“STAY BACK!” Azazel screamed as she held on tightly to the branch, kicking her feet at the Nepents that jumped and snapped at her heels just trying their best to grab onto her foot to pull her down. The little Faerin tried with all of her might to pull herself up onto the branch she held onto, but just as it was in the real world, Zaz was not very strong, and all she could do was to manage to hang on for her life as she struggled to keep the little plant like monsters from killing her. Eight Nepents had gathered, all snapping their crimson petal-like jaws at her little green Mary Janes that protected her tiny doll-like feet. One of them managed to clamp onto the heel of her foot and won her shoe off her foot. “OH NO! BAD NEOPENT!” She hollered as she swung her little bare foot wildly to keep her toes from being nibbled upon. The Nepent shook its head and thrashed her bitty shoe about and flung it a good ten yards away from where they stood. “OHHH… WHY DID IT TURN OUT THIS WAY?” she whined as she gave every effort to climb higher into the tree. It had started off like any other day. Birdie was going to drop by later after he had finished whatever he needed to do and they were going to play the afternoon away like they did most days. However, in a wonderful turn of events, Lina’s morning class had been cancelled which meant she had even more free time to play. She logged on without a thought and began to adventure around Brisshal, the beginning village of the game. Zaz had spent the morning playing in the forest, identifying different plant species and hunting piglets. Piglets were of great fun to her. They were relatively small and fairly easy for her to kill with a few hits of her Root Spell. Each time she used it, the seeds she would toss at the mobs would be covered in small seeds which would begin to sprout roots and shoots on her command and leech the life out of her enemies. Piglets didn’t drop much in the way of gold or items, but it was an easy farm for her to practice her skills upon and earn Mastery Points. Further and further Zaz wandered into the woods until she came to a small clearing. It was where she met the first Nepent. The creature stood there perfectly still as the sun came beaming down upon it from the tree cover above. At first she thought it was some sort of pretty wildflower, and wanted to get a closer look. So step by tiny step she drew near until the Nepent moved. The flower turned its face from the sunlight and turned until it faced her. Azazel stood there frozen to the spot, and watched as the petals unfolded and the Nepent hissed, revealing ten rows of razor sharp spines. It hissed at her and rattled its leaves before darting toward her at top speed. The blonde pixie screamed and took off running as quick as a bunny. And thus the mad dash through the woods began. Azazel ran just as fast as her frail legs could carry her. Faerin were the least athletic of all the races. She lifted her knees and pumped her arms and still was getting nowhere fast. The Nepent continued to hiss and sound its alarm, and soon more of the nasty little plants began to creep out from the surrounding tress and give chase. The small girl knew she had to do something, but had little idea of what she could do, save one thing. Holding her hand out behind her she cast her spell “Crescere Radices!” A sprinkle of tiny seeds floated from her palm and landed on the pack of Nepents. They began to sprout and grow tiny roots which began to glow as their ability activated. The leaf green aura faded quickly. The Nepents health bars were barely affected, only having been taken down a tick. Again and again Azazel tried her spell as she continued to runaway, but each time it failed to do any damage to the creatures at all. “Oh no,” she repeated as she scurried away. She was tired. Her limbs could hardly keep the pace. She had to hide. Spotting the nearest tree with low branches, the slip of a girl made a fantastic leap and grabbed onto the first branch she could get her fingers wrapped around. And there she hung, as she was at the beginning of this little tale, just kicking and screaming, wondering just how long she could hold on. “I DON’T WANT TO DIE!” she hollered into the dense forest, hoping that someone, anyone would hear her cry and come help her.
Now that the man had a couple of days of playing Terrasphere under his belt, Caleb was feeling much more confident in his abilities. Though his bow skills were still not the best, he was able to sink and arrow into his target more times than they would the ground or nearby trees. Feeling much safer in the beginning town of Stockbon, Jomei felt it was not needed to hide the pointed ears that were traits of the Yladian ancestry. Reaching his hands up to his head, Jomei lowered the hood of his dark green cloak, letting his crimson hair bathe in the sunlight that poked past the tall buildings. After exploring the city for a short while, he felt ready to work on his hunting skills yet again. Slipping the bow off of his back, the man traversed through the gates of the city and into the vast forests of Brisshal. The woods around him were not as dense as those he found in Astorea, and the trees were much shorter with low hanging branches, making it easy for the man to take vantage points when possible. “I DON’T WANT TO DIE!” The archer's elven ears perked when he heard the shriek of a young sounding girl pierce through the tranquility of the forest. The cry of the girl immediately reminded Caleb of a past experience in the real world, seeing the memory all so clearly play out in his mind. He remembered seeing his sister sitting on her rear, her skirt scuffed with dirt and knee scraped, blood filling in the cuts on her skin. Standing over her were two boys, smirks on their face, one holding the blonde haired doll that his sister loved to play with. That day, the shy, reserved Caleb became the protective brother, chasing off the two boys with no fear, getting the toy back for his sister. Those memories caused the quiet archer to spring into action, rushing in the direction of the crying girl. Weaving through the trees, his hazel eyes scanned the horizon, looking for the source of the sound. That was when he spotted a small girl hanging for dear life from a tree, eight plant like creatures snapping at her dangling lets, hungry for the girl's young flesh. Without speaking any words, Jomei dropped to a knee and pulled an arrow from his quiver, placing it right against the handle of his bow and pulling back the string. As if all muscle memory, and in one quick motion, Jomei let the arrow fly, the tip striking true through the side of the Nepent's head, causing it's lifeless body to fall to the ground. Not all of the Nepents took notice of Jomei, for some of them were too interested in the girl that was trying to escape. Two of the plant creatures turned to look at the crimson haired archer off in the distance, as he quickly prepared another arrow to shoot. As a third Nepent turned to look at the newly arrived player, an arrow had shot through its chest, its body tumbling back into one of its comrades, knocking the still living plant off balance. Jomei quickly grabbed another arrow, from his quiver and took in a deep breath, taking aim yet again. By now, the two Nepents who had taken notice of Jomei began to run towards him. The archer let another arrow fly, the arrow missing its mark and sticking into the grass behind the charging plant. "Shit." Jomei cursed under his breath. The dead Nepent that had collided into the other still living one caused the one that stumbled and another one to take notice of Jomei, switching their focus to him as well and beginning their approach. Two dead, four running at Jomei, that left two still attacking the small girl. Biting his lip, knowing he was getting himself into a situation a bit more than he could handle, the man hurriedly prepped another arrow, disregarding the four that were running towards him, and aiming at one of the two left biting at the girl's tiny feet. Releasing his finger from the string, the arrow whirred through the air, the pointed tip striking straight through the back of its head, killing a third plant-like creature. This attack caused the last Nepent looking to snack on the girl to turn its attention to Jomei as well, and join its friends in going after the man that killed three of them. Good, shes safe.. I need to get into a tree and away from them or I'll be the one in trouble he thought to himself, looking for the closest low-hanging branch that he could find. Though the acrobatics from his Rogue mastery were not too adept, he was able to pull himself up into a tree, away from the hundreds of teeth that were looking to bite down on his pale skin.
“KSSSSHHHHNNKKKK!” The sound rushed toward the tiny Faerin and a Nepent fell away. An arrow had pieced it through the stem. Zaz raised her head to find a tall young man with blazing red hair and pointed ears coming to her rescue. At first, the creatures paid little attention to the man. His arrows continued to fly and he took them out one by one, they slowly grew to anger, and one after another, they went after their attacker. Two were left at nipping after her heels, but after the Elven archer took out one of the Nepents left, the other began to give chase after him. “RUN!!!!” Azazel screamed at the archer as the Nepents broke away and began to give way. He was quick as a bunny and was on his feet and making his way for the trees behind him. Azazel had little time to watch as she needed to save herself now that the coast was clear. Giving one final attempt to hoist herself up, she kicked her legs hard and managed to wrap her legs around the branch she hung from. She strained and pulled and managed to find herself atop the branch. She lay on her stomach against the wood and breathed heavily; panting at the efforts he had given just to keep from harm. But she was not safe yet, by any means. Azazel turned her eyes back to the archer. She wanted to do something for him, but there was little the fairy could do. She’d already used quite a bit of her energy, and her spells were useless against the plant mobs.
Five nepents remained, all standing under the tree he struggled to balance himself on, hopping in place, clamping their large leaf-like mouths shut, hungry for flesh. The archer took in a deep breath as he slowly rose himself up to his feet, leaning his back against the large trunk of the tree. At the distance they all stood, it should not prove to be too difficult to take out the rest of them. As Jomei readied another arrow in his hand, he felt the whole motion of preparing the attack to be much simpler, learning the way of the bow as he struck down the plant creatures. Securing his feet to the branch, the man stood up straight and brought his view, along with the bow, to point straight down. Releasing the string, he let the arrow rain down, the first going directly down the throat of the nepent. The other four seemed to scatter a bit once their friend had an arrow driven through its neck, piercing it to the floor. They moved around to different sides of the tree, making it a bit more difficult to take them down. Jomei took in a deep breath, trying to focus on the one that seemed simplest for him to take out, right near the first's dead body. Reaching behind him to grab another arrow, he nocked the small wooden arrow onto the bow, taking in a sharp breath as he pulled the feathered tip back towards his face. Its leafy head swayed back and forth, already anticipating Jomei's attack. "Stand... still" Jomei said through grit teeth, letting the arrow fly once again, going straight through its thin stem of a body. This many attacks at such a low level, his energy must have been running a bit low. However, now was not the time to think about it or worry. His hazel eyes began to scan the ground, looking for another of the small creatures to take out, slowly taking an arrow from his quiver at the same moment. As one began to round the tree yet again, revealing itself to Jomei, the archer spun his bow to meet the nepent, shooting another arrow that met its mark, taking down yet another nepent. "Two more.." he said to himself under his breath, trying to spot another of the little creatures.
The archer was pinned in the tree and the Nepents were wising up. There were five left, and he was able to shoot one of them down. But when their comrade fell, the creatures scattered around the base of the tree, making it difficult for the ginger elf to get a clear shot at creatures. They rattled and snapped at their prey and Azazel couldn’t just sit by and do nothing. He was tired. She could see the sweat upon his brow sliding down, and she knew he wasn’t going to last if he didn’t have a clear shot to the monsters. More arrows flew and two more of the Nepents fell. Only two remained and Azazel couldn’t just leave the archer in peril. He saved her and now she was going to save him. Lina was a smart girl, but not always a quick thinker. However, on rare occasion inspiration would strike and she would come up with something rather ingenious, and this was one of those times. Zaz knew exactly what to do. Ever so quietly the little fairy slipped out of the tree and shimmied her way down the trunk. Her little feet hit the ground softly, she took off her other shoe, and made her way ever near the tree in which the elf was surrounded. Azazel’s magic was not strong, but she knew if she got close enough, she might be able to assist him. Closer and closer still she drew, her tiny feet gently padding against the soft Earth below. She moved near stealthily, the Nepets were fixated on the man above that they did not notice the blonde draw near. When she was within range she went into action. “Crescere Radices!” She held out her small hands and began peppering the ground around the Nepents with her seeds. A soft green aura emanated from her palms and the seeds she shot at the monsters began to sprout and grow. She concentrated as hard as she could forcing the plants to grow exponentially. “COME…ON!” She whimpered as she pushed her abilities to the limit. The sprouts grew exponentially and began to tangle around the tuberous extensions at their base upon which they moved upon. Her sprouts knotted until the creatures were bound and stuck in one spot. Azazel was drained. With nearly all of her mana gone, the girl began to swoon, and she stumbled face forward upon the ground. She closed her green eyes and fell unconscious.
Jomei's focus was on trying to keep the attention of the nepents, while at the same time trying to take them out one by one. The two that remained were fixated on the Yladian in the tree who shot arrows down at them. Their fallen comrades made them even more vicious, one going as far as to bash into the tree to try and shake Jomei loose. The gentle shaking of the bark Jomei stood on was enough to knock Jomei off balance, causing him to struggle to wrap his arms around the tree, dropping his bow in the process. "Shit!" he yelled out, watching the wooden weapon fall to the ground. Jomei took in a deep breath, "As long as that girl is alright, then at least that's worth something..." In the same moment, he heard the same girl's voice call out, saying some words that he did not understand. His eyes went wide as he looked to the base of the tree. He saw now that she had quietly moved from the tree and stood at the base, her palms extended out with some strange aura pouring from them, launching seeds that scattered into the grass below the nepents. "W-What are you doing?!" Jomei called down to her, obviously seeing the exhaustion in her face as she struggled to cast her spell, bounding the plant-like creatures in vines. Before long, the two creatures struggled to free themselves, not able to move much, while the small magic caster fell to the ground, exhausted from the power of her spell. "Dammit." Jomei cursed out under his breath. After a moment of the girl falling unconscious, her spell seemed to wear off a bit, one of the nepents began to tear at some of the vines, its eyes fixated on the girl that stuck them there. Jomei dropped from the branch he stood on, dropping to a knee as he hit the ground, yanking an arrow from his quiver and holding it in a reverse grip. As the nepent turned to look at Jomei, the man drove the arrow that he held like a dagger into the soft head of the plant. As its body fell to the ground, the second one had already loosened itself and had latched onto Jomei's arm with its many rows of teeth. The crimson haired man yelled out in pain as he tried to shake the nepent free. Thrashing in place, Jomei slammed the nepent into a tree, causing it to loosen its bite enough for Jomei to pull his arm free. The arm in its grasp was riddled with holes, red blood pouring down onto his leather glove. Gritting his teeth, Jomei grabbed another arrow from his quiver and stabbed it into the head of the nepent, killing the last one that threatened the two. Now with all of the danger out of the way, the arched rushed over to the downed girl, flipping her onto her back. Opening his palm menu, the man took the large green cape he had stashed away in his inventory before laying it out on the grass. Jomei then picked up the girl, placing her unconscious body on top of the makeshift blanket. Noticing his own energy had been running low, Jomei turned his kneeling body so his back leaned against the tree and closed his eyes, taking in deep breaths, trying to ignore the discomfort and pain of his bleeding arm.
Azazel slept deeply. Little did the Faerin know that sleep would increase her ability to replenish her energy at a much quicker rate than she would’ve had she not lost consciousness. The small woman was unable to see the ending of the battle, but had she done so, she would have been very impressed by the skill of the young Elvin man that assisted her. She rested for an unknown amount of time andgradually she began to awaken again. Her leaf green eyes fluttered open and she began to blink slowly as the world came into focus once more. She sat up leisurely and gave a yawn. Her hand fell on the cloak below her and she looked down at the soft green material. Zaz looked around for the owner and found him resting against a tree. His breaths were shallow and he was hurt! “NOOO!” Azazel whimpered as she crawled over to the young man. She couldn’t tell if he was a sleep or not but he was definitely hurting. She could see it written all over the expression on his face. Her energy bar was only a third full, but that would be enough to cast her healing spell on him. Zaz had not tried her healing spell before and was unsure of how to cast it. The miniature pixie swiped her hand through the air bringing up her spell menu. She began to click about until she found it and she selected her spell. Immediately her palms began to radiate a green glow and she held her hands over the wound close hoping the shortened range might increase the efficiency of her spell. Her spell began to work, and the wounds began to stop bleeding and closed up just a bit. But the light died away fast, and he was still injured, but he was no longer losing health through blood loss. “Hey,” Azazel said as she reached her doll-like hand to the face of her hero. She stroked his cheek softly as she spoke to him. “Thank you…” she whispered. “If you hadn’t come to get me, I would’ve died.” She told him.
Jomei had not realized how much energy he would expend by fighting off all of those nepents in such a short amount of time. He could feel just how much he had exhausted by the weariness of his muscles, as he let all of his weight lean into the tree behind him. Despite longing to rest to regain the energy at a faster rate, however, he kept himself awake, so he could remain vigilant in the chance that any other monsters, or even players, tried to bring harm to himself or the small girl that slept next to him. After a short while, Jomei finally began to doze off. He could feel his mind begin to slip away. Piercing the silence around them, however, he heard a shout of the girl next to him, causing his eyes to shoot open and look over to the girl. She was quickly crawling over to the wounded archer, concern and fear in her eyes as she quickly searched through a menu of some sort. After selecting what Jomei thought was a skill or an item, a soft green aura began to pour out from the palms of her hands and onto his bleeding arm. As the green energy passed over his arm, he could feel the magic passing through each of the open wounds and through his muscles, leaving a tingling sensation in its path. Slowly, the pain in Jomei's arm began to disappear, the wounds on his arm closing, merely leaving the dried blood in its place. Taking his free hand, Jomei opened and closed his palm to check the needs meters on his palm menu. His health had not regenerated too much, but it was enough, as well as his energy. Closing his hand, he let his head fall back onto the tree, letting out a sigh of relief. "Thank you." he said softly, a warm smile on his face. After a moment, Jomei felt the palm of the girl's hand gently place itself upon his cheek, slowly stroking his warm skin. His hazel eyes turned to look at the blonde haired girl, who thanked Jomei for saving her, and that she probably would have died if it was not for him. Jomei smiled, "I wasn't going to just sit around and let someone get killed out here.. especially not a young girl like yourself." he said with a chuckle
He smiled. He had a nice smile. She removed her hand from his face as sat back, tucking her legs beneath her, and placed her hands on her knees. Azazel returned the grin as he spoke to her. So he was not the type to let a little girl get hurt. Looking down at her appearance she could see how the Elvin archer could mistake her for a child. She looked back up at him giggling, her laughter ringing like a tiny little wind chime in the breeze. “I can see where you may be confused,” she grinned even wider, “I am a Faerin… a fairy… my doll-like facade must give the illusion that I am a child. In this world, I am nineteen years old. I suppose I could have made myself older, but I was hoping to keep this character for as long as possible.” She explained. “My name is Azazel,” she said, “You must be exhausted.” The little Faerin began to inspect his injuries. The bleeding had stopped but his arm still looked rather tender. It would be awhile before she could use another healing spell on him. “Sleep,” she urged him, “Sleep and I’ll keep guard. I’m afraid I can’t do much more for you for a little while but I will heal you again once I build up more energy. You’ll recover your health more quickly if you rest though.” Zaz scampered to her feet and retrieved the elf’s cape. She carried it back over to him and draped it around him to keep him warm. “There,” she said and smiled. Though she was not very strong, she would do her best to protect her protector. Zaz knew she could at least do that much.
The small girl readjusted herself, sitting on her legs before looking down at her appearance. Moments later, her face seemed to brighten as she giggled lightly to herself. The curious archer tilted his head to the side, turning his body more towards the girl. The girl revealed herself to be a Faerin, which in this world, was one of the fairy-like races. That much he was aware of, however, what he did not know was that those of that race had child-like features. Jomei soon realized that this 'young-girl' was actually a young adult, her doll-like look confusing him. His cheeks turned a bright pink, feeling embarrassed for confusing the Faerin for such. "I-I'm sorry!" he stammered, apologetically. "I never met a Faerin here yet.. So I didn't.." he took in a breath before exhaling, feeling a bit bashful before chuckling to himself. "Well, I guess you have a point. With me, I may look like I'm in my twenties, but I'm actually in my fourties... I-In this world I mean" he laughed. "Yladians live for a long time." The girl soon after introduced herself as Azazel, as she inspected Jomei's mostly healed wounds, deducing that he must have exhausted most of his energy during the fight with the nepents. She insisted that he close his eyes and rest for a bit to regain some of his health and energy, even taking the cloak that he had laid out for her and draping it over the man's body. Jomei smiled as she had done so, before shaking his head. "I am fine, you don't have to worry about me, my energy is low.. but not that low. I can sleep it off later back in town.. As long as nothing else comes to attack us" he pushed the cloak off of his body to his side. "Thank you though.. Oh, and my name is Jomei, its a pleasure to meet you Azazel." he said with a courteous bow of his head. "So I have to ask.. what were you doing out here all alone? And what did you do to piss off all those nepents?" he ended with a look of concern and a chuckle.
