“Yeah, and if they explode you might finally hit something,” he said with a snicker.
“I did warn you.” She grabbed both his wings and pulled them forward under his arms. She then shoved him off the tree branch. He screamed all the way down.
------
Many lost arrows later, Asura killed her stag and the quest was completed. Fae-step had been unlocked for them and they moved to an obstacle course to test it out. “This is the most over powered skill ever,” she said before she activated it again. It was simple to use, first she just had to aim herself towards a location and then tap her foot down twice. Unfortunately, when she used it too much she quickly found herself getting a bit nauseous from the instant movement and was forced to take frequent breaks.
She did it once more and aimed towards a small suspended ledge. The entire world darkened while she blurred past it in an instant. Unfortunately, she wasn't watching 5t4r and the two slammed into each other when he tried to fae-step to the same ledge.
“Ahhh!” They both went tumbling down. They landed on the hard, oak ground a moment later, him on top of her. Technically, they didn't take any HP damage, but the fall still hurt. Not to mention he was kind of heavy. “Get off...” Asura said before she shoved his leg off her head.
He glanced down at her for a moment, his cheeks red, before rolling off her. “S-sorry. I ummm, I gotta go! I'll see you later, okay?” He said before freezing in place. After a few seconds his body disappeared.
Asura stared for a few moments in confusion. “Why did he manual close out? Must of had something important to do if he didn't have time for a normal log out.” She let out a groan when she slowly got to her feet. “Well, I better go work on my aim. I still have a few hours until my time's up and I have a long way to go until I master this bow.” She charged towards the ledge, jumped off the city and hurtled towards the ground below. Moments before hitting the ground she spread her wings out and glided safely through the woods.
Chapter 6
Age: 16 years, 3 months
The weeks passed slowly with Asher's game time reduced. Fortunately, he still was able to play enough to relieve his boredom. One weekend with his parents found the boy chuckling as he bounced around a large metal chamber, gravity completely ignored.
Red and blue plastic orbs were stationed around the room, and he quickly grabbed one before flinging it across the enclosure at a red goal post. His mother flew to try to block the ball, but it slid by her flailing arms and struck the pole. A loud announcer's voice played. “Point, blue team!” His father flew by a moment later, crashing into the pole.
The three of them were back in the space station game and trying one of the minigames, gravless ball. His parents were struggling with weightlessness, so he was easily throttling them two on one. The score was five to two.
His father glided toward the red ball before Asher's lips curled into a nasty grin. He kicked off the wall and cannoned towards his father, knocking him aside and kicking the red ball so it bounced around the black, gleaming room. While his parents tried to catch the wildly rampaging ball, he bounced off the next wall and grabbed the blue orb, tossing it for yet another point. “Point, blue team!”
“O-okay... I think thats's... that's enough for now...” his father said with a groan while rubbing his side.
“Awww, if you guys want. Didn't hit you too hard there, did I?” Asher asked with a grin.
“No, I'm fine. How does one turn down the feedback on these again?”
Asher snickered before explaining to him. They sank to the floor as he wiped sweat from his brow. Technically, sweat and exertion didn't have to be simulated and could easily be shut off in this game. Some games didn't even have the feature. But he loved having them enabled, they gave him a chance to feel like a normal person. That, and it was hilarious watching his parents getting exhausted, or at least feeling it, when they played his 'little games' they thought were so easy.
“So what do you want to try now?” he asked after they walked out from the grav-room. “We could go on a tour of the nearby black hole, or maybe go walk on a new planet? The space suits are optional.” He flipped through some menus and almost instantly he was freshened up as if he had taken a shower.
“Something... nice and safe. With less exertion,” his mother said with a soft groan.
“It's all safe, mom. Tour of the black hole it is then. I've never gone on it, so who knows? It might be fun,” he said before guiding them to the station's teleporters.
The tour was done in ships designed for small groups and had miniature 'force fields' around them to protect the players from the black hole's force. Granted, he knew that was just silly, since the ships were more or less glorified rides. Once they were all inside the windows began to show images as if they were leaving the mothership and slowly flying around the black hole. It was more like watching a bunch of special televisions, though.
The event horizon looked amazing. Light swirled around the edge of a perfectly black circle. Nothing could be seen through it, as if the universe just stopped at that location. Space was distorted around the black hole to form a ripple effect, quite similar to dropping a stone in a lake. If the ripples stayed put and didn't spread out. Their ship drifted towards the event horizon while the universe around it got more distorted and warped. The light outside the hole was slowly compressed into a distorted dome above, before shifting and changing into narrow curved bands of light. Then darkness enveloped them completely.
His mother glanced out the window and shivered. “I-is this really safe? Nothing bad can happen to us, right?”
“It's just a game, mom. Even if we were to step outside the ship and be completely crushed by the gravity, we'd only feel a dim representation of the pain for an instant. Then we'd respawn back at the station completely fine. Heck, we might not even have anything happen, I don't know if you can die... errr, get hurt in this game.” He leaned against the window to see out. It was a bit depressing, nothing but darkness. Lights finally began to flow out from around them and he let out a gasp.
Objects could now be seen outside falling into the darkness. Well, objects was too small a word. He could see an entire planet, torn apart by the powerful gravity, falling by the ship. Besides that, he saw a star, shredded to pieces, falling towards the massive center of the black hole. As the ship went deeper and deeper he saw more and more examples of the black holes power. He watched a world as big as earth compressed smaller than a ping pong ball. He saw a star as big as the sun torn into a brilliant speck of dust.
“L-let's go back to the station.” His mother began twisting and turning knobs on the console. Her face paled and her hands began pounding on the console as it didn't begin returning them. Her breathing began turning ragged as she shook. “I don't like this! I-I wanna go back.”
“Mom, careful, you're going to--” He was cut off as the ship disappeared around them. “Activate free walk mode...” Asher cringed as his mom started screaming. They were fine, just hovering around in the darkness, but he knew she was getting freaked out. He brought up the menu again and a few moments later they were back in the station. Well, he and his father were. His mom was completely gone. “She did a manual log out, didn't she?”
His father shifted from side to side nervously, before nodding. “... I think so. I'm going to join her. We'll see you later, son.” The man disappeared in a small burst of light. Asher made a mental note not to do any more black hole stuff with them. He glanced at the clock as he logged out. He still had two hours to play! That gave him plenty of time.
He logged back into Landasy Reality and quickly began sending out messages. “Okay everyone, I'm on. Let's do this!” Before she took off flying towards her destination.
She arrived at a large port town and flew straight to the docks. A massive galleon was waiting as NPC passengers went up and down the ramp. She skipped the walk and just landed on the deck, glancing about. She grinned when she saw an angel and a demon on the bow. “Hey! Guy
s!” she yelled before they looked over. The names 'Scalios' and 'B4hamutt' appeared over them respectively when she came closer. “So Scales, I guess this makes you our designated healer. Who else is coming with us?”
B4hamutt gave her a wave. “I think Star wants to come. He's been trying the dragon class out so he said he'll be either that or fae. Also got a leviathan on the way. I think you know her, actually. She said she owed you big.”
“Really? What's her name?”
“She said you knew her as Media.”
Asura crossed her arms. With a sigh she shook her head. “I don't know any leviathans with that name. Maybe she meant someone else?”
B4hamutt shrugged. “Maybe. So, I figure you and me will be enough damage, Star can block most of it and we'll have a nice defense. Been a while since we've done this dungeon, you sure you're up for it?”
“Up for it? No problem. I'm always up to kill some undead pirates. They better get here soon though or the ship will leave without them.” Asura grinned and poked his arm. “So, demon huh? I figured you'd choose angel.”
He rolled his eyes. “I've been testing demon and leviathan. I figured I'd see how much I liked polearms in a group before I gave maces a shot. I don't have any plans to try angel for a few more masteries. Speaking of leviathans, here she is,” B4hamutt said before he pointed toward the ramp.
A large, bulky woman with thick, smooth scales was walking towards them. Across her back a large shield was strapped, and a mace was hanging from her hip. “Asura!” She ran up to them, the name Andremedia flashing above her head.
“Heyyyy... ummmm... I'm sorry, but have we met?” Asura asked nervously. “I'm afraid I can't quite place you.”
The taller woman frowned and her eyes narrowed. “You can't remember me?” she asked in disbelief, before letting out a sigh. “No, I guess it makes sense. We only met once. I was in the group when you helped us fight Niohoggr. I was the fae. You saved us at the end?”
“Oh! Yeah, I remember now! Wow, that was... that was a while ago. Sorry, I uhhh, I'm not always the best at remembering things like that. It was kinda a while ago. Good tah see yah again. I'll try to remember you in the future.”
The leviathan sighed and shook her head. “I guess. Not everyone can have as good memory as me. So, how long until we head out?”
“We're just waiting on Star,” Asura said before she turned towards the sea, enjoying the feel of the salty breeze. “Then we'll head out. It's going to be awesome.”
------
The galleon traveled through dark, murky waters while ominous clouds hovered high overhead. The ship rose and fell with the waves. The first drops of rain began to splatter on the deck. Within moments the soft rain turned into torrents and the waves lifted the ship high into the air, before slamming it back down. A dragon, fae, angel, leviathan and demon all stood on the port side and watched the horizon.
With a sudden strike of lightning, it appeared. A torn and battered ship was illuminated by the flashes, its sails nothing more than shreds. Massive holes were lined throughout the hull but, despite the severe damage, it sailed with precision and didn't sink.
The ship flew straight to theirs and the group grabbed the galleon's rigging. The wrecked craft slammed into the side full force, sending a number of the crew overboard, but only jarring the five for a moment. Lines and planks were thrown over the end of the assaulting ship and its crew began to climb aboard.
Skeletons. Nothing but skeletons. They wore tattered clothing with curved swords and a few, of course, had the token tri-pointed hat, eye patches and one even had a skeleton parrot. “Now!” the dragon, 5t4r, yelled as he charged. Despite the harsh rain and slippery deck, he gripped an axe firmly in his hands and slashed through the first skeleton in a single swipe.
The angel, Scalios, raised his hands and pointed at the skeleton before its bones began to shake and quiver, before lifting into the air to reassemble themselves. “Ray,” A ray of light shot out and hit the recovering pile of bones. After a second it disappeared in a flurry of red sparkles.
Asura, the fae, nocked her arrow and took careful aim at the nearest skeleton, which had locked blades with 5t4r, and let the arrow fly. “Sorry!” she yelled once the arrow lodged in the dragon's back. “At least I was closer this time!”
The leviathan, Andremedia, and demon, B4hamutt, charged forward as well, swinging their club and guisarme respectively. Asura stayed with Scalios in the back as the two peppered the skeletons with ranged attacks, though her arrows hit her allies more often than they hit the enemy.
The deck was slippery though and as they fought more and more skeletons started to climb on from the ship and attack. The three fighters stuck to the front lines and tried to keep the skeletons penned in and trapped, even managing to knock a few into the water below. Despite the fact two of them had the dragon ability, Asura was still forced to send out the occasional heal, along with Scalios, but they did manage to push them back. “Okay! Let's move!” B4hamutt yelled before they charged forward. With only a handful of skeletons left on the planks the five shot forward and sent them hurtling into the sea.
About halfway across the planks the wood began to shake under them. “Now!” Asura yelled before they leaped into the air right as the plank gave way. Down below in the water, massive tentacles rose up and flicked at where the planks had been. “Well that's one part of the fight we managed to bypass. Heh, remember the first time we did this, and Scalios fell in?”
“I was a leviathan. Swimming was my thing. I didn't know there would be a kraken down there.” Scalios glared and crossed his arms. “Besides, I found that other entrance and caught up to you guys eventually.”
“So you remember that, but can't remember players you meet,” Andremedia said offhand.
“As much fun as it is watching you guys go down memory lane, we got company!” 5t4r yelled before motioning to the opposite end of the ship. Lightning flashed and illuminated more skeletons crawling from the bowels of the ship, before disappearing into darkness. “Can we get some light?”
“On it!” Asura put her hands together. “Radiance orb!” She held out her left hand and a large orb of light formed. It was a high level, high cost spell that did passive healing to everyone the light fell on. It also had the added benefit of shedding light on an area without requiring a free hand like flaming hands, or being put out by the rain. Unfortunately, it was a highly draining spell, so she couldn't use other spells with it unless she wanted her MP to disappear.
The skeleton pirates charged and their three front lines took position. The wave of skeletons crashed against them, but the line held as Scalios sent out heals and occasionally let out a ray. Asura shot as many arrows as she could, but after continuously missing she let out a frustrated yell. “Ugh, I've had it! It is impossible to hit anything with all this rain and rocking boat!” she yelled befire she went through the menus. Her bow disappeared and Excalibur formed at her side. She charged into the fray. Her blade cleaved through the creature's weapons easily and within a few moments the skeletons were nothing more than red sparkles. She let out a sigh of relief and wiped some of the rain from her eyes before glanced at the others. All of them were glaring at her. “What?”
“I thought we weren't going to use our master weapons, since they would make this to easy?” 5t4r asked before he crossed his arms and glared.
She glanced to the side sheepishly. “I was just, I couldn't hit anything... I got annoyed. All the rain and other stuff is making it near impossible to hit.”
“It was your idea to make it more difficult. Because our master weapons and armor are just to overpowered. Remember?” B4hamutt said with a shake of his head.
“Okay! I'm sorry! I'll stick to the bow. Can we go now?” Asura asked before she switched out the sword for her bow. “Not like I ended up soloing the boss or anything.”
“With the master equipment you probably could,” B4hamutt said before they walked past her.
“I'm sorry, okay?” S
he followed behind them. “I just got caught up in the moment. No need to get so angry. It won't happen again.”
The group walked into the lower decks of the ship slowly, the wet and mold covered steps creaking as they went. Despite the age and damage to the ship, most the steps held their weight fine and didn't do any more than groan under their weight. A few of the steps had caved in long ago and they had to watch their step to avoid falling in. There was a slimy railing leading towards the deck below. They made it to the bottom and stepped into the room and the glow of candles revealed the room to them.
It was a large mess hall, with four long rectangle tables. A goo covered kitchen was on the left side and a 'meal' had been set out for the crew. Fish, worms, all manner of decaying foods were set out at the table and being gobbled up by the long deceased crew. As soon as 5t4r took the first steps inside the room, the skeletons dropped their meals and as a single unit grabbed their blades and charged straight at them.
As opposed to the battles on deck where he used a two handed axe, 5t4r now held a large black shield and a much smaller one-handed axe. He brought the shield up and let the blades crash against it before shoving the shield, with the blades against it, to the left and swung once with his axe.
“Hydra's armor!” Scalios yelled before scales formed across the groups bodies. Andremedia pushed out with her own shield and club and stood by the dragon, both of them using the shields to block the narrow doorway. B4hamutt stabbed over their shoulders and between the shields to deal damage, while Asura tried shooting shots around them. By standing only a few feet behind the line she was able to get most her arrows around her allies and, with the skeletons so close, even she could hit them. Unfortunately, the arrows didn't do a lot of damage against bony enemies.
Landasy Reality: Angel's Escape Page 13