It was all too surreal. She was going to be killed by slimes and disappear forever. It was ludicrous. Irrational. Impossible. Alisea couldn't be killed in a game. She was in a dream right now. A horrible nightmare that she would wake up from soon. Her alarm would go off. She would rise and go to school.
"Aargh-"
Alisea's eyes snapped open. Karuu had three slime around him. His sword rested in the dirt. The slime behind him was settling back down after striking. Karuu's HP was going down. He was losing. He would die.
Alisea planted her staff in the ground and pulled herself to her feet. "Don't..." she started in a small voice. Karuu's head turned toward her, his eyes wide with surprise. "Don't. Touch. MY BROTHER!" Alisea screamed, raising her staff and planting the butt deep in a slime.
Alisea felt the magic flow. It started somewhere in her chest, flooding down her arms and into the staff. She felt that power coursing through the metal, all the way down and into the slime. For a fraction of a second, Alisea thought she saw silver strands all through the slime's body--threads that were being torn apart.
The threads vanished from her sight, so quickly she doubted she had seen them. The slime's body fell apart, oozing into the pavement until it vanished entirely. Alisea raised her staff and glared at the next one, daring it to try anything. Amazingly, it backed away, as did the other two Karuu faced.
"Alisea," Karuu greeted with a soft smile.
"Sorry. I know I'm late."
"No. You were right on time."
The two shared a warm smile. Alisea felt her legs planted firmly beneath her. Karuu's arms brandished his colossal sword anew. There passed an unspoken agreement between the two, the same agreement they always had: we will win.
"It looks like we have a quest now," Alisea teased.
"Yeah: don't die." The nearest slime had retreated, but it wouldn't last; they were only waiting for reinforcements. Alisea's burst had been like a magnet, pulling any slime not otherwise engaged toward them. "There must be a hundred of these things just for us."
"So we kill them... is what I want to say. But my MP won't last."
"My HP won't either. We're just outnumbered."
Alisea glanced around again, looking for options. Her gaze stopped at an out-of-place bundle of slime. Unlike the others, they weren't moving toward the Spirits. They were moving away. Toward...
"Then let's increase our number," Alisea suggested, pointing a finger at the young man running toward them. He was dodging and evading slime after slime that tried to roll under him or launch into him. He had to be a dexterity class--a rogue or a martial artist. "Ooooi! Safety's right here!" Alisea called.
Safety? Highly debatable with hundreds of slimes surrounding two people. But even so, my situation isnt much better. Maybe they have spare weapons I can use though....
The thought still provoked a sigh from the already winded male, he shutting his eyes and shaking his head. The subtle distraction, though, was just enough for the slimes to take their opportunity to strike, a rather large one landing on his back, forcing him roughly to the ground due to it's density and mass, his hp falling due to fall damage and scraping up his leg. It took a little more force and motivation, but just as the slime jumped up again to come crashing down on his back, Kiraku rolled over, attempting to bat the creature away. Instead, however, it bore down upon his exposed chest, he coughing painfully as a sharp, splintering pain shot through it, sustaining in his ribs, long after the ache in his muscles faded. Determination further fired, the boy felt around him for some sort of defense, finding a sharp broken branch that he had bloodied his leg on. Swinging the wooden weapon as hard as he could after managing to pull himself up, Kiraku managed to get a good hit in on the slime. Due to it's size, however, it had more hp, and even worse on his count, his character design was geared for speed and accuracy, not defense and power. He was meant to get in multiple hits at once, not finish a blow with one. This branch wouldn't last him long, and with his leg injured, he would need help. Decision made, Kiraku ran for the group of two, wordless so as not to strain his already injured respiratory system or wind him any further, evading once more as best as he could and killing off whatever slimes he couldn't avoid until he found himself beside the two other players.
"So then.... How.... is this..... any more..... safe....?" He managed to express in a raspy voice, still trying to catch his breath.
"Because your back is... Covered!" Karuu answered, shouting it like a warcry as his sword cut through another slime.
"Hold still, please. I'm not used to this yet." Alisea lowered the top of her staff until its wings stood just above Kiraku's head. "Heal!" Alisea commanded. Again those silvery threads flashed across her vision--this time mending themselves inside the rogue's chest--then vanished again before she could truly focus on them. His breathing eased, and his HP rose slightly, but the spell hadn't done a thing for the bleeding leg. Alisea frowned, displeased with the weak ability. "It will take a dozen of these to heal you fully," she explained apologetically.
"No time!" Karuu warned. The slime were gathered so thick he couldn't see the street leading back into town. "Plan?!"
A smile lightly spread across Kiraku's face as the girl healed him, the girl's seeming innocence reminding him ever so faintly of a frail, kind girl in school, one that he was always fond of and very protective of, despite his very loner-ish tendencies. But more comforting than the innocence was the relief as he could finally breathe in a more normalized manner. Suddenly broken from his calmed state by the male calling out for a plan of action, Kiraku tensed up, his grip on his branch tightening.
"If either of you have a lightweight weapon for me to use, I can help clear a way to the town over there. That is, if you guy's speed and evasions stats are high enough to at least keep up with mine and fend on your own against a few of these guys." Kiraku was rather confused by how cool and collected his voice was. In fact, it held fairly dark tones, and was quiet, as if each word warned of danger or depression. In truth, it reminded him of an emo kid at school that the prior she used to have a crush on.
Karuu shook his head, then took another swing at a slime as it launched at him. "There's no chance," Alisea stated grimly. "I could never get through that."
The male gritted his teeth and took another swing at a smaller slime, leaving the bigger ones to the other two, as they obviously had higher power stats.
"Then I suggest that we bear till nightfall. It wont get any easier, but we'll make it through. After that, we should stay in town a couple of days since towns are automatic safety zones. There we can assign our experience points that we get from all these levels we'll likely gain here. If.... we dont die that is...." In the pause between thoughts, he swung the heavy branch to hit a slime that was about to attack the cleric, or so the woman would seem, swatting at it as if it were a pesky fly.
It was a grim reality. "I'll focus on healing, then. Karuu, cut behind him and move left." The Hero obeyed immediately, disengaging the slime he faced to dash behind Kiraku and cut through those to the rogue's left instead. "You, follow right behind; pass him on the left and hit the next. Karuu, spin around and pass him on the left. Just keep rotating; I'm right with you." Even as she was issuing instructions, Alisea was casting her heal repeatedly. Kiraku's leg stopped bleeding. The bruises on Karuu's chest vanished. And slowly, ever so slowly, their cyclone moved them closer to a doorway on the edge of the road.
Each rotation tired Kiraku more than the last as he worked at hefting about his abnormal weapon, but he struggled through none the less. No matter how many healing spells were cast, there was no cure for fatigue, none but proper rest, or at least, since this was a game, a little bit of a breather and a nice heat pack or something along the lines. Now that he thought about some relaxation, it only made his predicament seem worse, though the small group's approach to some sort a building gave a small bit of comfort. As they grew closer to it, the amount of slimes began to decrease, lessening and lessening until there were no more to fight, they all standing right at the door to what was apparently a pub. From what the male could remember of this time period, there were normally some very small, minimalistic sleeping quarters above pubs and such places. The team's hp was doing just fine due to the constant efforts of their supporter, but her mp was likely very low, and thus, rest would be required as they had yet to assess how much money they had to spend on potions and other such amenities.
When they finally reached the door, Alisea ran around both fighters and pushed through the door, holding it open for her teammates and slamming it shut behind them. She was panting heavily; her entire body felt drained. When her body finally realized they were safe, Alisea's legs gave out and she slumped back against the wall, sliding down to the floor.
Karuu collapsed next to her, laying flat on the floor with his arms spread wide. He summoned enough energy to turn his head left and look at where they were. A few small tables sat along the left wall, but the dominating presence in the room was the long bar lined with stools, behind which stood shelves stocked with drinks and glasses and a green-skinned, red-haired bartender who looked at them curiously. The room was illuminated by glowing, white lanterns high on the walls, giving it a somewhat cheerful air against the darkening sky outside.
"Need a drink?" the man behind the bar asked, his voice lightly tinged by an accent.
Karuu blinked a few times, flabbergasted by the mundane question. "Water," he said dully.
"Three waters, comin' up." It was an Irish accent, Karuu decided. Or whatever the CoRE equivalent was.
"Not that young'unsh like you 'ud get an'thing elshe," slurred one exceedingly drink dwarf at the end of the bar. His words sounded like they might have the same Irish accent, but it could have just been the alcohol.
"Not that we would want anything else," Alisea quipped. 'We would end up like you,' she refrained from saying out of politeness.
The dwarf's face warped with deep thought as he tried to make sense of that statement. Finally he gave up--quite sure that wanting nothing more than water was impossible--and upended his own mug into his mouth. When no liquid began to poor, a look of confusion swept over him and he brought the mug down to stare into its empty depths. He shook his head sadly and set the mug down.
Alisea might have thought it quite comical if she hadn't been so completely exhausted. She heaved herself to her feet, carefully stepped over Karuu, and made her way to the bar. The green-skinned bartender had three shimmering glasses waiting by the time she made it. Alisea took one gratefully and, despite intending to only sip it, had the glass drained in a matter of seconds.
"Thank you," Alisea said politely. The bartender just nodded his head. "If we could--and I don't mean to impose on you--do you have a room we could stay in? The sun is already down, and just making it here has left us exhausted."
The bartender gave it some thought before answering. "I have a spare bedroom upstairs you could be stayin' in. It only has two beds, but I be willin' to rent it to ya."
Inside, Alisea groaned. "I don't think we can afford rent. Is there any way we can work to earn the money?"
"I don't exactly need a waitress, lass. You can see how many customers I have." The tally was one very drunk dwarf, and the three of them. A pub on the edge of town wasn't very popular right after a slime invasion. Nevertheless, Alisea didn't relent. She stared up at him with pleading eyes until finally he continued. "...But I do be needin' a favor. If you promise you can handle that, I'll be lettin' you stay."
Both Karuu and Alisea felt the trigger go off. Every veteran gamer understood that flag: they had a quest. "Of course! Thank you so much! We're more than happy to help you!" Alisea declared with a wide smile.
"I'll tell you in the mornin'. Jah, show the lass to the spare room."
"Why be I needin' ta do it!? You'sh the one wi' tha bushinessh."
"Because I be throwin' ya out tonight if ya don't," the bartender barked, his accent deepening as his voice raised.
"Yeesh. Fine, I be showin' tha ladsh ta the room. Even if you'sh only a half, Myk, you be havin' an orc'sh temper."
"And you be havin' a human's tolerance."
Jah tried to look affronted, but Myk wasn't the least bit sympathetic. The half-dwarf finally slid off his stool, tugged on Alisea's sleeve, and plodded through the door at the back. Alisea gave Myk one final 'thank you' before following after Jah.
Karuu forced himself to his feet, drained his water glass, muttered a very quiet 'thanks,' and hurried after his sister.
Kiraku's mind swam with exhaustion, but humor was one thing he could process, he letting out a raspy laugh as he watched the events unfold around him, it all almost seeming to be other worldly for a moment. When he noticed the others leaving, though he noticed where they were leaving from. A bar with two empty glasses and one full, glistening with the condensation created by a tall glass of iced water. He drank it quickly, giving a brief not to the bartender as a for of acknowledgement and thanks, and hurried as best as he could after the other two of what now seemed to be his party.
"Thish be it," Jah announced as he pushed the door open. There were two beds, four walls and a roof, and a window that opened onto the back alley. That's all Alisea could say; but at least that meant Myk had cleaned it regularly. "Here be tha key. I be leavin' now, before Myk be givin' 'way my sheat." After depositing the key in Alisea's hand, the dwarf turned and left.
"He's cheery," Karuu stated with more sarcasm than was necessary. He shook his head a few times in an attempt to clear his thoughts, but the exhaustion scrambled them just as quickly. Finally he gave up and opened his inventory. "Hey... Say, I never caught your name. I'm Karuu Spirit, this is my sister Alisea."
Upon entering the room, Kiraku found it to only contain two beds. He didn't much mind sleeping on the floor, however, as he had done so many times in the past out of sheer exhaustion. Or at least, he had in the real world as a high school girl. He lightly shook his head and sat down on the floor, against a wall near the back corner, a place where the candle light was faint, casting shadows over his already dark appearance and silvery hair. It was then that he noticed the other male of the group speak to him.
"The name is above my character if you were to look right about... now... but in any case, if you wish not to call me Kiraku, you can call me Kira or Rukokai...." he said in the same low voice from before. Apparently this would be his voice for the duration of this game, if infact it was a permanent thing. A quick flick of the hand opened his in game menu, he quickly going to the section that he hadn't much explored, a social section you could say. He was able to confirm on his end a request to become a small team with the room's other two occupants before going through what all he had gotten from the encounter with the slimes, he checking over his kill percents, money stock, and experience gained before deciding that his mind was too far worn for numbers and he would have to do all of his stat assignments in the morning.
Karuu was mildly surprised when the name appeared, along with a small addition to the party display in the corner of his vision. He glanced back at Alisea to find her flying through her menu. She was a step ahead of him there; that's why she was party leader. Karuu turned his attention back to Ruvokai Kiraku, or Kira for short. It was decidedly not Japanese, but was attempting to mimic the style. As much as that set Karuu's teeth on edge, he was too tired to care right now.
"Kira, you get window bed. Alisea always has to be closest to the door." Karuu's sword vanished into his inventory, followed by his breastplate, gauntlets, and boots. He sighed with contentment as his limbs were released from their stuffy confines, then fell back onto the door-side bed. Alisea slid under the covers beside him before removing her own gear, but left her staff propped against the wall within easy reach. Karuu worked himself under the warm quilt as well, then let the exhaustion overtake him. He didn't even hear when Alisea whispered "goodnight."
At first, Kira was confused as to why he was offered a bed at all, but then consented as he saw the two, who were obviously at least comfortable with each other in the real world, settle down in the same bed. With a faint sigh, the boy got up, and let himself drop down onto the bed, not bothering to take off his shoes, just falling asleep, letting the flickering light of the candle beside him shed light upon the darkest fears of his mind and dispel them as if they were naught more than mist.
