Chapter 13 - Another Day

December/24th/2022

Alshep

I didn't notice any sooner but I can now see the turquoise tone of the wall thanks to the sunlight that is starting to creep inside the room from the near window. I like the color, I like it quite a lot to be honest. It's easy on the eyes and it looks nice on clothing, or at least I think so. The shirt I'm wearing right now is that color anyways. While going out to town I would wear something over it, like a coat, usually gray or black. If I were going outside of town I would just cover it with armor. I'm the kind of guy that prefers to wear what he likes instead of going for efficient gear. Daath has lectured me a few times about this, in the earlier days at least. I should wear something that at the very least boosts my defense, he says, but I refuse, naturally.

I feel my leg is going numb, so I adjust my position in the chair a little. How can I even feel my leg go numb? My best guess is that perhaps my brain has become too used to the game. It's seriously weird how I haven't grown accustomed to sleeping in chairs. I've been sleeping like so pretty much since the start. I keep staring off at the wall for a bit and become self-conscious for a minute. I suddenly feel trapped and very uncomfortable, the outline of the HUD for some reason becomes too noticeable and I just close my eyes tightly to avoid seeing it. That's right, I'm basically in a coma, I say to myself in my head. The thought itself might be dumb, because my brain is actually lucid, in a way at least, but the simple fact that what I see before my eyes, my body, isn't really my physical body bothers me greatly. I rest my eyes easy for a minute or two and open them slowly to see Elina rise from the bed not too far from where I'm sitting.

She slowly sits up as the sheets covering her move around. Rubbing her eyes slowly, she opens them to stare into space for a few seconds before yawning. She closes her mouth and turns her head very slowly trying to locate me. Our eyes meet and she yawns again, after that she smiles warmly.

"Goo…morning," she whispers.

"It's good morning," I tease.

"Aw…geez...isn't it a little too early for you to tease me?" she says.

I chuckle and stand up to stretch a little.

"It is never too early for anything," I say with a smile.

"If you say so," she says with another yawn.

She lies on her back again and turns around to bury her face on her pillow. I can see her moving her feet up and down under the covers and then she relaxes.

"Can I ask a question?" I say.

She turns her head and doesn't say anything right away.

"Sure...I guess."

"How does it feel to do that? You know for you," I say, "that didn't come out right…."

"Oh… You mean moving my legs?" she says with a withdrawn tone.

"Yeah…uh, I'm sorry, you don't have to answer," I say as I go through my menu.

"No, no, it's ok. I'm sorta surprised you didn't ask earlier."

"Really?" I reply

She nods and sits up again with a smile. I feel somewhat better with myself and sit down in the chair again.

"But, come closer," she says cheerfully.

"Hah, alright," I say while I stand up.

I walk over to the bed and sit on the edge facing her.

"Well I wasn't always disabled, that much you know," she says, "I guess it just feels normal, you know? It feels like it used to. It's hard to explain…sorry."

"It's ok, it was an odd question anyway," I answer.

"You are curious, it's alright," she says with a bright smile.

The usual beeping tells me I just received a message and proceed to open it through my menu. It's from Kayla.

From: Kayla
To: Alshep
Subject: Hurry!
Message: We are close to leaving. I suggest you two hurry. Our dear "Chief" isn't exactly in the holiday mood.

I knew at least someone of the group would hate Christmas. I guess it's just up to our "Chief" this time around. I would have expected Aeri to hate the holiday, but what the hell, I guess I find this surprising.

"Wait…what day is it today?" Elina asks all of the sudden.

"The twenty fourth, Christmas eve," I say.

Her usual happy expression turns into one of disgust.

"God…I hate Christmas," she mutters.

And the day is just starting.

"Alright, is this all of us?" Daath asks.

"Are you blind? Or have you been hanging out with another set of four people?" I reply. "Of course it's all of us."

He looks at me with a rather stern expression and sighs. Ask a stupid question, get a stupid answer. It's not my fault. Aeri coughs slightly at a humorous attempt to break the silence, I chuckle a bit and straighten up in my seat.

"Stupid jokes aside," Daath says. "Do you know what day is it today?"

"It's Christmas Eve!" Aeri shouts cheerfully.

"No!" Daath raises his voice.

"It is not Christmas eve…" Aeri says in a depressed tone.

"Today is training day," Daath exclaims, "We've been slacking off guys, we have to go out and get some EXP."

"No, I'm pretty sure it's Christmas Eve," I say to piss him off.

"It's Christmas Eve!" Aeri yells again.

"Would you two shut it for a second?!" he says slamming the table.

"Calm down a little Daath. No need to be so moody about it," Kayla says as she crosses her arms.

"You guys are taking this as a game, once outside we are in danger," he comments, "If we are not strong enough, we will die. This is not a game."

"Well, we are technically in a ga-" I interrupt myself.

Elina, Kayla and Aeri are staring me down fiercely. I swallow hard and shut the hell up. I was just about to push it too far.

"Ok, chief. Where to?" Aeri says.

"Don't call me that please. I know you guys do it as a joke, but it's somewhat irritating," he says.

"Well, you do train us and literally give us mission directives. What should we call you then?" Kayla says.

"Just…call me by my name," He mutters before sitting down on the table.

"Look," I huff. "It is not a joke, you are our leader, man. You trained me and Elina in the beginning. No matter how much we argue and contradict each other. I look up to you, the way I would do to a leader."

I see Aeri and Kayla smile along with Elina. Daath chuckles a bit and smiles again.

"Now, why don't you talk like that all the time?" he replies.

"I don't know. I enjoy being the asshole of the group I guess."

Daath chuckles again and the mood settles in nicely. I smile to myself and feel satisfied for some odd reason.

"So what are we going to do in this training day?" Elina asks.

"Just some easy fetch quests. Maybe just killing monsters randomly," he answers, "I would want to focus on you, Elina. You are still level eleven. The main issue at hand now is us leaving, we should go now."

"I'm just two levels behind is it really that bad?" she says.

"I don't want to risk it," Daath insists.

Elina looks at me somewhat confused and I just nod at her. It is true everyone except her right now is level thirteen. It is natural for us to be worried about her I guess. In some way she is the little sister of the group, and I'm her boyfriend or something…I guess. I feel like slapping myself over the string of thought I just had.

"Ok, so where to, chie-…Daath." Aeri says.

"Into the forest. The enemies are tough, but manageable with a group our size. It'll be ok," he answers.

Kayla suddenly shakes in a very odd way and she sighs deeply.

"Please tell me we are not heading to those disturbing moss things that almost swallowed me."

"Was it really that bad?" I ask.

She turns to me with and angry look and suddenly I feel tiny and weak. God she can be scary.

"Was it bad? Was it bad?! I almost died you buffoon!" she yells.

"Okay guys, simmer down. We need to leave soon," Daath says.

Thankfully Kayla backs away from me and I'm able to breathe easy once again. I'm about to stand up when a loud crashing sound booms through the inn. It is very loud, sounded almost like an explosion.

The HUD suddenly shows a red warning and the color signaling that we were in a safe area disappears.

"What the hell was that?!" I yell.

"Shit…I wanted us out of here before this…" Daath mutters.

"You fucking idiot… What didn't you tell us this time?!" I ask filled with anger.

"This is an event…a twisted Christmas event," he says.

"What the hell are you talking about? It isn't even Christmas yet!" I say.

I hear another loud boom and I'm pushed violently by something. I see everyone's health in my HUD go down significantly as I try to get up. A quick glance to the ceiling makes me realize there is no more ceiling. A towering green-ish fiend stands above us lifting its massive fist ready to strike again.

"Everyone move!" Aeri shouts.

I stand up as quick as possible and locate Elina quickly. She is still lying on the floor trying to get up. I start running and grab her arm, I pull on her and make her stand up fast. She complains a bit but I keep pulling her close as we exit the inn. Just in time to see the giant mass of trees and vines come crashing down, doing more damage to the building.

"Oh dear god… It's one of the monsters that almost swallowed me." Kayla mutters next to me.

"Oh really? I didn't recall you saying they were the size of fucking buildings!" I say.

"It was a million times smaller…I swear," she replies.

The giant turns its head towards us and a high pitched scream is heard. It is so high it almost gives me a head ache. Elina covers her ears and so does Kayla.

I cover my ears as well. Daath pulls on Kayla's shoulder and I can only see him mouth words at us. He constantly waves his hand towards him. I grab Elina's hand and take her with me to where Daath is pointing to.

The screaming stops just as we reach the back of a house where Aeri is standing with her sword drawn. Kayla pulls her rapier out and Elina draws her sword as she readies her buckler.

"Want to brief us genius?" I snarl a Daath.

He sighs and takes out his sword as well.

"This is an event that happens randomly in Christmas Eve only on this floor. It's called Christmas Miracle," he says.

"How do you even know about this?!" I yell at Daath, "The beta didn't run that long!"

"Argo warned me about it dumbass!" he replies. "I wanted us to be out of here before it came here."

"What the hell? Why place an event on a town?" Aeri asks.

"Beats me, but it's up to us to destroy that thing now," he says. "and that guy apparently."

"Huh, what guy?" Kayla asks.

Daath raises his hand and points behind us. We all turn around to see a lone man with the bulkiest armor I've ever seen approach us. He wields a long spear and a teardrop shield almost as big as his armor.

"Hey, are you ok?" he asks from afar.

I turn around to see the big green monster ready his fist to crush the house behind us. My sudden move makes everyone turn around and notice it just in time to move away to safety. I pull out my sword and I feel a hand on my shoulder. I quickly move away and point my sword to the tall armored man.

"What do you want?" I ask.

"I just want to help, there's no need for violence friend," he says gently.

His voice is very relaxed and his expression without fear or anger, it is way too peaceful.

"I'm not your frie-" I manage to say before he pushes me away with inhuman strength.

I fall on my ass and one of the giant's arms fall down violently right in front of me right where the armored guy was standing. Did he die?

The giant mass of greens jerks its arm off the ground and scream again in that high pitched tone. The man in armor stands peacefully as he regains his relaxed stance after attacking the massive monster.

"How did you do that?" I ask.

He turns to me with eyes closed and a smile on his face.

"I'm just good at this game I guess."

I stand up and grab my sword. Seeing it shine bright green I smile and start my run to the giant's feet. Aeri jumps on a roof and lands perfectly as her sword shines. Kayla is attacking one of the arms that missed them and is currently stuck on the ground along with Elina.

"Don't get too close! It'll swallow you if given the chance," Daath screams as he rushes the monster.

"Be careful," I hear someone say close to me.

I turn my head a little behind me and see the bulky armor approaching me with his spear at the ready.

"You worry about yourself," I say, "…friend."

With another smile he nods at me and starts heading over to where Daath is standing. Where did his guy come from anyways?

I look up at the beast just as I'm about to reach its feet and notice its health has not been depleted at all. It took me a while, but then I also noticed the purple cursor right above its head.

"This is a purple monster!" I yell.

"Then don't face it head on genius!" Aeri screams back at me.

I pull my sword back and swing it over my head to attack its feet, the damage effect goes off and my sword connects successfully. I quickly unleash another skill and slash it hard a few times. The monster doesn't even flinch. What kind of skill was the other guy using, it at the very least managed to make the giant jerk his arm. It made it look like what I was doing were mere scratches.

"Hey! Armor guy!" I yell.

He finishes attacking the green giant and turns his face to me.

"What level are you?" I ask.

Aeri leaps from a building and attacks near the chest, she then falls to the ground gracefully and again jumps on a roof. I completely lose track of Kayla, Daath and Elina. Their health bars remain the same after the first attack so that's good.

"Fourteen," the man in armor says.

"Holy fuck, really?" I ask awestruck.

It's not that big of a difference but he is better than us that's for sure. He simply nods and then returns his attention to the fight. Aeri is staring in awe now. The man is one mere level above us, but that just manages to make all the difference.

"Let's go into the forest for a bit, it can't get us there he is too big!" Daath instructs.

"What makes you think it won't destroy the trees?" Kayla shouts.

"Just do it! We need some sort of plan," he replies.

We all heed to his order and go into the forest. It is a bit of a rushed mess but we all gather behind the biggest tree in sight and rest a bit as we drink some potions.

"First things first. Who are you?" Daath asks to the armored spear wielder.

"I'm Owl," he simply responds.

"Owl? Just like that?" Aeri asks rudely.

"Yes, just like that."

I glance around a bit and see that everyone is as confused as I am. Where did he come from? Why is he stronger than us? Why the hell is he acting so calm?!

"Ok…uhm...Owl, if you don't mind I think we could use your help," Daath says.

The guy turns to him and nods. I guess that's a yes.

"Alright this is what we are going to do," Daath says.

Everything is a big chaotic mess, Daath's plan didn't work as expected and we find ourselves fighting the exact same way we started. Aeri keeps attacking relentlessly from the roof, but we only chipped away at ten percent of the giant's health. It is incredibly discouraging. The man in armor is a tank and I dare say his simple cooperation with us is giving us a slight advantage.

He is at a higher level than us, but even with his help we were struggling, but as I said he is at least giving us a fighting chance. A whirring sound sets off near me and I see Elina cross my side as she attacks with her best skill. She slashes the foot fast and savagely, I stop counting at five hits and focus on the cooldown time of my own skills. I still got a few seconds to go.

"Daath, does this massive one have a core as well?" Kayla asks as she steps back.

Daath blocks one of the vines that comes loose and tries to hit him and then jumps back to a safe distance.

"It should… It is the same monster, just bigger," he huffs.

"Bigger is an understatement," I mumble.

"I heard that!" he replies.

I see a vine coming towards me and lift up my sword to block it. It clashes against my blade, but instead of backing off it starts to wrap around it. It makes a couple circles around it quickly and it forcefully yanks my sword away from my hands.

I see the vine holding my blade a few feet above and then it throws it away far behind me. The vine swings back and attacks me. Luckily Elina cuts it just in time. The severed vine bursts into light and I begin my run towards my discarded sword.

"Is it safe to assume the core is massive as well?" Kayla inquiries.

"I would think so, yeah," Daath answers.

"Owl, watch out!" Aeri shouts.

The man in armor isn't paying attention, so he doesn't notice the giant's arm coming down on him. For a brief second the thought of his death crosses my mind yet again, but just as last time the colossal enemy jerks its fist off the ground and I see the man named Owl chuckling with his spear in the air.

"So, in this case, how do we get to the core?" Kayla questions.

It looks like she is totally disregarding the current situation and just blatantly asking questions to the air in hopes of getting answers. Daath does answer of course, but it just feels like they aren't taking this very seriously.

"Unless one of us jumps at it and waits to get swallowed, there's no way to reach it," Daath says as he finishes his attack, "and even if we do that, there's no telling where the core is, it would be very risky."

"How risky exactly?" I ask.

"It could be a one way ticket," Daath answers.

I pick up my sword from the ground and point with it at the distant giant's chest. Somewhere around there I guess. I start another run, but this time to where Owl is standing.

"Don't do it you thick headed idiot!" Aeri yells to me.

I chuckle at the insult and start speeding up as I close in on Owl.

"Hey, Owl!" I scream.

He turns to me for a brief second.

"Launch me! Use your shield!" I yell as I get closer.

"Are you sure?" he says.

I nod and immediately he drops his spear to grab his shield with both hands.

"What do I aim for?" he asks.

"The chest!"

I jump just as he positions himself and land on the lower part of his shield. He grunts and with little difficulty swings his shield under me, launching me right towards the enemy's chest. I'll be honest, I did not expect this to work.

I ready the piercing skill as I'm flying through the air and scream loudly, maybe from both the adrenaline and fear I don't know for sure. The whirring sound intensifies as I get close and it booms loudly as my sword pierces through the giant and impales itself right on the chest.

I hang on to my sword's grip and place my legs on the monster to have some more space to hold on to. I can feel the mass of vines, leaves and trees move under my feet. It feels somewhat disgusting to say the least.

"Nice throw!" I yell at Owl.

He acknowledges me with a nod and picks up his spear to continue his attack. I see Elina from where I'm holding on and see her face shows a little fear. I'll be ok, after all I've got a few promises to keep. I smile and then feel the vines starting to loop around my feet. Like snakes they twirl around my feet and start going up my legs.

This is it.

"Idiot, you can still let go. Come on! It isn't worth it," Daath yells from down below.

I start pulling my sword just as I feel I'm secure enough to not fall from the vines and manage to pull it out rather easily. My full weight is now supported simply by the beast itself trying to consume me. I switch my blade to my left hand and quickly fumble through my pockets to get a potion.

I find the small vial and quickly drink it as the moss and vines reach up to my belly. It feels odd. While the giant is trapping me with its own body I still retain little mobility in my legs. As if I was trapped in some kind of jelly, making it hard for me to move.

"I know it's a bad time to ask…but what does this core look like?!" I ask loudly.

"I don't know…I don't know. I'm sorry, it's just like a round hard thing. Like a rock," Kayla says with desperation in her voice.

Her description is rather poor, I guess this is really a one way ticket then. The greens reach up to my arms and my health starts depleting slowly. The potion recovers some of my health as I'm taking damage so it looks like my health is barely dropping.

The monster slowly starts creeping over my face and I find myself breathing in deeply as it swallows me whole. It is dark, very dark, but I can see a faint light not far from me. Maybe it's the core? Then again Kayla didn't mention they glowed or anything.

I can still sort of move inside but I feel a strange force trying to restrain me. The monster obviously doesn't want me moving inside. I activate all my skills as fast as I can one after the other. Every time I attack it feels slightly easier to move and I had set myself to reach the glowing object.

It is exhausting, not only do I need to fight a force trying to hold me down, but the pressure the giant's body applies to mine is everything but comfortable. I finally reach the source of the glowing light and touch something hard and smooth right in front of me.

"This must be it," I mutter to myself.

I hear the beast scream loudly again and the vines around me get incredibly tight. They start eating at me health faster and it becomes even harder to move. It must know I reached its weak point.

I trigger a skill and slowly move my sword to make contact with the glowing orb. My health reaches the critical level and the system decides to warm me about it. My sword is slowly getting to the glowing orb when a vine crushes my right arm violently making me drop my sword.

Shit.

I struggle hard to reach my sword but it quickly sinks deeper into the monster and away from my reach. I can hear my heart beating, nothing else. Slowly my desperate grunts start booming in my ears it makes for the most frustrating moment so far in this game.

Somehow I manage to open my menu and try to take out something useful. In a moment of desperation I find the most unusual piece of equipment of them all.

-Wolf Blade (Broken)-

Suddenly I'm glad I kept this piece of crap. The broken blade materializes into my hand and I start trying to reach the orb again with the jagged blade. My health reaches fifty points, and I start to shake and move violently. I need to reach it…

Forty three.

Thirty five.

Twelve.

I'm going to die.

Scared, I close my eyes.

A cracking noise is heard all of the sudden and my health stops dropping. I open my eyes slowly and see that the badly broken blade managed to make contact with the orb. The orb starts cracking and it bursts into light some few short seconds after. I am blinded by light shortly after. The monster's body must've exploded. It is just as the light stops blurring my sight that I realize I am more than a few feet from the ground.

Well, at least I managed to kill it, everyone will be safe now. I plummet to the ground, but suddenly I stop falling. I don't slam into the ground like I thought I would. I turn my sight a little and meet with the new face. Owl caught me before slamming into the ground.

"Are you alright?" he asks

"Yeah…thank you," I say. "Not that I'm ungrateful, but please put me down."

He is holding me like a princess and it is embarrassing. He apologizes and sets me on my feet.

"Here drink this, buddy," he says as he hands me a red vial.

"Thanks," I answer.

I uncap the tiny vial and start drinking and smile as see my health slowly starting to go up. Cutting it close once again, it's almost as if I like near death scenarios. I kneel on the spot and sit on my ass to rest.

"Impressive," Owl comments.

"Ha, thanks," I say smugly.

"Al!" I hear from afar.

Elina is running towards me with her eyes filled with tears. She drops her sword and her buckler and continues running to me. As she reaches me she drops on her knees and hugs me tightly. I support myself with one hand placed on the floor behind me and place the other over her back and hug her gently.

"I'm ok, don't worry," I whisper.

"I thought you were gone…" she says close to my ear.

I see Aeri come down from a roof near us and she sheathes her sword. She then leans her back on the wall and slides down to sit and drink a potion. Kayla and Daath are walking from down the street up to us. Elina stops burying her face on my chest and wipes her tears away. She looks straight into my eyes and smiles, I do so too. Then without thinking I lean in to kiss her. I guess it just feels appropriate. At first she tenses up but then she relaxes and wraps her arms around me.

Sadly this blissful moment lasts but a few seconds.

"I knew it!" Aeri shouts off the top of her lungs.

I open my eyes and stop doing what I was doing. I look ahead and see Aeri make a little victory dance on the spot as she keeps repeating. "I knew it! I knew it!" She then starts running towards us and stops right in front of us.

"I totally knew you two were boyfriend and girlfriend," she shouts.

I stand up and help Elina on her feet. I sigh loudly and look at Elina, she is blushing a lot and is staring at me.

"Yeah, we are," I say.

I feel Elina taking hold of my hand and suddenly I don't care anymore of what Aeri has to say. I'm just happy. Result screens suddenly pops out infront of us.

-Christmas Miracle Event-

An odd name for an event that isn't even on Christmas day, but I guess it is a miracle we managed to pull through. I am about to speak when a clapping noise starts to grow louder and more frequent. NPCs start surrounding us, clapping and screaming in joy.

"Thanks, heroes!" they yell.

"Thank you so much," says another voice.

We stand in the middle of a crowd that is congratulating us and crying out of joy that we saved their little town. It is an amazing moment, it feels great to play hero.

It takes a bit for the crowd to settle down, and by a bit I mean like three hours. The inn keeper tells us the inn is still operable in its current state, and after a long fight that's all we want to hear. We wanted to rest and unwind from the sudden epic battle.

The place is badly damaged but the fireplace is lit up and we gather a bunch of chairs to sit and eat lots of food.

"I say we make Owl part of our group," Kayla comments.

Immediately Daath's attention switches to her and he looks like he is about to get pissed.

"That's a good idea," Elina seconds.

"Yeah, what the hell...can't hurt us" I say.

"Have you guys even considered maybe he doesn't want to join?" Daath scolds.

"Actually I wanted to ask if I could join you," says Owl.

Daath and Aeri look at each other quickly and nod.

"Ok, fine," Daath says, "Welcome to our deranged team."

Thank you, chief. Are we really that bad?

"You guys are spectacular. I've never seen such a coordinated and cooperative team in here," Owl says with a smile.

Thank you, recent acquaintance. I knew we weren't that bad.

"Then it has been decided, lets add our new team mate to our party," Kayla suggests.

Daath goes through his menu to send him a message and the box pops up in front of Owl. He accepts quickly and a new and last name for our party appears below Kayla's name.

-Owlman439-

We all sit in silence and Aeri coughs softly. Kayla covers her mouth and starts giggling, trying to keep it discrete she turns her head to the side. Elina's cheeks blow up a little and she starts laughing loudly. Noticing this she covers her mouth and hides her face as well.

"Really? Four thirty nine?" Aeri mutters.

"So there at least four hundred and thirty eight more with your name?" I mock trying not to burst out in laughter.

"I have no idea, it's just been my user name for pretty much everything," he adds without reaction to our laughter.

"How old are you?" Elina asks.

"I am fifteen."

Jaws drop yet again, mine included.

"You are fucking huge," I grunt.

"Yes, I worked out a lot," he responds.

We talk into the night and keep picking at Owl without any response of him. I guess he is the kind of guy you just can't tick off. In a way it is a pretty nice day. We are eating a feast under the open sky…through a broken roof, but under the open sky nevertheless. No matter if Daath and Elina didn't like Christmas it is going to be a good one.

Crysina here!

I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

This chapter has been updated as of July/29/2016

Thanks to Donna Hufflepuff for beta-reading this chapter!

This was unbelievably fun to write. Owl is the creation of one of the guys who took the time to favorite and follow my story back when I was first uploading it. Credit still goes to him, thanks a lot wherever you are Terra Booma. I hold Owl dearly in my heart and consider him a strong part of my story.

Thank you for reading!

Next Chapter: "Recollection"