“Is it just me or do you see a cowboy?” Julia said while pointing to the distance.
“Well I’ll reckon’, it's a fine day to be out and about isn’t it?” The player said. “Especially under the sunken sun.”
Why is he talking like that?" Jun whispered to Julia. They both exchanged a look but went along with it.
The player was dressed in what could only be deemed as a cowboy's gear. He wore a green poncho, and blue jeans to suit. “I’m looking for some information. Actually…” He turned and faced Jun. “I’m looking for the leader of Aurora.”
Jun looked around as if he wasn’t the leader of Aurora. “Ugh. I don’t know any Aurora whatnot…Ugh, Au-roar? What's that?” Jun tried to play it cool but it was telling that he wasn’t a good liar.
“Don’t play dumb with me kid,” The cowboy placed his hand over his belt.” I don’t want this to get complicated. So please cooperate.” He then sheathed the weapon and looked at the surroundings. “The Blood Moon event must have been an interesting one.”
The man then squatted to the ground dug up some dirt with his finger and let the wind blow it. He then licked his finger and pointed towards Jun. “My senses are telling me…Found ya.”
The man slowly raised to his feet and approached Jun. Jun closed his eyes but then the man pulled out a note and raised it in front of his face. Jun still had his eyes closed but Julia nudged him. “He is showing you something I think you should see.”
On it was a picture of Jun’s character with a Bounty. It was increasing incrementally.
Jun was shocked but had questions. “What is this.”
“Isn't it obvious? It is your Bounty. The leader of a revolution doesn't know his worth.”
“Me Leader? Oh no no no. I have nothing to do with…” Jun said as he pointed to the sky. “That’s all o' them. Nuh ugh. Nada.”
“I think that's you bud’. And I ought to say you are quite the growing diamond.” The cowboy said laughing. But lucky for you I’m here to help.”
Julia then rushed in front of Jun. “Sir Yggsalad, I don’t know the meaning of this but I won’t let you be captured by this level…” Julia then inspected the cowboy player. “Level 729!” A rush of despair came upon Julia. “We’re done for.”
“Hol-up lil’ missy!” the cowboy began. “I’m not here for you. Just your lil boyfriend here.”
“Boyfriend!” Julia squealed. Her face turned red. “B.B.B.B.B.B.B.Boyfriend. Yggsalad is my Lord that could never.” In her instant of hesitation, she hadn’t noticed the cowboy get in between her and Jun. He then whispered. “You either come with me or else you’ll have to face all of Humanity.”
Jun was confused about what the cowboy meant. “How do we know we can trust you?”
“Inspect me.” The cowboy said.
When the two further inspected the character they noticed he was guildless.”You’re…”
“You thought all of the Borealis were classless outlaws?” He then chuckled. He gave Julia a look and then whistled. The echo of the whistle would go yonder until finally, a horse came running to him. When it reached the cowboy he went and hugged it and then grazed its main. “Meet my trust steed, partner is justice. Law.” Law sprung up and back down. In the distance, fields of smoke came to rise and even Jun would notice. “You weren’t kidding were you?”
The cowboy shook his head and gestured for the two to get on the horse. “I hear your carriage is broken, we’re goin’ get that fix right up. But first. We need to make it in one piece!” As the two would jump onto the horse, the cowboy hit it on its backside, and it began running. “Hut! Law! Go on Get er!” The horse began to run and suddenly it was running so quickly Jun and Julia couldn’t tell the terrain they were passing. The horse began to speak. “So, you’re the infamous Aurora Leader Madder trusted herself to.” The two were taken aback. Although they were surprised, they were worried about the cowboy and the horse seemed to pick up on their feelings. “Oh, Hagarthy. Don’t worry about him, he can handle himself well.” The horse then seemed to second guess itself. “I mean. Well, enough.” The two seemed to have an interesting relationship. As Jun and Julia would come to wonder what was going on, Law would explain. “Right now, the actions of Madder are affecting you due to her being a part of your Caravan.” The horse would jump and the two would wobble, “Careful now. But Madder’s assault on the server is also being considered as her protecting your caravan. This is due to the way to Domination Event works and the solution this world had was to band together versus fighting amongst each other.”
“Wait, you're telling us that all the top guilds combined into one?” Jun said, amazed. The horse simply kept going, acknowledging his question but also nodded. “We have bigger problems at the moment.”
The horse began to run in a direction as if it knew where it was going. “We need materials for your Caravan.”
“I didn’t think that was a priority right now,” Jun responded. Jun was curious why so he asked the horse. “The caravan repair could wait can’t it?”
The horse shook its head in the wind it had produced. “Unfortunately the matter is grave.” As they travelled to a nearby riverbed, there were trees along both sides of the path. “These are Ever-needed Parcels named after the fact they are required for repairing items in the game.” Jun inspected the trees and noticed that they required a certain level of logging. He looked at Julia, “Are you able to log these trees?” Julia did the same, inspecting the trees, and knowing from the start that she had no levels in logging. “My forté is battle, not this, unfortunately.” Although it didn’t stop her from trying. Julia took out her sword and took a swing at a tree. It simply knocked back against an invisible shield. “Yep, nope.”
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Law knew this was the case. “What has Madder been doing with you on this server?” Law sounded irritated and shook his head. “Alright, I guess I have to do everything!”
Law then summoned a large Woodcutter Axe to his mouth and clenched it to his teeth. “Hold on tightly!” Law began swinging his axe both left and right to nearby trees and they each were being chopped into the air flying backwards. As they were falling on the ground Jun and Julia simply watched in awe as they had never seen a mount, talk, act so sentiently, and log at a tree. It was very player-like. But Law was too focused on the current matter that he muffled through the axe in his mouth. “HEY GLOOT THE TWEES IMLOGGING!”
Although it was muffled, Jun and Julia left their curiosity and sprung their attention to the trees. They hadn’t noticed that Law was cutting many trees and was moving very fast and the loot prompt appeared at intervals. They devised a plan quickly and acted. “Julia you get right, I’ll get left.” She nodded and they began to loot the trees. As time passed both players would have many trees. “This is like a rhythm game,” Jun said happily.
“Yeah, I can do this all day.”
Law then bucked them too. “Well I can’t, we don’t have much time. Once you’ve collected 20 each, we're heading out!”
It wasn’t long until they had each collected their share and told Law. Law then dropped the axe which remained attached to him on a chain. Jun and Julia hadn’t noticed that Law was fitted with many sheathes around his saddle and that it was larger than one you’d regularly see. They kept this observation to themselves. There were all sorts of weaponry, even a bow. “What are you some sort of battle horse?” Jun asked.
Law ignored the question and kept pace. They would soon come to a shack that was on the edge of Windborough and Losember. The desert climate was easily distinguished from Windborough. It was as if you were looking at two colour palettes. In the distance, a player who seemed to be patrolling the area would see the players at the shack and let his superior know. “Hey Diggy, I found him. I found Yggsalad!”
But Diggy was too busy in his encounter with another player. “What is a cowboy hitchhiking out here!” He yelled. “What? Did your horse break down?
Diggy, who was riding his horse, stopped the player. And inspected him. “Guildless.”
Diggy then sent a message to the Captains. “You said Guildless players are Aurora right?”
As Diggy inspected the player he noticed his level. “Level 729 Cowboy Cavalier-Class. He doesn’t even keep it a secret. He can’t be Aurora.
But then Diggy would receive a message from Aluxan. “Any Guildless players are K O S with 10 players. Especially anything over level 700.”
“Just as I thought.” Diggy forged a weapon from the thin air of sand. It was a javelin which he tossed at Hagerty but as it pierced his body, the cowboy would wither into sand. “A sand decoy.”
Back at the shed, Hagerty would appear out from the sands nearby and to Jun and Julia's.
“Let’s get this repair going. Quickly, transform.”
“On it!”
The Horse would then transform into a blacksmith's anvil. “Now hand me your carriage.”
Jun was still taking in that the horse transformed into an anvil.
“Hurry up there!” Hagerty said, waving his fingers towards him. He would receive a trade request with Jun’s carriage inside.
“Don't try anything funny now,” Julia said protectively.
“I Won’t and even if I could, The Caravan is bound to the player and not tradeable permanently. I couldn’t steal the caravan if I wanted to.”
“Then how are we supposed to trade right now?”
Hagerty declines Jun’s offer. “There’s no need to trade, simply target the anvil and drop your Caravan into the slot.” Jun looked at the menu and dropped the caravan into the slot which lit up other areas. It included repair materials. He looked at Julia who was also looking at the anvil menu and both inserted their materials into the anvil.
In the distance, several horse hoofs could be heard which caused a rumble on the floor. It would then stop. Hagerty would look out to notice a group of players on horses together. “How long you got on the repair Small-Fry?” Jun looked at the timer as it read 15 minutes. “15 minutes.”
Interrupting this thought, Diggy got off his horse and pulled out a microphone. “Come on out! We know you're in there Yggsalad! Come out and no one gets hurt.”
“It's too bad that I’m going to have to hurt nobody then,” Hagerty said.
“You again? Are you real this time?” Diggy yelled. He then pulled out a rifle and shot a bullet of sand at Hagerty, who didn’t budge as it winced past his face. “Brave one we got over here guys!”
“How did he know?” Julia asked Jun.
“Well unfortunately for you we got no Yggsalad back in hur’. We got Small-Fry and Bacon-bits”
“Lovely, I’ll come for breakfast.”
“Diggy then leapt from his horse into the air. On his descent, Hagerty lifted his poncho, unveiling several holstered guns. Under his breath he began breathing, chanting skills. “Concentration of the Enlightened. Breath of Bushido- White-Swallow.” Finally, he cast “Banners of Protection!” As Diggy rose into the air, his fellow allies rose as well, each with blades in hand nearing Hagerty. Hagerty pulled his pistols from his sheaths and they began firing from the point they exited the holsters. In slow motion, one could see him raise them around in front of his torso until they reached across the other. Then he switched the equipment of each hand so that the other hand grabbed the other gun and continued firing it as he sheathed the guns back into their holsters. It was in a split second, but each person in the air would receive 5 million damage each. Of the ten, 9 fizzled. You would think Diggy was not defeated at this moment but Diggy respawned back in Losember. “That bastard!” He slammed the sand beneath him. He was back in his chamber. The Tower of Losember. He noticed a red blinking spot on him. “What is this?”
The one player that remained seemed confused. He checked his body for damage, but Hagerty would explain, “I didn’t aim for you. Son, because I want you to tell your big boss something.” A banner then fell from the sky onto the battlefield. It was the Banner of Protection which let off a gusting wind. as it fell. Hagerty picked it up and threw it at the player. From the impact, the player wasn’t enough to defeat the player but it planted on his chest and continued to carry the player..” Wait! Wait!” the player yelled.
As the Player continued to fly, the banner would propel him to unimaginable speeds. One would think the banner was not aimed but it was. Before Diggy was defeated, he targeted Diggy with the Banner of Protection and tossed it. After he would respawn he would come to an unwavering surprise. After Diggy rose he looked out his perch. It was seconds until he saw the body of the player in his eyes. And yet again, he rose from respawn with a Banner of Protection waving over his head. Inspecting it, the name that dug deep into his madness rose. “HAGERTY!” Diggy yelled.
“Now then.” Hagerty. He would see a notification of a kill, and he curled his fist in front of him, taking in a moment of pride. “Maining Nid 3rd season wasn’t for nothing.”
As he looked at the Anvil, Jun’s item was complete. “Yggsalad, what are you doing? Go on, Summon your caravan.”
Jun didn’t think twice, but Julia did. “Wait, why would they need your caravan?” Her hand was placed over his.
“Now is not the time to dally. We need to hurry. Humanity is…” Hagerty would start.
“Humanity is what?” Julia asked.
“You have to trust me, Yggsalad. It is for your good that you summon your caravan!” Hagerty insisted but even still Julia was hung on this question. ‘There is no need to explain.”
"PBE Skill Unbound." She then looted the Caravan item into her Inventory.
"Impossible," Hagerty whispered.
“Julia, give it back…what are you doing?” Jun would say but Julia then looked down. “Julia.”
Jun inspected Julia. Her name was no longer Julia but something else, something that Madder was afraid of from the beginning. “Send Madder my Regards!” The player said.
The name read, “Mad, Level 750”.
Madder would receive a notification of a player status now online in the world. One that hadn’t been active in 5 years. She clenched her teeth. “So they have finally arrived!”
Julia’s body began to transform into another. Her blonde strands of her hair slowly change to black. After it was a person with an air of Madder but still like Julia, except they seemed to embody evil with a sinister aura.
The original Leader of Borealis. Mad. Third-Party in the Domination.