Disclaimer: I do not own MapleStory. I am merely the creator of the characters you see here. I do not own the NPCs or the monsters or anything else.

Hey people! So this is the start of what I hope will be an exciting story. The idea came to life in my mind as I was playing MapleStory, and I couldn't push it out of my thoughts until I actually decided to get off my butt and do it.

This story is centered on Rheine, and is told from her point of view, and through her narration, with occasional dialogue.

Anyway, uh...enjoy!

An Eventful Journey

Chapter 1

A gentle breeze blew my long, curly hair out of place as I stepped out of my wooden house, perched precariously on a tree that was surrounded by winding moss-covered branches that overlapped each other. Many thought it dangerous that I lived so dangerously and in such an odd place.

Truth, the abandoned outskirts of Ellinia may not be the best place to set up a household, but I thought that the area would be nothing but rotting history without some life dwelling at it's location.

Little did I know that there already were inhabitants, little slime creatures with a long wavy antenna that held a large slime bubble at it's end. I gently shooed them away with my axe, as I didn't know magic just yet.

Oh! That's right, I have to meet Mr Grendel for my job advancement!

People call him 'Grendel the Really Old' or 'Old Man Grendel', but I think 'Mr Grendel' is more polite.

I'm sorry, after all this rambling I haven't even told you my name.

I am Rheine, an aspiring magician, and this is the story of my journey to success.

Grabbing my shoes, I ran toward the town so famous for it's flora and fauna, Ellinia.

Mr Grendel's house was up really high, so I had a lot of walking to do.

Waving to the fairies, I began my trek up the grassy branches. Not many people know this, but underneath all that grass is actually stone! How else would it be able to take the weight of buildings, and people?

As I walk, why don't I tell you a bit about myself?

I don't really know where I was born, as my parents were travelling when my mother went into labor. All I know is that I was born somewhere between Henesys and Ellinia.

My birthplace soon became my home, as my parents found an abandoned cottage there and began to take up residence in said cottage. We lived near a place called the Nautilus. It was really noisy sometimes and I could hear a lot of gunshots.

My mother was an archer, and had little to no experience with first aid, but she always brought home good food from her kills. My father was a warrior, and his only knowledge was what he could use on the battlefield.

An unlikely love, but somehow it managed to work.

It was pleasant for a while, until my father was poisoned by a rogue that had wanted to steal me and sell me off as a slave. My mother fought the rogue and killed him, as my father lay on the floor, clutching his stomach. I had brought him inside with whatever strength I had, and helped him to his bed.

My mother, as I have mentioned, had hardly any experience with medicine and healing. The only thing she knew was to keep spooning health potions into his mouth when he was no longer able to move.

Sadly, her efforts went to waste, and my father passed away before he even got to his third job. The third job that he was so excited about.

My mother had lost her mind after that day, and ran off, her bow in her hand and a quiver of arrows on her waist.

I was so confused. Both my parents had left me and now I was alone. At level two, there was only so much I could do.

I took my father's training axe and began to fend for myself.

And now, here I am, at level eight, ready to make my first job advancement!

There was no doubt on what I wanted to become, I was sure I wanted to be able to help heal people, and save lives.

"Rheine, are you listening?" Grendel spoke, in a voice that would remind you of your grandfather.

Oh, it seems I was daydreaming. When did I get to Mr Grendel's house, anyway?

"I-I'm sorry , I was lost in my thoughts. As you were saying?" I apologized, trying to keep my concentration focused.

Grendel shook his head, and handed me a wooden wand. "From this moment on, you are a magician. Practice your magic by helping out some of the fairies in town, and I'm sure you'll be returning to me shortly for your next advancement."

I clutched the wand in my hand, squeezing it so tightly that my knuckles were turning white. Which was quite an achievement, considering that I'm already so pale.

As I was inching out the door, I heard call my name, so I turned around, to find a sack of mana potions in my hands.

Thanking him profusely, I raced out of his home, almost falling off the high platform, before speeding down the walkways and...crashing into a fairy.

"Oww!" the fairy shrieked. 'Oww' is right. Why do fairies' voices have to be so high pitched?

"I'm sorry, Ms Fairy. I was really careless. Here." I spoke, offering my hand to the tiny thing.

Alright, tiny was maybe too strong a word. Maybe the word 'smaller' would be a better term? The fairy reached just below my chest.

"Arwen. My name is Arwen. Not 'Ms Fairy'." she replied, dusting off her dress, pouting.

"...Well, Arwen, I'm sorry. Is there anything I can do for you?"

Her expression changed.

"Oh, how nice of you! Yes, actually as a matter of fact I do. I need some of that squishy liquid that those slime things drop, could you get me some?" she asked, blinking her oddly huge blue eyes at me.

"Sure, I-"

"Oh and also be sure to get a few tree branches from those wooden stumps. I need to make a fire somehow." she added, before turning around and flying back into her house that was elevated against a tree.

I know what the slime monsters were, but...I had never even seen a stump before. Oh well, I better get to it.

That was it. My first magic skill. It felt amazing. Mana rushed up my veins, into my wand and a bolt of energy formed in front of me, and shot out towards the slime that was coming towards me.

I would have had more pride in what I had just done, if it weren't for the fact that I had only done enough damage to slightly singe the monster.

I tried it again, and the monster staggered a little, so I hit it with my wand without thinking, and it exploded. Quite literally.

I searched the watery goo on the ground for a more solid, squishy part of the slime, before placing it in my bag. It smelt quite odd, like the forest usually does when the slime multiply too quickly.

A few moments later, I was finished.

As I had killed my last slime, something odd happened. I felt power surging into my bloodstream as my body glowed for the briefest of moments. I knew what levelling up was like, of course, but somehow after I became a magician, it felt more...magical.

I cringe at that horrible pun. I'm sorry.

As I was lost in my thoughts, once again, a slime was coming up behind me. I turned and used my magic as fast as I could, to see a really pretty skill unleash instead of my energy bolt. It looked like glowing claw marks that hit the slime, causing it to slow down a little, as I sent a last bolt of energy at it, killing it.

Wow, in just one level I've grown that much?

Grinning and giddy all of a sudden, I ran further into the forest to find the Stumps, a newfound confidence bubbling in my chest.

Oh. My. Gosh.

That was the scariest thing that's ever happened to me. Well, one of the scariest, anyway.

After about an hour of trekking the forest grounds, I found no Stump monsters.

Tired and maybe a little bit hungry, I sat down on a nearby cleanly-cut tree. There were many of these such trees around me. Why would someone want to deforest such a lovely place?

And then, it moved.

Yes, the 'tree' I was sitting on moved.

I jumped up and turned to face it, wand poised for action.

It blinked at me with one eye, and soon I had many other eyes looking at me, coming closer.

I started using magic quite freely in my shock, until I realized I had just depleted the last of my mana.

Fumbling in my bag for a mana potion, I was sent flying a distance away by the horrid creatures, who took that opportunity to gang up on me.

It was then that I realized that all my mana potions were rolling out of the bag, which was a few feet away from me now.

I seemed to not realize that one of those Stumps were actually trying to climb on me now.

I screamed.

I was expecting to meet my doom right there and then, when arrows suddenly came flying out of nowhere, hitting those monsters and shattering them into several pieces of wood.

I hastily gathered the branches, before turning, only to be looking into huge pools of grey that just seemed to stare right through me.

"Are you okay?" the archer asked.

I blinked, before gathering my potions together, along with the branches I had taken, and stuffing them into my bag, before getting up and holding the containment unit close to my chest, nodding.

He had brown hair hanging messily over his eyes, and was about half a head taller than I was. Well, I was a very small person to begin with.

"What are you doing, taking on a mob when you're only, what...level eight?" he spoke, grinning a big toothy grin.

I flushed in embarrassment.

"For your information I'm level nine, now." I spoke, trying to hide the fact that I actually didn't know I was surrounded by monsters.

"Well, you've got what you wanted, from the looks of it. I'll walk you back, so you don't try to get yourself killed again. My name is Leydan, by the way." he spoke, walking ahead.

...well, it looks like I've still got a lot to learn.

TBC

...I'm sorry. Those last few paragraphs was just...blah. I don't know what happened, my mind went blank. The next chapter will be better, I assure you.

Of course I'm not going to take you through each and every level she gains. In fact, in the next chapter, I will be skipping a little, so we can get the real story going. 8)

PLEASE REVIEW!

It would be so much to me to hear your thoughts, be it constructive criticism, or otherwise. I am intending to go on with this story for a long time, however if I don't think people are reading it, I may just stop writing for this story. If there's any problems with grammar, punctuation, spelling, anything else, please let me know as well.

YOUR REVIEWS ARE CRUCIAL TO THE SURVIVAL OF THIS STORY! D8