“This is horrible.” Zeke trudged through the rubble covering Mindel’s Main Street. “Admittedly it’s pretty cool though. I mean the atmosphere in this area is unbelievably realistic”

The air was filled with ash and smoke. Flames burned hot throughout the city and engulfed buildings. Dust and smog circled the town.

“Yeah it is, but what the hell even is this?” Astral replied as she stepped over a dead revenant. “Some sort of new event?”

“Most likely.” Zeke responded. “That’s probably why we can’t log off. We’ve gotta finish the event first.” 

“I mean…” Astral pushed aside some rubble blocking her way and stepped into the shopping district. “... if this is some new event, then how did we trigger it? Did Setna start it? Was it just RNG? And we seriously can’t log off because of it? I’ve never heard of anything like that in this game before.”

“I don’t know.” Zeke shrugged his shoulders and continued walking down the path. “Ah, you’ve got to be kidding me!” He shouted as he came across the collapsed ruins of what was once Commonnote. With fervor, he rushed over to the ruins and began scooping out rubble.

“Woah. Something in there?” Astral asked.

Zeke continued to dig for minutes until finally he gave up and let out a large sigh. “Damn! It’s not here.”

“Whatcha looking for?”

“This shop used to have really strong bard weapons, but now I can’t find a thing here.” Zeke responded.

“Makes sense. I doubt the devs would want you to steal stuff from a shop during an event like this.”

“Yeah, I guess.”

———————

The two adventurers continued down through Mindel. They slowly made their way to Mindel’s town square, the starting place of SeraphStar. That being said, the chaotic fire storm that now encircled Mindel proved challenging for Zeke and Astral. They worked past damaged structures and streets and slashed down revenants wandering the forsaken city.

“Ahhh! Get away!” A scream erupted somewhere down the street from Zeke and Astral.

Both of them swiftly darted down the road and uncovered a low level player currently entangled in a losing fight against a revenant.

“I gotchu!” Astral charged forward past Zeke and with one swing, took off the head of the zombie.

Stunned, the other player, a man who played the sorcerer class, quickly jumped up to his feet and thanked Astral. “Oh, thank god, I don’t know what I would have done without you.”

“No sweat.” Astral replied. “Hey, you happen to  know what happened here?”

“Yeah, how the hell did Mindel get like this?” Out of breath, Zeke asked as he caught up to Astral.

“Well…” The man began to explain. “It started a few hours ago. Everything seemed fine, when suddenly a group of about eighteen players began attacking people out of the blue. Most of them were pretty high level too, and they started wrecking stuff up. A few of them were defeated, but in no time they eradicated most of the players in Mindel. Worst of all, it seems every player they killed turned into one of those.” The man kicked the dead revenant at his feet.

“That’s strange, they shouldn’t just be able to attack other players…” Zeke wondered.

“Yeah, Mindel is a no PvP zone, anyways.” Astral added.

“I don’t know, but this whole thing’s got me freaked out. I mean we can’t log off. Other players are trying to kill us. We might turn into those things. I’m not cut out for this.” The man began to panic. “I don’t know about you guys, but I’m getting the hell out of Mindel. I’ve heard Garoh is currently safe and the Guild of Foretold is helping people out over there. So it’s probably my best bet.”

The man began walking off towards the north exit of Mindel. “Well, see you guys, and thanks for the help!”

“Bye!”

“Stay safe!”

Soon the sorcerer was out of view, having headed towards the Garoh plains.

“Shouldn’t we head there too?” Zeke asked. “I mean if that guy is convinced it’s safe, I’m convinced.”

“Sure, but there’s something I want to check out in Mindel real quick.” Astral responded.

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“Alright.”

——————-

Astral and Zeke continued to journey through the collapsing city of Mindel until they finally arrived at its center, the town square. The large plaza housed ornate tiles and an elaborate and large fountain. A putrid smell filled the air here, as a myriad of revenant bodies sat lifeless within the square. Both Astral and Zeke creeped slowly towards the plaza, expecting some sort of attack.

They peered their heads past the side of a building and looked on toward the town square. “Ohhh, she’s not here, like she said she would.” Astral sighed.

“Huh? Who are you…?” Zeke began to ask.

“I better catch up with the others.” Zeke and Astral silently gasped as they heard a familiar voice call from inside the plaza.

A ranger girl, holding a large black bow in her hands emerged from the other side of the fountain and began walking towards Zeke and Astral.

“It’s Setna!” They both whispered.

“What do we do? Do we go out there? Do we run?” Zeke began to quietly panic over his options.

“Setna!” Astral yelled as she charged out from her cover and drew her sword.

“Astral!” Angrily whispering, Zeke beckoned Astral back. “What are you doing?”

“I’m getting revenge, that’s what I’m doing!” Astral shouted. “Who the hell do you think you are!? You think you can just backstab and betray other players and get away with it!? I thought you were supposed to be our guide! I thought you were supposed to be an upholding member of the Guild of Foretold!” 

Setna stared back at Astral with a blank expression on her face for a few moments. “Who are you, again?”

Furious, Astral let out a large sigh and rapidly stomped towards Setna. With two hands, she swung her sword at the ranger girl.

Skillfully, Setna dodged the attack. “Now I understand.” She drew an arrow from her quiver and readied Black Tar.

“Shit!” Zeke thought to himself. “I’m not strong enough to fight her, am I? She’s way higher level than I am.” He sighed. “I guess I have no choice.” Then he ran out to join the fray.

————————-

Setna jumped over the whip of Astral’s blade and ducked Zeke’s guitar swing. She pointed her bow towards Astral and a loud roar emerged as her arrow flew towards the fighter. However, Astral quickly sliced the arrow in two and was left unscathed.

“You are a strong opponent.” Setna muttered in a monotone voice as she pulled three arrows from her quiver.

“Yeah, thanks?” Astral sarcastically replied as she prepared to use her berserk skill. The ability engulfed her in a red aura and increased her damage tenfold, but greatly reduced her defense.

“I’ll back you up!” Zeke cast Power burst, bardic inspiration and consumption.

Astral, now powered up, looked at Setna with fire in her eyes and charged at the ranger girl.

—————

“What!?” Shocked, Zeke yelled.

Astral advanced on Setna and performed two well timed slashes. Yet out of nowhere the ranger vanished out of sight, having dodged the blows, and reemerged behind Astral.

“You are a strong opponent…” Setna shot three arrows straight into Astral’s back and each of them exploded in black fire as they pierced the fighter’s body. “...but I’m stronger.”

Astral collapsed to the ground and Setna whipped her attention to the bard behind her.

“Fuck!” Zeke ran towards Setna and readied his next skill. He let out a loud, ear shattering howl, in the hopes of stunning Setna. Nevertheless, she was prepared, and as Zeke screamed, she vanished and reappeared behind him.

“She dodged it?” Confused Zeke quickly turned around to find Setna aiming three arrows straight at him. “Damn!” Zeke used his guitar to cover his face, as he waited for the blow.

Black Tar growled as it shot three arrows in an arc towards its opponent. The middle of the three was aimed straight at the bard in front. Zeke flinched as he expected the arrow to hit him, yet all of a sudden he heard a loud swing and a snap. In front of him, Astral had stood up and stopped the arrow.

“Astral! Are you alright?” Zeke could tell Astral was badly injured. Her back was entirely soaked in blood, and her movements were extremely slow.

“I can still fight!” Astral pointed her sword directly towards Setna and began yelling as she charged towards the ranger.

Setna looked unemotionally at the fighter. “You forgot about the other two arrows.” The arrows that Setna previously fired had missed and flew somewhere off to the right and left. Suddenly they did a complete turn in mid air and completely changed their trajectory. One of the arrows flew straight into Zeke’s back and the other into Astral’s. Taking great damage, the two of them fell onto the ground.

——————

“That was enjoyable. You two were good opponents.” Setna complimented the two players she had just defeated as both of them and lay on the ground in extreme pain. She slung Black Tar over her shoulder and began walking away.

“No.” Zeke muttered. “This can’t be the end.” 

“I’m not done yet.” Astral used her sword to prop herself up. “I can’t lose like this. What would he think about this…. He’d be disappointed with me wouldn't he?” She whispered.

Satisfied, Setna strolled past the large fountain and towards Mindel’s Main Street. “I need to catch up to the others.” She muttered.

“No!” Zeke shouted at the top of his lungs, stopping Setna dead in her tracks. “I’m not over yet!” He grabbed his guitar by the head and rushed towards Setna.

He jumped up and slammed his guitar towards Setna. She dodged the attack and the wooden guitar cracked slightly as it hit the floor.

“That was a sluggish move.” Setna commented.

“Was it?” Unexpectedly Zeke turned the opposite direction of Setna and performed a successful counterattack directly behind him. He slammed his guitar directly into her face, leaving a large red mark.

Having just been hit, Setna jumped back and drew black Tar again. “You are a strong opponent.” She pulled three arrows from her quiver.

“Not this time!” Having found new strength, Astral threw herself forward and slashed her sword at Setna. The blade hit open air though, as Setna had vanished.

“Predictable.” Astral muttered as she stabbed directly behind her, piercing Setna’s chest.

Having almost no reaction on her face to being stabbed, Setna dropped her three arrows and jumped back to get distance from Astral.

“Let’s finish this!” Astral cheered as she used war whip to swing her sword in a complete circle around her. However, Setna vanished out of this attack.

“You're done, Setna!” Zeke cheered as he turned around and jumped into the air, slamming his guitar towards the ground. Suddenly Setna appeared right before Zeke, as he slammed his guitar onto her head. The wooden instrument broke into pieces as it exploded on the rangers head. Setna suddenly collapsed onto the ground.

“Your ability isn’t to disappear or vanish…” Zeke began to explain. 

“...it’s just that you teleport directly behind someone, every time.” Astral continued. 

—————-

Zeke rushed over to Astral. She had been badly injured during the fight. So much so, that she had trouble walking due to the sheer pain she was in. Zeke did all he could to help. He removed the arrows and bandaged her wound, but she still wouldn’t be able to fight for some time.

“Thanks…” Astral muttered.

“It’s alright, I’m just glad we managed to beat her.” Zeke sighed in relief. Luckily his injuries from that fight were manageable.

“Speaking of which, what are we gonna do with her?” Astral pointed to the now unconscious Setna. “You hit her pretty hard on the head.”

“Well, we can’t just kill her can we? That’d make us just as bad those players that attacked people in Mindel.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

“We can’t just leave her either…” Zeke thought out loud. “Nonetheless we gotta get somewhere safe soon, revenants are gonna find us anytime from now, and we can’t fend them off like this.”

“I think I know a place.” Astral explained to Zeke. Using her instructions he found a part of the fountain that was loose and pulled on it. Suddenly a few tiles from the plaza were pulled to the side revealing a staircase underground. 

“Woah.”

“This is what I wanted to check out.” Astral commented. “The catacombs of Mindel.”