by Dante Doom
"That sounds insane!" Sahara said. "I'm not gonna be target practice for a bunch of archers!"
"If you don't, Van might die!" Sang replied. "Now, you've got a choice – you can get over there and distract them, or you can let me risk getting shot and dying. Unless you've got the mobility to climb around up here with me, I think the choice is obvious."
Sahara grimaced. "You really think this is the only way?"
"If you have a better idea, we'll go with that," Sang said. "But this is all I got." She had reached the top of the tree and now took a deep breath. The ring of speed would increase her jump speed, which was all she needed right now.
"Fine," Sahara said as she shook her head. "I'm going to go in there, I guess. Man, this better work. If I die because of you, I'm going to be sorely disappointed."
"Me, too," Sang said as she gritted her teeth. "Me, too."
Van opened one eye to realize that he was somehow still alive. He felt a friction against his face, however, and also realized that he was lying on the ground, face down. And not only was he on the ground and still alive, but someone was dragging him along. He wanted to move his arms, to grab for a weapon and fight, but his limbs didn't seem to want to cooperate at all. You have been poisoned floated above him each time he tried to move.
"Take it easy," came a familiar voice from above Van. "I just pulled you out of the fire."
Van wasn't able to move his arms, but he could move his head a little. He shifted to see that Peterson was the one dragging him. Van's mouth wasn't functional yet, but he did grunt a little in acknowledgement.
"Now, I'm doing you a real solid here," Peterson said. "Those guys hit us in an ambush earlier, but fortunately we staved them off. We were coming back for revenge when I noticed my good old pal."
Van felt his heart begin to race. He was completely at the mercy of this guy; Peterson's broadsword at his side was actually glistening in the sunlight. Van's life was entirely in the hands of some stranger.
"Now, I know this breaks our distance rule," Peterson chuckled, "but I think you'll forgive me, right?"
There was the loud sound of a man shouting in the distance and Peterson jerked his head up. "I think that's one of my guys – I better get back out there. Good luck, Van."
And with that, Peterson left the paralyzed Van all alone. And while Van wasn't able to move his mouth at all, he still let out a sigh of relief. That had been a really, really close one.
"Ahhhhhh!" Sahara shouted as she ran through a swarm of arrows. The archers were firing on her again and she was covering her head with her arms as she ran in circles. A few arrows bounced off of her armor and she knew she had to keep moving at all costs. She could hear the shouts above her as Sang darted from tree to tree with a tremendous speed; Sahara had never seen the woman move so quickly, as if she were made out of lightning.
Sang leapt on a tree holding one of the archers and slashed hard with her sword, knocking the archer off balance. The woman plummeted to the ground and crashed with a loud thump. The words Lethal Fall Damage hovered above her head. Sang grinned and looked up at the other two who were now trying to fire on her. Sang's speed boost was exactly what she'd needed to defeat her foes, and she moved effortlessly across the treetops, leaping and swinging with ease. The arrows easily missed her, and she made her way to the second archer.
"Oh, no, you don't," the second archer said as he dropped his bow and pulled a short sword from his belt. Another arrow whizzed past Sang's head as she tried to slash at the archer in front of her.
He blocked her blow with ease and the two found themselves in a deadly dance, their weapons clanging against one another as the archer on the other side continuously fired on her.
"Over there!" said an unfamiliar, masculine voice below Sang.
"Crap!" Sahara shouted. "More people!"
"Find Van and get out of there!" Sang yelled as she parried another blow from her foe. The man's eyes were wild, but not with fear. She could see the thrill of the fight on his face, and he looked as if he were having the time of his life.
"Oh, it's you or me!" the man said, laughing a little as he stabbed at her. Sang pulled herself away from the blow, but wasn't quick enough. The short sword nicked her side and the words 10 damage hovered above her. The pain was strong, but it wasn't enough to slow her down. She swung her sword again, but the man was far too fast for her. He blocked the blow and rolled the sword off of his own, lunging forward in a perfect counter-attack.
Things seemed to be moving in slow motion as Sang saw the blade swing downwards toward her right arm. She instinctively fell backwards, allowing herself to flatten out as the sword came down. As she fell, she grabbed her opponent by the collar of his tunic and pulled him down on top of her, forcing his swing to go wide.
They were now wrestling with each other on the limb of a tree. The limb was large enough to support two standing individuals, but it wasn't nearly wide enough for a wrestling match. The man laughed as he tried to get out of her grasp, punching with his free hand against her skull multiple times. The words Nonlethal 5 repeated over her head with each blow, but she held on. Fortunately, nonlethal damage was tracked separately from her regular health. She had to make a choice – she could thrust her entire body over to the side and cause them both to fall off, or she could keep wrestling with him.
"Had enough yet?" he asked as he continued to pound away on her face with one hand. The other hand was holding onto a small branch above him, allowing for him to remain stable. Sang took the blows stoically, but knew that if the nonlethal damage reached a certain point, she'd be knocked out. She grabbed his shirt with both hands and took a deep breath.
"Race you to the bottom!" she growled as she shoved him to the right with all of her might. He lost his balance quickly and the branch in his hands snapped as they both tumbled off of the tree.
"Ahhhh!" he shouted as he fell to the ground, crashing with a hard thump. The words 50 damage hovered over his head as he groaned.
Sang also hit the ground hard, and watched as her health bar dropped from 90 to 40. They both struggled to stand and an arrow zipped right past Sang's head. The other archer was firing on her again. Sang turned to see three people – the same she had seen a while back – entering the fight. Sahara was nowhere to be found. Meanwhile, Sang's foe was beginning to stand to his feet, as well, damaged but still alive. Between all of these factors, Sang decided that perhaps now would be an amazing time for her to use her ring. She activated the ring and felt a surge of powerful magical energy rush through her body. You are now 50% faster! The display said as she zipped out of the area.
"Come back!" the man yelled, "I was just getting started!" He began to run after her, but his attention shifted once he noticed the three players with leather armor near him. "Ah crap," he shouted as the three charged at him.
Sang escaped from the area and found a tree to hide behind. Only then did she pause to catch her breath. The only downside to the ring was the fact that it drained her stamina at twice the pace. She activated her stealth mode now and slumped down toward the ground. In spite of the moderate success she'd had in fighting those archers, she was still right back where she had started. She was lost and had no idea where her team was.
As Sang slid down to the ground, she felt her feet hit against something hard. She realized that the bush in front of her was moving a little… and groaning. She stood and peered over the bush, to see Van lying on the ground, practically catatonic.
"Van?" she whispered as she poked him. He was still alive.
"Ugh, Sang? Is that you?" Van whispered. "I got hit by some kind of poison. I can't move."
"Yeah, I can see that," Sang said. "Where's the rest of the team?"
"No idea," Van replied. "But we should probably get out of here. There are a lot of players around."
"Tell me about it. This place is becoming a melee," Sang said as she bent down to hoist Van up. He was extremely heavy, and strength was not one of her best stats. Still, she grun
ted and struggled, and managed to get him around her shoulders. All they needed to do now was find the rest of the team and regroup. How hard could that be?
Chapter Eleven
Van took a step forward, feeling the numbness in his legs diminishing. "I am feeling so much better," he said as he walked around. Each step increased the amount of confidence he had in the fact that the poison had finally subsided.
"Great," Sang said as she examined the trees in the area. "My tracking skill isn't as high in this character, but I do believe I know that Sahara went this way."
"Anyone chase after her?" Van asked as he walked up to investigate the footprints. They seemed to be more definitive than the other footprints he had seen. Probably because Sahara was wearing armor, making each step of hers heavier.
"No, she's in the clear," Sang said. "Do you know where Kylian went off to?"
Van shook his head. "I'm pretty sure I saw him get hit by an arrow as he ran off; it probably took him down hard."
"This is not the kind of situation that I want to be in," Sang said. "We're down three people."
"I know, I know," Van said as he looked around some more. They had made it far enough to where the sounds of the fighting had died down considerably. Now there was nothing but the sound of the wind gently blowing against the trees. The peace was welcome, but Van's heart rate still hadn't gone down. Was Kylian dead? He shuddered to think about the potential fate of his friend, paralyzed and unable to move, only to be killed by some opportunist who was looking to win a contest. How cruel and terrible was that?
"I'm sure Kylian is fine," Sang said. It appeared that she'd read the expression that Van had exhibited on his face. "He's a tough guy, and he knows how to keep his head down."
"I doubt it," Van said. "Let's face it, Sang, there's no reason to fool ourselves here. We chose to walk into this deathtrap. No amount of hope is going to change the reality around us."
"I disagree," Sang replied as she smacked Van on the side of his arm. "Hope will change reality because it's what keeps us going in the hard times. If you don't have hope, you aren't going to win this thing."
"Easy for you to say," Van mumbled. "You've got things to look forward to out there."
"I don't think we have time to get into this discussion again," Sang said. "We've got three people to find and probably rescue. You said Kylian took off into the woods? Where do you think he would be?"
"No idea," Van said. "But you said there were three people in armor, right? If we are going to get to Kylian, we're going to have to go through them. I lost my warhammer back there, so we've got a dagger and a longsword. Definitely not the kind of situation that I'd like to fight in."
"True," Sang said as she looked around. "Well, let's just keep moving. The team is smart; they can survive on their own for a bit. Let's go find a weapon and keep moving."
They walked together in abject silence for a few minutes. Meanwhile, Van checked the player count to see that there were only 11 players left in the game. If his team was still alive, that meant they'd only be facing six more players. If his entire team was dead, outside of he and Sang, that would mean it would be Van and Sang against nine other people. He swallowed hard. That was a tough ratio to consider.
"Are you kidding me?" said a voice from behind Van. They both spun around to see Fredlin, hobbling towards them.
"Fredlin!" Van said as he felt a little bit of hope rise inside of him.
"I'm been looking everywhere for you guys. I've passed this area at least ten times!" Fredlin said. "And now I'm running from some thugs, and I just happen upon you two."
Van noticed that Fredlin's health bar was at 50, and there was blood running from his side.
"Are they still chasing you?" Van asked as he drew his longsword. He had taken it from Sang because, after all, he was the berserker.
"Nah, I used a blinding spell to get away," Fredlin said. "But my magic is running pretty low. I think I have the bleeding status, too, because I keep losing hit points every few minutes."
"We need water," Sang said. "That's the only way to heal him."
“I’m too turned around to remember where the water is,” Fredlin said, “or else I’d have gone for that.”
Van's mind flashed to the canteen that had been hanging off of the armored man they had killed earlier. If Sahara had looted his armor, she'd probably taken the canteen, too.
"If we find Sahara,' Van said, "we can find water. She has some, I'm willing to bet."
"I hope so," Fredlin said. "Because, man, would it suck to die."
"You seem rather calm about it," Sang said as she investigated his wounds.
"Eh, you get used to this kind of thing, I guess," Fredlin said. "Not much of a reason for me to stick around here anyway. I’m not saying I’m suicidal, but all of my grand plans involved Savorn. Or at least drunkenly confessing my love to Savorn and then getting rejected."
"Now that's romance," Sang replied as she tore off some fabric from her sleeve and wrapped it around Fredlin's wound. "Okay, since I have exactly 1 point in first aid, let's hope that works."
"Feels better already," Fredlin said as he clenched his teeth and held onto his wound for a moment. The words 1 bleed damage floated above his head.
"Crap, it didn't work," Van said. "We better move fast."
"On the bright side," Fredlin said, "I was taking 3 damage each time I got the status before, and now it's down to one. That's progress."
"How are we going to find her?" Sang asked. "She could be anywhere."
Van snapped his fingers. "Of course! The locate water spell! Fredlin, could you specify how much water to locate?"
Fredlin shrugged. "Yeah, I suppose. The spell usually asks if I want to find a lake, ocean, or other."
"Pick other and try to specify a canteen's worth of water," Van instructed. "That would be perfect!"
Fredlin nodded and began to cast a spell. He waved his hands about and threw some dirt in the air. The dirt formed another arrow, pointing directly toward the north of them. Fortunately, that was in the opposite direction of where all of those other players had been.
"Let's get moving," Van said. "We don't have a lot of time."
The three set off at once, making their way through the woods in the hopes of finding Sahara. The number of active players ticked down to 10, though, and Van grimaced at the news. Who had died?
"There!" Sang said as she pointed toward a large fallen tree log. The log had been hollowed out and Sang could see someone inside of it.
"Sahara!" Van shouted. "Is that you?"
"You guys are all alive?" Sahara shouted back as she poked her head out of the log. "I can't believe it!"
"Sahara, please tell me you have some water left," Van said. "We know you have a canteen."
Sahara nodded with excitement. "Yeah, I didn't drink any because I figured you guys might need it later."
"Thank God!" Fredlin said as he staggered over to her. "Give it here!"
"I didn't hear a 'please' in that sentence," Sahara said as she held up the canteen. He reached for it, but she pulled it away.
"Sahara, just give him the water," Sang snapped. "He could die."
"Fine, but only because he could die," Sahara replied as she handed him the bottle. Fredlin greedily drank of the water and they all watched his health bar return to 100.
"How old are you again?" Sang asked.
Sahara folded her arms and pouted a little. "I told you, I’m a 48-year-old woman from Kentucky."
"I thought it was Ohio," Van said.
"Oh… right. Ohio. Yes, I'm from Ohio and I'm an adult," Sahara said. "So you better show your elders some respect."
"Right," Van said, shaking his head. "Now we just need to find Kylian."
"I think I saw him lying on the ground like a mile ago," Fredlin said. "I thought he was dead, though. Too busy bleeding out to check."
"He was hit by a poisoned arrow," Van said. "It paralyzes and then knocks you unconscious. He might still be alive."
Fredlin shrugged at that. "It's a bit of a war zone back there, but we should at least check on him. Just be ready for a real fight."
"I found a halberd while scavenging," Sahara said as she held up her weapon. "I tried looking for Van, but ended up really lost. But hey, with this weapon and my armor, I'm honestly one of the strongest players in this area right now."
Van nodded. "Good, so between the four of us, we should be able to get to Kylian without a problem."
"Theoretically, anyway," Fredlin said.
After a few minutes of preparation and trading weapons so that everyone was at maximum efficiency, the team followed after Fredlin's directions. Van knew that he had to be prepared for the death of his friend, even so. The thoughts were heavy and, as they walked, Van could see that the rest of the team was also all thinking about Kylian.
No one looked happy or excited. There was a sorrow in the air, and even Sahara, the most chipper of the group, had lowered her head. They trudged on through the woods until they reached the area where Fredlin had first seen Kylian.
Resting against a tree stump was their friend. He appeared to be alive, though, and was slowly moving his right hand.
"Kylian!" Van exclaimed as he rushed up to the man.
"Van?" Kylian said. "I coulda sworn you were a goner! I tried to come back for you but they poisoned me with something nasty."
"Yeah, I was pulled to safety," Van said. "How are you still alive?"
"I had a few people walk past me, and one person even looted my gear, but he didn't notice that I was still alive," Kylian said. "He was too busy looking around for danger. He ran up, grabbed my stuff, and bolted. Didn't even bother to check my pulse."
"I'm glad you're okay," Van said as he patted his friend on the shoulder. "We were all really worried you were dead."
"Eh," Kylian said. "I'm fine. I'm glad everyone else is alive, too. That ambush was crazy."