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Soul Forged
Chapter 35: The Attack on the Northeast Wilds, Part I

Chapter 35: The Attack on the Northeast Wilds, Part I

Day 03.

Sinnamon burst through the doors of Larina’s shop. When she'd made it halfway to the mage shop, she'd received another message from Halzy and it had confirmed her fears. Another fire had gone up south of Pella, and more fires had been seen further out from Araedi in multiple directions. Fires that had been deliberately set. She quickly tapped out a message to Saiph, Nix, Orbnus, and Jack, hoping at least one of them might have friends in the area who could help them.

“Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Where’s the fire? I know our work is good, but it ain’t that good!” Owlie called out.

Sinnamon had to stop and catch her breath. “Fires outside Araedi. Lots of them. Please tell me you finished enchanting my stuff!”

Owlie shouted towards the counter. “Larina! Need those pink mage robes!”

Larina appeared from a back room and reached under the counter and pulled out a white box wrapped with a silver bow. She set it on the table and slid it towards Sinnamon. “It’s all set, but you’re still a level too low.”

“It’s fine, I’ll kill something on the way.” Sinnamon tore open the box and dumped its contents into her bag. She equipped the outfit and received a prompt warning her of her level being too low to use the gear.

A flash of light surrounded Owlie and in a moment she was wearing her armor. A pike appeared on her back with the pointed end looking like a snowflake delicately folded in half. “We’ll kill something along the way.”

Sinnamon started for the door when Owlie called out.

“Hey, I just realized, we hooked you up with new clothes, but you probably need a new weapon, right? Wand or staff?”

“I don’t think I can buy one right now if it costs as much as the robes,” Sinnamon answered. She was still using the starter wand.

“We’ll set up a payment plan later! You need a high level weapon to work with! Now, staff or wand?”

“Wand. No, staff,” Sinnamon answered.

Owlie smiled at her as she picked up a black and pink staff with a blue-white focusing crystal at the tip. A silver snake wrapped around the upper half of the rod and its mouth stood open with fangs extended towards the crystal at the top. “You’ll like this one, it’s for supports.”

Item: Asclepius’ Rod

Type: Weapon - Magic Staff

Construction: Wood from the Aeslum tree with a Diamat Focus

Rarity: Phantasmal

Stats:

* Base Spell Strength: +30%

* Base Spell cast time reduction: +12.5%

* Base Spell cooldown reduction: +25%

* Durability: 2,150/2,150

* This item scales from level 55 to 75

Enchantments:

* Healing and shielding power: +25%

* +25% to Willpower

* Diminished returns on casting the same crowd control spell on a target reduced by 50%

* Mana penalty for casting party-wide buffs is reduced by 50%

Description: A powerful staff forged by Owlie, enchanted by Larina.

Sinnamon held the staff in her hands and she was most surprised to see that the imagery of the snake on the staff was the correct one for medical professionals.

The three of them ran out of the shop together and towards Araedi’s western gates.

***

Tyree saw movement ahead of her. Three men; one wearing heavy armor, and the other two in matching blue robes. Tyree activated the stealth skill Rhoda had taught her, muffle. Silent as the dead of night, she slipped in close behind them.

“I still can’t get over how big that explosion was! I definitely picked the wrong class!” the man in armor shouted with glee. He stopped walking and rested his arms behind his head as he caught his breath.

“And that was just a level twenty spell! Imagine if I were fifty or a hundred!” One of the men in robes said.

“Would you two stop standing around? We’re falling behind! We have to catch up to the others!” said the third man.

Tyree continued to watch them. They meandered without much hurry. She could feel the power emanating from them. They were at best rank two, she was rank four. They might not die a permanent death, but she could delay them getting to Pella.

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Muscles tightened in Tyree’s body like a spring compressed. In one swift moment, she activated two spells and launched herself towards one of the men in blue robes.

The Guardian Sorcerer Tyree latched onto cried out, but it was too late. Tyree plunged her sword through his back and it came out his chest, coated in the red of his blood. She activated the blade’s burning enchantment and flames burst from inside the Guardian as she dragged the sword down and out his lower back. Before his body even hit the ground, it had changed into a small floating purple crystal.

“What the hell?” The man in armor turned to face Tyree, a pike and shield appearing in his hands.

Red light flashed around the Guardian Sentinel and Tyree felt a strong compulsion to attack him and only him. She charged forward to meet him even though she knew she should be going after the other mage.

Her swords found only the Sentinel’s shield or plate armor as he blocked each strike. She tried to pull away to face his mage friend, but he was nowhere to be seen.

Suddenly pain flared through Tyree’s stomach. She looked down and saw blood spilling beneath the pike sticking through the armor in her stomach. My blood, Tyree realized.

Tyree felt the sword yanked out from her stomach. She slumped to the ground, choking on her own blood as pain roiled through her body.

The Sentinel looked down at Tyree, pike raised and ready to strike, and the only thing she could think of doing was cursing the universe for not allowing her to take at least two of them before she died.

The pain was maddening, but Tyree steeled herself and looked the man in his eyes as he drove his weapon downward.

A blinding light made Tyree recoil and close her eyes. The pain in her stomach was gone in an instant.

A woman’s battle cry and a man’s cries were the only sounds Tyree heard. The light faded and in front of Tyree, she saw the man about to kill her clutching a sword sticking out of his own stomach.

The blade was serrated up both sides and around its rounded tip. An angel in white-gold armor with large silver wings flared stood behind the Sentinel. The weapon made a terrible buzzing sound as the jagged edges of the blade began to spin, violently tearing through armor as easily as it did flesh as the angel pulled her sword up, cleaving the Guardian in two. The two halves of his body disappeared, replaced by a glowing purple crystal that floated above the ground.

The angel pointed her weapon at the other robed Guardian and a bright beam of white light fired from the sword’s tip. He suddenly burst into flames, joining his two friends as small glowing purple crystals.

The woman landed on the ground and a man wearing a black suit and holding a guitar sauntered out from behind the tree and… was his head a giant pumpkin?

He and the angel talked before he suddenly turned to Tyree.

“Sorry, I didn’t see you there. I am the King of Hallow’s Eve, Jack O’Lantern. But you can call me Jack.”

The angel introduced herself as Orbnus, Keeper of Solaire’s Light.

Tyree looked at the odd pair and finally managed a “Thank you, healer. I would have been dead if not for you.”

“Afraid that’s all the healing I can do. If you’re still hurting, Jack can give you a slow heal. Can you get somewhere safe?”

Tyree shook her head. “I am a soldier of Castera. I am going to Pella to save that village.”

Orbnus nodded. “Then I suggest you stick with us.”

Jack plucked a note on his guitar before setting into a furious composition. The notes were dark and heavy, rising and falling in a manner Tyree had never heard performed before. Pink motes of mana in the shape of music notes spilled from the guitar, wafted through the air, and caught all three of them.

Tyree raised a hand to one of the notes. When she did, her arm moved far faster than she’d intended. She took a step back and again she moved with more speed as if propelled by an unseen force.

“What magic is this?” Tyree asked Jack.

His pumpkin head opened into a large grin. Where eyes should have been were two flickering candles. “I am a Bard. I didn’t know if my spells could work on you. Seems they do, because this movement speed buff is the only way we’re getting to the action fast enough to make a difference.”

***

AnnaLee flew alongside Sinnamon and Weaver on her pegasus, scouting the full scope of the raging fires below. The thick smoke met them, stirring all three of them into a coughing fit.

“I’m going to put us down beside those players and figure out just what the hell is going on,” Weaver pointed to a group of eight, maybe more, Sinnamon couldn’t see through the thick haze.

“What the hell are you guys doing?” Weaver yelled to a Sorcerer named Dahl as he dismounted.

“What's it look like? Me and a bunch of other players are gonna force the devs to send us home. They turned off reports? They'll have to respond to a server-wide griefing!” Dahl replied.

“You're not griefing anyone! You're burning down people's homes and farms! This isn't a game!” Weaver shouted.

“You’re hurting real people,” Sinnamon added.

“Real people already got hurt!” A level sixteen Rogue named Katarina shouted. “I have a toddler at home by himself! Can you promise me the devs are taking care of him while I'm stuck here?”

Sinnamon started to open her mouth, but couldn't say anything. Katarina was right. Sinnamon wasn't sure how she'd react knowing her child was home alone, even if it had been, at most a couple hours if Annwyn Online’s time conversion with earth was still the same 2 hours for one day. That was still a long time for anything to happen. But that didn't mean the people of this world, who apparently knew little more than the players did, should have to suffer as well.

Sinnamon didn't have the words to voice the confused thoughts in her head and so she stayed silent, offering only a shake of her head.

“I didn't think so. Until I know my kid is safe and I can go home and hold him again, I don't care about anything else. Least of all any of these people. The devs were the first to not care.” Katarina turned and disappeared into the orange flames with Dahl.

Weaver placed a hand on Sinnamon’s shoulder. She wiped a tear from her eye. She hadn’t even realized she'd started crying.

“We need to go. These people won't listen to reason,” Weaver said.

“You’re right. We need to get ahead of these people and evacuate who we can.” Sinnamon firmed herself and turned to AnnaLee. “I have a strong feeling we're going to need a lot of healers over the next couple hours. You and I need to get to Pella.”

AnnaLee gave a nod. The girl had confided in Sinnamon that she wanted to be a nurse or a doctor someday. She was only fourteen, but she was about to get thrown into it.

“What about us?” JonJon asked.

Weaver answered. “You, me, and Sparrow will take up evacuating who we can. We'll have to ride fast and hard and get people either going far from the path of the fires to Araedi or Pella.”

He turned to Larina and Owlie who had stayed further back. “Can you two give Sinnamon and AnnaLee an air escort? Who knows what they might run into.”

Both women dismissed their ground summons, replacing them with wyverns.

Owlie turned to Sinnamon. “I hope you two can keep up.”