In front of Tanner is someone he knows very well, it is Bree. He turns around to see what happened to the griffon and it is surely dead. It has a large hole in its chest and it has hit the tree sideways at an insane speed so its body is bent around the tree in a "C" shape.
"How did you do that?"
Tanner while, still staring at the Griffon, asks Bree this question while thinking of all the possibilities, but nothing comes to mind that could cause this happen.
"I don't know, I had just woken up while leaning against a tree and saw you run past me. I went to say something but then I heard the screech of that beast and decided to not be seen. I saw it coming towards you, and I wanted to do something, but I couldn't move my body at all, then it came to my mind all of the sudden."
Bree mulls about what she wants to say for a second with a semi-frustrated face.
"I think my mind wants to call it "Water Spear" so I'll just go with that."
"So it's magic... A new world and for it to have mythical beasts and magic, this is surely unexpected."
Tanner does a slight laugh because no matter how much anime he has watched he never imagined he would live in one. He thinks if Bree is here that must mean Joey and Nathan should be here too. Tanner thinks about how much Nathan is enjoying himself since most of the anime or light novels he has read involved incarnation in another world.
"All he needs now is a harem and his stupid dream will come true."
Tanner mumbles this remark and laughs at what he said. Bree just slightly tilts her head in confusion and stares at Tanner.
"Well let's get going, we got to find the others before they get into trouble."
Tanner gets up after saying this and goes towards the Griffon.
"Even if they got into trouble and they are together like we were, then Joey would be able to handle it, but why are you going towards that... Thing?"
"It's a Griffon, I think, and if this world follows the logic of any RPG world then it has to give users a reward for killing it like a stone of sorts, a weapon, or even some armor."
"I don't think this place is the same as a game Tanner."
"I wouldn't say that."
Tanner then sees the hilt of something inside the mouth of the beast and proceeds to pull it out. It looks like a long sword and the blade is about 43 inches long with the hilt adding another 9 inches on top of that. It's not that wide, in fact, the blade is actually kind of small width wise. It's about 7 inches wide including the scabbard, and it's about 2 inches thick at the thickest point. Its hilt has a ball at the end and engraved into the ball is a Griffon. Tanner swings it around a little bit, and for some reason, it's not as heavy as he thought it would be. He pulls the sword out of the scabbard and it lets out a glow that would only be described as heavenly. It's like it is letting out a pure light.
"Whoa, that's interesting."
Tanner just stares at the sword in amazement and looks up at Bree as he puts the sword back into the scabbard. He walks up to her and holds the sword out as to try to give it to Bree.
"You killed the Griffon so you should be the one who takes the rewards."
"First, I can't believe that came out of that Griffon and second you should keep it. I have "Water Spear" to protect me and you have nothing to protect yourself, it would be better if you used it."
Tanner looks at Bree for a second and thinks about what to do. He decides not to argue with her decision since he knew he will not win and puts the sword at his side. The scabbard came with a belt so he was able to put it on even though he has on shorts. Tanner realizes that he looks like a LARPer at the park.
"Great, if Nathan sees me he will be sure to say something stupid."
Tanner mumbles to himself again and Bree decides to just start ignoring it because she can not hear him no matter how hard she tries.
"So what are we gonna do now?" Bree asks while looking at Tanner since he seems to be surprisingly knowledgeable of this world.
"We need to find a road and find people, I don't know if we are safe out here, there could be a Griffon nest nearby and they might want revenge if they see we killed one of them."
"Sounds like a good idea, how about you take lead since you have a close range weapon."
Tanner agrees with Bree and they continue deeper into the woods. After about 15 minutes of walking through the dense forest, they come onto a road. Tanner looks far both ways, even squinting to see farther but sees nothing.
"I don't see a single sign of life both wa-"
KAAachHH~
A distant sound of something shattering is coming from the right. It's faint but it's enough to show there is life somewhere close. Bree obviously hears this and starts heading towards it.
"Wait, Bree, if we wanna go that way, then the least we should do is stay in the tree line just in case whoever out there is hostile."
Bree doesn't know what that sound is but she definitely wants to find out, and she agrees with Tanner as they continue down the forest line trying to be stealthy. Bree is conditioned well from her training for the National Guard, but Tanner is having a little trouble keeping up with her speed. After walking for about 9 minutes, they hear a sound of two people talking and the sound of what seems to be carriage echoes throughout the forest.
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"What should we do Tanner?"
Bree looks at Tanner as he starts to think hard about the situation. Several options cross his mind, from standing in the middle of the road to ask for help or killing everyone and stealing the carriage.
"Alright I got it, it sounds like there are only 2 people so I want you to hit the driver so hard it knocks him off the carriage, then I want you to knock him out. I will go inside the carriage and hold the passenger hostage with my sword, hopefully, the glow of the sword will scare them enough so they don't fight back. After that, we take the carriage and leave."
"But isn't that stealing and assault? Tanner, what's wrong with you?"
"Bree, we are in a world where giant mythical creatures try to eat you like a Sunday snack, it's kill or be killed. Joey and Nathan might not be as lucky as us and have magic so they could be in great danger or even be dead by now."
"But tha-."
"Look we have no time so just help me out here please, this could be life or death for all of us."
"Alright, you want me to knock off the driver right? Then I'll do it, here they come!"
Without even looking at the people in the carriage, they ready their sword and magic while hiding behind 2 trees.
"On my count. 3, 2, 1."
As Tanner counts down, water appears from thin air right in front of him and soars towards where the sounds of the carriage are coming from.
"What the-."
WhHatTooOShhH~
The sound of someone yelling in surprise and water hitting with a massive impact is heard, followed by the sound of a body hitting the ground.
"Go."
Bree tells Tanner to go after the carriage and that's what he does, without even looking at the driver he takes off in a dead sprint towards the carriage. It seems to be slowly slowing down and it eventually stops. Burning, that is all Tanner could feel in his lungs as he runs but pushes through this pain while panting severely. Once he finally reaches the carriage he hastily opens the door, but something hard hits him dead in the mouth. Tanner is sent back on his behind and could feel liquid filling his mouth. 'Damn that hurt' is the only thing that Tanner could even think of for a few seconds. He goes to draw his sword and looks his attacker in the eye. Looks like he will have to fight after all.
'Wait... Is that?'
"Tanner?"
"Wait, ith sthat you Joeth?"
Tanner was talking with a mouthful of blood due to the sudden punch in the face.
Joey gets out of the carriage to find his best friend Tanner laying on the ground due to his fist going straight into Tanner's face. As he steps above Tanner to help him up Joey hears two people approach him from behind.
"Joey?"
Joey turns around instantly due to the sound of a voice that he could recognize instantly.
"Bree?!"
As Joey lays his eyes on his beloved girlfriend tears start to fill his vision. Without a second to even think about why she is here, Joey closes the distance between them and hugs her.
"I thought I'd never see you again, I thought that we would be out here alone and you would be alone back in the real world."
Joey has forgotten he was helping Tanner up and ultimately let go of his hand causing Tanner to fall down again. Nathan, who has noticed this, quickly ran to Tanner to help him out.
"Dick."
Tanner mutters under his breath to show he was displeased with Joey since he punched Tanner in the face and also didn't help him up afterwards. As Joey and Bree are having a heartfelt reunion Nathan looks at Tanner with a kind face.
"You good?"
"Yeah, I'll be fine. I don't know what it is but the cut that is in my mouth seems to be closed and healed already. I actually feel no pain."
Nathan looks at Tanner with a surprised expression since he saw Joey hit him and he hit him pretty hard.
"You're lucky he couldn't use "Physical Explosion" or you would've been dead."
"What is "Physical Explosion"?!"
"It's the new ability I learned while Nathan and I fought a demon."
Joey heard Tanner and Nathan's conversation and joined in with Bree right beside them.
"What you guys have abilities too?" Bree asks.
"Wait you have one too Bree?"
Nathan looks at Bree with a surprised expression as he had figured Joey and him were the only ones with this so-called "presence" the demon talked about and that is why they had their abilities.
"Yeah, mine is called "Water Spear", or at least that's what my body tells me, do you have one Nathan?"
"Indeed, mine is called "Accelerated Step". I'm not that good with it yet but it causes me to able to move at an insane speed."
"Then what does Joey's do?"
Tanner looked at Joey as if looking for an answer on what it does and how it could've killed Tanner if Joey would've used it.
"It seems to boost my physical abilities beyond the point of anything humanly possible. I don't know it's full power since I was only able to use it once."
Tanner is pretty jealous since everyone has an ability except for him, he refuses to let Nathan be stronger than him.
"Wait, pause. You guys said you faced a demon?!" Bree says this and looks at Joey and Nathan in amazement but she quickly remembers on how she took down a Griffon in one shot so the amazement faded.
"Yeah, I will tell the story in the carriage. Let's quit standing around in the middle of the road."
As Joey says this, they all figure out their places in the carriage. The order in the carriage went like this, Tanner was driving the carriage since he has had experiences with horses throughout his life and was easily able to use the horse to its full ability; Nathan is in the seat with it's back facing the driver and is trying to figure out what the coins are made of or which ones are more valuable but couldn't figure it out; Joey and Bree are sitting across from him and Joey is telling their story of the village of cyclops, the girl, and how they killed the demon.
"Are you serious, that's insane."
Joey could hear the interest in Tanner's voice as he drives the carriage.
"Yeah, I don't know how we beat it, but we did get a stone from its mouth."
"The same thing happened with us, what happened to us was-"
Bree responds to the remark about the stone by telling her and Tanner's story about the Griffon and that's how they got the sword. As Bree says that Tanner got the sword, Tanner pulls it out and shows Nathan and Joey its holy aura.
"Woah, that's sick."
Nathan just looks at the sword with a bewildered face, Joey looks at it in utter awe.
"What have we got into?"
Nathan asks this question as he looks at his friends and they all just smile and shrug their shoulders in response. After 30 minutes of catching up and thinking about what to do, the four come onto what looks like a massive castle. Around the castle are several rows of houses that look like different types of districts due to the contrasting styles of each house. They approach the walls and decide to go inside. They want to know more about this world since this was their home now. As they approach the walls, they are met by a guard that is decided by the majority that he is human.
"Halt! Who are you and what is your business here. If you are not here for anything important then you will be asked to leave. Wait, those clothes, it looks like you are from the Empire, there is no place for you here scum!"
Joey, Nathan, and Bree just look at each other with a pale face, they can't think of an excuse as to why they are here or why this guy hated this so-called "Empire" so much.
"We are here because we received a quest from the guild. It involved us going into the Empire and while we were there, our clothes got shredded while fighting so we got some clothes there. To turn in the quest we have to enter the guild here."
"I don't remember seeing you leave, or seeing you near the Citadel at all, but the carriage is definitely Eytherian make, so you must be telling the truth."
The guard tells the other guards to open the gate and they do so and with this Nathan, Bree, Joey, and Tanner's epic journies start here, what will become of them is unknown.