Goggles glinted in the dim sunlight of the workshop as the young adventurer bent over stacks of paper, carefully writing in lines of strange symbols. She paused for a second to push her snow white hair out of her purple almond shaped eyes. This was one of the race of ritual, a rarely played race with high intelligence and mana but low health. This Race of Ritual was also a sorcerer and a siglemancer, hence her current position.
"Layla! Come quick! Adventurers come!" One of the people of the land shouted, running into the workshop. The young Adventurer sighed before rising slowly.
Many Adventurers came into the small village intent on sub doing and forcing Layla into using her skills as a siglemancer to make extremely powerful weapons and armor. She had once been a part of one such guild, the Exodius Externa, who worked all lower level Adventurers into the ground in order to claim riches. She had barely made it out of the guild, however that time had left its scar on her soul.
"I'm coming Austrian. I'm coming." Layla rose, brushing off the wrappings that she called her clothes, and pulled the wrappings over her face. She was not going to risk this village who took her in. After tucking her hair into the purple and blue wrappings, she swept her long black cloak over her shoulders. Then she left her workshop.
Layla walked up the path and into the main square. There was two in the village, the main one where adventurers could visit and the People of the Land's own. The villagers did this as to keep the Adventurers from realizing the village's actual worth.
Layla immediately saw the adventurers, three of them who were sneering at many of the villager. Layla snorted as she stepped up to the three, one was a swashbuckler, one was a druid and the last was a monk.
"What do you want?" Layla asked coldly, purple eyes gazing disinterestedly at the adventurers.
"Where looking for weapons, heavily enchanted boss slaying weapons." The monk was the one to reply. Layla looked him over before dismissing him. None of them were at a high enough level to take on a boss, which meant they were buying for a higher level.
"I have nothing of the sort." Was her short response. She paused when the monk grabbed her by the arm.
"We want the weapons." The monk said.
"If you persist I will kill you." Layla responded. The monk and the swashbuckler both laughed while the druid clutched her staff tighter. Layla only frowned as he pulled away.
"You're one of the Race of ritual, it wont take much to kill you." The swashbuckler grinned as he pulled out his twin sabers.
"You are both fools," Layla sighed as she loosened the wrappings on her arms. She would not lose this match and she knew it. "You are standing in the devils playground." She grinned, "And I am the devil herself."
The monk charged her as she spoke and she only shifted. Behind her a wall of lava appeared and the monk crash into the burning substance. The monk screamed in agony as the ruin flashed off. The swash buckler charged next, Layla didn't even have to move as the ruin benithher feet lit up and electricity shocked the fighter.
Layla didn't stay still however, now that both knew where a portion of the ruins were they were sure to avoid. She sighed as the monk charged again. He didn't even look at the ground, so she set off another lava trap yet again. She didn't even bother to watch him burn as she stalked the druid. She would be the one to keep them alive, so she would have to die first.
The girl looked terrified as Layla prepared a firestorm. The spell should kill her in one hit, with her level being as low as it was. The fiery tornado lit up the area and Layla could feel the heat caress her face as she turned away from the druid, just in time to cast a lightning spell at the swashbuckler. He went down and she finished him off with a low level magma orb. With a sigh she turned in time to get hit by the monk.
Layla grunted in pain as the blow took a good chunk of her health away. The monk was laughing as Layla only grinned madly. "Send my well wishes," Layla cut the monks laughter as she removed the seal in the square. Layla was glad that the villagers all knew to pack up and leave when she started fighting, as her aptly name 'devils playground' spell lit up the ground with both lava and electricity. The level 20 monk had no chance as he screamed in agony.
Layla only grunted as she was almost completely drained of mana. The shear cost of removing that seals that bound the seal in its place was ridiculous. She was glad that the cost of placing them was just about half of the cost. She looked over at the square and sighed, it was going to be a pain rebuilding all the seals. However, that should keep the adventurers away for a while.
Layla turned to return to her workshop for more ink as she realized that she should set up different trap. She grinned at the thought of the challenge. It would be difficult, but she wondered if she could make a heaven's gate spell. She would try and base the spell off of water and wind, to keep things opposite. Her grin widened as she planned.
Several months later she applied the finishing touches to the newest seal she had in the square. The newest spell, the one she called heaven's gate was a teleport spell, one that was tied to a second heavens gate spell. The second gate was located in the middle of a dragon cove. The cove had many boss level dragons as well as other small pray. Layla often visited it with a few adventurers as she liked to harvest the ink from the dragon's eyes. That ink was what made her work so potent and with out it she would be stuck writing out level thirty spells.
Layla shook her head as she returned to her workshop. She would be leaving soon, as she often did. She needed to go exploring and fight. She would have to find a small group of adventurers, otherwise she wouldn't be able to go into certain caves. Layla was hoping to enter a certain cave, it was called the spider queen's lair and inside was said to house a bunch of symbols that no one had ever seen before. Layla wanted a good look at them, she wanted to know if she could break it, if she could use them for more powerful weapons.
With a grin, Layla shoved the rest of her supplies into her bag and rose. She threw the bag over her shoulder and left, her long cloak blowing behind her as she walked. She would head to the cave and see what she might be able to find. If she could find a group to go in with she would use them to make it to the boss, if not, well she would spend time prepping her new set of spells that would hopefully rid of the need for a party.
It didn't take long to make it into the wild part of the forest surrounding the village she called home. It surrounded the village and many nasty high level beasts often attacked the village. It was part of the reason she was welcomed by the village, she had found a way of making enchanted items for the people of the land. It had taken her almost an entire year of working and several of her first failed attempts had killed some of the people of the land, but when she had made it work. Layla knew that she could do something no one else could do. She created a new language for the sigls and forced them to become more than just boosts for armor. and players. She created spells and traps.
Layla sighed as she continued to walk, as much as she enjoyed living in this world, she often found herself isolated. None of the adventurers wanted to speak with her, many were to terrified to speak. Others just didn't want to be bothered with someone they saw as weak, after all, despite her level 85 sigilmancer ability she was only a level 50 sorcerer. Many saw that as a worthless level. Those who knew of her mastery in sigilmancy were afraid of the Exodius Externa who still searched for her.
There was no doubt that this was a hard life for one such as her. Layla knew she could get in contact with her friends that were still stuck on the server, but knew they wouldn't answer for what ever reason. She would never admit that it hurt her, that they wouldn't respond. She also wouldn't admit that this was the reason for her isolation.
Layla shook the thoughts from her head as she ducked under some branches, her hand swatting them away. She smiled, sadly as she breathed deeply and calmed her mind. There was no doubt that she would always miss the companionship of other adventurer, but she had her village now. They didn't understand how the sights and smells, so much like home and yet so different, could cause such homesickness. They also didn't understand the need to go out, to see the world she now called home, or the need to come up with better and more interesting traps to use. And she missed that, she missed having people who understood her.
Layla huffed out a breath as she swatted away another web. It didn't matter. She had spent more time alone in her room playing games than she did in this world, a little bit of homesickness was nothing. She forced yet another web away before she paused. She could feel the way her heart sped up as she realized that there was something much bigger than her behind her. She turned slowly, as something wet dripped onto her shoulder, leaving numbness in its wake. Her head tilted up as she stared into the gargantuan spider that stared at her.
"No!" She shouted as she scrambled. The spider queen never left her cage. Never! So why was it out. She turned and threw out a quick lightning spell only to frown as it crashed harmlessly against its armored side. A leg crashed down beside her, knocking her off her feet. She twisted as she landed, using her momentum to get back on her feet and run into the cave.
Not that it mattered as the level 80 Spider Queen followed her. However, it gave her a moment to duck into one of the smaller passages that the Queen couldn't follow. Layla knew she only had a few moments to protect herself and come up with a plan. She turned just as she heard a scream. Cursing everything around her, Layla quickly set up a small entangle trap that would keep a small creature, or monster, pinned for about 10 hours. It wasn't effective against things bigger than the spider harvesters, but that was all she needed it for.
Layla called forth a wisp, smiling gently at the creature she summoned. "Ready for another adventure, my friend?" She asked it as she ran a finger over it. It hummed under her fingers and she couldn't help the giggle that left her lips. Ah, if only her village could see her. The tough sigilmancer was giggling. They would probably faint. A shout came from up ahead and Layla frowned. It was time to get serious. Some one was in danger.
Layla pulled away the wrappings around her legs, showing the smooth markings from her race. The backs of the wrapping were coated in ruins. She easily activated the marks and re-wrapped her legs. It was a neat way around her Sigilmancer limits and allow for some Runic Knight abilities. However it was no where near what some of the RunicKnites she had met.
She moved through the darkened path, her sigils allowing for sure footing and light step. Layla knew, before she placed her feet, if the ground was lumpy or broken. The Light step decreased the sound she made by a few percent. It wasn't much, but that was all she could add before the cloth she was working on blew up. She could remember that explosion. She had to hire a few people of the land to repair her hut. It also nearly killed her.
Layla jerked out of the way as something pushed past her. She could make out brown hair before she turned and saw the rest of the party running. She braced her self as she watched a good hundred spiders just past the group. Her body tensed, ready for anything as she pulled out a scroll. Spiders were afraid of fire, in fact it was their one weakness.
"What are you doing?" One of the players asked, a samurai by the armor. asked as he ran past.
Layla grinned as she threw the scroll in the air. "Scroll arts! Fire Wall Eternal!" She shouted as she pushed some mana into the scroll. There was a flash as a wall of fire blocked the passage. She threw a grin over her shoulder at the shocked look of the adventures. "What? Never seen a magic scroll?"
"How did you do that?" The girl Layla swore had ran past earlier asked. Layla just began walking back up the path a bit. She was very careful to stay within the 'tether' of magic that held the wall up.
"Ah, I figured other games had magic scrolls and worked with it." Layla glanced over their names before leaning against the wall. "Minori? Touya? You guys from japan or something?"
"Ah, yea, all four of us were on the Japanese server, before the apocalypse." Minori answered, hesitantly.
"Minori's my sister." Touya growled, "And I'm not going to let you pick on either of us because we're japenese."
"H-Hey! What about marvelous me?" Rundlehouse wondered if he was included, the others ignored him and Layla raised her hands in surrender.
"No harm meant!" Layla grinned, "We got some people from the German server the other day, I'm just curious. That's all!" She leaned in a little closer as if telling a secret, "Sides I really liked Japan. So beautiful during the cherry blossom season." Layla frowned as she felt more energy being pulled from her core. The wall wasn't as stable as it should be. She had tested it multiple times before taking it out of her shop.
"Hey guys" Isuzu interrupted, "Is the wall supposed to do that?" She pointed at the fire wall that was fluctuating wildly.
"Huh, that's new." Layla leaned in close, carefully studying the symbols that were appearing and disappearing in the flames. "It seems that something here is disrupting my own magic. Its causing severe fluctuation that I'm having difficulty controlling."
"What dose that mean." Rudy asked also peering close to the fire as if he could also see the sigils that held it together.
"It means that once I lose control or run out of mana this is going to collapse violently, likely charbroiling anything close enough to be caught in its flames." Layla paused, reaching into her bag to pull out a book. She carefully jotted down notes as the others looked at her like she was crazy.
"Shouldn't we be running in the opposite direction?" Isuzu asked as Minori frowned her mind working extremely fast.
"You can't leave can you?" Minori asked as Touya whispered 'Minori'.
Layla shook her head. "Nah, this thing will kill me instantly. There's no running for me. You guys can get going, just shout when the spider queen is gone or defeated. I'll let go of the fire then."
Rudy gasped, "Won't you just re-spawn in one of those nasty towns over here?"
Layla laughed, "After escaping Exodius Externa, I made sure to have a way of re-spawning in my home village."
"Where have I heard of Exodius Externa?" Minori asked as Touya gasped.
"You're the Sigilmancer that escaped!" He pointed at her, "You found a way to escape the guild house using only sigils."
Layla frowned as the wall of fire fluctuated more often, feeding on her spike of fear and anger. "I would be much appreciated if you didn't let the guild know I'm still around and active. They think I'm somewhere on the east coast right now." She shivered as she remember the pain of the potion she took. It had allowed her to change her looks at the cost of far too much money and a lot of pain.
"Mr. Shiroi was looking for you!" Isuzu spoke up. "He wanted to know how you escaped Exodius Externa so he can help some of the others stuck in their guild."
Layla frowned as her expression turned dark. "I do not think there is any way I can help those who are stuck. I lucked out escaping. Honestly with the shoddy sigils work I did I should have been writhing in agony from the backlash." It wouldn't have surprised her at least, there had been other times when the back lash was so horrible that it caused her to collapse in agony.
"What do you mean?" Minori asked and Layla sighed.
"Look, why don't you meat me at my home village. Its up north a few hundred feet. I'll meet you guys there and I can let you in on some Sigilmancer knowledge." She grinned at them, though she could feel the beads of sweat starting to trickle down her neck. Minori much have caught onto to how hard it was to hold the wall, as she turned and began to make plans on how to escape. Layla was content to lean against the wall and close her eyes. She made plans to come back later on and try and find out what caused the disruption in her magic.
Layla's frown deepened as she felt something hovering outside of her senses, something big was approaching and she could only wonder what as her control grew weaker and weaker. Something shouted from above, or someone, Layla knew not as it distracted her just enough to lose control.
Flames licked at her skin as the over powered spell crashed through her protections on her clothes and quickly drained her remaining hp. She smiled through it all despite the pain, for in that moment she had seen where her wall went wrong. Then, she was waking up in her workshop as if nothing happened.