Landasy Reality: Angel's Escape

by Fredrick Stokely

  “It's awesome, isn't it?” a voice said from her left. She glanced over to see a golden wolf-man holy beast. On his hands and feet he had the same gauntlets and boots that B4hamutt had worn in their last fight. “You come to see the fights?” he asked with a smirk.

  “What? No. I'm here to participate. See my wings? They mean I've mastered a class.”

  “Oh, I know. But I figured you'd want to stay out and not humiliate yourself,” he said dismissively. Her eye twitch, just a little.

  “What exactly do you mean by that?” she asked, though she struggled to not grind her teeth.

  “Listen kid. I get it, you just picked up your first mastery and you think you're hot stuff. I mean, walking to the tournament in a different class just so you can show off the fact you have a mastery? Come on. It's obvious you-”

  She growled, stomped on his foot and grabbed him by the front of his woolen tunic. “Listen, 'kid'. I'm not just going to enter this tournament, I'm going to win it. The moment I go up against you, assuming you make it that far, I'm going to pound your head so far into the ground you'll need at least three more holy beasts to dig you out!” She let him go and stormed off, fists clenched at her side.

  “Sheesh. Touchy. Well my names Ripstern. I guess I'll see yah at the tournament then. Don't cry when you lose!” he yelled before sliding up besides another person. “It's awesome, isn't it?”

  Asura kept her fists clenched the entire stomp to the coliseum, her anger threatening to boil over. She wondered if maybe B4hamutt was right. She certainly did have anger issues when in the game. She couldn't help it. When people were stupid or picking fights she just had to lash out. It was different outside the game. Even when he got mad, what could he do? Tell the people who angered him off? He could barely speak a full sentence and it wasn't like he could defend himself if they decided to push it further. There he just had to take it.

  “Miss, did you hear me?”

  “Huh?” Asura looked around in confusion and then ahead at the angel behind the desk. “Oh! Right! Registration! Sorry, could you please repeat it?”

  “Do you have your competition code?”

  “Yes, it's B6325922,” she said and was sent to a back room to wait. She changed her class back to angel and equipped Excalibur, with the powers of both her master weapons, and the silver dagger. She could hardly contain herself while she waited for the tournament to begin.

  ------

  The crowds cheered while the participants were slowly led through the inner area of the coliseum and out the other end in a steady line. Every seat was filled, though Asura couldn't help but think most of the spectators were NPC watchers. There were a lot of participants, since the line went by slowly as the announcements echoed through the stadium. “To all those participating the rules are simple! Only a master class user may participate and they must use a class they have mastered! They may use any weapons or armor they wish, as well as spells! These are double elimination with the winner of the losers bracket going up against the champion! To all those entering, good luck and may the best contestant win!” More cheers followed the announcers explanation and after the cheers died the announcement started again.

  The arena was huge, and by using special zones there were dozens of exact replicas. Those who wanted to watch could easily decide which match they wanted to see by selecting from a menu near their seats.

  The contestants waiting to fight were sent to identical single person rooms to wait for their turn and given a small colored ball with a counter on the front. When the counter went to zero it would teleport them to the arena. She went over her inventory for the fifth time as she prepared. Her item pouch had been stocked with different items this time, instead of all health potions she had put a speed boosting potion, a magic damage potion and a long term regeneration potion. Honestly, she disliked the speed boosting potions since they were really hard to control, but in a situation like this she couldn't give up any edge she could get. Especially considering the stat penalties using the item pouch caused.

  Her room was bare except a mirror, a padded chair and a lamp. She grinned mischievously for a moment before going through the menus. After a moment she was staring across at the mirror, completely naked. Except black lines covered her more private areas, making her face palm. “Figures. Gotta love the under age protection system. Can't believe they remembered to put it on these mirrors too.” She navigated back to the menu and tried on some other outfits while she waited. A blue rather plain dress, a golden gown with multiple jewels sewn in through out it, a tight leather amazonian battle bikini. “Gahhh... owie...” Sexy or not, it rid up into very uncomfortable areas. She quickly changed to a different one.

  While she went through the items something dawned on her. She really had collected a lot of junk over the years. Since cosmetic items and armor didn't take up inventory space, she had accrued well over a hundred different outfits, most of which she had never worn. She even had the first piece of armor she ever bought. A rather risque metal skirt that went down to just above his knees, and a low cut steel top that didn't even cover her belly button. Ugh, she remembered every time she got stabbed in the stomach wearing that. Frankly she figured the developers were kind of evil allowing such appearance items to exist in the game, but then making the armor covered locations and weight actually matter.

  She stopped for a moment when one item caught her eye. It was a ring, a small ring that gave a small fire damage bonus to all her melee attacks. At her current level it really didn't do much, but that small item was what led to her being in the guild and meeting B4hamutt.

  It was during her first few weeks in the game. She had been avoiding playing with others and was instead doing everything solo, namely because she felt awkward around other people. She hadn't been able to really separate her real life from her game life yet, despite all her attempts. It was the main reason she had made her character a female to begin with, she had just been so desperate to be anyone but Asher.

  Her first meeting with B4hamutt was small and inconsequential. They both happened to be going for a quest to try to kill a powerful enemy and she had failed to kill it three times already, namely because she hadn't been as good a fighter then. He asked to join her to work as a team and she said no. Then she died again and he asked again. Then again. Again. Over and over. Finally she had enough and accepted his offer.

  She hadn't wanted to admit it, but she felt good during that fight. She felt useful, her heals kept them both alive and in the end she was practically gushing and definitely bragging about how well she was doing. Rather than rolling his eyes at her comments, he instead let her have first pick of the loot and she chose the ring. She never thought she'd meet him again, even though they exchanged game information, but he contacted her a few days later for a dungeon run.

  Every few days he would ask her to join him, and often times some of his other friends, for adventures through the world. For the longest time her favorite thing about logging in was just to see them and work on getting stronger together. Before she knew it, they had each hit their maximum level and were able to do some of the toughest areas in the entire game. When he finally made the guild she agreed to join almost instantly, and once the first mastery quests finished she got her first taste of fame. It was then she decided she wanted to become a true legend in the game. Even if in the real world she'd never be anything, at least in this one she could be something beyond herself.

  All because of one tiny little quest. If not for that quest, if not for him being there to help her, she might have missed out on everything that happened so far. She may have quit the game ages ago and just moped in her bed until she slowly died. But not now. Not ever. Her fist tightened around her small timer stone. She would become a legend. She knew it.

  ------

  “For the first round we have Asura, one of our first double masters, versus Beat you all!” It was B3atUa11, but she was actually impressed that the name was said right-ish. She wondered if the announcer
was an AI or actually a person, or multiple people, doing the introductions. “A new up and coming fae master!” Cheers filled the stadium while the two stood apart from each other. The angel was wearing her normal white armor, while the fae was wearing armor with a similar design, but it seemed to have been crafted from wood rather than metal. She knew better than to underestimate it though, she had no doubt it was just as strong as her own. So it would do no good against her sword.

  Armors came in multiple types. Heavy armor like theirs was the highest defense and made for players who wanted to take a lot of physical damage and still be standing, as well as gave the best physical stats. Unfortunately, it was heavier and impeded movements more than the other armors, so they did have that trade off. At least, until you got used to it. They came in two types. The type she wore was built around not having a shield, but allowing you to block with your left hand, namely for two handed weapon users. The other type had the armor symmetrical on each side and was designed for those who used a sword and shield. She preferred her type because she couldn't fight with a shield, she always smacked herself in the face with it or knocked her sword away.

  The fae had a sword made of wood in his right hand and a wooden shield in his left, she imagined they were high level racial weapons. She was surprised to see he didn't use a bow. “Sword and shield? That's not very common for a fae. No bow?”

  “Bows aren't too effective one on one,” B3atUa11 said. “Don't worry, I have both skills maxed out and I--” She charged. He raised his shield, a strapped arm shield, and she cleaved through the bottom part of it in a single swipe.

  “My sword cuts through all non-master quality weapons and all armors. If you want any chance against me you'll have to fight all out. Don't worry, my other class isn't fae, so you might have a shot.” She tried to suppress it, but there was no way for her to keep the condescension out of her voice.

  “Don't look down on me just because I'm not using a master weapon!” the man yelled before charging forward and swinging downwards at her. With a single swipe she cut his sword in half and held her blade to his face.

  “I told you. You'll have to use a master weapon or you're just going to lose. Don't worry, I'll wait.” She took a step back and smirked. She had this one in the bag and she knew it, an easy win that she could show off with. Assuming she had anyone watching her match.

  “Fine. You asked for it,” the man said before the shield and sword disappeared and a moment later a black bow with a red draw string formed in his hands. He double tapped once and... went backwards. She eeked and ducked down when an arrow shot over her head.

  “How did you do that? I though you could only fae-step towards somewhere you were aiming?”

  “You don't know how to aim behind you? You haven't played as a fae before, have you?” he asked before taking another shot, the arrow skimming past her arm.

  “I've played them, but I've only been able to go forward. How did you do that?” she asked before charging forward. She dodged to the left and the arrow grazed her arm. Her eyes went wide as she looked to her arm and saw that it actually did deal damage. Even though it just grazed her, it still dealt damage through her dragon's scale ability.

  “I'm not going to tell you in the middle of a fight!” he said before disappearing back again and pulling the string. “Tornado shot!” The arrow shot forward and embedded itself in front of her. After a moment the fierce wins whirled up and sent her flying backwards.

  “Ugh!” she growled before charging at him again. Each time she got close, he would fae-step away or use one of his spells to send her flying back. She hated to admit it, but he was kiting her, a term for when a ranged fighter kept melee attackers at bay, very well. She wasn't used to it since most archers she faced she could dive around terrain to get at them. Here, there was nothing to get behind, just a wide open arena, and he was knocking her HP down slowly and steadily. Even worse, when she dodged an arrow so it just clipped her, it was still dealing damage. “You know, you're a way better shot than I am.”

  “I've practiced a lot. I really thought--” he fae-stepped out of range again before shooting another arrow, “--that this wouldn't work so well. I guess I really underestimated it. Wanna give up?”

  “Never,” Asura said before jumping to the right as another arrow flew by. She drove her hands down to the ground. “Dust cloud!” The dirt flew into the air and coated the area around them in thick dust, far too thick to see through.

  “That won't work!” B3atUa11 called out before fae-stepping out of the dirt cloud and leveling his bow on it. He waited for the dust to settle and the angel to show herself. The crowd went quiet when the match slowed down. “Any second now...” he said before the dust finally began to settle. The angel was nowhere to be seen. “What? Where did you go?!”He looked to the left and right before finally looking up.

  “Back here!” Asura said from behind him before she slashed into his back. “Guiding blade!” Her blades turned to metal blurs and sliced through the fae like butter. Even after the skill ended and his armor was shredded, she kept slicing with both her weapons. After a few seconds of getting shredded he finally managed to pull back with a fae-step. “Crescent flash!” She appeared by him a moment later and continued her assault. After a few more seconds the boy disappeared in a shower of red sparkles.

  “The winner is Asura, the angel!” The crowd went wild when she lifted both her weapons into the air and let out her own little cheer.

  “Yeah! Say my name! I'm Asura! I'm going to win this--” She stopped when she suddenly reappeared in her changing room. “Dang it! I was enjoying myself!” She sheathed her weapons before sitting down. She glanced down at her stone and saw the counter had formed two circles melding together. Infinity. “Guess this means some of the matches haven't finished yet.”

  She sat down in her chair and looked around. A small end table had formed besides her. A small flat crystal was resting on it and she slowly reached out to pick it up. It was pretty much the games equivalent of a tablet, or small miniature computer, but made with magic. She ran her finger along it and the tournament roster popped up. She was able to see who had advanced to the next round and who had lost, but was unable to see who fought who or what class they used.

  She was happy to see Scalios, B4hamutt, Andremedia and 5t4r D3s7r0y3r had all made it to the next round. She was far less happy to see Suportano had made it and almost choked when she saw two all to familiar names. Evalie and Yeana, the demon and fae players who tried to trick her and the other masters into missing the master quests. She wondered what kind of low down tricks they were going to use to try and win this time. She groaned when she Ripstern's name as well. Maybe he wasn't all talk after all.

  The longer she went through the list the more names were added and in the end the winner and loser bracket each held over a hundred people. She thought for a moment and tried to calculate in her head. “I think... I need to win about... nine matches. Huh. Well, this is going to be interesting,” she said before looking at at her stone. The infinity symbol had been replaced with numbers that counted down.

  Unable to keep still as she waited, she jumped to her feet and began pacing until the stone began to glow. A moment later she was teleported back into the arena. It had changed around, instead of a wide open and lit up area, there was now a dome over the coliseum with small circles of light. She glanced to her opponent and growled. Yeana. Except, she wasn't a fae this time, she was a demon. Just like her spider friend, except she went the traditional red skinned with horns variant.

  “For this round we have two double masters! Asura the angel versus Yeana the demon! As each is one of the only six double masters in the game, this fight will surely be an amazing one!” the announcer called out as the match began.

  “Wait, what? Six? But there wer-- eek!” Asura dove to the left before an arrow flew at her. The woman was wearing dark black armor, it seemed to be made of obsidian. The demon's bow was the same black color as the angel's previous op
ponent's. An arrow was shot at her again and she dodged to the right of it before charging forward. She crossed about half the distance before the archer disappeared into the darkness. “Crap!” she said before trying to catch a glimpse of movement in the darkness. After a few seconds of searching an arrow jammed into her back. She turned just in time to see the woman disappear. “You cowa... you know what? Clever,” she admitted before running back into the light.

  She glanced to her mini map until the demon appeared back on it, usually behind her, and then jumped to the side before the arrows narrowly missed. Unfortunately, she had no way of counter attacking yet and when the arrows managed to graze her they still dealt damage despite her dragon ability. Even worse, the arrows were getting faster. Each time the demon shot one she would disappear and appear on the opposite side to shoot, her rhythm picking up.

  Asura gripped her sword in her right hand and once again the girl appeared behind her. She didn't even turn when she moved to the right and held out her left hand. “Ray--” The woman appeared in the darkness in front of her. “-- burst!” The rays of light shot out before the demon had a chance to finish nocking her bow. The angel charged forward immediately and held out her left hand. “Flaming hands!” The light wasn't much, but it was enough to stop the demon's disappearing act. “Guiding blade!” She tore into the bow woman with lightning fast precision strikes as the skill took over.

  Unlike her last opponent, the demon quickly switched weapons into a long black naginata and managed to deflect the last blow of her sword with the shaft, before fae-stepping away. “You know, your dragon friend was a lot tougher.”