"Nice seeing you again," he said as he licked around his lips with a serpentine tongue.
Anthony's Psyche, Rotuma Tavern and Inn
1:00 AM
We were in an open expanse with horizons stretching far across. The ground was a yellowish, red color with the sky looking like a green carpet. It was surreal to say the least, nothing like the familiarity that once greeted me upon my last "visit".
"So, what's the matter. Something bugging you?" he asked me cheekily, his wide crazy grin spooking me somewhat.
"I want you to quit influencing my actions," I told him, with a lack of other words.
"Do you, now? Well, I wonder how you'll be able to do that." he answered me sarcastically. I had no real idea of how to deal with him. I just figured that I needed to do it as quickly as possible, but I never realized how hopeless I truly was.
"Well, how do I deal with you? I don't know if beating the shit out of you is any effective," I told him, pinching my chin gently as I was pondering on it.
"Well, I guess not, since that's just fucking stupid," he replied, chuckling slightly.
"Yeah, I guess you're righ-HEY, are we getting along?!" I yelled as I suddenly realized what was happening.
"Duh, otherwise you would be the same whiny kid you were two months ago, right?" he replied.
"You dumb bastard, I still don't like you. You know what, this whole visit was pointless, I can fight you in the real world, I don't have to enter this shithole to do so," I realized angrily.
"I'd love to see you try," he replied, crossing his arms. He knew what he was doing. Holy shit, this feels like I'm watching Fight Club, and he is my Tyler Durden. Anyways, I left the inner room as quickly as possible and appeared in the real world, cold sweat running down my forehead. I retreated to my futon and had a good night sleep.
8:00 AM, Rotuma Inn and Tavern
"Alright, newfags, let's get started. You're gonna be divided into separate divisions and you're gonna go out and grind with each of your captains or division leaders. These are me, Ryuuma, Karma, Arisu, and Shin. Silica has been demoted and is now a member of Karma's Division. Now, I wanna see you build camaraderie and good teamwork. If any of your friends got divided and are not in your division, we can work it out that we all have at least one friend in their division," Murchada stated in the inn where the entirety of the guild was huddled up after last night's party.
"We'll head out to the main gate of town and from then on, we are completely divided. We'll be surviving for 4 days outside of the city gates, no real biggy there, but if anything happens, don't hesitate to contact your captains, got it?!" Murchada asked loudly. He received affirmation from all the members. With that, we headed for the city gate and left. Now I was being followed by eight members of the guild that I handpicked for shits and giggles. I didn't pick them for their prowess in hand-to-hand combat, but simply how they acted. I'd rather laugh on a long journey than do pushups with some karate jocks. The people in my division were all whacky looking and quite weird, just my type.
9:00 AM, Rotuma Inn and Tavern
"Whaddya mean we head to the outer rim?" a guy in my division replied. His name was Tetsu, a serious-faced bloke with a mohawk and bandaged arms and legs. He also wore nothing but red shorts, which made him look like a boxer if I didn't know any better. He was a Muay Thai practitioner.
"Well, dwelling in the grasslands is boring as hell, and the giant's expanse is already getting boring. The outer rim is where shit gets down!" I replied gleefully while itching my fists.
"But there are unknown beasts in the outer rim, some we don't even know anything about. I say we trek up the mountains in search for Azure Cranes. They sure are tasty," A large man called Fet said. He was a sumo-wrestler who wore nothing but a loincloth made of rope and cloth. He was a gentle-faced fellow that was constantly nibbling on rice crackers, but his sheer size was imposing. He was at least, three inches taller than Murchada, who is already 6 foot 3 inches.
"C'mon, Fet. It'll be fun. Besides, the head captain, which is me, picked all of you. You should feel honored and look at all challenges as small obstacles!" I told them in an attempt to cheer them up. Eventually, Fet gave in and nodded in approval.
"Whatever happens, I'm still with you, cap'n," Vinsmoke the elegant dresser told me. Today he unbuttoned his dinner jacket, thus exposing his ocean-blue shirt.
"See? Vinsmoke gets it! It'll be fun, and besides, if danger arises, I'll be sure to help, and if anything else happens, I'll call a friend," I revealed in an attempt to calm these people down.
"We'll follow you wherever, master!" said one of the younger recruits called Shiro. He wore a black Tai Chi outfit and his hair was black, completely contrasting his name. He was always side by side with his twin brother, Kuro, who had a white Tai Chi outfit and had white hair. They were both relatively short, both of them being 5 foot 5.
"Well, that makes 4 out of 8. What's it gonna be, Tetsu, Jax, Hakurai and Tel?" I said while crossing my arms as I looked at the defiant members.
"Whatever, I'm with you, Cap," Tetsu replied reluctantly.
"Count me in, I suppose," Jax, a tall boxer with bandaged fists said. He wore blue shorts and had an afro. His dark skin tone made him also resemble Muhammed Ali minus the extra weight. Jax seemed to be a welterweight, a lower-middleweight, in boxing lingo.
"Do I have a choice?" Hakurai, the only girl in the group said. She had bandages covering her breasts instead of normal clothing and looked quite skimpy. She wore tight leggings in order to preserve flexibility, and also look good. I'll be damned if I reveal that I picked her simply because of the eye-candy, but hell, we all do get thirsty and some point, and don't forget, I am an RPG-geek.
"Oh, I never disagreed. I just didn't speak up," a taciturn and dark figure called Tel said, the first thing I've ever heard him say, no less. For some reason, he chose to hide his level. He sure is a strange one. He never gets emotional, not even during my fight with Shin, were I'd wager that most of the onlookers did get excited somewhat. He wore a dark robe and had a hood that hid most of his face in the shadows. I can admit he was a special case, as I picked him not for his interestingness, but simply because I was curious of what might hide under his robe, in a non-perverted way, of course! Dammit, why do I always have to sound so perverted?
"Then let's get going, kiddos!" I yelled, jumping high up in the air in an attempt to get everybody fired up. The only ones who jumped with me were Vinsmoke and the twins. All the rest smiled and pumped their fists in the air, all but Tel. Thus our 2-day long journey on foot to the outer perimeter of the First Kingdom, where the strongest monsters lay began. Our map was very clear on guiding us. Right where we stood, we were in the large planes of the Grasslands, the easiest area. To reach the outer rim we would have to get past the large mountain chain known as the Great Akamaru mountain chain. After that, we'll have to cross the Giant's expanse, that covered a whole third of the map. Afterwards, we arrive in the Outer Rim, an area with thick grey fog and dead trees where nothing grows and food needs to be conserved so as not to get too hungry.
11:00 AM, Grasslands
We have been walking for a grand total of two hours, and it has been quite a blast. Apparently, Jax is a professional when it comes to imitations. We've been laughing without ending at his imitations of Murchada.
"I'll snap your neck in half, asshole!" Jax yelled while he tried imitating a threat that Murchada made during the party last night. This earned a laugh from virtually everyone save for Tel. Tetsu, despite his serious attitude most of the time, was literally rolling on the floor laughing while cupping his aching abs.
"P-please, I can't take it anymore!" Tetsu yelled with serious difficulty between gasps. The laughing must have gotten to him. Fet had tears rolling down his cheeks laughing at both Jax and Tetsu.
"You've never felt a bear rip you a new one, I guess," Jax continued while he imitated another threat that Murchada made during the party. For some reason, Tetsu's reaction just makes it all even funnier, thus creating a chain reaction of contagious laughter, giving us an entire laughter epidemic on our hands. I couldn't stop myself from laughing, at both Tetsu and Jax. We somehow kept this up for an entire hour before stumbling upon a little boy in the middle of the field lying down while unconscious. This threw us all out of our laughing mood. I was the first one to react and got there before anyone else. I kneeled down and elevated the kid's head with my hand in an attempt to wake him up. I checked for his pulse, and thankfully he was alive. I slapped him lightly on the cheek in an attempt to wake him up, which I did, but also left a mark on his face much to my stupidity. The child slowly began to regain consciousness before yelling loudly, which caught all of us by surprise. It was a scared yell, not meant to hurt anyone. I tried asking him a few questions.
"What happened, kid?" I tried asking.
"W-water... I-I need..." Was all he could say before his lips were blocked by the mouth of a bottle of water that Fet speedily threw to me at the first sound of the word "water". He drank quickly, almost choking in the same water meant to save his life.
"Any better, now?" I asked him. He nodded with a small smile on his mouth, then suddenly a question mark appeared over his head. Suddenly I realized what was going on. A hidden quest, hell yeah! I heard the twins whisper the word 'quest' with glee, and the air in the group suddenly lightened.
"Yes," the boy said. He was in a daze waiting for the water to quench his thirst before remembering the horrendous events that transpired the night before. He suddenly became extremely nervous before asking.
"You have to save m-my father, you must!" he stated while being visibly nervous. He stood up quickly before continuing.
"He was taken by bandits in a clan known as the Dragon's Coffin! They suddenly appeared at our village in the middle of the night and snatched my father. I tried following them but they were too fast for me!" he revealed as he spoke extremely quickly.
"Calm down, tell us where they went," Hakurai ordered.
"At the Outer Rim of the kingdom. You've got to save him before they kill him!" he said, and with that, our quest journals were updated and his question mark disappeared, only to be replaced with an exclamation mark once we finish the quest in the near future.
"Alright, kiddo. You've gotta go home, now. Where's your village?" I asked. If I wanted the quest reward, then I should, at least make an effort to keep the quest giver alive.
"I-uh come from Hope Village," he said as he scratched the back of his head while looking down. Judging by the other people's blank expressions, I'm guessing they don't the distance between here and that forsaken village.
"Holy shit, how far did you run?! Hope is like 40 kilometers south from here!" I yelled awestruck. Saying that I was shocked at his tenacity was an understatement, and to make matters worse, he ran until he grew exhausted.
"Whatever it takes to get my father back," he replied silently as he tightened his fists while looking at the ground. Tel then approached the kid and kneeled with a single knee and patted his head.
"Don't worry, I'll take you home," Tel said. The kid looked up at his face happily and rejoiced as he tried suppressing his tears.
"Thanks, sir! Err, my name is Lok," he said. Tel stood up and faced me.
"Give me 3 hours and I'll catch up with you, Captain," he said emotionlessly with an androgynous voice.
"You sure? That's pretty damn fast," I told him, very much doubting his ability. Tel nodded. He carried Lok on his back and bolted forwards with an Olympics-tier speed, but the real crazy thing was that he was consistently running with that speed, placing him far above Olympics-tier, almost anime-tier.
"You heard that, guys? Off to the Outer Rim as quickly as possible. The rest nodded, and with that, we were on to our first ever mission. Now, all we did was run towards the big ass mountain chain in the horizon while swatting of different low-level mobs.
Well, I guess this can do for a chapter. I am so so so so sorry for my inactivity. I've been coping with a writer's block mixed with my extreme time constriction. I hope you can forgive me by following and favoriting this excuse of a chapter. Also, leave a review if you hate the story as much as I do. I'm having my easter holiday this week which means, I have so much time to update. I'm gonna try updating tomorrow. Note: Keyword is "Try".
Kind Regards
Sherlock D(ickhead) Holmes
