My guild, the Emerald Pawns, and I were gathered around an old style wooden table, we were all sitting on barstools and cracking jokes at one another. We always come here, I thought as a small smile played at my lips. Pandora's Box, a small, out of the way, pub-style restaurant that had just about anything a person could want. It had a comforting feel with a medieval vibe to it, mainly due to the fact that there were bards playing instruments and reciting poems in a sing-song manner. We come here after every boss fight or tough battle, I thought to myself, we even have our own special table reserved just for us.
"Hooray! To the Emerald Pawns for clearing the boss room on level 15!" My guild mates shouted, snapping me out of my thoughts. We all struck our glasses together with a metallic *cling* before gulping down our drinks as we began reciting our tale to those who would listen.
I placed my empty mug on the table and listened as Koya started the story of our battle, every now and then one of the others would butt in and say something along the lines of, that's not how it happened, let me tell the story. By the end of the tale, every member of the guild had told their version of the boss fight. They were, for the most part, accurate with a few differences here and there, but nothing major. I heard a laugh behind me and turned around to see Athena, the bartender and owner of Pandora's Box. She was in her early 30's and she had really short dark blue hair, one side of her hair was shaved, giving her a tough look. She definitely looks tough, but she's one of the nicest people I've met in this game. I thought to myself as I gestured to the empty seat next to me. Athena sat down in the chair and began asking questions about the boss fight, laughing at certain parts and gasping at others. After a while, we all calmed down and ordered some food. Fighting really works up an appetite. I was about to dig in when I heard one of the others grunt.
"What a boss…" Perez starts in a serious tone, he adds a slight chuckle as he rubs the back of his head nervously, "No offense you guys, but I didn't think we could pull it off."
"Well, in that case," Yuri says with a smirk, "You don't deserve to celebrate the victory with us." He finishes as he slides Perez's plate of food in front of himself.
Yuri picks up a fork in one hand and a knife in the other as he starts to drool a little, imagining how good the food will taste. Just as he plunges his fork towards the plate of food Tess slaps his hand, causing the fork to stab into the table. The room is quite for a moment, completely serious, as we look over at Yuri, and the sad look on his face. Then all at once, the room erupts with laughter, some people holding their stomachs and others wiping tears from their eyes.
"Well guys, I think it's time for me to head back to the inn." I say, standing up and waving bye to everyone.
"Goodbye Akime!" A unison of voices rings. As I open the door to leave, I turn around and wave once more then walk outside, closing the door behind me. The weather outside was pretty warm so I decided to take a walk around before turning in for the night. I equipped my dagger as I walked outside of the town. I'm just going to walk around and try to find a creature or two to kill, shouldn't be too bad. I thought to myself as I looked just through the town gate and noticed a young boy and girl sitting together. I watched them for a few moments as they enjoyed food with each other. I turned to walk away but as I turned, I realized my vision was blocked by something. A man, standing next to me way too close for comfort, I sighed as I began to walk around him. As I started to walk away he grabbed my arm.
"Hey! I said, jerking my arm loose from his large, thick hand. "What do you think you're doing?" I asked, holding my arms closer to my side as a precaution.
The man just kept his head down and showed no sign of answering me. Taking this as the best form of an apology I would get, I turned and began to walk away again. However, I was grabbed by the man again, this time his grip dug into my arm. I gasped at the strength of the man's grip on my arm. I tried to jerk my arm free just like before, but each time I did the man's hand tightened.
"Let go of me. Now!" I demanded, punching the guy in the face. To my surprise, my hit had no effect on him. He tightened his grip on me even more as he twisted my arm into an unnatural position behind my back. I winced from the pain as I struggled to stand on my tip-toes to ease the burning pain in my arm. The man slightly chuckled. A callous, frightening sound that made me cringe. He bent his head down to my ear, his hot, disgusting breath sending chills down my spine.
"I'm gonna be a red player, I just need one more kill, and you, little birdie…" The guy licks his lips as he looks at me, a darkness in his eyes, "you look perfect for the job." He said as he unsheathed his sword and waved it threateningly through the air. "Should I give you a chance to defend yourself, or just slit your throat? Decisions, decisions." The guy smirked as he brought the blade up to my throat.
"Don't I have a say in this?" I ask, trying to make my voice toughen despite the fear that was causing my body to shake. "Can I at least ask your name, since I'm going to die anyway?" I ask, trying to distract the man from his lust for blood. He just chuckled that eerie, callous noise that made me cringe yet again.
"I guess, it wouldn't hurt." The man said, pressing his blade deeper into my neck. "My name is-" The man howled out in pain as I shoved my dagger into his gut.
His grip on me loosened and I pushed his sword from my throat as I rolled forward and faced him. He raised his head up for the first time and when I saw his face, it made my blood run cold. He was grinning. The sadistic, son of a-
"Well now, looks like I got me a tough one" The man said, pulling me out of my thoughts. He pulled my dagger out of his side and threw it behind him.
I quickly looked around, assessing my options. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed I wasn't too far from the town gate. If I can make it inside, the guy won't be able to kill me. It is my only hope. I thought to myself as I stared into the man's cold eyes. I jumped backwards to gain more distance between me and my attacker and that, was my mistake. He rushed at me, his sword aimed straight for my chest. I noticed just in time to move my body sideways, though just slightly. I scream out in pain as his sword pierces my right shoulder. The man smirks and chuckles again, however this time, I don't cringe, the pain in my shoulder is all I notice.
"Looks like I caught you, little birdie." He drawls as he forces the sword deeper into my shoulder muscle and eventually out through the back of my shoulder. Another scream rings out through my vocal chords as I notice my health is dangerously close to the red. I close my eyes and pray that hopefully someone will pay this guy his dues and kill him before he kills too many more people. I wait for the pain of the final strike to come as I feel the man slowly pull his sword out of my injury. I flinch at the pain and silently scold myself, I need to be strong in my final moments, not afraid like a child. I tell myself.
"Who are you!?" I hear the man yell and my eyelids fly open. I quickly notice the two figures standing in between me and the sadistic orange player. It's the two I noticed before. I realize as I notice the girl is standing next to me, holding me up while the boy is in a defensive stance with his sword drawn.