Author's Note: Yeah, I really should be working on Deadly Nightshade o.; But I've been obsessing over Ragnarok Online for quite a while now and have had plot ideas for it flitting about in my head. Just today it hit me that there is a RO section on this site…I'm THAT cool.
Kruk is actually my avatar, I play her on the ultimaRO server.
Re-Titled. Since "More Than What it Seems" was crudtastic. I worked from something a friend suggested.
Disclaimer: Don't own Ragnarok Online, or stuff related to it, but Kruk is my character.
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Inauspicious Hearts
Chapter I
Kruk was a sixteen year old Novice, who had spent the last large chunk of her life in Payon. The surrounding forests, with its lush green foliage and twisting paths, had served as a training ground for the pale-red haired girl. It's Porings and Fabres had fallen with a faint squeak when her little steel knife smacked them upside the head.
And now, after all that time with that annoying, short-handled 'butter knife', she was finally going to begin her journey past the large Payon forest, into the rest of King Tristan III's kingdom. She stood in the Archer Guild, facing the Guildmaster behind his little wooden podium. Kruk had chosen the best wood that she had collected to pass the Archery test, and had it all stashed in her backpack…which weighed her down considerably.
"So, you want to be an Archer…Kruk, was it?" The Guildmaster's dark brown eyes stared intently into her own. He was propped almost lazily on the podium's smooth surface.
The olive-eyed girl nodded. "I've met the requirements…I'm skilled enough, and…" She heaved her bag onto the empty desk space in front of the older man, spilling out a few wooden logs. "…I've got the trunks, collected from the Willows."
Slowly the Guildmaster's eyes went from Kruk's tanned face to the rough timber on his stand. His gloved hands picked up each of the pieces, examining how solid they all were. "Well, well, well…you've brought quite a collection, Kruk. I'm impressed."
"Does this mean I can become an Archer?" Her face broke out into a small, eager grin.
"But of course! I will transform you right away." The Guildmaster waved his hands in a complicated manner, and Kruk was suddenly bathed in a pale blue light.
Her old Novice uniform, with its uncomfortable shirt and petite pink shorts, had transformed into a new outfit. The Archer uniform. Kruk took a moment to examine its blue fabric, and golden armor, before looking back at the man.
"And…here is a bow and one hundred Arrows."
"Thank you so much, sir!" Kruk took the bow and strapped it to her back, the lightweight, metal-headed arrows fit quite nicely into the quiver slung over her waist. She waved with a gloved hand and proudly walked out of the Archer Guild. The Mountain Village Payon, that was its full name, wasn't a large area, and the Guild was actually farther north of it. Foreigners commonly moved in that direction to explore the Payon Caves, dark areas filled with hostile monsters.
What the short girl liked most about the area, was it's architecture. It was considerably unique compared to the rest of the kingdom. It's buildings looked more like temples than anything else. And of course, there was a real temple right in the middle of center square.
Her footsteps were quick on the dirt ground. She had already bid her mother and father a farewell before heading to the Guild. The wood in her room was mostly used in Kruk's sad attempts at forging arrows herself. It was decided that she was better off buying the arrows. Her leather-gloved hand flashed a goodbye to the Guide by the exit to the village, and she set foot into the first area of forest.
A quiet sound emanated from somewhere up ahead. Something rather like dripping water, except it was coming from the direction completely opposite of the river. A few steps towards the sound revealed a fairly small, semi-transparent pink blob. With a face. A Poring. It's tiny black eyes sparkled in the sun as it bounced towards a tree root that was laying on the ground. Before Kruk reached it, it had sucked the item into it's jelly-like depths.
'Well then…I guess it's time to try this weapon out.' Kruk thought, pulling the wooden bow from her back, and taking out an arrow. The bow's thin string stretched as the teen pulled it back with as much strength as she could. Her grip was shaky, the string was too foreign to her, and as she let go of the arrow, it shot out and struck the ground about two feet to the left of the Poring - which just kept on bouncing away. Passerby gave her odd looks out of the corners of their eyes, assuming an Archer could shoot better than that…especially at a Poring.
"I can hit it!" Kruk's eyebrows knitted together as she walked after the pink jelly monster, stretching her bow once more. The passerby had gone, and it was just her, the Poring, and a large Creamy some meters to the right. This time, as her pelt-covered fingers released the wooden shaft of the arrow, it hit. Embedding itself into the squishy side of the Poring. It turned around, facing Kruk with that eerie, ever-smiling face, and slowly bounced towards her.
The girl didn't hesitate, she'd fought these things before. In a second, another arrow was loaded and aimed at the shiny hide of the Poring. Another hit, but it was still alive. It's tiny mouth opened and closed as it leaped at Kruk's stockinged knees, biting as best as it could. But a third arrow was finally enough, and the Poring's jelly-like body burst into a few large chunks. The tree root lay on the ground, as well as a small gray crystal and a bottle filled with a red liquid.
"Excellent, a Jellopy and a Red Potion…" Kruk muttered to herself as she picked up the items and stashed them into the bag around her shoulders.
Soon the forest began to thicken, as the surroundings became less populated with other humans, and more populated with monsters. And of all things, Kruk was running out of arrows. She was down to just ten now.
"Damnit…this is not going to be good at all." She walked over to a tree, plopping down in it's cast shade. Rubbing the wound on her cheek that a Willow had caused, she pulled out her map. The kingdom was designated into 'areas', basically for the purpose of easy navigation. And Kruk was three areas south of Payon. "There should be a lake around here somewhere…" Her olive eyes scanned the surrounding trees. A Fabre twitched away, revealing a gap between the bushes. The sunlight was still strong, and the water it bounced off of glistened through the bushes. "Excellent!"
At once, Kruk shoved the already crumpled map into her bag and sprinted to the water, ignoring the splinters in her left leg. Once she was by the shore, she kicked off her knee-high boots and sunk into the clear blueness of the small lake.
"I. Hate. Willows." She muttered to herself, pulling out the large wood fragments from her calf. There was still time for her to wait for her wounds to heal, so the bow on her back was now in her shoulder bag, and the old 'butter knife' was back in her hand. "And to think I was done with this sad excuse for a weapon…" Small bubbles rose from the water, catching Kruk's eye. Though the water blurred them slightly, deep red leaves were visible, growing from the sandy ground. It was a red plant, which now had the honor of being stabbed at with Kruk's knife. After a few hits, it crumpled, and the short-haired girl picked up the stem and Red Herb that didn't sink into the wet sand.
Slowly, she stretched out her arms, pulling herself out farther onto the shore. The water lapped at her feet, which she had left in the water. Her eyes squinted at the sun, which had as of late been sinking lower, though its light remained strong. Within moments, the faint chirping of birds overhead, and rhythmic bouncing of Porings had lulled her into her usual deep sleep. Not even the nearby slashing of someone's battle with a Creamy woke her up.
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There. Yeah, it was short. But there's certain parts I can't write without knowing stuff about RO that I don't know yet o.;
Plus I feel like drawing.
Hope it's accepted by the general public.