Chapter 12:
Placing his hands of his hips, Hirt grinned at the four in front of him, "So, are you guys ready for the third level?"
Astounded, Ubu said, mouth agape, "Third level? We've barely made it to the second!"
"Progress, my dear Ubu," Hirt turned around and headed for the Labyrinth entrance, "If you want to see your brother, I suggest we make progress."
Around forty-five minutes later, they stood in front of the staircase down to the third level. Hirt grinned widely, "Whoever isn't ready, let me see their hands."
Nobody rose their hand, but the uncertainty was evident. Ren-so clutched onto his Makiri warily, Ubu adjusted the feathers in her hair, Wel-lo brushed away a bead of sweat running down her face and Savilo almost hid behind her shield.
Hirt stood in thought for a second, "I haven't told you about the Tyrants, have I?"
"No, you haven't, Dad," Savilo asked, looking like she felt that not knowing would protect her from them.
"Big buggers," Hirt said, extending his arms dramatically, "Think oversized striped hippo."
Ren-so smiled pitifully, "As funny as that sounds, I don't feel like meeting one."
"You won't know it for long," Hirt pointed out, "It'll trample you long before you get the chance to greet it."
"Thanks…" Ren-so groaned.
"Anytime!" Hirt replied, unusually cheery.
They turned a corner and Hirt fell to his knees, beckoning them to do the same. Ahead of them was a beautifully shimmering river, and in it was the red humped, oversized hippo. It snorted unhappily and opened its mouth, catching a red fish in its mouth. Its maws shut around the fluttering fish and in reaction to this, two purple and countless red fish began brutally attacking the Tyrant.
"This is where is gets real. Level three," Hirt remarked, "This is where absolutely everything has the power to take you down if you slip up."
They didn't finish watching the fight between the monsters, instead they carried on through another path. They came across another stream and sat by it for a while.
"Don't let your guard down," Hirt rebuked as he noticed Ubu reclining against a tree, "Not for a second."
"Then why are you so laid back?" Ubu grumbled as she stood to her feet, "I wouldn't say you have your guard up, either."
"If my guard wasn't up, we wouldn't know we have company, would we?" He said, pointing to the stream, "Scylla Crab."
What had previously seemed to be a rock shifted and cracked. Two alien turquoise eyes stared at them with a hungry lust. The crab's pinchers were tinged with what was either pigment or a permanent blood stain. The latter seemed more believable.
With reddish its claws, it scampered out of the stream with surprising agility and immediately made a snap at Ren-so who was the closest to the water. Upon reflex, he jumped back, narrowly dodging being amputated from the waist.
"They call it a Ruin Claw for a reason," Hirt grinned as he rushed towards the crab. The crab made a snap at him and he jumped into the air. He landed atop the crab's claw and with his heel, stomped at a certain point on the crab's arm. As if it were some sort of toy, the majority of the claw fell to the ground, spastically twitching to seemingly no end.
The crab made a wild jab at Ren-so, who dodged it easily, quickly flicking a small knife in its direction, only to bounce off of its shell. Savilo stepped forward, slamming her shield into the crab, forcing it to stumble backwards and crash to the ground. Wel-lo leapt into the air, makiri drawn and stabbed at the crab's right eye, causing a white fluid to disperse from the wound. With a series of fitful twitching, the monstrous crustacean perished with Wel-lo's makiri embedded in its brain.
Hirt stepped forward to salvage the dead crab, but a rustle of leaves and a bodily crash stopped him. A tall man burst from the bush and landed atop the dead crab. He wore colourful feathers and a strange, beak-like mask and waved a terrifyingly curved scythe around, keeping Hirt at a distance.
He glanced around and locked onto Ubu, "Sis?" He asked surprisedly, "You've come?"
"That's you, Zinoxil?" Ubu asked, shocked at her brother's disorderly appearance.
Zinoxil straightened his back, "Course it is, who else would it be than your loving brother?" He asked leaping down from the crab and approaching her, staying his scythe.
He stopped several feet away from her and glared through his mask at Ren-so, "Have you fallen in love with my beautiful sister?" He almost threatened.
"No, not really," Ren-so backed up, half hiding behind Wel-lo, who glared at him.
"Why?" Zinoxil glowered, "She not good enough for you?"
Ubu ran forward and embraced ZInoxil, stopping him from any further action, "Found you, brother! Now you have to come back with us!" She said.
Zinoxil hugged her back weakly, "I guess that's the promise I made…" He shot daggers at Ren-so without any reason. It just seemed like Zinoxil decided not to like him right off the bat.
"Well," Hirt said indifferently as he scavenged the crab for anything useful, "We should explore a bit more and head back after that."
Zinoxil patted Ubu's head, "I guess I'm with you, old man." He said.
"I have a name. It's Hirt, and call me old man again, you will be hurt, too," Hirt glared, placing his findings in his bag, "Let's move."
They continued on, Hirt in the front, accompanied by Savilo, Wel-lo and Ren-so behind them and Zinoxil and Ubu in the back. Ren-so was constantly glancing over his shoulder, paranoid that the sudden companion would attack him.
Zinoxil sniffed the air, "Hey old… Hirt, I smell devilfish." He said finally.
"Just now?" Hirt chuckled, "You're slow for being a two-year resident."
Zinoxil shook his head, "No, Hirt, not the ones who are in the river over there, I've known they were there, the ones behind us." He said, extending a thumb and motioning behind them.
"You only noticed the two groups?" Hirt laughed, "There's another group to the right."
"Oh? How are you so observant, old… er… Hirt?" Zinoxil stared at Hirt, baffled.
Ren-so unsheathed his makiri, "If there's three groups coming at us, now is hardly the time to talk about how badass Hirt is." He said in a tone that caused Wel-lo to also draw her sword. They were walking past a river that bended to the right and back the other way, creating a U-shape and a dead end. Savilo readied her spear, the two ninjas began mumbling in a ritualistic manner, Ubu readied herself, beginning to make noises noises with her mouth that one couldn't describe accurately , Zinoxil twirled his scythe expertly and out of the corner of his mouth, made noises like an owl. The seconds dragged on, until finally, a red fish popped out of the water, jaws agape, and was quickly killed by a jab of Savilo's spear.
Then, one by one, a vast number of red fish began leaping out of the water, aiming for the head. Every person was taking out a fish, even Ubu got a couple. Then, to Ubu's aid, an oversized butterfly fluttered to her side, poisoning any nearby fish and protecting her with its thick wings. After a small wait Zinoxil's own animal came. It dived from the sky, a white and black streak, and landed beside him. A great, salt and pepper horned owl allowed Zinoxil to climb on its back and it took to the sky, swooping in and out of the fray, giving ZInoxil room to slash at fish mid-arch in their leaps.
Finally, Hirt noticed three purplish, ugly fish swimming in the river, staying out of the fight and simply patrolling and watching. Savilo scraped a fish off of her spear and hurled it at one of the purple fish, skewering it. Acting quickly before the spear sunk into the river, Hirt leapt forward, landing on the other bank, spear in hand. He spun around, slicing another one of the purple fish. The last purple fish sunk underneath the water, disappearing into the depths, along with the remaining red fish.
Hirt hopped back over, returning Savilo's spear to her, "I think it's time to go now," He said matter of factly.
Zinoxil's massive owl shifted its weight and Zinoxil patted its back, "Want to take Hyugar?" He offered.
Hirt glanced at the bird, "You sure that thing can carry all of us? Savilo's pretty heavy," He said hesitantly.
Savilo glared at him and climbed onto the back of the bird as Zinoxil said, "He's carried bigger loads." He said confidently.
"I don't know about this…" Hirt said, still wary.
"Get me the hell off of this thing!" Hirt cried as Hyugar swooped and dove in the sapphire sky, making its way towards Armoroad. He clutched to Hyugar's fan-like feathers child-likely.
Savilo reached towards the blue sky with her hand and let the wind rushed against it, "What are you talking about, Hirt? This is amazing!"
Ren-so and Wel-lo sat near the back of the bird, facing the sea. Wel-lo brushed hair out of her eyes, "Wow, it's beautiful," She murmured, mesmerized.
Ren-so pointed towards the horizon, "You can barely tell the difference between the sea and the sky," He agreed, dazed by the brilliance of the scene.
"Just hurry up and land," Hirt whimpered to Zinoxil, "I've had enough!"
"Whatever you say, boss," Zinoxil grinned, patting Hyugar's head, "Down, buddy."
Hello Reader,
This entry is a little special. You get to read the first chapter of my Etrian Odyssey 1 fanfiction, because I like it more than the one I wrote for Etrian Odyssey 2. Enjoy!
Chapter 1:
Etria was a small, quaint town. That is until the Yggdrasil Labyrinth opened up in it's outskirts. The Labyrinth ruined a good thing, and proved to be harmful for the residents of Etria, therefore, Racha Hall opened up a new kind of job. As long as you did what they told you to and as long as you served the people of Etria, you could become part of a Guild. This attracted all sorts of people to Etria, who accumulated into Guilds. This is the story of the Guild that would be known as Zasguard.
"C'mon Fernand, the Explorer's Guild is going to close before we can register!" Shouted Binall as she tried to drag the resisting Fernand, "He have to register tonite!"
Fernand gave in to her pulling, "No we don't! We just got here and you already want to register? Why don't we get settled into the inn or something?"
Binall shook her head, "No! It has to be today!"
Fernand sighed, "Fine, we'll have to run, though."
They ran to the building known as the Explorer's Guild. Now that it was darkening, the panther above the building's name seemed ominous, but that didn't stop Binall.
"Hurry up!" She called back, "It's still open!"
Bursting into the building, Binall startled the man behind the desk, "Hey! Can we join a Guild?"
The man glanced down at a stack of papers on his desk, "Well let me check…"
Fernand walked in as well, panting heavily, "Binall, how can you run so fast in all of that armour?"
Binall shrugged, "I don't know, I just can."
The man, who was the Guildmaster, chuckled, "You come from far away?"
Fernand shrugged, "Not really, but we walked here, so it was pretty tiring."
Binall leaned on the Guildmaster's desk, "So? Can we join a Guild or something?"
Sighing, the man shook his head, "No, seems like all the current Guilds are filled to the maximum. The only other thing you could do is create one but…"
"We'll do it!" She said enthusiastically.
Fernand groaned, "What? We're creating a Guild? How much is that going to cost us?"
The Guildmaster shook his head, "No, no. You don't understand. You get paid to be apart of a Guild."
"Really?" Binall asked happily, "I'm all in then!"
"Where's Beenoth?"Fernand asked, looking around, "I thought she was right behind us."
"Come to think of it," Binall said, scratching her cheek, "She might have said something like, 'Go on ahead, you're monsters' and then she stopped running."
"Oh, here she is," Fernand commented as he watched a teenager a little younger than Binall, gasping and wheezing, approaching the building.
She stopped in the doorway, "You… You… You're insane… Both of you!" She inhaled roughly, "How… how do you do it?"
Fernand shrugged, "You just didn't inherit Dad's stamina, that's all. You did get some of Mom's better traits though," He comforted.
The Guildmaster assessed them, "You all related?" He asked, beginning to set out various papers in front of him.
"Yup." Binall grinned.
Regaining her breath the slim brunette, Beenoth, picked up the papers, "What's the name gonna be?" She asked her siblings, filling out the basics.
"Uh…" Binall thought, "Zasfino," She said finally.
"Why?" Fernand asked, almost disgusted.
"I dunno." She replied, "First thing that popped into my head, that's all."
"You sure, sister?" Beenoth asked warily, "It's kinda weird."
"Yes, I'm sure," Binall said irrevocably.
"Okay then," Beenoth sighed, filling out the appropriate box.
It took little time for Beenoth to finish the papers and hand them to the Guildmaster. He studied them and once finished, stamped them with a red ink.
He opened a drawer in the desk and removed a blank, flexible card and filled some things out on it and stamped it too.
"Who wants to have the Guild card?" He asked holding the card out, "It's your, let's say, Guild License."
"I'll take it!" Binall stepped forward enthusiastically, but Fernand stopped her.
"I'll take it," He said soberly, taking the card and placing it in a leather pouch underneath his breast plate.
"Anyplace we could stay?" Beenoth asked the Guildmaster politely.
"There's the Rooster Inn a ways down the street, they have a discount for Guild members," He replied.
"Sounds nice enough." Binall hummed, leaving as she did so.
Beenoth followed her sister, but Fernand stayed behind a bit, "Where could be find more members, possibly?" He asked.
"There's plenty of people at the Golden Deer Pub, or if you're looking for someone in particular, you could run it through me and I could find the person." The guildmaster answered.
"Oh, okay," Fernand thanked him and left.
Once he was gone, the Guildmaster sighed despairingly, "Poor kids… I really hate my job." He said as he flipped though a extensively packed folder labelled "Casualties".
"Oh?" The innkeeper smiled, "You're a new guild?" He asked with a seemingly sincere grin.
"Yup!" Binall replied happily, "How much for one room?"
"Thirty en for three." He replied, accepting the money and tucking it away, "Room three, here's the key."
Fernand took the key and thanked the innkeeper. The trio made their way to their room and got settled there. There was one bed and one couch, the latter of which Fernand laid down in and fell asleep while the two sisters took the bed.
"You sure we're doing the right thing?" Beenoth asked, once the lights were out.
"Of course we are!"Binall replied harshly, nudging her sister roughly.
"Shut up and go to sleep," Fernand groaned irately.
"This is what a pub is?" Binall asked bluntly the next morning as they walked into the Golden Deer Pub.
Fernand caught the startled look of the bartender and elbowed Binall, "Don't be rude, a pub is a center of a community," He reprimanded, "With alcohol on the side," He added.
The brunette bartender smiled kindly, "That's one way to put it," She laughed, "My name is Valerie, you must be the new guild in town."
"Word travels fast," Beenoth said admiringly.
Valerie smiled sweetly again, "It's a close knit society here in Etria." She said.
"It must," Fernand said, sitting at the bar, "I'll just have some water."
"Same goes for us," Binall said, joining Fernand, forcing Beenoth to do so also.
Fernand glanced to the side at a group of rowdier adventurers further down the bar, "They being any trouble?" He asked Valerie.
She shook her head, "Not really, they're another new guild named Fullguard, just got back from a well-paying quest." She explained, "They've spent most of their reward already."
One of Fullguards, a young, provocatively dressed pink-haired woman was engaged in a wild drunken dance, while two other men watched, one fairer and older with jet black hair and the other was darker skinned with stormy white hair. They both showed signs of drunkenness, apart from the fact that the dark-haired man concealed it better than the other man. Another woman sat with them, glass of milk in front of her, watching her comrades with pious disgust. She brushed her orangish hair out of her eyes and stood up and walked over to Fernand with her glass of milk.
Valerie smiled at the woman, "Tired of their company, Opus?" She asked.
"They're good most of the time, but one drop of alcohol and pew! Gone," Opus sighed loudly. She glanced at the three siblings, "Will you be sober long?"
Binall grinned, "Sober for my whole life, miss." She said proudly.
"Haven't gotten drunk in a couple years," Fernand grumbled, less thrilled than his sister.
"I'm underage." Beenoth said innocently.
Opus leveled her gaze at Fernand, "You've gotten drunk before?" She asked, almost maliciously.
"Uh, long time ago," Fernand replied sheepishly.
"If there's one thing I cannot stand, it's a drunk." Opus shivered, "As a doctor, I can tell you, there's better things to do with your time and money."
The pale, dark-haired man stumbled past his pink-haired companion and joined the conversation, "You never celebrate with us Opie, why are you such a downer?" He whined.
"Quiet yourself, Nickoz," Opus growled, "The first rule of being a doctor is do no harm, but exceptions can be made," She threatened ominously.
Nickoz ignored Opus's threat and bumbled around towards Fernand, "You're apart of a guild, aren't you?" He asked.
"As of yesterday," Fernand answered, braving Nickoz's breath.
"What are you called?" Nickoz asked, something churning in the back of his head.
Binall entered in suddenly, "Zasfino." She said proudly.
"That's stupid." Nickoz said bluntly, "Know what would be cooler?"
"What?" Fernand asked amusedly.
"Zasguard," Nickoz burped, "Let's combine our guilds, kid. We'd be great."
Opus shook her head, "As much as I hate agreeing with him, he's right. It'd be in best interest for both of us to merge," She agreed, almost choking on her words.
"It's sudden, don't you think?" Valerie remarked, surprised, "You barely know each other."
Nickoz laughed, "Then! Tomorrow we go into the Labyrinth together and impress each other!" He stumbled out of the bar, shouting back, "See you tomorrow, kid."
"Cool! Zasguard!" Binall cheered.
Beenoth stared blankly at her sister, "Not much flies through your head, does it?"
Fernand glared at his youngest sister, "Shush, Beenoth, you know she only thinks when she has to, and when she does, hoo boy." He reminded her.
Opus and her comrades left as well, but before she left she said, "Well, kid, this may be a start of a beautiful partnership."