“Starboard! Starboard!” I called out to Maryn, who was steering the ship. Looking behind us, I could still see the enemy vessel closing, but now that we were getting the wind on our side we would probably get ahead of them for a bit until they also adjusted.

“Rotten skunks!” Lizzy quipped.

“You said it...” I agreed as I watched their ship closely. I wasn't sure what they were playing at yet, but it wasn't good.

***

Oh, so it's been a couple of weeks since last time. School has been, well, school. None of us are doing terribly, though personally I'm just scraping by in math. I swear if it's the last thing I do I will pass that last exam with a “C” and then be done with math forever. On the brighter side of school, our language classes have been going excellently, and our work for the upcoming theater production has revved up. A lot of the smaller set pieces have been built, and we're apparently starting on the larger ones sometime in the next week. Costumes and props are nearly done, choreography is going well, and we've got a little over half of our lines down. In other words, we're right on schedule for Miss Andrews' expectations.

Outside of school, those of us who are more involved in certain scenes with each other have gotten together to rehearse lines or practice choreography a few times now. It feels weird to me a bit. I mean, sure, I've gotten used to being out with friends by now; but this is a whole new variety of people for me. They certainly have been helping me to fit in, though, and I'm doing my best to reciprocate that goodwill.

“Just a year ago you would've never hung out with us, huh?” Herby remarked as we finished with our rehearsals on Saturday.

“Ehh... I dunno about never,” I shrugged back.

“Come on, Herbs, he's a gamer too you know!” Matthew grinned.

“I'm more of a table-top games guy though,” the other boy said.

“I don't mind those,” I said as I got my script packed away in my satchel.

“We'll have to play a few for our after-party then!” Herby smiled back jovially.

“Definitely!” Matthew beamed, patting my shoulder heartily.

“You need some work on that footwork, though,” Joanna quipped as she headed out with a wink towards us.

“Ah-heh,” I wryly grinned back at her retreating figure. Rachel came up with a smile, poking me.

“Allie wants us to go to dinner with her and Malcolm. You good for that?” she asked.

“Huh? Ah, sure!” I replied.

“Whew! The special couple of the year invite their successors to a feast!” Matthew remarked cheekily, then laughed.

“You think so?” Herby asked him with some surprise as I made a face and Rachel softly giggled.

“I know so!” Matthew returned. “It's gotta be that way! It's just gotta! They're gonna be this year's breakout stars, y'know! And then they'll be prom royalty our senior year!”

“Well I definitely think they're a cute couple, for sure!” Herby nodded. “And I do think they'd definitely work as the prom king and queen!” he added as we began heading out of the park we had been rehearsing in.

“I feel like we're getting all sorts of expectations thrust upon us,” I softly remarked to Rachel, who grinned back.

“I don't mind it though. I think I like the idea of being prom queen, so long as you're my king.” she said as she slid her arm into mine. I felt my cheeks burning, but I couldn't say no to her. Well I guess I technically could... but I wouldn't.

“Anyway! We've gotta work on those last few lines again sometime; alliteration is crazy to get used to, huh?” Matthew remarked as we stopped at the sidewalk.

“You're telling me,” I said with a weak laugh.

“Huh, but you're getting better at it, buddy!” Herby cheerfully said, patting my arm.

“Thanks, pal,” I replied.

“Oh for sure he is!” Matthew nodded vigorously. “Anyway -- you two have fun with Alz and Malc'! We're gonna stop by the arcade!” he grinned as he and Herby set off.

“We are? Oh right! To beat Jonathan's high score on the racing game!” the other boy said excitedly as we waved to them.

“Today's the day, Herbs!” Matthew raised his fist triumphantly.

“H-he likes racing games, huh... who knew?”

“He definitely didn't seem like the kind of guy to get hung up on that sort of thing,” Rachel agreed, and then nudged me to where the other two were waiting.

Anyhow, we had a nice evening getting to know the other couple a bit more; the two of them had been a thing for a while now, apparently from a promise they'd made each other back in kindergarten. Rachel was enchanted by that for sure; not that I wasn't impressed by it, of course. They'd both gotten into theater around sixth grade, and had been among the school's most popular performers since then.

“It's nice to take a more background role this time, you know?” Allie said to us, and Malcolm nodded in agreement.

“Everyone was dead-set on having us as the lead roles this year, but I think we'll save that challenge for next year!” he remarked.

“Seriously, it's great watching the two of you!” his girlfriend smiled.

“Aw, thanks -- we're trying!” Rachel said in return.

“No no, you're succeeding.” Malcolm gently chided.

“Agree.” Allie nodded. “Oh, our drinks!” she then said as the waitress came over.

“Here you are!” she said to us as she set them down. “Are we ready to order, then?” she asked us with a smile.

“I think so!” Malcolm answered, and with that we put our orders in.

All in all, it was a lively meal and a very amiable chat we had with each other. Allie then drove us to Rachel's home, and here the two of us got out after saying our farewells to the older two. They headed on down the street then, and Rachel softly grabbed me for a hug.

“I guess to be fair we've also had a thing for each other since kindergarten.” she said.

“That's... not untrue,” I agreed as I hugged her back. “There was definitely no one else on my mind.” I said more decisively.

“Except video game characters, maybe.” Rachel softly quipped.

“Ah--!!” I nearly choked.

“Teasing.” she looked up with a grin.

“Hahh...” a sigh of relief escaped me.

“Kiss?” she softly whispered. I smiled back as she pulled my face down to hers, our lips meeting for a blissful few moments and then parting hesitantly.

“Good night.” I said to her.

“I'll see you in-game, Lana.” she replied with a smirk, and I softly laughed. After making sure she got in safely, I headed home myself.

***

Back to where we came in. So, in Panarena, the guild-competition started about five days ago. It's a Friday night tonight, and to improve our standing we're delivering a precious cargo of goods from Yu in Xuanpu to Hrændring in the southwest of Vinlandia.

By the way, we've set up four small fortresses in the Wildlands thanks to our pre-planning several weeks ago; none of them have been attacked yet, but we are gaining ground on resource-gathering. I guess that means most of the guilds there are waiting for the opportune moment -- such as when our gathering yields either a good quantity or a certain quality of what we're after. We've allied with Dreamers Fables and Northern Warriors, along with Valiant Maidens, Valkrysti's guild. Most of the others in the area are neutral to us: ♥Valiant♣Hearts♥, Night Wolves, Heavenly Dragons (which surprised me, but I'll take neutrality over enmity from them if I can't get an alliance yet), and Jade Lotus.

Gears and Wheels has taken a moderately neutral approach to the whole ordeal, declaring neutrality towards everyone but selling them equipment and goods for the right price. Our small but defiant alliance purchased sixteen cannons from them, outfitting one ship from each guild with four each.

As to enemies, among others, there's the King-Priests of the Demon Sands, Guardians of the Eternal Citadel, Venomheart, and a number of other small-time or outlaw guilds that have taken a hostile stance. Speaking of King-Priests, we managed to get the orb from Ghev'riuln a couple weeks ago from that dungeon which was literally a monster, but we haven't had much time to find the other five since then.

But right now the ship that was chasing us was one from Guardians of the Eternal Citadel. It was a huge one with several banks of oars and a dragon's head shaped into the front of it, but there were no sails. Still, the manpower they had to have on the oars was enough to keep us on our toes.

“If we lose this shipment we'll fall hard in the rankings.” Ariana said as she helped Belle, who had taken to human form, keep the sails in the wind.

“Where the heck is Valkrysti?” the older girl wondered anxiously.

“Our caravel has the advantage of sails, and we have the guns on this ship; I don't know if they have any, but they'll definitely have crossbowmen and ballistae.” I noted as I observed the ship with a spyglass.

“They can't all be players, though,” Lysandra said. “I'll bet a large percentage of them are NPC hirelings, which should tell us something about their guild coffers.”

“They are in the top five after all.” Lizzy shrugged reluctantly.

“Northern Warriors and Valiant Maidens can probably field an army of NPCs too, and they probably will considering their fleets. That was a lot of longships, after all,” Healina said as she recalled the sight with a bemused grin.

“Oh for sure.” I nodded.

“I counted at least thirty from just the Northern Warriors.” Lysandra agreed.

“They went with quantity for sure; but I think Valiant Maidens only has ten, all of them pretty mean looking.” Ariana said. “That one was almost a hundred feet long!”

“Wasn't there a story about one like that in the old sagas?” Heali wondered.

“I think so,” I scratched my head.

“It is amazing how they made it, though, and got those specially made cannons for it,” Anhe remarked.

The original longships of the real world never had cannons, of course. Valkrysti's guild leader, Reginleif, had the cannons for her flagship specially crafted with the ship's design in mind, as had Kiana for her flagship. As for the Dreamers' flagship, it was a caravel like ours; right now they had their hands full on another side of the map south of the Phoenix Domain west of Xuanpu, but we would definitely be teaming up more often as the event wore on.

I heard the sound of horns blaring on the ship behind us, and then the thunderous sound of drums. It was probably a signal to the rowers. Sure enough, the lumbering hulk of a ship began turning to chase us again, and I could tell from the rhythm of the drum-beats I heard that they were trying to pick up speed and overtake us.

“Can't we do anything to slow them down?” Lizzy fumed.

“If we turn to give them a blast we'll have a heck of a time regaining this wind, and it probably won't even dent them. They'll catch up for sure then.” I said with a shake of my head.

“Grr!” she groaned. “Make me feel better!” she turned to me with a sour face.

“Oh! There's our pirate allies!” I suddenly noticed, a faint grin coming to my eyes.

The pirates that we had gained as allies several weeks ago suddenly came out of the blue, cannons blazing as they began an assault on the big ship chasing us. They raised their flag, and at once the Guardians began paying more attention to them than to us. As I watched, I saw that the pirates' aim was more to lead them off rather than defeat them. Though they did do a number on the port-side oars of the larger vessel as they carefully kept themselves out of harm's way. I could just hear them shouting taunts and laughing heartily as the enemy vessel tried to squash them -- which they could probably do if they got in a good enough position.

“Whew!” Lizzy sighed in relief.

“They'll probably back out in about a minute more, but that'll be enough time.” I said.

“Works for me,” Maryn smiled as she turned us more into the wind.

Belle resumed her pixie-form, hurriedly donning her usual attire, and flew up to the crow's nest to observe the situation. After a few moments she fluttered back down to perch on my shoulder.

“It's just like you thought, girlie; our pirate ship is heading away. The Guardians' are getting out new oars, but it should be a few minutes before they have us in their sights again.” she said to me.

“Let's make every second count!” I called out to the others, who affirmed the order with a resounding “Aye!” as we set to work.

Just as Belle had predicted, the larger ship was back on us after a few minutes, but by now we were clear of the Jade Sea and were entering the Wild Blue Expanse, an oceanic continuation of the Borderlands between Harmonia and Onyxus. To the right I could see the shining ports of Ur-Pom, and to the left I could see the dread silhouette of the Firelands.

“Ships ahead!” Belle called from the lookout that she had returned to.

“Flags?” I called back. There was a moment of silence.

“It's the Valiant Maidens!” she then said triumphantly.

“Just like we planned!” I grinned.

“Woo!” Lizzy patted my back eagerly.

The classic visage of striped, square sails was soon visible to us, the dragon's heads on their prows seeming to silently issue a defiant challenge to the other dragon-faced ship. I looked back to see what the other ship would do now that our allies were in sight. They didn't seem to be taking the hint. I scanned the horizons; there was a series of islands that our ship would definitely fit through but the bigger ship would not. Tapping Maryn's shoulder, I pointed to them, and she nodded back. We adjusted the sails as she turned us to head straight for them.

Reginleif and her guild noticed our intent at once, and she sent five ships to round the archipelago from one side while she continued with the others to wedge herself between us and the Guardians' massive ship. Battle-horns resounded from the approaching vessels, and the enemy began to take note of them.

“This is gonna be tight--is that channel even deep enough for us?” Maryn wondered in concern.

“Just barely,” Lysandra said as she came to join us. “Keep us dead in the middle!”

“Got it!” the other girl returned.

“These must be the Threaded Needle Islands,” the werewolf-girl continued. “They definitely won't be able to follow us through them, but Reginleif and the others might not last fending them off.”

“Don't write her off yet,” I returned, pointing back.

The five ships under her direct command had adopted a hit-and-run style, with her lead ship circling around at a safer distance to blast them with the cannons they had. For the Guardians, it was a choice of trying to come after us while under fire or fighting them and letting us get away. Reginleif would probably have her fleet back off and regroup once we were safely away, hopefully having stalled them to the point where they would just give up for the night.

Just then we heard the sound of larger cannons firing; one of our allied ships began limping away hurriedly, and Reginleif backed the rest of her fleet off. So the enemy did have guns, and it wasn't just any regular cannons the enemy had; they'd bought some serious artillery to punch through other vessels with ease.

It's a good thing we never gave them the chance to hit us with those, I grimaced, hoping that our allies would manage a comeback. Someone from their fleet shot a fire-arrow into the sky to signal the ships that were rounding the archipelago; they immediately turned so that they could head back the way they came, and when we had cleared the isles they surrounded us to keep us safe. Valkrysti herself was on the lead ship from this detached fleet.

“They have ship-busters,” she remarked as she hopped over to us.

So all cannons are capable of busting up wooden ships. That's just common sense. But these cannons and the special ammunition they took were so efficient at doing so that they were actually given that nickname specifically. One shot was enough to cripple and possibly sink a vessel like ours or theirs, and more than one would definitely do so.

“What do you think Reginleif will do?” I asked her.

“She'll definitely keep helping just for spite; one ship is gonna have to stay behind and help the one that got hit though.”

“Of course.”

“Ugh, how many spare oars does that thing have?” she sighed in frustration as she looked back to see what the Guardians were doing.

Their ship had already replaced the oars that had been smashed up, and now they were cruising on by while still being harried by Reginleif. Two of the other undamaged ships came alongside to help her, while the last one went to help their friends who had beached themselves. The intimidating ship then fired again on the already downed vessel, further smashing it up. I made a soft growling sound, and Ari put a hand on my shoulder.

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

“Rude!” Valkrysti exclaimed with indignation. “Still, we did gain some distance. Hrændring should be about an hour away, game-time of course.”

“Hopefully we can keep them off us that long.” Maryn remarked.

“If it wasn't so heavily warded I could have set fire to it a while ago now,” Ariana sighed, her features scrunching up in a slight pout.

“They warded it against magic even, huh?” Valkrysti said.

“And they practically came out of nowhere again.” I shook my head. “Last time we got lucky because we could go upriver through Ur-Pom to evade them.”

“Now we have to round Ur-Pom and head for Vinlandia.” Lizzy grunted as she helped Heali and Lysandra with the sails.

“Still... that's got to be about the only ship they have; then again a monster ship like that would be about the only one they need if it's done right.” Valkrysti observed, thinking about it.

“I thought that too, so I went to spy out their harbor near Yifu in Kunlun,” I replied. “They have five of those things. And about thirty junks.”

“Ho-ly mo-ly,” the other girl exclaimed in surprise. “They must have a lot of income!”

“Well, sure, they're a much larger guild than either of us,” I shrugged.

“They are the largest and oldest guild in Xuanpu.” Anhe chimed in. “The last time I knew anything, they had just passed twelve-hundred members.”

“Snap!” I said with awe.

“Twelve-hundred?” the golden-haired girl whistled in amazement.

“Now I'm even more surprised that none of the resource areas or dungeons have dried up completely thanks to their titanic ship-building, then.” I said.

“Heh. Titanic. Good one. Heh-heh.” Lizzy quipped with a light laugh, softly jabbing me with her elbow.

“Huh? Oh,” I affected a wry grin as I realized my incidental pun.

“Titanic...” Valkrysti repeated to herself in a murmur. I saw the spark of an idea rise up in her eyes. She turned to the other ships, and signaled their captains to come over and join us; we then gathered below deck in the cabin.

“What's the plan, Valk?” Siegfrieda, one of Valkrysti's fellow officers, asked her.

“We're gonna lure them to that spot, here,” Valkrysti replied, pointing to a certain spot west of Hrændring.

“Ohh, that one!” one of her other guildies, Grainne, said with interest.

“What's this spot?” I asked them.

“It's not a iceberg, sadly, but it's just as good.” Valkrysti grinned back. “Say, Lana, do you know much about the sea-monsters here yet?”

“Not too much--” I shrugged back, and then I became more alert. “Wait, what kind of sea-monster?” I asked.

“Don't tell her yet, keep it a surprise!” another officer named Joanna -- not Joanna from school, mind you -- quickly said, and the others giggled with anticipation.

“We'll need some bait, though. Do you still have that item, Jo?” Valkrysti asked.

“I do,” the other girl nodded in answer. “Though I'm not sure that thing will come for it.”

“It will if we add my item to it.” her fellow officer returned.

“Oh right!”

“So how will we know this spot when we see it?” I then asked, deciding that I would get a clearer answer for this than about the sea-monster from this point on.

“This particular spot has a specific name: the Skeölpadh Sea.” Valkrysti told us. “The water has a deeper blue tinge to it than the rest of the ocean, so we'll definitely notice it.”

“Hmm.” Ariana nodded as she listened. “So there's something here you want to lure out to defeat them, then?”

“It'll take some very precise timing; and I hate to say it, but we'll need to use you guys as bait once we're there,” Siegfrieda said.

“We can handle that much, at least,” I nodded.

“Good!” Valkrysti remarked. “Then let's get to it!”

The other ship-captains headed back out to get to their vessels and set our new course, while Ari, Valkrysti, and I went to check down in the hold. Exactly thirty crates of miscellaneous goods and artifacts sat there, each of them carefully stacked and secured with ropes so that they did not tumble out or break the contents within.

“Thirty crates, huh? I see why you and the other guild-leaders were adamant on getting them through,” our guest remarked as she looked them over. “And all of them are rare quality, too, huh?”

“Every single one.” Ariana nodded back.

“Wow.”

“Well we had to do something drastic after that inconclusive battle around Thremont Peaks.” I shrugged back, and Valkrysti frowned.

“That was a ridiculous three-way.” she sighed, shaking her head slightly.

Four nights ago, Ari, Lysandra, Belle, Anhe, Maryn, and myself had been on with a few people from Dreamers Fables and several from Valiant Maidens in the Wildlands, trying to take down a fortress owned by the King-Priests, who had set up a remarkable fastness this time in response to our pre-event assault on them in Memphani. We had just about broken through when four raid parties from Guardians came charging in; after reordering our formations and rethinking our strategy we forced both sides into a general stalemate where nobody really won anything. I'd had that kind of experience in Age of Hyperborea, but it was still souring.

“Since then, the King-Priests have discovered a rare mineral in Thremont, advancing them in the rankings to the top five with Guardians. I doubt we'll actually win the event, but we at least want to push them out of it.” Ariana said.

“Exactly.” I nodded in agreement.

“Oh definitely.” Valkrysti said as a smile crossing her face. “And these guys, too.” she nodded towards the back of the ship. With that I headed back out on deck with the two of them to see what was going on; that massive ship had not gained on us too much, but it was still uncomfortably close.

“I bet they had a spy in Yu to start off with,” I noted, and Ariana softly nodded at the words. “Which means there's a decent chance they wanted to steal the cargo for themselves rather than destroy us, but the closer we get to port the likelier it is they'll just blast us to smithereens.”

“So where is this heading taking us?” Maryn asked as we turned back to the ship.

“To a surprise.” Valkrysti softly smirked. Maryn looked over at me, and I shrugged helplessly, giving her a half-smile. She let out a short sigh, returning the half-grin as she resumed her focus on the helm.

For the next half of an hour, we kept on our course for the Skeölpadh Sea. And for every second of that journey, we just barely kept our distance from the Guardians' massive ship, which Anhe now told us was called a “Tekkousen”.

“This one is more stylized than the real ones, though,” she noted. “It was the atakebune that had a dragon-head in real history, but it is a fantasy game here.”

“Well, it's less of a head and more a relief, I'd say,” Healina said.

“This is true.” the younger girl nodded.

“Get ready.” Valkrysti then said, and began readying the apparent bait from the other component she had received from Joanna.

At Valkryisti's direction, we began slowing down as we passed over a certain spot, and she went to the rear of our ship, dropping the bait into the water, where it floated. We were still moving away at a good pace, but I presumed our slowing was a gambit to lure the Guardians into speeding up. Which they did, by the way, the massive oar banks churning with a stronger will. I could see the bait just at the front of their ship; I could also see the signs of something rising up out of the water. My eyes widened.

“What the--” I started to say, and then it broke the surface.

A huge turtle, huger than even the warship behind us, burst out of the waves to take the bait that Valkrysti had dropped. It also rammed through the enemy vessel behind us, totaling its front side and wrecking some of the midsection before it submerged again. We heard all sorts of shouting and screams coming from behind us as Valkrysti ordered us to full sail again, and I could not help but smirk as I saw the Tekkousen slowly sinking into the sea. There was one person clinging defiantly to a spot that still hovered above the water; they shook their fist at us, shouting something in Mandarin before their perch toppled over into the waves.

“You do not want to know.” Anhe said with a shake of her head, and I accepted the answer--though I was sure I had caught the word “zhū”, meaning “pigs”.

After that, we made our way unimpeded to Hrændring, where we successfully delivered our cargo and were abundantly rewarded for the effort. When Reginleif and her other ships caught up to us, we went to go celebrate at a local pub for a couple hours, agreeing that the Silvernight Queens would help her guild build another ship or two to help them recuperate the damage done to the one nearly lost.

“Honestly, using poor old Skeöl the Old to tear apart that ship,” Reginleif grinned, shaking her head at Valkrysti.

“It worked!” the other girl retorted with amusement.

“Was that the name of that giant turtle?” I wondered.

“Yep!” the golden-haired girl nodded. “The Skeölpadh Sea's name is adapted from some Scandinavian word meaning 'turtle'; but the creature doesn't have an official name--it's one of those creatures--so around here we call it 'Skeöl', or 'Turt'.”

“I think it's adapted from Swedish, actually,” Reginleif said.

“'Turt', huh?” I remarked with a softly bemused grin.

One of “those” creatures, huh? I mused inwardly. One of the unbeatable mechanics of the game that lurk in odd corners or around certain dungeons, that is. As I took a sip of my drink, I began wondering if there were more of them that we could exploit in further adventures or competitions. I'd bet there's a kraken around somewhere, I reflected.

“How much do you think it'll cost them to remake that huge ship?” Ariana then asked.

“Oh, wow,” I said as the question registered in my brain.

“Good Lord, I don't wanna even guess.” Reginleif sighed wearily as she smiled.

“Considering the type of wood and the amount used in its construction, the metal-plating it had for defenses, the amount of oars, the NPC rowers they probably had, the armaments, and especially the big cannons...” Anhe listed out, and I nodded back, a wry grin on my face.

“That was silver-steel plating; and the cannons and their ammunition were made of some rare ore from Heimgar... all told it probably cost them two and a half million gold for that one ship.” I said.

“O-M-G!” Lizzy exclaimed as her jaw dropped.

“Right?” I returned, and Reginleif let out a whistle of amazement.

“We could build ten ships like mine for that amount of gold.” she noted.

“I bet with twelve-hundred players contributing to a guild's coffer, that amount is probably nothing to them, though.” Grainne shrugged as she started on her third mug.

“Nothing, huh?” I softly repeated to myself. “I bet losing all their ships somehow would dent it a good bit, though.”

“Don't count on Skeöl being a help again.” Reginleif said as she looked over at me.

“I wasn't even thinking it.” I nodded. “And now that they've had that happen to them, they'll be looking up monsters like it in these waters so that they can avoid any more surprises.”

“Oh for sure.” Lysandra agreed.

“So what's on the agenda for tomorrow?” Valkrysti asked.

“We got a good boost today, but I want to try and add to it if we can; let's do the caravan run.” I suggested.

“Ooh... someone's ambitious.” Lizzy said as she looked over with a grin.

“We have a cheat, you know.” I replied with a wink.

“Don't tell me you'll bring him out...?” Reginleif nearly gasped. A triumphant smirk came to my face, and the other Silvernight Queens also began grinning or chuckling at the words.

***

So for most of the day Saturday, except some brief intervals for lunch and quick run-throughs of our lines, we spent the day guiding a large caravan of special resources through Memphani to its destination in Kingsmark. With us were members of Northern Warriors, Valiant Maidens, Dreamers Fables, Fyu Dongtian, and Dracuoatlax. It was not something the latter consented to easily, and only by making a subtle appeal to his ego did I manage to convince him that it would be worthwhile to thwart any attempt on the caravan -- for example, if Djaziim should be brought out to attack us. That worked like a charm.

“So easy,” Ariana had whispered to me, and I nodded as we softly giggled.

And so the dragon proudly hovered over the caravan as its ultimate protector and vanguard, ensuring that not a soul messed with us. It took us until early Sunday morning in real-time to get the caravan to its destination, but we got it there on time without even so much as a bandit attack. The dragon, immensely pleased, promised to help us out with this sort of thing more often, so long as it meant proving the cowardice of Djaziim. And then Sunday night we did some easier jobs, collecting resources from our outposts in the Wildlands or fending off raiders, mostly of the NPC variety but not without a few players venturing near to prod our defenses. Then Monday reared its ugly head with a downpour of rain, dragging us back to reality -- and back to school.

***

As usual, Ty gave me a flick as we headed into the school and parted ways, though I noticed that the flick had become more friendly over the past several weeks. Not that it had ever been un-friendly since he started doing it, but it was definitely verging on playful as opposed to a reminder that a rival was still around.

I smiled to myself as I thought about this. Various circumstances had come together this year, and it definitely felt that I was now a part of a focal point. Not that I thought the world was revolving around me or anything, but it was... oddly nice, to not be isolated the way I had been isolating myself before.

“This year's definitely an improvement for some of us, huh?” I softly remarked as I reached my locker.

“I like to hope it's one for all of us, but I get what you mean.” Rachel returned as she joined me, and we smiled over at each other. “Hey you.”

“Hey.” I replied.

“Feeling ready for today?” she asked.

“Is anyone ever ready for math lectures?”

“I feel like Tory is.”

“Besides her.”

“Then nope.” Rachel grinned.

“But rehearsals should be fun this afternoon,” I noted.

“Oh for sure.” she agreed. “Don't forget we have our workplace visitation this Saturday, too.”

“Gyeck?!” I recalled with a jolt.

“Ahh--! He forgot,” Rachel smiled to herself.

“Of course I forgot about visiting the game's producers when the game event itself heats up on Saturday,” I said with a bashful grin, and as we finished taking out our books and headed into class that same realization struck her as well.

“Oh, snap,” she she said as we sat down. “And we were gonna go looking for that fifth orb, too...” she frowned.

“We should do that as a side-focus this week while the others worry about the big haul on Friday night...” I mused aloud, and Rachel nodded in agreement.

“Think Myanihia has a lead yet?” she asked me.

Myanihia, true to her word, was playing at being our most invisible ally in this competition. Behind the scenes, she had quietly devastated several small caravans that the King-Priests were counting on, and she had also managed to gather some intel on Venomheart. The details of that were something she was going to recount for us tonight at a pre-arranged meeting spot in Harmonia City.

“She'll at least have info on Venomheart, which is just as important.” I answered.

“That's true. They're practically invisible yet managing to stay in the top ten.” she nodded back. Further discussion was cut off by the bell for homeroom, and the school day properly began.

Our reprieve at lunch felt all too short; Andrea reminded us about the upcoming work-visitation, and Rachel told them of our plan to do some more digging into the fifth orb's location, to which they agreed on, and we discussed plans for a final visitation before the school year ended.

“We should just go to Fun Castle for that,” Ellie suggested. “I don't think our boss would have a problem with it at all.”

“He'd definitely encourage it,” Thomas agreed.

“I'll go with that,” I said.

“Same,” Rachel nodded.

“Five for it, counting myself -- what about you two?” Andrea said to Mary and Anhe.

“I think that is a good idea, though maybe next year we can visit one of my family's restaurants,” Anhe said.

“Noted!” the red-haired girl smiled, jotting it down.

“No arguments from me.” Mary told her.

“All right! Our last destination for the year is decided!”

“Our last workplace destination, you mean.” Ellie grinned.

“Hmm? Oh, our summer trip!” Andrea recalled with a smile.

“It's too early for that,” I said with a laugh.

“Do you know how hard it is to book a vacation at the last moment?” Ellie fixed me with a stare, and I blinked uncertainly. “Exactly. I'mma call Chrissy tonight and see what she and Mandy think about popping in for lunch this week sometime so we can all pick a spot for that.”

“Or we could just talk about it at lunch this Saturday,” I remarked, and the blonde girl gave me a smile.

“That works better!” she agreed. “But I'm still calling her to get her ready for it.”

“Sure.” I shrugged back.

“One more thing to think about,” Thomas wearily smiled.

The rest of the school day passed like a breeze, and then it was back to rehearsals. We saw Thomas and some of his friends hard at work on a stage-piece for Nottingham Square, and he waved back to us as we waved over to him. I halted a moment to take a look at the rest of the set-pieces that they had already constructed; Rachel stopped with me, looking for herself.

“I can't wait for this!” she whispered excitedly.

“I mean...” I whispered back hesitantly, but then smiled. “Yeah. I guess I'm excited, too.” I then said, and she patted my arm.

“I know.” she grinned.

“Yoo-hoo, lovebirds,” Joanna Love called over to us. “Act Three, Scene Seven?”

“Co-ming!” Rachel answered, leading me along so we could rehearse that scene, and several others, before we had to go home.

***

“So Rachel, I hear you're into a certain game.” Joanna said later as we sat waiting for our rides. Thomas had work, so he couldn't drop us off as usual, so I had called up my dad for a lift.

“Panarena?” my girlfriend replied, and the older girl nodded.

“That's the one. Are you into the guild competition with anyone?”

“Pretty much,” Rachel said.

“Hmm...”

“What about you?”

“I play a lot lately. Have to keep my guild in the top ten for the event, after all.” she grinned back.

The words echoed in my head. Have to keep my guild in the top ten for the event after all. Her guild. In the top ten.

“Oh?” Rachel remarked with curiosity, though I knew she was probably analyzing the words just as I was.

“For sure. It's tough, though... there's this group called the Silvernight Queens. Heh, they gave another guild heck the other night in some naval encounter, or maybe the other guild was giving them heck and had the tables turned... anyway, they look like a real threat and they've got a solid alliance. So we're keeping ourselves low-profile for the most part.” Joanna said.

“Then it sounds impressive that you're in the top ten.” Rachel smiled back.

“We just do a lot of small jobs as opposed to a few big ones.” the older girl shrugged back in answer. “We're going for quantity over quality.”

“Whatever works.” my girlfriend said. Just then my dad pulled up, and Joanna gave us both a pat.

“See you two tomorrow!” she beamed, and headed off to where her car was waiting. The two of us said goodbye in return, and got in the car waiting for us.

“Hey, kiddo! Hiya, other kiddo!” my dad said as we buckled in.

“Hi, Mister Daniels!” Rachel smiled back.

“Bah, you can call me Al, I don't mind.” he shrugged back as we set off. “It's been over half a year now, hasn't it?”

“Oh, that's true,” Rachel nodded.

“Honestly, thank you.” my dad then said. She looked puzzled for a moment, then smiled.

“It's me who should thank all of you, especially your family and Andrea's.” she replied.

“Heh, we'll keep score later. Sean, you want off at her house as well?”

“At least take my bags home this time,” I answered him, and he cackled for what felt like the rest of the ride over to where Rachel lived at those words.

When we stepped out of the car at the house in question, he beeped, and I waved as he set off for the house. Rachel waved too, and then looked at me with a serious look.

“You know, now that I think about it, remember that Melody girl?” she said to me in a soft voice.

“From the Summerlands Isle?” I said, nodding back. “You think that was Joanna?”

“Something about that girl reminds me of her, now that I think about it. More importantly though...”

“Joanna's guild is in the top ten, working behind the scenes to maintain their ranking and not doing anything obvious.”

“Exactly. Remind you of anyone?” Rachel looked at me knowingly. It took me only a moment to pinpoint her thoughts. A shudder ran through me.

“Venomheart.” I whispered even more softly.

“I wonder what Myanihia will say to us tonight.” she said as she nodded back.

I stared at the ground for a moment, picturing Joanna. Then I recalled what I knew about the player nicknamed The Blade. There was almost no one in Panarena that had ever beaten them in a duel. They'd kept out of the Grand Tournament, though. People on the forums were of the opinion that The Blade had been gauging the competition for next year's tournament, which I found credible considering their quiet yet dangerous reputation. More importantly, the player named Melody did sort of resemble Joanna.

“Joanna's fencing really would translate to making her a deadly player in-game,” I remarked as I lifted my head again. “But I can't wrap my head around her leading that guild yet. We'll see what Myanihia tells us after dinner.” I said, and Rachel nodded. She gave me a hug, and when she was safely in the door I hurried home.