Meisters

Chapter 9: Death himself?

[ONLINE]

Weeks went by in a flash. Kilik because a part of our "Dream Team." We were all scattered on so different levels a fight often broke out between Black*Star and Kilik on where we were supposed to go. We always ended up going to monsters that I couldn't take by myself. Every fight with a Kishin was a life or death situation. It is very embarrassing, but in many fights I ended up dying so Camellia always had to revive me. The battles were too hard and in the end, I never gained any experience. I lost more than I was gaining. The only thing that I did get was large amounts of money. It got more frustrating for each and every day that went. Kilik, Camellia and Black*Star all gained levels while I was left behind.

"Maka!" Black*Star screams. "Finish it!" Well that's generous considering Black*Star always wants to go for the final kill.

"Right!" I jump up toward the Kishin and swing my scythes at it but instead of me hitting it, the Kishin's claws sinks into my stomach and it kills me at once. A slight pain throbs in my torso while I fall to the ground.

Kilik ends up finishing the Kishin off with a quick fire ball. Camellia kneels down beside me and uses her magic to revive me. "That is like the seventeenth time you died today. Are you that off today?" Camellia says.

"Sorry." I say while I sit up slowly. "It's just… the Kishins are too fast. I don't have any time to attack them and when they attack me, they instantly kill me." I groan loudly while flipping down on the grass again. I would rather lie here on the grass for a couple of minutes.

I hadn't seen Eater since I met him inside of the forest. Random people had come up to me inside of Death City and warned me about using scythes. People had called me stupid and an attention-seeker for using scythes. I would have kicked their asses if it wasn't for their level. They were above mine.

As hard as I try to be a good teammate, I just can't do anything to provide. I'm deadweight to them. It shouldn't be this hard for us to level up but it is. Even Kilik had pointed out on how low experience we all get. I just don't get it. I should get more experience than I do, but I'm not. Why is that so?

"Maybe it is your character." Black*Star says while he has his head down in the chest filled with gold and items. "Maybe you screw up your Skill Tree."

I growl loudly and clench my fists. Now I do not want to lie around the grass. I want to kick his stupid ass. "My character isn't screwed up! She is fine!" I glare holes in Black*Star's neck. I'm lucky this is only a game since I really want to kill him and butcher him into small pieces before I burn him and scatter the remaining all across the world of Meisters. But, that would acquire me to actually do any damage to him, and I know if I attacked him, he would definitely kill me. He always wants to fight.

"I'm so sick and tired of this!" I yell and stand up on my feet. "I'm going back to Death City! I'm going to log out and study!" Quickly I tap my menu and find the party options and leave it.

"Maka!" Camellia yells. "Don't be like that! Come back and play with us!" Camellia tries to persuade me to come back but I keep walking away angrily. No one follows me even though I'm easy meat for the Kishins or PKers. I don't care. All I want is to stop playing this stupid game and start studying. I have an upcoming test and I need to study. This is getting out of hand. I have played this game far too much and I need to focus on my studies again.

"Scythe meister Maka Albarn." I almost jump out of my skin when I hear someone saying my name. Hesitantly I turn toward the side and I see male with golden eyes dressed in a fancy black and white suit. That looks really expensive. "Finally you got alone from your friends. I have been waiting for you."

Wait. What the heck is he talking about? "Wait, what are you talking about?" I ask him.

"As you may already know, I have been following you around. You have seen me a couple of times before. I'm here to take you to see a special person." I focus at his character and I see his name is Death, written in red. That is a weird name but it must be very desirable since this is a game. Many people have weird names like Best Warrior Ever and Knight of Darkness.

"So it was you, why have you been spying on me?" I'm kind of surprised. Everybody in Dream Team had seen him sneaking around some of the times. We always only caught a glance of him and I was always sure he was after Kilik.

"It is simple; you will get all of your answers if you follow me. Don't worry, I won't hurt you." He holds out his hand toward me.

I narrow my eyes and look cynically at it. "What if I don't want to come with you?"

Slowly he reaches behind him and I gulp loudly. He points a gun toward me. "Then I will have to force you. It would make it much easier for both of us if you came with me willingly." He keeps his hand extended toward me while he points the gun toward me. I don't like this at all! I don't have much choice if I don't want to end up dead!

"You better keep your promise!" I say while I carefully walk toward him. Death is quick to put away his gun and I cautiously take his hand.

"Hold your breath." Death says and before I know it, we are sucked into another dimension and the air is forced out of my lungs. My limbs are being twisted at many weird angles while it feels like I'm being crushed. It stops and I collapse on the floor breathing heavily.

"Did you not warn her about it?" That voice. I know it.

"I did but she did not heed my advice." Death says.

With the little power I have, I raise my head and sees Eater in front of me. Why would he want me here? Why would he make Death spy on me and force me here against my will? My eyes widen. Is he going to kill me and delete my character?! I don't want Maka to die!

Eater sighs loudly while he walks up to me and kneels beside me. "You okay? I know it isn't a pleasant thing to warp from a place to another." Warp? So that is what he calls it. Eater offers me his hand and I really want to take it, but instead I sit up on my own. I'm tired of being dead weight to everybody. I want to regain some independent ground.

"Warp? The guide didn't say anything about an ability called warp." I say while I take deep breaths. I'm will very much dizzy after being wrapped here.

Eater chuckles while he sits on the floor beside me. "Yeah, it is a technique I and Death are developing. It allows us to use dark magic in order to get access to the cosmic tunnels. It sounds very complicated, I know."

I shake my head while I keep breathing. Lucky for me, it feels like I'm not going to throw up anymore. "No. I get it. I'm smart." And I mean it. I do get it. What they are doing is putting their Skill Points on abilities that allows them to use the cosmic tunnels. That means they have to go for dark skills and speed in order to achieve that.

Eater smiles softly toward me, the kind of smile I adore so much. "I always knew you were smart. You have to have brains for creating a character like yours on the first try. Let me guess, you used Gravity to then balance it out with Speed, Strength and Defense?"

He hit the nail on the head. He isn't playing around. How can he know my Skill Tree like that? "Yeah, you are right. How did you know that?"

Eater shrugs his shoulders. "Intuition." He turns toward Death. "Can you leave us alone for a bit?"

Death nods before he leaves the room. Is this place an apartment? It looks like one. It has a bed, night stand with a lamp on it along with plants which smells sweet. It almost reminds me off how my room looks, minus the plants that is.

"Just to get it said, I didn't ask Death to spy on you to kidnap you and take you here so I could kill you. No, it's the opposite." Eater says and this time, he offers his hand to me. "Please take a seat on somewhere more comfortable. You look you are about to pass out."

This time, I couldn't deny his hand. It is so inviting and I remembered the last time I touched his hand, it was so warm and his fingers perfectly secured my hand. This time is no different. His hand is much larger than mine. He pulls me up to my feet and carefully supports me so I can take a seat on the chair.

"Wait here. I will come back with some water." Eater says and disappears to then returns a few moments later with a glass filled with water. "Drink up. It will do you good."

I raise my eyebrow while I take it. "Will this really help me? I mean, won't it just be tasteless?"

Eater shakes his head while he takes a seat in front of me on the bed. "Yes, don't worry; I haven't put anything in the glass."

Slowly I nod and take a sip of the water. I'm definitely wrong. The water tastes just like water. It soothes my burning throat and my upset stomach. He is right; this was just what I needed. Quickly I gulp down all of the water.

"Look Maka, You are a sweet player, you are a great player." Eater says while he rests his elbows on his knees. "You have created a very powerful character."

"Really?" I say way too quickly and very surprised. "Then how come I keep dying? As soon as I fight I die and I never gain any experience."

"That is why I want to talk to you. Alone." Eater gets up from the bed and walks up to me. "What do you know about meisters? About what kinds of thieves there are."

I put my index finger on my chin while I stare up at the ceiling in thought. "I don't really know that much. The guide only introduced what kinds of weapons there were and the Abilities where I put my Skill Points on."

"So, zero?"

"Pretty much."

"Then I have a lot to tell you." Eater turns around again and takes a seat on the bed. Will he ever decide if he wants to sit down or stand up? "There are PKers who steal items and money, but there are also those kinds of players that steal experience from you." Eater rubs his palms together. "I want to talk to you about those thieves that steal experience. You have already noticed you aren't gaining the amount of experience you are supposed to gain. It isn't something wrong with you; it is someone inside of your team that is stealing experience from you."

My eyes widen. A traitor? That isn't possible. Kilik, Black*Star or Camellia wouldn't do something like that.

"It is the Kilik character. I know it. I have seen him stealing experience from other characters before. He is a gold digger. He only seems to be a fighting character because of his overpowered gloves and armor. He has spent a lot of money on buffing his gear up. If you don't believe me I can give you proof."

It is overwhelming. Kilik. An experience thief? He is a thief just like Arachne and those damned PKers.

"Why would he do something like that?" I say running my hands through my hair. "He is a nice guy."

"Unfortunately it was only a mask to get to you. Kilik targets his victims by being friendly and helping them. Then he slowly takes more and more experience from the whole team, and then when he thinks they are on to him, he leaves the party. He is a nasty character." Eater gets up from the bed again and walks over to me. He kneels in front of me and puts his hands above mine. "I know it is hard to believe, but trust me. I'm an experienced player. I know a thief when I see one."

My eyes wander up from my lap and I look into his red concern eyes. "Why are you telling me all of this?"

Eater lets go off his hands and puts them on his knees. They are fisting his pants. "Because, you deserved to know the truth. You got me my weapon when we first met and I want to repay you for it."

"But you already have saved me plenty of times and you have been kind to me. You don't need to repay me. It is I who has to repay you. Without you my character would be gone, my things would have been stolen and without you I would have most likely not kept playing this game." I confess. "Without you, I wouldn't have played this game because you were my reason to keep playing at the beginning. I wanted to meet you again and repay you for everything you have done." I can't help but blush. It feels like I am confessing an undying love for Eater. It is weird. We don't know each other. I respect him highly. He is a great player and very kind too, even if he could look scary at some points.

Eater chuckles and then picks up his menu. "Then you can start repaying me with this." His menu disappears and a screen pops up in front of me. He wants me to be his friend? That is very cool.

I smile wide and gladly accept his request. "You know if you still have time, would you like to team up? I could show you how you best gain experience."

I nod eagerly. "I would like that."

I have a feeling this is going to be a great friendship. It feels great being his friend. At least I know he has two friends. Me and Death.