“I didn’t think you guys were actually going to come. It’s like an hour past our agreed time.” Sen said apologetically as Forsythe, Aidan, and Amelia arrived, as if she were somehow at fault for them being late.
“Yeah, well, we had some drama,” Amelia answered. She felt bad that they were late but she was still pretty mad at Aidan right this second so she didn’t explain.
“I’m in trouble,” Aidan piped up.
He earned himself an immediate glare from Amelia. He smiled at Sen as if it didn’t matter to him at all. Despite his words and her reaction they were holding hands and it looked like that wasn’t going to change anytime soon.
“Right. You should be more concerned about that, I think?” Sen said hesitantly, pausing before she asked. “What’d you do exactly?”
“I was being a wiz-.” All the air seemed to leave his body before he could explain. Probably because Amelia had her elbow jammed into his stomach. He wheezed, “things. Some things…”
“Right.” Sen cast another wide-eyed look at Amelia. Sen wasn’t exactly sure how Amelia had managed to elbow him hard enough to make it difficult for him to speak in a game. Shade finally put a hand on her shoulder, perhaps anticipating her question and forestalling it, turning to Amelia.
“Where are we?” Shade finally asked. It had taken about a half-hour of walking to get here and he was understandably confused. The entrance to the small dungeon was simply a dark opening nearby that seemed to have been engraved into a low outcropping.
“Well-- you’re slow,” Forsythe said after a moment. It seemed from the momentary pause that he had been trying to find a casual and polite way to say it but failed.
Shade and Sen both glared at him before they could stop themselves. “You people are just too fast!” Sen added.
Slow wasn’t really the right word in the opinion of Amelia. Amelia, Aidan, and Forsythe were really just too fast for the beginner novices to keep up with. Normally Amelia would have cast Aura and they would have been running. They had been doing it for years and their movement skill hardly even dropped their stamina or speed at this point when they ran unless there were other mitigating factors -- like if they were fighting while they ran or if they were carrying way more than their normal carry weight. The most hilarious example, of course, being the time that Raven had picked up a giant Roc egg because she was convinced it would be a great omelette. The Roc mother in question had chased them for miles as they all took turns holding the titanic egg over their head as they ran.
When the Roc had finally been lost Forsythe had skewered Raven with a scowl and told her that he hoped she liked her eggs scrambled. The implication being that all the running had done nothing but destroy the delicate innards of the egg. He had been right, but Raven had been right too -- the egg was delicious.
It was almost otherworldly, in fact, how fast they could travel when they were unencumbered. In the past, Sen and Shade would have travelled with them and caught up to their level of endurance and speed but Aidan and Forsythe had quietly informed her that would take too long and be too boring. Raven had jumped in at some point and stressed the importance of the boring part.
Forsythe had ingredients to sample since returning, Aidan was far too lazy, and Amelia couldn't bring herself to disagree because the idea of helping two people level up passive movement skills started to make her eyes glaze over. So they had compromised and headed to a level 100 dungeon outside of Blutonsi. It wasn’t all that popular since it was considered a lower level dungeon with few hazards, unrewarding monsters, and only a boss or two that were, well, crap.
In fact, Sen and Shade would level up okay in the dungeon but not as well as they would have if Amelia and crew had taken them somewhere higher and let them leech for a while(ignoring the part where they would have been doing them no favors because their skill increases would have been mediocre). The reason they had chosen this dungeon was simple. There was a certain area near the entrance on the first floor that would be ideal for providing an increase in movement speed and stamina as well as teaching the two a skill most people weren’t aware of, let alone bothered to level up. According to Raven, it was an essential skill and having used it for a while Amelia had to agree.
“Well we’re going to teach you how to Upjump and there’s a falling rock encounter inside.” Amelia began, her mouth hesitating for a moment and her eyebrows narrowing dangerously as she tried to think of a way to explain.
“Upjump?” Sen smiled, but her face was starting to screw up in confusion. Amelia shrugged unhelpfully, giving her a strange smile that didn’t fill Sen up with a whole lot of confidence.
“Mini-gameday!” Aidan exclaimed, pumping his fist. “Past shames eliminated and forgotten, new shames laughed at and remembered! Today is the day I beat your record Forsythe! ”
“Of the day or of all time?” Forsythe asked curiously, looking interested for the first time.
“Uh. Let’s start with the day.” Aidan said, some of his enthusiasm withering.
“Upjump?” Sen tried again, turning a face to Amelia.’
“Have you ever seen the really old streams of the chinese mythical warriors who seemed to be able to use anything to float into the air? I think I even saw one where someone lowered their sword and used it as footing even though it was falling in the air with them?” Amelia scratched her chin, her eyes wandering upward as she thought about how to explain. “Well, we were in a dark labyrinth in Aidan’s World and the stone bridge was collapsing into an abyss. We were all fine across except for Raven. Then she started using the falling stones as footholds. She told us she got a new skill called Upjump.”
“Aidan’s World?” Sen turned to Aidan, her face in flat out disbelief now. “You’re funning me.”
“No. I’m an Emperor of a world. I sort of became a tyrant? I freed some people and they were throwing off the shackles of their servitude. There was some laughing, there was some crying, they aren’t aware that they’ve traded their old enemy aristocracy for a newer, younger -- form of evil.” Aidan smiled and said it sheepishly, even if there was absolutely no regret or remorse in his expression and the ending had been sort of horrifying. “That’s a long story though. We’ll have to go back at some point and see how my busy little bees are doing. I told them I expected them to have conquered the subterranean continent by the time I returned or I’d give them a scolding.”
“It was terrible.” Forsythe was looking at the entrance, his eyes far away. Just recalling it
seemed to put an even more dour look on his face. “I thought Raven was terrible with the pirates. But you are the worst.”
“You are the worst, my Emperor.” Aidan corrected lightly.
“Anyway!” Amelia scowled at the both of them while saying brightly. “There’s a falling rock room that you’re supposed to navigate through to get to the hallway that leads to the second level of this dungeon. We’re not going to do that though. We’re going to teach you guys how to Upjump. It’s… actually pretty fun after you figure it out. While you’re figuring it out, maybe not so much. My butt is sore just thinking about it.” Amelia smiled, and was pleased when they didn’t point out the obvious. The obvious being that her butt couldn’t actually be sore since pain wasn’t a setting that was relatable in AA.
“What is the record?” Shade looked mildly interested now, as if the idea of jumping from falling rock to falling rock had finally captivated enough of his attention to bring him into the conversation.
“Raven holds the record. 1289 consecutive jumps. We made her stop because we were tired of watching.” Amelia’s face drooped just thinking about it. It was impressive and fun to watch… until you realized she may never fall. Her face brightened a bit moments later. “Still. It’s like a really complicated dance with no particular set of steps.”
“Dance?” Sen looked doubtful again. It seemed like that was becoming her default look. Amelia supposed she couldn’t blame the girl. Their particular group normally had this effect on people. It was just that they hadn’t been around other people for so long that it was surprising Amelia again.
“Look Sen,” Forsythe put a hand on her shoulder, ignoring the outright look of murder Shade suddently gave him. Laser beams for real. “...just do what we say.”
“...and I’m the worst?” Aidan’s voice started to crack in anger.
“[Share Entry] - Raven Falls.” Amelia put a hand on her book, no longer having to open it to find and share the entry she wanted. Her Heavenly Chronicler’s Book glowed fiercely and the landscape vanished. Amelia ignored the gasps from the two new people and pointed. It was just best to ignore Forsythe and Aidan when they were like this.
She saw herself and the others standing at the precipice of a large chasm. A stone bridge was crumbling. She heard Hunter call for Raven to hurry, though the edge in her voice revealed that she didn’t think the dark haired warrior was going to make it even with haste. The bridge began to fall and the look on her face was almost comical as Raven began to fall downward. As if by fate and chance, her foot had been dropping near a large stone piece of the bridge that was already in free-fall. Her face scrunched into horrible concentration, blanking with a fierceness entirely uncharacteristic of the person who wore it. Her foot seemed to find the stone and she shoved herself upward. The stone rocketed downward, but amazingly, Raven was propelled upward. A moment later she started to fall again. Desperation clouded her face and again she started falling near a stone that had been further up the bridge. Her foot found it at once and again she propelled herself upward. This time she was propelling herself forward and found a higher falling rock, then another. Making it seem effortless as if she were stepping through the air, Raven found four more rocks and landed softly at the edge of the bridge, casting one disappointed glance backward before turning with a beaming smile. “Did you see? Did you see what I did? Let’s do it again! Let’s find another crumbling bridge!” Her laughter intensified as the entry ended and the dark stone archways and paths vanished once more into sunlight and woods.
“Wow.” Sen had a wide-eyed expression. It had been sort of like watching those lizards that could run really fast and give you the impression that they could run across water.
“We know,” Aidan held up his hands. “We know that real world physics don’t work like that. But it does work in the game. Please, please, just let it go. There’s a skill for it. I can’t stand another argument between Forsythe and anyone else that slowly devolves into a shouting match.”
“I wasn’t shouting?” Forysthe scratched his head, squinting slightly. “I think you are transposing us in your recollection.”
“I choose to recollect it as you being a huge jerk and not myself?”
“Wise.”
“So we’re going to try that without the gaping pit of death right?” Shade asked cautiously, seemingly having picked up on the method to ignoring Forsythe and Aidan.
Amelia laughed. “Yeah, let’s avoid death. If it happens, it happens -- but it is alright. I mean even, we’ve all died once right?”
“I wonder,” Forysthe said softly.
“Hmm?” Amelia turned toward him, pulled away from her lecturing.
Forsythe watched as Aidan walked into the darkness ahead of them. A strange expression on his face. “I said I wonder. I am not sure we have all died. I have wondered for a while now. May I ask you a question?”
“In what context?” Amelia frowned, casting a furtive glance at Sen and Shade. Those two, at least, didn’t know about the death game and her friends involvement.
“When we fought Void. Did you see Aidan die?” Forsythe asked.
Amelia thought about it and finally shook her head. “No, but the world ended. He died with the rest of us.”
“The world was unrendered because it could no longer be sustained, not necessarily, because everyone had been killed.” Forsythe shuddered slightly, a pinched look on his face. “When I saw the newsvid today, I…”
Amelia didn’t know what to say, or what to make of the incredibly tormented look that crossed his face. Amelia could still after this many years count on one hand when she had seen Forsythe upset. This reminded her of the time he had told her about the first time he had met Aidan. The tears in the big man’s eyes were engraved on her heart. Would he be crying now if they weren’t in the game.
“What’s wrong?” Amelia asked sharply. She heard the danger in her own voice. She didn’t like the fact that there might be something wrong and it was upsetting Forsythe the reliable.
“In the intersection. I have seen him do that only once.” Forsythe admitted. “I was just worried. There was no reason. I am sorry for distressing you.”
“When you all beat the game?” Amelia frowned. “Well, I never saw that so…”
“No.” Forsythe frowned. “When he…”
“When I what?” Aidan had returned, looking peppy and cheerful. “Stop talking about me, tongues will wag. I haven’t asked yet but I’m gonna be a married man!”
“Nothing,” For the barest of moments Forsythe looked awful. Like at any moment he would break down. Moments later he swept past them and headed inside.
Amelia was about to ask what that was about when she turned and saw Aidan watching him, a strangely calculating look on his face tinged with worry. He seemed to sense she was looking at him and the worry dissolved into a smile. “Can we go? We’re confusing our new friends.”
“Yeah.” Amelia felt the familiar ball of dread starting to curl in her stomach. There was a story here, and for once she was in no hurry to hear about it. The look on Forsythe’s face wasn’t one she had really recognized. It was like before, but different. It had looked like… No. Amelia didn’t know what it had looked like. That worried her the most.
They went.
“So for starters we’ve cleared the inside bats. They were weak.” Sen said, looking around. “I can hear rocks falling up ahead. That’s where we’re going?”
“How do the falling rocks not clutter the pathway if they are not falling into a pit?” Shade wanted to know.
Amelia almost bit her tongue, wondering why Shade reminded her of all her friends combined. That was an absolutely Forsythe question to ask, and as it turned out, Forsythe answered it.
“The rocks dissipate when they hit the ground.” He explained. “There is no ground clutter. They are intended to strike you on your way to the hallway and impede progress that way, not through adding terrain.”
“Convenient.” Shade said after some thought.
“So, for starters,” Amelia said borrowing from Sen by just repeating. “We’ve cleared the bats, and they were super weak. This is only the first floor so no shocker there. Before we go to the falling rocks around the corner we’re going to practice Upjump so you at least learn the skill.”
“How?” Shade frowned.
Aidan held out his staff horizontally. “Jump on it and up. I can hold it in this position but I can’t support your weight. If you fall, you’ll hit the ground but it’s only about a meter or two drop so if you get hurt Sen will heal your piddly wounds.”
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
“I can heal.” Sen allowed. “But I’m a shaman. I mean my heals are kind of weak because I’m a spiritual pugilist so…”
“It is okay. Your health pools are pathetic. Your piddly heals will be sufficient.” Forsythe said, trying to be comforting and of course failing.
“Thanks.” Sen glowered at him. “You know, you’re different than how I imagined.”
“You’re most welcome.” He responded graciously.
“What a whiner.” Aidan made a sour face. He held out his staff. “Our little Raven figured it out in one go. Let’s see how many it takes you.”
Amelia sighed in a long suffering way and held her staff out too.
Shade was the first to try. He hopped up, an expectant and concentrated look on his face. The bottom of his foot hit the staff and for a moment Amelia thought he was going to get it. Then his face fell and so did he. With a soft thud he looked at Amelia and her staff with renewed respect.
“How many tries did it take you exactly?” Sen asked, eyes leveled on his staff.
“Couple.” Aidan smiled.
“15.” Forsythe supplied helpfully.
“That can’t be right.” Aidan frowned.
“16?” Forsythe said after some thought. “I think you’re right. My Elisha got it after 2.”
“The point is,” Aidan said with some dignity returning his attention to Sen. “You’ll get it. It doesn’t really matter how many tries it takes.”
Sen snickered. Her eyes took in the staff and then she hopped lightly forward, planting both feet on it with a look of exceptional concentration. With a grunt she leapt upward, her face changing from concentration to ecstasy. “I did it!”
“Do it again.” Aidan suggested as the look of happiness died on her face and she started coming straight back down. He made a quiet sound and moved his staff away so she fell to the ground without striking it. He had judged, correctly, that she hadn’t been ready to succeed let alone do it twice consecutively. “Did you get it?”
“Yeah. Upjump Beginner 1. Can’t believe there’s really a skill for this.” Sen straightened, surprise on her face. “...and my stamina drain lessened by what the game calls ‘a very small amount’ so I guess that’s the point of this?”
“Well, Upjumping is also fun.” Aidan said after a moment. “I mean once you do it 5 or 6 times in a row it really becomes a game.”
“You and Raven.” Amelia couldn’t help letting her depression show on her face as she eyed Sen. “Mutants.”
“Yes.” Forsythe nodded. “First try. Not fair.” His face drooped slightly eliciting a grin from Sen.
“Where is Raven?” Shade asked after he fell for the second time.
“She’s visiting us in real life and she didn’t bring her gear. I have a spare set but apparently she needs to cutify it.” Amelia scowled.
“She said she can’t use it unless it is cute.” Aidan nodded. “I’m not sure what that has to do with anything but she stressed to us that it is very important.” He enunciated and said it very slowly, mimicking Raven’s adamant tone that she couldn’t just use gear that wasn’t cute.
“Haha.” Shade cast an irritated look over to where Sen was laughing and now jumping with no problem up and down from the staff that Aidan held. At some point he had angled it straight up and she was simply jumping up and down on it from foot to foot from the very tip.
“Mad?” Amelia grinned.
“No.” Shade looked at her and Amelia’s teasing grin faltered. “It makes me happy. I would like to try again now.”
“Yes.” Amelia whispered softly. The look in his eyes. Horrible. Like mud. Like if they had left him now he would have started throwing rocks in the air and tried on his own until he got it. One not to be left behind, no matter what.
She whispered to Aidan privately. “These two.”
“Yes.” He replied just as softly. “Good catch.”
⇝⇜
“This is it. What do you think?” Amelia looked at Sen and Shade.
The hallway in front of them was constant chaos. Rocks of all shapes and sizes fell in seemingly random patterns, casting whirling shadows on the floor. When they struck there were percussive sounds of stone striking stone and an immediate effect where the stones were falling struck the floor and immediately dispersed into harmless dust. If you were just looking at it from a walkthrough standpoint it would seem overwhelming at first. No single rock could kill you, but the more that hit you the more that would. Near the fringes it wasn’t so bad. The ceiling of the room extended up several hundred meters. An incredible amount of upward considering that they had seemingly entered a dungeon that was in itself not under a mountain, nor descended far enough for there to be this much room.
“I love this. I was born doing this,” Shade immediately replied after gauging Sen, who was standing next to him looking excited. “I can’t wait.”
Sen turned slightly, her smile full of adoration and laughter. “You liar.”
“So why are we doing this?” Shade asked offhandedly, as if it were just a question and he didn’t actually care. Amelia secretly suspected he wanted to wuss out.
“Movement is life,” Forsythe said seriously. “At your level we never had a movement speed enhance. If you can accurately ascend you will gain powers people on your level can’t match. It is not a question of strength if you simply cannot keep up with your opponent.”
“You’re too slow to travel with us.” Aidan said flatly. “This will fix that. We’re too damned busy to be walking everywhere because you can’t keep up.”
“It’s going to be fun,” Amelia said brightly, ignoring Aidan altogether. His expression was darkening behind her while she smiled wider, as if sensing his discontent.
“I’ll be going then?” Sen straightened her shoulders and the gangly girl walked forward, staring expressionlessly at the falling rocks that were now only a meter away.
“I will too,” Shade fell in step beside her and then distanced himself somewhat.
After a sidelong glance at Sen he started his jumping. He hadn’t picked it up as quickly but he managed to traverse four rocks this time before falling more than a meter to the floor. He hit the ground and rolled back to safety, looking a little miffed at the avalanche of rocks that continued to fall mercilessly nearby. The damage had been inconsequential and even if Forsythe and Aidan thought it ‘feeble’ his auto regeneration since he wasn’t in combat was already taking care of his health bar.
Sen continued to surprise Amelia. She continued to watch without a change for a long moment as if she were gearing up. Instead of tensing or appearing wary however she simply slipped into the curtain of falling rock and waited as the stone fell around her. A moment later she stepped to the side and leapt up. First one rock, than another. Rock after rock fell and Sen effortlessly kept herself more than 3 meters above the ground. A look of pure joy began to cross her face. Amelia recognized the expression. Sen had basically immediately forgotten about them.
“Natural.” Forsythe looked impressed. It was just the slightest upturning of his eyebrow, but on Forsythe’s face that was practically open astonishment.
“They are just objects. Footholds. Paths to continuing onward,” Aidan said slowly. It was almost like he was talking to Sen, though Amelia couldn’t know if she heard him or not from this distance. “Each path opens to another path. There is no reason to look beyond where you wish to go until you arrive.”
Shade continued on nearby, making what Amelia considered normal progress. He fell every once in awhile but wasn’t discouraged. Instead a strange look of intensity began crossing his features when he noticed that Sen had not yet fallen. Minutes passed and soon he had joined her at the height she had chosen to maintain. While her expression was one of joy his was dogged determination. When he slipped up and almost fell it was because he was sneaking glances.
“How do you always find the monsters?” Aidan muttered to Amelia, a stupefied expression on his face. There was no question that the speed with which Sen and Shade learned was utterly unnatural. It defied reason.
“Monsters love me?” Amelia replied cheerfully. She reached over without looking and carefully threaded her fingers into his.
“I love you.” Aidan turned toward her, a complex expression of sincerity on his face.
“Point made.” Amelia said lightly. “I forgive you.”
“Good.” Aidan said, some of his lofty attitude returning. “I wasn’t looking forward to the couch.”
“Oh, you still might take the couch.” Amelia admitted. “I’m not that forgiving.”
“Eh?” Aidan wore a stupefied look again but didn’t dare to argue with her. Instead he looked incredibly put out. “But…”
“Should have thought about that before you played wizard in the middle of the road.” Amelia replied glibly. They were both silenced when they noticed that Sen was going higher. Faithfully, Shade was chasing after her, his facial expression the opposite of hers.
“When you said it was a dance. Maybe you shouldn’t have said that.” Aidan muttered. Amelia had told him about Sen and Shade’s situation and background.
Sen spun magnificently, dodging falling rocks and always seeming to find a place to put the tips of her feet. She spun ever higher. Shade eventually realized he couldn’t keep up and started to slacken his jumping. Eventually he once again found the ground and only managed to get struck twice by falling rocks before he made it back to safety with Forsythe, Amelia, and Aidan.
“Is she going to stop?” Forsythe wondered.
“How many is that?” Aidan asked.
“I don’t know. I am sorry. I wasn’t counting since it is her first time. I would guess several hundred.” Forsythe looked alarmed. “Let us never speak of this to Raven. There would be a jump off and it would take weeks.”
“Agreed.” Aidan said immediately. “Can you imagine? We’d having to be sitting here with takeout counting them jumping up and down. I’d rather just let rocks crush me, honestly.”
Forsythe almost seemed like he was going to nod, but then remained still and silent as if he remembered that he was supposed to disagree with Aidan on principle.
Higher and higher, a hundred meters off the ground. There didn’t seem to be any way Sen could fall now. She drifted through the falling rocks she wasn’t choosing to jump off as if it were the most natural thing in the world. Joy filled her expression and she twirled and twisted, no longer simply jumping from one foothold to the next.
“What is your skill level?” Amelia asked Shade out of the corner of her mouth.
“Beginner 5.” He replied. His gaze was fixed upward.
“So you can probably keep up with us as we run? The more we run the easier it’ll be. We can stop now since your friend is probably far beyond you at this point.” Amelia nodded. It wasn’t the complete truth. Beginner 5 and they would still be incredibly slow. The incremental boosts to their stamina and endurance would still be miles behind the main group. It would just be less grating now.
“Must we?” Shade asked, his eyes tracking Sen’s movements through the falling stone.
“You two can come back by yourselves later and play if you want. We have to log out at some point and can’t be killing the bats for you again when they repop.” Amelia sighed. “Regrettable, but true. There just aren’t enough hours in the day.”
“Sen.” Shade called out. “Touch the ceiling and come down. We’re seeing off our friends. We can stay though. We’ll have to level up a bit with the weaker bats in the front but when we can clear them easily we’ll come back. Shouldn’t take us but…” He faltered, and then shrugged. “Well, not long at all.”
At first it seemed like she hadn’t heard him. Then, almost reluctantly, her movement changed and she began twirling upward. Faster and faster as if there was no stopping her. It was mere moments after she finally responded to his voice that she seemed to be at the ceiling. With an expression of regret she touched it with her palm and began to make her way down.
“Sorry.” Amelia did feel sorry. She hadn’t realized how much her new friend enjoyed the weightless dance.
“No. Thank you.” Sen whispered. Before she could continue there was a low rumbling.
“What is that?” Shade asked, eyes narrowing.
“One among you challenges me. I have awakened for the first time in thousands of years. Thousands? Perhaps longer. Let us test our mettle against one another!” From the ceiling a series of crystals formed themselves into a lithe body.
“Boss speech.” Forsythe concluded after a moment. “Better get back up there Sen.”
“Eh? I didn’t mean to spawn anything. I was just hitting the goal. Then I was gonna…” Sen seemed flustered.
“Fight the boss. Obviously. We’re all behind you.” Aidan grinned. “Unless it’s really scary.”
Forsythe nodded solemnly. “Then we will just outrun you.” He paused for a moment, looking at her almost apologetically. An illusion that was shattered as he explained to her, “...because you’re so slow.”
Further conversation ended. All the rocks froze in place as if time had stopped. A flash from the shadow of the ceiling moved down to the floor and pooled. Slowly a form pulled itself from the liquid shadow and solidified. The creature was about as tall as Forsythe. Tall, for a man, but not exquisitely tall like some of the bosses that Amelia had seen. It was lithe, had brown skin and piercing red pupils. He, she decided it was a he, was almost impossibly beautiful with a cruel nose, high cheekbones, and black hair. He was, without a doubt, one of the most beautiful fake men Amelia had ever seen.
“I am Arpeggio.” He studied them briefly. He wore no weapons but his every movement was fluid. If they had to fight him it would be troublesome.
“I am-.” Aidan had started off with his own arrogance but was immediately silenced when Arpeggio slashed a hand through the air. Aidan, Forsythe, and Amelia all tensed warily and waited for some invisible attack. Nothing happened other than he dismissed Aidan.
“I am not talking to you, weakling.” He cast an irritated glance at Aidan.
Immediately Amelia felt lines of red being drawn from them. Her expression changed. She had only seen the most powerful of AA creatures use this spell. It was a common spell used by deities and other world bosses that allowed them to identify everything about the Transients from their gear, to their talents, to even some of the events they had participated in. The fact that this hidden boss had casually used it in a no-name mid-level dungeon was truly worrisome. They had been joking when they had told Sen they would leave her behind. That would never happen. Yet, Arpeggio had shown them that he was no ordinary creature.
A look of horror briefly crossed Arpeggio’s face moments later when the red line connecting him to Aidan appeared. “You! Why do you encroach upon my territory! There are rules you fool! Do you seek battle?” He took several steps back and the casual clothing on his body disappeared. In the place of casual clothing was a full set of silver battle armor. He regarded Aidan poisonously.
Aidan blinked rapidly, casting a look at Amelia as if he were trying to gauge how she was taking this. It was suspicious, Amelia decided. He hadn’t looked worried. He almost looked… guilty. “I’m just accompanying my friends, and meant no offense… Mr. Arpeggio.”
“Tch.” Forsythe scoffed aloud moments later, mirroring Amelia’s thoughts. Aidan apologizing was tantamount to admission of guilt. He WAS hiding something! It wasn’t just her imagination.
Arpeggio stiffened, his entire body combat ready. Gently he lowered his hand, and for the briefest of moments Amelia detected the silhouette of a spear! Arpeggio had an invisible spear and had been preparing himself to attack Aidan! Instead he lowered his hand and the silhouette disappeared with his armor. His eyes never left Aidan even as he began to speak once more. “You. Girl. You challenge me. You are the first of this world in years beyond counting. I accept your challenge and will jump against you. We will jump until one of us falls, fails to make a jump, or is killed. Do you wish to accept?”
“I have a box.” Sen whispered nervously. “A quest box.”
“Accept.” Shade said instantly. “He’s no match for you.”
She cast him a quick grin that fell off her face the moment Arpeggio turned most of his attention to Shade, a look of fierce hatred pulsing outward at the implication.
--------------
Local Announcement - Blood Lust!
Arpeggio is infuriated by your insolence. It is only the fact that he has woken recently and acknowledges that his name is no longer known that he holds himself back from attacking!
--------------
“Yeah. Okay… uhh… but there are options.” Sen sounded like she was going to pass out.
“Cool.” Amelia said, blinking slowly.
“Cool? What do I do?” Sen muttered through the side of her mouth.
“Pick one.” Amelia suggested.
“PICK ONE!?” Sen shouted, covering her mouth moments later. She whispered harshly. “Pick one? My choices are normal and heavy!”
“Heavy.” Shade, Aidan, and Forsythe spoke together with various degrees of enthusiasm. Shade sounded confident, Aidan was practically beside himself and all smiles, while Forsythe had said it in such a way as to indicate it was obvious there was no other choice and it would have been incredibly stupid to pick normal.
“Heavy.” Arpeggio sounded almost muted, looking at her as if she had made the poorest decision of her life. “Are you sure? You could die girl…”
Amelia looked at Sen, a sly smile crossing her face. “It isn’t every day when…”
“The world is full of wonder?” Sen spoke softly. Her fierce whisper completely drowning out what Amelia had started to say. Her stance was straight, almost angry.
“Yes?” Arpeggio blinked a few times, looking uncertain. The little girl in front of him looked like she was ready to walk up and slap him. A complete change from the confused and afraid girl he had seen moments before.
“Yes.” Sen agreed, biting her lip. Color rose to her cheeks and she pointed at him. “Are YOU sure? If I can die, then you can die too! Why can’t I do it?”
The silence that followed would have stretched but mad laughter shattered it. Aidan had started laughing, holding his stomach as if it truly pained him. He pointed at Amelia and just kept laughing as if he had just heard the funniest thing in the world. They all stared at him in confusion.
“We are so many now…” He managed to get out. He could barely even speak he was laughing so hard.
Amelia felt a warm smile crossing her face.
“I don’t get it…” Shade muttered.
“One of us.” Forsythe slapped him on the shoulder as if that explained everything. From the expression on poor Shade’s face after he jerked from the slap it did everything but.
“So, if he does anything we’re going to jump him right?” Shade muttered.
“Don’t let them die.” Forsythe said seriously.
Shade looked at him, his face blank.
Poor Shade, Amelia thought. Of course they would all do their utmost to stop him if he did anything. Even if it cost them their lives. It was a rule.
“Do not dare suggest you would interfere with our challenge…” Arpeggio said gravely. He turned to Sen and gestured for her to stand near him. Without a second glance or any hesitation she moved into the field of frozen rocks to stand next to him. With a simple wave all the rocks in the air that were falling simply vanished. “Do not worry. I will allow you to be impervious to the wave for 10 seconds. Then we shall begin. Are you ready?” He raised an eyebrow.
Sen frowned, and Amelia was briefly worried that she hadn’t understood what he said. Then she nodded. “I am. Uhh… what if we just keep jumping and neither one of us falls?”
Arpeggio just smiled. “Don’t worry. It will just get faster.”
Sen frowned again.
Arpeggio smiled wider.