Out hunting again! It felt like I was back in a familiar pattern: fight monsters, avoid death, get drops, get xp, raise my levels; your typical MMORPG grind. Somehow it never grew old for me. I chose to play these types of games and I knew that I'd be doing a lot of this. As for this game, the stakes were higher, the experience was more intense, and the variety was astonishing. Horribly unforgiving, but strangely appealing, and in some ways pleasurable.

I was in a cheery mood. But I don't think it was the game that helped it along. Spending time with a friend can make even the gloomiest days more pleasant. When you're connected like that, you're more aware of your experiences. Everything around you takes on a deeper reality. You get to share and remember every detail of your activities. And you do your best simply because it's worth it. I got to share it with Karla, I was going to make the most of it.

With Soul Biter out of the way, the moors made for new hunting grounds. We hesitantly entered the sparsely vegetated area unsure of what we would encounter. The place was devoid of trees, in fact the tallest plant was less than a meter in height, and was mostly a rough flatland of grasses and brush. This gave the land a general gray-green colour with patches of pink where some heather grew.

Wild sheep could be seen dotting the landscape, they were the only visible animals out here, giving the impression that there weren't any other creatures out on the moors. The road that wound through it was also deserted, most players had not gotten the news that the moors were now safe to hunt, well safer anyways. The stillness of the moors did give the impression that that it was a safe place.

It didn't take long for us to realize that most creatures out here were in fact hard to see. Some of them were actually part of the landscape. A Rock Crawler caught us off guard and managed to trip me before we realized we were being attacked. I rolled away as fast as I could to avoid its large rock protrusions coming down on me. This thing looked like a crab but with club like arms where the pincers would normally be.

Karla stepped aside and, as quick as always, unsheathed her katana. "Geez, it came out of nowhere. You okay?" Karla inquired not taking her eyes off of it. She charged a sword skill and glanced my way to see if I was ready. I nodded and got up quickly. Karla would be the first in the fight which means she would get the brunt of its attack if I didn't step in.

I charged my sword skill and waited for her signal. She attacked with a double slash attack that left her a little too close to her opponent. "Switch!" she called out. I rushed in and deflected the monster's attack with the side of my battle axe. I swung upwards and connected a powerful blow which forced the beast take a step back.

Focusing on me, it hammered me with it's rock-arms. I couldn't block all the hits but I didn't back out, I wanted it to keep its attention on me. I saw Karla sidestep and head of to my right. "Perfect." I thought with a smile on my face. It was my turn to sidestep to the left and attack its right side. The Rock Crawler turned towards me readying an attack.

The creature jerked and failed to complete its move. Karla successfully attacked it from behind and causing it to lose focus. She also managed to drain a lot of its health. "Ha ha, you brainless limestone freak. Didn't see that coming did you?" I jeered as I rushed it again with a downward swing which stunned it. Karla took advantage of this. The creature had no chance and Karla and I quickly finished it off.

"Brainless limestone freak?" Karla queried. "Where did that come from?" she teased. "I was trying to taunt it. Probably not the best insult I could come up with. It's not like I had time to think it over." I said as I shrugged my shoulders. Karla put on a 'miss know it all' attitude and said "They were igneous rocks. Really, it's back to classes for you!" I stuck my tongue out at her, and we both laughed it off.

"Seriously though, I think we need to keep a better eye out for what's in our path. I did not expect that at all." I said. "Let's see if we can't spot our target before it spots us, shall we?" I proposed. We continued our exploration at a slower pace, straining our eyes and ears for any early warnings of what was ahead, and paying particular attention to our left and right sides.

"There!" Karla whispered as she pointed out a group of small humanoid creatures. "Goblins?" I wondered. "I think so, but we're not close enough to get their info." Karla replied. "I count four but I'm guessing there are more, the rocks partially block my view. I could probably knock down three or four of them. That would get their attention, then you could come up from behind and take out any remaining ones." I said.

"Okay. But, just so you know, I'm only agreeing to take them on because goblins should drop some good stuff. There are more of them than I'm comfortable with." Karla fretted. "Got it. I'll stick to fast or group attacks to keep them from retaliating." I said. I put my hand on Karla's shoulder, she turned and nodded. I nodded back and we got our weapons ready.

With their position in mind me moved as close as possible while trying to remain out of their sight. My heart was thumping like crazy: we had the advantage and we were going to use it. I readied a sword skill, then ran directly to where the goblins were gathered. I swung my battle axe as wide as possible attacking four Goblins.

Two Goblins were killed instantly, the other two were flat out on their backs. "Oh no you don't!" Karla announced as she took out another goblin that was attacking me from behind. She couldn't get the other one right away, the bugger slashed at my legs with a hand axe. My health went down but stayed in the green. I swung at this new opponent and he backed off.

"Finish what you started, I'll get this one!" Karla said as she jabbed at the goblin. I turned around to face two goblins that were just getting up. I charged a sword skill as they came at me. I blocked one of them while the other managed to hit me across the stomach. They were jumping around like rabbits. I relied on the sword skill to connect a crushing blow with my target, effectively killing it.

"Oh you little fiend!" Karla squealed as the goblin connected a blow. I looked up to her health bar; she wasn't in immediate danger. "Good!" I thought to myself. "Time to deal with you." I growled to the goblin. I charged another sword skill effectively giving the goblin time to attack me. I focused on the sword skill, trying to ignore the sharp pain in my leg coming from the gash left by it's attack. I released the skill, it made me jump directly in the goblin's path and slashed the battle axe upwards. A frozen look of surprise, a burst of particles and the goblin was no more.

A similar popping sound came from Karla's direction. "Finally. The little bugger just wouldn't die." Karla stated. "I'm not surprised, these were feistier than what we've encountered before." I said. We looked around to make sure we wouldn't trigger anything else. Kalra took out two health potions and handed me one, which I gladly accepted.

"Let's head back to the road. I want to get our bearings. I want to see if the sheep drop anything good." I said. "Oh I wonder what?" Karla chimed sarcastically "Shall we can find a craftsman to make you some warm mittens for the winter? Or maybe a cute little hat with a pompom? I bet the flowers out here could even die it pink." Karla mused.

"Ha ha. Not my colour. No, actually I was thinking we could get a good price for it." I said trying to be more practical. "But if you want, I can buy you a pair of needles and you can try your hand at it. I'm sure we can find a NPC granny to teach you." I teased. "Who said I couldn't knit?" Karla shot back. There I went opening my mouth without thinking again.

I coughed as if clearing my throat. "Anyways, shall we get back to our activities" I said trying to change the subject. "Okay then. Wolf I ..." Karla started. But nothing else came out of her mouth. I turned to look at her. She had stopped in mid speech. No only her voice, her whole body was frozen. I stared at her hoping it was a temporary glitch in the game.

Something was horribly wrong. The wind had stopped. Everything around me was perfectly still. Even the sounds had stopped, not like when things go quiet in a house after everyone's gone to bed, but completely shut out. I found myself unable to speak, unable to move. Gripped with fear, I tried to scream but nothing came out. Then the whole scene in front of me disappeared;

Everything went black.