Based in the universe of FFXI. Thanks to SquareEnix for the source material, and for that one goblin that had it in for me on 2/1/05. Little bastard crits me three times in a row.
3 – Kin
Is it him? Callah asked herself. If it was, she didn't have much time. Most adventurers could pick out the unnatural with relative ease, and a mithra sitting on a tree branch with a bow pointed at you definitely counted as unnatural. Any closer and they'd spot her. Who was that other man? She pulled out an arrow. A good hundred feet away now, it was a longer shot than she liked. Another thunderclap. She started to shake. If lightning was going to become an issue, then this wasn't going to work at all.
She had pinned the picture of the target to the tree with a knife, and she glanced between it and the brown haired man. Sorry. Inhale, pull.
"Arngrim, it is definitely not a good time to settle down for a meal." Galanin said.
"Not only a monk, but an astute observer." Arngrim chuckled.
Variste heard a very unsettling sound, that of an arrow being prepared. She looked to her left, and saw the shooter, a mithra-
Exhale, loose.
The shot reached Arngrim within a second, punching through the breastplate, into his right lung. He stood still for a moment, in complete shock.
"Arngrim!" Galanin cried out.
Callah watched with dismay as the warrior did not fall from the shot immediately as she had planned. In fact, he reached for his weapon, a longsword. A second shot was already in her hands, whirling quickly as she pulled it from the quiver, slapping it against the bow as she hastily prepared a second strike.
Arngrim's head cocked up to the trees, hearing something hit-
A second arrow flew from where he was watching, faster than he could react. It had hit a branch on the way to him, which saved his life. It hit him in the stomach, off center. He staggered back a step, and gasped. He felt the sword leave his grasp, falling to the soil at his feet.
He tried to speak, but found that he could barely move his mouth. His body felt incredibly stiff, and an intense burning sensation was tearing through his veins. Gods. He hadn't been hit with something like this since-
Why was Galanin not taking cover?
The monk stared at the two arrows impassively, almost as if he were studying the design. One hand raised up to the arrow in Arngrim's abdomen, gripped it.
"This is going to hurt." He said.
-
What in all the hells is he? Callah was nervous. Two arrows, poisoned with what was supposed to be lethal toxins, and he still stood.
Something landed behind her, and Callah turned to see what it was. Stared at the dagger at her throat. Followed the hand that held it up the arm it was attached to, and eventually to the face of a less than pleased elvaan woman.
"Howdy." The mithra beamed at the woman, before baring her fangs. "This is business. You had best back off."
The elvaan seemed more concerned with the well being of the wounded hume, her eyes wandering towards his location. Callah took this for an opening, lunging at her with an arrow in hand for a makeshift dagger. The elvaan caught the oncoming strike, twisting Callah's arm in such a fashion that she yelped in pain, bending it behind her back. Another jerk of the wrist, and the arrow fell to the ground below. Callah felt immense pressure on her right shoulder, gasped, and jerked herself forward with as much strength she could muster.
Variste let her opponent go, and the mithra nearly face faulted into the branch, but at the last moment, she vaulted up into the air into a forward flip, notching an arrow into her bow and sighting in on Variste's head.
Callah twisted herself to face her new opponent upon landing and fired. The elvaan batted the shot aside. A low growl uttering from her throat, readied another arrow, moving forward as she did. She loosed the bolt about two feet from the other woman's head.
Variste lunged forward, ducking just underneath the arrow, moving Garuda's Dagger once more to the mithra's neck. She found herself staring at a third arrow pointed at her left eye. Neither one moved.
"Why did you have to get involved?" Callah demanded to know.
"I am tired of seeing people die in front of me."
"Happens all the time. I've lost my family."
"I've lost that and more. Does that give me the right to judge a life?"
Arngrim's scream caught both their attentions.
-
Galanin had shoved the arrow clean through his torso, and then tore it out. Finally, the warrior fell to the ground. He knelt on the man's stomach, watching his face twist between agony and betrayal.
The monk took the arrow in the chest and pulled on it lightly. Angrim coughed out blood, his eyes directing hapless fury at the traitor. Wiping a few specks of blood that had gotten on his face, Galanin turned towards the tree where the arrows had been issued from. "Callah, would it trouble you to be more effective with your next shot?" Galanin stepped off of Arngrim, pacing around him slowly.
-
"What is that man worth to you?" Callah asked, feeling the dagger kiss the skin on her neck. "He's just a hume!"
"To me, he's a man I witnessed be shot with two arrows, and then be assaulted by some monk." Variste grabbed the arrow and shifted away from her face. "What is he to you?"
"Two hundred thousand gil, and the chance to see a man I thought I could never see again."
"Is that all?" Variste frowned. "I don't have any more time left for you."
-
"Arngrim, you probably are wondering, 'Why is this monk, this Galanin, trying to kill me? Weren't we just companions mere moments ago? What has changed?' Well my friend, it is all about money, and I am going to be making a literal ton of it," he glanced back at where Callah was supposed to be, "once that useless wench decides to finish what she starts!"
A small whirlwind of leaves appeared behind the monk, and a striking woman appeared in the center of it.
"Elvaan." Galanin sneered. "Another woman."
"Something against women?" Variste inquired. The monk smiled, facing the mage.
Arngrim figured he had the advantage now that Galanin had decided to ignore him in favor of the woman. He leapt to his feet and charged at him, his sword cutting a vertical arc down towards the man's head.
Galanin stepped to one side, and the sword planted itself into the earth. One of his feet stomped on the blade, driving it deeper into the ground, and he spun, kicking Arngrim in the right wrist, knocking the weapon loose from his hand. The warrior had a split second to be surprised at the sudden turn of events before Galanin delivered a kick to the side of his head. He spiraled away from the impact, landing on his side painfully, the arrow in his chest driven deeper inward.
Variste watched the movement with silent praise in her mind. She was up against a very skilled opponent. Her right hand came up, forming several seals.
"Interesting." Galanin commented. Both hands began forming seals in synch with hers.
"Ninpo! Katon: Ni!" Variste thrust her palm forward, flame issuing forth from it.
"Ninpo! Raiton: Ni!" Electricity built up around Galanin in an instant, then arced outward to meet the stream of flame head on.
They both backpedaled from the resulting conflagration, Variste stunned that he used a ninjutsu, let alone one that would-
She felt her world rock with the force of an earthquake as Galanin delivered a backhand to the side of her head from behind. She tumbled with the momentum, coming up to her feet in one smooth motion, her body already fading from his sight.
"Excellent!" Galanin commented, just before performing an elbow strike to his backside, catching Variste in the breadbasket as she rushed in from behind. She staggered back, eyes wide with shock, only to be swept off of her feet by the monk, landing hard on her back. He picked up the taller woman by the neck, only to have the body disappear in a burst of wind and leaves. He looked back at Arngrim, who was now accompanied by the mage.
"You're a ninja?" Arngrim managed to ask.
"You're still alive?" she shot back, wiping blood from the corner of her mouth. Placed her hands on his lower arrow wound. "I don't think I can-"
"Whatever you can manage."
Galanin spread his arms as if in greeting and waited.
-
Callah watched.
She always watched things happen from a distance. It was just how life was meant to be for her. Always with one eye closed to the world, the point of an arrow and her bow obscuring what little she could see through her one opened eye. The elvaan's hands glowed a faint blue, she was attempting to heal the wounds with the little time she had. Useless, even if the man had a resistance to the poison, it would take hours of effort to deal with something that serious.
What was she doing here?
She looked at the bag of gil that Galanin had given her. She could be set for the next few years with this kind of money.
Is that all? Is that all? What the hell does that elvaan know?
She watched as the target and his new ally slowly flanked Galanin, who appeared unconcerned with the odds. Watched as the elvaan made the first move, rushing in with two daggers in hand, only to be disarmed in mere seconds. The monk threw one of the daggers at her that, deflected when she unsheathed her rapier to put up a desperate defense. The target moved in, trying to close the distance with Galanin. The monk responded by thrusting the dagger at his face, but the target was skilled enough to trap the strike. The elvaan moved in with a thrust of the rapier, but Galanin shifted to one side, parrying the weapon to one side, and she blundered her attack into the target's ribcage.
Frozen by the sight of what she had just done, she was wide open to a vicious right cross from the monk. As she whirled from the force of the blow, Galanin unleashed a kick to her face, knocking her flat on her back. She did not move after that.
The target had pulled the rapier from his body, taking a few practice strokes with it. What was he thinking? He was going to die anyway. Why was he resisting?
Callah found her hands clenching very tightly to the gil purse.
-
Variste's ears rang, and her vision was clouded with pain-induced haze. She couldn't help the man any longer. He was going to die anyway.
She could see him still standing, wounded, a bloody mess, but he had a gambler's smile on. He held her rapier in his sword hand shakily, but he didn't show any intention of giving up just yet.
He's just like-"Ramir?" she asked, before falling unconscious.
Galanin looked at the elvaan once more, to make sure she wasn't going to present any more difficulty.
"Well then, Arngrim, I suppose I had better tidy things up here." He lifted up one hand and beckoned the former Mustketeer to come at him.
"I suppose."
"She said she was going to use a poison…"
"She did, if you mean these arrows." His smile grew broader. "I've had this brew on twelve separate occasions."
"Ah." Galanin reached into his cloak, and slipped his hands onto the grips of his katars.
Arngrim made the first move, a slice aimed at Galanin's eyes. It was blocked easily enough; the monk wore armored forearm gauntlets to use as his defense. Galanin lead himself in with the katars, going for vitals. The warrior managed to hook one of the weapons with the rapier, pulling the surprised monk past him, wide open.
Arngrim cut the monk across the back, blood spraying into the air and onto the grass. Galanin staggered forward a step, then he roared in anger, throwing one of the katars at him, missing by a hairbreadth. Lightning struck the lake, momentarily blinding the two. Slowly, they circled one another. Galanin began to form seals with his free hand.
"Raiton! Soudai Raikou!"
Arngrim heard only the first part of the spell. He threw the rapier into the sky and back dashed-
A second bolt of lightning struck the rapier out of the air, driving it into the ground. Galanin paid this no mind, forming more seals.
"Ninpo! Jubaku: Ni."
Arngrim suddenly felt very cold, almost numb. He couldn't even open his mouth to speak. Galanin looked very pleased with himself.
"I remember how this is supposed to go. I am supposed to be the spider." The monk walked forward, drawing back his remaining katar and aiming for Arngrim's throat. "Pleasure meeting you, fly." He thrust the katar forward.
A single arrow point found a home inside his right elbow joint. Galanin screamed with pain, aborting his strike on Arngrim, and nursing the wounded arm. Furious, he looked to where the arrow came from, and saw Callah, tossing the gil purse into the air casually.
"I don't need your damned money."
She ran forward, tossing the bag at Galanin's head. He backhanded it aside, tearing the bag open and scattering the precious contents across the field. Through the cloud of gil, an arrow streaked through, and he caught it. He saw Callah running, trying to flank him and move towards Arngrim, preparing something that was clipped to her waist as she did. Smoke began to trail from the sphere like thing she was fiddling with, and she tossed it at Galanin.
The ball exploded, knocking Arngrim and Galanin off their feet. Arngrim coughed, shaking off the paralysis. Callah ran towards him, yanking the battered hume off the ground as she moved.
"I don't know who you are, but I owe you this much." She said, propping against another tree. She turned around to see where Galanin was, and found that he was less that ten feet away.
She dodged the kick to her face, didn't even see the body blow coming. As she doubled over, Galanin grabbed her by the head and lifted her up, slamming her against Arngrim, knocking him over, then slamming her against the tree until he could see blood issue from the back of her head and onto the tree bark.
"You…shouldn't use that arm…you might hurt it worse." She spat on the monk's face.
"The woman has a point, Galanin."
It was as if someone had turned a lever on a machine, as Galanin let the mithra fall to the ground limply, coming to a knee out of respect for-
When did that show up? Callah asked herself, before her world faded to the same color of the new arrival's armor.
"Sir." Galanin uttered.
"So he's gotten stronger has he?" the black armored man spoke in measured, educated tones.
Arngrim found himself scrambling for a weapon that he didn't have. The claymore strapped to his back was in no way a good choice for this situation. No weapon was. The longsword was a good distance away.
He wanted to claw his eyes out. He wanted away from there, not a second later. He was not terrified, but he was angry. He didn't want this. Memories wrapped in dark armor, a terrible scar across one eye, marring an otherwise perfect face. He had fallen, he watched him fall down the Drachenfall, into the waters far below. He had made certain of it!
"Arngrim, a man I have not seen in two years."
"And you, a man I wished I could never see again."
"There always must be sacrifices." The man intoned, gripping the hilt of a massive great sword that was strapped to the back of his obsidian armor. "I still have loyalty to one cause, Arngrim. The one that matters most."
Putting both hands on his claymore's grip, Arngrim pulled it loose, cutting cleanly through the tree as he did.
"Arbalest, I will see you dead!"
Author's Note: Ah, this was fun. It's not been proofread or anything, but I really wanted to get this up for people to look at. Of course, constructive criticism is appreciated.
Couple things. If anyone has seen the anime series Naruto, then the style of the ninjutsu casting that you see in the story is very familiar for that very reason. It bothers me that the ninja's just cast the spells like any other mage does in the game, so I figured I would give that job class a little fanservice.
Also, I have gone and made the fighting a little more towards the extreme side of things as a whole. The game is great, but I'll be damned if you read anything from this story that involves six people chipping away at a single target for twenty minutes. Hopefully, you folks will find this pleasant : ) Till next chapter!