Load Custom Character

by Tyler R Lee

  “The fire is being pulled in a single direction,” Ariel said, grinning at the others.

  “What?” Streak said as he made his way over.

  “It’s being pulled. By, like, an air current,” Ariel explained. “I first noticed it when I woke up. It has been fluttering the same way this whole time.”

  “What’s going on,” Gunner asked, making his way over after seeing everyone gathered around.

  “The flames are speaking to Ariel,” Streak jested, to which Ariel shot him a sarcastic look.

  “I have an idea.” Ariel opened her inventory and selected a torch, which appeared in her hand. She then placed it in the campfire, lighting the wrapped and oiled end. She then walked over to the far left path and held the fire up to it. “Come look.”

  The group looked at each other in confusion, shrugged, and walked over to Ariel. “See, nothing here.”

  “I, indeed, see nothing,” Peter said, to which Ariel slugged him in the arm. “Ouch. Hey! I just lost two hit points!” The rest of the group chuckled and followed Ariel to the next path.

  “Again, nothing,” she said, motioning to the torch as if she was teaching a class.

  “I see,” NoScope smiled.

  “See what?” Gunner asked.

  “Go on,” NoScope motioned to Ariel, who smiled as she led the group to the only other path apart from the one they entered this clearing through.

  “But here,” Ariel said as she held up the torch to the path opening. The whole group’s eyes went wide, some jaws fell open, while others smiled as they watched the flame on the torch get caught in some kind of air current and pull towards the opening. “See. There is an air current down this path, but not any of the others.”

  “Great scot, Sherlock, I think you solved it,” Lysander smiled as he wrapped Ariel’s head in a hug.

  “It’s certainly the most we’ve got to go on the entire time we’ve been in this god-forsaken forest,” Peter said, relief evident in his voice.

  “Agreed,” Streak said. “Now let’s get this damn quest over with.” With that, he headed down the path, and everyone followed.

  Chapter 10

  Over the next several paths, it was easy going. Following the air currents using the torch had proved to be an excellent idea, and the group was already in much better spirits than the night before. However, after several correct choices and plenty of uneventful walking, they entered a clearing that held something new.

  “Is that a...a ghost?” Streak whispered after a gulp sounded from the back of his throat.

  As they entered the new clearing, each one set their eyes on the visage of a floating spectre, bone white all over, from its long, shambled hair to its tattered gown, not to mention its skeletal frame underneath.

  “I...believe it might be,” Peter answered, eyes wide as he gazed at the floating form.

  “Do we need to defeat it?” Gunner asked as he held up his arm as it transformed into a cannon.

  “I don’t think so,” Lysander answered, placing his staff gently on Gunner’s arm and lowering it. “We haven’t encountered any enemies thus far, and this seems non-threatening.”

  “For now,” Streak’s voice quivered.

  “Scared of ghosts?” Peter asked with a smile.

  “Scared of this game,” Streak reluctantly chuckled.

  “Look what it’s holding,” Ariel said as she pointed to the spectre as he floated aimlessly, paying them no mind.

  “Is that a...lantern?” Lysander asked as he narrowed his eyes as the spectral entity.

  “With a blue flame,” NoScope added.

  “That has to be significant,” Ariel added. The rest of the group nodded in agreement, but no one made a move toward the creature. Finally, Ariel stepped forward, hand on her greatsword upon her back. “I’ll approach it.”

  “What? Wait?” Peter said, reaching out and grasping Ariel’s hand. She turned to face him as he quickly let go. He felt his face go red but he shook it off. “We don’t know what that thing will do. It could be dangerous.”

  “Fair enough,” Ariel said, humoring Peter, briefly. “Do you have a better idea?”

  Peter stood and stared for several heartbeats without saying a word. “No, I don’t,” he conceded, quickly. “Carry on.” He heard a stifled laugh from the rest of the group.

  Ariel approached the ghost with caution, slowly making her way out in front of the group, hand still on the hilt of her greatsword. As she drew closer, Lysander started making a hand motion and muttering to himself. When the dark elf warrior came within about fifteen feet of the ghost, it ceased its aimless wandering, causing Ariel to stop dead in her tracks and the rest of the group to stand up a bit straighter. Once it ceased floating, it slowly, almost puppet like, turned its head toward the female warrior. When it locked eyes with her, Ariel watched the same blue fire ignite within those dead orbs. Then, it gave a horrible shriek and held up the lantern.

  Lysander pointed his staff at Ariel and finished his incantation just as a storm of lightning burst forth from the lantern. At that moment, Peter jumped in front of the group and called out, “group close together.” Then, with a shout of determination, shot his energy shield out enough to wrap around everyone but Ariel. However, as the lightning jumped out from the flame, a shield shot up in front of Ariel, just as Lysander had intended, as she instinctively pulled her sword and put it up in front of her.

  The blue streaks of lightning bounced off of Lysander’s and Peter’s shields and then dissipated. When the storm was over, the ghost was gone.

  “Well,” Streak said as he patted Peter on the shoulder, “that was fun.”

  “Where did it go?” Ariel asked, whipping her head from side to side.

  “It went through that passage,” NoScope answered, pointing her now unsheathed wakizashi toward the center path.

  “Let’s follow it, quickly,” Ariel called. She was off before anyone could answer. The group looked to each other, then dashed to catch up.

  After running through a few clearings with nothing out of the ordinary, Ariel still leading, the group stopped abruptly as their charging swordswoman had stopped just inside the next open area. Once they looked up, they saw why.

  “Another one,” Lysander said as he eyed the floating spectre in the middle of the clearing. Much like the last one, this ghost was bone white with tattered clothing, but had much shorter hair, and half of its face still had skin hanging on. The biggest difference, however, was the flame burning in the lantern. Instead of blue, it was a fiery red.

  “Should we try and actually attack this one, before it gets a chance to do what the other one did?” Gunner asked, again, readying his green arm cannon.

  “Maybe,” Ariel said. “We’ll need to be fast, though. Otherwise, it will probably still get off its area attack.

  “Fast?” Streak asked with a grin. “I’m on it.” Before anyone could say another word, Streak disappeared in a bolt of blue lightning as he dashed towards the ghost. His chosen name was apparent as he left a streak of blue electricity in his wake. However, he was already upon the ghost by the time anyone could even notice.

  “Gotcha!” Streak yelled, throwing a punch at the ghost as he bolted towards it, his momentum carrying him forward, then slamming him into the ground as he passed right through the spectre. He hit the ground and rolled several feet before bouncing up to one knee, annoyance and surprise on his face as he looked to the ghost.

  “Shit,” Peter breathed as he saw the electricity pass through the ghost.

  “Shit,” Streak echoed as, just like the last one, the ghost slowly turned its head towards its attacker. The red flames erupted within its eyes, followed by a scream escaping its form. This time, the flame did not explode in all directions. Instead, it made straight for the closest and most apparent target, the ghost’s attacker.

  “Nope!” Streak cried with wide eyes as he dashed to the side. As he turned to look back, he saw that the flame was a magical homing missile and it was locked on
to him. It curved and made for him with surprising speed. “Of course,” he breathed. In his surprise, he was almost caught by the bullet before he bolted away as quickly as he could. However, the flame obviously only needed to get close to its target, for when Streak dashed away, the flame exploded. Too fast for the flames, Streak was instead caught by the shockwave of the blast, which hit him in the back and sent him tumbling to the ground until he smashed into the brush on the other side of the clearing.

  The rest of the group took cover when the flame exploded, but were far enough away to not get hit. When they looked up, they saw Streak shakily standing up as he escaped the brush. They all rushed over to assess whether he was alright.

  “I’m fine,” the speedster waved, stumbling a bit. “Dizzy, but fine.”

  “Are you sure?” NoScope asked. “You lost some HP.”

  “Not much,” Streak said as he waved a hand again. “And it could have been way worse.” He then turned an unfocused gaze to Gunner. “Ya wanna just shoot the next one if we see another?”

  “Good idea,” Gunner laughed.

  Once Streak got his bearings, the group followed the ghost--Peter having seen which path it floated down. Like the last one, this one led them through several clearings, appearing only briefly in each one before disappearing down one of the paths. Before they knew it, they found themselves in another crossroads with another spectre before them.

  “Not surprised,” NoScope commented as they laid eyes on the newest spirit.

  “And a white flame,” Gunner added.

  “I’m calling ice,” Lysander commented. The rest of the group nodded in agreement.

  “Alright,” Gunner said, confidently as he changed his right arm into a Megaman like buster cannon and pointed it towards the ghost.

  “Wait,” Lysander urged, placing his hand on the gun. As Gunner looked to him with confusion, the wizard began casting his shield spell. “On my mark,” he said, to which Gunner nodded as he took aim.

  “Now!” Lysander cried. Gunner wasted no time and let loose a blue bolt of energy he had begun charging a couple of seconds before. It rushed through the air and, to the group’s surprise, actually struck the ghost, sending it floating back a few feet. However, the specter quickly regained its composure, turned to look at Gunner, shrieked, white flames burning within its eyes, and sent a bolt of white flame wrapped in ice hurtling towards the cyborg.

  “Group up!” Lysander cried and he unleashed his shield. The bolt of cold flame struck the shield and erupted. The initial blast was held at bay by the magical shield, however, it only took a heartbeat for everyone to realize that this explosion was going to last longer than they had anticipated. When they realized this, the shield broke and they were all blasted back by a hail of white flame and ice shards.Through the explosion, some of them slammed into trees or brush, some landed with a thud, but all took damage.

  It was several minutes of silence, then a few more of grunts and groans before they all made it back to their feet. “Fuckin’ hate ghosts,” Streak moaned as he sat up.

  “And the woods,” Peter called out, still lying on the ground. “Fuckin’ hate the woods.”

  “Are we just screwed no matter what?” Ariel asked as she used her greatsword to help her to her feet.

  “Maybe,” Lysander said, standing up straight. “Sadly, we don’t know until we try.”

  “Sorry, guys,” Gunner said, groaning from the pain.

  “Don’t apologize,” NoScope said as she got up to one knee. “You’re the only one who’s done any damage.”

  “Yeah,” Streak offered. “You saw me run through one, right?”

  “Yeah,” Gunner said with a small smile. “I also saw you outrun fire.”

  “Almost,” Streak corrected.

  “Did anyone see where it went,” Peter asked, now on his feet.

  “Yes,” NoScope said as she pointed to the relevant passage. “I kept an eye on it in case the shield failed. It went this way before the explosion broke through.”

  “NoScope, indeed,” Ariel smiled, which the ninja returned.

  As everyone made for the path, Lysander called out, “Make sure everyone takes a small healing item. It wasn’t terrible, but we did all take a bit of damage, and we don’t know what we’re in for.”

  “Probably more ghosts,” Streak deadpanned.

  “All the more reason,” Lysander responded.

  Streak was correct. They spotted a fourth spirit when they entered a clearing. This one wielded a lantern with a green flame.

  “Green?” Gunner questioned. “I got no idea what that could be.

  “Acid, maybe?” Streak answered as much as asked.

  “Maybe poison,” Ariel offered. “The green dragon in D&D is poisonous.”

  “Yeah?” Peter asked, having never played D&D but had always wanted to.

  “Yeah,” Ariel answered. “And the other colors have matched up as well.”

  “Acid or poison both don’t sound like fun,” Lysander stated.

  The group looked on at the floating apparition for several minutes without anyone making a move.

  “Any ideas on how to take the least amount of damage,” Gunner asked.

  “I have something of an idea,” Lysander offered, doubt evident in his tone. He didn’t immediately continue. When he saw everyone waiting he said, “If you guys are on board, we just need another ranged attack and for us to group together again. I’m going to try a different spell this time.”

  The group looked at each other, then Streak said, “Why the hell not.” At that, they all gathered closely.

  Gunner transformed his arm, but NoScope placed a hand on it and asked, “May I, this time?”

  “Oh, sure,” Gunner said, a bit confused, then gestured politely toward the ghost.

  “Say when,” the ninja said to Lysander as she pulled out a circular disk the size of a CD from her gi. With a flick of her wrist, the disk grew into a ninja star the size of a pizza pan.

  “Sweet,” Peter smiled.

  Lysander stared at the ghost floating aimlessly for several heartbeats. Then, he called out, “When!” and began casting as NoScope let fly her bladed projectile. It was as accurate as anything they had ever seen. However, this time, it passed right through the spirit, though the ghost reacted to it nonetheless. It turned its head, shrieking, and sent a bolt of green flame surrounded by a faint purple fume towards its attacker.

  “Poison,” Ariel confirmed as she braced herself.

  As the missile was about to impact the group, Lysander finished casting and cried out, “Reflect!” as he swiped his staff out at the flame. A shimmering light followed his staff, as if it was creating a mirror in its wake. The bolt of flame and poison struck the staff and the reflecting surface it was creating, too fast and instantaneous for anyone in the group to see, and shot back directly at the ghost.

  Before the specter could escape, it was struck by its own projectile, which exploded and sent it careening to the forest floor amidst a large concentration of purple smog. Luckily, the group were well outside the radius.

  “Holy crap, dude,” Gunner said as he looked at the cloud of poisonous gas.

  “Right!?” Streak agreed.

  “What a wizard,” Peter said as he offered Lysander a fist bump, who happily returned it.

  “Everyone get ready,” Ariel called, pulling everyone out of the brief triumphant frivolity. “It’s getting up.”

  At that, everyone readied their weapons. The smoke cleared and the specter resumed its hovering position inches above the ground. It gave another load shriek, but made to leave the clearing rather than attack.

  “Follow it,” Peter cried, which everyone did.

  The group didn’t have to follow this ghost far to get to their next destination. After following it out of the clearing where the brief scuffle took place, they found themselves in a familiar looking narrow path to the next opening. The clearing they entered into this time was much larger, and the fog that had been on t
he verge of strangling the forest had dissipated.

  “Well, this is a bit different,” Peter said as he looked around.

  “Less fog, and much bigger,” NoScope agreed.

  “Almost like a boss arena,” Streak chuckled, trying to hide the slight quiver in his voice at the thought.

  “Not funny,” Ariel responded, carefully examining the new area.

  “Hey,” Gunner said, causing everyone to look his way. “What’s that?” he asked as he pointed to the other end of the clearing. What the group saw was an opening in the surrounding brush and tight groupings of trees that made up most of the woods. Through the opening was a much smaller break in the trees and brush than any they had encountered before. Within was an object standing about four feet high.