Summary: A swordsman found himself pairing up with the most unlikely of partners, an alchemist. The two began their journey together on a simple foraging trip for the alchemist's potion-making. But when they heard of the cursed swords that lies deep within the ruins of Glast Heim, both of them set out to find it and retrieve it. At the end of it all, will they manage to finish their quest? Or will the threatening darkness of the sword engulf them all? And so book one of the 'Stories of Rune Midgard' begins...

The Cursed Sword...

Here ya go! The re-edited version of my oneshot! Hope you guys find it... readable and fun. XD Don't forget to click mr. blue button at the bottom of the page!

Disclaimer: I only own the OCs, and some concepts. Ragnarok Online (game and manga) are owned by Gravity Co., Level up! Games, and Lee Myung Jin.

Chapter 1: I met a girl, and she likes flames and flowers...

A lone swordsman was sitting idly alongside the busy streets of Prontera on a particularly hot summer day. He had just finished a gruelling quest in Alberta that consisted of catching mice with leaf balls, whatever that was. He just wanted to take a little rest amidst the loud crowds of merchants, blacksmiths and alchemists selling their wares to unsuspecting, gullible buyers, and the screams of brave and noisy adventurers asking for priests and wizards to join them in their quest to some hard dungeon where they would probably end up dead, or would at least be severely beat up. Yeah, he just wanted to rest within all the chaos surrounding him.

Feeling thirsty all of a sudden, he took out a milk carton from his bag and drank it all in one big gulp. His thirst quenched, the young swordsman stood up, dusting off his pants. The wind flew by, ruffling his blond hair, getting dust in his cobalt-blue eyes as well. He immediately rubbed his eyes furiously, forgetting everything his parents taught him about the dangers or rubbing your eyes with your hands. After this little incident, he went to the market place, intent on looking for useful things out of the junk most dealers over there sell at insanely high prices. At the time he didn't know that his little shopping spree was going to be the worst mistake he had ever made… Well, on that day at least.

He waded through the sea of people in the market place, looking here and there for something significant, and hopefully worth its price. Some of the items caught his attention, such as the much-coveted +10 Murasame that was being sold at four million zeny. To him it was a reasonable price, considering the harsh difficulty of attaining the weapon and then refining it beyond the safe levels, compared to a Falchion [4] being sold by a newbie merchant by roughly the same price. Apparently he was going for the newb's fast (and frequently ineffective) way to riches, and was just looking for a sucker to bite his bait, probably another newbie with a huge inheritance. He also saw a lot of cards that could be useful to his career as a swordsman, but they were all priced so high it would take him years before he could buy one. A few armor pieces and accessories also made him look, but again he was forced to look away due to the seven or eight digits worth of prices plastered to them.

Exhausted from seeing a lot of people and a lot of steep prices, he decided to walk towards the edge of the marketplace. There he saw two female hunters who were quarrelling about who had the cuter falcon, a kind-looking priestess offering free yet dubious warps to unsuspecting adventurers, a young bard-and-dancer duo who were performing an ensemble (much to the delight of the small crowd that gathered around them), and a female alchemist sitting against the wall of a house, with various ingredients at her side, and bottles of many shapes and sizes on the other. She stood out the most among the people on that side for the marketplace. And for some unknown reason, the young swordsman found himself walking towards her.

"Hey there," the swordsman greeted the alchemist. 'Wait, how did I get here? And why am I greeting her like this? She might think I'm a stalker and… that won't end well,' he thought to himself.

The alchemist seemed to be to engrossed in what she was doing that she hardly noticed him standing in front of her, let alone heard him greet her. He didn't hear her screaming bloody murder against a prospective stalker like him, so he took a closer look at her. He saw a PhD hat on top of her head, something suitable to an alchemist of her nature: a brewer. But other than that he couldn't see much due to the smoke that was rising up from whatever she was brewing. He tried getting her attention again.

"Hey. Helloooo... My name's Johann. What's yours?" Johann, the blond-haired, blue-eyed swordsman, politely asked.

This time his gentlemanly greeting appeared to have worked, because the alchemist stopped brewing her potions. She lifted her head up and looked straight at his face. Johann repressed the sudden urge to blush, and cursed his active hormones for it. The alchemist had a smooth heart-shaped face, adorned with crimson eyes. She had light purple hair, with a heart clip keeping her bangs in check. She also had a pair of glasses on, completing the cute professor look. But something was wrong with her face. She had that dazed look that only scientists who are so into their work that they forget about everything else have. Perhaps her reaction was involuntary, developed through her long hours of constant brewing, or so Johann thought. After a few seconds of blank staring, the alchemist went back to her work, mashing up ingredients and putting them all in a bottle full of some clear liquid.

At first, Johann was irritated that she would not take a little of her time to greet him back, even if it was just a simple 'hi'. But seeing that he didn't have anything better to do, he sat down in front of her and stared at her, hoping to unnerve her with incessant attention. His plan backfired though. After a while he became hypnotized by the little motions she was making while brewing her potions. The way her hands moved back and forth among the ingredients and the bottles, her look of utmost concentration as she poured liquid from bottle to bottle, and the occasional rest along with a swipe on the forehead (which lasted for only two seconds), left Johann impressed by this alchemist. He spent the rest of the afternoon just looking after her, sending some rude passer-by off for trying to disturb her. Some gossiping mages who walked by them pointed at him and giggled, mostly out of derision. He didn't care, because he felt at peace there, no matter how strange that sounded. He thought that coming to the marketplace was a good thing after all.

If he only knew how gravely wrong he was.

It all happened so quickly that Johann didn't even had time to think why he was being dragged outside the streets of Prontera by the cute alchemist, with the Pronteran Guard on their tail, along with a few surly-looking, axe-wielding blacksmiths and merchants. It started when she abruptly stood up, having finished her work before Johann even noticed. She was holding a lot of different potions in her arms in a way that a small bump will cause them all to fall smashing on the floor. Johann was still sitting in front of her, and she was starting to walk to her cart, which was strangely situated right next to Johann. She didn't see Johann as a potential disaster flag, and hadn't walked a step when the inevitable happened. Johann only had time to feel her falling down on him, before crashing flat on his back on the floor. He heard glass breaking and people screaming a few paces away from him, but his hormone-driven mind was more concerned on the alchemist who was lying on top of him. The soft sensation that he felt somewhere on his chest didn't help things, and the fact that they were staring face to face, cobalt-blue meeting crimson red… Once again he saw her face in full, features and all, and again he had to subdue a blush that was threatening to come out.

The two stayed like that for about five seconds, when a scream tore through the air, snapping the two out of their trance. As fast as humanly possible, they both stood up, dusting off dirt from their clothes. There was a sense of awkwardness between the two, as they were quite fidgety and trying to avoid each other's eyes. But that was immediately replaced by shock and horror at the scene that was unfolding before them.

An inferno had broken out all over the marketplace. Many carts were burning up and were being dragged by their owners away from the flames, not knowing that doing so only helps spread the fires even more. Everyone was running in circles, screaming for help. Goods were knocked over, weapons were strewn all across the floor, and some oil bottles that just happened to be on sale got thrown over the blaze, making everything ten times worse. It didn't help that there were also carnivorous plants all across the marketplace, snapping at people. And they looked real hungry, enough to rip someone's bag of his back. Some were shooting seeds and spines, intent on not letting everyone get out unscathed. Their unusual immunity to fire only added to the chaos that was quickly enveloping the place. Those recovering from the initial chaos tried to fight the havoc unleashed by the alchemist's potions. Blacksmiths were trying to subdue the carnivorous floral monsters, given their resistance to fire. But even with that they were having a hard time fighting. Johann would have wanted to help, but he had his fireproof armor back at the storage. And if buffed blacksmiths had a hard time dealing with them, I wouldn't fare any better, he thought. Wizards and sages were extinguishing the flames using their ice and water spells. But the more they put out, the more they flare up. Johann was just standing there, stunned. He knew he could do nothing to help, and that tore him up inside. He looked sideways at the alchemist, and was amazed, or rather horrified, to see her smiling. And she was smiling creepily; the way mad scientists did when one of their horribly wrong inventions went right.

"Fufufufu… Finally, I got the formula right!" the alchemist exclaimed, no longer having the cute professor look that she had a few minutes ago. It replaced by a deranged look that unnerved Johann. But it was the smile that really got him. "I found a way to enhance my precious floral pets with added strength and toughness, and a natural immunity to fire! And I have managed to make my fire bottles burn in such a way that it turns all magical energy around it into combustible material! Well, it still needs a little stabilizing, but it works! Mwahahaha!" She ended her little monologue with a laugh that sent the hairs on the back of Johann's neck on end. He was beginning to wonder if the alchemist was bipolar or something. He was also asking himself if it was safe to be near her at all.

….

Everything was eventually put under control only after half an hour, with the help of the Pronteran Guard. The fact that the plants and the fire had an expiry date of thirty minutes after use (most probably due to the alchemist's enhancements) helped for a major part. The Guard was questioning everyone about the whereabouts of the perpetrator of the fire, and the carnivorous plant attack. Strangely, Johann was still there, standing alongside the mad alchemist. He was rooted to the spot because of intense fear, partly due to the earlier chaotic incident, partly due to standing next to the root cause of said accident. Speaking of her, she had a satisfied look on her face, like how a mother looks when her children are doing her proud. She appeared to have stayed to watch and enjoy the performance of her creations, at the expense of almost the whole marketplace.

'Wow… She is, for lack of a better term, creepy. I need to get out of here before anything else happens. Or worse, someone might mistake me for her companion, and that is not good,' Johann thought, and began making his way slowly out of the marketplace. 'Great. Now I'm thinking like a criminal…' The alchemist appeared to be thinking the same thing as well, since she was packing her things in her bag and was trying to inconspicuously escape the Guard.

They almost made it too, until someone shouted at us. 'Crap, oh crap, oh crap crap crappity crap. And did I mention crap?,' was the only thought that was running through their heads at that time.

"THEM! THOSE ARE THE PEOPLE RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS! I SAW THEM THROW ALL THOSE POTIONS AT US!" a hysterical young merchant girl was shouting at the guard, while pointing an accusing finger at us. It hurt Johann that he was associated with this… madman, or madwoman of an alchemist.

'Hey! I wasn't part of this! And I didn't throw the potions with her! It was an accident!' his inner self shouted loudly, but he knew that actually saying such a thing to the public would only make him more suspicious.

"I SAW THAT WOMAN LAUGHING MANIACALLY! IT WAS SCARY!" the merchant kept on screaming. She was practically close to tears now. I couldn't blame her. Part of her clothing was burned. Her bag was ruined, probably bitten off by a Flora (those disgusting man-eating flowers with huge mouths). The worst blow was her banged-up cart. It looked less like a cart than a scalded piece of junk metal, and it was still smoking.

'Well, I can't really deny that… I mean, I was right beside her when she was doing that… It creeps me out just by thinking about it,' Johann thought, shivering at the memory of that laugh.

"Say no more, poor child," the captain of the guard, a crusader in all his armor-plated glory, said to the young merchant, patting her head. Then he ordered to his men, "Surround those two! Do not let them escape!"

In a flurry of greaves and armored knights, the two of us were completely surrounded. Swords and spears were pointed at us. Knights with their menacing looks, spears glinting in the setting sun, and crusaders, their holy aura emanating from their bodies, their sword and shield ready for the fight. Johann felt scared, angry, sad, and just downright unlucky at the same time. Scared because of the spears and swords, for they were made to hurt people, and hurt them bad. Angry because the alchemist was even looking at the guard as if to challenge them, as if they weren't in deep enough trouble as it is. Sad because the little merchant had blamed him alongside the real culprit for the loss of her valuables, especially for her cart, or what was left of it. Unlucky because he just had to stop by and ogle at an alchemist… okay, she was a cute alchemist, while she was doing her work. And said alchemist just had to be a psychotic girl who brewed deadly fires and man-eating plants for an afternoon pastime.

And today was Johann's unluckiest day ever...

'I have to work my way out of this. If I could just convince them that I have no part in this, no matter how impossible that might be… I might get out of this without getting arrested,' his optimistic way of thinking got him the courage he needed to speak. But before he even got the chance to speak, he felt his danger senses tingle. He looked at the alchemist and saw her holding a suspicious-looking bottle in her right hand. Before he could stop her, she threw the bottle at the ground. Immediately the entire place was filled with smoke. Johann could hear coughing from all over the place. He himself was coughing too, tears forming in his eyes due to irritation. He stood up and tried to get a grasp on the surroundings. Before he could do anything, again, he was grabbed by the wrist by the alchemist. He was forced to break into a run, with the lack of oxygen almost suffocating him. The two got out of the smokescreen, and they made a run for the nearest exit they could find.

"What the heck are you doing?" Johann incredulously shouted at her. "You created a hell of a situation in the marketplace and now you're running away? And why are you dragging me along with you?"

"Just shut up for a second, will you!" the alchemist shouted back. "What happened back there was entirely your fault! If you weren't sitting like an idiot right in front of me, I wouldn't have dropped all those potions!"

"Oh so now it's my fault eh?" Johann retorted. "Well if you had taken notice of me way back when I greeted you then we wouldn't be in this situation in the first place!"

"Wow, you say it like you're some hottie huh?" she replied haughtily. "I bet you look like some-"

At the moment she looked back at Johann to prove her point, opening and closing her mouth like a gaping goldfish. But she quickly looked back to where she was running. Johann didn't know it at that time, but the girl was blushing slightly. Just then the Pronteran Guard broke out of the smokescreen. They had started their chase, led by their crusader captain, looking powerful and imposing with his gleaming cross shield in his left hand and a saber in the other.

"Onward, men! We must not let these criminals get away!" he shouted to his men

"Chaaaarrrrggee!" the rest of the Pronteran Guard roared, and ran after the two in hot pursuit. Some of them were riding Peco Peco mounts, making their escape a whole lot harder than it already was. Numerous blacksmiths and merchants were joining the chase, angry at the two of them for ruining their precious marketplace, and robbing them of their potential profits for the day. The alchemist girl saw an opportunity; she pulled out five bottles from her bag and threw them behind her. Immediately, five Floras sprung out of the path, blocking the Guard and the angry mob. They began attacking those who got too close, going so far as to dismount a few soldiers from their mounts.

"What was that for? Those things could've seriously killed someone back there!" Johann shouted, clearly not happy with the way the girl was handling things.

"Wow, you're welcome! I stopped the guard from advancing, you know. If I didn't throw my precious plant bottles, we would be getting our asses hauled to the dungeon right about now," the girl justified. "And besides, those guys are a weaker version of the plants that were at the marketplace. They won't do much than just stall them… I think." She said that last part with the creepy laugh of hers. Johann shivered at that last part.

The screams and shouts he heard though made him think that the plants were doing more than just stalling their pursuers…

There you go. The edited version of my previous oneshot, and also the first chapter of my new Ragnarok story! According to tradition, when one reads the story, he/she must leave behind reviews and constructive criticisms, lest he/she be attacked by Floras. If he/she flames, however, the punishment is severe; a ton of Mei-quality bombs thrown at him/her. XD

Edit: You may or may not have noticed it, but I've split this chapter into two. One of my friends suggested it, so there. XD

Thanks for reading! XD