by Edward Brody
I ran as hard as I could as I could when I saw Jeremy taking aim with his second dagger. He threw it deliberately, and it flew through the air, but once again, the harpy dodged. As the harpy swerved the dagger in the air, I held out both hands and shot both a Fireblast and then an Arcane Missile at it. It was a dangerous move to make with Jax in its grasp, but I had to take the chance or risk him getting dragged away.
The Fireblast missed, but as the harpy was dodging the Fireblast, the Arcane Missile managed to make contact with one of its wings.
The harpy, still holding Jax, started spinning wildly and crashing towards the ground.
“Fenris!” I yelled, hoping the wolf could perform a maneuver like Sora had to prevent a fatal fall.
Fenris ran to just under the spinning harpy and spun his head round and round, following Jax and trying to gauge the fall, but just as the harpy and Jax were about to hit the ground, Fenris leapt, and missed by a few inches. When Fenris landed on his feet, he stumbled a couple times and looked like he had made himself dizzy.
Jax hit the ground hard, and the harpy landed on top of Jax. It flapped its wings as it tried pushing itself back up off the ground, and then it lunged itself in the air. But, Fenris had quickly recovered from his dizziness and jumped, catching the harpy’s leg in his teeth.
Jeremy ran past us as Fenris tugged on the harpy, and just as it looked like the harpy was going down, its leg snapped off in Fenris’ mouth and it rose further into the sky.
The harpy screeched in pain.
Rina cast her magic, which the harpy dodged, and I shot a Fireblast, then an Arcane Missile which the harpy dodged as well. But then a dagger came flying in the other direction and struck the harpy in the back of its shoulder. A moment later, the harpy came crashing down and splintered into several shards of ice.
You have gained 4200 XP!
Jax was on the ground, unmoving, and both Rina and Keysia ran to his side.
“Jax!” Rina cried. “Jax!”
Jeremy slowly walked towards us, his chest heaving and clearly out of breath. He paced up to the shattered bird and recovered his dagger from between the frozen bits. He looked up at me and smiled. “Nice to see you again, man.”
Chapter Eighteen
1/27/0001
I held my sword tip out towards Jeremy as I rushed over to Jax’s body. “Don’t come near us,” I hissed.
I kneeled down beside Jax and could see that there were several deep scratches that had cut through the front of his armor and smaller ones on his face. His chest was still moving up and down, and when I looked at our group status bars, I could see the slightest sliver of health left.
Rina had her bag open and was scouring through it furiously.
“Heal him, Rina!” I said. “He’s going to die soon!”
“I’m out of mana,” she said. “I was casting on those things nonstop. We needed to use a potion.”
“I’ve got a health potion,” Jeremy said.
I still had my sword tip held up as I turned to him. “I said stand back!”
You are bleeding and require medical attention.
I felt the strong pulse of pain and realized that I was also in need of healing soon. I only had 35% left after all the loss of blood, but we still had time to cure the bleeding, and Rina could probably heal me after she was done with Jax.
I reached in my bag, pulled out a bandage, and started bandaging one of Jax’s bleeding wounds. Keysia was on the other side doing the same thing.
Rina found her health potion, lifted Jax’s head ever so slightly and started to pour the vial of red liquid into his mouth. Almost immediately, Jax’s lips started moving up and down, and he groaned. As more liquid fell into his mouth, he blinked his eyes a few times and grunted.
“I’m glad you’re okay,” Rina said as she continued pouring liquid into Jax’s mouth.
Jax reached up and grabbed the vial and tilted it even more, so that he quickly finished the last bit of liquid. When he was done, he made a refreshing sigh as if he had just drunk a cold cola. “The harpies?”
I turned to see the piles of two smoldering harpies. It looked as if the frozen harpies were thawing out, but they were still clearly dead. “Looks like they’re all gone for now.”
Jax pushed himself into a sitting position. “Thanks,’ he said towards Rina. He reached down and squeezed the bandages we just fit on him then looked up to me and Keysia. “You guys too.” His brow furrowed. “How’d you kill it? I didn’t see what happened.”
I looked up to see Jeremy hovering beside us with his arms crossed, a wide smirk across his face. “This guy helped,” I said.
Jax turned his head to look at the man, then turned back to me, raised his eyebrow, and snickered.
I stood to my feet and took a step closer to Jeremy, still holding my sword out. “What are you doing here?!”
“Well, you told me not to go back to Edgewood or I’d be killed on sight, right?”
I opened my eyes wide and shook my head mockingly. “Yeah?! So why the hell would you follow us to Nestle Rock?”
Jeremy reached behind his back. “Well, this isn’t Edgewood. And you guys just seem really cool. I really want to earn my spot in the guild.”
I sighed and shook my head. “I told you no multiple times already.” I took a strong step forward and thrust my sword towards Jeremy’s neck. “I told you not to go to Edgewood, and now I’m telling you not to follow us again—here or anywhere else—if you want to live.”
Jeremy took a step back.
Jax stood to his feet along with Keysia and Rina.
You are bleeding and require medical attention.
I flinched at the pain.
“Oh, you’re bleeding, Gunnar,” Rina said. She walked behind me and started fumbling in her back for a bandage to wrap my back.
“Just give me a chance,” Jeremy persisted. “You won’t regret it.”
I closed my eyes and sighed again, loudly. I was getting tired of saying the same thing over and over again. What part of ‘no’ did the guy not understand?
“You’re a Reborn?” Jax suddenly asked.
“I am,” the guy replied. “You too?”
Jax shook his head, and then he turned to me. “Maybe you should give him a shot,” he said low.
“He attacked Edgewood,” I said. I flicked my eyes towards Keysia. “He killed Keysia and some of the others.”
“I don’t know if it was his arrow that hit me,” Keysia clarified.
“I’m sorry if it was me,” Jeremy said. “I don’t think it was, but I was just firing at anything that day.”
“And he stole from us,” I snapped, thrusting my sword forward a few inches.
“I was level 3, dude!” Jeremy cried. “I didn’t know what the hell I was doing.”
Jax cleared his throat and snapped his head to the side. “Remember how you were at that level? You’ve changed quite a bit, Gunnar.”
I twisted my lips at the comment. “So, you seriously think we should let this thief into our guild?”
“Well,” Jax said. “He helped us here. He could’ve easily attacked or stole from us while we were fighting with the harpies if he was a total predator.”
I swallowed and tensed my jaw. “Rina, Keysia? What do you think?”
“I don’t know,” Rina scoffed. She straightened her shoulders and smiled. “But, I do know people can change.”
“You could kick him out if he does something harmful,” Keysia said.
“I could…” I said. “I mean, we could.” I rattled my head from side to side. “Look. Now that I’m back in my old house, he’d be sleeping with all of you. You’d all feel comfortable sleeping in the same room with him after everything he’s done?” I turned my head and looked at all three of my guild mates.
They all gave shrugs and light nods.
I sighed and returned my sword to its holster. “Look, I—“
“Trust me, dude,” the guy interrupted.
I held my palm ou
t to him. “Let me finish.” I paused and looked the guy directly in the eye. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but you did save us from potential disaster today. I’ll let you join on a probationary period, but if you fuck up again, I’ll seriously hurt you more than last time.”
“Seriously?!” the guy said, grinning widely. “Yes!”
I huffed and pursed my lips.
Jeremy stepped forward and held out a fist bump to me. I looked down to the fist and just held out an open hand. Jeremy responded by opening his fist, taking my hand, and shaking it several times. “Thanks so much, dude!”
“Yeah, thanks for helping with the harpies,” I said. I tilted my head at my guild mates. “And you should thank my team instead. I wouldn’t have even considered it if they weren’t all on board.”
Jeremy looked towards the guild, smiled, and held his hand out to each one. “Thank you soooo much! And I’m so sorry for the attack the other day.”
When Jeremy had finished shaking everyone hands, he turned back to me, and I thought hard about willing a guild invitation to him.
Jeremy Cole has joined your guild: Unity!
“Oh, so the guild’s name is ‘Unity’,” Jeremy cooed. “That sounds sick!”
“Yeah, that’s the name,” I explained. “And welcome to the guild. Don’t do anything to make us regret this.”
Everyone welcomed Jeremy to the guild and introduced themselves.
“Jax.”
“Rina.”
“Keysia.”
Jeremy turned back to me and smiled. He reminded me of a younger version of Aaron, aside from his thick, dark curls. They were both roughly the same height and build, and Jeremy had a similar air of naivety about him.
“I’m glad to be a part of the team. We’re going to kick some ass together!”
I looked at Jeremy curiously. “Why do I have the feeling I’m going to regret this?”
Chapter Nineteen
1/27/0001
We checked each of the fallen harpies before moving back over to the hole. None of them were carrying loot, unfortunately, but Jax cut two hidden snake-like tails from the harpies that hadn’t been damaged too badly, remembering that they were reagents for the Giant’s Potion schematic that he had.
Fenris used his paws to clear as much dirt around the treasure chest as possible, and Jax jumped into the hole to wiggle the chest until it was sitting flat on its bottom.
The chest was huge—twice the size of the chest that Adeelee and I looted in the Vale—and its dark weathered wood was secured by a large brass lock.
I reached for my keychain and found the mysterious key that I had looted with the map and held it up in the air. “You guys ready for this? I hope it fits.”
“Wait a minute,” Jax said as he walked around the chest, looking at it from each angle. “Let me check for traps first.”
“This is the kind of thing I’ve been waiting to do,” Jeremy said as Jax continued inspecting the chest. “Loot treasure chests with a nice guild. I’ve been missing out.”
I chuckled. “You’ve been solo the whole time you’ve been in here?”
“Pretty much.”
“And you said they’ve given up on trying to shut Eden’s Gate down back on Earth?” I queried.
“According to them, Eden’s Gate is already shut down,” Jeremy said. “But only the sheeple believe that.”
“Oh, yeah?” I asked. “I guess they’re trying to ward people from crossing over.”
“Yeah,” Jeremy answered. “And they’ve confiscated just about all the Nexicon headsets.”
“So how’d you get in?”
“I moved out of my home and took my headset with me,” Jeremy said. “Didn’t report my new address.”
“But you knew you’d be stuck in here, right? What made you put the headset on?”
Jeremy sighed and shrugged. “It was mostly impulse. I was having a hard time in life right before I made my decision. I only moved because I lost my job and couldn’t afford my apartment anymore. I was up to my neck in student loans and was struggling to get anywhere in life. $70,000 debt to learn a career I couldn’t even hold a job in.”
“Damn, sorry to hear that,” I said.
Jeremy shook his head. “I just wanted to start over, so I took a chance. Things haven’t been perfect since I put the headset on, but I feel like I can actually be somebody in this world. It’s given me a second chance.”
I nodded. I could relate to what he said somewhat, and just hearing some of his story made me like Jeremy a little more. Maybe he wasn’t all that bad.
“I don’t detect anything,” Jax said, “but let’s be careful.”
“Alright then,” I said as I turned back towards the treasure chest. “I guess this is the moment of truth.”
I kneeled down in front of the chest, slid the mysterious key into the keyhole, and made a silent prayer that the key matched the lock. I tried turning the key to the right, but nothing happened. The key just seemed to hit something inside and not move any further, but when I turned it to the left, there was a clack, and as I continued to turn, it sounded almost as if I were winding a clock.
“This is weird…” I said as I continued turning the key to the left.
I must have turned it at least four full rotations before there was a snapping sound, and the key stopped turning.
I glanced up to everyone before grabbing the front of the chest, and to my delight, the lid moved. “Hell yeah!” I said as I flipped the lid all the way open, but as soon as I saw what was inside, I immediately jumped back.
Hundreds of tiny cockroach-like creatures swarmed out of the chest in every direction, and as soon as they touched my armor, they started biting and chewing.
“Shit!” I yelled as I flung my arms around, trying to get the bugs off me. I swung my hands at my legs, arms, chest, and anywhere that I could feel them, and the whole guild around me were stomping and swatting at them too.
Rina and Keysia were screaming like… girls, basically, and Fenris and Sora were pouncing on the tiny creatures, trying to chew them up as fast as they could.
You have gained 1XP!’
You have gained 1 XP!
You have gained 1 XP!
We were busy ridding ourselves of the roaches for a good two or three minutes before we had killed nearly all of them, and there were little pieces of bug and guts all around and on us. With all the bug juice and mud caked on from earlier, our group was looking in piss-poor condition.
“No traps?” I asked as I leaned over, catching my breath.
“I couldn’t detect that one,” Jax said. “Luckily they were only level 1.”
“If one of us—” Rina jerked and yelped as she felt a bug climb up her leg. She swatted at her inner thigh a couple times, until the bug fell to the ground, and then she raised her foot and stomped it. She huffed. “If one of us had been alone, it might have been enough to kill us.”
“A thousand bug bites would be a horrible way to die,” Keysia added.
I stood up straight and peered back into the chest cautiously, worried that there could be snakes, or, worse, spiders at the bottom of the chest, but thankfully, I saw lots of shiny things catching the light overhead. “We’ve got treasure!” I shouted.
“Hell yeah,” Jeremy said, and I could see the excitement on the other guild mate’s faces.
There were weapons, armor, gold, and jewels that I could see at the very top of the chest, and I started by pulling out a long skinny sword.
You’ve received: Tempered Steel Rapier. 19-21 Attack Damage. Requires 10 Strength. Requires 25 Dexterity. Durability: 6/10. Quality: Great. Rarity: Common. Weight: 1.9
“This is nice,” I said after reading the stats and setting the sword aside. “Less damage than my falchion, so not sure if it’s for me.”
“Damage isn’t everything,” Jax said. “Remember that the damage only applies to a single, standard attack to a non-critical area on a forward-facing enemy. You might do more damage w
ith that rapier, because it’s lighter, faster, and its sharp point will likely pierce through light armor.”
“Maybe,” I said. “Let’s see what else what else we have.”
You’ve received: Light Steel Mace of Crushing. 32-40 Attack Damage. Requires 20 Strength. Requires 18 Dexterity. Durability: 8/10. Quality: Exceptional. Rarity: Common. Weight: 3.0 +5 Strength. 5% increased chance to destroy shields and armor.
“Ozzy can use this,” I said. “Looks like a big upgrade for him.”
“Damn!” Jeremy howled. “That’s like double the damage of my daggers.”
“What kind of daggers are those anyway?” I asked. “They have some sort of on-hit freezing effect?”
“They have an ‘on-cast’ effect stat to infuse the daggers with a freeze spell. When I use the on-cast, the dagger freezes the next target it hits. Each dagger only has about 3 charges left though, so I’ll need to replace them soon.”
“Where’d you get those?” I asked.
Jeremy reached behind his head and started scratching. “Ehh… I stole them from a house in Highcastle.”
I shook my head. “See, dude. You can’t just steal from whoever if you’re going to be a part of the guild. I don’t know how it affects your reputation or the guild’s, but just stop. We’re not a thieves’ guild.”
“I will,” Jeremy said. He held up a hand as if he were swearing before a judge. “I’ll put my best foot forward for the guild.”
“What about those shoes?” I asked, noticing strange, light sparkle that emanated off their black.
“They give me a +5 run speed, and they have another 10 [on-cast] charges left to add an additional 25% run speed.” He smiled cockily.