(c) 2007 - 2008 by LFox
A World Apart
Chapter 02: What lurks in Darkness

Nathan drives up to the school on his motorbike with Jessica sitting behind him.  He drives past the masses of parked motorbikes and pulls up next to Elisha who’s leaning on her motorbike waiting for them.  They quickly ditch their helmets, grab their bags and start walking to the school building.

“So did you get time to read the handbook at all last night?” asks Elisha.

Nathan nods.  “Yeah I read quite a bit before bed, I’m gonna read some more during the lunch hour”

Elisha glances over at Jessica with an icy cold glare.  “What about you?”

Jessica turns a little pale at her cold look.  “Uhhh hehehe, well I, I, you see I WAS reading it last night but I, kinda fell asleep”

Elisha sighs.  “Honestly”

“They really do hand out bans for a lot of different things don't they?” says Nathan.

Elisha nods.  “I hear the creator wanted to rid Eden of all the problems that plague online games so they enforced heavy punishments like we have in the real world”

Jessica looks surprised.  “Doesn't that mean they don't have many subscribers though?”

“Actually what's interesting is an article was printed on just that recently.  They said with such heavy punishments most people act as they would in society rather than as backstabbing bastards.  They also talked how those that still acted out would either get banned or killed by their own means cleaning up not only Eden but the real world too”

Jessica’s face changes to a dreary expression.  “That sounds…cruel”

“Maybe so but its true”

Nathan nods his head.  “Yeah I gotta agree.  People are pretty rotten”

“Well some” says Jessica.

“By the way did you guys know my mum is a black belt in Kempo?”

Elisha looks at him surprised.  “She is?”

Jessica looks at him curiously.  “How come you never mentioned that before?”

“Because I didn't even know.  Yesterday she was saying how she and her friends were thinking of trying out Eden.  Then we got into this discussion how things have changed over the years” says Nathan.

Elisha nods to his explanation.  “I see”

“I can't believe she's seriously thinking of trying out Eden”

“Well it's actually not that surprising.  A recent survey showed that the bulk of the population in Eden are people aged 20 to 40”

Nathan rubs the back of his head.  “Y-eah well, that may be true but this is my mum.  I've never thought of her as the violent or fighting type”

Elisha smiles “Just goes to show you never can know a person fully”

They walk through a doorway in the hall into a classroom.  Inside other students are already seated with laptops in front of them.  Each of them quickly takes a seat at a desk then opens their bag up and takes out a laptop.  A few minutes later a young woman in her 20s enters the room.  She walks over to the glass board on the wall and taps the side causing a mass of text to quickly appear.

She turns to the class and smiles.  “Alright let’s begin today’s lesson”

After a few hours a large bell chimes resonating through the classrooms all over the school.  The teacher smiles at them.  “That’s all for today”

The students around the class quickly pack up their laptops and leave the room one by one.  As Nathan packs up his laptop Elisha and Jessica head over to him.

Jessica smiles brightly.  “Let’s go to lunch”

They head out of the classroom and through a glass door on the side of the building leading to outside.  Standing around on the grass are half a dozen white marble tables with matching white marble horizontal seats.  As they make their way over to a table Jessica suddenly stops and looks to the side.

Jessica points over where she’s looking.  “Hey look at that”

Elisha and Nathan stop to look over where she’s pointing.  Across from them is a young girl armed with a long pole.  As well as a young boy armed with a pair of two smaller poles.  Each of them look to be about two years older than the gang as their in a higher grade.  As they watch the two of them fight mercilessly.  They attack each other with no concern about the others well being and seem to be almost trying to kill each other.

“Wow their good” says Nathan.

Jessica nods.  “I hear they play Eden as well”

Elisha doesn’t seem all that surprised by their fight.  “Their always fighting each other or others at school, from what I know they started playing Eden back when it was still in the beta stages.  These days their all S class now”

Jessica looks intently at the girl fighting for several moments then looks rather shocked.  “Wait a minute.  She’s the one that took out the entire kendo club single handedly”

Nathan puts a finger to his chin as he thinks.  “I remember hearing about that.  We skipped club that day”

“Yeah, lucky us.  You know I heard she was complaining afterwards that her staff skills were bad”

Elisha starts walking off.  “Come on let’s eat lunch”

They head over to one of the nearby tables.  Jessica quickly hops up on the table with her feet on the seat.  She opens her bag and rummages through it briefly before withdrawing a silver colored box.  As she opens the lid a small pizza is revealed with steam rising off it, kept warm by the special packaging.

Nathan sits down in front of her on the seat then looks up as she takes her pizza out.  “Awe no fair you got a mini pizza, give me some”

Jessica pulls her pizza away as he reaches for it.  “Get your own”

Elisha hops up on to the table next to Jessica.  Meanwhile Nathan puts on somewhat of a pleading face.  “Awe come on just a bit”

Jessica looks somewhat annoyed.  “Fine”.  She breaks off a piece and hands it to him.  “Here”

Nathan smiles as he takes the piece.  “Thanks”.  He looks over at Elisha as she opens her own silvery lunch box.  “What do you have for lunch?”

Elisha pulls out a fork.  “Lasagna”

Nathan bites into his piece of pizza.  “Nice”

Jessica looks down at him.  “What about you didn’t you bring anything?”

Nathan finishes off the pizza piece then opens up his bag and pulls out his own lunch box.  He quickly pulls out a fresh looking sandwich lined with meat, salad and sauce.  He smiles at Jessica.  “Just a sandwich”

Jessica starts speaking with her mouth full.  “Pho we’re yoing ta Ethen this afternoon riche?”

Elisha whacks her over the head with the handle of her fork.  “Don’t talk with your mouth full”

Jessica holds a hand to her head in pain.  “Owe”

“Well I’m going” says Nathan before taking another bite of his sandwich.

Elisha holds her fork up in front of her.  “So am I”

Jessica smiles brightly.  “Great”

Nathan glances up at Jessica.  “Don’t forget we got club activities tomorrow”

“I know”

“Maybe you should come along too.  We can teach you how to use a sword a bit.  You’re probably going to need it”

Elisha nods.  “Alright”

Nathan finishes off his sandwich then grabs a small wet white tissue like paper from his bag.  He wipes his fingers and mouth off on it quickly cleaning them off with its wet surface.  He scrunches it up and drops it in his bag then pulls out The Eden Handbook.  He presses a button on the side turning it on then presses on the screen where a button is which promptly skips ahead to where he was last reading.

Jessica leans forward looking down at the handbook.  “Hey Nathan why don’t you read it to me?”

Nathan’s eyes stayed fixed to the screen as he reads.  “Read it yourself”

Jessica pouts.  “Mmm but I hate reading”

Elisha sighs.  “Then use the audio function for Christ sakes”.  Jessica shoots a cold glare at Elisha.  She merely smirks in return.  “Your panties are showing”

Surprised Jessica moves suddenly and loses her balance.  She ends up falling off the table face down with her skirt flipped up showing off a pair of white silk panties.

Nathan sighs.  “They weren’t before, but they are now”

Jessica quickly sits up with her hands in her lap and a beet red face.  After a moment she clenches a fist and glares up at Elisha.  “Why, you…”

Nathan glances up at Elisha.  “By the way yours ARE showing”

Jessica’s anger instantly disappears as she looks at Elisha noticing her legs are spread more than enough to give people a good view of her crotch.  Elisha looks down at herself realizing he’s right then merely shrugs.  “Whatever, only you can see them anyway”

In the afternoon the gang is riding the elevator up to the ground floor of the Eden Center.  The door chimes and opens.  Inside the lobby gathered around the main desk are almost 50 people, males, females, aged from 10 to 60.  All sorts of people from high class businessmen to police officers to convenience store clerks.

Nathan stares at the sight almost speechless.  “Wow what’s going on?”

Jessica runs off ahead.  “I’m gonna go check it out”.  As Jessica runs off ahead Elisha and Nathan slowly walk over.  Jessica runs up to the crowd and looks around at the people then turns to a woman next to her that’s wearing an elegant business suit.  “Excuse me, what’s going on?”

The woman turns to her.  “Our clans booking rooms to log in”

Jessica looks almost speechless.  “C-clan?  All of you?”

The woman nods.  “We’re going on a clan raid today.  If your here to log in just go up to the main desk they can book you a room quickly”

“Thanks”.  Jessica runs around the crowd heading for the main desk when she suddenly stops dead in her tracks.  She looks for a moment then points at a man in the crowd and yells.  “Mr Alexandrov”

The man turns around to look at her revealing it’s their Russian mathematics teacher.  “Miss Stone I see you visit Eden as well”

Jessica looks at him with wide eyes.  “YOU play this game?”

He pushes his glasses back up with a finger.  “Of course, I’m going on a raid with my clan.  Here however I am not Mr Alexandrov I am Elros”

“Elros?”

“Miss Stone if you intend to log in I suggest you go to the main desk”

Jessica quickly perks up remembering what she was doing.  “R-right”.  Jessica quickly runs around over to the main desk.  Behind it a male clerk is busy setting things up on the computer while a female clerk stands around waiting for any other customers.  “Excuse me, I’d like to book a room for me and my friends”

The female clerks smiles.  “Sure thing, how many in your party?”

“Three”

She quickly goes to work booking the room.  “Okay one moment…alright you’re on the 3rd floor room 377”.  She holds out the keycard with the code paper.  “Here’s your keycard and the entry code, have fun”

Jessica grabs the keycard and code with a smile.  “Thanks”.  Jessica runs around the crowd over to where Elisha and Nathan as standing around waiting.  “We’re on the third floor room 377”

Suddenly an 18 year old high school girl starts speaking to the crowd at the main desk.  “Listen up everybody.  As usual we got the 40th floor booked.  We've got five rooms, ten people per room.  Myself and the usual clan officers have the access cards, please split up into five groups and we'll head upstairs two groups at a time.  As soon as you log in teleport to the clan castle and we'll all resupply quickly.  Once everyone’s organized Hope, Tyler and Kowyla will buff everyone quickly before Elros, Afesya and Thridian teleport us out to Shattered Vale.

“Let’s get upstairs before they get organized” says Elisha.

Jessica glances over at the group of people.  “Good idea”.  They walk over to the elevator and head inside.  “Hey you know I saw Mr Alexandrov with them”

Nathan looks surprised.  “Our math teacher?”

Jessica nods.  “Yeah”

Elisha cracks a half smile.  “I wouldn’t have thought he’s the type to play this game.  Especially be in a clan run by a high school girl”

The elevator doors spring open as they arrive on their floor.  Jessica leads them through the halls and lets them into the room they’ve booked.  Inside they all go over to their own separate machine and lay down.

“I’ll be a few minutes before I arrive.  I’m going to setup a play timer so we don’t stay in too long” says Elisha.

Nathan straps on his helmet.  “Alright”

Nathan and Jessica arrive next to each other in Eden in the middle of town where they logged out.  After a few minutes hundreds of white particles appear next to them and quickly form together to make up Elisha’s body.

“Sorry it took so long” says Elisha.

Jessica smiles.  “It’s fine”

“The timer all set?” asks Nathan.

Elisha nods.  “Yeah, I set it to 8 o’clock so we got a bit over 4 hours”

“That should be plenty of time”

Jessica glances around.  “So…where do we go now?”

Elisha puts a finger to her chin as she thinks.  “Well, we were heading to Ralion for that goblin problem weren’t we?”

“Oh yeah.  Where’s the gatekeeper though?”

Nathan takes out his map and looks it over.  The map itself is magic in nature, the kind you’d find in a standard RPG.  It can be panned from side to side to look further in any direction which prevents the map from being too large.  It can also zoom in and out to give a better view of the area.  Currently on the map the entire town is shown in great detail as it shows shop names and outlines the various major locations of the city.  Also on the map towards the center is a small arrow marker which shows where Nathan’s standing and what direction he’s facing.

Nathan looks carefully over the map for a moment.  “Let’s see, we’re…oh there we are.  Okay we’re in Salandee and from where we’re facing the gatekeeper is over that way”.  He points over to the west side of town.

Jessica peers over his hand to look at the map.  “Wow, that’s very detailed”

“Let’s get going”

Nathan puts his map away and they head over to the west side of town where the gatekeeper is.  When they get there they find a beautiful elf woman wearing a magnificent green and white mage outfit standing in a large stone gazebo.  Seeing her they walk over to her.

“Excuse me, are you the gatekeeper Lainen?” asks Elisha.

The woman smiles brightly at them.  “Yes I am.  Are you three looking to be teleported?”

“Yeah, can you teleport us to Ralion?”

“Of course, do you have any tokens or do you want to pay?”

Elisha starts rummaging through the bag on her side.  “We got some tokens”

They each rummage through the bag on their side and withdraw a small round silver gatekeeper token which they hand to Lainen.  Lainen pockets the tokens and concentrates for a moment then motions her hands at them.  The three of them quickly shatter into thousands of tiny white particles that dissipate after a moment.

Moments later those same particles reform together to create their bodies as they arrive in Ralion.  As they look around in wonder they quickly realize their standing in a gazebo next to a beautiful human woman wearing a black and gold mage outfit.

Jessica seems surprised as she glances around.  “Wow that was quick”

The gatekeeper next to them smiles warmly.  “First time travelers I take it?”

Nathan rubs the back of his head.  “Uh, yeah”

“Pretty surprising at first isn’t it?”

Jessica nods.

“Do you happen to know where we can find the guard captain?” asks Elisha.

The gatekeeper puts a finger to her chin as she thinks for a moment.  “Mmm, oh, Captain Morris should be still in the main guard building as this hour.  It’s over in that direction”.  The group turns as she points off into town.

Jessica turns to her with a smile.  “Thank you”

With that they head off and start walking through the streets of the city.  Ralion being a human town originally is far different from Salandee.  Although the buildings are all heavy grey stone and wood they don’t have the same careful architecture or glow that the buildings in Salandee do.  The roads although paved with stones are rather worn with small stones pointing up in various places.

The streets are filled with merchant stalls and people, Humans, Elves, Orcs, Dwarves and Demons.  People of all kinds, some adventurers, scholars, alchemists and mages.  Regardless of their profession or status they all walk through the town as they rush between the various shops buying goods.  Large two story homes and inns tower over the streets.  The city stays carefully protected by a massive stone wall with towers that encircles the city.  Around the walls and in towers overhead archers and guards keep a constant eye out for anything that may threaten the peace of the city.

After several minutes of walking through the busy city they come to a large two story brick building.  Inside guards are relaxing and eating, others are busy checking over maps and sharpening weapons.  Across from where they entered a tall human in his 30s with scurry black wearing heavy plate armor is busy talking to a scout wearing light leather armor.  After talking to each other briefly the scout quickly runs off.  One of the nearby guards perks up realizing the group has been standing around.

He gets up and walks over to them.  “Can I help you three?”

They turn to look at the man.  “We’re looking for the guard captain” says Nathan.  The guard points over at the man who was busy talking to the scout before walking off.  They quickly thank him and head over to the man.  “Excuse me, we heard you were looking for people to hunt down goblins”

The man turns to them.  “Goblins?  Yeah we've been having quite a bit of trouble with them lately.  Oh I'm Bryce Weaver by the way captain of the town guards.  You see a couple merchants and alchemists that frequently travel through the area were attacked.  They demanded we take care of it as soon as possible.  I've got a portion of my men scouring the land but there's just so many of them in so many different places.  With a town this big I can't exactly send most of my men out on a wild goose chase so we've been hiring adventurers that come by, I take it you three are interested?”

Nathan nods.  “That’s right”

“How much does this pay exactly?” asks Elisha coldly.

Bryce looks slightly annoyed at the question.  “Well you can keep whatever you find in the lair plus you get 50 Ethian for every goblin you kill.  It's actually pretty high but we've been ordered to take care of the problem rather quickly so we didn't have much choice.  The goblins themselves aren't all that dangerous it’s just these merchants and alchemists aren't much for fighting and since the goblins travel in numbers they get easily overwhelmed”

Elisha nods slightly understanding the situation.  “So where exactly are these goblins have you found any of their hiding places or should we just start searching the countryside?”

“I've been sending out scouts to locate their lairs.  So far we've found several, most of them are being handled right now but one of my scouts just got back a while ago with a new one”

“Where’s that one located?” asks Nathan.

Bryce shows them over to a table with a map and looks it over for a moment before tapping a point in the forest slightly north of town.  “It’s here.  From what my scout said it's a small opening on the side of the hill under a large fallen tree.  It's probably only about a meter high but after a few feet it turns into a large cave”.  He turns to face them.  “Listen if you’re going goblin hunting make sure you bring back their necklaces as proof.  We can't very well just hand money to anybody who claims to have killed some goblins”

Nathan nods.  “We’ll be sure to remember that, thank you”

They quickly leave the guard house and head through town exiting on the northern side.  Outside of town the grass is lush green with flowers, bushes and trees scattered about the land.  As they walk north the patches of trees quickly turn into a thick forest.  Hundreds of trees so large and so close together block out most of the sunlight save for small glimmers that pass through the leaves.  The bushes and flowers all grow in frequency and size.  Mushrooms grow under the trees in dark little corners.  Around the group animals scurry about as they go about their lives, rabbits, lizards, birds and deer.  The air is even filled with sounds as birds chirp and leaves rustle.

Jessica looks around the beautiful forest with a smile as her eyes glimmer at the sight.  “This place is so beautiful”

Elisha cracks half a smile as she looks around herself.  “It's a shame there isn't many places like this left in the real world”

After almost an hour of walking through the dense forest Jessica lets out a sigh.  “My feet hurt, we’re lost aren’t we?”

Elisha looks back at her with a glare.  “We are not lost, we’re almost there”

“Maybe we should have had a gatekeeper teleport us out?” says Nathan.

Elisha sighs.  “We're practically broke and a little walking never hurt anyone.  Besides don't either of you want to see any scenery?”

Jessica groans.  “Scenery is fine but I’m not used to walking this far”

They continue walking through the forest with Jessica dragging her feet with her head held low from exhaustion.  After another 15 minutes or so of walking Jessica suddenly stops and looks over to the side.

She blinks then smiles.  “Hey look at that”.  She points ahead of her.

Nathan and Elisha both stop, turning to look where she’s pointing.  There on the ground is a small grey baby wolf cub sitting on a short patch of grass.  They all start walking closer to get a better look at the little cub.

Jessica bends down for a closer look.  “Awe, it’s so cute”

Elisha smirks.  “It’d make a pretty good handbag”

Jessica turns to her looking shocked.  “WHAT?”

Elisha waves her hand.  “I was just kidding.  It is cute”

Jessica turns back to look at the tiny animal.  The little wolf suddenly starts making gurgling noises then pukes up a tiny puddle with a small green emerald in the middle.

Nathan looks surprised and rubs the back of his head.  “Wow I guess animals really do swallow gems sometimes.  I always thought that was unrealistic in RPGs”

“Yeah but those are the kinds where a wolf can also drop a gigantic suit of armor or weapon” says Jessica.

Nathan nods.  “That’s true”

Elisha walks forward and picks up the emerald from the puddle.  She wipes it off and looks over it then smirks.  “This should be worth a bit of money”

Jessica suddenly grabs the little wolf and cuddles it against her breasts.  “Awe, you’re so cute”

Nathan holds a hand out toward her.  “Hey, hey it might bite you”

Jessica rubs her face against the little wolfs.  “Nah, it’s fine”.  The little wolf starts licking her face making her giggle.

“You better put it down before the mother comes looking for it” says Elisha coldly.

Jessica puts on a sad face.  “Alright”.  She puts the little wolf down on the ground and pats it on the head gently.  “You be good now”

Nathan turns and starts walking off.  “Come on it shouldn’t be much further”

Jessica groans out unhappily as she follows after him.  Elisha looks over at them as they go on ahead then kneels down.

With a smile she rubs the little wolf’s head.  “You’re cute”

“Hey Elisha you coming?” yells Nathan.

Elisha quickly stands up.  “Uh, yeah”

She quickly races off after them.  After several more minutes of walking Nathan pulls out his map to check their location.  “Alright it should be around here.  Let's spread out and look for it but don't wander off too far”

They all quickly split up and search around the area.  After a while Elisha yells out.  “Find anything?”

“Not yet” yells Jessica.

Nathan stops and looks ahead where a fallen tree is stretched across a hill with a small hole underneath it.  “Hey over here, is this it?”

They quickly rush over to Nathan.  “That looks like it” says Elisha.

Jessica stares at the hole.  “Mmm, kinda small isn’t it?”

Nathan rubs the back of his head.  “Well…the guard captain did say it gets bigger a few feet in”

Elisha moves toward the hole.  “Well let’s go in”

Jessica looks at the hole seeming uneasy.  “Uh, we really could use a torch”

Nathan thinks it over.  “Hmm, I have to agree”

Elisha glances back at them.  “You know if there's any goblins inside there WILL be torches”

“Heh, good point”

Elisha crouches down and slips inside with Nathan close behind.  Jessica stands there for a moment.  “But we won't be able to see anything in the first section of the cave...Guys?...Fine”

Jessica crouches down and goes into the cave after them.  After only a half a dozen feet the cave gets large enough for them to stand without worries of hitting their heads on the ceiling.  As they move further in a yellow light appears from around the corner with shadows flickering on the wall.  They all quickly draw their weapons and peer around the corner.  Around the corner are three ugly little pale green humanoid beasts with grotesque faces.  The only clothing the little beasts have are dirty brown cloth wrapped around their waists to form underwear.  The three goblins sit around a fire cackling to each other as they eat pieces of a large rat that’s roasting over the fire.

Jessica makes a weird face.  “Eww those things are ugly”

Elisha glances back at her and holds a finger to her mouth.  “Shhhh.  Move”

Nathan quickly backs away letting her in front.  Elisha draws three arrows from her quiver, two she puts in her mouth and the third she readies on her bow.  With her bow ready she sneaks out from around the corner and shoots one of the goblins in the head.  By the time the other two notice and get up to attack her she shoots another one of them in the head with an arrow.  The final goblin runs at her with a wooden club with nails sticking out of it.  Just before he can hit her though he drops to the floor as an arrow skewers his right eye.  Nathan and Jessica poke their heads around the corner.

Jessica’s eyes go wide seeing the three dead goblins.  “Wow, you got all three?”

Nathan rubs the back of his head.  “Not bad, not bad at all.  You’re great with a bow”

Elisha smiles.  “Thanks”.  Elisha quickly goes over to the bodies and starts checking them over carefully.

Jessica watches her curiously.  “What are you doing?”

Elisha glances up at her.  “Looking for money and don’t forget we need their necklaces”

A few minutes later they’ve checked over the goblins.  Unfortunately none of them had anything of value to take.  Elisha quickly throws the crude teeth and bead goblin necklaces into a bag on her side.

Nathan walks ahead.  “Let’s get going”

As they walk deeper into the cave they come to a dark corridor.  Just beyond is a large open area with a dozen goblins cackling, eating, sleeping and wandering about the place.

Jessica peers over Nathan’s shoulder.  “There’s quite a lot of them”

Nathan nods.  “Yeah, we better be careful”

Elisha glances at the cave walls of the tight corridor their in.  “Let’s use this corridor so they can’t all fight at once”

Nathan glances at the walls.  “Good idea”

Elisha draws an arrow and readies it on her bow then steps ahead.  “I’ll get their attention”

Elisha aims ahead carefully at a goblin that’s busy sitting on a crate drinking from a large mug.  As he takes another sip Elisha lets the arrow fly.  It whizzes through the air and spears him right through the throat.  The goblin falls to the side off the crate and his drink splashes on the floor.  Several goblins nearby pause in what they’re doing to look over him.

Elisha lets another arrow fly catching a goblin sitting down right in the back of the head.  Seeing another one of their friends die they quickly all draw their weapons and scream out as they rush the gang.  Their screams quickly awaken the few goblins that were sleeping.  Hearing the ruckus they sit up and quickly grab their own weapons before rushing the trio of elves.

Elisha steps back letting Nathan and Jessica block the corridor thus keeping her safe.  As they wait for the goblins to approach Elisha quickly starts firing arrows at them catching one in the face with each arrow.  As a goblin runs up to Nathan he smashes it in the face with his fist then stabs it through the neck with his sword.  To his side Jessica steps back just barely avoiding an axe cleaving her chest open.  As the goblin prepares to swing again she steps forward and stabs him between the eyes.

An arrow flies over Nathan’s shoulder right into a goblins face causing it to drop and skid along the floor before coming to a stop in front of them.  Nathan raises his sword and smashes it down over a goblins head splitting its skull partially.  Suddenly a goblin leaps in the air at Jessica with a massive two handed axe raised over its head.  Seeing the goblin Jessica freezes in fear.  An arrow quickly flies over her head and hits the goblin in the forehead sending it crashing backwards to the floor dead.

With only three goblins remaining they quickly get panicky and try to run away.  Nathan runs after one and slashes it across the back of the neck as it tries to escape.  Jessica on the other hand steadies her footing and throws her sword at one catching it right in the back of the head.  The final goblin of the three skids to a stop on the ground with an arrow in the back of its head.  With the goblins dead they all take a minute to catch their breath.

Nathan sighs.  “Well, I think that went pretty well”

Elisha smiles.  “Yeah, you know this is actually a lot of fun”

After a brief rest they start searching over the corpses.  After looking through all them they once again turn up nothing of any real value but they end up scoring another twelve goblin necklaces bringing them up to a total of fifteen.

The three of them continue through the cave picking off small parties of goblins as they find them sleeping, eating or talking with each other.  As they walk deeper into the cave with a torch in hand they suddenly come to a dead end.  They turn to head back when Jessica suddenly slips on a growth of moss on the ground.  She falls backwards on her butt but as soon as she hits the ground it collapses under her weight causing her to fall through the floor.  Nathan and Elisha immediately turn and drop to the floor looking through the hole as they yell to see if she’s okay.

“Are you okay?” asks Nathan.

Jessica sits in the darkness rubbing her backside.  “Owe, yeah I’m, I’m okay.  A pile of twigs broke my fall”

“Stay there we’ll find a rope or something” says Elisha.

Jessica lets out a deafening shriek.  Nathan grips the edges of the hole tightly.  “WHAT HAPPENED?”

“T-t-t-t-THEIR NOT TWIGS.  THEIR BONES” screams Jessica.

Nathan and Elisha look up at each other and at the same time speak.  “Bones?”

“Guys, please, please, hurry.  I, I, I think I can hear something down here” stutters Jessica.

Nathan lies on the ground and puts his hand through the hole.  “Try to jump up and grab my hand.  We’ll pull you up”

Jessica stands up.  “Okay”.  She takes a step back then takes a step forward and jumps into the air just catching his hand”

“Gotcha”.  Jessica smiles as she reaches up and grabs his onto his arm with her other hand.  “Hang on I’ll pull you up”

Nathan steadies himself on his other hand and starts pulling her up.  As she comes into view Elisha grabs her arm and helps pull her up as well.  Just before Jessica’s legs are about to pass through the hole a massive black scythe claw skewers her right leg.  Jessica remains silent for a moment but as the pain registers she lets out a deafening shriek.

“MY LEG” shrieks Jessica.  “Something stabbed, my leg”

Nathan holds her tightly.  “Hang on”

They try to pull her up but suddenly she’s wretched down into the darkness causing them to both fall down with her.  As Elisha falls down her leg knocks the torch sending in flying in with them.  They all land next to each other on a large pile of bones with the torch burning low lighting just a few feet around them.

Nathan holds the back of his head.  “Owe, you okay?”

Jessica sits up on the pile of bones shaking from shock mumbling as she holds her hands to her leg.  “My leg, my leg, my leg”

Elisha grabs the torch and shines it over Jessica’s leg.  Her leg is soaked in blood with a massive cut on either side from the scythe claw.

Elisha looks a little startled seeing the massive wound.  “Christ something stabbed her right through her leg”

Tears flow into Jessica’s eyes as the shock slowly begins to wear off.  “It hurts.  It hurts so much”

Elisha puts a hand on her shoulder.  “You’ll be okay.  We’ll get you back to town in a minute and get you all fixed up”

Nathan draws his sword and stands up looking at the darkness.  “I wonder what it is.  Think you two can get out of here?”

Elisha shakes her head.  “No, I’ll need your help to get her out”

“Looks like we have no other choice but to kill it then”

Nathan suddenly turns to his right just barely blocking a massive black scythe claw drenched in blood with his sword.

Elisha stares at the massive claw looking rather worried.  “Oh my god”

As soon as the creature appeared it disappears again.  Nathan whips his sword around as he stares into the darkness.  “Damnit I can’t see a god damn thing”.  He turns to Elisha.  “I can’t…”.  He stops mid sentence as a black creature appears from the side and tackles Elisha.  His eyes go wide as she disappears into the darkness while the torch flies out and rolls off to a corner.  “ELISHA”.  Nathan looks into the darkness frantically.

After a moment Elisha’s voice rings out from the darkness.  “I’m okay.  Quick get the torch and kill this thing.  I can’t hold it for long”

Nathan runs over to the torch and grabs it before racing over to where he heard Elisha.  He comes to a stop at a corner and stares at the creature briefly.  The creature is a massive black beast a little larger than a person.  It has a long pointed flat head with two large spike like horns.  Its body is long and slender with large spikes on its back and a set of massive scythe arms on its side.  Instead of legs it has a long slender tail that seems to let it almost glide.  Underneath the massive beast is Elisha with her legs tightly wrapped around its waist and her arms wrapped around its arms just below its scythe claws.

Elisha turns to Nathan.  “KILL IT”

Nathan rushes forward smashes his sword into its neck beheading the beast in one powerful swing.  As its head flies off the body collapses on Elisha and blood pools out all over her neck and chest.

Elisha turns her head away in disgust.  “Yuck”

Nathan takes a step closer, his sword dripping from blood.  “Are you okay?”

“Barely.  I’m just lucky it missed me with its claws.  If it hadn’t…well anyway can you get this thing off of me?”

Nathan nods.  “Sure”

Nathan helps Elisha out from under the massive beast then together they look over it carefully with the torch shining over its body.

“What a weird creature” says Nathan.

“Yeah, dangerous too.  Let’s get out of here” says Elisha.

They walk back over to Jessica who’s still sitting on the pile of bones holding her leg.  She has tears in her eyes and her teeth are gritted to stop herself from screaming in pain.

Nathan leans down to look at her face.  “You okay?”

Jessica nods quickly.

“Boost me up and I’ll help pull her up” says Elisha.

Nathan quickly boosts Elisha up to the floor above.  Together they carefully lift Jessica up onto the floor above.

With Jessica safely up Elisha looks down at Nathan.  “Alright you next”

Nathan holds up the torch.  “Here’s the torch”.

He throws it up, Elisha quickly catches it and sits it against the wall.  Nathan backs up a bit then runs and jumps up.  Elisha catches him and pulls him up without too much trouble.

Elisha looks down at Jessica’s bloody leg.  “Let’s put something over that wound to stop the bleeding”

Jessica nods.  Elisha kneels down and rummages through the bag on her side for a moment before pulling out a small thin vial of bright red liquid.  Elisha uncorks the vial and holds it over her leg then looks at Jessica.  “This is gonna hurt, A LOT, but, it should make it better” says Elisha.  Elisha pours half the vial out over the wound causing Jessica to shriek out in pain.  When it’s half empty she holds it out to Jessica.  “Drink the rest”

Jessica takes the vial and downs it in one gulp.  “Yuck, that tastes awful”

Elisha takes out some bandages and starts winding them around the wound.  “When we get to town we can have a priest heal you proper.  Until then, this should do.  The healing potion should kick in after a while”

After such rough treatment Jessica has tears streaked across her cheeks.  “Good”

Elisha tightens the bandage and ties it off.  “There, that should do it.  Let’s get going”

Nathan kneels down and lifts Jessica up in his arms.  “Hey what are you doing?” asks Jessica.

Nathan looks at her.  “You can’t walk on that leg”

Jessica blushes and holds her head to the side slightly.  “Sorry about this”

“Don’t worry about it.  The important thing is you’re alright”

As they start walking off through the cave Jessica glances up at Nathan.  “I’m, I’m not too heavy am I?”

He looks down at her and smiles.  “Nah, your fine”

“How’s your leg feel?” asks Elisha.

Jessica glances over at her.  “It still hurts, A LOT, but…it’s a bit better now”

By the time they exit the cave it’s already starting to grow dark overhead as the sun sets with a glorious wash of orange light.  After a long long walk through the forest they finally make it to the outskirts of town by nightfall.  As they walk towards the gate they pass by a female dark elf wearing elegant red and gold mage clothing.  As a dark elf she looks almost identical to an elf except that instead of the normal shade of skin she has a beautiful aqua skin color.  She suddenly stops and turns to look at the three of them.

“Are you alright?” asks the woman.

They stop and turn to look at her.  Jessica blushes.  “Yeah, I, I just hurt my foot pretty bad”

Elisha shakes her head.  “Pretty bad would be an understatement”

The dark elf woman smiles at them.  “I’m a priest if you’d like I could take a look at it and probably fix it up with some healing magic”

Nathan looks at her seeming a little startled.  “Sure”

“You sure it isn’t a bother?” asks Jessica.

The woman smiles and shakes her head.  “Not at all.  Set her down on the ground and I can take a proper look”

Nathan kneels down and gently lays Jessica on the ground.  The dark elf woman kneels down and starts taking off the bandage to get a proper look at it.  As the wound becomes visible she moves back slightly in surprise.

“Wow its right through.  I see you already applied a healing potion to it though” says the woman.

Elisha peers down at the wound.  “Can you heal it?”

The woman puts on a more serious face and nods.  “Yes, just give me a moment”

She places her hands over the wound and starts to focus her magic.  A white glow quickly forms around her hands and over the wound.  After several moments it slowly starts to close over.  After about 10 minutes of constant healing the wound is fully closed over.  The dark elf woman sits back looking slightly fatigued.  She wipes her forehead with her hand and lets out a sigh.

Jessica looks down at her leg and moves it a bit.  “It doesn’t hurt at all now”

The woman smiles.  “You should be able to walk and run on it now.  It’ll still be a little tender though so do go easy on it”

“What kind of animal could have given her that wound, any ideas?” asks Elisha.

The dark elf woman glances up at her.  “You didn’t see it?”

“Well, we did but we don’t know what it was”

“What did it look like?”

“Black, long flat pointed head, slim body, two large scythe claws and instead of legs a long tail” says Nathan.

The dark elf woman looks a little concerned.  “That sounds like a sliver.  What kind of place were you in?”

“A cave north of here, I, I fell through the floor into some lower level with bones everywhere” says Jessica.

“I see, you’re quite lucky.  Slivers are very dangerous.  Odd though that one would be around this area”

Elisha looks a little confused.  “Why is that?”

“Because their S class creatures” explains the woman.

“S class?”

“What do you know about them?” asks Nathan.

The dark elf woman thinks briefly.  “Just the basics really.  You see there's dozens of different types and each one has its own unique ability what's worse is when say two different types are together their abilities are shared with each other.  So if one can regenerate itself and ones invisible they'll have both abilities when together”

Jessica looks a little scared.  “Uh, wow, that sounds really dangerous”

The woman nods.  “It is which is why their S class creatures.  Usually their only found in S grade areas.  I suppose it's a bit of bad luck on your part”

“Well anyway thanks, what do we owe you for healing me?”

The dark elf woman smiles.  “Nothing, I don’t charge for healing.  Just try to be careful in the future.  Oh and if you want to get cleaned up which I’m sure you do.  There's a bathhouse in the city on the south side”

They all stand up and thank her before parting.  Together they start walking through the streets.

“Let’s turn in the necklaces then we can get cleaned up” says Elisha.

Nathan looks her over taking note of how drenched in blood she is.  “You sure?  We can turn them in after”

Elisha looks at him sternly.  “I’m sure”

They head through town until they come to the guard house.  Inside they find Captain Bryce quickly pointing off a few human adventurers to a goblin lair.  They brush past the group as they leave and head over to Bryce.

Hearing them approach Bryce glances up then looks shocked seeing all the blood on them.  “Wow, you three look like you’ve been through hell”

“Everything went fine until we ran into a sliver” explains Elisha.

Bryce looks at them almost confused.  “A sliver?  In this area?”.  He shakes his head clear.  “I’m glad to see your all alright.  Did you manage to clear out the cave at all?”

“We kinda had to cut it short” says Nathan.

“Yeah well no surprise there if you encountered a sliver.  Don’t worry I’ll send someone out to check out the place and clear out the last of the goblins”

Elisha takes off her bag and tips out the necklaces onto a nearby table.  “Here’s the goblin necklaces we did get”

Bryce goes over to the table and looks them over.  “Wow, for cutting it short you three did pretty well.  Just give me a sec to count them up”.  A few minutes later Bryce puts the last necklace back down.  “Thirty one, not bad, not bad at all.  That should definitely help out.  That comes to 1,550 Ethian”.  He takes out a handful of large and small silver coins and hands them to Elisha.  “Don’t spend it all in one place.  Thanks for the help”

They all thank him and quickly leave the place as Elisha pockets the money.  “Let’s go to the bathhouse now” says Elisha.  Half an hour later the group steps outside the bathhouse all clean.  Elisha stretches.  “That was relaxing”.

Suddenly an alarm goes off around them and a female computer voice speaks.  “Play Timer entitled Stop Playing has expired”

Elisha sighs.  “Well I guess it’s time to stop”

Nathan looks at her confused.  “Huh?  How come?”

Elisha looks at him blankly.  “Didn’t you hear the alarm go off just now?”.  They both shake their heads.  “I guess its player specific.  Anyway the play timer went off it’s 8 o’clock”

“Wow already?  Man time sure flies” says Nathan.

“Yeah, no kidding”

“It was perfect timing though”

Elisha nods.  “Well let’s get going.  Log out”

A moment later the gang is back in the real world taking off their helmets and sitting up.  Jessica lets out a sigh.  “It’s not exactly fun getting hurt in Eden.  It hurts just as much as here”

“Well I suppose that’s to be expected.  You chickening out now?” says Elisha.

Jessica looks at her sternly with a smirk.  “No way”

To be Continued

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