This is the new and improved chapter, complete with edits and changes to make it more original. It's also 1000 words longer and, hopefully, a much better fit to the story. Comment and rate so I can see what you guys think :)
I'll fix 14 later today, so look forward to it.
-----------------------------------
The message read, "Hey Steel, it's me Bright (Sarah). I met up with some of the other seniors in Rostwood and we found a cool quest we could use your help on. GlowGirl (Reva) and SirCourage (Henry) have joined up, and MrSmash(Dia) is coming too. Let me know if you're free and I'll send you the location."
'I wonder what kind of quest they've found." Steel thought to himself as he typed a confirmation reply, 'Must be hard if so many people are involved.'
After sending his reply, Bright quickly replied with a marker that automatically appeared on his mini-map. The quest seemed to start at the main graveyard in the church section of the city. Steel put his spear and shield on his back and made his way toward the cemetery.
The graveyard/cemetery was a large field of gravestones and crypts located along the north border of the city. Here, everyone from farmers to nobles was buried in graves. While the majority of the dead were turned to ash before burial in order to reduce the amount of space used, the most important characters were buried in large crypts that were rumored to extend underneath the entire city. As Steel reached the meeting point, he quickly noticed the group of players waiting for him. Bright and her friends were already waiting for him. She was even more beautiful than in real life. Her formerly brown hair was now a soft blue that had a flow like ocean waves and she was dressed in a magician’s robe that hugged her in all the right places.
Even though it was a beginners magician robe, Steel thought it made her look as splendid as if she wore waves of silk. It was an icy blue color that complemented her staff which held a small blue crystal at it’s top. Bright smiled and waved happily when she saw Steel approach.
GlowGirl was similar impressive, although she couldn't hold a candle to Bright; at least in Steel’s mind. She was dressed similarly to Bright, with her robe being a dark red color. She also appeared to have a gold necklace around her neck with a ruby in it, a strangely expensive piece for a beginner to have equipped.
SirCourage stood with them, looking dashing in his sword and shield. His armor wasn't as impressive as the girl’s robes and was similar to Steel’s current light armor. It was brown leather that protected most of the body without limiting movement.
Just beyond the three, a player in a brown cloak stood off to the side. He was using a disposable whetstone item to temporarily boost his dagger’s attack. Steel could also see a longbow on his back, but couldn’t read the player’s name or level.
The last guy sent a tinge of annoyance through Steel as he noticed him; he was more handsome and tall than in real life, but just as arrogant looking. Steel frowned as he recognized Raim’s features on the character, noticing the exaggerated improvements that made him into an Adonis. Eve his armor seemed to be made out of gold and silver, indicating he had converted many P-points into in-game currency. Steel was even more annoyed when he noticed Raim showing off by swinging his large sword through the air like a professional fighter.
Keeping his annoyance to himself, Steel walked over to them and SirCourage greeted him.
"Bro, what is up? We’ve been waiting on you.” Steel blushed slightly when he noticed Bright staring at him, but thanks to the game it wasn’t too obvious.
"Sorry about that; I just finished my training at the hall." He replied while high-five-ing his best friend with a smile.
SirCourage grinned and nodded, "I understand; I need to get that done too. Anyway, I’m sure you recognize Bright and GlowGirl," The two girls grinned at him and waved, “The thief is called RIP and our warrior friend here is Hero.”
Steel barely stopped himself from rolling with his eyes at the names. Of course he didn't say anything and smiled, "Nice to meet you both.” He held out his hand diplomatically.
Hero smiled and shook his hand while RIP merely stared at it. “It’s a pleasure to meet you Steel. I’ve heard so much about you.” Hero smiled down at him in what appeared to be friendship, but Steel knew in his heart he had been recognized.
Bright hopped over in excitement at this point, "Counting you, we now have 6 people and can do this quest. You, SirCourage, and Hero are all human warriors." The three nodded as their classes were pretty obvious, “GlowGirl and I are both elf mages with she being fire and I am ice. Finally, RIP is out thief and trap guy for this.”
Steel frowned as he looked around, “Where’s Dia, didn’t you say he was coming too?”
SirCourage interrupted Bright before she could say anything, “I got a call from Dia earlier saying he couldn’t make it due to something in real life.” They both used Dia’s real world name because he was not currently in the game and it didn’t break the atmosphere.
With the introductions over, they all began to explain their classes and current skills. While Steel was an advanced class, his was merely a slightly better version of a warrior and required more exp to level up. In the future, he could even evolve into an elite class, but it would still be considered common. What he and everyone really wanted to get was a special class.
As far as anyone knew there were the normal/common classes which could be gained in guilds, training halls, or other normal ways. Above that, there were the rare classes, which were usually gained through difficult quests or special NPCs. Finally, at the top of the rankings, there were hidden classes that were not known to anyone. These classes could only be acquired under special circumstances and were said to be unique in the world of Everlife. Everwiki merely had a short paragraph hinting at their existence, which had created mystery on the forums.
Steel was a centurion, an advanced class of warrior that improved when fighting in groups. SirCourage and Hero were both knights, which was also an advanced class. Since Bright and GlowGirl were elves, they were not required to join the Mage Guild to become magic users. Instead, they merely had to pledge their loyalty at the elf embassy and were both made into normal ice and fire mages respectively. They also mentioned that the elves had their own rare versions of both classes that they could get up their contribution level ever got high enough. Finally, RIP was a normal thief. He didn’t say much, but he did let out a brief hint that he had joined a thief guild.
“Before we leave, is there anything we need to do?" Steel asked.
Bright shook her head, "No, our destination is not that far away and we have everything we need for it."
He felt kind of awkward being part of a quest without knowledge or further preparations, but he trusted his friends so he figured that everything was ready to go for the quest. He only hoped that the reward would be interesting enough.
Steel just shrugged, "All right, I'm good to go, what’s the quest and what do we need to do?"
Bright nodded and clicked a few things on her menu. A notification appeared in front of Steel’s face a moment later.
Quest AddedSolve the Tomb MysteryRostwood was built for two reasons. One was to establish a city on the edge of the human kingdom and improve race relations. The other was because of a mysterious underground tomb. Many have tried to pierce its secrets, but all have failed. Finding a book with details on the tomb, you have decided to try your luck.Objective:Unlock the tomb the explore it’s secrets. Help the evil spirits rest in peaceReward:Unknown
Steel read in amazement. According to this, there was secret tomb under the city that had never been opened! Steel could tell this was an important quest that would have many benefits, perhaps even leading to additional quests in the future. “I’m game.” He said as he accepted the quest.
You joined Hero’s party
Hero nodded and pointed at one of the crypt doors, “The old book I found said there was the entrance to the underground area where the tomb is at. It’s our ticket inside.”
Nodding, the group moved together into the crypt and walked down the stairs into its depths.
--------------------------
Hero lead the group down into the dark, so no one saw him grinning like a demon while he thought about how much he hated Steel. Few were completely aware of how much he hated Plat in real life and why he took so much pleasure in torturing him.
Now, it would be done and he would never have to worry about his rival ever again. Not even the loyal oaf Dia would stand in his way.
---------------------------------
Steel walked in the center of the group as they made their way down through the darkness of the tombs. The tombs closer to the surface were rather showy as they housed the city’s more recent dead. Thanks to guards occasionally patrolling the area and priest frequently blessing the grounds, undead and other monsters were nowhere to be found.
As he walked with the group, Bright moved back to walk beside him. She smiled at him and said, “You know Steel, it’s been a long time since we last met. I was really happy to see you again at the party.”
Steel controlled his excitement, and slight joy at seeing Hero’s frown from the front, and responded, “Yeah, it was really good to see you again too.”
“Why did you leave so suddenly though? I was a little sad I didn’t get another chance to talk with you.” She frowned at him and wagged her finger.
Steel couldn’t help but feel a little awkward, “Well, I thought you were busy with Hero and parties really aren’t my thing. That was the first one I’ve been to in years.”
Bright shrugged, “Well, he is my boyfriend after all, why wouldn’t I spend time with him. I really did want to talk with you though.”
Steel didn’t hear her words after ‘boyfriend’. He tightened his fist and glared up at Hero, who returned an easygoing smile and winked at him. Steel wanted so much to charge up the group and attack him, but PvP was disabled in the city and Hero was 2 levels above him.
He was so angry he barely noticed Bright trying to get his attention. “Steel, you listening? I said were you the one that spread mean things about me?”
Steel tilted his head in confusion, “What are you talking about?”
“Well,” Bright said with a frown, “In the last few days, someone has spread things about me that are untrue: like I sleep around with all the Body guys and I cheated on my Mind tests. It was a bit of a problem, but Raim was able to stop the rumors. Did you have anything to do with that?”
Steel gaped at her, still a little angry from the ‘boyfriend’ comment, “Why would I do that? Hurting you doesn’t benefit me in any way.”
Bright frowned, “So you would hurt me if it helped you?”
“No! I would never hurt you. Why all these questions?” He asked her.
Bright shook her head, “It’s nothing, I just heard that you may have started the rumors. I guess I was wrong.” She said this, but she moved away from him to talk with Reva. Steel stared sadly at her back as he considered her words. Was someone trying to frame him?
Eventually, they came up to a large gate that prevented them from going further. The gate was obviously very old and had many markings on it from past attempts to breech it. It was also covered in ancient symbols that seemed to flow across the surface in waves. They all decided to take a break in order to replenish their hunger meters. Steel looked on in envy as everyone began eating sweet cakes that were passed around by Hero while he only had bread.
Hero looked mournful as he turned to Steel, “I’m sorry Steel, but it looks like the baker only gave me 5 sweet cakes. I hope that’s okay with you?”
Steel shrugged, “It’s fine, I have some bread here that works for me.”
“The bread tastes like cardboard in this game.” Bright declared, glaring at Hero, “Here Steel, you can have a bit of my roll to flavor your bread.” She broke off part of her roll and gave it to Steel.
Steel didn’t know what was sweeter: the roll or the look of anger on Hero’s face that he hid when Bright turned around to look at him.
When they were done eating, they approached the gate. Hero grinned and removed a book from his inventory. He walked up to the gate after reading the book and pressed a few of the symbols on the gate. It creaked and gave off a low moan as they all heard machines moving around. Hero then opened the rusty gate with a firm push and it creaked open. As they walked through, a sudden wind blew by them while a voice could be heard.
"OOOOOHHHHHHHhhhhhhhh……”
Steel shivered at the moaning and reflexively took his spear and shield off his back. The others also paled, but Hero walked forward confidently into the dark. The others followed him after a brief hesitation and entered the darkness.
Ahead, a tunnel extended down into the dark with nary a single light to guide their way. After taking a moment to confirm that no enemies were present, Hero took out a torch and resumed leading the way into the dark.
As the group made their way through, the tunnel continued to get more and more disturbing. Soon, pictures of undead and scratches began to appear as well as small holes with tiny noises coming from inside. Bright shivered at the sights and moved closer to Hero, making Steel fume internally with jealousy.
This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.
The end of the tunnel opened up into a large room. The floor extended downwards like an amphitheater. At the very bottom of the room was a raised platform with a table on it that resembled an altar. Piles of bones lined the seats and gazed up at nothing.
As the group began to make their way down the steps, some of the piles of bones began to move. Skeletons formed and clacked their bones as they began to make their way toward the group.
Henry gave a whistle of appreciation, “Have to admit, they look pretty cool; too bad they’re so weak.’
Indeed, the skeletons weren’t armed, only covered in rags and their speed made Steel think of a baby or turtle; maybe even a baby turtle. Above their heads, their level was only level 1. However, they were still enemies and were between the group and the altar.
Hero immediately took command, “Our goal is that altar at the bottom. The skeletons have an easy weak point right in the middle of their ribcage, so aim for that. Just avoid making too much noise or the entire room will wake up.”
Nodding, the 6 of them began making their way down the step. The four boys surrounded the two mages and skillfully broke any skeleton that reached them. Bright’s ice slowed the skeletons down even further while GlowGirl’s fire stopped the skeletons from getting too close. Hero effortlessly cut through the few skeletons in his path and the group quickly and easily reached the bottom of the theatre.
When they reached the altar, Hero walked up and placed the book on top of it. The altar rumbled and shook as a stone coffin rose up in front of it. A skeleton lay within it, but it was strange; obviously not any of the 5 main races of Everlife. The only thing in the room that moved was the dust settling after being disturbed by the coffin’s rising.
Now that Steel could get a good look, the skeleton appeared to be holding a book in its hands. It looked eerily similar to the book Hero had had, but it’s cover was evil looking and demonic.
“That book is the key to the treasure.” Hero explained, “However, once we touch it a scary guardian will appear. Our only chance is to use the book to weaken it using the book’s magic, and then we have to defeat the guardian. Who wants to read from the book?”
Everyone looked at each other as they considered it. Eventually, RIP stepped forward with a nod to Hero.
“The two mages can do better damage than I can and you warriors are better tanks. Let me read from the book.” His voice was soft, but with a slight sinister fell to it that gave Steel a shiver. Hero nodded and moved away from the altar. Rip walked up and removed the book from the skeleton.
At once, a low moaning began to come from all around them. RIP quickly moved away from the skeleton and took a spot with the group. He was very lucky, as the skeleton within began to move. It floated up out of the coffin and underwent a terrifying change.
It was a terrifying figure now; a bestial skeleton wrapped in ethereal animal fur with an evil glow in its eyeholes. Ghostly, black chains covered the figure, but did nothing to hold it back as it lurched forward toward the group. The rattling sound had its source in the chains around its legs and arms, with the origin appearing to start from its chest. There, a stake stood right in the middle, as if piercing the monster’s heart. It roared after leaving the painting, which gave a fear debuff to all six players.
Steel could read the level above the monsters head, as well as its identity.
Revenant of Vengeance, level 20
Shivers ran down his spine as he gapped at its level. It was level 20, a huge level when compared to the rest of them. Steel felt death coming closer as he instinctually shook in fear.
“…….Aaaaalllllllll oooooffffff yooooouuuuu……” It spoke in long hissing sounds, “…….Ddddeeessccceeennttts oofffff mmmmyyy hhhhaaaatttteeedd eenneemmiiess…….Diiieee”
The monster took a step forward, and then paused as RIP began to read from the book in his hand. It was a chant of some kind, one that had no meaning to the group but did to the skeleton. It roared in anger and began to shake its chains wildly.
Hero pointed at the chained skeleton, “Steel, SirCourage, work with me to keep the monster’s attention. Bright, Glowgirl, fire everything you have at it. RIP, keep reading the book until the progress meter is 100%, then join the battle.”
RIP nodded as he began to recite the words on the second page. A progress bar appeared over his head and began to slowly fill.
When he began, the revenant began to scream louder and began to glow red. The group watched as its level fell from 20 to 10 in an instant, making it a hard fight instead of an impossible one. The revenant roared and began to whip its chains at the group.
Steel and Courage rushed forward and took the two chains’ attack with their shields. Hero ran between them and slashed at the monster. It howled in pain at the slash and fired an eyebeam at him. Hero barely dodged backwards out of the way as the blast hit the ground.
Behind them, the girls began chanting their magic. Bright unleashed an icy chill that covered the boss in an ice debuff while Glow used her fire to boost the boy’s speed and constitution. The monster was only slowed for a moment before breaking free, but in that time the three had already landed their skills on it.
Steel unleashed his spear with a spear thrust and triple strike attack. Courage and Hero both activated their knight ability ‘Lacerate’, which caused large wounds to appear on the creature. This skill was designed to create a bleeding affect, but was useless against a creature that did not bleed.
The monster responded by chanting its own magic, which caused skeletons to begin rising around the group. The skeletons were still weak and level 1, but could still interrupt RIP if they reached him.
“Courage, defend RIP!” Hero commanded as he used his sword to block a chain. ‘Sword Block’ was a special sword skill that could lower damage from a single attack, similar to Steel’s ‘Shield Block’. Courage nodded and ran back to Rip. He slashed the skeletons that approached and kicked away any that got too close.
Meanwhile, the girls began to unleash their attack magic. Fire balls and shards of ice began to hammer down on the monster as it tried to block with its chains. It turned to look at the girls as its agro changed to them.
“Not good,” Steel cried out, “It’s switching to the girls!” He ran in and began stabbing with his spear in an effort to reacquire the monster’s agro for himself. He got a lucky critical hit in that enraged the monster and forced it back to him.
“Good job Steel, keep it up!” Courage called from behind him.
At this point, the boss was down to half hp and RIP was about 75% complete with his reading. The monster moved backwards to the altar and began chanting again.
“It’s trying to heal! Don’t let it finish the chant!” Hero roared as he charged the revenant. Steel also moved forward, but skeletons began rising up in front of them and the two were forced to spend time destroying them in order to press forward.
By the time they reached the boss, it had recovered about 10% of its health. They attacked and inflicted critical hits, as it was not currently defending itself. The chant broken, the monster snarled and began to fly around the battlefield. It launched balls of darkness at all members that reduced their attack speed and movement speed.
Glow countered with her fire buff spell, and the party was able to move again. Steel used his spear to attack the boss’s feet and forced it back down to fighting range. Hero moved in behind it and furiously began to hack at its exposed back. The monster was down to 25% hp when RIP finished reading the book.
The book began glowing red as it too launched a stream of energy at the monster. The monster howled in anger, but it was drawn into the book against its will. In vanished within the pages, and the book slapped shut with a crack like thunder.
The skeleton minions vanished and the group found themselves alone in the altar room. They cheered and congratulated each other for a job well done. Even Hero came up and clapped Steel on the back.
“Good showing Steel, you were a big help in that fight.” He smiled down at Steel.
“Thanks,” Steel said as he looked around, “But where is the notice of us beating the boss?”
“We get all the exp at the end of the quest.” Hero explained, “For right now, that revenant is sealed in the book. It has to placed on the altar next to the other book. Will you do the honors?”
Steel looked around to everyone’s smiling faces. He nodded with a grin, “Of course, I’ll take care of it.” RIP handed over the book and Steel walked up to the altar. He placed the book down and took a step back. Seeing nothing happening, he frowned as turned around to ask a question.
A scream echoed through the hall. Steel stared down in horror as Hero’s sword pierced his body with a combination of ‘lacerate’ and ‘impale’. Steel looked up from the sword in his chest at the others. However, only Hero was smiling at him. Bright was screaming in shock as Glow and Courage held her back, the both of them looking extremely regretful. RIP stood off and looked bored with the whole ordeal.
Hero winked at Steel and kicked him back off of the sword. Steel feel on top of the altar as he bled out onto the books. At once, the book began to glow red again, but this time the energy was directed at Steel. A ghostly image of the revenant appeared and plunged its hands into Steel’s body. Steel howled in pain as the monster slowly removed a ghost version of his heart. The monster ate the heart and disappeared into thin air.
“WHAT ARE YOU DOING RAIM!” Bright was so angry she broke character, “HE DIDN’T SPREAD THE RUMORS OR WANT TO HURT ME!”
“I know.” Hero said as he took a step back from Steel.
“What?” Bright was pale now as she stared at Hero.
Hero shrugged, “I needed you to help me bring him here, so I spread the rumors and made you believe he started them. Don’t tell me you didn’t feel even a little happy seeing him get stabbed.”
Bright glared at him, “You said you would make him pay, but you were the one that did this? We are through!”
Hero chuckled at her, “Oh my sweet, you’re so sentimental. I’m the only one for you after all, so I’ll be patient. You’ll soon find that you can’t escape me. Now, settle down as we watch the ritual come to completion.”
As Steel listened, a notification popped up in front of his face.
*Ding*
[table]You have been cursed[table]
Slowly dawning on him what happened he looked at the different windows popping up. His face lost all color and with disbelief in his eyes he looked at the smiling Hero.
“What, what is this?” He managed to get out before he was overcome with pain.
Hero sneered at him, “This is punishment for being so arrogant.”
Steel glared at him, than looked over to his friends. GlowGirl and SirCourage looked away, not meeting his eyes. Bright looked on helplessly as the two held her back.
“RIP is a good friends of mine, so he was happy to help. Your two friends needed a little more convincing, but I’ve had GlowGirl in my pocket for a while and SirCourage here was rather simple to bring to my side. Hehe, what an ironic nickname huh, Steel?”
SirCourage frowned, but he still did not meet Steel’s eyes.
Bright struggled against the two, but they held her fast. Hero turned and walked over to her, reaching down as he kissed her. Bright struggled, but Hero held her fast as he forced himself onto her. Seeing Bright suffer the kiss drove Steel insane with anger. His rage built up as he screamed in anger. The altar glowed red as it began to draw both the books and Steel into it. Steel roared and forced all his power into his arms. He slowly began lifting himself out of the altar, ignoring the many debuff notifications that started appearing in front of him.
“DAMN YOU RAIM!” He cried out, “DAMN YOU AND YOUR TRAITORS!”
“AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!” He cried out in anger, ignoring the pain shooting through his body. Finally, he felt something snap and he fell limp as he was helplessly drawn into the altar. The last thing he heard was Bright’s cry as the darkness took him.
“PLAT!!!”
----------------------------------------
Raim’s hatred for Plat went back a long way. He remembered seeing Plat and Sarah playing together and being friends; he remembered being by himself as his envy had grown. Finally, fate had split the two apart and given her to him. He had spent years growing his friendship with Sarah to this point; using his new social standing he had encouraged others to bully Plat while making sure none of it ever reached Sarah’s ears. While he couldn’t stop Reva being a connection between the two, he had found a way to make sure she didn’t interfere.
However, he had not planned on the two meeting at the senior party. He had quickly separated them, but Sarah had remembered her old friend and wanted to meet him. Raim at that point, however, had been her good friend for so long that he had slowly convinced her Plat was the reason for why they were no longer friends. His poisonous words convinced her he had rejected her and didn’t like her, that he was jealous of her success while he lagged behind in every ranking. Raim slowly built up her resentment of Plat until she had agreed, reluctantly, to his plan.
Now, it was done. Even if Sarah had figured out his scheme, she couldn’t do anything. Raim ruled the school now, and even some of the teachers were under his thumb. She would listen to him and love him, or she would suffer humiliation and pain at his pleasure. Either way, she was his forever. He only hoped the second part of his plan had been successful.