Landasy Reality: Angel's Escape

by Fredrick Stokely

  “Annoyed,” he said quickly. “That was just... ugh. That had to be one of the worst challenges... how did they expect anyone to win that on their first try? No one would be able to do that without preparation.”

  “What was it?” she asked nervously.

  “I just... it... ugh. Nothing. Ask Mutt. I don't want to talk about it,” Scalios said, his voice angry and bitter.

  “Okay. I uhhh, I might have a lead on the leviathan king. It looks like Mutt failed too so ummm, want to go? Media said she'll be on in a few hours.”

  “Fine. I'm going to get a drink, I'll talk to you later,” he said curtly and the connection closed.

  “Wow, he's pissed.” She moved back to her friends list and tried establishing a connection with B4hamutt, but he refused. A few moments later a message arrived from him.

  'I'm on my way back. We can talk in person.'

  Asura gulped and slowly laid back down. “Please don't be mad...” she whispered.

  ------

  Asura gulped and watched the door finally open. Rather than wearing her armor, she had instead chose a white fuzzy robe. Technically it was a non-combat costume, but it made a nice garment for lounging about in her room.

  “Hey,” B4hamutt said when he walked inside and glanced at her. His cheeks turned red and he quickly looked off to the side. “I uhhh, don't remember you having anything like that.”

  “Really? I've had it for years. I just don't wear it around others often...” she said and pat the bed besides her. “Come, sit down.”

  “I... o-okay,” he mumbled before walking over to sit besides her. He was tense, gripping his knees and his back rigid. “I... ummm... listen. I mean, I don't think errrr...”

  “Did you lose on purpose?” Asura asked suddenly.

  “What? Lose on... what? Huh?”

  “Did you lose on purpose?” she asked again and leaned in close to him.

  “D-do you mean the quest?” he asked with a light squeak as he tried to inch away from her, but she held him still with a hand on his knee.

  “What else would I mean?”

  “W-why would you think that?”

  “Because you know how much they meant to me. Becoming one of the first,” she said gently before wrapping her arms around his neck and leaning against his shoulder. “Because you were afraid if you passed, while everyone else failed, I'd be miserable knowing I'd no longer have that chance. That I might try to leave again and decide my life wasn't worth... living...”

  “I won't deny that it crossed my mind,” B4hamutt said softly before reaching up to grip her shoulders. “But I also know the kind of person you are. You'd never want me to fail like that. So I did try, and I failed. I'm sorry.”

  “I... I see,” she whispered before closing her eyes and leaning against him. “I just wanted to know. I wanted you to succeed. I know I... I know I've been... I'm kinda...”

  He pulled her into his lap and hugged her tightly to his chest. “You haven't been anything, but you. I failed because I just wasn't prepared this time. It was probably the simplest challenge yet, but I didn't expect something so forward to be so difficult.”

  “What was it?”

  “It was... I...” He shook his head and smiled. “We have a whole year, okay? We can talk about it later. We have a bit of time together, so how about we talk about other things for now. How have things been in reality?”

  Asura cringed and looked down. “I... fine. I haven't seen my parents much out there, but we've been playing every few days on the ship. They have been really busy with the kid. I've been thinking of telling them about this...” She motioned down to herself.

  “They don't know you play this game?”

  “What? No,” she said with a light chuckle and shook her head. “I mean, this! Me! About the fact I play a girl. I ummm, never told them.” She looked down, shame on her face.

  “Wait. You've been playing for years! You mean they've never seen your character?” he asked and his mouth fell open.

  “N-no, they haven't,” she said with a cringe. “I just, you know... they just... they are kind of traditional. I don't think they'd understand me playing a girl.”

  “There's nothing wrong with it,” B4hamutt said quickly.

  “Yeah, but they almost found out once and... they looked really upset,” she whispered and laid her head against his chest. She closed her eyes and listened to the way his heart beat. “I don't think I can tell them about you, though.”

  The dragon's face turned redder and he nodded. “I-I can completely understand that. I don't think you'd want to tell them about... any of that...”

  “How old are you?” the angel asked before gazing up.

  “W-what?” His gaze quickly shifted towards the wall to admire one of her hanging trophies.

  “I know you're over eighteen since... well I've seen...” She trailed off and her arms tightened around him. “How old are you?”

  “T-that's really not important,” he said quickly.

  “Oh come on, I've told you how old I am, my real life gender and even about my coming death. I think you can at least tell me how old you are.”

  “Thirty-three, okay?” he said quickly as he sighed. “I'm thirty-three. Can we move on?”

  “Oh,” she whispered before closing her eyes. “It's okay... it's not real, remember? No matter what we do, none of it's real. So it doesn't matter how old you are or that I'm going to die... just so long as we have each other for now.”

  “I know... just don't, okay?”

  “Okay... I might have found the king of leviathan's. Or at least a way we can find him. I'm going to message Skyth later, but I think Scales and Media are up for giving it a try. Come with?” she asked before leaning back and making pouty lips at him, cupping the side of his cheeks. “Look into my eyes, you know you want to...”

  “Uggggh. Fine, fine,” B4hamutt muttered before rolling his eyes and letting her go. She let out a shriek and tumbled out of his lap without him to support her. “No need for that, you know I'm just as interested in killing these things as you are. So, what's the plan?” he asked before looking back down. His cheeks turned bright red instantly.

  “Owwww, well step one is don't dump your girlfriend on the ground,” Asura said with a groan while she laid on her back for a few moments. She then looked at him before gazing down and blushed as well. She quickly gripped the front of her robe and closed it back up. “I uhhh... you shouldn't do that. But ummm, I'll tell you the plan later, okay?” she said before getting back to her feet. “You'll just have to wait like everyone else. I'm going to send Skyth the message now,” she said before her hands began moving through the air, though she was unable to look at him.

  “Fine. I'll wait for now. But it better be worth it.”

  “It is,” she sat back in his lap and put a hand on his knee. “I... know how we can pass the time until everyone is ready...”

  “Oh?” he asked with a cocked eyebrow.

  “Yes...” she whispered as she moved in, her lips mere centimeters from his. “You and me... can... talk about what the fifth quest was.”

  “Huh? Hey!” he objected before wrapping his arms back around her. “Fine. I guess I'll tell you. The first thing that happened was...”

  ------

  Asura, B4hamutt, Andremedia, Skyth and Scalios flew together over the black sea, keeping their eyes peeled as they each held an enemy-pass in their hands. “It's simple,” Asura explained, “the beast has only shown during the master-level quests. I think it's a secret timed monster. We'll go through the water and try to find something very big. Once we catch sight of it on these.” She motioned to the device in her hand. “We signal the others and group up to fight it.”

  “Will five of us be enough?” Skyth asked.

  “I don't see why not.” Asura shrugged. “We beat Niohoggr with the five of us, so this can't be any harder.”

  “Except it's underwater and we're partially blind down there,” Scalios said quickly.

/>   “Fine, except for that. Just fan out and keep the group voice chat open. If you find anything, let us know.” She looked around before diving into the water below. The water was icy cold when it enveloped her, and she felt the feathers in her wings receding before scales formed across her body. Within seconds she was swimming through the water like a dart. She activated the enemy-pass and a single ping went out, revealing small shapes. Nothing nearly the size she was hoping for. She began swimming ahead this time, instead of down.

  “Find anything?” Asura asked before cringing. Fortunately, the water didn't spill into her mouth and she could talk clearly. “Whew. Seems the leviathan's underwater speaking works fine even in angel class.”

  “You didn't know?” B4hamutt asked with a chuckle. “No, though. None of us have found anything in the twenty seconds we've been looking. It'll probably take a little longer than that.”

  “Fine, whatever,” Asura said with annoyance. “No need to be sarcastic. Anyone know any good underwater songs?”

  “Ugh, none I'd sing here,” Scalios mumbled. “Only ones that come to mind are from movies I saw as a kid.”

  “Most water songs are-- HOLY CRAP!” B4hamutt yelled.

  “What, what is it? Are you okay? Mutt! Answer me!” Asura yelled and stopped swimming.

  “Nothing, just... a fish,” he said sheepishly.

  “A fish?” she asked and a smirk formed on her lips. “You sound like you were going to wet yourself.”

  “I-it was a very weird looking fish,” he said quickly. “Terrifying even. It had these huge teeth and ugly glowing ball on its head and just... it was horrifying. It came right at my face, okay?”

  “Oh, I know the fish,” Asura said with a chuckle. “I just didn't imagine a big strong dragon like you would scream like a little girl because of it...”

  “Don't start.”

  She snickered while they continued swimming and talking. The darkness continued to envelop her on all sides while she slowly made her way through the sea, randomly glancing at her enemy-pass. Nothing bigger than an eel came near her. After a half hour of searching she was about to give it up when Skyth yelled.

  “I found it!” the leviathan yelled into their group chat. “This thing is huge! I think it's bigger than a ship!”

  “We're on our way!” Asura yelled before bringing up the party searcher. After a moment four outlines of her friends appeared in her vision. To her surprise, Skyth and Andremedia were both very close. She took off towards the leviathan as fast as she could. “Don't let it get away!”

  “I don't think that'll be a problem! Ahhhh! It's grabby!”

  “Don't worry, I'm coming at full speed! I'll be there soon!” Asura said before holding out her hand. “River's course.” The water around her began moving with her. It formed a small cylinder of water that flowed straight forward, allowing her to move through the water like a bullet.

  Within a few moments the giant beast appeared on her enemy-pass, straight in front of her. “AHHH!” She tried to stop, but the speed and the spell were too much and she crashed straight into the back of the massive creature. She hit between two of the mouths before the little teeth creatures darted out and started cutting into her. Pain shot through her side when one of them jammed deep into her skin. The angel kicked out as hard as she could and swam away from the beast.

  “Asura, are you okay?” B4hamutt asked.

  “Y-yeah. I'm fine,” she whispered before drawing her sword. “I slammed into it. Careful on the arrival.” She glanced around. With her vision so hindered by the sea, she was unable to see the beast. All she could see was the murky darkness. The enemy-pass in her left hand told her the monster was still just a few yards in front of her. “Skyth, you okay?”

  “Fine! Could use a hand!” the leviathan called back.

  “I'll-- AH!” Asura slashed out with her sword when suddenly a tentacle shot down at her from above. She cleaved through it just before two more came from either side and a final from below. Her left arm was grabbed and the other two wrapped around her waist and legs. “It's got me! Ugh!” She slashed with her sword yet again. The tentacles were cut to pieces, but just as quickly new ones shot out at her from all sides. She turned and swam as fast as she could. “I'm going to try and come around it to join up with you. How are you doing?”

  “MFFFFFFFFFF!” Skyth responded.

  “I don't think she's doing well,” Andremedia said. “I'm almost to you two. Hold on.”

  “Okay,” Asura said before turning to the right. She glanced at the small device and boggled at just how long the creature was. It filled the device screen up, and it took many seconds before she finally found the end of it. The tentacles continued to try and snatch at her, but they were so slow and predictable that she was easily able to maneuver around them while she slid around the creature's side. She could just see the outline of Skyth in the distance when she reached the end and was able to turn back around. “River's current.” Within a few moments she was almost at the leviathan's side.

  Skyth was covered in tentacles. She swung her mace back and forth, freezing them as she went, but they continued to pull her close. Fortunately, each strike coated the nearby area in ice, and it was making it near impossible for the beast to maneuver her near a mouth. Asura glided past as her sword flashed, cleaving through the tentacles wrapped around Skyth's arms. “Are you okay?” she asked.

  “Fine, thanks,” the leviathan said before pushing away.

  A ball of ice shot between the two and, a moment later, they heard it explode into the beast. “Sorry I'm late,” Andremedia said before swimming up to join them. “Any plan?”

  “Yeah,” Asura said before swinging at an attacking tentacle, getting back-to-back with Skyth. “We hold off until the others get here. We can't fully see the monster, but we can see each other a little with the party tracker. We'll use that to cover each other. It doesn't seem to do much damage with the tentacles.”

  “Yeah, but I don't think we can do much damage to it,” Skyth said before deflecting a limb with her shield, and struck out with her mace. “Its tentacles keep regrowing, and getting in close to the body is dangerous.”

  “We'll be fine,” Asura said before she cut another tentacle. “Media, cover me. I wanna try something.”

  “On it!” the fae said before she glided in around the two and began swinging with her own sword.

  Asura brought up the menu and re-activated the explosive ability of her sword before she changed it to a great sword. “Okay, I want to try something! I might need you to bail me out, but here goes!” she yelled and charged straight at the beast. She plunged the sword into the monster and flames began to coat the blade. The water around them boiled before exploding outward and, while it didn't hurt her, she was sent flying backwards with a shriek, her blade sliding from her grasp. She felt something catch her from behind and coil around her waist. “AHHHH!”

  She looked down to see tentacles coil around her from all sides. She tried punching at them, but soon more gripped her wrists and held them still while she was slowly pulled towards the mouth. “It's got me! I lost my sword!”

  “We're coming! We're trying!” Andremedia yelled.

  Asura shrieked when the gaping mouths appeared in front of her, the teeth fish skittering about as they prepared to tear into her. “No no no! Help!” she screamed before she was pulled into the mouth, the viscous fangs moving in and slashing across her body. Pain bursts shot through her and her HP began to plummet. “It's-- mmphh!” she was cut off as a tentacle wrapped around her face. She whimpered as the powerful limbs held her still, their slimy grips holding her helpless as the monstrous teeth fish slashed into her exposed body.

  The tentacles around her were slashed to pieces and an arm wrapped around her waist, tugging her away. B4hamutt held her to his chest and let out a sigh. “You okay?”

  “I-I'm fine. My sword is in it somewhere though. I stabbed it, but the blade was lost in the explosion,” she said while she stared in
to the darkness.

  “Wonderful,” the dragon said before motioning toward the other two. “Scales is almost here. Just stick back and heal us,” he said before his claws reached out to cleave through another limb. “I'll see if I can find your sword.” B4hamutt took off, swimming straight for the monster.

  “What? NO! Mutt!” Asura yelled. “Don't, it's too dangerous! You can't even see it!”

  “Asura, relax,” Andremedia said. “We're all still here. I'm coming in with you, Mutt!” She separated from Skyth.

  Asura watched the two when they moved through the darkness. Though she couldn't see the monster, she was able to see the outlines of the two as they fought their way through the tentacles in search of her blade. She flew back and tried to keep away from the tentacles. She caught sight of Scalios when he joined up with Skyth. The angel clenched her fists while she watched the two struggle and then gasped when she saw the two of them stop. “Are you two okay? Did you get hurt? Are you caught?”

  “We're fine, relax,” Andremedia said as the two began moving again. “We just got attacked by a lot at once. We're... holy... we found your sword. Guys, you gotta see this!”

  “What's wrong?” Scalios asked as the three others started towards the blade.

  “You'll see,” B4hamutt said while he and Skyth just floated there. Once Asura and the others fought through the tentacles, they could see why. The area around the blade, for a few yards out, was charred completely black. The tooth-fish creatures had completely left the area and all the tentacles nearby had fallen off, leaving burnt black stumps.

  “Really?” Asura asked and yanked out her sword with a grunt. “I thought it would destroy some of the mouths, but nothing like this.”

  She glanced around at the darkness surrounding them, but no tentacles reached for them. “Well, now that we know its weakness. I believe everyone has the dragon weapon?”

  The others nodded and quickly activated the explosion abilities on their weapons before spreading out. The moment Asura was no longer over the burn marks, tentacles began to surround her. She weaved around them, and dove back at the mouths. She gripped her sword tightly in both hands before plunging it straight into the beast. The water around her boiled and she was sent hurtling back, this time firmly holding the blade in her hands.