Zool

THE WAR FOR MYTHERIA - Isekai Adventure

That night...

She found herself stood on a meadow. She had all her ranger gear and weapons. There were periodic gusts of gentle wind, making the grass and her hair dance in unison. She slowly looked all around. She was alone out here. The sky was bright and blue. The sun made the air warm. It was nice.

And then she blinked. And there stood Zell next to her. He smiled at her and it made her feel good. She smiled back. She blinked again. Now Adam was stood on the other side of her. She returned his smile too, and the unmistakable warmth of good feelings resurged. They each offered a hand to hold and she gladly accepted.

But her hands grabbed nothing but air as both men suddenly disappeared. MacKensie, surprised, searched her promixity for a trace of them but there was nothing. And then she blinked again. They'd appeared again. Only this time they were several yards away from her, each in opposite directions. Not too far. She could still see their warm eyes - their smiles. But far enough to be out of reach.

Again they both held out a hand to her. Now her warmth of good feelings were replaced with a flood of anxiety. Why did it have to change? Why could it not be like before? Each of them beckoned her silently, their expressions still happy. But she was no longer happy. And she was rooted to the spot.

She knew instinctively that she could rid herself of this anxiety if she just went to stand by one of them again. But why did they have to move in the first place? She didn't know what to do. Why did it have to change?

She looked at Zell. He nodded, his hand still extended. Then she looked at Adam. He was doing the same.

Which way should she go?

...................................................................................................................

MacKensie awoke with a deep breath. It was still dark so she rolled over and turn on the lamp, squinting as her eyes adjusted to the light. She shuffled backwards to sit up and drew her knees up to her, then rubbed her eyes tiredly, thinking about the dream that still sat vividly in her memory. She knew what it meant. Until now she'd been oblivious to the feelings that were building up for two of her friends - ignoring how they so clearly betrayed their feelings for herself too.

She shook her head and face-palmed. "Oh," she moaned. "This is all I need, right now."

Hugging her knees, she buried her face. In addition to the nagging fears regarding her ranger attributes and her apprehension about the coming gold tier mission, she now had an altogether more problematic issue. One that could not easily be ignored. One wrought with fear of the unknown, fear of getting hurt, fear of hurting someone else, fear of wrecking the dynamic within Second Chance.

This was not good.

And sunrise was right around the corner.

THE WAR FOR MYTHERIA - Isekai Adventure

OMG I have to deal with Zapdos and Xenon's puns in the group PM. And now there's three of them smh -_-

THE WAR FOR MYTHERIA - Isekai Adventure

O_O You're planning to steal a horse, aren't you? <face palm>

THE WAR FOR MYTHERIA - Isekai Adventure

This is what happens when there is no planning and using eachother's character, but it's fun and makes some hilarious moments. Standard practice for me n Zool

@Saiyan

True. The only thing we've ever planned (if you can call it that) was the running joke of "a drink owed for a life saved." Although that has led to some hilarious moments, in and of itself lol xD

THE WAR FOR MYTHERIA - Isekai Adventure

"What did I tell you!? Pointless distraction!" Old Gilligan sure knew how to ruin a moment. "Back off."

MacKensie did as she was told and backed up a couple of steps, but her mood was not swayed by the hermit. She was still laser-focused on the fight, her fists in front of her face with with excited anticipation as Adam and the black bear traded attacks. Adam's clever maneouver with the dirt put him back on the offensive and he seemed to grow in confidence as both combatants increased their ferocity.

And then, it was over. So suddenly. The bear stopped and... did it just bow it's head? It was all a test. A potentially lethal test, but a test all the same - MacKensie remembered that now as she watched the bear lick Adam's face. She smiled. When the bear turned back into a ghostly form and went into Adam, the Ranger didn't need Gilligan to speak to realise that it was over.

"Adam." MacKensie ran over to the Druid and gave him a congratulatory hug and kiss on the cheek, before realising that she may have been squeezing the wounded man too tightly. Not wanting to hurt him, she let go and smiled, relief and admiration on her face. Subconciously, she was now looking at Adam in a totally different light, but she would not realise this until a later time. "That was amazing." She looked down at all his injuries. "We need to dress those wounds. Come."

She put his arm over her shoulder and her own around his back, to give him a little assistance walking. Then she addressed Gilligan. "Sir Druid, may we please have some hot water and bandages, or something like this?"

Whether it was begrudingly or not, Gilligan allowed them into his home and fetched some things for MacKensie to attempt first aid. She wasn't really qualified in this respect, but she tried all the same. With a soaked cloth, she gently washed the slash and bite wounds on his chest and waist. "You were so brave out there. To fight a bear...?" She shook her head, at a loss for words. "I cannot believe what I just witnessed."

With some instruction from the annoying old hermit, she managed to do a decent job, finishing up by tying up some bandages around his torso, then she retrieved his shoes, shirt and jacket to hand them to him.

THE WAR FOR MYTHERIA - Isekai Adventure

Lmao you know, I thought something wild might happen related to James' MacKensie disguise! Madlads xD

THE WAR FOR MYTHERIA - Isekai Adventure

Adam with his own version of the pocket-sand attack lesgooooo! Cool af

@Saiyan

Lol extremely cool! Adam's making us all proud right now xD

THE WAR FOR MYTHERIA - Isekai Adventure

When the light on Adam's forehead began to stay green and the old hermit gave words of encouragement, MacKensie knew that something important was happening. She strayed a little further from the campfire, but not too far as to provoke the ire of Gilligan. Just close enough for her sharp eyes to catch what was going on in more detail. When the ghostly visage appeared in the clearing near her, it was quite the jump-scare. She drew her weapon from the small of her back and dropped a bolt into the firing mechanism. Before long the faint outline of a bear became a fully real ursine beast, and frightening to boot.

"Your spirit animal has manifested. Now you must subdue it and gain control. Now you must fight it."

"He cannot be serious?" MacKensie was flabbergasted, but that was not all.

"No magic."

She gasped, unsure as to whether she should intervene. She didn't want to mess anything up, but decided stubbornly that she would not hesitate to help her friend if he was in danger. To hell with the shapeshifting hermit.

And the fight began. Almost immediately, her hand itched to fire a bolt at the bear as it went on the offensive, knocking Adam to the floor in it's first flurry of attacks. "Oh no." Could the young man handle this? Adam was a gentle soul. Strong in his own way, but maybe not built for such a conflict. "Come on, Adam," she pleaded in a whisper. "You can do it."

She edged forward step by step, little by little, and was just about to jump in when Adam rolled out of the way of an attack, then got up and ran like a maniac at the bear and punched it right in the face. "Yes!" MacKensie jumped for joy, her crossbow raised above her. "You've got this, Adam!"

The bear looked stunned. The hermit was impressed. The shift in momentum came with a shift in confidence. Adam could do this! Gilligan thought so, and now so did MacKensie. "Keep it up!" she called out words of encouragement, but let out a terrified gasp when Adam took a mean claw strike across his chest. Her free hand covered her mouth, metaphorically on the edge of her seat and now on the edge of the fight area, stood near Gilligan. This injury did not compell her to intervene, this time. Now there was a feeling almost like this was some kind of rite of passage of manhood or something. She could not intervene - it would besmirch Adam's honour. He had to do this alone.

And he could do it!

"I believe in you, Adam!"

THE WAR FOR MYTHERIA - Isekai Adventure

What MacKensie had expected, when the door first opened, was a wise old sagely sort of fellow. Perhaps a little quiet due to being a hermit and what-not. But upon seeing the face of thunderous anger and irritation, the wide-eyed Ranger immediately realised that the owner of this house on the mountain would defy all expectations.

"...Not interested." and the door slammed shut, prompting a little gasp from MacKensie who covered her mouth with her fingers from the shock of it all.

She looked at Adam who seemed just as stunned as she, then wondered if the trip had all been for nothing. Before either of them spoke or moved, their attention was drawn back to the door as they heard the old man inside calling out. He was on his way back to the door. This time the door was opened all the way to reveal a tall, lithe old elf who looked so filled with contempt, MacKensie thought he might be actually be posionous to the touch!

All MacKensie could do was just stand there - an audience to this toxic performance - even when the elf ambled over to her with the help of his walking stick. "And you... look like a Ranger to me." She nodded quickly. "A pointless distraction."

Well... okay then...

Adam answered his questions patiently, clearly unwilling to stoop to the old elf's level, and MacKensie watched as Adam grew a tree as instructed. Then he attempted to defend her honour, which she appreciated in sentiment, but figured it would only make things worse. And it did, the elf proceeding to mock them both, something that sparked anger and irritation in MacKensie's face now too. She gritted her teeth, lips parting to chastise this disgraceful person, but she held her tongue when Adam tried to just move on and get to the reason he'd come here. The better part of her resolved to stand down and stay out of it, but her face was a picture of offense taken. When she was told to go sit by the fire, she stood staring at him with balled up fists, then turned on her heels, "Hmph!" and marched away.

The following hours dampened her anger and turned her emotions into fascination, before finally settling on boredom, as she sat watching a whole load of nothing happening. She couldn't even enjoy the views of nature around her because of the old hermit's grating voice filling the air constantly. By the end of the fifth hour, she was stood up and pacing back and forth like the elf, stretching her legs and giving herself a periodic break from the uncomfortable wooden seat.

Still, she watched on, hoping Adam would find this spirit animal of his so they could get out of here and be rid of this horrible old hermit.

THE WAR FOR MYTHERIA - Isekai Adventure

@ZapdosThat's great Zapdos! You've all been fun to write with. Long may it continue xD