FILE:004
.:gnawers:.

"Rat!" I exclaimed, jumping backwards before the razor sharp claw could strike my torso. Zephyr readied his sword and the torch, flanking the giant animal on the other side. My staff was already in my hand—one of the automatic controls that occurs when there's a battle. I took another step back, outstretched my arm to cast a spell and—

Oh man, I never learned how to use magic.

The gnawer lunged with both claws at me, but my friend slashed it on its right side, causing him to stumble and miss me.

"Attack him!" The blue-haired swordsman said, dodging an uppercut from the rat. He stuck the torch right in the face of the creature—not a pretty sight, no doubt—and thrust his sword through the stomach. To my dismay, it wasn't dead yet, nearly, but still holding on to life.

"How!? The people in the arena didn't say how to use magic!"

Just then, the rat spun, arms extended, clawing both of us in the chests. The good thing was that it looked fatigued and nearly collapsed after its feat.

"You've got a dagger, don't'cha?" Zephyr slashed but barely missed as the gnawer ducked. "Use it."

To my stupid-ness, I was clutching a simple dagger in my left hand which I didn't notice earlier, and charged. The giant rat was facing my companion that I came from behind and thrust the upper left of his back. Luckily, that seemed to have done it, because it fell to the ground and disappeared, leaving nothing left in its place.

My weapons were now sheathed and my health bar said I took three points of damage, leaving me with enough… But this was only the first one, and there were nine more to go.

"Are you serious?" Zephyr said, walking over towards me. "You're a mage and you don't know how to use your own magic?"

"Well..." I mumbled, scanning the cavern with what the torchlight gave off. "Could you teach me? I mean, you know so much about the game already and..."

He sighed, and began walking further into the catacombs. "Sorry, but I'm a swordsman, not a mage. I dunno how to use magic, but my friend does. Next time, try holding out your hand and say a spell—something like that."

"How?"

"Ugh... Try opening the menu and look for some type of spell list. Maybe that'll help." The screen opened, and I searched the top part where the different sub-menus were. Some of them read 'equipment', and 'options', and 'status'. There was one that said 'commands' so I checked that one out. And what do'ya know? Another sub-menu was 'spells'—magic-users only, of course—and I clicked on it. It was a list of the spells I knew and if clicked on, a little description and whatnot. This is what it read;

Fire
--a simple fire spell

Heal light
--recovers a small amount of health

Shield
--increases armor stat

Wind
--a simple wind spell

"Okay, I've found out my spells," I said, closing the screen and walking besides my friend. "So I just hold out my arm where I want to cast and say the spell, right?"

"I think so. Not sure tho'." We continued down the tunnel, Zephyr holding the torch this time, his hand still clutched on the hilt.

You know how sometimes there's the feeling that there's something watching you, but when you look around nothing's there, right? Well, it felt like that the entire time we were walking, but the fire could only illuminate so much. And we would've never guessed when the gnawers would barrage.

"Wait," I muttered, stopping and looking around for the millionth time. "I hear something..." He stopped too, keeping his ears open. There was a sound in the air, the same sound I heard earlier. Faint scratching and tapping and clicking. It was eerie and yet it never got louder than the volume I'd hear. Then it stopped.

I saw Zephyr pull out his sword, and my staff was drawn as well. I turned down the way we came and saw a shadowy figure, two meters tall, running straight towards us.

"Blast it!" The swordsman said who was facing the other direction from the rat.

I nodded, rose my left arm right were the creature was, and spoke. "Fire!" And out erupted a flame from my palm, flying forward and striking the monster in the abdomen. It stumbled, but still kept running towards me, only a few seconds away. "Wind!" A gust of air exploded from my hand and raced ahead, landing another hit.

That's when I was attacked.

My character nearly fell to the ground, and, turning, I noticed a second gnawer above me, about to strike again before it was hit by Zephyr's sword. It flew back a couple of meters, hit a rock, but still stood, shaken. I moved around again to see the first rat three meters away, its sharp claws extended. "Fire!" It collapsed and disappeared. My health was lower, but still in good shape.

"Three down." I exclaimed. Maybe I was happy 'cause I defeated one of the gnawers myself, albeit if my friend hadn't slashed the other one, I would've been dead meat. Literally.

"Yeah. Seems like you've got control of your magic, then?" I nodded. "What other spells can you use?"

"Just some defensive ones like healing. I only know those two attack spells, though." We continued walking. "How can I learn new ones?"

He was silent for a short while, thinking. "Prob'ly by leveling up. I'm not sure what kind of spells you can learn, but that's how you get stronger."

"How?"

"What?"

"How do you level up?"

He laughed, almost dropping the torch. "You're kidding, right?" I shook my head. "Oh my gosh, you've never played an RPG... You've gotta gain experience points by defeating monsters and by completing quests and dungeons. Once you gain a certain amount, you'll level up as well as increase in stats and—in your case—earn new spells."

"Awesome..." I replied.

"Yeah, it is awesome."

.:.:.:.:.:.

Nine gnawers down, one to go. Zephyr and myself, Airai, made a great team. When we were attacked by either one or two gnawers, I'd flame it and he'd slash it. It usually took three hits, so one of us got the last blow. If we were hurt badly, I'd heal us both using my magic. He had items that healed energy—Monsters and Mayhem version of 'MP', he said—so we were an awesome team.

While we were scouting out for the last gnawer, we ended up back at the large cavern where our bat Alph was waiting, accompanied by other bats from other players. Some were huddled together in a group while others hopped around or flew above.

After we entered another tunnel, I asked "What's with all the bats?"

Zephyr continued to look forward. "Those are other players' bats. When we got here, no one else was here so Alph was by himself. Now more players have arrived, so there are more bats. Duh." He smirked.

"Har har," I say sarcastically. "Anyways, what happens after we slay the last rat?"

"It dies."

"...and then?"

"Then we go back to Vikus and complete the quest. We'll get experience points and maybe spoils. Quest is over, and everyone's probably happy by then."

"Oh."

It was deadly quiet for some reason. There wasn't any sign of life or any remote noise anywhere. We seemed to have walked for the longest of times. Checking my stats, I saw that I had enough health and energy if we encountered another pair of rats, so I'd be fine.

"Stop," Zephyr said, looking around. I did the same, but still heard and saw absolutely nothing. Nothing 'till...

"What is that noise?" I whispered, looking everywhere. It was sort of like when you roll your tongue off the roof of your mouth to make a 'ploop ploop' sound. It sounded as if it was coming from every direction, even through walls. My staff was grasped in my hand, but there wasn't any threat I could see. Until…

Two figures scurried behind rocks to the front of me, about seven or eight meters away. I already knew they were gnawers before I could make out their shadowy bodies. They drew closer ducking to keep themselves concealed.

"Looks like we've got company," I whispered, waiting for the creatures to attack. Zephyr nodded. Our weapons were drawn—we've taken down nine of them already, two more will be a cinch.

That's when it happened.

"Watch out!" My companion said a little too late. We were both hit from behind, knocking us to the ground. As I turned over to see the enemy, I instead saw three giant rats behind me, claws extended and jaws open madly like rabid beasts. As I stood up I was whacked again by another rat. My eyes were opened wide.

Surrounding me were five of the gnarliest rats I've seen all day, maybe a bit taller and more ravaged than the previous ones we've fought. Their eyes were bloodshot, staring at me, ready to kill whoever they came across—even their own kind, probably. And in the center of it all, were myself and Zephyr, both at half health and power; we surely were no match.

.:.author's.:.note.:.

Okay, Airai and Zephyr don't have the best of luck. Hopefully the rats won't skin them alive...yet...

Hydriatus -- Regalia and giant rats are references, but they're different than where you're thinking from. What are the chances of actually meeting giant rats though? (I'll see if I can fit in the Corsair(s))

Diablo200030002002 -- Glad to hear you're liking the story :D And I'll try to put in that idea sometime soon, though I'll have to think of the right character personalities for it.

I'm going to try to upload a new picture soon (now if I decide not to procrastinate).