by Randy Thao
"There's something we have to make right," admitted Dee.
"Ah, I hope you accomplish it. As for me, sad to say it's too late. Still I will wait," mumbled Dan.
Dee and Bu had not the slightest clue as to what Dan was talking about. They spent most of their met-coins to purchase extra potions for the short side quest. Who knew what lay in the mist of the Cursed Forest of Pahda, but it was a risk they were willing to take. If they fail, they will have to start from almost a whole day's worth of travelling all over again. If they win, they may get their healer back.
The mouth of the forest swallowed the path as it disappeared into its shadows of dense vegetation. They could only see about three yards in before the darkness took over. An eerie feeling filled the air as they proceeded into the forest. No sound of chirping birds or chipmunks rustling in the leaves, just the howling of the wind passing through. The glow from their suits helped to keep them on the path. Bu looked back at the opening of the forest as it got smaller as if the forest was shutting them in. He tried not to think too much of it or else he'd end up doubting himself.
"What's up Bu? Sense something?" asked Dee.
Bu smiled, "No nothing at all. Just making sure you were still behind me."
"You're not scared of the dark are you?" joked Dee. "If you want I can lead, just watch my back."
"I'm not scared of no dark, creepy, cursed forest," complained Bu. "Something's got me! Something's got me!"
"Calm down gentle giant. It's just a branch." Dee yanked the branch away from Bu's neck and tossed it off the path. Then something caught his eye. He paused to look at the strange tree next to him. It was too dark to see up in the tree, but even in the mist of the darkness, silhouettes could be seen of different shapes, yet not that of leaves. His focus was not picking anything up as he observed above him. Then suddenly, red dots started appearing sporadically before them.
"Bu! I think it's going to get a little louder in here. Prepare yourself!" exclaimed Dee.
Bu turned around and got his shield ready stepping in front of Dee. "What the heck are we looking at?" whispered Bu trying not to make a sound.
A high pitch shriek rang in the air, and they covered their ears. One came down and landed in the path blocking their way. As it got closer, they both set focus on the creature. From what they could see, it looked like an overgrown bat the size of a medium size dog with big round red eyes. Its mouth spread wide open rather unnaturally bearing two pointed fangs.
"Nahpua, a blind nocturnal monster who detects its prey by sound waves," read Dee. "Great, just don't make a sound. Last thing we need is to be swarmed by these guys."
Just as Dee said this, Bu had his hand in front of his mouth. He was shaking back and forth with his head. Bu felt it coming, and he tried everything in his power to hold it back. His face turned red and swollen, but it came out. It came loud.
"Ah ah-choo!" sneezed Bu. It echoed throughout the forest. Suddenly, the one on the path set out another violent shriek. They have been discovered! The rest of the Nahpuas came flying down on the path swooping towards Dee and Bu.
"RUN!!" Dee shouted. They ran for their lives back where they came from. The Nahpua's claws reaching and scratching Dee's back and against Bu's shield.
"Stone armor!" announced Bu. "Here Dee take my shield."
From behind, they came like a black cloud except with hundreds of red eyes floating side to side. Dee noticed that these things, while they looked threatening and unnatural, had low energy levels. As one came up upon to his left, he attacked it with his sword, and it perished with one blow.
"Bu, they have low health. We can take them on. We can't outrun them for long," Dee explained.
"Got it!" replied Bu. He stepped on the breaks and turned back swinging his axe like mad man. "Ahh! Ahh! Ahh!!"
Dee could see the hit points falling off BU's health bar, but at the same time he was tearing through dozens of the Nahpuas. Dee stepped to the side as Bu aggravated the mob. He took his sword and ran it along the line of the swooping mob slicing through as many as they were coming. He then ran back behind Bu again where they then repeated the process. The mob of Nahpuas started to dwindle down to just a few left, and they flew away yelping. Breathless, Bu and Dee fell to the ground gasping for air.
"I thought they would never stop!" Bu said sucking in air. His health had gotten to red.
Dee patted Bu on his back and laughed, "You did great man. I would have never survived that if it weren't for you. That was insane. You can have one of my health potions."
They sat there recovering and collecting the loot from the perishing monsters. As they were finishing up, not too far from them they heard a faint commotion.
"Bu, do you hear that?" asked Dee. The both stood straight up not moving a single muscle.
It sounded like an argument or people shouting. They weren't too sure and quickly gathered their things and headed in the direction from where it came.
"Man I told you, one of us needs to be a tank," shouted a bald man.
"Why don't you be the tank? I'm trying to build my rogue stats. Also, it's too late to adjust my talent points to that of a tank," replied another man. He had a hunch on his back and slightly overweight.
"If that is the case, then the only problem is our healer. She's not good enough," he now directed his attention to a woman with them. "Hey you, didn't you say that you were like a level thirteen or something. How come your healing sucks that bad?" jabbed the bald man.
The woman frowned. Wondering why they were so angry. She thought that this group would be different, but they were greedier than she was. She was starting to realize that everyone was in it for themselves just like her. It was faster this way to reach her goal regardless of a team's relationship.
"But I was doing my best..." she stuttered to say before she was cut off again.
"Your best?! Your best?! Hey big bro, was she doing her best?" ridiculed the bald man.
"Obviously not. I almost died back there and so did Bill. How the heck are we going to defeat the boss if we can barely take care of some ugly overgrown bats?" The hunch man drank from his bottle of potion wiping at his lips. "And I'm almost out!"
Bill, the bald man, stepped up to the woman in the cloak and sneered, "Why don't you cast some healing spells on us? Better yet, we can't rely on your healing, so hand over the potions you bought from the merchant outside of the forest. Remember, I'm the leader of this group, so you do what I say or else."
She pulled the potions out of her inventory and held them in her hand. Bill snatched them away laughing.
"Hey hey now. That's not how you treat a lady is it? Right Bu?" rebuked Dee. Bu followed behind with a stern look on his face.
"Nah Uh," Bu replied.
"Mara," called Dee.
The woman with the cloth mask turned around in surprise. She didn't know whether to feel angry or glad, but she knew she no longer belonged to Dee's group.
"Who the hell are you?" questioned the hunched man.
"Mara, we're sorry," apologized Dee ignoring the brothers.
"It was my fault. I didn't know. Will you forgive us?" relented Bu.
Bill laughed hysterically saying, "Ha! You bunch of sissies, apologizing to a girl. She's our healer so back off. Besides, I don't know what you did to her, but she's with us. Right Maro, marooo? Whatever your name is."
They got up and started to move ahead. There was a clearing about eight yards away. Bill and his brother went first ahead of Mara. She didn't bother to look back and continue to follow behind them.
All Dee and Bu could do was watch. She had every right to be mad at them. They weren't expecting for her to rejoin them, but they were finally able to lay to rest the guilt they felt in their hearts. Dee long to see her dark brown eyes once again. He had to fight the fact that she may never return to them or forgive them.
Dee shifted from the direction Mara and the brothers had gone. "Bu, let's take this other route," sighed Dee.
Bu lead the wa
y deeper into the forest. He too understood that they had accomplished what they came for. Not long after, they soon encountered some Black Kays as soon as the fork in the path was no longer visible. These long swamp reptiles had long snouts and huge bottom canine teeth. They looked like something from prehistoric times. Crawling out from under the bushes, they almost got a hold of Bu's ankles. As they were fighting these beasts, a high pitched shrill shriek filled the whole forest. Even the Black Kays cowered in fear and before Dee and Bu could take down the last few, they scattered away.
"What the heck was that, more Nahpuas?" whispered Dee.
Bu turned around and faced back to where they came from. "I don't think so. This sounds more powerful. There it is again!" exclaimed Bu. The shriek shot through the forest again. Even deep within their souls, they felt it. It was terrifying, but at the same time, sorrowful. "It seems to be coming from back there."
"Let's head back. That maybe the one thing that will complete this quest," agreed Dee.
They raced back as quickly as they could. As they got closer, it lead them to the clearing that Mara and her group were heading towards.
"Shut up you witch!" came a shout from down the clearing.
"Heal you idiot heal! We are taking too much damage!" came another.
"You both are taking too much damage. Your overall health is too low. I can't heal both of you at once!" came Mara's voice.
Dee and Bu looked at each other. They ran into the clearing and there floating between the two brothers was "Pahda: Damned". Her image enlarged, transparent and ghost like. She wore a white torn dress with rigid ends that flapped as she floated. The black hair that hung down from her head waved and floated out as if underwater. Every once in a while, she shrieked and heaved threats saying "How dare you enter my forest!" and "Where have you taken my love!?"
She casted a whirlwind and within it, pieces of glass shards sliced anything that got caught within its grasp. Unfortunately, the hunch man was not able to get out of the way in time and was shredded by the whirlwind. His health was slivered down to zero. As he was perishing, his mouth still hurling insults at Mara at how pathetic her healing was.
"Brother! Maro, Maar...What the hell did you do!? Why didn't you heal him?!" scolded Bill.
"His total health is too low. I can't possible heal someone who will die within one hit," explained Mara.
"Why you...Ah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" screamed Bill as Pahda strangled him with her long black hair. She jerked her head back, and her hair tightened squeezing the life out of him.
"You must pay for disturbing my peace!" shrieked Pahda again. Her attention was now on the last victim of the group, Mara. With one arm, she swung and the torn sleeves stretched extending with great speed to send the last intruder back to where they had come from. Healers are usually the weakest in term of health and the type of gear they wear is lighter in protection as well, but they play a big role in a group. With no one defending her, Mara lay waiting for her first death.
"Schreeeech!!!" The claws came across Bu's shield leaving behind a jagged scratch.
"Are you ok?" asked Bu. "Here it comes again. Dee I need you to get Mara out of here!"
Dee came in with quickness and wrapped his arms around her. The familiar touch and warmth of his body reminded her of that day. It also reminded her of what he said. Mara refused struggling to push Dee away.
"What are you doing!?" exclaimed Dee.
"Get away from me! Go just go! Let me die," shouted Mara as tears fell from her face. "You hate me. You saw my horrible face didn't you? Didn't you?!"
Dee knew that Bu could not hold Pahda off forever and would need some healing soon. He tried even harder to convince Mara.
"Mara, that was never the case. Do you not know the reason why we came here? We came here because of you!" confessed Dee. At that moment, the shock that they cared enough to come for her left her in silence. Mara finally surrendered herself in tears. Dee carried her off to a safe distance.
He came back to strike Pahda from behind like their strategy before, but this battle was slightly different. Though Bu held aggravation on Pahda, the spinning whirlwinds were chasing after Dee as a separate entity. Even though they moved slower, they had a large area effect. It was going to take some time to get the whirlwinds in position, so he could strike again, because there were two going around at all times. That meant Bu had to keep Pahda on him longer. Bu, being a tank, had the health to hold off boss fights, but he couldn't do it for too long.
"Stone Skin!" announced Bu. "Are you done yet Dee? I'll have to pop a potion. This is my second one."
"No, from the looks of it, she has only gone down 10%. Even though I am not within the whirlwinds, I am taking damage from the flying debris on the outsides of it," observed Dee. "If this continues, I won't be much help either."
Pahda's hands swung back and forth pounding on the shield of Bu. Left right, left. Right left, right. Bu took a shot whenever he had a small break between flying punches. He even tried to deflect the attacks and parry them, but it was only good for one swinging fist. The other one would catch him off guard striking him. At best, he would have to just keep on blocking until Dee could get to her.
"We have to escape for now. Seeing that I have already died before, I don't mind being a diversion. Just wait for me in BluaNu," chuckled Dee while dodging and deflecting shards of glass off his sword.
"This time, if you go down, we all go down together brother. We have to die sometime, right?" replied Bu.
From Dee's focus, an exclamation icon was blinking calling for attention. His first thought was the item that Keeper had given him. Did it activate again? If it did, he wouldn't have time to use it. From what he remembered last time, on the top of the tower, he needed a few minutes for the dial to spin. Here, he had not stopped moving since they entered into battle. Dee set focus in the mists of the chaos. In a sudden surprise it read, "Group Invite Request: Mara".
Chapter 18 - Hidden Feelings
The fierce wind howled and scattered branches and leaves across the clear opening. Pahda shrieked judgement on them for entering into her place of solitude. She was still sitting at 80% health and no sign of slowing down. She had not even shown her perk yet, which is usually revealed during the last ten to twenty percent of health. Compared to how Dee and Bu were doing, they weren't going to win this one with just the two of them.
"Accept!" announced Dee.
"Shield of Divine Protection! Advance Heal! Rejuvenating Spirit!" called Mara. She held out her wand waving it in the air casting as if catching butterflies.
Blue illuminating glitter fell on Dee and Bu recovering their health. A green light appeared beneath Bu that pulsed with energy regaining his health in small portions at a time.
"Mara you're back!" exclaimed Bu. "Alright Pahda, now this is what I call a real fight!"
Mara smiled from under her mask. She nodded her head in alliance again. This time Bu and Dee went on full offense and used everything they had.
After a good thirty minutes of fierce battle and close calls, they finally got Pahda down to ten percent. Then all of a sudden she glided backwards disappeared into the forest. The three of them came together in the middle of the clearing backs facing each other not knowing where or when she would pop up again. After a few seconds, out came three replicas! Each coming from different sides of the clearing and smaller in size.
Bu ran to one side of the clearing and announced, "Warrior's Roar!" This then aggravated the three Pahda's. They started to follow him. While Bu kept them occupied, Mara continued to heal as Dee started to make his way in to pick them off.
"We got this Bu!" Dee shouted in excitement.
"Come on baby, come to mama," blurted Bu as they drew in closer.
Dee came behind one and slashed it from behind. Poof! It was gone and so were the other two. They stood confused.
Bu looked all around him. "What the?!"
"They're over here!" gasped Mara. This time six Pahda's came out from the fo
rest.
"Which one is she??" Bu replied. He swung at one, and she vanished into thin air. Another Pahda came at him double clawing him from behind causing damage. "They all hit just as hard regardless if they are the fake ones."
Mara ran to where Dee was as the clones closed in. Dee did a double strike on another one and as soon as she perished away. They all vanished once again.
"Not again," whispered Mara, back against Dee.
He reassured her by extending his sword around her using it like a shield. "Just stay close."
After a few seconds, nine more Pahda clones appeared! All floating aggressively dragging their arms towards them.
"What's going on here!" yelled Bu. "They won't stop coming. Have you seen anything like this before Dee?"
In all his experiences with MMOs, there's always a way to kill the boss. A trick of some sort, but where and how? Dee noticed that the numbers of clones were increasing in multiples of three. There was three, six and now nine. The next one will be twelve! When they killed one, it started over. Then they killed two and it started over. Now, if they killed three of them, it will repeat. They returned with arms flapping behind them. Though there were many, they moved slower, but it would only be a matter of time before they would fill up the clearing overwhelming them with sheer numbers.
"Bu, don't kill any of them! Let's run in a circle and keep them just far enough for me to think of a strategy. If we kill three of them they will come back with an additional three more," explained Dee.
Bu waited for the clones to follow in a group and then made his way along the inside of the clearing. They reached out at him and shrieked ear wrenching sounds. "I see, but we can't keep running in a circle. It'll wear us out." replied Bu with beads of sweat forming on his head.
Mara followed healing them as they ran around the open clearing. The healing caught the attention of one of the clones, which took it off its course after Bu. Suddenly it came at Mara unexpectedly. Dee saw the clone redirect as it stepped out from within the rest.