* * * REAL WORLD * * *

Waking to the heat of a greenhouse powered summer in yet another day of the mundane existence of unemployment, Sarah found herself hugging her blanket, which was moist with what she surmised had to be her own sweat. Her legs wrapped around them, she couldn’t help but enjoy the sensation. No longer plagued with any feelings of queasiness that had dominated the past mornings, nor the uncertain sensation of her stomach trying to decide to heave or not to heave, she tried to make the most of it while she still could. All too soon forced out of her clammy bed, making a mental note that it was way past needing to change the sheets, she dazedly made her way to the bathroom for the daily routines. Among those routines adding a splash of cold water in the face and checking on the dark lines under her eyelids, she was starting to feel better just by seeing that they weren’t as bad and she actually had gotten more rest.

The hum of the computer running greeting her as the only sound of her living room when she entered, she moved right on to the television, with remote in hand and a wide yawn heading over to the kitchen to get herself a glass of chocolate milk, it being one of few things her stomach tolerated early in the morning. Picking the usual channel and pouring herself a large cup, she settled on the sofa and spent the next hour just staring ahead of her, mind at zero conscious thought and the heat temporarily forgotten. Idly switching channels as the morning programs were either too childish, or too soapy, or too anything to really keep her interest, she lounged about, troubled with the severity of the way her life was going; the bills, the not having work and the boredom of it.

Concluding after the hour that she might just as well look for some escape from reality, it took her another half an hour to actually get moving, kicking an empty chips bag out of her path as she made for the computer, putting TV on mute and tossing the remote over her shoulder, not overly concerned where it might land. Checking a group of bottles settled within reach of the desk chair, she sighed deeply as only one remained half full, she made a mental note that she really ought to take care of the mess. Making a promise that she would see to it later, which it just kept becoming later and later, she switched on the screen and started up ‘The World’. Glancing over the mess that her desk was, a clutter of letters – bills for the most part – game manuals, a lost book, game packages and wrappers of snacks, she sighed deeply and pushed it all out of her mind. Gonna be lounging in the tavern today, it seems, Sarah Lensing thought to herself and shook her head, while grabbing the goggles and slipping them onto her head.

Logging in and putting the goggles over her head, there was a fading thought that this too seemed to have become a part of her daily routine, before Arinyes manifested herself while she slid down that long passage before she ended up in…

* * * THE WORLD: MAC ANU * * *

Glancing about the Chaos Gate area, Arinyes settled her staff on her shoulder and sauntered off, her mind filled with a load of troubles that another part of her dryly noted weren’t all that dissimilar from the other world’s problems. If it weren’t so grim, she might even have appreciated the irony, but as it stood… Jerking suddenly when she thought to have caught glimpse of a shadow, she looked about, finding nothing but emptiness behind her, save an adventurer running past, just having arrived. Following and looking at the back of the twin blade as he moved off further into the root town, at present fairly quiet, she once again turned to the direction of the Chaos Gate. Unable to find a sign of there being anyone there, Arin did feel as though she was being watched all over again.

Backing away slowly, she turned about and moved off quickly. Not sure who or what it was that was shadowing her yet again, she couldn’t say for certain whether she even wanted to know. Coming face to face with the Amazon or her two companions was undesirable, compared to ignorance, yet… while it had been a couple of days, she was more and more getting the feeling she was being followed. Becoming aware she was moving at increasing pace, bordering on running, she got herself back to walking at a calmer rate, but was soon enough speeding up again.

Furiously chiding herself on this stupid behavior, catching sight of something from the corner of her eyes, she fell to a complete stop and gaped in disbelief when she spotted... a person. Wearing a silver short skirt with pantaloons underneath, the left half pink and the right half soft blue, she wore shoes and a snug vest of aquamarine decorated with flowing lines of pink and blue, a white blouse with widening sleeves hanging loosely from her wrists. Though such an abundance of color barely would throw her off, it was the silver wand with a big purple glittering heart on top in her right hand and a large pointy hat with a wide brim of purple with an aquamarine band on her head, making her look like a cross between a witch and a fairy god mother and just making her hesitate as to what class she was supposed to be. Purple-pinkish eyes were combined by aquamarine eye shadow and a faint red lipstick. Green hair stuck from under the head, looking like most of it had been folded under the hat to keep much longer hair from getting in her face, a large silver pentagram hanging from an ear and dangling back and forth. On her hips a purple belt rode, holding a few pockets for what looked to be cards, while her vest was adorned with a number of small shiny brooches and a bracelet of purple stones dangling from her left wrist as she swayed her arms back and forth in her stride.

Watching her pass, not taking note of anyone or anything, Arinyes looked about her when she had turned down the bridge and passing over the highest point, before gliding out of view, wondering why no one else seemed to have taken note of her passing. Scratching the back of her head, she hesitated for a few moments, watching the hat beginning to sink behind the bridge, before deciding curiosity needed to be satisfied. Swinging her staff behind her back, she ran off after the… person…

Reaching the summit with ease, Arin didn’t need to look around much to spot ‘The Person’ walking off to her left, winding her way around characters that rushed along the canal’s main causeway. Leaping over the end of the parapet, Arinyes did some rushing of her own, curious just what she was about, but of all the rotten luck getting caught up in a press, nearly ran over by a mean looking heavy blade. Stomping on the foot of an exceptionally tall long arm, who threatened to actually go ahead with running over her, she scowled up at him and pressed herself out of the tangle, grumbling a few choice words about idiots with unpleasant things in their eyes and the places they should be dropped into.

Rounding the corner and finding ‘The Person’ standing at a dock, looking about and producing something from the inside of her vest, Arinyes came to a screeching halt and hesitated for a moment. Having gotten so far, it would seem a waste to let it slide now, especially considering she had to endure some indignity. Guessing there were worse ways of meeting people, blood pouring into her cheeks as a passing gondola reminded her of her first meeting with Ramako, she forced it down and ventured forward. “Um… hi,” she greeted, raising a hand for a quick wave, before snapping it down.

Usually not nearly having as much trouble with approaching people or striking up something of a conversation, Arin couldn’t shake the feeling there was something off about her that didn’t make her feel at all comfortable. Seeing the woman’s head swivel into her direction, after which she looked around herself and then again looked at her for a moment, Arinyes wasn’t sure when the woman resumed with looking in what she now noticed was a powder-box with a mirror. “Excuse me,” she said, getting a little closer.

Seeming to start, the woman snapped the box shut and stared at her. “Well, now…” she murmured and frowned. “Are you talking to me?”

Looking around, Arinyes raised her arms. “Well, it doesn’t look like anyone else is here to talk to,” she countered.

At that smiling, the woman retorted, “Good point.” Her expression darkening, she shoved the powder-box back into her vest and pulled one of her brooches free, which at the press of her finger expanded and warped into a strange device that looked like it belonged in some space age science fiction game, rather than the medieval setting of ‘The World’. “Can’t be that it is failing on me at this point, can it?” she mumbled to herself, pressing buttons, activating a holographic projection of a grid that was tilted in a manner that she had a good view herself. “Nah, they’d be on to me…” Remembering herself, she pressed several more buttons, getting some ridiculous bleeping response, after which she waved and said, “Ta.”

Watching her move off, Arin swung her staff about and threw the wand after her, having the head bump into the woman’s back.

Stumbling and catching herself, the strange witch turned about full of indignity. “What that are you…?” Reconsidering, she looked again at the device in her hand and frowned again. “This can’t be right.”

Having the woman walk up to her and pass her by, Arin could feel her anger rise, not sure why she should feel so offended, but certainly not taking it kindly just to be ignored. Running to get her staff and racing on after her, she ran just in view as the woman stopped behind a rough looking male long arm, talking to a male heavy axe in plate armor on the edge of the causeway. Approaching them, she stared in disbelief when the woman gave the unsuspecting long arm a nudge with her hips and pushing him into the water. At a loss for words, she stared at the witch as she simply moved aside and stood by, rocking on her feet with her hands locked behind her back while the heavy axe helped the unfortunate long arm get back out.

“What happened?” the heavy axe asked.

“I got pushed in,” was the shocked answer, the man looking around with wide eyes. His gaze falling onto her, he suddenly grew angry. “Looks like she is the culprit,” he went on, pointing at her.

“What? No!? It was her!” Arinyes protested, pointing at the witch. Seeing the men look blankly at where she pointed, while the woman raised a hand and wiggled with her fingers, Arin’s bewilderment grew when they rounded on her again, more angry than before.

“Let’s get her,” the heavy axe said, moving forward.

“What!? But…” she started, seeing the woman motion that she should run. Seeing that as the wiser course of action as the two warriors didn’t look like they were open for any reason, Arin spun about and ran for it. Her mind racing as she saw that up ahead there was a dead end and little causeway between her and the end, she looked fervently for a passing gondola to no avail. Moving with a lack of options, she ran on as she came up to the wall, trying to make one of those moves to run up a little and set off to leap over would-be pursuers. However, as soon as her body tilted to the horizontal, she was dragged into a downward motion and landed on her back… hard. Zoned out for a moment, she came to with two shadows looming over her, and her knowing she was in deep trouble if she didn’t think of something quick.

“Now we got you,” the still dripping long arm said.

“Or maybe not,” Arin retorted, swinging her staff at their ankles, the move catching them enough off guard to have them falling over each other. Rolling over and scrambling to her feet, she evaded a grasping hand and ran for it without looking back. Coming across the corner, she only looked around briefly to verify that the witch had split and ran on, meaning to run for the bridge and maybe hide just behind the edge to throw off pursuit, when at the crossing she noticed the typical hat bobbing just behind a trio of adventurers headed down to the bazaar.

Having some experience in throwing off some persistent pursuit down that way, she decided to get even with the damned woman for sticking her into a fix like that. Gods be damned, but she is gonna get an ear full! With those furious thoughts raging across her mind, she had to dodge left and right across the bustling bazaar just to keep her in sights. Managing to finally catch up to the woman when she turned down an alley between two stalls, she put a shoulder forward and braced for impact.

Sending them both sprawling, Arinyes used her advantage of the situation to get on top of the woman and pinned her down, giving her a slap across the face. “That’s for pulling that stunt! What the hell are you? There’s no way this game supports that weird device or… and how come they didn’t see you?” she demanded, in her anger grasping for words, while questions started pouring. There was definitely something not right with this character.

Laughing, of all the damned things, the woman pushed her off and got up, dusting herself off and picking up her wand. “I like your attitude… good eye and mind…” Eyeing her up and down, and looking as though she saw her for real for the very first time, she raised her brows in frown. “Oh my… a kindred spirit… but… no, not yet. Not yet.” Adjusting her hat, she scraped her throat. “You want answers, yes? That’s fine with me, but… you’re going to have to work for it. There’s a field on Theta Server. I’ll send you the name of it shortly.” Turning to go, she stopped and added, “Oh, and I suggest you bring some friends along.”

Watching her wave her wand in an elaborate pattern, before pointing at the wall, Arinyes squinted when the graphics rippled slightly and bright light began to seep out. The strange woman stepping into it, before Arin had the clarity to follow, the fabric straightened itself and was she staring at an empty alley with a corner at the end. Again scratching the back of her head and wondering what she had gotten into this time, she was at a loss. Bringing friends was all good and fine, but the ones that she had in her address book were… Hey, wait! When did I decide to even go through with this? Arinyes wondered. Taking a deep breath, she slowly let it out as she knew that she wasn’t going to back down from this. It wasn’t even a decision, it was more a compulsion to forge straight ahead, always up for challenges like these, if only to show the other party she wasn’t to be trifled with. Her words would’ve been: I’ll see your challenge and raise you tenfold.

Slowly heading back into the bazaar, she pondered just who to take along. Going into a field on Theta Server meant heading into a place that was high level. Higher than she was. Best would be to have some people along of high level, immediately scrapping Wrangle off the list of potential. Ramako was high level, sure enough, but with him she hadn’t fought out in the field, not to mention it was the last thing she was waiting for… giving that damned whipmaster… No! Not going there. Looking across her list of people she knew, she frowned at a tag marked ‘clan’ and opened it. Seeing at least a couple of names that she knew, she guessed she could count on them at least. “This is gonna be embarrassing,” she sighed, as she had parted ways with their leader on that venture with a slap in the face and Asuka with not the best of terms… “Ah well. At least I can claim I remember her name,” she told herself and chuckled dryly.

Blood and bloody ashes…

Steeling herself, Arin set herself to the arduous task of composing a flashmail.

With that on its way, she took a deep breath and decided it was time to head to the meeting point, wondering how long she was going to have to wait to decide they weren’t coming.

Raven lay down on the top of a room in a far corner of Mac Anu, staring up at the sky with no real purpose. He just had time to kill, and didn't feel like going out to a field for some reason. He just stared up into the sky, wondering about all the stuff he had been going through recently in this game. Sure he still had fun, but it also seemed to be getting more and more serious as of late. Not only was there the whole thing with Sanaho, whom he hadn't seen around recently, but Flamer's whole challenge as well. Neither of those issues had come up recently, and it had been a while since the last encounter with either of the two. On top of those though, he had been involved in a group that had been loosely refered to as the Eventide Crescendo. Raven had seen mentions of this group on the BBS, in several places actually, but usually in a negative context. There was also the odd thread that appeared inviting people to join in on their adventures. Those thread seemed to end up taken down very quickly though, and Raven never really got to read them. Despite that, he got e-mails from the group's leader every so often to tell him of their next quest. He had been to each one so far, but the more recent one bothered him. The things in those fields were on a level far beyond that of the normal game. The things there were so real, to the point where Raven found it hard to tell whether or not these things were actually real or not. He knew it was a game, but was it possible for the things inside of it to be just as real as something outside of it?

This thought had been bothering Raven since he got back from the last one, where he had actually been trapped inside the game for a brief moment while in the Defiler's lodge. The game had seemed real enough at the time, he had lost the sensation of holding a controller. He had been able to feel his avatar's clothing and weapon, as well as feeling actual pain when he was attacked. It had been a strange experience, but everything was back to normal now. Immediately after that, he had taken a bunch of other players to a hacked field to test them out for Fatal Exception. He had meant it to be innocent enough, just a simple test against slightly stranger than normal odds. Unfortunately, he had ended up putting them into danger without even realizing it. If Hacorie's entrance into the field was any indication of the situation they had been in, it had been almost as dangerous as one of the Eventide Crescendo quests. Raven was kicking himself over putting all of those players in danger, no matter how much Hacorie had tried to tell him that it had been nothing. He knew better than to believe that, mainly because he knew what kind of surprises the World hid underneath the surface. He was especially angry at himself as one of those people had been a good friend of his. He was more angry that he had put her in danger than anything else.

A pinging noise interupted his thoughts, and Raven sat up quickly. He opened up his mail folder and found the new message quickly. He stared at the member address for a moment, not quite sure what to make of it. The message was from Arinyes, the last person he expected to hear from. First of all, she seemed more like the loner type to Raven, despite the fact that she was now part of the same clan. Second of all, last he saw her, she slapped him across the face and walked off. It didn't seem very likely that she'd be contacting him again already, unless of course it was hate mail. He opened up the message, reading it over quickly to see what she wanted.

Oh, so she's asking me to come along to a field somewhere? Looks like she's inviting Asuka too, good. I wonder what she means by something we have to see to believe...? I hope she hasn't gotten herself into something really messed up... Raven thought with a sigh.

He stood up and brushed himself off, and then jumped down from the rooftop and onto the street below. He made his way slowly over to the Save Shop where Arinyes had said to meet her, and found that she was not already there when he arrived. He let out a bit of a sigh and leaned himself comfortably against the wall of the shop, crossing his arms over his chest and closing his eyes. Thankfully, it wasn't too long before a familiar voice filled his ears.

"Why, hello again." came the familiar femal voice.

Raven opened his eyes to see Asuka standing nearby, clad in her normal green armour with her spear over her shoulder.

"Hello, good to see you again so soon." Raven told her, nodding in greeting.

"Yes, though it seems it's under rather odd circumstances." Asuka commented.

"Yeah, I wonder what exactly she's up to today." Raven sighed, refering to Arinyes as he spoke.

"That girl is certainly an odd one... At least she remembered my name." Asuka sighed.

"More than can be said in my case...I don't recall her once refering to me by mine..."

"Well, at any rate, shall we find her then?" Asuka asked.

"Well, she said she'd be meeting us here, so I don't think we need to do much looking." Raven pointed out.

"Great. So we just wait here then, I suppose." Asuka sighed, slumping against the wall next to him. "What are the odds that she's just pranking us?"

"Considering that she usually likes to work alone...quite high I'd say. Unless of course she badly needs help with something..." Raven guessed.

"Well then. I suppose we'll simply have to wait and see." said Asuka.

"Indeed we shall. By the way, how are you doing recently?" Raven asked curiously, trying to strike up a conversation while they waited.

"I've been exhausted lately studying. I think I must've been in some sort daze when I even accepted this invitation..." Asuka told him.

"Yeah, I know the feeling. School's hard especially when you're trying to catch up after being away for a long time. I logged in for a break today, and ended up here." Raven ranted.

"Then let's hope that our friend has something interesting up her sleeve this time." Asuka said with a bit of a smile.

"Yeah, we can always hope..." Raven sighed.

He lowered his head and muttered the next part under his breath so that Asuka couldn't hear the next comment.

"I just hope it doesn't end up being as dangerous as the field from the recruitment..." he muttered.

Slowly the sky outside the window began to darken as the day was coming to a close. Despite the fact that the sun was setting, it was still exceedingly hot due to the recent heat wave. Rei sat on her bed going over some test materials and textbooks. She had exams coming up soon, and she was killing herself studying so much. It wasn’t all that bad, especially since Rei recognized the importance of getting good marks on her exams. That aside, studying had been easy for her for quite some time. However, her recent outings in The World had left her behind on her homework, and the distracting heat didn’t help things much. The simple fact was that she was falling behind in school, and she was desperately trying to keep up, if only to appease her mother, who would complain endlessly should she get even one bad mark. As she finished going through one of her textbooks, she let out a sigh and glanced over to her desktop. She hesitated as her gaze lingered on her computer monitor’s screen. She knew she shouldn’t interrupt her studies to play more, especially when it was the game that was putting her behind in the first place. With one more sigh deciding to rise from the bed and walk over to the computer. Powering on her PC, she wasted no time in double clicking the small icon and logging herself into The World.

Finding that once again she had assumed her digitized form, Asuka shook her head at her own weakness. The inability to resist this game was quickly becoming a problem, like something of an addiction. Regardless, there was something reassuring about the smooth, serene waters of Mac Anu. Asuka took in the scene with a reserved kind of awe, taking a physical form as a compulsive smile forming on her lips. The World was escapism at its most convincing; its most comforting. Anyone could simply dive into the virtual world and assume an entirely separate identity. Stopping to consider this and how it applied to her own circumstances, she thought maybe she should try actually role playing a bit more in this role playing game. As things stood, her character was merely her on the inside with a different outside projected on top of it and a name change. Asuka could essentially be Rei with a palette swap and hair extensions. Of course, Asuka also served as an outlet through which Rei could express the side of herself she never did in real life. After all, being the quiet, reserved girl that she was, she had never so much as dreamt of fighting large odd monsters with a an equally large spear. It was an impulsive, very active, and somewhat destructive side to the same old personality. It was a liberation from the plain, dull life that was at present growing very old indeed. These somewhat existential and philosophical notions came to a screeching halt, however, as a flashmail promptly arrived, catching Asuka’s attention. Opening it up, she looked over it carefully.

Closing the message with a sigh, Asuka thought about it for a moment. She wasn’t exactly friendly with the Wavemaster, but she wasn’t so much her enemy either. Indeed, the first sense of disdain that she had felt toward Arinyes had passed over the course of their long strange adventure together. Though Asuka had ventured into the recruitment as a means to get acquainted with new people and to meet again with her friend, Raven, it had been Arin that the Longarm had ended up spending the mot time with. Not quite sure enough of the Wavemaster’s mental perception of her to call it a favorable experience, Asuka was at least sure that Arin didn’t absolutely hate her either. The two girls, despite having met only once, had built quite the history, though Asuka wasn’t exactly sure whether to regard this information as good or bad. Considering how their last meeting had gone, with Arinyes dragging Asuka off to that seediest of pubs, and with the strange Wavemaster suddenly inviting her to help her with some personal matter, it seemed that she didn’t in fact harbor Asuka any ill will. Almost shuddering at the thought of the two of them being friends, heaven forbid, Asuka shook off her doubts and simply decided to go for it. After all, at the very least, Raven had been asked to venture along as well. Never turning down an opportunity to spend time with the only friend she had made in the game, save Tachibana, who had himself quite scarce since the last incident, Asuka stepped forward, at once catching sight of the familiar Blademaster lingering before the designated meeting place.

Walking forward at a brisk pace, Asuka stood before the black shrouded Blademaster in no time. He leaned against the shop with his eyes closed, seeming as weary as she felt, though he was likely simply contemplating whatever a person of his character contemplated. Rousing him from his apparent sleep with a friendly greeting, she called,
“Why, hello again.”
“Hello, good to see you again so soon,” he replied, nodding at her ever so slightly.
“Yes, though it seems it’s under rather strange circumstances.” Asuka once again found her mind wandering to the subject of the Wavemaster, and stopped to consider for a moment whether anything regarding the girl was normal.
“Yeah, I wonder what exactly she’s up to today.” Raven seemed to be reading her train of thought, though it wasn’t hard, considering it was all she could think of whenever Arin was around. Compounding this thought, Asuka added,
“That girl certainly is an odd one…” Stopping for a moment to remember the girl asking the meaning of her name as well as addressing the flashmail properly, she tossed in, “At least she remembered my name.” Walking in a short circle as Raven quipped about his own anonymity in Arin’s eyes, Asuka found herself becoming eager to find out just what the girl could possibly want.
“Well, at any rate, shall we find her then?” She asked, trying to instill her friend with the same feeling she had, when Raven was quick to point out that they had been asked to wait, and thus looking was unnecessary. Becoming somewhat disappointed at that thought, she threw her back to the wall and slid down it, sighing,
“Great. So we just wait here then, I suppose. What are the odds she’s just pranking us?” Asuka mused, considering something like out to be right out of the girl’s playbook.
“Considering that she usually likes to work alone…quite high I’d say. Unless of course she badly needs help with something…” Raven responded slowly, as Asuka again sighed to herself.
“Well then, I suppose we’ll simply have to wait and see.”
“Indeed we shall. By the way, how are you doing recently?” Raven’s question seemed somewhat out of the blue, but Asuka smiled nonetheless, finding it completely like him to ask.
“I’ve been exhausted studying lately. I think I must’ve been in some sort of daze when I even accepted this invitation,” she responded truthfully, again considering that she might shirk her own personality in favor of some persona in the future.
“Yeah, I know the feeling. School's hard especially when you're trying to catch up after being away for a long time. I logged in for a break today, and ended up here.” Raven’s tone seemed somewhat annoyed as he carried on, and Asuka smiled at him.
“Then let’s hope that our friend has something interesting up her sleeve this time.” Pulling her knees to her chest as she sat, letting time pass, she hoped that Arin would show up soon and give the two something to do.

Walking towards the save point with lead in her feet, Arinyes wasn’t sure what she would be happier with. Them actually showing, or just being stood up. Since the field was on a higher level server, there was wisdom in taking numbers along, though she had to admit taking a level three along might not be the wisest of choices. Didn’t mater how good you are when up against… We did take care of that golem, she reminded herself. That thing had the numbers on them easy and look how much good it had done. And there was still that weird witch. Surely she wouldn’t stick them into jeopardy, would she? She couldn’t be that bad. And just who did get me in trouble back there!? came a furious thought. She had been left to her fate back there, after all. That hardly could inspire any confidence in having so much of a chance of being helped out by her. And why am I feeling responsible for taking people along on this ride? You’re thinking too much like a leader, nitwit.

Yet, how could she not? This was her invitation. “Should you choose to accept this mission,” she mumbled to herself, her voice falling to nary a whisper as she went on, “any wounds and even death will be upon your own…” Sighing, she let her head hang, slowly starting her climb to the highest point of the bridge. She couldn’t do it, even if she wanted to. Asking people for assistance irreversably created a certain responsibility towards the person. Especially when it was in the interest of forming a group with the intent of going into potentially a hazardous area. “Guess Asuka would be gaping with disbelief if she’d hear that,” she snorted, coming to a full stop on the top of the bridge. Looking up and seeing two familiar figures waiting at her destination, she nearly droppedher staff in disbelief. “That was fast,” she gasped, looking around and wondering whether she should just run for it.

Already half turned around to head the opposite direction, Arin firmed herself and reminded herself that they had aswsered her request for aid. For better or worse, she would at least have to have a word with them. She had little to offer except that it could be dangerous, not even knowing what type of field it was, or much beyond that they had to go to Dun Loireag just to get there. Starting when a noise told her she had mail, she paused to read it, hoping to get a better idea of what she woud drag her potential companions into. Quick to note it was from Ramako, she opened it anyway, having no way of telling whether it was actually the message she had been waiting for.

Rolling her eyes, Arinyes let out a low and long groan. The reason she was evading him was because he did everything right! Bloody whipmaster that he was. Just thinking about him made her feel all… she hated herself for it. Her frustration turning to alert when the sensation of being watched fell over her, she snapped her head around, gaze flashing left and right to find the source. Unable to find it and guessing the observer had gone as the sensation faded, she uttered a few choice words and spun about, striding firmly for Raven and Asuka. Approaching them, she tried to calm her racing heart as she was there at the ‘do or die’ moment. Why did I have to put die in there? “All here… good. Hope you packed your lunches and brought some guts. We’re bound for Theta Server.”

“Theta, eh? Isn’t that a bit high level for us?” the dark warrior carrying a sword at his side asked, almost simultaneous with the girl long arm grunting, “Tell me you’re joking. I can’t survive in a field there!” Slightly caught off balance at such abrupt responses, all the more since she had absolutely no real response to it, she said, “Well…” scratching her nose. “There’s…” Thinking quickly, she went on, “Um… I got that covered…” at the same time mentally keeping her fingers crossed. Or maybe Sarah was.

Asuka was going to have none for it and at a display of sharp wit, she crossed her arms and asked, “And what exactly does that mean?”

Damn! Straightening herself for about as much height as she could muster, Arin tossed her staff across her shoulder and leaned slightly forward. “That—” she responded, hoping that she didn’t miss a beat this time—“I have it covered.” Yeah, that’s it. Don’t let em smell you sweat. Come on, grin. Trying to grin self assured, though by the looks of things she was failing, Arinyes felt an awkward silence coming on. Quick! Say something rhetoric!! “You think I’d be fool enough to go into a field if I didn’t have a chance to survive?” That’s the confident leader for you.

“Yes, actually…” the long arm said almost instantly, putting her hands in her hips, while Raven made a light shrug and replied as though a single thought, “You never know…”

Standing completely abashed, her mouth hanging open, the only word that really fit to this response softly echoed through her head, Shit. Pulling it back together quickly, she let the staff bounce on her shoulder. Okay, they got you there. Time for sticking it to them. Studying the two, her thought was, I’m so gonna end up going into this on my own. “In or out.”

First letting her gaze fall to the blademaster, who perhaps was going to prove the most helpful of the two, she waited intently for his answer, which came with a slow, “In I guess… not like I have anything else to do today…” And may your bowels move with the speed of the earth. Next turning to the bright and colorful girl, she made an impressive opposition by sighing and saying glumly, “I showed up, didn’t I?” Feel the cheer! Suppressing a heavy sigh and struggling against the urge of wanting to weep, it took every ounce of willpower for her to cheerfully say, “All good then.” Memo to me; hold puking until after we’re through this. For now, distract the eye. Twirling her staff a full two spins around her hand, she speared it for the city’s street stones and let it go. The weapon hitting it with a loud crack and bouncing right back up, she snatched it from the air and arced it in the direction of the Chaos Gate. “Next stop, Dun Loireag.” Taking off at full stride, she stopped and half turned round. “I suggest you save while you can.” Spotting Raven already doing that, her eyes fell to Asuka as she shrugged and sighed, “Fine, fine. Since my death here is practically assured, I might as well.”

Trying to give a reassuring smile, Arin made for the Chaos Gate at a light step, waiting for them to take care of the saving. As soon as they had gathered she immediately put through their transfer to the other server, hoping that with dragging them there, she was assured of them being signed up on this one-way trip to trouble…

* * * THE WORLD: DUN LOIREAG * * *

A brisk wind rushed among the small islands that seemed to float in an ocean of air. A closer inspection, and it was quickly evident that the islands, connected by planks upon which adventurers and strange beasts alike roamed, were in reality the high tops of a series of mountains. Several outcroppings rose even higher like jagged teeth into the sky, kites strung from large cords to fly on the omnipresent currents.

That being all what Arinyes saw in the first glimpse of materializing in the Theta Server Root Town, she walked away from the gate with a desire to see what more there was to behold. Blinking when her reverie was rudely interrupted by the sound of a mail being sent, she quickly opened it and blinked again, reading the message. Hearing from behind a comment from Raven that they were going to need resurrects, she turned around just when the long arm asked, “Where are we going, exactly?”

Coughing and scraping her throat, Arin stammered, “You two enjoy the sights a bit… I gotta take care of some business first.” Turning about, she ran as fast she could, cursing the damned witch for sticking her in an increasingly difficult situation…

Running towards the first bridge, keeping an eye on the mini map, Arinyes grumbled to herself. This sure was not going to go smoothly or even easy. Worse still was all that the extravagant woman had imposed on her, somehow having managed to give her a message without a sender or receiver, and to boot, passed over information to be already aware of her two companions.

“Well now… looks like you got yourself a couple of friends along for the ride there. Picking a blademaster of that level sure will be helpful, but that long arm…”

Running along the edge of the bridge, disregarding the sheer height and much else of the view, she nearly crashed into another adventurer, barely managing to spin around him and having to settle for hurtling over the back of a strange beast that looked a bit like a hairy pig with a huge talisman around its neck…

“… I suppose I’ll have to trust you on your judgment. She wouldn’t be there, unless you have confidence she can manage her own…”

Coming to a screeching halt in the middle of a small island that seemed to function as a junction, she looked around, trying to determine which way to go.

“… Now to lay out a couple of rules, or this isn’t going to be much of a game *chortle* …”

Starting off one way and reconsidering, she snapped her gaze towards the other bridge and leaping onto her other leg, ran off, hearing her bare heels bound across the planking. Stumbling when one seemed to give way a bit more than anticipated, she slammed her staff down to catch herself, moving on…

“… Rule one. No telling about me beforehand… Rule Two. No describing me period…”

Ending up at a dead end and frowning at a couple more of the beasts milling about, Arinyes spun about and headed down the other way.

“… Rule three. Breaking either rule or any rule that is yet to come will mean you’re on your own (and that is a bad thing)…”

Stopping by a group of adventurers, Arinyes stopped, asking for directions and got pointed off in a much further direction. Making a slight bow and whipping her staff across her back, she raced on…

“… Rule number four! Every game has loopholes in the rules, always remember that…”

Crossing yet another bridge, Arinyes leaped onto the balustrade and looked about, squinting as she finally saw what she guessed had to be her destination. Setting off with some relief, she hoped that she hadn’t wasted too much time finding her way…

“… Now, for your first mission, it’s collecting time. I left something with my dear friend Boris over at the Grunty Farm. He knows what it is, but… there’s always a but…”

Stopping at the final bridge, spanning the length to a farmstead settled in one of the jagged spires that was part of this mountain range, Arin took a deep breath and took a moment to regain some of her dignity after all the running around. Starting off and struggling to keep her pace calm, she knocked on the door and entered, finding an NPC going about some stables…

“… Boris has a habit to be less than cooperative at times. Good luck finding out how to get that package… Ta.”

The man looked to be robust with blond hair and blue eyes, not quite the thing she expected from the game. Most shopkeepers, bartenders and NPC citizenry tended to either have a look of elderly men or were fairly nondescript in their appearance. This one walked in tight pants and a sleeveless shirt that looked to be bought two sizes too small, making his bulking muscles show. “I am looking for Boris,” she ventured, approaching the NPC, who looked at her for a moment and returned to filling a drinking bowl at a box holding a baby version of the beasts she had seen outside. Guessing it to be a grunty, since the name of the farm seemed to imply a name, she tried to be patient, but had an urge to spin the man about and slap him in the face. “I am Boris,” the man replied curtly just when she had the urge winning. Halted in her building frustration, she felt it deflate again. “I was told you had a package for me.” Getting a look from the man, one that was cold and calculating, she stood her ground. “From who?” he demanded. At that feeling she was going to be in for it, she frowned in consternation. “I’m afraid I don’t know her name.”

“Describe her to me then,” he snorted. Opening her mouth only to draw breath, Arin looked away. “Can’t do that.” Harrumphing at that, the farmer grumbled, “What’s your name?” At that having a surge of hope, she quickly replied, “My name is Arinyes.” For a heartbeat thinking that she somehow had managed to obtain the package, it was short lived when Boris resumed his work with a brief grunt that had the inkling sound of, “Ne’er heard o’ ya.”

Letting her head hang, she sighed and rubbed her face. It sure has to end up to something like this, doesn’t it? Looking about in hopes that maybe she could spot whatever package she was supposed to pick up, she let that hope fly soon enough, as she hadn’t a clue what she was supposed to be picking up. “Are there many people that leave packages behind for others to pick up?” she asked, following the man as he moved about. Glaring at her with a flicker of annoyance, the farmer retorted, “No.” Nodding and grinning, she locked her hands behind her back, her horizontal staff swaying left and right as she swayed with her hips. “Did you have any packages by chance?” Nodding with a growing smile when his expression told enough, Arin tilted her head. “Think there’d be many people that would come calling for a package then?” Snorting, he turned back to his work. “So, please, could I have that package? I have friends waiting for me, and I’m not sure whether I can take too much time without them thinking… well, it’d not be nice if this took too long.”

“Well now!” the man brought out, turning to her fully for once and seeming all of a sudden a lot more companionable. “Why didn’t you say so before?” Reaching behind him, he somehow managed to produce a small chest and tossed it over to her. “Instructions are as follows. One for each, and read the whole thing loud on the scroll. The gate has a hearing problem…”

“The gate has what?” Arin asked, opening the box, while a number of questions shot through her head. Finding three badges, all gold with crystals in the heart, alongside a piece of parchment rolled up in a scroll, she frowned at them. What the heck is this supposed to be? Taking out one of the badges and turning it about in her fingers, she noticed there was an emblem of a wavemaster etched into the crystal.

“Be advised that from the moment you open the package, your second mission has started. To make it safely, you have only a three minute window of opportunity to enter safely,” Boris told.

Jerking her head up and towards the NPC, while seeing a timer had shown up, she stared blankly at a fat man with a thick moustache and further nondescript features and drab clothing. Looking around her quickly and stating she was the only person aside from the farmer, when she noticed a clock ticking away. “Blood and bloody ashes!” she gasped full of horror, seeing that she already was down by twenty seconds. Not even sure whether she would find her way back to the gate, let alone read what was on the scroll… Quickly looking at the box, the badges and the scroll, she pinned the one she had taken out already onto her tube top, snatched out the other two and with a toss of the container, grabbed hold of the scroll, letting the rest drop to the ground.

By the time it hit the floor, she was already in full flight for the door. Bursting out into the crisp mountain air, the wind hitting her squarely in the front, she struggled straight in it, all the way across the bridge. Turning away from the wind and having it from the side, she ran for dear life, not wanting to think of the repercussions of not making the – I swear, if you think it, you’re… – deadline. Never having known just how slow her character seemed to move, Arinyes was sure that Sarah sat shifting in her chair with growing restlessness. Nearly running over an unwary twinblade, by the looks of his motions not all that used to playing yet, she ducked in between the legs of a tall and broad heavy blade, in her mind screaming rape and bloody murder when it looked as though she was coming up against the morning rush hour. Dodging around so many, she finally got tired of it and started swinging her staff instead, managing to clear a path in short enough order, all the more when she swept the legs from under one particularly heavy warrior, whom took apart a small group and functioning as a bridge for her to cross. After clearing that having little other trouble, she swore lowly when she was down to the last minute when she finally got into view of the Chaos Gate.

Hurtling down the bridge, she quickly approached her comrades in harm and tried to sort out which badge was which, at the sight of a blademaster’s icon heading straight for Raven. “Here,” she said, pushing the badge into his hand, tossing the other one over to Asuka, whom snatched it from the air, probably out of reflex than anything else. Breaking the seal on the scroll and unrolling it, she heard the dark warrior ask the general question with a surprised, “What is this?” Absently replying, “Just put it on,” she read the contents of the scroll, her mouth slowly but steadily dropping open as her eyes quickly scanned the words. “Oh, fuck that! No way she is expecting—” her eyes shooting over the timer and noting time was fleeting, Arin knew she didn’t have time, much less a choice—“Goddammit.” Taking a deep breath, while reading the scroll again, she loudly called, “I am the avatar of information, invisible as a ghost. When I’m most needed I can hope for a passing glance at the most. Let the ingrates do what they want, I will always loudly boast. I AM THE GRAND DIRECTOR, I AM A STUPID CONFUSED SIGNPOST!”

Shaking with skyrocketing anger, Arin didn’t even dare look around. With her luck she would just have caused one hell of a scene. And why the hell aren’t there any ri…!! Suddenly the graphics rippled and did it feel as though they were sucked into light. Oh…, came the timid thought, interrupting the previous train of thought. Squinting against the brightness, suddenly she felt as though they were accelerating at impossible speeds. Her gaze drawn up as a shadow fell over them, her eyes widened with horror when a huge wall came rushing towards them at incredible speed. Covering her head, for as much good it would do to save her from the impact, when nothing seemed to happen, she carefully looked again and found they were floating through the usual loading stream, though as they were floating in it for rather a long time, it occurred to her there was static interference in her view. Just when she wanted to turn to her companions and ask a question, did she experience the usual transition into a field…

* * * Θ Stupid Confused Signpost * * *

Frowning when it weren’t the usual golden rings, but rather purple followed by magenta and closed by pink that passed her vision, Arinyes scratched the back of her head as she looked at the forest they seemed to have been dropped into. Her gaze rising to the sky, which was a darkish gray and looking like it might break out into rain and maybe even thunder soon, she narrowed her eyes as she thought to see something dark pass through the sky. Disregarding it, she remembered she hadn’t arrived alone and turned around to see whether they had made it alright, considering the strange ride they just had been on. “Are you two…” she started, when her gaze shot right between Asuka and Raven and fell onto a figure that could never be mistaken, “YOU!!” Bursting straight between the two warriors, she was on top of the witch before she had a chance to respond, getting her down on her back and landing on top, giving her a slap in the face. “What more bloody dirty tricks are you going to be pulling on us!? Do you have any idea what kind of a…?”

Giggling, the witch snapped her fingers and suddenly was gone from under her. “Such temper, dear. You make it all too easy,” came her voice from her companions, whom stood staring at her. If they had made any comments, she wasn’t sure whether she had even noticed in her anger. Waving a hand in front of Asuka’s face, the extravagant woman waved with it in a flourish as though to say ‘Ta-daaa’ in some smug manner. Adding to that a look of an adult making a child realize it should be knowing better, she turned her attention to the dark warrior. “Owww…” she purred and giggled giddily. “Tall, dark and handsome… looks like he’s close… not as close as you are, but I’ll keep that in the middle.” Shooting an offish glance at the spear warrioress, she shrugged lightly and remarked with a flat tone, “Not going there at all.”

“What? Close? Close to what!?” Arin demanded, scrambling up to her feet and nearly falling back when the witch was right in front of her. Looking cross-eyed at her finger wagging in front of her nose, she was of a mind to bite it, given the opportunity.

Seeming to catch on to her thoughts, the witch pulled her hand back, all the while smiling full of amusement. “Knew there was something about you. Well, then… rewards of the game! No game is worth playing at all if there isn’t something to be gained, after all. It’s simple. You perform tasks, or missions, and as a reward you get questions.”

“Questions?” Arinyes echoed uncertain.

Nodding, the infuriating woman circled around her. “Questions you can ask and get an answer to. It doesn’t matter what question, with a few exceptions. Such a secrets and the like. However, when you’ve been given an answer, the question is gone, so you’ll have to be careful what you ask. If it’s a secret you ask for, well, then you get to ask another question. Not all secrets are permanent and some may be answered if you find the right combination. And since there are limited things to do here, like in any good game, you’ll only find limited answers.”

Glancing over her shoulder, back at her, she arched a brow. “I cleared two missions. Question one; who are you? And my second question…”

Tsk-ing at her, the witch shook her head slowly. “ First mission had a reward, and you second question you just used to ask for something I would have told you freely if you hadn’t asked about it.” Laughing at it, she withdrew.

“That’s cheating!!” Arinyes accused the woman, her anger interrupted when there was noise in the brush all around and yellow eyes lighting up in the shadows. Gasping when several goblins came out, snarling and spitting, while waving around tiny daggers…

Finding herself at once thrust into unfamiliar territory, Asuka looked about as her boots met the soft grass of the Theta server root town, Dun Loireag. Her hair was blown about by an ever present breeze due to the high altitude, the Longarm looked about with a subdued interest. It was certainly a sight to behold, as was everything this game had to offer, but somehow she wasn’t as impressed as her compatriots. The sky city unfurled before her was truly a wonder of creativity, and spoke wonders for the programmers that designed it. However, she had grown attached to the sparkling waters of Mac Anu greeting her whenever she had logged in. It was particular soothing to set foot in the riverside paradise, much more so than her current surroundings. In fact, more present than wonderment was an odd thought that wandered into her mind as she looked at the clouds lapping the surface the enormous stone platforms they stood upon.
“What happens if it falls?”
Also seeming to dismiss the root town in his mind, Raven stepped forward and said, more to himself than anyone else present,
“We’re probably going to need a few more resurrects.” At this beginning to walk toward the item shop, Asuka gave him a nod before her turning her spear over and prodding the ground, turning loose stones and the like.
“Where are we going, exactly?” She asked the Wavemaster who invited them on this game of follow the leader, while still absently playing with dirt and grass.
“You two enjoy the sights a bit…” Came the response as Arin turned back, a look of unease crossing her face. “I gotta take care of some business first.” Turning and running off at top speed, she left Asuka staring confusedly after her. Raven too, stopped for a moment, watching her run off.
“O…kay…” He muttered, just as lost as Asuka. Shaking it off, he went ahead and proceeded to the item shop, leaving the Longarm stationary before the Chaos Gate. Sighing at the prospect of waiting for both of them, she twirled her spear before resting it softly on her shoulder as usual. Stopping to consider the Wavemaster’s state of mind, it occurred to Asuka that something strange was going on with the girl. She had always been strange, that was a given, but this was something different. It seemed that she was going out of her way to keep something from her party members. It seemed rather out of character for the Wavemaster. Certainly, everyone has things they’d rather keep to themselves, and Arin was no exception, but still, this seemed to be going a little too far. She hadn’t even offered them any explanation for inviting them, nor any information about the field they were to be visiting. It was a puzzling fact, and none of it sat well with Asuka. She mulled these things over in her head before the black cloaked Blademaster appeared and rejoined her in waiting.
“Back,” he said simply, stating the obvious. Asuka gave him a slight wave of the hand as she saw a commotion on a bridge ahead of them. Several players were knocked about before falling flat on top of each other in a mangled heap. Slapping her hand against her forehead when she saw that Arin was the cause of the wreck, Asuka could only hold back her comments, knowing she shouldn’t at all be surprised. Running up to them furiously, she shoved a small object into Raven’s hand and tossed another to Asuka. Reaching out to catch it reflexively, Asuka looked over the object in her hand. It appeared to be a small pin of sorts, something like a badge or a brooch.
“What is this?” Raven asked, speaking for both Asuka and himself. She stared at the thing in her hand, diamonds on one side, a carving depicting a warrior with a spear on the other, something told her it was hers specifically, with the other two being especially Raven’s and Arin’s. Her thoughts were interrupted as Arin cried loudly,
“I AM A STUPID CONFUSED SIGNPOST!”

Blinking silently as the sights and sounds of the forest suddenly overtook her senses, Asuka looked about at their new surroundings. It was a forest alright, everywhere she looked, there were absolutely mammoth trees blocking her view of anything deeper. Looking up, she caught sight of a patch of sky beyond the thick canopy, dark and gloomy, an omen of rain, or perhaps something more sinister. Considering that Asuka was almost certain that she was going to perish in a high level field like this one, she took the foreboding darkness more as ambience than anything else. Turning her attention back to the small pin in her hand she decided at least to make it so she didn’t have to carry it the whole time. Her armor being too thick to wear it like an actual brooch, she pinned the thing onto her skirt, near her right hip. Seeming to have forgotten they had come with her, Arin turned back to check on the Longarm and Blademaster, before her eyes shot wide with rage. She leapt between them, landing upon air and skidding a little on the dirt before slamming her palm across nothing. Asuka turned round quickly, having been startled by the sudden movement.
“What more bloody dirty tricks are you going to be pulling on us!?” The furious Wavemaster shouted into the dirt, getting no response. Asuka stared frightfully at Arin’s actions, thinking,
“Oh no. She’s finally actually snapped. That’s no good…”
Suddenly flinging her gaze toward Asuka herself, Arin stared with contempt, causing the Longarm to take a step back, attempting to brace herself should Arin next try to tackle her. After a few moments of horribly uncomfortable silence, the Wavemaster barked,
“What? Close? Close to what!?” In defense, all Asuka could do was raise her hands in a sort of shrugging gesture and shake her head. She had absolutely no idea what was going on. She had never even seen a truly insane person before, let alone known how to calm one down.
“Questions?” Arin asked aloud, prompting yet more confusion from Asuka. She wanted to look over and see how Raven was reacting to everything, and yet, she was afraid to take her eyes off of the demented Wavemaster, fearing she might get her throat ripped out if she made the slightest move.
“I cleared two missions. Question one; who are you? And my second question…” The Wavemaster called to thin air, trailing off as, Asuka could only assume, thin air responded, indeed, throwing the girl into a rage.
“That’s cheating!” She shouted. Asuka stepped forward, finally working up enough courage to try something.
“Relax! Calm down. Who’s cheating? Who are you talking to? Are you feeling-” She was cut off as a huge mass of goblins came flooding out of the shadows beyond every one of the trees and began to surround the group of three.

Cursing their timing but praising her luck as they appeared to be nothing more than the average, garden-variety goblin, she raised her spear defensively as the first of them descended upon her. It brought its butter knife-looking dagger down on the pole of her spear, and she responded by tripping it up, sliding her foot under its own, sending it to the ground. Letting out a pitiful cry as she jammed her spear between its vertebrae, it seemed to summon more of the little things to surround her. She pulled loose her weapon and rammed it into the heart of another goblin, only to have something unusual happen. The goblin let the blade slice through its body, only to grab hold of the pole, effectively keeping it in place and rendering it useless. Three of the tiny, malformed creatures ganged up on her and each began to swipe away at her legs with their equally tiny blades. As they scraped away scants bits of flesh, Asuka clenched her teeth, trying desperately to pull her spear free of the scapegoat keeping it lodged in his body. Finally, with one, powerful yank, the spear came flying out, startling the Longarm with how light it became when not held down by a goblin corpse. Assuming something of a batting stance with the spear, Asuka swung the weapon as hard as possible in a crescent arc, taking the heads of the three goblins unfortunate enough to have thought attacking her was a good idea. Her spear came to an abrupt stop however, as a loud clang rang in her ears. Turning, she saw her blade stopped between the blades of a much bigger, tougher looking goblin. This one had thick, gray skin stretched tight over its bulging muscles. Where the other goblins were gangly and almost skeletal in build, this one was ripped. Its face was deeply scarred all over, and its only defining feature was the large red gem seemingly acting as the beast’s eye. It carried a set of what looked to be Steel Blades, the average starting weapon for a Twin Blade, which caught Asuka’s attention. Yanking her weapon free of the thing’s blades, she swung at it forcefully, only to have her blade meet with air. She looked around frantically to relocate her new opponent, and her eyes widened in shock when she did find it. The goblin was doing a hand stand using the very tips of its blades, which was amazing in and of itself, especially looking at its perfect balance. The astonishing thing, however, was that this bulky goblin with Twin Blade weapons was doing a hand stand on its blades tips on the pole of her spear. Asuka couldn’t even breathe in the face of the impossible stunt. Taking advantage of this, its gem-eye gleaming, the goblin hopped into the air, pushing off with its blades. On the way back down, it turned its blades horizontally and gripped the pole with its hands. It swung forward like an Olympic gymnast and kicked Asuka hard in the stomach. The Longarm flew backward, taking out a few of the small beasts in her wake, and hit the ground with a crack, her HP dwindling low enough for concern. The hefty goblin picked up her spear and tossed it at her, almost mockingly. It spun on the ground before stopping at her feet, as she rose from the attack, lucky that her neck hadn’t been broken.
“What the hell is that?”

As Raven returned from the item shop, he let out a deep sigh when he saw that Arinyes had not returned as of yet. Asuka sat waiting near the Chaos Gate, so Raven made his way over to her and sat down nearby. They both sat in silence for several moments, and Raven tried to come up with some topic to start a conversation. He was coming up with nothing, and she didn't seem to have anything to say either, so he just left it at that. After a few more minutes, Arinyes returned, carrying a few things in her in her hands. As she reached the two of them, she shoved the object into Raven's hands forcefully, and then tossed another at Asuka. Raven studied over the small object in his hand, seeing that it was a broach of some kind. On it was the symbol of a swordsman, a perfect fit for Raven, but not an item he had ever seen before. Raven raised an eyebrow as he looked at it, and shifted his gaze up to Arinyes.

"What is this?" he asked, obviously speaking for both himself and Asuka considering the confused look on the longarm's face.

"Just put it on..." came the response.

Raven did as he was told with a sigh, hoping that there was an actual reason to this and it wasn't just for aesthetic purposes. He pinned it to the portion of his cloak that wrapped around his shoulders and looked back up to Arinyes as she opened up what looked to be a scroll. She read over the text, and seemed to mutter a few things to herself as she read it. Whatever was written on the scroll, she didn't seem to happy about it.

Wait...why would the keywords for this field be written on a scroll? Wouldn't they just be saved in her list of usable keywords when they were given to her? That means that this field wasn't shown to her in a normal way...is it some special event, or...? he wondered, his thoughts trailing off as he thought of all the many things that it could be that he really would rather not have to deal with.

Arinyes finally closed the scroll and looked up the gate, her expression one of someone defeated.

“I am the avatar of information, invisible as a ghost. When I’m most needed I can hope for a passing glance at the most. Let the ingrates do what they want, I will always loudly boast. I AM THE GRAND DIRECTOR, I AM A STUPID CONFUSED SIGNPOST!” she yelled loudly.

Raven and Asuka both stared at her for a moment, not quite sure what to make of the little display. Was it supposed to be funny? Was it a joke of some kind? The embarassed and angry look on Arinyes' face didn't help much to discern that. However, seconds after she had said it, a set of gold rings descended over them and warped them away to a field. What set them down were not the same gold rings though, but instead, a set that were purple and pink, getting brighter in colour as they went. Raven looked around at the thick forest they had appeared in, and then up at the dark, cloudy sky above them.

Looks normal enough...but what the hell was with the keywords? First off, it was a bit long of a speech just to be the standard three word combination. Not to mention I've never heard of any of the final keywords...Stupid, Confused, and Signpost? I've never seen a field with any of those keywords, and I doubt CC Corp would use most of them...except maybe Signpost of course... Raven thought.

Arinyes seemed to be trying to settle her temper for a moment before she finally turned to look at Raven and Asuka.

“Are you two…” Arinyes began, before he eyes went wide, staring at a spot between the two of them. “YOU!!”

Arinyes rushed between the two of them shoving them apart from one another and slapping the air in front of her. She seemed incredibly pissed at something, leaving Raven wondering exactly what was going on.

“What more bloody dirty tricks are you going to be pulling on us!? Do you have any idea what kind of a…?” Arinyes began, stopping as if she was cut of by someone else.

Raven looked around for a moment, trying to see what the hell she was talking to, but failed to see anything. He wasn't sure what to say to her current behaviour, but figured maybe she was talking to someone in real life right now. They were in a game after all, maybe she was talking to someone at her house, and they could hear her over the microphone. That didn't explain the sudden rush of movement though, but he figured maybe she had just dropped the controller. She did seem fairly surprised by whoever it was after all. Arinyes still seemed to be in game though, her eyes darting back and forth between Asuka and him now.

“What? Close? Close to what!?” Arinyes asked loudly.

Raven wasn't sure what she was refering to, but he got the feeling that it somehow involved him more than it did Asuka. His theory about her talking to someone in real life was beginning to hold less and less weight with the fact that she was still moving, and seemed to be well aware of the two of them standing there.

“Questions?” Arin asked aloud, making Raven wonder exactly who she thought was talking to her.

Her eyes were focused somewhere else completely, but Asuka and Raven were the only ones there.

“I cleared two missions. Question one; who are you? And my second question…” Arinyes trailed off.

She paused for a moment, and Raven could only assume that either someone was talking to her, or she was hearing voices. She was also seeing things obviously, since she was looking somewhere completely different from her two teammates. For all Raven knew, she was talking to one of the trees.

“That’s cheating!” She shouted at last, a response to whatever she thought was being said to her in response to her last comment.

Asuka seemed to step forward, being the first of them to ask the Wavemistress about he conversation with no one.

“Relax! Calm down. Who’s cheating? Who are you talking to? Are you feeling-” Asuka began.

She was interupted only by the sudden shaking of the ground, and the fear of what that usually meant. Raven had only experienced something like this once before, but it had not lasted long before a server crash. It was a stampede, a stampede of monsters. A large number of Goblins rushed out of the forest, barrelling right towards the trio at full speed. Raven drew his sword, and saw that Arinyes seemed to be of a good enough mental state to see them coming as well.

So she's not totally delusional...but do hallucinations tend to only take the form of one small object and leave the rest of reality totally untouched? Is it possible there really could be someone that she was talking to? Weirder things have happened I guess... Raven thought.

As the Goblins approached, Raven noticed that all of them held twin daggers in their hands. This was an oddity for Goblins, but then again, this was a new server for him. As the first Goblin rushed for him, Raven took a swipe with his sword at thing, only to have it leap over his blade and come at him from above. Raven jumped forward and spun in the air, taking another swipe at it that resulted in nothing more than a clash of blades. The monster pushed off of Raven's sword and did a flip in the air, coming down right at his feet. Raven shoved a foot right into its face as it landed, feeling some form of bone breaking under the weight of his heel. As that Goblin began to fall backwards, another one jumped up, landed on its face, and pushed off right for Raven's head. Raven swatted it out of the air with his sword, and pointed a glowing yellow hand at the airborne target.

"Rai Rom!" he called.

The small ball of electricity left his hand and hit the monster in the chest. It expanded around the beast, locking it in a sphere of electrical energy. Raven kneeled and grabbed the first Goblin by the arm and chucked it full force into the aerial sphere. It hit the side of the small barrier and began to convulse as the attack shocked it as well as holding it there until it vanished.

"Okay then...these things aren't so tough..." Raven muttered, almost confidently.

Another one came at him with a flurry of swings, each one missing Raven by millimetres as he tried to dodge the quick attacks. He jumped back and the little monster ran for him full speed. It stopped with its blades centimetres from Raven's face though, its eyes wide with pain as it looked down. Raven's sword was stuck through its stomach and right out the other side. The Goblin had run itself through on the blade when it tried to attack.

"If you're going to come at me in a straight line like that...at least remember that my weapon is longer than your's when outstretched..." Raven sighed, pulling the blade upwards and through the monster's skull.

The bloody mess of a monster fell to the ground and vanished like normally would happen. It was a far cry from what Raven was expecting, weird fields usually didn't have monsters that vanished like normal. Raven breathed a sigh of relief, only to see another wave of the things coming after him.

"Here we go again..." Raven sighed.

Swiping at the first goblin fool enough to get within her reach, Arinyes growled lowly. Just bloody great! Finding herself all to quickly surrounded, she swiped left and right, well aware that the witch was standing back and not doing a single thing. Surprised when her weapon got caught as her attention lay on the infuriating woman, she turned back in shock and found a goblin had actually grabbed her weapon and hanging from it, quickly helped out by a pair of others, piling on top of the first one. “Bloody hell,” she grumbled and saw four more move in with weapons ready to strike.

“Doesn’t look good,” the witch observed. “Don’t tell me that’s the limit of your…”

“Juk Rom!” Arin snapped, centering herself in the eye of the vortex, blowing away all the goblins. Wresting her weapon free from the pile of goblins with a vicious tug, she slapped several times on the trio of offenders. Giving one a good kick and sending it rolling off the pile in the usual fading manner of monsters dying, she could see reinforcements were quick to follow in increasing numbers. Smacking yet again the first to enter her reach and sending it bouncing into two others, her brows shot up when the two braced the first and helped it back to its feet. “That ain’t right,” she muttered and danced around a pair that obviously intended to catch her between them. Knocking one into the dirt and stepping on its head, she tried to hit the other one, completely off guard, but met with another blade, blocking her swing. Not having time to be surprised, she had to back away from another coming in from her flank with the sharp end of the dagger leading the way.

“Last I checked wavemasters use magic, not hand-to-hand combat,” came the colorful woman’s voice from right beside her.

That’s it! she thought furiously and spun about, weapon leading. By the sheerest of luck knocking a goblin that came hurtling in her direction right out of the air, with the woman completely lacking from sights, she reminded herself quickly that she had three in her back, if not more had joined. Making a backward flip, catching herself so much off guard at performing the motion that she immediately landed on her fanny as soon her feet touched soil, she blinked dumbly as her mind still tried to process what just happened. Her eyes widening when she spotted one goblin running up to her, she let herself fall back and kicked out as hard as she could with her feet, seeing it double over before being thrown back. Using the counterforce of the impact to roll backwards to her feet, she looked around and saw they had completely surrounded her, weapons at the ready and seeming to wait for an opening. Gods, this isn’t good, she thought bleakly, not feeling much for using more SP than she needed to on this lot, and taking note she hadn’t gone through all this without some damages. Just as she was about to give up on leaving the skill points for what they were, Asuka came flying past, taking away a wall of five or six goblins, causing a bit of a ruckus among the other standing monsters. Seeing her chance to make quick order of the things, she heard the long arm exclaim, “What the hell is that?”

Looking from her to the way she was looking, Arin swung her staff nonchalantly wide towards her left, knocking an advancing gob in the face which she had been well aware of long before it tried to sneak up on her, her eyes fell to a large darker goblin with twin blade weapons. “What the hell!?” she blurted out all the same, gaping when the beast turned her way, one regular eye and one gem-for-eye locking onto her. “Oh, shi…” she started when it started to move, and moving fast. Barely having the time to move, her only instinct was to swing at it, barely able to register it hooking the blades behind the weapon she brought to bear and using it to fling itself high into the air. Just following its flight up as though she lost any sense of combat, she stumbled back when it came diving into her direction. Caught squarely in the chest when it made a rebound from a handstand and setting its feet into her chest, she only grunted when the air was forced out of her lungs when it pushed off again and went on into a somersault, seeming to head off for Raven. Rolling over her other mind kept insisting that she didn’t have the wind knocked out of her, scrambling back to her feet while spots played in front of her eyes. “Repth,” she muttered with a hoarse throat, dropping the healing spell on the girl as she looked to be in worse state. At that involuntarily drawing back the wrath of the twin blade goblin, Arinyes decided not to let the thing get any more chances to get in close and lunged ahead instead, only to watch it leap on top of the cross-shaped head of her electric wand and using it to go into a back flip, weapons forcing her to lean back a little. Realizing that was only part of its intentions, she leaned away, and had to settle for a hard kick against her shoulder, the sickening sound of several bones shattering reaching her ear, while an assault of pain sent her a clear message that the other foot had kicked against the collar bone to send it flying away, launching itself yet again into the blademaster’s direction.

Futilely swinging blindly left and right with her good arm, she yelled, “Raven! Behind you!!” After that healing herself and cursing herself for having to drain herself from about half her useable skill points, the relief of her bones mending themselves had her head cleared soon enough to see she was in a precarious sort of fix, with more goblins swarming around her. Letting her head hang back, she sighed, “Oh, crud,” with the infuriating epitome of eccentricity’s laughter ringing in her ears…

Raven continued to fight with the little goblins, trying to keep up with their movements and hit them. On their own they were pretty weak, going down in only a couple of hits usually. However, it was the large numbers they came in that bothered him. He hacked away at the little bastards for a while longer, watching his health points drop bit by bit from attacks from behind. There was no end to them it seemed, and they were all around him.

"That's it! Rai Rom!" Raven yelled.

He aimed for the ground at his feet, and the electric barrier blasted outwards around him. The goblins surrounding him were shocked silly as they were caught in the expanding sphere. Many of them vanished, but some managed to hang on for a little while. Of course they all started vanishing as Raven landed his foot upwards into their jaws one after the other as they swaggered around from the shock they just endured. As Raven beat down that group, yet another came after him. The first of them to appear jumped up on its ally's head and used it to launch itself at Raven. Raven guarded against its weapons, and kneed it hard between the legs before flipping it over his head. It landed on top of another of its friends, knocking it to the ground as well. Raven spun and slashed upwards, taking off the hands of another goblin right behind him. The thing screamed as its hands and weapons fell the the ground, but went silent as Raven put his foot into its face as well. It fell to the ground, and Raven spun with his blade out to try and cut into as many as he could. He managed slash a few across the chest, but many simply blocked the attack. He kept hacking away at the monsters until there were almost none of them left, and used a strategically placed foot to the head wherever he could. Once the majority of the things were out of Raven's way, he started to turn around to check out how everyone else was doing when he heard Arinyes voice.

"Raven! Behind you!!" she yelled.

Raven turned to see a much larger, and darker skinned version of the Goblins coming his way. The thing had its blades out, and took a few swipes at Raven the moment he saw it. He deflected the attacks quickly with his blade, and took a swing at the monster. It leaped over his sword though, and tried to come down on him from above. Raven blocked the attack quickly, both of the Goblin's blades grinding against his sword as its weight came down on him.

"Oh no you don't..." Raven muttered.

A sort of black fire lit up over his sword, signalling that the monster would not like what was coming next.

"Ani Crack!" Raven yelled.

Raven suddenly seemed to grow in strength, and slashed his sword upwards, focing the monster back into the air. A wave of black energy followed and flowed from Raven's blade as it and the energy cut into the goblin's rough hyde. The monster hit the ground with a bit of a stumble, not quite managing to catch its balance. Before it had even landed though, Raven already had a glowing yellow hand pointed where its shadow was being cast on the ground.

"Rai Rom!" he yelled.

The vortex of electric power hit the monster and sent a shock of electric power up its body. With all the damage it had taken in just those two attack as well as whatever else the others had managed to do to it, the thing started to bolt, leaving the rest of its allies behind.

"Don't let it get away." yelled Arinyes.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm on it..." Raven sighed.

He rushed after the monster, but it was far faster than he was. It managed to put a bit of distance between him and itself, and Raven stopped as he knew he couldn't catch up to it. Arinyes' voice cut through the air though, not giving up as Raven was.

"Vak Boom!?" she yelled.

The monster went up in what could only be described as a nuclear blast, a huge exposion followed by a mushroom-like cloud of smoke. Raven stared at the scene, and then over to Arinyes.

"Vak what?! Is that even a real skill?" Raven asked.

Wave after wave the goblins came, throwing themselves upon Asuka’s blade without regret, all simply looking to put an end to her for good. The healing spell from Arinyes came upon her with a refreshing blue light, bringing her back up to speed against the rotten hoard. One of the little things leaped at her with the intent of tearing her face to shreds, but a quick circle and a flick of the wrist had her weapon tracing an arc in the air the shape of the crescent moon and flinging the small creature across the field spinning like a high power drill. Nonetheless, the beasties continued to press forward, seemingly making the Longarm their favorite target. She twirled and twisted round and round all the while arcing her spear back and forth in the motion of a pendulum. The goblins fell to her feet in droves, forming stinking decayed piles all around her ankles, almost a barrier to the remaining goblins still stupid enough to attempt to fight back. Asuka stabbed one of the skull of one of the things, causing it to drop its weapon as a bloody foam gurgled forth from its mouth. She wasn’t quite done with it however, hefting her spear into the air and swinging it full circle, using the body of the one goblin to bowl over the other that had rounded on her. They all fell back, thoroughly stunned, and the Longarm finished her attack by smacking one of the little guys with her gob-flail, sending both of them flying into the air. Spinning her spear aside, its blade coming rest cleaving one of the fallen monsters between the eyes, and thrust her free hand toward the fallen goblins.

“Vak Kruz!”

With a flourish of red flame, the two bodies burst into a powerful explosion that scattered smoking chunks of blades, armor, and the goblins themselves, in every direction. The charred remains of the things collapsed upon the forest floor, not even sparking up the grass they lay on. Asuka ran toward them, giving her some distance from the recovering mob she had left on the ground. She came to a stop on top of the blackened gobs, feeling extraordinarily thankfully that the smell of burned goblin flesh had, ever so thoughtfully, not been programmed into the game. The goblins came for her one after another once more, feeling excited to resume their campaign to grind her into paste. However, one of the things had succeeded in sneaking up behind her and stabbed its chipped and broken dagger into the back of her knee. With a sudden gasp of pain and surprise, Asuka dropped to the ground, disheartened that the weak points of the human body having been programmed into the game. Reaching back with one forceful hand and seizing up the tiny beast that had stabbed her, she pulled it loose of its weapon and threw it at its oncoming comrades. She was about to take advantage of this goblin bowling, when suddenly a heavy force collided with her right shoulder blade, throwing her a few feet forward and draining a good deal of HP. Looking back with a confused astonishment, she saw the gob acrobat charging toward Raven; apparently she had been in its way. She was about to warn her friend of the coming danger, but Arin took the liberty, crying out sternly,

“Raven! Behind you!”

Asuka scrambled to her feet with the intent of double teaming the super monster with Raven, and began to rush forward, though she was moving slower than she should have. She quickly realized it was the dagger still embedded into her knee, draining her health every second it remained in place. She ripped it out and flung backward, nailing an advancing goblin in the forehead with it. One quick Repth later, she was rushing over to Raven’s aid, though he seemed to fair better against the dark opponent than she or Arin did. A crack of thunder erupted from the darkening sky right on cue as Raven unleashed a whirling torrent of electricity, shocking the super goblin repeatedly en masse. Asuka skidded to a stop before the tornado of energy and pulled back her blade as if preparing to knock a baseball out of the park. Right as the lightning faded, however, the goblin took off at top speed, and Asuka’s powerful swing very narrowly missed the its torso, as well as very narrowly missing taking Raven’s head off. She shot him and apologetic glance as she ran for the goblin, just as Arin shouted,

“Don’t let it get away!”

Raven chased after the beast as well, though he was just a tad slower than Asuka was. It didn’t matter how much faster she was, however, as the goblin still managed to stay just beyond her reach. She swung wildly with her spear, leaping forward and thrusting in an attempt to just catch it. She failed however, as the monster proved just too fast for her, not to mention the force of her swings was actually pushing her slightly backward, effectively increasing the distance between her and it. She didn’t want to give up on the chase though, as Raven seemingly had, falling behind a short time ago, and pushed as hard as her character would let her. However, Arin’s voice again pierced the air, crying out,

“Vak Boom!?”

Asuka saw a twinkling red light similar to that of her own fire spell, only this one was far more powerful than she could’ve imagined. A huge explosion erupted from nowhere, scorching the earth and plant life all around it, not to mention incinerating the goblin, reducing it to nothing but ash and dust. The explosive force sent Asuka flying backward for the third time in the battle, this time sending her tumbling and slamming her against the trunk of a tree. Regardless of the damage she received, she stared in awe of the explosion, still lingering on the field, converting to thick black smoke that covered the area. A smile slowly crossed Asuka’s soot covered face as she turned toward Arin.

“How long were you saving that?” She asked, slowly rising from where she was sitting, stumbling a little as she attempted to stand up straight.

Half distracted by hearing the thrice be damned witch laughing, Arinyes was unable to keep herself from being surrounded yet again after shouting her warning to Raven. Feeling as though all the remaining monsters had come after her, she had difficulty finding a way to break her precarious situation, as her back would always be unprotected surrounded on her own. And with these little tykes, she was sure to be attacked from behind time and time again. Glancing around, feeling sweat bead on the front of her head, Arin thought quickly and started to smile tightly when she realized it was so easy. If the attacks would come from behind, then behind her was what she had to protect and be ready for. Making a feint to one direction, she abruptly spun and waved with her staff, bonking two heads and a dagger, sending one spiraling towards the ground. Reversing the staff in her hand, she brought down the relatively sharp end into the fallen monster’s throat. Immediately jerking back, she let it slip under the crook of her arm, meeting with something firm enough to collide with. Not bothering to have a look as motion caught her eye on the right of her, her vision actually being capable of seeing beyond the shoulder without needing to turn her head. Her ability to measure distance being a whole different thing, that far beyond the normal edge of clear sight, she leaped into a spin, her staff nearly escaping her grasp as it stuck behind whatever she had hit behind her on the way up. Managing to come out of it at a good height, looking down at the group, she pointed to a cluster down below and muttered, “Rai Don.” With the lightning crashing down in the group, she pointed into another direction on her descent and sent a leaf tornado crashing into a row, coming down on top of a pair of goblins, cutting her legs as she dropped in.

“You sure do a quick job at getting yourself into trouble,” the witch remarked, standing over her.

“Repth,” Arinyes hissed, the glow fixing the nasty gashes in her legs and making them functional again. Letting both come down in the chest of the first one, she swung her staff wildly, a little disappointed when the thrice be damned woman merely stepped back. Finishing the swing to split the skull of the other goblin, she rolled backwards and back to her feet.

“Looks like we’re running out of goblins.”

Slapping the last monster down, she spun about and growled, “What?”

Pointing off at the big one, engaged with Raven, the witch smiled. “Without any backup, that one will make a run for it. Better tell them not to let him escape.”

Watching it fly and actually dodge a magic spell thrown at it, Arinyes hesitated just a little, watching the thing already about to make a break for it. “Don’t let it get away!” she yelled, while it the ground running. Watching it move with that same damned speed, she held little hope that any of her spells was ever going to land on it. “Just what the fuck is going on here?” she grumbled, racking her brain for something she could possibly hope to do. Just as well, what was with the monster in the first place? Things just didn’t seem to add up.

“Yell Vak Boom.”

“Vak Boom?” Arin yelled in frustration, seeing the witch raise her heart-shaped wand, which lit up. Next drawn to the sound of an explosion, she gaped in shock at the sight of a small nuclear explosion with mushroom cloud and all. Feeling a hand shutting her mouth with a gentle push, she wanted to turn to the witch, but had Asuka already drawing her attention. Looking quite comical with soot on her face making her eyes stand out, her voice sounded nearly enthusiastic when she asked, “How long were you saving that?”

Taken aback, other matters kicked in when she saw the long arm stumble. “Repth,” she sighed, healing the girl. “Try and be a little more careful. We’ve no way of knowing what else lies ahead.” Can’t believe I just said that. Turning full of wonder towards Raven, she wasn’t too surprised to find him none the worse for wear. He still was the ranking character. “Right… who are you?” she demanded, only glancing at the witch from the corner of her eye.

Laughing, the colorful woman pointed at the long arm. “You shouldn’t be so rude to your party members. She did ask you how long you had been saving that…”

“Dammit! Answer the question! You owe me one, and you damn well know it!!” Arin snapped. “Stick to your end of the deal, or else!”

“Well, now…” the witch mumbled. “What to do, I wonder.” Chuckling at what must seem like some sort of joke to her, she leaned in closer. “All right… who I am…? I am Mahou. Venture onward and we’ll meet up again soon.”

“What? Wait…” Arinyes started, but faced only empty space. Turning back to the long arm’s intent look, she hesitated what exactly to tell the girl. She was still under the terms of not being able to tell about the witch Mahou, yet how could she possibly…? “Well… don’t expect it to happen often,” she hesitantly answered, guessing that sticking with as much of the truth would be best. “It’s, uh… well, it’s… somewhat dangerous to use, y’know?”

Looking quite perplexed, the Asuka’s brows drew together. “Yes, clearly. But still, I’d like to know how you got a skill like that. It doesn’t even sound like a real one…” Taken a little aback by it, Arin had little space for thinking when Raven was right on top of that with, “Yeah… who or what did you have to kill or alter to get that?” Staring between the two, she knew her mind was running in circles without getting anywhere. Running a hand through her hair, she sighed. Bloody woman really put me into a fix here. “Well, I still have to kill…” she started, catching herself on speaking her mind. “Um… never mind what I said,” Arinyes quickly added, in the same breath rambling on with an ever tighter face, “I think we should get moving…” Breathlessly peering about her, with the last of what she could actually bring out before she had absolutely no air left to make her vocal cords work, “… unless you wanna wait for another group?” For several frantic heartbeats finding difficulty in drawing breath, somehow she managed to do it without making any telltale noises of the kind when the blademaster for a change sided with her. “Hmm… I agree with that…”

Watching the girl get up and pat herself down, among which rubbing some of the soot off her face, Arin desperately hoped she would get out of this one unscathed. How was she supposed to explain all these strange events if she wasn’t even allowed to tell about…? Bad idea, don’t go there, another part of her reasoned simply. So, it was Mahou… Mahou the witch… Maybe even a bi…

“Yes, let’s go,” the long arm stated, interrupting her thoughts. “I don’t want to be here when the really strong monsters show up.”

Actually, the biggest and strongest monsters just left, Arinyes thought to herself, carefully crossing her fingers behind her back. Not that you would know, or even see my point in that. Bending her mind to the area, which was still but a small clearing, she made out three ways out of it, if one forgot to count the logging out of the area… Awfully tempting, that. Beside the path that the monster gob had been meaning to flee to off to what she estimated the north, there seemed to be a path leading off to the east and one to the west, none of them seeming any better or worse. “Just… which way?” she mused out loud.

“I say the left one,” Raven stated, pointing off to the west, while Asuka was almost on top of that, commenting, “I like right, myself…” with her gaze turning towards the east.

Before she could stop herself, Arin slapped a hand to her face with a loud smacking sound, fortunately masking the low groan that escaped her throat. “Gods, this has got to be a nightmare,” she mumbled to herself. She could weep from the frustration with two such loons. They just had to be doing this on purpose. They had to! “We’ll take the one our nuked friend ran off to,” she sighed, motioning for the path heading north. “I’m betting that’s the fastest way to the finish…” Stalking off, she muttered lowly under her breath, “And the fastest way to get rid of this nightmare.”

While she passed Asuka, the girl said with somewhat of an annoying tone, “Why not? Not like there’s any possibility of it being a trap or anything…” Rolling her eyes in exasperation, Arin felt a surge of frustration sweep through her. “My entire existence is a trap!” she spat, before realizing she had practically cried the thought out at the top of her lungs. Firming herself, she increased her pace and trotted firmly down the winding forest path, her thoughts raging around. Someone was pulling several fast ones on her, and people were going to have to suffer for it. Now, if she could only settle on which people she wanted to hurt the most… Hearing the blademaster chuckle and the long arm mutter with a snide tone, “Well, excuse me,” Arin seriously considered taking it out on the girl.

Spending the next few moments completely ignoring her team members, Arinyes studied the trail leading through the thick forest, heavy in undergrowth, yet not quite like the forest area she had visited once before. There was something decidedly different about this place, eventhough it was hard to put her finger on it. Then a glaring light pierced into the dark trail up ahead, and curiously she upped the pace, before reminding herself that she might well be heading headlong into an ambush. The brightness flexing and blurring at their approach, with her eyes adjusting to the glare, she could see landscape up ahead, immediately giving her clue as to what was off with the forest. It wasn’t some dungeon-like form of forest, it was far more organic.

Ending up on a tight area, ending in a ledge, while a road swung down out of view beyond the ledge to the right of them, her eyes were mainly focused on the landscape below. Starting at the main feature of a castle standing tall and proud towards the north by north-east, at its base was a city, while the rest of the lands was a diversity of woods, rocky wastelands, watery marshes and crumbling walls, altogether forming in a bizarre manner what could easily be called a labyrinth. Patches here and there just showed that natural barriers blocked certain paths, with a myriad of splits in the ways one could go.

Standing at the edge of the forest, from the corner of her eye she saw Asuka step up beside her and look around. “Oh… now that’s just great…” Raven said from another corner. Jerking a little, she immediately snapped her gaze to the long arm, when she asked, “Any Minotaurs in this game?”

“I hope not… though that would be kind of cool to see,” the blademaster commented.

Spinning on her heel, Arinyes gave him a look of sheer disbelief. You can’t be serious about wanting to meet a Minotaur here, in this place! Both to her relief and dismay, the girl turned out to be on her side, remarking, “Sure… Right before it killed us, that is.”

Taking a deep breath, Arin grunted, “That’ll be the day.” Stepping up to the ledge, she peered all around, their high vantage point being truly a help to see what they were in for. “Who wants to bet it’s the castle we need to get to?” Hearing the spear maiden mumble something under her breath, she glanced around with a frown. “What?”

Turning her gaze away, the girl retorted with a dismissive wave, “Nothing.”

Guessing it was better not to ask any further, Arinyes looked back down, following the winding road that led to a good way down into a valley below. Making out an archway that looked like it might have been part of a wall, except that the arch was the only thing that remained, covered in growth, she pointed it out and said, “It looks like we may or may not gain entry over there.”

“Yeah… sounds about right,” the blademaster thoughtfully agreed.

“Looks plausible enough,” Asuka assented.

Pensively looking beyond the archway, quickly losing track of the path, she thought quietly, Oh my. Complete agreement on all parts… what next? Biting her lip, she observed, “This could take a bit. It’s quite the back and forth to get through that labyrinth.” With that snapping up her staff and swinging it around her back, she stepped off towards the path that would get them down and to the entrance of the maze. Taking the lead, Arin was surprised at how little there was to be seen up ahead once they were on the path, jagged pieces of rock and outcroppings of the cliff face with the haphazard winding making it all but impossible to see far beyond the small stretch before her feet. Her expression turning hard when after passing a bend she ran into Mahou waiting for her, she simply ignored her and stepped right past her as though never having seen her.

“I was beginning to wonder whether you were actually would have the nerve to go through with this,” the infuriating woman remarked, falling in pace right beside her. “Don’t you just love the details and the flare for the dramatic here?” she went on, going into a long winded lecture on the details of this and that for programming landscapes and the artistry of the subtle nuances to split different types of area and shaping it into a labyrinth. Trying as best to ignore the damned witch by focusing on the road, when the arch finally for a brief moment came into view, before the turn hid it gain, Mahou suddenly changed the subject. “Do beware of the twins.”

Jerking, against her better judgment, Arin asked, “Twins? What twins?”

“Are you talking to yourself again?” the long arm sighed.

Stepping suddenly out of the trail and finding the arch just right before her, Arinyes turned around to face the girl, meeting with her intent expression. “Uh…” she said, before hearing movement behind her, turning to find a pair of huge ogres to step seemingly out of thin air and blocking the whole arch with their bodies. Looking gross with big fat bodies and massive trunks of arms, the two looked like they were created from the same mold, each having an eye and a gem stone like the goblin leader had, though the one on the right had the gem set in his left socket, while the one on the left had it in his right. Similarly both had one broken fang, left one his left, and the one on the right his right, both broken in identical ways. Each bearing a massive club with spikes on the end, the left ogre was right handed, while the right ogre was left handed. Moaning lowly, Arinyes brought out in a sigh, “Don’t tell me… those’re the twins?”

Hearing Raven say something while drawing his sword, Mahou’s voice drowned most of it out by remarking full of cheer, “Hayup… those are the ogre twins, Grub and Grunt.”

“I told you not to tell me,” she grumbled between her teeth, before the blademaster’s words got through to her. … talking to your invisible friend… Starting and staring wide-eyed at him, her heart started pounding right up in her throat. “Invisible friend? What invisible friend?” she asked hastily, trying not to chuckle nervously, and only realizing she had just said the same thing before the ‘twins’ showed up when it was too late. Thankfully the long arm proved to have some timely intervention. “Now is not the time!”

Understanding dawning when she noticed the ogres had started to approach them, the pounding in her throat tried to strain its way even higher when their massive size became all the more obvious with the way they towered over them. Her mouth dropping open, noting both of them were a massive level fifty, she could hear something in the back of her throat click.

“What this, Grub?” the ogre on the left asked.

“Food, Grunt,” the other retorted.

Chuckling, the first ogre pointed at Asuka with a finger that could serve like a bludgeon tool on its own. “Like thing with toothpick, Grub.”

Shaking its head, the second ogre grunted, “Too scrawny, Grunt.”

“Oh, wonderful…” Raven observed with a hint of sarcasm. “Walking stereotypes…”

Aware that Mahou was standing right behind her, Arinyes hissed, “Do something.”

“Like what? I believe you called my nuke spell a little dangerous to use.”

How could she hear that? Arin thought full of alarm. Passing a quick glance over the two ogres, who seemed to be caught up in a discussion whether the long arm would make a good meal or not, she hissed more firmly, “I don’t care! ANYthing!”

Noticing Raven circling a little to guard the long arm’s flank and raising his sword, her heart sank with disbelief when he stated, “Well… I don’t think there’s much more to do but fight them…”

“Yeah, that’s the only option I see too…” the girl said, taking up a battle ready stance.

Rubbing her forehead as the insanity of it just didn’t want to settle, Arinyes heard Mahou lowly mutter in her ear, “Ooo-la-lah.” In unison the two ogres raised their clubs into the air at about the same time, looking about ready to bring them down on the unfortunate long arm in unison, as a brief red glow spread across their bodies and ending up in their eyes before winking out. Both jumping up into the air, they landed with a massive shake of the ground on their knees, sending them all stumbling. Grabbing the other end of the clubs with their hands, they in unison prostrated themselves before Asuka with faces to the ground wailing, “Mistress…” the one named Grunt adding to that, “Command us…”

“Mistress…” The two gigantic grotesqueries rumbled, the one on the left, identified as Grunt by the other, adding, “Command us…” Their great heads, as large as boulders and with a thickness to match, were bowed low before Asuka, who stared at them in utter shock. She had no idea what was going on. After the two bumbling giants had been bent on devouring her, she suddenly had become their mistress? How, and for what reason could this have happened? No part of it made sense, and Asuka could only look on in wonderment.

“Eh?” Was all she could muster in response, with a haphazardly tacked on, “Excuse me?” The befuddled Long Arm glanced over at her compatriots, who seemed just as confused as she was. Raven stared fixedly at the humbled ogres with his sword still gripped tightly in hand, unsure of whether he should lower it. Arin was babbling nonsensically to herself as per usual, glancing between Asuka and some unseen entity.

“You our mistress,” one of the great beasts roared in response in her confusion. “You say, we do,” it concluded as the other nodded its head ferociously, nearly punching a large hole in ground each time.

“You can’t mean…that I am in control of you two…can you?” Asuka muttered, dumbstruck, as the wind created by the frantic nodding ruffled the ends of her skirt. At once, both ogres raised their heads, both with one eye filled with admiration, or perhaps adoration, and stared straight at Asuka. They opened their gaping mouths, filled with jagged razor teeth, and immediately Asuka was overwhelmed by their rancid breath, some combination of blood and other foul substances that best remained nameless.

“Yes, Mistress!” They both bellowed, shaking the ground beneath the Long Arm’s feet and piercing her eardrums with the sheer force of the sound. Despite the overly enthusiastic and quite frankly, dangerous, attitude of her new servants, Asuka found this turn of events to be particularly interesting, not to mention lucky.

“Wait. Does this mean…” Raven began as he stepped toward Asuka, looking up at the monsters with interest. However, the one called Grub flashed him an infuriated eye and shouted in one long, deafening note. In an instant, both of the beasts clubs crossed behind Asuka, very nearly reducing the black clad Blademaster to mush at the same time, much to the surprise of the both of them.

“No touch Mistress!” One of the mammoth monstrosities barked, flinging spit from its gargantuan mouth in a disgusting rain.

“Skinny black thing stay away!” The other roared, stamping one huge foot to the ground, causing something of a miniature earthquake that threw Asuka off balance and to the ground in a hurry.

“Alright, please calm down!” The Long Arm shouted at the top of her lungs, trying to stop the violent shaking. “I believe he understands, so please stop!” Slowly, as if taking a moment to grasp the word ‘stop,’ the giant ceased his stomping and Asuka was able to rise to her feet once more. Looking back at her comrades, but not moving from her place for fear of them being attacked by her massive entourage, she smiled sheepishly. “Well… It seems like, for better or worse, we have some new traveling companions… At the very least, we could probably have them guide us…” At this last, she turned to look up at the ogres, once more nodding their heads in rapid succession.

“Yes! Yes!” The one called Grunt cried excitedly.

“We go where Mistress go!” The other finished, in just as good mood as its counterpart.

“Alright, then… I guess with this, we can explore the area now, but…” Asuka began, placing a hand on her chin. Looking back over at Raven, she suggested, “It would probably be for the best if you two didn’t stick too closely to me, ogres and all.”

“Fine…” Came Arin’s response, seeming back in reality at long last. With a great sigh, she took several steps backward and muttered, “You lead, and I’ll stay waaaaaaay back here.” Asuka gave her an apologetic smile and nodded shortly to her. Turning to the large archway that stood as the entrance to the so-called labyrinth, Asuka took in a deep breath.

“Then, shall we go?” She began to set off bravely, but instead founding herself tripping right at the outset. The ogres seemed so intent on following her that they would walk as closely behind her as was possible, such that their first steps echoed hers, causing her to lose her footing and fall. Looking up, she saw them looking down at her fixedly, as if concerned, yet not doing anything about it. “Umm, could you two please not walk so closely, please?” She asked meekly, staring into their bulging bloodshot eyes. Getting yet more enthusiastic nodding as her answer, she stood up once more. Taking yet another breath, she stepped through the towering archway and began to proceed into the territory beyond very carefully. A thundering sound filled her ears, and at first she thought it was some storm, given the dark skies above. Of course, it was only when the ground felt like it was turning upside down that she realized what was really going on. She was thrown from the ground as the enormous ogres, apparently not so large as to not fit through the arch, came running up to her. Unable to wait even two minutes for her to lead, they had decided to catch back up with her. She hit the ground on her back as one powerful foot came extremely close to crushing her head into mush. She stared up at them breathlessly, and again they merely looked at her concernedly unconcerned. “Okay… You can follow close…” She said silently, rising up unsteadily.

Immediately beyond the archway was a split in the path, one way to the east, one to the west. Looking down each one of them, Asuka deliberated which to take, before the ogres interrupted her thought process.

“Now Mistress go left!” One of them growled, pointing his large club to the west. Just as Asuka was about to nod and proceed in that direction, the other one let out an enraged grumble.

“No Grunt! Mistress go right! Right is right!” He snarled, waving his own club in the other direction.

“Grub know nothing! Always left!” The first one howled, as he rammed the other, throwing them both to the ground. Asuka let out a short cry as the wind pressure knocked her backward and into a rock, taking a good amount of her HP. She watched the two wrestling on the ground, and she became extremely irritated.

“Stop fighting!!” She shouted at them furiously, though they didn’t seem to be heeding her words. She stood up angrily as she applied a healing spell and gritted her teeth at the sight of the feuding eyesores.

“Wonderful… This may end up being a lot more trouble than I initially thought. Why me…?”

Raven shivered for a moment as he was pretty much laying on the ground at this point. Two gargantuan clubs were pressed against each other inches above his face, having nearly sandwiched him between them moments before. The two large monsters seemed a tad overprotective of Asuka, a fact that Raven now understood would be a real pain, quite literally.

“No touch Mistress!” one of them yelled, spitting so much that Raven was suddenly very glad that he was underneath the clubs.

“Skinny black thing stay away!” the other agreed, stomping its foot into the ground, creating an earthquake that shook the field..

“Alright, please calm down!” Asuka yelled to stop them. “I believe he understands, so please stop!”

The giants stopped after a little bit of a delayed reaction, and lifted their clubs away from Raven again. Raven breathed a sigh of relief, considering that either of them could have crushed him at any given moment there. He had also remained perfectly still the entire time so as to not give them a reason to do so. He relaxed and spread out on the ground as he breathed deep.

“Well… It seems like, for better or worse, we have some new traveling companions… At the very least, we could probably have them guide us…” Asuka continued, watching the ogres nod their heads energetically.

“Yes! Yes!” one said in excitement.

“We go where Mistress go!” the other yelled in agreement.

“Alright, then… I guess with this, we can explore the area now, but…” Asuka began, turning back to Arinyes and Raven, “It would probably be for the best if you two didn’t stick too closely to me, ogres and all.”

“Fine…” Arinyes told her, paying attention once more, “You lead, and I’ll stay waaaaaaay back here.”

"Yeah, I agree for now." Raven said uneasily.

The ogres seemed to lead them to wherever Asuka was telling them to, and Raven just followed with a bit of a distance in between him and the creatures. Arinyes seemed to be off in her own little world, and Raven let out a long sigh once again. All those times when Arinyes seemed to be talking to herself, it was obvious that she was getting a response from someone. It was also fairly obvious from her reactions to these inaudible responses that they were about the current situation. Even more so since her reactions usually seemed to have something to do with things that happened moments after she said them. That told Raven that someone was obviously in contact with her, a hacker perhaps? Were they hacking into the audio of her game? Or were they actually here right now, just keeping themselves invisible to all but her? There were a few options, but Raven couldn't figure out which as Arinyes obviously didn't seem keen on letting him in on the situation. With that in mind, all he could do was keep following along as Asuka and the ogres lead onwards to their destination. At very least, if they were just getting dragged around by a hacker, then it could get dangerous. His experience with hackers included ones that could seriously affect their targets in real life too. If that was the case here, then Raven would make sure to protect Asuka, whatever it took.