Justin woke up early from his long slumber from eight in the afternoon. He had worked hard the previous day for his grouchy boss. He always liked to pick on him for painting the apartment's the wrong way. He worked his butt off every day and yet He still insisted in pestering him. Justin rubbed his eyes and sat up from his bed, extremely comfortable. He was quite content on staying in bed all day. He didn't even have to work and he just wanted to relax and possibly get on "The World." He looked around in a confused kind of state and got out of his bed. Justin wasn't too sure what time it was, so he turned on his computer screen and saw that it was only seven o'clock in the morning. It was going to be a nice long day of relaxation. Upon turning on the computer screen he had notice an interesting message pop up on his screen.

Justin jumped to the new message button and clicked it. He sent a message with the contents:

Justin signed in the network and logged into "The World." He threw his VR goggles on and got sucked into the false reality that the game made him feel. He was in the golden rings and was watching them collapse in front of him. The rings had settled down and he was ready to step out of the portal. "Hm...I haven't seen the Theta server in such a long time. I love Dun Lioreag. What a city.", Deltabeta remarked. He was so excited to be in the higher leveled city. He was only able to do this because of his friend Senna who had granted him entry to the higher leveled server for their quest. Deltabeta walked over to the bridge, past the grunty farm, and on to the Corner Shoppe of Magic Items. Here he waited for Senna and Hitori to arrive on a timely fashion. Or at least he hopped.

What was I thinking? No, really, what was I thinking?

What she had been thinking was obvious. She had been thinking it would be nice to just go out and play this game as it was meant to be played for a while. No crazies trying to cause havoc. No puppet strings encircling her wrists and ankles, dancing her along on someone else’s stage. She would dance herself along on a stage of her OWN choosing, thank you very much.

She’d already sent DeltaBeta a Flashmail, and soon she got one in reply. She paused in her walking to read it over. Hitori huh? New people to meet. This would be interesting. Now, there was only one problem left to face.

The city.

She was currently in Carmina Gadelica, keeping a low profile and just enjoying the city. Mac Anu was a no-no – she could find herself in deep trouble there, which was why she was glad they were heading to Theta server. But there was one problem with Theta, or specifically the root town, which made it a bit of a distasteful prospect.

Dun Loireag was perched atop a number of towering pillars of stone and earth. Rickety bridges connected one to the other, and provided the only way to navigate the city. With low-reaching clouds often misting the landscape, it was a breathtaking and awe-inspiring place to spend time.

It was also very VERY high up in the air.

Senna steeled herself and headed toward the Chaos Gate. After all, it wasn’t like you could actually FALL in a game like this. You couldn’t die, right?

Don’t even THINK that way, her mind scolded.

The trip from city to city through the Chaos Gate was uneventful, and as the black washed away in the soft gray-green light of the city, she kept her eyes straight ahead. The buildings here really were quaint, each situated in its own space, not crowded atop one another like in the Aqua Capitol. Above, a few scattered birds called and wheeled in the sky, against a backdrop of spotty clouds. A fresh breeze kissed her face, causing her long hair to tickle back and forth across her skin. This was a pretty place. Peaceful, without the crowds of Mac Anu. No reason to be afraid, no reason to worry.

So reassuring herself, she took a few steps forward, toward the first bridge. And as she approached, she was treated to a better and better view of the cloudy expanse beneath the pillars. All that space, open, empty… clouds raced along dozens of feet down and the fall was obscured by them some distance further along.

Senna stopped dead, staring down, transfixed. So much space. There could be nothing under those clouds. Was it physically possible to just fall forever?

No, she decided. No, you’d die of fear long before.

“Couldn’t they at least have added more railings?” She muttered aloud, finally forcing herself – step by step – out onto the bridge. Eyes up. Use your spear to find the way. Don’t EVER look down a place like that again. Idiot!

And so, in this maner she made her way toward the appointed meeting place. She must look like an idiot – kids were barreling by without a care as she crept step by step. (But who knew how old they really were, she thought to herself. They could be full adults in childish guise). It didn’t matter though. How much could it hurt her, really, if people laughed?

Not as much as falling could, her mind supplied unhelpfully.

And so she approached the magic store, and there, waiting patiently, was who she assumed to be the creator of this group. At least, there was no sign of anyone else just waiting in this spot. So, once her feet were on firm(ish) ground again, she walked over and offered a truncated bow.

“Eh… DeltaBeta?” She said in greeting, remembering the name from the message. “I’m Senna.”

Today should've been like every other day.

Any other day, Mats would have gone to school, come home, and played "The World" before jumping into his homework. The day would play out before him, and at times, life would throw surprises at him and he would deal with it. This was how his days had always played out, ever since Mats' brother had died: taking life as it came, not caring a lot about how other people felt. Of course, his mind was now inhabited by another entity, Hitori, but not much had changed, even after that.

Today, though, school had ended.

The first thing Mats had done when he had gotten home was check his e-mail. Nothing new had come in, but for some reason, instead of immediately going onto the game, he sent a message to DeltaBeta. Any other day, Mats (and Hitori) would've gone in alone, not needing the companionship even after Hitori's slight comment days ago (or was it weeks?). Today was a particularly good day, though, so he asked the other boy if they could go on a quest. After a couple replies back and forth, they had set something up. There was a difference between this quest and the other, though...

This one was in the Theta Server... and a girl by the name of Senna was coming along.

As Mats put on the headgear, he ran through his mind what he could concur about Senna. So far, all he could figure was that she was a very high level character, to be able to allow some low levels onto the Theta Server. That was pretty much all; even with Hitori, their detective skills combined were nothing to brag about. It was one of the reasons why he figured out most of the info after he had met people. As the game loaded, Mats bowed inwardly.

"After you, Hitori."

Thanks. Let's see who this Senna is, shall we?

Saying nothing, Mats let Hitori take control physically, the body changing to show the Wavemaster in his full splendor. The dual colors of the robe shimmered in bright sunlight as he touched down in Mac Anu. This was the primary Root Town, the one Hitori (and Mats) had always been to before starting a quest. Never before had they been to a new town, a place where the Chaos Gate would take the players to Fields higher than most of what they had been through.

Turning, Hitori accessed the menu, bringing up the option to change Root Towns. Choosing Dun Loireag as the destination, he OK'ed it, then watched as the usual golden rings enveloped him. Disappearing as he usually did, he grinned. Almost instantly, the Wavemaster reappeared in the new Root Town. Looking around to check his surroundings, Hitori found that he was now atop a cliff that seemed to be connected by bridges towards other... Pillars, Hitori corrected himself. They're not cliffs, just grassy pillars.

"Doesn't mean we can't fall off them."

Point taken.

Double-checking the message to see where the meeting place was, he found it, then looked on the map to identify the Magic Shop. It stood against a large, vertical rock formation, only a bridge away from where Hitori stood. Looking at the wooden beams untrustingly, he didn't even think as he jumped across the bridge, clearing it entirely and landing on the other side. Looking back and giving a quick nod and smile to some of the surrounding players, who had stopped and stared at the acrobatic Wavemaster's stunt.

A few steps took him in front of the Magic Shop, and looking around for Deltabeta, a smile crossed Hitori's face. Both his friend and Senna stood only a few feet away, but rather than just walk up and say hi, he leaped clear over their heads and landed behind them. Sweeping into a bow aimed towards the girl, Hitori smiled kindly. "Good afternoon, fellow players. Hitori here, reporting for duty to go on a quest. Who's ready, eh?"

Deltabeta simply giggled at the acrobatic show he had just witnessed. He knew Hitori all to well. This was his usual thing. He was a great jumper at that, and the group could use it to their advantage when battling fast monsters. Deltabeta looked at the skilled wavemaster and welcomed him to the party. He was glad to see him finally arrive. He looked around and noticed that he was in front of a customer at the magic shoppe, so he moved over and told the group to follow him to the portal. Deltabeta was ready for a great day of battling and adventure. He and the group walked over towards the portal when all of a sudden he noticed Senna stop dead in her tracks. He continued walking and he noticed why she had stopped. She was afraid of the huge distance between each pillar that the town was founded on. He wondered to himself why the town was founded on such a monstrosity of sliced mountains. He wasn't too sure of why this was but he turned his attention to the frightened girl who was still faceted on the other side of the bridge.

While giving a quick smirk Deltabeta told her, "You need to get over your fear of height if you want to meet at Dun Loireag again. I'll be waiting for you in the field. Please hurry along."

He wasn't sure when, or if she was going to make it across the bridge to the portal. He continued to walk to the portal and shouted the keyword for the land of fire he and Senna were ready to traverse. If only she would get across the bridge fast enough. He just laughed out loud as the golden rings ascended and his body turned into particulate matter. He teleported to the field of: Theta Scorching Wind Sands. He was now in a land of fiery pits and lava flows.

Deltabeta thought to himself, "It looks like a barren wasteland if anyone asked me."

He felt the heat of the field as it boiled the soil around him. He waited for the others to arrive to the field. As he did this; he looked at his map and noticed six buildings located all at the center of the map. He really was curious as to what were in them. He could actually see three of them on the horizon. There was a tall building with at least three stories and two other ones that looked like ranches or shed's. He couldn't tell what the other three were, since they were behind the three that he was looking at. He couldn't see much detail on the buildings either since there were huge heat waves passing through the air like mirages in the desert. This wasn't too uncommon when a player was in a scorching field. He was shocked he could see as far as he could.

There were cacti and shrubbery all around. He couldn't find the dungeon on his map. So he didn't concern himself with it at the moment as he was all too excited about being in this different land of fiery swells. Deltabeta was waiting for a while when he saw a few portals appear. He noticed they weren't like Hitori and Senna's portals. They were too large. They had to be monster portals. He backed up and hid behind what looked like a building, but it was only the rubble that was left of a building. He assumed it had to of been destroyed by another party attacking the same monsters. He was really worried now and he waited for Hitori and Senna to arrive.

He mainly was worried for Senna's arrival, since she was at a level higher than the monsters in this field. He was only at level two and she was in her level twenties. He waited in anxiety for Hitori and Senna behind the wall's of a destroyed building...

Senna, feeling slightly ill, was trying not to stare. How could someone just… just jump around like that in this place?

It wasn’t anger or disgust, but a sort of awe mixed with the feeling that it was a mystery she could NEVER fully understand. Some people were scared of things others enjoyed, but it didn’t mean the fearful would ever “get” that JOY.

Not to mention he was a heck of an acrobat for a Wavemaster. Her experience of Wavemasters and Wavemistresses ran toward the staid-and-solid (and yet so many of them owned grunties). And also not to mention the use of the word “fearful” for herself was a bit embarrassing. Forcing herself to stand straight and forget the “where’ for a moment, she inclined her head again and introduced herself with a single word. Her name, she figured, would suffice.

It occurred to her, not for the first time, that her reticence might be seen as rudeness. That, too, was shrugged off mentally if not physically. People would judge as they would, regardless of how much she talked.

Their leader was not a particularly talkative person either, which was nice. Both of them were… comfortable people to be around so far, she guessed was the best way of putting it. “This should be fun,” she mused aloud to the other two. But since they were all here, it was time to head out and actually look for some fun.

Which led back to the problem she’d had not too long ago. Heights. Bridges. Vast gulfs. Dizying fear. Great. Here she was, multiple times their levels combined, and she was the one who was holding them back.

“I’ll be right there,” she murmured as they started off. The truth of it was Justin was being very kind about all this, but it was foolishness.

At the same time, it was very difficult to get rid of. The fear was nearly paralyzing at times, though given enough breathing room she could make herself move – slowly. He was right, she needed to get over her fear. Time and time again it held her up. But by the same token… well, he didn’t really understand, did he?

That thought brought a grim smile as she watched him head to the portal. Breathing deeply and again leading with her spear, she made her way toward the portal herself. And she made it there with a reasonable speed, although her heart was beating so hard in her chest by the time she got to that last safe point that she was beginning to understand the phrase “heart beating out of your chest.” It HURT. She pressed her hands to it a few beats, then away she went to the field.

The area looked familiar. It was a silly thought, of course. She knew she hadn’t been on this field before, but she’d been on this type. The red light of a myriad of lava flows cast everything in heavy, earthy shadows. The heat was palpable on this field, leaving a slight, raw feeling along her throat with every breath. She coughed once, trying to clear the sensation, then glanced around. It was hard – the heat left her squinting and blinking. The scape was bleak, and there was no sign at first of the others.

There.

She noted the ruins rising out of the field like a hulking dead creature. There, she thought. And when she made her way over there, carefully avoiding the lava floes, she was rewarded. Looked like it was time to get this party started.

Hitori had noticed Senna's eyes among the ones that had watched his daring acrobatic stunt. What seemed unique from the others, though, was that it not only showed wonder (as was usually shown whenever the Wavemaster amazed people), but also a hint of... fear? That was new to him. What kind of person would show fear at the sight of someone jumping across a bridge?

"The same kind of people that are afraid of heights."

True, but at the same time, what reason would she have for looking so...

"Scared? Its a good question, but not one that is interesting enough to keep my attention. Besides, she can't be scared of falling to her death, right? Its just a game..."

A 'game' that created me.

"..."

Senna inclined her head slightly towards Hitori, muttering her name to introduce herself. Hitori smiled back, taking much care not to look any bit offended. That was easy, since being kind and thoughtful just seemed to be a second nature to him. Either way, this girl seemed to be a person that the Wavemaster would have no quarrel with, and Deltabeta had been around long enough for both boys to have become pretty good friends.

The pleasantries finished between the party members, Senna made a comment about the quest being fun, and Deltabeta motioned for the group to follow him towards the Chaos Gate. Hitori lagged behind a little, taking care to watch Senna's movements in case she fainted for some odd reason. All seemed to go well... until the three reached the bridge. The girl stopped dead in her tracks, her eyes fixated on the wooden contraption and the empty gap below it. Deltabeta just kept moving, and once on the other side of the bridge, he faced Senna with a smirk.

"You need to get over your fear of height if you want to meet at Dun Loireag again. I'll be waiting for you in the field. Please hurry along." He then turned and kept moving towards the Chaos Gate.

"I'll be right there," Senna murmured quietly. As she took a deep breath and finally began moving across, Hitori followed closely, making sure she did not fall off, or stop and look at the seemingly unending space below. As they reached the other side, the Wavemaster heard Deltabeta warp to the Field. Apparently, the leader just wanted to get moving, even if his odds of surviving highly decreased the minute he went alone.

Looking back at Senna, Hitori noticed her hands clutching her chest, almost like there was some kind of pain inside of her. Either she was going to barf in the real world, or she was having some cramps in her stomach. That was all it could be... right? As Senna activated the Chaos Gate, Hitori asked quietly, "This may seem rude of me, Senna... but is there something about you that you haven't told us about? Something... abnormal?"

She did not answer as she disappeared from his sight, leaving him to ponder what the answer might've been. Sighing, Hitori himself activated the Chaos Gate, calling out, "Theta: Scorching Wind Sands!!" Immediately, the golden rings began to envelop him, and the Wavemaster took a last look at his surroundings.

"Well, when we come back here, we'll either have survived with flying colors, or..."

Been slashed to bits like the pigs used for bacon.

"I was going to use something else, but that works just as well."

Disappearing from the sight of all currently in Dun Loireag, Hitori reappeared in the Field of where the quest was going to be taking place. It seemed to conflict with both of the Wavemaster's elements: water and wood. Lava seemed to be flowing everywhere, the heat creating a very warm temperature that was almost intolerable. Coughing once, the boy looked around to try and find Senna or Deltabeta.

Senna already seemed to be moving towards some ruins, and upon further glance, Hitori noticed the figure hiding behind it. It was a bit comical, really; Hitori was used to the boy who was always up for a fight, always helping out as best he could... and here that boy was, cowering behind what seemed like some parts of an old, burned-down building. Sighing, the Wavemaster headed towards the ruins, making sure to not step in any lava on the way. Reaching the hidden Blademaster, he smiled, leaned down, and asked, "So... are you done hiding now? Because, if I'm not wrong, we have some monsters that need... tending to."

Deltabeta stood up and acknowledged the wavemaster, who was his friend for a long while before, and said "I wasn't cowering. I was just...well...I was taking a breather from all this heat. I got hot. So I stopped walking and sat down." Deltabeta looked at Hitori's reaction and wondered if he believed what he said.

"I hope he doesn't thing I'm weak. Or Senna for that matter."

"No, He wouldn't think that for a moment. Neither would Senna for that matter. I know so. They are both really nice people, and Senna seems very relaxed."

Justin stopped thinking to himself and had stood all the way up from his crouching status. Deltabeta was now looking at the landscape wondering why he picked such a horrid place to quest at. It was scorching hot, just like the keyword said, Theta: Scorching Wind Sands... He wiped his forehead, took a few steps, and noticed his lungs burning with each breath he took. It was like somebody was blowing hot air all over his body and he could stand the blow from it. This took a tough player to stand. He knew it was going to be a good challenge for him (Justin) and his friend Hitori.

"I don't think there is one part of my body that isn't sweating. I'm going to have to take a major shower when I'm all finished with this quest... Oh well..."

He looked at his map, that he had previously downloaded on his status screen, and asked Hitori and Senna what they wanted to do first. "I think we should attack some of the portal monsters in the field before we attempt the dungeon, if that's fine with you Senna", inquired the blademaster. He started to walk over toward the area at which he was almost killed by the ruins. He saw it was two monsters. They were both like huge lizards. They looked a lot like dragons, minus the wings. They had these odd extended legs that made them look like they were nearly five feet tall, and they also had about ten feet of length to them, which wasn't going to be easy to take on. He looked at Senna and Hitori and said, "So...Shall we?" He began to battle the two monsters , with Hitori and Senna by his side.

[OOC:] Okay, now for the monster schematics. The description, however vague, is in my post above, but I'll give a good description in the monster stats below...[/OOC]

Deltabeta read the stats of the monster in his information screen on his arm. This was the benefit of being a group leader. He was able to identify each of the creatures and read out the descriptions, and stats. He continued to read the information and he read it aloud to the party...

"Vak Dragon (X2)"

"Description: Slightly tall. Stand on all four legs, like a lizard. They have sharp teeth in the front of mouth with a large amount of toxic saliva. With their claws, they will slice a player under level ten quite easily. They have the ability to jump on their prey and bite them with their paralyzing poison. This will make a character useless, until healed with antidotes."

He paused, took a deep breath, and continued reading...

"They are fast unless they are attacked from the side or from behind. They are not able to turn very quickly, due to their height. Magic and skills are the best way to kill them. So stay clear of their claws and teeth. Did I mention, they also spit out fire balls with the element Juk."

" Stats "

"oh wow guys...Your going to like this...haha.", said Deltabeta out loud.

"HP: 340 (each)"
"Speed: moderately fast"
"Strength: Vak. (We know this...)"
"Weakness: Rue, and Gan...(Obviously...)"

The blademaster spoke to the group one last time, "That seems to be all the information they've given us. It seems to me that we know enough about them to attack safely. I'm really excited. Lets go get em'!!!"

[OOC:] Is someone going to post soon? I'd like to get this one moving along... Senna I think its your turn to post."[/OOC]

"This may seem rude of me, Senna... but is there something about you that you haven't told us about? Something... abnormal?"

She’d caught the comment as she started to warp out of the city, and had kept moving more out of a desire not to answer than anything else. As Hitori approached them, however, she decided it was just rude not to answer at all. She listened to the banter between the two of them with a small smile on her face. Every trip out onto a field had its own unique feel, but there was always something more amusing going with friends – people who were friends with each other if not yet friends with you. It made the whole thing more social and less animal.

As DeltaBeta took a moment of silence, probably to formulate some plan, Senna finally gave her answer to Hitori. It was fortunate she’d taken the time, she thought. There were so many answers that could be given, but most would be lies to one extent or another. Some just couldn’t be said. And so, she was left with the one truth which, while embarrassing, had to have been obvious enough to anyone with eyes.

“Heights,” she said, allowing a little laugh into her voice. It WAS silly after all. “I don’t… they’re just… I hate them. The idea of falling. Which is silly, but there it is. You don’t seem to have the same problem? That was some nice footwork back there.”

Whatever Hitori thought of her admission, DeltaBeta had apparently used the time to good effect, as he now seemed ready to move out, falling naturally into a leader position. "I think we should attack some of the portal monsters in the field before we attempt the dungeon, if that's fine with you Senna."

She nodded her assent. It wasn’t a comfortable place, but she was getting used to it. She imagined they all were. In the game or not, the brain could be a powerful tool, making one feel things that didn’t exist. The heat could still burn the throat and lungs, the heavy air could blur vision and the uneven terrain could cause a loss of footing at a crucial moment.

So they moved. They were ready, she thought. Ready as they were likely to get. And then they were at the first portal and out came a pair of dragonish creatures.

Didn’t The World ever tire of dragons?

Senna had the natural speed of a Long Arm of moderate level, and was on the move immediately. Moving to the right, hoping to give the creatures a big of a moving target. She hopped a small glowing chasm (disoriented momentarily by the unexpectedly strong waft of heat rising from its reddish depths) and cast a familiar spell, Ap Do. Not on herself, however. She figured the Blademaster would be getting the closest to the fray, given everyone’s choices of weapons, so the maneuverability would be most important for him. So, to him went the added speed.

And now, for the creatures. Senna had always been far too prone to using magic. Finding a suitable perch devoid, at least for the moment, of any distractions, Senna took aim at one of the two fire-based creatures and activated a second spell. “Dek Ruem.”

There was no visible reaction from the dragon, although THIS drew its attention to her. It began coming at her with a speed she hadn’t really expected, despite what DeltaBeta had read. No matter. She didn’t intend to engage it. She wanted it out of the way so it COULDN’T chase her all over this lava-infested field or flank the other two she was out here with. Teamwork was only for the PCs, thank you very much.

“GiRue Kruz.”

She spell formed as it always did, though in the red light of the field the blue chunks of ice looked nearly black, like a flame in negative. The Dragon hesitated a second as one of the chunks of ice appeared right in front of its snout, hanging there like a decoration strung from a Christmas tree.

Then it struck. The sound like shattering glass covered the sounds the creature made as it folded in on itself from the force. A moment later and it flopped over, a graying lump of data. Given its natural propensity for fire and the spell she’d cast on it, the slightly advanced water spell was more than enough to knock out a few hundred HP. In retrospect, the water-down spell was little overkill.

Twirling her spear around artfully to bring the point to bear on the other dragon, Senna waited and let her SP recharge. That one was theirs. She’d be there with a La Repth or other such spell or item if needed, but otherwise…

(OOC: Deltabeta, I just noticed in your earlier post that you used my real-life person's name, Mats, rather than the character. That is, in fact, something you were never told IC, and no one is supposed to know... yet. Please change it... I'm sorry if I sound rude, I just want it corrected.)

"I wasn't cowering. I was just...well...I was taking a breather from all this heat. I got hot. So, I stopped walking and sat down." Deltabeta seemed to examine the Wavemaster's reaction, maybe wondering what was going through Hitori's mind. He just smiled back, and anyone looking would've noticed nothing out of the ordinary. Of course, looks could be deceiving, and today was no different from any other day.

"He got hot? In a game? Right... and I'm the King of Scotland. All bow down to me..."

Maybe he's just nervous or something... Give him a break, at least. He's not all high and mighty, he's just a regular person. You at least have to give him credit for trying.

"Hey, if everyone got credit for trying, we'd have a different society than the one today..."

We're in a game. Give up the act, for once in your life.

"..."

Deltabeta seemed to be thinking as Hitori was, and as the Wavemaster finished speaking inwardly, he almost didn't catch the answer to his questing towards Senna from earlier: “Heights,” she said, a little laugh emitting from her voice. “I don’t… they’re just… I hate them. The idea of falling. Which is silly, but there it is. You don’t seem to have the same problem? That was some nice footwork back there.”

Hitori took a little time before answering, and when he did, his voice was just as confident as always, with a hint of... something else, something he himself could not describe. "Thanks for the compliment. Heights come naturally to me... whenever I think of falling, I know that I will eventually hit the ground. It helps me to keep a good mindset. Besides, what also helps is that I know that this, in fact, a game. Whatever happens to me here will not traverse over to the real world... as far as I know." He made the last comment a bit more quietly, wondering if Deltabeta had heard it.

The Blademaster, at that moment, returned from his own thought process and seemed ready to keep moving. His position as leader seemed to come almost naturally, and that was okay; Hitori had no urging desire to take charge at all, as he preferred to take things from the back of the group. It was one of many reasons why the class of Wavemaster fit him so well... but it made him wonder why Mats had chosen it, even before Hitori had come along.

"I think we should attack some of the portal monsters in the field before we attempt the dungeon, if that's fine with you, Senna." It was a simple statement, but it made Hitori wonder just a little if the Blademaster really cared about Hitori's opinion... or just took it for granted. Even so, it didn't really matter too much now. Senna nodded her consent, and that was all that was needed to keep moving. As they moved, the Wavemaster considered what monsters they would be fighting.

Of course, it was only natural they would have to fight huge, fire-breathing, water-hating dragons. Two of them, to be more specific.

Even as Deltabeta finished reading off the monster specs, which were a tad bit late in coming, Senna was already in motion towards one of the dragons, casting a spell to make Deltabeta faster as she went and doing her own little thing. Hitori followed suit quickly, immediately targeting the other dragon and calling out, "Gan Don!" Instantly, a rock appeared from the sky and did a good amount of damage on the monster. Unfortunately, more than anything was the attention it attracted towards Hitori.

As the monster began to stomp towards him, Hitori called out to Deltabeta loudly, "Hey, my friend... Some help would be appreciated over here, and quickly!" Even as he spoke, the dragon, who's speed seemed to be more than what the specs had said, closed in. Taking one or two steps towards the Wavemaster, it roared, shaking almost the entire Field. That gave the opportunity for Hitori to quickly duck and roll under it, and on an instinct, began to climb it from its back. The dragon tried to shake him, but to no avail.

Reaching the back of the head, Hitori raised his staff to the heavens and cried, "Juk Rom!" As the wind spell took effect, it had been activated closely enough that the Wavemaster felt the powerful gusts lift him off and up, while still damaging the monster. As he went up, he closed his eyes, taking in the great view while it lasted even as he began to fall. Pointing his staff upwards yet again, he cried, "Gan Don!" This second spell created a rock, very conveniently, under the Wavemaster. He dropped onto it, and the extra weight brought the rock faster to earth, or rather in this case, dragon. As he leaped off the stunned monster, Hitori began running very recklessly away towards Senna...

Detabeta finished reading off the monsters specs when he felt a sudden urge to run as fast as he could. He was in a state of euphoria that allowed him to run exceptionally quickly. He couldn't understand it. Then suddenly he remembered hearing somebody call out an Ap Do. It was the amazing Senna.

"She used her SP on me? That was extremely nice of her..."

Deltabeta felt excessive respect for the skilled Long Arm. She was there by his side. He almost felt as if they were connected from the heavens. Or so he wished. Secretly Deltabeta had a well of passion for the beautiful Long Arm. He felt as if they were best friends already and they weren't even very well acquainted with one another. He was looking at her blankly the whole while he was thinking. He shook his head awkwardly and looked at her with focus and said, "Thank you, Senna.", In an overly tough dialect. He wondered for a second if he spoke to harshly. He thought to himself.."Was I too fake? Or did I sound too weak? I really like her..." While he was thinking this she began fighting one of the Vak Dragon's with intellect. Her eyes were glowing softly in the eerie essence of the lava flows as she threw an extremely possessive ice spell right at the monsters nose, causing it to be rendered useless.

His head was bursting with too many emotions to speak. He didn't know how to react to the thoughts he was having towards the Long Arm. Was she too good for him? He didn't know, but he knew one thing: She was lurking in his subconscious, and he needed to be concentrating on the battle at hand.

He looked away from her, which was a harder task than he thought. He forced his eyes away from the girl and noticed that everything seemed to be going intrepidly slow motioned. He hadn't even noticed this until he started concentrating on reality for a moment. The monsters, Senna, and Hitori were all moving at a slow pace. He was able to walk around the monsters as if they didn't even see him. Senna and Hitori were both walking as if they were playing a game of charades. He ran around to where Hitori was and he noticed that he was fighting the last of the Vak Dragon's. Albeit in exceptionally slow motion, they were fighting with one another. Deltabeta pulled out his sword, in what seemed to be normal time, and looked at it. Everything seemed to be fine in his perspective; however, everything else was so slow. He noticed that this was the effect of his speed being increased.

"Wow. I should have paid better attention in physics class."

"Yeah. You might have realized sooner that you were visualizing Special Relativity. Hint: Einstein discovered it..."

"OH YEAH! Thats right. Einstein's Theory of Relativity!"

"BINGO!!"

Deltabeta was now certain that he was the one that was moving quickly and the others were at normal speed. He was seeing everything as moving slowly, because he was in a faster perspective relative to that of the world around him.

He took to his sword once more and helped Hitori out. Hitori had previously used a sly maneuver on the dragon and slid underneath the belly of the beast, and jumped on its back with menacing speed. Relative to the stationary observer. He had raised his staff and called out, "Gan Don!!" It was a somewhat effective attack on the beast, but it hardly killed it. The monster was now at least a fourth of the way dead. This was a positive thing, Deltabeta had thought to himself.

Deltabeta could feel the speed in his virtual blood still. This indicated that he needed to act quickly before the effects wore off. He jumped to action with his blade at the ready and with his sword in front of him. He slashed at the monster for what seemed like five seconds. This wasn't the truth at all, due to his time correlation. He was actually hitting the beast for more than a minute and the beast wasn't even able to touch him. It seemed all too easy for the blademaster. He even noticed a few "Critical Hits" part of the way into his onslaught. He felt his blood begin to slow down, and his head was relieved of a pressure unlike any other. He was now in normal time, and he saw Hitori with his mouth open wide, as if he had seen something out of the ordinary. Deltabeta looked at the wavemaster and said, "What is it? I just hit it a couple of times, didn't I?"

Deltabeta looked to the ground were the Vak Dragon used to be. There was nothing but a pile of rubble and ashes. Deltabeta looked at the amused wavemaster and shrugged his shoulders. "I guess I killed it?...", Deltabeta asked rhetorically. The blademaster now understood why Senna had given him the Ap Do. She knew exactly what would happen if she had given him this positive attribute. He looked at her with idolatry and laughed... Both of the monsters were killed in a joint effort, and they had an exciting time with it too. Deltabeta asked the group, with a sigh of exhaustion, and said, "What's next?"

Her first thought as the fight finished without her lending any more of a hand was worry that having a higher leveled person might be taking away from enjoyment of the field at hand. Would it look like she was showing off? She couldn’t exactly help her level, her weapons, her skill set, and to her mind it really made no sense to sandbag. At best it would just stretch her fights and not allow any used SP to regenerate itself. At worst, the other two would see it as some sort of pity.

Well, why NOT use her spells and abilities, right? They knew what she was when they agreed to let her come along, or at least DeltaBeta did. They had to know that given her class, they’d each outstrip what she was able to do in their class’s strengths long before reaching her level. Hitori would be slinging spells well above the GiRue Kruz she’d used by level 23, and while her class might be able to do roughly the same damage as a sword wielding class, she couldn’t stand in a fight for nearly as long – the Long Arm’s physical defensive capabilities were inferior to all but Wavemasters and some Twin Blades. Anything she could do now would be a shadow of their potential.

Not that their current potential was anything to laugh at. They went at the dragon with a flurry of activity that left it unable to track them as well as it obviously wanted and unable to truly catch either of them. Hitori had drawn its attention with his first spell, and then proved he wasn’t kidding about the acrobatics when he climbed onto the beast and used a couple more spells to whittle its HP down even further. Then he was off its back and DeltaBeta was on it, blade flashing in a red-tinted-blur thanks to the speed and the field’s lighting.

She wandered forward a little, meeting Hitori on his way over and offering slight salute with her spear, then they approached DeltaBeta as the dragon went down for the final count. They were an interesting pair, with DeltaBeta being more outgoing and more fitting into a traditional leadership role while Hitori, possessing his own outward self confidence, seemed a little more reticent. They reminded her a little of two others she’d had opportunity regularly fight with. She herself was talking a little more than usual. DeltaBeta likewise was saluted. They’d taken down a decent-leveled creature with relative ease, working together.

Well, maybe a lot more. Chalk it up to nervousness. Chalk it up, perhaps, to Dun Loireag?

DeltaBeta was just asking, "What’s next?" And Senna, looking around, thought she might see something worth suggesting. Stretching one arm (the one with her spear in it, so her shadow appeared to have an eight-foot arm) she indicated it.

"That? Or do you need a moment to recover?"

It was another portal, rotating dimly in the field’s half-light. When they were set to go, they approached this new target and activated it.

What was let loose this time looked like nothing so much as a red-eyed pack of hell hounds. What they were in actuality was a Sled Dog and a pair of Hell Dobermans. All three literally had fire in their eyes – and leaking from their skin and joints as well. A wash of heat accompanied their appearance, brushing back hair and loose folds of clothing and picking up debris from the field. Senna was able to more-or-less concentrate long enough to cast a spell – Rue Rom – at the place where they’d appeared. The spell was knocked a little off center as the heat hit her though, and while the water-based spell managed some damage to all three creatures, it was only damage, not death.

Then she choked, literally. The blast of excessive heat caught her unexpecting and seared down her throat, prompting a coughing fit so hard she was doubled over, one hand to her stomach, the other covering her mouth (as is polite). This was far from deadly, but she was excessively rue-affiliated at the moment and a few hits from the animals’ fire-based spells could be.

Ah well. She trusted the others. And this WOULD be over soon. Just a coughing fit, after all. If they needed help, she had a La Repth, which didn’t need to be targeted.

God, she thought wryly. She really hated The World sometimes.

OOC:
Since I have the stats already, here they be.
Hell Doberman – 290 HP, ability to cast Vak Kruz
Sled Dog- 650 HP, ability to cast Vak Don

Senna seemed to wander forward a little as the Wavemaster ran, meeting Hitori on his way over and offering a slight salute using her weapon. Looking back, the boy noticed DeltaBeta as the dragon went down for the final count. His speed increase seemed to have worn off, which was a bit of a good thing. One of the other reasons Hitori had begun to run was because he hadn't wanted to get sick at the sight of the blur that was the Blademaster. As Deltabeta received a salute from the Long Arm, the Wavemaster couldn't help but notice his face, which, though completely straight, seemed to turn red just looking at Senna. That made him laugh inside a little; it was almost as if he were looking at Mats talking to Cara...

Well, that didn't really matter right now. If Deltabeta ended up letting loose his feelings, it was not going to be Hitori's problem. He shook his head slightly to rid himself of those thoughts, and then listened to Deltabeta, who was just asking, "What’s next?" The Wavemaster looked first to his left, and then his right, not noticing anything. At least, he didn't until Senna pointed something out with her staff. As she indicated it, he heard her words clearly enough.

"That? Or do you need a moment to recover?"

Off in the distance, Hitori could see the golden, rotating circle that signified a Monster Portal. As soon as all three were ready, they set off, with Senna in the lead. Hitori watched with anticipation as the circle got closer to them (or rather, vice versa), his mind running at top speed with Mats watching, who was a little in awe.

“Uh… Hitori? How can you think so… quickly?”

Oh, you mean like this? Well, I just train my brain so that it automatically does certain things on its own, so that I can concentrate on the big things at hand.

“Ah… so that would explain being able to do acrobatics…”

With almost no thought process? Yeah, I guess you could say that. With that, though, you also need the physical strength for all of that.

“Yet, you make it look so easy…”

What can I say? I’m a natural at it.

Soon, the group was in poking distance of the portal, and, sensing that opponents were near, the portal activated, unleashing its occupants onto the Field. Hitori smiled a little; what had been let loose was a bunch of dogs. Much bigger than the normal “big” dogs back in the real world, but nevertheless dogs. All three had red, angry-looking eyes and fire leaking out of their pores, but that was where the similarities ended. Checking the names, he found two were Hell Dobermans, and the last one a Sled Dog. It was a bit creepy to look at, if one wasn’t used to this kind of thing… but this was The World, and most things that were possible in computer games had not been left out at all.

The battle starting immediately, Hitori stepped back a tad, letting Senna cast a spell of her own, Rue Rom. This spell tied into the Wavemaster’s own element, or rather, one of the two he made himself known to specialize in. So far, he had not actually had any experience in using those kinds of spells, but he hoped that when he leveled up, he’d begin to have access to them. Even as those thoughts passed, Hitori watched the Long Arm closely, hoping that nothing would go wrong, and that the spell would work normally.

Of course, since when did the game make sure those things always happened?

The heat emitting from the ground seemed to throw her spell off enough to only do slight damage to the monsters, and if that wasn’t bad enough, some of the smoke got into Senna’s throat, somehow making her choke. It was unexpected, to say the least; players were not supposed to be affected by the outside forces of The World, like rain and snow, even heat. Maybe the programmers were trying to take a step up in this game… or maybe it was just a coughing fit. Hitori knelt down next to her, asking softly, “Are you okay?” It was a simple question, but the Wavemaster got no answer.

It didn’t make much difference, though. Even though Senna was having problems of her own, she could still cast healing spells from afar. Her physical attacks were the better part of her, the part they could use more, but they’d have to stick with what they had left. Nodding to Deltabeta, Hitori stood up and dashed forward into the fray. Heading towards the Sled Dog, he quickly dove under it, just nearly being missed by the dog’s snapping jaws. Rolling to get himself back to a standing position, he reached the tail, which was leaking a little fire. Even as the dog began to turn, Hitori held out his empty hand in a stopping motion, his other hand raising his wand slightly.

“Sit!”

The monster just cocked its head questioningly, looking at its opponent with a look of surprised shock. It was only momentary, though, and in the next couple of steps, it had almost closed the distance between it and the young Wavemaster. Shaking his head to see if he could make the dog do it voluntarily, he watched as the movement failed miserably. Sighing, he asked, “You won’t sit, boy?” The monster showed no sign of stopping, and that was Hitori needed. His staff raised, he cried out, “Gan Don!” Immediately, the sky began raining rocks onto the unsuspecting Sled Dog.

Even through the now-disappearing rubble, the Wavemaster noticed symbols being formed by the monster under him. As they began to glow red, he groaned visibly, and then started running in the direction opposite the Long Arm. He started running backwards so he could see where the fire would be coming from, and then started backflipping as fast as his body would allow himself.

“Senna, Deltabeta, now would be a good time to give me some help over here... I’m kinda being chased by fire, and time is of the essence here!!”

"Seeing as we're about to get burned here, you may want to move a bit faster..."

Shut up! I'm trying to concentrate here!

"My bad..."

[OOC:] I'm going to develop my character some during this quest, if you don't mind. I think it will help me understand Deltabeta some more. [/OOC]

Deltabeta looked at the fray of things. He was only a level four Blademaster with a speckle of magic and an incomparable force of physical strength toward the dogs. He wasn't sure if he had made the right decision in going to this higher leveled field. He knew that Senna was in bad condition, and her throat was itching like flies in a barnyard. He was looking at her with the utmost of care, and yet he wasn't sure if she was going to be alright. She had just mentioned to the wavemaster that she was going to be fine, but for some reason Deltabeta didn't believe her. Was she holding back for a reason? Deltabeta pondered over her conscious decision to stay back and let the weaker players do the battling. He continued to look at her health. She seemed to be recovering from the coughing fit that was consuming her ability to talk. He was actually crying, Deltabeta was crying at the fact that Senna was injured from one of the dogs. He was deeply concerned for her, and he walked over to her as Hitori had just done earlier.

"Are you sure your going to be alright?", remarked the concerned blademaster.

She nodded to him in a weak reply that wasn't very promising. Deltabeta wiped his face from the dirt and soot that was building up on his cheeks from the tears he had just let out. His reactions towards her were different than the other players he had gone into battle with. She wasn't the only female he'd ever battled with. Was he so concerned just because she was a girl? He didn't want to make it look that way, so he toughened up and said, "I'm sure you'll be just fine." He stood up from his kneeling position where she was sitting and got to his feet once more. He looked at the dogs and then looked back at Senna and told her he was going to take care of the beasts for her, even if they killed him in the end. This was a daring feat for the blademaster, as he was only level four, and hardly skilled enough to kill the higher leveled Hell Doberman's and the sled dog. He took out his newly bequeathed Strange Blade and pointed it to the pack of dogs.

"I'm going to kill all three of you with my sharpened sword. You just wait and see."

Deltabeta slowly walked as if marching to the beat of a Nazi sergeant calling on orders. He was in a mood to kill the beasts that harmed the very woman he had the deepest feelings for. She was in his mind the whole time he was marching towards the very beasts. They stopped running at Hitori and looked at Deltabeta's odd marching status. Mesmerized, they all sat down and began panting. They were in utter confusion as to why he was walking so slowly toward them. He finally walked right up to the sled dog and set his blade down on its head, gripping tightly on it. It was being obedient for him, as he were its master. Deltabeta calmed down and talked to the dog, "You might not understand my English, boy, but you are going to die soon." He took his blade and swept it clear across the sled dogs throat, as to gain revenge for the now dilapidated twin blade. It fell over on the ground and blood began squirting out of the neck of the sled dog. Deltabeta was sure it wasn't dead yet. He had just caused significant damage on a dog that was nearly four times his level, in just one hit. The dog seemed to accept his attack, because it felt his pain. Did The World monsters have "feelings?" How could this be? The dog understood his emotions as if it were a real life animal. The other dogs seemed to get angered by this daring attack on the now paralyzed sled dog.

The Hell Doberman's each took to their feet and jumped toward Deltabeta. He spun around with his blade and dodged each of the dogs attacks. They were on either side of him now, with their flaming tongues hanging wide out of their mouth's. As they did this, droplets of burning liquid fell from the tips of their tongues, as it were burning oil from a lamp. They looked at him with fiery eyes, quite literally. The fire was higher than ever on their hides. They were seemingly angry, and it was time for them to get their revenge on him. Deltabeta saw that they were both scratching at the ground getting ready to take flight. They ran right at him on both sides and Deltabeta jumped far above the both of them. They both seemed to see this happening and they each cast a Vak Kruz attack right at him while he was in midair. Both of their spells had direct hits and took Deltabeta down. He wasn't dead yet, but his HP was down to the single digits. Now was the time when he needed a good healing spell from Senna. He wondered to himself if he was going to make it out of this mess. His courage was at the highest point now. He fell to the ground with a deep thud, and the ground shook beneath him. Suddenly he heard the wavemaster call out a, "GAN DON" and rocks began falling to the ground right on top of the sled dog that was beside him on the ground. It had died off and left the field in a heap of digital numbers. Now there were the two Hell Doberman dogs left to kill off. Deltabeta picked himself up off the ground and dusted off the molten lava that was beginning to eat away at his leg armor. He got to it before it took any of his defense away.

Deltabeta limped over to where he had heard Hitori call out the spell. He was seriously injured. He noticed a flashing red warning sign in his status screen. He was at only five HP. Deltabeta quickly pulled out a healing potion and drank it all up in a single gulp. He was feeling slightly more revived from this; however, it wasn't fully able to recover all of his health. He was still at an exceptionally low level of HP. At only forty percent health, he was still weaker than usual. He looked at Hitori and smiled weakly.

"How did I do?", said Deltabeta to Hitori.

Deltabeta felt like an idiot for taking on the three dogs all by himself. He saw that Senna was all better now and she was standing about fifty feet away from them. She was on the other side of the two dogs looking at how Deltabeta was doing. He waved to her kindly and yelled out,"I could use a good La Repth about right now..." He laughed out a sigh of relief that she was no longer consumed by her coughing fits. This was turning out to be an epic battle, and they had just started...

------------------------------
Sled Dog: Downed
Hell Doberman (x2): 200 HP (each)

Was she so out of touch?

When had a coughing fit become such cause for concern? If anything, SHE should be concerned. She was the highest level person here, and as such she was looking at her role as one of evening the odds when they were facing off against these higher-level creatures. Heck, there should be no problem in dealing with these creatures with all three of them. She was letting THEM down. But they both checked on her, and was the blade-wielder… was he crying?

She tried to put that out of her mind as they both went ahead, into the fray. Time to get back into this. Clearing her throat, she spat to the side and then followed them. Time to fight.

But as she looked up… What the heck?

Hitori had just pulled clear of a devastating fire attack (or, what could be devastating considering what the Sled Dog’s flame element had to be) and DeltaBeta was walking up to the creatures. Just… walking? And they weren’t doing anything? That was not normal. They let him just… walk up to them. He was talking, but she couldn’t hear what he was saying.

Now, she knew she wasn’t the person she had been before. She was… well, to put it bluntly, she was a lot less trusting of coincidence. Those animals should have been all over him. While they were engaged in battle now, it had taken too long to be normal.

Between them, Hitori and DeltaBeta had taken out the Sled Dog now – an impressive feat, levels considered – and the other two were showing signs of wear. Switching to her Fairy Spear, Senna made her move, as it became clear the other two were collecting themselves from the battle. Well, they’ve done more than enough. I’ll finish up.

She moved in, thankful that none of the creatures had chosen to target her. It made sense though – they tended to congregate at the weakest point, and by sheer game mechanics, that was not her. Twirling the spear expertly, she reached the first of the flaming creatures as they chased after the others, intent on finishing what they had started, one would assume.

She caught the first and took a strong swipe at it, the blue aura around her weapon mixing poorly with the red light of the field and cutting a deep, black furrow across its left hindquarter. Its head whipped around, but her movement was just as fast and a good deal more calculated. The tip of the spear made a circle in the air, trailing its azure color, then drew back and Senna lunged. The point shot forward, catching the creature in its open mouth and punching through its head. She wrenched once, twice, and the spear came free, tearing out of the creature and tearing the last of the canine’s HP along with it.

The monster went down with a strange, strangled cry, beginning to gray out as its corpse settled. The sound called the other creature’s attention to her. It circled around, flames occasionally flaring up where its paws landed.

They didn’t even attack! Could it be… no… don’t flatter yourself, you’re not that important.

The Doberman began trotting toward her, but stopped a good fifteen feet back and targeted her with its spell. She paused to allow the flames to clear, covering her mouth with her arm and closing her eyes. It hurt – flames were uncomfortable for anyone, but her fire element was low to boot – but she was going to have to learn to push through things. Wasn’t that why she was out here? That and just to see some new faces?

Not him then. But someone else? Someone on their way up? Could become one of them…

She didn’t trust herself to speak a spell, so she just went at it with the weapon again. As they came together, she dropped to one knee and made a low sweep across the thing’s front legs. She could hear it this time – the steam-like hiss as her water-based weapon met its fire-based body. The dog pulled back in pain, but as it did, it bared its chest a little more. Once again, the spear stabbed forward like a knight’s lance and caught it in the rough vicinity of where a normal dog would keep its heart, sending magma and flames spraying. The thing didn’t have a heart of course, but it didn’t matter because it also didn’t have the HP to withstand her assault. As it collapsed, she took a breath and quietly whispered, “La Repth” in response to a called request. She should be close enough for the spell to hit all three of them. As soon as that was done, she trotted over, trying to compose her thoughts.

There’s no proof, just let it go. she thought. For now.

She trotted over, then said, “That was nice,” she commented to both of them, offering her customary half-smile. She meant it too. Given their levels and the levels of the creatures… yeah. They probably saved her butt back there.

She was about to say something more when a chime interrupted her thoughts – a sound that was quickly becoming familiar.

“Sorry, just a sec,” she said. A Flashmail? Who on Earth could…

Opening the missive provided a quick answer to that question. It was Centrus. Momentarily she felt guilty. She needed to catch up with him soon.

She considered, then sent back a quick reply.

Looking up, hoping she hadn’t kept them waiting too long with that, she said, “Ah. I just heard from Centrus. One of my clanmates. DeltaBeta, he said you’re our newest member if you’re interested. So… eh, welcome.” Another half smile.

Good news is always the best sort to share. Having imparted it, however, she figured

Deltabeta was the first to seemingly answer Hitori's earlier cry for help, but the way in which he helped... That was an entirely different kind of approach then was supposed to be taken. Instead of rushing into the battle with his sword flashing, all the Blademaster did was begin to march towards the monsters. Real marching, with his feet seemingly lifting off the ground in military fashion. The Wavemaster couldn't understand it, as well as the fact that his friend... was crying? Suddenly, his eyes flashing towards Senna, Hitori realized it immediately. Mats was a little lost, though.

"What... the fricking hell... does that guy... think he's doing?!"

He's protecting Senna.

"... Huh? I'm lost."

Of course you are. Let me explain in words you can comprehend. Deltabeta has feelings for Senna, who went into a coughing fit. Our Blademaster is now in a fit of righteous anger, and is probably about to whoop some serious butt.

"Oh, sweet."

Only someone like you would think that...

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?"

Nothing. Nothing at all.

Mats shook his head inwardly, and Hitori looked back at the battle fray. Some burn marks were still showing on the ground from the fire spell the Wavemaster had narrowly dodged. Those acrobatic skills really came in handy at times like those... though, Mats thought that physical attack prowess was much more effective. He should've thought of that before choosing a magic user... It was one of the many mysteries of Mats' head that Hitori just couldn't figure out. Other people, though... it was pretty easy to read them like a book.

The effect of the emotions of the human mind seemed to keep working wonders, as Deltabeta seemed to prove in the next couple of minutes. All three dogs, who had been chasing after Hitori moments before, were now focused on the Blademaster, or, to be more specific, his marching. They seemed to be quite confused at what this guy was doing, and CCCorp had been nice enough to add in realistic dog instincts into these fire-breathers. This meant that, unlike what they had done for Hitori, they sat down and started panting fire.

Deltabeta took no stops in between his marching, moving right up to the Sled Dog and running his sword through it. Quite amazingly, it keeled over, seeming to feel sorry for its opponent. That was new to Hitori; since when had the company of this game felt the need to add in real emotional sensors? CCCorp also seemed to have lowered its power standards a bit, as the next moment, the dog passed out. It began to disappear into the air, and it was then the Wavemaster realized: the monster had died.

This angered the Hell Dobermans to no end, and they began to stamp the ground furiously in a rage. Deltabeta turned as they both ran at him, leaping at the last second high above his opponents. Unfortunately for him, the monsters must've been getting smarter, as both simultaneously activated a Vak Kruz spell on the poor Blademaster. Both were right on their target, making Hitori's friend fall to the ground in a heap. Hitori face was calm, though; Deltabeta needed healing fast, and the Wavemaster had one spell up his sleeve to bring down on the unsuspecting dogs.

"Gan Don!"

Immediately, rocks began to hail from the sky onto the monsters, causing some damage in the process and allowing Deltabeta to get the hell out of there. As he did, he pulled some lava off his armor, limping from the attack and gulping down one of his spare potions. The limp didn't leave, but the Blademaster himself seemed to look in better shape than he had moments ago. It was not enough HP recovered, though, for him to go back into the fight. Deltabeta asked a little weakly, ""How did I do?"

Hitori looked towards Senna, who seemed to have recovered from the coughing fit, and then forward again before answering, "I'd say that was a very brave thing to do, especially for Senna." When Deltabeta kept silent, the Wavemaster continued, "Yes, I know about your feelings for Senna. No, I'm not going to tell her. Its okay to like someone. Just... be a bit more careful. You go out on a whim to save her every time you see fit, and you'll die faster than a fireball in the ocean."

The Long Arm seemed to have watched Deltabeta's progress from afar, and he now waved to her kindly, yelling out, "I could use a good La Repth about right now..." Apparently, Senna had not heard, as she seemed to rush into the battle. Taking on first one, and then the second Hell Doberman in a matter of a minute, Hitori could only watch the Long Arm go to work with her lance. She seemed to have sufficient training with her weapon, and her level showed it quite profusely; she hadn't just reached it mooching off of other players' battles.

“La Repth.”

So, Senna had heard Deltabeta after all. Hitori thanked her as she approached, sweeping into his customary bow of respect. “That was nice,” she told both of them with her half-smile on her face. It was sufficient thanks, being complemented on their battle prowess. Senna seemed to want to say something more, but a slight ping interrupted her. "Sorry, just a sec." She opened what looked like a Flashmail, reading it over and then responding to it. When she closed it, she looked at Deltabeta and said, "Ah. I just heard from Centrus. One of my clanmates. DeltaBeta, he said you’re our newest member if you’re interested. So… eh, welcome."

Hitori turned to look off at something in the distance, saying quietly, "Congrats, Deltabeta. You seem like you'd be good in the Swordbreakers, anyways." He turned back and smiled, his face showing no signs of the jealousy that was fuming just behind it. "Hopefully, you'll do great things in that clan." Taking a glance forward, he turned around and looked at Senna. "Okay, Senna... I know I seem like I'm some kind of interrogater... but is there something besides your fear of heights that's different about you? Because that coughing fit... you seemed to be affected by the very hot air on this Field, and it makes me a bit... suspicious that there's something you're not telling us. Something you should be telling us. Is there, or am I just being too wary for my own good?"

[OOC:] This post will test our strength in writing. I really want to see how much we are able to be creative.
[/OOC]

Deltabeta was smiling with all of his teeth showing. He was the happiest person ever. He had a slight feeling that he would make the clan because of his sheer skill in fighting and his adverse means of attacking beasts that were much higher in level than he. He wasn't at all sure of how he had attacked the sled dog without a scratch on his body. It must have been the love that encompassed his particulate soul, in every aspect. It was true. He had feelings for the girl he was in an adventure with, but it wasn't like it was affecting his ability to do work. He was able to fight, if not better, with the feelings he had invested in the twin blade. He shrugged off the feelings for the rest of the adventure with the party. He didn't want his thoughts getting him into trouble where the rest of the group would need him in a dire situation.

He walked across some fiery lava flows and noticed a building that looked like a ranch. It appeared to be standing on its last leg, as it was about to fall right over if anything hit it. He didn't worry about it too much, considering he was too hot and expired to think fitfully. Another drawback was the fact that it was unmarked on his map. He asked the group if they minded going in the infrastructure, until his fatigue was back to normality. He didn't bother to wait for a response, since he was exhausted from his previous battle with the pack of Hellish dogs. He hopped over some more effervescent lava, and made his way into the building. It was much cooler in the building than he would have though. It was like an air conditioning unit was placed inside just for him and his party. The room was very museum-like with statues and pieces of artwork all around it. Was this a virus in The World? He didn't understand how such a nice building could exist in such an awful field. He laughed at this fact, and continued to study the room as the others walked in behind him. Hitori and Senna made their way into the room and right when Senna was about to shut the door; it slammed shut by itself.

"Phantom draft eh?", eerily said the blademaster. It was just a gust of wind from an open window on the other side of the room. Deltabeta walked over and closed it shut. The room seemed to get that much more comfortable when closing the window. They were all extremely comfortable in this artsy home. It had a kitchenette and a little dinning area, with plenty of seating room for twelve to sit at. It seemed like the room had expanded when they entered the building, because upon examination from the outside; the building did not look like this. Deltabeta shrugged off his curiosity and sat down in one of the chairs. Just as he had sat down in the chair a door appeared as a glitch on the other side of the room. It was a door in the middle of the room, with nothing on either side of it. Deltabeta was completely confused at this phenomenon. He wanted to know why it had happened when he sat down in the chair. Was it just that one chair he happened to pick to sit in? He wasn’t that lucky. He knew so… He walked over to where the door was and walked around it three times. Passing each time; he studied it further and further, as to figure out what it did, or where it was going to take them.

It was just a door in the middle of the room. It had no walls hiding its next entry-point or anything. They would have to go through the door to find out if it was a secrete door to another location. Deltabeta walked to the door handle and turned it, as to open the door. He found that the doorknob was moist and warm, like it was a part of something tropical. Deltabeta knew this had to be a type of foreshadowing, because he had felt this coming to him earlier. Quickly, Deltabeta opened the door and was about to walk through it as he almost fell over a ledge into a huge pool of water. It was an opening to a gigantic waterfall about fifty feet high. The waterfall was surrounded by a soothing rain forest that seemed to be miles thick. They were going to be in a mysterious world of a rain forest. Deltabeta yelled in excitement to the others, “guys, come over here…” He jumped in the doorway and began swimming in this new field. It wasn’t the same place they had just been, but it was another location. Deltabeta shook his head in laughter and said to himself, ”How is this happening? I don’t fully understand this. First we were in a world of exhausting heat and now we are in an extremely refreshing location.” After thinking to himself, he awaited the others to fall down the fifty feet to the nine foot deep pool of water that lay at the bottom of the waterfall.

Deltabeta looked at his wrist; where his map locater device was on his bracelet. He pressed a button and it began flashing red. Unknown Area … He looked at the others and began walking around. Deltabeta was unsure of this new location now, as it wasn’t a locatable area in the keyword log. He tried again with his map locater. This time it had some weird green graphics shoot out of it, and it said they were in “Theta: Quiet Hopeless Valkyrie.” This had to be correct, because his prior knowledge of the keywords indicated that any field with the ending of “Valkyrie” would be a deep forest. He looked at the others and they didn’t answer.

“I don’t know what to do now? Does anyone else? We should look for something to indicate a dungeon or monster portals. I just updated my stats for this field, and I got that there are at the most, only four monster portals. I’m going to need your help Senna though, because I know you have the monster specs for this Server.”

Deltabeta turned and awaited a response from the dazed but content party.

She stood a little apart in the aftermath of the announcement Centrus had let her make. It was kind of cool, actually doing something for the clan. And now, she was questing with an actual teammate. So it was a little startling to find that Hitori had begun addressing her again.

"Okay, Senna... I know I seem like I'm some kind of interrogator... but is there something besides your fear of heights that's different about you? Because that coughing fit... you seemed to be affected by the very hot air on this Field, and it makes me a bit... suspicious that there's something you're not telling us. Something you should be telling us. Is there, or am I just being too wary for my own good?"

She tilted her head and listened, then shook her head ruefully. “Sorry. Now you see why I’m not questing with people my own level. It’s nothing. Too much of a spaz. I was surprised you all let me come along, to be honest. Thanks for asking though.”

Well, nothing in there was a lie. It just wasn’t really an answer either. Luckily, DeltaBeta was on the move, and with a forced cheerful “Oop… hold on,” she was moving. Canti was right, she really didn’t have it together enough to be wandering around.

Their leader led them toward a strange building. It… well, to be honest, it didn’t look like it belonged. “This is odd,” she muttered, to no one in particular. And that observation was carried over with even more truth within the building. It was cool, cold even when compared to the heat of the field outside. Senna leaned against the outside wall momentarily, letting Hitori go in second so she could cover the door in case anything decided to spring an attack on them from behind. Then she walked in, crossing one arm over her torso and using the other to reach for the door. If it were closed, they wouldn’t have to worry, theoretically, about rear attacks.

Slam!

The door shut before she could touch it. Senna stared at it momentarily, then turned and said, “Uh… wasn’t me.”

“Phantom Draft eh?” DeltaBeta said in a spooky voice as he walked over to a window and shut it – the place the draft likely came from. Senna ducked her head a little and walked further into the building, half-smiling sheepishly. Her mind had been on far less mundane possibilities than a draft.

She wasn’t looking to rest – her gauges were at full and there was a nervous energy thrumming through her limbs that would make relaxing impossible right now, but after that fight with the canines, DeltaBeta probably needed it. To kill a bit of time while they waited, she turned toward Hitori and asked, “Are you trying for a clan? Uh…”

That latter was not any comment on the status of Hitori’s choice in clan matters, but a reaction to a sudden change in the odd décor, a change for the… well, the odder. A freestanding door had appeared. For a brief moment, the literature-loving part of her mind divorced this reality and found itself on the sandy shore of a sea where the lobstrosities roamed and the three were being drawn to fight the good fight.

Funny how some numbers keep coming up.

This door, she felt sure, was not going to lead them to her world – the real world. DeltaBeta was pacing around it, surveying it as though its surfaces might hold some clue as to what lay beyond.

Senna was actually all for going back the way they’d come and was about to say so when their leader grasped the doorknob and pulled the portal open. He made as though to take a step through, as would be natural, then caught himself. Curious, Senna padded up to peer thought and saw, pretty immediately, what had stopped him from just hopping through. A ledge over a pool of water? There was no denying that it was pretty, but it was not exactly the sort of thing one should just jump into. DeltaBeta shouted to them in his excitement, and she couldn’t blame him. It was beautiful through there, and looked a little like some natural water park. A waterfall’s noise reverberated through the chasm and into the room they currently inhabited.

But then he jumped down into the water, leaving their current field and dropping the fifty feet or so to the water below. Senna pelted forward a couple steps, bracing her hand on the door jamb as she leaned out into the new space and looked down. He just JUMPED? Was he cra-

She suddenly found herself clinging with both hands to the edge of the freestanding door, unsure how her body had made that move so quickly but glad it was, as the switch had her facing back into the room.

“Ohmigod,” she breathed. “That’s.. no way. I am na-”

The word was going to be “not,” but it was interrupted in mid-pronunciation as the wood beneath her fingers suddenly gave way. As always when this happened, there was no scream. She was too SCARED to scream. Some swimming training forced her to react and use a move she’d learned that should keep her from going too deep. It did NOT look like there was a lot of water there to cushion a 50-foot drop. The move was supposed to be used by lifeguards to keep their heads from going under water when they jumped in to save a life, so they didn’t lose sight of the target. She just hoped it wouldn’t break a limb, trying to do it from that height.

She was fortunate, though she didn’t keep her head above water with it. She slowed her descent enough that her impact on the water’s bottom was only mildly hard, though she did lose her spear. As she hit mud, she took a moment to let some air escape her mouth and orient her as far as up and down, then pushed back to the surface. The Fairy Spear floated nearby. It made sense. It WAS a water-based item. She grabbed it and swam to shore, feeling vaguely like a half-drowned rat.

“You okay?” she asked DeltaBeta as she got out of the water and set about wringing out her hair. He’d taken the plunge first, and while he *seemed* okay, who was to know?

Once they were all there and set to go, DeltaBeta asked, “I don’t know what to do now? Does anyone else? We should look for something to indicate a dungeon or monster portals. I just updated my stats for this field, and I got that there are at the most, only four monster portals. I’m going to need your help Senna though, because I know you have the monster specs for this Server.”

Senna was about to explain that she wasn’t all that much more aware of their stats than anyone else, but she was interrupted by the world shaking. Earthquake? Some might think so, but she was getting used to this feeling.

“I think we’ve got a fight,” she said instead. Coming through the trees toward the trio was a group of less members than their own, but what it lacked in numbers it made up in levels. A Wood Harpy was perching on the branches of a Thousand Trees, which was stomping through the Rainforest toward them like an oversized Ent.

Just great…

OOC
Thousand Trees, level 13, 1090 HP, casts Juk Rom
Wood Harpy, level 19, 230 HP, no magic

Within the dense forest there was a loud thundering sound emitting from the depths of the field. Deltabeta wasn't in a pensive mode either to figure out what it was. He was almost to happy to want to fight monsters. It was perfect weather for the blademaster. He loved swimming and walking in thick forests. It was almost like "The World" had picked this field just for him. He jerked away his mental conversation with himself so he could find out what the noise was before it killed him, instead of him killing it. They were all in this world of a soothing cool breeze and a slight mist was falling on the party from the nearby waterfall. Suddenly He heard a loud screeching noise that sounded like a cat dying or possibly an extremely angry monster. He was willing to take the latter one, due to the fact that there weren't real world cats in the game. He focused his attention on the most dense part of the forest. Just then a wood harpy and a thousand tree's was looking him straight in the eyes. It was almost paralyzing, because he was nearly twenty times shorter than the thousand tree's. The harpy wasn't the nicest looking creature either; with eyes that glowed deep green, and wings that blended in with the wood that looked as if something had shredded them up in a blender. Both monsters looked extremely angry at the fact that they were in the field. Deltabeta looked at his trusty friend Senna and wondered what he should do. It wasn't a battle like the other ones where he didn't have time to think. He actually had time to plan out a battle, and it also helped that he was cool in the mind at the moment.

Deltabeta figured since his SP was completely tapped he would attack the wood harpy. It was nearly five times his level, but he knew with some agility and intellect he would be able to down this monster. He thought about using a good sneak attack on the wood harpy, but it probably wasn't the best option in this field. He was going to have to coax the monster towards him. It wasn't able to use magic, so this was also a great benefit for him. Deltabeta never liked getting hit by magic, because he was so susceptible to these types of attacks. It was the physical attacks that the blademaster was not afraid of at all. He was able to take attacks from monsters up to four times his level for hours. Blademasters are generally much stronger than one would think. With a strong blade, and some good magic; they are able to attack many different types of monsters with reportable skill. Deltabeta yelled out at the wood harpy, " Hey you! Yo, you!!!... wow...it doesn't seem to see me. HELLLOOO!!!.... WOOD HARPY!" It was as if he had summoned the beast, because the harpy had heard its name and flew towards its next victim, which was Deltabeta. He ran as the harpy had chased him. It wasn't so much of a frightened running, but more of a knowledgeable chase that led the monster right into its own trap. Deltabeta had led the wood harpy into the cliff where the water fall was. It was now completely trapped by the towering wall that was behind it. Deltabeta took out his strange blade and called out the beast once more. It stared him down and took its wooden staff and flew down with a mighty force right on top of the blademaster's head. It nearly collided with his skull, and he would have been done. Since Deltabeta was more quite skilled he knew what he had to do. He took his sword and matched the attack with the strange blade. A loud crash and a loud snap later the attacks canceled each other out. The wood harpys staff had snapped in half. Its weapon was rendered useless. It had thrown the staff on the ground and angrily flew back into the woods. It took only ten seconds before the harpy had gone into the woods and came back out with another staff that looked exactly the same as the last one. It must have made it at that fast speed. They were known to be positively skilled in the art of wood working.

The harpy was ready for this to happen and it flew over top of the blademaster once again. He wasn't ready for the failsafe it had though, as the damn monster was able to get him stuck up against the rocky wall now. He had nowhere to go but one direction, which had to be upward to the top of the cliff. Deltabeta climbed up the wall and met a ledge where he was sure he was safe. It was a good defensive point since there were walls on the sides of him now as the ledge had been eroded from the misty water fall. Deltabeta ushered on the monster once more from this point. It came towards him with its newly made wooden staff at the ready. Deltabeta had his strange blade behind his back and he waited for the right moment. It was going to be an extremely risky attempt, but Deltabeta was going to pull out his blade at the last minute and stab the wood harpy in the wings as to disable it's flight ability. The wood harpy didn't notice that he had his sword behind his back and the attack went as smooth as possible. His blade entered into the wing of the wood harpy and sliced clean through it. There was a sound as if he was shearing linens for an art project. The harpy had a hole the size of four basketballs put together. This caused the harpy to fall down from the cliff and land to the ground, causing more damage. Deltabeta saw that this attack took out a lot of its HP. There were red numbers shooting out everywhere as he was slicing across the wing. He wasn't very sure of how much damage he had done to the wood harpy but he knew he did enough to kill it now. He jumped off the ledge with his blade in hand and landed his sword right into the stomach of the wood harpy. This was an easy battle now, because he was able to attack it from the ground. The harpy was no longer able to fly now because of its wings. Deltabeta pulled his strange blade out of the harpy and he heard a loud noise stomp near him.

It was the thousand tree's. It seemed to notice the beating that the harpy was taking, and they were allies together. The thousand trees waddled it's slow branches over toward Deltabeta and attempted a Juk Rom spell right at him. Deltabeta was standing over the harpy making sure it didn't move. He dodged right as the spell was cast and it encountered the wood harpy instead. This caused a flurry of green letters to fly out of the wood harpy. The harpy was now at 92 HP. This was fourty percent of its original HP, so Deltabeta knew he had done a great amount of damage considering his low level. This was turning out to be an epic battle just by himself. It was the battle of Gilgamesh, only with a different name. Not quite. This was still a good battle in the same, and he was now on the ground, as the wood harpy stretched out its wings and hit Deltabeta, knocking him over. It wasn't a hard enough hit to cause any loss in HP, but he still was angered by the moment.

The thousand trees seemed to know it's attack was either going to harm Deltabeta, or heal the wood harpy. It was an odd sight to see, but a tree was smarter than he was. This was a very confusing thing for Deltabeta, because he wasn't used to such a high leveled location. He was having a great time with the battles and with the choices he had to make. This was turning out to be a very good adventure with his two friends Senna, and Hitori.

Upon thinking of Hitori, Deltabeta noticed that he wasn't anywhere to be seen. Deltabeta asked Senna, "Would you be able to take on the rest of the harpy and some of the thousand trees while I go looking for Hitori? I'm kind of worried about him. He didn't jump through the door that we came through, now that I remember."

Deltabeta left the battle momentarily and went off looking for his buddy Hitori. He wasn't anywhere to be found in this field. After looking for the wavemaster, Deltabeta had decided that he wasn't ready for the difficulty of this field.

Deltabeta received a PM from his friend Hitori and it answered all of his questions.

Deltabeta thought to himself for a moment. This meant that Hitori wasn't in the field anymore, and he wasn't able to play with them. Deltabeta felt bad for Hitori's situation, but he still needed to carry on with the quest at hand. Deltabeta replied to this PM; telling Hitori that they were going to finish the rest of this quest without him, so as to keep the flow of the adventure going. Deltabeta didn't want to have to protect Hitori while he was in autopilot mode, which usually had many glitches and game defaults that caused the player to get killed anyhow. He told Hitori he was sorry and sent the PM.

Deltabeta returned to where Senna was and told her about the news...

After a long drop into a shallow lake, Senna just wanted to drip in misery, but as always, The World had other ideas. The pair of creatures, one vicious and flying, the other just massive, walked up and prevented almost ANY feelings of self-pity Senna might have been about to wallow in.

DeltaBeta was moving in on the Wood Harpy in a very vocal way. Smiling slightly at that, amused, Senna turned her full attention to the Thousand Trees. It was no less forbidding now that it had been any of the other times she’d fought this particular creature. Well, except that it was nearly half her level. It could cast level one spells, stomp around a lot and have a decent cache of HP. There was really no challenge here.

Deciding to play a conservative role, she only boosted her attack power with a quick spell and made sure the Ichigou was in her hands. Then, both she and the monster unleashed their magical might at the same time, she with a Gan Rom, it with its Juk Rom. The spells hit at the same time, but the difference in their levels and their elemental vulnerabilities was reflected in their HP losses. The tree wasn’t crippled, but it wasn’t feeling too good.

As Senna circled around to get an open shot on the much slowed creature without getting thwacked halfway across the forest for her attempt, the tree decided to set its sights on an easier target – DeltaBeta, who was still busy with the Harpy. Senna drew a resurrect into her hand, but when there was no immediate drop in the Twin Blade’s HP, she shuffled it back up he sleeve and gripped the spear with both hands as she came in for an attack on the near hind side of the tree-creature.

The attack-up spell had added strength and sharpness to her spear, it seemed, for every attack sliced much further into the wood and bark of her enemy than it should have by rights. The thing was trying to reach for her, trying to turn, but its movements were laborious and slow, and the nimble Long Arm easily stayed out of range of all but the smallest edges of these attacks. It tried the spell again, with the same effect as before, and she healed herself with a quick Repth before moving in to finish the thing off.

It was during this flurry of activity that the Long Arm got the missive from DeltaBeta, asking her to… finish the harpy and take some out of the trees? She couldn’t help a fleeting feeling that he was seriously underestimating her abilities. Oh well, it didn’t really matter. She was also a little curious about how he was holding up so well against a creature so much more powerful than himself. Thoughts of that encounter with the fire-dog came into her mind, and she tried to force them away again. There was no proof – none whatsoever – that DeltaBeta was doing anything untoward.

On the hunt now and eager to get this battle done, Senna went in search of the harpy. She found it struggling toward her from near the water, its wing ruined and it’s HP well-whittled. Senna kept her distance for the moment, unwilling to move into close quarters combat with this thing in too much of a hurry. It was much nearer her level and much more likely to really hurt her.

When they’d both sized one another up for a moment, both brought up their long weapons and went at one another. The harpy’s angle – being on the ground – was actually a benefit to it, as the ground would stop her weapon hard and allow a free shot from he winged freak. Abandoning swings and slices for the moment, she went for a straight thrust, driving her spear into the harpy’s torso and pinning it, for the moment, to the ground. It tried to swing at her, but she used the spear’s shaft to absorb the brunt of each attack, taking only minimum damage herself. Each time she did this, however, it widened the terrible wound in the thing’s chest.

Finally, it drew back to try to drive one end of its staff into her stomach, probably hoping to knock he wind out of her. Senna jumped back, letting her spear drag a little, causing even more damage. A final quick cut and it, too, was dead. There. Glancing around, she made SURE every enemy in sight currently was ghosted before casting another Repth to heal the last of her damage and going off to find DeltaBeta and see what was up with Hitori.

She found DeltaBeta, but Hitori was not with him – he’d not be joining them for the rest of the field it seemed, which was a shame. She’d come to like and respect the Wavemaster in their brief acquaintance.

"You two been friends long?" she asked, feeling relatively sure she knew the answer. They seemed easy with one another. And because this WAS a quest, she added, "So, any idea which way you want to go? Out into the forest? Looking for caves in the lake? Trying to get back to the door?"

Deltabeta sat down on a log near the Twin Blade and told her everything. He told her that he was a good friend of his for about four months, and that they had become friends in a quest together. It was something that he liked doing. Deltabeta was familiar with going on quests with new people. It was a commonplace to him from doing it so often.

Deltabeta spoke to Senna and answered her next question, "I suppose we can go find the dungeon in this field. Unless you want to do something otherwise?" Deltabeta looked at her with eyes of endearment. He really was holding in his emotions toward her, and he had so much to tell her. It was all almost too much for him to keep inside. All of a sudden, he burst out many words all at once, "IthinkIlikeyou...andIdon'tknowhowtotellyou" He didn't know how to she was going to react to this odd bump in the path, but he had to tell her how he was feeling towards her, or he was going have to leave her beautifying presence and forget he ever met her in the first place.

Deltabeta wasn't the type of guy to tell a girl that he liked her. He was more the shy type that acted tough when around the women. He actually had many feelings deep within his alter ego of steel emotions. It wasn't easy for a man to let out his feelings, partially because of the common mis persona that men can't let their emotions show, and the steriotypes that are all too common. Deltabeta was quite content with his decision of telling her that he liked her. It was about time, and she had saved his ass twice now, and he had only saved her once. He owed her his life again after she had battled off the wood harpy and the thousand trees. It was a simple task for her to battle these monsters. It was almost impossible for Deltabeta to even cause significant damage to the monsters compared to the damage that Senna was able to do with just one shot. He was happy with most of his decisions, and the fact that he told her was surely a bold move for the strong armed blademaster. Deltabeta discontinued sitting down, and walked closer to the forest.

There seemed to be an opening in the forest a short distance away, and Deltabeta walked over towards it. He wasn't sure where it was going to lead him and Senna, but he knew that it was an amazing place to be anyway, especially with a beautiful lady such as the twin blade. Moreover, Deltabeta was happy whenever he was with her. It was a journey in itself to learn anything about the twin blade, because he seemed to have learned more about her from accidents such as the height issue, and the overly caustic heat in the previous field. It always seemed to be from a mistake rather than from her own mouth. He wanted to learn more about her as a person, but he didn't want to ask her. He would have to wait for another time to ask her these questions. It was now time to walk into the deep forest and traverse to the dungeon.

Deltabeta discontinued his talking spree and walked into the forest in front of the gorgeous twin blade and told her to look out for monsters. He didn't know why he was warning her when she was nearly five times his own level, and she was nearly able to kill all the monsters in the current field with one attack. They continued walking along the forest and there was finally the opening to the other side of the trees. Deltabeta was nearly befuddled at the fact that there were no monsters in the forest. He was used to being attacked at the worst times, but that was normally in the lower leveled fields. The lower the level of the field, the more the monsters just popped out at the character. Or so it seemed. Deltabeta liked some predictability in the fields. He was able to judge at least when and where he was about to get attacked, and he knew for some reason that the monsters would be located in the dungeon. There had to be a good reason for them being lured into this location. It had to mean something to either Senna or the blademaster, Deltabeta.

He walked a little further and found the entrance to the dungeon...

Things were getting… a little weird. It had been just in his expression at first, little things in his movements, in his inflection when he spoke, but that last…

"IthinkIlikeyou...andIdon'tknowhowtotellyou"

Well, what did a person say to that?

She wasn’t someone who had a lot of dealings with guys in more than friends-ways, and this was largely by design. Relationships of any sort beyond friendship, she’d found, were usually just exercises in uselessness strung along by hormones and emotions which would invariably fade and which would leave the people in question required to make the difficult choice of staying and being unhappy or leaving and making themselves unhappy with guilt and daydreams of what they thought *could* have happened if only the other person (or in rare cases, they themselves) had only CHANGED a little.

She liked DeltaBeta. He was fun and he was interesting. But he was good friend material. She’d never been good at this sort of thing though. And then her mind went back to an event she’d been part of once upon a time.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I mean, I’m flattered, and you’re a lot of fun and I hope we’ll be friends. But there’s someone else.” True in one sense, as she’d pretended, for a time, to have a significant other. She hadn’t actually thought of Ocara in a while. There was another person she needed to get back in contact with,

She left it there, and for the moment at least, they were walking and there was nothing… nothing awkward for her. Which was unusual. She’d thought there would be that sort of embarrassed-coughs-and-long-pauses moment, but the silence seemed natural – perhaps they were both just letting it go and watching the scenery? It WAS beautiful, there was no denying that.

As they walked, he warned her to look out for monsters and she made a sound of agreement. It could be easy to lose sight of the fact that out here, there could be more random monsters wandering around, and some of them could be quite troublesome.

It actually didn’t take them very long to find the dungeon – perhaps another five minutes of walking after the brief conversation. And what a dungeon – it looked as though the forest itself had put the place together, with great trees curving in and entwining their branches to make a dense roof as thick and darkening as any made of stone. The stairs were a little rounded and rough underfoot as they descended toward the doorway that would lead them out of the lush forest and into the dungeon proper.

“Ever see one like this?” she asked curiously, running one hand along the wall to her right. The grain of the wood could be seen, but it didn’t have the lifeless look of plank wood. It was still alive.

The interior was cool and smelled faintly of pine. The opening room was fairly small, but the next was immense – a vaulted roof overhead and covering most of the floor, yawning, black pits. The walkways were held up by an intricate latticework of branches from the walls and made a “+” through the middle of the room, connecting the door they’d just used to three others.

Pausing, she looked over at DeltaBeta and asked, “What do you think? Which way?”

Deltabeta ran over to Senna and told her that he had to go for family reasons. He wasn't able to be a part of this amazing quest with her anymore. He hadn't known why exactly he was able to fight the monsters in this field, but he enjoyed the difficulty at which they were presented towards him. Overall it was a success and he was content enough to leave for the time being.

"I had a great time Senna, I really hope we can do this more often. We will get better in no time."

Deltabeta gave her a quick hug and twisted away from her grasp, as to not get to affectionate with her. He walked away, smiled, and warped from the field.

-Fin-

(Grade Please)

I'm going to make the reply for this quest quickly. Here are the rewards I'm granting for this quest, and a brief explanation as to why:

DeltaBeta: none
Technically, this is because you gained items and levels in a quest that was not this one, and then proceeded to apply them to this one. There are plenty of other reasons that, had you not gained those items and levels, you would've gotten very low grades. For a full list of reasons, let me know.

Hitori: +1 level, + Fire Wand
At the beginning, your posts were a bit confusing at times, and most of your sentences followed the exact same structure. However, as the quest went on towards your end in it, your posts got better and better. You did overpower your character a little bit, but it wasn't anything too major.

Senna: +alert that sounds in Dun Loireag when crossing a bridge, saying, "DON'T LOOK DOWN!!!"
Because I can. :-p