Spinning the small shield in the air and getting it back using only her left hand was easier said than done. Thursday morning, Ilaria was again at it–in an exercise of perseverance–repeatably throwing the shield in the plateau outside the Troll Caverns; she had been practicing for a couple of hours the last few mornings with little to show for it. She had to admit she wasn't as physically dexterous as her sister, but at some point the movements should have gotten engraved in her mind.
From time to time, she let her glance wander towards her companion. Amy, a few meters away, was doing a complex choreography around a human-sized boulder. Daggers in hand and clad in her leather armor–the rogue was always wearing it since joining the party–she twirled and turned, thrust and slashed; her braid swaying as she moved. With her blue eyes focused on the rock in front of her, she almost resembled Diana for a second.
Ilaria shook herself off before Amy finished a set of her routine, restarting with the shield spinning practice. She kept tossing it, focusing on the image of her sister in her mind. Mina hadn't logged again after that day, and Ilaria wanted to master the shield spin before it happened. She had her pride as the older sibling.
After another twenty minutes of throwing and picking up her shield from the ground, Ilaria got it at last. She looked down not believing it herself–she had been distracted again–but the handle was positioned perfectly in her hand. Truth being told, it wasn't actually the first time she caught the shield. The other times, she had barely caught it in an awkward grip, though. This time it felt different, right.
I am sure of it.
And just in time, since that afternoon her party would challenge the otterfly boss at last. She was already level 27, and Diana–the lowest leveled of the party–would hit 25 before getting to the boss room. Contrary to expectations, the catgirl hadn't pushed them to do the boss fight in the preceding days. Since then, the mage had already watched a few videos. And it was hard; the ones who beat it were full six people parties.
Ilaria kept throwing the small shield awhile, looking proudly as the sunlight reflected on the polished steel surface, proving to herself that it hadn't been a fluke. Well, and trying to catch the eye of the blond elf nearby.
“Woah, finally,” said Amy, smiling, almost laughing, as she turned around. “I should congratulate you, but after three days working on it, it doesn't feel that much of an achievement.”
“How much time did it take Mina to learn it?” asked Ilaria, smiling all the same. She might not be a natural talent, but she did it regardless.
“She could do basic flips within the first hour,” said Amy, storing her daggers. “She was the first mage to be able to do it in the guild, not that it's saying much.”
Amy took out two pears from her handbag, tossing one to Ilaria. The later barely caught it, siting on a long, rectangular rock that they had been using as a bench. The rogue walked towards her, taking a seat by her side. They ate in silence for a bit, Ilaria glancing at the elf from time to time.
“What kind of training are you doing?” finally asked Ilaria.
“Image training.” said Amy, looking at her. “It's something Diana suggested while you were with Kyle yesterday. I have more than ten levels over her, and she still kills trolls faster than me. I need to improve.”
“Only if you want to,” said Ilaria, lowering her gaze. “People play for different reasons; I think it's okay to be casual about it.”
“Yes, I know,” said Amy. “But it's really fun to clear higher level areas. It makes you feel accomplished, doesn't it?”
“Yeah, it does.” Ilaria couldn't help smiling. She finished her pear, tossing the core, which disappeared as it touched the ground.
“Now that you finally mastered the shield flip, what do you plan to do the rest of the morning?” asked Amy.
“I guess I should try different shooting techniques. We should invite my sister to log in again,” said Ilaria, flipping the shield as she talked.
“Wanna show off?”
“Yeah,” said Ilaria. “But also I could use some advice. Only this already took me so much time.”
“Anyway, I don't feel like grinding solo and it'll be lunchtime soon,” continued Ilaria. “I'll just sit here; you can keep training.”
“If that's the case, you can help me,” said Amy, putting her hand over Ilaria's.
Ilaria danced with Amy until it was time for logging out; Amy's eyes focused on hers as she made circles around the mage. The later refrained from moving at first–she had been scared of being inadvertently damaged by the daggers–but it wasn't possible. The game didn't let you attack other players; the daggers had just bounced off her the few times it happened. Having internalized that, Ilaria started to move a bit, punching in a deliberate way like a troll would do.
Half an hour later, they logged out for lunch, planning to log back in after finishing eating. Amelia didn't come to his house that day, but Ricardo still managed to convince his sister to log in again to check on his progress. It was strange having Minerva as a teacher, but it didn't feel bad. It had been a long time since they had spent that much time together.
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“The left hand movement should come as second nature for you,” said Mina, preparing to demonstrate a shot. She threw the shield and let out two Force bolts in succession, going towards different sides of a rock outcrop, right next to the Troll Caverns' entrance. “That way you can focus on aiming.”
“Okay, let me try.” said Ilaria, taking the wand and shield from Mina. She furrowed her brows as she tossed the shield repeatably, trying to not think while doing it. Five or six repetitions later, she finally let out a shot. It got to the shield and bounced.
“Great,” said Mina, smiling. “After taking three days for spinning the shield, I didn't think you would get it.”
Ilaria smiled sheepishly. She hadn't actually gotten it, the shot going far from her intended target. That it bounced at all was proof of her aiming quickness.
The two siblings kept practicing for a long time, Amy joining them at some point. When they got bored, they sat in a circle, the elf taking out cookies and soda cans from her handbag.
“We are going for the Otterfly Queen today, any suggestions?” asked Ilaria, before grabbing a bunch of mini chocolate chip cookies.
“Ah, that one,” said Mina, taking a gulp from her cherry cola, before looking towards the rogue. “Do you remember?”
“I do,” said Amy, looking at the distance. “We got wiped out there.”
“We never tried it together again,” said Mina, with wistful eyes. “I beat it much later, with Wanora and other players from the guild.”
They didn't talk for a while, the sound of the wind, and of cookies being munched, filled the ambient. Mina and Amy looked regretful; it might have been around that time that they had stopped playing together.
The red button appeared in Ilaria's display, taking her out of her contemplation. She answered immediately, being Diana and Kyle as expected.
“They are here, wanna join us?” asked Ilaria, without much hope.
“Okay,” said Mina, surprising the mage. “I want to meet those players you have in such a high regard. And the Otterfly Queen is a major undertaking.”
“By the way, they don't know who I'm in real life,” said Ilaria, lowering her gaze and raising it again. “I have told them you are my sister, but...”
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“They think you are a girl?” interrupted Mina, staring at her sister.
Ilaria looked at Amy for help. The elf was pensive, not seeming like she was going to talk anytime soon.
“Alright,” said Mina, sighing. “Let's go meet them, big sister.”
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“Diana, Kyle; she is my sister Mina,” said Ilaria, doing the introductions in front of the Troll Caverns.
“Glad to meet you at last; I thank you for looking after my big sister,” said Mina, bowing. “She's new in VR games and clumsy by nature; I hope she hasn't caused you any trouble.”
“Not at all, she's been a boon for our party,” said Diana, smiling.
“I wonder; I have never seen her in action before,” said Mina, laughing.
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The group did a speed run through the first floor of the troll caverns, Amy joining the party for the second floor. Mina, not having access to stealth, had to stay at the entrance of each clearing most of the time. Nevertheless, she still complimented Ilaria and the rest of the team after beating the last room before the boss. The golden door, etched with trolls and otterflies figures, called to them to open it. They had resisted the lure so far, but they were going to challenge it today at last.
Diana smiled as she opened the door. Ilaria had seen it in videos already, but it surprised her the same. They came onto a rocky ridge, overlooking a huge underground lake. At their right the river splashed into a waterfall, which dropped directly onto the body of water bellow.
The cavern was huge, about three times as large as the last clearing, the roof being so tall that there none of the pillar outcroppings reached it, looking from above like scattered stone bowling pins. There were shelfs in the walls, into which countless otterflies–actually Ilaria had been told there were forty, not that she could count them at that distance–laid in rest.
In the middle of the lake, half-covered by the impossibly clear water, laid a huge brown-furred heap. Its surface pulsed rhythmically, not giving any signal of noticing the intruders yet. And there were scores of trolls mulling around, not that they were of any importance.
There were narrow stone steps for going down the ridge, but the party wouldn't use them yet. The trick for this battle was to not engage the Otterfly Queen until every other monster in the room was taken care of. The boss was strong, but if they had to deal with the normal otterflies on top of it, it would be hopeless.
The rogues went into stealth as Ilaria calculated her shot from behind Kyle. If she did it well, the sleeping otterflies would wake up only ten at a time, which wasn't that hard to deal with. The mage pointed towards the closest shelf to her left, and send a fireball to the midst of the sleeping otters.
The impacted otterfly squeaked, waking up the rest of its shelfmates, suddenly a squadron of ten flying towards Ilaria. Very careful of not moving her wand towards an uncalled direction, the mage kept firing, decreasing their numbers before they were in attack range.
Seven otterflies got to the ridge, from which the rogues handled a pair each, Kyle entertaining another pair. That left one free, which dived to claw Ilaria. The mage used her shield defensively, only getting superficial scratches in her arm from the first attack.
Of course, as the otterfly was repelled, Ilaria fired it twice, one Force bolt and one Fireball. It tried to turn around, but she took advantage of the rock formation behind her to shoot while being covered with her shield. It was enough to fell it. By the time Ilaria could check on her party, the rogues had already finished their prey, and taken care of Kyle's too.
Mina got out from behind a pillar, touching each member of the party in turn, without saying anything. She had her level 35 support module on her, letting her not only heal, but also transfer mana. It was like having free potions available.
For the second otterfly shelf it worked similar, Ilaria shot, they came, they got wiped out. The third and fourth were trickier, but Mina knew exactly where Ilaria had to shoot for the shot to bounce and get to their intended target. After clearing the normal otterflies, the group descended the stone stairs as silent as possible.
For the trolls, Ilaria took a break; Mina's mana reserves were huge, but not infinite. The two rogues went into stealth, ambushing the trolls in pairs whenever they got the chance. For bigger groups, Kyle tried to pull them the further from the water as possible, to not risk waking up the Queen.
While the rest had their fun, Ilaria talked with Mina in Private Chat, commenting about their performance. The later was mostly surprised with Amy; it seemed like she had never been as serious as now when they played together.
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It's time for the showdown.
The group finished their last strategy meeting, walking towards the edge of the lake. The water surface was dotted with flat rocks all around, which had been used by the troll extermination subgroup to cross to the other side a bit before. Now, they would need to use them to run and evade, and attack when the opportunity arises.
The rogues, in stealth, were the closest ones to the huge sleeping otter. They had been positioned behind it, at both sides. Ilaria and Kyle were much further, directly facing the enemy. With everyone in their positions, it was only left for Ilaria to give the Queen her wake up kiss.
She looked towards Kyle, who nodded–he was standing sideways to give her an unobstructed view. The mage smiled, as she shot a Fireball directly to the Queen's face. The otter woke up with a squeak that sounded more like a bear's roar. Ilaria shot it again without much thinking.
The Queen tried to go into the water, when the two rogues jumped on it. They slashed its hind legs, before backing up. The boss turned around, sweeping with its tail. Both rogues jumped again towards the edge of the lake.
“Not so fast,” said Ilaria, shooting to the back of its head. The Queen turned around again, and got slashed again by the rogues. It roared and moved its tail from side to side. Diana evaded, but Amy got thrown a few meters away. She wasn't in risk yet, though; her HP bar still over three quarters full. Ilaria shot again, the giant otter growling in pain. Of course, this boss wasn't that easy. It would change to their next attack phase soon enough.
The Otterfly Queen, tired of the affronts received, pulled one of the rocks and hurled it directly towards Ilaria. She could evade it if she went into the lake, but that was the worst. The water was deep, and she wouldn't be able to do anything until she was pulled up again. Kyle settled himself in front of her and received the impact in her place, grunting from the effort.
“Thanks,” said Ilaria, giving a Healing touch to her tank before shooting the boss again.
Diana approached the boss from its left side, evading the tail whips and using her daggers on that very same extremity, not letting it focus solely on their mage. Amy got to stand up in the rocky bottom of the lake and approached the otter in stealth, the water parting ways for her. The elf had wasted a lot of time, but she could still get something out of it.
Ilaria kept shooting and Kyle kept tanking the rocks, Diana handling the Queen's tail, preventing her from diving towards the sharpshooting mage. They were doing fairly well, but they would need to start consuming potions soon if they didn't start dealing more damage.
The Otterfly Queen raised itself in hind legs, hurling yet another rock towards the mage-tank tandem. As soon as the rock left its front paws, the boss let out a screech of pain. The level 37 elvish rogue had slashed the soft otter's underbelly. It started trashing, but the elf kept moving around, thrusting and slashing as she went by. She was the highest leveled member of the party; her slashes dealt substantial damage.
Of course, Amy wasn't Diana, a day of practice notwithstanding. At some point her luck ran out; the elf got struck by a savage kick, being thrown out of the water, impacting against a pillar formation, and sliding down to the ground.
Ilaria had a yell in her throat that she didn't voice. She felt like running towards the prone elf, but she didn't move. It was hard, the VR being so realistic to the point of making you forget it all was just a game. She steadied herself and tried to refocus on the battle. Amy's HP bar wasn't at zero; she was alright, no matter how badly she currently looked.
The boss kept trashing around even after Amy was gone. Ilaria kept shooting while Diana moved around, not even trying to attack. It was enough for the boss to focus on the rogue while the mage finished the job.
Amy stood up and rejoined the combat at some point, but the battle was already won. The elf's attack and Ilaria's Fireball barrage were too much, even for a high leveled boss like the Otterfly Queen. It took a lot from them though, triumph and tiredness reflecting on their faces in equal proportions.
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“They are good,” said Mina, after the rest of the party had disappeared.
“Yeah, they are amazing players,” said Ilaria, feeling proud about her friends.
“Not only that, they are good people too,” said Mina, making a pause and looking at Ilaria in the eyes. “You should tell them.”
What should she tell them was left unsaid, though Ilaria was very conscious about what Mina was talking about. The mage evaded her sister's gaze, struggling to voice a reply.
“It's your call in the end,” said Mina, after not getting any response. “But you should think about it.” And with that Mina disappeared too, leaving her alone in the empty boss room.
It wasn't like Ilaria hadn't consider it before; it was just that Diana had assumed since the beginning and acted accordingly. At that point, she went with the flow, taking it as roleplaying practice. And, as the days passed, coming clean turned out to be more and more difficult. Ilaria never thought that she would end up getting friends in Virtual Connection in the first place.
Were they friends? Real friends?
After Diana's breakdown and subsequent heart-to-heart, it was fair to say that at least the catgirl considered Ilaria her friend. If she knew, would she feel betrayed? It felt awful just contemplating the chance.
And Kyle, they had been dating for so long. Well, mostly dungeon dating, except for that one time. It had been fun, and a terrible mistake all the same. Would he be disgusted for having dated a guy?
Ilaria had never intended to form any real relationships in the game; she was supposed to play her role, get her revenge in her sister's name, and disappear without trace. When had all gotten so complicated?
The troublesome pondering continued even after leaving the VR machine, making him toss and turn until finally falling asleep.