smiled myself, and decided. ¡°How about... Queen''s Haven Estate?¡± I said, and the others clapped at the words. ¡°Eh? Really?¡±

    ¡°I like it!¡± Lizzy beamed.

    ¡°Definitely!¡± Heali agreed, and Maryn nodded.

    ¡°It is very appropriate!¡± Anhe said, still grinning at me.

    ¡°Perfect and simple.¡± Ari said with a smile.

    ¡°Th-then, to the Queen''s Haven Estate!¡± I said, raising the glass again. Once more we shared a toast, and this final toast of the night drained our glasses of their contents.

    ***

    ¡°No hotspring on the grounds, but the bath is luxurious here!¡± Lizzy remarked as she settled into the spacious thing with us about ten minutes later. Healina had found it earlier, and had mentioned it to us when we had finished our last toast.

    ¡°And the water will stay warm for us, too,¡± our healer smiled in contentment.

    ¡°So it''s the next best thing!¡± the other girl grinned.

    ¡°True!¡±

    ¡°See?¡± Anhe said as she looked over at me.

    ¡°D-don''t worry, I got the point the first time!¡± I said, and she smiled.

    ¡°This always feels better than a shower or bath in the real world somehow,¡± Maryn said.

    ¡°Must be the company!¡± Lizzy said to her.

    ¡°Must be!¡± the older girl agreed with a wink.

    ¡°Hmm,¡± Anhe nodded in agreement.

    ¡°It''s definitely a plus,¡± Ariana agreed. I had nothing I felt I could or should add, so I settled for settling a bit more into the water. Ari looked at me with amusement, patting my head yet again.

    ¡°Meow...¡± I mumbled, making the water bubble, and Ariana nearly doubled over in another giggle fit as the others laughed. I''m just glad this isn''t an anime or something, otherwise somebody would be -- nnnnope, nope, nope, not even gonna think about it.

    It was near to Panarena''s midnight when we got out of the bath to dry ourselves off and get dressed again, and then we said goodnight to each other before heading in to our separate rooms (well, mostly separate... Ari and I had picked one out together, of course). After a few moments, Anhe, Ariana, and I were the only ones left in the hall. Our sometimes staff-wielder unexpectedly gave me a big hug, which she quickly pulled Ariana into. The three of us stood there in that embrace for several moments, and then Anhe smiled, kissing our cheeks before heading into her room for the night. Ari and I then went into our own room, and exchanged a glance as we shut the door behind us.

    ¡°I think... maybe, at least, she kind of figured it out,¡± I remarked as we laid down next to each other.

    ¡°Hmm...?¡± Ariana said in surprise. ¡°She is pretty sharp, so I wouldn''t put it past her.¡± she then said.

    ¡°True. I guess she was telling us not to worry, in her own way.¡± I said as I settled in, leaning back against the pillow to get a good view of the sky as Ari snuggled next to me.

    ¡°About?¡± she wondered, and then I saw her smile. ¡°Oh, I see!¡± she remarked with a faint giggle. ¡°What do you know, you can be surprisingly perceptive about girls sometimes!¡±

    ¡°Sometimes... and I hope most of the time with you.¡± I said as I snuggled back against her.

    ¡°You''re doing good so far.¡± she told me, and with that the two of us fell asleep.

 Chapter Twenty-nine: Thursday

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    ¡°Didn''t we talk about this last night?

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    ¡°Lana, but I don''t think that translates to me entirely.¡± I said.

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    ¡°trying to get attention...¡± I softly murmured, and then she took one of my hands, giving it a gentle squeeze right as the bell rang. She turned to face forward, giving me another smile, and then classes began.

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    ¡°actually confirmed if Anhe knew I was Lana.

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    ¡°three out of the way! Ah wait, this''ll be four, won''t it? Then I can really let you two have it!¡± she said with a devilish smirk, and Rachel held up her hands defensively.

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    ¡°us  a bunch of messages about getting up and not being late for school instead!¡± I retorted at once, suddenly feeling bold about that assumption. Andrea snickered and Ellie affected a blank expression.

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    ¡°so want to--oh wait, we already have plans for you on Halloween!¡± she then recalled, and I grimaced as all the girls except for Anhe let out a slightly evil chuckle.

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    ¡°lot into weapon and armor crafting as opposed to just any old smithing job.¡± she said, and then caught a look at the time. ¡°Ho-ly wow, lunch is almost over!¡±

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    Well that came out of the blue, I thought to myself, trying to remember if that had been one of the options to begin with.

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    Sherwood''s Merry Men. This musical adaptation of that now-ubiquitous archer-outlaw and his gang had come out several years ago, and had been a hit in the musical world, from what I could remember. If even a semi shut-in gamer kid like me has heard of it... well anyway.

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    This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

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    ¡°when to go.¡± Andrea promptly replied. I blinked.

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    ¡°could sort of count as an educational experience, too,¡± Andrea mused.

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    ¡°want to talk about.¡± she said with a grin.

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    Crafter Skills:

    Fletching Seven.

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    Gatherer Skills:

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    Fishing Five.

    Woodcutter Twenty-one.

    Hunting Fourteen.

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    totally matter so long as your skills with the bow were good, and I had actually been relying on Lizzy''s arrow-making for a while now...

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    ¡°should we do? Now that we''ve paid our respects to Cloverbell and all.¡± she asked us with a smile.

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    ¡°lot of resources for what we plan to do, though,¡± she added with a grin.

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    ¡°points, the skills themselves retained their values. ¡°Hmm? That''s good to know.¡± I remarked as I examined this. Ari looked over curiously, and then smiled.

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    is a fairly boring thing to do, after all. I will say that Anhe seemed more comfortable with all of us at this point, and even started teasing me a bit -- though not quite to the level that Lizzy would. By the time we returned to Queen''s Haven, the waggon was nearly overloaded, and we were actually walking alongside it and Fyu to help with the weight-limit. We expressed our gratitude to the dog-beast both verbally and with treats, and then began transferring the resources to a repository in the estate itself.

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    ¡°too much about it,¡± I told her.

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    ¡°is the Tournament, by the way?¡± Maryn wondered.

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 Bonus Chapter: Settling In

    It was an important night for me. Tonight is the night I finally moved in with Andrea. We had a huge party already with all of our friends, after which I kissed Sean goodnight, promising to see him tomorrow one way or another. And then I looked around at my new room for a second -- no, a third time that year. The second was the house that Sean had walked me home to a couple times, and the first house was one where we had actually managed to stay for more than six months. I let out a sigh of relief, pulling off my clothes and changing into a warm nightgown. I plomped down upon my bed, curling up and squeezing my pillow.

    Uugghhh... why can''t this be Seeeaaannn... I lamented internally, wondering if he ever did the same. I probably wouldn''t ask him straight out about it, but it''d be cute to find out. A knock came to the door of my new room, and I quickly sat up.

    ¡°Come in!¡± I said, and Andrea, basically my new sister, came in, wearing her own two-piece nighties. She sat down next to me and hugged me.

    ¡°I''m glad we had a room for you!¡± she said as I hugged her back.

    ¡°Me too!¡± I said, tears of happiness once again crawling down my face. She kissed my cheeks, and then we slid down to the floor together. We talked about a lot of things together then, about how life at her house would be, about our plans and hopes for the future, about school assignments and goals for our adventures in Panarena, about all of the guys who were getting really envious of Sean, and then we fell quiet for a moment. I then looked over at her; she had taken her glasses off for the night, which almost surprised me. She almost never took them off in school, except to clean them up.

    ¡°Andrea... what do you think would have happened if I hadn''t come to this town?¡± I suddenly wondered.

    Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

    ¡°Hmm?¡± she looked over at me. ¡°What do you mean?¡± she asked.

    ¡°Like... with Sean... we''re all together now because of the game, do you think the five of you would have gotten together without me?¡± I said to her, wondering what she thought.

    ¡°Hmm...¡± she returned, an unsatisfied look on her face. ¡°I guess some of us might have. Ellie would definitely have dragged me into it by now, and Mary would be along for the ride. We might have brought Sean along... after all, he is...¡± Andrea trailed off then, an almost sad smile on her face.

    ¡°Y-don''t tell me you also had a crush on him?¡± I said with a nervous laugh. Mary and I had talked it out earlier, and I was satisfied with her explanation.

    I did have -- no, I do have a crush on him. But... I''m happy. You two were meant for each other. I mean it. Maybe someday these feelings will truly go away... but for now, please believe me when I say I want to be your friend, both of you, and that I don''t ever want to come between you, she had told me.

    ¡°Not as strong as Mary''s,¡± Andrea shook her head.

    ¡°Oh?¡± I remarked, genuinely interested now.

    ¡°It was more like... he looked so lonely, and I wanted to see if I could brighten his world if I got the chance. I''m glad you beat me to it, though, and I''m--¡± she broke off again, wrapping me in another tight hug. I hugged her back, both of us softly crying. ¡°Don''t you ever let go of him.¡± she said to me.

    ¡°I never will.¡± I promised. ¡°I never will.¡± We fell asleep together side by side, wrapped in each other''s arms. For the first time in my life, I finally knew what it was like to have a sister. Sisters in-game, and sisters for life.

    I won''t let go of you, either... any of you, I promised as we fell asleep together. I didn''t say it out loud, but I saw Andrea''s lips twitch in a smile anyway before my eyes closed in sleep. A dream of soft meadows appeared before my slumbering mind, and I heard someone call my name.

    Sean.

 Bonus Chapter: Hallows Eve

    So the week after the homecoming dance at our school, Panarena Fantasy Online launched its first holiday event: Hallow''s Eve. For two weeks, practically every major region in the area would have its own spooky or mysteriously themed quest-chain, and we were determined to do at least two of them, maybe even three. Lizzy''s playtime has a new curfew, courtesy of her working at the Fun Castle up at the mall, but she vowed to get on for at least one of our escapades.

    By Wednesday, a lot of players, parties, and guilds have already gone through many of the festival quests. Those hardcore players, man. Ariana and I had gone with Maryn and Anhe to do Xuanpu''s on Tuesday; in a completely expected turn of events, their quest chain started off in the Forest of Lost Dreams. And then it took us to the Forsaken Caverns in the west on the border of Kunlun. The premise of the quest was to uncover the source of a sudden surge of Jiangshi. Well, after fighting through several waves of these undead creatures in the caverns and returning to the forest (with Fyu''s help of course) we discovered a couple map fragments.

    Neither of the fragments corresponded to the areas we had been to. So we followed the quest marker to a third area, which had another fragment--courtesy of a really tough Elite Jiangshi--and with this third piece we began to see the general area the map was meant to show. A few Panarena hours later, we had the complete map (seven pieces in all), depicting a location west by northwest of Heaven''s Mountain.

    We rushed to the place at once (having already decided to pull our all-nighter trick that evening), and found a hidden valley of catacombs. And what was in them but witches, ghouls, more Jiangshi, bats, a couple of corrupted wolves, and an ultra-rare elite boss labeled as a Taotie. This, Anhe told us, was one of the Four Perils in actual Chinese mythos, which made me wonder if the other three were around somewhere.

    Anyway. After a long and arduous battle, we managed to defeat it, and we turned in our quest for a special holiday reward: cosmetics, and some experience boosters. In typical trope fashion (no pun intended), the cosmetics were black and orange witch outfits, complete with an item of our choice: hat, scarf, or cloak. I took the cloak, naturally. Ari and Maryn took the hat, and Anhe choose the scarf.

    Then Wednesday came along. Ellie was still wrapped up with her evening shifts, but she promised to be on for Thursday. But we managed to persuade Andrea to get on so we could run through the Aldholt''s special event.

    It felt like years had passed since we had been running through the Aldholt, but we were able to run around it like we had never left--which was a help for Anhe, who hadn''t been there at all.

    Appropriately, the Aldholt''s quest was in the Ghoulwood. Here, we found a quest from an Arch Mage at an out-of-the-way tower to retrieve a series of books, an ancient staff, and a magical artifact of unknown origin from a variety of different locations. And by that I mean they literally had us running all over the Aldholt to find stuff. In Ipping Forest we crossed paths with Jannie and some of her guild-mates on the same quest, and in Seacrest we encountered a few players from ?SOVEREIGN?, who were living up to their second leader''s promise to give the guild a better name. They pointed us to one of the archives, where we found two of the books we were looking for (after finding one in Ipping), and then we were off to the Mountains of Night.

    Here we ended up on a sub-quest involving the King of the Werefolk and his seven lords (what is it with this area and the number seven?) that ended up leading us to a secret chamber below a mountain that was sacred to the werefolk, where we found the magical artifact of unknown origin: an amulet of gold and silver set with a ruby that had been meticulously shaped into the likeness of a werewolf-dragon, along with a set of spiraling arcane runes on the reverse side. We carried on to Varkstania, where Wildeye and Tyman met us with a group of their guild-mates, and after exchanging some quest info we went north while they went south.

    In Varkstania we found the remainder of the books we were hoping to find -- well, except for one. But I had a feeling that the last book would either be with the staff or in a location very near to it. And so we continued to the eastern end of Woody Heights, near the border of the Southern Plains.

    After a brief (yet somehow all too long) encounter with Angelfire, we found a hidden grotto guarded by two elite ghouls. We made our way inside, finding the passageway growing larger as we went further in. Eventually it opened up into a large cavern with a single boss: Nighean Dorchadas. A witch-ghoul ultra-rate elite. Later I looked the name up, because it sounded Irish to me. I wasn''t completely right. It was Scots Gaelic, and it meant ¡°daughter of darkness¡±, which was all too appropriate for this boss.

    She gave us trouble for nearly an hour (Panarena time, of course). Every time we thought we were on the right track to defeating her, she pulled out a new trick that made it even more difficult than it was the previous few minutes of fighting. Finally, Ariana pulled out one of her custom spells, an omni-magical beam that knocked her down to less than one-percent health, which allowed Anhe to strike the finishing blow. We received the staff and the final book as a reward, and then returned to the Arch Mage at his tower to claim our quest-reward.

    Once again we got experience boosters, and we also received our choice of a decoration set -- appropriately themed to ¡°spooky¡± or at least ¡°autumnal¡±. Maryn chose a set of autumn-leaf rugs, Heali took a set of spooky chairs ornamented with bats and spiders, Anhe chose a very nice set of paper-lanterns with eerie silhouettes that would show around the room when lit, Ariana selected a set of cat-eye curtains, and I settled for a rocking chair that had wolf-head armrests and runic inscriptions on the back of the headrest.

    We debated on where exactly to put all these things up for about thirty minutes, finally deciding that Ari and I would put ours up at Cloverbell while the others set theirs up around Queen''s Haven. It was then I noticed that we had won a lot of special event tokens that we could use to get more furniture or goodies. I suspected that this was the reason a lot of hardcore gamers and pros had been logged in for nearly three real days in a row.

    After sending a message to the others to check their currency, Ari and I went down to Aldholt city to get more furniture and goodies of the autumn or Halloween variety, and returned to Cloverbell with a couple of nice rugs and a set of curtains before joining the others at Queen''s Haven to help decorate there with the rest of what we had gotten, mostly small ornaments like black cat statues or garden gnomes in a spooky or silly costume. When we were quite satisfied with our shenanigans for the night, we gave Fyu a treat for his help and then went to take a rest in-game, setting an alarm to wake us up before it was time to wake up in real life. Logic, man, logic.

    Anyhow. So that brings us to Thursday.

    It was the same old bus ride, the same old flick and parting quip from Ty... and then the same but always welcome morning hug from Rachel before sorting out our stuff for morning classes. Rachel, by the way, has settled in quite nicely at Andrea''s. She fit right in straight off the bat, of course, and now it''s almost as if she was Andrea''s little sister. Rachel''s actual brother Joshua was still in the area, and he had visited her at the Summers'' residence a couple times already. He got on with them pretty well too, from what Rachel told me. Of course, I''d believe that guy could hold a friendly conversation with a rock and then go away leaving the rock feeling like it lost its best friend...

    But it was very true that Rachel had become brighter, in a way. Now that she was truly convinced that she wasn''t going anywhere and that there were no need for painful goodbyes, she became twice as enthusiastic about everything -- including play tryouts. Those will be coming up in a couple of weeks, so I don''t have to worry about them too much for the moment.

    Anyway. Morning classes passed like a breeze, and then as usual we zipped off to the club room for lunch, where we found Ellie semi-pouting as Andrea and Mary told her about our adventures last night. Anhe softly giggled every time Ellie let out a groan of frustration at not having been able to be with us, but I thought I could discern a hint of satisfaction in her eyes that we were doing pretty okay even when she wasn''t around.

    ¡°Boo!!¡± she said when we talked about all the fancy Halloween stuff we had picked up for the houses. ¡°I''m definitely getting on tonight. The boss wants me to have a rest before the weekend when we''ll be super busy, so I''ll join you tonight for sure!¡± she declared.

    ¡°Yay!¡± Andrea said at once, patting her on the back. ¡°We''re going to the Marshes this time, right?¡± she asked, adjusting her glasses.

    ¡°Hmm? Oh yeah,¡± I nodded back. ¡°Now that one sounded fun.¡± I added with a grin.

    ¡°You hear one little rumor from Ty and suddenly you''re all gung-ho...¡± Rachel quipped with the hint of a smirk.

    ¡°I mean, we already knew that place was weird; a Halloween quest there has gotta be even better than last night''s,¡± I said with a shrug.

    ¡°True!¡± she nodded. ¡°Though it would be fun to check out the Wastes as well...¡± she remarked.

    ¡°Hrrmm... that''s true...¡± I had to agree, suddenly wracked by indecision.

    ¡°We can do that one together next week,¡± Ellie then said. ¡°I''ll have Monday and Tuesday off after our big weekend.¡±

    ¡°Cool!¡± Andrea smiled.

    ¡°Sounds good,¡± I said with a relieved smile, and Rachel nodded.

    ¡°Let''s finish up with our lunches quick,¡± Mary then said, looking at the time. ¡°We''ll have plenty of time to talk about this at club -- and then to jump-start our homework!¡± she added with a smile.

    Taking the hint, we refocused our attention to our lunches, and after finishing them we talked lightly about our upcoming assignments and stuff before finally heading off to afternoon classes. These too passed by fairly quickly, and before we knew it we found ourselves in the club room again. We talked a little bit about the game some more, deciding for sure that we would try the Marshes tonight and then the Wastes next week, before pulling out our homework so we could work on that and assist each other as needed before heading home.

    ***

    Upon logging in to the game that night I found myself the third to arrive. Lizzy and Anhe had gotten on before I did, and they were helping Fyu to get ready for our new adventure. Healina and Ariana arrived next, followed by Maryn, and when we had readied ourselves we set off for Honeyton, a settlement of Hauflins north of Berrydell.

    Jannie had pointed out to us the other night that wayports could transport waggons, if you had the right kind of special item needed to make that happen. Luckily we had inadvertently collected the raw materials for that kind of item during the last several days, and Ariana used her Mystic Crafting to create it. Thus we were able to use the wayport from Queen''s Haven to get to Berrydell, and from there we headed north to Honeyton.

    ¡°Ohh, it''s no good, adventurers, it''s no good at all! See now, there''s been many of our folk gone missing now at that place, and we dursn''t go near it for all the brew ye could fit in an alehouse thrice as big as our own!¡± the hauflin quest-giver wailed.

    Apparently, the quest here involved the mysterious disappearance of several hauflins from Honeyton, all of whom had seemingly vanished around an old castle-town west of the village. From what I remembered we hadn''t been near that particular area at all.

    A castle in a swamp, huh? I thought to myself.

    ¡°B-but iffens ye were likely to head that way... n-n-n-not necessarily to go into the place, mind, but even if y-y-ye could just s-scout it out a bit, see if anyone''s gotten l-lost or so, that''d be a big ''elp, for sure!¡± the quest-giver then said.

    ¡°We''ll see what we can do!¡± Ariana said with a smile, and the hauflin heaved a sigh of relief and then bowed. We headed off, and our quest-log updated.

    A Mystery in the Marshes: go to the abandoned castle-town west of Honeyton and uncover the reason for the strange disappearances. Optional: rescue the hauflin villagers.

    ¡°It''s a ghoul.¡± Lizzy said.

    ¡°Something like that.¡± Healina agreed.

    ¡°Hmm... I say goblins.¡± Maryn remarked as we got aboard the waggon.

    ¡°Why is rescuing the villagers optional?¡± Ariana wondered with a sad tone.

    ¡°N-not sure,¡± I replied uncertainly.

    ¡°It''s a boss of some kind, I bet... a ghoul boss.¡± Lizzy grinned.

    ¡°Or a goblin warlord of some kind.¡± Maryn smirked back.

    ¡°Hmm...¡± Anhe sighed thoughtfully as she read over the quest.

    ¡°Westward, masters?¡± Fyu asked us.

    ¡°Westward, Fyu!¡± I said, giving him a pat on the back as I hopped in with the others. We set off at a brisk pace, and in no time at all we found ourselves at the weathered and withered castle-town.

    The first thing we noticed was that the castle itself sat upon a rocky and barren promontory overlooking the swamped remains of its village. Our maps updated with the name of the area: Wyrdcrag.

    How appropriate, I mused as we got out of the waggon to start investigating. Most of the buildings that were left were made of stone, though there were some petrified wood remnants now overgrown with lichen, mushrooms, or moss. Dead trees clustered about the area in rows or groves. At the center of the village there was a moldy old well, and not far away was a gallows with a couple of skeletons hanging around. Sorry, bad pun. The vista was completed with the obligatory worn-out scarecrows and several actual crows hanging around the place.

    As to the castle itself, it stood just beyond the remnants of a stone church. Both buildings were as dilapidated as the town was. There was a cemetery we could see in the distance, with a couple of once fancy yet now decayed mausoleums garnishing the corners. Back to the castle. Even in its ruinous state, it had a proud and regal bearing, and it was at least three-quarters the size of the town itself in terms of area. The remnants of a banner clung defiantly to a spire that seemed more likely to collapse than the Leaning Tower of Pisa. It had a Germanic flair to it, though there were elements of English castle-building woven in to the design as well.

    ¡°And here is where the quest marker abandons us.¡± Lizzy proclaimed as we reached the well.

    ¡°Hmm?¡± I stopped, looking for myself. ¡°Well, what fun would it be if the marker was around all the time? It''s a mystery quest, remember?¡± I then smiled.

    ¡°That''s the spirit!¡± Ariana smiled.

    ¡°All right, Lana, then we''ll leave it in your capable hands.¡± our smith grinned back, and a slight wince creased my smile.

    ¡°W-we''re counting on you, too, you know! This is your one night of fun, after all...¡± I said to her in turn.

    ¡°Hahh... fine... but minus ten for the reminder.¡± she returned with a shrug as my face crinkled up further, but I refrained from making further comment. Ariana smiled at me again.

    ¡°Come on, Lana!¡± she said, and the two of us set off in one direction while the others headed off to explore as well.

    ¡°Still... why is the rescue optional? Shouldn''t it be the main focus of the quest?¡± I wondered as we walked around, keeping an eye out for signs or clues that might cross our paths. Ariana nodded in reply.

    ¡°Maybe it''s like the big quest we did in Xuanpu, where you have to fulfill certain conditions to get it and complete it,¡± she noted.

    ¡°Hmm... or it could be that the rescue is further down the story-line... but then that might be at odds with the optional part of this quest to begin with...¡±

    ¡°Let''s try and -- oh! What''s that?¡± Ari suddenly said as something to the left caught her eye. I turned to look as well; there was a cloak just big enough for a hauflin lying on the ground. Just a half-step or so from it was a walking stick.

    ¡°Clues, that''s what,¡± I said as we knelt to examine them. ¡°They''ve been lying here a couple days; now, where are the footprints... there,¡± I then noted as I activated a tracking skill I picked up, examining the prints.

    ¡°What do you see?¡± Ari asked me.

    ¡°A definite hauflin set of prints; looks like something tried to get them from behind around this point. The prints are a bit scuffled. Then the hauflin took off towards the castle, looks like, and...¡± I examined the other prints carefully, ¡°Something big chased after them. Well, her, I guess, from the size,¡± I noted.

    ¡°Hmm... something big...¡± Ariana mused, taking out one of the lorebooks we had on the area.

    ¡°It... looks goblin-ish, but it''s so faded it might also be some kind of werebeast or even...¡±

    ¡°A shapeshifter,¡± Ari read, showing me the page she had turned to.

    ¡°It''s definitely not ghouls, though.¡± I returned with a slight grin.

    ¡°Poor Lizzy.¡± she smirked back.

    We stood up, and began following the prints, betting that one of the others would find a similar clue. As we made our way through the ruined and musty village, a rotten sort of smell, barely kept in check by a more marsh-like scent, reached our noses. I looked to the right. There was a bog nearby, intermingling with the marshes further north.

    ¡°Yuck.¡± I grimaced.

    ¡°I wonder why they ventured this way at all...¡± Ariana wondered.

    ¡°The hauflins?¡± I said, and she nodded. ¡°They could have been lured here while trying to do something else... that''s usually the story.¡±

    ¡°There were an awful lot of edible plants and mushrooms on the way here...¡± she recalled suddenly, and I snapped my fingers.

    ¡°Right! I wonder if some sort of special fungus grows here, too, and maybe that lured them over this way...¡±

    ¡°Oh! And then whatever is around here woke up and started... kidnapping them, I''ll hope,¡± Ari said, trying to keep a cheerful expression.

    ¡°D-definite kidnapping.¡± I replied.

    ¡°You''re not very convincing.¡± she softly teased me.

    ¡°Just some Molek flashbacks...¡± I returned.

    ¡°Ooh... gotcha...¡± she said, her face scrunching up in bemusement. One of the quests in that game involves destroying a demon kidnapper who slaughters their victims. I probably mentioned its name before: the Slaughterer.

    Suddenly I stopped. No... they wouldn''t. It can''t be. I thought to myself. But then the makers of Molek and the people running Panarena had more than a few people in common, from what I knew. I knelt down, enhancing my tracking skill with a couple of rogue skills to look more closely at the larger prints. Fortunately we had reached a patch of ground that was more conducive to retaining prints.

    I examined the print closely. It was about fifty-centimeters long. Way too big for a goblin, or even a hobgoblin. It could have been an orc, but orcs weren''t in this area, not even renegade players. And that wouldn''t make sense anyway, having a player or more be the antagonists of a major quest chain. My hunter-tracking skill showed nothing in the area, but there were certain creatures that could elude it. A prime example, of course, being demons.

    ¡°No way,¡± I said aloud this time. Ari, by the way, had stopped a couple seconds after I had, and was looking curiously at me.

    ¡°No way what?¡± she said. I stood up, and looked around again. I took Ari''s hand, and ran straight for the castle.

    ¡°Come on!¡± I said as we ran. The others apparently saw us, for they came running our way; we regrouped at the wreckage of the castle doors, and I stared at them in disbelief.

    ¡°Lana?¡± Ari asked me again. Then her eyes widened also. ¡°No way...!¡± she remarked.

    If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

    ¡°What is it?¡± Anhe wondered.

    ¡°It''s the Dark Castle... it''s the Dark Castle from Molek...!¡± I said.

    ¡°Oh wow!¡± Lizzy remarked. ¡°They re-branded it for our game, huh?¡±

    ¡°Must be some sort of nod.¡± Maryn said.

    ¡°To one of the greatest Gothic-horror games of all time,¡± I agreed. Then I shook my head. ¡°No time to stand here, come on!¡± I said, and we ran inside, seeing a partially disused stairwell to the far left that led downwards. My face lit up in delight. I always wanted to do this!!

    However it had come to be featured here in a slightly different form, it was definitely the castle-labyrinth I remembered. Except there weren''t that many monsters, if any. There were a few imps, and one or two goatmen with bardiches that got in our way, but other than that it was mostly empty. Well, except for the random champion skeletons that would suddenly be there when we turned a corner or tried to use a lever.

    It wasn''t long before we heard a wail. It was not some unearthly creature; it was the terrified wailing of a hauflin. We picked up our pace, and found a young hauflin girl curled up in a ball near another descending staircase. She looked up as we approached.

    ¡°Adventurers! It''s horrible! They''ve all been kidnapped, and the beast is going to--to... oh, no, it''s too horrible!¡± she lamented.

    ¡°Are they down there?¡± I asked her.

    ¡°Down in that horrid maze!¡± she nodded.

    ¡°The way to the outside is clear if you want to run for it,¡± Ariana told her.

    ¡°Oh, thank you! Hurry and save the others, please!¡± she replied, and then got to her feet, dashing off for the entrance. Our quest log then updated.

    Optional: rescue the hauflin villagers, 1/13.

    ¡°Twelve more...!¡± Ari breathed as she began dashing down the steps. I followed her quickly, and the others came after us.

    ¡°So what''s down here waiting for us?¡± Lizzy asked as we hastened down the spiraling stairs.

    ¡°Some sort of flesh-eating demon, I think,¡± I replied.

    ¡°Yikes!¡± Healina said.

    ¡°And we''ll probably find more monsters on the way!¡± I added.

    ¡°Oh definitely.¡± our halberdier-smith returned. ¡°Wouldn''t be fun otherwise!¡±

    ¡°As long as it''s not like the demon from the Flame Dungeon!¡± Maryn quipped.

    ¡°Nah, not this guy,¡± I returned, a faint grin on my face as I recalled the days when the original version was one of the most terrifying things to me in the entire world. Now... now it would almost be like meeting an old friend. A friend who would try to kill you and eat you, but hey.

    On our way further down through the maze-like corridors and rooms, we encountered two more hauflins hiding in a side-room together. This made us consider that at least most of them were probably hiding in similar spaces, so we scoured every nook and cranny of the dungeon, turning up three more, and then another on the next floor down.

    Optional: rescue the hauflin villagers, 7/13.

    ¡°That''s most of them!¡± Lizzy said as the one just rescued took off to head for their home.

    ¡°Six more, huh...¡± I softly remarked, gazing at our map data. ¡°Looks like this floor is definitely cleared... actually, there''s one spot left. I''ll check it out and meet you back at the stairs.¡± I said to the others.

    ¡°Got it!¡± Maryn nodded.

    ¡°I''m going with you.¡± Ariana told me. I nodded back to her, and we dashed off while the others made their way back to the descending staircase we had located.

    ¡°It''s probably just a dead end,¡± I shrugged as we made our way to the semi-unexplored spot.

    ¡°Maybe, but there could be something dangerous,¡± she returned.

    ¡°Hmm... true.¡±

    ¡°I played a little bit of that game recently, I know how rude it can get,¡± she said to me with a grin.

    ¡°That was half the fun!¡± I smirked back, and we laughed.

    After passing through a hallway filled with creepy gargoyle statues lurking in the alcoves, we found the edge of the unexplored area, advancing cautiously. We used our vision skills; there was nothing lurking around and no traps waiting to be sprung. At the end of the corridor we had somehow skipped there was a door. The two of us approached it, and then I picked the lock to get inside, where we found a circular room with a magical orb of some kind sitting, or floating, rather, upon a Gothic-styled pedestal. It gave off an eerie blue and violet glow.

    ¡°Th-that''s both creepy and pretty at the same time. I don''t know how to feel about it.¡± Ari said with a look of bemusement.

    ¡°T-true...¡± I agreed. ¡°Huh... there was something blocking the stairs down, wasn''t there?¡±

    ¡°Hmm? Oh, right... we said we''d meet up at the stair-room but we weren''t entirely sure it was the stair room, though those slabs looked suspicious.¡± Ariana recalled.

    ¡°None of the other rooms had a stairwell, at least.¡± I shrugged.

    ¡°You think the orb might do something?¡±

    ¡°I think so. You can probably put it in Mystic Storage.¡±

    ¡°Gotcha. I''ll do that, and we''ll see if it does anything in that room.¡± she said, using telekinesis to take it and place it in her special inventory.

    We dashed back to the others at the place most likely to be the stair-room, where we found the others taking a second look around the room to investigate for any sort of secret lever that might activate the descending stairs.

    ¡°Nothing... nothing... nope...¡± Lizzy grumbled as she felt the interior of a suspicious looking alcove.

    ¡°Hmm... oh! Lana and Ari are back!¡± Healina said, turning to us.

    ¡°Find anything?¡± Maryn asked us.

    ¡°This weird orb thing,¡± Ari said, pulling it out of storage and holding it up carefully.

    ¡°Ooh, creepy.¡± Lizzy remarked as she and the others joined us. ¡°Hey, Anhe, doesn''t that look about the right size for that one spot you noticed?¡± she then said, turning to the other girl.

    ¡°Hmm... I think so!¡± she agreed, and beckoned us to follow her over.

    In the middle of the room was something like a giant sarcophagus. There wasn''t really any ornamentation to speak of upon it, though it did have some sort of faded artistry around the bottom edges. More importantly, there was a spherical imprint on the near side of it that was a good match for this mysterious orb. Ariana set the orb in that spot, and all of a sudden the floor started parting. We all jumped back, and the staircase revealed itself, a faint glow of red-orange color coming up from the depths.

    ¡°S-scene change,¡± I remarked, heading down the stairs cautiously.

    ¡°Hm?¡± Ari wondered.

    ¡°The labyrinth in Molek changes environments as you get lower, though you don''t have to do anything special to get to those specific floors,¡± I explained.

    ¡°Ahh! Neat!¡± she said.

    ¡°Meaning that was a more PFO mechanic,¡± Maryn noted. ¡°Think we''ll need to find another orb or so?¡±

    ¡°Probably; but let''s hope we find more of the hauflins as well!¡± I said, and with that we entered into the second major part of the underground labyrinth.

    This part was more cave-like, though elements of the castle and its macabre Gothic look continued to be present. My initial conclusions on the matter of the castle were being at least partly thrown off; the Slaughterer was an early boss. So what was waiting for us at the end of this dungeon? I had to stave off that thought for now, as more present monsters began to come after us.

    They were all demons, of one sort or another. There were pig or boar-like things of great girth, tusks in their mouths and heavy weapons in their hands. Smaller ones like dinosaur rats also came after us, but they were easier to handle. A few succubi came onto the scene, but we were immune to their more peculiar effects. Except when an elite-champion one arrived. That one''s powers had an effect on female characters. Fortunately, it could only affect one of us at a time, leaving the rest of us free to attack it while our poor comrade was under a daze. Well, except Anhe, whose auras kept the effects off of her nicely.

    After that fight we found some Minotaurs and horned-demons with bat-like wings, both groups led or focused around two champions. We managed the fight well enough, and then we found another hauflin hiding in a barrel. That gave us eight of thirteen. This one clued us in on finding a couple more, and after fighting off more of the rat things we had saved them as well. Now we were at ten of thirteen.

    ¡°Ah! Adventurers! I almost forgot; I''m sure it''s nothing important, but there was a strange glow coming from behind one of the doors around here. Anyway, I''m going home as quick as I can -- ta!¡± the tenth one remarked before they fled the place.

    ¡°Hmm...¡± I scratched my head, pondering the words. Our quest log dinged.

    Optional objective updated: save the remaining three hauflins from the Vile Sacrament Ritual.

    ¡°?!?!¡± the six of us looked at the log with suddenly heightened senses, our nerves dialed up to eleven.

    ¡°S-stairs! Were there stairs!?¡± I said quickly.

    ¡°Not a one!¡± Lizzy shook her head.

    ¡°I saw nothing,¡± Anhe sadly added.

    ¡°Let''s find that room!!¡± Ariana said, and we dashed off to look for the strange room the hauflin had mentioned.

    It took us around five minutes to locate it, finding the door in question near the middle of a row of doors along one of the more narrow corridors. The color of the glow from inside was a sickly bright green. There was a humming sort of sound, and a faint but steady vibration.

    ¡°Portal.¡± Lizzy said confidently.

    ¡°Agree this time.¡± Maryn nodded. I tried the handle; it was locked.

    ¡°Of course it is...¡± I sighed, getting out my picks as I knelt down to fiddle with it. It took me over twenty tries and there was a lot of impatient grumbling from both me and the others, but on the twenty-seventh attempt it clicked satisfyingly, and I opened the door in glee before something else happened.

    We dashed inside, finding a green portal at the far end of a small room. There was a lectern with two books upon it nearby. Nothing else was in the room. The green energy of the portal was bordered by a large arcane ring with grotesque designs and malevolent orange runes inscribed upon it.

    ¡°Let''s see what those are,¡± Healina nodded towards the lectern with the tomes, and we went to examine them.

    One was mostly green of color, with gold runes and bordering set upon it. The other was black, adorned with silver characters and trimming. Ari and Heali looked at them carefully, using some lorebooks they had to translate what the covers said and conferring with each other softly. After a moment, Healina looked back towards us, a cautious look on her face.

    ¡°They''re definitely relevant, insofar as I can guess. This black tome is the ''Book of the Vile Archbishop'', and the green one is called ''Dyal''avar''.¡± she told us. ¡°Apparently it means something like ''demon-book'', which is appropriate, to say the least,¡± she continued, glancing over at the book with a slight unease.

    ¡°Hmm.¡± I returned, thinking. ¡°Similar, but not totally alike. Maybe these--oh! I get it! One or both of these books are needed to stop the ritual thing!¡± I suddenly realized.

    ¡°Ooh, there you go, Heali.¡± Lizzy said.

    ¡°Should''ve guessed!¡± she grinned back. ¡°Ari and I will have to use them, then.¡± she added, and my partner nodded.

    ¡°Definitely. I''ll take Dyal''avar and you can take the other one.¡± Ari said, picking up the green tome.

    ¡°You sure?¡± our healer asked her.

    ¡°It''s a hunch!¡± the other girl grinned back.

    ¡°Sounds reasonable to me,¡± I agreed. ¡°The green one is likely more of a mage tome, while that black one sounds more like a support tome.¡±

    ¡°Hmm... I agree in principle, at least. We''ll try that, then.¡± Heali nodded back, taking up the black tome. Then our objective updated again.

    New objective: use the Book of the Vile Archbishop to contain the Scion of Molek and free the hauflins; use Dyal''avar to defeat the Scion and his minions.

    ¡°Ooh...!¡± Lizzy exclaimed excitedly. ¡°A challenge!!¡±

    ¡°Portal?¡± Anhe then asked.

    ¡°Let''s go.¡± I said, and we stepped through the portal to face what was likely to be the final stage of the quest. As I stepped through, the thought struck me that Dyal''avar sounded a lot like Diabhal Leabhar; which, of course, is Irish for devil book.

    ***

    When we emerged on the other side, we found ourselves in a large cavern. There were two pillars on the near side, one of them marked with a devil''s head and the other marked with the symbol of the vile bishop. Further away was an islet in a lake of flames, where three hauflins were chained to a pillar, surrounded by five dark priests who were starting to chant some sort of ritual. And, at the far end of the room, there was a figure more monstrous than the footprints outside had suggested. I felt a shiver go down my spine.

    ¡°That''s...!!¡± I started in disbelief.

    ¡°The Scion of Molek,¡± Anhe said, and I composed myself again.

    ¡°R-right... it''s not the demon king, it''s just a nod to him... that probably has a lot of the same attacks...¡± I mused.

    ¡°Like?¡± Maryn asked, readying her shield.

    ¡°Fire, lightning, minion-summons... and a freaking lazer-beam attack that has a chance of one-shotting you. It''s fire and lightning damage combined.¡± I recalled.

    ¡°Lovely.¡± our shield-user commented dryly.

    ¡°Okay. I see what to do now.¡± Healina said. ¡°Ari and I will get into position on those pillars, and I''ll cast a spell from this book to mesmerize the dark priests over there; Lana, Lizzy, and Anhe, go rescue the hauflins. Maryn, go with them and get ready to grab the aggro of those priests.¡±

    ¡°That''s a good start,¡± I agreed.

    ¡°We''ll deal with the Scion after them,¡± the Sea Elf added, and I nodded back.

    ¡°He''s not as big as the Lord of Flames, at least!¡± Maryn grinned.

    ¡°True!¡± I smiled back. ¡°Let''s go!¡± I then said, and our two mages headed off to their pillars to get things going.

    Not twenty seconds later, Healina had cast her spell to daze the dark priests. I rushed over to the islet with Anhe, Lizzy, and Maryn, Ariana standing by with a flame spell of some sort to aid us from afar if necessary. Anhe let out a shout as she activated one of her battle auras, and when we reached the islet, Lizzy and I cut through the chains and ropes holding the hauflins, who did not flee but rather fainted on the ground.

    ¡°Snap! Quick!¡± I said, picking one up and heading for where the portal had been. Lizzy picked up two others, and Anhe and Maryn guarded the way as the two of us ran to set them down somewhere out of sight before returning to the others.

    ¡°Let''s hope they stay safe!¡± Lizzy said as we dashed over.

    ¡°We just need to take out those ratty priests!¡± I returned, drawing out my daggers and entering Shadow World to deal some serious damage. Ariana''s flame spell came hurtling towards one of the other priests, nearly devouring him all at once. Lizzy and Maryn finished him off, and Anhe started on another while I took care of a third. The last two then woke up, but their attacks weren''t much and they were too focused on trying to get the hauflins back so we managed to take them out pretty quick.

    As the last one fell to the ground, the vast chamber shook. I looked around, slowly turning my gaze towards the Scion of Molek at the far side. It had been in a statuesque posture for the past few minutes, but now it stood to its full height, red eyes glowing with wicked delight, its red hide covered with arcane tattoos and vile runes. No weapon was in its hand, but it needed none. Its claws on hands and feet were weapon enough, should it decide to use them. Two downward curved horns of obsidian color protruded from its head, gleaming in the fell light. It stepped out of its great alcove, and let loose with a dark chuckle in a deep tone, the sound echoing around the vast chamber.

    ¡°Here we go,¡± I said, readying myself.

    The demon then stomped towards us; Maryn grabbed its aggro, and just before it used one of its deadly attacks on her Healina cast a binding spell from her book to hold it in place, and Ariana cast another on it. I looked at the bars. One debuff would hold it in place for twenty seconds, the other lowered its resistances by fifteen-percent.

    ¡°Go!!¡± I shouted, and the rest of us launched our assault upon the Scion. In those few seconds we managed to knock out four-percent of his health before he snapped out of the daze, and then he stomped on the ground to knock us back.

    ¡°Cooldown! Thirty seconds!¡± Healina called.

    ¡°Casting more debuffs!¡± Ariana said. ¡°Heali, try a different one!¡±

    ¡°Looking!!¡± the Sea Elf returned anxiously. ¡°Here!¡± she then said. In the meantime, the Scion had indeed used a couple of flame waves to try and dissuade us or finish us off. Then he was hit by a slow-spell, which hindered his movement by seventy-five percent, and another one which further debilitated his resistances.

    We rushed in for a second attack, this time draining his health-bar to ninety-percent before he recovered. This time we were prepared for the stomp, and managed to evade its effect. The fight followed this pattern for what felt like quite a while; Healina and Ariana would debuff and-or bind the boss, giving us a window to attack him and whittle down his health until he recovered, at which time we went on the defensive until our two mages cast another spell on him from their books. Our little game continued until he reached ten-percent health. At that point, the spells from the tomes stopped working.

    ¡°Shoot!!¡± Healina cried out in disappointment as hers failed twice. After a third time she gave it up and came to join us. Ari did the same moments later. The boss arched back.

    ¡°Oh snap!!¡± my eyes widened. ¡°Heali, Ari, defense spells, now!¡± I ordered quickly. The two of them hurriedly cast their shielding spells, and Anhe added in one of her defensive auras to help. Then the mega-attack beam of fire and lightning that I was worried about exploded towards us with all the force of a hurricane. We were just barely safe until it ended.

    ¡°Good call!¡± Maryn said.

    ¡°Three minute cooldown for both of us,¡± Ariana told us.

    ¡°Ugh.¡± Lizzy softly griped. ¡°But... he looks...¡± she then remarked, looking at the Scion with a puzzled expression.

    ¡°¡­ Stunned?¡± I wondered. We all looked at each other, and without a word we resumed our attacks with a frenzy. Ari and I focused on leaving bleeds and DoTs on him as we wailed on him, expecting him to snap out of it again fairly soon.

    Seven-percent; six; five; four...!! SNAP!! I swore to myself as he began to recover. Ariana and I let loose with a few more of our DoTs before we retreated with the others. The Scion of Moloch shook its head to fully recover, and then arched its back again.

    ¡°Oh boy.¡± Maryn said nervously. ¡°Ari? Heali?¡±

    ¡°No good!¡± our healer lamented. ¡°Still a minute left!¡±

    ¡°So close!!¡± Lizzy seethed with frustration. But I kept my eyes on the health bar. Our bleeds were still in effect.

    Three-percent.

    Two-percent.

    One-percent.

    Dang it!! They''re wearing off!! I cursed inwardly, and then when it got to a half-percent I saw him stagger to the ground.

    ¡°Ari!! Now!!¡± I cried out, and she sent several more flaming DoTs his way, finishing him off. His health went to zero, and he did the classic demon-king writhe before finally imploding and leaving behind a wealth of loot for us to take.

    ¡°Nice!!¡± Lizzy said triumphantly, and I wrapped Ariana in a big hug as she smiled back and hugged me too.

    ¡°Yes!!¡± Heali grinned. The rest of them then joined us for a group hug, and then we went to collect our winnings.

    There was lots of gold, lots of tickets for furniture items or other knick-knacks, and and exclusive cosmetic token for each of us that we could use in Honeyton. Oh, Ariana and Heali were awarded two unique spell tomes similar to the ones we had found for the quest. The hauflins woke up when we returned to them a few minutes later, and we returned with them to Honeyton.

    ¡°Oh, thank you, adventurers! You''ve found all our townsfolk, and deserve every bit of what you found to take out of that horrid place! Have some of our special fall-treats as well, and don''t forget to check out Luni''s Tailor Shop on the way!¡± our quest-giver said happily, and then the quest marked itself as complete, granting us more tokens. We shared a victory high-five, and went to go collect on our other rewards.

    The cosmetics were harvest-themed hauflin dresses. They looked really nice, I have to say. Anhe''s was white and red in a plaid design, Ari''s was a green and gold plaid with some grey woven in, Maryn''s was a red one with leafy patterns, Heali got a plain russet one with some burgundy trim, Lizzy picked out a dress that was designed to look like a bunch of autumn leaves stitched together, and I settled for a simple one like Healina had, this one a soft brown with gold trimming. Once we had gotten these and collected some of those fall-treats that had been recommended to us by the NPC, we returned to Cloverbell for a change and had a quiet little celebration.

    ¡°So, Monday we''ll hit up the Wastes for sure?¡± Lizzy asked as our mini-festivities quieted down.

    ¡°Definitely!¡± Ariana nodded back. ¡°I want to see that one for sure, and I know Lana really wants to as well.¡± she said, running a hand through my hair as we sat together.

    ¡°True,¡± I softly grinned.

    ¡°Nice,¡± our halberdier smiled. ¡°This was fun -- if a little cheaty! You took at least half the surprise out of it with your Molek trivia!¡± she then smirked, sticking her tongue out at me.

    ¡°B-blame the designers, not me!¡± I quickly said, and she thought about that for a moment.

    ¡°You know, you''re right. It was all fun anyway. Plus forty points!¡± she beamed, and I sighed in relief.

    ¡°It never gets old!¡± Healina grinned.

    ¡°Nope.¡± Maryn agreed.

    ¡°Poor Lana,¡± Anhe said with a laugh.

    Whatever, I thought to myself, as long as we can make as many memories like this as we can before life drifts us apart... that''s all I want and hope for!

 Chapter Thirty: The Torching Mount

    that honor went to the quarterback who had replaced a certain bully a few weeks ago, along with the cheerleader''s captain. As far as I was concerned, though, Rachel was and is the only queen in my life. I wasn''t aware of it at the time, but afterwards some of our friends told us that we had ended up eclipsing our homecoming royalty. When I thought about it later, I was kind of stupidly proud of that, and Rachel herself was pretty happy about it as well. After all, as Ariana, she had been practicing dances with me for several weeks in Panarena.

    ¡°what to do, since a fair few of the good photos are of you too and a lot of the ones we actually got of our homecoming royalty weren''t that good, except for their coronation...¡± Rachel''s friend Amy, who was one of the chief editors and journalists for the school paper, had told us.

    ¡°

    hundred millions), but we manage to have a steady income. Nowhere near those pros, but hey. They can do them, and we can do us. All right, that should be pretty much everything.

    wanted to, but she has her job now, so she decided to be content with watching us. And Healina, on account of being a healer, didn''t think she''d make it far in a combat event, so she''s going to cheer us on with Lizzy.

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    ¡°and I have to sit out of it...¡± Ellie said with a mild groan.

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    ¡°have to,¡± I shrugged. ¡°It''s standard procedure for any online game these days to have at least one or two; and all the data they have for this game in particular is way beyond your average MMO. But that doesn''t help us get to Harmonia City.¡± I then said with a faint grin.

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    ¡°the PvP area of the game.¡±

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    ¡°minimum, two-hundreds at least.¡±

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    ¡°this year''s philosophical quandary?¡± she wondered.

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    What an experience that would be, I thought as Rachel and Andrea were dropped off. She then had me move up to the shotgun-seat, and we set off for my home.

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    ¡°you sometimes, the way you get in the hotsprings and stuff with us so naturally.¡± she said.

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    ¡°actually seen us. Not that I really care, though.¡± Ellie shrugged.

    ¡°get more awkward.¡± I replied with a tiredly goofy expression.

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    really feel any different than before.

    Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

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    always doing something productive with them... which could be an indication that my reality wasn''t as solid as I claimed, but then we were all fairly dedicated gamers, to be fair.

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    ¡°should we wear and where should we go?¡± Lizzy then said.

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    ¡°eight days, and then perhaps ten to get to Harmonia City. My body is strong, masters, and you have need of haste. The only thing which could get there faster than I would be a dragon--!!¡± he explained to us, and then suddenly his eyes lit up and he looked towards the northwest.

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    ¡°he could be made to serve you.¡± Fyu said to us.

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    just those three types of creatures. We found this out as soon as we crossed the border a couple in-game hours later, nearly crossing paths with a tribe of nomadic giants with their herds of pachyderm-type creatures -- or were they some kind of dinosaur?. These glared at us threateningly, but Fyu avoided going too near them so that we didn''t draw aggro.

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    ¡°just yet,¡± I muttered with a wry glance towards the beasts.

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    ¡°¡­ tame a dragon, what in the heck are we going to feed it? We can''t go catching dinosaur-sized beasts every day!¡±

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    ¡°might have come along with us, if we''d unhitched him, but I''m not sure how I feel about risking him on this little adventure.¡± I replied to her.

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    Dracuoatlax.

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    ¡°Eldritch Tomes are good examples.¡± I said.

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    You know, of all the sucky ways to go in a video game, I''ve always hated pools of lava the most... I mused to myself with a faint grimace. And this is a double-whammy, come to think of it; the dragon might incinerate us if things go badly. Dragon-fire, lava; lava, dragon-fire... dragon-fire... lava... almost the same thing, really, except that -- newp, nope, nope, nooo... not gonna think about *that*.

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    A panel?! A secret door!? Wait -- bingo!!

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 Chapter Thirty-one: The Dragon/Journey to Harmonia City

    The passage we had found was narrow, spiraling down to whatever end awaited those who walked its steps. I feel like it could have been made into a slide, but maybe we would have gotten too excited and ended up alerting the dragon to our presence if it was. Anyhow. It took nearly twenty in-game minutes to get to the bottom, but at last we arrived to find a corridor that led straight to an alcove. Maryn was about to start heading in, but I held up my hand for her to stop. It can''t be that easy...

    I turned on Shadow Vision; sure enough, there were traps. Floor-spikes, wall-pikes, wall-discs, ceiling blades, wall darts... you know, the usual. I looked carefully to see where the pressure plates were, and turned up nothing. Well that''s not good. That probably means... I mused to myself, and then looked over at Ariana.

    ¡°Ari, use Spell Detection.¡± I said to my partner, who nodded and activated the skill. She frowned after a moment, and shook her head.

    ¡°We can''t avoid any of the trap triggers.¡± she told us.

    ¡°Traps with magical triggers? This dungeon may actually be rough,¡± Lizzy grinned wryly.

    ¡°It''s a volcano with a dragon inside it,¡± I shrugged, and some of the others giggled.

    ¡°Hmm... there''s nothing on the ceiling, though; no triggers, I mean.¡± Ariana then said.

    I looked up at the ceiling. There was nearly nothing to hold on to up there, except the breaks where the swinging blades would come down from to try and terminate unwary players. And they weren''t designed to allow for monkey-business. I then blinked, and opened up a window to look through my skills.

    ¡°Ah! There it is,¡± I said as Ari looked over my shoulder.

    Shadow Climber: adhere to any surface for forty-five seconds.

    ¡°Can you get across that in a little less than a minute?¡± she wondered.

    ¡°Maybe,¡± I said, getting the skill ready.

    ¡°Whatever you''re doing, I hope you find a trap disabling lever or something if you get to the other side.¡± Maryn said to me.

    ¡°Eh? ''If''?¡± I grinned back, jumping up to the ceiling as I activated the skill.

    I stuck there like a spider, but unlike the others I didn''t have time to be impressed with that. Orienting myself the correct way (which is harder than you think when you''re upside-down on a ceiling), I scurried across as fast as I could, still feeling antsy every time I moved past one of the traps.

    ¡°I bet you could''ve used Levitate.¡± Healina remarked to Ari.

    ¡°Maybe.¡± she returned. ¡°But it''s more fun watching Lana!¡±

    Wh-what am I, the circus? I grimaced softly as I continued making my way over. There were ten seconds left. I picked up my pace, hoping I would clear the last few meters in time. All of a sudden something clicked, and I stood up (upside-down, of course) to sprint the rest of the distance. Just in time, I cleared the last few traps, and I tumbled down like a cat onto the ground again.

    ¡°Hahh... hahh... hahh...¡± I panted in relief, gazing back with bemusement as I heard clapping. I waved it off, hearing them laugh, and looked around for something to keep the traps from coming out.

    There was no lever or anything like that, but I did see three glowing crystals. Red, blue, and violet hues greeted my sight from another alcove off to the left. The alcoves had symbols underneath them; the far left one (where the red crystal sat) was marked with an arcane symbol, the middle one (with the blue) had a mark of crossing blades, and the right one (the violet crystal''s resting place) looked like some sort of aura around a circular object.

    Wait, that looks a bit like... I thought to myself, turning to examine the other prominent alcove. There was the -- collar? I guess it was a collar. And it was behind some sort of magical barrier. I let out a sigh, rubbing the back of my neck and then sending a message to Ari about what I had found.

    Ariana: maybe the marks are color-coordinated to the crystals? Or maybe you just have to play with them a bit!

    Lana: maybe... I''ll look again.

    Ariana: :)

    I went over to the other alcove once more and looked closely; the marks were all of black coloration. Hmm... the colors aren''t a clue, at least for the marks, but maybe the symbols themselves are... the triggers are arcane, the traps are the blades, and this thing is for the barrier around the collar. Okay. Think.

    Red; usually means danger. Violet; about the same. Blue; pretty calming, most of the time. I thought for a moment more, then I put the blue crystal in the arcane spot, the red one in the crossing blades alcove, then I changed my mind and put the violet one there and the red one in the collar alcove. I heard a depressive sort of noise, and looked around confusedly.

    ¡°The triggers are down, let''s go!¡± Ariana said, and the others came rushing over. I looked over anxiously; the traps did not go off. I sighed in relief as they reached my side, and then looked over at the other alcove.

    ¡°Maybe...¡± I said as I gazed at it quizzically, taking the blue crystal and switching it with the red one. The magical barrier disappeared. ¡°Ah!¡±

    ¡°Oh, I get it,¡± Ariana then said. ¡°The blue crystal deactivates things, the red one activates them, and the violet one... is probably a dud!¡± she smiled.

    ¡°Huh,¡± Lizzy remarked with interest.

    ¡°Or it''s a wild card and we''ve just been lucky so far,¡± I said as I looked back at the traps.

    ¡°Maybe,¡± Ari agreed. ¡°For now, let''s take this thing!¡± she said, stepping forth to get the collar. It was like a giant hula-hoop.

    ¡°H-how big is th-th-the dragon?¡± Heali remarked anxiously.

    ¡°Ahh...¡± I stared at the collar with bemusement. It would be at least twelve meters long if you laid it flat.

    ¡°Big enough to go carrying six people, I guess.¡± Maryn said calmly, but I could see her face twitching with some level of consternation.

    ¡°N-never mind the details for now; if we sneak up on it, this''ll be easy!¡± I said.

    ¡°Nice stutter.¡± Lizzy smirked.

    ¡°Ahh... anyway, I''m switching the crystals again so we can go back.¡±

    ¡°Right, we''ll worry about the dragon when we get to him,¡± Maryn nodded, and with that I again switched the red and blue crystals to allow us safe passage over the traps.

    We crossed back over safely, and made our ascent up the spiraling passage. It was then I recalled that the door had shut behind us. I brought this up to the others, but Lizzy said we should be fine now that we had the collar.

    ¡°Besides, the crystal probably unlocked or opened the door again as well,¡± she said.

    ¡°I hope so.¡± I muttered as we continued upwards.

    Thankfully the door was open again when we got there. We turned left to continue heading down the main tunnel; the rumbling snores of the dragon came to our ears again. Slowly we approached the terminus of the passage; subtly anxious and mysterious music played as we crept along, and then we exited the passage to find an overlook. To the right was a descending stair that wound its way around the edge to head further down. I got down on all fours and inched over to the edge of the overlook; Anhe came with me. The two of us peered cautiously over the side.

    There was a glowing lake of magma that we could see slowly bubbling at the bottom. That was probably two-hundred feet down. Fumes of smoke ascended from various places to create the billowing cloud which rose from the top. We could see several dozen creatures, all of them dragon-like or serpentine, that were guarding the stairs down. And in the middle of the lake there was a jagged and rocky island that was being used as a bed for a great dragon. It was a European-style dragon, with four limbs and a great set of bat-like wings. There was a golden-red color to its scales, and the size was about what I expected when I saw the collar.

    ¡°That is big.¡± Anhe whispered almost soundlessly. All I could do in reply was nod back. We crept away from the ledge, and went to talk with the others.

    ¡°Whew,¡± Maryn sighed softly when we had finished. ¡°This won''t be easy.¡±

    ¡°Two-hundred feet down; might as well be two-hundred miles at this rate!¡± Lizzy groaned.

    ¡°What if we have Lana and Ari sneak down while we distract what''s on the stairs?¡± Heali wondered.

    ¡°That''d be great, provided we don''t get the dragon as well,¡± Maryn said.

    ¡°He was far enough away from all the others, I don''t think drawing his aggro will be a problem for anyone but someone close to him.¡± I said, and Anhe nodded.

    ¡°He is on his own; although there were four statue things near him, Lana, did you see?¡± she told me.

    ¡°Hmm? I didn''t notice,¡± I admitted.

    ¡°They may just be decorations.¡± she shrugged.

    ¡°Let''s hope.¡±

    ¡°All right, so how do we do this?¡± Lizzy then asked, and Healina smiled.

    ¡°I''ll summon up some little friends to get their attention while Ari and Lana head down in stealth; with Lana''s skill, they won''t be noticed, and before the dragon even wakes up we can collar it!¡± she said confidently.

    ¡°I hope it goes that smoothly,¡± I said, remembering that it never went quite as smoothly for us as we always wanted.

    ¡°When was the last time we died?¡± our healer quipped to me with a smirk.

    ¡°Now you''re talking.¡± Lizzy grinned.

    ¡°Well, then, let''s not start now!¡± I smiled back. ¡°Ready, Ari?¡± I asked her, and she nodded back to me.

    ¡°I have the collar!¡± she said.

    ¡°Right; give us...¡± I looked towards the stairs again, guesstimating the travel time. ¡°Eh, give us about two minutes and then lay into them.¡± I said to the others as Healina summoned up some ice-sprites.

    ¡°Gotcha. Good luck!¡± Maryn said with a sword-salute, and with that Ariana and I vanished into the shadows to begin our descent.

    As the two of us headed down the long stairs, hidden by my shadow skill, I had a vague flashback to our adventure with the Twin Dragons. Those two had been smaller compared to the beast now slumbering at the bottom. Now we were trying to tame a dragon instead of beating it.

    The first wave of monsters suddenly rushed past us; the stealth skill held without breaking. We looked back briefly to see Healina''s minions continuing to harry the enemy as they rushed towards our friends above. Turning back to the descent, we kept close to the wall and moved as fast as we dared along the jagged steps.

    It was definitely getting warmer as we went down. Another wave of the dragon''s minions rushed past us after a couple of minutes; one of them almost seemed to notice us, but this one was suddenly viciously attacked by a flurry of Heali''s creatures that diverted its attention to the others. The monster in question practically flew towards them in anger. As it did so I suddenly looked towards the ¡°nest¡± in the midst of the magma lake again. This time I noticed the four statues that Anhe had mentioned.

    All four were dragons; one was black, the archetypal Western Dragon complete with vicious spikes coming from its head and back, wings outspread. The second was blue; this one was more Eastern in design, noble and yet ferocious in appearance. Between these two in the arrangement was a green dragon that was more wyvern-like in appearance, its forelimbs merged with its wings like a great bat. And the fourth across from it was of silver coloration; I didn''t quite recognize what kind of dragon it was supposed to be. It looked almost like the blue one based on the Chinese dragons, but it was more serpent-like and it had a set of horns like antlers coming from its head.

    At the base of these statues I could see inscriptions. And if I had learned anything about this game, it was that inscriptions in a place like this usually pointed out some useful hint. I nudged Ariana and nodded towards one of the statues. She looked at it for a moment, and then turned back to me with a nod; she had seen it too. We picked up our pace as another wave of the dragon''s servants rushed past us, luckily aided by the shadow of an overhang in our stealthy descent.

    Above us, I could hear Lizzy yelling out a ferocious war-cry and Maryn tapping her shield as a taunt for those who were rushing towards them. The two of us almost danced down the stairs, making sure to stay in the more shadowy areas as much as we could. Then we came to a halt. We were now most of the way down the stairs. And there was a group of elites directly in our path, along with a mini-boss.

    Four of them were salamanders; the mini-boss was a small wyvern. Ariana and I exchanged a glance. Even with Healina and Maryn, to say nothing of Lizzy''s DPS and Anhe''s support-skills, that would be a tough fight without us helping them. Ariana looked hesitantly towards it and then back up towards the others. I drew us over to the shadows, and sent a message to Healina.

    Lana: found a mini-boss; looks real tough. I can probably do some heavy damage to rough it up first without waking up the dragon.

    Healina: ??

    Healina: I mean, if you can do that and then slip back into the shadows *really* fast, then go for it, I guess

    Lana: you tag it first, then Ari and I will do some damage and disappear again -- wait about a minute before you do

    Healina: Got it.

    I nodded to myself, and then messaged Ari. Why did I message her instead of talking? Because talking even at a whisper has a chance of disrupting the stealth effect.

    Lana: we''re gonna do some surprise damage on the mini-boss when they tag it; get some DoTs ready

    Ariana: you got it!

    I looked back up towards the rocky platform above; the others were just about to finish off the attacking creatures. I looked back down towards the dragon; it was sound asleep even now. I readied my daggers, and Ariana readied one of her spells. This was one of the few she didn''t need an incantation for; it was a series of venom-fire bolts that kept ticking away on an opponent''s health for at least a minute. She bolstered it with a penetration and critical booster. Even that thing will have a hard time resisting the effect... I thought to myself with a wry expression.

    At that moment, a flurry of ice-minions drew the attention of our five friends before us; the four salamanders scurried upwards at once, but the wyvern let out a growl before charging up the stairs, which was perfect for us. Ari and I unleashed our attacks as he rolled by and then quickly vanished into the shadows again. The mini-boss looked around for a moment, but was swiftly diverted by more of Healina''s minions assailing him.

    Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

    We watched as he hurried up the stairs after his allies; his health was not dropping rapidly, but it was dropping steadily enough. I estimated that by the time he got to the top where the others were his health would be around seventy-percent, maybe seventy-five. It would be enough.

    The two of us then hurried down the rest of the way, crossing the narrow span across the magma lake with a strong anxiety towards the rocky island. I then noticed that the statues were oriented in an intercardinal fashion, the black one at northwest, the blue one on southeast, the green one for northeast, and the silver one at the southwest. This might have escaped me but for the fact that the entrance we had come in was definitely facing south and the descending passage to the interior had never once wavered from a straight line. The stairs had also terminated at the north end of the great chamber, and we were now facing directly south, more or less.

    We made our way to the black dragon''s statue, where Ari read the inscription carefully, noting some things down. She nodded, and we went to each of the others in turn, and then we slipped over towards a fairly good hiding spot where I deactivated the stealth skill and sat with her as she looked over her notes, softly whispering to me.

    ¡°The black dragon is Krosys, the world-devourer; the blue one is Shu, the Lord of the Waters also known as the peacemaker; the green one''s name is Xagox. The inscription was tricky to read, but I think he is some sort of trickster dragon without much in the way of power, except intellectually. And the last one is Sanbhravi the Wise.¡± she said.

    ¡°Hmm...¡± I mused softly. ¡°War, peace, knowledge, wisdom...¡±

    ¡°That''s a good way of looking at it,¡± she smiled back. ¡°I didn''t see any sort of panels to push in on them, but that doesn''t mean they''re not involved somehow.¡±

    ¡°Are you sure we can''t just walk up and collar him?¡± I asked her.

    ¡°We can try it,¡± she said with a shrug. ¡°That was our plan to begin with--¡± she continued, and then looked at me curiously. ¡°You know, this is a very general perception of things, but wouldn''t you say wisdom is needed for peace and knowledge for war?¡± Ari then asked me.

    ¡°Ehh... you''re right about that being a very general thing to say,¡± I whispered back after a moment, ¡°But when you think about it, it does make a certain kind of sense.¡±

    ¡°I wonder how it all goes together... but let''s try sneaking up on him for now,¡± she said to me. I nodded back, and we entered stealth again. Ariana readied the great collar, and we crept towards the beast. All the while, my mind continued thinking about the relevance of the statues, ending up in a hasty series of thoughts.

    Hang on, is sneaking up on him knowledge or wisdom? Well, I guess since he was a subjugator it''s probably ¡°wise¡± to use stealth against him. But then... well what if the statues are just related to his attributes? Or a warning about how to treat him? Do we want the wise dragon or a beast of war? We''re looking for an ally and friend like Fyu who can help us get around and do quests and stuff, so I guess sneaking up on someone isn''t the best way to make a new friend... here I paused mid-stride, and Ariana looked over at me with a curious but anxious expression.

    Knowledge, wisdom, war, peace; what do the statues mean? Do they have any relevance beyond simple attributes? Is there some sort of warning? Am I overthinking things? Maybe. Ugh. Just get on with the plan. Wait, what''s that? I suddenly wondered. The snoring had suddenly cut off with a slight jerk. However you pronounced his name, Dracuoatlax was about to wake up.

    ¡°Dang it!¡± I swore softly, yet it broke the stealth skill.

    ¡°Lana!¡± Ariana exclaimed in a hoarse whisper.

    ¡°Stay there and get ready!¡± I hissed back, running to the dragon''s face, where I knelt down.

    In front of that massive reptilian face more directly, I could see that our friend Dracuoatlax resembled the Krosys statue most. He had great horns coming out of his skull, and smaller ones sticking out along his jaw like spikes. I could feel my heart racing, and out of the corner of my eye I could see Ariana biting her lip.

    It''s a game, it''s a game, it''s just a game...

    I said that to myself over and over, and in the end I never quite convinced myself, for at that moment the dragon Dracuoatlax opened his eyes, those golden eyes with the dark-slit of a pupil that suddenly fixed their gaze upon me. Suddenly I felt completely naked. I knew I wasn''t, but that was just the kind of impression being stared at by those eyes left on me.

    ¡°A woman,¡± the rumbling voice spoke as the head lifted up. ¡°A human woman, no less. What would you have of Dracuoatlax, woman, or what would you dare in his presence?¡±

    By the way, he pronounced it ¡°drah-cwoh-aht-lax¡±.

    ¡°T-t-to g-gaze up-p-pon y-your g-g-greatness-s-s... a-and to a-a-ask a b-b-boon...¡± I stammered out.

    ¡°Ho-ho? And what would a mere woman ask of a dragon lord such as I?¡± Dracuoatlax asked me then. For some strange reason I suddenly felt calmer, but I still swallowed a lump before I spoke again.

    ¡°Wise dragon, knowledgeable dragon; lord of war, and keeper of peace. Mighty and Discerning Dracuoatlax, I seek your aid.¡± I returned, hoping I had made some sort of progress.

    ¡°What a well-spoken guest I have found in my home; yet surely you mean we: deny it not! I smell others in these halls, and the blood of my servants. Nay! I hold it not against thee: I commend your efforts, for they were no small prey and had lain low many a mighty hero of old. Speak freely! What aid would you have, so valiant a warrior as you seem?¡± the dragon said.

    Don''t get cocky, don''t get cocky, I reminded myself. He had left me to stumble along with this reminder of his acute senses. How could I justify -- no, he didn''t want me to justify our actions in defeating his subjects. What did he want me to -- no, what was I supposed to say to get us in his good graces?

    ¡°L-lord Dracuoatlax! I seek your aid against many further challenges. Challenges of war, of making peace; I ask for your knowledge and wisdom, for your strength and your restraint, to help us overcome that which awaits us in days yet to come.¡± I said then. He seemed to gaze at me with approval, and blinked.

    ¡°Tell me your name, woman.¡± he said to me.

    This was a tricky question. Even I knew about the old fables and stories where giving your name to a dragon came with a price. It would lay some sort of curse or pox upon you once it knew your right name, or your true name, in some cases. But if I remembered right, a riddle or so was usually the correct kind of reply.

    ¡°I am the Shadow of the Aldholt, a Scourge of Injustice; I walk as a leader and as a servant. Many have fallen to me, but I have fallen before no one. My greatest foes have fallen to my cunning, yet never once did my blade touch them.¡± I said in answer, and the dragon gazed at me with curiosity.

    ¡°Interesting...¡±

    ¡°I am a heroine of barren wastes and an unknown in great cities; I am one of six, yet I stand apart from them. All that has stood in my way has only helped me along. I have found out many secrets, yet none in this land have taken secrets from me.¡± I continued. He snorted.

    ¡°Amusing. I can see your prowess, or what you believe of it, at least. Do you think these qualify you for my aid?¡± Dracuoatlax wondered.

    ¡°I think they speak to that which might be accomplished with your aid.¡± I replied. ¡°You have lain low here for time out of mind; do you not fear that some might come to eclipse you?¡± I asked him. His eyes lit up. ¡°But I have heard of you, Dracuoatlax, and I desire to show the world, this world, how strong you are -- and how cunning.¡± I added with a slight emphasis. Ariana took the cue, quietly levitating herself from the ground and readying the collar.

    ¡°Cunning, yes -- but, my foolish woman, do you think I need you or any of your friends to demonstrate my cunning, my strength, or any other of my qualities? I am Dracuoatlax! There is none more cunning than I, none stronger, none wiser! None more powerful! If there were such, I would aid them, aye: even serve them as masters! Yet in all my centuries, not one have I ever known! What say you now, my dear woman?¡± he said to me then.

    ¡°I say... checkmate.¡± I replied with a smug grin.

    Ariana then snapped her fingers to activate a psychokinesis spell which sent the collar flying towards Dracuoatlax''s neck and fastened it swiftly and securely. He let out a grunt of surprise, and then blinked twice before erupting in laughter. At that point the others had come down to join us, nervously at first but then they seemed a bit more relaxed by the fact that the great beast was chuckling.

    ¡°Ha-ha-hahhhh! Ah, me, by all the flames of the ancient north! Not even those who made this thing were clever enough to get it on me; yet you sly warrior women have done so with cunning and aplomb. Very well! You have won! The Mighty Dracuoatlax is now at your service until the day you leave this world.¡± he said to us then, inclining his head reverently.

    ¡°I hope we have many adventures together before that day comes,¡± I said to him with a grin.

    ¡°Then let us begin, my master; what adventure awaits us?¡± Dracuoatlax grinned back.

    ***

    About an hour later, we were flying with Dracuoatlax in the skies of Panarena, heading over the Firelands at a fairly rapid pace. Not even he could fly the whole distance to Harmonia City within the space of a day; but with only a couple of stops he could be most of the way there before we had to log out for the night--err, day.

    Which reminds me, how are the other guilds getting there? The wayports are only activated for a player or party when you reach them, right? I know that makes sense, but then what about players who didn''t quite make it to Harmonia City before the Grand Tournament? ¡­ I''m missing something, I know I am... I thought to myself as we headed out over the Jade Sea.

    To the west I could see the rest of the Firelands, and a hint of the Phoenix Domain on the distant horizons. To the east I saw the great and stormy peaks of Stormwraith Hold and the Mountains of Travesty, and further north of them the untamed landscape of the Wildlands. Looking north, I could see the sea stretching on for quite a distance, as well as a hint of land that we would probably reach in a couple hours.

    ¡°We will rest on the southern shores of Pirate Isle,¡± Dracuoatlax said as he flapped his great wings. ¡°From there, our next halt should be at the border of Thessalia and Bretony, and then we shall arrive in Kingsmark, where I shall set you down at Harmonia City. Forget not the spell I have taught you to call me!¡± he told us.

    ¡°We won''t!¡± Ariana smiled.

    ¡°Now this is an adventure.¡± Lizzy said, also smiling.

    ¡°Right?¡± I nodded in agreement.

    ¡°I wonder how fast we are going...?¡± Anhe said with a nervous grin.

    ¡°I wonder what Pirate Isle is like!¡± Maryn wondered ecstatically.

    ¡°Priorities,¡± I whispered to Ari, who giggled softly. We looked down at the sea; there were ships traversing the great inlet that touched the five regions of Xuanpu, the Firelands, the Wildlands, Stormwraith Hold and the Mountains. Were they NPC vessels or players? Or even a hybrid crew of both?

    From what I had read on the forums, it wasn''t just that we could hire NPCs as workers and such, a player could also work for a NPC''s business. Not in the traditional questing manner, but as an actual employee. Which was particularly handy for crafters, especially the dedicated ones. I''d read about several players who were now top-class artisans or chefs making a fortune from their experiences at NPC bakeries, shops, or warehouses.

    Almost makes me wonder if they have a currency-conversion system here that would let you exchange Panarena coin for real money... I thought to myself. There probably was and I just hadn''t looked deeply enough into it. Then again it was bound to be a steep conversion-rate. I''d have to be one of those no-life pros to make a decent income from gaming. Or be a professional tester... I mused.

    Ari and I leaned onto each other as Dracuoatlax flew over the sea, practically falling asleep, and then the next thing I knew our new ally was touching down on the southern shores of Pirate Island. A few of the nearby NPCs chattered in excitement or fright, but other than that there was no huge reaction to us. We climbed down to stand on solid ground once more, and with a nod Dracuoatlax slunk into the sea to do some hunting.

    ¡°Hehh...?¡± I remarked with interest as I watched him start swimming under the waves like some sort of sea-monster.

    ¡°Fyu was right, he really will take care of himself.¡± Ariana quipped.

    The six of us then went over to a nearby tavern and inn that stood on the piers and jetties which darted out over the nearby ocean. It was like a Maldives resort, but without the huge expense to get to it and stay there. We paid our expenses for the night and then changed into our beach-wear. Heali, Lizzy, and Maryn immediately set off for the beach while the rest of us sat at a table to enjoy some house specialties.

    ¡°If this tastes as good in real life when we''re able to actually drink...!¡± Ariana said as she sipped on a rum and punch cocktail.

    ¡°Right?¡± I grinned, sipping on another one. Anhe was contentedly idling with another kind of drink involving lime, and there was a seafood platter in the midst of the table.

    ¡°We should try to do something like this for our summer trip!¡± she said with a smile. ¡°And then maybe our last year, as well,¡± she added.

    ¡°Right, because we''re in the same year,¡± I nodded back.

    ¡°Oh definitely!¡± Ariana agreed at once. ¡°That''s going to be weird... Maryn''s going to graduate this year, and then Lizzy and Heali next year...¡± she said in a more subdued tone.

    ¡°I''m sure we''ll have--¡± I started to say, but then stopped myself. ¡°No... no, it''s definitely going to be weird,¡± I said as my face fell, looking over towards the other three, who were playing in the waves, shrieking and giggling as they splashed each other or got knocked over by a wave.

    Before I knew it, we were all here together, I realized quietly.

    ¡°Let''s make it the best summer ever.¡± Ariana said, and Anhe nodded.

    ¡°We''ll do that.¡± I smiled, turning back to them, and we toasted the sentiment. ¡°To the rest of the year, and to a great summer!¡±

    ¡°Cheers!¡± Ari smiled.

    ¡°Ganbei!¡± Anhe also grinned.

    We finished our drinks with that toast, and when the others came back we ordered another round and another platter, spending most of the evening carrying on merrily until we went to sleep around midnight Panarena-time. Dracuoatlax was waiting for us when we woke up, and after we had gotten our travel gear on and a short breakfast had been eaten we were off again.

    The first part of our second flight took us over the rest of Pirate Island, a mostly tropical jungle with some ramshackle shanty or beach towns, but on the northern side of the inlet that almost cut the island in two there was a more city-like series of buildings. This, Dracuoatlax told us, was the Pirate City of Turquoit. It was surrounded by great palisade walls, and the greatest two buildings, an administrative center and a temple, were made more of stone than of timber. A fleet of ships were docked or lazily patrolling the waters.

    After we passed over these sights we continued over the Jade Sea and into Thessalia. This, as I had imagined from the name, had a Grecian theme to it. Not just the buildings and homes, mind you, but the actual countryside as well: hills and dells with rolling mountains and shining rivers that almost seemed to sing as they rolled along. We could see fauns and satyrs running about, and centaurs galloping off into the distance. Ari caught a glimpse of dryads, and there were a few nymphs idling around here and there as well.

    From the more mythological and idyll settings we crossed into more human lands, where shepherds and their flocks sat on the borders of the fantastical. Here we saw vineyards and farms in more isolated places, and brilliant marble and stone cities of markets or universities.

    ¡°It''s like we''re flying through time,¡± Healina remarked as we passed a building reminiscent of the Parthenon, and we all nodded.

    ¡°It really is a fantastical world,¡± Maryn added.

    By the late afternoon, Dracuoatlax touched down near a large mountain range that bordered Thessalia and Bretony. He nodded to us again as we got down, and stalked off to find something he could eat while we made our way to the lakeside village nearby. We spent the night at a local inn, enjoying the quieter pace of the village here and listening to tales of Thessalia and a few that came from Bretony. I think we all silently agreed that we were going to do some quests in these regions at some point.

    One of the stories we heard reminded us of the Trojan War; it probably was that story, actually, but with a lot of the names changed. And there was also an Arthurian-style ballad that we were treated to, one that concerned the quest of a knight to rescue a fair lady from the heavy-handed tyrant who had kidnapped her. We enjoyed them immensely, of course, and applauded with everyone else (mostly NPCs) when they ended. There were two real players here, both of them from the other side of the world, working on their crafting professions in this village. We shared a round of drinks with them, and they wished us luck in the tournament, to which we wished them luck in their crafting pursuits in return.

    The next morning (in Panarena at about five-thirty), we woke up and went tell Dracuoatlax that we would be back as soon as we could (two days later from his perspective), to which he nodded and promised to lay low while he waited.

    Our school-day passed as it usually did; classes went by at a steady pace, and we weren''t given too much homework for a change, so when we got home it was easy to finish it all up and do some chores before dinner, after which we once again journeyed into Panarena. Fortunately Lizzy didn''t have to work until Saturday--tomorrow--this week, so she could finish her journey with us. We found Dracuoatlax waiting at the foot of a mountain some distance away from the village, and then set off for the last leg of our flight.

    Once over the mountains, we found ourselves flying over Bretony, which, as you may have guessed, is a Celtic and Arthurian-themed region. There were spotless castles and rustic villages with farmlands and herds of cattle or sheep milling about. We passed by a mysterious-looking woodlands with the hint of an ancient tower peeking out of the mighty trees that were obscuring it from sight. To the west we could see a region called Vinlandia, a Nordic-themed area that was also famous for its grapes, and to the east we could see what was marked as Hollyland on the map. We couldn''t see the eponymous trees, but our new friend assured us that the region was nearly filled with them.

    After a few hours we had passed through Bretony and were now in Kingsmark, where we could see the hint of proud spires gleaming in the distance. It was Harmonia City. Another few hours passed before we finally got there. The surrounding countryside was not unlike Bretony''s, but with a less idyllic and more pastoral vibe to it, if that makes any sense.

    Dracuoatlax set us down for the final time, at least on this journey, and then told us that he would return to his mountain until we called for him again. We exchanged farewells, and then he leapt into the air with a mighty flap of his wings, soaring southwards. I watched him fade into the distance, and then turned to look at Harmonia City.

    It was exactly as I remembered from the introductory cinematic, a gleaming white city of elegant spires and shining roofs; the blue banners trimmed with golden fray, with the rampant-lion of gold surrounded by four hearts and four swords etched onto them, waved proudly in the breeze. Everything about it said that this was the center of Harmonia''s civilizations. We entered through a set of massive gates on the eastern side, and further in I suddenly saw Tyman and Wildeye looking at us with funny expressions. We waved at them, and they came over to us.

    ¡°Damn, Lans, a dragon, really?¡± Tyman asked me.

    ¡°What?¡± I wondered defensively.

    ¡°Y''know you coulda caught a train up in Stormwraith Hold, right?¡± he said to me.

    My mind shut down for about five seconds, and then restarted with a jumble.

    ¡°¡­ Train?¡± I asked him blankly. He pointed to a spot behind us. There we saw a sign indicating an underground train station.

    ¡°Some sort of Dwarf and Gnomish contraption that runs on magic crystals; they call it the Magic Bullet Express. Runs through a lot of Harmonia''s interior,¡± the claw-wielder explained to me.

    ¡°Ah... ahh...¡± I sighed wearily.

    ¡°I can''t wait to hear how you tamed a dragon, Lady Lana!¡± Wildeye then said with a grin.

    ¡°Damn, girl, you ain''t never gonna change.¡± Tyman quipped.

    I could only stare at the sign absolutely dumbstruck. I was sure I heard Lizzy and Heali laughing, and I was sure that I vaguely saw Maryn shaking her head with amusement and Anhe giving me a sheepish smile, and I was also fairly certain that Ariana was patting my shoulder, a bemused smile on her face, but there was only one thing occupying my thoughts at the moment.

    How in the half-baked heck did I not know this world had a dang subway system?!?!?!?

 Chapter Thirty-two: Into the Tournament

    So now it''s Monday evening, and the six of us are sitting around a crystal-video display showing the preliminary matches. Oh. So after my brain started working again Friday night, we checked into this place and entered our names into the prelim match-ups. None of us got to do anything until Saturday, after which the four of us who were fighting made it through five pretty intense combat rounds, followed by three more later in the evening. That qualified us for the tournament''s Grand Melee and Magic Event, which was basically the final prelim but actually the start of the tournament itself, during which all of the few hundred contestants who were sure to get that far would be whittled down to a few dozen.

    Already there were streams of players who were leaving Harmonia City, though most of them were staying to support their friends, guild-mates, or parties-slash-groups. I myself caught sight of my second-to-last vict--err, opponent, slunking out in a daze towards the Magic Bullet Express. I couldn''t really blame him. Getting matched up with an assassin-type character is no fun no matter what. But the poor guy was only sixty-something in level, whereas Lana was now near to eighty-one. At least my other opponents were near to my level... except that final one... I grimaced.

    My last fight had pitted me against a level one-twenty mage whose sole purview of magic was flames. I understood the advantage immediately; focusing on a particular branch of magic, after all, gives you access to unfathomable skills in its growth. There are some players that even consider this a more orthodox-style of mage than people like Ariana or Healina, who branch out into different trees of magic for a more robust variety of spells. In my opinion, both types of play-styles had their benefits, and this guy proved that to me beyond any doubt.

    I ended up using a run-and-gun style with my bow for most of the fight, using poison or ice arrows (an obvious choice, if simple) to counter him. Most of the ice arrows stale-mated his flame-projectiles; few of them ever actually reached him. But the poison arrows almost never missed their mark, though several of them got caught by his staff. D-daaang, I thought in amazement several times.

    Eventually, though, his luck ran out when I started applying a mana-drain to the poison arrows. After about five minutes of them (each combat round lasted for thirty minutes, by the way), he staggered, nearly choked on an incantation, and fell to his knees. I saw my chance at once. I slipped into the shadows, switched my bow for my daggers, and rushed him with a sneak attack from behind to finish him off. The last expression on his face before he burst apart was a grin that promised to get me back some time. I nodded back to him, and my final round was over.

    Sunday, we spent most of the time watching Maryn''s rematch; her final round had ended in a complete stalemate, both opponents still standing after an intense battle. In short, she had been an immovable object fighting the unstoppable force of a hybrid rogue-magician wielding a pair of short-swords. They tried again for a second round Sunday afternoon, and when that ended in a second draw, the GMs monitoring the tournament as judges and referees had no choice but to mix and match from another draw. This time, Maryn won her battle -- but so did her original opponent, whose name I etched in memory as a possible match-up after the official opening: Myanihia Black.

    I couldn''t be sure, but that first name sounded a lot like me¨¢n o¨ªche, Irish for ¡°midnight¡±, though it did seem likely--and appropriate--considering that they and I had the same aesthetic of dark-colored armor. When Maryn came back from her final triumph, she watched her former opponent''s round with a grim expression.

    ¡°That one''s good,¡± she said afterward. ¡°Even Lana would have a hard time with them.¡±

    ¡°Come to think of it, we''ve never tested our skills against each other, any of us,¡± I then remarked.

    ¡°Ooh... that could''ve been a useful pre-prelim.¡± Lizzy nodded.

    ¡°Were they a male or a female?¡± Healina suddenly wondered. I''ve been referring to Myanihia in a neutral sort of way, and Maryn did the same that very moment. A look of uncertainty came to her face as she paused for words, and then she shook her head.

    ¡°I''m not sure. The outfit could go either way, as could the body-type. The face was masked completely, and they never made a sound, not even for a spell-initation.¡±

    ¡°Which means their magic affinity is decently high.¡± Ariana noted. At a certain level, mage-types don''t need to say anything to activate a spell, they just need to have it cued up.

    ¡°The affinity might be high, but the attacks seemed mediocre compared to a more dedicated mage.¡± Maryn said. ¡°It was their sword-work that really kept me on my toes.¡±

    ¡°I noticed that,¡± I said with a wince. If I came across them, the magic wouldn''t be too much of a problem, but my two daggers versus those two swords...

    ¡°Well, you all made it into the official tournament, so let''s enjoy the rest of the prelim matches until it begins!¡± Healina then smiled, and Lizzy beamed raising her mug.

    ¡°Let''s do that,¡± I agreed with a laugh, and so we continued doing so for the rest of the evening, minus a break for dinner.

    Monday went by the same as it ever did, though at least it was a sunny day today. Ty looked half-asleep on the bus. I supposed he had done the in-game sleep thing a bit, but for some reason he always seemed more tired than I did after doing so.

    ¡°Yo, Dans,¡± he suddenly said, ¡°Saw them fights. Dayum.¡±

    ¡°Right?¡± I returned with a bemused grin.

    ¡°That magic-assassin thing or whatever really had Maryn on the ropes, too.¡±

    ¡°Did they ever,¡± I nodded back.

    ¡°I ain''t got to fight yet, but apparently tonight''s the night.¡± he then said.

    ¡°Good luck -- really,¡± I told him, and we shook hands.

    ¡°I''mma make it through these and that brawl on Friday so we can finish our fight!¡± he said with a proud grin, and I grinned back.

    ¡°Wouldn''t have it any other way, Ty.¡± I replied, and he gave me a sharp nod.

    We parted ways at school the same way we always did, and then it was on to classes. Have I mentioned before how school really seems to drag on when you really want to be playing a video game? No? Yes? Well it does. The only notable things I could recall was that we turned in our assignment on the Lewis and Clark Expedition, our math homework was bordering on the unintelligible (for me, at least), science class was promising something interesting for a mid-term, Miss Andrews announced tryouts for the musical this December, and Mrs. Liang from Chinese promised us a holiday party after our mid-terms if we all passed with good marks.

    When we got home, Andrea and Rachel were both on video-call with me to help me get through that awful math homework, both of them thoroughly enjoying the situation, and when that ordeal was over I went to do a few chores until dinner, after which I logged into the game, which brings us back to sitting around the crystal-display to watch the rest of the preliminaries.

    ¡°Ooh, that was good!¡± Lizzy remarked as the swordsman we were rooting for evaded a flurry of fireballs and then rushed his opponent, spooking the mage who had kept him on the ropes for several minutes and summarily defeating her.

    ¡°That was tense!¡± Ariana exclaimed. ¡°I don''t think even you could evade something as rapid fire as that,¡± she said to me.

    ¡°P-probably not,¡± I agreed with a wry grin.

    No, I''m not gonna brag that I could, either. That mage was really something with her technique; but that swordsman was bonkers, man. There''s a lot of VR-gamers that have gotten attuned, so to speak, to the feeling of being in these worlds so that we can do insane things on the level of a certain post-apocalyptic sci-fi franchise that was super popular around the turn of the century, and this guy was one of them. We were good, but not quite that good -- yet.

    ¡°Gonna need a lot more practice to pull something like that off...¡± I muttered, and she smiled at me.

    ¡°But this other fight though.¡± Healina then said, drawing our attention to one of the other displays we had going.

    Oh yeah. This crystal thing can show you up to seven scenes at once. Not that we were paying attention to more than two at most, but hey.

    ¡°That''s Ty for you,¡± I said.

    The fight was in fact Tyman versus another claw-wielder. It had been going on for at least ten minutes, the two of them sizing each other up at first and then making some initial attacks to continue gauging the other before finally launching into a more full-on battle. This one I was watching closely. I''m sure he had watched all of my fights closely as well. Sure, we were on friendlier terms these days; but there was no way we were going to turn down this one chance to get into a situation where we could duke it out without getting in trouble for it. I had made it through, he was definitely going to make it through. And I knew for a fact that nothing in that grand opening brawl was gonna keep us from fighting each other in the main tournament.

    ¡°How do you even counter something like that without being ranged?¡± Lizzy wondered as she watched the two fighters.

    ¡°Well these two seem to have figured it out, anyway.¡± Maryn shrugged. ¡°But basically, even if you''re not ranged, you can keep the claws at a distance with swift melee strikes or a good shield-defense.¡±

    ¡°Oh.¡± our smith returned, still fixated on the fight.

    They looked like two wildcats on that stage; I could almost hear growling and hissing, but that was definitely my imagination. Eventually Tyman broke down the other guy''s guard and slashed him in the face a couple times. While his opponent reeled, the Mountain Tigers'' lieutenant claimed his victory with a ferocious yell and a stab through the heart, courtesy of those monster-claws. I winced, as did the rest of the girls (wait a second, when did I--never mind...), and then Tyman''s adversary went up in smoke and pixels. He let out a victory howl, and the people watching in person roared with cheers--a few jeers came up as well, but they were fairly drowned out.

    ¡°That''s his third fight, right?¡± Ariana asked me.

    ¡°Ehh... yep, his third one,¡± I said as I quickly pulled up the match-up schedule.

    ¡°This one is also very good,¡± Anhe said with interest as she honed in on another fight. It was a fight between two mages, one of whom a few of us knew pretty well.

    ¡°Angelfire!¡± Ariana said excitedly, and I shrank back into my seat.

    ¡°Still?¡± Healina said as she grinned over at me.

    ¡°Sh-shut up...¡± I quipped back, and she, along with Lizzy and Ari, laughed heartily.

    ¡°Hm? Hmm?¡± Anhe wondered, a smile on her face.

    ¡°Angelfire once tried to hit on Lana,¡± Lizzy told her.

    ¡°Ahh!¡± the other girl said in understanding. ¡°Understandable!¡±

    ¡°H-hey now...¡± I said with a wry expression.

    ¡°She''ll definitely get into the tournament -- ooh, her opponent''s an ice-mage, this''ll be fun!!¡± the blonde girl said with glee. ¡°Gotta make time next year to get into the tournament...¡± she then muttered, and Heali patted her on the shoulder.

    ¡°Oh, wow, there''s Jannie!¡± I suddenly noticed on another screen. She was now wielding a longsword and a targe, and she looked just as composed as ever in her otherwise heated battle.

    ¡°Hmm?¡± Maryn looked at the scene with interest. ¡°Not a tank-type, huh?¡±

    ¡°Huh? Oh, the targe,¡± I remarked. ¡°Eh, I don''t think she was a tank, no, just a cautious one-handed sword-user.¡±

    ¡°Maybe I should have gotten one for these fights... but then I might not have lasted against that Myanihia character,¡± she said with a faint grin.

    ¡°That''s the thing; we know the names of the people we''re gonna fight, but we don''t really know all of them either, and we can''t watch every fight, so it''s a bit tough to prepare. You kind of got lucky,¡± I said, and she nodded back.

    ¡°Very true. I''d guess there''s only a handful we''re really familiar with,¡± she added.

    ¡°Like these two on the screens now,¡± Healina reminded us.

    ¡°Jannie''s keeping that guy alert. Looks like he can''t tell if she''s attacking or defending,¡± Ariana said with a smirk.

    ¡°This ice-mage is very good.¡± Anhe said, completely fixated on Angelfire''s match.

    ¡°Heh, don''t think I''ve seen Angelfire so flustered since we pulled that avalanche trick on her,¡± I said with a grin.

    ¡°Hahh!!¡± Lizzy clapped with amusement. ¡°She does look pretty mad right now. I guess their respective proficiencies are about equal.¡±

    ¡°Which means that her best spells can be cancelled out by the other girl''s spells.¡± Ariana nodded.

    ¡°Which means it''s gonna come down to ingenuity.¡± Healina nodded.

    ¡°Oop! There goes Jannie''s opponent!¡± I said, watching as she bashed his sword upwards with her targe and then struck him for critical damage with lightning fast strikes. He disintegrated with a pitiful wail, and she twirled her sword around dramatically before sheathing it and taking a bow at the applause.

    ¡°Yeowch. But seriously, what a dorky wail...¡± Lizzy remarked, and we laughed.

    ¡°That''s her fifth match so far, it says; and this is Angelfire''s fourth.¡± I noted as I brought up the schedule-panel again.

    ¡°She''s making a comeback now,¡± Ariana said as we enlarged the panel in question.

    ¡°Definitely,¡± I agreed. Our fellow Aldholter had figured out that her opponent was not as quick a caster as she was, and was now trying to overwhelm the other mage with DPS over skill. Basically the other person was trying to play chess while Angelfire was playing checkers. I said this out loud, and the others laughed almost too hard at the quip. I''m sure Angelfire herself would be irate with me for saying so, but whether or no, she was certainly breaking down her ice-using rival.

    ¡°Good grief!¡± Healina shook her head. ¡°Forget checkers, she''s playing whack-a-mole with the poor girl!¡±

    ¡°Pfffffft!¡± Lizzy chuckled again.

    ¡°Ahh-heh-heh-heh...¡± I wryly grinned.

    ¡°That is some very relentless casting.¡± Anhe agreed.

    ¡°Wait!! What in the heck is this cute fight!?¡± Maryn wondered, enlarging another scene for us.

    This fight was a pixie-girl going up against a werefox. Yes, you can be a pixie in this game: none of them are over twelve inches in height (this girl was probably eight, if that), and they''re not super strong physical fighters, but they''re superb magic-users, technically magical beings. Their racial skill tree is one of the few in Panarena Fantasy Online that can work as an effective combat skill tree. Right now she was casting status-ailments on her hapless opponent, causing the werefox to stumble around drunkenly or blindly while she readied more deadly skills to whittle down his health.

    ¡°Awww...!!¡± the six of us chorused together, suddenly enraptured by the small pixie girl in her sky-blue outfit. We couldn''t see much more of her than that, but her wings were like dragonfly wings, and they had a shimmering crystal color to them. Oh, her hair seemed to be the same color as her outfit, sky-blue, with hints of silver or white.

    ¡°Huh? What happened with Ange--oh, she won,¡± I noted as I looked back over.

    ¡°Hmm? Oh, she did!¡± Anhe remarked. ¡°Aw, we missed it,¡± she lamented.

    ¡°I''m sure it went exactly as we might think,¡± I remarked with a grin. This did not console our staff-wielder, who made a small pout, but we did return our attention to the pixie''s fight immediately after.

    ¡°Whew! She''s deadly.¡± Maryn said, watching as she cast a series of health-drain spells on the werefox.

    ¡°Some call it low, others call it life.¡± Lizzy quipped. ¡°Ooh, almost there!¡±

    ¡°She''s got him.¡± Ari nodded.

    ¡°And -- there he went.¡± Heali said.

    ¡°Hope we don''t end up fighting with her.¡± I said somewhat nervously.

    ¡°Anhe or I could probably hold out against her,¡± Ariana said.

    ¡°Probably.¡± the other girl agreed. ¡°No offense, but I might last longer!¡± she then grinned, and Ari smiled bemusedly.

    ¡°True... your battle-auras would definitely give you an edge.¡± the Wood-Elf girl agreed.

    ¡°Hmm... next round of battles is in... forty minutes.¡± Lizzy then said, taking a look at the schedule.

    ¡°Bleh, no one we know in that round...¡± I sighed.

    ¡°But we should watch anyway.¡± Maryn shrugged.

    ¡°True, but still... oh wait, the pixie girl''s up in that round!¡± I suddenly noticed.

    ¡°Cool!!¡±

    ¡°What''s her name?!¡± Maryn and Ariana said at once.

    ¡°Ahh... Sky Belle, level eighty-two.¡±

    ¡°Aw, cute!¡± Ariana said.

    ¡°Eighty-two...!¡± Maryn exclaimed, and then whistled in admiration.

    The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

    ¡°Right?¡± I replied. ¡°And from watching that battle she''s definitely got her Pixie-skills leveled pretty high,¡± I added.

    ¡°True.¡± Lizzy nodded. ¡°If that werefox had put some more effort into his own racial skills he might have beaten her; not that I''m ragging on his choice to try and use the sword he had, but still. If you''re gonna be a werebeast, might as well own it!¡±

    ¡°Exactly.¡± I agreed. ¡°Man, being a werewolf was so much fun in Sorrowdin...¡± I recalled with a slightly dopey grin on my face.

    ¡°Duuuude. Right?¡± Lizzy beamed. ¡°Anyway. Let''s get some more snacks and stuff before the fights start up again.¡± she then said, and we all got up in agreement, heading out of our room and into town to stock up on goodies for the rest of our watching experience.

    Okay, so. Harmonia City. There''s five main districts to it: there''s the Market Area on the east side where we arrived, also home to player or guild housing; there''s the Homesteads on the north end, which is where most of the NPCs reside, along with another series of player houses; on the west side they have a Barracks Quarter (self explanatory, I hope); the Arena and its surrounding sub-venues are in the southern district; and the Holy Palace is in the exact center of it all. Of course, there''s a certain amount of overlap among the districts. There are markets and such in the Arena District, after all, so we didn''t have to go too far to find what we were looking for.

    Ariana and I walked arm-in-arm along one of the side-streets here which was basically the feudal-fantasy version of a modern ¡°China-town¡±, complete with knick-knack shops and small-time food vendors. Between one of these semi-sketchy vendors and a used sword shop we saw a magic-display for gambling odds. To my surprise, one of the columns was dedicated to a certain group of players: Garth-Queens War Veterans. I looked twice to make sure I had read the title correctly, by which time Ari had also noticed.

    ¡°Wow...¡± she said in a nonplussed tone.

    ¡°Right?¡± I agreed. ¡°Well... to be fair...¡± I said with a half-smirk on my face.

    ¡°¡­ We were some of the first major PvPers here!¡± she finished with a wry grin. ¡°Still...¡±

    ¡°It''s a bit disconcerting to have an entire column of betting odds based around that...¡± I nodded back, and then looked closer. ¡°Hmm...¡±

    Top Ten:

    Tyman, Mountain Tigers

    Lana Windstrider, Silvernight Queens

    Jannie, The Lightbrook Brigade

    Angelfire, Flamehearts

    Wildeye, Mountain Tigers

    Ariana, Silvernight Queens

    Timidator, Shieldwardens

    MacYnduff, Gears and Wheels

    Humphrey, ?SOVEREIGN?

    Borkinator, The Tea Cupboard

    ¡°H-how did that last guy get on there...?¡± I wondered bemusedly, vaguely recalling that he had been someone I one-shot at some point or another.

    ¡°Why are you number two when I''m number six?¡± Ariana remarked in a not-so-amused tone. ¡°And why am I below Angelfire...?¡± she added with obvious disgruntlement.

    ¡°B-because they''re underestimating how crucial you are to me--us... well, mostly me...¡± I managed to stammer out in an attempt to appease her, gently squeezing her hand. She looked at me, her expression completely changed to one of amazement and adoration, and then she smiled.

    ¡°I''ll take that!¡± she said, leaning her head on my shoulder, and I smiled too, inwardly sighing with relief. I looked over at one of the clock-towers on the street; we had about fifteen minutes to get back to our room.

    ¡°Hmm?¡± I automatically breathed out as I caught notice of one of the food-vendors, a panda-creature of great girth in a greasy chef''s outfit running an Eastern-style hot-and-ready stand. ¡°Ooh...!¡± I remarked with interest, and Ariana looked up and followed my gaze.

    ¡°Oh neat! Aw, he looks cute, despite the greasy outfit!¡± she remarked softly.

    ¡°R-right?¡± I said with a stifled laughter. ¡°Wanna try it out?¡±

    ¡°Definitely!¡± she grinned back, and we headed over to get an order.

    Everything looked pretty good, and he had some of the cheapest prices, so the two of us ended up walking back with one large bag each. Ari had gone for a veggie-and-fish combo with some rice and dumplings, while I had gone for a chicken-and-rice medley with a couple of sweet-treats on the side. We also got a bottle of rice-wine to share. When we got back to the room, the others were just getting back as well, each of them with equally appetizing and surprisingly cheap meals and-or snacks from various vendors.

    ¡°You saw a giant what now??¡± Lizzy asked us.

    ¡°A panda-man!¡± Ariana smiled back.

    ¡°Cool!¡±

    ¡°We saw an owl-person!¡± Healina exclaimed.

    ¡°Wha...?!¡± I said with a slight dismay. ¡°I''ll have to check out that shop next time...¡±

    ¡°Oh definitely.¡± our healer nodded.

    ¡°And we''ll go see the stand you went to!¡± Lizzy grinned.

    ¡°Everyone found so many nice places,¡± Anhe remarked. ¡°I could have fallen asleep in the little shop I wandered into, it was so comfortable there!¡±

    ¡°You almost were asleep when I found you,¡± Maryn returned with a faint grin.

    ¡°True!¡± the other girl said with a giggle.

    ¡°But anyw--oh! It''s starting up again!¡± Lizzy then said, and we returned our attention to the displays, mixing and sharing our meals with each other as the battles resumed.

    ***

    Now that I knew there was a betting pool dedicated to people who had fought in the first major PvP battle of Panarena, I kept a close eye out for other familiar names. It seemed I had been too quick to assume there was no one we knew in this round; aside from the pixie-girl we were keeping an eye out for, Timidator and Borkinator were also in these rounds, the latter being beaten by the former courtesy of a fantastic one-in-a-thousand-times reflect damage effect. I felt somewhat amused as I watched him go down, knowing that, on a certain side-street, his name had just been stricken from the lists.

    ¡°Number ten: down.¡± I couldn''t help but remark.

    ¡°True!¡± Ari smirked.

    ¡°Hmm?¡± Maryn wondered. ¡°Oh, you saw one of those charts too, huh?¡± she then said with a smirk of her own.

    ¡°Yep!¡± Ariana nodded.

    ¡°I can''t decide what''s more shocking about it,¡± Healina said with a wry expression, ¡°The fact that Ari''s number six or the fact that Lana''s number two.¡±

    ¡°I''m not even on it...¡± Lizzy grumbled softly.

    ¡°Tyman''s just more vicious when he fights, and he was usually on longer then,¡± I said with a shrug. ¡°It''s no wonder he''s top of the lists.¡±

    ¡°Ahh, I see.¡± the Sea Elf said.

    ¡°I like to think that I was pretty vicious as well...¡± Lizzy quipped.

    ¡°Shh! Sky Belle is on!¡± Anhe then said, and we all fell silent to watch as the pixie-girl once more dazzled her opponent, literally, with several spells.

    This time, she was up against a level one-forty mage. Which meant she had to be far more careful than she did against the opponent she had last fought, who had been around her level. And this guy seemed fairly experienced in dealing with opponents who used the kind of tactics she did. He had a resilience to her status-ailments that the werefox was probably berating himself right now for on account of not having them. But for all her seeming disadvantages in the fight, she still held the advantages of size, speed, maneuverability, and some good experience of her own.

    Leveling up a character that uses status-ailments or debilitating effects on a monster or another player takes a very skilled and very patient person. And this fearless pixie was clearly very patient, using minor skills to distract the mage while plotting out new ways to get around his defenses, all the while avoiding his attacks and counterattacks. Eventually she managed to slip him up; she definitely made it look like a fluke in her rotation, but I knew better.

    At a certain point she seemed to momentarily lose her calm, which was definitely an act (that the mage completely fell for), using several distraction spells at once to try and keep the mage busy. The spells were so random and chaotic that he fumbled in his defense rotation and left an opening which she immediately took advantage of, inflicting all sorts of negative effects on him to the point where he was literally tottering around with a stupid grin on his face.

    Satisfied with her handiwork, she then let loose with her DoTs, and then she actually perched on his staff while watching his health go down to zero. He slowly stumbled to his knees, and then fell flat on his face before going up in pixels and smoke. The crowd roared with appreciation, and Sky Belle claimed what was apparently her fifth victory.

    ¡°No weapons, no armor, just pure skills.¡± Lizzy said with admiration.

    ¡°The dress doesn''t count as armor for her?¡± Maryn wondered.

    ¡°That thing? You can almost see through it it''s so flimsy. She might as well fly around naked.¡± our smith remarked. I felt my cheeks burn red, and quickly took a drink to disguise my reaction.

    ¡°Hmm...? Hahh, you''re right!¡± the Cymbroga girl smirked as the display zoomed in on the pixie in question. Healina coughed, in the way that a teacher might do when students are being unruly, and the other two girls softly giggled.

    ¡°She''s soo cuuuute!¡± Ariana sighed.

    ¡°Sooo cute!¡± Anhe agreed with a grin.

    ¡°Ahh! There''s Jannie again! Round six for her,¡± Healina then said.

    ¡°Who said there was no one we wanted to watch in these rounds?¡± Lizzy quipped, giving me a side-eye.

    ¡°Who was it, I wonder...¡± I shrugged.

    ¡°Shush!!¡± Heali then called out, bringing up one of the other displays. It was Myanihia, and their opponent was Jannie.

    Oh, snap.

    ¡°Ooh... tough luck, girl.¡± Lizzy said, her face scrunched up in a wince.

    ¡°She won''t last very long with that targe.¡± Maryn remarked somberly.

    I could see Jannie herself tensing up. No doubt she had seen at least one of the matches this character had been in, so she would know how tough they were. She then discarded her heavier armor while the countdown was going, leaving her standing there in a light tunic with leather accouterments and boots along with her weapon and shield.

    ¡°Isn''t that a bad idea...?¡± Healina wondered with a wry face.

    ¡°To some, maybe.¡± I nodded. ¡°She''s definitely seen Myanihia''s fights. She knows that her defense won''t last long against that relentless combination of magic and sword skills, so she''s prioritizing her own advantages: speed and dexterity.¡± I remarked, watching the counter as it continued down from ten.

    ¡°She always was exceptionally fast with her sword,¡± Lizzy nodded. Seven seconds.

    ¡°Come on, Jannie...!¡± Ariana whispered. Five seconds.

    ¡°You can do it!¡± Maryn said with an intensity. Four seconds. Our faces were fixed on this match alone.

    ¡°It''s her seventh match, we missed the last one somehow...¡± Lizzy remarked. Two seconds.

    ¡°Let us watch this one closely.¡± Anhe then said. One second. Zero. The battle-start fanfare sounded.

    Jannie took off as soon as she heard that sound, catching Myanihia off their guard with a flurry of thrusts and then a quick bash to the face with her targe, after which she twirled around to slash them, scoring another hit before the mage-rogue managed to regain a sense of order and began counterattacking. Our fellow Aldholter kept her opponent in close-quarters, forcing them to rely on their blades. They probably could have attacked with magic, but at that point blank range they could just as easily hurt themselves as well.

    For all that they had a dual-wielding ability, Jannie kept Myanihia on the hop by delivering an average of four to five strikes for every one or two of theirs, using her targe to its utmost to keep them off balance and even using kicks a couple of times to interrupt her enemy when it seemed likely they were trying to cast a spell of some kind. Both of their health-bars were going down at a slow pace, but Myanihia''s was going down slightly faster.

    Maybe we were wrong about them and Maryn just got super unlucky... sure, she''s got resilience, but Jannie has that lightning attack speed -- oop!!

    It had been nearly ten minutes since the fight started, and Jannie had kept Myanihia in that close-quarter battle all that time. But then they used some sort of spinning blades trick to throw her off balance instead, and the forced pause in Jannie''s rotations allowed the assassin-slash-mage to truly counter attack, blasting her back with a psychokinesis burst and then hurling a couple of poison-bolts at her before she regained her feet.

    From then on, it was Jannie who was fighting for her life, weakened by the poison and then further weakened as Myanihia inflicted a couple of other debilitating spells upon her. Even then she fought like a dervish, surprising them at least twice more before she staggered to the ground, blade still pointed proudly towards her enemy as they hung back, suddenly uncertain on what to do. It was like the old legend of C¨² Chulainn, the dying warrior tying himself upright to a tree to intimidate his enemies.

    After a brief moment, Jannie plunged her sword into the ground, breathing heavily. No wonder, too; even if it''s a virtual world, the amount of exertion we expend is definitely real. I watched her shudder, whether from being in pain or from being upset, I wasn''t sure. A tear fell from my own eye as well. It wasn''t like she was actually dying. We all knew that. But it was upsetting to watch one of our friends lose like this.

    Jannie then collapsed onto the ground. A gong sounded. The fight was over. Myanihia would now move on to their eighth match. Lizzy sat back with a long, hefty sigh as the live-feed switched to a new fight.

    ¡°Daaamn...¡± she swore softly.

    ¡°I swear, she almost had him, too,¡± Maryn shook her head. Ariana looked over at me, but I didn''t really notice. She patted my shoulder, and I let out a soft sigh of my own.

    ¡°I''m gonna go see her.¡± I said, and Ari nodded.

    ¡°Tell her we were proud of her.¡± she smiled at me, and I nodded back.

    ¡°Of course,¡± I agreed, and headed out of our rooms to where the preliminary fighters would exit.

    I found Jannie sitting on a bench in a small park off to the side of the exits, her facial expression nearly blank except for the hint of a tear in her eye. I walked up to her cautiously, not sure now if she wanted to see anybody, but then she turned to me and smiled.

    ¡°Lana!¡± she said happily, patting the seat next to her. I gently smiled back and went to sit with her.

    ¡°Hey.¡± I replied.

    ¡°You saw that, huh?¡± she said with a shaky laugh.

    ¡°We watched it, all the way to the end. Maryn was sure you had them.¡± I nodded back, and she slowly nodded.

    ¡°That''s kind of her. I saw both of her fights against Myanihia... I thought for sure...¡± she trailed off sadly, then leaned on me. I sat there awkwardly for a brief moment, and then placed my arm around her.

    ¡°You were amazing. Completely amazing.¡± I said to her, a smile coming to my face.

    ¡°Thanks, Lana.¡± I heard her reply. ¡°You know, if you and Ari weren''t so obviously a thing, I''d ask you to come back with me for a drink, maybe a little more.¡± she said, a faint giggle coming through the sniffles.

    ¡°Ah-heh,¡± I returned uncertainly.

    ¡°I wish I had a girlfriend like you... or even a boyfriend. You came out here to see me just like that, after all.¡± she continued, wiping away some more tears from her face.

    ¡°I''m sure there''s someone.¡± I told her, softly but confidently.

    ¡°I know. Thanks, though. You didn''t have to come out here for me.¡±

    ¡°Th-that''s what friends do, isn''t it? They always come for each other.¡±

    ¡°Agree.¡± she smiled. ¡°I''ll be fine; I just got shaken up a bit from how... but anyway, next time you''re down, come find me.¡± she said, withdrawing to look me in the eyes with a soft smile.

    ¡°I''ll remember that.¡± I replied.

    ¡°Also... Lana,¡± Jannie said to me, suddenly taking my hands. ¡°Myanihia. You''ll definitely fight them. I know you will. Don''t let anything they do surprise you, or shock you. Always be ready for any sort of trick. Practice with Ariana, or someone else just as good.¡± she said to me, a hint of sobbing coming back to her face, but she closed her eyes and swallowed, taking a deep breath. ¡°You have to be the one to beat them. They''re not Garth; they''re not cheating or using an unfair advantage. They earned those skills, and their gear, fair and square. I can tell that much. It''s selfish of me, I know, but please, get them back for me.¡± she softly pleaded, looking directly at me with an earnest and intense gaze. I let out a soft smile.

    ¡°Whatever else I do, I''ll do my best to knock them out of the tournament if--or when--I get matched up with them.¡± I replied.

    ¡°There''s no ifs about it.¡± Jannie smiled, a laugh in her words. ¡°You will fight them. I can feel it.¡± she told me. She then stood up, and gently lifted me to my feet as well before wrapping me in a hug. ¡°We''ll be here for the rest of the tournament. Some of our guildies are still in, after all. Everyone from the Aldholt is rooting for the Silvernight Queens... and Mountain Tigers, too.¡±

    ¡°We''re rooting for our fellow Aldholters also,¡± I smiled back, and then she let go, fixing me with a cheerful smile.

    ¡°I know. Get back to Ari, and tell her thanks for letting me borrow you for a bit.¡± she then winked, and kissed my cheek before heading off to rejoin her guildmates.

    I felt my face turning crimson, wondering how the situation would have unfolded if I had been slightly more myself in this game.

    ***

    A game hour later, I was back with the others. I told Ariana how things had gone, and she had simply smiled, asserting that she would have reacted the same way Jannie had if the situation were reversed.

    Myanihia''s eighth match had been against an unlucky summoner who was tragically and easily overcome by the devious dual-wielding magic rogue. Angelfire managed to blast past all of her opponents as well, and Timidator''s final match, which had pitted him against an archer, had gone in his favor. Sky Belle the Pixie had also finished with her preliminary fights, completely upsetting some of the betting pools from what I heard later. And then there was Tyman.

    They had put him through some of the most arduous matches since his fight with another claw-wielder. His fourth fight had been against a poisoner-summoner mage; his fifth had seen him go up against a trick-archer who used not only a compound bow but also a couple of small crossbows hidden in various places on his person; the sixth opponent they gave him was a greatsword wielder who wore spiked armor; for the seventh they put him in the ring with a trident-wielding Sea Elf who used aqua-magic; and his final battle was against a werebear who, unlike the werefox earlier, made full use of his racial skills to become a devastating werebeast--at least until he came up against the man who was a beast.

    His last two fights were the most interesting to me. Mostly because the others had gone nearly the way I expected them to. It''s a little hard to summon anything or poison someone when there''s a pair of claws raking your face off. And while it was hard for Tyman to go up against that archer, in the end the guy used too many tricks and not enough skill, so all the plucky Memphite had to do was hold on until his enemy ran out of tricks before finally swooping in for the kill. As for the greatsword wielder... he seemed to have put way too much into strength and not enough into dexterity. Power strikes are good, but you need the finesse from dexterity to wield those swords better. It doesn''t matter how hard they hit if they don''t hit at all.

    But the trident-wielding Sea Elf then caught my attention. And no, not because she had an angelic beauty to rival the ethereal princesses in our guild. It was because she had that aqua-magic. Sea Elves, like all Elves, have a natural propensity for magics of any kind, but especially for things like aqua-magic or healing. And this girl had upgraded both to a fair degree, along with some lightning and storm skills as well. She kept Tyman on his guard for several long minutes. I wasn''t sure he was going to get past her a couple times, but he pulled it off in the end.

    He ended up using one of her own spells against her, goosing it up a bit so as to distract her and then rushing in like a rabid wolf, clawing away at her while she tried to regain her center. In the end she just wasn''t cut out for close-quarter combat. Despite keeping him at bay for nearly fifteen minutes, she went down just like all his other opponents. And then the werebear fight.

    ¡°Ho-ly snap!! This is that guy''s eighth round too?!¡± Lizzy said as the guy came onto screen. We didn''t yet know he was a werebear. All we saw was this big burly-looking guy in a pair of ratty trousers and nothing else.

    ¡°Uhh...¡± I remarked bemusedly.

    ¡°W-wow...¡± Anhe stuttered.

    Tyman seemed to be scratching his head as well. Then the fanfare sounded, and our eyes widened or practically bugged out as the burly guy in the trousers suddenly contorted and then transformed into a giant bear, coming down on all fours with a bellowing roar that seemed to shake the arena. Even Tyman hung back for a moment, gazing at the other guy with a look hovering between sincere awe and ¡°what the hell did I get into now?!¡±

    ¡°Whoahh...!¡± I managed to say, gazing at the black and greyish colored beast in amazement.

    ¡°Oh heck no.¡± Healina remarked. ¡°I''ll hand it to him for the last few fights, especially against Rina the Stormcaller, but he really should nope out of this one.¡±

    Rina, by the way, was the Sea Elf mage Tyman had beaten in his seventh match.

    ¡°That thing is three meters tall.¡± Anhe said, her eyes glued to the display.

    Tyman, however, recovered from his daze much quicker than any of us. In what was probably the most surprisingly anticlimactic outcome so far, he rushed towards that huge beast for all he was worth and then practically rammed both of his bagh nakh into the werebear''s chest, bellowing for all he was worth as the other guy swiped at him with a hefty paw. To everyone''s surprise, the werebear was howling in agony. I saw his health-bar going down dramatically fast. Then there was a flash of pixels, and after a few moments, Tyman was left standing alone in the arena.

    I wasn''t exactly sure how a level ninety-seven werebear could be one-shot with a set of bagh nakh, but I''m sure I''ll figure it out someday. In the meantime, Lizzy''s reaction perfectly summed up -- well, everyone''s reaction.

    ¡°What... the frak... just happened?!¡±

 Chapter Thirty-three: Into the Tournament, II

    our fight was going to go. He looked over after a moment, and gave me an inquisitive look.

    ¡°

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    One...?!?!? I was inwardly screaming as my face silently did, looking at him in disbelief.

    ¡°

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    ¡°

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    ¡°

    ¡°partially curious to know if you''d gotten anything out of Ty about what he did last night.¡±

    ¡°

    ¡°One percent?! One!? A one percent fatality chance?!¡± Ellie practically screamed before Andrea nudged her; the blonde girl then affected a sheepish grin for a moment before letting out a sigh. ¡°That''s crazy!¡± she said.

    ¡°

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    ¡°is that event going to be?¡± Anhe then asked.

    ¡°

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    ¡°those gauntlets, then there''s only a few opponents we should really watch out for, and that person is one of them. I bet a lot of people are probably going to go down from instant death traps of one sort or another, from what I''m hearing about this maze.¡±

    ¡°

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    ¡°can go hard, on all of you.¡± Lizzy said at once.

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    ¡°my shots, you''ll never deflect theirs!¡± she confidently boasted as she shot her missives at me. I was doing everything and a half to avoid getting hit or to deflect her attacks. Across the way I could see Ariana dealing with another shadow-user like myself.

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    her getting the more beneficial experience on account of Myanihia also being a dual-wielder -- well except for the part where they used swords instead of daggers. But I think Angelfire was wise enough to know that there was going to be a difference there.

    Man, her magic skills are definitely top-tier for her level, but that swordwork is also incredible, I thought to myself as I received a water from one of the onlookers. It was Jannie. She was also a vision, by the way, since I haven''t really mentioned it before: golden hair and blue eyes; she was also a Gael like me.

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    ¡°felt kind of rude, anyway...¡± I remarked.

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    The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

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    ¡°last night, dork.¡± Winnie quipped, and we all laughed. ¡°This chocolate and hazelnut cake is just too good!¡± she then remarked as she swallowed another bite of the treat in question.

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    ¡°long time.¡±

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    ¡°now...¡± Winnie sighed.

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    ¡°she was fun this Halloween.¡± I then grinned.

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    all their health left.

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    ¡°that turnout.¡± Tabitha quipped.

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    ¡°you''ll beat them, but I personally want to see Skeletor take down Myanihia.¡± she then said. ¡°He''ll definitely make it to the end... maybe Magis, too, at this rate...¡±

    ¡°nuts,¡± I agreed. ¡°I thought those reflects would get Deathscythe for sure, but both of them had full health at the end.¡±

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    ¡°this sort of thing before,¡± Tabitha grinned to her guild leader.

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    ¡°th-th-this sort of thing, as w-well as PDA... b-b-but I don''t th-think it... it...¡± I stammered out, but Jannie only smirked at us.

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    ¡°that sort of thing could happen here,¡± I remarked with a wry grin.

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    I''ll have to ask Lizzy... wait, better not... or I''ll *never* hear the end of it.

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    ¡°you find out?¡± Ariana wondered.

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    That was a sight I wouldn''t forget any time soon. Then there was Skeletor, who slowly but surely turned the battle in his favor to score another win.

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    ¡°all the crazy ones in your guild?¡± Jannie said with a small grin and a shake of her head. ¡°I take it back; Healina has some sense. All healers do.¡± she then amended. Ari and I exchanged a sheepish grin with each other.

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    ¡°that?¡± Winnie sniffed as she watched him fumble.

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    So, young lady? My mind automatically thought as the conversation paused again. Lysandra now had her opponent doing what she wanted, or so it seemed. She kept unnerving him while at the same time keeping a steady rotation in a calm manner that only further rattled the paladin.

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    Ho-ly Snap! I thought in amazement.

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    ¡°any offers until I could find you guys.¡± she added with a smile.

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    ¡°all with us.¡± I said with a grin as I settled in again.

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    her. Dark-brown hair that was almost black. Cool amber eyes that nearly glowed. Her ragged outfit now mostly covered by a heavy black cloak, her feet shod in soft-looking black boots. She saw me, and grinned.

 Chapter Thirty-four: School Daze/Ready or Not...

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    ¡°way strong when I first came here, werewolf senses and all, but now it''s very soothing. Sometimes I fall asleep here until my roommate shakes me awake.¡±

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    ¡°you in this tournament, I want to be your guild leader. If I only get the three, I want to be your second.¡± she declared.

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    ¡°my three and myself, I''ll join your guild as a basic recruit. If you only get the three, I won''t join your guild but I''ll always come and help you whenever you need.¡±

    ¡°can''t get the three due to some unforeseen knockout?¡± I then grinned at her.

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    ¡°and you...¡± she whispered, licking her lips. ¡°I not only want to be your guild leader, but I also want you to be my girl instead of Ariana''s.¡± she told me softly, and my face turned the same color as my hair. Some sort of squawk came out of my throat, but it was totally unintelligible. ¡°Needless to say,¡± she then said, ¡°If you get my five and me, I''ll let you do the same... if you want.¡±

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    Ariana -- Rachel, is the one and only girl I want a romantic relationship with. Well, more than just romance, when the time comes for it, anyway... I thought to myself as the sight of a little bear caught my eye. I then smiled, and selected it as one of the gifts. This one''s definitely for Ari.

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    ¡°my position in it!¡± I argued back at once.

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    ¡°have to win. No matter what, I am going to make sure you get through Friday alive.¡± Mary said determinedly.

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    ¡°you have done in my position?¡± I asked her.

    ¡°that far!¡± she snapped.

    ¡°wants to join the guild anyway, but just can''t bring herself to actually come out and say it.¡± I continued, leaving Mary stuck for a reply this time.

    ¡°those girls, huh?¡± Ellie nodded.

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    ¡°I will--dummy! Big dummy!¡± she quipped back while attacking me. I sat there and obligingly took it like a man, waiting until she stopped and then laid her head on my shoulder instead. ¡°You didn''t wager anything else, did you?¡± she asked me in a sad voice.

    Snap.

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    Snap. Now I have to win everything, huh?

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    ¡°you''re betting.¡± I dared to quip back.

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    Stolen novel; please report.

    ¡°do anything!! I never do anything!! It''s not my fault all these girls keep hitting on me!!¡± I retorted in a hurt tone. Rachel then gave me a sad look, but then gently smiled. Oh snap. Now I''ve done it.

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    ¡°don''t get through the first two sets of brackets in the tournament proper.¡±

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    ¡°myself, and then I''ll let you bring me in!¡± she then said to me.

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    ¡°this about?¡± Winnie asked.

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    him instead of the knight. After that, his next seven opponents were more wary, but none of them succeeded in thwarting the reflect, and the one person who focused on defense accidentally triggered the reflect with a ward-spell. The backfire on that was so spectacular I actually burst out laughing.

    really rankled me.

    me, to be accurate. I was standing off to the side near the bar, half-expecting her to walk in, and sure enough she did. Belle and Ariana both looked up as she came towards me, taking a seat at the bar next to me and ordering a drink. She took a sip of this, and then finally spoke to me.

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    Tyman, definitely. Myanihia, definitely, despite them being on her list also. It''d be fun to test myself against Rayna as well, so I''ll go with her. I also want to beat that Ironsides guy, and part of me wants to beat Skeletor... but I don''t want two from her list, so I''ll settle for...

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    ¡°General Mad Dog? Leader of the Night Wolves?¡± she said in disbelief. I nodded back.

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    ¡°my fights, didn''t you?¡± Lysandra demanded, and I nodded back. ¡°And you saw his? You have to know he''s more dangerous than me.¡±

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    ¡°lot. You''re adorable, desirable, deadly, quick-witted, and you have absolute confidence, don''t you?¡± Lysandra grinned. I didn''t reply, but she chuckled. ¡°I accept. I definitely accept. Just make sure you have your back-ups in case any of them get knocked out on Friday.¡± she told me, and then I finally grinned back.

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    ¡°Anyone. Get it?¡± the she-werewolf told me.

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    ¡°them taking you out before I do.¡± Lysandra said. Ari and I glanced at each other.

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 Bonus Chapter: Before the Brawl

    ¡°Christina, I''m heading out; you sure you don''t wanna go?¡± the young woman called to her roommate as she put on her shoes.

    ¡°I''m sure. Have fun out there,¡± the voice of the other young lady replied.

    ¡°Hah, I tried.¡± the first shrugged to herself with a bemused sigh, and then left the lavish dorms to head for her car so she could head off to Fun Castle, where a group of their friends--well, her friends--were waiting. It was the destination they had chosen for their Friday night dinner this week. She always tried to invite the other girl, but Christina preferred to stay in her room, usually sans clothing, and play video games. Whatever. Do you, girl. Do you.

    ***

    Christina Jennings, the daughter of the woman who ran the company that had produced the Dream Machine and its ground-breaking flagship game, Panarena Fantasy Online, slipped out of her room to take a shower. When this nightly ritual was complete, she dried off, ate a light snack, and then laid upon her bed.

    Friends... I don''t want those friends. They don''t get it. It''s not that I''m a gamer, per se; but it''s nice to be anonymous. It''s nice to be free. Panarena... talk about a belated birthday present, but I''ll take it, she thought to herself as she used the remote to turn up the heat a bit in her room. At least she''s learned to knock or call out instead of just opening the door, the dark-haired girl grinned with amusement. Her penchant for a lack of attire was a great shock for the other girl, who was more demure and modest as a general rule. She had gotten used to it a bit, but the poor thing had yet to be completely nerve-free when Christina was actually out of her room to do something. At least some of the time she would wear an over-large t-shirt, especially during the winter months, but tonight she had foregone it. They''re just boobs. You have them too. Don''t see what the big deal is, the young lady sighed quietly, sitting up in her bed to examine the aforementioned present, one of the very first Dream Machines produced. She had gone through the beta test, and found the world to her liking. All of the anger, the pent-up feelings of frustration and rage that she had kept bottled up for nearly two decades: all of it could be unleashed in that marvelous world her mother had helped to create.

    Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!

    The game had gone live at the end of summer, and now there were literally over a million people playing it in total. Some were casual gamers, others more hardcore; some like the crafting experience, others appreciated things like making music or fashion; some treated it like a vacation, others felt it was their life... and others used it as their escape from what they considered a painful reality. I''m at least glad I stammered out a thank-you to that stuck-up, abusive, no-good...!! Tch, forget it, I''ll just get angry again. But... really though. I''m glad I got this chance. I''m glad I got to meet... her, the young lady sighed happily, bringing to mind the features of the girl who had captured her interest. Lana Windstrider, the young leader of the Silvernight Queens, whose members were ranking high in the tournament odds--and especially Lana herself. I might as well let her off with the bet... but at the same time I want to see how far she''ll go. I want to see her fight. I want to know the caliber of the leader I want to serve, she mused to herself, feeling excitement tingling all throughout her body. On one of the boards, she and Lana were tied for the odds.

    Lana Windstrider, Silvernight Queens -- 4-1

    Lysandra, no guild -- 4-1

    ¡°Lana... tonight, tonight! I''ll get you and as many of your little crew as I can through that Grand Brawl... and then I''m gonna fight you with all I have!¡± Christina said with delight. She laid back again, putting the Dream Machine on, and activating it to head into that world of dreams and a truly alternate reality.

    Once logged in, she had become Lysandra, the Sword-bearing Werewolf who had dominated her preliminary rounds with cunning, calm, and cold ferocity. She materialized in her usual outfit, black bandeau with baggy black pants, a pair of black boots, and a long black overcoat. If I could wear this in real life maybe poor Gina wouldn''t find me naked all the time, she thought to herself, materializing her baldric and sword upon her back.

    It''s showtime, she then grinned, heading out to find Lana.

 Bonus Chapter: Ellies Friday Night

    ¡°Bleeehh...¡± I groaned as I zipped myself up into the leotard I had just managed to fit over my boobs. I''m not chunky or anything, but it''s hard sometimes to get that thing on. ¡°Why does it show off nearly every curve?¡± I wondered with a sigh.

    ¡°Because it''s a leotard, Liz.¡± the girl with green hair, Justine Liu-Adams, said to me. Her mom was half-Vietnamese and half-Chinese, and her dad had been an English tourist who''d had a one-night stand with her. Her words, not mine. But even if she was an accident insofar as that goes, she was a life-saver for me here.

    ¡°Hahh... I can''t wait for tomorrow,¡± I then groaned again.

    ¡°Hmm? Oh yeah, you''ve got that tournament thing in your game or whatever,¡± Justine recalled as we began putting on our heels.

    ¡°Yep!¡±

    ¡°How do you think your friends''ll do?¡± she asked me with a grin. Justine wasn''t quite the gamer, but she at least listened to me rant or gush about Panarena.

    ¡°I know at least Lana and Ari will make it through... I''d root for all of them, but M''s damage isn''t that great even if she can take it... well, Anhe might surprise me.¡± I mused.

    ¡°Don''t a lot of people live-stream that game?¡±

    ¡°Sort of? It''s hard to live-stream it exactly because of the time-acceleration.¡±

    ¡°Ahh, right; that is so freaking weird!¡±

    ¡°Isn''t it? But it''s handy sometimes,¡± I shrugged.

    ¡°Hmm... I think I get you,¡± she nodded back. She finished with her heels, a pair of lace-up green boots, and then patted me on the back. ¡°See you on the floor, hon!¡± she winked, and I gave her a thumbs-up.

    ¡°Right!¡± I called back.

    I met Justine on my first night here. Well, it was my pre-night, actually... getting fit into a costume for my size. I had just gotten the second one they gave me on when she walked in, and then it burst off spectacularly. The both of us stood there in surprise for a moment, and then she bust out laughing. I did too, after a brief moment, and she helped me sort things out with the costume director to find a size that actually worked. Since then she had been like a sister to me for the past couple of weeks.

    As soon as I got those crazy heels and my skirt-slash-tutu on I headed out to the floor. At least I don''t have to wear kitty or bunny ears and tail like some places, I faintly grimaced before lightly smacking my cheeks and adopting a smile.

    Just be yourself! Mr. Barnum had said to me a couple nights in. I was being a lot more meek than I usually am, but about a day or so later I managed to be my more outspoken self. Well, not too outspoken. Just enough to be friendly and engaging! I might never get used to the uniform, but I can at least get used to the job. I looked at the clock. It was now half past six.

    I bet at least Sean got on by now... good luck, Lana! I thought to myself, wondering if that pixie girl or the werewolf girl would get matched up with any of my guildies. The only thing I was definitely sure of was what I had said to Justine earlier: Lana and Ari would definitely get through their matches. If those two get pitted against each other in the actual tournament...!!

    If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

    ¡°Ellie! Table nine, the one with the college girls!¡± Max, one of my fellow wait-staff, said to me.

    ¡°Sure you don''t want it, Max? You might get a number tonight!¡± I teased him.

    ¡°Ha-ha, that''s why I''m giving it to you, so I don''t get scolded again!¡± he grinned back.

    ¡°Suuure.¡± I winked at him, and headed over to take their orders.

    ¡°I can''t believe Christina turned us down again!¡± one of them said.

    ¡°You know how she is; she loves that game of hers, and she hates clothes.¡± another shrugged. ¡°Oh! Hold up, it''s our waitress!¡± she then said to them, waving at me.

    ¡°Hi there! Welcome to Fun Castle! I''m Liz, I''ll be your server this evening; can I start you off with something to drink?¡± I said to them, and the orders rang out. I went back to the fountain with my little pad, thinking about the little snippet of conversation I had heard. N-nudist girl who loves games, huh? I wondered bemusedly. Then again, who am I to judge... I quickly rebuked myself.

    ¡°Oh there you are--Liz!¡± Justine called.

    ¡°Hmm?¡±

    ¡°Someone''s got a synchronous feed of the Panarena event tonight!¡±

    ¡°Cool!¡± I returned. ¡°Lemme get their drinks served and I''ll take a peek!¡±

    ¡°You got it!¡± the green-haired girl beamed. When I had served their drinks, I asked if they were ready to order, to which they replied in the negative, so I promised to be back in a few minutes to do so. I then went to the staff room, where Justine pointed out one of the screens to me.

    ¡°Oh, sweet!¡± I exclaimed. ¡°That''s Ariana!¡± I said as I recognized our Wood Elf mage at once.

    ¡°Nice!¡± Justine replied. ¡°Gawd, she''s so cute--and that pixie girl too!¡±

    ¡°Oh def.¡±

    ¡°Ari''s a school friend, right?¡±

    ¡°Yep.¡±

    ¡°Nice.¡±

    ¡°Just as cute for real?¡±

    ¡°Is she!¡± I nodded back. ¡°Ooh, she''s got that one.¡± I nodded again firmly as she took down her opponent, a very unlucky tank-type player. He went down with the absolute goofiest wail I''d heard in my life, and after we bust a gut laughing (and nearly busted my leotard again!) I thanked Justine for letting me know it was there and returned to table nine. I got my pad ready, wondering if the Christina they had mentioned was one of the players in the tournament, or just one of the players in the game at all. Deciding it didn''t particularly matter, I approached them with my best smile. This time, they were ready to order, and I got my pen out. I jotted down their orders, and after collecting their menus I headed back to the kitchens. See you brats in a few hours, I thought with a smile as I looked at the screens again.

    ¡°Dude. Those two are sick.¡± Max remarked as I was about to exit the room; I looked back at the screen. It was Lana and Lysandra.

    ¡°Wh-what the heck kind of team is that?!¡± I wondered.

    ¡°You know them, Liz?¡± he asked me.

    ¡°Ahh!! The orders! Be right back!¡± I suddenly recalled, heading into the kitchens to deliver the orders to Miguel, our head chef, and then returned to the staff room. Max was no longer there, but the screen was still focused on Lana and Lysandra, who were battling through some sort of steampunk environment.

    ¡°Friends of yours?¡± Justine asked.

    ¡°That''s my guild leader, Lana -- the shorter one with the reddish hair.¡±

    ¡°Cool! She''s wicked with that bow.¡±

    ¡°Is she ever,¡± I softly grinned.

    ¡°I can understand why you love that place; maybe I''ll try it out sometime!¡±

    ¡°We''d love to help you!¡±

    ¡°Sure! But until then, it''s back to work.¡± she sighed.

    ¡°True.¡± I nodded. We headed back out to the floor, and I took a look at the screens again. I can''t wait to hear how that happened, I thought with a smirk, hoping for their victory in that final preliminary event: the Grand Melee and Magic Brawl.

 Chapter Thirty-five: A Maze of Contestants

    A special panel of five game-moderators chosen as hosts and commentators for the Grand Tournament suddenly appeared on a large display, announcing the official opening of the tournament and the start of its first official event: the Grand Melee and Magic Brawl, as it was now being called even by them. Their names, from left to right, were Forseti, Athena, Lumpstein, Wandreada, and Ricklelopes.

    ¡°We would like to thank all of our fellow GMs and of course the many, many players who have come out for this first major tournament event!¡± Wandreada, who looked like she might play some sort of witch-type character, announced with a smile as she and her fellow commentators, along with an arena full of spectators, clapped or cheered in appreciation. ¡°And now, without further ado -- Lumpstein, if you will!¡± she then said, throwing the spotlight to the Santa-looking Dwarf GM in the middle.

    ¡°Players!¡± he began in a gruff but friendly voice. ¡°You''ve spent the last week fighting each other in the preliminaries... but now it''s time! You who now stand at the top of the lists, as well as several betting pools,¡± he added, earning a chuckle from the crowd, ¡°How will you fare against players who have climbed to the same heights as you have? Hold your answers, please! For we will let such a question be answered by...!¡± he continued with a sly grin, and his fellow commentators then joined with him in announcing it:

    ¡°The Abyssal Labyrinth!¡± they said as one, and a large rectangular cube began to materialize over the main arena.

    That was as simple a description of it as anyone ever agreed on after the fact. Besides the fact that it was a mad labyrinth of quagmires and death-traps with psychedelic Escher-style motifs running through the whole thing. Beyond that it was simply too ridiculous looking to describe as a whole, being assembled with various aesthetic and architectural designs no doubt meant to bewilder us once we were inside: and that was just what we could see from the outside. The interior was, doubtless, a thousand times more convoluted.

    To give you a sample: on the corner now facing us, I could see elements of a Gothic Cathedral, a steampunk laboratory, and a jungle with large, ferocious looking primates. Oh, there was also a waterfall streaming out of that side at high velocity, no doubt the final destination of a trap meant to throw players out. And I swear I could see clouds of smoke billowing up from another side.

    ¡°Th-this is gonna be intense...¡± Maryn said with a bemused grin.

    ¡°The rules are simple,¡± Forseti, who was a giant even for a Nordian, began. ¡°Survive, by any means necessary, until the event is over.¡±

    ¡°No doubt many of you will fall prey to the monsters, traps, or puzzles inside,¡± Athena then remarked. She was, obviously, Thessalian. ¡°But do your best!¡±

    ¡°And don''t think twice!¡± Lumpstein winked.

    ¡°And now,¡± Wandreada picked up again, ¡°Ladies, gentlemen, magical beasts and mythical creatures all, join us for the countdown!¡±

    Ten!

    Nine!

    Eight!

    Seven!

    Six!

    Five!

    Four!

    Three!!

    Two!!

    ONE!!!

    Another sound of trumpets and horns went off to riotous applause, and then the three-thousand or so of us who had won the preliminary rounds were teleported into the the Abyssal Labyrinth for our final entry challenge.

    ***

    ¡°Nyah??¡± I said as I looked around. Lysandra was the only one with me.

    ¡°Huh??¡± she seemed just as surprised.

    ¡°Post-script! Players in groups will be separated -- mostly! Good luck finding your teammates again!¡± Lumpstein''s voice then announced, cackling with amusement.

    ¡°Why that dirty, rotten Santa knockoff...¡± I grumbled.

    ¡°Coal for you.¡± the werewolf-girl quipped.

    ¡°Oh!¡± I said, and then brought up a map.

    To my surprise, the map worked. What was not surprising was the fact that it only showed the immediate area so far. But the best part was that I could see four other dots, our absent group members. Like us, they had been separated into twos. One pair then took off, probably heading as straight for one of the other groups as they could.

    ¡°Handy.¡± Lysandra nodded. ¡°But screw the map, hon. I know your friends'' scents.¡±

    ¡°Oh, that''s true,¡± I recalled, but held on to the map a moment longer, thinking about it. ¡°That pair is definitely Ariana and Belle. Maryn and Anhe are more deliberate.¡± I noted.

    ¡°I agree,¡± my new partner-in-arms nodded. ¡°Oh, they''re now on the move, too... but more slowly, of course.¡±

    ¡°Ari and Belle can incapacitate or trap anyone that gets in their way; but those two will have a fight of it even with Anhe''s battle auras and stuff. All right, I''m done, let''s go!¡± I said as I clicked the map away, and we set off at a steady jog down a corridor to our left.

    This was one of the steampunk corridors, with broken pipes exuding weird smoke and chemicals, lots of metallic design, haywire automatons patrolling the area, and of course lots of traps. I kept my bow out to take down enemies from range, and Lysandra took out her blade, which I now noticed was not exactly a katana but not exactly another kind of sword either. If a katana was more like a saber, that would be the kind of sword she had, a single-edge medium blade that was only slightly curved, a strong grip on its ornate handle, with no crossguard on the hilt.

    ¡°In the game lore, this is an Elven blade,¡± she explained when I asked her about it during a brief lull. ¡°I got lucky in a dungeon on the north side of Sylvanian Reaches. This is one of the twenty ultra-unique weapons in Harmonia.¡±

    ¡°Wow...¡± I remarked with awe.

    ¡°So far as I''m aware, none of the other nineteen have yet been found, though there''s a lot of people who have the grand uniques.¡±

    ¡°Of which there''s only a hundred.¡±

    ¡°Yep.¡± she nodded back as a swarm of automatons found us again. She let out a growl, and began slicing through them as I carefully picked my targets and let them have it. A few minutes later they were broken parts, as were a couple dozen others in the corridors behind us.

    ¡°Wait a sec,¡± I said, grabbing up some of the crystals that had been powering them.

    ¡°You know, that''s a good idea,¡± Lysandra agreed, picking a few up herself before we set off again.

    Seconds later we emerged from the winding corridors into an arctic zone. We fought our way through this carefully, nearly snowblind, and almost got caught by several unexpected traps--including a monster with an outrageous amount of health and ridiculous regeneration rate. The two of us finally managed to use some distraction skills and retreat, racing through the dizzying arctic valley to emerge in one of the infamous Escher halls.

    All at once my brain tried to process the place too logically, and I swayed, ending up on the floor. Lysandra knelt down and put a hand on my back.

    ¡°Don''t think about it too much.¡± she said gently.

    ¡°Ugh.¡± I remarked, looking down at the floor and idly pulling up the map. The dots representing our friends had merged. They had been closer together than I had thought. But they were still a ways from us.

    ¡°Can you believe we''ve barely explored three-percent of this place so far?¡± the older girl suddenly remarked as she looked at the map.

    ¡°In this game? I believe it.¡± I replied.

    I then looked up again. To my consternation, and to Lysandra''s as well, it seemed, the room was slowly spinning. It was already crazy enough without that!! I griped internally.

    ¡°Oy...!!¡± my companion grimaced.

    She then picked me up off the floor (much to my surprise once more), stood to her feet, and booked it across this section of the labyrinth. Several floating spells or creatures started to swarm and come after us. Lysandra seemed to avoid them all by pure instinct, leaping from foothold to foothold at times with all the grace and agility of -- well, a wolf. We entered another corridor of steampunk design, where she set me down and caught her breath.

    ¡°Rats!¡± she said, drawing out her sword. The things that had begun chasing us were still chasing us. Something then caught my eye on the wall; there was a slot. I took out one of the crystals from my inventory and placed it there. A force-shield came up, and our enemies were thwarted. Lysandra looked over at me with amazement.

    ¡°Don''t think twice.¡± I shrugged, repeating Lumpstein''s words as I turned to head down the hall.

    ¡°R-right,¡± she returned, keeping a hold of her sword as she followed after me.

    After an hour of walking through the massive cuboid labyrinth, we had gone through several different kinds of zones, fought off several different kinds of monsters, and either evaded other players or tricked them into heading for a dangerous zone or trap. I brought up a panel that had been specially given to us for the event, the survivor list. Obviously I wasn''t going to read through every last name, but it also showed you how many players were left.

    ¡°After one hour, one-thousand three-hundred and nineteen players have been eliminated.¡± I read aloud, and Lysandra whistled.

    ¡°Nice.¡± she remarked. The two of us had been hiding out in a jungle cave to take a break. I was sure a trap of some sort was going to go off sooner or later, but for now it was a convenient spot. She then sniffed the air. ¡°I don''t like that smell. Time for a new spot.¡± she said, and the two of us got up to head elsewhere.

    ¡°I bet we run into a Maneater Flower...¡± I softly grumbled.

    ¡°Oh definitely. Or a Poison-cup Bloom.¡± Lysandra agreed.

    ¡°Yeek.¡±

    ¡°There''s already an infinite number of ways to get killed in this game, and you can bet they packed every last one of them into this particular event.¡±

    ¡°Hasn''t stopped me yet.¡±

    ¡°Oh right, none of you have died... at least since you formed your guild,¡± the older girl recalled. ¡°And riding into Harmonia City on a dragon!¡± she grinned with amusement.

    ¡°It seemed like the only way at the time...¡± I returned bemusedly.

    ¡°I''m sure it--¡± she began, then broke off as she caught a scent.

    ¡°Hm?¡± I asked her.

    ¡°Quick, this way!¡± she said urgently, and we took off through the jungle, narrowly avoiding several dangerous plants before escaping the jungle into a steampunk Escher zone, complete with magical orbs that flew around shooting beams or bolts at anything moving that wasn''t another magical orb.

    ¡°Yipes!¡± I exclaimed.

    ¡°Get ready to jump on my back!¡± Lysandra then said. She then shifted to her werewolf self, and I hopped on at once. She galloped through the place, confidently picking turns at every junction until she got to a dead-end drop-off.

    You know, the kind of hallway that terminates at a seemingly endless large chute. But she headed straight for the edge of it, and jumped down. I have no idea how I kept from screaming, but I did, though later Lysandra told me I was making some sort of noise. But anyway. To my understated relief, we did not go splat and die. Instead, she managed to catch hold of a strong vine at the last second, swinging around, and then expertly rolling me off of her shoulders so that I did a somersault in the air to land on my feet like a cat -- right in front of Ariana. Who was with the others. Battling a giant gorilla monster.

    ¡°L-lana!!¡± she said with relief.

    ¡°Good timing!¡± Maryn said as Lysandra rushed past us to do battle with the monster. Maryn gave it a bash for good measure, and while it reeled our werewolf ally tore at its throat and then knocked its head clean off, destroying the beast. She then shifted back to a human form, and calmly readjusted her clothes to cover herself.

    Meanwhile, Ariana wrapped me in a big hug, as did Anhe. We all sighed in relief, and then scurried off to a quiet corner of the labyrinth to plan our next moves.

    ¡°You probably had that thing, but it seemed a convenient excuse to meet up.¡± Lysandra shrugged.

    ¡°Maybe, but I''m glad you did show up.¡± Maryn returned.

    ¡°Ari has some amazing DPS, but that thing was stupidly resistant to magic, even my debuffs!¡± Belle remarked indignantly as she took roost on my shoulder.

    ¡°So physical damage was the key for that thing, huh,¡± the college-age girl noted.

    ¡°Apparently!¡± the pixie nodded back.

    ¡°Even my auras barely gave us an edge,¡± Anhe sighed.

    ¡°You all did good!¡± Ariana beamed.

    ¡°And now we''re all back together again,¡± Maryn smiled.

    ¡°There''s still nearly two-thousand players left, though,¡± I noted.

    ¡°And if they want to keep the events timely, they''ll start shaking things up soon... who knows, they might do it literally,¡± Lysandra smirked.

    ¡°S-snap...¡±

    ¡°Shake this monstrosity of a cube?¡± Maryn wondered. ¡°I guess I wouldn''t put it--¡± she tried to say, but at that moment the massive labyrinth did indeed start to tilt. Fortunately we had gotten into an area that felt pirate-like, if anything, so there was plenty to hold onto.

    ¡°W-wh-why did you have to jinx it!!¡± I complained out loud.

    ¡°I hate being right!!¡± Lysandra quipped as she wrapped herself up in rigging. The tilting picked up momentum, and we shrieked at the sensation, shutting our eyes to block out some of the disorientation.

    ¡°I feel very bad for anyone in those Escher rooms right now!!¡± Anhe remarked.

    ¡°Right??¡± Belle agreed.

    The cube then tilted and turned at roller-coaster speeds for several minutes before finally settling into its original position, by which time the six of us were exhausted. Even in this favorable spot it had been a chore to hang on. I pulled up that special panel again, and once my eyes and head stopped spinning I was able to zero in on the number of players left.

    ¡°A-as of now,¡± I stated, still dizzy, ¡°Zere''s... about... one-t''ousand... ''thousand and sisty-three... players...¡±

    ¡°S-sixty-three, Lana.¡± Ariana said with a gentle laugh.

    ¡°Zah''s what I said...¡± I groaned, slowly trying to sit up.

    ¡°No amusement park dates in your love-life, huh?¡± Lysandra quipped as she untangled herself from the mass of ropes. ¡°Grrrgh! I did this way too well. I hope everyone else is recovering just as well as we are!¡± she grumbled.

    I fell back upon the ground, and then Belle, who had been the least affected, began casting her magic on us. In a few seconds we felt like ourselves again, and gratefully thanked our little comrade, who beamed with pleasure. We then helped Lysandra out of her predicament, and after recovering ourselves a moment more we moved on.

    ¡°Woof,¡± our werewolf girl remarked as we entered a desert area with winding canyons and imposing mesas. Ari used her Mystic Vision skill to scout it a bit; we found giant scorpion monsters, possible rockslide traps, a definite nope-cavern that was probably home to some sort of raging beast, and a couple of rivers teeming with dangerous reptiles.

    ¡°Hahh... they keep it interesting,¡± Maryn sighed.

    ¡°We can avoid these, more or less... it''s what we can''t see that concerns me, and I know Shadow Vision doesn''t work here from earlier.¡± I said.

    ¡°When in doubt, everything is a trap!¡± Belle nodded wisely.

    This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    ¡°Oh definitely.¡± I agreed.

    ¡°Especially that rope-bridge we saw.¡± Anhe remarked.

    ¡°Total trap there.¡± Lysandra nodded.

    ¡°Get to the middle of it and boom, crocodile boss.¡± I frowned.

    ¡°Let''s get going before they pull another whirly-gig stunt.¡± the older girl then said, and with that we started off.

    ¡°Hey! It''s the Silvernight Queens!¡± an unfamiliar voice said from behind.

    Uh-oh. I looked back; there were at least twenty-five players, maybe more.

    ¡°Quick! Get them!!¡± another one shouted.

    ¡°Snap!!¡± I shouted, throwing down a smoke bomb. It provided just enough time for Lysandra to use her wolf summon, and then we scampered away.

    ¡°Left!¡± Ari said in as loud a whisper as she dared, casting a wind spell to erase our footprints.

    ¡°They might have a mage that can use Mystic Vision too, you know!¡± Lysandra warned.

    ¡°Looked like a party of meatheads and muscle-brains to me,¡± I replied as we jumped and ducked through a pile of deadwood. ¡°That way!¡± I then said, pointing to a rickety ladder that led up to the top of a cliff.

    ¡°Hope it''s not a dead end!¡± Maryn remarked with concern.

    ¡°I''ll fly up and see!¡± Belle told us, zooming off as we began ascending the ladder. She came back to hover near my face a few moments later. ¡°There''s some sort of door up there, we can probably get inside before they see us!¡±

    ¡°Did you see them? Are they following?¡± I asked her.

    ¡°I think only a couple of them were heading the right direction so far, but let''s not hang around!¡± she said.

    ¡°Gotcha!¡± I nodded back as I scurried up the last few rungs and then army-crawled after our pixie ally, who led us straight to the door.

    It was a simple wooden door, the kind that opened upwards courtesy of an iron ring. I opened it without much resistance; a musty and dank smell wafted out. I grimaced, but quickly noted an iron ladder descending down a narrow shaft. Without hesitation I began descending it, Belle staying by my side as a partial vanguard while the others quickly followed me down. The pixie girl flew down to the bottom, and came back up with a sigh of relief.

    ¡°No traps so far!¡± she told us.

    ¡°Great!¡± I said, and then practically slid down the rest of the way. The others came down just as swiftly, Lysandra arriving last.

    ¡°I got the door shut again. There were only the two that I could scent, but they''ll probably figure out where we went, even though I wrecked the ladder,¡± she said with a wry smirk.

    ¡°Niiice.¡± Ariana grinned back.

    ¡°In the meantime, let''s figure this--oohh...!¡± I began, suddenly noting that, while there were no traps, there was quite a lot that could be used to make traps. ¡°I get it now,¡± I said with a delighted grin.

    ¡°Ooh, definitely,¡± my Wood Elf partner agreed, picking up on my thoughts as quickly as usual. ¡°What kind of trap should we make first?¡± she smiled mischievously.

    ***

    So we used everything. And I mean everything. First we booby-trapped the shaft with the ladder, as well as the bottom of it, with spikes, poison-smoke bombs, and grease. Then we wrecked the light fixtures so that they couldn''t see anything. And then we continued down the maze of corridors, setting up all sorts of devious devices and pitfalls to hinder or eliminate our competition. My favorite were the horizontal guillotine traps we set up. Oh, but the slip-and-slide of death we fashioned with grease, explosives, and several sharp objects including a pile of broken glass bottles that we smashed up--before we set up the explosives, I should say--was also a favorite.

    ¡°We could have left the lights alone, maybe.¡± Maryn remarked bemusedly. At that moment a chorus of screams, shrieks, and wails came to our ears.

    ¡°Eh. Nope.¡± I then said.

    ¡°Pffft!¡± Lysandra quietly guffawed.

    Over the next twenty minutes, that miniature horde of players came swarming in to try and smoke us out, only to receive the reverse uno-card that was our carefully constructed mini-maze of death. At the end of that horrible yet oh-so amusing spectacle, the last of the players came stumbling towards us through the final corridor.

    ¡°Heh... heh-hh-heh... found yous... now I got yas!¡± he said in a dazed tone, clearly not thinking too straight.

    ¡°Maybe we should have lightened up on the gas and chemicals for that one corridor...¡± Ariana said with a faint giggle.

    ¡°You sure about that, friend?¡± I replied to the man with a smug grin as he continued, suddenly slipping and falling down hard on one of the explosives. He went up with a squawking shriek, and with that the torrent of adversaries ceased.

    ¡°Well that was fun. What''s next?¡± Lysandra quipped.

    We found a back door to the place we had used as a death trap a couple minutes later, emerging once more in the desert. Our aimless journey now resumed across the deadly expanse of canyons and sand. We had a couple of fights with the local wildlife, but other than that we managed to avoid any huge traps. After the desert we found ourselves in a forest of oak and pine, where the dangers were more subtle. Oh, you know, the usual: angry wolves, attacking trees, malicious roots that try to squeeze you in two, blood-sucking bats, malevolent sprites, and so on. Just your typical fantasy forest ¨¤ la maze-mode.

    In the middle of it we found this cozy looking cottage, complete with a garden on one side and smoke coming out of the chimney. We headed on inside thinking it might be one of the very few safe hideaways in the entire maze, but wouldn''t you know there were occupants inside? Four skeletal warriors, one of them with a bow, and a decayed corpse of the elite variety. The skeletons were no problem. The elite, however, released a poisonous gas cloud when it died, forcing us out of the little cottage and back into the woods, where we got into a scuffle with another group of players who set upon us before we finally beat them and continued on our way.

    ¡°Now where to?¡± Ariana wondered as we softly scurried along.

    ¡°Any ideas would be welcome,¡± I said. Belle, perched on my shoulder again, brought up the special event panel.

    ¡°Player numbers are in the low eight-hundreds now, but the drop rate is declining. That twisting and turning earlier probably ended up mashing a bunch of groups or solos in the same space.¡± she remarked.

    ¡°So we had a spike in combat right after the labyrinth shook. And now everyone''s probably scrambling about or sneaking around to find targets again,¡± Maryn noted.

    ¡°Most likely,¡± Lysandra agreed.

    ¡°I wonder if -- yeek!!¡± I suddenly exclaimed, jumping back. Before us was a huge, mist-covered bog.

    ¡°Ooh...¡± our shield-user frowned.

    ¡°Hmm... I can probably keep us alive here... I''ve spent a lot of time in places like the Marshes of the Wyrd and the Bogs of Inyan, along with a few other bog-like areas.¡± Lysandra told us, gazing at the place thoughtfully.

    We could hear the sounds of frogs and crickets, as well as that of several kinds of birds (mostly owls, I think), and I heard the low, rumbling growl of some hungry predator. Lysandra definitely heard it, for her eyes started gleaming and she sniffed the air.

    ¡°What was it?¡± Ariana whispered to her softly.

    ¡°Some sort of reptile,¡± she returned just as quietly. ¡°Get a couple red-lanterns out if you can, and stay close to me,¡± the she-werewolf then said, and we let her take the lead. Belle used one of her pixie-powers to give off a red glow, and Ari summoned a magical red hover-light while Anhe took out one of the lanterns she had gotten from the Halloween quests.

    Slowly we made our way through the place, creeping along the driest paths possible to get through it. From what I could tell, this was going to be one of the more challenging mini-mazes in the whole place. The dry paths functioned as the ¡°paths¡±, while the ¡°walls¡± were the bog itself, which was probably filled with all sorts of deadly monsters. And I was guessing there would be some sort of sinking sand or tar pit around.

    As we delved further in, I could see will-o-wisps and other bog-lights floating around, most of them of a white coloration but some had faint tinges of blue or yellow. I could see Lysandra frowning. It was quite possible we were going in circles, but I wasn''t going to complain about it. Most likely a lot of other players would turn back from this part of the labyrinths, which gave us some breathing room from them. Once or twice someone slipped into the water, but the rest of us were always able to quickly haul them out without incident. Ari almost had a panic attack when we fished her out, swearing up and down that something had gotten under her armor. She was relieved--and thoroughly embarrassed--after divesting herself to find it was just a fish.

    About forty minutes passed by like this, and then our guide led us towards a gnarled old pine tree that we saw rising out of the mists. By now we were mostly soaked, and the temperature of the bog had been steadily increasing as well. It wasn''t too uncomfortable, but it was getting to that point. We sat down next to a log with questionable-looking fungi nearly covering it, and this time Lysandra brought up the panel. She gazed at it for several long moments, and then brushed it away with a sigh.

    ¡°Six-hundred and thirty-seven players left.¡± she remarked.

    ¡°Almost to the goal, then,¡± Ariana said.

    ¡°Now it''s probably gonna get to that point, and they''ll have to shake us up again.¡± I noted, and the werewolf-girl nodded back at me.

    ¡°Oh definitely.¡± she agreed.

    ¡°Hmm?¡± Ariana wondered.

    ¡°Sometimes in events like these, when it gets close to the end of the event, a lot of players try to batten down and wait things out, hoping other players knock each other out of the running so they don''t have to do any more.¡± I told her.

    ¡°Hmm... it''s not a terrible idea, but...¡± she returned, trailing off with a frown.

    ¡°Exactly. That kind of thing worked in older games, but in this one I doubt it''ll go over so smoothly.¡± Lysandra nodded. ¡°Sorry, but it is getting seriously hot in here.¡± she then said, slipping her bandeau down.

    ¡°Agree.¡± Maryn nodded, starting to take off her breastplate, but at that moment the ground vibrated. We all tensed up. Lysandra quickly covered herself again and Maryn refastened the strap she had undone. Nothing further seemed to be happening.

    ¡°Grrgh, psyching us out...¡± the college-girl grumbled, starting to get comfortable again. But at that moment something sprang out of the bogs and we jumped to our feet, except Belle, who was still on my shoulder.

    ¡°W-w-w-what is it?!¡± she cried out anxiously.

    Before us, grinning at us with a devilish delight, was a massive bog-monster. It had crocodile-like claws, the face of a toad and torso of a wood-tree demon, a horrible mismatch of jagged teeth, it was covered in and crowned with bogweeds, the eyes were a malevolent orange-yellow, and it had to be at least four meters in height. Two stocky legs like tyrannosaur legs ended in wickedly clawed feet with seven toes, and as the water continued to drip off of it the thing let out a sinister chuckle and then a heart-stopping cry that was something between a grating shriek and domineering howl.

    I felt my knees buckle, and I slipped to the ground, as did Ariana beside me. Maryn rushed to the forefront, sword and shield raised, and Anhe came quickly to her side. Lysandra looked dazed for a moment but swiftly drew out her blade, and then Belle cast some of her spells on us.

    ¡°Come on, girls!! You made it through that Xuanpu world boss, you can get past a dirty old bog monster!!¡± she squeaked out encouragingly.

    ¡°Hahh!!¡± Anhe cried out, activating one of her battle-auras. I stood up to my feet and helped Ari to hers, inwardly berating myself and smiling at Belle, who smiled back and gave us both a kiss on the cheek.

    ¡°Let''s do this!¡± she then said.

    ¡°I''m ready!¡± Ariana returned, gripping her staff with renewed determination.

    ¡°Still...¡± I said, looking towards the slowly oncoming monster with a bewildered expression.

    ¡°What in the never-ending heck is this piece of--¡± Lysandra started to say, but then it stomped on the ground, and a mini-quake almost toppled us on our backsides.

    ¡°Yikes!¡± Maryn exclaimed as she quickly regained her stance.

    ¡°I swear, if this is some unbeatable dev-prank, I''m gonna let them have it on the forums as long as I live!!¡± the werewolf-girl said angrily, and with that, she, Maryn, and Anhe charged, while the rest of us backed them up.

    However confusingly amalgamated the thing was, it seemed like the best attack would involve fire. Anhe''s current battle-aura did in fact include a reflect of fire-damage. So Ari used her flame and lightning spells while I used fire arrows, and Belle darted between us and the melee group to support us or to debuff the monster, which was apparently a rare champion elite named The Dark Soul of the Bogs.

    There was nothing terribly complicated about the fight; every couple of minutes it would let out that unearthly scream to try and rattle us, or it would stomp down for a mini-quake, and several times it would summon up swarms of stinging bugs or even poisonous toads, but other than that it was a fairly straightforward fight.

    When it got below fifty-percent health, it started doing these things more frequently, but that only made Lysandra take to her werewolf self in a fit of anger, whereupon she wailed on and tore at that tree like one possessed. I actually stopped shooting arrows just to watch the spectacle. As it reached twenty-five percent it tried to unleash a new skill, but Lysandra noticed it at once and then lunged for the thing''s throat, cutting off the induction. It still had enough gusto to knock back Maryn and Anhe, but it could not shake off the angry werewolf.

    Seeing an opening, I activated my critical damage and booster skills, and queued up a Doom Shot. I let it fly, and it struck the thing square in the chest, doing at leas as much damage as I had hoped it would. Ariana then followed me up with several jolting attacks on it, and Dark Soul staggered to the ground, whereupon Lysandra managed to activate one of her automatic kills: ripping off the creature''s head. She then batted the headless torso back into the bogs after it, and shifted back to human form.

    ¡°Yeek.¡± Ariana grimaced.

    ¡°Nice.¡± I remarked.

    ¡°All right, that''s taken care--¡± our werewolf ally started to say as she finished adjusting her pants and began pulling her bandeau back into place, but at that exact moment--sure, it may be obvious to you, perhaps even clich¨¦ or predictable, but it happened anyway--they did it again. They began spinning and turning the labyrinth for a second time.

    Belle caught on to Ariana, who wrapped herself around one of the still sturdy pine tree''s branches, and Maryn grabbed Anhe, plunging her sword into the trunk of the tree. Like a cat, I jumped into the branches nearby, and Lysandra followed me up, the both of us wrapping ourselves around the branch we had caught onto and hoping that it would keep hold of us. After a couple of minutes, the turning stopped; we were now completely upside-down. Why the water or anything else in the bog wasn''t spilling upwards was beyond me.

    ¡°Th-they stopped it...?¡± I wondered suspiciously.

    ¡°Oh no. They wouldn''t.¡± Maryn suddenly looked frightened, redoubling her grip on the sword and holding Anhe tightly against her.

    ¡°M-Maryn, this is close!!¡± the younger girl said in slight embarrassment.

    ¡°I''ll apologize later all you want, but right now--¡± the other girl began, only to be interrupted by what happened next. The giant labyrinth began shaking, as if some giant hand had wrapped around it and the whole thing was a massive salt or pepper shaker.

    We screamed. Even Lysandra, who was generally composed in any situation, let out a shriek, but that was only because she got shaken off. Faster than lightning I grabbed her hand, and she quickly reached out with her other to clasp onto me as tightly as she could while the thing shook. I looked out of the corner of my eye to ensure that the others were still okay; Ariana was using one of her spells to keep herself, Maryn, and Anhe rooted to the tree, while Belle, who could fly, wasn''t in any real danger. The problem was the two of us on the other branch.

    ¡°Lana!! Lysandra!!¡± Ariana cried out as I turned back to our werewolf ally.

    She had regained most of her composure as soon as she had a firm grip on my arm. Both of us were still visibly anxious as the shaking continued, our eyes locked together. I tried to pull her back up, but the shaking was too much.

    ¡°Just keep hold of me!¡± I grunted out. She nodded back. And then we heard the noise. It was the sound of a tree branch starting to break. My eyes widened, and Lysandra nervously turned her head to look at the branch.

    ¡°Oh... God...!!¡± she swore with a shiver that even I felt.

    ¡°Oh dear!¡± I heard Belle''s voice cry. A second cracking sound was heard. Still the shaking continued.

    ¡°Not... like... this!!¡± Lysandra shouted at the top of her lungs.

    I was in complete agreement with her, mentally. I wasn''t gonna chance losing my focus and my grip on her by ranting myself. Then the shaking stopped. But we were still upside-down. And the branch was now closer to breaking off.

    I then dared to look past Lysandra for a moment. It should have struck me earlier, but there was a decent chance that we were on a lower level of the labyrinth and that we wouldn''t actually fall out. But that brief glance told me everything I didn''t want to know. I could see the crowds in the stadiums, anxiously watching and awaiting the final results. We had somehow gotten to the top floor of the labyrinth.

    ¡°Oh boy...¡± Ariana remarked as she looked as well.

    At that moment, I heard the creaking of the branch, the kind of long and slow creaking sound that generally precedes the final crack whereupon the branch is then loosed from its tree to fall off. My heart began racing.

    ¡°P-panel!¡± Maryn said to Anhe, who blinked and then hurriedly opened it.

    ¡°Where--ah!! there!¡± the younger girl exclaimed. ¡°Five-hundred and fifteen -- ah! One more down! Five-hundred and fourteen!¡± she read.

    Five-hundred and fourteen. Two away from their goal. The creaking sound got audibly louder, and it started making that sort of stuttering noise that usually occurs right before the--

    Crrrrrr--rrrackk!!

    I suddenly felt weightless, and a touch numb. Both Lysandra and I gazed at each other in horror. But before either of us could scream, someone grabbed hold of us and kept us afloat in the air. Belle!! I almost fainted in relief. The pixie-girl had used her temporary growth skill to rescue us. But her strength stat was probably not enough to hold on to us for long.

    ¡°Maybe... twenty... seconds!¡± she warned us as we grabbed on to her.

    ¡°Five-hundred and thirteen!¡± Anhe announced with excitement.

    Come on! Come on, come on, come on -- somebody else, hurry up and fall out of this dang thing!!

    The seconds passed by in agonizing slowness. I could see Belle straining to hold on to us. She gave us both an apologetic glance; I smiled back, shaking my head gently. Then something else happened. The sound of a massive gong rang out, and a new fanfare played.

    ¡°Congratulations, players! You who yet remain inside the labyrinth have now passed the final trial! Welcome to the Grand Tournament!¡± the voice of Athena announced.

    ¡°W-w-we, we made it!¡± Anhe said in relief. A new spell then teleported us out of the labyrinth as the victorious fanfare continued, placing us, by our groups, apparently, into a chamber that was probably adjacent to or below the arena. We sighed in relief as we touched on solid ground at last. Then I looked over at Belle, and blushed.

    ¡°Wh-what is it?¡± the blue-haired pixie girl in normal size asked me.

    ¡°N-no-nothing... I just forgot you don''t have normal sized clothes...¡± I returned with a wry smile.

    ¡°Oh! Right!¡± she said with a giggle, and then looked around. ¡°Ack!!¡± she then cried out, curling up to cover herself.

    ¡°What''s wrong?¡± Maryn asked her.

    ¡°My pixie dress is still in the labyrinth...¡±

    ***

    Fortunately for Belle, there was a lost and found in the arena. As soon as Lysandra mentioned this, I scurried off to it at once with Belle cupped in my hands after she shrunk back to her normal size, and we found it waiting for her. She hastily equipped it while I kept her covered, and then she flew up to hug my face.

    ¡°Ohh, thank you...!!¡± she said in relief.

    ¡°No problem,¡± I smiled back.

    ¡°Luckily we''re all girls or that would have been ten times worse,¡± she said as she returned to my shoulder. A brief crinkle came to my smile, which was smoothed back out as soon as the others caught up to us.

    ¡°Whew!¡± Maryn smiled in relief.

    ¡°Nothing worse than losing your clothes while having an adventure,¡± Lysandra remarked with a wry grin.

    ¡°H-have you lost that top many times, Lysandra?¡± Belle softly giggled back.

    ¡°I''ll keep that to myself.¡± she winked. ¡°Anyway; we made it, and from what I can see... all of our targets made it through as well, Lana,¡± she said to me.

    ¡°Nice.¡± I nodded back to her.

    ¡°Don''t forget our wager, cutie. See you in the ring.¡± she said to me with another wink, coming over to kiss me and Ariana on the cheek, and then she left our party, heading out of the arena. I stood there with a semi-frazzled look on my face, and then Ari coughed next to me.

    ¡°''Don''t forget our wager, cutie''?¡± she asked me with a faint grin and a stern look.

    ¡°She kissed you too, you know.¡± I returned with a soft indignance.

    ¡°Hmm... but it looks more intimate when she does it with you.¡± my partner told me.

    ¡°Does it?¡± I said with genuine curiosity, rubbing the back of my neck. That was enough to convince her there was no ulterior motive on my part, it seemed, for she took my arm and laid her head on my shoulder.

    ¡°I''m glad we all made it through so far.¡± she whispered softly, and I reached over to stroke her hair with my free hand.

    ¡°Me too, partner. Me too.¡± I whispered back.

 Bonus Chapter: A Pixies Pre-game Thoughts

    The warm and soothing water of the shower rained down like a healing balm upon her body as she rinsed herself off and then basked in the calming sensation. If only I could have been a fish or something, or even a water-bird of some kind... or a real fairy, even, she thought with a smile as she ran her fingers through shoulder-length platinum-blonde hair. When she felt it was enough, the young lady turned off the shower and got out to dry off, taking a look at herself in the mirror before she got a towel. I hate it when they judge me for my size, the sad thought came out in a silent sigh. She was not slender, but she was also not obese. Curvy. Fun-sized. Plump. Those were the nicer words that Mandy King received about her appearance. Not that I really care, not too much... oh, who am I kidding... I hate it. I wish it would stop...

    The college girl wrapped up in a towel and dried her hair with the blow-dryer. Afterwards she put on one of the oversize shirts she liked and headed out of the shower room to grab a bite. It was Saturday night. Her roommates Dana and Jamie were watching some mind-numbing reality show. Dana, the most peppy of the three of them, turned to Mandy with a smile.

    ¡°Hey Manders! We''re gonna go have some fun in another dorm after this ends, you in?¡± she asked. Mandy affected a soft frown.

    ¡°You know I''m not in to that sort of ''fun'', Dana,¡± she replied shyly.

    ¡°I know. But the one guy was asking about you a lot. Like really a lot.¡± the other said.

    ¡°I''m sure, and I can imagine the questions,¡± Mandy sighed, settling for a saucer of chips and crackers.

    ¡°I mean, sure, he did ask a couple of those, but overall it seemed like he really wanted to--¡±

    ¡°O-kay, you can stop.¡± the blonde girl said with a smile. ¡°I have my thing tonight, anyway, so have ''fun''.¡±

    I bet you don''t even take precautions lately, do you?

    ¡°Oh right! Sure, we''ll definitely have fun... with real people.¡± she said with a superior smirk, and the other girl stifled a guffaw.

    ¡°My friends are more real than yours,¡± Mandy quipped back as she headed upstairs, ¡°And they''re not the kind who judge people on body-type and personal interests.¡±

    ¡°Ooh... she got you there, Dana.¡± Jamie remarked as Mandy moved out of hearing range.

    The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    ¡°Yeah, whatever. Wish that shut-in virgin would transfer out already...¡± the other girl spat loudly.

    I''ll be the one laughing when you get preggo or catch a disease... Mandy scowled, silently shutting the door to her room behind her and locking it. She read over her assignment a bit more while she ate her snack, and when she was satisfied with this activity she leaned back in the chair, reminiscing about her first time in that wonderful world of Panarena Fantasy Online.

    ***

    ¡°Hmm... oh! I''ll choose this one!¡± she had said after some consideration, settling on the pixie race for her character. ¡°No classes, huh? Not by the traditional RPG selection, anyway... all skill-based? Challenge accepted!¡±

    Mandy had been playing games like this since she was four years old and her older brother Mick had challenged her to a racing game. Her likes for them spanned all genres, from First-person Shooters to Real-time Strategies, Cyberpunk, Fantasy, Slice-of-Life, Heroic Epics, browser games, and everything in between. But this one was the game that boasted to eclipse them all forever -- at least until someone managed to one-up them. But Mandy, who was quite the obsessive expert on gaming systems, knew that would take at least ten years, the way the industry had been shocked by the introduction of the Dream Machine.

    Everything after it would now be based upon its basic design. It had become the new ultimate standard of modern gaming systems. And not just gaming, but everything that had once been done with computers and gaming systems might now start to merge into the virtual world network that was already forming. But that was probably a few years away. For now, Mandy would settle for being Sky Belle, her little blue pixie self. She had dedicated hours and hours to leveling this character, finding that her racial skills were more than enough to deal with enemies and becoming one of the purist pixies--at least for now.

    The real shocker was the time she discovered she could adopt a human-size form, only to have her tiny dress not change size with her and instead return to her inventory, leaving her stark naked. Fortunately she had discovered this in a private room, and had since remained in pixie form for most of her game-play, until she had met up with the Silvernight Queens. The girls of that guild, quite simply, were her idols, Lana especially. They had tipped the fate of the Aldholt, tamed untameable beasts, had the respect of guilds far and wide (even if they didn''t know it), solved unbeatable quests and overcame monsters that only a select few had. And now they were going to compete in the Grand Tournament.

    ***

    And I get to be inducted into their guild soon!! she thought with happiness. Of course there was also Lysandra, the werewolf girl, who had made a bet to join them.

    Hahh, couldn''t be honest with herself, poor recluse. I have to be extra-supportive of her when she finds her way! Mandy nodded to herself. She then looked at the time. It was almost six-thirty. Maybe I should go look for some human-sized clothes while I wait for them...

    ¡°Might as well log in now,¡± she said, putting on the Dream Machine and activating it, leaving behind a messy reality to head for her virtual dreams.

 Chapter Thirty-six: The Tournament Begins

    The rest of us returned to our rented room to recuperate. Healina practically squeezed the air out of every single one of us -- except Belle, whom she was more delicate with. Once our Sea Elf healer had finished ravishing us with affection we sat together in a heap on a couch and she sighed in relief.

    ¡°I was nervous when they separated you all.¡± she remarked.

    ¡°S-same,¡± Ariana smiled back. ¡°Belle and I managed to do that run-and-gun thing without dying, though, and then we somehow saved Maryn and Anhe from a group of players and some random monster.¡±

    ¡°That was an epic save.¡± our healer nodded. ¡°Though not as dramatic as watching Lana get hurled into the fray, only to be beaten to the punch by the one who hurled her!¡± she said with a big grin.

    ¡°That nearly took years off my life.¡± I grimaced.

    ¡°I can hear Lizzy cackling now,¡± Anhe smiled.

    ¡°Oh she''ll howl. I saved it just for her.¡± Heali nodded.

    ¡°Pfffft!¡± Belle snickered.

    ¡°That dress not changing size with you is a serious design flaw, by the way.¡± the Sea Elf girl remarked, gently patting Belle on the head.

    ¡°Right?!¡± the other girl squeaked back. ¡°I mean I guess I knew it would happen, since it always does... do you think anyone saw anything?¡±

    ¡°Lana and Lysandra kept you covered in that regard.¡± the other girl said.

    ¡°Phew!¡±

    ¡°Speaking of losing clothes, we never tried that big bath we have in our room.¡± Maryn remarked casually.

    ¡°Oh you''re right!¡± Ariana said, getting up and pulling me off the couch with her.

    ¡°Huh?¡± I said as she did.

    ¡°Let''s go set it up!¡± she grinned at me, pulling me along.

    Right. I''m gonna skip a bit. After our impromptu but very relaxing (and shenanigan-filled) bath, we put on some nice casual wear and went out into the city to find a restaurant or tavern to celebrate our successful entry. We ran into Jannie and her guildies again, along with Wildeye, Tyman, and some of theirs, and decided to head for one of the larger restaurants in the Market District, where we found Angelfire and her guildies as well. A few more familiar faces turned up, making it one huge post-prelim celebration.

    Lizzy actually turned up a couple minutes after midnight; her shift had ended around eleven-thirty and she had nearly been caught speeding on the way home, but now she was somehow completely re-energized and ready to party with us.

    ¡°I knew you''d make it!¡± she declared, gently thumping Ariana and me on the back.

    ¡°By the skin of our teeth,¡± I said with a laugh.

    ¡°Ooh...! Tell me more,¡± the Nordian halberdier said as she took one of the ale-mugs from a tray that was offered to us. I took one as well, but Ari already had a glass of something.

    We talked at length about the highlights of the event, during which Lysandra showed up to add her own anecdotes and perspective on it. Lizzy seemed most interested in the part where we set up traps in that random desert bunker, or whatever it had been. As Healina expected, when she was shown my grand entrance in rejoining the others with Lysandra she cackled appreciatively. The werewolf girl grinned over at us.

    ¡°She''s fun to mess with, isn''t she?¡± Lizzy beamed over at her, wrapping an arm around me as I affected a wry smile.

    ¡°True. And she also comes through when needed, just like the rest of you.¡± the other girl agreed.

    ¡°Aw, shucks, you''ll have to lose the bet so I can prove myself to you on that count.¡± the blonde girl quipped.

    ¡°Even if I win it I''ll get to see it.¡± the darker-haired girl smirked back.

    ¡°Sure! But I know who''s gonna be standing at the top when this thing is over!¡± Lizzy said confidently, gently shaking me.

    ¡°Hrrmm...!¡± Ari pouted.

    ¡°If you say so!¡± Lysandra returned, raising her mug.

    At that moment we heard a series of wild howls, but it was a howling of human voices. The Mountain Tigers were having their own toast of victory on the other side of the restaurant.

    ¡°A Tiger! A Tiger!¡± Wildeye and his friends cheered.

    ¡°Angelfire!¡± someone from the Flamehearts guild cried out, and the rest of them began chanting her name as well. Apparently, she had been the only one of her guild''s group to survive the labyrinth.

    ¡°As expected of her,¡± Jannie grinned as they continued chanting her name in response to the Tigers'' chant. Tyman then came over to us, a big grin on his face.

    ¡°Yo, Lans, you see those brackets yet?¡± he called over to me, pulling up a panel.

    ¡°Hmm?¡± I asked him, and he turned it to face me. He highlighted his name and mine. We were going to be each other''s second fight, if we made it past our initial opponents.

    ¡°Sunday or Monday, sister! Sunday or Monday.¡± he grinned fiercely at me.

    ¡°You''re on!¡± I grinned back, and we clanked our mugs together, taking a huge swig in toast.

    ¡°Hmm? But who''s your first fight?¡± Lysandra wondered.

    ¡°I got some wizard or something that scraped by in the prelims and just barely held on in that last prank,¡± Tyman remarked.

    ¡°Nice. And you, Lana?¡± the werewolf-girl asked me. I looked back at the panel that Tyman still had up. I nearly choked when I saw the name written on that first bracket.

    Lana -- Ariana.

    ¡°W-wha... whoa...¡± Tyman remarked in surprise when he saw it. ¡°Yo... that''s wack...¡±

    ¡°Tough luck, kiddos,¡± Lizzy said sympathetically.

    I felt my hand lose its grip on the mug, and it went tumbling to the floor. I slid off the bar-stool numbly, mechanically walking towards the door. I think Ariana tried to call my name, but somebody must have kept her from coming after me all at once. There were probably other people trying to get my attention so that I would snap out of this sudden funk, but I couldn''t hear them. I reached the door, my chest heaving with silent and stifled sobs, then opened it and rushed out into the streets. A scream wanted to leave my mouth, but it got choked back by a flood of tears instead.

    ***

    I don''t know how I ended up where I did. All I know is that, somehow, though I was nearly blinded by my tears, I knocked on a vaguely familiar door, and was let inside. Down the two flights of stairs I rushed, locking myself in a private room, and then giving vent to the hurt that had built up inside.

    Not Ari... not Ari.. not her... it''s not fair, it''s not! It''s not fair!

    I''m not exactly sure how much time passed. I know that at the end of my (arguably reasonable) tantrum, I was too tired to even move. I caught sight of myself in a mirror; you''re a complete wreck, I thought at once, still sniffling. A new but lesser wave of tears streamed down my face, and then I heard a knock.

    You can unlock a door one of two ways here. You can get up and do it manually, or you can use a voice command to let the person knocking inside. I was too stressed and shaken to do the former.

    ¡°Come in.¡± I said in a voice of resignation. The door opened. Lysandra came in, locking the door behind her again as she came over and sat next to me. I felt her hand on my back, moving gently up and down. I felt another wave of sobs ripple up and burst out. She sat there the entire time, waiting until they had finished, and then I leaned on to her.

    ¡°I''m sorry.¡± she whispered in a voice far softer than she usually used. ¡°I didn''t expect that at all. We can call off the bet if you want. I didn''t want to make you fight your precious partner.¡± she told me sincerely.

    ¡°What did Ari say?¡± I asked her in a ragged voice.

    ¡°She hasn''t said anything. She''s back at the tavern, being consoled by the others. She''s just as hurt as you are that they set the match that way. But what can you do about it? Petition? They''ll laugh at you. Quit? You worked so hard to get here, even for each other''s sake it seems silly to throw this all away. It''s still just a game. Deep down, I''m sure you both realize that, and are secretly or even subconsciously eager to try your skills against each other.¡± Lysandra told me.

    ¡°Is it just a game?¡± I wondered. ¡°There are places where it''s so far beyond a game; sure, it''s basically a game, but for some of us it''s all too real. Not everyone can separate themselves from it enough to think about it logically.¡±

    ¡°And here I thought you were brighter than the average bear,¡± Lysandra quipped in a gentle voice, softly ruffling my hair. ¡°You really are completely devoted to it, huh? I don''t know if that''s a good thing or a bad one. But... right now, it''s okay. It''s okay to be upset about this. Just remember it''s not the end of the world, and that something like this would have happened eventually in one of these tournaments.¡±

    ¡°I guess...¡± I sniffled. She let a moment of silence pass, calmly stroking my hair.

    ¡°So, how''s this gonna go?¡± the older girl then said.

    ¡°I think... I think I need to talk with Ari.¡±

    ¡°That''s the least you should do.¡± Lysandra said, patting my head. ¡°And what about our wager?¡±

    ¡°¡­ Let me decide after talking with her.¡± I replied after a moment, and she patted my back.

    ¡°Sure. But first, let''s clean you up a bit, huh?¡± she returned, helping me to my feet.

    She then led me out of the room, where I received another bath (though I was almost sure Ari hadn''t or wasn''t getting this kind of treatment), and then we set out to make our way back through the winding streets of Harmonia City to the tavern in the market district. As I looked around, I wasn''t exactly sure how or why my hurried feet had let me to the underground sauna and baths.

    ¡°I was kind of surprised you wandered back here, but not completely.¡± my companion said as we left the building in question. ¡°Hmm... it was a good thing, though. You were a serious mess.¡± she continued, and my face scrunched up at the words.

    ¡°Sorry...¡± I mumbled. She smiled, and before thirty minutes had passed we were back at the tavern.

    It was still lively, and Lysandra gently shoved me through the crowds to where Ari and the others were. She then picked me up and sat me in the empty chair next to my partner, and then nodded her head to the other girls, who got up and went with her to mingle in the crowds, leaving the two of us to ourselves. I could see Ariana had been crying as well. The first thing we did was to wrap each other in a warm hug, holding each other tightly as yet another wave of tears fell from our eyes.

    ¡°I''m not gonna be hurt. It''s just a match, after all,¡± she eventually said to me.

    ¡°I guess... but it really stings,¡± I told her.

    ¡°That means a lot.¡± she replied. I squeezed her for a moment, and then we let go, taking each other''s hands and looking the other in the eyes. She smiled at me. ¡°I''m not confident I can hold you off for long though!¡± she said with a faint giggle.

    ¡°Th-that''s my line,¡± I said at once. ¡°We never sparred against each other, but we were always watching each other. We know each other''s weaknesses, and now...¡±

    ¡°Now we have to exploit them instead of helping the other disguise them,¡± she nodded.

    ¡°Y-yeah...¡± I softly groaned, but she only pulled my face close and kissed me. I kissed her back, and then we locked eyes again.

    ¡°I promise to do it as painlessly as possible if I get an opening; and you''d better promise me the same.¡± she told me.

    ¡°I don''t know how painless I can make it, but I''ll try.¡± I replied to her, and she grinned.

    ¡°You''ll find a way.¡±

    ¡°I-I''ll make it up to you somehow...¡±

    ¡°I know you will. But you don''t have to punish yourself.¡±

    ¡°I love you.¡±

    ¡°I love you more.¡±

    ¡°I love you most.¡± I quipped back.

    ¡°And I''ll always love you more than that.¡± she smiled. We kissed again, and then she gave me a mischievous look. ¡°So what did Sandra do?¡± she asked me.

    ¡°San--? Oh, Lysandra,¡± I quickly figured out. ¡°Just the big sister kind of thing... complete with the part where she made me wash up...¡± I recalled, and Ari giggled again.

    ¡°And what about the wager?¡± she asked me.

    ¡°Hrrmm...¡± I sighed, thinking about it again.

    ¡°I''m still kind of mad about it... but I also want you to go through with it.¡± she told me. ¡°That''s really contradictory, huh?¡± she laughed.

    ¡°M-maybe,¡± I replied with a soft shrug, grinning back. ¡°I guess... I guess I don''t have any real problem going through with it... just...¡± I then said, and she nodded back.

    ¡°I totally get it. It shook me up a little, too,¡± Ari said.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± I returned.

    ¡°Well, what''s the verdict, boss?¡± Lizzy said as she rejoined us with another mug in her hand. ¡°We all good?¡±

    ¡°Ari and I are good.¡± I replied with a faint grin, and she beamed at us happily.

    ¡°Good!¡±

    ¡°And our wager?¡± Lysandra said as she reappeared, leaning against one of the wooden columns nearby.

    ¡°I''m still up for it if you are,¡± I said to her.

    ¡°Of course,¡± she replied to me. ¡°Though... I think certain conditions can be dropped. Don''t think too hard about which ones I mean.¡± she then told me. It took a second, but I understood her meaning.

    ¡°F-fair enough.¡± I returned.

    ¡°Oh, but just to poke you with a stick a little more...¡± she said, bringing up the match panel. Her second match was against someone I knew very well, someone who had stood shoulder to shoulder with me several weeks ago in-game, and who would likely continue to be a loyal friend as long as we played the game.

    Lysandra -- Wildeye.

    ¡°Good luck.¡± I said to her in a tone meant to dissuade her from confidence, but she only smirked.

    ¡°If I back down from or lose against a fake-werebeast like him, I''ll change my race.¡± she gently quipped, and stalked off into the crowds once more.

    After a while, the party finally died down, and when those of us who were in the tournament had raised our glasses and mugs in one last toast for the night we all headed off to our separate--well, mostly separate accommodations. The seven of us who were now sharing a room then plomped down in that same room, thoroughly worn out from either the event or the after party, or both.

    ¡°Welp, I''ll see you tomorrow afternoon. Looks like all of the important matches start around eight, so I won''t have to watch recordings again this time!¡± Lizzy said.

    ¡°We''ll see you tomorrow, then!¡± Ariana said as the blonde girl logged out.

    One by one, the others also logged out, until it was just me and Ariana left. We shared a silent hug, holding on to each other for several long minutes. Even if I could have thought of something to say, it was definitely one of those moments where it would be wrong to say anything. When the moment ended, she smiled at me again, and I smiled back. The two of us then logged out together, returning to the real world for the night.

    This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

    Saturday morning was spent doing some things around the house for most of the day. A couple of times I had a video-chat with Rachel, and we talked together while doing things around our respective residences. The afternoon passed slowly; I actually sat outside for a while, watching the leaves in the backyard trickle down on autumn''s breeze from their former perches. It was calming, somehow.

    I got called in for an early dinner about an hour later, and after this I headed upstairs to my room, deciding to log in early. The room was empty when I got there. Of course it is, I said to myself. Lizzy-Ellie was still at work, and Heali-Andrea and Ari-Rachel were dealing with the former''s second cousins until their parents came to pick them up. Maryn was probably doing one of the many assignments she had to do, and Anhe wouldn''t be on until at least fifteen minutes before eight.

    I wonder what time Sky Belle or Lysandra will get on, I wondered. In response to my inaudible query, a small figure materialized a mere three seconds later, and the blue pixie girl appeared.

    ¡°Oh, Lana!¡± she said excitedly, fluttering over to hover near my face.

    ¡°Hey, Belle!¡± I replied.

    ¡°Into anything yet?¡± the blue-haired girl asked me.

    ¡°Not yet, I just got on,¡± I told her.

    ¡°Same... well, you knew that!¡± she grinned. ¡°Don''t hurry into college if you''re not prepared for it... but anyway. Wanna go shopping? I think I need to find some sort of tunic or something for emergencies...¡± she said with a faint blush.

    ¡°Oh, s-sure! Can''t have you losing your clothes all the time... that would end up being a tired gag,¡± I nodded back, and she giggled.

    ¡°True! Okay, let''s go to the Market District then!¡± Belle said, and off we went. It was fairly early in Panarena, but fortunately, even though most of the game''s NPCs functioned on a typical day-and-night schedule, a lot of the shops were always open.

    ¡°Still,¡± I remarked as we exited the inn and made our way through the streets, ¡°It''s kinda hard to believe you''ve gotten this far without making some sort of contingency for that,¡± I said with a bashful grin. She cutely chuckled back, settling in on my shoulder.

    ¡°Wellll, I usually do it where no one sees me, or in a bathhouse or such,¡± she replied, ¡°But since I''m going to be joining you girls I figured I should at least do that much!¡±

    ¡°It must''ve been a chore leveling so high on just racial skills,¡± I then said.

    ¡°A bit; but things like pixies and werebeasts have an easier time with it than a Gael or a Wood Elf.¡±

    ¡°They are more conducive to it,¡± I agreed.

    ¡°Very!¡± Belle nodded.

    ¡°Is it pure pixie skills, or do you have some of the regular magic ones?¡±

    ¡°Pure pixie so far. I''ve been looking at some of the magic skill trees since I started playing, but I don''t feel like any of them are right for my style.¡±

    ¡°That''s what it comes down to in the end,¡± I nodded. ¡°Especially in this world.¡±

    ¡°Oh def!¡± she replied. ¡°I remember my grandma talking about all of the pre-VR virtual chat spaces and worlds that came out earlier in this century; she used to be one of the hippest, on-top-of-it users in every one of them. But this world has totally gone beyond them!¡±

    ¡°Right?¡± I said as we walked through a busy side-street similar to the one where the Panda-man was working his food stand.

    None of those places Belle had referred to were actual games, per se; they were pretty much as she had described them, being elaborate social networks that weren''t always used as social networks but more as a sub-reality for its users to explore a hidden self, masking their identities instead of showing people who they were. They never really went away, by the way. I heard somewhere that there were now companies seeking to retro-fit and redesign those old worlds so they would be compatible with devices like the Dream Machine. Good luck, I thought to myself with a bemused grin. Even I know that coding and programming and such that was over fifty to sixty years old would be hard to revamp at this stage, even if it was still going fairly strong.

    We passed through the gates to the Market District a couple minutes later, and then Belle gently nudged me. I looked over at her. She had an expression of concern on her face.

    ¡°Are you gonna be okay tonight?¡± she softly asked. A weak smile crossed my face.

    ¡°We both agreed to go through with it,¡± I said.

    ¡°That''s not what I asked, silly.¡± Belle gently scolded me. I let the question hang for a brief moment, turning towards one of the streets that I remembered having a few clothing vendors, and then let out a sigh.

    ¡°I don''t know...¡± I replied honestly. She softly patted my cheek. ¡°But better something like this than actually ending up in a fight, I guess,¡± I then said.

    ¡°Ooh, good answer!¡± the pixie girl clapped. ¡°Just be sure not to use any overkill moves, then!¡± she said, and I had to crack a smile.

    ¡°I-I''ll try,¡± I returned. ¡°Oh, what about this one?¡± I said, pointing to a small clothes shop on our left.

    ¡°Hmm? Ah! That looks good, let''s try it!¡± she replied. And so we entered our first shop.

    In the end we visited nearly ten shops in all, revisiting three of them that had what Belle was looking for. They were all fairly simple dress-tunics, mostly blue in color but when I made a comment that one of the pink ones might suit her pretty well (it really did, by the way) she went for that one, too. And of course she got a few for her normal pixie self as well. We then went to eat at a cafe, watching everyone go by from a corner of the plaza we were occupying.

    ¡°If I get higher levels, I''ll be able to extend the time I can be human-size. I just never thought of raising the skill''s level until recently,¡± she told me.

    ¡°How long could it go at max level?¡± I wondered.

    ¡°Hmm...¡± Belle mused, bringing up her skills panel. ¡°Rank Nine, the final rank of that skill, would put me at twenty-four hours. But it''ll cost soo many points to get there...¡± she said with a groan.

    ¡°Which is why you focused on combat and debuff skills,¡± I then smiled.

    ¡°True!¡± she grinned.

    ¡°Are there many other pixie players in the game? I know there''s a lot of werebeasts, for sure,¡± I then asked her.

    ¡°Good question,¡± the other girl returned, a look of curiosity on her own face. ¡°I don''t know, to be honest; there''s at least one pixies only guild, and I''ve seen a couple of musical groups floating around--teehee!--but I''m not sure about actual numbers,¡± she told me.

    ¡°A pixie troubadour band sounds adorable!¡± I remarked.

    ¡°Ha-ha! I hate to be partially self-serving, but they really are!¡± she beamed. ¡°Did the others log in yet?¡± she then asked. I checked the guild panel.

    ¡°Looks like Heali and Ari are on, and Anhe, too. Maryn and Lizzy should be getting on soon, then.¡± I said.

    ¡°You''re all pretty close, huh? Besides you and Ari, I mean.¡±

    ¡°I met Ari my first day here; she and the others all go to the same school.¡±

    ¡°Hmm? Not you?¡±

    ¡°Ehh,¡± I began bemusedly.

    ¡°Ah! Sorry, some don''t like talking about real life here. Should''ve thought about that!¡± she then quickly apologized.

    ¡°N-no worries,¡± I managed to reply. ¡°Oh! There''s the others now,¡± I then noticed.

    ¡°Let''s head back then!¡± Belle smiled, and we finished up our brief meal and headed back to the inn.

    Once there, we began chatting idly about the upcoming events, generally avoiding the topic of my soon-coming duel with Ariana. Anhe was particularly revved up. Her first opponent was apparently a shape-shifting mage that not even a tank-character similar to Ironsides had managed to beat. During the conversations I suddenly wondered about something.

    Waaaaiiit a minute... there''s no guarantee that Lysandra and I will fight *any* of our targets... what gives? I realized, then I checked the brackets. Then I noticed that the fights were only pre-booked to the third round. The remaining five fights were blanks.

    ¡°Wh-what''s this about?¡± I suddenly wondered out loud, and Ariana turned to look as well. The others joined us, gazing at the panel until they noticed what had caught my eye.

    ¡°Huh!¡± Lizzy remarked. ¡°Ooh, maybe you get to choose your opponent after the third round! Like you can offer a challenge, and that person can accept it or reject it; and if no one you want to fight accepts they''ll just throw you in with some random person to keep the event going.¡±

    ¡°Okay. That sounds interesting.¡± Maryn grinned.

    ¡°I-I wonder if Lysandra knew something about this...¡±

    ¡°Hmm? She probably did,¡± Belle told us. ¡°She never brags about it much, but she was a beta-tester. But more than that, her mom is the one who runs the company that owns Panarena Fantasy Online.¡±

    ¡°Nyah?!¡±

    ¡°Huh?!¡±

    ¡°Whoooaa...!¡± Lizzy, Ari, and I exclaimed at the same time.

    ¡°No nepotism in that family,¡± Lizzy remarked, ¡°Unlike another we could mention.¡±

    ¡°T-tell me about it... I get the impression the dungeon she won her sword from was a super-hard one...¡± I added.

    ¡°Definitely not a Garth, then.¡± Maryn nodded.

    ¡°Oh right, that creep,¡± Belle quipped in a flat tone. ¡°I haven''t heard of him logging in since all that fuss in the Aldholt several weeks ago. Nobody seems to know what happened to him after.¡±

    ¡°I heard Gallancleeve is still under investigation.¡± Maryn said.

    ¡°He is. They can''t decide what to do with him, so he''s kind of under suspension.¡± Belle told us. ¡°But enough about them!¡±

    ¡°Let''s pick a random cafe to go to until the games start!¡± Lizzy then said. ¡°And then we''ll have to decide on our consolation-slash-victory celebration venue...¡±

    ¡°True.¡± Ariana gently sighed. I took her hand, giving it a gentle squeeze as she smiled back at me.

    ¡°What about that Dwarven place in the southwest plaza? I think Winnie mentioned it had some good food!¡± Healina suggested.

    ¡°If Winnie mentioned it, it''s gotta be good.¡± Maryn agreed, and Anhe nodded as well.

    ¡°Let''s go, then!¡± I said. We got up and headed out of the room, only to find Lysandra in the hall waiting, a smile on her face.

    ¡°Room for one more?¡± she asked us.

    ¡°Always!¡± Ari smiled at her, and the eight of us set out for the morning.

    ***

    ¡°Oh, yeah, I guess she does run the thing.¡± Lysandra shrugged as we made our way through the streets. I had asked about her mother, but she didn''t seem too enthusiastic about the connection. ¡°So I got the device and the game for free, but that''s about as nepo as it gets. It was really just a half-arsed apology on her part for forgetting my birthday the tenth year in a row.¡±

    ¡°S-sorry about reminding you...¡± I quickly said.

    ¡°Don''t worry about it.¡± she replied, patting my head. I frowned slightly, but nodded.

    When we got to the cafe in question, we found it a rustic, homely place with lively music and delicious smells wafting from the kitchen. The building was a masterful blend of stone and woodwork, with slate-tiles on the roof. Hunting trophies could be seen upon the walls, and magnificently crafted light fixtures studded with precious gems illuminated the place radiantly. A hearth with a roaring fire sat in the middle, the fire open on all four sides to give the place its warmth; kettles and cooking pots could be seen upon it, their contents kept warm by the blaze.

    ¡°This place just made me so very hungry.¡± Anhe remarked as we set foot inside. ¡°Maybe we should come back here tonight for our after-battle party.¡±

    ¡°I agree.¡± I said with a nod.

    ¡°Seconded.¡± Ari said.

    ¡°Thirded. I don''t care if it''s not a word.¡± Lizzy quipped.

    ¡°Definite agree.¡± Lysandra said, and the other girls also nodded.

    We sat down at a table and ordered two grand breakfast platters, which are ten times better than they sound. You want bacon? It had bacon. You want eggs? There were eggs. Toast? Lots of it. Complete with butter pans. Pancakes? You betcha. Coffee? Tea? It was there, and they came with a sugar pot and some delicious creamer in a tall ceramic kettle. They even had Belgian waffles, though in-game they were called Kingsmark waffles, which I wasn''t gonna complain about. All in all, I had probably never wished for this place to be real so hard as I did that very moment.

    ¡°Gawd, this is so much better than even Bob''s Market,¡± Lizzy said through mouthfuls.

    ¡°Right??¡± Heali and I both agreed.

    ¡°Ooh, high praise. And hard agree.¡± Lysandra grinned. Belle, trying out one of her new outfits in human form, was all but absorbed by the meal before us.

    ¡°This is so Western, but also so good!¡± Anhe said delightedly.

    ¡°Definitely!¡± Maryn smiled. Ariana was as quietly content as Belle, devouring the slices of toast with zeal as she leaned on me.

    ¡°Duuude. We could be here for hours and miss the whole dang tournament. It''s almost seven in game time now.¡± Lizzy remarked.

    ¡°Hard choice!¡± Belle smirked.

    Hard or not, we eventually got through that wonderfully robust meal, promising ourselves to return later that day to enjoy their evening meal specials, whatever they were. There were now twenty in-game minutes until the tournament began. We stood idly at a plaza for a few moments, and then Anhe went around to give us some quick hugs before she headed off to ready herself for the fight ahead. Belle did the same, resuming her pixie form, and Maryn followed suite as well. Healina and Lizzy popped off back to our room, leaving Ariana, myself, and Lysandra still in the plaza.

    The three of us looked around at each other, and then I locked eyes with Ariana for a few moments. Lysandra looked at us with an almost sad look, biting her lip. She then walked over to us, and wrapped us both up in a hug, holding us close. No one said anything for at least a minute.

    ¡°Good luck, both of you. I mean it.¡± the older girl then said, releasing us and heading off into the streets. Ariana and I smiled as she melted into the crowds, then took each other''s hands to walk idly through the streets until the battles began.

    Those last several minutes felt like hours. Maybe time really was slowing down in this world as the two of us walked hand in hand through Harmonia City. One or two familiar faces caught sight of us, only to smile and settle for a salute or a wave, Wildeye and Angelfire in particular. Tyman walked by us at one point, gently flicking me as he did in real life. I couldn''t help but smile, as did Ariana. Jannie and Winnie came across us at another plaza, both of them wrapping us up in hugs and wishing us well in the tournament.

    As we continued on our walkabout, I saw a couple other familiar figures. General Mad Dog, who saw me and let out a subtle grin, nodding towards me as I nodded back. Rayna, the deadliest assassin character in Harmonia, who winked as we crossed paths. And Ironsides, who simply walked by, clad head to foot in his special armor. Ariana then squeezed my hand, and turned me to face her.

    ¡°Lana... I... I want to go make some quiet preparations... is that okay?¡± she asked me.

    ¡°O-of course it is; if you need to, I don''t mind,¡± I told her. She then placed her hands on my cheeks, kissing me sweetly, and then hurried off. I watched her with a mix of joy and sorrow, and then resumed ambling along without any clear direction.

    Then they appeared in front of me.

    Out of the shadows they strode, the masked figure in dark clothes with two swords crossed over their back, heading straight for me. It was my second face-to-face (or would it face-to-mask?) with Myanihia Black. They stopped before me as I stopped before them. Their head cocked slightly for a moment, then righted itself.

    ¡°Not your battle armor?¡± they asked me. I looked down, suddenly remembering I was wearing a long-sleeved crimson dress that stopped just below the knees, along with a pair of matching slippers. W-when did I put this on?

    ¡°Not yet.¡± I then said. ¡°It''ll be a quick change when the event starts, though.¡±

    ¡°Very confident.¡± the reply came.

    ¡°I guess so,¡± I shrugged. ¡°So what''s the scoop?¡± I asked, wondering if they would keep talking. For someone who was rumored to never talk at all, I was certainly seeing a lot of them -- comparatively, at least.

    ¡°You impressed me. Last night. But now...¡± Myanihia replied. I understood what they meant at once. They were complimenting me on how I had kept hold of Lysandra, and possibly complimenting Belle as well. And now I had no choice but to fight someone I cared about.

    ¡°Yeah.¡± I returned, my voice croaking a little. Their head tilted again, as if gauging my reaction.

    ¡°One favor, if you wish.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°An assassin''s secret. A guaranteed one-shot strike. Even with those toys.¡± they told me.

    ¡°W-why would you...¡± I wondered blankly.

    ¡°Because you love her. And I... I want to fight you.¡± Myanihia returned.

    Ooh... this got interesting...

    ¡°Lysandra wants to fight you also.¡±

    ¡°I know. She''s never... let go. Not really.¡±

    ¡°Of the beta guild?¡±

    ¡°You can help her. You can save her. I can''t.¡±

    ¡°Why not?¡±

    ¡°I can push her to you,¡± they shrugged, ¡°But you must be the one to help her.¡±

    ¡°I don''t really get it, but okay, I guess,¡± I shrugged again.

    ¡°Good enough. Now, the secret. Do you want it?¡± they asked me.

    I softly gulped. There were literally five minutes left until the matches started. This is a chance to get a secret from someone in the top ten assassins of Harmonia... I thought to myself with excitement. I could feel my heart racing with excitement. They stared at me as impassively as they always seemed to do. I took a breath, and made my reply.

    ¡°I''ll at least hear it out.¡±

    ¡°Good enough.¡± the reply came. They came very close to me, and whispered in my ear. ¡°Start Doomstrike, then switch to Crimson Heart-stinger right before the blow lands.¡±

    My eyes widened. I had never tried that before.

    Doomstrike is a skill that has a ten-percent chance of wiping out at least fifty-percent of a target''s health. Crimson Heart-stinger is a fatal skill that has a ninety-nine percent chance of finishing a target off when they''re below half-health.

    ¡°There''s a brief window. The skills'' effects merge. It becomes an instant kill-strike. No matter what the target is. Except a world boss.¡±

    ¡°You tried it on one, I take it?¡± I asked them.

    ¡°Once. In the beta. Their health... their regeneration, it''s too redundant.¡± they told me. I nodded back to them, and then grinned.

    ¡°Thanks for the tip... but how do you know I won''t try it on you if we meet in the lists?¡± I then asked, wondering if that might shake them up. They withdrew, and I could see the eyes were glinting with amusement.

    ¡°Because... I know how to counter it. And I won''t tell you that.¡± they said, and with that they melted back into the crowds.

    ¡°No wonder they''re number three,¡± I had to remark with awe. ¡°Invents a guaranteed kill-shot and they know how to counter it? Dang.¡± I shook my head, quickly switching my casual outfit for my battle gear.

    At that moment, every bell-tower in the city seemed to start ringing out the hour. Not ten seconds later, a grand fanfare started playing. I made my way towards the arena, knowing that my duel with Ariana wouldn''t be until the second or third hour. A sigh escaped my lips. Then I happened to look over to my right, where I saw a revised odds sheet for the Aldholt players.

    Top Ten:

    Lana Windstrider, Silvernight Queens

    Ariana, Silvernight Queens

    Lysandra, No Guild

    Tyman, Mountain Tigers

    Angelfire, Flamehearts

    Wildeye, Mountain Tigers

    Timidator, Shieldwardens

    Anhe, Silvernight Queens

    MacYnduff, Gears and Wheels

    Maryn, Silvernight Queens

    ¡°Hrrmm...¡± I mused. Lysandra must''ve rushed through the Aldholt and avoided all the drama... but anyway. Another sigh left my lips, and I continued on. ¡°Toys, huh?¡± I then grinned sardonically, gripping the hilts of my daggers. ¡°Let''s see you call them ''toys'' when I beat you in the tournament.¡±

 Bonus Chapter: Sisters not Sisters

    Rachel sighed unhappily, kicking her legs slowly as she sat on the stool near the counter. Andrea was making them coffee and a light snack before they logged in tonight for the first series of official matches, including Rachel''s own, to unwind a bit after all the hassle that her younger cousins had given them tonight. The red-haired girl was wearing a pair of loose sweatpants and a hoodie with kittens on it, and the younger girl was wearing one of her boyfriend''s sweaters that she had snagged on one of her last visits to his house. She wasn''t much smaller than him, but it worked like a dress-tunic for her. She had put a soft pair of leggings on anyway, though.

    ¡°Ray-chel.¡± Andrea said as she sighed again. ¡°I bet Sean''s feeling as glum as you are about tonight.¡±

    ¡°Maybe... but don''t boys seem to get over that sort of thing too quickly?¡± she asked.

    ¡°Hmm... some do, I agree.¡± the older girl said, checking on the cookies in the mini-oven as the coffee pot filled with a whurgling noise. ¡°But come on, now, do you really think our Sean would ''get over it'' that quickly?¡± she said with a grin as she turned back to Rachel.

    ¡°Mm... I guess not. You mean ''our Sean'' in the guild-slash-friendship sense, right?¡± she said with a softly suspicious look.

    ¡°Oh, Rachel. Of course I do.¡± the other girl smiled, reaching over the counter to pat her hands. ¡°Besides which, you know he sees the rest of us as sisters.¡±

    ¡°Lucky guy, having so many cute older sisters.¡± Rachel smirked back.

    ¡°Isn''t he though?¡± Andrea winked. ¡°Except Anhe is younger than you two, isn''t she?¡± she then wondered.

    ¡°Hmm? Oh right, she is, a year younger,¡± Rachel nodded.

    ¡°Must''ve been bumped up a grade for good marks.¡±

    ¡°Come to think of it, her mother said something like that once. You think that''s part of why she was so shy?¡±

    ¡°Oh definitely,¡± Andrea said. ¡°I know I''d be spooked if I was suddenly rushed up a grade or two.¡±

    ¡°Hmm... so she''s younger than me and Sean, he''s about a month older than I am... you''re a month ahead of Ellie, aren''t you?¡±

    ¡°Thirty-three days exactly.¡± the older girl said with a nod. ¡°And we''ve never let the other forget it!¡±

    ¡°You''re almost a pair of lovers yourselves.¡± Rachel grinned.

    ¡°Pfft! I love you.¡±Andrea giggled, as did Rachel. ¡°And of course Mary''s a year older... I wonder how old Belle and Lysandra are...?¡± she then mused. ¡°Hmm... Belle definitely gives off a more adult vibe,¡± Rachel said as she pondered the thought, ¡°But Lysandra seems on the border of that realm!¡±

    ¡°Not a teen or an adult, huh? Even though she''s so cool about things.¡±

    ¡°Right?¡±

    ¡°Soft agree with your Belle theory, too.¡±

    ¡°Not a definite or hard agree?¡±

    ¡°Hmm... she does give off that vibe, but she''s also so playful and cute, you know?¡± the older girl pointed out.

    ¡°Oh, true... hmm...¡± Rachel pondered again as Andrea turned to the sound of the mini-oven dinging. She then carefully set out a plate of peanut-butter, sugar, and chocolate chip cookies, and went to get a couple of mugs for the coffee. ¡°You want cream or sugar?¡± Andrea asked.

    ¡°Hm? Oh, the cinnamon creamer,¡± Rachel replied.

    ¡°Ditto for me!¡± the other returned as she dug it out of a special fridge used just for creamers or beverages. When the coffee (and creamer) had been poured, Andrea sat on a stool opposite Rachel, the two of them snacking away contentedly. ¡°Next time we do this we should invite Sean... or maybe make it a girls only thing and have Anhe and Mary over. And Ellie of course, if she can squeeze in a day.¡±

    ¡°Oh definitely. These are good!¡± Rachel agreed, smiling as she continued slowly devouring cookies.

    ¡°Thanks!¡± the other girl beamed. ¡°I''m used to my cousins liking them, but it''s so nice to have someone around my age around here who appreciates a good cookie.¡± she said with a more content smile. Rachel reached over and took her hand.

    Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

    ¡°I can never thank you and your parents enough for this, you know.¡± the younger girl said as her eyes began misting with tears. Andrea''s started tearing up a second later.

    ¡°H-hey, we''re both gonna start crying again at this rate!¡± she said with a gentle laugh.

    ¡°Hm!¡± Rachel grinned, softly wiping her eye with her other hand as Andrea gazed at her fondly. ¡°My little sister.¡± the red-haired girl softly said. ¡°Speaking of which, how''s Josh?¡± she then asked.

    ¡°Oh, he''s doing good!¡± Rachel replied. ¡°Sounds like he''s getting really serious about Jane, too,¡± she added.

    ¡°His girlfriend?¡± Andrea said. ¡°She seemed super nice, the one time we met.¡± ¡°She really is.¡± the other girl agreed.

    ¡°It''s indirectly her fault I ended up with this!¡± she grinned, patting the sweater.

    ¡°Ha!¡± Andrea softly cackled as they let go of each other''s hand, clapping.

    ¡°Right? She said to me one time, ''Rachel, it''s no good to ask a guy sometimes if you can borrow their shirt or sweater; sometimes you just have to give them no choice!'' -- so I did just that!¡± Rachel recounted, and they both laughed.

    ¡°Poor Sean! How did he deal with that?¡± the older girl wondered with a smile. ¡°He was too absorbed in how cute I was to think straight about it!¡± the other beamed.

    ¡°Pffffft! That dork. But he''s our dork -- especially yours.¡± Andrea grinned.

    ¡°Thank ya.¡± Rachel grinned back, thinking back to that day.

    ***

    ¡°Hmm? So this is your room, huh?¡± Rachel asked Sean as they entered.

    ¡°Such as it is, yeah,¡± he replied somewhat nervously.

    ¡°I half-expected it to be littered with gaming consoles!¡± she smirked.

    ¡°They''re all packed away,¡± he shrugged. ¡°I just use the computer and the Dream Machine anymore now,¡± he added.

    ¡°Oh, true.¡± Rachel nodded. They spent a few more minutes talking about stuff as she explored his room a bit more, and when he was suddenly distracted by his father coming up to check on them she began rummaging through his closet. There was a green sweater in there with some pretty patterns knitted into it, almost like Celtic knots. Remembering her conversation with Jane a few days ago, she let out a mischievous grin, took off her hoodie, and slipped on the sweater.

    ¡°W-we''ll be down for dinner, honest!!¡± Sean retorted to his dad, who cackled heartily.

    ¡°I know, buddy, I know. See you in twenty, then!¡± the older man said, and when he had gone Sean heaved a sigh of relief, and then turned around to see Rachel in the sweater.

    ¡°W-wh-wha?¡± he stammered.

    Oh you''re so adorkable.

    ¡°Does it look good?¡± she asked him. She watched as his face turned a low shade of red, his eyes admiring her sudden outfit change, the smile slowly coming to his face.

    ¡°It does. It really does.¡± he told her. ¡°Better than it did on me, too,¡± he added, and she smiled.

    ¡°Maybe!¡± She was sure he had low-key forgotten the sweater was his by the time he walked her home, which made her happy to no end. I did it! I did the thing! Rachel silently cheered as they walked along the streets. When they got to Andrea''s house, which was where she was now living, he smiled at her again.

    ¡°It really does look good on you. I think Grandma Maisy would approve.¡± he then said, and she suddenly felt embarrassed to high heaven.

    ¡°H-huh... w-w-wait, Sean? This, th-th-th-this is... was made by--¡±

    ¡°Yep! Grandma made it as my last Christmas present; but I want you to have it, and I know she''d say the same thing if she saw you in it.¡± he said to her with a smile as radiant as the sunset. Rachel suddenly burst into tears, and they wrapped each other in a big hug before kissing each other good night.

    ***

    So less of a choice and more of a present, huh? Rachel thought to herself as she took another sip of coffee.

    ¡°Still... I''m amazed he let you have it after all; it looks handmade!¡± Andrea then said.

    ¡°Hmm... it is!¡± the younger girl grinned back.

    ¡°Huh?! I was right?!¡± Andrea exclaimed.

    ¡°His grandmother made it.¡± Rachel said, and Andrea sat there stunned for a moment. The older girl then smiled, taking off her glasses to brush them off.

    ¡°Girl. Don''t ever lose him.¡±

    ¡°I won''t.¡± Rachel softly promised, a smile on her face. They looked over at the clock. It was almost seven-thirty.

    ¡°Drain it and log in?¡± Andrea asked. Rachel raised her mug in reply, and Andrea did the same; they clinked them together, and downed the rest of their coffee, getting up to head for their rooms. When they got upstairs, Andrea poked Rachel and turned her around, wrapping her in a hug. ¡°Thanks for all the help tonight, by the way. Sorry they''re such a handful!¡±

    ¡°Aww. But they''re a cute handful!¡±

    ¡°Some days!¡± she replied, and they giggled. ¡°I don''t know what''s in your head for tonight, but... I know it''ll turn out for the best, somehow.¡± Andrea told her.

    ¡°I know.¡± Rachel smiled, and they let go of each other.

    ¡°Let''s not keep them waiting, then!¡± the older girl said as she went to open her door. ¡°You got it, sis!¡± Rachel replied, diving into her room.

    ¡°S-sis?¡± Andrea turned back, but the other door was already shut. She let out a smile, and softly sighed. ¡°I love you... little sister.¡± she whispered, and went into her room to log into the game.

 Chapter Thirty-seven: The Grand Tournament -- Lana versus Ariana

    I sat down on a bench near the arena fields. The stadiums were practically overflowing, but this one spot I had found was not as crowded. And there was also the fact that several players recognized me and decided to back off rather than fawn on me. That was fine. I wouldn''t have barked if they had chosen otherwise, but right now I kind of preferred at least a pseudo-solitude. Ariana... my heart sank as I watched the first wave of contestants being assembled for their first match. There were ten matches going on at once, three more than in the prelims. Must be trying to keep it rolling more than we guessed, I mused. Then I started. One of the battles involved Myanihia.

    ¡°Dude! It''s the Black Shadow!¡± someone remarked.

    ¡°Ooh, Myanihia; time to ready my pockets for that bet!¡±

    ¡°Like really; they''re ranked pretty high. Everyone''s sure that person will make it to at least the last semi-final.¡±

    ¡°What? They rooting for Mad Dog or something? That guy''s brawny but--¡±

    ¡°Dude. Mad Dog''s taken down so many assassins who thought they could beat him. Even Rayna won''t go after him in a duel or a PvP area.¡±

    ¡°Duuude.¡±

    Hmm...? that good, huh? I wondered.

    ¡°What about Lana?¡± a female voice wondered.

    ¡°Lana? Ehh...¡± one of the earlier voices hesitated. ¡°She''s determined and she''s got the ingenuity, at least. Pitting her against Mad Dog or Myanihia, though...¡±

    ¡°Dude. Screw the rankings and the polls. I''mma bet on her all the way.¡±

    ¡°Hsst! She''s right there!¡± someone hissed.

    ¡°Whoa!! You''re right!!¡± the other hoarsely whispered back.

    ¡°Ooohh...!! Trouble in paradise.¡± the female player remarked.

    ¡°Huh? Oh! Right...¡± someone else said.

    The signal to start the match went off, and I refocused my attention to Myanihia''s match. Their opponent was a dual-wielding axe user in leather armor. She was light enough on her feet, and she had the speed to keep up with him, but eventually that mysterious shadow seemed to quietly say her time playing with them was up. Myanihia entered Shadow World, and then did a one-shot on the girl. I could only assume it was the trick they had told me about.

    ¡°Woww...¡± someone remarked.

    ¡°Oh, look, Wingers is making a comeback!¡± another person remarked, focused on another match.

    ¡°Cool! Go, man, go!!¡±

    Hmm... anyone else in this round to watch? Oh, there''s Wildeye, I noticed as I looked around myself. The Mountain Tigers'' guild leader stood defiantly against a mage who was giving him a rough time. I winced as I saw him get struck by a couple of fireballs, barely dodging out of the last one''s burst-radius in time.

    ¡°Come on, Wild!¡± I cried out, and a chorus of cheers and howls followed up my words. I wasn''t sure if it was coincidence or not; there were eight other matches going on, after all.

    ¡°Arrgh! Wingers went down. Poor dude never could figure out how to deal with an archer...¡±

    ¡°It''s amazing he didn''t fight one in the prelims,¡± a second person commented.

    ¡°Right?¡±

    As this exchange played out on the periphery of my hearing, Wildeye then closed the distance on his own opponent, rushing them and then using a crossing swipe with both hands to interrupt their induction and rattle them. They panicked for a brief moment. That was all Wildeye needed. He used two of the more deadly claw-skills in rapid succession, finishing off his opponent before they could so much as squawk. A raucous cheer went up.

    ¡°Phew...¡± I quietly sighed.

    ¡°Nice fight, for a cat.¡± a familiar voice on my right said. It was Lysandra. The werewolf girl was leaning against the barrier like I was, looking out on the fights with a look of disinterest--but I knew better now. She was definitely interested in the winners.

    ¡°Once he gets his bearings, there isn''t much that can rattle him.¡± I said.

    ¡°Kinda figured. He seems like he''s been in actual fights.¡± she said, and I looked at her with a puzzled expression. ¡°You know... military or something.¡± Lysandra said in a quieter voice.

    ¡°Y-you think so?¡± I wondered, watching as the victorious Wildeye was teleported out of the arena.

    ¡°Wouldn''t surprise me, anyway.¡±

    ¡°The last small war was about three years ago... he seems like a college guy most of the time, but then...¡± I mused aloud, recalling how swift and decisive Wildeye had been in the Garth-Queens War, the first major VR conflict in Panarena.

    ¡°Seems like you''ve seen something to affirm it.¡± my companion shrugged. A device in her pocket then started making a tinkling noise with a little glow effect. ¡°Huh. Match one for me. See you, lover-girl.¡± she winked, vanishing in a teleport for her own match.

    D-did all the contestants get one of those? I suddenly checked my inventory, finding a new item I hadn''t noticed before.

    Arena Crystal: will alert you two minutes prior to your match and then teleport you to a waiting area.

    ¡°Hmm...? That''s convenient.¡± I remarked. Then I wondered how far down the line Ari and I had been placed in today''s match-ups.

    A couple moments later, Lysandra reappeared in the arena with her first victi--err, opponent. Sure enough, he looked nervous, and she looked as composed as ever. The guy''s shield and sword were shaking with his limbs.

    ¡°Hahh... he''s a goner.¡± I sighed as I nevertheless continued to watch the fight.

    ¡°Right?¡± another girl said next to me.

    ¡°She won''t even change to werewolf for this one, I bet. She''ll just psych him out.¡± I continued idly.

    ¡°Hmm? You can guess that much?¡± the other remarked.

    ¡°Well it''s obvious, isn''t it?¡± I returned, looking over at them, and then words caught in my throat. A-A-Angelfire...!! my brain gasped internally.

    ¡°Hey, Lana!¡± she grinned upon seeing my reaction.

    ¡°Ahh--uhh--hi,¡± I replied. ¡°Y-you''re waiting too, huh?¡±

    ¡°Yep... apparently I''m fighting some dork of a tank who boasts he''s totally immune to fire. I''m gonna break his poor little brain in a few moments with my uber-maxed fire-spells'' bonus for being a pure flame mage: all fire spells can circumvent fire immunities for twenty seconds of every minute.¡± she returned with a fierce grin.

    ¡°H-hehh...?¡± I returned with awe, then suddenly remembered Lysandra''s fight. Sure enough she was toying with the hapless warrior, who eventually fell prey to her graceful sword forms.

    ¡°Just like you said, she didn''t even turn wolf,¡± Angelfire remarked in an impressed tone.

    ¡°Mmhm,¡± I nodded back. ¡°Twenty seconds of every minute sounds good, but I bet it''ll be a rough wait -- especially if he''s got reflect.¡±

    ¡°With an immunity like his? I doubt it, unless one of his items is enchanted for it.¡± she shrugged.

    ¡°Hmm, that''s true.¡±

    ¡°But you''re also right; it''s gonna be a pain keeping him at bay long enough to survive the match,¡± she smiled wryly. ¡°Still... you got the unlucky card today, huh?¡±

    ¡°Don''t remind me.¡± I returned with a sad smile, looking down towards the arena.

    ¡°Sorry.¡± she replied gently, putting a hand on my shoulder. Another twinkling sort of sound then came to our ears. ¡°Ahh! Match time!¡± she declared with a renewed vigor.

    ¡°Good luck,¡± I said to her with a brighter smile. She beamed at me, holding up a V-sign as she was teleported away.

    Hers was another match I wanted to see, but then something else caught my eye: General Mad Dog''s first fight was now underway. His opponent was a Nordian in heavy armor, wielding a bardiche that reminded me of the one the Scion of Moloch had used in that one Halloween quest. The armored man let out a terrifying bellow, and then rushed towards the werewolf guild leader, who responded with a blood-freezing howl that only just fazed his opponent as he turned into his werewolf form.

    Remember how I said he was imposing in his human form? Yeah. He was now at least three times as scary-looking, a grizzled and grey werewolf with gleaming white fangs and yellow eyes. He dropped to all fours to gallop towards his enemy, who came to a stop and pulled off a crazy dodge just as Mad Dog lunged at him, swiping with the bardiche to do some damage. Mad Dog''s health bar went down slightly, and he did one of those tumble-turnarounds to pounce back upon the other player, knocking him to the ground. The guy tried to get up, but Mad Dog mauled him with a ferocity and speed that had us all transfixed until the hapless guy went up in pixels.

    S-snap!

    ¡°Still want to fight him?¡± Lysandra asked me as she reappeared.

    ¡°I''m not backing down now,¡± I replied.

    ¡°Good.¡± she said coolly. Then Angelfire''s match turned up.

    Sure enough, the two of them gave each other a run for their money. When Angelfire''s bonus skill took effect, she immediately launched some of her most deadly fire DoTs upon the guy, who blanched when he started taking damage and went into a short panic that he quickly overcame after the twenty seconds were up. But the damage she had inflicted on him was considerable.

    ¡°Six-thousand health points drained from some one supposedly immune to fire by a fire-mage, nice.¡± Lysandra remarked. To put it in context, Angelfire''s opponent had thirty-five thousand health, and he was level ninety.

    ¡°Now she''ll be on the defensive, and she''ll probably prepare a more deadly DoT for her next strike.¡± I said.

    ¡°As long as she has some decent sword skills for when he catches up to her, I give her a fair shot. That two-hander he has is a chaos-damage blade; you can tell from the weird glow.¡± my companion told me.

    ¡°Hmm...?¡± I looked closely, noticing the glow that seemed to shimmer from color to color. ¡°Nice... that''s the first one I''ve seen so far.¡±

    ¡°No one''s sure if it''s the best worst damage or the worst best damage.¡±

    ¡°But depending on how lucky he is, or if he''s got items that influence the RNG of the damage...¡± I mused aloud.

    ¡°Ohh, good point.¡± Lysandra said. ¡°Still, I''d hate to be even a little dependent on the random-number generator.¡±

    ¡°Same.¡± I agreed, watching the two of them circle each other.

    ¡°Your buddy''s up.¡± she then said, and I saw Tyman and his mage opponent materialize on a stage that had finally been cleared from its first ferocious battle.

    ¡°He''ll have that guy down in no time flat.¡± I said. ¡°Ah! There she goes with the DoTs again,¡± I then remarked. As I expected, Angelfire had prepared several more blistering fire-spells this time, launching them faster than she had even fired at me. Lysandra whistled in admiration.

    ¡°That health bar is going down twice as fast now... stopping at... ooh, she practically got him!¡± the older girl said with a rare amazement. The tank''s health was down to eight-thousand now. With a grin, I turned to look at Tyman''s fight. He had pounced immediately, but the other guy had surprised him by pulling out a couple of daggers to keep him at bay.

    ¡°Hahhh... he held his cards back to keep people like Ty overconfident,¡± I then realized.

    ¡°Niiice.¡± my companion nodded.

    ¡°Ehh, he''ll pull through... somehow...¡± I shrugged, looking back at the other match. Angelfire had actually slashed him for a couple hundred damage while she fended him off, but he had slashed her too, and her health bar was green and falling. ¡°Oh snap!!¡± I remarked.

    ¡°Hm? Oh, poison.¡± Lysandra observed.

    ¡°Ugghh... this could go either way... oop, her skill is back up, I guess,¡± I said as I watched her readying another series of fire-DoTs. She punctuated them with two flame-waves and a fireball, and he went all the way down -- to one out of thirty-five thousand health. Angelfire''s was falling as well, now coming down from a thousand. She would be dead in less than a minute. But she rushed the tank fearlessly, swiping at him with all her strength, and he went up in pixels first.

    ¡°Ooh!! Close one!¡± Wandreada''s voice came over the speakers.

    ¡°The Flame of the Aldholt prevails against the Warden of Dragonholt!¡± Ricklelopes said, and a loud cheering broke out, accompanied by several holdouts of booing. Angelfire was teleported out of the arena, and the stage set to a thirty-second cooldown until another match popped up on it.

    Meanwhile, Tyman had wrested the daggers from his opponent''s hands, and then used one of his ultimate claw skills to tear the guy''s health down instantly. Another round of cheers broke out, and the victorious lieutenant of the Mountain Tigers raised his hands with a wild yell, a big smile on his face.

    ¡°Guess I''ll see you tomorrow, pal.¡± I remarked softly.

    ¡°You and him are surprisingly close; same school?¡± Lysandra wondered.

    ¡°Same neighborhood, at least.¡± I replied. It wasn''t a lie.

    ¡°Nice.¡± she replied. I then heard that twinkling sound again. This time it was my device. My face fell, and Lysandra saw it; her face showed a brief moment of sadness, and she put her hand on my shoulder. ¡°Just... do your best.¡± she said, but before I could reply I was teleported away.

    ***

    The waiting area was similar to the initial character-creation area. I looked at the timer; one minute and forty-five seconds left. A deep sigh escaped my lips. It wasn''t the end of the world. It certainly wasn''t the end of our relationship. But it really, really stung. Part of me was wondering if someone who hated us had fixed the matches this way. But that would be too far fetched.

    ¡°No... it''s just... bad luck.¡± I said quietly.

    I never even thought about what might happen if this sort of thing came up. I was all gung-ho about it, so excited to do this tournament with my friends that I never really thought about or even considered the fact I''d probably end up fighting one or more of them, I mused with regret. But then, I could almost hear Ariana talking to me.

    ¡°Don''t regret things now. We both decided to go through with this, and we''ll make it up to each other on the other side, or in this world, eventually. I did want to try myself against you someday, even if it wasn''t like this. I love you. Now, get yourself ready... we have forty seconds left!¡±

    I looked up in surprise. There was a glass wall dividing us, but I could see my precious partner across the way. She looked at me with that heart-stopping smile of hers, and we were then teleported to the arena for the final thirty-second wait.

    I stood there silently, solemnly, looking Ariana in the eyes with all the love I possessed, and she did the same to me. My hands were on my daggers. Hers were on her staff. I could feel hundreds and thousands of eyes upon us as the crowds roared, cheering for other matches or psyching themselves up for ours.

    ¡°And now, one of the most awaited fights for today: these two rose to fame together as the Silvernight Twins, but now unlucky chance has matched them up for a fight you won''t want to take your eyes off of!¡± Athena announced. The crowds cheered again. Twenty-five seconds left.

    ¡°Ari... Myanihia... told me a trick... a one-shot trick...¡± I told her, and her eyes widened slightly. I could see her expression falter. ¡°But... I''m not gonna use it... except on them. And I''m not using Shadow World either.¡± I continued. She looked surprised, but her face settled into a smile, and she nodded back.

    ¡°Then... I won''t use any insta-kills either.¡± she replied. I managed to grin back.

    ¡°Join me in the countdown for one of the highlight matches of the day!¡± Athena then called out.

    Ten!

    Nine!

    This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    Eight!

    Seven!

    Six!

    Five!

    Four!!

    Three!!

    Two!!!

    ONE!!!

    A brief fanfare played, and the clock began counting down from thirty minutes. So far most of the fights had averaged about five, but you never knew in this game.

    I saw several flame-bolts coming towards me. I dodged them with uncanny accuracy thanks to Angelfire''s sparring session. Ariana was unfazed, and instead used area damage attacks instead. Our genius mage of spell mixing and matching began jogging around in a circle as I rushed her, countering my blows with her staff. With every blow I was silently apologizing, and I could feel her doing the same as she alternatively fended me off, enacted an area attack, or launched some sort of arcane missile towards me.

    ¡°N-neither of them have seriously affected the other''s health-bars,¡± Forseti remarked as he observed our fight.

    ¡°That''s what you bums get for putting a pair of lovers in a ring,¡± Lumpstein grumbled.

    ¡°It''s not that; they know each other too well, so of course they''re able to fend each other off like that.¡± Wandreada shrugged.

    ¡°Hrrmm...¡± Ricklelopes frowned.

    R-ruuude!! I thought to myself as I heard them, and I could see Ari''s face crinkling with irritation as well. We''re both giving this all we have... the only handicap we have is that we''re not gonna use our ultimate skills on each other. But if it''s a fight you want... I grinned, and Ari returned the look. We abandoned actual game-skills and went after each other with basic skills; she fended me off or struck back with her staff while I struck at her or defended with my daggers, the both of us moving at a fairly incredible speed. The crowds started cheering wildly, and Lumpstein sat up in his chair to watch.

    Both of our health bars began slowly but surely descending. Now that the two of us had actually gotten into it, we both had a grin on our faces, enjoying the match for the test of skills it really was. She swung at me with precision, I evaded the blow to my head only to jump up as she swung at my feet. We drove each other back and forth, using our real life skills of martial arts and wicked dance moves to battle the other around our little slice of the arena. Even a couple of the other contestants stopped fighting to watch us, only for their opponents to make short work of them.

    After a while, the two of us once again resorted to game-skills, Ariana preempting me with a lava-floor spell that left her in the only safe zone, forcing me to use Shadow Speed to run around the wall while dodging her attacks until the lava went away. I then switched to my bow, using my own arsenal of magical arrow attacks to try and hit her, but she deflected pretty much all of them except one that slashed her cheek.

    Gwhah!! I froze, suddenly back to my previous mentality. I-I-I hit m-m-my...!! But she looked up at me with a somber grin, nodding back as she fired a flame-bolt at me. My brain finally reacted to it when it was about a half-meter away, and I narrowly avoided the brunt of its damage. She continued firing at me with her arsenal of arcane missives, and I continued to dodge and evade her shots as best as I could.

    Then I started firing back just as rapidly as she was, psyching her out a bit with every third or fourth arrow so that a couple others might reach her. I aimed for the shoulder, mostly, but a couple got her in the side. She got me good several times with a frost or poison spell, and I was nearly done for when she used Entangle, which kept me rooted for nearly ten seconds so she could use a couple of lightning spells on me. Both of us were visibly wincing as we inflicted damage on the other.

    ¡°They don''t look happy about it any more than they did at first, but at least they''re playing along.¡± Lumpstein remarked over the speakers as our match went on.

    ¡°And don''t forget the other Silvernight Queen, Anhe, fighting against that werefox on the other side.¡± Wandreada said. Ari and I both turned to look for a brief moment.

    ¡°Tch, she''s got him,¡± I said with a bemused grin.

    ¡°R-right?¡± Ariana said with a similar expression on her face. We looked back to one another, and resumed our fight once more.

    ¡°Mm, mm, there''s confidence and skill. Looking away to check on their comrade while fighting a deadly battle themselves,¡± Forseti said with admiration.

    ¡°Oh to be young again.¡± Athena sighed.

    Ariana then thumped her staff to activate a ground-quake spell, knocking me back a few paces. Both of our health bars were below the fifty-percent mark. She looked into my eyes with a smile. I smiled back, rushing towards her like a streak of lightning. She held up her staff, its top brimming with actual lightning. I narrowly evaded her skill at point blank range, tumbling down so that I was able to attack with two quick stabs.

    I wonder if she hates herself as much as I hate myself right now... or if I''m overthinking it... I hope I am.

    Whatever the case, Ari followed up my attack with a double-wallop to the head with that staff, interrupting any and all thoughts that might have been going through it and sending me to totter around our stage like a drunk.

    ¡°Whahh-heyyy.. wha-hoyyy... owie-owie-owwww...!!¡± I mindlessly warbled or grumbled as I nearly fell to the ground. I don''t know what she had expected that to do other than this, but she suddenly burst out laughing and cackling.

    ¡°Ouch!¡± Wandreada''s voice said with shock. ¡°That girl just whapped her a good one.¡±

    ¡°Hrrmmm... but now she''s overcome by a dangerous status ailment... the giggle fit.¡± Lumpstein remarked, and there were waves of laughter throughout the stadiums.

    ¡°If Lana recovers from that before Ariana calms down, she might be in trouble. Might,¡± Athena noted.

    After about a minute or so I managed to steady myself, but my head was still throbbing. Blehh... I deserved every second of that, I bemusedly reminded myself. Once the world finally stopped spinning, I could see Ariana struggling to contain her laughter.

    Ugh. What do I do? Finish her off? That seems rude... but any more of this and both of us might really get upset at or hurt by the other, emotionally speaking, I pondered with a puzzled grin as I watched her try to regain her composure. Ariana then forced herself into a cough, and a moment later she had taken a deep breath and calmed down.

    ¡°Hrrgh, that Lana, wasting a perfect opportunity to make a comeback.¡± Ricklelopes sighed.

    ¡°Meanwhile, Anhe has beaten her opponent, Egghead, and will move on to her second round in tomorrow''s match!¡± Athena clapped.

    ¡°And there''s Titanboyz finishing up with Lurkz Hoghead on the north stage,¡± Forseti said.

    I shut out the announcers to refocus my attention to Ari. She looked as if she was doing the same. The Wood Elf held out her staff, and slowly turned it like a mill-wheel in a complete three-sixty. I knew that that meant. She had activated a deadly wind spell, similar to the lava floor but less easy to deal with. A howling wind began circling around her, picking up speed second by second. She began adding lightning to it a moment later, and soon she was enveloped in a nice little storm, complete with random hail-stones coming down to strike me at odd intervals. It wasn''t one of her insta-kill spells, but it was deadly the longer you stayed in it -- and I had nowhere else to go. My health bar began falling further.

    Suddenly she fixed me with a look. Her eyes gazed at me with complete peace, radiating her love towards me despite the spell. You can do it. I want you to do it. You''re the only one allowed to beat me. I could hear her saying those words in my heart. I swallowed a lump in my throat. For the final time, I charged at her. Her smile widened. I don''t know why I didn''t lose my nerve. But then again, maybe I did. I trusted her, and she trusted me.

    I''ll find a way to make it as painless as possible, and you''d better promise me the same.

    I don''t know how painless I can make it, but I''ll try.

    You''ll find a way.

    There were so many conflicting emotions coursing through me right now. I didn''t know if I was going to win or lose. Ariana''s spell, while deadly, was her promise being kept. How could I keep my promise? I didn''t have an arsenal of spells. Anything I did was bound to cause her pain. But then I remembered one skill I had picked up recently. It negated fifty-percent of the incoming damage I received and turned that damage back on my attacker.

    ¡°Shadow Retribution.¡± I said, coming to a halt before her. Ariana smiled at me, nodding as the damage came back to haunt her. I somehow forced myself not to break down.

    End the spell. End it. Switch to another. Finish me off. Please -- Ari!!

    I had received a lot of damage, but as a mage player, Ariana received more damage in general. Her health bar was now draining faster than mine. I could feel sobs silently heaving in my chest. Ari''s eyes continued to gaze at me fondly.

    ¡°Sh-she won''t stop using the spell!¡± Wandreada exclaimed with awe.

    ¡°Ehh? That''s just common sense, isn''t it? Reflect spells don''t work if you''re not attacking!¡± Lumpstein remarked grumpily.

    ¡°We did pit a pair of lovers together.¡± Forseti then said. ¡°They seem to have lost most of their fighting spirit and are settling for a game of attrition.¡± he observed.

    ¡°Wood Elves are more vulnerable to storm damage than Gaels.¡± Athena said.

    The two of us gazed at each other intently, unable to say on that stage what we wanted to say to each other. My health bar went down to three percent at the exact moment Ariana''s went down to zero. I watched as her avatar went up in pixels, and then collapsed. I didn''t hear anything that came next. All I was vaguely aware of was being teleported off the stage so the next fight could begin.

    ***

    The next thing I was aware of was Lysandra sitting next to me. Apparently I had slumped down against the wall of some side passage in the arena. She patted my back as my eyes opened, and then softly sighed.

    ¡°Good job.¡± she whispered.

    ¡°I feel like a jerk.¡± I replied.

    ¡°Then go and tell her.¡± Lysandra said at once.

    ¡°I really should.¡± I said, slowly getting up.

    ¡°Still... ahh... you know, I''m... happy, that you''re... that nervous, and remorseful, about hurting someone you love.¡± she said as she got up with me.

    ¡°Of course I am,¡± I returned, looking at her with a puzzled expression.

    ¡°I wish I had a sister or friend like you in my life. Maybe then I wouldn''t be so miserable.¡± she said with a bitter smile.

    ¡°Th-then, just join us. We want you to join us, after all,¡± I said to her.

    ¡°Only if you win our bet.¡± she smirked. I let out a sigh.

    ¡°So, what are you? Tsundere, tsunshun, usodere, or kitikudere?¡± I asked her bluntly. She looked at me blankly for a second, and then burst out laughing for several moments.

    ¡°Ha-ha-hahh!! Oh, Lana,¡± she smiled, coming over to hug me when her laughter had ended, ¡°Whatever I am, please always know that my intentions towards you are honest, and that I care about you quite a lot.¡± she said as I hugged her back. She then let go, and patted my head.

    ¡°You''re a handful, you know that?¡± I said.

    ¡°I know. Go find Ariana. I bet they''re all in the room again. Belle was fighting too; she''s probably just gotten back from her own match.¡±

    ¡°Ahh--right.¡± I replied, and she began heading out. ¡°Th-thanks... Sandra...¡± I stuttered out. She held out a thumbs-up as she continued walking.

    She''s a tsunshun. Or a kitikudere. Or something in between, I just know it. I thought to myself as I got a move on. Not that I was an expert on the ¡°dere¡± thing. I had just spent half a night looking stuff up to see if I could guess her personality type. I was probably way off the mark. But whatever.

    I found Ari and the others in our room, just as Lysandra had predicted. I went over to my partner first, who got up as I came in the room and dashed over to me, wrapping me up in a hug. Neither of us spoke for several long moments, and none of the others said anything either. The crystal display was showing matches, but everyone was focused on the two of us. Finally Anhe came over to wrap us in her arms, then Heali, then Maryn, and finally Lizzy and Belle, who had switched to human form to try on one of her new dresses.

    ¡°And they all lived happily ever after.¡± Belle said.

    ¡°And if not, we''ll make them live happily ever after!¡± Lizzy grinned.

    ¡°Are you two okay now?¡± Anhe asked us softly.

    ¡°I think so.¡± I replied.

    ¡°I''m okay, Anhe,¡± Ari smiled at her, and the other girl smiled back.

    ¡°But anyway,¡± Lizzy said as the group hug ended and we returned to our seats, ¡°Most of the matches went the way you''d guess. Skeletor and Deathscythe are in a match next, I think.¡±

    ¡°And the winner gets to fight Ironsides,¡± Healina nodded.

    ¡°Ooh...¡± the blonde girl said with interest. ¡°And then that winner gets to choose their opponents.¡±

    ¡°Hmm,¡± I sighed as I watched the displays.

    For whatever reason, the fact that I had told Ariana about Myanihia''s one-shot trick came back into my mind as we settled in to watch the matches again. Then it occurred to me that, if they knew how to do such a thing, how had they failed to beat Maryn in the preliminaries? Sure, the difficulty in pulling off the attack had to be a factor, but that couldn''t be everything, unless the mysterious assassin had just held back that card for a later use, deciding it wasn''t worth showing it off just yet. But I felt compelled to ask anyway.

    ¡°Hey, Maryn,¡± I turned to the dark-haired girl.

    ¡°Hmm?¡± she looked over at me.

    ¡°When you were fighting Myanihia... did they use any sort of skill that you might think of as a one-shot attempt?¡± I said, and she paused, lightly frowning as she thought for a few moments.

    ¡°In both fights... there was a point where my health went all the way down, but it bounced right back up because of a passive skill I gained as a shield-user with high vitality: it restores at least sixty-percent health if you get below one-percent health.¡± she recalled for me.

    ¡°Hmm...?¡± I returned, pondering the words carefully.

    ¡°Thinking about the thing you told me about?¡± Ariana asked me, and I nodded back.

    ¡°If they told you, it must be an assassin-only kind of trick.¡± Belle noted.

    ¡°That''s basically what they implied,¡± I replied, ¡°And they also said they know how to counter it if I use it against them.¡±

    ¡°Ooh. That person''s on top of their game. Make a nearly-unbeatable skill and create a way to counter it.¡± Lizzy nodded with admiration.

    Myanihia. You''ll definitely fight them. I know you will. Don''t let anything they do surprise you, or shock you. Always be ready for any sort of trick, Jannie''s words came back to me.

    ¡°I have to figure it out. Somehow, I have to figure it out.¡± I said to myself, and then stopped. It couldn''t be that simple... could it?

    ¡°Oh look! Timidator''s up!¡± Healina said, and with that the thought was banished from my mind.

    ¡°Girls, I shouldn''t say I''m surprised, but I kind of am.¡± Winnie said as we all got together later that night. Most of the matches were over; they had gone through them faster than expected, and so they had a decently perfect schedule for the coming week.

    ¡°Ah-heh-heh,¡± Ari and I both sheepishly laughed as we sat down together.

    ¡°Well I expected it.¡± Jannie nodded with pride. ¡°That ending was the only way I expected the two of you to go out, one way or the other.¡±

    ¡°So you knew there''d be a method but not the result.¡± I remarked curiously.

    ¡°Pretty much.¡± Jannie nodded back.

    ¡°I expected one of them to do the tragic lovebird thing and use a suicide technique.¡± Tabitha quipped, and we all half-jumped back in our chairs.

    ¡°T-Tabitha...!¡± Jannie smiled nervously.

    ¡°What the heck, girlfriend! Don''t be so dang dark!¡± Winnie scolded her.

    ¡°D-do we give off tr-tragic lover vibes?¡± I nervously turned to Ariana, who shook her head vigorously in the negative.

    ¡°Heyas!¡± Lizzy grinned as she and Maryn joined us with two trays of drinks, along with the other girls. Oh right, we had gone back to that Dwarven restaurant from earlier. Healina and the rest turned up with about four supper platters, and we settled in for some good food and good company. Lysandra turned up as well, pulling up a chair to join us.

    ¡°How many more matches do you think they have left?¡± Winnie asked the werewolf girl.

    ¡°I left the arena five minutes ago after getting bored from watching a bunch of people who could''ve won turn chicken in the middle of their match and forfeit.¡± she sighed in an unamused tone.

    ¡°Say whaat?¡± the older woman frowned.

    ¡°Hmm... but I guess there''s about twenty matches left at least, no more than thirty. We really surpassed their expectations for time, I guess, but all the better.¡± Lysandra said.

    ¡°The prelims were frantically ''round the clock. I guess everyone got used to the pace.¡± Healina remarked.

    ¡°True.¡± Jannie agreed. ¡°Looking forward to you next match, Lana?¡± she asked me. I grinned back, nodding.

    ¡°It''ll be nice to see your fighting spirit back.¡± Ariana gently teased.

    ¡°Of course it''ll be back... today was a downer for me no matter how it turned out...¡± I softly grumbled, and she patted me on the head.

    ¡°I know.¡± she returned as I slowly shrank in my seat.

    ¡°Mrraaooww...¡± I said, and the others burst out laughing.

    ¡°What about you two?¡± Jannie asked Maryn and Anhe.

    ¡°Hmm... I have to go up against a knight-type player, so I should be fine!¡± Anhe said.

    ¡°Mine''s an archer, but they don''t have stealth so I''ll be okay as well.¡± Maryn remarked.

    ¡°That''s cause for extra concern,¡± I countered. ¡°They''ve probably gone deep into the bow-skills.¡±

    ¡°Oh definitely. I saw him fight today.¡± Maryn said, then took a few moments to enjoy her stew as the rest of us munched on something as well. ¡°His name is Ravenwing, and he''s got a very practiced run-gun style with that recurve bow of his.¡±

    ¡°Ooh, nice.¡± I remarked.

    ¡°Recurve bow?¡± Ariana asked me.

    ¡°Ehh, I think the Mongolians used them a lot. The ends are curved back against the bow''s natural curve to give it extra power for shooting.¡± I told her.

    ¡°Oh right, I remember that now,¡± she said.

    ¡°Ironically enough I think he''s a Nomad,¡± Maryn softly grinned.

    ¡°Ha! Nice,¡± Jannie said. ¡°Gonna be some shows tomorrow, then!¡± she smiled.

    ¡°Two-hundred and fifty-six players to be whittled down by half again,¡± Lizzy nodded. ¡°And somewhere down the week, the time-limit for the matches might actually mean something.¡±

    ¡°Oh definitely.¡± Tabitha agreed. ¡°Especially the last four rounds.¡±

    ¡°Ooh... now I can''t wait!¡± Lizzy returned giddily.

    ¡°Isn''t that the truth,¡± Winnie nodded.

    ¡°Just so long as my third match doesn''t pit me against Maryn or Anhe,¡± I said with a faint grin.

    ¡°Pfft,¡± Mary chuckled. ¡°Lana, you''re cute... but not that cute. I''d have no trouble walloping you if I had to.¡± she said, and I saw Anhe nod her head in agreement. I shrunk down again, leaning towards Ariana for safety.

    ¡°Aw. She was being nice and you spooked her.¡± Jannie giggled. ¡°Hey! Let''s all go to the spa again after dinner!¡± she then suggested.

    ¡°I''m in!¡± Heali said at once.

    ¡°Ditto!¡± Winnie agreed.

    ¡°Same!¡± Ariana raised her hand.

    ***

    Well, after a hearty dinner and another night at the baths, we all went our separate ways again to log out for the night. As usual, Ariana and I were the only two left in the room after a round of goodnights, and she gently slipped into my arms again, wrapping hers around me as well.

    ¡°Cake.¡± she then said.

    ¡°Huh?¡± I wondered.

    ¡°A chocolate raspberry cheesecake. You''ll get one, right?¡± she said to me more insistently.

    ¡°O-ohh,¡± I suddenly recalled, smiling. ¡°I''ll come over tomorrow with one. Toby''s Corner Sweets, right?¡±

    ¡°Yay! And yes. And,¡± she let go a bit to look me in the eyes, ¡°I love you.¡±

    ¡°I know. I love you too.¡±

    ¡°See you tomorrow!¡± she said, and we kissed each other''s cheeks before logging out for the night.

 Chapter Thirty-eight: The Grand Tournament -- Lana versus Tyman

    Sunday morning came along. It wasn''t too cold. But it wasn''t very warm, either. And it was cloudy. Not that I was going to complain about it; there was no rain, after all. But it was windy. It was a pretty strong wind, too, but at least it wasn''t bitingly cold. We went to church, as usual, and then after church we headed out to lunch for a change. Upon returning home, dad crashed in his chair, as usual, and mom went to her little office to deal with some paperwork that one of her subordinates had somehow fudged. I went to my room and read a book for a change until about three in the afternoon, and then I headed out to the store as I had promised Rachel in-game last night.

    ¡°Ya got lucky today, kid,¡± the mustached proprietor told me. ¡°This is the very last one of that kind for the day. They sold like crazy earlier.¡±

    ¡°H-heh...?¡± I returned, pulling out the money-card I had for such purposes.

    ¡°''Give ya a tip: reservations, boyo, reservations!¡± he grinned as he set the carefully packaged cheesecake in a carry bag and handed it to me as the money-card came through.

    ¡°I''ll try and remember,¡± I nodded back.

    ¡°Good on ya--and have a nice day!¡± he grinned as I took the bag, giving him a wave in reply as I continued on my way to Rachel''s--Andrea''s?--to the Summers'' house.

    When I got there I knocked on the door, and a voice told me to hang on a moment. Then the door opened, and Andrea peeped from behind the door almost bashfully.

    ¡°Ahh! Sean! Rachel told me you were coming over... hang on!¡± she said, and then after a moment the door opened more fully. ¡°Tell you what, just head to the kitchen; turn left, and then it''s the room on the right.¡±

    ¡°Ah, sure... you okay?¡± I asked her as I slowly came in.

    ¡°Ah-ha-ha, my parents went out with my uncle for the day, so I was getting an early shower, and then Rachel jumped in with me--¡±

    ¡°Hyeck--!! Got it!! Straight to the kitchen, ma''am!!¡± I interrupted her, marching like a wooden soldier in exactly the direction she had told me.

    But Sean, you''ve seen their avis--

    Okay. The game is the game, and real life is real life. They don''t cross over any more than they have to. I heard a sound of snickering as I made my way to the kitchen, and then the sound of feet rushing back up the stairs. There was a shriek, followed by giggles, and then the upstairs went quiet. Wh-what kind of stereotypical shenanigan is this??

    A few minutes later they both came down, their hair mostly dried, each of them wearing clothes that clearly said not-going-anywhere-else-today. Rachel gave me a hug, sitting next to me at the counter, and Andrea set a pot of coffee on for us.

    ¡°You dodged that bullet -- or did you miss the show?¡± the older girl said to me.

    ¡°Guhyeck!¡± I froze.

    ¡°Andri, you''re starting to sound like Ellie.¡± Rachel told her.

    ¡°Ahhhh!! You''re right!! Ugh, that girl...¡± the other groaned, and I sighed in relief.

    ¡°Although...¡± Rachel innocently remarked, giving me a subtle look.

    ¡°A-a-are you trying to have me put on our parents'' hit-list?¡± I asked her with a concerned smile. She smirked back, and laid her head on my shoulder.

    ¡°Teasing. Mostly.¡± she said softly, and I gulped.

    ¡°Don''t worry, kiddo. We''ll stop.¡± Andrea said, and I sighed in relief for a second time.

    ¡°Good thing Ellie isn''t here.¡± Rachel smiled.

    ¡°Exactly.¡± Andrea nodded. ¡°She has no filter in her house or mine, and she''d probably suggest some pretty outrageous somethings.¡±

    ¡°Sh-she''s unfiltered enough...¡± I said.

    ¡°Pffffft!¡± Rachel began laughing, and Andrea cackled with delight.

    ¡°Right?!¡± the red-haired girl said. ¡°Anyway; coffee should be done in five. You want cream or sugar, Sean?¡±

    ¡°Heh? Ahh, creamer. Maybe a bit of sugar.¡±

    ¡°Gotcha.¡± she nodded, getting a sugar jar out and browsing their smaller fridge to dig out a creamer. ¡°Hazelnut, French Vanilla, Cinnamon, Chocolate, or Irish Cream?¡±

    ¡°Ooh, I''m going with hazelnut this time.¡± Rachel said immediately.

    ¡°Hrrmm... same.¡± I said, and she pulled that one out, along with the cinnamon creamer.

    ¡°And this one for me,¡± Andrea said, setting them on the counter and sitting down across from us while the coffee brewed. We got the cheesecake out of the back and lifted off the lid, taking a deep whiff of the scent it gave off.

    ¡°I love this kind.¡± Rachel said happily.

    ¡°It''s definitely good.¡± Andrea nodded.

    ¡°Right?¡± I agreed.

    A few minutes later, we were sipping on good coffee and taking our time with the delectable dessert before us, talking about school and all the things we had to do for at least twenty minutes before we turned to Panarena. Tonight was going to be round two of the official matches.

    ¡°And then tomorrow will be the final day for the line-ups picked by the GMs.¡± Andrea said. ¡°According to what I read, those who finish their fights first in the third round will get priority in their choices.¡±

    ¡°Hmm... I guess that''s fair.¡± I said as I thought about it.

    ¡°Kind of. But then those who come later in the day might have something to say about that.¡± she shrugged.

    ¡°Can''t make us all happy,¡± I said with a soft grin.

    ¡°And there''s no guarantee you''ll get your targets for the bet, either.¡± Rachel said.

    ¡°That''s true. Heh,¡± I then said with a look of amusement, ¡°If I get past Ty, I''ll have Ironsides to fight. That''ll be two on my list.¡±

    ¡°Ooh, nice.¡± my girlfriend nodded. ¡°Think Sandy''ll beat you to any of them?¡±

    ¡°Who? Huh? Oh!!¡± I suddenly realized. ¡°You''ve gotta stop shortening her name,¡± I said with a bemused look, and they giggled back. ¡°Well I can think of at least one she''ll definitely try to jump me on...¡± I then said more seriously, and the two of them nodded back.

    ¡°Myanihia.¡± Andrea said.

    ¡°They give off a seriously mysterious vibe, don''t they?¡± Rachel said.

    ¡°It''s their thing, I guess.¡± I shrugged.

    ¡°I super want to find out if they''re a boy or a girl character before the tournament ends...¡± Andrea remarked with unusual fervor.

    ¡°Now there''s something we don''t want to say in front of Ellie.¡± I smiled back, and we all laughed.

    By the time the cheesecake was gone and the coffee drank, it was almost five-thirty. Andrea gathered the dishes and such to wash them, and then gave me a soft hug before letting Rachel take me to the door.

    ¡°Be safe going home,¡± Rachel said to me.

    ¡°Of course,¡± I replied.

    ¡°We''ll have to do this again sometime, with some of the others as well!¡± she smiled.

    ¡°Definitely!¡± I agreed, and she pulled me down for a kiss, in which we stayed for several eternal moments until she let go and looked at me with a smile, sighing happily.

    ¡°See you tonight... Lana.¡± she whispered softly. I smirked back, gently poking her nose, and headed out as she giggled back.

    When I got home, dinner was ready, and after this was eaten I went upstairs to my room. I dressed down at last, lying on my bed for a few moments to space out a bit before bringing my thoughts in line again. I cast a gaze to the Dream Machine, grinning with delight. I was sure he was doing something similar. Ty, that is. Tonight, we would finish what we had put off for a couple years in probably the most spectacular fashion we ever could.

    No teachers... no principals... no parents... no rules, I recounted for myself, getting way too fired up. I put on the Dream Machine, and turned it on to log in to Panarena for the night. Here we go!!

    ***

    I found myself in the room near the arena moments later, and browsed through the schedule, ending up with a grumpy pout on my face as I discovered that Tyman and I weren''t due on the stage until later. In fact, we were the last fight scheduled for the day.

    ¡°Blehhh!¡± I whined, flopping back upon a nearby bed.

    ¡°Oh, Lana?¡± Belle''s voice came, and she flew in to sit near my head. ¡°I thought so! What''s up?¡± she asked me.

    ¡°Not much... apparently my fight is the last fight for the day.¡± I said with a pout.

    ¡°Hmm... that''s the way it goes, sometimes!¡± she said cheerily, and I sat up. She then hopped over as I cupped my hands, holding her up so she could sit and talk with me.

    ¡°You''re definitely more mature about it than even Lysandra,¡± I remarked.

    ¡°I ought to be! Girl to girl, I turned twenty-two this year.¡± she told me.

    ¡°Congrats!¡± I smiled back.

    ¡°Thankees! What about you, hon?¡± Belle then asked.

    ¡°Fifteen.¡± I replied.

    ¡°Ehhh?! Fifteen!?¡± she squeaked.

    ¡°W-what?¡±

    ¡°I was gonna say seventeen, at least,¡± she shrugged.

    ¡°Ah-heh,¡± I smiled uncertainly.

    ¡°Well that explains a bit more, honestly,¡± Belle then said with a wry grin. ¡°All those deep emotions and stuff.¡±

    ¡°I-I guess so,¡± I replied.

    ¡°I know so! I''m studying psychology and sociology in college, you know... teenage years are very formative and informative for young girls. You''ve got to take care of yourself!¡±

    ¡°I am, trust me!¡± I replied as honestly as I could to her insistence. F-for young boys, too, but hey... advice is advice...

    ¡°And don''t be afraid to ask other girls for help, especially once that time comes along.¡± she nodded professionally. I sat there blankly for about five seconds before I put the pieces together.

    ¡°R-right,¡± I then returned.

    ¡°Ah! Too much?¡± Belle worried.

    ¡°I-it''s fine, really, I appreciate the advice.¡± I told her genuinely, smiling to reassure her.

    ¡°Good!¡± she smiled back. ¡°How about that bath last night, though? I didn''t think Lizzy was ever gonna stop tormenting you,¡± she then said with a mischievously amused look on her face.

    ¡°It''s her thing,¡± I said with a weary sigh. And no, I''m not elaborating. We then heard the sound of the others logging in, and I stood up, Belle in hand, to head out of the side-room so we could greet them.

    ¡°Ah! There you are!¡± Heali said as we emerged. ¡°Hey Belle!¡± she smiled.

    ¡°Hiyas!¡± the pixie girl said, launching herself out of my hand to hover near the others.

    ¡°So where''s our hangout for tonight gonna be?¡± Lizzy asked.

    ¡°As long as it''s nowhere near a bathhouse, I''m good,¡± I remarked sardonically, and our halberdier affected as evil a grin as she could muster -- which was quite a devilish grin, I have to say.

    ¡°What''s the matter, Lana?¡± she asked sarcastically.

    ¡°All right, all right... Lizzy! Heel!¡± Healina ordered, and the other girl froze in place for a moment before turning to our healer.

    ¡°Wh-wh-wh-what''s the big idea saying heel to me?!¡± she spluttered indignantly. The rest of us laughed heartily at her reaction. ¡°Uuugghhh. Lo-sers.¡± she softly griped, and then grinned.

    ¡°Wasn''t there something like a Greek or Italian restaurant in the Market District?¡± I then said, looking over at Belle.

    ¡°Hm? Oh, the Pompeni place,¡± the pixie girl remembered. ¡°I forgot what it was called, but I remember the way!¡±

    ¡°Sweet!¡± Lizzy clapped her hands. ¡°Pasta again tonight!¡±

    ¡°Maybe,¡± Heali said with a grin.

    We made our way to the Market District, heading deep into the place this time. We found the place in question on a thoroughfare that wound its way through several major plazas before ending at the east gates of the innermost district. Those gates were about an hour away by walking at least, but they loomed before us even in the distance.

    Anyhow. We made our way inside the establishment, ¡°Papagino''s¡±, and settled in a booth to order an early breakfast-brunch. Fresh loaves of bread, butter and cream, fruits, cheeses, sparkling water, and soothing tea. It was delightfully different from yesterday, as Maryn put it. I wonder what an actual Mediterranean breakfast would be like? I wondered as I happily, and greedily, devoured one of the loaves of bread. Idly I looked over at the timepiece atop the mantle. There were thirty minutes until the eight o''clock start of the tournament, Panarena time.

    And I won''t see the stage until maybe eleven or so, I mused to myself. Lysandra turned up then, ordering a coffee and pulling up a chair nearby. Lizzy offered her a plate, and a faint smile crossed her face as she accepted.

    ¡°No question that you''re all set for your match, huh?¡± the blonde girl remarked.

    ¡°No disrespect to your friend Wildeye, but I fully intend to win.¡± the werewolf girl calmly said in reply.

    ¡°Niiice.¡± Lizzy said. ¡°Always so aloof about everything; can we keep her, Lana?¡± she asked me with a cheesy grin.

    ¡°Sure!¡± I grinned back, earning a soft, teasing punch from Lysandra.

    ¡°Only if you win the wager.¡± she returned.

    ¡°Ah-heh,¡± I softly giggled back.

    ¡°And of course my fight ended up as one of the early ones,¡± the older girl sighed.

    ¡°Lana ended up in the very last position.¡± Maryn said with a soft smirk.

    ¡°Did you?¡± the other girl remarked with a faint laugh.

    ¡°Hrrmm... though I guess Tyman might enjoy being the final spectacle of the day,¡± I had to admit.

    ¡°Of course he would; it''s been two years or so since you two last scuffled, after all.¡± Healina reminded me.

    ¡°Hmm.¡± I nodded back.

    ¡°Lana! You get into fights with boys?!¡± Belle said with surprise.

    ¡°She''s surprisingly tomboyish, isn''t she?¡± Ariana said, patting me on the head as usual.

    ¡°Nothing wrong with that.¡± Lysandra shrugged.

    ¡°You too, huh?¡± Belle sighed.

    ¡°Sometimes you gotta give them the knuckles.¡± the werewolf girl grinned. Belle smiled resignedly, but the rest of us laughed at the quip pretty hard. ¡°Anyway,¡± she continued, her plate surprisingly empty, ¡°Thanks... just wanted to see your faces before the matches. Have fun out there,¡± she said to us, and then headed out again.

    ¡°See you next time!¡± Ari called, and she held up a hand to wave as she kept walking. ¡°Hmm... something about her really makes me want to cuddle her.¡±

    ¡°Eh?!¡± I looked back at Ari in alarm. ¡°Sh-she doesn''t seem very cuddly sometimes,¡± I said to her with a nervous giggle.

    ¡°True! But still,¡± my partner returned.

    ¡°I get you.¡± Belle nodded.

    ¡°Let''s finish up here and head for the stadiums this time... I want to see the action live this turn around!¡± Lizzy then said.

    ¡°Definite agree!¡± Heali nodded. It didn''t take long for the rest of us to agree as well, and we made quick work of what was left of our game-meal before heading on over to the stadium, where Belle, Maryn, Anhe, and myself went to wait in the contestants'' lounge while the others went to find seats in the audience. Ari and I shared a quick hug, and then we parted ways for the time being.

    The four of us sat together on one of the side benches. In the opposite corner I could see Lysandra, grimly staring up at the pre-game show, a band from Hollyland. Another corner saw Mad Dog, Magisteria, and Wildeye conversing with one another. And, in a corner that everyone seemed to avoid, I saw Myanihia Black. They sat motionless in their little part of the room, giving off an empty sort of aura. There was nothing threatening about it and nothing encouraging either; it just was... or maybe wasn''t, more like.

    The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    ¡°There they are, huh?¡± Anhe said to me, and I nodded back. I then looked around for the line-ups for the day.

    ¡°Wh-whoa... good luck, Magisteria.¡± I said as I caught sight of her name paired with theirs.

    ¡°Hmm... there''s Ravenwing.¡± Maryn said, and we turned to see a player wearing a bird-like cloak of black feathers. His bow was strapped to his back at the moment, and he had a quiver of arrows over his shoulder and one on his right hip also.

    ¡°He''s definitely taking no chances with you.¡± Belle quipped.

    ¡°Who are you fighting today, Belle?¡± I then wondered.

    ¡°Hm? What was the name again... it was so absurd looking I almost blanked it out...¡± she remarked.

    ¡°Oobahdoobahdoo?¡± Maryn read from the screens, then burst out laughing, as did the rest of us.

    ¡°Seriously?!¡± I cackled, and she pointed it out to me. We continued laughing for at least four minutes more, reaching that wheezy, silent, clapping laugh stage where you gasp for breath whenever you can.

    ¡°Ahh... that was a good laugh!¡± Anhe said, clearing her throat as she recovered herself.

    ¡°Seriously, though... if he looks like either a sophisticated caveman or a nineteen-fifties rock-star, I might get logged out by the system''s health monitor,¡± I struggled to say.

    ¡°Oh Gawd, don''t! I might too!¡± Maryn laughed back, and the giggling resumed for another minute before we finally calmed down.

    ¡°Oh! The announcers are on... five minutes until showtime, then.¡± Belle then said. Just then a figure in plate armor passed by us, taking a look at Anhe as he passed by and giving her a salute. She rose to her feet, bowing back as he continued on his way, and then sat back down.

    ¡°Your opponent for the day?¡± I asked her as the announcers kept talking.

    ¡°He is. Luke Strongarm; he prefers mounted combat with a lance, from what I have heard, but he is equally deadly with a sword.¡± she told us.

    ¡°I remember him from a player-held tournament in the Aldholt,¡± Maryn nodded.

    ¡°He''s been in a couple other player tourneys in Kingsmark and Bretony as well,¡± Belle added. ¡°Level one-hundred and four. Good luck, kiddo!¡± our pixie ally said as she alighted on Anhe''s shoulder.

    ¡°Thank you!¡± the younger girl replied.

    ¡°And now,¡± Forseti began, ¡°Let''s begin with the second round of the Grand Tournament! Let the battles commence!¡± he said, his voice reverberating around the arena as wild applause, adorations, and the chanting of names kicked off with the next round of combat matches.

    Lysandra and Wildeye were practically the first fight, the wily Mountain Tigers'' guild leader unfazed by the subtly ferocious werewolf girl with her sword. Her usual tricks would not work on him and she knew it. The battle was one of pure combat skill from the very beginning, our gallant and wise friend holding his own against the girl in black for several long but tense minutes. At this point I wasn''t going to be surprised no matter who won or lost, but I also knew I would feel bad for the same reason.

    ¡°Don''t know who to root for, huh?¡± Belle asked me gently. I nodded back. ¡°Not exactly sure myself, either. Let''s just see what happens.¡± she said, and I nodded again, reaching up my hand to where she was sitting, on my shoulder.

    It was definitely one of the longer fights thus far. There would be a period of intense blows and swift maneuvers almost too fast for the eye to see, and then they would be circling each other like a couple of wild beasts, gauging the other and watching for an opening -- or seeking to create one. A couple of feints were suddenly exchanged, and then they were back at it once more.

    ¡°And there''s another werewolf, that one less subtle.¡± Maryn observed as a fight with Mad Dog came on one of the other screens. He was busy tearing up yet another vic--I mean, opponent.

    ¡°Didn''t that fight just start?¡± Belle said with amazement.

    ¡°Pretty much,¡± Maryn nodded.

    ¡°Good grief,¡± the pixie shook her head.

    ¡°Ahh! The other fight!¡± Anhe said, and we turned back to see Wildeye get thrown off balance by a trick-feint from Lysandra, who immediately lunged in and then slashed him twice before running him through. But even in defeat, he grinned at her, nodding in resignation as his avatar disintegrated.

    ¡°Aw,¡± Maryn said.

    ¡°Poor guy.¡± I agreed.

    ¡°She didn''t even go wolf on him.¡± Belle noted. ¡°Ah! I''m up! See you after a while!¡± she then said, vanishing in a teleport.

    About two minutes later, she reappeared on one of the arena stages. Her opponent wore a black and orange garment that came down to his knees, along with some sort of blue kerchief, and he had a huge club made of bone. The three of us looked at each other, our faces rapidly melting into amusement as we burst out laughing helplessly for a second time.

    ***

    Belle won out against her flamboyant neanderthal opponent in very little time at all, and was then teleported out of the arena, messaging us to say she would go and sit with the others. Maryn went up against her opponent next, taking the rapid-fire Ravenwing''s shots on her tower-shield as she slowly but surely moved towards him, making sure he drained both his quivers dry. He caught her off guard by pulling out a reserve third, but soon he had emptied that one too without so much as budging her health, and Maryn was then able to make short work of him.

    Another fight that Anhe and I watched intensely was Magisteria and Myanihia''s. This time, I was at least ninety-percent positive from the outset that the latter would go down, despite my growing desire to fight them. A plan was fomenting in my head about how that kind of fight would play out, but I shoved it aside, hoping Magisteria might bring the wily assassin to heel. It soon showed itself to be a pitched battle, but Myanihia was definitely not coming out unscathed.

    ¡°Damn, that assassin''s good.¡± Tyman said as he came over to sit with us.

    ¡°I have to agree,¡± Anhe nodded. ¡°I can see why they are ranked third in that category here.¡±

    ¡°Are they?¡± the Memphite claw-wielder wondered. ¡°Damn. Well if I knock you out, Lans, I''ll get ''em for you.¡±

    ¡°Right back at you.¡± I grinned back, as did he.

    ¡°You two are such good friends!¡± Anhe smiled.

    ¡°Eh-heh, I guess we are,¡± I said with a laugh, and Tyman did something he probably would never do in real life, putting his arm around me as he smiled.

    ¡°''Course! Lans and I go way back, yo! And today''s the day we get to settle which one of us would''ve won that old fight!¡± he said to her. I felt my cheeks turning red, and I looked back up at the screen to hide it a bit.

    ¡°I look forward to seeing your skill against Lana''s,¡± Anhe replied with a bow.

    ¡°Sure thing!¡± he returned.

    ¡°Ahh!¡± I then exclaimed, and the other two returned their attention to the display as well.

    ¡°Yo, Magis, wha''s up with that?¡± Tyman said as he saw the leader of Words and Sorcery fall to her knees from some sort of status ailment.

    Just then Myanihia entered Shadow World, and without ceremony they used that incredible one-shot technique. Magisteria went down, and Myanihia emerged the victor. Tyman let out a low whistle, removing his one arm from me and crossing both of them across his chest.

    ¡°Dayum, girl, you let that ghosty thing beat you?¡± he shook his head.

    ¡°Ghosty, huh?¡± I remarked.

    ¡°Ain''t another word I''d use to describe them, Lans.¡±

    ¡°I can understand why,¡± I agreed.

    Anhe was the next to be transported out. She was then placed on the center stage with her opponent, Luke Strongarm. The gallant knight drew out his longsword as the countdown began, saluting her with it. Anhe did not take out her staff, but she did do a battle-dance to activate a special aura of defense that had a three-percent reflect chance.

    ¡°Hmm? The hell? Doesn''t she use a stick to fight?¡± Tyman wondered.

    ¡°Sometimes, but I guess she''s going for pure offense right now. Anhe''s a real martial arts student, and she uses those skills in the game alongside her auras.¡±

    ¡°Oohhh... damn, I might''ve picked the wrong Silvernight Queen to fight,¡± he remarked.

    ¡°Maybe!¡± I smiled.

    The fight then began, and the knight rushed at Anhe, sword held high for a downward slice. To everyone''s astonishment, Anhe did not move, but she did catch the blade in her hands, swiftly jerking it to once side and using a knee-kick to further unbalance the already surprised knight before lightly spinning away and then returning to land a series of hefty kicks on his backside before he recovered.

    ¡°Ho-ly--!¡± I exclaimed in surprise.

    ¡°You got that right,¡± my companion nodded in dumbfounded amazement.

    This fight managed to captivate everyone''s attention for its entire fifteen minute duration. Anhe did not take her staff out once, keeping him at bay with precise moves and eventually batting his sword away from him, forcing him to either brawl her or leap for his sword and expose himself to a possible finishing move. He chose the former, and for the remaining six minutes of that duel he managed to fend her off surprisingly well--but the lightly armored Anhe was much faster than he was, and eventually she went into a nearly sonic series of maneuvers that Strongarm could not keep up with, overwhelming him to the point of defeat. Anhe clinched her victory with a flying axe-kick to the head, shattering his helmet before the rest of him disintegrated.

    ¡°Ouch.¡± I remarked, and Tyman guffawed.

    ¡°Damn right.¡± he agreed.

    One of the other matches I saw was Ironsides'' second fight; I watched this one closely as well, since he was likely to be my third opponent, should I overcome the guy standing next to me. As I expected, the person basically reflected themselves to death on him, but they did show me some interesting scenes that I burned into memory to think about them later.

    ¡°That guy''s gonna be a pain to fight. You got any ideas, sister-man?¡± Tyman turned to me.

    ¡°Maybe. I have to think more about it later, though.¡± I replied.

    ¡°Right on,¡± he nodded back.

    The waiting area was practically empty now. It had been a little over two hours since the battles started. There were maybe twelve others left besides us. Pair by pair, they disappeared to fight in the arena, until only Tyman and I were left. As the second to last fight ended, we heard that odd little twinkling sound, and then turned to each other nodding and shaking hands.

    ¡°Here''s to a good fight!¡± Tyman grinned.

    ¡°To a good fight!¡± I replied in agreement, and we were whooshed from the main waiting area to the next. A couple minutes more, and we were facing each other in the arena.

    ¡°And now our final entry of the day!¡± Wandreada announced.

    ¡°We''ve kept them waiting long enough, I''d say,¡± Lumpstein remarked.

    ¡°At least it wasn''t yesterday''s wait!¡± Athena quipped, and the audience laughed.

    ¡°That''s right!¡± the dwarf GM agreed. ¡°So now... without further ado...!¡±

    ¡°The final fight of the second round: Lana Windstrider versus Tyman!¡± Wandreada exclaimed, and the stadiums erupted in applause.

    Tyman readied his bagh nakh, and I drew out my daggers. There was going to be no time for any sort of ranged attack. He crossed his wrists in front of his chest like that old superhero, the tips of his claws gleaming in the light, and I got into a springing position. The countdown was chanted by the audience for the final time that day. As the word ¡°zero¡± rang out across the crowds and the fanfare sounded, the two of us leapt towards the other.

    He opened up with an overhead swipe from the right; I countered by swerving and meeting his claw with my dagger, twirling the arm around and trying to score a hit with my left hand, which he blocked with his other claw. I then swiftly disengaged and back-flipped away before he could swipe again, running low to the ground towards him in Shadow Speed and lightly slicing his leg as I continued past him like a dark comet. Or at least I tried to continue past him.

    Tyman spun around on his left leg and kicked me with the right, sending me sprawling backwards. A gasp of astonishment went up from the audience. I quickly righted myself, choosing to switch to my bow anyway as he came after me again and then shot twice at him while taking off around the stage. He whacked both of my arrows to the ground as they came near. A third one landed in his other leg, however, but he simply yanked it out and kept right on after me. I reverted to my daggers, and spun around to engage him in a melee.

    The both of us were revved up, and it was showing on our faces with an extreme delight. Back and forth we drove each other, occasionally scoring a hit on the other but mostly catching on the other''s weapons of choice. After a couple minutes more of this, he jumped back, and I used the brief pause to ready myself again. Then he grinned, and put away the claws. I took his meaning at once, and gladly put away my daggers and bow, along with the arrows.

    ¡°Wh-what''s going on here?¡± Athena exclaimed in wonder.

    ¡°They seem to have quietly consented to a hand-to-hand,¡± Forseti remarked.

    ¡°Why?!¡± Lumpstein wondered grumpily. ¡°Lana clearly had the advantage with those daggers, even though Tyman''s claws are nothing to sneeze at, either!¡±

    ¡°Who knows,¡± Wandreada said. She seemed to be observing us carefully.

    You ready, girl? Tyman silently mouthed to me, and I nodded back.

    This time, we engaged each other in a fist to fist brawl, just as we had done those couple of years ago. This was the knockdown, drag-out fight that we were really looking forward to -- not a contest of fancy skills or exotic weapons, just a plain old tumble. A loud chorus of raucous cheering broke out from the onlookers. I could hear my friends shouting encouragement towards me, and I could hear the Mountain Tigers doing the same for Ty.

    ¡°Hmmrrrgh, this is fine and all, but someone tell those two to settle it in twenty-four minutes or they''ll end up in a draw.¡± Lumpstein remarked as the two of us wailed away on each other.

    ¡°If it gets to that point, we can always use the hitpoints rule.¡± Athena reminded him.

    ¡°Oh? We should have done that in the prelims, too, I guess; but let''s do it now for sure if all else fails!¡± the Dwarf agreed. ¡°Now hear this, you scrawny brats! If you don''t finish each other off before time''s up, the one with the most health left at the end of the match wins!!¡± he called out to us.

    ¡°Heard that!!¡± Tyman said as he neatly dodged one of my punches, only to get snagged by a kick a split second later.

    ¡°You''re on!!¡± I cried out.

    I don''t remember every second of that fight. What I do remember is that it was the most fun I had in my life. Several times one of us got the other in a headlock, only to wriggle out or bust out of it near the last possible moment to scramble to our feet once more and continue the fight. Shortly after the GMs'' declaration it wasn''t really about winning or losing for us any more. It was just fun to brawl. And if half a million people were entertained by it, we weren''t gonna complain. Besides, this way, neither of us really gets hurt.

    And boy were we letting each other have it. I''m not gonna go blow-by-blow here, but there were several times I thought I actually might die. Fortunately my virtual reflexes were faster than my normal ones, allowing me to evade or escape demise at several key points. At least five times I managed to knock him silly with an unarmed Thousand Needle Strike, using my fists instead of my daggers, and several times he managed to knock me silly in turn with an unarmed Double-Swipe followed up by a kick.

    When the clock began ticking down the final five minutes, even the crowd got more intense, to say nothing of us. Neither of us had been wiped out by the other as of yet, and neither of us was going to surrender. Tyman came at he with an overhead double-fisted strike, which I blocked with one arm while spinning around to jab him in the side with an elbow. It knocked the wind out of him real good, and I followed it up with a jumping snap-kick to the jaw, which rattled him further, and he stumbled about.

    ¡°Oooohh!! This could be it, this could be it!!¡± Lumpstein said excitedly.

    Both of us were panting heavily, covered in blood, bruises, and several cuts from the first couple minutes of our fight. I was tottering a bit too, but I managed to keep my footing somehow or another. Our health-bars were low. Mine was at five percent, and Tyman''s was at four-point-five. So we had pretty much thrashed each other in equal measure. Slowly he came back to his senses. There was now just over four minutes left. Tyman shook off the dizziness, and readied himself again.

    ¡°''Aight, I''mma give you that one, that was good,¡± he told me.

    ¡°I just barely deflected you, to be honest,¡± I replied with a wry grin.

    ¡°I could tell that much!¡± he grinned back. ¡°Let''s make it the last blow, Lans!¡± he then said, gritting himself for one final blow.

    ¡°You got it, Ty,¡± I nodded back.

    ¡°Looks like they''re trying to make this the final strike, one way or the other!¡± Ricklelopes observed.

    ¡°It''s about time!¡± the grumpy Dwarf remarked.

    I took a deep breath, exhaling slowly. A perfect calm settled over me. Tyman looked just as calm, quietly poised to strike. He made the first move, barreling towards me like a freight train. I stood there, waiting, watching. He''s gonna try and do a spinning punch. I can tell now. He did that a few minutes ago and I wasn''t prepared for it. But now...

    As soon as Tyman got into range, he began doing exactly as I predicted, at the same terrifying speed he had done it at last time. This time, however, I quickly tumbled down to the right, using my legs to give him a swift and sharp kick in the side, sending him sprawling across the stage. As soon as he hit the floor again I jumped to my feet, readying myself for the next charge. But it never came. Tyman turned over, and grinned at me, breathing heavily.

    ¡°Damn, girl.¡± he said, and then his health went to zero. Tyman disintegrated, and after a three second silence the arena burst into applause. I fell to my knees, raising a fist in triumph. After all that time of waiting, we had finally settled the debate.

    ***

    ¡°Ugghh, you are such a mess!¡± Ariana said as she and I bathed together later that day in-game. I had also gotten lectured by the others, especially Belle -- who severely scolded me for acting very unlady-like -- and then Ariana had shooed them out to a place a few other guilds had agreed on for a gathering after the fights.

    ¡°I''m not even going to argue.¡± I replied as I leaned back on her as she daubed my face. Unlike the real world, my superficial damage could be healed rapidly by doing things like this, which is a big reason why things like spas and baths exist in Panarena.

    ¡°Still... I think I completely expected that of you two.¡± she smiled at me, and I weakly smiled back.

    ¡°I guess so.¡± I said.

    ¡°You''re still this winded?¡± Ari gently laughed.

    ¡°Pretty much,¡± I laughed back softly.

    She then continued tending to me for another fifteen minutes before she was satisfied, and then kissed me. I kissed her back, and we then got out to dress ourselves again so we could meet up with the others at a large tavern nearby called The Merry Stag. As soon as we got there, Tyman himself, fully recovered as well, hoisted me on to his shoulders as the entire gathering cheered for me.

    ¡°W-wah, wahh!! Ty! Skirt, skirt!!¡± I squeaked, and he set me back down with a laugh.

    ¡°Good fight, yo!¡± he said, grabbing my hand for a shake as I recovered from the brief moment of indignity.

    ¡°S-same to you,¡± I replied.

    ¡°Right!¡± Lizzy called out. ¡°Time to party: to the victors!¡±

    ¡°To the victors!¡± the others called out.

    ¡°And to those who made a good showing!¡± Jannie added.

    ¡°To the runners-up!¡± someone else said, and the cheer was taken up again as we toasted the day''s events. A lively music started playing, and several trays of warm and delicious smelling food were then served. It made me wonder how hard the partying would be on Saturday after the final match.

    If we''re still around for it, at least, I mused. Several people broke out into dancing, by ones, by twos, or by groups, and eventually Ariana and I got caught up in a dancing circle as well. After a couple times around the room, I decided to subtly escape the ring (with a wink from Ari) and return to my spot. Lysandra was sitting nearby, giving me a smile as I sat back down.

    ¡°Tired already?¡± she said.

    ¡°Again, actually,¡± I replied.

    ¡°I can understand. That was quite the fight.¡± the older girl said to me.

    ¡°You''re telling me,¡± I said, ¡°But... ah-heh, it was worth it.¡± I said with a grin.

    ¡°Oh I bet.¡± she nodded. A moment passed, and then she came closer. ¡°So... h-how did it feel? I mean, I get this vibe that you''ve had some real-side scraps with that guy, even if you are on friendlier terms, now... how does it feel to finally beat him?¡± she asked me.

    ¡°Hmm...¡± I wondered, thinking myself about that very question. ¡°I mean, I don''t feel like I''m better, or something dumb like that. It''s possible he''ll beat me next tournament or so, too. If anything... I feel... content, settled. We said one day we would do this, and we did it, fair and square.¡± I then told her, and she slowly nodded.

    ¡°Hmm.¡± she softly mused, gazing towards the fire. I looked at her curiously, thinking back to my conversation with Myanihia.

    Lysandra wants to fight you also.

    I know. She''s never... let go. Not really.

    Of the beta guild?

    You can help her. You can save her. I can''t.

    Why not?

    I can push her to you... but you must be the one to help her.

    I don''t really get it, but okay, I guess.

    I frowned, and then I placed my hand on her hand.

    ¡°H-hey... Lysandra... does... is this about... Myanihia?¡± I asked her. Her dark eyes flashed for a moment, and then she looked over at me calmly.

    ¡°What if it does?¡± she asked me in her usual, disinterested tone of voice.

    ¡°Th-they said something a couple days ago... about--¡± I started, but she then placed a finger on my lips.

    ¡°Come on.¡± she said, and led me to the upstairs of the tavern, where we went to stand outside on a balcony overlooking a side-street. ¡°Now say it.¡± she said gently.

    ¡°Hrrmm... it was confusing, but they said that you couldn''t let go of something,¡± I said to her. She said nothing for about thirty seconds, and then sighed.

    ¡°So you do think about it...¡± she muttered softly.

    ¡°S-Sandra?¡± I asked in a cautious tone. She turned to me, giving me a rare gentle smile, and came over to hug me.

    ¡°I''m not ready. But I promise, when I am...¡± the werewolf girl trailed off, and I hugged her back.

    ¡°I''ll be here.¡± I promised in return. She then let go, and headed downstairs again as I sat down at a table to collect my thoughts. Ariana came out with Belle and Maryn a few minutes later.

    ¡°All okay?¡± my partner asked me.

    ¡°Mm, yeah, just a little heart-to-heart.¡± I said honestly.

    ¡°Not a confession, was it?¡± she asked me with a devious smirk.

    ¡°N-not a chance!¡± I returned at once.

    ¡°Teasing.¡± Ari replied, leaning her head on my shoulder. ¡°If I had to guess... I''d say Myanihia was the topic.¡± she then said, and I twitched in my seat. ¡°Thought so.¡±

    ¡°You''re getting too good at this,¡± I said, and she giggled.

    ¡°Ready for your third matches, you two?¡± Belle asked me and Maryn.

    ¡°I think so,¡± I nodded.

    ¡°I''m not sure.¡± Maryn sighed.

    ¡°Why not?¡± Ari asked her. Maryn replied by opening a schedule-panel, and zooming in on her name. The three of us nearly fell out of our seats when we saw whose name was next to it.

    Maryn -- Myanihia.

 Chapter Thirty-nine: The Grand Tournament -- Maryn versus Myanihia

    Monday morning came on with a side of drowsiness and lack of motivation. I got ready for school, had breakfast, and then was out the door to go and wait for the bus, which picked me up as it always did, and when I was seated we were on our way. Ty was nearly asleep. He had been one of the ones partying hard last night, despite the fact that he''d lost the actual fight. I decided to let sleeping claw-wielders lie until we got to school, where I tapped his shoulder a couple times and then slunk off the bus when he stirred, softly smiling to myself. Rachel met me at the lockers with a quick hug, and we then got ready for our day at school.

    ¡°What did Ty say when you saw him?¡± she asked me.

    ¡°He was nearly asleep, so I settled for waking him when we got here and heading off the bus before I was late.¡± I said.

    ¡°Nice.¡± she laughed.

    ¡°Think we''ll get extra homework in science again?¡± I grimaced as we closed our lockers and headed in for homeroom.

    ¡°Hmm... maybe she won''t assign as much this week; and we got some good marks on that extra credit a while back, too.¡±

    ¡°Oh right!¡± I nodded.

    ¡°But on the other hand, your favorite teacher might give us some more instead!¡± she said, sticking her tongue out at me for a moment.

    ¡°Hahh...¡± I sighed as we reached our seats and sat down. Mathematics was what she was referring to, of course. ¡°As long as I can make it through without completely blanking out I guess I''ll be fine.¡± I said, and she giggled.

    ¡°Any plans after school?¡± Rachel asked then.

    ¡°Hm? Not really, why?¡±

    ¡°Wanna meet at that bookstore on Seventh and Landson for homework instead of a video call?¡±

    ¡°Oh, sure,¡± I returned enthusiastically.

    ¡°Great! Andrea''s getting a break from her Monday routine so the three of us can meet up there about four or so.¡± Rachel told me.

    ¡°Nice... did they allow snacks there?¡± I wondered.

    ¡°Hmm... in the lounge area upstairs, I think, yes.¡± she replied. ¡°Ah! Andrea spent this morning making cookie dough, so we''ll have some of those along. Just get some drinks!¡± she then said with a smile.

    ¡°Oh nice!¡± I smiled back. The bell then sounded, and we reluctantly turned away from each other to focus on school for the time being.

    The morning that had begun lethargically passed by quickly enough under the four lectures of Literature, History, Mathematics, and finally Science. Then the lunch break began, and the two of us scurried off to what had quickly become our favorite place in school: the club room.

    It felt as if an eternity had gone by since we last saw the place, but it was just as welcoming and atmospheric as ever. The two of us settled in on our little couch near the table, and the others filed in soon enough. We spread out out lunches, and dug in.

    ¡°This just isn''t the same. We''ve been spoiled by fantasy restaurants in a video game.¡± Ellie softly complained.

    ¡°I don''t want to hear that from someone who gets free meals at Fun Castle.¡± I quipped back at once, and she snorted with amusement.

    ¡°''Kay. You win that round. Five points.¡± she said.

    ¡°Still...¡± Mary remarked, poking at her salad.

    ¡°Yeah...¡± Rachel agreed, eyeing her sandwich forlornly.

    ¡°Hmmm...¡± Anhe sighed wistfully.

    ¡°When we get to our summer vacation we can eat at all the fancy restaurants we can afford.¡± Andrea said to us.

    ¡°Did we ever talk about inviting our soon-to-be guildies along for that?¡± Mary suddenly wondered.

    ¡°You know, I can''t remember, but that sounds like a nice idea.¡± Andrea replied.

    ¡°We''ll have to ask them sometime after the tournament.¡± Ellie nodded in agreement. ¡°Ah! That okay with you, Lana?¡± she then looked over at me with a sneaky grin.

    ¡°Hrrmm...¡± I sighed. ¡°We''ll see what happens, I guess...¡±

    ¡°I bet Belle will be the one more shocked when or if she finds out. She loves fawning over us, especially Lana.¡± Andrea said with a grin.

    ¡°True!¡± Rachel agreed. ¡°And Sandra will probably crack up... not as hard as Ellie, maybe, but it seems like she would.¡±

    ¡°Ooh, true!¡± Ellie nodded. ¡°Ah! Let''s keep the game going as long as we can, though,¡± she said deviously, and the girls shared a small, evil-sounding chuckle--even Anhe.

    ¡°Hahh...¡± I sighed, returning my attention to lunch.

    Once school was over and all the homework packed away, Ellie decided to take me home along with Rachel and Andrea, so we got home a bit earlier, promising to meet up at the bookstore as soon as we could. The old man, of course, had no problem with that, practically booting me out the door with excitement.

    ¡°Go get ''em, tiger!¡± he chuckled, and returned to his cartoons.

    ¡°Don''t ever change, you goofy old man.¡± I smiled bemusedly as I started off, picking up my pace just a little bit so I would have time for my first stop.

    I arrived at the bookstore with some fruit drinks in a bag, courtesy of a suggestion that Rachel made to me when I asked, and found her and Andrea upstairs. We set out our homework, and the cookies, and got to work. It was a grueling thing, getting through those math equations, but somehow I did it. Everything else was simple. Science, thankfully, had not given us work to do. But we were getting a mock-test in a week or so. Rachel and I reviewed a couple things after we got through the math, agreeing to do a more earnest study some time next week. And of course, the cookies were excellent.

    ¡°These came out better than last time.¡± Andrea remarked as we finished them off.

    ¡°Definitely.¡± Rachel agreed.

    ¡°So how do you think tonight will go, now that you''ve settled that old fight?¡± the red-haired girl asked me. I munched thoughtfully on the cookie currently occupying my mouth, pondering the answers to that question.

    ¡°Ironsides... I think I see a weakness that no one''s managed to exploit yet, but that could still go either way.¡± I said.

    ¡°That reflect is almost a cheat,¡± Rachel said with a frown.

    ¡°Hmm, but I think I finally saw a way around it last night, maybe.¡± I shrugged.

    ¡°Good luck.¡± she told me.

    ¡°Thanks.¡±

    ¡°And then Maryn got paired with Myanihia tonight for a third time...¡± I said, and Andrea nodded.

    ¡°I remember. That was a shocker. Wonder if they goofed again?¡± she said as she leaned back a bit and took a drink.

    ¡°Who knows.¡± I returned.

    ¡°Think it''ll go the same way?¡± Rachel wondered. I sat in silence for a moment or two before answering.

    ¡°I''m not sure. Myanihia doesn''t seem like the type to keep repeating mistakes. They''ve probably figured something out by now to deal with her... but I hope Mary''s got a plan to beat them.¡± I said.

    ¡°Probably.¡± Andrea said. ¡°Oh, Anhe ended up paired with Mad Dog in the lists tonight.¡±

    ¡°Hyeck?!¡±

    ¡°Ehh!?¡± Rachel and I exclaimed at once.

    ¡°Y-yikes...!¡± I shook my head.

    ¡°No kidding,¡± Rachel agreed.

    ¡°Not that I want to discourage her when I want to try my luck...¡± I then mumbled.

    ¡°Let''s cheer her on!¡± Andrea smiled. ¡°I don''t remember who Belle and Lysandra got paired with, though... do you two?¡±

    ¡°I didn''t see,¡± Rachel shook her head.

    ¡°Hmm... I think Lysandra got paired with a rare one tonight, some guy who uses a pair of steampunk pistols,¡± I said.

    ¡°Oooohhh!!¡± the girls said at the same time.

    ¡°Not sure about Belle, though...¡± I said as I scratched the back my head.

    ¡°We''ll find out when we see her, I suppose,¡± Andrea then nodded. ¡°Ah! It got dark!¡± she exclaimed as she looked out the window.

    ¡°Six-thirty.¡± Rachel noted, looking at her phone.

    ¡°Should I walk you home?¡± I asked.

    ¡°If you like!¡± she smiled back.

    ¡°I''ll do that, then.¡± I replied.

    I walked them home first, receiving a small hug from Andrea and a kiss from my girlfriend, and then made my way home. On the way, I passed by someone wearing all black, kind of like Lysandra did, except they were more covered. I almost called out her name, but then realized I''d have to do some explaining, and I wasn''t ready to do that on a dimly lit part of the streets. But... this feeling... I mused, turning subtly to look at them again. I couldn''t be certain, but they seemed like... Myanihia.

    ***

    After eating dinner and assuring my parents that allt he homework was indeed finished, I went up to my room to head into Panarena. The others were already gathered, and when I got on I was immediately roped into line for a return to the Dwarven restaurant -- which I wasn''t gonna complain about one bit. We settled for a lighter platter this time, but we definitely had a few rounds of coffee and tea.

    Tonight, since there were fewer matches, the tournament would start an hour later. We would likely spend most of our Panarena morning here until it was time to begin the matches again. We saw a couple of polls on the tournament odds pop up on the displays; at least one of them caught our attention.

    Top Ten List for Projected Winners:

    Rayna

    Myanihia

    Barbarianne

    Ironsides

    Mad Dog

    Valkrysti

    Lana Windstrider

    Sun WuKong

    Maryn Brightshield

    Angelfire

    ¡°Hmm? No Lysandra?¡± I wondered curiously.

    ¡°What about me?¡± Anhe said sadly.

    ¡°Ah! You''re not there either!¡± I noticed with a second look.

    ¡°Who''s that eighth guy?¡± Lizzy wondered.

    ¡°Hmm... the name is borrowed from one of China''s Eight Immortals,¡± Anhe said.

    ¡°Probably someone who''s living the legend, then.¡± Ariana suggested.

    ¡°I agree.¡± Anhe nodded. ¡°It would not surprise me if they had a style similar to my own.¡±

    ¡°Auras and martial arts, huh?¡± I mused.

    ¡°Come to think of it, wasn''t he one of the early matches last night?¡± Belle asked.

    ¡°He could have been,¡± Healina agreed. ¡°There was that Ghostlord player, too, that we noticed about forty minutes before Lana came on with Tyman.¡±

    ¡°Ooh, he was good.¡± Lizzy nodded.

    ¡°Necromancer?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Pretty much,¡± she replied. ¡°All eyes are gonna be on you three''s fights, though, I bet.¡±

    ¡°Eh, maybe.¡± I shrugged. ¡°There''s a lot of others people will definitely watch as well.¡± I said, and then suddenly shivered as I remembered the person I had passed on the street about an hour ago.

    ¡°Lana?¡± Ari asked me.

    ¡°It''s nothing,¡± I softly said, and she took my hand.

    ¡°I bet it''s not.¡± she said astutely.

    ¡°Eh, just some person I passed on my way home. They reminded me of--¡± I told her, cutting myself off as the person in question entered the establishment. They approached our table calmly, stopping before me.

    ¡°Tough fight tonight.¡± they said to me.

    ¡°I think I have it.¡± I replied.

    ¡°You saw it?¡± Myanihia returned.

    ¡°I''m pretty sure.¡±

    ¡°Good.¡± they nodded. Then they turned to Maryn.

    ¡°Myanihia.¡± our Cymbroga shield-user said politely.

    ¡°Maryn. Two fights, two standstills... but I see you now.¡± they said, and then turned back to me as Maryn gave them a puzzled look. ¡°Lysandra... will definitely challenge me, first. You''ll have to wait.¡± they told me.

    ¡°Pretty confident of getting past Maryn this time, huh?¡± I asked them. The sound of a sword being yanked from its scabbard was then heard.

    ¡°Get out!¡± Lysandra''s voice said in an unusually hostile tone. Myanihia turned to the door, and walked out without a word. Lysandra watched them with venomous eyes until they faded into the growing crowds, then sagged against the doorway as she sheathed her blade. I stood up, reaching a hand towards her. ¡°What did they want?¡± she asked me.

    ¡°Paying their respects, I guess.¡± I said with a shrug. She came over to us then, and I pulled out another chair for her. She sat down, and I did as well. The werewolf girl took a few more seconds to calm herself down, taking a deep breath as Heali passed her a mug of tea.

    ¡°Sorry.¡± she said.

    ¡°You okay?¡± Ariana asked her.

    ¡°That person...¡± she began, taking a deep sip of tea first, ¡°They...¡± she broke off again, shaking her head. ¡°I''m not ready. But don''t let them psych you out.¡± she said, to Maryn in particular.

    ¡°I won''t.¡± the other girl replied.

    ¡°You''re one of the few people I ever saw them get stuck on. I hope you finally turn the tables tonight.¡± Lysandra said to her.

    ¡°Me too.¡± Maryn gently smiled back.

    ¡°You really have something deep against them, huh?¡± Belle remarked.

    ¡°Beyond everything I''ve told Lana so far, yes.¡± she nodded. ¡°Anyway... thanks, for the tea. I''m gonna go calm down some more in my hideaway to ready myself for my fight.¡± she said then, finishing the tea and placing a hand on Healina''s shoulder, patting it gently before heading out.

    ¡°Who''s she fighting tonight?¡± Maryn wondered, and I looked at the listings for tonight''s match-ups.

    Lysandra -- Rackham John Thatcher.

    Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

    ¡°Level one-hundred and twelve pistoleer,¡± I read under the guy''s name, ¡°No guild.¡±

    ¡°Oh right!¡± Healina recalled.

    ¡°Not often you see a gun of any kind in a fantasy game,¡± Lizzy noted.

    ¡°I can name about fifteen I at least tried out, but yeah.¡± I agreed.

    ¡°Let''s finish up here and head over to the stadium soon, just to get some good seats this time.¡± Healina then suggested.

    ¡°Good plan. Top row sucks. I want to be near the action!¡± Lizzy said in agreement.

    ¡°Save seats for us!¡± Belle smiled.

    ¡°Of course!¡± Ariana replied.

    It was a bit early still, so after finishing up our meal we wandered around for a bit more until finally arriving at the arena about a Panarena hour before the matches were due to start. The four of us who were still competing went to the main waiting area, while the other three scurried off to secure good seats. As we sat around waiting for the tournament to resume, I pondered my course of action for Ironsides, the indomitable tank with insane reflect abilities. The only reason it hadn''t been nerfed had to be on account of something all who fought him so far had missed.

    His fight yesterday had led me to two conclusions. One: the reflect only worked on certain kinds of damage, or perhaps it was a chaos reflect that he had gotten lucky with. Two: there was an intermittency to how often the reflect worked, or perhaps a duration, and his opponents had all been very unlucky.

    Come to think of it... when he starts the duel, he does some sort of sword salute... was that just drama, or a necessary activation motion for the reflect? Didn''t he do it right after he got kicked by that other person last night -- the kick that didn''t reflect on them? And then they got overconfident, thinking the reflect was over. It was, but he activated it again with a more subtle sword-motion.

    ¡°La-na?¡± Belle said, grabbing my attention.

    ¡°Hmm?¡± I replied.

    ¡°Thinking about the fight, huh?¡± she said with a grin.

    ¡°True... I think I have a more definite idea, now, but you''ll have to wait and see!¡± I grinned back.

    ¡°Ooh, a surprise!¡± Maryn said with a giggle.

    ¡°Hmm... I think I know what you are going to do... be careful, though.¡± Anhe told me.

    ¡°I will.¡± I said to her. Can''t get much past the girl who used to solo group quests, huh? ¡°And good luck to you, too... getting Mad Dog seems like a short straw got drawn for you,¡± I added.

    ¡°I will just have to improvise a bit!¡± she smiled back. ¡°Ah! Who are you fighting with tonight, Belle?¡± the youngest of us then asked the blue-haired pixie.

    ¡°Some glitz of a wizard who got full of himself after accidentally soloing a high level dungeon in Ur-Pom.¡± she said with a bemused shrug.

    ¡°There''s a word you don''t toss around very often.¡± I remarked.

    ¡°Ehh... you''ll see when the fight starts.¡± she said.

    ¡°Nice.¡±

    ¡°Oh, there''s Sandra,¡± Maryn then said as she spotted the other dark-haired girl standing idly in a corner, perfectly disinterested in everyone else.

    ¡°And that guy in the classic gunman-style outfit over there must be Rackham.¡± Belle said as she pointed him out to us with a nod.

    He was the very image of a ¡°steampunk cowboy,¡± complete with hat. His twin guns were basically modeled on flintlock pistols, but they had the functionality of more nineteenth century guns in that they could hold at least eight shots, from what I knew about the few varieties of firearms in this game. Actually, come to think of it, the hat was almost more pirate-like than cowboy, a wide brimmed thing with a couple of fancy feathers in the band. He had a few skull accessories as well, especially his belt-buckle and longcoat buttons.

    ¡°Hmm... maybe I''ll look into basic firearm skills sometime myself...¡± I mused aloud.

    ¡°That''d be handy for you in an emergency.¡± Belle nodded.

    ¡°Oh definitely.¡± I returned. ¡°Ah! The announcers are on,¡± I said, and we put our conversations on hold for the time being as the five GMs announced the opening of the third round.

    ***

    As soon as I saw Belle''s opponent, so many quips came to mind about his outrageously glitzy and flamboyant outfit that I can''t even begin to describe for fear of losing my sanity, that I didn''t know what else to do except settle for a very uncertain half-smile. Maryn seemed amused by the outfit, and Anhe had a similar reaction to me.

    ¡°Looks like clown-town had another closing sale,¡± Maryn eventually said, and the three of us giggled.

    Belle made short work of him, and was soon on her way to meet the others. Angelfire''s round was pretty flashy as well, with another fire-mage of her caliber thrust onto the stage with her. She barely overcame him on account of the fact that she used a sword as opposed to a staff, subduing him with a ferocious yell. I saw a brief glimpse of Rayna''s match also; it was over before it really even began, to tell the truth. One second the countdown had finished, the next the her opponent''s avatar was disintegrating.

    ¡°Ho-ly...¡± Maryn said in amazement. A twinkling sound was then heard; it was me.

    ¡°Well, here goes nothing...!¡± I said as I was whisked away. The girls waved, and then I was in the pre-match waiting area. I could see Ironsides on the other side, his helm obscuring any reaction. Out of mischief, I made a face at him, pulling an eyelid down and sticking my tongue out. No reaction. Tch... boring. I''ll try that thing, then... I mused.

    After another minute or so we were placed in the arena, and the countdown began. I would have one chance at this. I took out my bow, queuing up the skill Bombastic Strike, a knockback that interrupted inductions no matter how short. As soon as they called zero I fired, and right in the middle of his sword salute, which I was mostly positive activated his reflect, he staggered back.

    NOW!!

    I entered Shadow World, activated Shadow Speed, and then did the thing that Myanihia had suggested I try on Ariana: I started Doomstrike, then, just before it landed, I activated Crimson Heart-stinger. And oh. My. Gawd.

    He went down in a single blow.

    The entire stadium gasped in disbelief when he went down and I didn''t die from a reflect. I myself was taken aback, suddenly feeling myself all over to ensure I was actually alive.

    ¡°W-wow!!¡± Ricklelopes exclaimed. ¡°There''s someone who should be bumped up on the forum lists for best assassin!¡±

    ¡°And there goes the seemingly unbeatable Ironsides!¡± Wandreada announced as the onlookers began to cheer.

    ¡°Hmm, hmm, that was a good show.¡± Lumpstein nodded. That was likely the most heartfelt compliment I would get from that curmudgeonly Santa knock-off of a Dwarf.

    I was then teleported off the stage and into the back hallways again. A message of congrats came from Ariana, who also told me where to find them in the crowds. I promised to be there soon, and started off. Just as they had hoped for, the girls had found a front row seat; I joined them, and Lizzy gave me a high-five.

    ¡°Now that''s being an assassin!¡± she said to me with a wide, beaming grin.

    ¡°Thanks!¡± I smiled back as I sat down with them, Ari immediately taking my arm and using me for a pillow.

    ¡°That was that thing, wasn''t it? That Myanihia told you about?¡± she said quietly.

    ¡°It was, yeah.¡± I replied softly.

    ¡°It was really cool!¡± she smiled.

    ¡°Definite cool!¡± Belle nodded in agreement. ¡°Just as good as Rayna''s fight, in terms of being a shadow-warrior.¡±

    ¡°Agree!¡± Heali said. ¡°Oh, we got some snacks, too,¡± she added, passing me a pretzel.

    ¡°Heh? Oh, sweet! Thanks!¡± I replied as she smiled back.

    ¡°I was surprised when I found that little stand,¡± Lizzy said. ¡°And of course I couldn''t resist them once I saw how cheap they were. Ten for ten gold? I''m sold!¡± she remarked as I eagerly munched on the treat.

    ¡°So we ended up with fifty...¡± Healina said with a bemused look.

    ¡°Pffft!¡± I almost choked from laughing.

    ¡°Oh look, there''s Anhe!¡± Lizzy then said. I finished up with my current pretzel, and then focused my attention on the stage where Anhe, and then Mad Dog, had appeared.

    ¡°What do you think she''ll do?¡± Ariana asked me.

    ¡°Hmm... I don''t know too much about her auras, but I guess she''ll try a defensive retribution, or possibly a healing one... maybe even speed,¡± I pondered. ¡°She can do up to three at once, too, so she might try some sort of combination.¡±

    ¡°Come on, Anhe!¡± Belle called out in her tiny voice.

    As soon as the match started, I saw our staff-wielder activate two auras. One was definitely a healing aura. The other was one I didn''t recognize, but I soon saw what it did when Mad Dog shifted to his wolfish self and swiped at her. He yelped, and jumped back with burn damage.

    ¡°Hm! That''s the Holy Retribution Aura, if I''m not mistaken!¡± Lumpstein commented.

    ¡°Creatures of darkness and shadow beware,¡± Forseti nodded.

    ¡°And she''s using the Sustainment Aura also -- and now activating a third!¡± Athena said.

    ¡°Mad Dog''s more wary now... what''s that one?¡± Forseti wondered.

    ¡°Ho-ho!¡± Lumpstein clapped as Anhe snapped into action, delivering speedy and accurate blows to her opponent with her staff. ¡°Divine Wings!¡±

    ¡°She''s definitely got a chance,¡± I said, ¡°But Mad Dog isn''t in the top ten of his player-type for nothing... he won''t go down without a bitter fight.¡±

    ¡°Definitely.¡± Belle nodded.

    It was fair to say that their fight commanded most of the attention at the moment. Anhe''s auras kept her sustained and resilient to Mad Dog, but the latter was practically fearless even with her Holy Retribution on, and he had a lot of health to whittle down. Still, for all the damage that he was doing to her in turn, Anhe''s healing aura made up for it quickly, and she remained absolutely calm in the face of that ferocious adversary.

    Win, please win! I silently pleaded.

    Slowly but surely, she ground his health down to about twenty percent. Her victory was becoming more and more certain. But now that Mad Dog had been fighting with her for nearly ten minutes, I saw a cunning look in his eyes.

    Oh no.

    Upon a sudden, he feinted, causing her to jump back defensively while she readied another strike. And then he let loose with a skill he had not yet been forced to use: a long, spine-chilling, heart-stopping howl that numbed our friend to the point where she dropped her staff and trembled, falling to her knees.

    ¡°The Howl of the Void...¡± Wandreada remarked solemnly.

    ¡°The ultimate werewolf cry.¡± Forseti nodded.

    Mad Dog strode over to Anhe, who was still overcome by the debuff. He growled, giving her a grin before running her through with sharp claws. Her health was drained down in a matter of seconds, leaving him as the victor. The crowds cheered, and Mad Dog let out a victory howl. I felt my heart sink.

    ¡°I''m gonna go get her,¡± I said to the others.

    ¡°I''ll come too,¡± Ari said, and the two of us dashed off to find Anhe.

    We found her sitting on a bench, trying to compose herself after the shock of defeat. Ari and I approached her softly, and then she looked up at us. Tears wanted to come out of her eyes, but they were held back. She forced a smile, and slowly stood up. Ari and I exchanged a glance, and then rushed forward to hug her. None of us said anything, we just held her in our arms as she clung to us in turn, hot tears now streaming down her face.

    I don''t remember how long we stood there. Eventually, the tears stopped coming, and she looked up at us with a smile. We smiled back, the three of us walking arm in arm to where the others were. The crowds were still cheering loudly, and when we reached our friends they hurriedly sat us down.

    ¡°Just in time!¡± Belle said, coming to rest on Anhe''s lap. ¡°Lysandra''s up now!¡± the pixie told us, and Anhe softly smiled.

    ¡°You like pretzels, Anhe?¡± Healina asked her.

    ¡°Huh?¡± the younger girl wondered, and then smiled again as she saw one being passed to her. ¡°Oh, thank you.¡± she said, accepting it happily.

    ¡°Gotta eat ''em all.¡± Lizzy said, stuffing another one into her mouth. ¡°Ooh, here we go!¡± she said as the counter for Lysandra and Rackham''s match went to zero.

    He opened up with an attack from both guns, then fired one after the other at her as she narrowly dodged several of his shots. One hit her in the side, another in the shoulder, and a third grazed her cheek. He then tried to reload, but then Lysandra rushed him, gripping his shoulder with ferocious strength and running him through, then yanking the sword out and lopping off his head.

    ¡°Th-that''s not usually how bringing a sword to a gun-fight works,¡± I nervously laughed.

    ¡°Tell me about it. How anti-climactic can you get?¡± Lizzy grumbled.

    ¡°One-shotting a knight with deadly reflects one-ups it, I''d say.¡± Healina remarked.

    ¡°Ah-heh-heh-heh...¡± I softly giggled.

    ¡°Oh, true!¡± Lizzy nodded. ¡°Pretzel!¡±

    ¡°You''ve had twelve already, save some for the others!¡± our healer retorted as she snatched the bag away while Lizzy made a grumpy pout.

    ¡°T-twelve?¡± I wondered in amazement.

    ¡°I''ll show you pretzel eating!¡± Belle declared, switching to human form and quickly donning an outfit so she could enjoy a few herself.

    After several other interesting fights, including one with Timidator, who outlasted his poison-mage opponent spectacularly, the final fight of the day came up. Maryn appeared on stage to loud applause, and Myanihia appeared with her moments later. There was something different about Maryn at the moment, I thought, and my eyes narrowed as I gazed at the scene carefully. Then it struck me.

    ¡°N-no shield!¡± I exclaimed in disbelief.

    ¡°Huh?!¡±

    ¡°You''re right!¡± Ari and Lizzy also exclaimed.

    ¡°She must believe that trying to outlast him isn''t the way to go this time.¡± Belle observed.

    ¡°Hrrmm...¡± I sighed, nodding in agreement.

    ¡°Well, this is a shocker; the girls in that guild never fail to astound me!¡± Lumpstein remarked from the commentator''s stand.

    ¡°A shield-user without her shield. Prioritizing attack this time, I suppose,¡± Forseti said.

    ¡°That''s on us for pitting them together for a third time.¡± Athena said.

    ¡°Ehh? The last time was Janus'' fault, not ours!¡± Lumpstein retorted.

    ¡°Ahh! Tee-hee!¡± Athena giggled.

    ¡°And the countdown is almost at zero... here we go, folks!¡± Ricklelopes said.

    Just as the countdown ended, Maryn leaped into action with a two-hander she had been practicing with, bringing it down in a swift Relentless Cleave. Myanihia coolly dodged to the side, trying their luck with a Double Backstab, but Maryn whirled around and deflected it handily, forcing them to leap back a moment before engaging again. Our shield-user had a surprising amount of Dexterity, apparently, swinging that sword around in precise arcs to counter Myanihia''s efficient strikes.

    After a couple minutes of this, the assassin entered Shadow World. But Maryn, unfazed, started a skill known as Whirlwind, holding her sword out with a strong grip and spinning about in a deadly tornado that would force her opponent out of hiding if they got too close. Myanihia eventually reappeared--on the far side of the stage, I might add--and then Maryn halted the skill to face them again.

    ¡°Whew!¡± Lizzy remarked.

    ¡°Right?¡± I agreed.

    Then the two combatants lunged at each other again, exchanging a furious series of blows and strikes. It looked like one of those old swashbuckler flicks from way back. I could see their health bars going down, but not by much. They haven''t actually landed any blows on the other, but there''s the occasional swipe on the edges happening, I guess, I mused. Maryn then executed a delicate but deadly series of sword-forms that drove her opponent back across the stage in a beautiful battle dance.

    ¡°Get ''em, girlfriend!¡± Lizzy hollered.

    ¡°Woo!!¡± Heali whooped.

    ¡°Maryn!¡± I cheered, and several others among our friends cheered as well. I could see Lysandra on the other side of the stadiums, her gleaming eyes unblinking as she watched the fight intensely.

    ¡°She''s got good energy this turn around,¡± Ricklelopes noted.

    ¡°With that momentum, Myanihia can''t get much of a blow in edgewise.¡± Forseti agreed.

    ¡°Bah, if this ends in a draw again, so help me--!!¡± Lumpstein grumbled.

    ¡°Oop! First major strike of the duel has landed!¡± Wandreada announced.

    Maryn had broken down Myanihia''s guard and slashed them for major damage. The crowd erupted in a cheer. Myanihia seemed surprised, insofar as that word could be used to describe the reaction, but nevertheless played it cool by backing off and entering Shadow World again. Once more, Maryn activated Whirlwind. This time, however, from a random corner of the stage, a small object hurtled towards her at deadly speed, interrupting the attack. Maryn''s health bar turned green.

    Poison dart! I realized.

    ¡°So they were rattled by it before, but this time they were confident enough to try that, huh?¡± I mused aloud.

    Maryn staggered for a moment, but kept her footing. A fierce grin came to her face. Defiantly she charged her opponent again. Another flurry of blows and strikes began, Myanihia coolly defending while Maryn''s health slowly but surely continued draining. Her slash had taken out a third of his health in one go. If she could just break down his guard again... wait. That''s that the poison was for, wasn''t it? He doesn''t have to launch any major attacks, all he has to do is wear her down and force her to become more aggressive, I realized.

    ¡°Don''t fall for it, don''t fall for it, don''t fall for it...!!¡± I said softly as I stood up, gripping the railing overlooking the arena.

    For the better part of five minutes, Maryn kept her composure. But her health was now getting much lower than Myanihia''s. She jumped back for a moment, dizzily landing, and then she rushed again, enacting another series of deadly strikes with a yell. Then Myanihia used Shadow World for a third time as he dodged out of the way, using her brief moment of surprise to land a critical strike on her that brought her down to ten percent health. She spun around, trying to slice him in half, but thanks to the poison she ended up in a dizzy spell again, falling to her knees. Maryn planted her sword in the floor, trying to use it to stand back up, to no avail.

    Without a word, the mysterious reaper walked up to her calmly, and ended the fight with a final poison-slash, bringing her health to zero. Her avatar disintegrated, and the crowds fell silent for several moments before scattered cheers broke out. I saw Lysandra wince, and then she left the arena.

    ¡°Let''s go.¡± Lizzy said, and the rest of us nodded, leaving the arena ourselves -- but not before we grabbed our bag of pretzels.

    ***

    ¡°To the victors, and to the vanquished!¡± Wildeye said in toast that night as we all gathered again to celebrate. We echoed the toast, and our Monday after-party kicked off.

    Sky Belle officially joined our guild that night, satisfied with her progress in the tournament. She flew around the lively tavern in a happy tizzy, singing as loud as she could with the band who was on stage.

    ¡°I wonder when someone else will decide to join.¡± Ariana wondered as the two of us watched her with a smile.

    ¡°Probably tomorrow or the day after,¡± I replied.

    ¡°Hmm... after her fight with Myanihia?¡± she said.

    ¡°I''m not even gonna try and get them this turn around. She''s definitely challenged them by now.¡± I remarked.

    ¡°True. She must be as upset about Maryn''s defeat as we are.¡± Ari agreed.

    ¡°I''m glad Maryn herself isn''t too glum,¡± I returned, looking over to where the older girl was. She and Jannie were chatting each other up, along with Winnie, Tabitha, and Angelfire. Magisteria also came to join them, bearing a round of drinks for the table.

    ¡°True!¡± my partner smiled. Tyman then came up to us, giving us both a five and then taking a seat with us.

    ¡°Yo! Who you gonna challenge, Lans?¡± he asked me.

    ¡°Hrrmm... I haven''t decided, yet.¡±

    ¡°Want my advice? Take that monkey boy.¡± he suggested.

    ¡°Monkey?¡± I wondered blankly, and then I recalled from a book I was reading that the Sun Wukong of Chinese myth was referred to as the Monkey King. ¡°Sun WuKong?¡± I asked to clarify.

    ¡°That''s them.¡± Tyman nodded. ¡°They took down a lot of our guildies in the prelims, and a couple more in the actual tournament--to say nothin'' of all the ones they messed up in that damn labyrinth thing.¡± he said.

    ¡°He''s either got some wild skills or some serious levels on you guys,¡± I replied in amazement.

    ¡°That''s what Wild and I were thinking.¡± he said. ¡°But he''s only ninety-three, so it''s gotta be some mad skills.¡±

    ¡°Hmm... is his style similar to Anhe''s?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Huh. It is, kind of, but he''s more wild about it.¡± Tyman nodded back.

    ¡°M-more wild...?¡± I returned uncertainly.

    ¡°Get some re-watches and look, sister-man.¡± he said, clapping me on the back as he stood up to rejoin the main festivities.

    ¡°I''ll do that.¡± I nodded, and Ari waved as he gave her a thumbs-up.

    ¡°What do you think?¡± she asked me after a moment.

    ¡°Well, it certainly sounds interesting,¡± I had to admit. ¡°I kind of wanted to go for Rayna or Mad Dog, though...¡±

    ¡°Hmm... I''d wait a bit to fight Mad Dog, for Anhe''s sake.¡± she suggested.

    ¡°Ahh--true...¡± I agreed. ¡°All right, if Rayna''s not challenged--oop, she is,¡± I said as I looked at the line-ups that were emerging on tomorrow''s schedule. I quickly looked for Sun WuKong''s name, and sent them an official match challenge. Moments later I got an affirmative response. My challenge had been accepted, and was now being registered as my fourth fight in the Grand Tournament.

 Chapter Forty: The Grand Tournament -- Monkey King/Lysandra versus Myanihia

    Tuesday was quite sunny. It was almost warm as well, but not quite warm enough. As soon as I got to school, however, it started raining. I darted inside with everyone else as soon as I was off the bus. Ty flicked me, as usual, and headed off to his own locker with a wave.

    ¡°Dude, why put up with that?¡± some guy from my class asked me.

    ¡°It''s no big deal.¡± I shrugged as I made my way to my locker.

    ¡°Everyone''s waiting for the day you two finish that fight you started in gym class, you know.¡±

    ¡°Heh.¡±

    ¡°No cares given, huh?¡±

    ¡°It''s water under the bridge, now.¡±

    ¡°Well you did get that quarterback expelled for us, so some of us give you a pass on resuming that fight with Tyler.¡± the other guy shrugged.

    ¡°Thanks, I guess.¡±

    ¡°Sure.¡± he nodded back, and headed off to his own locker as I reached mine. Rachel arrived moments later, and the two of us smiled in greeting.

    ¡°Don''t forget club today,¡± she told me.

    ¡°Like I''d forget!¡± I said with a grin.

    ¡°True!¡± she nodded in reply.

    ¡°Aren''t you usually here before me lately?¡± I suddenly wondered.

    ¡°Hmm? Oh, we got caught in a bit of traffic this morning.¡±

    ¡°Busy morning, huh?¡±

    ¡°Seems like it,¡± she returned. When we had collected our books and put everything unneeded away, we headed on inside for class.

    Once more, the morning passed unusually quickly, slowing down briefly for lunch. Then afternoon classes went by at a steadier pace. All of our teachers were starting to stress reviews and studying. There was only about four weeks left before our month-long winter break, after all. I wasn''t as worried as I might have been; I had plenty of help studying, and it was probably going to stick at least long enough for me to pass a test on stuff. We were then released for the day, and headed to our club room for our more official meeting.

    ¡°Okay, so, next weekend, we got cleared for a visitation to Ninety-five Seven''s Radio Station.¡± Andrea said to start us off. ¡°We''ve got the van, Mrs. Liang, and Mrs. Brown. And it looks like all of you can get there, yes?¡±

    ¡°Yep!¡± Rachel nodded.

    ¡°That works,¡± I said.

    ¡°I won''t work until the afternoon, so as long as it''s morning we''re good.¡± Ellie said.

    ¡°Oh definitely. Nine to eleven-thirty.¡± Andrea replied.

    ¡°Sweet!¡±

    ¡°I can go for sure.¡± Mary said.

    ¡°It would be strange if I did not show up for this one since my mother is going!¡± Anhe remarked, and we laughed.

    ¡°Great! So that takes care of our first trip; let''s plot out another one for early March or so, okay?¡± our club president told us.

    ¡°Right,¡± I nodded back.

    ¡°Oh def.¡± Ellie agreed.

    ¡°Se-con-dly...¡± Andrea then said, ¡°I''m nominating Rachel to succeed me as club president when I graduate.¡±

    ¡°Huh? Oh...¡± Rachel returned, considering the words for a brief moment. ¡°I guess I don''t have any problem doing so.¡±

    ¡°You should do it--¡± I started to say, and then turned quickly to Andrea. ¡°Wait, you''ll be around for another year, won''t you?¡±

    ¡°Hmm... I will, but I''ll only be here half the day most of the time.¡± she smiled back.

    ¡°Same.¡± Ellie nodded.

    ¡°Huh?!¡±

    ¡°Aw!!¡±

    ¡°Why!?¡± Anhe, myself, and Rachel exclaimed at nearly the same time.

    ¡°I''m doing college prep next year for my afternoon electives.¡± Andrea smiled back at us.

    ¡°Oh...¡± I returned a bit glumly.

    ¡°And Barnum said he has high hopes for me. I plan to run up the ladder a bit there, maybe do some performing or MC-ing before I give it up; but I probably won''t for a while.¡± Ellie told us. ¡°So I''ll be doing a practical elective, more or less.¡±

    It was this moment that suddenly and rudely reminded of how swift and fleeting my youth was actually going to be. Life wasn''t going to be an eternal adventure. Well, not in the gamer''s sense, anyway. Maybe some different kind of adventure would present itself, a new challenge open its doors to invite us in, but right now...

    ¡°Right now... it feels like all I can do to hold on to these moments,¡± I whispered softly, a sad smile crossing my face. The girls, Ellie included, looked misty-eyed when they caught the words.

    ¡°Gwaw...!¡± Ellie said as she sniffled a bit. ¡°Sometimes you say the most precious things, you little dork.¡±

    ¡°Thanks... you bigger dork.¡± I quickly retorted, a cheesy grin on my face. The others burst out laughing, and Ellie herself gave me a grin.

    ¡°I walked into that. Not even gonna point you for it.¡± she said to me.

    ¡°Hahh... anyway.¡± Andrea said, wiping her eyes as the laughter subsided. ¡°So that''s it for official business; let''s do our study thing and get home.¡±

    ¡°Agreed.¡± Mary smiled. ¡°How''s the math, Sean?¡± she asked me, and I softly jerked back.

    ¡°Ahh...¡±

    ¡°Hopeless as ever.¡± Andrea shook her head, a smile twitching on her lips.

    ¡°Come on, bring it out.¡± Mary said as she moved closer, and I brought out that terrifying stack of unholy demonic scrawl that the teachers called math homework. For the rest of our time at school, I had this hellish ledger translated to me by a noble priestess who kindly explained its senseless and fear-inspiring markings.

    After that grueling drill, we went our mostly separate ways home, and I went to do some stuff around the house as per usual before dinner. I was then called inside for the meal in question, implored not to go back out on account of a sudden frost that was coming our way, and then all too gleefully headed upstairs to don the Dream Machine for the night.

    No one else was on yet, so I wandered the streets a bit. Almost mechanically, I made my way to that side of the district where Lysandra''s secret spa-spot was located. I stopped at an intersection a couple of blocks away from it, suddenly feeling that mysterious presence again.

    ¡°Myanihia, I take it?¡± I said to the silence.

    ¡°You''re getting better.¡± they said to me.

    ¡°I hope so,¡± I replied, turning around to face the faceless figure.

    ¡°You used it.¡±

    ¡°I did.¡±

    ¡°Now you see more, don''t you? More possibilities, more combos.¡±

    ¡°Not quite yet, but I''m sure I''ll get there.¡±

    ¡°You will.¡± they nodded to me. ¡°As I said, Lysandra challenged me. I accepted.¡±

    ¡°You''ve got a talent for blunt small-talk.¡±

    ¡°I know. It was... always like this.¡±

    ¡°I know there''s a good chance you won''t tell me, but... why is she so angry?¡± I asked them. They stood there for a moment, and came closer.

    ¡°A secret... for you.¡± they said. ¡°Lysandra... is my twin.¡± they--she?--told me.

    ¡°¡­ Huh?¡±

    ¡°Technically.¡±

    ¡°Th-there''s nothing technical about biology, even I know that much!¡± I returned.

    ¡°She is also my half-sibling.¡± they continued. I stopped, and my eyes widened a bit.

    ¡°W-whoa...¡±

    ¡°I... don''t care. She... and I... we never saw each other. We were always apart. I found out by accident. Our mother''s files. Then I met her... Lysandra. I knew it was her. She always... said unkind things... about our mother. But... her existence... her very existence... was proof of our mother''s kindness.¡±

    ¡°S-so... Lysandra''s dad...¡± I gulped.

    ¡°Is not my father.¡± they shook their head.

    ¡°Shouldn''t you be more angry?¡± I wondered.

    ¡°As I said, I don''t care. But I was tired of hearing her... say those things. After the beta-test, when our guild dissolved, I sent her a message, in real life, to tell her, to make her apologize, or at least stop.¡±

    ¡°And that set her off.¡±

    ¡°She has... every right, for her anger. I can''t help her. I won''t help her. But I will push her to those who can.¡±

    ¡°She''s crying out for help, for family... and her own sibling is pushing her off to someone in a video game... sounds to me like you do have issues.¡± I said darkly. They stepped closer. I could see the eyes gleaming coldly underneath the mask.

    ¡°You... shouldn''t have said that.¡± they told me.

    ¡°Come back and say that after your next four opponents.¡±

    ¡°Then... the final round, I''ll see you there.¡±

    ¡°That''s a promise.¡± I nearly growled.

    ¡°A promise.¡± they nodded in affirmation.

    ¡°I will beat you. And when I do... I hope you''ll take some time to reflect on your part in hurting your sister.¡± I said, turning away to head elsewhere.

    ¡°Maybe. If you can, in fact, win.¡± the other said. I didn''t need to turn around to know that Myanihia had now walked away as well.

    ***

    The next person I ran into was Lysandra herself. She waved at me, a subtle smile on her face, which quickly changed to surprise as I ran towards her, almost jumping into her arms. After a brief moment, she hugged me back, stroking my hair.

    ¡°What''s up?¡± she asked me.

    ¡°Don''t go through with it.¡± I softly pleaded.

    ¡°What''s this now?¡± she smirked back. ¡°Worried that I''ll get sliced and diced by that third-place knifer?¡±

    ¡°They told me.¡±

    ¡°Heh?¡±

    ¡°Myanihia told me.¡± I repeated, and I felt her tense up.

    ¡°What did they tell you?¡±

    ¡°The same thing they told you.¡±

    ¡°Hahh...¡± she sighed wearily. ¡°And now you''re trying to talk me out of fighting them, huh? For what? So you can trample my feelings and be a hero who saves the gloomy loner?¡± she said, letting go of me to look me in the eyes. ¡°I want this. You wanted your fight with Tyman, right? You had your own reasons, your own passions, didn''t you? Then, don''t you dare tell me to bottle mine up!¡± she said to me angrily.

    I felt like crying, but I swallowed the lump in my throat and took a deep breath, thinking about it again. She was right. She was absolutely right. I had no business telling her to not fight Myanihia, even if her reasons for fighting them were a bit more shady than my wanting to settle a fight with Ty.

    ¡°I''m sorry... I really am... this is too much... it''s too much, and I know you''re upset, but now so am I!¡± I told her, my voice cracking. Her eyes started to swell with tears also, and she bit her lip.

    ¡°You have no idea how happy that makes me.¡± Lysandra replied, her voice trembling. ¡°I have to do this... I have to. Let me do what I need to do, for my own sake, and then you can comfort me if I fail... or celebrate my win.¡± she said to me with a sad smile.

    ¡°Lys--¡± I started, but then she kissed me on the lips, and then walked away. ¡°¡­ sandra...¡± I muttered, dazed. I then quickly looked around, hoping no one had seen that. ¡°¡­ I''ll tell Ariana what happened. It''s not like I asked to be kissed...¡± I reflected, heading back to our rooms to wait for the others.

    Ariana looked extremely grumpy when I told her about the exchange, but she did forgive me for letting my guard down. She kissed me twice then, and hugged me tightly.

    ¡°As long as you don''t purposefully invite it.¡±

    ¡°N-not a chance!¡± I returned, hugging her just as tightly.

    ¡°And as long as I''m the better kisser.¡± she added.

    ¡°Always.¡± I agreed. She squeezed me a bit, and then let go to look at me with a smile.

    ¡°I guess she''s really upset, though, huh?¡± Ari then said with a more serious look.

    ¡°Seems like it.¡±

    ¡°That''s still no reason to go stealing a kiss from someone else''s SO.¡±she said grumpily.

    ¡°T-tell her that!¡± I softly retorted, and she kissed me again.

    ¡°I will!¡± she grinned.

    Girls. I''ve pretended to be one all this time, but I really just don''t get them in the end, do I? I thought to myself as a smile returned to my face as well.

    ¡°Thank you... for being honest about it. And... next time she tries to do that...¡± Ari said with a twinkle in her eyes.

    ¡°I''ll try to be more alert so I can swerve.¡± I replied to her with a soft grin. She kissed me again, and then the others started logging in.

    ¡°All right! Where to?¡± Lizzy said enthusiastically.

    ¡°Ehh... wanna just stay here?¡± I suggested.

    ¡°I don''t have a problem with that.¡± the other shrugged. ¡°Until the tournament starts up again, anyway.¡±

    ¡°Oh, sure, until then.¡± I nodded back.

    ¡°Tired of torturing yourself with delicious restaurants we can only wish for in real life?¡± Maryn said with a smirk.

    ¡°I was out walking a lot earlier, just want to stay in for a while.¡± I returned. I felt Ariana squeeze my hand.

    ¡°We''ll find something simple and bring it back here, then.¡± Healina then said, and I nodded back to her as she and Belle left with Lizzy. Ari and I sat down on a sofa, and Maryn stretched herself out in a chair while Anhe curled up in another. Our staff-wielder brought up today''s tourney schedule, looking over the names.

    ¡°Hmm... Mad Dog is fighting another werewolf today...¡± she said. Maryn shivered.

    ¡°Angelfire''s up again too... against that Tobias character,¡± I saw.

    ¡°One of the most deadly mages against someone who solo-tanked a world boss, huh?¡± Maryn remarked, recovering herself from her shivers.

    If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    ¡°And Belle went up against Rayna... or maybe Rayna challenged her.¡± Ariana said as she caught the name of our new guildie on the display.

    ¡°Hmm... and there is Lana, next to Sun WuKong.¡± Anhe said, looking over towards me with a faint grin.

    ¡°H-heh? What''s that look for?¡± I wondered.

    ¡°No-thing. Just wondering if you have ever considered what it would be like to fight someone who is possibly better than me at what I do.¡± Anhe told me.

    ¡°Ahh--!¡± I started, suddenly wondering that myself. ¡°Wait, you''re excellent at what you do! And you''re saying that person is better?¡± I then asked her.

    ¡°Hmm... I mean, he seems like an older person. Not too old; maybe like thirties or forties. But his martial arts expertise is incredible.¡± she said in reply. I frowned slightly as I pondered her words.

    Sure, I was a martial arts kid, and so was Anhe. But there''s always, always a bigger fish. And I was a bit of a third-rate martial arts student at best, when compared to actual pros. This Sun WuKong person was sounding like one of those pros to me now. D-did I goof? Ah-heh-heh-heh... I thought to myself with a wry grin. No wonder he thrashed all of those Tigers, then... ugh, I haven''t even gotten half of the targets I was after, and now it may be my turn to get thrashed... my brain continued as a discontented look came to my face.

    ¡°Hmm... I will tell you one other thing I know about them for sure. I watched them in the early player-held tournaments, and they can use up to seven auras at once if they want,¡± Anhe then told me. I looked up at her with a mixed expression of surprise and shock, blinking a couple times before I responded.

    ¡°Isn''t that... overpowered?¡± I asked.

    ¡°That does sound overpowered.¡± Ariana agreed.

    ¡°There is some sort of drawback or limitation to it, but I agree.¡± Anhe told us. ¡°Still, now that he is over two-hundred in levels, he may have found some sort of balance to using seven at once.¡± she continued.

    ¡°Wh-what kind of monster did I challenge...?¡± I suddenly wondered. Anhe grinned.

    ¡°Someone who plays as the Monkey King.¡± she simply replied.

    ***

    We spent a little bit more time together in the room when the others came back with pre-tourney snacks, and then we moved to the arena. Here, Belle and I split from the others to head for the contestant''s waiting room while they went to get front row seats again.

    ¡°So did you challenge Rayna or did she do the honors?¡± I asked the pixie-girl on my shoulder.

    ¡°Oh, she did. I was gonna pick Tobias, but Angelfire had already challenged him, I guess. Then her challenge came up, and I found it a bit irresistible!¡± she said with a chipper grin.

    ¡°Nice,¡± I nodded back.

    ¡°She won''t get me so easily; and that other character better not stomp you down too quick either!¡±

    ¡°H-heh? You''re expecting defeat?¡± I said with a nervous laugh.

    ¡°Hmm... for me, maybe. But I won''t make it easy, and maybe I''ll surprise myself!¡±

    ¡°I hope so.¡±

    ¡°Aw, thanks, hon.¡± Belle replied.

    I wandered towards the seats we had become accustomed to in this room, and then a new face appeared before me. They were a Han player, definitely male, wearing a set of splendid cloth armor embroidered with whimsical and fantastical patterns, a unique and subtly dangerous-looking staff in their hands, with their facial hair styled to look like a... monkey. He reached out his hand, a big grin on his face. I took the hand, and he gave me a firm handshake.

    ¡°Sun WuKong, I take it.¡± I said to him.

    ¡°Lana Windstrider. That was an excellent fight yesterday, but I will not go down as easy!¡± he said, a strong Hong Kong accent in his voice.

    ¡°I wouldn''t have it otherwise from someone playing the Monkey King,¡± I said with a smile of my own.

    ¡°Then I shall see you in the ring! Best wishes, young lady.¡± he said, bowing, and I bowed as well. He then headed off to stand near the displays, watching the pre-tournament music performance.

    ¡°What do you know, he seems like a fun person!¡± Belle said.

    ¡°He does,¡± I agreed.

    After another twenty minutes, during which Angelfire came to sit with us until the matches started up, the commentators appeared to kick things off again. The crowds cheered just as enthusiastically as ever, and the fourth rounds began.

    Angelfire was one of the first contestants on stage today, facing against the indomitable Tobias. Sure enough, the tank who could boast that he had solo-tanked world bosses was a tough fight for Angelfire, whose DPS had skyrocketed since we had fought her in the Aldholt. But she had also become wily and cautious throughout her fights in the tournament, and was able to fend off Tobias'' attacks and even negate his minor reflective damage with a reflective curse of her own.

    ¡°Flaming Retribution, huh,¡± Belle remarked as we watched.

    ¡°Hmm! I give her a three to one chance of beating him.¡± Sun WuKong said, suddenly there beside us.

    ¡°She''s surprised us a couple times this week, I''d bet she''ll do it again.¡± I said.

    ¡°Ahh! That poison sword, yes. I was betting she would expire right as she swung down; ha-ha-ha! I lost three-hundred gold that day,¡± our companion told us.

    ¡°Oopsies!¡± Belle grinned, and he grinned back.

    ¡°Not to worry! I bet on Lana yesterday and made it back double.¡± he said, and Belle quietly guffawed while I affected a wry smile.

    ¡°Nice.¡± I replied.

    ¡°Ohh! There we go!¡± he then said excitedly.

    Angelfire had wreathed herself in flames, sword included, and was now driving Tobias around the ring with a flurry of strikes and lunges, punctuating several strikes with a minor flame spell that, when stacked enough, began overcoming his considerable fire-resistance to lower his health. The warrior who had calmly and steadily defeated his opponents to get this far now seemed to be getting antsy.

    ¡°Well this is a new one. I''ve watched vids of this guy staring down the dragon world boss way up in Ragnarheim, and he was as cool as a sleeping cat. This has got to be the first time anyone''s seen him get close to panicking.¡± Belle said, and Sun WuKong nodded.

    ¡°This is true.¡± he said.

    ¡°Angelfire''s gonna get a new nickname after this tournament if she wins this fight, I bet. They''ll call her ''Tank-Breaker''.¡± I said, and Belle giggled as WuKong smiled.

    ¡°She has broken a lot of tanks to get to this fight!¡± the pixie girl agreed.

    At that moment, Tobias decided to abandon his shield to try and keep up with her speed and damage. It was a costly mistake. Instead of balancing the fight, he revved her up to the point where he couldn''t re-equip his shield even if he wanted to, her strikes came so fast at him. Meanwhile, her fire DoTs had done their work, and he now had a strong debuff on him that put his fire resistance in the negative. She made short work of him after that, raising her sword in triumph when he went up in pixel shards. The crowds went wild, and the stage was cleared for another fight.

    ¡°Wow.¡± was all I could think to say.

    ¡°Hah, totally.¡± Belle agreed, and then we heard the twinkling sound. ¡°Ah! That''s me. See you in the stadium, hon.¡± she told me, and was then teleported away.

    ¡°Another fight to keep an eye on.¡± WuKong nodded wisely.

    ¡°True,¡± I said in agreement.

    A few moments later, Belle and Rayna were on a stage together, the Mumban assassin looking both delicate and deadly as she locked eyes with the deceptively fragile Sky Belle. A third person then stood nearby us, but not too close. It was Lysandra.

    ¡°H-hey...¡± I said.

    ¡°H-hi.¡± she returned. ¡°S-so... I''m... sorry... about earlier. About, you know...¡± she said shyly.

    ¡°Ah... ahh... n-no... it''s... I mean... we''re good.¡± I replied.

    ¡°I-is Ari...?¡±

    ¡°Sh-she might have some words... later...¡±

    ¡°Yeah... r-really, though... sorry.¡± the werewolf girl said.

    ¡°M-me too.¡±

    ¡°Match is starting! Let us watch with all eyes!¡± Sun WuKong said, holding up his hand in a silent prayer.

    Rayna tried to open up with an attack from Shadow World, but Belle''s pixie brilliance exposed her, and she swiftly evaded the attack to begin placing ailments and debuffs on Rayna. These had a barely noticeable effect on the number one assassin in Harmonia, who gently smiled as she pulled out a small crossbow, nearly pistol-size, and fired a couple bolts. Belle quickly evaded them, but I could tell that she was a bit spooked.

    Then the brave little pixie began using more direct attacks, mostly minor health drains and summons for magical beasts. Rayna calmly dealt with them, but her diverted attention allowed Belle to enact one of her more dangerous debuffs, a skill I had learned was called Dryad''s Lullaby, which placed a sleep-effect on the target while draining their health at a moderate pace.

    ¡°Ohh!¡± WuKong exclaimed.

    Then Rayna unexpectedly broke the status effect, and Belle stared in shock. It was all the assassin needed. She gently snatched Belle from the air, and kissed her on the lips. But this was no ordinary kiss. It was one of her special skills that I had seen earlier in the preliminaries. The target of the kiss had their poison-resistance set to zero. Rayna then poked Belle firmly with her dagger, and the little pixie''s health began heading down steadily to zero.

    ¡°C-come on, Belle!¡± I said, though I knew she couldn''t hear me.

    ¡°There is also a paralysis from that kiss.¡± WuKong said grimly.

    ¡°Huh?!¡± I turned to him.

    ¡°Ahh... still, she did better than most. Brave little pixie girl, I applaud your effort!¡± he said with a solemn but tender smile, once again raising his hand in a prayer.

    I turned back to the screen. Belle was now disintegrating. I felt my heart sink. Now I''m really the only one of our guild left in this tournament, I thought to myself sadly. I then heard a twinkling sound again. It was me, and Sun WuKong also. Lysandra looked over at me as I began to disappear into a teleport. Was it me, or did she look like she was about to cry?

    A few moments later, I was on the stage with Sun WuKong. The commentators were gushing over the fight about to begin between us, speculating on who would win and coming to the conclusion that it could go either way, Lumpstein going so far as to say I might lose on account of a lack of fighting spirit, now that my guildmates had all lost their matches.

    ¡°I wouldn''t go that far, but I see your point,¡± Forseti remarked. The countdown reached zero, and the crowds cheered. WuKong smiled at me, and I then straightened up.

    ¡°Sensei!¡± I said in a loud voice, and he looked at me with surprise. I then bowed, as it was customary in unarmed martial arts schools to do before a match, and without missing a beat he smiled back broadly, bowing as well. I then adopted a fighting posture with my daggers, and he took out his staff, adopting his on stance, staff at the ready.

    ¡°Oooohh, here we go!¡± Athena said with interest.

    ¡°You can already feel a change in the air,¡± Ricklelopes remarked. ¡°What kind of event are we going to see now?¡±

    ¡°Hsst! There they go!¡± Lumpstein said as the two of us charged at the same time, WuKong swinging his staff down from the right.

    I twirled around to my left, trying to graze his arm, but he countered me immediately, and I was quickly on the defensive. With a series of shouts my opponent activated four auras. Speed, Regeneration, Dexterity, Agility, I quickly noted. I was no expert, but I had quested with Anhe enough to know at least the more basic ones. WuKong came after me again, but this time I set off a few skills of my own, giving him a run for his money by blustering with my daggers while I mused upon my situation.

    Wait, I get it; four basic auras and three advanced ones, or maybe two advanced ones and a divine aura. Something along those lines is the balance he has to maintain to use seven, if he chooses to use seven, I bet, I quickly thought. With this hypothesis in mind, I started into my Shadow''s Dance to try and gain an opening, but in the middle of it he managed to interrupt me. He swung in a perfect arc to try and hit my head, but I back-flipped away just in time. He then activated a fifth aura.

    ¡°Ho-ho! I heard that he could use more than four, but no one''s pushed him to it in this tournament yet until now!¡± Lumpstein remarked.

    ¡°That''s Celestial Radiance. It negates the bonuses of certain Shadow skills.¡± Athena said.

    Is that so? Well, then, negate this! I grinned back as I switched to my bow, activating Shadow Speed and going for a run-and-gun attack this time. WuKong watched me with a smile of admiration, calmly deflecting every arrow that came his way, and when I was finally out of Shadow Speed he activated a sixth aura.

    ¡°Ooh, Monkey God''s Blessing!¡± Wandreada said with awe.

    ¡°Oop! A seventh!¡± Ricklelopes said.

    ¡°Hrrm, hrrm!¡± the Dwarf GM nodded.

    ¡°Heaven''s Fury.¡± Athena calmly said.

    ¡°Now she''s definitely out.¡± Lumpstein shrugged.

    Tch--!! I''ll show you, you grumpy, undersized Saint Nick!

    Sun WuKong stood at the ready, the jolly smile on his face never wavering. I had to smile back. There was no hate, no anger in this fight. It was skill against skill. A master against a novice. But, also, it was the fight of a warrior-monk... against an assassin.

    ¡°Shadow''s Caress.¡± I said, activating a skill I hadn''t shown off yet.

    This one was similar to Shadow World, except it couldn''t be negated by his Celestial Radiance -- I was pretty sure. His face, at least, showed surprise when he lost track of me. Even the commentators stood up in surprise. WuKong quickly adopted a defensive stance, grinning mightily. Then I dropped a smoke-bomb, this one tinged with lotus and nightshade, to numb him up a bit if I could. I saw him stiffen up.

    ¡°Tell me one thing, sensei!¡± I called from the shadows. ¡°Who did you bet on for this round?¡± I asked, and he relaxed a bit, laughing heartily.

    ¡°I bet on both of us! At two different brokers!¡± he declared with a beaming grin.

    ¡°Then here I come!¡± I said, rushing towards him, using the trick I had used on Ironsides. However, this time it did not take my opponent down in one strike. But it did cancel out his higher auras and knock him down to half-health.

    ¡°Oh-ho!! She might have a chance, provided he can''t get those auras up again!¡± Lumpstein then remarked.

    Make up your mind.

    ¡°That''s what the smoke-bomb was for.¡± Wandreada explained. ¡°He''s standing strong, but he''s got to be disoriented enough from whatever was in it so that he can''t focus to get the higher auras going again.¡±

    ¡°Hmm!¡± Ricklelopes said with interest.

    After that, the two of us clashed in melee again. For five minutes more he kept me at bay, the smiles never leaving our faces. I suddenly felt very nostalgic, and the thought came to me that maybe I should take up a martial arts class again. At the end of the five minutes, when I myself was at half-health thanks to his resilience and disciplined moves, I finally managed to get a blade in edgewise, literally, surprising him. The fight ended with a clean stab, no poison, and he smiled up at me as his avatar began disintegrating.

    I could not but smile back. The crowds cheered, and I was teleported from the stage. As I reoriented myself and began heading for my friends, Sun WuKong appeared from the other corridor, clapping his hands. I bowed in respect, and he bowed also.

    ¡°Well done. I look forward to our next meeting, Lana Windstrider. I hope you will honor me with your friendship.¡± he said.

    ¡°I hope the same, and I hope you''ll join us at the after-party later.¡± I replied.

    ¡°How could I refuse such an invitation?¡± he said cheerily. ¡°Come! Let us go to your friends, and watch the rest of the tournament!¡±

    ¡°Let''s do that!¡± I agreed, and the two of us made our way to where Ariana and the others were.

    I was relieved to see that Belle was in good spirits when we found them, the pixie simply commenting that it had gone about as well as she had thought. She and the others greeted Sun WuKong happily, and we sat down to enjoy the rest of the matches. After an hour of amazing fights, the final two combatants for the day came into view on center stage. There before us were the two I now knew as siblings.

    Lysandra and Myanihia.

    ¡°Ooh... I forgot about this fight,¡± Lizzy remarked in a somber tone.

    ¡°Same,¡± Healina nodded. ¡°I wonder what she has against them, though?¡± she wondered. I winced slightly. I hadn''t told them that much, yet. It was probably something I should leave unsaid until after this match, at least.

    ¡°Sh-she''s g-gonna go w-w-werewolf, i-i-isn''t she?¡± Maryn suddenly realized with a shiver.

    ¡°Ahh...¡± I looked over towards her, an apologetic look coming to my face. I then caught a look of sadness on Belle''s face. ¡°Belle?¡± I asked her, but she only shook her head before returning her attention to the scene.

    The countdown went to zero, and the fanfare sounded. Neither opponent moved. Then I saw Lysandra''s body quivering with rage. She drew out her sword, eyes flashing. Myanihia remained just as motionless as ever. With a scream of rage, Lysandra flew at the silent assassin, who nimbly deflected her blows with their short swords.

    ¡°Hmm...¡± I heard WuKong remark in an almost sad tone. ¡°She cannot win. There is too much anger in her.¡± he said, and I swallowed a lump in agreement.

    Nevertheless, that anger kept Myanihia from making any sort of counterattack for nearly eight minutes of heated dueling. No matter what they tried, it was as if Lysandra was operating at ten times the speed of any normal human being. Could she be one of those people who actually get more focused when they''re angry or something? I wondered as I watched. Several times it even seemed like she might overcome her enemy, but Myanihia, for all that they couldn''t counterattack, had a solid rotation of defense.

    When at the end of that eight minutes they decided to use Shadow Veil to get a brief respite, Lysandra went berserk, thrashing around wildly with her sword while transforming into that apex menace of folklore, the werewolf. Her screams turned into growls and roars, and she swiped with the sword several more times, swinging like someone who had just been blinded until she actually struck Myanihia and forced them out of the shadows.

    She then used that same blood curdling howl that Mad Dog had used: the Howl of the Void. As terrifying as it had sounded in Mad Dog''s borderline bass tone, it sounded even more frightening in Lysandra''s more alto voice. And it was so powerful it felt as if the entire arena was being affected by it. Certainly Maryn was, curled up in a ball next to Healina, who was gently patting her on the back. And it even caused the stoic Myanihia to act in a more disgruntled fashion, the devious assassin struggling with all of their might to resist that howl of doom.

    Lysandra howled again, and again, and again, the sound becoming more sinister each time. Myanihia was on their knees, visibly struggling. The eyes of everyone (except Maryn) were fixated on the scene. Then a nagging thought struck me.

    Isn''t Myanihia a bit... too motionless? Assassins... Shadow Warriors... if you go far up enough into the skill tree, you can create a perfect decoy... a decoy? Lysandra!!

    ¡°Lysandra!!¡± I cried as I jumped out of my seat. ¡°It''s a trick!! That''s not--!!¡± I practically screamed, but then the real Myanihia suddenly reappeared, using that ultimate combo trick to take down Lysandra in one hit. Her avatar disintegrated with a wild howl of defiance, and then once more Myanihia stood victorious in the arena. I felt the energy drain out of me, and sank to my knees. Ariana and WuKong knelt down with me at once, the former imploring the latter to help her as I began shaking. Someone, probably the Monkey King, picked me up, and we left the arena for the day.

    ***

    ¡°You okay?¡± Ariana asked me as I sipped on tea several minutes later at a small cafe. I slowly nodded, and she laid her head on my shoulder. The others, including our new friend, were at another table next to us.

    ¡°Hm, hm, the mark of a true friend, if not a warrior. To be more concerned with another rather than themselves.¡± WuKong nodded with admiration.

    ¡°Thanks for carrying her here,¡± Healina said to him. ¡°And after she beat you in the arena, too!¡±

    ¡°Ahh! But I was honored to be beaten by so clever a fighter! It is the least I could do for a young one with such promise.¡± he replied. At that moment, someone else arrived at the cafe. It was Lysandra.

    I stood up as she came in, looking at her with concern. Her eyes looked lifeless, and her movements were unsteady. She came towards me without seeing me, falling to her knees once before me as she clutched my tunic with her hands, silent tears falling to the floor as she convulsed with sobbing. I knelt down with her as Ariana came over to join us, my partner and I gently cradling her as she wept, her fighting spirit all but broken.

    When she had recovered, she looked up at us, trying to say words that she just couldn''t get out. But I knew what she wanted to say. I looked at Ari, and she nodded. I then pulled up a panel, and invited Lysandra to join our guild. It wasn''t about the bet in that moment. It was about telling her that she never had to be alone anymore. I smiled at Lysandra, as did Ari, and the werewolf girl swallowed, took in a deep breath, and accepted. The other girls joined us on the floor as Sun WuKong looked on with a smile, silently applauding our friendship.

    Later, we joined in the after-party celebrations at one of the bigger taverns nearby. Sun fit right in with the rest of us, laughing more, drinking more, and eating the most as we partied it up. Two people stayed by my side the whole night. One was Ariana, who kept hold of my arm on account of the other person, Lysandra, who was still trying to deal with the shock she had received from her duel. Belle came over at one point to sit near her, striking up a conversation that eventually loosened the other girl up enough so that she could smile. I smiled over at Ari, who nodded happily.

    ¡°Let''s take good care of all our friends, as long as we can.¡± she said to me.

    ¡°Definitely.¡± I agreed, reaching over to kiss her. She smiled, and laid her head on my shoulder.

    As the night wound down, an exotically pretty woman arrived. It was Rayna. The entrancing Mumban assassin strode towards me with a smile, brown eyes glinting merrily. She was wearing a blue sari for her evening attire, and there was a necklace of Hindi design on her neck. Actually Hindi, I mean, and not just an in-game parallel.

    ¡°Lana.¡± she said to me in a calm, soothing voice.

    ¡°Rayna.¡± I replied, and she opened a panel. A notification then came my way.

    Rayna has challenged you for your fifth match; do you accept?

    I looked back to her, the other girl smiling like a cat that had just caught a mouse. I then pressed the accept button, and her smile grew brighter. She then stepped closer, reaching a hand over to touch my cheek.

    ¡°Let me show you, mera pyaar, how to truly be a female assassin in this world,¡± she said in a seductive tone, and then withdrew her hand, heading back the way she came to exit just as mysteriously as she had entered.

    ¡°Well at least she didn''t kiss you.¡± Ariana quipped.

    ¡°S-sorry...!¡± Lysandra said to her in reply.

    ¡°Hahh...¡± I sighed. Then Ariana walked over to Lysandra, cupped her face, and kissed her on the lips.

    ¡°There!¡± Ari said after the kiss was over. ¡°Now we''re even.¡± she grinned, and returned to my side, Lysandra blushing and myself gazing at my partner with a nonplussed look in my eyes.

    ¡°Hah, youth.¡± Belle sighed, and with that the party resumed with a chorus of laughter.

 Chapter Forty-one: The Grand Tournament -- Lana versus Rayna

    The next day, school nearly passed in the blink of an eye, only slowing down around lunch. We gathered in our club room as usual, where Ellie then told us that she wouldn''t be able to join us again until Saturday.

    ¡°We''ll have to record the fights for you again!¡± Andrea smiled.

    ¡°Ehh, but there''s only a few more I really want to see, so don''t stress over it.¡± the other girl replied.

    ¡°It''s starting later as well, isn''t it? Like around ten in real-time,¡± Andrea then noted.

    ¡°I think so, yeah,¡± I nodded. ¡°There''s only thirty-two fights after all. And after the eighth match on Saturday, the victors of that round will face off to end the tournament.¡±

    ¡°Hmm...¡± Mary sighed. ¡°I think Angelfire and Timidator are the only two left besides Lana that we really know.¡±

    ¡°It got super pared down after the Grand Brawl anyway, but yeah.¡± Ellie said. ¡°I think Angelfire ended up with that Valkrysti character tonight.¡±

    ¡°I know Mad Dog is gonna fight a druid-type, I think... that should be interesting.¡± I said, taking a drink as I pondered how such a fight might go.

    ¡°And Timidator issued a challenge to Myanihia.¡± Ellie told us.

    ¡°Really?¡± Rachel wondered.

    ¡°Heh, I was there when he sent it, and of course it got accepted seconds later. That person is so hard to get.¡± she returned, shaking her head.

    ¡°Hmm...?¡± my girlfriend remarked, then turned to me. ¡°We''re showing Belle and Lysandra the houses when we get on, right? Before the tournament, that is.¡±

    ¡°Eh? Oh, right,¡± I remembered.

    It had already been announced that the tournament would start later on this day before we logged out last night, so we decided to take that time and show our new guildmates the houses we had. Belle had agreed instantly, and Lysandra nodded her head a moment later, gently smiling. It feels like ages since we were at either of them, I thought to myself.

    ¡°Anyway...¡± Ellie then began, affecting a sly grin and looking over at Andrea. ¡°So what was in the note?¡± she asked the red-haired girl, who immediately blushed and looked away.

    ¡°N-nothing...¡± she said in an unusually shy tone.

    ¡°Hmm?¡± Anhe remarked as we all looked at her curiously.

    ¡°Note?¡± Mary wondered. Rachel then smiled.

    ¡°Oh! It''s from him, isn''t it?¡± she said.

    ¡°R-Rachel!¡± Andrea returned with a hesitant laugh.

    ¡°Oh! Rachel knows too!¡± Ellie beamed.

    ¡°I mean, he came to the house--¡±

    ¡°R-R-R-Rachel!!¡± Andrea stammered anxiously.

    ¡°What? He''s a nice guy, you should say yes!¡± my girlfriend remarked, and Andrea turned as red as her hair.

    ¡°Andi!!¡± Ellie exclaimed. ¡°He asked you out?!¡±

    ¡°Y-yes... yes he did,¡± the other girl said with a laugh.

    ¡°What did you say?!¡±

    ¡°I-I haven''t answered yet! I mean, it''s the first t-time... th-that a guy...¡± she stammered again, blushing furiously.

    ¡°Of course you have to say yes!¡± Ellie retorted, gently shaking her.

    ¡°Ugh, geeeez! Elisabeth Drew!¡± the red-haired girl sighed.

    ¡°Andrea Paige!¡± the other girl smirked back, still gently shaking her friend.

    ¡°Wh-who are we talking about anyway?¡± I wondered.

    ¡°Oh! Thomas Matthews, the runner-up for class president next year, chess extraordinaire and amateur magician who got on to a couple late shows recently!¡± Ellie said excitedly.

    ¡°H-heh? Magician, huh?¡± I remarked with interest.

    ¡°I m-mean... I-I-I d-don''t... dislike him...¡± Andrea remarked demurely, still faintly blushing as she spoke.

    ¡°See?!¡± Ellie poked her.

    ¡°Has this been a thing for a while?¡± I quietly asked Rachel.

    ¡°I think Ellie even set it up, behind the scenes or so,¡± she nodded.

    ¡°Hmm...? So she can be subtle when she wants to be!¡± I softly grinned back, and Rachel quietly giggled, nodding back. ¡°Hmm? He plays chess... and he''s dealt with the media... wouldn''t that kind of qualify him to be a part of our club?¡± I said in a louder voice. Andrea hiccuped and gulped, turning red again.

    ¡°Heh...? There''s you coming up with a nice idea again! Twenty points!!¡± Ellie grinned. ¡°Come on, you play chess too, and Mary does also, don''t you, Mary?¡± the blonde girl continued.

    ¡°I have a couple of times, yes. I don''t have a problem with more members... but that doesn''t really have anything to do with him going out with Andrea, does it?¡± the older girl returned with a grin.

    ¡°Oh, true!¡± Ellie nodded, and then began gently shaking Andrea again. ¡°Andiiiiii... go out with him!!¡±

    ¡°M-m-m-maybe...¡± the other girl replied, and then Ellie patted her shoulder and sat back into her seat.

    ¡°Good enough!¡± she beamed as Andrea gave her a look that was both grumpy and amused at the same time.

    ¡°You two are so fun!¡± Anhe said with a giggle, and the rest of us laughed as well.

    ¡°Aren''t they though?¡± Rachel agreed. Andrea then coughed, recovering herself a bit, and resumed her lunch.

    ¡°Hah... we''d better hurry up. Lunch is flying by,¡± Mary said as she looked over at the clock.

    We took her advice, finishing up with lunch and then heading out to get ready for afternoon classes. There was nothing of any real note that happened for the rest of our school day, except that our theater teacher announced that tryouts would start next week and would reflect on our mid-term grade. Which got some of us, including yours truly, to start paying a bit more attention to the musical in question. After school was over we headed on home, promising to meet over video-call for homework before heading into Panarena--as was usual for us.

    ***

    When I had gotten through my usual afternoon routine and dinner had been eaten, I made my way upstairs to head into the game for the night. Ariana arrived in-world just as I did, and we found the two older girls waiting for us in the room, Belle as excited as she could be and Lysandra -- well, she was probably excited also, it just didn''t show as much.

    ¡°Hey!¡± the pixie-girl said as we materialized. ¡°So I guess we have practically the whole day, huh?¡±

    ¡°Until four Panarena time, ten in real life.¡± I nodded.

    ¡°Hmm... eight whole hours,¡± Lysandra remarked, and then stood up. ¡°The tele-pad station is near the arena; come on, I''ll show you.¡± she said, and the four of us headed out, leaving a note for our other three members who were showing up tonight.

    First, we went to Queen''s Haven Estate. I don''t know if it was because we were in the area or if it was some algorithmic compulsion laid upon him, but we found that Dracuoatlax had stopped by for a visit, the golden-red dragon looking almost pleased to see us.

    ¡°I see you still live,¡± he said to us as he sat himself down to talk with us face to face, ¡°And that your company grows.¡±

    ¡°It''s true,¡± I nodded back to him.

    ¡°I came by for a visit to this place on instinct; I am glad I have. How goes the Tournament in Kingsmark?¡± the dragon asked.

    ¡°Th-that''s an amazing NPC-AI,¡± Belle remarked softly, and Ari nodded.

    ¡°It... has been a mixed bag of defeat and victory,¡± I said with a wry grin.

    ¡°Hmm...¡± Dracuoatlax said in a disproving manner. ¡°It is a wide world, after all; but I expect the master who tamed me without bloodshed to manage something as trivial as winning a tournament.¡± he said with a cunning look.

    ¡°I''ll do my best.¡± I replied, and he grunted in approval.

    ¡°Fyu and I have conversed; he speaks highly of you. This is good. I shall return to my abode for now, but I look forward to our next meeting. Mayhaps even a battle together?¡± the dragon said with a gleam in his eyes.

    ¡°We''ll definitely be counting on you in the days after the Tournament, Dracuoatlax.¡± I replied, reaching over to touch his fore-claw.

    ¡°I am pleased. Then I bid you farewell, for the present,¡± he said, and then took off into the air once more, heading for the Torching Mount that was his home.

    ¡°I totally forgot you girls tamed a dragon.¡± Lysandra said with a stunned expression.

    ¡°It''s been a wild few days, huh?¡± Ariana remarked, and she nodded.

    Fyu Dongtian was also pleased to see us, as were our NPC staff and guards. The older girls very much enjoyed our seaside manor estate, Lysandra gazing out towards the Jade Sea for a few moments at one point and Belle happily exploring every inch of the main building.

    ¡°It''s a spacious place, huh?¡± Lysandra said later as we shared some tea inside.

    ¡°Definitely,¡± Ari agreed. ¡°I can''t wait for the winter-quests so we can get more cute decorations!¡±

    ¡°Hmm... maybe I should work on my crafting skills and make some... if you like,¡± the other girl said.

    ¡°Oh! Absolutely! I''d love to see what you can make!¡± Ariana implored her.

    ¡°Then I''ll see what I can do,¡± Lysandra smiled back.

    ¡°It''s certainly regal and splendid!¡± Belle remarked as she took a sip of tea, having changed to human-size for a bit. ¡°I can see why this is going to be the main estate. It''s on an excellent spot,¡± she observed.

    ¡°It really is,¡± I nodded. ¡°We''re near a trade town, we can make a little trade outpost of our own if we want, Stormwraith Hold and the Firelands aren''t too far away, and we have the Jade Sea nearby for a harbor, if we get ships or something.¡±

    ¡°Ships are definitely gonna be a big part of the next competition, which is going to be more of an on-going challenge than an actual event,¡± Lysandra nodded. ¡°But you have a huge bonus already.¡± she said with a wink.

    ¡°Hmm?¡± Ari and I both wondered.

    ¡°The dragon, sweeties. Dracuoatlax.¡± Belle clarified for us.

    ¡°Ahh! I get it!¡± I smiled at once.

    ¡°Lana?¡± Ari wondered.

    ¡°Air superiority!¡± I said to her.

    ¡°Oh! True!¡± she nodded.

    ¡°Mm! That was good!¡± Belle said as she finished her tea, reverting to her normal size. ¡°Lovely! What about the other place? Or do we have time?¡±

    ¡°Five hours.¡± Lysandra reported.

    ¡°Goodie!¡±

    ¡°Hotspring?¡± Ari said to me.

    ¡°Hotspring.¡± I returned with a nod.

    A few minutes later, we moved on to show them Cloverbell, ending up at -- you guessed it. The hotspring. Belle, in her pixie form, floated on the surface lightly or swam around in the warm water, content as could be. The rest of us bunched up together, almost falling asleep in the soothing sensation of the spring. Fortunately Belle had set an alarm for us, and it jolted us awake.

    ¡°Ah! That means we have an hour left... ahh, this thing is always soo good... I hate to leave it!¡± Ariana said as we got out.

    ¡°Right?¡± I agreed with her.

    ¡°That was definitely too good.¡± Lysandra nodded as well.

    ¡°Too true!¡± Belle nodded. We dried off, redressed ourselves, and then returned to Harmonia City through the wayport.

    ¡°Still... three hours might have been too much,¡± Lysandra said with a faint grin as we stepped back into the capital of Harmonia.

    ¡°Ah-heh, probably true...¡± I agreed. As we got to the arena, we saw Maryn, Heali, and Anhe waiting for us, the latter waving when she saw us. Heali and Maryn turned to look, and the three of them came to meet us halfway.

    ¡°How was the tour?¡± Heali asked.

    ¡°I could live there forever!¡± Belle replied at once.

    ¡°They were lovely; I''ll be glad to get back to them once this is over.¡± Lysandra answered in a softer voice.

    ¡°So will we,¡± our shield-user returned with a smile.

    ¡°Come to think of it, are any of your wager-marks still going?¡± Healina wondered as we made our way towards the colossal arena.

    ¡°Hmm... besides that person,¡± Lysandra replied, ¡°There''s Valkrysti... and that''s it, unless I missed Skeletor surviving one of his matches as well.¡±

    ¡°Was he still around?¡± I wondered.

    ¡°Hmm... Ironsides beat him, I think.¡± Ari recalled.

    ¡°Oh right,¡± I nodded.

    ¡°So... two.¡± Lysandra remarked, her expression distant. Then she turned back to me, placing a hand on my shoulder. ¡°Rayna. You know about their skills by now, this late in the game, and you know they also work on female players.¡± she told me, and I nodded.

    ¡°I''m not sure how to win if she tries any of those Siren Skills on me,¡± I returned.

    ¡°You''re not gonna thank me much, but I was able to break free from her once in the Borderlands,¡± she said.

    ¡°Heh? Of course I''d thank you if you gave me a hint to break out of that daze!¡± I returned.

    ¡°Bite your tongue. Hard.¡± she told me.

    ¡°Gyeck...¡± I recoiled slightly.

    ¡°Told you.¡± she grinned.

    ¡°Anything preventative?¡± I returned in a semi-grumpy tone.

    ¡°Not that I know about,¡± she replied, scratching her head. ¡°B-Belle, what do you think?¡± she turned to our smallest member, who frowned for a moment.

    ¡°I was so focused on debuffing her that I forgot to buff myself in that fight. There''s a pixie skill that gives strong resistance to all Siren-type skills, and immunity if you''re a female; I can make it a potion, but it will only last for fifteen minutes.¡± she said, holding up a finger in warning as she mentioned the last part.

    ¡°Tricky.¡± Lysandra nodded.

    ¡°That''s half the length of the match, but with two assassins it shouldn''t last longer than five.¡± Maryn said. ¡°What do you need for it?¡±

    ¡°A bunch of rare herbs from the Marshes of the Wyrd, some special salt from the Mines of Mordune, and a flower from Serenade Hollow.¡± she said with a wry grin.

    ¡°Where in the heck are the Mines of Mordune?¡± I wondered.

    ¡°Mines of Mordune are in Memphani, Lans,¡± a familiar voice said. Tyman was there, with a couple of his guildmates. ¡°What''s that y''all saying about salt? I got some here; dunno why the hell I have it, though,¡± he remarked, holding out a bag.

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    ¡°We want to make a special potion so Lana stands a chance against Rayna''s special skills,¡± Ariana said to him.

    ¡°Hrrn; yo, here! I got five more anyway.¡± he said tossing us the bag.

    ¡°Heh? Oh, thanks!¡± I smiled as I caught it.

    ¡°Yo! One of us gotta win this thing, Lans!¡± he said, gently bumping my shoulder. ¡°What all else you need?¡±

    ¡°I think I actually have several rare herbs from our time in the Wyrd... which ones did you need, Belle?¡± Healina said as she brought up her inventory list.

    ¡°Hmm... fire-thistle, mud-flower... grenblu root, and... oh! Sun bloom.¡± Belle told her.

    ¡°Phew! Lucky!¡± Healina said, transferring her the items in question as I transferred the salt to her.

    ¡°Nice.¡± Tyman nodded.

    ¡°That Serenade Hollow flower is a different question, though...¡± Ari remarked.

    ¡°Hey, boss two, didn''t we find some weird flower when we were helping Grimclaw back a couple weeks ago?¡±

    ¡°That damn ugly thing? I still got it, hoping someone knew what the hell this wack plant was,¡± he said, pulling it out of his inventory. It... certainly did look ugly. I won''t torture you with the specifics, but needless to say, we all recoiled a bit.

    ¡°Hm, hm, yep, that''s it.¡± Belle nodded.

    ¡°You guys are life-savers.¡± I said, putting a hand on Ty''s shoulder.

    ¡°No prob! Just go easy on us when the guild competition comes up!¡± he smiled, patting my shoulder. ¡°Don''t owe me a thing! Just buy drinks tonight!¡± he called.

    ¡°So we do owe you something,¡± I called back in a flat tone, but I was grinning. I heard him laugh, and then I transferred ''that damn ugly thing'', as Ty called it, to our pixie.

    ¡°Won''t be but a jiff!¡± she said, and, true to her word, in about a minute she had the potion for me. ¡°Remember: don''t use it until just before the match starts,¡± she said to me, and I nodded back. ¡°All our hopes are on you now, kiddo.¡± she added in a softer voice.

    ¡°I know.¡± I replied just as softly.

    ¡°We''ll see you after the matches, then.¡± Maryn said. Ariana gave me a hug, and then the others hurried on ahead as we walked into the arena, with the exception of Lysandra, who hung around a moment more. I looked up at her, and she gently smiled.

    ¡°I won''t kiss you again. I promise. I just...¡± she said, biting her lip.

    ¡°I''ll win. And I''ll keep winning. And I''ll drive your feelings home... to that person.¡± I promised her in a determined voice. She blinked back tears for a moment, then wiped them away.

    ¡°I know.¡± she said, and without another word she went to join the others. I smiled as she left, and then saw Sun WuKong also heading into the stands. He paused to give me a victory salute, the ever-present smile gleaming cheerfully, and I saluted him back as I walked into the waiting area for the contestants.

    There were definitely fewer of us in here now. I saw Angelfire and Mad Dog, along with Rayna, Timidator, and Myanihia sitting in a corner as usual. There were a couple others I hadn''t really noticed before, but they were still kind of on my radar. Barbarianne, a Nordian berserker with wavy reddish hair, who dual-wielded a wickedly jagged sword and a bearded axe, stood idly in the background near the display-screens. And Ghostlord, a Rogue Shadowkin, who had calmly risen through the tournament with only a few displays of what he could really do. No one was even really sure what kind of player-type he was, not even the commentators.

    Timidator and Angelfire waved me over. I was less hesitant about approaching the latter now, but it was still slightly difficult. The three of us shook hands, and sat down together on a bench.

    ¡°I''m glad we got this far without fighting each other.¡± Timidator grinned.

    ¡°Me too,¡± I replied.

    ¡°Same! Though if I get a challenge from either of you next time, or if I end up with one of you in the final match after round eight, I''m gonna smoke you!¡± Angelfire winked.

    ¡°H-how well I know...¡± I returned.

    ¡°They''re calling you the Berserk Mage, you know,¡± Timidator said, and she affected a slight pout.

    ¡°I was thinking they would start calling her Tank Breaker,¡± I shrugged.

    ¡°Ooh, I like that.¡± she nodded proudly.

    ¡°Hah!¡± Timidator chuckled. ¡°Though, it''s likely you won''t get the chance to face me,¡± he said to her.

    ¡°Hmm? Ohh, right... you got them this time.¡± Angelfire remarked in a quiet tone. ¡°To be honest, I wanted to try them, but they''d already challenged you.¡±

    ¡°Hmm... I think Maryn had the right idea, so I want to try what she did, with a few twists of my own. That''s why I agreed,¡± he told us. ¡°It''s that one skill they do right at the end of their matches that I have to watch out for.¡±

    ¡°They always do it in Shadow World, too, so it''s basically impossible to avoid.¡± Angelfire nodded. ¡°What do you know about it, Lana?¡±

    ¡°I think it could be interrupted... but the timing has to be precise, which is why they do it in Shadow World.¡± I replied.

    ¡°So that no one can see when to interrupt.¡± she sighed. ¡°If I get past Valkrysti, I''ll challenge them and set the whole stage on fire so that they can''t do a thing without me seeing it.¡±

    ¡°Ah-heh-heh-heh...¡±

    ¡°Th-that''d definitely work,¡± Timidator returned as I nervously laughed.

    It was then that the fanfare to start off the fifth round sounded, and the three of us returned our attention to the crystal-displays that would be showing us the upcoming battles.

    Barbarianne kicked off the fights with a hapless ice-mage who had blasted his way through many difficult opponents only to end up fighting someone with absolute cold immunity. Even if his spells hit her, they did no damage. She eventually caught him as he scampered away from her, ending the fight with a swift stroke and a deadly thrust.

    The mysterious Ghostlord then took down a mace-using skirmisher in leather armor. As before, I couldn''t really tell what sort of skills he was using to deal damage, but part of me was now suspecting it was his racial skills. It made me wonder what a Shadowkin assassin would be like. Next character, next character, I said to myself.

    Then I watched as Mad Dog battled against his own difficult competition, a werebear druid player of equal strength and skill. This fight was, understandably, pretty amazing to watch. Even the commentators were uncertain what the outcome was going to be. Each of them had the capacity to resist or shrug the howls or roars of the other, and their stats were probably about equal. Gonna be one of those deadlock fights, huh? I thought to myself as I watched them tearing away at each other.

    Then Mad Dog used an advantage I hadn''t quite thought of at first. He was more agile than the werebear, and he suddenly demonstrated this by dropping to all fours as the other swiped at him, then knocking the werebear off balance. The other player fell to the floor, and Mad Dog leapt back up, mauling him with rapid speed before he could get back up. He punctuated his attack with a bite to the neck just as the other was getting back up, putting a massive bleed effect on the guy. He went down about a minute later, and Mad Dog howled in triumph for a fifth time.

    ¡°Hahh... nice.¡± I remarked, and then there was a twinkling sound for Timidator. He waved to us, and reappeared on one of the stages a few moments later.

    ¡°Here we go,¡± Angelfire said, and I nodded.

    The match began with the usual fanfare, and Timidator pulled out a two-hander that was even more deadly-looking than the one we had rescued for him some weeks ago. He had no actual shield, per se, but his vambraces were crafted so that he could use them as shield in a pinch, or to give someone a really hard backhand.

    His opening move was a leap combined with a heavy overhead slash that Myanihia barely evaded, and then the wily tank activated a variant of the Whirlwind skill, Steelblaze, to keep the assassin from daring to come too close. He then used Thurian Stomp, dazing Myanihia for a moment and allowing him to catch up to the assassin, who seemed thrown off their game this time. There was a clash of weapons, and then Myanihia leaped back to vanish into the shadows.

    ¡°So far, so good,¡± I remarked, and Angelfire nodded.

    ¡°That Myanihia seems really off their game this time.¡±

    ¡°They''ve been a highlight of the matches and a favorite to watch, it''s no wonder people are starting to pick up on their moves.¡± I shrugged.

    Timidator then activated Steelblaze again, whirling around that stage like one of those cartoon characters that always runs around in a whirlwind. Because of its damage radius, which was larger than Whirlwind, it forced Myanihia out of stealth and into running for their life. This time they were seriously off of their usual game. They couldn''t even use their poison weapon against Timidator; every time they tried, Timidator came barreling toward them, still in Steelblaze, forcing them to keep running.

    ¡°Bah, is this a match or a cartoon show?¡± Lumpstein wondered.

    ¡°But Myanihia is finally being forced to the ropes this time,¡± Athena remarked.

    ¡°Unless...¡± the Dwarf GM began, his eyes narrowing.

    ¡°Heh?¡± I wondered, and then it hit me again. ¡°Ahh!! That''s the decoy!¡± I exclaimed.

    ¡°What the--?!¡± Angelfire almost swore, then shook her head. ¡°Ugh, that is too good!¡±

    ¡°But where the heck is the real Myanihia?¡± I then said, frowning at the display screen.

    The answer came with the sound of a gunshot. Timidator suddenly reeled, and the real Myanihia stepped out of the shadows to fire again, then they shot a third time to knock the sword out of his hand. The plucky tank dropped his sword in shock, and then grinned up at the number three assassin, letting out a sigh as Myanihia ended the match with a final shot.

    Angelfire didn''t even have time to make a comment, being next in the lists. Once again, I was by myself in the contestants'' hall. I watched as Myanihia was teleported off the stage, letting out a sigh of my own.

    So they have that kind of trap up their sleeve, huh?

    My speculations cut off as Angelfire reappeared, with Valkrysti appearing on the opposite stage. She had a spear that seemed to glow with an angelic light, her long, flowing hair was a golden blonde, and she had soft yet strong blue eyes that looked as if they might cut through your soul.

    As soon as the fight began Angelfire set up her flame ward, casting fire-bolts twice as rapidly as she had when we sparred. But Valkrysti deflected them with a simple ward that she activated with a raise of her spear. Then she activated an aura of her own with a yell, and ran to challenge Angelfire in a melee.

    ¡°Angelic Defense, huh? We''ve certainly got a lot of overpowered players, here... but then that''s what the world bosses are for!¡± Lumpstein remarked.

    ¡°We''re not even at the final rounds yet.¡± Forseti said.

    ¡°I''ll be glad when we are; paring down thousands upon thousands of players is making me cross-eyed!¡± the other remarked.

    Meanwhile, Valkrysti''s aura and Angelfire''s wards were wearing down the other''s defenses, inflicting minor damage on their target as they continued to combat each other, Angelfire punctuating her strokes with a flame spell every now and then that Valkrysti repulsed with her own skills, sometimes even reflecting it back. Of course, fire did no damage to our friend from the Aldholt.

    ¡°But her light magic might,¡± I remarked softly to myself. Light magic is a special cross-discipline of holy and healing magic that you can unlock through an arduous series of cross-regional quests. Valkrysti had obviously spent a lot of time in this game to get it as high as she had, to the point where she was literally compared to a Valkyrie. Maybe she had even been a beta-tester like Lizzy and Lysandra.

    Wait. Now don''t tell me Lysandra was trying to go after all her old guildmates? I suddenly wondered. Hrrmm...

    My thoughts were again disturbed as Valkrysti began to use offensive spells herself. Beams of light and scorching sun-spells pierced or singed Angelfire, who suddenly began to waver. Then she recovered herself and fought back like a demon, unleashing her most potent flame-spells against the battle sage she had been pitted against.

    But Valkrysti''s other advantage with light magic was, as I hinted at just now, that it could also heal. She quickly restored her health, momentarily shocking my compatriot from the Aldholt and sending her into a literal flaming frenzy.

    As she had sworn to do for Myanihia, she set that whole stage on fire with her spells. Yet still Valkrysti held fast, settling into a pattern of one heal for every two attacks she made. Angelfire, on the other hand, had no healing. She screamed in fury, calling down flame-spells that were definitely her ultimate skills.

    A combustion of flame went off with a force that shook the whole stadium. Whirlwinds of fire began hurtling around, and the battle sage found herself hard pressed to keep up her rotation -- but she kept it steady, to the amazement of all of us. Angelfire then fired several flaming DoTs on her target; several of them were blocked, but a couple of them did get through, and Valkrysti''s health began lowering at a faster rate. But Angelfire herself was almost spent. She was in a worse position than she had been with the tank who had the chaos blade.

    That fiery mage did everything she could to evade or deflect Valkrysti''s attack for the last minute of the fight, but then her opponent activated a skill that Athena referred to as Purifying Light, an ultimate skill that negated enemy magic or status ailments. When all of her fire spells went out at once, Angelfire''s own flaming spirit was quenched.

    She fell to her knees, weary and out of options. Those massive skills of hers must have had massive cooldowns as well. Valkrysti blew a gentle kiss towards her, and then ended the fight with another lightbeam. Angelfire was beaten.

    ¡°Hahh... I forgot about that skill,¡± Ricklelopes shrugged. ¡°But even without it, it was looking grim for Angelfire.¡±

    ¡°Too true.¡± Wandreada agreed.

    After another thirty-five or forty minutes of other people''s matches, it was then my turn to face the music. I looked around as the twinkling sound began. Rayna and I were the only ones left in the room. I waited until I was on the stage with her, and watched the countdown. It was at one minute. I subtly got my potion ready.

    Counting on you, Belle! I thought to myself. Opposite me, Rayna gave me a wink. I made no answer of any kind. She seemed amused by this lack of reaction, and tossed her hair back.

    ¡°Well, well, Lana takes the last spot again.¡± Lumpstein said as he saw me. ¡°I think she got more than a bit lucky last time, personally.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps,¡± Forseti shrugged. ¡°Rayna is noted as the number one assassin in Harmonia, though, from what the player polls say.¡±

    ¡°These last few matches will either confirm or readjust some of those polls. Hah!¡± the Dwarf GM cackled. A couple of his fellow commentators smiled as well, and some of the audience either cheered or booed the words.

    Ten seconds were left. As soon as the counter hit two, I opened the bottle. As it hit zero, I raised it in toast to Rayna, who looked surprised, and drained it in one go. Immediately the bonus took effect, and I softly smiled to myself.

    ¡°Drinking early today, is she?¡± Ricklelopes quipped.

    ¡°I don''t think that was an alcoholic beverage,¡± Wandreada said astutely.

    Rayna opened up with one of her siren attacks, using a sing-song voice to try and lull me into a daze. The look of absolute shock and horror on her face when it failed was priceless to me, and she faltered, stepping back a pace.

    ¡°Let me tell you about being an assassin of any gender in this world,¡± I said to her in an echo of her words to me last night, ¡°The first step: know your target. Shadow World!¡± I then cried out.

    A look of anger crossed her face, and she tried to do the same, but before she could I unleashed that deadly combo of skills upon her: Doomstrike, and Crimson Heart-stinger. Her health went down to zero, and she screamed in rage as her avatar disintegrated. I heard a very surprised obscene exclamation from one of the GMs before I was then greeted with riotous applause, and then teleported off the stage to the victor''s hall, as I had finally figured out it was called.

    My friends met me a few minutes later, and several of them had tears in their eyes from laughing. Lysandra herself was cackling, almost doubling over when she saw me, and Tyman was absolutely cracked up.

    ¡°Day-ha-ha-hum, squirrel!¡± he thumped me on the back heartily.

    ¡°Oh my Gawd, her face! Did you see her face?!¡± Ariana asked as she put a hand on me to keep herself upright.

    ¡°Did I ever!¡± I finally started laughing as well. ¡°I wanted to screen-grab it soooo badly!!¡± I replied, and the laughter redoubled itself all the way to the after-party.

    ***

    A very sheepish Rayna joined us later that night, shaking hands with me and promising to get me back someday with a merry smile. We shared a drink with her, and then she went to mingle with the main crowd. Some of them showed her a screen-grab of the moment she realized I was immune to her skills, and she nearly bust a gut laughing.

    ¡°Ahh, she''s actually really sweet,¡± Jannie remarked, wiping her eyes from all the tears of laughter she had let loose.

    ¡°Definitely.¡± Ariana agreed.

    ¡°Oh, for sure,¡± Winnie nodded. ¡°You gotta laugh at yourself sometimes, might as well be in a video game!¡± she grinned.

    As the party continued, a burly figure strode in to join us. It was General Mad Dog. He looked around the room, espying me in my little corner with Ari, Jannie, Winnie, and Lysandra, striding over with a grin.

    ¡°Hahh. I know where this is going.¡± I remarked.

    ¡°You think?¡± Lysandra quipped sarcastically.

    The werewolf guild-leader in human form then sent me what I was expecting; a challenge. He grinned as I looked over at him with a curious look in my eyes.

    ¡°Valkrysti and Barbarianne both wanted to fight you as well, but I am doubly intrigued by you now. Ironsides, Sun WuKong, and now Rayna. You have jumped the ladder, my little girl, and I desire to see if your strength and wit is enough to overcome me... or if you will be another stepping stone to my next challenge.¡± he told me.

    ¡°How forward of you. I''m only Ariana''s little girl. But I accept your challenge.¡± I replied as he chuckled at the words.

    ¡°Indeed!¡± he agreed, reaching over a hand. I took it, and we shook hands. He then settled himself in another corner of the room with a couple of his other guildmates that had just come in, and our attention was redirected to a dance between Rayna and Tyman.

    W-w-what did we miss that led to that pairing?! I suddenly wondered.

    It was one of those sleepless nights for me, so after everyone else in the guild had logged off and gone to bed, I continued wandering around the city for another night. I did some window-shopping for a couple hours, and then stopped into a tavern for a warm drink. Then I slipped over to the baths, tiredly divesting myself and sliding into the warm water gratefully.

    ¡°Hahh... this is nice,¡± I remarked softly.

    ¡°It is.¡± a soft voice that was definitely female said in answer. I looked around, and I saw a shockingly beautiful character with pale skin, silvery hair, and silvery-purple eyes.

    Oh, she''s a Snow Elf... wait...!!! I suddenly froze.

    ¡°M-Myanihia...?¡± I said. They--she, smiled back.

    ¡°I can''t tell you... how much Lysandra, had wanted to see me, like this.¡±

    ¡°And I get it without even expecting it...¡± I returned.

    ¡°And I get to see you in turn,¡± she said coming over to sit near me. ¡°Even without love in it, there''s an intimacy here, isn''t there?¡±

    ¡°I guess you could say that.¡±

    ¡°Baring our bodies, baring our souls. You''re the first person I''ve allowed to catch me, like this, in real life or the virtual world.¡±

    ¡°For all that, you don''t seem surprised.¡±

    ¡°No; there is... something, about you. I don''t quite understand. Even your anger has no anger at its root. That much I noticed in our last talk.¡±

    ¡°I didn''t expect to talk to you again at all after that, until we met in the tournament.¡± I said to her.

    ¡°I can understand. I''m different. Perhaps, I come off in a bad way. I never cared. It''s who I am.¡± she shrugged. ¡°And you are who you are.¡± she added in a softer voice.

    ¡°I can''t be anyone else,¡± I said. The irony of saying so did not escape me.

    ¡°We think we''re ourselves there and someone else here; but sometimes it''s the other way around. I''m honest like that. I don''t pretend about anything. It''s too burdensome.¡±

    ¡°Can''t argue here.¡± I again agreed in irony. She stretched herself out, and then pulled up a panel.

    ¡°My next fight; Ghostlord.¡± she said solemnly.

    ¡°I doubt he''ll stop you.¡± I replied.

    ¡°No. He won''t. And neither will anyone else stop me, from reaching you... so don''t let them stop you, from reaching me.¡± she said to me. She then looked at me with a serious expression. ¡°One more gift, if you want.¡±

    ¡°Gift?¡± I said, and she called up a few panels to pull a pistol out of her inventory. It was not the one she had used on Timidator, but a slightly smaller one.

    ¡°No one thinks about it, but, werewolves... the silver, is a lie. That was never part, of the original legend. But these bullets... they''re coated in wolfbane. If you are about to be overwhelmed, use it.¡±

    ¡°So the game doesn''t follow the classic trope but goes for one of its own,¡± I remarked as I looked at the pistol.

    ¡°Take it.¡± Myanihia said to me, and I accepted it with a nod, putting it away for now.

    ¡°Why have you offered me help twice now?¡± I then wondered.

    ¡°Because. You know.¡±

    ¡°I know what?¡±

    ¡°My name. My name is midnight.¡± she said, and I recalled again that I had suspected her name was a play on the Irish me¨¢n o¨ªche, midnight. ¡°And yours. Yours is blade.¡± she continued.

    It struck me then that the way we had named our characters had at least a subconscious sort of impact on our play-style. I preferred the blades, Myanihia preferred the shadows. What kind of crazy coincidence is that? I pondered silently.

    ¡°True.¡± I nodded back. ¡°I suppose I''ll have to pay you back sometime for all this,¡± I then said to her.

    ¡°I would not ask. But since my sister has already taken one,¡± she then reached over to kiss me -- on the cheek, at least. ¡°I would not be so desperate as she was.¡± she said in response to my mixed expression of relief and horror. ¡°I honestly hope, I never see you again, after the tournament. But take care of my sister. And,¡± she added, getting up out of the bath, ¡°If you tell her, about me, I will haunt you for the rest of your days in this world.¡± Myanihia told me with a smirk.

    ¡°I won''t tell her. But I''m sure she''ll find out in her own way without me.¡± I returned with a shrug.

    ¡°Who knows.¡± Myanihia replied, covering her pale body with dark hooded robes once more, placing the mask on before she headed out.

    Hahh... how did I get into this again? I can''t remember for the life of me...

 Chapter Forty-Two: The Grand Tournament -- Club Stuff/Werewolf Season

    On Thursday, it was back to being cold. After my encounter with Myanihia, I had logged off at the synchronous midnight and set a couple of alarms to ensure I woke up on time. That plan worked without a hitch, and I was all-too soon out of the door to wait for the bus. In the cold. Well, at least the rain didn''t start until I got on the bus. And it stopped again once we neared the school. Super rainy lately, huh, I thought to myself as I headed inside. Instead of a flick, Ty just bumped my shoulder with a friendly fist, heading off to his locker as I continued on to mine. Rachel and I met with a smile, got our morning books out, put everything else away, and headed on inside the classroom.

    ¡°Anything interesting happen after we left?¡± she said in a quiet voice as we sat down.

    ¡°Hmm... kind of,¡± I replied in the same.

    ¡°Oh?¡±

    ¡°Myanihia turned up again.¡±

    ¡°Hmm...?¡± Rachel remarked, her expression curious. ¡°What did they want?¡±

    ¡°Just to talk again, I guess.¡± I shrugged.

    ¡°Any deep secrets?¡± she asked with a laugh.

    ¡°Oh, a whopper.¡± I said in a more serious tone. She looked at me with surprise.

    ¡°Oh? Can you tell me?¡±

    ¡°Hrrmm...¡± I sighed, looking back at her with a thoughtful expression.

    ¡°Hmm...? One of those kind of secrets, huh?¡±

    ¡°If I tell you, you can''t tell anyone else. Not even Andrea.¡± I warned her.

    ¡°I can handle that.¡± she told me sincerely. I curled my lower lip for a moment, and then beckoned her closer, whispering so that only she could hear. When I was done, she looked back at me, her eyes wide with surprise.

    ¡°Wow,¡± she said in amazement. ¡°Did... sh--they... do anything?¡± she then asked.

    ¡°Not really,¡± I said honestly. ¡°They''re about the same with or without the mask, it seems. Just... mysterious, disinterested, pragmatic... cold.¡± I told her as she nodded back.

    ¡°Hmm.¡± she returned, taking my hand. I smiled.

    ¡°You wanna do something on Saturday before the tournament?¡± I then asked her, and she smiled back.

    ¡°Let''s make some plans later.¡± she told me with a wink.

    ¡°Heh...?¡± I returned, giving her a curious look this time.

    ¡°Hmm... I''m not saying anything definite, but it might be a double-date, if that''s okay?¡± Rachel softly explained with a big smile. It took me a few seconds, but I caught on, and then affected a grin of my own.

    ¡°Ahh... I gotcha.¡± I nodded back. She beamed back at me, and then the bell rang to start us off for the day.

    There were so many things churning around in my head while morning classes went on that I was surprised I was aware enough to take notes. I mean, beyond prepping for out midterms--English and History were giving us topical essays, Mathematics gave us drill sheets, and Science was giving us both an essay and a presentation--there was also a lot of arguably less important things running amok. And that was without counting what lay ahead for our afternoon classes: a World Cultures essay that was reportedly being set at ten pages minimum, tryouts for the musical, and an extensive review of vocabulary, grammar, and characters for Chinese.

    The less important yet also very important things running around in my head included the tournament, Mad Dog, Myanihia, Lysandra, upcoming holiday quests, next year''s guild competitions, and if we would start to gain more members in the guild later on.

    And, of course, more relevant to real life things such as our club doing official things instead of being a mere hangout for we the gamers, such as work visitations and company tours, wondering what kind of things we could do as a group while we still had the chance to do so, speculating on vacation spots and stuff... and the newly uncovered development of Andrea getting a boyfriend. I mean, I wasn''t as in to the whole talking about other people''s relationships and-or setting them up thing, but it did make me kind of happy inside for some reason to see it happening. Was that a girlish thing I had picked up in the last couple of months? Who knows, I mused as our science teacher closed her lecture with an admonition to keep studying. Then the lunch hour began, and Rachel and I were off to the club room.

    To our surprise, there was now a second guy in the room when we got there, sitting near to Andrea, who looked slightly nervous. He had dark-blond hair and a pair of glasses that said ¡°librarian¡± over his brown eyes, and he gave us a smile as we walked in to take our usual seat.

    ¡°Oh! You''re Thomas, aren''t you?¡± Rachel said.

    ¡°Ah-hah, I am!¡± he said in a pleasant voice.

    I figured. Heh, they make a nice match, I thought to myself with a faint grin.

    ¡°A-Andrea invited me over to check the place out... don''t know if I''ll join yet or not, but it''s--¡± he began, inadvertently cut off when the others arrived.

    ¡°Oh! You''re already here! Lo-ser! You could at least tell your best friend when you--¡± Ellie began as she hurried in with Mary and Anhe, and then stopped, almost dropping her lunch when she saw Thomas next to Andrea, who blushed at Ellie''s surprise while Thomas affected a half-smile. Mary and Anhe calmly sat down with us, their lips twitching in a smile, as were mine and Rachel''s.

    ¡°D--d-d-d-d-don''t just stand there, Elisabeth Drew!!¡± Andrea finally cried out. Ellie regained her composure, affecting one of those cat-like smirks of great contentment, and sat down in her usual chair to get her lunch out.

    ¡°Hiii, Thomas.¡± she said.

    ¡°Ah, h-hey, Elisabeth,¡± the other replied.

    ¡°I''m glad you showed up! Now all those rumors about Sean''s personal harem will finally start dying down,¡± the blonde girl said with a grin as she opened her drink and took a swig.

    ¡°Guhyeck!¡± I coughed as the others giggled.

    ¡°Anything to help a fellow quiet-guy out,¡± Thomas smiled back amiably, and I smiled as well, giving him a thumbs-up.

    ¡°So you said yes?¡± Mary then asked Andrea, who nodded, a quiet smile on her face. The other girls all let out whoops or congratulatory exclamations, Anhe clapping happily along. Rachel turned to me and gave me a subtle smile. I knew precisely what it meant.

    Come to think of it, we haven''t really had a double-date since we ran into Joshua and Jane that one time, I recalled.

    ¡°Ahh, finally...!¡± Ellie then said with a sigh of relief. Rachel and I looked at each other with amusement, a wordless conversation going on between us.

    H-how long has she been trying to set them up?

    N-not sure, to be honest... seems like a while, huh?

    Definitely, right?

    Oh absolutely! We smiled at each other.

    ¡°Two pairs of lovebirds; hey, if Sean and Rachel are turtledoves, what the heck are you two gonna be?¡± Ellie then wondered.

    ¡°Eh??¡± Thomas returned, clearly confused.

    ¡°Ahh...¡± Andrea returned uncertainly.

    ¡°Never mind that for now,¡± Mary said. ¡°We have our meeting this afternoon if you want to officially join; of course, we don''t mind you hanging out for just lunch, either!¡± she told Thomas.

    ¡°Eh? Oh, sure, I wouldn''t mind. It seems like a fun endeavor!¡± he replied.

    ¡°Even if it is mostly just an excuse to come and talk about our video game,¡± Anhe said with a shrug.

    ¡°Ahh! Andrea told me a bit about that before we got here,¡± he said with a grin. ¡°I''ve been playing it too; it''s great, huh?¡±

    ¡°No way!¡± Ellie exclaimed.

    ¡°Definite way!¡± Thomas returned. ¡°I play a druid-type; I thought I was doing pretty well in the Grand Tournament, too, until I ran into Mad Dog!¡± he said with a wry grin.

    ¡°Ohh! You were the werebear!¡± Rachel suddenly realized. ¡°And you do some druid-type stuff as well?¡±

    ¡°I figured a werebear druid would be similar enough to my experience in Molek to help me along in this game, so yeah, I went that route.¡± he said.

    ¡°Oh cool; Sean and Rachel play that game too.¡± Ellie said.

    ¡°Really??¡± he said, his eyes lighting up. ¡°We should play sometime! But right now the Panarena craze really has the gamers, doesn''t it?¡±

    ¡°More or less,¡± I agreed.

    ¡°So you''re all in the same guild together? Doesn''t that create in-game harem rumors for you as well?¡± he asked me with a laugh.

    ¡°Ahh...¡± I began, uncertain of how to reply.

    ¡°Oh trust me. Sean''s a completely different person in-game. There''s no rumors like that going around.¡± Mary said, subtly winking at me.

    ¡°Come to think of it...¡± Thomas then remarked, ¡°What was the name of your guild?¡±

    ***

    ¡°Th-that was fairly humiliating...¡± I remarked as Rachel and I headed off to World Cultures with Ellie. The girls had ended up taking a vote, deciding to let Thomas in on our family secret. He had been shocked for a moment, then slightly annoyed that I might actually be a pervert, and then doubled over with laughter as the girls assured him I was the furthest thing from it and usually on the receiving end of any shenanigans that went on in-game, citing waaay too many examples for my liking.

    ¡°I think it was worth it, though.¡± Ellie shrugged.

    ¡°Oh definitely.¡± Rachel agreed.

    ¡°I hope so.¡±

    ¡°Trust me, I''ve known Thomas almost as long as I''ve known Andi.¡± Ellie replied. ¡°And if nothing else, that handshake he gave you should have persuaded you that things are gonna be fine!¡± she added.

    ¡°True,¡± I had to admit.

    ¡°I look forward to meeting you all later, and you too, Windstrider!¡± he had said at the end of lunch.

    ¡°S-same,¡± I managed to reply as we shook hands.

    ¡°Hmm... the mall is too obvious...¡± Rachel said as we rounded a corner. ¡°Where else could we go?¡± she asked me.

    ¡°Heh? Oh!¡± I remembered, and then smiled. ¡°What about that cafe and bookstore we like?¡± I said, and she reached over to give me a high-five.

    ¡°Yes!!¡± she said.

    ¡°And now you''re planning romantic things for friends, huh?¡± Ellie grinned at us.

    ¡°Isn''t it fun?¡± my girlfriend smiled back.

    ¡°Oh def.¡± the older girl nodded as we reached class, heading inside to take our seats.

    When our afternoon classes were over, we returned to the club room, officially adopting Thomas as one of our members as a first order of business, getting him up to speed on our plans for the club, and then finally breaking out our homework and review sheets for our study group. Anhe was very vocal for a change with Rachel and myself, ensuring that we knew the correct pronunciation and the right way to write the characters for our upcoming Chinese midterm-slash-final.

    ¡°My mother will also be teaching you next year for Japanese, and she does the advanced classes as well, but she always says that this first year is very crucial, especially for Mandarin!¡± she told us animatedly.

    ¡°Hm? Anhe, you speak Japanese too?¡± I asked her.

    ¡°I do! Look forward to your favorite mother and daughter teaching duo next year!¡± she said proudly.

    ¡°We definitely will!¡± Rachel smiled back, and I nodded in agreement.

    We finished all of our academic to-do lists about ten minutes before we had to leave, so Thomas showed us a few card tricks that he had done on television before. I would never understand how people did them even if I lived a thousand years, but it was certainly impressive. Then we found out that he could also drive, which was a good thing, because Ellie suddenly got called in for an emergency shift at work, so Andrea, Rachel, and I ended up going home with him. He dropped the girls off first, and then we went to my house.

    ¡°It really is funny, finding out about your ''family secret'', as they like to call it,¡± he said with a soft grin.

    ¡°I guess it is,¡± I had to agree.

    ¡°I''m sure that some mind doctor somewhere would love to do a special study on you someday, but for now, I''m just glad--¡±

    ¡°That kind of stuff was the furthest thing from my mind by the time I got to this game, believe me,¡± I said to him, and he laughed again.

    ¡°No worries, man.¡± he replied, and with that we were suddenly pulling up to my house.

    ¡°Ahh... thanks, and... thanks.¡± I said as I got out of the car. Thomas smiled back.

    ¡°You got it!¡± he said, and a few moments later he drove off.

    I got into the house just as it started to rain for the second time that day, briefly sighing in relief.

    ¡°Club go okay?¡± dad''s voice came from the living room.

    ¡°It did,¡± I replied.

    ¡°Good; there''s a few subs in the fridge. I guess your homework is done, and it''s gonna get worse with the rain anyway, so you can do what you want for today.¡± he said.

    ¡°Thanks, dad.¡± I said in reply.

    ¡°No problem, kiddo. Have fun!¡± he told me, and with that I went to eat an early dinner (being a little before six) and then scurried off to my room. I read a couple chapters from a book that I was keeping up with for the next hour, and then headed on in to Panarena.

    ***

    It was early morning in Panarena. It would be about a whole day in-game before the tournament resumed. I wandered aimlessly, passing through the Market District and eventually ending up in the Central District where the Holy Palace was situated.

    It was just like I remembered from the introductory cinematic I had seen. The mountain it sat upon was not tall, but it didn''t feel short, either. It was almost as if the palace was somehow shaped from the mountain itself. I couldn''t go inside, of course; according to the forum rumors, that privilege was going to be bestowed upon those who distinguished themselves in the guild competitions or in the PvP battles against Onyxus players and guilds.

    Somehow, I don''t think they''re far wrong, I thought as I strolled through the gardens that surrounded the area. There were bards and minstrels playing at various locations, and court nobles or courtiers idling around to listen. It was a soothing place, and by the time I wandered out of it the area had livened up a bit more, being around eight in the morning for Panarena.

    I ended up walking through the Homesteads District, looking around at all the magnificent manors and mansions that players could buy or win here in the capital of Harmonia. There were more than a few that seemed just too gaudy for my liking, but there were also one or two that definitely caught my eye. We could definitely set up a house here, maybe, I pondered as I gazed at one of the latter, a cozy villa with a central garden visible through its breezeway. I''ll let the others decide when or if it comes to that.

    Then I ended up in the Market District again, where, as I at least half-anticipated, Lysandra found me first. She gave me a hug, and then we continued walking together, not saying anything at first, but I could tell she was more at ease for sure. She wasn''t wearing her usual outfit. Today, our werewolf guildie was wearing a black dress-tunic with soft leather sandals, and a silver necklace with a sapphire shaped like a wolf set into it.

    ¡°That looks nice,¡± I said after a few moments.

    ¡°Thanks.¡± she smiled back. ¡°I''m in a rare girlish mood today, you know? So I thought I''d change it up a bit.¡±

    ¡°I can understand that,¡± I nodded back.

    ¡°Hahh... tournaments are so stressful, I''m done being a gloomy loner, blah, blah, blah.¡± she quipped, and I grinned back at her. ¡°Partly sarcasm, at least. I''m glad to be a part of your guild. I don''t know how quickly I''ll come down from how I used to be, but...¡± she trailed off, a soft smile on her lips.

    ¡°We''ll be here for you.¡± I told her, and she nodded.

    ¡°So. Mad Dog tonight.¡± Lysandra said after a moment.

    ¡°Yeah.¡± I returned with a slight unease.

    The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

    ¡°No use fretting now.¡±

    ¡°I know... just some other things on my mind.¡±

    ¡°Oh? Like what?¡± she asked me.

    You have a sister. She says she doesn''t care about you, but I get the strangest feeling she''s lying about that. It''s just a gut feeling I''m getting.

    ¡°M-mid-term exams and stuff,¡± I replied out loud.

    ¡°Ahh... yeah. Difficult stuff?¡±

    ¡°The math is worrisome, and the science ranks behind it, to say nothing about the Chinese; but at least with that I''m a bit more confident.¡±

    ¡°Hmm... say something!¡± she then grinned at me, and I impressed her with a few phrases I was now more able to put together than I had been at the start of the semester. ¡°That''s really good; what are you planning to do in college?¡± Lysandra wondered.

    ¡°I don''t know... I wasn''t really thinking that far ahead, until this year... and now I really don''t know.¡± I admitted. She smiled, patting my shoulder as we reached the others, who had just logged in.

    ¡°You''ll find it. I promise.¡± she said.

    ¡°Lana!¡± Ari called, running towards me and wrapping me in a hug as I hugged her back. ¡°Look who we found!¡± she said as she let go of me to take my hand, pointing to a tall player near Healina.

    ¡°H-hey... I dunno, that kind of works for you, somehow,¡± the guy told me.

    ¡°Oh! It''s Ma--uhh... what''s your name here?¡± I suddenly wondered.

    ¡°Derwydd; it''s a bit punny, linguistically speaking,¡± he said with a laugh as Healina smiled up at him.

    ¡°Hmm...? Oh, I get it!¡± I grinned. His name was his occupation: druid.

    ¡°Nice to see another person who understands Cymraeg!¡± he grinned back.

    ¡°It''s fun, isn''t it?¡± I said.

    ¡°Lana, is this one here okay for our pre-game hangout?¡± Healina asked me, indicating the nearby tavern. It had a cottage look to it, and there was a homely smell wafting out from its doors, along with a hint of incense. There were trains of ivy and moss running along one of its sides, and a well-tended flower garden on either side of the walk that led up to it.

    ¡°Sure!¡± I said, and we headed on inside.

    I soon understood her desire to try this one; it reminded me very much of the bookstore and cafe I had suggested to Rachel as a spot for our upcoming Saturday. The place was run by Pixies and Gnomes, and we were absolutely overcome by the adorableness of it all -- even Belle. Derwydd seemed fairly amused at how I was nearly indistinguishable from the other female characters in this regard, whispering something to Heali at one point that had her quietly shaking with laughter, nodding back as she looked over at me. I pretended not to notice.

    When it was finally time for the tournament to resume, none of us actually wanted to leave the tavern. There was about forty minutes left. Finally, Lysandra stood up, gently picking me up out of my seat with a strong hand before hoisting me over her shoulder.

    ¡°I''ll go drop our fearless leader off at the arena and come back here after.¡± she grinned.

    ¡°See you soon!¡± Ariana waved as I, suspended in the air, feebly waved back. The others laughed back heartily. I have never been so glad that Lizzy was not online in my entire Panarena life, I sighed as the werewolf-girl headed out the door with me.

    She put me down before we entered the Arena District, by which time I felt thoroughly embarrassed about all the pointing and chuckling that we had gone through. I let out a sigh, and she smirked at me.

    ¡°I have to do something to remind my little sister that she''ll always be my little sister.¡± she commented.

    ¡°I-I thought we adopted you,¡± I quipped back.

    ¡°True, but still.¡± she shrugged.

    ¡°I feel like I''m getting that little-sister thing a lot lately,¡± I then remarked as we got near the arena. She put a hand on my head, scruffing up my hair a bit.

    ¡°Because we love you.¡± she said softly, making sure I was the only one who could hear. I blushed, and she kissed my cheek. ¡°Go show Mad Dog how a queen deals with their enemies.¡± she said, and then headed back to the cozy tavern with a wave. I nodded back, and then turned to head into the arena, ducking into a side room to equip my gear.

    Once I had done that, I entered the contestant''s hall as usual, finding it fairly lonesome to look at now that it was almost over. I meandered over to what had become the usual spot for me, sitting down with a forlorn sigh.

    ¡°That was a nice upset yesterday.¡± someone remarked as they approached me. It was Barbarianne. ¡°They''re still ranting on the forums about it, and they probably will be until after New Year''s.¡±

    ¡°For that matter there''s probably a lot of ranting about all the other upsets and failed expectations,¡± I said with a wry shrug.

    ¡°True!¡± she agreed. ¡°I hope I get to fight with you; but if I don''t, I insist you come over to our guildhall sometime for an informal match!¡± she said to me.

    ¡°I''ll look forward to it either way,¡± I replied, and she smiled as we shook hands on it.

    ¡°Though Valkrysti definitely has you in her sights as well, to say nothing of--¡± she cut herself off, nodding towards the corner where Myanihia was.

    ¡°I know.¡± I returned in a soft voice.

    ¡°Good luck to whomever ends up facing them at the end.¡±

    ¡°You think they''ll get there, huh?¡±

    ¡°They''re a definite shoo-in. A lot of people think you or Ghostlord are the only ones who stand a chance against them now.¡±

    ¡°Not you, Valkrysti, or Mad Dog?¡± I wondered.

    ¡°I don''t want to put myself down, but I don''t think I could keep up with their strategies. Their Shadow Clone skill is too good.¡± Barbarianne remarked with a sigh. ¡°Valkrysti could probably blow them away, but then Myanihia is more than capable of doing the same thing to her. And Mad Dog...¡± she paused, looking over at the man in question. ¡°That one''s a toss-up.¡±

    ¡°Hmm...¡± I reflected, and then slowly nodded. ¡°I can understand that.¡±

    ¡°Yeah. Hey, nice talking with you... I''m gonna get myself ready for this wizard fight I have to deal with.¡± she said, patting my shoulder.

    ¡°It was nice talking to you, too!¡± I said, and she smiled as she headed off. Shortly after our exchange, the tournament was resumed for its sixth round of matches.

    There were only eight fights tonight. The tournament had started at its new-normal time, but the duration of the matches was being extended to an hour for this round and the last two, along with the final match. This was because the survivors-slash-victors at this point, including myself, were more wary of each other and the skills we could unleash. The GMs had decided that because of this, more time might be needed or there was the possibility of draws even with the hitpoints rule in effect.

    ¡°And... there goes Barbarianne''s opponent,¡± I remarked as the first match concluded.

    He had kept her on the ropes for the first twenty minutes, using a dazzling array of magic from all across the board; one minute he was raining down lightning, the next a massive fire had broken out, only to be doused moments later by a flood that threatened to knock his opponent out of the ring, and then this was chased up by a windstorm punctuated with ice shards and shock sprites that wore her down more than she seemed to have anticipated.

    The mistake that this impressive wizard suddenly made was to get arrogant, approaching Barbarianne with a gleaming dagger to finish her off--or so he thought. As soon as he was within range, she lunged with her axe, knocking the dagger away and forcing him to use his staff to defend against her for the next minute until she again used the axe to hook his staff and yank it away from him so she could drive her sword through him. He yelped, and then she used the axe to finish him off.

    After her victory, Valkrysti and her opponent, a high profile archer who had skillfully dispatched their opponents throughout the preliminaries and the tournament, appeared on the stage. The thing that separated this archer from a lot of the others who had been defeated or who were also still hanging on was that they used a special compound bow that you could get if you had enough reputation with three Dwarf factions in the game. This made their damage output greater than most, but he had also learned to rapidly fire that bow as if it was a semi-automatic firearm.

    Valkrysti actually had to equip her shield to repel his deadly shots. As she kept focusing on defensive skills and healing spells to sustain her, he continually rained down a host of arrows upon her, eventually shattering her shield with one of his more powerful shots. I whistled in admiration, wondering what skill it was.

    ¡°Thunderfury.¡± the more familiar nondescript, muffled voice of Myanihia remarked.

    ¡°Nice.¡± I returned. ¡°Eh? When did you get here?¡±

    ¡°Just now.¡± they--she, told me. ¡°Thunderfury... is a good skill to have, for an archer-type. Far up the skill tree, though.¡±

    ¡°Hmm.¡± I nodded as my attention returned to the fight. It didn''t seem like the archer, Zeebub Bael, was ever going to run out of arrows.

    ¡°Interesting. He trained up a mage skill.¡± Myanihia remarked. I was puzzled for a moment, and then I understood.

    Whatever mage skill you train up gives you access to Mystic Storage, no matter how high you actually level the skill. That meant Zeebub had used this little quirk to craft a nearly endless supply of arrows and quivers made from the right kind of materials, allowing them to be held in Mystic Storage until needed.

    ¡°And because Mystic Storage simply re-equips you when you''re running low on a consumable, whether it''s a potion or a missile-type weapon, he can keep doing that all day if he wanted.¡± I observed.

    ¡°Precisely.¡± Myanihia nodded.

    ¡°Still, for all that, it seems like she''s slowly turning things around on him.¡± I noted.

    ¡°Good eyes.¡± she replied to me softly.

    Valkrysti had pulled out a second shield by now, still focusing on defense. But she was also quietly setting traps. If Zeebub had actually taken a pause he might have noticed her doing so, and he might have also not unwittingly fallen for her tactic of luring him into them. Subtly, she psyched him into circling the stage opposite her as he continued to try and break her second shield as well, only to suddenly step onto one of the traps she had laid. It was a shock rune. He misfired the shot that he was preparing to fire, and was thrown off of his rhythm.

    Valkrysti did not hesitate for a second. She charged at him, bashing his face with the shield several times to further disorient him, then blinding him with a spell before running him through with her spear to end the battle. A couple more fights between others I didn''t recognize then took place, both fights ending with the combatants eliminating each other at the same time, and after the second of these Myanihia vanished for her match. Mad Dog then joined me to watch the screens.

    ¡°Don''t know how you stand them, or why they talk to you.¡± he said with a light shrug.

    ¡°It''s complicated.¡± I remarked, not untruthfully.

    ¡°Huh.¡± he said. ¡°Ahhh, Ghostlord. This will be good!¡± the werewolf guild leader said with a grin.

    Ghostlord, the Rogue Shadowkin, landed on the stage with Myanihia Black. Some had thought he was a necromancer early on, but then he had never really used any defining skills since fighting in the prelims. ¡°Necromancer¡± was probably only attached to him on account of his name, but technically, dominating ghosts and evil spirits was more of a sorcerer''s thing, or at least that was the general clich¨¦.

    I had never actually gotten near this guy, but they gave off a very similar vibe to Myanihia''s own lack of presence. But at least I knew when Myanihia was around, even if I couldn''t always predict where exactly they were. With Ghostlord... there was basically nothing.

    ¡°Shadowkin are hard to detect, even by scent. They''re anomalous.¡± Mad Dog noted.

    ¡°Come to think of it, Snow Elves have that sort of presence-less thing too.¡± I recalled.

    ¡°Hmm? Snow Elf? Myanihia? How can you tell?¡± Mad Dog looked at me quickly.

    ¡°Huh?¡± I looked back. ¡°I saw h--their eyes once.¡± I told him.

    ¡°They got that close to you, huh?¡± he wondered with an interested look in his eyes.

    ¡°They''ve gotten close several times,¡± I shrugged.

    ¡°Hmm.¡± the werewolf said in reply, returning his attention to the display, as did I. ¡°Curious. I wonder what it is that has all these players circling around you; myself included.¡±

    Th-that''s what I want to know!! I thought bemusedly.

    ¡°Oh! It started!¡± I then said as the countdown went to zero.

    This time, Ghostlord showed their true colors. It was as if they had been waiting this entire tournament to fight Myanihia, holding all of their special skills and trump cards for just this fight. He did have necromantic skills, but I quickly identified him as a Void Mage.

    ¡°Oooohh...!!¡± I said with awe as I watched his skills come to life for the fist time.

    ¡°No wonder his previous opponents seemed to be drained of life by the end of the match; it was a passive skill from his racial tree and the Void Mage masteries.¡± Mad Dog remarked as he observed the battle.

    I wasn''t sure who would come out of this battle: the fighter who became a part of the shadows, or the one who literally was the shadows. Myanihia seemed taken aback by the sudden reveal of void magic, uncertain of what to do for the first few minutes of the fight except to keep evading the attacks. Void magic was pretty rare on this side of Panarena; a lot of the skills I was seeing now were ones I had only read about in the guides or on the forums.

    Soul Rupture, one of the more deadly attacks, threatened to knock off quite a lot of health from Myanihia several times. And Nihilistic Harvest, an area-of-effect spell that remained on the ground for nearly five minutes, had her on the ropes for sure. But she fought back with her ranged skills, attacking her enemy with poison darts and jagged barbs to place moderate DoTs on Ghostlord. He seemed to struggle with these attacks, but his relentlessness was not so easily dissuaded.

    As he calmly kept casting spells in the center of the stage, Myanihia had her hands full continuing to dodge and evade his malicious reprisals for the next several agonizing minutes, including an attack I recognized as Soul Burst from the forums, which was an attack meant to implode your enemy from within at a random spot. It had a high fatality chance if it struck the right area. Fortunately for Myanihia, who was low on health, it just barely missed her, and then she used a paralysis poison on her enemy, which dropped him to the ground.

    As Ghostlord''s area spells ended prematurely, Myanihia slowly recovered herself, and then strode over to him slowly with all the finality of death itself. Ghostlord tried to get back up, using some of his skills to try and cancel the paralysis, but Myanihia only used more on him until he was as still as a gargoyle. She then got within melee range, and used her short-swords to take off his head and end the match.

    ¡°Heh. Wasn''t much after all.¡± Mad Dog shrugged. ¡°Two more matches, and then it''s the two of us.¡± he said, and I nodded back.

    Those next matches went on for about forty minutes total. The intense duel between two mages ended when one finally overpowered the other in terms of sheer force, the almost-victorious lightning mage grinning at his victory over the hapless fire mage, who cast a retribution spell that took the other out at the last possible moment. Following this, the last knight in the tournament and the last archer also took each other out simultaneously, and so it was down to Mad Dog and myself.

    ¡°Four, count ''em, four technical draws so far!¡± Lumpstein grumbled as the two of us materialized on stage.

    ¡°The rules state that, in such an event, both players lose the match.¡± Athena said.

    ¡°Hah! Bet we get a lot of complaints about that later.¡±

    ¡°But at this rate we can move up the schedule a bit; and instead of having two matches on Saturday we can skip to the grand finale.¡± Forseti shrugged.

    ¡°Hmm.¡± the Dwarf GM nodded.

    ¡°Our apologies to the eight disqualified combatants; better luck next year!¡± Wandreada said cheerfully.

    ¡°Now we get to see another interesting fight from the assassin who''s been surprising the odds, and the werewolf who''s been riding on them!¡± Ricklelopes said with a hint of glee.

    ¡°Let the final match commence!¡± Athena called out as the ten-second countdown began. I readied my daggers, and Mad Dog shifted into his werewolf form. The counter hit zero, and the match began.

    At first we danced around each other a bit, daring the other to make the first real move. Then Mad Dog did the honors, lunging at me. I dodged out of the way, and then on a sudden impulse I jumped onto his back, stabbing him twice near the gut before he shook and threw me off. I quickly regained my balance and then spun out of the way as he swiped at me, then entered Shadow Speed to do some damage with my bow. He took several hits, but he also snatched several more of my arrows from the air and snapped them, catching a Twin-shot with his jaws and breaking them with his fangs. Shadow Speed ended, and I retreated into Shadow Veil.

    He then let loose with one of his howls. I then discovered that, because I was a Gael, I had a moderate resistance to werewolf howls, if not a complete immunity, but I also remembered that I had a two-percent chance to nullify a howl-skill. That was not favorable odds, but it seemed like a jackpot winning number to me right now. As Mad Dog lunged at me again, I swiftly took out my daggers, swiping him with Holy Crescent Flash and then evading a swipe.

    For the next couple of minutes I used all my skills to evade those powerful paws and claws, trying to lure him into feeling confident enough to not use the howls. Because he probably didn''t need to, to tell the truth. His strength was enough.

    I then slipped up a bit, and he knocked the wind out of me, sending me flying across the stage. He pounced, and I rolled out of the way as fast as I could, springing back to my feet before he could swipe again and dropping one of my lotus bombs. It was sure to be more effective on him than it had been on the other person. I dropped two more for insurance, and then looked back; he was having a definite reaction to it. Mad Dog sneezed a couple of times, trying to blow away the smoke, but by that time the lotus and nightshade had definitely affected him.

    Even so, I doubt he''ll roll over so easily, I remarked internally. The triple dosage I had given him had him tottering for a moment, but he pressed through it and let out another howl. This one summoned up lesser wolves to help him, and I had my hands full trying to get rid of the minions while the mad dog himself came after me with a fierce grin.

    ¡°Ha-ha! I can keep you on the run, and one way or another, I''ll end this fight with my claws and teeth yet again!¡± he declared, sending a shiver down my back.

    Any means, huh? I then thought. I stumbled a bit as I finished off his last wolf, and he raked me across the back with his great claws.

    Y--YEOWCH!!!! I screamed inwardly, a strangled sound coming from my throat. Mad Dog pranced around for a bit, getting ready for another lunge, when he suddenly looked at me with interest.

    ¡°Oh-ho, that''s right,¡± he suddenly recalled. ¡°You''ve never died before in this game, have you? You''ve never known how painful it can be.¡±

    ¡°Got... close... once...!¡± I stammered out.

    ¡°Ha! Still,¡± he chuckled.

    There was a massive bleed effect on me. Mad Dog actually waited until it had worn off, leaving me with sixty-five percent health down from the eighty-six I had been left with earlier from being smacked across the room and fighting off wolf minions. He was at nearly the same amount. I had a feeling that mine might go down faster soon.

    ¡°Ughh...¡± I said dazedly, trying to get up.

    ¡°Are you still fighting?¡± Mad Dog asked. I was nearly up again when he let loose with Howl of the Void again. I froze instinctively, then I noticed that my two-percent resistance had come through.

    Don''t let him know it, was my first thought. Without him noticing, I managed to equip the pistol I had been given, keeping it hidden. Mad Dog finished with his howl, and then strode towards me. He had a grin of victory on his face as he picked me up by the collar of my jerkin, probably getting ready to run me through the gut.

    But then I surprised him. As fast as lightning, I pointed that pistol right between his eyes and fired twice. His eyes widened, but he smiled all the brighter as his avatar disintegrated; those two shots to the head, coated as they were with wolfbane, had downed him instantly. I landed back on my feet unsteadily, hearing the sound of wild applause from the audience and the sound of cackling from Ricklelopes and Lumpstein.

    ¡°You never fail to astound us all, Lana Windstrider. On to your next match tomorrow, then!¡± Forseti remarked, and with that I was teleported to the victor''s hall.

    ***

    I wandered back to the cottage-like tavern, where I found my friends waiting for me. Once again, they looked as if they had been doubled over with laughter for the fifteen minutes or so it had taken me to get back. I approached them with a sheepish grin, and Ariana gave me a hug as I sat down with her again.

    ¡°Oh my Gawwwd. Where did you get that pistol?¡± Maryn said as she cracked up again.

    ¡°Ah-heh... f-from Myanihia...¡± I replied.

    ¡°Ehh?!¡± the girls, including Lysandra, all exclaimed at once.

    ¡°Pfft. If I didn''t know any better, I''d say they liked you.¡± Lysandra then remarked.

    ¡°They do visit Lana an awful lot, don''t they?¡± Belle agreed.

    ¡°Hmm?¡± Derwydd wondered. ¡°But--¡±

    ¡°Derwydd!¡± Healina gently tugged on his sleeve, whispering to him. He then let out a sly smile, nodding back.

    ¡°What was that about?¡± Lysandra wondered.

    ¡°Ah, nothing!¡± Heali said.

    ¡°Hmm...¡±

    ¡°I guess those other eight players are probably pretty mad,¡± I remarked then, ¡°But I''m kind of glad I only have to go through two more times, now. Some of those disqualified players were ridiculously powerful.¡±

    ¡°And the ones who are still in the tournament aren''t?¡± Belle said with a sly giggle.

    ¡°Well sure they are, but I have a better handle on them than the others.¡±

    ¡°Who was it that said ''know your enemy'' to Rayna the other day?¡± Ariana remarked innocently.

    ¡°Hyeck!¡± I gulped.

    ¡°But I totally get it!¡± she then grinned.

    ¡°Hahh...¡± I sighed.

    ¡°Anyway; oh, they have some lovely items on the supper menu here!¡± Ariana said as she pulled up the menu in question.

    ¡°Sounds good to me!¡± I nodded.

    ¡°A private little party doesn''t sound bad for a change.¡± Lysandra said in agreement.

    ¡°Ha-ha, you girls have been at quite a few after-parties lately, huh?¡± Derwydd said.

    ¡°Definitely.¡± Healina nodded.

    ¡°Time for a guild-only party! Boyfriends included, of course!¡± Belle said with a wink to the two of them. They immediately blushed, looking over at each other with a smile.

    As we slid into our usual banter, I gazed idly out of the window for a moment. Myanihia was there. She shook her head. I took that to mean she wanted me to challenge either Valkrysti or Barbarianne next. I blinked, and she retreated into the shadows.

    ¡°Lana?¡± Ari said to me.

    ¡°Nothing.¡± I replied, rejoining the conversation with a smile.

    I''ll see you on Saturday, Myanihia Black.

 Chapter Forty-three: The Grand Tournament -- Shadows and Light

    On Friday, I woke up as usual, had some breakfast, and then went back to my room to browse the game forums a bit while getting ready for school. There were quite a lot of posts on the last couple of surprises from Myanihia and myself, mostly revolving around Ghostlord''s sudden display of skill against Myanihia or the fact that I had managed to resist Howl of the Void and lure Mad Dog into a trap. Most of the former were speculating on what might have happened if Ghostlord could have resisted Myanihia''s paralysis darts, and most of the latter were focused on trying to figure out if I had anymore surprises up my sleeves.

    ¡°I guess we''ll have to see tonight, won''t we,¡± I said quietly as I finished getting ready and headed downstairs to get my pack and go wait for the bus.

    All too soon I was back on my way to school. Sure, I''ve warmed up to it a bit lately, but it''s still a school, man. Even if we do get a stipend based on attendance and grades, thanks to the Education Reforms that happened when my parents were still in school. Boy, apparently education and schools were a mess back then... at least it wasn''t so bad now.

    So I guess I should say, the bus came at the usual time, and dropped us off at the usual spot, so we could, thankfully, head off to our usual school routine. Oh, the stipend? It''s not that much, compared to an actual job. But some of us like to save it up. I was one of those hoarders, at least until this year.

    But Sean, why does Ellie work now if she gets a stipend from the school?

    I think I kind of just explained that. Then again, Ellie was probably going to look for an apartment somewhere soon so she could get out of what was apparently an overcrowded house, so to my point again, the stipend is not a living wage, more of a ¡°thanks for being a good student¡± kind of thing. Anyway.

    Ty and I parted ways after entering the school, and a few minutes later, Rachel and I were in our classroom talking idly until the bell rang. Well, mostly idly. I had logged off early for a change, and she had apparently stayed on with Heali-Andrea and Derwydd-Thomas until the two of them headed off as well.

    ¡°I think they''ll definitely hit it off once they get going... was so sure they were going to kiss before they left, but... oh well.¡± Rachel remarked with a sigh.

    ¡°You''re really invested now, huh?¡± I smiled.

    ¡°Definitely!¡± she replied.

    ¡°It''s... what can I say, you''re cute in a different way when you talk about them.¡± I said to her in a quieter voice.

    ¡°Hmm...?¡± she looked at me with a smile. ¡°It''s fun when your friends find a special someone! It''s like watching your own romance from the beginning, somehow.¡±

    ¡°Huh,¡± I returned as I thought about it for a moment, ¡°Hmm... I can see that,¡± I nodded back in agreement.

    ¡°But anyway; that tavern last night!¡± she said excitedly.

    ¡°Definite secret spot.¡±

    ¡°Oh absolutely.¡± Rachel nodded at once. ¡°It was sooo cuuuute,¡± she sighed again, fanning herself a bit as I smiled at her.

    ¡°I bet we can make Cloverbell just as cute someday.¡±

    ¡°Yes!! Absolutely yes!¡±

    ¡°I guess if they have a Spring Festival, that''d be a good time to find some decorations and stuff in that kind of style,¡± I mused, and she nodded back.

    ¡°Winter Fest should have some nice ones too, though.¡± she said.

    ¡°Oh definitely. Let''s not rush things too much,¡± I said with a grin, and Rachel smiled back. The bell then sounded, and classes began.

    As we gathered in the club room later for lunch, I remembered that I had been challenged by Valkrysti for the next tournament match before I headed off for the night. That was probably starting to become its own forum topic, now that the matches were being advertised on the forums and in the game. Ellie was definitely grumpy that she had missed the show, and when Rachel told her how Lysandra had carried me out of the tavern to take me to the arena she nearly fell out of her chair laughing.

    ¡°It wasn''t that funny,¡± I remarked with a sigh.

    ¡°Hahh... yes it was.¡± Mary returned.

    ¡°And now I get to miss tonight''s matches again.¡± Ellie remarked with a groan.

    ¡°Aww!¡± Rachel said sadly.

    ¡°But I''m definitely gonna see Saturday night! Once I get through the matinees...¡±

    ¡°That place gets crowded quick, huh?¡± I said, remembering our visit to it as a group.

    ¡°You''re telling me,¡± Ellie nodded. ¡°He knows how to keep people coming, for sure.¡±

    ¡°Hmm? Where''s this now?¡± Thomas wondered.

    ¡°Oh, Ellie works at Fun Castle,¡± Andrea told him.

    ¡°Wow!¡±

    ¡°I''m just a server... I bet you could get a job as an entertainer there, though,¡± the blonde girl told him.

    ¡°I mean, I''ve thought about it...¡± he admitted. ¡°Maybe next time they have an open call.¡±

    ¡°End of November.¡± Ellie replied.

    ¡°Nice!¡±

    ¡°Definitely go for it,¡± Andrea smiled. ¡°I liked those tricks you showed us, and you''d probably be good in the kids'' section they have as well.¡±

    ¡°Wanna come with?¡± he said in reply.

    ¡°Hmm? Ahh... maybe,¡± she replied coyly. ¡°Oh! What time were we meeting tomorrow?¡± she then said to Rachel.

    ¡°Eleven?¡± Rachel looked at me.

    ¡°That works.¡± I nodded.

    ¡°Gotcha,¡± Thomas nodded as well.

    ¡°Hahh... and the first date is a double-date.¡± Ellie said with another sigh. The four of us looked around at each other with wry smiles, Thomas shrugging.

    ¡°We''ll do something tonight before heading online to watch the tournament.¡± he said in reply.

    ¡°Hmm?¡± Andrea looked over at him in surprise, and he gave her a small grin.

    ¡°Anyway,¡± Mary broke in with a gentle laugh, ¡°You ready for tonight?¡± she asked, turning to me.

    ¡°About as much as I can be,¡± I shrugged. ¡°Stylistically speaking, I''m probably an even worse match against her than Angelfire was, after all,¡± I noted.

    ¡°Hmm... not necessarily.¡± Thomas remarked.

    ¡°Hm?¡± I wondered. He looked over at the clock, frowning at the time.

    ¡°There''s not enough time to really explain it right now,¡± he continued, ¡°But once we''re in Panarena there''s a friend of mine who can help demonstrate something, a guildmate, actually.¡±

    ¡°Oh nice; that reminds me, what guild are you in?¡± I asked.

    ¡°It''s called ''Dreamers Fables''. Kind of a silly name, but they''re good people!¡± he said.

    ¡°Heh...? I kind of like that name,¡± I remarked.

    ¡°Same!¡± Andrea nodded.

    ¡°It''s cute! Sounds like a fairy tale book,¡± Rachel agreed.

    ¡°Some of us are actually keeping a journal of our adventures in the hopes that we can convince the developers to let us write a book based on them,¡± he told us.

    ¡°Oh neat!¡± Rachel exclaimed.

    ¡°No, really, that''s super cool,¡± I said with interest.

    ¡°Good luck to them!¡± Mary smiled.

    ¡°We should keep a journal of our own adventures,¡± Anhe then said.

    ¡°Ehh... not really my thing, but go for it if you want!¡± I said to her.

    ¡°I''ll help you, Anhe!¡± Rachel added.

    ¡°I look forward to it!¡± the younger girl smiled back.

    ***

    Lunch gave way to afternoon classes, which gave way to our rides home, followed up by doing homework and then a few chores around the house before dinner, and after that had been eaten I retreated up to my room for the night.

    ¡°Albert, where did I put the keys?¡± my mother''s voice called.

    ¡°Hmm? In your coat, like you always do, right?¡± dad replied. That was all I heard before I shut the door. Off again for some rich client''s house tour that was probably forgotten three times by the rotten jerk, I bet...

    Anyhow. Soon I had escaped the confines of my room, at least mentally, to enjoy that fantasy world I was thinking more and more of as home, even with my actual reality shaping up better than it had been.

    About twenty in-game minutes after logging in, Healina sent me a message to meet them at a training hall not far from the arena. She and Ariana were there, along with Derwydd and one other from his guild, Dreamers Fables. The young woman looked to be around Lysandra''s age; she was a silver-clad Ch''rquoi mage with raven-black hair and dazzling green eyes.

    ¡°Lana!¡± the merry werebear druid waved. ¡°This is Snow Dancer, she''s a fellow officer in the guild I''m with,¡± he told us as I shook hands with her.

    ¡°Good to meet you!¡± she said.

    ¡°Same,¡± I replied.

    ¡°All right. Now, Valkrysti is probably the most powerful user of light-magic in the game, but I like to think of Snow as the more ingenious,¡± he said, and she smiled at the words. ¡°That''s because she recognizes one of its more prominent weaknesses.¡±

    ¡°W-weaknesses?¡± I wondered.

    ¡°That''s right,¡± Snow Dancer nodded as Derwydd stepped back to Heali and Ari.

    ¡°What kind of weaknesses?¡± I wondered.

    ¡°It''s hard to explain with words, to be honest, but once you fight me for a few minutes I''m sure you''ll pick it up. A lot of people say you''re unusually sharp, after all.¡± she told me.

    ¡°Sometimes,¡± I shrugged back, readying myself.

    We headed for the middle of the hall, where a safety field activated to keep the others from getting hurt, and she opened up with a few minor attacks. All the while, I kept my senses focused. I dodged and evaded her attacks, continuing to do so as she dialed up the potency of them. Still I wasn''t sure what I was looking for, or trying to sense. Once again she increased her attack strength and speed. This time I barely had any time to focus on anything except making sure I didn''t get hit.

    She let loose with a couple of wide area attack beams that she activated with a thump her staff, nearly throwing off my evasion tactics, but I quickly recovered -- only to narrowly miss being hit by a beam attack. Come onnnn, what am I looking for, what am I looking for? I wondered to myself frantically. Another beam just missed my head. I could feel the intensity from it, briefly panicking as I contemplated for an even briefer moment as to how much it would hurt to be struck by that.

    Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Healina and Derwydd talking, and Ari was half listening, half watching. I saw Heali suddenly nod in realization as he pointed towards us. That meant whatever I was supposed to be watching for was happening right now. Snow Dancer blasted beam after beam of light towards me, shimmering with an almost celestial radiance as her attack strength grew and the beams became more intense.

    Light magic... the cross-over between holy and healing magic. It can be more potent than either fire or lightning, especially with someone like Snow Dancer or Valkrysti, who chose to focus on it. What''s the weakness, here? How can something so potent and deadly that it takes mastering two different trees and unlocking a special quest chain to get have a weakness I can exploit? I wondered to myself.

    Then I thought back to my sparring with Angelfire a few days ago. That had been another hair-raising session for me, evading her flame-bolts. And technically speaking, Angelfire was just as deadly as Valkrysti or Snow Angel. There was a fair chance she might actually have won the fight if not for the healing power of light magic that Valkrysti employed with ease. And then I saw it.

    Snow Dancer''s face was calm, but I could see an intensity of concentration in her expression. It had been barely noticeable at first, but now it was definitely showing. The thought suddenly came to me that this was probably something light magic had in common with void magic. They required intent concentration on the part of the player. If that concentration was to falter for any reason... but Valkrysti was not likely to fall for any sort of trickery on my part. There had to be another component to this. I could see Snow Dancer grinning; my face was no doubt showing forth an expression of understanding or realization. Think, think!

    I then came skidding to a halt. It really was hard to put into words, but beyond the enormity of focus the wielder of light magic had to utilize to get the more powerful spells going, there was definitely another side to it. I wouldn''t call it detrimental; it was probably an intended side-effect to keep it from being overpowered. But it was definitely something I could exploit.

    ¡°You saw it.¡± Snow Dancer said, ceasing her attacks as I stopped running.

    ¡°I saw it.¡± I nodded back.

    ¡°Then let me tell you something else. Valkrysti is ranked as one of the best light magic users because she doesn''t think of it as a weakness, but as a tool to use to her advantage. I usually supplement my attacks with lightning, frost, or holy magic to cover, but she has the confidence, and the Charisma, literally, to use light magic alone. That''s why I did the same in this little session of ours.¡± she said to me.

    ¡°You''re right, using another complementary magic would definitely hide that,¡± I agreed. ¡°Still...¡±

    ¡°You''re in for a rough fight, but I think you can do it.¡± Snow Dancer smiled, coming over and placing a hand on my shoulder. ¡°You''re going to beat her, and then you''ll be up against either Barbarianne, or Myanihia. If I had to guess, I''d bet on the latter. And I''m sure you know, but there''s no one who can give you a clue to beating them.¡± she told me softly.

    ¡°Don''t worry about that. If it is Myanihia, I''m pretty sure I have them figured out.¡± I told her.

    ¡°Good.¡± she nodded.

    ¡°That took a little longer than I thought it might, but you got it, eh?¡± Derwydd said as he and the others came up to us.

    ¡°I got it, somehow... still... that''s... weird.¡± I remarked.

    ¡°I agree.¡± Derwydd replied.

    ¡°It''s probably intentional,¡± Ari said.

    ¡°Oh it''s definitely intentional.¡± Snow Dancer nodded. ¡°But anyway,¡± she then affected a bright smile. ¡°So Derwydd, is this pretty Sea Elf your girlfriend?¡± she asked, and Heali blushed as Derwydd smiled back.

    ¡°We had our first date today!¡± he said happily, and Heali took his hand. Ari and I exchanged a happy smile with each other.

    ¡°Aww!¡± Snow Dancer remarked, coming over to hug them. ¡°Cuteness!¡±

    ¡°Thanks,¡± Healina smiled back.

    ¡°Take care of my little buddy, huh?¡± Snow told her.

    ¡°Definitely!¡± our healer replied.

    The three of them then headed out of the training hall together while Ari and I lagged behind a few paces. I could see her mind at work, and when I saw a blissful smile upon her face I felt a smile of my own coming on. I softly laughed, halting for a moment, and she turned around to look at me, also halting as we smiled at each other.

    ¡°What-y?¡± she said in a singsong voice.

    ¡°Just thinking that I might be getting better at guessing what you''re thinking.¡± I said to her.

    ¡°Oh?¡± she said as she came closer.

    ¡°Hmm... you were looking into the future, and thinking, ''wouldn''t it be lovely to have a double wedding someday?'' -- is what I would guess!¡± I replied. She smiled at me, reaching over to pull me close for a kiss.

    ¡°Close enough!¡± she told me. ¡°I hope we all remain as close as we are now, even if... even if someday, we leave this wonderful world,¡± she said softly, looking up to the sky. I looked up with her.

    Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

    ¡°I can''t imagine that kind of day. But I do hope for the same thing, I really do...¡± I said quietly, soft tears coming to my eyes. ¡°I...¡± I started to say again, only to choke up, and Ariana and I wrapped each other in a strong hug.

    ¡°I know.¡± she whispered. ¡°I know.¡±

    I''m still the lucky one, and I always will be.

    After a couple hours of wandering around with Ari, including a trip to the Homesteads where she espied a couple of houses that the two of us agreed on, we rejoined the others at the Dwarven restaurant that was still on our favorite list, where we found a lot of our other friends gathered as well. Angelfire came up to me first of all, and Ari smiled as the leader of Flamehearts placed her head on my shoulder. I felt baffled for a moment, but then my partner nodded to me, and I put my arms around my fellow guild leader. A few moments passed, and then Angelfire looked up at me again.

    ¡°Get her back for me, will you?¡± she said.

    ¡°I''ll do that.¡± I replied. She reached over to kiss my cheek, and then headed back to her table.

    ¡°Yo, Lans, get in here, huh?¡± Tyman said. As I looked around, I saw a few more familiar faces, including the jovial WuKong and our old friend Magisteria. I headed on over to Ty, who put a mug in my hand. ¡°Second to last match, huh? You gonna get past it, I bet,¡± he said to me.

    ¡°As best as I can,¡± I nodded.

    ¡°I''ll drink to that. Then tomorrow... naw, girl. I know who''s on stage tomorrow.¡± he said.

    ¡°We all know.¡± Jannie said. ¡°Or at least we''re pretty certain!¡± she said with a laugh.

    ¡°Some of us more certain than others.¡± Magisteria smiled over at her.

    ¡°We''re gonna have a family party tomorrow at this place, Lans. All of us, and I mean all of us are gonna be here.¡± Tyman said as Ariana came over to take my arm, accepting a drink from one of the other Mountain Tigers.

    ¡°It''s been a wild tournament, huh?¡± I said.

    ¡°Heard that!¡± he grinned back.

    ¡°And we have all made new and exciting friends throughout!¡± WuKong beamed.

    ¡°For sure!¡± Winnie nodded in agreement. ¡°You win this thing, babe,¡± she said to me, ¡°And then you go and bust up that sneaky Myanihia!¡±

    ¡°O-one fight at a time,¡± I laughed back, and the others laughed with me. We then toasted each other with our usual toast, to the victors and the vanquished, enjoying a couple more rounds of drinks -- along with some wonderfully delicious platters of food -- until it was time for the second-to-last matches to start.

    I made my way to the arena alone after sharing a hug or a handshake with several of my friends, gazing idly up at the sky.

    ¡°Only four of us left... that feels so weird,¡± I remarked aloud.

    ¡°And yet, it was inevitable.¡± the familiar voice of Myanihia said.

    ¡°That''s true... even then, it feels like it could have gone on longer.¡±

    ¡°Tonight''s battles, they definitely will. Barbarianne... she seems simple, but I doubt it.¡±

    ¡°She''s got great coordination, too.¡±

    ¡°Precisely. Using twin swords, or twin daggers, is easy. Using two different weapons, in this world, it takes precision, control.¡±

    ¡°Hmm.¡± I nodded back.

    ¡°And you. You have the harder fight.¡± she remarked.

    ¡°I''m sure you''d find a way past them, so will I.¡± I replied.

    ¡°Valkrysti... is one that, I hope never to fight.¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡± I wondered, suddenly intrigued.

    ¡°Lana. What, is the enemy, of shadows?¡± she asked me.

    ¡°Light, I guess.¡±

    ¡°Yes. I can... at times, be surprising. But, that woman... she is not easily rattled.¡±

    ¡°Someone like that would definitely be a pain for you.¡± I noted.

    ¡°Sadly true. But you, on the other hand...¡± she returned, and I looked over at her curiously. ¡°If Rayna is a lawful shadow, and I a neutral one... then you are chaotic.¡± she then said, and I affected a grumpy expression.

    ¡°At least I''m not chaotic evil or something...¡± I muttered back, and then Myanihia made a noise that almost sounded like a laugh. ¡°Hmm...? Even you laugh sometimes, huh?¡±

    ¡°Rarely. I truly don''t get it. You make me, and my sister, feel safe.¡± she said.

    ¡°Hmm,¡± I shrugged as we turned the corner. The arena was now before us. Myanihia put a hand on my shoulder, and looked at me with those entrancing eyes from beneath her mask.

    ¡°Remember, our promise.¡±

    ¡°I haven''t forgotten.¡±

    ¡°Good.¡± she said, and with that she quickened her pace to head into the contestant''s hall.

    I reached it about two minutes later, finding her and the other two already inside. Barbarianne smiled at me, giving me a nod. I smiled back at her, waving. Valkrysti gazed idly at the crystal-display screens, not even noticing I had come in. I went over to my usual spot, and sat down. No one moved towards or looked at one another after that. We were all busy with our own thoughts, mentally readying ourselves for what was either going to be our last or second-to-last fight.

    ¡°Well, folks, it''s certainly been an extraordinary week! But all that is nearing an end,¡± Lumpstein said as he started off the introductions for the day.

    ¡°On account of the unexpected developments during yesterday''s matches, today, only four contestants remain.¡± Athena continued.

    ¡°And at the end of the night, we will have our finalists for the ultimate battle of the Grand Tournament.¡± Wandreada said.

    ¡°Personally, I say all bets are off -- but of course, the wagers being made on these fiery and fierce girls are shaping up to shame real gambling houses!¡± Ricklelopes remarked. ¡°Who will win tonight''s battles to compete in the next? As Athena has mentioned, we have but four!¡±

    ¡°Lana Windstider, of the Silvernight Queens!¡± Forseti announced as the audience cheered.

    ¡°Valkrysti of Valiant Maidens!¡± Athena clapped; more applause was heard.

    ¡°Barbarianne, from the Northern Warriors!¡± Wandreada said, and the crowds applauded once more.

    ¡°And Myanihia Black, the solo player!¡± Lumpstein finished. There was applause, but it was more muted. I would have glanced towards Myanihia, but I could already hear her saying that she didn''t care.

    ¡°Now, without any further ado: we present to you the third to last battle!¡± Forseti then said.

    The four of us in the contestant''s hall all looked towards the screen. Which pair was to go first?

    ¡°Myanihia and Barbarianne!¡± the GM commentator said, and the crowds burst into cheers once more; the two of them were then teleported from the hall, appearing on the center stage seconds later.

    I stood to my feet, moving closer to the displays, and Valkrysti did the same on her side of the hall. We exchanged a brief glance, and then returned our attention to the screen, where one of the last tournament battles was now beginning.

    ¡°People on the forums are now saying that you and Myanihia are going to be the last two contestants.¡± Valkrysti said to me.

    ¡°Who do you think it''ll be?¡± I wondered.

    ¡°I''ll give you credit for outwitting and overcoming as many people as you have, but now it ends. I fought in the Borderlands to hone my skills. Assassins only come to me for one thing: defeat.¡± she said confidently.

    I made no reply. I simply kept my eyes on the counter. It went down to zero, and the battle between Myanihia and Barbarianne began.

    The redheaded barbarian initiated a dashing charge skill, quickly swiping Myanihia''s side with her axe to place a minor bleed effect on the assassin. But as I knew all too well, a bleed effect on an assassin-type character is a major disadvantage: stealth skills don''t work while it''s running. I could almost see her eyes narrow in irritation, if she had been given to actually expressing things.

    A split-second later, Myanihia began countering Barbarianne''s assault, the two of them exchanging swift blows, the former using their Dexterity and Agility to try and strike at a devastating spot while the latter used her considerable Strength and Agility to try and overpower her opponent. The intense flurry of motion had the audience, including the two of us in the contestant''s hall, watching as closely as we could to see who might inflict the next blow.

    ¡°That bleed effect is going to end in about ten seconds,¡± Valkrysti noted.

    ¡°She''ll probably try to land another one on h--them, just after it ends,¡± I said as I almost verbally stumbled again, ¡°But I don''t think Myanihia will give her a chance this time.¡±

    ¡°I agree.¡± the other replied.

    Just as we thought, the instant right before the bleed effect ended, Myanihia dropped a smoke-bomb to distract her opponent and then retreated into the shadows. Barbarianne retaliated with a stomp skill, scattering the smoke nearest to her and then activating Frenzied Whirlwind, a version of the Whirlwind skill exclusive to DPS players like her.

    ¡°Even so... as lightly armored as she is, Myanihia''s darts can strike her nearly anywhere,¡± I pondered aloud.

    ¡°Not exactly.¡± Valkrysti told me, pointing to the display. I saw two or three flashes, and sucked in a breath. ¡°She''s trained up a passive bonus for that skill; while in effect, any incoming missives will be reflected ninety percent of the time.¡±

    ¡°Nice.¡±

    ¡°Myanihia probably knows that, but considering how unlucky they just got, it''s doubtful they''ll try attacking again for a while.¡±

    I gazed at the screen with scrutiny. Barbarianne kept up her skill, whirling around the stage like a dervish as she tried to force Myanihia from the shadows. No doubt the wily assassin was getting ready to activate her decoy.

    ¡°But Barbarianne probably won''t fall for it,¡± I mused softly. I vaguely noticed Valkrysti''s eyes narrow as she kept her eyes riveted on the fight, probably reaching the same conclusions I had.

    All of a sudden there was a floompf sort of sound; the red-haired warrior had set off a minor trap laid by Myanihia, throwing off her skill and disorienting her for a moment. It was enough for Myanihia to reappear and strike her with a flash of swords, placing a poison DoT on the other girl. Like a streak of lightning, Barbarianne swung just as Myanihia was trying to retreat into the shadows, placing a bleed effect on the assassin once more. Myanihia then did something fairly uncharacteristic of her by reacting with a series of frenzied strikes.

    ¡°Ho-ho! Looks like Myanihia might have finally met their match!¡± Lumpstein remarked with interest as he observed the fight.

    ¡°They do seem more desperate than before--huh? Why do we always refer to them in such an ambiguous way? Does no one know what gender they are?¡± Athena suddenly wondered.

    ¡°There''s been rumors about that one since the beta test.¡± Forseti shrugged. ¡°Don''t give it much thought. We''re all here to explore a more mysterious and fantastical side of ourselves, after all; this one just does it better than most.¡± he added with a grin.

    ¡°Hmm... that''s true, but I hope they''ll reward us with a reveal if they win!¡± the other said.

    Meanwhile, the two of us awaiting our own fight had been keeping a tight eye on the one now going on, and I was slowly affecting a wry grin, sighing as I rubbed the back of my neck. It seemed I had been wrong. Barbarianne had fallen for it.

    ¡°But if that''s the case, that skill is way better than I anticipated,¡± I said, watching without surprise as the real Myanihia reappeared from the shadows after shooting a couple of poison darts at her opponent. Myanihia and her clone engaged the dual-wielding fighter together for about thirty seconds, and then Barbarianne used a stomp skill to knock both of them back. The clone disappeared, and Myanihia again retreated into the shadows.

    ¡°She won''t fall for it again so easily.¡± the girl with golden blonde hair shrugged.

    ¡°Mm.¡± I nodded back.

    Barbarianne looked around for a moment, weapons at the ready, more tense than a cat in a dog-pound. She slowly and deliberately paced around the stage, her senses no doubt dialed up to eleven as she awaited the next attack. All at once she swung to her left, but there was nothing there. After a brief moment she slashed to the right with her axe, punctuating the blow with a sword-thrust, but again there was nothing. The poison had drained her HP to sixty-two percent.

    ¡°Ahh, snap,¡± I sighed. As much as I wanted to fight Myanihia myself, I was also half-hoping that Barbarianne might be able to take them out.

    ¡°She''s freaking out a bit. And that poison is slow but steady... must be a rare one.¡±

    ¡°Hmm? Oh, I see,¡± I remarked in reply to Valkrysti''s words, noticing the DoT still in effect upon her. ¡°What kind of ultra-rare poison is that? Most of them wear off after ten seconds, and even my strongest barely goes past thirty.¡±

    ¡°I''m not sure,¡± the other girl remarked thoughtfully.

    ¡°Heh, I guess Myanihia''s more sentimental than most of us guess,¡± Ricklelopes suddenly remarked as he observed the scene. ¡°Weren''t some of the ingredients for that poison part of the gift we gave the beta testers?¡±

    ¡°Ohh...¡± Forseti and Wandreada remarked at the same time.

    ¡°W-whoa...¡± I breathed out as Valkrysti affected a look of surprise.

    ¡°All they have to do now is wait.¡± Ricklelopes added, ¡°Though I doubt Barbarianne will just sit there much lon--oop! There she goes!¡± he said as the redhead entered Frenzied Whirlwind again to try and drag Myanihia into the open once more.

    A desperate but fierce yell came from her throat as she raged around the stage. She began activating other skills intermittently, all of them full of such force that they rattled the arena. And then she inadvertently set off another trap that the devious Myanihia had set, a set of lotus bombs that smoked up the stage and once again threw off her rhythm, doubling her over with coughing. I saw the noble warrior fall to one knee, keeping her sword held outward in defiance as she struggled to stop coughing. The two of us in the contestant''s hall both sucked in a breath as we watched anxiously. Barbarianne''s health had now fallen below fifty percent, and there were a couple of debuffs and ailments on her as well.

    ¡°Good try, Anne, very good try.¡± Valkrysti said softly, a note of deep compassion in her voice.

    I saw Barbarianne''s body twitch and jerk as a skill reached her, and Myanihia reappeared as her avatar disintegrated. The third-to-last fight had concluded. Myanihia had advanced to the final round.

    ¡°Ooh! There goes that monstrous attack again!¡± Lumpstein said, then clapped. ¡°Good show, Barbarianne! Congratulations, Myanihia! You have advanced to the final round!¡± he then said as a mixed reaction came from the crowds in the stands. Valkrysti and I exchanged a glance one last time in the contestant''s hall, and then we were transported to the main stage of the arena.

    ¡°This will definitely be another eye-popper,¡± Ricklelopes said as we emerged into view. ¡°The last veteran of the Garth-Queens War still in the competition versus the battle sage who made a name for herself in the Borderlands at the Battle of Anvil Ridge!¡±

    ¡°Lana Windstrider and her friends uncovered that scheme of Garth and Gallancleeve; why is that guy still working here, anyway?¡± Wandreada wondered with a shake of her head.

    ¡°He''s on an extreme probation, but they''ll probably dismiss him later this spring when they find a suitable replacement for the daily updates.¡± Forseti explained.

    ¡°Hrrmm...¡± Lumpstein sighed grumpily. ¡°Well, anyhow, there''s two PvP veterans out here on this stage. I don''t care to guess who will win: the radiant light, or the devious shadow.¡±

    ¡°Speaking as a fellow light magic user, I''d bet on Valkrysti.¡± Athena said as the one-minute countdown began.

    ¡°That so?¡± the Dwarf returned.

    ¡°Don''t count Lana out yet; remember WuKong!¡± Ricklelopes remarked.

    ¡°There''s a difference between a monk''s aura and a battle sage''s light,¡± Athena replied, ¡°Though WuKong versus Valkrysti is a what-if that would have been interesting to see!¡±

    ¡°Agreed.¡± Forseti nodded.

    ¡°Hm, hm.¡± Lumpstein also nodded.

    As the countdown and the GM''s pre-match banter continued, Valkrysti and I were silently sizing each other up, gauging each other''s posture, reflecting on what we had seen of the other, attempting to predict one another''s opening move as we remained motionless, trying not to give anything away for the other to see.

    ¡°These two are quite intense this turn around,¡± Wandreada noted.

    ¡°They''re like two statues, almost,¡± Forseti agreed, ¡°But as soon as that counter goes down I bet we won''t even have time to blink.¡±

    ¡°You said it,¡± the other agreed.

    I saw the counter reach the ten-second mark out of the corner of my eye. Still I remained motionless, though I could see the faintest hint that Valkrysti was getting ready to raise her shield against a possible incoming blow. With an inward smile, I decided on an opening move.

    As soon as the countdown reached zero and the fanfare sounded, I reached my hands behind my back, making it seem as if I was going to draw my daggers. Valkrysti raised her shield and pointed her spear at me. But while I drew one dagger with my left hand, I materialized the pistol with the right, aiming at her ankles and firing. I grazed her left, but scored a definite shot on her right, then quickly exchanged the pistol for my other dagger as she stumbled in surprise, rushing in.

    ¡°Ooohh! That was a clever ploy!¡± Lumpstein said with interest.

    ¡°She''s recovered quickly, though,¡± Athena said.

    Valkrysti was definitely shocked at my opener, but now she had recovered herself, bashing towards me with her shield as I pulled back at the last moment before it hit me. Even if she could heal the superficial damage and regain her health, the old-fashioned bullets used by the firearms in this game had a greater than fifty-percent chance to remain lodged in the avatar. Those odds had favored me, and my opponent was half-limping in her otherwise proud and stoic battle dance.

    She then activated a chant skill, trying to bring up a reflective defense aura. I quickly identified the opportune moment, and with a burst from Shadow Dash I interrupted the skill, again to her shock, and quickly did a double-stab before I vanished into the shadows. In response she used Brilliant Flash, an anti-stealth skill. But I had already gotten the bonus I wanted for my next skill, again rushing towards her. Valkrysti blocked my next move with her shield, using it to shove me away, but I had definitely put a dent into it. Not what I wanted to hit, but I kind of expected that, I thought as I activated Shadow Speed to run a few circles around her.

    As I did so, she began using her beam attacks, firing at me as fast as she could while I evaded her deadly rays... or at least mostly deadly. Thanks to Snow Dancer, I understood that I was not in as much danger as I should be, on account of that one weakness in light magic that Valkrysti was definitely good at hiding. This is definitely different from Snow Dancer; I can just barely detect it this time. Probably because Snow is more used to her melded magics style than the pure light magic focus that Valkrysti has, I noted as I jumped, ducked, and then rolled to evade a more powerful attack.

    Subtly, I rematerialized the pistol in my right hand, keeping my left towards her as I continued running. I waited again for that opportune moment, and then doubled back with a twirl to fire a third shot, this one going through her upper right arm. Valkrysti reacted with a greater surprise this time, and I instantly dashed towards her again, once more switching to my dagger again to use Thousand Needle Strike. It took out about seven-percent of her health, but she definitely had a passive regeneration skill going; I estimated it was restoring a quarter of a percent every five seconds or so. She was probably betting on that to keep her sustained, assuming that I would not give her the chance to use an actual healing skill--which was definitely the case.

    Valkrysti then activated that same skill which had thwarted Angelfire, Purifying Light. She wasn''t going to let me use any of my more decisive advantages either. Like Brilliant Flash, Purifying Light would prevent me from using stealth. Or rather, it should have.

    Something snapped in me at that moment. Ariana... Wildeye... Jannie... Magisteria... Maryn, Anhe, Belle, Lysandra, Timidator, Barbarianne... Sun WuKong, Ironsides, Rayna, Mad Dog, Tyman, Derwydd... I saw Valkrysti''s eyes flash, her spear readying itself for a deadly thrust. A ragged, angry shudder of breath escaped my lips. Out of the corner of my eyes I could see the commentators all standing to their feet as Valkrysti''s spear skill gained in strength. I couldn''t hear what they were saying, if anything.

    ¡°Not... you''re not going to stop meee!!¡± I screamed at the top of my lungs.

    With all the force of my will, I activated Shadow World. Valkrysti''s face lit up with absolute shock, and dropped her spear as she dropped her jaw. I queued up that ultimate double-skills the way Myanihia had taught me, and let them fly. With a cry, Valkrysti''s avatar went up in flaming pixels, leaving me standing on the stage alone. A shock rippled through the audience and the commentators, and the crowds went absolutely mad with applause.

    ¡°Th-that''s... what was that?¡± Lumpstein wondered.

    ¡°A rare instance of a shadow-master capable of overpowering a light mage.¡± Athena said with a smile. ¡°Well done, young lady, you completely overturned my assumptions!¡± she added as the stadium kept cheering, even chanting my name.

    H-hurry up and teleport me off, I smiled bemusedly. A few moments later I was whooshed to the victor''s hall, and I quickly started making my way out. Barbarianne was at the entrance of the arena, smiling at me.

    ¡°Nicely done!¡± she said as we shook hands.

    ¡°I thought you had Myanihia for sure; looks like we''ll have to have our match in front of a smaller audience some day,¡± I said, and she nodded.

    ¡°That fight was rougher than I expected by the end. But... I''m kind of glad...¡± she said to me. ¡°It''s... well, it seems weirdly fitting, somehow, that you and Myanihia are the last two standing.¡±

    ¡°I hate to admit that, but I have to agree.¡± Valkrysti said as she came over to us with a sheepish sort of smile. ¡°I''ve never seen anything like that since I''ve been playing. You''re definitely one of a kind,¡± she said as we shook hands as well.

    ¡°Thanks... sorry I kind of lost it there at the end,¡± I replied with my own sheepish grin.

    ¡°I was totally thinking the same thing you said out loud, though.¡± the other returned with a shrug.

    ¡°Ah-heh-heh,¡± I softly giggled.

    ¡°So anyway; congrats -- I''ll definitely keep my eyes glued to the next fight,¡± Valkrysti said, and then headed off elsewhere. Barbarianne and I looked at each other again, shaking hands once more.

    ¡°I''m gonna head back to my guildies.¡± she said.

    ¡°Same... hope to see you at some after-party or another,¡± I replied.

    ¡°You too!¡± she smiled back, and we parted ways for the time being.

    About two blocks away from the restaurant where my friends were waiting, Myanihia appeared from around a corner. She slowly came over to me, stopping at around arm''s length. Our eyes met, her stoic, silvery-purple orbs gazing into my own blue eyes.

    ¡°You kept it.¡± she said softly.

    ¡°I did.¡± I nodded back.

    ¡°I''m... glad. I don''t know why, but, I''m glad.¡± Myanihia told me. A moment of silence passed by, and she then stepped a small pace closer. ¡°Tomorrow... you will be carrying many hearts, with you, into our battle, my sister''s not the least.¡±

    ¡°Tomorrow, one way or another, I will make her voice heard to you where she could not do it herself.¡±

    ¡°You will try.¡± Myanihia replied, and then headed away, melting into the shadows. I let out a sigh, gazing upwards for a moment, and then continued on my way.

 Chapter Forty-four: The Grand Tournament -- Lana versus Myanihia

    After a party that lasted until one-AM in real time, at which point Lizzy had logged in to at least join the after-party, we decided to stay in-game with our sleeping trick until it was time to get up on Saturday morning. We showed Derwydd and Snow Dancer around Queen''s Haven in Xuanpu, and they took us on a tour of their own guildhall in the Sylvanian Reaches, Owldale Hall. Afterwards we returned to our lodgings in Harmonia City, and then when we had rested once more we logged out to do real life things until later that night.

    ¡°Don''t yell at me about the leaves in our yard when you''re not even here to see them for most of the day...¡± I softly grumbled as I raked the apparently offensive objects into a pile for the composter. Not that I could grumble much. Dad had to figure out how to turn the thing on, as he always did, so we could actually use it.

    ¡°Damn thing has to be so blasted cantankerous...¡± I heard him grouching. ¡°Ah! Sean! Don''t use that language!¡±

    ¡°Don''t tell me not to do something after doing it yourself, you goofy old man!¡± I griped back, and he cackled.

    ¡°Your old cartoon-watching dad can make a few mistakes every now and again,¡± he said. ¡°Ahh! There we go!¡± he then exclaimed as the composter came to life.

    ¡°Why do we even have that thing? Shouldn''t we just use an old-fashioned one like the one at gramp''s house?¡±

    ¡°We probably should, but city regulations and all that,¡± he replied as he scratched his head.

    ¡°Even our science teacher says the older ones are better...¡± I remarked.

    ¡°Huh. Kudos to them, then. Wish they''d talk sense into that no-good council and spineless mayor,¡± he quipped as he returned to the house. ¡°Just worry about the leaves; I''ll get that branch later.¡± he told me.

    ¡°Got it!¡± I replied, resuming my attention to them a moment later.

    After this arguably light chore had been gotten through, I went inside to read my book again until about ten-thirty, and then I set out for the cafe and bookstore that Rachel and I had settled on for our double-date with Andrea and Thomas.

    ***

    ¡°Man, those forum-posters this morning were seriously raging,¡± Thomas remarked with a big grin as we sat down.

    ¡°Oh?¡± Rachel asked.

    ¡°People were expecting the Myanihia fight to go either way, but no one expected Lana to get past Valkrysti.¡± he shrugged.

    ¡°Lana keeps surprising us all,¡± Andrea grinned.

    ¡°She''s certainly something else,¡± Thomas agreed. A waiter came over to take our orders, and when we had given him our beverage requests he headed back to get them while our conversation resumed. ¡°This is a nice place,¡± the older boy then said as he looked around.

    ¡°Cozy, isn''t it?¡± Rachel nodded.

    ¡°Rachel and I came here a couple times after she first moved in. It''s almost like something in Panarena,¡± Andrea said.

    ¡°Ahh, definitely. Almost like that little cottage cafe we went to, huh?¡± Thomas agreed.

    ¡°Yes!¡± Andrea replied with a smile.

    ¡°Hm? Oh, the table has some board-games programmed into it as well,¡± he suddenly noticed.

    ¡°Ehh?¡± I wondered, and then saw a few buttons on my left. ¡°Oh, nice!¡± I said, looking over the options.

    ¡°Cool!¡± Andrea remarked. ¡°We can play a board game while we have lunch!¡±

    ¡°Sounds like fun!¡± Thomas agreed with a big smile.

    Yeah, you two are definitely made for each other, I thought quietly as I observed the way they smiled at each other. Rachel and I exchanged a secret smile, and I eventually settled on a game called ¡°Riskopoly¡±.

    It was basically a strategy game, but not just a typical attack and defend game. There was an economic component to it as well. You had to gain control of profitable sites to keep up your status in the game, such as mines or trade routes. The fun part was that you could play as a team. If you guessed we paired off as couple against couple, you got it in one. Oh, by the way, the games on these kinds of tables are holographic board games, which is handy for putting them away after you''re done with them.

    I quickly realized that the basic principles of this game were probably not far off from the upcoming guild competition in the spring, and once we had our drinks and our lunch orders had been taken down, I turned my devious little mind to figuring out the best possible strategy to at least stay equal with Thomas and Andrea, Rachel silently picking up on my plans as we lightly bantered about upcoming exams at school.

    Of course, the one thing we had against us was that Andrea and Thomas had an economics class together in the morning--and Thomas was no slouch when it came to strategy, either--so they were able to keep us from gaining an advantage for a good while.

    ¡°Ooh, trouble,¡± Andrea remarked as they moved a battalion piece to the border of a territory under dispute.

    ¡°Gotta hand it to the premiere chess player of our school,¡± I remarked idly.

    ¡°It comes in handy now and again,¡± Thomas grinned. Rachel and I readied our next move when our turn came, and then Thomas moved the battalion in. Then I pulled a card on him.

    ¡°Reversal Card: Betrayal!¡± I declared as I set it down.

    ¡°Ack!¡± he lightly squawked, clearly surprised. Their battalion was converted to ours, Andrea looking amazed as well.

    ¡°Niiice.¡± she said.

    ¡°Hahh... you were just waiting for that one, weren''t you?¡± Thomas grinned, and Rachel and I smiled back. ¡°Looks like the Chess Master will have to step up his game!¡±

    ¡°Right with you!¡± Andrea giggled, as did we.

    That enjoyable time was one of the most fun moments outside of Panarena I''d ever had. For the first time in my life, I was playing a board game with friends, laughing and having a good old time as we thwarted and surprised each other back and forth across the board. By the time the third hour of our game rolled around, Thomas and Andrea finally had the upper hand after we had valiantly kept up with them for the better part of two. Slowly the dice turned against us, and when the clock on the nearby wall hit thirteen past four, Rachel and I had been defeated. We congratulated the two of them, and after paying our lunch bill the two of them headed out first while Rachel and I stayed behind to look at some of the books.

    ¡°I feel like we could have done something different when they seized those two mines from us,¡± she remarked, and I subtly shrugged.

    ¡°We could have, but then we''d definitely still be playing until around seven or so, I bet.¡± I replied.

    ¡°Hmm...?¡± she looked at me knowingly, and then smiled. ¡°I could tell that Andri really enjoyed today. Thanks for agreeing to this!¡±

    ¡°I-I really enjoyed it too, you know. It''s the first time I ever really did something like this,¡± I told her.

    ¡°Even if you did let them win?¡± she smiled at me.

    ¡°Ehh, I mean, I''m not great with economy in strategy games, but I''ve learned a few tricks to keep up with people who are. So maybe kind of let.¡± I grinned back.

    ¡°You''re adorkable.¡± Rachel returned, patting me on the head. ¡°Oh, this one looks fun!¡± she then noticed, pulling a book from the shelf.

    ¡°Hmm... ''Dreamforgers'', huh?¡± I remarked.

    ¡°Part of a pentalogy, it looks like.¡± she noted.

    ¡°Cool,¡± I returned.

    ¡°One, two, three... five? They''re missing book four!¡± she said sadly. I looked around for a moment, and then smiled.

    ¡°It got mixed up in some other series by the same author,¡± I said as I extricated the book from the other set.

    ¡°Oh nice! Wanna get them?¡±

    ¡°Sure!¡±

    ¡°Yay!¡± Rachel exclaimed, and after we had gotten the books I walked her home.

    As we started turning down the street where she and Andrea lived, she suddenly stopped me, gently ushering us into the shadow of a nearby tree. Andrea and Thomas were standing next to the latter''s car, Thomas bashfully rubbing the back of his neck as Andrea smiled at him, her hands clasped behind her back.

    H-heh? What kind of shoujo scene did we stumble on to? I briefly wondered. I saw Andrea nod, and then Thomas gently reached over to take her by the shoulders, kissing her. Rachel stifled a squeal with her hand, enamored with the scene; I smiled, placing a hand on her back as Andrea suddenly wrapped her arms around Thomas.

    ¡°Yes, yes, yes!!¡± Rachel mutely cried out, trying desperately to keep her voice down. After a few moments, the kiss ended, and Thomas drove off to head back home. ¡°Ah! Ahh ahhh ahh ah! We have to play it cool; like we just turned the corner right now!¡± Rachel quietly declared, nodding her head.

    ¡°Eh? Ah? Uh, sure!¡± I quickly agreed, and the two of us did exactly that. Andrea turned towards us as we got closer, looking slightly bashful.

    ¡°Oh hey!¡± she said with a smile.

    ¡°Hey!¡± Rachel replied. ¡°We found books!¡±

    ¡°Sounds like fun; what kind?¡± Andrea asked.

    ¡°Hmm... sounds like an epic fantasy series,¡± Rachel returned.

    ¡°Oh neat!¡±

    ¡°Isn''t it?¡±

    ¡°Ahh! I have to go and start making dinner preparations! See you in a bit! Thanks for today, it was really fun!¡± Andrea then said, hurriedly dashing inside as she waved. Rachel smiled, and then quietly sighed in relief when the door shut.

    ¡°Operation First Kiss: complete success!¡± she nodded with approval.

    ¡°Pfft!¡± I grinned, and then laughed for a few moments until I could turn to her with a smile. ¡°You''re adorkable too, you know.¡± I smiled.

    ¡°Aw, thanks.¡± she grinned. I reached over to kiss her as we hugged, our lips and arms reluctantly parting a few moments later. ¡°See you tonight, Lana.¡± she whispered.

    ¡°See you tonight, Ari.¡± I replied, and before I went home I made sure she got in the house, then turned back down the street to make sure I got home myself.

    When I got home, I spent some time upstairs to finish the book I was reading, and then supper time came along. It passed in silence, as it tended to do, and then my dad said he would take care of the dishes, leaving me free to escape while mom went back to her office for the night. As soon as I got to my room, I set the Dream Machine upon my head, leaving the real world behind to escape into Panarena.

    As I materialized as Lana in the apartments we had been staying at, I let out a sigh of relief, then exchanged the party clothes I had been wearing for a simple tunic and a set of boots before heading out to wander, as usual. There was something about Harmonia City that reminded me of the city we lived in, except that in real life it was the outer city that was taller. I watched as early morning shadows cast themselves across the streets, the NPCs starting to wake up and begin their daily routines. The Panarena weather was somewhat cloudy, but it looked like it was still going to be a nice day anyway.

    After an in-game hour of walking around, I stopped in at one of the baths, sliding into the water with a contented smile. The blissful sensation kept me comatose for several minutes, and then I heard someone else stepping in at the other end. My eyes briefly opened, identifying Myanihia before shutting again.

    ¡°You look so defenseless, sitting there.¡± she remarked

    ¡°Well of course I am, pretty much.¡± I said in reply.

    ¡°In the Borderlands, there are hotsprings. It is... a tempting spot. But, many fall prey there, to more dedicated players.¡±

    ¡°I''ll have to go and explore when there''s a lull in log-ins.¡±

    ¡°There... are better spots, in Dragonholt, or the Grim Mountains.¡±

    ¡°Hmm...¡± I murmured, opening my eyes again to look up at the designs on the ceiling. ¡°You really are different without the mask and all,¡± I noted. The barest hint of a smile seemed to play on her lips.

    ¡°It''s you, who allow me to be this way, for a time.¡± she returned. ¡°But, when we get to the arena...¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡± I nodded. ¡°This is one thing and that''s another.¡± I said. She moved to sit next to me again, the two of us basking in the warm water side by side. I looked at her curiously.

    ¡°You have mastered that skill incredibly well. But, don''t forget, I know the counter.¡±

    ¡°Don''t sell me short just yet.¡±

    ¡°Hm.¡± Myanihia returned, looking over at me with that fathomless gaze of hers. ¡°I see. But, do not sell me short either.¡±

    ¡°You''re the last person I''d do that to,¡± I returned. A moment of silence passed. Myanihia then took my hand, gently squeezing it. I suddenly noticed that, despite the warm water, Myanihia''s body was undeniably cold.

    ¡°Is that because of being a Snow Elf?¡± I wondered.

    ¡°True. And, also because I am like this. The way I am.¡± she replied, referring to her mental state as well as her emotional one -- or perhaps the lack thereof. She then let go of my hand, placing hers on my chest. ¡°You have a warm heart. I want, to see it. I want to see, if your love for your friends, can overcome the cold darkness, that is midnight.¡± Myanihia said.

    ¡°D-do you have to touch there?¡± I said bashfully. She replied with a rare smile.

    ¡°I''m not touching them. Besides, what are you shy for?¡± she said, nevertheless retracting her hand as she stood up, once more donning her hooded vestments, complete with mask. ¡°I''ll see you, in the arena.¡± she then told me, departing as silently as she had come.

    Two sisters, both looking for something they refuse to give each other, I mused to myself with a wry expression, feeling the spot on my chest that Myanihia had touched. It didn''t feel any different, but somehow, I definitely felt different.

    After what I presumed would be the final pre-match encounter with Myanihia, I got dressed again and checked my social panel to see who was online. To my surprise, the whole guild was on, as well as a number of our friends, but they all seemed to be out of the city for the moment.

    ¡°They''ll probably turn up at that restaurant a couple hours or so before the match.¡± I said, dismissing the panel for now. ¡°Still... no one''s sent a message or anything... I wonder what''s going on?¡± I then thought, sending a message to Ari.

    Lana: hey! What are you all up to?

    Ariana: hey! It''s a secret -- you''ll see. Love you! :)

    Lana: hmm... okay. Love you too!

    I replied with a bemused look as I read her answer.

    ¡°A surprise, huh?¡± I pondered, aimlessly meandering through the streets for the next couple of hours and browsing a few shops before I made my way to the restaurant where we had all agreed to meet later.

    Ariana and Belle met me at a plaza a couple of blocks away from it as I got closer, the pixie-girl sitting on my shoulder with a smile as Ari took my arm to lead me along. I looked at the two of them inquiringly, but their smiling faces told me nothing. When we got to the tavern, I saw everyone, and I mean everyone, seated or standing around within. Wildeye, Tyman, and some of their guildies; Magisteria with a few of hers; Jannie, Winnie, Tabitha; Sun WuKong and Mad Dog; Valkrysti and Barbarianne; Tobias, Ironsides, Timidator, Rayna; Derwydd, Snow Dancer, and several others from their guild; and in the middle of them all were the other Silvernight Queens.

    Lysandra and Healina book-ended them, the latter standing next to Derwydd, with Anhe and Maryn standing on either side of Lizzy, who stood in the middle with something wrapped up in a bundle of cloth. Our Nordian smith beamed as Ari led me inside, holding out the bundle for me.

    ¡°Hey, boss! We scrounged a bit and made you something fun!¡± she said with that irrepressible grin of hers.

    ¡°Oh yeah?¡± I smiled back, taking the bundle and pulling the cloth back. I caught my breath.

    It was a pair of nearly identical short swords, masterfully crafted in a style that was neither Western nor Eastern, being somehow both and neither at the same time. The silvery blade almost glowed as I pulled one out to look, its firm, gold-colored hilt with its leather grip both intricately crafted by the amazing Elizasmith. And with them was a bow made in the same fashion, a deadly looking shortbow of venomous black. I felt a surge of raw emotion heaving in my chest.

    ¡°L-Lizzy,¡± I said, and she grinned at me.

    ¡°We all contributed to get these made for you. Can''t have you going up against Myanihia with those dinky daggers, even as good as they are!¡± she said in her semi-blustery way, but I could see her eyes misting up.

    I looked around, unable to say a thing as everyone smiled back at me. You guys... you did all this, to help me, so that I could carry your fighting spirits with me not just mentally, but physically, literally as well, I thought as I felt sobs heaving in my chest.

    This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.

    ¡°Yo, Lans, we''re all with you tonight!¡± Tyman said with a great smile.

    ¡°Nobody left behind!¡± WuKong declared emphatically, beaming as merrily as ever. ¡°Win this battle for us, you who have victoriously walked the path of the Grand Tournament!¡± he said in a more solemn tone, still smiling.

    ¡°Show us that impossible victory once again!¡± Mad Dog called with a grin, and Lysandra nodded.

    ¡°It''s to you, Lana.¡± she said softly. I could definitely feel the waterworks starting on my face now.

    ¡°Y-... you guys...!¡± I managed to say, and then rushed forward to grab Lizzy, hugging her tightly. She quickly hugged me in return, patting my back.

    ¡°G-gotta do something nice for my little dork, since I can''t be in the tournament!¡± she said through a sniffle.

    Everyone else began clapping or cheering, and then we had a merry feast together until it was at last time for the final showdown of the Grand Tournament.

    Ariana walked me to the arena, the two of us not saying anything as we made our way through the streets of Harmonia City, hands clasped firmly together. It was definitely one of those moments where saying something would have felt wrong. There would be time for words later, I knew. A light snow began dusting the streets as we approached the arena, and when we got to the entrance, we stopped. She looked at me with a warm smile, which I returned with love. Ari reached her other hand over to place it on my cheek, and kissed me.

    ¡°I''ll be in a front row seat somewhere, watching from start to finish.¡± she told me.

    ¡°I know. I''ll see you after--after it''s over,¡± I said in reply.

    ¡°After you win.¡± Ari returned confidently.

    ¡°After I win.¡± I agreed with a nod, my confidence definitely boosted. She nodded, and then made her way to the spectator''s stands. I entered the contestant''s hall for the final time. Myanihia, as usual, was waiting in her spot. I somewhat leisurely switched to my battle gear, saving my new weapons for a last minute equip.

    ¡°It''s hard to say,¡± Forseti remarked in response to a question from one of the other commentators about who might win tonight''s match. ¡°Both of them seem to be capable of beating people whom were expected to beat them instead. We seem to have found an unstoppable force and an immovable object to pit together this night,¡± he mused.

    ¡°Ehh, either way it''ll be a spectacle. I wonder which one will pull out a pistol first,¡± Lumpstein remarked, and ripples of laughter echoed throughout the stands as the other GMs grinned back at the comment.

    ¡°My bet''s on Lana.¡± Ricklelopes said with a nod.

    ¡°I''ll take that bet!¡± the grumpy Dwarf returned at once.

    ¡°What''s the wager?¡± the other asked.

    ¡°Loser volunteers to do the daily updates for a week!¡±

    ¡°Bah, that''s nothing!¡±

    ¡°In the buff!¡± Lumpstein then declared.

    ¡°Oh-ho!¡± the other replied, his interest rekindled. ¡°Sure you want to kill our player base like that?¡±

    ¡°I''ll join the wager, on Lumpstein''s side!¡± Wandreada then said.

    ¡°And I''ll take Ricklelopes'' side of the wager!¡± Athena chimed in.

    ¡°So long as we take the appropriate censorship measures when the time comes, I''ll let this wager stand.¡± Forseti said as the crowd began to cheer at the wager, some of them wolf-whistling.

    ¡°You got it, boss!¡± Lumpstein nodded.

    ¡°Of course!¡± Athena replied.

    ¡°Definitely,¡± Wandreada agreed.

    ¡°For sure!¡± Ricklelopes said.

    ¡°All right then!¡± the apparent head GM then said, ¡°With that little skit out of the way, let''s get our two finalists out here!¡±

    Myanihia and I were then teleported to the main stage. She readied her weapons at once, calm as ever. Still I waited, waiting for the maximum shock value. I was sure that my friends knew what I was doing, even if the spectators and the commentators were befuddled by it.

    ¡°Hmm... I hope that Lana doesn''t think Myanihia will give her a second fist-fight, or I''ll win the bet!¡± Lumpstein quipped.

    ¡°I guess we''ll see!¡± Athena smiled.

    ¡°Here she is, guild-leader of the Silvernight Queens, claimer of impossible victories in this tournament, Lana Windstrider!¡± Forseti announced, and the crowds applauded.

    ¡°And opposite her, the mysterious and equally death-defying Myanihia Black!¡± Wandreada said, more applause following the words.

    The two of us gazed impassively at each other as the countdown began. There was a coldness in the air, but there was no hate. Not on my part, at least. No, I won''t win with anger. That was Lysandra''s mistake. You don''t destroy a void by trying to empty it. You have to fill it with something.

    I closed my eyes; I could feel the air tensing up. Myanihia was going to try and take me out with that devastating one-shot. I could feel it. There would be one chance to wreck it, to shatter her confidence in using it against me. Bow first, I mused. The pistol would probably work just as good, but I had more bow skills at my disposal. Actually I had only bow skills, in regards to ranged weapons of any kind. I queued up a skill called Piercing Breaker. It had a seventy-five percent chance of breaking down doors and shattering shields, apparently.

    ¡°Hm, she''s doing something now. I guess we''ll see! Join us for the final ten second countdown, will you?¡± Athena said to the audience, who enthusiastically obliged her.

    Ten!

    Nine!

    Eight!

    Seven!

    Six!

    Five!

    Four!!

    Three!!

    Two!!!

    ONE!!!

    The fanfare for the battle''s start sounded. As I knew she might, Myanihia went into Shadow World. But I turned on Shadow Vision, readying my new bow and setting an arrow to string. I saw her initiate the motion for Doomstrike, waited one second, and then fired directly at her. I could see a shock register through her body as it struck her, knocking her out of stealth and interrupting the skill.

    ¡°St-stopped! Myanihia''s one-shot has been stopped!¡± Ricklelopes said in amazement.

    Myanihia gazed at me coldly. She had lost five-percent of her health. It looked as if she was considering a second attempt, but she remained visible, the two of us starting to circle each other.

    ¡°Know your enemy, indeed.¡± she said softly. ¡°It seems that skill won''t work, for either of us.¡±

    ¡°Maybe not,¡± I said, ¡°But I know plenty more!¡±

    I then switched to my new short-swords, leaping into action. The onlookers seemed taken aback for a moment, but quickly cheered as the two of us began clashing. Neither of us used any of the dagger or short-sword skills at our disposal, testing each other with basic swordplay as we fought around the stage.

    ¡°Hm!¡± Lumpstein remarked. ¡°Someone got a last minute upgrade!¡±

    ¡°Indeed,¡± Forseti nodded.

    ¡°A good thing for Lana, at least; her daggers would definitely be outclassed by Myanihia''s blades. Now she seems on equal footing.¡± Athena said.

    ¡°And if I''m not mistaken, those are player-made weapons!¡± Lumpstein said with an odd note of approval in his voice.

    ¡°I thought so,¡± Wandreada nodded.

    ¡°Whoever made those things must be a true master smith that''s immensely proud of themselves right now.¡± Lumpstein nodded. I wasn''t sure if Lizzy would be beaming or blushing at those words.

    As Myanihia and I exchanged blows, neither of our blades landing a blow on one another, I felt the coldness of their presence become a chill. It was not my imagination. Myanihia had set off one of her racial skills, which Forseti identified as Alf''fimbul, revealing her identity as a Snow Elf for the first time in the tournament. It was an aura meant to hamper my movements, and I responded with a racial skill of my own.

    I didn''t train up a lot of the racial skills that I had. But I had put a few points into this one. Guardian of the Fords: it increased my attack speed and strength, and gave a ten-percent damage reduction bonus, for a minute and a half. That had to be at least as long as hers would last. Myanihia''s incidental damage and my now more successful blows began to chip away at the other''s health. Not by much, on either count, and I still had a greater amount, but no doubt that would start changing as the battle went on.

    Her skill and mine ended at nearly the same time, and after a rather impressive series of strikes and counter-strikes we jumped back from each other, circling once more. The infamously impassive gaze was now seething.

    ¡°How can one person be so complicated?¡± she said softly. ¡°Outside this arena, I am drawn to appreciate you. Inside it, my anger at you, only rises.¡±

    ¡°I bet you''re really just angry at yourself,¡± I replied to her, and her eyes flashed. ¡°Angry because you see in me a person you could have been: a person who wants to help others around them instead of ignoring them because of some stupid, meaningless quarrel,¡± I continued.

    Myanihia sucked in a breath, and then screamed like a wildcat.

    Uh, oopsies, I flipped a switch! I thought as I rushed to counter her furious flurry of blows that now railed upon me.

    ¡°Nyah?!¡± Lumpstein gasped in amazement. ¡°That''s a first!¡±

    ¡°Riled up now, aren''t they?¡± Wandreada remarked.

    I calmly matched Myanihia''s sudden fury blow for blow, countering, striking back, evading, blocking; there was a wealth of emotion behind both of us, she, desperate to hold on to her status quo, and me, eager to see what possibilities lay beyond my little world. If that means driving you to a point you think you can''t cross, I''ll shatter that illusion with these two swords!!

    With that determination, I activated another speed and movement boosting skill, and entered my Shadow''s Dance. Crescent Flash, Thousand Needle Strike, Doomstrike, and Flashing Blades. The initiation of that second-to-last skill brought her back to her senses, but she soon realized I was not using the ultimate one-shot she had given me, taking the hits with a grimace as she jumped away into Shadow Speed. I did the same, both of us pulling out our ranged weapons.

    I also activated Shadow''s Vigilance, which partly slowed down time around me for a minute. As Myanihia assailed me with her deadly darts, I was able to shoot them out of the air one by one. She audibly breathed out and in with frustration, pulling out her pistol. I readied my next arrow, and then did a tumble, firing at just the right moment and the right angle to knock it from her hand. Our running bonus ended, and once more we charged each other with our swords to try and drive the other into an inescapable corner.

    ¡°I haven''t seen something like this since the unofficial tournaments in Thessalia!¡± Ricklelopes remarked with awe.

    ¡°And they''re both still above seventy-five percent health,¡± Wandreada noted.

    ¡°Funny enough, there''s about forty-seven minutes left before the match has to end,¡± Lumpstein said.

    It''s gone on that long already?

    I wasn''t sure how to feel about that as I continued to repel my opponent, who was starting to act more like their usual self again. Then a sudden urge took hold of me. There was no rational reason behind it at the moment, I just had to do it. Using a series of delicate and swift maneuvers, I managed to slip past her guard and sliced off her hood and mask. The silvery hair tumbled out, the pale skin gleamed in the light, and her eyes flashed with an anger that absolutely outclassed her earlier rage. This time, it was a cold fury.

    I couldn''t quite comprehend it, but I could empathize with it, just a little. Her carefully crafted identity as a mysterious and cold assassin was falling apart in this tournament. She glared at me with a deep anger, and with another banshee-like scream she raged towards me once more with her swords.

    The anger I had unleashed now had me on the ropes. My health wasn''t going down any faster than it had been, but it was all I could do to keep her blades from hitting me in a spot where they could do massive damage.

    There was no commentating on the scene now unfolding. No one was cheering, no one was booing. As soon as Myanihia''s hood and mask had been torn apart and her identity exposed, it was as if the air had been sucked out of the arena. I could feel Ariana watching intently from the stands. She probably understood what I was trying to do, what I was trying to say, to the girl now doing everything left in her power to strike me down and win victory in the tournament. And all she had left was certainly no joke.

    The both of us threw down lotus bombs and flash-powder to disorient the other. Myanihia jumped for her gun; I quickly drew mine out, firing at the weapon and breaking it into pieces with two lucky shots. She recoiled like a cat from a bath, jumping to her feet again and hurling a shuriken my way, which I managed to deflect. A few more came hurtling my way, one of them scratching my cheek and another leaving a fine cut on my side before I finally closed the distance again to force her back to the swords.

    Once again we entered a swashbuckling contest, our battle probably resembling one of those old Robin Hood films from over a century ago. I tried a few martial arts moves on her, to no avail. She hurtled a strong driving kick my way, forcing me into a back-flip to evade her. I quickly returned the pistol to my hand, firing another shot as she tried to catch me with the point of her sword before I landed. Like lightning, Myanihia twirled to her left in evasion, narrowly avoiding the bullet as I regained my feet and fired another that caught her in the side. In response she managed to lodge one of her shuriken deep in my right shoulder. I winced, and her angered countenance showed a hint of delight.

    As I circled away, she came steadily on. Another shuriken came hurtling towards me, but this one I managed to shoot down, inadvertently turning it back upon her. It landed with all the force of the bullet in her right shoulder, and she grimaced in pain. Then, like two wounded animals, we observed each other intently, daring the other to show weakness first. I don''t know how I managed to hold up my right sword through the pain, but I did so.

    Just as a brief side-note, the pain in this virtual reality is nowhere near the actual level of pain in real life; it''s just enough so that it gives a certain amount of immersion. But anyhow.

    I locked eyes with my opponent, and she locked eyes with me. She was getting desperate. There was a panic in her eyes, a scream that would not come out of her mouth. Again she rushed me, again I fought to hold her off, each of us now getting weary. Yet as our smoldering battle continued across the stage, both of us could feel the other''s desire to keep going, to somehow overcome the other.

    We landed a strike or a blow on the other about every third and seventh attempt, wearing each other''s health bars down a bit faster this time. One of our exchanges even dislodged the shuriken in our shoulders, exchanging the debilitation effect for a minor bleed. As the two of us went down into the yellow, our movements became more erratic, more burdensome. Lotus bombs are not good for nothing.

    I managed to disengage for a moment, throwing two more down and then a couple flash-powders before Myanihia could react, then I retreated into the shadows, throwing down a smoke bomb for good measure. It wouldn''t keep her off of me for long, but I hoped it would do so long enough. I tried to refocus my mind and get a handle on a clear objective to ending the fight.

    I''ve got ten seconds of clear space, if that. What should I do? Try the thing? It might work, but she knows how to counter it as well. I''d likely get stopped, and she''d follow up with the same skill right after the interrupt to finish me off for good. Maybe if I throw down another lotus bomb, or disorient her again with flash-powder--

    A sudden stinging sensation in my neck cut off further thoughts. It was a dart. I glanced at my health bar; it was a poison dart. Another dart hit me in the side; this one was paralysis. The audience gasped as the smoke cleared. I tottered to my knees, struggling to stay upright.

    Myanihia smiled, readying her short-sword for the killing blow, stepping back into the shadows to unleash her deadly one-shot. A tear came down my cheek.

    Thoughts whirled through my mind; names, places, people. Memories of my experiences this past year swirled around. There was the irrational fear that, if I let myself be defeated, all of that would somehow crumble down. It was completely irrational. Yet at that very moment, another incredible occurrence happened.

    The paralysis suddenly wore off. I had no time to wonder how or why. I activated Shadow Vision; I was just in time. Myanihia was now activating Doomstrike. Her eyes widened as I moved my head to look directly at her, whipping out my pistol with blinding speed. She started to second-guess herself, halting for a moment. I fired three shots. It interrupted her deadly combo, and I quickly reached for the dart in my side, hurling it back at her as she was forced from the shadows. Briefly, I noticed that it had not gone in very deep, which was probably why the effect wore off as quick as it had.

    But it lodged itself perfectly in Myanihia''s side, halting her every move. Her face contorted in anger and shock. I entered Shadow World, activated Shadow Speed, and then used the same deadly combo she had tried to use on me. It struck her without fail, and with a sudden flood of tears, Myanihia''s avatar disintegrated, leaving me just barely standing to claim my status as the victor of the Grand Tournament. Forseti announced me as the winner, and the crowd went absolutely bonkers with cheering and applause. A teleport enveloped me, and I passed out.

    ***

    ¡°Lana! Lana!! Lana!!!¡± someone''s voice called to me as I slowly woke up again. It was a very familiar voice. Something important had just happened, too, but I couldn''t remember what.

    So tired... who is that? They sound very worried... I need to get up.

    My eyes opened, trying to focus, and I looked around to see Ariana cradling me in her arms. As soon as I was more alert she kissed me, and then sat me up.

    ¡°Wha... what happened?¡± I wondered.

    ¡°You won.¡± she said to me, her lips gently curving into a radiant smile.

    It came back to me then, and I leaned against the wall, slowly nodding.

    ¡°Oh, right,¡± I said with a faint laugh.

    ¡°Are you okay?¡±

    ¡°I think all of that lotus and poison is still messing with my head a bit,¡± I said groggily.

    ¡°Even though all the damage is restored when you exit the arena,¡± she remarked with a faint amusement.

    I leaned my head onto her shoulder with a sigh. She wrapped her arms around me. Lysandra came in then, kneeling down with us. Ariana smiled at her, and she wrapped us both up in her arms.

    ¡°Thank you.¡± she whispered to me.

    ¡°I-it was nothing,¡± I returned.

    ¡°You get yourself all beat up and then say it was nothing,¡± she giggled, ¡°Lizzy is right. You really are a dork.¡±

    ¡°Isn''t she though?¡± Ariana grinned.

    ¡°Ah-heh,¡± I smiled, too tired to argue. Then I felt the presence of Myanihia again, and looked up. Lysandra turned, no doubt from the scent she could pick up even in human form, sucking in a breath, and Ariana also turned to look, her face lighting up in surprise.

    ¡°I heard it. I felt it. Your feelings. All of them.¡± Myanihia said to me softly. She was once again calm, but it was not a cold and impassive calm.

    It was the calm of peace, a peace that was finally thawing out from who knew how many months or years of holding back a grudge-filled anger.

    I stood to my feet slowly, Ariana and Lysandra helping me up. Myanihia actually smiled. A real smile this time, gentle and kind; and I saw Lysandra softly begin to smile as well.

    ¡°I... will need time. But, Lysandra, I... want to talk. Someday.¡± the Snow Elf assassin said to the werewolf girl.

    ¡°I... yes, I want that also,¡± Lysandra nodded. Myanihia nodded back, the gentle smile still on her face, and then she departed. Ariana and I turned to Lysandra as she sighed, and she then turned back to us. ¡°Let''s go have a party.¡± she said with a grin, picking me up to carry me back as Ari giggled, holding my hand as we exited the arena for the last time -- this year, at least.

    They stopped at a bathhouse on the way to revitalize me a bit and put me into a more festive set of fashion, and then hurried back to the tavern and restaurant where everyone else was still waiting. I don''t know how many people hoisted me onto their shoulders that night. Apparently it was a fun thing to do -- for them. I know that Tyman started it again, and then Mad Dog took a turn, followed by WuKong and Barbarianne. Even Derwydd took a turn at one point, laughing merrily as I implored him--and everyone else--to let me stay on the ground.

    When I was finally released to recover my dignity in a corner, Jannie came over to give me a big hug. I hugged her back, a smile on my face.

    ¡°I knew you''d do it.¡± she whispered, patting me on the back.

    ¡°Just barely, but thanks,¡± I replied. Maryn came over to hug the two of us also, grinning happily, as did Lizzy.

    ¡°What''d I tell ya?¡± the blonde halberdier-slash-smith beamed contentedly.

    ¡°I hope you saved enough of those special materials to equip all of us in the future!¡± Maryn quipped as she tousled Lizzy''s hair.

    ¡°We''ll just get another resource raid-party going when the time comes!¡± Jannie giggled.

    ¡°Whoo!¡± Lizzy whooped.

    Several more people came to hug me or shake my hand as the after-party continued, and of course we all made plans to host more post-tournament celebrations at several other guildhalls for the rest of whatever time anyone could spare tonight and Sunday night as well. Ours was included, of course, along with the Mountain Tigers, Northern Warriors, Flamehearts, The Lightbrook Brigade, Dreamers Fables, and ?SOVEREIGN?.

    ¡°L-looks like we have a busy schedule ahead of us,¡± I said with a wry grin to Ariana later that evening.

    ¡°De-fin-ete-ly,¡± she nodded in agreement. ¡°Hahh... at least we have some butlers and cooks to help.¡±

    ¡°Oh!! We can just alert them now to start getting things ready, can''t we?¡± I said as I pulled up the panel to mail our NPC employees new orders.

    ¡°Oh true!¡± Ariana nodded. ¡°It''s a good thing you took the five-hundred thousand gold prize... our expenses here got a bit out of hand!¡± she said sheepishly.

    ¡°You''re telling me,¡± I said as I gazed at our guild-bank on the panel with an apologetic look. ¡°Let''s do some Firelands Bounty Quests with Dracuoatlax, those should be good to help replenish our guild finds,¡±

    ¡°Gotcha!¡± she nodded.

    ¡°Hmm?¡± Derwydd turned to us inquiringly. ¡°Who''s Dracuoatlax?¡± he wondered, and Ariana and I exchanged a grin.

    ¡°Should we tell him now?¡± she whispered to me.

    ¡°Nahhh, let''s surprise him.¡± I said, and she giggled. He continued to look at us with a puzzled glance, and I saw Healina bite her lip to keep a straight face.

 Chapter Forty-five: After-Parties and Aftermaths/Towards New Adventures

    We slipped out early with Derwydd in tow, heading to Queen''s Haven first to get Fyu. Then we scurried up into the Firelands, stopping at the camps to pick up the bounty quests, and then I used that special item we had been given to summon our dragon ally, Dracuoatlax. Derwydd was both very surprised to find out it was a dragon we had been referring to and yet also not in the least bit surprised that we had a dragon as an ally.

    ¡°You think you''ve heard every crazy rumor about the Silvernight Queens, and then they go and tame a dragon,¡± he quipped.

    So then we split up, mostly. Ariana, Anhe, Belle, and I went with Dracuoatlax, and the others went with Fyu and the waggon. Let me just put it this way. Doing bounty quests with a dragon as your ally is like using a stack of dynamite to wipe out goldfish in a bowl. We were done far faster than our other team, but altogether we had netted another twenty-five thousand gold for expenses and a lot of good crafting materials. Our NPC staff had made plenty of pre-preparations for a jolly feast, as the butler put it, by the time we got back.

    Fortunately, our guild hall was last on the list of party-crawling venues, mostly because we had the beachfront. So we didn''t have to worry that night. Worry could wait for Sunday night insofar as we were concerned.

    I won''t go through all the details and all the parties, because there''s just way too much to ever relate it in a succinct manner, but needless to say I think we all felt more exhausted from the after-parties than from the actual tournament event itself. I''m not sure I even remember half of it, but the one thing that stuck in my mind was the swimsuit fiasco that happened when we all got to Queen''s Haven at the end of our crawl, and I''ll be trying to forget that particular incident for the rest of my life, thank you very much.

    Ehh. I mean, sure, in the end, it was all fun. And I hoped that we would all have as much of a blast with it next year. But when Monday morning came along, I was actually kind of glad for a change that I was waking up to go to school instead of a grueling, harrowing day at the arena. That was a novel feeling. So anyhow.

    I stepped into the school with the strange feeling that I hadn''t been inside the building for years. Other than that it was a normal Monday. Rachel arrived about a minute later than I did this time, gently plomping her head on my shoulder for a moment before getting her locker open to prepare for the day. We headed inside after both of us had done so, sitting down with a nearly simultaneous sigh.

    ¡°I never thought I''d be so glad to put this uniform on!¡± she whispered to me.

    ¡°Right?¡± I agreed. ¡°I thought that bikini fiasco would be the end of--ahh... Lana, ah-heh,¡± I added, melting on to the desk.

    ¡°Pfft!¡± Rachel giggled softly. ¡°Did you ever get it back?!¡± she asked as softly as she could, her face twitching with laughter. It took me a second to remember why she was asking that question.

    ¡°¡­ Oh right, you and Andrea logged off early. Eh, Lysandra and Belle eventually took pity on me by the time most of the others had gone home or logged off... Mary seemed quite pleased with the whole thing.¡± I remarked with a wry sigh.

    ¡°Of course she did; she orchestrated it, remember?¡± Rachel smirked.

    ¡°Ahhh--!! Oh yeah... I''ll have to pay her back for that someday...¡±

    ¡°Now, now. Better do it as Lana or you''ll never hear the end of it.¡±

    ¡°True.¡± I agreed. The bell for class then rang, and we straightened up as Mr. Jones came in to start homeroom.

    ***

    When the lunch hour released us from the morning''s academic pursuits we made our way to the club room. Anhe and Mary were there already, the latter slyly smiling as we came in. Rachel smiled back; I''m not quite sure what kind of expression came over my face as we sat down, but it made the three of them giggle. The others came in shortly after, and we settled in to a companionable silence after greeting each other, focusing on our lunches for the first few minutes together.

    ¡°So what do you think the next competition is going to be like?¡± Ellie then asked us.

    ¡°Seems like it''s going to be less violent and more economic; less violent, at least, but not devoid of it.¡± Thomas said.

    ¡°It''s going to be like that game we played with Sean and Rachel earlier on Saturday, isn''t it?¡± Andrea remarked.

    ¡°I think so,¡± he nodded back.

    ¡°And the Wildlands will probably be our ''board'', so to speak,¡± I added.

    ¡°Agreed.¡± he returned.

    ¡°I hope we get to ally with other guilds; we''re one of the smallest guilds, after all, with just eight people.¡± Rachel said.

    ¡°I think they''re going to allow that for sure,¡± I replied, ¡°But I think the scores or ratings will still be separate. We''ll just be helping the others maintain their position and rank as they help us with ours. No team scores or anything like that. I think.¡±

    ¡°Hmm...¡± Anhe remarked softly. ¡°I guess we already know one guild we can ally with.¡± she then said, smiling over at Andrea and Thomas.

    ¡°True!¡± Ellie grinned. ¡°Still... we need to do some more leveling and resource gathering; I think the Firelands and the Wastes will be good for ores and metals or weird components, but the Tundralands have some nice timber.¡±

    ¡°I know Snow Dancer and Peaches, our guild leader, are planning on getting oak from Vinlandia for trade-cogs and caravels.¡± Thomas said.

    ¡°Ooh, nice. Hey, chief, what kind of ships are we gonna make?¡±

    ¡°Hrrmm...¡± I sighed thoughtfully, sitting back in the sofa as I pondered. ¡°Definitely a trade ship or two... Northern Warriors might build longships, so we could take a cue from them and do the same, though it''d be nice to get a galleon going if we can...¡± I mused, speculating on the ships I knew that Anhe and I could get or would be able to get in a couple weeks, if we kept at it.

    ¡°We should set up a meeting with Gears and Wheels, see if they''ll let us trade something for a cannon or so,¡± Mary suggested.

    ¡°Oh definitely.¡± I agreed.

    ¡°They''ll probably stay ahead of the competition just by raking in profits from selling siege equipment, cannons, firearms, and other explosives.¡± Ellie noted.

    ¡°I can definitely see that,¡± Thomas said with a laugh.

    ¡°Hmm... we should try and find a commodity, too... I wonder what''s in the Untold Deeps...¡± I pondered.

    ¡°Oooohh... nice idea.¡± Ellie nodded.

    ¡°Not a lot of people explore that place, from what I''ve read,¡± Andrea told us. ¡°Do you know anything?¡± she turned to Thomas.

    ¡°Hmm... I know Mad Dog and Barbarianne have led parties down there, as well as Valkrysti; we ourselves were thinking of attempting it some time soon. Maybe we can team up and get a raid party going for it!¡± he said.

    ¡°Oh, sure,¡± I nodded back. ¡°Dragonholt might be a good one to explore, also...¡±

    ¡°For sure.¡± Ellie nodded. ¡°That''s where we got the high-quality and rare metal for your new swords.¡± she continued with a low-key emphasis on the adjectives.

    ¡°Gyeek!¡± I started. ¡°O-o-of course we''ll go back there and get more so everyone else has better weapons!¡± I declared a moment later, and the others laughed heartily.

    ¡°Ahh, so much fun. But more importantly: Myanihia was a girl after all, huh?¡± Ellie then said as she got at least a bit more serious.

    ¡°Ah, oh, yeah,¡± I returned softly.

    ¡°Hmm...?¡± Mary gazed at me knowingly. ¡°How long did you know before us?¡±

    ¡°Ahh...¡±

    ¡°D-don''t be so hard on him, I was keeping it secret too!¡± Rachel piped up to save me.

    ¡°Huh?!¡±

    ¡°Rachel!!¡± Ellie and Andrea exclaimed at once, and my girlfriend gave them an apologetic smile.

    ¡°But she really liked confiding in you or something, didn''t she?¡± Rachel then said as she turned to me.

    ¡°Ehh... more or less, yeah.¡±

    ¡°Heh. Well, there can''t be any bigger whoppers beyond that, I guess.¡± Ellie remarked. My face twitched. ¡°Eh?¡± the blonde girl said as she noticed. ¡°D-don''t tell me there''s more!¡±

    ¡°Ahh...¡±

    ¡°There''s more to it?!¡± Mary jumped in.

    ¡°Ah-heh-heh-heh...¡±

    ¡°Sean?¡± Anhe gently poked me.

    ¡°Thing is, she''s Lysandra''s twin half-sister.¡± I told them. I had never seen a room of people so dumbstruck (except for Rachel, who more or less knew already), and I had never heard a louder exclamation of confusion in response to a surprise revelation in my entire life thus far.

    ¡°HUH?!?!¡± the other five of them all but shouted at the same time.

    ¡°Give me a break,¡± I sighed as Rachel and I walked to class, Ellie having gone on ahead to grab something she''d forgotten from her locker. Rachel softly giggled.

    ¡°I wonder if we''ll see Myanihia turn up again some day,¡± she then wondered.

    ¡°Maybe,¡± I replied. ¡°Maybe.¡±

    Afternoon classes passed by as swiftly as the morning ones had, and before I knew it I was on my way home again. They day I had somewhat looked forward to for once in my life had left me mentally exhausted -- and that was without the academic side of things in it.

    I got home at the usual time, doing a few chores and then hurrying to meet up with Rachel in a video-call to do homework together. We made it through the assignments one by one, and then chatted idly for a few minutes before she had to go and help Andrea with making dinner. Thomas, it seemed, had swung by to visit for the occasion.

    ¡°You''ll get to come over next time, I promise!¡± she smiled at me.

    ¡°No worries! Have fun, and I''ll see you a bit later, hopefully.¡± I replied.

    ¡°Definitely!¡± she nodded, and the video-call ended. I went downstairs to have dinner, after which I performed dish duty before heading back upstairs to escape into Panarena.

    ***

    ¡°Oh, you''re here,¡± Lysandra''s voice greeted me a moment after I had materialized in Queen''s Haven.

    ¡°Hey!¡± I said to her. ¡°Anyone else on yet?¡±

    ¡°Belle''s in town gathering some rare seeds for a pixie garden she wants to grow,¡± the older girl told me.

    ¡°Hmm? That sounds neat,¡± I replied.

    ¡°It''ll certainly be cute,¡± Lysandra said with a soft laugh. She then curled her lower lip inwards, giving me an uncertain look.

    ¡°All okay?¡± I asked her.

    ¡°It''s... there was some guild-mail that came. I can see the notification, even if I can''t read it yet.¡± she told me.

    ¡°Hm? Oh, the one real-week probation,¡± I nodded.

    ¡°True... but it... felt...¡± the werewolf girl said to me uncertainly, a slight fidget in her stance. I decided to put her at ease--if I could--and looked at the inbox. Then I started.

    ¡°Ah--ahh...¡± my voice articulated in a semi-anxious tone.

    ¡°It''s... from her, isn''t it?¡± my companion asked me.

    ¡°Y-yeah.¡± I said after a moment. ¡°She wants to talk to me, up on Pirate Isle.¡±

    ¡°I see. Did she...?¡±

    ¡°Nothing directly,¡± I softly replied. ¡°She hopes you''re well, but she wants to talk alone.¡±

    ¡°Figures.¡± the other girl said with a rueful grin.

    ¡°I''ll tell her you''re thinking about her.¡± I promised, and she nodded back.

    ¡°Do you have a tele--ah, wayport for Pirate Isle?¡± Lysandra asked.

    ¡°Yep, we grabbed it on our flight up to the Tournament.¡±

    ¡°Flight? Oh! The dragon,¡± she remembered with another laugh. ¡°Should I tell the others to wait up?¡±

    ¡°Ehh, I''d like us all to go where we want tonight; looks like we have a lot of crafting to do, anyway. But if we need to bunch up for a resource run later that should be fine; I doubt I''ll be spending long there.¡± I shrugged.

    ¡°Gotcha... hurry back.¡± she said with a smile, despite the forlorn note in her voice. I put a hand on her shoulder, giving her a smile, and then headed to the wayport, selecting Pirate Isle as my destination.

    It was just as thematically Caribbean as I recalled from over a week ago. Of course, in game time, it had been over a month since my visit here. Kind of weird to think about it... which is why I probably shouldn''t think about it at all, I reflected as I walked along the worn path that wound its way through the seaside town that we had visited on our way to Harmonia City. I was then accosted by an NPC messenger, who delivered a package to me and then ran off again.

    ¡°Hmm? What''s this now?¡± I wondered curiously, opening the thing. ¡°Hyeck?!¡± I almost jumped back. Inside was a skimpy piece of swimwear and a cheap teleport token, the kind that only works once and is set by a player for a specific destination. There was also a small note.

    Humor me, please, it read.

    ¡°H-h-h-humor you?!¡± I quipped back to no one, clamping my hand over my mouth as soon as I realized I had. A couple players nearby laughed, and then with a sigh I ducked into an unused building to slip on the... string-kini, I guess it''s called, and then activated the teleport crystal.

    Feeling very self-conscious as I materialized, I suddenly realized that I was in a private resort not far from Turquoit. There was a beautiful wooden frigate out in a small bay towards the north, gently swaying in the breeze atop the aquamarine sea. On land, the private resort was designed to look like a cross between a Mediterranean villa and a Spanish Caribbean church. I looked around, espying the person I knew I would find lounging in the sun, an unusual look of contentment on her face. Or maybe it was becoming more normal for her now. Or, maybe this was just where she unveiled her deepest self.

    ¡°Looks good.¡± Myanihia remarked as she caught sight of me walking over to her in the red... garment?

    ¡°I-if you say so,¡± I returned, my cheeks coloring.

    ¡°See? We match.¡± she told me. It was more or less true. She was wearing a silver-colored one that nearly matched her hair.

    ¡°Is this your private house?¡± I then wondered.

    ¡°It is. My mother, who runs the company, offered me one gift in-game. I chose a house. This one.¡± she smiled. ¡°It''s soothing, isn''t it?¡± she said, patting the seat beside her. I sat down, nodding in agreement. There was something about old-fashioned or archaic things that calmed me; steam-engine trains, wooden ships, castles -- you get the picture.

    ¡°You picked probably one of the nicest ones for sure,¡± I said.

    Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

    ¡°And one of the more expensive. It would have cost nine-million gold to get the normal way.¡± she told me.

    ¡°Hyeck!?¡± I nearly choked. Myanihia smiled, and calmly pulled up a menu, choosing a pink lemonade for herself before turning it my way. After a quick review, I settled on a fruit punch. The two drinks materialized, and she began happily and lazily sipping away as I idly took a sip of my own.

    ¡°Lysandra. She... was probably sad, that I wasn''t ready, this time.¡± Myanihia then said.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± I nodded. ¡°She''s definitely thinking about you, hoping to turn things a more positive direction.¡±

    ¡°Mm.¡± the Snow Elf nodded back, a soft hint of sadness in the voice. I let a moment of silence pass, and then spoke again.

    ¡°So... is this, a small after-party of sorts?¡±

    ¡°Hm. Yes, I suppose it is. The victor, and the vanquished, not quite friends, no longer enemies.¡± she smiled.

    ¡°P-people who aren''t quite f-friends d-d-d-don''t send each other s-skimpy beach-wear,¡± I softly retorted as my cheeks turned red again, and Myanihia laughed merrily.

    ¡°I suppose you''re right,¡± she grinned after a moment. ¡°I will be your friend. Your friend in the shadows. My image... the person I was trying to be, I can understand now that closing people out, not trying to really understand them, was wrong. But I can still be Myanihia Black, the shadow of mystery.¡± she said in her calm, whispery voice.

    ¡°I want to be your friend, too. I want to make so many more friends,¡± I told her, gazing off into the distance as she looked over at me. ¡°Even if some of us clash at first, I want to find the way that brings us together. It''s a game, it''s just a game; be who you want, forget other people''s feelings. But not in this game. This one''s different. It''s connecting people, like never before, and I want to help it along as long as I''m here.¡± I said softly, reaching a hand out towards the horizon as if I was grabbing the future. ¡°I never thought that way before... until I got here. I hope you can see it, too.¡±

    ¡°I do, Lana.¡± she replied to me with a soft smile. ¡°Maybe... maybe one day, after... my sister and I, have talked a bit more, maybe then I will even join the Silvernight Queens as well. But for now... let me continue dismantling the faceless midnight at my own pace. And know that I will be there, to help you, before you even know you need me.¡± Myanihia said to me.

    ¡°Whatever helps you move forward.¡± I nodded back.

    We sat together in silence for a few minutes after that, finishing off our drinks and gazing at the clouds that were slinking along in the sky like a herd of sheep waltzing through a dale. Myanihia then looked over at me again, a question in her eyes.

    ¡°Lana,¡± she spoke again, and I looked over at her, straw in mouth as I started on the last few ounces of my drink. ¡°My sister... what... what did her kiss taste like?¡±

    I choked, did a sort of spit-take, and coughed for several moments before finally recovering myself.

    ¡°W-w-w-w-where''s that coming from?!¡± I squeaked.

    ¡°Ah! Sorry!¡± she then smiled cheekily. ¡°I shouldn''t ask you such things, when you''re really with Ariana. Sorry, for inadvertently teasing you. You don''t have to answer that one.¡± she patted my arm, and I affected a bemused expression, shrinking into the seat a bit.

    Another moment of silence passed.

    ¡°¡­ C-citrus. Like citrus.¡±

    ***

    After my encounter--meeting? Peace-talk, perhaps?--with Myanihia, the two of us added each other as friends, and she graciously let me return to my normal clothes, donning her own mysterious robes again before leading me to Turquoit''s wayport, where we parted ways amiably and I headed on back to Queen''s Haven.

    ¡°Welcome back!¡± Ariana said as I arrived, giving me a hug. ¡°How''d it go?¡± she then asked me in a softer voice.

    ¡°W-well, I guess we have a new friend. Sort of. More or less...¡± I replied.

    ¡°Hmm...?¡± my partner gazed at me with a puzzled smile.

    ¡°Sh-she''s not easy.¡± I laughed with a wry smile.

    ¡°True.¡± Ari agreed, and we headed on into the manor. ¡°Hmm... Ellie, Anhe, and Maryn went to the Firelands with Fyu for an all-nighter resource run, Heali went with Derwydd and Belle to do a quest for some rare books in the Grasslands of Inyan, and Lysandra''s still here in the house.¡±

    ¡°Gotcha. Wanna grab her for an adventure or two?¡± I asked, and she nodded, smiling back at me.

    ¡°Of course!¡± she returned.

    Lysandra smiled as we entered the main hall, and I slipped her a note from her sister that I had been sent back with. She read it, a soft smile coming to her face, and then brushed away the faint hint of tears that had tried to form.

    ¡°You okay?¡± I asked her.

    ¡°I''ll be fine,¡± she smiled. ¡°Where are we off to tonight?¡± she asked then.

    ¡°Hrrmm...¡± I crossed my arms over my chest, suddenly realizing I hadn''t thought that far ahead.

    ¡°You know,¡± Lysandra then said, ¡°Lizzy mentioned you were gonna try and head into the Untold Deeps at some point. Do you know about the supposed secret stairwell to get down there?¡±

    ¡°Secret stairwell?¡± Ariana and I both repeated.

    ¡°There''s nine proper entrances scattered across Panarena; four on our side, four in Onyxus, and one in the Borderlands. But on both sides there''s a secret entrance that you can make use of by completing a secret quest in Harmonia City. According to rumor... tournament victors automatically clear the hidden requirements to activate the quest.¡± Lysandra told us.

    ¡°Ooh!¡± Ariana said with interest.

    ¡°That sounds like a nice--¡± I started, and then suddenly I remembered I was a victor of the tournament. ¡°Oh, duh, that means I can get the quest, maybe!¡± I said as I snapped my fingers, and Ariana shook her head in amusement.

    ¡°It''s only been a couple days and you''ve already forgotten you won the tournament?¡± she sighed.

    ¡°Pfft!¡± Lysandra softly guffawed. ¡°You''re definitely right about her!¡±

    ¡°Eh? Ehh??¡± I looked at both of them in turn with a puzzled expression.

    ¡°So adorkable!¡± the two of them chimed together, and I sighed wearily. I''ll never hear the end of that word, will I?

    Anyhow. A couple minutes later, we were geared up and on our way to Harmonia City via wayport. According to what Lysandra remembered from the rumor, the quest we were searching for was most likely going to be in the Barracks District, possibly the Market. We quickly scoured the latter, turning up nothing, and then made a more diligent search of the former, finding a likely candidate at the Head Barracks nearest to the Inner District.

    The quest involved clearing a mysterious old series of subterranean passages that had been accidentally discovered near the borders of Kingsmark, Vinlandia, and the Mountains of Solitude. Our suspicions were confirmed when the quest-giver, one of the four captain-generals of the city, mentioned that only someone on the caliber of an undefeated hero or heroine who had overcome mighty opponents would be allowed to lead an investigation-slash-clearing of the strange passages.

    As soon as we had accepted the quest, we headed back to the Market District and took the train down to the tri-regional border in question. We were underground for several long minutes, and then the train emerged from its own subterranean passage to an above-ground railway system.

    ¡°This is fun!¡± Ariana said as the train passed through the idyllic landscapes of Kingsmark at a considerably fast speed. ¡°It feels so smooth, too, like the improved maglev-trains in Canada and Japan.¡±

    ¡°Nice,¡± I replied, and then noticed a menu. ¡°Oh, cool!¡±

    ¡°One good meal covered by our ticket price, huh? Fair enough,¡± Lysandra said.

    ¡°Definitely.¡± Ari nodded. We selected our orders, and a few moments later one of the NPC waiters on the train arrived with our meals atop a push-cart, distributing them onto the table before us and then continuing on their way. The three of us eagerly dug in, happily enjoying the repasts now before us.

    ¡°Did you ever try out the Untold Deeps, Lysandra?¡± I asked after a moment.

    ¡°I haven''t. It wasn''t available during the beta test for exploring, though there was a lot of foreshadowing pointing towards its being a thing.¡± she replied.

    ¡°Huh,¡± I returned, taking a drink as I took in the words.

    ¡°And then when the game went live, I rushed through the Aldholt and then went to Yucu Plains before making my way north towards the Vales of Aergondi, questing as I went. I visited the Borderlands a couple times, taking one of the trains to get there, but I wandered around the Vales for the most part until the Tournament.¡± Lysandra recalled as we listened.

    ¡°What are the Vales like?¡± Ariana wondered.

    ¡°Hmm... thematically, the three major cities there are Victorian, but it''s mostly populated by little farm hamlets. There''s river vales, and vales without rivers, lots of forests, a few ridges, one lonely mountain, and a great lake in the middle of it all. The main city for the region sits on an island there; it''s mostly populated by Elves, but the smaller towns have Humans or Dwarves, sometimes Fae-kin.¡± she recounted for us, a smile on her lips as she brought up the memories.

    ¡°We''ll have to visit some day,¡± Ariana smiled.

    ¡°There''s so much to go and visit, huh?¡± I remarked.

    ¡°Oh definitely.¡± the older girl nodded. ¡°Though I heard Hollyland just west of it is getting one of the more intriguing quests for the Winter Holiday!¡±

    ¡°Ooh...!¡± Ari said with interest. ¡°That reminds me, we have to go check Cedarville when the time comes and see if that was a Christmas quest as well,¡± she turned to me.

    ¡°Oh yeah!¡±

    ¡°Hmm? Ahh, the one cedar on the northwestern side of the town, huh?¡± Lysandra said with a faint grin.

    ¡°You know something about it?¡± Ari wondered.

    ¡°Oh, you''ll see.¡± she said to us, still grinning. Ariana and I looked at each other.

    Think she''s bluffing?

    Maybe, but I doubt it.

    I wonder what it is!

    I guess we''ll see! Our wordless exchange played out in growing smiles, and we then returned our attention to food, Lysandra smiling brightly as she watched the two of us. Even more so than with Lizzy, Heali, or Maryn, I felt like I definitely had an older sister this time.

    The train dropped us off at a way-station not far from the tri-regional border, where the three of us continued on foot towards the southwest. We passed through a guard-post that had been set up to keep an eye on the unearthed descent into the mysterious passages, gaining a set of ancient keys from one of the chief guards, and then continued on our way.

    There was nothing unusual-looking about the newly excavated place that we could see, but the three of us could definitely sense something. An ancient door of stone sealed the actual passages themselves. I presumed one of the keys would open it. There were two statues on either side of the door, one of them resembling a knight and the other a mage. Some sort of hint, perhaps? Lysandra, who was just behind the two of us, then placed a firm hand on our shoulders to get us to stop.

    ¡°Sandra?¡± Ari asked, and the older girl began sniffing.

    ¡°Something''s not right about those,¡± she said, her eyes gleaming. Ariana got her staff ready, and I drew out my bow.

    ¡°One of those mechanics, I guess. Let''s just hope they''re not invincible kill-alls.¡± I said as I activated Shadow Vision; I would have been surprised if not for Lysandra''s sudden warning, but now I was definitely not surprised to see the two statues -- or guardians, perhaps, to be more accurate, outlined in enemy colors. ¡°Left!¡± I cried out, readying my shot and firing at the mage.

    ¡°Right!¡± Ariana said as she cast a holy bolt towards the other. Lysandra drew out her sword, readying herself. Our apparent enemies woke up from their statuesque slumber, the mage casting spells towards me and the knight slowly advancing towards Ariana.

    ¡°Hyah!!¡± Lysandra shouted, rushing to engage the knight and turning him so Ari had a clear shot. She took advantage at once, redoubling her efforts to take the knight down while I kept the mage occupied.

    It wasn''t a difficult fight, and it was over in about five minutes, but the three of us knew that similar things were probably due to happen as we got further in. After defeating the two guardians, I tried the keys one by one, succeeding with the tenth. The door opened, and we headed on inside to begin our new adventure.

    ¡°Hahh...¡± I sighed about an hour of in-game time later, recovering my breath -- as were Lysandra and Ariana -- before we moved on.

    We had been only too right about the statue mechanic. They were everywhere. Everywhere. You could barely turn a corner without finding another, and when Ariana used Mystic Vision-Seeing Eye combo to scan ahead, the three of us had let out a simultaneous sigh of weariness. But then Ariana herself suddenly noticed something, zeroing in on it.

    ¡°Oh, hey! A wayport!¡± she said.

    ¡°Heh? Really??¡± I wondered as I looked as well. ¡°Nice!¡± I remarked, and I heard Lysandra sigh in relief.

    ¡°Right?¡± Ariana wryly grinned back to her.

    ¡°This is more difficult than I thought,¡± she said with a smile. ¡°These guardians are getting tougher as we go on, as well.¡±

    ¡°I noticed that, too,¡± I agreed. ¡°Let''s just make it to the wayport this time, and we''ll come back with some or all of the others for a next attempt.¡±

    ¡°Agreed.¡± she nodded.

    ¡°Definitely.¡± Ari also nodded.

    ¡°How far do you think?¡± I asked her.

    ¡°Hmm... not too far; given our battle pace, maybe twenty minutes or so?¡± she said in answer.

    ¡°Good enough,¡± I said, and we set off towards the wayport in question. Slowly but surely we made our way there, finding to our relief that it was indeed a save point for the area.

    ¡°It''ll keep our progress, and no one else can reset it, so we can come back at any time.¡± I noted as I read the notification I received.

    ¡°But let''s not wait too long to finish it.¡± Ariana smiled.

    ¡°Oh definitely. Let''s try and get it by the end of the week, provided there''s enough wayports for save points,¡± I replied.

    ¡°Should be.¡± she said.

    ¡°Let''s get going; it''s almost midnight, and it''s still only Monday.¡± Lysandra said to us.

    ¡°Gotcha,¡± I agreed, and, after ensuring our progress had been saved, we returned to Queen''s Haven for the time being.

    The others were just returning from their own endeavors as well, burdened and weighted down with their gatherings. We helped them to carry in the surplus they had collected, and then gathered in the hall while Ari and Belle went to set some tea on for us

    ¡°So what did you three get into?¡± Lizzy asked me.

    ¡°We found a special quest to get into this secret passage-slash-dungeon place that leads to the Untold Deeps,¡± I replied.

    ¡°Sweet!¡± she replied enthusiastically.

    ¡°I remember one of our guildmates saying something about that,¡± Derwydd said. ¡°You actually found it, then?¡±

    ¡°Apparently winning the tournament is a way to skip some of the prerequisites for it,¡± I nodded back.

    ¡°Ha, nice!¡± he grinned.

    ¡°Still...¡± I sighed, and Lysandra affected a wry smile.

    ¡°We probably didn''t even get all that far, even after an hour and a half or so.¡± she said.

    ¡°We can all go together tomorrow night and clear it,¡± Healina smiled. ¡°Tuesday will probably be the one day this week we can all definitely join. Wednesday, Der and I are going out, and of course Lizzy''ll be working.¡±

    ¡°For the rest of the weeknights after it as well, and a full-night Saturday.¡± our smith nodded in affirmation. ¡°But in exchange I get a lazy Sunday, so if you can do a couple more resource runs this week I can spend that whole day or so crafting!¡± she said with a wide grin.

    ¡°We''ll see what we can do,¡± I smiled back as Ari and Belle returned with the tea.

    ¡°I might start working again as well, sooner or later,¡± the werewolf girl remarked. ¡°What about you, Belle?¡±

    ¡°I''ve got plans, but nothing definite yet; it''ll depend on how next semester goes for me,¡± our pixie replied.

    ¡°Gotcha.¡± the other girl nodded.

    ¡°Where are you planning to work? Or thinking about, even?¡± I asked Lysandra.

    ¡°Hmm...¡± she softly sighed, taking a sip of tea before answering. ¡°I might take an apprenticeship related to my studies; or just do the barista thing.¡±

    ¡°No visiting her at work, for a couple more years anyway!¡± Ariana smirked, and we shared a laugh.

    ¡°Oh, Lana, Ari!¡± Anhe then broke in. ¡°One night this week I want to take you somewhere in Xunapu, or maybe invite you over in real life, if you prefer?¡± she said to us.

    ¡°Hmm? Just us?¡± I wondered curiously.

    ¡°You will understand when we get there.¡± she smiled back. I thought about it for a moment, and then smiled.

    ¡°Sure, I can go,¡± I then nodded.

    ¡°Same!¡± Ari said.

    ¡°Hmm...?¡± Lizzy remarked with a semi-suspicious tone. ¡°Ah, wait, I get it. Have fun!¡± she then beamed. Nonplussed by her reaction, I suddenly wondered where Anhe was going to take us later as the younger girl smiled back at Lizzy.

    ¡°Oh! Club business! Remember our visitation this weekend!¡± Healina then reminded us, and those of us who were going reaffirmed our attendance. Well, I didn''t actually say anything, but Healina quietly fixed me with a gentle smile and I softly nodded back. She smiled, and then leaned onto Derwydd.

    ¡°You girls are tight, huh?¡± Belle smiled.

    ¡°And Derwydd, now. He''s in our class and our club,¡± Maryn replied.

    ¡°Sounds fun!¡± the other girl said delightedly.

    ¡°It really is,¡± Maryn smiled back.

    ¡°Hm? Where you at a different school, Lana?¡± Belle suddenly wondered. I saw Healina softly jab Derwydd as he opened his mouth. A brief look of surprise crossed his face, but he smiled and said nothing.

    ¡°Ahh...¡± I began uncertainly.

    ¡°Aww, foo!¡± Belle sighed, jumping to her own conclusion the matter. ¡°We''ll all have to get together in real life some day, hopefully before you youngsters scatter to the four corners of the world!¡±

    ¡°We can try this summer! The six of us were already plotting out a vacation together anyway,¡± Healina said with a smile.

    ¡°Yay!¡± the little pixie cheered.

    ¡°Sounds like fun,¡± Lysandra smiled. ¡°I honestly can''t wait to see you all.¡± she said softly, her face almost glowing.

    ¡°Want to meet up sometime with me?¡± Belle asked her.

    ¡°Hm? Ahh, sure, if we can,¡± the other replied.

    ¡°We''ll find out!¡± Belle smiled, writing a note and sending it her way. Lysandra smiled as she read it, writing one back. This little exchanged played back and forth a few more times, and then they smiled at each other, nodding.

    ¡°Ahh! It''s almost one here!¡± Healina then noticed, jumping up out of her seat, as did the rest of us still in high school. Lysandra and Belle laughed with amusement, getting to their feet as well.

    ¡°See you all tomorrow!¡± the dark-haired girl said, logging out as we waved back.

    ¡°''Night kiddos!¡±

    ¡°''Night Belle!¡±

    ¡°Nite-nite!¡±

    ¡°See you soon!¡±

    ¡°Don''t forget: club meeting tomorrow!¡±

    ¡°Yay! Homework help!¡±

    ¡°Good night!¡±

    ¡°See ya!¡±

    We hurriedly exchanged these and a few other more personal farewells and good-nights, and then logged out to get some sleep. As I drifted off into slumber a few minutes later, I smiled. We were certainly heading off into new adventures: real or virtual, it didn''t matter. As long as we were together, that was enough.

 Bonus Chapter: Pixie and Werewolf, Offline

    Mandy King walked down the avenue of the apartments in a pair of good shoes, warm pants, and a fluffy coat over a pink sweater. It was fairly unusual for her to head out anywhere, but since she had found out that her new guildmate in the Silvernight Queens, Lysandra, was a fellow student at the university, she felt compelled to meet her. And so the other girl, real name Christina Jennings, had agreed to meet her at a small-time bar hidden away by a cluster of other shops. The drinking age had loosened up in the last few decades, so the nineteen year old would have no trouble getting in--and had apparently frequented it after her eighteenth birthday.

    C-come to think of it, this''ll be my first time at a bar, Mandy reflected as she made her way through the quietly busy streets. One or two guys definitely checked her out as she strolled along, and she felt her cheeks glowing red underneath her scarf. R-really?? M-m-m-me?? Hahh... she nervously thought, uncertain of whether to feel anxious or pleased. Both, probably.

    After a couple minutes more she found her destination, although she would have passed the place a thousand times in a day if Lysandra-Christina hadn''t told her exactly where it was. She entered the establishment with only a slight hesitation, and looked around. If you can''t find me of all people in real life, I don''t know what to tell you, Lysandra had told her.

    That probably means she''s closer to her online persona than most people... a lonely, stoic kind of girl who doesn''t make friends easily... oh, there you are, Mandy noted as she caught sight of a casually gorgeous girl at a corner table in a thin top with a long jacket over it. Black pants and black boots completed the outfit, along with the disinterested expression coming from crystal-blue eyes that seemed to have had a light turned on in them, at least a little bit. She confidently made her way over to the other girl, who looked up and gave her a soft smile.

    ¡°So you''re our pixie.¡± the girl in black said.

    ¡°And you''re our werewolf.¡± Mandy returned as she sat down next to her. ¡°Isn''t that cold?¡± she asked with a slight grin.

    ¡°Hmm? Oh, the bandeau,¡± her companion said, and then shrugged. ¡°I don''t mind. They''re comfortable, and I can always button up the coat outside.¡±

    ¡°I guess so.¡± the girl with platinum-blonde hair nodded. ¡°Mandy.¡± she then said, reaching out her hand.

    ¡°Christina. It''s... good, really good, to meet you.¡± the other girl replied, taking the hand. A warm smile was shared between them, and then Mandy took off her coat to set it on the other chair, along with her scarf. Christina did the same; Mandy couldn''t help but notice how slim she was. Not unattractively or problematically so, either. A couple of wolf-whistles were heard, but the younger girl was unfazed by them.

    ¡°D-do you get that a lot?¡± Mandy wondered.

    ¡°I guess. I don''t care, really. They''re just annoying, after all.¡±

    ¡°Isn''t it??¡±

    ¡°Hmm? You get them too, huh?¡± Christina softly smiled back. ¡°

    Now and again.¡± Mandy grinned. ¡°You really do emulate yourself on the other side, though, huh? The outfit, I mean.¡±

    ¡°Should see me at home sometime. You''ll get the whole view.¡± Christina subtly winked as a server came over to take their drink orders. When these had been placed, Mandy turned back to her new friend.

    ¡°Closet naturist, huh?¡±

    ¡°Mm. I always hated clothes. These are about as much as I can stand. I hated that uniform school I went to as well... stupid things itched like crazy.¡±

    ¡°I can''t imagine. I went up through a public school.¡±

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    ¡°Hmm. And now? What are you into here?¡± Christina asked her.

    ¡°I''m taking a lot of psychology and sociology classes; not sure what exactly I''m going for, yet, but I enjoy them.¡± Mandy smiled. ¡°I guess part of me is so interested in it because a lot of people tend to judge me... maybe I''m trying to learn how to connect, like you, too, even in Panarena.¡± she said in a softer voice.

    ¡°Judge you?¡± Christina wondered with a frown. ¡°Ohh, I get it. Well screw them. You''re gorgeous. Anyone who can''t see that should have their eyes gouged out and replaced.¡± she said, and Mandy blushed.

    ¡°W-Well, I mean, i-it''s not like I w-w-want attention...¡± she said with a faint grin.

    ¡°I get that.¡± Christina smirked back. ¡°Still... sometimes, it''s nice to be noticed.¡±

    ¡°Sometimes.¡± Mandy agreed. ¡°So what about you?¡± she then asked. The server came back with their drinks, and Christina took a sip, thinking a moment before replying.

    ¡°Space.¡± she replied.

    ¡°Huh?¡± the other girl returned in befuddlement.

    ¡°I''m taking a few science and engineering courses this year; I want to go to space, to be a part of the scene out there, to be... free.¡± she continued, and Mandy slowly nodded, then smiled.

    ¡°That sounds like fun!¡± she said.

    ¡°It''s hard, though. I don''t have bad grades, but I was never an A-student.¡±

    ¡°I''m sure your kind of determination will get you through it.¡±

    ¡°Even if it couldn''t get past Myanihia?¡± the other softly grinned back.

    ¡°That person was a totally different kind of obstacle. They needed a younger mind to outwit them.¡± Mandy shrugged.

    ¡°I guess... younger, and more imaginative,¡± Christina agreed with a sad smile.

    ¡°Lana''s got that over both of us,¡± Mandy grinned. ¡°I''d love to meet her, and the others, some day.¡±

    ¡°That''d be fun.¡± Christina replied. ¡°If she''s anything like her online self, I''m not sure if I''ll be able to resist trying to snag her for myself.¡±

    ¡°Aww, poor Ari! But I totally get it.¡± the other giggled back.

    ¡°Hahh, yes... the insufferable, inseparable lovebirds. Here''s to them.¡± the dark-haired girl said, raising her glass.

    ¡°Here''s to them, indeed!¡± Mandy returned, raising her glass as well to clink it gently against Christina''s in a toast. They took a deeper sip this time, and then fell silent for a moment.

    ¡°Come to think of it, you''re in my Lit class, aren''t you?¡± Christina then said.

    ¡°Hmm? Oh!¡± Mandy suddenly recalled. ¡°Ahh, that is you! Wanna sit together?¡± she asked with a bright smile.

    ¡°Ah--um... sure,¡± the other girl said bashfully.

    ¡°Don''t get shy on me now.¡± Mandy said, still smiling.

    ¡°It''d be silly to get shy like that after saying you''d see me unleashed at home, huh,¡± Christina said with a faint grin, and the other girl nodded back. ¡°You know... I have... a few issues... with my current flatmates...¡± the dark-haired girl then said, ¡°So... maybe... next semester... we can apply for... for an apartment together?¡± she wondered, her cheeks turning a slight shade of red. Mandy looked at her, and almost began to cry.

    ¡°I''d love that. My roommates aren''t the best, either,¡± she replied. ¡°They''re terrible!¡±

    ¡°Ugh, I so get it!¡± her companion agreed. ¡°And I was looking for a single anyway, but they have some nice deals on doubles in this quarter of the university-town. Wanna help me pick?¡±

    ¡°Definitely!¡± Mandy agreed happily.

    After a couple more drinks, the two of them left the bar and headed back towards their current abodes. At a clock-tower intersection, Christina halted, looking anxiously towards the left.

    ¡°Yours is that way?¡± Mandy asked, and Christina nodded. ¡°I have to go straight ahead and to the right, up there.¡± she said.

    ¡°I guess I left so early I didn''t see you.¡± Christina said.

    ¡°I was fussing over tops, too.¡±

    ¡°Ahh. I guess some of us do that.¡±

    ¡°Not you, huh?¡± Mandy returned.

    ¡°I''m sure you never thought of me as a fashion chick,¡± Christina laughed gently.

    ¡°Hmm... not trendy fashion, anyway.¡± the other agreed, and then surprised Christina by wrapping her in a hug, which was awkwardly, but warmly, returned.

    ¡°I-I''m glad you reached out. I mean it.¡± Christina told her.

    ¡°I''m glad, too. I look forward to our friendship, and to all the adventures to come!¡± Mandy replied, letting go and taking the other girl''s hands. She smiled, and the dark-haired girl smiled back. ¡°See you soon.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, see you soon.¡± Christina replied. The two of them headed their separate ways for the time being, a little less isolated than before.

 Chapter Forty-six: Winter Escapades

    A couple of weeks have gone by. Our mid-terms are looming towards the end of next week, and we''ve been a bit more focused on studying for those than on our game, for a change, but we''re definitely still a sight around Panarena. On that Tuesday night now a couple of weeks behind us, we gathered together with the eight of us--or nine, rather, counting Derwydd--and ventured down into that mysterious subterranean passage via the wayport. It''s handy that being in a party allows the whole party to get through, even if they haven''t found that specific wayport yet.

    Anyhow. With the other six helping, we made some definite progress, finally getting through those statue-monsters and entering a passage filled with mad alchemists, insane tinkers, and lunatic mages. This one was a bit tougher to get through, namely because they could activate or summon up all sorts of weird and bizarre contraptions to help them. But we eventually got through this as well, and then we found a special item that updated our quest log. Then I noticed a secret door after checking around with Shadow Vision to make sure there was nothing else, and managed to open it by having Ariana cast an enchantment onto me that allowed me to pick the otherwise invisible lock. Once it opened, we found a treasure hoard of items, stepping in all too eagerly only to awaken one final surprise boss, a giant automaton that nearly wiped us.

    Derwydd managed to trap it at the last second with one of his skills, and Healina quickly restored our health, allowing Maryn, Lizzy, and Lysandra to charge in for a grand finale while the rest of us supported them with ranged skills. We then collected more items from what that thing dropped, along with the rest of the stuff in the room, and then returned to the guard''s camp above. An expert mage who was also a royal advisor had come to the site, and when we gave him the object we had found he noted it was a special teleportation device to the Untold Deeps. We were then told that our reward for completing the quest would arrive in one week, real-time, but we were pretty satisfied with the items and resources we''d gathered so that wasn''t much of a let-down.

    And then on Wednesday, Rachel and I went with Anhe and her mother to their family''s restaurant, where we found that several of the other students had also been invited out. Our only instruction for the event: speak only in Mandarin-Chinese while inside. The two of us, at least, managed to pass that test. A couple of the others fumbled, but it wasn''t an actual test so much as a practical experience, so at least their school grades wouldn''t be affected. Later that night in-game, she took us to a place in Xuanpu for the same reason, where we definitely got some mileage on our practical experience with our foreign language of choice at a special cafe in Xingu where the translators were turned off.

    On that Saturday, our club went to tour the radio station as planned. It was a good experience, but I was sure after going there that being a DJ or a broadcaster was not going to be my thing. Thomas seemed to have a bit more fun with it than the rest of us. After our visitation we went to lunch, and then went our separate ways to home or to work.

    The next few days were more or less the same old routine. School, learning, gathering for lunch or club to plot out new adventures and discuss more practical club-things to do, studying and doing homework, heading home, eating dinner, and then spending some time in the game, those of us who could, at least. Our average level shot up to ninety-five in the space of time that followed the club trip on that Saturday, by which time Lizzy had managed to furbish us all with new gear, and new weapons for the others as well.

    For the most part, we''ve continued to stock up on resources, mostly of the construction-slash-industrial type. Anhe and I had managed to level up our crafting specialty enough to make a trade-cog, and we were looking at some smaller battle-ship plans to buy from the dock-master at Yu to try those out. We eventually settled on getting plans for longboats and junks, figuring on outmaneuvering any potential rivals and having an advantage with speed rather than fighting strength. So we''ve been getting materials ready for those, as well as helping Maryn ready some prefabricated wall pieces, roofing, fences, and barricades for building up a PvP fortress in as quick a time as possible, using the method we had talked about a few weeks back. We were going to experiment with them before the event actually started, of course. Hopefully no one would catch on too quickly.

    So, basically, there''s about two weeks left before winter break. Seven school-days, counting today, that is. Our exams would be held this Friday, which was tomorrow. Try-outs for the musical had concluded; I had somehow ended up with the leading role, and Rachel had won the role of Marion. I wasn''t familiar with a lot of the other kids who had gotten their own roles, but I was sure I''d end up getting to know them better by the end of it all.

    ¡°Mid-terms tomorrow, huh?¡± I sighed as I leaned back in the couch next to Rachel. We had been the first to arrive at club for a change, along with Anhe.

    ¡°Hmm.¡± Rachel nodded. ¡°Halloween went by, the Tournament went by, Thanksgiving went by... I hope it slows down now.¡±

    ¡°Me too,¡± Anhe agreed. ¡°It has all gone by so quickly; even my mother is bewildered!¡±

    ¡°It is bewildering, huh...¡± I said in agreement.

    ¡°We should go out as a group this weekend or next, or definitely plan a winter trip!¡± Rachel said.

    ¡°Ahh!¡± I suddenly sat up, a thought suddenly in my head. ¡°Hollydale Resort would be fun!¡± I then exclaimed. Rachel looked at me curiously, and Anhe responded with a thoughtful look.

    ¡°Hmm! My cousin Mi-Sun went there with her family one time; she really enjoyed it there. I think that would be a nice idea!¡± she agreed with a nod.

    ¡°What''s Hollydale Resort?¡± Rachel asked.

    ¡°What''s this now?¡± Ellie said as she and the others came in.

    ¡°Ellie! Ellie! Sean thinks we should go to Hollydale for a winter trip together! Give him all of his missing points back!¡± Anhe quickly said.

    ¡°Ehh?? But I just took them all away at lunch for that crack about my--¡± she started, but then relented with a smile. ¡°Hehh... you''re right, that''s a nice idea. What do you say, boss?¡± the blonde girl said to Andrea as they sat down. Our club-leader pondered for a moment as her boyfriend sat next to her, and then smiled.

    ¡°I think there''s some details we''d need to go over, but let''s all talk to our folks and see!¡± she agreed.

    ¡°If it''s Hollydale we''re going to,¡± Mary said as she pulled out her lunch, ¡°I have an aunt who might help us out.¡±

    ¡°Gotta love the family connections in this city!¡± Ellie beamed.

    ¡°Definitely.¡± the older girl grinned.

    ¡°I know there''d be no problem for me, just as long as we have supervision.¡± Thomas said.

    ¡°Oh! What about Belle or Lysandra? They''d probably count as adult enough!¡± I suggested.

    ¡°Yes!!¡± Rachel almost jumped out of her seat. ¡°Ahh! But we''re still keeping Lana a secret from them, right?¡± she asked.

    ¡°Vote time!!¡± Ellie said. ¡°Who wants to potentially humiliate our fearless guild leader on our winter vacation?¡± she asked, raising her hand all too high for my liking. To my relief, none of the other girls (or Thomas) raised their hand. ¡°Boo! Losers.¡± she quipped as she put her hand down.

    ¡°I''m mostly neutral on the matter, but I think you torment Lana enough in-game without getting Sean in real life,¡± Thomas said with a bemused grin.

    ¡°Bleeehh.¡± the blonde girl sighed. ¡°So we''ll just keep it from them for now, huh?¡±

    ¡°Maybe next vacation we''ll tell them.¡± Mary smirked.

    ¡°Definitely. We''ll just see what they think of him this turn around.¡± Andrea nodded.

    ¡°Hee!¡± Ellie grinned. ¡°Be on your best behavior, dork!¡±

    ¡°I-I know that!¡± I griped back at once.

    ¡°So they''ll probably be on tonight, right? Let''s ask them then!¡± Rachel said.

    ¡°I''ll be at work, and I guess you''ll be there too, huh?¡± Ellie said, turning to Thomas.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± he nodded back. ¡°I only get a couple days a week, though, unlike you. Have to make the most of them!¡± he remarked.

    ¡°Right?¡±

    Oh yeah. Thomas went for that audition at Fun Castle after all, and he now gets at least two nights a week per week as one of the entertainers there. I think Ellie is also nudging Andrea to join them, but Andrea often had her younger cousins to look after, so she hadn''t taken Ellie up on it yet.

    ¡°Hmm... but you do end up logging in for the ''night-shift'', as you like to call it, while we''re all actually asleep!¡± Andrea said with a soft smirk to Ellie.

    ¡°Of course I do! And I sleep better there a lot of the time anyway.¡± she shrugged. ¡°But anyway... exams tomorrow and then a week of not really doing anything at school, huh?¡±

    ¡°We''ll be doing some pre-production for theater,¡± Rachel remarked.

    ¡°Oh! Right!¡± Andrea exclaimed delightedly. ¡°You two are gonna be so good!!¡± she said in that pitch girls get to when they''re super excited about something.

    ¡°Right?!¡± Mary agreed at once. Rachel and I exchanged amused grins with each other.

    ¡°Hm? Thomas, aren''t you in that class also?¡± Andrea suddenly asked.

    ¡°Huh? Oh, right, in the class before theirs. I''m just doing stage-crew, though.¡± he said.

    ¡°Boo.¡± she returned with disappointment.

    ¡°Hmm? Did you guys get to vote on the play?¡± I suddenly wondered.

    ¡°We did. Everyone thought it would be that romance play!¡± he said with a grin.

    ¡°And then she pulled out the Robin Hood one at the last minute to mess with us,¡± Rachel smiled.

    ¡°Oh definitely. I''ve heard she loves doing that.¡± Thomas nodded back.

    ¡°Heh.¡± I faintly grinned. A few quiet moments then passed by, then Andrea spoke again.

    ¡°We didn''t get any homework, did we?¡± she wondered. None of us had, it seemed, not even Mary, who usually got some no matter what.

    ¡°Well, we''ve a couple hours to go...¡± Thomas said, pulling something out of his bag, ¡°So why not try... this?¡± he suggested. It was a portable holo-board game console.

    ¡°Cool!¡±

    ¡°Oh neat!¡± Rachel and I remarked at once.

    ¡°And guess what''s on it?¡± Andrea said with a twinkle in her eyes.

    ¡°I know what that means,¡± Rachel answered with a laugh, and Thomas booted up Riskopoly for us to play.

    ¡°Nice!¡±

    ¡°Sweet!¡± Mary and Ellie remarked.

    ¡°Hmm... I guess we can have... three teams? Four?¡± Thomas pondered as he looked around.

    ¡°I just want to watch the fun,¡± Ellie shrugged.

    ¡°Then I get Mary!¡± Anhe said, and the older girl smiled over at her.

    ¡°You got it.¡± she replied.

    ¡°Three teams, then!¡± Thomas said, inputting the information.

    ¡°Oh, I could stream this!¡± Ellie then remarked, pulling out her phone to do so.

    ¡°Ehh??¡± I wondered bemusedly.

    ¡°It''ll be great!¡± she beamed back.

    ¡°I don''t mind,¡± Andrea shrugged.

    ¡°Official policy prohibits it during normal school hours, but a club activity should be fine.¡± Mary said.

    ¡°See? We''re good!¡± the blonde girl said to me.

    ¡°Hrrmm...¡± I scratched my head, resigning myself to the idea. And so we began our second foray with Riskopoly, with two others joining us for the delightful chaos of the game we had adopted outside of Panarena.

    It was as I was on my way home later that I realized there was a certain kind of flaw in the previously agreed vote to keep Lana a secret if we invited Belle and Lysandra on a trip with us.

    ***

    So after my usual post-school afternoon-slash-evening routine, I headed in to Panarena, finding Ariana had gotten there first of all. None of the others were on yet. She greeted me with a smile, and I waved, smiling back as she came to hug me.

    ¡°Ah, so...¡± I started hesistantly.

    ¡°Hm?¡± Ari wondered at once.

    ¡°Ahh... I know we said that Lana would be a bit of a secret this time, but...¡±

    ¡°But...?¡±

    ¡°Y-you know as well as I do there''s a flaw to that intention this time.¡± I said with a wry face, and her eyes widened a bit as she caught on.

    ¡°¡­ Pffffft!¡± she broke out into laughter with a wide grin, and I had to laugh as well. After it had gone on for a few moments she sighed, shaking her head. ¡°Of course they''ll realize it as soon as they meet us, or they''ll think I''m two-timing either Sean or Lana...¡± Ari remarked in understanding. ¡°Hmm, so that''s no good!¡±

    ¡°Not really,¡± I nodded back.

    ¡°Let''s surprise them anyhow by saying they''ll get to meet Lana!¡± she winked, and I gave her a half-smile.

    ¡°Sure.¡± I agreed.

    So with that little amendment settled on by the two of us, we went to work on our crafting skills a bit until some of the others got on. I was experimenting with a smaller longboat-type ship near our refurbished and repaired docks. It was not as big as a typical one, being a mere ten meters in length and three-and-a-half wide; it was more of a personal sailing craft, really, but I wanted to at least try it out.

    ¡°Wood amount, good... components, good... ah, just barely enough sail; we''ll have to go looking for materials later... ehh, no barrels, but they can be added later... and it looks good on oars, too; color option? Oh, the sail. Hmm...¡± I pondered for a moment. ¡°Why mess with a classic,¡± I then said, selecting red. Then I hit the construct button, and the craft materialized upon the water, a decent if not magnificent little longship with the classically ubiquitous red-and-white striped sail. ¡°Nice!¡±

    ¡°Oh, very nice,¡± the voice of Lysandra came to my ears. I turned to greet her, and she smiled back. ¡°Not the biggest one you can make though, I guess,¡± she said as the two of us stood together to look at it.

    ¡°Nah, but I''m out of material for sails, now... we''ll have to go get some from the dock-master again or try locating the materials ourselves...¡±

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    ¡°Hmm.¡± she nodded.

    ¡°Oh, anyone else on, yet?¡± I wondered.

    ¡°Anhe and Maryn are here; no one''s really decided on what to do, yet, though it might end up as another crafting night.¡±

    ¡°Hmm...¡± I mused, and then grinned as an idea came to mind. ¡°Let''s call them down for a little fun!¡± I said, and she looked at me curiously, then smiled as she caught on.

    And so ten Panarena minutes later the five of us, as well as Fyu, set off in the longboat I had just crafted, hastily adding some accessories to it for defensive purposes, deciding that our own skills would have to serve as offense. It certainly moved at a fast pace through the sea; a strong wind came to help us out as we rowed, Ariana keeping a lookout for us in the bow. We didn''t encounter much until we got further out from Xunapu, the Wildlands off to starboard and the Firelands yet visible on our port side.

    Then we encountered some enemies. Not player enemies, just normal pirate mobs with their own ships. Our own ship was way too small to engage them, which is what I had figured, but I quickly worked around this by having Fyu and I or Fyu and Maryn leap aboard the enemy vessel and scatter their crew a bit, allowing the others to get our vessel close so Lysandra could turn werewolf and climb aboard with Ari or Anhe on her back, depending on whose turn it was to keep our own ship safe.

    We did this a few times, and then we ran into a cannon galleon that narrowly missed splitting us in two when it fired, so we quickly tried to retreat. Yet by now there really wasn''t much to hide around.

    ¡°Tch!¡± I griped as another cannonball grazed my ship.

    ¡°That thing has some definite speed on it''s side.¡± Lysandra noted as she looked back.

    ¡°Masters, some of us might be able to swim over to them and take them by surprise; I myself should go, that may help this little craft to move faster.¡± Fyu said to us.

    ¡°I''d go, but I think we need attack power this time.¡± Maryn said. ¡°And Ari should definitely stay in case of emergency.¡±

    ¡°That means I should stay also,¡± Anhe remarked.

    ¡°All right! Sandra, Fyu, let''s go!¡± I said, and Ariana cast a smoke-screen spell as the three of us dove into the water, Lysandra and I unequipping our gear so as to not be weighted down in the sea.

    If it hadn''t been a nearly desperate situation, I might have laughed at the sight of our dog-beast friend swimming underwater, but he was swimming faster than both of us, so we grabbed hold of him as his powerful limbs carried us closer to the cannon galleon. He dove under it, heading for the far side of the enemy ship, and then quietly surfaced. Lysandra and I put our gear back on quickly, and then softly climbed up the ship, Fyu coming up after us.

    As soon as I was on deck, I entered Shadow World to take out several pirates, including the captain, whom we had usually been saving for last to fight. And then the pirates began throwing down their arms. Lysandra and I remained wary, as did Fyu, who softly growled.

    ¡°We surrender! We surrender! Don''t kill us!¡± one of the pirates said. I then noticed an option to accept their surrender and have them work for us.

    ¡°Hehh...?¡± I said with interest.

    ¡°What is it?¡± Lysandra wondered.

    ¡°We can have a real pirate crew at our disposal if I hit the option for it,¡± I told her.

    ¡°Hmm...¡± she mused.

    ¡°Masters, I do not usually prefer to align myself with fiends such as these, but perhaps they can be reformed. If you accept their proposition, I will accept your judgment on the matter, provided you can turn them into proper warriors.¡± Fyu told us.

    ¡°Anything! Anything!!¡± the pirate pleaded. ¡°We will serve you as sailors, soldiers, merchants, boot shiners, just let us live!!¡±

    ¡°How about we keep them out of sight from you, old buddy?¡± I asked.

    ¡°That is also a sufficient plan, master. So long as I do not have to cooperate with them.¡± the dog-beast agreed. I could hear the pirates still whimpering.

    ¡°All right, all right, you rotten layabouts!¡± I said, sheathing my left sword and hitting the accept button. ¡°Now listen up, scallywags! I''m Captain Lana Windstrider, and I''ve taken control of this ship and its crew: you''ll answer to me in all you do, and if there''s any rule breaking I''ll let Fyu decide how to deal with yas for it! Got it?!¡±

    ¡°Aye, aye, captain!!¡± the pirates chorused.

    Thus victorious, I appointed one of them as commander of the vessel, handing out a few orders and making some rendezvous arrangements for them, and when I was back aboard my own ship with Fyu and Lysandra we returned to Queen''s Haven for the night. The arrangement was simple: they gather intel and resources from enemy ships in the area, protect merchant vessels from other pirates, and then meet with us at Gatz or Yu to deliver a report and-or goods at every end of a real-week, not counting this one. Fyu, relieved that his dignity (and ours) would not be tarnished by cooperating with ¡°sea-scum¡±, accepted the arrangement. I was more than relieved, suddenly realizing that we may have come dangerously close to losing his services on account of accepting the pirates as underlings.

    And so in our first foray onto the high seas, we had ended up with a band of pirates -- or privateers now, I suppose -- at our disposal.

    We spent the rest of that night doing more work on our crafting skills, Anhe and myself making some repairs and additions to the longship first before helping Maryn out again. I went to a quarry with Fyu to gather some stone while Lysandra and Belle, who had logged on while we were out sailing, headed out to get some wood. Maryn herself took a wayport to one of the mines in the region to gather some ore before we all reconvened at the estate again to process our resources into proper building materials. After finishing with our self-appointed tasks and setting aside a good portion of ore for Lizzy to do with as she liked, we logged out for the night to await the next real day.

    ***

    Exams: the dread of all students no matter how studious and academic they are. Our first one was okay, the second one moreso. But then the third one came along. I wasn''t going to get perfect marks on that one by any means, but I knew I could at least get a C. The last one came along to finish us off for the morning, and we were released for the lunch hour. Rachel and I sat down in our usual spot with a relieved sigh when we got to the club room, the others joining us soon enough.

    ¡°Ugh!¡± Lizzy fussed as she sat down.

    ¡°No use worrying now,¡± Andrea said to her.

    ¡°Still...¡± Thomas sighed.

    ¡°Rough exams?¡± Mary asked them.

    ¡°Ugh.¡± the three of them chorused back.

    ¡°Same.¡± the principal''s daughter grinned.

    ¡°I think I did okay.¡± Anhe said.

    ¡°Me too,¡± Rachel nodded. ¡°Sean?¡±

    ¡°Ah?¡± I soullessly returned, and she wryly smiled.

    ¡°Are you alive again yet?¡± Rachel giggled.

    ¡°I think I managed,¡± I then said.

    ¡°Now it''s just the electives, the ones we signed up to suffer for,¡± Ellie quipped.

    ¡°Pfft!¡± Thomas grinned, softly chuckling.

    ¡°Oh! What did Belle and Lysandra say about Hollydale?¡± Andrea asked us.

    ¡°Hmm? Oh, they were open to the idea, so long as we give them a timeframe for it,¡± I told them. ¡°As if my folks hadn''t had enough to shock them this fall, now I had to deliver that fatal blow to them...¡± I said with a wry grin.

    ¡°But they agreed, right?¡± Rachel smiled back.

    ¡°They did.¡± I nodded.

    ¡°Same. And Ellie''s just don''t care, usually, so long as I''m with her.¡± Andrea said.

    ¡°I can go for certain as well, and my mother is willing to stand aside as chaperone this time, provided the older girls are definitely showing up,¡± Anhe told us.

    ¡°Aw, but we like Mrs. Liang too!¡± Mary returned, and the other girl smiled.

    ¡°She knows. But she said something about ''enjoying our youth together'' this time!¡±

    ¡°Nice.¡± Ellie grinned. ¡°Ooh, I know, I know, the week right after school''s out!¡±

    ¡°That can work.¡± Thomas nodded. ¡°Though you''ll definitely have to get some shifts in, as will I!¡±

    ¡°Hah, I''ll just go to the office later and get one of those permit things so I can skip coming to school and work for a week.¡± she shrugged.

    ¡°Oh yeah! There''s that option, huh...¡± he said with realization.

    ¡°You only have a part-time position there, so they probably wouldn''t let you out so easily.¡± Andrea reminded him. ¡°But definitely see about vacation time!¡±

    ¡°Right!¡± he nodded. ¡°We should probably get to eating lunch, too, before the hour is up!¡± he reminded us with a smile, and the rest of us started out of our seats a bit as we too finally remembered, scrambling to get our lunches out so we could recharge ourselves for the afternoon.

    And then the afternoon exams came along; the first one was okay but not great, the second one I was more confident about but not carelessly so, and the final mid-term I was definitely prepared for thanks to Anhe. At the end of that exam, Mrs. Liang promised to have an in-class party next Friday to commemorate our first semester, also noting that we would be watching one or two Chinese films during the next week as well. Thus Friday at school ended on a more positive note for me personally, and I arrived home in pretty good spirits.

    ¡°Hiya, buddy,¡± my dad said as I got inside the door. To my surprise he looked like he was ready to go somewhere.

    ¡°Hey; you''re going out somewhere?¡± I wondered. He let out a gentle smile.

    ¡°You too, by the way. Get ready... and, if you like, ask Rachel if she wants to come along; it''d be nice to have her with us.¡± he said to me.

    The tone of voice immediately raised my suspicions, but I went along with it, giving him a nod and heading up to my room. I called Rachel a few moments later.

    ¡°Hmm? He asked for me to come too?¡± she said in surprise.

    ¡°Yep... if you can, or want to,¡± I told her.

    ¡°I can, and I''d like to; but where are we going?¡± she asked me.

    ¡°Ehh... I''m not sure... but I have a feeling... please come with us?¡± I then said, gently pleading. Rachel looked at me over the video-call for a moment, and then gently smiled.

    ¡°I''ll be ready and waiting.¡± she nodded, and we ended the call there for now. I got myself ready, and then hurried on downstairs to where dad was waiting in the car, locking the door as I headed out. I looked over at him with an unspoken question as I input the Summers'' address for his GPS, and he sighed.

    ¡°Your grandpa had a bad fall today, and he came close to leaving us while the nurses and the doctor tended to him,¡± he told me, and I silently sucked in a breath.

    ¡°Is... is he still... in danger?¡± I asked as the car sprang into motion.

    ¡°They''re not too sure, but they asked us to come in and see if a family visit might help him get his bearings back.¡± he replied, and I gently nodded back. He reached over to put a hand on my head. ¡°He''ll be glad to see you with Rachel.¡± he added, and I softly smiled.

    ¡°Yeah.¡± I agreed.

    Once we had picked her up, I sat with her in the backseat, and we headed out to the Retiree Village and Care Villas west of the city, where my grandparents still lived. Rachel took my hand as I explained the situation, smiling at me kindly. It was all the answer I needed from her.

    It was just as I remembered the place from visiting over the summer, except for the more autumnal vista this time. This particular facility was top of the line, insofar as such things went; the buildings sat on a couple hundred acres of peaceful meadow and woodland, the staff and personnel were extensively screened for their jobs, and there was plenty for the residents here to do and see. We had gone to the art gallery last time; that had been a good day.

    When dad had finished parking the car, we headed for the residential apartment where my grandparents resided. It was next to a great pond, where we could see some of the more active residents enjoying a calm afternoon of fishing. I was never actually sure if there were fish in that pond or not, but I supposed it was more of a social thing than anything else.

    We entered the building, checking in at the desk, and then headed up to where the elder Daniels'' couple now lived. A doctor who had been stationing herself nearby waved to us, calmly explaining the situation and telling us that Mrs. Daniels (my grandmother) was in the room with her husband. Dad nodded, and after a few more pleasantries we headed on in to the little apartment. Grandma looked up, smiling over at us, and then shook her head. Grandpa didn''t really make a move yet; he was probably still tired.

    ¡°What''s up, mom?¡± dad said as he sat down nearby.

    ¡°Alby, dear boy, he''s lost the English.¡± she told him.

    ¡°Ahh... the doctor mentioned something like that. Might have happened because of the fall,¡± he said, reaching over to pat her shoulder.

    ¡°Oh, I know it well. He always swore one day he''d stop speaking the language of ''those infernal globalists'' and only use the Old Tongue; you''ve got your wish now, dearie, but it makes it a might hard to communicate, even with this little thing,¡± she said, holding up the receiver for her translator. Then my grandfather''s eyes suddenly alighted on me, and he seemed to brighten up.

    ¡°A She¨¢in, mo bhuachaill, an dtuigeann t¨² mo bhriatha f¨®s?¡± he said to me.

    Sean, my boy, do you understand my words still?

    ¡°T-tuigim, a sheanathair,¡± I managed to reply, trying suddenly to recall words I''d learned years ago and bemusedly thinking back to how I had just spent the last four months trying to learn Mandarin just to end up in this particular situation.

    I understand, grandpa.

    ¡°Hrrmm, ''s maith sin. Conas t¨¢ t¨², a bhuachaill, agus c¨¦ h¨ª an chail¨ªn sin?¡±

    Hmm, good then. How are you, boy, and who is the young lady?

    ¡°T¨¢im go maith,¡± I said, scratching my head a moment. ¡°Is ¨ª mo chail¨ªn, R¨¢ich¨¦al.¡±

    I''m okay; she''s my girlfriend, Rachel.

    ¡°Hm! An bhfuil Gaeilge aici?¡±

    Does she have Irish?

    ¡°N¨ªl Gaeilge aici.¡± I shook my head.

    She doesn''t. I could see my grandmother softly smiling, along with my dad, and Rachel watching me with interest.

    ¡°¨®r¨®!¡± he exclaimed. I then reassured him that I would work on it with her someday, and he relaxed, asking me about school and then my friends as I sat down near him with Rachel. It kind of amazed me how much I could remember, talking with him in that venerable language that had, at last, reclaimed its place in the world. Meanwhile my grandmother and my dad had their own little conversation together. Rachel softly smiled as I carried on talking, sometimes with a stumble, with my grandfather. I was sure she was picking up at least a few things already.

    Eventually we went out to take a walk with them, bundling up grandpa nice and warm before setting him in a wheelchair that my dad gently pushed along. We took a loop around two smaller ponds nestled in scattered pine groves around the area, taking in the sights and sounds of the tranquil preserve. Forty minutes passed us by, at the end of which grandpa had fallen asleep comfortably. We headed back inside, where the nurses helped to put him back to bed again, and then grandma saw us to the door. She gave Rachel an extra warm hug, softly warning her to be careful around ¡°those Daniels'' boys¡±, as she liked to call me, dad, and gramps, to which Rachel responded with a sly grin, nodding back.

    Dad thanked us both on the way home, stopping at a small restaurant on the edge of the city to treat us to dinner. When we got back to Rachel''s residence, I got out with her to say goodbye, and that goofy old man of mine beeped the horn and took off for home. I watched his car recede down the street with a nonplussed look on my face.

    ¡°Y-you crazy, cartoon-watching goofball! Get back here!!¡± I called uselessly. I was positive that he was cackling to himself. Rachel quietly giggled, and then took my arm, stopping me from further verbal rampage.

    ¡°Dessert?¡± she sweetly asked.

    ¡°Ahh--eh--oh... sure,¡± I replied, and she led me inside, where we shared a bowl of ice-cream together. Andrea came to check on us, snitching a bite for herself before patting us both on the head and heading back up to her video-call with Thomas, promising to be on later in-game. When the ice-cream had been finished, I kissed Rachel goodnight before walking back home, giving my dad a mock-sour face as I entered the door. He laughed twice as hard as I was sure he had been laughing while driving away, and then I went upstairs to head into Panarena.

    ***

    ¡°The winter special won''t be here until after our Hollydale trip, huh?¡± I mused as I looked at the Calendar of Events in-game.

    ¡°True, but that''s good for us!¡± Ari said.

    ¡°Hmm... I actually don''t want to have access to Panarena there myself, honestly,¡± I said with a smile.

    ¡°Ehh??¡± my partner said, reaching across to feel my forehead as a bemused grin crossed my face. ¡°I was sure you didn''t have a fever when you were over at the house; did you catch one on the way home?¡± she said with such a convincing concern that I wondered for a moment if there really was something wrong with me.

    ¡°Oy...¡± I softly quipped, and she giggled. ¡°We''ll have to get some things prepared here for that week, though,¡± I then said.

    ¡°True. I''ll work on making some healing or stat potions with Heali, and we can put them up for auction to cover a few things; we set our auctions so that our gold goes into guild-funds, after all,¡± she returned.

    ¡°Good plan,¡± I nodded. The auction houses are located in all major cities, but you don''t need to go there to pick up what you buy or what you earn. It can be set for automatic delivery or deposit, which is handy for us slightly-less hardcore players. ¡°And we can do a few more bounty quests, too. I doubt our gold will actually drop to a point where we get in trouble, but hey.¡±

    ¡°Better safe than sorry!¡± Ari smiled. ¡°That... earlier. It was nice to meet your grandparents.¡± she then told me softly.

    ¡°They liked you, too.¡± I smiled.

    ¡°I''m glad; I hope someday I get to introduce you to mine, too.¡±

    ¡°That''d be nice. Where do they live now?¡±

    ¡°Hmm, in a similar community up in Canada, where they went for retirement.¡± she told me.

    ¡°Oh nice,¡± I replied.

    ¡°But your grandma though; she''s funny!¡± Ari then smirked.

    ¡°Ah-heh, she loves us, but we do have our obsessions. And dad and grandpa both have very off-key humor, dad moreso...¡± I remarked, my face briefly settling into a mock-scowl before I shook my head. Ari laughed.

    ¡°I think you''re getting it, too, now that we''re getting more and more friends to open up to.¡± she told me.

    ¡°Well I hope it doesn''t get too off-key,¡± I returned, and we both laughed.

    The others started logging in after that, except for Lizzy (and Derwydd, who was ending up at our place in-game more often), and we went out to do some bounties and go resource hunting for the night. One party of us went with Fyu, and the other party went with Dracuoatlax, scouring the lands for villains and ore deposits for a whole real night in Panarena until we got ready to log off early Saturday morning. We told Lysandra and Belle about our time-frame for Hollydale, and the two of them said that they would definitely be able to come. Belle promised to meet us at Healina''s house with her car next Saturday night, when we had made the arrangements, and with that he headed offline until later that evening.

 Bonus Chapter: The Power Outage

    If there''s yet another thing that high schoolers addicted to video games hate, it''s a power outage. Thus forcibly removed from or prevented from even reaching our natural habitat, it becomes necessary to find something else to do. I let out a sigh as I stared wistfully at the Dream Machine, then my phone buzzed. It was Rachel. She and Andrea were heading out to a more local park and wanted me to join them. I replied that I would be on my way in a few minutes to meet them, to which I received a smiley face and a heart. I put on some warm clothes (being late in the year and all) and, after clearing things with my dad, headed out to the park.

    There was a little playground and park about a third of the way between my house and Andrea''s, which meant the two girls had the longer walk. I decided to make it up to them preemptively by stopping by one of the corner-stores on the way and getting three hot chocolates -- wait, I know Rachel enjoys it, but does Andrea? I wondered to myself after, but then shrugged. We drank something similar in Panarena all the time, after all.

    Come to think of it, we haven''t really done much together except in Panarena... so this is kind of nice, I guess, I considered as I made my way through the quiet streets. It was getting dark, but a lot of the street lights ran on a different power source than the main grid so it wasn''t like I, or the girls for that matter, were out in a pitch-black environment. I wonder what the others will get up to... supposing they didn''t also have an outage. Belle had joined the guild midway through the Grand Tournament, and, after an intense battle, Lysandra conceded on our wager and joined us just as happily as Belle had.

    It felt like it had lasted years... but we got through it. I guess that last battle is gonna be the talk of the forums for a while, though, I thought to myself with a resigned grin, suddenly realizing I was at the park. There was a small duck pond to one side, several trees that had shed their leaves already along with a pine that, of course, was evergreen, and of course the playground. An ubiquitous swing-set, the ever-present classic climbing castle with monkey-bars and a slide, a couple of seesaws, and a plain old merry-go-round.

    A-aren''t those things a safety hazard? I wondered as I set the hot chocolates down on a picnic table.

    ¡°Sean!¡± Rachel''s voice came to my ears. I turned around with a smile, and she jumped towards me to grab me in a hug. I saw Andrea smiling behind her. Both of them were also wearing fall coats and jeans, which surprised me--being the first time I''d seen either of them wearing jeans, after all.

    ¡°Oh, you brought chocolate,¡± the older girl noticed as we sat down.

    ¡°Ah, yeah; I thought it''d be nice right now,¡± I replied as the two of them picked out one each, leaving the last for me.

    ¡°It''s always nice!¡± Rachel beamed at me.

    ¡°Definitely,¡± Andrea agreed. ¡°Plus twenty points!¡± she grinned, and I sighed inwardly with relief.

    ¡°Still... we were planning to go questing with Belle and Lysandra tonight... and now we don''t know how to get in touch with them and apologize for not being there,¡± Rachel remarked with a sheepish look.

    ¡°Y-yeah... I hope they aren''t too upset later,¡± I added with a wry smile.

    ¡°They''ll understand, I''m sure,¡± Andrea assured us. We looked around for a moment; except for the street lights, the city was dark. ¡°It''s been a while since we had a serious outage like this. I think the last time was when I was in kindergarten.¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡± Rachel wondered.

    Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

    ¡°Do you remember, Sean?¡± Andrea asked me.

    ¡°Ehh, not really.¡± I replied.

    ¡°It was in the daytime though, so maybe you were out playing.¡± she shrugged.

    ¡°Could be,¡± I said. ¡°I bet I even came to this park with one of my parents.¡±

    ¡°It is one of the older ones in the city,¡± the red-haired girl nodded.

    ¡°It''s kinda cute, though,¡± Rachel said. ¡°And I''ve seen a lot of them.¡±

    ¡°What was the best one?¡± I asked her. She took a long sip of hot chocolate, and then adopted a thoughtful look.

    ¡°Hmm... I liked the ones in Japan, wherever we were... but the ones in Toronto and Vancouver were nice, too,¡± she replied at last. ¡°The slides there were fun, and we arrived there in the summer so they had a temporary water-slide as well!¡± she recalled with a smile.

    ¡°That sounds like fun,¡± I smiled as well.

    ¡°Definitely,¡± Andrea nodded. ¡°Would be nice to get out and travel at least a little bit.¡±

    ¡°At least a couple weeks, yeah.¡± I said in agreement.

    ¡°We should plan our beach trip carefully, then!¡± Rachel said.

    ¡°Absolutely!¡± Andrea smiled. We spent a few more minutes bantering about places we''d like to go or see, others that we would at least consider, and some that we definitely wouldn''t want to visit, before our hot chocolate at last ran out. The three of us then tossed the cups into the recycler and went to sit on the swings. I somehow found myself in the middle swing, Rachel on my right and Andrea on the left. We swung for a little bit and then sat there idly, enjoying each other''s company.

    ¡°Hmm... ah! I think we did go to Toronto one year, to visit one of my dad''s uncles around their Thanksgiving,¡± I suddenly recalled.

    ¡°Really?!¡± Rachel said excitedly. ¡°How old were you?¡±

    ¡°Eh? How old was I?¡± I blinked. ¡°Hmm... about... oh, I was seven.¡±

    ¡°I was seven too! We didn''t leave until sometime after Canadian Thanksgiving. I wonder if we ran into each other!¡± she grinned.

    ¡°Who knows?¡± I smiled back.

    ¡°That''d be way cool if you had,¡± Andrea said, an astonished look on her face.

    Suddenly I had a flash of memory; I was running around chasing one of my older cousins; I tripped on something, and I fell on my face. This really cute girl in a pink dress and a bow tying up a side-tail came over and helped me to my feet, smiling at me when I got back up. I thought she was the most beautiful girl I''d ever seen. I turned to Rachel, my brow furrowing slightly as the memory replayed.

    ¡°A pink dress.¡± I said, and she started, turning to look at me with wide eyes. ¡°It had... white polka dots... and a bow... it was a really warm day. The girl... she helped me up after I fell down... and... and then... gave me a lollipop?¡± I tried to recall. ¡°It was... it was grape-flavored, I think,¡± I said. Rachel got up out of the swing, and walked forward a couple of paces.

    ¡°R-Rachel?¡± Andrea wondered in concern as the two of us stood up as well.

    ¡°H-hey, Rey, you okay?¡± I asked. She turned to me, tears in her eyes but a smile on her face.

    ¡°Y-you... you were wearing a plaid jacket, and your hair was longer. Grape was my favorite flavor back then.¡± she told me. I gaped in amazement. Andrea''s face lit up in a big smile.

    ¡°Ahhh!!¡± she exclaimed with delight. ¡°Why do the two of you have to be so cuuuute!!¡± she cried out.

    ¡°It... it was you!¡± I said with a happy laugh, and she ran to hug me again. I wrapped my arms around her tightly.

    ¡°It was you!¡± she said joyfully. ¡°That makes me happy; you have no idea how happy that makes me!¡±

    ¡°Maybe a little,¡± I returned as we stood there. Andrea watched us with a smile, a couple of tears in her own eyes, and then she suddenly looked up.

    ¡°Ah! Power''s back on,¡± she remarked. I walked the two of them home after a few more minutes at the park, both of them hugging me when we got to the door, and then I made my own way home. Of all the crazy coincidences, I thought to myself as I passed the park again.

    I wouldn''t have it any other way.

 Bonus Chapter: Pixie and Werewolf, Online

    When Belle logged in, she found Lysandra idling in a chair. The commons hall of Queen''s Estate was dimly but comfortably lit. It hadn''t taken the two of them long to adjust to what was now their new home in Xuanpu, although Belle herself enjoyed Cloverbell more. Lysandra looked up as she materialized, and let out a soft smile.

    ¡°Well hi, hon!¡± the pixie-girl said.

    ¡°Hey.¡± the other replied in a tired but at least cheerful tone. Belle wasn''t going to say it out loud, but Lysandra was definitely more open than she had been during the tournament. She sat down on the arm of the chair, and used a menu to turn up the small hearth nearby. Accelerated time, apparently, did not include seasonal changes.

    ¡°Where''s the kiddos?¡± Belle wondered as she looked around.

    ¡°Hmm? Oh; I got in early to relax here, and was just idly browsing the news a bit before you got on. The main city had a power outage, and it''s probably still going on. Guess the silly girls forgot the Dream Machine has a battery.¡± she replied with a gentle smile.

    ¡°That''s true, but the ''net won''t function with the power out either.¡± Belle shrugged.

    ¡°Ohh. That''s right. Our university here has redundancies for that sort of thing, but the city doesn''t for some reason.¡±

    ¡°Public funding issues, I think.¡±

    ¡°Tch. Private bucks versus public money, you mean.¡± the werewolf girl remarked, some of her initial self cropping up.

    ¡°Hrrm, more or less!¡± the other wryly smiled. ¡°So how''s the assignment going?¡±

    ¡°The physics one?¡± Lysandra said, and Belle nodded. ¡°Hate it. But I''ve got to get through it somehow, or I''ll never make it to the next course.¡±

    ¡°Astrophysics has taken some strong strides the last couple of decades; no wonder it''s so tough,¡± Belle remarked. ¡°And now with technology like this, we can ready our astronaut teams for deeper space missions.¡±

    ¡°Don''t forget the actual high-powered space rovers heading out to the asteroid belt and stuff,¡± Lysandra nodded. ¡°Here we are talking about space in a fantasy game!¡± she said with a short laugh.

    ¡°That is funny!¡± the other agreed. ¡°Bet you''re focused on the exam when you''re not here.¡± she then said.

    A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

    ¡°Kind of?¡± Lysandra returned. ¡°I got good marks on the mock-up, so I''m fairly confident. Just want to polish it up a bit.¡±

    ¡°I so get that. And, thanks for the Lit homework assist yesterday.¡± Belle then said.

    ¡°Your skyclad tutor is available twenty-four seven.¡± the werewolf girl smirked back.

    ¡°And in about a month or so I get to spend a lot more time with her.¡± the other grinned back. Lysandra-Christina and Belle-Mandy had almost settled on an apartment together for their next semester at university. They weren''t quite sure whether they wanted the one closer to the bar or the bakery, but personally, Belle thought the bakery argument was gaining traction with her soon-to-be roommate.

    ¡°What about your exams?¡± Lysandra then asked her.

    ¡°Hmm... the sociology one shouldn''t be hard... but the philosophy one is going to give me a headache no matter what. At least the psychology exam is promising to be a breeze.¡± Belle said.

    ¡°Think you''ll try a work-semester next year or so?¡±

    ¡°Maybe? Ooh, I know, I''ll be a school counselor!¡±

    ¡°Oh, good on you. I wish you''d counseled me in school.¡± the other girl smiled. ¡°I''m here for you now.¡± Belle promised in a soft voice.

    ¡°I know.¡± Lysandra smiled. ¡°Hmm... maybe I''ll apply for a work-semester at the girls'' school.¡±

    ¡°Hmm? Lana and the others?¡±

    ¡°I think Lana is at another school, but the others are definitely at the same place.¡± ¡°Cute.¡± the werewolf girl nodded. ¡°Do it. And we should definitely try to hang out with them this summer, too.¡±

    ¡°Oh definitely.¡± Belle nodded. ¡°Although poor Lana may be the subject of Lizzy''s... ''playful'' whims again!¡± she noted, and Lysandra softly cackled.

    ¡°Ahh, poor Lana, always getting felt up by our irrepressibly lovable smith in the baths.¡± she chuckled.

    ¡°One of these days I might actually try it too... I wonder why she does that, though.¡±

    ¡°Hmm... probably just a form of teasing we''ve forgotten how to enjoy. Let teenage girls be teenage girls.¡±

    ¡°Says the nineteen year-old.¡± Belle smirked back.

    ¡°A socially repressed nineteen year-old who was never the target or the instigator of such shenanigans.¡± the other smiled in return.

    ¡°N-no comeback here,¡± the pixie softly giggled. A notice-panel then popped up in front of Lysandra, and she tapped it to see what it was.

    ¡°Oh, the power''s back on in the city.¡± the werewolf girl said.

    ¡°I guess we''ll see the others in a few minutes or so.¡± Belle remarked.

    ¡°Probably.¡± Lysandra agreed, stretching herself and yawning. ¡°That means it''ll be time for more fun adventures!¡± she grinned as she got up, and Belle smiled as she jumped into the air to hover nearby.

    ¡°Definitely!¡± she agreed happily, and the two of them readied themselves for another night of excitement in Panarena with their friends.

 Chapter Forty-seven: Winter Escapades, II (With a new bonus interlude!)

    ¡°All right, everyone; that is it for this year, I will see you in January for Japanese!¡± Mrs. Liang said on the Friday that marked the end of our fall and introduced us to Winter Break. Yeah, yeah, I skipped ahead again. But basically the past week has been just as quiet and lethargic as we thought it was going to be, schoolwise, at least. We had a fairly slow week in-game as well. Most of the time we were just focused on crafting, and then there was a power outage one day that kept us offline for a couple hours, and last night we managed to all get together again with Derwydd and a few of his guildies to take on a raid dungeon in the Tundralands, where we fought a bunch of yetis and winter-wraiths.

    Why this dungeon? Because there was a rumor it had items that might come in handy for certain holiday quests that were due in about a week. We found a few odd things for sure, aside from all the resources and other loot we picked up, and stashed them away just in case. The last boss in that dungeon was definitely not for our usual party, even as rounded out as it''s become. We absolutely needed the members from Dreamers Fables.

    Maryn and Gondron, a tank from the other guild, had to switch in and out time to time so that they wouldn''t get completely pulverized by his rampage attack. That was a tricky mechanic to overcome. And besides Healina and Snow Dancer, there were a couple other healers running around to keep us up as well. Belle and Derwydd focused on casting debuffs and ailments on it, and the rest of us did as much damage as we could when we could. At the end of that hour-long battle with the Abominable Snow King, we were fairly tuckered out. Our winnings were divvied out, and then we parted ways to log off.

    And that pretty much sums up the week. Except that Belle and Lysandra seem a lot more friendly together than they were at the first. They''d met up in real life a few times by now though, so I guess that''s not much to be surprised about.

    So after school, I got out of my uniform and put on some normal clothes, then I headed out again to spend time with Rachel at the bookstore cafe we''d started frequenting. When I got there (about ten minutes early), I decided to wait on a nearby bench until she joined me before heading inside. As I sat there, I suddenly felt the same sort of feeling I had on that night the mysterious stranger had passed me a few weeks ago now. I looked up and towards my right.

    I caught my breath as I indeed witnessed the self-same stranger, all in black. It was light enough outside yet for me to see that they were female. Her hair was jet black, and her eyes had a certain somberness to them. As she was about to pass me by she halted. I had stopped looking at her by then to return my attention to my phone, in case Rachel sent a message, but she came over to me, her face showing a puzzled expression.

    ¡°Sorry, you just... reminded me, of someone. I don''t even know her, not her real name, but the way you''re sitting there... sorry! I don''t... usually talk, to anyone. I just, felt compelled, this time.¡± she told me.

    That softness in her voice. The way she talks. It can''t be.

    ¡°Ahh -- don''t worry about it!¡± I said to her. She smiled.

    ¡°Thanks. You''re waiting for someone?¡±

    ¡°My girlfriend, yeah.¡±

    ¡°Hm? I see.¡± she nodded. She gazed at me again, a sort of smile on her face. ¡°If your hair was red, and longer, and your face more... girlish... you could be her twin.¡± she smiled, and then turned to go.

    It was at that moment that I realized I had unconsciously crafted Lana''s appearance to be not dissimilar to my own, by and large. With that, I was now fairly certain that I had indeed met Myanihia Black in the flesh.

    Sh-sh-sh-she lives in th-th-this neighborhood? N-n-n-nobody told me that!! ¡­ I guess no one knew, really... heh? If she''s Lysandra''s half-twin, wouldn''t she also be a college student? Or does she do something different? Private tutors? Online courses? Heh? How exactly do you keep siblings apart yet still in the same family or so without them really knowing about each other until practically adulthood anyway?

    These sorts of questions racked my brain as I sat there, and then Rachel put a hand on my shoulder, smiling.

    ¡°Thanks for waiting! You didn''t have to do it outside, though!¡± she giggled.

    ¡°Ahh... I mean, it''s fine, really. Ah! Wind!¡± I said as a cold gust made its presence known, sending us to scurry on inside.

    We sat down at one of the booths that came with a small bookshelf instead of a window, and a server came to grab our orders. Once these were placed, we sat for a brief moment in silence, content to be together in what had become a special place for us in the real world of our lives. Rachel leaned her head onto my shoulder, and I gently wrapped my arm around her. After another moment more the two of us became preoccupied with the selection of games from the holo-board selection, browsing through titles and trying to decide on one.

    ¡°Maybe just a classic checkers game?¡± she suggested.

    ¡°We can do that,¡± I agreed, pressing a button that brought up not only checkers but several derivations or variations of it, as well as options for chess and related games. ¡°Ah! Look at all of them...¡± I said as she reached a hand to flip through them.

    ¡°Hmm...¡± she mused. ¡°Diamond Checkers, Go, Shogi, Hnefatafl, Five Lines... neat!¡±

    ¡°We can try classic checkers for a bit and then try one of the others?¡±

    ¡°Definitely. Think we''ll see Go or Shogi in Mrs. Liang''s class next year?¡±

    ¡°Oh that''d be fun. She might even bring in a real board and pieces, too, knowing her,¡± I said.

    ¡°True! We can ask Anhe about it later.¡± Rachel nodded.

    ¡°Right,¡± I returned.

    Our orders then arrived, and when we had eaten a bit Rachel pressed the button to activate the red-and-black checker board with its pieces. After I had lost a few rounds of this (much to her amusement), we played a couple rounds of Diamond Checkers, then moves on to Go, which was much harder than it seemed at first. After that we settled for a game of chess, where I managed to checkmate her, only to be beaten by her quick adaptation to Shogi shortly after.

    I didn''t mind a bit. I was just happy. By the time we got around to ordering dinner I had even forgot about going home to get on for Panarena. We were completely absorbed in the moment, selecting board games to outwit each other at or snitching something from the other''s plate and smirking at them as they returned the favor. This. This is living. This is having fun. I enjoy Panarena, a lot, I really do. But right now, I want to be here, I thought as I reached over to kiss her. And I knew she was thinking the same.

    Well, eventually, we had to go home. I walked Rachel back to her and Andrea''s house, where we parted in the real world for the night, and then headed home. It was now about eight, and when I got home it was nearly quarter past. I exchanged greetings with my folks, who told me that grandpa was slowly recovering, much to our relief, and then went upstairs to join my friends again in that magical otherworld.

    I materialized in Cloverbell, which I had come back to after one of our bounty quests to get things in order for our being away nearly a week, and found the others were gathering in Xuanpu. I finished with my current task, and then wayported to Queen''s Haven to meet up with them.

    ¡°Hey, Lana!¡± Lizzy called as she caught sight of me. ¡°We might end up doing some dungeon raiding again with Dreamers for the night. Looks like that''s the way things are going.¡±

    ¡°That''s fine,¡± I replied. ¡°Ooh, I know what we could do... let''s try some Memphani dungeons!¡±

    ¡°Oh right! They''re supposed to have great crafting dungeons there,¡± she replied as the two of us headed inside.

    ¡°I''ve read that too,¡± I nodded.

    ¡°Read what?¡± Ari asked as we entered the foyer.

    ¡°Details about dungeons in Memphani,¡± I replied.

    ¡°Oh! Speaking of which, we haven''t decided where to go yet,¡± she said.

    ¡°Hmm.¡± I nodded as we turned into the hall, where I was not surprised to see a few members of Dreamers Fables already gathered with us.

    ¡°Lana! Great!¡± Derwydd sighed in relief. ¡°Any ideas on your end that don''t involve returning to that jungle-dungeon in Yucu?¡± he asked me with a hopeful look.

    ¡°Ahh... Memphani...?¡± I replied with a half grin, remembering how we had needed to rescue them last week.

    ¡°Oh, excellent!¡± Snow Dancer clapped her hands. ¡°Let''s take the wayport to Harmonia City and then find a train to Xandria!¡± she said at once.

    ¡°Good plan, but maybe we should try Pithoeses; it''s closer to the Ancient Tombs there, as well as a few quarries and crafting dungeons.¡± Lysandra suggested.

    ¡°Ahh, right, good call,¡± the other girl agreed.

    ¡°Sweet! We have our all-nighter plan! Let''s go!!¡± Lizzy beamed happily, and we were off to Pithoeses.

    ***

    So yeah. We did an all-night run in Mephani, near the City of the Dead close to Pithoeses, where we quickly overcame a couple of regular dungeons only to be surprised at the crafting ones, which gave us more trouble than we bargained for. It was clearly meant for a larger group, but we stubbornly pressed on. It helped that a couple of Dreamers members had their own personal pets or mercenaries, and we ourselves had decided to bring Fyu along. It took us the better part of that day and most of the night to get through those two dungeons, but it was well worth it in the end. All of our more dedicated crafters were certainly pleased, eagerly dividing the plenteous shares we had uncovered.

    Then we found a couple of open-air dungeons with an endless horde of monsters assailing us. There didn''t seem to be any end in sight to them at all. I then asked one of the Dreamers mages, a guy who had put some major focus into movement and transportation spells named Cylodel, if he could open a dragon-sized portal. He said yes, and I guarded him with Snow Dancer while he opened a portal to the Torching Mount, whereupon I summoned Dracuoatlax to help us get rid of our enemies. He all too happily obliged us, and after a few minutes we saw them start to decrease rather than increase.

    Side-note: portal magic, as it''s called, has some very stringent limitations and long cooldowns. You can''t just go opening portals willy-nilly. That''d be majorly broken.

    Anyhow. With our dragon ally helping us out we managed to clear the open-air dungeons on that second day in Panarena, claiming our rewards after a hard-fought victory and then going off to treat ourselves for an evening. Dracuoatlax and I talked about our group''s further plans, involving heading in to the Grand Pyramid, where he ruefully remarked he would not be able to go but did say that he would be able to distract the great cobras that guarded it long enough for us to get inside.

    ¡°That''ll be fine, just don''t get caught by them somehow,¡± I told him.

    ¡°Who do you think I am, master? No mere snake can take down Dracuoatlax, Bane of Empires!¡± he said with an almost merry twinkle in his eye.

    So the next day, after a brief logout to get breakfast or whatever other meal or necessity had come upon us, we ventured to the Grand Pyramid. As I suspected when Dracuoatlax had mentioned them, the great cobras were kill-all mechanics like the ones we had seen in the Marshes of the Wyrd. Even so, our personal kill-all mechanic, this one airborne, managed to actually damage their health bars. We quickly headed on inside while the scene progressed, and before the door closed I saw our dragon fly off, loudly chuckling in amusement.

    Th-that''s something you don''t see every day, I thought to myself with a wry grin.

    ¡°La-na?¡± Ari gently poked me.

    ¡°Coming!¡± I said, and we descended into the pyramid, fighting our way through a variety of Ancient Egyptian-themed monsters, including scorpion-men, wedjats, mummies, and a few elite jackal-headed guardians, before we arrived at the boss chamber.

    Here in this dimly-lit part of the crypt we awakened the Nameless Priest-King, a mummy who had been cursed for vile and profane deeds to the point of having his name stricken from known history. Either that or his namelessness was part of the curse; none of our lore-readers were sure. But anyway.

    With our doubly well-rounded raid group, we managed to thwart every surprise and trick the boss had for us, including raising his minions several times over and creating duplicates of himself that appeared at random times during the fight, and then Lysandra and Derwydd changed into their were-forms to rapidly knock out the last five percent of his health as he tried to invoke a restoration spell on himself. We cheered their practically simultaneous victory stroke, and then once more divvied out the winnings.

    Then we entered the quarry, and spent the rest of that third day gathering up stone and the occasional deposit of ore. Cloveroak, the party-leader on Dreamers'' side of the raid, then stumbled onto a mine-shaft. We eagerly delved into this, gathering up quite a lot more ore and loading it into the waggons that we had brought along for the task. When this third day began ending, we decided to call it all a success and head for home, spending one more night together for a feast in Pithoesis and then heading our separate ways. We returned through a wayport to Queen''s Haven, and after a lunch break (a real one, not a virtual one) we were back in Panarena once more to continue with crafting.

    ¡°Hahh...¡± I sighed a bit wearily, looking at all the cloth we had inadvertently gathered. ¡°Good thing it''s so light, but now there''s so much of it,¡± I muttered.

    ¡°We will have lots to make sails with.¡± Anhe said in agreement.

    ¡°And still have enough left over for a big-top circus tent, I bet,¡± I remarked, to which she softly giggled.

    ¡°And Lizzy definitely has her hands full with all that ore.¡± she noted.

    ¡°Maryn''s in the same boat with all of the stone,¡± I nodded towards another part of the grounds, where Maryn was busy shaping stone for walls and foundations.

    ¡°Hmm... we had enough for a small fort, did we not?¡± Anhe then asked me.

    ¡°Hm? I think we had enough for about five before all of our excitement today.¡±

    ¡°Should we test one out?¡±

    ¡°Hrrmm... we could.¡±

    ¡°You went and found that wayport there the one night, yes?¡±

    ¡°For Paxwiss, yeah,¡± I replied. ¡°Good thinking.¡± I said, and she smiled.

    ¡°What''s up?¡± Ariana asked as she joined us.

    ¡°Wanna go and test something?¡± I said to her with a grin, and she gave me a curious look.

    About forty-five Panarena minutes later, Ariana, Anhe, and myself were in the Wildlands with Fyu. We found a fairly secluded spot in a mostly-desert valley where no one could see us, and I brought the fortress components up for placement, setting them down easy. In about a minute, the twenty-by-thirty meter structure, fifteen meters in height, was perfectly assembled. Ariana then put them back into her Mystic Storage, courtesy of some silver oak we had laced the walls with.

    ¡°Well, that works.¡± she smiled mischievously, and Anhe and I grinned back.

    ¡°Now we have a definite advantage!¡± the younger girl remarked enthusiastically.

    ¡°As long as we get more than just a building, we definitely do!¡± my partner nodded.

    ¡°Of course! We will have to do our very best to negotiate with Gears and Wheels.¡±

    ¡°Right?¡± I agreed, and we turned to head back for Fyu, who had been watching with interest.

    ¡°Very clever, masters!¡± the dog-beast said in appreciation.

    ¡°Thanks, old buddy!¡± I said, patting him on the head.

    ¡°We will be the talk of all Panarena in the days to come, that I can tell for certain,¡± he added with a chuckling sound as we got into the waggon, heading back to Xuanpu for the day.

    ***

    The rest of our Saturday passed by all too quickly as we leveled our crafting skills and readied ourselves for the upcoming guild competition in the spring. I made some notes on our note-board in the hall that we should definitely check out the Wastes on our next big crafting run, and then we logged out for the night.

    Sunday started as it usually did, and after lunch I was let free to roam in Panarena once more. We headed around the Tundralands to get some more wood and some rare quality stone that you could get in an abandoned quarry there, and after that the eight of us settled in for some relaxing at Cloverbell, Derwydd arriving later to make it nine.

    ¡°Cozy little place,¡± he remarked happily.

    ¡°Isn''t it?¡± Ariana smiled.

    ¡°I was one of the first to try the quest for it, you know,¡± he said, and Ari and I looked at him with interest.

    ¡°Oh??¡± she wondered in amazement.

    ¡°Ha-ha, I got beaten by the second wave or so, and then never attempted it again. By the time I thought about trying, the two of you had beaten the quest instead!¡± he grinned.

    ¡°S-sorry,¡± I said with a wry smile.

    ¡°No harm!¡± he returned, Healina smiling next to him.

    ¡°Personally, I can''t imagine this place without Ari and Lana''s touches.¡± our healer said.

    ¡°Oh def.¡± Lizzy nodded.

    ¡°It''s so cute!!¡± Belle smiled. ¡°Speaking of which, we get to meet you all tomorrow, huh?¡± she then said. ¡°All packed up and stuff?¡±

    ¡°Definitely, and my aunt said we have our five days for free!¡± Maryn told us.

    ¡°Sweet!¡± Lizzy clapped her hands. ¡°Der and I managed to get our week off, too!¡±

    ¡°Yay!¡± Belle cheered.

    ¡°Nice,¡± Lysandra smiled.

    ¡°So about six or so at your place, huh?¡± Belle then turned to Healina.

    ¡°That works. We can all sort out who''s going with who then, and head on out.¡± the Sea Elf nodded back.

    If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    ¡°Oh, hon, don''t worry about that. Maryn''s not the only one with a well-connected aunt.¡± Belle remarked with a grin and a shrug.

    ¡°Hmm?¡± I wondered, but our two college girls only looked at each other and grinned.

    ¡°Well, I guess we''ll see you bright and early!¡± Derwydd then said.

    ¡°For sure!¡± Lizzy smiled. ¡°Anhe, you and Maryn will need a ride to Andi''s house, right?¡± she then asked.

    ¡°Huh? Oh, yes,¡± Anhe replied.

    ¡°I''ll get you first and Maryn second; it''ll be about five-thirty or so. That okay?¡±

    ¡°That will be okay.¡± Anhe smiled.

    ¡°For me, too.¡± Maryn nodded.

    ¡°Is somebody getting Lana?¡± Belle wondered.

    ¡°Lana has arrangements in place.¡± Ariana quickly smiled.

    ¡°Great!¡± our pixie girl beamed. ¡°Ughh, I can''t wait to meet you all!!¡± she squealed in delight.

    ¡°We''ll have plenty of time to gush over our high schoolers on the way up tomorrow, Belle,¡± Lysandra said with a laugh. ¡°Let''s let them get some sleep. You and I have to get it ready, after all.¡± she then said, and Belle nodded.

    ¡°You''re absolutely right! Go to bed, kiddos! We''ll see you bright and early tomorrow!¡± she said to us, and after exchanging farewells for the night we all logged off at nearly the same time, Ariana and I sharing a bemused smile as we poofed from Panarena.

    I took off the Dream Machine, setting it aside on its tower. I looked at it for a moment, and then smiled.

    ¡°I''ll see you again later. For now... let''s do some real things.¡±

    ***

    Fortunately, Andrea''s house had some extended parking in the back, so when Ellie and Thomas showed up here was plenty of room for them. And by five-fifty the seven of us were sitting together on the front porch, huddled in the cold around our luggage while we waited for our older friends to show up. Five minutes before six, a small tour-bus began heading down the street, stopping in front of Andrea''s house. We stared at it in uncertainty for a moment, and then the door opened to let a black-haired girl in dark clothes hop out.

    ¡°That''s Lysandra, or I''m Holly Christmas,¡± Ellie remarked at once.

    ¡°The top gives it away, huh?¡± the older girl called back with a grin. Her real eyes were blue, and that was practically the only difference between her real self and her virtual self. On the other hand...

    ¡°Hahh!! No fair, Chrissy!¡± a more adult voice cried out as a young lady with platinum blonde hair ran up to join the introductions. She was shorter than the girl whose name was apparently Chrissy, and on the curvy side where the darker haired girl was fairly trim. She panted from her short sprint, and then looked up with a pleasant smile. ¡°So I''m Mandy, and this is Christina!¡± she said, holding out her arms as Rachel ran to hug her at once.

    ¡°Definitely Ariana.¡± Christina smiled.

    ¡°Rachel here!¡± my girlfriend said.

    ¡°And that''s Anhe, there''s Lizzy, and -- ooh, what pretty red hair! You''re Heali!¡± Mandy exclaimed, ¡°And that''s definitely Derwydd.¡± she added with a grin as she saw Thomas.

    ¡°Thomas! Anhe is Anhe, Lizzy is... more or less the same, except she goes by Ellie here, and this is Andrea!¡± the young man replied as he gently squeezed his girlfriend as the others smiled.

    ¡°And Maryn.¡± Christina smiled as she saw the other girl with dark hair.

    ¡°Without the ''n'', here,¡± Mary smiled back.

    ¡°Wonderful!¡± Mandy replied. ¡°And now where... is... Lana...?¡± she looked around at us again, finally alighting on me just as Christina did. Rachel stepped back, taking my arm as a clue. I could see the other five twitching with laughter they were desperately trying to hold back as the two older girls gazed at me in first confusion, then realization and surprise.

    ¡°Pfffft!¡± Christina guffawed, then burst out laughing.

    ¡°Huh?!¡± Mandy exclaimed, then shook her head, smiled, and came over to hug me.

    ¡°Ahhh...¡± I said in confusion as the others began laughing as well.

    ¡°You don''t have to explain. I''m sure there''s a reason for it. Maybe you''d like to help me for a psych-thesis I''m doing about virtual identities?¡± Mandy said as she let go, smirking at me.

    ¡°Heh?!?!¡± I exclaimed in turn, which generated even more laughs.

    With this slightly bemusing introduction out of the way, we loaded up our baggage into the cargo hold of the small bus, keeping hold of more pertinent bags, and then Mandy put the bus in gear again to get going.

    ¡°Y-you can drive a bus, huh?¡± I wondered as we reached the outer city, where we ascended from ground-level onto the multi-tiered interstate that wove its way in and around and out of the city.

    ¡°My aunt was a bus driver, and she used to teach me a bit when I was little. I went for official certification a couple years ago when I decided on my major. You never know, after all, and I think I''m going to apply for a practical year as a school counselor after the spring, so it may come in handy again.¡± Mandy replied.

    ¡°Nice.¡± I said in return.

    ¡°Ahh, but I''ve got my work cut out for me if I get the post I want,¡± she remarked with a twinkle in her eye.

    ¡°Hmm? Why''s that?¡± Rachel asked her.

    ¡°Oh, I asked Maryn one night--Mary, that is, where your school was. She said her dad was the principal and that he''d be happy to give me the opportunity as a secondary counselor there... where it seems I''ll have to pay diligent attention to a certain young man,¡± she winked.

    ¡°Gyeck!!¡± I softly squawked.

    ¡°At least now we know why Lizzy is always harassing Lana at places like baths, spas, and beaches in-game.¡± Christina said with an absolutely delighted smirk.

    ¡°Ba-ha! Don''t make me laugh too hard, I haven''t done this for a while and I need to keep it steady!¡± Mandy returned.

    ¡°You got it.¡± the other girl returned, curling up in her seat for a nap. The others were softly chattering in the back, or they were also asleep, like Anhe and Andrea.

    ¡°On a serious note... I think it''s cute.¡± Mandy said to me, fixing me with a grin in the mirror. I felt my cheeks turning red, incoherent mumbles tumbling out as Rachel snuggled in next to me. Mandy softly chuckled, and returned her attention to the road.

    We passed out of the outer metropolis with its futuristic vibe and cloud-cutting skyscrapers, heading along through the northern suburbia before finally leaving it behind as well and descending from the multi-tiered interstate to head onto a smaller highway with less traffic. Mandy, by the way, may have said she was slightly out of practice, but she was as good as any school-bus driver in my opinion. By the time we were on the smaller highway, everyone else really had gone to sleep, leaving Mandy and myself as the only ones awake. Though I wasn''t sure I''d be awake for much longer either.

    I saw a sign for Hollydale off to the right; it was listed as ninety miles away yet. Boy, talk about getting away from it all, I thought to myself. The highway began passing through open fields with few houses, and eventually the houses ceased altogether. It then began winding its way through a forest, the trees showing signs of frost upon them. I felt like I was entering the Tundrawood again.

    ¡°Hope there''s no Giant Pine Lord around...¡± I mumbled sleepily.

    ¡°I''ll be sure to wake you if there is.¡± Mandy returned with a giggle, and I fell asleep.

    I snapped awake, and looked at the time. It had been nearly three hours since we left Andrea''s house, and now we were entering a dale covered in snow, surrounded by three good sized mountains for skiing, sledding, or what have you. There was a Christmas Village set up in one area, a couple of winter-themed amusement parks, and a grandiose hotel and restaurant with the latest and greatest in hospitality and care available, so the advertising said.

    ¡°Oh nice, they got early snow up here!¡± Ellie said from behind us.

    ¡°They always do!¡± Andrea said.

    ¡°Well they''re super lucky with it, you know?¡±

    ¡°It would be a strange winter resort without snow.¡± Anhe remarked.

    Mandy guided our little bus into one of the spaces set aside for it, and after we had gotten out bags and stuff we headed on in to the hotel. At check-in, Mary gave her name, and the clerk handed us our passes with a smile, wishing us an enjoyable and festive time. We then found our room, a spacious living, dining and kitchen area with two bathrooms and eight bedrooms, and here our responsible college students had Thomas and me settle into one room while the girls took the others, Christina settling for a couch to keep things even.

    ¡°All right!¡± Mandy then said when we had settled in, ¡°What''s first?!¡±

    ¡°Did I see a sign with the word ''onsen'' in the foyer?¡± Rachel then pondered.

    ¡°I think you did,¡± Mary agreed.

    ¡°Let''s try that later, though,¡± Andrea said. ¡°For now... I saw something a little more interesting...!¡± she grinned.

    ¡°Oh yeah?¡± Mandy smiled back.

    ¡°Y-you don''t mean...?¡± Thomas said with a hesitant smile. Andrea only nodded in reply.

    And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how we found ourselves on a snowball battlefield shortly after arriving at Hollydale. Which, by the way, also has lots of Christmas trees and holly around it. Not just artificial or decorative ones, either, but actual pine, spruce, and holly trees. The scent they gave off was soothing, but the snowball fight we had was far from it. Mandy, Thomas, Andrea, and Ellie were one team, while the rest of us were on the other. And boy, let me tell you, for being a responsible adult that girl could pack a mean snowball and throw it with the best of them.

    ¡°Yahh!!¡± I charged, throwing two at once to try and stop her. She picked both of them off of her, mushed them into one, and then pelted me good.

    Of course, despite the fact that it rarely snowed in the city, the rest of us had some decent experience with snowball throwing as well, giving as good as we got. By the time we ended our snowball fight, inconclusively, I might add, we were a fine mess of snow and ice, and with that we decided to warm up in the onsen.

    ***

    ¡°I can''t believe I almost did that...¡± I said as I sank into the water, Thomas laughing at me.

    There were two onsens here, one for ladies and the other for men. Unconsciously, I had almost walked into the former before Rachel suddenly noticed and gave me a smirk, pointing me in the other direction as the others laughed. I had then hastily ducked in to the right one to avoid further humiliation (though I''m sure some was coming later), and submerged myself sheepishly as Thomas got in.

    ¡°Can''t totally blame you, though you may want to keep a leash on yourself in the future. Of course, Japan has mixed-bathing again, I''ve heard, so there''s that...¡± he said to me as he relaxed into the warm water.

    ¡°N-not that it was on my mind...¡±

    ¡°Ha-ha, I know.¡± the older boy grinned. ¡°Still... it... does feel strange... compared to Panarena...¡± he added.

    ¡°See?? I bet you half-thought of using that entrance too before you noticed,¡± I then said, and he wryly smiled.

    ¡°Got me!¡± he shrugged. ¡°But fortunately you did so first!¡±

    ¡°Thbbbtt!!¡±

    ¡°B-thfffpppt!!¡±

    ¡°Blwahh!!¡±

    ¡°Nyeaahh!!¡± the two of us stuck our tongues out at each other, and then laughed like idiots for a couple minutes. Then we resettled ourselves in the water, and I let out a calm sigh, feeling less sheepish than before.

    ¡°Say, Sean; when you met Rachel, did you think you''d get in trouble with her if she found out about Lana?¡± he asked me after a moment.

    ¡°Well sure I did,¡± I said. ¡°And I guess I was sort of prepared for any outcome... somehow I ended up with the best one.¡±

    ¡°Certainly seems that way.¡± he agreed. ¡°You''ve gotten real lucky, perhaps; or maybe it''s just the fact that you''re definitely not one of those guys.¡±

    ¡°Absolutely never... I mean, I guess there''s others... like me... I dunno.¡± I replied, thinking about it again for the first time in a while.

    ¡°True.¡± he nodded. ¡°Hahh... this isn''t the same without Lizzy grabbing you. I think I''m gonna go and get a regular shower before lunch, what d''ya say?¡± he said as he got up.

    ¡°I''ll stay here a bit longer... I kind of prefer it without Lizzy here, come to think.¡± I replied.

    ¡°Pfft! No doubt!¡± Thomas laughed as he got out. ¡°See you at lunch, then!¡± he told me, and I nodded back.

    ¡°See you then,¡± I agreed, a quiet yawn escaping my lips as I sat there in contentment.

    ***

    Bonus Interlude: The Other Onsen

    ¡°Ahhh, poor doofus. He almost walked right in here.¡± Ellie quipped, chuckling as she settled into the water. The other girls got in as well, smiling or laughing as they did so. Sean, seemingly forgetful of his not being Lana at the present moment, had almost entered the women''s only section of the baths.

    ¡°I didn''t even think about it until Rachel did something to stop him,¡± Andrea smirked.

    ¡°You were about to lead Thomas along, too!¡± Rachel grinned.

    ¡°Oh totally. We get away with too much in Panarena.¡±

    ¡°O-M-G. Definitely.¡± Ellie agreed.

    ¡°But now you''ll have to find someone else to torment.¡± Christina smirked, and they all laughed again.

    ¡°Hah, poor Lana, always getting picked on by Lizzy in the baths.¡± Mandy chuckled.

    ¡°He doesn''t have them for real, I don''t know what Lana gets so upset for.¡± the blonde girl said with a shrug.

    ¡°Guess he''s that buried in the part some days.¡± Mary said.

    ¡°But at least they''re lighter over there,¡± Christina sighed. ¡°Well, our entire weight, really, but, you know.¡±

    ¡°Some of us being more relieved than others.¡± Mandy quipped.

    ¡°Hmm.¡± Anhe nodded.

    ¡°Nyee-hee!¡± Ellie smirked, softly grabbing hold of Andrea.

    ¡°Wh-why me?¡± her friend wondered with a hesitant smile.

    ¡°Felt like it!¡±

    ¡°You''re feeling something, for sure!¡± the other pouted back.

    ¡°Now, now,¡± Mandy chided, to no effect.

    ¡°This is going to get out of hand, isn''t it?¡± Christina said to her with a wry grin.

    ¡°May-be.¡± her friend replied. ¡°But not as much as it does when Lana''s around.¡± she added with a wink, and the two of them laughed, starting a splash battle to save Andrea from further mischief -- at least from Ellie.

    ***

    After fifteen minutes more, I decided to head out myself and get changed for lunch. Thomas had already done so, of course, and the girls came back to the room about ten minutes later to do the same. We went downstairs to the restaurant, and I was reminded at once of how grateful to be that our passes for the week included meals. Expensive was not even the word. But it was very, very good food. And the desserts were, literally, the cherry on top.

    We sat together at our table idly, the conversation at a lull for the moment. I looked out towards the window, watching the skiers and such heading down the courses laid out for them. The others slowly turned to look as well, and Rachel laid her head on my shoulder.

    ¡°Ah! Bobsledders!¡± Mandy exclaimed.

    ¡°Oh, nice!¡± Mary said.

    ¡°Snow-tubing as well.¡± Christina observed. ¡°That''d be fun,¡± she smiled.

    ¡°Isn''t that cold when you''re outside?¡± Andrea asked her, referring to the top she was wearing.

    ¡°I stopped noticing a couple years ago when I got that nice coat.¡± the older girl shrugged.

    ¡°Hmm.¡±

    ¡°She''s something else.¡± Mandy smirked.

    ¡°Shush.¡± Christina smiled back.

    ¡°Really though. This is super. I''m glad we get to do this!¡± the other smiled.

    ¡°We are all glad!¡± Anhe smiled at her.

    ¡°Yay!¡±

    ¡°Seriously though, that snow-tube course looks rough!¡± Thomas remarked.

    ¡°Oh def.¡± Ellie agreed. Rachel and I smiled at each other; we both wanted to try it.

    ¡°I want to go look at the amusement park they have,¡± Andrea said.

    ¡°Agree!¡± Mandy nodded enthusiastically. ¡°Do what we want and regroup for dinner?¡±

    ¡°Sure,¡± I said.

    ¡°Def!!¡± Ellie beamed.

    ¡°Sounds good!¡± Anhe agreed, and the others gave their affirmations to the idea as well. We finished off the rest of our desserts, and then went back to the rooms to get ourselves ready for round two of excitement.

    ¡°I know where you two are going!¡± Ellie grinned as she patted Rachel and myself on the head.

    ¡°Uh-huh?¡± Rachel returned with a grin of her own.

    ¡°Loser has to face a punishment game in Panarena this weekend!¡± she said in a very cheerful voice. Rachel and I looked at each other, nodded, and then began sprinting.

    ¡°You''re getting it this time!!¡± I called back as Rachel giggled. I heard the others laughing.

    ¡°Oh you think??¡± the blonde girl retorted, hurrying after us.

    ¡°Oh, boy!¡± we heard Andrea say.

    ¡°I''m getting my imager for this.¡± Christina remarked.

    ¡°P-lease!! Please get them on camera!!¡± Mary cackled.

    ¡°And here go the shenanigans,¡± Mandy sighed, but I was fairly sure she might be smiling.

    Anyway. Rachel and I bundled up again, as did Ellie, and the three of us raced back out of the room. Christina and Mary followed after us at a slower pace once they got their own coats, the older girl getting her imager ready.

    ¡°Wait up!!¡± Mandy called to them.

    ¡°Where''s the others?¡± we heard Mary ask.

    ¡°They went to the amusement park. I''ll see it tomorrow. Right now I wanna see this!¡± the other girl said, and then the three of us got out of hearing range as we raced up the mountain for the group tubing.

    I am definitely not facing a punishment game from Ellie!!! -- was the one thought on my mind as I hurried up that hill. Rachel looked over at me a couple times, smiling. She definitely knew what I was thinking. The three of us got to the top, stopping to catch our breath.

    ¡°Relax, kids, it''s not going anywhere,¡± said the kindly operator manning the device that brought the tubes back up. We gently laughed, nodding in reply, and got ready. I could see Christina, Mandy, and Mary sitting down at an observatory, the college girl ready with her imager to record our little race.

    We were then set loose to begin sliding down the hill at a good speed, Rachel and I silently agreeing to at least keep Ellie from first place one way or the other. Our oldest mutual friend let out a whoop of excitement as we came hurrying down that bonkers hill and its obstacles, and I maneuvered myself slightly to the left, gently bumping Ellie towards a pile of snowmen before continuing on up and over a ramp that launched me into the air for a few moments.

    ¡°Brat!! Dork!! Doofus-butt!!¡± I heard Ellie shout, and I started to laugh but then had the wind knocked out of me upon landing. I managed a quick look back. Ellie was into it now.

    Oh, snap, she''s gaining on me... come to think, she''s about my weight, if a bit sturdier-built than my lanky self... which means she can definitely--

    ¡°Gonna pass you up!!¡± she said as she got closer.

    ¡°Sean!¡± Rachel then called, coming up behind and knocking me towards the right a bit, where I was sent flying off of another ramp.

    ¡°Traitor!¡± Ellie grumbled.

    ¡°He''s my boyfriend!!¡± Rachel quipped back.

    I love you, I thought to myself with a grin.

    ¡°Boo!!¡± the other girl said.

    Anyhow. After several series of crazy obstacles and bouncing each other around, I managed in the end to keep in first place, crossing the finish line with a victory cry as Rachel and then Ellie arrived after me.

    ¡°Yes!! Woo!! Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-hahh!¡± I crowed with delight as Ellie shook her head, grinning.

    ¡°I guess it''s about time you manned up a bit.¡± she said, patting my shoulder when she came over. ¡°Just remember: I''ll always be crazier than you.¡± she remarked with a grin.

    ¡°No comment,¡± I said with a laugh as Rachel came over to take my hand with a smile.

    ¡°Good! How about best two out of three, then?¡± she asked.

    ¡°Can we do that?¡± Rachel wondered.

    ¡°You can go as many times as you like,¡± one of the crew told us. ¡°It''s a slow day on this one; got a lot of skiers in for the week. Get your yuks in while you can, I say!¡± he told us with a sly grin. The three of us looked around at each other, smiling mischievously.

    ¡°I''ll get you this time!!¡±

    ¡°No you won''t!!¡±

    ¡°Bet I will!!

    ¡°No you wooon''t!!¡±

    ¡°Bet I wiiillll!!¡±

    ¡°Nope, nope nope!!¡±

    ¡°Yes, yes, yes!!¡±

    And so on and so forth, all the way back to the top of the hill, Rachel grinning and shaking her head the entire time.

    ¡°Ahh -- they''re going again,¡± we heard Christina say as we passed them.

    ¡°Knowing Ellie, she''ll keep this going as long as she can,¡± Mary remarked.

    ¡°I believe it.¡± Mandy giggled. ¡°I definitely believe it.¡±

 Chapter Forty-eight: Winter Escapades, III

    Well, so, I managed to win at least once more after Ellie claimed the second round. So with two out of three in my favor she resigned herself to the terms of her bet. I decided to not think too hard about it and just do whatever came to mind that seemed the silliest when next we got onto Panarena instead of plotting it out all week. There were other things to enjoy, after all, since we were on vacation. That first night ended with the rest of us joining the others at the amusement park, where Christina replayed our little racing competition for the others, much to their amusement.

    Everything had a wintry theme to it. The carousels had reindeer and sleighs; the ferris wheel was red and its cabins were red-colored, decorated with holly and candy-canes, as were the bumper cars; there were contest games with wintry or holiday themed prizes; the food stands all had at least three items in theme, such as the North Pole Sundae that Rachel convinced me to try with her despite the cold. We followed it up with a Cup of Christmas Cheer, hot cocoa with cinnamon and hazelnut added to it, served in a complimentary green and red mug appropriately decorated with a wreath and holly on either side. Once the others found out we got to keep the mugs they couldn''t resist getting one themselves.

    And there was a roller coaster. A red roller coaster. Each car of it was decorated with a different item; the first one had reindeer with reindeer horns on the front, the second had candy-canes, the third a Christmas Tree, the fifth a holly sprig and wreath, the sixth a pair of cardinals, and the final one had a homely small-town holiday vista upon it, complete with church. I saw Rachel tense up a bit, and she clutched my arm.

    ¡°Ahh... no go, right?¡± I said with a soft smile.

    ¡°Hrrmm...¡± she sighed, taking a deep sip from her mug.

    ¡°W-we don''t have to, really,¡± I continued.

    ¡°B-but... they''re s-scary... but I... w-wanted to... at least once... m-m-maybe...¡± she said with an indecisive look. ¡°A-and... if y-you''re with me... I d-don''t think it''ll b-be too... h-h-hard...¡±

    ¡°R-Rey, I can feel you trembling,¡± I said in a quiet voice.

    ¡°Sh-shush!¡± she whispered back. ¡°I, I-I-I w-want to!!¡± she then declared adamantly, her knees still knocking together. I let out a sigh, smiling gently at her. ¡°B-b-besides... y-you can p-pay me back, n-now... f-for that t-time in the V-V-Valley...¡± she continued, trailing off.

    I had a quiet reaction of fright that played out across my face as I remembered exactly what she meant: the Vale of Stingers on the border of the Ghoulwood.

    ¡°Ahh...¡± I returned uncertainly, looking around to make sure no one had seen it, then cleared my throat. ¡°If you''re sure this is the time, then I''ll do it.¡± I told her, looking her in the eyes. She nodded back. ¡°All right... I won''t talk you out of it, and I won''t compare it to anything...¡±

    ¡°P-please don''t!¡± she wryly smiled at me.

    We then got in line for the ride in question. I couldn''t see where the others had gotten to. Maybe we were the only two left in the park for now? It was about six o''clock, so they may have gone to dinner without us.

    ¡°I can hear Ellie griping now about ''those two lovebirds always dallying somewhere by themselves'',¡± I said, and Rachel slowly started giggling, looking over at me with a smile.

    ¡°You were imitating her just now!¡± she told me.

    ¡°Eh? Was I?¡± I asked, genuinely surprised.

    ¡°It was pretty good, too!¡± Rachel laughed.

    ¡°Ahh, heh-heh... best not do it near her...¡±

    ¡°You''d lose a hundred points, for sure!¡±

    ¡°Hyeck!¡±

    The two of us got so caught up in our banter that Rachel didn''t even really register it when we finally boarded the coaster car. By the way, all of them have a shape like Santa''s sleigh. When I took her now-empty mug and put it in my inner left pocket, placing mine in the right pocket, she suddenly recalled where she was and gulped. Ehhh... I thought to myself anxiously, wondering if this was such a good idea after all. I put an arm around her waist, and she reached over to take my free hand, holding it tightly. After all those who were getting aboard had gotten aboard, the coasters set off, heading along at a steady pace and climbing that first ascent which led to the first terrifying drop.

    Oh, as a side-note, the ride is called ¡°The Blitzen¡±. As we got near to the top, that fact suddenly hit me again, and I absentmindedly starting singing.

    ¡°You know Dasher and Dancer, and Prancer and Vixen; Comet and Cupid, and Donner and--¡±

    At that moment, we who were in the first car experienced the first shocking thrill or fright of heading down at a breakneck speed on that fantastically designed winter-coaster known as:

    ¡°B-B-B-BLITZEEEEENN!!!¡± I cried out as several other people screamed in excitement or terror; Rachel squeezed my hand tightly, her own scream ripping out a second after I got my last word out.

    Up, down, round and round, upside-down then right-side up, round and round and loopity-loopity-loop. After her first scream, Rachel settled for holding her breath a few times until the ride was over. I wasn''t particularly scared of the ride: I was more scared that Rachel would pass out or get sick. Which she didn''t. Behind us, I heard someone shout in definite joy at the sensation of what this thing was doing, and when it was finally over, I gently helped my brave little girlfriend out of the coaster car and back onto solid ground. She took a few deep breaths as we stood to one side, letting other people go ahead of us.

    Rachel clung to me with all the strength she had left -- which felt considerable, by the way, just so you know. Christina then popped up next to us as Rachel took deep breaths, myself patting or rubbing her back. The older girl placed a hand on her shoulder, gently smiling.

    ¡°Still hate them?¡± she asked.

    ¡°Hate ''em. Hate ''em. Hate. Hate. Hate. Hate. Hate.¡±

    ¡°Ah-heh-heh...¡± I softly smiled, still holding her.

    ¡°I-I... I as-s-s-sked for it... b-b-b-but I s-s-s-still hate ''em. Hate. Hate. Hate.¡± she softly continued.

    ¡°D-do you wanna come back tomorrow? N-n-not to this one, something else!¡± I quickly amended.

    ¡°Can we?¡± she asked.

    ¡°Definitely.¡± I nodded.

    ¡°S-Sean...¡± she looked up at me.

    ¡°Yes?¡±

    ¡°C-can you let Chrissy take me back...? I wet myself.¡± she said in a barely audible whisper.

    ¡°Ahh...!! Y-yeah, sure, I''ll -- wander, a bit, and see you, at dinner!¡± I told her as Christina and I then helped her to her feet.

    ¡°Th-thanks,¡± she replied, gently kissing me before allowing Christina, who smiled at me, to take her back inside. I watched until I couldn''t see them in the crowds anymore, then looked up and quietly sighed.

    Ugh. I need to do something super nice. I know she wanted to do it, but still, I reflected with a bemused look as I began wandering. A sound then caught my ears. Hmm? Oh, one of those old carnival games, where you shoot a cork-gun to knock off the prize you want.

    !!!!

    I looked over at the prizes. One of them was pretty far back and placed at an angle difficult to hit. It was a white snow-bunny, with a little holly sprig for a collar and a candy cane resting on its little paws. Oh if it''s the last thing I do... I thought to myself at once, paying for a try.

    So you get five shots at the target of your choice. I examined my weapon, then took aim with a careful eye, and shot towards the one I wanted. It didn''t reach. Then I noticed you could rev up the firepower a bit; I revved it with a couple pulls and fired again. It overshot.

    ¡°Hmm...¡± I thought to myself, feeling decently certain I''d gotten a feel for the thing now. ¡°This time, for sure...¡±

    ¡°Hm? Sean? You''re not with Rachel?¡± Mary asked me as she, Anhe, and Mandy came up to see what I was doing.

    ¡°Long story, kinda. But right now...¡± I said, then revved the cork-gun once, lightly, took aim, and fired. This time I got the rabbit, and the onlookers, including my friends, clapped.

    ¡°Here y''are, kid!¡± the elf-dressed helper manning the game said to me with a grin.

    ¡°Thanks!¡± I smiled back, and he gave me a thumbs-up as I headed off, the girls following alongside me.

    ¡°Hmm? For Rachel?¡± Mandy asked.

    ¡°Definitely.¡± I replied with a wry smile.

    ¡°Uh-oh... what did ya do?¡± she wondered.

    ¡°I didn''t do anything! She made me take her,¡± I softly pleaded.

    ¡°Hm? Ah, the coaster?¡± Anhe said. ¡°It was a wild ride, huh?¡±

    ¡°D-definitely.¡± I agreed.

    ¡°And you let her walk back by herself, huh?¡± Mandy looked at me sadly.

    ¡°Oy! Christina was there! Rachel asked her to take her inside,¡± I returned at once.

    ¡°Ahh! Good.¡± Mandy brightened back up. ¡°Sorry!¡± she apologized.

    ¡°N-no harm. I''m glad you''re both here to watch over us.¡± I said with a smile.

    ¡°We''re happy too!¡± she nodded. ¡°Well, Andrea and Thomas also went back about twenty minutes ago... Ellie is...¡±

    ¡°Here!¡± the blonde girl said as she caught up to us. ¡°What''s up, we going back in?¡±

    ¡°For now! Almost dinner time, you know!¡±

    ¡°Yes, ma''am!¡±

    ¡°I wonder what they will have tonight!¡± Anhe wondered with delight.

    ¡°Ooh, I can''t wait to see!¡± Mandy grinned as we made our way back into the hotel, the rabbit tucked safely under my arms.

    As we headed inside, the girls went to go claim a table for us (or join Thomas and Andrea at one they had already gotten, or find another table altogether if it looked like the two of them were having a fine time on their own) while I returned to the room to see if Rachel was yet there. I entered the room, the door closing behind me, and looked around. Christina was not around; she was probably downstairs by now.

    ¡°Rey--¡± I started to say, when one of the bathroom doors opened. Rachel came out of it, wearing a towel. The both of us stopped in our tracks, looking in surprise at each other for a moment before I snapped out of it and quickly turned around. ¡°Ahh--! S-sorry!¡±

    ¡°I-it''s okay! I mean... you''ve seen Ari...¡± she replied.

    ¡°B-but still... that''s... I mean... it is, but it isn''t, I mean--¡± I stammered, and then I felt her arms wrap around me from behind.

    ¡°If I wasn''t afraid to show you my virtual self after all this time, do you think I''d be afraid right now?¡± she asked me gently.

    ¡°I-I... no... I don''t think you would. B-but... chaperones...¡± I said, and I felt her silently giggle behind me.

    ¡°True. And I don''t want to be one of those couples in high school. We can wait. I just want you to know that I feel perfectly safe right now.¡± Rachel told me. I felt calmer at those words.

    ¡°That, makes me happy. Maybe that''s--¡±

    ¡°Perfectly fine.¡± she said before I could finish my thought -- which was probably for the better. I was most likely about to say something incredibly stupid, no matter how genuine it may have been. ¡°By the way... what''s in your hands?¡± she then asked me.

    ¡°Heh? Oh!¡± I said, and she let go of me as I began to turn around, still a touch red-faced. ¡°Th-this little one, I saw it at one of the, you know, the carnival games, and I...¡± I trailed off as I held the Christmas Bunny up for her, watching her face light up with delight and her eyes get slightly misty, cupping her hands over her mouth.

    ¡°Sean!!¡± she cried, seizing me with both arms around the neck and kissing me.

    I kissed her back, overwhelmed with emotion right now, the little bunny gently squeezed between us. I heard something fall to the ground as the kiss ended, and as soon as I realized what had happened I turned my head until Rachel had the bunny, and then turned around again.

    ¡°Sean...?¡±

    ¡°R-Rey... your towel...¡±

    ¡°Ahh--!!¡±

    As soon as Rachel had gotten herself dressed, we headed downstairs to join the others at one of the larger tables. They had actually held off on ordering food to wait until we had both gotten there, and we sheepishly put in our drink orders as the waitress came around again.

    ¡°So? What did you name it??¡± Mandy asked Rachel when our server had gone to get our drinks.

    ¡°Hmm...¡± Rachel sat back thoughtfully, pondering the question. ¡°I haven''t thought of one, yet!¡± she then smiled. ¡°Were you there when he got it?¡±

    ¡°Yep, and Mary and Anhe, too.¡± the older girl nodded.

    ¡°It was really cool, you should have seen him!¡± Anhe remarked excitedly.

    ¡°Ah-heh, too much time playing video games...¡± I said with a bashful grin.

    ¡°And that was a cork gun, too, not a bow and arrow. Kind of impressive, honestly,¡± Mary said with a smile.

    ¡°Hmm, now I want to try it!¡± Andrea said. ¡°I loved those things when I was a little girl. Daddy used to play them for me all the time!¡±

    ¡°Your dad did?¡± Thomas wondered in amazement.

    ¡°He might not look it, but he was in the service before I got to grade school.¡± Andrea said to him.

    ¡°Ohh, that''s right!¡± Ellie nodded. ¡°Wasn''t he almost made a general or something?¡±

    ¡°Right before he got the option to retire, but accepting the promotion would have meant at least five more years of service for good measure, so he chose family instead.¡± the other girl smiled.

    ¡°Aww, that was sweet of him!¡± Mandy remarked cheerily.

    ¡°Definitely!¡± Rachel agreed. ¡°Mr. Summers is one of the best dads, for sure.¡±

    ¡°Not yours?¡± Christina wondered. Rachel sighed, shaking her head as Christina wryly smiled back. ¡°I get it. I''m pretty much in the same boat, after all.¡±

    ¡°Come to think of it, Myanihia said you two had different fathers,¡± I recalled.

    ¡°That''s what she said.¡± the other nodded. ¡°I''m not sure, but I''m almost certain now that the man who was raising me wasn''t my dad, but hers.¡±

    ¡°I still don''t get how two children can be raised by the same parents and not know about each other...¡± Ellie shrugged.

    ¡°That was bugging you, too??¡± I said to her, and she nodded.

    ¡°You know, I''m not sure either,¡± Christina admitted. ¡°Must be a rich people thing.¡±

    ¡°Pfft! No, sorry, but that was kind of funny!¡± Mandy said, holding up her hands apologetically.

    ¡°It was kind of funny.¡± Christina returned with a grin. We all laughed then, and the mood lightened up again. ¡°What about your folks, Sean?¡± the black-haired girl said to me.

    ¡°Ehh... my dad is a cartoon-watching prankster and my mother is an obsessed real estate agent I hardly see.¡± I replied.

    ¡°Hmm.¡± the older girl smiled back.

    ¡°Your dad, too, huh?¡± Thomas grinned. ¡°Classic Cartoon Central?¡±

    ¡°Twen-ty-four seven.¡± I nodded in affirmation.

    ¡°Same here; my mother is in the service now, working as a communications officer.¡± he said.

    ¡°Oh wow!¡±

    ¡°Neat!¡± Rachel and I remarked.

    ¡°And of course,¡± Ellie then said, ¡°We all know Mary''s dad runs a school, and Anhe''s mother is a teacher.¡±

    ¡°My grandfather also owns a restaurant, and my extended family owns several retail stores in the city.¡± Anhe added.

    ¡°Oh right, sweet! I''ll have to check them out!¡±

    ¡°We would be honored to have you as a customer!¡±

    ¡°What about your family, Ellie?¡± Mandy asked.

    ¡°Ehh, we''re a bunch of lunatics and oddballs who work weird jobs or odd jobs. A couple of them work in the red-light sector...¡± she said with a distant and bemused expression.

    ¡°R-red-light, you say?¡± the older girl returned with a hesitant laugh.

    The waitress then came back with our drinks, and then took our dinner orders before heading back to the kitchens with them.

    ¡°What about your family, Mandy?¡± I asked her.

    ¡°Ah! Mostly ordinary folks here. My dad works at one of the hospitals and my mother is an editor for a couple of the big magazines in the area. And my aunt runs one of the bus companies now.¡± she told us.

    ¡°Cool!¡± I said.

    ¡°Definitely!¡± Rachel agreed.

    ¡°What... if it''s okay, do your pare-- err, maybe your mom, do, Rachel?¡± Mandy then asked as delicately as she could.

    ¡°Hmm... I guess she''s in New Syria right now, enjoying her high profile job that she took because the one here wasn''t as high profile.¡± she said with a sigh. I took her hand, and she smiled at me.

    ¡°Well, I''m glad you didn''t go with her!¡± Mandy smiled.

    ¡°I am too.¡± Rachel smiled softly, leaning her head onto my shoulder.

    ¡°Your brother''s still working around the area, isn''t he?¡± I asked her.

    ¡°Joshy''s getting in to some sort of new job to take his mind off of a break-up.¡± she replied.

    ¡°Ehh? With Jane? I thought they were pretty tight,¡± I said in surprise.

    Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

    ¡°Mm... so did he, but I guess she wasn''t feeling it. So he quit his job when she gave him the news and got to work at another place to keep it from getting awkward.¡± Rachel replied.

    ¡°Aw.¡± Andrea sighed.

    ¡°Poor guy... good luck to him in his new job, though,¡± I said.

    ¡°I''ll tell him you said so!¡± my girlfriend smiled, and I nodded.

    A quiet sigh of contentment escaped my lips, and I closed my eyes for a moment. For that brief moment, I could almost see something. All of us, maybe a couple of others, gathered around a table like this, laughing and celebrating. We were older, and we had come a long way together, but we were still friends, each and every one of us. There were hints of sorrow, and maybe of tragedy, that had befallen us on the way; but there was also joy, joy beyond measure, and a love that could not contain itself in a human heart, spilling out to show itself to every eye that could see it. I felt a pang in my heart, and then I felt Rachel''s hand wiping something off my face.

    ¡°You okay?¡± she asked me as I opened my eyes again. Apparently a tear had fallen out. The others looked at me in concern. I looked around at them, smiling with reassurance.

    ¡°I''m fine, really.¡± I said.

    ¡°It looked like you were going to cry, though?¡± Anhe said, placing a hand on my shoulder as she quietly searched my face.

    ¡°Just... thinking. About us. All of us. And how I hope moments like these never stop happening between us.¡± I replied softly, leaning back in the chair. I felt Rachel squeeze my hand more tightly, and Anhe smiled.

    ¡°Me too.¡± the younger girl said, and the others around the table nodded as well. We smiled at each other. Somehow, I knew it would happen. No matter how far apart we might drift, there would always be a closeness with each other deep in our hearts.

    ***

    Our evening meal continued with witty banter and lighthearted fun, the nine of us smiling and laughing all the way back to our -- suite, I guess? I don''t get out much, but we knew that. Anyhow. The conversations went on until late in the night, after which some of us just fell asleep where we were instead of going to our beds. Christina quickly wrapped a blanket around herself before settling in, setting on some old holiday-themed cartoon film that was still around after nearly a century or so. I saw Anhe drifting off nearby, and Ellie yawned, getting a glass of water before heading in to her room.

    Rachel and I slowly fell asleep in a chair together, fixated on the movie. Apparently it was called ¡°The Year Without A Santa Claus¡±, from just over eighty years ago. I heard Christina say something about how she had loved this one, and several others like it, since she was a little girl. It was definitely good fun.

    Come to think of it, this is the first time that Rachel and I are gonna fall asleep together for real, I thought as the two of us quietly snuggled closer. Some time later she fell sound asleep, and I joined her in slumber moments later.

    ¡°Shhh! You''ll wake them before I get a picture!¡± someone''s voice hoarsely whispered, and then there was the sound of a giggle as an imager clicked a couple times. There was a delighted squeal of victory, and I slowly opened my eyes.

    Rachel was still sound asleep, and Christina was standing a few paces away with Mandy and Andrea, who were quietly gushing over the pictures that had been taken. I suddenly realized that the two of us on the chair had been the unwitting subjects of this little photography shoot, but I was too groggy to care. Whatever floats your boat.

    ¡°Ughh. They''re too cute.¡± Andrea sighed.

    ¡°So are you and Thomas, though,¡± Mandy remarked.

    ¡°I guess, but somehow other couples are always cuter, you know?¡±

    ¡°Ah-heh, I don''t really get it but I kind of get it.¡± the older girl said.

    ¡°You never dated anyone?¡± Andrea asked her.

    ¡°N-not yet!¡± Mandy smiled bashfully. I thought I saw Christina let out a quiet sigh; she glanced over subtly at the older girl with light-blonde hair, a soft smile on her face.

    ¡°Ahh!!! ''M-morning, Sean!¡± Andrea said as she turned back to see me waking up.

    ¡°Hey,¡± I replied, gently nudging Rachel. I couldn''t help but notice how quickly the imager disappeared behind Christina''s back.

    ¡°Coffee!¡± the black-haired girl said as she swiftly headed to our kitchenette.

    ¡°Somebody call my name?¡± Ellie''s sleepy voice came to our ears.

    ¡°I''ll make a pot, then.¡± Christina softly giggled.

    ¡°Mmm... lemme sleep...¡± Rachel mumbled a moment later.

    ¡°That''s fine, but I''d like to--¡± I started, but she only wrapped herself around me more tightly. ¡°Ahhh... heh-heh-heh...¡±

    ¡°Don'' wanna... so snuggly...¡± she mumbled again, and I looked at her with a wry grin of helplessness.

    ¡°Girls and cats, the two things guys hate to disturb from a good cuddle.¡± Mandy nodded wisely.

    ¡°I don''t know about the second, though,¡± I remarked with a soft laugh.

    ¡°You don''t like kitty-cats?¡± she grinned.

    ¡°I like them, but we never hesitated to disturb old Gingerbell from a nap if we had to,¡± I told her.

    ¡°Aw! That''s a cute name,¡± Mandy smiled.

    ¡°Ah! Sean, do you have to...?¡± Andrea then subtly asked me. I nodded with an awkward grin on my face at once. The red-haired girl then took pity on me. ¡°Rachel! We''re gonna be late for school!¡± she called out without a second''s hesitation, and Rachel snapped awake, jumping out of the chair like a cat while I ninja-rolled out of the chair to head over to the little boy''s room.

    ¡°Ruuuude!!!¡± I heard my girlfriend shout indignantly as I shut the door, the other girls laughing heartily at the prank.

    ¡°Honestly, what am I going to do with you?¡± Rachel smiled at me as we shared breakfast together.

    ¡°S-something nice, I hope,¡± I sheepishly grinned back, and she giggled.

    ¡°Wanna try skiing today?¡± she then asked, and I thought about it for a moment as I continued slowly downing my oatmeal.

    ¡°Hmm... I don''t mind,¡± I said after a moment, ¡°But we''ll have to do the beginner''s course.¡±

    ¡°That''s fine, I can''t really ski myself,¡± Rachel nodded back.

    ¡°I think I saw something about a snowman-building contest on a poster, too,¡± I remarked.

    ¡°Oh cool!¡± she exclaimed. ¡°That''d be fun!¡±

    ¡°Definitely!¡± I agreed. As if on cue, we heard the words from one of those ever-ubiquitous Christmas songs.

    In the meadow, we can build a snowman,

    And we''ll pretend that he is Parson Brown!

    He''ll say, ¡°Are you married?¡± -- We''ll say, ¡°No man,

    But you can do the job when you''re in town!¡±

    ¡°It''d be nice to get married around Christmas,¡± Rachel said softly, her cheeks glowing.

    ¡°That would be nice.¡± I smiled back.

    ¡°Will you ask around then, someday?¡± she asked me.

    ¡°I''ll probably surprise you on a day you''re not expecting it.¡± I replied, and she smiled.

    ¡°That''d be good, too!¡± she agreed.

    Yeah, I know. The two of us are light-years away from that point right now. But at that moment, it seemed like it could be tomorrow. Or maybe it would be, the way times flies by. One thing was for sure. All I could see right now was that gorgeous smile, absolutely radiant with the sunrise behind her.

    So for most of the morning, Rachel and I went to the beginners'' course for skiers, making it our goal to try and get the hang of it by lunchtime. Probably not too realistic, but hey. I saw Andrea, Thomas, and Christina on a more difficult course about thirty meters away from us. Mandy was just coming up to join them. I wonder where the others got to? I briefly wondered before pushing off, keeping myself steady and trying to go in a straight line as I slid -- err, skied, down the course.

    We broke for lunch, where the others joined us, and we found out that there was a Winter Express tour which looped around the village. How I had failed to notice that earlier bugged me for quite some time after. After lunch, Rachel and I went skiing again for a couple hours, and then decided to call it quite so we could join in the snowman-building contest. We didn''t win, but we got an honorary mention for our sculpture of a snowman and snow-woman holding hands and gazing towards each other.

    And then Rachel led me along to where Anhe had told her the train was; it was a classic steam-locomotive, complete with coal-box and old-fashioned passenger cars, caboose included. As you might expect, it had a very winter-slash-Christmassy design aesthetic, especially the interior of the cabins and cars. We settled into a seat together, and the Winter Express took off around the village for its loop.

    ¡°This place must''ve taken a lot of work when it went up,¡± Rachel said as we observed the sights together.

    ¡°One of my grandpa''s friends was a worker here when they were building it, he said it was a chore, but well worth it to see people''s reactions that first winter,¡± I told her.

    ¡°Oh wow; not your grandpa himself, though?¡± she asked.

    ¡°He was a Professor of Mythology, Language, and Literature.¡± I shrugged.

    ¡°Nice!¡±

    ¡°Definitely.¡± I smiled. ¡°What about your grands?¡± I then asked her.

    ¡°Hmm... I only really knew my mom''s folks, thanks to that...¡± she mumbled for a moment, and then cleared her throat. ¡°Grandpa George Vernon was a lawyer and a judge, and Grandma Nancy Mae was a homebody who helped out at bakeries when she could.¡±

    ¡°Oh nice. My grandma was the same way, more or less,¡± I smiled back.

    ¡°I got that vibe from her immediately!¡± Rachel smiled.

    ¡°Guess it''s hard to mistake!¡± I returned, and we laughed.

    The train slowly rumbled along its tracks through and around the village, passing through a forest of evergreens that had been decorated for the season as it wound its way up around the mountain on a steady incline. There was a tunnel that cut through the mountain looming ahead; I wondered how long it would be as we got closer.

    ¡°I never really talked about my dad, did I...¡± Rachel softly said.

    ¡°Y-you don''t have to.¡± I told her.

    ¡°I need to, for a moment,¡± she said, her voice still soft. ¡°My parents are actually divorced. It happened about two years ago, after we had been down in Mexico. He...¡± she trailed off, quietly gripping my hand.

    ¡°You don''t have to say it.¡± I told her gently, filling in the blank for myself. ¡°But he kept sticking around anyway, and then I suppose there were some consequences.¡±

    ¡°Mm. He finally admitted it a year later. That he had been a rat, and that Joshy and I now had a little brother that wasn''t our full sibling.¡± she confided to me in as soft a voice as she could, trying not to explode. I gently squeezed her hand, and she leaned on to me. ¡°Joshua was too nice, of course, though sometimes I wonder if he''s secretly as angry as I am. My mother was indifferent, or at least she pretends to be. She would cry at night sometimes, and she hasn''t gotten rid of her ring, even now. But she won''t mention him, even though she still hangs on to it, and their wedding pictures.¡± she continued.

    ¡°I''m...¡± I started to say, then let it hang. There was nothing I could really say. Instead, I settled for drawing her closer, holding her warmly as the train entered the tunnel, trying to let my beating heart do the talking for me this time. I felt a couple of quiet sobs from her as she clutched me tightly, and I gently patted her on the back.

    I love you.

    I know. I love you too.

    When the train ride ended, Rachel had perked up again, cheerfully enjoying the scenery and laughing at the more whimsical sights we got to see. I smiled, keeping hold of her hand as we enjoyed them together, thinking again about how grateful I was to be playing a part in this girl''s life. I knew I wasn''t the only joy she had now. All of our friends, all of our times and adventures together, they were adding up together in her heart and slowly pushing away bad experiences. Yet I knew I meant a great deal more to her than I would ever understand, and she meant the same for me, too.

    We headed off the train, hand in hand, and took a stroll through the amusement park. I consciously avoided going anywhere near The Blitzen, if I could help it at all, but we did play a few of the carnival games together. After winning a couple more prizes we went to ride on the carousel, and then continued to just walk and enjoy watching the people around us having a wonderful time. I looked up as we got near the ferris wheel; I let out a smile as I saw Andrea and Thomas in the carriage now nearing the top, and deftly looked away as they reached for each other.

    ¡°Aww...!!¡± Rachel sighed happily as she watched them, then gently pulled me along to take a ride on it as well.

    As soon as we got up to it we were ushered on, the young ladies manning it quickly and silently picking up on Rachel''s intentions to be alone in one of the carriages. Slowly we went up, and the two of us watched as we rose steadily higher into the air. I let out a smile as I looked down; it almost seemed like one of those little toy villages with the train running through them. Rachel softly giggled when I mentioned this, laying her head on my shoulder.

    ¡°It definitely looks like that,¡± she agreed as we observed the scene below. Suddenly we were at the top, and the carriage halted.

    ¡°Oh, it stopped again,¡± I said.

    ¡°Mm.¡± Rachel nodded, and I turned to her.

    I felt a gentle rush of feelings welling up inside. Our eyes locked together gently as she raised her head, cheeks glowing with a faint red as she looked back at me, her eyes closing, her lips parting. I closed my eyes as well, leaning closer, brushing my lips against hers, lightly at first but then more firmly, our arms wrapping around each other to hold one another close. Neither of us noticed when the carriage started moving again, blissfully unaware of anything but the person we loved.

    ***

    On our third day, Rachel and I went to go try skiing again, with Anhe joining us this time. I had a feeling that, out of all of us, she was getting the most out of this trip. The three of us carefully guided ourselves down the beginner''s slope a few times, and then we agreed to try the next difficulty.

    As expected, this one was definitely trickier, yet it wasn''t as difficult as it might have been had we gone for it right off the bat. We tripped up a few times, and I almost ran into a tree at least twice; then poor Anhe lost her balance and ran into a snowbank, after which we called it quits for the time being, helping her back to the rooms.

    ¡°It was definitely fun!¡± she exclaimed on the way back. ¡°I will try again later with the two of you, if you want to,¡± Anhe then said.

    ¡°Sure!¡± I agreed.

    ¡°I definitely agree!¡± Rachel smiled.

    ¡°Yay!¡± Anhe raised a hand in celebration, and the three of us laughed together. ¡°I hope some day we have more friends to do things with, although not too many!¡± she then said.

    ¡°Oh for sure. If we have too many more, Mandy and Christina might get overwhelmed!¡± Rachel agreed, and they giggled.

    ¡°Or they might gush even more and just put up with it,¡± I remarked, and we laughed again.

    ¡°I can see that too!¡± Anhe agreed.

    ¡°Right??¡± Rachel returned.

    After we had helped Anhe to the suite, Rachel helped her clean up a bit, and then we went to have an early lunch. A brunch? Whatever. We had food. That was the important part. Well, second-most important. Next to being with each other. Andrea and Thomas came to join us about fifteen minutes later, and the others filed in as the five of us were finishing up. We stayed to talk for a bit, and then started splitting up again to go and do things. Rachel and I went with Anhe to go look at the shops in the village, deciding to wait for tomorrow to try and ski again.

    ¡°Hmm... Mi-Sun would like this one...¡± Anhe remarked as we browsed through a toy-shop. She was examining a panda plushie with a little Santa-hat on its head.

    ¡°Your cousin, right? She likes pandas, then?¡± Rachel asked.

    ¡°Yes to both!¡± Anhe nodded.

    ¡°Younger?¡±

    ¡°Mm, by two years.¡±

    ¡°Hmm, middle-school, huh?¡± I noted as I scanned the store, looking around in awe at the selection of merchandise, most of it hand-made. According to the labels, at least.

    ¡°True! She goes to another school, though. An all-girls school on... the north side?¡± Anhe replied, trying to recall as she picked up one of the pandas.

    ¡°Ehh... I kinda recall that... Saint Something-or-others,¡± I nodded, and the two of them giggled back. ¡°L-like either of you know the name!¡± I quickly said, smirking back.

    ¡°Ha-ha-ha!¡± Anhe returned in helpless laughter.

    ¡°Oh, gawd, Sean!¡± Rachel sighed, and the two of them looked at each other before turning back to me.

    ¡°Adorkable!¡± they chorused as one.

    ¡°Hahhh...¡± I sighed resignedly.

    ¡°You really are a nice pillow.¡± Rachel said as she snuggled onto me later that night as we curled up to watch a few Christmas Classics with Christina and Mandy. Andrea and Thomas were in another chair, and the others were sprawled out on the floor.

    ¡°Th-thanks,¡± I replied, and she quietly giggled as I wrapped us up in a blanket. I looked over at Christina, who was again cocooned in a blanket of her own that she had brought along. ¡°For all that you don''t get cold you sure love that blanket.¡± I remarked.

    ¡°Oh, this isn''t for me, this is for the rest of you.¡± she said with a wink.

    ¡°Heh?¡±

    ¡°Don''t ask, kiddo.¡± Mandy smirked.

    ¡°Hmm? Chrissy, you sleep that way too?¡± Ellie asked her.

    ¡°All the time.¡± the other girl nodded.

    Eh? ehh?? ¡­ guhyeck!! I thought as I suddenly internalized what they were implying, and then directed my full attention to the movie and its opening credits.

    This time it was one about Rudolph, along with an Elf who wanted to be a dentist. And apparently the next one was going to be an even older live action film, often regarded as the quintessential Christmas holiday movie.

    ¡°Hahh... this one is so cute.¡± Christina sighed happily.

    ¡°Isn''t it though?¡± Mandy agreed.

    We all lasted through that one, and then as the second one continued our little movie night we started drifting off one by one. The last thing I recalled before falling asleep was how odd it was to be watching a black-and-white film in this day and age, but, at the same time, it seemed strangely appropriate.

    Day four was a full day of skiing, with a couple of breaks in between our sessions as we slowly got the hang of that second-easiest course and progressed to the next one later in the afternoon, close to evening. I noticed that Christina was now on one of the master courses, gliding easily down the difficult slope. I''ll be happy if I can get the hang of this third one, myself, I thought as I watched in amazement.

    ¡°She''s good, huh?¡± Rachel remarked with awe.

    ¡°Very.¡± Anhe replied.

    ¡°I wonder where she learned,¡± I said as I nodded in agreement. The three of us then gently shoved off to try our new course.

    Anhe and Rachel made it down without incident, though they said it was luck. As for me, I ended up getting one of my skis caught on something as I tried to maneuver out of the way of something else, and then ended up in one of those tumbles you see in the cartoons all the time -- except for the part where the unfortunate victim ends up in a giant snowball. But I did go splat into a snow embankment near the bottom of the hill which was there for clumsy people such as myself, and I lay there in a heap until the girls came over.

    ¡°Are you okay?!¡± Rachel said in alarm as she knelt down.

    ¡°U-uugghhhhh...¡± I managed to shiver out, seeing a few stars as I tried to move. Then I felt someone''s arms around me, hoisting me off the ground. It was Christina.

    ¡°Come on, kiddo.¡± she said, placing my arm around her neck as Rachel and Anhe collected my skis and the ski-poles.

    We trudged back to the rooms, and she helped get me out of my coat and stuff before setting me in a chair. Rachel, who had gotten there before us with Anhe, came over with a hot coffee, placing it in my hands. I smiled, and she smiled back at me.

    ¡°Still dizzy?¡± Christina asked.

    ¡°A bit,¡± I admitted.

    ¡°Just relax for a while. Don''t move around too much.¡± she said, patting my shoulder. A moment passed by in silence, the three of them observing me carefully.

    ¡°Where did you lean to ski, by the way?¡± Anhe then wondered softly to the older girl.

    ¡°Hmm? Oh, I got sent with... David, the man who acted as my father, to Norway for a month''s vacation one year.¡± she shrugged.

    ¡°Straight from the home of skiing, huh?¡± I remarked.

    ¡°Don''t think too much either,¡± she gently flicked me. ¡°Which is not something I''d ever usually say to a guy,¡± she added with a smirk.

    ¡°Oy... quit hitting the injured when they''re down...¡± I softly retorted, and they laughed.

    ¡°I''m just glad you don''t seem to have any broken bones. Mandy would have a meltdown,¡± Christina sighed, softly smiling as she took off her coat and set it on a coat-rack.

    ¡°I bet,¡± I quietly agreed, taking a long but slow sip of warm coffee as Rachel curled herself up next to me. Anhe gave her a hug, and then softly kissed my cheek before heading out with a wave. Rachel snuggled against me, and I almost fell asleep right there.

    ¡°Don''t let him get too active, he might have a concussion.¡± she said to Rachel. ¡°Hmm... I guess if he shows signs of one, we''ll have to cancel our nightly movies, too...¡± Christina mused.

    ¡°Not too active?¡± Rachel wondered bemusedly.

    ¡°No amusement rides, no carnival games, no sledding, no complicated board games or watching a screen... and no skiing!¡± she smirked as she slipped under her blanket to take a nap.

    ¡°I might be done skiing for the week, this time,¡± I said. I then idly noticed that it was snowing outside, and a smile came to my lips. The three of us sat there together in silence, watching the snow fall in companionable silence.

    Later in the day, Mandy, who had some practical experience in patient care from learning with her dad, concluded that I did not have a concussion, thankfully, and said it was safe for me to resume more normal activities. We went to dinner after that, reflecting with a hint of sadness that it was our second to last supper in Hollydale. As Rachel and I curled back up in the chair together, I thought to myself with an amused smile that neither of us had actually slept in our beds for the entire week. Our first movie of the night came on, and we were soon caught up in the antiquated but wonderfully done animations, enjoying both it and the company around us.

    ¡°We check out after breakfast tomorrow, right? Or after dinner tonight?¡± Christina asked as we gathered at the table.

    ¡°I think tonight,¡± Mary said.

    ¡°Late night drive, huh?¡± Mandy remarked. ¡°I''ll have to get a coffee to go!¡±

    ¡°Hmm.¡± Christina nodded back. ¡°So what should we do today?¡±

    ¡°Isn''t there a stage play going on?¡± Andrea said as she took a drink from her orange juice.

    ¡°Hm? Oh right!¡± Ellie grinned. ¡°There''s a couple performances, actually, two of them on different stages. Let''s see one for a matinee and then the other in the afternoon!¡±

    ¡°You guys are doing a Christmas show too, right?¡± I asked her.

    ¡°Eh, next week or so, yeah,¡± she nodded.

    ¡°I''ll have to warm up my card tricks again...¡± Thomas noted to himself.

    ¡°You''ll be fine.¡± Andrea smiled at him.

    ¡°Still!¡± he smiled back.

    ¡°What are the plays, by the way?¡± Anhe then asked.

    ¡°Hmm... I think one''s a small-town holiday comedy, and the other''s more of a fairy tale story,¡± Mandy said, picking up one of the schedules nearby to read it. ¡°There we go; yep! I was right.¡±

    ¡°Vote time! What''s first?¡± Ellie said.

    ***

    We had a practically unanimous vote for the fairy tale play first, so we went to see this around nine. It centered around a few legends of Old Saint Nick and the North Pole, and how he began his Christmas journeys around the world. The second one was definitely comedic; it centered around a Post-Master General who was given a letter to deliver by a young girl, who wanted it delivered to Santa Claus.

    This one followed the hapless and holiday-shunning PMG as he ended up making a journey that quickly turned supernatural, transforming him into a kinder, more warmhearted sort of person who ended up as the most enthusiastic holiday-lover of them all. The actors received a standing ovation, as well they should have for that performance. Not that I''m an expert on theater or anything, but I think we all know when a story is done well or excellently versus when it''s just okay or even poorly.

    After watching this one and joining in the standing ovation, we slipped out to take one last visit to the shops before having an early dinner, and then we got packed, checked out, and got back onto our bus to head home. We all smiled at each other as we settled into our seats again, wordlessly agreeing that we had to get together like this again sometime. And with that, Mandy started up the bus, a smile on her face, and started our journey home.

    As Hollydale receded from view, I started falling asleep again. A smile came to my face. I hadn''t known what I was in for this school year. I had expected it to be the same old, same old; and instead, I was introduced to a whole new world, not just in Panarena, but in my actual life as well. Real life wasn''t so bad after all. But Lana Windstrider and her adventures were not yet over: that much I knew for certain.

 Bonus Chapter: A Winters Quest

    When we had gotten home from our trip on Friday, we were too exhausted from it to go gaming, but on Saturday, after we spent some time readjusting to the fact that we were no longer on an all-expenses paid vacation resort and had been returned to our normal lives, we ended up logging in one by one, or in twos, until the eight of us -- nine when Derwydd showed up -- were all back in Cloverbell after dinner that evening.

    ¡°So it''s official! Winter Quests are out!¡± Lizzy beamed happily. ¡°I had a full day at work, but when I saw that on the forums after getting home it got me re-energized!¡±

    ¡°I bet,¡± Lysandra grinned.

    ¡°We wanted to do that one in Cedarville, right?¡± Ariana asked me.

    ¡°Want to go and check to see if we were right?¡± I asked her.

    ¡°Definitely!¡± she smiled.

    ¡°You two can do that one; I''m going to look around Heimgar. Someone told me there''d be one I would enjoy there.¡± Lizzy said.

    ¡°Hmm?¡± I wondered.

    ¡°You''ll see! Heali, Der, wanna come with?¡±

    ¡°What do you think?¡± Healina said to our not-quite-a-member.

    ¡°Sure! I''d like to see Heimgar a bit myself,¡± he agreed.

    ¡°Cool!¡± Lizzy beamed once more. ¡°What about anyone else?¡±

    ¡°Oh, I promised Anhe to check the Monasteries with her today,¡± Maryn said. ¡°We''re taking Fyu along for the ride!¡±

    ¡°I cannot wait to see if we can get a holiday cosmetic for him!¡± Anhe smiled, and we all laughed.

    ¡°Fyu in a Santa hat! Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-hahh!¡± Heali cackled with delight.

    ¡°Right??¡± I squeaked out between laughs, clapping my hands. When we had calmed down from that, the older girls then gave us their plans.

    ¡°I... got a message... from Myanihia. She wants to spend time together today, so I''ll be on my own with her.¡± Lysandra said with a soft smile.

    ¡°Oh nice! Hope it goes well,¡± I told her.

    ¡°Thanks,¡± she replied.

    ¡°Then I''ll go with our littler lovebirds to help them out!¡± Belle declared. ¡°Meet back here later or go to Queen''s Haven?¡±

    ¡°Let''s meet back here. It''s more cozy.¡± Maryn said.

    ¡°I agree.¡± Anhe nodded.

    ¡°Seconded!¡± Lizzy said.

    ¡°All in favor?¡± I said, and the motion passed unanimously. With that, we parted ways for the time being, each of us heading out to do our thing for the day.

    Cedarville was just as we remembered it, except it was now covered in snow. It almost reminded me of Hollydale now, or at least the village and its shops. Ari, Belle, and I walked around leisurely, keeping an eye out for the places we could recall as being suspicious or foreshadowing.

    ¡°Oh, there''s one of them!¡± I said as I caught sight of a small cedar that was now occupied by fairies. It, like a few others in the area, had caught my eye a couple months ago on account of the red and green mushrooms that had been upon it.

    ¡°Yes! Nice!¡± Ariana exclaimed as we ventured closer.

    ¡°Whee! Fairies!¡± Belle flew ahead to dance with them for a moment, and then fell to chatting with one, a jovial looking fellow in festive purple with shimmering golden wings. Belle flew back to us after a moment, and gave us the news. ¡°He says that there''s something fishy going on in the Other Realm, where the Winter King rules. No stories or gifts have been arriving from his realm the way they used to, and they''re all concerned about it.¡± she said to us.

    ¡°Hmm...¡± I pondered.

    ¡°What''s the objective?¡± Ariana asked.

    ¡°We need to find the Seven Sacred Stones and then travel to a special sanctuary to activate a portal to the Other Realm; and that''s all it says.¡± Belle read, softly shrugging.

    ¡°Seven Sacred Stones, huh...?¡± I mused.

    ¡°Lana?¡± Ari said to me.

    ¡°Fairies, stones... was there any other hint?¡± I asked Belle.

    ¡°Hmm... he did say to try looking in the Caverns of Frost for the first one,¡± she told us as she looked at the log again.

    ¡°That''s down in the Mountains of Night, isn''t it? One of the dungeons we did with Healina when she first started playing?¡± Ariana said to me.

    ¡°I think you''re right,¡± I said. ¡°Some games do add special items to old dungeons to spice things up a bit, though,¡± I remarked as I thought about it.

    ¡°Oh neat,¡± she returned. ¡°I guess we have our first destination, then!¡± she smiled, and with that we set off, Belle sharing the quest with us before we left to head for the dungeon in question.

    ***

    Now, the Caverns of Frost had been fairly easy back when we were forty-five or so. This time we were ninety-five, and although our party was perhaps not the ideal party, it didn''t quite matter on account of this fact. Some of the monsters outright ignored us on account of the level difference. But we definitely had to get through the boss monster, a crystalline ice-beast that had nearly gotten Healina on our first trip here. We beat him for a second time, and then found what we were looking for.

    ¡°Oh! Cute! It''s got a little snowflake on it,¡± Belle said as she hoisted the stone off of the ground in pixie form. It was about a third of her size.

    ¡°Nice! Oh, I bet the others have a special design on them too!¡± Ariana said.

    ¡°Probably!¡± I agreed. ¡°¡­ If we can get another hint on where to find them...¡± I then realized.

    ¡°Hmm?¡± Belle then remarked. ¡°I can see some sort of -- let me pull up my map,¡± she said, and when she had done so, her eyes began following something across it. ¡°It''s heading to... Woodhall, on the border of Aldholt and Woody Heights,¡± she said.

    ¡°Hmm... let me see that for a sec,¡± I said, and she handed the snowflake stone to me. I pulled out my own map to look, but nothing was happening for me. After waiting a few seconds to be sure, I handed it back to Belle. ¡°I guess it only works for pixies!¡± I grinned.

    ¡°Lucky us, having such a wonderful friend in our guild!¡± Ari smiled, cupping her hands together for Belle to sit in.

    ¡°Aww... shucks!¡± the older girl blushed. ¡°Hey! Let''s hurry and find the place! No game secret stays secret forever, you know!¡± she said as she took off again.

    There''s one that I hope does stay secret, I thought bemusedly as Ari and I set off after her, my partner giving me a grin as we hastened to catch our pixie friend.

    We took the nearest wayport we could find, and then hastened along through the overgrown pathways to the outdoor dungeon, where we encountered a vengeful beast, a magnificent but quite aggressive reindeer of silver color. Belle managed to use her pixie skills to pacify him instead of killing him, and we received the second stone, this one marked with--yep, a reindeer.

    This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

    Our next destination took us southeast, to Belledown, where we ended up fighting through an old crypt to get the third stone. The guardian of this one was a corrupted evergreen, oddly enough, but it was withered and corpulent, for a tree, so I didn''t think too deeply about it. An evergreen stone was soon in our possession, and it pointed the way to a dungeon in Ipping Forest that Ariana and I knew very well: the Grotto of the Twin Dragons.

    ¡°This is exciting!!¡± Belle squealed with delight as we approached it. ¡°We''re visiting the birthplace of a Panarena Legend: the Silvernight Twins!!¡± she continued in a tizzy, Ari and I exchanging a faint grin with each other.

    ¡°Think we''ll have trouble this time?¡± Ari asked me.

    ¡°Not a bit!¡± I laughed merrily.

    ¡°Who knew that all these months later, the two of you would be back here?? Ahhh!! I have to take a screen-grab!!¡± Belle chattered, swiftly flying back a bit to hover at various places as Ari and I reached the entrance of our first major dungeon experience, taking several pics.

    ¡°Been a while, huh?¡± I said to the dungeon. We then passed through the watery curtain which delicately concealed the grotto, and headed on inside.

    As in a couple other dungeons, the monsters here ignored us this time because of our higher levels. But when we got to the boss room, the dragons did not ignore us. For a second time we busted them up, this time with the advantage of Belle''s debuffing skills, and then we claimed our fourth stone. This one, of course, had a dragon on it.

    ¡°What do dragons have to do with winter or Christmas?¡± Belle wondered somewhat indignantly.

    ¡°Hrrmm... but they do have a lot to do with fairy tales and otherworlds, especially in the myths of places like Britain and Scandinavia,¡± I shrugged.

    ¡°Well... I guess I can let that pass, then. But if there''s a dragon at the Winter King''s court, it had better be holidayish!¡± she remarked.

    ¡°I''m sure it will be,¡± Ariana grinned. ¡°Where''s the map leading us now?¡±

    ¡°Hm? Oh!¡± Belle said, and brought up the map again. ¡°Hallowed Vale, it says.¡± she told us.

    ¡°Oh, nice!¡± Ari said. ¡°Right around where we ended the Garth-Queens War,¡± she said to me with a smile.

    ¡°And got these,¡± I said to her, holding up my hand with the Band of Unity on it. She smiled back, holding up hers as well. Belle looked at us with adoration, smiling brightly at the two of us.

    ¡°Let''s go, kiddos!¡± she said, and the three of us set off for our fifth destination.

    At the Hallowed Vale, we found a small, peaceful village beyond the pagoda made up of various fairies and other mystical, harmless sprites. We played a few games with them and answered a few of their riddles, and then they happily handed us the next stone, this one having a hearth etched on to it. When Belle used it with the map, we were directed to an open dungeon of wolves in Varkstania, where we claimed the next stone, this one with a wolf''s likeness upon it. The sixth stone pointed us to the Ghoulwood, where we found an ancient castle awaiting us.

    Unlike the other dungeons, this one tailored itself to our levels. I was on the alert at once. An on-level dungeon in a low-level area meant that this place was specific to the quest we were doing. We fought through several twisted and corrupted versions of normally jolly and sweet winter-holiday creatures, taking care not to rush ahead and get overwhelmed.

    ¡°Ugh! Lizzy had to take our main healer!!¡± Ari griped as her DPS was halved by the necessity to heal.

    ¡°Hang in there, partner!¡± I called back.

    ¡°I can''t help you heal, but I can reduce their hitpoints a bit and lessen their attack strength and accuracy!¡± Belle said as she charged into action to impair and debuff our enemies, helping me out a ton.

    We continued with this basic strategy all the way to the boss room, which took us nearly two Panarena hours to get to, never mind the hours we had already spent running around. Once inside that chamber, we found a monster that definitely resembled that most dreaded of winter-holiday horrors: a rare elite boss labeled as the Scion of Krampus, the horned beast who deals with children on the not-so-good lists. After a long and stressful fight with this hairy monstrosity, we claimed the seventh and final stone from him, this one with a crown upon it.

    ¡°Hmm... oh! This is right near Cloverbell!¡± Belle exclaimed as she read the map for us.

    ¡°Nice!¡±

    ¡°Cool!¡± Ari and I replied.

    ¡°Ready girls?¡± Belle winked back.

    ¡°Definitely!¡± Ari smiled at once.

    ¡°Ah-heh-heh, s-sure,¡± I returned hesitantly. Ari snickered, then took my hand as Belle sat on my shoulder, and we headed back to a wayport.

    ***

    ¡°What kind of crazy coincidence is it that your player-home is near our quest objective?¡± Belle remarked as we made our way through the snow to the place she had noted on the map.

    ¡°Our player home, now,¡± I smiled back at her.

    ¡°True!¡± she grinned. ¡°Oh! I see it; there''s a clearing ahead with standing stones and a... it''s a dolmen, right?¡± she said, and I sucked in a breath, sprinting to the place as Belle grabbed a hold of my quiver-strap to hang on and Ari chased after me. I came to a halt as we reached it, gazing around in wonder.

    It was beautifully pristine. The great stones were perfectly arranged, as if the place had been newly-built. And a few paces away to the east of it was a magnificent dolmen, intricate spiraling patterns inscribed upon it. I stood there for almost a solid minute, just staring at the place in wonder.

    ¡°Lana?¡± Ari smiled at me.

    ¡°A dolmen, one of the legendary ways to enter into the Otherworld,¡± I said softly.

    ¡°Oh, neat-o!¡± Belle remarked. ¡°And look, there''s a spot for our seven stones,¡± she then said, pointing to the middle of the standing stone ring, where a large rock with seven small impressions sat.

    ¡°Let''s place them in the order we got them?¡± Ariana suggested, and I nodded, Belle doing the honors.

    As soon as the seventh stone was placed, we heard a humming sort of noise, and the dolmen''s yawning entrance seemed to shimmer. I may never get to do this in real life, but I can sure as heck do it here!! I thought to myself excitedly, dashing over at once to head inside as the others followed me in.

    ***

    It was truly another world on the other side. Panarena had places that were beautiful, pristine, majestic, awe-inspiring, breath-taking. This place left them all behind. The new virtual sub-world now revealed to us was truly the Other Realm. After a few seconds, the three of us had our weapons and gear automatically unequipped, replaced with festive garments of green for me, white for Belle, and silver for Ariana.

    ¡°Phew!¡± our pixie said. ¡°Not sure I''d like the idea of going starkers in a snowy place like this!¡±

    ¡°S-same,¡± Ari and I both agreed. It was definitely snowing. And all around us, we could see fairies and elves and dwarves dancing about in merry gatherings, or feasting heartily around a warm fire. If Hollydale was ten times what it was, but set in a fairy tale world instead of the real one, that would be this place. And in the distance we could see a beautiful castle, out of which was coming the Winter King and his entourage.

    ¡°Wow!¡± Ariana said, gazing at the scarlet-clad figure in his red and gold sleigh, pulled by nine silver reindeer with crystal white antlers. A regal lady was at his side, and the two of them, along with their entourage of Snow Elves and Tundra Dwarves, came to a halt as they reached us.

    ¡°Vis''tors, my lord!¡± one of the Dwarves said.

    ¡°I see! Emissaries of our dear friends, no less!¡± the Winter King noted. ¡°What would you have, friends?¡± he asked of us.

    ¡°S-sire, the fairies below have been worried because they haven''t been able to hear from you lately,¡± I told him.

    ¡°It was the Scion that caused such mischief,¡± the Winter King replied, ¡°But now that you have dealt with him and returned the stones, all has been set right. Go with my blessing, and tell them I will see them soon. And feel free to come back while my season lasts to enjoy our festivities!¡± he said to us, waving his hand. A golden shower rained down on us, and we received a notification of inventory additions. The three of us bowed, promising to return and enjoy the festivals of the Other Realm before leaving.

    We received seasonal tokens upon delivering the news to the fairies in Cedarville, who rejoiced happily, some of them setting off for the portal at once. The three of us went up to the tree-tops tavern afterwards, sharing a round of warm drinks together.

    ¡°While his season lasts, huh?¡± I mused aloud, reflecting on the Winter King''s words.

    ¡°I''d bet early February will be our cut-off,¡± Belle said.

    ¡°Agree. We''ve got a good month to play around there, and of course other places!¡± Ariana smiled.

    ¡°Oh, that reminds me,¡± I said, opening my inventory list and looking for the star that marked new items. ¡°Cool!¡± I said, finding a Ring of Winter tailored to my play-style.

    ¡°Neat!!¡± Ari exclaimed, pulling out a ring of her own.

    ¡°Oh totally cool!¡± Belle smiled, pulling out a tiara and setting it on her head. ¡°Stylish and stat-boosting!¡± she grinned, and we giggled. ¡°Speaking of which, did you two get your presents for each other yet?¡±

    ¡°Oh definitely.¡±

    ¡°Yep!¡± we said together.

    ¡°Nice!¡± the older girl smiled, taking a sip from her pixie-sized mug. ¡°Let''s have lots more adventures here, and see all sorts of amazing things, and meet as many interesting people as we can,¡± she said softly, and Ari and I reached out our hands towards her. She touched her own tiny hands to them, smiling brightly. Across the way, we could hear the NPC musicians launching into a carol as we smiled at each other.

    ¡°To the adventure,¡± I said, raising my mug.

    ¡°To the adventure!¡± Ariana did the same.

    ¡°Hear, hear!¡± Belle exclaimed, raising her own tiny mug to join us as we toasted the future days to come.

 Bonus Chapter: A Reconciling

    Christina Jennings walked purposely but reluctantly into the high-style suite near the top of the skyscraper. It was her mother''s suite. Usually she never came here unless asked. That is, if her mother had scheduled an appointment to check in with her. That''s all Christina seemed to be to her, a liability that needed looked in on every once in a while. But this time she had come of her own volition, and, surprisingly, she had been welcomed in. Of course, she had known for a long time now why she was sidelined. She was a twin. A fraternal twin. But more than that, her biological father was not her mother''s husband.

    A pair of twins from two different fathers. It was not unheard of, but still rare. As for the other twin... she had realized who they were this very year. They had been in the same guild together during a beta-test for Panarena Fantasy Online. After the guild broke up, the twin had sent her a message.

    This is your sibling. Not a full sibling mind you, a half-sibling. Your twin from another father. Our mother''s real husband. I will not identify myself further, anymore than I did in the game. You complained an awful lot about our mother... but I won''t tell her that. I just want you to stop talking about her. At all. Or at the very least, apologize for all the coldness you show her. Or maybe I will tell her about how you talk about her in the game. Maybe she''ll take back the system she generously gave you.

    Of course, I won''t mind if you back off and go back to the status quo. I don''t care that you exist. Just stop hurting my family.

    Myanihia Black.

    She had no idea at the time what to be most upset about; that she''d had a sibling she somehow never met, that her mother hadn''t told her, that her real father or her apparent step-father had also made no noise, or that she was now getting threats from that unknown sibling for speaking her mind. But it didn''t matter anymore. Myanihia Black, the unbeatable assassin, had been beaten. There was no room in her heart to hold on to a grudge any longer... especially now that she had friends who cared for and supported her. She strode boldly to the office where her mother apparently worked day and night. It seemed the luxury place she had been sequestered to was a side-house.

    Whatever, Christina sighed, and pressed the button for the door.

    ¡°Come in.¡± the gentle but cold voice said as the door opened. She walked in confidently, approaching the desk at the far end. ¡°Well this is an unexpected visit, to say the least. But how many times have I told you not to come in here looking like a slut?¡± Mrs. Jennings said.

    ¡°I don''t want to be called a slut by a woman who had twins from two different men.¡± Christina calmly shot back. Her mother raised her eyebrows.

    ¡°So. You figured it out.¡±

    ¡°I got told, by my sibling... my sister, whoever they are.¡±

    ¡°Sabrina was always a capricious thing.¡± the older woman said with the hint of a smile.

    ¡°Sabrina...¡± the dark-haired girl breathed. A slight tremor ran through her. ¡°Sabrina.¡±

    ¡°Yes, indeed.¡± her mother nodded. ¡°So? What brings you by?¡± she then softly demanded.

    ¡°I just... wanted to know. Did I... not matter to you?¡± Christina wondered. The older woman stood from her chair, and walked to the window-walls that surrounded her office. Silence reigned for nearly a minute.

    ¡°I made a mistake. I slept with someone else on my wedding night besides... besides David. I was sleepless, even after... a long night, and I went wandering the halls with an itch. Your father is... a decent man. Conniving and charismatic, but decent. I gave myself to him to cure my itch... and ended up with twins. It wasn''t until the tests came back that we were sure you two were from different fathers. David and I cared very much about you.¡± she said.

    Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.

    ¡°It hardly felt like that some days.¡± Christina replied softly.

    ¡°I know. But David insisted on keeping it, and you, a secret. I don''t know how Sabrina found out, to tell you the truth. I suspect this has something to do with the game, does it not?¡± the older woman said, turning back to her daughter.

    ¡°It does.¡± the younger girl admitted.

    ¡°Well, there you have it. A secret is out.¡±

    ¡°It is.¡±

    ¡°Are you angry? Confused? Hurt?¡± her mother asked in an aloof but not unkind tone. Christina smiled, shaking her head.

    ¡°No. I just wanted to have it all set straight for me by someone who knew best. I made up my mind not to be angry anymore. It''s nobody''s fault. I''m glad to be alive, and to have found a life with people who aren''t afraid to show their love to me, and to each other as well.¡± the young lady said in reply, watching as her mother bit her lip.

    ¡°Yes. That... is a good thing.¡± Mrs. Jennings nodded. Christina then faintly blushed.

    ¡°I''m... sorry... for implying you were a...¡±

    ¡°No need to apologize.¡± the other woman gently smiled.

    ¡°W-well... still... I''m... also sorry... if I... ever...¡± she trailed off again. Her mother sighed, coming over to take her hands.

    ¡°You were a very troubled child, but it''s our fault you got to that point.¡± she said to her daughter in a rare tone of softness. ¡°You came here to express that you want to forgive us for all that, didn''t you?¡± she then said, and Christina nodded. ¡°Thank you. I don''t expect either of us to suddenly change our relationship, but thank you, for at least this one gift.¡± the older woman said.

    ¡°And thank you... for giving so many people an escape, a world in which some scars can be mended.¡± Christina replied. The other woman smiled, nodding back as she let go of her daughter''s hands.

    ¡°Anything else?¡± the older woman wondered with a faint smile.

    ¡°Ahh... um... M-m... Merry Christmas.¡± Christina said, turning red and then mumbling an awkward farewell. Her mother let out a short laugh.

    ¡°To you as well, Christina Renee.¡± the other replied as her daughter looked up with a half-smile before leaving. She exited the room, and Mrs. Jennings let out a sigh, writing a memo for herself.

    Birthday present for Christina this year. Vacation wherever she wants to go, with whomever she wants to go with.

    ***

    ¡°How''d it go?¡± Mandy said as Christina emerged from the massive skyscraper. ¡°

    Ah... hm, I guess... it went okay.¡± the other girl replied, a faint smile on her face.

    ¡°Good.¡± the shorter girl nodded back, and the two of them set off together. ¡°No ambush from Myanihia in there?¡±

    ¡°Not today.¡± Christina said. ¡°Apparently... her name is Sabrina.¡±

    ¡°Hmm? Definitely a sister...¡±

    ¡°Guess so. But... I''m not just gonna start calling them sister, now.¡± the other smiled back.

    ¡°No, I don''t suppose you would.¡± Mandy smiled.

    ¡°What''s that supposed to mean?¡± Christina said with a laugh.

    ¡°No-thing.¡± Mandy returned, subtly nudging the other girl with her hip. They smiled at each other, giggling after a moment. ¡°Moving day in five days, huh?¡±

    ¡°Mmhm.¡± the dark-haired girl nodded. ¡°Hopefully it doesn''t snow again.¡± she shivered.

    ¡°You should really find an actual shirt, or a sweater.¡±

    ¡°I hate them.¡±

    ¡°What if I pick one out for you?¡±

    ¡°Ahh--!!¡± Christina blushed, looking away quickly.

    ¡°Tina?¡± Mandy asked her.

    ¡°N-n--nothing!¡± the other stammered out. Mandy smiled, brushing a few strands of her platinum-blonde hair out of her face and putting an arm around the other girl.

    ¡°Stop for a drink on the way back?¡± she then asked.

    ¡°Sure.¡± Christina agreed, and with that they turned to the left down the next street, heading for their second favorite bar.

 Bonus Chapter: New Years Eve

    Tonight was going to be one of those rare nights for me. My parents had given me permission to be out with friends until late. Like one or two in the AM late. It was New Year''s Eve, and, even before they had consented to me being out as they had done since I was thirteen--if I ever chose to go out--I had made plans with Rachel, at least. We were going to go on a walkabout in the downtown area, and probably end up at the park for fireworks and such later. As for mom and dad, they had gone off to some fancy restaurant to celebrate with some old friends and would likely not be home until one or two themselves.

    I bundled up warmly enough for the cold weather outside, and then went to Rachel and Andrea''s house to pick up my girlfriend for our stroll. Andrea had her cousins to handle tonight, so I felt at least partly guilty about taking off with Rachel, but the older girl had happily insisted we go out together for this night.

    ¡°Don''t worry about Gemma and Rosie, I can handle them!¡± she had said.

    Which brings us to my walking over just now.

    As for the others, Ellie was at her job for the New Year''s Special there, Anhe and her mother were celebrating with their family elsewhere in the city, Maryn was going with her family to a relative''s, and Lysandra and Belle -- or Christina and Mandy, as they had recently told us, were moving into a new apartment together near their university.

    ¡°We''re all split up for tonight, huh?¡± I said to myself as I turned onto the street where my destination lay. I saw the lights on, and I could hear the giggling and shrieking of toddlers even from as far away as I was, four houses away. D-daang, those kids have lungs, I thought to myself. When I got to the porch, Rachel opened the door and quickly darted out, shutting it behind her. Someone locked it from within.

    ¡°Got it, sis!¡± Andrea called from inside.

    ¡°Phew!¡± Rachel sighed in relief.

    ¡°I''ll chase these brats into the bath if it''s the last thing I do -- have fun! Love you both!¡± she said.

    ¡°Love you too, sis!¡± Rachel said.

    ¡°Ahh -- take care!¡± I called, and then Rachel slipped her arm in mine as we set off. ¡°W-wild night, huh?¡± I said with a laugh, and she giggled.

    ¡°Ahh, those two. They''re practically in the buff right now, and Andrea probably will be in a moment as well; but she still can''t get them in that tub without a struggle.¡± she remarked.

    ¡°I can''t even imagine.¡± I replied. ¡°And you go through it with her now, most nights.¡±

    ¡°It''s good prep.¡± Rachel said in a bashful sort of tone.

    ¡°P-prep?¡± I wondered.

    ¡°I mean... someday... when we get married...¡± she returned, trailing off into a mumble as we walked along. I caught her meaning and felt my cheeks turning red.

    ¡°Ahh... uh... I guess... it is, yeah... true,¡± I replied, and she squeezed my arm. A moment of silence passed. I suddenly recalled a moment when I was sure Rachel was planning our wedding, back when I had first met her. Maybe she really had been.

    ¡°Sean,¡± she then said to me as we turned left.

    ¡°Hmm?¡± I wondered.

    ¡°Downtown''s to the right.¡± she grinned.

    ***

    ¡°Order up!¡± Miguel called, and Ellie came hurrying over. ¡°Sounds like they''re really enjoying the show tonight,¡± the chef remarked to her.

    ¡°Oh def. The Christmas show was spectacular, but this is something else.¡± the blonde girl returned.

    ¡°I''ll have to take a look when I get a break!¡± Miguel smiled, and Ellie nodded back as she hurried out as fast as she dared with the tray.

    ¡°Hope you see something good!¡± she called back. Justine rushed by her, giving a wink as she passed by.

    ¡°Friends gaming tonight?¡± the green-haired girl asked.

    ¡°Nope. They''re all doing real stuff for a change.¡± Ellie said with a gentle shrug.

    ¡°Hahh!!¡± the other giggled.

    ¡°Right?!¡± the blonde girl said as she carried on, smiling merrily as she approached her table to serve her customers.

    ***

    Arm in arm, Rachel and I passed through the lightly snow-clad streets of the city. It had snowed a week ago, leaving a few inches or so, but it stuck around stubbornly on account of the deep cold we were experiencing right now. The two of us stopped in at a cornerstore to get a hot chocolate as we made our way downtown, sipping them with grateful sighs as we resumed our walk.

    ¡°Ah! It''s snowing again!¡± she exclaimed.

    ¡°Oh, nice! Heh, not as heavily as last week, though,¡± I observed.

    ¡°That''s a good thing. It''d be a pain to trudge through anything taller than what we got already!¡± she smiled.

    ¡°Oh definitely.¡± I agreed.

    ¡°I wonder what the others are up to...¡± Rachel then said, gazing around at the sights. A lot of Christmas stuff was still up, along with several Hanukkah decorations and a good collection of New Year''s signs.

    ¡°Hope they''re having fun, wherever they are,¡± I said.

    ¡°Same.¡± she agreed.

    ***

    ¡°Ahh! Gemma!¡± Andrea sighed as she wrested her three year-old second cousin from a chair as the young girl giggled furiously. ¡°Rrrrgh! I hope you give your parents this much trouble!¡± she exclaimed as she tickled the toddler, who giggled even more furiously.

    ¡°Andi! Andi!¡± Rosie said as she entered the room. ¡°You baffing with us, okay?¡±

    ¡°Of course I''m getting in the bath with you-- as soon as you get into the bath!!¡± the red-haired girl declared authoritatively, setting Gemma down. Both girls then squealed, running upstairs as their older cousin mischievously chased them to the bath.

    Finally, Andrea settled into the spacious bath with the two of them, letting out a sigh of contentment as she washed first Rosie and then Gemma as they played with toy ducks and a new toy boat that had been a Christmas present from their grandmother. The giggling was softer now, but still just as merry.

    I''m so glad I didn''t end up chasing you outside this time... Andrea thought to herself with an awkward smile, reflecting on the time she had been forced to find Rosie, who had just escaped from a bath, while forgetting that she herself was starkers as well. By the time she had caught the young girl they were three blocks away from the house. That was an embarrassing day for her, to say the least, but only a couple of people had noticed, fortunately for her.

    She kissed the two little girls on their heads, exchanging the shampoo bottle for a scrubber as she continued to bathe them.

    ***

    ¡°And... that''s the final box.¡± Mandy said as she set it down next to the others. She and Christina had finally gotten all their stuff into their new apartment, though it would take them a couple days more to really get settled.

    ¡°At least we got a good deal on the couch,¡± the other girl said as she flopped down upon it, switching on the television for ambiance.

    ¡°Who knew discount furniture stores actually had good stuff?¡± Mandy agreed as she sat down next to her. ¡°What channel was the New Year''s broadcast on tonight?¡±

    ¡°Hmm? I forget... one of the late shows was gonna do a special on the downtown event, too.¡±

    ¡°Oh yeah. Wasn''t it the Tonight Show?¡±

    ¡°Maybe?¡± Christina returned, then shrugged. ¡°Could be.¡±

    ¡°Hmm.¡± the other girl said, bringing up the menu. ¡°Pizza should be here in a minute or so... oh, there''s a nostalgic movie!¡± she said as she caught the name of an epic fantasy franchise from earlier in the century. Based on books that were even older, the series was still going strong with its fandom.

    ¡°Put it on,¡± the dark-haired girl said, softly smiling at the other girl.

    ¡°At least until the broadcast comes on!¡± Mandy grinned back as the doorbell rang. ¡°Oh! Can you--never mind, you took it off already... be right back!¡± she said as she got to her feet to get the door.

    ¡°Hmm?¡± Christina blinked uncertainly for a moment, and then noticed her bandeau on the couch beside her. ¡°Ahhh... force of habit,¡± she said with a wry grin. I''ve got to tell her... I''ve got to tell her tonight, she then thought, gazing after the other girl as her heart skipped a beat.

    ***

    It was quiet at the Robertson''s country estate, far from the gleaming, ever-shining lights of the big city. Mary gazed out of the window, dressed in a soft red top and white sweatpants, half-sitting, half-lying on the bed. She loved being at this place, where not much happened and there was no rushing around. But she was also glum. Though she kept in contact with her old friends and still went out with them when she could, her new friends had taken up quite a lot of room in her heart, and a certain young man most of all.

    But I can''t have him. I was too slow in saying what I really wanted. I would never wish for Rachel to leave, or to never have come here... she''s my friend now, too, and I care about her so much... but I wish I had said something sooner to you, she mused internally, a tear falling from her eye as she thought about the young man in question.

    ¡°Mary?¡± Dana Robertson, her grandmother called, knocking at the door.

    ¡°I''m here, Gram,¡± she replied, and the door opened. The elderly lady smiled, and came over to sit with her on the bed.

    ¡°Dinner is almost ready. Your Aunt Beth certainly outdid herself tonight!¡± she said.

    ¡°She does that!¡± Mary agreed with a laugh. ¡°I can smell it from here; is that lamb-stew?¡±

    ¡°I knew you''d pick up on that,¡± her grandmother said, patting the young girl''s leg. ¡°You always did love that dish, especially when your grandfather made it,¡± she remarked wistfully, and Mary took her hand. The elder Mr. Robertson had passed away a few years past, and was sorely missed by the family.

    ¡°But what''s on your mind, dearie? What''s that little tear about?¡± her grandmother then said, and Mary started, feeling her face.

    You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

    ¡°Ah... ahh!¡± she then said with a clumsy grin. ¡°Just... thinking, about someone.¡±

    ¡°Hmm?¡± the elderly lady smiled. ¡°A nice someone?¡± she asked, and Mary shook her head. ¡°A special someone, perhaps?¡± she gently prodded. Mary''s head shook more reluctantly this time, her face crumpling. ¡°Ohh, I know that look.¡± Dana said as the young lady''s face fell, and drew her close.

    Mary''s tears came more honestly then, and she began sobbing. For nearly four months she had not cried, vowing to support the people she loved; but no one could hide tears or pain from Grandma Dana for long. She kept her granddaughter wrapped in a tender, loving embrace, gently rocking her as she patted her back.

    ***

    Back in the big city itself, Anhe was quietly being a wallflower as her extended family celebrated the oncoming New Year with a lavish feast at her grandfather''s restaurant. Her father''s father was a well-known chef and businessman, having established the place almost fifty years ago and maintaining it personally all that time. Now in his eighties, he showed no signs of slowing down or of giving up the business.

    ¡°To live a long life, you must continually make yourself useful!¡± was his favorite saying.

    I wonder how I can make myself useful...? Anhe thought to herself as Mi-sun, one of her cousins from a Korean branch of the family, came over.

    ¡°Anhe! Come dance with me!¡± she said excitedly, and Anhe smiled, taking the other girl''s hand to join her.

    Grandfather, I do not yet know what I can do... but I promise to keep searching until I have it! Anhe silently promised as she and Mi-sun began capering around the room to lively and festive music, her mother and Mi-sun''s smiling at them as they did.

    ¡°What are you thinking?¡± Mi-sun asked her.

    ¡°About how to make next year even better than this one!¡± Anhe replied.

    ¡°Ahh! I should too!¡±

    ¡°We can think about it together, hm?¡± Anhe smiled.

    ¡°Sure!¡± Mi-sun beamed back. ¡°Whatever we do, we will make it unforgettable!¡±

    ¡°Definitely!¡± the other girl agreed, gently spinning her cousin as they continued to dance, the two of them giggling happily.

    ***

    Rachel and I reached the downtown area at about a quarter past ten. Our hot chocolates were gone by then, but we got new ones at a nearby stand, sitting down at a bench near the still standing Christmas tree that towered over the pedestrian mall. There were a couple of singing groups at either end of the street, one an a cappella choir and the other a folk band. It was a long street, so there was no real cross over between the two, but we could hear a fair bit of both at different times. People were milling about, some going into shops, some enjoying one of the two singing groups, all of them, and us, in a cheery mood tonight.

    ¡°It''s almost like going to the shrine at New Year''s in Japan.¡± Rachel said as she and I took in the sights and sounds.

    ¡°That''d be fun,¡± I replied.

    ¡°We''ll have to go someday.¡±

    ¡°Definitely.¡±

    ¡°Honeymoon?¡±

    ¡°Sure,¡± I smiled, and she gently nuzzled my shoulder with a sigh. ¡°Fireworks start as soon as the ball drops, huh?¡± I remarked as I saw the announcement on a screen nearby.

    ¡°Hmm... I hope they don''t wake the twins!¡± Rachel said with a soft giggle.

    ¡°Hah, poor Andrea!¡± I replied sympathetically.

    ¡°Ahh!¡± Rachel then sat up a moment. ¡°Thomas was coming over to the house tonight... I bet she forgot...¡± she said, adopting a sort-of pout.

    ¡°Ehh...¡±

    ¡°Hahh... it''ll be fine.¡± she then sighed, snuggling against me again.

    ¡°I-if you say so.¡±

    ¡°Even if she forgot, it''s not the worst thing that could happen for her tonight.¡±

    ¡°True... and they''ll make up quickly enough,¡± I agreed.

    ¡°They really are easy-going, huh?¡± she said.

    ¡°I like to think we are, too.¡± I replied. A moment passed, and she gently squeezed my arm.

    ¡°Definitely.¡± she said in a happy tone. I smiled, putting my arm around her as we sat together on the bench.

    ***

    ¡°¡­ And stay asleep!¡± Andrea whispered, giggling as she went downstairs to get something to drink.

    Coffee, hot chocolate... oh, maybe both. I wonder if I''ll see Sean and Rachel on the live-feed from downtown... those two cuties! She thought to herself happily. Taking a moment to clear her glasses, she then set the coffee and set a pot of milk on the stove to heat it for the hot chocolate, and then sat down on the stool. That was when she felt it crawling.

    Her eyes widened, and she felt around. It was under her bathrobe. She practically yanked it off, and there it was, the spider. She let out a scream, flinging it off of her and then running in a blind panic for the door, unlocking it hurriedly and dashing outside before closing the door again, setting herself down and taking deep breaths. Then she stopped.

    Ah -- oh no. I didn''t lock the door again, did I? Andrea wondered to herself, suddenly remembering that she had hastily flung off her only piece of clothing.

    ¡°A-Andrea...?¡± a voice said hesitantly. She turned around in horror.

    ¡°T-T-T--Thomas!!¡± she squeaked. ¡°Ahhh!! This--!! I''m not--there was a--I panicked--and now it''s in the house!!¡± she chattered, shivering from the cold and turning red in embarrassment. He took off his coat, walked over to her, and draped it around her shoulders. She hiccuped nervously, and he smiled.

    ¡°What''s in the house?¡± he asked her gently.

    ¡°S-sp-s-s-spider...¡± Andrea mumbled. Thomas helped her up to her feet, and nodded back to her.

    Thankfully, Andrea had not locked the house again, so the two of them were able to head inside, whereupon Thomas got rid of the spider. Andrea scurried upstairs to quickly put on a set of actual clothes, and then came downstairs, her boyfriend''s jacket in hand.

    ¡°Th-thanks... I''m so sorry, I totally forgot you were coming over!¡± she told him.

    ¡°It''s fine, it''s fine, I''m just glad you''re okay!¡± he smiled back at her.

    ¡°D-did you... see...¡± she shyly asked him.

    ¡°Huh?¡± he wondered, and then blushed, rubbing the back of his neck. ¡°K-kind of...¡±

    ¡°W-was... was I... that is... d-did you... l-l... like...¡±

    He interrupted her by enveloping her in his arms, gently rubbing her back. That was all the answer she needed, Andrea decided, hugging him back tightly. A sound of something bubbling then caught her attention.

    ¡°Ahh!! The milk!!¡±

    ***

    Mary and Grandma Dana came downstairs to join the rest of the family around eleven in the evening, after the older woman had helped her granddaughter wash her face a little bit so no one else would pry. They sat together at the table as they always did for family events, with Mary''s mother and father opposite them. The head of the table was left empty out of love for the elder Dr. Robertson who had passed on. When the rest of the family had gathered, the younger Dr. Robertson, Mary''s father, said grace, and their traditional New Year''s Dinner began.

    ¡°Any wishes for the New Year, anyone?¡± Mary''s mother Claire asked. ¡°Mary, how about you start us off?¡± she said, and the young lady thought for a moment as she finished the bite of food in her mouth, and then smiled.

    ¡°For the happiness and well-being of all our friends and family.¡± she said, and her mother nodded back happily.

    ¡°That''s certainly the best kind of wish,¡± the older woman agreed. Grandma Dana gave her a pat on the shoulder, smiling as she nodded in approval.

    Maybe someday I''ll leave these feelings behind... but for now, let me at least wish for your happiness, Sean, Rachel... Happy New Year!

    ***

    The one quirk that Mandy had found out about her new friend and roommate Christina was that, while she hated clothes, she loved blankets. The younger girl said it was a different feeling for her between the two, which Mandy could more or less agree with. It was now five minutes until midnight. The pizza had been devoured, and their drinks were now empty. Together they sat on the couch, wrapped in a blanket together while watching the downtown feed.

    ¡°Those two look really cute, don''t they?¡± Mandy said as she indicated a young couple standing together near the tree. It was Sean and Rachel.

    ¡°Seriously.¡± Christina nodded. ¡°That''s still funny, though!¡± she remarked with a grin, referring to their recent discovery of who their guild leader really was.

    ¡°Oh definitely.¡± the other agreed with a laugh, and then let out a sigh. ¡°I wish I had a special someone like that to go out with,¡± Mandy said, and Christina looked over at her with a smile.

    ¡°Sometimes... sometimes they might be closer than you think.¡± the younger girl said.

    ¡°I guess so, but I wish mine would hurry up and--¡± Mandy began, but then Christina reached over to turn her face towards her, and reached over to kiss her.

    ¡­ Find... me... !!! Mandy continued internally. The kiss ended, and Mandy felt tears coming from her eyes. She looked at the other girl in shock, amazement, and then finally happiness.

    ¡°H-how long...?¡± she asked softly.

    ¡°S-since I met you... at the bar...¡± Christina admitted.

    ¡°Over a month, huh?¡±

    ¡°Mm... yeah.¡± the reply came. The dark-haired girl was now blushing. ¡°D-did... I mean... was that too much? I... know I''m not... not the best at... really talking, when it matters... b-but... you... you make me want... want to try, and I--¡± Christina began, stumbling over her words, but Mandy then kissed her in return, lying down on the couch so Christina was over top of her. The second kiss ended, and Mandy looked up at her with a smile.

    ¡°Then I want to help you. I want to be there for you. As long as you need me.¡± Mandy softly told her.

    ¡°Then we''ll never be rid of each other.¡± Christina gently laughed.

    ¡°That''d be fine.¡± Mandy said, gently dragging her down for another kiss as the fireworks began.

    ***

    ¡°Aww! Our little turtle-doves.¡± Andrea said as she saw Sean and Rachel in the foreground of the live-stream downtown.

    ¡°Oh nice! Bet they wouldn''t like that one bit, though!¡± Thomas replied.

    ¡°Not at all!¡± Andrea giggled. They looked into each other''s eyes, each of them smiling happily. The countdown began. Andrea pulled him closer, closing her eyes, her lips parting as he closed his own eyes. Their lips met, and did not part for several long moments. On the screen, the fireworks show had just begun.

    ***

    ¡°Neat-o.¡± Ellie said as she watched the same live-stream in the staff-room. She and the others had been given a short break to watch the fireworks, if they chose to do so. More than a few of them had.

    ¡°Oh, hey! It''s your friends!¡± Justine said as they caught sight of two young people kissing on the screen.

    ¡°Rrray-cheeelllll!!! Get him, girl!¡± Ellie beamed, and she shared a hug with Justine.

    ¡°Happy New Year, Liz!¡±

    ¡°Happy New Year, Justine!¡±

    ***

    Happy New Year''s, Sean, Rachel, Ellie, Andrea, Mary, Thomas, Lysandra, Belle... and so many others! Anhe smiled as she watched the fireworks near her own location, blissfully wishing them all the best for the upcoming year.

    ***

    It was five minutes to midnight. Rachel and I had, again, finished our hot chocolates. Everybody was gearing up for the ball drop and the fireworks. A buzz permeated the crowd, enveloping us as well. Rachel looked up at me, smiling that beautiful smile, and I looked at her, smiling back.

    ¡°It''s like a dream.¡± she said.

    ¡°Then let''s stay asleep.¡± I returned, and then she shook her head.

    ¡°But it''s not a dream any more; it''s real. I have a home I don''t have to leave, a school where I can be with my friends, new and old, a boyfriend who loves me more than anyone, and a dream-world we can share together any time we want.¡± she said, letting out a sigh. ¡°I wish I could express to you how just much these past five months have meant to me.¡±

    ¡°I could say the same to you,¡± I replied. ¡°If not for you... I might have gone down a much... less happy road. I wouldn''t have made new friends. I would have kept shutting people out, more and more... I wouldn''t be someone that people want to talk to, that people trust. Maybe it''s all coincidence, maybe it''s not... but I''m so happy; I want to keep growing with you, to keep loving you, to always be there for you.¡± I said to her. A few tears came from her eyes, but that magnificent smile never stopped.

    We barely heard the countdown. All we were focused on was each other. Rachel put her arms around my neck, hoisting herself up as I lowered my face to hers, our lips meeting, and locking in place as the fireworks show started and the crowds cheered and applauded the onset of a new year.

    Happy New Year, Rachel. I love you.

    Happy New Year, Sean. I love you too.

 Prologue: New Years Day

    I woke up slowly; it was New Year''s Day, I recalled. Instead of going home, I had been invited in at Andrea-slash-Rachel''s house, and the two of us had fallen asleep together in a chair while watching a movie with Andrea and Thomas, who was also still here. Somewhere.

    Rachel was fast asleep next to me, but this time she wasn''t obstructing me if I wanted to get up. Which I didn''t quite feel up to yet, but there was an aroma that was starting to encourage my doing so. Well, a couple, actually. There was the rich aroma of a flavored coffee, probably caramel; the enticing aroma and sizzling sound of bacon and eggs being made; and the warm and somehow fluffy aroma of pancakes cooking.

    Come to think of it, where''s Andrea''s parents? Or her cousins? I wondered as I yawned. The voice of my red-haired hostess then came to my ears.

    ¡°Ah! Sean, you''re awake?¡± Andrea called over.

    ¡°I guess so,¡± I returned unconvincingly, to which she giggled.

    ¡°I''m glad we stopped you going home before it got super-snowy!¡±

    ¡°Eh? Ehh??¡± I started, becoming more alert as I gently wriggled out of Rachel''s embrace to look out of a window. ¡°Ugh...¡± I grimaced as I saw the snow that had piled up.

    ¡°Don''t worry, the plows are already going by. And the others are gonna stop over today as well; it''s a New Year''s Party at our house today!¡± she announced happily.

    ¡°Oh, nice, that''ll be fun!¡± I said in reply, heading over to Rachel, who was stirring awake herself.

    ¡°Mm... no''yet, Andi, just a bit more...¡± my girlfriend said in a groggy voice.

    ¡°It''s not Andi--ahh, Andrea; it''s me.¡± I whispered to her.

    ¡°Oh you can call me that too.¡± Andrea remarked from the kitchen.

    ¡°Phew!¡± Thomas remarked as he came inside. I heard the sound of a car taking off, and Rachel''s eyelids opened; she smiled as she caught sight of me, and I smiled back at her.

    ¡°Hey there.¡± I said.

    ¡°Hey.¡± she returned, slowly getting out of the chair with my help.

    ¡°Your cousins are a talky bunch!¡± Thomas said to Andrea, who laughed at him in reply.

    ¡°True! It''s still cold and windy out, I guess?¡± she returned to him.

    You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

    ¡°And how!¡± the older boy remarked, sitting at a stool and pouring himself a coffee. ¡°Oh good morning! Come on over, eh?¡± he said as he caught sight of us. Rachel and I headed over to the counter to sit down with him, and Andrea put a few things away before setting breakfast down on the counter.

    ¡°''Morning.¡± I said in reply.

    ¡°We should get an apartment or something together once you two graduate high school.¡± Andrea remarked as she sat down with us, and we began divvying out the food.

    ¡°Oh definitely!¡± Rachel agreed.

    ¡°Why do I feel like that got rehearsed before either of us got here?¡± I said to Thomas, who laughed heartily.

    ¡°Best to go along with it, buddy-boy!¡± he quipped.

    ¡°Hmm... it''ll have to be near Mandy and Chrissy''s place...¡± Rachel mused thoughtfully, and Andrea nodded.

    ¡°Of course!¡± the older girl said. ¡°And then we''ll have to start planning out the rest of our two families.¡± she added, and Rachel nodded enthusiastically.

    ¡°Definitely!¡± she smiled.

    ¡°Eh? Uhh, the rest?¡± Thomas wondered bemusedly.

    ¡°I''m not helping you figure that one out.¡± I remarked, feeling my cheeks color. His eyes suddenly widened.

    ¡°Ah--ahhh, I getcha... yes, we will.¡± he said to Andrea, who smiled at him.

    It''s only been a couple months and you''re already thinking -that- far ahead?!

    ¡°And Ellie will definitely be the crazy aunt; Anhe and Mary will be the level-headed ones, and Mandy and Chrissy will be the doting ones.¡± Rachel smiled brightly.

    ¡°Pffft! Poor Ellie! Ha-ha-ha-ha-hahh!¡± Andrea laughed.

    ¡°I dunno; I wouldn''t put ''crazy'' past any of them, to be honest.¡± I said. Then I realized what I had said and the implications of it, my cheeks coloring again as I paused mid-bite.

    ¡°So adorkable.¡± Andrea said to Rachel, who smiled.

    ¡°Hahh...¡±

    ¡°Looks like it''s already shaping up to be a fun year.¡± Thomas remarked.

    ¡°The lovebirds are the stars of the musical, and we have exciting adventures in Panarena waiting for us; it''ll definitely be fun!¡± Andrea agreed.

    ¡°The guild competition, huh? That''ll be a new kind of challenge!¡± I said, quickly recovering myself.

    ¡°Don''t forget the seasonal events!¡± Rachel smiled at me.

    ¡°In either life.¡± Thomas cautioned.

    ¡°That should be my advice to you, all things considered.¡± I quipped back.

    ¡°I''m older.¡± he shrugged.

    ¡°Ehh, whatever.¡± I sighed. The two girls laughed.

    ¡°It''s definitely going to be a fun year!¡± Rachel smiled. I looked over at her, and a smile came to my face as well as I watched the look of joy on her face.

    I''ll never get tired of that smile. Not even once.

 Chapter One: Winter Escapades, IV

    Once upon a time, there was a boy who played a lot of online games, usually as a female character, who buried himself in the part so well that it became an obsessive force of habit even in the latest and greatest of all video games currently out on the market, Panarena Fantasy Online.

    Oh wait. You knew that. Which means you also know about all the adventures and shenanigans said boy-playing-as-girl got up to in real life and in the virtual world for the first half of his tenth-grade life, including getting a girlfriend, making more friends, uncovering a dastardly plot by a GM and his rascal son, making even more friends and getting into even more adventures, culminating in the first Grand Tournament and then winding down the year with friends in real life. Yep, it''s Sean Daniels, and we''re back.

    More specifically, it''s the end of winter break. And boy did we have a time of it, online or offline. We did several Winter Quests over the break, often going back to this sub-realm of Panarena called the Other Realm, a fantastical winter wonderland that quickly became a forum subject on account of how cute it was and player speculations on other special event realms that might turn up as the new year rolled along.

    Then on Christmas Eve, Rachel spent the night at our house, and we went to visit Grandma Maisy and Grandpa John on Christmas Day. Grandpa had recovered some English, much to his dissatisfaction, but he conversed in Irish happily anyway. Rachel was able to say a thing or two now as well, having insisted that I prepare her the night before. Boy was she a quick study. So that day went by very well, and when it was over it was as if an old friend had suddenly left us.

    We played some other games besides Panarena, though we logged in quite a bit there as well, getting ourselves past level one-hundred and manufacturing more than enough parts and supplementary structures for our fortresses, as well as getting a small fleet up and running. We had a trade cog, two longboats, and a junk outfitted with a couple of cannons that we had bartered from Gears and Wheels in exchange for a load of rare ores and gems that we had come across in our adventures through the Untold Deeps. So now our main focus was to build up a steady income so we could hire a few crews of sailors and sea-warriors to man the ships in question.

    Hm? Oh, the first little longship I built? It''s still around. We use it for traversing the inlet of the Jade Sea, and sometimes we head up to Pirate Isle on it, though with that excursion we have to be extra careful. Especially when our privateer crew isn''t around. And of course we''ve also kept our promise to Fyu on that count, ensuring that he need never be reminded of their existence.

    But yeah. Winter break is almost over. It''s Friday today; the new year started four days ago, when we got together for a lively breakfast and continued celebrating with a livelier lunch in the form of pizza, courtesy of Joshua, who stopped by to enjoy it with us. He was as cheerful as ever, giving Rachel and me a big hug as he set down the stack of pizzas before joining us at the table, where we had decided to sit. After the pizza was eaten--and boy there was a lot of pizza eaten--those of us not living there started making our way home, Mandy and Christina taking me to my house after I said goodbye to Rachel. The two of them are now a thing, by the way. Think it happened New Year''s Eve or so, from what they said.

    ¡°We gonna get online again tonight?¡± the dark-haired girl asked. ¡°We''re still on break for another week, I think, so we''ll be good for it, unless we do something else.¡± she continued, gently smirking at Mandy.

    ¡°Hmm... but it would be fun to go out somewhere at least one night next week,¡± Mandy remarked.

    ¡°Nothing crucial going on in Panarena so far as I know,¡± I said with a smile.

    ¡°True.¡± the older girl nodded.

    ¡°Oh, I forgot to ask; how did... I mean... with your family...¡± I said to Christina, who softly smiled.

    ¡°My mother... I think, I finally understand her now. My sister... Sabrina... that day, it made me happy. She even took a bath with me at her house,¡± she said with a laugh.

    ¡°Hmm...? Sabrina is her real name, huh...¡± I remarked. And then for the first time I suddenly noticed Christina was wearing a black and green sweater instead of her usual bandeau. ¡°Huh?!¡± I suddenly jolted, wondering if I was in the wrong car.

    ¡°Hm?¡± Mandy looked back at me in the mirror, following my gaze of surprise. ¡°Oh, that! I bought it for her as a Christmas gift!¡± she smiled.

    ¡°Did you just now notice I was wearing this??¡± the other girl said to me.

    ¡°Ahh...¡± I returned, mumbling incoherently as my face fell into a wry smile.

    ¡°What''s that word Rachel uses all the time?¡± Mandy smiled over to her.

    ¡°Adorkable!!¡± they chorused together.

    ¡°Hahh...¡± I sighed. ¡°I''ll never hear the end of that word...¡±

    ¡°Not as long as you have us around!¡± Mandy beamed.

    ¡°We''ll have to make sure we all end up in the same neighborhood someday!¡± Christina said to her.

    ¡°Yes!! Absolutely!¡± her girlfriend replied. I felt my face turn a slight red color, and looked away as I felt a tear in my eye.

    ¡°Sean?¡± Christina said, looking back at me.

    ¡°What''s up, hon?¡± Mandy asked in concern.

    ¡°N-nothing... just... reading my mind...¡± I replied softly, and the two of them smiled at each other.

    ¡°He''s so adorable.¡± I saw Mandy silently mouth to Christina, who nodded. We finally arrived at my house a couple minutes later, where they got out to hug me before I headed on inside and they set off for their apartment. I headed on inside, had a light snack, and then headed up to my room.

    The rest of that night passed by for me in Panarena, as did most of the next few days, continuing up to Friday, today. And that''s when we got in to our last adventure before the dreaded returning-to-school that Monday.

    ***

    I loaded up into my Panarena self, Lana Windstrider, now a contender for the deadliest assassin in Harmonia thanks to the Grand Tournament. A lot of people still counted Rayna, one of my defeated opponents from the Arena, to be the best, which I didn''t really mind. Apparently she had begun adopting a few of the more unconventional methods that Myanihia and I used, such as the occasional ¡°surprise! It''s a gun!¡± trick. And of course Myanihia herself had regained at least some of her mysterious persona, although when she was with me or Lysandra she would let her guard down, it seemed.

    Anyhow. Healina and Ariana had been on for a while before I had logged in, it seemed. The two of them greeted me as I loaded up in the main hall of Queen''s Haven, and we went to sit near the warm hearth while waiting for the others.

    ¡°We sure got a lot more decorations for the winter season than we did the autumn one, huh?¡± the Sea Elf healer with platinum hair remarked.

    ¡°Definitely,¡± I agreed, untying the band in my own hair to let it loose for a bit.

    ¡°I bet we get a lot of spring decorations when that celebration comes around!¡± Ari remarked with a smile, brushing her dark hair back as she curled up next to me.

    ¡°Think the others will log in tonight?¡± Heali then asked.

    ¡°Belle and Lysandra told me last night they''d be a bit late tonight, but they''ll be on eventually,¡± I said.

    ¡°And of course Lizzy and Der won''t be on again...¡± the other girl sighed.

    ¡°Anhe seemed eager to get back in tonight,¡± Ari noted, ¡°And Maryn was definitely hoping to get on and do some crafting, at least.¡±

    ¡°One of those nights, huh?¡± Heali grinned.

    ¡°Hmm,¡± I sighed, bringing up a map on the table. ¡°We''ve been over Memphani a few times with Dreamers Fables, huh... and of course we''ve had a few expeditions into the Untold Deeps... not that we got very far, though,¡± I mused.

    ¡°We just barely got that last ultra-rare diamond before that giant worm thing came out, and poor Heali almost fainted,¡± Ariana said with an apologetic grin to Heali on the side.

    ¡°Ugh.¡± the other girl sighed.

    ¡°G-good thing the system didn''t kick you out down there,¡± I pointed out with a nervous laugh.

    ¡°Hahh... true...¡± she smiled wryly.

    Note to self: form raid parties when going to Untold Deeps, I thought to myself with a crinkled grin.

    ¡°Hey! Why don''t we go up to Bethelia?¡± Ari then said.

    ¡°Heh? Up north? I don''t have a problem with it, I guess,¡± I replied.

    ¡°If you''re thinking about farming, the Grasslands of Inyan is closer, even if it''s not as good,¡± Healina pointed out.

    ¡°Hmm... but there''s a quest up there for a couple of bonus farming skills and a special tool I''d like for my herb garden,¡± Ari returned.

    ¡°Ahh! That one! Okay, we''ll see what the others think!¡± the other girl smiled back.

    We spent an hour or so of Panarena time puttering around the manor a bit before the others logged in, and then after we worked on our crafting a bit, Ariana brought up her suggestion again. The others agreed to come along for the adventure, and we were soon off on our way to Bethelia.

    Bethelia is one of those regions referred to as ¡°cutesy¡± by some people. I couldn''t say I disagreed, from what I had seen of it on the forums. It was probably the most whimsical and peaceful place in Panarena, its quests being more pastoral or slice-of-life. The NPCs here are anthropomorphic animals, rabbit-men, squirrel-folk, owl-people -- you get the picture. Some of them were only about a meter and a half high, though others like the owl-people, badger-folk, and fox-kin were more human sized. Basically they retained the proportions of normal animals, in terms of height.

    ¡°I bet this place has a lot to do with the spring quests later this year,¡± I said as we sat down in our cabin-lounge aboard the train from Harmonia City.

    ¡°Oh definitely.¡± Sky Belle agreed. ¡°I think a lot of people would about riot if that place of all places didn''t do something for spring!¡±

    ¡°That would be funny to see, though,¡± Maryn smirked.

    ¡°Pfft!¡± Lysandra chuckled in agreement.

    ¡°I can see the hordes of angry players protesting outside the GM''s castle in Kingsmark now,¡± Healina nodded.

    ¡°Hmm? They''re not in Harmonia City?¡± I wondered.

    ¡°Nope.¡± Lysandra shook her head. ¡°They have a retreat further to the north by a lake. It''s guarded by level five-hundred elites for now, though you can bet they''ll increase in level when players start getting that high.¡±

    ¡°Yeek.¡± I remarked. ¡°I''m just glad to have reached one-oh-three after four months,¡± I added.

    ¡°Same.¡± Belle agreed.

    ¡°Definitely.¡± Ari nodded.

    ¡°I cannot imagine getting to five-hundred,¡± Anhe said with a bemused look.

    ¡°They say as long as you can grind something you''ll keep levelling, but the game has to have some end to the content eventually?¡± Maryn said.

    ¡°I''m not privy to the latest news. But Myanihia said that they''re plotting out an expansion update this summer; more sub-realms with special quests you have to do to get into them.¡± Lysandra told us.

    ¡°So you are privy.¡± I replied, giving her a strange look.

    ¡°Eh.¡± she shrugged back.

    ¡°But that sounds fun, though!¡± Belle remarked.

    ¡°Absolutely!¡± Ari agreed.

    ¡°We''ve barely seen everything here and we''re already near to plotting out trips to places that aren''t even there yet,¡± I smiled, leaning back in my seat.

    ¡°You should leave your hair down like that.¡± Ari suddenly told me.

    ¡°Hmm? But it gets in the way if I don''t tie it back,¡± I replied.

    ¡°Hrrmm...¡± she gazed at me with a grumpy smile, her mind undoubtedly trying to find some sort of loophole.

    ¡°Have to agree with Lana this time,¡± Maryn said. ¡°Being an assassin-type character would be majorly hindered by hair getting in the face all the time.¡±

    ¡°Boo,¡± Ari sighed.

    ¡°Is it that important?¡± I asked her in genuine curiosity.

    ¡°Your real hair is no fun to mess with, so I want to mess with Lana''s.¡± she replied with a soft pout.

    ¡°Gyeck!¡±

    ¡°Oh, true...¡± Lysandra said, ¡°Though it''s not too short, though. If Sean stopped getting a haircut I bet you could mess with it by the time summer comes along!¡± she smirked.

    ¡°Oy...¡±

    ¡°Isn''t Sean playing Robin Hood in the musical?¡± Maryn asked.

    ¡°Oh yes!! He should definitely grow it out for that!¡± Heali jumped in with agreement.

    ¡°Oy...!!¡±

    ¡°That would be kind of cute!¡± Anhe grinned.

    ¡°¡­ Oy!!¡± I softly griped for a third time, then noticed Belle looking through her inventory.

    ¡°And... there! Ari!¡± she said, transferring something to my partner, who squealed in delight when she saw it and turned to me with a mischievous smile.

    Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

    ¡°Eh? Ehh?? Ehhhh?!¡± I wondered with fright as she softly chuckled in an evil fashion.

    ***

    Long story short, I ended up with a gold-and-green hairband, the kind that makes a U-shape and sits just above your brows. I was only mildly disgruntled by the time I got off the train with the others, but Ariana was extremely happy, so I just kept my mouth shut.

    Moving on. Bethalia only has one major town (where the station for the Magic Bullet Express is located), but there''s many farmsteads and villages scattered throughout the area. The town was called Valebrook, and indeed there was a brook that ambled on its way through the vale the town was situated in, splitting the cozy-looking place in slightly uneven halves. All sorts of animal-folk were wandering about, along with the occasional hauflin, several fairies, and a few dwarves.

    The town looked like a rustic village from Scotland or Ireland, with homely thatch-roofed cottages and larger but still quaint-looking wood-buildings with tiled roofs, a few cabins on the edges of town, and several barns and silos further to the west. A rainbow could be seen in the distance, shimmering merrily in the early afternoon sun.

    ¡°I don''t think I want to leave...¡± I said as I looked around.

    ¡°Right?¡± Ariana agreed.

    ¡°It''s so...¡± Maryn began, only to trail off with a tear in her eye.

    ¡°Maryn?¡± Anhe asked her.

    ¡°Nothing.¡± she replied softly, a smile on her face. ¡°Where''s the quest we''re looking for?¡± she then said in a stronger voice.

    ¡°Hmm...¡± Ariana mused, bringing out her guidebook again. ¡°They said it''s from a master farmer in... oh, he''s on the edge of town here,¡± she said.

    ¡°Let''s get the wayport over there and bring Fyu over, just in case,¡± I said, and she nodded back as we began heading over to it.

    ¡°What about Dracuoatlax?¡± Lysandra wondered.

    ¡°H-he had a fair rampage with us over the last two days... and do you really he''d come to this place for a farming quest?¡± I said with a bemused look.

    ¡°Ahh... guess not!¡± she replied with an innocent smirk.

    ¡°He''d definitely try to mutiny if you did,¡± Ari remarked with a laugh.

    ¡°Exactly.¡± I nodded as we reached the wayport. It activated for us, and I selected Queen''s Haven as my destination. ¡°Back in a bit!¡±

    ¡°See you soon!¡± the others waved, and I stepped through.

    ¡°Speak of the dragon and he will appear,¡± I noticed as I stepped through. Dracuoatlax was conversing with Fyu Dongtian in our front yard, as we called it. Both of them sniffed the air and looked over as I approached.

    ¡°Master.¡± Fyu nodded.

    ¡°Greetings, Windstrider.¡± Dracuoatlax said. ¡°Have you need of our services? Our long chat was just nearing its end, and I was going to fly off for the Torching Mount, but if you need me...?¡±

    ¡°Hmm... if you feel like it, maybe you could harass some of those pirates out there, but I won''t make it an order.¡± I said to him.

    ¡°Ha-ha-hah! But I enjoy playing with pirates, master; I will do this for you!¡± the dragon replied.

    ¡°Save some for us: we''ll be back in a couple days, hopefully!¡± I told him.

    ¡°As you wish, master!¡± he said, taking off to go deal with his targets at once. Fyu then blinked, affecting a grin on his face.

    ¡°You felt guilty about coming here for just myself, did you not, master?¡± he said to me.

    ¡°Yeah, I really did,¡± I said with a wry face.

    ¡°He is gratified for his time with you, and he looks forward to the day when true battle begins; I think you have done him no ill this night.¡± the dog-beast told me.

    ¡°Thanks, Fyu.¡±

    ¡°Now where are we off to ourselves, master?¡±

    ¡°Up to Bethelia; we might end up travelling more than we guess for this quiet adventure.¡± I told him as we went to get the waggon.

    ¡°Hmm! An interesting choice. I had always meant to visit, one day. Though I doubt Dracuoatlax would appreciate it.¡± Fyu remarked.

    ¡°Basically what we thought,¡± I softly grinned.

    I helped Fyu into his accouterments for the waggon, and when he was buckled in I went to activate the wayport once more, and we stepped through to find ourselves in Bethelia. We quickly caught up to Ariana and the others, who were waiting for us on the edge of town near a farmstead that seemed to be owned by one of the rabbit-men in the area, a fairly tall (for one of his people, at least) fellow with white fur that had a couple of grey spots here and there.

    ¡°Hmm?¡± I said as I got down from the waggon, heading over to them.

    ¡°We definitely need Fyu!¡± Ari grinned, and the dog-beast softly beamed back.

    ¡°It''s gonna be a long but hopefully more tranquil night,¡± Lysandra nodded as we all got back on. The rabbit-man waved to us as we set off, smiling as the waggon rolled away at a steady pace.

    ¡°He really is a giant rabbit, huh?¡± I remarked as I settled into the waggon to let Fyu drive himself.

    ¡°Isn''t he cuuute!!¡± Ariana squealed.

    ¡°Sooo cuuuute...!!¡± Heali sighed happily.

    ¡°They''re all cute!¡± Belle giggled.

    ¡°Agree.¡± Lysandra nodded.

    ¡°Definite!¡± Maryn said.

    ¡°Absolutely!¡± Anhe smiled.

    ¡°It almost reminds me of that old children''s book... ahh, I forget the name of it now... foo!¡± Belle softly pouted.

    ¡°You''ll remember it later.¡± Lysandra said, softly patting the little pixie''s head.

    ¡°And wake up shouting it in your ears.¡± the other sighed.

    ¡°True.¡± the werewolf girl smiled.

    ¡°Where are we off to first?¡± I then asked.

    ¡°Hmm... Derry, it says, by Serenity Lake,¡± Ariana said as she checked.

    ¡°I shall follow the signs on the road, masters,¡± Fyu told us. ¡°This land seems much smaller than our home of Xuanpu. I could probably cross its bounds within hours; but I shall go at a steadier pace, and let us enjoy it as we go,¡± he then said.

    ¡°We''ll leave it to you, pal!¡± I replied, and with that he set off at a slightly faster pace, one that would probably see us to Derry in a few hours or so.

    Very generally, the road wound its way towards the east, and somewhat north. We passed through long stretches of farmlands, meadows, or forests, crossing quaint and beautiful old-style bridges when we came upon rivers and streams or even fording them if it was low enough for us to do so. When we neared the lake we saw several plots of land that were available for sale, and we made note of them for future reference. As we passed by one of these plots in particular, a wide mead surrounded by forest with a brook running through it, I could see Ariana envisioning a homestead upon it.

    ¡°What''s the name of this one?¡± I said, pulling up the map. ¡°Hmm... see Old Mr. Burrows in Derry for details...¡± I softly read.

    ¡°What a cute name!¡± Belle exclaimed.

    ¡°Right?¡± I replied with a smile.

    ¡°Hmm... but the one on the southwest side of the lake looked nice, too...¡± Ariana said as she thought about it.

    ¡°We will have plenty of time to find one, if we want to,¡± Anhe smiled at her.

    ¡°True.¡± she agreed.

    Our journey around the lake continued on an eastward road that eventually turned north, and then curved around to the west to head for Derry, one of the few proper villages marked on the map. There were a lot of smaller steadings, communal farms, and hamlets that we had passed by as well, but they had different markings than anything more town-like. Serenity Lake looked like something out of a peaceful dream; we could see boats sailing upon it or being rowed in the distance, either returning or heading out for a fishing trip or perhaps idly cruising the lake for fun.

    D-do NPCs have fun here? ¡­ well, I guess they might, considering how advanced their intelligence matrices have come since the start of the century... I pondered to myself as we began getting closer to our destination.

    Derry had the same aesthetic as Valebrook, with a waterside front on the southern side of the village where we could see a lively little fishing industry going on. On the west and northern sides were the farming communities, and on the east side, nearest to us, was a bustling little market square. Fyu took us over to a stable and lot for waggons, where he nodded to us as we got out to find the quest-giver for Ariana''s farming interests.

    ¡°I shall await your word here, masters.¡± he said to us.

    ¡°We should be back in fifteen minutes or so,¡± I returned.

    We headed into the market square, where Ari found that the NPC who was to give her the quest we came for was also the same one who had a quest for the lot we had passed by: Old Mr. Burrows, a prominent badger-folk landowner who was planning to retire soon, according to what we heard in the market.

    ¡°Hmm... I wonder if that makes both quests or at least the one unique...¡± I said after we had gotten directions to his abode.

    ¡°Maybe,¡± Lysandra shrugged. ¡°The one for the land further south is definitely unique; I doubt the farming quest is, though, since a lot of people have done it.¡±

    ¡°Oh, that''s true... duh!¡± I remarked with a goofy grin.

    ¡°Silly!¡± Ari gently flicked me. ¡°And besides, Mr. Burrows is the second NPC on the quest; at the end we''ll have to go and see Waddles Longfoot to finish it up!¡± she reminded me.

    ¡°Heh? His name was Waddles?¡±

    ¡°It sure was!¡± she beamed back.

    ¡°Anyway! He said we had to go up to Elmburg to sort out a deal with another person, didn''t he?¡± Belle said as we returned to the waggon.

    ¡°I think so; ah! ''Visit Missus Greydown in Elmsburg to find the second part of the mysterious item,'' it says,¡± Ariana read. ¡°Oh! I decided to get the quest for that piece of land, too, and its second objective is in the Whistling Heights near the village up there,¡± she said to me.

    ¡°Hm? Ah? Eh? Oh, sure,¡± I replied, and the other girls exchanged soft smiles with one another. When we got back to Fyu, we told him of our new destination, and away we went.

    Elmsburg lay to the northwest of Derry, and we had to cross one of the major rivers in the area via a magnificently crafted covered bridge that spanned it to get there. It was a fairly wide river, and the bridge had been raised to a height that allowed small sailboats to pass through with ease as its occupants headed up or downstream to do what they would. Fyu continued to follow it upstream, and soon we saw the Whistling Heights, apparently named for the strange yet soothing sound they seemed to make, probably something to do with the in-game wind.

    When we reached the village itself, we found it to be smaller than even Derry, more a communal farm than a village, except that there were a few shops and a small tavern. Mrs. Greydown, a hedgehog-like being, gave us the item she had in exchange for shooing off a few crows, shrews, and other mischievous pests in her vegetable gardens. We were then told to head over to Nestdale to continue that quest, while Lysandra and I went up into the mountains to claim the objective for the other quest, a hidden stash left behind by one of Mr. Burrows'' ancestors, quite valuable.

    At Nestdale, an owl-person named Frigitidious Maroo gave us his item in exchange for ensuring the village was safe from a dastardly group of wolves and bears that had been plaguing the area. I tried not to think about it too much, but the logic of animal-folk asking us to deal with or drive off animals in this game ended up giving me a slight headache anyway. We also found another hidden stash for Mr. Burrows, and when we had done so we set off for our new destination of Westvale.

    This town was a little more fortified than the others, insofar as that went for this region. It was near the border of Wardmark, which was near the Borderlands. Here we got to see the rare spectacle of an Onyxus player (a Minotaur, wouldn''t you know) who had somehow managed to get this far without being stopped, only to be halted at the end by a couple of arrows from the guards still chasing him. He went ka-poof, and we entered Westvale without further excitement.

    ¡°That was a new one,¡± I remarked as we halted near the stables.

    ¡°The beings of Onyxus are relentless in their quest to invade Harmonia.¡± Fyu snorted. ¡°One day a great war will break out, masters, and I hope to be at your sides when the day comes at last.¡±

    ¡°We''ll be counting on you then, Fyu.¡± Ariana patted his head as we got off the waggon. The dog-beast bowed his noble head, and we headed into town, where we got the next objective for Ari''s crafting quest from a squirrel-folk shopkeeper named Nutsy.

    How clich¨¦ can you get? I wondered with a faint grin as he handed us the item in question, directing us to head south for Foxstead next.

    By the time we got there, it was night time in Panarena and the NPCs were now entering their sleep schedule. There was no inn or wayfarer''s abode, but Maryn surprised us all with a couple of tents she had prepared. Apparently they could be made with either the Builder or the Weaver crafting skill, both of which incorporated the sub-skill of Tent-maker. So we camped out for the night near Foxstead, and in the morning we went to see a Miss Enyi Redblossom, a fox-kin woman who provided us with what was the final item Ari needed for her farming quest.

    ¡°Now all you have to do,¡± Enyi Redblossom told us, ¡°Is to take that to the source of the Singing Stream south of Hilldell, and when ye''ve done that ye can go on back to Waddles up in Valebrook so he can inspect it for ye!¡±

    ¡°Got it!¡± Ari smiled, and the fox-kin woman smiled back as we thanked her before heading back to the waggon.

    ¡°Come to think of it, this other quest wants us to head there too, huh...¡± I noted as we got back on, Heali telling Fyu of our next destination.

    ¡°Hmm?¡± Ari looked over as I reread the quest log. ¡°Oh, neat,¡± she remarked, ¡°I wonder if something will happen when we find the Singing Stream''s source?¡±

    ¡°Probably some guardian of a final secret stash that Mr. Burrows wants... his quest wants us to go back to him now, after all. I wonder if it''s one of those quests where we can preempt his giving us the next stage?¡± I mused as Fyu set off towards the southeast towards Hilldale.

    ¡°That''d be nice,¡± Lysandra nodded.

    ¡°Oh definitely,¡± Belle agreed. ¡°Though with how cute this place is I wouldn''t actually mind travelling back and forth a few more times!¡±

    ¡°Right??¡± Heali exclaimed.

    ¡°It is very soothing here,¡± Anhe said in agreement. ¡°Maryn, what kind of house can you make when we finish the other quest?¡± she asked, and Maryn opened up her crafting panel to look through the options.

    ¡°Hmm... I unlocked a few more styles since I got to Architect and Builder Thirty... we can definitely go with something cozy to start off with, and then maybe a few outbuildings like a barn or a stable, maybe even a tavern...¡± our shield-user told us.

    ¡°We have plenty of materials, too,¡± Belle said, ¡°Though maybe we can go down to the Tundralands or the Vales of Aergondi to get some higher quality ones.¡±

    ¡°Definitely Vales then.¡± Lysandra returned.

    ¡°We kind of wore ourselves out in the Tundralands, huh?¡± I remarked.

    ¡°Agree.¡± Healina nodded. ¡°Hm? Oh, Der logged in early -- or wait, it''s actually super late, huh?¡± she said with a giggle.

    ¡°Lizzy won''t be far behind him, then,¡± Ariana said, ¡°Since it was her turn to drive them to work today.¡±

    ¡°Mmhm.¡± the other girl replied.

    ¡°Come to think of it, weren''t you also planning to get a job somewhere?¡± I asked Lysandra.

    ¡°Hmm... true... they don''t start ''til next week, though. Don''t worry, I''ll have time to be on and keep up with you all.¡± she told us.

    ¡°More than one, huh?¡± Anhe said to her.

    ¡°Coffee barista in the mornings on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and regular barista on Tuesday and Thursday nights. Luckily it''s at the same place, technically, and I made sure it fit my class schedule.¡± the older girl said.

    ¡°Nice.¡± I returned.

    ¡°The masters are becoming busier in the other world, I see,¡± Fyu remarked as we came to a small brook with a ford across it; on the other side we could see the path diverging, one towards Valebrook and the other for our destination of Hilldell.

    ¡°Just a bit,¡± I replied to our friend.

    ¡°It is the way of things, it seems,¡± he answered. ¡°Perhaps one day these two worlds will cross over, and we need never be parted again.¡± he then said, and once more I was reminded of how sophisticated some of the NPCs -- or beings, perhaps, actually were in this world.

    ¡°One day.¡± I replied softly. The conversation drifted off after that, all of us seemingly absorbed in the curious question or thought that Fyu had given us. Could the real world and the virtual one eventually overlap someday?

    ***

    Deep thoughts aside, we arrived at Hilldale around noon in Panarena time, at which point Derwydd and Lizzy had caught up to us with Dracuoatlax''s help. The dragon amiably scoffed at our being here, but agreed to go ahead of us to the Vales of Aergondi in anticipation of our next adventure.

    ¡°Masters, I must tell you something ''ere I fly,¡± he then said. ¡°I do not know what awaits you at this source of the stream, but I smell something strangely vile in this otherwise peaceful land. What say you, Fyu Dongtian?¡±

    ¡°My nose tells me much the same, Dracuoatlax; I would have turned such thoughts aside if not for your words.¡± the dog-beast replied, and then turned to us, ¡°Let us be careful, masters, as we approach this place.¡±

    ¡°We''ll be careful; and thanks, Dracuoatlax,¡± I said to the dragon, who bowed his head.

    ¡°I shall await you near the Divine Mountain, my masters.¡± the great dragon said, and then hurled himself into the air to fly off eastward and slightly to the south. We watched as he faded into the distance, and then got moving again ourselves.

    ¡°A farming quest and a quest to get a plot of land, huh?¡± Lizzy remarked as we resettled ourselves in the waggon. ¡°Not quite an epic adventure, but I''ll take it!¡±

    ¡°It''ll be more adventurous when we get to the Vales and start collecting building material there,¡± I grinned.

    ¡°Oh true!¡± she agreed.

    ¡°How far to the source of the Singing Stream?¡± Derwydd asked us.

    ¡°The wood-warden told us it shouldn''t be more than half an hour away from Hilldell,¡± Ariana replied. ¡°And then we''ll turn in these quests, hopefully, before taking a breakfast break and getting back on to visit the Vales of Aergondi.¡±

    ¡°We''ll have time to get there before heading off for breakfast, though,¡± Lizzy shrugged.

    ¡°Here is the path the wood-warden mentioned to us, masters,¡± Fyu said as we began ascending into the hills. ¡°Let us keep our eyes open for trouble as we go.¡±

    ¡°Right,¡± I said, getting my bow ready while the others prepared themselves as well for whatever might be lurking in the hills.

 Chapter Two: Winter Escapades, V

    ¡°Almost got it!!¡± Lysandra called out as she continued attacking the surprise boss monster we had encountered upon reaching the source of the Singing Stream. It was a giant, tree-like sort of thing that almost looked like a gnarled oak, except for the--toothy? Barky?--maw and the vicious, jagged looking apertures that were more or less its eyes. As soon as we had reached the place, the previously unremarkable tree we had been admiring suddenly turned into this, and now after several long minutes of rotating our attack strategies and finding out its weakness (poison, of all things--it had a fire immunity peculiar for a tree-monster) we were almost finished with it.

    ¡°Tying it up!¡± Derwydd told us as he readied his skill, and then tangled it up in a series of strong vines with his druidic skills. ¡°Go!¡±

    ¡°Lysandra, jump back--Lana, Ari, now!!¡± Maryn said as she bashed it for good measure.

    ¡°Poison Arrow!!¡±

    ¡°Iver''s Blood!¡± the two of us cried out as we launched our skills, both of them striking the thing straight in the maw right as Lysandra hurled herself out of the way.

    Iver''s Blood, by the way, is one of Ari''s more recent custom-spells, inspired by that fantasy book series she''s been reading. Anything on-level with us has a five-percent chance to suffer a drastic poison DoT, in addition to the four-hundred damage and negative resistance to poison it already has. Anything below our level--well, she tried it on some goblins in the Aldholt with me as back-up; none of them lasted more than twenty-seconds, and I didn''t even do anything to help.

    Anyway. The five-percent favored Ariana this fight, and Sycaoak the Twisted, our boss monster, began rapidly losing health. Lizzy charged in to finish it off, and then we found that there was a bonus piece for Ari''s quest. She then took all the pieces and went to the source of the stream, where a friendly spirit appeared for the next stage of the quest, merging the pieces, and then gifting her the assembled tool to take back to Waddles Longfoot. We also found a final cache for Mr. Burrows, and upon collecting it the bonus objective updated on that quest as well.

    ¡°At least it''s giving good experience,¡± I remarked as I looked over the rewards on the log.

    ¡°After certain areas, there are regions where the quests tailor themselves to either a player''s level or the median of a group''s levels.¡± Lysandra remarked. ¡°This is one of them, which is handy for us.¡±

    ¡°And the Vales?¡± Ariana wondered as we got back in the waggon for Fyu to take us back to Valebrook.

    ¡°Same deal.¡± she nodded back.

    ¡°So it''s mostly the south of Harmonia that has capped regions and starter areas...¡± I mused as I laid back in my spot.

    ¡°I wonder if it''s the opposite for Onyxus? If their starter regions are in the north, that is,¡± Healina wondered aloud.

    ¡°Hmm... that''d kinda make sense,¡± I agreed.

    ¡°I think they actually did do that.¡± Lizzy told us. ¡°In the beta test we had a whole map with markers for convenience; they reset our map data on launch to make it interesting, though. But I definitely recall seeing beginner zones on the Onyxus side up north.¡±

    ¡°Neat!¡± our healer remarked.

    ¡°Masters, we are approaching a crossroads; shall I go to Derry first, or to Valebrook?¡± Fyu suddenly asked us.

    ¡°Hmm... it would make more sense to finish Mr. Burrow''s quest first and then go down to Valebrook so we can take the train to Luoliu,¡± Ariana said as she considered it. I heard Anhe stifle a giggle at the name of the city in question.

    ¡°I agree, master, which is why I now bring it up,¡± the dog-beast returned.

    ¡°Let''s do that, then,¡± Derwydd agreed.

    ¡°Go ahead and take us to Derry, Fyu,¡± I said to our faithful friend.

    ¡°The left turning it is, then!¡± Fyu replied, picking up his pace a bit as we turned northeast to make for Derry.

    ¡°What were you giggling about?¡± Belle then asked Anhe.

    ¡°Ah! The name of the town in the Vales; it sounds like something a bit naughty in my language.¡± she said with a grin.

    ¡°Sh-should we ask?¡± our pixie-girl wondered with a hesitant smile.

    ¡°I will spare you.¡± Anhe replied.

    ¡°Ah-heh,¡± I faintly grinned, ¡°I''m sure they didn''t do it on purpose, whatever it is.¡±

    ¡°Of course! They probably wanted it to sound like one of the Harmonia languages, maybe an Elf language or something,¡± Anhe agreed.

    ¡°Probably.¡± Lysandra nodded. ¡°Hahh... who knew fighting a tree could be so tiring... wake me when we need to get on the train.¡± she then said, and curled up for a nap.

    ¡°Same,¡± Maryn said with a yawn, and I saw Heali and Derwydd nod off a bit as well.

    ¡°Oy,¡± I said in a quiet voice, ¡°It''s not even late, Panarena-wise, and we''ve fought worse trees than that and kept right on going...¡±

    ¡°True,¡± Ari softly agreed, ¡°But we didn''t have much of a choice at the time, either.¡± she added, snuggling against me. ¡°Wake me at Derry?¡±

    ¡°Ahh... Fyu?¡± I turned with a helpless smile to the dog-beast.

    ¡°Fear not, masters, if you all fall asleep, I shall bark to wake you.¡± he returned.

    ¡°Gotcha,¡± I said. And with that assurance, I, too, began slowly nodding off as the serene scenery passed by our eyes along the rustic highway to Derry.

    ***

    We arrived back at Derry in the late afternoon and turned in the quest; Mr. Burrows then opened the bonus cache we had found, and pulled out a title and deed to the land we had undertaken the quest for. This done, we continued on our way to Valebrook and turned the other quest in to Waddles Longfoot, who congratulated Ariana on solving the mystery of the mysterious farm tools and gave her some rare crop seeds as a reward. When she had stowed these away, we took a brief rest, and then we gathered ourselves aboard the Magic Bullet Express to head for the Vales of Aergondi.

    ¡°I will not complain, masters, only it is not quite a comfortable place to rest in,¡± Fyu remarked as Ariana and I sat with him and the waggon in one of the storage-slash-animal cars.

    ¡°At least they gave us one with a window,¡± Ari said as we snuggled in next to him.

    ¡°This is true; the courtesy of those running this odd machine is generous, at least.¡± Fyu nodded in agreement. ¡°Are there such things in your other world, masters?¡±

    Not for the last time, I smiled to myself in amazement at yet another reminder of how strangely knowledgeable our NPC allies were about our situations. Did that knowledge somehow keep growing and learning as we kept interacting with them? I could only wonder.

    ¡°Lots of them,¡± I replied.

    ¡°Hmm,¡± he returned in a thoughtful tone.

    The train picked up speed as it began heading over a trestle-bridge that spanned a large river coming down from the east and continuing into Kingsmark. Soon it would be heading underground, and from what I had seen of the route we would not surface again until we were on the other side of a vast mountain range in the northwest of Dragonholt. We could see the peaks looming in the distance even now.

    ¡°The Everheights,¡± Fyu remarked as the train came around a bend, allowing us to see them better. ¡°It is said those mountains contain great adventure, masters; I wonder if Dracuoatlax has seen aught of them that he might tell.¡±

    ¡°I bet he has,¡± I nodded. I heard the sound of Ari breathing more deeply; she was almost asleep. ¡°One day, we''ll have visited all of Harmonia, perhaps,¡± I said.

    ¡°And then will come the great challenges in the Borderlands.¡± Fyu returned softly.

    ¡°One step at a time, old buddy.¡± I smiled.

    ¡°Indeed,¡± he quietly chuckled. ¡°Lady Ariana is now fast asleep; it seems the wisest course, considering the long dark ahead. I shall sleep as well.¡± Fyu added, and I silently nodded back, feeling sleepy myself as we approached the tunnel for the underground route. It felt like my eyes shut the instant we headed in; I yawned, and fell perfectly asleep.

    When I woke back up, I was in the waggon again, and Ariana was still sound asleep next to me. Lysandra and Belle were the only ones awake besides Fyu and myself. Belle noticed me stirring, and came to sit on my shoulder.

    ¡°We left Luoliu about half an hour ago; it''s early, Panarena time, but almost seven-thirty for real. We''re in sight of the Divine Mountain now,¡± she said softly.

    ¡°It took that long to cross the Dragonholt, huh?¡± I remarked in a still sleepy voice. The sound of great flapping wings brought me to full alert, and a large creature gently thudded onto the ground. It was Dracuoatlax. He nodded to Fyu, who halted.

    ¡°I have seen many strange and marvelous things on these flights; who knew the world could change so much whilst I slumbered? But there are great quarries and great woods in these lands, and mines, masters, mines of untold wealth and bounty. Other dragons, lesser dragons, would no doubt exert themselves to seize such places. But I was content before, and I am content now. The richness of these regions should amply prepare you for any challenges that yet lie ahead.¡± the dragon said as I gently slipped myself out of Ari''s embrace to stand on the ground. ¡°But, right now, you need to return to your other world, do you not?¡±

    ¡°We''ll return sooner than later,¡± I told him.

    ¡°Of course! And as incitement to do so, let me tell you I have espied an especially rare creature, one that promises untold rewards for those who defeat it,¡± he said to me with a cunning smile, and I stepped closer to listen.

    ¡°What kind of creature?¡± I asked him, my interest piqued.

    ¡°That, dear girl, must wait until you return. Today will be a good day, Lady Windstrider, for today we shall do battle together!¡± Dracuoatlax said eagerly. I placed a hand on his snout.

    ¡°That''s a promise, Dracuoatlax.¡± I replied, looking back to Fyu. ¡°And to you as well,¡± I added, and the dog-beast nodded.

    ¡°We stand ready, masters.¡± the other affirmed. Belle then switched to human form (she had managed to extend her duration to ten hours for now), swiftly putting on an outfit as she did.

    ¡°All right, kiddos! Get up! Time to take a break!¡± she then called, and the others began stirring awake. ¡°Come on, Lizzy, come on, Der! We have a few real hours before you two go to work again! It''s just a short break and then we''ll be back here for round -- two? Three?¡± Belle paused, wondering, and then shrugged. ¡°Whichever!¡± she smiled. Lizzy yawned loudly.

    ¡°Right... oh, shoot, I think I''m still wearing that dang thing...¡± she then softly grumbled. ¡°Ugh... I''ll be a bit longer,¡± our halberdier said sheepishly, and logged out first. Ari and I shared a hug, and then poofed ourselves, hearing Belle, Maryn, and Lysandra deciding to wait with our allies until the rest of us came back.

    Fair enough, I thought to myself, and then woke up for real.

    After I had eaten breakfast and shoveled our walk afterwards (oh yeah, it snowed real good here a couple days after the new year arrived and there were still intermittent snowfalls coming), I warmed myself up a bit with some coffee and then returned to Panarena, finding that the older girls had been relieved by Ariana, Healina, and Derwydd.

    ¡°There you are!¡± Ari said to me.

    ¡°I got wrangled for snow-duty,¡± I said with a wry grin.

    ¡°And I just evaded it,¡± Derwydd grinned. ¡°Hooray for older siblings!¡± he said happily.

    ¡°Nice.¡± Heali smiled, shaking her head nonetheless. ¡°I bet George wasn''t so happy about it.¡±

    ¡°No, and he had to go to his job as well, so he''s doubly grouchy.¡± our druid-ally replied.

    ¡°Ouch.¡± I remarked sympathetically as I got back on the waggon.

    ¡°The other world has its own challenges, I see.¡± Dracuoatlax noted.

    ¡°For sure it does,¡± I nodded.

    ¡°It would be interesting to visit, perhaps attempt them myself,¡± the dragon mused. The four of us looked around at each other with grins that barely contained our laughter, each of us probably imagining the great dragon trying to sit through a job interview or a lecture at a school somewhere.

    ¡°M-maybe someday,¡± I managed to say without breaking. Ari buried herself in my chest, soundlessly cackling.

    ¡°Hmm, someday, then,¡± Dracuoatlax said with a perfectly straight face.

    Now I kind of want to see that, I reflected with a smile. It wasn''t long after that the others returned, Lizzy arriving last and grumbling about having fallen asleep in her work outfit again.

    ¡°Why didn''t you change back at work?¡± Derwydd asked her.

    ¡°Ehh... wasn''t thinking, and it was super late.¡± she returned.

    ¡°It''s always late when we get off on Fridays,¡± he shrugged.

    ¡°But anyway, where are we off to first?¡± Lizzy then said.

    ¡°Dracuoatlax?¡± I turned to the dragon, who nodded.

    ¡°Follow me, masters; a most opportune adventure awaits us!¡± he said, and sprang into the air. Fyu set off after him, the dragon keeping a steady pace so the dog-beast could keep up.

    It was about fifteen minutes later that Dracuoatlax set down upon the ground again as lightly as he could. He hunkered down, impressively so considering his size, and then beckoned us to come close. Ari and I scurried over while the others got out and either got themselves ready or unhitched Fyu from the waggon. The two of us then got down on all fours and softly crawled to the edge he had halted by. We peered over, and there below us we saw a Vault Guardian.

    Okay. So vault guardians are a large step down from world bosses but a few steps above ultra rare elite bosses. In fact, they''re technically ultra rare elite bosses themselves, but each one is unique. From what I''ve read about them on the forums, each of them only spawns once for one Panarena day, and then that unique monster is never seen again, whether it''s defeated or whether it goes by unnoticed. But the rewards for beating them, as Dracuoatlax said, are exceptional.

    This particular vault guardian was a gigantic elk about three times the size of Fyu, though not as big as our friend the dragon. It had an almost ruby-red coloration to it, and its antlers looked like gold filigreed with silver. When I used a hunter skill to examine it I saw that its name, or title, rather, was ¡°The Radiant Celestial¡±.

    ¡°Six-hundred thousand health,¡± Ari said softly as she examined it with Mystic Vision. ¡°Normally we''d probably need a raid, I guess, but right now...¡±

    ¡°I think Dracuoatlax counts as a half-raid all on his own.¡± I said with a smirk, which she returned, nodding back at me.

    ¡°What''s the plan, boss?¡± Lizzy whispered as she slipped up next to us.

    ¡°I think our best bet is to try and surprise it while Dracuoatlax creates a wall of fire to keep it from escaping, before joining us to add to the attack.¡± I said.

    ¡°I agree, master,¡± the dragon said. ¡°Hasten ye down softly, and give me a signal that I might know when to act.¡±

    Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!

    ¡°Der, didn''t you get some sort of bird-call skill in your druid-line?¡± I turned to the werebear-druid, who nodded back.

    ¡°This one?¡± he whispered, letting out a call like a whippoorwill.

    Why do I remember that? I found myself wondering.

    ¡°Great! I''ll signal you, with a nod or something, and you can signal Dracuoatlax,¡± I said to him.

    ¡°Got it!¡± he replied.

    ¡°Maryn, take him, Heali, and Belle, and circle around to the right; I''ll come from the left with Ari, Lizzy, and Lysandra. Anhe, Fyu, go long and come around between our groups to try and contain him.¡±

    ¡°Got it,¡± Maryn nodded back.

    ¡°Ready here.¡± Ari told me.

    ¡°I will try my best!¡± Anhe said, and with that we headed off into our groups to try and get the drop on the vault guardian below us, Dracuoatlax nodding to me as we headed down the left ridge.

    ¡°He''s practically giddy,¡± I said as we softly made our way down.

    ¡°You think?¡± Ari wondered softly.

    ¡°Wouldn''t surprise me a bit,¡± Lysandra said, her lips curved in a smile. Fyu gently padded past us, Anhe on his back, before softly scurrying to a point where he began circling back to come between our two main attack groups.

    ¡°Belle''s skills might have been better for our group, or Anhe''s,¡± Lizzy whispered.

    ¡°Maybe, but Pixie and Druid debuffs work well together from what I''ve seen.¡± I returned.

    ¡°That''s true,¡± Lysandra agreed. ¡°And she can augment Heali and Maryn as well as Derwydd with some of her skills as well.¡±

    ¡°And having Anhe more or less in the middle with Fyu will keep us all bolstered with her auras.¡± Ariana said.

    ¡°If only you two could get through your homework as easily as you get through video games...¡± Lizzy remarked with a flat expression.

    ¡°Gyeck!¡± I softly choked.

    ¡°Rude!!¡± Ari smirked back as the blonde girl beamed back at her.

    ¡°Hsst!¡± Lysandra then interrupted. We were getting closer to the vault guardian.

    The majestic beast opened one of its eyes, lazily looking around. I caught my breath, wondering if it would spot us as we ducked down into the undergrowth of bushes nearby. I heard a snort, and peeked up. It had returned to slumber. With a nod to the others I resumed sneaking towards it, and they followed me closely.

    This won''t be the last time we''re all together; definitely not -- but these adventures are going to be rarer again when school starts up. So let''s do this right! I thought to myself as I quietly got my bow ready, queuing up a ranged booster skill with Piercing Breaker right behind it.

    Ariana began activating one of her skills beside me, and Lizzy and Lysandra held their weapons at the ready, both of them getting into position for a blitz. I could see Maryn and the others almost opposite us, her shield at the ready. Fyu and Anhe had picked a good angle as well to complement the other attack groups. Maryn settled herself in a crouching stance, ready to spring towards the boss; it seemed like she had Charging Bash ready to go. She nodded at me, and I fired. A second later she sprang towards The Radiant Celestial, her shield knocking it upside the head as soon as my arrow hit it. The rest of them charged in or began launching their attacks from range, Derwydd signaling Dracuoatlax with his bird-whistle.

    The dragon leapt with a roar into the sky, setting the perimeter ablaze and using the flapping of his wings to stoke the fire so that it would keep going, then he began casting dragonish spells unique to him to break down the vault guardian''s defenses. After about a minute of using my bow, I switched to my swords, and rushed in to aid the melee. Our target fought back with resilience, grunting out counter-spells to try and thwart Dracuoatlax or bucking and kicking to keep us away.

    ¡°Keep him focused on you!¡± Derwydd called. Maryn used one of her strongest taunts in reply, The Radiant Celestial aggroing on her with a vengeance. The rest of us kept our focus on attacking or breaking down his resistances and defenses, Belle darting in and around the fight to aid us and Anhe calmly bolstering us with her auras, using staff-skills instead of her normal attacks.

    What is he -- oh, snap!! I thought to myself as I caught sight of Derwydd in the middle of a high level druid spell he had picked up a few days ago. It was a rooting spell that called up the roots of ancient trees, rumored to be powerful enough so that they could entangle world bosses.

    Well it certainly worked on this guy. When our druid-ally had finished his chant, massive roots came out of the ground as if shot from a cannon, wrapping themselves tightly around the beast''s legs and neck. Derwydd then turned werebear, and Lysandra went werewolf; I saw Maryn shut her eyes tightly, still taunting the boss to keep it focused on her as our changeling friends suddenly tore into The Radiant Celestial with a frenzy.

    I heard Dracuoatlax laughing in amusement from above, and there was a thud as he came to earth on a fourth side of the beast, lunging with razor-sharp fangs and teeth to rip off its left hind leg. The giant elk cried out in pain, and a massive chunk of its health evaporated. I looked over to see the dragon chowing down on the leg calmly, enjoying the spectacle. He snorted flames towards the beast, singeing it lightly as he finished with his current morsel.

    Y-yikes, I thought to myself.

    ¡°There''s a dragon for you,¡± Lizzy quipped as we returned our attention to the immobilized vault guardian.

    ¡°Fifteen seconds left!¡± said a deep, growly sort of voice. It took me a moment to recall that was how Derwydd sounded in his bear-form.

    ¡°The roots?¡± I called back.

    ¡°Exactly!¡± the werebear replied.

    ¡°We shall not need them, I think,¡± Dracuoatlax said, almost sniggering.

    ¡°Indeed not,¡± Fyu returned with a hint of amusement. The dog-beast rushed forth to stand on his hind legs, raking the vault guardian''s face with ferocious claws.

    ¡°Ten!¡± Derwydd called out.

    ¡°He''s going down pretty fast with this party,¡± Belle noted. ¡°Four-hundred thousand HP and falling!¡±

    ¡°Those debuffs you have on him are incredible!¡± I said to her, and she winked back.

    ¡°Der! Just switch back already! We need yours on him, too!¡± Lysandra called out in her wolf-voice, which was a full octave deeper than her normal one. The werebear grunted in reply, using a couple of DoT claw skills for good measure before shambling back and resuming his normal form.

    ¡°Only five seconds anyway,¡± he grinned as he took up his staff again to cast spells. I saw Lysandra then claw her way onto the beast''s back while Dracuoatlax tore off the other hind leg of the vault guardian.

    ¡°Lana!¡± she called down to me.

    ¡°Lizzy!¡± I said, and ran towards our halberdier, who nodded, holding her halberd at a horizontal position. I jumped on to its wide blade, and Lizzy catapulted me into the air at the same time I sprang off of it, doing a flip before I landed on the back of the beast as well, softly sighing in relief.

    ¡°Sweet!¡± our Nordian smith cried out excitedly.

    ¡°Nice!¡± Maryn said, refocusing her attention on the boss to distract her from thinking too much about our werewolf girl; though she seemed to be doing slightly better than usual.

    ¡°Now what?¡± I asked Lysandra, who moved up towards the vault guardian''s head and then pointed to a certain area on its neck as she shifted back to human form.

    ¡°Stab that area, and I''ll stab down into another,¡± she said as she readjusted her top.

    ¡°You got it,¡± I said, readying my twin swords that Lizzy had made. Lysandra took her own blade out again, that elegant Elven-made weapon, and then nodded. The two of us rushed forth, driving our blades into its neck with all our strength. She twisted hers around sharply and then yanked it out; I did about the same. The beast howled in pain. Lysandra grabbed me, and jumped back to the ground.

    ¡°Ariana!¡± she called out as we landed.

    ¡°Belle, Der!¡± Ari said as she cast her spell, and the other two used their skills to take down The Radiant Celestial''s resistances to about half. Our Wood Elf mage''s spell, a rain of fiery darts, then struck the beast in various places, except for the head.

    ¡°Fyu!¡± Anhe then called out, casting a couple of auras on the dog-beast, who lunged at the massive elk to rake his neck with a hefty set of claws.

    ¡°Dracuoatlax!¡± the dog-beast called as he came back to earth. The dragon then arched forth, seizing the vault guardian by the neck with his massive jaws, and snapped the thing''s head clean off before roaring in triumph to the skies. The rest of the unique boss went up in pixels, but Derwydd used one of his skills to preserve the head for a taxidermist.

    ¡°Whew! Nice!!¡± Lizzy cried out, clapping her hands. ¡°And look at all of that loot!!!¡± she said in amazement. I then tapped her shoulder. ¡°Hmm?¡± she wondered, and I pointed to a door that had appeared. ¡°Huh?! More!?¡± she said excitedly.

    ¡°More.¡± Lysandra nodded.

    ¡°A lot more, I bet,¡± Maryn said.

    ¡°This really was meant for a full raid, huh?¡± Belle said with a sheepish smile.

    ¡°W-we can probably build something with our portable crafting stations to carry it all back...¡± Healina remarked with a faint grin.

    ¡°Indeed, masters,¡± the dragon smiled at us. ¡°Build something, and I will gladly carry our spoils home!¡± he said with delight.

    ¡°Hmm... Anhe, what do you think?¡± I said, beckoning her over as I checked my crafting panel.

    ¡°Hmm...? That can work, though it will be silly to see it in the air!¡± she grinned.

    ¡°Right?¡± I said with a grin of my own.

    And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how and why there was a forum post a few real hours later about a massive dragon carrying a large treasure ship across the skies of Panarena towards Xuanpu. We spent a few Panarena hours gathering up more materials, especially wood and ore, carting it all back to the spot we had claimed while our two friends guarded the area from passersby and opportunistic thieves. Then Anhe and I managed to build at least the outer hull of a treasure ship, deciding that we didn''t really need to finish it so long as it could hold our winnings and earnings, and Lizzy managed to make some strong chains so that Dracuoatlax could tow it through the skies. We decided to let Fyu haul the resource-laded waggon with Belle and Anhe, the lightest of us, for company, and began trekking back to a wayport nearby.

    ¡°That''s gonna be on a forum post later, I know it.¡± Lizzy quipped as we watched the dragon and the dog-beast fade into the distance with their cargoes.

    ¡°Yeah.¡± I agreed. ¡°But anyway, field crafting stations sure are handy,¡± I then said.

    ¡°Oh def.¡± the blonde girl nodded.

    ¡°Right?¡± Heali said.

    ¡°Are you gonna finish the ship later, you think?¡± Ariana asked me.

    ¡°Hmm... I guess we could run through here a bit longer, or go back to Bethelia to try and get some resources to craft sails and rigging for it...¡± I mused.

    ¡°Definitely Bethelia for sails and stuff. The plants around here are better for rope-making, I think.¡± Lysandra said.

    ¡°Right, and Hollyland to the east probably has a few good resource spots as well,¡± I nodded.

    ¡°We should really get a second waggon, though, and a couple of strong beasts to pull it.¡± Ariana then remarked. ¡°Maybe we can work on that with our new house or homestead?¡±

    ¡°Good plan,¡± Healina told her.

    ¡°Agree.¡± I said.

    ¡°Not too many dull moments with you girls, eh?¡± Derwydd grinned.

    ¡°Nope!¡± Lizzy beamed back.

    ¡°Definitely no dull moments here.¡± Lysandra nodded.

    ¡°Should we get some more on the way back? We have enough storage,¡± Maryn noted.

    ¡°Ehh, why not,¡± I shrugged.

    ¡°Just don''t get it from the Varri Forests or Aerdene; the Elf wardens there will kill tree-fellers on sight and you''ll get negative reputation with them.¡± Lysandra warned.

    ¡°Eep.¡±

    ¡°Let''s head south; I hear the Wund?rd Mountains have some good iron and orichal deposits, as well as a few spots for silver-steel.¡± Derwydd then suggested.

    ¡°If we''re going that far we''ll need the train again,¡± Healina returned.

    ¡°So north first, then, and then we''ll catch one to... Laeli, I think it''s called?¡± he replied.

    ¡°Or the mining outpost west of it for a closer walk,¡± Lizzy said as we turned northwards to head for the Luoliu Station.

    ***

    By the time it was afternoon in the real world, we had spent a couple of days in Panarena gathering more materials and carting it all back home to Queen''s Haven. Then Maryn and I, with input from the others, built up plans for a homestead in Bethelia, and returned there after dinner in real life with some of the refined materials we had made to get it built. When we were done, there was a homely hall with a solid foundation and a veranda shaded by the eaves sitting in the midst of our new property. Healina and Ari then set a wayport down near the edge of it (you can''t make one but you can get them from the in-game store for custom-made houses or guildhalls), and we were set to continue developing the place as we liked.

    ¡°Definitely a good spot for fields and gardens down there,¡± Ariana said as we sat on the porch later with the others, enjoying some tea. Lizzy and Derwydd had gone off to work by then, and Maryn had logged off in a fright when she suddenly recalled she had a meet-up with some of her other friends.

    ¡°Queen''s Haven had some good spots as well, I thought,¡± Belle remarked, now in her human form again.

    ¡°True, but I think that''s more of our trade-center and capital.¡± Ari replied.

    ¡°Oh, gotcha. I can see that!¡± the other girl nodded.

    ¡°Works for me,¡± I agreed.

    ¡°Pfft!¡± Lysandra started cackling.

    ¡°What''s up?¡± Belle looked over at her. The dark-haired girl flipped a panel over so we could see. It was a picture of -- you guessed it. Dracuoatlax and the treasure ship.

    Giant dragon spotted carrying a huge ship across Harmonia.

    Anon: ¡­ this is the Silvernight Queens'' dragon, right? Right?

    Anon: maybe? I think so

    Anon: the heck are they up to now?

    Anon: ¡­

    Anon: ¡­

    Anon: I give up. Wake me when the guild competition''s over. They win.

    Anon: XD

    Anon: lmfao

    Anon: duuuuddee... lulz

    Anon: h#ll no. challenge accepted!!!

    Anon: lookout, guys, we have a bad-@$$ on our hands...

    ¡°Ha-ha-ha-ha-hahh!!¡± Belle clapped her hands with delighted amusement. ¡°Oh, no, we''ve done it again!¡± she said through tears of merriment.

    ¡°Wait until they see the head.¡± I remarked with a grin, and we doubled over with laughter again, content with our adventures for the night.

    After we had finished our tea, we went over to Cloverbell and spent some time in the hotspring before returning to Queen''s Haven, Derwydd returning to Owldale Hall, to work on our crafting some more and to get the rest of our resources refined into usable materials. Derwydd took a fair cut of them with him, remarking wittily that it would take his guild (which is about ten times our size) a whole month to get through it. I didn''t doubt him in the slightest, even though it was mostly in jest.

    We spent the rest of the night relaxing or visiting fun spots in Panarena, and then one by one we got off for the night. On Sunday I went through the usual routine of being dragged to church in the morning and then later released to do as I would -- which of course meant I was soon back in Panarena again. Ariana and I went with Maryn and Fyu to do some stuff around our newest house in Bethelia, sprucing the place up a bit with some of the furniture and trappings we had either crafted or bought. She and I then fenced off a couple of areas for gardens or fields, while Maryn set up a barn and silo in another area that we had agreed on.

    ¡°Definitely looking more like a homestead now,¡± the older girl remarked when we had finished.

    ¡°Yes!¡± Ari smiled, and I nodded in agreement, looking out over the fields we had marked off and gazing at the newly-placed buildings.

    ¡°Hahh...¡± I sighed after a few moments, leaning back in the chair wearily. ¡°Tomorrow we''re back at school, huh? I got too used to this...¡± I remarked as the others looked over at me.

    ¡°Hmm... true... same.¡± Ariana nodded.

    ¡°Hard not to get used to it!¡± Maryn grinned. ¡°It''s a lot more fun than--than whatever we''re trying to be out there...¡± she then remarked as the grin faded, a more melancholy look on her face.

    ¡°Maryn?¡± I wondered. She smiled again, shaking her head.

    ¡°University jitters.¡± the dark-haired girl told us.

    ¡°Hmm.¡± I returned with a nod.

    ¡°Are you going to the one Belle and Sandra are at?¡± Ari asked her.

    ¡°It''s my second option,¡± Maryn replied. ¡°My first is AILE, though.¡±

    ¡°Oooohh.¡± Ari said with awe, and even I perked up in amazement.

    ¡°The Archimedes Institute of Learning and Education, huh?¡± I remarked.

    ¡°Hm? Lana, you know about it?¡± Maryn asked me.

    ¡°Heh... just another thing my parents tease me about...¡± I said with a bemused smile.

    ¡°Ahh, gotcha.¡± the older girl grinned back mischievously. ¡°One of those things, huh?¡±

    ¡°Poor Lana.¡± Ariana said, patting my head with a smile.

    ¡°Yeah, yeah...¡± I quipped back, and they giggled.

    ¡°Oh, Lana, I happened to notice in some magazine the other day that there''s a new VR game prepping for release next year or so... apparently Galaxy Avengers has almost finished converting and reorienting their MMO for the Dream Machine.¡± Maryn then said to me.

    ¡°Oh nice!¡± I exclaimed. ¡°KOH dropped the ball, I guess... I thought they''d be quicker...¡±

    ¡°Joshy said those guys had some conversion issues; which is kind of confusing to me because I would think Galaxy Avengers stuff would be harder to adapt...¡± Ariana told me.

    ¡°Now that you say that, I get what you mean...¡± I nodded back, the three of us suddenly pondering the question.

    ¡°Maybe the other game had better resources or better access to stuff.¡± Maryn shrugged.

    ¡°Access, maybe. KOH is a Japanese-Korean venture, after all, and the other one is made closer to home.¡± I agreed. ¡°But anyway... our home is here, for now; can''t see us moving beyond it quite yet.¡±

    ¡°Oh definitely. Especially after all the effort we put into it.¡± Ariana smiled.

    ¡°Exactly.¡± I smiled back.

    ¡°No question here.¡± Maryn agreed, taking a sip of her tea as she leaned back in her chair, as did Ari and myself. ¡°Still... school tomorrow...¡±

    ¡°Yep.¡±

    ¡°Ugh.¡± the two of us returned almost simultaneously.

    ¡°Masters, I believe this barn here to be more suitable for myself. If you are heading to the other world again, I shall take my rest here for a change.¡± Fyu said to us as he came up to the veranda.

    ¡°Sure, buddy, go ahead.¡± I smiled back, and he bowed his head.

    ¡°I shall see you upon your return, masters. Fare ye well.¡± the dog-beast said, and then made his way to the barn.

    ¡°It''s about nine in the real world.¡± Maryn said as she checked the time.

    ¡°Well... I guess we can at least make the effort of getting back into routine...¡± I sighed.

    ¡°True. And it wouldn''t hurt to get off early for a change,¡± Ariana said in agreement.

    ¡°That too.¡±

    ¡°Oh definitely.¡± Maryn nodded. ¡°I''m heading off first, then. See you tomorrow.¡± she smiled, and with that she poofed away for the night. Ariana and I shared a hug, and then logged off ourselves moments later.

    ***

    ¡°Hahh...¡± I sighed again as my real self, setting the Dream Machine aside on its stand. ¡°And so ends winter break.¡±

 Chapter Three: Back to School

    After a resumed routine of waking up early to get ready for school the next morning, I found myself on the bus headed for school. I found myself even more reluctant to get back into it than I had been at the end of summer. Sitting there on that seat, back in my school uniform and seated next to Ty as the bus made its way through the city, it almost felt like winter break had been a long dream -- at least until Ty pulled out his phone and, with a look of amusement, faced it to me so I could see the Panarena forums.

    ¡°You save any of those vault-bosses for the rest of us, Dans?¡± he asked in a faintly sarcastic tone.

    ¡°Ah-heh-heh-heh...¡± I returned sheepishly, and he shook his head. ¡°Guess we just got lucky that day.¡±

    ¡°You got that right,¡± Ty replied as he put his phone away.

    A moment of silence passed by. The semi-monotonous landscape of the city passed by us, occasionally broken up by some glitzy corner-mall or performance venue highlighting their existences with flashy lights and signs. Yet even these were somehow monotonous to the eyes at the moment. Mondays... I softly grimaced to myself.

    ¡°Man, it''s gonna be an even bigger pain coming back next year from summer break...¡± Ty remarked, also gazing lethargically out of the window.

    ¡°Right?¡± I quietly sighed in agreement.

    ¡°Gonna be a wild ride this spring, Dans; I saw that poster a while back. You got that Robin Hood thing goin'' on, and I''ve got this engineering project I''mma be working on; and we got that guild competition too... y''all gonna be stretched thin for that.¡±

    ¡°Heh. I think we have enough of a reputation that people won''t just blindly go after us.¡±

    ¡°Ain''t gonna be like that,¡± he returned, flicking the side of my head. ¡°They''ll all be super wound up and cautious about going up against you.¡±

    ¡°Ahh... that''s true...¡± I admitted as I caught on to his reasoning. ¡°Still... I can''t imagine we''ll be the only targets. You guys will probably have your hands full as well.¡±

    ¡°Maybe.¡± Ty shrugged back. ¡°We''re staying out of the Wildlands, though. Rumors say that''s gonna be the hotspot for actual fighting.¡±

    ¡°Wildeye doesn''t want to be part of that?¡± I wondered with surprise.

    ¡°Nah, Dans. He''s workin'' on some arrangement with that MacYnduff guy from Gears and Wheels, though.¡±

    ¡°Heh... everyone''s probably working on an arrangement with them...¡±

    ¡°''Got that right.¡± Ty returned. Silence resumed, and I reflected on our little exchange in the lull.

    Mountain Tigers will probably stay focused on the Aldholt and possibly nearby regions; some of the other guilds there might compete with them for its resources as well, ?SOVEREIGN? for sure, and possibly Flamehearts. Others like The Lightbrook Brigade might take a wait and see approach. As for the guilds around us in Xunapu... Jade Lotus and Heavenly Dragons are two I know to have a big reputation... and I''ve heard about Guardians of the Eternal Citadel enough from player forums to know they''ll be into it with a will. Not many of them competed in the tournament, and from what I''ve heard none of their best players entered. And then another I saw someone note down was King-Priests of the Demon Sands... I don''t have a clue about any of them, but they sound dangerous... along with that Venomheart guild... now that one''s a real mystery...

    ¡°Heard anything about that Venomheart guild, Dans?¡± Ty quietly asked.

    ¡°Just the name. What about you?¡± I wondered. How coincidental it was that we had both been thinking about them at that moment.

    ¡°Wild'' thinks they''re poisoners of some sort; not sure how many of them there are, yet, but they''re definitely shooting to get in on the action. Probably aiming for your guild the most.¡±

    ¡°Ehh?¡±

    ¡°We got a whole month or so until we have to worry about that though.¡±

    ¡°Ah. Right. The competition won''t officially start until after the Valentine''s Event.¡± I recalled.

    ¡°Dang... that dumb holiday... ''though I guess it won''t be so dumb for you this time.¡±

    ¡°Ahh... heh-heh...¡±

    ***

    After arriving at school we went through our usual parting routine to start off the day, and I soon found myself at that familiar locker near homeroom. I had mixed feelings about seeing the thing: on the one hand, it meant I was back in the land of education and uniforms. Yet on the other hand, it also had a more favorable nostalgia going for it as well. After all, it was the place where I had met Rachel and exchanged some memorable first words with her. A small smile came to my face, and I paused a moment as I sorted my books out for the morning.

    ¡°It''s not so bad here at school after all,¡± I quietly remarked.

    ¡°Definite agree.¡± a soft voice said next to me. It was Rachel. We smiled at each other, and continued readying ourselves for morning classes.

    ¡°But it is gonna be hard to get back into it...¡± I sighed as we shut our locker doors and headed inside.

    ¡°And then some,¡± Rachel reminded me. We made our way to our seats and sat down, and then the meaning of her words suddenly struck home.

    ¡°Ahh--! Oh... right... the musical...¡± I said, recalling that Ty had mentioned it to me as well this morning.

    ¡°Mm-hm; and the Valentine''s Gala...¡± she remarked innocently.

    ¡°Huh...?¡± I wondered blankly.

    ¡°Don''t tell me you missed that on the events board?!¡± she exclaimed with a hint of indignation.

    Uh-oh. Wait, hang on here...

    ¡°You know I don''t go in the front door like you and Andrea!¡± I softly protested.

    ¡°Ah! Oops... sorry!¡± she smiled goofily.

    Phew, I inwardly sighed in relief.

    ¡°Hmm... something green this time... or maybe pink and red...¡± Rachel softly mused to herself.

    If she''s not planning out our wedding now she definitely will be come senior year.

    ¡°P-pink, you say?¡±

    ¡°Oh, I''ll be pink and you''ll be red is what I mean.¡± she smiled at me again.

    ¡°Hmm...?¡± I returned with a more interested tone. She softly winked at me, and then our homeroom class was called to order.

    How quickly I remembered the routine of being instructed in the finer points of grammar and literature, led along through the pages of history, tortured by the tenets of mathematics, and then bewildered by the wonders of science. It was almost a culture shock to go back to it, the kind I imagine is felt by those returning to their home country after being abroad. When that lunch hour came along, I was more than grateful to scramble out of that room with Rachel to grab our lunches and head to the club room.

    The two of us found ourselves there first, and we sat down at our usual spot on the sofa, heaving sighs of relief as we nearly melted into it.

    ¡°Just a couple more months... just a couple, and then we''ll never have to take another math class again.¡± she reminded me, patting my hand.

    ¡°Yeah... can''t wait,¡± I returned, softly clasping her hand in mine.

    ¡°The heck? Are you two done in already?¡± Ellie said as she arrived with Andrea, Thomas, and Mary. Anhe came in just behind them, shutting the door behind her as she did so.

    ¡°Can''t blame them. I didn''t think I was going to last through that one lecture myself,¡± Thomas remarked.

    ¡°Blehh. I guess I can''t blame them either. I''m actually looking forward to work this week instead of problem-solving that second-year math course I somehow wound up in.¡± the blonde girl shrugged.

    ¡°You ended up in it because you were thinking about a career that required more advanced math at the time.¡± Andrea reminded her.

    ¡°Oh. Right.¡±

    ¡°Really? High school advanced?¡± Mary scrunched up her face as she heard the words, unpacking her lunch.

    ¡°Gotta build a foundation in it somewhere,¡± the other girl said.

    ¡°Hmm.¡±

    ¡°Still, these two might have the rougher jobs this spring... hard to believe they actually scored the big parts in the musical!¡± Ellie grinned.

    ¡°And you also get to study yet another foreign language with my mother and I!¡± Anhe softly smiled at us.

    ¡°Now that I''m ready for.¡± I remarked.

    ¡°Meaning you''re not ready to be the star of a musical?¡± Mary smirked.

    ¡°G''hyeck!¡±

    ¡°That''s a no.¡± Rachel said as she took out her lunch. ¡°We''ll be fine, though.¡± she smiled at me, and I managed to smile back as I got my own lunch.

    ¡°I guess so.¡±

    We ate our lunches in silence for a few minutes, quietly pondering the spring ahead of us. Andrea''s face suddenly slid into a thoughtful expression, and when she had finished the sandwich in her hands she leaned back in her chair.

    ¡°We''ll have to pick another workplace or two to visit soon, and of course our summer trip after that...¡± she remarked.

    ¡°That can wait for Tuesday, probably,¡± Mary said.

    ¡°True, but let''s get thinking about them anyway.¡±

    ¡°Oh definitely.¡±

    ¡°Speaking of things that are getting planned out, the cast and crew of the musical is supposed to meet with Miss Andrews after school in the theater, aren''t they?¡± Thomas suddenly said.

    ¡°Are we?¡± I looked at Rachel.

    ¡°I don''t remember... I guess we''ll find out in class.¡± she replied.

    ¡°True,¡± I agreed.

    ¡°Hmm... I''ll have to check with Bill... and I''ll have to start talking with Fun Castle about my shifts again...¡± Thomas then mused.

    ¡°Oh right; well, at least you won''t have to be there all the time.¡± I said.

    ¡°I guess not, but there''s more to stage crew than rolling curtains and pointing lights. Some of us are going to be painting scenery and arranging props as well, and that can take time.¡± he told me.

    ¡°Ah, true... didn''t think about that.¡±

    ¡°She''s going all out with it too this year, isn''t she?¡± Andrea remarked.

    ¡°Dad and a lot of other people in the education system really pressured things to get money flowing into the arts and education again, so Miss Andrews is trying to repay that by showing off a bit,¡± Mary told us. ¡°So the two of you in particular need to be on the A-game with this musical. All the cast and crew, really, but you two most of all, being the stars of the show.¡±

    ¡°To make all of the big-wigs and such see that we didn''t waste their time, huh?¡± I remarked thoughtfully as I took a sip from my drink.

    ¡°Exactly.¡± Mary nodded at me.

    ¡°Hmm...¡±

    ¡°We can handle that!¡± Rachel said with a smile. ¡°It might be a little shaky at first, getting to know all those new people, but I''m sure you''ll do fine.¡±

    ¡°You''re not worried about yourself?¡± I asked her.

    ¡°Hmm... I''m used to adapting to new people.¡± she shrugged.

    ¡°Ahh -- true.¡± I returned.

    ¡°Sean has been doing fine with us; I think he will get on fine with them!¡± Anhe smiled supportively.

    ¡°You''ll get on with them for the msot part, I''m sure.¡± Thomas said. ¡°Stephen and Joe act like goofballs, but they''re good guys. Marcus, Herby, and Matthew seem laid back and nonchalant, but when it''s time to work they go for it. But then there''s Joanna...¡± he added with a hesitant smile.

    ¡°Joanna Love?¡± Mary said with a knowing smile.

    ¡°I don''t like where this is going,¡± I whispered to Rachel, who subtly nodded.

    ¡°Well, they''ll find out sooner or later.¡± Ellie said with a wink.

    ¡°Hm? Hmm??¡± Rachel looked around at them with a bemused smile.

    ¡°It''s best you find out yourselves,¡± Andrea smiled bashfully.

    ¡°Okay. Now I''m worried.¡± I sighed.

    ¡°Anyway, good luck!¡± our club leader said to us. ¡°Get those lunches down, we only have about five minutes left!¡±

    ¡°Ehh??¡±

    Anyhow. Afternoon classes came along, and in Theater we found out that we were indeed going to have our first meet up with the cast and crew after school that day. That, and in our last class of the day we got our introduction to learning the Japanese language. On the one hand, I had an impression it might be slightly easier to learn than Chinese; on the other hand, I about lost that impression upon learning that there were three writing systems used simultaneously for the language. Imagine writing English with the alphabet, runes, and pictograms.

    Wait, that actually sounds kind of interesting...

    But anyway, I''m sure Rachel and I will have plenty of help learning our second language of the year. After our last class, Thomas met up with us at our lockers, saying that he would give us a ride home afterward.

    ¡°You did tell your parents you''d be coming home later?¡± he asked us. ¡°Wait, that was a silly question for Rachel... Andrea''ll tell her folks,¡± he amended with a faint grin.

    ¡°True!¡± Rachel nodded. ¡°Don''t tell me you haven''t said anything?¡± she then turned to me.

    ¡°Did I even tell them I was in it...?¡± I wondered aloud.

    ¡°Huh?!¡± my girlfriend stared at me, mouth agape.

    This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

    ¡°Ahh...¡± Thomas smiled bemusedly.

    ¡°Ah--I mean--I''ll send a note, or something... honest!¡± I hastily said.

    ¡°Sheesh!¡± Rachel sighed. ¡°I know you don''t get on all that well with your mom, but your dad, at least...¡±

    ¡°R-right,¡± I replied. ¡°I''ll send a note to him before we get started there,¡± I added, pulling out my phone to do so.

    ¡°We won''t be too late going home... I''d be surprised if today''s meeting goes over an hour. Just enough time to get each other acclimated to one another so that we know what we''re dealing with for the next couple of months,¡± Thomas told us as we approached the auditorium.

    ¡°And maybe go over some scenes? Build up a rapport?¡± Rachel asked.

    ¡°That too, yeah,¡± the older boy nodded. ¡°And like I said earlier--!!¡± he began, but then cut himself off as we stopped in front of a girl near the doors. ¡°J-Joanna...¡± he stuttered out.

    The girl before us was around Ellie''s height, maybe a bit taller, her brown hair arranged in a page cut, and almost cat-like green eyes. She smiled at us, nodding to Thomas and then looking towards us.

    ¡°Joanna Love.¡± she introduced herself. ¡°And you''re the two lovebirds making a stage debut as two lovebirds: Sean and Rachel.¡±

    ¡°Nice to meet you!¡± Rachel smiled back at her. I saw Thomas quietly sigh in resignation.

    Wh-what''s the deal here, Tom? I wondered to myself.

    ¡°Good! Nice to meet you as well; oh, I''m playing someone you might find interesting for the next several weeks: Guy of Gisbourne.¡± she told us.

    ¡°Hmm...?¡± Rachel returned with interest.

    Hmm... her voice is pretty deep, for a girl''s, and in the right costume you''d never know she was a girl. !! ¡­ Waaaaaaiiiit a second... aren''t there some versions of the Robin Hood story where--

    ¡°Yep! I''m gonna be the third wheel of our on-stage love triangle!¡± the older girl said enthusiastically, unwittingly replying to my unspoken question.

    ¡°Huh?!¡± I quickly returned.

    ¡°L-love triangle, you say?¡± Rachel said with a more befuddled smile.

    ¡°Hahh... this is why I tried to warn you...¡± Thomas softly remarked.

    ¡°Oh, don''t worry, Tommy; sure, my personal feelings help the situation, but it''s not like I''m going to actually steal her away from him!¡± Joanna smiled brightly.

    Heh?! Steal!? Rachel?? Hah?! Oh...

    ¡°M-me?¡± Rachel laughed nervously.

    ¡°No time, cuteness; let''s go in before Andies yells at us.¡±

    ¡°A-Andies?¡± I wondered in a nonplussed tone as we entered the auditorium.

    ¡°Sh-she''s Miss Andrew''s second cousin.¡± Thomas told us.

    ¡°Huh. Neat.¡± I said. The three of us took some seats near the edge after walking in; Joanna sat nearby us, looking over with a wink as Miss Andrews clapped her hands to call us to order. There was another woman next to her with a pad in her hands.

    ¡°All right! So this is Holly, my aide; she was checking you all in as you entered, and it looks like everyone is actually here! Welcome, everyone, to this year''s musical production of ''Sherwood''s Merry Men, a Robin Hood Story''!¡± our teacher began, and we clapped in reply. ¡°Today, I just want you all to get to know each other a little bit. Some of you are old hat at this, but there''s several new faces as well, including our lead roles, so I''ll give you about an hour or so to talk with one another and then before you go I''m going to hand out scripts and songbooks. And since you''re all in one or another of my classes, remember that your participation and performance in this will count towards your final grade for the end of the year! That''s all I have for now, don''t forget to pick up your reading material after our little social! Oh, and there''s ice-cream and pop in the foyer.¡± she added with a smile, and with that we started breaking off into small groups.

    Funny enough, Rachel and I found ourselves instantly surrounded by the Merry Men: Matthew Siemann, who towered over all of us, playing Little John; Herbert or Herby Jones, a near perfect image of the character he was playing, Friar Tuck; Henry Anderson, a guy from our class, playing Allan A''Dale, also the narrator; and there was Joey Winters, playing Will Scarlet, along with Leslie Hope, Maggie Rivers, and Jacob Sherman, who were going to be outlaw extras for the production.

    A few paces away from our ¡°outlaw¡± group was Stephen Kent, a senior, who was playing the role of King Richard; Joe Dunn, also a senior, was with him. He was going to be Prince John. The sheriff, named Sheriff Mortimer in the production, was being played by their friend Marcus Donovan; Marcus'' brother Brian was playing Sir Richard, that one knight who gets helped by Robin in his dealings with the Bishop of Hereford, who was being played by Malcolm Love, who was Joanna''s older brother. The two brothers were laughing with each other, and the other sibling pair were quietly observing the room near Stephen''s impromptu posse. Allie St. John, a girl form our grade, was playing the sheriff''s daughter Genevieve.

    The rest of the cast, the townsfolk extras, tournament archers, the royal hunters and knights, the guards, and so forth, mingled with each other or with one of the other two camps that had popped up.

    ¡°We should definitely get together and run some lines,¡± Matthew said to our own group.

    ¡°Dude, I haven''t seen this one in forever. I wonder if she''ll keep all the scenes in?¡± Joey wondered.

    ¡°Probably. It''s Miss Andrews, after all. She''s a perfectionist.¡± Henry shrugged. ¡°Anyway; Herbs! Way to go on snagging Tuck. You''ve got the best lines here, pal!¡±

    ¡°Aw, shucks; I''ll just be glad if I don''t trip on my tongue during the actual performances.¡± the other boy said.

    ¡°You''ll be fine.¡± Leslie reassured him. ¡°You always pull through in the end for us.¡±

    ¡°True!¡± Matthew agreed.

    ¡°But anyway; kudos to the teach'' for picking an actual love triangle for the story''s love triangle, eh?¡± Joey said with a smirk. ¡°Though maybe that was a bit of a surprise to the two over here!¡± he added, nodding towards the two of us.

    ¡°Hahh...¡± I sighed.

    ¡°Hey! At least it''s not another ''Sean''s-got-another-girl'' tale.¡± Maggie remarked to cheer me up.

    ¡°Hmm...? I guess you''re right,¡± I suddenly noticed, faintly smiling.

    ¡°That was a bit of a shock,¡± Rachel said with an anxious smile. ¡°Although she promised not to steal me for real.¡±

    ¡°Niiice.¡± Maggie quietly laughed. I could see Joanna looking over towards us from the other side of the room; she turned away when I looked over, and I turned back to the others at hand. ¡°Oh, hey Brian!¡± Maggie then said as our bishop-plagued knight came over to join us.

    ¡°Yo!¡± he said, sitting down with us. ¡°So, Henry, how d''you feel being the gears of the performance? Being the narrator to drive us on and such, that is.¡±

    ¡°Hmm... it''s definitely a switch from being background last year,¡± he said with a nervous grin.

    ¡°Lucky you, being the only person in the entire school that can actually play a real lute,¡± Leslie quipped.

    ¡°Don''t forget he sings, too!¡± Maggie poked her friend.

    ¡°We all sing, airhead.¡± the other girl retorted, and we laughed.

    ¡°Hmm? I know I''ve heard Rachel sing a couple times when we went with her and Andrea for girl''s nights, but what about Sean?¡± Maggie wondered. I quietly opened the soda-pop I had and started drinking it to avoid answering.

    ¡°Hmm... I don''t think I''ve heard him sing either, come to think,¡± Rachel remarked.

    ¡°Yo! Buddy!¡± Matthew began, softly poking me repeatedly. ¡°Hey! Yo! Yoo-hoo! Oh buddy! D''ya sing? Do ya? Do ya? Do ya sing, buddy? Old pal, old friend? Huh? Do ya?¡±

    ¡°Let up on him, Matt,¡± Thomas said as he came to my rescue. The poking stopped.

    ¡°Oh hey, Tommy! Does this guy sing?¡± Matthew returned, pointing at me. I was still deep in my drink. Still avoiding the question.

    ¡°Heh, dunno; it''s funny, I''ve spent a fair amount of time with him and it''s never really come up. Not even on our holiday trip.¡± the other boy replied.

    ¡°Well, I guess we''ll find out soon enough. His opening lines are a song, after all.¡± Brian noted. I briefly choked, and then coughed for a moment or two while I set the drink down.

    ¡°Huh?!¡± I asked with fear after I had recovered.

    ¡°Ah, that happens in some musicals, a main character coming in with a song. Robin''s got a fun one that comes in on the coattails of Allan''s introductory ballad.¡± Henry said enthusiastically.

    ¡°Don''t feel awkward about it; Marion has one too. Hers is a sub-song in Genevieve''s introductory number, since Marion in this play starts off as her handmaid.¡± Maggie smiled.

    ¡°Heh...? Kind of a Cinderella thing going on, then?¡± I said with interest.

    ¡°Cute!¡± Rachel remarked. ¡°That sounds like a lot of fun to play!¡±

    ¡°Oh def!¡± Leslie nodded. ¡°But yeah, you should really poke this one with a stick a bit to get him singing later.¡± she said to Rachel.

    ¡°Will do!¡± my girlfriend replied all too eagerly for my liking.

    ¡°Ah-heh...¡± I smiled ruefully. I then felt someone''s hand on my shoulder. Joanna was there when I looked up, and she had a subtle grin on her face.

    ¡°Something else you should know,¡± she said to me.

    ¡°What''s that?¡±

    ¡°Gisbourne and Hood have a big on-stage duel in this play... so I want to spend some time with you to see how good you are with stage-fighting.¡± Joanna said.

    ¡°S-stage-fighting?¡± I wondered curiously.

    ¡°Sure, he''s been in a fight or so; but play-acting a fight can actually be harder,¡± Herby remarked.

    ¡°We''ll have to do the same for our little skit,¡± Matthew told me. ¡°Or did you forget how Robin Hood and Little John meet?¡± he asked with a grin.

    ¡°That''s about the most iconic story from the tales,¡± I replied. ¡°Along with the Friar Tuck bout, of course.¡±

    ¡°Ohh, that''s right, I get to whack him too!¡± Herby recalled. We laughed again at his quiet enthusiasm, though I did start feeling a bit more reserved about what I had gotten myself into.

    ¡°Yep yep; the three of us get a chance to go toe to toe with him,¡± Joanna remarked. ¡°Of course we all know that you''ve been in a fight or two, and that you''ve had some karate classes or whatever, but stage-fighting truly is different from anything you''ve done before.¡±

    ¡°I''ll have to remember that.¡± I said with a nod.

    ¡°Good!¡± she smiled. ¡°Oh, and Rachel? Come with me for a sec?¡± Joanna asked, and Rachel nodded, standing up to follow her. The rest of us continued on with some light banter, eagerly heading over to the ice-cream before it was all gone.

    A few minutes later I felt a hand slip into mine; Rachel was there, her face bright red as she pressed closer to me. I put a hand on her head, softly patting her.

    ¡°You okay? What happened?¡± I wondered. A moment of quiet passed.

    ¡°Tell you later?¡± she then replied.

    ¡°Sure, Rey,¡± I answered, and she looked up with a smile again. We then shared a bowl of ice-cream with each other; I saw Joanna smiling like a cat over at us, and quietly put the pieces together. When it was time to go, we grabbed our scripts and our songbooks before heading out to meet Thomas at his car. She kept hold of my arm the whole way to the car.

    ¡°You two okay?¡± Thomas asked as we set off. Rachel nodded, and I softly smiled, turning to her.

    ¡°H-hey, Rey... ahh... did Joanna... did she...?¡±

    ¡°Kissed me.¡± she said, blushing. ¡°M-Miss Andrews was there. There''s a scene where Guy forcibly kisses Marion in the play, so she wanted to okay that with us.¡±

    ¡°Ah -- ahh...¡± I nodded. ¡°I''m not... hrrmm... I mean, if you''re okay...?¡±

    ¡°I am... it just... caught me off-guard.¡± she said, smiling again as Thomas drove away from the school.

    ¡°She can do that. She''s not very inhibited sometimes,¡± Thomas told us. ¡°But she is a good person, and she''s very respectful when it comes down to it; that kiss probably won''t happen again until more serious rehearsals.¡±

    ¡°Mm, gotcha.¡± Rachel nodded, and then leaned on me as we cruised through the city to where she lived. Thomas looked back at us in the mirror and smiled.

    When we got to Rachel and Andrea''s house, Andrea herself was on the porch waiting in a more casual outfit; she got into the car up front with Thomas as Rachel and I exited the vehicle. I grabbed my bag just in case, sensing that the older two were going to be headed off somewhere on a date.

    ¡°I was gonna drop you off next anyway, but if you wanna get out now that''s fine.¡± Thomas told me.

    ¡°I can walk... you two have fun!¡± I said, and he gave me a thumbs-up.

    ¡°Have fun, Andrea!¡± Rachel said.

    ¡°See you later tonight!¡± Andrea said in reply, and the two of them took off down the street.

    ¡°There they go,¡± Rachel said.

    ¡°On a Monday, of all days,¡± I said with a bit of surprise.

    ¡°True. But he probably works a lot this week, so maybe it was his only day off.¡±

    ¡°Hmm, could be, yeah.¡±

    I looked over at her, and she looked back at me, smiling. I smiled in relief.

    ¡°Feeling better?¡± I asked her.

    ¡°Almost.¡± she replied; before I could ask, she pulled me close, pressing her lips to mine in a passionate kiss. It ended reluctantly, and then she smiled again. ¡°Now I''m better.¡± she said with a giggle. I wrapped her up in a hug.

    ¡°I''m glad.¡± I told her.

    ¡°I wish we could stay like this,¡± Rachel said, ¡°But your folks''ll probably want you home soon.¡±

    ¡°Probably.¡±

    ¡°See you after dinner?¡±

    ¡°And for homework.¡±

    ¡°True! But Panarena is more fun.¡±

    ¡°Oh definitely.¡± I smiled as we let go of each other.

    ¡°Then hurry home!¡± she smiled, kissing me once more before dashing into the house with a wave. I made sure she was inside, and then headed home myself.

    As I got close to my house, I saw that somewhat mysterious young lady whom I suspected was Myanihia passing by on the other side of the street. She didn''t seem to notice me this time, but my mind started wondering again as it had a few weeks ago: just how close does she live to us? Very quickly I snapped myself out of it, catching sight of a familiar vehicle pulling in to the driveway a few houses ahead. Mom was home.

    You''re home early for once, I muttered internally as I resumed walking. She almost sprang out of the car, and then dashed into the house. I sighed; it was probably going to be a quick in-and-out for her. When I got to the door myself and headed inside I could hear her softly bantering with the old man about where a dress of hers had gotten to.

    Definitely a new or important client again. I quickly stole up to my own room, and had just gotten to the door when dad caught sight of me.

    ¡°Oh, hey, buddy!¡± he said.

    ¡°Hey.¡± I replied.

    ¡°Albert, focus!¡± my mother said sharply, and then poked her head out of the door. ¡°Hi, Sean. You''re home a bit late; it''s not a club day, right?¡±

    ¡°Nah, just a theater... class thing.¡± I returned, still a bit hesitant about revealing what exactly I had gotten myself into.

    ¡°Theater class ''thing''?¡± she returned with a more interested look, stepping out of the door and into the hallway to zero in on me.

    ¡°Theater class ''thing'', huh?¡± dad echoed.

    ¡°Ahh... d-don''t you have a--¡±

    ¡°I have forty minutes until I actually have to be where my client is, and in the meantime Jessica can do a fine job on her own. What is this ''theater class thing'' you have going on? I''m getting very surprised by you this year, young man, whatever you think of me. I thought for sure that thing in your room your aunt gave you would rot your brains out by now, but you''ve nearly been the star of your school for a while now: getting a girlfriend, starting a club, managing your anger better, going out with actual friends... and now you''re involved with the theater?¡± my mother returned at once, fixing me with that certain look. You know, the one that demands answers in full and complete sentences, preferably within seconds of the question being asked.

    ¡°Ahh... I... buh... it''s a... musical... thing...¡± I stuttered out. She raised her eyebrows, and my dad began to faintly grin. ¡°Ahh... and... she had us... the teacher, that is, we did -- we had a, a meeting... kind of... about the musical... thing... and that''s...¡± I continued somewhat blankly, and she then gently sighed, stepping forward to gently pull the backpack off of me to open it up and look through it, espying at once the script and the lyric-book it contained. Her eyes widened as my dad came over to look as well; he began quietly cackling at once and my mother looked at me with surprise.

    ¡°You''re in a musical!¡± she exclaimed, and then opened the script to see the unfortunately highlighted specifics of my script, whereupon her surprised doubled. ¡°Sean Daniels, you''re playing the lead role in a musical for your school?!¡± she cried out in a tone of high-pitched amazement that I had definitely never heard her use in my entire life.

    ¡°Ahh... I guess... yeah... ah-heh...¡±

    ¡°Yeahh, buddy!¡± my dad said at once, thumping me on the back proudly.

    ¡°Good gracious! Why didn''t you say something earlier?!¡± mom asked me.

    ¡°Ahh...¡± I scratched my head in bemusement, uncertain of what to say.

    ¡°Albert, we have to tell the grands, we have to tell your sister!¡± she continued with excitement.

    ¡°I know, I know! What about your folks?¡±

    ¡°My folks! They''ll definitely fly in to see this, I''m sure of it!¡±

    Oh, yeah, so dad''s folks are in that retirement center we visited a couple months ago. My mother''s folks are still spry, and they travel around the world with no fixed address. They''re basically photo-journalists and bloggers living life to the fullest. I think we vacationed with them once when I was three or so. But anyway; so they''re doing a tour of South America right now, and the word was that they''d be working their way back up from Tierra del Fuego to Panama or something like that.

    ¡°Ahh, look at this! Rachel''s got a part too! I wonder if her mother will fly in, too?¡±

    ¡°Well! Look at that!¡± my dad remarked with approval. ¡°Sean, you little rascal, how long''ve you known about this? Wait! Don''t tell me -- since before break.¡±

    ¡°G''hyeck!¡±

    ¡°Sean!!¡± my mother exclaimed with a slight disappointment. ¡°Well we know about it now, at least.¡±

    ¡°So we can expect you home late quite a lot this spring, huh?¡± dad said to me.

    ¡°Ahh... I guess so.¡±

    ¡°All right, all right; here,¡± he said, gently taking the two books from my mother and handing them back to me. ¡°Go do your homework and stuff, eh?¡± he said, and my mother nodded.

    ¡°R-right,¡± I said, and with that I ducked into my door to do just that. Well, after getting out of that constricting school uniform, anyway. I set my books and homework out upon the desk, and then switched on my monitor, connecting it to my phone. Rachel was already on-screen, waiting for me.

    ¡°What took you so long?¡± she said to me with a funny look.

    ¡°Ahh... Spanish Inquisition,¡± I said with a wry grin.

    ¡°Hmm...?¡± Rachel returned with a knowing look. ¡°They found out today, huh?¡± she said with a smile.

    ¡°Y-yeah.¡±

    ¡°Looks like they took it well!¡±

    ¡°Maybe a bit too well,¡± I said with a faint laugh.

    ¡°Maybe!¡± she grinned.

    ¡°Hm? Oh, that''s right... ah, um... so...¡± I started hesitantly, and her grin became more lopsided.

    ¡°Do my parents know, right?¡±

    ¡°Well, yeah.¡±

    ¡°Hmm... mom knows, so she''s promised to fly in. I told Joshy, too, so he''ll probably tell dad, but we know how I am about him...¡±

    ¡°I remember.¡± giving her a sympathetic smile.

    ¡°Yeah.¡± she smiled back sadly, then lightly slapped her cheeks. ¡°Anyway! That math homework though...¡±

    ¡°Right... pages two-thirty to two-fifty-one tonight... ugh.¡±

    ¡°Right??¡± Rachel sighed exasperatedly, and with that we began tearing in to our homework.

 Chapter Four: The Mysterious Ring

    After the two of us made our way through the homework (which I swear is always a huge pile every start of a semester), we ended the call to have dinner at our respective houses, and then as usual I was released to go upstairs again, where I very quickly dove in to Panarena to forget that I was a student for the next few hours -- well, subjective hours, at least. Time acceleration is not good for nothing. I loaded up in Bethelia with a sigh of exasperated relief.

    ¡°You okay?¡± Ariana asked me.

    ¡°Hm? Oh, just glad to be back. You got on early, huh?¡± I replied.

    ¡°We had pizza, and I wasn''t that hungry.¡± she shrugged back. ¡°I think the others are at Queen''s Haven, though,¡± she added as she looked at the roster.

    ¡°Well, Maryn will load up here too,¡± I pointed out.

    ¡°Oh true! We''ll wait for her and then head back.¡±

    ¡°Welcome back, masters,¡± Fyu called as he approached. ¡°Are we to head south soon? Or shall we continue building up your new estate?¡±

    ¡°Hmm...¡± I returned, pondering for a moment. Maryn then materialized, and the rest of the gang started arriving from the wayport.

    ¡°Yo! Leader! Where''re we headed?¡± Lizzy said as she lead the others up to the porch.

    ¡°H--Lana hasn''t decided, yet,¡± Ariana said, bashfully grinning over at me in apology.

    ¡°Hmm?¡± the blonde Nordian remarked, coming over to grab me in a gentle headlock. ¡°I''ll stock up on supplies and stuff for this place with Der and Heali in a couple days; right now there''s an event quest at some village up in Bretony; wanna check it out?¡±

    ¡°Bretony?¡± I looked over at her.

    ¡°Master, there was a rumor from one of the beast-folk who visited here that Bretonnic villages are being raided by goblins that have recently sprang from a cave in that land; it would be an honor to go and fight them with you,¡± Fyu said to me.

    ¡°Hmm... Bretony''s south of us, too, so we can waggon up and head for the train... we can do that!¡± I nodded back, and with that we were soon geared up and off on our adventure for the night.

    ¡°You forget how big this world can be, until you get on one of these trains,¡± Lysandra said as we all sat with Fyu in the waggon car.

    ¡°It really amazes me,¡± Anhe nodded in agreement.

    ¡°So, kiddos, how was that first day back at school?¡± Belle asked us. The six of us who were in high school groaned together as one. ¡°That good, huh?¡± our pixie quipped as Lysandra stifled a giggle.

    ¡°I don''t know what the rest of them are complaining for,¡± Maryn sighed, ¡°I''m the one who''s getting ready for university.¡±

    ¡°Oh, right,¡± Lizzy recalled, clapping her hands together. ¡°You''re aiming for AILE, right?¡±

    ¡°Yep.¡± Maryn nodded back.

    ¡°Ooh...¡± Belle whistled with awe.

    ¡°Good luck, girlie.¡± Lysandra said.

    ¡°And of course Der and Heali are now making their own university plans... what about you three? Or have you gotten that far yet?¡± Lizzy turned to the younger three of us.

    ¡°I do not yet know exactly what I am going to do for higher education, but I might go overseas for it,¡± Anhe told us.

    ¡°Aww! We''ll miss you!¡± Belle said, and Anhe smiled back.

    ¡°I will always try to log in and spend time with you!¡± she replied, cupping Belle in her hands as the pixie-girl beamed back.

    ¡°Good!¡± she smiled. ¡°What about Ari?¡± she then turned to the Wood Elf, who leaned back thoughtfully.

    ¡°Hmm... personally I''d like to try aiming for the local university... but I want to check with Sean about it over the summer so we can start planning it out, if he''s up for it.¡± Ariana remarked.

    ¡°Hm? But Sean''s--ohh, right,¡± Belle started, then grinned as she caught on. ¡°La-na, where do you think about going?¡± she said in a teasing way.

    ¡°I never really thought about it.¡± I shrugged. ¡°I guess it''ll depend on what Ari wants.¡± I said, but Ariana herself seemed dissatisfied with that, affecting a soft pout.

    ¡°Have some ambition,¡± she poked at me. ¡°Besides winning video-game tournaments.¡± she added with a grin.

    ¡°But those are more fun.¡± I quipped back, and some of the others began giggling.

    ¡°She''s got a point,¡± Lysandra shrugged, a smile on her face. The train suddenly picked up speed, and began whooshing through the countryside of Kingsmark.

    ¡°Where''s this thing dropping us off again?¡± Healina wondered.

    ¡°Ehh, some place called Duntorc,¡± Lizzy told her. ¡°It''ll be south of the village we want to go to.¡±

    ¡°Duntorc...¡± I murmured softly. ¡°Boar Fort.¡±

    Sure enough, when we got to the place about a Panarena hour later, the design of the city''s banners had a red and green field with a black boar''s head emblazoned upon them. We exited the car with Fyu, and then hitched him back up to the waggon before heading along the southward road -- not without a word of warning from the guards, which activated the quest we wanted.

    ¡°Here we go!¡± Lizzy cried out excitedly as we set off, letting out a whoop as Fyu began galloping down the road.

    ¡°Someone''s wound up tonight,¡± I remarked to Ari and Healina, the latter smiling at me.

    ¡°She had a rough afternoon with classes,¡± our Sea Elf mouthed to me, and I put a hand over my mouth to keep my smile hidden.

    ¡°Where''s Der, anyway?¡± Ari then wondered.

    ¡°He had work after our date.¡± she shrugged.

    ¡°Hmm? But not Lizzy?¡± Belle wondered.

    ¡°Not tonight,¡± the smith shrugged. ¡°Today and Saturday are my best bets for the week; if I get on any other time I''mma gather resources for stuff.¡±

    ¡°I''ll help, if I''m on.¡± Lysandra told her. Lizzy smiled back.

    ¡°Cool!¡±

    ¡°Masters, I can see the village ahead; there is a force of goblins almost upon them now!¡± Fyu told us.

    ¡°I see them,¡± I said as I sat up a bit to get a better view. ¡°Fyu, slow down a bit and path along the edge,¡± I told him, and he began to do so. ¡°Anhe, you hop out with Maryn and Belle, get the northeast side; Lysandra, take Lizzy and head to the square; Ari, Heali, back them up; I''ll unhitch Fyu when we get to the south side and we''ll come in from that direction.¡±

    ¡°Okay!¡± Anhe said.

    ¡°You got it, kiddo!¡± Lysandra nodded.

    ¡°Right!¡± Ari agreed, and we split off into our assigned groups to begin our defense of the little village.

    I wasn''t exactly sure how goblins figured into a region specifically modeled on Roman or Arthurian Britain, but then it is a pan-fantasy game. Then again the quest itself was a random event quest, and cross-genre stuff like this can happen. Anyway. It was time to stop thinking about that and to start focusing on getting rid of the little green fiends.

    Our strategy routed them pretty quickly; there were four waves of goblins that attacked us before a hobgoblin chieftain showed up for us to deal with, and then the quest led us to another town. With no alterations to our plan, we went in to deal with the goblins there as quickly as we could; at once we noticed they were slightly stronger and a bit smarter, so we started adjusting our strategy as we went along, focusing equally on defense and offense until we had more or less routed them, then taking down the wily chieftain there before we had to move on to the next village.

    We discussed en-route how we were going to deal with this next batch of goblins, whom we were presuming would again be both smarter and stronger than the last ones. This time, we would split up into pairs, mostly. Heali would ride around with Fyu, Belle would go with Maryn, Anhe and Lizzy would pair up, Ari and I would form our usual duo, and Lysandra would terrorize the outlying goblins on her own. Our hope was that these small formations would maximize our efficiency while letting us cover more territory to deal with the goblins; very quickly we found out that they had gotten much harder, and we soon found ourselves reforming our pairs into larger groups, focusing on a defense of the town-hall where the villagers and guards had gathered.

    Ari and I went up to the rooftop to give Healina less to do (we hoped), and Sky Belle came with us for support while the others stayed down on the ground. Besides the fact that these goblins were getting stronger, I also noticed that they were starting to have different fighting types. The first village only had spear or sword-wielding goblins; the previous one had added archers; now there were mounted goblins, who were riding on hell-wargs, and there were a few shamans in the mix as well.

    ¡°Tch! I should''ve guessed they''d start jumping up the difficulty!¡± I griped as I continued firing arrows.

    ¡°Is this normal for a game?¡± Ariana wondered.

    ¡°Oh def!¡± Belle nodded. ¡°Though this does feel a bit weird? Like they just randomly dialed it up to eleven midway instead of waiting for us to make all the rounds.¡±

    ¡°I''d guess it has to do with our levels.¡± I returned.

    ¡°Ooh, there you go.¡± the pixie-girl nodded in agreement.

    ¡°Hah, no wonder,¡± Ari sighed as she began preparing a devastating area-spell for a medium-sized contingent approaching from the south. She let loose the barrage of flaming wrath a moment later, and the goblins began shrieking and scattering.

    ¡°Lana!¡± Maryn called up, and as soon as I looked down towards her she pointed with her sword.

    ¡°N''gyahh?!¡± I gaped as my eyes followed the direction it pointed; heading towards us with an entourage of hobgoblin chieftains (which I could recognize because they had special badges on their baldrics) was a very, very large goblin. How large? He could definitely pluck us from the rooftops once he got closer, and the club in his hand looked like it had once been a tree.

    ¡°Uh-oh.¡± Belle remarked as she glanced over.

    ¡°Uh-oh!?¡± I returned at once. ¡°More like, heck no!¡±

    ¡°Oh, come on! We beat a vault-boss!¡± she cheerily quipped back.

    ¡°We had a dragon with us.¡± I reminded her.

    ¡°Ah-heh!¡± she giggled back.

    ¡°Lana, it''s getting closer.¡± Ariana told me.

    ¡°Hrrmm... if I could keep out of range, maybe I could bring it down...¡±

    ¡°Hmm...? You think it''s got magic-resist?¡± my partner asked me.

    ¡°I mean, the hobgobs had a moderate resist; this thing probably has a stronger one.¡±

    ¡°Ahh, true,¡± she nodded.

    ¡°Don''t trust your speed on the ground to keep you safe?¡± Belle asked me.

    ¡°N-not with that thing,¡± I shook my head.

    ¡°All-righty, here we go, kiddo!¡± she said, transforming to human size and quickly swapping into a dress before hoisting me onto her shoulders and taking off into the air.

    ¡°Wah--!!¡± I exclaimed in surprise as I felt myself going up into the air.

    ¡°Ready?¡± she asked me as she got a firm grip on my legs, and I nodded back.

    ¡°Maryn, Anhe, lead him around the edge of town!¡± I called down.

    ¡°You got it!¡± Maryn called back, and the two of them hurried out while Ariana jumped down to help the others.

    While they led the--goblin king, I guess?--on a romp around the edge of the town, I rained down arrow after arrow upon him while Belle kept me out of range and out of mind. Meanwhile, Fyu came to join the chase as the goblins around the cathedral lessened, taking down the chieftains who were also following Maryn and Anhe one by one. It was incredible how in-sync the two of them were, Maryn''s already indomitable stats being bolstered by Anhe''s auras; she had a speed one going for sure, and either a resilience or a health-booster going too.

    We steadily wore the big guy down on our wild little chase, and then just as we had gotten him down to thirteen-percent health I ran out of arrows. I double-checked my inventory just in case.

    Nothing!! Nothing at all?? ¡­ I guess I didn''t count on meeting something near this guy''s stats, though... he has a ridiculously high amount of health if I look at the actual numbers... is he regenerating?!

    ¡°He''s regenerating!¡± Maryn called up to me.

    ¡°Grr!!¡± I sighed.

    ¡°Out of arrows??¡± Belle asked me.

    ¡°Of course it happens now,¡± I sighed. Then I recalled Myanihia saying that one of the few things her trick with the two skills that she had taught me were world-bosses and the like. ¡°Well, this isn''t a world-boss... might as well try it... Belle, fly up a bit and then drop me on top of him!¡±

    ¡°Huh?!¡±

    ¡°Hurry!¡± I said to her, and she flew up to a higher altitude.

    ¡°You''re sure about this?¡± she asked me.

    ¡°Yep!¡±

    ¡°O-kay, kiddo, bombs away!¡± she said, and gently flipped me off of her shoulders so that I ended up in a dive.

    I quickly vanished into the shadows, and then enacted that fatal combo of Doomstrike and Crimson Heart-stinger once I reached the boss. The regenerated fifteen-percent health went to zero instantly, and the monster went up in flaming pixels as he howled in defeat. The rest of the goblins began scattering, and the townsfolk cheered. I managed to land on my feet like a cat, and the others regrouped with me as the quest updated again.

    ¡°Nice!¡± Lizzy exclaimed with a smile.

    ¡°Very nice!¡± Anhe smiled.

    ¡°I am impressed, master.¡± Fyu said as he joined us.

    ¡°Phew!¡± Belle said as she returned to her normal size, exchanging her large outfit for the one she usually wore. ¡°And would you believe they want us to go to another village after all that??¡±

    Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

    ¡°I believe it.¡± Lysandra grinned, shrugging. ¡°Fair chance this might be the last one, though,¡± she added as she opened the quest-log to look.

    ¡°That one''s... west of us?¡± Healina said as she looked as well.

    ¡°I can already see the smoke of battle,¡± Fyu remarked. ¡°We must make haste!¡±

    ¡°Lhyn Glarryn, huh?¡± I read aloud.

    ¡°The cathedral town!¡± a villager exclaimed. ¡°Hurry, brave heroes! You must save it!¡±

    ¡°Let''s get the waggon and hurry!¡± I said, and we raced off to hitch Fyu to the waggon once more before racing off towards the west where the smoke was rising.

    ***

    Lhyn Glarryn was a bit harder to get to. There were several raiding parties of goblins on the way, and the terrain was steep and hilly. The town itself was nestled in a valley surrounded by forests on the north side, a wide swath of fields on the east, and open plains with a river going through them on the south and west. We hastened down a tricky pathway winding its way down from the heights of a ridge, slicing up a few goblins in our way as we did.

    ¡°Lana,¡± Anhe tapped my shoulder. She pointed towards the west, where about five of the large goblin-kings were striding slowly towards the town.

    ¡°Hahh... are you kidding me?¡± I sighed. ¡°I wonder how long it would take Dracuoatlax to get here...¡±

    ¡°Too long, I bet,¡± Ariana said. ¡°And we don''t have that person from Dreamers Fables, either.¡±

    ¡°Oh, yeah, the portal mage,¡± I recalled, and then jolted. ¡°Portals!¡± I started.

    ¡°Huh??¡± Ariana looked over at me. I turned to her, and placed my hands on her shoulders.

    ¡°How''s that spell you were working on a few days ago?¡± I asked her with a grin.

    ¡°Hm? Oh! That one!¡± she smiled as the memory surfaced.

    A few days ago, Ariana had unlocked some traits and skills that would allow her to create a new spell: Abyssal Portal. It worked one of two ways, she had told me: if you turned your staff counter-clockwise to cast it, the portal would summon something; but if you turned it clockwise while casting, the portal would drag in any nearby monsters and send them to their doom. Overpowered? Yes. It was so overpowered, in fact, that when Ariana created it she was slightly miffed to see that it had a one real-week cooldown. And it took about three minutes to cast properly anyway, so there was that, too.

    ¡°The Abyssal Portal spell??¡± Healina wondered excitedly.

    ¡°Yep!¡± my partner said gleefully.

    ¡°All right; Maryn and Anhe, you come with me and Ari; the rest of you head for the cathedral and help the guards and townsfolk.¡± I then said.

    ¡°Got it, boss!¡± Lizzy nodded.

    ¡°Belle!¡± Lysandra called as she jumped out of the waggon and transformed, racing towards the goblins in wolf-form while Belle supported her. Ari, Maryn, and Anhe followed me as I leapt off from the other side to make a circuit of the town and head for the large goblins, and Lizzy and Heali rode the rest of the way with Fyu into town.

    ¡°Round them up, right?¡± Maryn said as she drew out her sword and Anhe took out her staff.

    ¡°As best you can!¡± I said, getting my bow ready. ¡°Where do you want to cast it?¡± I turned to Ariana, who gestured towards a bend in the river.

    ¡°That looks good!¡±

    ¡°Ooh, that does look perfect.¡± Maryn agreed.

    ¡°Maryn! Hurry!¡± Anhe said, and the two of them dashed off while Ari and I headed over to the bend in the river.

    I looked back towards the town to check on the others; Lizzy and Heali were in perfect sync, our brave little healer summoning up all sorts of creatures to help distract or fight the goblins while Lizzy transformed into her lightning-fast whirlwind of death. Lysandra was tearing up the ones trying to get into town, and I assumed Belle was nearby her from the shimmering sparkles and occasional shock of power I could see. As they continued fighting, I heard the sound of Maryn''s taunts; she and Anhe had begun.

    ¡°They''ve got the one... oh, two of them,¡± I noted as I watched, starting to nock my bow so I could start picking off the more normal-sized goblins before I remembered I had no arrows left.

    ¡°Her aggro-skills have a target limit, don''t they?¡± Ariana said to me as she began preparing her skill.

    ¡°Ehh, twelve main targets, I think? I can probably whittle down those lesser chieftains, but you''ll be alone for a few minutes...¡± I said as I put my bow away to get out my short-swords.

    ¡°I''ll put up Pyroclastic Ward.¡± she shrugged, and I nodded back. I jumped into the shadows, and went to help Maryn and Anhe. Seconds later I heard the sound of fire and brimstone; Ari had placed her ward.

    As soon as I reached the first goblin-chief, I took it down with that special combo-skill, and then took out the next with a different series of strikes before vanishing into the shadows again.

    ¡°Looks like Lana finally remembered she ran out of arrows,¡± I heard Anhe remark. From the shadows I gave her a soft glare (which she couldn''t see), and saw a smirk on her face. I reappeared to take down two shamans in a single blow, and then Maryn got the attention of the third great goblin. She bashed one of the smaller ones in the head with her shield, and Anhe and I took it out while it was dazed.

    ¡°I think I can get that fourth one,¡± Maryn said as we dashed along, ¡°But that fifth is going to be trouble. He''s already near the town.¡±

    ¡°Trouble, huh?¡± I mused. We took down a few more of the chieftains and shamans, and then Maryn got the fourth great goblin''s attention. The fifth, meanwhile, had closed the distance to the town.

    ¡°Tch! If I try to go back for him I might lose a couple!¡± Maryn grunted.

    ¡°Then take the ones you have to Ari, she''s nearly ready!¡± I told her, and she nodded back.

    ¡°What about that one?¡± Anhe asked me.

    ¡°I''ll probably just do the thing again.¡± I shrugged as I gave her a soft pat on the shoulder and zoomed off into stealth.

    ¡°Hm? Oh!¡± our staff-wielder smiled as she recalled, and then resumed helping Maryn corral the four large goblins and their minions towards Ariana.

    Come to think of it, I don''t even think I got to see her try this out the first time... if she tried it out at all... I mused to myself as I came up on the great goblin that Lizzy and Lysandra were now facing. I leaped forth, enacting that deadly skill combo, and the monster in question went down to zero health, leaving me with an unidentified ring for loot.

    ¡°Niiice.¡± Lysandra said as she put away her sword, shifting back to human-form.

    ¡°Whew!¡± Healina sighed in relief.

    ¡°What about the other four?¡± Belle wondered, flying up higher to get a good view. We all turned to look towards the bend in the river, where Ariana was now thumping down her staff to unleash her trap. A deep boom was heard, and then the ominous sound of a bell tolled out as the sky went dark.

    ¡°Oh boy...!¡± I said with a shiver.

    ¡°What--!!¡± Lysandra started as we caught sight of storm clouds overhead.

    The ground shook for a moment, and then two bolts of lightning struck down near Ari and stayed there, joined by several other bolts which began weaving and intertwining themselves with one another until it formed a more or less round shape. An eerie, ghastly chorus sounded, and a mass of dark energy formed a swirling vortex within the ring of lightning; it expanded, and then drew in the great goblins with their entourages as if it was an arcane vacuum cleaner, and then closed in upon itself before disappearing, goblins and all.

    ¡°N-no wonder it has a one-week cooldown...¡± Healina laughed nervously.

    ¡°S-seriously... you and her are getting some insane skills... w-we need to catch up somehow...¡± Lysandra sighed.

    ¡°Ah-heh-heh-heh...¡± I grinned wryly. ¡°Oh, the quest log updated,¡± I then noticed.

    ¡°Go and see Duke Lordson for your reward, huh?¡± Lizzy read. ¡°There''s a creative name.¡±

    ¡°L-Lordson? Really?? That''s the best they can do?!¡± I protested with disappointment at the simple name.

    ¡°Duke Lordson oversees these regions from his castle on Owl Hill,¡± one of the NPCs remarked. ¡°You should go see him at once, adventurers! He will want to hear of your success!¡±

    ¡°I forgot how oblivious some of them are...¡± I muttered, and Lysandra stifled a snort.

    Anyhow. We went to Owl Hill Castle after wrapping things up at Lhyn Glarryn, and were given an experience boost as a reward, along with a fair dose of gold. With our job done, we hurried on back to Xuanpu, leisurely heading through the countryside of Bretony towards the nearest wayport. We found one in a quiet grove of oak and pine, and headed through it with Fyu and the waggon to Queen''s Haven, where we set Fyu loose from his waggon duties so he could take a well-earned rest.

    ¡°All-righty!¡± Lizzy then clapped her hands together. ¡°I''mma go romp through the Vales a bit to get some ore, and maybe some wood.¡±

    ¡°I''ll go with you.¡± Healina said.

    ¡°Me too!¡± Anhe raised her hand eagerly.

    ¡°Wanna go do that other quest?¡± Lysandra said to Belle.

    ¡°Sure! Oh, Maryn, you wanted to do that one also, right?¡± the pixie-girl asked.

    ¡°Hmm? Ohh, the raiders thing... sure!¡± the other girl smiled.

    With that, the eight of us parted ways for the time being, the six of them heading off to do their thing while Ari went inside to do some crafting and I decided to change into more casual clothes and bask in the starlight on the beach. A soft breeze wisped past, and I felt a small shiver in the otherwise warm evening.

    Seriously, the realism in this world, I thought to myself with awe. Come to think of it, I should get a few targets or so and practice my archery... ahh--!! Need to get arrows, too... we have enough gold I could get a decent pile of medium arrows from Yu or Ti''jori... should just do that anyway. But dang it, I didn''t expect that thing to take a whole five quivers to beat, I bemusedly reflected.

    ¡°Hahh... that was probably meant for a raid, not a bunch of super-strong players with nutty skills...¡± I remarked aloud. I spent a few more minutes lying there, and then slipped off my outfit to go swimming for a few minutes.

    You can train up a breath skill in this game to stay underwater for longer periods of time; I could go about fifteen minutes now without surfacing, just enough time to do something sneaky if we were ever in a PvP battle at sea. Probably. But here around the guild-home, it was just a nice little bonus to help me stay underwater and admire the seascape below the surface. There was a small coral reef to one side, and a cavern just beyond it with an old shipwreck inside. I liked to ¡°train¡± myself on the shipwreck, to sharpen myself up in case we ever really did get into trouble on the high seas. There were a couple of chests with gold coins inside it, but they were part of the landscape, sadly, and could not be collected.

    Personally I suspected there was a quest somewhere that would let me pick them up eventually, but I hadn''t found it yet. For now, I could only admire it.

    Oh, there''s a special seaweed down here as well that Ari and Heali like to make use of for potions and such. As soon as I remembered this, I began collecting a few of them, along with some shells and oysters, and a couple of rocks that looked interesting. As soon as I had what I wanted in my inventory, I swam back to shore, donned my clothes again, and hurried up to the hall. After placing what I had collected in the storeroom for them to find later, I went to the kitchen to make some tea.

    Oh, right, I also scanned that into the computer... I noted to myself, and used the game interface to bring up the thing in question: my script for the play. Ariana came in when she heard the kettle whistling, and got the tea ready before coming to sit with me.

    ¡°Oh nice! I forgot you could do that!¡± she exclaimed as she caught sight of what I was reading.

    ¡°Right?¡± I replied. ¡°Scanners are something else now... all it needs is the code-ID of the thing in question and poof, here it is.¡±

    ¡°True! I''ll have to scan mine either when I get off tonight or early tomorrow... did you get the songbook too?¡±

    ¡°Ehh... I meeaan, Lana''s voice is higher than mine, so I dunno how good an idea it would be to get into that habit here.¡±

    ¡°Ohh, true... you''re probably a mezzo-soprano here, if I had to guess. Maybe an alto...¡±

    ¡°Not that I know much about it, but probably,¡± I agreed.

    ¡°Trust me.¡± she winked. ¡°Hmm... I guess it wouldn''t be too much of a switch, so long as you hit the right melody. You''ll just be singing in a higher octave.¡±

    ¡°R-right,¡± I nodded back. ¡°Well, let''s at least look over the lines for now... and we half-skipped on our Japanese homework a bit until lunch tomorrow, didn''t we...¡±

    ¡°Don''t tell Anhe!¡± she whispered back, and we softly giggled. ¡°Let''s take a look!¡± she agreed in a louder voice, and we spent the next couple of Panarena hours reading over the script and going over lines.

    ***

    ¡°Hahh... almost midnight for real, huh?¡± I noted as we put the script away.

    ¡°Yip,¡± Ariana sighed. ¡°Hrrmm... I''m not happy with that one scene... I''ll have to go over it with Allie sometime...¡±

    ¡°I''ll have to get some staff-work in somehow or another...¡±

    ¡°Michael really is taller than just about everyone in the play, huh?¡±

    ¡°Oh definitely. I think Stephen is near his height, though.¡±

    ¡°Def. And he''s got this ''kingly'' sort of aura.¡±

    ¡°Hmm...? I didn''t notice that...¡±

    ¡°You were zeroed in on our little circle.¡± Ari shrugged.

    ¡°Heh, I guess.¡± I shrugged. A moment of silence passed.

    ¡°No one''s back yet.¡± she remarked then.

    ¡°Nope.¡±

    ¡°Not even a message... hmm...¡±

    ¡°Probably absorbed in their thing for the night. Though you''d think Lysandra and her group would be back by now...¡± I mused.

    ¡°Oh for sure.¡± Ari agreed.

    ¡°Think we should just head off?¡±

    ¡°Hmm... maybe.¡± she nodded. ¡°Oh, what was that thing you got? Didn''t you get something from that one great goblin?¡± she then wondered.

    ¡°Huh? Oh!! A ring,¡± I remembered, bringing it out of my inventory. ¡°It''s ''unidentified'', which means it has a chance of being very useful or very useless... at least if it follows the typical trope...¡±

    ¡°Hmm... I think Healina had a spell for that...¡±

    ¡°Identifying something? She probably does, or maybe someone in Dreamers Fables...¡±

    ¡°Ahh, true.¡± Ari nodded, pulling up her friends list. ¡°No one on there at the moment, though.¡±

    ¡°We''ll wait for Heali to get back, then.¡± I nodded.

    ¡°Oh, I know, she bought a special tome to do things like that, too... I''ll see if she left it in the library here,¡± my partner said, and then hopped out of her seat to go and look.

    ¡°Niiice.¡± I smiled. I stood up as well, with the ring in hand. I tossed it up a few times like a coin, absently heading towards the bedrooms. I could hear Ariana shuffling through the books and tomes in our collection, grumbling to herself about how we really needed to organize them better.

    Note to self: get the library organized, I thought to myself with a faint grin. I entered the master bedroom of the estate, gazing around idly. We had certainly made this one and Cloverbell a home away from home. Someday, someday we could actually truly cross over...

    ¡°Hmm...¡± I pondered, and then held up the ring before my eyes.

    It was a sleek silver band with a delicately small blue gemstone affixed to it. There was some sort of inscription on the inner band; probably some eldritch language from Bretony''s lore and history. I felt as if I could just make it out if I stared at it long enough -- which of course I couldn''t, but the feeling that I might be able to was fairly strong in that instant. It quickly faded, and I let out a sigh.

    ¡°Tch, how bad could it be? I can always take it off if it does something bad to my stats,¡± I said to myself, my eagerness and curiosity getting the better of my usual common sense.

    Never, ever put on an unidentified item in a video-game. Unless it''s a quest directive for some reason or another, in which case you''re usually playing a solo-game. But my impatience won out for the first time since I had started playing games in general.

    I held out my right hand, and slipped the ring on the index finger. All of a sudden there was a blinding flash of light.

    A teleport ring!! Oh, Sn-nap, now I''ve done it!! And at this hour of the night, too!! -- was my first reaction.

    And then I felt a strange physical sensation. As if my body was somehow being warped and twisted.

    Ohhh boy... not a teleport?? Then I''m turning into something... a goblin, maybe? I got the ring from a goblin, so that would make sense... I hope it comes off quickly if that''s the case...

    Then came the sensation of being -- lowered? -- that''s as close a word as I can think to use. Needless to say the whole thing felt very strange, but by the time the flash of light was starting to fade, so were all the other sensations. The light then ceased, and I opened my eyes.

    I felt the strange sensation of the tunic I had been wearing fall into my shoulders, and I began to look around. Everything was larger somehow. Had I shrunk?? I had shrunk. By at least half my height. And, of course, like Belle, my clothes had not transformed with me. I wrestled with the tunic a bit to get it off, and then inadvertently stepped out of my footwear as well. Then I went to take the ring off. It was stuck fast.

    ¡°Oh snap,¡± I said aloud, and then noticed that my voice had changed pitch. My eyes widened. ¡°Huh...??¡± I wondered anxiously, and then looked at my hands more closely.

    I was definitely smaller. But my proportions weren''t the same. The hand was... child-like...? I looked down at my chest. Suddenly realizing what had just happened, I scrabbled up onto the bed, and looked into the mirror. Judging from my current appearance, Lana had been transformed into a girl around five to seven years of age. My mouth gaped open, and then shut again as I refocused my attention on getting the ring off.

    ¡°Hrrgh! Hnnnyrrrggh!! Hurff! Ohhh!! Dang it! Snap! Snap, snap, snap!!¡± I cried out in that squeaky little voice.

    ¡°Lana? Is that you??¡± Ariana wondered. ¡°Is something wrong with your voice--¡± she began as she opened the door, struck by silence for a moment as she caught sight of me on the bed. ¡°-- f-filter...¡± she finished in a daze, and then her eyes widened. ¡°¡­ Lana?!¡± she gasped.

    It was probably because my mental state was being messed with as well as my physical appearance, but I suddenly burst into tears.

    ¡°Aaaarrriiiiiiii!!!¡± I screamed, and ran into her arms. She picked me up, and picked up a blanket as well, covering me up with it.

    ¡°It''s okay, I''m here,¡± she said to me as tears poured down my face. ¡°Jeepers, girl, what did you--ohh, the ring.¡± she quickly deduced as she sat down upon the bed, gently taking my hand to look at it. ¡°Well, it''s identified now.¡± she said with a sheepish grin as she looked at me, wiping my face with the edge of the blanket I was wrapped in.

    ¡°W-what''s it called...?¡± I wondered softly.

    ¡°It''s called the Ring of the Eternal Child. Not sure how it''s affecting you other than your appearance, however.¡± she said, and I suddenly felt alarmed, bringing up my character panel.

    ¡°Nyah?!?!¡± I gaped. ¡°My stats are reduced by seventy-five percent, skill effectiveness by fifty percent, but I get a charisma bonus in certain situations... and I can''t get this thing off until we lift its curse...¡±

    ¡°S-seventy-five?? Fifty?? D-doesn''t that effectively null... n-nullify... all your... ahhh...¡± Ariana bemusedly realized.

    ¡°Y-yeah...¡± I sighed.

    ¡°We''re back!¡± Lizzy''s voice came from downstairs. ¡°Lana, Ari? You two are still on, right?¡±

    ¡°Oh snap... I''ll never hear the end of it now...¡± I groaned, and Ariana smiled sympathetically.

    ¡°N-no, I guess not,¡± she wryly laughed.

    ¡°Lana! Ari!¡± Belle called. We heard the sound of her wings coming closer, and she poked her head in the door. ¡°Oh there you -- ¡­ are...?¡± she said, and then looked at me with surprise.

    ¡°Oh, you found them,¡± Lysandra said as she came to the door as well. ¡°Wha--?!?¡± she then exclaimed on catching sight of us.

    ¡°OH my Gawd!! Lana, you''re so cuuuuute!!¡± Belle squealed with delight.

 Side Chapter: The Rings Curse

    ¡°Gawwwd, isn''t she just so cuuute?!¡± Belle said again as she came down the stairs with me. She had switched to human-size and donned her other clothes, immediately picking me up from Ari, blanket and all, to go and show the others. Because of my stat and skill reduction, there wasn''t a thing I could do to resist.

    ¡°Huh??!¡± Lizzy barked in disbelief. I scowled as menacingly as I could, but it had no effect on the irrepressible Nordian smith. ¡°Pffffftt! Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-hahhh! Oh, my Gawd! Screen-grab!!¡± she exclaimed, immediately taking a pic.

    ¡°If it''s the last thing I do--¡± I started.

    ¡°Pfft! Lana! Honey, no!¡± Belle giggled. ¡°I don''t think we can take anything from you seriously right now!¡±

    ¡°Uuuggghh.¡±

    ¡°Sh-she is really cute that way,¡± Anhe remarked, coming over to poke me. ¡°Cute little Lana!¡±

    ¡°N-n-n-not you too!!¡± I squeaked in exasperation, and they all burst out laughing.

    ¡°This is totally cute!¡± Healina said. ¡°Oh let me guess, the ring, right? Yep! There it is,¡± she noted, taking my hand to examine it.

    ¡°Can''t get it off?¡± Maryn said to me with a grin.

    ¡°Shaddup.¡± I grumbled, but that only made her giggle some more. ¡°Hahh... it was a short virtual life... but it was wonderful...¡±

    ¡°Oh, don''t give up. All we have to do is end the curse, right?¡± Ariana said as she came down with Lysandra, a tome in hand. Healina went over to help her look through the tome.

    ¡°Awww, don''t end it yet!¡± Lizzy pouted.

    ¡°You realize my combat effectiveness has also shrunk with my size, don''t you?!¡± I chattered back at her.

    Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

    ¡°Hmm? Ohh, that''s a problem...¡± she returned in agreement.

    ¡°Now she gets it...¡±

    ¡°Belle, may I?¡± Maryn asked, and Belle smiled, handing me off to her so she could shrink back to pixie size. Maryn hugged me close, and I felt myself blushing. ¡°You''re so adorkable.¡± she whispered to me.

    ¡°Bleehhh...¡± I softly retorted, and she giggled again.

    ¡°Here it is! We have to find the goblin emperor''s lair and defeat him, along with his three shamans, to end the curse!¡± Healina announced.

    ¡°Hmm... but the finishing blow for each has to be dealt by Lana...¡± Lysandra noted.

    ¡°Ah--! That could be an issue... kind of... mostly...¡± our healer said.

    ¡°We''d have to get our blows in just right so Lana can wipe out their remaining hitpoints.¡± Maryn said, handing me off to Anhe next. Anhe nuzzled me for a moment, and then began heading out of the house with me, as if to make her way to the wayport. Belle followed her as she carried me, though I doubt her curiosity was greater than mine at the moment.

    ¡°Uh, Anhe? Where are we going?¡± I asked her.

    ¡°To a tailor shop!¡± she said at once.

    ¡°Good idea!¡± Maryn said as she joined us.

    ¡°Good luck, Lana!¡± Ariana giggled, and then turned back to the tome with Healina while the other girls joined us.

    ¡°Ohh, this is totally a trap.¡± I grumbled to myself softly.

    ¡°Deal with it, kiddo!¡± Belle smirked. ¡°We''re gonna have some fuuuuun tonight!¡± she giggled.

    ¡°Def!!¡± Lizzy beamed.

    ¡°I need to see if Myanihia''s on...!¡± Lysandra remarked.

    ¡°Do it!!¡± Maryn cackled.

    ¡°F-for the love of all good things, j-just please, p-please don''t summon Angelfire...¡± I stammered out.

    ¡°Oh, please, we won''t be that cruel. At least... not tonight.¡± Lizzy winked.

    ¡°Hahh...¡± I sighed, and we stepped through the portal to enter the Market District of Harmonia City while the others giggled with delight.

    I''ll never live this down.

 Chapter Five: Curses and the Untold Deeps

    Welp. After the rest of that in-game night passed along in general humiliation for yours truly, we did some preparing and brainstorming about our--well, my situation, Ariana promising that we''d do all we can to make sure we lift the curse of that ring. In short, I had ended up with a bunch of outfits the girls considered ¡°cute¡± (which, I mean, sure... whatever... at least one of them was actually armor), and had narrowly avoided being espied by Angelfire in Harmonia City, where they had taken me for shopping. The one person who had seen me outside the guild was Myanihia, whom Lysandra had sent a message to. I don''t know what words she used, considering the two of them are still working on their sister-ship and such, but it was apparently convincing. We found her in one of the bath-houses, where that sneaky Snow Elf relished every moment with that smile she only rarely displayed. Of course, she also promised to aid us when we began tackling the issue of lifting the curse.

    ¡°Having you... as a child... is cute, it really is -- but, it is not, not right. Lana, you need to be Lana, not, a child.¡± she said when we parted ways.

    ¡°S-sure,¡± I returned, hoisted into a carry by Lysandra.

    Anyway. So we ended up doing the thing again, where we stay in all night because we''d stayed up too late to go to bed properly, making use of the time-warp to trick our bodies into getting rest as well as spending a couple days in Panarena researching more about the ring. After all that time we spent looking around in various locations and libraries, the most we found was that the goblin emperor''s lair was rumored to be somewhere far, far down in the Untold Deeps. That made a bit of sense, considering the goblin attackers we''d taken the quest for had seemingly come out of nowhere. If they''d taken some sort of forgotten passage that wasn''t mapped--

    ¡°Wait, if it was just for that quest, wouldn''t the passage have gone bye-bye by now?¡± Belle wondered as we brainstormed in Cloverbell on our second Panarena day of that night. With a deep sigh, we realized we were back to square one.

    ¡°We''ll have to do some more preparations to go on an expedition tomorrow; the real tomorrow, that is,¡± Healina said.

    ¡°True. That area does take a lot out of us... even at our levels.¡± Maryn nodded.

    ¡°I can get Der for sure to help us out.¡± the Sea Elf added.

    ¡°Ooh! I won''t call Angelfire, I promise, but how about Jannie?¡± Lizzy suggested.

    ¡°Hrrmmm... nyrrrgghh... okay, fine.¡± I replied with a weary sigh.

    ¡°Oh hush, it''ll be fine.¡± Ari patted my head.

    ¡°Hahh...¡±

    ¡°Oh, and let''s go over some lines again while we''re in for the night!¡± she said to me with a smile. I looked up at her with a semi-baleful look, then nodded.

    ¡°Might as well,¡± I agreed with a shrug. I heard Lizzy snort.

    ¡°This. Is the best. Thing. EVER!¡± she cackled.

    ¡°Yeah, yeah...¡± I muttered.

    So anyhow. We made our preparations for our next actual night of gaming, and then logged out in the morning after an in-game sleep. When I got on the bus a couple hours later, I was still mildly irritated, moreso at my impatience than about anything the girls had done--which I kind of almost felt I deserved, somehow.

    Ty looked as if he was still asleep, so the bus ride passed in silence for the two of us. At least until we got to school, whereupon he livened up just enough to give his parting flick before we headed our separate ways. Rachel was waiting for me with a mischievous smirk on her face. I wasn''t even going to ask. She was obviously still amused about last night, which seemed confirmed as she patted my head while I got my books for morning classes out.

    ¡°Now I wish I could remember the actual you at that age.¡± she said to me, and I let out a smile. So that was it, huh?

    ¡°I... kind of remember you... maybe we can try looking through old pictures and stuff some day, just to see,¡± I said to her. Her smile brightened, and she nodded. We headed in to class, and settled in for our second day of being back at school.

    After the ups and downs of morning classes, we made our way to the club-room for lunch, where we found the others ahead of us this time. Thomas was already laughing before we walked in the door, and Andrea, as well as Anhe, were laughing as well as Ellie recounted last night for him. I sat down with an exasperated sigh, and Rachel looked over at me with an apologetic smile. When Ellie had finished her tale (not without making a few in-person jabs), Thomas clapped his hands as he laughed, and then shook his head.

    ¡°Come on, man! A mysterious ring? You should''ve known!¡± he chided me with a grin.

    ¡°I was expecting anything but that.¡± I returned in a flat tone.

    ¡°Before I met you all in game, one of my other friends there did something similar,¡± Anhe remarked, ¡°He found this ring that made every item he had way too heavy, and was forced to go around... well, you know, until some of his friends helped him with lifting the curse.¡± she recalled.

    ¡°Aren''t you glad the items you have are still within your weight limit?¡± Rachel poked me.

    ¡°You have no idea.¡±

    ¡°I heard of a ring like that one being found up in Evergrim,¡± Thomas nodded to Anhe.

    ¡°Hmm? Two of them?¡± she said with surprise.

    ¡°Except the poor person who found it was a female,¡± he added with a wry expression.

    ¡°Aw, poor girl!¡±

    ¡°So I actually spent first period today looking this up on the ''net instead of paying attention to Old Yapper,¡± Ellie said, ¡°And apparently there''s a bunch of these mystery rings that actually can''t be identified until you put them on; most of them are prank rings, like those two and the one Lana has now. Only three of them are actually good.¡±

    ¡°Don''t be so hard on our teacher.¡± Andrea gently elbowed her.

    ¡°Blehh.¡± the other girl returned.

    ¡°I was actually looking it up in the game before we got off this morning,¡± Mary told us, ¡°And besides what Ellie just said, you really are lucky it wasn''t something worse. About seventy or so of those rings have been found now, including the two Anhe and Thomas mentioned; most of them led to prank dungeons or had severely debilitating curses that were hard to undo. A couple of players almost quit the game, and another one hasn''t logged in for months.¡± she said, and I let out a sigh.

    ¡°That''s not encouraging,¡± I smiled wryly. ¡°But it makes me wonder how many of those there actually are, now... if we ever find another one it''s going straight up for auction. Let some other sucker figure it out.¡± I continued, and Rachel giggled.

    ¡°What do you think''ll happen when we lift the curse? Will the ring disappear, or just become something more usable?¡± she asked.

    ¡°Hmm... it could go either way, really,¡± I remarked. What would happen to this thing when we got rid of the curse on it?

    ¡°It''d be funny if you could keep it and be able to remove it at will.¡± Ellie said.

    ¡°That might actually come in handy; though we''d need to make Lana a duplicate set of gear.¡± Mary said.

    ¡°Hahh...¡±

    ¡°Oh, by the way,¡± Andrea said, getting out a notepad, ¡°You two put down an ''x'' on this list for work visitations; and you also, Tom. The three of you will need to be at Theater this afternoon instead of the club.¡±

    ¡°Ohh, right,¡± Thomas nodded.

    ¡°Gotcha.¡± I agreed, taking a brief moment to think about it and then marking a couple I thought would be more useful. Thomas put a mark on one I had, and then a different one, while Rachel marked three, including the other one I had marked.

    ¡°Hmm... two for the local news station and two for the gaming company in inner-city...¡± Andrea remarked with interest.

    ¡°Come to think of it, put an ''x'' for me on the gaming company too,¡± Thomas said.

    ¡°Sure!¡± Andrea nodded, putting one of her own down as well.

    ¡°That''s gotta be the Panarena company.¡± Ellie said confidently.

    ¡°Oh def.¡± Andrea nodded back.

    ¡°Why don''t we just all agree on that, and have the local news station as a second in case it doesn''t work out?¡± Mary suggested.

    ¡°I agree.¡± Anhe said.

    ¡°Same!¡± Ellie agreed.

    ¡°Works for me... I''ll let Mrs. Brown know our thoughts, and we''ll work from there. Come to think of it, we could ask Christina her thoughts on it tonight, couldn''t we?¡± Andrea mused.

    ¡°Ooh, nice idea!¡± Ellie clapped.

    ¡°I mean, I''m not sure how friendly she and her mother actually are now... but sure, go for it,¡± I said.

    ¡°Hmm... even so, even if Chrissy doesn''t feel up to it, maybe her twin might open the door for us.¡± Andrea returned.

    ¡°Ohh, true.¡± I nodded.

    ¡°I''d call that a plan, then,¡± Thomas said. ¡°Now let''s get back to lunch before the bell drags us back to classes!¡± he added, and with that we adjourned our impromptu meeting to resume eating.

    ***

    Afternoon classes went by like a breeze; in Theater class, those of us who had parts in the musical spent the hour learning lines, those who were doing set-building or costume design went to the auditorium or the Home Economics room, and those who were going to be doing things such as sound or lighting also went to the auditorium. As Mary had mentioned yesterday, this musical had a lot riding on it, and Miss Andrews definitely knew it. She herself confirmed that a lot of important people with money would be showing up on opening night.

    ¡°Do you know any of them personally, Miss Andrews?¡± a girl named Lacey Thompson asked her.

    ¡°Not a bit,¡± our teacher replied, ¡°But Dr. Robertson knows more than his fair share, as he would say; a lot of them are very anti-arts, for one reason or another, but he has said that a few of them ironically seem to enjoy the fruits of artistic education without valuing the process which fashions an artist or performer.¡± she said with a faint roll of her eyes.

    ¡°So this is more of a big deal than usual,¡± Joe Dunn remarked.

    ¡°You can say that again.¡± a girl named Cara Childs said. Miss Andrews clapped her hands for silence.

    ¡°All right! That''s enough gossip! You guys know what you have to do: let''s get to it!¡±

    ¡°Yes, ma''am!¡± we chorused in almost perfect unison, and resumed work on our tasks. After that class was over, Rachel and I went to our language class, and then as soon as that had ended we were on our way to the auditorium for singing rehearsals. If I said that she was giggling in anticipation the whole way, I would be understating it by -- well, a lot.

    And if I said that I myself was thinking about Panarena and my situation there for about the whole time, I would also be understating things. I''m almost sure that I made it through because I was thinking too much about the game to be nervous or anything about singing and reciting lines. The one thing I definitely recalled our teacher and director saying was that our ¡°homework¡± was to have the first ten scenes down by rote before Valentine''s Day. I''ll put that in perspective a bit: Act One has fourteen, Act Two has sixteen, and Act Three has twelve scenes. I''m guessing that means she''ll want us to have up to Act Two, Scene Ten down by rote come mid-March or so. Probably.

    Well, I have a sort-of advantage when it comes to memorizing the lines now, I thought to myself as we headed out with Thomas later. I briefly wondered if anyone else besides those of us in the club played Panarena or knew anything about it. Considering that Thomas had joined us so late, it wasn''t too far-fetched of a thought, I supposed.

    ¡°Don''t worry. A couple of us in the guild have been exploring in the wee hours of the night; there''s a small chance one of the trails we''ve found could be--could be, mind you--the place you want to find.¡± Thomas remarked as we settled into the car and set off from school.

    ¡°Hmm? Ohh, really? Nice!¡± I replied as the words clicked in my head. ¡°Still... that line is tripping me up badly...¡± I then remarked as my mind wandered back to the play.

    ¡°It does sound difficult.¡± Rachel agreed.

    ¡°Except when I just read it, of course: ''Forsooth, vile villains, yon hart shall hearken to fate''s arrow soon enough for your liking, and ye shall take note that I am indeed the finest archer you''ve ever met! Fie on your jeers and mockeries, and then I shall resume my stride to the tourney!''¡±

    ¡°Hmm... it just needs livened up a bit. Of course, when you do that...¡±

    ¡°I start tongue-tripping.¡±

    ¡°Yep!¡± she smiled.

    ¡°There''s a fair bit of alliteration in that line, too. That could be messing with your head.¡± Thomas suggested.

    ¡°Alli--huh? Eh?¡± I wondered, and he grinned.

    ¡°''She sells seashells by the seashore; the shells that she sells are seashells, I''m sure''... it''s a repetition or ''rhyming'' of consonant sounds. In your case, the ''f''s'' and ''v''s''.¡±

    ¡°Hmm...¡± I pondered for a moment. ¡°Dah!--oy, when did you become an English Professor?¡± I then quickly wondered as Rachel covered her mouth to laugh.

    ¡°Just now!¡± he quickly retorted. ¡°I don''t have work tonight, so I''ll be stopping at Andrea''s until after dinner. I''m almost sure she''d tell you to come in and eat with us.¡±

    ¡°Ahh...¡±

    ¡°And if she doesn''t, I''ll ask.¡± Rachel added.

    ¡°Ah--r-right, sure,¡± I decided to nod in agreement.

    Of course, Andrea all but dragged me in with a crook when I turned up with a hesitant expression on my face. *Whose* boyfriend am I again?! Was all I could think as the red-haired girl handily led me inside and all but placed me on a stool.

    ¡°Y-you know I''m not pint-sized right now, right?¡± I softly reminded her.

    ¡°Pfft!¡± she snickered.

    ¡°Are your folks out again?¡± Rachel asked as she set her bags down.

    ¡°Yep. Go ahead and change, dinner''ll be ready in fifteen!¡± the other girl said.

    ¡°Got it!¡± Rachel said as she went upstairs.

    ¡°Might as well help them with their homework since we''re all here,¡± Thomas shrugged.

    ¡°True! And we did kidnap this one. Or you did, anyway,¡± she smirked.

    ¡°Hahh...¡±

    ¡°Oh, shush. There''s cookies at the other end of it all.¡± Andrea quipped. My face creased in bemusement, but I just shrugged it off. Rachel came back down in some casual-wear after a few minutes, taking the seat beside me and laying her head on my shoulder.

    ¡°You''ll stay for homework too, right?¡± she asked.

    ¡°Ahh...¡± I started, and the other two burst out laughing. ¡°Hahh... it''s a conspiracy.¡±

    ¡°Oh, def.¡± Andrea nodded.

    ¡°Maybe we should move up our apartment plan...¡± Rachel suggested.

    ¡°You only made that a few days ago,¡± I replied.

    ¡°We could... but then we''d still have to deal with the tots, and an apartment is no place for those rascals.¡± the other girl told her.

    ¡°Gyeck!¡±

    ¡°See? Even Sean knows that''s a bad idea.¡± Andrea shrugged.

    ¡°You''ll be free of them by next year since they''ll be in school finally, huh?¡± Thomas said.

    ¡°Yep! And the grands will be back from their retreat in Europe, too, so they''ve been excited to take their turn of caring for the cousins.¡±

    ¡°As much as I find it fun sometimes to chase them around, it''s really nicer without them here...¡± Rachel wryly grinned.

    ¡°Yip-yip.¡± Andrea nodded. ¡°Might as well do homework too... let''s get it out, huh?¡± she then said, and in a few moments we were working on our assignments for the evening while also enjoying the night''s repast.

    It was ten ''til eight when we finally finished up with both, and after Thomas and I had said goodbye to Andrea and Rachel, he took me home. With a playful punch to the shoulder he let me out, and I waved as he headed on down the road to get going for his own house. I entered the house; mom was not here, and dad was watching -- if you guessed cartoons, you got it in one.

    ¡°Hiya, kiddo. Heh, if your stuff wasn''t here in your room I''d swear you moved out.¡± he remarked.

    Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    ¡°Guhyeck!¡±

    ¡°What? Don''t tell me you are moving out?¡± he suddenly paused his almost ceaseless entertainment to look over at me.

    ¡°Ahh... I don''t think so... not this year, anyway...¡±

    ¡°Hrmm... making plans with your little lady and-or the friends, I take it?¡±

    ¡°Ahh... th-they''re definitely planning,¡± I replied with a bashful grin.

    ¡°Heh, of course they are. Your mother was the same way. She had everything planned out from the moment she met me, and boy howdy did she ever succeed.¡± he shrugged, turning back to his shows. ¡°You just make sure when the time comes to give us advanced warning, huh? Though she does like to joke that you''d likely up and poof without it!¡± he chuckled.

    ¡°Y-yeah,¡± I replied, and headed upstairs to my room. I hastily got into casual-wear for the night, and immediately put on the Dream Machine to be whisked away to that wonderful world.

    Upon logging back in, I was rudely reminded of my predicament when I loaded up and saw myself in the mirror. I was dressed in a pink and white flower print dress that the girls had foisted on me. Quickly I looked for more practical gear, only to find a mail from Lizzy that told me to check the armory. I forgave her on the spot as soon as I got down there, for there I found a set of leather gear, a bow, and two knives all matched up to my current size. With a sigh of relief I put them on.

    ¡°Heh... green and brown, instead of my usual black; but hey, it works!¡± I remarked. It was still weird to hear a grade-school Lana''s voice, I grumpily reflected.

    ¡°Oh there she is now!¡± I heard Healina say.

    ¡°Uh-oh.¡± I braced myself. A few moments later, our healer appeared with Jannie and Winnie. The former gazed at me with surprise, whereas Winnie stepped into the room and picked me up like I was her own.

    ¡°Whew! You weren''t kidding!¡± the older woman said to Healina.

    ¡°I don''t know... I think I prefer you this way, Lana,¡± Jannie grinned, her cheeks coloring.

    ¡°W-wha--?!¡±

    ¡°Oh don''t mind her. She''s been having some lavish late-night dates in-game with Wildeye and they''ve been talking about starting a virtual family.¡± Winnie said as she held me in a cradle position.

    ¡°H-huh?! Ehh?!¡±

    ¡°Winnie, you''re scaring the high school girl again.¡± Jannie patted her friend on the shoulder. ¡°It''s true, though. You can actually have virtual children in this world.¡±

    ¡°Th-that was more than I ever wanted to find out.¡± I quipped. ¡°Wait a sec, you''ve been seeing Wildeye?¡± I suddenly wondered.

    ¡°Ahh...¡± Jannie blushed, an awkward smile on her face. ¡°I mean... you weren''t available...¡± I heard her mumble.

    ¡°Hah?¡±

    ¡°Never mind that now.¡± Winnie said. ¡°Where''s the rest of the gang?¡± she asked Healina.

    ¡°Those of us who can make it now are gonna be online soon; the rest of them won''t turn up until later. We''re meeting at Harmonia City, in the Market District.¡± the other girl replied.

    ¡°Gotcha, hun!¡± Winnie nodded. ¡°Tabitha''s on too, right? She said she''d go yesterday, after all.¡±

    ¡°Just logging in now,¡± Jannie said as she checked her guild roster. ¡°Meet at the Roasted Mallet?¡± she asked. That was the name of that Dwarven restaurant we had all liked during the tournament.

    ¡°Oh def!¡± Healina nodded. ¡°I''ll leave a message for the others. ¡°Ari! We''re going!¡± she called.

    ¡°Coming!¡± Ariana replied. ¡°Pfft! Winnie didn''t waste time!¡± she giggled as she came in.

    ¡°Nope!¡± the older woman beamed.

    ¡°Let''s go!¡± Jannie smiled, and with that we set off to meet everyone at the restaurant.

    ***

    In about fifteen in-game minutes, we had our group assembled. Derwydd had brought Snow Dancer and Peaches, the leader of Dreamer''s Fables, who was a wizened Hauflin female with peach-colored cosmetics. Sky Belle and Lysandra were near a corner with Myanihia Black as we entered, and Myanihia came up to me not a second after I had set foot in the building. She picked me up, and I looked at her with a bit of surprise. She had no mask on this time. The faint hint of a smile crossed her face, and she then decided to keep hold of me.

    ¡°You do need, to be Lana; but, right now, it''s still cute.¡± she remarked softly. I can only assume some sort of grumbling-fidgety sound came out of me from the way she silently shook with laughter a moment later.

    ¡°All right,¡± Jannie said, assuming the lead on account of my being pint-sized and thus not very commanding at the moment, ¡°I think we''re all here; oh, hey, Wild!¡± she called happily as the guild leader of the Mountain Tigers appeared, along with Tyman.

    ¡°Hullo, Jannie!¡± he smiled back. ¡°Huh! You really got into something this time, didn''t you, Lana?¡± he remarked upon seeing me, but I wasn''t paying much attention to him. I was too busy quietly fuming at Tyman, who was cackling as hard as I had ever, and I mean ever seen him do anything in our whole school life together.

    ¡°Day-ha-ha-hayum, Lans!¡± he clapped his hands hysterically.

    ¡°Y-you wait until I''m back to normal! You just wait!¡± I squeaked out at him with that little girl voice which had been temporarily (I hoped) imposed upon me. The others burst out laughing as well, and I sighed wearily.

    ¡°Waaaiiit!¡± an all-too familiar voice came to my ears.

    ¡°Gu''hyeck!¡± I gulped, and quickly wriggled out of Myanihia''s arms to hide behind her.

    ¡°Nobody told me we were all getting together for a quest!¡± Angelfire declared with a semi-miffed tone. ¡°After all we''ve been through together, too!¡±

    ¡°Ahh... ah-heh-heh-heh... sorry! L-Lana wasn''t sure how you''d--¡± Ariana began.

    ¡°Where is Lana anyway?¡± the fire-mage suddenly remarked.

    ¡°Sh-she''s, she''ll be along with us, when we get to the dungeon,¡± Wildeye quickly said, sensing that I did not want to be found immediately.

    ¡°Oh yeah right. She''s here. I know she is. Laaa-naa!¡± she called out.

    Oh snap. Who called her, anyway??

    ¡°How''d you figure us out, anyway?¡± Maryn asked curiously.

    ¡°Hmm? Elizasmith sent me a message, something about not wanting to miss out on the adventure of the month with Lana and the gang, so I rushed over!¡± she replied proudly.

    LIZZY!! Grrr...!! You promised!! Wait... oh... so *that* was her loophole... she promised not to tell Angelfire what was going on... she never promised she wouldn''t drop a few vague hints and leave the rest to chance... why you rotten, sneaky, devious--!!

    ¡°Hm? Oh! Myanihia, did you adopt one of those orphans from that new quest chain up in Cymeriu or something?¡± Angelfire suddenly said.

    Uh-oh.

    ¡°I... adopted... someone.¡± the Snow Elf returned nonchalantly.

    ¡°Same old Myanihia, huh?¡± Tabitha remarked.

    ¡°Cute! Let me see!¡±

    ¡°She''s, shy. She might not, take to you, right now,¡± Myanihia returned more anxiously.

    ¡°Aww, I''ll be nice, just let me see your face.¡± Angelfire said as she knelt down. I made the obvious mistake of daring to poke my head around the edges of Myanihia''s cloak. Angelfire immediately locked eyes with me. She knew who I was in an instant.

    ¡°Oh boy.¡± I heard Ariana sigh.

    ¡°LANA?!?!¡±

    So after that little piece of drama and a series of fierce hugs and kisses from Angelfire, who out of all the girls seemed to be enjoying this the absolute most, we finally started out to the Untold Deeps. From the time we got off the train I was passed around several times before I finally managed to wriggle loose from Angelfire (for a fifth time), and then I scurried over to Wildeye, who gave a smile and hoisted me onto his shoulders (being the tallest there) to keep me safe. At least until we got to the Untold Deeps itself, which would be a different story.

    ¡°Better?¡± he asked.

    ¡°Mm, better.¡± I returned. I could see Angelfire giving a mock pout out of the corner of my eye.

    ¡°You did it to yourself.¡± Tabitha shrugged at her.

    ¡°Still, of all the things; I never anticipated you of all people would fall victim to one of these rings,¡± Wildeye laughed.

    ¡°If I hear that one more time in the next week...¡±

    ¡°Ha-ha! I bet.¡± he allowed, and Jannie smiled.

    ¡°If we can''t lift the curse maybe we can adopt her.¡± she quipped, and the two of them laughed merrily.

    ¡°Hah?¡±

    ¡°There''s an idea! Though the Queens might lay claim to that first,¡± Wildeye remarked as he looked over at the other Silvernight Queens.

    ¡°Of course we would!!¡± Ariana jumped in.

    ¡°She''s our guild leader, after all!¡± Belle added.

    ¡°Hah, not even a chance,¡± Angelfire remarked wistfully.

    ¡°Nope!¡± Healina grinned.

    ¡°So we''re looking for the goblin emperor''s lair, are we?¡± Peaches remarked as we entered the caverns themselves, pulling up a guidebook she had brought for the occasion.

    ¡°Oh, you have one too?¡± Healina asked as she fell in step with the Hauflin guild-leader.

    ¡°Yep yep! They always come in handy! Hmm... but the goblin emperor... even the highest level players haven''t run across any sign of that lair, it says.¡±

    ¡°We''ll need to hunt for signs around the deepest tunnels and passages,¡± Derwydd said. ¡°Our guild got close to something around this passage here once, remember?¡± he pointed to the map, and Snow Dancer nodded.

    ¡°There were a few Deeps Goblins in that area. But they''re all over the place, too, so let''s not bet on it for sure.¡± she remarked as we got to our save point wayport.

    ¡°I''ll go, and look,¡± Myanihia said, vanishing into the shadows and sprinting off silently. I could tell she was because I could still use my skill that allowed me to see stealthy targets, to a certain degree.

    ¡°Myanihia aside, we need to pick our groups carefully if we decide to split.¡± Lysandra said then.

    ¡°Agreed.¡± Jannie nodded. ¡°But let''s not split up now; we''ll head for that main cavern over there and clear it while we wait for Myanihia, build up our teamwork a bit.¡±

    ¡°You got it!¡± Winnie replied, revealing for the first time (at least to me and the rest of the Silvernight Queens) that she was a magic-user. Well, in the way that Angelfire and Anhe are, at least; Winnie used a staff like Anhe and Sun WuKong, but she was more of an athletic sorceress like Angelfire. And Tabitha was a ferocious dual-wielder like Barbarianne.

    As for me, Wildeye passed me over to Healina, who kept a hold of me in one arm while buffing up the group with her staff. Derwydd stayed with us, working his druidic magic instead of changing to werebear. Ariana was also nearby, and while the four of us hung back the rest of them went into attack mode. And I cannot tell you how irritating it was to not be a part of the fray. I felt like I really was a little kid again, watching old swashbuckling films while wishing I could be a part of the action.

    At the same time, I had to marvel at Healina''s handling of me and her staff at the same time. She was definitely used to multi-tasking from handling her younger cousins; it made me wonder what kind of things she would actually be doing while holding a feisty grade-schooler in her arms.

    Anyway. The creatures before us that Myanihia had so easily crept past in stealth were soon defeated. The champion among them gave us some trouble, so much so that at one point Healina actually set me down and told me to see if my trick still worked. It did indeed work, but instead of wiping out all the hitpoints it left the creature at five-percent health, which let me know that, like all my other skills, even the one-shot combo''s effectiveness was halved. The rest of the gang easily finished it off after I scurried away though, so it wasn''t for nothing.

    ¡°Note to self: use Lana for emergencies.¡± Jannie tapped the side of her head as she put her sword away.

    ¡°Agreed.¡± Wildeye nodded.

    ¡°Yo, the heck was that? It didn''t go down like it usually does when Lans does that,¡± Tyman wondered.

    ¡°Stats and skill effectiveness being reduced is the main curse of the ring.¡± Lysandra shrugged.

    ¡°Whoa,¡± Tyman''s eyes widened. ¡°No wonder y''all need us.¡±

    ¡°It just doesn''t seem right when she''s a little girl like that, though.¡± Tabitha said with a wry grin.

    ¡°Heard that, girlfriend.¡± Winnie nodded. ¡°Wouldn''t want my little girl near anything this wild.¡±

    ¡°A daughter, huh?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Yep!¡± she beamed back.

    ¡°Cute!¡± Belle smiled. It was at that moment that Myanihia reappeared.

    ¡°See anything?¡± Lysandra asked her.

    ¡°Just goblins; there was no... entourage; no hint of, shamans, or chieftains. It must, be deeper.¡± her twin replied.

    ¡°Deeper, huh?¡± Wildeye sighed as he scratched the back of his neck. ¡°Tyman, where did that one thing end up? Did Boskers give it to you like he promised?¡±

    ¡°This thing here?¡± Tyman said, pulling out a multi-sided orb-like thing.

    ¡°Oh wow! An icosidodecahedron!¡± Tabitha said at once.

    ¡°Ico--hed--huh??¡± I stammered in bewilderment.

    ¡°It''s a thirty-two faced polyhedron.¡± she told me.

    ¡°You can think of it as an angular sphere,¡± Wildeye grinned back at me.

    ¡°Not technically correct, but visually fair.¡± Tabitha shrugged. ¡°What''s it do?¡±

    ¡°Boskers said it was some sort of quest item he found in Ragnarheim but couldn''t use since he didn''t have access to the Untold Deeps. There should be something down here that makes use of it,¡± Wildeye replied.

    ¡°So it''s like a key or an access card.¡± Jannie said.

    ¡°Pretty much; actually, there could even be more of these that we need and we just don''t know it yet.¡± he remarked.

    ¡°N-no way...¡± I sighed, and Ariana patted my head.

    ¡°Come to think of it, didn''t we skip past a corridor here a few days ago because we couldn''t get it open?¡± Maryn asked us.

    ¡°Hmm... it was further in, and everything''s reset by now so it''ll be a pain to get to...¡± I recalled.

    ¡°Let''s check it out!¡± Angelfire said.

    So we spent the next hour or so fighting our way to that sealed corridor, and after beating a particularly aggravating mini-boss in the form of a cave-yeti, we began examining the area for clues. Belle examined the top of the sealed door while Peaches examined the bottom, and the rest of us either examined the middle-parts of it or searched the vicinity nearby.

    ¡°Peaches, or Heali, does that book say anything about doors down here?¡± the pixie-girl asked.

    ¡°It does mention that these doors are sealed by protective spells which can be undone by certain artifacts...¡± Healina noted. ¡°But it says the key for this door is hidden in plain sight for those who have fought their way to it.¡±

    ¡°Doesn''t sound like this thing is it, then.¡± Jannie remarked to Wildeye.

    ¡°But it could be a key for something further in,¡± he said.

    ¡°In plain sight, huh?¡± Angelfire remarked, heading back the way we came a few paces and then turning to face the opposite direction, looking beyond the door and further down the hall.

    ¡°I don''t remember anything from last time myself,¡± Maryn said.

    ¡°Lizzy mentioned something was weird about some part of this place, yes?¡± Anhe then piped up.

    ¡°Ohh, that''s right, she did,¡± Maryn snapped her fingers. ¡°What was it she was looking at?¡± she pondered, heading over to stand near Angelfire.

    ¡°We were just passing the door when she made the comment, weren''t we?¡± Lysandra remarked. Maryn took a few steps forward, and then halted.

    ¡°So... about here?¡±

    ¡°More or less,¡± I agreed. ¡°Wasn''t it that one stalactite she was talking about?¡± I then recalled. Angelfire, who had joined Maryn, suddenly smiled.

    ¡°That one.¡± she said, and went over towards it, gently pulling something off of its tip.

    ¡°Oh!¡± Belle remarked.

    ¡°Nice!¡± Der smiled. Angelfire brought the object to the door; it was actually a sphere this time, and it began glowing when she got close to the sealed door.

    ¡°That spot right here, it''s glowing too!¡± Peaches pointed for her, and Angelfire placed the sphere into the accommodating slot. The door ground open, retreating into the cavern walls, and a dark, descending passage was revealed to us.

    ¡°Yo. Now we''re gettin'' somewhere.¡± Tyman clapped his hands together. Winnie and Derwydd lit up mystic lanterns to keep the dark at bay, and we entered the foreboding passageway.

    ¡°Lucky I decided to let little girl stay at her uncle''s tonight,¡± Winnie said as we did. ¡°This is gonna be one of those three-day all-nighters.¡±

    ¡°So weird, isn''t it??¡± Jannie replied.

    ¡°Oh definitely. But handy!¡±

    ¡°You''re telling me,¡± Lysandra agreed. ¡°Sometimes it''s the only way to actually get some decent sleep.¡±

    ¡°Or the blissful sensation of a warm bath,¡± Tabitha sighed.

    ¡°Or a lavish feast or a hot meal with friends,¡± Peaches smiled happily.

    ¡°We need to get back to the ''Mallet after this is all over, speaking of which,¡± Winnie added.

    ¡°Oh definitely!¡± Peaches agreed.

    We bantered like this for the next hour or so, only to realize at one point in our talking that we had yet to be attacked by anything. This suddenly made us alert, and a few of us took out our weapons just in case. Myanihia used Shadow Vision to look around, then shook her head. Ariana gazed ahead with Mystic Vision, but only found the next door, which was about ten minutes away. We approached it cautiously, remaining on guard for any nasty surprises.

    ¡°This door... we can just force it open, the book says, but I don''t trust it.¡± Peaches told us as she glanced over the pages. ¡°I''d rather have whatever properly opens the door.¡±

    ¡°Think it''s trapped somehow?¡± Jannie asked her.

    ¡°Absolutely!¡± the pint-sized guild leader nodded. ¡°I bet Lana and Myanihia think so, too!¡±

    ¡°True.¡± Myanihia nodded. ¡°Lana?¡±

    ¡°Some sort of death trap, a trap door that sends us to a cell, or an alert to send a horde of whatever''s hiding behind this door after us.¡± I noted, and the other assassin nodded her head in agreement. She then went to examine the door, looking for an impression similar to the one the other door had. Peaches came to look with her, and the two of them eventually settled on a spot.

    ¡°This one, is hard to miss,¡± Myanihia remarked.

    ¡°True. It''s more pyramidal. Except a six-sided one, if I''m not mistaken.¡± Peaches noted.

    ¡°Agree.¡± the other girl nodded.

    ¡°So we''re looking for a hand-sized hexagonal pyramid...¡± Tabitha mused.

    ¡°Nothing about it being in the vicinity, though.¡± Peaches read.

    ¡°Oh snap.¡± I sighed.

    ¡°This clue says ''It hides in the deep where lurkers sleep, where the underground wave laps the underground cave''.¡± Healina told us as she read from her tome.

    ¡°That''s a bad joke.¡± Wildeye remarked. ¡°Lurkers are found in the Shadow Bay, all the way across the map from here.

    ¡°Uhh--!!¡± several of us chorused in exasperated disbelief.

    ¡°Hahh... we got too excited about this, I guess.¡± I remarked. ¡°Let''s look at the rest of the clues for the doors so we can get the keys and then come back here,¡± I suggested.

    ¡°Ahem!¡± Jannie coughed as she recovered herself. ¡°Lana''s right. We should do that. We really should have done that first,¡± she said with a giggle.

    ¡°But we can also speed things up a bit,¡± Angelfire said, and Jannie nodded back.

    ¡°You take Myanihia, Winnie, Tyman, Maryn, Derwydd, and Ariana; I''ll take Wildeye, Tabitha, Anhe, Lysandra, Snow Dancer, and Healina; Peaches, Belle, stay here with Lana so we don''t lose our progress with the doors.¡± Jannie said.

    ¡°Got it!¡± Belle nodded.

    ¡°Der, you take this book then,¡± Peaches said, handing the tome to him.

    ¡°Got it, chief!¡± he replied. ¡°All right, let''s give this a quick once-over to get an idea of where we''ll be going,¡± he then said.

    ¡°There''s two other keys mentioned in places that seem to be near the Shadow Bay,¡± Healina told us.

    ¡°And three that are up near the Murk Sea, almost at the underground border for Onyxus,¡± Derwydd noted somewhat anxiously.

    ¡°This sixth one... oh, that''s the one your friend found in Ragnarheim,¡± Healina said to Wildeye.

    ¡°Saves us some of a trip, at least,¡± the other shrugged.

    ¡°You all stocked up on potions and stuff?¡± Belle asked them.

    ¡°As much as we can carry,¡± Tabitha nodded.

    ¡°I''ll just put a few pixie-buffs on you for the road then; good luck!¡± the pixie-girl said as she waved her wand over the others. They gave their thanks, and the two assault groups headed off into the Untold Deeps.

    ¡°Well, this is weird.¡± I said flatly as I sat down and crossed my legs.

    ¡°I''m sure we''ll hear all about it when they get back!¡± Peaches smiled as she sat down next to me.

    ¡°Don''t fuss, Lana! They''ll be back before we know it!¡± Sky Belle grinned.

    ¡°Hahh... I''m so used to saving the day, I have no idea what to do now that I''m the one being saved...¡±

    ¡°Lolli?¡± Peaches said, handing a candy out to me.

    ¡°Oy, don''t treat me like I''m actually--¡± I started, then sniffed it. ¡°Is that watermelon?¡±

    ¡°Sure is!¡± she beamed

    ¡°Hrrmm...¡± I softly groaned in bemusement. On the one hand I didn''t want to be treated the way I appeared. On the other hand... I did like watermelon. Quietly and graciously, I accepted it, and immediately popped it into my mouth, ignoring the soft chuckling from Belle.

    ¡°Now this is a screen-grab moment!¡± the pixie-girl said. I sighed.

    I''m definitely never hearing the end of this.

 Side Chapter: Cards

    ¡°No sovereigns. Go fish.¡± Peaches said as she scanned her cards. The three of us had taken up the game about half an hour after the others had taken off to find the keys, and it was now an hour into the game itself. Panarena decks have four times as many cards, for one thing, and six suites also. Hearts, spades, diamonds, shamrocks, crowns, and roses.

    ¡°Hmm,¡± Belle sighed, picking one out and looking over her own cards as she received the answer.

    ¡°Lana, any hermits?¡± Peaches asked me.

    ¡°Nope. Go fish.¡± I returned, and Peaches went for her own card, frowning at it. Oh, sovereigns are kings, and hermits are aces. ¡°Got any princes?¡± I asked. Those are jacks by the way.

    ¡°Oh, here,¡± she replied, handing the jack of roses to me.

    ¡°Thanks! How ''bout a five?¡±

    ¡°Go fish.¡± she immediately replied.

    ¡°Hahh...¡± I groaned, and went card diving. I tried not to smile as I got a complete book of princes, and set them down in the victory pile.

    ¡°Hey! Nice!¡± Belle said.

    A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

    ¡°Now she just needs to catch up to your two and my three!¡± Peaches smirked. Belle had a set of twos and sevens, while Peaches had the empresses, nines, and tens.

    ¡°Not even a message, huh?¡± I sighed as I checked before returning my attention to the game.

    ¡°Nope.¡± Belle shook her head.

    ¡°I haven''t heard a ding either.¡± Peaches shrugged. ¡°Guess they''re either too busy or there''s nothing to report yet.¡±

    ¡°Ehh, true,¡± I agreed.

    ¡°Oh, Lana, if we do manage to get you back to normal--¡± Belle said, but then the three of us received a message.

    ¡°Hm? Oh, it''s Jannie''s group; they got their first key!¡± I read aloud.

    ¡°Yippee!¡± Peaches exclaimed.

    ¡°Good on them!¡± Belle nodded. ¡°That leaves, ahm... four more, I think.¡±

    ¡°Plus the one they left with us,¡± I said, pulling the multi-faceted sphere out of my pocket.

    ¡°I''ll bet that''s the final key.¡± Peaches said.

    ¡°Probably,¡± I nodded. ¡°What were you gonna ask me, Belle?¡±

    ¡°Hmm?¡± she looked up. ¡°Oh, I forget now... it probably wasn''t important. Anyway! It''s your turn!¡±

    ¡°Huh? Oh!¡± I said. ¡°Hmm... Belle, any sixes?¡±

    ¡°Go fish.¡±

    ¡°Dang it.¡±

    ¡°Pfft!¡± Peaches softly guffawed as we continued our card game in the Untold Deeps.

 Chapter Six: Dark Passage

    ¡°Still no hermits.¡± Belle said to me as I asked her a few Panarena hours later. I let out a sigh, and began fishing for another card. It was now our third game of Go-Fish, and I was beginning to wish one of us had voted for War instead after the second game. During that time, we had gotten two more messages, one from Jannie and the other from Angelfire, reporting that they had won more keys. Now there were only two left, it seemed.

    ¡°Hahh...¡± I sighed as I picked up the card; it was the six of shamrocks. Not what I wanted.

    ¡°Got any empresses?¡± Belle asked, turning to Peaches.

    ¡°Oh, foo. Here.¡± the guild leader of Dreamers Fables said, passing her two.

    ¡°Yippee!¡± Belle declared. The cards were practically the same size as she was in pixie-form, but she hadn''t shifted to human size on account of the fact that they were, as all cards are, super light. ¡°La-na! Have any sixes?¡±

    ¡°Gyeck!¡± I choked, and with a resigned look handed her the one I had just gotten.

    ¡°Tee-hee!¡± she said, and placed it in her deck. ¡°Any fives?¡±

    ¡°Go fish!¡± I quickly said.

    ¡°Drat!¡±

    ¡°I wonder if we should just call the score now and try that new bridge variant...¡± Peaches mused as she gazed at her cards.

    ¡°I don''t think the youngster here would get the hang of that well enough for us.¡± Belle said with a shrug.

    ¡°I can play any card game!¡±

    ¡°Ho-ho?¡± Peaches grinned. ¡°Whaddaya say, girly? Wanna give Bubbling Cauldron a try?¡±

    ¡°Can we even do that with three people?¡± Belle wondered with a faint smile.

    ¡°Hmm... I can pull out my little gremlin; he likes card games, and that''ll leave you two for a team!¡± Peaches said, snapping her fingers and clapping her hands three times. The gremlin appeared; he was greenish-brown or brownish-green in color, and had bright green eyes. A simple wraparound for the waist was his only garment.

    ¡°Master, master! Are we playing cards, master?!¡± he quickly said.

    ¡°Yes, Bubs, we''re playing cards!¡± Peaches announced. ¡°Bubbling Cauldron!¡±

    ¡°Oooh, hoo-hoo-hoo! You''re a cruel one, master!¡± Bubs the Gremlin chuckled as he sat down with us while Peaches collected the cards and began shuffling them for a different game.

    ¡°Hahh... well, hun, you asked for it. I guess I''d better get serious, too!¡± Sky Belle remarked, switching to her human size and hastily donning one of the outfits she kept for it.

    It was at that exact moment that I put the pieces together on what she had wanted to ask me earlier.

    Uh-oh. If we find what we''re looking for down here... I don''t have my normal clothes or armor... snap. Snap snap snap. Dang it. Snap. Oh boy...

    ¡°Hmm? What are you looking shocked about? We bathe together all the time here, right?¡± Belle asked me.

    ¡°Ahh... n-nothing,¡± I said, returning my attention to the pile of cards I was being dealt.

    ¡°You gals are all close, huh? That''s fine for younger folks, I guess--but not so much for us older hens!¡± Peaches said to us.

    ¡°Hm? Peaches, you''re an adult-adult?¡± I softly wondered.

    ¡°Yep yep!¡± she winked back. ¡°Mid-fifties; heh, funny, I didn''t feel old until my daughter told me she was expecting a few months ago.¡±

    ¡°Aw, congrats!¡± Belle smiled.

    ¡°Thankees!¡± she grinned back.

    ¡°What brought you here to Panarena?¡± I asked her.

    ¡°Hmm! Well, I was always pretty spry and I love being outdoors, but lately I''ve had some health issues that keep me inside. When I heard about this thing, it seemed like a joke at first. I mean, how can a technological and virtual system be completely faithful to reality?¡± she remarked with a wry smile.

    ¡°I guess some people still think so; hmm, maybe a lot.¡± Belle nodded.

    ¡°Yep yep! But I signed on for it anyway; the beta-test, that is. Just to see. And boy was I surprised! I used to forget to log out to actually live, but I have an in-game alarm now that keeps me on track. And of course the emergency detection system!¡± she told us.

    ¡°Hm? Oh!¡± I snapped my fingers in remembrance. The Dream Machine is hooked in to the house-system so that it can detect emergency situations such as gas leaks, fires, flooding, and so forth. It''s a life-saving system for people who live alone; I''d seen several posts on the forums from users who had already been saved by it over the past few months all expressing their gratitude to the designers for their thoughtfulness.

    ¡°It''s funny how game-designers are more thoughtful about our well-being than critics pretend,¡± Belle shrugged.

    ¡°I can agree with that!¡± Peaches nodded.

    ¡°Oh definitely.¡± I said.

    ¡°All-righty; let''s get down to the rules!¡±

    ¡°Gyee-hee-heehee!!¡± the gremlin cackled, and so began our game of Bubbling Cauldron. By the time we got through the first round, I still wasn''t sure I understood, but I felt like I had gotten a decent handle on it -- which surprised Belle, anyway. Apparently there were five rounds in the whole game.

    Four more, huh? Let''s see how it goes!

    ***

    ¡°And... Cauldron!¡± Peaches said triumphantly.

    ¡°Hahh... beat.¡± Belle sighed.

    ¡°Oh well,¡± I shrugged, grinning.

    ¡°Nyee-hee-hee!¡± Peaches chuckled. ¡°Oop! There''s a ding! That''s Jannie; she and her group are on their way back now.¡±

    ¡°That just leaves Angelfire and the other team,¡± I said.

    ¡°That should be them now,¡± Belle remarked as we received another message. ¡°Huh?!¡±

    ¡°Hmm?¡± Peaches looked up, and read the message for herself. ¡°Hmm... ''Get ready; coming in hot, couldn''t shake it''... dare I ask what?¡± she mused as she got up and got ready.

    ¡°They had Myanihia, even; she should''ve been able to one-shot whatever it is...¡± I said as I got up as well. ¡°Unless...¡± I suddenly recalled with a horrified smile.

    ¡°Unless what?¡± Belle asked, now back in her pixie form.

    ¡°What kind of prankster GM put a freaking world boss in the middle of a cavern-goat herd?!?¡± I heard Angelfire''s voice cry out angrily.

    ¡°Ahh--!!¡± Belle exclaimed as she caught on.

    ¡°Doesn''t work on world-bosses, huh?¡± Peaches commented.

    ¡°N-nope,¡± I sighed.

    ¡°Angel!! What the--?!¡± Jannie''s voice came.

    ¡°Stand fast! It''s got the key!¡± Wildeye shouted. ¡°Jannie, up here with Maryn and me! Tyman, Ariana, gather the others and tackle the sides! Anhe, you and Derwydd attack from the rear -- Healina, with us!¡±

    ¡°Gotcha!¡±

    ¡°On it!¡±

    ¡°Okay!¡±

    ¡°Coming!¡± the others replied.

    ¡°Hahh, better go help them.¡± Peaches smiled. ¡°Belle, you go help Wildeye''s group; I''ll circle around to help Anhe and Der; Lana... if you must get into trouble, do it carefully!¡± she told me with a smirk, and the two of them hurried off.

    ¡°Hrrmm.¡± I frowned, but followed at a cautious pace anyway. I had no desire to be one-shot by a world boss in child form after not dying once all this time in-game.

    ¡°What the -- oh, hello! Fancy seeing you here!¡± Jannie quipped as Sky Belle and Peaches joined the fight.

    ¡°Hi-ho, Derrio!¡± Peaches said as she reached the group on the other side.

    ¡°Leader!¡± he exclaimed with a grin. ¡°Good timing, your roots are stronger than mine!¡±

    ¡°That''s because you went too far into werebear!¡± she jokingly chided him, unleashing her roots at once.

    The world boss in question was a large and grizzled albino bear with rocky spikes coming out of its limbs and spine; red eyes, ferocious teeth, and a blood-chilling roar made up the rest of it. It seemed like a pure-damage boss, but it seemed to have heavy defenses or resilience as well.

    ¡°Reflect?¡± Wildeye wondered as he jumped back a pace.

    ¡°It''s totally random!¡± Angelfire said.

    ¡°It really is,¡± Maryn agreed.

    ¡°That''s a damn pain!¡± Tyman growled.

    ¡°You''re telling me??¡± Angelfire quipped. ¡°You don''t have DoTs to worry about like I do!¡±

    ¡°Yo! I''mma duel you after this and we''re gonna check those DoTs!¡± he quickly retorted.

    ¡°You got it, buster!¡± she smiled back.

    ¡°Now this is video-gaming.¡± I quietly smiled to myself.

    Lysandra and Angelfire, from opposite sides, drove their blades into the bear''s sides. It lowered its head in a grunt of pain, but there was no noticeable drop in health. But it allowed me to see a different colored stone on the back of the bear''s head, just near the neck. I suddenly realized that the rocky-spikes on its spine were different in shape than the ones elsewhere on its body, and that the specific one I had just noticed was glowing. The bear resumed its frenzied assault-slash-defense a moment later.

    ¡°Angel! Sandra! Do it again!¡± I called out. The two of them curiously obliged me; the same thing happened, and the same stone glowed. ¡°Maryn, kneel!¡± I shouted.

    ¡°Huh? Sure!¡± she returned, kneeling down at once as I broke into Shadow Speed, using her as a springboard to launch myself into the air and use that combo-skill on the glowing stone. It shattered, and the bear howled in pain as five-percent of its health went down at once. I landed on its back, still at a run, and scurried off to jump into Anhe''s arms.

    ¡°Nice job!¡± she said to me with a smile.

    ¡°Phew!¡± I sighed in relief.

    ¡°The stones... on its back, when they glow.¡± Myanihia then said.

    ¡°''Aight! We got it now! Thanks, Lans!¡± Tyman cheered.

    The fight resumed, Maryn and Jannie keeping the world boss focused on them while Myanihia, Lysandra, Angelfire, and Ariana took turns using their ultimate skills on the boss'' spinal-spikes when they started glowing. After several more minutes we wore it down to zero, and then it went up in pixels, leaving behind the key and several rare crafting materials, along with a few elite weapons.

    ¡°Ha-ha, wouldn''t you know it dropped a set of bagh nakh?¡± Wildeye grinned as he held them aloft.

    ¡°I like these just fine, boss.¡± Tyman shrugged as he held up his own.

    ¡°Same here; I''ll keep them for a guildie, then. This staff is something else, though,¡± he remarked.

    ¡°I''ll take that!¡± Peaches declared at once, and it was handed off to her.

    ¡°Short-swords, a mace... a halberd? Ohh, I know who''ll want this,¡± Wildeye grinned, sending the rest of the items to Ariana for safe-keeping.

    ¡°Hm, ''Halberd of Thundering Flame''... oh definitely.¡± Ariana nodded back at once.

    ¡°That has Lizzy written all over it.¡± I quipped, and we laughed.

    ¡°Hmm... the short-swords would make a good alternate for Lana in certain situations... but the mace... if any of you just want to have it as a trophy or an auction item, go ahead,¡± Ariana said as she took it out of inventory to hold it aloft.

    ¡°Sure!¡± Jannie said, and Ari tossed it to her. ¡°Now, let''s figure out who''s getting what material here and carry on!¡± she then said, and after we had divvied out the crafting materials we resumed our trek down the passageway.

    We opened the door without incident, as Peaches had hoped, and continued along the somehow darker passage. I mean, it was dark all around us, generally, but it did seem as if our lights were literally being squelched now. I felt a shiver run down my back as we got further in, and Ari, who was holding my hand, stopped for a moment to pick me up before continuing on.

    ¡°It''s almost too dark.¡± I softly whispered.

    ¡°Mm.¡± she nodded in agreement.

    ¡°So aside from that bear thing, all the other fights went pretty well?¡± Belle asked.

    ¡°Pretty well!¡± Jannie replied. ¡°We had a rough start with that Deeps Siren Queen; poor Wild!¡± she smirked, and he let out a sigh.

    ¡°Fortunately I was able to vindicate myself on the next boss; that Murk Kraken.¡± he said.

    ¡°Eek!!¡± Tabitha squealed. ¡°You said you wouldn''t bring that one up again, ever!!¡± she all but shouted at him, softly punching his shoulder repeatedly.

    ¡°I believe it was Jannie and the other girls who said that, not me!¡± Wildeye quickly returned. ¡°I never verbally agreed myself!¡±

    ¡°Well you should! Uughhh, that was so humiliating...¡± Tabitha sighed, her expression clearly distraught and embarrassed.

    What''s she riled up about? Wait, ¡°Kraken¡±... so--ohh... tentacles. D-don''t tell me it did *that* thing? O-oy... poor Tabitha, I mused internally, coming to my own conclusion as to what happened.

    ¡°But we rescued you in the end!¡± Anhe remarked cheerfully.

    ¡°A-Anhe... I guess that''s true, though,¡± Tabitha grinned wryly.

    Yep. It did the thing.

    ¡°And then of course the stupid thing had to go out and die in deeper water after Lysandra gave it a finishing blow,¡± Snow Dancer sighed. ¡°So Healina had to swim out for the key, and nearly got eaten by another Murk Kraken before we could run off with it.¡±

    This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

    ¡°Fun times.¡± Heali shrugged.

    ¡°We had a comparatively benign experience, at least until we ran into that bear.¡± Derwydd remarked. ¡°Myanihia took care of things easily enough once we actually found what we were looking for.¡±

    ¡°I bet.¡± Jannie grinned.

    ¡°The Shadow Troll Thug... and the, Deeps Serpent... they were easy. Just, normal mobs. Then, unluckily, we found that one.¡± Myanihia said.

    ¡°We didn''t even realize that damn thing was a world boss until she went and poked it. And then of course its health wasn''t even tickled by that combo thing.¡± Tyman told us.

    ¡°You think it''s just a bear... until it''s not.¡± Angelfire sighed. ¡°At least Derwydd could slow it down a pace so we could keep ahead of it.¡±

    ¡°I thought for sure we''d have to go all the way back for it,¡± Ariana remarked, ¡°But it followed us all the way... that''s a world boss for you, I guess.¡±

    ¡°Oh for sure.¡± Winnie nodded.

    ¡°Still... that was a minor one, for sure, or we''d never have beaten it with so small a party.¡± Wildeye remarked. ¡°The thing with the spikes really helped, also!¡± he looked over at me with a smile and a thumbs-up.

    ¡°We come down here to help rescue Lana and she ends up rescuing us!¡± Tabitha giggled.

    ¡°Ah-heh,¡± I laughed back. ¡°Y-you''ll be paying it back when we get to our goal!¡± I added.

    ¡°True!¡± she agreed.

    ¡°And if it fails somehow, we''ll just adopt you.¡± Jannie quipped.

    ¡°Ahh--¡± I returned uncertainly.

    ¡°Not a chance! She''s mine!¡± Angelfire chimed in.

    ¡°Ehh--?!¡±

    ¡°I''m outta this one, Lans.¡± Tyman told me.

    ¡°Hahh...¡±

    ¡°She''s my partner!¡± Ariana said defensively. ¡°Even if she did get de-aged...¡± she added with a smirk.

    ¡°Ohh, true...¡± Jannie nodded. ¡°Did you register that in-game yet?¡± she asked us.

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°Eh?¡± the two of us returned.

    ¡°I mean, they have the Bands of Unity, so that probably counts for them already...¡± Wildeye remarked.

    ¡°Oh right! From that Garth incident.¡± Jannie nodded. ¡°What happened to him, anyway?¡±

    ¡°Garth?¡± Wildeye raised an eyebrow. ¡°Humphrey and the other members of ?SOVEREIGN? have kept an eye out for him, but no one on this side of Panarena has seen him since that scuffle.¡±

    ¡°No one on this side, huh?¡± Winnie frowned.

    ¡°I say that because I have a couple friends on the Onyxus side who''ve reported sightings of him. I can''t confirm it because I''m only a Deputy GM, and my father would likely tell me to forget it at this point because Garth''s father Gallancleeve is on report and unable to do anything, but my bet is that Garth either recreated his character or became a renegade.¡± Wildeye told us.

    ¡°Hmm.¡± I remarked, shaking my head.

    ¡°Oh, Lizzy just logged in!¡± Healina reported to us. ¡°Hmm... she says she''ll hurry over with Fyu.¡±

    ¡°Ehh... I guess as long as she''s just blazing by we won''t have to deal with a horde if she catches up.¡± I noted. ¡°Oh, right, the halberd. She''ll want that.¡±

    ¡°Oh def.¡± Heali grinned.

    ¡°In the meantime, we''re coming up on the next door. Looks like this key here,¡± Tabitha said, pulling out one of the ones her group had found and using it on the door. It unlocked, and we continued along the now ominous passage, the darkness increasing around us.

    ¡°There''s definitely something down here.¡± Angelfire said as she looked around. I turned on Shadow Vision out of foreboding. It wasn''t as good as it was usually, considering that I had nearly maxed it out and now it was at half-effectiveness, but I would still be able to see certain traps and hidden monsters.

    ¡°I don''t see anything... Myanihia?¡±

    ¡°Nothing. Not even, a tripwire, or a dart-wall.¡± she said.

    ¡°Something''s giving me the creeps.¡± Lysandra remarked with disgust.

    ¡°You feel that too?¡± Tyman asked her. ¡°Da hell is in this tunnel?¡±

    ¡°Wait, Lana,¡± Ariana halted, and I looked at her.

    ¡°Hmm?¡±

    ¡°Didn''t you remark the last time you upgraded Shadow Vision that it still wouldn''t let you see a certain type of monster?¡± she asked me.

    ¡°Uhh... maybe I did... oh, I did!¡± I recalled.

    ¡°You''re also, at that upgrade?¡± Myanihia wondered.

    ¡°Yep!¡± I nodded back, checking my skills. ¡°Blehh... I know, I know... just show me the--here it is. So the one kind of monster my Shadow Vision can''t spot are the--Elusive... Deeps... Crawlers...¡± I read with a sudden feeling of horror.

    ¡°Shield Wall Formation!¡± Jannie called to us at once, and in a moment, Healina, Ari, myself, Peaches, and Belle were surrounded by the others, who armed themselves at once. ¡°Maryn, Lysandra, Winnie: rearguard. Anhe, Angelfire, Tyman, Wild: sideguard. Derwydd, up with me and Tabby at the lead. Those in the middle, stay in the middle. Myanihia, get into the shadows and keep alert.¡± she ordered, and we hurried into formation. ¡°Let''s keep going, but cautiously.¡±

    ¡°I''ll send a note to Lizzy.¡± Healina said.

    ¡°Good.¡± our team leader for the night nodded back. Myanihia then vanished to softly pad along the now-eerier corridor like a cat as we followed her at a steady pace.

    ¡°There''s another reason Shadow Vision won''t pick them up anyway.¡± Wildeye said quietly. ¡°My father said they''re more of a prank, a system mechanic that you just have to avoid or somehow repel.¡±

    ¡°He didn''t tell you how?!¡± Jannie softly hissed back.

    ¡°Of course not! He''s a responsible Game Moderator who told me that I should figure things out on my own--unlike a certain missing egomaniac,¡± Wildeye quickly replied.

    ¡°Have to give him that one...¡± Angelfire grinned.

    ¡°We''ll figure it out of things come to--¡± I started, and then checked my skills again. Shadow Sharing, despite most of my other skills being halved or nearly nixed, was still fairly effective. I grinned. ¡°Shadow Sharing!¡± I intoned, and we all slipped into the shadows with Myanihia, who looked back and gave me a subtle nod.

    ¡°Perfect!!¡± Jannie almost squealed with delight. ¡°Let''s hurry and hope they can''t hear or smell us!¡±

    ¡°No! Stay steady, or the skill won''t hold!¡± I quickly told her.

    ¡°Ah--!! Cancel that,¡± she amended.

    ¡°Steady on, Jans. We''ll get through this.¡± Wildeye smiled at her.

    We continued on our steady pace, obfuscated by the shadows (I hoped) as we moved deeper into the Untold Deeps. By the time we got to the next door, Lizzy reported that she had made it to the main entrance south of Harmonia City, and that she and Fyu would do their best not to get caught or one-shot when Healina told her what was going on.

    ¡°Knowing Fyu, they''ll probably get here by the time we get to the next door.¡± I softly noted.

    ¡°Oh definitely.¡± Heali agreed.

    ¡°We should have brought our pet too, boss,¡± Tyman said with a hint of regret.

    ¡°Next time for sure!¡± Wildeye nodded.

    ¡°What do you guys have?¡± Ari wondered.

    ¡°We got ourselves a sabercat! Big ol'' varmit Wild and some of the others did a quest for up in Ragnarheim! His name -- naw, wait, it ain''t a him it''s a her... anyway, her name''s Freya,¡± Tyman told us.

    ¡°Nice!¡± I exclaimed.

    ¡°For sure!¡± he nodded.

    ¡°We should find a quest to get a pet or two ourselves,¡± Tabitha said to Jannie.

    ¡°Right?¡± the other girl agreed.

    After that little exchange we kept quiet again, softly making our way towards the next door. Just as I had thought, Lizzy reached us as soon as we got there, both she and Fyu looking winded. Myanihia quickly got near them to wrap them in the shadows with us, while Peaches used the next key to get us through the door in front of us.

    ¡°Oh, there you are!¡± the Nordian halberdier remarked as we came into her field of vision.

    ¡°Masters, you need not waste your moments here in stealth; my senses can find what yours cannot. We shall not be caught unawares by these Deeps Crawlers.¡± Fyu announced to us confidently.

    ¡°Are you sure?¡± Jannie asked him.

    ¡°There is nothing Fyu Dongtian cannot sense in this world by scent or by hearing,¡± the dog-beast replied. I nodded to Jannie.

    ¡°We can trust him on that count.¡± I added.

    ¡°All right, we''ll try it that way. Go ahead and drop us out of stealth.¡± she said, and we did so at once, then proceeded down the passage once more. Lizzy hopped off of Fyu, and Ariana placed me on him instead while I gave Lizzy a sour look.

    ¡°What?!¡± she asked me as we walked along.

    ¡°If you hadn''t made me this gear I''d be hollering at you.¡± I decided to say.

    ¡°Ho-ho? Why''s that?¡± she cheekily grinned back.

    ¡°You know why. Sneak.¡± I retorted, and she giggled furiously.

    ¡°Deal with it!¡± she patted my head.

    ¡°Hahh.¡± I sighed as Belle and Peaches came to sit with me. ¡°Is there anything around?¡± I asked Fyu as I gave him a scritching behind the ears.

    ¡°There are several; but they slumber. Do not raise your voices, masters, and we shall make it past them.¡± he reported in a low voice.

    ¡°Yikes.¡± Tabitha gulped quietly.

    ¡°You know what these things look like?¡± Winnie asked.

    ¡°Most certainly I do, for I fought them long ago; but I believe certain of the masters would ask me to not tell them.¡± he replied with the ghost of a grin.

    ¡°D-d-d--definitely.¡± Healina said.

    ¡°Fair.¡± the reply came.

    At that little exchange, I was suddenly reminded yet again of how complex this game could be. To characters like Fyu and Dracuoatlax, Panarena had always been, and they themselves had existed in this world for countless years and ages. The designers really had created another world here; true, its main purpose was that of entertainment, but it was entertainment so sophisticated that it could be hard to get over the fact it was, essentially, a game. I wondered what Wildeye, apparently a GM''s son, thought about it all.

    Come to think of it, that''s why he was poking around in Garth''s initial alliance, because his father or some other GM trusted him enough and made him a deputy. Huh. I almost never see him offline, either... I wonder what his story is, where he lives, if there''s a real-life reason he spends almost several real days at a time logged in here, I wondered to myself. These are generally the sort of questions gamers tend to avoid. But after a few months, it was becoming more of a second reality for us, and we were getting more comfortable with knowing each other.

    Well. Mostly. Only a handful of people actually knew me, as opposed to those who knew Lana. That made me start wondering, as Derwydd-Thomas and Lizzy-Ellie had kind of asked me at times: did I really have a separate identity from Lana? I softly frowned, shaking the question away. Lana was Lana, and I was myself. This was a fantasy, and real life was real life. I wasn''t deluded about that at all.

    ¡°I hear... something.¡± Myanihia suddenly said.

    ¡°I hear something as well, masters,¡± Fyu added.

    ¡°What is it?¡± Jannie asked.

    ¡°Goblins, maybe.¡± the assassin replied.

    ¡°Indeed, I smell the vile stench of goblin,¡± the dog-beast said. ¡°And it is coming from the left passage ahead.¡±

    ¡°Oh, look at that, the passage splits.¡± Derwydd.

    ¡°Hmm...¡± Wildeye frowned, looking over at Jannie, who raised her hand for us to halt.

    ¡°Tabby, hand me the keys.¡± she said, and Tabitha handed the other keys over to her. Jannie then nodded to Myanihia, who went with her to look at the doors further ahead down the two passages. When they had looked the second one over they returned to us, the blonde girl shaking her head.

    ¡°Identical?¡± Wildeye asked her.

    ¡°Perfectly identical. I''d bet the key only works for one or only works once.¡± she said.

    ¡°Knowing this game, I''d agree.¡± Lysandra said.

    ¡°Lysandra; the caverns... of Inhe, remember?¡± Myanihia asked her twin.

    ¡°Hmm... kind of... the passage split and then met up again. Fair bet it won''t do that here, though.¡± the other replied.

    ¡°True. There''s no way, to know, really. Unless, the guide-book can tell us.¡±

    ¡°Hmm...¡± Peaches mused, opening the book she had reclaimed from Derwydd and perusing its pages. ¡°Oh, goodie, a riddle: ''You might be right if you go right, and you might get left on going left; but will you be left for going right, or will you be right for going left? You could definitely be right for going left, and you could surely be left for going right; but in the end if you''re right, you''ve gone the right way, and if you''ve been left, you''ve gone awry; pick one, fear none--do and do or die!''... hoo brr-rother!¡±

    ¡°I have a funny feeling that''s nearly all nonsense,¡± Wildeye grinned in bemusement.

    ¡°Ya think?¡± Lizzy quipped.

    ¡°I-is it saying that it does not really matter which way we go, so long as we go on confidently?¡± Anhe wondered.

    ¡°There''s a good thought.¡± Maryn said in agreement.

    ¡°And if we hang back out of doubt...¡±

    ¡°The Crawlers.¡± Ari and I nodded to each other.

    ¡°I believe you are correct, masters.¡± Fyu said to us. ¡°Choose one, then, and let us thwart this trap.¡±

    ¡°One more bet I''d make is that whichever door we pick is going to try to shut fast when we open it.¡± Peaches said to us.

    ¡°Lovely.¡± Jannie sighed. ¡°Who''s got the highest Strength?¡±

    ¡°Hmm...¡± Tabitha pondered, checking her stats.

    ¡°I''d say Sandra.¡± Winnie said.

    ¡°Maybe.¡± the werewolf girl replied. ¡°I''m not as mixed with my stats and skills the way Derwydd is, so in werewolf form I probably outclass him in strength,¡± she said.

    ¡°W-werewolf...¡± Maryn softly gulped.

    ¡°Sorry, Maryn,¡± Lysandra returned with a sheepish smile. ¡°I get a twenty-five percent boost to all stats in that form, though.¡±

    ¡°I-I''ll figure something out.¡± the other said nervously.

    ¡°Oh, goodness.¡± Belle smiled.

    ¡°Pick a door. I know we have all night, but we don''t have all night.¡± Peaches then said.

    ¡°Fyu said the goblins are to the left.¡± Jannie said. ¡°In favor of going left?¡± she asked, and the majority of us raised our hands.

    ¡°That settles that,¡± Wildeye remarked.

    ¡°Let''s get to that door, then; Lysandra, you can have this key for it,¡± Jannie said, handing the werewolf-girl the key in question.

    ¡°Got it.¡± she nodded back. We made our way to the door; Lysandra unlocked it, and pulled it open. Fortunately for us, we had overestimated any sneaky door mechanics, and we all got through without incident -- though it did rapidly close once we had all gotten through.

    The passage ahead of us widened into a larger cavern before diminishing in size again on the other side; and in that larger cavern was indeed a wild horde of goblins, including an elite shaman.

    ¡°Yo! Isn''t that what Lans needs to finish off?¡± Tyman pointed when he saw it.

    ¡°Possibly,¡± Jannie agreed. ¡°So we may definitely on track for the goblin emperor''s lair.¡±

    ¡°He''s practically surrounded.¡± Lizzy said as she looked over the scene.

    ¡°Masters, we should create a diversion so that my master may get up to yon fiend and dispatch him handily.¡± Fyu suggested to us.

    ¡°I vote for that plan.¡± Winnie agreed. ¡°It''s simple.¡±

    ¡°Chances are the shaman will just sit there and try to buff and heal his companions, so I agree.¡± Wildeye nodded.

    ¡°Okay. We''ll do it that way.¡± Jannie said. ¡°Myanihia, that combo will take him down without question, yes?¡±

    ¡°It will; but, Lana, would not get him.¡± the Snow Elf replied.

    ¡°If Lana starts the same combo a half-second after you?¡± the other asked, and Myanihia thought for a moment.

    ¡°I... do not know,¡± she said in an intrigued tone. ¡°But, Jannie, you''ve given me, a theory, to test, the next time I try a world boss. For now... Lana, you can see it. You will know when to strike.¡± she said to me, and I nodded back.

    ¡°I''ll definitely try.¡± I said.

    ¡°Come here.¡± she said, kneeling down. I went over to place my arms around her neck, and she hoisted me up in a piggyback carry. ¡°At your word.¡± she said to Jannie, who nodded and turned back to the others.

    ¡°Heali, with Maryn; Peaches, with me; the rest of you fill out the ranks. We''ll divide that mass of goblins while Myanihia and Lana go after the shaman. You two, stealth up and head out three seconds after we engage them.¡± she ordered. The two of us nodded back, and I looked over at Ari, who was taking part in Jannie''s team. She smiled at me, and I nodded to her. ¡°Go!!¡± Jannie called out, and they attacked while Myanihia and I vanished into the shadows.

    Three seconds after we heard the clash of steel, Myanihia took off like a dart for the shaman''s position. He was indeed stationary, only turning to heal or buff up his allies. When we were five paces from him, Myanihia came to a halt and set me down. She nodded at me, starting the combo. I initiated it a second after her; she struck first, the deadly skill erasing the shaman''s health. I just managed to get a finishing blow in before it went up in pixels, and at that exact moment I felt just slightly different. The rest of the goblins, dismayed at the fall of their leader, began scattering and clambering into holes around the area. Soon there were none left, and we had won.

    ¡°Whew! Nice of them to run off,¡± Lizzy sighed in relief.

    ¡°Oh, I almost forgot, Lizzy!¡± Ariana said, handing her the Halberd of Thundering Flame.

    ¡°Sa-weeet!!¡± she exclaimed with glee.

    ¡°How''d we do?¡± Jannie asked.

    ¡°I got the kill-shot, somehow,¡± I replied.

    ¡°Yay!¡±

    ¡°Nice!¡±

    ¡°Phew,¡± were some of the reactions I got.

    ¡°And the skill reduction is down to thirty-five percent,¡± I noted, looking over the effect again.

    ¡°Oh nice! So when we get to the goblin-emperor you might be almost normal!¡± Angelfire smiled.

    ¡°That''d be nice,¡± I nodded.

    ¡°Let''s hurry and find that second shaman, then; I bet finishing them all off will at least lift the curse on the skills, if not the stats.¡± Ariana smiled.

    ¡°Oh, that makes sense,¡± I realized.

    We got back into a defensible formation then, and resumed our journey through the passage. After exiting the cavern, we found that the other passage joined up with the one we had taken, and shortly after finding that out we came across the next door.

    ¡°Hmm? Oh, we got another key from that shaman for this one,¡± Peaches mused as she looked through her inventory. ¡°Sneaky devs,¡± she smirked as she tried the new key, and the door opened to let us on our way.

    ¡°They do that.¡± Winnie shrugged.

    ¡°Any signs of danger ahead, Fyu?¡± Anhe asked.

    ¡°Nothing but the foul odor of goblins ahead, and they are no threat to us, masters.¡± he replied.

    ¡°Then we''ll definitely be ready for them -- onward!¡± Jannie said, holding her hand aloft as if it held a banner, and onward we went.

    There was a sudden nagging feeling that came to the back of my mind at that moment, but I brushed it aside, caught up in the small victory we had won and the fact that I was slowly getting back to normal. Healina summoned up a floating light to guide us, and Peaches put up one for the rear as we continued on into the dark.

 Chapter Seven: Curses and Choreography

    ¡°Lana, go!¡± Jannie said to me, and I took off running for the shaman with Ariana and Belle, who hopped on my shoulder as Ariana us.

    About two and a half hours had passed since we beat the first elite shaman. The second one had given us no more trouble than the first one; then we got a little overconfident, and inadvertently tripped an alarm that brought nearly e-ve-ry sin-gle goblin down upon our heads. Thankfully we had a solid team with good coordination and two versatile battle-commanders. I stayed on Fyu with Peaches, who worked her magic while the dog-beast kept a steady but quick pace through the caverns, batting aside enemies with his great paws or intimidating them with a growl or a howl as the others fought a run-and-gun battle on either side of us. Maryn took the lead this time, while Jannie stayed back with Derwydd and Lysandra, who had taken to their werebeast forms.

    This pleasant experience lasted for a much shorter time than it felt, but it kept going right as we arrived at the third elite shaman, who had another horde with him. Lysandra let loose that bone-chilling howl to freeze some of our enemies in their tracks, while Ariana and Peaches literally froze them with ice. The rest of the gang then began tearing into the goblins with a trebled frenzy, taking out as many as they could before they started moving again.

    Out of pure instinct I rolled off of Fyu and started fighting; my stats were still down by seventy-five percent, but the reduction on my skills was down to fifteen-percent. I could inflict some decent damage if I didn''t get full of myself and lunge into my usual antics. Of course, Belle had noticed at once, and came over to assist me as the battle raged on.

    Lizzy, by the way, was having an absolute blast with her newly acquired halberd. We thought the last one she''d gotten had puffed her up--boy was that moment an understatement compared to this one. Our blonde tornado-of-death was storming through the goblins as if they were low-level mushroom fiends from Ipping Forest. Lysandra let loose another howl for good measure, and the goblins cowered again, giving us the advantage once more. Jannie led a charge towards the shaman''s guards, diverting them from their leader, and Derwydd crashed into them in werebear form with a ferocious swat. That was when Jannie had told me to go, and away the three of us went.

    Ariana cast a binding spell on him holding him tightly in place. Belle then worked her own magic, placing status ailments and stat reductions on him. From afar, Angelfire cast a few fiery DoTs to help us out; I waited until his health bar was below half, and then pounced with the combo skill. He went down to zero, and the baleful survivors began scampering off into the dark once more. We all sat down in a couple of heaps to recover ourselves, Tyman giving a high five to Tabitha, who had saved his neck a couple times during the fighting.

    ¡°Yo! Sick moves, girl!¡± he grinned.

    ¡°Back at you, wild boy!¡± she smiled back.

    ¡°That was more than I feel like I bargained for, but we did it!¡± Peaches tiredly smiled.

    ¡°Oh please; we fought ten times as many a week ago,¡± Snow Dancer told her with a lopsided grin.

    ¡°Hmm? Did we? I''m old and forgetful, you know!¡± her guild leader winked back.

    ¡°Pfft, you''re not old,¡± Snow shook her head, chuckling.

    ¡°Now we just have to get to the goblin emperor,¡± Jannie said after a moment, looking towards the tunnel ahead.

    ¡°As long as we don''t bump another trap first,¡± Wildeye quipped, and she softly elbowed him in the side.

    ¡°Shush, you.¡±

    ¡°Yes, dear.¡± he gently laughed. I looked over at the two of them for a moment, and then smiled. I could see Ariana smiling towards them too. She looked over at me, and gave me a subtle thumbs-up, to which I responded with a wink.

    ¡°Only been a couple weeks and y''all at that stage, huh?¡± Tyman commented.

    ¡°It''s been a couple months in-game, though, which is where we are most of the time.¡± Jannie smirked back at him.

    ¡°Dayum, girl, wish I had your life.¡±

    ¡°No one should have my life.¡± she replied with a rueful smile. I saw Wildeye gently squeeze her hand.

    ¡°Yo, didn''t mean it like that, Jannie,¡± Tyman quickly apologized.

    ¡°Don''t worry about it, Ty-guy.¡± she smiled at him.

    ¡°Ty-guy...¡± I repeated with interest, and he glowered at me grumpily.

    ¡°''Aight, I''mma let it slide here, Lans, but don''t you dare call me that on the other side!¡±

    ¡°Tee-hee!¡± I grinned, making the most of my child form.

    ¡°Hrrn, don''t even wanna smack ''er now with that stupidly cute face...¡± he muttered to himself as Winnie snorted with laughter.

    ¡°Don''t you smack our little girl!¡± she quipped.

    ¡°She ain'' gonna be little much longer, though!¡± he shrugged.

    ¡°Get your licks in while you can, hun.¡± Belle smirked at me.

    ¡°Hmm... I''d rather just keep going, as soon as we''re all rested and stuff.¡± I said in reply.

    ¡°True!¡± she agreed at once.

    ¡°Well, are we all ready, then?¡± Jannie asked. When the others asserted that they were, we set off for the last stretch of the road.

    Once more, Peaches and I were seated atop Fyu, who obligingly took the middle position with Ariana and Anhe on one side and Lysandra with Belle on the other while the rest filled out the formation before us or behind us. Jannie led the way cautiously with Myanihia and Healina, keeping a close eye out for traps or alarms. Behind us, Derwydd and Lizzy kept an eye on the rear to make sure none of those that had retreated earlier would try their luck again with reinforcements.

    As we moved along through the dark, I started noticing that the walls were lined with pictograms. Most of them were crude goblins scrawlings of course, but I got a sense that some of them hadn''t actually been made by the goblins. I wondered what the lore behind them was, nudging Ariana with my hand to point them out to her. She took a look, and tilted her head curiously on seeing them, then opened up a lore-book to see if there was information on the markings. After a few moments she held the book over for me to see as well, pointing to the top right of the right page.

    ¡°Hmm... so the in-game lore is that there were others in this part of the Untold Deeps before the goblins showed up...¡± I softly said.

    ¡°Looks like it!¡± she agreed. ¡°Isn''t it neat what they come up with?¡±

    ¡°For sure!¡±

    ¡°It''d be neat if they added some sort of update that would let us see back in time for this world...¡± Ariana remarked as she put the book away.

    ¡°Oh, that would be kind of cool...¡±

    ¡°Hmm? Kind of?¡± she gave me a funny look.

    ¡°I mean, definitely, but it''d be neater to see back in time for real, personally,¡± I said.

    ¡°Ahh, true.¡± she agreed.

    ¡°We have one key left, right?¡± Jannie suddenly asked.

    ¡°Right here,¡± Peaches said as she held it aloft.

    ¡°Good, because there''s a door ahead.¡± our team-leader said.

    ¡°Ohh, I bet that''s the place.¡± Angelfire nodded.

    ¡°Any traps?¡±

    ¡°No traps.¡± Myanihia shook her head. ¡°None, until we get inside. Then, we may not have a choice... he will, probably, set them off himself.¡± she reported.

    ¡°Ugh. Rough.¡± Jannie gruffly sighed.

    ¡°Hate it when they do that,¡± I grumbled.

    ¡°We''ll need, to look at the room, when we get in,¡± Myanihia continued, and Jannie nodded back at her.

    Peaches got down from Fyu, and went with them to unlock the door so we could gather inside. I saw at once why Myanihia had mentioned taking a good look at the room. It seemed just a bit convoluted; we had entered onto a landing, and on either side there were two downward paths heading to a lower, wider chamber. The goblin emperor was seated on throne on a dais on a high platform at the far end. There were multiple platforms and zigzagging paths that ascended or descended all around the place.

    Basically it was like a sloppy Escher-room, and there were several holes in the walls, the floor, and even the ceiling from which reinforcements might spring out. The paths down to the wide chamber and the stair that led up to the emperor''s throne were about the only straightforward routes in the whole room. To add on to that, there were also a couple of floating platforms hovering around, rising up or lowering down in no immediately discernible pattern. Jannie let out a long sigh as she took a look around, finally resting her gaze on Wildeye with a wry smile.

    ¡°This is about the wildest boss room I''ve seen yet.¡± the Mountain Tigers'' leader said as he scratched his head in befuddlement.

    ¡°Right?¡± Angelfire agreed.

    ¡°This looks even harder than some of the ones we''ve done,¡± Maryn shook her head. ¡°And some of those boss rooms in the Marshes of the Wyrd were just awful.¡±

    ¡°What''s the plan?¡± I asked them as I went to pull myself up a bit onto the ¡°rail¡± that overlooked the chamber.

    ¡°It''s a real shame we can''t get your dragon down here...¡± Jannie remarked as she patted my head. I briefly wondered how the big guy would fit through half the tunnels we''d been through to even get down here. ¡°Fyu, are you a tank or just pure damage?¡± she turned to the dog-beast, who blinked at her.

    ¡°I can withstand much, friend of my master.¡± he replied.

    ¡°That makes this ghost of a plan a bit better,¡± she said, sitting back a bit on the ledge as I hopped off to turn around as well. ¡°Maryn, Heali, Ari, and Lana; you four will be on him. I''ll guard the right flank with Snow Dancer, Tyman, Peaches, Angelfire, Lysandra, and Lizzy; Fyu, take the left flank with Anhe, Tabitha, Derwydd, Winnie, Wildeye, and Myanihia; Belle, divide your time between the three groups as you see necessary.¡± Jannie said to us, and we all nodded back at her. ¡°I think that''s it; any changes you''d make?¡± she turned to Wildeye.

    ¡°I don''t see anything to nitpick.¡± he replied. ¡°I would say though--Derwydd, don''t go werebear unless it''s an emergency; we''ll likely need your druid skills more than the werebear ones for this fight.¡±

    ¡°I can handle that,¡± Der nodded.

    ¡°Don''t want to tank the boss?¡± Maryn asked Jannie.

    ¡°I''m a DPS tank with a shield; you''re a proper one.¡± the other girl shrugged.

    ¡°Ahh, okay.¡± our own shield-user nodded back.

    ¡°Just to warn you,¡± Angelfire then said, ¡°If it gets crazy in here, I''m going to set the whole place on fire.¡±

    ¡°We know you will.¡± Lizzy patted her shoulder.

    ¡°I''d expect no less.¡± Jannie gave her a wink. ¡°All right, all good now?¡± she asked, and we all gave her a positive affirmation. ¡°Let''s get to it!¡± she said, drawing out her sword. And with that, we headed down to face the goblin emperor.

    ¡°Oh-ho?¡± the target in question said as he rose up from his throne on our approach; his guards pointed their jagged halberds, pikes, and spears towards us. ¡°Miscreants and vagabonds, is it, come to try and end my reign of the Deeps Goblins? We''ll see about that, my pretty morsels! Come, then: guards, soldiers, to arms!¡± he bellowed out.

    ¡°Of course he does that right off the bat!¡± Angelfire grimaced as the goblins and hobgoblins began swarming out to come after us.

    ¡°Less talk, more fire!¡± Jannie quipped back. Without a word the fire-mage obliged, casting several barrages of flame spells into the oncoming hordes at once. On the other side, Winnie began working her own magics while Myanihia tore into them with her calm frenzy of motion. As the others joined in the fighting, the four of us on the boss dealt with his elite guards first -- not that we had a choice.

    I was able to take out one with that deadly skill combo, but I spent the rest of my time evading the attacks of the other three after it. Apparently they had decided I was the main target after that little display, and I could not get a break to get back into stealth. By the time Maryn had their attention I was nearly too afraid to do anything that might attract their attention again, and so vanished into the shadows to watch the fight for a bit while the rest of my sub-team dealt with the elite guards.

    Derwydd was trying to seal off the holes and crevices from whence the goblins were still pouring out of on their side, and Peaches was doing the same on her side of the battle. Snow Dancer''s light magic and Anhe''s auras were keeping those two groups afloat fairly well, along with the occasional recovery burst from Winnie or Peaches.

    ¡°Lana!¡± Ariana called my name; I turned back. One of the guards was almost gone. I quickly used an attack on it to finish it off, and then managed to slip back into stealth to use my combo on the third. The fourth was bashed in the head by Maryn, and it reeled backwards from the force, tottering on the edge before falling off and getting impaled on the spiked barricade below it.

    ¡°Really?¡± I remarked with a nonplussed expression.

    ¡°Really.¡± Maryn shrugged.

    ¡°Hrrgh! Got past them, did you?¡± the goblin emperor seethed, drawing out his weapon, a fiendish khopesh nearly as large as Ariana. He brought it down with a swift motion, and Maryn raised her shield to block it. The result staggered him back a pace, but it also pushed Maryn back a couple steps.

    ¡°Yeow!¡± she winced.

    ¡°Holy health bars!¡± Healina suddenly exclaimed. I looked up to see for myself. This guy was world-boss level with his health.

    ¡°One-point-five million...¡± I sighed wearily.

    ¡°Sheesh!¡± Ariana shook her head.

    ¡°Heali, you think we can hold him?¡± Maryn called back to our healer.

    ¡°I can definitely keep you up!¡± the other girl replied.

    ¡°Lana, Ari, help the others get rid of that horde!¡± Maryn then said.

    ¡°Got it!¡± Ariana nodded back, taking my hand and withdrawing from the boss fight for now.

    ¡°That said...¡± I mused, looking at all the holes still left around the wide chamber.

    ¡°There''s a lot of them, huh?¡± she remarked, quickly pondering the best course.

    ¡°At this rate, she really will set the room on fire...¡±

    ¡°Maybe that would be such a bad idea,¡± Ariana said with a thoughtful look on her face.

    ¡°Eh?!¡± I looked back with alarm.

    ¡°I''d have to help her a bit, though... and we''d need Snow Dancer to augment us a bit...¡± she continued musing aloud.

    ¡°Hmm...?¡± I said in a calmer tone, picking up on her thought-train.

    If Ariana and Angelfire worked in tandem, they could create a storm of lightning and fire together that would keep going for as long as we needed it--or until they ran out of magic power, whichever came first; Snow Dancer''s own magic could propel that dangerous storm and make it worse for our enemies while keeping the rest of us safe. That would leave the rest of us free to attack the boss.

    ¡°Yo, Jans, you hear that?¡± Tyman called as he caught our conversation.

    ¡°We''re stalemated right now; let''s give it a try!¡± Jannie said. ¡°Back off slowly until they have a spell going!¡±

    ¡°Right!¡± Wildeye replied.

    ¡°Masters, there is a fresh wave of reinforcements coming!¡± Fyu remarked.

    ¡°Ari!¡± Angelfire said as she came over with Snow Dancer. The three of them hurriedly began summoning up the deadly storm. Lysandra shifted to werewolf form, and used Howl of the Void to halt the goblins'' advance while they did.

    ¡°Whew!¡± Lizzy grinned. ¡°Uh-oh, Maryn, you okay?¡±

    ¡°Sh-sh-sh-shut up!¡± our tank stammered anxiously.

    ¡°Sh-she''ll pull through...¡± I softly remarked.

    Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

    ¡°Hahh... poor chick.¡± Lizzy whispered back. At that moment, the hell-storm was released, and the mass of goblins around us began dissolving into ashes with horrendous screams and wails. Snow Dancer waved her weapon in a pattern a few times and activated a spell to reinforce the one cast by Ariana and Angelfire.

    ¡°Go!¡± she called, and the rest of us hurried to the boss fight.

    ¡°Master, I shall stay with them and help keep these little trouble-makers at bay,¡± Fyu said to me.

    ¡°Good idea, pal!¡± I nodded back as I scurried back towards the throne.

    ¡°Lana, stealth, now!¡± Jannie ordered, and I did as I was told. Myanihia was also in stealth, and she beckoned me over.

    ¡°It''s... not a world boss; but, it is, dangerous. Our trick, can work -- probably.¡± she told me.

    ¡°The physical resistance, huh?¡± I remarked, and she nodded.

    ¡°Seventy-five percent. Even with our damage, as high as it is, and the capacity, to overcome that resistance, it will be hard.¡± Myanihia frowned, looking over at the creature.

    ¡°I wonder... if we aim for a few of its worn items first, maybe that''d lower it?¡± I pondered softly. Myanihia gazed more intently at the goblin emperor.

    ¡°There is nothing... we could break... he''s almost...¡±

    ¡°Y-yeah... now you mention it...¡± I nodded in agreement. The goblin emperor had a fancy loincloth around his waist and a rough crown upon his head, but that was it. My eyes turned away from that and up towards the throne. I espied some glowing gems, one on each armrest and one on the top of it. Their glow was strong, almost fierce. ¡°Myanihia.¡± I said, nodding towards them.

    ¡°Maybe.¡± she nodded back as she looked over. ¡°It, is worth a try.¡± she said, drawing out her weapons.

    I did the same, and we hastened up towards the throne, pouncing on the gems with the combo-skill. They cracked, but did not shatter. I used Thousand Needle Strike to finish mine off, while Myanihia took out her flintlock and blasted the one she had attacked. Both of them then imploded, knocking us back down the steps.

    ¡°He staggered!¡± Jannie observed.

    ¡°And his health has been reduced; it''s down to seven-hundred fifty-thousand!¡± Wildeye noted.

    ¡°That''s more manageable,¡± Derwydd grinned. ¡°Are you two all right?¡± he asked us as we got back up slowly.

    ¡°Fine, just fine,¡± I returned. Myanihia got up like a cat, dusting herself off as if nothing out of the ordinary had occurred.

    ¡°I will not, make that mistake, again.¡± she said as she took up her flintlock again, firing several shots at the remaining crystal. It went kaboom like the other two, and the boss staggered again. ¡°Lana!¡± Myanihia called, diving into the shadows. I dove in after her. Once more she used the combo-skill, and I used it a split-second after her. The boss'' health went down -- to one percent.

    ¡°Huh?!¡± Lizzy cried out angrily.

    ¡°Tch!¡± I glowered.

    ¡°Lana!¡± Jannie called as he started standing up.

    ¡°Heart-stinger!¡± I called out, finishing off the diminished health bar. He tottered around in a dramatic death sequence, and then finally went up in pixels and smoke. Ariana and Angelfire ended their spell, and what was left of the goblins began retreating into their holes.

    ¡°Phew!¡± Healina sighed in relief.

    ¡°Good job!¡± Jannie smiled.

    ¡°Bit simpler than we thought, eh?¡± Wildeye grinned.

    ¡°Definitely!¡± our team leader nodded back.

    ¡°How''s that cursed ring, girlie?¡± Winnie asked, and I looked at my stats. They were back to normal, but I was still a child.

    ¡°Everything is... mostly back to normal... I guess I just have to take it off,¡± I remarked, and slipped the ring off my finger. I sighed in relief, and quickly felt myself growing back into normal size.

    Wait a sec--!! I suddenly recalled as the child-sized clothes burst off, but before I could freak out, Angelfire was there placing a cloak around me.

    ¡°Didn''t you bring your regular stuff with you?¡± she asked me with a funny look.

    ¡°Ahh... w-weight limit... stats...¡± I mumbled in embarrassment.

    ¡°Here, doofus,¡± Lizzy grinned, tossing a simple outfit at me. I mumbled a word of thanks, hastily equipping it.

    ¡°That was fun!¡± Anhe smiled. ¡°We should do it again sometime!¡±

    ¡°Without a cursed ring, next time,¡± Peaches grinned.

    ¡°Speaking of which,¡± Angelfire said, picking up the item in question and handing it to me. ¡°Seems like it''s different now.¡±

    ¡°Hmm?¡± I wondered, examining the item''s name again. The title hadn''t changed, but its effect was without penalty so long as it was worn. ¡°Hrrmm...¡± I looked at it bemusedly.

    ¡°Could be handy in some situations,¡± Ariana smiled as she came over.

    ¡°Who knows,¡± I shrugged, placing it in inventory.

    ¡°All right, now that we have that settled... we have a date with a restaurant in Harmonia City.¡± Tabitha said.

    ¡°Yo!¡± Tyman agreed with a grin.

    ¡°Let''s get going!¡± Snow Dancer agreed.

    ¡°Definitely!¡± Jannie nodded, and we began heading out of the Untold Deeps to go and celebrate our victory. I looked back at the room briefly as we exited, and Ariana paused as well.

    ¡°Lana?¡± she asked me.

    ¡°Hmm... it felt almost too easy, but then, maybe that was the point... so easy a child could do it.¡± I pondered.

    ¡°We did get really lucky,¡± she agreed. ¡°Maybe this ring''s curse was one of the simplest.¡±

    ¡°That would explain it, I guess,¡± I nodded.

    ¡°Now that its curse is gone, I want to try it later!¡± Ari smiled.

    ¡°You can have it,¡± I laughed back, and she giggled.

    ¡°Come on, losers!¡± Lizzy''s voice called from further ahead, and we hurried to go and catch up with the others.

    ***

    After our celebration we parted ways, and those of us who needed to get up in the morning made the most of our time getting our rest in-game. Well, most of us. Lizzy went on a crafting run with Peaches, Tabitha, and Winnie, while Heali and Derwydd went to spend time together elsewhere. Ariana and I went to the hotspring at Cloverbell, joined later by Maryn and Anhe. Belle, Lysandra, and Myanihia, it seemed, had gone to do a mini-quest of their own for the rest of the night.

    ¡°Somehow, it''s still as good as the one in Hollydale.¡± Maryn said with a blissful sigh.

    ¡°True,¡± Ariana agreed, and Anhe nodded.

    ¡°I almost liked that one better,¡± the younger girl remarked.

    ¡°Well of course! We were really there, for one thing,¡± Maryn smiled.

    ¡°That is true!¡± Anhe smiled back. ¡°Hmm... but it is more peaceful tonight without Lizzy picking on someone or another!¡± she added with a giggle.

    ¡°Pfft!¡± Ariana smirked, gently shaking with quiet laughter.

    ¡°Yeah, yeah...¡± I sighed.

    ¡°Oh she picked on Andi that time, since she couldn''t get you.¡± Ariana said with a grin.

    ¡°Hahh... poor Heali...¡±

    ¡°Right?¡±

    ¡°It really is more peaceful, though,¡± Maryn agreed. She then looked at me with a mischievous grin. ¡°You should reverse the experience for April Fool''s Day.¡±

    ¡°Gyeck?!?!¡± I froze with absolutely no idea how to reply. Ari let out a bemused smile.

    ¡°M-Maryn...¡± she remarked uncertainly.

    ¡°Ha-ha-ha!¡± the raven-haired girl giggled back. ¡°I get it; you wouldn''t really do that. And she''d probably be paying you back in spades for the rest of your life, but it''d be funny!¡±

    ¡°Hahh...¡± I sighed.

    ¡°It would be a little funny,¡± Ari admitted with a goofy grin.

    ¡°No way am I gonna do that,¡± I protested, ¡°Not after I know how it feels...¡± I quipped, sinking into the hotspring a bit more. Maryn cupped her hands over her mouth as she laughed, and Anhe shook her head, smiling.

    ¡°Oh, I just remembered,¡± our youngest member then said, ¡°My mother said that for those who keep up with the language classes all three years, she will arrange for a senior trip over the summer to China and Japan -- but she might be up for taking our club this summer as well!¡± she told us.

    ¡°Oh wow!¡± Maryn said with surprise.

    ¡°Neat!¡±

    ¡°Cool!¡± Ariana and I exclaimed. ¡°Think that''d count for one of our trips?¡± she asked me.

    ¡°Hrrmm, let''s see what Andi--err, Andrea says, and Mrs. Brown, too,¡± I replied.

    ¡°Don''t be such a stranger, she''ll let you call her that too,¡± Ariana poked me.

    ¡°Ahh... right, but yeah, we should definitely run it past them, since they''re our president and advisor.¡±

    ¡°Oh definitely.¡± Maryn nodded.

    ¡°Hmm... I agree, it should count as one of our trips if we do it.¡± Anhe said. ¡°Of course, that will mean some sort of assignment to go with it...¡± she softly sighed, but smiled.

    ¡°I could live with that, I guess,¡± I shrugged.

    ¡°Ehh? You feeling okay?¡± Ariana placed a hand on my forehead.

    ¡°It''s not like I--¡± I started, but then stopped.

    Do I really hate school all that much? I mean, sure, assignments suck, unless of course they''re the kind I don''t mind... the kind on topics I''m actually kind of interested in... what do I want to do, to be? I started wondering.

    ¡°An essay or so on the experience would be ideal, or maybe even a presentation about it,¡± Maryn said. ¡°Hopefully that sort of thing can count for my university applications!¡±

    ¡°Ohh, right! You wanted to go to that really nice school, too!¡± Anhe recalled.

    ¡°Yep, AILE.¡± the older girl nodded back. ¡°What about you? Any thoughts yet?¡± Maryn then asked her.

    ¡°Hmm... I am still not sure; but maybe, maybe I will try to be a teacher, like my mother.¡± she replied.

    ¡°Aw!¡± the other smiled back.

    ¡°That''d work!¡± Ariana beamed at her.

    ¡°True,¡± I agreed.

    ¡°Aw, thank you!¡± she smiled back at us. ¡°What about you two?¡± she wondered.

    ¡°Hmm... I''m somewhat undecided, at least until you-know-who decides,¡± Ariana said.

    ¡°Ahh...¡± Anhe nodded back, and then looked at me with a twinkle in her eyes.

    ¡°I''m not sure yet,¡± I replied honestly.

    ¡°So she says,¡± Ariana sighed, patting my head.

    ¡°Well, it''s not like you have to have things figured out by the time you get out of high school, or so dad always says.¡± Maryn told us with a shrug. ¡°Some of us are just ready for it, and some of us... some of us need some prodding.¡± she looked at me with a wink.

    ¡°I guess,¡± I sighed.

    ¡°This really isn''t the same without Lizzy here.¡± Maryn then remarked, and then grinned like a Cheshire cat. ¡°I guess I''ll have to do something drastic!¡±

    ¡°Hahh?!¡±

    ***

    As I walked into school the next morning as myself, Ty flicked me on the head as usual, still grinning about the adventure we had all gone on.

    ¡°What''d y''all do with that thing, anyway?¡± he asked me.

    ¡°Ahh... I think Rachel has it,¡± I told him. ¡°I wasn''t gonna hang on to it after all that.¡±

    ¡°I bet!¡± he grinned. ¡°Yo, that was fun, though. Can''t wait to see what the guild competition has in store!¡±

    ¡°Me neither, pal!¡± I replied with a smile. He gave me a thumbs-up, and then we parted ways. I reached my locker, where Rachel was waiting with a still-apologetic smile.

    ¡°Y-you really okay after last night?¡± she asked me gently as I got my books out and put my backpack away.

    ¡°Ehh...¡± I pondered a moment. ¡°I guess I''m not safe anywhere... except with Myanihia or Lysandra...¡±

    ¡°Pfft!¡± she softly giggled.

    ¡°As long as -- bleh, I''d better not give anyone ideas...¡± I sighed.

    ¡°W-we could go somewhere in Panarena tonight alone if you want...¡± she said to me, faintly blushing.

    ¡°Ah--ahh... w-well, what about just going to the cafe after school?¡± I asked her.

    ¡°Sean!¡± she said with a happy surprise. ¡°Let''s do it!¡± she agreed.

    ¡°After our theater stuff then,¡± I smiled back.

    ¡°Definitely!¡± Rachel nodded. I finished with my books, and we headed in for classes.

    Morning classes were the same as usual. Lunch brought us its kind reprieve, or mostly kind; Mary was still all giggles from her taking up of Ellie''s antics last night, though it seemed like she was definitely keeping it a secret from Ellie herself. When lunch ended, she gave me a hug as a soft apology, and then we were off to afternoon classes. We must have been having a lot of fun with them, because they passed with the snap of a finger, and then Rachel and I made our way to the theater with Thomas.

    Today''s focus: going over lines and doing some choreography. I recalled from Monday that I had a couple of fight scenes, two of them lighthearted and one of them dramatic. I did not expect that I would also be doing some dancing. Miss Andrews began splitting people off into groups to go over lines, and then called Joanna and myself over to the stage. There were two mock swords on a table nearby.

    ¡°All right, Sean! I know you have some experience with the martial arts, so dancing won''t be too problematic for you to adjust to. What I''m concerned about is the climactic duel in Act Three, with Gisbourne and Robin fighting to the death over Marion. Have you handled a weapon before?¡± our teacher asked me.

    ¡°Y-yeah, I have,¡± I replied. Subjectively, at least.

    ¡°Good! And I know Joanna was a fencer in middle school, so there''s that. Now, what I want to see today are your skills in handling the swords. Don''t try and hurt each other, just give me an idea of where you''re at and what we need to work on to make this fight work.¡± Miss Andrews said as she took the swords from the table and handed them to us, backing away. Out of the corner of my eye I saw several heads turn our way.

    ¡°Don''t worry; like she says, I''m a professional.¡± Joanna subtly smiled at me.

    ¡°Don''t be surprised when you don''t break through,¡± I quipped with a smile of my own. Her own smile grew larger, and she held out her sword.

    ¡°En garde!¡± she called out, thrusting at me right off the bat. I parried her, whirling around to try and bring my own mock-blade up to her neck but she quickly batted it away as soon as she realized what was happening.

    Sh-she really is a pro, I belatedly understood, hastily blocking a few thrusts and slashes that came my way before I regained my center and went on the attack again. The one thing I''d had drilled into me by each of my martial arts instructors was that I should keep my eyes on my opponent''s eyes. Not their hands, not their feet, but their eyes. Then another thought reached me as we locked blades, hers coming down and mine swinging up to block. This was a fight scene, but it was also not really a fight to the death: it was more of a dance, and every move would be carefully made to give the audience a thrill while keeping the both of us completely safe. I thought about the various sparring matches I had been in as a kid, recalling how each of those moves had also been practiced so that no one was actually hurt. And with that, I found my in.

    I managed to shove her off gently, and at once I pounced with a series of strikes and thrusts, catching her off guard at first but then she smiled at me. She knew I had caught on to what our teacher wanted. So we both began showing off, driving each other back and forth and around the stage for about ten minutes before we were both winded. Miss Andrews clapped her hands for us to halt, and we set the swords back on the table.

    ¡°Okay! Color me impressed. Now we''ll have to work out what the actual fight is going to look like, and you''ll have to have your lines memorized as well, but I think we have a foundation here.¡± she told us, and Joanna grinned at me. ¡°Now: Matthew, Herby, get up here! We need to work on quarterstaves now!¡±

    ¡°Hah? Oh...¡±

    ¡°You forgot about that, huh?¡± Joanna said to me. ¡°I''ll give you some advice; you''re decent with a sword, but a staff is a different animal.¡± she remarked, patting my shoulder.

    ¡°Very true, Jo.¡± Miss Andrews nodded. ¡°I think he''ll catch on, though. Good job, by the way; now go run your lines with Marcus and Joe.¡±

    ¡°Yes, ma''am.¡± Joanna replied, and headed off the stage to do so while Matthew and Herby arrived to join me.

    ¡°Okay, so! Which of you two gentlemen is feeling up to this first?¡± our teacher grinned as her aide Holly came out with two quarterstaves. Matthew turned to the shorter boy with a grin.

    ¡°Herb! What number am I thinking of?¡±

    ¡°Uhh... five?¡± Herby answered uncertainly.

    ¡°Nope! You go first.¡± Matthew quipped.

    ¡°Shucks. Well, Sean, here we go!¡± the other boy gave me a lopsided grin, taking one of the staves while I took the other.

    ¡°H-here''s to not getting whacked for real,¡± I replied.

    ¡°We''ll try, buddy, we''ll try!¡± he nodded.

    Fifteen minutes with both of them showed us and our teacher that we definitely needed some practice with the quarterstaff. I got whopped by poor Herby a couple times, as well as inadvertently whopping him once, while Matthew got me good at least five times -- though I swear the fifth was somewhat on purpose. Or at least he had a cheeky grin on his face when it happened. Though I did somehow manage to trip him as I went down. He laughed it off, and that''s when Miss Andrews, with a semi-amused grin on her face, clapped her hands for us to stop. She then made her pronouncement, and sent the three of us off to run our lines for the rest of the afternoon.

    ¡°But who the heck knows how to handle a staff like that in this school?¡± Herby remarked as we sat down.

    ¡°Right?¡± Matthew agreed. ¡°Swords are one thing; fencing and even kendo clubs are a dime a dozen. But I don''t think quarterstaves are even a thing in high schools... Renn Faire companies, maybe...¡±

    ¡°Fighting with a staff, huh...¡± I quietly mused, thinking about Anhe.

    ¡°Don''t tell us you know someone?¡± Matthew asked me.

    ¡°Ehh... I''d have to check...¡±

    ¡°Come to think of it, you''ve been getting super popular this year, huh?¡± Herby remarked. ¡°And we all thought you were just a reclusive gamer!¡±

    ¡°Th-that''s not... completely untrue...¡± I replied bemusedly.

    ¡°Nice.¡± Matthew remarked. ¡°Well! Time to run our lines, boys! Ha-hem! Let''s see... Little John shows up in Act One, Scene Five...¡±

    ¡°This is an Allan line, isn''t it?¡± Herby noticed.

    ¡°Yup! They kind of merged him with Will Scarlet in this one, didn''t they?¡±

    ¡°Oh, that''s interesting,¡± I said.

    ¡°Yup yup,¡± Matthew nodded. ¡°Henry! Get over here!¡± he called, and as soon as the other boy arrived we began going over our dialogue for the rest of our time there.

    ***

    ¡°Think you did okay?¡± Rachel asked me as we sat at a cafe later that afternoon.

    ¡°Hrrmm, I''m still tripping a bit over some of the words, but I''ll get there.¡± I shrugged. ¡°How about you?¡±

    ¡°Same.¡± she nodded. ¡°And we don''t actually get a scene with each other until after the middle of the first act.¡± she smiled sadly.

    ¡°We can still run our lines together,¡± I smiled back at her.

    ¡°Of course!¡± Rachel beamed back. ¡°That sword-play though.¡± she then said.

    ¡°That Joanna is a pro.¡± I replied. ¡°I don''t think I''d actually beat her in a fight, but in a play, I think there''s enough to make it work.¡±

    ¡°I thought you held up pretty well.¡± she told me. ¡°And I''m not the only one. Allie and Marcus seemed pretty impressed as well--especially Marcus, since he was on the fencing team with Joanna when they were in middle school.¡±

    ¡°W-wow, I don''t know what to say,¡± I remarked with a bashful grin.

    ¡°And then next week you guys have to work on archery, huh?¡±

    ¡°Was that on the schedule?¡±

    ¡°Yep!¡±

    ¡°Oh boy.¡±

    ¡°Those staff fights do need some work though.¡± she smirked.

    ¡°Y-yeah, I got that,¡± I returned with a wry expression.

    ¡°Your head okay?¡± she asked in a more serious tone.

    ¡°Hrrmm, it hurt less than what you did in the tournament...¡± I said with a goofy grin. She gave me one in return, and we both quietly shook with laughter, taking each other''s hands.

    ¡°I was so horrified when I hit you then!¡± she soundlessly giggled.

    ¡°Hit me? You clobbered me!¡± I softly quipped back, my smile growing wider. She buried her head on my shoulder, still shaking with laughter. I put an arm around her, and when we had calmed down a bit we gazed out of a nearby window together. ¡°S-say, Rey, do you just want to skip out on gaming tonight and just... be together?¡± I asked her after a moment. She didn''t reply immediately, but she did press closer to me.

    ¡°Definitely.¡± she agreed. ¡°Definitely.¡±

 Side Chapter: The Girl in Hospice

    Wildeye and Jannie sat together upon a bench under a golden maple, watching the sunset in Ragnarheim, an area that had a Nordic theme and an autumnal landscape. Both of them had guild members on, but anything urgent was being handled by the officers in both guilds. The two of them had been relaxing together in the area for a couple of Panarena days now after their exciting adventure with Lana and the Silvernight Queens; and they had even brought a picnic, specially ordered from the ¡°Roasted Mallet¡± in Harmonia City.

    ¡°Maybe we should log out soon; our caretakers are probably worried about us by now.¡± Jannie suggested.

    ¡°Well, true.¡± Wildeye agreed. ¡°I suppose the health-regulator is no complete replacement for the user actually waking up to assure others they''re all right.¡± he smiled.

    ¡°There''s that.¡± Jannie agreed.

    ¡°Were you really in to Lana, or were you just teasing her earlier?¡±

    ¡°I was so into Lana; but she always had Ari with her, you know?¡±

    ¡°Oh, for sure,¡± Wildeye nodded.

    ¡°Hmm...? You too, huh?¡± Jannie wondered.

    ¡°I''m not sure I completely fell for her, but she is a very compelling person for some reason.¡± he returned.

    ¡°Definitely.¡± she nodded back.

    ¡°Hmm... it''s probably what, about supper time for you over there,¡± Wildeye then remarked.

    ¡°Yep; and it''s about midnight for you.¡± Jannie replied.

    ¡°Father''ll be asleep. I think I will log out for the night, and surprise him early by ordering breakfast.¡± he said.

    ¡°Ooh, good on you!¡± Jannie smiled. ¡°I''d like to meet him again sometime, by the way.¡± she said to him.

    ¡°He''d like to meet you as well.¡± Wildeye smiled back at her. ¡°Next time, perhaps? I''ll talk to him at breakfast if you like?¡±

    ¡°Please! I''d love that! We can go riding together in Kingsmark or something,¡± she suggested.

    ¡°You know, I think he''d like that!¡± the other nodded. ¡°All right, it''s a plan! I''ll see you tomorrow!¡± he said to her.

    ¡°Not without this first.¡± Jannie said, kissing him.

    ¡°How silly of me to forget,¡± he smiled, kissing her a second time.

    This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    ¡°Sleep well.¡± she smiled at him.

    ¡°And you also.¡± he replied, and the two of them logged out for the night.

    ***

    Janice Kelly woke up in her bed, slowly removing the Dream Machine and setting it on the charger nearby. She sighed, smiling as she gazed out at the sunset.

    ¡°Someday, I want to touch you for real...¡± she murmured longingly.

    It wasn''t out of the question. Her condition was not a contagious one. But it did tax her, and made travelling difficult for her. He himself was planning to try and visit her some day, but they wanted their families to know each other a bit more as well first.

    A knock then came to the door.

    ¡°Jan? Are you awake, honey?¡± a woman''s voice called.

    ¡°I''m here, Aunt Sally.¡± the young lady called as loudly as she dared, fearful of another attack. The door opened, and her aunt walked in with a tray of food, smiling.

    ¡°Good to see you in this world!¡±

    ¡°I''m glad to see you, too, Auntie.¡± Janice replied.

    ¡°How''s your young man?¡± the older woman inquired as she set the tray on the nearby table and sat gently on the bed next to her niece.

    ¡°He''s well. We just had the most wonderful time; do you think we could all get together some time, for real? He wants to visit, you know.¡±

    ¡°I think we''d all like that. Your uncle isn''t against the idea, you know, but he does worry about you.¡±

    ¡°Luckily you two are the hospice owners!¡± the younger woman gently smiled back.

    ¡°Ohh, Jannie!¡± her aunt grinned, taking her niece''s hand and patting it. ¡°We''ll have them over sooner than later, I promise. I''ll have to get one of those machines and help arrange it; or we can arrange for a video call.¡±

    ¡°Hmm... yes, that might be best.¡± Janice agreed.

    ¡°We''ll get it all sorted out soon enough. Now, are you well enough? I made your favorites, after all!¡±

    ¡°I think I can manage it,¡± Janice nodded as she slowly pulled herself into a sitting position, her aunt helping her. ¡°You should get one anyway. You don''t have to do any fighting or anything; lots of people do other things there, things they can''t do in real life or wanted to try but never got the chance to in this world,¡± she said.

    ¡°I do certainly recognize its value as a therapeutic tool.¡± the older woman nodded. ¡°Oh, maybe I''ll just get one to peep in every now and then!¡± she smiled.

    ¡°I''d like that.¡± Janice smiled back. ¡°Tabby would love you!¡±

    ¡°And I''m sure I''d love her, too.¡± Sally agreed. Janice''s smile continued, her aunt smiling as well as she watched to make sure her niece had no trouble with supper.

    She has definitely been happier since meeting that young man there, the older woman noted to herself. Perhaps I will give it a try, just to see what keeps her there so long some days; who knows, I might even get John to try it out! She thought with a smile, watching as Janice eagerly devouring the vegetable soup before her. This Panarena was a strange world, but it was also a wonderful one, giving her niece a much-needed enthusiasm for life.

    I''m so glad this peculiar device was recommended to us... it keeps her away from us most of the day, but there''s a spark of life and a will to fight back inside of her. We''ll get through this, and she''ll be right as rain someday soon, I know it! Sally mused, turning to gaze out at the sunset herself. If she could have known, it was not unlike the sunset that Janice and her young man had been watching in the game minutes earlier.

 Chapter Eight: Forays/Dragon versus Demon

    Okay, so. It''s been about a week since the end of that ring incident. School has gone pretty well. I wasn''t sure how being involved with a play was going to affect my assignments, but it''s turning out all right. As for the play itself, we''re getting our lines down well enough -- some of us more than others, but we''ll pull it together. Oh, I did end up asking Anhe if she was confident enough to help us out with staff-fighting; she shyly agreed, and turned up with her mother one afternoon to give us some pointers. Miss Andrews all but drafted her on the spot, and now our shy little friend is helping us with that choreography for the musical.

    What''s that? Oh, yeah; Rachel and I had our out-of-game night, spending time at the nearby park with an impromptu picnic, our homework, and our lines. It was a good change for us, even though part of me wondered if we would have actual time together like this once the musical headed in to its more rigorous schedule. Rachel smiled at me when I wondered that aloud as I walked her home, saying that we''d make the time somehow, to which I could only agree wholeheartedly. We would definitely make the effort.

    Apparently the others got up to some stuff with Dreamers Fables in-game while we were out; while they were out questing in Memphani they got into it with the King-Priests of the Demon Sands. Ellie told us grumpily at lunch that the confrontation had ended in a stalemate, and that it would have gone much differently had the two of us been around.

    ¡°What, Myanihia didn''t show up to help out?¡± I wondered.

    ¡°She only helps when you''re actually there,¡± the blonde girl returned sullenly.

    ¡°That seems in character for her agreement with Lana,¡± Rachel had shrugged.

    ¡°W-well, maybe we''ll get on tonight... or maybe...¡± I had stammered out, and the others had looked at me with surprise.

    ¡°You of all people are having second thoughts about heading in to Panarena?!¡± Ellie said in shock.

    ¡°I mean...¡±

    ¡°Let the little turtle doves be!¡± Andrea had hurriedly come to my defense. ¡°It would be nice to spend some time out of game for a day or so...¡± she remarked, taking Thomas'' hand as he smiled at her.

    ¡°True. We should pick a movie to go and see,¡± he said.

    ¡°Oh def!¡± Andrea agreed.

    ¡°Hahh... lovebirds, lovebirds everywhere...¡± Ellie groaned.

    ¡°I''m not dating anyone,¡± Mary quipped back.

    ¡°I-I am not either,¡± Anhe added with a wry grin.

    ¡°Hmph.¡± the other girl shrugged. ¡°It would be nice to go and see that one movie... you know, the one with Jack Morgan and Selene O''Malley in it,¡± she then remarked.

    ¡°Ooh, nice idea!¡± Andrea smiled.

    ¡°Hm?¡± I wondered.

    ¡°It''s a pirate fantasy film or something, isn''t it?¡± Mary asked.

    ¡°Yep!¡± Ellie nodded.

    ¡°Huh?!¡± I said with sudden interest.

    ¡°I know what we''re doing Friday.¡± Rachel grinned.

    ¡°So two more days then,¡± Ellie nodded as she munched on her sandwich. ¡°Which means there''s plenty of time between now and then to get back at those Sand-people whatever in Panarena tonight!¡±

    ¡°Just have to be alert for their ambushing techniques...¡± Mary sighed.

    ¡°I agree. That was rough.¡± Anhe softly winced.

    ¡°Demon Sands, huh?¡± I remarked, popping a grape into my mouth as I pondered for a moment.

    ¡°I know you haven''t had much time to read the forums, but you know a bit about them, right?¡± Ellie said to me.

    ¡°Hrrmm, I remember Ty saying one night he''d rather have us as an enemy for a whole month than Demon Sands for one night.¡± I remarked.

    ¡°Pfft!¡± the blonde girl chortled.

    ¡°Wow.¡± Andrea blinked in surprise.

    ¡°Their guild leader is someone named... Rama, isn''t it? Kind of like Ramesses, that old pharaoh,¡± I added, and Mary nodded back at me.

    ¡°That''s what I''ve heard about them. Not sure if they''re a male or female avatar...¡± she said.

    ¡°This shtick again?¡± I quipped in a partly unamused tone.

    ¡°This shtick again... Lana.¡± Mary grinned back at me.

    ¡°Hahh...¡±

    ¡°But I get his point.¡± Thomas said with a faint smile. ¡°That Myanihia had most of us going for almost the whole tournament. Though I doubt this one will be as subtle.¡±

    ¡°I''m more concerned about Venomheart overall,¡± I shrugged. ¡°Not many seem to know too much about them. But I guess we could log in tonight and take a poke at the other guild,¡± I looked over at Rachel, who seemed interested.

    ¡°It''s been a while since we got into real PvP action, and this time it''s honestly motivated. Let''s do it!¡± she nodded back.

    ¡°Ya-hoo! The bosses are in!¡± Ellie beamed.

    ¡°Just so long as we get through classes and stuff first.¡± Rachel softly poked me.

    ¡°Ahh... right, classes, and stuff,¡± I replied as she smirked.

    ¡°Don''t tell us you''re worn out from Robin Hood already?¡± Andrea said to me.

    ¡°I''m not,¡± I answered. ¡°I''m just thinking about that mathematics homework...¡± I shivered.

    ¡°Ack, you reminded me,¡± my girlfriend winced.

    ¡°You two can dread homework when or if you sign up for a philosophy class...¡± Mary said to us.

    ¡°No thanks!¡±

    ¡°Nope!¡± we said at once, and the others laughed.

    ¡°Almost time for lunch to end,¡± Thomas then warned us. ¡°Oh, what did Mrs. Brown say about our workplace trip?¡±

    ¡°She said it''d be good for us, and that we should schedule it soon. Next weekend or so, preferably,¡± Andrea told us.

    ¡°I can do that with this amount of warning.¡± Ellie said, and Thomas nodded.

    ¡°Same.¡±

    ¡°Hmm... as long as we do it in the morning I''ll be good.¡± Mary said.

    ¡°Hm? You have other plans that day?¡± Andrea asked her.

    ¡°I have a campus visit to AILE at two-thirty,¡± Mary replied.

    ¡°Ahh! Gotcha!¡± Andrea smiled. ¡°We''ll have a nine-to-one schedule for it, then; that should be enough time, right?¡±

    ¡°Perfect.¡± the principal''s daughter nodded back. ¡°I guess dad will go along with us as a chaperon, since that''s the case,¡± she added.

    ¡°W-we''re going to the video game people, right?¡± I wondered.

    ¡°It''ll be fine! Dr. Robertson is open to education in all its forms, remember? He let us open the club after all...¡± Ellie remarked.

    ¡°He did.¡± Mary smiled. ¡°We''ll get something worthwhile out of it, don''t you worry.¡± she said to me.

    ¡°Hmm.¡±

    ¡°My mother will come along as well.¡± Anhe added. ¡°Probably!¡±

    ¡°Good!¡± Andrea smiled back. ¡°Oh, before we eat and split, if we''re all gonna go on Friday we should get Chrissy and Mandy to go with us!¡±

    ¡°Another couple,¡± Ellie sighed, but smiled in agreement anyway.

    ¡°Just ask Justine out or something,¡± Andrea quipped back at her. Ellie blushed for a moment and then gave her friend a look.

    ¡°Unofficial Rule Number One of work-place conduct: never ask a co-worker out on a date.¡± she said adamantly.

    ¡°Then if she wasn''t--¡± I started, but she held up her hand.

    ¡°Hold it! That''s enough from the peanut gallery, thank you.¡± she said to me.

    She likes this person at least a *little* bit, judging from that reaction, I quickly thought to myself.

    ¡°I have to agree with Ellie on that rule,¡± Thomas nodded.

    ¡°Aww.¡± Andrea softly pouted. Ellie cleared her throat, balled up her trash, and took it to the bins.

    ¡°I''m not into that scene yet anyway. Besides, there''s still harem rumors around this poor kid here,¡± the other girl jerked a thumb towards me.

    ¡°Gyeck?!¡±

    ¡°Hahh...¡± Rachel sighed tiredly. ¡°We''ll they''ll have to die out this spring for sure after the dances and the musical.¡± she said, taking my hand.

    ¡°I''ll say.¡± Mary nodded in agreement.

    ¡°Anyhow,¡± Thomas then said, ¡°I''ll take you two to the study-cafe after rehearsals and we can finish up our homework there.¡±

    ¡°Okay!¡± Rachel agreed.

    ¡°Nice,¡± I nodded back.

    ¡°I''ll meet you there!¡± Andrea smiled.

    ¡°Ahh!! The bell!¡± Mary cried out as a familiar tone sounded, and we began scrambling to head for our afternoon classes.

    ¡°It''s like this,¡± Andrea said to us later that afternoon, after we had gotten through afternoon classes and rehearsals. She was now demonstrating a math-formula for us while Thomas scribbled down notes for an essay he was working on. Rachel and I had been perplexed by the formula for at least two weeks now; I was still mostly in the dark, but Rachel seemed to understand it better as Andrea wrote it out with annotation.

    ¡°Hmm, so that goes like this and not that,¡± my girlfriend remarked as she erased a bit and tried again.

    ¡°Exactly!¡± Andrea nodded. ¡°Sean, you okay?¡± she asked me.

    ¡°Hrrmm...¡± I sighed in quiet frustration.

    ¡°Nothing gets tougher in that course, I promise that much,¡± Thomas said. ¡°Even if he doesn''t get these, as long as he gets the formulas and equations of the next few weeks down to a certain extent, he''ll pass.¡±

    ¡°But it''d be better if you could get it in case you can''t get some of those.¡± Andrea softly smirked at me.

    ¡°Hyeck!¡±

    ¡°Se-an!¡± Rachel said to me in a sing-song voice, doodling a series of notes on my paper.

    ¡°Hm? Oh!!¡± I exclaimed in sudden realization.

    ¡°Hahh... and what part of my explanation couldn''t he get?¡± Andrea shook her head in amusement.

    ¡°It''s more like, Rachel gets you, and Sean gets Rachel.¡± Thomas smiled. ¡°So he does get it, it just has to come through Rachel after you.¡±

    ¡°They''ve been dating only five months and they get each other so well.¡± Andrea grinned as she watched the two of us. ¡°I wonder what they''ll do for the big day coming up?¡± she said in a quieter voice.

    ¡°Well, we''ve got our plans... it''s safe to say they have theirs, at least I hope.¡± he remarked.

    Big day? Oh. Oh that, I suddenly recalled.

    Valentine''s Day. It was looming closer. Did I have plans? Kind of. Did they involve being in-game? Soft of. What about real life? Somewhat. I mean, yes. There were definitely real plans in my head that weren''t about the Valentine''s Gala at school. I mean, that too. But not just that. After all, it would be six months on that day...

    ¡°Sean?¡± Rachel poked me.

    ¡°Hm?¡± I looked over at her.

    ¡°You''re spacing out.¡±

    ¡°Ahh--!! D-did I miss something?¡± I asked her.

    ¡°Not really.¡± she said with a subtle smile.

    I missed something.

    ¡°They''ll be fine.¡± Andrea nodded in agreement with Thomas.

    ***

    ¡°Ho-boy.¡± I sighed to myself as I entered my room later that night.

    After I got changed, I hurriedly looked at the image I had captured on my phone at the cafe. It had been hard to get it so stealthily, but my inadvertent ninja-training in Panarena had not been for nothing. It was a picture of Rachel''s hand. Why Sean, what are you doing with a picture of your girlfriend''s hand? Well, in this day and age, there''s a handy feature on your phones to help people out with sizing for clothes and jewellery and such. And that is as much as I''m gonna say right now.

    Hmm? Oh yeah, I had gotten the usual arrival-interrogation about the day''s events from the ''rents, of course. They definitely seemed pleased at all the social developments in my life. So much so that I was let upstairs with a ¡°have fun!¡± without even a word about homework. Now that almost made me feel as if I had stepped through some portal into another reality. They never let up about homework. Even the old man. But I guess I''d been doing things right according to their book enough so that it no longer warranted an inquisition. Anyhow. With all of the day''s homework and rehearsals now firmly behind me, I got comfortable, and set the Dream Machine upon my head to escape into Panarena.

    ¡°Finally,¡± I sighed in relief as I loaded up in Queen''s Haven.

    ¡°Someone sounds happy to be out of the real world.¡± the voice of Lysandra remarked. I turned to see her lounging idly on one of the sofas. ¡°You seemed happy enough when we were vacationing together, though.¡±

    ¡°That was then, this is now.¡± I shrugged. ¡°I don''t hate being myself or having my actual life, but...¡± I trailed off, uncertain of where that statement was going. Lysandra looked at me for a moment and then smiled.

    ¡°I think most gamers, especially in this world, understand what you''re wanting to say. We''ll leave it at that, Lana--though if I had to choose, I like this you better.¡± she winked at me.

    ¡°Hah?¡± I faintly blushed.

    ¡°What? You like this you better too, don''t you?¡± she grinned, getting up to place her coat on and buckle the sword onto her baldric.

    ¡°Ahh--um... hrrm...¡± I stuttered, not sure of how to answer that. She came over and put a hand on my shoulder.

    ¡°Teasing.¡± she softly laughed.

    ¡°No fair,¡± I returned with an awkward grin.

    ¡°Belle really does want to interview you for her thesis, though.¡±

    ¡°Gyeck!?¡±

    ¡°Come on, losers!¡± Lizzy''s voice was heard. ¡°We''ve got payback to deliver!¡±

    ¡°Oh, right,¡± I said, and quickly changed into battle gear.

    ¡°She''s really determined to get that secret ore in the Lasat Mountains,¡± Belle said as she flew in to check on us.

    ¡°Hmm...?¡± I said with interest.

    ¡°That''s true. She was definitely frustrated when they stonewalled us and forced us to retreat from that mine.¡± Lysandra nodded.

    ¡°So there''s some kind of special ore there, huh?¡± I said as the others joined us.

    ¡°Def!¡± Lizzy nodded. ¡°It''s an ingredient for super top-notch gear, a few steps above the gear we made over winter break. Not just the ore, but a couple of rare magistones, too.¡±

    ¡°Oh nice!¡± I exclaimed.

    Magistones are basically gemstones, but naturally enchanted ones. The enchantments you get are random, of course, but ingenious crafters like Lizzy can find ways to make any of them advantageous. I was definitely seeing why she was adamant on getting to that mine. Suddenly a thought struck me.

    ¡°Hey, did those guys, the King-Priests that is, have any, ahh, helpers, like Fyu or Dracuoatlax?¡± I asked them.

    ¡°Not that I saw.¡± Maryn shook her head.

    ¡°Just a bunch of insanely powerful mages.¡± Lysandra sighed. ¡°Don''t get me wrong; Ariana and Sky Belle are technically better, it''s just that they have a lot of mages, and that makes it hard for melee to get close.¡±

    ¡°Hmm...¡± I pondered, a soft smile crossing my face.

    ¡°I get the feeling I''m going to like this.¡± Lizzy remarked.

    ¡°And I get the feeling that we''re going to feel really silly for not thinking about it last night.¡± Maryn said with a grin.

    ¡°I think we need to pay a visit to a dragon.¡± I then said.

    Dracuoatlax needed nearly zero encouragement to come and help us. Of course, we brought Fyu along as well, for the sake of our resource waggon. Maryn, Anhe, and Lizzy went ahead of us to Memphani with that while the rest of us went to fetch our winged friend. We caught up with them outside Bara Zyn, one of the southeastern cities in that region. The Lasat Mountains were directly south of us, looming in the distance both invitingly and forbiddingly.

    If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    ¡°Master, I must caution you,¡± Dracuoatlax said as we touched down, ¡°It is rumored that there is a guild in these lands who have made alliance with an old adversary of mine: Djaziim the Unholy.¡±

    ¡°Dj-Djaziim the Unholy, huh?¡± I repeated with a slight hesitance.

    ¡°I, too, have heard of this creature.¡± Fyu nodded. ¡°It was said he bowed to no one in the days of yore; anyone who has gained his services must surely be formidable.¡±

    ¡°These have gained our services, Fyu Dongtian,¡± the dragon returned. ¡°And we two were also among those who bowed to none.¡±

    ¡°Through wisdom, and through cunning,¡± the dog-beast replied. ¡°But what wisdom or cunning did Djaziim ever honor?¡±

    ¡°You speak the truth.¡± the other agreed.

    I listened to the exchange with interest. The lore in this game was incredible; our friend Dracuoatlax had been rivals with a demon named Djaziim who was now serving a rival guild for some unknown reason.

    ¡°Much like myself, Djaziim has a strong opinion of his superiority,¡± the dragon continued. ¡°If someone has gained his services, there is certainly some sort of hold upon him that he either cannot or will not break, which is saying something, indeed.¡±

    ¡°I would say ''cannot'', for all the stories I have heard of him say there is nothing he will not stoop to doing.¡± Fyu remarked.

    ¡°This I cannot deny.¡± the other nodded back.

    ¡°Dracuoatlax, was this thing--this Djaziim, did he make his home in those mountains?¡± I suddenly realized.

    ¡°That is the truth, my clever queen and master,¡± he replied.

    ¡°I think the King-Priests'' also built their own guild-hall or at least an outpost somewhere in those mountains.¡± Lizzy told us. ¡°They couldn''t get it too close to the mines because resource spots are neutral spaces in game territory, but they can get close enough to attempt monopolizing it.¡±

    ¡°Hmm...¡± I sighed, sitting down on a nearby bench to ponder for a bit.

    ¡°Lana?¡± Ariana asked, sitting down with me.

    ¡°I think I see a way to do this efficiently... we''re gonna make two groups. One to attack their outpost or whatever it is, the other one to raid the mines.¡± I announced.

    ¡°I thought you couldn''t attack guild-halls or outposts?¡± Maryn said.

    ¡°That only applies to ones like Cloverbell or Queen''s Haven.¡± I told her.

    ¡°Ahh, that''s true,¡± Lizzy nodded. ¡°Player-made outposts and such can be raided or captured.¡±

    ¡°P-player made ones can? Then what about our house in Bethelia?¡± Ariana quickly asked.

    ¡°I think that region has some sort of special protection over it,¡± Lysandra assured her.

    ¡°Oh def.¡± Lizzy nodded.

    ¡°That''s why it''s a popular place for crafters and roleplayers,¡± I added, and she sighed in relief.

    ¡°That''s good, then!¡± she smiled.

    ¡°There''s supposedly a region like it in Onyxus, too.¡± Lysandra said.

    ¡°Not that I can imagine slice-of-life on the dark side, but hey,¡± I shrugged, a faint grin on my face.

    ¡°Right?¡± the older girl smiled.

    ¡°I think your plan will work, master.¡± Dracuoatlax said. ¡°I ask permission to be with you on the assault!¡±

    ¡°Of course,¡± I nodded back. ¡°Ariana, Belle, Anhe, you''ll be with us. Maryn, you''ll lead the others.¡±

    ¡°Got it.¡± our shield-user nodded.

    ¡°Give us... ehh, thirty minutes?¡± I turned to Ariana.

    ¡°Twenty to thirty,¡± she nodded. ¡°Time enough to locate them and get their attention.¡±

    ¡°Exactly.¡± I said.

    ¡°Let''s get to this grove here before we split, and then we''ll start counting time.¡± Maryn said, pulling up the map to show us the spot in question.

    ¡°Good idea.¡± I agreed.

    ¡°Whee! Revenge-match!¡± Lizzy exclaimed giddily, and we set off. When we got to the grove a few minutes later, the Latas Mountains were looming closer. We could also see two banners planted near two paths, each of them black and red with a demonic visage on them and nine flames surrounding it.

    ¡°The right one marks the trail to the mines; the left one must be their outpost.¡± Maryn told us. ¡°We found the mines last time by just following the map; we weren''t sure what the banners were about then, but I guess that''s their guild emblem.¡±

    ¡°All right, that makes it a bit easier,¡± I said.

    ¡°Lana, there''s another group headed this way.¡± Ariana said as she put a hand on my shoulder.

    ¡°Tch!¡± I turned to look. There were five players heading towards us; their leader halted them several paces away, and signaled for me to come forward. I did so, and he came to meet me in the middle.

    ¡°I am Qi Lin; we are the Heavenly Dragons. What are you doing here?¡± he asked me.

    ¡°I''m Lana Windstrider of the Silvernight Queens. We were just about to... pay a visit to the guild here so we can get something we want.¡± I told him.

    ¡°Hmm... the way you say this, it sounds like you have a not-so-friendly reason for it!¡± he said to me with a smile.

    ¡°Probably not,¡± I shrugged disarmingly. ¡°So? Are you here to fight us and help them?¡± I asked bluntly.

    ¡°Ha-ha-ha! I like that -- no holding back!¡± Qi Lin beamed. ¡°Fear not; I and my friends are here to help ourselves to their mine, if we can. If you are attacking them, that makes it easier for us.¡±

    ¡°I''m leading an attack group to their outpost; the rest of my guild is going to be raiding the mine as well.¡±

    ¡°Then I shall divide my forces as well to help you.¡± he nodded. ¡°Happy! Rainsong! Go with the attack group; Ai, Mistyque, with me to continue the raid!¡± he called to his friends.

    ¡°Hai hai!¡±

    ¡°Wakarimashita!¡± they replied.

    ¡°N-Nihongo,¡± I remarked by force of habit from language class.

    ¡°Yo-ho, Anhe-chan!¡± the girl called Rainsong said as she came over with a smile.

    ¡°Ame-chan!¡± Anhe smiled back. ¡°Happy-chan!¡±

    ¡°Yo!¡± the boy in question smiled back as he arrived.

    ¡°Do not worry, Lana! We are in good hands with them!¡± Anhe smiled back at me.

    ¡°S-sure thing,¡± I nodded back.

    ¡°Oh!¡± Qi Lin turned back to me. ¡°We will of course not fight over who gets what in the mine; we want this to succeed as much as you seem to,¡± he told us.

    ¡°Fair enough,¡± I agreed at once. ¡°Though if we end up with something the other wants, I''m sure we''re open to negotiating after the raid.¡±

    ¡°Agree.¡± he bowed in reply. I hastily bowed back. ¡°Hmm? Good manners on you, for an American girl. Ha-ha-ha!¡± he smiled, and then clapped his hands together. ¡°All right! What is the plan?¡±

    ¡°Give us...¡± I started, then looked around at our inadvertent but welcome team-members. ¡°Give us about ten or fifteen minutes after we break off, then go for the mines.¡±

    ¡°Nice idea!¡± he nodded back. ¡°You are attacking with a dragon, huh?¡± he remarked with awe.

    ¡°If that doesn''t get their attention and keep it from you, I don''t know what will,¡± I said with a grin.

    ¡°True!¡± he grinned back.

    ¡°All right, attack group, on Dracuoatlax!¡± I then said.

    ¡°Coming!¡± Ariana said, and our little attack group got onto the dragon along with Rainsong and Happy, and then Dracuoatlax took off into the air again.

    As soon as we were high enough in the air, we could see the outpost at once. It was crafted of stone, and it was probably meant to blend in to the reddish mountains at first glance, but from the air we could definitely make it out. It looked like an homage to an Arabian fortress, adapted, of course, to the setting of the mountains.

    ¡°Perhaps we can take this keep intact, master,¡± Dracuoatlax suggested to me.

    ¡°Take the keep?¡± I wondered. ¡°We don''t have a banner for that, though,¡± I remarked regretfully.

    ¡°We have one for our guild!¡± Happy grinned.

    ¡°Whatever works,¡± I nodded. ¡°If we can do it, you can have it.¡±

    ¡°Ah--! Archers!¡± Rainsong said in warning as we approached.

    ¡°Bah!¡± the dragon snorted, unleashing jets of flame towards them. The archers, whom I guessed were NPC hirelings, ran off in terror, some of them on fire.

    ¡°Here we go!¡± I said, getting ready to jump off. ¡°Rainsong, are you a mage?¡± I asked her. She looked at me blankly for a moment until Anhe repeated the question in Japanese, then she smiled and nodded back.

    ¡°You want her and me to stay with Dracuoatlax, yes?¡± Ariana asked.

    ¡°Yep!¡± I nodded, and with that I jumped off, Belle and Anhe coming after me and Happy on our tail with a few parting words to his guildmate. She called out to him in reply, and our two mages soared off to continue terrorizing the outer defenses as the four of us landed inside to wreak havoc of our own.

    ¡°Hya!!¡± Anhe thumped her staff, activating her auras.

    ¡°Hiyup!¡± Happy grinned, taking out a set of nunchaku and setting to work at once while I began slipping in and out of the shadows with my daggers. Belle began dazing our opponents with her own magic, and the four of us slipped into a decent but admittedly hasty team-rhythm. Hopefully it would last long enough to fluster the guild we were attacking and keep their attention off of the mines below us.

    ¡°Any players yet?¡± I asked as I took down two guards.

    ¡°All NPCs!¡± Happy replied. ¡°So boring!¡±

    ¡°You can say that again,¡± I sighed.

    We forced our way to what looked like the keep, Anhe swiftly breaking down the door to allow the four of us inside while our two mage friends and the dragon kept wreaking havoc outside. I activated Shadow Vision to look around; there weren''t many NPCs inside, mostly servants or workers. There were a couple of guards posted at the top of a flight of stairs through the door to our left, however.

    ¡°Which way?¡± Anhe asked.

    ¡°That door to the left,¡± I said, and we hastily burst through this one to head up the stairs, where we found the two guards and rendered them unconscious.

    ¡°What are they guarding?¡± Happy wondered in a cheery tone, kicking down another door to let us get inside. The four of us gasped with shock as we entered the room. There were several crates and chests full of crafting resources sitting around, all of them greater quality or higher.

    ¡°Treasure--no, a resource hoard!¡± Sky Belle remarked. Happy whistled in amazement.

    ¡°Look at all the rare ones!¡± Anhe said with quiet excitement.

    ¡°I''ll say; let''s call the others over and--¡± I started, swiftly turning around to counter a strike aimed at my back. The others were back on the alert in seconds.

    ¡°You are as good as they say,¡± the smiling female assassin remarked.

    There was a devious look in that smiling face; she reminded me of Rayna, though she had darker skin and was dressed slightly more conservatively than the other girl. Her hair was cut boyishly short, and two golden eyes gleamed at me with cat-like cunning. She looked around briefly before returning her attention to me.

    ¡°Sorry, but I can''t let you take these. Rama and Hathisis will be upset with me if I do.¡± she said.

    ¡°What makes you think you can stop me?¡± I asked her with a faint grin.

    ¡°I watched the Grand Melee; I know your skill. I know how to make the combo work.¡± she said to me with confidence.

    ¡°Oh? Just that?¡± I returned with a more visible grin.

    ¡°That''s all I need to take you--¡± she started to say, but at that moment I pulled my other dirty trick. Into my left hand, as quick as lightning, I materialized the flintlock, and blasted her with it. Her avatar did not immediately disintegrate, but she was knocked back. The stun was enough for Happy to finish the job with a swift motion, and she disintegrated to a respawn point.

    ¡°Dracuoatlax! Over here!¡± I then shouted at the top of my lungs. ¡°Hurry, gather them up!¡± I said to the others. Belle switched to human-size, and we quickly gathered the crates and chests of resources to a single point as Dracuoatlax came up beside the tower.

    ¡°Aiya!¡± Rainsong remarked in disbelief as we began ferrying them to the dragon''s back.

    ¡°Our plan has succeeded marvelously, master; I see the forms of tiny beings rushing this way to stop us.¡± Dracuoatlax told me.

    ¡°New plan: we''re gonna head away from the mines and let them chase us,¡± I said.

    ¡°If they are intent upon these, that plan will succeed.¡± the dragon nodded.

    Them''s the brakes, I thought to myself. If they didn''t chase us the others would be in trouble.

    ¡°This is a lot of valuable ore here; I doubt they''ll let us go so easily.¡± Belle said as she got the final one.

    ¡°Stop them!!¡± a voice called from below. There was a clamor of footsteps rushing up the tower.

    ¡°Time to go!¡± I exclaimed, and Dracuoatlax set off with us and our pilfered collection.

    ¡°They got everything?!¡± a second voice cried out.

    ¡°Bah! Get to the wayport and get the summon--¡± the first voice said angrily, but we flew too far out of range to hear the rest.

    Get to the wayport and get the summon... what? Reinforcements? Likely, but what kind of reinforcements?... don''t tell me...

    ¡°Where''s the nearest wayport?¡± I asked. Happy said something to Anhe in Japanese.

    ¡°He said that they came in on one about fifteen minutes east of where we met,¡± she said to me.

    ¡°Tch, that''s practically our rendezvous point, isn''t it?¡± I sighed.

    ¡°Yup.¡± Ariana nodded.

    ¡°Hmm... we got to wayport first with dragon, then we activate and send crates through with me and one of you; then whomever is left with dragon can go help the others!¡± Happy said to us.

    ¡°Good idea!¡± I said with a thumbs-up.

    ¡°I will most certainly get to the wayport before your foolish enemies, master!¡± Dracuoatlax said with glee.

    True to his word, we got there with time to spare. I could see players riding up to us in the distance. Happy activated a wayport to Chu, a small village I presumed was a halfway point between our guildhall and theirs, which Anhe confirmed. When the crates were through, he went through as well.

    ¡°See whomever in a few!¡± he said as he did.

    ¡°Okay, chicks!¡± Belle said to us. ¡°Rock paper scissors?¡±

    ¡°Okay!¡± we nodded, and did a quick round; Anhe lost, and hurried through the portal, wishing us luck as it closed. The mounted players halted their steeds a short distance away, coming down from them to face us.

    ¡°Bold, bold, bold!¡± a figure obfuscated by elaborate robes and a fancy human-face mask of gold said to me. I faintly recognized their voice as the one who had first shouted before we took off. Their voice was deepened by it, so it was definitely harder to tell if they were male or female. ¡°Lana Windstrider; I, Rama, applaud you for your heist and for outwitting Serpenti.¡±

    ¡°Rama... guild leader of the King-Priests,¡± I noted aloud. I could see Rainsong tense up as I said the name.

    ¡°You won''t get me a second time,¡± the assassin in question scoffed as she stepped into view.

    ¡°That''s what they all say,¡± I shrugged back.

    ¡°Master!¡± Dracuoatlax interrupted, arching his body for a strike. I quickly saw what had gotten his attention. A female player next to Rama had pulled out a lamp.

    ¡°Rama, my love, I have the lamp.¡± she said.

    ¡°Good, Hathisis.¡± the other nodded. ¡°Awaken him.¡±

    ¡°As you command.¡± Hathisis bowed her head, and began rubbing the lamp.

    ¡°Back!¡± the dragon said to us, and we did as he asked, backing up to where he could shield us with his wings.

    ¡°Oh-ho? This pet of theirs knows something,¡± Rama said with amusement. I saw sparks and then smoke come from the lamp.

    Wait, Memphani is based on Egyptian and Arabian stuff, right? Aren''t certain kinds of demons in that mythology bound to objects like lamps and stuff? Which means that--

    ¡°Akuma!¡± Rainsong cried out as the smoke expanded and began reforming itself into a shape of substance, human-like but not human at all. It hovered in the air for a few moments, and then landed upon the ground with a thud. The being before us now was red-skinnned, with vile yellow eyes and golden coverings; a great scepter of gold and jewels was in its hand, and sharp teeth like a lion''s gleamed in its mouth.

    ¡°Behold! I am Djaziim!¡± it said with a thunderous bellow.

    ¡°Djaziim! I hope the passing of a few eons has not dulled the memory of your many defeats?¡± Dracuoatlax said at once.

    ¡°Hrn? Ahh! Dracuoatlax, my old enemy!¡± the demon said with delight.

    Without another word, the great dragon blasted fire upon him and the surrounding area, forcing the members of the King-Priests to back up several meters away to avoid incineration. Djaziim on the other hand managed to resist the blast, activating his scepter to blow a storm of sand and lightning our way. Dracuoatlax kept us covered, a resurgent flame of greater power emanating from his jaws to counter the demon''s attack. The fire and sand dissipated slowly, neither combatant much affected.

    ¡°Curses! They''re evenly matched!¡± one of the enemy guild members cried out.

    ¡°Hrrnn!¡± Djaziim glowered at the dragon.

    ¡°Pah!¡± the other spat.

    ¡°Uh-oh.¡± I softly remarked, and Ari nodded.

    ¡°That was unwise.¡± she agreed.

    ¡°I am Dracuoatlax! The Subjugator of the Ancients, Lord and King of the Torching Mount! There is none on this side of Panarena that can match me in combat, least of all this worthless and fickle jinn!¡± the dragon retorted, readying a great blast and letting it loose with a thunderous sound. I could barely see anything, but what I could see was that Djaziim the Unholy was having a heck of a time defending against this attack.

    ¡°Those are words he''s saying while he breathes flame,¡± Ariana said to me. ¡°He must be increasing the power, or adding in some deadly effect harmful to that Djaziim.¡±

    ¡°That''s cool!¡± I said with wonder as we watched the battle continue.

    ¡°N''gyah! Argh! Hrrnnnph! Rrrraggh!¡± Djaziim grunted with exertion.

    ¡°I wonder if I can help him,¡± Ariana then said, raising her staff and starting an incantation.

    ¡°If you can, I can!¡± Belle chimed in, doing the same with her pixie wand. I looked at Rainsong, who looked back at me. I made a circling motion with my hands and pointed towards the King-Priests.

    ¡°Circle round; attack?¡± she asked me, and I nodded. She smiled back in agreement, and we got ready to strike.

    At that moment we heard an unearthly howl; it was Lysandra. Her Howl of the Void had frozen the enemy players in place; the werewolf-girl was galloping ahead of Fyu and the others on the waggon, readying herself for a pounce. The two of us rushed to join the attack with her. Then, Djaziim stepped back a few paces, and thumped his scepter onto the ground. He, and the King-Priests who were his masters, vanished in a teleportation spell right as the three of us got to them. Dracuoatlax halted his fire, and Ariana and Belle ceased their attacks as well. Lysandra growled discontentedly, then shifted back to human form, replacing her top as she continued muttering.

    ¡°You guys okay?¡± Lizzy asked.

    ¡°What about you?¡± I replied.

    ¡°We''re fine; got a lot of ore, too!¡± she grinned happily.

    ¡°This arrangement work very well!¡± Qi Lin said proudly. ¡°Where is Happy?¡±

    ¡°He went ahead with Anhe to Chu through the wayport; there''s a surprise waiting for you all when you get through it!¡± I said to them.

    ¡°Ohh! This is excellent news! We will open portal right now and go through,¡± he replied.

    ¡°You all go ahead, I need to head back with Dracuoatlax.¡±

    ¡°Lana?¡± Ariana said to me, then shook her head. ¡°I''ll come too.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± I nodded, then turned back to Qi Lin, bowing. ¡°Thank you for your alliance tonight; we would not have been able to do this without you and your friends.¡± I told him sincerely. He bowed back.

    ¡°Likewise, Lady Lana!¡± he replied. ¡°I will not promise complete friendship yet, but I will promise not to attack you in the guild competition!¡± he remarked.

    ¡°Then I promise the same,¡± I said. He nodded, and in a few moments the others had gone through the wayport, leaving me, Ariana, and Dracuoatlax to fly back by ourselves.

    ***

    ¡°You did not want the others to hear our words?¡± the dragon wondered as we soared through the air.

    ¡°Ehh, I guess not,¡± I said in reply. ¡°That last attack; did Ariana and Belle manage to help you any?¡± I asked him.

    ¡°I felt their power adding strength to my own, yes,¡± he replied. ¡°It was an unusual sensation, but a welcome assistance against that vile cretin.¡±

    ¡°Dracuoatlax... in all your ancient battles, did--did you ever lose a fight against him? Against Djaziim?¡± I wondered. He paused, and for a moment the only sounds we heard were the wind rushing by us and the flapping of his great wings.

    ¡°I understand your thoughts, Lady Lana, but do not make light of me.¡± he eventually said.

    ¡°I apologize, my friend.¡± I returned.

    ¡°But I will say this: though I never lost, there were three occasions where neither of us truly prevailed. Does that satisfy your asking, master?¡± he then said.

    ¡°It does; and it makes me glad to hear that. Not because you didn''t prevail,¡± I quickly said, ¡°But because with our help you''ll keep having victories over him, right?¡±

    ¡°Hmm!¡± the dragon remarked. ¡°I see now your thoughts, dear girl! Yes, it is true; with your help I cannot be forced to a stalemate against him no matter how clever he is; yet remember that your adversaries may be as cunning as you, and they may seek ways to strengthen him as well, equalizing the field once more.¡±

    ¡°So we just have to keep them under control.¡± I noted.

    ¡°But Lana, they''re mostly mages, and I feel like we didn''t see all of them just now.¡± Ariana reminded me.

    ¡°Ahh--! That''s true... the others said they practically ran into a horde of magic-users...¡± I recalled.

    ¡°They probably have defenders like Serpenti around for anyone who gets too close to them; and I wouldn''t be surprised if they have heavy fighters like Lizzy or Maryn as well,¡± she continued.

    ¡°Now that, masters, is information I cannot help you with.¡± the dragon said.

    ¡°Don''t worry; we''ll find a way to get it.¡± I said to him.

    ¡°I am sure you will!¡± he nodded. ¡°Now, will you come all the way with me to the Torching Mount, or have I answered enough questions for now?¡± he then asked me.

    ¡°Ah... d-do you not want us along right now?¡± I asked hesitantly.

    ¡°Forgive me, master, but I am weary from my exertions; and knowing now that my enemy is back in the fight, I must collect myself again.¡±

    ¡°Fair enough,¡± I agreed. ¡°Drop us off at Uldarr, then. We''ll get the wayport there.¡±

    ¡°Indeed. My gracious thanks to you both.¡± the dragon replied. He let us off at the city in question, whereupon he soared off with a satisfied grunt as we promised not to battle Djaziim without him, if we could help it.

    ¡°Now what?¡± Ariana asked me.

    ¡°Hmm... the others will have taken care of the -- oh, there''s Maryn now,¡± I said as a message popped up. The resources had been divvied up fairly, and the Heavenly Dragons had parted ways with the others.

    ¡°That''s done, then.¡± Ariana smiled.

    ¡°One less worry for the night, and we got some payback for them, too.¡± I nodded.

    ¡°True!¡± she agreed. ¡°So now what? We have a couple of in-game days left,¡± she noted.

    ¡°Hmm... there''s got to be some way to get more information about these other guilds...¡± I said with a soft frown.

    ¡°Should we try Harmonia City, then? I bet Myanihia or Rayna might be around. Or even someone like Barbarianne.¡± she suggested.

    ¡°Oh, true! Should we hit up a tavern, restaurant, or bathhouse?¡±

    ¡°Hmm... isn''t there a place that''s all three?¡± Ariana wondered.

    ¡°Hrrm, I remember what you''re talking about, but I can''t remember where it was... I guess we''ll see it on the city map though,¡± I said as I punched up Harmonia City: Market Ward for our wayport destination.

    ¡°Oh, that''s true; and the NPC guides there are helpful about directions as well.¡± she said.

    ¡°Yep!¡± I nodded as the portal opened, and we stepped through it hand in hand.

 Chapter Nine: Information and Relaxation

    Harmonia City was bustling, as usual. Players from all around the world were on right now; well, they usually were anyway, but there''s sporadic peak periods for the online population and this happened to be one of them. What did an actual time difference mean when time acceleration was a feature, after all? In just a few short in-game hours, people halfway across the globe from one another could be synched up, mentally speaking.

    Ariana and I made our way through a corner of the Market Ward we hadn''t gotten around to visiting during the Grand Tournament, looking for the place she had suggested going to. It wasn''t hard to find it on the map, but actually getting there was tricky because this section of the ward had upper and subterranean levels to it. The main entrance, leading into the tavern and restaurant, was on the upper levels; there was a lower entrance for the baths and spa apparently, but neither of us managed to spot it. And so we headed in the front door.

    Mad Dog and some of his guild, the Night Wolves, were at a table in the corner. I saw him grin at me; it wasn''t a friendly grin, but it wasn''t hostile either. It was the kind of grin that rivals give to each other, and I returned it with equal measure. He seemed to snort in satisfaction, and returned to his drink. Mad Dog might know something too, come to think of it, I reasoned to myself. I nudged Ari, and we headed into a changing room to slip into more casual wear.

    ¡°We should''ve thought of this first! Though I don''t tend to notice too much because my armor is so comfy.¡± she said as she put on a cozy dress-tunic with knee-high boots.

    ¡°Ehh, true; mine isn''t un-comfy, but it chafes after a while, especially after being in jungles or deserts...¡± I remarked, looking at my inventory.

    ¡°Just put the ¨¢o d¨¤i on again.¡± Ariana said as she looked over my shoulder. I obliged her with a small smile, and she grinned back. ¡°I can see that, though... it is leather armor, after all.¡±

    ¡°Hah, yep,¡± I nodded back as we headed out. As soon as we got back out in the main room, I felt a heavy hand on my shoulder; I looked up. It was one of the Night Wolves.

    ¡°Mad Dog says you''re in here for a reason. Come on over.¡± she said to us.

    ¡°W-who are you?¡± I asked her.

    ¡°Violet. Violet Fang.¡± she replied, nodding her head towards the table. We followed her over, and sat down to join them.

    ¡°Lady Lana.¡± Mad Dog said.

    ¡°General Mad Dog.¡± I replied.

    ¡°What brings you two all the way over here?¡± he asked. Ariana signaled one of the waiters and ordered us a couple of drinks as I began answering.

    ¡°Just a late stroll after a lucky victory.¡± I shrugged.

    ¡°A lucky victory, hm?¡± the werewolf grinned back.

    ¡°Not quite as shocking as the arena ones, but yes,¡± I returned with a smirk.

    ¡°She got you good there, boss.¡± another of the Night Wolves remarked with a chuckle.

    ¡°Very true, Howler, very true.¡± Mad Dog nodded. ¡°So? Who did you bust up this time?¡±

    ¡°Just a little spat with the King-Priests of the Demon Sands.¡± I remarked as our drinks came over. Ariana looked over at me as she took a sip from hers, quietly gauging my expression. She probably figured out just then that I was trying to bait information out of him by playing it off casually. Mad Dog raised an eyebrow.

    ¡°You messed around with Rama, hm?¡± he said with interest. ¡°Interesting. Not many people get one over them.¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡± I wondered.

    ¡°Sure,¡± Howler broke in, ¡°Most of them that try usually get thwarted in the end by their numbers or by that cheap trick in a bottle they lucked out on.¡±

    ¡°It''s a lamp, nitwit, not a bottle,¡± another quipped with a light smack to his head.

    ¡°Hoy, Rarf, you''re really askin'' for it tonight!¡± Howler shot back.

    ¡°Shut up you two.¡± Violet sighed.

    ¡°Their numbers are incredible, but that lamp is the brakes.¡± Mad Dog said. ¡°We''re too fast and agile for their casters, but when that damned demon comes out it''s over for us.¡±

    ¡°I guess Howl of the Void doesn''t work on it?¡± Ariana remarked.

    ¡°Hah! We tried. It got reversed to us.¡± Rarf shook his head.

    ¡°That night was humiliating...¡± Violet grumbled.

    ¡°Gyeek!¡± I exclaimed softly, wondering what that kind of reversal would look like.

    ¡°I guess you got one over on them with the dragon''s help, though.¡± Mad Dog then said, and his guildmates suddenly started in realization.

    ¡°Ohh, yeahh, they have a dragon to help them out!¡± Howler said.

    ¡°Hah, I bet that was an epic fight to watch.¡± Rarf grinned.

    ¡°I''d pay real money to see that thing thrashed up.¡± Violet said darkly.

    ¡°Did they, though?¡± Mad Dog wondered.

    ¡°We forced them to retreat.¡± I said with a shrug.

    ¡°Hmm!¡± the other grunted with interest.

    ¡°There''s a first.¡± Violet said.

    ¡°Hmm... but it''d really help us out in the competition of you guys knew a bit more about them, or if you knew someone who might... we''d owe you a favor,¡± I then said with a soft smile, winking as I took a sip of my drink.

    O-oy... what the heck am I doing right now?? I could see Ariana giving me a subtle look that said much the same thing.

    ¡°Hmm... we don''t really go toe-to-toe with them since that night...¡± Howler said. ¡°I think Chaneyson beat a couple of them on his own, but other than that...¡±

    ¡°We avoid them.¡± Mad Dog nodded. ¡°A mutual friend of sorts, however, might give you more than you bargain for.¡± he said, and I looked at him attentively. ¡°Rayna''s probably around here somewhere.¡±

    ¡°Hm? Rayna''s battled with them?¡± Ariana asked.

    ¡°Rayna was one of them, before Rama and Hathisis took over that guild.¡± Violet told us, and Ariana and I exchanged glances.

    ¡°She loves that bathhouse bar down there, doesn''t she?¡± Howler remarked with a grin. ¡°Ahh, she''s the only one for a lonely dog like me--yeowch!!¡± he cried out as Violet punched his shoulder.

    ¡°Two-timing mutt.¡± she glowered at him.

    ¡°Hrrgh... hah-hem!¡± he innocently coughed in recovery.

    ¡°Howler''s lechery aside,¡± Rarf began, earning a glare from his friend, ¡°She really might be down there now. Probably relaxing from her nightly killing spree in the Borderlands.¡±

    ¡°Oh yeah, she''s into that,¡± I recalled.

    ¡°Before you do, let''s talk about favors...¡± Mad Dog said with a sly grin.

    ¡°Eh?¡±

    ¡°You promised one just now, remember?¡± Ariana poked me.

    ¡°Ahh... right, well... what kind of favor?¡± I asked him, suddenly feeling hesitant.

    ¡°In this upcoming competition, I will ask you for one, only one throw of a fight in the Wildlands. Give that to us, and we''ll call the matter closed.¡± he said to me.

    Heh. Clever. I wouldn''t do exactly the same thing, but I''d do something similar, I guess, to benefit us in the competition. Still, that''s a *huge* favor considering he''s only pointed us to a source of information... which means he''s confident that Rayna''s intel will be just that valuable. Throw a dog a bone, I guess...

    ¡°If the information''s really that good, sure, I''ll do it.¡± I said to him. He raised an eyebrow. ¡°But if it''s more old news I might renege.¡±

    ¡°Heh, heh-heh-heh... you won''t be reneging, Lana Windstrider, I promise you that.¡± Mad Dog said to me, raising his glass. Ariana and I did the same, as did the rest of the Night Wolves, and we toasted each other''s success in the upcoming competition before parting ways.

    ¡°At least you didn''t bet the guild this time.¡± Ariana gently scolded me as we headed downstairs.

    ¡°A-Ari... y-you''re still mad about that?¡± I nervously laughed.

    ¡°May-be.¡± she quipped, flicking my ear.

    ¡°Hrrmm.¡±

    ¡°And you were almost too good at that flirt earlier.¡±

    ¡°Gyeck!?¡± I stopped in my tracks.

    Oh. Oh right. I did that. I acted flirty. W-w-w-what the heck came over me?! I slapped my cheeks a couple times and vigorously shook my head. I''ve never done that, not even once! Not once!! Never! Never never never!! Uuughhh!! I actually creeped myself out back there and blacked it out... I continued rambling internally as Ariana looked over at me with concern.

    ¡°C-could it be that you didn''t know what you were doing...?¡± she asked me, placing a hand on my shoulder.

    ¡°Ahh... I dunno... maybe... ugh,¡± I sighed again, and she slipped her arm into mine.

    ¡°Come on.¡± she smiled, and we continued on our way downstairs.

    ¡°How did we miss this place...¡± I sighed in relief as we sank blissfully into the water.

    ¡°Right??¡± Ariana agreed.

    There was a spacious central bath in an oval shape with four smaller ones surrounding it; two drink and snack bars were on opposite sides of the room; on the third side there was a changing room which was also adjacent to the spa, and on the fourth side was a stage for musicians. A group of NPC musicians were there right now, playing a gentle series of melodies to help ease those of us lounging around.

    ¡°I can''t believe you two only found this spot now.¡± a familiar voice said. There was the sound of someone settling into the bath near us; we looked over, and there was Rayna.

    ¡°We were more focused on the tournament then,¡± Ariana smiled back.

    ¡°As was I.¡± she smiled in reply. ¡°It is good to see you both again. Just now I was hearing a certain story that I wanted to make sure of... something about a dragon and demon fighting in Memphani?¡± Rayna said to us with a knowing look in her eyes. After all, there were no dragons in Memphani, so the only one likely to be there was our friend Dracuoatlax.

    ¡°Some-thing like that.¡± I nodded.

    ¡°You got into it with the King-Priests, then?¡±

    ¡°We did.¡± Ariana said.

    ¡°And?¡± Rayna asked.

    ¡°They were forced to retreat.¡± I told her. I saw her eyes subtly gleam with delight.

    ¡°Good.¡± she whispered softly.

    ¡°Hm...?¡± I returned innocently. ¡°Do you have something against them?¡±

    ¡°Just a little bit.¡± she nodded in answer. There was a bittersweet smile that came to her face as she said those words. Suddenly, I wondered if I could get her to talk a different way than just straight out asking her about the guild.

    ¡°S-say, Rayna... what brought you here? To the game, that is, to Panarena?¡± I asked her.

    ¡°What brought you?¡± she returned with a brighter smile.

    ¡°Hmm... adventure, I guess.¡± I said with a grin.

    ¡°Such a -- it''s ''tomboy'' you say, yes?¡± Rayna replied.

    ¡°Ah-heh,¡± I gently laughed as Ariana grinned at me.

    ¡°It''s an escape for me.¡± my partner remarked.

    ¡°Ahh. Yes... it is an escape.¡± Rayna agreed, a sad look in her eyes. ¡°That is why I love it here; I can express myself, be less what they want and more what I want to be.¡± she said with a quiet passion.

    ¡°It''s hard where you live?¡± I wondered.

    ¡°The Neo-Caliphate.¡± she replied. Ariana and I both looked at her in surprise.

    ¡°W-whoa...¡± I remarked, uncertain of how to reply.

    ¡°H-how did you even get a Dream Machine?¡± Ariana wondered.

    ¡°My family has strong market ties, and we are one of those families who get slaps on the wrist for things we do in private, so long as we maintain a good appearance in public.¡± Rayna said with a sad shrug.

    ¡°So it''s more than an escape for you; it''s an ideal life, pretty much,¡± I realized.

    ¡°Very true!¡± she nodded. ¡°I can dress the way I want, talk the way I want, be the way I want; ahh, when the King-Priests were first formed, it was not that guild. It was the Queens of the Desert Skies. And we were queens, I tell you.¡±

    ¡°I remember reading about them on the forums!¡± I exclaimed as the name rang a bell. ¡°Huh... you can rename guilds?¡±

    ¡°And take them over by force.¡± Rayna nodded.

    ¡°Rama and Hathisis.¡± Ariana said, and she nodded once more.

    ¡°They were my officers. They are still among the greatest magic-wielders in this game; the tournament attracted many players, but some kept well out of it to just watch, as I''m sure you know. They are Ariana''s equal, at least.¡±

    ¡°How did they take over your guild?¡± I wondered.

    ¡°About one real month before the tournament, Rama and Hathisis underwent a quest together deep in Memphani. I don''t know what they endured, but when they came back, they had the lamp, the one that beckons Djaziim the Unholy to their side. I didn''t think much of it at the time; I didn''t think much of it at all until it was too late.¡± Rayna told us. We waited for her to go on as she took a deep breath, letting it out in a sigh.

    ¡°That bad, huh?¡± I softly remarked. She nodded.

    ¡°The two of them got the guild to vote me out of leadership, some by blackmail, some by force, and inevitably, others who supported them from the start. But that doesn''t transfer leadership right away. The officers then have to battle it out, and whomever comes out on top wins the guild. Of course, that way was just one of many ways to take over, but for them it was the most effective. My own supporters, of course, were forced to stand down in that battle, and Rama''s supporters were all too eager to let him to the work.¡± she continued, her eyes flashing with anger. ¡°I was always stronger than Rama; I counted on that. I did not count on Djaziim. He wasted no time in getting that demon out, rendering my Shadow skills ineffective and forcing me down to one-percent health over a long battle. The timer ran out, and I lost.¡± Rayna told us, clenching her fist.

    ¡°Rayna...¡± Ariana said with sympathy.

    ¡°I left the guild that same day, along with several friends who still keep in touch. A day later, the guild we had worked so hard to build was rebranded by that jaanavar, and I have refused to be part of a guild since that time.¡± she finished, and then shook her head. ¡°You''re going to challenge them over the guild competition, aren''t you?¡±

    ¡°Considering we kind of broke in and snatched up all their precious ore... I guess we''re in for it either way.¡± I shrugged. She looked at us with surprise.

    ¡°So not just an idle hello, hm?¡± Rayna said curiously. ¡°But if you really want to stop them... then you''ll have to find a way to free Djaziim.¡±

    ¡°F-free him?¡± the two of us exclaimed at once.

    ¡°Of course!¡± she told us. ¡°I am sure your dragon can hold him down fight after fight, but eventually you will of course want to do away with the problem itself, no?¡± she added.

    Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

    ¡°Hmm...¡± I returned, frowning thoughtfully.

    ¡°We''d probably have to seek out the place they went to if we want to undermine their hold on him,¡± Ariana said to me.

    ¡°Definitely.¡± I agreed.

    ¡°There I cannot help you.¡± Rayna shrugged. ¡°But I promise to show up if you get into it with them and I am around.¡± she said with a smirk.

    ¡°I''ll make sure it''s the finishing blow.¡± I grinned back.

    ¡°Such a cute little tomboy.¡± Rayna quipped, coming over to gently pinch my cheek. I blushed, and she smiled.

    ¡°Isn''t she?¡± Ari beamed back, doing the same to my other cheek.

    Hahh...

    ¡°I will let up on you now.¡± Rayna said, patting my head. ¡°I have a friend calling for me in the spa; good luck to you both!¡± she then said, and the three of us shared a hug before she departed for the spa, stalking out like a proud lioness.

    ¡°The Neo-Caliphate... I bet she really loves this world, even more than I do,¡± I said as Ari and I gazed after her.

    ¡°Definitely.¡± my partner agreed. ¡°Hmm... now we just have to figure out where Djaziim came from... oh, I wonder if Dracuoatlax knows,¡± Ariana said, snapping her fingers in realization.

    ¡°Did you always snap your fingers like that?¡± I wondered.

    ¡°Hm? I caught it from you!¡± she returned, flicking my nose.

    ¡°Oh yeah,¡± I said, unconsciously snapping my fingers as well.

    ¡°Pffft!¡± Ari giggled, and a bemused smile crossed my face as I realized what I had done.

    ¡°Hahh... this is a nice spot, though...¡± I then remarked.

    ¡°It is. And it''s peaceful without you-know-who around.¡± she smiled, snuggling in next to me.

    ¡°Def.¡± I nodded.

    ¡°Hee-hee! Now you''re catching our tics.¡± she giggled.

    ¡°Th-that doesn''t sound so bad,¡± I replied. She turned my face towards hers for a kiss, then laid her head on my chest.

    ¡°La-na.¡±

    ¡°A-ri.¡±

    ¡°Stay here for the rest of the night?¡±

    ¡°In the bath?¡±

    ¡°Or in the spa.¡±

    ¡°Sure.¡± I agreed.

    ¡°Since we can''t go to one together for real.¡± she grinned at me.

    ¡°Ah-heh...¡±

    ***

    After lounging around in the baths for a while longer, we put on the complementary robes the place offered and went to have a snack, along with some drinks. I resumed pondering Rayna''s story once we had settled in to these.

    So there''s a potential way to mess up the King-Priests'' gambits in the upcoming competition... but it''ll be hard to pin down exactly how to do that. Maybe it''s even impossible by now. But let''s say we manage it. What happens if that demon is out of the equation? That''d definitely get Rayna''s attention. She might even join us for a direct assault, maybe to try and win her guild back. Still... they must''ve had a pretty complex guild-type for that sort of thing to happen... ours is basic, I can''t imagine dealing with something more complicated. Officers can make a vote to demote the leader? I''m surprised it didn''t get out of hand earlier for her...

    ¡°Why exactly was their guild set up that way to begin with...¡± Ariana remarked as she sipped from her drink, apparently thinking much the same as I was.

    ¡°Maybe she picked it for the cosmetic titles instead of actually thinking about the actual guild-type,¡± I said, leaning back in the chair a bit.

    ¡°Ahh, there you go.¡± she nodded. ¡°Some of the vanity titles for leaders are pretty neat!¡±

    ¡°Oh definitely.¡± I agreed. ¡°But I like ours. It''s simple.¡±

    ¡°Def.¡± she smiled back. ¡°This place is popular, huh?¡± she then remarked, looking around. I did the same.

    There was a laid-back bustle about the place; that sounds strange to say but I can''t find a better way of putting it. Everyone was lounging around as they pleased, and not a soul had a sad look or melancholy appearance about them. Closer to the spa entrance there were some massage tables and even a yogini leading some people in exercise routines. Up on the second floor, which was a wraparound indoor balcony, there were several tables and kitchenettes that were an extension of the restaurant and tavern. The two of us became so fixated on people-watching that I jumped a bit when I felt someone''s hand on my shoulder.

    ¡°Ah! Sorry!¡± another familiar voice said as I looked up, sighing in relief as I saw the face. It was Barbarianne, and she had some friends with her. The redhead smiled at me.

    ¡°No worries! I just got a little lazy,¡± I replied.

    ¡°Not hard to do here!¡± one of her friends remarked. This one had blonde hair and blue eyes, and she was just a bit taller than Barbarianne. ¡°I''m Kiana, guild leader of the Northern Warriors, and this is Nightwing.¡± she said to me, placing a hand on the third girl.

    ¡°H-hey,¡± the dark-haired woman said with a shy smile.

    ¡°Don''t be like that now, Night, we''re all girls here!¡± Barbarianne smirked as they sat with us.

    ¡°Good to meet you all!¡± Ariana smiled as I signaled a waiter to come over.

    ¡°Likewise!¡± Kiana beamed. They placed their orders, and the five of us lazed about in companionable silence for a few minutes while their drinks were prepared. They were then promptly delivered, and we shared a quiet toast with one another.

    ¡°Ahh, that hits the spot!¡± Barbarianne smiled as she finished her first sip. ¡°So what are the Silvernight Twins up to tonight?¡± she then asked us.

    ¡°Not much at the moment; just killing time, I guess.¡± I shrugged.

    ¡°Relaxing after your little raid down in Memphani?¡± Kiana said with a subtle grin.

    ¡°Hyeck?!¡± I sat upright at once, looking at her in surprise.

    Ho-boy. The story''s already made the rounds, I guess...

    ¡°Forums are not good for nothing.¡± Nightwing remarked. ¡°One of the King-Priests'' members ranted about how much time, resources, and money they''d lost thanks to your attack.¡±

    ¡°Hahh...¡± I sighed, leaning back in the chair.

    ¡°You should know by now, Lana; everything we do gets reported within about a Panarena day -- especially with Dracuoatlax!¡± Ariana grinned over at me.

    ¡°I''d like to hope everything doesn''t quite make the rounds,¡± I said, my cheeks coloring. She giggled, taking my hand in hers.

    ¡°Something you don''t want getting out?¡± Kiana said, her expression unchanged.

    ¡°One or two things...¡± I softly replied with a wry grin.

    ¡°Probably the hotspring and beach shenanigans,¡± Barbarianne smirked.

    ¡°Y-yeah...¡±

    ¡°Pffft!¡± the blonde girl chuckled.

    ¡°What about you three?¡± Ariana then asked.

    ¡°We''re celebrating the clearing of a dungeon!¡± Kiana said proudly.

    ¡°After our fifth try,¡± Nightwing sighed. ¡°That last boss is such a cheat!¡±

    ¡°We managed it somehow, but maybe we should try recruiting people like Lana next time... that would''ve made it so much easier.¡± Barbarianne nodded.

    ¡°It''s true, all those traps and devices were rough; but it was fun smashing them up!¡± Kiana grinned to her friends.

    ¡°I bet we would have gotten the rare reward for doing it properly.¡± Nightwing gazed at her with a bemused grin.

    ¡°Rare reward, huh?¡± I wondered as I sipped on my drink.

    ¡°Ohh,¡± Kiana turned back to me, ¡°It''s a dungeon up in Evergrim called the Wraithwail Well. You can find it southwest of Spruceward, the central hub of the area.¡±

    ¡°We''ll focus on getting the reward next time. I was just happy to beat it for once.¡± Barbarianne said to Nightwing.

    ¡°Notice they avoided saying what the reward was,¡± I said to Ari, who nodded.

    ¡°Must be something they want for their guild.¡± she returned.

    ¡°Hmm? Oh,¡± Barbarianne looked over at us with a smile, ¡°It''s a cache of ultra-rare ore that''ll allow our smith to forge draigod armor.¡±

    ¡°Nyeah?!¡±

    ¡°Huh?!¡± Ariana and I both exclaimed at once.

    D-draigod ore?! No way!!

    Okay. Explanation time. Draigod ore is one of the ten most rare ores in the game, and the stuff people can make from it tops nearly anything in terms of power or defense. Nearly everything, but not quite everything. This particular ore''s name is a shortening of ''draig god''--or rather, ''dragon god''. Supposedly, the weapons made from it can do massive damage to things like world bosses or dragons, and its defensive properties against those creatures are supposed to be equally impressive.

    ¡°Sure, there''s other, tougher ores that are said to be hidden in places like Dragonholt or the Untold Deeps, but we know that this one is for real. We just couldn''t clear the requirements to get it.¡± Kiana said, a longing sigh wafting from her lips.

    ¡°Say... the next time you try that dungeon... we''ll go with you.¡± I said, and Kiana smiled.

    ¡°I didn''t even have to ask.¡± she said happily.

    ¡°I told you.¡± Barbarianne grinned.

    ¡°In exchange...¡± I smiled back, and Kiana nodded.

    ¡°We''ll help you snag something like it in the future.¡± she finished, and I nodded back.

    ¡°Or another cache of the same.¡± I added.

    ¡°Agreed.¡± my fellow guild-leader said.

    ¡°Hmm? Couldn''t we just do the same dungeon again to get a second one?¡± Ariana wondered.

    ¡°It should be possible, but the ultra-rare caches are named that way for a reason, and they don''t always appear in the same dungeon twice.¡± Nightwing said. ¡°We''re lucky this one hasn''t been snatched up.¡±

    ¡°It takes a full real day for a dungeon to reset up there, doesn''t it?¡± I pondered.

    ¡°It really will be a short list for us tomorrow night,¡± Ariana reminded me.

    ¡°For members, you mean?¡± I said, and she nodded.

    ¡°Lizzy''ll be working, and Derwydd also. Heali wants to get some studying in for a quiz she has, and the older girls are going out on a date.¡± she told me.

    ¡°Ahh...¡± I said, my face drooping a bit.

    ¡°We''ll be fine even if it''s just you two joining us.¡± Kiana said. ¡°All we really need is a good shadow warrior, maybe even two.¡±

    ¡°Two, huh...¡± I remarked softly. Ariana gazed over at me knowingly.

    ¡°Think you can round someone else up?¡± Barbarianne asked me.

    ¡°If you promise to trust me.¡± I said to her with a soft shrug.

    ¡°Ehh?¡± the redhead gazed at me with scrutiny. ¡°W-well, it''s you, so I doubt you''d pick someone you didn''t trust, which means we can trust them, too.¡± she said after a moment.

    ¡°But anyway; Nightwing, you''re not a shadow-user?¡± I suddenly asked.

    ¡°Nope.¡± she smiled back. ¡°I''m a magic-user; a wereraven.¡± she told us.

    ¡°Oh, cool!¡± I exclaimed.

    ¡°Wow!¡± Ariana said with excitement.

    ¡°Ah--!! Does that mean you shrink when you transform...?¡± I wondered. Nightwing winked at me, and stood up, taking off her bathrobe to shift into her animal-form. She did shrink, but not to the size of an actual raven; it was more like a raven the size of a turkey.

    ¡°Hence the name!¡± she squawkingly exclaimed, a grin on her features.

    ¡°Neat!¡± I said with a smile, and then she shifted back to human-form, Barbarianne picking up her robe to place it back on her.

    ¡°Hahh, shrinking and growing back to size is such a hassle in this game.¡± she grinned.

    ¡°T-tell me about it,¡± I remarked. ¡°Though Belle and Lysandra deal with it more.¡±

    ¡°Pfft!¡± Ariana snickered beside me.

    ¡°Hmm? Lana, when did you have shrinking problems?¡± Barbarianne asked as she and Nightwing sat back down.

    ¡°R-recently...¡± I sighed, and Ariana enthusiastically took up recounting the story when it became clear that I wasn''t going to. The other three laughed merrily, and Ari took out the ring itself to show them, putting it on. She shrunk to child size, and I felt my cheeks getting hot as I took in how cute she was. Ari herself giggled at me, and took off the ring, donning the robe again.

    ¡°You should have tried calling me! I would''ve come to help!¡± Barbarianne smiled.

    ¡°I think poor Lana had enough people embarrassing her that night,¡± Ariana grinned as she looked over at me.

    ¡°Awww. It would only have been for a moment!¡± the other girl giggled back.

    ¡°You can take it off safely now, so why not show us?¡± Kiana smirked.

    ¡°Nope. Nope, nope, nope.¡± I shook my head.

    ¡°Hm? I wonder if being child-sized would have gotten us into that one part of the dungeon we noticed this time...¡± Nightwing wondered.

    ¡°You''re child-sized in bird form, why didn''t you try?!¡± Kiana quipped back at once.

    ¡°I was going to before you and Hillman brought that swarm of horned-yetis our way! And then after that fight you had us rush to the third boss!¡± her guildie retorted with a miffed pout.

    ¡°Ahh -- I did do that... sorry!¡± Kiana bashfully apologized.

    ¡°Hahh, you''re a crazy sister-in-law, you know that?¡± Nightwing sighed.

    ¡°Sister-in-law, huh?¡± Ariana smiled.

    ¡°This dope married my dopier brother,¡± Nightwing grinned.

    ¡°Pfft! Aw, poor Henry.¡± Kiana chuckled.

    ¡°''Poor Henry'' nothing. He locked himself out of our house for a full night and didn''t realize his keys were in his pocket until he woke up on the front porch with a pain in his side.¡± Nightwing said with a roll of her eyes. Ariana and I burst out laughing, and Barbarianne shook her head in amusement. ¡°And you -- who accidentally goes to work in their nightgown?!¡±

    ¡°I was recovering from a super-bad hang-over, thank you very much.¡± Kiana returned, softly jabbed her with an elbow.

    ¡°See what I deal with?¡± the dark-haired girl looked over at us with a bemused expression.

    ¡°Ah-heh-heh-heh,¡± I grinned back sympathetically.

    Anyway, it seems like we''re racking up a lot of favors tonight-- and I guess I''m about to go and pledge another one soon, I mused to myself.

    ¡°Anyway, we''ll count on you tomorrow after the reset!¡± Kiana beamed happily.

    ¡°Definitely!¡± I nodded back.

    ¡°You two better hurry up with your play-time; aren''t you students?¡± Barbarianne asked us with a knowing glance.

    ¡°Ahh, we''ll be fine.¡± I returned.

    ¡°We''ve done this a few times now, though I can imagine the fuss if we ever got caught!¡± Ariana said with a sneaky smile.

    ¡°De-fi-nete-ly.¡± I agreed.

    ¡°Good luck on that,¡± our friend grinned back at us.

    ¡°Though we''re basically doing the same thing they are for different reasons...¡± Nightwing quipped.

    ¡°Almost different.¡± Kiana smiled.

    We spent another in-game hour chatting with the other girls about various escapades that our groups had been through, and then Ariana and I hopped out to redress and (reluctantly) leave the baths for the time being. The two of us headed out with a parting wave and a promise to meet them at a wayport when the dungeon reset, and then made our way casually through the streets of Harmonia City. We stopped near a house for sale in the residential district; it wasn''t too flashy, but it was definitely eye-catching.

    ¡°Think we can get it as our ''city-home''?¡± Ariana wondered.

    ¡°Maybe.¡± I nodded back, taking note of the price. ¡°Four-hundred thousand gold,¡± I read aloud, pondering.

    ¡°We can make that in about three nights or so if we try.¡± she shrugged.

    ¡°Heh,¡± I smiled wearily at the thought. ¡°We probably could.¡±

    ¡°Anyway,¡± she grinned as we continued on, ¡°I bet you''re thinking about asking Myanihia to join us, huh?¡±

    ¡°If she wants to.¡± I said.

    ¡°Think we''ll find her tonight?¡±

    ¡°Hmm... she might be at her home, come to think of it, if she''s still on.¡±

    ¡°Hmm.¡± my partner remarked.

    We made our way back to the Market Ward of the city, where we started idly window-shopping to pass the time. There were a couple of in-game hours before the night-cycle began again, and then we would take our final in-game sleep for the night before getting up for school tomorrow. That thought was obliterated by the sight of a hobby-shop along the lane; we headed inside to look for ourselves at the objects within, thoroughly enchanted by the myriad collection of toys, decorations, and knick-knacks that players could buy for their homes and such.

    ¡°Hmm...? I guess if you can''t do it in real life, here you go!¡± Ariana smiled as we looked at a train-set complete with small village.

    ¡°That''s neat!¡± I remarked, completely distracted by it as Ariana smiled over at me.

    ¡°We should get a real one for holidays and such when we move in together.¡± she remarked.

    ¡°We really -- eh?¡± I looked over at her, my attention reclaimed and my cheeks reddening. She giggled at me and gave me a hug. ¡°Hrm... I mean, definitely.¡± I smiled back, hugging her in reply. ¡°This thing would look neat in our Bethelia homestead, though...¡±

    ¡°Ooh, yes!¡± Ari quickly agreed. ¡°We''ll get it, then!¡± she smiled, and thus we walked out of that shop with said purchase several moments later.

    After walking around some more, we eventually found ourselves at a plaza with an ornate fountain in the center. We sat upon a bench nearby, quietly watching the sky change colors from afternoon to twilight.

    ¡°It''s almost peaceful.¡± Ariana said softly.

    ¡°Yeah.¡± I agreed.

    ¡°It certainly is.¡± a familiar voice said. Myanihia then sat down on a second bench a few paces away, gazing over towards the west as well.

    ¡°You always turn up so mysteriously,¡± Ari remarked.

    ¡°It... is a thing.¡± the other replied.

    ¡°I guess so,¡± I smiled back.

    ¡°Lana.¡± the Snow Elf assassin looked over at me, a softness in her eyes.

    ¡°Hey there.¡± I said.

    ¡°You... need something. It''s, not common, to see you here.¡± she noted at once.

    ¡°Hrrmm... we got a dungeon offer from Northern Warriors... I was wondering if you wanted to join us.¡± I told her.

    ¡°The others, your guild, will not be on?¡±

    ¡°Most of them are stuck doing real-life stuff tomorrow, though I''m sure some will sneak on later anyway.¡± I shrugged.

    ¡°I see.¡± she returned, gazing back towards the sinking sunset. ¡°I know, what they''re after. It, would be possible, with you, and me. But, you''ll owe me, a favor as well.¡±

    ¡°What kind of favor?¡± I wondered.

    ¡°There is, a two-person dungeon, in Yucu Plains... and, a special gem, for completing it, in a certain time.¡± Myanihia said.

    ¡°That doesn''t sound too bad.¡± Ariana remarked.

    ¡°No, it doesn''t. But, it needs, two shadows, or the correct gem, won''t show up.¡± she told us.

    ¡°I can probably do that with you before we meet up with Kiana and the others,¡± I noted.

    ¡°I agree. An advanced payment, then.¡± Myanihia nodded as she stood up. ¡°Meet me, at the wayport, near my home, tomorrow, when you get on.¡± she said, and I nodded back.

    ¡°Gotcha.¡± I told her, and she came over, placing a hand on both of us.

    ¡°There''s, something else, in that dungeon. Something, that can help you, against that demon.¡± she said to me. I looked back at her intently.

    ¡°Against... Djaziim?¡± I asked, and she nodded back to me.

    ¡°I, don''t know, exactly what; but, it''s from, one of the bonus rooms.¡± Myanihia told me. ¡°But, this thing, it''s supposedly, only the first item, in a long list of items, you''ll need to gather, to sever their bond.¡±

    ¡°Hahh... one of those quests...¡± I sighed. She patted my shoulder as Ari smiled at me sympathetically.

    ¡°You''ll manage.¡± Myanihia said softly, and then melted into the twilight shadows as she took her leave.

    ¡°Well, that''s a list of chores for tomorrow...¡± I said as we began heading out ourselves.

    ¡°Don''t forget real life stuff.¡± Ari winked at me.

    ¡°Gyeck!¡±

    ¡°More importantly, let''s sleep at Bethelia tonight,¡± she then suggested.

    ¡°Oh definitely,¡± I agreed, and when we reached the wayport we headed for our newest estate, falling asleep together on a couch as we listened to the night-time ambiance around us.

 Chapter Ten: Films and Favors

    ¡°Don''t forget we''re going to the movies tonight before we game!¡± Rachel said to me as we entered homeroom.

    ¡°Huh? Oh!¡± I recalled as we reached our seats and sat down. ¡°The pirate movie!¡± I said with a grin as the full details came back to me.

    ¡°Yep!¡± she smiled in answer. ¡°Hmm... Chrissy sent me a message back saying they''d be good for the eight-thirty showing.¡±

    ¡°And we get done with rehearsals at six today,¡± I said, my face adopting a soft wry grin. ¡°Hrrmm... it''s Friday. We don''t have to worry about homework until tomorrow.¡±

    ¡°Ohh, true... I guess we kind of don''t!¡± Rachel smirked. ¡°Ah! I wonder if we can make some addendums, then...¡± she then quietly mused, pulling out her phone to send a message before homeroom started up.

    ¡°Hmm?¡± I wondered.

    ¡°You''ll see!¡± she winked back.

    ¡°I guess so,¡± I smiled, gently laughing.

    A few moments later the bell rang, and as usual homeroom was called to order to start off the day.

    ¡°With feeling, Sean, with feeling! Now try it again!¡± Miss Andrews said to me as I (apparently) flubbed a line again. I took a deep breath, and tried again.

    ¡°But I say to you, my merry men, that this vile villain of a sheriff shall not make morsels of us or our glad company while yet I draw breath!¡±

    ¡°There it is!¡± our teacher said with enthusiastic satisfaction.

    ¡°But Robin,¡± said Henry as Allan, ¡°The sheriff has Guy of Gisbourne, grim as you please, who has sent many a proud yeoman to the gallows!¡±

    ¡°Gisbourne shall not send us to the gallows -- nay, for these are our woods and we know them best! Warriors and knights we may not be; but we are yeoman true, and in this our native home we shall outwit all who come our way, be they knight, bishop, or king!¡± I recited.

    Classes had gone the same as always, by the way. At lunch break, Rachel had announced her little addendum: we were going to dinner before the movies. And then of course after that, Rachel and I would be helping Myanihia and then the Northern Warriors in-game while the others worked on their own thing or did real-life stuff. But for now, it was five-thirty and I was trying to deliver my lines as best as I could without looking at the script--which I still had to do a fair bit of the time at this point.

    ¡°The king?¡± Matthew as Little John returned. ¡°Can we truly defy the king?¡±

    ¡°Heaven forbid!¡± Herby as Friar Tuck exclaimed.

    ¡°Not our good and true king, Richard the Lionhearted, but this miserly coward John I do indeed defy, for he has allowed that miserable cretin the sheriff to harry the good people of Nottingham and all the countryside ''round!¡± I answered in character.

    ¡°Aye!¡± the other outlaws chorused.

    From there we did a rehearsal of the musical number (¡°The Merry Men of Sherwood¡±) these lines of dialogue preceded. I''m not sure how well it went; I will say that the others (who had all run through some of their own numbers by this point) were either really ecstatic about it or really amused by it. After that, our teacher and director decided to release us early for good progress, and Thomas, Rachel, and I scurried off to get ourselves ready for the evening.

    ***

    ¡°Good thing I started keeping a set of extra clothes in the car!¡± Thomas grinned as we set off from my house. We had dropped Rachel off first and then gone back to my place so I could change; Thomas had gotten into the habit of keeping a set of clothes in his car for work reasons so he came in for a bit to exchange the school uniform for these while I did the same.

    ¡°Definitely.¡± I had to agree.

    ¡°So you, me, and the girls will be in this car; well, our girlfriends, anyway... was Lizzy coming in this one or was she on her own?¡± he wondered.

    ¡°Ehh, she''ll be picking up Anhe and Mary,¡± I replied.

    ¡°Oh right! And the other two will turn up at the restaurant.¡± he nodded.

    ¡°Yep.¡± I said. We reached the girls'' house in a couple minutes, whereupon I got out to get in the backseat with Rachel while Andrea sat up front with Thomas.

    ¡°This is such a good idea.¡± the older girl remarked as we set off. ¡°Oh, by the way, our workplace visitation will be in mid-March at the gaming company.¡±

    ¡°Eh? Did you decide on that yesterday?¡± I wondered.

    ¡°I submitted it yesterday, and Mrs. Brown approved it today.¡± she smiled back.

    ¡°Gotcha.¡± I nodded. ¡°Ah... what restaurant were we going to anyway?¡± I then wondered. Andrea started to reply, but Rachel held her hand out to stop her.

    ¡°It''s a surprise for him, remember?¡± she said to the other girl.

    ¡°Ohh, yes it was!¡± Andrea returned, then giggled.

    ¡°Hah... poor Sean.¡± Thomas quipped.

    ¡°Oy...¡± I sighed. I settled back into my seat as Rachel grinned over at me, and I gently smiled back. Whatever it was, I guess I was in for a treat.

    About five minutes before we got to wherever we were going, Rachel took a piece of cloth from her purse and used it as a blindfold on me to keep me in suspense. The last thing I saw was Andrea stifling a laugh as she watched.

    ¡°You''re into this surprise thing tonight,¡± I remarked as she made sure the knot was firm.

    ¡°Yep!¡± she replied in an upbeat tone. I could just bet she was grinning quite happily.

    ¡°We should have saved it for a more special occasion and--¡± Thomas started, but I heard a light smacking sound.

    ¡°Getting together with friends is a special occasion!¡± Andrea remarked.

    ¡°Ahh... yes, but--okay. Yes.¡± he replied, and the two of them laughed. ¡°Oh there''s that turn,¡± he then said with a tone of realization.

    ¡°That is hard to see.¡± Andrea agreed. ¡°Oh look, there''s Mandy; and here''s Ellie pulling in from the other direction.¡±

    ¡°Yep. And... will she stop at that sign...? A slight pause, then back to her normal speed; not slowing down for the turn... and... right into the spot just ahead of her... and now she stops.¡±

    ¡°Pfft!¡± Andrea giggled at Thomas'' narration of Ellie''s driving as we pulled in.

    ¡°Mary seems unconcerned about all that, but Anhe looks a bit anxious,¡± Rachel observed.

    ¡°Well of course. Ellie''s a wild card with driving.¡± Andrea said.

    ¡°Time to get him out!¡± Thomas said as he stopped the car, getting out himself as the other two did so as well. I felt around for the seatbelt and then the door as I began extricating myself as well, and when I had the door open Rachel took my hand to assist me out.

    ¡°Really? You blindfolded him? Pfffft!¡± I heard Christina remark.

    ¡°Aww. Poor kid. Well you can take it off now!¡± Mandy said.

    ¡°First we turn him like this!¡± Rachel returned, no doubt setting me in position to face the restaurant.

    ¡°And then we do this!¡± Ellie continued, gently yoinking the blindfold off.

    Before my eyes was a homely looking building that looked as if it had been transplanted from some fantasy video-game world. It was nestled in an obscure part of the Food District, surrounded by a small forest and with a pond to one side. I blinked, and looked up at the name. ¡°The Fairy Cafe and Diner¡± was written out in an appropriately stylistic manner for a restaurant with such a fantastical theme to it.

    ¡°Oh wow! How did you find this place?¡± I said with wonder as we began heading in.

    ¡°Me. It was me.¡± Mandy smiled back. ¡°We used to come here when I was a little kid; when Rachel suggested going out to dinner before our movie, I had to make sure it was still around so I could recommend it and Rachel picked it up immediately!¡± she told me. I looked over at Rachel with a smile, gently squeezing her hand, and she smiled back.

    ¡°Tonight is going to be a good night.¡± Mary remarked with confidence.

    ¡°Definitely!¡± Ellie grinned, and Anhe nodded.

    ¡°But I bet someone will end up in-game later anyway.¡± Christina smirked.

    ¡°Don''t judge him. I''m going too.¡± Rachel quickly said.

    ¡°Of course you are!¡± the older girl answered, still smirking.

    ¡°Almost kinda have to,¡± I said with a wry grin, which Rachel affected as well. A server then seated us at a booth near a window, and I looked around at the place.

    Except for most of the customers, including ourselves, being in normal clothes (save for one group dressed in renaissance and fantasy attire), I genuinely believed this could have been taking place in Panarena. Even the music was in theme, being performed by a troupe of musicians with some instruments that were expected (there was a lute, a hand-drum, and a harp among others), and only a couple that were more modern, a synthesizer and an electric guitar.

    ¡°Definitely trying this.¡± Christina remarked as she read her menu, and Mandy rolled her eyes, a weary smile already on her face.

    ¡°A Vanilla Ice-cream shake with Rum and a dash of honey... I''m going to be keeping an eye on you until we get home, aren''t I?¡± she quipped.

    ¡°I wonder if that''s good...¡± I softly wondered to Rachel.

    ¡°I like vanilla and honey, at least... maybe we can make up a similar treat in Panarena,¡± she whispered back.

    ¡°Did they have ice-cream there, though?¡± I returned uncertainly.

    ¡°I feel like one or more of our in-game celebrations during the tournament involved ice-cream for sure,¡± Rachel said, a mildly puzzled look on her face. ¡°I guess we''ll look!¡± she then smiled.

    ¡°Definitely!¡± I agreed.

    ¡°I could give you a taste tonight.¡± Christina smirked.

    ¡°Chrissy!¡± Mandy scolded straight away.

    ¡°Ahh...¡±

    ¡°Ah-heh...¡± Rachel and I bemusedly smiled back.

    ¡°Whaaat?¡± the raven-haired girl returned.

    ¡°No underage drinking in public!¡± the other girl chided.

    ¡°So if we were home it''d be no problem?¡± she retorted with a skeptical look.

    ¡°Hoo-boy.¡±

    ¡°I''m not underage anymore.¡± Mary shrugged.

    ¡°Oh, that''s true,¡± Ellie said.

    ¡°But I''m going for this!¡± the principal''s daughter then grinned, selecting her beverage from the menu as Christina affirmed her choice of drink.

    ¡°Hmm... ''Pirate''s Fancy'', a rum and punch blend with an orange slice.¡± Thomas read as he caught sight of it. ¡°You two are certainly getting into the movie''s spirit tonight.¡±

    ¡°I might have one sip, but I''m still driving.¡± Mandy grinned.

    ¡°I see taxis in our post-high school future.¡± Ellie quipped.

    ¡°L-let''s not go there,¡± Rachel said. ¡°Sean! This one?¡± she poked me, pointing to a vanilla cola.

    ¡°Oh, sure,¡± I agreed, and we both pressed it on our menus.

    ¡°Honey tea!¡± Andrea smiled.

    ¡°Same!¡± Anhe agreed.

    ¡°Gotta go for the lemon-lime,¡± Ellie said.

    ¡°Ooh, that sounds good too,¡± Andrea remarked.

    ¡°And I will choose... Dr. Fizz!¡± Thomas then said.

    ¡°And this responsible chick will go for water with a slice of lemon.¡± Mandy smiled. We touched the menu-screens to affirm our drink-orders, and then began browsing food choices.

    ¡°Hmm... but there''s a lot here,¡± Christina remarked. ¡°Definitely this chocolate parfait.¡±

    ¡°They have parfaits?!¡± Andrea immediately exclaimed, hurriedly flipping through the menu.

    ¡°And cheesecakes, and shortbreads, and all sorts of other baked goods or chilled treats,¡± I remarked as I read the menu.

    ¡°Actual food first,¡± Rachel quipped, flipping my menu back a few pages.

    ¡°Hahh...¡± I sighed, and the others laughed.

    ¡°Oh, I know, let''s just get a platter of something we can agree on!¡± Ellie then suggested.

    ¡°Oh def!¡± Andrea agreed.

    ¡°Just like home, huh?¡± Christina smiled.

    ¡°Pretty much!¡± Thomas nodded.

    ¡°I agree!¡± Anhe smiled. ¡°And I would recommend trying this build-it-yourself platter.¡±

    ¡°Good eye!¡± Mary nodded in agreement.

    ¡°Yes!¡± Rachel smiled as well.

    ¡°Now let''s just see the options...¡± Mandy said as she opened the group menu so we could begin deciding on our fare for the evening.

    ***

    After a thoroughly enjoyable meal -- a platter of lamb stew with vegetables, some buttered rolls, and an entr¨¦e of grilled fish -- we made our way to a slightly later showing of the film we intended to see (the nine-fifteen showing instead of the eight-thirty) on account of being so engrossed in the food we lost track of time. We hurriedly found seats in one of the middle-back rows, just as all of those rotten previews and commercials finally ended, and quickly settled in with a few snacks we had gotten (as if dinner hadn''t been enough!). The place was not as packed as we expected for a Friday; there were probably at least five other groups of people here tonight besides us and that was it.

    ¡°Woof...¡± Mary sighed quietly, sipping on a cola. ¡°That thing was too much.¡± she said in reference to her earlier choice of drink.

    ¡°At least you went with water and coffee after just one,¡± Mandy remarked.

    ¡°And Chrissy went and had another of hers and one like mine!¡± Mary returned with a smile of amusement.

    ¡°It''s a pirate film! Gotta have rum!¡± the girl in question said in an audible tone. We heard some scattered laughs as Mandy hurriedly shushed her, the poor girl''s face red from both embarrassment and laughter.

    ¡°Oh boy.¡± I said in a quiet tone.

    ¡°I did not expect her to be a drinker,¡± Anhe whispered over to Rachel and myself.

    ¡°Sh-she sure didn''t show her hand when we were on vacation,¡± Rachel said bemusedly.

    ¡°Hsst! It''s on!¡± Ellie said to us, and an ear-catching, ominous theme started playing as the title screen for the movie came up.

    Pirates of the Seven Seas: The Lost City.

    A skull and bones logo with two crossing flintlock pistols underneath came up behind it, and I was immediately engrossed. Rachel looked over at me with a smile, and the movie began.

    ¡°Whew! That was a plot-twist.¡± Ellie quipped as we sat outside the theater later that evening, waiting on some of the others who were ¡°dealing with some business¡±, as they put it.

    ¡°You''re telling me,¡± I said. ¡°I kinda saw it coming, but it was still a shocker.¡±

    ¡°No way!¡± Rachel said to me. ¡°You saw that coming?!¡±

    The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

    ¡°I mean...¡± I smiled wryly, rubbing the back of my neck, ¡°It was almost similar to a game I played a few years ago, ''Delvers of the Mystic Sea'', but it was definitely a refreshing take.¡±

    ¡°Ooh, I think a cousin of mine played that one.¡± Ellie nodded.

    ¡°No pirates in it though.¡± I shrugged.

    ¡°We should replicate those characters for Halloween this year.¡± Rachel suggested.

    ¡°Nice idea!¡± Ellie agreed at once.

    ¡°Yes!¡± Anhe smiled.

    ¡°I like that idea far better than last year''s,¡± I said with a goofy grin.

    ¡°Pfffft!¡± Ellie snorted, and the other girls giggled. ¡°Fine, fine, we''ll let you be Captain John Silverhawk this year, and Rachel can be Lady... Lady What''s-her-name.¡± the older girl said.

    ¡°Lady Alice Heart.¡± Rachel said dreamily. ¡°That reminds me, we should work on homework and our lines tomorrow for sure.¡± she told me.

    ¡°Oh definitely.¡± I nodded back at once.

    ¡°I''ll come over to your house for a change.¡±

    ¡°Eh? You sure?¡±

    ¡°The brats are coming over to our place tomorrow.¡± she said to me with a wry look.

    ¡°Ahh...¡± I remarked as a faint grin appeared on my face. ¡°Y-yeah, we can make that work.¡± I replied, and she smiled.

    ¡°Heh. Those two.¡± Ellie softly guffawed. ¡°Did Andi ever tell you about the time she forgot her clothes chasing the one down the street?¡±

    ¡°Ahhh...¡± I started uncertainly.

    ¡°Yep.¡± Rachel nodded, shaking her head as a lopsided grin came to her face.

    ¡°Hee! I had to hold that over her for a week.¡± the other girl beamed.

    ¡°P-poor Andrea,¡± Anhe smiled hesitantly.

    ¡°Oh, there they are -- lo-sers! It''s been ten minutes!¡± Ellie cried out as the others finally emerged.

    ¡°Uuugghhh,¡± Christina sighed. ¡°Noisy.¡±

    ¡°Sorry ''bout that!¡± Mandy grinned awkwardly.

    ¡°I think we''re all ready to go home now, though,¡± Mary added.

    ¡°It''s almost midnight, huh?¡± Andrea noted as she checked her phone. ¡°We should do this again sometime!¡±

    ¡°Def!¡± Ellie smiled. ¡°For now, though, let''s get everyone home!¡± she said, and after a round of goodbyes we went our separate ways for the night.

    ***

    No one was awake at home, so I was not peppered with questions about everything as I got in the door. I''d told them what was going on anyway, so it''s not like they didn''t know where I''d been. As soon as I was in my room, I quickly got myself ready for the night and then set the Dream Machine upon my head to escape into Panarena. Ariana was waiting for me, and told me that Myanihia was waiting near the agreed wayport by her home.

    ¡°Hope she hasn''t been waiting all night,¡± I said.

    ¡°The message only came about one game-hour ago, so I doubt it; but hurry!¡± she told me. ¡°I''ll go mark the other wayport with Fyu.¡±

    ¡°Good idea; see you after a while!¡± I said, and we exchanged a hug before parting ways.

    As soon as I materialized on Pirate Isle, I saw Myanihia on a nearby bench, without her mask on. She smiled as I came into view, and when I had returned the smile and stepped off the wayport she began inputting a destination.

    ¡°You''re a bit later than I expected.¡± she told me.

    ¡°It was a big Friday night tonight,¡± I shrugged back. ¡°I got on almost as soon as I got home.¡±

    ¡°I see.¡± she returned, a soft smile on her face. ¡°I... never had friends, or a social circle. I was always by myself. Except during the beta testing.¡±

    ¡°I understand that, for the most part. I wasn''t always as popular... and it still seems weird.¡± I said as the portal opened.

    ¡°I suppose that''s how you made your connection with me.¡± Myanihia smiled back, and we stepped through to the Yucu Plains.

    ¡°I guess so,¡± I replied as we came through the other side.

    ¡°We''ll need a steed. There is, a special animal here, that can carry two.¡± she told me as she put her mask on.

    ¡°It really is the plains out here,¡± I said with wonder as I looked around. There was hardly a tree in sight.

    ¡°Ironically, the dungeon I want, is in a more forested area of the region.¡± Myanihia said as she led me to the stables.

    ¡°Huh.¡±

    ¡°Here we are.¡± she then announced. The animal in question looked like a large ostrich with a tropical coloring to it. I blinked a couple times as my eyes fell upon it, while Myanihia paid the rental fee and hopped on. I got on behind her, and the bird-mount took off at a brisk trot before breaking into a full speed charge once outside the town we had arrived in.

    ¡°Whoa!¡± I exclaimed as the wind began rippling by.

    ¡°The bright-plume rhea is one of the fastest and most agile mounts in the game, and probably the best for heading swiftly through jungles or forests.¡± Myanihia said as we rapidly crossed over the plains.

    ¡°Oh neat; yeah, I can definitely see that,¡± I replied.

    ¡°We''ll need all the speed we can get. The other dungeon, it has a timed aspect to it.¡± she told me.

    ¡°Hmm...¡± I mused.

    ¡°We will get it.¡± she said confidently. ¡°And we will get this one, too. All it needs, is a mirror.¡± she added.

    I wondered about that last remark until we actually got into the dungeon itself a while later. It was an ancient temple based off of the Mesoamerican style, and inside were two paths. I saw at once why it needed two people.

    ¡°So one path has devices and such that disable the traps on the opposite path, and vice versa,¡± I noted.

    ¡°As expected of you, Lana.¡± Myanihia said in a soft tone. ¡°Ariana, has warned me of something; so, I will take the riddle passage; you can take the one with mechanisms.¡±

    ¡°Ah--! Thanks,¡± I managed to grin back.

    ¡°Let''s go.¡± she then said, patting my shoulder, and I headed to the left while she headed for the right.

    Now the dungeon''s mechanics certainly sounded simple at first glance, but it is tricky to actually pull off. Never mind coordinating without a time-limit, we apparently had to clear this dungeon in thirty in-game minutes or the challenge would fail. And some of the traps would reset in a certain amount of time as well, so we had that hurdle to overcome, as well as the occasional interloping monster that popped up to harass one of us. In spite of that, we managed to get a decent rhythm going, and were nearing the end of the path when the boss appeared. The arduous paths had just converged, and this guy was apparently the final hurdle.

    Okay, okay... what''s around? Five levers; two on my side, two on Myanihia''s, and one right in front of that boss... who''s only using ranged attacks, I mused as I evaded the attacks in question.

    ¡°It must be the levers,¡± Myanihia said calmly. ¡°We only have seven minutes left, though.¡±

    ¡°S-seven?! We''ve been in here that long?¡± I wondered in amazement.

    ¡°We have.¡± she nodded back to me.

    ¡°Hrrmm...¡± I sighed, looking around again.

    The boss was standing on a narrow bridge that connected the converged path with a small alcove on the other side. At this far end, there was a chest atop a pile of treasures. That was definitely where Myanihia''s gem would be, if we could get to it in time. As I caught a glimpse of the boss'' healthbar, I suddenly realized it was one of those kill-all mechanics, which meant there was no way for us to actually beat it -- but in this situation there could be a way to disable it. You know, I bet these levers do *That* thing, I suddenly thought to myself.

    ¡°Now I see why you wanted two shadows,¡± I then smiled. ¡°Pull them!¡± I said, and we pulled the levers on our respective sides before heading for the middle one. I pulled it and knelt down while Myanihia used me as a springboard to jump. The final lever yanked the bridge out from under the boss, and it fell into the depths of the temple as Myanihia soared over it. Then I used Shadow''s Jump and Shadow Speed to cross over myself, landing safely.

    ¡°I figured that was the trick,¡± she said to me, faintly giggling.

    ¡°That was some mechanic,¡± I agreed with a grin. She then went to open the chest, nodding in satisfaction as she pulled out a radiant blue sapphire set in a gold pendant.

    ¡°The Snow Queen''s Gem. It enhances some of my racial skills.¡± she told me.

    ¡°Oh nice.¡± I said, remembering the skill she had used during the tournament.

    ¡°And the rest for you, including that adamantine orb. But, we should hurry. Let''s not keep the others waiting.¡± Myanihia then said.

    I nodded, and gathered up the rest of the loot in my inventory before we exited the temple and raced back on our mount to the little town we had arrived in. The bright-plume rhea returned to its stable, and we used the wayport to head for Bethelia, where Ariana was waiting for us. She smiled, and inputted the new destination of Spruceward. We headed through, and found the others waiting for us at the south gate. Barbarianne looked at us in surprise, then shook her head, smiling as she came up to Myanihia. The dual-wielding warrior extended her hand, and Myanihia reached out to accept it.

    ¡°Next time we fight, I won''t go down so easily.¡± the redheaded girl said with a fierce grin.

    ¡°I know.¡± Myanihia said in a soft but kindly tone.

    ¡°All right!¡± Barbarianne said as they ended their handshake, ¡°Looks like we have some serious back-up tonight!

    ¡°Wraithwail Well, was it?¡± Myanihia remarked.

    ¡°You know it?¡± Kiana asked her.

    ¡°What you want... requires a series, of special challenges, to be completed. Lana, and I, can take care of that, and Ariana as well.¡±

    ¡°Hmm.¡± the other guild leader nodded back. ¡°Oh, by the way, these are our other guildies: Dara, who''s a druid, Hillman, the Barbarianne knock-off,¡± she commented, earning some laughs from the others and an eye-roll from the man in question, ¡°Hudwyn, our shield-user, Eogarr the Bowman, Gorm Dubh our pugilist, and you already know Barbarianne, myself, and Nightwing!¡± Kiana smiled.

    ¡°Good to meet you all!¡± Ariana smiled back.

    ¡°Cheers!¡± Hillman grinned with a salute.

    ¡°''Gorm Dubh'',¡± I repeated softly, giggling.

    ¡°Hmm?¡± Ariana looked over at me.

    ¡°She gets it right off the bat, huh?¡± Eogarr remarked.

    ¡°Gets what?¡± Ariana smiled at me curiously.

    ¡°It means Blue Black. And he''s a pugilist.¡± I told her.

    ¡°Yes?¡± she returned, and then she got it. ¡°Ohh!¡± Ariana said in realization, and we all laughed -- well, Myanihia smiled, at least.

    ¡°Right! Off to get some draigod ore!¡± Kiana said when the laughter subsided. We replied in a chorus of aye''s, and set off for the Wraithwail Well.

    Thematically, Evergrim was not unlike Varkstania or the Mountains of Night, except that it had a stronger, darker sense of grimness to it. The monsters were no joke, either. We had to fight through a pack of elite werewolves at one juncture, and right before we got to our destination we ended up in a brief scuffle with a vampire that ended with Myanihia taking it out with that deadly combo. As for the dungeon itself, it definitely lived up to its name.

    In addition to the horned-yetis that apparently lived here, there were lots and lots of wraiths in this dungeon. Ariana and Dara had their work cut out for them, since their attacks did more damage in general to such monsters. Kiana''s attacks were somewhat like Valkrysti''s, but her skills were more focused on enhancing her physical damage as opposed to the other girl''s focus on magical attacks or bolsters.

    ¡°Lana.¡± Myanihia said to me as we nearly passed by a side passage. The two of us headed into this for a moment, dispatching a hidden elite boss together before quickly catching up to the others.

    ¡°How many more?¡± I asked her as we rejoined the fight against the wraiths.

    ¡°Nine... I think.¡± she replied.

    ¡°That fits with the number of side passages we''ve seen here,¡± Nightwing agreed.

    ¡°That was quick, though,¡± Ariana said as she incinerated two wraiths with a lightning strike. ¡°Did you even need me along?¡±

    ¡°Absolutely!¡± I returned at once.

    ¡°Definitely!¡± Barbarianne exclaimed. I could see Myanihia''s eyes glinting with amusement as a soft laugh came from her.

    ¡°My attacks, and Lana''s, are not completely useful, against these wraiths.¡± she remarked.

    ¡°True!¡± my partner grinned back, eradicating a few more as if on cue.

    We then returned our attention to clearing the dungeon, which definitely got harder as we ventured deeper. The side-passages got more complicated as well; some of them needed riddles answered or mechanisms triggered to get further into them and defeat the hidden bosses that lay at their end. At once point, Myanihia and I had to use a certain ring to get through a crawl-space so we could reach the boss. Everyone just loved that. Ariana looked particularly pleased with herself for having it along, though I was secretly amused at seeing Myanihia''s child-form. Don''t tell her, though.

    For the last secret boss Ariana had to join us, casting a damage booster onto the two of us so we could take it down before time ran out. Both Myanihia and I were perplexed by it, considering it wasn''t a world boss. When I looked at the combat logs, though, it apparently had a redundant series of defensive skills or magics, which is why our first coordinated combo failed to take it out. Myanihia softly humphed when she saw it, softly grumbling that the game always had some sort of surprise for her.

    ¡°Ack! The yetis!¡± Nightwing squawked in her bird-form, and then she cast a few disorientation spells on them while the rest of us began taking them out.

    ¡°Argh, here comes the horde!¡± Hillman grunted.

    ¡°Ahh!! The passage!¡± Kiana realized. ¡°Nightwing, Lana, go!¡± she said, pointing towards a very small hole in the wall indeed.

    Ari tossed me the Ring of the Eternal Child with a smirk as I sighed, and hurried off to catch up with Nightwing. I put it on as she slipped through, tossing what didn''t stay on me through the hole before slipping through and taking it off again to get geared up again. Nightwing resumed her human form, putting on a wraparound robe that she quickly fastened as we began swiftly exploring the place.

    ¡°There''s got to be something in here,¡± she said to me. ¡°Whatever it is, I bet it weakens the boss or has something that weakens it!¡±

    ¡°Hmm...¡± I remarked thoughtfully, looking around. ¡°Like that sword up there in the cavern?¡± I pointed. A bit further ahead, there was an underground pool with a solitary rock in the midst, upon which lay a crystalline sword. We looked at each other, and then hurried over towards it.

    ¡°It''s called Wraithbane... how obvious.¡± Nightwing quipped.

    ¡°Hm. It''s enchanted so that it can strike the incorporeal, and it has a chance to leave a DoT behind every third strike or blow.¡± I read, and she smiled.

    ¡°Works for me! Let''s hurry back!¡± she said, switching to wereraven form again as I picked up the sword. She flew out first, and I shoved the sword out to her while I wrangled myself out of the passage the same way I had gotten into it. When we were back to our regular selves, Kiana and the others were just finishing off a wave of yetis.

    ¡°What''s that?¡± she asked as Nightwing handed her the sword.

    ¡°Use it on the boss. It''ll make the fight easier.¡± the other girl replied simply. Kiana took it, still gazing at us curiously, and then we turned back to the battle at hand.

    ¡°We''re almost there!¡± Hillman said enthusiastically.

    ¡°Time?¡± Kiana asked him.

    ¡°Just under forty-five minutes on my count,¡± Dara reported. ¡°We have fifteen more, and then our special timer runs out.¡±

    ¡°Grrr!¡± she groaned. Ariana and I exchanged a glance, and she nodded.

    ¡°Myanihia, take Kiana; Nightwing, come with us!¡± I said as Ari got up on my back. Myanihia intuited at once what I planned to do, and quickly had Kiana get on her back as well. We both entered Shadow Speed, racing along the corridors with Nightwing furiously flapping after us.

    ¡°Catch you there, boss!¡± Barbarianne called as we disappeared down the passage.

    ¡°Whee! You''re fast!¡± Kiana squealed with delight.

    ¡°Too fast, too fast!¡± Nightwing squawked at us.

    ¡°Where''s the boss chamber?¡± I asked.

    ¡°There''s a special door on next right, that''ll be it!¡± Kiana told me. Nightwing managed to perch on her shoulder just then, panting tiredly as she ruffled her feathers with an indignant flair. ¡°What''s the matter, Nighty?¡± Kiana beamed at her cheekily.

    ¡°You always find the craziest people!¡± the wereraven croaked back at her as we reached the door. There were several dials on it; I assumed they had to do with unlocking the thing. Nightwing resumed her human form again, and she began dealing with them as soon as she had her robe on once more.

    ¡°They are a bit crazy, but we saved ten minutes of fighting that way.¡± Kiana shrugged.

    ¡°And we need that time for the boss, I know, I know.¡± the other woman sighed. ¡°There!¡± she said in a satisfied tone as she finished with the dials and the door began opening.

    ¡°Will it stay open?¡± I wondered.

    ¡°Nope, but the others can take care of themselves and we don''t need another horde of horned-yetis in here with us.¡± Kiana said.

    ¡°Here we go then!¡± Ariana nodded, and we hurried inside.

    The boss room was an appropriately spooky cavern, with underground pools of murky water here and there and a chill-wind that softly blew around us. As soon as the door closed behind us, the boss, a large wraith-queen with five minions, appeared in the center of the room.

    ¡°All right, we can take out those five minions and she won''t summon anymore of them, but she gains a five-percent damage bonus for each one lost.¡± Kiana told us.

    ¡°You can''t damage,¡± I began, and Ariana smiled.

    ¡°What you can''t hit.¡± she finished.

    ¡°The three of us, will take them out. Kiana, Nightwing, please handle the boss,¡± Myanihia said.

    ¡°Let''s go, girls!¡± Kiana said, grabbing the wraith-queen''s attention with a shout as she drew out Wraithbane to attack. At that moment, all six wraiths began to focus on her, but Nightwing had a few potent healing and defensive spells to keep her guild-leader going, allowing the rest of us to quickly dispatch the minions before returning our attention to the boss itself.

    ¡°Ack! Hudwyn''s better at tanking!¡± Kiana grimaced as she got knocked back a pace.

    ¡°But he has no sword skills.¡± Nightwing quipped back. I recalled now that he had been wielding a nasty looking spiked mace this entire time.

    ¡°Enchantment: Holy Blade!¡± Ariana then called, and Myanihia''s weapons and mine began glowing with a white aura.

    ¡°Nice, Ari!¡± I cheered as Myanihia nodded to her gratefully, and we went on the attack with Kiana while Ariana and Nightwing supported us.

    Between the negative effect that Wraithbane had on this particular boss and Myanihia and I both using that deadly combo skill at the same time, our attack took that boss down to nothing in less time than it takes to tell it. But hey, a quick fight was what we wanted. The wraith-queen went up with a shrieking wail, vowing to return and have vengeance, and then imploded. A few moments later the doors opened, and the others came rushing in.

    ¡°Good grief!¡± Hillman quipped. ¡°You took it out just like that!?¡±

    ¡°Just like that.¡± Kiana shrugged.

    ¡°Told you.¡± Barbarianne said to him.

    ¡°Ho-ly mackerel.¡± he shook his head in disbelief. ¡°At least the other monsters disappeared with it.¡±

    ¡°That''s always a plus.¡± Gorm Dubh nodded.

    ¡°And now...!¡± Kiana grinned happily, striding up to the largest chest.

    ¡°Ohh yeah!!¡± Eogarr beamed, eagerly anticipating the opening.

    ¡°Finally,¡± Nightwing smiled. Kiana opened the chest, and inside it was indeed a cache of draigod ore.

    ¡°Woo-hoo!¡± Barbarianne cheered.

    ¡°Nice!¡± Hillman crowed.

    ¡°Lana, Ari, Myanihia, we owe you!¡± Kiana smiled over to us.

    ¡°I... have been repaid by Lana, already. You, owe me nothing.¡± Myanihia shook her head.

    ¡°Aw, come on! At least let us buy you a dessert or something!¡± Barbarianne replied, putting a hand on her shoulder and winking.

    ¡°I...¡± Myanihia began hesitantly, looking around at the rest of us. Ari and I exchanged a smile with each other. ¡°I... will accept.¡± she then said, and the others cheered. We divvied out everything aside from the draigod ore, and then celebrated our success at a small restaurant in Harmonia City for the rest of the evening.

    ***

    ¡°It... was fun.¡± Myanihia said to Ari and me later. The Northern Warriors had returned to their guildhall, and the three of us were just about to part ways as well. ¡°I... am starting to feel... differently, about guilds, about people.¡± she confessed. ¡°Between you, and my sister... I want, to know more. To feel more.¡±

    ¡°I''m sure it''ll happen!¡± Ariana said to her with a smile, and the Snow Elf nodded back.

    ¡°Maybe, when this competition, is over... I will join you.¡± she said.

    ¡°Whenever you''re ready and willing.¡± I said to her.

    ¡°Yes... until then... Lana, the orb you got, from the Yucu Plains dungeon,¡± she reminded me, and I pulled it out again.

    ¡°This one?¡± I asked her.

    ¡°That, is the item I mentioned to you last night. Rub it.¡± she said to me. I did so, and a quest popped up.

    ¡°Oh!¡± Ari and I both exclaimed.

    Quest: The Fall of the Unholy.

    ¡°It is a long quest chain... but, you will find it worth the time, and effort.¡± Myanihia said to us.

    ¡°Hey... thanks, for tonight, and for the other time,¡± I then said to her, and she placed a hand on my shoulder.

    ¡°You... opened my heart. It is the least I can do.¡± she smiled at me, and then used the wayport to head home. Ariana and I looked at the orb, and then the quest log.

    ¡°I know what we''re doing after homework and running our lines.¡± Ari said to me with a smirk.

    ¡°Still... I''ve never even heard of this region,¡± I remarked as I closed the log and put the orb back in my inventory.

    ¡°I think I saw it on a forum once?¡± she replied, her face scrunching up thoughtfully. ¡°It looked like a very small region.¡±

    ¡°Hmm...¡± I nodded as we entered our own wayport destination. ¡°It can wait, though. Until then, let''s get through that abomina--I mean, our math homework,¡± I said, and she giggled.

    ¡°Let''s do some crafting before we take our in-game nap, at least. Then we''ll meet up about nine?¡± she asked.

    ¡°That works for me,¡± I nodded.

    ¡°Yay!¡± she replied, and we set off through the wayport portal to do just that.

 Chapter Eleven: One Small Quest

    ¡°I hate math...¡± I sighed, and Rachel gently smiled back. We had finally gotten through the last bits of homework, having saved the worst for last, and now we were putting it away to get our scripts out.

    ¡°That was pretty evil this time.¡± she said in agreement. ¡°Think you''ll pass the test in March?¡±

    ¡°At this rate I''ll get away with a C like last time, probably.¡± I replied.

    ¡°Good!¡± she smiled again. ¡°Now on to more fun stuff!¡± she continued, flipping through the pages to find our lines.

    ¡°It is fun,¡± I had to agree. ¡°Though now I''m kind of dreading actually doing this in front of people...¡±

    ¡°Hmm...¡± Rachel nodded back. ¡°Allie was saying something to me yesterday that made sense; don''t think too much about the audience, just focus on the other characters you''re interacting with and make the stage your entire world.¡±

    ¡°Hmm.¡± I pondered, trying to sort out how that might work. ¡°Hrrmm... so burying yourself in the part a bit can keep your mind off of being watched, I guess is what she means,¡± I reasoned it out.

    ¡°Something like that,¡± Rachel agreed.

    ¡°Hahh... that seems a little hard though...¡±

    ¡°Oh? I think you''ve had some good practice already... Lana.¡± she said to me with a soft smirk.

    ¡°Gyeek!¡± I involuntarily froze, then relaxed a half second later. ¡°¡­ Oh, it''s like that, huh...¡± I said in realization.

    ¡°You''re just figuring that out now?¡± she returned with an amused grin. ¡°I guess it''s just different enough for you not to think of it that way to begin with.¡± she added, patting my head.

    ¡°Ahh...¡± I replied uncertainly. ¡°Anyway,¡± I then said, recovering myself, ¡°That makes a bit more sense... what lines were we starting with today?¡±

    ¡°Here: act one, scene nine.¡± Rachel said, and I flipped through a few more pages to catch up with her so we could rehearse the scene in question, along with a few others later on.

    ***

    It was after three in the real world before the two of us finished going through lines, and then we spent another couple of hours hanging out, ending up at a small diner around five to grab a bite before I walked her home. I then made my own way home, and on the way I encountered the young lady with jet black hair and somber eyes. She shyly waved to me, and I waved back, giving a small smile in return.

    ¡°By the way... I, never did get your name,¡± she said as she halted a couple steps away. I stopped as well, rubbing the back of my neck.

    ¡°I''m Sean, Sean Daniels.¡± I replied, holding a hand out. She smiled, and reached to take my hand as well.

    ¡°I''m... Sabrina. Sabrina Jennings.¡± she said in turn.

    Yep. Yep yep. It''s Myanihia.

    ¡°How... is your girlfriend?¡± she asked me as we finished our handshake and let go.

    ¡°She''s well. We just got back from a day out.¡± I told her.

    ¡°Good.¡± the girl named Sabrina smiled back. ¡°Well, it was... good, to see you around, again. I should get going... my job, hates latecomers.¡± she remarked with a grin, and I nodded back.

    ¡°It was nice to properly meet you. Take care,¡± I said in reply, and she smiled again, the both of us waving as resumed heading our separate ways.

    I wonder where she works? I wondered as I continued on my way home. I wonder why she hasn''t noticed me as quickly as Christina and Mandy did... my face scrunched up in bemusement as this thought struck me.

    ¡°I guess one day she''ll figure it out too... though I wonder how she''d take it...¡± I softly mumbled to myself as I got in sight of my house.

    That thought soon dissipated as I saw my mother''s car pulling in. She''d probably had one of those clients again if she was coming home this late. The kind who like to nitpick and haggle when it comes to real estate value. Not that I knew much about it, but dad and I did hear a lot of her frustration with it now and again. She got out and slammed her car door shut with a hoarse sigh. Deciding to keep out of it, I waited until she got inside the house to get in myself; as I passed the living room I heard her softly venting to my dad about how finicky today''s buyer was.

    Good luck, I thought to myself.

    He was always patient about it though. Which is a good thing, insofar as I know anything about it. Of course, that was probably part of why he always had the cartoons going too, so that they would eventually distract her from being angry or frustrated.

    ¡°Cobwebs this, dust that -- I had that house cleaned exactly one day ago, there''s no way there should have been anything like that for them to complain about!¡± she ranted as I headed up the stairs.

    ¡°They came all the way from downstate to complain about that?¡± my dad remarked with incredulity.

    ¡°Apparently!¡± she returned in a high-pitched voice. ¡°And then they tried to wheedle down the price on account of these imaginary problems -- that house is worth exactly the listing price, but all these downstate people want to do with my time is--¡± she continued, but as soon as I got to my room I shut the door, cutting off any further words from my hearing.

    Whatever I do with my life, I am not being a real estate agent, I thought to myself with a tired grin. I then changed to more casual wear, and laid myself down upon the bed before setting the Dream Machine upon my head to leave reality behind once more.

    Once I loaded in I found Ariana waiting, along with Healina, Belle, and Lysandra. The four of them greeted me happily, and we went to enjoy a cup of tea while we decided on what to do for the day.

    ¡°This quest Sabr--ahh, Myanihia gave us; I haven''t been to that region in a long time,¡± Lysandra said as she took a look at our log.

    ¡°Is it hard?¡± I wondered.

    ¡°It can be. I was really just visiting it back then.¡± she said.

    The place in question was known as the Grim Sands. It was east of Memphani, nearer to the coasts of the Melodious Sea. I gazed at its location on the map idly, but my thoughts were not as idle as my face.

    From what Rayna told us, this seems a likely candidate for the quest that Rama and Hathisis undertook. I know she said it was a region ''in'' Memphani, but maybe she meant one ''near'' Memphani instead? It''s situated right next to it, after all, so it could be easy to mistake as a part of the larger region at first glance, I mused. And she probably doesn''t like to think about it all that much either, considering how things played out, so maybe she''s never bothered looking into it further.

    ¡°What do you think?¡± Ariana asked me.

    ¡°I think we need to check it out anyway. If we get started on it too late, we won''t have time to focus on it later.¡± I said.

    ¡°That sounds good, but things will be getting more complicated as the event goes on. I bet the quest won''t let up either.¡± Belle remarked.

    ¡°True, but for now we have about a month and a half of real-time until the actual event starts. Which is about a half-year in game-time.¡± I returned.

    ¡°This is true.¡± the pixie-girl nodded.

    ¡°The sooner started, the sooner done.¡± Lysandra said with a smile. ¡°I still have the wayport, I think, so we can get there pretty easily.¡±

    ¡°Nice!¡± Heali smiled.

    ¡°Let''s take Fyu also, just in case,¡± Ariana said, and I nodded.

    ¡°We''ll do that,¡± I agreed. And with our plans thus made, the five of us set out to collect the dog-beast as part of our party and head for the Grim Sands.

    We emerged from the wayport into a bleak desert landscape with Fyu and the waggon. It was almost like the Waste far to the southwest of us, but the colors of the area seemed muted as opposed to the other region''s sharp accentuation of colors like red and black.

    ¡°Pretty.¡± Belle remarked with a soft sarcasm.

    ¡°Pretty bleak,¡± Healina sighed.

    ¡°This region is unsafe, masters,¡± Fyu said to us. ¡°Let us be on our guard.¡±

    ¡°Speaking of which, where''s Maryn tonight? Or Anhe, even?¡± Lysandra wondered as we set off.

    ¡°They both had family obligations tonight,¡± Ariana replied.

    ¡°And Lizzy and Der both had work,¡± Healina added, ¡°Though the other two might show up while we''re still out here.¡±

    ¡°Where''s this orb taking us, then?¡± the werewolf girl wondered.

    ¡°Hrrmm...¡± I myself also wondered, taking the object out to see if it would give us a clue. Remembering that sometimes a quest object like this might do something if it was close to where the objective was, I slowly turned around in a three-sixty, watching the orb carefully.

    ¡°Master, there is no need for such an act. I believe I can guide you to the temple you seek in these wretched sands.¡± Fyu then said to me, and I stopped, looking over at him.

    ¡°Temple?¡± I asked him.

    ¡°Most assuredly you hold in your hands one of the Nine Orbs of Sung''ro, an ancient master of the arcane who fashioned diverse magics and counter-magics in bygone days. This one you hold and the one we seek now are perhaps the simplest to find. The rest will not be come by so easily,¡± the dog-beast recounted for me.

    ¡°So we''re looking for another temple like the one in Yucu Plains, then,¡± I said as I put the orb in question back into my inventory.

    ¡°Truly.¡± Fyu nodded.

    ¡°Which way, Fyu?¡± Ariana asked him.

    ¡°As I recall it, this particular temple lies hidden in a canyon beyond the Shroud.¡± he told us.

    ¡°Great.¡± Lysandra sighed.

    ¡°Hmm?¡± Belle turned to her.

    ¡°The Grim Sands are already bad on their own, but sub-regions like the Shroud are worse. I think that one is a poisonous dust-storm.¡± she told us.

    ¡°It is as you say.¡± the dog-beast said.

    ¡°Gyeck!?¡± I softly cringed.

    ¡°Hmm... it''d be better if Anhe was here with us, but I can probably manage something with Heali, yes?¡± Ariana then said, turning to our healer.

    ¡°I have my wards, of course. And you have your wind spells,¡± the Sea Elf replied.

    ¡°Oh true! I wonder if I can blow a path through the storm...¡± she wondered.

    ¡°A wind wall would be best, master.¡± Fyu said to her.

    ¡°Got it!¡± she smiled back.

    ¡°Then I shall do my best to hasten through the Shroud,¡± the other replied, and we set off at a brisk pace towards the canyon in question, which Fyu apparently knew from experience.

    The dog-beast told us as we travelled that he had not actually been to the canyon itself, which was located in the heart of the Grim Sands, but that several of his friends from bygone times had described it and the way to get there in such detail that he could not possibly miss its location. As for the Shroud, its disturbance upon the land could be noted from several leagues away: a swirling mist of pale green and deathly grey, beyond which could be seen the remnants of an ancient city built into the canyon walls.

    That sight greeted us about forty in-game minutes later, and as soon as we got near to it Healina activated her special wards to keep us safe from poison while Ariana cast a wind wall around the waggon as Fyu charged through.

    ¡°Hold fast, masters!¡± he said to us as he galloped along in haste.

    ¡°This place is more taxing upon my skill than I anticipated!¡± Healina exclaimed in concern.

    ¡°Looks like we''re almost there,¡± I said as I kept my eyes glued ahead.

    Except for the sound of Ariana''s wind, Fyu''s galloping, and the wheels of the waggon, there was no sound within the Shroud. The wisps of poison mist churned soundlessly around us; sometimes my eyes caught a glimpse of what looked like faces in the endless swirl, mostly eyes. These disembodied visages seemed full of venom and hate, and I half-imagined I could hear them whispering curses and maledictions upon us as we raced through. When we finally broke into the interior where the poison mists ceased, a sense of relief washed over us, and our two spell-casters stopped their skills as Fyu slowed to a gentle trot to catch his breath.

    ¡°Did anyone else see those... eyes?¡± Belle wondered as we headed down into the canyon.

    ¡°I did,¡± I admitted.

    ¡°It is said that long ago, a vile sorcerer placed this land under a dark curse,¡± Fyu said to us. ¡°This curse is the reason for the Shroud; because the people could not get out, they died with their own curses of retribution and hatred upon their lips. Those curses became mingled with the sorcerer''s vile imprecations, and their souls became one with the Shroud.¡±

    ¡°Yikes,¡± Healina remarked, while Ari and I exchanged a glance. If this sort of cursed city could exist on this side of Panarena, what kind of curses could be found on the Onyxus side?

    ¡°It''s definitely a contender for the ''creepiest cursed city'' in Harmonia.¡± Lysandra said as we reached the bottom of the canyon, heading along a disused thoroughfare.

    ¡°Just a contender?¡± I quipped.

    ¡°If I told you about the one in Ragnarheim, you''d puke and leave the game for a month.¡± she shrugged.

    ¡°Please don''t then.¡± Healina said with a distressed look on her face.

    ¡°That one was pretty bad,¡± Belle nodded, a bemused smile coming to her lips.

    ¡°Indeed, I have heard that tale as well,¡± the dog-beast said as we passed through what was probably a market square. ¡°Let us not speak of it.¡±

    ¡°Definitely not.¡± Lysandra agreed.

    Is it bad that I kind of want to know now...? I wondered to myself. Ariana lightly flicked me.

    ¡°Don''t even think about looking it up later.¡± she said to me.

    ¡°G''hyeck!?¡± I softly jumped in surprise.

    ¡°She knows him so well.¡± Belle smiled, and Lysandra quietly chuckled.

    ¡°Masters, the temple we seek seems to be just ahead.¡± Fyu then told us. The five of us looked to the front as he said those words.

    Upon the walls of the canyon before us was a magnificent fa?ade; Heali remarked that it looked Mesopotamian by design, possibly inspired by ancient Babylon. The roaring faces of lions and the regal visages of eagles decorated the heights of the carven columns, and over the door that led to the interior was a mural with a wedge-like script running about its edges. In the center of the mural, there was a bejewelled woman surrounded by several men in prostrate positions, and a demonic being falling into some sort of abyss.

    ¡°Have to hand it to the game designers,¡± Lysandra remarked as Fyu halted and we got out of the waggon, ¡°True to life, women in ancient murals don''t get a stitch but the ''jewels.¡±

    Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    ¡°Right?¡± Belle sighed, a soft grin of amusement on her face. I felt my cheeks coloring as I realized what they meant.

    ¡°To be fair, the men don''t have anything.¡± Healina shrugged.

    ¡°That''s true,¡± the older girl nodded.

    ¡°Ah-heh,¡± I nervously laughed.

    ¡°Are there such things in your world, masters?¡± Fyu asked us.

    ¡°There are, but they don''t have magic artifacts in them or curses around them.¡± Lysandra replied to him.

    ¡°Hmm!¡± our friend said with interest. ¡°It would be intriguing to visit such a place,¡± he remarked.

    ¡°I bet he actually could in a couple years,¡± I whispered to Ariana.

    ¡°That''d be fun,¡± she nodded.

    ¡°Def.¡± I agreed.

    ¡°I heard that they''re actually working on a device to do that sort of thing,¡± Lysandra said as we unhitched Fyu from the waggon so he could venture inside with us. ¡°Well, there''s a lot of complicated science behind it, but basically it allows for a VR environment or character to be actualized into AR, Augmented Reality. It''s in the testing phase right now, but eventually they want to have it so that even people who don''t have the device can be aware of the AR setting and characters.¡±

    ¡°Science?¡± Fyu wondered as we approached the door. ¡°Ah, some sort of mystical alchemy and magic from your world, no doubt,¡± he said.

    ¡°Ahh...¡± Lysandra affected a wry grin, stuck for a reply.

    ¡°More or less,¡± Ariana nodded in agreement, trying not to laugh.

    ¡°Truly your world has its own multitude of wonders, masters,¡± he replied.

    Call me a dope if you like, but hearing that from our friend Fyu Dongtian made me actually think about it for a moment. It was certainly true. Our world didn''t have magic and such like a game world did, but there was definitely a different kind of magic and wonder going on. Though I imagined I would always prefer the kind in Panarena, I did start to wonder more about what lay beyond my actual horizons.

    ¡°What does the writing around the mural say, anyway?¡± I wondered as we halted in front of the door.

    ¡°Hmm,¡± Healina mused, pulling out one of her guidebooks to see if it had any information about it. ¡°It''s known as the Mural of the Last Queen by those who have managed to get this far; the writing around it describes her victory over the dark demon Pah''zhuso, who served an evil sorcerer that once terrorized the people here--oh!!¡± she read, suddenly looking up in realization.

    ¡°I guess this temple was either built or refurbished to commemorate that victory right before the curse happened, then,¡± I noted as we all filled in the blank.

    ¡°Gotta love the amount of thought they put into this world,¡± Ariana said with admiration.

    ¡°For sure.¡± I agreed.

    ¡°Yep!¡± Belle nodded. Lysandra then placed her hands upon the door, gently pushing to see if it swung inward; it gave way, and she pushed harder to open it.

    ¡°Here we go,¡± I said, readying my bow. Healina and Ari readied their staffs, and when we had followed her inside Lysandra drew out her sword. Belle went to sit upon Fyu''s head, the dog-beast and Lysandra both sniffing the air.

    ¡°It''s stale and musty. There can''t be anything living in here.¡± the werewolf girl said.

    ¡°I agree; yet there may be those of the restless dead lying in wait, and phantoms certainly do not give off a scent,¡± Fyu noted.

    ¡°True.¡± she nodded back. I looked around the room, noting all the details that I could.

    ¡°It looks like there''s only one way to go,¡± I then said, nodding towards the only continuing passageway; it was to the left at the other end of the entrance hall.

    ¡°There might be a hidden door here though,¡± Healina said as she looked through her book. ¡°It says here that, sometime before the last queen, this temple was actually a vault for a sacred artifact. If it used to be a vault, there''s probably a lot of false passages, traps, and hidden routes to be mindful about.¡±

    ¡°Meaning that passage might be a trick,¡± I nodded, heading over with Ariana to examine it. The passage was definitely not an illusion; it headed further along after making a turn to the right, continuing on an upward slant.

    ¡°Not a trick so far,¡± Ariana said.

    ¡°You think so?¡± Healina asked.

    ¡°I''ll keep my eyes open,¡± I replied, stepping cautiously as I entered the passage to begin the ascent. The others followed after me, Belle now hovering in the air at my side as she activated her skill Pixie''s Radiance to help illumine the area.

    ¡°Blank walls, huh?¡± she remarked as she looked around.

    ¡°Very blank.¡± I agreed.

    There was no ornamentation or writing upon the reddish walls of the carefully hewn passage. That seemed fairly atypical for a dungeon in this game, but there would probably be sections ahead that did have them, so we didn''t think too much about it. When we got to the top of the ascent, the passage made an abrupt right. At the end of this we could see what was probably a door of stone with a relief carved upon it. It was not unlike the mural above the entrance to this place. The peculiar writing wove around in circling patterns about the imagery, and Healina spent a few minutes with Ari looking over it and referring to the book as they deciphered the words.

    ¡°There''s nothing about traps or tricks ahead, but a few of the words here are written with an emphasis. Me''lok, Astarei, Boal, Shishan, Teul, Zar, Kharaniy, Hewaj, Shu''ul; Death, Stars, Life, Lion, Moon, Sun, Fate, Darkness, Rest.¡± Healina told us when she looked back up at us.

    ¡°Nine words, and nine orbs.¡± Fyu noted.

    ¡°Definitely not a coincidence, though I''m guessing it''s probably just a local parallel,¡± our healer remarked. I then went to try the supposed door; it was immovable.

    ¡°Hmm...¡± I frowned, backing away to examine it.

    ¡°I wonder if you have to touch those words in a certain order?¡± Ariana said.

    ¡°Probably,¡± I agreed.

    ¡°Fun.¡± Lysandra said, the bare hint of a smile on her face.

    ¡°For puzzle people anyway,¡± Belle added with a wry grin.

    ¡°Oh, I see!¡± Healina said with delight, touching the nine words without hesitation. There was no particular order to the way she did so, but I noted then that the nine words had been arranged to line up in a circle.

    ¡°Oh, I get it,¡± I then remarked. ¡°A continuing cycle!¡±

    ¡°Good, Lana!¡± Healina smiled as the now-revealed door swung inwards.

    ¡°Ohh, neat!¡± Ari said as we resumed walking.

    ¡°Of course,¡± Fyu nodded as he padded alongside us. ¡°The eternal cycle as interpreted by those of this land.¡±

    ¡°There''s more of them, huh?¡± Healina returned.

    ¡°Yes, master,¡± the other replied. ¡°In Xuanpu, it is much the same; but there are twelve instead of nine. There is no lion but a dragon; and the other three are the Tiger, the Maiden, and the Flower.¡±

    ¡°Neat!¡±

    ¡°For real, the details here,¡± I quietly smiled, and Ariana nodded, also smiling.

    The revealed passageway turned to the left after a time, heading downward this time. It continued going down at the next four turns, each of them left turns. The final turning led us down to another door like the one now further above us. There were no emphasized characters on this one, but there were nine slots arranged in a circle.

    ¡°There''s a passage to the left of the door, and one to the right. I bet it''s the same passage, though,¡± I said.

    ¡°Oh definitely.¡± Heali agreed. ¡°And whatever sort of key we need to put into those slots will be somewhere along that corridor.¡±

    ¡°We still haven''t run into any sort of monsters, but I feel like that''ll start changing soon.¡± Lysandra said, readying her sword.

    ¡°Ari.¡± I said, and my partner activated her Mystic Vision to see ahead while I turned on Shadow Vision to do the same.

    ¡°Anything, girls?¡± Belle asked us after a moment.

    ¡°I see lots of doors ahead, but no monsters.¡± Ariana reported.

    ¡°I see some pretty tricky mechanisms ahead, but we can avoid them if we''re careful.¡± I added.

    ¡°How tricky?¡± Ari wondered.

    ¡°Ehh...¡± I thought for a moment, looking again. ¡°We''ll have to step carefully, and there''s a few tripwires as well.¡±

    ¡°Lovely.¡± Healina sighed.

    ¡°Hmm...¡± Lysandra frowned, gripping her sword tightly.

    We decided to proceed down the left passage, moving cautiously so as not to activate one of the traps. All of the doors were on our left side, which meant that the door with the locks probably had a large room behind it, likely the final room. Some of the side-rooms had nothing; some of them had trinkets or possibly magical items; it was the seventh room we looked into that finally had one of the keys, a hardened clay disc with a lion etched onto it. We continued along, carefully examining the rest of the rooms along the oblong pathway until we had the other eight, re-emerging at the door about one-and-a-half game hours later.

    ¡°That was tedious,¡± Healina tiredly grinned. ¡°It''s a good thing Ari kept hold of that ring, or we''d never have made it through that one trap,¡± she added, and Ari beamed while I affected a wry grin of my own.

    ¡°Ah-heh,¡± I laughed hesitantly. ¡°I''m going to be very tired of that ring before the year''s out...¡± I then sighed, heading over to examine the key-slots.

    ¡°Oh right!¡± our healer and scholar then recalled, heading after me with Ariana and the others.

    ¡°They''re all marked, so it should be straightforward.¡± Belle noted.

    ¡°It was just getting to them that was tricky,¡± Lysandra softly smiled.

    ¡°Yep!¡± the pixie-girl agreed.

    ¡°So we put them in like so,¡± Healina said as we inserted the clay discs into their slots, ¡°And then...¡± she halted as the last one was placed; the door then retracted into the walls, revealing a wide chamber.

    Here there were a lot of murals and carvings, depicting various scenes from the myths and history of the people who had lived here. The dimly lit chamber gave them a melancholy feel. In the center of the room was an altar on a perfectly round dais, and at the far end of the room was an elaborately fashioned stone pedestal with the second orb sitting on top of it. Unlike the first one, which was adamantine, this second orb was made of green jade.

    ¡°Pretty,¡± Belle remarked as we got close to it.

    ¡°Still no monsters, huh?¡± Lysandra said uneasily, looking around.

    ¡°I am likewise perplexed, masters.¡± Fyu said as I reached to take the orb.

    ¡°I don''t mind an easy night,¡± I replied, taking the thing in my hands and placing it in my inventory.

    Then we heard the sounds of cracking. At once we looked up, and as the sounds continued we managed to deduce that they were coming from the altar in the center of the room. Belatedly we realized it wasn''t an altar.

    ¡°Snap, it was a sarcophagus!!¡± I exclaimed, drawing out my daggers as I rushed towards it with Fyu, Lysandra, and Belle at my side.

    ¡°Storm Wards!¡±

    ¡°Healing Guard!¡± Ari and Heali called out, enveloping us with defensive magics as the lid crumbled off of the sarcophagus and a perfectly preserved figure rose up out of it.

    ¡°The queen!¡± Lysandra gasped as the three of us suddenly skidded to a halt, Belle hopping back a few paces in the air to hover next us.

    ¡°Definitely the queen,¡± she agreed.

    The beautiful woman from the murals was now before us as a specter of herself; yet the one thing I quickly noted was that I did not feel dread. She gazed at us solemnly, but with sorrow in her eyes, spreading her arms invitingly as she suddenly spoke.

    ¡°Heroes, if heroes you be; what do you here amidst these tragic halls?¡± she asked us, her tone one of melancholy.

    It''s a test. I put away my weapons, and knelt before her. Lysandra, after hesitating a moment, did the same, and so did the other three. Fyu lowered his head in reverence. She gazed at us impassively, awaiting our answer.

    ¡°We have come to claim this orb in order to defeat a creature of darkness.¡± I said to her. The queen blinked, stepping towards us softly.

    ¡°Then you are the heroes of the prophecy, the ones who will end our torment. Bring out the Jade Orb,¡± she said to me, and I brought it out again, holding it up. She touched it, and it glowed. ¡°That is the last of our power, the last vestiges of myself and my people. May you soon defeat Dh''ya-Ziim, servant of the Vile One, and return him to darkness.¡± she prayed, and then faded away with a sad smile upon her face. I stood up slowly, gazing at the spot where she had been.

    ¡°Just a bonus, huh?¡± Lysandra remarked as she also stood up.

    ¡°Masters, we must honor this goodwill.¡± Fyu said to us.

    ¡°We will, Fyu. We will.¡± I replied.

    ¡°I don''t suppose we got a clue on the next one?¡± Belle wondered.

    ¡°Hm? Oh!¡± I then said, rubbing the orb. It gave us a location in Ghev''riuln, which was far to the north and just east of Ragnarheim.

    ¡°None of us have been there, huh?¡± Belle noted.

    ¡°Not me.¡± Lysandra shook her head.

    ¡°Nope.¡± Heali added, and Ari and I both shook our heads.

    ¡°I think I heard it was a wintry region, though,¡± I said.

    ¡°I remember reading that somewhere,¡± Ariana nodded.

    ¡°For now, let''s get out of here,¡± I then said, and we retraced our steps to leave the ancient temple and return to the waggon. After hitching up Fyu once more, we broke out of the Shroud the same way we broke in, returning to Queen''s Haven from the nearest wayport.

    ***

    ¡°A multi-region quest, huh?¡± Lizzy said with interest as we discussed the matter later that night. She had logged on with Derwydd just as we got back, while Maryn and Anhe had been on for a bit longer. ¡°I''d almost forgotten about Ghev''riuln. That area was one I missed, but I remember a lot of people complaining about how cold it was up there.¡± she told us.

    ¡°We were lucky Fyu knew about the dungeon we just did, but I doubt we''ll find the others so easily.¡± I remarked.

    ¡°I doubt they''ll be easy either.¡± Ariana said.

    ¡°That too,¡± I nodded.

    ¡°Of course not,¡± Lizzy shrugged.

    ¡°Seven more dungeons, huh?¡± Maryn said, and then sighed. ¡°It sounds like our journey through the Marshes of the Wyrd.¡±

    ¡°That one was more straightforward.¡± Healina faintly grinned.

    ¡°Since we don''t have any other clues other than the region itself, we''ll probably end up exploring a lot of dungeons from now on...¡± I sighed.

    ¡°We can at least try and knock this one out before tomorrow.¡± Lizzy said. ¡°The other orbs might lead us to the next one like a compass, right?¡±

    ¡°Oh yes! Lana was going to try that before Fyu told us he knew about the other dungeon,¡± Ariana recalled.

    ¡°Still, this next region is a lot bigger than the Grim Sands,¡± I smiled wryly.

    ¡°We''ll at least determine where not to go.¡± our smith grinned.

    ¡°We can also take a train to get to that region from Harmonia City,¡± Anhe then added, ¡°So we can at least get a wayport or two for the future.¡±

    ¡°Right,¡± I nodded in agreement.

    If Fyu knew about one of these dungeons, I wonder if someone else does as well... I then thought to myself.

    ¡°All-righty! Let''s head to Harmonia City then!¡± Lizzy said excitedly.

    ¡°Here we go again!¡± Derwydd grinned.

    ¡°I''ll catch up to you guys; there''s something I want to check out first,¡± I told them.

    ¡°We''ll wait for you!¡± Ariana smiled, and they headed out to reserve a train for our trip. As soon as the others had used the wayport to get to their destination, I input my own destination: the Torching Mount.

    ¡°Lady Lana, you honor me,¡± Dracuoatlax said as I approached him. ¡°To what do I owe this visit? Are we going into battle?¡±

    ¡°Not yet,¡± I said.

    ¡°Hmm!¡± the dragon looked at me curiously.

    ¡°For now, I came to seek your wisdom and knowledge. Have you heard of the Nine Orbs of Sung''ro?¡± I asked him as I sat down on a rock next to him.

    ¡°Hmm... it has been an age since I have heard those words together... this is about that fiend, Djaziim, is it not?¡± he returned, and I nodded back. ¡°These nine mythical orbs together are rumored to be his downfall; the only one I know exists for certain is the Draigod Orb, hidden away in the Dragonholt.¡±

    ¡°A Draigod Orb...¡± I repeated softly.

    ¡°Yes, indeed.¡±

    ¡°Did you ever encounter it?¡±

    ¡°I saw it once, but that was before it was hidden away,¡± Dracuoatlax recalled. ¡°However, there are few places it could be in that realm. Do you wish to journey and find it, Lady Lana?¡± he asked.

    I pondered this for a moment. It was possible this quest-chain could get muddled up if done out of order, but I was fairly positive it was more of a so-long-as-you-get-it quest as opposed to a do-it-in-order. For that reason, Dracuoatlax''s offer was one I was heavily considering.

    ¡°The others are seeking an orb hidden away in Ghev''riuln... I was going to join them after learning if you knew anything, but...¡± I said, trying to decide.

    ¡°I see!¡± the dragon said. ¡°Have you found some of these orbs already?¡± he asked in a tone that showed his admiration.

    ¡°We have an adamantine and a jade orb so far,¡± I nodded back.

    ¡°Interesting!¡± he remarked. ¡°It is a far place they have gone too, Lady Lana.¡± he noted.

    ¡°It is pretty far,¡± I agreed.

    ¡°Let me offer my thoughts on the matter,¡± he continued, and I nodded back. ¡°Allow the others to do what they can in the north. There is an old spell that I can use to traverse to the Dragonholt; we two can investigate the orb of that land, if you have the time?¡±

    ¡°I''ll have to send them the orbs I have, but that shouldn''t be a problem.¡± I nodded back.

    ¡°Excellent! And if one or more of them decide to join us, that will not be unwelcome.¡± the dragon replied. I smiled back, and sent a quick-mail with the orbs attached to Ariana.

    Lana: Heading to Dragonholt with Dracuoatlax to investigate another lead; sending you guys the orbs.

    It was a few moments later that I received a reply.

    Ariana: Heali has them now! Anhe and I are coming to help you!

    ¡°Looks like Ariana and Anhe will be with us,¡± I told Dracuoatlax.

    ¡°Very good, Lady Lana.¡± he bowed his head. After a few minutes, the other two showed up to meet us outside the Torching Mount.

    ¡°Lizzy''s a little pouty, but she agreed it''s a good plan.¡± Ari smiled. ¡°She''s missing the whole gang being together!¡±

    ¡°We''ll have to do something fun tomorrow night or so,¡± I said, and they nodded back as we got on the back of our friend the dragon.

    ¡°How does this work, exactly?¡± Anhe wondered as Dracuoatlax took off into the air.

    ¡°It is a spell that only a dragon can perform.¡± our friend replied. ¡°And only when one is in the air!¡± he added. He then spoke in words that none of us could understand, probably dragon language, and a red-colored portal appeared in front of us; we flew through this, and moments later we found ourselves in the Dragonholt.

    ¡°Oh wow,¡± I said as I looked around.

    The region''s name was not given idly. There were dragons galore, all kinds and all colors of them. We looked around in awe, and I had a sense that Dracuoatlax was quite pleased with our amazement.

    ¡°Welcome to the land of my forebears,¡± he said to us proudly.

    ¡°It''s amazing,¡± Ariana said with reverence.

    ¡°It is, is it not?¡± the dragon chuckled in a pleased tone.

    ¡°Are we heading to that mountain there?¡± I asked him. There was a tall mountain with a natural arena at the top; it was probably an extinct volcano.

    ¡°We are indeed. That is Oreg?ering, the Mountain of Shimmering Scales,¡± he told us. We then noticed that the mountain did indeed seem to shimmer with various colors as we got closer to it. ¡°It is where in ancient times our monarchs reigned; and now it is where the most powerful dragons gather to take counsel -- or to prove their prowess against one another.¡±

    ¡°Whoa.¡± I remarked, completely absorbed by the words.

    ¡°Let us see what we can find out at the counsel of dragons!¡± Dracuoatlax declared with vigor, and I felt a rush of excitement as we drew closer to the mountain known as Oreg?ering.

 Side Chapter: The Night Shift

    Sabrina Jennings calmly exchanged her regular clothes for the lifeguard''s suit she wore for her job at the university pool. It was a plain black two-piece, though not a particularly showy one, and it had the caduceus medical symbol embroidered on the left side. She had gotten an official qualification as a nurse the year before, which did amuse her when she thought about her contradictory in-game personality of Myanihia Black, the shadowy assassin. There, she was a deadly shadow warrior; here, she was a quiet and reserved medical professional.

    It was not unusual in this day and age for people her age to have such a qualification; Sabrina had actually gone to a specific trade school for her high school years for the very purpose of getting the qualification in the first place. When she had started going to the university here to further her education in such things, she had decided to put what she already had to good use. It was only a natural decision, and it would look good on a resum¨¦.

    ¡°Good luck, Sabrina.¡± one of her co-workers called from the showers.

    ¡°Are you, going home already, Jasmine?¡± the dark-haired girl asked.

    ¡°Yep. My shift ended early today.¡± the other girl replied, shutting off the water to get out and dry off. ¡°You''re on the night-shift more and more, come to think of it, huh?¡± she added as she sat down on a bench.

    ¡°I am. I, wanted to get more hours in, before summer, so I can focus on my studies.¡± Sabrina told her.

    ¡°Ahh, that''s right,¡± Jasmine said, wrapping a towel around herself. ¡°You''re going for a more advanced nursing career, and I''m just doing this to boost my chances of getting on a more official swim-team.¡± she said with a grin.

    ¡°I, don''t fault you, for that.¡± Sabrina softly smiled. ¡°But, now, I should get going. Or Mr. Fuller, will get angry.¡±

    ¡°Hah, true. Good luck again!¡± the other girl smiled, and Sabrina nodded, heading out to keep an eye on the late crowd at the indoor pool.

    As she gingerly climbed up to her seat, she thought of the young man she had met again on the streets. He reminded her so much of Lana.

    Lana... she thought to herself as she situated herself in the chair. I, want to repay you, so much. When I started this job, I kept aloof just like I did in the game; but, now, I''m even starting to talk to Jasmine, who had so much trouble getting me to talk before. She seems so nice, now that I actually, take time, to let people in. I wonder how many other people are nice, like Jasmine, and Lana... and Christina, Sabrina pondered, her heart feeling warm as her half-twin''s name came to mind.

    ¡°You... really are, so showy...¡± Sabrina had remarked the first time they met in real life.

    The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

    ¡°And you really are so modest,¡± Christina had grinned.

    ¡°It... suits you,¡± the other girl faintly smiled.

    ¡°Right back at you.¡± her half-twin replied.

    ¡°Though I do, get a little showy, for my job.¡± she had admitted.

    ¡°Oh?¡± Christina remarked. ¡°Do I dare guess what that means?¡± she added with a laugh. Sabrina blinked, and then realized she was being teased.

    ¡°You, are funny,¡± she smiled back. ¡°I, am a lifeguard, for the indoor pool.¡±

    ¡°Oh, cool!¡± the other replied. ¡°No, really, that''s great. Hm? Are you doing it as a bonus for your degree?¡±

    ¡°I, shouldn''t be surprised, you could guess that. I''m, going into nursing.¡± Sabrina told her.

    ¡°Respect.¡± Christina nodded, smiling appreciatively.

    ¡°What, about you?¡± Sabrina asked. Christina paused for a moment, taking a drink before answering her.

    ¡°I''m... studying to try and be an astronaut.¡± she then said, and Sabrina looked at her curiously.

    ¡°Are you, trying, to join the Mars missions?¡±

    ¡°Mars, the Belt Expeditions, Io... whatever I can get to first.¡± her half-twin smiled back.

    ¡°That...¡± Sabrina blinked, pondering for a moment. ¡°That, sounds like fun!¡± she then smiled.

    ¡°Doesn''t it?¡± Christina smiled back. ¡°But it''s a lot of work.¡± she sighed. ¡°I''ll get through it, though.¡±

    ¡°I know; if it''s you, you definitely will.¡± the other told her.

    ¡°Even if I couldn''t get through you?¡± the wry reply came. Sabrina blushed.

    ¡°Christina,¡± she said in a regretful tone, and grabbed her sister in a hug.

    ¡°Huh?¡± Christina wondered in amazement for a moment, and then felt droplets of tears falling onto her exposed skin, whereupon she also began softly crying as she returned the embrace. ¡°Sabrina...¡± she said, holding her older half-twin tightly.

    ¡°Whatever... happens, from now on, I, want to be, your friend, and helper.¡± Sabrina whispered softly. ¡°Let''s both, reach for the stars.¡± she added, and Christina smiled.

    ¡°Yes. Let''s reach for them, together.¡±

    ***

    The pleasant memory was suddenly brushed aside as she caught sight of someone causing mischief in the pool. She blew her whistle, and the malefactors froze in place as she stared them down from her perch. They soon dispersed, and the pool resumed its laid-back atmosphere.

    I may be retreating, from being a dark shadow, but at least, it left me that still-functioning weapon of intimidation, Sabrina thought to herself with a pleased grin. She rarely had to say anything to those misbehaving on account of the stone-cold glare she had perfected. But right now, that icy expression was displaced by a smile as radiant as the stars.

    Lana... no doubt you''re out on your new quest tonight... good luck!

 Side Chapter: Ghevriuln

    ¡°Honestly, that kid.¡± Lizzy quipped as she stepped through the snow carefully. The girls and Fyu had been trudging through it towards what they hoped was the dungeon for the orb in this area for about two in-game hours now, but there was no change in the orbs they had in their possession. Supposedly they would shimmer or glow when near another orb that was not yet found by them.

    ¡°Give her a break,¡± Maryn smiled back. ¡°She gave us the orbs, at least.¡±

    ¡°Hahh, whatever.¡± the blonde girl sighed. ¡°Anyway--Ari I understand going back for Lana; it''s almost a given... but Anhe, too?¡±

    ¡°Who knows,¡± Derwydd shrugged. ¡°At least we''ll have Snow Dancer and Cloveroak coming along in a few to help us out up here,¡± he then said.

    ¡°Was Cloveroak a...?¡± Lizzy returned uncertainly, and Derwydd smiled back.

    ¡°Cloveroak is a Changeling Sage.¡± he reminded her.

    ¡°Cool!¡±

    ¡°What''s the difference between a sage and a druid, anyway?¡± Healina wondered.

    ¡°They''re both very nature-y, aren''t they?¡± Maryn said in agreement.

    ¡°Druids are more focused on mysteries and knowledge in general, while Sages tend to an actual fixation on nature itself. Well, the lines between them do tend to get a bit blurred in some games,¡± Derwydd said.

    ¡°Hmm,¡± Healina nodded back.

    ¡°Still no change in those orbs?¡± Lizzy then asked.

    ¡°Nope.¡± Lysandra sighed. She had been keeping hold of the one, looking at it every now and then to make sure they hadn''t missed something. ¡°Come to think of it, I bet Anhe thought her specialty would be more useful aiding Ari and Lana as opposed to all of us.¡±

    ¡°Now that you mention it we are a more rounded party, even without the three of them,¡± Maryn nodded back.

    ¡°And with Der''s friends coming along we''ll be even more rounded out.¡± Healina said.

    ¡°Yeah, yeah. Excuses, ex-cuses...¡± Lizzy quipped grumpily, and the others laughed. ¡°Ugh, but it really is reassuring with Lana around in this game...¡±

    ¡°I can understand that.¡± Derwydd nodded. ¡°She''s... irrepressible, indomitable, that sort of thing.¡± he said, and Maryn nodded in agreement.

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    ¡°Not that Lana''s never had a moment of doubt here, but it does feel that way.¡± she said.

    ¡°She''s something else for sure!¡± Belle grinned. ¡°Ahh -- Sandra, the orb!¡± she then squeaked out, and Lysandra held it up to look at it again.

    ¡°That''s what we wanted.¡± the werewolf-girl softly grinned.

    ¡°Hmm...?¡± Lizzy examined the orb herself, watching the swirl of colors inside. ¡°It''s almost like they''re pointing.¡±

    ¡°What direction, though?¡± Healina wondered.

    ¡°It looks like... east by northeast,¡± Belle replied.

    ¡°That looks right,¡± Derwydd agreed. ¡°I''ll update my friends -- or should we wait for them here, actually?¡±

    ¡°Let''s do that.¡± Lizzy nodded back. A gust of wind blasted past them then, and a second snow-falling began. ¡°Snow again? Really?¡±

    ¡°Really.¡± Lysandra shrugged.

    ¡°How do you two stand that?¡± Lizzy remarked bemusedly to her and Belle.

    ¡°I''m a werewolf.¡± the older girl shrugged, and Maryn shuddered, a quiet consternation on her face.

    ¡°And I have a snuggle-spot.¡± Belle cheerily quipped, settling herself in one of Lysandra''s coat-pockets.

    ¡°Totally thought you were going to set down in her bandeau.¡± Lizzy returned with a nonplussed look on her face.

    ¡°Sometimes!¡± the pixie-girl giggled.

    ¡°Unlike Jannie, we don''t like to spook or discomfort the high-schoolers,¡± Lysandra smirked.

    ¡°I don''t think she does it on purpose though,¡± Healina softly smiled.

    A few minutes later, Snow Dancer and Cloveroak appeared to join them. They then resumed their trek through the snow-bound forests, heading in the direction they had gotten from observing the orb, which did start glowing brighter as they continued. Finally they came to a wayport in the midst of a grove of oak and pine. A few paces away, they could see a cave; icicles hung like fangs at its entrance, giving it the appearance of a snowy monster waiting for prey to enter its mouth.

    ¡°It wouldn''t surprise me if that''s what it actually was, though,¡± Snow Dancer remarked as Derwydd voiced this thought.

    ¡°O-M-G. Right?¡± Lizzy agreed.

    ¡°That''d be just what we need,¡± Healina shook her head, ¡°An adventure to find the orb in the belly of some snow monster.¡±

    ¡°Ooh, now I''m revved up!¡± her friend grinned.

    ¡°Oh, you.¡± the Sea Elf sighed, faintly grinning.

    ¡°What about the orb you guys have?¡± Cloveroak wondered. It was now glowing radiantly and with what seemed like an excitement.

    ¡°I guess that this must be the place,¡± Lysandra remarked as she observed it.

    ¡°And if we fail, at least we got the wayport.¡± Maryn said.

    ¡°All the same, let''s not fail, in case those losers in Dragonholt actually get their orb,¡± Lizzy said determinedly, and the others laughed.

    ¡°We''ll see what we can do!¡± Snow Dancer grinned, and they headed inside the cave with caution -- just in case it actually was a monster waiting for prey to enter its mouth.

 Chapter Twelve: A Dungeon of Dragons

    ¡°We have not heard the name of that thing spoken aloud for an age,¡± a great white dragon with hints of silver mingled into his coloration said as he pondered over what Dracuoatlax had told him and his fellow dragons.

    Oreg?ering, it seemed, was also the name of the council of dragons that gathered upon the mountain; thirteen of them gathered around in a circle, and those who addressed them, such as ourselves and Dracuoatlax, stood in the middle of that circle. None of them were above the other by rank, though certain dragons had a stronger influence that garnered them a comparable effect. The silver and white one who addressed us was one of these. His name was Dhonanarg?d, one of the oldest dragons here.

    ¡°Indeed, the Orbs of Sung''ro were almost legend even to us. Leave it to the kh''varktakarr to keep it in memory.¡± a female dragon of red color with hints of gold on her spinal ridges and upon the horn at the tip of her snout sniffed.

    ¡°There is no need for such derision, Ka''larnei.¡± Dhonanarg?d scolded her.

    ¡°A what?¡± Ariana asked Dracuoatlax.

    ¡°Its true meaning is ''conqueror''; now, it is a term of scorn for such as myself who return no longer to the Dragonholt unless in grave need.¡± he told us.

    ¡°Hrrmm.¡± I remarked.

    ¡°My apologies, Wise One.¡± Ka''larnei dipped her head.

    ¡°You remember, as do we all, the day that orb was sealed away forever.¡± Dhonanarg?d returned his attention to Dracuoatlax.

    ¡°Remembering when is not the same as remembering where; you yourself know that only a select number from the council gathered to do just that in a location unknown,¡± Dracuoatlax replied.

    ¡°Until the day came for its need again, according to the wisdom given us.¡± the other nodded. ¡°Do you tell us that day has come, you who have walked your own path and given no thought for those of us here?¡±

    ¡°It is because I walked my own path and forged my own legend that I know more about what goes on in these lands, and accumulated a greater store of knowledge for wisdom,¡± our ally returned at once, to which the council of dragons looked at each other hesitantly. ¡°You look only to your lives here; I have looked upon the world as it is, and have seen many strange things. I know the time of the orbs is near for the first time in many long counts of stars.¡±

    ¡°Tell us your words.¡± a third dragon, this one brown in color, said to him.

    ¡°In one word: Djaziim.¡± our friend said in reply. At this, the other dragons definitely stirred, and some of them even inadvertently let loose growls.

    ¡°That foul creature has risen from his slumbers, has he?¡± Dhonanarg?d intoned darkly.

    ¡°We cannot let this stand!¡± Ka''larnei exclaimed indignantly.

    ¡°Never mind the personal grudge between that demon and Dracuoatlax; he once did us great harm here in our own land, did he not?¡± the brown dragon said with venom.

    ¡°The Year of Shattered Eggs,¡± Dracuoatlax growled with anger, and many of the other dragons growled as well.

    ¡°Yet only mortals can unseal the orb now.¡± Dhonanarg?d told him.

    ¡°What is this?¡± our ally returned.

    ¡°Deep within the ancient halls of the sacred mountain Vorgus Eir we sealed the Draigod Orb. Its guardians are yet dragons, but they have become witless, for no dragon can withstand the orb''s influence for long, nor can they remain on the mountain without giving up themselves. Can these mortals who have claimed your allegiance make their way through that now-terrible place?¡± the silver-white dragon asked sternly.

    ¡°Of all places, you hid it there,¡± Dracuoatlax shook his head in vexation.

    ¡°It was the only place we knew it would be safe from all comers, until the appointed time. It seems that time is now, with Djaziim on the rise again.¡± the brown dragon said.

    ¡°I do not mean to question your wisdom or your methods, Gergrokund,¡± our friend said to him, ¡°But surely if you had a plan for sealing it there, you had something that would help to unseal it on that day which is now?¡±

    ¡°There is the Staff of Eir,¡± a fourth dragon then remarked.

    ¡°Kron.¡± Dracuoatlax said with a more reverent nod.

    ¡°It is kept on another mountain, however.¡± the dragon named Kron continued. ¡°But it is less arduous to obtain.¡±

    ¡°What mountain is this?¡± Dracuoatlax asked him.

    ¡°The Mountain of Souls.¡± came the reply.

    ***

    ¡°The Mountain of Souls is where I will be able to help you,¡± Dracuoatlax said as he flew the three of us there. ¡°After that, I can only take you to Vorgus Eir. To enter that place would be my doom,¡± he added.

    ¡°If it''s a mountain that harms you, why is it sacred to the dragons?¡± I wondered, a look of confusion on my face.

    ¡°Lady Lana, it is because that mountain is harmful to us that it is sacred. After all, there is not much in this world that can truly threaten us or even harm us,¡± he replied.

    ¡°Oh.¡± I returned quietly, understanding now.

    Sure, when you put it like that, I can understand the respect for it, and the caution, I thought to myself.

    ¡°The Holy Mountain in Xuanpu is the opposite; dragons were always welcome there, according to the stories,¡± Anhe remarked.

    ¡°I have heard this,¡± Dracuoatlax nodded, ¡°But I have yet to go there myself.¡±

    ¡°I am sure the other dragons there would--¡±

    ¡°Peace, little one; there is a great deal of difference between them and myself. They love wisdom and rule with benevolence; I am Dracuoatlax, the fierce conqueror and devastator of ancient times. They would not welcome me all at once,¡± he said, and Anhe frowned. I smiled over at her, giving her a pat on the shoulder.

    ¡°It''s fine. Fyu likes him!¡± I said, and she smiled again, nodding back.

    ¡°Fyu Dongtian is a worthy friend.¡± the dragon returned. ¡°Perhaps he could have entered the mountain; but he is with your friends now, I presume?¡±

    ¡°They did take him along, yes.¡± Ariana nodded.

    ¡°Hmm.¡± the other nodded. ¡°Ahh, there is our first destination,¡± he then said.

    There were quite a lot of spectral-type monsters on the mountain. Deep in their midst was an ancient shrine with dragonic ornamentation on its roof. I readied my bow while Ariana prepared a spell, and Anhe quietly augmented our attack strength and defenses.

    ¡°I shall scatter their outer ranks.¡± the dragon said as he landed to let us off.

    ¡°We''ll get the staff and hurry back!¡± I said as I released a few arrows, and then switched to my short-swords while Ari let loose with her spell-casting and Anhe and I tore into the specters ahead of us.

    They weren''t particularly difficult to get through; I guesstimated that they were around half our level. We plowed through them nicely, but their re-spawn rate was over the top. For every two we downed, two more appeared about five seconds later. Even when Dracuoatlax wiped out fifty of them, fifty others came swarming in from somewhere else.

    ¡°This is goofy!!¡± Ariana sighed with exasperation.

    ¡°You''re telling me!¡± I agreed.

    ¡°I will add a speed aura,¡± Anhe said.

    ¡°Go for it!¡± I nodded, and she thumped her staff, activating the third aura.

    ¡°Go!¡± she then said, and I activated Shadow Speed, now superbly augmented by Anhe''s aura. I reached the shrine, almost blasting through the door before I skidded to a halt before it so that I could open the door and head inside. The staff was on a stand in the center; I picked it up, and raced back out towards the others.

    ¡°Back to Dracuoatlax!¡± I called as I ran by them, and Ariana turned on a floating bubble spell she could use in emergencies to get her and Anhe back to the dragon. He blasted back the specters once more as we got on, and then took to the air again, heading for our next mountain.

    ¡°Pah, fiendish dead!¡± he spat with distaste as he flapped higher before allowing the wind to carry him.

    ¡°That wasn''t bad, but that was also ridiculous.¡± I softly griped.

    ¡°Right??¡± Ariana groaned.

    ¡°We got out of it quickly, so no complaining!¡± Anhe grinned over at us.

    ¡°Ahh--sure,¡± I smiled back weakly.

    ¡°You got it!¡± Ari gently laughed, and Anhe laughed as well.

    On our way towards Vorgus Eir, we flew over a wide valley that had several streams running through its length. There were a variety of fruitful trees and other plants scattered about these, and large animals of an almost cow-like disposition grazing in small herds here and there. If a cow looked more like a rhinoceros, or perhaps if the rhinoceros looked more like the cow, that was what these things looked like. Other, smaller animals were roaming or darting around as well, but we could not see them as well as we could these.

    ¡°What are those?¡± Anhe wondered with curiosity.

    ¡°We call then vagr?astaf in this land.¡± Dracuoatlax told us. ¡°They are a most exquisite morsel; I imagine the roasting of their flesh would also be palpable.¡±

    ¡°They look as large as a rhino.¡± Ariana remarked, echoing my unspoken observations.

    ¡°They are large indeed. It takes a large morsel to satisfy a dragon, after all.¡± the reply came.

    ¡°Ahh, true.¡± she softly grinned.

    At the end of this valley we neared the foot of the mountain, and here Dracuoatlax set down to let us off. As I approached his head, I could see him fixated on the mountain with an expression of great hesitance unusual for him. It must really be a bad place for dragons here, huh? I thought to myself as I observed the look.

    ¡°Any suggestions?¡± I asked him, and he looked back at the three of us.

    ¡°Master; you were told earlier that the dragons sealed within here have all succumbed to a madness from the orb. Let me ask you a question: would you be confident in facing me as a foe?¡± Dracuoatlax gazed at me with a piercing look.

    ¡°I... would not be confident, no.¡± I said after a moment. Fighting against an untamed dragon like Dracuoatlax in this game of all games would likely be beyond crazy, which is why we had enacted our bit of trickery at our first meeting. Naturally, we did not mention this aloud.

    ¡°Then, master, if you are troubled by the prospect of fighting a dragon whose wits are intact, how would you feel about facing a witless dragon who cannot be reasoned with or even tricked?¡± he continued, the faint hint of a dragonish grin upon his features.

    ¡°Ahh...¡±

    ¡°But I will say this. The Staff of Eir is not just for opening the seal; that staff is an ancient weapon once used against fighting the dragons, sanctified by a forgotten priesthood long ago and imbued with the power of facing us. It is because that staff has absorbed so much power from its creation and its conquests that we chose it to be the key of our seal. I am not sure if Lady Ariana or Lady Anhe would be more suited for its uses once inside, however. That is all the advice I have for you, except to say, good fortune. I shall await you further down the valley.¡± he said to us then, and I nodded back.

    ¡°Enjoy your meal!¡± I said, anticipating his reasons for doing so, and he chuckled back.

    ¡°Of course, master. I always do.¡± he returned in a merrier tone, and with that he turned away to stalk off down the valley towards the vagr?astaf herds.

    ¡°What do you think, Anhe?¡± Ariana asked the other girl as she handed the staff to her.

    ¡°Hmm...¡± Anhe mused, looking at it carefully. ¡°There are no spell charges or spell bonuses on it; it does add to Wisdom and Charisma but it also adds to Dexterity and Strength as well. The only notable bonus is the damage to dragons, and a one-percent chance to deal a major critical damage-over-time to them.¡±

    ¡°One-percent, huh?¡± I sighed wryly. ¡°But it sounds like that staff is meant for someone who fights like you, then.¡±

    ¡°I shall do my best!¡± Anhe nodded in reply. ¡°Let us open this seal first, and then see what we find!¡±

    ¡°Let''s go!¡± Ariana smiled, and I nodded.

    We made our way towards the sealed entrance of the mountain, where we saw a stone relief depicting what we believed was the ritual of sealing. This was on the right of us. On the left, it seemed to be going in reverse; that was probably the way to unseal it. Anhe performed the steps and stances as indicated from this relief, and we heard--no, we felt a sort of snap as the barrier came down and the door opened to let us inside.

    ¡°Let''s go,¡± I softly echoed Ari''s words, and we headed on in. The door softly closed behind us.

    ¡°Typical,¡± Ariana remarked as we continued along the passage.

    It led downward at first, and then made its way up until it terminated in a wide, wide open hall. Near the very top, I could just make out the hint of something shining. Was that the orb? How far up was it from here? My gaze slowly lowered; I observed little by little that there were intermittent pathways leading up to the top. And there were a lot of dragons in this mountain.

    Okay, maybe not an endless horde. Maybe around fifty or so, at least. That''s still a lot compared to a party of three. If they all woke up at once, that''d be real trouble real quick.

    ¡°Ho-ly snap.¡± I quietly sighed.

    ¡°Lana, do you think we can get by them without fighting?¡± Anhe asked me, and Ariana looked at me studiously, reading my expression.

    ¡°There''s at least a fair chance of doing so,¡± I noted.

    ¡°Just so long as we don''t snap our fingers?¡± Ariana playfully quipped.

    ¡°Ah-heh-heh-heh...¡± I returned with a flustered grin. ¡°The real problem though,¡± I said after a moment, ¡°Is that pathway. I don''t know if there''s any way to not make noise at some point while getting up there.¡±

    ¡°I could try muffling our sound with a spell,¡± my partner said. It took all I had to not snap my fingers. As soon as I instinctively started doing so, I clutched my hand tightly, looking at it with annoyance. Ariana covered her mouth as she soundlessly giggled, and Anhe grinned at me, shaking her head.

    ¡°After you were just told not to!¡± she whispered in amusement.

    ¡°O-old habits die hard...¡± I softly replied. ¡°But yeah, let''s do that,¡± I agreed as I settled for crossing my arms.

    Ariana then cast the spell on us, and we proceeded cautiously along the pathway leading up to the top. As we passed by the first dragon, I kept a wary eye on it. It was twitching in its sleep, the way a dog might when it''s having a dream. I actually stopped a moment, blinking in curiosity as I watched it. What did dragons dream about? Was this thing dreaming? Did other NPCs dream, if so? What did that mean for this world, this game-world, meant purely for entertainment?

    ¡°Someone asked a long time ago, do androids dream of electric sheep?¡± Ariana softly remarked as she placed a hand on my shoulder.

    ¡°That sounds like a book,¡± I quietly replied as I managed to tear my gaze away so we could continue walking. Anhe looked at the dragon for a moment as well, and then softly giggled.

    ¡°I wonder if it dreams about chasing those things in the valley,¡± she suggested with a smile, and Ari and I grinned.

    ¡°Maybe!¡±

    ¡°Definitely!¡± we agreed.

    This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    We resumed quietly stealing our way upward, incredibly, making no noise on the rickety platforms and creaking stairwells that I was sure would give us away. Somehow Ariana''s spell also affected things we set foot on or touched, which was definitely handy.

    ¡°That''s from the Manipulation School, isn''t it?¡± I asked her at one point, and she nodded back.

    ¡°Thinking about adding it to your development?¡± she asked.

    ¡°I can see it coming in handy for sure.¡±

    ¡°This is moderately high up in the skill-tree, though.¡±

    ¡°Hrrmm...¡±

    ¡°I bet we could find an item with the spell on it someday.¡± Anhe softly noted at my sudden consternation.

    ¡°Oh, true,¡± I agreed.

    ¡°Probably!¡± Ari smiled.

    ¡°¡­zzzzZZZZhhNnerrgahhhahh¡­¡± we suddenly heard directly ahead of us.

    I looked ahead, and right. In. Front. Of us. Was a great, green dragon. It had stirred in its sleep, and its eye was opening. I immediately grabbed Anhe and Ari, activating Shadow Sharing to hide us. The eye, a golden orb with a black slit of a pupil lazily opened to full, scanning the place. I could feel not only my tension, but that of the other girls as well. The dragon sniffed the air for a moment, the eye blinking; after a few more superbly tense moments, the eye closed, and the beast fell back asleep. We anxiously crept away, hurrying as fast as we dared move up the path.

    Carefully we avoided coming near the other dragons in our path, remembering their keen sense of smell and our great fortune to have not been sniffed out by the green one. The trickiest parts were the breaks in the pathway. Sometimes there were remnants of rope that we could use to swing ourselves over; other times we either had to jump, or to make use of Ari''s teleportation spell. At least one time there was a dragon actually sleeping along a ledge that spanned one of these breaks; we very carefully crept along its side, gingerly stepping so as not to prod it awake by accident. We heaved quiet sighs of relief after getting across it, and I looked up towards the top again. There was quite a ways to go yet.

    ¡°All this and we''re only about halfway there...¡± I quietly fumed.

    ¡°Lana, that shining thing; I don''t think that''s the orb,¡± Ariana whispered to me, and Anhe and I both looked over at her. She activated Mystic Vision, taking a peek up top. ¡°It''s a receptacle slot, probably for the staff.¡±

    ¡°Which means there''s a door up top. At least, I hope it''s up top.¡± I noted.

    ¡°If it is at the bottom I will cry.¡± Anhe remarked as her shoulders faintly sagged.

    ¡°Right?¡± Ariana agreed.

    ¡°Hahh...¡± I sighed wearily, ¡°That''d be so rude if it was.¡±

    ¡°But on the bright side, it seems like there''s less dragons as we get further up,¡± Ari then noted.

    ¡°That is definitely something in our favor.¡± Anhe nodded.

    ¡°For sure.¡± I said. ¡°Anyhow, let''s get up there and see what happens.¡±

    The two girls nodded back at me, and we resumed our ascent. Though there were less dragons, there were more tricky-crossings and even a few traps along our path now. The rudest one had to be the rope-swing right next to one of those sharp discs that suddenly burst out of the wall at certain intervals. Ariana teleported herself and Anhe across straight away, and she was about to come back for me when I impulsively grabbed the rope and began swinging across. Both of them covered their mouths to stifle a scream as I did so. I hoisted myself upwards just as the disc came rushing out of the wall, and even used it as a springboard to go higher in the air so I could complete the jump safely. When I had landed and set the rope aside, Ariana came over to me with a grumpy look and softly smacked me a few times.

    ¡°That was twenty years off of my life!!¡± she quietly fumed.

    ¡°S-sorry, really I am,¡± I sheepishly replied.

    ¡°For all that Lana is a cute girl, your impulsiveness is still somewhat boy-like.¡± Anhe remarked with a sigh.

    ¡°I wouldn''t have done that if I knew I couldn''t make it!¡± I defended myself, and Ari sighed.

    ¡°I guess that''s true of you,¡± she said with a wry smile. ¡°How did you do that anyway?¡±

    ¡°You only watched the Arizona Tom movies, huh?¡± I returned as we continued walking. ¡°''Mysteries of the Lost City'' is such a good game, though!¡±

    ¡°Oh! You got it from another game,¡± she realized.

    ¡°What kind of crazy games did you play before this one?!¡± Anhe wondered incredulously as we made our way up a rickety stair, and I grinned back.

    ¡°You have no idea.¡± I replied. ¡°Anyway, weren''t you the one soloing group dungeons before we met?¡± I then remarked.

    ¡°That was that, and this was this. Creatures and monsters have somewhat predictable patterns; traps do not always have them.¡± Anhe countered.

    ¡°Ahh...¡±

    ¡°The point is, we''re all crazy.¡± Ariana quipped, taking my arm.

    ¡°Ah-heh,¡± I smiled softly.

    ¡°May-be.¡± Anhe shrugged, turning back to grin at us.

    After that little incident we managed to get up to the top without anymore hair-raising obstacles, except for the classic spikes-in-the-floor right near the end, and when we made it past this we carefully crossed a rope-and-plank bridge to where our lock was situated. I looked down as we crossed over, and my stomach slightly churned. With a grimace, I hastened across as fast as I could without breaking the thing, finding the other two already studying the receptacle.

    ¡°I hope I can keep the staff...¡± Anhe remarked as I came over to look with them.

    ¡°It looks like you just have to hold it there for a few seconds, and then the door will open for us,¡± Ariana said as she finished reading the inscription at the base.

    ¡°But where''s the door?¡± I wondered anxiously.

    ¡°I guess we are about to find out,¡± Anhe said, placing the staff in the slot. There was a glow, and above us, the ceiling began to part.

    ¡°Oh, there,¡± I then said, inwardly heaving a sigh of relief that it wasn''t below us. When the door was open all the way, Ariana used levitation to get herself up there, and when Anhe had taken the staff out I tossed her up and then jumped to follow her as the door shut again. She took my hand, and performed a second jump to get us over to a ledge, where Ariana met us with a smile. We then looked around.

    There was a single path leading up to a wide platform, and beyond that was another stair leading up to a smaller chamber. Since the larger platform had a dragon upon it, I presumed that the smaller chamber further ahead contained the Draigod Orb we were looking for.

    ¡°Come to think of it... if the orb here affects dragons so badly, isn''t Dracuoatlax in danger when we bring it out?¡± I suddenly realized.

    ¡°Ahh--!!¡± Ariana exclaimed softly as this thought struck her as well, and Anhe pouted thoughtfully.

    ¡°This is true...¡± she quietly sighed. We thought for a moment, quietly staring at the dragon before us.

    ¡°I mean, as long as I keep it in storage it shouldn''t affect him, right?¡± Ariana then said.

    ¡°That should work,¡± Anhe agreed.

    ¡°Hrrmm, I guess that''s true.¡± I nodded. We then ascended the first flight of stairs in this chamber, whereupon the dragon immediately woke up. No stealth skills will work on this guy, huh? I bemusedly remarked to myself.

    ¡°Mortals... mortals have entered Vorgus Eir, the Sacred Mountain; mortals who... have not bathed in the blood of dragons, yet who bear the Dragonbane, the Staff of Eir, which has sealed us away in this place as everlasting protectors of the Draigod Orb.¡± the creature said as it stood to its feet, spreading out its wings as it gazed down on us. ¡°Since you bear the staff and have not shed the blood of my brethren, it is my belief that you do not wish for combat, nor do you wish to harm the dragons. What is your purpose, mortals?¡±

    ¡°To vanquish the evil known as Djaziim,¡± I replied, and the dragon''s eyes widened, then narrowed as it lowered its head to look me in the eyes with its great golden one.

    ¡°Djaziim? Djaziim, you say?¡± the dragon asked, and I nodded back. ¡°Hrm! That vile thing walks the world again, does it? Well, then, I should let you take the orb and be done with it! Many long years ago we sealed this orb at the behest of certain priests, who warned us that Djaziim might one day rise again. For this purpose we dared to seal ourselves with it, prepared to destroy any intruder with ignoble intentions. I acknowledge your quest as noble and true; yet I ask this boon: heal my brethren of their madness, and I will certainly let you take the orb from here.¡±

    ¡°I suppose just taking the orb away wouldn''t solve the problem? To say nothing of being in the mountain for so long?¡± I returned, and the great beast shook its head.

    ¡°We need someone skilled in the ways of battle and wisdom; their aura could cleanse these halls and set my brethren free of the curse, allowing them to fly once more under their own wisdom.¡± the dragon told us.

    ¡°Aura?¡± Ariana and I both said at once, turning to Anhe.

    ¡°Hm? Hmm?¡± she looked at us with an uncertain grin. ¡°I do not know if my battle auras could spread through this whole mountain,¡± she said to us hesitantly.

    ¡°What is this? You have such a person with you?¡± the dragon remarked, turning to fix its gaze upon Anhe. ¡°You bear the staff; and since you have not slain any of my brethren, you may be able to do a certain thing. Just now, I called that staff Dragonbane, for such it is. Yet when wielded by one pure of heart, that which is the bane of dragons may be their salvation. In such a case, the staff will amplify your aura and send its presence throughout this mountain, curing my fellow dragons!¡± it hurriedly explained to her.

    ¡°Ah--um, I would like to do so, if I can!¡± Anhe meekly replied. It narrowed its gaze at her.

    ¡°You must do so with absolute confidence, placing the staff upon the altar near where the orb rests.¡± the dragon told her, and she nodded back.

    ¡°I will do it!¡± she then said, and ran to do so, the dragon watching as we followed her up the stairs.

    ¡°I wonder if the dragons knew,¡± I wondered as we made our way up after Anhe.

    ¡°I guess it was a test of some kind, wasn''t it?¡± Ariana returned, looking over at me.

    ¡°That''s reasonable,¡± I agreed. ¡°Who knew our hesitance to fight a mountain full of dragons would unlock a bonus side-quest to save them?¡± I said with a cheesy grin, which she returned.

    ¡°Right?¡± she giggled.

    The altar the dragon had mentioned was in the middle of the small chamber we now entered. On the far side was the orb, still sealed away.

    Oh, I get it now. That orb would be unsealed if we had slain all the dragons. But since we chose a path of least resistance, it''s still sealed, and the guardian here gave us the challenge of helping its comrades instead of fighting us. But if we fail and end up inadvertently destroying the other dragons, I bet it turns into a fight... I mused internally, my brow furrowing in thought. Ariana looked over at me, probably intuiting my thoughts on the matter from the way she then gripped her staff. Behind us, I could feel the dragon''s eyes fixated on us.

    Anhe took a deep breath, activating three auras as she placed the staff in the slot upon the altar. I didn''t recognize them, but she had probably never used them before. She gripped the Staff of Eir with all her might, letting the auras radiate around her. All of a sudden the staff and the altar lit up with a pure light, and we could hear a luminous sound of sorts beginning to fill this chamber and seemingly spill down into the vast hall below us. I could also hear the sound of the doors below opening again. A stronger light began to enter the chamber, and I looked back to see that another set of doors further above us was also opening. The dragon below us looked up with a pleased expression. The doors ground to a halt; the sound stopped, and the barrier around the orb was disabled.

    ¡°Heroes; your compassion for the dragons does you credit. Take the orb, and take the thanks of the dragons. You can now use that staff as you will.¡± he said, and as he rose into the air we could see the other dragons already flying out of the mountain. The green one who had almost woken up before gave us a funny look as it flew out, and the one we had used as a bridge did the same. After they had all departed, the final guardian took his leave, and flew out of the mountain with a merry laugh.

    I looked over at Anhe, who had been staring at them in wonder as they soared out, and placed an arm around her, smiling. Ariana did the same, and she smiled back at us.

    ¡°That was incredible!¡± my partner said to her.

    ¡°Thank you!¡± she beamed happily.

    ¡°Good job, Anhe! By the way, did that staff''s attributes just change?¡± I wondered as we let go of her, and she examined it again.

    ¡°Hmm... ahh!!¡± she exclaimed in surprise. ¡°The damage effect will now tailor itself to whatever monster I am fighting at the time!¡± she told us with awe.

    ¡°Cool!¡± I said with excitement.

    ¡°Oh wow!¡± Ariana remarked. ¡°That''s a definite keeper!¡± she nodded.

    ¡°For sure,¡± I agreed.

    ¡°Yes!¡± Anhe smiled back. ¡°But let us get the orb before we forget!¡± she then said, and Ariana retrieved it, placing it in her Mystic Storage before we headed out of the mountain.

    When we had finally gotten back down into the valley, we found Dracuoatlax waiting for us. The sun was nearly down, and he opened an eye as we approached him.

    ¡°I saw a flight of dragons pass overhead not long ago; master, did you indeed lift the curse on those who were sealed?¡± he asked us.

    ¡°Anhe did, yes.¡± I nodded back, and Anhe blushed as our dragon-friend nodded at us with approval.

    ¡°It is well, then. That, perhaps, was the best outcome of this particular quest. The dragons will owe you a favor for this deed.¡± he said. ¡°Now, I cannot fly back in time, for I sense you must soon leave this world; but there is a wayport near Oreg?ering.¡±

    ¡°That''s fine,¡± I replied, and he nodded again.

    ¡°Then I shall take you there, and I shall take my leisure flying back to the Torching Mount after.¡± he grinned. ¡°I have had a full meal, and the joy of seeing your support of my kinfolk rather than mindlessly putting them to the sword. I am grateful, masters, truly.¡± Dracuoatlax said to us.

    ¡°We were glad to do so, Dracuoatlax.¡± Ariana told him, and he nodded once more before we climbed upon his back and set off for Oreg?ering.

    ***

    So Anhe did in fact end up being gifted the staff as a reward, and after we were promised that the dragons would aid us at a time of our choosing sometime in the future, we used the wayport nearby to head for Cloverbell, deciding to lounge in the hotspring as a reward to ourselves. It was about ten minutes later that Anhe looked around idly, a sudden question on her features as she began looking around more attentively.

    ¡°Come to think of it, the others are not back at all, are they?¡± she remarked.

    ¡°Hm?¡± Ari said as she became more alert. ¡°We were up there in Dragonholt for a while, too... I wonder what they ran into if they''re not back yet?¡± she continued, checking her messages. A few moments later she shook her head.

    ¡°Nothing, huh?¡± I said.

    ¡°Hmm...¡± Anhe let out a sigh, letting herself sink back into the water.

    ¡°I''m sure we''ll get yelled at later by Lizzy for not being up there with them,¡± Ariana said with a wry grin.

    ¡°Ah-heh-heh-heh,¡± I grinned weakly.

    ¡°We had a hard enough time persuading her to let us help Lana,¡± Anhe nodded in agreement. At just that moment, I got a message notification.

    ¡°Hm?¡± I wondered, opening it up. It was from Healina. ¡°''Failed at the last stage; could use the two of you next time, see you at the house''... uh-oh.¡± I suddenly felt a shiver.

    ¡°Lana?¡± Anhe wondered curiously as I hopped out and Ariana quickly followed.

    ¡°Come on!¡± my partner said to her, and she followed us out. We got ourselves dressed again, and I quickly selected a random destination when we got to the wayport, setting it to wipe the last ten destinations visited as the magic enveloped us.

    ¡°Hm? Ahh! You do not want to get yelled at!¡± Anhe said with a big grin.

    ¡°Of course not!¡± I quipped back as the wayport whisked us away.

    Now, I had paid a certain amount of gold to the wayport for this destination. That was because it was a destination I didn''t have. You can do that: pay a certain fee to unlock a wayport you haven''t been to, but most of the time I''d rather go and actually find it--and keep my gold for other things. The only reason I paid this time was because it was a destination I knew none of us had.

    ¡°Where did we go?¡± Ariana wondered as we stepped out of the portal.

    ¡°Hm? Oh, the Summerlands Isle.¡± I replied.

    ¡°Hmm... I thought that region wasn''t active yet,¡± she said as we began making our way along the boardwalk.

    ¡°It''s not as active as it will be during the event, but unlike the Other Realm we can actually visit this place any time we want.¡± I told them.

    ¡°This place looks fun!¡± Anhe said with excitement.

    ¡°Right?¡± I agreed, and Ari smiled. ¡°By the way, this island is south of the Aldholt -- pretty far south, actually,¡± I told them.

    ¡°Hmm... so even further south than Alamari and the Isles of the Seven Lucky Gods?¡± Anhe asked.

    ¡°Yep!¡± I said as we stopped at an outdoor tavern.

    ¡°There''s a lot of players here, aren''t there?¡± Ariana remarked as we looked around. A waiter came by to serve us a round of fruity beverages.

    ¡°It''s basically a summer resort here, so yeah,¡± I agreed. ¡°Though I did hear a rumor about ultra-rare resources hidden somewhere on the island.¡±

    ¡°I would think there will be a summer-quest for that sort of thing,¡± Anhe observed as she sipped on her drink.

    ¡°Oh definitely.¡± I nodded back.

    ¡°Figures.¡± Ari smiled. ¡°I still can''t believe you actually wiped the travel-log from the wayport!¡± she said, and then laughed. Anhe soundlessly giggled as well, and I shrugged, a wry grin on my face.

    ¡°Anything to avoid being Lizzied.¡± I quipped.

    ¡°Pffft! You made her a verb!!¡± Ari cackled, and Anhe''s laughter became more audible as well.

    ¡°Aww, Poor Lizzy!¡± Anhe laughed helplessly.

    ¡°Oh please. She''d get over it and own it in a minute.¡± I grinned, shaking my head.

    ¡°Hahh, true,¡± my partner agreed.

    ¡°She really would.¡± Anhe nodded.

    We spent the next couple of in-game hours lightly bantering like this, enjoying the dishes of the Summerlands Isle before joining in the beach dances and bonfire celebrations nearby with other players, ending up in a long and wild game of capture the flag that ended with the other team''s victory. The one thing that was more refreshing than the drinks or the food down here was that no one seemed to know who we were. Then I noticed that most of the players here had a level lower than forty, where as we were over three times that now.

    ¡°You can''t all have been here like this for the past several months?¡± I asked one of them as we sat around another bonfire later that night.

    ¡°Some of us have,¡± she shrugged. ¡°I only came to enjoy tonight''s party with my girlfriends. There''s more than a few people who''ve taken up residence here, though. Some of them even made a guild: The Summerlanders.¡±

    ¡°Oh wow,¡± Ariana said with interest.

    ¡°Yep! They''re led by a girl called Cherry Star, a mage of some kind I think,¡± she said.

    ¡°Maybe she and her guildies are trying to get a clue on that ultra-rare resource before the events here actually start,¡± I pondered, and she looked back at us knowingly.

    ¡°That''s one of the rumors, yeah. The other is that she''s actually making a quiet petition for her and her guild to be the ''NPCs'' of the Summerlands Isle so that they can make money here as opposed to letting the gold go back into the game system,¡± she said quietly.

    ¡°There''s no way the GMs would allow that,¡± I replied.

    ¡°Right? But it is a fact that the player shops here are tending to do better than the NPC ones. I know NPCs aren''t exactly people here, but it still seems kind of harsh.¡± the other girl softly grimaced.

    ¡°Hrrmm... the system keeps them going, so they''ll always be here even without player interaction... but that is kinda...¡± I trailed off, uncertain of what I wanted to say or how to put it.

    ¡°Some of the NPCs in this game are incredible, though,¡± Ariana remarked, and Anhe nodded back.

    ¡°Oh I know it.¡± our companion told us. ¡°It''s like if you put them in our world, would we even know?¡±

    ¡°Right??¡± Ariana agreed.

    ¡°Anyway; I guess whatever drama''s ahead for us this summer, the main event on the continent will still overshadow it.¡± she shrugged. ¡°By the way, my name is Melody here. But most people call me The Blade.¡± she winked at us, and I smiled back.

    ¡°Lana; and this is Ariana and Anhe.¡± I replied.

    ¡°Hey there!¡± Ari smiled, and Anhe did as well.

    ¡°Hmm? Some stars here tonight, huh?¡± Melody grinned back. ¡°I hope you don''t fall too far down from the sky during the event, Silvernight Queens.¡± she subtly winked again.

    ¡°What''s that supposed to mean?¡± I wondered back with a laugh, but she only stalked off with a smile on her lips, blowing a kiss back. I half-gulped, and Ari coughed to get my attention.

    ¡°The Blade, huh?¡± my partner said, a wry expression on her face as she observed the other girl heading away.

    ¡°She seemed nice, but also dark at the end...¡± Anhe noted.

    It was at that moment I suddenly recalled that I had heard that nickname before.

    ¡°Ho-ly snap.¡± I breathed.

    ¡°What is it?¡± Ari turned to me with concern.

    ¡°We just met one of the most dangerous players in the game.¡±

 Side Chapter: The Other Partys Return

    ¡°Where. Did. They go?¡± Elizasmith wondered as she and the others searched Cloverbell. The house had clearly been visited, but the wayport destination records had been partially erased. They had been looking for about five minutes now, but there was no sign of Lana, Ariana, or even Anhe. Healina and Derwydd shared a knowing grin with each other.

    ¡°Here it comes,¡± the Sea Elf remarked, and her werebear-druid partner softly chuckled.

    ¡°Hahhh... DANG. It. That kid! I was all set to just complain about it, but now I''ve gotta give her seven different kinds of heck for this little prank! Tch... ack!! I''m working Sunday... which means Sean''ll probably log off early for Monday... unless they decide to do an all-nighter again... they like doing that now... uggghhh, but Rachel will probably convince him that they should get off early because they''ll have a full day Monday and I won''t get to see him until lunch that day!! Gyaahh!! All because we didn''t have a Shadow Warrior for the last boss! And it''s no good asking Myanihia or Rayna because they''ll both only talk to Lana! What the heeeeeecck. Ruuuuuude.¡± Lizzy ranted exasperatedly.

    ¡°So all she wanted to do was softly ask Lana for help next time?¡± Derwydd remarked.

    ¡°As softly as Lizzy can be in this game, which isn''t often soft when it comes to Lana.¡± Healina nodded back.

    ¡°Um. What the heck? Rude. I can hear you.¡± the blonde Nordian returned.

    ¡°Ah--!¡±

    ¡°Sorry!¡± the two of them quickly replied.

    ¡°Hahh... it''s fine... you''re right... I do harass her a lot here... but it''s so fun!¡± the other girl grinned cheekily. ¡°Especially ''cause she''s really a--¡±

    ¡°Yes, we get it, thank you.¡± Healina quickly stopped her, poking her in the nose.

    ¡°Umpf!¡± Lizzy softly squawked as she recovered from the softer jab. ¡°Anyway; did everyone else go back to Owldale?¡±

    Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

    ¡°My guildies did; the others are still here, though.¡± Derwydd said.

    ¡°Hmm?¡± Lysandra said as she entered the room with Belle and Maryn.

    ¡°Good timing! Let''s check Queen''s Haven next!¡± Lizzy beamed.

    ¡°We''re not gonna find them,¡± the older girl smiled back.

    ¡°Definitely not.¡± Belle shook her head.

    ¡°Might as well work on crafting and then sleep until we have to wake up and log out.¡± Maryn said with a shrug.

    ¡°Boo!¡± Lizzy retorted. ¡°What makes you think we won''t find them?¡± she asked adamantly.

    ¡°Lizzy, who knows Lana best?¡± Healina asked with a smile.

    ¡°Ari. Why?¡± the other girl replied, and then she groaned. ¡°With both of them working together we really will never find them tonight, huh?¡±

    ¡°You just thought of that now?¡± Lysandra sighed in amusement.

    ¡°Rrrggghhh!¡± the Nordian girl fumed. ¡°Right! I''mma work on some crafting and sleep. Then I''m gonna spend Sunday figuring out my Monday rant at lunch. Yep, that''s a good plan, Lizzy. ''Night, peoples!¡± she said cheerily, and headed downstairs to do just that.

    ¡°We''re gonna go visit Pirate Isle,¡± Maryn said to Healina as the older girls behind her nodded in agreement.

    ¡°There''s a secret area we definitely have to check out for ourselves.¡± Lysandra said.

    ¡°Now I want to go...¡± Healina softly pouted.

    ¡°We''ll tell you about it later; let us older chicks have some fun for a change!¡± Belle grinned as the three of them headed out.

    ¡°Sheesh, what was that about?¡± Healina wondered as they exited the room.

    ¡°Hmm...¡± Derwydd frowned thoughtfully. ¡°Who knows.¡± he shrugged.

    ¡°Hmph.¡± his girlfriend sighed.

    ¡°I''m sure we''ll hear about it later.¡± he smiled back. ¡°But anyway; where are we headed for?¡± he then asked her.

    ¡°Ari mentioned a town of flowers once somewhere in this region where they have a live band for dances. Wanna go?¡± she said to him.

    ¡°Let''s go!¡± he smiled back brightly, and the two of them set off for their own fun as the day in Panarena came to a close.

 Bonus Chapter: Fun Castle

    The matinee starts at ten, so we''ll meet up at the mall around nine! -- Mary had texted us these words after school on Friday. Well, to all of us except for Ellie. Whom we were trying to surprise at her job. She was working at the Fun Castle up at the mall now as a waiter-slash-performer -- or was it the other way around? Anyway. The establishment, run by Phineas Taylor Barnum the Second, was a restaurant and carnival deal; the restaurant was above the average eatery, for sure, but it was definitely everything else that made it golden. There were all sorts of mini-productions and skits that happened, and there were exhibits galore in the wings of the place. On special occasions the place apparently went full-circus--not in the crazy sense, mind you, but in the classic sense. I mean the good old kind of circus. But anyhow.

    So after a lot of surprised looks from my parents after saying goodbye on my way out the door (¡°He''s awake?! On a Saturday?! Before nine!?¡± my mother had almost shrieked -- ¡°Now, Shirley, calm down, give the boy some faith!¡± my dad returned), I was half-asleep on a city bus that was rolling along to the next stop, where Andrea and Rachel got on, both of them sitting in the row with me. Rachel snuggled next to me at once, while the older girl smiled. I put an arm around my girlfriend, and smiled back at Andrea.

    ¡°What about Mary and Anhe?¡± I asked her.

    ¡°I think Anhe''s mother is taking them up, and joining us for the fun, too.¡± the redhead returned, taking off her glasses to wipe them with a piece of cloth as she softly grumbled about the lenses. ¡°But anyway, Sean,¡± she then said as she put them back on, ¡°Do you have anything to say?¡± she asked with a mischievous smile.

    I was stuck for a moment, and then my cheeks reddened as I caught on. Rachel was wearing a super nice dress with leaf-like patterns, with colors of red, orange, and gold, along with her fancy shoes. And Andrea was wearing a dark green one with lighter green sleeves that had polka-dots. Both girls were also wearing their hair differently; Rachel wasn''t sporting her usual side-tail, letting it hang back naturally, and Andrea had a green hair-clip holding her bangs back.

    ¡°Y-you look nice... today, both of you, that is...¡± I replied, suddenly feeling a bit goofy for going with my usual nondescript casual outfit. But Rachel giggled, nuzzling against my shoulder.

    ¡°Thank you, lover-boy!¡± Andrea replied teasingly.

    ¡°Ah-heh-heh,¡± I softly laughed. Pheeewwww... I sighed inwardly, relieved to have passed that test of social interaction with high school girls.

    ¡°Hah, you''re clueless now and again, but it''d be nice to have a boyfriend like you...¡± the older girl then sighed wistfully.

    ¡°You can''t have him, Andi, he''s mine.¡± Rachel quipped back at once.

    T-time to lay low.

    ¡°I know that!¡± the other girl softly whined, then mumbled inaudibly.

    ¡°Sean, if I hadn''t come to school here, would you have dated one of the other girls eventually?¡± Rachel then asked me. I almost jerked out of my seat.

    It''s a hypothetical. It''s super hypothetical. She won''t get mad if it''s just a hypothetical, right? Or would she? Uh-oh. Is there a right answer? No, I mean, is there an answer that won''t lead to me making her upset? Or even losing points... even though Ellie''s usually the point-taker of the group... I could end up with minus two-hundred if I say the wrong thing... or maybe even if I say nothing... uhh... what do I do... what do I say?!

    ¡°Sean?¡± she poked me.

    ¡°Ahh...¡±

    Let''s go for the obvious answer.

    ¡°I probably wouldn''t have the guts to approach any of them anyway, so the point is kind of moot...¡± I said with a faint smile.

    ¡°Hmm...¡± Rachel gazed at me intently, then smiled. ¡°That''s fair!¡± she said, but then the smile turned to a smirk. ¡°But what if one of them had asked you out?¡± she prodded.

    No fair!!

    ¡°Hmm... I told Rachel once that I was at least kind of planning to, probably... I know that someone else was definitely going to...¡± Andrea remarked innocently.

    ¡°Hyeh?!¡± I returned in bafflement.

    ¡°I mean before you got here, he looked so hopeless and lonely, I just wanted to see if I could make him smile a bit more!¡± the older girl continued to Rachel, who let out a grin.

    ¡°I can see that!¡± she giggled.

    ¡°Nyah!?¡±

    ¡°Look, even right now, he''s so hopeless!¡± Andrea beamed.

    ¡°True!¡± my girlfriend agreed. I made meaningless noises in an indignant fashion, and then coughed as I settled back into my seat, pretending, like a cat, that nothing had happened.

    ¡°But I can tell you that Ellie would definitely never have gone for him.¡±

    ¡°Hmm... I guess not, huh? She doesn''t seem the romantic-type at all,¡± Rachel nodded.

    ¡°You''d be surprised. He''s just not her thing.¡± the redhead shrugged.

    ¡°So Sean,¡± Rachel then turned to me again. A stammered-cough came from my throat. ¡°Andrea... Mary... or Anhe?¡± she asked with a grin.

    ¡°I-isn''t it k-kind of moot, now?¡± I wondered with quiet desperation.

    ¡°True! But I am really curious, now.¡± she told me.

    ¡°¡­ I guess it would depend on who asked first... but Anhe would definitely have never asked me, I bet.¡±

    ¡°That''s true,¡± Andrea agreed. ¡°Hahh... I would never have asked first.¡± she then said, and I suddenly realized I had left myself open to being criticized as one of those guys by making so ambiguous an answer -- from which Andrea had delicately saved me.

    ¡°I still can''t believe Mary had a crush on him all that time and never said anything...¡± Rachel remarked.

    W-what kind of conversations do I miss when the real girls gather together?

    ¡°There''s no blame to go around there.¡± the older girl shrugged. ¡°I heard she wanted to ask him around Christmas or Valentine''s. Things just didn''t go in her favor,¡± she softly smiled. ¡°But she''s happy about how things turned out.¡±

    ¡°R-really?¡± I wondered. Rachel gently squeezed me. ¡°Personally I don''t see myself with anyone but Rachel, now, so it''s... a relief to hear something like that.¡± I said with a gentle smile of my own.

    ¡°It means she really does care.¡± the older girl returned, to which I could find nothing to say. I gently squeezed Rachel, and she snuggled closer still as the bus rolled on its way to the mall.

    When we arrived at the entrance nearest the Fun Castle Wing, we stepped off the bus and hurried inside to find Mary, Anhe, and Mrs. Liang waiting for us on a bench. The principal''s daughter waved, and they stood up to meet us. Our teacher was dressy-casual today, as she always was; Anhe was likewise attired, but she had gone more to the dressy side of things. And Mary was wearing a cream-white sweater over a grey skirt and black shoes.

    ¡°Thank you, for always thinking of my daughter with these events.¡± Mrs. Liang said with a bow.

    ¡°Of course!¡± Andrea smiled back, bowing as well.

    The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

    ¡°We''re always happy to have Anhe with us,¡± Rachel replied as she and I bowed too. I could see Anhe turn slightly red, but her face was lit up in a smile.

    ¡°Thank you again,¡± our teacher smiled graciously. ¡°All right now, let us go and see your other friend!¡± she added, and with that we made our way to the Fun Castle.

    The mall, as expected on a Saturday, was pretty packed. It had been eight-thirty when I had gotten on the bus, and it was now just a couple minutes after nine. Fortunately, when we got to the Fun Castle''s entrance, the lines weren''t very long--yet. I never really got out much before this school year, but I remember half-hearing other kids in school talk about how long the waits could get for this place. One story I remembered was that there had been a line from one end of the mall to the other for a Christmas Holiday Special Event. And this is a big mall. Almost its own little city, really.

    But today we didn''t wait much more than fifteen minutes in line, and we were taken to a table close to the edge of the ¡°ring¡±, as it was affectionately known in tribute to the old circuses. The rest of the theater-slash-stadium was filling up steadily. Just then, a blonde girl in a pink and white leotard and matching skirt and heels came up to our table, and then her eyes widened, as did ours.

    ¡°Huh?!¡± Ellie looked at us in a mixture of shock, horror, and happiness.

    ¡°Hey, Ellie!¡± Andrea smiled back.

    ¡°Dwah?!--ahh!!¡± the other girl stammered, and then recomposed herself. ¡°Hi, welcome to Fun Castle! My name is Liz, I''ll be taking your orders today!¡± she said with a grin. Her name-tag, by the way, really did have ¡°Liz¡± on it. ¡°Can I start you off with some drinks?¡±

    ¡°Please!¡± Mrs. Liang said, and we put in our orders. A few minutes later Ellie returned with them, and then dropped a note for us after taking our first meal order.

    On break for fifteen when show starts. Will join you then.

    ¡°Aw, you shouldn''t have.¡± Andrea smirked as she read it.

    Ellie came back about fifteen minutes later with another server to help her carry the platter with our meals on them, and set them down with a smile. Both of them wished us an enjoyable meal and an enjoyable time at the show. The other girl had green hair, and was wearing a green version of what was apparently the waitresses'' uniform here. I looked around idly, and saw that the male waiters had a uniform of a loose tunic with tights and jester-like shoes. Some waiters and waitresses even wore jester hats, complete with bells.

    ¡°That guy''s really going for it, huh?¡± I said as I caught sight of one complete with make-up and a wig on, kind of like a clown but less sinister.

    ¡°Ooh, nice stripes,¡± Mary commented when she saw him.

    ¡°Def!¡± Andrea agreed.

    ¡°Like a cute tiger or something,¡± Anhe said.

    ¡°Exactly!¡± Mary exclaimed. Our teacher smiled.

    ¡°It has been a long time since I was at anything like this,¡± she remarked.

    ¡°Hm?¡± I wondered curiously.

    ¡°My father worked at one of the last real travelling circuses until he settled down, so I used to see this sort of thing quite a lot,¡± Mrs. Liang told us.

    ¡°Y¨¦y¨¦ did?¡± Anhe asked her.

    ¡°He did!¡± the older woman told her.

    ¡°Oh, neat!¡± her daughter smiled.

    ¡°Come to think of it, there was a Liang who worked with the owner here for a while; was that him?¡± Mary then asked.

    ¡°It was him.¡± Mrs. Liang replied affirmatively. ¡°He actually helped to arrange for a lot of the circus'' old props and much more to be donated to this place when it was made. Look! The chandeliers; those are from the train that used to carry the old circus performers across the country.¡± she said as she pointed one out to us.

    ¡°Whoa...!¡±

    ¡°Wow!¡± Rachel and I exclaimed in wonder. ¡°It''s so beautiful,¡± she said, and I nodded.

    ¡°Oh! Is that--it has to be!¡± Andrea then said excitedly, looking at another spot. It was a bar, in the likeness of a caboose. No, wait, that''s wrong.

    ¡°They actually brought in the old caboose and turned it into a bar?! Cool!!¡± I said as I took a look for myself, and our teacher smiled again, nodding.

    ¡°They did!¡± she laughed.

    ¡°Ooh...!¡± Mary remarked in fascination. ¡°Andrea, maybe we should have one of our trips here; some of it''s like a museum for entertainment, after all,¡± she then said to our club-president.

    ¡°Hmm... I''ll see what Mrs. Brown says,¡± the other girl returned.

    ¡°I am reasonably certain Jennifer and Dr. Robertson would approve.¡± Mrs. Liang told us with a gentle shrug. Mary affected a semi-sheepish grin at the mention of her dad, and then returned her attention to the meal.

    We finished up with our light meal about five minutes before ten; Ellie came back to ask us if we would like any desserts, to which we all agreed that we should wait until having a proper lunch before desserts. Giving us a thumbs up, she and the other server took away our plates and came back with a refill of our respective drinks. The lights then dimmed, and an announcer came in sight to tell us that the show was about to begin. Ellie then returned again, pulling up a chair and sitting near Andrea and Mary to enjoy at least the first bit of the show with us.

    ¡°Sure they don''t mind?¡± Andrea asked her.

    ¡°The head-waiter said I could definitely have at least fifteen minutes, and I haven''t gotten to actually see the opening act yet, so here I am!¡± she grinned back. A fanfare then played, and the show began. ¡°Oh, yes!! The elephant!¡± our friend exclaimed, and we smiled.

    ***

    It was everything that a classic circus should be and then some; our teacher described it as the perfect blend between the old-style shows and the new-style performances. The opening act of the elephant with the amazingly balanced dancers-slash-contortionists flailing majestically upon its back had amazed Ellie, and us, for the first ten minutes, and then with a wild applause the show continued into its next acts. Juggling unicyclists, fire-breathers, sword-eaters, lion-tamers, trapeze artists, stunt-performers, magicians, goofy clowns and eccentric mimes, along with a whole variety of other performers, all somehow neatly packed into a two and a half hour show, dazzled us with their art. Rachel positively lit up when the mermaid show came up, and I could see her smiling at me when I was mesmerized by a group of troubadours that was playing while walking on a tight-rope across a pool of water. How do they even, I wondered blankly.

    When the show and its encores were over, we were served lunch, and when that had been finished we walked around some of the exhibits, including a mini-version of the Old Barnum''s American Museum. Some of that place''s original exhibits were on display as well, or at least depictions of them.

    ¡°It''s all so amazing,¡± I said, and then we turned a corner to what I thought was the best part of the whole exhibit.

    In a wide hall, there were several full-scale locomotive replicas of all the engines that had pulled the old circus trains around. I slid out of Rachel''s hand to go up as close as I could to the oldest one, a steam-locomotive. There was a chain fence and a do-not-touch sign on all four sides of it. I let out a sigh, gazing at it with wonder as Rachel came over and gently slid her arm into mine.

    ¡°Definitely amazing, huh?¡± she smiled, and I nodded.

    ¡°There you are!¡± Ellie said as she came in.

    ¡°Oh, hey! Break again?¡± Andrea asked her.

    ¡°Until the next show starts at two, yeah,¡± she nodded. ¡°Hmm...?¡± she then remarked, looking over at me. I wasn''t paying that much attention, to be honest, but somehow I always sensed when she was directing her attention towards me. As if I really was her little brother or something. I heard a sneaky laugh escape her lips. ¡°Justine!¡± she then called, and the girl with green hair showed up seconds later.

    ¡°Hey, Liz!¡±

    ¡°Heya! So, um...¡± she then whispered something I couldn''t hear. But a couple moments later I felt my other arm taken by Ellie, who smiled at me, as did the other girl. ¡°Come on, kiddo, we''ll show you something fun!¡± she beamed, leading me along as the others followed.

    We went to another exhibit, this one in a smaller but still fairly large room. And in the center of that one...

    ¡°Ta-da!¡± Justine said with a grin. ¡°The reconstructed and refurbished original.¡±

    This time, Rachel and I both walked up to it, heading inside to look around with the others for what felt like hours but which was really only twenty minutes or so. I was in a complete daze. I wasn''t a huge fan of trains and stuff, mind you, but how often do you get to see something like this?

    ¡°The caboose-bar is from the latest version of the circus train, which stopped running about fifteen years ago,¡± I heard our guide say, ¡°But there''s a functional replica of the original train''s caboose further down!¡±

    ¡°Cool!¡± Andrea''s voice said.

    ¡°What are you thinking about?¡± Rachel asked me softly.

    ¡°How lucky I am, and maybe...¡± I paused, uncertain of what I wanted to convey.

    ¡°Maybe, what?¡± she asked me with a soft grin when I fell silent.

    ¡°I''ll figure it out someday,¡± I smiled back. She nodded, and we went to follow the others.

    ¡°Well that was unexpected... or maybe it was... but anyway, I was glad you dropped by!¡± Ellie said to us when we began heading out.

    ¡°It was fun! We''ll definitely have to come back for a holiday special!¡± Andrea said.

    ¡°Maybe on my day off next time!¡± the other girl grinned back.

    ¡°We''ll see what we can do,¡± Mary laughed. We said our goodbyes, and then Mrs. Liang, who had a minivan, offered to take us home. We accepted, and were soon heading away from the mall and back to our regular lives.

    Maybe, maybe I might actually start thinking about what to do with my life soon... I thought to myself as the scenery of the big city rolled past my window like an endless reel of film.

 Interlude Chapter: Questing With My Valentine

    ¡°You''re really something, you know?¡± Rachel said to me with a pleased look on her face. We were sitting across from each other at a cafe near our respective houses, finishing up a lunch before we had to go home. A Valentine''s Lunch to be precise. Of course, it was the Saturday after that day because of all the rehearsals we have going on for our spring musical, but hey.

    ¡°I try,¡± I smiled back warmly. She returned to admiring the promise ring that I had gotten for her; it had been hard to actually go and get it, but somehow I had managed to do so without anyone knowing what I was up to.

    ¡°Now they''ll definitely have to stop the harem rumors!¡± she grinned.

    ¡°Ugh,¡± I sighed. ¡°I think they actually increased...¡±

    ¡°Hmm? Oh, that''s right,¡± she said with a wry face. ¡°Mary and Anhe left you cards.¡± a faint smile came to her features, and she lightly rolled her eyes.

    ¡°Hrrmm...¡± I breathed out tiredly as a look of consternation came to my own face.

    ¡°I''m not worried, honest; I kinda figured at least Mary would.¡± Rachel told me.

    ¡°I know you''re not worried, but what am I gonna do about that...¡± I wondered, looking out of the window as I pondered the little quandary.

    ¡°They probably don''t want you to do anything.¡± Rachel told me. I looked back at her; she was smiling. ¡°They know we''re serious. It''s probably just for friendship''s sake, you know? I got one from them too by the way,¡± she reminded me, and I blinked.

    ¡°Did you tell me that earlier?¡± I asked her.

    ¡°I did, but you were spaced out from getting yours.¡± she said with a bemused smile.

    ¡°Ahh...¡±

    ¡°It''s fine!¡±

    ¡°W-well, if you say so,¡± I replied, and she giggled, taking my hand.

    ¡°When is it gonna be the real thing?¡± she slyly asked, batting her eyelashes at me.

    ¡°Ahh...¡±

    ¡°Don''t do it too fast, though. We have a lot of life to get through before we think about that, you know?¡± she said in a more serious tone.

    ¡°I know that,¡± I nodded back, smiling at her.

    ¡°Good!¡± Rachel smiled back. ¡°So we''re doing that quest in Panarena tonight, right??¡± she then asked me.

    ¡°Definitely,¡± I said.

    ¡°Then we should finish up here and head home, huh?¡±

    ¡°Eh, we can; but let''s... you know, take a scenic way home?¡± I suggested, and she gave a smile as my face reddened.

    ¡°Let''s do that. You have the imager, right?¡± she replied.

    ¡°Hm? Oh, yeah, right here,¡± I tapped the little satchel I had with me.

    ¡°Yay! Let''s swing by one of the parks for sure then!¡± Rachel said, and I nodded back in agreement as we got ready to leave the cafe.

    After we spent a few hours walking around town, seeing some of the sights, taking a few commemorative photos (a lot, really), and talking about what was ahead for us as we moved through life together, I escorted Rachel to her residence before we reluctantly parted, and then made my way home. Then, after a brief round of twenty-questions and dinner, I made my escape to that wondrous world of Panarena.

    ***

    ¡°Too. Many. Questions.¡± I sighed in exasperation as I loaded up in Cloverbell.

    ¡°Worse than Lizzy the other day at lunch?¡± Ariana grinned mischievously as she came into the room.

    ¡°Eh... toss-up.¡± I shrugged, and she laughed.

    At school several days ago, Ellie had given me a long rant at lunch in response to ditching her twice over on a certain Saturday night (technically a Sunday morning, I guess). I didn''t help myself much by mentioning that our quest had gone over perfectly. That only added fuel to the fire of why-didn''t-you-just-come-with-us-and-help-then argument that was the final point of her lecture. After promising to do so the next time we were all on together, she was mollified, but we hadn''t yet managed to coordinate getting on again as a group since then.

    ¡°But for now...¡± I said, holding up my left hand with the Band of Unity on it.

    ¡°We''re gonna try this quest for sure!¡± Ari nodded, holding hers up as well.

    There was apparently a special quest during the Valentine''s Event in Panarena for players like us who had either already married in game or who had an equivalent status of being coupled, such as the benefit our rings gave us. It would bequeath a set of rings like we had to players who did not have them, but for us, the reward would be an upgraded version. The quest itself was in the region of Thessalia; Derwydd and Heali had already done it a couple nights ago, but they had not given us any hints or spoilers.

    ¡°You''ll figure it out,¡± Andrea had told us at lunch yesterday.

    Back in the present, Ariana and I wayported to one of the towns we had been to in Thessalia a while back, and began making our way to the village where the quest started.

    ¡°It''s called Agapeolis,¡± I read from the map as we walked along the rustic pathway.

    ¡°That word sounds kind of familiar,¡± Ari remarked.

    ¡°Well I know part of it sounds like ''polis'', as in ''acropolis'',¡± I said.

    ¡°''Polis'' more or less means city, and ''acro'' basically means height, so ''acropolis'' pretty much means ''city on a hill''.¡± she told me.

    ¡°When did you learn Greek?¡± I wondered with interest.

    ¡°I didn''t, but Joshy did! I picked up a tiny bit from him,¡± she replied with a smile.

    ¡°Your brother is ten different kinds of cool, you know?¡± I said.

    ¡°Isn''t he?¡± she nodded. ¡°Hope that girl he met last fall starts realizing what a catch she lost,¡± she sighed, and I smiled. ¡°But the first five letters sound familiar too... I can''t place it, though.¡±

    ¡°Hmm.¡± I wondered, suddenly thinking to myself that I also was having a sensation of familiarity with the first half of that word.

    Getting there rang no bells. At least, not the memory kind. There were, however, literal bells being rung for what looked like an evening benediction for the shepherds and farmers who were coming in from the pastures and fields. The two of us waited patiently behind the small crowd until the speaker, a priestess, had finished blessing them, and then approached her. She smiled at us.

    ¡°Welcome, travellers! I am Thaliya, Priestess of the Divines here in Agapeolis! I see thee are wearing the Bands of Unity, the sacred rings of sworn lovers; do ye wish to undertake a ritual that will strengthen these rings and so strengthen your love?¡± she asked us.

    ¡°We do,¡± the two of us replied, and she smiled, lightly bowing.

    ¡°Follow me, my guests,¡± she then said, and led us to a small temple not far from the village. ¡°I serve all the Divines, but Ayra, Lady of Beauty, Love, and Passion is my purview; here is her likeness,¡± Thaliya told us as we entered, gesturing towards an elegant statue of the divine in question. ¡°Thee must pray at this altar to receive the trial before you; but first, thee must be cleansed. There is a bath below us; partake of it, and then wear the garments I lay out for thee.¡±

    ¡°Of course,¡± Ariana bowed her head, as did I, and we made our way down to do so.

    We spent several minutes in the bath below the temple, and then after we had gotten out and dried ourselves off we found two simple, sleeveless dress-tunics that came down just below our knees, both of them red in color. Returning upstairs to the main hall of the temple, we then knelt before the statue, bowing our heads and folding our hands.

    Hahh... leave it to a video game to make me feel actually spiritual about something... I quipped internally, waiting for the quest to advance. At that moment my quest log did indeed update, as did Ari''s.

    ¡°It wants us to go up to the top of a mountain and retrieve a special urn, and then to go to the top of another mountain with a sacred spring, bring it down without spilling it, and use it to cleanse a defiled Shrine of Ayra southeast of this city,¡± I summarized as I quickly read over it.

    ¡°And the catch: we can''t use our weapons and we must be ''harmonious at all times'', it says here,¡± Ariana added as she pointed to the passage in question. I read over it myself again, slowly nodding.

    ¡°That seems simple enough,¡± I noted.

    ¡°For us, definitely!¡± she smiled.

    ¡°What the heck would we even use our weapons for?¡± I wondered quietly as we got up to head out.

    ¡°You have had the revelation, I see,¡± the priestess said as she smiled at us. ¡°Go with Ayra''s favor; but beware the one-eye and his minions, they will try to stop you!¡±

    ¡°We''ll be careful,¡± I assured her, and she bowed her head as we departed the temple. ¡°Come to think of it I guess we''ll have to do the quest like this,¡± I noted.

    ¡°The only thing we have equipped besides these red dresses are the Bands of Unity.¡± Ari added.

    ¡°Seems like it''s a huge test of basic skills, then... come to think of it, if Der and Heali got this kind of quest, I can see how they would just breeze through it,¡± I remarked.

    ¡°Oh for sure,¡± Ariana nodded in agreement. ¡°What do you think a one-eye is anyway?¡±

    ¡°Hmm...¡±

    ¡°That one puzzled you too, huh?¡±

    ¡°I mean, if I thought about it enough I could prob--!!¡± I started, and then suddenly it came to me.

    ¡°What is it?¡± she asked me.

    ¡°Ari... what''s a one-eyed creature from Greek Mythology?¡±

    ¡°Hm? I guess the most obvious one would be the cy-- clops...¡± she replied, our dilemma suddenly dawning on her as well. ¡°Oh my!¡±

    ¡°This might be rougher than I thought... I bet Der just entangled him with a vine or two...¡±

    ¡°I don''t have any -- oh, I could blind him, though, if we had to.¡±

    ¡°Even without your staff?¡±

    ¡°It''s an amplifier, not a catalyst.¡±

    ¡°Oh right!¡±

    ¡°Hmm... but I wonder if that would fail us somehow...¡± Ariana pondered as we made our way along the path that would take us to the first mountain.

    ¡°Ohh, being harmonious at all times... it''s not just about us, but about everything around us,¡± I said as I snapped my fingers.

    ¡°Ooh, good catch.¡± my partner nodded. ¡°In that case I wonder if a peace-spell would work...¡±

    This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    ¡°I wonder if he''ll pop a quest for a peace offering instead...¡±

    ¡°There you go! Or a peace talk, even,¡± Ari suggested.

    ¡°Oh, true,¡± I agreed.

    We discussed the potential scenarios and the possible outcomes of meeting the one-eye as we continued on our way, reaching the mountain with the urn at its top just as the sun had gone down. Carefully we made our ascent, Ariana activating a hover-light to help us see in the dark as we picked our way up the faded mountain-path. There were some wild animals around, but we were too high of a level for them to consider dealing with us or even threatening us, so we passed by them in peace. Several times we found a spot where the pathway was either broken or blocked off, and we spent several minutes each time working to find a way around the obstacle or to overcome it and continue our ascent.

    Eventually we got to the summit, where we found a small shrine housing the urn, placed carefully upon a pedestal. Ariana was about to take it, but I quickly stopped her, pointing to a mechanism near the pedestal.

    ¡°It looks like it''s designed to release a trap of some kind if we just pick it up,¡± I told her, and she stepped back with a nod. The two of us looked over it intently, trying to discern what we could do to overcome the mechanism.

    ¡°Heali and Der got past this; we can definitely get it in one go.¡± she remarked.

    ¡°We just need to be smart about it,¡± I nodded back. ¡°Oh I see; there''s two sets of pressure plates here. I bet if we only step on one, the trap activates, but if we step on both of them to get the urn...¡±

    ¡°Then we won''t set off the trap!¡± Ariana smiled at me. We carefully stepped up to the shrine, and, at the same time, stepped on to the plates. Nothing happened. We breathed sighs of relief, and Ariana took the urn. The two of us stepped off quickly, but still nothing happened.

    ¡°Well that went well.¡± I said happily.

    ¡°Def!¡± my partner nodded, and we carefully picked our way down the mountain this time--which was definitely harder than getting up it in the first place.

    We got to the bottom sometime after the synchronous midnight, and rested for a few minutes, Ariana with her head in my lap as I sat in a side-sitting position, gently running my fingers through her hair. The crickets and frogs were chirping peacefully, undisturbed by the two of us.

    ¡°We should do this for real sometime,¡± she murmured softly.

    ¡°Definitely.¡± I agreed. At that moment, I noted that the peacefully singing critters were starting to quiet down. I patted Ari on the shoulder, and we got up slowly.

    ¡°You noticed that too, huh?¡± she whispered.

    ¡°Something''s coming. I bet it''s the one-eye.¡± I whispered back as we looked around.

    ¡°I think so too,¡± Ari said quietly.

    We looked around for several moments, seeing nothing. The sounds of chirping and chirruping began to regain its volume and steady rhythm, but the two of us did not relax. Quietly, Ariana picked up the urn again, and we softly made our way to the next mountain, straining our ears to listen for any further sounds or lack thereof as we walked. A few minutes later, I heard the sound of a ¡°neigh¡±. I looked around, and put a hand on Ari''s shoulder, barely containing a gasp at what I saw. She turned, and opened her mouth in wonder as her face lit up.

    ¡°A pegasus!¡± she breathed with excitement.

    ¡°Do you think we can ride it to the mountain?¡±

    ¡°Even if we can''t, I want to go and pet it!¡±

    ¡°Right?¡± I agreed, and we headed up to it cautiously, hoping it wouldn''t run.

    It stood there grazing away under the night sky, and upon reaching it the two of us fawned over it, patting its head or stroking its neck and back as we stood with it under the night sky. It neighed contentedly as we did so, and I went to pluck a few apples from a nearby tree to try and feed it. The pegasus accepted these with interest, and we smiled as it daintily devoured them. After several minutes like this, it made a noise as if trying to tell us something, setting itself down to allow us on its back.

    ¡°We want to go to the mountain of the sacred spring; do you know about it?¡± Ariana asked. The pegasus gave a nod of its head, and she stroked its ears encouragingly as we got on. It then stood back up, and started off at a trot before picking up to a gallop and then launching itself into the air.

    The two of us had been flying before, of course: the wyverns during the Garth-Queens War, and Dracuoatlax, obviously. But this somehow felt more magical and surreal than those experiences. Probably because it was nighttime in-game and we were on a romantic quest. As if to play up to the clich¨¦, we saw a lunar rainbow in the distance, and I took a screen-grab of the moment to show the others later. Ariana took one of us on the pegasus, and when she smiled back at me I drew her close for a kiss, which she happily returned.

    After about an hour of subjective time, the pegasus landed at the top of a certain mountain, and when we had gotten off its back it came over to nuzzle us before heading off into the night once more.

    ¡°Aww,¡± Ariana sighed, a note of glumness in her voice.

    ¡°Right?¡± I agreed, a wry smile on my face. ¡°Well, I guess it would''ve been hard to keep the urn steady while flying...¡± I remarked, rubbing the back of my neck.

    ¡°Hmm... that''s not untrue, I guess.¡± she nodded. ¡°Oh well! There''s the spring, anyway,¡± she then said, and we headed over to it. We drew the water together, just in case, and then she let me carry it for a change. ¡°Your strength stat is higher,¡± she mischievously grinned as I noted she was letting me carry the full jar as opposed to the empty one.

    ¡°You''re right.¡± I grinned back, giggling. She giggled as well, and we began our descent down the mountain, being even more cautious since we hadn''t walked up it to begin with.

    ¡°It didn''t seem so bad from the air,¡± Ari sighed as we carefully maneuvered the urn over a break in the pathway.

    ¡°I guess it was still too dark to tell for sure; it still kind of is, though,¡± I said as I got a hold of it again and carefully set it down so I could help her across.

    ¡°Whew! Thanks!¡± she smiled, and I smiled back as I picked up the urn again.

    ¡°Def!¡± I replied.

    Bit by bit, we worked our way down without incident. Ariana checked the map; the shrine southeast of Agapeolis was at least a two-hour walk from our current position. We took out a snack from our inventory to refresh ourselves, and then resumed the journey. I was starting to think about how splendidly simple the quest had been so far when we heard the sound of large footfalls coming closer. On our left, a great wooden club with a spiked tip in its right hand, was the one-eye.

    ¡°Oh boy.¡± I said with a sinking feeling. It halted before us, gazing with a quiet hostility.

    ¡°You have the sacred water, I see.¡± it said to us.

    ¡°Yes?¡± Ariana replied.

    ¡°That ridiculous priestess and her devotion to a lazy divine; my father Poseis is a better master, and Arars the Lord of War likewise. What say you, mortals? Will you surrender the water to me and my cause? I can give you a better offer than some slovenly wench idling in a bath!¡± the one-eye demanded of us.

    ¡°Only if you can find the answer to our riddle,¡± I said, an idea springing to mind.

    ¡°I can answer many riddles, mortal!¡± it spat back in derision.

    ¡°Yes, but can you find the answer is what I want to know.¡± I retorted.

    ¡°Ahh; you want me to actually bring the answer to you, I see!¡± it replied with interest. ¡°Interesting! Give me your riddle, and I will bring you your answer!¡± the one-eye grinned wickedly.

    ¡°Ahem!¡± I coughed. ¡°It soars through the air, but gallops like thunder; only the bravest or purest can find it.¡± I then said. The one-eye''s single eye narrowed in thought, and it stalked off with a snort to go and solve my riddle.

    ¡°I can''t believe you did that.¡± Ariana watched it go with a nonplussed look on her face.

    ¡°Come on, let''s hurry as fast as we can!¡± I whispered back, and we set off at a brisk walk, taking care not to spill the water.

    ¡°But what''s the answer to the--oh!!¡± Ari realized, smiling at me. ¡°He''ll never catch it, will he?¡±

    ¡°Nope,¡± I grinned back. ¡°That''s why I want to hurry before he puts it together.¡±

    ¡°How did you know to do that?¡±

    ¡°Ehh, didn''t Odysseus do something similar?¡±

    ¡°Not quite, but I see where you''re coming from.¡±

    ¡°Heh.¡± I sighed, and she giggled.

    Somehow, we made it to the defiled shrine by dawn without encountering the one-eye again. Together, we hoisted the urn above the statue of Ayra, and turned it to let the water flow over and cleanse it; seconds later it was sparkling like new, practically radiant in the morning light. Ari took a screen-grab of the scene, and our quest log updated.

    Return to Thaliya for a reward! Do not lose or break the urn!

    ¡°That was easy,¡± I said, and Ariana nodded.

    ¡°But it''s still going to be trying until we actually finish it,¡± she noted.

    ¡°True...¡± I said. ¡°Hrrmm... I wonder if our ''friend'' gave up and is coming after us... though now that we''ve used the water I wouldn''t see the point...¡±

    ¡°Agree. But he might attack us for spite.¡± my partner replied.

    ¡°Right. At least we can go faster now,¡± I said, picking up the urn again to set off at a brisk jog for our return to Agapeolis.

    ¡°Definitely!¡± Ariana said as she joined me, the two of us keeping an eye out for anything that might trip or otherwise hinder us.

    It was just as we were in sight of the village and its temple that the one-eye came into our field of vision again, and this time, he had brought friends. Ari and I exchanged a brief glance, and the two of us took off running at full speed. The one-eyes were faster, however, and were soon tailing us. But just when our ¡°friend¡± was about to catch up, the pegasus from before suddenly landed in front of them, causing them to halt in a brief panic before regrouping. It was just enough time for us to get the urn into the temple. We heard curses and grumblings outside as we caught our breath, and Priestess Thaliya received the urn from us with grace.

    ¡°My thanks, dear heroines, for your efforts. The Shrine of Ayra shines anew, and her blessing is yours. Raise your ring hands!¡± she said, and when we had done so there was a brief flash of light. She smiled, and then nodded as she returned to her duties as a priestess. We bowed our heads, and took our leave, heading out of the temple. Over in the distance we could see the dejected one-eyes stomping off, while the pegasus seemed to be waiting for us.

    ¡°Let''s go for another ride!¡± Ariana smiled.

    ¡°For sure!¡± I agreed.

    Moments later, we were in the air again, flying through the skies of Thessalia. As Ari sat before me, enjoying the sensation of the wind through her hair, I smiled, and checked on the Band of Unity that I wore. Its stat bonuses were now fifteen to Charisma and Vitality by default, and the health regeneration was now forty-percent. The shared effect made the stats thirty, adding an additional ten-percent to the regeneration and a fifteen percent shielding effect as long as we were in forty-five meters of each other. Also, there was now a diamond in mine. I blinked, and then took Ari''s left hand to look at hers; it had a diamond also.

    ¡°Hm? Oh!¡± she exclaimed in surprise as she noticed this.

    ¡°And the stats and effect they have increased as well, along with the distance we can be apart from each other,¡± I told her.

    ¡°Neat!¡± she remarked as she looked for herself. ¡°Hmm... a diamond ring now, huh? Will you get me one for real one day?¡± she asked, winking back at me.

    ¡°Ah--! I mean, one day, yeah,¡± I managed to reply with a gentle smile, and she smiled back as she leaned onto me.

    ¡°Honestly, I don''t mind if it has a diamond or not. Just so long as you mean it.¡± Ariana said to me as I wrapped my arms around her.

    ¡°You know I do.¡± I whispered back, and she smiled, nodding in reply.

    ***

    ¡°So how''d you like the quest?¡± Healina asked as we met her and Derwydd later that game day. Belle and Lysandra had done a similar one in Hollydale, and had also come to join us.

    ¡°It was super fun! And relaxing,¡± Ariana smiled back.

    ¡°Well, mostly relaxing,¡± I said, and she giggled to me.

    ¡°Hmm? Belle and I had a rougher go of it.¡± Lysandra said.

    ¡°I''ll say!¡± the pixie-girl remarked. ¡°That last boss was rude!¡±

    ¡°For sure,¡± her partner nodded.

    ¡°Note to self, don''t do romance quests in Hollydale,¡± Derwydd quipped, and we laughed. ¡°How did you get past the cyclops anyway? Ahh, it''s a one-eye in the game, isn''t it... but anyway, how''d you work that out?¡± he asked the two of us as he took a long sip of his drink.

    ¡°A one-eye, huh?¡± Belle wondered with interest.

    ¡°This I have to hear.¡± Lysandra smirked.

    ¡°Lana gave it a riddle that it had to solve by bringing the item in question to us.¡± Ariana shrugged, and Der did a spit-take off to the side while Healina''s eyes widened at us.

    ¡°Huh?!¡±

    ¡°You can do that!?¡± the two of them exclaimed in disbelief while the older two cackled with laughter.

    ¡°Apparently,¡± I shrugged.

    ¡°I had to tangle it up with vines three times,¡± the werebear-druid sighed.

    ¡°And I had to help by distracting it with bell-fairies,¡± Healina groaned. ¡°We barely made it to the shrine!¡± she told us. Ariana and I exchanged a goofy grin with each other.

    ¡°As expected of the Silvernight Twins.¡± Belle nodded wisely. ¡°You two can''t do anything without it being a complete and utter shock to everyone else!¡±

    ¡°Ah-heh-heh-heh,¡± I laughed back wryly.

    ¡°That does seem true!¡± Ariana giggled.

    ¡°By the way, did you catch the pun in that town''s name?¡± Healina then said to us with a smile.

    ¡°I thought it was some kind of pun, but no, I didn''t get it.¡± Ariana replied.

    ¡°The word ''agape'' in Greek is sometimes regarded as a word referring to the highest form of love.¡± Healina explained.

    ¡°Oh!¡± the two of us said at once, and Derwydd nodded.

    ¡°The City of Greatest Love.¡± he said.

    ¡°Definitely cool,¡± Ariana remarked.

    ¡°For sure.¡± I agreed.

    ¡°Cute!¡± Belle nodded.

    ¡°We''ll have to visit that one sometime,¡± Lysandra said. ¡°Anything besides those one-eyes around there?¡± she asked us.

    ¡°I didn''t notice anything, no,¡± Healina shook her head. ¡°What about you two?¡±

    ¡°You mean you didn''t see it?¡± I asked in reply.

    ¡°See what?¡± Derwydd wondered. Ariana then pulled up the screenshot she had taken, and the other four looked at it with wonder and awe.

    ¡°Why you lucky brats,¡± Belle quipped, smiling at us.

    ¡°I bet it''s because you already had your rings.¡± Healina smirked.

    ¡°Oh, maybe,¡± I suddenly realized.

    ¡°You two never stop amazing me.¡± Derwydd grinned.

    ¡°For sure.¡± Lysandra nodded. A second round of drinks was then delivered to our table, and we toasted to our success in the Valentine''s Quest for this year.

 Chapter Thirteen: The Sea Battle

    ¡°Starboard! Starboard!¡± I called out to Maryn, who was steering the ship. Looking behind us, I could still see the enemy vessel closing, but now that we were getting the wind on our side we would probably get ahead of them for a bit until they also adjusted.

    ¡°Rotten skunks!¡± Lizzy quipped.

    ¡°You said it...¡± I agreed as I watched their ship closely. I wasn''t sure what they were playing at yet, but it wasn''t good.

    ***

    Oh, so it''s been a couple of weeks since last time. School has been, well, school. None of us are doing terribly, though personally I''m just scraping by in math. I swear if it''s the last thing I do I will pass that last exam with a ¡°C¡± and then be done with math forever. On the brighter side of school, our language classes have been going excellently, and our work for the upcoming theater production has revved up. A lot of the smaller set pieces have been built, and we''re apparently starting on the larger ones sometime in the next week. Costumes and props are nearly done, choreography is going well, and we''ve got a little over half of our lines down. In other words, we''re right on schedule for Miss Andrews'' expectations.

    Outside of school, those of us who are more involved in certain scenes with each other have gotten together to rehearse lines or practice choreography a few times now. It feels weird to me a bit. I mean, sure, I''ve gotten used to being out with friends by now; but this is a whole new variety of people for me. They certainly have been helping me to fit in, though, and I''m doing my best to reciprocate that goodwill.

    ¡°Just a year ago you would''ve never hung out with us, huh?¡± Herby remarked as we finished with our rehearsals on Saturday.

    ¡°Ehh... I dunno about never,¡± I shrugged back.

    ¡°Come on, Herbs, he''s a gamer too you know!¡± Matthew grinned.

    ¡°I''m more of a table-top games guy though,¡± the other boy said.

    ¡°I don''t mind those,¡± I said as I got my script packed away in my satchel.

    ¡°We''ll have to play a few for our after-party then!¡± Herby smiled back jovially.

    ¡°Definitely!¡± Matthew beamed, patting my shoulder heartily.

    ¡°You need some work on that footwork, though,¡± Joanna quipped as she headed out with a wink towards us.

    ¡°Ah-heh,¡± I wryly grinned back at her retreating figure. Rachel came up with a smile, poking me.

    ¡°Allie wants us to go to dinner with her and Malcolm. You good for that?¡± she asked.

    ¡°Huh? Ah, sure!¡± I replied.

    ¡°Whew! The special couple of the year invite their successors to a feast!¡± Matthew remarked cheekily, then laughed.

    ¡°You think so?¡± Herby asked him with some surprise as I made a face and Rachel softly giggled.

    ¡°I know so!¡± Matthew returned. ¡°It''s gotta be that way! It''s just gotta! They''re gonna be this year''s breakout stars, y''know! And then they''ll be prom royalty our senior year!¡±

    ¡°Well I definitely think they''re a cute couple, for sure!¡± Herby nodded. ¡°And I do think they''d definitely work as the prom king and queen!¡± he added as we began heading out of the park we had been rehearsing in.

    ¡°I feel like we''re getting all sorts of expectations thrust upon us,¡± I softly remarked to Rachel, who grinned back.

    ¡°I don''t mind it though. I think I like the idea of being prom queen, so long as you''re my king.¡± she said as she slid her arm into mine. I felt my cheeks burning, but I couldn''t say no to her. Well I guess I technically could... but I wouldn''t.

    ¡°Anyway! We''ve gotta work on those last few lines again sometime; alliteration is crazy to get used to, huh?¡± Matthew remarked as we stopped at the sidewalk.

    ¡°You''re telling me,¡± I said with a weak laugh.

    ¡°Huh, but you''re getting better at it, buddy!¡± Herby cheerfully said, patting my arm.

    ¡°Thanks, pal,¡± I replied.

    ¡°Oh for sure he is!¡± Matthew nodded vigorously. ¡°Anyway -- you two have fun with Alz and Malc''! We''re gonna stop by the arcade!¡± he grinned as he and Herby set off.

    ¡°We are? Oh right! To beat Jonathan''s high score on the racing game!¡± the other boy said excitedly as we waved to them.

    ¡°Today''s the day, Herbs!¡± Matthew raised his fist triumphantly.

    ¡°H-he likes racing games, huh... who knew?¡±

    ¡°He definitely didn''t seem like the kind of guy to get hung up on that sort of thing,¡± Rachel agreed, and then nudged me to where the other two were waiting.

    Anyhow, we had a nice evening getting to know the other couple a bit more; the two of them had been a thing for a while now, apparently from a promise they''d made each other back in kindergarten. Rachel was enchanted by that for sure; not that I wasn''t impressed by it, of course. They''d both gotten into theater around sixth grade, and had been among the school''s most popular performers since then.

    ¡°It''s nice to take a more background role this time, you know?¡± Allie said to us, and Malcolm nodded in agreement.

    ¡°Everyone was dead-set on having us as the lead roles this year, but I think we''ll save that challenge for next year!¡± he remarked.

    ¡°Seriously, it''s great watching the two of you!¡± his girlfriend smiled.

    ¡°Aw, thanks -- we''re trying!¡± Rachel said in return.

    ¡°No no, you''re succeeding.¡± Malcolm gently chided.

    ¡°Agree.¡± Allie nodded. ¡°Oh, our drinks!¡± she then said as the waitress came over.

    ¡°Here you are!¡± she said to us as she set them down. ¡°Are we ready to order, then?¡± she asked us with a smile.

    ¡°I think so!¡± Malcolm answered, and with that we put our orders in.

    All in all, it was a lively meal and a very amiable chat we had with each other. Allie then drove us to Rachel''s home, and here the two of us got out after saying our farewells to the older two. They headed on down the street then, and Rachel softly grabbed me for a hug.

    ¡°I guess to be fair we''ve also had a thing for each other since kindergarten.¡± she said.

    ¡°That''s... not untrue,¡± I agreed as I hugged her back. ¡°There was definitely no one else on my mind.¡± I said more decisively.

    ¡°Except video game characters, maybe.¡± Rachel softly quipped.

    ¡°Ah--!!¡± I nearly choked.

    ¡°Teasing.¡± she looked up with a grin.

    ¡°Hahh...¡± a sigh of relief escaped me.

    ¡°Kiss?¡± she softly whispered. I smiled back as she pulled my face down to hers, our lips meeting for a blissful few moments and then parting hesitantly.

    ¡°Good night.¡± I said to her.

    ¡°I''ll see you in-game, Lana.¡± she replied with a smirk, and I softly laughed. After making sure she got in safely, I headed home myself.

    ***

    Back to where we came in. So, in Panarena, the guild-competition started about five days ago. It''s a Friday night tonight, and to improve our standing we''re delivering a precious cargo of goods from Yu in Xuanpu to Hr?ndring in the southwest of Vinlandia.

    By the way, we''ve set up four small fortresses in the Wildlands thanks to our pre-planning several weeks ago; none of them have been attacked yet, but we are gaining ground on resource-gathering. I guess that means most of the guilds there are waiting for the opportune moment -- such as when our gathering yields either a good quantity or a certain quality of what we''re after. We''ve allied with Dreamers Fables and Northern Warriors, along with Valiant Maidens, Valkrysti''s guild. Most of the others in the area are neutral to us: ?Valiant?Hearts?, Night Wolves, Heavenly Dragons (which surprised me, but I''ll take neutrality over enmity from them if I can''t get an alliance yet), and Jade Lotus.

    Gears and Wheels has taken a moderately neutral approach to the whole ordeal, declaring neutrality towards everyone but selling them equipment and goods for the right price. Our small but defiant alliance purchased sixteen cannons from them, outfitting one ship from each guild with four each.

    As to enemies, among others, there''s the King-Priests of the Demon Sands, Guardians of the Eternal Citadel, Venomheart, and a number of other small-time or outlaw guilds that have taken a hostile stance. Speaking of King-Priests, we managed to get the orb from Ghev''riuln a couple weeks ago from that dungeon which was literally a monster, but we haven''t had much time to find the other five since then.

    But right now the ship that was chasing us was one from Guardians of the Eternal Citadel. It was a huge one with several banks of oars and a dragon''s head shaped into the front of it, but there were no sails. Still, the manpower they had to have on the oars was enough to keep us on our toes.

    ¡°If we lose this shipment we''ll fall hard in the rankings.¡± Ariana said as she helped Belle, who had taken to human form, keep the sails in the wind.

    ¡°Where the heck is Valkrysti?¡± the older girl wondered anxiously.

    ¡°Our caravel has the advantage of sails, and we have the guns on this ship; I don''t know if they have any, but they''ll definitely have crossbowmen and ballistae.¡± I noted as I observed the ship with a spyglass.

    ¡°They can''t all be players, though,¡± Lysandra said. ¡°I''ll bet a large percentage of them are NPC hirelings, which should tell us something about their guild coffers.¡±

    ¡°They are in the top five after all.¡± Lizzy shrugged reluctantly.

    ¡°Northern Warriors and Valiant Maidens can probably field an army of NPCs too, and they probably will considering their fleets. That was a lot of longships, after all,¡± Healina said as she recalled the sight with a bemused grin.

    ¡°Oh for sure.¡± I nodded.

    ¡°I counted at least thirty from just the Northern Warriors.¡± Lysandra agreed.

    ¡°They went with quantity for sure; but I think Valiant Maidens only has ten, all of them pretty mean looking.¡± Ariana said. ¡°That one was almost a hundred feet long!¡±

    ¡°Wasn''t there a story about one like that in the old sagas?¡± Heali wondered.

    ¡°I think so,¡± I scratched my head.

    ¡°It is amazing how they made it, though, and got those specially made cannons for it,¡± Anhe remarked.

    The original longships of the real world never had cannons, of course. Valkrysti''s guild leader, Reginleif, had the cannons for her flagship specially crafted with the ship''s design in mind, as had Kiana for her flagship. As for the Dreamers'' flagship, it was a caravel like ours; right now they had their hands full on another side of the map south of the Phoenix Domain west of Xuanpu, but we would definitely be teaming up more often as the event wore on.

    I heard the sound of horns blaring on the ship behind us, and then the thunderous sound of drums. It was probably a signal to the rowers. Sure enough, the lumbering hulk of a ship began turning to chase us again, and I could tell from the rhythm of the drum-beats I heard that they were trying to pick up speed and overtake us.

    ¡°Can''t we do anything to slow them down?¡± Lizzy fumed.

    ¡°If we turn to give them a blast we''ll have a heck of a time regaining this wind, and it probably won''t even dent them. They''ll catch up for sure then.¡± I said with a shake of my head.

    ¡°Grr!¡± she groaned. ¡°Make me feel better!¡± she turned to me with a sour face.

    ¡°Oh! There''s our pirate allies!¡± I suddenly noticed, a faint grin coming to my eyes.

    The pirates that we had gained as allies several weeks ago suddenly came out of the blue, cannons blazing as they began an assault on the big ship chasing us. They raised their flag, and at once the Guardians began paying more attention to them than to us. As I watched, I saw that the pirates'' aim was more to lead them off rather than defeat them. Though they did do a number on the port-side oars of the larger vessel as they carefully kept themselves out of harm''s way. I could just hear them shouting taunts and laughing heartily as the enemy vessel tried to squash them -- which they could probably do if they got in a good enough position.

    ¡°Whew!¡± Lizzy sighed in relief.

    ¡°They''ll probably back out in about a minute more, but that''ll be enough time.¡± I said.

    ¡°Works for me,¡± Maryn smiled as she turned us more into the wind.

    Belle resumed her pixie-form, hurriedly donning her usual attire, and flew up to the crow''s nest to observe the situation. After a few moments she fluttered back down to perch on my shoulder.

    ¡°It''s just like you thought, girlie; our pirate ship is heading away. The Guardians'' are getting out new oars, but it should be a few minutes before they have us in their sights again.¡± she said to me.

    ¡°Let''s make every second count!¡± I called out to the others, who affirmed the order with a resounding ¡°Aye!¡± as we set to work.

    Just as Belle had predicted, the larger ship was back on us after a few minutes, but by now we were clear of the Jade Sea and were entering the Wild Blue Expanse, an oceanic continuation of the Borderlands between Harmonia and Onyxus. To the right I could see the shining ports of Ur-Pom, and to the left I could see the dread silhouette of the Firelands.

    ¡°Ships ahead!¡± Belle called from the lookout that she had returned to.

    ¡°Flags?¡± I called back. There was a moment of silence.

    ¡°It''s the Valiant Maidens!¡± she then said triumphantly.

    ¡°Just like we planned!¡± I grinned.

    ¡°Woo!¡± Lizzy patted my back eagerly.

    The classic visage of striped, square sails was soon visible to us, the dragon''s heads on their prows seeming to silently issue a defiant challenge to the other dragon-faced ship. I looked back to see what the other ship would do now that our allies were in sight. They didn''t seem to be taking the hint. I scanned the horizons; there was a series of islands that our ship would definitely fit through but the bigger ship would not. Tapping Maryn''s shoulder, I pointed to them, and she nodded back. We adjusted the sails as she turned us to head straight for them.

    Reginleif and her guild noticed our intent at once, and she sent five ships to round the archipelago from one side while she continued with the others to wedge herself between us and the Guardians'' massive ship. Battle-horns resounded from the approaching vessels, and the enemy began to take note of them.

    ¡°This is gonna be tight--is that channel even deep enough for us?¡± Maryn wondered in concern.

    ¡°Just barely,¡± Lysandra said as she came to join us. ¡°Keep us dead in the middle!¡±

    ¡°Got it!¡± the other girl returned.

    ¡°These must be the Threaded Needle Islands,¡± the werewolf-girl continued. ¡°They definitely won''t be able to follow us through them, but Reginleif and the others might not last fending them off.¡±

    ¡°Don''t write her off yet,¡± I returned, pointing back.

    The five ships under her direct command had adopted a hit-and-run style, with her lead ship circling around at a safer distance to blast them with the cannons they had. For the Guardians, it was a choice of trying to come after us while under fire or fighting them and letting us get away. Reginleif would probably have her fleet back off and regroup once we were safely away, hopefully having stalled them to the point where they would just give up for the night.

    Just then we heard the sound of larger cannons firing; one of our allied ships began limping away hurriedly, and Reginleif backed the rest of her fleet off. So the enemy did have guns, and it wasn''t just any regular cannons the enemy had; they''d bought some serious artillery to punch through other vessels with ease.

    It''s a good thing we never gave them the chance to hit us with those, I grimaced, hoping that our allies would manage a comeback. Someone from their fleet shot a fire-arrow into the sky to signal the ships that were rounding the archipelago; they immediately turned so that they could head back the way they came, and when we had cleared the isles they surrounded us to keep us safe. Valkrysti herself was on the lead ship from this detached fleet.

    ¡°They have ship-busters,¡± she remarked as she hopped over to us.

    So all cannons are capable of busting up wooden ships. That''s just common sense. But these cannons and the special ammunition they took were so efficient at doing so that they were actually given that nickname specifically. One shot was enough to cripple and possibly sink a vessel like ours or theirs, and more than one would definitely do so.

    ¡°What do you think Reginleif will do?¡± I asked her.

    ¡°She''ll definitely keep helping just for spite; one ship is gonna have to stay behind and help the one that got hit though.¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡±

    ¡°Ugh, how many spare oars does that thing have?¡± she sighed in frustration as she looked back to see what the Guardians were doing.

    Their ship had already replaced the oars that had been smashed up, and now they were cruising on by while still being harried by Reginleif. Two of the other undamaged ships came alongside to help her, while the last one went to help their friends who had beached themselves. The intimidating ship then fired again on the already downed vessel, further smashing it up. I made a soft growling sound, and Ari put a hand on my shoulder.

    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

    ¡°Rude!¡± Valkrysti exclaimed with indignation. ¡°Still, we did gain some distance. Hr?ndring should be about an hour away, game-time of course.¡±

    ¡°Hopefully we can keep them off us that long.¡± Maryn remarked.

    ¡°If it wasn''t so heavily warded I could have set fire to it a while ago now,¡± Ariana sighed, her features scrunching up in a slight pout.

    ¡°They warded it against magic even, huh?¡± Valkrysti said.

    ¡°And they practically came out of nowhere again.¡± I shook my head. ¡°Last time we got lucky because we could go upriver through Ur-Pom to evade them.¡±

    ¡°Now we have to round Ur-Pom and head for Vinlandia.¡± Lizzy grunted as she helped Heali and Lysandra with the sails.

    ¡°Still... that''s got to be about the only ship they have; then again a monster ship like that would be about the only one they need if it''s done right.¡± Valkrysti observed, thinking about it.

    ¡°I thought that too, so I went to spy out their harbor near Yifu in Kunlun,¡± I replied. ¡°They have five of those things. And about thirty junks.¡±

    ¡°Ho-ly mo-ly,¡± the other girl exclaimed in surprise. ¡°They must have a lot of income!¡±

    ¡°Well, sure, they''re a much larger guild than either of us,¡± I shrugged.

    ¡°They are the largest and oldest guild in Xuanpu.¡± Anhe chimed in. ¡°The last time I knew anything, they had just passed twelve-hundred members.¡±

    ¡°Snap!¡± I said with awe.

    ¡°Twelve-hundred?¡± the golden-haired girl whistled in amazement.

    ¡°Now I''m even more surprised that none of the resource areas or dungeons have dried up completely thanks to their titanic ship-building, then.¡± I said.

    ¡°Heh. Titanic. Good one. Heh-heh.¡± Lizzy quipped with a light laugh, softly jabbing me with her elbow.

    ¡°Huh? Oh,¡± I affected a wry grin as I realized my incidental pun.

    ¡°Titanic...¡± Valkrysti repeated to herself in a murmur. I saw the spark of an idea rise up in her eyes. She turned to the other ships, and signaled their captains to come over and join us; we then gathered below deck in the cabin.

    ¡°What''s the plan, Valk?¡± Siegfrieda, one of Valkrysti''s fellow officers, asked her.

    ¡°We''re gonna lure them to that spot, here,¡± Valkrysti replied, pointing to a certain spot west of Hr?ndring.

    ¡°Ohh, that one!¡± one of her other guildies, Grainne, said with interest.

    ¡°What''s this spot?¡± I asked them.

    ¡°It''s not a iceberg, sadly, but it''s just as good.¡± Valkrysti grinned back. ¡°Say, Lana, do you know much about the sea-monsters here yet?¡±

    ¡°Not too much--¡± I shrugged back, and then I became more alert. ¡°Wait, what kind of sea-monster?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Don''t tell her yet, keep it a surprise!¡± another officer named Joanna -- not Joanna from school, mind you -- quickly said, and the others giggled with anticipation.

    ¡°We''ll need some bait, though. Do you still have that item, Jo?¡± Valkrysti asked.

    ¡°I do,¡± the other girl nodded in answer. ¡°Though I''m not sure that thing will come for it.¡±

    ¡°It will if we add my item to it.¡± her fellow officer returned.

    ¡°Oh right!¡±

    ¡°So how will we know this spot when we see it?¡± I then asked, deciding that I would get a clearer answer for this than about the sea-monster from this point on.

    ¡°This particular spot has a specific name: the Ske?lpadh Sea.¡± Valkrysti told us. ¡°The water has a deeper blue tinge to it than the rest of the ocean, so we''ll definitely notice it.¡±

    ¡°Hmm.¡± Ariana nodded as she listened. ¡°So there''s something here you want to lure out to defeat them, then?¡±

    ¡°It''ll take some very precise timing; and I hate to say it, but we''ll need to use you guys as bait once we''re there,¡± Siegfrieda said.

    ¡°We can handle that much, at least,¡± I nodded.

    ¡°Good!¡± Valkrysti remarked. ¡°Then let''s get to it!¡±

    The other ship-captains headed back out to get to their vessels and set our new course, while Ari, Valkrysti, and I went to check down in the hold. Exactly thirty crates of miscellaneous goods and artifacts sat there, each of them carefully stacked and secured with ropes so that they did not tumble out or break the contents within.

    ¡°Thirty crates, huh? I see why you and the other guild-leaders were adamant on getting them through,¡± our guest remarked as she looked them over. ¡°And all of them are rare quality, too, huh?¡±

    ¡°Every single one.¡± Ariana nodded back.

    ¡°Wow.¡±

    ¡°Well we had to do something drastic after that inconclusive battle around Thremont Peaks.¡± I shrugged back, and Valkrysti frowned.

    ¡°That was a ridiculous three-way.¡± she sighed, shaking her head slightly.

    Four nights ago, Ari, Lysandra, Belle, Anhe, Maryn, and myself had been on with a few people from Dreamers Fables and several from Valiant Maidens in the Wildlands, trying to take down a fortress owned by the King-Priests, who had set up a remarkable fastness this time in response to our pre-event assault on them in Memphani. We had just about broken through when four raid parties from Guardians came charging in; after reordering our formations and rethinking our strategy we forced both sides into a general stalemate where nobody really won anything. I''d had that kind of experience in Age of Hyperborea, but it was still souring.

    ¡°Since then, the King-Priests have discovered a rare mineral in Thremont, advancing them in the rankings to the top five with Guardians. I doubt we''ll actually win the event, but we at least want to push them out of it.¡± Ariana said.

    ¡°Exactly.¡± I nodded in agreement.

    ¡°Oh definitely.¡± Valkrysti said as a smile crossing her face. ¡°And these guys, too.¡± she nodded towards the back of the ship. With that I headed back out on deck with the two of them to see what was going on; that massive ship had not gained on us too much, but it was still uncomfortably close.

    ¡°I bet they had a spy in Yu to start off with,¡± I noted, and Ariana softly nodded at the words. ¡°Which means there''s a decent chance they wanted to steal the cargo for themselves rather than destroy us, but the closer we get to port the likelier it is they''ll just blast us to smithereens.¡±

    ¡°So where is this heading taking us?¡± Maryn asked as we turned back to the ship.

    ¡°To a surprise.¡± Valkrysti softly smirked. Maryn looked over at me, and I shrugged helplessly, giving her a half-smile. She let out a short sigh, returning the half-grin as she resumed her focus on the helm.

    For the next half of an hour, we kept on our course for the Ske?lpadh Sea. And for every second of that journey, we just barely kept our distance from the Guardians'' massive ship, which Anhe now told us was called a ¡°Tekkousen¡±.

    ¡°This one is more stylized than the real ones, though,¡± she noted. ¡°It was the atakebune that had a dragon-head in real history, but it is a fantasy game here.¡±

    ¡°Well, it''s less of a head and more a relief, I''d say,¡± Healina said.

    ¡°This is true.¡± the younger girl nodded.

    ¡°Get ready.¡± Valkrysti then said, and began readying the apparent bait from the other component she had received from Joanna.

    At Valkryisti''s direction, we began slowing down as we passed over a certain spot, and she went to the rear of our ship, dropping the bait into the water, where it floated. We were still moving away at a good pace, but I presumed our slowing was a gambit to lure the Guardians into speeding up. Which they did, by the way, the massive oar banks churning with a stronger will. I could see the bait just at the front of their ship; I could also see the signs of something rising up out of the water. My eyes widened.

    ¡°What the--¡± I started to say, and then it broke the surface.

    A huge turtle, huger than even the warship behind us, burst out of the waves to take the bait that Valkrysti had dropped. It also rammed through the enemy vessel behind us, totaling its front side and wrecking some of the midsection before it submerged again. We heard all sorts of shouting and screams coming from behind us as Valkrysti ordered us to full sail again, and I could not help but smirk as I saw the Tekkousen slowly sinking into the sea. There was one person clinging defiantly to a spot that still hovered above the water; they shook their fist at us, shouting something in Mandarin before their perch toppled over into the waves.

    ¡°You do not want to know.¡± Anhe said with a shake of her head, and I accepted the answer--though I was sure I had caught the word ¡°zh¨±¡±, meaning ¡°pigs¡±.

    After that, we made our way unimpeded to Hr?ndring, where we successfully delivered our cargo and were abundantly rewarded for the effort. When Reginleif and her other ships caught up to us, we went to go celebrate at a local pub for a couple hours, agreeing that the Silvernight Queens would help her guild build another ship or two to help them recuperate the damage done to the one nearly lost.

    ¡°Honestly, using poor old Ske?l the Old to tear apart that ship,¡± Reginleif grinned, shaking her head at Valkrysti.

    ¡°It worked!¡± the other girl retorted with amusement.

    ¡°Was that the name of that giant turtle?¡± I wondered.

    ¡°Yep!¡± the golden-haired girl nodded. ¡°The Ske?lpadh Sea''s name is adapted from some Scandinavian word meaning ''turtle''; but the creature doesn''t have an official name--it''s one of those creatures--so around here we call it ''Ske?l'', or ''Turt''.¡±

    ¡°I think it''s adapted from Swedish, actually,¡± Reginleif said.

    ¡°''Turt'', huh?¡± I remarked with a softly bemused grin.

    One of ¡°those¡± creatures, huh? I mused inwardly. One of the unbeatable mechanics of the game that lurk in odd corners or around certain dungeons, that is. As I took a sip of my drink, I began wondering if there were more of them that we could exploit in further adventures or competitions. I''d bet there''s a kraken around somewhere, I reflected.

    ¡°How much do you think it''ll cost them to remake that huge ship?¡± Ariana then asked.

    ¡°Oh, wow,¡± I said as the question registered in my brain.

    ¡°Good Lord, I don''t wanna even guess.¡± Reginleif sighed wearily as she smiled.

    ¡°Considering the type of wood and the amount used in its construction, the metal-plating it had for defenses, the amount of oars, the NPC rowers they probably had, the armaments, and especially the big cannons...¡± Anhe listed out, and I nodded back, a wry grin on my face.

    ¡°That was silver-steel plating; and the cannons and their ammunition were made of some rare ore from Heimgar... all told it probably cost them two and a half million gold for that one ship.¡± I said.

    ¡°O-M-G!¡± Lizzy exclaimed as her jaw dropped.

    ¡°Right?¡± I returned, and Reginleif let out a whistle of amazement.

    ¡°We could build ten ships like mine for that amount of gold.¡± she noted.

    ¡°I bet with twelve-hundred players contributing to a guild''s coffer, that amount is probably nothing to them, though.¡± Grainne shrugged as she started on her third mug.

    ¡°Nothing, huh?¡± I softly repeated to myself. ¡°I bet losing all their ships somehow would dent it a good bit, though.¡±

    ¡°Don''t count on Ske?l being a help again.¡± Reginleif said as she looked over at me.

    ¡°I wasn''t even thinking it.¡± I nodded. ¡°And now that they''ve had that happen to them, they''ll be looking up monsters like it in these waters so that they can avoid any more surprises.¡±

    ¡°Oh for sure.¡± Lysandra agreed.

    ¡°So what''s on the agenda for tomorrow?¡± Valkrysti asked.

    ¡°We got a good boost today, but I want to try and add to it if we can; let''s do the caravan run.¡± I suggested.

    ¡°Ooh... someone''s ambitious.¡± Lizzy said as she looked over with a grin.

    ¡°We have a cheat, you know.¡± I replied with a wink.

    ¡°Don''t tell me you''ll bring him out...?¡± Reginleif nearly gasped. A triumphant smirk came to my face, and the other Silvernight Queens also began grinning or chuckling at the words.

    ***

    So for most of the day Saturday, except some brief intervals for lunch and quick run-throughs of our lines, we spent the day guiding a large caravan of special resources through Memphani to its destination in Kingsmark. With us were members of Northern Warriors, Valiant Maidens, Dreamers Fables, Fyu Dongtian, and Dracuoatlax. It was not something the latter consented to easily, and only by making a subtle appeal to his ego did I manage to convince him that it would be worthwhile to thwart any attempt on the caravan -- for example, if Djaziim should be brought out to attack us. That worked like a charm.

    ¡°So easy,¡± Ariana had whispered to me, and I nodded as we softly giggled.

    And so the dragon proudly hovered over the caravan as its ultimate protector and vanguard, ensuring that not a soul messed with us. It took us until early Sunday morning in real-time to get the caravan to its destination, but we got it there on time without even so much as a bandit attack. The dragon, immensely pleased, promised to help us out with this sort of thing more often, so long as it meant proving the cowardice of Djaziim. And then Sunday night we did some easier jobs, collecting resources from our outposts in the Wildlands or fending off raiders, mostly of the NPC variety but not without a few players venturing near to prod our defenses. Then Monday reared its ugly head with a downpour of rain, dragging us back to reality -- and back to school.

    ***

    As usual, Ty gave me a flick as we headed into the school and parted ways, though I noticed that the flick had become more friendly over the past several weeks. Not that it had ever been un-friendly since he started doing it, but it was definitely verging on playful as opposed to a reminder that a rival was still around.

    I smiled to myself as I thought about this. Various circumstances had come together this year, and it definitely felt that I was now a part of a focal point. Not that I thought the world was revolving around me or anything, but it was... oddly nice, to not be isolated the way I had been isolating myself before.

    ¡°This year''s definitely an improvement for some of us, huh?¡± I softly remarked as I reached my locker.

    ¡°I like to hope it''s one for all of us, but I get what you mean.¡± Rachel returned as she joined me, and we smiled over at each other. ¡°Hey you.¡±

    ¡°Hey.¡± I replied.

    ¡°Feeling ready for today?¡± she asked.

    ¡°Is anyone ever ready for math lectures?¡±

    ¡°I feel like Tory is.¡±

    ¡°Besides her.¡±

    ¡°Then nope.¡± Rachel grinned.

    ¡°But rehearsals should be fun this afternoon,¡± I noted.

    ¡°Oh for sure.¡± she agreed. ¡°Don''t forget we have our workplace visitation this Saturday, too.¡±

    ¡°Gyeck?!¡± I recalled with a jolt.

    ¡°Ahh--! He forgot,¡± Rachel smiled to herself.

    ¡°Of course I forgot about visiting the game''s producers when the game event itself heats up on Saturday,¡± I said with a bashful grin, and as we finished taking out our books and headed into class that same realization struck her as well.

    ¡°Oh, snap,¡± she she said as we sat down. ¡°And we were gonna go looking for that fifth orb, too...¡± she frowned.

    ¡°We should do that as a side-focus this week while the others worry about the big haul on Friday night...¡± I mused aloud, and Rachel nodded in agreement.

    ¡°Think Myanihia has a lead yet?¡± she asked me.

    Myanihia, true to her word, was playing at being our most invisible ally in this competition. Behind the scenes, she had quietly devastated several small caravans that the King-Priests were counting on, and she had also managed to gather some intel on Venomheart. The details of that were something she was going to recount for us tonight at a pre-arranged meeting spot in Harmonia City.

    ¡°She''ll at least have info on Venomheart, which is just as important.¡± I answered.

    ¡°That''s true. They''re practically invisible yet managing to stay in the top ten.¡± she nodded back. Further discussion was cut off by the bell for homeroom, and the school day properly began.

    Our reprieve at lunch felt all too short; Andrea reminded us about the upcoming work-visitation, and Rachel told them of our plan to do some more digging into the fifth orb''s location, to which they agreed on, and we discussed plans for a final visitation before the school year ended.

    ¡°We should just go to Fun Castle for that,¡± Ellie suggested. ¡°I don''t think our boss would have a problem with it at all.¡±

    ¡°He''d definitely encourage it,¡± Thomas agreed.

    ¡°I''ll go with that,¡± I said.

    ¡°Same,¡± Rachel nodded.

    ¡°Five for it, counting myself -- what about you two?¡± Andrea said to Mary and Anhe.

    ¡°I think that is a good idea, though maybe next year we can visit one of my family''s restaurants,¡± Anhe said.

    ¡°Noted!¡± the red-haired girl smiled, jotting it down.

    ¡°No arguments from me.¡± Mary told her.

    ¡°All right! Our last destination for the year is decided!¡±

    ¡°Our last workplace destination, you mean.¡± Ellie grinned.

    ¡°Hmm? Oh, our summer trip!¡± Andrea recalled with a smile.

    ¡°It''s too early for that,¡± I said with a laugh.

    ¡°Do you know how hard it is to book a vacation at the last moment?¡± Ellie fixed me with a stare, and I blinked uncertainly. ¡°Exactly. I''mma call Chrissy tonight and see what she and Mandy think about popping in for lunch this week sometime so we can all pick a spot for that.¡±

    ¡°Or we could just talk about it at lunch this Saturday,¡± I remarked, and the blonde girl gave me a smile.

    ¡°That works better!¡± she agreed. ¡°But I''m still calling her to get her ready for it.¡±

    ¡°Sure.¡± I shrugged back.

    ¡°One more thing to think about,¡± Thomas wearily smiled.

    The rest of the school day passed like a breeze, and then it was back to rehearsals. We saw Thomas and some of his friends hard at work on a stage-piece for Nottingham Square, and he waved back to us as we waved over to him. I halted a moment to take a look at the rest of the set-pieces that they had already constructed; Rachel stopped with me, looking for herself.

    ¡°I can''t wait for this!¡± she whispered excitedly.

    ¡°I mean...¡± I whispered back hesitantly, but then smiled. ¡°Yeah. I guess I''m excited, too.¡± I then said, and she patted my arm.

    ¡°I know.¡± she grinned.

    ¡°Yoo-hoo, lovebirds,¡± Joanna Love called over to us. ¡°Act Three, Scene Seven?¡±

    ¡°Co-ming!¡± Rachel answered, leading me along so we could rehearse that scene, and several others, before we had to go home.

    ***

    ¡°So Rachel, I hear you''re into a certain game.¡± Joanna said later as we sat waiting for our rides. Thomas had work, so he couldn''t drop us off as usual, so I had called up my dad for a lift.

    ¡°Panarena?¡± my girlfriend replied, and the older girl nodded.

    ¡°That''s the one. Are you into the guild competition with anyone?¡±

    ¡°Pretty much,¡± Rachel said.

    ¡°Hmm...¡±

    ¡°What about you?¡±

    ¡°I play a lot lately. Have to keep my guild in the top ten for the event, after all.¡± she grinned back.

    The words echoed in my head. Have to keep my guild in the top ten for the event after all. Her guild. In the top ten.

    ¡°Oh?¡± Rachel remarked with curiosity, though I knew she was probably analyzing the words just as I was.

    ¡°For sure. It''s tough, though... there''s this group called the Silvernight Queens. Heh, they gave another guild heck the other night in some naval encounter, or maybe the other guild was giving them heck and had the tables turned... anyway, they look like a real threat and they''ve got a solid alliance. So we''re keeping ourselves low-profile for the most part.¡± Joanna said.

    ¡°Then it sounds impressive that you''re in the top ten.¡± Rachel smiled back.

    ¡°We just do a lot of small jobs as opposed to a few big ones.¡± the older girl shrugged back in answer. ¡°We''re going for quantity over quality.¡±

    ¡°Whatever works.¡± my girlfriend said. Just then my dad pulled up, and Joanna gave us both a pat.

    ¡°See you two tomorrow!¡± she beamed, and headed off to where her car was waiting. The two of us said goodbye in return, and got in the car waiting for us.

    ¡°Hey, kiddo! Hiya, other kiddo!¡± my dad said as we buckled in.

    ¡°Hi, Mister Daniels!¡± Rachel smiled back.

    ¡°Bah, you can call me Al, I don''t mind.¡± he shrugged back as we set off. ¡°It''s been over half a year now, hasn''t it?¡±

    ¡°Oh, that''s true,¡± Rachel nodded.

    ¡°Honestly, thank you.¡± my dad then said. She looked puzzled for a moment, then smiled.

    ¡°It''s me who should thank all of you, especially your family and Andrea''s.¡± she replied.

    ¡°Heh, we''ll keep score later. Sean, you want off at her house as well?¡±

    ¡°At least take my bags home this time,¡± I answered him, and he cackled for what felt like the rest of the ride over to where Rachel lived at those words.

    When we stepped out of the car at the house in question, he beeped, and I waved as he set off for the house. Rachel waved too, and then looked at me with a serious look.

    ¡°You know, now that I think about it, remember that Melody girl?¡± she said to me in a soft voice.

    ¡°From the Summerlands Isle?¡± I said, nodding back. ¡°You think that was Joanna?¡±

    ¡°Something about that girl reminds me of her, now that I think about it. More importantly though...¡±

    ¡°Joanna''s guild is in the top ten, working behind the scenes to maintain their ranking and not doing anything obvious.¡±

    ¡°Exactly. Remind you of anyone?¡± Rachel looked at me knowingly. It took me only a moment to pinpoint her thoughts. A shudder ran through me.

    ¡°Venomheart.¡± I whispered even more softly.

    ¡°I wonder what Myanihia will say to us tonight.¡± she said as she nodded back.

    I stared at the ground for a moment, picturing Joanna. Then I recalled what I knew about the player nicknamed The Blade. There was almost no one in Panarena that had ever beaten them in a duel. They''d kept out of the Grand Tournament, though. People on the forums were of the opinion that The Blade had been gauging the competition for next year''s tournament, which I found credible considering their quiet yet dangerous reputation. More importantly, the player named Melody did sort of resemble Joanna.

    ¡°Joanna''s fencing really would translate to making her a deadly player in-game,¡± I remarked as I lifted my head again. ¡°But I can''t wrap my head around her leading that guild yet. We''ll see what Myanihia tells us after dinner.¡± I said, and Rachel nodded. She gave me a hug, and when she was safely in the door I hurried home.

 Chapter Fourteen: A Plays The Thing

    It''s a good thing homework has been light the past couple of weeks, I thought to myself as we finished it together via video-call. Dinner had been eaten a while ago, and then Rachel had called me up so we could work on what we had until we got it done, sighing in relief as I made at least some progress in the math problems. When it was done we ended the call, only to meet up again in the virtual world of Panarena minutes later.

    As soon as we had loaded in, we went to Harmonia City, making our way to the quieter side of the Market District where Myanihia awaited us. We found her at an out-of-the-way bakery and sweets shop, contentedly eating a plate full of muffins and tarts with a smile of delight on her face. It was such an odd reversal of her usual demeanor that I nearly cracked up. She waved us over, and as we sat down she took a cloth off of the basket in the center, revealing more baked goods. We thanked her at once and dug in heartily.

    ¡°Mm-mm!¡± Ariana happily smiled as she ate up one of the raspberry tarts; I went for one of the classics first, a chocolate chip muffin.

    ¡°Speaking of which, how''s your cooking skill?¡± I asked her.

    ¡°Nowhere near this good.¡± my partner returned.

    ¡°This one, is the best. Even the cutesy one, isn''t as good with their desserts.¡± Myanihia told us. I remembered the one we had gone too during the tournament, deciding that was the one she meant.

    ¡°We need to go back to that fantasy restaurant, speaking of which. Those desserts there looked amazing.¡± Ari said.

    ¡°Oh for sure.¡± I agreed.

    ¡°Oh, you know it,¡± Myanihia smiled.

    ¡°We do now!¡± Ariana smiled back.

    ¡°It is, a good one.¡± the other girl nodded. ¡°This was just what, I needed, after all that ruckus tonight.¡± she remarked with a happy sigh as she finished up one of the tarts.

    ¡°Sounds rough,¡± I returned.

    ¡°Real life. But, enough of that.¡± the older girl said. ¡°I found out a few details, about Venomheart.¡± she continued as a more solemn expression came to her face.

    ¡°Oh?¡± Ariana asked.

    ¡°There are only seven of them. I, couldn''t get all of their names, but, their leader, is best known, as The Blade.¡± she told us.

    I knew it, I thought as I felt my heart sink.

    ¡°Other than her, there are three others, I got the names for. Cyan Idewyll, Venomy, and, Clara Toxin.¡±

    ¡°Wonderful puns.¡± I grimaced.

    ¡°They... are not subtle, are they?¡± Myanihia vaguely smiled.

    ¡°Are they really all poisoners?¡± Ariana wondered.

    ¡°Of one sort or another.¡± Myanihia nodded back. ¡°The Blade, or Melody; she uses it the least, but she has, the most deadly poisons. Cyan; he is a necromancer, basically, focused on necrotic poisons. Venomy; he is an assassin. That person, is not on the rankings, for shadow warriors; but, Lana, many people think that he is on par with us, and with Rayna.¡±

    ¡°I''ll remember that.¡± I said.

    ¡°And, Clara; she... is a witch. A nature witch, focused on using toxins, poisons, or venom, from nature, as well as an arsenal of druid-type skills.¡± the older girl finished.

    ¡°An evil Der, huh? Oh boy,¡± I sighed. ¡°Thanks for checking on all that, by the way.¡± I then said to her, and she nodded.

    ¡°Of course. And, also, this tome.¡± Myanihia then said, placing it on the table. Ariana opened it up to take a look.

    ¡°Hmm... it''s in one of the lore languages, but it looks... off...¡± she remarked, frowning at her observations.

    ¡°I think, it is a code, of some kind.¡± the Snow Elf returned.

    ¡°We''ll need Heali for this thing, then. She''s best at it.¡± Ariana said. ¡°Is it a clue to the fifth orb?¡±

    ¡°It is. I found it in Bretony. Perhaps, the orb is hidden there as well.¡± our friend replied.

    ¡°Oh nice,¡± I said at once.

    ¡°Also, Lana...¡± Myanihia began, her face troubled as she paused. Ariana looked up at her with concern, and I swallowed what I was eating before speaking.

    ¡°What''s up?¡± I asked her.

    ¡°Djaziim; they used him earlier, to attack in the Wildlands. They, didn''t find your outposts, yet, but they did devastate three of Reginleif''s, and two of Peaches'' as well.¡± she told me.

    I frowned at the news. Valiant Maidens and Dreamers Fables had larger outposts than we did, so losing them cost them more than it would us, even though they had several others for back-up sites and rally points throughout the Wildlands.

    ¡°I''ve marked as many of their holdings as I could find.¡± Myanihia then said, passing me the map data. I looked it over, the ghost of a smile on my face. ¡°The forum posts, should be quite interesting, tomorrow.¡± she said with a cat-like smirk.

    ¡°You betcha.¡± I returned with a mischievous tone. ¡°Say, Myanihia...¡± I then said, putting the map data away for now. ¡°Do you just... wanna join us now?¡±

    Myanihia''s cheeks colored, and she looked away for a moment, her expression uncertain.

    You''d think I''d asked her out on a date or something, I quietly thought, rubbing the back of my neck.

    ¡°Ahh... if that''s rushing you, then I''m sorry,¡± I said with a gentle laugh.

    ¡°N-no, it''s fine,¡± she returned.

    I''ve never heard her stammer before, either... huh.

    ¡°La-na. Let''s stick to our agreement with her.¡± Ariana patted my hands.

    ¡°Ah--yeah,¡± I smiled back, and Myanihia''s smile returned as she nodded.

    ¡°That, will be best for me.¡± she said, and we smiled. ¡°Now, let''s finish all of these before we part ways!¡± she winked, patting the basket.

    ¡°You''re on!¡± I grinned back as the three of us turned our attention to the baked goods in earnest, eagerly devouring them.

    ***

    ¡°Hmm...¡± Healina mused as she looked over the tome later that night. ¡°This is definitely something to do with Bretony. But more importantly; Myanihia probably told you about what happened in the Wildlands?¡± she said to us.

    ¡°She did.¡± I nodded.

    ¡°What''s the plan, boss?¡± Lizzy asked me at once.

    ¡°Need you ask?¡± I replied as I pulled out the map data Myanihia had given me and sharing a copy with the others. ¡°We''ve got targets, and we''ve got a dragon. Actually, one of these is a port-outpost, isn''t it?¡± I mused, looking it over again. At that moment I got message notifications. It was from the other alliance members.

    ¡°Yep, they want retribution, quick.¡± Ariana said as she read the one she got. ¡°Kiana and Reginleif are taking their fleets out now, and Peaches is on her way with her guild to meet up with us near Oakdells.¡±

    ¡°Lizzy, take Fyu and the others and meet up with Peaches. I''m gonna bring Dracuoatlax.¡± I said to our smith, who nodded back.

    ¡°Cheers.¡± she replied as she and the others headed out to get Fyu and the waggon. I made my way to the wayport and set my destination for the Torching Mount.

    ¡°This place doesn''t get any friendlier-looking,¡± I quipped to myself as I materialized inside the mountain. Dracuoatlax was wide awake, half-looking as if he had expected me.

    ¡°Master.¡± the dragon blinked.

    ¡°Djaziim attacked our allies.¡±

    ¡°Hmm...¡±

    ¡°Feel like a rampage?¡± I asked him, and he grinned back, chuckling eagerly.

    ¡°Shall we fly, Lady Lana?¡± he returned, and I grinned in reply as I got on his back.

    We set off at once, rising from the Torching Mount and setting off across the map towards the Wildlands. The wind was fierce, but my dragon ally used it to go even faster despite its adverse direction. I looked to the north; it was impossible to know for sure, but I felt like I saw a fleet of longships sailing down from Vinlandia.

    ¡°Do our allies also gather? I see the markings of guilds you trust on ships yet far out to sea,¡± Dracuoatlax remarked as we flew.

    ¡°Of course they do; we''re the icing on the cake for their retribution, after all.¡± I said to him.

    ¡°Ahh, I see; however, a more appropriate metaphor for a dragon would be to call us the vagr?astaf in the midst of a herd of deer,¡± he replied, and I smiled.

    ¡°Either way, it''s the tastiest part!¡± I said.

    ¡°Indeed, Lady Lana! Hold fast now; there is a headwind, but it shall not stop Dracuoatlax from reaching his goal!¡± he called out in a loud voice, and we began flying still faster towards the Wildlands.

    ¡°Which one was this?¡± Lizzy wondered as we started into another fortress.

    ¡°Number seven!¡± Snow Dancer told her.

    We had taken down six others so far. More accurately, the previous six had been blasted to ashes and smithereens by Dracuoatlax, and we had finished off the NPC survivors maintaining them, as well as a couple of players that had been checking up on them or lurking nearby. We had gotten a message from Kiana that they had successfully sacked a couple of seaside outposts, including the one Myanihia had found out, and now they were marching inland to help us.

    ¡°They''ll probably send their navies back, just in case,¡± I noted when we got the message.

    ¡°Oh definitely.¡± Peaches agreed. ¡°Their harbors are among the most protected, too. Though this little fiasco is certainly an unwelcome drain on resources.¡±

    ¡°That''s why we''re making sure to carry out the coffers.¡± I subtly grinned back, and the older woman returned the look.

    ¡°Speaking of which--Bubs!¡± she then said, clapping her hands to summon the gremlin.

    ¡°Master, master!¡± the creature said as he appeared.

    ¡°Go find their vault!¡± the Hauflin guild-leader ordered.

    ¡°Right away, right away! Bubs''ll have it found in no time!¡± the gremlin chattered, scurrying off.

    ¡°I guess it''s big enough to have one,¡± I said as Dracuoatlax took out a tower with his tail and then thunderously landed upon the ground to eat some of the NPCs that had been guarding the place. Peaches and I watched this scene unfold with nonplussed grins on our faces.

    ¡°W-well then,¡± Peaches remarked with a faint laugh.

    ¡°I don''t even know what to say,¡± I sighed. The dragon, not noticing our bemused reactions to his rampage and inadvertent or perhaps bonus feasting, carried on as happily as could be, roaring to intimidate the enemy as he began tearing into the fortress once more.

    ¡°I thought I heard the sounds of battle in these lands.¡± a somewhat familiar voice said. We turned around to look, and my eyes widened. A split-second later I drew out my blades.

    ¡°Lana?¡± Peaches asked me.

    ¡°Venomheart.¡± I quickly replied, and Peaches readied her staff.

    ¡°Ho-ho? You figured that out, huh? Or maybe it was that lurking shadow which tipped you off,¡± Melody replied with a grin as she drew out her own sword.

    ¡°Anything to watch out for, girlie?¡± Peaches said.

    ¡°That sword is probably coated with a poisonous substance of some kind.¡± I warned her, remembering Myanihia''s words.

    ¡°How rude. I always coat it with the finest fast-acting venom money can buy.¡± she quipped back.

    ¡°Good thing we''ve got two of the best druids, as well as several people who can either heal, increase our resistance to, or ward us from poison!¡± I retorted.

    ¡°Ah! But I didn''t come to play for long. I just wanted to test you out.¡± Melody quickly said, and I assumed a defensive stance.

    ¡°Test?¡± I returned, unsure if she would answer.

    ¡°King-Priests hired us to keep a watch on the area, but they didn''t give specific orders. If they had, half of you would probably be down by now in this fight.¡± she told us.

    ¡°Youngsters like you tend to bluff in situations like this, but you''re not that kind of girl, are you?¡± Peaches remarked as she fixed the younger girl with a keen eye.

    ¡°No, ma''am.¡± Melody flippantly but respectfully replied.

    ¡°What a polite brat,¡± my fellow guild-leader smirked. ¡°Go ahead then, Lana; I''ll keep a lookout, and besides, Dracuoatlax will probably barrel over here if any more show up.¡± she said to me. I nodded, and then Melody lunged towards me in a thrust.

    Just in time I deflected her blade, casting it upward and coming about in a tight turn to try and stab her right side, but she superbly blocked me with a quick reverse grip and then shoved me off as we began clashing in earnest. Her expression showed a brief puzzlement, but she quickly pushed it aside to focus on prodding my defenses. I recognized after a few moments that she wasn''t using system skills, but her own fierce swordplay, and she was going all-out here.

    ¡°A system-bound player like you going up against a real sword-user like me -- ha!¡± Melody scoffed, redoubling her efforts.

    ¡°Don''t mock this world''s powers; you chose to be a part of it, too!¡± I said as I entered the shadows. Her eyes glinted with surprise, and I quickly whirled about to come behind her, but she predicted the move and easily deflected my incoming strike.

    ¡°And yet they''re so easily seen through,¡± she shot back.

    I then activated Thousand Needle Strike, and that furious flurry of strikes kept her from smirking for a moment. Then I faced her with my own basic swordplay, driving her back a few paces. Again her face subtly scrunched up in confusion, as if trying to recall something.

    ¡°You... why does it feel like I''ve fought you before?¡± she wondered as we locked blades together. I made no reply, my expression unchanging as I stared back at her impassively. ¡°Hmph! Not gonna say, huh? That works for me, too. I love a good puzzle.¡± she grinned.

    ¡°Lana!¡± Lizzy called as she came over. ¡°Whoa!¡±

    ¡°Tch!¡± Melody cursed as the others started to arrive at the scene. She then withdrew, and put her sword away. ¡°You''re good, but I''m better. And I''ll show it to you over the course of these battles.¡± she said to me, and then headed off into the forests. Some of our allies from Dreamers were about to give chase, but Peaches stopped them.

    ¡°Hold it, kiddos; that one''s trouble. And I don''t think she was even being serious just now.¡± she said.

    ¡°True,¡± I agreed as I sheathed my own swords. ¡°What did you want to tell me, Lizzy?¡± I then asked our smith curiously.

    ¡°Huh? Oh right; Bubs found the coffers, and the fortress is ashes. Heh, I bet Drac''s gonna have a good night''s sleep tonight.¡± she replied with a cheeky smile.

    ¡°Oh for sure,¡± I nodded, then checked my messages. ¡°The other group took down two so far; they want to meet up at the last one--it''s north of us and west of them.¡±

    ¡°Got it!¡± the reply came.

    ¡°All right, form up!¡± Peaches called. ¡°Get the coffers stowed aboard our waggon and get ready to head north!¡± she ordered, and her guild let out a rousing cry of affirmation as we returned to the waggons.

    ¡°Master,¡± Fyu nodded as we came over to him.

    ¡°Hey, buddy,¡± I smiled, patting him on the head.

    ¡°Our allies'' beasts of burden have been remarkably well-behaved, for beasts that cannot speak,¡± he remarked.

    ¡°Considering it''s been a nearly non-stop battle tonight, yeah,¡± I agreed.

    ¡°Lady Lana, where shall we head next?¡± Dracuoatlax called.

    ¡°We''re heading north, to the eastern side of the Murkmere,¡± I told him in reply.

    ¡°Very good! I shall observe the area and await your arrival!¡± he returned, and then set off into the air.

    ¡°We are fortunate, master, that he was not made subservient to an enemy,¡± the dog-beast remarked as we watched him go.

    ¡°You said it, pal.¡± I nodded in agreement. A few moments after the dragon had taken off, the rest of us hurried northward to meet up with him and our other allies.

    ***

    Moreso than the others, the King-Priests'' fortress near the Murkmere was clearly designed to withstand a lot of damage and to repel large assaults. There were all sorts of traps around the place, some obvious and some not, and it had a larger garrison too.

    ¡°There''s at least ten players here.¡± I noted as I observed it with Shadow Vision.

    ¡°Agreed.¡± Ariana nodded.

    ¡°Kiana and Regin just showed up; they''ve got forty-two, counting themselves.¡± Belle said as she came to perch on my shoulder.

    ¡°That puts us at sixty-seven, not counting Dracuoatlax.¡± I said.

    ¡°I''m sure he thinks of it as one, not counting all of us,¡± Belle grinned.

    ¡°P-probably,¡± I allowed with a laugh, and Peaches chuckled.

    ¡°Whew!¡± Kiana said as she and Reginleif came over to join us. ¡°You certainly busted up a lot tonight, huh?¡±

    The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    ¡°And now we get to do it together,¡± Ariana replied.

    ¡°That is a ridiculous fort.¡± Nightwing scratched her head. ¡°How do they even get inside it?¡±

    ¡°More importantly, what''s it guarding?¡± Reginleif wondered.

    ¡°No no, go back,¡± I suddenly realized. ¡°There''s no door or gate, is there?¡± I blinked in disbelief.

    ¡°Huh?¡± Reginleif looked over at it in confusion.

    ¡°Told you.¡± Nightwing shrugged.

    ¡°Master,¡± Dracuoatlax began as he joined us, ¡°There are indeed no doors or gates in the outer wall. Something disturbs me mightily about the place; it cannot be Djaziim, but there is certainly some other devilry here.¡±

    ¡°Do you think either you or Fyu might be able to track down where a secret entrance might be?¡± I asked him.

    ¡°Hmm!¡± he remarked with interest.

    ¡°There''s a thought.¡± Nightwing agreed. ¡°But I bet I already know. The Murkmere is home to a certain kind of fish with special scales, and there''s apparently a secret dungeon that you can get to by doing a certain quest chain in the Grasslands of Inyan. I bet they fashioned an entrance under the water as well for easy access.¡±

    ¡°It would not be advisable to send me into the lake, Lady Lana.¡± Dracuoatlax said at once. ¡°Having said so, your comrade''s words have stirred my memory of a rumor regarding this fish; it is said to be one that delights in the flesh of prey, and its scales are prized by armor-weavers in Inyan.¡±

    ¡°A tough, man-eating fish. Joy.¡± I sighed. Then I looked back at him. ¡°Say... this might be really stupid... but... is there any chance your fire could boil away the water? All of it?¡± I asked, ignoring the flabbergasted and dumbfounded expressions of my friends nearby as the words tumbled out of my mouth.

    ¡°Boil away the Murkmere, you say?¡± the dragon returned with a note of intrigue in his voice.

    ¡°Oh Dear God, he''s actually considering it,¡± I heard Barbarianne say.

    ¡°W-wouldn''t that somehow break the game?¡± someone else wondered.

    ¡°I mean... it''d reset... probably...¡± a third person said uncertainly.

    ¡°Probably?!¡± the others chorused back. Dracuoatlax then laughed so heartily and so loudly that the ground actually trembled and the players inside the fortress immediately scrambled to the walls to see what was going on.

    ¡°Lady Lana, your mind intrigues me as always; yet it would likely take twenty dragons to boil away this entire lake. But I am greatly amused by the idea!¡± the dragon chuckled. I heard many sighs of relief behind or beside me.

    ¡°Ah-heh, that''s true... it''s a big lake...¡± I agreed. ¡°So mostly a stupid idea.¡±

    ¡°I will remain on guard for now; I suggest you allow Fyu a chance to aid you here. He is better attuned to the earth than I am, after all.¡± Dracuoatlax said as he hunkered down.

    ¡°Master,¡± Fyu then broke in, ¡°I can tell you for certain there is a secret passage, but it is likely not in the water. I can still pick up the scent of the enemy leading to it, if we hurry.¡± he said, and I nodded as we unhitched him.

    Fyu then led us unfailingly to the spot in question; beneath the massive roots of an old tree, there was a barely visible door covered with sod. While the larger group readied a couple of catapults to keep the enemy''s attention, Derwydd and Peaches used their magic to break open the door. Fyu then barked, and Dracuoatlax came over.

    ¡°Friend Dragon, thy flames would probably reach to the bowels of that fortress, if you yet feel a thirst for battle and mischief.¡± the dog-beast said.

    ¡°Hmm...¡± the dragon remarked, examining it for himself. ¡°It is a straight passage for certain; very well! Step back!¡± he then said, and we did so.

    ¡°It''s not boiling a lake, but roasting a fortress like a chicken on a grill should still make the forums.¡± Ariana said to me with a wry grin.

    ¡°Ah-heh.¡±

    ¡°You people are crazy.¡± Peaches quipped.

    ¡°What does that make us?¡± Snow Dancer wondered.

    ¡°Accessories to insanity.¡± the reply came without hesitation.

    Anyway. The final fortress collapsed not long after that, and we made off with the spoils of our victories. Undoubtedly the power-balance in the Wildlands would be off for a couple of days, but it would probably be back to normal by next week unless another guild or two came in to join the fray. Some of the ones neutral to us might even swoop in, such as Heavenly Dragons or Night Wolves. I anticipated the latter, mostly because I knew General Mad Dog was definitely going to collect on the favor I owed him.

    After we celebrated our all-night rampage at the guildhall of the Valiant Maidens, we returned to our own places to log off and wake up for Tuesday morning.

    ***

    ¡°Da hell you doin'' up there in the Wildlands wrecking everything, boy?¡± Ty said to me on the bus ride to school.

    ¡°Retribution.¡± I shrugged.

    ¡°Retribution, snap. Y''all got half the player base talking about it!¡±

    ¡°So nothing unusual, then?¡± I grinned, and he shook his head, grinning back.

    ¡°Man, I''d love to get up there and help; Wild''s got us focused on the Waste and Ragnarheim, though he''s open to expanding his alliance.¡±

    ¡°Is the old gang back together down your way?¡±

    ¡°''Cept for you losers.¡± he cheekily replied.

    ¡°Heh.¡± I laughed.

    ¡°Yo, Jans and Magisteria''d be thrilled to have y''all helping out again down our way.¡± he said more seriously.

    ¡°I don''t think the others would be opposed to adding allies,¡± I remarked.

    ¡°I''ll tell Wild tonight. We gotta get our pact together again, Dans. Ain''t no one gonna win against that!¡± he said as he held out his hand.

    ¡°You said it, Ty!¡± I agreed, taking the hand so we could shake on it.

    ¡°You find out anything ''bout that Venomheart guild?¡± he asked in a quieter voice as the handshake ended.

    ¡°More than I expected. They''re definitely all poisoners of one kind or another.¡±

    ¡°Damn. That''s gonna be rough.¡±

    ¡°Right?¡± I agreed. ¡°I sparred with their leader a bit last night; she''s tough.¡±

    ¡°Oh, damn, boy,¡± Ty said with interest. ¡°How''d that go?¡±

    ¡°Inconclusive.¡± I said with a shake of my head. ¡°She was just testing me out, after all, and we''d taken care of the last fortress by then.¡±

    ¡°Those KP guys are gonna be on you for sure, now.¡±

    ¡°You''re telling me.¡±

    ¡°And I read something on the forums ''bout how the Guardians are gunning for y''all as well. Something about some big @$$ turtle wrecking their ship a couple nights ago.¡± he said, and I quietly snorted in amusement. ¡°Yo. Save some crazy for us, Dans.¡±

    ¡°W-we''ll try,¡± I said with a laugh.

    After we arrived at school we parted company as usual, and as usual I found Rachel waiting at the lockers for me. She smiled as I arrived, and I gave her a smile in return as I got my morning books out.

    ¡°That flick seems to get softer every time I see it.¡± she said to me.

    ¡°I guess at this point it''s just a gag he wants to keep going,¡± I grinned.

    ¡°Probably!¡± Rachel laughed back.

    ¡°He''s gonna ask Wildeye about joining our alliances tonight, so we''ll have the Aldholt gang supporting us as well in the future.¡±

    ¡°Oh nice! And it''ll be good to have everyone on the same team this time!¡± she smiled.

    ¡°For sure!¡± I agreed. I finished sorting out my books, and we headed on into class.

    ¡°You ready for your fencing training to continue today?¡± she then asked as we sat down.

    ¡°Ehh...¡± I returned uncertainly, and she gave me a knowing smile.

    ¡°It seemed like it really was her, huh? I wonder if she''ll figure it out.¡± Rachel said in a whisper.

    ¡°I mean, there''s a good chance, for sure. I wonder if Ellie recognized her at all...¡± I wondered softly, and my girlfriend adopted a thoughtful look.

    ¡°She did seem absorbed in thought during our little party afterwards,¡± she recalled.

    ¡°Hmm.¡±

    ¡°I guess we can ask her at lunch.¡±

    ¡°Oh definitely.¡± I agreed. The bell then rang. Class was now in session.

    ¡°Blehh,¡± Ellie groaned as we arrived in our little club room.

    ¡°That won''t reverse the grade you got, Elisabeth Drew.¡± Andrea lightly quipped.

    ¡°Still...¡± the blonde girl sighed wearily, and Anhe smiled sympathetically to her.

    ¡°Bad quiz results?¡± Mary asked with a soft grin as she came in.

    ¡°Totally.¡± the other girl sighed again.

    ¡°Ah-heh,¡± I wryly smiled as we sat down.

    ¡°Seeaaann. Give me something fun to talk about.¡± Ellie called over as she practically melted into her seat.

    ¡°Ahh...¡± I started hesitantly, and then snapped my fingers. ¡°Oh, right; Ellie, what did you think of that girl from last night? The Blade?¡± I then asked her, and she sat upright again as if pulled by marionette strings to do so, a grin on her face.

    ¡°So that was the Blade, huh?¡± she said.

    ¡°Her actual player-name is Melody, but yeah, she''s the Blade.¡± I nodded in reply.

    ¡°Well, from just those few moments, I think she looks a heck of a lot like someone I know. I mean, most of us look somewhat similar to our avatars; even Lana looks like your twin a bit. But this one looked almost exactly like the person from real life.¡± Ellie said with a shrug.

    ¡°Hmm? Ahh, Joanna Love, you mean?¡± Andrea remarked.

    ¡°Mm-hm.¡± her best friend nodded.

    ¡°No wonder she got that nickname, then.¡± Mary said. ¡°I heard that the player called the Blade rarely uses any of the skills provided by the game in favor of using actual combat techniques. The only skills they''re said to use are those that ''flow'' with her real ones.¡±

    ¡°Like that opening lunge I got last night,¡± I recalled.

    Come to think of it, that was almost exactly the move she used in our first mock-duel...

    ¡°Joanna gets a lot of credit for her middle school fencing; but now she''s an adjunct member of an actual fencing academy outside of this school, and she''s been in a couple of tournaments.¡± Mary told us.

    ¡°How does that work?¡± I wondered.

    ¡°She has a special instructor that comes over every afternoon or evening to train her. Malcolm''s talked about it a few times in morning classes.¡± she answered.

    ¡°Hopefully this dork doesn''t have any moves to give him away to her for a while,¡± Ellie then quipped.

    ¡°Gyeck!?¡±

    ¡°Joanna''s the type who would definitely start talking about it...¡± Thomas said with a frown. ¡°It''s probably best not to fight Melody in-game yourself--to keep Lana a secret, that is.¡±

    ¡°Or at least run-and-gun her if you have to.¡± Ariana suggested.

    ¡°That works too.¡± Thomas agreed.

    ¡°Hrrmm...¡± I nodded back. We focused on our meals for a few minutes before the conversation picked up again.

    ¡°I looked over that tome we got from Myanihia.¡± Andrea then said. ¡°It''s definitely Bretony; most of the clues seem to point to a place in Caer Gwynt, near the border with Hollyland.¡±

    ¡°Sweet!¡± Ellie clapped enthusiastically.

    ¡°But I''ll need a bit longer to make sure,¡± the red-haired girl smile back.

    ¡°The Windy Citadel, huh?¡± Thomas remarked.

    ¡°I wonder if the orb has an air or wind element to it, then,¡± Anhe wondered.

    ¡°Well since the Draigod Orb was in the Dragonholt and the Winter Orb was in Ghev''riuln, I wouldn''t much doubt it.¡± I said.

    ¡°That last one was a pain though!¡± Anhe replied with a shake of her head.

    ¡°Oh definitely.¡±

    ¡°Who''d have thought the dungeon was a monster''s insides?¡± Ellie grimaced.

    ¡°We''re eating lunch now. ''Kay? ''Kay.¡± Andrea said at once.

    ¡°I get it, I get it,¡± the other girl sighed.

    ¡°So anyway, about reprisals that might happen tonight...¡± Thomas then broke in, and we then talked about our immediate strategies for gaming tonight until lunch ended and afternoon classes began.

    ¡°Again!¡± Holly said to Joanna and myself later that afternoon.

    We had been choreographing our fight scene for a couple of weeks now, but the two of us were getting a bit hung up over a series of blows that we were planning to do while coming down a set of stairs in Nottingham Castle.

    ¡°I''ll have to talk to my tutor tonight about duels on uneven terrain.¡± Joanna remarked as we got back into position. ¡°And you seem to be doing something weird; I''m forcing you down, remember, so don''t try to advance upwards.¡± she said.

    ¡°Ahh--right.¡± I replied.

    Force of habit from running dungeons in Panarena, I guess.

    ¡°Robin''s a good swordsman, but he''s also canny. We''re trying to lure me into a trap, remember?¡± Joanna grinned as she effortlessly tossed her sword into the air, catching it by the grip after it spun a couple of times.

    ¡°The trick at the end, where we decided Gisbourne would lunge in anger while Robin dodged away to stab him in the side.¡± I nodded back.

    ¡°I think it should be an overhead swing, now that I think about it.¡± Holly said to the two of us. ¡°That would be a better display of anger than a lunge.¡±

    ¡°Welp, it''s theater.¡± Joanna shrugged, and then got into attack position. I did the same.

    ¡°Go!¡± the aide said, and we started again.

    This time we got it mostly right, except for a slight hiccup where I fell backwards off the steps after nearly missing a parry. But I recovered myself so well that Holly wondered if I shouldn''t try to do it every time, to which Miss Andrews herself agreed. I faintly smiled at the talk, letting out an inaudible sigh as Joanna glanced over with a grin.

    ¡°I think it''d definitely add to the tension.¡± she remarked to me.

    ¡°Oh, for sure,¡± I agreed. ¡°I''m just not sure how I''ll hold up doing it over and over.¡±

    ¡°Pfft! You''ve got a point,¡± she chuckled back.

    ¡°Come on, you''re young; you can take it.¡± Holly said to me.

    ¡°Oy...¡±

    ¡°Let''s plan it out so he doesn''t actually hurt himself falling over and over again, though.¡± Miss Andrews said as she held up a cautionary finger. ¡°I''m sure at least one of your instructors taught you how to fall or tumble in a fight?¡± she looked over at me, and I rubbed the back of my neck as I thought about it.

    ¡°Two of them, I think,¡± I replied.

    ¡°Good! So this shouldn''t be a stretch, then. Let''s plot this out...¡± our teacher and director then said, and we worked out a tumble for that part of the fight, following it up with Gisbourne''s overhead swing and Robin''s surprise recovery and counterattack.

    We then did that ten more times before she was satisfied, and then it was on to being walloped by Anhe and the others via quarterstaff. Our quiet little friend had become less reserved now, eagerly showing us how to deliver, dodge, or catch a blow. Herby seemed the most adept at picking it up, which I found suitably ironic considering his role of Friar Tuck. We were already practicing on a set-piece for those fights as well; Matthew seemed to have an inordinate amount of fun knocking me off of the log-bridge, whereas Herby was always apologetic about the final whack to the head I would get from him, especially when he forgot to hold back. On our final bout for the day he cracked me a good one, and I actually fell splat on my back. The look of horror on his face when I came to was terribly comical.

    ¡°Duuude!! Oh, man, you okay?? Gosh, Sean, I really didn''t mean to hit you that hard!!¡± he chattered at once.

    ¡°That was a good one,¡± I managed to grin back.

    ¡°Well, if it happens during the play, we''ll just have to roll with it,¡± I heard Miss Andrews say.

    ¡°We can have the Merry Men cover for it, sure,¡± Holly agreed. ¡°Or maybe Herby''ll get lucky and won''t hit him so hard!¡±

    ¡°It''s fine, Herb, really,¡± I said to him, patting his shoulder. He looked as if he''d just had a heart-attack; which probably wasn''t far from the truth.

    Wait a sec, who''s holding me up in their lap? I suddenly wondered, looking up to see Anhe supporting me.

    ¡°Rachel is doing choreography with Allie, Joanna, and Marcus in another room, but I am sure she will fuss over you later.¡± she told me, patting me on the head softly.

    ¡°Y-yeah,¡± I said, managing a laugh.

    ¡°You should take this up as a real sport, Herbs!¡± Matthew grinned broadly.

    ¡°Ah, shut up, Matt.¡± the other boy quipped at once.

    ¡°No seriously though!¡± his friend said, and then turned to me. ¡°You gonna make it, buddy?¡± he said with his usual cheeky smile.

    ¡°Think so,¡± I replied.

    ¡°See? He''s fine.¡± Matthew said as I slowly started getting up. My head was still throbbing a bit, but Anhe and Herby managed to get me to my feet and steady me.

    ¡°Take a break!¡± Miss Andrews said at once. ¡°Get some water and relax for a few minutes, Sean.¡±

    ¡°Yes, ma''am.¡± I replied, and Anhe led me out to the seats, where we sat down together.

    ¡°I will have to pay special attention to Herby for the next couple of weeks.¡± she remarked thoughtfully.

    ¡°P-please,¡± I replied in a quiet voice. ¡°I''m not sure I could take a hit like that again, especially for the actual performance,¡± I confided.

    ¡°This is true. We cannot have you seeing stars while being a star.¡± she replied with a subtle grin. It took me a moment to realize she had made a joke.

    ¡°You''re getting good at that,¡± I said with a laugh, and she smiled back.

    ¡°Then I am glad!¡± she said, also laughing.

    After I had sufficiently recovered, we ran through lines and scene choreography for the rest of the afternoon. It was nice getting to interact with parts of the actual set; they had the outlaw''s camp and the forest pretty much ready to go, and the castle was coming along nicely. In another room I could hear the sounds of the school''s orchestra going over the music. Henry, by the way, who was playing Allan A''Dale, is an actual musician himself, and would be playing a real lute for the performances. I could see him idly plucking away as he sat in the balcony, trying to hear the tuning of the instrument and tweak it as needed.

    ¡°Isn''t he great?¡± Leslie remarked to me as she came to watch with me.

    ¡°Oh definitely,¡± I agreed.

    ¡°I think either his grandfather or great-uncle taught him how to play it.¡± Jacob said to us.

    ¡°Cool!¡± Leslie exclaimed.

    ¡°Yeah, it''s a family thing for him; lucky for us, huh?¡± Maggie nodded.

    ¡°For sure!¡± Joey said in agreement. ¡°Anyway, we need to get ourselves sorted with Stephanie, Billy, and the others for this number here,¡± he then said, tapping the page he was holding open. It was a song that was going to be sung with most of the cast for one of the centerpieces of the musical: the archery tournament to rescue Allan A''Dale from the Sheriff of Nottingham.

    ¡°Right,¡± I said, and we went to join the others to do just that.

    ¡°I''m beat.¡± I said later as Rachel and I got into the car with Thomas.

    ¡°Figuratively this time, I hope.¡± Rachel remarked as she looked over at me seriously.

    ¡°Definitely.¡± I replied.

    ¡°I don''t blame you; that was some overtime we had tonight!¡± our driver said with a nod. ¡°I''m gonna order a pick-up from Pizza Palace on our way to Andrea''s; that''s fine with you two, right?¡±

    ¡°Sure!¡± Rachel agreed.

    ¡°As long as Andrea hasn''t already made something,¡± I smiled back.

    ¡°Oh she hasn''t. I asked just before I finished up with that one set-piece.¡± Thomas replied. ¡°Let''s make it two mediums and a small, some breadsticks... and a two-liter cola.¡± he said, completing the order on his phone before we set off.

    ¡°Nice!¡± I said as we left the school.

    ¡°What set-piece did you finish up?¡± Rachel then asked him.

    ¡°Hmm? Ahh, a throne and dais for the royal palace.¡± he told us.

    ¡°Oh neat!¡±

    ¡°Wow,¡± the two of us remarked at once.

    ¡°Can''t have the king and his phony sitting on a barstool, can we?¡± Thomas grinned, and we all laughed.

    About twenty minutes later we were having a pizza-dinner and homework session at Andrea''s; fortunately her little cousins were at their parents'' home tonight. It felt harder to get through the assignments tonight, but that was probably just because we''d been getting a lot of light homework lately and now the balance was shifting again. There were also the final exams of the year coming up as well, which probably contributed to the load of homework we had gotten, never mind the third-quarter exams two weeks from now.

    ¡°That one goes here, and this one goes there, see?¡± Rachel said to me.

    ¡°Huh... oh yeah,¡± I replied as it dawned on me.

    ¡°So a career in nuclear physics is out, I take it?¡± Thomas joked.

    ¡°Oy--!!¡± I groaned.

    ¡°Now, now.¡± Andrea lightly flicked him, and he laughed.

    ¡°This isn''t the same without those two brats running around though.¡± he remarked.

    ¡°Please don''t run around like they do.¡± Andrea sighed as she made a pencil mark on his paper.

    ¡°Huh? Oh! That''s right,¡± Thomas said as he scratched out part of what he had written down to redo it.

    ¡°Aren''t they so hopeless?¡± Andrea smirked to Rachel.

    ¡°Only in math for this one.¡± Rachel patted my head.

    ¡°I had to help you for two hours last week on that science conundrum,¡± Thomas pouted, and Andrea bashfully smiled back.

    ¡°Ahh -- that''s true... sorry!¡± she apologized.

    ¡°No harm,¡± he smiled to her.

    ¡°Dare I ask how they run around?¡± I wondered.

    ¡°We''ll say you did and move on.¡± Rachel quickly replied.

    The shenanigans are strong with those two, huh?

    ¡°How''s the musical coming along?¡± Andrea asked us.

    ¡°Great!¡±

    ¡°It''s okay,¡± Rachel and I said.

    ¡°Which is it?¡± our friend grinned back.

    ¡°Seeaaan.¡± Rachel tugged my ear. ¡°We''re doing great, aren''t we?¡± she adamantly declared with the I''ll-hurt-you-otherwise smile on her face as I awkwardly smiled back.

    ¡°Let''s be fair to him. You''re not getting knocked out by Herby and Matthew.¡± Thomas came to my defense. Rachel let go of my ear then and let out a wry grin.

    ¡°Th-that''s true... so I guess it''s both! It''s great for me and okay for him.¡±

    ¡°I''ll do better than okay when Anhe sorts out Herby''s kill-shot,¡± I said, and the other three laughed.

    ¡°Look at that time.¡± Thomas then noticed as he looked at the clock. It was almost a quarter ''til nine. ¡°That''s the last bit of your homework, right?¡± he asked me.

    ¡°Hm? Oh yeah, it is,¡± I replied.

    ¡°I''ll start putting this away for later,¡± Andrea said as she gathered up what we hadn''t eaten.

    ¡°And then I''ll get this one and then myself home.¡± Thomas nodded.

    ¡°At this rate we should just get an apartment together next year.¡± Andrea smiled.

    ¡°We''ll think about it.¡± he replied, a smile on his own face.

    ¡°See? I''m not the only one,¡± Rachel poked me.

    ¡°Heh.¡± I grinned back.

    At eighty-fifty, I was on my way home; around nine, I had gotten myself settled in. and shortly after nine, I had set on the Dream Machine to head into Panarena. Not, however, without thinking that it had been a pretty good day in the real world, for a Tuesday.

 Side Chapter: Observations

    ¡°Hrrrmmmmghh...¡± Lumpstein, the grumpy Hill Dwarf and GM of Panarena Fantasy Online, sighed to himself as he observed a certain situation unfolding in the Wildlands. Wandreada, who was on duty with him and several others at the moment, came over to see what he was grumbling about.

    The Game-Masters or Game-Moderators had a private estate hidden away in the north of Kingsmark. No player, not even the deputy GMs, knew where it was.

    ¡°Ha-ha-hahh, someone ticked them off tonight!¡± the Mumban GM cackled as she watched a certain dragon that had been tamed by a certain guild tearing down a fortification and greedily eating the rival guild''s NPC guards that had been stationed there.

    ¡°What''s this now?¡± Wildthunder remarked as he and Forseti came over, as well as Athena.

    ¡°Oh dear.¡± the younger woman sighed in amusement, and Foresti snorted with laughter.

    ¡°Oh by Saint Andrew.¡± Wildthunder shook his head, softly chuckling.

    ¡°Still... is it fine like this? We might get complaints about it later...¡± Lumpstein sighed.

    ¡°It''s just tit-for-tat.¡± Forseti shrugged. ¡°The King-Priests used Djaziim on their allies'' fortresses, after all.¡±

    ¡°Djaziim the Unholy doesn''t eat people,¡± the Dwarf grumbled back.

    ¡°Pffft!¡± Wandreada giggled.

    ¡°Still.¡± Foresti shrugged back.

    ¡°This aside, who''d''ve expected them to find out that old Big Man had a special kind of hankering as well...¡± Wildthunder mused as he scratched his beard.

    The giant sea-turtle that players called Ske?l or ¡°Turt¡± was referred to by the GMs as such. Apparently the designers had thought it would be best if the player-residents of the world gave a name to things every now and then, and Big Man was one of them.

    ¡°Welp, there goes that one... nyeah-ha-ha-ha-hah,¡± Lumpstein cackled as the fortress fell.

    ¡°Weren''t you just voicing a consternation about them for the dragon?¡± Athena smiled.

    ¡°Even so, this is still funny. That''s the seventh one tonight!¡± the reply came.

    ¡°Ahh, no wonder he''s a tad concerned about incoming complaints.¡± Wildthunder nodded.

    ¡°Forget the Silvernight Queens, you should see what the other two did to that harbor-town the King-Priests built up,¡± another GM named Rabbit called. He was exactly as his name suggested, a rabbit-being around a meter in height and wearing a casually formal attire.

    ¡°Well that much I expected.¡± Forseti remarked. ¡°Kiana and Reginleif are just as decisive and efficient as Lana, after all.¡±

    The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    ¡°I''ll bet the Queens get to at least Rank Seven by the end of the tournament at this rate.¡± Athena nodded.

    ¡°Nahh. Ten at best.¡± Lumpstein returned. ¡°Guardians of the Eternal Citadel have a massive advantage in numbers over them and nearly everyone else except the Grand Consortium, the one that formed up this January from a bunch of smaller guilds.¡±

    ¡°Ah right.¡± his coworker nodded as she recalled them.

    ¡°A lot of the smaller and medium guilds have formed pacts or alliances to keep their rankings secure, haven''t they?¡± Forseti mused as he took a look at some of the other monitors.

    ¡°Maybe we should add in an alliance scoring, just for fun.¡± Rabbit grinned.

    ¡°Hmm! If we calculate it from the scores of their individual guilds somehow... that could work,¡± Wandreada said as she thought about it.

    ¡°I agree. I''ll bring it up with the boss tomorrow sometime.¡± Forseti said. ¡°Though I won''t expect a final decision until next Monday at best.¡±

    ¡°Hah, perfect. That''ll give us time to decide how we should deal with alliance scoring, if it gets a favorable review,¡± Rabbit clapped his paws.

    ¡°Ho-boy, they''re onto an eighth, huh?¡± Lumpstein remarked as he continued watching the monitors. ¡°Seeing that dragon around never gets old, though... mwuah-hah-hah,¡± he immediately cackled.

    ¡°No, it certainly does not,¡± Wildthunder grinned, wondering what his son, Wildeye, was up to in Panarena that evening.

    ¡°Speaking of lunatic geniuses, aren''t the Mountain Tigers a little too quiet at the moment? I thought they''d be gunning after the Ninja Bandits for sure tonight,¡± Athena then wondered.

    ¡°I''m not sure what he''s doing, but I''m sure we''ll see something before the night is out.¡± Wildthunder said in answer.

    ¡°You mean like that?¡± Lumpstein remarked in a flat tone, pointing to another monitor. There was a giant wooden cat on wheels being rolled into a Ninja Bandits fortress in the Waste.

    ¡°... Really? They''re falling for that old gag?¡± Wandreada remarked as they observed it with nonplussed expressions.

    ¡°In their defense... that looks like a rare type of wood...¡± Athena said weakly.

    ¡°No--no defending it. It''s a stupid trick to fall for no matter what.¡± Rabbit replied with a wry grin.

    ¡°Ah-heh-heh, right?¡± his colleague bemusedly smiled back.

    ¡°Honestly now, these guilds.¡± Forseti grinned with amusement.

    ¡°Never a dull moment!¡± Lumpstein chuckled as the gates closed. ¡°I bet the Tigers come out in five minutes.¡±

    ¡°Two minutes.¡± Wandreada said.

    ¡°I''ll say ten!¡± Rabbit chimed in.

    ¡°No, three-and-a-half.¡± Wildthunder remarked.

    ¡°Hmm... I''ll say three minutes exactly.¡± Forseti then said.

    Wildthunder was proven correct in the end; after three and a half minutes, the Mountain Tigers and some from The Lightbrook Brigade began pouring out of the ¡°Trojan Cat¡± to begin capturing the enemy fortification. Wildthunder grinned as he watched his son''s guild and their comrades emerge on time.

    ¡°How did you know so exactly?¡± Rabbit wondered.

    ¡°He did a similar thing several times in the war,¡± the other GM shrugged.

    ¡°Huh!¡± Lumpstein nodded in approval. ¡°Wait, what?¡±

    ¡°Yes. That''s right.¡± Wildthunder nodded. ¡°Those NS dastards were also stupid enough to fall for that kind of trick, exactly nine times over.¡± he told them.

    The others exchanged glances of amusement and befuddlement with one another. After they heaved a collective sigh, they then returned to monitoring the various battles between guilds that had now begun to start in earnest; the guild competition was heating up.

 Chapter Fifteen: The Guardians Strike Back/An Unexpected Ally

    ¡°No Lizzy tonight, huh?¡± I noted as I logged in and took a look at our guild roster to see who was on. Myanihia was also offline, according to my friends list; she was probably at her job.

    ¡°She was cranky about it, too.¡± Heali remarked as she and Ariana joined me.

    ¡°I bet,¡± I said with a short laugh.

    ¡°Sandra got tied up with a late-shift tonight at the bar, too, didn''t she?¡± Ari remarked.

    ¡°Yep!¡± Belle replied as she came in the room. ¡°Someone had to cancel their shift so she ended up with an extra four hours to cover them.¡± the pixie-girl told us.

    ¡°Sheesh,¡± I sighed.

    ¡°She''ll be here sometime after one, I guess; we do like to add to our lives here in this world,¡± Belle giggled.

    ¡°Who wouldn''t want an extra two or three days per day in their week?¡± I shrugged.

    ¡°Oh I can think of a few, hun.¡± the older girl nodded wisely.

    ¡°Anyway; Der''s tied up too, but Peaches and Snow Dancer are definitely coming with us to meet up with Wildeye and the others tonight, as well as Kiana and Barbarianne.¡± Healina told us as Anhe and Mary arrived. ¡°We''re meeting up at Castle Ember in Woody Heights.¡± she added with a soft smirk.

    Castle Ember... Woody Heights... why does that sound familiar... I wondered to myself with a blank stare as Ariana turned to give me a mischievous grin. My eyes then widened, and a desperate sort of smile came to my face.

    ¡°Y-you don''t mean...¡± I nervously laughed, and the two of them chuckled evilly.

    ***

    Twenty in-game minutes later, we arrived at Castle Ember, the headquarters of the Flamehearts guild. Angelfire beamed happily as we walked in the door, and I smiled back shyly to her. The other guild leaders of the old Silver Tigers Pact were gathered around, and aside from Angelfire there were some who had been part of the Garth-Fire Alliance, namely Humphrey from ?SOVEREIGN? and Angela of The Tea Cupboard. I could see Skeletor from Fear The Repaers chatting in the back with Deathscythe of Hallow''s Eve as well.

    ¡°Well, well! The prodigal guild returns -- and with friends!¡± Jannie smiled.

    ¡°Hey now.¡± I grinned back.

    ¡°This is actually fortuitous timing for us, considering Guardians of the Eternal Citadel is determined to have rule over the local seas on both sides of Xuanpu.¡± Wildeye said.

    ¡°On this side too, huh?¡± Kiana sighed.

    ¡°We were running cargo deliveries to the Isles of the Seven Lucky Gods when they ambushed us with one of those giant ships and a swarm of smaller ones.¡± Angelfire frowned. ¡°If I hadn''t heard about what happened this past weekend I''d swear those gigantic things were about invincible.¡±

    ¡°Unfortunately we can''t bait Turt'' down this way.¡± Reginleif said as she showed up with Valkrysti.

    ¡°Now that would be game-breaking.¡± Peaches quipped.

    ¡°Right?¡± Wildeye grinned.

    ¡°I see you girls are still as crazy as ever.¡± Angela sighed.

    ¡°No no, they''ve gotten crazier.¡± Peaches returned at once, and they all laughed. Wildeye then adopted a more serious look.

    ¡°F¨¨nghu¨¢ng, leader of Guardians, has been majorly put out by the loss of that ship; however, she''s apparently commissioned an order for several more cannons from Gears and Wheels. MacYnduff, of course, won''t tell anyone how much he and his guild provide to other players, and I respect that. However, I remember distinctly him complaining about nearly draining the local mines they use about seven times over to fill the first order before the actual competition started. This time, he''s got his mining crews going over nearly twenty spots in Harmonia that have either the same ore or the same quality of ore.¡± the Mountain Tigers leader said to us.

    ¡°If it takes empyting a mine seven times over to make enough cannons for five monster ships...¡± I then mused aloud, and Magisteria frowned as she finished the thought.

    ¡°They''re going for nearly three times as much now, which means Guardians has enough of the other components, wood, fabric, sail-cloth, and so forth, to make around fifteen ships.¡± she said.

    ¡°I would estimate at least twelve.¡± Humphrey remarked.

    ¡°We''ve had scouts in the Tundralands and in Vales of Aergondi observing their crafting raids; they''ve got more than enough wood to pull off twelve, for sure,¡± Kiana nodded.

    ¡°Not to mention their smaller ships only use archers, ballistae, or catapults.¡± Angelfire added.

    ¡°When did the commission happen?¡± I asked Wildeye.

    ¡°I''m not sure. It probably happened Sunday night, judging from the sudden burst of expeditions from Gears and Wheels. I know Eitri and Borin personally went with two of the groups,¡± he replied.

    ¡°Those two, huh...¡± I rubbed the back of my neck, recalling them from the Garth-Queens War.

    ¡°MacYnduff is a good guy, but also shrewd. I bet he only participated in our little spat down here as a means of seeing what would and would not work for this specific event.¡± Wildeye said.

    ¡°And this time he''s playing all sides instead of allying with just one.¡± Angela sighed.

    ¡°Do we know where the Guardians have their shipwrights?¡± Humphrey then asked.

    ¡°I scouted out their harbor near Yifu in Kunlun,¡± I told them. ¡°But they probably have others too, considering the size of that guild.¡±

    ¡°I had some people check that one over as well,¡± Angelfire nodded. ¡°And I sent them earlier today to do some new reconnaissance. That fleet of thirty or so is still there, along with the big ships, but there''s no signs of any newer ones being built there.¡±

    Okay, so when a ship is being built up piece by piece by a player or players in-game, a basic silhouette of what the finished product will be can be seen. It''s a green translucence that stays in place until the final product is in place. Simple ships like the longboat I initially made earlier this year can just be plunked down, and probably those junks too; but larger ones like the Tekkousen can''t be set willy-nilly. They need a lot of time and resources put into them.

    ¡°They probably have another harbor then. One more secluded.¡± Jannie said as she looked over the maps, frowning and sighing.

    ¡°What about the King-Priests? They were giving you guys trouble too, weren''t they?¡± Angela then asked us.

    ¡°The King-Priests will be out of action for a while, so we don''t have to worry about them or the Wildlands for at least a week. Let''s focus on these guys.¡± I replied, and Tyman snorted with amusement.

    ¡°Someone didn''t read the forum posts this morning,¡± Magisteria smirked.

    ¡°King-Priests aside, the Guardians have outposts in the Wildlands too.¡± the other guild leader remarked.

    ¡°That''s... true...¡± I hesitantly nodded.

    If they can''t get us on the sea, will they try on the land? I wondered, thinking about our locations up there. We had chosen spots that were out-of-the-way yet which still had some value to them.

    ¡°They also have outposts in the Firelands and the Phoenix Domain.¡± I then recalled.

    ¡°We''ll have to scout those areas as well for harborage.¡± Angelfire said.

    ¡°I doubt they''d be there. Neither of those areas are good for ship-building resources or for keeping a low profile.¡± Deathscythe shook his head.

    ¡°Ah!¡± Peaches then exclaimed, looking at her alerts panel. ¡°We''ve got an incoming attack at another one of our outposts; it''s the Guardians.¡±

    ¡°Ugh! Same here!¡± Kiana grimaced.

    ¡°Well, tonight you''ve got more reinforcements.¡± Angelfire declared.

    ¡°Let''s hurry, then,¡± Peaches smiled back.

    As the others began filing out and summoning their guild members to join them in the Wildlands, I continued to sit, thinking hard. Ariana, of course, stayed by my side, nodding for the others to join the raid party. Jannie then noticed me as well, and signaled for Tabitha and Winnie to take over as she came my way with Tyman, who had also noticed me deep in thought.

    ¡°Yo, Lans, what''s up?¡± he asked me.

    ¡°Isn''t there... isn''t there an island, like right near the sea-border of Onyxus and Harmonia? You know, the one that''s super rich with resources?¡± I looked up.

    ¡°Huh. You know anything about that, Jans?¡± Tyman asked her as Wildeye joined us.

    ¡°Isn''t that... Wild, that island in the Wild Blue Expanse, what was its name?¡±

    ¡°You mean Lantisha? Why would--ohh,¡± Wildeye said as it dawned on him. ¡°I see...!¡±

    ¡°Guys, what''s up? Let''s go!¡± Angelfire called back to us.

    ¡°Angel, coordinate with Peaches, Kiana, and Humphrey to repel the Wildlands assaults; we have another thing to sort out,¡± Jannie told her.

    ¡°Heh...?¡± the flame-haired magic user grinned.

    ¡°You''re no dragon, but you''re the next best thing; you can handle a few rank-and-file guild members, can''t you?¡± I said to her with a cheeky smile.

    ¡°That''s true, but don''t expect me to eat them.¡± she shrugged airily, and headed out to deliver the message to the others.

    ¡°Th-that goes without saying,¡± I said with an awkward laugh.

    ¡°We''ll take my ship.¡± Jannie then said. ¡°It''s lightweight, fast, and hard to spot.¡±

    ¡°Agreed.¡± Wildeye nodded.

    ¡°Yo! Let''s go!¡± Tyman grinned, and the five of us headed out to take the wayport to Seacrest, where Jannie''s ship awaited us.

    ¡°We''re still not absolutely certain about this, which is why we''re going with only a small party for now.¡± Jannie said to the other alliance leaders via magic-globe as her swift vessel carried us speedily through the Crystal Ocean.

    ¡°Well the Guardians haven''t sent their full force against us yet, but that''ll change soon after we repel their scouts and advance parties. There''s about two-hundred of us online all told, but don''t forget they can field three times that just from their own guild.¡± Angela said to her. ¡°If you do find something out there, what''ll you do about it?¡±

    ¡°We''ll at least dig a bit deeper into the situation before returning. At this point it''s probably too early for lasting sabotage, and we want to keep them in the dark about what we know.¡± Wildeye replied.

    ¡°Lasting sabotage, eh?¡± Peaches returned with a knowing look in her eyes. ¡°Well, you know best how to handle these things. I''ll just keep my little ducks from getting out of line so we can chase out these big bad wolves.¡± she shrugged, and we shared a laugh.

    ¡°Good luck; we''ll be back soon, hopefully.¡± Jannie said.

    ¡°We''re counting on it!¡± Angelfire nodded, and the globe went dark.

    ¡°Still... it does sound crazy... but if anyone could successfully do it, it''d be the largest guild this side of Kingsmark.¡± Jannie softly remarked.

    ¡°And if anyone could predict it, it''d be the craziest guild anywhere in Harmonia.¡± Wildeye shrugged, giving a smirk to Ariana and myself.

    ¡°You get a hold of one dragon and suddenly everything you do gets judged.¡± I wryly smiled.

    ¡°Just the dragon? Hon, wake up.¡± Jannie retorted, ruffling my hair.

    ¡°Yo, Lans, y''all know half the stuff you girls do is high-wire nuts, right? You know that, right?¡± Tyman said as he gave me a funny look.

    ¡°Is it?¡± I turned to Ariana with a look of mock surprise.

    ¡°People seem to think so,¡± she returned with a similar expression.

    ¡°Hmm.¡± I nodded. ¡°Anyway, this ship is nice,¡± I then said, and Jannie beamed.

    ¡°It''s a hybrid. It has sails but we''re also using a magimotor crystal to help propel us faster. We can outrun anything!¡± the blonde-haired girl said proudly.

    ¡°Which was a very good thing five nights ago when we had to get away from the Night Wolves'' prowler ship.¡± Wildeye said with a bemused smile.

    ¡°Ugh. That thing.¡± Jannie sighed as we headed back out on deck.

    The ship itself was basically a trade-cog, but it had some armaments and archer or mage stations as well. There was plenty of room for cargo and crew in the sleek vessel, though it was obviously designed more for the former than the latter. Its coloring seemed to shimmer, which Jannie explained was because of an enchantment on the wood called ¡°Chameleon¡±, which is exactly as it sounds. It was the perfect ship to run and hide anywhere in the seas of Panarena, provided no one had a counter for the enchantment.

    ¡°Even then they''d have to catch us,¡± Jannie shrugged as she remarked upon it. ¡°We''re running at top speed now; I''m gonna shut the magimotor off when we get close to the island.¡±

    ¡°Good idea,¡± I agreed.

    ¡°Tyman and I will keep the boat ready to run; you girls can slip onto the island and investigate as needed.¡± Wildeye told us.

    ¡°Sounds good.¡± Jannie replied.

    ¡°I guess sneaking ain''t my thing anyway.¡± Tyman shrugged.

    ¡°You think?¡± his guild leader grinned back to him.

    ¡°Yo! Hush!¡± the other boy grinned back, playfully punching his shoulder as Wildeye laughed back.

    As I smiled at their antics, I got a message from Maryn. She reported that the Guardians had used a feint with their advance parties to launch an attack on other sites around the Wildlands. In a nutshell, the region was now in a state of controlled chaos decidedly ruled by our main antagonists of the night--and to add to the chaos, King-Priests and Venomheart had also decided to come and duke it out for spite. A few other guilds had also joined in the fun, and even some of the neutral ones had come down to pick at the battlefields like carrion birds.

    ¡°Tch!¡± I clucked my tongue at the news.

    ¡°Aw, hell. Venomheart''s in the game tonight, boss,¡± Tyman shook his head.

    ¡°Lovely. One more reason to hurry this expedition.¡± the other replied.

    ¡°Hrrggh, scout the Guardians and see what to do about the ships; find the orbs to thwart the King-Priests... and what the actual heck can we do about a guild of poisoners?¡± I sighed as I sat down on the deck.

    ¡°Say, Lana,¡± Ariana began as she knelt beside me, ¡°If there''s a way to sever the contract with Djaziim and the King-Priests, doesn''t that mean someone could find a way to nullify our pact with Dracuoatlax?¡±

    ¡°Hrrmm...¡± I frowned as the weight of her question hit me. ¡°Milk for the kitten is milk for the cat, huh...¡±

    ¡°I think you''re good.¡± Wildeye then said to us.

    ¡°Hm?¡±

    ¡°How so?¡± Ariana and I wondered.

    ¡°Djaziim''s contract with that guild can be nullified with magic orbs because there was a similar process used to create and bind that contract; however, from how I understood it, Dracuoatlax''s service to you is based on your cleverness and your prestige moreso than the artifact you used to tame him, though admittedly that plays a part. I doubt anyone could get it off of him without his consent, and that consent would likely only be triggered by a lessening of your status in his eyes.¡± Wildeye explained.

    ¡°Ohh, I get it,¡± Ariana said, and I nodded.

    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

    ¡°That''s a relief. So all we have to do is not get on his disappointed side, like with Fyu,¡± I noted.

    ¡°Seems like it!¡± she smiled back.

    We talked lightly after that, but when we got in sight of Lantisha about five in-game hours later we ceased, and put out the lights aboard the ship. It was an incredible amount of distance we had covered thanks to the magimotor, but it would be slow going to get back at this rate. The five of us agreed there had to be a wayport on the island, probably an imported one like we had at our Bethelia house, so it was decided that Wildeye and Tyman would sail the ship back as soon as we were in range to swim to the island.

    The three of us prepared ourselves to do so, and at a nod from Jannie we dove in softly and swam hurriedly to shore. There had been no sign of harborage on this northeastern side of the island, but there was definitely a large forest in its midst that covered a small mountain range. As soon as we got to shore we redressed, and Jannie looked back towards the ship. It was already receding into the horizon, barely visible even to Ariana let alone us. I then tapped the other guild leader''s shoulder, pointing to a stream that was coming down from the mountains, and we all nodded to each other as we decided to follow this.

    Most of the trees here were semi-tropical in design, though some seemed based on evergreen archetypes and there were a few that looked more oak-like in appearance. There were plenty of animals roaming around, and quite a wide variety of plants and fungi; it was definitely an herbalist''s dream here. Ariana collected several samples as we passed through the woods silently.

    ¡°It''s a good thing this island has torchwings,¡± Jannie remarked as we made our way along the banks of the stream. Torchwings are the Panarena version of fireflies, except these have a more steady luminescence.

    ¡°I wouldn''t want to even risk a spell that mimics them in this situation,¡± Ariana agreed.

    ¡°Like really,¡± I nodded.

    It was a tense but quiet hour and a half as we made our way first up and then down the mountain, and when we got to a ridge that overlooked the southwestern side we saw it. There was a sprawling shipyard with exactly sixteen massive silhouettes awaiting their components, as well as spots for at least forty other ships by my counting. Ariana augmented her Mystic Vision so the three of us could observe what she saw as well, and we scanned the harbor in greater detail.

    ¡°There''s the wayport,¡± Jannie said. It was in the middle of the supply camps.

    ¡°This is really daring of them; there''s another island further west of here, isn''t there?¡± I said as we continued to observe the situation.

    ¡°From what I''ve heard the Onyxus guilds are more antagonistic towards each other, so I doubt anyone''s laid a complete claim to it like these guys. But you''re right; then again, they are the front-runners to win the overall competition.¡± Jannie told me.

    ¡°I can probably add hearing to this as well,¡± Ari said, and she made the adjustments.

    ¡°Oh nice!¡± I whispered excitedly. Then the three of us stared in confusion for a moment as the audio came through.

    ¡°Oh, I get it, translators don''t work here.¡± Ariana realized after three seconds.

    ¡°Hmm... we should have brought Anhe with us.¡± I sighed.

    ¡°We can get the gist, probably, but just in case,¡± Ariana returned, activating a recording spell for posterity.

    ¡°Hrrmm...¡± I nodded back, picking up my listening ears.

    From what I could tell, the leader here was named Zheng; he was one of the top officers in Guardians, according to the forums. If he was here, it meant that this project was one of their highest priorities. He was arguing with another officer named Kirin about the distribution of the materials and the seeming lateness of the expected shipment from Gears and Wheels. Kirin was countering him by reminding him of the time and the amount of resources that the other guild needed. Then the two of them sighed in vexation, talking about the high cost of the cannons they were expecting, and made a few jokes... I think? They laughed anyway. Maybe they were poking fun about something or sharing an in-joke.

    ¡°I think we''ve heard enough.¡± Ariana said, preparing to switch off the audio.

    ¡°Wait!!¡± I hissed, holding my hand out. She paused, and then her eyes widened as she heard what I was hearing. They were planning to have this entire fleet operational by next week exactly.

    ¡°Ooh, good catch,¡± she nodded back to me.

    ¡°One week, huh?¡± I noted.

    ¡°One week? For what? Oh, God, you''re kidding?¡± Jannie''s eyes widened as she suddenly understood what we meant.

    ¡°One real week, at least.¡± I nodded back.

    ¡°Well, that''s a semi-hopeful note. Now let''s get to that wayport and get out of here without being noticed.

    ¡°That''ll be tricky.¡± I said.

    ¡°I don''t want to hear that from the two girls who slipped into ?SOVEREIGN?''s mansion without getting caught or even looked at sideways.¡± Jannie quickly replied with a snarky grin.

    ¡°Ah-heh,¡± I laughed faintly.

    ¡°Sh-she''s got a point,¡± Ariana smiled wryly.

    I then looked around at our current surroundings, suddenly noticing a storehouse nearby. It was a good thing no one had come up to investigate it. I softly nudged the other two girls, and we made our way over to it. Inside, we found mining clothes and some miner''s gear as well. We put our own stuff back into inventory and donned these instead, dusting and griming ourselves up a bit before heading cautiously but confidently towards the camp.

    When we got closer, one of the guild members from Guardians commented that we looked like we''d been through hell and asked us if we had managed to dig anything up. I managed to reply in the negative, saying that our superior had told us to return home for now until we had further orders. He laughed, and then shrugged, making sure we knew where the wayport was as we continued on into the camp. I heard him say something to the other lookout, who laughed.

    As we stepped up on the wayport, I input Unmo as a destination to keep immediate suspicion off our backs. Jannie nodded at my choice, and we stepped through to the mainland; moments later, we input a new destination into our next wayport: Paxwiss, the hub for the Wildlands.

    ***

    ¡°Hurry!¡± Jannie said as we quickly donned our usual accouterments and ditched the mining get-ups. ¡°They''ve almost broken through the stronghold on the east banks of the Wan''r!¡±

    ¡°I can''t believe even the neutral guilds decided to go with our enemies on this one,¡± I griped.

    ¡°It''s probably balance from their point of view,¡± Ariana sighed, ¡°But that doesn''t make me any less angry about it!¡±

    ¡°You said it!¡± Jannie agreed with a vexed tone. Overhead, I saw our friendly neighborhood dragon fly by, and then he swooped down to land in front of us.

    ¡°Lady Lana! Your ally Maryn sent me a message nearly two hours past; it seems that the enemy is planning to use Djaziim to finish off this fastness!¡± the dragon told us.

    ¡°Oh, swell, just what we need!¡± I said as we approached him.

    ¡°Pah! Fear not; we shall put fear into them this night! I will not let our names be tarnished simply because of greater numbers!¡± Dracuoatlax grunted.

    ¡°Let''s fly, pal.¡± I said, giving him a grin as he smiled back toothily.

    ¡°Let''s fly, indeed!¡± he returned, and when we were on his back he took off to head for the scene of battle.

    We found the battlefield shrinking for our friends, but they began to rally as soon as they saw Dracuoatlax heading for battle. The dragon set fire to a wide swatch of the area, causing the impromptu anti-alliance to start breaking ranks. At that moment, Djaziim emerged, and the three of us slid off the dragon''s back to let him deal with the demon while we joined in the fray around the fortress. Lysandra and Lizzy had turned up by now, as well as Derwydd, the were-beings using their animalistic forms to their utmost. Maryn and Magisteria held the defenses on the walls alongside Angela and Humphrey. Wildeye and Tyman were leading a group from the south to try and flank the enemy''s assault team.

    Lysandra, Derwydd, and myself went to cut off a detached force of werewolves that was galloping towards the walls to try and jump them. Ariana put some fear into them with a lightning strike right in their path, and the three of us swiftly engaged them while they recovered their wits. Valkrysti and some from her guild came rushing over to help us.

    Ten minutes later Dracuoatlax had again pushed back Djaziim, and the dragon, satisfied with his victory against his old enemy, began singeing the edges of the enemy ranks to drive them further into chaos. We were still in a tight spot, though. I could tell that our buddy was worn out from his fight against Djaziim, and the Guardians were better than we expected at recovering their forces and rallying them, even with a bunch of other guilds in the mix.

    I, at least, had the satisfaction of pulling the exact same trick on Mad Dog as I had done in the Grand Tournament. He looked positively cross-eyed as his avatar disintegrated, howling for vengeance before he went poof. The rest of his guild began falling back after that, though we were wearing out as well by then and would likely have been pushed back if Chaneyson had instead decided to rush us.

    Five minutes after that, another guild decided to join the fray. There was a sound of horns from the northeast, followed by the sound of thundering hooves.

    ¡°Horses?¡± I wondered, tensing up slightly.

    ¡°Rrgh!¡± Lysandra said as she shifted back to human form, forgetting to adjust her top in her frustration. ¡°All night! All night and now someone else is joining in?! What the--¡±

    ¡°Wait, that banner!¡± Derwydd exclaimed as he resumed his own human form.

    ¡°Huh?¡± Lysandra turned to him, and then suddenly noticed her top.

    ¡°Those -- oh wow... it''s the Horselords of Heorot.¡± Derwydd remarked.

    ¡°Are they here to pick on us too?¡± the werewolf-girl said as she finished fixing her top.

    ¡°I hope not,¡± I said tiredly.

    Then, to our relief, they began thundering through the enemy ranks, scattering them. Their large force then split into six, five large ones to chase the enemy down and a smaller one that made its way for the gates of our fortress. Well, Valiant Maidens'' stronghold, but hey. Eight riders halted before us, five women and three men. The leader, a man, dismounted first and took off his helmet to address us.

    ¡°Hail, Lana Windstrider; hail, Jannie Brooks; hail Wildeye and Kiana, and all others who lead this night against dire odds in these Wildlands,¡± he began.

    Theatrical fellow, isn''t he? I remarked inwardly, impressed at his immersion in the game.

    ¡°I am Eothane, leader of the Horselords. This is Wyne, my second.¡± he gestured to the lady with flaxen hair next to him. ¡°These are our officers, Beoryn, Gundea, Sybel, Fera, Leafryne, and Wulf.¡±

    ¡°Hail, Eothane; your presence gladdens us,¡± Wildeye said as he joined us at the gates. ¡°To what do we owe your valiant rescue?¡±

    ¡°A welcome payback for treachery played upon us in Ragnarheim by Venomheart and their masters the King-Priests of the Demon Sands. We see that you also have their attention, and the attention of many others. I would make a pact with you to stand against them in times of need; as pledge, I am willing to send a generous supply to help you rebuild and redouble your defenses here.¡± Eothane told us.

    ¡°I am heartened by these words, and I would gladly accept; please allow us to pledge that we shall repay you in the future.¡± Wildeye said as he held out his hand.

    ¡°I know you will do so, Wild.¡± Eothane smiled. ¡°How fares your father?¡±

    ¡°He is well, my thanks for asking,¡± the other replied amiably. ¡°And your uncle Forseti?¡±

    Whoa. What? I blinked.

    ¡°Much is upon his mind, but he has a store of mirth from our mischiefs across this world,¡± Eothane grinned.

    ¡°I can imagine!¡± Wildeye grinned back.

    ¡°Say, Wild,¡± I then broke in. ¡°Lord Eothane, perhaps we can recover our debt to you in a timely fashion.¡±

    ¡°Of what do you speak, Lady Lana?¡± the man said to me.

    ¡°The ships, the ones that the Guardians have,¡± I said.

    ¡°Ships are no good to us, my Lady.¡± he said with a grin.

    ¡°But ships are made up of things, are they not?¡± I smiled back.

    ¡°To be sure, they are fashioned from a trove of resources; I see your point, my Lady! If we can capture these sea-faring beasts, we can return them to their basic components, and re-purpose them for other things or sell them off for profits,¡± Eothane mused. ¡°But this mighty trick cannot be done with our help, I fear.¡±

    ¡°Don''t worry about that, just worry about keeping them distracted for the next week or so on land.¡± I replied.

    ¡°That may be all the time we can give for such a task.¡± Eothane replied. ¡°And we still have the others to knock out of this rivalry as well.¡±

    ¡°Why a week, Lana?¡± Wildeye said.

    ¡°That''s when the next fleet from the Guardians will be up and running.¡± I told him.

    ¡°If their ships sail the seas unchallenged, then land may not much matter,¡± Wyne said.

    ¡°You speak the truth,¡± her leader nodded back.

    ¡°They''ll dip into the red if we can pull this off.¡± Kiana remarked as she came forth to join the discussion. ¡°And maybe we can force Gears and Wheels into picking a side as well.¡±

    ¡°Ours, I hope you mean,¡± Peaches poked her.

    ¡°Ha-ha, yes!¡± the other replied.

    ¡°We have many matters to discuss, it seems,¡± Eothane said. ¡°But first we must finish driving away these,¡± he smiled fiercely.

    ¡°We''ll help as we can,¡± Wildeye returned.

    ¡°Rest now, you have battled the night valiantly and held off defeat; let us earn our keep for the night!¡± the other replied as he got back onto his steed, and then the eight of them hurried off to aid their fellows.

    ¡°Well I call that help.¡± Angela said with a smile.

    ¡°So that''s the other contender for biggest guild in Harmonia,¡± I said as I watched them in awe.

    ¡°Eothane''s been preparing for this event since he founded his guild.¡± Wildeye told us. ¡°The artillery in this game isn''t to the practical level of modern or even early modern warfare, so practically speaking he and his guild can dominate nearly any PvP battle in this world.¡±

    ¡°You mean there''s not many who have a strong enough head to think of how to counter him and his cavalry units.¡± Reginleif nodded with approval.

    ¡°Exactly.¡± the other replied. ¡°F¨¨nghu¨¢ng is probably one of them, too, so let''s be grateful that Eothane is joining us against her guild.¡±

    ¡°Lana.¡± a soft voice then said beside me. It was Myanihia.

    ¡°Hey! Were you here this whole time?¡± I wondered.

    ¡°In the shadows, picking my targets carefully.¡± she nodded. ¡°Lana; I got it. The whole list of them. I managed, just before they attacked the Horselords, in Ragnarheim. I sent Eothane, a warning; that''s why he''s here now, after driving off Venomheart, in the north.¡± she told me.

    ¡°We owe you a debt, then.¡± Kiana said to her with a smile. The Snow Elf bowed back.

    ¡°It, is all for Lana, but I appreciate, your words.¡± she replied.

    ¡°Wait, wait, the whole list of them? Venomheart?¡± I then asked, and Myanihia nodded back.

    ¡°Ohh, snap. This''ll be good.¡± Tyman said.

    ¡°I, want to wait, for Eothane, though.¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡± I said to Myanihia with a nod. ¡°Let''s help them a bit too if we can.¡± I added, and she nodded to me as well.

    ***

    It was a full two in-game hours before we finally settled down in the main hall of the outpost that had been saved. All of the guild leaders and our seconds were assembled, along with most if not all of our officers as Myanihia addressed us.

    ¡°First, a review. The Blade, Melody; a master swordswoman who sometimes uses a poisoned blade. Then Cyan Idewyll; a necromancer, with necrotic poisons. Next, Venomy; an assassin who is on par with the top-ten shadow users. Clara Toxin, the witch, who incorporates various toxins into her spells and potions. I have mentioned these four to Lana. And now, the other three.¡± she recounted, and we began paying close attention. ¡°Cobra; he is, an animal charmer, focused on controlling serpents, or snakes. All of them venomous, of course. Merc Mandrake; he... is an alchemist. His personality... is too much.¡±

    ¡°Pfft!¡± Lysandra giggled, and Myanihia gave her a wry smile.

    ¡°Finally,¡± the Snow Elf assassin said, ¡°There is Jana Foxgloves. She... is a gardener, an herbalist, and also a deadly archer. I, am not certain, but, she might be, the second.¡± Myanihia told us.

    ¡°Hmm.¡± I nodded back. ¡°That would make some sense; if she''s not the second, she''s the quartermaster at least,¡± I remarked.

    ¡°Agreed.¡± Myanihia nodded.

    ¡°Yo, Wild, what d''you think?¡± Tyman prodded the other boy at once.

    ¡°I think we need to get their contractors out of the competition first.¡± Wildeye mused.

    ¡°Agreed.¡± Deathscythe said.

    ¡°The King-Priests will not go down easily.¡± Eothane shook his head. ¡°And there is the matter of that demon as well.¡±

    ¡°Lana and her guild are working on a final counter for Djaziim,¡± Reginleif told him.

    ¡°We''ll have to get to that dungeon sometime this week.¡± Healina said to me then.

    ¡°Agreed.¡± I replied.

    ¡°I can be on Thursday but not Wednesday. Not early anyway.¡± Lizzy said.

    ¡°Same.¡± Derwydd added.

    ¡°You''re not a Queen, bub.¡± our smith playfully flicked him. The rest of us laughed heartily at the quip.

    ¡°One thing more I would add to these counsels,¡± Eothane then said, ¡°What is the number of ships being built?¡±

    ¡°Sixteen large ones and at least forty smaller ones.¡± I replied.

    ¡°From what I have seen of them on the forums, the sixteen would already more than enough to repay us. You need not net an armada entire.¡± Eothane told me.

    ¡°I agree.¡± I replied. ¡°We''ll capture the sixteen large ones, and maybe even the four already here patrolling the mainland, and then break them down for their resources to pay you back for the supplies you''re sending us.¡±

    ¡°That still leaves us with one teensy little issue.¡± Lizzy said as she placed her elbow on my chair to lean on it. ¡°How are you gonna steal sixteen ships of that size?¡± she asked me.

    ¡°Ahh...¡±

    ¡°We will think of something! We always do!¡± Anhe spoke up for me.

    ¡°Well I hope you think fast.¡± Kiana told us.

    ¡°I trust Lady Lana.¡± Eothane gently smiled. ¡°She is one who can get things moving and done, from what I have observed over the past several months. There is no doubt in my mind that sixteen ships will come a''sailing from the south in due time.¡±

    ¡°Hmm...¡± I pondered quietly.

    ¡°You already have an idea, don''t you?¡± Ariana grinned over at me.

    ¡°We''ll need some sugar to get the spice, but I think we can pull it off.¡± I nodded back.

    ¡°Oh dayum. Here go them forums again,¡± Tyman grinned broadly, and the others laughed.

    ¡°So what kind of sugar are we getting for what kind of spice?¡± Lizzy asked me the next day in Panarena. It was probably about three in the morning for real. We had returned to Cloverbell for a change, and Myanihia had come with us, saying she wanted to be a part of our discussions on these specific matters.

    ¡°Remember the Heavenly Dragons?¡± I said.

    ¡°Okay. I think I like where this is going.¡±

    ¡°We get some more of that rare ore and stuff from places around Memphani for them, and ask for their help. Maybe Jade Lotus if we can, too...¡±

    ¡°Because the Guardians will probably have their ships'' crews restricted to Mandarin-speakers only.¡± Ariana nodded.

    ¡°At least that much. We''ll probably need our old uniform trick as well.¡± I replied.

    ¡°Access by uniform over access by guild registry.¡± she returned.

    ¡°With a large guild like that they''d nearly have to,¡± Lysandra shrugged. ¡°Guilds can be as large as anyone wants, but even the largest halls have a limit to registering access, which is why the game has the uniform or insignia recognition as an option.¡±

    ¡°True.¡± Myanihia nodded in agreement.

    ¡°So we have more to steal,¡± I noted.

    ¡°Get some bribery funds, get some uniforms, steal the ships, secure an alliance and gain some rankings. Sounds like a plan!¡± Lizzy nodded in approval. ¡°And the orb soon for sure or we''ll never get to it.¡±

    ¡°Right,¡± I agreed. ¡°Woof... I''m wiped out...¡± I then sighed.

    ¡°Same,¡± Ariana said, plomping back in her seat.

    ¡°We have a plan. It, is a good plan. But, we should consider that the other guilds may want something new, instead of what they have gotten before.¡± Myanihia told us. ¡°I think, something from the Untold Deeps, our purview, would be a more enticing commodity.¡±

    ¡°She''s got a point.¡± Sky Belle remarked.

    ¡°A good one.¡± I said. ¡°Let''s get down there before our day ends to do that.¡±

    ¡°Agree.¡± Healina nodded.

    ¡°Seconded!¡± Ari said.

    ¡°Let''s do that.¡± Lysandra smiled, and her twin nodded.

    ¡°After a nap, I hope,¡± Lizzy yawned.

    ¡°For sure.¡± Derwydd agreed with a faint grin.

    ¡°A short nap.¡± Maryn returned.

    ¡°One hour.¡± I said.

    ¡°Fair!¡± Lizzy agreed.

    As we then went to idle or nap away the hour, I suddenly wondered how Wildeye and Tyman had gotten to the fortress ahead of us when they should have arrived much later than we did, all things considered. Nothing came to mind, so I shrugged it off for now and decided to ask them later.

 Chapter Sixteen: Gems and Things/An Actors Life

    We emerged at one of our save-points in the Untold Deeps a little over an hour later. It wasn''t like we had a total monopoly over stuff down here, but we had definitely explored it the most so far, thus giving us an edge on knowing where certain things are. Specifically, Depths Ore and Luminous Magistones. The common or basic versions of these are in demand, and their higher quality versions are pricey at least. They''re key components for certain magic items in crafting, and from what Lizzy has told me the weapons made from them are on par with Draigod ones.

    As we made our way to one of the more plentiful deposits, I looked over the current rankings for the competition.

    First place: Guardians of the Eternal Citadel.

    Second place: Gears and Wheels.

    Third Place: Horselords of Heorot.

    Fourth place: Northern Warriors.

    Fifth place: Mountain Tigers.

    Sixth place: The Lightbrook Brigade.

    Seventh place: Valiant Maidens.

    Eighth place: King-Priests of the Demon Sands.

    Ninth place: Silvernight Queens.

    Tenth place: Heavenly Dragons.

    Eleventh place: Dreamers Fables.

    Twelfth place: Venomheart.

    Thirteenth place: Jade Lotus.

    Fourteenth place: Night Wolves.

    Fifteenth place: ?SOVEREIGN?.

    Sixteenth place: The Tea Cupboard.

    Seventeenth place: Flamehearts.

    Eighteenth place: The Farmer''s Market.

    Nineteenth place: Shamrock''s Luck.

    Twentieth place: Words and Sorcery.

    ¡°There''s a lot we know in the top twenty, huh?¡± Ariana remarked as she read with me.

    ¡°And this is just the Harmonia side,¡± I noted. ¡°I wonder how the Onyxus side is doing.¡±

    Looks like Joanna hasn''t been able to keep her guild in the top ten after all, though top twenty is still good, I mused to myself.

    ¡°We could check their rankings at Harmonia City sometime,¡± Lysandra told me. ¡°Other than that, the only way to do so would be to look online outside the game.¡±

    ¡°Hmm.¡±

    ¡°True!¡± Ari and I said in reply.

    ¡°As we thought, most of the top guilds right now have a sheer size advantage over quality economics, except perhaps the top five.¡± Healina observed.

    ¡°I''m a little hurt we''re eleventh while you''re ninth, but we''ll close the gap later.¡± Derwydd grinned. He had come with us to help out as usual, and so had Myanihia.

    ¡°I''m surprised ?SOVEREIGN? is lower than Mountain Tigers; no offense to Wildeye at all, it''s just that, even with Garth gone, they''re one of the top Aldholt guilds.¡± Heali remarked.

    ¡°Wildeye is more proactive and Humphrey is more laid-back. He likely wants to keep distancing himself from anything Garthish, including being the ''top'' at anything.¡± I said. ¡°His being in the new alliance is probably more of a continued apology as opposed to actually wanting to get a high score, though I don''t doubt they''re doing their best,¡± I said with a soft smile.

    ¡°Hm, hm.¡± Lizzy nodded. ¡°I bet you''re exactly right about that. Same with Angela too, I''d say. Though what''s surprising to me is that Flamehearts are behind those two. Angelfire seems more proactive than either Humphrey or Wildeye if you ask me.¡±

    ¡°Oh for sure.¡± I had to agree. ¡°She''ll probably start pulling away soon by doing the opposite of Gears and Wheels, though.¡±

    ¡°You mean instead of selling supplies and stuff she''ll start wrecking caravans and so forth.¡± Maryn said with a half-smirk.

    ¡°She was probably waiting to see what kind of mischief everyone else was getting up to first,¡± Ariana said with a laugh.

    ¡°That does sound like Angelfire,¡± Lizzy agreed.

    ¡°We''re here.¡± Myanihia then said, and we came to a halt.

    ¡°All right, anyone who can mine, mine away; the rest of you keep a lookout, especially for that one kind of critter,¡± I said.

    ¡°Here we go!¡± Lizzy said.

    ¡°Got it!¡± Heali nodded. She was the only one who could properly deal with the critter in question -- well, at least in the way that I wanted it to be dealt with, as in taming it. Derwydd had some taming skills as well, but he hadn''t gotten to Heali''s proficiency level yet.

    What''s that? Oh, it''s a small, lizard-type creature that sniffs out gem deposits. It looks like a newt, a coal-black newt with diamond-white eyes; they fit in your hand almost perfectly, and we''ve been inadvertently led to all sorts of bountiful gem deposits because of them. We''d even successfully tested them in other places as well before releasing them to wander back here.

    After five hours in-game, we had a sizable cart full of ore and gems, and Healina had tamed six of our little friends. We put them in a special carrier, and headed back to the wayport to pay a visit to the guilds we now sent an olive branch towards: Heavenly Dragons and Jade Lotus.

    ***

    We agreed to meet at an outdoor tavern in Zan; Qi Lin and Rainsong represented their guild, and Hua Ling, leader of Jade Lotus, arrived with her second, Li Zha Feng. I took Anhe along this time, while Ariana, Maryn, and Healina were at another table behind us with the items in question. With Anhe''s help in some places, I outlined what I wanted to do and my offer for them, adding that if they preferred to remain neutral after the raid I had in mind had been concluded I would not be offended. Qi Lin showed interest, whereas Hua Ling''s expression was placid and indeterminable. She began conferring with her second, and Qi Lin talked it over with Rainsong. Their conversations carried for a few moments; Anhe touched my shoulder as she began telling me what she heard.

    ¡°Qi Lin is definitely open to the idea, the moreso because he has worked with us before and because he wants to advance his standing,¡± Anhe softly told me. ¡°Hua Ling is less certain; she wants to go along with this but is considering testing our sincerity.¡± she continued in a hushed tone. I could understand some of this, but having her confirm it was a real boon.

    I stood up slowly then, getting their attention. Then, I bowed deeply. Anhe, suddenly picking up on my intentions, did the same, as did the other girls behind us.

    ¡°Qi Lin, Hua Ling; I understand there are certain concerns with this, not the least of which is the reprisal you may experience from the Guardians of the Eternal Citadel. If there is some further token of sincerity and trust on our part I can offer, I will do my utmost to provide it,¡± I said, and Anhe repeated my words to them in Mandarin. I might have been able to do so myself, but I refrained out of concern that I might say something wrong.

    ¡°Lana-san, we Heavenly Dragons already know your integrity. You have no need to give anything further than this; we will gladly accept our share of the ore, crystals, and the ore-newts.¡± Qi Lin said to me. ¡°Hua Ling, you are probably the one with doubts about this, yes?¡±

    ¡°This is so.¡± she said in an even tone, yet not without a hint of emotion. ¡°Lady Lana, I am willing to accept this and go along with this plan, if only to spite F¨¨nghu¨¢ng, that spiteful woman, in this competition.¡± she continued, and Li Zha beside her let out a giggle. ¡°I understand you will provide insignias to get us aboard these warships; this is also very acceptable considering the risk. Yet I would also ask; there is something I specifically want retrieved from the Guardians. It is being held in one of their fortresses in the Phoenix Domain. A casket of alchemical tomes.¡±

    ¡°I understand. Can you tell me which fortress?¡± I asked her.

    ¡°We think they change its location every three days in-game.¡± she shook her head.

    Ugh. Find an orb, find a tome, steal some uniforms, commandeer ships, beat a demon... this to-do list is getting long and overrated, I sighed inwardly.

    ¡°We''ll figure it out somehow.¡± I replied out loud.

    ¡°Then I will accept our share of what you have brought as a down-payment.¡± she nodded.

    ¡°I am grateful for your words. I look forward to gaining your cooperation in the future,¡± I replied, this time in Mandarin, and she smiled approvingly.

    ¡°You are improving; I look forward to the day when you can speak with confidence.¡± she replied in the same, and I bowed again. We then divvied out the bribe we had brought along for them, and with that our initial transaction was concluded.

    ¡°Lana-san,¡± Qi Lin said a few moments after the members of Jade Lotus departed, ¡°We keep an eye on the Phoenix Domain. I am mostly positive we know of three forts that Guardians frequently sends a small caravan around to on that very time schedule. Please consider it a bonus to our participation!¡± he said with a bow, and I bowed back.

    ¡°That''s very helpful, thank you!¡± I replied.

    ¡°Here!¡± he then said, materializing a marked map of the area in question. ¡°Ahh, and, please mind the guardians. Not the guild, the monsters.¡± he added with a grin before departing.

    ¡°Typical,¡± I remarked with a bemused grin after they had gone.

    ¡°We got a promise and a bonus. No complaining.¡± Anhe softly elbowed me.

    ¡°Hahh... can''t we get flowers instead?¡± I sighed. The younger girl looked at me with surprise.

    ¡°L-Lana, you are being more girly tonight!¡±

    ¡°Hyeck!? Ah--I, I d-d-d-didn''t mean it like th-th-th-that!¡± I stammered out hastily, but she giggled.

    ¡°Ari! Lana wants flowers!¡± she snickered as she called over to my partner.

    ¡°Oh?¡± Ariana said with a cheerful and merciless grin. ¡°La-na, what kind of flowers?¡±

    ¡°If it''s Lana, then maybe some violet and white ones to go with her black outfits,¡± Maryn innocently mused as my expression became more exasperated.

    ¡°No no, I was thinking green and yellow,¡± Healina joined in.

    ¡°Oh! Nice idea!¡± the older girl smiled.

    ¡°Ugghh! Anheee, what''ve you gotten me into!?¡± I groaned, and the girls began cackling.

    ¡°It''s nice, isn''t it?¡± Ariana said later as the two of us relaxed in a quiet field. She had gotten me into a black ¨¢o d¨¤i with white and pink floral print on it, and had been weaving a crown of white, green, and pink flowers for me. She had just now set it on my head, pulling out a looking-glass for me to see.

    ¡°Hrrmm...¡± I squirmed uneasily. I could see my cheeks turning red in the reflection.

    ¡°It''s fine in-game for a while.¡± she patted my leg.

    ¡°I guess so...¡± I agreed, a faint smile on my face.

    ¡°You really just don''t think about this sort of thing, do you?¡± she giggled.

    ¡°N-not on me, no,¡± I blushed, taking her hand. She was wearing a pink and blue ¨¢o d¨¤i with gold floral patterns, and her hair had a silver circlet with flower-shaped turquoise stones set into it.

    ¡°I know.¡± she replied softly, squeezing my hand.

    If she wore something like this in real life she''d melt the whole city with her radiance, I thought to myself at that moment. My face relaxed from its tenseness as I became more enraptured by the girl before me. A smile crept across her face, and then she closed her eyes, parting her lips; I reached over, pressing my own lips upon hers for a kiss that seemed to last for the rest of that whole night. But time, sadly, passed; and in the morning, it was back to reality and back to school.

    ***

    ¡°Yo, Dans, you awake?¡± Ty said to me as we got close to school.

    ¡°Hm? Oh,¡± I blinked, suddenly realizing this. ¡°Never mind; how''d you get ahead of us last night anyway?¡± I then asked, suddenly recalling my belated befuddlement from before.

    ¡°Huh? Oh that,¡± he replied. ¡°Wild got an urgent message after we left y''all, so we used an emergency teleport crystal to get there. Put the boat on auto-pilot. Don''t worry, it got back safe.¡± he told me.

    ¡°Huh. I guess considering it had one of those what''s-its on board it could do that,¡± I said.

    ¡°Magimotor, boy.¡± Ty said as he lightly flicked me. ¡°''Aight, we''re here; let''s get this day over with!¡± he added as the bus came to a halt, and we got out of the bus to head inside for school.

    I found Rachel waiting with a smile at the lockers, as was now usual for me, and I smiled back. I felt my cheeks burning for a moment as I remembered last night, then hurriedly opened my locker to put it aside for now.

    ¡°Something up?¡± she asked me as I got squirrelly.

    ¡°N-nothing, just, memories...¡± I returned unconvincingly.

    ¡°Hm? Ahh,¡± she smiled back. A soft giggle came from her lips, and she nudged me with her foot. ¡°You''ll be fine.¡±

    ¡°Tell that to the me a couple hours from now,¡± I said, referring to the inevitability of mathematics.

    ¡°You''ll still be fine.¡± she softly winked back as I finished with my books and we headed in for class. ¡°More importantly, we have a special set of rehearsals tonight,¡± Rachel said with a sigh as we sat down.

    ¡°Hmm? Ahh--!¡± I returned as it dawned on me. ¡°It''s gonna be late when we get home, isn''t it...¡±

    ¡°Mm.¡± she nodded back. ¡°And then we have in-game ''homework'' to get to!¡± she said with a wry grin.

    ¡°Ah-heh,¡± I returned as the same expression came to my own face.

    ¡°All right, people!¡± our homeroom teacher clapped his hands. ¡°The bell isn''t working today, so let''s get started on the dot!¡±

    Lunch break could not come swiftly enough that day for some reason. As soon as we had gotten ourselves sorted for the afternoon we all but flew to our club-room, where we found the others ahead of us. We settled into our usual spot, and instead of chattering as we usually did there was a quiet agreement to get lunch out of the way first. When our meals had been eaten, we sat in silence for a moment, and then Andrea sat up.

    This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

    ¡°Oh, Chrissy and Mandy won''t be on tonight until late.¡± she told us.

    ¡°Hrrmm...¡± I sighed, thinking about all the things we had agreed to do in-game.

    ¡°That fortress situation in the Phoenix Domain sounds like more of a pain than the dungeon.¡± Mary said as she sipped on what was left of her tea.

    ¡°Still, we can do that with fewer people.¡± I replied.

    ¡°Agree.¡± Rachel nodded. ¡°Part of me thinks that it''s a bluff, too. That the casket''s location is actually static.¡±

    ¡°Which would mean we''d have to work out if it''s actually at one of the three castles they built or if it''s at another location entirely.¡± Andrea said. ¡°And even if we can''t get that done tonight, we can at least get the disguises.¡±

    ¡°Oh, true,¡± I agreed.

    ¡°More importantly, you guys are getting fed tonight at rehearsals, right?¡± our club leader said to us with a concerned look.

    ¡°We are, don''t worry.¡± Thomas assured her. ¡°It''ll be like that for the last two weeks before the performances, too.¡±

    ¡°I cannot wait to see our little dork Robin-Hooding it up on stage.¡± Ellie said as she grinned like a cat, and Mary nearly spat out her drink as she laughed.

    ¡°Speaking as a witness by happenstance, I have to say he''s getting quite good at it.¡± Thomas remarked. ¡°And Rachel also!¡± he added with a grin.

    ¡°Isn''t the newspaper club gonna be there during those last two weeks as well?¡± Mary wondered.

    ¡°I think they''re around already, or was that the yearbook association?¡± Rachel replied, looking over to direct her question at me.

    ¡°Don''t ask me; they all have imagers, after all.¡± I shrugged, and she giggled.

    ¡°It''s both.¡± Thomas said. ¡°Bob''s been on the association for two years now, and Jane''s been a part of the newspaper club here since middle school.¡±

    ¡°Ohh, right, Jane; she''s gotten really good at it,¡± Ellie said as the name rang a bell for her.

    ¡°She''ll be a news-anchor before college at this rate, if she even decides to go.¡± Andrea nodded back to them.

    ¡°Oh, Jane Weiss,¡± Mary said. ¡°I agree. She''ll definitely get an apprenticeship at least.¡±

    ¡°Right?¡± Ellie replied.

    ¡°We''ve got five minutes left,¡± Andrea then said.

    ¡°Time flew by!¡± Anhe said in amazement as she looked at the clock.

    ¡°It sure did,¡± I agreed.

    ¡°I will go early; I will see you two at language class and then rehearsals!¡± Anhe smiled as she got up to get her things in order before heading out. We all decided to do the same, and after we had cleaned up we made our way to our respective classes for the afternoon.

    As soon as our last class let out, Rachel, Anhe, and myself were on our way to the auditorium. We met Thomas and Joanna on the way down, and the cat-like girl gave us a smile as she caught sight of us.

    ¡°Hey-ho, lovey-dovies,¡± she cheekily smiled.

    ¡°Hey,¡± Rachel smiled back.

    ¡°We''re gonna nail that duel scene today, kiddo, and then we''re gonna keep nailing it for the next eight weeks!¡± Joanna said as she pointed at me.

    ¡°Y-you got it,¡± I said with a hesitant laugh.

    ¡°Don''t scare him off now,¡± Thomas lightly chided her.

    ¡°Tommy, Tommy, Tommy,¡± Joanna tisked at him.

    ¡°Sean!¡±

    ¡°Hiya, buddy!¡± Herby and Matt exclaimed as they arrived along with with several of the others.

    ¡°Ray-chel! Let''s get that one scene down, huh?¡± Allie smiled as she came up with Malcolm.

    ¡°Oh definitely, provided we don''t trip over our tongues again,¡± my girlfriend grinned.

    ¡°Like really!¡± Allie said with a light frustration. ¡°Whoever wrote that piece of alliteration was a sadist!¡±

    ¡°Right??¡± Rachel agreed as the two of them headed off.

    ¡°We''ve gotta run our lines with the other outlaws, too,¡± Matt said as he gently thumped my shoulder. ¡°D''ya bring a helmet today, pal?¡± he grinned.

    ¡°Aw, shut up, Matt!¡± Herby quipped, lightly punching his shoulder.

    ¡°We need to make that a shirt: ''Shut up, Matt!''¡± I commented, reflecting on the fact that I heard Herby say this at least once a rehearsal. Those around us busted out laughing, including Matthew himself, who laughed the loudest.

    ¡°All right, kids! Let''s get this show on the road!¡± our teacher then called out with a clap of her hands. I could see her grinning as we headed in, giving a direct smile to me in particular.

    ¡°Looks like our little star here finally got into our groove!¡± Matt beamed proudly as we emerged onto the stage.

    ¡°Yeah, buddy!¡± Herby cheered.

    ¡°Ah-heh,¡± I returned with a faint grin.

    ¡°Right then! What was that scene?¡±

    ¡°Act One, Scene... something...¡± Joey scratched his head.

    ¡°Biiig help, doofus.¡± Leslie sighed as she thwacked him with her script.

    ¡°Seven! Scene seven!¡± he quickly amended.

    ¡°Bingo!¡± Maggie clapped.

    ¡°Yeesh! Finally on time! Mostly...¡± Henry said as he scrambled in.

    ¡°Oh, Henry!¡± Matt said as he looked over, ¡°You are just a bit late... Miss Andrews said it was time to get this show on the road; did you perchance decide instead to get this show on a detour?¡± he asked cheekily. I looked around at the others, and we nodded to each other.

    ¡°Shut up, Matt!¡± we chorused, and laughter broke out yet again.

    ***

    After nearly two-and-a-half hours of going over various scenes that we definitely needed to continue working on in the weeks to come, we took a brief respite for a meal that was being provided to us by the school for the evening. Rachel and I sat outside with Allie, Malcolm, Herby, and Matt, with Joanna sitting nearby. The girl playing Gisbourne stared idly towards the sky, her eyes seeming to not see the towering skyscrapers that dominated the view for kilometers around the massive city.

    ¡°What''s up, sis?¡± Malcolm said after a few moments.

    ¡°This skyline is so...¡± his sister remarked distastefully, trailing off before resuming her attention to a turkey-wrap she had selected.

    ¡°Missing your game, huh?¡± her older brother said with a chuckle.

    ¡°Not yet. I still have this fantasy world to play in, once we finish eating.¡± Joanna shrugged back.

    ¡°Hmm.¡± the other nodded in reply.

    ¡°You have gotten obsessed a bit lately,¡± Allie remarked. ¡°It''s that competition thing I read about online, right?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, that thing. My guild''s participating in a low-key way that keeps us ahead of most of the others; but we have to step up our game a bit, though... our ranking''s down.¡± the other girl sighed. Rachel gave me a subtle and almost imperceptible smile at those words. I quietly winked back at her.

    ¡°That reminds me!¡± Matt perked up. ¡°I was reading ''Gamers Unite!'' at lunch today; there was this massive battle in that Panarena world between two of the big guilds there -- were you on the periphery of that?¡± he asked Joanna.

    ¡°Ohh, is that already news on the ''net?¡± she replied in a tone that somehow managed to convey both interest and boredom. But our irrepressible friend continued on unperturbed.

    ¡°Wow! I can barely manage to break the high scores at the Retro Arcade; playing in that kind of battle has got to be wicked!¡± he grinned.

    ¡°That''s true,¡± she smiled back. ¡°Yeah, Guardians, this massive guild there, tried to stomp down their competition last night and ended up getting more competition with another big guild taking up for the little guys.¡± Joanna shrugged as she continued eating.

    ¡°Nice of them. But not so nice for you, I bet.¡± Allie said with a half-grin.

    ¡°Of course not. Guardians are one of our employers.¡±

    ¡°Figures!¡±

    ¡°This competition is supposed to last until the end of spring, but things are already headed out of control. Especially with that one small guild running amok.¡± Joanna sighed in frustration. ¡°Not that mine is any bigger than theirs, but those girls are bonkers.¡±

    ¡°Dude!¡± Herby joined in. ¡°You''re facing off those--ahh, whaddaya call ''em? Matt, help me out!¡±

    ¡°What''s that, Herbs? Oh yeah! Those crazy chicks that make the headlines every four days,¡± his friend returned. Rachel and I exchanged a bemused grin; no one noticed it, however.

    ¡°Oh? You know about the Silvernight Queens there?¡± Joanna asked them curiously.

    ¡°That was them!¡± Herby nodded.

    ¡°Ha-ha, yup!¡± Matt grinned.

    ¡°There''s a rumor they all go to school together from what I''ve heard,¡± Leslie said as she and the other ¡°outlaws¡± came over to join us.

    ¡°Even you know about them, huh?¡± Joanna smiled.

    ¡°That game dominates the entertainment news, after all.¡± Leslie shrugged back.

    ¡°That''s true,¡± Malcolm said with a laugh.

    ¡°Come to think of it... the principal''s daughter made that one club here right before PFO''s first real event, didn''t she?¡± Maggie remarked.

    ¡°Oh, that''s true... those two are in it, right?¡± Joey said, nodding towards Rachel and myself.

    ¡°Hmm...?¡± Maggie returned, gazing at us questioningly.

    ¡°Ahh...¡± I started uncertainly.

    ¡°We''re in it, yes,¡± Rachel gently laughed back. Joanna''s eyes narrowed, but she refrained from saying anything just then.

    ¡°Cool! So what''s the club about?¡± Leslie asked her. ¡°Maybe we''ll join it next year!¡±

    ¡°Ah-hem!¡± Rachel cleared in a dignified way as she began, ¡°Our club''s purpose is to relate entertainment and media in a meaningful way to identifying careers or career goals, and to supplement those objectives with related activities such as workplace visitations.¡± she told them.

    ¡°Hmm... so any game or entertainment medium qualifies? Is it like Film Club or the Chess Team?¡± Matt asked her.

    ¡°I''d say those are somewhat related, yes,¡± Rachel nodded back.

    ¡°Cool!¡± our resident joker grinned in reply.

    ¡°Now I definitely want to check it out for next year,¡± Herby remarked.

    ¡°Please, please do.¡± I said to him at once.

    ¡°Why so eager?¡± Maggie laughed back.

    ¡°He''s probably fidgety about all the harem rumors that still linger around him.¡± Allie grinned, and the rest of them laughed, even Joanna.

    ¡°Of course, getting Valentine''s from two other girls aside from your girlfriend probably didn''t help that any,¡± Joanna winked mischievously.

    ¡°Gyeck!?¡±

    ¡°Jo.¡± Malcolm called her name, placing a hand on her shoulder.

    ¡°Ahh... sorry, that was uncalled for!¡± she hesitantly giggled.

    ¡°No no, I''m curious. Rachel, do you mind if I ask?¡± Maggie asked her.

    ¡°About who he''d be with if I hadn''t been at this school?¡± Rachel sighed back.

    ¡°Ahh...¡±

    ¡°Hey, c''mon, Mags, that''s unfair,¡± Herby said in a disappointed tone.

    ¡°For real!¡± Matt nodded vigorously.

    ¡°Ehh, you''re right.¡± she agreed resignedly.

    ¡°I think it would''ve been Mary for certain.¡± Rachel remarked unexpectedly. Everyone nearly dropped their sandwich wrap at the words, and I looked over at her in surprise, not daring to say anything. She smiled, laying her head on my shoulder. ¡°But it''s a moot point. He''s mine.¡± she said softly but proudly, and I felt tension going out of me like air from a punctured bicycle tire.

    ¡°For sure!¡± Allie grinned back, recovering magnificently from the jolt of shock moments before. I saw Matt and Herby exchanging relieved looks with each other, and Maggie furiously blushing for having brought up the subject at all. Leslie was patting her on the shoulder, a wry half-smile on her face.

    Joanna got up slowly, picking up the paper-plate she had used and her empty drink so she could recycle them in a nearby bin, then headed back inside without a word. Allie watched her sadly, but Malcolm said nothing, though a quiet sigh came from his lips moments later as a sad smile arrived on his face.

    ¡°You did it to yourself, Jo.¡± he murmured.

    Later that evening, Joanna and I were rehearsing the choreography of our fight scene again. Wordlessly, she performed every step, every thrust, every lunge and parry with perfect precision. And, wordlessly, I did much the same, only faltering once or twice, but managing to get the last few moves of our ¡°sword dance¡± perfect every time. That is, the part where I tumble down the last few steps and then recover myself to strike a final blow on my opponent while they try to do the same. When we had finished, Miss Andrews and Holly clapped at our progress, and summoned Matthew and Herby to come on stage for the quarterstaff scenes. Joanna came over to me before she left the stage, placing her head on my shoulder.

    ¡°Why you? Why you, and not me?¡± she whispered softly. I didn''t know how to answer her, and an inaudible sigh left me. Seeming to find some answer in that, she lifted her head, gave me an apologetic but hurt look, and then dashed off the stage.

    ¡°Jo? Jo!¡± our teacher called. ¡°Holly, take over,¡± she said to her aide, heading after Joanna as the other woman nodded.

    ¡°All right, Miss Liang! Do you think you''ve got our wild card''s kill-shots toned down?¡± she asked Anhe.

    ¡°I think so!¡± Anhe replied, and behind her Herby adopted a bemused grin. ¡°Herby, do your best!¡±

    ¡°I-I''ll try!¡± he said to her anxiously as I exchanged my mock sword for a staff, and our next round of fight choreography began.

    True to her word, Anhe had managed to amend Herby''s kill-shot finisher for our fight scene. To be more accurate, it seemed that she had told him to pause slightly before striking the final blow instead of just plain out thwacking me, allowing him to focus on holding back his strength for that particular blow. We rehearsed it several times over, and at the end of his turn we applauded him loudly while I mouthed a silent thank-you to Anhe, who beamed back.

    Then it was Matt''s turn; fortunately, his finisher was tripping me off of the ¡°log¡± and into the ¡°water¡±, so it was decidedly less dangerous to my health to begin with. Of course, as I''ve probably mentioned before, he definitely liked to have fun with it. After we had run through that scene a few times, we returned to going over our lines for the rest of the evening until it was time to go.

    Thomas had gone early for work, so Rachel and I sat around waiting for my dad to come and get us this time. As we sat together on one of the benches outside, Joanna came up to us, looking embarrassed.

    ¡°H-hey, Sean... about earlier...¡± she began, her cheeks red.

    ¡°Ahh... hey... I''m, not mad, or anything like that, you know...¡± I told her honestly.

    ¡°W-well, I''m sorry anyway... things are just, frustrating, you know?¡± she said with a forced laugh. Rachel looked at her with concern.

    ¡°Joanna?¡± she asked softly.

    ¡°Between trying to keep up with the guild competition, keeping up with my grades, and keeping up with my fencing so I can get an early try-out for this one school I want to go to next year so I don''t have to fall back on my mother''s ''plan'' for my life...¡±

    ¡°That sounds rough,¡± I said apologetically.

    ¡°You have no idea.¡± she shook her head. ¡°Ugh, if I could just get that one guild out of the picture or if I could just breeze through my morning classes or if I could just get my instructor to finally say something complimentary without also putting me down...!¡± Joanna quietly fumed. Rachel and I exchanged a worried glance with each other.

    She''s really got it rough.

    I dunno if we can help her, though.

    We can at least make the play enjoyable for her.

    Yeah, I hope so, our eyes seemed to say to each other.

    ¡°You''re doing really well with the musical, though!¡± Rachel then said, adopting a smile. Joanna cracked a grin, looking away shyly.

    ¡°I guess so.¡± she agreed, and then gave Rachel a more cunning look. ¡°You''re one of them, aren''t you? One of the Silvernight Queens.¡± Joanna said confidently.

    ¡°Ah... well, that''s true,¡± Rachel smiled back bashfully.

    ¡°Tell your leader if she drops out, I''ll drop out also.¡± the older girl declared with a more somber expression on her face. Rachel met her gaze with her own determination, and then shook her head.

    ¡°I don''t think Lana will do that.¡± my girlfriend returned solemnly. Joanna eyed her with scrutiny, and then shrugged, walking away.

    ¡°That so? Too bad,¡± Joanna remarked, then paused, turning to look back. ¡°You''re gonna regret it, you know.¡± she added, and then Rachel affected a more competitive smile.

    ¡°I don''t like getting feisty against other players in-game, but threats like that really do get me going. I won''t let you win.¡± she retorted calmly.

    ¡°Then, let''s make a bet.¡± Joanna returned, turning to face us directly. ¡°If you guys win against my guild at the end, I''ll dissolve it.¡± she declared.

    That''s heavy. I doubt her comrades would go along with that anymore than my friends would have accepted me losing to Lysandra back in the Tournament, I mused inwardly.

    ¡°And if you win instead?¡± Rachel asked her.

    ¡°Let''s see... if we win instead, I want Lana. I want her in my guild, and I want her as my girl.¡±

    Gu''hyeck?!?! I nearly jumped, though I was sure a flabbergasted expression had sprung to my face at that declaration. I looked over at Rachel. For the first (and I hoped to God only) time in my life, I saw a smoldering, explosive anger on her face. Her eyes almost glowed with rage. She took three steps forward, and pointed towards Joanna.

    ¡°I''ll never let you take her.¡± she declared adamantly. ¡°You''re on.¡±

    ¡°Hmph.¡± Joanna smiled, as if she had gleaned all the information she needed from that exchange. ¡°See you in game... sweetie.¡± she said as she turned once more, heading off to where Malcolm and Allie were waiting for her. What she didn''t notice was that I gleaned just a bit more from her reaction. When she was gone, Rachel sat down in a huff, letting out a frustrated sigh that sounded like a train whistle blowing.

    ¡°You try to be nice to someone and they just--!!¡± she vented furiously, and I cautiously placed a hand on her shoulder. ¡°What?¡± she barked.

    ¡°Ahh... Rey... listen... I think she''s got the wrong idea,¡± I told her calmly, and she relaxed, suddenly curious as to what I was on about.

    ¡°Hmm?¡± she wondered, blinking.

    ¡°Well... from what I just heard... I think she believes you''re Lana.¡± I told her.

    ¡°Huh?!¡± Rachel looked at me incredulously, and then thought about it for a moment. ¡°Hmm...¡± she exhaled thoughtfully, ¡°You... could be right... could, anyway.¡± she admitted. ¡°Come to think of it she always talks to me about Panarena,¡± Rachel realized. ¡°None of the others, even you, ever come up.¡±

    ¡°And you do have a commanding aspect to you,¡± I remarked appreciatively.

    ¡°Is that a dig?¡± she asked me with a sly grin.

    ¡°N-no way! It''s a compliment, a compliment!¡± I quickly said, and she giggled.

    ¡°Kidding.¡± she said, laying her head on my shoulder again. ¡°Sorry I lost it there for a moment,¡± she then whispered.

    ¡°It''s okay. I''m... well, it''s kinda nice to be protected, for a change.¡± I said with a grin, and we both laughed.

    ¡°I''ll always protect you, here or there.¡± Rachel said to me.

    ¡°Same. Any time, anywhere.¡± I replied as our hands clasped together. My dad pulled up at that moment, and we were soon on our way home.

 Side Chapter: Closing Time

    ¡°One screwdriver, coming right up!¡± Christina smiled outwardly. Will you go home already for frick''s sake? You''re like, sooo plastered right now, she thought to herself inwardly as she mixed the orange juice into the vodka. She felt a hand on her shoulder; it was Teresa, her coworker.

    ¡°I''ll handle him if he gets out of line.¡± the older girl whispered to her.

    ¡°Thanks!¡± Christina whispered back, and her friend subtly winked back. ¡°And here you go.¡± she said in a more audible tone, setting the drink down before the clearly intoxicated man at the bar.

    ¡°Thish, whash ish''t? Gwaw, a''zza screwdrier, en''t it? Di'' I arshk for a screwed-drier?¡±

    ¡°You better believe it, pal.¡± the reply came from the unamused yet smiling college girl behind the counter.

    ¡°Hrhrngrr, yarr, wa'' ''ere i''goes, then!¡± he replied, taking up the glass and attempting to drink it -- but instead managing to get it everywhere on his face except into his mouth. ¡°Woo! Hoo-boy, thash'' good! I''mma get an''uder!¡± he said.

    ¡°No, you''re going home.¡± Teresa said as she came around from behind the bar, signaling one of the taxis.

    ¡°H''yic! ''Ome? ''Erezat?¡±

    ¡°I was hoping you could tell me!¡± the girl with orange-dyed hair lightly smiled back.

    ¡°Whyz yer ''air s'' orangified?¡± the man slurred back.

    ¡°O-kay... out the door, now!¡± she pointed adamantly.

    ¡°Uhh? Wha'' ''bout mah... my drink? I nee'' ''nother drink fer... fer th''road...¡± he returned.

    ¡°All right, buddy, come here,¡± the owner of the establishment then said. He was a burly man who looked like a gruff teddy bear; with one hand he grabbed a hold of the drunk''s jacket collar, and led him outside to where the taxis had gathered. In a few minutes more their problem was being driven away, and Mr. Hutchinson, the bar''s owner, came back in with a sigh of relief.

    ¡°Who in the world was that?¡± the man shook his head in bewilderment.

    ¡°Hell if I know.¡± Teresa shrugged. ¡°All I do know is that he went out three times as plastered as he came in.¡± she added, and their boss silently mouthed an obscenity.

    ¡°I like money as much as the next guy, but some customers just aren''t worth it.¡± he quipped, returning to the live-event in the lounge downstairs.

    ¡°Who''s on down there anyway?¡± Christina asked.

    ¡°Some crazy wild girl-band. Seriously, don''t ask more than that.¡± Teresa rolled her eyes.

    ¡°If you say so,¡± the other girl said. The door opened again, and Christina smiled as she caught sight of who it was. ¡°Welcome to Paradise Bar! Find a seat and we''ll get your orders in!¡± she said, and the two young women came up to sit at the end of the bar with a smile.

    ¡°Long night?¡± Mandy asked her girlfriend.

    ¡°Nothing too terrible.¡± Christina smiled back.

    ¡°You''re kidding. You had to serve that drip four drinks and it''s not too terrible?¡± Teresa called over.

    ¡°You should''ve been in last week, vacay-girl.¡± Christina quipped in reply.

    ¡°Yeah, yeah.¡±

    ¡°She''s, your coworker?¡± Sabrina asked.

    ¡°Yep. That''s Teresa.¡± her twin nodded back.

    ¡°I accept Reese from my friends, like I keep telling this one here,¡± the girl with orange hair said as she headed back into the kitchen. The other three softly smiled to each other.

    ¡°Just a gin tonight,¡± Mandy then said.

    ¡°And you?¡± Christina asked her sister as she got the bottle Mandy had indicated.

    ¡°I... do not know. It''s... my first time trying any of it,¡± Sabrina shyly admitted.

    ¡°We can keep it simple, then.¡± Christina nodded. ¡°Want this as well? Or something else?¡± she asked, and Sabrina paused.

    ¡°I... do like, the taste, of that rum beverage, from Pirate Isle,¡± she remarked.

    Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

    ¡°Ahh,¡± Christina grinned as she poured Mandy''s drink and then handed it to her. ¡°Let me see... that one had a fruity twist to it, right?¡±

    ¡°Banana,¡± the older twin nodded. Christina snapped her fingers.

    ¡°That''s right, the Banana Ice Rum-shake!¡± she exclaimed, and Sabrina smiled back.

    ¡°That was it, yes,¡± she replied. Christina then set to work readying the drink, and in a few minutes came back with the requested beverage.

    ¡°Personally I think ''Morgan is the most approximate to the in-game flavor, so I went with that.¡±

    ¡°I trust you.¡± Sabrina nodded.

    ¡°You''re not allergic to anything, right?¡±

    ¡°I... am not, no.¡±

    ¡°Phew.¡± her sister sighed in relief. Sabrina then took a sip, and a contented smile came to her lips.

    ¡°That''s it. That''s it exactly,¡± she said with a gentle laugh, and Christina smiled.

    ¡°Good!¡± she replied.

    ¡°You could capitalize on that to get some more attention for this place,¡± Mandy smirked.

    ¡°I think someone might get upset with me for that.¡± Christina returned.

    ¡°I... will talk to her,¡± Sabrina said.

    ¡°If you think it''ll work.¡±

    ¡°She... would probably, not mind, as long as it was asked.¡±

    ¡°I guess that''s true, huh?¡±

    ¡°You''ve, talked with her; she''s not, so bad to you, is she?¡± Sabrina wondered genuinely. For the girl who had gotten the longer end of the stick in their separate upbringings, she had always been perplexed by her half-twin''s attitude, though both of them were now softening to each other at least. And because of that, Sabrina sincerely wanted to understand her sibling.

    ¡°Not... terrible, just... distant? It feels that way for me,¡± Christina replied. Her sister blinked.

    ¡°That... sounds uncomfortable,¡± she admitted with a wry grin.

    ¡°It... can be,¡± the other said, returning the look.

    ¡°Did you tell her about us, yet? Or have you talked with her lately?¡± Mandy suddenly asked.

    ¡°Eh, no. I haven''t talked with her lately.¡± Christina shook her head.

    ¡°Chris? We''re getting ready to shut the main floor down for the night,¡± Teresa said as she poked her head out.

    ¡°Gotcha,¡± the other girl nodded back.

    ¡°Hmm.¡± Mandy sighed.

    ¡°She... would be surprised, but not as surprised, as she would be if it was me.¡± Sabrina remarked.

    ¡°Well that''s nice to know in advance.¡± her sister smiled back gratefully. ¡°Say... this might be silly, but do you have anyone you''re interested in?¡± she then asked. Sabrina let out a chuckle as she finished with another sip.

    ¡°They''re taken.¡± she replied with a soft twinkle in her eye.

    ¡°Aww.¡± Christina frowned. ¡°Sorry to hear that.¡±

    ¡°It''s fine... it makes me happy, seeing the two of them together. It''s, the same for you, isn''t it, Sandra?¡± Sabrina smiled, using her twin''s character name.

    ¡°Hm?¡± Christina blinked, and then smirked mischievously. ¡°Oh-ho, you''re crushing on Lana, huh?¡±

    ¡°I am.¡± Sabrina affirmed with a nod. Mandy smiled, patting the other girl''s back gently.

    ¡°Lana''s just irresistible to people, huh?¡± the platinum-haired girl remarked.

    ¡°Say... the others, the younger members of our guild, that is; they''re doing a musical for their school this spring. Wanna go see it with us?¡± Christina then asked.

    ¡°All of them?¡± Sabrina wondered.

    ¡°Hmm... it''s Ari, Lana, and... I think Der''s involved, but mostly those two.¡±

    ¡°Anhe''s helping with some of the choreography I think!¡± Mandy added.

    ¡°Oh, true,¡± her girlfriend nodded back.

    ¡°I''d...¡± Sabrina began, choking up slightly as a smile came to her face. ¡°I''d like that. A lot.¡±

    ¡°We''ll make a date for it then!¡± her sister smiled back.

    ¡°Absolutes!¡± Mandy nodded. Sabrina nodded back, and then Christina poured herself a drink to join them.

    ¡°I''ll take care of it tonight. Let''s say they''re on the house.¡± she said as she finished pouring.

    ¡°It''s on me with a second round as a bonus if you promise to call me Reese as a friend from now on.¡± her coworker said as she emerged from the kitchen with a grin.

    ¡°You got it, Reese!¡± Christina smiled, and the other girl winked back.

    ¡°Thanks, Reese!¡± Mandy grinned.

    ¡°Thank you,¡± Sabrina said, faintly blushing.

    ¡°Cheers, girls!¡± Reese said as she took a mostly empty bottle of scotch, upending it to finish it off as the others took a sip of their own beverages as well. ¡°I''m out; tell the old man you''re paid for when you leave!¡± she said, taking some bills out and putting them in the register.

    ¡°Got it!¡± her younger coworker nodded, and with that the older girl departed for the night.

    ¡°We''re gonna be too tipsy to play tonight, aren''t we?¡± Mandy grinned as Christina poured them a second round.

    ¡°We''ll just see about that!¡± her girlfriend winked back, and Sabrina softly grinned in amusement.

    This; this is what you were talking about back then, wasn''t it, Lana? You were right. It''s wonderful, connecting with people, getting to know them. Thank you, so much, she mentally whispered to unseen Lana Windstrider, who was probably prancing around Panarena right now trying to do a dozen and a half quests to get ahead in the competition. Sabrina giggled to herself, and returned her attention to the other two with her.

 Chapter Seventeen: Caskets, Orbs, and Venom

    ¡°All right, what''s the gimmick here?¡± I muttered to myself in-game later that night. Ariana, Anhe and myself were near the three fortresses in the Phoenix Domain, having come as surreptitiously as we could with Fyu. These particular fortresses were each on a hill; the eastern one was close to the ridges we were hiding ourselves on, the western one was further away near a forest called the Flaming Wood, and the furthest one from us was to the southeast, near what looked like a mine or quarry of some kind. Each of them resembled a small castle in the East Asian style, more on the practical side than the ornate. A crossroads formed somewhat in the middle of them, and there were roadways leading towards each of the three. I could see a wayport near the crossroads itself.

    We had been lying low for nearly a half a day in-game, watching for the small caravan that would depart from one fortress to head for the next. It was at the moment of my muttering that we finally saw it depart from the western one near the wood; when it got to the point where the roads met, it turned for the southeast fortress.

    ¡°Something''s off here.¡± I noted as I turned to lay on my back, gazing up at the sky.

    ¡°Lana?¡± Anhe asked me curiously.

    ¡°They followed the roads exactly. That''s not player behavior, that''s NPC behavior. Even in this game, NPCs have a tendency to stick to the main pathways unless they''re following a player,¡± I remarked.

    ¡°I couldn''t detect the artifact in that little caravan either,¡± Ariana added as she looked over at me. ¡°And I should be able to, considering how high my alchemy skill is.¡±

    The tome in question was ¡°artifact level¡±, or so we had been told via message upon logging in tonight. Hua Ling was not an unkind employer, it seemed, desiring at least this much of our plan against the Guardians to succeed. So, normal tomes can''t be found by this skill Ari has, but tomes that are artifact tomes or something similar can be picked up on by the same passive skill that allows her to identify rare ingredients. There''s only so many of these tomes in the world, though, so it''s not like people are picking them up willy-nilly -- hence Hua Ling''s interest in this one.

    ¡°There''s ways to make it ''invisible'' to that skill though, aren''t there?¡± I asked her.

    ¡°A couple, from what I''ve read.¡± she nodded back. ¡°The consensus is that making a box or chest out of artifact level wood or metal will nullify the skill.¡±

    ¡°I have read something similar.¡± Anhe said. ¡°I think some of the ones not yet found are hidden this way.¡±

    ¡°Heh, that''d be a pain,¡± I grinned wryly.

    ¡°No kidding,¡± Ariana sighed.

    I rolled back over onto my stomach, examining the scene before us once again. This time, I zeroed in on the meeting point of the roads. There was a phoenix statue there, made of some fancy-looking stone that had a reddish-orange shimmer to it; there seemed to be fiery red gems in its eyes, and the pedestal upon which it was situated was made of the same stone as the phoenix, with gold symbols or characters filigreed into it.

    ¡°Ari, the statue.¡±

    ¡°Got it,¡± she returned, using Mystic Vision coupled with Seeing Eye to give us a view as well.

    ¡°Anhe, is that the in-game script for these regions?¡± I asked.

    ¡°I think it is; though it does look very similar to Mandarin,¡± she replied to me. ¡°Hmm... it is basically a sign-post indicating which road goes to where, from what I can tell, though it doesn''t mention the three fortresses.¡±

    ¡°That stone, though...¡± Ariana said, scrutinizing it.

    ¡°I wonder...¡± I mused softly. ¡°Stay here and keep an eye out.¡± I said to them.

    ¡°Master?¡± Fyu said in a soft tone.

    ¡°You too, buddy,¡± I told him.

    ¡°As you wish; I shall keep an eye out as well,¡± the dog-beast blinked, and I nodded back.

    I then slipped into the shadows, and hastened as quickly as I dared towards the phoenix statue. Its stone, whatever it was, was definitely high-grade if not artifact level. My gamble at the moment was that the Guardians were going for a psych-out on this one and that the tome was actually buried near the statue somewhere. That made this both easier and harder. Easier, because we didn''t have to slip into one of the fortresses; harder, because I was out in the open between the three fortresses.

    As I got near to the statue, I began to sense something. One of my passive skills was picking up on possible traps. I turned on Shadow Vision; there were three nasty explosive traps placed around the base of the statue. Any attempt to dig near them and I would be a goner. There was nothing I could do to disable them either.

    Tch, magic-traps... I grimaced to myself frustratedly. One way to get rid of them was to do so at range; I could fire an arrow at a safe distance and blow them up without hurting myself. That option was out. I had no doubt there were several active Guardians members hanging out nearby just in case something went screwy around here. I could probably avoid them by going underground somehow, but that might also be more trouble than it was worth.

    Unless... I suddenly blinked as I noticed something, and then turned back towards the ridge where my friends were waiting. Struck by a new idea, I headed back to them, reappearing as soon as I got there.

    ¡°How''s it looking?¡± Ari asked me.

    ¡°Not good; they''ve got magic-traps around the base of the statue.¡± I shook my head.

    ¡°Lovely.¡± she frowned wryly.

    ¡°Hmm.¡± Anhe sighed.

    ¡°Say... I know your summoning skill isn''t as good as Heali''s, but you do have it up a bit, right?¡± I then said, and Ariana blinked back.

    ¡°Hm? A little bit, why?¡± she asked me. I pointed to a small creature that was burrowing into the ground nearby. The girls looked, and Ari smiled at once. ¡°A magma mole, huh?¡± she said with interest, casting a friendship spell on it and another one that came into her sights.

    The two creatures came scurrying up to us; they were definitely larger than real moles, probably around the size of a beagle, and they had flame-red fur. We brought up their tamed status with several bits of incidental food we had gotten along the way here, getting them to halfway domesticated.

    ¡°That should be enough to give them simple instructions,¡± Ariana nodded in satisfaction.

    ¡°I have it!¡± Anhe then said, producing a little rope with a noose she had just crafted.

    ¡°Okay, tell them to dig towards the statue, find a box, and drag it back with the rope,¡± I said.

    ¡°Got it!¡± Ari said as Anhe set the little rope before the two of them. Within moments our two little friends had taken off with it, hurriedly tunneling towards their objective. ¡°You don''t think they''ll set off the traps, do you?¡±

    ¡°Sallymander never did,¡± I replied. ¡°Besides, these guys will probably avoid them on instinct as well.¡±

    ¡°Ohh, that''s true,¡± Ari nodded back. ¡°I forgot our salamander friend did that!¡± she said with a smile.

    ¡°The one you told me about from the Marshes?¡± Anhe asked.

    ¡°That''s the one!¡± Ari nodded.

    ¡°He sounded so cute!¡± the other girl returned.

    ¡°He was sooo cute.¡± my partner sighed wistfully.

    ¡°True.¡± I softly grinned.

    ¡°It was such a shame that we--ahh! They found something,¡± Ariana said. ¡°It looks like a flamewood casket with jade-infused iron bindings,¡± she murmured as she turned on her vision skill to examine it.

    ¡°That''s gotta be it,¡± I nodded.

    ¡°They''re bringing it back; yikes! They just missed that trap...¡± Ari remarked nervously.

    ¡°Oh my,¡± Anhe softly gasped.

    ¡°Come on, little guys, you can do it!¡± I encouraged them as I tried to keep quiet.

    ¡°They''re out of the trap''s radius now,¡± Ari sighed in relief. ¡°Should be no other problems now... ahh!¡± she squeaked.

    ¡°Ari?¡± I turned to her quickly. She looked anxious again.

    ¡°I think there''s a predator coming up after them,¡± she said to me.

    ¡°Tch!¡± I fumed as soundlessly as I could.

    ¡°Masters, the magma moles of this region do have an enemy in a creature known as the conflagrant serpents,¡± Fyu told us.

    ¡°Oh boy.¡± I said with a sinking feeling.

    ¡°Normally the moles are faster, but you do have them carrying an object near their own weight, I presume,¡± our friend continued.

    ¡°Oh dear,¡± Anhe said with a sad tone.

    ¡°Nrrrgghh...!¡± I fritzed with my hair, looking at the tunnel our small friends had made. It was probably just big enough. ¡°Ari! The ring!¡± I quickly said. She looked surprised, but handed me the Ring of the Eternal Child. I slipped it on, shrinking down at once and scurried off with whatever had stayed on me into the tunnel to go and help our magma moles.

    ¡°L-Lana,¡± I heard Anhe''s voice faintly giggle as I did so.

    ¡°Desperate times,¡± Ariana quipped.

    The tunnel, as I had thought, was just big enough for child-size me to wriggle through. I could definitely hear a hissing sort of sound as I got further and deeper inside it, and the anxious grunting of the moles as they came my way. I dug myself an alcove with Thousand Needle Strike to let them past, and as they hurried by moments later I saw what Fyu had called the conflagrant serpent coming up behind them. Without hesitation I initiated the combo of death that I had picked up from Myanihia, instantly killing it.

    I examined the loot quickly, noticing an elite item in the spoils, before I heard another one coming after us. This one followed its friend as soon as it was in range of me, and I found another of the same item in the loot I got from it. Not hearing any other serpents, I hurried out of the tunnel after the magma moles, finding Ari and Anhe sorting out my clothes for me as I emerged from the ground.

    ¡°It''s the right tome,¡± Ariana said with a smile.

    ¡°Phew,¡± I said, taking the ring off. As I resumed my normal size, I put one of my tunics on until I could get my regular gear equipped again. Ari handed me my things, and I received them with a faint grin, putting them into inventory as we returned to Fyu with the casket and our two little friends.

    ¡°Master, shall we six depart?¡± Fyu said to me with a twinkle in his eye.

    ¡°Hmm? I mean, I guess so,¡± I remarked.

    ¡°Ah! They''re completely tamed!¡± Ariana suddenly noticed.

    ¡°Oh! Because we saved them!¡± Anhe smiled brightly.

    ¡°Oh, cool! But anyway, let''s get out of here quickly!¡± I said, and we hurried away from the Phoenix Domain back to our guildhall in Xuanpu.

    ***

    ¡°Wriggles and Scratch, huh?¡± Healina giggled as Ari introduced our little magma moles later on. We had delivered the casket and its tome to Hua Ling about a game-hour earlier, and she had agreed to help us with our ship-stealing scheme when the time came.

    ¡°C-yuute!!¡± Maryn squealed with delight.

    ¡°Right??¡± Ariana beamed back.

    ¡°Though it would''ve been nice to see Lana as a kid again, too,¡± Maryn grinned.

    ¡°Yeah, yeah...¡± I waved her off with a grin, and they giggled.

    ¡°But seriously; all we have to do now is get that orb, as soon as we have more people on,¡± Healina then said.

    ¡°Anyone from Dreamers coming?¡± I asked her.

    ¡°Der, of course; I think Cylodel is tagging along too.¡± she replied.

    ¡°Oh, the portal mage,¡± Ari recalled.

    ¡°He''s gonna be annoyed if you call him that, though,¡± Heali said with an amused grin.

    At that moment, a silhouette began forming; someone was logging in. A few seconds later the familiar form of Elizasmith materialized, clad in her usual mish-mash of heavy armor and casual-wear.

    ¡°Whew! Sa-weet fr-eeedooooom!¡± she exclaimed in a sing-song voice.

    ¡°Lizzy!¡± Heali called happily, running over to give her friend a hug.

    ¡°Hee-hee! You''re in a good mood!¡± the blonde girl quipped.

    ¡°You too,¡± the other returned.

    ¡°Der should be on soon, too.¡±

    ¡°I figured!¡±

    ¡°Oh, hey girls!¡± Belle said as she came flying into the room.

    ¡°You made it!¡± I smiled over towards her.

    ¡°Yup! Though we won''t have Sandra and Myanihia tonight... someone got a little too tipsy tonight!¡± she grinned.

    ¡°Oh no, not again,¡± I bemusedly grinned, remembering how Christina had been at the movies.

    ¡°No no, Sabrina this time.¡± Belle told us.

    ¡°Pffft!¡± Lizzy chortled.

    ¡°Oh wow.¡± Maryn shook her head, softly smiling.

    ¡°M-Myanihia... tipsy...¡± I briefly wondered to myself, both amazed and weirdly curious.

    ¡°Oh! By the way,¡± Belle continued, ¡°We''re coming to opening night. All three of us.¡± she told me with a mischievous grin.

    ¡°Oh, thanks,¡± I replied. Ariana suddenly grinned at me slyly, and I blinked. Then it hit home. ¡°HUH?!?¡±

    ¡°What a delayed reaction,¡± Heali giggled.

    ¡°Dork.¡± Lizzy chortled beside her.

    ¡°Looks like you''ll have some interesting conversations in a few weeks,¡± Ari patted my head as an unintelligible squeal wafted out of my lips.

    ¡°The last people to find out were you and Sandra, right?¡± Maryn said to Belle.

    ¡°And that was only a couple months ago; you''d think Lana would be used to it by now,¡± Belle replied to her.

    ¡°She does get buried in the part.¡± Anhe softly smirked, petting one of our new animal friends.

    ¡°At least it''s her and not Jo. Myanihia will probably accept you at this point; Joanna would wring your neck.¡± Lizzy remarked, coming over to ruffle my hair.

    ¡°Hyeck!?¡±

    ¡°Now, now. Don''t scare her.¡± Heali chided. Then she blinked. ¡°We really have buried Lana in the part, haven''t we?¡± she grinned.

    ¡°Right?¡± Lizzy beamed back. ¡°Come on, leader! Let''s get our girl-power going!¡± she patted my shoulder heartily.

    ¡°Hrrmm... where were we going again?¡± I asked.

    ¡°It''s Caer Gwynt, isn''t it?¡± Maryn asked.

    ¡°That''s the place,¡± Heali nodded. ¡°Oh, there''s Der! I''ll send him a meet-up point,¡± she smiled, and with that we got ourselves geared up to head out on our next adventure.

    We assembled our dungeon-group at a wayport near Caer Gwynt, and found that Cloveroak, one of Dreamers'' regular party leaders, had come along as well. His character was a Changeling Sage, and his claim to fame was that he had advanced so far up into the Nature''s Harmony trees of his sage and changeling skills that he could basically be a weretree, or ¡°wereoak¡±, as he liked to jest. Cylodel, the quietest of the three, gave us a nod as we met up.

    ¡°I hope we don''t need your friend for this one.¡± he commented dryly.

    ¡°Ah-heh, I don''t think he''d fit in the dungeon,¡± I laughed back. I got a nod in reply.

    ¡°All right; you said you thought you had it narrowed down, yes?¡± Derwydd asked his girlfriend.

    ¡°I''m pretty sure now,¡± Healina replied, materializing out her notes. ¡°It says, ''by the fastness of wind you shall enter on the sun''s descent into the gloaming valley rilled by mists; there you shall find the door by the gnarled oak''.¡±

    ¡°Gloaming valley rilled by mists...¡± Derwydd pondered. ¡°That sounds like Glynniwl, the Vales of Twilight just northeast of Caer Gwynt.¡±

    ¡°Which is the fastness of wind.¡± I added.

    ¡°Exactly.¡± he said. ¡°And it sounds like we''ll have to enter it from the western side.¡±

    ¡°Not when the sun goes down?¡± Cloveroak wondered.

    ¡°Hmm... that''s what I thought when I heard it,¡± Lizzy agreed.

    ¡°We barely have time for that; if we''re gonna aim for sunset we have to go now.¡± I said, and the others nodded.

    ¡°We should head for the western edge of the vales just in case, too.¡± Ariana remarked.

    ¡°Agreed.¡± Derwydd nodded. ¡°All right, team, let''s go!¡± he said, and we made out way quickly to the western side of the Vales of Twilight.

    Just as the sun was about to disappear over the horizon, we reached the location in question. Nothing special happened to clue us in as some of us had thought, but hey, better safe than sorry. We then descended into the foggy vale, taking care not to fall into the rills and brooks that crisscrossed the place, weaving around the trees and other flora that flourished here. In some places there were built bridges, in others there were incidental ones or even shallows that we could ford, but overall we could not go ten meters without water somewhere around our feet.

    If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    In the heart of the vales we encountered a light marsh. Every strand of running water was running into it, almost making it more of a large pond than a marsh. It was the kind of place that reminded me of places near my grandparent''s old home way out in the country. Frogs and crickets were in full choir, and I could hear owls hooting or screeching in the darkness.

    ¡°Wouldn''t you know the gnarled oak is on that eyot in the marsh?¡± Healina sighed as she pointed into the distance.

    Illuminated by just enough moonlight, we could see a giant among oaks further out in the marsh, seated like an ancient king upon his grassy throne above the wetlands it presided over. It reminded me of the Grandfather Oak in the park.

    ¡°How deep is it?¡± Maryn wondered. Cylodel took his staff, dipping it in the water until his forearm was getting soaked.

    ¡°Deep.¡± he replied unceremoniously.

    ¡°Deep?? Mate, your staff is two meters!¡± Cloveroak quipped back at once. The other sighed, and, placing his hand on his guildmate, whisked the two of them over to the eyot.

    ¡°Oh yeah!¡± Ariana snapped her fingers, doing the same with me at once. After a minute, the two of them had teleported the rest of our group there, and then we began investigating the area around the gnarled oak.

    ¡°By the oak, huh,¡± Lizzy scratched her head, looking at the thing. ¡°I wonder if it''s not the oak itself.¡±

    ¡°Maybe,¡± Heali allowed with a nod. ¡°I''m not exactly sure, but the word I read could be interpreted to mean ''in'' as opposed to ''by''.¡±

    ¡°Well, Clover, you''re up.¡± I then said, and he nodded back, attuning himself to the nature around us. In a few moments he released his skill, heading over to another side of the oak, where he tapped the trunk three times. A hidden door swung inward, revealing a descending passage.

    ¡°And, here we go...¡± Derwydd remarked as he led the way. I followed after him with Ari and Heali, and the others filed behind us as we headed down into the dungeon below the marsh.

    ***

    Just as soon as we had gotten to the end of the passage there was a room before us with twenty-four floor tiles arranged in a rectangular fashion, each tile with a symbol upon it. Several tiles had the same one, and I could see at once that ten of them led in a roundabout way to the other side.

    ¡°It says here to ''follow the dragon and do not deviate, even for gain'',¡± Healina read as we observed the scene before us.

    ¡°So no skipping on that one over there where it doubles back near the end.¡± I noted to myself.

    ¡°Not as simple as it looked, huh?¡± Ariana said.

    ¡°Nope.¡± our healer softly grinned.

    We crossed this room with no trouble at all, and then continued down two more flights of stairs to another room of the same -- except that no two tiles in this room were alike. And there were a lot more of them this time.

    ¡°I-isn''t that over twice as many tiles?¡± Belle asked with a bemused smile.

    ¡°Fifty.¡± Cylodel stated.

    ¡°Should we just skip it with our two mages?¡± Derwydd looked over at me.

    ¡°I want to say yes, but let''s look at something first...¡± I returned, touching Ari on the shoulder. ¡°You have that one skill like mine now, right? To detect certain kinds of traps?¡±

    ¡°Arcane Seeker,¡± she nodded back, activating it. She gazed around the room for a few moments, frowning. ¡°I don''t see anything, but it''s also not a high-level skill for me,¡± my partner reported.

    ¡°Wait! I''ve got it!¡± Healina then exclaimed. ¡°These tiles are not alike, but they are sequential. We just have to traverse them in the proper order,¡± she told us, confidently heading out onto the first one. She smiled as nothing happened, and continued on the path that she had determined from putting together the clues in her tome. We followed her carefully, making sure to step exactly where she had stepped, and reached the other side in safety.

    ¡°Phew,¡± I sighed in relief.

    ¡°Good one, Heali!¡± Lizzy beamed, and the other girl smiled back. We then heard a low growl. I slipped into the shadows and went to look ahead.

    At the other end of the curved passage ahead of us, there was yet another room with tiles. This one, however, was broken up by a center where a large, white hound with red eyes was situated. That''s at least the first boss or I''m a hauflin, I noted to myself at once, and then blinked in surprise.

    ¡°That''s a c?n annwn!¡± I remarked aloud as Derwydd reached my side. He whistled in awe as I deactivated my stealth, admiring the beast before us.

    ¡°So it is!¡± he said with interest.

    ¡°Tiles. Why? Why are there more tiles?¡± Lizzy grumbled.

    ¡°Shush and I''ll figure it out,¡± Healina softly jabbed her.

    ¡°It''s pretty, if also scary-looking,¡± Ariana said as she came to stand with me, observing the Hound of the Otherworld, and I nodded.

    ¡°All right,¡± Healina then said, and we turned to her. ¡°It''s not unlike the room we just left, where we have to step on them in a sequence--but here''s the tricky part: there''s ten sequences. Look at the room here; there''s an outer edge with no tiles like the center the boss is in. Some of us will have to stand out there; Ari, Cylodel, Clover, Der, myself, and possibly Lana. The other half of the group will have to maneuver towards the center by the first sequence to reach the boss and start the fight.¡±

    ¡°What about the other nine sequences?¡± Cloveroak asked her.

    ¡°The next eight of them seem to activate different debuffs or DoTs on the boss to help us defeat him, and the tenth is for the center team to reach the exit safely.¡± Healina told us as she read the tome carefully.

    ¡°Belle can move about safely, right?¡± I asked.

    ¡°She''s probably the only one who can,¡± Heali smiled, and Belle grinned.

    ¡°Pixie power for the win!¡± she declared, and we laughed. Well, Cylodel doesn''t really laugh, but he cracked a grin, at least.

    ¡°What''s the order for the tiles, Heali?¡± Lizzy then wondered.

    ¡°For the melee group to reach the boss, it says ''follow the hound''.¡± the reply came.

    ¡°Got it.¡± Maryn nodded.

    ¡°Maryn, take the melee group when you''re ready,¡± I told her, and she gave me a sword-salute.

    ¡°How should we arrange the ranged group?¡± Healina asked me.

    ¡°By best partners, of course,¡± I winked back, and Ariana smiled as the two of us headed around the room for the far end while she grinned back.

    ¡°I guess that means you''re stuck with me.¡± she said to Derwydd, taking his hand.

    ¡°Looking forward to a good fight, Cy!¡± Cloveroak thumped his guildmate on the back.

    ¡°Sure.¡± the other returned as they headed to one of the other sides. Maryn led the others to the center then, and our first real battle began.

    The first three attempts for our tile-manipulating were rocky, but by the time we got to the second sequence we had managed to pull ourselves together. We quickly learned that if we goofed, it did not immediately backfire on us but gave us a three-tile warning: if we stepped on three more wrong tiles after our first goof, a poison mist would rise up. Healina had since identified a reset tile, which had a cauldron upon it, so that if we goofed again in the heat of the moment we could just jump to that one and start over. Well, Belle was the one who did it the most, being the most maneuverable here.

    Anyhow. One by one, we knocked out the sequences for the tiles, and each time we did so the boss got weaker. He also got smaller. At the start of the fight he had been at least larger than Fyu; by the time we got to finishing him off he was maybe the size of a fox, but still feisty. Maryn finished him off with a flourish of her blade, and a mournful howl sounded as the c?n annwn boss went up in pixels and flames. She then led her group carefully towards the exit while the rest circled around the edge, and we collected our winnings from that first fight.

    ¡°On to the next, then,¡± Derwydd said. We passed through a door that had now been unlocked, and entered the second part of the dungeon.

    Before we had stepped too far into the next room I held up my hand for the others to stop at once, and I turned on Shadow Vision. I frowned; the room was covered with spike traps and vents where fumes might pour in.

    ¡°Any way around them?¡± Ariana asked, guessing from my expression that we had trouble ahead of us.

    ¡°It''s very narrow.¡± I replied.

    ¡°Narrow, huh?¡± she remarked.

    ¡°There''s no way we can avoid all of them, but we can definitely pick our poison, if you know what I mean.¡± I said.

    ¡°Lovely.¡±

    ¡°Lana''s right; there''s no choice but to pick which traps we set off here,¡± Healina reported as she closed the tome. ¡°I''m guessing you want to go with the ones we can actually resist?¡±

    ¡°Between your skills, Cloveroak''s, and Anhe''s auras, we should definitely be fine.¡± I told her.

    ¡°I will activate them now,¡± our staff-wielder nodded back.

    ¡°Turning on Forest''s Ward,¡± Cloveroak said.

    ¡°And I''ll keep some HoTs on us, along with Shielding Grace,¡± Healina added.

    ¡°Let''s go,¡± I then said.

    Making sure to step only on the traps that set off the fumes and such, we hastened as fast as we dared across that room. It wasn''t as hard as I thought it might be, but the end almost tripped us up a bit. Right at the last moment, Lizzy of all people stumbled into one of the traps that activated the wall-spikes. Cloveroak quickly grabbed her and yanked her into the small hallway that bridged the trap room with the next as she lightly yiped with a rare panic.

    ¡°Good grief! Thanks for that,¡± she said in a more relieved tone moments later.

    ¡°No probs.¡± the other grinned back.

    ¡°Now what''s this one?¡± Derwydd sighed as he looked ahead. There was water falling down from the ceiling into a deep chasm that took up most of the room before us, except for two very narrow ledges on either side.

    ¡°At least there''s no tiles,¡± Belle remarked.

    ¡°Or traps.¡± I said as I scanned the room with my skill.

    ¡°This one we can cheat on, right?¡± Maryn asked.

    ¡°Let''s try it.¡± Ariana said, placing her hand on my shoulder as she activated a teleport. Or tried to, anyway. ¡°Huh??¡± she said a moment later.

    ¡°Ahh. Nullstone.¡± Cylodel nodded as he touched the walls.

    ¡°Boo!¡± my partner sighed.

    ¡°No magic in this room, huh?¡± Derwydd sighed.

    ¡°Apparently not.¡± Belle remarked from the floor. I knelt down to pick her up, and she then situated herself on my shoulder as I stood back up.

    ¡°I forgot your flying is regarded as magic,¡± I said with a faint grin.

    ¡°Tee-hee!¡± she grinned back. ¡°Careful now, chick; I know your agility''s good, but that''s a looong way down if we slip.¡±

    ¡°Hahh,¡± I grimaced, heading for the ledge on the right.

    ¡°I wonder...¡± Ari then mused, making her way for the left one.

    ¡°Hmm? Oh, I get it,¡± I nodded back to her as we coordinated stepping on to the ledges.

    ¡°Aw, you beat me to it,¡± Healina wryly grinned as she and Derwydd did the same after us.

    ¡°Aren''t we going to be short a pair?¡± Maryn called up to us.

    ¡°Ah! I can fix that!¡± Belle cried out, hopping from person to person back to the other side as I reached our goal. A few tense minutes later we had all arrived safely, and headed around a corner to another tricky room.

    ¡°Light-beams. Why''d it have to be light-beams?¡± I sighed, plomping down as I watched the narrow beams of light rotating in a tight sequence around the room to catch unwary intruders.

    ¡°Now, now. We beat something similar in that one temple a few months ago, we can get through this.¡± Healina chided softly as she looked through the tome again.

    ¡°Woof.¡± I softly groaned.

    ¡°Oh, this one''s easy; all we have to do is find the reflection crystals and destroy them.¡± she said a moment later.

    ¡°Crystals... got it.¡± Cloveroak said with a nod, transforming himself into his ¡°wereoak¡± form while activating a detection skill. After a few moments he began extending his roots into the room carefully, and snuffed out the crystals one by one. When the light-beams had stopped, he resumed his more human look, grinning in satisfaction.

    ¡°Niiice.¡± I remarked as I got to my feet again.

    ¡°Show-off.¡± Cylodel quipped as we proceeded, and we all laughed once more.

    There were no monsters or traps for the next several minutes of our dungeon-raiding, but the passages did wind around and around as well as up and down for what seemed like forever until they finally led to another room. This one had the next boss, which was not unlike the first one except it was a black hound this time.

    ¡°Gwyllgi this time, huh?¡± Derwydd said with a faint grin.

    ¡°Hmm,¡± I said quietly, getting my bow ready again.

    ¡°No tricks here; it''s a straight fight.¡± Healina told us.

    ¡°Then let''s get fighting!¡± Lizzy crowed, and with Maryn, she led the charge against the second boss.

    Since there were no tricks coming from the dungeon, I decided to employ one of my own, disappearing into the shadows to unleash that now infamous one-shot combo, taking the second boss down mere moments after the fight had begun. Lizzy blinked in confusion for a moment before espying me and letting out a sigh.

    ¡°You''re no fun.¡± she quipped.

    ¡°I want to hurry and get this dumb orb!¡± I retorted, and the others grinned at each other.

    ¡°It''s not going anywhere!¡± the blonde Nordian returned as we headed into the next section of the dungeon.

    ¡°The competition is!¡± I hurriedly reminded her.

    ¡°Yeah, but--okay, point for you.¡± the conceding reply came.

    ¡°Now let''s hurry before--¡± I started to say, only to be grabbed from behind and held in place by Derwydd, who was looking ahead intently as I looked up at him. ¡°Der?¡± I asked him.

    ¡°Lana, look!¡± he said in a quiet but intense voice. I looked; there was a ghostly figure of mists in the chamber ahead of us. ¡°This whole dungeon has Cymric creatures running around it; that one is Brenin Llwyd, and he seems to have allies with him. They look like... Morgens,¡± he said to me as he let go, patting my shoulder as an apology.

    ¡°Tch!¡± I scolded myself for almost running headlong into the room. ¡°Water spirits, huh?¡±

    ¡°Ice.¡± Cylodel intoned.

    ¡°Good idea,¡± Ariana nodded back. ¡°We can try trapping them in ice so that the rest of you can actually do some damage to them.¡±

    ¡°Sounds like a plan!¡± Maryn smiled.

    ¡°I''ll try lowering their resistances as well,¡± Belle said.

    ¡°And I will do the same, and also bolster our magic damage,¡± Anhe added.

    ¡°Go, team, go!¡± I grinned, and with our attack plan thus loosely (but hopefully effectively) outlined, we began the fight.

    And within the first five seconds, we learned that the side-monsters our mages were hoping to encase in ice were immune to ice, and they loved to move around. That had us scrambling for a bit. Healina and Derwydd quickly focused on defensive and protection skills, as did Anhe, while the rest of us prodded our enemies to try and figure out their weaknesses. After about two minutes, we had discovered that they had a rotating debuff-slash-buff on them; it raised their resistance to a certain damage-type to immunity while lowering another into the negative, leaving their other resistances at a medium high of sixty-five percent.

    ¡°Bleehh!!¡± Lizzy angrily sighed when we figured it out.

    ¡°Our plan does not change very much here!¡± Anhe then called out. ¡°All we have to do is keep an eye out for what they are weak to!¡±

    ¡°Exactly!¡± Heali smiled in agreement.

    ¡°How long does that skill last?¡± Maryn asked quickly.

    ¡°It seems to change at least every forty seconds or so,¡± Cloveroak noted for us. ¡°However, there is one type of skill that none of them are immune to, not even the boss!¡± he grinned, changing into what he called a wereoak again and using his roots to, well, root our enemies in place.

    ¡°Ha-ha, that''ll keep them still!¡± Derwydd said with glee. ¡°Right, they''re weak to fire now -- go!¡± he then called. Those of us who had fire-skills or skills that could be used with fire activated them, while Belle and Anhe bolstered the skills with a damage and critical-chance bonus.

    ¡°Hitting them where it hurts speed that up, huh?¡± I said as I watched the skill change to another buff-debuff combo.

    ¡°Ice!¡± Derwydd called. He, Ariana, and Cylodel unleashed a torrent of ice-skills upon the minions; this sort of thing went on for another three minutes, and then we were finally rid of the Morgens.

    The boss, meanwhile, had been taking most of our incidental hits to him in stride; he was not immune to anything, but he had superbly high resistances, especially to physical damage. Maryn forced his attention onto her when we were rid of his allies, and he began to attack in earnest. He seemed fairly strong from the sound of the blows that rained down on Maryn''s shield, but he could not drive her back or maneuver her out of his way. Meanwhile, I heard Ariana''s voice chanting some semi-familiar words. They were the words that had literally spelled doom for a certain group of hobgoblin chieftains a few weeks before.

    ¡°Ahh... Ari?¡± I hesitantly laughed. ¡°Y-you sure about using that down here...?¡±

    There was no response except the continuation of her chanting. Finally she swung her staff in the direction that opened the Abyssal Portal of Doom. Maryn saw it opening behind the boss she was fighting, and bashed him with her shield to disorient him just long enough so that he practically did a backwards jump into the portal. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Cloveroak, Derwydd, and even the normally impassive Cylodel gaping and gazing with disbelief, their eyes about ready to pop out of their heads.

    Never saw it until now, huh? I wryly grinned to myself at their reactions. The fight, of course, ended with that, and a chest of loot awaited us near the door to the next part of the dungeon. Cylodel gave Cloveroak a slap, and Cloveroak returned the favor.

    ¡°Not going crazy, huh?¡± the sage remarked.

    ¡°N-no, guess not,¡± Cylodel returned.

    ¡°You may think Lana''s the crazy one here,¡± Lizzy said as she put her arms around the both of them, ¡°But we''re all crazy in our own special way.¡±

    ¡°G-got it,¡± Cylodel nodded.

    ¡°Ha-hah,¡± Cloveroak grinned sheepishly.

    ¡°What are you gaping at?¡± Healina said to Derwydd. ¡°You should be used to this by now.¡±

    ¡°G-give me a break,¡± he laughed nervously as we collected our loot and moved on.

    ***

    We fought our way through more of the water spirits again, except this time they were champion level. I took that as a signal that we were close to the last boss. Then, after a curved passage, we entered a room nearly filled with pressure-plates. Cylodel used his staff to test one out, finding that it set off several banks of wall-darts. Carefully, we made our way through the plates, managing not to activate a single one of them. Then we had another room of light-beams, which Cloveroak again disabled for us. And finally, we found the door to the boss room, which was a challenge in and of itself. It was a puzzle door.

    ¡°Oh boy.¡± I sighed, sitting down to let others figure it out.

    ¡°All-righty,¡± Healina said in a more upbeat tone than mine as she came to investigate, tome in hand. ¡°It''s a series of dials; it looks like they want us to orient them so that they tell a story, or rather seven stories. I''m guessing the theme is ''stories adapted from Celtic Mythos'', judging from the dungeon''s location and some of the scenes I''m seeing here.¡±

    ¡°It is Bretony.¡± Maryn shrugged, nodding back.

    ¡°Don''t count on me too much. Knowing the actual stories doesn''t mean I totally get their renditions in-game.¡± Derwydd said.

    ¡°I wasn''t going to ask.¡± his girlfriend smiled. ¡°The stories are all in here, after all.¡± she continued, flipping through the tome.

    ¡°So much details and history for all these dungeons and such...¡± Cloveroak scratched his head.

    ¡°Right?¡± Ari nodded as she sat next to me. ¡°You tired?¡± she asked me in a quieter voice.

    ¡°Ehh, not really.¡± I shook my head. ¡°Just getting a funny feeling about something.¡±

    ¡°Hmm,¡± she returned, laying her head on my shoulder. A few moments later we heard a click, followed by six others, and then the door began receding into the walls. ¡°Here we go.¡± Ari said softly as we stood up, and I nodded back.

    Inside the room was a bent, hooded figure with a twisted staff in one hand. Surrounding the figure were nine diminutive creatures that looked like goblins. I saw Derwydd tense up at once, and Maryn got her shield ready. At the far end of the room, in an alcove near the ceiling, I could see the object of our quest, the Wind Orb.

    ¡°There''s a spell around that alcove.¡± Ariana reported as we took stock of the room.

    ¡°I figured,¡± I nodded back. ¡°A cauldron, huh?¡± I then noticed. There was a great black cauldron with decorative imagery emblazoned upon it. Or was it a story?

    ¡°Oh, snap, I bet that''s a cauldron of rebirth!¡± Derwydd remarked. That was something even I was aware of; in the ancient legends, that cauldron was used to bring dead warriors back to life, though in some stories it also got destroyed.

    ¡°I doubt we''ll be able to destroy it all at once, though,¡± I remarked aloud as my thoughts continued.

    ¡°Hm.¡± he nodded back in agreement. ¡°But we should aim to do so anyway.¡±

    ¡°So what are the monsters here?¡± Heali then asked.

    ¡°That''s a gwyllion; they''re a witch, a hag, and I bet it''s got all sorts of nasty skills. This one has... well, they''re goblins. Coblynau in the original, if you like.¡± he replied.

    ¡°Defense first, offense later?¡± Cloveroak remarked.

    ¡°I''d say.¡± Derwydd nodded.

    ¡°We''ll go with that strategy.¡± I agreed.

    ¡°Well then, time to pixie up!¡± Belle declared, casting her defensive magics on us as we slowly entered the room. The gwyllion looked up with a nasty smile that only grew wider as we entered the room and the door shut behind us.

    ¡°Welcome... welcome! To your doom, mortals!¡± she said, and then cackled in that iconic and stereotypical witch''s cackle that no game or horror film with witches is ever complete without.

    ***

    Okay. So it was a mostly hard fight. The cauldron regenerated one-percent of its health every ten seconds after being damaged. When we did so, two of the goblins would immediately rush over to carry it around the room while their fellows rushed in to keep us at bay. And in the meantime, every time we killed one of them it was quickly placed in the cauldron to come back just as new. Finally, Cylodel unleashed a stun spell on them, and Derwydd changed to werebear, which froze Maryn up for a moment but in that moment he completely wrecked the cauldron, batting it like it was a pillow and smashing it against the wall, where it burst into countless pieces and disappeared.

    Then the goblins went into frenzy mode, but that didn''t help them very much because Cloveroak. I know that''s not exactly proper English, but they guy became a wereoak again and literally strangled them to death after catching them all with his roots and branches.

    After that, the gwyllion, who had raised an immunity shield at the start of the fight and only cast a fireball now and then while her minions did most of the work suddenly abandoned her own defenses and went on the attack. That fireball-every-minute thing was about an eight, but now she''d dialed up to eleven and counting. Very quickly Healina and Cloveroak began casting anti-fire spells and shield-wards to keep us safe while Anhe activated two of her auras, one for defense and one to reflect damage. It was at this point I really wished Ariana had saved that Abyssal Portal spell; and when I wryly grinned to her at one point of the fight she returned the look, as if softly agreeing with my unspoken comment.

    Then Cylodel, apparently inspired by the earlier incident, opened a portal underneath the gwyllion. Her eyes bugged out in surprise, and with a shriek she fell into it. We gaped or blinked in shock for a few moments, and then turned towards him.

    ¡°W-where did you...?¡± Healina hesitantly asked him.

    ¡°The exit portal... was over a volcano.¡± he replied calmly.

    ¡°Un-dirtyword-believable.¡± Lizzy grinned, shaking her head.

    ¡°Y-you teleported... th-the dungeon''s boss... into a volcano?!¡± I stammered out. ¡°You can do that?!¡±

    ¡°Apparently.¡± he shrugged. ¡°I only tried it just now.¡± he remarked as the orb''s protective field came down.

    ¡°Hahh... and you think we''re nuts.¡± Maryn quipped.

    ¡°Whose bad influence do you think gave me that idea?¡± he returned with a dry wit, raising an eyebrow at her.

    ¡°Let''s get our prize and go.¡± I then said with a laugh, and Belle flew up to get the orb while the rest of us collected our winnings from the final chest. We stepped through the exit portal to the entrance just outside the dungeon, and there I found a substance to the funny feeling I had gotten earlier.

    Standing before us was Melody, the Blade.

 Side Chapter: Observing Shenanigans

    ¡°You''re sure that skill isn''t too overpowered?¡± Rabbit remarked as he watched the Wood Elf mage in the dungeon casting a custom skill named Abyssal Portal on a boss-monster.

    ¡°She can only use it once a week, so yes but also no.¡± his fellow GM, a young girl named Liza, remarked. At thirteen, she was the youngest employee at the company which ran Panarena Fantasy Online. Her skills with technology and computer science had earned her an early career at the place, as well as master''s degrees in her realms of study, and she had just been promoted to Game Moderator a fortnight past. Her avatar was much like her real self, a young girl with wavy, light-brown hair that had some curls to it, and she wore a frilly plaid dress with flowers embroidered into the design.

    ¡°Hahh... well, aside from those two, they don''t really have anyone else in that group capable of insanity.¡±

    ¡°You mean Lana?¡± Liza grinned back knowingly.

    ¡°She and Myanihia Black...¡± the other sighed.

    ¡°Myanihia taught it to her, huh?¡± Liza remarked, leaning back in the chair.

    ¡°That''s the story,¡± Rabbit nodded.

    ¡°Also, didn''t that Anhe girl use to solo group content in Xuanpu?¡±

    ¡°Huh?! Did she!?¡±

    ¡°I think so,¡± the young girl nodded. ¡°And I''m pretty sure all the Silvernight Queens have done equally nutty things, if not quite to the level of Lana and Ariana. Those two came out swinging, apparently...¡±

    ¡°Defeating those two dragons was meant to be a ten-person affair,¡± Rabbit remarked with a laugh.

    Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

    ¡°I feel like I should go undercover and join them just to make sure they don''t get out of hand!¡± Liza grinned back.

    ¡°I don''t think Forseti would approve. And they''re not rule-breakers, just bonkers.¡± her companion sighed.

    ¡°That''s true.¡± she allowed, and moved her chair to watch the screen with him. ¡°What are they...?¡± she suddenly wondered. The group had gotten to the last fight, wrecking the goblins and the cauldron nearly simultaneously.

    ¡°Have to hand it to the ''Wereoak'', as they call him,¡± Rabbit said with an amused shrug. He then felt his companion tap his shoulder; he looked over at her. Liza''s face was the picture of nonplussed amazement. He looked back at the screen.

    The young man who had the informal nickname of ¡°master portal-mage¡± among the GMs had opened a portal underneath the boss. Out of habit, Rabbit pressed a few buttons to determine where the portal was going as the gwyllion boss fell into it with a scream and the dungeon''s clear flag went up.

    ¡°Th-they teleported the boss... into a volcano...¡± he reported.

    ¡°... HUH?!¡± Liza returned, her voice going up an octave. ¡°HUH?!¡±

    ¡°I don''t know whether I should laugh or log off and get a drink...¡±

    ¡°Sh-should we tell Forseti...?¡± Liza asked as she recomposed herself.

    ¡°N-no. Besides, he''ll probably laugh it off.¡±

    ¡°R-right, he would. Mm. He definitely would.¡±

    The two of them looked at each other, and then looked back at the screen.

    ¡°W-well, I''m going to go back to monitoring the Borderlands.¡± Rabbit said as he entered the information into his keyboard.

    ¡°And I''ll... I''ll respond to this ticket we just got... something about a Werewolf and a Snow Elf causing a disturbance at a bathhouse in Harmonia City...¡± Liza said, and then blinked as Rabbit turned to her.

    ¡°W-werewolf? Snow Elf?¡± he repeated. ¡°A-aren''t those...¡±

    ¡°The boss'' daughters...¡± Liza said with a bemused grin. ¡°More Silvernight Queens.¡± she added with a sigh.

    ¡°Hahh... it''s going to be a long night.¡±

 Chapter Eighteen: Friday Night Shenanigans

    ¡°Seeaan? You okay?¡± Rachel asked me. It was Friday morning, and I had mechanically sat down at my desk after we had retrieved our books for morning classes. I blinked, and then let out a little smile.

    ¡°Yeah. Just, a bit...¡± I returned, quietly laughing as I trailed off. She smiled back at me.

    ¡°I can get that.¡± she nodded back. After we had finished the dungeon in Bretony, Melody, the Blade had shown up to greet us.

    ¡°How did you find us?¡± Lizzy demanded at once.

    ¡°Please,¡± Melody returned sarcastically, ¡°Don''t think you go anywhere unnoticed in this game at the moment. People screenshot you girls all the time; and some of your boy friends, too... or boyfriends, for some of you.¡± she added with a snarky twinkle in her eye.

    ¡°What do you want?¡± I asked her.

    ¡°Just checking in on you.¡± she shrugged. ¡°I assume that''s the new orb?¡±

    ¡°Don''t even try it,¡± Maryn said as she and Lizzy stepped in front of me, the two of them pointing their weapon towards Melody as she took one step forward.

    ¡°Hm, hm,¡± the leader of Venomheart grinned. ¡°I see they''re as devoted to you as they are in real life, Rachel,¡± she smirked at me. Ariana kept quiet, but I could sense she was agitated.

    ¡°What can I say?¡± I replied with a short laugh. ¡°It''s nice to have friends, and I''m still getting the hang of being a leader here, so it''s nice to have support,¡± I said. It wasn''t a lie, though I could sense some confusion from Maryn and Lizzy, let alone the others. But they refrained from comment.

    ¡°I take it he doesn''t play, then? Or is he one of the ones behind you?¡± Melody prodded, her snarky grin almost frozen in place. I giggled, and then returned the look.

    ¡°Wouldn''t you like to know,¡± I teased. She held her hands up, advancing towards me.

    ¡°Rachel, Rachel... don''t tell me you''re playing here without your precious Sean? That''d make our bet all the more sweeter, you know,¡± she said in a soft, alluring whisper.

    ¡°I told you.¡± I said in a more solemn tone, ¡°I''ll never let you win.¡±

    ¡°So you did.¡± she replied evenly. She looked around at the rest of us, and then idly turned her nose to the air as she lightly spun about to move away. ¡°I could care less about taking that orb. I''ll just have to make sure you don''t get the next four... Rachel.¡±

    ¡°Did no one ever tell you it''s bad manners to refer to people by their names here, Joanna?¡± I quipped back, and she halted.

    ¡°I like the red hair. Really I do,¡± she remarked, ¡°But you''re cuter as a brunette. Remember that when I win our bet.¡± Joanna sniffed, and then resumed walking away.

    ¡°Tch, not even flustered...¡± I quietly grumbled.

    ¡°What was that about?¡± Maryn said as she turned back to me.

    ¡°She thinks you''re Rachel?¡± Lizzy wondered.

    ¡°I only thought she did at first, but I guess she really does,¡± I shrugged, and Ariana gave me a helpless grin.

    ¡°And what was that ''Sean'' thing about? A boyfriend? Isn''t Ariana a--¡± Cloveroak began, but Cylodel raised a hand to cut him off.

    ¡°Clover.¡± the reserved mage said to him softly.

    ¡°Ah--right. Der said that topic''s off-limits. Gotta follow the senior officer in the group!¡± the changeling grinned.

    ¡°Hmm,¡± Lizzy scratched her head. ¡°Anyway; thanks again, you guys. This was a great run!¡± she beamed happily.

    ¡°Yeah! You''ll have to invite us for the next few orbs as well!¡± Cloveroak replied.

    ¡°I''ll... be around, if you need me,¡± Cylodel bowed. ¡°Der?¡±

    ¡°I''m going with them, as usual.¡± the druid replied.

    ¡°Of course you are. Lucky bastard.¡± Clover nodded.

    ¡°Clover.¡± Cylodel sighed, grabbing the other guy''s ear.

    ¡°Whoa, whoa, okay, Cy! We''re going! Cheers, girls! Take care!¡± he waved as the two of them headed for a wayport.

    ¡°See you! Thanks for the fun!¡± Healina called after them.

    ¡°Byee!¡± Belle waved, and then came to sit on my shoulder. ¡°So is that scary chick at your school or what?¡±

    ***

    ¡°I think Mandy was the most upbeat about it,¡± Ellie remarked at lunch. Morning classes had been a bear, but at least there was no homework from any of them.

    ¡°She''s too positive to see a negative.¡± Mary agreed. ¡°And I don''t think we''ll lose anyway, to be honest. Not to them at least.¡±

    ¡°More importantly, that wasn''t a bad impersonation on Wednesday,¡± Andrea said with a faint surprise.

    ¡°Y-you''re still on about that?¡± I remarked, and Rachel giggled.

    ¡°She''s been talking about it non-stop at home!¡± she told me.

    ¡°But anyway; we didn''t get together at all last night, huh?¡± Ellie sighed. ¡°I got some of those crafting orders done, and they''ll have to be delivered tonight.¡±

    ¡°You could take Dracuoatlax,¡± I suggested. ¡°I''m sure you can pander to his ego a bit so he''d take you.¡±

    ¡°Nahh, let''s save him for Saturday after our work-tour. He''ll get a real work-out then.¡± Ellie said. ¡°I''ll just get Fyu and the waggon, and Anhe can come with me for support if she wants to?¡±

    ¡°I would enjoy that,¡± the younger girl smiled back. ¡°Where are they going again?¡±

    ¡°We''re taking them to... pfft, what was it? That place in Ur-Pom...¡± the other girl frowned as she tried to recall.

    ¡°Napaeia?¡± Andrea wondered.

    ¡°That''s it, the one on the coasts,¡± Ellie nodded back.

    ¡°Hmm... we should take the ship, then,¡± Anhe remarked.

    ¡°I''m worried about the Guardians'' fleet still on that side of the map.¡± Ellie shook her head. ¡°But I got a deal with some of the Horselords guys; they''re gonna help us get there from Bretony.¡±

    ¡°Oh, okay!¡± Anhe replied.

    ¡°And that''ll leave you just enough time to scramble back to help Lana and the others on that ship raid -- speaking of which, weren''t you taking Dracuoatlax for that? To like, burn the other ships?¡± Ellie turned to me.

    ¡°Ahh... did we ever decide that?¡± I wondered blankly. ¡°Though that''s a good idea, come to think of it...¡±

    ¡°Of course it is! It totally wrecks them, like, for real!¡± the blonde girl said adamantly.

    ¡°And we could destroy the shipyards as well.¡± Thomas nodded.

    ¡°But first we have to get through rehearsals, homework, and dinner. And afternoon classes.¡± Rachel reminded us, pointing to the clock.

    ¡°Gyeck!? Five minutes left?!¡± I nearly jumped, wolfing down the rest of my lunch.

    ¡°Careful, boy!¡± Mary remarked with concern as she looked over.

    ¡°He''s right though,¡± Ellie remarked, tipping her bowl over to slurp up the rest of her soup like a vacuum.

    ¡°I swear, the more time I spend around these two the more I think they''re related.¡± Andrea sighed, a wry smile on her face. Ellie finished with an audible gulp, beaming back cheekily at her friend.

    ¡°How rude! He''s yours too, remember? Our adorkable little brother!¡± she said. I looked up from my sandwich, an uncertain expression on my face as I blinked a couple times, and the others laughed.

    ¡°All-right! Good progress today, everybody! We''ll get this second act down by next week, and then we''ll be piecing together the third!¡± Miss Andrews said as she clapped her hands for us to finish, and we applauded her words as we began heading out for the night.

    ¡°Vile villain; vile villain; vile villain...¡± I repeated to myself as Rachel and I headed out the door.

    ¡°You''ll get it.¡± she patted me on the shoulder.

    ¡°Definitely!¡± Herby agreed as he and Matthew passed us.

    ¡°You gonna be at the park tomorrow, Sean, Rachel?¡± the taller boy asked us.

    ¡°Huh?¡± we both wondered at the same time.

    ¡°We''re gonna get the whole band of us together to run through the first two acts!¡± Matthew said with a grin.

    ¡°Ahh -- we have a thing for our club tomorrow; but we might be free in the afternoon,¡± I said.

    ¡°That''s perfect! We''re starting at three!¡± Herby gave us a thumbs-up.

    ¡°We''ll see you there!¡± Rachel smiled back as the two of them went to catch their ride home. ¡°There goes our afternoon...¡± she said wistfully.

    ¡°N-not that we were gonna do much but play in-game...¡± I said with a faint grin.

    ¡°True. And since we have to turn up...¡± she said with a soft smirk.

    ¡°Joanna will have to turn up as well.¡± I nodded back.

    ¡°Welp, you''re giving the Guardians a huge blow tonight,¡± Thomas remarked as he joined us, ¡°So that''ll be one big guild down for the count. Or at least the weekend.¡±

    ¡°Let''s hope,¡± Rachel agreed as we set off for his car.

    ¡°I''ll do this in reverse order tonight; Sean''s getting off first, and you next. That''ll give me a straighter shot home.¡± he said.

    ¡°Gotcha.¡± she nodded.

    ¡°Whatever works.¡± I agreed.

    ¡°Hahh, what''ll work is when we all get our apartment or house together,¡± he said with a lopsided grin.

    ¡°Ahh...¡±

    ¡°We''ll definitely plan that out this summer.¡± Rachel remarked.

    ¡°Hah?!¡± Thomas and I both looked at her. Her expression was decidedly confident.

    ¡°W-well,¡± I grinned over at him.

    ¡°Y-yeah,¡± he softly laughed back in agreement. ¡°Anyway -- to Panarena!¡±

    ***

    When I loaded up in Queen''s Haven, I was by myself. Most of the others were probably at Cloverbell or just getting ready to log in, most likely. I continued repeating to myself that two-word phrase I had been hung up on all night at rehearsal, settling into a chair with a sigh as I did so.

    ¡°Ville villain--nope, vile villain, vile villain, vile villain...¡±

    ¡°Are you still on about that?¡± Ariana teased as she playfully squeezed my shoulder.

    ¡°Hm? Did you just get in now?¡± I asked her.

    ¡°Yup! Heali will be on in a minute; we just got rid of the brats.¡±

    ¡°Yikes.¡± I softly smiled back.

    ¡°Right??¡± she agreed. ¡°Anyway; tonight''s the night, huh?¡± she then said, snuggling up with me in the chair.

    ¡°They''ll hang in there for sure if we succeed, but they won''t even be top twenty. Even with their numbers, it''d take them until the end of the competition to recuperate all the materials and resources to get that many ships.¡±

    ¡°And their land caravans?¡±

    ¡°We have a dragon and a guild full of riders on our side for those issues; I only hope Eothane isn''t so noble that he would consider raiding caravans ''stooping'' or something like that.¡± I said with a shrug.

    ¡°Hmm... he does seem like the type who would say that,¡± Ari nodded in agreement. ¡°And you, Belle, and Myanihia managed to get all of those guild-crests from that ambush last time we were on, so we''re good there.¡±

    ¡°Definitely.¡±

    On the night before, Myanihia had slipped me an IM about a Guardians'' storehouse in the Phoenix Domain, imploring me to come at once. Belle, who had just gotten on, volunteered to come with me since Ariana had been tied up with Heali and Lizzy on another activity. Between the three of us we managed to take down the NPCs guarding the storehouse, and inside it we found several uniforms and insignias for our rival guild. We took them all, scurrying back to a neutral meet-up point to divvy them out between ourselves, Heavenly Dragons, and Jade Lotus. Hua Ling had been particularly impressed by our second theft, offering to perform some feints on the Guardians so that they did not suspect our true goals. Qi Lin and I agreed, the former volunteering to do some as well until we were ready for the big show.

    ¡°Now all we have to do is manage to slip onto the island, commandeer the ships we want, and have Dracky torch the rest,¡± I mused.

    ¡°Pfft! Dracky!¡± Ari laughed.

    ¡°Don''t think I''ll be calling him that to his face, though,¡± I grinned back.

    ¡°Oh no, definitely not,¡± she giggled in reply. ¡°More importantly, Cylodel is going to be in the Wildlands helping his guild, so we can''t use his portal magic to get Dracky to the island.¡± Ari continued, and I nodded back.

    ¡°Which is why I talked Jannie and Wildeye into helping me and Anhe craft a very special ship.¡± I returned, and she blinked.

    ¡°Okay. That sounds tame compared to a lot of stuff we''ve done in this game, but a dragon on a ship...¡± she said with a bemused look.

    ¡°Yeah... the hard part might not be getting him on it, but talking him into it,¡± I said with a wry half-grin.

    ¡°I''m sure you can pad his ego enough to convince him.¡± she replied, patting my head. I then snapped my fingers, and nodded back to her.

    ¡°Wanna come with?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Sure!¡± she beamed, and we headed out to wayport to the Torching Mount.

    ¡°Lady Lana; it is truly a delight to see you again. What mischief have you in mind for the night''s entertainment?¡± the dragon grinned as we arrived.

    ¡°How does burning up most of a fleet sound?¡± I asked him, and his eyes glinted with approval.

    ¡°I am only too eager from merely the suggestion of it; where is this fleet, O Queen of the Shadows?¡± he replied.

    ¡°Okay. So it''s on an island way out in the Wild Blue Expanse; Lantisha.¡± I began. He blinked in recognition of the name. ¡°It''s a long way to get there, and I don''t want to tire you out by flying so that you''ll be at your best when we do get there, so I had a ship built specially to ferry you and our friends to the island.¡±

    ¡°Hm!¡± the dragon''s brow furrowed as he gazed at me studiously. ¡°I understand your reasoning; that island is many leagues away. But surely I alone am enough to destroy a whole fleet? Or is there some other purpose in bringing allies with us on this bold attack?¡± Dracuoatlax asked me.

    ¡°Actually, we want to steal some of those ships. Don''t worry about destroying the wrong ones; we only want the big ones. Everything else you can blow away and burn up.¡± I replied.

    ¡°I see...¡± the dragon mused. ¡°These large ships you are wanting to seize for yourselves, they are different, then?¡±

    ¡°They look like the castles of Xuanpu and they have a lot of oars.¡±

    ¡°Hmm! That does make it simple to single them out.¡± the dragon nodded. ¡°Very well! I accept this offer; where is this, ship, that you would have me rest myself upon?¡±

    ¡°It should be arriving at a spot east of Weishoni soon,¡± I returned.

    ¡°Then let us make haste.¡± Dracuoatlax said, getting into a position so we could get up on his back. He swiftly rose from the Torching Mount, and we began heading southeast to our rendezvous with our raiding partners.

    ***

    ¡°As expected of the Silvernight Queens,¡± Qi Lin said with an amazed whistle as we landed.

    ¡°Honestly now.¡± Hua Ling grinned. ¡°We are all ready here, and your friends Wildeye and Jannie have gotten the boat here,¡± she gestured towards the beaches, where the vessel in question was waiting.

    If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    It was designed sort of like an aircraft carrier. Except we were ferrying a dragon with it. The wide vessel had six masts, three to a side, all of them angled at a horizontal incline of twenty-five degrees and outfitted with triangular sails, two on each mast. It almost looked like a bizarre, six-winged duck with no head. Dracuoatlax observed the ship with curiosity.

    ¡°You are certain I will not sink it, Lady Lana?¡± the dragon asked. ¡°If I should fall into water it would weaken me considerably.¡±

    ¡°That''s why we scrounged for the best and strongest timber we could find, as well as some super-tough ore to craft some super-tough reinforcements for it.¡± I replied.

    ¡°Then let us see how well your handiwork holds up!¡± he said, and we headed over towards the ship. Wildeye, Tyman, Jannie, Winnie, and Anhe, who had been with them, waved to us as we headed over to them.

    ¡°Whew! Live testing, eh?¡± the Mountain Tigers'' guild leader quipped. ¡°Dracuoatlax,¡± he addressed the dragon, who turned to him, ¡°I would suggest you gently fly over to the ship and set down upon it as lightly as you can.¡±

    ¡°Have you then had experience with dragons and ships, friend of Lana?¡± the other asked.

    ¡°I have had very similar experiences in the other world, yes.¡± Wildeye nodded back. ¡°We have flying machines that can set themselves down upon vessels very similar to this in the method I just described.¡±

    ¡°Then I shall defer to your wisdom,¡± the dragon returned with only a vague hint of sardonism.

    He set off into the air, and then gently flapped over towards the ship, setting himself down upon it as gently as he could. The boat rocked for a moment, but then settled. Dracuoatlax then slowly settled himself into a curled up position, like a cat on a pillow, and the rest of us heaved sighs of relief.

    ¡°This plan would have literally been ''blown out of water'' if that failed, huh?¡± Qi Lin grinned.

    ¡°You''re telling me,¡± I agreed.

    ¡°All right!¡± Wildeye said. ¡°Operation: Dragonfire is a go!¡±

    The rest of us headed onto the ship from the nearby piers, and after ten minutes we had set off from Panarena proper, sailing into the Wild Blue Expanse towards our goal.

    ¡°This is a well-made craft,¡± Dracuoatlax remarked after a few in-game hours. ¡°I did have my doubts, but as long as I maintain myself in this position it seems all is well.¡±

    ¡°And we lucked out, too, getting smooth seas like this tonight.¡± Ariana said.

    ¡°Indeed.¡± the other softly nodded.

    ¡°We''re gonna have a heck of a reprisal tomorrow,¡± Wildeye said, and we all nodded.

    ¡°We are prepared for that.¡± Hua Ling told him.

    ¡°Courtesy of down-payment!¡± Qi Lin beamed, and we all shared a laugh. ¡°So you are really going to disassemble all of these big ships, huh?¡±

    ¡°They''re too much for anyone but the Guardians to maintain properly, so we''re just gonna use their components for other things.¡± Jannie nodded back.

    ¡°It does seem a waste, but it is a solid plan.¡± Li Zha Feng remarked. ¡°And this will hurt their plans badly, from what Moon and Yun were saying at the bar the other day.¡±

    ¡°They''re definitely counting on this little armada, huh?¡± I said.

    ¡°To dominate the southern seas.¡± the other replied.

    ¡°Who knew they would get spied out by the guild with a dragon? Such a shame, really!¡± Happy quipped, shaking his head in a mocking fashion as we laughed again.

    ¡°Right??¡± Jannie remarked. The laughter subsided after a moment, and we took in the quiet for a few moments as the ship headed on its way unerringly.

    ¡°Friend of Lana; your guild name is Heavenly Dragons, is it not?¡± Dracuoatlax then said.

    ¡°Of course!¡± Happy grinned.

    ¡°Then perhaps you may find your own dragon; I happen to know of an old rival of mine who makes his home in Kunlun, should you dare his abode.¡±

    ¡°Ohhh, the secret dungeon quest? Qi Lin, he confirmed it!¡± Happy said to his guild leader, who bowed his head towards our dragon friend.

    ¡°I will remember your words, noble one.¡± he said.

    ¡°Now we will definitely have to go and get that quest for Shu?y?,¡± Hua Ling remarked with a sigh.

    ¡°And by the end of the competition, every guild will have a dragon as their friend!¡± Happy grinned.

    ¡°Well, hopefully not all of them,¡± Jannie smirked, and we laughed.

    I looked up towards the sky; it was now almost midnight. A quiet sigh escaped my lips. Anhe gently nudged me.

    ¡°Lana?¡± she whispered.

    ¡°It''s so peaceful right now, you know?¡± I quietly replied.

    ¡°Mm, true.¡± she smiled back. There was a soft thud on the deck as Tyman came down from the lookout post.

    ¡°Probably two more hours to our destination; I''m glad this thing works, but it''s damn slow,¡± he said as he sat down with us.

    ¡°Everyone else should be livening things up in the Wildlands right now.¡± Jannie said as she gazed towards the northeast.

    ¡°We will be ''livening things up'' in the Phoenix Domain after this.¡± Hua Ling remarked.

    ¡°We will have to! The Guardians will be totally mad at us, you know,¡± Qi Lin said.

    ¡°At all of us,¡± Wildeye faintly grinned. ¡°But I bet even F¨¨nghu¨¢ng will freeze for a few minutes after learning that a dragon destroyed most of her ships.¡±

    ¡°Kiana and Reginleif have probably intercepted that shipment of cannons by now, too,¡± I said.

    ¡°Ooh, forgot about those.¡± Winnie frowned. ¡°Those girls better have those things locked up tight when we get back. Would be nice to adapt them for our own fleets.¡±

    ¡°I think that''s doable,¡± Wildeye agreed.

    ¡°You can have all the cannons; but I would like to keep at least one of the ships we steal for ourselves.¡± Hua Ling remarked.

    ¡°I think that''s fair, all things considered,¡± Jannie nodded.

    ¡°Of course, we will break it down and recycle it for smaller ships, or maybe use it as a sea-fortress,¡± the other girl pondered.

    ¡°Oh, nice idea,¡± I said, suddenly wondering if we could do something similar.

    ¡°So since we have a couple hours, anyone want to play a game of cards again?¡± Jannie then asked, bringing out a couple of decks.

    ¡°Yes, please!¡± Happy beamed at once.

    ¡°All right, here we go!¡± Tyman grinned.

    ¡°You''re on!¡± Ari smiled, and we started into a rousing card game for the final hours of our sea voyage.

    ***

    ¡°Master.¡± Dracuoatlax said to me as I frowned disappointedly at the cards in my hand. I looked up at him, and saw his gaze fixated on the horizon. Turning to look, I gently thumped the deck with a hand, and the others looked up as well.

    ¡°There it is,¡± Wildeye said softly, and we began putting the cards away. Qi Lin and Hua Ling began issuing orders to their guildmates to get ready for our infiltration and theft.

    ¡°How long to get to the harbor from this side?¡± Hua Ling asked me.

    ¡°With our numbers, maybe two hours at most.¡± I replied.

    ¡°I shall not wait much longer than that, Lady Lana, for my own attack.¡± Dracuoatlax remarked. ¡°Though I will recall my targets for certain.¡±

    ¡°Gotcha.¡± I nodded towards him.

    ¡°Do not be surprised when we have the Sea Dragon on our side to rival him!¡± Hua Ling said to me with a bright smile, and I grinned back wryly.

    ¡°Oh-ho,¡± my own dragon ally quipped with a mirthful look in his eyes. ¡°I shall look forward to contesting my strength once again with the one called Shu?y? in the days to come,¡± he said, and Hua Ling bowed before him.

    A few minutes later we had made our landing, and the dragon stepped carefully onto the shore to stretch himself out before curling up again to await the time limit specified. The rest of us, except for the Mountain Tigers and Lightbrook Brigade members who crewed the ship, readied ourselves to head stealthily for the harbor on the other side, suiting up in our disguises. I allowed Hua Ling to take the lead on the actual operation, keeping myself and Ariana as guides only. When she was satisfied with her inspection (and with the headgear that Ari and I were using to help obfuscate our appearances), she gave a nod to Wildeye and Dracuoatlax, and we set off to the west.

    ¡°Good fortune, Lady Lana.¡± I heard the dragon say. I turned back and held up my hand in a victory-sign, which we had taught him over the course of our interactions. He nodded, and I resumed my attention to guiding our literal raiding party across the island.

    ¡°If I were F¨¨nghu¨¢ng, I might be suspicious that we were all up to something; we cannot have gone unseen in all of our dealings, and she will definitely be concerned about the tome you stole for us,¡± Hua Ling said as we got closer to the harbor. ¡°But all that I have heard today implies that she is more concerned about the land war. Still, it cannot hurt to pretend that we have been out on patrol looking for possible interlopers,¡± she continued.

    ¡°Especially since the big ships are most likely finished by now,¡± I agreed. As we got to an overlook she had us halt, and while the others knelt down in place the two of us crawled to the ledge to take a look.

    There below us was the massive harbor; about half of the smaller ships were somewhat unfinished, but as I had thought, the Guardians had put their main efforts into the largest of their ships, and sixteen tekkousen-vessels sat ready for their adventures.

    ¡°I guess that one-week estimate from a couple days ago was meant to spur them on,¡± I remarked to myself.

    ¡°Time?¡± Hua Ling said to me. I checked the in-world clock.

    ¡°Dracuoatlax will be attacking in half an hour.¡±

    ¡°Good.¡± she nodded, still taking note of the harbor. ¡°They are at minimum defense tonight. Your friends in the Wildlands are doing excellent. I want to time this precisely; when the dragon attacks, we will be in position, and rush to the ships under the pretext of saving them.¡±

    ¡°Good idea,¡± I agreed. ¡°No one will think twice under the panic of dragon-fire.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± she nodded back. ¡°So we should split up into groups here; I will take five, you take your group, Qi Lin will take his, and Li Zha will take the rest of mine. Remember to act as if we are coming in from patrol.¡±

    ¡°Let''s tell the others,¡± I said, and we scurried back to issue the orders.

    ¡°Is Kirin there?¡± Qi Lin wondered after we had laid out the plan.

    ¡°I did not see,¡± Hua Ling shook her head. I frowned, trying to recall if I had seen any officer uniforms just now.

    ¡°Is it a problem if they are?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Ah-ha, he and I have fought a few times, so I hope not to run into him here... he will see through my disguise, at least.¡± the plucky leader of Heavenly Dragons smiled sheepishly.

    ¡°Uhh...¡± my face crinkled into a bemused smile.

    ¡°Then let Happy pretend to be your patrol leader.¡± Hua Ling sniffed.

    ¡°Ah! Good point,¡± the other returned.

    ¡°Anyway, we have maybe twenty-five minutes before the dragon comes. Remember your groups, and do everything you can to stay low until it is time.¡± Hua Ling instructed, and we nodded in reply, heading down in four separate groups to the beach.

    We were definitely questioned as we arrived, but our explanations were accepted. There was no Kirin this time, but an officer called Windwalker was here in the command center. Judging from the name, I estimated them to be someone who had a play-style similar to Anhe and Sun WuKong. I suddenly wondered how the man who played as the Monkey King was doing, and if we was part of a guild involved in this competition. Anhe, Ariana, and myself then sat down near a torch by the piers. I could see Qi Lin and his group actively engaging with the group led by Li Zha Feng, and further in the distance Hua Ling was with her group around a fire. I then got a message.

    Maryn: The raiding party got the cannons--they''re being taken to a neutral point in the Marshes of the Wyrd. It''s rough here. We''re heading out with Reginleif to engage Venomheart. The King-Priests are about to show up. This might be a stalemate if they pull out that demon again.

    I softly clenched my teeth. If the King-Priests brought out Djaziim now... oh, snap, put it away, I thought as a member of the Guardians approached us and I put out my IM panel. She set down a tray with three bowls, thanking us for our hard work of patrolling the island, and then moved on to another group.

    ¡°Hahh...¡± I sighed when she was out of range.

    ¡°Lana, what was that message?¡± Anhe asked me in Mandarin.

    ¡°Ah? Maryn.¡± I returned in the same.

    ¡°Are they having a hard time?¡± she wondered.

    ¡°It sounds like it,¡± I frowned. Quickly I looked around, and checked the time. We had fifteen minutes until dragon-fire happened. There was no way I could communicate with anyone outside our little group without raising suspicion until after we had gotten away. Then I''d have to act fast. Another IM then reached me.

    Sky Belle: Lana, Maryn sent me off to send you a message; they have Djaziim out after all. Cylodel is with us. He''s waiting for your word to open a portal back so Dracuoatlax can help us.

    I gazed at the message, rereading it frantically. Hrrrnnnggh! But really, it''s good they anticipated I might try to portal back. Wait!! Portal back... I mused to myself quickly. Once more I looked around. The ships we were planning to steal were not as big as Dracuoatlax. That honor went to Jannie and Wildeye''s boat, which by necessity had to be larger. If they''re not as big *as*, then they''d fit through that portal, too, I reasoned as I pondered it out quickly. I heard Ariana let out a sigh, and then she spoke in Mandarin as well.

    ¡°I know that face. It means something crazy is about to happen.¡± she remarked, and Anhe giggled softly.

    Lana: Belle, where exactly are you guys fighting?

    Sky Belle: We''re defending a fortress in the northwest owned by Northern Warriors, near the coasts.

    I almost jumped in excitement at the news.

    Lana: Hold on for at least twenty minutes. Trust me.

    Sky Belle: You got it, hon!

    ¡°What''s the plan?¡± Ariana whispered almost soundlessly in my ear.

    ¡°Something crazy.¡± I whispered back, and she shook her head at me, grinning.

    ¡°Oh, you.¡±

    Then we heard it. The flapping of large wings. It seemed Dracuoatlax had sped up his time-table. With a roar, the red dragon emerged over the horizon, and with unfailing accuracy he first torched the command center. That was probably the best first step we hadn''t thought of for this little plan. At once we dashed for the boat we planned to seize, and the other guilds with us did the same while the members of Guardians rushed around trying to get to their defenses. If any of them turned up on the ships we were commandeering, we quickly put them out of action and sent them back to whatever respawn-point they had.

    With the shore in chaos from multiple intense fires and the enemy leaders temporarily gone, Dracuoatlax began disintegrating the ships we were not sailing off with. Oh, he had also set fire to their supply depots and portable crafting stations; I couldn''t even imagine how much time and effort had gone into stockpiling those. Meanwhile, our plan was succeeding; just as we had thought, the ships could be commandeered by the simple trick of wearing a uniform and insignia. Oh, and Mandarin commands, as well. Sixteen large ships sailed off from the shore; at first the Guardians had been under the impression we were helping to save them, but a few of the more astute among them had now deduced we had brought the dragon, observing his selective destruction and our specifically going after the large ships instead of the smaller ones.

    ¡°Dracuoatlax!¡± I called out; the harbor was ablaze, and the other ships were about gone. ¡°We have an emergency; we''re gonna open a portal!¡± I shouted back, and the dragon, after ensuring that not a single one of the enemy vessels left behind could be used or repaired, soared after us.

    ¡°Understood, Lady Lana!¡± he called back.

    Then I saw her. F¨¨nghu¨¢ng, the leader of Guardians of the Eternal Citadel. She emerged from an emergency teleport spell, a tall, dazzling beauty with a subtle flame color in her dark hair. She wore a red hanfu dress with golden embroidery upon it, patterned with phoenix designs. In her hand was a khakkhara-staff with red-gems set into it. She looked at me with an expression of respect and anger.

    ¡°So this was your plan?¡± she called to me in Mandarin. ¡°I commend you, but it stops here!¡±

    ¡°Ari! Tell Cylodel to get that portal ready! Tell him to open it out at sea! I''ll have a beacon ready for him!¡± I said, and she nodded, hurriedly relaying the message as I got out one of the portal-beacons that the mage in question had given me a while ago for emergencies. Anhe sent signals to the other ships in the meantime, urging them to follow us. They did so, and I activated the beacon and hurled it as far as I could out to sea, where it hovered, awaiting the portal spell from Cylodel.

    ¡°He''ll be ready in five minutes!¡± Ariana said to me.

    ¡°Good!¡± I said, anxiously gazing back. Dracuoatlax hovered nearby, looking back as well.

    ¡°Lady Lana!¡± he said with urgency. I then noticed F¨¨nghu¨¢ng was chanting, most likely for a summons.

    ¡°Oh snap, snap snap snap!¡± I swore. ¡°Urgh! Looks like she''s activated a ward-skill to keep herself from being interrupted; it''s probably got reflective damage, too...¡±

    ¡°I concur,¡± Dracuoatlax nodded. ¡°We can only wait for the portal!¡±

    ¡°Lana!¡± Hua Ling called from another ship. ¡°I hope your friends hurry! That is her ultimate summoning skill!¡±

    ¡°Ultimate?!¡± I all but yelped.

    ¡°What is her name?¡± the other guild leader said to me.

    ¡°F¨¨nghu¨¢ng?¡±

    ¡°No, Lana, what does it mean?¡± Hua Ling pressed me. I drew a blank for a moment, and then gasped.

    ¡°Phoenix...!¡±

    That''s why Dracuoatlax is concerned; he knows about this phoenix spell, or maybe about the phoenix it summons... if he''s agitated, it''s definitely on par with him, and not in a good way, either, I hurriedly thought.

    ¡°She is almost done!¡± Hua Ling cried out.

    ¡°Come on, Cy...!!¡± I said, gazing anxiously ahead. My heart almost exploded in relief as I saw the gigantic portal form ahead of us. ¡°Go!! Hurry!!¡± I cried at the top of my lungs. One by one, the ships sailed through the portal, held open by the incredible mage at the other end.

    ¡°Master!¡± Dracuoatlax said as a vortex of flame appeared.

    ¡°Go through! They need you! Djaziim is there!¡± I implored as I pointed desperately at the portal. He nodded reluctantly, and headed through to engage the demon on the other side. Hua Ling''s ship then went through, and we began approaching the portal ourselves a second later. I then heard the sound of a bell, and an ear-piercing shriek like a firework going up.

    ¡°L-Lana,¡± Ari said as we looked back. Up from the fiery summons it rose, a terrifyingly beautiful bird of flames. It gazed at us coldly, spreading its wings to take flight and follow us.

    ¡°Anhe! Use your empowerment auras for physical and magical damage! Ari! Get a freeze spell ready!¡± I said, drawing out my bow and queuing up Piercing Breaker.

    ¡°Unison attack?¡± Ariana asked, regaining her calm. I nodded, and she began enchanting my arrow with her spell. Anhe powered us up with her auras, and nodded. The phoenix launched itself into the air. I let the arrow go.

    It did not kill the phoenix, but it did knock it back just long enough for our ship to get through the portal. I heard Ariana yell for Cylodel to close the portal just as we did. Just in time, he released it, and the spiteful gaze of the phoenix and its master was the last thing we saw before the portal shut. At that exact moment, I belatedly wondered what had happened to Wildeye and the others.

    ***

    As usual, Dracuoatlax pushed back Djaziim; it was getting easier now on account of the fact that we now had several orbs to help us out. With anger they retreated, and Venomheart, those of them who had show up, dissipated from the battlefield as well. After the fighting was over and the enemy guilds had retreated, we held a celebration around the beach to commemorate our several victories this night. Eothane reported that Sybel, who had led the raid party to seize the cannons, was now returning this way with her prizes in tow.

    I left the main events of festivity somewhat early, changing into a simple beach-dress and heading along the beach. The sensation of the water and sand upon my feet felt good; it made me long for summer vacation to start. I sat down on a rock that was on the border of shores and waves, gazing out past the ships we had taken. The stars looked amazing, their lights sparkling over the Jade Sea like radiant diamonds.

    ¡°Sure is an amazing sight; I should get a screen-grab of it,¡± I remarked, doing just that.

    ¡°Hey, chica.¡± a voice called up to me. I turned, and saw Lysandra coming up to join me.

    ¡°Sandra,¡± I said in surprise. She was wearing a dark colored beach-dress like mine that nearly matched her hair; with a relaxed sigh she sat next to me, a bottle in her hand.

    ¡°Ari noticed you vanished, so she asked me to find you.¡± the older girl said.

    ¡°Ah-heh, I did skip out a bit,¡± I softly grinned.

    ¡°You okay?¡± she asked me.

    ¡°Yeah, just a bit... I dunno, rattled.¡±

    ¡°Hmm...?¡± Sandra remarked, putting her arm around me.

    ¡°I mean, that phoenix even had Dracky spooked, and I didn''t even damage it with Ari and Anhe helping me...¡± I softly grumbled as I leaned onto her.

    ¡°Dr-Dracky?¡± she wondered for a moment. ¡°Ohh,¡± she then realized, giggling. ¡°Yeah. That phoenix they have does still make them one of the more formidable guilds on land, but we''ve wrecked their navy for sure. You did good, kiddo. They''ll definitely be behind for a while after these losses.¡±

    ¡°Hmm.¡± I nodded back.

    ¡°Sandra, Lana.¡± another familiar voice said. It was Myanihia.

    ¡°Hey.¡± her half-twin smiled back.

    ¡°You''re here,¡± I smiled in surprise.

    ¡°For Sandra, I was, yes.¡± she returned, her cheeks reddening as she came to join us. ¡°Lana... I saw it. The phoenix.¡± Myanihia said to me.

    ¡°Yeah.¡± I nodded back with a faint glumness.

    ¡°It... is not the same. Not exactly.¡± the Snow Elf told me, and we both looked at her. ¡°From what I know, the phoenix; you can summon it like Djaziim, but, you must first win its respect, like Dracuoatlax. There is no bond, to break.¡±

    ¡°So Djaziim is the only trump card we can take out.¡± I noted.

    ¡°Yes.¡± she said in reply.

    We sat in silence for a few minutes, the bottle passing between the three of us several times over before it was practically empty. Myanihia tousled my hair, a grin on her face.

    ¡°What''s that about?¡± I asked with a laugh.

    ¡°I''m... I think, I''m almost ready. Your friends...¡± she shook her head, ¡°No, our friends; we are all here chasing the same thing. Connections. Adventures. I am not Myanihia Black... I am just, Myanihia.¡± she said, gazing peacefully out at the sea.

    ¡°Then--¡±

    ¡°But, I will wait, at least to meet you, in person.¡± she then looked over at me with a soft smile.

    ¡°Ahh--if that''s how you want to do it, then okay.¡± I smiled back, inwardly freezing up. I could almost feel Lysandra cracking a grin next to me.

    ¡°You''re gonna love Lana in real life.¡± the werewolf-girl said teasingly, squeezing my shoulder. The other girl laughed gently.

    Ohh boy.

    ¡°Is this the moment, when you use that word, you love for her?¡± Myanihia asked, smiling.

    ¡°Sure is!¡± her twin beamed back.

    ¡°Huh?¡± I wondered, and then rolling my eyes as I heard them say it.

    ¡°Adorkable!¡± they chimed together, and then giggled.

    ¡°Hahh...¡±

    They''ll never let me hear the end of that word as long as we''re all alive, huh?

 Chapter Nineteen: Tours and Rehearsals

    Eventually, I rejoined the party -- well, it joined me, actually, as people began wandering down to the beach itself. Dracuoatlax flew off at that point, admonishing us to be wary of the phoenix that the Guardians'' leader could apparently summon to her side. Ariana and I danced for a while as some of the players pulled out instruments to play a set, and by the time it was high-noon in Panarena the party was dispersing. We retired to Queen''s Haven with Myanihia to idle around and catch up on sleep for the rest of our in-game time, and then woke up on Saturday morning to head back into reality.

    ***

    ¡°Still not awake?¡± Rachel poked me as Thomas drove us and Andrea to the meet-up place in the city. Ellie was bringing the other two members of our club, and Christina was going to show up as well, while Mandy would join us later for lunch.

    ¡°What about you?¡± I returned, noticing the sleepy tone of her voice.

    ¡°Hmm.¡± she sighed, leaning against me.

    ¡°After all the sleeping we did in Panarena, too,¡± Andrea grinned back at us.

    ¡°Right?¡± I managed to laugh back.

    ¡°It''ll be worth it, though.¡± Thomas said. ¡°I was reading the forums for once today; we literally burned out their resolve for at least a good week, so we can focus on other things for a while. Like honest merchant-work!¡±

    ¡°Don''t be surprised when they keep up their raiding activities on land despite that,¡± I said with a stifled yawn.

    ¡°Of course not,¡± he agreed. ¡°But on the whole they''re probably going to focus on finding a new ''in'' for the competition to maintain a respectable ranking.¡±

    ¡°I know we''re going to visit the actual headquarters, but we should probably start thinking about it more practically today, at least until our tour''s over.¡± Andrea then remarked with a grin.

    ¡°You say that now,¡± I returned, ¡°But wait until we get to the promotional and merchandising spots; you''ll be psyched out with the rest of us about it in no time.¡±

    ¡°Probably!¡± the red-haired girl admitted with a wink.

    ¡°I wonder who our tour guide is going to be,¡± Rachel then wondered.

    ¡°Hmm,¡± I pondered as the words clicked in my head. ¡°Think it''ll be a GM, or just someone knowledgeable about the game?¡±

    ¡°Dunno,¡± Thomas mused thoughtfully.

    ¡°I doubt it''ll be Chrissy, though.¡± Andrea said. ¡°Oh, it''s left up here.¡±

    ¡°By the bank?¡±

    ¡°Past the bank, by the cornerstore.¡±

    ¡°Oh right, gotcha.¡± Thomas nodded, and we turned left between the two buildings.

    ¡°And then it''s a straight-shot to the parking garage.¡± Andrea noted.

    A car next to us then beeped. Rachel, Andrea, and I turned to look; it was Ellie, Mary, and Anhe. Ellie stuck her tongue out at us, while Mary and Anhe waved, the older girl putting ¡°bunny-ears¡± over Ellie''s head. Like lightning I grabbed my imager and took a shot of it. Ellie gave me a funny look, but quickly returned her attention to the road.

    ¡°Pfft!¡± Rachel said as we looked over the image.

    ¡°Right?¡± I grinned back.

    ¡°I''m not sure who she''ll be mad at more, you or Mary.¡±

    ¡°Oh-ho, you want to race, huh?¡± Thomas grinned as he heard Ellie rev-up her car as we drove along.

    ¡°Oh Gawd,¡± Andrea sighed as he put his car in gear.

    ¡°Uh-oh.¡± Rachel said.

    ¡°Ahh...¡± I started, but at that moment we took off.

    Fortunately, the road had been mostly empty, which was surprising for a Saturday. Or maybe not. It wasn''t often I was in this area of the city. Anyhow; Ellie pulled a tie on us as we entered the garage, but Thomas got parked first so maybe he won? Kind of? They bickered about it like grade-schoolers until we got to the door, where we found Christina waiting for us.

    ¡°It''s not going anywhere, sweethearts, sheesh,¡± she said to us with an amused smile. ¡°Come on; we''re meeting your tour guide in the cafeteria.¡±

    ¡°Okay!¡± Andrea replied, and we headed on in with her. ¡°Is Mandy even awake?¡±

    ¡°She is. Laser-focused on studying for a sociology test she got promised this past week, and reviewing some of our literature assignments too.¡± the older girl said.

    ¡°Lit classes, huh?¡± Mary remarked.

    ¡°Yup.¡± the other nodded back. We found ourselves heading down a hallway with all sorts of promos and merchandise displays, but the actual stores were in another part of the building according to the signs. Eventually we got to the cafeteria, settling ourselves in at a table near the door.

    ¡°I guess you don''t know who the guide is,¡± I said, and Christina shook her head.

    ¡°Nope. But I think it is a GM, a senior one, too.¡± she told us.

    ¡°Cool!¡± Ellie exclaimed.

    ¡°Though there''s probably going to be an assistant with them,¡± the dark-haired girl added.

    ¡°That''s me!¡± a teenage voice called out.

    There at the door was a girl younger than Anhe; her wavy hair was dyed pink, and she had a frilly dress on with platform shoes to make her seem a bit taller. The taller figure of a bespectacled man in a plaid sweater-vest over a cream formal shirt with matching slacks joined her shortly after, catching his breath.

    ¡°Jenn! For goodness sakes, slow down!¡± he said to her.

    ¡°Sorry, Rabbs! Ah--! I mean, Mister Green!¡± the girl named Jenn replied.

    ¡°I told you, it''s fine to call me George,¡± he returned as he straightened up, and the young girl deferred to him as he approached us. ¡°All right--hello, all! I''m George Green, your tour guide for the day, and this is Genevieve or Jenny Bastien, our resident child-genius, assisting for the day. Any questions before we start off on our little expedition?¡± he said to us.

    ¡°Andrea Summers, club president,¡± Andrea said as she stood up to shake hands with the man, and with Jenny. ¡°What else do you do when you''re not showing people around?¡±

    ¡°Ah-hah, we''re Game Masters, so we help keep order in our virtual world!¡± he replied.

    ¡°Ah! I hope we haven''t caused too much trouble for the two of you,¡± Andrea returned with a shy smile.

    ¡°All part of the game; so you''re players as well, eh?¡± the man noted.

    ¡°True.¡± our club president nodded.

    ¡°Well then, welcome to the other side of Panarena!¡± he said with a grand smile, and with that we began our tour.

    Our first stop was a large room they called the ¡°Think Tank¡±. There were a lot of tables, desks, notebooks, sketchbooks, easels, and computers that were used to help create the fundamentals of the game-world and to generate functional or practical models and designs for the game itself. It was pretty amazing, and I had a passing though that maybe I''d enjoy this sort of thing--but, math. Of course, I perked up a bit when I learned that this was also where the lore and most of the quests where crafted as well. Now that would be fun to do.

    The game itself can auto-generate its own quests based upon certain parameters and within certain contexts, but most of the more strenuous or involved quests are still designed and written by actual people. I wonder if the guy who wrote that Xuanpu quest we did is here today... I wondered to myself as we looked around at story-boards and models for in-game cities and such. One in particular caught my eye, and I subtly beckoned Rachel over. She took one look, and lit up with a radiant smile.

    ¡°That''s Cloverbell! Oh how cute!¡± she said as her eyes fell upon the model.

    ¡°Right?¡± I agreed with a soft grin.

    ¡°What''s up, kiddos? Oh, I see,¡± Christina said as she joined us, smiling.

    ¡°Okay, no more questions, then?¡± Mr. Green''s voice called out. ¡°Well, we''ve a lot more to get through, so let''s allow these fine people to get back to work!¡±

    ¡°All right, guys and girls, come on,¡± Christina said, and we followed our guides to the next location.

    ¡°That was like, fifty people there; fifty people get paid to just sketch out stories or drawings and stuff for a video game company,¡± Ellie remarked with awe.

    ¡°Actually, our Creative Development Department employs one-hundred and twenty-three people,¡± Mr. Green told her.

    ¡°Whoa.¡±

    ¡°There''s actually another ''Think Tank'' on an upper floor,¡± Jenny added, ¡°But that''s for like, more focused ideas while this one down here is for general concepts.¡±

    ¡°That makes sense,¡± Thomas nodded.

    ¡°Where are we off to now?¡± Andrea asked them.

    ¡°To the programming and scripting centers,¡± the bespectacled man replied. ¡°Once the ideas get approval for implementation, these people have the tedious task of actualizing them into the virtual reality space.¡± he said as we entered another room, this one wall-to-wall with computers of all different kinds. ¡°We''ll be visiting another department in a few moments that also provides them with certain data for the game, but everything you see and feel in Panarena is the result of the hard work in this very room.¡± he said with a proud nod as he gestured to his coworkers.

    ¡°Neat-o,¡± Ellie grinned as we fanned out to (respectfully) examine the goings-on.

    I found myself near a monitor displaying a very familiar sight; it had Dracuoatlax as a background. As I blinked in astonishment, the technician or programmer manning the station turned to me with a grin.

    ¡°That''s Draco, as we like to shorten it here,¡± he told me.

    ¡°Draco, huh?¡± I replied.

    Draco, Dracky... I wonder which he''d be more annoyed by, I couldn''t help but wonder.

    ¡°Yep! We were all taking bets on who''d manage to persuade him to be their ally first. Heh, Sophie over there won that bet, a two-week''s allowance of vacation.¡± he said with a wry grin.

    ¡°And I''m gonna use them this summer for sure.¡± the woman a few desks away returned with a sly smile. ¡°Any of you play this game?¡± she asked.

    ¡°Some,¡± Andrea quickly said. ¡°It''s amazing to see all the hard work that goes on to give it life! Thank you for what you do here,¡± she also said, and the employees gave her gratified looks in reply.

    ¡°No no, thank you; you''re the reason we do this!¡± one of them beamed back.

    ¡°Ever run into this guy?¡± the man near me asked, gesturing towards his background.

    ¡°Oh, once or twice,¡± Rachel smiled back.

    ¡°Nice!¡± he clapped his hands.

    ¡°What''s the hardest thing you''ve had to put into this game?¡± I suddenly wondered.

    ¡°Ooh, nice question,¡± Ellie said, coming over to lean on me with her elbow like the older sister I never had.

    ¡°The hardest, you say,¡± the man returned, scratching his beard thoughtfully. ¡°I mean, a lot of work went into this guy here,¡± he again pointed to the dragon, ¡°And also the many others like him we''ve implemented into the game. But the hardest... hey Sophie, what was that one Jackie was griping about all during the alpha testing?¡±

    ¡°The heck are you asking me for, Johnny boy? Tim''s the one who had to listen to all that.¡± she said.

    ¡°Oh right!¡±

    ¡°Yo, Tim!¡± Sophie then called over to another man, who looked up from his desk. ¡°What was that thing you got an earful about from Jax?¡±

    ¡°Ah? Jackie''s grumbling?¡± he said with a laugh. ¡°She was fussing about that script for the King of Harmonia and the Emperor of Onyxus, something about their attack patterns not conforming or going haywire. I think Devlin finally fixed it, though... or was it that wash-out has-been Bill?¡±

    ¡°Ahh, right, that thing.¡± Johnny sighed. ¡°It was Bill. Say what you will about his mistake, but he was a genius programmer and code-master.¡±

    ¡°Heh,¡± Tim shrugged.

    Mistake, huh? Wait... programmer... code-master... huh... I mused inwardly on hearing the exchange, almost oblivious to the fact that Ellie was still using me as a lean-post.

    ¡°So even this game had some rough spots for alpha,¡± I said with a grin.

    ¡°Oh heck yeah.¡± Johnny nodded.

    ¡°Don''t even ask how many times it took us to get all of the horse-type creatures walking properly,¡± the woman named Sophie said with a sigh, and a few laughs were heard.

    After our visit to this room, our guides led us to an observatory where we could see another room below us. This room, they told us, was a laboratory where some of their top-level engineers, scientists, and programmers worked, experimenting in various ways so that they could faithfully replicate real-world sensations in the virtual world.

    ¡°The Dream Machine itself plays a crucial role here; its original design was as a sensory tool meant to explore the nervous system and most importantly the brain. Later we learned how to emulate the data we observed from its scans and to implement them as actual sensations into the virtual world; the feeling of sunlight, a breeze, physical contact, pain receptors, the sensation of being wet or of being in the air, fatigue, taste, smells -- all of that and more is extracted from the data we collect here in this lab.¡± Mr. Green said as we observed the room below.

    S-so, like, even the things that... that Jannie was implying...? I wondered with a bemused look on my face. Still, that''s, what can I say? It''s amazing.

    ¡°This sort of thing makes it useful in the realm of medical research too, right?¡± Christina asked.

    ¡°Exactly!¡± Jenny nodded enthusiastically. ¡°As a matter of fact, our company is working on a joint effort with some of the regional hospitals to have that more basic Dream Machine implemented as a medical scanner, and hopefully they''ll be able to expand its capabilities so that it can run diagnoses on other systems of the human body!¡± she told us.

    ¡°Wow! That''d be a huge step,¡± Mary exclaimed.

    ¡°You''re telling me!¡± the young girl agreed.

    ¡°She''s being modest,¡± Mr. Green said as he put a gentle hand on her shoulder, ¡°But Jenny is one of the people working on that joint effort.¡±

    ¡°Ehh? You didn''t have to tell them that!¡± his coworker blushed.

    ¡°Good for you, though -- you must be really good,¡± Rachel smiled to her.

    ¡°Heh-heh, some days more than others,¡± the other grinned back.

    Anyhow. We toured quite a lot of the place in the three or so hours that we had to do so, and every second of it made me appreciate that much more just how intricate these things called video games really are--especially this one. I wasn''t quite sure if it was totally up my alley, but I definitely had it on radar, just in case.

    So long as I don''t have to deal with math, I subtly grimaced.

    At the end of the tour, our guides thanked us for joining them and we thanked them in turn for their enthusiastic and informative tour, after which we spent a few minutes in one of the promo and merchandise shops as a small treat to ourselves.

    ¡°Ooh, look at this, a special card to activate a second skill set; and another for an appearance change, neat!¡± Ellie said as she examined the items.

    ¡°I think I would rather have one of those stuffed dragons; they are so cute!¡± Anhe remarked.

    ¡°Oh defs!¡± the older girl nodded. ¡°What color?¡±

    ¡°Hmm! I think the yellow one.¡±

    The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

    ¡°Yellow, huh?¡±

    ¡°Mm, to go with my room!¡± Anhe beamed.

    ¡°Cute!¡± Ellie smiled back.

    ¡°Thinking about it?¡± Rachel said as I looked at the game-cards Ellie had been browsing a moment ago.

    ¡°Kind of, yeah,¡± I nodded.

    ¡°What would you be instead of a shadow warrior?¡±

    ¡°Ehh, not sure... but with this price on it, it''d be nice to get it now just to have it on down the road.¡±

    ¡°Definite agree. That''s not bad.¡± Rachel said with a nod. It had a seventy-five percent discount right now, as did the other game-card; that meant it would only be eight in total to buy them both. ¡°Hmm... I''ll definitely get this one, at least,¡± she said as she picked up one from the skill set rack.

    ¡°Oh for sure,¡± I agreed, taking one myself and slyly taking an appearance card as well. I wasn''t sure why I did so. But, again, since it was only priced at four, why not?

    ¡°Whew! We have everything?¡± Andrea said when we had finished our shopping. ¡°Good! They also gave us these cards for free; we put them into the Dream Machine''s tower later and claim their reward in-game!¡± she said, handing out the items in question. It was a card-disc that we could use to claim one item from a variety of others, mostly resource-stacks but there were some choices of rare equipment as well. Oh, and mounts. ¡°And... three!¡± she said to Christina with a wink.

    ¡°Three? Oh, okay,¡± the older girl smiled, winking back.

    ¡°Gotta take care of our missing club members,¡± the red-haired girl remarked innocently. ¡°All right! On to lunch!¡± she then smiled, and we made our way back to the cars, Christina joining Ellie and the others for our ride to the restaurant.

    ¡°How''d she get here, anyway?¡± Andrea wondered.

    ¡°I guess she walked,¡± Thomas said as we pulled out after Ellie. ¡°We know Mandy drives; she''ll probably meet us at the restaurant.¡±

    ¡°And then we get to talk about our summer!¡± Andrea said in a sing-song voice.

    ¡°Whee!¡± Rachel cheered in delight.

    ¡°Can''t we get through spring, first?¡± I sighed, despite the smile on my face.

    ¡°That''d be nice.¡± Thomas agreed.

    ¡°Ugghh.¡± Andrea groaned, lightly smacking his shoulder. ¡°I say we take twenty points from both of them.¡± she said to Rachel.

    ¡°Agree.¡± Rachel nodded.

    ¡°Gyeck!?¡±

    ¡°Hah?!¡± the two of us exclaimed at once.

    ***

    We found Mandy waiting for us at the out-of-the-way diner situated at the edge of the Food District near the downtown and park area where we had agreed to meet up at for lunch. She waved as we all got out of the cars, and we headed inside to claim a booth.

    ¡°So how did it go?¡± the girl with platinum-blonde hair asked us as we settled in.

    ¡°Good!¡± Andrea replied.

    ¡°Oh for sure,¡± Ellie nodded.

    ¡°Great!¡± the older girl smiled back. A waiter came by to grab our drink orders, and then Christina laid her head on Mandy''s shoulder.

    ¡°How''s studying?¡± she asked.

    ¡°Bleck.¡± Mandy returned. ¡°I think I can get through the quiz or whatever, though.¡±

    ¡°Good.¡± Christina smiled. ¡°Oh, Sean, Rachel, we''re taking you to the park later.¡± she said to us with a grin.

    ¡°Okay!¡± Rachel smiled back.

    ¡°Sure,¡± I nodded in reply.

    ¡°That''s a help, since I don''t really need to be there -- no stage to work on at the park!¡± Thomas said.

    ¡°I''m sure Larry could fix that for you,¡± I quipped back, and we laughed. Larry Gordons was our school''s tech-ed or shop teacher and in charge of the props and scenery manufacturing, and one of the more informal adults there, hence his allowing the students to call him by name.

    ¡°D-don''t give him ideas, please,¡± Thomas said with a wry smile.

    ¡°Ooh, I know! Tell me about some of your teachers!¡± Mandy exclaimed.

    ¡°Oh sure! Since you''re gonna be working at our school this fall!¡± Andrea smiled at once.

    ¡°Exactly!¡± the other nodded as our waiter came back with our drinks. We decided to get a couple of pizzas for lunch, and when he had gone to put our orders in we spent the time telling Mandy and Christina about the teachers at our school. She listened with rapt attention, prodding us when we would speak somewhat negatively about a teacher and trying to get us to say at least one positive thing about them.

    Already on the clock, huh? I quietly thought to myself as she insisted I say one nice thing about math class.

    ¡°It''s a lost cause, Mandy.¡± Rachel said, patting my head. ¡°I''m sure he''ll be nicer one he manages to actually pass the class.¡±

    ¡°Oy.¡± I sighed.

    ¡°Oh, we''ll see,¡± the older girl grinned. ¡°And how about your philosophy teacher, Mary?¡±

    ¡°I''m pretty sure he wouldn''t much care about our opinions of him, and would instead posit some sort of mental quandary about whether or not his lectures and instruction benefited or did not benefit us on the whole to answer that sort of question,¡± Mary said with a hesitant laugh. Christina nearly choked on her drink in amusement at the words.

    ¡°Solid philosopher, huh?¡± Mandy returned, patting her girlfriend on the back as she recovered herself.

    ¡°Definitely.¡± Mary nodded. Rachel and I looked at each other with wry grins.

    Let''s not do philosophy.

    N-not even gonna suggest it, or so we might have been saying out loud to each other.

    ¡°You''re aiming for AILE, right?¡± Christina asked her.

    ¡°I am, yes,¡± Mary smiled.

    ¡°And Anhe''s going overseas, probably,¡± Mandy sighed.

    ¡°Sorry!¡± the younger girl smiled bashfully.

    ¡°Don''t apologize! It''s your decision, be proud of it!¡± Mandy told her.

    ¡°I will! If I decide in the end to do that, at least.¡± Anhe nodded back.

    ¡°Well someone''s gonna have to keep me company when this one goes off to the Space Program,¡± Mandy remarked, poking Christina again, who poked her back.

    ¡°Sabrina already said she''d be more than happy to visit you; you might even end up as coworkers,¡± the reply came.

    ¡°It''s not the same, you know.¡± the other pouted.

    ¡°It won''t be with them either, you know.¡± Christina smiled back playfully.

    ¡°Meh, guess not,¡± Mandy admitted.

    ¡°I see you and your sister worked things out a bit more,¡± I remarked.

    ¡°Not perfectly, but we''re getting there.¡± Christina smiled at me.

    ¡°Speaking of which, summer vacation.¡± Andrea then rejoined the conversation.

    ¡°Ooh, defs! Where are we going?¡± Mandy perked up again.

    ¡°So we know you''re going to be at the play... would she come with us for a vacation, maybe?¡± Rachel asked them.

    ¡°Hmm...¡± the eldest among us leaned back in her chair a bit, while the second-oldest casually sipped from her drink.

    ¡°She might.¡± Christina said. ¡°Depending on her reaction to the play, that is... Lana.¡± she added with a wink.

    ¡°Gyeck!¡± I low-key tensed up.

    ¡°Though the more I think about it, she''d probably find it just as hilarious as I do.¡±

    ¡°You''re not a twin for nothing, huh?¡± Ellie nodded.

    ¡°Just a half-twin, but yeah.¡± the other shrugged. ¡°So, where would we be going?¡±

    ¡°It''s definitely got to be a beach of some kind.¡± Mary remarked.

    ¡°Defs.¡± Ellie agreed. ¡°Hahh, but where...¡± she sighed.

    ¡°Of some kind, huh?¡± Mandy said with an amused grin. ¡°You all have your IIDPs, right?¡± she asked us in a more serious tone.

    ¡°I definitely did, and Andi and Tom did as well.¡± Ellie nodded.

    ¡°I have mine, since about half of my family lives overseas,¡± Anhe said.

    ¡°Just got it this past February.¡± Mary smiled.

    ¡°Chrissy and Sabrina have theirs for their jobs, obviously, and I got mine for my driving certificates,¡± Mandy said as she kept track with her fingers. ¡°That leaves... oh, it leaves our little lovebirds -- well, our littlest ones, that is!¡± she beamed.

    ¡°Hahh...¡±

    ¡°You should have yours, though,¡± Rachel said to me. ¡°You did go to Canada after all.¡±

    ¡°As a young child dependent on an adult IIDP, yes.¡± I reminded her.

    ¡°Ohhh, right!¡± Rachel snapped her fingers. ¡°And I have to update mine... we''ll go together next week sometime!¡±

    ¡°Heh? Ah, sure!¡± I nodded.

    ¡°Pffft!¡± Christina snickered. She made a twirling motion with her right hand around her left pinkie-finger, and the others laughed.

    ¡°Well, we could go on an overseas vacation if we all have them...¡± Mandy then said.

    ¡°Yes!¡± Ellie thumped the table at once. ¡°Heck yes.¡±

    ¡°That would be fun!¡± Anhe smiled in agreement.

    ¡°That still leaves us with the pertinent question of where, though.¡± Thomas said.

    ¡°If it''s an overseas summer vacation it''s gotta be the South Pacific.¡± Ellie nodded confidently.

    ¡°Or the Caribbean,¡± Andrea countered.

    ¡°Everyone''s going there, though... remember? From our third-period class. I don''t wanna see those losers while I''m having fun. Except you and Tommy that is.¡± the other retorted at once.

    ¡°Oh right!¡± Andrea grinned, quietly chuckling.

    ¡°Ah-hah,¡± Thomas smiled uncertainly.

    ¡°So where in the South Pacific?¡± Mandy grinned.

    ¡°Maldives, the Philippines, Hawai''i, something like that.¡± Ellie said.

    ¡°Three on the table, then.¡± Christina remarked.

    ¡°Hawai''i feels like such a stereotype answer, though it''d be fun!¡± Rachel smiled.

    ¡°That''d be the simplest answer, at least.¡± Mary nodded.

    ¡°Southern France or Spain would be lovely, too... or maybe somewhere else on the Mediterranean,¡± Andrea said wistfully.

    ¡°Ugh. So true.¡± Ellie agreed.

    ¡°They''re fixed on the beaches, I see,¡± Christina said to Mandy.

    ¡°I can''t blame them. We are at least a thousand and a half miles from any sort of coast in all directions, after all.¡± the other grinned back. ¡°But it''d be nice to see something besides a beach at times.¡±

    ¡°Hrrghh... there''s gotta be something that''s good for all of us...¡± Ellie sighed.

    ¡°There are at least a couple places we might all agree on; they are not far from beaches, and they would have plenty of other things to do as well, and lots of other places to explore...¡± Anhe then remarked, taking a drink before continuing with a smile. ¡°What would you say to going somewhere in either China or Japan, perhaps at one of my extended family''s homes?¡± she asked us.

    ***

    ¡°We definitely went for that one, didn''t we?¡± Christina remarked later as Mandy drove us to the Park.

    ¡°It''s hard to resist what might be nearly a free vacation, minus air-fare!¡± Mandy grinned back.

    ¡°We wanted to go eventually, too; I think Mrs. Liang herself was going to do a trip with some of her classes?¡± Rachel said, directing the last bit to me.

    ¡°I think so?¡± I replied. ¡°Maybe for our final year,¡± I added, trying to remember.

    ¡°Oh definitely.¡± my girlfriend nodded.

    ¡°Ooh, that''d be nice,¡± Christina said.

    ¡°Yes!¡± Rachel smiled back.

    ¡°So you''re doing a full rehearsal in the Park today, huh?¡± Mandy then asked.

    ¡°As much as we can, I suppose,¡± I said in reply.

    ¡°We''re definitely going through all of it from what Allie messaged me the other night.¡± Rachel said. ¡°We''ll just have to pull out our scripts for the--¡±

    ¡°Hyeck!!¡± I suddenly realized, and then quietly sighed in exasperation.

    ¡°Sean?¡± Rachel wondered, and then affected a wry grin. ¡°Ahh... you forgot your script,¡± she said with an awkward laugh.

    ¡°Hahh...¡±

    ¡°Oh dear,¡± Mandy remarked. ¡°Hmm... you said three, and it''s only around two...¡±

    ¡°We can make that.¡± Christina nodded.

    ¡°Huh? Oh,¡± I suddenly realized. ¡°Ahh... thanks, really,¡± I then said, a relieved look on my face.

    ¡°No problem, kiddo!¡± Mandy beamed.

    ¡°We''ll just have you pay us back in-game sometime,¡± Christina winked.

    ¡°Ah-heh...¡± I returned uncertainly, and Rachel grinned like a Cheshire cat.

    After we had retrieved my script that I had unwittingly left behind earlier this morning, we made our way to the Park for certain this time, finding that most of the others had gathered for our afternoon activity. The older pair went to go and sit on a nearby bench while the two of us joined up with our fellow cast-mates and school friends. I saw Joanna off to the side, looking lost in thought.

    ¡°Everyone''s in normal clothes... that almost feels weird...¡± I remarked.

    ¡°Right??¡± Rachel agreed with me. ¡°Joanna almost looks like she''s in a biker gang or something,¡± she added.

    ¡°Pfft!¡± I quietly chortled. ¡°She kinda does!¡± I softly nodded.

    ¡°''Ey! It''s our stars!¡± Matthew called out. ¡°Now we just have to wait for Jeff, Lacey, Lucille... someone else... another someone...¡±

    ¡°Come on, Matt, you know their names!¡± Herby jabbed him.

    ¡°Ehh...¡± the other frowned, rubbing the back of his neck.

    ¡°Billy and Stephen! Yeesh,¡± the stocky boy shook his head.

    ¡°Ah-ha! That''s right!¡±

    ¡°What a doofus.¡±

    ¡°Oop! There they are; what the heck? Henry was with ''em, too!¡± Matthew remarked as he saw a car pull up.

    ¡°I thought he came with Allie and Malcolm? Oh wait, no, that was John,¡± Maggie said as we looked over towards the newly-arrived vehicle.

    ¡°Well finally,¡± Brian Donovan, who was playing the knight Sir Richard, remarked as the others joined us. ¡°Oh, you have your lute! Well let''s get started, then!¡±

    ¡°Ehh, it''s early... but we can start anyway. The Park Authority knows we''re here.¡± Malcolm said with a nod.

    ¡°Oh, that was a thing,¡± I softly remarked to myself as I recalled the organization in question. Henry pulled out his lute, carefully tuning it up. I heard one of the older two girls whistle from the bench as he did so.

    ¡°All right, guys and girls!¡± Malcolm clapped his hands, and we all turned to him. ¡°Miss Andrews isn''t here and neither is Holly... so as club president of the Drama and Theater Club I''m taking charge for the afternoon. We''re gonna go as far as we can without scripts, and then we''ll do the rest with ''em; any questions?¡±

    ¡°Are we going through everything? Dances, fight scenes, that sort of thing?¡± a girl named Cara, one of the townsfolk and tournament extras, asked him.

    ¡°Ehh... dances, yeah; fight scenes? It''ll be hard to do without the actual props... we''ll figure that out when we get to it.¡± he answered her.

    ¡°Got it!¡± the other replied.

    ¡°Right, anything else for the good of the order?¡±

    ¡°What time do we break for our keg-party afterwards?¡± a certain cheeky co-star asked.

    ¡°Shut up, Matt!¡± we chorused back.

    ¡°Ho there! Stand back now, and let a better man cross this span!¡± I called out to Matt, now in character as Little John.

    ¡°A better man, you say? But there is none better than I, John Little -- stand aside yourself, my pretty fool; here come I!¡± he replied to me.

    ¡°Here, now; I''ll take that not, as surely as my name is Robin Hood!¡±

    ¡°Ho-ho, a Hood, say you? And what of you, my pretty bird perched beside him?¡± the line came.

    ¡°Allan A''Dale, at your service, sirrah!¡± Henry grinned back broadly. ¡°And I do implore you, give way! For there was never so crafty a fighter and yeoman as that which you see before you now!¡±

    ¡°And I shall put those words to the test, as my name is John Little! Come, my little rascal, cut yourself a stout stick--or perhaps twig, in your case!--and face me, if ye dare!¡± he said in answer.

    ¡°Regret not those words when you go a''swimming with the current, my fine fellow!¡± I said to him, miming the act of crafting a hasty staff.

    ¡°Right!¡± Malcolm then said, interrupting for the first time. ¡°O-kay... staff fight, staff fight, staff fight; Little John strikes Robin on the head, then swings at his feet; Robin lands in the water--go!¡± he said, and we got ourselves into position.

    ¡°Ha-ha! How now, my little man?¡± Matt said in character, offering a hand to pull me up our of the ¡°water¡±.

    ¡°I say your staff hits as hard as iron!¡±

    ¡°And now shall you give way to me!¡±

    ¡°Not so fast!¡± I returned. ¡°You''ve a mighty hand, friend! What say you to joining my band of friends in these forests?¡±

    ¡°Ho-ho! Join your band? Mayhaps, my little man, I should be the leader -- unless there is aught else you would contest me with! For never have I met a man who could beat me at aught I set my hand to,¡± he said in reply.

    ¡°Robin, Robin!¡± the other outlaws called as they joined the scene.

    ¡°Here now! Why is our brave leader drenched like a rat from the sea?¡± Joey called.

    ¡°Fie on you, stranger!¡± Leslie booed.

    ¡°Come now, come now!¡± I called to them. ¡°Be not so hard on our friend; I was merely seeking the company of yonder trout when I lost my footing!¡±

    ¡°Oh-ho, a brave face you put on, my little man!¡± Matt grinned.

    ¡°What say you, Master Little? Will you contest me with the bow? Surely a man as strong as you can pull a good length of yew-wood!¡±

    ¡°Aye, I can -- and I shall, if you are so determined to humiliate yourself!¡± the answer came. The archery contest was then mimed out, and after that the outlaw gang, one member now added, sat down to merriment.

    ¡°Good shot, Robin!¡± Maggie clapped her hands.

    ¡°I must say, little man, you''ve a mighty keen eye to split another man''s arrow!¡± Matt said.

    ¡°Little man, little man! Since you''re so keen on that name, we''ll give it back to you for a christening!¡± Henry said, miming the act of dunking an ale over Matt''s head. ¡°I dub thee, ''Little John''! Welcome to the Greenwood, Little John!¡± he crowed, and the rest of us laughed on cue, with Matt joining in moments later, returning the favor to his christener.

    ***

    ¡°And so ends the tale of England''s best outlaws, Robin of the Greenwood and his merry Merry Men!¡± Henry proclaimed in-character a couple hours later, when we had finished our run-through of the entire musical. It was almost six now. There was an applause, and when it was over we began dissipating.

    ¡°Phew! Now we definitely gotta work on that scene, Herbs!¡± Matt remarked as the two of them set off from the park.

    ¡°For sure; we''ll have to get Sean and Henry and the others, too,¡± the other replied.

    ¡°Of course we''ll have to get them! It''s the rescue scene, after all! Oop! We''ll have to get the other side''s group as well...¡±

    ¡°And Rachel, I think...¡±

    ¡°Yep! She''s in it.¡± Matt nodded.

    ¡°I think we''re gonna be roped again,¡± I remarked to Rachel, who smiled back.

    ¡°Ya think?¡± she replied. Joanna came up to us, smiling mischievously.

    ¡°Careful in-game tonight, Rachel. Oop, but I suppose it''s already begun.¡± she said softly.

    ¡°What has?¡± Rachel asked her cautiously.

    ¡°Hmm... I''ll give you a hint... it''s blue and round, and under the waves, my guild has gone to get it first. They should have it, by now.¡± she said, winking to us as she headed to where Malcolm and Allie were waiting.

    ¡°Blue and round...?¡± Rachel wondered as Mandy and Christina came up to us.

    ¡°What was that about?¡± Christina asked.

    ¡°Oh snap, she means the Sea Orb!¡± I suddenly realized.

    ¡°Ohh!¡± the three girls chorused at once.

    ¡°Let''s get our fearless leader home, quick!¡± Mandy said.

    ¡°You got it, boss!¡± Christina replied.

    We scurried off to Mandy''s car, and she drove us home -- not, however, before stopping to get us a quick dinner at a drive-thru first. By the time we got to my house we had mostly finished this, and I took what I had left in with me as I got out of the car with a kiss from Rachel and quick hugs from the other two. I then headed inside, finding dad asleep next to mom on the couch, and made my way upstairs.

    That... was different... I thought to myself as I did so, But, also... kind of nice, to see them like that, I smiled, suddenly wondering if that was how Rachel and I looked sometimes. It probably was.

 Chapter Twenty: The Sea Orb

    Okay. I''ll back it up a little bit. So, after we got the previous orb from Bretony, Healina had quickly deduced the next one would be at an underwater temple or such in the Jade Sea. We had been planning to get to it soon, especially since Melody, Venomheart''s leader, had intimated that she and her guild might do so. Apparently they really had, and now we had to rush after them. As soon as I was loaded in at Queen''s Haven, I found Maryn and Anhe in the main hall, both of them looking surprised as I began rushing around.

    ¡°What''s the hurry?¡± Maryn asked me.

    ¡°Where''s Lizzy and the others?¡± I asked in reply.

    ¡°Lizzy and Heali are with Derwydd in the Wildlands helping to fend off an attack there,¡± Anhe told me.

    ¡°Snap!¡± I sighed, doing a fidget-dance before regaining my bearings and racing out to the piers where our ships were. They followed me out, both sensing something was up.

    ¡°Lana?¡± Anhe called in a concerned voice.

    ¡°Venomheart went after the Sea Orb!¡± I told them.

    ¡°Oh snap!¡± Maryn''s voice went up in pitch, and the two of them hastened after me as I got to the small longboat and put on the brakes.

    ¡°Fyu!¡± I suddenly remembered, and ran back to get him.

    ¡°We''ll get the boat ready!¡± Maryn said to me as I hurried back.

    ¡°Thanks!¡± I called back. Ariana suddenly appeared, and she nodded as I gestured towards the boat. I found Fyu ready and waiting, as if he had sensed something was wrong.

    ¡°Master, where are we headed this eve?¡± he asked me.

    ¡°We''re heading out to sea to track our enemies; I''m not sure if we''re too late or if we''ll catch them in time, but we have to try!¡± I told him, and the dog-beast nodded.

    ¡°I understand. It will be hard to find our prey on the waters, but let us try, master!¡± he said enthusiastically, and he allowed me to hitch a ride on him back to the ship.

    ¡°I didn''t think this through very much...¡± I suddenly realized as we set off moments later.

    ¡°Belle and Sandra will probably get Dracky to help them.¡± Ari patted my head.

    ¡°It is this one here, yes?¡± Anhe said as she pointed to a spot on the map.

    ¡°That should be it, according to Heali,¡± Maryn agreed.

    ¡°We''ll know as soon as we get there.¡± I nodded. ¡°Their ship should be there.¡± I said, and then I blinked. ¡°Their ship will be there...¡± I said to myself softly, and then smiled.

    ¡°We can wreck their ship, true, but they might wreck ours in turn, and we wouldn''t get the orb.¡± Ariana reminded me.

    ¡°And their entering the dungeon means we can''t go after them inside it.¡± Maryn sighed. ¡°Wait... can they get in the dungeon?¡± she suddenly wondered.

    ¡°What do you mean?¡± Anhe asked her.

    ¡°Even if they know where it is, they couldn''t have gotten the quest we have; so even if they entered it, the orb wouldn''t show up for them unless one of us was in their party... that''s just how the game works, unless there''s another quest they could have gotten,¡± Maryn told us.

    ¡°And if they don''t know where the dungeon is...¡± Ariana remarked, and I suddenly understood why Joanna-Melody had dropped her hints earlier.

    ¡°Tch! That rotten--!! She was messing with us to make us panic...¡± I sighed.

    ¡°Okay. We can still do this, most likely. The underwater temple is off the coasts of Inyan and Memphani. Even if they have ships waiting, we can let ours sail on while we head below to get the orb. They might have entered the dungeon just to harass us and start a cooldown, but we''ll just have to try and come back later if that''s the case.¡± Maryn said calmly.

    ¡°That''d be tricky,¡± I said.

    ¡°Oh definitely.¡± she agreed.

    ¡°I just got a message from the others; Lizzy and Der can''t come, but Heali''s gonna swim and meet up with us as soon as she can.¡± Ariana said.

    ¡°Hah?!¡±

    ¡°S-swim!?¡± Maryn and I both exclaimed.

    ¡°Th-that seems impossible,¡± Anhe said with a hesitant smile.

    ¡°I guess we''ll have to wait and see,¡± Ari grinned.

    ¡°Masters.¡± Fyu then said to get our attention. He was fixated on something to the west; it was our pirate ship... or it should have been, but now it was flying a different flag.

    ¡°Why those, rotten...¡± I shook my head, trailing off.

    ¡°Loyalty of coin is no loyalty at all. Remember this, dear master.¡± Fyu said to me.

    ¡°I''ll remember, Fyu.¡± I replied, placing my hand on his head.

    ¡°Still... it should have taken a whole lot of coin to flip them...¡± Ariana mused, and then let out a sigh. ¡°I bet it was Guardians. They probably marked that ship from their last encounter with it, and now that we''ve crippled their armada they decided to buy our pirates'' loyalty.¡± she said.

    ¡°I bet you''re right; that is a Guardians'' pennant they''re flying.¡± I nodded back.

    ¡°Rude.¡± Maryn frowned.

    ¡°They are heading for us, masters.¡± Fyu noted.

    ¡°We can probably still outclass them in speed, at least,¡± I said as I went to adjust the sails. Ariana came to help me, and so began our latest adventure upon the sea.

    Our plucky little longship was definitely still able keep ahead of the pirate''s ship. We were lighter for starters; and even though the NPC crew chasing us had a better read on the currents and wind patterns than players, that only made them more predictable. After an hour in-game we still had them at a distance, and now there was a familiar sight on the horizon behind them. A very large dragon with at least two discernible figures upon its back.

    ¡°Oh here we go,¡± I said with glee as I watched Dracuoatlax catch up to our pursuer.

    But instead of blasting the ship to smithereens with fire, Dracuoatlax idly whacked it with his tail two times as he passed over, knocking over the mainmast and smashing in the prow. With cries of dismay our former employees began trying to recover, but Ariana had something different in mind; she crafted her own fire-spell, since Dracuoatlax had not put it to flame, and in a moment she cast it towards them, lighting it up. As the pirate ship floundered, our dragon ally hovered above the waters for a moment to allow Lysandra, Belle, and (surprisingly) Myanihia off, and then looked at me with a fierce grin.

    ¡°Be well, Lady Lana!¡± he said, and then flapped higher into the sky.

    ¡°Thanks, Draco!¡± I called back before inwardly tensing up in realization of what I said. But the dragon only laughed, flying off towards the east into the Wildlands.

    ¡°H-he liked it, huh?¡± Ari said with a bemused grin.

    ¡°D-dunno,¡± I returned with a nervous laugh.

    ¡°Oh you.¡± Lysandra grinned, patting my head. ¡°How ahead of us are they?¡±

    ¡°We''re not even sure if they are; wouldn''t the quest mechanics keep them from getting to it?¡± Maryn asked her.

    ¡°Some quests do,¡± Lysandra nodded. ¡°Other quests are more open-ended about that sort of thing; this one could very well be one of them.¡±

    ¡°The orb quests... are open, so long as they have been started,¡± Myanihia nodded as well.

    ¡°Dang it!¡± I snapped my fingers.

    ¡°But, also, their dungeons are open-ended as well.¡± she then added.

    ¡°Ohh,¡± Ari, Maryn, and I said at the same time, while Anhe looked over with surprise.

    ¡°Come to think of it, thanks for showing up,¡± I told Myanihia, who smiled back.

    ¡°I was watching the guilds'' movements, with a spell; Venomheart, they started off for the dungeon, about an hour past. Real-time, that is. They, should have found it, but, my spell says that they''re stalling. Possibly waiting.¡± she told me.

    ¡°Heh, they waited for J--ahh, Melody to show up instead of going on without her.¡± I said with a satisfied grin.

    ¡°Or she had something they needed to get the place open.¡± Ariana poked me.

    ¡°Ah--!!¡±

    ¡°This game really does make things difficult sometimes, hm?¡± Anhe said with wonder as she took in our exchanges.

    ¡°Sometimes!¡± Lysandra smiled back.

    ¡°Where are they waiting, anyway?¡± I then asked.

    ¡°Their vessel stopped, near the dungeon, here,¡± Myanihia said, tapping a spot on the map. The dungeon appeared clearly on the map for the first time, labeled as the Sea Queen''s Castle.

    ¡°Sea Queen''s Castle, huh?¡± Lysandra remarked with an almost nostalgic tone.

    ¡°You remember.¡± Myanihia said.

    ¡°I almost ''accidentally'' slipped your mask off there,¡± the werewolf-girl grinned back. Myanihia replied with a faint smile.

    ¡°True.¡± she returned with a nod.

    Huh, it''s good to see they can joke about things now, I thought to myself with a grin.

    ¡°Still, it won''t, be the same.¡± the magic assassin then said.

    ¡°Only half the stuff is even close,¡± Lysandra nodded.

    ¡°Which means, she, might be different.¡±

    ¡°Lovely.¡±

    ¡°The Sea Queen?¡± Ariana asked them.

    ¡°It was a Sea Elf or Siren in the beta-test,¡± Lysandra told us.

    ¡°A Siren.¡± Myanihia said.

    ¡°We''ll have lots of those to deal with anyway. Ugh, it wasn''t funny last time with Anthers and Jackedman getting dazed all the time...¡± her sister groaned.

    ¡°Boys are so useless in siren dungeons.¡± the other twin nodded flatly. Maryn snerked, and Anhe let out a grin.

    ¡°Right?¡± Ariana grinned.

    ¡°It''s a good thing we don''t have Derwydd, then,¡± I softly smirked.

    ¡°What about Fyu?¡± Lysandra looked over at the dog-beast.

    ¡°Fear not, masters; no demon-female of the sea shall hinder me,¡± he replied.

    ¡°That''s a relief,¡± Maryn smiled.

    ¡°A more pressing matter for you, masters; what shall we do when we approach this castle beneath the waves?¡± he then asked us.

    We knew what he meant by that. Venomheart was waiting around the place until Melody could join them. What could we do to slip past or thwart them? And are they really waiting for her or is it a trick of some kind? If they can get the orb, shouldn''t they have gotten it by now, considering all the time they''ve had on us? Something''s up, I mused to myself with a frown.

    ¡°There''s no reason for them to still be sitting there unless something''s up,¡± I said aloud.

    ¡°Agree.¡± Ariana said. ¡°They''ve had all day to get the orb and they haven''t done it, or it seems as if they haven''t. I don''t think they''d be sentimental enough to stick around for ceremony or something like that, despite...¡± she grinned, leaving the rest unspoken, but I smiled in understanding. Joanna was a theater-student, but she definitely left her theatricality in the real-world when coming to Panarena.

    ¡°This... is not, untrue...¡± Myanihia nodded.

    ¡°I wonder if they''ve added something outside the dungeon...¡± Lysandra pondered, gazing towards the direction of the underwater dungeon.

    Just then, something caught my eye off the starboard side of the ship. It was Healina, and she was definitely swimming -- kind of. A pair of dolphins were giving her a lift. I blinked a few times, not quite comprehending what I was seeing, and then with some squeaks and clicks the dolphins came parallel to the ship, allowing Heali to jump aboard swiftly. She was wearing her swimsuit, and grinned at us as she came aboard.

    ¡°Hiyas!¡± she said.

    ¡°Hey!¡±

    ¡°Nice entrance!¡± Belle and Maryn replied to her. Anhe rushed to the side of the ship, watching the dolphins scurry off into the distance.

    ¡°Aww!¡± she exclaimed with delight.

    ¡°That''s our Sea Elf healer and tamer for you.¡± Ariana nodded with a proud grin.

    ¡°We get a natural taming bonus for aquatic creatures, after all!¡± the platinum haired healer returned. ¡°How close are we? I only homed in on Ari''s magic pendant, after all.¡± she then said.

    ¡°Ahh, maybe an hour to go?¡± I looked back at the map. ¡°If there''s some sort of sea creature or creatures guarding it, I wonder if Heali could get it or them to let us through... is that why Venomheart is waiting around? Does Melody have some sort of skill or item to defeat the guardians that they don''t? I can''t imagine she''d have taming skills like Heali...¡± I mused aloud.

    ¡°Don''t be surprised.¡± Myanihia said to me. ¡°Melody, has beast taming skills. She, finds them helpful, for certain aspects, of Venomheart''s work.¡±

    ¡°Tch!¡± I griped.

    ¡°Looks like we''ve got to hurry.¡± Healina said.

    ¡°Ari, I don''t want to wear you out from the start... but you have that wind skill, right?¡± I asked her, and she smiled back at me.

    ¡°Hey, it''s okay! You''ll pay me back later. Hmm... Divine Gale, right?¡± she said, queuing it up. The skill in question is a special one she had recently crafted for situations just like this, when we needed an emergency boost at sea. It was a toggle-skill, so as long as she had magic power we could head at full blast towards our destination.

    ¡°If you would,¡± I said with a nod, and she positioned herself behind the sail while the others adjusted it.

    ¡°Steering us directly toward the dungeon,¡± Maryn said, and then Ari activated her skill. With a lurch we were off.

    Let''s hope we make it in time... I thought to myself, gazing intently at the horizon.

    ***

    It got darker as we approached the dungeon. Ari shut down her skill, siting down to recover herself as we furled up the sail and took stock of our surroundings. We had no lights running, but the Venomheart ship, a fierce-looking galleon with green and red coloration, was lit up like a beacon. A sudden fog helped to keep us unseen as we got closer, and when we had carefully maneuvered ourselves into the midst of some sea rocks we dropped our anchor.

    If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    ¡°Masters, I suggest we head down swiftly.¡± Fyu said.

    ¡°Agreed.¡± I nodded, and Healina cast a spell onto us that would allow us to breathe under the waves and which gave us a swimming bonus. We dove in silently, heading down towards the Sea Queen''s Castle.

    It was like something out of an old fantasy film; coral-encrusted spires of gleaming white rising up from the seabed, a forest of kelp lining the ¡°path¡± towards the gates, and a myriad of fish and other sea creatures moving around or about it, like an undersea reflection of Harmonia City.

    ¡°It''s so beautiful,¡± Ariana said as we swam down.

    ¡°Right?¡± I agreed.

    ¡°There it is.¡± Myanihia said, and we took notice of a large, skeletal sea-creature with two glowing eyes approaching us as we got near to the entrance.

    ¡°Halt, landlings!¡± it called out authoritatively. ¡°Declare your purpose and prepare for judgment!¡±

    I started to speak, but Healina put a hand on my shoulder, and I nodded to her.

    ¡°We have come to seek the Orb of the Sea, that we might thwart a great evil with it.¡± she said to the skeletal guardian, which most resembled a whale so far as I could tell.

    ¡°That orb is a curse upon us; all of her majesty''s subjects have become like myself,¡± he returned, and as we looked around we could see that, without exception, all of the nearby sea-creatures were, in fact, animated skeletons. ¡°Your venturing here is a boon; and you are a Sea Elf of the Southern Oceans. I shall open the gates; but beyond that I can offer no help.¡± the guardian said, and turned back to the palace. We followed after him, gazing around at the state of decay.

    Okay, so the taming thing was unnecessary... unless you approach with hostility, maybe, which we''re not necessarily going for--which is probably why Venomheart couldn''t get in... this guy is probably a more talkative kill-all mechanic, hence our bad guys waiting around for Melody, I mused to myself as I put some pieces together.

    As we neared the gates, the guardian waved his--hand? Flipper? Fin?--whatever. The gates opened, and he nodded to us. We headed inside, and found ourselves in a grand foyer. The door closed behind us. Seashell lanterns and coral chandeliers lit up, and we gazed around at the colorful dungeon now revealed to us.

    ¡°Well this is certainly one of the prettiest dungeons we''ve been in,¡± Maryn remarked as she readied her gear.

    ¡°For sure,¡± Ariana agreed.

    ¡°Definitely different...¡± Lysandra said with almost a snarl, readying her sword.

    ¡°What''s got you so grumpy now?¡± Heali asked her.

    ¡°Lana... should see them too,¡± Myanihia said. I activated Shadow Vision at those words, and saw a host of small sea monsters waiting to attack behind several of the doors around us.

    ¡°They''re probably not great individually... but as a whole, they''re probably ridiculous to deal with.¡± I remarked.

    ¡°Swarms, huh?¡± Maryn noted.

    ¡°They were... later, originally... but now, they''re sooner.¡± my fellow assassin said.

    ¡°And there''s sirens with them too. Good thing we don''t have a boy with us, huh, Lana?¡± Lysandra said with a grin.

    ¡°Ah-heh,¡± I wryly grinned back as I readied my short-swords.

    ¡°Now, now. Don''t tease her.¡± Belle quipped as she sat on Lysandra''s head. ¡°But anyway, between me and Heali, keeping the swarms under control should be a cinch!¡±

    ¡°Oh!¡± the werewolf-girl suddenly brightened up.

    ¡°By the way, it doesn''t matter, what door we go through. All doors lead, to the queen.¡± Myanihia told us.

    ¡°Then let''s go straight ahead!¡± I nodded, half-swimming, half-walking to the door in question.

    Oh yeah. We are still underwater and in the water, after all. And according to the active skills panel that I checked as we approached the door, Healina''s skill would last another four in-game hours. That would be just enough time, given our average dungeon runs.

    ¡°Even without Wuuki rampaging around we should clear it in at least three hours.¡± I remarked as I got ready to open the door.

    ¡°Pfft!¡± Ari burst out giggling.

    ¡°I''ll deduct fifteen points from you for that since she''s not here.¡± Healina quipped.

    ¡°Gyeck!?¡± I froze, and the others laughed.

    ¡°Poor Lizzy,¡± Maryn shook her head.

    ¡°Points?¡± Myanihia wondered, blinking.

    ¡°It''s a thing. You''ll pick it up soon enough.¡± Belle grinned.

    More to the point, I wonder how she hasn''t already, I bemusedly pondered to myself as I opened the door. Ariana immediately activated some ice-spells, freezing the nearest mobs in place, while Healina and Belle set off some crowd-controls.

    ¡°Whoo! Here we go!¡± Lysandra cheered, and our melee group charged into the fray.

    As we expected, it was not very hard to make our way through the mass of monsters that came our way. Not the first waves of them at least. No special dungeon is easy for long, after all, and as we entered into a large chamber from the winding passage of stairs we had ended up taking we found that it was full of elite swarms and champion mini-bosses. I put on the brakes at once, and the others skidded to a halt behind me.

    There were three hours left on our water-enchantment''s time; we decided to try and pick off the room group by group if we could, having Ariana prepare a massive spell just in case we got them all at once. Fortunately for us they came to us group by group, and so Ari canceled her spell and helped us mop them up as quickly as we could.

    After we made our way through that room, we had to duck out of the way of a sudden kill-all mechanic in the form of a massive undead squid that nearly got Belle, and inadvertently entered a corridor full of traps and obstacles. Belle, Myanihia, and myself had the easiest time getting through it, while the others were ferried through the dangerous course by Ari''s teleport spell.

    ¡°You picked a different way last time, didn''t you?¡± I remarked to Myanihia as we dodged out of the way of some spinning blades.

    ¡°We did.¡± she replied, jumping up in the nick of time to keep from being split in two. ¡°Lana!¡± she suddenly cried, pulling me back as a row of spikes ejected from a nearby wall.

    ¡°Yeek!!¡± I squealed in fright, inwardly cringing at how careless I had just gotten.

    ¡°Close one!¡± Belle quipped as she merely flew between the spikes.

    ¡°Ugh, I wish I could fly...¡± I sighed quietly, and I could feel Myanihia silently giggling.

    ¡°Quickly,¡± she then said as the spikes retracted, and we hastened through.

    Aside from that near mishap, we got through without so much as a scratch, and soon found ourselves back in an area where we could actually fight back against the obstacles in our way -- more lovely undead sea-creatures. At the far end of the wide hall we now entered, I could see a massive door; above it was a finely-wrought golden emblazonment of what I assumed to be the Sea Queen, a Sea Elf with a mermaid''s tail.

    I had the others halt a moment again as I quickly scanned the room. Most of the enemies were clustered in the middle, and practically none of them were around the edges. There was a second level, open to the main floor, with staircases or stairwells in some places that led up to it. It did not extend to the far end of the room. I motioned for the others to stay where they were, and then quietly dashed ahead out of stealth, slyly prodding the aggro-range of the monsters in the room.

    As long as I stayed low, they didn''t seem to notice me. I made my up one of the stairwells, then kept low again as I made my way to the far end. There were no enemies on the upper level. Poking my head up, I looked down near the door I had noticed. There were two elites guarding the door. A few moments later, Ariana and the others had caught up to me. She had grasped at least part of my plan, insofar as I had one, and now we had to come up with a new part for it.

    ¡°Dread Sharks.¡± Lysandra noted as we observed the two guards below us.

    ¡°Lovely name.¡± Healina quipped.

    ¡°Isn''t it though?¡± the other grinned back.

    ¡°I can probably put them to sleep, though,¡± our healer said.

    ¡°I have a pixie debuff that can help,¡± Belle added.

    ¡°Great!¡± the other nodded back.

    ¡°Belle''s small enough they won''t notice her, so let''s let her do the debuff first,¡± I suggested.

    ¡°Gotcha.¡± Healina said.

    ¡°It''ll definitely help them sleep!¡± our pixie-girl smiled as she fluttered off quietly through the water, activating her skill moments later. She came swimming back, and then Healina ventured out to use her own skill, and when the two guards were down we cautiously prodded open the doors, slipping in and letting them close behind us with a muffled clang.

    As we settled ourselves down in a spot near the door to observe, we were filled with a sense of dread. This chamber was far larger than any of the rooms we had been in during our adventure here. There were two upper levels to each side, and a massive window at the far end where one could see the massive underwater kingdom. Just below this window was a grand dais with an ascending set of stairs, and a great throne upon which should sit the monarch of the realm. But she was not there.

    I looked around at the magnificent craftsmanship of the room, the coral covered pillars, the ornaments made of various shells, statues holding tridents or conch horns, figurines depicting all manner of sea creatures, special fixtures of light that illumined the cavernous room we huddled in, stained-glass windows that were almost a tapestry in their arrangement, and upon the ceiling a scene reminiscent of a certain Italian chapel, except it was marine-themed with the Sea Queen reaching out benevolently toward her subjects.

    But the thing that gave me a sudden case of the ¡°willies¡± was looking down at where the floor should have been, only to see a dark, abyssal hole looming near out feet. I shivered, and Ari and I clasped our hands together tightly.

    ¡°What... comes out... of that...?!¡± Maryn shuddered.

    ¡°This... is not... how it was...¡± Myanihia said in an unusually concerned tone.

    ¡°I see bubbles,¡± Lysandra softly murmured.

    There were bubbles rising up out of the chasm. And following them up I could see two red eyes, glowing dangerously in the murk. They were set in a massive jet-black body that was pulling itself upwards with several tentacles.

    Wait... tentacles... ohh, snap...

    ¡°K-k-k... kraken...?!¡± I stammered out, another shiver running down my back.

    ¡°Oh boy.¡± Maryn remarked hopelessly.

    ¡°This is not going to end well, is it?¡± Anhe meekly wondered.

    I then slapped my cheeks a couple times, and started looking around the room more carefully as our ¡°friend¡± began emerging from the hole. There''s gotta be a gimmick, there''s gotta be a gimmick... there just has to be one here somewhere! I frantically thought. Maryn looked at me, and then patted my shoulder.

    ¡°Dunno what''s going in in your head, kiddo, but we''ll try and keep it distracted!¡± she told me, readying her gear.

    ¡°Right,¡± I nodded back, and the others, except for Ariana, readied themselves to help Maryn.

    ¡°What are you thinking?¡± she asked me.

    ¡°O-kay. So there''s this weird corruption thing going on here with the orb according to what our whale friend outside told us. We were expecting the Sea Queen here, but there''s this thing instead. Whether it''s a corrupted Sea Queen or whether it''s hidden the Sea Queen away somehow, our most obvious choice is to defeat it, somehow, but I feel like there should be some sort of gimmick here to help us, either by defeating it or by releasing the real Sea Queen.¡±

    ¡°And doing that will result in our gaining a de-corrupted orb.¡± she nodded back.

    ¡°I think so,¡± I replied.

    ¡°Okay! Let''s look around!¡± Ari said, and we scurried off while our friends engaged the boss monster. I was half-worried that it would be a kill-all, but to my relief (and despair) I saw a health bar over it (that had nearly twenty times the amount of health Maryn herself had). Unsure whether to be relieved or concerned, I quickly shook my head and resumed my attention upon seeking to find what my instincts were telling me should be around to help us win.

    As we swam around, I suddenly began paying more attention to the statues and figurines. They were all facing random directions. I looked up at the ceiling mural; all of the sea creatures were looking at the queen. Quickly I dove down, and tried moving one of the figurines; it could indeed be turned. I turned it so it was facing the throne. I looked over at Ariana, who gave me a thumbs-up. We hurriedly began turning the statues and figurines so that they faced the throne. Just as we had settled into a comfortable rhythm for doing so, the kraken released a bellow, and some of its allies began pouring into the room.

    ¡°Uhh...¡± I began uncertainly as Ari and I got ready to fight.

    ¡°Keep going!¡± Lysandra shouted over to us as she moved away from the boss to intercept them, changing to wolf-form. It was almost comical to see her swimming around that way, but I bit my lip and continued with my task as Ariana stayed near to me so she could fend off any who got too close.

    ¡°I think we had about a third of them done when it did that,¡± she remarked to me.

    ¡°I think you''re right,¡± I agreed. ¡°It''ll probably do it again after we get through another third.¡±

    ¡°Rude.¡±

    ¡°Right??¡±

    ¡°I hope Sandra and the others can finish the first wave off by then...¡±

    ¡°Ahh... I''ll try and slow down just a bit... though Healina and Maryn should be solid with Anhe and Fyu there.¡±

    ¡°That''s true.¡± Ari nodded. ¡°That''ll leave Myanihia and Belle to help Sandra.¡±

    ¡°Which they are, now.¡± I noted as I saw two other figures swimming to help Lysandra.

    As I continued with my statue turning, I would look over now and again towards the trio that kept the attention of the boss; there was no way they could ever beat it, but I knew they themselves wouldn''t go down for a long while. We did have a lot of restoration potions saved up, after all. We''d expected to use them in a fight against Venomheart tonight, but, you know -- rival guild, giant kraken, whichever comes first, man.

    The first wave of the kraken''s allies was almost beaten when I managed to finish off the second third of the statues, and then a second came pouring in from a different spot. Belle and Myanihia swam over as fast as they could to stall them while Lysandra finished off the first wave.

    ¡°Lana!¡± Healina called over to me. ¡°The attacks from this one are getting stronger! It''s breaking through our resistances!¡±

    Snap!!

    ¡°Uh-oh...¡± Ariana remarked anxiously.

    ¡°Hahh... forget it!¡± I said, and vanished into the shadows.

    ¡°Lana?¡± my partner called, and then I glimpsed her eyes widening. ¡°Y-you''re not gonna try that, are you?¡± she said, but I was already on my way. I saw Myanihia swimming towards the boss in stealth as well. She had picked up on me immediately.

    ¡°It... might resist.¡± she said to me when she got close.

    ¡°So long as it does something,¡± I returned, and she nodded.

    ¡°You first.¡± she replied.

    As soon as I reached the boss, I used that deadly combo she had taught me. Sure enough, the boss monster counted as something near a world boss. Then Myanihia used the combo -- and wiped out its remaining health in an instant. It bellowed out mournfully, its tentacles flailing wildly in dramatic death throes before it dissolved, leaving a chest upon the grand dais. Its allies scattered, fleeing the room, and we hurriedly regrouped, Lysandra returning to human form.

    ¡°Well that was easier than it had any right to be in the end.¡± Maryn quipped.

    ¡°It''s probably meant for a full raid group,¡± Healina remarked.

    ¡°That''s true.¡± Lysandra agreed. ¡°A more orthodox raid would definitely have no trouble. But this is more fun.¡± she shrugged, faintly grinning.

    ¡°That is the first time you two have done that, yes?¡± Anhe asked us.

    ¡°I... wanted to test it, on a world boss; but, this, it seems, was close enough.¡± Myanihia nodded to her.

    ¡°More importantly,¡± I said, ¡°I think we need to finish turning the statues. That chest won''t have the orb. None of them do.¡±

    ¡°True!¡± Heali said in agreement. ¡°They need to face the throne, right?¡±

    ¡°Yep,¡± I replied, and with that we turned our attention to turning the statues and figurines so that all of them faced the throne.

    When they were all oriented towards it, beams of light began to emanate from them, all of them conjoining at the throne and forming a vortex of magic that transformed itself into a portal. The real Sea Queen stepped through it, and immediately the palace became brighter and more lovely. As the Sea Elf monarch in her shimmering silks resumed her seat upon the throne, she looked up at us, and smiled.

    ¡°Approach.¡± she said, and we moved closer to her. ¡°You have defeated the Murkdeath Lord, and gained your rightful rewards for doing so. And you have saved me from his trap; thus I must present you with a reward as well. Take this, the Orb of the Sea, which he had corrupted to use as an instrument of his schemes. And forget not to claim your due from yonder chest!¡± she said to us.

    We bowed as I accepted the orb from her, and then opened the chest. There were some unique spell-tomes inside, as well as some unique items tailored for aqueous adventuring. As her true servants and subjects came into the grand throne room once more, we ourselves made our way out, with the sounds of their joyous applause echoing behind us.

    ¡°Three more, huh?¡± Belle asked.

    ¡°I''m pretty sure.¡± I nodded.

    ¡°Let''s make the last three locations a priority instead of an aside.¡± Lysandra said with a sigh.

    ¡°Right,¡± Ariana agreed. ¡°Oh! I bet one of these tomes has something on it, or them,¡± she remarked with a smile.

    ¡°Oh defs. We''ll look over it later.¡± Healina said.

    Getting out of the palace was a lot easier than getting in, of course, but it still felt like we were in there a while. When we finally got to the foyer we had arrived in I almost heaved a sigh of relief. I put my hand to the door, and paused.

    ¡°Lana?¡± Ari wondered.

    ¡°I feel like I''m forgetting something.¡± I said.

    ¡°Hmm.¡± she nodded.

    ¡°Ehh, it''ll come to me,¡± I shrugged, and pushed open the door.

    We headed outside, and at once it struck me. Because right before us was Venomheart, along with several outlaw guilds, including Blackwood Patrol.

    ¡°Gyeck!!¡± I quietly tensed up as my friends readied themselves for a fight.

    ¡°Why, thanks, Rachel,¡± Melody said as she stepped forward. ¡°I forgot about the whale, and the guild was texting me madly before I finally got in; and when I did finally get in you''d already gotten here--then I remembered that there''s this nice PvP loot mechanic. The one that ensures the most recent items gathered by an enemy player are one-hundred percent lootable.¡± she grinned at us, and I frowned.

    ¡°The Sea Orb.¡± I said in acknowledgment.

    ¡°That''s right. So I gathered up some old friends of yours to help us out. After all,¡± she said with a laugh, ¡°We know you''re all tougher than the average bear, and that it''d probably take at least as many as we have here right now to overcome you.¡± Melody winked, and more than a few of the outlaws, including Tom Blackwood himself, chuckled.

    ¡°I have to pay you back for two defeats, Lana.¡± he quipped.

    ¡°So that''s how it is.¡± Melody shrugged airily. ¡°You''re cute here or there, but I have a job to do, hon. No hard feelings.¡± she smiled wickedly. The outlaws began advancing.

    Ah, snap; how do we get out of this? Neither Myanihia nor myself can use our ¡°ninja tricks¡± down here to get all of us out safely... no matter how you slice it, only a couple of us have a good chance of escaping... tch, that''d ruin our reputation; not that I should really care about that, but... I dunno, maybe I can, just a little? Ugh. What do I do...

    At that moment, a horn sounded. I blinked in confusion. I''d heard that horn before. It was Reginleif''s horn. We all looked towards the sound; Valiant Maidens was swimming down towards us in a frenzy. Another wild chorus of shouts came from another direction; Mountain Tigers and The Lightbrook Brigade had shown up. Derwydd and Snow Dancer, along with Lizzy, were with them.

    ¡°Take one more step towards my girls, Jo, and I''ll never let you rest in this reality or the other!¡± our halberdier and smith bellowed out. The cat-like eyes of our enemy glinted dangerously as her allies looked to her for orders.

    ¡°What now? They''ve got twice our numbers with the Silvernight Queens in the mix!¡± one of them said desperately.

    ¡°We''re withdrawing.¡± she said angrily. ¡°I''ll remember this, Ellie.¡± she spat, and with that our enemies swam off with a sulk. No one cheered. Our allies gathered around us quickly, and then we swam for the surface as well.

    ¡°We''re going to meet up at Heorot Hall in Ragnarheim.¡± Wildeye told me as we made our way to the surface.

    ¡°Got it,¡± I nodded back.

    ¡°Take your ship to one of the Wildlands'' ports and use the wayport to get there as soon as you can.¡± Jannie added.

    ¡°Something up?¡± Ariana asked.

    ¡°You''ll see, hon.¡± Winnie winked back.

    Oh boy, I thought to myself with a mix of soft dread and anticipation. Whatever was going to happen next?

 Chapter Twenty-one: Game Changes/The Orb of Contestation

    When we arrived at Heorot Hall, which looked like something straight out of that epic fantasy trilogy from over half a century ago, we found that most of the guild leaders and their seconds from our main alliance had gathered in the hall. There were a few periphery guilds represented as well, such as Gears and Wheels, Heavenly Dragons, ?Valiant?Hearts?, Night Wolves, and Jade Lotus. Eothane sat at the head table, situated before the throne of his guild hall where he might normally sit. Wyne and Beoryn were next to him. Wildeye, Tyman, Jannie, Winnie, Ariana, Lizzy, and myself took one of the still empty tables; most of our other guild members were waiting outside in a tourney and field area that the Horselords had here.

    ¡°Are all assembled?¡± Eothane asked as we sat down.

    ¡°These last are those that have just lately arrived, and there will be no others.¡± the Horselords guild member who had escorted us in reported. His leader nodded to him, and then gestured to Wildeye.

    ¡°Friend Tiger, tonight you have the first foray upon this floor.¡± Eothane said.

    ¡°Very well,¡± the other guild leader returned, standing up to address us.

    ¡°What''s going on?¡± Mad Dog wondered.

    ¡°As most of us know, my father is one of the GMs in this world. I do not receive any sort of nepotistic treatment on that count, but this one thing he did give me a heads-up on: the game is changing. The competition, I mean. Alliance scores are now going to be the primary indicators for victory, though individual guild achievements will still stand and will be taken into account once the competition is over.¡± Wildeye told us. ¡°Apparently, what started out as an innocent idea to track guild-alliance ratings for fun became a more serious idea once it got to the higher-ups. This doesn''t necessarily change our plans, or at least not those of us already in this alliance, but I did want to have it spelt plainly out for those of us who have been more neutral up to this point.¡±

    ¡°Hmm...¡± the leader of the Night Wolves mused in a somber tone. ¡°We have made our mark thus far by acting as mercenaries for other guilds to increase our income; defending shipments or taking down outlaw guilds, as well as going after rare prizes in the more obscure dungeons. I suppose joining up with this alliance would not be that much of a change.¡±

    ¡°I agree.¡± Johann Starson nodded. ¡°I''m willing to sign into the pact, though I will note that we here are not even the half of a tenth of all the guilds in Harmonia.¡±

    ¡°At least thirty guilds there are in attendance this eve; yet ''tis true that we are not the whole of Harmonia. But as I rightly recall, many of those are the smaller bands, such as the Silvernight Queens, and there are not many among them as numerous as ourselves, or even the Guardians.¡± Eothane remarked.

    ¡°This is true.¡± Magisteria said.

    ¡°Hua Ling and myself are willing to enter this pact.¡± Qi Lin announced, and the guild leader next to him nodded in agreement.

    ¡°F¨¨nghu¨¢ng will no doubt be opposed; she still has a powerful guild by land, and will do all she can to thwart this alliance, and perhaps she will even craft her own.¡± Hua Ling said.

    ¡°With their numbers they''re almost their own alliance.¡± Humphrey quipped, and a few laughs were heard.

    ¡°We still have the eyes of the King-Priests on us,¡± Reginleif then said. ¡°And Venomheart as well. No doubt they''ll bring in some of the other outlying guilds to try and balance the fight we have going.¡±

    ¡°Which is why I wanted the attention of the outliers we''ve assembled here.¡± Wildeye said with a nod. ¡°Four of them have given a positive response to joining us; what say you, MacYnduff?¡±

    ¡°You''re driving a hard bargain, you crafty cat.¡± the Dwarf leader sighed. ¡°I''d be willing, but I don''t know what the rest of my league will say--remember, I head up the the League of Crafters and Merchants with Anna Belle from Queen''s Orchards.¡± he added, and the Lady Wood Elf beside him nodded.

    ¡°I think that our league is best served by being neutral. Of course,¡± she slyly shrugged, ¡°We could make subtle preferences for this alliance from this point on, if the terms were agreeable.¡±

    ¡°Isn''t Gears and Wheels struggling a bit in the Untold Deeps? We can offer them assistance down there,¡± Jannie said.

    ¡°And of course we''re willing to offer extra protection for crafting runs in more high-risk or contentious areas,¡± Timidator nodded.

    ¡°We can start from those terms, yes.¡± Anna Belle agreed.

    ¡°One thing.¡± Mad Dog then said, and then looked at me. ¡°Lady Lana.¡±

    ¡°Hm?¡± I returned at once.

    ¡°Our arrangement. One favor, no matter what it may be. This is my price for joining up in this alliance.¡± he reminded me.

    ¡°Ahh... sure... I guess... what''s the favor?¡± I asked with a faint apprehension. He grinned back.

    ¡°You are chasing the orbs to counter Djaziim. I happen to know that one of these orbs is in a dungeon with something that I want for my guild.¡±

    And he probably won''t say what it is until we actually see it, I mused to myself inwardly.

    ¡°Well, then, I guess we''d better hurry up chasing after them. I don''t even know if we had a real clue about the next from the last one or not,¡± I shrugged.

    ¡°Djaziim is a terror that must be thwarted.¡± Eothane said with a nod. ¡°I will send my swiftest riders to scout the deserts and see what the King-Priests have in store for us. Wildeye, is there aught else of tidings we would be wise to consider at this council?¡±

    ¡°I would say that this amendment opens up a greater possibility of interference from the Onyxus players.¡± Wildeye remarked after a moment''s thought. There were audible murmurings around the hall at this pronouncement.

    ¡°This is a true thing, and we would be thrice fools to not keep it in consideration going forward.¡± Eothane nodded grimly.

    ¡°One other thing I would mention,¡± Kiana stood up. ¡°There''s an alliance of pirate guilds that have been gearing up in the wake of the Guardians'' naval defeat. I''m sure we all recognize the name Rackham John Thatcher.¡± she looked around the room, and most of us, including myself, nodded.

    ¡°The pistoleer who was beaten by Lysandra in the tournament.¡± Mad Dog grinned.

    ¡°Well he''s the leader of this pirate confederation now; along with his own guild, Black Flag Marauders, there''s The Jolly Rogers, Hornigold''s Revenge, and the Deep Blue Kings, among others. The alliance itself is informally known as Skulls and Bones.¡± Kiana told us.

    ¡°I am sure once you regain your bearings that they will be no trouble for you.¡± Hua Ling said with a shrug.

    ¡°These sea marauders are ones we have fought against, before we decided that our venturing upon the waves was more harmful than helpful.¡± Eothane said. ¡°He has grown in strength since last he was battled, and his skills rival any archer I have seen.¡±

    ¡°I''m offended.¡± I remarked with a faint sarcasm, and there were laughs around the room again.

    ¡°Let not Lady Lana lose her composure over a mere marauder; your bow will best the blackguard someday, as surely as Lysandra''s sword once struck him through.¡± Wyne grinned, and Ari patted me on the head.

    ¡°So, basically, this whole alliance thing we have going is now an official thing for the tournament, we have pirates running around, orbs to find, and one favor to hand out to a hairy beast so he''ll join up with us.¡± Lizzy summarized.

    ¡°Pfft!¡± Ari stifled a giggle. I''m not sure how I managed a straight face when Mad Dog gave us a soft glare.

    ¡°I worry that the King-Priests may win the favor of those other fiends, though.¡± Wyne added with a worried look to Eothane.

    ¡°It is a true thing you call to our attention.¡± he said to her, and then turned back to all of us. ¡°Have we here heard of the Nightkin?¡± he asked.

    At once, a growl went up from Mad Dog, and there was a lot more murmuring and grumbling that went on about the hall for several long moments. Even Wildeye''s eyes darkened for a moment, which was something very unusual for the lighthearted guild leader. He clenched his fist tightly, and brought it down on the table so hard that a crack formed in it.

    ¡°They don''t belong on this side of Panarena.¡± he seethed angrily.

    ¡°They''re definitely a renegade guild.¡± Magisteria nodded.

    ¡°I heard they actually got run out by the Onyxus guilds.¡± Humphrey added.

    ¡°How screwed in the head do you have to be to--¡±

    ¡°Don''t even go there.¡± a couple others remarked.

    ¡°Are they really cannibals? Or is that just a rumor?¡± one of the other guild leaders asked. ¡°I mean, sure, they''re dark, but I can''t imagine anyone in this game actually... you know... doing that,¡± she said with a shudder.

    ¡°The Nightkin is a guild made up solely of Vampires, Werebeings, and Shadowkins. And there is a skill tree in the game that you can advance from eating monsters, and, if you''re mental enough, humanoid or sentient beings.¡± Wildeye confirmed.

    ¡°As someone who has eaten many monsters, I can tell you the bonuses further up that skill tree are enticing; but they require... too much.¡±

    ¡°I don''t even want to imagine.¡± the other guild leader shivered again.

    ¡°But this guild went for them; and whatever the circumstances behind their being here in Harmonia are, they''re among the most powerful dark magic-users in the game.¡± Wildeye remarked. ¡°If the King-Priests ally with them...¡±

    ¡°They may have no choice but to ally with an alliance now; they''re not a huge guild nor even a modestly sized one. And the King-Priests are right up their alley in terms of the sorcery they both tend to favor.¡± Magisteria noted.

    I felt a hand on my shoulder then; I looked over, and Myanihia was kneeling by my side. Her eyes betrayed an urgency.

    ¡°What''s up?¡± I asked her softly.

    ¡°Heali, has found the other orb''s location. It, is in the Borderlands. But, Lana, it is near to the lair, of this guild, you are now talking about.¡± she whispered back.

    ¡°Gyeck?!¡± I cringed.

    ¡°Indeed,¡± she nodded back.

    ¡°Well, we''re all on,¡± Ariana quietly remarked. ¡°We can try to go after it once we''re out of this meeting.¡±

    ¡°Lady Lana?¡± Eothane called to me.

    ¡°Just an orb update,¡± I replied.

    ¡°Where is it?¡± Mad Dog asked.

    ¡°It, is in the Borderlands, near... Vilehome.¡± Myanihia answered.

    ¡°Aw, snap,¡± Tyman sighed. ¡°That''s where the creeps we just talked about hole up, ain''t it, boss?¡±

    ¡°Sadly, yes.¡± Wildeye smiled ruefully.

    ¡°That dungeon has the item I want.¡± Mad Dog said. ¡°I will have a team ready to assist you.¡±

    ¡°I''m sure Der will be going, so I''ll have to get a few of us to go along as well,¡± Peaches said with a smile.

    ¡°You nearly got yourself in trouble with that sea orb, missie; we''re coming too.¡± Valkrysti said, and I saw Barbarianne nodding vigorously in agreement.

    ¡°Can''t let her go anywhere these days,¡± the other girl quipped.

    ¡°Ahh...¡± I started uncertainly, and Myanihia softly giggled.

    ¡°Well we can''t not go with her now, can we?¡± Jannie said to Wildeye.

    ¡°Nope! Have to keep her from getting into a sticky situation again.¡± he beamed.

    ¡°You put on one cursed ring and suddenly you''re a complete ditz...¡± I softly groaned, and Lizzy, among others in the room, cackled with glee.

    ¡°We shall ride forth fearlessly to show ourselves to our potential foes, and to give them cause to focus on us rather than yourselves. If there are aught among you that would aid us in this, I welcome you.¡± Eothane declared.

    ¡°I think we can handle that,¡± Humphrey nodded.

    ¡°As will we!¡± Timidator grinned.

    ¡°Then I''m with you as well.¡± Magisteria said.

    ¡°And thus we have a semblance of a plan for at least this night; let us adjourn, and make our mark upon the tablets of time in true fashion!¡± Eothane grinned.

    Translation: let''s do some really crazy stuff and become the subject of tomorrow''s forum posts by outraged and-or bewildered bystanders.

    ***

    ¡°If they''re a small guild, they''d be wary of a large group even despite their levels,¡± I muttered as I crept along the bottom of the ravine we had entered.

    Following the end of the meeting at Heorot Hall, we had formed two raid parties, one led by Eothane and the other led by myself. We then wayported to Harmonia City, and continued on to the Borderlands. I had seen it from afar a few times now, but this was the first time I had actually been in them.

    ¡°This place is...¡± Ariana remarked, trailing off as she gazed into the distance.

    ¡°I know,¡± I nodded back to her.

    The Borderlands is a desert region. On our side, it sort of resembles the American Southwest desert with its mesas and canyons, and as you get closer to Onyxus it becomes more of a bleak, unforgiving Sahara. I hadn''t even known that you could have a guildhall in this region until it had been mentioned at the meeting tonight. Though of course, it was less of a guildhall and more of a hideaway, from what rumors said.

    ¡°Down that way,¡± Valkrysti motioned to the right. A descending passage there led deeper into the ravine, where I could make out a trickling stream of water.

    ¡°And the entrance is at the source of that stream, right?¡± I said as we headed down with care.

    ¡°That''s what the clue said,¡± Healina replied. ¡°''Into the land of endless wars, hidden by pillars of red, deep the descent to the last trickling stream, at its birth you will find me'',¡± she recounted for us.

    ¡°Lucky you spotted that clue so quickly,¡± Ariana said.

    ¡°And this time there''ll be no Venomheart to try and thwart us.¡± our healer smirked.

    ¡°I wonder what they think about Nightkin...¡± I wondered.

    ¡°Who knows,¡± Ari sighed.

    I gazed back up towards the top of the ridge, slowly looking over the long line of our raid party descending into the ravine. The thundering of hooves could be heard in the distance; that would be Eothane and the others, riding about to keep Nightkin''s attention. We had been cautious about being seen, so there was not a huge chance that our group had been spotted -- but, you never know. There was even a chance someone might be lurking down here just because it was the path to a dungeon.

    With that thought in mind I turned on Shadow Vision. I couldn''t see anyone lurking around. I looked over at Lysandra, who sniffed the air a couple times. She shook her head, and I nodded back. The older girl then strode closer to me, and put a hand on my shoulder as we walked down.

    ¡°I''m worried about Maryn. I try not to go wolf if I can help it while we''re doing stuff, but now we''ve got a dozen werewolves who won''t give a flip, and we can''t very well tell them to not go wolf because one of our guildies will freak,¡± she whispered softly.

    ¡°Ah, snap, I knew I forgot something...¡± I quietly muttered to myself, looking back to steal a glance at Maryn, who was further back with Winnie and Tabitha. She seemed composed at the moment, but I had learned to pick up on when the others were anxious--and Maryn was definitely anxious. ¡°Maybe we should have suggested she volunteer to join Eothane''s group,¡± I remarked.

    ¡°She wouldn''t have gone,¡± Ariana shook her head.

    ¡°You think?¡± I wondered curiously.

    ¡°She likes you too much.¡± Ari returned grumpily.

    ¡°Ahh...¡± I started uncertainly, but she linked her arm in mine to cut me off.

    ¡°I know.¡± she said, and then Lysandra gently coughed.

    ¡°It looks like we''re finally at the bottom.¡± the older girl told us.

    Once everyone was down at the bottom, we organized into our raid units and hastened towards the dungeon. Just as the clue had said, we found a small cave at the end, or rather the beginning, of the stream we had followed. I sighed, and looked around at our raid groups. Mad Dog was the biggest.

    The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

    ¡°Can you fit through that?¡± I asked him.

    ¡°Not a chance.¡± he said flatly.

    ¡°Thought so. Blehhh,¡± I sighed as Ariana pulled out the ring with a smirk and handed it to me.

    ¡°I''ll come too.¡± Belle said as I put it on, shrinking to child size.

    I immediately picked up my gear, and scrambled into the hole as the others gaped in astonishment or broke out into the giggles, depending on who had seen me do this before. Once I found a good spot I took the ring off, and put my gear back on quickly while Belle illuminated the place with one of her pixie spells.

    ¡°Gotta be a lever or something around here,¡± she remarked.

    ¡°Hopefully not a puzzle,¡± I grimaced. ¡°Oh, there,¡± I said, reaching towards what looked like a rock formation and pulling it with confidence. The walls of the cavern started receding into the ground, and moments later the others were walking in to join us.

    ¡°That was... interesting.¡± Mad Dog remarked to me with a faint grin.

    ¡°Yeah, yeah.¡± I shrugged. ¡°Are you sure the thing you want is in this dungeon? I mean, you couldn''t--¡±

    ¡°It''s because I know it is in this dungeon that I asked to come along. I knew it would take a more... unique mind, to find a way of entering it.¡± he quickly told me.

    ¡°Thanks, I guess,¡± I said as we formed up into our groups again, heading down into the dungeon.

    ¡°So what''s the scoop with this dungeon?¡± Kiana asked, and our lore-experts began opening their tomes.

    ¡°Some sort of abandoned fortress of a bygone age,¡± Peaches remarked.

    ¡°I think this line implies it used to be a Moscan sorcerer''s stronghold at one point, but it could also be implying that it was fashioned by one,¡± Healina said.

    ¡°That''s what I''m getting from it,¡± Peaches nodded.

    ¡°Most of the traps here will probably be arcane, then,¡± Siegfrieda from Valiant Maidens noted. ¡°And a lot of the puzzles will be, too.¡±

    ¡°Swell.¡± Lizzy groaned.

    ¡°What about the monsters?¡± Mad Dog asked.

    ¡°Some enchanted guardians should be running around, besides the things we might bring down on ourselves with a misstep on a trap; and the boss... hmm...¡± Healina paused, and Peaches came to read with her. ¡°That can''t be, right?¡± our healer asked the Hauflin guild leader.

    ¡°No no, it''s right,¡± Peaches assured her.

    ¡°Yes?¡± Wildeye wondered.

    ¡°It says that the final boss is the Seven Ghosts of the Mad Sorcerer,¡± Healina told us.

    ¡°Lovely.¡± Jannie returned.

    ¡°I wonder if there''s also clues or trinkets in here that we can use to help us beat him... them... it?¡± I mused.

    ¡°Ooh, good call,¡± Heali nodded. ¡°We''ll have to keep an eye out for stuff.¡±

    ¡°Agreed.¡± Kiana nodded.

    ¡°All right; vanguard, let''s go!¡± I said, and Myanihia and myself stepped into the shadows with Nightwing and Ariana, keeping ahead of the main group as we ventured further into the dungeon. We headed down a long, spiraling tunnel lit by blue and red crystals for what seemed like a really long time, and then found ourselves exiting that narrow passage into a wide, open cavern system.

    ¡°Wow...¡± Myanihia remarked as we stepped out of the shadows.

    ¡°That''s... incredible...¡± Nightwing said with awe.

    ¡°It''s like... no, it is a subterranean city,¡± Ariana softly exclaimed. All I could do was whistle in amazement.

    So there was a main thoroughfare that led from where we had exited to a magnificent building that seemed like it was at least an hour and a half away from us by walking. On either side, below, and above this thoroughfare was an arcane city with many buildings of various sizes and multiple levels. There were even what looked like gardens or parks in some spots, and the whole place was illuminated by giant crystals of various colors, mostly clear white ones but also some greens, blues, and reds. I could see some sort of magic-train running around on a set of tracks that wove their way all around the underground city. Part steampunk, part organic, part arcane, and all of it meant to pose a serious challenge to adventurers.

    ¡°Well this isn''t going to be a picnic, is it?¡± Jannie sighed as she and the others caught up to us.

    ¡°Dayum,¡± Tyman scratched his head.

    ¡°I bet the main attraction over there has some sort of special mechanic to open it, and we have to go through all this to figure out what,¡± Peaches said.

    ¡°Oh lovely, one of those dungeons...¡± Kiana groaned.

    ¡°Thinking is for single-player games.¡± Howler shook his head.

    ¡°Wanna bet some of the other places also have special mechanics?¡± I said with a wry grin as the others looked around the vast city.

    ¡°Oh I have no doubt about that,¡± Wildeye nodded.

    ¡°Ugh.¡± Lizzy snorted.

    ¡°Well. It appears we shall have to break up into more conventional groups instead of merely going with our usual packs,¡± Mad Dog said. ¡°And we have a fair amount of time on our side, all things considered. There is at least one full Panarena day before most of us have to get back to the real world.¡±

    ¡°Oop, almost forgot about that,¡± Lizzy smiled bemusedly.

    ¡°All the same, I''d prefer to not spend all day in this place,¡± Reginleif quickly said.

    ¡°Then let''s pick our groups and go,¡± Jannie nodded.

    ***

    ¡°Blehh. Howler was right; this is too much thinking for a dungeon in a game like this,¡± Lizzy groaned softly as I myself plomped down with a book I had found on one of the chairs in the building we had entered.

    Besides the rest of my guild, Jannie, Winnie, and Tabitha had come along with us--oh, and Myanihia, who was pretty much a Silvernight Queen by now in all but name. Over an hour in-game had passed by; we weren''t even a fifth of the way through the city, but we had been making some progress. Wildeye and Peaches'' group had found part of what we would need to get into the palace, the large building that loomed in the distance from earlier, and Mad Dog had stumbled onto an ancient university with his group that the lore-experts with him felt certain held more clues to either the palace or the boss.

    ¡°Honestly, that''s what makes this game stand out right now. Dungeons or other challenges like this that actually engage the players and which aren''t just some mindless, daily grind.¡± Jannie said as she and Winnie examined another book from the shelf.

    ¡°That''s true...¡± Lizzy sighed in agreement. ¡°But still. I just want to charge in already and hang the mechanics,¡± she softly ranted.

    ¡°Easy, Wuuki,¡± I told her.

    ¡°Minus ten points for the jibe.¡± she quipped back.

    ¡°This book has riddles in it... some of them seem related to the spectral beings in the palace, or maybe they''re about the boss?¡± Jannie suddenly said.

    ¡°This one has a similar thing,¡± I said, ¡°Although these are more like... haiku poems?¡±

    ¡°And this one,¡± Healina began as she returned with a book of her own, ¡°Seems to have clues couched in mostly alliterative rhetoric. But some of it seems non-sequitur.¡±

    ¡°Let''s put them on this table side by side and see if that helps,¡± Jannie suggested, placing hers on the table in question first. I did the same, and Healina added hers a beat later.

    ¡°This...¡± Heali said, her face scrunching up thoughtfully. ¡°I think we''re on to something. But if this relates to the boss, then I''d bet we''ll need four more tomes.¡±

    ¡°Four more?!¡± Lizzy exclaimed in bewilderment.

    ¡°I think there''s some sort of patterned code here, but it doesn''t quite make sense yet. Seven tomes would make sense, considering the boss is referred to as the Seven Ghosts of the Mad Sorcerer.¡± Healina explained.

    ¡°Ugh. I''ll keep watch outside.¡± the Nordian smith grumbled.

    ¡°I''ll go with her,¡± Lysandra said, exchanging a bemused grin with me as she followed the other girl.

    ¡°Here''s one!¡± Ari called out as she and Belle returned to the room from their own search.

    ¡°I think Maryn and Tabitha are still looking in another room with Anhe and Myanihia,¡± the pixie-girl told us.

    ¡°That''s fine,¡± I nodded.

    ¡°Here now, let''s see...¡± Healina said as she took the tome from Ariana and set it on the table as well, nodding with approval after a moment. ¡°It''s getting clearer. Something to do with the first word in each paragraph or stanza, maybe the end words of each of them as well.¡±

    ¡°Let''s look for more!¡± Jannie smiled.

    ¡°Let''s do that,¡± I agreed, and we set out to explore the building again with a renewed sense of determination.

    After a few minutes more, we had found the tomes we needed, and Healina made quick work of deciphering the hidden codes that had been crafted into the texts, deducing that each of the seven ghosts which were the boss had one specialty and one weakness each. Also, we could either defeat them one by one, or attack each ghost in a specific way to force them into merging, which didn''t seem like a good idea because then he would gain all the specialties but become nearly invulnerable except to one form of attack that was not specified by the texts we had.

    ¡°It seems more orthodox to attack them one by one anyway... unless I''m reading this wrong, of course and it actually means that no matter what we do the seven will merge into one boss,¡± Healina frowned as she pondered the books before her.

    ¡°Having no vowels in those two books definitely clouds things, huh?¡± Ariana remarked.

    ¡°You''re telling me.¡± the Sea Elf sighed.

    ¡°Let''s hope the others turned something up on that count,¡± Tabitha said. ¡°Things will definitely get clearer once we have all the pieces of this puzzle.¡±

    ¡°Oh for sure.¡± Winnie nodded.

    ¡°We agreed to meet at that plaza of fountains near the middle, right?¡± Ari looked over at me.

    ¡°That we did,¡± I nodded back. ¡°Let''s make our way there, but let''s continue keeping an eye out for anything that might help us.¡±

    ¡°Right,¡± Jannie nodded, and we departed the building we had been in to continue our expedition.

    As we made our way toward the rendezvous point, I looked around again at the vast city we had entered into. Some of the buildings were starting to crumble, or had been overgrown with subterranean vegetation; I wondered what the in-world history of the place was, and if, someday, parts of our own world might end up like this. Well... I guess some of it already has, but, you know.

    After picking our way carefully down a flight of steps that seemed on the verge of tumbling into the nothingness below, we ended up near an ancient mural that seemed to depict a battle between what could have been the people who lived here and the Mad Sorcerer who was now the de facto ruler of this lost city.

    ¡°It''s just story-telling imagery.¡± Jannie mused.

    ¡°Sometimes even images like this contain important information,¡± Healina said to her. ¡°Like this panel here; the sorcerer seems to be blanching, maybe even cowering.¡±

    ¡°Hmm...?¡± Lizzy wondered as she came to look as well. ¡°They don''t have weapons; are those spell-casters?¡±

    ¡°Good eye!¡± Heali smiled back at her. ¡°Also, this sorcerer depiction has him wearing orange robes.¡±

    ¡°We found two others,¡± the voice of Mad Dog was heard. He and his group came up from another flight of stairs. ¡°One had melee fighters seeming as if they were besting a sorcerer in purple robes; another had archers attacking one in green.¡±

    ¡°This could mean that each of the seven ghosts'' weaknesses are a specific attack. Archery and melee is straightforward, but magic has several disciplines...¡± Healina mused.

    ¡°These magic projectiles look like firebolts,¡± Winnie noted.

    ¡°That''s true.¡± Ariana agreed.

    ¡°Has to be fire.¡± Barbarianne nodded.

    ¡°Whether this means specifically fire or generally attack magic, we shall have to find out from other murals, I suppose,¡± Mad Dog said.

    ¡°We''ll assume so for the moment,¡± Heali said in agreement.

    ¡°Come to think of it, you guys seem to have come along the main thoroughfare more directly than we did,¡± I noticed. ¡°I bet the murals are all along that.¡±

    ¡°Good thought,¡± Kiana smiled. ¡°Let''s check it out!¡±

    We spent the next hour or so finding and examining the rest of the murals, meeting up with Wildeye''s group at the plaza of fountains as planned. His group had found the keys to unlocking the palace and avoiding the death-traps within it. Putting that together with what we had on the sorcerer so far, it seemed that, once we got into the boss room, we would have to face off against the seven ghosts in no particular order. The orange one was vulnerable to fire, the purple one weak to melee, the green one could be beaten by archery; the blue one''s weakness was nature skills, the red one was weak to lightning, the yellow one had a vulnerability to poison, and the indigo one''s Achilles Heel was cold.

    ¡°But, from this text, even if we beat all of them, the seven will merge into one after that,¡± Peaches recounted for us. ¡°We have one chance to stop the merge and end the fight early; if we fail, we''ll have to deal with a boss that has none of the previous weaknesses and all the strengths of his earlier incarnations.¡±

    ¡°What is the weakness of the super boss?¡± Barbarianne asked.

    ¡°It hasn''t been on anything we''ve seen so far,¡± Healina shook her head.

    ¡°I''ve been thinking about that,¡± Peaches told her. ¡°I think there''s an acrostic clue scattered across the various texts we''ve picked up from other sources around the cities, but I''ll need the whole of them to piece it together.¡±

    ¡°Got it!¡± our healer said, and the lore-experts among us immediately started setting down what they had gathered so that Peaches could examine all of them for what she sought.

    ¡°Hm, hm, just like I thought... a boustrophedon acrostic, topped off with subtle allegorical asides every fifth and seventh line in the center texts which slightly shift the meaning to render the answer...¡±

    ¡°Boust--ehh??¡± I wondered in bewilderment.

    ¡°Boustrophedon; you know how we write and read left-to-right, and some other cultures do the opposite? Well boustrophedon is both. It alternates from left-to-right and right-to-left from line-to-line.¡± Peaches explained to me.

    ¡°Hrrmm...¡±

    ¡°You know how Mrs. Liang is teaching us proper Chinese and Japanese, right?¡± Ariana whispered to me faintly.

    ¡°Oh!¡± I snapped my fingers quietly as I recalled. Our foreign language teacher was insistent on following the top-to-bottom, right-to-left methodology of writing the two languages we were learning this year. That was about the only part that could throw me off.

    ¡°And the super boss'' weakness is: shadow and fang.¡± Peaches then declared.

    ¡°Shadow...¡± Myanihia repeated softly.

    ¡°And fang...¡± Mad Dog grinned.

    ¡°Lucky us.¡± Nightwing blinked calmly.

    ¡°Let''s go tackle a boss,¡± Lizzy clapped her hands together triumphantly.

    ¡°Let''s get inside the palace first,¡± Wildeye smirked back.

    ¡°And then we''ll sock this sorcerer!¡± our halberdier beamed as we set off towards the palace.

    ¡°Come to think of it,¡± Maryn said, looking over at Ariana and me, ¡°You two did something similar in your first big dungeon, right? Stopping the bosses from merging, that is.¡±

    ¡°Oh, true!¡± Ari grinned back. ¡°We can do it again, can''t we?¡± she looked over at me.

    ¡°Ehh,¡± I returned in an uncertain tone.

    ¡°You''re supposed to say, ''Yes, my love, we did it once and we can do it again!''¡± Kiana quickly jumped in, and the others laughed.

    ¡°I mean, the dragons... were kind of... slower,¡± I managed to note, and Ari stopped laughing to take my side.

    ¡°Ohh, that''s true... I kind of remember that now. You think this one will be a bit too fast for us to stop?¡±

    ¡°Not so fast that it''s impossible, but maybe just fast enough to give us a hard time. We''re in a Borderlands dungeon, after all.¡±

    ¡°Hmm...¡± my partner sighed.

    ¡°I bet he has a shield or reflect skill until the last possible moment when he does the merge...¡± Peaches remarked.

    ¡°Ugh. Good point.¡± Jannie groaned as we began ascending a staircase that led to one of the magic-trains that still functioned.

    ¡°Anyone want to be the sacrificial lamb to find out?¡± Peaches asked with a mischievous grin on her face.

    ¡°Hell no.¡± Tyman quipped back at once, and we all laughed.

    Anyhow. We got aboard the old magic-train without incident, and got off near the palace. Wildeye''s lone magic-user for the night, a more scholarly mage named Greeneyes, unlocked the ancient palace for us, and we headed on in. Thanks to our scouring of the city, we were able to avoid all of the traps, but we did have to fight off some arcane creations that were roaming the halls. In a few places we were even able to turn the traps against them. Now that is always fun.

    We then found the door to the main tower, which Greeneyes and Ariana had to unlock together, and then we made our way through another series of enchanted automatons and death-traps all the way to the last door at the top, where we spent a few moments recomposing ourselves before heading in to meet the boss.

    ¡°Think your item will be in the chest?¡± I asked Mad Dog.

    ¡°Considering I have yet to find it, I am hoping so.¡± the werewolf guild leader returned.

    ¡°Well I ain''t going through this whole city again to help you find it. I gotta take care of the little brat.¡± Winnie remarked.

    ¡°Fair enough.¡± the other grinned toothily.

    ¡°Is your monitor alert going off?¡± Jannie asked her.

    ¡°Not yet, but she was real sneezy today, not to mention the coughing. Her medicine should hold her until we''re done, but if that monitor goes off I''m gone. I only came on this late because I know you can''t get Jessa on for the weekends to save your life.¡± the other woman told her.

    ¡°Aww, poor baby.¡± Kiana said sympathetically.

    ¡°We''ll wrap this up as fast as we can,¡± I promised her.

    ¡°You better!¡± Winnie patted my head.

    ¡°All right: we all remember what sorcerer is weak to which attacks, yes?¡± Wildeye asked us, and we all nodded. ¡°Then let''s get in there and finish this off this boss, claim the orb, and get Mad Dog''s item. Lana, Myanihia, Nightwing, Lysandra, Mad Dog, Howler, Rarf, we''re counting on you if we fail to interrupt the merge.¡±

    ¡°Got it.¡±

    ¡°We''ll be on it!¡±

    ¡°Indeed.¡± Nightwing, myself, and Mad Dog replied while the others nodded.

    ¡°Let''s go!¡± Tyman said, and as soon as we had been buffed up for the fight, we headed on in.

    ***

    ¡°Ready: and--now!¡± Wildeye called out as the seventh incarnation, the yellow one, turned up to fight. Those of us who could use poison, Myanihia, Ariana, and myself among them, quickly unleashed what attacks we had to take it down. Myanihia coated her swords and mine with a special poison, and we jumped forth to use that special combo-attack to take it down instantly.

    ¡°Whoo! Tag-teamed!¡± Winnie cheered as the incarnation went up in pixels and smoke.

    ¡°By the Nine Crowns of the Ancient Kingdoms!¡± the boss'' voice rang out. ¡°It appears you are no simpleton thieves after all. I shall have to expend my full power to face you!¡± he declared, and the seven incarnations reappeared and started the merging process.

    ¡°Lana!¡± Wildeye called out to me.

    ¡°Wait, it''s no good!¡± Derwydd quickly said. ¡°He''s got a reflect and immunity shield up!¡±

    ¡°Dammit!¡± the Mountain Tigers'' guild leader frowned.

    ¡°It should end right about when the process is comple-- ho-ly...!!¡± I exclaimed, nearly dropping my bow as I watched him put up another reflective shield right when I thought I had my chance.

    ¡°Tch!¡± Reginleif hissed. ¡°Wolf pack, shadows, you''re up!¡± she called out, and I heard Maryn gulp.

    ¡°Put a sensory spell on her, eh?¡± Lysandra said to Ari.

    ¡°Got it!¡± my partner nodded back.

    ¡°Huh?¡± Maryn wondered, but then went still in a sort of shock as Ariana used her spell to stop her sight and hearing, temporarily.

    ¡°He''s done with the thing!¡± Howler called as the incarnations of the boss became one.

    ¡°Let''s go!¡± I then said, and the werewolves and shadow warriors charged while Jannie and Wildeye kept the boss'' aggro on them.

    We had to jump back a couple times when he put up a reflective shield at two-thirds and one-third health, but other than that it was as straightforward as we had put together from the clues in this underground dungeon. If we had come in here blindly swinging, we''d be dead meat twenty times over by now, I thought to myself as we finally wore down the remainder of his health.

    ¡°Last strike!¡± Ari called out, unleashing a shadow spell she had devised. It wiped out the last half percent of the boss'' health, and after a very melodramatic flailing he exploded into pixels.

    ¡°Woo-hoo!¡± Winnie clapped as the chest appeared.

    ¡°Yo! That thing better have an orb in it,¡± Tyman said as Jannie and I went to open it up.

    ¡°Here it is!¡± I said triumphantly.

    ¡°And here''s what Mad Dog wants, I bet,¡± Jannie added as she pulled out a totem.

    ¡°That''s it.¡± the werewolf guild leader nodded, and she handed it over to him. ¡°My thanks. We''ll be joining up with you for the remainder of the event, then,¡± he said with a grin.

    ¡°Good to be allies!¡± Jannie smiled back.

    ¡°Um, Ari?¡± I said to my partner.

    ¡°Hmm?¡±

    ¡°You, uh, gonna put Maryn back to normal?¡±

    ¡°Oh!!¡± she snapped her fingers, blushing as she quickly undid the enchantment upon our shield-user.

    ¡°What did I miss?¡± the older girl said when she came to her senses.

    ¡°Not much, just a dramatic death a la werewolf,¡± Lizzy told her, and she shuddered.

    ¡°So nothing,¡± she replied with a hesitant smile.

    ¡°Nope, not a bit.¡± I told her with a grin.

 Chapter Twenty-two: Sunday Shenanigans

    We spent the rest of our time in Panarena that night helping to guard various caravans or trade-vessels that some of our alliance partners had out and about, ensuring that they reached their destinations safe and sound. There were a few times when we had an exchange with the King-Priests; fortunately none of them involved Djaziim. Venomheart did not make another appearance that night. One of the pirate guilds, however, did.

    It was only a brief encounter, but it happened very close to the port which was our destination. We were in one of our larger vessels now, helping to safeguard a trade-cog fleet from Gears and Wheels. A vessel started moving towards us from the port side of our ships; it was a galley, its sails were a sea-green color and its pennant had three crowns in a field of dark blue.

    ¡°What guild is that?¡± Ariana asked me.

    ¡°I''m not sure,¡± I said as I passed her the spyglass.

    ¡°Judging from just the banner, I''d say Deep Blue Kings,¡± Derwydd remarked. ¡°We''ve had a couple incidents with them ourselves, but nothing serious.¡±

    A cannon from the unknown ship fired at that moment, its shot delicately missing our prow. There was a chorus of laughs and jeers from them, and then they turned to head in another direction.

    ¡°Just saying hello, I suppose,¡± I frowned. A voice from an allied ship then caught my attention.

    ¡°Lana?¡± Valkrysti called over with concern.

    ¡°Just an introduction, I guess,¡± I said with a wry grin, shrugging.

    ¡°Should we go after them?¡± she asked in a more serious tone.

    ¡°No point, we''re almost at port,¡± I said, pointing towards the harbor we were fast approaching.

    ¡°All right, we''ll let them off this time,¡± my friend returned. We slowed our approach as we entered the harbor, and then the field officer for Gears and Wheels, Borin, gave us thanks for the escort.

    ¡°I reckon that won''t be the last we see of those pirates,¡± the Dwarf grunted.

    ¡°Probably not,¡± I sighed.

    ¡°And you''ve got, what, two orbs left to find? Heh, good luck with that,¡± he said as he went to help his crew unload the cargo they were delivering.

    ¡°Hahh... just two?¡± I wondered.

    ¡°Might as well be two-hundred with the way we''re feeling,¡± Healina sighed. ¡°I''ll have a look at this book we found in that last dungeon.¡±

    ¡°I''ll help!¡± Derwydd said.

    ¡°And me!¡± Ari added, giving me a kiss before she scurried off with the two of them.

    ¡°What''s the plan, boss?¡± Lizzy asked, putting an arm around me.

    ¡°What time is it really?¡± I wondered.

    ¡°Heh, it''s about three in the AM.¡± she remarked.

    ¡°More or less,¡± Lysandra nodded as she checked her panels.

    ¡°Bleh.¡± I shrugged. ¡°Hey, aren''t they having sparring matches in the Arena?¡±

    ¡°Ooh, they are!¡± Lizzy grinned. ¡°Wanna enter or watch?¡±

    ¡°Eh, just watch, really,¡± I returned.

    ¡°Sounds like fun!¡± Belle grinned.

    ¡°I would rather compete again and vindicate myself from last time...¡± Anhe remarked as we made our way to a telepad.

    ¡°You and me both,¡± Maryn nodded.

    ¡°I think all of us except Lana have that feeling,¡± Lysandra said with a wry smile, and Myanihia adopted a similar expression.

    ¡°Heeyy... well, I didn''t get to compete, so I guess I kind of count...¡± Lizzy shrugged. We entered our destination, and headed to Harmonia City for the rest of our evening.

    The matches we saw were nowhere near as high profile as they had been during the Grand Tournament, and none the three GMs presiding over them were the ones who had been there, but they were still pretty intense. Ironsides had entered the matches, making a name for himself once more with his mostly-impossible-to-counter reflect.

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    just herself

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    them

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    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

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    Gu''hyeck?! A dragon versus sirens... what the heck kind of crazy and interesting situation have I set up now?? I wondered to myself with both dread and eager anticipation.

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    ¡°might make it,¡± she said.

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    Why is this bugging me? What is in my head that''s trying to be remembered? I frowned to myself as I listened to the conversation. Ariana then tugged one of my sleeves as we approached a sharp turn heading upwards.

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    ¡°excuse to leave Lizzy behind...¡± I softly jested as we backed away from the edge.

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    ¡°someone had thoughts about leaving me here when they found that out.¡±

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    ¡°yooou... but defs for Lana!¡± she added with a cheeky grin.

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    ¡°nice tonight, kiddo.¡± Lizzy patted my head.

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 Side Chapter: Venomheart

    Aboard the pristine Memphani caravel on loan to them from King-Priests of the Demon Sands, the members of Venomheart observed their enemies hastening away from a volcanic island. The dragon known as Dracuoatlax passed over them for a moment as a warning, then returned to the side of his allies. Melody the Blade gazed after it impassively, her face not even twitching at the sight of the beast.

    ¡°Maybe we should take care of that thing on this trip,¡± Cobra remarked. He had short black hair, except for the bangs which fell over the left side of his face. His dark-blue leather accouterments made him almost invisible against the ocean.

    ¡°Forget it. I''m not in the mood to whip up Dragonsbane in the middle of this churning ocean. I''d probably kill us all instead,¡± Merc Mandrake spat, his golden hair tied back for a change. He had a bright crimson and green outfit on, and there was a deadly array of steampunk gadgets in the crisscrossing baldrics he wore.

    ¡°Tch.¡± the other spat back, and then a girl''s voice rang with shrill laughter.

    ¡°Calm down, Cobra love; we have plenty of death for the others without killing the dragon. And if we kill them instead they may lose the beast''s loyalty.¡± Clara Toxin smirked. Her green eyes practically glowed with an almost neon-flair beneath her green hair, accenting her smile with a villainous light.

    ¡°Just make sure you pick the right targets this time. The KP''s got mad at us a couple nights ago for accidentally getting two of their members along with the enemy.¡± Jana Foxgloves quipped.

    ¡°My, but I never hit anyone by accident,¡± Clara said with a demure laugh.

    ¡°Oh darling, I know.¡± the other returned with a fiendish grin as she tossed her auburn colored hair back out of her face. A whooping laugh then resounded, and the others looked up towards the mast, where a figure in blue and black leather armor that completely obfuscated his features was sliding down the rigging to join them on the deck.

    ¡°Should we swim over now? Should we have Clara magic us over? She probably could! She just won''t tell us! Let''s do it, Mel, let''s do it!¡± he cackled.

    ¡°I''ve told you once and I''ll keep telling you until you drop dead, I don''t have portal or teleportation skills.¡± Clara glared at him.

    This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

    ¡°Venomy.¡± Melody said in a calm but commanding tone, and the ostensible buffoon straightened up like a soldier called to attention by his commander. ¡°Never mind all that; just keep the NPCs here on task. Merc; why didn''t you bring the vials of Dragonsbane we already had?¡±

    ¡°C''mon, boss, you know why: they''re hard to transport. Even tricking the system with vials you can put in mage storage doesn''t guarantee their stability.¡± Merc replied with a wry shrug.

    ¡°You could have done it.¡± his leader softly reprimanded him.

    ¡°There''s ingredients for it on the island we''re headed for. I''ll whip it up then, if Jana and Clara can help me find them.¡± the other returned.

    ¡°Sure thing.¡± Jana nodded back.

    ¡°Just so long as I get my kicks in on the Queens first,¡± Clara smirked.

    ¡°Just remember that Lana is mine.¡± Melody told them, a smile finally appearing on her face.

    ¡°Why''s she so important to you, boss?¡± Venomy asked her. In an instant, Melody drew out her sword and had it at his neck.

    ¡°That''s none of your business.¡± she said coolly.

    ¡°Grow up, babe.¡± Clara sighed. ¡°We know she''s your school crush. Just get over it already. We have a job to do.¡± she said, earning her a glare as well. ¡°You think you scare me, even with your real life sword skills? Hon, puh-lease.¡±

    ¡°I know I don''t scare you.¡± Melody grinned back darkly. ¡°Which is why you''re my second.¡± she added, to which the other girl smiled back.

    ¡°Then you won''t mind if I... how did you say it, Jana? ''Accidentally'' get Lana when I start attacking,¡± she returned with a haughty tone.

    ¡°Fine.¡± Melody said, and then sat down on a chair. ¡°Keep an eye on them, and that dragon, too.¡± she added, checking her sword to ensure its sharpness and toxicity.

    ¡°Hmm...¡± a deep voice sighed. It was Cyan Idewyll, the poison-necromancer in his hooded black-velvet robes gazing after her as she shut the door behind her.

    ¡°Quiet as usual, Cyan?¡± Clara remarked. Her fellow guild-member blinked, and then looked towards the ship they were chasing. ¡°Them? They''re nothing.¡±

    ¡°Don''t underestimate them.¡± Cobra warned.

    ¡°Why? Garth?¡± Jana snorted. ¡°Garth was an idiot. Even that pageant-obsessed Rama is smarter than him.¡±

    ¡°We''re finally all together on one assignment.¡± Melody said as she sheathed her blade, and the other smiled. ¡°Let''s enjoy it to the fullest, shall we?¡± she said with her own wicked smile.

    Here we go, Lana... Rachel.

 Chapter Twenty-three: Racing through the Siren Sea

    So where''s the last orb, I wonder, I pondered with a frown as I watched the other caravel behind us. Tch, from what I understand, some of Melody''s members don''t have the same restrictions as we do for being online... this could get bad, fast. Even Peaches and the others have to log out sometime for work or something, right?

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    ¡° to get off, yes?¡± the wizened Hauflin turned to look up at Cylodel and Cloveroak, the former nodding while the latter grinned.

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    ¡°that branch and not the poisons...¡± I mused.

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    I wonder if there''s a threshold where a ship can''t be turned away from those rocks, I mused as I looked out into the distance again. There definitely was in that game I had played as a child. If there was any similar sort of mechanic here, Venomheart would again potentially have the disadvantage, based on their crew. But like Snow said, they definitely had some sort of preparation.

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    ¡°sirens, Clover.¡± Snow Dancer said to him, gently knocking on his head.

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    I knew it.

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    ¡°could do that. But I still need to be deafened.¡± he told me.

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    not a death I had in mind.

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    Waaaiiit a sec... how are the other two guys gonna help us if Clover''s shouting orders? Are we just gonna go with nods and hands signals? I mean, that only goes so far...

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    ¡°are poisoners... maybe this won''t slow them down much...¡± I suddenly thought.

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    ¡°will slow them down.¡± she said, and her half-twin nodded.

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    Great, I sighed, we have a boat full of Bond villains chasing us.

    The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

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    What, wha''s going on? I shouldn''t, feel this way... women are... immune... I thought to myself as a sudden dizziness came upon me. Anhe then thumped her staff, activating a resistance aura, and Healina put up one of her wards as well.

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    ¡°Why didn''t I think of that earlier...

    ¡°Melody doesn''t seem like someone to let this sort of thing slow her down.¡±

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    Pay attention, doofus, I said to myself inwardly as we cut off our chatter, focusing on the task at hand.

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    ¡°snap...!!¡± he said as his eyes began to widen, and I spun back around to look.

    had to be at least a way out of these rocks before we ran into her. Up ahead I espied what I hoped to find.

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    ¡°They might see it,¡± she warned me.

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    Personally, I''m pretty sure Venomheart will be having their own problems, since that poison they used to kill our siren ambush probably took out a good deal of their NPC crew... so even if they *see* the flare, they won''t be able to catch up, I mused to myself as I watched them defy the rain in their ascent.

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    ¡°avoided storms.¡± she added with a smirk.

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    ¡°this right now,¡± I returned, nodding towards the Siren Queen.

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    ¡°that first before having us waste ammo like this,¡± Lizzy grumpily said.

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    Oh come on!! I sighed inwardly as Myanihia landed in the water beside me. I helped her to keep afloat, and she looked over with dissatisfaction.

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    ¡°one day. So long as I don''t go over ten this spring. I''ll have nine left.¡± the blonde girl shrugged.

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    ¡°is our ship.¡± the Nordian smith replied.

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    ¡°what happens to it.¡± Peaches sniffed, and Ariana looked over at me with a grin.

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    ¡°that thing is desperate for attention.¡± Peaches quipped, and I exchanged a grin with Ariana.

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    ¡°I''m not keeping it,¡± I returned, and she snickered.

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 Side Chapter: Venomheart, II

    Melody the Blade was not amused. Just as her guild''s vessel had begun approaching the Siren Sea, one of the enemy mages aboard their quarry''s ship had used portal magic to place a few sirens aboard their ship. Clara, of course, had reacted at once, laying down a cloud of poison mist to kill them off; unfortunately, this had also taken out half their NPC crew, and left the other half debilitated. Between that and the storm that had arrived, they were in a tight spot at the moment. She had the brief satisfaction of noticing a series of flares going up from the other ship, which meant that they were also in a rough patch, but in the meantime she and her guild had some serious recuperating and catching up to do.

    ¡°You should have let me and Venomy handle them all!¡± Jana fumed at Clara, the redhead glaring at the girl with green hair.

    ¡°Please. Venomy would have been taken down in an instant, along with Merc, Cobra, and Cyan, and then we''d be in real trouble.¡± the other sniffed.

    ¡°You don''t know that!¡±

    ¡°I think I do!¡±

    ¡°Shut up. Both of you.¡± Melody said in a soft but sinister tone, and the two of them ceased their argument to look at her. ¡°How soon can we get underway?¡±

    This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.

    ¡°The ship''s not badly damaged, just the crew,¡± Merc said as he came to report. ¡°But we should go around this sea just to be safe. I know, I know, it''ll delay us and they''ll get ahead, but something tells me they got through this mess just fine. You know how those lunatics end up on the forums for nearly every single stunt they pull.¡± he shook his head wearily.

    ¡°I do.¡± Melody nodded. ¡°Very well. I have to think about starting my actual day; Clara, you''ll be on most of the day, yes?¡±

    ¡°And Merc, too. We''ll keep the ship going around the Siren Sea until you get back, and then hopefully we can make up the time lost when you return.¡± the other girl nodded.

    ¡°I''m counting on you.¡± Melody said, and headed for her cabin.

    ¡°Sleep well, princess.¡± Clara smiled, and her guild-leader smiled back briefly before turning in.

    When she had done so, Clara looked back out towards the Siren Sea still ahead of them. Merc was already adjusting their course to take them around it instead of through it. There was an unearthly scream in the distance; the two of them looked at each other, Merc shrugging a moment later.

    ¡°Like I said, they''ll get out of it just fine.¡± he remarked.

    ¡°Then let''s ensure they don''t get back the same way.¡± Clara returned, her green eyes glinting. If there was one thing, one person she truly despised, it was the archer girl with red hair who had stolen her guild-leader''s affections.

    Lana... I''m coming for you.

 Side Chapter: Lizzy

    ¡°All right, we''ll see you later tonight,¡± Lana smiled as she and Ariana logged off. Those who were staying on waved goodbye to them, and then headed to ensure their vessel was in ship-shape.

    When did I separate Sean and Lana, anyway? Daaang it, that girl is too cute here to be Sean in real life some days... where does one begin and the other end? Lizzy wondered to herself as she began tinkering with things on her portable-crafting table. As she adjusted the steel-wrought brace so that it could be easily fitted to the ship in an emergency repair, she smiled to herself. We''ve done some crazy things, huh, chick?

    ¡°Lizzy, you sure about this? Your folks won''t get upset or anything, will they?¡± Peaches asked her with a serious look.

    ¡°My folks? Pffft. They''re surprised I have a nearly perfect attendance record so far this year, minus a couple work days I negotiated for around the holidays. Besides, they''re in no position to lecture me about anything, really.¡± Lizzy returned.

    ¡°Oh-ho, it''s one of those families, huh?¡± Peaches softly grinned, patting the young woman on the shoulder.

    ¡°Yeahh... can''t wait to get away from them next year and house up with Heali and Der.¡± she replied, making sure her adjustments were secure.

    ¡°You should do this sort of thing for a living.¡± the older woman noted as she admired the craftsmanship.

    ¡°I''ve thought about it,¡± the other nodded back. ¡°Maybe when or if I get tired of my current job I''ll go for an apprenticeship in welding or something...¡±

    ¡°The new face of Rosie the Riveter, huh?¡± Peaches smiled.

    ¡°Ooh, heck yes!¡± Lizzy beamed.

    ¡°Peaches! We''re approaching it,¡± Snow Dancer called from the helm.

    ¡°The Veiled Sea?¡± the leader of Dreamers Fables returned as she and Lizzy looked out towards the horizon ahead of them.

    ¡°Whoa,¡± the Nordian girl whistled.

    ¡°Masters, this sea is something even I have not heard of before; let us be careful,¡± Fyu Dongtian remarked as he ventured up on deck.

    ¡°Oh defs.¡± Lizzy nodded, placing her hand on the dog-beast''s head.

    ¡°Bubs!¡± Peaches clapped her hands, and the little gremlin appeared.

    Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

    ¡°Master!¡± Bubs replied.

    ¡°Get to the lookout,¡± Peaches said, handing him a spyglass, ¡°And keep watch for anything that might hinder us. We''ll play some cards later.¡±

    ¡°Oh yes, master, yes indeed! Bubs will keep watch!¡± the gremlin grinned, scurrying up to the crow''s nest with the spyglass in hand.

    ¡°Come to think of it -- Snow, can''t you use your magic to make floaty light things to help us see?¡± Lizzy asked the

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 Chapter Twenty-Four: Monday Madness

    Oh well, I sighed as I got up, heading down to get some coffee. Dad was watching his cartoons, as usual, and mom had apparently gone to work already, judging from the light jacket she always wore not being on the coat-rack.

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    ¡°back before they can get you.¡±

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    ¡°have to leave it for our shift tonight.¡±

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    ¡°did kind of spring it on me, too, to be fair,¡± Andrea smirked. ¡°But anyway; I think the best approach for our display there is to be simple and concise.¡±

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    ¡°too well...¡± Thomas said with a faint smile.

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    ¡°lot!¡±

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    ¡°theory, at least, geared towards being more practical in certain areas, we might definitely get a solid core of folks who want that.¡± Thomas then added. ¡°And it won''t be just a place for us to come in and talk about our game anymore; we''ll have to be more pragmatic and less fantastic.¡± he said to punctuate the thought.

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    ¡°can''t talk about Panarena; it just won''t be the focus, most likely.¡±

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    ¡°they do well, then lots of other things will be vying for fame as well.¡± Mary remarked.

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    Man... it really does drag to not be in the game at a time like this... ugh, priorities, priorities... I inwardly groaned.

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    I bet I know why, I thought to myself.

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    Just when Herby is finally being reined in from his overhead kill-shots, I get to deal with this...! I grimaced to myself as I did the stair-tumble for the fifth time. I got to my feet; Joanna was coming at me with a fierce look in her eyes. Briefly I looked around for the adults. Then I remembered they had both gone to check on costuming and it was Stephen watching us. Ah, snap...

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    ¡°very reluctantly,¡± he grinned back.

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    ¡°too enthusiastic in answering,¡± Rachel softly poked me.

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    What did Miss Ahn always tell me to do at a time like this? I hurriedly thought back to one of my Tae Kwon Do teachers. It was to... to... I softly knocked on my head, and then it came back with a loud exclamation.

    ¡°

    What the heck?! I''m actually being attacked!? In this city??

    ¡°heck do you want?¡± I said, not believing they would answer.

    ¡°

    This guy seems to know at least as much as I do and maybe even more about Eastern Martial Arts fighting. But really, what the heck? I''m a high school kid whose only claim to fame right now is that I''m the potential star of a musical; what is even going on right now?? I hope this is just some random encounter and he''s after my wallet or something...

    ¡°

    Knife or gun? I wondered anxiously. I hope it''s a knife. I can deal with a knife. Miss Ahn and Mr. Chen both taught me a few tricks on dealing with knives. If it''s a gun, I could feel my heart pounding, my number might be up... or at best I get a bullet hole somewhere before I can try and disarm him... snap, snap, snap!! This is *crazy*!!

    quite my reach, and thankfully it wasn''t his either.

    Should I feint and go in for a couple quick kicks? Maybe that''d be enough so I can get behind him or something, try forcing him to the ground while I call for help... are the people on this street seriously oblivious to this?! How long has it been since this shenanigan started, anyway? I pondered to myself. Fortunately for me, I was too slow in making up my mind as to whether I should try attacking or not.

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    ¡°Goodnight everybody, I quipped internally as I passed the living room again to head up the stairs. Once I got to my room I quickly changed for the night, and when I had sorted things out for tomorrow morning and finished off my drink I put the Dream Machine on to return to Panarena.

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    Ugh, was I that shaken up?

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    I wasn''t sure I could repeat that story a third time anyway, I thought to myself wryly. I took a deep breath, and let it out slowly.

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    Not so tough, are you? I berated myself. As Lana I could face off dragons and monsters without blinking an eye--well except giant bees, of course. As myself I had faced off the school bully. But he was a joke compared to tonight''s encounter. Maybe I should carry some sort of non-lethal weapon... I wonder if the girls carry any... Ellie seems laid back and tough, but I bet she definitely has something; Mandy and Chrissy? They''re university girls, so I''d bet on them having a device or two. Mary and Anhe for sure have something. Andrea... it wouldn''t surprise me, but yet it also would... heh. And I know Rachel has one, I thought to myself with a smirk.

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    Guess it''s time to stop teasing the old man about his taser-gun, I thought with a sigh as I scanned the horizon. After a quiet hour, I headed back down to the deck. As soon as I had landed a thought suddenly crossed my mind.

    Ah, snap... I''m gonna be mentioned in a local news report, aren''t I...?

 Side Chapter: The Girl with Flaming Hair

    Atop the dragon-figurehead of the galleon with sunset-red sails she stood, her flaming hair blowing in the breeze, her eyes intent on the sea before her, the swift and terrible longsword held at the ready in her hand. Behind her, her guild worked with a focused intensity to keep the ship moving at top speed. To be fair, ?SOVEREIGN?, the largest guild of the Aldholt, was also with them to help out, but Flamehearts was taking the lead with this one. A few real-world hours ago, Wildeye from Mountain Tigers had sent her a message; Lana might be in trouble; Venomheart pursuing her ship; the rest of us are tied up in the Wildlands and in the Vales of Aergondi fending off the enemy alliance; muster whom you can to help her. Angelfire had read that message twice. She remembered that Lana and her friends were heading northeast towards the Veiled Sea, and had summoned just about every guild member online to meet her at their guild''s pride and joy, ¡°The Sea Dragon,¡± their massive galleon. A few members of ?SOVEREIGN? who had been in the region had volunteered to go with them, and they had eagerly welcomed them aboard. Now, two Panarena days later, they were just passing the coasts of Ragnarheim.

    ¡°Angel! We should angle ourselves east by northeast to avoid the Siren Sea; I know it''s more delay but we have too many men on board to risk it!¡± her second said to her. Angelfire frowned.

    ¡°That''s fine, but we''ll be doing shifts on the oars to help the sails make up the time. We have enough NPC crew-members to do that, and the muscle from ?SOVEREIGN? isn''t lacking either.¡± she said in reply.

    ¡°Got it!¡± the other girl nodded back.

    This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

    ¡°I''ll come down to help with the oars when it gets to that point,¡± Angelfire added.

    ¡°Understood, ma''am.¡± her second replied, and with that she went back to relay orders.

    Angelfire''s fist clenched around her sword, her mental image of Venomheart''s leader filling her with a soft fury. Lana''s face came to mind, but her grip on the handle did not lessen. Instead, it grew firmer, the thought of her favorite person being in danger provoking an anxiety that she quickly brought under control with some deep breaths, reassuring herself that Lana would not be caught so easily.

    She has Ariana with her, and her entire guild... there''s no way they''d lose... but still, Lana... I''m coming. I trust you... but I don''t trust Venomheart. Hang on, hang on, girl... please, she mentally whispered to the girl with red hair.

    ¡°She should be back online in about twelve, maybe thirteen real hours after I send this message,¡± Wildeye had sent as an addendum in response to her affirmation of help. ¡°That should give you time to at least catch up to Venomheart, from what Tyman told me.¡±

    ¡°I''ll catch up to that skinny caravel if it''s the last thing I do, and then blow them to the furthest respawn point in the whole game,¡± Angelfire vowed with a fierce grin. ¡°Lana, you get the orb, and I''ll take care of The Blade. It''ll be a cinch.¡±

    ¡°Adjust sails! Get back into the wind!¡± a voice behind her said. At last, Angelfire relaxed the grip on her sword and put it back in its sheath so she could go and help the others. Even then, she gazed out towards the northeast every chance she got, hoping that she would at least catch Venomheart before Venomheart caught Lana and the Silvernight Queens.

 Side Chapter: The Blades Return

    Joanna Love sighed in frustration as she kicked the last of her clothes off and then wrapped herself in her favorite nightgown. She looked over her homework. It had been finished two hours ago. Her parents could almost never fault her academically. A thought of Rachel came to mind, and her cheeks flushed. She quickly shook her head, making sure she really had done her homework, and when she had satisfied herself on that count she picked up the device. Joanna had never intended to get into the world of gaming, but this thing, the Dream Machine, had promised something beyond a game. She had tried it on a whim, expecting to sell it off or give it away to someone who cared more about gaming in general after a few hours, but instead she had become enraptured by the world and its freedom. It was a place of peace for her, mentally, and the guild she had become leader of was a tight-knit group. Sure, some of them were bonkers, but that was what she enjoyed about them. There were no pretenses, no airs, no formalities: they were themselves, uninhibited, and she loved it. And now, it was high time to rejoin them in that fantastical world.

    ***

    ¡°Mel! You''re back!¡± Clara hugged her as soon as she logged in.

    ¡°Hi Clara,¡± Melody smiled, returning the hug warmly.

    ¡°School okay?¡±

    ¡°Not really. It was torture. And I goosed my rehearsals again...¡± the younger girl said with a quiet frustration as Clara patted her on the back.

    ¡°You''ll make up for it, love. I know you.¡± the other girl smiled.

    ¡°Thanks.¡± Melody smiled. ¡°What''s our status?¡±

    ¡°Whooo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoooo!!¡± Venomy cackled as he landed in a heap on the deck, springing up like an old jack-in-the-box a second later. ¡°We''re making progress! We got around the Siren Sea about a day ago finally when someone finally decided to listen to me, and now we''re about halfway through the Veiled Sea!¡± he clapped his hands, doing a jig around the deck.

    ¡°And then we''ll see the Dream Islands, where the Silvernight Queens will have probably landed already,¡± Cobra said with a wry expression on his face.

    ¡°Oooooooohh, boss! Bossie bossie, what''ll we do with their ship, huh? Say we''ll torch it! Say we''ll torch it!!¡± Venomy exclaimed as he dropped to all fours and began skittering around like an excited puppy.

    ¡°If we find it, we torch it.¡± Melody said with a sneering grin.

    ¡°Yeeeeess!! Hoo-hoo-hoo-hooooo!!¡± her guildmate cackled.

    ¡°Mind the dragon.¡± Cyan quipped as he came out on deck.

    ¡°Speaking of which, is it still around?¡± his leader asked.

    ¡°He was still lurking around, but we managed to give him the slip long enough to get to the Veiled Sea,¡± Jana said as she appeared.

    The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

    ¡°That probably won''t fool him for long, though.¡± Merc said with a shrug.

    ¡°Oh he''ll definitely smell a rat by tonight and double time it back to the Queens.¡± Jana nodded.

    ¡°Hmph.¡± Cyan grunted, pulling out an orb to look ahead with a magic spell.

    ¡°Any rocks we should be wary of, Cyan?¡± Clara asked him.

    ¡°That one, probably.¡± the necromancer returned. Then his eyes widened. ¡°Hard to port!!¡± he shouted. The ship lurched to port at once.

    Cyan never shouts, not even once, so what the-- Melody began to wonder, then saw for herself as two glowing eyes appeared in the mist.

    ¡°Holy--!!¡± she started to swear as the owner of the eyes, the dragon allied with the Silvernight Queens, opened its maw to breath fire. A raging inferno erupted from the jaws, and after a steady stream of flame that lasted for nearly ten seconds, the dragon took off and flapped away, laughing heartily.

    ¡°Water! Now! Hurry!!¡± Merc shouted at their remaining NPC crew.

    The other members of the guild ran to help put the flames out as well, frantically working to still the fires the dragon had started. Melody herself splashed a few buckets, hearing Cobra swear several times with some unsavory words intermingled with ¡°Silvernight Queens¡± and ¡°dragon¡± as he rambled on and befouled the air with his cursing.

    ¡°Calm the #@$& down, will you?!¡± Merc finally shouted back, to which he received the ubiquitous reply of ¡°screw off¡±, albeit phrased much less politely.

    ¡°Will you two screwheads get it together?¡± Jana called, splashing them both with a bucket of water.

    ¡°Dammit, Jana--me too!?¡± Merc retorted.

    ¡°Ahh, shut your face,¡± Cobra spat.

    ¡°You first!¡±

    ¡°Fiiine, fine,¡± his guildmate returned.

    ¡°Gawd.¡± Merc shook his head.

    ¡°Phew!¡± Clara sighed in relief. ¡°That''s all the flames put out, counting those two drips,¡± she remarked lightly, and Jana snorted with amusement.

    ¡°Shaddup.¡± Merc said, flicking her with water as she laughed.

    ¡°That''s what we get for threatening to torch their ship, I suppose,¡± Melody shrugged.

    ¡°Welcome back, leader.¡± Clara said with a bemused grin.

    ¡°Sure,¡± Melody grinned in reply. ¡°Now let''s make sure the fires are out, and go pay the Silvernight Queens back in spades for these pranks.¡±

    ¡°Hoo-hoo! Right on!¡± Venomy jumped with glee, and Cyan nodded.

    ¡°Getting us back on course!¡± Merc said with a gleaming smile, and Cobra thumped him heartily on the back.

    ¡°Let''s go, bud!¡± he said, and Merc gave him a fist-bump on the shoulder in reply.

    ¡°Ugh, men.¡± Jana shook her head.

    ¡°Right?¡± Clara smirked.

    ¡°Let''s go indeed.¡± Melody smiled, her eyes glinting with excitement as their ship resumed its course, the bedraggled vessel and its crew doubly and triply determined to catch their quarry and make them pay. Never mind the orb they had been sent to retrieve; that was only a bonus now. Their real job, as they saw it, was to thrash the guild that had been making sport of them once and for all.

 Chapter Twenty-five: The Orb of Dreams

    About four or five in-world hours after I had come down from the crow''s nest, we sighted land. It was the archipelago we had been looking for. Cylodel estimated we would be there in a half hour, and we began readying ourselves for the next stage of our quest. A thought came to my head just then; we had narrowly avoided Venomheart to get here, but there was a decent chance of them catching up while we were exploring the island and about nothing to stop them from torching our ship, unless Dracuoatlax had torched them first. I hoped he had, but I also half-expected Melody to be doubly evasive on account of the sirens and the dragon after what we had done earlier.

    When we reached the islands Cloveroak steered our ship to one of the easternmost isles, heading it into a convenient cove as we took down the sails so that it would not be so easily spotted. Okay, one worry abated... I hope, I thought to myself as the ship came to a stop. Cloveroak turned the vessel so it could head out at a moment''s notice, and we began hopping off to get to shore.

    ¡°Lower the rowboats!¡± I called as I jumped, and Lysandra got them down for us. Lizzy and Derwydd returned about that exact moment, bringing our little crew was back to full.

    ¡°Whew! We''re here,¡± our Nordian smith beamed. ¡°Lana! Dracuoatlax is coming,¡± she then reported, and I looked up to see our dragon ally touching down in the cover of the cove. There was just enough room for him to stretch out.

    ¡°Lady Lana.¡± the dragon said as we approached, and I placed a hand on him.

    ¡°All well?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Your enemy tried to slip around me, but none are as cunning as I; I blasted their vessel with my fire when I found them, and then hastened to rejoin you lest you find some other fiend here,¡± Dracuoatlax reported.

    ¡°Think they sank?¡± I wondered with a faint pessimism.

    ¡°Even if they did not, they will be considerably weakened; I saw at least three of their men fall into the sea as they were burning, and the damage to their ship will be considerable even if my flames were put out. They shall not make good time.¡± he said.

    ¡°That''s reassuring,¡± I agreed.

    ¡°And now, master, we have a different puzzle to overcome,¡± Fyu remarked. ¡°Where shall we find what we seek in these mysterious islands?¡± he said.

    We looked around at the place we had finally arrived at; the cove was surrounded by tall, evergreen-like trees, and there were other seasonal trees we could see in the distance. A stream that was not quite a river poured into the cove from a cliff a couple dozen meters tall. In the distance, I could see a large mountain covered with greenery and with ancient ruins. It was situated on the largest of the islands we had passed to get to this smaller one. That was most likely where we would find the orb.

    ¡°I have a feeling the orb''s on that big island with the mountain,¡± I said to the others.

    ¡°There was no good cover on that one for our ship, at least not on the sides we saw.¡± Cloveroak remarked, ¡°But we could definitely hide a rowboat.¡±

    ¡°Let''s at least explore this one some,¡± Healina suggested, and Peaches nodded.

    ¡°Better to be thorough than empty-handed.¡± she agreed.

    ¡°All right, we''ll make two teams, one for each rowboat,¡± I said.

    ¡°Agreed.¡± Peaches replied. ¡°Okay, kiddos; with me! And any Queens that want to come along as well, of course,¡± she then said.

    ¡°I''ll, go with you,¡± Myanihia said as she joined them.

    ¡°Sure!¡± the older woman smiled. ¡°Heali? Coming?¡± she said with a sly look in her eyes.

    ¡°I''d... better stay to keep these gals alive,¡± Healina grinned, placing an arm around Lizzy and myself.

    ¡°Oy...¡±

    ¡°Rude.¡± the two of us quipped back, and the others laughed.

    ¡°Fyu,¡± I called, ¡°Would you help Peaches'' group?¡±

    ¡°Certainly, master,¡± the dog-beast replied. ¡°We shall rejoin you at the great isle soon, I hope.¡±

    ¡°I''m hoping,¡± I told him.

    ¡°And myself, Lady Lana?¡± Dracuoatlax said.

    ¡°If you''re still eager, take a peek at the big island and see if there''s danger. If not, well, get ready to ambush Venomheart if they manage to show up again.¡± I said with a faint grin.

    ¡°Of course,¡± the dragon eagerly assented. ¡°I am certain there was no immediate danger upon that isle, but let me not be remiss!¡± he said as he took to the air again, flapping off.

    ¡°Well, here we go,¡± Peaches said, and my group got into the first rowboat to head over to the big island. ¡°Oh, Lana?¡± Peaches called as she and the others began heading off to explore the one we had landed on.

    ¡°Hmm?¡± I turned back.

    ¡°Try not to burn the whole place down before we get there.¡± the other guild-leader smirked, and with that she headed off with the others as they laughed.

    ¡°Oy...¡± I sighed.

    ¡°Come on,¡± Ariana patted my head, grinning. ¡°Let''s get to it!¡±

    ***

    It didn''t take us too long to find what we were looking for on the big island. The ruins at the very top of the mountain were a large temple or palace complex, and we found a hidden passage that led into the mountain itself in one of the larger structures still standing. Peaches and the others joined us half an in-world hour later, as well as Dracuoatlax. The dragon looked over at me and then turned his gaze towards the sea. I ran over to his side, looking out in the direction he did.

    ¡°Anything?¡± I asked him.

    ¡°Not yet, Lady Lana,¡± he replied. ¡°Perhaps the damage was too much for them to withstand, and they have sunk. Yet I am wary of these foes,¡± he growled.

    ¡°If they do show up, wait for them to get here, then take out their ship for good.¡± I said to him.

    ¡°All well and good, but they may find and seize your vessel instead.¡± he returned.

    ¡°Maybe; we set the rigging back on it, though, so you could fly away with it if you like.¡±

    ¡°How then will you return?¡±

    ¡°We always find something,¡± I said with a grin, and he dipped his head in acknowledgment.

    ¡°I admit this is the truth,¡± he said with a grin. ¡°Very well! If I judge it to be the right course, I shall take your ship far out to sea, at least, where they will not get it. Fare thee well, Lady Lana, and may we soon have all the orbs we seek.¡± the dragon said. I returned to the others, and we headed down into the passage we had discovered.

    ¡°This is a long tunnel.¡± Lizzy remarked.

    ¡°Right?¡± Maryn agreed. ¡°I hope it''s not like the last place we had to find an orb...¡± she added with a soft sigh.

    ¡°Ugh.¡± Peaches grimaced. ¡°That place was too big. But fun!¡± she then smiled.

    ¡°I think it''s finally levelling out,¡± I said as I examined the area before us. We sighed in relief as the passage did indeed become level, a long and wide corridor now opening up before us. ¡°Anything we should know about this place, Heali?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Nothing in the book, but on the walls... I think it says ''Passage of Dreams'' or something like that,¡± she told us.

    ¡°That''s what it says.¡± Peaches nodded in agreement. ¡°Must be some sort of test.¡± she said.

    ¡°Agree.¡± Healina replied.

    ¡°Well,¡± Cloveroak said as we stepped forward, ¡°No time like--¡±

    He started, but a second later I couldn''t hear him. I walked a few paces more and then turned around.

    Guhyeck?!

    Everyone was gone. I blinked. The corridor then changed. It was... like a meadow. A peaceful meadow. I looked around in bewilderment. In the distance I could see a girl with long, dark hair, wearing a white sundress with a matching wide-brim hat trimmed with daisies and buttercups. I slowly headed towards her.

    Rachel...? I wondered. The figure turned to smile at me. M-Mary?! I stopped, confused. The image shifted again. Now it was Christina. Ugh. Come on, get a grip, I thought to myself. Dreams... dreams... dreams aren''t real; they''re passing things, they can be forgotten, they can... they can shatter, I mused, looking around.

    ¡°Lana,¡± the figure in the dress called to me. Now it was Rachel for sure.

    ¡°Hang on,¡± I said, looking for some hint of the way out.

    ¡°Lana,¡± Christina''s voice said to me.

    I don''t have *time* for thiiis, the most rational part of my mind said.

    ¡°Lana...¡± Mary reached out to me.

    Then I saw what I was looking for. Something that was probably there in the passage. A crystal; it looked like it was in the sky, but I knew it was probably on the ceiling of the passage. Deciding that firepower was best in this case, I materialized my flintlock for the first time in a while, took aim, and blasted it. The crystal, and the dream images, shattered, and we were all back in the passage together.

    ¡°Whoa!¡± Lizzy exclaimed. ¡°That was loud!¡±

    ¡°Yeah... sorry not sorry...¡± I grinned bemusedly as I put the pistol away, looking around at the others. Maryn''s face was particularly red, and Ariana clung to my arm tightly. ¡°Ahh -- are... are we all okay?¡± I wondered with a hesitant laugh.

    ¡°Fine; just fine; why?¡± Healina quickly returned.

    ¡°J-just checking...¡±

    ¡°Y-yeah, we''re good, really,¡± Derwydd nodded eagerly.

    ¡°Totes.¡± Snow Dancer said.

    ¡°Ugh.¡± Cylodel remarked.

    What the heck did you see? I briefly wondered as the bemusement clung to my face.

    ¡°I can bet it''s gonna be like that in a lot of places.¡± Peaches said as we continued. ¡°Lana, what did you shoot?¡±

    ¡°There was a crystal thing I managed to see; not sure if it had a color or anything,¡± I reported.

    ¡°This?¡± Cloveroak wondered, picking up some shards from the ground. ¡°Heh... clear-colored, though it might have lost color after you blasted it.¡±

    ¡°True...¡± I agreed.

    ¡°Or maybe the color is irrelevant to our shooting them yet not to the kind of dreams we get from them.¡± Lysandra added.

    ¡°Ooh, interesting,¡± Healina said. ¡°That''s a good theory. Come to think of it, I thought I saw a flash of blue before... before that...¡± she trailed off, her cheeks coloring in embarrassment.

    ¡°Let''s go with the presumption that blue, and maybe other cool colors, give pleasant visions, and warm colors may give us unpleasant ones.¡± Peaches said as she pondered it out.

    ¡°Agreed.¡± Snow Dancer nodded. ¡°Here''s our chance to find out,¡± she then said, pointing ahead towards a flash of yellow light.

    ¡°Ah, snap...¡± I said as we continued forward.

    ¡°Lana?¡± Ari said to me, and then once again everyone vanished. I closed my eyes.

    Please no. Please, please, please no. I silently prayed with a shiver.

    All around me, I could hear buzzing. There was no need to open my eyes. I knew what was all around me. I hunkered down, trembling, covering my ears, a whimper coming out of my mouth. The buzzing grew louder. I could feel a scream welling up inside. Then the gunshot rang out. The buzzing stopped, and I felt two hands gently take mine. I gasped for breath, opening my eyes to see Ariana before me. She smiled kindly, and I glimpsed Myanihia putting her own pistol away.

    ¡°Come on.¡± Ari said, gently pulling me up as she rose to stand. All I could do was nod back, the two of us clasping hands tightly. I could see Healina shivering as well, and Maryn certainly looked spooked.

    ¡°Yipes,¡± Peaches quipped as she shook it off. ¡°Getting older but not much bolder,¡± she said as she coughed to clear her throat, dusting herself off and thumping her staff on the ground. ¡°Ha-hem! Anhe, Heali, let''s try activating some resistance skills and auras to see if that helps us any.¡±

    ¡°Got it!¡± Anhe nodded back.

    ¡°R-right,¡± Healina managed to reply.

    ¡°Clover, do you think any of your skills might help?¡± Peaches asked her guildmate.

    ¡°Hrrmm... if we see them soon enough Der and I can probably smash the crystals early so Myanihia and Lana don''t have to waste ammo,¡± he said.

    ¡°Good point,¡± Derwydd nodded. ¡°We should have done so when we saw this one.¡± he added, smiling wryly.

    ¡°You think?¡± Heali flicked him on the nose with low-key exasperation.

    ¡°Yeahh, we really should have, huh...¡± Cloveroak grinned broadly.

    ¡°My ammunition, won''t run out, any time soon,¡± Myanihia said with a shrug.

    ¡°Oh?¡± Peaches wondered. As for myself, I knew exactly what Myanihia meant. She had fashioned or she''d had the bullets fashioned with a magic or magic-imbued ore so she could store them in mage storage.

    ¡°Heh,¡± I cracked a grin. ¡°And I thought magic bullets were a joke.¡±

    ***

    Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

    Now that we were aware of this dungeon''s tricks, we had an easier time making our way through it. Sure, there were a few corridors where the crystals were hard to spot and the effect began to overpower our defenses, but we managed. Well, those tricks, anyhow. The one we couldn''t figure out how to overcome were the mirage paths. Which got us a good fifty-percent of the time.

    These tricky things would keep us going in circles or such for several minutes before letting us back out where we had entered, and then one of our mages had to cast an awareness spell to find the right door. Of course, after the first one, we did this every time we came to a place where the path ahead diverged; yet for some reason the mirage path could avoid detection that first time. Even Myanihia was perturbed by it, but she eventually remarked that it was probably an intended feature to keep players using their wits in this game.

    Aside from the dream-corridors and mirage paths, we encountered a few champion-elite monsters that would cast hallucinations on us, or try to, at least. The ones most susceptible to it were those of us who had no true magic skills; myself, Maryn, Lizzy, and Lysandra. She was a magic-being, but I guess only those with actual mage skills had a resistance to the effect. Myanihia was not as affected as us, but she was not as resistant as the actual mages in our group.

    The worst pre-boss encounter happened just before the boss, where we unwittingly entered some devilish blend of the three dangers.

    ¡°I see a crystal up there,¡± Derwydd noted as we entered the large chamber ahead of us. On the opposite end I could see a door.

    ¡°That''s probably locked by something.¡± I said.

    ¡°Oh definitely.¡± Ariana nodded.

    ¡°Masters, I smell those strange creatures again,¡± Fyu said to us.

    ¡°Oh lovely.¡± Maryn sighed. We stepped into the room, and right before our eyes it transformed.

    ¡°Ahh, snap...¡± I groaned, and then tilted my head as the contours of the room stretched or spun around. There was a sound of laughter, and when the room finally settled down again it looked like an Escher painting.

    ¡°Where... did the crystal go...?¡± Snow Dancer blinked uncertainly.

    ¡°Come on, really?!¡± Lizzy grunted, readying her halberd as she saw a small army of the hallucination-monsters stomping towards us from bizarre places in the room.

    ¡°That is so weird,¡± Anhe said as she observed them. ¡°They are like... bugs, or--¡±

    ¡°Please don''t.¡± Heali interrupted her.

    ¡°Ah! Sorry!¡± the younger girl smiled apologetically.

    ¡°Too late,¡± Cylodel said flatly. There was now a horde of mirage bugs crawling speedily towards us. I heard Heali let out a scream, and then I saw a blinding flash of light followed immediately by a deafening sound of thunder. The second sound I heard was a sickening chorus of death-grunts from the advancing monsters. I looked over at Ari, who had a smug smile on her face.

    Once again, remind me to never make you angry, I thought to myself bemusedly.

    ¡°... Eh?¡± Healina blankly wondered.

    ¡°What do you think happened?¡± Lysandra patted her on the head.

    ¡°Crystal! There!¡± Belle pointed, casting a pixie spell at it to illuminate it. Cloveroak targeted it with his magic, breaking it at once.

    ¡°Hah!¡± he said as it shattered. The area around us sort of fizzled, but the spells were still in effect. ¡°Come on, how many more?¡± the big guy scratched the back of his head.

    ¡°Belle!¡± Peaches called. ¡°Cast Pixie Radiance on this next spell of mine!¡±

    ¡°Got it!¡± the other replied, and as soon as Peaches had cast her spell, Belle enchanted it with the skill in question. Peaches'' spell then began to split, heading around the room like seeker missiles while we fended off the monsters and their hallucinatory allies.

    ¡°One, two, three... five, six... nine, ten... eleven... yep, eleven left.¡± Peaches confirmed.

    ¡°Argh!¡± Cloveroak sighed.

    ¡°What are you grumbling for? Why do you think I had Belle cast Pixie Radiance on those seekers?¡± Peaches softly elbowed him.

    ¡°Huh? Oh!! Because it sticks around!¡± he recalled with a grin as Belle smiled. ¡°Right, keep those things off me, will yas?¡± he asked as he began readying his magic.

    ¡°Got it!¡± Maryn said as she and Lizzy advanced to the front to create a wall with Fyu, Anhe, Derwydd, and Lysandra. Myanihia and I slipped into the shadows, scurrying around to take down the more isolated targets while the others kept the attention of the massing hordes. In the meantime, Cloveroak began smashing the crystals with his vines and roots, a fierce grin on his face. A couple minutes later, he had smashed all of them, but still the effect of their spell remained. Peaches frowned.

    ¡°Must be a thirteenth somewhere... heh, how fitting...¡± she mused.

    Then why didn''t the--oh, because the same principle that kept the mirage corridors from being spotted by us might also be in effect here, I inwardly pondered.

    ¡°Belle, again!¡± Peaches said, and the two of them fired off their spells again. This time, the seeker spun around the room for several moments, and then dissipated.

    ¡°Ah--!¡± Belle remarked as she saw it go poof.

    ¡°Rats!¡± the older woman snapped her fingers irritably. ¡°Oh I wonder if it''s one of these,¡± she then wondered, looking towards the monsters. Myanihia and I looked at each other, nodding. Once again, we slipped into the shadows, turning on Shadow Vision. If there was a special monster here, it would show up in a different outline than the normal ones.

    ¡°There.¡± Myanihia pointed. Sure enough, there was our target.

    ¡°On it!¡± I said, activating Shadow Speed to barrel past the other enemies.

    Myanihia apparently pulled out her gun, because I heard several shots behind me and saw several monsters before me go down. Once I reached our target, I used that deadly combo skill on it, and the thing went down. The other monsters began howling in dismay, retreating, and the corridor, after a dramatic visual, returned to normal. When everything had settled down, I noticed that I held a large key in my hand.

    ¡°Whew!¡± Maryn sighed in relief.

    ¡°Hmm,¡± I remarked as I examined the key, and then headed up to the door with it. I slid it into the lock; it was a perfect fit. ¡°All ready?¡± I turned back.

    ¡°Ready here, chick.¡± Peaches smiled.

    ¡°Let''s go!¡± Cloveroak punched his fists together.

    ¡°Let''s do this.¡± Lizzy grinned, and the others nodded. I unlocked the door, and it opened inwardly. We stepped into the final room, and then the door shut behind us.

    A series of braziers with blue flame began lighting up until they formed a circle of thirty around us. I looked behind; the door was gone. Everything but us and the braziers was gone, actually, and we were standing on... nothing...? I looked around; it was like we were standing in a void. Then there were twinkles of light like stars that aided in illuminating the emptiness, and I saw wisps of aurora-like clouds trailing around.

    ¡°Are we in... space?!¡± Lysandra wondered, her voice bordering on excitement and hysteria.

    ¡°If those little twinkles are more crystals, so help me...¡± Cloveroak grunted with a shake of his head.

    ¡°Ugh. That''d be majorly rude.¡± Lizzy agreed.

    Another source of radiance then caught my eye, and I looked up. There, suspended in the nothingness, was the orb we sought, the orb of dreams. I blinked a few times as my eyes fell on it, seeing something familiar about the patterns on it. Moving a bit closer, my mind instantly hit upon the answer, and I looked back at the others with a smile.

    ¡°It''s like a globe, a globe of Panarena -- the orb of dreams, it''s literally a miniature of this virtual dream-world of ours,¡± I told them.

    ¡°Cool!¡± Ariana exclaimed enthusiastically as she joined me to look at it, touching it gently for a brief moment.

    ¡°Oh wow,¡± Derwydd agreed as he and the others joined us.

    ¡°Heh! Neat-o!¡± Peaches remarked. Lysandra whistled in amazement.

    ¡°So we kind of are in space.¡± she said. She reached for it, but as her hand tried to touch it it went through it instead. ¡°Hahh, of course it''s not actually there.¡± the werewolf-girl sighed.

    ¡°Choose your champions.¡± a deep voice intoned.

    ¡°Eh?!¡± I said as we looked around frantically.

    ¡°Choose your champions.¡± it repeated. ¡°Harmony, balance; light and shadow, the Taijitu; choose your champions, and send them to meet me.¡± the voice said to us, and a portal of deep-blue color opened at a short distance from us.

    ¡°What do you suppose that means?¡± Snow Dancer wondered.

    ¡°Sounds like it wants a pair of us to face it,¡± Cloveroak said. ¡°And they have to be in-tune with each other, I guess.¡±

    ¡°Hmm... well, I think we all know who''s going in there.¡± Lizzy then grinned, patting Ariana and myself on the back.

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°Eh?¡± we looked back at her.

    ¡°From what I''m hearing it obviously wants to fight or deal with two people who are unbelievably in-sync with each other.¡± Lizzy continued, nodding wisely.

    ¡°Heh...? You picked up that much, huh?¡± I returned with a sly grin.

    ¡°Don''t pick on me, hon. I may not be as bookish as Heali but I know video-games.¡± the blonde girl tugged my ear, and I heard Heali giggle.

    ¡°Taijitu is the yin-yang symbol, as I''m sure Anhe could tell you,¡± the Sea Elf told us, and Anhe nodded.

    ¡°Exactly. Obviously, you two are the closest we have.¡± she said in agreement.

    ¡°Not Heali and Der?¡± Ariana wondered.

    ¡°I''m not as quick on my feet as you and Lana,¡± Derwydd said with a bashful grin.

    ¡°And you''re sure no one but us will work?¡± my partner wondered skeptically.

    ¡°Oh good grief.¡± Lysandra said, stepping forth to pick us both up.

    ¡°Ah--!¡±

    ¡°Sandra!!¡± the two of us nearly squawked as she hauled us to the portal.

    ¡°Pfffft!¡± I saw Snow Dancer cackling.

    ¡°Oh my.¡± Peaches shook her head.

    ¡°Masters, be careful!¡± Fyu called to us.

    ¡°Ahh... will do, buddy!¡± I called back to him.

    ¡°Toss ''em in, Sandy!¡± Lizzy beamed.

    ¡°One yin and yang combo meal, served!¡± Lysandra said. I could imagine the look of delight on her face as she threw the two of us into the portal. And with that, Ariana and I were on our way to the boss.

    ***

    The two of us landed in a spot that was not unlike the room we had just been tossed out out of a moment ago. Even the orb was here. Wait...

    ¡°Oh, so that other one was a fake or something... no, wait, it was like a button,¡± I mused out loud.

    ¡°Ohh, like ringing the front desk or something,¡± Ariana nodded.

    ¡°Yeah, kinda,¡± I agreed.

    ¡°And that activated the portal and the boss; at least I guess that was the boss'' voice...¡± she remarked, looking around at the starry nothing surrounding us.

    ¡°But where is the boss...?¡± I wondered cautiously, slowly getting an arrow ready.

    ¡°Dream Islands; the Orb of Dreams; a dungeon of mind-games and hallucinations and dreamy or nightmarish creatures...¡± Ari pondered, readying her staff. ¡°The boss itself has to be in-theme as well.¡±

    ¡°Some kind of dream-creature again, huh?¡± I returned.

    I looked around again; the Orb of Dreams was floating far overhead, yet it also seemed as if it might be right next to us. That was probably a trick of the dungeon we were in, though which perception was accurate I couldn''t say. Then something else caught my eye, and I quickly noted it before examining the room again.

    ¡°Did you notice that too?¡± Ariana asked me. ¡°Some of the stars look more... ''twinkly'', than the other stars,¡± she said.

    ¡°Yeah, I just noticed it; like that one, over there,¡± I nodded towards a reddish star in the upper left of our field of vision.

    ¡°Hmm... I bet those are crystals,¡± she nodded confidently, and I grinned back.

    ¡°I bet you''re right. Now we just have to--¡± I started to say, but was interrupted by a ghastly howl from some inhuman thing that began sauntering towards us.

    ¡°Where did that come from?!¡± Ari blinked in astonishment.

    ¡°Ahh... I guess it means we''re on the right track... tell you what, I''ll go after that thing and you can deal with the crystals,¡± I told her.

    ¡°Deal!¡± she nodded back, preparing her arsenal of spells while I fired two shots at the mostly indescribable mass lumbering nearer to get its attention.

    It was vaguely humanoid in shape, with two gleaming eyes of a yellow-white hue glaring out of a head and body that was colored various shades of grey with hints of deep violet or black in various places. Two fists raised themselves up to cover its face as I let my arrows loose, and I put the bow away to rush it with my blades instead. I attacked it with Holy Crescent Flash and Vortex Storm, which was similar to Thousand Needle Strike except that I whirled all around the target to deliver my blows instead of just standing there.

    I heard the sound of shattering behind me; Ariana was using her Elemental Shards spell to break the crystals in pairs or in threes with each attack. Behind her I saw another one of the dream-creatures lumbering up with a dreary yet intimidating howl. I hastily decapitated the monster before me, then entered Shadow World to use the combo strike on the one coming after her. It went down in an instant, but the one I thought I had beheaded began getting back up again, this time as two monsters.

    ¡°Gyeck!?¡± I stared in unbelief as Ariana took out another set of crystals. She turned to look, and a nonplussed expression crossed her face.

    ¡°So why did the other one just die...?¡± she wondered.

    ¡°Ehh... I wonder if it''s one of those monsters, where you can''t just cut off its head or limbs willy-nilly...¡± I said as I composed myself, lightly rapping the side of my head with the pommel of my sword.

    ¡°Oh! So I can do this to it,¡± Ari said in a more upbeat tone.

    Uh-oh... sorry monsters, I thought with a hesitant smile. With a snap of her fingers and a thump of her staff, she encased the two creatures in flames, incinerating them as another came waltzing out.

    ¡°Ahh... how many more crystals left?¡± I then asked her.

    ¡°Hmm... I think I''m halfway through them,¡± she told me.

    ¡°Got it!¡± I said, slipping back into the shadows once more to do another instant take-down on our newcomer.

    This little game continued for about three minutes more, and then Ariana had finished taking out the crystals. As the last one shattered, the dream-creature that had been approaching us vanished into nothingness, and the area around us shimmered. Instead of the dark and starry void, we were now in a celestial palace of light. The beauty of the place left us both staring in silent awe as it materialized around us. We found ourselves at the entrance to a long hall, with thirty-two gleaming columns of what looked like ivory and gold, sixteen to a side. On the walls were unbelievably designed stain-glass windows, frescoes, paintings, or tapestries. Sparkling chandeliers and candelabras lit the room, along with two ornamented braziers that sat at the foot of a dais. Atop it was a throne, where sat a magnificently robed figure.

    ¡°So breaking those crystals back there didn''t shatter the dream, but brought us into one?¡± I wondered curiously.

    ¡°Maybe,¡± Ariana agreed, relaxing her grip on the staff and reaching to take my hand. ¡°Shall we?¡± she asked with a smile, and I smiled back, putting my weapons away to take her hand.

    We walked towards the throne calmly; there were no guards that we could see, and no doors or doorways in the walls to the right and left of us. There were two doors behind the left and right of the throne, though. Above the throne was an alcove where sat, I hoped, the genuine Orb of Dreams. As if reading my skepticism on the matter, the robed figure on the throne smiled.

    ¡°Fear not; there it sits, the Orb of Dreams. Not long ago it was used to call forth the ancient one known as Djaziim; and now the pendulum has swung for another band of heroes to return him to slumber.¡± he said.

    ¡°I wouldn''t call the King-Priests heroes, but I get what you mean,¡± I said with a shrug.

    ¡°Be that as it may,¡± the other replied, ¡°You now face your final challenge. Are you ready?¡±

    ¡°We''re ready.¡± I affirmed, and Ariana nodded.

    ¡°We are.¡±

    ¡°So be it!¡± the figure said with a clap of his hands. ¡°Now then tell me, mortals, if you can; what lies on the edge of dreams? Where are the borders, the ends of fancy and imagination? Answer me truly, and I will give you what you seek.¡±

    A riddle?! Snap, maybe Heali and Der *should''ve* gone through instead of us... sure, I''m quick for thinking on my feet in a fight here, but riddles... I bemusedly thought to myself. Then I blinked; maybe the answer was simpler than I thought, and I was just overthinking it. What is on the edge of dreams, and where is the border of imagination...? I thought imagination was boundless, endless...--!!

    ¡°On the edge of dreams are yet more dreams to be dreamt,¡± Ariana said with a confident smile.

    ¡°And there is no end to fancy or to imagination, nor do they have any borders,¡± I added. The figure smiled broadly, chuckling with delight and amusement as he clapped his hands.

    ¡°Well done, little mortals! You answered much quicker than the others. Here, the Orb of Dreams is yours!¡± he said, and it vanished from the alcove to reappear in the air before us. I reached to take it, and the figure on the throne nodded, then waved his hand. As we were whisked away, I caught a fleeting glimpse of his name-tag, The Dream King, and then we were back with the others.

    ¡°Oh hello!¡± Snow Dancer said as we materialized. ¡°Got it, then?¡±

    ¡°Yep!¡± Ari smiled back.

    ¡°Phew! That was easier than I thought,¡± Lizzy said as she hopped to her feet. ¡°Let''s get out of here, then.¡±

    ¡°Let''s!¡± I agreed, and we made our way out of the dungeon, heading back to the rowboats. They were undisturbed, but something was pricking at my senses.

    ¡°Lady Lana!¡± Dracuoatlax''s voice came booming down. ¡°Make haste to your vessel! Our enemy approaches!¡±

    ¡°Row!¡± I said as we jumped into the boats, and we rowed for our lives back to where our ship was. As soon as we had gotten back aboard and secured the smaller boats, we turned the caravel to open sea and set the sails.

    ¡°They''re coming up behind us!¡± Cloveroak called.

    I turned to Dracuoatlax, who was dodging some spell-casting from the enemy. His eyes seemed wide with alarm, and he broke off his assault to come back near our ship. I scurried up the mast to talk with him, and he turned to me.

    ¡°I do not know how, but one of their fiendish casters has found out how to make a spell from the components of Dragonsbane! Forgive me, Lady Lana, but if they have that ability I would not fight them unless you forced me to,¡± he told me.

    ¡°I would never do that,¡± I said to him honestly. ¡°Make your way back to Harmonia; we''ll deal with them somehow.¡±

    ¡°It burns me inside to let you face so cunning a foe as this, for Dragonsbane may kill you as well; but as you command, my master!¡± the dragon said with a somber tone, and with that he flapped off away from us and away from Venomheart.

    I looked back towards the other ship balefully. There goes our winning hand... I thought gloomily as we sailed on, Cloveroak turning the ship back towards Harmonia as we rounded the isles.

 Side Chapter: Venomheart, III

    ¡°Let him go.¡± Melody said as the dragon veered off to head for the Silvernight Queens'' ship. They seemed to have caught up to their quarry just as they had taken the orb. There was still a chance they could seize it, if they could turn the tables on their enemy just once. Jana and Clara had taken step one on that count by brilliantly figuring out how to weaponize Dragonsbane as a spell rather than a physical poison just as they were reaching the Dream Isles, and that had spooked the dragon away. Now he was flying back towards Harmonia. Melody grinned.

    ¡°Ha!¡± Merc crowed triumphantly.

    ¡°Don''t get too happy. The dragon''s just an NPC. Those chicks on the ship are the real deal, and they''re bonkers.¡± Cobra quipped.

    ¡°Yeah, yeah.¡± his friend waved him off.

    ¡°Hey.¡± Cyan said in a quiet voice.

    ¡°Now we just need to get them in range of our cannons so we can let loose with that special ammunition!¡± Merc gleefully rubbed his hands together.

    This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

    ¡°Now that''s what I''m talking about.¡± Cobra grinned.

    ¡°Oy...¡± Cyan said again.

    ¡°You boys and your explosives. At least they''re still poisonous.¡± Jana shrugged.

    ¡°That''s the whole point!¡± Merc tapped the side of his head knowingly.

    ¡°Yes, yes, yeeeess!! Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-hooo!¡± Venomy cackled with delight.

    ¡°Hey!¡± Cyan called once more.

    ¡°What''s up?¡± Merc looked over at his guildmate, who pointed out to sea.

    ¡°What''s that?¡± the stoic necromancer returned, and the others looked as well.

    ¡°What the--?!¡± Jana gaped in disbelief.

    ¡°Isn''t that...?¡± Clara frowned as she saw the object coming into view.

    ¡°The Sea Dragon.¡± Melody glared, her voice filled with ice. ¡°Flamehearts!¡±

 Chapter Twenty-six: Reinforcements, Plays, and Pizzas

    As soon as we had gotten around the isles the wind came against us, and there was nothing we could do but adjust the sails so that they were not facing it. Venomheart''s ship came racing after us, likewise stalled by the wind. They seemed quite desperate to try and finish us off. Heh, all it''ll take is one really good group attack from those super poisoners to get nearly all of us, or at least a third of us... and I''ll be in that third, I reflected ruefully.

    ¡°Readying anti-poison wards!¡± Healina called.

    ¡°Let''s see... where''s that venom-nixing spell?¡± Peaches mumbled as she flipped through a book.

    ¡°I will help!¡± Anhe declared a second later, activating two of her auras to bolster Heali''s wards and Peaches'' spell.

    ¡°They certainly seem like they''re in a hurry; let''s not give them a quick death on our part!¡± Snow Dancer said, readying her own magic to help with healing and resistance.

    ¡°Hmm...¡± I softly mused, gazing at the enemy ship carefully.

    ¡°They really are in a hurry,¡± Ariana said, and I nodded. ¡°It''s almost like they might be out of time; but we''ve still got a couple Panarena days, right?¡±

    ¡°We should,¡± I agreed. ¡°Wait -- behind them!¡± I exclaimed, pointing excitedly.

    Coming up behind Venomheart''s ship was a large galleon with a dragon''s head prow and reddish sails, flying the pennant of a guild that some of us knew very well.

    ¡°Flamehearts!¡± Lizzy clapped her hands together.

    ¡°That ship has some serious speed to catch up with us all the way out here,¡± Cloveroak remarked. ¡°Looks like it''s got some good firepower too!¡± he added as the gunners on the allied ship began manning their stations.

    The main deck had ten guns to a side, and the lower deck had eleven to a side, but it was the prow that surprised us; the dragon was no figurehead. There was a different kind of weapon in its jaws, one that blasted out two great jets of flame towards Venomheart''s ship. Our enemy turned hard to port, no doubt intending to unleash a poisonous vengeance on them.

    ¡°Cylodel! Port them onto the island there!¡± I called out, and the portal mage quickly obliged me, opening a few short range portals to strand the members of Venomheart on a small isle with three palm trees on it.

    As soon as this had been done, the galleon veered to starboard and unleashed cannon-fire on the already ragged caravel, sinking it for good even as one of the enemy guild members, a woman with green hair, ran to the beach and began yelling angrily, readying a spell of attack just for spite. But Angelfire was quicker, and after ¡°herding¡± the other girl back to shore with some fireballs she literally encased our enemies in a wall of fire. I saw an arcane shield go up, but I knew by the time Angelfire''s flames burned out we would all be long gone. Her ship came alongside ours, and I saw her smiling.

    ¡°Just in time, eh?¡± she remarked with a wink.

    ¡°Just in time,¡± I said with a relieved smile.

    ¡°Come on, you can hop on board here and we''ll take your ship in tow.¡± she said.

    None of us needed any convincing. Even Fyu came aboard with us, the dog-beast further relaxed by the company of Flamehearts'' pets, a great white wildcat named Torayuki and two ravens called Edgar and Allan, and as soon as our ship was cabled to ¡°The Sea Dragon¡± we were on our way back to Harmonia. We then headed into the cabins with Angelfire and some of her officers, where we confirmed we had the orb before she brought out a few bottles of mead to celebrate.

    ¡°To one left! And to the end of Djaziim!¡± she declared, and we echoed the toast.

    ¡°Have King-Priests struck with him again?¡± I wondered after our first sip.

    ¡°Yeah, there was a huge scuffle around one of Valiant Maidens'' fortresses in the Wildlands. It''s just barely standing. Well... the gates are, anyway...¡± Angelfire sighed.

    ¡°Uhh...¡±

    ¡°Ah-heh...¡± Ari and I returned bemusedly.

    ¡°And Guardians are still a real threat on land, even if you did crush their naval ambitions.¡± our friend continued. ¡°They''ve done some mischief of their own in the Wildlands, but thankfully F¨¨nghu¨¢ng is more focused on the Phoenix Domain and keeping Hua Ling''s guild under control.¡±

    ¡°Might be time to head over Hua Ling''s way and help her out again, at least until we find the next orb,¡± Ariana suggested to me.

    ¡°Agreed.¡± I nodded back.

    ¡°How soon do you think that''ll turn up?¡± Angelfire wondered.

    ¡°Dunno; guess it depends on what Healina can find out.¡± I shrugged.

    ¡°Oh! This random cube thing appeared in my inventory after we got out of the dungeon; I''ll talk to her about it!¡± Ariana said as she materialized the thing. It was golden in color, or perhaps it was actually gold, and there were eight symbols on it, one to each face.

    ¡°Pretty,¡± Angelfire remarked with awe.

    ¡°Huh! Neat,¡± I said as Ari held it up.

    ¡°Hmm... I''ll show her now before I forget.¡± my partner remarked, gently bopping my shoulder and giving me a wink before she went to talk to Heali.

    Oy... I sighed internally.

    ¡°You doing okay?¡± Angelfire asked me. There was a look of concern on her face. I didn''t know how to answer. ¡°You are still a high school girl, after all. All these nights you spend in this wonderful yet crazy world when you should probably be sleeping; I''m surprised you haven''t gotten in trouble for it yet!¡± she added.

    ¡°Ahh... I mean, we manage... I manage,¡± I said in reply.

    ¡°Yeah?¡± the other girl smiled back.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± I nodded back more confidently. ¡°It hasn''t been... too much of a problem, yet.¡±

    ¡°Oh I know what you mean.¡± Angelfire said. ¡°The other day one of my coworkers was getting on my nerves and I literally tried casting Flame Haze on him five times when he wasn''t looking. Didn''t work, of course, but you know.¡±

    ¡°Pfft!¡± I snorted in amusement, and then we both broke out into laughter.

    ¡°So what kind of things are you into outside of Panarena?¡± she asked me when we had calmed down again.

    ¡°Eh,¡± I shrugged.

    ¡°Aw, come on!¡± she prodded me.

    ¡°Mostly just other games.¡±

    ¡°Ahh, one of those girls, huh?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I guess so,¡± I replied.

    Not *totally* a lie?

    ¡°It''s not like I''m a recluse or anything, I just... haven''t found anything more interesting... yet, I guess...¡± I continued, and she nodded.

    ¡°You will.¡± Angelfire smiled back. ¡°If someone like me can make it through the courses I''m prepping for at uni, you''ll definitely find something that catches your eye.¡±

    ¡°We''ll see,¡± I said.

    ¡°Anyway; it''s gonna take a couple of days to get back to Ragnarheim. And then we''ll have to get your ship back to the Jade Sea after that...¡± she mused diligently.

    ¡°Ahh...¡± I started, sensing a deal of some sort coming on.

    ¡°And since my NPC crew doesn''t have to go anywhere, they can take your ship there and then return to Port Fhormur in Woody Heights later... so, hmm...¡± she continued, and I saw the corners of her mouth twitching with mischief even as she directed a fairly solemn gaze at me.

    ¡°Uhh... crates, ore... rare... from Untold Deeps...¡± I stammered out, and she started giggling.

    ¡°One crate. And then help us pull off a raid against this guild called Cedar Kings in the Southern Plains.¡± she said in reply.

    ¡°You got it,¡± I nodded back at once.

    ¡°But that''ll all have to wait until the real tomorrow.¡± Angelfire sighed.

    ¡°It does get confusing like that, huh?¡±

    ¡°Oh it really does.¡±

    ¡°Ari''s on top of it, though; she''s about the only reason I am where I am. Ah--!¡± I stopped, and then blushed, gazing over towards the girl in question.

    She was occupied with Healina and Peaches, the three of them puzzling out the little cube while Derwydd looked on with an expression of both interest and bewilderment. The others were mingling with the members of Flamehearts, laughing and sharing stories of the wild adventures we had all been having since the competition began. But I could only focus on the Wood Elf mage across the room. Angelfire smiled at me, patting me on the head.

    ¡°I know.¡± she said, her voice quiet. I managed to look back at her. She seemed sad, but the smile remained on her face all the same.

    Ahh... what, what do I do here? I mused to myself, feeling (and probably looking) flustered in the face of that expression--literally.

    ¡°It''s okay.¡± she said a moment later. ¡°I''m always here for you, though.¡±

    ¡°I know.¡± I replied.

    It was at least the second time now that Angelfire had come through for us--for me, personally--in a pinch. I burst out with a faint giggle as I remembered our encounter in the Garth-Queens War. She looked at me with a grin of curiosity.

    ¡°Ahh... just... sorry, really, about the avalanche,¡± I managed to say before shaking with a silent case of the giggles. She made a wry smile, then sat beside me, giving me a gentle headlock as she tousled my hair.

    ¡°Still thinking about that and laughing, huh? Well so am I!¡± Angelfire told me, and we both started cackling out loud again.

    ***

    The rest of our time in Panarena passed with a similar ease. There wasn''t much to do but sail the ship, after all, and we were avoiding the tricky seas, too. But ¡°The Sea Dragon¡± was by far faster than our caravel, and would get around them much faster than our ship could get through them. As Ariana and I prepared to logout the next Panarena morning, she smiled at me.

    ¡°I''m glad you''re not so tense around her anymore.¡± she told me.

    ¡°Hmm? Oh,¡± I said, smiling. ¡°Yeah. I am too,¡± I replied.

    ¡°But you''re still mine.¡± Ariana smirked.

    ¡°Always.¡± I grinned back. We shared a kiss, and then logged out for the day.

    In the real world, where I actually woke up, it was about six in the morning. I hurriedly got out of bed and started getting ready for school. As I made my way to head out to the bus an hour later, I saw my parents sitting together in the living room -- right as the morning news bulletins were being read.

    ¡°And last night at approximately eight PM, a young high school student was attacked by an unknown suspect in a ski mask; the assailant was last estimated to be in the Atherson''s Park area near Ward Square, but the police are confident he will be caught within the next day or two. According to the official report, the young man who was attacked was driven home safely by the officer who arrived on the scene, and was thankfully without injury.¡±

    ¡°That''s around our neighborhood,¡± my mother declared, starting to rise from her seat.

    ¡°Ehh, it''s closer to where Rachel lives now--hah?!¡± my father said in realization, then sprang out of his chair to lock eyes with me at the same time my mother did.

    ¡°Sean!?¡±

    ¡°Sean!!¡± they both said at once.

    ¡°Ahh...¡±

    ¡°You were the young man in that report! Are you okay?!¡± my mother demanded, coming over to me.

    ¡°I''m fine, really; he didn''t even touch me,¡± I returned at once.

    ¡°That''s not the point!¡± she replied, taking hold of my shoulders and pressing me close a moment later. ¡°Good God; you didn''t call us at once?!¡±

    ¡°It''s a little hard to call people when you''re fending off some weirdo who thinks he''s a ninja-robber or something,¡± I quipped back, and my father actually laughed.

    ¡°He''s got you there. Did you get the officer''s name? I''d like to call in and thank him, and then apologize for not being at the door when he dropped you off.¡± he said to me.

    When I had divulged the necessary information and gotten a quick lecture about being safe coming home from now on, I all but sprinted to the bus stop. As soon as I got there the bus came rolling around the corner, and with a sigh I resigned myself to the arguably more boring but no less tedious rigors of academia.

    Ty was asleep when I got on, and remained asleep until we arrived at school, whereupon he promptly woke up and flicked me before we got off the bus. And when I got to my locker a few moments later, Rachel literally pounced on me and held me tightly. I softly smiled, patting her hands a moment later. She let go so I could get my stuff sorted out for the morning, not taking her eyes off of me for a moment.

    ¡°You''re really okay? From last night, I mean.¡± she asked as we headed in.

    ¡°I''m fine now,¡± I told her.

    ¡°Okay. I trust you.¡± she nodded as we sat down.

    ¡°I know. Thanks,¡± I replied.

    ¡°Ugh. I wish we could go to club today...¡± she said with a sigh.

    ¡°Right?¡± I agreed. ¡°Though I guess we kinda get to participate at lunch...¡±

    ¡°Yeahh... not the same.¡±

    ¡°I did say ''kinda''.¡± I wryly grinned back, and she returned the expression. The bell rang, and our school day began.

    ***

    It was a relief when lunch came along. Some things were getting easier in class, I suppose; at least I was maintaining a C-average in math. But it''s still math, man. It''ll never not be a problem for me, and that''s no pun.

    Rachel and I made our way to the club room after getting our lunches, and our afternoon books, where we found the others already waiting. We took our seat, listening to the conversation already going on between them.

    ¡°We get an actual tour of Fun Castle this time, huh?¡± Mary said.

    ¡°Yep!¡± Ellie beamed.

    The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    ¡°That settles that number of work-visitation requirements for the year!¡± Andrea smiled, jotting down things in her notebook.

    ¡°Phew -- and hey!¡± Ellie said as she turned to us.

    ¡°Hey!¡± Rachel smiled back.

    ¡°Really though; Sean, you okay?¡± the older girl said to me with a more serious look.

    ¡°I''m fine, really; he didn''t hurt me, and a whole night in Panarena really does make you forget some things.¡± I said, and she snickered.

    ¡°Someone got an earful from their parents this morning.¡± she grinned.

    ¡°Hyeck--?!¡±

    ¡°See??¡±

    ¡°Good grief,¡± Andrea smiled, slightly shaking her head. ¡°Seriously it''s good you''re okay. But if it happens again, any time you come over to our house in the future we''re making you stay the night.¡± she declared, and Rachel nodded vigorously in agreement.

    ¡°Def!¡± she said.

    ¡°Ahh...¡± I returned uncertainly, looking over at Thomas.

    ¡°I have to agree with them, man.¡± he said, shrugging in support.

    ¡°I can get you some handcuffs if you need, Rachel.¡± Mary quipped, and Lizzy cackled as an understandable look of consternation came to my face.

    ¡°Let''s lighten up on him for now, though,¡± Thomas said with a short laugh.

    Just for now?!

    ¡°Right! So I''ll talk to Mrs. Brown and we''ll get a Saturday scheduled for our Fun Castle visitation this spring.¡± Andrea said.

    ¡°Thomas and I may have to be working that day, but I think that should somehow count.¡± Ellie returned.

    ¡°I think our advisor will agree to that,¡± Andrea nodded. ¡°Oh! Now to more fun stuff!¡± she then smiled, pulling out another notebook. ¡°I''m not exactly sure, but I think this final orb is called the Orb of Secrets, or the Orb of Mysteries,¡± she told us.

    ¡°Ooh, neat!¡± Rachel said.

    ¡°I wonder what kind of torturous dungeon that will be,¡± Anhe remarked as she took a bite of her sandwich.

    ¡°I''m not sure!¡± Andrea replied. ¡°I know the cube--octahedron, actually--is a key to finding it, somehow or another, but I haven''t figured out how it needs to be used.¡±

    ¡°Hmm...¡± the younger girl returned, pondering the thought. The rest of us began thinking about it too as we turned our attention to our food.

    ¡°We''ll definitely have to take a closer look at it when we get back on.¡± I decided after a few minutes. As soon as I said that, an idea fomented in my mind -- but it would have to wait.

    ¡°Oh for sure.¡± Rachel agreed. ¡°Let''s get through classes and rehearsals first.¡±

    ¡°Definitely.¡± I said with a faint grin.

    ¡°Ooh, I bet Joanna is gonna be fuming tonight,¡± Ellie then remarked, and Rachel and I both tensed up, looking at each other bemusedly.

    ¡°Ehh... she''s right...¡± I noted quietly.

    ¡°Hahh...¡± Rachel sighed. ¡°Oh boy.¡±

    A knock on the door was heard at that moment. We all looked around at each other in surprise for a brief moment, and then Mary went to get the door. As if we had summoned her, Joanna was at the door. Mary let her in with a smile, and she came to stand directly before Rachel.

    ¡°I''m calling off the bet.¡± the older girl said.

    ¡°Huh?¡± Rachel wondered.

    ¡°Our bet about your other identity, and my guild; I''m calling it off. You''re gonna pay for that tonight.¡± Joanna said again, her glare icy. Rachel gazed back calmly at her.

    ¡°Fair enough. But I don''t think you''ll be getting one over us any time soon.¡± my girlfriend replied gently.

    ¡°Oh?¡± Joanna grinned back. ¡°I already sent Jana, Merc, and Clara to the Torching Mount after we used our recall skill to get back to Harmonia. I think we''ll get one over on you pretty soon. See you at rehearsal tonight, cutie.¡± she then said, and stalked out of the room proudly.

    ¡°She''s wound up, huh?¡± Thomas remarked as Mary shut the door again. ¡°And why send them to the Tor-- ohhh...¡± he realized with a shocked expression as he sat up.

    ¡°Snap!! Dracuoatlax!!¡± I nearly jumped out of my seat, as did the others. ¡°They can probably lay an ambush for him in there, and it''ll be nothing for those poisoners to get through that horde of -- oh, snap, snap!!¡± I fumed, hopping out of my seat to pace around the room frantically.

    ¡°Whatcha doing?¡± Ellie then said to Andrea.

    ¡°Sending a message to Peaches and Snow Dancer.¡± the redhead replied.

    ¡°Calm down, Sean. We have friends too. They''ll definitely warn him in time, somehow, and he''ll keep clear of the trap.¡± Mary told me.

    ¡°Uugghhh,¡± I heaved a sigh as I flopped back into my seat, Rachel patting my head.

    ¡°But let''s allow her to enjoy the mood all the same.¡± Rachel suggested to me. ¡°Maybe she''ll stay on point tonight in rehearsal.¡±

    ¡°¡­ Good point.¡± I agreed.

    ¡°Hmm...?¡± Ellie gazed over with interest, then shrugged. ¡°She''s been paying less attention in classes, too, come to think of it.¡±

    ¡°Right?¡± Thomas agreed.

    ¡°Oh for sure.¡± Andrea nodded.

    ¡°She''s... got a lot to deal with, or that''s what Malcolm says,¡± Rachel said with a faint smile.

    ¡°Yeah, that''s the scoop.¡± Ellie said.

    ¡°And... Snow Dancer got the message. She''s sending out an alert right now. See? He''ll be fine.¡± Andrea smiled as she looked over at me.

    ¡°Still... my gamer pride is a bit deflated,¡± I said with a half-grin.

    ¡°Pfft!¡± Rachel nearly burst out laughing, and then patted my head again.

    ¡°I am sure you will recover it tonight somehow.¡± Anhe smiled at me.

    ¡°Maybe.¡± I assented.

    ¡°You will.¡± Mary grinned. ¡°I know it.¡±

    ¡°Oh, Sean,¡± Thomas then said, ¡°I''ve heard about that guild Angelfire wants help with tonight, the Cedar Kings. Our guild got into a couple of scuffles with them in the Grasslands of Inyan, of all places, and another in the Yucu Plains.¡±

    ¡°Hehh...? Did you fight them?¡± I wondered.

    ¡°Nah, I''ve been too busy hanging out with the girls,¡± he said with a broad smirk. ¡°But Cloveroak and Gondron apparently really hated going up against them.¡±

    ¡°If the Wereoak and the Rock Monster hate fighting them, they''ve gotta be tough,¡± I noted, ignoring the soft jab at my alter-ego.

    I''ve mentioned before that Cloveroak has the nickname of Wereoak in-game because he''s a changeling sage. Gondron, on the other hand, is a Stone Dwarf. They''re not literally made of stone, but their racial tree allows them a rock-like durability and resistance to nearly any attack, and Gondron had blended that with the defensive skill trees to make himself an absolute wall against nearly everything in the game. A superb mage or shadow-warrior could probably take him down, but other than that he was practically impossible to wear down. Hence his nickname of ¡°Rock Monster¡±.

    ¡°Right?¡± Thomas said in answer to my observation. ¡°Each encounter left Gondron complaining about mages and sages, though, so that''s at least a hint of what we''re up against. I''m not surprised Angelfire wants our help with them.¡±

    ¡°Well sure,¡± Mary nodded. ¡°Lana and Lysandra are definite mage-banes, to say nothing of Lizzy,¡± she continued, and Ellie stuck out her chest with pride, nodding in agreement. ¡°And if Myanihia decides to come along it''s game over for all but the toughest magic-users. Besides which there''s almost no way to take us down with Healina, Anhe, and Belle around.¡±

    ¡°Unless we run out of power potions.¡± Andrea pointed out.

    ¡°I wonder who makes them in our guild...¡± the older girl grinned back mischievously.

    ¡°Yeah, yeah.¡± our club leader smirked back.

    ¡°Angelfire has some serious damage-dealers and tank-breakers in her guild though, aside from herself, of course.¡± I remarked. ¡°I feel like she''s asking us along for the shock value.¡±

    ¡°Maybe!¡± Rachel said. ¡°I guess we''ll find out when we get back on. Oh, are you gonna eat that?¡± she pointed to a brownie I had.

    ¡°Hm? Uh... yeah,¡± I returned.

    ¡°Wanna split it? I''ll split this with you,¡± she said, slicing up her cheesecake.

    ¡°Oh, sure,¡± I agreed, and she sliced the brownie, snatching it up with delight as she deposited the other half of the cheesecake on my side of the table.

    ¡°Ugh. You two. You''re too cute.¡± Andrea sighed.

    ¡°Almost too cute to live.¡± Ellie grumbled.

    ¡°Hyeck?!¡±

    ¡°Too soooon!!¡± Rachel fussed back at her, and the blonde girl''s eyes widened.

    ¡°Ooooh, no-no-no-no-no! I am so sorry, I didn''t mean it that way!¡± she raised her hands apologetically.

    ¡°N-no worries,¡± I returned with a faint laugh. ¡°Really, it''s fine,¡± I assured her, but she shook her head.

    ¡°Ugh. That was bad even for me. I''m bringing you home tonight after your practice and we''re gonna go to a restaurant as an apology. ''Kay? ''Kay.¡± Ellie declared.

    ¡°Ah--uh--sure,¡± I agreed.

    ¡°You don''t have work tonight?¡± Thomas suddenly wondered.

    ¡°Mr. Barnum told me I was taking too much time at work lately for a high-school student, so he''s not letting me work again until the weekend.¡± Ellie said sheepishly.

    ¡°Ahh...¡± Thomas nodded. ¡°Well I do have work tonight, so I''ll miss out on -- wait, will I miss out on anything?¡± he wondered.

    ¡°Ehh, dunno,¡± I shrugged back.

    ¡°By the time he does get back we''ll be getting into the action.¡± Andrea patted him on the shoulder.

    ¡°Nice.¡± Mary said.

    ¡°Ellie, can we all come too? Tonight, I mean.¡± Anhe asked.

    ¡°Hmm? Sure!¡± the other girl beamed back. ¡°I''mma go with a pizza place. That okay?¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡± Anhe nodded.

    ¡°Good! I''ll even see if our other two members can join up!¡± Ellie said, pulling out her phone with a smile.

    ¡°In the meantime -- hurry and eat! We have five minutes!¡± Andrea told us.

    ¡°Again?! Ugh!¡± Rachel softly griped as we all began squirreling food away into our mouths.

    ¡°Right?? Like didn''t we just get here?¡± Mary sighed in agreement.

    ¡°Certainly feels like it...¡± Thomas nodded. ¡°Oh, here,¡± he then said, tapping Andrea on the shoulder. She looked over, and he deftly placed a cookie in her mouth.

    ¡°Now who''s too cute?¡± Rachel smirked over at them, and we all shared a laugh at the remark.

    ¡°And: line!¡± Miss Holly said to me later that evening. Afternoon classes had gone well, and we were now in our second hour of rehearsals.

    ¡°By all the saints! Your vile villainy ends here, wretched knight! Your treachery towards Lady Marion will be repaid!¡± I quoted with ardor as Robin Hood.

    ¡°Come, then, hero of Sherwood! Let us see who shall win the day: the sheriff''s own knight, or a despicable and traitorous noble turned outlaw!¡± Joanna-Gisbourne quoted back.

    ¡°Speak to me not of treachery whilst wearing the livery of Lackland! While Richard yet lives, ''tis yourself who is the traitor, Gisbourne!¡±

    ¡°A feckless king with a feckless subject! Have at you, Locksley! To the death, and God help me!¡±

    Our dialogue thus ended, we engaged each other in the practiced sword-fight, executing it without one misstep, finishing it up with a flourish and a dramatic death-throe from Joanna, who was in high spirits tonight. When she finished dying, Marion-Rachel came dashing down the steps.

    ¡°Oh, Robin! Thank God! Now come quickly, I pray you, for there is yet the sheriff to deal with and the gates of Nottingham to open for the rightful king!¡± she said.

    ¡°Trust, my love; Little John and the others have it well in hand! The king will find the gates open, and that worm Prince John and his quivering sheriff shall be dealt with royally!¡± I said in reply.

    ¡°All the same, Robin, come quickly!¡± she implored me.

    ¡°As you say, my Lady Marion! Let us away from here!¡± I returned, and we exited stage right to end the scene.

    ¡°Good!¡± Holly exclaimed, clapping her hands. ¡°Right; Jo-girl! Up! We need to work on your scenes with Joe-boy and Marcus.¡± she said.

    ¡°Yes, ma''am!¡± Joanna said as she sprang up, dusting herself off and coming over to give me a five and handshake. ¡°Good work!¡± she smiled before heading off to join Joe Dunn and Marcus for their scenes.

    ¡°Well that was different.¡± I remarked softly.

    ¡°I think canceling the wager also lifted her spirits some, as well as the pressure of it.¡± Rachel said quietly.

    ¡°Oh for sure. Heh... I didn''t want her to end her guild for a bet anyway...¡± I said.

    ¡°Even if they are a gang of poisonous psychos?¡± my girlfriend grinned back.

    ¡°W-e-ll....¡± I shrugged uncertainly, and she laughed. ¡°Come to think of it, we''ve never really gotten to fight them all at once...¡±

    ¡°Well we keep getting saved by other guilds when that sort of thing happens. And given their apparent arsenal of harmful substances I''m not sure I want to fight them all at once.¡± she said with a wry smile.

    ¡°Ehh... true.¡± I had to agree.

    ¡°Sean! Rachel! Act Three, Scene Twelve!¡± our teacher called out.

    ¡°Coming!¡± we both said at once, hurrying over to work on the scene in question.

    ***

    ¡°It''s really coming along, huh?¡± Ellie remarked as she drove the four of us--myself, Rachel, Mary, and Anhe--to the restaurant later that night. Mary had stayed to watch with her as well, as had Andrea, who was in the other car with Christina and Mandy. They were on their way to pick up another person as well, which gave me a semi-uneasy feeling.

    ¡°Yeah, it really is,¡± I said in agreement.

    ¡°And Joanna''s swordplay.¡± Mary added. ¡°She''s definitely getting into that school she wants to go to.¡±

    ¡°They have some sort of competition for that thing, don''t they?¡± Ellie asked.

    ¡°I think it''s actually more of a prep camp, or at least that''s what I''ve heard,¡± Mary answered.

    ¡°Huh.¡±

    ¡°She does have to get through that first. But still.¡±

    ¡°Oh defs. No question there.¡± Ellie nodded.

    ¡°It sounds like it would be a fun kind school,¡± Anhe remarked. ¡°Maybe I might consider something like that instead... helping with the play has given me that kind of thinking, anyway!¡±

    ¡°You mean like training to be a martial arts instructor of some kind?¡± Rachel asked her.

    ¡°Yes!¡± the younger girl said.

    ¡°That does sound like fun!¡± Rachel smiled.

    A car pulled alongside us on the right as we drove down the boulevard, and its driver beeped the horn. It was Mandy and the others, along with another girl sitting behind Christina who looked very similar to our bandeau-loving friend. I suddenly shrank in the seat, realizing who it was as they zipped ahead of us.

    ¡°Sean?¡± Rachel said as she noticed what I was doing.

    ¡°M-Myanihia...¡± I said in a defeated tone.

    ¡°Hm? Hm?? Ah!!¡± my girlfriend smiled.

    ¡°Oooh, this''ll be gooood,¡± Ellie practically squealed with delight as Mary cracked a grin.

    ¡°Think she''ll know who Lana is?¡± she asked.

    ¡°If she doesn''t I won''t know what to say!¡±

    ¡°You didn''t figure it out for at least a week,¡± I quipped back.

    ¡°Ruuude. Minus five points.¡±

    ¡°Gyeck?!¡±

    ¡°You should know better by now.¡± Anhe said, reaching over to poke me.

    ¡°Hahh...¡±

    ¡°But really, you should!¡± Rachel agreed, patting my head.

    ¡°I can''t believe you''re taking points away from me while you''re driving me to an apology meal.¡± I couldn''t help but point out. In the mirror, I saw Ellie''s face go blank for about five seconds before she puffed her cheeks out, sighing.

    ¡°Nrrrgghhh, blehhh... fine. Ten points to you.¡± she finally said with a grin. I decided to accept my little victory quietly, lest I negate it again.

    When we arrived at the pizza place, we found Mandy and the others waiting at a large booth. She waved us over, and introduced us to Sabrina, as she was formally introduced to us, one by one.

    ¡°This is Mary, that''s Ellie and Anhe with her; you definitely won''t have a hard time figuring them out! And here''s Rachel, our little wizard, along with her boyfriend, Sean.¡± Mandy said as we sat down, each of us reaching to shake hands with Sabrina.

    ¡°It''s, good to meet you all, in this world.¡± she smiled. ¡°Except... Christy, I thought, you said that Lana, would be here?¡± she wondered.

    ¡°Oh, she is.¡± her half-sister said with an innocent shrug.

    ¡°Is she?¡± the other twin blinked. ¡°Maryn... Lizzy... Anhe... Ariana... boyfr--!! Wait... Ari, and Lana...¡± Sabrina said as she looked at me closely. Then she smiled. ¡°You''re the boy, from a few months ago. And you''re Lana.¡± she said to me confidently. I could feel my face reddening, a hesitant smile coming to my face.

    ¡°Ahh...¡±

    ¡°Told you.¡± I heard Christina whisper to Mandy, who chuckled.

    ¡°I''m, not mad. It''s cute. But, Lana...¡± Sabrina said to me with a twinkle in her eyes, ¡°You''re, getting a hug, before you go.¡±

    ¡°Ehh?¡±

    ¡°Give up now, kiddo.¡± Christina told me. ¡°She''s been dying to meet you ever since she found out we''ve been hanging out with you all.¡±

    ¡°Ah-heh,¡± I smiled back.

    ¡°And, I had a night off, so when Christy asked, I had to come along!¡± Sabrina smiled.

    ¡°Hm? You''re a...?¡± I wondered.

    ¡°Lifeguard.¡± she replied.

    ¡°Oh, neat!¡±

    ¡°That''s super cool!¡± Rachel nodded.

    ¡°It''s, mostly boring,¡± the older girl said, smiling nonetheless.

    ¡°Still,¡± I shrugged as a waiter came over to take our drink orders. When these were in, he went to go get them, and our conversation resumed.

    ¡°I''ll be on around midnight, by the way. It is a bar night for me.¡± Christina said.

    ¡°You brats should just sleep tonight, but I know you won''t.¡± Mandy grinned.

    ¡°Ruuude.¡± Ellie quipped back.

    ¡°I hope Dracuoatlax was saved in time...¡± I suddenly recalled.

    ¡°I''m sure he was.¡± Andrea smiled.

    ¡°Ooh, yeah, Andi told us the details on the ride over.¡± Mandy nodded. ¡°I bet all our friends are frantically looking around for the big guy, though, so he should be fine, if he wasn''t found already.¡±

    ¡°Yep!¡± Ellie agreed. ¡°So let''s settle this before our waiter comes back: how many pizzas and what kind?¡± she asked, and we spent the next few minutes debating the question (or questions, I suppose), Sabrina watching us softly bicker and tease one another with a smile on her face. Rachel squeezed my hand as we subtly backed out of it, faintly nodding towards her.

    ¡°I''m glad you made a friend out of her, in both worlds.¡± she quietly said to me.

    ¡°Me too,¡± I agreed in a whisper. Me too.

 Side Chapter: Dracuoatlax

    Barbarianne and Kiana stood anxiously at the prow of their flagship. Several in-world hours ago, Snow Dancer from Dreamers Fables had passed on a message to the alliance: Find Dracuoatlax before he reaches the Torching Mount; Venomheart is laying a trap for him there. The dragon couldn''t have gotten home yet, thankfully. There was a vast distance between the Dream Isles and the Firelands. Some members of the alliance had spotted the dragon on his south and westward journey while in the Vales of Aergondi, and a few more had sighted him a couple hours ago as he passed through Memphani.

    Kiana scanned the horizon carefully, seeing some sort of shape in the sky coming towards them. It was too big to be a bird. It had to be the dragon.

    ¡°Send up the flares! Sound the horn when he gets close!¡± she ordered, and her archers sent fire-arrows into the sky. As the dragon closed on their position, a horn was sounded, and a couple other guild members waved flags or banners frantically to get the dragon''s attention. To their relief and amazement, he paused his flight, and Kiana climbed to the crow''s nest.

    ¡°Friend of Lana, why do you seek me?¡± the dragon softly demanded as he came close to her. Kiana was reminded once again just how complex and individualistic some of the NPCs in this game were, and took a breath to calm herself.

    ¡°Lady Lana herself sent a message through friends from the other world,¡± she began, and the dragon moved closer, listening intently.

    Stolen novel; please report.

    ¡°My dear master has spoken from the other world? By the fires of the mountain! What word does she send?¡±

    ¡°She warns you that the enemy is planning to kill you; even now they may be at the Torching Mount, poisoning your home with Dragonsbane.¡± Kiana told him.

    ¡°Hmm!¡± the dragon''s eyes widened in surprise. ¡°Such audacity! If it were any poison but that, I would go to teach them a lesson myself; but I will give to others the task of cleansing my home from that foulness. I must take a rest, however; to that end, I shall go to a secret location that only I am aware of -- fear not! None shall find me but Lady Lana, and only when I choose to let her do so,¡± he continued.

    ¡°Venomheart are no fools; they may try to find you again.¡± Kiana said, and the dragon chuckled.

    ¡°They may try, indeed, friend of Lana. But only such as I could reach the place to where I now go. Be at ease! You have delivered your message, and I will take care not to underestimate these mortals again!¡± Dracuoatlax told her, and then flapped off to the north instead of the southwest. Kiana climbed down in relief, and was met by Barbarianne and Nightwing.

    ¡°That sounded like it went well.¡± her sister-in-law said appreciatively.

    ¡°I''d say so,¡± Kiana agreed.

    ¡°Now we signal Reginleif and Johann,¡± Barbarianne said.

    ¡°And we turn the ambush back on the ambushers.¡± Nightwing grinned back.

    ¡°Let''s go, gang!¡± Kiana smiled, and they set off to meet the others at a predetermined rendezvous point off the coast of the Firelands.

 Chapter Twenty-seven: A Small Diversion/The Final Quest

    After dinner, Sabrina acted upon her soft threat, giving me a tight hug for several moments and then telling me she was looking forward to the musical. Rachel then gave me a hug herself, deciding to go with Andrea in Mandy''s car to simplify things for our drivers. Ellie had me sit up front with her this time while Mary and Anhe sat in the back, and a few moments after Mandy''s car headed out we took off.

    Come to think of it, if I get dropped off last this''ll be the first time I''ve seen Mary or Anhe''s home, I thought to myself as we headed down the road.

    ¡°Right--Mary''s closest, Anhe''s next, and this one''s last!¡± Ellie said, softly patting my head for a brief moment.

    ¡°Oy...¡±

    ¡°Pffft!¡± Mary began shaking with laughter while Anhe giggled.

    ¡°Poor Sean!¡± the younger girl smiled, reaching up to pat my arm.

    ¡°Hahh...¡±

    ¡°No ninjas tonight, kiddo.¡± Ellie said with a grin, but I could tell she was being more serious than her expression let on.

    ¡°Y-yeah,¡± I managed to reply.

    ¡°I hope they catch that guy soon.¡± Mary remarked. ¡°Dad knows a few of the officers who came to help watch the school today; he says they''re hopeful about it.¡±

    ¡°Huh. Good.¡± Ellie nodded.

    For some reason... now that I''m thinking about it again, that really didn''t feel like a normal attack... I mean, nunchaku? Even for a street robber that feels way too dramatic... I mused to myself for a moment, then put it out of mind as we got to one of the fancier residential districts of the city.

    We made our way through a series of elegant streets with what amounted to mini-manors and proper mansions and their demesne on either side; I was both awestruck and nonplussed. One of the larger ones had a party going on; there were a couple of pavilion-tents and a large pool, and on a stage we could see an all-girl band.

    ¡°Ooh, fancy,¡± Ellie noted as we passed by.

    ¡°Yeah, I think that''s the Wallace''s house. It''s their diamond jubilee, mom said.¡± Mary replied.

    ¡°Wow!¡±

    ¡°Oh wow,¡± I said as Ellie nodded with approval.

    ¡°How nice for them!¡± Anhe smiled.

    ¡°Right? And I think that band is their granddaughter''s.¡± Mary added.

    ¡°Huh, neat!¡± Ellie said in reply.

    No really, that''s definitely cool.

    ¡°And, here we are!¡± Ellie then announced as we pulled into the roadway of a mini-manor a few moments later. It wasn''t as fancy as most of the others, but somehow the austere simplicity of the design seemed to suit Dr. Robertson. ¡°We''ll have to have a party at your place sometime. Like for real.¡± Ellie said as Mary unbuckled herself, and the older girl laughed.

    ¡°Maybe!¡± she half-agreed. She opened the door, and then put a hand on my shoulder. I looked back at her; there was a tenderness in her eyes as she smiled at me, then she gave me a firm pat and slipped out of the car, shutting the door before heading in to her home. Ellie waited until she was inside, and then we set off for Anhe''s.

    ¡°Ooh, we should also have a party at Anhe''s, now that I think about it.¡± Ellie remarked, and Anhe grinned.

    ¡°I do not know what my father or grandfather would say about that.¡± she replied.

    ¡°Ehh, well, I guess we''ll have to make-do with a vacation home!¡± Ellie beamed back.

    ¡°Exactly!¡± Anhe nodded. ¡°Although maybe I might convince them to allow you over for New Year''s this year!¡± she then added.

    ¡°Sa-weeet!¡± the other girl smiled.

    ¡°That does sound fun,¡± I agreed.

    Not long after, we pulled up to what seemed almost a castle. Anhe''s family was one of the oldest in this area; it made a certain sense to me that her family home would be one of the proudest, even if it was pretty mind-boggling to me at the moment. It was almost as if the entire place, styled in traditional East Asian architecture, by the way had been transported piece by piece from China itself. Anhe got out of the car, waving to us.

    ¡°I will see you in-game after homework!¡± she called.

    ¡°Yep! See you then!¡± Ellie called back, waiting again until Anhe was inside.

    ¡°Ugh... homework...¡± I recalled with disgust.

    ¡°Heh... right?¡± Ellie softly groaned. She then set off for my house, which we arrived at about twenty minutes later on account of traffic.

    Right... we''re here. There''s no way that guy is around the house; there''s a police car on the other side of the street, after all. They''d have spotted him by now if so, I reasoned to myself as I started getting out of the car.

    ¡°There''s a cop, and your adopted sister is right here. Go on.¡± Ellie gave me a gentle bop on the shoulder, and I smiled back as I got out. Sure enough nothing happened, and I got inside safely, hearing Ellie beep her horn before she set off for home herself.

    My parents were already asleep; I headed upstairs, simultaneously bemoaning the homework yet also thankful it was just Japanese and History for tonight. And that essay for English will be due this coming Monday... no pressure, I sighed in relief. A few minutes after I had settled myself in to get it done, Rachel video-called me so we could do it together, and between the two of us we got it done pretty quick.

    ¡°See? That was easy.¡± she said.

    ¡°Everything is easier without math.¡± I promptly replied, and she smirked back.

    ¡°Yeah, yeah.¡± she returned with a laugh. ¡°We''d better head in; the others are probably waiting on us by now.¡±

    ¡°True... see you in a few.¡±

    ¡°See you soon, Lana,¡± Rachel smiled, and I smiled back as the call ended. I then laid myself upon the bed, and set the Dream Machine upon my head so that I could escape the real world once again.

    ***

    I loaded up on ¡°The Sea Dragon¡± when I got in, and found the ship just arriving at a player-port in Ragnarheim. Judging from the banners, it was jointly owned by Mountain Tigers and ?SOVEREIGN?. Most of the others were already on, and Ariana arrived shortly after I did.

    ¡°We''ll keep it here until the others who couldn''t get on now log in, and then we''ll sail it around as planned.¡± Angelfire said to her NPC crew. As for us, we disembarked, and found Wildeye and Jannie waiting for us with Tyman and Winnie.

    ¡°Yo!¡± Tyman called out as we reached them.

    ¡°You have it, then?¡± Wildeye asked.

    ¡°Yep! One more to go,¡± I nodded.

    ¡°That demon-thing is making a mess in the Wildlands again. And Kiana said your dragon buddy is hiding out somewhere for now.¡± Winnie said, and I sighed in relief.

    ¡°Right!¡± Angelfire said as she landed next to us. ¡°Ready to blast some baddies?¡± she asked me.

    ¡°Is it fine if I check out the Torching Mount first? Just to see if...¡± I trailed off, not sure that I really wanted to encounter one of the poisoners.

    ¡°Sure! If you take me with you.¡± Angelfire quickly returned. ¡°Let''s see... Anhe, you come with us. Your auras should be enough. The rest of you should follow Dante; he''ll take you to a rendezvous point.¡± she said.

    ¡°Splitting up the lovebirds?¡± Jannie wondered with a faint grin.

    ¡°We definitely need Ariana on the front right away for this one. They won''t expect her.¡± Angelfire shrugged.

    ¡°That''s fine,¡± my partner smiled back, giving me a quick hug. ¡°Give them a few whacks for me if you find them.¡±

    ¡°Will do,¡± I grinned back, and with that, Angelfire, Anhe, and myself took the wayport to the Torching Mount.

    It certainly looked no less imposing than it usually did. The wisps of smoke trailed out from the top lazily, and the molten rivers in the distance lolled on through the barren landscape. There was something off about the color of the smoke, though. Anhe put up her auras at once, and I clad us in the shadows, leading the two of them up to the mountain''s entrance.

    We reached this without incident, and proceeded inside. There was no sign of poison yet; perhaps it was rigged so that it would activate when the dragon returned. Why was the smoke changing color, then? Was it a false lure of some kind, a misdirection to keep Dracuoatlax occupied while they set the poison off themselves?

    Who did she say was here... right, Jana, Merc, and Clara, I mused to myself, bringing Myanihia''s notes about them to mind. Jana was an herbalist and an archer; Clara was a witch; and Merc was an alchemist. Jana and Merc were definitely the ones who had concocted the dragonsbane poison that was our current concern, and Clara had likely been involved in making it an aerial spell. I wondered if any of the three had a stealth skill.

    ¡°Uuugghhhh, he''s not coming.¡± I heard a female voice say. At once I had us halt.

    ¡°He''s got to check out the smoke. It''s scented with the essence of Djaziim. There''s no way he wouldn''t come.¡± another girl remarked.

    ¡°If he doesn''t know it''s a trap, sure.¡± a man, definitely Merc, replied.

    ¡°Shut up, Merc! There''s no way he''d know!¡± the second girl replied.

    ¡°Unless that brat Mel got full of herself at school or something and ratted the plans to Lana... ugh, I''m so sick of hearing that name.¡± the first girl sighed wearily.

    ¡°Stuff it, Jana.¡± the other girl, clearly Clara, retorted to the first.

    ¡°Oh please. I don''t know why you''re crushing on that obsessive chick anyway.¡± Jana snorted back. ¡°You''re a better player, too. Oh sure, she''s good with her sword. But why do you let someone who barely gets the fundamentals of gaming run our guild when you could run it better?¡±

    ¡°I''m fine with playing second.¡± Clara returned as we got into view of them. They were on the ledge just before the descent to Dracuoatlax''s nest. ¡°It''s more fun, and Mel hasn''t been a bad leader. Even you can''t say so.¡±

    ¡°¡­ I guess not.¡± Jana said sullenly.

    ¡°If she did leak it, she probably thought they''d never manage to save him... which either means he''s still flying or she underestimated their communication with him...¡± Merc reasoned out.

    ¡°That''d be nuts if you could like call up an NPC with your phone or whatever.¡± Jana said.

    ¡°That''d be way too convenient. I bet their alliance has something to do with it.¡± Clara noted all too shrewdly.

    As their conversation went on, I looked over at Angelfire. I signaled her to attack Jana, and she nodded, and then signaled Anhe to activate an attack and defense aura, which she stealthily obliged me with. With my left hand, I counted down from three, and then we pounced. I took down Clara with that fatal combo-skill, and before the other two could react to that Jana was enveloped in a pillar of flames and then surrounded by a vortex of them, screaming as she fell off the edge down into the depths, leaving Merc by himself. He quickly realized his situation, and took off to head for the depths below.

    In my head, I had imagined him to be the easiest to deal with without trickery. But he quickly overturned that assumption by laying down a variety of potions and traps that even I had difficulty navigating as he fled down the descent. Or at least he tried to, anyway. Angelfire put a wall of flame in front of him, and while he tried to dig out a potion to put the fire out I managed to use a stun arrow and then a couple poison ones before retreating into the shadows to use the combo-skill on him. He had just nixed the effects stun arrow when I did so, but by that time, of course, he was down.

    We then hurried down to see if there was something left of their machinations here; there were three crates of dragonsbane, rigged to be set off by a flame attack. After searching to see if there was anything else and turning up nothing but the three, I sighed in relief, Anhe patting my back.

    ¡°See? We made it!¡± she declared happily.

    ¡°Whew!¡± Angelfire remarked. ¡°They''re not much when you surprise them, except that Merc character. But he wasn''t expecting us at all or he might have actually made it.¡±

    ¡°You think?¡± I wondered.

    ¡°Oh I''d bet on it.¡± she nodded.

    ¡°I bet none of them will be taken off their guard again so easily after this,¡± I said with a laugh, and the other two giggled as well. ¡°But hey... we can use these for your plan tonight, right?¡± I wondered.

    ¡°Hmm...¡± Angelfire stared at the crates suspiciously. ¡°We can at least get them out of here so your buddy can have his home back.¡±

    ¡°That too.¡± I nodded as I carefully picked up one of the crates. Anhe used another aura to bolster our strength and agility, and we carried the crates out with ease, using the wayport to meet up with the others in the Southern Plains at a town called Fulwick. We received some strange looks when we returned with the crates, which quickly dissolved into looks of shock or astonishment upon revealing what they were.

    ¡°Uhh...¡± Lizzy half-spluttered out, uncertain of what to say.

    ¡°You know that stuff is mad to handle, right?¡± Dante inquired with a quavering laugh.

    ¡°Which is why it would make a good weapon against our enemy, right?¡± Angelfire said with a fierce grin.

    ¡°Ahh...¡± the other returned halfheartedly.

    ¡°Well, it''ll definitely make them rethink some things, anyway...¡± another member of Flamehearts said.

    ¡°It''s true, it''s all true,¡± a third remarked. ¡°The Silvernight Queens are totally bonkers!¡±

    ¡°We''re better off destroying them, to be honest.¡± Healina then said. ¡°Luckily, even though I can''t craft something this high-level, I can still use Alchemical Reversion on them,¡± she added, bringing up the skill to use it on the contents of the three crates.

    ¡°Then maybe we can craft something to fake them out with...¡± I pondered aloud as our healer dealt with the vials of dragonsbane.

    ¡°Now there''s an idea.¡± Dante nodded with approval.

    ¡°Hmm...¡± Ariana gazed thoughtfully at the crates, then smiled at me. ¡°I think I know just the thing!¡±

    ***

    Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

    About one in-game hour later, we were lying in wait for the guild called Cedar Kings near Loch Ayre, a small lake southeast of Fulwick. More precisely, we were planning to ambush them near Pine Crossings, a ford that led across the river which fed into the loch from the Marshes of the Wyrd. The enemy guild was apparently going to be coming up from a place called the Fir Vales, heading back for one of their headquarters in the Yucu Jungles. Naturally, Angelfire and her guild did not want that to happen.

    Apparently the Fir Vales have a rare kind of tree whose wood is exceptional for high-level mage staffs and the like. From how I understood it, a combination of this wood with some of the ore from the Untold Deeps was going to be used to upgrade some of the weapons that the members of Flamehearts had, including Angelfire''s own sword.

    I guess we''ll need to take a peek at this vale for ourselves sometime in the future, I mused to myself as I kept an eye out.

    Pine Crossings was the only spot where the river could be forded, and they were not a guild that enjoyed going out of their way even to be cautious, we were told. They would definitely have numbers on their side, and they might even have another guild backing them up this time. It seemed Angelfire had tried several times before to counter them with help from one of our fellow Aldholt guilds; every attempt had been either stalemated or rebuffed.

    ¡°Still... I find it hard to believe that these guys have bested nearly every guild from the Aldholt...¡± I muttered softly.

    ¡°All of the sane ones, at least.¡± Ariana quipped back quietly.

    ¡°Ehh...¡±

    ¡°We might as well embrace it!¡± she smirked at me.

    ¡°Yeahh... I guess so,¡± I grinned back to her. ¡°Still, that look-alike you and Heali made is spooky. It looks almost exactly like the stuff we saw Venomheart trying to use against Dracuoatlax.¡±

    ¡°I think it''s a hue or a shade off myself, but they''ll probably second-guess it long enough for us to get some more confusion going,¡± she nodded in reply.

    ¡°Oh for sure.¡± I said. ¡°The forum rants are not going to be kind tomorrow...¡± I added with a wry smile.

    ¡°Def.¡± my partner agreed as she returned the look. I felt a soft hand on my shoulder; Myanihia was there when I turned.

    ¡°They''re near.¡± the Snow Elf faintly whispered. I turned on Shadow Vision; sure enough, there were about sixty people heading our way.

    Raiding party, huh?

    ¡°Looks like they''re heading right where we want them to,¡± I murmured.

    ¡°I don''t see any carts. The wood could be in their mage-storage, I guess...¡± Ariana said as she scanned them with her Mystic Vision.

    ¡°Hrrmm...¡± I frowned. ¡°I wonder if they''re just messing around as a diversion... they''ve got to know Flamehearts has it out for them by now.¡±

    ¡°That... is true,¡± Myanihia agreed. ¡°But, Lana--you are, still essential here. Let me, go and see, if there''s a secret group,¡± she said to me.

    ¡°Have Fyu take you,¡± I said to her in turn, and she nodded back. Fortunately, our buddy was in hearing range, and quickly assented to taking Myanihia on her scouting mission. He padded away softly, then broke into a quiet run when they were far enough away.

    ¡°Think they''ll find something?¡± Ari asked me.

    ¡°I''d almost be surprised if they didn''t find something,¡± I returned.

    ¡°Hmm...¡± she nodded. ¡°We need to get back to running cargo again after we finish the orb quests.¡±

    ¡°Oh for sure,¡± I said. ¡°Though let''s not forget that''s going to bring its own new challenges with that alliance of pirates or whatever.¡±

    ¡°Ooh, right,¡± Ari recalled. ¡°Ah! There they are!¡± she dropped her voice to a barely audible tone, and I cloaked us in the shadows as she prepared to activate the spell that would release our trickery.

    As soon as a fair number of them had gotten a few paces past the traps, she and a couple other mages began setting them off, and our chosen battlefield was soon engulfed in green smoke. Moments later, walls of fire started springing up around the area to try and box in the enemy. Ehh... why does she need *us*, again? I couldn''t help but wonder with a bemused look as I witness the forest going ablaze. A second later I heard the sound of flames being extinguished.

    ¡°Oh, that''s why,¡± I said, noticing a frost-fall on one edge of the fiery walls.

    ¡°Oh, wow, a frost mage,¡± Ariana remarked.

    ¡°I''m gonna go make them an ex-mage for a few minutes,¡± I said, dashing off with Shadow Speed as Ariana readied her defenses.

    ¡°Got it!¡± she smiled.

    I found the mage in question without incident, and quickly took him down. During the next forty seconds or so after that, I slipped in and out of the shadows to take down a few more before returning to Ariana. By that time Angelfire herself was setting up the walls of flame; the force trying to ford the river was diminishing in the chaos we had created. My fellow guild leader came to lean on a tree next to our position, frowning at the flames.

    ¡°Some of us have picked up loot already, but none of them have the wood so far...¡± she said with agitation. ¡°We''ve been planning this for days! They''ve got to have it,¡± Angelfire quietly fumed, lazily tossing a fireball towards a member of Cedar Kings that managed to get out of the flames. He disintegrated with a yelp, and Angelfire sighed as the loot window came up. ¡°Strike five for me...¡±

    ¡°Hrrmm... maybe they really did have a second party carrying the actual wood...¡± I said.

    ¡°Huh?¡± Angelfire looked over at me, her eyes widening. She looked back towards the walls of flame that she had created, and then angrily raised her sword up to create more as she shouted out her frustration. ¡°Why you rotten, sneaky, little -- uuugghhh, ruuuude!! I''ll burn down every freaking tree in that vale day after day from now on just to spite you!! Dirty rats!¡± she cried out, punctuating every word with a new wall of fire. When she had finished, the entire area ahead of us was literally a large bonfire, and we could hear the panicked cries of the players now trapped or trying to escape the flaming wrath of Angelfire and her guild.

    ¡°A-again... w-why did she need us?¡± I blankly wondered as I stared at the huge fire uncomprehendingly.

    ¡°D-dunno,¡± Ariana replied with a bemused grin.

    ¡°Because of the frost mage,¡± she answered, catching her breath. ¡°That frozen skunk always managed to break our firetraps, even mine. This is the first time we''ve had a good enough shadow on our side to take him out.¡±

    ¡°Ah-huh...¡± I slowly nodded. I then noticed a flurry of loot windows opening up near her.

    Gyeck!? I inwardly yiped as I counted about twenty before losing track.

    ¡°L-leave it to Angelfire,¡± Ari laughed in an almost timid manner.

    ¡°Y-yeah,¡± I agreed, watching her dismiss each one of them in turn.

    ¡°Ugh! Skunks! They really do have another party, don''t they?¡± she griped.

    ¡°They did,¡± Myanihia said as she turned back up. ¡°But, we handled them. And we found, your loot,¡± she added with the hint of a smile, sending an inventory offer to Angelfire.

    ¡°Heh? Whaa--?! Woo! Girl!!¡± Angelfire nearly pounced on Myanihia, giving her a big hug. Our Snow Elf friend was taken aback, but soon hugged her in return, blushing.

    ¡°I-it was, nothing, really...¡± Myanihia stammered out.

    ¡°This is the first reversal we''ve had on them, ever!¡± Angelfire beamed with delight as she spun around with Myanihia in her arms.

    ¡°H-happy to b-be, of h-help,¡± our friend shyly replied, and the flame-haired girl set her down.

    ¡°Sorry, sorry! I got too excited!¡± she said with a giggle.

    ¡°It''s, it''s fine!¡± Myanihia remarked, her cheeks reddening slightly.

    ¡°Masters, we should retreat from this position; I smell the forces of our enemy returning to this location, and in greater numbers,¡± Fyu said to us.

    ¡°Right, let''s go!¡± I said, and Angelfire sent up a signal flare to let the others know we were heading away.

    We made our way back to Fulwick safely, and after exchanging our goodbyes and promising to send a crate of ore to Flamehearts as soon as we could, we retired to Queens Haven to begin plotting out our next moves for the night. Most of us did, anyway. Lizzy and Lysandra went to scrounge up the ore we needed, and Anhe tagged along with them for support. Myanihia returned to her home on Pirate Isle for the time being, saying that she''d definitely be back to help us on the next actual night of playing.

    About two in-world hours later Ariana and I were sitting together near the beach, watching the waves come in and the birds flying overhead. Everything felt still, almost as if we were in a painting. Even the waves seemed to lose their sound as the two of us nearly dozed off together. But at that moment Healina came over to join us, sitting beside us. She tapped Ari on the shoulder, and my partner nudged me.

    ¡°Hmm?¡± I wondered as I became more alert.

    ¡°That eight-sided cube Ari had was a weird sort of map. The symbols on its sides were the symbols of the other orbs, but when you write them out in the correct order it reveals a name, courtesy of one of Panarena''s ancient languages. That name is the location of the final orb.¡± our healer told us.

    ¡°Hehh...?¡± I returned with interest.

    ¡°You will need the cube to deal with the dungeon, probably,¡± she continued as she handed it back to Ariana, ¡°And as far as I can tell there''s a restriction on how many people can go with you. But the dungeon''s location is in Kunlun Province, on the far western side of it.¡±

    ¡°Gyeck!?¡±

    ¡°Ahh...¡± Ariana and I reacted at the same time, hers being a more bemused one than my red-alert face.

    ¡°I know. Guardians'' territory.¡± the Sea Elf girl smiled back at us wryly.

    ¡°Hrrmm...¡±

    ¡°How limited would our group be? Actually, why is it limited?¡± Ariana asked her. I wondered that too, having never found a dungeon in this game with an entry limit on people.

    ¡°So the group that can enter the dungeon is limited to three people. When I figured out how to reveal the name, a mysterious scroll appeared in my inventory: there was a really long riddle on it. The wording gave me a real headache,¡± she said with a painful grin, ¡°But basically it said that with these eight orbs gathered, only one less than half that number can enter the seventh chamber. That means a party of three.¡±

    ¡°Hmm...¡± Ari pondered with a sigh.

    ¡°That''s gonna bite.¡± I remarked.

    ¡°Right?¡± Heali agreed. ¡°That''s all I have on my end. I would suggest you two for sure, but I don''t know who''d be best to tag along as a third.¡±

    ¡°Not you?¡± I wondered.

    ¡°Ariana has some healing skills, and you barely need them some days. I have my summoning skills, of course, but this place may need more actual attack skills than defense.¡± she replied.

    ¡°Huh.¡± I returned, and then laid back upon the beach.

    ¡°Actually, I wouldn''t be too hurt if you decide to switch me with Heali and take Lizzy or Maryn,¡± Ariana herself said.

    ¡°You were the one who got the cube, though; it probably did that for a reason.¡± Healina remarked.

    ¡°But you were the one who figured it out,¡± my partner returned with a grin.

    ¡°I''m sure you would have figured it out, if you weren''t distracted.¡± the other grinned back.

    At that moment, I got a notification. It was from Valkrysti. The Wildlands were under attack again from Djaziim and the King-Priests, and it looked like there were a couple of Venomheart members with them. I looked over to Ariana, who had read the message with me, and she nodded, opening up a communication spell. A few moments later we could see Valkrysti herself, along with Reginleif.

    ¡°It''s bad up here right now. We''ve already lost two of our bigger fortresses,¡± Reginleif said as soon as she saw us. ¡°Forget the orbs for now, we just need to drive off the players. That will force Djaziim to retreat as well.¡±

    ¡°What about your sea-ports?¡± I asked her.

    ¡°We''re at the northernmost one right now, but we might crack in a moment. Our ships are gathering, and Kiana''s coming in with more, but...¡± she sighed, shaking her head.

    Tch! What do we do... even if we were there we''d just fall with them... we''re not that great at turning the tide, tonight being an exception... ugh.

    ¡°What about the other alliance members?¡± I said as I stood up.

    ¡°Wildeye and his gang are fending off a more massive assault from Guardians just south of the Pine Vales near Paxwiss. And Eothane is fending off a surprise attack at one of his northern holds from Nightkin.¡±

    ¡°Ehh??¡±

    ¡°Ahh--!¡±

    ¡°Oh my!¡± the three of us reacted at once.

    ¡°Even if it''s just for spite, we need you.¡± my fellow guild leader implored me.

    Okay. Think quick.

    ¡°Would just a few of us do?¡± I meekly replied.

    ¡°Anyone at all, Lana,¡± she returned with a smile.

    ¡°Then I''ll have a team coming your way in a few moments.¡± I said, and she nodded, ending the communication. ¡°Heali, see if anyone from Dreamers is still up and running, and ask if they''ll go along. Take Lysandra, Belle, Lizzy and Anhe with you.¡± I told her.

    ¡°You''re going west with Maryn, then?¡± the older girl asked me.

    ¡°If F¨¨nghu¨¢ng and her Guardians are tied up in the Wildlands instead of their own backyard, then heck yes.¡± I nodded back.

    ¡°Got it.¡± she replied.

    ¡°Oh! Take this also,¡± I said, searching my inventory for my dragon-beacon and handing it to her.

    ¡°Ooh, right! You can use this thing, too!¡± she smiled delightedly.

    ¡°I usually prefer going in person, but yeah, he did give us that,¡± I grinned.

    ¡°That''ll even out Djaziim for sure.¡± Ariana smiled.

    ¡°Are you taking Fyu?¡± Heali asked us.

    ¡°At least to the entrance,¡± I affirmed.

    ¡°Oh duh! I never did say what the dungeon was called. Here''s the coordinates,¡± she said as she handed me a scroll. ¡°It''s called the Cave of Secrets and Mysteries.¡±

    ¡°Got it.¡± I said with a nod, and then she headed back to the house to round up the gang and send Maryn our way while we went to see Fyu, who looked up expectantly.

    ¡°Masters! Is there more afoot this night?¡± he asked us.

    ¡°For sure, buddy,¡± I said, kneeling to stroke his ears. ¡°We have to get to the west of Kunlun Province, to these coordinates,¡± I told him, showing him the scroll. He studied it for a moment, and then blinked.

    ¡°This will be no small feat, masters. But I can at least provide one shortcut; there is an ancient conduit near my old home that leads to another south of a city called Xia in that land. Xia is but a few hours of journeying to the Guarding Mountains where this place is hidden. We will have to pass through some trials to get there, but I am confident you will not fail them.¡± the dogbeast told us.

    ¡°What kind of trials?¡± Ariana asked us as Maryn hurried over to join us.

    ¡°There is the Forest of the Tiger-god, Shiar Ghan; he is a creature as ancient as I, and much more prone to the ways of battle and cunning. West of that forest is the River Sh''ang, which should prove no trouble for us, but in the mountains themselves there are rumors of new perils since the time I last visited there. Whispers I heard of ape-men in their heights, who come out at night to terrorize the villages that dare stay in the shadow of the mountains.¡± he said.

    ¡°So nothing too hard for us, then.¡± I said with a shrug, and the dogbeast grinned back.

    ¡°No, masters; but let us be cautious at least of Shiar Ghan. He is no easy beast to overcome, should we have to fight him.¡± Fyu said in reply.

    ¡°Right,¡± I nodded.

    ¡°I''ll get the waggon.¡± Maryn said as I stood back up, and Fyu nodded.

    ¡°We shall need it.¡± he agreed.

    While we got ready, I saw Heali and the others heading to the wayport. We exchanged farewells for the time being, and they headed out to a rendezvous in the Wildlands; hopefully others from Dreamers Fables besides Derwydd would join them. I looked to the northeast with a bemused expression for a few moments. G-good luck up there, I almost whispered aloud, and then headed to the waggon. Maryn flicked the reins gently when I got aboard, and Fyu Dongtian took off at a gallop.

    ***

    It felt like ages since we had been in the forest where we had found the dogbeast. Fyu himself slowed down as we got nearer to the Cavern of the Divine Beast, his old home, and began sniffing carefully. Through the ancient trees and bamboo stands I could see birds fluttering about, and at one point we could see a group of pandas idling about in a small clearing. Ari and I smiled to each other as we caught sight of them.

    ¡°Aw, cute!¡± Maryn said with delight when she saw them.

    ¡°It is a peaceful forest,¡± Fyu agreed. He sniffed again, and then more confidently pulled us to the left, heading up a very disused trail to a grove atop a hill. There were three great stones fashioned in the likeness of a doorway here.

    ¡°The portal?¡± I wondered.

    ¡°Indeed, Lady Lana,¡± Fyu replied. ¡°And now!¡± he said, then unleashed a howl.

    A moment later, a shimmering energy filled the space between the stones and the ground, and he pulled us through it. We emerged on the other side in an open clearing. To the south, east, and northeast were grasslands with sparse scatterings of trees; in the distance to the north of us was a great city; and directly west of us was a vast forest, the Forest of the Tiger-god, beyond which we could see the peaks of the Guarding Mountains.

    ¡°I shall hurry, masters, but let us not trust to fortune in this wood! Shiar Ghan is, as I have said, a cunning creature well-suited for battle and trickery in battle.¡± Fyu told us as he began picking up the pace once more.

    ¡°We''ll be ready,¡± I returned.

    Just then I heard the sound of a horn. Turning my head towards the direction of that sound, the northeast, I saw a few dozen riders sweeping towards us. A few of them held banners in their hands. Guardians?! I nearly spluttered.

    ¡°Fyu, hurry! There''s another enemy behind us!¡± I called, and the dogbeast valiantly went to his top speed, keeping the riders behind us at a constant distance.

    ¡°How?!¡± Maryn wondered in shock.

    ¡°At least it''s a few dozen and not a few hundred.¡± Ariana quipped.

    ¡°That doesn''t make me feel better.¡± the older girl shot back.

    ¡°They must have eyes all over the place in this region...¡± I said. ¡°Though that is some ridiculous ''minutemen'' summoning if I do say so myself. They must have been here already when their watchers spotted us.¡±

    ¡°F¨¨nghu¨¢ng has definitely been cautious since you smashed her shipyards, for sure,¡± Maryn said in agreement. ¡°Our battles with her won''t end easily.¡±

    ¡°Heh... I doubt we''ll find a counter for her namesake, either,¡± I said with a hopeless grin.

    ¡°Hmm? Her namesake?¡± Maryn wondered.

    ¡°Her name means ''phoenix'' in Mandarin,¡± Ariana explained.

    ¡°Ahh. Gotcha.¡± the older girl nodded. ¡°No, I don''t suppose we will.¡± she faintly grinned. ¡°Can''t stop them all!¡±

    ¡°I''d kinda like to, but hey.¡± I shrugged back.

    Another horn sounded at that moment, and I saw the mass of riders halting. Their leader shouted something to them; I couldn''t tell what he had said, but they turned around and headed back north to Xia. My brow furrowed, and I frowned.

    ¡°What does that mean?¡± Ariana wondered, looking over at me.

    ¡°Either we''re not worth it, or F¨¨nghu¨¢ng wants us to succeed in getting the orbs,¡± I mused.

    ¡°Then let''s not disappoint her.¡± Maryn said, and we returned our attention to our journey as the riders faded into the distance.

 Side Chapter: Battles in the Wildlands

    Lizzy softly grumbled to herself. Even though they had just come from a whole adventure as a whole team, she hated it when the whole guild wasn''t together for some action. Though we did have to team up with other guilds... she thought to herself with a sigh. She liked the other guilds; there was no question about that. But she wanted to do some girls-only stuff. Or should I say Queens-only stuff? Lizzy smirked to herself. Bleh. Lana''s basically Lana in the game; even I have trouble remembering it''s actually Sean half the time, she mused.

    ¡°Still, that''s an interesting trio we sent out... aren''t they basically a love-triangle?¡± Derwydd said softly as they followed the sounds of battle. He was with her and Healina, while the others had gone to another location with some of Derwydd''s guild to help another fight.

    ¡°Don''t say that in front of Ari, though!¡± his girlfriend returned.

    ¡°Bleh. Even Anhe gave you-know-who a valentine this year... but Mary''s definitely had her eyes on him for a long time.¡± Lizzy remarked. ¡°Still, it''s not like anything''s gonna happen, you know. Ari and Lana, and their real selves; they''re inseparable.¡±

    ¡°I know, I know.¡± Derwydd returned.

    ¡°Do you?¡± Lizzy gave him a dubious look.

    ¡°If you''re going that direction, don''t forget Joanna,¡± Healina shrugged.

    ¡°Ugh. That chick is a whole ''nother case.¡± her friend replied immediately.

    ¡°Don''t we all know it,¡± Derwydd grinned. ¡°You''re right, though. Mary''s more considerate about her feelings.¡±

    ¡°Dang right.¡± Lizzy nodded.

    A fireball landed in front of them. They jumped back just in time, and a few members of an enemy guild known as The Mumblers emerged from hiding. Lizzy held up her halberd, a smile of glee upon her face as Healina readied her battle-summoning and Derwydd initiated his transition to werebear.

    ¡°Looks like you guys picked the short straw tonight!¡± Lizzy crowed.

    ***

    On another side of the map, Lysandra, Anhe, and Belle had gotten separated from Peaches and her guild members. Belle was on Anhe''s shoulder, and Anhe was on Lysandra''s back, the other girl having gone werewolf a few minutes ago when they had been ambushed by an ally guild of the King-Priests, Serpentine Flames. Right now they were leading a party of that guild deeper into the wilder parts of the region towards one of their own outposts.

    ¡°This is the trapped one, right?¡± Belle asked.

    ¡°I am sure of it! I helped Lana set it up when we first came out here,¡± Anhe nodded. ¡°We set up an awful lot of traps around it!¡± she said with a smug grin.

    ¡°Well I don''t see us getting caught by those dawdling ditzes back there, but it''s nice to make certain of it all the same!¡± Belle smiled.

    ¡°Hrrgh! Now there''s one in front of us!¡± Lysandra growled.

    ¡°Eh?¡± Anhe looked ahead, seeing a figure standing there in the road. He had short black hair, the bangs of which fell over the left side of his face, and he wore a set of dark-blue leather armor. Lysandra halted, and Anhe got off her back while Belle took to the air.

    ¡°This scent... Venomheart!¡± Lysandra said with another growl.

    ¡°Cobra, at your service.¡± the man said in a calm tone as several large cobra-like serpents came to his side.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

    ¡°You want to be of service to me? Then just up and walk away, or let yourself be killed!¡± the werewolf girl retorted.

    ¡°No-can-do! I''ve got to pay you back for that voyage, you see, and I hear a couple of my friends have it out for Lana because of some other screw-up. So I have to go back to them with some good news, don''t I?¡± Cobra said with a grin.

    Lysandra let loose with her infamous howl, Howl of the Void. The animal-tamer froze, his face contorting with anger. Lysandra could almost hear him mentally berating himself for his oversight in forgetting who she was while Belle readied a spell for their next set of visitors coming up behind them. Anhe powered them up with a couple of auras, and Lysandra herself strode calmly and unnervingly towards the unlucky man.

    ¡°For a beast-tamer, you are stupid to forget you''re dealing with a beast as your enemy!¡± she said mockingly. An irate gurgle of sound came from his lips as she drew out her sword, lopping off his head and sending him back to a spawn point as his serpents scattered. ¡°One down!¡± Lysandra grinned.

    ¡°Thirteen to go,¡± Belle added. ¡°Don''t howl them to death yet! I have something special I want to try on them!¡±

    ¡°Sure,¡± her partner nodded.

    ¡°I will use an empowerment aura for spells and enchantments, then!¡± Anhe said.

    ¡°Thanks, kiddo!¡± Belle smiled, and when the others were in range she cast Fairy Madness on them; some of them acted drunkenly, some of them acted plain out silly, and others began turning on their fellows. ¡°Whee! It worked!¡±

    ¡°Still,¡± Lysandra said as she shifted back to human form, adjusting her top, ¡°For someone from Venomheart, he was a pushover... and apparently Lana was able to sneak up on the ones at the Torching Mount without a hitch.¡±

    ¡°They''ve been underestimating us a bit, but they''ll probably start getting more serious with us from now on.¡± Belle observed. ¡°I bet that guy actually had some sort of anti-werebeast skill, if he''d only thought about it instead of summoning up snakes right off the bat.¡±

    ¡°That was definitely a good on his part,¡± the other nodded back.

    ¡°Kyaaa-hahahahahahaha-hahahh!!¡± a maniacal voice sounded out with laughter, and the three girls immediately formed a back-to-back triangle for defense. Another figure in black and blue armor that completely obscured them fell down from a nearby tree, landing like a cat. ¡°That''s why you need to waaaiiit, Cobra! But it''s no problem! Hoo-hoo, hoo-hoo-haahh! Venomy will take care of them for you!!¡± a man''s voice emanated from the new arrival.

    ¡°Great, another Venomheart member... and a psycho,¡± Lysandra sighed heavily.

    ¡°Non non non! I prefer the term ''psyched''!! Whaaa-ha-ha-ha-ha-hahh!¡± the reply came.

    ¡°And a wise-arse, too.¡± Belle softly grimaced.

    ¡°Looks like an assassin... tch, should''ve stayed wolf!¡±

    ¡°Change back! Belle and I will distract him for you!¡± Anhe said, charging ahead with the pixie-girl at her side.

    ¡°Right!¡± Lysandra said as she shifted back to wolf while they kept him busy.

    He could hit neither of them, and he seemed to get more bonkers every time he failed to do so. Anhe, on the other hand, had given him at least three good whacks with her staff, and Belle had put a dizzy spell on him. Lysandra, observing him a moment more, decided on a different howl. When she had used it, he began scampering away like a rabbit at full speed--which was considerable.

    ¡°Must be a half-elf,¡± Lysandra remarked as she again resumed her human form, sighing as she adjusted her top again. ¡°Why do I bother with it...¡±

    ¡°Now, now,¡± Belle grinned.

    ¡°I know, I know.¡± the other smiled. ¡°Wouldn''t want people to think I''m part of that guild.¡±

    ¡°What guild is that?¡± Anhe wondered. Lysandra whispered some words in her ear, and the younger girl blushed crimson.

    ¡°Stop scaring the kiddos, babe.¡± Belle said, flicking her partner on the nose. ¡°We''ve got some more fighting ahead of us; and that--Venomy, was it?--he''ll be coming back, I bet.¡±

    ¡°You''re right. Come on, cutie, let''s go.¡± Lysandra said, patting Anhe on the back.

    I hope she is just joking with me, Anhe thought bemusedly as they headed towards a plume of smoke rising in the distance. After all, it would be very difficult to do a lot of the things in this game in that state, she mused as her cheeks colored again. The sound of a battle-horn then came from the direction of the smoke.

    ¡°Recognize it?¡± Belle asked.

    ¡°Sounds like Valiant Maidens. Let''s go!¡± Lysandra said, and the three of them picked up the pace as they made for the next scene of battle.

 Side Chapter: Venomheart, IV

    ¡°Uuugghhh...¡± Jana sighed as she materialized at a respawn point far from where she and Clara had been neutralized. Clara was sitting on the ground, blinking uncomprehendingly. A few moments later Merc also turned up, and the three of them looked around at each other, Merc seeming to be the least surprised.

    ¡°Well, I guess we can say Jana was right. Melody bragged about our plan when she was at school.¡± Merc finally said, and Jana let out an exasperated sigh.

    ¡°See, Clara?¡± the red-haired girl fumed at the girl with green hair. ¡°That brat cost us the plan! We were this close to actually eliminating the Silvernight Queens'' biggest weapon, and she--!¡±

    ¡°The biggest, you say?¡± Clara said almost nonchalantly. ¡°Who tamed the dragon?¡± she asked, and Jana stopped short.

    ¡°Lana Windstrider...¡± the other girl said softly, looking away.

    ¡°Lana is the Queens'' greatest weapon, not Dracuoatlax.¡± Clara said with a shrug.

    ¡°The biggest threat.¡± Merc corrected. ¡°But we get your point.¡±

    ¡°That was one doozy of a surprise,¡± Clara sighed. ¡°Melody won''t be happy about us failing. But then, it''s really...¡± she trailed off sadly, another sigh escaping her lips.

    ¡°Hmmpf. Why are you obsessing over her anyway... it''s not like you don''t have other options...¡± Jana remarked.

    ¡°Jana!¡± Merc softly barked.

    ¡°Tch!¡± the malevolent herbalist snorted, turning away from them.

    ¡°Still, they did turn our own ambush on us quite nicely.¡± Merc agreed. ¡°I''m getting tired of this. We should just go back to the Borderlands and forget our deal with the King-Priests. It''s getting us nothing, and they''ve practically lost the secondary war, never mind the actual competition.¡±

    ¡°The war for the orbs, you mean?¡± Jana turned back. ¡°Hah, as if they''re fighting it themselves. I almost hope Rayna gets her guild back from those two losers, finally...¡±

    ¡°That''d be an improvement.¡± Merc said with a shrug. ¡°Well, the way things are going now, it''ll probably happen.¡± he added, heading off in the direction of the nearest town. Jana and Clara followed after him, the latter lost in thought.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

    ¡°What''s on your mind?¡± Jana said in a softer tone, looking over at the other girl.

    ¡°Maybe Merc is right. We should just give up our contract with the King-Priests. And if Mel doesn''t like it, we''ll quit the guild.¡± Clara said, and the other two stopped to stare at her in amazement.

    ¡°Th-that''s extreme, coming from you... aren''t you like, totally hot for her?¡± Jana wondered in disbelief.

    ¡°That''s exactly why I''d quit.¡± the other returned with the ghost of a smile.

    ¡°I get where you''re coming from, but still...¡± Merc remarked, rubbing the back of his neck. ¡°Ehh... let''s keep this to ourselves for now. We''ll suggest it to the others, or at least one of them, if we get into another huge setback like tonight.¡± he then said.

    ¡°Cyan, you mean?¡± Jana prodded. ¡°Just for the record, I don''t have any intention of actually quitting the guild. Or of giving up.¡±

    ¡°And neither will Venomy... that twerp has so many screws loose they might as well be in a garbage bag lost at sea...¡± Merc quipped, and Jana snorted with laughter. ¡°Cobra''s hard to read, though I can''t see him quitting just because of a few setbacks like this. Heh... I don''t think I would either. Looks like it''d just be you and Cyan, Clara!¡±

    ¡°Hm, hm.¡± Jana nodded emphatically.

    ¡°I don''t care if it''s just me. That''ll be enough to make the point. Though...¡± she continued, her eyes glowing venomously, ¡°I''ll still definitely claim my retribution on Lana herself.¡±

    ¡°If you''re desperate, I happen to know where the last dungeon will be.¡± Jana remarked.

    ¡°Hm? How?¡± Clara said to her at once.

    ¡°One of the King-Priests and I had a--well, never mind that.¡± she said with a smile. ¡°The point is, that final dungeon is in the west of Kunlun Province, up in the Guardian Mountains. Somehow I doubt it''ll take long for the Queens to realize that. You could ambush them going in or coming out.¡± Jana told her, and Clara slowly smiled.

    ¡°You two go on without me. And remind my little princess that it was her who ultimately ruined tonight''s dragon-killing.¡± she said with a pleased tone.

    ¡°Right,¡± Merc nodded.

    ¡°Of course! I''ll relish it,¡± Jana smirked haughtily. The two of them watched as she headed in another direction, exchanging a glance with each other. ¡°Think she''d actually leave the guild?¡±

    ¡°Her? Pfft, nah.¡± Merc shook his head. ¡°She''s just upset. Well, if she fails in her ambush she can''t blame anyone but herself; and if she succeeds we''ll all be in a better mood.¡± the alchemist said with a faint grin.

    ¡°You''ve got that right.¡± Jana sighed. ¡°Let''s go,¡± she then said, and they turned back to head for their own destination of the nearest wayport.

 Side Chapter: The Dragon

    Dracuoatlax sat atop his perch in the Vales of Aergondi, upon one of the highest peaks of the Beinn Sliabh Mountains near Dragonholt. He growled. Something was not right. The enemy that Lady Lana was wariest of in these battles was a cunning foe; they had concocted the Dragonsbane poison and nearly killed him with it twice now. Even his own home was not as safe as it ought to be. Yet there was another thought nagging at him at the moment. His master had probably found all the clues she needed to find the final orb, the ninth. He knew where it was, for it was the most famous of all the orbs: the Orb of Mystery.This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

    With a grunt, Dracuoatlax leapt off the mountain into the air, flapping as high as he could go to catch the fastest air currents. Something was not right. He had to get to Lady Lana as fast as he possibly could.

 Chapter Twenty-eight: Tiger, Tiger/Secrets and Mysteries

    As we entered the forest a few minutes later, the visibility around us lessened. It was much darker than other forests here, and we found that there were mists which would rise up unexpectedly in our way. Several times I could see hints of light around us, but it was a sickly kind of light. Fyu told us that they were ghostlights, meant to lure the unwary to their doom.

    ¡°Shiar Ghan is the most deadly creature in this forest, to be sure, masters; yet between he and they, these deathly contrivances of the nether are more sinister,¡± he remarked.

    ¡°I''m amazed you can keep us on the right path under these conditions, though,¡± Maryn said as we plodded steadily through the wood.

    ¡°To be sure, it is difficult,¡± the dog-beast said in reply. ¡°And I cannot promise we have not gone awry. Yet going around these infernal trees would have taken longer, and perhaps your other enemies may have kept on our trail.¡±

    ¡°Maybe,¡± I had to agree. I quietly looked back towards the east; were our friends holding out okay?

    ¡°It''s kind of wild how far this competition has escalated,¡± Ariana sighed as she laid against me.

    ¡°It really is.¡± I nodded back.

    ¡°Getting rid of Djaziim isn''t even the end of it,¡± Maryn added. ¡°We have other competitors to deal with besides the King-Priests, and with that demon out of the way a lot of them will be knocking on our door.¡±

    ¡°And Venomheart will be right there with them, probably, since they have the key to eliminating our own trump card,¡± I said.

    ¡°I''ll have to look on the forums some time and see if anyone else could make that poison they wanted to use against him.¡± Ariana noted.

    ¡°Come to think of it, it seems unusual for the game to allow that kind of trap or trickery in any NPC''s home...¡± I suddenly thought.

    ¡°That''s... true...¡± Maryn agreed. ¡°Shouldn''t their plan have not worked at all? Or is it because he''s affiliated with us that they could get in there with a trap like that?¡±

    ¡°Ah! Maybe that''s it,¡± I snapped my fingers. ¡°I''ll have to look that up later...¡±

    ¡°I would surmise your suppositions are not incorrect on the matter, masters,¡± Fyu told us. ¡°But speaking for myself, I am grateful to have allied with such generous and wise masters such as yourselves,¡± he added.

    ¡°Aw, thanks, Fyu!¡± I beamed back.

    ¡°Mostly wise, anyway!¡± Ariana grinned, and Maryn smirked back at us.

    That moment of levity was interrupted by a deep, guttural sound of growling that crescendoed into a terrifyingly loud roar. Fyu halted to look around, and Maryn drew out her sword at once while I pulled out my bow and Ariana readied her staff.

    ¡°He toys with us.¡± Fyu said after a moment, sniffing the air again and setting off towards a pathway on the left. ¡°But I can tell where he is; at least we will force him to chase us instead of running headlong into his grasp!¡±

    The dog-beast pulled us along at a faster pace, unerringly heading through the tangles of trees, vines, and mist that clustered around us. I activated Shadow Vision. There were several outlines I could see around me; ghostlights, monkeys and other animals scurrying out of sight, a bear of some kind lifting up its head further in the distance, some sambar deer galloping away, and several kinds of birds either idling about in the trees or flying away from the nearby area.

    Now where exactly are they all running from...? I mused as I guesstimated the location, zeroing in on the most likely spot. There, outlined in a shape far larger than I had anticipated, was a huge, cat-like creature. I gulped audibly, and Rachel used her vision skill to look in the direction I had frozen up on.

    ¡°Ahh--!¡± she exclaimed, ¡°Th-that''s not a normal tiger size,¡± she said with a nervous laugh.

    N-no kidding!?

    ¡°He is quite large, masters.¡± Fyu said matter-of-factly.

    ¡°Dare I ask?¡± Maryn wondered.

    ¡°Y-you''ll see if he decides to come chasing,¡± I returned.

    As if on cue, the great shape of the tiger came barreling towards us. Fyu needed no words from us; he immediately picked up the scent of the creature coming after us, and increased his speed. What an ironic reversal of the cats versus dogs trope, I couldn''t help but groan to myself inwardly, a crinkly smile on my face. The waggon jostled about as we ran over large roots, narrowly avoided trees and rocks, and occasionally banged off of a smaller sapling.

    A few moments later, Shiar Ghan came into view. He was a handsomely fearful looking tiger, almost golden in color, with vague hints of snowy white mingled in his black stripes; one of his eyes was green and the other was amber. Wickedly sharp teeth showed forth from his mouth, and he let out another blood-freezing roar as he caught direct sight of us. I couldn''t help but think of that old poem my Grandma Maisy used to quote when she still had her old tom cat:

    Tyger Tyger, burning bright,

    In the forests of the night;

    What immortal hand or eye,

    In what distant deeps or skies.

    Burnt the fire of thine eyes?

    On what wings dare he aspire?

    That magnificent and arguably malevolent king of the jungles was now on our trail. As a warning shot, I fired Ballistic Arrow, which exploded right in his path. He wasn''t even fazed by it. Ari set fire to the surrounding jungle with a flame spell, momentarily halting him, but the beast jumped over the flames and redoubled his pace.

    ¡°Anything I can do?¡± Maryn called back.

    ¡°Help Fyu keep on course!¡± I replied.

    ¡°Right!¡±

    ¡°Lana! Left!¡± Ariana said. I shot a flaming arrow in the direction she indicated while she set off another flame spell towards the right. I let loose two more, and she unleashed a wind spell that began spreading the flames. This time, Shiar Ghan paused more decisively, seeming to take stock of us.

    I-if he''s actually analyzing us, that''s some incredible intelligence they gave him, I thought to myself as we hurried away. The great tiger roared, and, incredibly, the flames went out.

    ¡°Gu''hyeck?!¡± I gaped in disbelief.

    ¡°Huhh!?¡± Ari''s eyes widened. Our furry antagonist came galloping our way again, but we had managed to get a small lead on him, at least.

    ¡°Shiar Ghan is the king of this jungle, masters,¡± Fyu explained to us. ¡°Within its bounds there is almost naught he cannot overcome!¡±

    ¡°Heh...?¡± I mused in a calmer tone. ¡°So if we can just keep delaying him until we get to the edge of this forest...¡±

    ¡°We can get out safely and he''ll stop chasing us,¡± Ariana finished with a smile.

    ¡°That is the spirit, masters!¡± Fyu called back.

    With that in mind, the two of us continued with our fiery distractions, keeping Shiar Ghan well behind us as Fyu Dongtian sped along through the trackless jungle. A couple of times the big cat actually jumped into the trees themselves, leaping from tree to tree to try and gain on us that way, but Ariana quickly reacted to each attempt with Flame Burst, and eventually he seemed to give up on that particular tactic. For the better part of forty minutes this dangerous chase kept going; at the end of those long minutes, we finally started to see a break in the trees. Shiar Ghan seemed to know it, too, for he trebled his speed as he came after us.

    ¡°Forget the fire, Ari -- use your Feather Enchant on the waggon!¡± I said to my partner.

    ¡°Right!¡± she nodded at once.

    Feather Enchant was a spell that temporarily altered the weight of something to nearly no weight at all. When she had cast it on the waggon, Fyu''s speed picked up considerably, allowing us to clear the jungles just as Shiar Ghan made a magnificent leap over a wall of flames I had created with a split-shot of fire arrows. I saw that massive paw with its claws extended striking within millimeters of my face, my heart almost stopping at the sight.

    A second later Maryn''s shield battered him away, and the massive cat reeled and then rebounded to his feet, almost glaring at us as we left the jungles behind at a swift pace. I almost fainted, Ariana taking my hands while Maryn held on to me from behind. The older girl sighed in relief.

    ¡°That was too close.¡± she said as she patted me on the head.

    ¡°Hahh...¡±

    ¡°Nice block, though!¡± Ari said with a smile.

    ¡°Thanks!¡± the other said happily.

    ¡°La-na!¡± my partner then said to me, snapping her fingers near my face.

    ¡°Let''s wait until we get closer to the dungeon to snap her out of it,¡± Maryn suggested, and Ariana nodded. She came to snuggle against me as the older girl got back up to sit in the driver''s seat.

    ¡°You alive?¡± Ari softly teased me.

    ¡°I guess,¡± I returned in a dazed tone. ¡°My, kitty, what sharp claws you have...¡± I then remarked, and she giggled in reply.

    ¡°Maybe we''ll get to see a real one on our vacation this year!¡±

    ¡°Hyeck!?¡±

    ¡°Now, now, don''t give her another heart-attack so soon,¡± Maryn chided, nevertheless giggling as she said it.

    ¡°I''ll try! But it''s hard when she''s so...¡± Ari turned to me, winking as the two of them chorused the next word.

    ¡°Adorkable!¡± they chimed together perfectly, and then laughed.

    Hahh... I thought they finally forgot that word, I thought to myself bemusedly as we continued on our way towards the mountains.

    ***

    As we drew near to the River Sh''ang, Fyu kept on its northern banks, following it back towards its source in the Guarding Mountains. These were not as tall as other mountains we had been through, but they were still vaguely ominous in appearance. Towards the south I could see a village nestled against a smaller stream that ran towards the Sh''ang, an expanse of rice fields stretching out towards the south of it. I looked up towards the mountains themselves; there were hints of movement, and as I turned on Shadow Vision to get a better look I could see them.

    Crude huts were roughly outlined against the backdrop of the mountains and their sparse trees, but it was the figures moving around that caught my attention. The ape-men. I wasn''t quite sure exactly which kind of ape they were meant to emulate, and I was definitely certain I did not want to find out. None of the adults were less than two meters in height from what I could see, and all of them were far more muscular and burlier in size than most player-races.

    ¡°Lana?¡± Ariana gently put a hand on my shoulder.

    ¡°We''ve got new friends to worry about, probably,¡± I remarked.

    ¡°Fear not, masters; I can better avoid these than I could the tiger,¡± Fyu told us.

    ¡°Don''t they have a good sense of smell?¡± Maryn asked him.

    ¡°This is not untrue; yet they fear to come north of the river. There are winged creatures on this side that threaten them as they threaten the humans below,¡± the dog-beast explained. ¡°They are some dark corruption of great birds that have a certain intelligence, like unto the ape-men but more devious, to my mind.¡±

    ¡°Come to think of it there were things like that in Age of Hyperborea, too... they were a pain to deal with...¡± I recalled.

    ¡°Another world, Lady Lana?¡± Fyu wondered.

    ¡°That''s right,¡± I said, nodding back.

    ¡°Hmm. But for now, let us be wary of the things in this one. I believe I can still bring us to our destination on what folk of old called the ''Pilgrim''s Steps'' when the world was new. This ritual path was for the initiates of Wei-Zhi, who revered the place we are going to as a temple of that mysterious divine.¡± Fyu told us.

    ¡°The Pilgrim''s Steps, huh?¡± Ariana repeated. ¡°What happened to the temple?¡±

    ¡°Insofar as I know, masters, it is yet the same as it was,¡± the dog-beast replied. ¡°Though I have heard of no pilgrims going to it but ourselves since we made our pact.¡±

    So we''ll be entering a temple; I wonder if this will be like the Hallowed Pagoda, where the only real trials were puzzles, with maybe a boss at the end to test us in some way or the other... that''d be ideal. Oh! I bet Ari''s cube-thing will be necessary, I mused, looking over at my partner.

    ¡°You have that thing, right?¡± I asked her.

    ¡°The octahedron? Right here,¡± she told me, pulling it out to show me. ¡°You think we''ll definitely need it?¡±

    ¡°It''d be strange at this point for it to not have something to do with this dun--err, temple, that we''re going to,¡± I said.

    ¡°Hmm... Heali did use it to reveal the location... and it''s pretty big, too,¡± Ari remarked as she gently bounced it. It was about the size of her hand. ¡°I wonder if it acts as a key, too,¡± she pondered out loud.

    ¡°That''d make the most sense.¡± I agreed. ¡°But I bet there''s some sort of gimmick to using it.¡±

    ¡°Oh def.¡± she nodded back. ¡°Like a riddle or something.¡±

    ¡°Oh boy.¡±

    ¡°Pfft!¡±

    ¡°You do in fact have Wei-Zhi''s key in your possession, masters,¡± Fyu told us. ¡°One thing I do know of it is that the trials at the temple are never the same from one instance to the next.¡±

    ¡°So whatever Rama and Hathisis got isn''t what we''ll get.¡± Maryn noted.

    ¡°This is so.¡± Fyu nodded.

    ¡°Hmm...¡± I sighed thoughtfully, gazing around at the forlorn landscape now around us as we ascended into the mountains themselves.

    Our journey through them was fairly uneventful. The quiet was eerie, but the bird-things that Fyu had warned us about seemed content to leave us alone so long as we stayed on our course, and of the ape-men we saw virtually nothing. Once or twice one of their scouts peeked up a head to give us a good look, but nothing came of it.

    Finally, we came to a venerable covered bridge that connected us to a disused but serviceable roadway which led up towards an ancient flight of stairs. At their top were two great trees, or maybe even columns that looked like trees, between which was set a massive door in the face of the mountain. Fyu took us across the bridge, and then we halted to get off. There was a wayport nearby at the bottom of the steps. The dog-beast gave us a nod as we got out.

    ¡°Masters, this is as far as I may go; I will count against your party should I attempt entry.¡± he told us.

    ¡°I kind of figured,¡± I said with a shrug. ¡°Thanks for getting us here, at least. I''ll set it for home, and you can have the steward unhitch you from the waggon. Tell him we said to give you your favorite for supper!¡± I smiled, giving him a head-rub before dialing up Queen''s Haven for him to return to.

    ¡°I shall indeed, Lady Lana!¡± he said with a faint grin. A few moments later he had gone through, and the three of us headed up the long stairs to our destination. Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

    I suddenly had the vague sense we were being watched. I wasn''t sure from where or by who, but -- no, wait... I had definitely felt this kind of sensation before. There was still no clear direction, but I knew we were under the eye of someone from Venomheart. It''s probably a far-seer spell like Ari''s Mystic Vision, I reasoned as I subtly looked around.

    ¡°You feel it too?¡± my partner said to me as we got near the top.

    ¡°Mm, it''s like your own spell.¡± I said.

    ¡°It''s not quite the same; I think it''s a less precise variant that allows far-seeing from a more distant location.¡± she told me. ¡°Besides the diminished precision, it has the drawback of being something a player can sense, if they''re attuned for such things.¡±

    ¡°You having the more precise skill and me being a shadow-player,¡± I nodded back.

    ¡°By the time anyone gets here, though, we''ll likely have the orb.¡± Maryn said. ¡°We''ll have to be on the alert for a trap of some kind after we get through this.¡±

    ¡°Agreed.¡± Ari said.

    ¡°Then let''s get started... hahh... it is a riddle,¡± I groaned as we got to the door.

    ¡°Hm! ''It is in all things, rarely ceasing'', it says...¡± Ariana read aloud, idly rolling the cube-like object in her hands.

    ¡°Conflict.¡± Maryn said confidently. Ariana turned the octahedron to the side in question, placing it on the receiver. The doors opened, and we ventured inside.

    ¡°I don''t think it''s in everything, exactly...¡± my partner softly grumbled. I softly grinned, slipping my arm in hers. She smiled at me, and the three of us then began looking around.

    We were in a long hall with many doors, each of them marked with various symbols. Two rows of statues lined the hall, each of them holding different kinds of weaponry. As I recounted the doors I noted there were precisely nine doors, and that all the symbols but one were familiar to me. This symbol was above the third door down on the left. It almost looked like a pair of eyes, which I found oddly suitable, if it referred to what I thought it did.

    ¡°Won''t it be that one?¡± I pointed to it.

    ¡°Hm? Ah!¡± Ari smiled again, and we headed over to it.

    ¡°That must be the ninth orb''s symbol,¡± Maryn said as we got closer. ¡°And that must be Lana''s favorite thing.¡± she smirked, pointing to the riddle underneath it.

    ¡°Gyeck,¡± I slightly stiffened as Ari giggled.

    ¡°This one says, ''Like twins they fight; yet how opposite they are'',¡± she read for us. ¡°Oh! That''s simple enough; ice and fire,¡± she said, getting ready to use the key again.

    ¡°Hrrmm... I hope it''s not looking for a specific order...¡± I remarked just in time. Ariana held the key out, a crinkly smile on her face as she looked over at me.

    ¡°Y-you just had to say that...¡± she said bemusedly.

    ¡°Ahh...¡± I looked away with a similar expression on my face, and Maryn softly laughed.

    ¡°Looks like there is conflict in all things!¡± she giggled.

    ¡°Oy...¡±

    ¡°Heyyy,¡± Ari and I turned to her with mock indignation.

    ¡°Still, it can only be those two things. None of the other symbols make a lot of sense if you ''twin'' them; well, maybe ice and the sea, but that''s a stretch...¡± Maryn pondered out loud.

    ¡°Well, if it doesn''t open by ice and fire, then it should open by fire and ice,¡± Ariana said as she tried the first variant. The door made a sound this time, and four of the statues came to life.

    ¡°Ahh--!¡± I exclaimed, readying my short-swords.

    ¡°Fire and ice it is!¡± Ariana quickly exclaimed, using it again. The door opened, and the statues suddenly resumed their slumber. As we hurried through the door, I made a mental note to be on the lookout for anything else that might suddenly spring to life or unleash a trap of some kind on us.

    After a long corridor that seemed to lead downward, we found ourselves in a sort of chasm, with tricky obstacles and floating platforms that continued into the depths. Seeing nothing that led upward, we decided to follow the path laid out to the bottom. It was at this point of the experience that I was actually glad only three people could enter this dungeon; coordinating a large party to get through these often bizarre hurdles would be a hassle for even an experienced raid-leader.

    It brought to mind the time in Midgard Rings where one of the guild-leaders I had been an officer for had all-too patiently put up with people who, despite hearing the instructions three to four times over--consecutively, no less--had still managed to goose everything up, starting the whole process over again. In the end we never did complete the dungeons with those people, who somehow managed to blame our guild-leader in spite of their own incompetence.

    Fortunately I was with two people who could basically read my mind about certain things in Panarena, and who were just as quick on the uptake as I was in this world. It was no trouble at all for us to get to the bottom. When we got there, however, there were a series of mystery beings that assailed us; these chased us all the way to the next door, which was also riddle-locked.

    ¡°Oh swell.¡± Maryn sighed as the mysterious creatures continued to follow after us. ¡°What''s it say?¡±

    ¡°It says, ''All these things are green; one is life, one holds life, the third has no life at all, and the fourth comes of cuprum'' -- what the heck is cuprum?!¡± my partner said exasperatedly.

    ¡°Cuprum, cuprum... copper! It''s copper!¡± Maryn quickly replied, taunting the creatures to get their attention.

    ¡°Oh! Okay!¡± Ariana smiled. ¡°Hmm... that just leaves the other three...¡±

    All of these things are green, huh? Wait... copper... what does copper make green? Isn''t it... fire!!

    ¡°Ack! Ari, I need your fire!¡± Maryn called.

    ¡°Ari, give it here, I think I have it!¡± I said to my partner, who nodded as she handed me the key.

    ¡°Go for it!¡± she said, and I turned to the door as she went on the attack.

    O-kay... ''is life''... jungle! ''Holds life''... sea! ''No life'' -- jade! And finally, fire! I mentally noted as I entered the sequence with the key. The door opened, and I sighed in relief. The mystery creatures went back to their -- to wherever they had come from, and we made our way inside the next door.

    ¡°Hmm...? Nice going!¡± Ari smiled at me as I handed the key back to her.

    ¡°Ah-heh, I try,¡± I grinned in reply.

    ¡°Oh, right, copper makes fire green,¡± Maryn remarked. ¡°Jungles are green, and full of life; the sea sometimes looks green, and has a lot of life... and of course jade is just a precious stone without life,¡± she continued.

    ¡°Lana''s getting better with riddles, huh?¡± Ari said.

    ¡°We''ll make a riddle-champion out of her yet!¡± the older girl replied.

    ¡°Hahh...¡± I bemusedly grinned, and the two of them laughed merrily.

    The halls we now entered into were deceptively tranquil. Around every corner was a trap of some kind, and even my own skills were sometimes useless to avoid setting them off. One of *those* places, huh? I thought to myself ruefully after encountering the second one of these. Fortunately for us most of them only activated living statues or awakened spectral monsters that we could deal with quite handily, even if it was exacerbating at times to get through them all.

    Just about the time I had nearly had enough of this running fight we had unwillingly brought down on ourselves, we stumbled into a room with eight sides. On each wall, including above the door behind us as we entered, was one of the other eight orbs'' symbols. On the floor in the center was the ninth symbol. Maryn shut the door behind us, using a nearby table to try and barricade it. I unhappily noticed that there were seven other doors, and that each of them had sounds coming from behind them.

    ¡°Oh boy.¡± I sighed. ¡°What''s our way out?¡±

    ¡°Oh! There''s a ninth door! It''s in the center!¡± Ariana exclaimed, dashing over to it. We followed her, and she suddenly halted, looking sheepish. ¡°¡­ There''s no ninth symbol on this key...¡± she quietly lamented.

    ¡°Gyeck!?¡±

    ¡°Ahh--!!¡± Maryn and I started in realization.

    ¡°Wait! Wasn''t there a boss monster in that last train coming after us?¡± I suddenly recalled.

    ¡°Ohh! Good call! Maybe that one had something for this door!¡± Ari snapped her fingers.

    ¡°Hahh... I''ll un-barricade the door,¡± Maryn said with a half-grin as she went to pull away the table.

    ¡°It''s the blue and green one, remember,¡± Ariana told me.

    ¡°Gotcha.¡±

    ¡°I''m enchanting your swords so they can hit spectral monsters like it.¡±

    ¡°Right!¡± I nodded as Maryn opened the door.

    ¡°Go!¡± our shield-user told me, and I entered Shadow World, using Shadow Speed to barrel past the other monsters in search of the one Ariana had mentioned. I quickly found him, and disposed of him using the deadly combo-skill. Sure enough, a key appeared in my inventory. With my remaining time for Shadow Speed, I hurried back to the room, Maryn shutting the door again just as I entered. I set the key to the lock, and as soon as Maryn rejoined us it opened. Or rather, it went poof.

    ¡°Huh?!¡±

    ¡°What the--!?¡±

    ¡°Eek!!¡± the three of us cried out as the door dematerialized, and we began falling down a long, long... really super-long chute, screams bursting forth from us as we fell.

    ¡°I hate this trope!!¡± I cried out in-between screams.

    ¡°Where''s the bottom?!¡± Ariana wondered frantically.

    ¡°Don''t tell me there isn''t one!?¡± Maryn sighed, and we began screaming again.

    I''m not sure how long we were falling, but eventually we landed -- on a long, long, really stupidly long slide. The three of us held on to each other for dear life as we spiraled down on the thing, barely noticing the motifs around us that seemed to deal with all sorts of riddles, mysteries, paradoxes, and other similar things.

    Uh-oh. I suddenly had a frantic thought, looking over at Ariana. Th-this has gotta be like... like a roller-coaster for her... I belatedly realized. She had shut her eyes, and was clinging to me for dear life. I wrapped my arms around her more securely, and Maryn enveloped the two of us in her own arms.

    After who knows how long (it was probably only a couple of minutes, but it certainly didn''t feel that way), we finally ended up at the end of the slide and landed in a heap at what was apparently the bottom. I can only imagine how comical we looked, the three of us sprawled out on the ground as we were and completely exhausted from our ¡°trip¡± down. I tried to stand up, but I was still stupidly dizzy, and fell face-first onto the ground. I could hear Maryn laughing in an out-of-breath way as she herself tried to regain her feet, falling back on her behind with a thump. This of course made Ari laugh, and soon we were all laughing for a few minutes. Then I tried again, and got to my feet more successfully. I helped the others up, and we began looking around.

    ¡°Woof,¡± I said as I nearly stumbled again. ¡°Oh, that''s the way, over there,¡± I pointed, seeing a passageway marked with the ninth symbol overhead.

    ¡°Let''s go,¡± Maryn said, catching me as I stumbled a second time, Ariana taking hold of me from the other side.

    ¡°That was too wild, even for us,¡± she smiled, her voice faint.

    ¡°Y-yeah,¡± I agreed.

    She still seems a bit shaken up by it, huh? I noted to myself. Not that I have much room to talk, I grimaced as I felt my legs nearly give way again.

    ¡°Oop! Ari, do you mind if I carry her?¡± Maryn asked.

    ¡°If you''re up for it, go ahead,¡± my partner said, and Maryn had me get up on her in piggy-back style while Ariana leaned on her staff and the wall for support as we continued ahead.

    As we made our way slowly through the passage, I looked around at the designs on the wall. They were comprised of the same motifs and designs that I could recall seeing--briefly--on our descent. Each of them had an air of mystery and secrecy about them, some inexplicable meaning in their curious artistry. Most of them had a female figure presiding over or central to their design. I understood this to be Wei-Zhi, the patron of this temple.

    ¡°Some of these look disturbingly like things I''ve seen in my philosophy classes...¡± Maryn remarked with a weary sigh.

    ¡°You think so?¡± Ariana wondered.

    ¡°Mm, or maybe it''s just me.¡±

    ¡°Where''s the end?¡± I remarked, using Shadow Vision to scan the area before us.

    ¡°It looks pretty endless so far,¡± Ari said as she did the same with her own skill.

    ¡°At least there''s no enemies,¡± I returned, switching mine off a moment later.

    ¡°That you can pick up, anyway.¡± Maryn added.

    ¡°Ahh--! True... it is that kind of place...¡± I recalled. ¡°Oh, I think I can walk straight now,¡± I then said. But Maryn kept on going. I could see Ariana smirking over at her. ¡°Ahh... Maryn?¡±

    ¡°Hmm?¡± the older girl turned back.

    ¡°Ahh... I can walk now, I''m pretty sure,¡± I told her with a shy smile.

    ¡°You''re pretty sure? Or you are sure?¡± she softly grinned back.

    ¡°Ehh...¡±

    ¡°In that case you can stay right there!¡± she replied, turning back to the passage before us.

    ¡°Heh!? Ah--Ari...?¡± I looked over at my partner.

    ¡°I can let her have this much.¡± she lightly quipped, and I resigned myself to my fate, feeling my cheeks color.

    ***

    Eventually, Maryn did set me down. We had just reached a suspiciously large door, and I was released to help investigate it. Ariana activated her Mage Lights, the luminescent orbs aiding us to get a better idea of what we were dealing with. There was a long riddle on the door, one which even I could read.

    First is cold to chill the bone,

    Second, the fight -- be not alone!

    Third is a depth that merfolk know

    While fourth is a thing to come and go;

    Fifth is a radiance of heat,

    And sixth, the stones upon the gate;

    The seventh goes where it will,

    But under the eighth all is still--

    Around this dial, turn them right,

    And the mystery then will be in sight!

    ¡°Hmm...¡± I rubbed the back of my neck, pondering the words.

    ¡°Basically we have to go clockwise,¡± Ariana said as she approached the door, taking note of the dial. ¡°They''re not quite in order... but it looks like... Ice, Contestation, Sea, Dreams, Flames, Jade, Wind, and Jungle.¡± she said, carefully using the key to enter the right sequence.

    ¡°But does the mystery refer to the orb itself, or to whatever might be guarding it?¡± Maryn wondered.

    ¡°I guess we''ll find out,¡± I shrugged as Ariana finished the sequence.

    The door opened, and a flash of light enveloped us for a moment. When it was over, we were in a room of ephemeral beauty, an ethereal presence all around us. I felt oddly calm, and I could see the others in a similar tranquility. Then, a female voice spoke to us.

    ¡°Riddles three for seekers three; answer true, as becometh you, and the orb indeed shall be for thee!¡± it said to us.

    ¡°Wei-Zhi,¡± I remarked softly.

    ¡°First: the more you give, the more you have; the less you get, the more you want.¡± the voice then said to us.

    ¡°Love.¡± Maryn answered immediately.

    ¡°Second,¡± the voice said again.

    Hmm... it sounds like Maryn won''t be able to answer the next two... I noted.

    ¡°The less you have, the more you want; the more you have, what more could you want?¡± Wei-Zhi asked us. I saw Ari''s face light up with a smile.

    ¡°Time.¡± she said confidently.

    That makes sense... oh boy, my turn, I thought as the voice started again.

    ¡°Thirdly: what is the goal of a life worth living?¡± the question came.

    G''hyeck!?!--was my initial thought.

    Wait... is this one of those things I tend to overthink? Maybe it has something to do with this place, this temple, or its philosophy... secrets, mysteries... oh!

    ¡°The goals of a life worth living are a mystery, for each of us have our own,¡± I replied.

    ¡°Well done, mortals. Enter now the Vault of Secrets, and claim your prize.¡± the voice said to us, and a door to our right opened.

    We made our way inside, and claimed the Orb of Mysteries that sat upon a pedestal in the center. There was also a small chest that appeared in the room; inside it was a ring for each of us, each of them with a similar effect to the Bands of Unity that Ariana and I had, except this time it was for three people.

    ¡°The Perfect Triad, they''re called,¡± I noted.

    ¡°The three players who wear these get an extra bonus in attacking or defending, plus thirty to vitality, it says,¡± Ariana read.

    ¡°Oh, cool,¡± Maryn smiled. ¡°Hmm... I''ll take the sapphire one.¡±

    ¡°Emerald!¡± Ari said happily.

    ¡°Leaving me the amethyst, huh?¡± I remarked as I took out the gold ring with its purple stone.

    ¡°Now then, let''s get out of here.¡± Maryn said, and we made our way to the door on the other side of the room.

    ¡°Don''t forget we might have an uninvited guest waiting for us,¡± I suddenly recalled.

    ¡°Ooh, right,¡± Ariana nodded, placing a couple of ward-spells on us as we entered the door. Like the puzzle door, there was a flash of light, and then we materialized outside the dungeon on an overlook of the mountains. I looked around quickly, espying the object of my concerns a couple dozen meters away from us.

    Further down the path from us was a girl with green hair, dressed in the iconic fashion of a witch, Gothic-style. That''s Clara Toxin, huh? I mused to myself, quickly using Shadow Sharing to hide us from sight before she could notice.

    ¡°Too late.¡± our enemy called up toward us. ¡°I just saw the flash of light. Even if you sneak down to me from there, one of my traps will get you.¡± she said to us smugly.

    Tch!! I inwardly hissed. None of us dared to move. I used Shadow Vision, and Ariana augmented it with Arcane Seeker; there was quite the plethora of nasty traps in our path.

    ¡°You won''t get me the way you got me last time, you little rat. Ugh, I''m so sick of hearing Mel-mel fawn over you... why couldn''t she just count on me for that sort of thing? After all, you have your boyfriend in the real world, even if you do play around with that wizard here...¡±

    She really does think Rachel is Lana, huh? I quietly mused. I could hear Ariana''s grip on her staff tightening; I reached over, gently enveloping her hand in my own. She looked over, biting her lip as she nodded back.

    ¡°It''s laughable, really... she''s trying so hard for someone so definitely unavailable to her... ha! She''ll try so hard to focus on you I bet she fails her fencing tournament this summer. And then I''ll be the only one who can console her... you think I''m wrong? I was her first friend here in this world; the only one she unburdened herself to. Not her brothers, not her parents -- certainly no one at that school of yours!¡±

    Brother-s, huh? As in more than just Malcolm?

    ¡°I''ll always be here for her... just for her, and only her! All my heart, all my soul -- every part of me, just for her,¡± Clara declared to the ostensibly empty air.

    I mean, I can kind of understand her... or maybe not at all... it''s gotta be frustrating to be in love with someone who''s in love with someone else... ahh--!!

    I glanced sidelong at Maryn. There was a vague hint of pain in her eyes. Clara''s words, however possessive, did have a sort of resonance for her. My heart sank.

    I don''t want to see anyone hurt. I don''t. Is there a right answer? Does she have to be hurt no matter what? I don''t want that! I thought to myself frustratedly.

    ¡°Hah... you haven''t even moved, have you?¡± Clara''s voice said. I turned back to her; now her eyes were green.

    Snap!! Witch''s Eye!! I recalled instantly. It was a skill that allowed certain magic-users to see through shadow skills.

    ¡°That''s fine! You can sit there and die, and I can collect the orb from your corpses!¡± she called, laughing evilly.

    Just as she was getting ready to cast a spell, two great balls of flame landed at her location. With a shriek she jumped away and began racing down the path. I looked up in the air. It was Dracuoatlax!

    ¡°Lady Lana, hurry!¡± the dragon said as he reached our position; we jumped aboard his back as if we had been shot from a cannon, and he began flapping away towards home.

    ¡°Nice timing, friend!¡± I said as we flew out of Clara''s spell-casting range.

    ¡°It is my honor, Lady Lana!¡± he said with a smug grin. ¡°At last I can vindicate myself against your enemies and mine!¡±

    ¡°You said it, pal. You said it.¡± I agreed, patting his back as we flew through the skies of Panarena.

 Side Chapter: Clara

    Clara stared up towards the great dragon she had failed to destroy, watching as it flew away with its three passengers. To her surprise she did not feel any sort of animosity towards the beast, nor anger at losing her quarry. Quite the contrary: she felt almost elated. A sense of glee ran through her body, and she cackled, nearly doubling over in her unexpected amusement.

    ¡°Ahhhh, Lana; Lana, Lana, Lana! Is this why you have so much of her attention?¡± the girl with green hair continued to laugh.

    I didn''t enter the Grand Tournament this past fall to show off, but I had already made my mark in plenty of player tourneys and regular PvP events; I even had some rivalries with other players that I managed to defeat over and over. None of them, not even one of my opponents ever beat me or thwarted me twice, let alone this many times! I see now -- no, even if I don''t actually get Melody''s obsession, I think I have my own, now! No one has ever made me want to beat them so badly as you''ve made me want to beat you, Lana Windstrider, Clara chuckled to herself as these thoughts ran through her head.

    ¡°Heh! Ha-ha-ha-ha-haaahh! You''ve never been beaten before, have you, Lana? Not even once! You''ve never had even one death in this game, and you''ve always, always managed an escape, whether it''s from your own head or whether it''s because you had a friend to save you! Hee! Just once, just once, I''m going to break that streak of luck and friendship you have going!¡± she declared in a roar, punctuating her statement with a blast of magic power in the direction the dragon had gone. It would never reach him or his passengers, but it somehow made her feel better.This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

    The better question is how did that beast get here; he went into hiding, probably, due to some warning that their alliance gave him. Did he also receive a warning about me? There''s no way. Practically no one saw me, and anyone who did wouldn''t care. Did the dragon come here on instinct, of his own accord? Heh, that''s an amazing NPC they''ve made; and he''s not the only one who operates on that adaptive intelligence matrix, is he? Incredible. I''ve been thwarted by a mere NPC. No; he''s not *just* that -- he''s an incredible being in his own right, like so many others in this game, Clara mused to herself.

    ¡°Let''s see... that''s all nine orbs they have now, isn''t it? And now they''ll have to go to that ritual site in Memphani... none of us ever got any information on that, probably because those arrogant losers who couldn''t go up against their guild-leader in a fair fight never believed the Silvernight Queens could get this far. Looks like I have a less stressful side-job coming up, one that I know will bring about results,¡± she smiled devilishly to herself. ¡°What was the name of that one guy, the one who was always jittery around us... ohh, yes: Jackal.¡± Clara recalled with a wicked grin, heading for the wayport so she could get to Pithoeses, where the King-Priests of the Demon Sands had one of their main guild-halls.

 Chapter Twenty-nine: A Dose of Real

    I woke up the next morning after waking up in-game to log out, as usual. With the semblance of a grin, I wondered to myself how it was that I had not yet been caught doing this night after night for the past few months or so. Let sleeping dragons lie, I then reflected as I got out of bed to start getting ready for school.

    ¡°You sure you''re okay?¡± Ari had asked me right before we logged out.

    ¡°Yeah; just a bit worn out from all of our orb-hunting,¡± I replied with a faint smile.

    ¡°I guess I am too,¡± she returned with a grin of her own, giving me a hug. ¡°See you soon!¡±

    ¡°See you soon,¡± I said with a better smile, holding her tight before we logged out.

    Thirty real minutes after that, I was at my computer after getting breakfast and a shower, idly browsing the game''s forums. There were the usual rage posts about players or groups who had thwarted other players and groups in the course of the guild competition. Some were more docile in nature; a lot of these had to do with fishing, farming, cooking, or some other craft skill that was less antagonistic in nature. We should capitalize on our Bethelia Homestead, huh? I mused to myself as I read some of these.

    Then I found a certain sub-forum that was apparently an on-going discussion; its start date was right around the time of the Grand Tournament. Blinking in befuddlement, I wondered how it was that this one, of all the posts, had only just now come to my attention. Its name was our guild''s name. Well, half of it was.

    The Silvernight Queens: Antics and Shenanigans Report.

    There were screen-grabs of the tournament; there were older screen-grabs from the live-feed that Ellie-Lizzy had posted during the conclusion of our Xuanpu quest; there were more from the holiday events and after-parties from the tournament; there were others of Dracuoatlax carrying the treasure-ship through the air to Queen''s Haven... you get the idea. If we had done it, or if it was somehow related to us, it was there. And that was just the pictures, a sub-section of the whole thing. At least thirty articles had been posted about our activities in the last month or so.

    ¡°P-people really are getting into it over us, h-huh?¡± I remarked with a bemused look as I scanned the highlights. There was even a sub-section of the forum dedicated to taking bets as to how high or low we would rank when the competition ended.

    The wager is in rare items or cold currency, huh? Hmm... I pondered for a moment, and then shrugged. If I made any more bets related to the game, Ellie would probably hang me ten times over, to say nothing of what Rachel might do. Or the others. A sigh escaped my lips. I looked over at the clock; it was time to get going. I got my shoes on, took up my bag, and headed downstairs to make my way to the bus-stop.

    ***

    We had landed at Queen''s Haven after a swift but long flight; Dracuoatlax decided to take his rest here, and we had obliged him. After he had headed down to the beach to sleep, Ariana dashed inside with the orb to see if it would give any hints of where to go or what to do next, leaving Maryn and myself in the yard between the beach and the manor. I felt my cheeks burning a bit, recalling Clara''s words and how Maryn''s expression had been during the green-haired girl''s ranting.

    ¡°Ahh... M-Mary, I mean... Maryn...¡± I nervously said, and she looked over at me with a smile.

    ¡°If you''re about to try and console me because of what that girl said earlier... it''s fine, really it is,¡± she told me.

    ¡°I don''t feel like it is--¡± I started, but then she wrapped me up in a hug, pressing me tightly against her. I didn''t say a word, and neither did she; slowly I reached around to hug her back. We stood there for a few moments like that, and then she finally broke the silence.

    ¡°You''re something special, you know? Part of me does feel like that girl, every now and again. But in the end, my happiness is your happiness; that is, seeing you be so happy, even if it''s not with me at your side. That''s what love is, Lana. It''s not getting what you want: it''s giving what you have, and accepting what you receive.¡± she told me, patting my head as she let go. ¡°I''m gonna go work on some crafting before our pre-morning catnap. I''ll see you at school.¡± she said, kissing my cheek as she left.

    ¡°You''re something special too, you know. You''ve done a lot for us over the past few months; don''t single me out as the only special person here,¡± I remarked as she headed off, and she looked back at me with an almost sad smile as she disappeared into the house.

    An update from Angelfire then stole my attention, and the rest of my Panarena time was spent coordinating future efforts with the other guild leaders in our alliance. All in all, we were about to turn the tables on the King-Priests, so things were mostly good -- but there was still the pirate alliance, to say nothing of the Guardians of the Eternal Citadel.

    ***

    ¡°Hahh... none of that is on my mind at all,¡± I remarked under my breath as I saw the bus coming my way.

    Ty was unusually awake for a change, giving me a nod as I sat down next to him as usual. I gave him a nod back, settling into my seat as the bus wound its way through town to school on its usual route.

    ¡°Wild was sayin'' something about an altar or temple down in Memphani somewhere before I got off last night. I guess that''s where y''all are heading next.¡± he said.

    ¡°Ahh? He knows more than I do, then; I guess Ari was too tired to mention it last night before we logged out.¡± I shrugged.

    ¡°Soon as that demon-thing is out of the way we can get back to the Queens'' being the only psychos in the Wildlands.¡± he quipped with a faint grin.

    ¡°I don''t think they''d appreciate that coming from the guild who''s quickly becoming just as bonkers.¡± I grinned back.

    ¡°Ain''t that about it?¡± he beamed. ¡°What sort of craziness happened last night, anyway?¡±

    ¡°Ehh, we almost got eaten by some giant tiger; Shiar Ghan, I think...¡±

    ¡°Hrrn! I''ve heard of that cat. Wildeye wants to see if he''s got a quest like your buddy Fyu.¡±

    ¡°I can''t imagine him having a quest as non-aggressive as Fyu''s,¡± I remarked wryly.

    ¡°That bad, huh?¡± Ty noted.

    ¡°Those claws had to be at least twenty CM long...¡±

    ¡°Niiice. ''Got to see the claws, huh?¡± he said with surprise.

    ¡°About this close to my face.¡± I said, indicating the minimally short distance with my finger and thumb.

    ¡°Dayum, squirrel. You don''t have evasion and good luck for nothing.¡± he quipped.

    ¡°You''re telling me,¡± I agreed.

    ¡°Oh, right, that dragon pal of yours was off like a rocket last night, too. I guess he caught up to you somehow or another?¡±

    ¡°Just in time, too. That Clara had us right where she wanted us.¡±

    ¡°Huh. I guess that''s about fair, all things considered.¡±

    ¡°Ah-heh... we did get her nicely at the Torching Mount...¡± I said with a wry grin.

    ¡°And then she pinned you later, huh?¡± he remarked.

    ¡°Looots of poison traps.¡±

    ¡°Hrrn, she''s bonkers with them, huh? Never mind ol'' Djaziim, I wish we had an orb to make Venomheart go poof for a few days...¡± he griped.

    ¡°Was there more trouble last night?¡±

    ¡°Their assassin was going nuts in the Wildlands last night; something about a werewolf, a pixie, and some short girl with a staff. Didn''t take us long to figure out who he ran into,¡± Ty said with a knowing smirk.

    ¡°Pfft! Niiice.¡± I laughed, quietly thanking the three in question.

    ¡°But he managed to wipe out about twenty players on his own before Mad Dog and his gang showed up; then he bolted like a damn rabbit.¡±

    ¡°Got away, huh?¡± I said with a faint sigh.

    ¡°Heh. We''ll get him next time.¡± Ty shrugged.

    ¡°Hope so,¡± I returned.

    The conversation drifted off with that. I slipped back into my own train of thought, nearly dozing off before the bus stopped to let us out at our destination. As soon as we got off, Ty gave me his usual flick, and picked up his pace to get to his locker. What''s *your* hurry, pal? I wondered with an amused grin as I made my way to my own.

    When I got to my own locker, Rachel was there waiting with a smile, books in hand. I smiled back, and quickly got myself ready for morning classes. A small groan escaped my lips as I paused to give the math book a dirty look; Rachel stifled a laugh as I did so, and when I had gotten all the books sorted we headed in for homeroom.

    ¡°Oh, I think Chrissy and Mandy said they won''t be on tonight--or at least not until late,¡± she told me as we sat down.

    ¡°Hm? Oh,¡± I returned. ¡°Ehh... I guess at this point we should be fine with the quest...¡±

    ¡°Oh they''ll make it in time for that.¡± Rachel softly smiled.

    ¡°True,¡± I had to agree.

    ¡°Were you still fidgety about that one problem?¡± she then prodded, tapping my math book.

    ¡°Like you weren''t?¡± I sighed back, a weary grin on my face.

    ¡°True!¡± she said with a laugh. ¡°That one was evil. Even Andi gave it three looks before she wrapped her head around it.

    ¡°Gyeck.¡±

    ¡°Right?¡±

    ¡°Hahh... just a few more weeks of torture, huh?¡± I reflected, looking up at the calendar.

    ¡°Kind of scary how fast it went,¡± my girlfriend said as she did the same.

    ¡°The old man always tells me that once it speeds up it never slows down.¡± I said, a wistful sigh escaping me.

    ¡°Yeah... that''s what grandma used to say, too,¡± Rachel softly said, a sad smile on her face. She took my hand, and I clasped hers back. ¡°Let''s make every second count, ''kay?¡± she said to me with a serious look.

    ¡°Definitely.¡± I agreed, and then the bell brought us to attention.

    Morning classes passed as they always did, leaving us with a mild amount of homework for next time and a few assignments to be turned in at a later date. Thankfully, there was no math homework. I about Riverdanced my way to the club room in victory at that realization when we broke for lunch.

    ¡°Somebody''s happy,¡± Ellie remarked as I practically skipped in the door.

    ¡°No math homework.¡± Rachel said with a goofy grin.

    ¡°Pffft!¡± the other girl nearly did a spit-take, then cackled for a few moments.

    ¡°No wonder he is so happy; do not worry though! My mother will make up for it this afternoon!¡± Anhe said with a smile.

    ¡°But I can understand foreign languages...¡± I quipped back, and she giggled.

    ¡°You really do, don''t you? Maybe that can be a career path for you,¡± Mary suggested as she came in. I felt my voice stick for a moment on hearing hers, and then sat back, giving the idea a more serious consideration.

    Not like you''re good at anything else, academically speaking, the thought came to mind.

    ¡°Hmm...¡± I wondered, pulling out my lunch as the thought ran through my head. Rachel looked over at me in surprise.

    ¡°My Gawd, you actually made him think about it,¡± she said to Mary.

    That statement was too much for Ellie. She actually did have a spit-take this time, and then she doubled over in laughter, falling back into her chair a moment later sounding like a seal as she clapped her hands.

    ¡°You don''t have to laugh that hard...¡± I sighed as I looked over at her, only to see Andrea hiding her own laughter behind Thomas as the other guy in the room sat there with an amused smile on his face.

    ¡°Y-you do have to admit, it was a bit on the nose,¡± he told me, his voice desperately trying to hold back his own laughter. Rachel patted me on the head as I sighed, smiling at me.

    ¡°Sowwy.¡± she said sheepishly, and I gave her a wry smile in reply.

    ¡°N-no problem,¡± I returned.

    ¡°Ahhhh, that was gooood.¡± Ellie said, coughing to clear her throat and settle down, ¡°But seriously, there are uni'' scholarships for things for people who have more than two languages under their belt, and you basically fit the bill.¡± she said to me.

    ¡°Eh? But don''t you have to like, write an essay in those languages for them?¡±

    ¡°Ho-ho, so you do know about them.¡± she grinned mischievously. ¡°Well, shouldn''t be a problem for you when you get to the end of your high school life.¡±

    ¡°Don''t kill it off yet...¡± I softly retorted.

    ¡°Yeah, yeah... tell me about it...¡± Ellie said with a sigh, gazing out the window fondly.

    We all turned to do the same, a long moment of silence overtaking us as we ate our lunches. There was nothing terribly important to be said, after all; even I could tell that the unspoken consensus was that we just wanted to be together for a bit longer in this place, quietly enjoying each other''s company. Wordlessly, some of us began trading some of our food with one another or slyly snitching it from the person nearest. Rachel and I each picked up a cookie from our own lunches, then stuck the item in question into the mouth of the other, earning us one of those ¡°oh-how-cute¡± stares from Andrea, Anhe, and Mary while Ellie rolled her eyes.

    ¡°Yeah, yeah, yeah--you''re cute, we get it...¡± she said to break the silence, and the others laughed.

    Afternoon classes brought a surprise. Both Miss Andrews and Holly, her aide, were out sick, so for Theater class we quietly ran over our lines. On the board, there was a notice of practices and rehearsals that evening being cancelled -- though the stage crew and costume makers were to carry on as normal. Tough luck for Thomas, huh? I thought with a bemused look as I made sure of what I was reading.

    ¡°Come to think of it, I wonder when the orchestra is gonna join us in rehearsals,¡± I softly remarked.

    ¡°Hmm? Probably in the last couple weeks, like always,¡± Matt said to me.

    ¡°Yeah, that''s how it usually goes.¡± Maggie nodded. ¡°They rehearse their music over and over just as we go over our lines again and again, and then we synch everything up in the last two or three weeks of rehearsals.¡±

    ¡°Dude! Remember that senior violinist last time who could not get his cues right?¡± Herby said with a groan.

    ¡°Oh, God, why did you remind me?¡± Maggie sighed, as Matt snickered.

    ¡°He-he-hee! He kept Marcus and Mike totally off their rhythm!¡± the other boy laughed.

    ¡°Why didn''t he get replaced, anyway?¡± Herby wondered.

    ¡°Bleh. His dad was one of the donors for the costuming and stuff. Like, a really huge donor.¡± Matt said as he straightened himself up.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

    ¡°Ugh, that''s right; what a lo-ser.¡± Maggie snorted.

    ¡°B-bad timing on him, huh?¡± I remarked.

    ¡°Even when he got his cues right it still threw us off.¡± Herby shook his head, and Rachel broke out in the giggles.

    ¡°That''s so bad!¡± she managed to say in-between laughs.

    ¡°Right?!¡± Matt grinned back.

    ¡°Ahh?¡± Billy Smith, who was playing one of the town guards, chimed in. ¡°Ohh, Danny Boy, Daniel Woodsworth. Hahh...¡± he then said with a sigh.

    ¡°O-M-G, that was his name.¡± Maggie returned with a look of vehement recognition.

    ¡°Hmm?¡± I suddenly remarked, then snapped my fingers. ¡°Oh, snap, that was the goof from last summer''s Olympics, wasn''t it?¡±

    ¡°Exactly!¡± Maggie nodded back.

    ¡°Ehh? He went to this school, huh?¡± I said with the ghost of a grin. Heh, I kind of thought the name was familiar... just didn''t remember how familiar. Way to make me watch part of the Olympics for once in my life, pal, I thought to myself.

    ¡°Pfft!¡± Matt snorted.

    ¡°Can''t say I blame you for forgetting; he was definitely a master-level social ghost,¡± Herby said with a shrug.

    ¡°Heh!¡± Billy nodded in agreement. ¡°If excuses came to hang out with people he''d be friends with everyone in town.¡± he quipped, and we all laughed.

    ¡°Still... no rehearsals tonight, huh? That''s a bummer...¡± Matt suddenly said, looking at the board with a bored expression.

    ¡°What are you complaining about?¡± Herby quipped. ¡°I''m sure you''ll drag me off to the arcades again after school just to make up for it.¡±

    ¡°But of course!¡± the other boy said with a grin.

    ¡°Sheesh, you and those arcade games,¡± Maggie sighed. ¡°Don''t you ever wanna just, you know, spend actual time with someone?¡±

    ¡°Hmm? Like what?¡± Matt blinked at her.

    ¡°You know... like a walk in the park... or a stargazing party... or something...¡± she replied, her cheeks reddening. Rachel and I looked at each other.

    You think...?

    Maybe!

    Who knew??

    Not me, for sure!

    I''m gonna prod her! -- or so the telepathic conversation between us might have gone, should it have been audible. Rachel turned to Maggie with a grin, nudging her.

    ¡°That sounds like fun! We should do that some time when it''s definitely more warm out!¡± Rachel said to her, and the other girl shyly grinned back.

    ¡°Hmm... I don''t have anything against it, particularly...¡± Matt suddenly remarked, and I saw Maggie''s cheeks reddening further. Though she tried to hide it a bit more this time.

    ¡°So maybe after the play''s over?¡± she softly suggested.

    ¡°For sure!¡±

    ¡°Or, maybe... just...¡± she trailed off into a mumble.

    ¡°Hmm?¡± Matt wondered.

    ¡°We''ll hold that thought!¡± Rachel smiled.

    ¡°Eh? Sure!¡± he said in reply. ¡°Ahh!! Look at that, class is over!¡± Matt then remarked, jumping to his feet and sprinting for the door.

    ¡°Yipes!!¡± Herby yelped, scrambling to get out the door just behind him. ¡°Wait up, jerk!¡±

    ¡°Too slooow, Herbs!¡± Matt''s voice called back. Most of the others headed out at a normal pace, and we headed out with Maggie, who was trying to collect herself.

    ¡°You like him, huh?¡± Rachel said softly as we got to the door.

    ¡°He''s such a doofus,¡± the other girl said, ¡°But that''s why I like him.¡± she added with a smile.

    ¡°I totally get it.¡± Rachel nodded.

    ¡°Huh? But Sean--¡± Maggie began.

    ¡°Has his goofy moments, believe me.¡± my girlfriend threw me under the bus with no hesitation.

    Heh. Heh-heh-heh-heh-heh-heh-hehh... hahhh... I inwardly sighed.

    ¡°Sure,¡± Maggie said with a laugh. ¡°Th-thanks, by the way... maybe, maybe this year...¡±

    ¡°I''m sure!¡± Rachel nodded, giving her a hug before we parted ways. ¡°Not gonna try for a comeback?¡± my girlfriend asked me a moment later as we headed for class.

    ¡°And lose points? No thanks,¡± I grinned back.

    ¡°Good answer! Plus ten for that one!¡± she winked in reply.

    Phew.

    ¡°S-so, speaking of walks... do you want to try and take the long way home after school?¡± I then asked her. She stopped, and looked over at me with a smile.

    ¡°Absolutely!¡± Rachel beamed back happily.

    That smile. It never gets old. It really never does.

    ***

    A couple hours after school had let out Rachel and I were in the downtown area, window-browsing the shops or halting to watch or listen to a street-performer. There were a couple of really neat magicians around, and on a stage near a parklet there was an all-girls band. I wondered to myself if they were the ones who had been at the party we had seen the other night. Their genre seemed to waver between pop and folk, all of which was well played and sung. Rachel even bought one of their albums to take home with her.

    ¡°Hmm...¡± she mused as we idly walked through one of the knickknack and curiosities shopping centers. ¡°Oh! That''s gotta be the song!¡± she noted with a smile as she read the list on the back.

    ¡°Hmm? Oh; yeah, that could be it,¡± I agreed.

    She really loved that encore, huh?

    ¡°It was so happy and trilly! And I''m glad I got you dancing with me,¡± she smiled, and I had to smile back.

    ¡°You started a small dance party back there,¡± I said with a laugh, and she laughed too.

    ¡°True!¡± she grinned. ¡°Oh! This one!¡± Rachel then said, taking my hand and leading me into one of the nearby shops as she put the album in her satchel.

    ¡°Eh? Ah, sure!¡± I quickly replied.

    Cozy Cat Corner? Oh, wait, I''ve heard about this... or *these*, I might say, I thought to myself as she opened the door to the place in question.

    Sure enough, it was that kind of place. Part bookstore, part caf¨¦, part study-room -- and one-hundred percent filled with cats. Besides the dozens of cats and-or kittens idling or scurrying or lazing about, everything in the place was feline-themed in some way or another. I could literally hear Rachel lighting up as she squealed with delight; turning to the counter near the door, I walked over with a wry grin to pay the entry fee.

    ¡°It''s ten, right?¡± I asked the lady.

    ¡°That''s correct,¡± she smiled back. I swiped my card, and the second I did Rachel nearly dove into one of the more cat-filled corners of the room. ¡°Good luck getting out again!¡± the lady said with a grin.

    ¡°Y-yeah,¡± I nodded, heading over to join my girlfriend, who was already scooping up kittens and gently nuzzling them.

    ¡°D''awww, you''re just the cutest!¡± she told the little black and white kitty, who was softly purring as it nuzzled her back. I had to smile.

    It''s giving what you have... seeing you happy, Mary''s words came back to me.

    You''re right. That''s exactly what it is, I silently agreed with her. Three of the littler ones and one of the bigger cats then came to me, and Rachel quietly laughed as she saw still more coming to investigate or to sit on me.

    ¡°Somebody''s a cat-magnet!¡± she laughed.

    ¡°If they can do science homework, then they''re very welcome!¡± I returned.

    ¡°Oh! Come to think of it, we did talk about Schr?--¡± she started.

    ¡°N-n-n-not that kind of science!¡± I quickly interrupted her.

    ¡°Ahh--!! Y-yeah, n-not a nice subject to talk about with kitty-kitties.¡± Rachel agreed, cuddling the one she had in her arms, along with another that had joined in.

    Hahh...

    ¡°What do we talk about with the widdle kitty-kitties, then?¡± she resumed, her cutesy voice dialed up to about ninety-nine. ¡°Why, we''ll talk about how vewy cuuute you all are!¡± she said, kissing the two little furballs now clinging to her.

    Ahhh; we''re gonna be here a while, huh? I realized with a bemused expression as even more cats came over to us, and to me specifically. It wasn''t long before I became a literal cat-tower. This is one of those moments where I will be eternally thankful that none of the others are around.

    ¡°Welcome to Cozy Cat Corner!¡± the lady said to an incoming patron. ¡°Just one? That''s five, please -- enjoy your stay!¡± she said. A few moments later I heard someone joining us.

    Hah? I wondered, lifting one of the cats a bit off of my face so I could see who it was. Ehhhhh?!? my brain said at once upon recognizing the young lady. It was Sabrina.

    ¡°You, like cats too, I see!¡± she said as she knelt down with us.

    ¡°Sabrina! Hey!¡± Rachel smiled at once.

    ¡°They''re adorable, aren''t they?¡± the older girl smiled as a couple of them left me to go to her. ¡°Are you alive, over there?¡± she said to me with a grin.

    ¡°Ahh... oh, I guess you''re off today?¡± I quickly replied.

    ¡°I am. There''s, a lot of volunteers now, after all. So I called Christy, to see if she wanted to join me here,¡± she replied.

    Gu''hyeck!?

    ¡°They''re both, on their way!¡± Sabrina continued with a smug smile.

    ¡°Oh fun! We can all have cuddles with the kitty-kitties!¡± Rachel said delightedly, a squeal of joy bursting forth as yet another kitten joined her.

    ¡°Enjoy your stay!¡± I heard again, and felt a part of my soul leaving my body.

    ¡°Whew! This is a fun-looking place!¡± I heard Mandy''s voice remark as the two of them came closer. ¡°Hi, Sabrina! Oh, Rachel!! Oooh, that means...¡±

    ¡°Pffft!¡± the other person softly guffawed as they knelt down beside me. ¡°Hiii, Seaaan!¡± Christina poked me through the swarm of cats that had been congregating on me.

    ¡°H-hi there,¡± I stammered back.

    So much for that faint hope... I thought to myself as the girls burst into laughter.

    Later that afternoon, after the girls had (somehow) exhausted their cuteness-intake for the day, our unexpected meet-up became a quick tutoring session that decisively finished off our homework for the day, followed by a visit to a restaurant for dinner.

    ¡°I still think it''s a bit mean of them to change your schedule up,¡± Mandy remarked to her girlfriend as we awaited our drinks in the booth.

    ¡°They''ve been getting more people in, lately, and Teresa was complaining that she and Tess aren''t always enough--which is true.¡± the other shrugged.

    ¡°Hmm, Tess really is tiny, though... you wouldn''t think she''s twenty-three.¡± Mandy said in reply.

    ¡°More like thirteen!¡± Christina agreed.

    ¡°She really is short,¡± Sabrina nodded. ¡°But feisty.¡±

    ¡°You''re telling me,¡± her half-sister said.

    ¡°Hmm?¡± Rachel wondered.

    ¡°Some guy about three times her size tried to get rough in the bar a few nights ago; Tess laid him out flat before he could blink.¡± Christina reported.

    ¡°Wow!¡± Rachel said in amazement.

    Short... early twenties... Tess... Tessa? Nah, couldn''t be...

    ¡°She''s good with that aikido stuff, huh?¡± Mandy observed.

    ¡°Aikido?¡± I then remarked. ¡°No way... Tessa Carroll?¡±

    ¡°Oh, you know her?¡± Christina said in surprise.

    ¡°She was practically a teacher at the one school I went to when I was a kid,¡± I told her.

    ¡°Hah, yep! That''s her,¡± the other girl nodded.

    ¡°What a curious connection,¡± Sabrina remarked.

    ¡°You think it''s a huge city, and then suddenly things like this come up, huh?¡± Mandy smiled.

    ¡°This place is weirdly small compared to some of the cities I''ve been to, though...¡± Rachel said.

    ¡°Ohh, right! You''ve been to a lot of places, huh?¡± the older girl remarked.

    ¡°I think Tokyo and London took the prizes!¡± my girlfriend smiled back.

    ¡°London... is big,¡± Sabrina agreed.

    ¡°You''ve been there, too?¡±

    ¡°For my sixteenth.¡± the other smiled.

    ¡°Ahh, gotcha!¡± Rachel nodded.

    ¡°That reminds me; Christy, she--our mother, put aside some money for a summer trip, for you, if you want it.¡± Sabrina then said.

    ¡°Hmm... you''re coming with us, though, right?¡± her twin returned.

    ¡°I am now.¡± the other smiled.

    ¡°I''m not sure we quite settled where we were going, though,¡± Mandy said. ¡°Come to think of it, shouldn''t you two be at practice? Or rehearsals, I mean?¡±

    ¡°Ahh... both of our teachers were out sick, so we got off early today,¡± I said.

    ¡°Ah-ha, so that''s why you were frolicking with the kitties!¡± the girl with platinum-hair grinned back.

    ¡°Hahh...¡± I sighed, but there was a smile on my face anyway.

    ¡°Don''t worry... I promise not to tell Ellie...¡± Christina said with a wink.

    ¡°I''ve heard that song before.¡± I quipped back, and the others laughed. The waiter came back with our drinks then, and after getting our meal orders headed off for the kitchen to deliver them.

    ¡°Hm? Oh, it''s Andi,¡± Rachel said as she checked her phone. ¡°Hmm... she says that she solved the last few clues and that we should meet them at Fivr''ang when we get online,¡± she said.

    ¡°That''s in the Tundralands, isn''t it?¡± I wondered.

    ¡°Less chance, of being spied on,¡± Sabrina noted.

    ¡°Oh, true,¡± I agreed.

    ¡°We finally have all nine orbs, huh?¡± Mandy remarked. ¡°I wonder what sort of crazy quest awaits us tonight! After I get through polishing my essay of course...¡± she said with a frazzled sort of grin.

    ¡°It was a long one, huh?¡± Christina said with a half-grin.

    ¡°It is a thesis-paper, after all,¡± Mandy nodded.

    ¡°Thesis-paper?¡± I wondered.

    ¡°At least sixty pages of original work on a certain topic.¡± Christina told me, her half-twin nodding in agreement.

    ¡°Hah...?¡± I practically quacked in disbelief.

    ¡°There you go scaring the high school gir--I mean, kids, again,¡± Mandy shook her head.

    ¡°No no, I''m warning them this time. You''d better have your ducks in a row if you go to uni.¡± her girlfriend said, Sabrina again nodding her assent.

    ¡°It''s, not for the fainthearted.¡± the other girl added.

    ¡°Ahh -- not for me, then.¡± I quickly said.

    ¡°The terror of sane people in Harmonia everywhere, put to flight by a stack of books and papers,¡± Rachel quipped.

    ¡°A big, big stack of books and papers, that is.¡± I softly retorted as the other girls laughed.

    ¡°You''ll be fine.¡± Christina told me. ¡°Ohh, right; you can take them home after this, can''t you?¡± she said to her sister.

    ¡°That''s fine,¡± Sabrina nodded. ¡°We are, cutting it close!¡± she said with a smile.

    ¡°For sure,¡± the other smiled back.

    ¡°Hm? Do you drive, Sabrina?¡± Rachel asked her.

    ¡°In a manner, of speaking,¡± the other grinned back.

    After dinner, Rachel and I found ourselves as the passengers of Sabrina''s... limousine. Her chauffeur had been waiting in the area, and quickly obliged her request to get us home after dinner. My mind went blank the second it had pulled up, and continued to be blank until Rachel poked me back to reality a few minutes later.

    ¡°Seeaaaan, we''re in a limo! Isn''t it neat??¡± she said to me.

    ¡°Ehh? Ah, right... a limousine... Sabrina''s limousine... and Mary''s fancy house... and Anhe''s palace... heh... heh-heh-heh... ah-heh...¡±

    ¡°Here,¡± Sabrina herself said, handing me a small glass of sarsaparilla. ¡°And I didn''t even ask, for it. It''s just, what I have, from what mother feels necessary.¡±

    ¡°You mean the vehicle,¡± I said as my wits started coming back to me.

    ¡°I don''t mind. And, it is fun,¡± she smiled at Rachel. ¡°I suppose, it''s one of those things that, people with money, don''t always think about.¡±

    ¡°We should definitely try getting one for senior prom.¡± Rachel said to me.

    ¡°Y-you''re already that far ahead?¡± I stammered back.

    ¡°Oh, I can just take you, in this one!¡± Sabrina smirked. ¡°So long as I get pictures!¡±

    ¡°Deal!¡± Rachel immediately grinned back.

    Hahh...

    ¡°Come to think of it, we can''t go until next year, huh...¡± I recalled.

    ¡°Not unless we have a junior or senior as a date.¡± Rachel nodded. ¡°I wonder if we could do it that way...¡± she wondered in a quieter tone.

    ¡°Hmm?¡±

    ¡°Eh? Ah! I''ll figure it out later!¡± she smiled back at me.

    ¡°Hehh...?¡±

    ¡°Sounds like more... what do they call them? Oh, yes; shenanigans!¡± Sabrina said with a laugh.

    ¡°That''s my life these days. One shenanigan after another...¡± I said with a wry smile.

    ¡°The house for the young madam,¡± our driver then announced as we pulled up to Andrea''s place. Rachel gave me a kiss before heading out, and we waited until she was inside to continue on.

    ¡°Honestly, I can''t wait--to see you, in the musical; and, to go on some real adventures, with all of you,¡± Sabrina told me as we made our way through the streets.

    ¡°I don''t know how the first will turn out, but the second will definitely--¡±

    ¡°The musical, will turn out wonderfully.¡± she said to me confidently.

    ¡°Ehh... I hope so. Apparently some bigwigs are watching it and the funding for the arts at schools in general is on the line, or something like that...¡±

    ¡°Ahh, them...¡± Sabrina said with distaste.

    ¡°Hm? You know them?¡± I wondered. A moment of silence passed.

    ¡°My mother, hosts some of their parties, sometimes. Not always. But enough. The most vocal of them, his name, is Maximilian Theodore Arnold Saint-James the Third, as he always reminds everyone in earshot, especially if they don''t care...¡±

    ¡°Heh... pompous, huh?¡±

    ¡°If he, was just pompous, he wouldn''t be the worst. But, he''s been known, to take some aggressive actions, to get his way.¡± Sabrina remarked, and then blinked as the both of us realized what she had said. ¡°Aggressive...¡± she repeated softly.

    ¡°Don''t tell me that''s why...¡± I murmured, thinking back to my ¡°ninja¡± attacker.

    ¡°The house for the young master,¡± the driver then announced. I said my thanks to Sabrina as I got myself unbuckled to get my bag, and then she softly took my arm.

    ¡°Sean; please, be careful, the next few days.¡± she implored me.

    ¡°Of course,¡± I said, and then she kissed my cheek before letting go. I stepped out of the limousine then, and when I had gotten inside my door I heard it rolling off to its final destination for the night.

    My parents were already asleep, it seemed. I got myself ready for bed, and slipped on the Dream Machine a few minutes later to join the others in Panarena.

 Side Chapter: Clara, II

    ¡°You''ll tell me, won''t you?¡± Clara whispered sweetly to the hapless young man she had literally spell-bound, caressing him softly as she continued pressing him for answers. ¡°Jackal; Jaaackal; sweet, little Jackal...¡± she cooed, using the subtle force of her Thessalian racial bonus to its fullest advantage. Thessalians had a twenty-five point default bonus to Charisma and a two-point-five percent positive modifier on persuasion options. Clara had capitalized on this in addition to her poisonous array of magicks, as well as advancing the Art of Persuasion and the Secret-Finders trees. It was one of the reasons Melody had chosen her as second in Venomheart: her inquisition techniques were among the best in the game.

    Jackal, the subject of her advances and questions, was having a hard time keeping answers from her. He had already unwittingly divulged the name of the place where the Nine Orbs would be used, suddenly clamping his mouth shut with both hands just as he was about to reveal the location itself. Now he struggled again as Clara subtly redoubled her efforts.

    ¡°Hmm, hmm... won''t you tell me, little Jackal?¡± she pleaded seductively.

    ¡°Nnngh! Grrrgh!¡± he fidgeted uneasily.

    ¡°It''s no use, dar-ling,¡± Clara smiled sweetly at him. ¡°I''ll just do this to someone else, and then another, and another, on and on and on, until I get what I want... and I always get what I want...¡±

    Jackal knew it was true; he''d heard rumors of this person, Venomheart''s interrogator. He''d only half-believed the forum rumors... until now. Might as well tell her... it''s not like those losers Rama or Hathisis can do anything at this point...

    ¡°Ih, it''s east...¡± he stammered out.

    ¡°East?¡± she repeated in a whisper near his ear.

    ¡°Ahh! East, east of... j-jungles...¡±

    ¡°The jungles...¡± Clara noted with a sultry tone, sliding her fingers underneath his chin delicately.

    ¡°Mmm... mrrmm... i''s... it''s the... the--!!¡± he started stammering again, part of him still unwilling to yield.

    Drrrrgh!! Hahh... wouldn''t it be impressive if I was the one who broke the inquisitor?! Jackal thought in a semi-deranged state of mind, desperately clinging to loyalty again.

    ¡°Hmm... let''s see... east of the Jungles of Zyda...¡± Clara mused, and then softly gasped in realization. ¡°Of course, of course... I see now,¡± she said, releasing her victim, who slumped back in his chair, understanding that he had, in the end, failed to keep her from guessing. A shrill laughter was heard, and the room filled with the smoke of poison as Clara left him.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

    ¡°Hah... so that''s why she had me meet here out here in the abandoned house... to avoid the in-town penalty for a player death...¡± Jackal sighed. ¡°Blast Rama, and blast Hathisis, too... we need Rayna back...¡± he mused as his health bar went down rapidly from the poison.

    ***

    Near Pithoeses, Clara found Cyan waiting for her. The silent necromancer blinked as she approached him, and she smiled at her comrade.

    ¡°Did you get sent after me?¡± she asked him. He nodded back. ¡°Melody?¡± Clara wondered; another nod. ¡°Then let''s contact her right now. I have some good news she''ll be delighted to hear about...¡± Clara told him with a venomous smile.

    ¡°Hmm.¡± Cyan returned, the rare and faint glimmer of a smile coming to his face as he pulled out the communication crystal to contact the other members of Venomheart.

    ¡°Clara?¡± Melody said as the other five came into view moments later.

    ¡°Mel-mel, sorry I wasn''t on to greet you; I just finished an interrogation, though,¡± the green-haired girl said in a dainty sort of way.

    ¡°Oh?¡± Melody raised an eyebrow.

    ¡°I''ve figured out where the Silvernight Queens will be going for the final ritual involving the Nine Orbs.¡± Clara told her with a quiet smile.

    ¡°Oooooh-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoooo!! Say we''ll go! Say we''ll go!! Say we''ll goooo!!!¡± Venomy crowed, hopping up and down like a frog at the words.

    ¡°Good work,¡± Melody said to her second with a smile. ¡°No need to tell me now; we''ll meet up with you around Pithoeses. We were planning to be in the Wildlands for the King-Priests major assault tonight, but... this seems more up our alley.¡±

    ¡°Oh of course,¡± Clara returned, idly twirling a lock of her hair around her finger. ¡°That''s exactly why I put more effort into it,¡± she casually shrugged.

    ¡°We''ll see you soon, then.¡± Melody smiled, and the communication ended.

    ¡°Tch, you''d think at least that idiot Venomy would stay around the Wildlands....¡± she sighed.

    ¡°Hrrmm.¡± Cyan shook his head, tapping the side of it a moment later.

    ¡°Oh I know. Be-lieve me I know.¡± Clara remarked. ¡°Good thing the real psycho is safely locked away...¡± she muttered.

    ¡°You... actually know him?¡± Cyan wondered.

    ¡°Like I said,¡± the girl with green hair said with a shrug, heading towards the wayport.

    Cyan tilted his head for a moment, observing her, and then decided it didn''t matter. They had a job to do, and it wasn''t one their self-appointed overlords had foisted upon them. He followed her to the wayport, eager to be on a task that they had now chosen for themselves. Clara smiled as he caught up to her, pride swelling in her chest.

    Tonight, Lana... we settle things tonight!

 Side Chapter: The Dragon, II

    Dracuoatlax stirred awake, idly gazing about as he registered the scenes around him. He was at Queen''s Haven, on the beach. In the distance he could hear the wayport being activated. Lady Lana and her friends were off once more on their seemingly ceaseless quest to thwart Djaziim. It was likely they had decided their dragon-ally was in need of more rest. He did not know whether to feel insulted or honored for a moment, deciding on the latter in consideration of their strong sentiments for him.

    ¡°Yet, Lady Lana, to not consider me for the final battle against that fiend and his masters is something I cannot abide! I will fly to you at once and remedy the situation!¡± he said, heading over to look at the wayport. It still had the destination of Fivr''ang put in.A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

    Quickly, the great dragon tapped its crystal with one of his claws, activating it once more. The portal that opened up was his size, fortunately. He stepped through, and sniffed the area to catch their scent. They had gone up to the mountains in the west. Dracuoatlax let out a grin, and decided to leisurely walk to his destination. Mortals, after all, did so love their discussions.

    ¡°And when you have finished talking things through, I shall enter myself into your battle plans as I will -- so long as I can face that fiend Djaziim the Unholy one last time!¡± he declared, sensing victory was soon at hand on that count.

 Chapter Thirty: The Profane Temple

    As soon as I loaded up, I found most of the others waiting for me. Ariana, Anhe, Maryn, Healina, and Derwydd were in the room, along with Peaches and Cylodel, all of them focused on the table in the middle of the room.

    ¡°Good timing!¡± our healer said to me as I loaded in.

    ¡°What''s that?¡± I wondered as I walked over, and then noticed it was a map. ¡°Ahh, Memphani; did you find the place we have to get to?¡±

    ¡°Yep! It''s called the Profane Temple,¡± she nodded back to me, ¡°But let''s get to Fivr''ang quick; Wildeye was asking for our help down there!¡± she then said, and I nodded back.

    ¡°Let''s go!¡± I said, and we headed out to the wayport to get Fyu and join our friends.

    We found ourselves in the ever-snowy Tundralands moments later, just on the outskirts of Fivr''ang. One of the Mountain Tigers, a girl named Elara, waved for us to follow her away from the town itself. Heh, not even staying in town, huh? I mused as we made our way westward towards the Glacial Peaks. Several sleighs awaited us near a copse of pine; these hauled us to the tallest of the three peaks west of Fivr''ang, Everice Peak, where a camouflaged outpost established by the ''Tigers had been built. Inside, we found most of our fellow alliance leaders waiting.

    ¡°''Tis good you are here; and now at last let counsels be given in haste!¡± Eothane said as we entered the room.

    ¡°Lana; the King-Priests are planning a major raid of the Wildlands tonight, worse than they''ve ever done before. We were warned directly by some of their messengers. I know, I know; we''ve had some pretty bad ones lately--but this time, the Guardians are, at least temporarily, on their side.¡± Wildeye told me.

    ¡°Gyeck!?¡± I stiffened in surprise. ¡°Djaziim and F¨¨nghu¨¢ng''s phoenix... hahh...¡± I sighed ruefully as others around the room murmured in either anxious or angry tones.

    ¡°There''s no counter for her mystical ally, since it''s technically a spell,¡± Magisteria said, and I nodded back.

    ¡°I''ve seen that thing in person,¡± I recalled with a slight shudder, Ari and Anhe both nodding.

    ¡°That means the only thing we can stop is Djaziim, who, is arguably the more destructive of the two.¡± Wildeye nodded. ¡°I''m not discounting F¨¨nghu¨¢ng''s phoenix, but she only tends to use it when pushed to extremes.¡±

    Ah-heh.

    ¡°So she''ll most likely try to overwhelm us with pure numbers.¡± Wildeye continued.

    ¡°This timing is unfortunate, for there is unrest in the north, and the Nightkin make now their move to assail us,¡± Eothane shook his head.

    ¡°I can try to provide help.¡± Qi Lin volunteered.

    ¡°We could not spare much more than that, if we want to keep our holds in the Wildlands intact.¡± Jannie noted. ¡°The real thrust of our counterattack will be Lana''s group--oh, Myanihia, you''re here,¡± she said with a sudden smile as the Snow Elf assassin came to join us.

    ¡°I am.¡± she softly replied, subtly placing her hand on my shoulder. ¡°Continue.¡±

    ¡°Right,¡± Wildeye nodded, and we turned to him again. ¡°With Qi Lin and Eothane fighting in the north, along with a few of the Night Wolves who have already been fighting with the Horselords, the great defense tonight will comprise all of us except Lana and her allies. I''m sending you a battle-plan that Jannie, Magisteria, Hua Ling, and myself have been composing; please let me know if you see any deficiencies or things we can improve,¡± he told us as he sent it out.

    Northern Warriors and Valiant Maidens are gonna hold the coasts, huh? Hmm... it looks like they''re expecting the enemy''s main attack to be at Mount Solitude in the west, along with the ore-rich regions north of the Olwood, though I wouldn''t discount the smaller--ohhh, I see, he''s gonna have them use guerrilla tactics in those areas... it looks like he''s not counting on Dracuoatlax being around, too. Hmm.

    ¡°Let''s keep Dracky at Queen''s Haven for now; I think he really needs a rest after all the stuff he''s been through the past few days,¡± Ariana softly whispered to me, anticipating my thoughts on the matter.

    ¡°You''re right.¡± I agreed. ¡°If he comes out on his own, though...¡±

    ¡°Then at least we won''t have forced him!¡± she smiled back.

    ¡°I agree with your decision about most of the smaller outposts we have.¡± Mad Dog said.

    ¡°Most?¡± Wildeye wondered.

    ¡°This one, up in the Blade Heights; that one defends a crucial mining and smelting operation.¡± he said, giving the other guild-leader a solemn gaze.

    ¡°He''s right,¡± Jannie reminded her lover. ¡°That''s where our alliance is getting silver-steel from. If they take that over even for a few hours they can outfit their mages with upgraded gear in the next fights.¡±

    ¡°Blast!¡± Wildeye brought his fist down angrily. ¡°But if we divert too many forces from anywhere else...¡±

    ¡°It''s a gamble, but it''s worth it.¡± Mad Dog returned.

    ¡°Perhaps I might be of assistance in such a regard,¡± a familiar voice called from outside. I looked over at Ari immediately.

    ¡°Like we said,¡± I softly smirked, and she gave me a lopsided grin.

    ¡°He chose it!¡± she said.

    ¡°Magis, mirror-spell please,¡± Jannie said to the leader of Words and Sorcery, who opened the communication spell at once. Dracuoatlax appeared on the shimmering image, looking around at us.

    ¡°Lady Lana; I understand your feelings regarding me. Yet do not count me out of this last fight against mine enemy! At the least I shall defend this little fortress of your allies in the Blade Heights.¡± the dragon said to me.

    ¡°As you wish,¡± I said with a smile. ¡°Just be mindful of Venomheart.¡±

    ¡°Of course, master. I will not let myself be felled by such as they,¡± he assured me.

    ¡°Venomheart is the real wild-card now.¡± Johann Starson remarked. They seem less focused on the alliance and more focused on the Silvernight Queens; but I don''t want to discount them being around our neck of the woods tonight, either.¡±

    ¡°I''d bet about half of them at least show up in the Wildlands again tonight.¡± Angela said confidently.

    ¡°Agreed.¡± Jannie nodded to her. ¡°The others will definitely try and go after Lana and her group.¡± she asserted. I saw Angelfire fidget in her seat at those words.

    ¡°Yo, boss, I want in on this Memphani raid group.¡± Tyman then jumped in.

    ¡°Eh? You sure?¡± Wildeye asked him.

    ¡°Damn sure.¡± the reply came.

    ¡°Then I''m going too!¡± Angelfire declared at once.

    ¡°We need you for Mount Solitude!¡± Jannie returned with a pleading tone.

    ¡°Dante and Vesuvi will more than make up for me, I promise.¡± the girl with fiery hair told her confidently. Jannie was about to protest again, but Wildeye laid a gentle hand on her, shaking his head. Then he turned to Angelfire.

    ¡°I''ll trust your word on this. But no more than you two. We''re already short Peaches, Derwydd, and Cylodel in addition to the Silvernight Queens, and when the three missing Queens get on... hmm...¡± he mused uncertainly.

    ¡°Lysandra, and Sky Belle... will help you in the Wildlands. Lizzy... I could not say.¡± Myanihia told him.

    ¡°Ehh... she''ll be fussy about it, but she''ll definitely help you guys if she thinks she has to, or if there''s not much of a choice when she logs in.¡± I shrugged, and Healina nodded in agreement.

    ¡°Couldn''t have said it better myself.¡± she said with a smirk.

    ¡°If needs be, I will take the rest of my masters to Memphani myself, if I judge the situation to be favorable,¡± Dracuoatlax remarked. ¡°The Profane Temple is a place of darkness; only the most determined or the most foolish should dare enter its demonic demesne. Even I dare not guess what slumbers there, guarding the way to the Altar of Blood where one can either bind or release that blight of the sands, Djaziim the Unholy.¡± the dragon told us.

    ¡°It''s east of Pithoeses, right?¡± Healina asked to clarify.

    ¡°It is. Beyond the Jungles of Zyda and south of the River Goy in the Hollow Wastes.¡± the reply came.

    ¡°Sounds like Bara Zyn is the closer option to that,¡± Tyman noted at once.

    ¡°Wherever you go, you need to be gone five minutes ago.¡± Magisteria said. ¡°The main assault is going to happen in about thirty minutes. Let''s get to the wayport and get to our positions.¡± she said to us, and with that we adjourned.

    Peaches, Derwydd, Cylodel, Tyman, and Angelfire then joined our party, and we headed down to where Fyu and Dracuoatlax awaited us. The dragon gave us a nod, a smug look on his face as we approached him.

    ¡°Fear not, Lady Lana! Tonight will be a night of terror for them and not I!¡± he said with confidence, and leapt into the sky with a flap of his great wings, heading northwest.

    ¡°Let us be off, masters,¡± Fyu said a moment later, and we headed to the wayport ahead of the others. Tyman input our destination of Bara Zyn, and in moments we were whisked away to our next adventure.

    ***

    Hahhh... I can''t wait to get back to doing normal quests and stuff for this competition... I thought to myself as Fyu hauled us along in the waggon; then I reflected that a good deal of our adventures ended up being the furthest thing from normal possible. Well at least we could get back to doing more normal things, like running cargo-- oh wait... we couldn''t even do *that* normally without dragging a sea-monster into it, could we? I recalled bemusedly, the expression manifesting on my face.

    I looked up towards the north, where the jungles lay in the distance. Tyman said something about there being a magical oasis that shifted locations under its boughs every couple of days. Apparently he and some of his guildies had even experienced the phenomenon.

    ¡°That was one of the wildest things I ever had happen here,¡± he remarked as we made our way east by northeast to our destination.

    ¡°I''ve heard about something similar on one of the outer island chains; or was it actually the islands themselves that did it...?¡± Angelfire said, her expression thoughtful as she tried to recall the details.

    ¡°Jans said something like that too,¡± Tyman nodded. ¡°This whole damn chain of islands that disappears and reappears and stuff; think she said it has some super-rare stuff on it, too,¡± he said.

    ¡°Neat-o,¡± Peaches said with interest. ¡°We should try and find them sometime, if we can.¡±

    ¡°Hmm.¡± Cylodel nodded.

    ¡°That''d be good for the competition, too,¡± Maryn noted. ¡°Wasn''t there something about exploration bonuses and first-comers to the Hitherlands?¡±

    ¡°Ooh, that''s right!¡± I snapped my fingers.

    ¡°You were reading about that a couple months ago, weren''t you?¡± Ari asked me.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± I nodded back. ¡°If you get to one of those islands beyond the mainland first, you get a two-percent increase on profits you make from its resources, or something like that,¡± I recalled.

    ¡°Nice!¡± Angelfire exclaimed. ¡°Wait a sec...¡± she then said.

    ¡°Yeah... I can''t remember if that''s based on party or guild...¡± I said in anticipation of her thoughts.

    ¡°Hmm... well, we''ll just have to find out later,¡± she shrugged.

    ¡°Have you ever been to these Hollow Wastes, Tyman?¡± Ariana then asked.

    ¡°Hrrn, I usually avoid them. That place ain''t right.¡± he told us, turning his gaze ahead. ¡°I think I know what this Profane Temple is, too; there''s these blackened ruins on the top of this mesa out there. Well, there''s a lot of them; but this one''s the biggest of them all. There''s all sorts of dead trees and rotting forests below them, along with tons of undead creatures--and that''s just what you can see without getting too close,¡± he recounted for us.

    ¡°No bugs or spiders, then... phew.¡± Healina sighed in relief. But Tyman raised an eyebrow. ¡°¡­ Th-there''s no b-bugs or spiders... r-r-right?¡± our healer then asked with a desperate look in her eyes.

    ¡°Not the normal kind, no.¡± he returned with a shrug, and she gulped.

    ¡°I guess that means they''re also--¡± I started, but Ari softly put a hand over my mouth.

    ¡°We''ll get through it.¡± she smiled to Heali, who slowly nodded. ¡°Besides, we have Angelfire with us. I bet you won''t even have time to go ''Eek!'' before they get burned up!¡± my partner quipped.

    ¡°May-be,¡± Angelfire replied with a wink, and we laughed.

    Our light mood carried us all the way to where we could see the Hollow Wastes themselves, where it began to shift into a more solemn one. I could understand Tyman''s earlier words for sure; even as far away as we still were, I could feel a subtle change in something around us. When we got to the outskirts I could definitely feel it. This place was definitely a new level of evil for me.

    ¡°Masters,¡± Fyu said as he paused on the invisible edge of the place, ¡°I can see the ascent to the temple in question. I see, and smell, also, the despicable hordes of undead creatures which lie between it and us. Dracuoatlax could no doubt tell you more of this place, were he here; yet I can recall an ancient story that tells of a band of ancient heroes who did no harm to those below and made it to the temple in safety. What this means, I do not know.¡± the dog-beast said to us.

    ¡°Hmm... I guess it means if we don''t attack, at least, we can lose their aggro if they come after us by the time we reach the top,¡± I pondered.

    ¡°That''d make the most sense of that story,¡± Angelfire agreed.

    ¡°Fyu, you can pick out a pretty safe path through all that, right?¡± Ariana asked the dog-beast.

    ¡°I am mostly certain of the path I might take, Lady Ariana,¡± he replied.

    ¡°Good enough for me.¡± I said.

    ¡°I could just whisk us up there by pairs or by threes.¡± Cylodel then reminded us.

    ¡°Oooh, there we go.¡± Healina smiled.

    ¡°That might be safest.¡± Anhe agreed, and Cylodel began readying himself.

    I held my doubts in check for the moment at this suggestion. There were certain areas in most MMO games that prevented teleports of one sort or another, after all; if it was that easy to get up to this dungeon, I would be pleasantly surprised. Sure enough, a moment after Cylodel had enacted his magic to try and get up there, the spell fizzled out. With his characteristic nonchalance, he turned to gaze at the notification window that popped up next to him.

    ¡°No go.¡± he shook his head.

    ¡°Kinda thought so,¡± I nodded.

    ¡°Anti-portal and teleport area?¡± Peaches said, and he gave a nod. ¡°Drat.¡±

    ¡°Then I shall run, masters,¡± Fyu said, and he pulled away at a speedy pace, doing what he could to keep us from the swells of undead creatures that were roaming or idling around the area.

    They were... grotesque, to use the safest word that comes to mind. I was used to undead things such as walking corpses or skeletons, wraiths, and even a couple undead animals from time to time. But, bugs, man, they had undead bugs in this game. And bugs are already creepy looking most of the time.

    ¡°Hyeck!?¡± I tensed up as I caught sight of a slightly familiar thing, quickly burying myself in Ariana''s arms so I couldn''t see anything.

    ¡°Hmm? Oh!¡± she remarked, suddenly noticing what had briefly caught my attention. ¡°Um. Okay. Yuck.¡± she said, patting my back as she observed the corpse-hive buzzing off to our left.

    ¡°Yo! What the hell kinda honey do those things have?¡± Tyman wondered.

    ¡°Really?? That honey?!¡± Angelfire said in amazement.

    ¡°I''d investigate with him,¡± Derwydd remarked.

    ¡°You two can go ahead. We''ll leave you here.¡± Peaches quipped.

    ¡°You never know! It might have some kinda value!¡± Tyman returned.

    ¡°I would guess it is poisonous,¡± Anhe observed as we got further away from it.

    ¡°Hrrn! I bet you''re right,¡± Tyman agreed. ¡°Wouldn''t surprise me if those Venomheart twerps came here for it now and then... speaking of which--!¡± he quickly changed his tone, sitting upright as he caught sight of something in the distance.

    As soon as he said the words, I managed to bring myself out of Ari''s embrace and look in the direction he was now facing. In the distance behind us, there was a black carriage with a team of four black horses, and in the driver''s seat of that carriage was a figure I registered with Shadow Vision as Cyan Idewyll, the Necromancer of Poisons. Worst of all, it was ahead of us, off to the side of the path at the top of the mesa. And I could see the other members of Venomheart getting out of the carriage too--all of them.Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

    ¡°Oh, snap--!!¡± I swore as I went to full alert.

    ¡°How did they--no, never mind... I can pretty much guess...¡± Angelfire sighed.

    ¡°Either they knew from the start or they interrogated someone who did know.¡± Derwydd said with a nod.

    I looked around the area quickly. There had to be something here we could use to our advantage. If the Wildlands was under a major assault, there was probably no time to play around with Venomheart before completing the quest, which was definitely at least one of their objectives in being here.

    Ugh, there has to be something; there''s always something... wait!!

    ¡°Fyu! Keep going at a steady pace!¡± I said as I got ready to hop out.

    ¡°Understood, master!¡± he replied.

    ¡°Where are you going!?¡± Ariana wondered.

    ¡°To get a friend!¡± I said with a cheeky grin, and dropped out of the waggon to head for a particularly large monster.

    ¡°Oh boy, here come the rage-posts...¡± I heard Peaches say as I ran towards my target.

    Yeah, yeah... Silvernight Queens this, Silvernight Queens that... I''ve heard it all, Peaches, I thought to myself with a grin. Well... maybe not yet!

    The monster in question was, as I had hoped, a boss-monster. It was a massive, undead tarantula-like creature with looots and lots of little underlings scurrying around it. And as soon as I had gotten its attention, they all came after me. That was my cue. Making sure to keep their aggro on me, I used Shadow Speed and Shadow Evasion to keep them just far enough away so that they didn''t kill me, leading them up the mesa all the while. The rest of the gang, having caught on to my plan, came rolling up well behind the monster-spider and its minions.

    I''m probably gonna owe Heali for a bit of trauma when this is over, I mused as I scrambled up the path. Ahead of me, I could hear Melody calling out orders to attack the spider and its minions--along with me--as soon as we all got to the top. Ehhh, not quite according to plan, but I''ll make it work, I grinned to myself.

    As soon as I got to the top, I saw Clara waiting and ready, an eager look on her face. Her hands were wreathed in green-colored wisps, and she raised her hands to launch them at me as I came into view.

    ¡°No dragon this time, girlie!¡± she crowed triumphantly. The spell came hurtling towards me a moment later.

    ¡°Shadow Leap!¡± I said, springing into the air and sailing over their heads. Jana shot an arrow at me, and Merc fired one of his pistols, but they both missed.

    On the other hand... Clara''s spell hit the monster-spider. Which, apparently, was immune to poison. It, along with its horde of mini-spiders, aggroed to Venomheart at once, allowing me to continue helter-skelter towards the temple while Fyu picked up his own pace to join me there. By sheer luck, the swarm of spiderlings came between us and Venomheart, allowing us to get to the temple unimpeded. As the others got out of the waggon, I looked behind at the battle I had set into motion, and began cackling with delight. I could see Ariana shaking with laughter as well, along with the others; even Heali was managing a wry grin.

    ¡°Immune to poison, eh? Tough break for them!¡± Derwydd beamed as we entered the temple with Fyu, after we unhitched the waggon from him.

    ¡°Heard that! All the same, though... they kinda deserve it!¡± Tyman grinned.

    ¡°They never learn.¡± Peaches sighed. ¡°The more you drive Lana into a corner, the more bonkers she gets.¡±

    ¡°Ah-heh,¡± I returned bemusedly.

    ¡°Masters, they may destroy our waggon out of spite,¡± Fyu noted.

    ¡°Ehh, we can get another waggon anyway.¡± I shrugged, placing a hand on his head as we walked along. ¡°But we can''t get another Fyu.¡±

    ¡°Your words warm my heart, master.¡± he replied, a grin on his face.

    ¡°Although I am sure Lizzy will be mad at us; that was originally just hers, was it not?¡± Anhe suddenly reminded me, and I stopped in my tracks.

    ¡°Gyeck!?¡±

    ¡°Ahh--! It was hers... wasn''t it...¡± Ariana said. ¡°G-good luck explaining things if we do lose it!¡± she said to me with a nervous laugh.

    ¡°I''m just gonna bet they''ll be too invested in getting away from that thing to remember it being there.¡± I said with a shrug.

    ¡°Good point!¡± she smiled.

    ¡°Man, this place is dark though,¡± Tyman remarked as we came to a wider hall.

    Angelfire and Peaches activated their mage-light skills so we could see better as the musty gloam encroached upon us in the ancient ruins. The entire place was pitch-black; or perhaps ¡°blackened¡± might be a better word. It was as if this temple had been burned several times over, charred beyond recognition of what it might have looked like. Ashes littered the place like a carpet, as well as being piled up on what looked to be braziers and tables. The door on the far end seemed to lead into an even darker corridor beyond the hall we now saw.

    ¡°Lovely. We''ll have to have postcards made up.¡± Peaches remarked as she headed down first, Cylodel and Maryn at her side.

    Unexpectedly, there were no monsters or creatures wandering around the ash-strewn halls to hinder us. On the other hand, there were loads of traps and obstacles. Some of them looked pretty intentional, others seemed like an unintended yet devious result of the temple''s decay. Yeah, yeah, I know; it''s all intentional on the part of the game-designers, but hey. Immersion, man, immersion.

    Anyhow. For the most part, we found ourselves on a descending route. Occasionally, we would find something that had managed to survive the disasters that had struck the temple, and after a while we managed to piece together a general history of the place. It was a site where Djaziim had been worshiped in days gone by; he had ruled over an empire in Memphani, but eventually, rebel forces, together with the aid of a winged terror from the west, managed to overthrow him. The temple was repeatedly burnt and then rebuilt over a decades long war, even after the winged terror had left, and then a certain cabal of priests and magic-users bound Djaziim with the Nine Orbs; from then on, he could only be summoned with a lamp, and only after undergoing the Trial of the Orbs.

    ¡°''Yet if the Trial of the Orbs is reversed, this bond between Djaziim and his summoners is broken, and he will again be confined to the depths of this Profane Temple'',¡± Healina recounted for us as she read from the brittle manuscript we had found just moments ago. We were in what looked like a small lecture hall of some kind, or maybe even a scriptorium.

    ¡°''Reversed'', huh?¡± I mused.

    ¡°Boy does that sound like a pain.¡± Tyman groaned.

    ¡°I''m sure it''s simpler than it sounds,¡± Peaches shrugged.

    ¡°It seems like we''re almost to the place we need to be, too, since we''ve found out this much,¡± Angelfire mused aloud.

    ¡°Agreed.¡± Maryn nodded. ¡°The left passage back there looked blocked off, so we''ll try the one on the right.¡±

    ¡°Come on, Lana!¡± Ari said, gently taking my arm as we headed out. ¡°You thinking about the reversal?¡± she said a moment later as we continued down the corridor, and I nodded.

    ¡°The last place we went to; ''around this dial, turn them right''... could that be the release for Djaziim?¡± I whispered to her, and she latched on to my thoughts.

    ¡°Which means the reverse order might be the sealing pattern... so counterclockwise around the center,¡± she said.

    ¡°But we have all nine orbs now, so we have to think of how that one would fit in,¡± I returned.

    ¡°True. Maybe it goes into the center first since it was the last one we found, and then the others will go in counterclockwise in reverse order of the riddle,¡± she noted.

    ¡°Oh good point,¡± I agreed. ¡°That sounds pretty solid. I guess we''ll see!¡± I smiled, and she smiled back, nodding to me.

    As close as Angelfire thought we might have been to the end, there was still no end in sight to the meandering passage that continued to take us downward, the angle of descent getting steeper by the minute. It was bordering on a slide when it finally leveled out again, depositing us in a large room that was somewhat untouched by the repeated destruction of the temple. There was a large door ahead of us, and engraved upon the door was a semblance of Djaziim himself. An ancient manuscript rested on a lectern to the left side of the door. We made our way over to it, and our lore-experts began pouring over it.

    ¡°Not too much in here we didn''t know before,¡± Peaches eventually told us. ¡°But there is a thing in here about what''s on the other side of these doors.¡±

    ¡°Oh boy.¡± Maryn said.

    ¡°When Djaziim is sealed away, four holy guardians are in the room to keep potential summoners at bay. When Djaziim is bound to someone, four demonic servants are here instead, to prevent the binding from being undone.¡± the hauflin guild-leader told us.

    ¡°So we have four demonic servants to deal with, probably before we even get to use the orbs,¡± Angelfire noted.

    ¡°Probably,¡± Peaches said. ¡°What''s up, kiddo?¡± she asked Healina a moment later.

    ¡°Doesn''t this character imply that we have to fight them while solving the orb puzzle?¡± the Sea Elf wondered.

    ¡°Hmm? Ohh, I see now,¡± the older woman returned as Heali pointed it out to her. ¡°That... might also be the case.¡±

    ¡°Fun, fun.¡± Tyman grinned.

    ¡°Any clues on how we might beat them?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Not a word... though, maybe this character here... it could be suggesting that finishing the Reversal of the Orbs is also key to eliminating the four demonic servants and restoring the holy guardians,¡± Healina said as she read some more.

    ¡°Ooh, good catch. I agree!¡± Peaches nodded.

    ¡°Two teams, then, perhaps three,¡± Myanihia then suggested.

    ¡°One or two to keep the servants distracted while the other solves the puzzle,¡± I said with a nod.

    ¡°Yes.¡± she returned softly.

    ¡°I''d go with three teams myself.¡± Tyman shrugged.

    ¡°Maryn, Heali, Derwydd, Tyman, and Myanihia on team one; Fyu, Anhe, Angelfire, Cylodel, and Peaches on team two, and Ariana and I will take care of the orbs.¡±

    ¡°You got it, hon!¡± Peaches said.

    ¡°We''ll keep them off of you,¡± Angelfire nodded confidently.

    ¡°Let''s do this!¡± Tyman grinned excitedly, and we pushed open the door to head in, breaking up into our respective teams as we ventured inside.

    There was a circular platform in the middle of the room; on it was a short and cylindrical-shaped altar with nine impresses, eight around the edges and one in the center. Around the main platform were four statues... scratch that, they weren''t statues. The four demonic guardians stood there, still as stone; but I had a feeling that as soon as we started putting the orbs in place they would come to life.

    Now hang on. There''s got to be some other gimmick going on here. If we could just dump all nine orbs on the altar and be done with it, that''d be way too easy. What''s the catch here? I suddenly started wondering as Ari and I approached the altar.

    ¡°Be on your guard for any sort of tricks,¡± I said in a loud voice. ¡°I suddenly have a bad feeling about this...¡±

    ¡°There''s a first,¡± Maryn quipped as she readied her shield. ¡°We''ll get these two.¡±

    ¡°And I shall divert these over here,¡± Fyu nodded. ¡°They will not harm you, Lady Lana.¡±

    ¡°Thanks, you two,¡± I replied. My partner and I examined the altar carefully for another few moments, then nodded to each other.

    ¡°It''s got to be the way we talked about earlier.¡± she said.

    ¡°So we put the Orb of Secrets in the center first.¡± I replied.

    ¡°Exactly. Then, counterclockwise from the top-left... ah! I see. They''re marked with the symbols, and in the proper order, too,¡± Ari noted as she examined it.

    ¡°Hmm... I''m gonna bet there''ll be some sort of delay mechanic between each orb to keep us from putting them all down as fast as we can.¡± I then told her, and she nodded.

    ¡°Oh def. I''d be surprised if it didn''t happen that way. I''m guessing the altar might need to confirm or ''register'' each orb somehow.¡± she agreed.

    ¡°Right,¡± I nodded back.

    ¡°Yo, Lans, Ari! There''s another dial on the wall opposite the door!¡± Tyman called.

    ¡°He''s right; and this one has gems in it,¡± Maryn told us.

    ¡°Looking!¡± Ariana said. ¡°Hmm... generally I think they correspond to the orbs, more or less? At least with their colors.¡± she noted.

    ¡°Maybe they light up when the orb is confirmed as valid?¡± I wondered.

    ¡°Good thought!¡±

    ¡°The only big question is how long that will take...¡±

    ¡°Right?¡± she smiled wryly.

    ¡°Hmm... oh, don''t tell me... I bet it''s a minute for the first one, and then two minutes for the next, and so on...¡± I suddenly pondered.

    ¡°Ruuuude!¡± Angelfire sighed. ¡°We have to fight these things for forty-five minutes?!¡±

    ¡°Hahh.¡± Cylodel shrugged.

    ¡°He''s right. We can handle it.¡± Derwydd clapped his hands together.

    ¡°Y-you understood him just from that?¡± I quietly wondered, and Ari giggled at me.

    ¡°The same way we understand each other from similar things,¡± she winked back.

    ¡°Eh, true,¡± I softly grinned in reply.

    ¡°Yo! Let''s get this fight going!¡± Tyman called over.

    ¡°Right,¡± I said, pulling out the Orb of Secrets. ¡°Here goes nothing...!¡± I murmured softly, placing it in the center. A thrumming sort of sound started up, and in an instant the four demonic servants woke up. Maryn and Fyu got their attention at once, and I observed the orb on the altar.

    It''s glowing red now. If I''m right and it takes a minute for this first one to be recognized the way Ari thinks, will it turn another color? Will we hear a sound or something? I mused as I watched it carefully. The seconds passed by agonizingly. Finally, a minute passed. The orb turned green, and the sound of a bell was heard. At the same time, the gem in the center of the wall-dial also lit up.

    ¡°Dyahh... the Jungle Orb!¡± I then said, placing that one in the slot next. Again it turned red, and the thrumming sound, like the sound of a train starting up, grew louder.

    ¡°They got stronger!¡± Maryn called over to us.

    ¡°By how much?¡± I asked.

    ¡°By ten-percent, it looks like,¡± Derwydd said.

    ¡°The combo... doesn''t work,¡± Myanihia reported.

    ¡°That figures... these guys aren''t exactly world-bosses, but they have some sort of equivalent status, I bet,¡± I mused as the words reached me.

    ¡°Or they could be immune to major and critical attacks,¡± Ariana suggested. ¡°The game designers wouldn''t want us to breeze through this, after all.¡±

    ¡°True,¡± I agreed. After another two minutes had passed, the second orb turned green, and the bell sounded again. I then placed the Wind Orb down, and once more the thrumming sound grew louder.

    ¡°Now they have received a twenty-percent increase,¡± Anhe called over to us.

    ¡°That''s the game, huh?¡± I frowned. ¡°Defend and evade! Don''t try to attack!¡± I said in a louder voice.

    ¡°Right!¡± Maryn called back.

    ¡°Understood, master!¡± Fyu replied.

    ¡°Their damage increases based upon the number of orbs we place, huh? First ten, now by twenty-percent.¡± Ariana said to me.

    ¡°For a grand total of thirty-percent; that stacking will be a real pain by the ninth orb...¡± I noted with consternation.

    ¡°Potentially four-hundred and fifty percent, unless they go away after the ninth orb.¡± she told me.

    ¡°So their possible limit is... a three-hundred and sixty percent damage increase,¡± I said, managing to do a quick subtraction.

    ¡°Hey! You did math!¡± my partner grinned back.

    ¡°Simple math only,¡± I shrugged.

    ¡°True,¡± she giggled.

    ¡°Three-sixty or four-fifty; either one is a real pain!¡± Angelfire exclaimed as she laid down a maze of fire to keep our enemies at bay.

    ¡°Even my battle auras can only increase our damage and defenses by one-hundred and eighty percent!¡± Anhe added.

    ¡°You have this, right?¡± Ari then said to me.

    ¡°Pretty much,¡± I nodded.

    ¡°I''ll go help the defense teams, then!¡± she said, quickly kissing my cheek before heading to join the others.

    ¡°Gotcha!¡± I nodded.

    As the battle went on around me, I patiently and anxiously awaited the opportunity to set down the next orb, the Orb of Jade. I decided to throw down some lotus bombs around the edges to try and slow our enemies down while I waited; it had only a minimal effect on them. Better than nothing, I sighed as the second orb was confirmed, and then quickly placed the third one down.

    For the next half hour, after I had set an orb into place I would use some of my distraction or hindering skills to help out the others with their fight, which was getting pretty edgy with each damage increase. Finally, the time for the ninth orb came along. As soon as I had set the Ice Orb in place, instead of waiting for the confirmation of the orb, the damage increase happened immediately.

    ¡°Ack!¡± Maryn cried out as one of hers almost broke free of her aggro-skills. ¡°This is gonna be a long nine minutes if their aggro-resist has also increased!!¡±

    ¡°Oh, snap...¡± I sighed with a slight shudder.

    ¡°Didn''t wait for the bell this time, huh?¡± Derwydd said as he recovered himself from a sprawl.

    ¡°Eight minutes and thirty seconds left!¡± I called out.

    ¡°Lovely!¡± Peaches returned as she summoned up Bubs to help us out. ¡°Bubs! Use all the tricks!¡± she said.

    ¡°Hoo-hoo-hoo! Just for you!¡± the gremlin squealed in delight, unleashing his whimsical yet effective barrage of tricks and traps upon our enemies to help keep them away from the altar.

    Ugh. This really is gonna be a long few minutes at this rate... I noted with another sigh as I reached for an arrow.

    ¡°Lana!!¡± Maryn called out in an unusually concerned tone.

    I soon saw why. One of the big lunks had gotten free of her aggro after all, and he was charging towards me. Or was it towards the altar? Deciding it didn''t matter, I quickly loosed an explosive arrow to try and knock him back. It staggered him. More importantly, I caught his aggro, diverting him away from the altar, which I had feared more than actually dying. I shot him with another arrow, and then scurried away as he began definitely lumbering after me.

    ¡°I''ll get him in a sec!¡± Maryn said to me.

    ¡°It doesn''t matter! We just need to keep them away from the altar!¡± I returned.

    ¡°Right!¡± she replied.

    ¡°Lana, this way!¡± Derwydd called, and I ran towards him. A moment later, the demonic servant was briefly entangled by a vine trap; he broke free a few seconds later and started coming after me once more, but that little delay had given me a decent headway.

    I looked back towards the altar. The orb was still safe. I looked over at the wall-dial; for the first time, I noticed that the gems acted as a sort of timer. Their radiance grew stronger as time wore on. Right now, it looked about halfway illuminated. So about four or five minutes left? I mused to myself as I kept running.

    ¡°Four minutes, forty-one seconds!¡± Ari called out.

    Oh, right, you were keeping a timer on them as well, I suddenly remembered as I turned back to redouble my aggro with a particularly fiendish attack, Hail of Arrows. The enraged monster with its ten-fold damage increase came barreling towards me after it ended, and I ran like a rabbit.

    ¡°Girl, how d''you run so fast?!¡± Tyman managed to call out to me.

    ¡°Shadow-warriors. What can you do?¡± Angelfire shrugged.

    ¡°Aw, hell no; there''s got to be some way to compete!¡± he quipped back.

    ¡°Let''s finish this quest first!¡± she returned to him with a fierce grin.

    ¡°You got it!¡± he replied.

    Slowly but surely, the minutes counted down. Finally, we got to the thirty-second mark. Gleefully, I smiled to myself. And then I tripped. I went sprawling towards the wall dial, picking myself up as quick as I could. The demonic servant was on me in an instant.

    Gyeck!? There''s no time to switch weapons -- by the time I get my swords out to parry, he''ll have split me in two!! I frantically thought, bracing myself for my first Panarena death. But at the last moment, there was a loud clang. I opened my eyes. Angelfire was there, her greatsword having parried the servant''s wicked zweihander just in time. Quickly I switched to my own short-swords, and helped her to block the attack. Ariana then attacked, blasting him from the side and sending him sprawling a couple meters away.

    ¡°Nice timing,¡± I gasped in relief. Angelfire grinned back, and Ari ran over to join us.

    ¡°That was close!¡± she remarked breathlessly.

    ¡°Right?¡± Angelfire agreed. ¡°You can pay me back with a girl''s night later!¡±

    ¡°Ahh--¡± I started.

    ¡°You bet!¡± Ariana beamed back.

    ¡°More importantly--!!¡± I said, rushing to distract the demonic servant from his orb-smashing once again.

    ¡°Whoops!¡± Angelfire cried out, trailing behind me in a blaze while Ariana supported us with a few lightning strikes. Just as we blasted him back, the ritual finished. The bell sounded out again, and the thrumming came to a crescendo. An ethereal figure appeared near the wall dial; or was it being projected from there? Either way, it spoke as soon as it materialized.

    ¡°Brave adventurers; will you send Djaziim back to his prison?¡± it asked us.

    ¡°Of course!¡±

    ¡°Yes!!¡±

    ¡°Absolutely yes!¡± the three of us then chorused at once, the others echoing the sentiments with their own words.

    ¡°Then be it so! Djaziim, the ritual is undone! Your prison awaits!¡± the figure announced, vanishing a moment later.

    The demonic servants disappeared, replaced by four holy guardians, and the orbs vanished. We heard the sound of an angry cry wailing in the distance, and the victory banner for completing the quest came up. I sighed in relief and sank to my knees.

    Take that, King-Priests.

 Side Chapter: A Nearly Unholy Night

    ¡°Stand your ground!¡± Wildeye shouted out desperately. Even with all their guilds combined, they had been pushed back as a whole to the fortress in the Blade Heights. Their sea-faring forces had been forced to retreat as well; F¨¨nghu¨¢ng and the Guardians had devastated half their fleets with the Phoenix at her command in retaliation for her humiliation a few weeks ago. Dracuoatlax flew around, delightedly setting the area ablaze so that their enemies would think twice. Lysandra, Sky Belle, and Elizasmith had just joined them to help as well.

    Before the gates, the King-Priests of the Demon Sands were arrayed, and with them was their totem ally, Djaziim the Unholy. Dracuoatlax came back to the fortress, spraying a wreath of fire around the area before setting down on the sward before them.

    ¡°Djaziim! By the ancient stones you once defiled, tonight is your last night of freedom, my old enemy!¡± the dragon said with confidence.

    ¡°Dracuoatlax, you fiendish conspirator! My time has only just begun! Fly back to your mountain, as you did once before, and watch the ages turn to a world of my making!¡± said the demon in reply. But Dracuoatlax laughed.

    ¡°Fool! I am not the one you should have watched!¡± the mighty beast said with a great chuckle. ¡°My dear masters are even now in the Profane Temple, putting an end to your brief resurgence of terror!¡±

    ¡°Lies!¡± Rama shouted up. ¡°Our own allies will have stopped them!¡±

    That''s... not impossible... but it is improbable, I have to say, Wildeye said with an uncertain grin.

    ¡°Nothing will stop Lana. Not even Venomheart.¡± Lysandra softly growled, her fist clenching almost audibly.

    ¡°You underestimate my masters, foolish mortal,¡± Dracuoatlax replied.Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    ¡°Rama!¡± one of the enemy guild-members said. ¡°Venomheart has been driven away from the Profane Temple!¡±

    ¡°What?! After even interrogating Jackal and leaving him in a room of poison to find out where it is, they have failed to keep the Silvernight Queens away from it?!¡± Rama said in a shriek.

    At that moment, Wildeye saw the eyes of Djaziim twitch. He came to attention, and Jannie clasped his hand tightly.

    ¡°You saw it, too?¡± she said, and he nodded.

    ¡°I did,¡± he told her.

    ¡°What, what is this?¡± the demon suddenly said. ¡°No! No, no, no! Not the summoner! You have failed me, despicable mortal! My binding is undone!! No! No!! Nooooo!!!¡± he wailed with fury, evaporating into nothingness with a great explosion.

    ¡°Whoo!¡± Lizzy called out with a renewed energy.

    ¡°Way to go, Lana!¡± Belle cheered.

    ¡°I knew it!¡± the werewolf girl grinned, shifting back to human form.

    At that moment, Dracuoatlax set the King-Priests on fire with a massive attack, killing Rama and Hathisis -- as well as several others -- immediately. Those who did not die instantly ran off screaming like human torches, and those not affected by the blast ran off as well, beginning a great confusion among the opposing enemy forces. The dragon then turned to the fortress, espying his master''s allies.

    ¡°Come, come at once! Let us hurry to Lady Lana!¡± the dragon called to them, and the three Silvernight Queens, with a nod from Wildeye, hopped on to the dragon''s back. The elated Dracuoatlax flew off with his passengers, leaving the alliance to rally in the wake of Djaziim''s defeat.

    ¡°Eothane and the others managed to push back their enemies -- they''re on their way, along with Kiana and Reginleif!¡± Magisteria reported.

    ¡°Phew!¡± Jannie sighed in relief.

    ¡°Looks like it''s our turn for a rampage!¡± Humphrey grinned.

    ¡°Looks like!¡± Wildeye agreed with a bright smile, watching until the dragon faded into the distance. Good job, Lana! ¡°Let''s get reorganized, and then we''ll head out!¡±

 Chapter Thirty-one: Pirates Ahoy!/The Start of a Voyage

    So it''s late Friday night now. After we had completed the quest a couple nights ago, Dracuoatlax and the others had come to meet us sometime after we made our way out of the dungeon; oh, we found our waggon intact too (thankfully). After that we had a small celebration, and then we returned to doing more normal competition antics. For the next couple of in-game sessions, we and the other guilds began rebuilding our holds in the Wildlands, reclaiming ones that had been lost and capitalizing on ones that were still standing. The King-Priests retreated to the northeast sections of the area, while the Guardians fortified their gains in the southwest regions.

    By day, we went through our normal school activities, including an arduous make-up rehearsal on Thursday and earlier today. We were definitely getting it down, and that''s not just me saying so. It was direct from Miss Andrews herself, who was pleased that, even after we had missed a day, all of us were still on top of what we needed to do to make the musical a success.

    Including possibly avoiding hit-men from possibly psychotic businessmen? I couldn''t help but wonder with a wry smile as we had headed to Thomas'' car later that Friday evening. Nothing had happened again on that count yet; I say ¡°yet¡± because, in the end, they never did catch the guy who came after me. Which is weird for this day and age.

    But anyway. I had made it home safe and sound, and after I had finished my homework a-la video call with Rachel, we had logged in to Panarena for the night.

    And now we were on our caravel, once again delivering cargo to ports in Vinlandia. This time, it was not the Guardians of the Eternal Citadel on our trail; it was Rackham John Thatcher and his Black Flag Marauders. Two ships were coming after us, and I could see a third coming from ahead. The two behind us were sloops, but the one looming in the distance before us was a mean looking man-of-war.

    ¡°Hahh...¡± I sighed as I put the spyglass down.

    ¡°That tough-looking, huh?¡± Ariana remarked.

    ¡°It''s not as big as the Guardians'' ships would have been, but it''s still too big for us to actually fight. And these sharks behind us probably pack a mean punch as well...¡± I noted, giving an angry sidelong look towards the two sloops.

    ¡°Just be glad they don''t have forward guns.¡± Lizzy said as she finished tying one of the sails in place.

    ¡°Oh definitely,¡± I agreed. ¡°Though they''ve got some decent snipers...¡± I muttered, and the blonde girl snickered.

    Just a few minutes ago, one of the crackshots in the ships behind us had nearly taken me out. I wasn''t even mad. It takes some serious skill to hit a moving target in the first place, never mind the fact that ships at sea are not as stable as waggons or carriages on land. If that guy could hit me while I was in motion and in spite of the two ships pitching and yawing about as they rolled through the waves, he deserved a freaking promotion in his guild. He''d probably have gotten one, too, if he''d actually taken me down. As it was, I managed to escape with literally twenty hitpoints left (out of a couple thousand), after which Healina frantically restored me.

    ¡°And to hit you that accurately with an arquebus, of all things,¡± the Sea Elf remarked as I turned my gaze away from them.

    ¡°Hmm? Ohh, the gun,¡± I nodded.

    ¡°The gun.¡± she returned with a nod of her own.

    ¡°I''ll have to pay them back for that soon...¡± I said with a semi-evil grin on my face.

    ¡°Ahh...¡± Heali said with an uncertain smile.

    ¡°I wonder if we could catch their sails on fire...¡±

    ¡°Hm! There''s a thought,¡± Ari remarked.

    ¡°Uh-oh. Now she''s in on it.¡± Heali sighed, and Lizzy chortled.

    ¡°It''s getting darker, so they might not see us getting ready to do so...¡± I mused.

    ¡°And by the time they figured out where our target is, they''ll be frantic trying to put it out,¡± Ari said. ¡°Still... if it was that easy, we wouldn''t have anyone chasing us.. our own sails have a flame-resistance in them thanks to the fireweed fibers,¡± she then noted.

    ¡°Ah--! Rats...¡± I frowned, sitting cross-legged on the deck as I began pondering more options.

    ¡°Still... we''re ahead of them, at least,¡± Lysandra shrugged. ¡°All we really have to worry about is that monster.¡±

    ¡°For real.¡± Lizzy agreed. ¡°Well, we''re almost to that Vinlandia port anyway. I can see the lighthouse now,¡± she then said, pointing off to starboard.

    ¡°We need to get around those messy sea-rocks first.¡± Healina reminded her.

    ¡°Or through them,¡± I suddenly said.

    ¡°Ehh??¡±

    ¡°Oooh, nice idea!¡± Healina and Lizzy reacted at the same time.

    ¡°We can probably do it,¡± Lysandra said with a faint grin. ¡°But it''s risky. One wrong turn and we fail the quest.¡±

    ¡°Literally!¡± Heali exclaimed dramatically.

    ¡°Can''t you call a sea creature or two to help us, by the way?¡± I suddenly wondered.

    ¡°Eh? Oh!! Right, I''m a Sea Elf summoner... tee-hee!¡± the other girl replied, getting out one of her tomes as I gazed over her with a bemused smile.

    Oy...

    ¡°You big derp! You could''ve summoned like, a kraken or something this whole time they''ve been chasing us?!¡± Lizzy wondered in exasperation.

    ¡°I can''t summon a kraken, Elisabeth Drew, keep your shirt on...¡± the other calmly returned as she flipped through the pages.

    ¡°Blehh. The real one''s already off.¡±

    ¡°T-too much...¡± I quipped as I went to the helm, the bemused grin returning to my face.

    ¡°What''s that, La-na?¡± Lizzy called after me with a cheesy grin.

    ¡°If it makes you feel better--¡± Lysandra began.

    ¡°I know, I know!¡± I quickly cut her off, and they began laughing. With a sigh I parked myself near the wheel, which was being handled by Myanihia at the moment. She looked over at me with an apologetic grin, and I shrugged back.

    ¡°I hope, summer vacation, is just as rowdy!¡± she said to me a moment later.

    ¡°Ah-heh, I can just imagine it now...¡± I replied.

    ¡°I''m sure,¡± she smiled back. ¡°Those two, over there,¡± she then said, and I perked up as I realized she was pointing out sea-rocks. ¡°I can get us, through those; they have, the easiest path through, but, we''ll have to slow down, for safety,¡± she warned me.

    ¡°Hmm... they''d likely slow down, too... unless we tricked them a bit, made them overconfident...¡± I pondered.

    ¡°I don''t see how,¡± Myanihia told me.

    ¡°Me neither... ehh, we don''t have much time...¡± I lamented.

    ¡°We''ll just take it as it comes!¡± Belle said as she alighted near us. ¡°No point in getting worked up about it now.¡±

    ¡°I guess not,¡± I smiled in agreement.

    ¡°What¡­ the heck¡­ is that thing?!¡± we heard Lizzy shout a moment later.

    She was gazing off to port, where the man-of-war was still lumbering towards us. But there was a bigger ship on the horizon, one which seemed all too eager to join in on the fight. I felt a shiver go down my back.

    ¡°Nyah!?¡± I started as I recognized the design.

    ¡°Ho-ly snap, they managed to build one again!¡±

    ¡°Isn''t that one, larger...?¡± Lysandra and Ari remarked.

    No kidding it''s larger, I grit my teeth as I looked over at the massive Tekkousen with its proud banners denoting it as a Guardians ship. At least it can only be just the one... right? Right? I mused as I gripped one of the rails, and then I noticed its course. It wasn''t coming for us this time. It was heading for the man-of-war.

    ¡°Get through those rocks, quickly,¡± I said to Myanihia, who nodded back at me. ¡°We still have to worry about the sloops, but the man-of-war is gonna have that for company soon...¡±

    ¡°Sheesh, that''s a big ship!¡± Belle said as she came to sit on my shoulder.

    ¡°R-right??¡± I replied.

    The man-of-war had apparently noticed the monster ship as well. It was now adjusting its course to go and fight it, and one of the sloops was breaking off the chase to go and help. I looked over at the one which was still on our tail. Rackham himself was standing on the jibboom, his hand clenched around one of the ropes as he watched the larger ship coming towards his own giant of the waves.

    At that moment, we heard a thunderous sound. Nope--it wasn''t cannon-fire. It was actually thunder. The game had decided that now was the perfect time for a storm to happen. I looked up towards the sky with an unamused expression on my face as raindrops began hitting us. A streak of lightning flared across the skies, and another excruciatingly loud thunderclap sounded out as the rain picked up.

    It was right at that moment I felt someone targeting me again. I''m not exactly sure how it works in-game as compared to my senses in real life, but on some occasions you can literally feel yourself being targeted by a player with sniping skills, whether bow or firearm. I myself had been foiled a couple of times in the Wildlands during our scuffles there by this peculiar function. As subtly as I could, I looked back towards the other ship.

    There he is, on top of the mast... dude, what the heck? How are you even staying on there? I mused inwardly as I idly turned away from him, quietly getting out my bow. Belle looked over at me. She quickly observed the situation, and slipped off my shoulder to warn Heali in case I had another close call. What''s he waiting for... ohhh, I see, one of our sails back here is half-blocking his shot. Heh. If that''s all it takes to foil you, pal, I''ve had worse enemies in this game, I softly grinned.

    ¡°Lana?¡± Myanihia asked, seeing my hold the bow close to my chest so that it wasn''t too obvious.

    ¡°He''s trying to target me again.¡± I softly told her, and she nodded.

    ¡°We''ll be at the rocks, in a few moments.¡± she told me.

    ¡°He''ll try to hit me as soon as we start turning, I think. But before that...¡± I returned, materializing a special arrow we had made. Ariana had enchanted a few of my arrows, and Myanihia''s, since she was with us a lot now, to explode upon impact. This was one of those arrows. Belle came back to join us, setting herself down on the rail.

    ¡°Is he still on top of the mast?¡± I asked our pixie-girl.

    ¡°In the same spot,¡± she nodded back.

    Carefully, I nocked the arrow to the bow. I''d probably one get one good shot at him, though I would definitely loose a second for spite. Let''s see... how can we add some salt to this... oh, I know! I mused to myself, queuing up a skill called Dragon Breaker. Supposedly, it had enough force to tear through a dragon or creatures on par with them. That, combined with this little arrow, would definitely get rid of the sniper if it hit--and it might also damage Rackham''s ship a bit.

    I looked at Belle again. She nodded. I took a deep breath, and then in one swift motion I twirled over to the side of the ship, activating the skill and drawing the bow back as far as I could for maximum effect, quickly eyeing up my target and sizing up where he would be in the next few moments. Out of panic, he fired at me. I grinned. The arquebus would take around ten seconds to reload. I loosed my own shot a moment after he did, and then hit the deck as his bullet narrowly missed me, chipping off a part of the ship. A couple seconds later there was an actual explosive sound, and I looked up; the sniper was KO''d, and the sloop had caught fire.

    Cheers and whoops came from my ship as the girls clapped and congratulated me; I got to my feet with a sigh of relief, Belle alighting on my shoulder again as I collected myself once more.

    ¡°Nice shot, chick!¡± she told me.

    ¡°Thanks,¡± I smiled back.

    I then heard the sound of laughter coming from the sloop; it was Rackham. He was apparently very amused by what had happened, and he seemed to be admiring my skill as well, judging from the slow clap he was directing our way. There was a glimmering smirk on his face as he gave us a thumbs-up, and then he turned away to help his crew with the fire.

    ¡°What do you know? He actually seems kinda fun,¡± I remarked in amazement.

    ¡°You mean he''s not a nutcase who''ll develop an unreasonable vendetta against us for this? I''ll take that.¡± Belle quipped.

    ¡°Right?¡± I agreed as Myanihia softly chuckled. I gave her a smile and left her to work her magic around the rocks while I returned to the main deck with Belle.

    The storm was still picking up in intensity, but right now all we had to worry about was it and the sea-rocks ahead of us. With that in mind, we focused on maintaining the ship, nearly forgetting all about the pirate guilds and the Guardians'' massive ship until we reached port a couple in-world hours later.

    ***

    When we reached Hedab? and turned in our cargo-quest, we made our way to a tavern to relax for a bit until we came up with something else to do. A player-sponsored news-journal, ¡°The Harmonia Bulletin,¡± was at the table, highlighting recent activity and updates related to the guild competition, and some not-so related ones as well.

    ¡°The Divine Sea Emperor¡± is launched: Guardians of the Eternal Citadel return to the seas at long last to claim retribution for their humiliation!

    Pirate Alliance ¡°Skulls and Bones¡± redoubling their attention in the Northern Seas.

    Highlights from the on-going tournament in Thessalia; will Wallbiter prevail over Sanya Rose this time?

    Tips from Farmer''s Dell on how to successfully cultivate stable crops.

    King-Priests of the Demon Sands devolving into a civil war; will Rayna come to reclaim her old guild?

    Venomheart and Nightkin seen together in the Borderlands.

    Best rare-ore spots this week: Aergondi, Ragnarheim, and Crags of Ordnon. More details below.

    Competition Rankings in fluctuation after a massive battle in the Wildlands. Who will bounce back, and who will keep sinking?

    ¡°Rare-ore spots, huh?¡± I wondered as I read the article more closely.

    ¡°Pfft, we have the Deeps Ore. They''ve got nothing.¡± Lizzy snorted.

    ¡°That''s true... but this looks like a draigod ore deposit they have in Ordnon,¡± Lysandra noted.

    ¡°Ehh?? Really??¡± our smith said excitedly, taking another look. ¡°Huh! We need to get an expedition up there somehow...¡±

    ¡°More importantly, this ''Divine Sea Emperor''... that''s got to be the monster we saw earlier, right?¡± Healina said.

    ¡°Ooh, right, that!¡± I remembered, turning to the article in question. ¡°Looks like it, for sure... that sneaky F¨¨nghu¨¢ng. I wonder if there''s more of them around again...¡±

    ¡°I''d doubt it.¡± Lysandra shrugged. ¡°She''s probably going for shock value over domination this time.¡±

    ¡°She would definitely try to make at least a second.¡± Anhe said. ¡°And they will probably fill up their fleet with lighter attack ships and medium merchant ones, from what Hua Ling has told me.¡±

    ¡°So they''re slowly building back, huh?¡± I mused.

    ¡°The rest of the alliance has more than enough ships to keep the balance going, I think,¡± Ariana remarked. ¡°I''m more curious about the pirates now... they''re focused up north, it says?¡±

    ¡°Probably something to do with the Outer Isles,¡± Maryn suggested.

    ¡°Oh right, the Hitherlands,¡± Ari recalled. ¡°I bet they''re after that bonus you mentioned,¡± she said as she turned to me.

    ¡°I bet you''re right,¡± I nodded back.

    ¡°This says they''ve been searching through the ports on the mainland for something... some sort of quest or item, I guess?¡± Lizzy noted as she scanned through the article herself.Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

    ¡°Could that mean the bonus is locked behind one of those quests?¡± Maryn wondered.

    ¡°I wonder if it could be tied to one of the NPC factions, like one of the expeditionary or merchant ones...¡± I said, skimming the article for possible clues.

    ¡°Ooh, that''d make sense,¡± Lysandra agreed.

    ¡°Sandra; remember? The mystery faction, we found in beta,¡± Myanihia then remarked, and her sister lit up at once.

    ¡°Right!! The one in... tch, where was that?¡± she frowned at her forgetfulness.

    ¡°I, can''t remember either...¡± Myanihia said. ¡°I was hoping, you did; but, the area may have changed, since beta, or the faction was implemented, elsewhere,¡± she noted.

    ¡°Hmm... that''s true... ugh, but it''s also rotten.¡± the other twin smiled ruefully.

    ¡°Isn''t it?¡± Myanihia faintly grinned.

    ¡°A mystery faction, huh...?¡± I mused, leaning back in the booth. ¡°That probably means there''s hidden prerequisites; certain things we have to do before it will even give us hints, let alone a solid lead.¡±

    ¡°Right,¡± Lizzy nodded. ¡°Like that annoying one in AoH.¡±

    ¡°Ugh, don''t remind me,¡± I smirked back.

    ¡°Heh-heh!¡± she beamed back pleasantly.

    ¡°It''d be nice if one of these hints decided to just walk up and hand itself to us for once,¡± Belle quipped with a sigh.

    ¡°Wouldn''t it though?¡± Maryn agreed.

    ¡°I bet Lana can count the number of times that sort of thing happens in a game with one finger.¡± Heali said, and Anhe softly giggled.

    ¡°Ehhh, seven, actually.¡± I said.

    ¡°Really??¡±

    ¡°But yeah, it''s pretty much a shocker when it does happen, if at all.¡± I said.

    ¡°Delivery for Lana Windstrider!¡± a high-pitched voice called out. There was a mouse about a meter tall coming into the tavern, wearing a tam o''shanter and a woolen sweater. Over one shoulder was a leather delivery satchel. The courier sat an envelope on the table, and then with a smile bounded away to leave the tavern.

    As for us, we were practically frozen in disbelief for a few moments, and then we slowly turned to look at the envelope that had been left for me.

    ¡°¡­ No way, right?¡± Anhe was the first to speak.

    ¡°Ahh...¡±

    ¡°Ehh...¡± Ari and I exchanged an uncertain smile with each other.

    ¡°If you don''t open that thing in the next ten seconds I''mma take some points away...!¡± Lizzy then quipped, and I snapped myself to attention, opening the envelope.

    Esteemed Guild Leader Lana Windstrider, I, Marios Von Goldfields, do extend to you this invitation to visit me at the following location to discuss the opportunity of a lifetime! To whet your appetite for gain in this competitive season, I have enclosed a certain map to a location that holds but a trifling snippet of the totality in profits you and yours will reap should you accept my beneficence in this matter! I look forward to our first meeting, the first, I hope, of many!

    ¡°So... eight times...¡± I said after reading it.

    ¡°Ehh!?!¡± the others chorused in unison on my pronouncement.

    When the next in-world day began, I set out for the place that had been mentioned with Ari and Fyu, leaving the others to do as they would for the meantime. What''s that? Oh, the place. It was located in the Vales of Aergondi, deep in the Aerdene Forests in sight of Silver Lake near the south. From what I understood in the letter (a quest item, by the way), there would be two great fir trees that denoted the entrance of a valley, and somewhere along the valley would be a hollow which had an ancient oak intertwined with holly plants as its marker.

    ¡°That doesn''t sound too obscure,¡± I remarked as we arrived in Aergondi via telepad. Ari then quietly pointed to a tree that looked similar to an oak which had some strands of holly running up its truck. ¡°Ahh--¡± I started, blinking uncertainly.

    ¡°We''ll have to me a bit more alert, I guess,¡± she smiled at me.

    ¡°Y-yeah,¡± I grinned back wryly.

    Fyu then allowed us onto his back, and he set off to the southeast where our destination would be. I looked around at the serene vistas surrounding us; the Vales of Aergondi was not one of the hotly contested regions in the game despite its special resources. This was because the best of those resources (ancient oak and elder gopherwood) were deep in the great forests, protected by the elves who lived in them.

    ¡°It almost reminds me of a cross-country train ride we had in Canada,¡± Ariana remarked.

    ¡°That sounds like fun!¡± I said.

    ¡°It was,¡± she recalled with a smile. ¡°I think it happened about a month after we first met as kids,¡± she added.

    ¡°Oh wow,¡± I returned. ¡°Heh... a month after we were up there, we were back here in the city...¡±

    ¡°Your other grandparents lived way outside the city, right?¡± Ari then said.

    ¡°Yeah. Waaay outside of it. Kind of why I like Cloverbell so much, when we''re there,¡± I softly smiled.

    ¡°Oh def! I remember you saying something like that about it!¡± she smiled back.

    ¡°We''ll take a visit to it ourselves someday,¡± I told her.

    ¡°Deal!¡± she beamed back.

    ¡°Perhaps by then, I myself shall be able to cross over into your world, masters,¡± Fyu said as he galloped along through the Vales.

    ¡°That''d be great if you could be with us there too, Fyu,¡± I smiled.

    ¡°Definitely! I wonder if someone''s working on an idea like that...¡± Ari then wondered.

    ¡°Oh I''m sure.¡± I nodded. ¡°Though it''ll probably be a while before it happens.¡±

    ¡°My patience will bear me through until such a time, masters,¡± the dog-beast said, and I placed my hand upon his head, as did Ari.

    ¡°We''ll always have you in this world for sure!¡± my partner said. I could imagine the smile that spread across his features as she said those words.

    ¡°Then let us continue making each and every adventure a song for the ages!¡± he returned, picking up his pace so that we were practically gliding along the rolling hills and vales.

    ***

    ¡°That''s the right valley,¡± I said a few in-world hours later. We had just found the two fir trees, each of them massive and primeval in appearance. I almost felt like they might suddenly come to life as giants.

    ¡°There is a peculiar air here; it leads into the valley for certain,¡± Fyu told us. ¡°Shall I follow it?¡±

    ¡°It might lead us to where we need to go,¡± I affirmed, and so we set off into the valley.

    On our right there was a small stream burst forth from underground, continuing along the length of the valley as it grew in size, lazily meandering through the small meads and meadows that were intertwined with various groves and copses at its bottom. All sorts of curious creatures were scurrying or fluttering about, some of them similar to real-world creatures and some of them definitely more fantastical. We saw several villages of pixie-fairies high up in some of the trees we passed; I wondered if Belle had ever been here to visit them.

    After a while the two of us got off of Fyu''s back to walk alongside him instead. There was no rush for us, after all. As a matter of fact, we got so absorbed in the sights all around us that we nearly missed it when the oak that was our marker finally turned up. At the last second, Fyu managed to catch a whiff of the ¡°peculiar air¡± he had noted before, and quickly got us back on course, leading us directly to the tree in question. It certainly looked like something we shouldn''t have missed, now that I saw it; yet at the same time I could definitely see how it neatly blended in to the area.

    ¡°Here we are, masters,¡± Fyu then said.

    ¡°Let''s get close to it and see what happens,¡± I said, and we ventured nearer to the ancient tree.

    As we did, a magical door began opening up on the very trunk of the tree itself, its edges shimmering. I could see another realm on the other side of it. Ari and I nodded to each other, then to Fyu, and the three of us headed through it.

    We found ourselves in an area reminiscent of Bethelia, but this area was dominated by a people who looked like the courier we had encountered. They were a mouse-like people, averaging a meter in height, all of them fond of bright and cheery colors, judging from the raiment they wore and the nearly-sparkling colors of the buildings we could see around us. More specifically, they resembled field-mice.

    ¡°Hullo, hullo, hullo!¡± one of them, dressed in a particularly flamboyant yet also quite elegant formal-wear, called out to us. ¡°You''re the visitors Old Marios is expecting, yes?¡±

    ¡°That''s us,¡± I nodded.

    ¡°Right-o! Come this way, come this way! His manor is in the next town over; I''ll just activate this little mirror-walker here and we''ll be at his front gate before you can blink!¡± he told us, and we followed him over to the thing in question. Judging from how he described it, I surmised it was a special telepad/wayport for this area.

    ¡°Where are we, exactly?¡± I wondered as he input a destination into the device, activating a portal to our destination.

    ¡°What''s that? Ohh, you''re in the land of Apodemia, friend! And we are the Ragamis!¡± he proudly told us before heading through.

    ¡°Cute!¡± Ari remarked as she hopped through after him, Fyu following her.

    ¡°Apodemia, huh?¡± I mused as I brought up the rear, stepping through the portal to find myself and the others at a large mansion indeed. Out of curiosity I brought up my map; apparently we were quite a distance away from the town we had arrived in, which was called Wheatdale. As for where we were now...

    ¡°Welcome to Goldfield Manor, friends!¡± our guide told us. ¡°By the by, my name is Henry Martin, Chief Steward of the Goldfields at this mansion. A pleasure, I''m sure!¡±

    ¡°Good to meet you!¡± I smiled back.

    ¡°We don''t often get big folk or dog-beasts here these days, but I''m sure we can at least accommodate your friend with a quaint repast over yonder, if he should desire?¡± Henry said.

    ¡°I shall accept such hospitality as you can afford me, little Ragamis,¡± Fyu said in reply.

    ¡°Much obliged, I''m sure; here''s Maisy Tubbs, she''ll show you to where you can have a rest, good friend!¡± the other returned as another Ragamis turned up to show Fyu where he could take a break.

    ¡°We''ll be back... sometime, I guess,¡± I said to Fyu.

    ¡°Fear not, masters, I shall be here!¡± he told us as he followed Maisy.

    ¡°As for you two, the master has desired to see you in his gardens. This way, please!¡± the steward told us, and we followed him around the grounds of the manor to the gardens.

    It was all very spectacular, in a cozy and even whimsical sort of way. The manor itself was no exception to the colorfulness of the town further east of us, its chief colors being a daisy yellow and spring green. There was such an abundance of flowers about the place as well. I knew I could never name them all, even if I spent a year learning in-world botany just so I could make the attempt.

    Marios Von Goldfields himself was seated at a flower-wreathed gazebo near a great pond, another attendant waiting upon him as he dined upon tea and tarts. There were several other delicacies on the table as well, including various kinds of cookies and what looked like a delicious berry-pie. As soon as he caught sight of us he waved, and the steward pulled out a couple of seat-cushions so we could sit at Goldfields'' eye-level comfortably.

    ¡°Greetings! So it''s you who are the cunning leader I have heard so much about these past few weeks!¡± he said to me.

    ¡°Lana Windstrider; good to meet you,¡± I told him.

    ¡°Likewise! And I''m sure you recall my own name, Marios Von Goldfields. Now, before business, have some refreshments!¡± he said, raising his teacup in a toast to us as the attendant poured us some, and we gratefully accepted them, choosing some pastries to eat as we exchanged a few more pleasantries before our host became more serious. It was after the two of us had eaten a third treat that he cleared his throat and set aside his tea, giving us a knowing look.

    ¡°So... we have a couple of our friends investigating the map you sent us; what''s the whole picture?¡± I said as I sensed it was time for business.

    ¡°Indeed!¡± he nodded to me. ¡°Have you heard of the Outer Isles? The Hitherlands? They''re in your world specifically, our own being somewhat apart from Panarena, so I assume you have at least some knowledge of them?¡±

    ¡°We''ve heard of them, yes,¡± Ariana nodded.

    ¡°Well! I have it on good authority that there is quite the fortune to be made in those regions; to be more precise, one of my distant ancestors, a traveller of some renown in her day, undertook a long expedition in your world. During her time there, she discovered these places, and she also discovered that they have a peculiar effect on the otherwise mundane items which one can find there. It''s all detailed in her journal, which I have had transcribed into a new and annotated manuscript by simply the best scribes one can find here.¡± he told us, producing the item in question. ¡°All in all, it''s a simple offer I''m going to make you: you can have a claim on any of the resources you can cart off from these places, so long as you bring back to me a goodly stock of the items I have listed in my own little book here,¡± Marios continued, taking out another, smaller book for our examination.

    ¡°That sounds more than fair,¡± I nodded back.

    ¡°Of course it is! Ragamis are not noteworthy explorers and such, my ancestor being one of the rare exceptions. I''m a businessman, not an adventurer. But I can''t just have any old adventurer going up there, oh no-no-no-no-no!¡± he shook his head vigorously. ¡°They have to be willing to go the extra mile, and they have to have a noble-heart! That''s why I''ve settled on you! From what I''ve heard you''ve gone at least several extra miles for your friends during the course of events down in Panarena, and anyone who puts that awful creature back into his mystical cage of nothingness simply must have a noble heart!¡± he said, nodding twice as vigorously as he had shaken his head.

    ¡°Down¡± in Panarena, eh? Huh... interesting, I mused, and I guess ¡°that awful creature¡± is Djaziim the Unholy.

    ¡°We certainly try,¡± Ari smiled.

    ¡°And you succeed! It''s not everyone I send a personal courier to, after all! The last time I did was a couple years ago, but that poor girl got mixed up with some awful folk. Couldn''t invite her back after that, goodness gracious me.¡± he said sadly, his two servants shaking their heads.

    A couple years ago in Panarena time would be about when the game went live; huh, I wonder who the girl was...

    ¡°Poor, sweet little songbird!¡± the attendant remarked. ¡°She had such a pretty name, too!¡±

    ¡°Yes, she did indeed; our once-sweet little Melody.¡± Marios lamented as his lady-servant dabbed her eye with a kerchief.

    Ariana and I exchanged a brief glance of shock at the words.

    No way, right...?

    Maybe?? Who knows?

    That''d be nuts!

    Right??

    ¡°Anyhow! Mustn''t dwell on past failures! The future, the future is what we are discussing now!¡± Marios then said confidently. ¡°So then! What do you say? Ah! I almost forgot! I have also a special series of charts, here, created by my ancestor as she noted the currents and general wind patterns of the region in question. Mayhaps they can also be of use to you in this journey!¡± he said, setting the charts down on the table as well.

    ¡°Hmm... I don''t see a reason to refuse, and we''ll definitely get the edge on the pirate guilds who want these things for themselves. I wonder if these currents and things are what''s thwarting them?¡± Ariana said as she looked over the charts.

    ¡°That could be,¡± I nodded in agreement. ¡°A claim to special resources in a place that''s difficult to get to in exchange for a fair cut of specific items you yourself want; that sounds like a bargain to me!¡± I said to our host, who grinned merrily.

    ¡°I knew you''d see it my way!¡± Marios smiled ¡°Ah! One more thing; I will be sending my niece along with you for the expedition. All Ragamis carry with them an enchanted bracelet allowing them to move between our world and yours; she''ll make it easier for you to get the items to me when you do have them. Henry! Fetch Anna Belle and tell her the time has come!¡± he ordered, and the steward bowed, hurrying off to do so.

    ¡°Fair enough.¡± I nodded.

    ¡°Indubitably!¡± Marios returned. We shook hands with him, and the quest then appeared in our logs.

    Hitherlands Expedition, Chapter One: Staking a Claim.

    ¡°Oh wow!¡± Ari remarked as she read the title. ¡°It''s a quest series!¡±

    ¡°Hmm...¡± I mused as I quickly looked it over. ¡°Looks like we''ll have to set off from Ragnarheim again... this time, though, let''s do things a bit differently when we set out. Or at least when we get ready to set out.¡±

    ¡°Gotcha. Not enough time tonight no matter how we spend it.¡± she nodded.

    ¡°The Lady Anna Belle Goldfields, as requested!¡± Henry then announced, and a Ragamis in sunshine yellow apparel curtsied to us with a smile as we rose to greet her.

    ¡°Greetings, adventurers! So you''re the ones taking up uncle''s quest, are you?¡± she said to us.

    ¡°They are indeed, my dear!¡± Marios himself said as he got to his feet. ¡°Will you be good enough to accompany them?¡±

    ¡°Of course! Though it will take some time for me to prepare myself, Uncle Mar!¡± she replied to him.

    ¡°It''ll take us a little while to get ready ourselves,¡± I added.

    ¡°No fear, no fear! We''re in no rush!¡± Marios grinned. ¡°Though I feel it only fair to mention that the Silvestri of Felidalia have a notable figure like myself among their people also, one who is less scrupulous when it comes to picking adventurers. You see, his ancestor had a run in with mine, and she of course, delighting in having found a kindred spirit, shared with him most of what she had found out -- including these oceanic charts. The descendant, as I implied, is far less noble than his dignified ancestor. I can only hope that his laziness has given us the edge in this matter!¡±

    ¡°We''ll do what we can to capitalize on what might be an early start,¡± I nodded back.

    ¡°Good show, my lady, good show!¡± our host clapped his hands. ¡°Well we all have our preparations to make! Take the books and the charts with you; Anna Belle will join you when you''re ready. Oh don''t worry about us not knowing; all you''ll have to do is tap this little trinket three times,¡± he said, handing us a gold and diamond pendant.

    ¡°Three times -- got it!¡± Ari nodded to him.

    ¡°There you have it! I''ll see you delightful folk again sometime! Henry, bring Old Fyu Dongtian this way and then open a portal to their world, would you?¡± Marios said as he turned to his servant.

    ¡°Of course, Master Goldfields,¡± the steward said as he again scurried off to get Fyu.

    ¡°Capital chap, really he is. Simply splendid!¡± our host remarked.

    ¡°By the way,¡± I wondered, ¡°Are you... in charge here?¡±

    ¡°Around my manor, my word is law!¡± he said to me, ¡°But I, Marios Von Goldfields, am but a humble servant of our Grand Chief, one of nine. I oversee the economy and resources management of our fair land; so you can imagine my excitement at the opportunity to expand my horizons for such endeavors!¡±

    ¡°Of course,¡± I smiled back.

    ¡°No title of course, no title at all! That would be far too silly for our sensibilities.¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡±

    ¡°We''re a simple folk, for the most part,¡± Marios nodded. ¡°As the one who oversees one of the more complex parts of our society, I do have a certain level of ambition; but it''s less about personal gain and more about enriching our peaceful land of Apodemia as a whole!¡± he said with a proud grin.

    ¡°Then I look forward to working with you,¡± I smiled back.

    ¡°Indeed!¡± he winked back as Henry returned with Fyu.

    Later that day, Ariana and I were at Cloverbell, lounging together in the hotspring. Lizzy, Heali, and Anhe had found a secret cache from the map we had been given, and were still sorting through its contents. It had apparently taken them to the Mystic Marshes, up north to the west of Ragnarheim. They had even found a port town up there, and had marked the wayport for us, of course.

    ¡°What do you think about the Silvestri quest?¡± Ari wondered as she laid her head on my shoulder.

    ¡°Hmm...¡± I pondered a moment, going over it in my head again. ¡°I have a funny feeling they''re a cat-like people... and that their quest might the one that Rackham and the other pirates are looking for. The real question is what would trigger this apparently lazy yet unscrupulous counterpart of Marios'' to flag them down.¡± I said.

    ¡°You thought cats too, huh?¡± she said with a laugh. ¡°But I agree with that as well. I wonder if that''s why they''ve been trying to raid our cargo-runs? If they eventually succeeded, would it trigger the Silvestri''s interest?¡±

    ¡°Ooh, good point,¡± I said with a nod. ¡°That''s definitely plausible.¡±

    ¡°Or maybe even a certain amount of successful piratings,¡± she continued.

    ¡°Agreed.¡±

    ¡°We should put out an alert to the others just in case.¡±

    ¡°I''ll send one now,¡± I nodded, pulling up the messaging function and sending a quick note to the other alliance leaders.

    ¡°At least it''s Friday, though...¡± Ari then said with a smile. ¡°And we have our homework all done.¡±

    ¡°For real,¡± I sighed.

    ¡°Now now. It was easy tonight.¡± she reminded me.

    ¡°Yeah... it was.¡± I agreed with a half-grin. ¡°Hmm?¡± I then said as I heard a ding. It was from Wildeye.

    Alliance Meeting Requested; meeting point, H?lla, Ragnarheim, in one in-world hour.

    ¡°Hrrmm...¡± I sighed as I sank into the water, blowing bubbles in frustration.

    ¡°Maybe someone else had some information as well, or they want to talk about a new strategy going forward for the competition.¡± Ariana said as she patted my head.

    ¡°I guess.¡± I reluctantly agreed. ¡°Time to get out of our personal paradise, I guess.¡± I then added, and she giggled as we got out to dry off and don some formal-wear. Once this was done, I sent a message to Maryn and Anhe, asking them to add a certain kind of item to two of our caravels, and with that Ariana and I set off for Ragnarheim.

 Chapter Thirty-two: Brief Counsels/On Northern Seas

    So as it turned out, the notification had been sent only to a select number of alliance leaders. It seemed that only the more prominent or larger guild-leaders were assembled in the modest hall, a Nordic-styled building that overlooked the sea from a high cliff. Besides Ariana and myself, Wildeye, Tyman, Jannie, Winnie, Magisteria, Mad Dog, Hua Ling, MacYnduff, and Angelfire were seated around the tables, a roaring hearth fire in the midst of us.

    ¡°I hate to do this on such short notice and with a select group,¡± Jannie said to start us off, ¡°But yet again our little darlings have stumbled into something big.¡± she continued with a smile. I heard Hua Ling sigh, a wry grin upon her face. ¡°La-na! Can you tell us a bit more about this quest you''ve found and your theory on the other quest?¡± the girl with golden hair said to me, and I nodded, relating the basic premises of both as the others listened intently. Mad Dog in particular narrowed his eyes as I brought up the Silvestri quest, exchanging a short glance with Chaneyson, who was with him. I saw the other werewolf-player nod back; it was likely they knew something.

    When I had finished relating what we had found out and what we were inferring from our observations so far, the others were silent for a moment, absorbing or musing over what they had learned. Mad Dog took a large swig from an ale-mug, and then cleared his throat.

    ¡°I can tell you that, from what I''ve observed on land, the pirate players who hang around the ports are definitely checking things out and seem to be keeping an eye on certain things. With what Lana''s said, I''m guessing they''re hanging around for one of these couriers to show up.¡± he told us.

    ¡°We in particular have had some grief with Deep Blue Kings,¡± Hua Ling noted, ¡°One of the stronger guilds in the pirate alliance. They have managed to get at least three of our ships so far.¡± she said with annoyance.

    ¡°Hornigold''s Revenge has been very active on the eastern coasts as well,¡± Wildeye nodded back.

    ¡°And did anyone else notice the Guardians have a new monster on the seas?¡± I then said.

    ¡°We noticed.¡± Hua Ling said. ¡°She must have spent quite a fortune on those two ships alone, just on the slight chance of rebuilding her rankings. More of their effort has been put into the smaller ones, though.¡±

    ¡°The Guardians of the Eternal Citadel can have their fleet back, with all these pirates revving up their schemes.¡± Magisteria shrugged. ¡°The only real problem with it is that it might create more potential opportunities for said pirates to unlock the conditions of the other quest, if Lana and Ari are right.¡±

    ¡°I don''t much doubt it,¡± Wildeye shook his head. ¡°With that in mind, I''d like Lana to proceed with whatever plans she has going north as soon as she can.¡± he then said.

    Hahh... thought so.

    ¡°I''ve already arranged some things,¡± I said with a slight shrug. ¡°We can be ready by the next evening for sure.¡±

    ¡°You''re taking me with you, remember?¡± Angelfire quickly reminded me.

    ¡°Ahh--right,¡± I nodded.

    Well I did prepare two caravels, after all...

    ¡°I''m coming too. And I don''t doubt Peaches and some of her gang will tag along as well.¡± Jannie said.

    ¡°Ehh?¡±

    ¡°And that''s just on your ship.¡± Angelfire quipped. ¡°We''re gonna send a small expedition up there with you, from across all the other guilds who want a piece of the action up there.¡±

    ¡°That''s fine, I guess,¡± I said, making a mental note to get one or more of those portable wayports that we could place down, in case there wasn''t one up north. I also sent a note to Anhe and Maryn again, letting them know that we needed to get some of our prefabricated fortresses ready. ¡°Ahh... how many ships are we talking about, anyway?¡± I suddenly wondered.

    ¡°You''re just taking the one, right?¡± Jannie asked me.

    ¡°I was getting two ready,¡± I shrugged.

    ¡°Oh! Well then, we''ll add ten more in total, and two for protection.¡± she said, and I nodded back to her.

    ¡°Got it.¡±

    ¡°Somehow this got slightly out of hand, huh?¡± Ari whispered to me.

    ¡°J-just a bit,¡± I weakly grinned back.

    ¡°All right! I''ll send the note and roster out now; basically, anyone who wants to join up needs to have a group ready by next Panarena evening!¡± Jannie then said.

    ¡°Agreed.¡± Hua Ling nodded.

    ¡°Agreed,¡± Mad Dog said, and when the rest of us had given an affirmation, we adjourned.

    As Ari and I went outside, we say Maryn and Anhe, along with the others, materializing on the nearby wayport. Our shield-user gave us a funny smile as I nodded them to follow, and we headed down to the docks with our guild. I saw Wildeye and Jannie exchange a glance, following us down out of curiosity.

    ¡°I did as you said; it was not too hard,¡± Anhe remarked. ¡°I admit it is a better idea than having poor Cylodel use his super-skill every time!¡± she grinned at me.

    ¡°Right?¡± I grinned back as we neared the water.

    ¡°What did they do now...?¡± I heard Wildeye wonder behind us.

    ¡°D-dunno,¡± Jannie''s voice returned, and I could hear Tyman stifling a snort.

    ¡°O-kay! This is a good spot!¡± Anhe nodded. ¡°Heali!¡± she said, and Healina, as I had anticipated, opened her mage-storage to place the two caravels on either side of the nearby pier.

    ¡°HUH?!?¡± we heard from behind us, and the eight of us, plus Myanihia, burst into laughter.

    ***

    ¡°You didn''t know about that?¡± I grinned as we settled ourselves around the hearth-fire again to a still-bemused Wildeye, Jannie, and Winnie. Tyman was the only one who seemed to not be surprised.

    ¡°I knew you girls were doing that to make fortress building easier in the Wildlands; but... it''s a ship!¡± Jannie returned at once, still trying to process it.

    ¡°Ah-heh,¡± I softly smiled, recalling the time I had seen Lizzy do something similar to our waggon.

    ¡°There must be some sort of special component they have on it so that it can be placed in there... that''s such a cheat, though!¡± Wildeye mused.

    ¡°Think your father and the others will crack down on it?¡± Jannie asked.

    Ehh?? Ohh, right, his dad is a GM, I recalled.

    ¡°They''re too busy ensuring things are going well in the alpha testing for the summer update... besides... it''s not like we know for sure it''s a bug per se... maybe they had the intention of letting it be used this way...¡± Wildeye said, adopting an innocent, know-nothing sort of expression.

    ¡°Oh you.¡± she said, patting his shoulder.

    Summer update, huh? I then mused to myself.

    ¡°What kind of update?¡± I wondered.

    ¡°Hmm? Oh!¡± he grinned as my question registered. ¡°I can''t tell you much; but I can tell you that it''s going to be a literal game-changer for us. Think of it as the next instance or next level even of Panarena competition!¡± he told us.

    ¡°Hmmm...?¡± I returned with interest.

    ¡°Someone''s going to be on all summer,¡± Lysandra quipped.

    ¡°No good. We need her, for our vacation plans.¡± Myanihia said.

    ¡°Gyeck!?¡±

    ¡°You can''t be on games all summer.¡± Ariana poked me. ¡°Besides, you enjoyed the offline time on our winter break, remember?¡±

    ¡°Ah--true, I did like that...¡± I replied, smiling fondly at the memory.

    ¡°It''s good that you have some real to get into with each other.¡± Jannie smiled. ¡°Not that we have much room to talk,¡± she softly remarked, and Wildeye put an arm around her.

    ¡°We''ll figure something out soon. Honest.¡± he told her, and she nodded back.

    ¡°Oh! Look at that; the roster''s almost full.¡± she said as a notification got her attention.

    ¡°Eh?? That was fast,¡± Ari exclaimed.

    ¡°Hmm... besides us, we''ll have Dreamers Fables, Heavenly Dragons, Jade Lotus, Gears and Wheels... Farmers Dell? Wow! Didn''t expect them... and of course, Valiant Maidens, Northern Warriors, Night Wolves, Words and Sorcery, Flamehearts, ?Valiant?Hearts?, a few from ?SOVEREIGN?, and a couple from some of the smaller guilds in our alliance. All told, a hundred and fifty players at least.¡±

    What an expedition, I thought to myself with amazement. For fourteen ships that''s a pretty decent crewing, though.

    ¡°Looks like we''d better get our other twelve ships up here.¡± Wildeye then nodded. ¡°Now, Lana... or Anhe; what exactly did you do to those ships...?¡±

    So long story short, we helped the others get their ships up to the docks of H?lla with our little trick in the space of a couple in-game hours. All told, besides our two caravels there were four more caravels, three junks, two galleons, a cog, a fluyt, and a brigantine. Oh, we also had Fyu along with us for the voyage, and those of the Mountain Tigers who were coming along had their sabercat as well; and of course Angelfire had Torayuki. Also, Hua Ling and her guild had managed to ally themselves with Shu?y? the Sea Dragon after all; and the Heavenly Dragons had their own friend, Guntaru the Wise from Kunlun.

    How did I not know this happened? I wondered to myself as the two majestic beasts arrived. For that matter, Shu?y? can probably swim, given it''s a sea dragon... but Guntaru is a flying one, right?

    ¡°Guntaru! It looks like we do not get to race Dracuoatlax after all!¡± Qi Lin declared with a resigned sigh.

    Ehh?? That''s what you wanted??

    ¡°Ah--!¡± Ariana pointed suddenly at the skies. The beast in question was now arriving. Dracuoatlax landed with a thud, turning to me with a gleeful look.

    ¡°Lady Windstrider! It is fortuitous indeed that I guessed your plans ahead of time! We have a great conquest ahead of us, do we not?¡± he said to me.

    ¡°We do.¡± I nodded back. ¡°I wasn''t sure if you wanted to go this time, what with making sure your home was safe and all that,¡± I told him honestly.

    ¡°Hmm! The Torching Mount is no longer a safe haven for me, ''tis true; all the more reason for me to accompany thee and these friends of yours.¡± he returned.

    ¡°Then we''re glad to have you.¡± I smiled back. He nodded, and turned to his fellow dragons.

    ¡°Shu?y?; Guntaru; it has been many ages.¡±

    ¡°It has been many indeed,¡± Shu?y? nodded. The voice sounded female.

    ¡°Dracuoatlax!¡± Guntaru grinned. ¡°Our rivalries are on hold for the present! But in one thing we can contest: let us see who can get to these Outer Isles and thence the Hitherlands first! What say you?¡± he said, his voice by far more energetic than Dracuoatlax''s.

    ¡°Ho-ho...!¡± our own ally returned with a grin. ¡°But I fear Shu?y? will get the best of both of us, should she partake! She moves faster in the water than we two in the air, after all,¡± Dracuoatlax said to him.

    ¡°Hmm!¡± the other nodded back.

    ¡°The both of you can fly for sport at your leisure; I will be taking note of all that has changed in the north since last I visited there, and will have no time for foolish games.¡± Shu?y? replied in an indignant manner.

    ¡°The problem has removed itself, old friend,¡± Guntaru said with the vague hint of a chuckle. I could see Qi Lin and Happy grinning to each other.

    ¡°Hmm, hmm... then I will accept the contest as it stands; when those who have proven worthy masters to us have gotten underway, our contest shall begin!¡± Dracuoatlax returned.

    ¡°Agreed!¡± the other dragon nodded.

    ¡°Th-they''re gonna race,¡± Ariana commented, her expression nonplussed.

    ¡°Y-yeah,¡± I managed to nod back. ¡°M-more importantly, they seem to all know each other,¡± I then said, and she nodded in reply.

    ¡°It''s an amazing world, huh?¡± she said as she turned to me.

    ¡°For real.¡± I smiled back.

    ¡°We might get an early start on our voyage,¡± Angelfire remarked as she walked over, nodding towards the wayport.

    More people were showing up again, and from what I could see it looked like we had nearly everyone who had signed on to the voyage here. There were even a few from a certain guild called HarmoniNews, a group of players who ran the in-game player publications and who were among the most prominent creators of guides and walk-throughs on the forums.

    ¡°Oh, looks like Rosalyn herself is coming along,¡± Lysandra noted as she caught sight of a young lady who looked about her age.

    ¡°The leader of HarmoniNews, you mean?¡± I asked her as I recalled the name.

    ¡°That''s the one.¡± she nodded back to me.

    ¡°Eh? Rosie''s here?¡± Lizzy perked up.

    ¡°Ahh...¡± Lysandra returned with a bemused grin.

    ¡°Heh?¡± I said blankly.

    ¡°So it was you who gave her that name,¡± Lysandra then said, and Lizzy beamed.

    ¡°Of course! She hates, it though. Still, she was my beta-partner for a while! Gotta say hi!¡± the blonde girl said, striding up and calling out the apparently detested nickname in a loud voice. I saw the other girl''s expression crinkle up at once, and then melt into a look somewhere between a smile and a glare.

    ¡°How many people beta-tested this game?¡± I then wondered.

    ¡°Hmm...¡± Lysandra shrugged.

    ¡°Closed beta; one-thousand. Open-beta, five-thousand.¡± Myanihia then said. ¡°The alpha testing, was a few hundred. All employees, of course.¡±The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

    ¡°Of course,¡± I said.

    ¡°And now there''s literally millions of people online.¡± Ariana remarked with quiet amazement.

    ¡°There are.¡± Myanihia nodded.

    ¡°Hooray for the whaddaya-call-them capacitors, I guess.¡± her twin quipped.

    ¡°Yes, those things,¡± the other smiled.

    ¡°Infibyte Multi-processing Data Capacitors?¡± Wildeye said as he joined us.

    ¡°Ho-ly snap.¡± I returned.

    ¡°It''s certainly a mouthful!¡± he grinned in agreement. ¡°Not to mention all of the backups, safeguards, and redundancies built into the system so that it runs smoothly. Have you noticed you''ve never lagged here in this game?¡± he continued with a smile.

    ¡°Oh! Now you mention it!¡± I snapped my fingers in realization.

    Lag: of of the great dreads of all gamers. Especially in massive multiplayer online games. I myself had been a victim a good number of times in several games, whether I was just strolling around somewhere or if I was mere inches away from my goal... only to have the goal seized from me at the crucial moment, forcing me to go through everything I had gone through yet again to try and claim it. But here in Panarena Fantasy Online, I could not recall a single instance where lag had happened for me. Or for the others, for that matter.

    ¡°I''ve heard they''re actually retrofitting some of that technology into older games,¡± Angelfire said, and Wildeye nodded to her.

    ¡°Some of it, yes. Others are building up on the new technology itself as they develop their own worlds.¡± he said.

    ¡°Neat!¡± Ari smiled.

    ¡°But anyway--¡± Wildeye began again, interrupted by the sound of a portal opening. It was not the wayport.

    A few meters away, a magic similar to what we had seen in Apodemia shimmered into view, and through it stepped Anna Belle, our Ragamis guide for the Outer Isles and beyond. She had all of her effects packed into three bags, one in each hand and the third on her back. With a smile she hastened over to Ariana and myself, setting the two in her hands down as she greeted us.

    ¡°Whew! I only got your notice a couple hours ago, but I managed to get here in time!¡± she declared.

    ¡°Good to see you!¡± Ari said, kneeling down. ¡°We''ll be on the caravel down there; the one called Golden Clover,¡± she told the little Ragamis, who nodded.

    ¡°Right!¡± she declared, and then looked around.

    Ahh... oh boy. How do I explain this...? I suddenly wondered, fearing that the quest might somehow be in jeopardy.

    ¡°Lots of friends coming along for the ride, eh? Just you remember my uncle''s instructions about what he wants you to bring back for him, though!¡± Anna Belle said with a smile.

    Phew.

    ¡°Got it,¡± I nodded back with relief.

    ¡°And of course I couldn''t expect you to go up there all alone; even Apodemia knows about the pirates in those waters.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± Wildeye said with fascination, kneeling down as well.

    ¡°Of course! There''s all sorts of rumors we''ve heard from special visitors to our little realm; Covenhame is still a free island, but that''s further out. The nearest island, Paradise Island, is said to be a home of the more ferocious pirates and so forth who have made this world their home.¡± she explained.

    The ¡°more ferocious,¡± huh? That means the player-guilds, the Skull and Bones Alliance, I bet; so there might be trouble after all, huh? But we have three dragons with us, too, so I can''t think they''ll be *that* much of a problem...

    ¡°Covenhame has that witches guild living on it, right?¡± Angelfire then remarked.

    ¡°I think so, yeah,¡± Lysandra nodded. ¡°You mean Crystalina''s Wand, yes?¡±

    ¡°That''s them!¡± the flame-haired girl replied.

    ¡°We''ve heard stories of them, as well,¡± Anna Belle said. ¡°They stand against the pirates when they come around to Covenhame, but in most other matters they''re content to stay where they are and as they are.¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡± Angelfire shrugged.

    ¡°At any rate: I''m going to do a check on our numbers,¡± Wildeye said as he stood up. ¡°It looks like the expedition group might get an early start, though! And with Djaziim out of the way, we''ll manage to get some actual profits going in the Wildlands again.¡± he said as he headed off.

    So apparently there''s a cooldown for the orbs-slash-demon quest that lets you summon or banish Djaziim. It''s a three real-month cooldown, but the kicker is that the players who did the summoning or questing cannot obtain the quest again for another three months after that. Which... eh, I pretty much agree with.

    ¡°What''s happening with them, anyway?¡± Angelfire wondered, referring to the King-Priests.

    ¡°I''ve heard a rumor that Rayna is quietly preparing to come back in a dramatic fashion.¡± Jannie shrugged. ¡°It could be that we''ll see the Queens of the Desert Skies back in a few days or so!¡± she added with a faint grin.

    ¡°But whose side will they be on?¡± Lysandra said with a knowing smile.

    ¡°That''s the big question,¡± Jannie nodded in agreement.

    ¡°There''s lots of things going on below here, huh?¡± Anna Belle blinked in wonder.

    ¡°For sure!¡± Ari replied.

    ¡°For sure,¡± I said in agreement, looking over toward the northern horizon. It seemed almost haunting, and definitely mysterious.

    Adventure... here we come.

    ***

    The expedition set off a couple in-world hours early just as Wildeye had suggested. It was quite an impressive sight, actually, seeing these fourteen ships set off--not to mention the three dragons. Dracuoatlax and Guntaru immediately soared off into the skies when the horn sounded, and Shu?y? gracefully slid into the waters near our ships with Hua Ling carefully nestled on her back.

    On our flagship, the Golden Clover, we had ourselves, Anna Belle, and Dreamers Fables. Peaches, Derwydd, Snow Dancer, Gondron, Cylodel, Cloveroak, and another member called Caylee, a Fae-kin, were with us. Caylee was a light fighter who described herself as a ¡°skirmisher-type¡± when asked. Not quite a tank, not quite a full-DPS, but something in-between. Our other caravel, the Silver Swan, was being crewed by ?Valiant?Hearts?, along with Words and Sorcery.

    ¡°I hope we get somewhere reasonably safe before we have to seriously log out...¡± I remarked quietly as Ariana and I observed the expedition from the crow''s nest.

    ¡°Right?¡± Ariana agreed. ¡°I think we''ll make it to Covenhame at least by Sunday night or Monday morning; that should keep the pirates away, at least.¡±

    ¡°Hopefully,¡± I nodded. ¡°That''s not even the halfway point, though,¡± I added with a sigh, pulling up the maps again. Ari laid her head on my shoulder as we looked over them.

    ¡°It''s halfway between Harmonia and the Outer Isles, and the Outer Isles are halfway between Harmonia and the Hitherlands...¡± she frowned. ¡°And those currents, too.¡±

    ¡°Exactly. I think Anna Belle will have more to say on them when we get there, but even this mapping data is a bit discouraging... and that Thundering Icewall... hmm,¡± I mused, focusing in on the place in question.

    ¡°It sort of loops around those islands there, the Shiverang Isles,¡± she noted.

    ¡°Not Shivering...? Heh, nope, Shiverang.¡±

    ¡°I bet they''re tundra-like, or even arctic.¡±

    ¡°Oh I bet,¡± I nodded in agreement.

    ¡°Think we can get to them?¡± she asked me.

    ¡°Ehh... I guess it depends on what the Thundering Icewall is,¡± I replied.

    ¡°Oooh, true.¡± my partner said. ¡°Though it doesn''t sound good at all!¡± she added with a grin.

    ¡°Not even a bit,¡± I cracked a grin back.

    A horn then sounded. I looked up at once. We were about three in-world hours out from the mainland, which was already becoming a faint haze on the horizon, so there could be some sort of danger around.

    ¡°That came from the Spriggan,¡± Ariana told me, referring to the fluyt that was acting as a flanking rearguard off to starboard. The horn sounded again, and we looked towards the ship in question. Ariana used her far-seeing skills, and we espied a fleet of eight ships coming up from the southeast.

    ¡°Pirates,¡± I said, recognizing the flags. ¡°The Deep Blue Kings, even.¡±

    ¡°Aren''t they about the worst?¡± Ari asked me.

    ¡°We caught a glimpse of them that one time,¡± I nodded. ¡°From what I''ve read on the forums, they''re players who''ve gone out of their way to obtain certain curses or blessings, all of them sea-related. The result is a guild of people who resemble various sea-creatures; their guild leader, Admiral Squidclaw, is one of the top-posters in the naval combat forums for Panarena.¡± I said, and she let out a soft whistle.

    ¡°So they all look like the villains from that old pirate franchise?¡± she said with a soft grin.

    ¡°Hmm? Oh, yeah, I guess they do!¡± I smiled as the thought struck me. ¡°I wonder if their ships can do that thing, too...¡±

    ¡°Go underwater, you mean? That would be kinda cool!¡± Ari smiled.

    ¡°It would--ahh! We gotta focus,¡± I then snapped myself to attention as I saw the ships more clearly upon the horizons.

    ¡°They''re all galleons and fluyts; oh, that''s a man-of-war,¡± Ariana noted as she observed them more closely.

    ¡°That''s probably the flagship.¡± I said with a nod. ¡°More importantly, look at this galleon''s pennant,¡± I said, pointing to the one furthest on the left of their formation.

    ¡°Hm? Ah!!¡± Ari exclaimed as she also recognized the design. ¡°Venomheart!¡±

    ¡°Looks like they''re out for some revenge... I don''t know who knew what or who contacted who, but that doesn''t matter right now,¡± I said with a shrug. ¡°What matters is that every single one of those ships is capable of catching up to this fleet.¡±

    ¡°I''d say the gossip-mill alerted them and things went from there, but you''re right,¡± Ariana nodded.

    As I watched the enemy fleet getting closer, a strange thing happened. They began furling up their sails. For a moment I thought I was seeing things, and I blinked a couple times. Nope, they''re putting up their sails... but why would they do that...? I don''t mean to sound negative, but those eight ships could easily trounce us, and that might even win them the conditions to do the competing quest. Why are they--wait... Deep Blue Kings... old pirate franchise...!!

    I jumped from the crow''s nest down to the deck in a flash, using a shadow-skill to negate my landing impact. Ari let out a gasp as I did, but quickly scurried down after me as I went straight to the one person who could answer a certain question that had just popped into my mind.

    ¡°Heali!¡± I said, taking the Sea Elf gently by the shoulders.

    ¡°Lana?¡± she looked at me with concern.

    ¡°I know you were joking about it a few days ago; but, could a Sea Elf actually summon a sea-monster, like a kraken or something?¡±

    ¡°Hm?¡± she blinked, and then quickly thought about it. ¡°Mm... there''s specialized taming skills as you go further along those skill trees; specifically for Sea Elves, krakens and leviathans are grand-master skills that take a significant amount of time to be good at, but yes, it''s possible for one to summon them,¡± she told me. ¡°Why are you--oh you''re not...¡± Heali said with a slump of her shoulders as she realized where I was going with my question. I let go of her, and anxiously turned back towards the enemy fleet.

    ¡°Hmm?¡± Lizzy wondered.

    ¡°Deep Blue Kings... they might have a tamer...!¡± I said as I gripped the rail of our ship tightly.

    ¡°Tamer? Oh, no...¡± Lizzy remarked as she came to my side with Ariana.

    ¡°What are they doing? Can you see anything?¡± I asked my partner, who still had her far-seeing skills going.

    ¡°The lead ship does have a mage at the prow; he''s chanting!¡± she told me.

    ¡°Cylodel! Port me to the Spriggan, now!!¡± I called, and the mage nodded his head, whisking me over at once.

    ¡°Lana! What the--¡± Jannie started.

    ¡°No time!¡± I said, scrambling to the crow''s nest of her ship. She came up after me, and when I had gotten there I took out my bow, aiming carefully.

    ¡°That ship is four-hundred meters away.¡± she warned me.

    ¡°I don''t care. I have to make this shot or we''re all dead.¡± I told her.

    ¡°Got it.¡± she said, placing a hand on my back.

    Using all of my skills, both system and non-system, I managed to zero in on my target. He had a conch-shell around his head, and several other parts of his body were covered in shells as well. I couldn''t quite make out what he was based on, but that didn''t matter. Quickly, I set off my critical boosters and bonus skills, adjusted for the wind as best as I could, and loosed the arrow with Dragon Breaker. I could feel both of us holding our breath as the arrow sped towards the ship.

    They might intercept it... might. It''s just an arrow, after all. They''re no ordinary pirates. They''ve got all sorts of curses and mages, I bet. Oh boy. We''re gonna die, my panicked thoughts ran as I watched my arrow hurtling towards the enemy ship. Suddenly, a flurry of fire-spells erupted from the side of our ship, outpacing the arrow and landing on other ships in the enemy fleet. The flames caught at once, and with our enemy now distracted by this surprise attack, no one paid attention to the arrow. It struck the target, blowing him up nicely, and I felt life returning to me with a deep breath.

    ¡°Tabby! Signal the fleet! Get us in the wind! Have the smaller ships towed if we have to!¡± Jannie called down, and Tabitha nodded to her.

    ¡°What about our stowaways, captain?¡± she returned with a grin, her arm around Ariana.

    ¡°Oh, I''ll think of something,¡± Jannie winked back.

    ¡°Gyeck!?¡± I tensed up, and they burst out laughing.

    A few minutes later I was (safely) back on my own ship, which was helping the Silver Swan to tow the cog. I was not in the least surprised that Ariana had followed me over seconds after Cylodel had whisked me away.

    ¡°Although I thought that was Angelfire for a moment,¡± I said with a wry grin, and she smiled back.

    ¡°That was very Angelfire-y of me.¡± she admitted. ¡°I hope that delays them long enough,¡± she said in a more solemn tone.

    ¡°I hope so,¡± I nodded. ¡°At least until we get to Covenhame.¡±

    ¡°Just until then?¡±

    ¡°Eh, it''s sneaky, but we might be able to pass off aggro there,¡± I said, and she nodded back.

    ¡°I won''t ask how you''re planning to involve Crystalina''s Wand in this little fight.¡± she said with a sly grin.

    ¡°I''m not sure myself yet,¡± I returned with a shrug. ¡°You think they''re out of your range by now?¡± I then asked her.

    ¡°It''s only been a few minutes; the smoke is still going, anyway,¡± Ari remarked, looking back towards the southeast.

    ¡°Ah-heh,¡± I said, grinning wryly.

    ¡°We probably did catch them off their guard,¡± Peaches noted as she joined us, ¡°But now they''ll be more sly and sinister about doing things. And don''t forget that Venomheart is with them, sea-monster or no sea-monster.¡±

    ¡°Speaking of sea-monsters,¡± Derwydd then added, ¡°Don''t we have a sea dragon with us? And the two in the air?¡±

    ¡°The two in the air got way ahead of us,¡± Ariana said with a resigned smile.

    ¡°I guess Shu?y? might have been able to take a kraken, now that I think about it...¡± I suddenly realized.

    ¡°Better safe than sorry, hon.¡± Peaches shrugged. ¡°Besides, she''s now towing that smaller caravel off to port,¡± she pointed, and I nodded as I caught sight of the majestic sea dragon helping the ship through the waves.

    ¡°There''s lots of excitement going on in this world, isn''t there?!¡± Anna Belle said as she joined us. ¡°We were almost attacked by pirates and a sea monster! Whew! Incredible!¡± the Ragamis exclaimed as she daintily skipped around the deck.

    ¡°Ah-heh,¡± I faintly smiled.

    ¡°I''d wager they''ll be up and running again in an hour; and Venomheart might not even wait for that.¡± Cloveroak remarked.

    ¡°I couldn''t hit their ship, sorry,¡± Ariana shrugged.

    ¡°Not blaming you!¡± the big guy said. ¡°Just being mindful is all.¡±

    ¡°Report coming in,¡± Caylee then told us. ¡°Jannie says that Venomheart''s ship is on the move after all, but the rest of the fleet is hanging back to get their damage under control.¡±

    ¡°Tch!¡± I said with a snap of my fingers.

    ¡°Figures,¡± Ari sighed.

    ¡°We can handle one ship better than eight,¡± Peaches noted.

    ¡°All the same, I''d rather have no ships,¡± I quipped back.

    ¡°True!¡± the older woman grinned back. ¡°Let''s not forget we''re essentially passing through their stomping grounds, though. Paradise Island is up ahead, after all.¡±

    ¡°We can probably avoid going near it, at least.¡± I said.

    ¡°Should we signal the others to adjust course?¡± Cloveroak asked us.

    ¡°Let''s keep north by northwest until we get closer to Covenhame.¡± I suggested.

    ¡°Good thinking.¡± Peaches agreed.

    ¡°I''ll get the message out!¡± Caylee nodded.

    And so after our first major scare we made some minor adjustments to our course, plotting to head in an arc towards Covenhame so as to avoid (we hoped) any more pirates. As for Venomheart, I was at least half-certain they were going to be a wild-card. There was a chance that they were really just in this for themselves and had used the pirates for convenience to get this far; there was an equal chance that they would continue to use the pirates to force us into a position favorable to them and unfavorable to us.

    She''s tricky to predict, I have to admit, I mused to myself as I gazed back towards the galleon that was shadowing us from a distance. With a shake of my head, I turned to the front of the ship, leaning on a rail near the prow.

    ¡°Lana?¡± Maryn said as she joined me.

    ¡°Just trying to wind down a bit,¡± I smiled back.

    ¡°Yeah right.¡± she smiled in turn.

    We stood there near the front of the ship quietly for a few moments, idly gazing out at the sea. It had gotten tranquil again. Well, the energy aboard our ships was pretty high, and most of us were inflamed by a busyness intent on keeping us ahead of or away from any more surprise visitors. But the ocean itself had a calm to it, a soothing atmosphere that really was calming me down. A soft sigh fell from my lips, a quiet smile upon my face as I looked out.

    ¡°... -tiful.¡± I heard Maryn remark.

    ¡°Hm?¡± I turned to her.

    ¡°Hm? Ah! The ocean, the ocean.¡± she said quickly, her cheeks coloring. ¡°I''m gonna help Lizzy,¡± she then said, giving me a pat on the shoulder as she left.

    ¡°Hmm...?¡± I wondered with a confused grin for a moment, and then shrugged, returning my gaze ahead.

    It really is a nice day out today, huh? Heh, it''s amazing that they can get this level of detail into everything; must be those what''s-it-capacitors that Wildeye mentioned. Sometimes I wish I understood all that stuff... but then, it might lessen the magic for me, I mused as I smiled again.

    Faintly, very faintly upon the distant horizon to the northwest, I saw a sort of sheen or glimmer. There were a couple of barely discernible flashes as well. With a frown, I shook my head.

    That can''t be what I think it is... could it...?

 Chapter Thirty-three: The Deep Blue Kings

    Boy, these travel-times across the sea are no joke, I thought to myself during my breakfast hiatus from playing the game. It was now Saturday, and I had gotten off about fifteen minutes ago to do some actual living for a while. I had about twenty minutes before I was expected back in-game, so after a shower I headed back up with a breakfast sandwich in one hand and coffee in the other. My dad, of course, was nearly asleep with the cartoons on; and my mom had left practically the moment I''d gotten downstairs for some job-related thing or another.

    As I settled down in my desk chair I switched on the computer, and then logged on to the Panarena forums. About half the posts were commentating on the developments in the Wildlands; there were about five speculating on the future of King-Priests and their involvement in the competition, around thirty (at least) about the Guardians of the Eternal Citadel rebuilding their fleet, a good chunk about the Skulls and Bones Alliance, an assortment of others dealing with various crafter-guilds, and one post about the expedition--ours, that is--that had been posted around midnight or so.

    Still... everyone''s focused on the Wildlands... nothing about those freaky cannibal-players up around the Borderlands? Nothing about the Vales of Aergondi? I know there''s been an uptick in skirmishes and squabbles there; hey, what about the other side of Panarena...? I suddenly wondered, clicking through pages to find information about the Onyxus side of the competition.

    ¡°Gyeck!?¡± was my initial reaction to the frenzy of posts I found.

    I think someone had mentioned this to me before, if I hadn''t somewhat known it already, but seeing it like this was bonkers. The Onyxus guilds really were at each other''s throats with this competition. One of the big telling points was that the competition rules had not been adjusted for them. Each and every one of their guilds, insofar as I could see from the forums, was out for the other.

    One post in particular caught my eye. It happened to mention in its headline a very familiar name. Garth.

    Blackwall Monarchs taken over by second-in-command, Garth.

    The article described the apparently ingenious take-over (apparently Garth, if it was the Garth I thought it was, had actually learned to think and fight in this game) in detail, then moved on to describing Garth''s plan to build a confederation of guilds as the Blackwall Monarchs reconquered their economic-hotspots to retake their top spot on the board over there.

    If that''s not our Garth, I don''t know who is, I mused upon reading the fine details. Creating an alliance of sorts to try and monopolize resource spots? Yeah. Couldn''t be any other Garth in my book. At least he''s doing it... honestly...? I guess, I had to remark with a wry frown. I closed out the forums with a sigh, and checked my messages. There was one from an unknown sender marked as urgent. With a shake of my head I deleted it. Really? Spam mail like that in the late twenty-first century? Come on, people, get original.

    After I had checked through the more valid stuff and sent replies to a few (some out-of-town family that we kept in touch with), I decided I''d had enough of real life for now, and went back to using the Dream Machine.

    ¡°Saaaafe,¡± I said with a groan as I landed as Lana on the deck of my ship.

    ¡°Yay! Lana''s back,¡± Caylee smiled, clapping her hands.

    ¡°Anyone else?¡± I wondered as I turned towards her.

    ¡°Heali and Der are here; Maryn''s here; Anhe just got back a moment before you; that leaves the other half of your guild, I guess!¡± she told me.

    ¡°Gotcha,¡± I nodded.

    Just then, our three college-age girls loaded up, and a moment after they did Ariana arrived. Ari ran over to hug me at once, and I smiled as I hugged her back.

    ¡°Lizzy got called in for an emergency shift, so she''ll be on later.¡± she told me.

    ¡°Right,¡± I said in reply. ¡°How far to Covenhame?¡± I then asked Caylee, who crossed her arms over her chest as she answered.

    ¡°Jannie and Hua Ling estimate that we should be there by the time Saturday''s over.¡±

    ¡°A full day, huh?¡± I remarked as Ari and I let go of each other.

    ¡°And we''ve still got them to worry about.¡± Derwydd noted as he nodded towards the port side of the ship. It was obvious from his tone that Venomheart had not given up their pursuit.

    But why...? I had to wonder as I turned towards the direction Derwydd had indicated. Our sea-dragon ally could easily sneak under them before Clara or whoever can set off their poison spell and sink them... they *have* to know that, or at least be aware of the possibility, I mused. What is Melody playing at?

    ¡°You think there''s something more to her following, too?¡± Ariana whispered to me, and I nodded back. ¡°I wonder if she''s not as loose a cannon as we think her this time; I wonder if her following us is actually helping the Deep Blue Kings somehow,¡± my partner wondered to me softly.

    ¡°Almost as if... as if they''re a spotter,¡± I remarked quietly, and she nodded back. ¡°But if they''re just doing the spotting... then--¡± I began, but my thoughts were interrupted by several ships sounding an alarm with their horns or bells.

    ¡°Off the port bows! Enemy off the port bows!¡± Lysandra called out. I looked.

    From below the sea, seven ships rose up out of the waves. The terrifying man-of-war with its dragonish-looking prow, the jaws agape, took the lead, the galleons and fluyts taking up a V-formation behind it.

    ¡°Venomheart''s increasing speed!¡± Sky Belle reported.

    ¡°Snap!¡± I swore.

    I didn''t think they could actually do it!! They actually, really can travel below water!! And it''s instantaneous?! That''s why Venomheart chased after us, to give them more accurate coordinates for the skill or technique to work!!

    ¡°And now they might have us in a net!¡± I softly fumed.

    ¡°Shu?y?!¡± I heard a voice call; the sea-dragon hastily wriggled out of her harness, and began moving towards the enemy fleet.

    A deafening roar erupted from her jaws. I saw two of the enemy ships veer off from sheer instinct, but four of them, including the flagship, kept coming. The name I saw etched onto the side of the man-of-war gave me to know that Squidclaw''s ship was named The Black Brine. It was definitely blackish in color, and it certainly looked... well, brine-y. There were all sorts of sea-pests and coral that had lodged themselves into it at random intervals, giving it an almost derelict appearance; but the ship that was racing towards us was far from derelict. Shu?y? headed for it, and I saw a certain player standing at the prow, sword raised towards the majestic beast. His right hand, which held the sword, was normal; but his left hand was a great claw. In place of hair he had tentacles, and his countenance was almost shark-like.

    ¡°Hi-ho, beastie! Hi-ho, Lana Windstrider and friends!¡± Admiral Squidclaw called out to us. ¡°That was a fine trick ye played us a while ago; allow me now to repay the favor! Lads!¡± he called back to his crew.

    Then the most epic and terrifying thing I''d seen in the game so far happened. The sea-dragon''s head of the man-of-war with its open jaws was no idle design. It suddenly blasted out a huge stream of flames, catching two of our lead ships on fire.

    Ho-ly...!!! I stood in dumb amazement.

    ¡°They have the Greek fire device?!¡± I heard someone practically scream out as Squidclaw laughed.

    He and his fleet veered off, but not before Shu?y? managed to put a hole in one of the galleons with a ferocious smack of her tail. The dragon then quickly turned to us, and let loose her own breath: a breath of water. It doused the flames, thankfully, and we hurriedly took the damaged vessels in tow as we continued on our course towards Covenhame.

    ¡°Lana?? Lana!!¡± Ariana clutched my arm, lightly smacking my face to snap me out of my trance.

    ¡°Hmm?¡± I suddenly turned.

    ¡°We need help with the sails!¡± she told me.

    ¡°Got it!¡± I said, and I helped the others get us into the wind.

    ¡°In this world, it is called, ''Sargon''s Breath'', after an ancient sea king,¡± I heard Myanihia remark.

    ¡°I can imagine why,¡± I heard her sister reply. ¡°That was nuts! I didn''t think that weapon had gone live yet!¡±

    ¡°Leave it, to Squidclaw, I guess you could say,¡± the other twin said.

    ¡°Right?¡± Lysandra agreed.

    ¡°They''re still coming after us, though that one galleon isn''t going anywhere.¡± Healina reported.

    ¡°Nope, they''re going somewhere,¡± I said.

    ¡°Hmm? Where''s that?¡± our healer wondered.

    ¡°Down.¡± I quipped.

    ¡°Pfft!¡± the Sea Elf began chuckling.

    ¡°Venomheart''s ship is regrouping with them.¡± Belle then noticed. ¡°Ari, I''ll change size and help; use your skill to keep an eye on them,¡± the older girl remarked as she turned human-sized, hastily placing one of her other outfits on as she began helping us with the sails.

    ¡°Got it!¡± Ari nodded, activating her far-seeing skills. ¡°You want me to keep an eye out for that mage, yes?¡±

    ¡°Def,¡± Belle nodded.

    ¡°Oh right, he''s still a threat... probably,¡± I recalled. ¡°Speaking of which, I wonder what the cooldown on that Sargon''s thing is...¡±

    ¡°I... don''t know,¡± Myanihia said with a sudden curiosity. ¡°All I remember, is that it was slipped in, with a recent patch,¡± she told us.

    ¡°I can''t believe we missed those patch notes,¡± Cloveroak scratched his head.

    ¡°We''ll have to talk to MacYnduff after this escapade.¡± Peaches said. ¡°If anyone besides Squiddy over there knows about weapons and armaments, it''d be him.¡±

    ¡°Oh for sure,¡± I agreed.

    We hurriedly got our fleet into the wind, picking up a bit of speed. Our pursuers did the same thing, and they were slightly faster overall. By unspoken consensus, the mages and archers amongst us began assembling at the rear of our ships or in the crow''s nests, readying our skills and such to try and repel them.

    ¡°Found him!¡± Ariana told me. ¡°He''s on the ship to our right, just beside The Black Brine!¡± she reported.

    ¡°Tch!¡± I hissed. ¡°I can''t see him!¡±

    ¡°He''s definitely chanting.¡± she said with a frown.

    ¡°Keep your skill going,¡± I told her. ¡°Angelfire!!¡± I then shouted at the top of my lungs, loosing fire-arrows towards the direction of my target.

    The flame-haired girl took my meaning at once, and began unleashing her own arsenal of fire and flame towards the ship in question, as did a few other mages and archers. But as soon as they got near, they were repelled by a shielding spell.

    ¡°Hyeck!?¡± I gasped. That''s what we get for getting him so easily the first time, I guess...

    ¡°We can break it!!¡± I heard the other guild leader cry out as she resumed her attack. With that confidence-booster in my ears, I activated Dragon Breaker again, followed by Shadow Barrage and Rapid Fire.

    ¡°Shu?y?! We may need your help!¡± I heard Hua Ling say.

    ¡°We may need the others as well!¡± the sea-dragon replied, taking in a deep breath and loosing a howl-like sound that practically echoed around the blue expanse of sea surrounding us.

    ¡°Dang it! They keep replacing the barrier!¡± I heard Angelfire growl.

    ¡°She''s right,¡± Ariana turned to me. ¡°There''s a whole cluster of mages on that ship, each of them using some kind of barrier to keep the summoner safe from us!¡±

    ¡°Tch!¡± I grimaced. ¡°Myanihia, Heali, Anhe!¡± I called, throwing down smoke-bombs to cover us as I dove into the water.

    The three of them followed me without question, and we swam to the other ship. They might deflect spells and arrows, but we could probably get onto their ship without being repelled. Anhe and Healina activated support skills to help us swim faster, and we reached our target without incident. The four of us began clambering up the sides, Myanihia and I arriving first. We quickly vanished into the shadows, and began taking down the mages defending the summoner while Healina and Anhe supported us, the former with summoning skills of her own in addition to healing and Anhe with three deadly auras, an attack strength booster, a damage-negating aura, and an aura of reflection, which damages anyone who attacks us with five-percent of their own attack damage.

    ¡°Can''t... reach him...!!¡± I frustratedly spluttered as I kept trying to break through the mages.

    ¡°Revivers!¡± Healina called out.

    No wonder...

    ¡°I''ll get them!¡± Myanihia said, hastily taking out one and then another in rapid succession before they could react. Anhe twirled the staff above her head and brought it down with a thump, jostling our enemies and knocking a few of them back. She then put the staff away and began using her own deadly martial arts, enhanced by the system, to deal with our enemies.

    ¡°Hya!¡± she cried out as she knocked one into the sea with a hefty kick.

    I then heard a thunderous sound. It took me a quarter of a second to realize it was a cannon. Another quarter to realize it was aimed at me. And then the rest of that second to miraculously dodge the attack just in time as the cannonball flew a hair''s breadth near to my head. It took out one of the Deep Blue Kings by accident, knocking him into the sea as well, and I heard Admiral Squidclaw berating the gunner for his hastiness.

    Pheeeww, I sighed with no small relief as I resumed attacking the mages, still trying to get to the summoner. Angelfire and the others had resumed their attack as well, making it easier to identify those who were keeping the summoner safe. I heard him speaking faster. Boy that''s a lengthy incantation, I quietly noted. Wait!!

    Quickly, I recalled that in this game, mages in these situations do tend to speak faster when they''re almost done with their incantations. Oh screw it. I threw down a few lotus-bombs and a poison grenade, vanishing into Shadow World as I rushed towards the summoner, whose health was not unaffected by the attack.

    ¡°Dang it! Where''d she go?!¡±

    ¡°Keep Captain Spellshot safe!!¡±

    ¡°Can''t--see--!!¡± someone tried to say while coughing.

    Meanwhile, the mage, apparently named Captain Spellshot, was raising his staff. I knew what that meant. He was getting ready to activate the spell. I started up that deadly combo Myanihia had taught me, striking him with it. He went down just as so many others had before him--but not before he had finished his summoning spell. A shiver ran down my back as I realized this.

    Just a moment later, Cylodel appeared on the ship.

    ¡°Girls, here!¡± he called, and we ran towards him.

    He ported us back to our own ship, where I gave him a pat on the arm as I made my way back to the rear of the ship. Myanihia and the others were right behind me, noticing the frenzied anxiety in my step.

    ¡°Lana?¡± Anhe asked me.

    ¡°I didn''t get him in time! He managed to--¡± I said, my words suddenly cut off by the sight of very, very large tentacles rising up out of the sea around our own ship.

    ¡°Oh no!!¡± I heard Anna Belle cry out.

    And then there was a thundering roar. Overhead, I saw Dracuoatlax grab one of the flailing tentacles with his taloned feet, biting into it deeply. Guntaru the Wise appeared a moment later, striking another with his claws and breathing flames upon a third.

    ¡°Ari! Wind spell!¡± I immediately said, and my partner activated a skill she had crafted just for moments like this called Fujin''s Gale, which propelled us forward and away from the kraken''s attempt to grab us as the dragons attacked it.

    As the kraken retreated for a moment, the two sky dragons cast their breath towards the enemy ships, forcing them to retreat. Except for one. A certain galleon with a certain guild on it turned to meet the dragons, its spellcaster readying a deadly poison skill.

    ¡°Guntaru! This way!¡± Dracuoatlax said, flapping off towards the west. The other dragon followed him quickly as the poison-spell was launched after them.

    ¡°Tch!¡± I grumbled softly.

    ¡°Take this!!¡± I heard Angelfire shout as she cast a wild barrage of flame spells towards Venomheart''s ship. The galleon was hit by at least a third of them, which was enough to set it aflame. Our two airborne dragons circled around to the other ships, blasting them with fire a bit before veering off once more to regroup with us.

    ¡°Lady Lana! The greatest ship among them will not take flame!¡± Dracuoatlax told me.

    ¡°That figures,¡± I said with a disgusted sigh. ¡°What about the sea monster?¡±

    ¡°The kraken will soon come after you again,¡± Guntaru said as he looked towards its location. ¡°It is rising now! Shu?y?!¡±

    ¡°I must keep these ships going, or our masters will fail their quest!¡± Shu?y? returned.

    ¡°We two can handle the vile demon of the sea with those poisoners occupied,¡± Dracuoatlax said to Guntaru.

    ¡°Agreed, yet it would be better if she herself could take him!¡± the other said.

    ¡°I understand your reasoning, my old rival, but now let us two go on the attack!¡± the first said as he dove towards the creature.

    ¡°As if I would let you alone take the glory!¡± Guntaru quipped as he flew after the other with a whoosh.

    ¡°Yet you''d both let Shu?y? take it by herself...?¡± I said in a whisper, Ariana softly giggling beside me.

    At that moment, our ship came to a jarring halt. I looked around in confusion for a brief moment, and then blinked. We can''t have run aground, right? What''s going on here? ¡­ waaaaiit a se-cond...!!

    A scream suddenly left my partner''s lips. There was a massive tentacle rising up out of the waves again, and about eight more with it. My eyes widened. A trick!!

    ¡°Lana!!¡± Angelfire shouted from her ship, The Sea Dragon. She immediately went on the attack with her mages, as did Johann Starson and his guild beside us in their own caravel.

    ¡°Taggart! Marna! Take the ones at the fore!¡± the valiant fighter called.

    ¡°Got it!¡± Marna Byn, his second, called back to him as she and Taggart hurried to do so.

    ¡°Silvernight Queens! Attack!¡± I shouted as I snapped myself out of it.

    ¡°Dreamers! Defensive formations! Support the Queens!¡± Peaches said as she and her guild gathered with us to repel the kraken.

    ¡°Where''s the dragons?!¡± Maryn wondered in bewilderment.

    ¡°Where are the dragons...?¡± I wondered belatedly, knowing for sure that both of them would have come flying back.

    ¡°Don''t tell me there''s two of these dang things?!¡± Cloveroak remarked as he looked back. I did as well.

    Sure enough, Dracuoatlax and Guntaru were fighting a kraken back there. Venomheart''s ship was limping around, probably trying to get them while they were occupied. As quick as I could, I took out a horn and sounded a few blasts upon it to get their attention. Dracuoatlax noticed my meaning at once, taking note of the poisoners'' ship coming their way. He ripped off one of the other kraken''s tentacles for spite as he hurried off, signaling Guntaru to do the same.

    ¡°Is that why the first one retreated, to summon help?¡± Snow Dancer wondered.

    ¡°Maybe,¡± Heali agreed. ¡°Where''s Anna Belle?¡±

    ¡°I have her,¡± Caylee said. The Ragamis was snuggled up safely in a shoulder-carrier that she wore, smiling at me.Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

    ¡°I''m safe, Lana!¡± she said to me. ¡°Though this is certainly a pickle! My ancestor didn''t record anything about pirates or sea monsters at all!¡±

    ¡°Well, I half-expected the pirates, at least!¡± I had to grin back.

    ¡°Not the sea monsters?¡± Lysandra said with a wry smile.

    ¡°Ehh. Yeah... on second thought, I really should have predicted sea monsters...¡± I said with a soft groan. ¡°But wild ones!¡± I added swiftly.

    ¡°True!¡± Ariana agreed as we attacked the massive tentacles threatening to come hurtling down upon us.

    ¡°Someone warn the others that the other might come after one of them!¡± Cloveroak said.

    ¡°Already on it!¡± Peaches told him.

    ¡°Personally, I hope that loss of a limb or two keeps it from trying again!¡± I remarked as I loosed some fire-arrows at our targets.

    ¡°No arguments here!¡± Cloveroak beamed.

    ¡°Oh def.¡± Heali nodded.

    One of the tentacles did make its way down to the deck, followed by a lucky second, but that only made it easier for some of us to use our strongest attacks on it. We quickly dispatched these two before it could squeeze us to death, and a few moments later it let us go. Once again Ariana used her skill, and we began catching up to the rest of the fleet with the other two ships beside us. We thanked Johann and Angelfire for their assistance as we did so, to which they graciously replied that we would have done the same--which we would have.

    Dracuoatlax and Guntaru then stopped for a brief moment to add some insult to injury on the kraken that had nearly gotten us, forcing it to dive deeper to escape their anger. I could faintly hear it letting out a long, bellowing sort of sound; it was almost reminiscent of whale song to my ears, but deeper and less soothing.

    ¡°Oh that can''t be good,¡± I remarked as I heard it.

    ¡°That almost sounds like a call for help,¡± Healina said as she listened. Her hearing, as I may have said before, was better than most of ours in regards to underwater sounds.

    ¡°Enemy fleet is back on our tail!¡± I heard Taggart call from the ship on our right.

    ¡°How many?¡± I said.

    ¡°Looks like four of them are still game, including Venomheart''s ship and the man-of-war!¡± he told us.

    ¡°Dang it! The Black Brine! Their ultimate weapon might be recharged by now, too!¡± I quietly seethed.

    ¡°And we''re still a good ways away from Covenhame...¡± Ariana sighed.

    ¡°If you could all ride upon us, masters, we could have gotten you there by now,¡± Guntaru remarked. I then blinked as a certain thought struck me, turning to Cylodel. The mage sighed, a soft grin upon his face.

    ¡°I can do it.¡± he said in anticipation of my question.

    ¡°Take Heali and Der with you for support, just in case,¡± I said, and he nodded. ¡°Guntaru, Dracuoatlax, can you get them close to Covenhame ahead of us?¡±

    ¡°Affirmative!¡± my own dragon ally told me, coming closer to the ship as the three in question headed up the mast to get aboard him from the crow''s nest.

    ¡°I will stay here to help, should those miserable beasts rise up from the waves again,¡± Guntaru said.

    ¡°A wise course,¡± Dracuoatlax agreed as Cylodel and the others got on his back. ¡°It will yet take me some time to get to Covenhame; do not let yourselves be beaten by mere pirates and monsters, Lady Lana!¡± he then said to me as he flapped higher into the sky and then took off like a rocket.

    ¡°We''ll do our best, pal,¡± I nodded quietly.

    ¡°We''ve been in worse situations.¡± Maryn patted my shoulder.

    ¡°Ehh? When?¡± I returned with mock surprise.

    ¡°Ahh...¡± she smiled bemusedly, trying to think of something.

    ¡°Like the time you almost got eaten by Mad Dog.¡± Ariana remarked with a pout. ¡°Or the other time when you nearly got poisoned by Blackwood. And that other time when Myanihia nearly had you. And again when Venomheart literally had us surrounded.¡± she continued, an expression of discontent growing on her face.

    ¡°Ahh--!¡± I started, uncertain of what to say.

    ¡°To be fair... Lana, had me on the ropes, as well,¡± Myanihia said in support.

    ¡°Oh, true,¡± Ari said as she brightened up again. ¡°But that ship definitely looks like it''s ready to use its ultimate weapon again,¡± she then changed the subject as she took note of the enemy''s lead ship.

    ¡°But now that we know it''s coming, we can probably shield ourselves from it,¡± Snow Dancer said.

    ¡°Agreed.¡± my partner nodded. ¡°Actually!¡± she then said in a delighted tone, readying Fujin''s Gale for a third time.

    Now, however, she pointed it towards the enemy ships when she activated it, giving them a strong headwind to fight against for a few moments. She released it about thirty seconds later, by which time w had gained a decent enough lead on them.

    ¡°I can probably use that about seven more times,¡± she told me as she recovered her magic. ¡°Then it''ll go on a daily cooldown.¡±

    ¡°Right,¡± I nodded. ¡°Can we alternate how we use it?¡± I then asked.

    ¡°Propel ourselves with one use and stall them with the next?¡± she replied. ¡°I like it! But I can only affect our ship, remember,¡± she warned me.

    ¡°Ohh, that''s right,¡± I nodded.

    ¡°But we want to keep at least that ship from getting in range of us. Which I can do.¡±

    ¡°Good enough for me.¡±

    ¡°How soon do you think Dracuoatlax can get to a good spot?¡± Peaches then asked me.

    ¡°Ehh, he goes at least as twice as fast as a ship, more or less... I''d say about five in-world hours,¡± I replied.

    ¡°And that''ll jump up our schedule for this expedition again.¡± Snow Dancer said with a nod. ¡°All the same, I''d like to ensure they also have some damage holding them back so that they don''t catch up just as soon as we set off again.¡±

    ¡°The krakens are probably still around, too,¡± Peaches mused. ¡°It''d probably be easier to spot them if we had Heali here, but I understand sending her out with Cy and Der, in case they run into another sea monster.¡±

    ¡°Two of them is too much,¡± Anhe said sadly.

    ¡°You said it.¡± the older woman nodded in agreement.

    ¡°I can try and see if they''re around,¡± Ariana then said, turning on her far-seeing skills again to check beneath the waves. A disappointed frown came to her face moments later. ¡°They are.¡±

    ¡°Hrrmm...¡± Cloveroak rubbed his neck in irritation.

    ¡°Where''s the mage? Spellshot?¡± I then asked, and she began scanning the ships with her spell.

    ¡°He''s back on The Black Brine.¡± she told me a few moments later.

    ¡°Must be their respawn point,¡± Lysandra noted.

    ¡°If we somehow took them all out... their nearest respawn would be Paradise Island, right?¡± Maryn wondered.

    ¡°Oooh, ambitious.¡± Caylee smiled. ¡°That''s probably right, though.¡±

    ¡°Even if we can just take most of them out, that''d force them to retreat,¡± I mused.

    ¡°Let''s rule out the Brine and Venomheart''s ship right now.¡± Lysandra said. ¡°That leaves the fluyt and the other galleon.

    ¡°Ruling them out because of the boss-level players?¡± Belle wondered, then shrugged. ¡°Can''t say I blame ya.¡±

    ¡°Squidclaw isn''t just a tactician, he''s also a clever and deadly fighter. Even Lana might''ve had a run for her money if that Spellshot character was on the Brine instead of the other ship when she went over there,¡± Lysandra remarked. ¡°And of course Venomheart is too much of a wildcard, especially when they''re all together.¡±

    ¡°They''re probably on the lookout for any funny business, too, all things considered.¡± I added with a faint grin.

    ¡°Oh definitely.¡± the older girl nodded back.

    Poisoners... dragon poison... krakens... hmm... my mind suddenly began fomenting a slice of mischief, and I turned to Ariana.

    ¡°Where are the krakens, exactly?¡± I asked her.

    ¡°Hmm... it looked like they were behind the other ships, still recuperating.¡± she told me.

    ¡°Which way is the current going?¡± I turned to Cloveroak.

    ¡°Eh? It''s against us, heading towards the southwest, which is why we''re in the winds.¡± he replied.

    ¡°I wonder where this is heading...¡± Maryn softly remarked, and Anhe nodded.

    ¡°Do we have any illusionists in our expedition?¡± I then asked.

    ¡°Hmm? Do we?¡± Ariana wondered, and we spent a few moments thinking about it.

    ¡°Wouldn''t Magisteria have someone? They''re right next to us, too,¡± Belle said.

    ¡°I''ll go and ask,¡± I said, heading up the rigging a bit to jump over.

    ¡°What is she up to?¡± I heard Peaches wonder as I left the ship with a swing, landing on the Silver Swan with a light thud.

    ¡°Lana! What''s up?¡± Johann asked.

    ¡°Where''s Magisteria?¡±

    ¡°In the cabin with a couple of her officers; I think they were considering countermeasures for when or if the Deep Blue Kings catch up again,¡± he told me.

    ¡°Thanks!¡± I smiled, heading into the cabin.

    ¡°She''s lively today, isn''t she?¡± Taggart remarked.

    ¡°You''re telling me,¡± Johann agreed.

    I found Magisteria with Blueheart and Winter, two of her officers I had briefly met during the Garth-Queens War. They looked up as I arrived, breaking out into smiles at once.

    ¡°Lana! We were just planning some reprisals for Squidclaw; what brings you by?¡± Magisteria said as I came in.

    ¡°Oh, a bit of mischief,¡± I softly grinned.

    ¡°Oh...?¡± the other guild leader grinned back.

    ¡°You wouldn''t have an illusionist, would you?¡±

    ¡°Right here!¡± Blueheart, a female Mumban player, said to me. ¡°What kind of illusion do you want?¡±

    ¡°The dragon sized kind.¡± I said, still grinning.

    ¡°Dragon-size, huh? I can probably do that, but... why?¡±

    ¡°Oh, no special reason. Just thought it would trigger Venomheart''s poison-mage so that she inadvertently kills off the krakens for us.¡± I said with a disarming shrug.

    ¡°Ahh--!¡±

    ¡°Huh?!¡±

    ¡°Pfffft!¡± the three of them said at the same time, Magisteria punctuating their bewilderment with a laugh.

    ¡°Oh Lana! You''re insane, and I love you for it!¡± the other guild leader said to me. ¡°Blue, you can craft an image of Dracuoatlax just behind or off to the side of Venomheart''s ship, yes?¡±

    ¡°Hmm... I can do that, for sure!¡± the other woman smiled.

    ¡°Do it!¡± Magisteria nodded.

    ¡°One dragon-sized illusion, coming right up!¡± she said.

    ¡°Will we know if it worked?¡± Winter then wondered.

    ¡°The sea will probably change color for a few minutes, if she decides to use it. But I''m pretty sure she will. We''ve... made them testy.¡± I said with a wry smile.

    ¡°Of course you have.¡± Winter shook her head in amusement. She was a Snow Elf like Myanihia, by the way.

    ¡°Then in a few moments more, we should see a pretty poison sea!¡± Blueheart smiled as she began creating the illusion of Dracuoatlax. ¡°I''ll put him a bit farther out, to make it look like he did a big circle out of sight... I''ll even add the players, just for fun!¡± she said, concentrating. ¡°And I can see what my illusions see, if they''re illusions like this; I''ll be the first to know if she uses that poison skill.¡± she smiled.

    ¡°Oh, right! Duh!¡± her comrade made a silly face as she softly berated herself.

    ¡°We''re in the water... the krakens are coming up to try and catch us; and now Venomheart sees us. It''s the girl with green hair.¡±

    ¡°Perfect.¡± I smirked.

    ¡°She''s looking back to her guild leader; now they''re nodding. And, the poison''s coming... she''s done it!¡± Blueheart reported. ¡°Of course, poison won''t kill an illusion... but it is affecting the krakens. They''re dropping off. I see their health bars going down, rapidly.¡±

    ¡°Good enough for me,¡± I said, and the illusionist then shut down her spell.

    ¡°I should have thought of that when the krakens attacked earlier; but then, we might''ve gotten Shu?y? too,¡± she noted, and then cupped a hand to her mouth as she realized what she had just said.

    ¡°Don''t worry, I made sure the current was going away from us before I came here,¡± I reassured her, and she sighed with relief.

    ¡°Good!¡± Blueheart replied.

    ¡°Now we just have the four ships to deal with...¡± Magisteria said with a soft frown.

    ¡°True...¡± I nodded. A sound of cannon-fire then reached our ears. ¡°Eh?¡±

    ¡°What the--¡±

    ¡°Magis! Lana! Come quick!¡± Johann called.

    The four of us exited the cabin and went up to the rear of the ship where Johann was. We then saw that the three pirate ships were attacking Venomheart''s galleon. Of course, Venomheart being who they were, they had their sudden enemies quickly on the ropes with poison. I saw The Black Brine moving strategically away from the battle so as to avoid it, but the other two ships were not so lucky.

    ¡°What do you know? Your little plan had a side-effect,¡± Magisteria said as she gently leaned on me.

    ¡°Lana, what did you do this time?¡± I heard Belle call over in the exasperated-adult tone that I was used to hearing from my parents.

    ¡°Ahh... ah-heh; tee-hee!¡± I said with an innocent grin.

    ¡°Not buying it, chick.¡± the other returned.

    Didn''t think so, but it was worth a shot as Lana, I thought bemusedly.

    ¡°Well anyway, we''ve pretty much gotten them off our backs,¡± I then remarked.

    ¡°Except the monster ship, but sure,¡± Winter remarked, patting my head.

    ¡°Ehh? They''re still--oh, so they are,¡± I said, watching them as they began circling around to try and catch up again. ¡°Tch, eight warships against our line-up was a pain, but even just that monster could take most of us out before we manage to beat it... if at all,¡± I frowned.

    ¡°Exactly.¡± Magisteria said. ¡°I''ve heard that, so far, only Rackham can overcome him in a naval battle, even though Squidclaw is usually the better tactician.¡±

    ¡°That''s because Rackham''s unorthodox, the complete opposite of the Admiral,¡± Taggart said with a shrug. ¡°But anyway, we need to at least keep ahead of him until whatever other plans Lana has going are ready.¡±

    ¡°Just a few more in-game hours,¡± I said with a nod.

    ¡°Right,¡± the other replied.

    ¡°For now, let''s get you back to your ship.¡± Winter said, suddenly turning into a large owl and flying me over to the Golden Clover, where I was deposited unceremoniously. Winter flew back to her ship, and I sat there on the deck, trying to sort out what had just happened.

    Since when was -- no, I never knew what kind of magic Winter had... I just assumed it was snow or ice magic based upon the name... a shape-shifter, huh?

    ¡°O-kay, girlie, spill it! What on earth was that plan?!¡± Lysandra said as she hauled me up by the arms, hoisting me in the air and holding me there.

    ¡°Uh-oh.¡± I said as I saw Belle, now human-sized, inching closer, her hands twitching.

    ¡°Spill it, chick!¡± she said with a devious grin.

    ¡°A-Ari!¡± I squeaked out.

    ¡°I''m not stopping this,¡± my partner said with a smirk.

    ¡°Ari!!¡±

    ¡°Nope.¡±

    ¡°Anhe!!¡±

    ¡°S-sorry, Lana!¡±

    ¡°M-Mary!!¡±

    ¡°Ahh...¡±

    ¡°Too late--it''s tickle-time!¡± Belle declared, and the merciless amusement-slash-torture began.

    ***

    ¡°There was no need to go that far...¡± I muttered after the interrogation, my pride thoroughly deflated as I hid myself in the crow''s nest. All in all, it seemed they were more bent on tickling me to death than actually finding anything out about my scheme, which had ended up turning the pirate ships against Venomheart. Except for The Black Brine, which was still coming after us.

    Ariana had just unleashed her wind spell on them after I had escaped my predicament, leaving her around six uses left before we could no longer keep them at bay. Having only that ship to worry about was both a plus and a minus; a plus because Ari could delay them without interference from the other ships, and a minus because it was that ship. Admiral Squidclaw had to keep his best players with him. It was likely that they might try thwarting Ariana''s wind spell the next time she used it on them.

    ¡°To be honest, I''m surprised they haven''t already tried to do so...¡± I said as I idly gazed back towards the massive ship with its fearsome and functional figurehead of a sea-dragon. For the first time, I noticed that the sails were a sort of blackish-green, and that the flag was of a blueish-green color; this had a white kraken with green eyes etched onto it in the center.

    Turning my gaze ahead, I began thinking about Dracuoatlax and the others. Earlier, Hua Ling''s dragon sent up that howling sound; I wonder how far ahead he and Guntaru were at that time, or if they were already heading back to check on us? In which case, how far have they gotten now? And anyway... I can''t believe we really did get away with that prank on Venomheart and the pirates... I guess they really weren''t taking any chances with us, huh? More importantly, I hope Dracky and the others get to Covenhame soon, I thought to myself as I stared towards the north.

    Further away from me, I could hear the other crews on the other ships bustling about and repairing what damage they could from the earlier attacks. The sounds of activity against the backdrop of the ocean''s ambiance had the effect of lulling me to sleep; I secured myself with a couple of lines to keep from falling out, and then nodded off a few moments later.

    I woke back up with a jolt, and after untangling myself I scurried down to the main deck. There was nothing in particular going on, but somehow I felt uneasy.

    ¡°You okay?¡± Ari smiled as she came up to me. ¡°You were asleep up there for three hours, after all,¡± she informed me.

    ¡°Eh? That long? Up there?!¡± I wondered in amazement. ¡°Anyway... I''m fine, I guess...¡± I said with a slight pout, to which she replied by embracing me.

    ¡°Sooorry... really I am,¡± she told me, and I hugged her back.

    ¡°We''re good,¡± I smiled at her. ¡°But anyway... they''re still on us, huh?¡±

    ¡°I have two more uses of Fujin''s Gale left.¡± Ariana nodded.

    ¡°They haven''t countered it yet? At all?¡± I said in disbelief.

    ¡°Not that I''ve noticed,¡± my partner shook her head, ¡°Though now that you mention it, it is weird that I haven''t had resistance to using it...¡± she suddenly mused.

    Ariana then activated her far-seeing skills again, examining The Black Brine for signs of activity; things looked fairly normal, insofar as crew activity went. Admiral Squidclaw was standing near his helmsman, a fellow who partly resembled a hammerhead shark crossed with a seahorse. She then began peering below the deck with her spell, as if seeking something or someone.

    ¡°Looking for that Spellshot person?¡± I asked her, and she nodded.

    ¡°I know he was on the other ship earlier, but he probably respawned on the Brine when you got him earlier.¡±

    ¡°Most likely.¡±

    ¡°In which case -- ah! There you are,¡± she said as she alighted on the mage in question.

    This time, he was in a sort of arcane-library that was on board their ship. He and several other mages were chanting around a runed-circle with seven floating orbs that glowed, each of them a different color as they slowly orbited a lectern with a stone idol situated upon it. It was shaped in the likeness of a kraken.

    ¡°They''re summoning another kraken? But they''d only need him for that, right? And why are they in that special room now? Why not earlier?¡± Ariana wondered as she observed the scene. Lysandra and Peaches joined us to take a look for themselves.

    ¡°Huh; interesting!¡± Peaches said as she noted their surroundings.

    ¡°Is that--?! Myanihia!¡± Lysandra called to her sister, who came over at once. Our former rival now staunchest ally took one look at the room and then gripped my shoulder.

    ¡°They''re summoning the mother.¡± she told me at once.

    Oh snap. I should have realized that myself. After all, there was a similar thing in that one game, Fantasea Online, though I didn''t stick around in that one very long... normal sea-monsters only need one mage or summoner, but to get the special ones, you need a whole group or conclave of them. Oh, sn-nap!

    ¡°That''s why they need the other mages, and that special chamber, I bet,¡± Ariana realized as my own thoughts came to the same conclusion.

    ¡°Exactly.¡± Lysandra nodded. ¡°So that really is the rumored Mother Kraken statue...¡± she said with fear and awe, and Myanihia nodded.

    ¡°I... saw it once, in alpha testing,¡± the other remarked as she let go of my shoulder.

    ¡°More importantly, we don''t know how long they''ve been at it, and we definitely can''t get to them in time.¡± Peaches said.

    ¡°That''s true; we''d get overwhelmed in no time,¡± Lysandra agreed. ¡°I bet they even have countermeasures for Guntaru, though probably not as poisonous.¡±

    ¡°Oh I''d bet on that.¡± the older woman nodded back.

    ¡°Ari, if we get ourselves and the others in good positions, a reverse V-formation, could your Fujin''s Gale move us all along at a faster pace?¡± I asked my partner. She thought about it for a few moments, and then nodded.

    ¡°I can adjust its spread to do that, but it''d have to be a very tight V; no more than fifteen degrees at most,¡± she told me.

    ¡°Right,¡± I returned. ¡°Get the message out! Reverse V-formation, now!¡± I ordered.

    ¡°Got it!¡± Lysandra and Myanihia nodded, and within a few moments our expeditionary fleet was getting into position, ourselves at the tip of the V.

    Just as we did, I saw an eerie glow coming from The Black Brine behind us. A shudder ran through me. That probably meant the Mother Kraken was about to appear. Several horn-blasts snapped me back to attention; we were ready. I nodded to Ariana, who activated her wind-spell and angled it so that it affected all of us. The fleet began picking up speed just as we felt the ocean start to rumble.

    ¡°This little trick might be for nothing, but I''ll be darned if I give up now!¡± Snow Dancer said worriedly, using her power to augment and support Ariana''s spell.

    At that exact moment, a large portal opened up before us. Cylodel!! They made it! I realized with a spurt of hope rising in my chest.

    ¡°Dead ahead! Stay on course!¡± I shouted out as we made for the portal.

    ¡°Lead ships are almost there!¡± Johann called back to me. ¡°The sea-dragon is taking them through it!¡±

    ¡°Guntaru! Hold here and wait to go through with Lana!¡± Qi Lin said to his dragon ally.

    ¡°I understand, master!¡± the dragon replied, taking up a defensive position in case the sea monster appeared before we were all through--which was definitely likely.

    I saw the first ships heading through the portal, and breathed a sigh of relief. Nine more to go, I thought to myself as I turned back towards The Black Brine, then towards my partner. Ariana looked strained; I put a hand on her shoulder, and she briefly smiled over at me. I returned my gaze to the enemy after giving her a smile as well, and my breath caught as I saw it emerging from the deeps.

    ¡°Ho-ly...¡±

    ¡°Whoa--!¡± Maryn and I exclaimed as we saw the bluish creature rising up, its black eyes glowering at us with rage.

    ¡°Th-those t-t--tentacles... they c-could, p-p-probably...!¡± Caylee stuttered out as she witnessed the monster''s arrival.

    ¡°Y-yeah...¡± Cloveroak agreed with his own stammer.

    ¡°Five left!¡± Angelfire called over. ¡°And ho-ly--¡±

    Whatever word she was about to use was drowned out by the unearthly bellow that burst forth from the massive deeps kraken. The hull of our ship began vibrating from it; I looked up at Guntaru. Even he seemed to be having trouble with the sheer force of sound that was coming our way.

    ¡°Just us three now!¡± Johann called out.

    ¡°Guntaru! Fly through, now!¡± I shouted up to the dragon, who paused reluctantly. At that moment, Ariana had to let the spell go.

    ¡°Ugh!! Out of magic!¡± she said exhaustedly, falling onto me for support.

    ¡°Snap!¡± I said softly, patting her back. The Sea Dragon and the Silver Swan made it through ahead of us, but the Mother Kraken managed to extend one of its massive tentacles to grab our own ship.

    ¡°Oh boy...¡± Peaches cringed, quickly getting a spell ready.

    Guntaru then lunged for the tentacle, blasting it with fire and then raking it with his claws. At once the sea monster let go of us, and then the Heavenly Dragons'' dragon took hold of our ship by the rigging and dragged us through the portal with a few hefty flaps of his wings. We made it through just as the Mother Kraken tried to get us again, and the portal closed behind us. I almost fainted in relief, and so did Ari.

    ¡°Woo! You rock, Guntaru!¡± Snow Dancer called up to the dragon, who looked quite pleased indeed.

    ¡°Thanks for the assist!¡± Maryn said to him, and he dipped his head in acknowledgment before heading to check on his guild.

    ¡°They''re gonna hold that over us for the next year, I know it,¡± I said with a soft smile.

    ¡°Ya think?¡± Ari grinned back at me. ¡°Not that I''ll blame them!¡±

    ¡°Not even a bit!¡± I agreed.

    ¡°Would you look at that? We''re here!¡± Peaches then said. There was a large island less than a mile to the northwest; it was Covenhame.

 Chapter Thirty-four: Covenhame/Through the Outer Isles

    A good portion of the next few hours was devoted to restoring the ships that were damaged; there were enough supplies between all of our vessels so that this was accomplished without diminishing them by much. While this was being done I looked over the charts, examining them closely. We had jumped quite a ways from where we were; I estimated we would probably be safe from the pirates for at least a day, since their spotter was no longer trusted.

    ¡°It''s these Molten Currents that are gonna be the next big hurdle, huh?¡± I said aloud as I pondered the information on the chart.

    ¡°More or less,¡± Anna Belle told me, ¡°But it''s recounted in the journals that there are usually favorable winds that can help to make use of those currents. So long as you don''t get close to the Icewall, that is.¡±

    ¡°What is the Thundering Icewall? And is it that thing way out on the horizon?¡± I asked her. She nodded at once.

    ¡°It certainly is visible from here,¡± the Ragamis told me.

    ¡°Wow.¡±

    ¡°My ancestor wasn''t too sure what exactly caused it, but there''s a strong sort of current and a series of prevailing winds in that area which combine very stormily along the northern edge of the Molten Currents to create it; old legends she heard tell tales of frost-giant sorcerers and such who use their magic to enforce it, but no one''s ever managed to find out the truth.¡± Anna Belle continued.

    So it''s quite possibly just a place that no one can penetrate, or at least a place that requires certain conditions to be met so that you can visit it, I mused inwardly.

    ¡°And then once we''re through the Outer Isles and the Molten Currents, we''ll come up on the Moon Currents...¡± I said as I looked back at the charts. ¡°It looks like the best thing to do is sail against them and come around from the west to the Hitherlands, or sail through them to the northeast and come at the Hitherlands from that way.¡±

    ¡°Good observation!¡± she nodded. ¡°Either way, we want to avoid the Wreckerlies, the current between the southern two islands up there; that current is too swift and strong for any ship, and it''d dash us against Iprin or Sirna Tai before we could get ourselves out of it!¡±

    Oh, those are two of the big islands that make up the Hitherlands. The Outer Isles, which includes Shiverang, technically, also have a small princedom called Arcana and the Vulcania Archipelago. Further north, besides the two islands Anna Belle mentioned (which are on the southeast side of the area), there''s Ygrom in the southwest, Caldaros north of it, Ewar north of Sirna Tai, the bigger of the two islands in the southeast, and Geldir north of Ewar. There''s a smaller isle called Ewar Minor on the east side of its parent island, situated in a bay, and there''s a smaller, unnamed isle south of Sirna Tai as well. A volcano was marked upon it.

    ¡°And we want to avoid this as well,¡± I pointed to the center of the isles.

    ¡°Oh yes.¡± Anna Belle said with a serious nod.

    Apparently, there''s a nice little hiccup at this spot I pointed to called ¡°The Swirls¡±. It was probably some sort of whirlpool or maelstrom. Whatever it was it was definitely not going to be good.

    ¡°Hmm... it''ll probably be best to approach from the east, then; so we''ll ride the Molten Currents until we get to this point here and then cut across the Moon Currents further north. Then we''ll adjust course to come between Ewar and Sirna Tai.¡±

    ¡°That sounds like a plan!¡± the Ragamis said with a beaming smile. ¡°Now we just have to finish our repairs and get underway again; boy, what an exciting time this has been!¡± she said as she practically danced out of the cabin, and I had to smile.

    ¡°Lana,¡± Ariana then said as she came in, ¡°The guild leader of Crystalina''s Wand sent a message; she wants to meet the expedition leaders.¡±

    ¡°Right,¡± I nodded. ¡°That''ll mean us, Jannie, Hua Ling, and Mad Dog,¡± I said as I got up from my seat.

    ¡°Plotting our course?¡± my partner asked with a smile.

    ¡°Pretty much,¡± I said as I cast a glance back at the map. ¡°We''ll head east by northeast once we round Covenhame, and then come at the Hitherlands from the east.¡±

    ¡°Gotcha.¡± she returned.

    ¡°But for now,¡± I then said, stretching my arms a bit.

    ¡°Let''s go play diplomats!¡± Ari said with a grin, and we headed out to join the others.

    We took one of the rowboats on board to head for Covenhame''s port, Coelburg. There were two great buildings on either side of the city, both of them situated on hills. On the taller hill was one that Jannie referred to as the manor, where the NPC rulers lived; on the slightly less taller hill was the guildhall for Crystalina''s Wand.

    ¡°Their guild leader''s name is Eyra Mysti; she''s a Gael sorceress, and probably one of the best in the game. No one can really say for sure, though, because they don''t take part in many of the game''s events,¡± Jannie said to us as we pulled up to a pier.

    ¡°I have heard that they focus more upon discovering the secrets of this world; the lore, that is,¡± Hua Ling remarked.

    ¡°I think you''re right,¡± Jannie agreed. ¡°It''s also likely that they''ve been waiting for an opportunity like the one Lana found so that they could further that goal.¡±

    ¡°You mean they might be interested in sending an envoy with us.¡± Mad Dog noted as we disembarked our rowboats, heading into town.

    ¡°Something like that,¡± the Lightbrook Brigade''s leader nodded.

    ¡°This town is pretty,¡± Ariana said to me softly as the others continued discussing what we might be getting into with Eyra Mysti and her guild.

    ¡°It really is,¡± I replied. ¡°It looks like an old Scottish town, like a really old one,¡± I said.

    ¡°I know what you mean; like seventeenth century or so,¡± my partner nodded back.

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    ¡°We never quite got up there when we were moving around; we lived in London for a while, but never really went too far from it.¡±

    ¡°We''ll have to make vacation plans; or study abroad plans... or something,¡± I softly smiled.

    ¡°That would mean thinking about a university,¡± Ari said to me with a subtle smirk.

    ¡°Ehh... the thorns on the rose, huh...¡± I returned, and she quietly giggled.

    ¡°Oh! There''s our guide,¡± Jannie then said.

    There was a robed player with two others beside them approaching us; each of them had a stylized wand etched onto their garments, their guild insignia. The leader had it on the right side of his chest while his two followers had it on their left shoulders, which most likely denoted their ranking in the guild. So he''s an officer, I''d suppose, while these two are... lesser officers? Regular guildies? I pondered to myself as we all halted before each other.

    ¡°I am Ibazz, Eyra''s second.¡± he said to us.

    Ah-ha, second-in-command.

    ¡°With me are Lina and Rei, two of our officers. We are to escort you to Witch Haven, the manor on yonder hill.¡± Ibazz continued.

    ¡°Lead on,¡± Jannie replied, and at their leading we set off again. ¡°Any idea what your leader wants to talk with us about?¡± Jannie then asked him.

    ¡°The future.¡± our guide replied simply, saying nothing further.

    They want in on this expedition, I noted to myself at once, looking over at Jannie. The two of us exchanged a subtle nod, which I also exchanged with Ari. Both of them had reached the same conclusion. I could see Mad Dog''s eyes gazing thoughtfully towards the guild hall, while Hua Ling looked passive and unperturbed. Don''t bluff with her, I mused to myself with a wry grin.

    We made our way through the streets of Coelburg swiftly, reaching Witch Haven about five minutes after we had gotten out of our rowboats. It had a rustic, mysterious quality to it, like an old abandoned house in a movie that had been refurbished by a new owner. Ibazz led us through a courtyard and then into the foyer of the actual building; they had two NPC guards at the main doors on the other side, who bowed their heads and opened said door for us.

    In we walked, finding a great hall with a long table set up in the middle. There were eight smaller tables situated around the hall as well, four on either side of the largest one. A woman in silky garments was seated on a throne at the far end of the hall; she had copper-red hair, and she rose from her seat to come down and greet us as we were brought to meet her.

    ¡°My guests! Be seated here with me,¡± she said as she took the seat at the head of the great table.

    Eyra Mysti, I presume, I thought as we took our seats. Jannie took the nearest seat on the left, with Hua Ling, myself, Ariana, and Mad Dog taking the next seats down (in that order) while Ibazz and the other two took the seats opposite, himself sitting on Eyra''s right.

    ¡°I am Eyra Mysti, leader of Crystalina''s Wand. If I understand rightly, you are on your way to the Hitherlands.¡±

    ¡°We are.¡± Jannie affirmed.

    ¡°And you are doing so at a rush,¡± the other said with a note of interest.

    ¡°Our friends were helping us to escape from the pirate guilds,¡± Jannie returned with a wry expression.

    ¡°Ah! Of course.¡± Eyra nodded. ¡°They are a problem; but they generally leave us alone.¡±

    ¡°Why is that?¡± I wondered.

    ¡°Knowledge is power. And we have great stores of knowledge, Lady Windstrider,¡± Eyra said to me.

    ¡°Hmm.¡± I nodded back in understanding.

    ¡°They know more about how to use this area and its natural defenses, and morea bout how to make the most of their spells around here than the pirates do,¡± Mad Dog said, noting aloud what I was internalizing in my own mind.

    ¡°More or less,¡± Eyra returned with a sly smile. ¡°But for all that we have been unable to launch an expedition of our own to the north. You have an ally, a quest allowing you to do so?¡±

    ¡°More or less,¡± I replied, echoing her words. ¡°You can''t get around the currents, then?¡±

    ¡°Or the winds.¡± she said with a shrug. ¡°The exact patterns of both are something we have been trying to intuit since we arrived here, to no avail. They''re too wild.¡±

    Then how did that bygone Ragamis do it? I suddenly wondered.

    ¡°Well, our ally has what we need to get through them; if you would like to join up with our expedition you''d be welcome to do so,¡± Jannie told her.

    ¡°You see, Ibazz? I didn''t even have to ask.¡± Eyra smiled, and her second shrugged. ¡°He''s always so pessimistic,¡± she continued as she turned back to us. ¡°That''s why he''s staying here and I''ll be coming along with Rei and two others. Your ships are still repairing, yes?¡±

    ¡°We should be finished with repairs in about four hours; you do want to come with us, then?¡± Jannie asked.

    ¡°Very much so. Oh, I don''t care about laying claims for resources; all we want to do is to study the areas,¡± the other replied.

    ¡°And who says we''re ''laying claim'' to anything anywhere?¡± Mad Dog raised an eyebrow.

    ¡°No one need say it at all,¡± Eyra smirked. ¡°Several of the most powerful competing guilds in Harmonia are suddenly sailing north, away from what should be the main action in the guild competition. The only probable reason for doing that would be that there''s something up north which would help strengthen your advantages, either in the Outer Isles or the Hitherlands,¡± she remarked.

    ¡°She''s got you there,¡± Ariana said with a grin.

    ¡°Hmph.¡± the werewolf guild leader nodded.

    ¡°We''ve got nothing to lose by including them,¡± I said with a shrug.

    ¡°I agree. Let us take them,¡± Hua Ling said in support.

    ¡°Fair enough.¡± Mad Dog agreed.

    ¡°Well, that out-votes me, but I was going to let them come anyway.¡± Jannie smiled. ¡°To let you come, that is. We''d be happy to assist in your quest for knowledge.¡±

    ¡°Excellent!¡± Eyra clapped her hands. ¡°Rei, fetch Carol and Enri, and tell them to be ready as soon as possible!¡±

    ¡°Yes, m''lady!¡± Rei replied, getting up from her seat and dashing off to do so.

    ¡°Lana, will you wait for them at the piers?¡± Jannie asked as the rest of us got to our feet.

    ¡°Hmm? Sure,¡± I said to her.

    ¡°Good! The rest of us will go and make sure the ships are all ready by the time we want to leave.¡± she said, and the other two guild leaders followed her out with Lina as an escort.

    I looked around the hall with interest for a few moments; they had a lot of neat tapestries and trophies situated around the place. Around or above the throne were some that I expected were the most difficult to get, whether by the amount they would cost or the effort to make them or the difficulty of a quest they may have been rewards for. Ariana was also looking around, captivated by a sudden row of statues in the likeness small furry animals on display that she immediately hurried over to with a delighted squeal. I smiled.

    It''s the cat cafe all over again, I inwardly sighed, but with almost a wistful tone as opposed to an exasperated one.

    ¡°So you''re the one I''ve heard so much about,¡± Eyra said as she came closer. I looked over at her; the amber eyes of the girl were locked on to me. Her silken green garments had a shimmer to them as she moved; she had no footwear, but she was adorned with gold bracelets and a silver necklace, as well as a nice collection of rings. I assumed at least two or three of them were magic rings, and that some of the other jewellery she had might also be beneficial, stat or skill-wise.

    ¡°Good things, I hope,¡± I lightly quipped, and she grinned.

    ¡°I''m betting it was you who found the quest. You''re the one who put a stop to Djaziim, after all; a girl as sharp as you should have joined with my guild.¡±

    ¡°You''re scouting another guild leader?¡± I returned with a soft laugh. ¡°But thanks anyway; I do like your place, though,¡± I had to admit.

    ¡°And so does she,¡± Eyra smiled as she looked over towards Ariana.

    ¡°Oh def.¡± I nodded.

    ¡°When do you expect to make it to the Hitherlands?¡± she then asked me.

    ¡°I wouldn''t be surprised if it took us two or three real days to get there,¡± I said with a shrug. ¡°Hopefully our tag-alongs will have given up after this last incident so we can get there in peace, mostly.¡±

    ¡°The pirates.¡± Eyra said with a nod. ¡°They would have to be desperate to pass our island; not that they couldn''t give us a wide berth, but we are along the most direct route to the north, from what the maps show.¡±If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

    ¡°I wouldn''t put it past them. And there''s always the chance that they might get the quest they need to go on a voyage like ours.¡±

    ¡°Hmm,¡± Eyra nodded again. ¡°Is it likely?¡±

    ¡°Well they seemed pretty desperate to stop us, at least; I''d say there''s a fifty-percent chance they''re close to getting it, or at least that they think they''re close to getting it,¡± I said.

    ¡°And they''ll likely use their skill to make good efforts on catching up to this expedition as well, once they do find it,¡± Eyra mused.

    ¡°Skill?¡± I wondered. ¡°Ohh, the thing they do with their ships?¡±

    ¡°Exactly.¡± she affirmed. ¡°It''s a branch of Portal Magic that crosses over with Deep Sea Arcanity; I''ve heard the Admiral and his officers had to go through quite the lengthy quest chains to get it.¡±

    ¡°Heh...?¡± I remarked with interest.

    ¡°You''d need a guild of his size or larger to get them done, though.¡± Eyra warned me.

    ¡°They are one of the larger outlaw guilds, huh?¡±

    ¡°We estimate them to be the seventh largest.¡±

    ¡°Guhyeck!?¡± I tensed up.

    There''s six guilds *larger* than them?!

    ¡°Right?¡± Eyra said with a bemused grin.

    ¡°My lady!¡± Rei called as she came back with two others behind her. ¡°We''re ready. And I have your supplies waiting as well.¡±

    ¡°Excellent!¡± Eyra clapped her hands. ¡°Shall we?¡± she turned to me again.

    ¡°If we can get my partner away from the critters, even though they''re just decorations,¡± I said with a wry grin, which she echoed.

    ¡°Well, as soon as you do, we''ll be on our way!¡±

    ***

    ¡°Looks like we have even more company, huh?¡± Anna Belle said to me when we returned to the ship; because we had one of the smallest crews, Eyra and her followers were going to be on our ship for the voyage.

    ¡°Looks like it,¡± I said with a nod as they went to go and settle in. ¡°Anna Belle? Why is it that only your ancestor managed to get a good map of the places north of us? Why did no one else before them do it, and why has no one else after them been successful in doing so?¡± I asked, sitting down on the deck as I posed the question to her. The little Ragamis blinked for a moment.

    ¡°What an interesting question!¡± she then declared. ¡°To be quite honest, no one in Harmonia seems to have ventured north before that expedition took place; it was during the reign of Queen Concordia the Third, you see, who was the instigator of the massive exploration era when my ancestor happened to be alive. Under her reign, not only the north seas but the southern and eastern ones were ventured into, and it''s said those expeditions and voyages discovered all sorts of interesting places!¡±

    ¡°Well that''s one part of the question answered,¡± I said as I listened. They have some interesting back-stories in this game; I wonder if Eyra and her guild know about these sorts of things, the history or myths of this world, that is.

    ¡°To be sure!¡± Anna Belle nodded to me. ¡°As to the second half of your question; my uncle probably didn''t make it very clear, but the expedition our ancestor was on took at least ten years. These charts we''ve given you are those ten years of accumulated data, accounting for every probable and known-to-have-been-observed variance in the Molten Currents and the patterns of the wind in the places we''ll be heading to. It''s been a couple of years since adventurers like yourselves started showing up, but even my ancestor, one of the most astute and observant of our people, needed over a decade to work out a route through these tricky seas.¡± she then told me.

    Gyeck!! Ten years?! I don''t even remember hearing about expeditions in our *own* world lasting quite that long... at least I think... there''s the Odyssey, I guess, but that''s a myth. As to the exploration voyages of the fifteenth century and so on, and even old stories of voyages before then and after the Odyssey, I can''t think of one lasting over a decade, I mused.

    ¡°It sounds like she was a very patient person,¡± I said aloud.

    ¡°Oh for certain,¡± Anna Belle nodded.

    ¡°And it sounds like there''s a very specific route that we should take through the Molten Currents then, huh?¡± I noted as Ariana sat with me.

    ¡°W-e-ll,¡± the Ragamis began, ¡°Now that generally depends on what time it is. And sometimes what day. The currents and winds are that tricky, even with the charts we have.¡±

    ¡°Right,¡± I said in reply. ¡°What might be the best time to get through? Or even the best place to do so?¡±

    ¡°Hmm! I''ll have to have another look at the charts to figure that out!¡± she replied to me.

    ¡°Let''s do that now,¡± I nodded, and we got back up to head into the cabin.

    ¡°Lana!¡± Lysandra called to me. ¡°I have to log out, kiddo; just got a notice from my phone that my boss wants me in for an emergency cover.¡±

    ¡°Gotcha,¡± I returned. ¡°We''ll be fine for a while; don''t worry!¡± I smiled.

    ¡°I know! Just wanted to warn you,¡± she smiled back. A few seconds later she had poofed, and we returned to examining the charts.

    Anna Belle had gone in ahead of us; she had taken out an almanac, examining it closely in tandem with the charts on the table. Her face was intent with thought as she looked from the charts to the almanac and back again several times over. Ariana and I exchanged a glance, and then my partner went to help.

    ¡°Looks like we''re in a bad time of the year for the best ones,¡± Ari remarked. ¡°But we could make this one here, couldn''t we?¡± she pointed.

    ¡°We might, if we''re careful not to run into the Weed Sea just below the Molten Currents there at a bad moment,¡± the Ragamis replied.

    ¡°I can just use my wind spell again if we get stuck. And I''m sure several other mages have something like it.¡± my partner asserted.

    ¡°That''s all well and good, I suppose, but we have to take special note of our entry into the current itself, mind you.¡±

    ¡°Ohh, right!¡± Ari snapped her fingers, re-examining the charts. ¡°We could just skirt the Weed Sea here and arrive a day later; that be in time for that variant, yes?¡± she said a moment later.

    ¡°Oooh, you''re good at this!¡± Anna Belle smiled. ¡°Yes! That can work!¡± she said with a nod.

    ¡°What''s the verdict?¡± I wondered.

    ¡°It''ll take two and a half days at best, but if we adjust our course to head for this point and enter the Molten Currents at the point beyond it,¡± Ariana said, indicating the places she referred to, ¡°We should end up... around here in another half-day or so.¡± she pointed again, this time to a spot northeast of the current''s stream.

    ¡°An all-nighter again, huh?¡± I said with a wry grin.

    ¡°We''ll do some rotating,¡± she said, returning the grin back to me.

    ¡°Let''s get the info out so we''re all on the same page,¡± I then said, and she nodded.

    ¡°On it!¡± my partner told me, bringing up the message function to alert the others in our small fleet.

    Right. I''m skipping a bit. So basically we left Covenhame just as we expected, and continued on our way north without malicious interference. I mean, there was the wind, but that''s nothing we couldn''t work around. We did some rotating after a few in-game hours to let us all see to our real lives, and by late evening in real-time (for ourselves at least) most of us were back online--except Lysandra, who wouldn''t be back on until one in the AM most likely. Lizzy had turned up, though, and she was eager to go.

    ¡°Ugh. I wish I could have seen that thing.¡± she sighed as we told her about the giant kraken the enemy had summoned right before our escape.

    ¡°Ehh...¡± I returned bemusedly.

    ¡°Figures,¡± Heali remarked with a lopsided smile.

    ¡°Whaaat?¡± Lizzy poked her friend.

    ¡°Nooothing.¡± the other girl quipped back.

    ¡°Boo.¡± the blonde girl sighed. ¡°Looks like I''ll have to have my own fun,¡± she then said.

    My danger radar went to condition red at once, and I slipped into the shadows just as she turned towards me. Lizzy blinked, and then frowned, squinting her eyes.

    ¡°La-na!¡± she called. ¡°I wasn''t particularly planning on doing anything to you, but now that you''ve done that, I have to -- when I find you, that is!¡± she said with a grin.

    Oh snap. I made a bad situation worse. Ugh. Where''s Cylodel already?! I frantically mused to myself. He had gone offline a while ago, and should have been back by now.

    ¡°She didn''t get ''ported somewhere, did she?¡± Lizzy wondered.

    ¡°Cy''s not back yet, so I doubt it,¡± Caylee shrugged.

    ¡°Hrrmmm...¡± our smith looked around, trying to decide where I was.

    When she had her back turned again, I quickly put my footwear back into inventory and softly padded around the deck in an arc away from her and towards the cabins.

    ¡°She''ll probably head for the cabins, if I know her...¡±

    Hyeck!?! I froze, thinking quickly.

    ¡°Although she''d be just as likely to go up the rigging to the crow''s nest... though we''d see that, huh...¡± the older girl continued musing aloud.

    ¡°Probably,¡± Heali sighed. ¡°I''d just leave her be.¡±

    ¡°No no, I have to find her now! It''ll be punishment for making assumptions!¡±

    ¡°Poor chick.¡± I heard Peaches remark. Then an idea popped into my head.

    Heh. Heh-heh-heh. You''ve underestimated me, I quietly smirked, creeping towards the mainmast. Using a toggle-skill called Nimble Rogue, I then climbed up the mast itself like a cat. This way I won''t disturb the rigging, I thought to myself cheekily.

    ¡°Hmm...¡± I heard Lizzy say. I dared a look below. She was still searching the deck. But now it looked like she was getting ready to set off a skill.

    Oh snap. Quickly, I wrapped my arms and legs around the mast tightly right as she used Thurian Stomp to try and bounce me out of the shadows. Fortunately, I was too high up to be affected directly, though the mast shuddered for a brief moment. I-if I hadn''t noticed her doing that I''d be sprawled on the deck right now, I said inwardly, clinging for dear life as I tried to calm down. Once I had done so, and once I had made sure she wasn''t going to do it again, I resumed scurrying up the mast.

    ¡°Come on! Where the heck did she go?! She couldn''t climb the mast, could she...?¡±

    ¡°It''s Lana, so nothing would surprise me.¡± I heard Derwydd say.

    ¡°But which mast? She''s heard you talking about going to the crow''s nest so she might not go there now!¡± Peaches remarked.

    ¡°Or she might be counting on a fake-out and she really did go up the mainmast.¡± Lizzy asserted in reply.

    Hahh...

    ¡°Ahead! Ahead! The Weed Sea ahead!¡± a voice called.

    ¡°Already!?¡± Ariana remarked in amazement.

    ¡°No, that''s not the Weed Sea,¡± I heard Anna Belle say. ¡°But it is a sea of weeds, and we''d best be careful!¡±

    ¡°Right!¡± my partner said. A few minutes later the call had been corrected, and we passed by this much smaller sea of sea-weeds without incident. By that time I had gotten to my perch safe and sound, and out of Lizzy''s sight and mind for the time being.

    ¡°Figures she was right,¡± a small voice remarked. Belle--Sky Belle, that is--had found me.

    ¡°Ah-heh,¡± I said, curling up against the mast.

    ¡°She''s more focused on something else at the moment, don''t worry.¡±

    ¡°Th-thanks.¡±

    ¡°Can''t say I blame you after what we did earlier,¡± she then said, softly giggling.

    ¡°E-exactly!¡± I said in as loud a voice as I dared.

    ¡°Tee-hee!¡± Belle said, sitting herself on my knee. ¡°So? How''s school and stuff?

    ¡°I guess things are okay.¡±

    ¡°That good, huh? And the musical?¡±

    ¡°Hmm? Oh, that''s going good, as far as I can tell; it''s gonna get more intense in the next couple of weeks though.¡±

    ¡°Oh I bet!¡± the pixie-girl nodded. ¡°And I''ll bet you''ve forgotten half your lines since being here!¡± she added with a sly grin.

    ¡°Have not,¡± I confidently asserted, and she quietly chuckled.

    ¡°Teasing!¡± she winked. ¡°We wouldn''t blame you for taking a few days off of gaming, though, when that time does come around.¡±

    ¡°I might have to,¡± I said with a small laugh.

    ¡°Oh goodie! She accepts it without persuasion!¡± the older girl nodded.

    ¡°Hrrmm,¡± I returned as my face made an uncertain expression.

    ¡°What''s that look for, La-na?¡± she patted my knee.

    ¡°Ehh. But anyway; how''s things in your world?¡± I then asked her.

    ¡°Pretty good!¡± she smiled. ¡°My parents met Chrissy and they love her. Neither of them saw it coming; of course, neither did I at first!¡± she said with a grin.

    ¡°Heh,¡± I said with a grin of my own.

    ¡°And uni''s been going smoother since winter break for sure.¡±

    ¡°Well that sounds good.¡±

    ¡°Oh defs.¡± she nodded back. ¡°Still too early for you to decide on that, huh?¡±

    ¡°Maybe.¡± I returned. ¡°I dunno; maybe it''s just... not my thing.¡±

    ¡°I wouldn''t say that just yet, hon.¡± Belle said with a cautionary tone. ¡°I didn''t think so either until I had a chat with my own counselor in high school. Before that I was just planning on being a waitress for a while, maybe doing some work for my aunt''s bus company; Doctor Gillam was the one who made me curious about exploring psychology and such,¡± she told me.

    ¡°Hmm...?¡± I said with interest. ¡°That reminds me, what happened to your posting at our school?¡±

    ¡°It''s after this spring, kiddo. You won''t see me at school until the fall.¡± she said with a smile.

    ¡°Oh right!¡± I said with a soft snap of my fingers.

    ¡°Now where the heck did Belle go?¡± we suddenly heard Lizzy say.

    ¡°I think she went flying up the mast a few minutes ago,¡± Anhe said to her.

    ¡°Hmm? She''s not back down yet?¡±

    ¡°Not that I saw.¡±

    ¡°Weird. She doesn''t usually linger up top for long on any ship... unless she has company with her...¡± Lizzy remarked.

    Uh-oh.

    ¡°Ahh... tee-hee!¡± Belle said, fluttering away to head down. ¡°Here I am! Just wanted a clear view for a while!¡± she called.

    ¡°Hmm? Oh! Hi, Belle! That clear view of yours didn''t happen to have a little red-haired girl in it by any chance?¡±

    Ah, snap.

    ¡°Are you still looking for Lana?¡±

    ¡°Eh. Not as urgently.¡±

    ¡°Oh Lizzy! I wanted to tell you something,¡± Belle then remarked, the conversation drifting out of my hearing after that. I sighed with relief, settling in again atop the mast.

    By the time Cylodel returned, we had reached the edge of the actual Weed Sea. He had gotten tied up with a call, it seemed, but it was now over and he was decidedly free again. I was still hiding atop the mast, gazing out over the horizon with interest.

    The Thundering Icewall was closer yet still far away; the shimmer of lightning and ice made a pretty scene in the distance, though I imagined it would be terrifying once you got close. Directly north of us I could see Arcana, and off to the right I saw smoke rising from the Vulcania Archipelago. From what I remembered, the route we were trying to take would lead us almost dead-center between them. And we''d have to go single-file.

    A horn sounded from one of the other ships; that was the signal to start getting in formation so we could go through. Even Hua Ling''s sea-dragon ally would have to follow us through on the same path through the current, while Dracuoatlax and Guntaru would be on a similar course above us.

    ¡°There''s nothing on them we won''t find in the Hitherlands,¡± Anna Belle asserted for the benefit of the others below. ¡°Arcana has a claim on it anyway; they use rocs to fly there in the spring and fall for mining operations.¡±

    ¡°Cool!¡± I heard Caylee exclaim.

    A few minutes later our ships were all lined up like ducks in a row and ready to enter the current. When Anna Belle judged that the right time had arrived, our own ship, which was in the lead, rang its bell, and we started off through the current with the other ships just behind us. As I cautiously peered below (so as not to draw aggro from Lizzy), I observed that the water of the Molten Current was a warmer sort of blue-green than the rest of the ocean. I wonder why it does that, I wondered with interest.

    ¡°They say it''s affected by some sort of super-volcano northwest of the Crags of Ordnon.¡± I heard Eyra say as someone echoed my question aloud.

    ¡°Oh wow,¡± Healina said. ¡°But wouldn''t that put it under the ocean?¡±

    ¡°That''s right,¡± Eyra replied. ¡°It''s not extinct, but it has been passive during the last few eras of Panarena history. And it apparently affects the ocean this way, hence the ''Molten Current'' moniker.¡±

    ¡°Cool,¡± Ariana remarked.

    ¡°Keep sharp!¡± Anna Belle said. ¡°We don''t want to drift off course!¡±

    ¡°Right!¡± I heard Cloveroak say.

    For the next three in-world hours, I watched idly as we made our way through. Every now and again I turned back to check on the other ships; all of them were following without fail. Not perfectly, mind you, but no one was getting majorly off-course.

    East of us, I could see smoke over the archipelago in the distance. One of its volcanoes was getting ready to do something, I supposed. I turned to my left, gazing westward; over Arcana, I could see giant birds flying around. Are those the rocs Anna Belle mentioned? I wondered to myself. There were also hints of glimmering spires around the island that I could just barely see.

    Then I saw a massive shape rising up out of the ocean. As its full bulk emerged from below the surface, I stood to my feet in amazement. It was a whale! It seemed much bigger than real whales, but that only made it a more incredible sight. I could hear exclamations of amazement below as others caught sight of it.

    That thing is even bigger than Shu?y?, and that sea-dragon is slightly bigger than Dracuoatlax, I thought to myself in amazement. Waaaiiit a se-cond... if it''s bigger than a dragon and it''s jumping out of the water, what happens when it comes splashing back down...? I then wondered, watching as it lazily fell back into the water with a large splash. A wave started coming towards us; it wasn''t huge, but there was a decent chance it could knock a few of us off our course. Then it began dissipating. We were further away from the creature than I had thought, and I sighed in relief.

    Then again, how much bigger does that actually make it? I bemusedly wondered a moment later.

    ¡°It''s rare to see one of those alone,¡± I heard Eyra remark. ¡°They usually travel in pods of up to twenty members at least.¡±

    ¡°That''d be cool to see!¡± Ariana remarked.

    ¡°Not so cool if they all make a splash at the same time,¡± I heard Enri, one of the mages Eyra had brought, reply to her. ¡°Then we really would get knocked off... course...¡± he trailed off.

    I myself was fixated on the sight of more whales that I could now see following after the first one. Stay below, would you? All of you? Please? I quietly pleaded.

    Whether they heard me or not, they did not breach the surface the way the first one had. A relieved sigh left my lips again. It looked like we would make it through this part of our voyage without any interference at all.

 Side Chapter: At Sea

    Melody surveyed the damage to the ship that Venomheart was occupying. They had managed to get away somehow after inadvertently enraging the Deep Blue Kings by poisoning the sea and killing their krakens, and now, a couple in-game days later, they were way out in the Northern Seas, beyond Paradise Island. Exactly how was I to know the dragon was an illusion-spell? Maybe I could have thought about it a bit longer, but that guild has done so many ridiculous things that I wasn''t going to take any chances at all of it being a fake! And now we have to try and renegotiate our position again... we still have their ship; does that make us pirates, now? Melody wondered with a wry grin.

    ¡°How long until we can really get going again?¡± she asked.

    ¡°Looks like a day,¡± Cobra shrugged. ¡°I saw Squidclaw''s ship going after the fleet; he''s probably gone and tried to use his ultimate on them.¡±

    ¡°Hmm.¡± Melody nodded.

    ¡°The NPC crew doesn''t care who''s in charge, as long as we have coin,¡± Jana reported.

    ¡°Good.¡±

    ¡°Mel, I--¡± Clara said, then softly clenched her hand, turning away.

    ¡°I told you to do it. It''s my responsibility.¡± Melody said softly. The other girl vaguely nodded in reply. ¡°Cobra, Merc; can we make this thing move faster with some sort of alchemy or device?¡±

    ¡°Maybe...¡± Merc said, rubbing the back of his neck. ¡°Pity that diving trick is only effective on ships with them on it.¡± he remarked.

    ¡°Never mind,¡± Melody said in answer to that. ¡°Just get us moving as soon as you can, and get us northbound.¡±If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    ¡°You''re gonna try and get through those currents without the charts?¡± Cobra wondered.

    ¡°Something like that,¡± Melody nodded. ¡°Or, wait... Rackham might still be amenable to helping us... Cyan,¡± she turned to the necromancer, who nodded at once and headed into the cabin with his leader.

    ¡°Think she''ll talk him into it?¡± Cobra wondered.

    ¡°Rackham respects people who are clever.¡± Jana said with a shrug. ¡°Mel was nothing if not clever in getting us away from those pirates after we inadvertently killed off their overgrown squids. And Rackham won''t likely be favorable to Squidclaw; I''d bet anything Lana''s fleet got away.¡±

    ¡°''Lana''s fleet''... hah.¡± Merc said, spitting over the side of the ship as he muttered some unsavory words about the girl in question.

    ¡°Merc, get your head out of your arse,¡± Clara said as she walked over, firmly kicking him in the seat of his pants.

    ¡°What the--?! Hey!¡± the alchemist spluttered as he was knocked off balance.

    ¡°Clara''s right.¡± Jana said in support. ¡°That was really disgusting, even for you.¡± she continued as Merc got to his feet, scowling.

    ¡°Yeah, whatever. Let''s lose to them a few more times, see how you feel about it then.¡± he quipped back as he went back to work on one of his devices.

    ¡°We''ll get one over on them, at least one, before this competition''s over.¡± Cobra said with a wide grin.

    ¡°Of course we will.¡± Melody said as she and Cyan reappeared.

    ¡°How''d it go?¡± Jana asked her.

    ¡°He''s on our side with this one. Their fleet will be ready to join us soon; apparently they found what they were looking for,¡± Melody said with a darkly triumphant smile.

    ¡°Hoo-hoo-hoo-hooooo! Then it''s time to play Revenge Match!!¡± Venomy crowed as he landed on the deck with a cackle.

    ¡°Yes, yes it is,¡± Melody said, a gleam in her eyes as she and the others began helping the NPC crew repair the ship.

 Chapter Thirty-five: Hither and Yon

    The rest of the day came and went. We had no interruptions to our voyage either from weather or from players; lookouts were keeping a sharp eye out for the latter in particular, even though we judged that we were basically ahead of potential rivals by days at this point. Sunday, also, came and went; we had our rotations as we needed them for our real lives, and Rachel and I took a two-hour break (including dinner) to go over our lines for the musical and to ensure that we had gotten all of our homework in order.

    When we got back into the game after this, our fleet had just gotten to the Moon Currents which were further north and which came down from the northeast along the Thundering Icewall. We were closer to this now, and as soon as I caught sight of it upon logging in I hoped that we would get further away from it sooner rather than later.

    ¡°And there''s islands behind that thing? How do you sail to them through that?¡± I heard Peaches remark; looking over at the hauflin guild-leader, I saw a decidedly bemused look on her face as she observed the ceaseless storm.

    ¡°Ah-heh-heh-heh,¡± I returned nervously as I looked away from the storm. ¡°Luckily those islands aren''t specific to our quest, insofar as I heard, so we don''t need to bother for now.¡±

    ¡°Oh, there''s supposedly clues to get to the Shiverangs on Ewar. My uncle was interested in a certain rumor about a special kind of wood on those islands, you see--a story of a story of a story, as it were--and he made particular note of the hints our ancestor had found regarding the passage through the Thundering Icewall.¡± Anna Belle told me then.

    ¡°Eh?! But, frost-giants, sorceries!¡± I replied at once.

    ¡°Rumors! Though doubtless not without a source of some kind; perhaps these potential clues are wards or such to get through the storms!¡± the Ragamis smiled.

    ¡°Ah--! Anyway; we''ll deal with that when we can. For now, let''s get to the Hitherlands specifically.¡± I said.

    ¡°Of course! Time enough to try our luck with that, later.¡± the other returned, and I nodded back in definite agreement. I then got a notification; Wildeye wanted to make contact.

    ¡°You got that too, chick?¡± Peaches said to me.

    ¡°Yep,¡± I nodded. ¡°Let''s go in the cabin,¡± I said, and the two of us, along with Snow Dancer, Ariana, and Eyra, headed inside.

    A few moments later we had established a conference call via magic, and Wildeye looked at us with grave concern. This isn''t good, whatever it is, I thought to myself at once. Ariana took my hand, gently squeezing it.

    ¡°Bad news, gang; I don''t know what kind of trouble you may or may not have had with the pirates so far, but one of their members just posted triumphantly on the forums that they have indeed found the quest from the Silvestri to head up to the Hitherlands.¡± Wildeye told us.

    ¡°Oh lovely.¡± Angelfire sighed. ¡°Well they''re pretty far behind at this rate, despite all of their interference. We''re in the Moon Currents now, and we should be a day or two out from the Hitherlands.¡±

    ¡°Agreed.¡± Jannie said.

    ¡°I''m sure the Pirate Alliance will be making double and triple time as soon as they get organized, which most likely won''t be very long from now; and they have the advantage of Paradise Island.¡± he said to us, and I quietly frowned at the reminder.

    ¡°Which is further east than Covenhame.¡± I noted aloud. ¡°If they''re really gonna try and catch up, they''d likely go northeast, away from that and the Outer Isles, and then they''d be able to come up behind us; not that they know we''d be in front of them, but it''d be convenient. I doubt even they would go towards the Thundering Icewall.¡±

    ¡°All good points.¡± Mad Dog remarked. ¡°How big a fleet are they planning to send? Or do you know?¡± he said to Wildeye.

    ¡°The boasters on the forums have put up screenshots of a literal armada; and I''ve heard that Admiral Squidclaw is quite eager to get underway.¡± the other replied.

    Heh. No surprise there, I thought with a wry grin.

    ¡°What about Venomheart? They were with the pirates for a while, helping to chase us.¡± Jannie then asked.

    ¡°There was some sort of scuffle I think,¡± Wildeye said, ¡°But it looks as if they got clean away from it. Where they are now is anyone''s guess.¡±

    Tch.

    ¡°That figures,¡± Jannie said with a soft smile. ¡°In any case, Angelfire''s right; we should be at our destination in two days at most, and then we''ll begin establishing our claims.¡±

    ¡°In regards to that; the Wildlands are being neatly carved up again tonight. Our alliance and Guardians of the Eternal Citadel are the two dominant powers here; though we might begin conceding some territory in light of this expedition, once you get the wayports established.¡± he told us.

    ¡°We can''t abandon the Wildlands after all the effort we put in to holding our forts there!¡± Barbarianne said at once.

    ¡°Agree.¡± Valkrysti nodded.

    ¡°I said ''might'', and only if our gains up north supersede what we gain from them now in the long run,¡± he amended with a faint grin.

    ¡°Still a hard ''no'' on our end, pal.¡± I said with a shrug.

    ¡°I understand,¡± he said with a laugh. ¡°It''s something to consider, though.¡±

    ¡°Right,¡± Jannie said with a nod. ¡°So basically we have a horde of pirates coming up after us. And our smaller expedition needs to establish a strong enough foothold so that we can get reinforcements up here.¡±

    ¡°We have our three dragons; we can hold out.¡± Hua Ling said confidently.

    ¡°Agreed.¡± Mad Dog nodded.

    ¡°Whatever we do, we need to get it done swiftly. I want our younger people to be thinking about school in a few hours and not Panarena.¡± Jannie said adamantly, Winnie nodding beside her.

    ¡°Good luck with that,¡± I said under my breath, and Ari softly giggled.

    ¡°Ahh... yes, dear.¡± Wildeye returned at once. He looked over at someone we could not see on the other end for a moment, then turned back to us. ¡°I have to go. Get to the Hitherlands quickly. As soon as you establish a wayport we can begin sending reinforcements.¡±

    ¡°Will do!¡± Jannie said, and he vanished from the meeting. ¡°All right! Angelfire, your ship is going to stay with five others, preferable the galleons and three caravels, on the eastern side. The rest of the fleet will circle around the other islands and stake claims on them while you and the others mark out claims on the eastern islands.¡±

    ¡°Right,¡± Angelfire nodded back.

    ¡°Send the cog and one of the junks to Iprin,¡± I then suggested.

    ¡°Good idea.¡± Jannie replied.

    ¡°I will escort it there.¡± Hua Ling said.

    ¡°Where will we set up the telepad?¡± Peaches then asked.

    ¡°Probably on Ewar, in the southeastern corner,¡± Jannie answered her.

    ¡°That works for me,¡± I agreed.

    ¡°I agree. It will be a front-line for our defense there,¡± Hua Ling nodded.

    ¡°We have another,¡± Mad Dog then said. ¡°I will set it up on Sirna Tai, in the northeast.¡±

    ¡°Good.¡± Jannie said with a nod. ¡°Let''s get through these waters and start establishing our bases in the Hitherlands! Meeting adjourned!¡± she then said, and with that the conference ended.

    ¡°Let''s get to work so we can get our little ones off for the night,¡± Snow Dancer then said with a smirk.

    ¡°Hm, hm,¡± Peaches nodded in agreement. ¡°Got to get them thinking about school in the morning, after all.

    ¡°Oy...¡± I groaned as they headed out of the cabin.

    ¡°We can''t stay in Panarena forever.¡± Ariana said with a small grin.

    ¡°If only.¡± I sighed.

    ¡°Would you stay forever like this?¡± she then asked me.

    ¡°Hmm...¡± I mused, and then shrugged my shoulders. ¡°I''m not really sure,¡± I told her honestly.

    ¡°Well, luckily, we''ll never have to find out!¡± she grinned, and, taking my hand, she led me back out on deck.

    ***

    It was difficult to get out of the Moon Currents once we had gotten into them. They were stronger than the Molten Currents, and the wind was against us no matter how we tried to angle the sails, finally settling on having them positioned so that the wind blew parallel along their length and width. Someone suggested trying to a few mages and their wind-spells to get us out, but Ariana remarked that it would have caused more issues with the winds in this region, so we scrapped that plan. So with patience and persistence, we made our way across those currents and then made note of our position.

    ¡°Nearly perfect,¡± Eyra remarked as we observed the map and charts. ¡°Looks like we''ll be heading north by northeast for the rest of the voyage.¡±

    ¡°Right,¡± I nodded in agreement. ¡°And then when we get close to landfall we''ll begin splitting up.¡±

    ¡°Hopefully we get ourselves dug-in well enough so that we can fend off the pirates.¡± Peaches said as she contemplated the maps.

    ¡°We''ll have Cylodel take the wayport groups to land first so those can be established; that should allow us to get reinforcements, at least.¡± I returned.

    ¡°Your friend Wildeye seemed in a rush when he let our conference; I wonder what''s going on down south...?¡± Eyra then wondered.

    ¡°Hmm...¡± I sighed, starting to wonder that myself.

    ¡°Well--¡± Peaches began, but then we were interrupted by the ship''s bell ringing. The three of us exited the cabin, our discussion now on hold, as we made our way to the deck.

    ¡°What''s the alarm?¡± I called.

    ¡°We''re gearing up for a possible attack,¡± Ariana informed me. ¡°Look at that!¡± she pointed out towards the east.

    There was a ship there, being pulled along at a great speed by a large sea creature. Was it a leviathan or sea-serpent of some kind? I had little time to think about that; for Ari handed me the spyglass, and all speculation about the creature went poof instantly. The pennant on the mast was Venomheart''s banner.

    Gyeck?! Wait!! They''re alone...

    ¡°They''re alone... and I doubt they got those sea-creatures without cooperation from a guild more in touch with the sea than themselves...¡± I remarked.

    ¡°Hornigold''s Revenge or Deep Blue Kings have tamers.¡± Eyra said to me.

    ¡°I guess their alliance is patched up.¡± I said with a sour look. ¡°They''re probably doing the ''spotter'' thing again.¡±

    ¡°Agree,¡± Ariana nodded. ¡°And at that pace, they might get to the Hitherlands first.¡±

    ¡°Hyeck?!¡± I tensed up as a jolt of realization struck me. ¡°Where''s our dragons?¡±

    ¡°Dracky and Guntaru took to the water with Shu?y?; they''re over there now,¡± my partner pointed them out to me.

    ¡°Send a message to Qi Lin, tell him to pick up Mad Dog and his telepad with Guntaru!¡± I said to Anhe who nodded at once.

    ¡°Okay!¡± she replied.

    ¡°What about Dracky?¡± Ariana asked as I whistled for him.

    ¡°We''re gonna take Jannie to Ewar like she planned--send her a note, too!¡±

    ¡°Right!¡± she nodded to me.

    ¡°Qi Lin says of course he will help!¡± Anhe reported.

    ¡°Tell him thanks!¡± I said as Ari and I scrambled up the mast, the younger girl smiling back as we hurried. Dracuoatlax was waiting for us when we got there, and we hopped on to his back.

    ¡°You noticed them as well, masters?¡± he said to us.

    ¡°Yep; we''ve got to get Jannie from her ship, along with the wayport she has, and then fly straight to Ewar!¡± I told him as he glided towards the ship in question.

    ¡°Are we abandoning the fleet, my Lady?¡± he asked me.

    ¡°Not exactly; Shu?y? will be here to help in case Venomheart tries anything, and a lot of good fighters are still here,¡± I replied, seeing Guntaru flap off with his passengers. Jannie and Tabitha were ready and waiting, and they hopped aboard as well.

    Dracuoatlax being who he was, he could not simply leave without sending a fireball in the direction of Venomheart for spite. We had the satisfaction of seeing it strike one of their masts, and with that the great dragon of the Torching Mount soared off to catch Guntaru.

    ¡°I am decently rested despite my struggles under the waves; we shall make good time, masters!¡± the dragon told us.

    ¡°Ho-ly!¡± Tabitha exclaimed from behind. We looked back; the sea-monster towing our enemy''s ship had sprayed the vessel with water.

    ¡°Tch!¡±

    ¡°Figures!¡± Ari and I sighed.

    ¡°That thing is moving faster now. We made ourselves a target.¡± Jannie said.

    ¡°Better us than our fleet,¡± I remarked.

    ¡°True!¡±

    ¡°Hold fast!¡± Dracuoatlax told us, and we did so as he went higher up into the air, seeking a faster wind.

    ¡°Dragon Express!¡± Tabitha quipped; I half-worried our dragon friend might make a snippy comment about the jibe, but he looked back with a fierce grin instead.

    ¡°There are indeed none who can compare to me in flight!¡± he declared as he set his face forward again. We found a strong wind moments later, and Dracuoatlax settled into its current as he beat his wings to gain still more speed.This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

    ¡°Have you ventured this way before?¡± I wondered.

    ¡°No dragon has come this way since the dawn of time,¡± he replied. ¡°But now three of us venture forth to the utmost north of the world; Lady Lana! Below! Our enemy is as fast upon the water as we are in the air!¡± he then warned.

    ¡°We''ll make it; I trust you!¡± I replied, placing a gentle hand on his neck.

    ¡°I know that well, master, and it honors me!¡± the reply came. I almost felt as if we picked up another burst of speed shortly after that.

    Just as I had at least half-hoped, Venomheart came after us and left the main fleet alone. No doubt Hua Ling and Johann had adjusted the course slightly so as to avoid drawing interest from them. Which was fine. Anyhow. It was a long flight across the open sea, with the monster-pulled galleon chasing us and keeping pace the whole way. We overtook Guntaru and the others when we were halfway there, waving merrily or cheekily to the others as we passed by them. Qi Lin laughed, and Mad Dog gave out a grin, shaking his head. Then we heard the sound of a--

    ¡°Was that a rocket I just heard?!¡± Tabitha said as we looked back.

    ¡°Oh snap, it is!¡± I said. ¡°Ari!¡±

    ¡°On it!¡± she said, knocking it away with a wind-spell. It blew up a fair distance away from us, releasing a poisonous mist.

    ¡°Of course!¡± Jannie sighed.

    ¡°Lana!¡± Qi Lin called over.

    ¡°Hurry to Sirna Tai!¡± I called back to him. ¡°They have poison-rockets!¡±

    ¡°With the dragon poison?¡±

    ¡°Exactly!¡±

    ¡°This is not good! Guntaru!¡± the other guild leader said, and Guntaru turned towards the east.

    ¡°We should do the same,¡± Jannie said.

    ¡°No! If Guntaru is actually slower, that would end up hurting them!¡± I said at once.

    ¡°Correct, Lady Lana. Guntaru, for all his bravado, is slow a-wing than I,¡± Dracuoatlax said. ¡°We will keep their attention, then!¡±

    ¡°You got it, pal!¡± I said, drawing out my bow and loosing a couple arrows towards the ship chasing after us.

    ¡°Another rocket!¡± Tabitha said.

    ¡°On it!¡± Ariana said, striking this one down with a fireball. ¡°Lana, fire at the launcher; I''ll help you!¡±

    ¡°Right!¡± I nodded back, taking aim and firing the arrow towards where I had seen the initial burst; Ariana sent a flurry of flame-darts after it, and a few moments later we saw an explosion on the ship. But we also saw another rocket coming at us.

    ¡°More than one launcher, I guess...¡± Tabitha sighed.

    ¡°Wonder if those are the alchemist''s doing...¡± I wondered.

    ¡°Think you can hit him?¡±Ari asked me.

    ¡°Not without your help,¡± I told her, and she smiled.

    ¡°Let''s try it, partner!¡± she said as I took aim again; she enhanced my vision with one of her spells, adding some enchantments to my arrow as I queued up Dragon Breaker.

    ¡°He''ll be the easiest one to spot,¡± Jannie told me. ¡°Remember: flamboyant colors, lots of steampunk gadgets on his person, golden hair,¡± she recounted.

    ¡°Right,¡± I said, scanning the ship for him.

    ¡°This''d be impossible in real life. We''re about three-hundred meters away and that''s a bow.¡± Tabitha couldn''t help but remark, and Jannie giggled.

    ¡°Well, since it''s not real life...!¡± I smiled as I caught sight of Merc Mandrake, the alchemist for Venomheart. ¡°Got you!¡± I said, loosing the arrow. Right as it neared him he looked towards it with a sudden shock, and then he was gone with a poof. The rest of his guild, and their NPC hirelings, began scrambling to get their defenses up.

    ¡°All right! That should disorient them long enough!¡± Jannie said.

    ¡°A favorable wind!¡± Dracuoatlax announced, heading upwards again. We began heading for our destination at a swift pace; I noted that Guntaru and his passengers were now heading north, and were slightly ahead of us.

    ¡°I see them!¡± Ariana said.

    ¡°The Hitherlands; they are yet at a distance from us though!¡± the dragon remarked. ¡°Another two hours of flight at best!¡±

    ¡°Venomheart might turn back to the fleet...¡± Jannie softly remarked.

    ¡°Tch...¡± I said grumpily, looking back towards them. I patted Ariana on the shoulder.

    ¡°Hm?¡± she looked over at me.

    ¡°Handle the rest!¡± I said, running along the length of Dracuoatlax''s back.

    ¡°Lana? Lana!!¡± Ariana shouted as she realized what I was about to do.

    Angling myself, I used Shadow Speed, and then raced the rest of my way off of the dragon and into mid-air, gliding down towards the enemy ship -- I hoped. It was probably one of the dumber decisions I had made in the game, but who''s counting? As I neared the ship, I saw Clara getting one of her spells ready. I managed to get an arrow off somehow, interrupting her chanting; a second one knocked her back, and the third finished her. This time, anyway. Then I quickly put the bow away and grabbed onto the rigging, sliding down the rest of the way and entering the shadows to take down the necromancer.

    ¡°Get away from her!¡± Melody said after I had taken him out. ¡°All of you! She''s mine!¡±

    ¡°But--!!¡± Jana complained, only to be cut off by Melody''s sword being pointed at her.

    ¡°Jana! Let her deal with it!¡± Cobra told her.

    ¡°R-right,¡± the archer said, backing away from the scene as Melody advanced.

    ¡°We''ll still get there, even if you kill us. And we''ll still bring the pirate armada to the Hitherlands; the crew already have orders to activate the beacon once we reach our destination, no matter what.¡± she told me confidently.

    ¡°Well thanks for that tidbit,¡± I said with a shrug, throwing down a cluster of lotus and smoke-bombs as I vanished into the shadows again, deciding to take down some of the NPCs.

    ¡°Dammit, Melody--¡± Cobra shouted in anger.

    I had taken down two of them and was about to take down a third from the shadows, when Melody herself interrupted me with a fierce strike that silenced even Cobra.

    ¡°Just like I thought.¡± she grinned.

    She predicted me!?

    ¡°You''re predictable, to a certain extent, Lana. I thought someone with your reputation would be more wary of falling for lines like that, despite your usually unpredictable nature.¡± my opponent remarked as she began unleashing her arsenal of strikes at me again, now that I was out in the open.

    It felt almost the same as our rehearsals, but unlike those, this was definitely a more intense, no-holds-barred sort of duel. I felt almost compelled to use the basic routines I had been learning for the stage-fight, but I managed to keep from doing so, relying on my actual style instead. She frowned as we fought back and forth across the deck, the ship moving forward all the while. Merc, Clara, and Cyan spawned back a few moments after we had begun, the three of them warned by their comrades to let us fight it out ourselves.

    After being pushed back by a series of her lightning-fast thrusts and slashes, I decided to slip into the shadows again with a flurry of lotus-bombs. Melody coughed, but did not stagger. I decided to take her down using the combo-skill. But as soon as I was in position to deal the blow she reversed the grip on her sword and stabbed backwards, nearly striking me. I rolled out of the way, still in stealth, but it was enough for Melody to figure out where I was. Again she came after me with powerful strikes, forcing me to the visible world again to continue our duel.

    ¡°Shame! Now stay in the light and fight me properly!¡± she taunted.

    ¡°As if!¡± I quipped back as I parried her blows, blocking them as best as I knew how. Her eyes widened with surprise as this exchange occurred, and she gave me a keen glance.

    ¡°I didn''t know you were a fencer, Rachel,¡± she said with a teasing smile. I made no reply. ¡°Not talking? Well, then, let''s have our swords do the talking for us!¡±

    ¡°Kinda busy!¡± I said as she swung again, while I vanished once more. I scurried off to take down more of the NPC crew, getting four this time before she caught me again.

    This time, she drove me to the prow of the ship, right to the edge of the jibboom. I looked towards the northeast; the dragons were still visible, and the land loomed ahead mysteriously. Melody glanced over as well.

    ¡°So they''ll make it first; fine. But we''ll drive them off once we''re in position. And you, you get to die--for the first time, I hear,¡± she turned back to me with an eager grin.

    ¡°Not so fast,¡± I said, yet again vanishing so that I could jump past her and scrabble up the side of the ship to a less disadvantageous position. She leaped back onto the deck at once, her glance furious.

    ¡°Are you done playing cat and mouse, Mel-mel?¡± I heard Clara say.

    ¡°I said to stay out of it, and I meant that!¡± the other girl thundered back.

    Dracuoatlax said two hours. That means at least an hour and forty minutes left, I think. What do I do? Ugh, I really didn''t think this one through. Here I am on an enemy ship; Melody''s predicting me uncannily for once. I''ve got to do something that she won''t... hmm! I thought to myself, an interesting idea suddenly striking me.

    I leaped up onto the rigging, throwing down all the smoke and lotus bombs I had left, and then scurried up while my enemies were dealing with these. This time, I made my way to the front of the ship of my own accord, hurriedly cutting the lines that kept the sea-beast harnessed to it. When I had finished with the last line, I grabbed hold of it as it slipped into the water, and was tugged along at a speedy clip by the beast still in motion. Behind me, I saw Melody at the prow, her face dark with anger. I pulled myself up onto the beast as it swam away from the ship, getting into position so that I could ¡°steer¡± it towards the islands.

    Why didn''t I just do this in the first place...? I then wondered to myself with a bemused expression. It certainly would have been a lot simpler, I chided myself, and then chuckled as I heard shouts and exclamations of outrage behind me. Cheekily, I looked back and blew a kiss. A second later another thought struck me.

    What the heck did I just do?!?

    Even without the beast pulling them, Venomheart''s galleon was making decent time. It made me wonder how I had gotten away from them so nicely. Yet the others had definitely gotten there ahead of us. I could see Qi Lin and his party landing, and I saw Dracuoatlax and the others making their descent. Deciding to stay upon the beast (it seemed like a leviathan, more or less. I''ll just go with that), I headed it into the area between the islands, and then came about, pulling back on the make-shift reins I had fashioned to halt it. Venomheart''s ship was still a ways out, but I guess they decided they were close enough.

    As before, a few moments after the enemy galleon had stopped moving, an entire armada began rising up out of the waves. There were at least sixty ships. I saw The Black Brine and Rackham''s own ship, Dread Queen, at their head. As soon as they had appeared, I heard the sound of a major spell''s completion. Second later the Mother Kraken began emerging from the sea. I felt a chill go down my spine.

    Sorry, Mel, looks like you don''t get to kill me after all, I inwardly quipped to the distant swordswoman.

    ¡°Lana!¡± Dracuoatlax called out to me from my left. But a flash of light to my right was what caught my eye at that moment. Mad Dog''s wayport had been established. People were coming through. Wait, no--just one person?

    ¡°Huh?!¡± I said aloud as I recognized the person in question. ¡°F¨¨nghu¨¢ng?!¡±

    The guild-master of Guardians of the Eternal Citadel waved her staff around in an arc as she hastily chanted. That''s for the--!! I recalled with a flash of memory the last time I had seen her use this skill, against us; it was the phoenix summoning. The Mother Kraken began advancing, as did the pirate armada. I saw Qi Lin and the others form a protective circle around F¨¨nghu¨¢ng as she continued chanting.

    ¡°Go!!¡± I flicked the reins of the leviathan, spurring it forward.

    It lurched forth with a bellow towards the other titan of the sea, its black eyes glaring at me with hatred. I set an arrow to string, queuing up Dragon Breaker yet again. I wondered if it would be effective against a beast like this. At that moment I heard the sound of a bell and a piercing shriek; the phoenix had appeared. The majestic, flaming bird gazed down coldly upon the pirate armada as once it had gazed at us. It began unleashing flames upon them, and with that the two dragons also began attacking.

    ¡°Lady Lana! You have something that belongs to me!¡± Admiral Squidclaw called from his ship with a speaking trumpet, ¡°And now I will have it back!¡±

    Uh-oh, I gulped.

    A second later, the leviathan bucked and reared, throwing me off into the air. Quick as lightning, Dracuoatlax caught me on his back.

    ¡°Trust not another beast so quickly next time, master, lest it be Fyu!¡± he quipped to me.

    ¡°You betcha!¡± I agreed.

    ¡°Still, this is a mighty obstacle indeed!¡± the dragon noted as we flew upwards, taking note of the armada. There was nothing smaller than a galleon in it, all of them packing a full complement of weaponry and pirates, whether NPCs or players.

    ¡°You''re telling me; can the three of you even beat all of this?¡± I wondered.

    ¡°With the phoenix on our side, as it seems, we stand a better chance; and it cannot be poisoned, either!¡±

    ¡°Which would make it the best candidate to attack Venomheart!¡±

    ¡°I should hope it does so, master,¡± the dragon replied. ¡°But first!¡± he added, diving back towards the leviathan.

    He doused it with fire, then raked it with his foreclaws. The creature howled angrily, trying to strike back, but Dracuoatlax managed to get a grip on it with his taloned back-feet, hoisting it out of the water and rising up into the air over the armada to finally drop the beast onto one of the enemy ships. In seconds the ship was down, and the leviathan too injured to keep assisting its masters. Several other ships were ablaze; the phoenix had indeed gone after the galleon Venomheart was on, and now it was practically a funeral-pyre at sea.

    ¡°Rackham!¡± I heard Squidclaw shout. ¡°They''re getting reinforcements! This won''t be worth it in a few minutes!¡±

    ¡°Master Rackham, Master Rackham!¡± a reedy voice said. I saw a cat-like creature prancing towards the man in question. ¡°My lord''s ancestor also spoke of fabled lands further to the north when he made his own voyage; let these have their claim, and let us claim better glory by being the the first to reach the utmost north of the world!¡±

    ¡°Won''t our quest fail, then?¡± I heard Rackham wonder.

    ¡°Not at all, Master Rackham!¡± the diminutive creature assured him. ¡°Our objective is to establish operations in the north; it never specifically said the Hitherlands, did it?¡± the cat-creature remarked slyly.

    ¡°What say you, Admiral?¡± Rackham called to the other ship.

    ¡°I say it''s better than fighting them and trying to get them off these islands!¡± Squidclaw returned at once. ¡°Unless the kraken gets that summoner there!¡±

    ¡°I agree -- signal the fleet! And have our contacts give our spotters the agreed fee and some compensation for their deaths!¡± Rackham ordered.

    ¡°But not before we take down this little bird!¡± Squidclaw pointed up at us.

    ¡°Bird?¡± Rackham scratched his head.

    ¡°Not the dragon, you dunce! Look who''s on it!¡± the other retorted.

    ¡°Ah-ha!¡± his leader grinned merrily. ¡°Why, yes, let''s take down Lady Windstrider before we go, give them something to think about for next time we come across each other!¡±

    ¡°Dracuoatlax; you think that monster''s a world-boss?¡± I hastily whispered, motioning to the Mother Kraken which was still hanging around. It was still heading for Sirna Tai to try and take out F¨¨nghu¨¢ng so the phoenix would disappear. Which would only encourage the pirates to stay.

    ¡°I do not know what you plan to do, Lady Lana, but I will take you towards it.¡± the dragon said obligingly, guessing correctly that I wanted to try and attack it.

    Before I could, however, Ariana had gotten ahead of me. I heard a second bell-sound; this one marked the activation of her doomsday skill, Abyssal Portal. It opened right under the Mother Kraken, sucking it in, along with a ship that had been alongside it for support. A few moments later the ship and the beast were gone, and the pirate armada, or at least the part of it that wasn''t burning or sunk, began retreating from the Hitherlands.

    I totally forgot you could do that, I blinked in surprise as we landed on Sirna Tai where she now was, courtesy of the wayports we had placed. As soon as I was on the ground she marched over and put her arms around me tightly. I couldn''t even hug her back.

    ¡°We''re taking the rest of this week off. You owe me for those scares.¡± she said adamantly.

    ¡°Ah--!! Sure, Ari, we''ll do that,¡± I agreed, and she let go, smiling at me.

    ¡°You''re crazy.¡±

    ¡°Heh.¡±

    ¡°Ahem!¡± Mad Dog said, and we turned to face the others who had gathered on Sirna Tai as well, along with F¨¨nghu¨¢ng.

    ¡°Right, so... you''re here; what''s going on down south?¡± I asked her.

    ¡°We have agreed to a non-aggression pact; part of which includes my guild staking a claim on at least five regions on these islands.¡± F¨¨nghu¨¢ng announced to me with a slight grin.

    ¡°And part of which includes cracking down on the pirates, when we encounter them.¡± I intuited, and she nodded.

    ¡°I think we did much to discourage them today,¡± she remarked, and we all turned towards the retreating armada. Guntaru had blasted a few more just for his own amusement, leaving only two-thirds of their fleet even mostly intact. The phoenix did the same, and then vanished into the nether for the time being, its job complete.

    ¡°Let''s get the others here and start surveying; then we''ll start negotiating claims,¡± Jannie then said.

    ¡°Agreed.¡± F¨¨nghu¨¢ng nodded.

    ¡°Agreed.¡± I said with my own nod.

    After the others had arrived, I delegated our role in the upcoming negotiations to Maryn and Healina, who looked surprised but accepted the task upon Ari''s explanation.

    ¡°Leave it to us!¡± our healer beamed.

    ¡°And don''t worry; Anna Belle says she respects us enough to work with us, too, so we won''t get abandoned for your not being here!¡± Maryn added.

    ¡°Oops, didn''t think about that part!¡± Ari blushed. ¡°Oh well! It''s fine, then!¡±

    ¡°Hahh...¡± I sighed, partly in relief and partly in exasperation. That would have been a fine ending to the quest, if Anna Belle had left us because Ari and I weren''t online for a while.

    Speaking of the quest, it updated to the next stage as soon as our Ragamis friend got to shore a few moments later.

    Hitherlands Expedition, Chapter One, Part Two: Staking a Claim; establish a base of operations on one or more of the islands.

    ¡°Welp, the others will handle that part,¡± I said as I read it.

    ¡°Yay! We made it!¡± Anna Belle cheered as she came over to us.

    ¡°We''ll be away for a while, but we''ll definitely be back to help you explore,¡± I said to her then.

    ¡°Of course! I understand! And don''t worry; as long as your friends are around, I''ll be glad to help the expedition in any way I can!¡± she told us with a bright smile.

    ¡°Thanks, Anna,¡± I smiled back.

    ¡°Just be sure you come back in one piece!¡±

    ¡°I-I''ll try,¡± I returned, my grin dissolving into a wry one.

    ¡°La-na! Come on,¡± Ariana beckoned, and we headed back to our cabin on the ship to take a well-deserved sleep until morning.

    It took a while for me to fall asleep; I was still pondering the events of the voyage. The only thing that really struck me was the thought of lands further north of us; were there? This was far enough out already, as far as I was concerned.

    And that pirate armada might really have had us if not for the phoenix, especially with Venomheart hanging around... tch, Melody''s gonna be even more antsy at school this week, or at least tomorrow, I sighed, finally slipping into the world of dreams a moment later.

 Chapter Thirty-six: An Actors Life For Me/A Tuesday Morning

    I woke up a few minutes before seven when Monday morning came along. Slowly, I recalled my little promise with Ari-Rachel to not get on Panarena for a week. My face slightly twitched. A whole week, huh? I thought to myself with a sigh as I got up. Maybe it won''t be so bad... I guess we do need to focus a bit more--ehh, a lot more--on real life for now... it''s only a couple weeks until the musical happens, after all, I mused. That would definitely be asking me for my attention moreso than anything that could happen in the game.

    ¡°Well... let''s do this!¡± I said with determination, and got myself ready to head for school.

    ***

    As I stepped off the bus later that morning, Ty, instead of flicking me, gave me a friendly punch to the shoulder as we walked into school. I looked over with a brief surprise, but he only grinned back.

    ¡°We''ve got those Hitherlands carved up pretty well, Dans; I kinda expected there to be some sort of civilization there, but we ain''t seen any so far.¡± he told me.

    ¡°Hmm? You mean it''s completely wild?¡± I wondered.

    ¡°That''s what Jans thinks; she''s gonna scout it out with a few people later to make sure. Hrrnn, still can''t believe those pirates decided to get lost after all that...¡± he remarked, and I let out a bemused smile in agreement.

    ¡°I can''t believe it either. It won''t surprise me if they turn back up just to make trouble, or if that cat''s information doesn''t pan out...¡± I said.

    ¡°Cat?¡± he gave me a look. ¡°Ohh, yeah, that Sylvester-critter or whatever it was,¡± he then nodded back.

    ¡°More or less,¡± I grinned, wondering how the Silvestri would react to that name.

    ¡°And you got pulled out of the whole thing for a week! Well, that''ll give the rest of us some time to catch up and get some wild tricks before you do!¡± he then said with a cheesy grin, giving me a clap on the back as he headed off to his locker with a wave.

    ¡°Yeah, yeah,¡± I returned with a shake of my head, still smiling when I reached my locker. Rachel, of course, was waiting for me. She seemed to be in a more upbeat mood than usual, giving me a hug before I got my books ready for the morning.

    ¡°You ready for this week?¡± she asked with a faint smile on her lips.

    ¡°Hmm? Yeah, I''m ready,¡± I said to her.

    ¡°Good!¡± she beamed back. ¡°Because two weeks from now is hell-week, as they like to call it!¡±

    ¡°Ah-heh...¡± I returned with a wry grin.

    Half the reason she''s pulling us from the game is probably to acclimate us to being in-the-moment for the play itself and not off in fantasy land wondering if this guild or that guild is getting ahead of us, I realized as we headed in for homeroom.

    ¡°We need to get ourselves back on track with our lines and the songs,¡± she said as we sat down.

    ¡°You''re right,¡± I agreed.

    ¡°Still though... you''re crazy.¡± Rachel then said in a soft voice, smirking at me.

    ¡°Ehh... okay. Yeah.¡± I grinned back.

    ¡°I can''t believe you actually made it off their ship alive, let alone on to it to begin with,¡± she said.

    ¡°Dumb luck,¡± I shrugged.

    ¡°With them? I bet,¡± my girlfriend agreed. ¡°You think the pirates will really stay away?¡±

    ¡°Ehh, they might swing by again just because, at least...¡±

    ¡°You think so too, huh?¡±

    ¡°Hmm? You too?¡± I wondered.

    ¡°Nope, Ellie thought so.¡± Rachel told me. ¡°Of course you two would think so, being the gamers you are,¡± she said with a smile.

    ¡°Heh, I guess so!¡± I said with a nod. ¡°But for now, I guess we have to focus on the real.¡± I then said, and she smiled at me, nodding back. As if on cue, the bell then rang.

    ¡°Speaking of which,¡± she said almost inaudibly, and I grinned as we came to attention for morning classes.

    The time seemed to pass even more slowly than usual as our first four classes came and went. Mathematics, in particular, seemed to have ground time to a halt as the equations appeared on the board before my eyes, looking for all the world like some black arcanity in a spell-tome that I was supposed to destroy in order to defeat some dark lord or another.

    Science was a relief when it came along; our teacher decided to let us watch a video on basic astrophysics (which was something we had been discussing in the past weeks) that was narrated by a Doctor Tyson, who had been a household name back in the day for that particular type of science. That was a fun fifty minutes of time. I was almost disappointed when it ended, but it was also a relief to head for our hideaway to enjoy lunch.

    ¡°That was fun!¡± Rachel remarked as we made our way to lunch.

    ¡°Science?¡± I said, and she nodded. ¡°For sure it was,¡± I agreed.

    ¡°Even though it was pretty far above our heads,¡± she added with a grin.

    ¡°For sure. Though I bet it''s not above Christina''s.¡± I said.

    ¡°Oh def.¡± Rachel nodded back. ¡°It''s probably part of her coursework at uni.¡±

    ¡°I''ll take a ''nope'' on it myself.¡± I quipped, and she giggled, nudging me playfully as we got to the club-room. We found Mary already inside; she smiled as we settled in to our usual seat. Anhe arrived just after we did, and the others turned up after her.

    ¡°It''s gonna be weird without you two on,¡± Mary remarked, ¡°But you have more important things to focus on for the next few weeks, after all.¡±

    ¡°I might not be on as much either, come to think of it!¡± Anhe realized, recalling her position as our fight-coordinator.

    ¡°True!¡± Mary nodded.

    ¡°Blehh.¡± Ellie sighed. ¡°Which one of you two brats decided to try out for the musical anyway?¡±

    ¡°Ahh...¡± I began, a hesitant smile on my face.

    ¡°I did!¡± Rachel said indignantly. Andrea took up for us at once.

    ¡°Don''t give them a hard time now, Elisabeth; you were all for it a few months ago!¡±

    ¡°Andiiii! We didn''t have the guild-competition heating up a few weeks ago!¡± the blonde girl replied to her with a disappointed look.

    ¡°You should be fine for at least the week we''ll be gone,¡± I found myself saying.

    ¡°Eh--?!¡± Ellie gasped.

    ¡°My!¡± Anhe remarked with surprise. ¡°Sean is actually supporting the idea of not being in-game!¡±

    ¡­ I did kind of imply my support for it, didn''t I... heh. Heh-heh-heh-heh-hehhh...

    ¡°Oh I''m sure it won''t last.¡± Rachel said, patting my head. ¡°And it is only Panarena we''re banning ourselves from.¡±

    ¡°Ooh, good caveat!¡± Thomas nodded.

    ¡°Right?¡± Rachel smirked.

    Hahh... you didn''t think I could last a week without playing a game or video-game of some kind or another, huh? I mused to myself wryly.

    ¡°We''ll probably be at that one cafe a lot in our spare time, the one with the holographic board games,¡± she continued.

    ¡°To go over lines and stuff when you''re not at school, right?¡± Mary winked.

    ¡°Of course!¡± my girlfriend winked back.

    ¡°It''s gonna be a dull week on the forums, I guess.¡± Ellie said with a faint grin.

    ¡°Maybe!¡± Thomas laughed.

    ¡°Anyway... that Anna Belle was really enthusiastic about everything, even after you left,¡± Ellie told us. ¡°I wonder how many chapters are in that quest you found?¡±

    ¡°Did you get to the second already?¡± I wondered, kind of disappointed I wasn''t there to see it happen.

    ¡°Nah, we''re still on the second part of chapter one.¡± she shrugged back. ¡°I''d guess we''ll have to find the items your Ragamis friend specifically wants in order to advance the story again,¡± she noted.

    ¡°Hmm... that''s the most likely scenario...¡± I agreed with a nod.

    ¡°Seeaaan...¡± Rachel said, poking my cheek a few times.

    ¡°Ahh...¡± I returned with an uncertain grin.

    ¡°Right!¡± Mary said after finishing off one of her mini-sandwiches. To my surprise and Rachel''s, she pulled out a complete script and songbook for the musical. ¡°Act Three, Scene Two: go!¡± she told us, and after a moment''s hesitation we began reciting our dialogue.

    ¡°Leave it to Mary...¡± I said with a sigh after lunch was over, and Rachel smiled over at me.

    ¡°Right?!¡± she agreed.

    ¡°I think you both did fine.¡± Anhe remarked.

    ¡°Th-thanks,¡± I replied.

    ¡°And with that, I will see you in language class!¡± the younger girl smiled as we parted ways.

    ¡°See you then!¡± Rachel said as we continued on our way to our next class.

    In sharp contrast to morning classes, the afternoon ones passed all too quickly. World Cultures was a blur, Theater was a repeat of lunch -- minus the food, and for language class Mrs. Liang decided to show us a few short films in Japanese to help us get a better hold on what we had learned thus far. As that class ended, I heard her reminding us that we had a test coming up some time in the next couple of weeks.

    Gyeck, I softly grimaced to myself. And I can''t even use my cheat-technique for studying until next week. Panarena was not good for nothing when it came to studying.

    ¡°Ah! Daniels, Danes, will you please stay a moment?¡± she then called, and the two of us halted to turn around and head to her desk. Anhe was there too, quietly grinning.

    ¡°Mrs. Liang?¡± Rachel asked when we got there.

    ¡°I was talking to my father about Anhe''s request for your summer plans; he suggested that, for a good summer vacation and experience for young people such as yourself, it would need to be at least two weeks in Japan and then two more in China.¡± she said to us with a smile.

    ¡°Two--?!¡±

    ¡°Weeks?!¡± the two of us exclaimed.

    ¡°Wait, that''s--¡±

    ¡°A month,¡± Rachel said in realization. ¡°Wow!¡±

    ¡°Like really,¡± I agreed.

    ¡°Time enough to see some good sights and to get the most out of your learning experience in class, yes?¡± our teacher said to us.

    ¡°I have to say yes to that,¡± I replied with a smile.

    ¡°Good! Oh, please tell your friends--this is for you also, Anhe--that we will make all the arrangements, and we will have your basic itinerary, tickets, and all other reservations made for you in three weeks.¡± she told us, and Rachel and I, along with Anhe, both bowed to her as we said our thanks. She smiled at us, and then clapped her hands. ¡°Now, off with you! You have a musical to get to!¡± Mrs. Liang said, and after thanking her again we headed out.

    ¡°Wow,¡± Rachel said as we made our way to our lockers first.

    ¡°Right?!¡± I returned, bristling with excitement. ¡°Go Anhe!¡±

    ¡°Totally!¡± she nodded back vigorously in agreement. ¡°Ahh! We have to tell the others! Three weeks, three weeks...¡± she said, pulling out her phone to send the message as we packed the books we would need for our homework after rehearsals.

    As we made our way to the theater, I thought about that specifically for a moment; three weeks would be just after we had gotten through the musical''s first weekend. Oh right; I may not have mentioned this before, but we were doing two weekends of shows; two Friday nights, two on Saturdays (matinee and evening), and two Sunday afternoons. Giving us a real musical experience, huh? I thought to myself as we turned the final corner before the auditorium.

    Miss Andrews and Miss Holly were there at the doors talking to someone who was so fancily dressed that he almost didn''t seem real. Rachel and I both exchanged a glance with each other, wondering who it was.

    ¡°Ah-ha, there they are! Our stars!¡± Miss Andrews said as her eyes alighted on us. ¡°Sean, Rachel, this is Mister Saint-James, one of the people whose opinion on our performance this year will dictate the future of funding for the arts in education.¡± she said with a veiled sarcasm which, fortunately, was lost on the man whose name I had heard before.

    ¡°Maximilian Theodore Arnold Saint-James the Third, to be precise.¡± the mannequin from an eighteenth-century costume shop come to life then said.

    ¡°Yes, yes, of course,¡± our teacher replied in a semi-deferential tone; I could see Miss Holly biting her tongue as she turned away, ostensibly to see what the others in the auditorium were doing.

    ¡°Hmm!¡± the pompously dressed man remarked as he came over to examine us. ¡°Yes, yes; I can see how they got their parts... in the right sort of costumes they''d be the classic image of the iconic Flynn and de Havilland!¡±

    ¡°I''m glad to hear you say so,¡± Miss Andrews said in a more pleased tone.

    ¡°How do you do, youngsters? Are you feeling duly prepared for your upcoming performances?¡± the man said directly to us.

    ¡°Very much so, sir; pleased to make your acquaintance,¡± Rachel replied to him, and I nodded in support of the answer.

    She probably knows better than I do how to handle people like this, given her mother''s job, I said to myself internally.

    ¡°I''m sure; and you, young man, nothing to say?¡± he said as he turned to me.

    Hmm... what do I say here? ¡­ Oh, might as well poke him just a bit...Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.

    ¡°I''m looking forward to it as well, sir; barring any more ninja attacks on my way home,¡± I replied. He raised his eyebrows at the words, slowly nodding. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Rachel trying hard to keep a straight face, while behind the man himself our teachers exchanged a look with each other.

    ¡°That, my good lad, will be the least of your worries in the next couple of weeks; well then! I''m gratified to have made your acquaintances; I look forward to seeing you in all your glory when the time comes, Mister Daniels, Miss Danes! And now I think I shall sit back in the balcony and watch as you ready yourselves for this truly monumental task!¡± he said in a near-condescending manner as he shook our hands lightly, then briskly turned to head into the auditorium as he had said. Miss Andrews came over to me, placing a hand on my shoulder.

    ¡°Now Sean; I know about the attack that happened a couple of weeks ago. But I don''t think it was a good idea to... hint at the idea that our guest might know something about it,¡± she told me.

    ¡°I was just making conversation, Miss Andrews,¡± I said with an innocent look.

    ¡°I''m sure.¡± she nodded, a soft smile on her face. ¡°Whatever gave you the stones to say that, of all things?¡±

    ¡°Ehh...¡± I returned uncertainly, not sure myself why I had decided to say it upon reflection. She gave me a dissatisfied shake of her head a moment later, but patted my shoulder anyway.

    ¡°Never mind it; let''s knock his socks off with our rehearsals, all right?¡± she said, and the two of us nodded back. They headed in first, and Rachel and I exchanged a glance.

    ¡°If they can be knocked off with all those buckles and laces on them,¡± Rachel quipped, and I snorted as we entered the auditorium a moment later.

    After going over several scenes in our individual groups, we came together for a full run, dialogue, songs, choreography and all -- including our school''s orchestra. We had been practicing all of it for so many weeks, like painting pieces of a puzzle that we were going to put together; it was this trial run that made me feel, finally, as if I really could pull this off. Everything fell into place naturally, and we only had about ten glitches with dialogue or choreography, which was apparently the least amount of them the theater kids had experienced for a few years now when they got to this point of the process. And for every second of it, I could feel the eyes of our guest fixated upon each and every one of us, as if he was willing us to screw it all up.

    When we finally finished out with the finale, Miss Andrews, Holly, and the orchestra clapped their hands enthusiastically, praising our efforts. And, coming down from the balcony with a slow-clap, Mr. Saint-James strode towards us with at least the image of a smile on his face.

    ¡°They''re good, aren''t they?¡± our teacher said to him.

    ¡°Yes, yes, thoroughly entertaining; though there are a few things that might need some, ah, ''polishing'', as it were.¡± he said aloofly.

    ¡°Oh trust me, we''ll have it all worked out by opening night.¡± Miss Andrews assured him.

    ¡°I''m sure! Thank you for allowing me to witness your rehearsals; I look forward, as I said before, to opening night. Good night to you all!¡± the man said, heading out of the auditorium. When he had gone, we all breathed a sigh of relief. Even Joanna, who usually maintained a stoic composure anyway, let out a hefty sigh. Her brother gave her a pat on the shoulder, and then headed out to their car.

    ¡°He even rattles you, huh?¡± I asked her.

    ¡°More than I care to admit,¡± she said darkly. ¡°His... son... is going to be my... if I fail...¡± she said in an even quieter voice. I could see her hands trembling. Rachel tapped her on the shoulder, and gave her a warm hug, which she returned a moment later as tears fell from her eyes.

    Well *this* just got a lot more intense, I thought to myself. That weirdly dressed rich guy has a son, huh? Heh... if he''s anything like his old man, it''s no wonder Joanna''s shaky, never mind her preferences... a bemused look came to my face as this thought ran through my head. I saw Rachel and Joanna exchanging a few soft words before they let go, and then the other girl smiled, heading out to catch up with her brother. Rachel came over to me, laying her head on my chest as I placed my arms around her.

    ¡°We can''t do anything to help with her fencing issues. But let''s make this musical the best thing we do this year.¡± she said to me softly.

    ¡°Not Panarena?¡± I said with a laugh.

    ¡°Can''t quite help her there.¡± she replied with a hint of amusement.

    ¡°Eh. I guess not.¡± I returned. ¡°But yeah; definitely the musical.¡± I agreed wholeheartedly. ¡°So... homework?¡±

    ¡°You''re coming over.¡±

    ¡°Ahh--''kay.¡±

    ¡°No cousins this week, thankfully.¡± Rachel told me with relief as we let go of each other.

    ¡°Well that sounds peaceful,¡± I said, and she smiled.

    ¡°Def!¡±

    ¡°Hey! I''m heading out!¡± Thomas called to us.

    ¡°We''ll be there in a minute!¡± Rachel said to him, and he gave us a thumbs-up. Anhe came over to tell us goodbye as well, giving us each a hug.

    ¡°Remind them tonight about what my mother said!¡± she said as we parted again.

    ¡°Got it!¡± I replied as we headed to Thomas'' car while she headed for her mother''s. As we got settled into the backseat, Rachel told him what was going on, and he nodded.

    ¡°You''ll have to find your own way home after, Sean; I have to run as soon as I drop you off -- they called me in to work to cover for someone!¡±

    ¡°I''ll manage,¡± I told him.

    ¡°Just don''t walk!¡± he said.

    ¡°Ehh...¡±

    ¡°You''re not walking.¡± Rachel poked me. ¡°Oh! Joshy was in town tonight! I''ll call him over!¡± she said, pulling out her phone to send a message his way.

    ¡°Heh? Oh, he''s in town again, huh? Nice!¡± I smiled.

    ¡°Ohh, right, your brother!¡± Thomas recalled.

    ¡°Yep!¡± Rachel beamed.

    ¡°Oh, Sean; I couldn''t help but notice, but every time you were out on stage, our ''guest'' seemed ve-ry fixated on you.¡± Thomas then said to me.

    ¡°Heh, I kinda figured... I didn''t really look, but I didn''t really have to.¡± I returned.

    ¡°I totally get it, man.¡± he nodded back.

    ¡°You really think he was the one behind it, huh?¡± Rachel said to me a moment later.

    ¡°I mean, Sabrina knows about him, and said that he''s not above using aggressive tactics to get his way, or something like that... so maybe,¡± I said with a shrug.

    ¡°My uncle said something like that once,¡± Thomas recalled. ¡°''It''s better to cross a cat as a mouse than to cross a Saint-James as a human being'', or something to that effect.¡±

    ¡°Heh.¡±

    ¡°That sounds pretty wild.¡± Rachel remarked.

    ¡°Right?¡± Thomas agreed. ¡°But I''m sure some of the things said about him, if not most of them, have to be exaggeration and rumors.¡±

    ¡°I hope so,¡± my girlfriend said.

    ¡°Same.¡± I nodded.

    Though I can understand the gist of that expression... the cat will only kill the mouse, but Saint-James might do worse things to people he dislikes...

    We reached Andrea''s house a few minutes after that, and he let us out before heading off again to the mall where Fun Castle was for his emergency shift. Andrea smiled as we both came in, and we settled in to have some dinner and to do our homework.

    ¡°Thomas was texting me nearly the whole time about having that guy watching you all tonight; how was that experience?¡± my hostess asked as Rachel went upstairs to change out of her school uniform into something more casual.

    ¡°Ehh... it was something,¡± I replied.

    ¡°That good, huh?¡± Andrea remarked as she began setting out tonight''s repast, a cheesy pasta with chicken, and a side-dish of buttery rolls.

    ¡°He seemed pretty intense, despite how he looked.¡± I said with a shrug.

    ¡°Oh yes. Tommy told me all about the Revolutionary Peacock!¡± she said with a laugh.

    ¡°That''s a good description!¡± I said with a snap of my fingers.

    ¡°Back!¡± Rachel said as she hurried over, taking the seat next to me in one of the oversized shirts she liked. It took me a moment to realize Andrea was wearing a similar outfit.

    ¡°Welcome back!¡± the redhead smiled. ¡°We''ll just have this before we get into our homework.¡±

    ¡°Oh, your parents will be home tonight, right?¡± Rachel then said.

    ¡°They''re out having a fab-ulous time at someone else''s house, so they won''t mind us finishing off this little feast of ours!¡± the other grinned. ¡°Dig in!¡± she said, and with that the three of us began eagerly devouring the supper before us.

    Afterwards, we got into our homework, managing to finish it all off by ten, by which time Joshua had come over. He even helped us with some of the math when Andrea had exceeded her mental-limits on the subject for the evening, grinning as she commented upon this. When the homework was over we were all treated to a dessert (vanilla chocolate cheesecake--a family recipe of hers), and then after saying our goodbyes I went with Joshua to his car so he could drop me off at my house.

    ¡°Everything seems to be going well on your end, minus the ninjas!¡± he remarked as we drove through the quiet neighborhood.

    ¡°Ah-heh,¡± I smiled wryly. ¡°I''d say so, yeah. What about you?¡±

    ¡°Same old, same old, partner.¡± he shrugged. ¡°Heh, I''m almost considering getting one of those Dream Machines myself, just so I could have a more satisfying place to work out some of the work stress!¡±

    ¡°It is good for that,¡± I admitted, thinking back to a certain incident where Rachel and I had gotten on in the middle of the night and she had vented her own stress upon some boss that we had unwittingly conjured.

    ¡°Glad to hear it! Maybe I''ll see you all in game soon, huh?¡± he said with a grin.

    ¡°As soon as you get on, yeah,¡± I returned with my own grin.

    ¡°Right!¡± he laughed. ¡°Hey! We''re here already; hmm? Is that your mom''s car?¡± he asked me as we got closer to my house, and I looked out at the vehicle in question.

    ¡°That''s not her car,¡± I immediately knew. ¡°I don''t know whose car that is,¡± I then said.

    ¡°I didn''t think it was hers, even though I''ve only seen it once or twice... oh there''s her car--in your driveway, duh,¡± he noted as we came to a stop in front of me house. ¡°This guy''s parked here like he knows you all, though... no lights on in that thing, but I can see a person in it,¡± Joshua said quietly.

    The car was about eight meters ahead of us, facing our direction. I could feel my senses prickling again, as they had on that night the ¡°ninja¡± came after me. Suddenly I didn''t want to get out of the car.

    ¡°Hey... Josh... where are you staying tonight?¡±

    ¡°Hmm? If you''re going that far, I should just take you back to Ray-ray and Andrea''s,¡± he said, guessing my thoughts.

    ¡°Maybe that''s not a bad--¡± I started to say, and then our porchlights came on. A second later, my dad came out of the house, some kind of weapon in his hand.

    ¡°Hey! You in the Chevy, who the blazes are you and what are you doing out in front of my house?¡± he shouted in an unusually loud voice to the car in front of us. Immediately the car came to life with a roar, and began barreling towards us.

    ¡°Whoa!?¡± Joshua exclaimed, quickly driving his own car up on to the sidewalk and into the yard to avoid being hit-- just in time, I have to say. The other car hadn''t even swerved away; it breezed right past us, then continued on down the street with a shriek of the tires as it turned to avoid hitting another car. He jumped out of the car at once when they had gone, as did I, my dad coming over to join us as we watched the mysterious vehicle continue heading away.

    ¡°If I find out who in the blue these jerkwads are and why they''re coming after my son...!¡± my dad growled like a bear.

    ¡°Whew! No ninjas tonight, buddy!¡± Joshua patted me on the back.

    ¡°Y-yeah...¡±

    ¡°You two all right?¡± my dad asked us.

    ¡°I''m fine, and he missed the car, thankfully,¡± Joshua reported.

    ¡°One good thing...¡±

    ¡°Right?¡±

    ¡°I''m... gonna go in, and grab a ginger-ale... thanks, Josh,¡± I said, my mind and body just now reacting to the fact that I had almost been hit by a car.

    ¡°No problem, buddy; hey, you take it easy, yeah?¡±

    ¡°You too, pal,¡± I said as I went to make my way inside.

    ¡°Man, he''s shaken up,¡± I heard him say to my dad as I entered the house. I stopped by the fridge to grab a ginger-ale, and then headed upstairs, first showering and then getting into casual clothes before I sat down to have my soda.

    I turned on my computer to check and see if I actually had any emails, and finding none, as usual, I loaded up the Panarena forums. There were several huge threads about the Hitherlands now, as well as a few posts about the Utmost North which I assumed were from members of the pirate confederation. Well if they actually found it and found something worthwhile to them up there, then they can have it, I thought to myself with a soft smile. I wondered if Venomheart would manage to strike up a deal with them to recuperate from their losses on this wild journey we had all been on. A knock on my door then interrupted those thoughts.

    ¡°Hmm?¡± I turned, seeing my dad come in. He let out a sigh, and sat down on the other chair.

    ¡°Joshua''s pretty sure he can remember that vehicle''s tags, so the police will most likely catch those maniacs, at least.¡± he told me.

    ¡°Well that sounds good.¡± I said.

    ¡°You all settled down?¡± he then asked.

    ¡°I guess so,¡± I replied a moment later. He nodded at me.

    ¡°I''ll hold off telling your mother about this for now. She''d lock you up in this room if she found out right now... though I''m sure you wouldn''t have minded it a year ago, this year''s... a lot different, huh?¡± dad said to me with a smile.

    ¡°Yeah... yeah, it really is,¡± I returned, a smile coming to my face as well.

    ¡°It''s good to see.¡± he told me sincerely, and I nodded back. ¡°Well, you''d better get to bed... oh, and if you do happen to end up staying out at someone else''s house in the next couple of weeks or so, just make sure you let us know.¡±

    ¡°I will, dad. Thanks.¡± I replied, and he gave me a pat on the head before heading back downstairs to the living room.

    Mom would definitely lock me up... Rachel might too, come to think of it... hahh, I let out a sigh as I turned back to the computer, preparing to shut it off. A post then caught my eye.

    Third Quarter Rankings to be released on Friday.

    ¡°Third Quarter, huh... that means the competition is almost over,¡± I said as I briefly scanned the post, then clicked out to continue turning off the machine. It was basically just an announcement with some speculation from the GMs about who might ultimately come out on top in this whole thing.

    I headed for bed once I was sure the computer was off, and then fell asleep the moment I laid down upon my bed.

    ***

    Tuesday morning began with a rain-shower that started just as I went out to wait for the bus. Oy... you''re taking Monday''s thunder, I grumbled inwardly at the offending precipitation. Fortunately for me, the bus arrived quickly, and I hopped aboard eagerly, taking my usual seat. Ty was not on for once. I wondered if it had something to do with that special course he was taking. Boy, this feels weird without him here, I thought to myself as the bus wound its way through town.

    ¡°No buddy today, huh?¡± a girl in the seat across the aisle said.

    ¡°I guess not,¡± I replied.

    Heh, I guess we are buddies at this point.

    ¡°Personally I like having the seat to myself.¡± she said with a shrug. ¡°I''m Gina, by the way.¡±

    ¡°Sean,¡± I returned, and she smiled back.

    ¡°I know. You''re pretty famous this year. Although certain rumors...¡± she grinned.

    ¡°Hahh... I don''t have a harem,¡± I said with a tired sigh.

    ¡°I figured.¡± she giggled. ¡°It''s stupid, right?¡±

    ¡°Totally,¡± I nodded back. ¡°Are we in a class together?¡± I suddenly wondered.

    ¡°Ah! He recognizes me. I''m in World Cultures with you, though I''m a year ahead of you.¡± Gina replied.

    ¡°Ahh... gotcha,¡± I said.

    ¡°How''s that essay coming along?¡±

    ¡°Eh? Oh, that essay...¡± I recalled, shrinking into my seat as she grinned over at me.

    ¡°That good, huh?¡±

    ¡°Ehh...¡±

    ¡°Well here''s a better question; how''s your girlfriend?¡± she subtly winked.

    ¡°She''s doing good,¡± I replied.

    ¡°Good!¡± Gina said.

    She''s always been on this bus, right? This is the first time someone besides Ty has talked to me here, I thought to myself as the conversation lulled.

    ¡°You two are all anyone''s talking about; well, except for Mary being valedictorian this year. But everyone''s definitely excited to see the musical. The quiet boy and the new girl suddenly become the stars of the spring show--it''s quite something!¡± she then remarked.

    ¡°I guess when you put it like that, it does sound intriguing,¡± I had to agree.

    The ''quiet boy'', huh? I don''t mind that.

    ¡°Of course!¡± Gina nodded. ¡°You''re definitely easier to talk to than most people say.¡±

    ¡°Eh?!¡±

    ¡°Don''t worry about it. Just more stupid stuff.¡± she assured me.

    Well sure, I can get that; but it''s nice to know these things, you know?

    ¡°Ahh... I guess, with me, it''s all in the approach,¡± I said out loud.

    ¡°I definitely get that.¡± she nodded. ¡°Oh! Here''s a question for you... are you two slipping into the prom this year?¡±

    ¡°Hmm?¡± I blinked. ¡°We can''t go, right? Only juniors and seniors can,¡± I said.

    ¡°Juniors, and seniors... and their dates.¡± Gina said to me in correction. ¡°How did you think Allie was getting in with Malcolm?¡±

    ¡°Heh...?¡± I said with interest. ¡°Come to think of it, I think Rachel was planning something... though I don''t know what yet.¡±

    ¡°Pfft!¡± she giggled. ¡°Good luck!¡±

    ¡°Y-yeah,¡± I said with a wry grin.

    ¡°Looks like our stop is coming up,¡± she then said, and I turned to see the familiar school-building rising to meet us up ahead. Somehow, it didn''t look as prison-y as it usually tended to do in my eyes.

    I wonder what that means, I pondered as the bus came to a halt a minute or so later. I got off the bus as usual, and, for a final surprise, Gina gave me a flick on the shoulder, smirking at me as she headed off to wherever her locker was.

    Ehh...? I wondered to myself with a blank look for a few seconds, and then a raindrop reminded me that I had to get inside.

    As usual, Rachel was waiting for me at our lockers. She smiled as I approached, and then I halted. The events in front of my house last night flashed through my mind. I felt a shudder run through me, and I made my way over to her, laying my head on her shoulder this time. She seemed surprised for a moment, and then wrapped her arms around me.

    ¡°You okay?¡± she asked me with concern.

    Joshua didn''t tell her yet, huh?

    ¡°I''m...¡± I started to say, cutting myself off as my voice faltered. Rachel held me a moment longer, and then patted my back.

    ¡°Tell me at lunch?¡± she said.

    ¡°Yeah. I promise.¡± I told her, and with that I got my things ready for morning classes.

 Side Chapter: An Invitation

    Sabrina Jennings made her way through the familiar corridors of her mother''s office building. It was a Monday night; not a lot tended to happen on Monday nights at the office. The game which it oversaw was usually a different story, but tonight, two of the three people Sabrina had come to cherish over the past couple of months would not be on.

    ***

    ¡°You''re taking the week off too, huh?¡± her sister had asked the night before, when they were getting ready to log off.

    ¡°Well, some of it, I think,¡± she had replied.

    ¡°Got it.¡± Lysandra-Christina nodded back.

    ¡°I was thinking... if you, don''t mind, maybe I could, invite our mother, to see the musical with us?¡± the other twin asked, and watched with relief as her sister smiled back, nodding.

    ¡°Sure, that''d... that''d be good,¡± she said with a smile, which Myanihia-Sabrina returned.

    ¡°Okay,¡± she said happily.

    ¡°Ahh... did I tell her about Mandy yet...?¡± the other said to herself suddenly.

    ¡°I... don''t recall. She hasn''t said anything, if you did,¡± the older twin returned.

    ¡°Hrrrmm...¡± her sister''s face scrunched up in soft consternation.

    ¡°Well, let''s... go out, all of us, some night before then,¡± Myanihia suggested, and Lysandra nodded back slowly, then more enthusiastically.

    ¡°Let''s do that,¡± she said in relief.

    ***

    She might have told her, and forgot; and perhaps mother did as well. But, no harm; we''ll all meet for sure this time, and, then, we''ll get to see the musical together! Sabrina thought to herself with a smile as she reached the familiar doors, pressing the buzzer next to them.

    ¡°Sabrina? Come in!¡± her mother''s voice said a moment later, and the door opened. ¡°Well this is unexpected; what brings you by?¡± the older woman wondered curiously.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

    Her daughter knew well what she meant. Like her sister, she almost never came here unless asked or requested to do so; it was an unexpected source of bonding for them as the two of them patched up their relationship.

    ¡°I... wanted to invite you, to some things, if you have time.¡± Sabrina said to her.

    ¡°Well, I can certainly see if my calendar can be cleared, depending on what they are,¡± her mother replied.

    ¡°Chrissy, and I, wanted to invite you to see a musical with us,¡± the young lady replied. She watched with an unexpected pleasure as her mother''s eyes widened, the older woman almost falling out of her chair at the pronouncement. ¡°But, before that, we wanted to take you out to dinner... to meet someone, who''s coming with us,¡± Sabrina added.

    ¡°Oh?¡± the other wondered. ¡°Not a boyfriend?¡± she remarked suspiciously.

    ¡°Not... a boyfriend...¡± Sabrina returned softly. ¡°A girlfriend. Chrissy''s.¡± she said. Her mother blinked twice.

    ¡°Well!¡± she said after a long moment of silence. ¡°You''re certainly throwing a lot of things at me at once; but, yes, I think I will take you up on these invitations. When is the musical?¡±

    ¡°We''re, reserving tickets, for opening night, Friday, two weeks from now.¡±

    ¡°Ahh, at that man''s school, isn''t it?¡± her mother nodded.

    ¡°Yes, mother.¡± Sabrina softly smiled.

    ¡°And dinner?¡±

    ¡°Tomorrow, perhaps?¡± her daughter wondered.

    ¡°Let''s see... oh yes, the ''elitists'' meeting at six... how those idiots can call themselves cultured while trying to kill the arts is beyond me... I''ll just say I forgot about it. What time is good for you?¡±

    ¡°I''ll... pick you up, around six,¡± Sabrina replied.

    ¡°Mm-hmm... service, even. This must be a special kind of place.¡± the other smiled.

    ¡°It is.¡± her daughter smiled back.

    ¡°Then I''ll see you tomorrow around six. Oh, did you have your summer plans ready?¡±

    ¡°I do,¡± Sabrina nodded back. ¡°The others sent me a message; we''re, going overseas--¡±

    ¡°The others...?!¡± her mother interrupted.

    ¡°Ahh--!¡± Sabrina stopped, a wry smile coming to her face.

    ¡°Young lady, I think we have a few more things to talk about!¡± Mrs. Jennings said as she stood to her feet.

    ¡°I... guess so!¡± her daughter said with a rare laugh. Oh, Lana, look at all the fuss you''ve gotten me into! Sabrina thought to herself with a smile.

 Chapter Thirty-seven: â€œThat you have but slumberd here...â€

    When lunch-time came along, Rachel and I got our lunch-boxes from our lockers and began heading for the club-room. All that morning, I had paid more attention than usual to our classes as flashbacks of last night''s incident tried to distract me. Now, I was blankly walking along the halls, like an automaton on some pre-programmed course. After a few moments, Rachel gently put a hand on my arm and nudged me to the side of the hall. She fixed me with a look of concern as we stopped.

    ¡°You okay? You''re like, really spaced out,¡± she asked me.

    I took a deep breath, and then told her what had happened. A look of alarm came to her face, only to fade into a look of relief as she heard how quickly her brother had reacted to save us both from what could have been a serious collision. She laid her head on my chest, then wrapped me in a tight hug, which I returned.

    ¡°I''m glad you''re okay. Both of you.¡± Rachel told me.

    ¡°Same,¡± I said.

    A moment of silence passed.

    ¡°You good for lunch? I mean, with the others and stuff,¡± she then asked me.

    ¡°Yeah; yeah, I think so,¡± I replied.

    ¡°Okay,¡± Rachel smiled as she let go, and we resumed our walk. ¡°Thank goodness for Joshy''s reflexes, though.¡± she remarked.

    ¡°Right?¡± I agreed.

    We were the last to arrive this time, finding the others in their usual spots around the table in the middle of the room. As the two of us settled in, I heard Ellie say something teasing about us, but I wasn''t quite sure what I heard. Rachel quipped back to her in like manner, and the older girl began cackling.

    ¡°Oh! While we''re here! We have our work-visitation this Saturday!¡± Andrea then announced, snapping us to attention.

    ¡°Hm? This Saturday, huh?¡± Ellie said.

    ¡°Yep!¡± the other girl nodded.

    ¡°My shift won''t start until late afternoon that day; maybe we could time our visit to be like a couple hours before...¡±

    ¡°It''s set up for one in the afternoon already.¡± Andrea told her with a wry grin, and Ellie shrugged.

    ¡°Not important! I can mess around for a couple hours until it''s time!¡± she beamed.

    ¡°That... should work for us,¡± Rachel slowly nodded.

    Eh? Did we have a play-related obligation that Saturday...? I suddenly wondered.

    ¡°Did some of the other actors want to do something that day?¡± Andrea asked her.

    ¡°In the morning,¡± Rachel answered. ¡°Oops! I forgot to tell you that,¡± she smiled at me.

    ¡°Ahh...¡± I returned uncertainly.

    ¡°Some of the gang wants to get together at the park again around eight.¡± she said.

    ¡°Gotcha,¡± I nodded back.

    ¡°That time works for me as well,¡± Anhe said.

    ¡°Good!¡± Andrea smiled back. ¡°Mary?¡±

    ¡°You''re asking me ahead of your boyfriend?¡± Mary grinned back. ¡°I should be good to go that day.¡±

    ¡°I already knew he could make it,¡± Andrea shrugged. Thomas affected a grin as she said this, giving a nod. ¡°On to other things!¡± she then said.

    ¡°Hmm? There''s more?¡± Ellie asked through a mouthful of her lunch.

    ¡°Elisabeth Drew,¡± Andrea sighed, shaking her head as she stifled a grin. ¡°Anyway--we have our summer vacation granted to us, courtesy of the Liang family!¡± she announced, and we clapped as Anhe blushed, smiling back at us.

    ¡°I am happy that we could do this for all of you, and for the older girls, too!¡± Anhe told us.

    ¡°We''re glad you became a part of our little group!¡± Andrea replied, getting up to go and sit in the chair with the younger girl, giving her a hug. Anhe hugged her back, the smile on her face growing brighter.

    ¡°Def!¡± Ellie said with a broad smile.

    ¡°For sure!¡± Rachel agreed.

    ¡°We''re getting our itinerary in a couple of weeks; let''s all make sure we have our IIDPs sorted out for the big adventure ahead!¡± Andrea then said as she let go of Anhe and settled into the chair with her.

    ¡°Right!¡± Thomas nodded back.

    I''ve probably mentioned this before, but it''s worth mentioning again: IIDP is the acronym

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 Side Chapter: A Certain Phone-call

    Aubrey Jennings, head of the company that ran Panarena Fantasy Online, returned to her office around seven forty-five that evening. There was a notice on her desk from her secretary; it was nothing she had not expected, merely a note about having missed the formal function that she had been expected at that night. But there had been a more pressing engagement for her, at least on a personal note.

    I have to say, I am most impressed that my daughters have come so far since the holidays; perhaps I was a fool all along in the end. Perhaps, if I had just accepted Christina... ah, but now I will do what I can to encourage her, or at least to support her, if she needs it. Their friends are a lively and interesting bunch; but they''re all good kids, from what I can see. That young man in particular... there is definitely something about him. Which is why I knew at once that I had to do what I did, she thought to herself as she headed to the apartment beside her office, taking a brisk shower before returning to her desk. As she settled into her chair, she let out a long sigh.

    It is all I can do at the moment. There is no proof that Saint-James really is the one driving these two incidents; besides that, I am not the law. I am merely a businesswoman who, now and again, has a mind to do things that upset her rivals in the community when I perceive their goals are counter-intuitive and indeed counterproductive to our society. But I can also do one other thing, she reflected, picking up the phone and dialing a certain number.

    As she expected, it rang four times, and then a man''s deep voice answered.

    ¡°Yes, Mrs. Jennings?¡±This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

    ¡°I have someone whose doings I need you to investigate in a roundabout way. And then I need you to turn in those findings to the police.¡±

    ¡°Explain.¡±

    ¡°Saint-James. The ''street-ninja''. A certain incident in the Residential District last night.¡± she told him. There was a moment''s pause.

    ¡°I understand.¡± the reply then came.

    ¡°I will have double your fee sent to you; the usual account?¡± she then asked him.

    ¡°The usual account.¡± he replied in affirmation.

    ¡°Very well. I''ll have it sent tomorrow. And now I bid you good night.¡±

    ¡°Indeed. Good night, Mrs. Jennings.¡± the man with the deep voice said. The conversation was ended, and the phones hung up.

    That young man... there was definitely something about him. I can see why he might be their focal point. I wonder what interesting path he will take in the future; people have rightly accused me of being more business-oriented than family-oriented, but at least I know I have done some things right tonight, ensuring that he can walk that path in relative peace. And I should start doing the same for my daughters... especially...

    She looked over at a certain photograph that Sabrina had given her the night before. It was a picture of the young lady and her half-twin, along with Mandy, Christina''s girlfriend. They were smiling, their arms placed around one another. Aubrey had never seen either daughter smile so brightly, not for a very long time. She turned to the window after a moment, looking out over the city. It had never seemed so beautiful to her as it did in that moment.

 Side Chapter: Tuesday Night

    ¡°She''s really sticking to it, isn''t she?¡± Jannie observed with surprised as Lizzy, Myanihia, and Belle emerged with Fyu and Anna Belle from the Silvernight Queens'' ship.

    ¡°Hon, I don''t think she had a choice.¡± Winnie said with a grin.

    ¡°I guess we know which one of those girls wears the pants,¡± Tabitha slyly smirked.

    ¡°You''d be surprised,¡± Lizzy shrugged, a secret smile passing between her and the other two in her guild. ¡°Anyway! Anna Belle says there''s some sort of ore deposit her uncle wanted us to check on; it''s up around the northern side of the mountains here on Ewar, right?¡± she said, turning to the Ragamis.

    ¡°Correct!¡± their NPC ally nodded. ¡°My ancestor referred to it as glimmer rock; one of our librarians thought it might be a kind of star-metal,¡± she then explained.

    ¡°Glimmer rock, huh?¡± Jannie pondered. ¡°Let''s get your friends set up there so we can get the ore to your uncle as soon as we can!¡±

    ¡°Right!¡± the Ragamis beamed happily, and the little group set off for the mountains.

    ¡°Hm? Where''s Lysandra?¡± Jannie wondered.

    ¡°She has work,¡± Sky Belle shrugged, a sad smile on her face.

    ¡°Ahh,¡± the golden-haired girl nodded.

    ¡°I think Maryn and Anhe might get on... Maryn for sure; she wanted to look at that forest in the southeast and see what kind of timber is there,¡± Lizzy said.

    ¡°Baba and Moldylox are checking it out now for themselves.¡± Winnie remarked.

    ¡°Now there''s a name,¡± the pixie-girl said with a bemused look.

    ¡°Moldylox?¡± Winnie grinned back.

    ¡°Ah-yup.¡±

    ¡°Ironically they''re one of our healers,¡± Jannie said with a faint grin.The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

    ¡°Huh?!¡± Lizzy looked over at her in disbelief. ¡°I would have guessed a debuffer...¡±

    ¡°Some people, just enjoy, being silly,¡± Myanihia smiled.

    ¡°Exactly.¡± Jannie nodded. ¡°Hahh... this quest feels so wrong without Lana or Ari around,¡± she sighed.

    ¡°Don''t remind me...¡± Lizzy softly grumbled. ¡°Hrrrggghh... and now they''re at some fancy hotel together... ''bet those little brats are just--¡±

    ¡°Huh?!¡±

    ¡°Hotel!?¡± Winnie and Jannie said at once, Tabitha letting out a brief sigh.

    ¡°Ahh...¡± Lizzy hesitated for a moment. Snap. I can''t tell them what''s actually going on... uuugghh, stupid-stupid-stupid! Why did I even--

    ¡°They won a contest by accident somehow, so they''re collecting on it!¡± Sky Belle quickly explained.

    Well isn''t *that* not far from the truth, Lizzy though to herself again.

    ¡°Oooh, nice.¡± Tabitha smiled. ¡°Though how do you win a contest by accident?¡± she wondered.

    ¡°Beats the heck out of me,¡± the pixie-girl shrugged. She and the others continued walking while Lizzy lagged behind, quietly recovering her poker face. Myanihia stayed with her, patting her on the back.

    ¡°Thanks,¡± the younger girl said after a moment.

    ¡°Sure,¡± Myanihia smiled. ¡°It''s... not quite, a lie. Mother... doesn''t do that, for just anyone, after all. Or, for anyone, come to think of it...¡± she added softly.

    ¡°Well aren''t they cute, then.¡± Lizzy quipped. ¡°You don''t think you all got followed there, do you?¡±

    ¡°Victor says no one did; I trust him. He was, in the forces, so he would know.¡± Myanihia told her.

    ¡°About being followed?¡± the other replied, and her friend nodded. ¡°Hmm.¡± Lizzy sighed. ¡°I wonder if we could crash their place without--¡±

    ¡°No good.¡± Myanihia told her at once. ¡°Don''t worry; right now, they''re probably doing homework, and getting ready for bed.¡± she smiled.

    ¡°Or getting all smoochy...¡± the blonde girl remarked quietly, to which Myanihia let out a short giggle.

    ¡°Maybe!¡± she allowed.

    ¡°''Maybe'' nothing!¡± her friend returned with a grin.

    ¡°Lizzy! Myanihia! Come on!¡± Jannie called from further ahead.

    ¡°Welp, I guess I''ll torture--I mean, ask them tomorrow!¡± Lizzy then grinned as she began walking again. Myanihia shook her head.

    ¡°Oh, Lana,¡± she smiled, looking up at the sky for a moment before heading after the others. You''ll be safe, for now, she thought to herself quietly as she and the others continued on their way to the mountains.

 Side Chapter: The Blade and the Witch

    Melody the Blade was perched in her favorite spot, a sturdy branch near the top of a gilded maple that sat upon a hill in Hollyland, just east of the Vales of Aergondi. She and her guild had decided to lie low for the time being after their disastrous alliances with Rama and Hathisis and then the Skulls and Bones Pirate Confederacy to focus on less high-profile earnings in the ongoing competition. Besides which, it seemed as if the one she most desired to combat was not on for a second night this week.

    Lana... Melody thought to herself with a wistful sigh. It was now synchronous midnight; if Lana had been on, she would be getting notifications from the forums that she had marked. Nothing that girl did stayed quiet for long.

    Who knew Rachel was so boisterous in a virtual world; I swear, she''s more tomboyish than I am... tomboyish?

    Melody frowned. Most of the time she had seen Rachel had been at school, but every time she had witnessed her fellow thespian from school outside of that setting she seemed to be quite the opposite of a tomboy. Of course, that discounted the typical gamer''s personality; even in this world, people were inclined to put on airs or have different personas than their own real-life self. From what Melody could discern, there was a roughly fifty-fifty split between those who ¡°put on masks¡± so to speak and those who were more their real selves.

    Not that I think that figure''s perfect; maybe it''s sixty-forty, or the other way around; who knows, really. I can''t say I blame any of them... though if that psycho Venomy really *is* like that in real life, then I should be grateful I don''t know him, she mused with the bare semblance of a grin. One of the other girls in the guild knew him; she could never remember which one.

    ¡°Mel?¡± Clara''s voice came to her from a distance.

    ¡°Over here,¡± the younger girl called. The girl with green hair came into view moments later, gazing up at her leader with a smile.

    ¡°Kinda thought so.¡± she remarked softly.

    ¡°Any news?¡± Melody asked her.

    ¡°Queens of the Desert Skies is back.¡± Clara told her, the older girl leaning back against the tree her leader was perched in.

    ¡°Hmm.¡±

    ¡°Rama and Hathisis, along with all of their die-hards, were kicked out. They''re forming a new guild, but there''s no way they''ll be good for the competition, not this late.¡±

    ¡°Neither will Rayna and her Queens.¡± Melody shrugged.

    ¡°True,¡± Clara agreed.

    ¡°What about the pirates?¡± Melody asked. She saw Clara snarl at the reminder.

    ¡°Those jerks sent us our gold just as they promised, and they''ve staked a claim on some islands way out past the Hitherlands. I doubt they''ll be as profitable, though...¡± she sighed.

    ¡°It must have been worth it to Rackham... though I''d rather they''d have crushed that fleet. F¨¨nghu¨¢ng and her phoenix were not in our calculations, though.¡±

    ¡°That thing--! Ethereal creatures like it being immune to poison and venom... hrrrrggh!¡± Clara fumed.

    ¡°And once it took us out, I suppose the two dragons did a number on the pirates...¡± Melody said as she stretched out her limbs. Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    ¡°Probably. Which is why they sailed on; it''s hard to get a cannon pointed straight up, and though cannon-fire would probably hurt the dragons, I don''t know if it would actually wound them...¡± Clara mused in a calmer tone.

    ¡°Hmm? Ahh, I think I understand,¡± Melody nodded, leaning back. ¡°You think it''d likely be more of a gut-punch to them than anything else.¡±

    ¡°If a dragon like that could be taken out by cannons, that Dwarf-guild would''ve done it already, so yeah.¡± her second replied.

    ¡°And the Silvernight Queens?¡± Melody then asked. There was a moment of silence before Clara answered.

    ¡°The one you want isn''t on.¡± she said softly.

    ¡°Hm.¡±

    ¡°Mel...¡± Clara sighed, turning to look up at the other girl. ¡°I--¡±

    ¡°I know.¡± Melody said, lightly hopping down from the tree to look Clara in the eyes. ¡°And I... I want to honor your feelings... but right now...¡± she broke off, uncertain of how to explain her own feelings. Clara smiled, reaching over to gently pat her head before wrapping her up in a soft hug.

    ¡°You want to make a clean break with your feelings for her.¡± she said.

    ¡°¡­ Yes. Yes, I do.¡± Melody smiled, relaxing into the embrace.

    ¡°Sometimes... sometimes it doesn''t happen that easily, especially with unrequited love. Sometimes you just... have to do it.¡± the older girl told her.

    ¡°Where does that leave you?¡± her leader asked, a teasing smile upon her face.

    ¡°In just the right spot to be there for you when you''re ready.¡± Clara said softly as she let go, a gentle smile on her face. She saw Melody slowly nod, and decided that was good enough for her at the moment.

    ¡°I want to at least... to at least take her to prom, as a way of... reconciling, for all the trouble we get into with one another...¡± Melody then said.

    ¡°Hm, hm...¡± Clara nodded with approval. ¡°I think that''s a nice idea.¡±

    ¡°Thanks.¡± the other girl smiled back.

    ¡°There you are!¡± came the voice of Jana, who was approaching from behind.

    ¡°Hmm? Oh, Jana,¡± Melody said, softly smiling.

    ¡°I just heard a story up in Ragnarheim; Lana and her second won''t be on until Sunday,¡± the red-haired herbalist told them with a shrug.

    ¡°Sunday, huh?¡± Clara remarked.

    ¡°Looks like Lana''s on a bit of a leash with her lover after pulling all those stunts recently,¡± Jana said with a smirk.

    Leash? Leash... tomboy... personalities... Melody frowned.

    ¡°But anyway; where are we headed tonight? I know that idiot Venomy is headed for the Borderlands, but I''d rather not get into more PvP after getting trounced so many times...¡± Jana continued.

    ¡°Right?¡± Clara sighed.

    ¡°Hmm... let''s do some resource runs, then,¡± Melody suggested.

    ¡°Yes! Let''s!¡± Jana said excitedly.

    ¡°We''ll do that,¡± Clara smiled in agreement.

    ¡°I''ll get the boys... well, the three of them that aren''t idiots...¡± Jana said as she pulled up the message functions.

    ¡°Pfft!¡± Melody snorted, a smile breaking out on her face. ¡°To be fair, he does quite well on his own,¡± she then noted.

    ¡°Bleh. And we do better without him,¡± Jana snorted. ¡°Aergondi, right?¡±

    ¡°Since we''re about there, yes,¡± Melody nodded.

    ¡°Right!¡± the other smiled, sending the message.

    ¡°Let''s get to a wayport, then,¡± Clara said, and the three girls made their way from the hill to the nearest wayport they could find. Melody looked back towards the tree for a brief moment; the semblance of a question began forming in her mind, but before it could become tangible it was borne away by more chatter from her guildmates.

    Oh well; it''s probably nothing, she reasoned, quietly sighing as she processed the idea of her rival being offline for a week. I''ll be here, waiting for you... Lana.

 Chapter Thirty-eight: Idylls

    O-kay. Well this is something else. Some crazy rich person who wants to defund the arts has it out for me--*maybe*--while another rich person who happens to be the mother of Chrissy and Sabrina and who also happens to have it out for the other guy decides on a whim to put me and Rachel up in a hotel until the play is over... and she''s also the owner of the company that produced the game we all play. Sabrina explained this hotel-situation to my dad as a ¡°patronage¡± thing her mother wanted to do for the stars of the musical; that should keep mom happy, at least. I know *he* probably saw through to what was going on, but the cover story''s better for her, I suppose... I mused to myself.

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    Oh wow... long time no see, I thought to myself as we made our way to our own side of the campus, the high-school side.

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    ¡°this one--I couldn''t imagine trying to get through eight of them.

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    ¡°the person running Panarena, and all of a sudden she decides to put you up in a hotel just because someone she seems to dislike might be going after you?¡± the blonde girl shook her head.

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    ¡°I don''t mind it,¡± Rachel said with a soft pout.

    ¡°minded it, I''m just agreeing that it''s over-the-top,¡± I quickly said. She blew bubbles into her drink for a few seconds before replying.

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    ¡°then tell us where they are,¡± Ellie quipped.

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    ¡°most people in their costumes!¡± she grinned.

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    ¡°you are practically elf-like in that regard, so we''ll have to stick this on you!¡± she grinned, carefully but firmly placing it onto my upper lip.If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

    ¡°

    How did I not notice that before? I wondered confusedly. Come to think of it, Stephen and Marcus actually have theirs as well... and Brian, I noted.

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    Well this is new, I mused to myself as we all gathered on stage. Well, new for me, anyway; I guess for most of the others this is pretty normal, huh?

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    Gyeck!?

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    ¡°you in the incident report my brother mentioned, huh?¡± Joanna then said softly, and I quietly nodded back. ¡°You and Rachel are something else, you know? She causes trouble in our little game, and you get wrapped up in it in real life,¡± she said with a shrug as she took off the accessories she had as Gisbourne.

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    That was a narrowly dodged bullet, I bemusedly thought to myself as I collected my bag from the pile of others in one of the side-rooms. Rachel''s own bag was still here as well. I decided to pick it up as well, and headed out to wait in the hall. She came around the corner just then, and I held it out to her with a smile, which she returned.

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    ¡°really have to work on those kanji,¡± she noted.

    ¡°next year we''ll be back to the Simplified Characters for Chinese,¡± I added.

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    Well that was worth it, I thought to myself with a smirk as Rachel looked at me with a shake of her head.

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    ¡°definitely need to visit. And then, someday...¡± she remarked, leaving the rest unspoken.

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    I think the old man was even teasing me about it at one point, I vaguely recalled.

    ¡°senior year thing for us, though, right? Or at least a post-graduation thing...¡± I asked her.

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    I-is that even a thing we can do at our age...? Isn''t it eighteen... no, wait--yes, it''s eighteen... no wait, what the heck am I thinking about this for?! I have school exams and a play to think about, not to mention a couple *more* years of school after that... I can''t be-- my thoughts began to run on, halted by a hand softly taking my own. I looked back at Rachel; she was smiling.

    ¡°is teasing us, mostly,¡± my girlfriend reminded me.

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    What the heck do people watch on TV? I don''t think I''ve really watched anything since I got into gaming, I suddenly realized.

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    Oh time, please stop for a little while, huh? I pleaded to the unseen force that would, inevitably, move us from this precious moment into a new one.

 Side Chapter: A Certain Cave

    ¡°No kiddos again tonight, huh?¡± Mandy remarked as she and Christina finished with their dishes for the evening.

    ¡°Some of them''ll show up later, I bet; but yeah, the main two are definitely still on their ''vacation'',¡± her partner smiled.

    ¡°And your sister even went to check on them, even though it''s only been a day,¡± Mandy grinned back.

    ¡°True,¡± Christina nodded. ¡°She''s really fond of them now, I guess!¡±

    ¡°Well that makes all of us,¡± the platinum-haired girl shrugged.

    ¡°Right?¡± the other returned as she put away the last few plates. ¡°And there!¡±

    ¡°Phew! Let''s just have some meals out for the rest of the week,¡± Mandy then said with a wry grin.

    ¡°Ha! Okay,¡± Christina laughed back.

    ¡°Just make sure we have clothes,¡± her girlfriend winked back.

    ¡°Yeah, yeah.¡± the dark-haired girl smirked in reply. ¡°Panarena?¡±

    ¡°Panarena.¡± Mandy nodded affirmatively.

    ***

    ¡°Oh! There you are!¡± Lizzy beamed at the two of them as they logged in.

    ¡°Lizzy!¡± Sky Belle smiled, fluttering over to sit on her shoulder. ¡°Anyone else on?¡±

    ¡°Anhe said she''ll get on, and Heali will be here... Der got stuck at work and Maryn wanted to go over her notes and stuff for one of her classes,¡± their halberdier and smith replied. ¡°What about your sis?¡±

    ¡°Dunno,¡± Lysandra shrugged. ¡°She may get on, when she''s done checking up on our lovebirds.¡± she added with a soft smile.

    ¡°Hmm? Ohh, I see!¡± Lizzy grinned. ¡°Anyway; Anna Belle said she''d be gone for a couple of in-game days so she can tell her uncle in wherever-land about our progress, so I was gonna explore a bit with one of the other guilds... but since you''re here!¡±

    ¡°Wherever-land, huh?¡± Sky Belle shook her head in amusement. ¡°But sure, sounds good to me!¡± she agreed. A moment later, Anhe appeared, and Healina arrived shortly after.

    ¡°Nice little party we have, considering,¡± Healina remarked.

    ¡°Right?¡± Lysandra said. ¡°So Lizzy, where are we exploring?¡±

    ¡°There was something suspicious in those mountains I wanted to take a closer look at,¡± the other girl replied.

    ¡°In the mountains?¡± Anhe asked her. ¡°Do you think it was related to our quest?¡±

    ¡°I''m pretty sure,¡± Lizzy nodded back as they set off. ¡°Part of our quest log updated when we went past it, but there''s nothing clear; see?¡± she continued, showing them her own.

    ¡°You''re right,¡± Lysandra agreed. ¡°All is says is ''Optional'' so far... suspicious indeed!¡±

    ¡°If it is so, masters, I should accompany you there,¡± Fyu said as he hurried to join them.

    ¡°Sure thing! We could use your help,¡± Sky Belle said as she flew over to perch on him instead of Lizzy. ¡°Where''s Dracky, by the way?¡±

    ¡°Dracuoatlax and Guntaru are on the island of Ygrom with some of the other guilds,¡± the dog-beast told her in answer. ¡°It seems that island had some sort of wild beast worthy of his attentions.¡±

    ¡°Pity the beast who catches a dragon''s eye,¡± the pixie-girl nodded wisely.

    ¡°I could not have said it better, masters.¡± Fyu subtly grinned. ¡°And I concur with your words from earlier; there was something not quite right in those mountains,¡± he added.

    ¡°If Fyu says so, let''s be on guard.¡± Lizzy said. ¡°Anhe, a speed-aura, if you would!¡±

    ¡°Okay!¡± the younger girl nodded back. ¡°Hya!¡± she then said, activating Windfoot, which gave them a thirty-percent bonus to their movement speed outside of combat. With its aid, they got to the mountains in a much shorter time than before, making their way towards the spot that had updated their log.

    ¡°Where is it?!¡± Lizzy softly fumed as she scrabbled up a small cliff, pulling herself up to the top and then reaching to help Healina up the rest of the way.If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

    ¡°Thanks!¡± the Sea Elf smiled. ¡°We have been looking for a while, now; are you sure it was that rock back there?¡±

    ¡°Definitely sure!¡± her friend protested. ¡°The weird one that almost looked like a... a blob or a cloud or something,¡± the blonde girl said adamantly.

    ¡°I remember it, too. It was definitely the right rock.¡± Lysandra agreed.

    ¡°Hmm...¡± their healer sighed, checking both the log and the map.

    ¡°Masters, my nose is pointing me in this direction... I do not see anything but mountain and rock, but the wise say the eyes can be deceptive when sight is needed most,¡± Fyu said as he gazed towards the southwest.

    ¡°True, it doesn''t look like anything''s there... but I pick up the scent as well,¡± Lysandra said as she sniffed the air as well.

    ¡°As expected of one of the werekin,¡± Fyu nodded.

    ¡°Well, let''s try it!¡± Heali then said, heading straight for the rock-face that loomed before them in that direction.

    As the girls and the dog-beast approached it, the rock-wall began shimmering, and they passed through it without harm. They found themselves in a wide bowl, with ancient stone ruins long overgrown by trees and a myriad of other plants and fungi. At the far end was what looked to be the remnants of a torii-gate, with a great stone set up just beyond it and the entrance to a cave a few meters further away.

    ¡°Huh?!¡± Anhe said as she looked at the stone, dashing ahead.

    ¡°Anhe? Anhe!¡± Lysandra called, running after her. The others followed behind quickly, watching as their youngest member stared intently at the stone.

    ¡°What''s up?¡± Sky Belle asked her.

    ¡°This... these characters are actually Japanese!¡± Anhe said, tracing a faded series of characters that was upon the face of the stone.

    ¡°Nyah!?¡±

    ¡°Eh?!¡±

    ¡°Hah?!¡±

    ¡°Whoa...!¡± the other girls exclaimed all at once.

    ¡°What does it say??¡± Sky Belle then prompted her.

    ¡°Hmm... put simply, it says ''This is the way to the Temple of the Beyond, where the wind dwells, and the Master of Winds'',¡± Anhe told them.

    ¡°Oooh,¡± Lizzy said with awe. ¡°Now that sounds important...¡±

    ¡°Ah!!¡± Heali then said as they heard a ding. The quest had reached a new stage.

    Hitherlands Expedition, Chapter Two, Part One: Gain access to the Temple of the Beyond by defeating the Guardian of the Winds.

    ¡°Hm? Guardian? Not the Master?¡± she wondered. ¡°Anhe, can the word ''master'' also mean ''guardian''?¡±

    ¡°No, not in Japanese,¡± the other girl shook her head. A rumbling sound was then heard from the mouth of the cave.

    ¡°Then...!¡± Lysandra turned towards the sound, drawing out her sword.

    ¡°Whatever it is, it sounds large,¡± Lizzy remarked as she got her halberd ready.

    ¡°Masters, my senses tell me we should retreat!¡± Fyu said in an unusually alarmed voice.

    ¡°I say we listen to Fyu!¡± Anhe said, activating the Windfoot Aura again.

    ¡°I say I agree!¡± Sky Belle said as they began hastening out.

    As the others escaped, Lizzy, who had taken up the rearguard, turned back to look. Emerging from the entrance of the cave was a massive and tall creature, decked out in what looked like samurai armor, a terrifyingly grotesque mask upon its face. In its hand was a large katana, and behind the fiendish headgear she could see two glowing yellow eyes. There was not much in either real life or virtual life that scared Lizzy, but the sight of this enemy did make her nervous. A frustrated grin broke out on her face.

    ¡°Next time, tough guy!¡± she whispered, and then rushed out of the barrier herself.

    ¡°Lizzy!¡± Heali exclaimed in relief.

    ¡°Yeah, sorry; just wanted a look,¡± she shrugged back.

    ¡°How big was it?¡± Lysandra wondered.

    ¡°Pretty big; not Dracuoatlax big, but, you know.¡± Lizzy replied.

    ¡°And it''s back to looking like a normal mountain,¡± Sky Belle remarked as they looked towards the place they had just left.

    ¡°What kind of magic is on that place, I wonder?¡± Anhe mused as she gazed curiously towards the not-mountain which was really a hidden vale.

    ¡°Right?¡± Lysandra nodded.

    ¡°Let''s keep this a secret for now, since it''s our quest.¡± Healina then said.

    ¡°Agree.¡± Lizzy said with a nod.

    ¡°Of course,¡± Anhe agreed as well.

    ¡°Got it; I''ll tell Myanihia when we see her,¡± Lysandra said, and the pixie-girl nodded as well.

    ¡°Gotta keep our extra member in the loop.¡± she remarked.

    ¡°And I shall tell Dracuoatlax, when he returns from his hunting.¡± Fyu said.

    ¡°Counting on you!¡± Lizzy smiled back. ¡°We definitely need Lana and Ari for that thing... and Maryn, obviously,¡± she noted.

    ¡°Oh definitely.¡± Sky Belle agreed as they started back. ¡°But for now... let''s get some more of that ore we found, and maybe check out some of those trees on the heights over there?¡±

    ¡°Def!¡± Lizzy nodded.

    ¡°Oh! Myanihia''s on!¡± Lysandra said as she received a notification. ¡°The kiddos are doing fine, and she''ll join us as soon as she knows where we are.¡±

    ¡°Right! I''ll add her to party, and she can track us that way -- to the mines!¡± Lizzy declared, and with that they turned on the path to the northeast.

    Still, that boss or whatever, Lizzy mused to herself, that felt different from a lot-- no, from all of the bosses we''ve run into in this game... is that one something new...? the blonde halberdier wondered, banishing the question from her mind a moment later as she and the others fell into a light banter on their way to the mines for the evening.

 Side Chapter: Observations, II

    ¡°Ho-ho, they ran into that one, did they? Hmph! A monster so intimidating even they had to turn back! Ha-ha-ha-ha-hahh!¡± Lumpstein grinned as he cackled, observing the girls and the dog-beast retreat from the magic mountain on Ewar.

    ¡°They''re only at half-strength tonight. You''ll be laughing on the other side of your face when the whole lot of them go after it!¡± Rabbit said to him knowingly.

    ¡°Will I, though?¡± the Dwarf GM returned, still grinning mightily. ¡°After all, it is that one!¡±

    ¡°Indeed,¡± Forseti nodded. ¡°A prototype, or pre-release rather, for one of the game''s updates this summer: the Enigma Bosses.¡±

    ¡°Sure we didn''t overpower it?¡± Athena asked as she looked over from her in-world monitoring console.

    ¡°Well, those girls are a decent enough gauge to find out... as long as they don''t bring the dragon to the fight again...¡± Ricklelopes remarked.

    ¡°Ahh...¡± the others sighed back in a bemused chorus, thinking back to the incident with the Vault Boss.

    ¡°Leave it to Lana and her friends to bring the dynamite,¡± Rabbit quipped.

    ¡°But the competition rankings now; hmm, it was a good idea to adjust the scoring based on team rather than individual guilds, even if it hasn''t quite killed all the fighting...¡± Lumpstein said.

    ¡°Still, we only had to do that for the Harmonia side; the Onyxus GMs have been able to just lay back and watching the fun on their side,¡± Liza noted, tapping through viewscreens to observe some of the footage.

    ¡°Well of course we only had to do it for this side! The Onyxus side may as well be labeled PvP in permanence!¡± the dwarf returned.

    ¡°And the pinnacle of the cooperation on this side has led them to that quest chain, huh?¡± Forseti mused with interest. ¡°It''ll be interesting to see how the Silvernight Queens get through that boss...¡±If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    ¡°Hah! ''If'', I believe you mean!¡± Ricklelopes quipped.

    ¡°Somehow,¡± Wildthunder said as he joined them, ¡°I don''t doubt they will.¡±

    ¡°Welcome back! What did the boss say?¡± Liza smiled to him.

    ¡°She''s insistent that we get a team to work on the glitches in the alpha-world; it seems this summer has become quite important to her, in its own way,¡± Wildthunder said.

    ¡°Hmm... more glitches, huh?¡± Rabbit said with a hesitant grin.

    ¡°Wandreada still hasn''t recovered from the armor and clothes mishap,¡± Athena added, a similar expression on her face.

    ¡°That one, among other things, is top priority,¡± Wildthunder nodded.

    ¡°Right!¡± Liza replied. ¡°Just one last look here... ooh, what''s going on up there?¡± she remarked with interest as she brought up viewers on the region known as the Utmost North.

    ¡°Hm, hm, looks like the pirate guilds have finally gotten a stakehold on something... ha-ha! Not as good as the Hitherlands, but pretty decent in its own special way!¡± Lumpstein said with admiration.

    ¡°Don''t count them out yet. That''s where Gyzax and the others decided that special ore should be found.¡± Athena told them.

    ¡°Oh-ho! That''s right!¡± the other recalled. ¡°Hmm... things might get heated after all in the next couple of weeks!¡±

    ¡°The competition ends in four weeks, right?¡± Rabbit then asked.

    ¡°Aye, only four left,¡± Wildthunder nodded back. ¡°And the last two involve that protocol.¡± he added with a grin.

    ¡°The double rewards on the second-to-last, and the triple rewards on the very last!¡± Liza said with excitement. ¡°It''s enough to make me want to be just a player!¡±

    ¡°Right?¡± Athena agreed with a smile.

    ¡°But for now: the alpha-world.¡± Wildthunder then said. ¡°Liza, Rabbit, we''ll need you two especially,¡± he said to the two in question.

    ¡°Right!¡±

    ¡°Coming!¡± they replied, leaving the other GMs to continue observing the world of Panarena for the night.