Load Custom Character

by Tyler R Lee

  “I’m sorry I didn’t come.”

  “None of that. This is my fault, not yours.”

  “We’ll agree to disagree,” Peter grumbled. “Anyway, got a plan?”

  “How many more potions you got?”

  Peter checked his inventory and silently cursed his stupidity. “Two, dammit. I didn’t even stock up before coming. And I left the special ones we got back in my chest at the inn.”

  “We make a good team,” ShieldBro laughed.

  The goblins decided they had heard enough banter and began to approach the two, though a little slower this time, the AI not sure if another player would show up suddenly or not.

  “Well,” ShieldBro stated as he stepped forward and swung his sword down, then out to the side. “Whaddaya say we make the best of a bad situation.”

  “Works for me,” Peter responded, the slightest quiver in his voice. “But, let me see if I can split their defense. Or some other sports reference I don’t fully understand.”

  ShieldBro laughed, but before he could say anything, Peter launched himself into the air, aiming directly for the center of the group in front of them. “What are you…” his friend started to protest, but then saw Peter’s plan unfold.

  As the martial artist was about to make contact with the group of goblins, who simply raised their spears and swords to skewer the boy, an orange light emanated from his body in all directions. It appeared to be translucent, though apparently was solid as it crushed two unfortunate goblins directly underneath Peter. More so, it made contact, damaged, and threw back many that made contact with it. Peter then let out a quick yell and threw his hands out to both sides, palms out as if to stop an oncoming target. His shield of light spread out with aggressive force in all directions and catapulted most of the goblins backward..

  As he had said, this had successfully split this group into two, about five or six goblins each.

  “What the hell was that, Goku?” the knight asked with a grin on his face.

  “Shield of Inner Strength,” Peter smiled. “Martial artist ability. Unlocked it a while back but I forgot to check on it. I haven’t been fully utilizing my abilities as of late, obviously. I can produce a shield of light that damages any enemies that touch it. Spend a little more stamina and I can throw it out farther. I like it.” When he finished, he charged one of the groups of goblins, and ShieldBro followed suit and attacked the other.

  ***

  Peter intercepted the first goblin spear that came his way, but didn’t retaliate against the wielder. Instead, he held on, and ran straight at the next closest. As he leapt towards it, he lifted his knee, which caught the goblin right in the chin and sent it flying back. Before he landed, he threw his shield out to the sides again, sending the several oncoming attackers back as well. He then quickly pulled the wielder of the spear in and landed several punches before swinging hard with one final punch to send it to the ground. That one was dead.

  It was then that Peter realized despite only playing it safe for the past month he had still leveled and gotten stronger. It seemed one of his full, well timed combos could kill most individual goblins.

  Sadly, the other enemies were up and on him before he could formulate much of a plan. The martial artist made sure to circle around, trying to keep one, two at most in front of him at all times as he parried, dodged, and counterattacked with furious fists and feet. He soon realized that getting off a full combo on a single enemy was going to be difficult. He did make sure to occasionally glance over to see how ShieldBro was doing. What he saw was a player who knew how to fight better than anyone he had seen up to this point. His sword swipes were expertly timed, and he knew how to draw the enemy in one at a time. If he was overwhelmed, his shield bashes were perfectly placed to buy some time. Peter was impressed, to say the least. He had no idea that his friend was thinking the same about him as he glanced over, more surprised, though, since Peter was a newbie at the game.

  Peter whittled his group of six down to two without taking much damage, and smiled. That is, until he heard the shouts from the ridges. More goblins flooded down to take the place of their fallen companions, many of which were already disappearing to make room for new corpses.

  “Incoming,” Peter yelled to his friend, who had just finished with his group.

  “Same to you,” ShieldBro responded as he turned to meet more goblins coming from behind, weapons raised, crying out like psychotic rioters thirsting for blood. He slashed and hacked with his sword as they made it to him.

  Peter ran over and intercepted a large group, putting his back to his friend. “We should stay together. We can watch each others’ back this way--ah!” he cried as he took a sword swipe in the leg, which he repaid with a powerful uppercut that sent his foe into the air.

  “Good idea,” ShieldBro responded, then went to one knee in pain after taking a spear to the side and a wooden shield to the face. He was quick to counter though by spinning in two full rapid rotations with his sword, using a technique that extended his range by several feet. This threw back several enemies and even killed a few.

  “Good idea, yourself,” Peter said has he threw out his energy field again, knocking back his surrounding foes.

  “You’re gonna run out of stamina,” the knight warned.

  “We’re gonna run out of health, first, if we don’t think of something.”

  Before either could say anything else, the goblins were back on them, more pouring over the ridges.

  The fight raged for a long time, the martial artist and the knight fighting valiantly, but slowly taking heavy loses to their health and stamina. Again, Peter gave himself some breathing room with his shield, then grabbed both potions out of his inventory. He chugged one and then tossed the other to his friend with a, “heads up!”

  “Thanks,” ShieldBro said, but didn’t have time to drink it before the enemy was on him. “I’ll drink it in a minute, I guess!”

  “Fine, I’m trying something new.” With that, Peter rushed an oncoming group of goblins. As one approached, he ducked down, then came up hard with a flying uppercut. He then used his ability to stay in the air as long as he was making contact with his attacks to combo out on the poor creature and send it rocketing down to the ground as he kicked off. Landing clear of the group as they intercepted their dead comrade with a thud, Peter started to retreat, knowing they would follow. He kited them around the hollow until one outpaced the others, then he ducked, uppercutted, comboed, and jumped clear. “Lets see how long I can hold out doing this. My stamina regenerates a bit when I make them chase me. Maybe this is how we outlast them.”

  ShieldBro was slicing and dicing his foes, trying to get enough room to down his health potion. “Finally,” he said when he finished off all in sight. As he made to chug, he felt a sharp pain in his back that shot his health down dangerously close to zero. The pain and shock pushed him to his knees and forced him to drop the vial. Another goblin quickly snatched it up, looked at it, then downed it itself, snickering after.

  “You son of a bitch!” ShieldBro raged as he turned around and swiftly cut down his attacker, then charged forward with a fierce yell at the one who drank his potion, shoving his sword deep into its gut. However, he didn’t stop. He continued pushing back, skewering another goblin, then another, roaring in anger the whole time. “Spear of Light!” he cried when his sword filled with goblins, three total, and a bright, white blade shot out several more feet from the tip. He drove forward, spearing four more goblins before he ran the blade into one of the stone walls, then ripped the sword out of the creatures, who toppled to the ground in a heap.

  ShieldBro breathed heavy as he stared at the pile of goblins, but another sharp pain, then another, brought him back to his current predicament. In anger, his sword still a spear of light, he turned as he slashed, taking out the two goblins attacking him. When they fell, he saw about a dozen more heading for him, screeching with anger as they ran. He met their charge, spinning in one 360 degrees spin, then anot
her, then another, each time only stopping momentarily before he started another one. His long, white blade slashed through the goblins like they were nothing. He spun again, and again, and then saw that only a few were left from this group. He made to spin again, but nothing happened. He tried again, but still nothing. He then realized he had run out of stamina and would need to let it regenerate if he wanted to keep attacking. When he felt another sharp pain in his side, then in his back, he knew he didn’t have that kind of time.

  “Shield!” Peter cried out as he saw his friend surrounded after that awe inspiring display of combat. “I’m com--gah!” he cried out as he took a couple of hits from his group. He had panicked and tried to retreat. That was careless of him. With a yell of anger and panic, he used his shield to stop their weapons from hitting him, and caused his attackers to retreat a few steps so they wouldn’t take damage. Peter took this opportunity to break away and run over to his friend, who was down on one knee, leaning on his sword. Then, he was on the ground, surrounded by three more goblins. When Peter saw ShieldBro’s HP his heart dropped as he dashed faster. It was below zero.

  The three goblins were about to finish ShieldBro off before Peter drove a flying knee into one, sending it crashing into another, then into the third. He had activated his Shield of Inner Strength as he made contact, dealing enough damage to kill all three goblins. “Shield!” Peter cried again as he quickly knelt down over his friend and tried to help him to his feet. His HP was slowly lowering further into the negative numbers, and Peter knew when it hit the negative equivalent of his full HP, he would die.

  “Hang on,” Peter said he hurriedly rifled through his inventory. He felt the panic rise and the anger swell as he swiped through pieces of armor he never sold or trashed, scrolls he had no use for, ingredients that did nothing until you combined them with other things. “Dammit!” he growled through gritted teeth.

  “It’s fine,” he heard ShieldBro say, his voice weak.

  “Shield,” Peter responded as he turned his friend over and sat him up against a rock. He looked around and noticed the goblins closing in cautiously. “We gotta move--”

  “You know I can’t,” ShieldBro interrupted with a weak chuckle. It was then Peter noticed his bloody face and dented armor. He looked bad. And his health was still dropping.

  “Dammit!” Peter cursed. “I can’t believe I didn’t bring more health potions. I can’t believe--”

  “Stop it, Pete. None of this is your fault.” Peter noticed his friend’s voice getting weaker.

  “How can you say that!?” Peter asked as he noticed tears running down his face, and thought about how much crueler Yoshitsune was to allow them to cry in this game. “If I had come with you when you asked…” but he couldn’t finish the statement.

  “It was my decision, Pete. I got...myself and two of my friends killed. It was my...over...overconfidence. Don’t blame yourself for this.”

  Peter was trying his hardest not to burst out in wails as he watched his oldest friend’s life bar continue to slowly drain, and watched the goblins creep ever closer. “But...you can’t die. You...you just got married. You said so yourself. You have to beat this game with us. You have to get back to your wife.”

  ShieldBro chuckled a bit and breathed in deep. “Yeah...I’m...really gonna miss Andrea.” Peter then noticed the tears in his friend’s eyes. “Could you do me a favor, buddy?”

  “Yeah. Anything, man. What do you need?”

  “Could you...could you tell Andrea that I’m sorry?”

  “But--”

  “Could you tell her that I’m sorry...I’m sorry I couldn’t make it back? When you make it out, tell her that...I should have just watched a movie on the couch with her that night...like she asked. I just...I just wanted to hang out with you guys in the game. But, I should have...I should have listened to her.”

  Peter couldn’t hold it in anymore and was sobbing as he shook his head. “‘When I make it out?’”

  “Yeah. Because you’re gonna make it out. You’re gonna get with...Lysander and Ariel, and anybody else who wants to help...and you’re gonna beat this damn game.”

  “I don’t--”

  “I saw the way you were fighting. You’re a natural. You have good instincts. Plus, you are a good person, and they need someone like you. Someone that will have their back. Someone that will run into a hollow surrounded by goblins to save a friend.” ShieldBro attempted a laugh at the last part, but was too weak.

  After a moment, Peter nodded and said, “You got it, Shield. I’ll let your wife know.”

  “Thanks, Pete. Oh, and by the way,” ShieldBro said while, somehow, raising his arm and extending it to Peter. “I’m Andrew. Andrew Locksus. Nice to meet you, Pete.”

  Tears still streaking his face, Peter grasped his friend’s hand tightly and blubbered out, “Nice to meet you, Andrew. Peter Robinson.” Then he noticed that his friend wasn’t looking at him anymore. He wasn’t looking at anything anymore. His eyes just stared off into the distance. Peter looked to his friend’s HP gauge. It had reached the complete opposite of his full health. When the realization of this caused Peter to loosen his grip on Andrew’s hand, it dropped to his stomach, then to the ground. Then, Peter watched as his friend slowly slid over on his side off the rock he had sat him up against.

  “It...it isn’t supposed to be this way.” Peter sobbed into his hand. “It was never supposed to be this way!” he yelled. “We were just supposed to be playing a game!” he yelled again, feeling sharp pains in his back and hearing shrieks from the goblins, but the pain didn’t seem to affect him. “It isn’t fair,” he muttered as another pain shot through his side. “It isn’t fair!” he said again, louder this time. Before the next goblin could attack, Peter yelled out in a cry that stopped the goblin in its tracks, “IT’S JUST NOT FAIR!” When he did this, he unleashed his shield out as far as he could with his full stamina bar. The dozen goblins directly behind him were blown away. A few of the closest ones died, but the others got up, ready for more. And still, more poured over the ridges into the hollow.

  “It wasn’t supposed to be like this!” Peter cried as he turned towards the goblins, very little stamina left. As they stepped toward him, he rushed them, fury on his face. When he got to them, he tackled one and began pummeling it. It died quickly, but not before several other enemies stabbed and slashed at Peter, who didn’t seem to care. He unleashed his shield again with the little stamina he had, and then did something he had only heard about, about how, if you chose too, you could use your health to power your techniques and magic instead if you were low on stamina or magical energy. They would be more powerful, but you would be draining your health. Most people seemed to shy away from this. Especially since the game became a player killer. However, Peter had stopped caring a few seconds ago, and he dipped into his health to unleash a large blash of energy in all directions. It was indeed more powerful, eating through three enemies with full health, and killing a few more behind them.

  “It was supposed to be a game!” the rageful martial artist cried again as he rushed another group of goblins, doing his favorite flying knee to send three of them soring away while others hit him with blades and spear tips. His health was dangerously low, and he was feeling the pain now. But he didn’t care. He dipped into his health again and unleashed another wave from his shield as he cried, “We weren’t supposed to die! WE’RE JUST KIDS, GODDAMMIT!” that put an end to multiple goblins around him.

  Peter dropped to one knee and breathed heavily. He looked at his health bar and closed his eyes as he processed the 5 HP reading. “Whatever,” he said through a sob. He then stood and ran one more time towards the approaching goblins.

  Before he got to the group, he fell back from a massive explosion as he watched a blue lightning bolt streak out of the sky and hit the ground directly in the center of the large group he was running toward. It blew the ground asunder and incinerated many of the goblins. As a few creatures were thrown into the air, smalle
r streaks leapt from the large bolt, still quivering and sparking in the ground, and pulsed into the airborne enemies, frying them from the inside out.

  At a loss, Peter looked around, but didn’t see anything but more goblins rushing over the ridge, a bit more cautiously, but still in a frenzy.

  “Up here,” Peter heard and turned to look. Behind him, up on a twenty foot high cliffside stood a dark elf in a pointed wizards hat and dark-blue robes lined in white and light-blue.

  “Lysander,” Peter whispered in surprise.

  He then turned to see another group of goblins rushing at him. Before he could stand, a warrior wielding a greatsword dashed in and slammed her blade into the group, sending many flying. Peter recognized the raven hair flowing by, as well as the technique. “Stay down, Peter. We’ve got this,” he heard Ariel say as she narrowed her eyes at the enemies.

  Up along the other ridge as more goblins poured down, he saw others enter the fight and begin taking out the goblins. A blond woman robbed in black with white armor on her upper torso and angel wings upon her back swooped in and slashed furiously with her twin longswords. Another woman hooded in grey garb dashed in with her wakizashi, cutting down a few, then sending shuriken at others approaching. Up on the ridge, Peter saw blue bolts of energy knocking down goblin after goblin. He looked to the source and saw a man fully armored in green with black details shooting beams of energy from a cannon on his hand, whooping and hollering in joy as he did so. Also upon the ridge, he noticed a blue streak dash back and forth, knocking goblins down, some dead, other badly wounded. Then the streak stopped, and Peter saw it was a man, or, a cheetah man, decked out in a blue suite that he thought looked an awful lot like the comic book superhero the Flash, but blue. Among them, there were others, fighting off the goblins. They had come to his aid.