"Don't, you'll regret it." Karla said. Grinding my teeth in rage I held the battle axe inches from the player's face, who was pinned down under my foot. "Ok then, what do you suggest we do now?" I asked, hoping she had some kind of plan that would actually prevent me from killing this guy. "Take this and teleport to Taft!" she commanded, handing me a blue teleport crystal.
I looked down at the player squirming under my foot. "She probably just saved your life." I spat at him. "Now, Wolf! We have to go now, they're closing in." Karla pleaded. She was right, of course. The orange players were destabilized at the arrival of Karla, unsure of how another player was going to affect the outcome of the battle. But it wouldn't last, and there was no way we were going to let them recover before getting out of there. I held the crystal and called out "Taft".
I saw one of my attackers try desperately to get in a last blow. His sword vanished from my sight moments before hitting me. Then everything turned white as the second floor was erased from my sight and quickly got replaced with the scenery of the town of Taft. I flinched as I rematerialized on the teleporter even if the attacker was no longer in front of me. I took a step to get off the platform but Karla grabbed my shoulder. "Don't get off. We can't stay here. Go to Elland and head for the keep. Don't ask questions, just do it!" she said. She called out "Elland" and disappeared from my sight. I watched her go and then I also called out the name of the town we'd already spent so much time in.
I reappeared on Elland's teleportation platform. A feeling of safety came over me as I arrived in this all too familiar town. Quickly getting my bearings I took off down the street and headed for the keep. Karla must have taken off faster than me as I couldn't see her on the street. Arriving at the keep, I only glanced briefly at this impressive building before entering it and meandering through the corridors and heading up the stairs to the main hall
"I hope you weren't followed." Karla burst out as I got into the hall. I stopped in my tracks, this was not going to be a smooth reunion. Her tone of voice was already scolding. I cringed, even though I knew I probably deserved it. "I don't think so. No one got off the platform after me." I stated. "You better be right. If they think we're a threat they won't hesitate to hunt us down and kill us! But if they can't track us we have a chance that they'll just leave us alone. I don't want to have to deal with them, I don't know why we have to deal with murderers. I was actually trying to avoid the second floor altogether, and I was doing just that, until mister here had to get himself into trouble." Karla complained.
"It wasn't my fault, I was just trying to get back to Urbus." I whined. Her tone of voice had put me on the defensive. "That was really stupid of you, going out alone. You think you can handle it? Well you're wrong. The creatures are unpredictable, even on the lower floors. Even a low level creature can stun you or paralyze you in some way, if they have the ability. When that happens there's really nothing you can do, the creature then has all the liberty to kill you." Karla scolded.
"I can handle the creatures, it's the players I have trouble with. I admit I wasn't prepared for that kind of encounter. And honestly, I don't want to ever be in that situation again. I don't want to face the prospect of actually having to kill someone. If you hadn't shown up, and managed to stop me, there would have been one less player in the game." I said. I shivered at the prospect, amplified by the panic that still lingered as an aftereffect of that encounter. "You came to help me in the nick of time, and I'm so glad you did. But how is that even possible? I mean how did you know? How did you find me?" I questioned.
"Ory contacted me." she huffed, as she crossed her arms and frowned in disapproval. "He said you were heading back to Urbus from Taran. Just a few minutes before, I was reading the news some of the players publish. It warned about orange players wandering the lower floors and of players disappearing without a trace." she said.
"I was so upset with you: using a friend to reach me, going out into the wilderness solo, hanging out with that ... other girl. I wanted to catch up with you and give you a piece of my mind. " she grumbled. "I ran to the teleport and headed down to Urbus. There's really only one road to Taran from Urbus so I took that and practically ran down it. My mind was set on catching up with you. I really had a bad feeling, and I just couldn't get rid of it." she recounted.
"My blood went cold when I heard my name. I wasn't very far away when I heard you cry out. I freaked out, unsheathed my katana and ran in the direction the voice had come from." she said. She took a deep breath as if it was hard to keep her calm. "I wasn't even careful, I just ran in without a second thought for my own safety. I don't know what I was thinking. Then after ... well you know the rest." Karla fumed. I nodded silently, embarrassed at my stupidity and upset with having put Karla in danger.
"What were you doing there anyway? Why come down to a lower floor? The hunting would be pointless and the shops can't offer you things that aren't available on higher floors. It doesn't make much sense." Karla said. "I was looking for someone I know." I said simply. "Well did you at least find that person?" she asked. I smiled in spite of myself "It's actually the other way around." I said.
"You found me!"
