Meisters

Chapter 5: Never be alone

[ONLINE]

"Get him Maka!" Camellia cheers me on as I grip my new sword.

Black*Star blocks the Kishin with his sword, leaving an opening to me to attack it. Quickly I run up to it and slash it at the side with my sword. I let go of my sword and it floats in the air. I grab a hold of the Kishin's neck and the sword sucks into my hand again and I impale my sword in the Kishin's head. The Kishin's HP bar hits zero and the Kishin turn into blue sand before he disappears.

"Yes!" Camellia yells at the top of her lungs. "Go dream team!" She runs up to us and I land carefully on the ground next to the treasure chest. "We split the money equally and if the item fits one of our skills, then the person gets it, if not, Maka gets it. She needs the most money."

"Oh man!" Black*Star groans. "But she always gets the items!"

"That is because she is the one of us with the lowest level. We both have more money than her and she needs the money to buy new armor and a new weapon. If we are going to move on to our kind of Kishins then she will need all the defense she can get. You know she can quickly die because of them."

"Guys." I say in hope of trying to break them apart. "Can't we just open the chest already?" They fight like an old married couple. I bet Black*star and Tsubaki will soon go on their first date. They have been on to each other the whole time we have played Meisters.

"Yeah." Camellia says. "Let's just open it. We won't be going anywhere if we keep fighting all the time."

Black*Star nods and crosses his muscular arms over his chest. "You're right. I'm sorry I got upset like that Camellia."

Camellia smiles back at Black*Star. "I'm sorry as well."

I bet they haven't even realized it, but they are standing really close. They moved like magnets toward each other while they fought.

"I'm opening the chest now." I warn them and immediately Camellia's eyes snaps away from Black*Star's and they look inside of the chest with me. Inside is a large leather bag with gold and MP crystals. "You should take the crystal Camellia. You are the only one who can use them on us while we are in a fight." I say while I hand over the dazzling blue crystal.

We split the money equally and slowly we start to move toward Death City.

"Anyway," Camellia starts. "You all know Kim holds that party tonight at her place, right?"

Black*Star and I nod. "I'm going to steal the spotlight! That party is going to be all about ME!" He cheers loudly.

"Of course you will." Camellia giggles. "Anyway, Maka do you have a dress for the party? I'm not going to let you be alone on a Saturday evening."

Oh boy. I hoped she had totally forgotten what she said to me about the party. Now when I have Meisters to play I would be more than happy to spend the night at home and keep playing.

I have played the game for almost three days now and I haven't met the man in black yet. I'm a little sad about that but it isn't over yet. I will keep searching for him. He deserves a better thank you and I'm determined to give him one. Like he said, he deserves a thank you.

"Um, no?" I say unsure and Tsubaki drills her eyes into mine.

"No? You are going to swing by at my place then. You are going to be there in two hours and if you are one minute late, I'm going to go to your apartment and drag you to my place. You need to come out of your shell and meet people."

This is only turning worse and worse! If I'm supposed to come to Tsubaki's place… then she is most likely going to give me a makeover. Sure, I like getting myself ready and looking nice, but Tsubaki can go a little too far sometimes.

"But―"

"No buts. You are going to my place. End of story." Camellia says just as we arrive at Death City. People are all around us, barging about prices with player and chatting away about what place they are going to hunt at.

Camellia turns around and places her hands on her hips. "I'm going to log out now. I will see you in two hours." Camellia says while she gets the menu screen up in front of her. She presses the log out button and she disappears.

"I'm going to log out as well." Black*Star says while he presses the log out button. "See you at the party." Black*Star waves goofily toward me while he disappears.

I'm left alone. Well, I'm left alone without any party members. There are very many players in Death City so technically I'm not alone. In two hours I have to be at Tsubaki's place. This means I have about an hour to purchase new weapons and a new gear. I know Black*Star would be pissed if I had to do it before we go hunting. He is okay with Camellia going and buying things but he doesn't like it when I have to do it. He so has a thing for her.

Slowly I start moving toward the weapon store while I check my inventory. I can sell some stuff so I get extra gold and hopefully I will be able to afford the items I would like to get. Some might say it is interest, but I say it is respect; I want to fight with scythes. The man in black had handles his heavy scythe so expertly, that is something I would also want to do. He fights with a heavy scythe and that isn't what I want to do, I want two average scythes. Since I'm determined to use my head and put my skill points on the abilities, I have a picture in my mind about how my Maka character is supposed to be like. I want to be half mage and half warrior. I'm going to use gravity to make my scythes move with ease. If I wielded a heavy scythe that plan would be ruined.

Yes, it would be very interesting to use two scythes. I would always have my protection of scythes and since I would create my own gravity field, I could make my movements go faster and with the help of kinetic, my blows would deal heavier on the Kishins. It is the perfect character in this game.

Sadly, I cannot afford two scythes. I only have money for one and the gear I need for the next time we are going to play.

Just when I'm about to log out, I see something in the sky. Over Death City I see a person flying. The player flies without a care in the world without any means. I have read that people use lantern in order to use them as drive power to fly, but this person, she is flying without anything helping her. This must be because of her Gravity skill points. She has max it and now she can fly. But if she has maxed Gravity, that means she can't have a high Defense or Strength. How can she have survived this long with a broken character? Has she been in a party all this time and freeloaded on their experience? That is the only answer I'm able to come up with.

The way she flies in the sky is unbelievable. She flies with such grace and elegance. It is something with the way she flies I want to learn more about. Without even knowing it, I start following her. My legs move on their own and my eyes are glued on her. I can't stop looking at her. The sound of the other players slowly starts to disappear as I walk toward the edge of the city. Gracefully the lady starts to descend to the ground. Without even knowing it, we are all alone in an ally.

Suddenly I don't really know what I'm supposed to do. I only wanted to look at her flying but now I'm here. Why am I here?

"Silly little girl." The woman says while she walks up to me. "Haven't you learned that you aren't supposed to be alone?" Her black orbs turn darker and evil. I notice that her name is red. When I look at Camellia's name and Black*star's, they are white. This "Arachne" person's name is red. Is this some kind of error in the system? Why didn't the guide tell me anything about this?

"I-I was going to log out." I stutter. I want to back away from her. I want to turn around and run away from her. She gives off a very bad vibe and I don't want to stick around any longer. "I'm going to leave now." I take a step backwards.

"Not so fast!" Arachne roars and suddenly I can't move my body. It is like my arms and legs are being held back my some kind of rope. "You aren't going anywhere." She lickes her lips. "You look like a delicious young girl." Okay. That is so wrong on so many levels. Arachne smirks wide while she walks up to me. She grabs one of my pigtails and inhales loudly. "You smell sweet. Innocent but yet so daring." She leans closer to me and takes a quick lick on my cheek. I freeze. This woman is crazy! "Gravity. Strength. Defense. Interesting skill tree. You are ruining your character." Why didn't the guide say anything about perverted women who can taste player's skill trees?! If they might have put it like "Not recommended playing alone because there are perverted women who like to sniff player's hair and taste their skins and did I mention they can figure out your skill tree just by licking your skin?" That would have definitely motivated me to log out at once!

Arachne pulls away from my face and looks into my eyes. "Before you ruin your character," She bares her fangs at me, like spider fangs "I'm going to steal all of your stuff."

If I could, I would have screamed at the top of my lungs, but now, she is using some kind of voodoo on me that prevent me to move and talk. It only allows me to breathe and I bet she could take my breath away if she wanted to.

"That isn't nice Arachne." I hear a voice behind me and an image of the man in black appearance inside of my mind. "Going around and killing rookies like that." I hear the voice moving closer to me and then a thump. The person must have jumped from somewhere high and then landed right beside me and Arachne. "Why won't you go and pick on someone your own size, will yah?"

Arachne hisses at the person and backs away. Footsteps echoes in the ally and my savior appears. It isn't the man in black, although I should have known that since the differences of voices, but I wanted it to be him.

"Kilik." She scoffs. "Why don't you buzz off and let me do my thing?"

Kilik. So that is the name of my savior, or at least, one of them.

The man has a nice dark shade on his skin. His hair is cut at the sides and braided into one large braid on his head. He wears some kind of thin armor and on his hands he wears very heavy gloves.

"How could I leave and let you steal another rookie's thing. That wouldn't be nice of me, would it?" Slowly Kilik raises his large metal gloves. "Or would you rather fight me? We both know if you met me in a fight you would never win." Kilik smirks wide. "So how about it? Release the rookie or fight me, your choice."

She hisses at me. "You are lucky, kid."

Suddenly whatever that held me together disappears. I fall down on the ground in surprise while Arachne turns and jumps up in the air and flies away.

"You okay?" Kilik asks and turns toward me. "Arachne is a pain for newbies. She might look like a flying goddess in the air but in reality she is an evil spider with wings."

Slowly I get up on my feet and brushes off the dust from my clothes. "I'm fine. How could she have max Gravity and then have some other ability as well?"

Kilik chuckles wide. "It might appear like she has max Gravity, but no one has ever came as far to max their Gravity. In fact, what Arachne does is she uses a special Gravity Belt. It is a rare item she has stolen from some poor player. What she is, is a thief. She uses Manipulation to lure her opponent to then use Puppet skill to tie them together. She then kills them before she steals all of their things."

I nod slowly. "How can she kill me? She isn't a Kishin."

Kilik raises his eyebrow. "Nobody has told you? This is a game where Player Killers or PKers exist. They can kill you and steal all of your stuff. Of course they can't kill you inside of safe zones like towns."

"But I'm inside of Death City now. How was she supposed to kill me?" I ask quizzically.

Kilik barks a laugh. "You must have been really gone to not notice. You are outside of Death City. These parts have always been abandoned. This is where PKers like to do their dirty deeds. It is easier to lure players out of the city and kill them here."

So this part of the city is dangerous as well. The man in black told me the beginning area was dangerous as well. How dangerous is this city? It was two dangerous areas and the guide didn't even tell me about it. The guide hasn't told me a lot. Does PKers really exist?

"Oh. Then I should be heading back to the city. I'm in a little hurry." I start walking away when Kilik runs up to my side.

"Let me follow you to town. It is dangerous to walk these streets alone. Or be alone at all." Is this why people don't want to be alone? Because of PKers? I have a feeling there is something more to it. PKers can't just be the only reason not to be alone― Wait a second.

"Hey! What were you doing in this part of town?" I narrow my eyes at Kilik. "Are you a thief?"

Kilik barks a laugh and rests his large gloved hand on his stomach. "Oh no. I noticed Arachne descend from the sky. I knew she had managed to lure another poor rookie. You know, I can't let beginners start off by being robbed by her. She is very mean and very scary. I couldn't just ignore it while she stole somebody's things."

I nod slowly and blushes a little. Of course. He was the good guy. Not the bad guy. "Thank you. You know, for saving me."

She smiles wide. "You're welcome." We then reach the crowded apart of Death City again. Safety. Finally. "You know there is a way for you to thank me."

"There is?" I hope he doesn't want me to give him gold. I still need the money to buy another scythe!

He smirks and opens his menu. He skips through some pages and soon there is one window in front of me. A friend request?

"Since you don't have time now, we could team up some other time. I could show you some really cool hunting grounds and areas to stay away from. It would be cool."

I smile wide and accept his request. "I would like that."

In the distance I hear someone banging on my door. I can only guess who. Tsubaki. The time just flew away.

"Sorry, got to go." I quickly open up my menu and clicks on the log out button. I smile toward him and waves. "I will see you some other time." Everything turns orange.