The forest was starting to feel less cold and foreboding as the blue-haired woman sat by the small campfire, having removed her heavy gauntlets to allow the fire to warm her hands more directly. The flames reflected in her sharp amber eyes as she watched the fire, and occasionally she would reach towards the small pot hanging over it and stir, the smell of the rabbit stew cooking within it eating away at her patience and causing her stomach to make growling noises that she couldn't be more thankful no one but the forest's nocturnal residents were around to hear. When the stew reached the right consistency and temperature, she reached into her satchel and pulled out a small wrapped package. Peeling away the stiff paper, she found half a loaf of crusty bread and smiled, putting the bread off to her right side before getting a tin bowl from her bag. Ladling a generous helping of stew into the bowl, she sat back and gazed up at the night sky. Something big was missing from the western sky, and the arrangement of the stars seemed almost alien without it. Without looking she reached over to her right to grab her loaf of bread, and found herself grabbing at the air.
She quickly glanced at her empty hand and saw empty wrappings, and looked up just in time to glance a figure dashing into the darkness of the forest.
"Hey! Get back here!" Setting down her bowl, she grabbed her quiver of arrows and strung her bow in record time. "That was my bread!" She said as she ran off in the thief's direction. She kept a swift, steady pace, listening for footsteps and scanning the darkness for movement all the while. Weaving between the barren trees, she caught the sound of something trying to climb. With lightning speed she spun in the direction of the noise, nocked an arrow, drew back, and released. Moments later a muffled yelp of surprise rang out through the night. She followed the noise and found a young woman hanging from about two feet up a tree, supported only by an arrow through the hood of her orange-bordered cloak and her own death grip on the trunk. The thief turned her head towards her pursuer as best she could without letting go, allowing the archer to get a good look at her face. Red-orange hair with bangs swept to one side, blue eyes that shone with childlike energy and enthusiasm, and the loaf of bread stuffed into her mouth. All in all it was a rather comical picture, and to her own surprise a familiar one to the woman on the ground.
"Honoka?" The archer said incredulously. Honoka attempted to respond, but the bread muffled her words. The other woman sighed and walked toward the trapped thief, snatching the loaf out of her mouth and glaring. Honoka chewed and swallowed the bit of bread she had managed to bite off before responding.
"Um…hey there, Umi! What are you doing out here in this forest?" Honoka laughed nervously as she spoke, and Umi's glare only intensified. Umi reached up and yanked the arrow out of the tree trunk. Honoka continued to cling to the tree, so Umi grabbed her by her collar before throwing her onto the ground and continuing to glare. "Y-you recognized me, right? So that means we're still friends, right?" She said, shuddering under the intense force of Umi's glare. "Please don't kill me…" Umi shook her head.
"Honoka, if you wanted the bread that badly you could have just asked me. I would have shared." Umi's expression softened rapidly, her gaze sharply dropping in intensity and her lips curling into a warm smile. She extended her hand towards the woman on the ground, and Honoka tentatively grasped it before being pulled up. "You really are a sight for sore eyes," Umi said warmly. "Come back to my campsite, we can talk there."
"So as I was lying completely still under the bridge with the ring in my mouth while they ran across it looking for me, I realized just how much fun I was having, and even though I couldn't show my face in Llyfrgell again, I knew that this was what I wanted to do," Honoka finished before taking a big gulp of her stew. "Anyway, that's how I became a thief."
Umi glowered. "So that's what happened to you?" Umi said. Honoka flinched under Umi's stare. "Honoka, I thought you ran off into the woods and died." Honoka smiled guiltily.
"Well, I didn't!" She declared.
"You idiot," Umi mumbled as she got up and walked toward a small pile of wood near the edge of the clearing where she had set up camp and grabbed a log. "So what are you doing out here anyway?" She asked as she threw the log onto the fire and sat back down. Honoka looked up at the sky.
"You know that star, the big red one that fell out of the sky about a week ago?" She asked excitedly. Umi raised an eyebrow.
"Let me guess, you're trying to find the place where it will land, right?" Umi said. Honoka looked back towards Umi.
"Yeah. How did you know?" Now Umi looked at the sky, taking in the placement of the stars now that they could be seen on their own and were no longer outshined by something so ominous and red.
"It was an educated guess," She said, her gaze not leaving the stars. "I'm out here for the same reason." Honoka gasped.
"Woooooow, what a weird coincidence!" She said as she looked back at the stars. "Hey Umi, wouldn't it be funny if Kotori was also out here trying to find where the star will land?"
Moments after Honoka had finished speaking, an explosion rocked the quiet of the night and flocks of birds rose from the trees around the camp. "It came from that way!" Honoka said and pointed. Umi grabbed her sheathed sword from where it lay next to her satchel and discarded armor and pulled it out of its scabbard, then picked up her heater shield and slipped it onto her left arm. She looked over at Honoka, who was fitting a bolt into a crossbow.
"Come on! We need to see what's going on over there!" Umi said before running off towards where the explosion had come from.
"Hey! Wait for me!" Honoka said as she followed.
The two adventurers navigated the dark forest and eventually came upon two roads that intersected. Off to the side of the crossroads there was a charred, smoking crater, and next to the crater a woman with unusually styled taupe-colored hair was brushing ash and dirt off of her gray and green mage robes. Umi turned to Honoka.
"Honoka, the next time you think a situation would be funny or ironic if something happened, keep it to yourself," She growled. Honoka shrank back and grinned nervously.
"Well, I mean, maybe she's not looking for the star," Honoka said in an attempt to defend herself. Umi huffed before stepping out of the forest and making her way towards the woman. Honoka shrugged before following her.
"Kotori? Kotori, is that really you?" The woman, Kotori, turned toward where Honoka had called out to her. She shook her head, freeing a cloud of ash from her hair, and blinked a few times.
"Honoka? Umi?" She asked.
"Yup!" Honoka said, stowing her crossbow before folding her arms and smiling brightly.
"It's really good to see you again," Umi said as she planted her sword into the ground, her expression warm. Kotori stood still for a few moments, before running up to Honoka and crushing her in a hug.
"Honoka!" She cried, burying her face into Honoka's shoulder. "I didn't even know you were alive! I never thought I'd see you again!" Honoka patted Kotori's back.
"Hey, it's okay Kotori, I'm here, I'm okay." Kotori pulled away and sniffled. Honoka beamed at her and wiped a tear from her cheek. Kotori let go of Honoka's shoulders and turned to Umi, who she wrapped in a much gentler embrace. Umi blushed slightly before awkwardly reciprocating.
"Umi…I thought you were going to settle down and become a blacksmith," She said, pulling away from the hug to look into Umi's eyes.
"Well, I decided that I didn't want to be a blacksmith, so I left Llyfrgell to become a warrior," She explained. Kotori looked downward, only to realize that the front of Umi's off-white tunic was now stained black with charcoal.
"Oh no, I'm so sorry Umi!" Kotori babbled. "I was trying to make a campfire with magic, but I think a toad got into the circle and messed up one of the -"
"Kotori," Umi said calmly. "It's okay, really. We're just glad to have you here." Umi and Kotori both glanced over at Honoka, who was brushing off the charcoal she had failed to notice on her own dark-colored clothes.
"So anyway," Honoka said, dusting off her hands, "what are you doing in this forest?" "Well, I'm tracking that star that fell," Kotori replied. Umi shot a glare at Honoka.
"Remember what I said?" She reminded grimly.
"Right, right," Honoka said, putting her hands up defensively.
"What did she say?" Kotori asked.
"She didn't say anything!" Honoka said quickly, trying to change the subject. "So since you failed to set up a fire, wanna spend the night at Umi's camp?"
The one thing no one expected to find when they returned to the clearing was someone going through Umi's satchel. Yet there someone was, digging through the bag. Only his bare back was visible from where the trio had approached the campsite, covered in strange, intricate symbols tattooed in red and black ink on his deathly pale skin. The adventurers immediately burst from the clearing, Umi getting into an attack stance, Honoka drawing back her crossbow, and Kotori channeling magical energy into the tip of her staff.
"You there!" Umi shouted. "Step away from the bag!" The intruder lifted his head, which was shaven and covered in the same strange tattoos as his back. He turned to look at Umi, revealing his face. The tattoos that covered his head and back were also present on his face, with the largest one, a black disk-like symbol, on his forhead. He stood up and turned around, showing that he wore nothing but a black loincloth, a belt with a dagger strapped to it, and a strange medallion, as well as that nearly every inch of skin on his body was covered in red and black symbols. He pulled out the dagger and rushed at Kotori, but she quickly swung her staff at him and slammed the end of it into his side. A yellow flash went off when the weapon made contact with the man, and he flopped uselessly onto the ground, paralyzed, but still conscious. Umi strode over to where he lay. She knelt down and looked him straight into his solid black eyes.
"Who are you, and what are you doing here?" She demanded, putting the blade of her sword to his throat.
"I…I cannot…fail…my brothers…" He rasped.
"Who are your…brothers…" Umi trailed off as the man began to foam at the mouth. The disk on his forehead turned blood red as veins popped out around it. His eyes rolled back into his head to reveal only bloodshot whites and purple veins throbbed beneath his hairless skin. Blood and spittle flowed from his mouth and Umi stepped backwards in horror as he gave one last choking gasp before his death rattle trailed off into the quiet of the night.
Umi was the one to break the silence. "That was a stun spell, right?" She asked, turning to Kotori. Kotori nodded, her expression fearful.
"It was," She said shakily. "It shouldn't have been fatal…" Umi looked downward.
"Well, what's done is done…what should we do with the body?" Kotori drew a large rectangle in the dirt with her staff and then pointed it at the shape. The soil parted to reveal a hole just deep enough for a body to fit into it.
"We'll bury him," She said. They both turned toward where the body was, and Umi facepalmed.
"Honoka…" Umi groaned. Honoka got up from the body and quickly stuffed the amulet she had snatched off of it into a pouch.
"It's a nice amulet," she said, "and he's not using it anymore, so I might as well keep it."
"She has a point," Kotori said, looking over at Umi. Umi lowered her hand from her face.
"Well, we should just hurry up and bury him. No sense letting his body just sit around," Umi said before walking towards the corpse and starting to drag it to the makeshift grave.
The fire was little more than a few dull red embers, and the sun was beginning to poke out from the horizon. Honoka glanced over at Umi and Kotori, who were both snug and fast asleep in their bedrolls. She shifted her gaze toward the spot near the edge of the clearing where the earth had been disturbed, and the strange thief had been buried. She glanced back at her sleeping friends and wondered how they could fall asleep knowing there was a dead body only twelve feet away. She had been unable to sleep, the unmarked grave disturbing her and keeping her on edge. To distract herself, she glanced down at the amulet she was turning over in her hands. It was extremely shiny and made of nearly pure platinum, if her assessment was correct. It depicted a dragon diving downward, three lines trailing out behind it and meeting where the black thread that formed the necklace passed through a loop on the amulet. The dragon itself was simple, with two wings spread outward, a tail that protruded straight out from its body, and two large ram-like horns that curved outward from its head.
What is this thing anyway, Honoka thought. It's worth so much, but I want to know what it's for. Honoka looked towards the slowly rising sun, which was dying the sky pink with its early lights, and clenched her fist. When find a town, I'm gonna get this thing appraised.
For reference I'm gonna post character sheets at the end of chapters like this. Some of the things listed here may not be familiar, and that's because I made it all up on the spot, so I'll explain. An Attribute is a character's basic build that indicates what they specialize in, with Valor covering Fighter classes, Guile covering Rogue classes, and Arcana covering Magic classes. Special Skills are moves that are unique to each class and cost a set amount of mana to use. Signature Skills are more powerful moves that, like Special Skills, are unique to each class. Unlike Special Skills, however, Signature Skills cost a set percentage of a character's mana bar, so the cost of using the skill increases every time a character's max mana increases. If none of this makes sense to you, just remember: we aren't actually playing an RPG, I'm just writing a silly fanfiction about idols in an RPG world.
Umi Sonoda
Attribute: Valor
Class: Warrior
Primary Weapon: Longsword
Secondary Weapon(s): Bow and arrows, dagger
Other Equipment: Plate armor without helmet, heater shield with blue and gray wave pattern
Stamina: B
Defense: S
Strength: A
Dexterity: D
Mana: E
Luck: C
Special Skill(s):
Frag Arrow: Shoots an arrow that bursts into shrapnel after it hits.
Blade of Surtr: Longsword blade lights on fire to deal fire damage.
Signature Skill:
Dragon's Claw Blade (Cost: 60% max mana): Umi's sword sharpens to the point where it can cut through nearly anything, negating all enemy armor and dealing massive damage.
Honoka Kousaka
Attribute: Guile
Class: Thief
Primary Weapon: Crossbow
Secondary Weapon(s): Twin dirks
Other Equipment: Smoke bombs, acid flasks, alchemist's fire, grappling hook
Stamina: C
Defense: B
Strength: D
Dexterity: S
Mana: C
Luck: A
Special Skill(s):
Pickpocket: Can take an item held by an enemy to use as her own.
Bolt Action: Fires an electrically charged crossbow bolt to deal lightning damage.
Signature Skill:
Vanishing Act (Cost: 60% max mana): Honoka disappears in a bright burst of light, then attacks unexpectedly from behind for an insta-kill.
Kotori Minami
Attribute: Arcana
Class: Mage
Primary Weapon: Various spells
Secondary Weapon(s): Magic staff, dagger
Other Equipment: Spellbook, talismans, various potions
Stamina: C
Defense: C
Strength: D
Dexterity: B
Mana: S
Luck: B
Special Skill(s):
Can use a wide variety of spells with a wide variety of uses, from attacking to creating status buffs to altering the physical world.
Signature Skill:
Elemental Storm (Cost: 60% max mana): Kotori unleashes bursts of magic infused with fire, ice, and lightning in a massive wave that can inflict burning, freezing, or paralysis on foes.