Well, welcome to chapter three of "Blurring the Lines". Things are getting interesting, and I'm actually starting to think a little more of what's going to happen. Just so you know, almost everyone that appears is actually modeled after people I know, met, or played with. Can you guess who I am? ; Anywho, read and enjoy
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Chapter 3: Old Friends, New WorldThe newcomers' walked along, their eyes distracted by everything in the city. The first-classers, the new mage and thieves, and also a new swordsman, stared in awe at everything they saw. The second classers, who consisted of a tall hunter, a quiet priestess, a curious monk and an excitable assassin saw Prontera as they expected it to be, but at the same time, it wasn't at all like what they had imagined.
The sky was a pure, unadulterated blue, unlike that could ever be seen in populated California and it enthralled them, especially since they had just come from a dismal storm. There were fluffy clouds that resembled tufts of vanilla ice cream, and everywhere there were people. Some moving, some inactive, some with shops, and surprisingly enough, some with little boxes of their chats that displayed such messages. That implied, however…
"So it is just a game!" Tim exclaimed, then quickly turned to Robert and simply smiled. It was a little innocent, a little mischievous, and just a little bit evil. The assassin backed up a few steps and glared back at the blue-haired monk. "…Good."
Bao just shook his head, "Then I wonder, I guess we can find our guild then, right!?"
Just as Steph was about to answer, from the dull roar of the crowd, a voice cried out, "Hey! Bao! Tim! Steph! Hey!!"
Hearing their companions' names called, Robert and the first classers turned in the direction of the voice, only to see a white haired hunter running towards him. He stopped for a moment as he bent over, hands on his knees, panting heavily. When he caught his breath, he straightened up and smiled brightly at them.
"Guys, it's Harrison!"
Their mouths dropped in shock; Harrison wasn't with them at the time of the teleportation, so how could he be there now!? With his sparkling grey eyes, elfish ears, some white glasses on his head and a flower in his mouth, he looked absolutely charming, though he and Bao shared the same uniform.
"H-h-HARRISON!?" Stephanie exclaimed loudly as she looked over his appearance.
"Heh, yeah. It took me awhile to figure out how to get to my inventory," Harrison said, smiling as he scratched his head. "I see you haven't figured out how to do it yet."
Bao was just speechless. It didn't occur to him that he must look very different until he set his eyes upon Harrison. They really weren't in their world anymore, and it definitely wasn't a dream, but the white-haired hunter said…
"Inventory?" Bao asked, blinking at the white-haired hunter, "If we can get into inventory, then it's just a game after all?"
Harrison nodded at Bao, then looked at the entire group, "We can die and be resurrected freely, but that doesn't mean it doesn't hurt."
He pointed at his arm where there was a deep gash, and he just grinned at the emerald haired priestess, "Heal please!"
Stephanie protested against his request and backed up into her boyfriend, "N-No! I don't know how to do it! We just got here!"
"Just focus," was all that he said.
Staring at her own small hands, then at the wound in his arm, she could not help but feel obligated to. It's not as if she could just leave him in that condition, in some strange, strange world. That would be cruel and heartless! She was anything but that, or at least, she liked to believe so.
Closing her eyes and bringing her hands to her chest, Stephanie concentrated on healing Harrison. To be honest, she had no idea what she was supposed to do, but she just felt an urge to try, even if she couldn't. Then suddenly, she felt a warmth spread throughout her body, from her toes and concentrating in her chest, where her heart lie beating. Before Stephanie knew it, a light formed at her hands and she uttered one word:
"Heal !!"
A sparkling green light surrounded Harrison, and the wound instantly healed up. He stared from his arm, to the priestess and smiled at her. Even he had not expected her to do that, especially when he couldn't get a grip on his own hunter skills. He flexed his arm, testing it. It was healed perfectly!
"I…did it…?" The priestess whispered, staring down at her hands again.
"Wow! How'd you do that?" Caroline asked, coming up next to Steph.
Harrison stared at the first classers quizzically, not aware of who they were, "Who are they?"
"Oh! That's Tracy, Jon Wu, Roger, Caroline and Robert," Tim answered, pointing accordingly, but he noticed that just as he said the name Robert, Harrison made a face, obviously showing his discontent.
"HEY! I saw that!" Robert yelled indignantly, shoving his way to the front of the group so that he could be face to face with the elfish hunter. "Why are you ALWAYS such an ASS to me?!"
Jon shook his head and took a seat on a bench, "Oh man…"
Staring down at the ground, a rock suddenly came to his attention. Not aware that he was indeed performing a thief's skill, he picked up the rock and idly tossed it towards the group. He blinked a bit when he actually heard it hit someone.
"Hey! What do you think you're doing?" Roger yelled at the thief, rubbing his arm where the pebble had struck.
"I dunno. I just felt like doing it," the brown haired thief mumbled, scratching the back of his neck. "But I feel kind of weird…"
"It's because it's a skill!" Tim exclaimed randomly, "He used a skill just like Steph did! Hmmm…I wonder…"
Again, the blue haired monk turned his mischievous eyes onto the blonde assassin; it was all too tempting! He could just summon spheres, go into Fury mode and then, BAM! Bye bye, Robert… Tim wouldn't do that…just yet. Even at that, Robert wasn't even paying attention to him! Instead, he was too busy trying to start an argument with the rather unresponsive Harrison.
"What the HELL is your problem!?" Robert continued, his tirade seemingly never ending, "I haven't done ANYTHING to you! I don't even—"
Harrison cut him off swiftly by pulling out his bow, pulling back an arrow and aiming its sharp tip at Robert's face.
"Just…shut up," Harrison growled, his eyes narrowed on the spot between the assassin's eyes. "If you say another word, I'll let this arrow fly straight between your eyeballs."
The threat seemed to make all time stop; they were simply waiting for Robert's next action and the possible coming of doomsday upon his poor soul. Grumbling to himself about the unfairness of the world, Robert backed down, slowly returning to the back of the group. Harrison only smirked and put away his weapons, a twinkle in his grey eyes. He knew he had won, but Robert wasn't exactly happy about that…
Tracy stared at the assassin for a moment, then, she turned her head and spat out, "You weakling! Keh!"
"Whaa--!" Robert was about to start ranting again, until Caroline decided to intervene in the situation.
"Robert!" She scolded, pointing a finger at him, "If you would stop being such a CHILD maybe people would stop treating you like one!"
"ARGGHHH!" He yelled out and leapt for Caroline, tackling her down to the ground. "Why WON'T ANYONE RESPECT ME!?!?!"
Tim took a step forward, his spheres flaring suddenly in a burst of bright blue. He yelled at the assassin, "GET OFF OF HER!"
Off to the side, Harrison mumbled to himself, "Cause you're a retard."
However, while everyone else was quite alarmed by this sudden burst of violence, but the first to react to it was the red haired thief, Tracy. She lunged at him and knocked him off of Caroline, putting him into a chokehold as she slowly straightened herself out. On her face was a mask of fury; Robert had taken it too far, even if it was some freaky game world they had dropped into.
"Get a hold of yourself, you bastard!" Tracy snarled into his ear, "I get picked on too! You don't see me losing my cool!"
The assassin was too enraged to think clearly and promptly elbowed the girl in the stomach. Tracy fell back onto the ground and he stood menacingly over her; strapped to his forearms were two glinting objects: his beloved katars. Robert raised one into the air and prepared to strike, but a sudden cry distracted him.
"Fire Bolt !!"
Then suddenly, his world was on fire, and quite literally at that. From the heavens fire struck him, once, twice, four times in all. As an assassin, he had no defenses against magic; no matter how fast he could dodge attacks, there was no way of escaping the wrath of one of the most powerful classes: the mage.
"Don't…you…DARE touch her like that!" Caroline screamed, a fiery glow still surrounding her body as she panted heavily, "If you do that AGAIN, I'll KILL YOU!"
"And so will I!" Tim shouted angrily, coming up to stand next to Caroline and support her. "And don't you even THINK you can live!"
"What!? I'M SO SURE!" Though his body was in pain, Robert still stood and as he was going to attack the furious mage once again, he knocked one green haired priestess onto the ground.
"Oi!" Jon stood in front of Caroline as Bao helped Stephanie up, "That's no way to treat a lady!"
Harrison sighed and shook his head, "You guys are attracting too much attention."
Lo and behold, the white haired hunter was correct. All around them, people were watching their explosive argument unfold. No one did anything, but many people of Prontera, both the vending merchant classes and wandering people, observed them. They, by far, had been the most rowdy of the crowds, but more curious was their ability to use skills to actually harm people in town, an act forbidden and locked away by the Game Masters.
People started whispering to each other, or, at least, that's how it appeared to look to the comrades that suddenly found themselves immersed in a digital world. To those not sucked into Rune-Midgard's digital landscape, they were merely chatting as the normally did, both in public speak and also private messages to one another and despite the fact that most everyone else were merely "normal players", the stares still disturbed them greatly.
"Guys, c'mon, let's get out of here…" Steph whispered to them, backing up a few steps and beginning to walk away.
"We're…not…done yet!" Robert fell to his knees, blood coming from numerous places and burns all over his skin. It was clear that he couldn't do any harm that way, but it was even more obvious that he could barely walk.
"Steph," Tim stated grimly, "Don't heal him."
Casting his pale blue eyes on Robert, Bao said quietly, "I don't think it's a good idea not to."
The monk pointed at Robert's trembling form, "Did you SEE what he tried to do!?"
"I agree with Bao," Stephanie whispered, though in her eyes smoldered quiet anger. She held out her hands towards Robert and uttered the skill, healing him fully.
Just as he jumped to his feet, the priestess moved forward, an indescribable rage lurking beneath dark sapphire eyes. She glared at him with all the fury of Heaven, with her lips closed tight and her hands fisted at her side. And then, she spoke, slowly and carefully.
"Mark my words, Robert, should you try to hurt someone like that again, I will find a way to punish you…" Her soft voice trailed off as she turned around and walked away, the crowds of Prontera hushed as the priestess walked away, heading towards the western gate, searching for her guild, her home, for Final Retribution.
"Steph…" Bao whispered, staring after his love. He glanced back at his friends, then at the retreating back of Stephanie, and back again, "Guys, I…"
"Yeah, go after her," sighed Caroline, leaning on Tim heavily, "I'll be..alright. I'm just a bit surprised."
The blonde hunter nodded his thanks and ran off, swift as the wind, after his priestess love. For some reason, he could just instinctively feel where she was, even if she were on the other side of the world. They were connected, eternally, and for some reason, by instinct, he glanced at his left hand and sparkling on his ring finger was a ring, and, by appearances, it was a wedding ring. Bao couldn't help but smile at the thought…
"We're married…"
Meanwhile, the others stood segregated from Robert; Roger, Jon, Tracy, Caroline and Tim stood glaring at the defeated assassin, incensed with his actions. Unlike the pacifist priestess, the rest of their "party" wished to punish him most painfully. He attacked Caroline and Tracy without even knowing if they would simply reappear in the game world, alive and well. It was almost as if he were simply unleashing all of his fantasy and his anger into this world, but he couldn't be blamed for it. Truly an assassin, he lurked the world, alone and lonely.
"You're lucky Harrison stopped us," Tim mumbled, not even looking Robert in the eye.
"You're lucky I didn't kill you," grumbled Harrison, also looking away to the shops surrounding them.
Jon, who had been quiet until then, spoke, and with good reason, "Uh, so, what now?"
Being the highest level amongst their group, it was then decided he would be the Prontera Tour Master, otherwise known as the PTM. They wandered through the city, from the busy, crowded downtown to the peaceful quiet church in the north of Prontera. Tim was an enthusiastic Tour Master and everyone shared his excitement in showing off this new world. Well, all except the rather miserable Robert who just hung about behind the group of friends. Eventually, they wandered towards where Steph and Bao had run off to, inherently drawn to the west gate of Prontera.
When they arrived at the west gate, they found a very perturbed, emerald haired priestess, seated next to an all-too-concerned blond hunter. Being the ever-caring monk he was, Tim also took a seat next to Stephanie, patting her upon her head. He smiled at her as she looked up at him, and thankfully, she was feeling much better.
"Feel better, Steph-u," Tim said simply, coaxing a smile out of the quiet priestess.
"…Hai!" She chirped hugging Tim, then her hunter husband, then everyone else in, including Robert, much to their surprise.
"Uh…" Roger scratched his head again, and just as he was about to say something regarding this sudden mood swing, but was stopped by a shouting voice.
"Little sis!"
Tracy and Caroline looked to each other for understanding, for both the massive hug-fest and the person crying out little sis. Alas, they understood neither and decided to sit back and watch the events unfolding before them.
"I know that voice…" Stephanie whispered, still embracing thief-mode Jon (who happened to be quite flustered). "But it can't be…"
"Dorky sis, what're you doing?"
"…ONII-CHAN!" she cried, leaping out of Jon's arms and into the arms of a mysterious, pink haired man, not much older looking than themselves. Then again, age was distorted in this enigmatic game world.
"…PAUL!" Both Bao and Tim exclaimed, leaping up to their feet. "NO WAY!"
The wizard just smirked and simply said, "Duh."
He walked up to his "sister" and patted her on the head, smiling as he gazed upon her. Stephanie and Paul had never known each other outside of Rune-Midgard, but they had grown very close in the years they had played together. They were family to each other, siblings to the very end, no matter what happened. Even if they fought, they cried for each other, hurt for each other, they truly loved each other…
"Dorky sis, you need to learn how to use inventory…" Paul mumbled, putting his hands on her shoulders, "Just think about what you want to wear. Hmm, I know! Wear your Lazy Smokie hat!"
"But…Okay…" Steph closed her eyes, and in her minds eye she could see the familiar window options, the equipment, the skills. It was all a matter of focus of the mind…
Moments later, a little raccoon like doll appeared in her hands, much to the surprise of everyone else, especially to the priestess herself. Smiling happily at her brother, Paul, she placed it on her head and laughed, feeling much better. Paul smiled at her as well, and somehow the mood felt much lighter, quite the opposite of the tension that was felt earlier.
"I've been waiting for you forever, baka!" Paul scolded, pointing a finger at the priestess, "I was wondering when you and the others would get here!"
"Wait, what about the rest of Final Retribution?" Bao inquired, deciding to get up and stretch his legs.
Again, the poor first classers were lost in their game babble; this world was new to them and they had never before laid their eyes on it. None the less, they attempted the "focus" required to accessing inventory, and much to their delight, it wasn't as hard as the poor priestess made it appear to be! They saw in their minds eye their stats, equipment, and skills; unfortunately, there wasn't anything to be worn! There were only basic equipments, the bare bones for each of their classes.
Just as they were sitting around, discussing how they got there, there was a sudden squeal of excitement. A red blur flew by them and the next thing they knew, Bao was lying on the floor, tackled by a red haired rogue with jingling golden bells upon her head.
"Ara…?" The hunter was completely baffled and unaware of what just happened. All that he knew was that his head was spinning and a warmth was on him.
"…KRISSY!?" Tim and Steph exclaimed in unison.
"Oh! That one girl in San Diego, right?!" Caroline chirped, knowing everything yet knowing nothing at all.
"Yep, that would be her," a voice agreed from behind them. It was a voice that was vaguely familiar. One that had yelled at Tim, Bao and Steph many a times during the War of Emperium. It was…
"KEVIN!!!" Bao and Tim yelled. This day was starting to become too much.
"…KIKI!" Glancing over at Krissy still patting her hunter husband, she grinned and hugged the level 99 priest. Poor Kevin was just confused with all the commotion, while the others just shook their heads.
Tracy looked away from them a moment, her intuition whispering to her. Time was passing so quickly in this world, with so much excitement and novelty, but this could not possibly be the only reason they were brought there. There had to be something else. After all, there was a reason for everything…
And suddenly, somewhere, in the dark shadows a figure smiled.
"…I've got a bad feeling about this," Tracy whispered.