Two more people had come to help her against the Wind Wasp ambush. One girl just ran up without a word and started fighting. Aura cursed and stumbled slightly when the Wind Wasps were painfully ripped away from her arms. It was a good thing her sensitivity wasn't too high or else she might have screamed. When she heard the familiar voice of the one who freed her from the creatures, she turned and saw Edge's familiar face.
she said simply while shaking her arms out and getting ready for an attack.
Suddenly Aura felt something like a twinge of pain in her heart. The last time he had saw her he talked about doing something about the player killers, and now... she was one of them. Regret was what she was feeling at that moment, but shaking her head Aura told herself to focus on the fight and maybe she'd get a chance to explain herself later. She activated her Rage Spike skill and ran past him, aiming for a wasp that was coming towards them. Come to think of it, she wondered why everyone here had even bothered to help her. Her orange cursor couldn't have escaped their notice and she began feeling a bit singled out in the group. As she attacked the wasp once more she paused as she thought back to that day she saw her comrades die.
~1 month before the events in Gilmer's Tower~
* Damp Forest *
A collaboration between Sketcher and Shadowcatcher
Aura's heart pounded in time with her footsteps as she sped through the Damp Forest of Floor 15. Never in her real life had she been more afraid, and this fear she was feeling was driving her mad. She had sworn since the man who attacked her on Floor 1.... she had sworn that she would never run from another player. That she would fight until she died. But turns out... when she was faced with that situation, her promise to herself was the farthest thing from her mind. Three others were already dead. While there was still no real confirmation that if you die in-game you die IRL, she wasn't going to be taking any chances. Her health bar had already dropped to yellow since she had dared to go up against one of the players with the orange cursor. They had come together, 2 against 1 were the odds between them and her party. Now the only people left were her and...
"Edge?" she called as she looked around her. She didn't see him, and she didn't want to stop running. For a moment she thought maybe they had gotten him too and she should just go... but she couldn't. "Fuck!" she shouted as she dashed behind a tree and crouched there panting. She looked from around the tree back in the direction she came and started to listen. "Edge.... can you hear me?' she called into the darkness.
Edge was still back at the site where they had been attacked. He kept hiding, letting his Battle Heal ability fix whatever damage he'd gotten and trying to escape again, only to be attacked each time. One on one wouldn't be too much trouble since PKers never really fought on the front lines and didn't have enough levels to pose much of a threat to those who had but still, when they were together, they were extremely dangerous. He realized that he was the only one left in the visible area among the group. Cursing under his breath, the boy sheathed his sword and ran through one of the people blocking his way with his unarmed and sprint skills, making a run for it. He soon heard a familiar voice. He made his way towards the source without answering. The last thing they needed was the others finding them again. He soon lost the attackers though they were still searching. "Aura, over here," he said, coming to an opening where he could see her. "They're still looking for us!"
Staying low, she quickly made her way over to where he was. Though she'd never say it outloud, she was happy to see he was still alive. "I don't know if we should keep running or stay and fight. But, I don't think I can do much of either for too long. Do you have any health crystals? I'm all out." she said to him keeping her voice low. In the distance she could hear the sounds of them walking as they stepped on twigs and dried leaves. She still was unable to tell how many there were by just listening so she looked to Edge for help. "Did you see how many were left?"
Edge pulled out his inventory and scrolled through the list. "I usually keep these for emergencies since I trained my battle heal skill but I guess this is one," he said and a small panel popped up in front of her, asking if she would accept the two crystals. "And sadly, no. I didn't look out for their numbers. I'm in favor of running. What I know is that there were more than we can beat. Unless we divide them or something, they'll definitely overpower us and even that can be risky."
Aura accepted the crystals and used one immediately. "Thanks." she said elbowing him in the arm. "And I agree.... fighting them would probably be suicide. I'm not risking my life for that. But i do suggest we split up. It might be our best option so at least they wont be chasing us all in one big group." she pointed with her finger to the place where his name was shown under hers. "If one of us sees the others health bar start to go down, we can meet up and help. That sound good to you?" she jumped slightly when she heard something close to them and she quickly stood and pulled him to the safety of a different tree.
As he followed her, he thought for a moment, pulling up the map they'd made after going through the area and located the four exits, three of which would require passing through their camping point. "Pull up your map," he whispered after finally getting to safety. "We can split up but we should still stay close. Being on the main path would be suicide so I suggest we both go through different sides and meet up in front of the exit of the forest here." He pointed at the exit point as he emphasized on the last word. "That way we'll have a good idea of where the other is in case there's trouble."
When he told her to pull up her map, she had done so and listened to his plan. It seemed like it was worth a shot so she nodded and put it away. "Sound good. Just... make sure you dont trip and fall like those stupid girls in movies, ok? I can't really afford to drag you along." she said bitterly but with also a hint of a joking tone. She gave him a smile then stood up and took out one of her throwing picks. "I can hear them... i'll send them off track if I can so wait for my signal." She stayed quiet then and listened to the talking of the players who were after them.
"They couldn't have gotten far. Find them, they know our faces thanks to someone." she recognized the voice of the one who was most likely the leader.
"Dont put this all on me, I just wanted to have a little fun with the pretty girl."
Aura frowned and turned in a different direction and threw her pick randomly into the woods, hoping it went far away.
"Yo, I heard something over that way." one of them said.
"It could be a trap. Stay on track." the leader said again.
"Like hell they could trap us, come on man."
Just like she thought it would, the sound of her throwing pick had distracted them and made them go in a different direction. Tapping Edge lightly with her foot she nodded and turned to run away.
Edge smiled upon seeing the dumber player killer divert the rather wiser one off track by falling to the simple trick Aura had used. He looked over to her and nodded back, following her for a few seconds before dashing across the path without being sighted. They were spread out far, though. Some of them were ahead, even though there were few. The men all travelled in pairs which was quite troublesome. He made his best to avoid them, putting distance between himself and them. However, one of the trackers had already picked up on the boy with the poor hiding skill.
"There's something there," was the only thing he heard before starting to run without caring about being heard. "After 'im!"
The two men started to follow him, their bloodlust getting the better of them. Instead of informing the others, they went after the boy alone.
As Aura ran, she was careful to make as little noise as possible. She was good at it, but diverting from the path and into the thick brush of the forest made it hard for her to stay quiet for too long. Her Acrobatics skill made it easy for her to jump and avoid fallen logs and other things blocking her path, but at one point while she was running, a twig got caught in her impossibly long blue hair, and she had to stop. Biting back a cry of pain as her head was pulled back, she quickly tried to untangle herself from the bush she was caught on. Her trembling hands didn't help, so out of desperation she pulled out her sword and carefully cut the section of her hair that was stuck.
As it poofed into a bit of blue glitter she turned and continued to make her way through the forest. Her sword came in handy and after a moment she heard voices and stopped, becoming completely still.
"There's something there." she heard and for a moment she thought it was her that they had found.
"After him!" someone said again and then she knew she was in the clear. But, that meant Edge was in trouble. Fighting her way through the trees, Aura started running some more. For now he seemed to be okay, his health had not dropped at all, and so with her ears focused on listening out for him, she kept running on her path, still determined to make it out of this godforsaken forest alive.
Looks like we're far enough from any help they can get... If I damage them enough, they might panic, Edge thought to himself and stopped, spinning on his heal and leaping forward to the man who was now rushing into Edge's sword skill. A significant amount of the man's health dropped in that instant. He didn't wait for the man to react to land another attack, kicking the man to the ground. At that moment, the second man hacked at him, dealing some damage which showed that they were lower leveled than Edge and Aura. He quickly continued attacking the first man, though this attack was blocked. Maybe I'm a bit in over my head taking two opponents at once, he thought in regret but there was no going back now. He drilled through the second one with Linear just before the man swung his sword at the air.
In the corner of her eye she saw Edge's health drop slightly. That meant he was probably fighting them. "Damn you. You'd better not die on me." she said but made no move to help him. She was sure he could take care of himself, and Aura thought she was getting closer to the edge of the forest. She used that as an excuse to herself for not going to help. It wasn't that she was afraid. She was not afraid... just being cautious. Yeah. Just being cautious. she repeated to herself as if trying to get the lie to sink in.
Edge kept dodging for a while before trading blows with the two. His health bar kept replenishing during the time he was dodging and one out of two hits were Sword Skills. Before long, the two low leveled PKers were down to red, and so would have Edge been if it weren't for his healing. Their movements were dulling which was the boy's cue. He turned and made a run for it once more before they could attack another time.
Aura sighed in relief as she saw his health bar slowly start to increase. So, he won then. Nice. she thought kind of proud of him. Once she got to the point where he suggested they meet up, she slowed her pace to a light jog and looked around for him. It was not too much longer that she heard footsteps and her left hand went to her sword just in case it wasn't Edge's smiling face she would see.
Edge had fallen behind when he was fighting the PKers but he could see the exit. He heaved a sigh of relief, slightly slowing his pace as he continued to run towards the way out of the forest. He finally found himself a few meters away from Aura. "Sorry! I ran into some trouble on the way here. I didn't want them following us out so I... incapacitated them."
As soon as she saw him coming through the forest, she marched up to him and punched him hard in the arm. "Stupid! Don't do something so reckless next time! I don't like having to worry about people." she mumbled the last part as she grabbed his arm and led him out of the forest. Geez, this kid had me all stressed out for nothing. she thought, glaring straight ahead as she pulled him along.
Edge ended up getting dragged out of the bloodbath. "Right, right... Though if they followed me to the exit, it would've been much more troublesome, don't you agree," he said, smirking at her last comment. The expression faded quickly. "We should spread the word that there are some PKers on the loose. I don't know how anyone's gonna solve this kind of problem." He knew that one way was just staying in safe zones and the other was having the Front Liners hunt for them which was the same as sinking to their level.
Aura listened to him speak as they walked towards the nearest town but didn't say anything for a long moment after he was done. "There is nothing we can do about the player killers except avoid them. I doubt any Front Liners are willing to risk their lives just to put a bunch of freaks in the prison. In any case, we were lucky this time." she said with an annoyed tone. This whole situation had turned Aura's mood dark and her pride was hurting more than she'd care to show. The experience made her want to get stronger so she could protect herself. First I have a ghost wanting me dead IRL and now there's a weird guild going after innocents like hungry wolves? My life is shit right now. Sighing, she let go of Edge and allowed him to walk on his own. "When we reach the town I have something I need to find so we'll be splitting up again." she said simply. She pushed a bit of hair from her eyes as she thought maybe she should say goodbye in a 'nice' way. "Though I don't plan to join any more parties, if I see you again, I won't pretend I don't know you." Aura paused again. That was nice.... right?
A smile curled up on the boy's lips as he looked back to the forest that they'd gotten farther from. "Right, I understand how that feels," he said, chuckling. "I guess this could be called a traumatic experience since it happened during a party raid. Anyway... Thanks. I'm hoping to see you again as well. I'm gonna try and get the front liners to do something about this as soon as I can." He held out his hand for a shake. "Till next time."
Aura looked at the boy's outstretched hand then back up at him. Scoffing she turned around. "See you around." she said walking in a different direction and waving over her shoulder.
The boy sighed and pulled his hand back. Not bothering to respond, he kept his smile as he walked off in another direction.