Hands' Embrace
Carmicheal
After a very large amount of activity between me and Niam, we decided to part ways and meet at a later time. Although, all our activity left us in the dead of night and me very tired. My wristband chirped and vibrated, and I felt Tsuki's voice draw out of it. "Hey there, Aris."
Tsuki is a Swordsman, pretty much the tanker of the guild, if we decide to party together. He's taller than I am, a towering 6' 4", maybe even 6' 5". His hair falls in tufts around his head, and seems to lack any sort of order, which is just as good, considering if my hair didn't fall like it does, then it would look the same. His muscles bulge out of any non-armored part of his body. Now, I don't look for this kind of thing, but it's kind of hard to miss... I could picture his carefree smile as he spoke.
"Aris, dude, you been training?"
No, I've been a little…" I coughed, "…busy."
I'm not sure he understood, but continued none-the-less, "I see. I've been helping the guild's reputation."
"Training hard and making us look strong?"
I was sure he was nodding, where ever he was, "Yep."
I heard a monster shriek, and his blade rasped as it passed through the bone. Despite how handy it is, it can make anyone sound horribly violent. To be fair, Tsu was...
I spoke over the carnage, "So, how's the guild doing, I don't hear from them, much…"
I heard him grunt, and a monster's hide thud onto the ground, "They're good."
I shrugged, not realizing he couldn't see, "Meh."
He grunted, and I heard the snarling of several wolves, "Let's... talk... later..."
I heard a shockwave of burning force split the ground, and the battle raged.
I meandered out of Prontera, and heard the whine of some Kobolds. Darn it, who keeps summoning this stuff into newbie-ville? I charged myself with magical energies, both draining in stamina but invigorating in Strength, and used some magic to run a little faster.
I heard a small warrior shriek with pain, his eggshell dropping to the floor with him, and his backpack spilling some of his items. The Kobolds had their attention on an archer. Now, I'm very magic-based, so I'm not exactly Kobold killing material. The archer drew back his arrow and let it loose. A whistle came from the bladed end and it parted the air, and dug into the Kobold's throat, dropping it lifelessly to the dirt. It was a lucky shot, he couldn't handle the other two, warriors, especially not in close range. I felt a heat rise from my glove, and a cross burst from the skin of one beast, drawing its attention to me. I shifted my weight back, and prepared for a battle.
Now, let me be the first to tell you that big sticks, especially heavy ones, don't do well with quick strikes, and these puppies (pun not intended) were pretty quick. I dropped my mace down onto one's head... or, at least, I thought I did, but I had hit his shield instead. The archer from before took this initiative to run. Great... a magical supporting holy man, well, not so holy man, with a stick, versus two well-trained beasts. I swallowed hard.
You see in movies when antagonists go for you one at a time? They're dirty liars. They both attacked at nearly the same time, one jumped and went to a deadly blow to the head, and the other went straight for my knee-caps. But, I was magically stronger, more accurate, and quicker. I drew up my Guard, and used it to deflect the top-attacker off to the side, sending it tumbling on its side. I didn't have time to dodge the second one's attack completely, and his large, blunt mace slammed into my heel, sending me spiraling backwards. I rolled off of the fall and into a standing position a few feet away.
Thankfully, another thing the movies got wrong is that usually, an antagonist will wait for his partner to get up, and they both attack again... Nope, the one still standing dove after me and left his partner dazed and in the dirt. I managed to bring my mace down with all the momentum of a raging elephant, and shattered his shield, throwing him off balance and mocking his weak parry. Once again, let me tell you to never taunt an angry beast. The monster club in both hands now, threw his whole weight and momentum into a strike. I jumped over his first attack, and he tried for a second strike, which I also dodged. This went on for a minute or two, but I was growing weary, and his partner had recovered from his tumble. They charged me, and I had only one option if I was to win this. I threw my Guard at the closer one, he caught it instinctively, and I kicked it as hard as I could. He went, a rag-doll of loose limbs, crashing into the dirt several feet away. Like I said, strong legs.
Now it was one on one, but I didn't have my shield any longer. I drew up the mace, and found a small seared section of its fur, from my Holy Light. My mace drew up dirt, clawing along the ground, and slammed into his scorched flesh. He summoned a howl that can't be mimicked by any other creature, and threw his arm down, his club like a hammer, getting closer to my leg. I felt a hot pain shoot up my leg, and I yelled something not so gentlemanly, but still clean, and punched the beast in the eye. Now, after seeing Knights with swords, Priests with books, and Dancers with whips, they seem to get in their mind that people don't punch anymore... I do. It snapped its jaws at me, seemingly reverting to the same archaic tactics I was using. I lunged backwards, several feet. I would've never dodged as far away as I did, but the primal act of biting just spooked me, more than any attack.
He screamed in anger, and lunged at me on all fours. I did the only sane thing to do if I expected to survive.
I ran.
Wait, I left my Guard back there...
Darn it.
I slid, and as slides go, this one was sloppy, I was at a 170 degree and from the ground before I managed to pick myself back up and sprint in the other direction. But, I'm a very fast person, and the magic helped. The Kobolds stared in awe as I burst by, my mace accidentally clipping one on the face. It dropped to the dirt, out cold. I drew my attention to the other one, whose shield I broke, and now he's using mine. Double darn it.
He charged at me, not as bestial as his friend, but still quite primal with his club. He jabbed the club's tip at my stomach, in a weak thrust. Although I wasn't expecting it, I still managed to dodge, and plant a foot on his face. I shoved hard, and a little, maybe 80 pound dog has got nothing on a human's leg strength. He flopped like a fish onto the dusty brick flooring of the pavilion, and I planted my foot on his throat and spun it, in a downward spiral, until he was also just as unconscious as his companion. I drew a Blue Gemstone out of my pouch and charged it with the remainder of my magic and tossed it onto the ground weakly. It shattered on contact, as usual, and left a portal in its wake. I tossed them both in there, which sent them into a place very familiar to their kind, the area near Geffen. See? I don't practice cruelty to animals.
The portal closed and I just realized something was wrong...
I had forgotten to recover my guard from the Kobold.
Triple darn it.
My wristband chirped, and I glanced down at it, Niam's seductive voice came out.
"Aris, you know our engagement?"
I frowned, "Yeah."
I could feel her reluctance to say the next line. "Can we postpone the wedding?"
Quadruple darn it!
