Ragnarok EXE Revolution
Chapter 2 – The Mage and the Merchant, Hunted
Humid, that's what it was. The air was humid, and it was hard to breathe. His mind was clouded, and the shuffling and brushing came unclear to his ears. They echoed and scratched and repeated, along with his own soft gasps.
His stomach turned as he sensed movement-delicate movement. He was moving, almost gliding, and then he wasn't. His chest pressed into something, soft on the outside, hard on the inside. His legs were numb as they swung, held by something that wrapped under his knees, and his arms draped over cold metal.
His head swirled far too much to tell what it rested on, but it was soft, and it had a voice.
His eyes slowly slid open, and his eyelids folded as they did. Swallowing, he noted the chalky dry throat. The surrounding was white and silver, like thin strips of curtain waving before him, gently brushing over him from time to time.
Hair, it had to be his hair.
Turning his head to the other side, he heard a gentle gasp of astonishment, and his hair turned on him. Figuring it wasn't his head, he tried to blink the haze in his eyes way, with little success.
"E—Enzan-sama!" the movement stopped, but started again for a moment as he was lowered from whatever, or rather, whoever he had rested on.
He was set to the ground with little rustling. An arm wrapped around his shoulders, making his head loll back. A headache fomented as a voice echoed again. "Enzan-sama, are you alright?"
'No, no I'm not. I feel like I got run over by a heard of over-fed chicken.' He wanted to say, but couldn't bring himself to utter anything coherent. He felt something soft on his face.
Hand, yes, a hand gently stroked his sweat drenched cheek. The blur of the being in front of him was of familiar pale and crimson.
"Blues…" He uttered out weakly, disoriented. He rolled his eyes, shutting them tightly as he wheezed; feeling like his lungs could collapse. "Is that you? What happen—" He stopped short, drawing in a sharp breath, and let out a heavy cough.
His labored breathing didn't falter, and the clutch over his shoulders tightened as Blues brought him a blurry, dark and rounded object. A water canteen. He brought it to his lips. He drank generously, weakly, letting some of it spill past his lips and down his jaw line.
Swallowing loudly, he sighed in relief, able to feel a moist throat was heavenly.
"Enzan-sama," Blues started, softly, "you're… ill… very ill." His voice was shaken and crooked. "How do you feel?" Enzan coughed out a laugh, or a scoff; Blues couldn't quite tell.
"Like I was trampled by a herd of Poring," He said dryly, and coughed again, a scratching in his throat. Blues flinched.
"My apologies my lord," He mumbled, "I…I couldn't protect you—I failed. Please forgive me…" He gritted his teeth in anger, chin resting over Enzan's head. "And because of me, you're in so much pain…"
The Ijuuin shut his eyes tightly and opened them; the blur was no more, and in front of him was Blues' shoulder pad. He felt trembling as the knight growled at himself. His face contorted into a frown as the knight's words processed. What Blues was saying was far from the truth, and he didn't like it when Blues was wrong.
"Blues…" he whispered, and the knight pulled away to listen.
There was a long drawn silence as Enzan drew a blank, but the knight didn't dare enter the poignant silence. The boy closed his eyes and sighed as his frown deepened. He licked his lips and looked sternly at his guardian.
He had come up with a conclusion, and it was a good one…
"Please…"
"Just shut up."
His voice cracked, but Blues could tell the tone was not so literal, so much as whining. After a long pause, he let out a chuckle.
The Dual-haired boy slowly pushed himself out of the knight's wake and stood, kind of. His knish shook, and his breath became very, very shallow. Within seconds, he fell backwards, into the knight's knee.
"You're still very weak, I'll carry you"
"What? No, no you won't!" Enzan said, dumbfounded. He shoved himself away from the older boy, walking just a few steps, only to stumble, and be caught at the arm by Blues.
This elicited a raised eyebrow, peaking beneath the cloth, and a small smile. "Oh don't give me that look."
"Of course not, sir." The knight smiled. He grimaced, and swallowed his pride.
Blues turned his back and offered his arms behind him. The boy awkwardly climbed onto the knight. He wrapped his arms around Enzan's legs-legs which hooked over the young man's stomach.
As he slowly got up, he received a swift shove in the stomach by Enzan's heels. He lurched over slightly, and turned his head towards the boy.
"That's for being annoying." He said listlessly, with a yawn and small cough. He rested his head against the back of Blues' neck. The Red Raider chuckled, and continued on his speed-walking journey.
He took a brief, second glance at his lord. Engulfed in worry for the younger boy behind him, he picked up the page.
---
"Netto-kun!" A young boy in the distance called, running towards the one he searched for. "Netto-kun!" He called again, the scratching of his leather shoes sounded as he ran.
The boy he called turned around and grinned wildly, holding something in his head. The caller finally came to a halt and panted heavily, hands on his loose, redwood pants, friend laughing mischievously.
He paused, looked and grimaced. "What did you do now?" He concluded.
"Now, now, Niisan, that's not way to treat the greatest brother in the whole wide world!" The maroon-haired boy cheered loudly, standing proud and almighty. His older brother rolled his eyes at the glee and cheer.
"I don't know… how great could he really be?" he breathed, receiving a childish push in return. The two laughed at each other, no reason in particular.
"So, what makes you so great? Did something happen? Did you save a Poring from getting sat on?" Netto shook his head no, taking the question seriously. He dove into a silver, rusty cart, clattering as he sifted through the material in there. Potions, bottles, scrolls, shields knives and plenty of merchandise flew out.
"So you found something good, then."
"Hell yes I did! It's… It's somewhere… in here…" he said to himself, head still foot deep in loads of material goods. "Hah! I found it!" His head emerged, his chocolate brown eyes glowing, hands trapped within tons and tons of useless items collected over time.
He grunted as he put one foot on the cart and pulled. "C'mon… Come on you---Ack!" he fell backwards, and into his brother with a thud. They landed on the crowded streets. "Ouch…" Netto mumbled.
"Netto-kun, please get off! You're really heavy!" Saito strained, gasping for air. "You're sitting on my… GET OFF!!!"
"Oh, lordy!" Netto shrilled, rolling off of his pain-struck brother, who sat up, clutching his lower mid. "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry, Niisan! I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Um…" Face flushed, he held out the item of the trouble.
"Here, I…bought this for you…" when his brother recovered from his… pained experience, he blinked, as if to see if his eyes were deceiving him. He rubbed them, realizing what was before him was not an illusion, and his jaw, propped by a series of bones in his head, seemed to dislodge as it dropped.
Before him, his brother held a long, slanted rough staff. Cracks were in it that seemed to go every which way, which lead to the top. It was a pale skull, teeth chipped and eye-sockets in a strange, menacing angle. It looked like a deep, cursing scowl.
His hands encircled the staff, not touching it, as if a barrier prevented him from taking it. "Uh… Surprise?" His brother cut into his spacing.
"N—Netto-kun… how did you get your hands on this? I mean—" he looked back and forth inconspicuously, catching eyes that turned away on contact.
"This is a bone wand(1)!" This thing is rare, and cursed! Not to mention," he swallowed hard, "It's… made of… you know…"
His brother leaned in, unknowing of what he was supposed to know. "No, I don't know." He said bitterly. Saito cringed, and leaned in, closer.
"It's made of... human bones…" the younger of the two blinked. He caught a glance at the wand, another at Saito, and again at the wand.
In an instant, he howled and dropped the staff, scampering away from it. People walking by glanced at the panicking merchant, and then turned back to whatever they were doing. Weird things were normal.
The staff lay before the older brother, who stared at it desirable, but disturbed at the same time. "You didn't' know?"
"Wah—No! I thought it was just artificial! A work of art, you know? I never knew that! I just bought it from an old whitesmith! It's forged from human bones? Gross!!" Netto cringed.
Saito sighed as he picked up the bone wand. He flinched, and shuddered as he felt the dark power surge through him. "D-Don't touch it, Saito! It's c-cursed! R-Run for your life!" Saito blinked and smiled. Sitting up, he patted his brother on the head.
"You don't need to worry your silly little head about it. As long as I don't use it, I won't be affected by anything." The older boy reassured with a confident smile, holding up his own staff. It consisted of a long, gold coated pole, a crescent shape with and enchanted, amethyst orb in the middle.
"The Soul Staff(2) is all I need to beat my enemies." Netto smiled, and gave a thumbs up.
"Um… by the way, Niisan." The darker-haired boy said, thoughtfully, "you were in a rush to get here; what about?" his brother blinked, as he thought back, letting it process.
His face gloweda s it came back to him.
"Yes! Of course! Netto-kun, it's about Papa!" The chocolate brown eyes flickered, "he's transcending(3)!" Saito exclaimed proudly, grinning like a fool. Netto took in a sharp breath and smiled, broadly.
"P—papa's transcending? You mean he's coming back? WE GET TO SEE PAPA AGAIN?" Saito nodded seizure-like, silly smile in tact. "The Valkyries(4) chose Papa…" His brother nodded again, excitement surging through the both of them.
In his joy, he dove into his brother, knocking him back into the crowd, making a new roadblock for a few, long, enjoyed minutes. Netto laughed hard, and Saito wiped tears out of his eyes.
They were going to see their father again.
Hikari Netto is a 13-year-old traveling merchant, along with his fraternal twin brother, Hikari Saito, a young mage. Traveling on their own for as long as two years since their father's death in the Geffen revolution(4), learning of his resurrection is a big thing. Yuuichiro HIkari was a well known Alchemist, who had forged the cure for an epidemic that had nearly wiped out half of Prontera's population nearly ten years ago. Hikari Netto follows in his footsteps, and dreams to be a famous Alchemist (Because that's far less Cliché than Net Battling)
After having his fair share of shrill cries, Netto pulled his brother up, clearing the road of two happy-go-lucky corpses. "So let's go! We've got a journey ahead of us!"
Saito blinked, tilting his head to the side. "Journey? What journey? Where do you want to go?" His brother grinned wildly, an easy hint on his part.
"…Netto-kun, what are you planning?" Netto turned his back and began idly tidying up the mess he made, making notes that during his conga-line, someone had taken the liberty of borrowing a few things.
"Netto-kun…" Saito repeated, "Tell me what you're planning." The younger twin had a glint in his eyes, deviously turning around to face his brother.
"We're going to Juno to meet Papa." Saito's jaw dislodged again. His brother's stupidity threw him off. He grabbed the boy by the shoulders and shook him wildly.
"Are you mad?! We can't meet him there! It's too dangerous! I mean—it's not, but we might interfere with his resurrection!"
Netto tilted his head to the side, and studied his brother's flustered face, sneering evilly, realizing the true source of his discontent.
"W… what's with the look? What? WHAT?" Saito stammered.
"Heehee… You…" Netto's smile broadened, and he raised his voice.
"You're afraid of Roll-chan!" Saito caught his breath in his throat, face turning red. He strangled his brother rapidly, with a shrill yap. The crowed raise suspicious eyebrows.
"Waaaah! Brother, admit—whoa—it! You're—afraid—of—Roll—CHAAAAN! STOP SHAKING ME!!!"
He dropped his brother to the ground with a heavy thud.
"I'm NOT afraid of her! I'm not! I'm not! I AM NOT!" He put his hands over his head. "She—she just won't leave me alone! She won't, she never does! And she's always in Juno! Always, always, always!"
The younger of the two staggered to his feet, as Saito turned sharply to the older boy and glaaared with all he had, "I'm not scared! She's just crazy! Got it?!"He pointed his staff towards his little twin, who nodded nervously.
Withdrawing his threats, and his anger, and his glares, he nodded solemnly. "So it's settled, we're not going to Juno. We'll encounter Papa else where, okay?"
There was a silence as Saito turned his back, and took a step into the crowd. Netto smiled ear-to-ear.
"Chicken…"
Saito stopped in his tracks, and turned around slowly. He leered dangerously at the other that sad on the ground. He raised his staff into the air, glints of impending doom in his eyes.
"Oh snap."
"Frost…" his voice rose, and Netto was encircled in glowing patterns, a casting circle, and he stumbled, panic-struck.
"You've got two seconds to run."
"N… Saito, can't—can't we talk this over?" Netto shuffled backwards, "Niisan, point that somewhere else, please! I take it back, you're not a chicken! Please don't kill me!" He began scurrying away, the circle following him in his tracks.
"DIVER!" Saito wailed, and pillars of ice jutted from the ground, finely tipped, and kept moving for his brothers posterior. Crowds stepped back and watched the pointed objects move.
"YOU'RE EVIL!! NAAAAAAGHHH!!" Netto shrilled, jumping around them as they came.
"THIS ISN'T FUNNY—OW!" At last, one had struck him, and in a puff of dry steam, he was head-to-toe in thick ice.
Saito walked up towards the work of art, and gave a big grin, right in front of his twin's face. "That's what you get fro teasing me." He gently tapped his brother with his knuckles. He heard his brother snarl, itching to slowly make a gesture with his frozen fingers.
Before he could flex a muscle, he head screams and other sounds in the background, a shrill cackle that followed.
"No! He's here! The wizard has come to slay us!" "Run!"
"HA! YES! COWER IN FEAR AT THE SIGHT OF ME! You'll all die by my hands! Every last one of you!" Saito whirled around, eyes wide in shock and confusion.
"What's going on?" he thought out loud, staring uneasily at the large crowd that obscured his view from the terror at hand.
Cries of a fierce battle taking place began to draw closer to the two. Clatters of swords, cries of intervened casting, screams of agony and bloodshed seemed to edge even closer. Saito, in raw panic and fear, turned around to face his frozen brother.
He raised his staff, "This may hurt. Forgive me." He let out a cry as he swung down, slamming hard on the ice.
It shattered with an echo. His brother fell hard into his arms. "Are you okay? Netto-kun!" he shook his twin lightly. Netto groaned as he began to get a firm hold of the ground.
"Brother… That was cold…" Netto mumbled, holding his head with one hand, his brother's shoulder with the other. Saito laughed apologetically, but face straightened when the cries were just that much closer.
"GET OUT OF MY WAY, FOOLS!" Came the sore voice. The twins took a step back as a knight was suddenly flung out of the masses. They stared in horror as a woman hit the ground hard with a clunk of her armor. She lay motionless, thick, red liquid seeping through her armor. A pool formed in seconds.
Sympathetically, Saito left his brother's side.
"M—Ma'am, are you alright? Please, say something! Say anything!" The boy pleaded, grabbing hold of her wrist, bending down to catch breath through her lips. Before he was close enough, he backed away from shock; the woman arched her back and gagged.
Blood spewed from her mouth, it wasn't dribble. It definitely wasn't dribble.
Saito screamed, horrified. He flew backwards, hands pressed against his face, her blood drenching his cheek, and soiling his clothing. Netto caught him from under the arms and wailed as his balance failed him.
"S-Saito! N—Niisan; p—pull yourself together!" He shook his brother fearfully, body heavy and shaky.
"B—blood… Oh god… Blood…" Saito whimpered quietly, lips quivering; his eyes darted back and forth, engulfed in panic. "B—blood—he's dead…she's dead… hell…"
"Brother! Please don't do this to me!" Netto jumped as he heard a dark chuckle, towering over him. His eyes darted upwards and widened, voice cracking as he spoke. "Huh—who are you…?
The figure snickered softly. It was tall, dark and cloaked in a brown-tan tunic. His smile was less than generous. Flaming red hair, blackened at the tip as if scorched, his cobalt frozen eyes burned with thirst for blood.
He eyed the two hungrily. Netto, feeling the sick, killer-intent, wrapped his arms over Saito, swallowing hard.
He looked from the man, to the corpse, to his quivering brother and back.
Netto snarled, "You murderer…" the man burst out laughing, hands on his hips, throwing his head back. Netto's eyes widened at the response, and the light glinted in his tunic.
The front was blood-stained.
His laughing died out, and he smiled darkly. "Murderer? Am I, really?" his voice was low and coy. He stepped closer to the two, and what was left of the crowd withdrew. Netto stepped back, his brother quavered.
"Niisan, you're okay!"
"Yeah… somehow…" he nodded weakly, and kneeled. He wrapped a hand around the hem of his cloak, and shielded his brother with shaking hands and a bloodied cloak. He shook the image of the blood-splatter on his face and hands and clothing. He swallowed hard and growled.
"Stranger," he started, hostile, "what brings you to us? Why have you come?" his demands were firm, and he raised his staff. His body shook, but his voice was stern. Heart, playing a deafening rhythm as the man smiled deviously, and opened the cloak that draped his body. As it flew, he drew his own weapon.
Long, curved and mounted at the tip with a silver, slanted gem. Within this gem twisted a little orb, moving with a dark aura to carry it about. A sliver of darkness swirled about his man's wrist.
Saito's eyes widened; never had he seen anything like it. It was intimidating. His grip tightened around his own staff and he bared his little fangs.
The man chuckled again. "You; a little baby mage, with that stick of a staff of yours to challenge me? Are you kidding? You'd be better of singing chimes as a bard!" The boy flinched as the man's voice rose.
"Iam the legendary Wizard, Burner!" He pointed his staff towards the two, and the silver light glowed.
'Every one of these whack-jobs just has to have a crappy alias' Netto mused inwardly.
"So, you two are the son's of Yuuichiro? Brothers Saito and Netto?" he received no answer, but continued. "Under the orders of my master, Hikari Saito is to come with me." He eyed the two, not knowing which one was the child he searched for.
"Come with me, and I won't have to hurt either of you."
"Why do you want…" Saito paused, "why do you want one of us? What do we have that you desire?" The boy pressed, Burner laughed and shrugged.
"It's the will of my master, of course. There will be no compensations, so be helpful and come with me!" Burner stepped forward. Saito gave a shrill cry, and the tip of his staff glowed. A patterned circle surrounded burner and he stopped in his tracks. He eyed the circle intently.
"What's this now?" He said haphazardly, and gave a good grin. "Is the little mage trying to fight? This is so cute…" the boy growled.
"How dare you! Don't take me so lightly!!" Placing a hand on the brim of the staff, he cast. "thunder…" a casting circle spun about him as he cried.
"And the lighting will swallow me whole?"
"SILENCE," Saito snapped, "STORM!!!" his scream boomed, and the sky clouded above the wizard, and a whip of lighting came crashing down. The flaming, red-haired man closed his eyes and nodded, waiting for the storm to pass.
The young mage staggered, dumbfounded at the lack of response, and growled. He aimed his staff towards a barrel, and it began to shake. Between the planks of wood, water seeped from the ends, and through the screws. A great amount of water had burst from the barrel and hovered over the ground.
Except, it wasn't water; it had too much color to be just water. It was an enchanting red, and a sickly sweet scent reached the brim of the boy's nose. He smiled deviously when he realized what he came across.
Vodka…
And lots of it.
Raising his hand, the liquid hovered over him, he turned himself back towards the man in the lightning, and his grin widened. He raised his staff towards the sky, and the sip of alcohol followed.
Waving the tip of his staff in a circle, it began to spin rapidly. "Water…" He called out, and it began to spin faster 'BALL!!!" He swung his staff and aimed it towards the wizard, liquid flying in his direction.
"Oh, a real scare, right there. What's it going to do; wrinkle my cloak—?"
"Char it." Saito smiled, innocently.
"What?" Burner blinked, finally realizing what came before him, a bit too late. He howled as the vodka spilled over the lightning, and was thus, blanketed in a deep inferno.
Saito flicked hair out of his eyes and scowled deeply.
"Got you." His head lowered, heart racing. He turned to face his brother, "Netto-kun, let's go quickly." He reached a hand out to his brother, but before he could react, he felt and arm clutch his throat and he gasped.
"Got you."
---
Bone Wand: Doomed Wand Consisting of a Human Leg Bone with a Skull Attached on Top.
An Evil Force from Hel Tempts Innocent people to use this wand on and on.
The level system doesn't count in this story, so it doesn't matter.
Soul Staff: Excellent but two-handed Staff which amplifies Psychic Power.
Transcendence; In Ragnarok Online, Transcendent classes are those who have gone past level 99, and are reborn again as a novice, able to become the highest possible class: Transcendent class! It's a grueling process that can take forever, and it's a real pain… in this case, Netto and Saito's father isn't reborn, he's just resurrected.
Valkyrie: The word come from the Old Norse Valkyrja (plural "Valkyrur") from the words "val" (slaughter) and "kyrja" (to choose). Literally the term means choosers of the slain. Cognate forms include the old English and the German "Walkure". The valkyries' prupose was to choose the most heroic of those who had died in battela dn to carry them off to Valhalla where they become einherjar. This was needed because Odin needed warriors to fight at his side at the Preordained battle at the end of the world. Ragnarok.
Information right from Wikipedia dot org.
(5) Geffen revolution: okay, in the game, there's never a revolution, but in my version there is. Learn about it eventually, okay?