I think it's been what...a week? I'm still stuck on this fucking mountain. Every day I have logged in for a good 8-12 hours, for some reason I still haven't reached the top. Every time I think I am close, I find out that I'm not. The first time I logged out I fully expected to find that I was killed while logged out, since this wasn't a safe zone, my avatar remained. Vulnerable. However, I still haven't died. The weird figure hasn't made any more appearances either. Today, though, I was confident I would reach the top though, I had to.
Jen and Tyler had both texted me quite a few times, I know they are worried about me. For some reason I didn't reply, I wanted to, I really did. I wanted to get through this though, I want to unlock the answers. The more I run without getting to the top, the more I want to know what this mountain is hiding. I will have to face my friends at some point, but not right now. Right now, it's just me.
I had already been running for a good four hours today, I had to be at some ridiculous height. Every step took a giant chunk of stamina, trying to regulate my breathing was a joke. There was no way. This was getting way to difficult. I sat down on the mountainside once again, as I have done thousands of times on this journey. I still didn't know why I was here, or what I was trying to accomplish, but for some reason, it still felt important to me.
Suddenly, the figure appeared standing in front of me, I was shocked, but not like before. After the initial shock of him appearing I relaxed a bit, "it's just you..."
"Me? You mean you."
"Don't start with riddles...How much longer to the top?" I asked...myself?
"You'll never get to the top."
I let out a big huff, "Why's that?"
"You're afraid."
"of what?"
"Failing."
This was starting to feel like a plot for a cliché anime or something. "What? Am I supposed to suddenly dedicate myself to my cause, dispose of all my fear, and valiantly come through in some spectacular fashion?"
"No, that would be stupid," he looked at me with an eat shit look, "You are afraid of losing. Failing. Dying."
"I'm not afraid of dying."
"Jump then."
"Fuck you."
"Ah, I forgot your biggest fear," he sat down next to me, "being alone."
"I've been alone the past week, haven't I? Try again."
"You haven't been happy all week either," visions of me with my friends popped up in front of me, it was like I was watching my own memories on TV. I saw my friends. I saw their smiles. I saw my smile. "See how happy you are? Why do you think that is, dumbass?"
I couldn't talk, I was so fixated on the two of them. Their smiles. I started tearing up, which isn't the best idea in this cold ass weather. "My friends..." I buried my face in my knees.
"So I'll ask you again...Why aren't you happy?"
"I...I...I'm afraid…"
"Fucking finally you admit it," he slapped his knee, "What are you afraid of?"
"Being…alone," tears were pouring down my face now, why exactly aren't my tears freezing?
"hmmmm, is that the kind of fear that drives you up a mountain searching for a quest that may or may not exist in a false attempt to gain some sort of power over yourself? Ha. That's a good one."
"Why are you here?"
"To break you."
My heart dropped, what the hell was this? I looked over at him, or me, or whatever, my tearful eyes were enough to make him explain.
"I'm here to make sure you destroy yourself, and I'm doing a pretty good job, if I say so myself," he smirked.
"Why the hell would you say that?"
"It's the truth?" He looked at me like I was an idiot, "What? Thought I was here to help? Ha! Funny. I'm here so you realize how alone you really are." The visions appeared again in front of me, except this time, it was just Tyler and Jen. They were happy. I was no where around them. They were both in some house, with some people I didn't know. They were all talking, smiling, having a good ol' time. "You see! They get along just fine without you. Ah, I wonder what plans they have for each other..."
"What?"
"Just watch."
I watched as the visions slowly turned into what looked like a bedroom. Tyler and Jen came busting in the door, all over each other. His hands were all over her, and hers over him. They climbed on to the bed...his shirt, her shirt, his pants, her pants, they were getting undressed. "Turn it off," I looked away.
"But this is the good part!" He denied my request as I heard moans coming from Jen, "Wow, she really looks like she's enjoying that, look! Look at it!"
I refused. I didn't want to see this shit. Why was I seeing this? It's none of my business what those two do with each other. "Ah, that's where you are wrong," I was shocked, he can hear my thoughts? "You do care what they do to each other," I just stared at him, his evil smile, "You care for the girl. You worry if she is being intimate with someone. Yet another thing you are pathetically afraid of."
"Get out," I stood up, "Get the fuck out of here."
"Awwwww," he stood up as well, "Are we moving on from crybaby to temper tantrum?"
"Fuck off!" I threw a punch, once again going right through him.
"Didn't we already establish that was useless?" He smacked his face, "honestly your are hopeless."
I started walking up the mountain, to which he quickly matched my pace, "You won't make it to the top. It's impossible for you to do so, don't you know that yet?"
"Fuck you, I'm going to make it."
"Ah so dedicated," He mocked me with a salute, "You don't even know what you are searching for."
"I'm going to make it to the top, whether there is anything up there or not is my problem, so get lost."
"Hm," he put his hands behind his head, "so you are starting to accept that this is pointless, good job."
"It was never about the quest..." I stopped, I felt the tears coming back.
"No shit, sherlock, but for shits and giggles, go ahead. Let me know what it was really about."
"It's about making myself proud."
"Proud, you say? Sounds awfully materialistic. You have to have a unique skill to make yourself proud? Wow."
"I don't give a fuck about the skill," he looked over at me, it was the first time I saw a little bit of shock in his eyes, "It's about being able to do something for myself. It's about doing something that matters to me. I'm doing this for myself. Not for a grade, not for my parents, not for my friends, for me."
"That's a mighty fine speech there young man!" He gave out a mocking clap, "You must have some confidence issues if you-"
I lashed out, grabbing his throat, this time I actually grabbed him. I looked him dead in the eyes, I saw fear starting to amount in his. "You won't break me," I shoved him back, look of disbelief still filled his eyes. I carried on, he didn't follow.
I looked ahead, and couldn't believe what I saw. The path took a corner and looked to level off, I hurried my pace. Was this the top? I rounded the corner and found an entrance to a cave, the entrance was well rounded off, looking more like a doorway than a natural entrance. I walked into the darkness, slowly advancing inside the mountain. I couldn't see a damn thing. I looked back to see the doorway slowly fading away. What the fuck? I wasn't moving, but it was still getting smaller and smaller. Maybe this was a bad decision.
"So!" The room suddenly lit up with torches, I was standing in the middle of a circle, the torches lined all around. There were engravings all around the circle, some language I had no idea what it was. I looked around for the voice, but there was nothing, "You dare step inside my arena, you, who have so foolishly made this journey."
I man stepped out from deeper in the room, it was like he was stepping out of complete darkness. He was dressed in very loose clothing, it almost looked like a wizards cloak or something. That's the best I can describe it, the cloak was a very glossy blue. It actually resembled cyan more than blue, like the color of...ice. He was bald, but had a snow white beard that reached around his torso area. His hands were behind his back, it was at this time I finally could see his eyes. They were ice blue, I've never seen anything like it before.
"Arena?" I asked, one hand on one of my knives.
"Look where you are standing, young warrior. You are standing in a duel circle. You are here to fight, are you not?"
I didn't know what the hell was going on, "I'm here for answers."
"Ha! What answers are you seeking?"
"I heard that there is a quest, one that grants a person a unique skill."
"That's amusing," he stroked his beard, "What makes you think you are deserving of such a quest?"
"I've traveled up this mountainside for a week-"
"So you made it up a mountain? That makes you worthy? Ha!" His voice gave me chills, "You will have to prove yourself much better than that," he waved his hand toward me. Two giant blocks of ice shot up in front of me, what the hell was he? The ice blocks then shattered into weird figures. They had the basic figure of a person: head, body, arms, and legs. The arms and legs were bulky toward the body but looked sharp as blades when you got toward the end where the hands or feet would be. "Young warrior, defend yourself."
They flew at me with lightning speed, I barely had enough time to draw my knives. I deflected the first one's slice attack, but I couldn't block the other. He sliced along my side as he flew past me, I leaped over to the other side of the arena. The slice did moderate damage, not too bad though. "You will have to move faster than that if you are going to survive," the old man motioned to the two ice figures as they charged again. This was going to be interesting.
I dodged as fast as I could, deflecting every blade, or limb rather, that came my way. I wasn't fast enough, for every few blows I blocked or dodged they landed one. They were running me raged all over the arena, I couldn't even land a blow. I was getting tired, my stamina was depleted from the constant movement. What the hell were these things? They moved so damn fast. One charged at me, winding up for a powerful slice, I dodged, flipping around, now was my chance at a strike. I used my momentum from dodging into my flip as I went for the attack, then a ice blade out of no where protected it. How the hell did the other one get over here that fast? The sudden clash of my blade with its destroyed my momentum, kicking me back a little bit. They came from both sides, I jumped as they both stabbed at me, landing behind them. I went for another attack, going for a low, off to the side slash. They quickly recovered and deflected my blow away from them, sending me off balance and almost falling to the ground. I got up slowly, they were certainly just toying with me now.
"You are weak, young warrior," the old man spoke as he watched me fight for my life, "I was hoping for a stronger visitor."
"Fuck you!" I deflected both creatures blows away from me, damn, that deflection took too much energy. I need a way to go on the offensive, but how? There is no way I can beat these things, they are too fast. Every attack I throw at them they deflect or dodge, then I face a fury of counter attacks.
No. I can do this. I just need to throw everything I have at them. They stood in front of me, both ready to defend against whatever I throw at them. They were fast, but I can be faster. I need to use my speed, it's my greatest asset. I looked around, there wasn't much I could use for leverage. I looked up, nothing but darkness, I hope there is a ceiling somewhere up there. They were fed up with waiting, they started to charge. This was my only chance, I activated my highest level speed skill. I flew past them, they instinctively braced for an attack, but I flew right in between them. As soon as I landed I launched again, making circles in random patterns around them. Faster. I can go faster.
I flew around them, in between them, all around. They tried to keep up as I kept increasing my speed. They finally reacted by going defensive, back to back in the middle of the arena. It was getting to the point I noticed they were starting to look where I was, not where I was going. Only problem was my stamina was depleting. I had to act now! I planted, I launched another speed attack. I exploded toward the center of the arena, sending a massive shock wave throughout the cave. I was on them, they hadn't reacted at all, they barely got their creepy ice heads around to my location. I had them, this strike would be it. I could kill one, if not both. This ends now!
"Die!" I screamed as I shoved my blade toward them.
They reacted within a split second, I've never seen anything in this game move that fast. I didn't even know anything could move that fast. My blade was blocked, the creature I was going for had blocked my attack. I was frozen there in mid air, in disbelief. How could it block that? How in the world could it move that fast? My disbelief quickly turned to anger at my failure, I can't let these things beat me. Time resumed as I slammed into the creature's block, it deflected my entire blow straight upwards. I guess I was going to find out if there was a ceiling.
My momentum hurled me into the darkness, I twirled around, legs up, waiting for some sort of impact. There it was, I slammed into the ceiling, causing quite the ruckus. It felt like the entire mountain was shaking from my landing. I was going to throw everything I had at this next attack, all of my mana is going into this one blow. I launched myself from the ceiling, throwing all my mana into my most powerful speed skill. I hurled toward the ground, faster than ever before. My blades outright, I was going to slash both of these bastards at once.
I saw them bracing for the attack, the split second between them coming into view and being upon them showed me that. They both had both of their arms up in blocking fashion. I didn't give a fuck, I'll go through them. The impact shook the entire mountain, sending shockwaves and dust throughout the entire room. I felt like my body was going to rip apart at the impact, I felt both of my blades slam against their blocks. Then I felt the blades start slicing through, for that thousandth of a second, I won. I then slammed into the ground, the impact with the ground itself destroyed a good chunk of my health. I was sure I got them, I felt my blades slice through their blocks. Dust filled the room, I couldn't see anything. I slowly stood up. I was dead, worn out. My stamina, my mana, and nearly my health all depleted. I threw everything I had at this fight.
The dust settled, my heart sank with remorse as I found both figures still standing. They were on either side of the circle, somehow after the impact of the block, they must have deflected my attack into the ground, giving the feeling that I was slicing through them, when really it was just air. I looked up toward the dark ceiling, I had tried my best, that's for sure. I can't say I have any regrets, there was nothing more I could have done. That was my everything, my full power. All of this time I thought I was powerful in this world, yet, at this moment, I felt weak. "Finish it," I was now looking at the ground. My request was met by silence, nothing moved, no one replied.
"That was a mighty fine fight, son," the old guy finally humored me with a response after good knows how long.
"It was a loss," I looked over at him, he was staring at me from just outside the circle.
"Are you through then?"
I dropped my blades on the ground, they were too heavy for me to hold. I fell to my knees, my legs were burning, my head was heavy, my eyes heavier. Damn this game did a great job of simulating these feelings. I guess this was enough of a response as he slowly approached me, the two creatures looked like they were now relaxing. They weren't coming to attack me. Why?
"Do you feel you could of fought better? Harder?"
"No..." I didn't look up, "I gave everything I had...It wasn't enough...but it was everything..."
"Do you know why you could not land a strike on my warriors?"
"I wasn't fast enough..."
"Wrong," he was now standing right in front of me, "they are unbeatable."
I looked up at him, "What?"
"They cannot be defeated."
"How is that possible?"
"They are immortal objects," he looked at both of them, "their single purpose in life is to defend the very nature that created them. They make excellent sparring partners as well, as you have already found out."
I slowly stood up, "So you set me up with a fight that I couldn't win? What the hell...cheap trick..."
"Would you of still fought if you knew you could not win?"
Would I? I honestly didn't know. What is the point of fighting if you can't win? At the same time, I wouldn't of just given up. I can't. That's not me. "Yes," he looked at me intrigued, as if asking for an explanation with his eyes, "I would of wanted to know for myself that I couldn't win. I would have given it my all, no matter what you said the outcome would be. It's not in my blood to just walk away because someone said it would be hard."
He smiled. Look at that, his minions kick my ass and now he smiles at me. Who was this guy? Whoever he was, I hope I'm on his good side. "An excellent and honest answer, young warrior," he put his hands back behind his back, "What would you do with a power that only you possess?"
"I..." I assume he is talking about the unique skill, I mean, what else would he be talking about, "I don't think I would use it." Wow, that actually shocked myself as I said it. It all became clear to me though, just in this moment, "If I had a skill that only I possess, I wouldn't use it. I wouldn't want to have to rely on a powerful skill to bail me out of a situation. I would want to fight fair, evenly."
He looked at me rather puzzled, "Then what is the purpose of attaining a unique skill?"
"I would only use it if I had to," his puzzlement starting to fade away, "I wouldn't want to have to rely on the skill to get me through everything."
"You are an interesting lad," he smirked at me once again, "You want a power that no one else has, yet you wouldn't use it. You want to fight evenly with someone, but everyone has different skills, so that is impossible. You say you don't want to rely on a skill, yet...shouldn't you?"
"Should I? It would just draw attention to myself..." people in MMOs are douche bags when it comes to having something not everyone can have.
"Shouldn't you own a skill as your own. Shouldn't a unique skill define you, be a part of you, are your blades not a part of you?"
"They are," I was confused, all of my clarity quickly faded away, why am I even up here if I wouldn't use a skill. Damn I'm confusing myself.
"What is the difference between your blades and this potential unique skill? Your blades are a part of you, why would a unique skill not be?"
"Because...people would-"
"People would talk? People would notice you? What does it matter what others think? What others think about you doesn't affect you."
"People would think I am just powerful because of the unique skill."
"But aren't you powerful not because you have the skill, but because what you went through to obtain it?" He smiled at me once more.
"These riddles and questions are getting irritating old man," I stared at him blankly, "Can you point me in the right direction or am I wasting my time?"
"If I told you I have the ability to bestow a unique skill upon you, would you believe me?"
I looked at him, stared at him. What was his angle? Was he really trying to help me or was this just another dead end? "I would certainly be interested," I studied his response, he was thinking, man this was a well played out NPC.
"What if I told you you are not worthy of such a skill?"
"Then I would respectfully disagree," I picked up my blades, I have decided that this was a waste of time. I sheathed both of my blades, "I will leave you in peace, old man, I'm through."
I started walking toward the door, that at some point came back from the faded abyss. I may not have gotten what I came up here for, but I certainly had figured a few things out on this journey. I know now why I was running from my friends. I know now that I am afraid, and I just need the opportunity to explain that to them. I'm afraid of losing them, I'm afraid of what might happen if I say something wrong or stupid. I wish I didn't have to come up this stupid mountain to figure out something so simple, but hey, the world works in mysterious ways, and this world is no different.
"Young warrior," I turned around to see the two creatures standing behind the old man, "Accepting your fear is how you defeat it. You are a fine young man, and an excellent fighter. Best of luck in your future endeavors, allow me to make your trip to the bottom a short one," he held up two fingers toward me.
All I saw was a bright flash and I was standing in the snowy wilderness. I looked around, the mountain was no where in sight. My minimap was now up, the location was the same as where I was before I started my journey. I grabbed my head, trying to make sense out of everything that had happened to me. I smiled, I can't believe the journey that I just went on. I can't believe what just happened. I can't believe it was just a wild goose chase! At least, I looked up into the snowy sky, I finally found the answers to my questions. The next step was making things right with my friends, I need to let them know how I feel, and maybe if I'm brave enough, I will someday be worthy of such a unique skill.
