I awakened the next day, nothing out of the ordinary. My head was pounding, and all my stuff was in my room. My Diary, my satchel, my scepter spear. I gasped. My flower was no longer on my hip. I searched frantically for it, hoping it hadn't dropped anywhere, as I quickly got out of bed and looked underneath the bed or even between the wooden slats of the floor.
"Ah, you're up!" The guild receptionist said, relieved as she pushed the door of my room open.
"What-what happened?" I muttered while holding onto my head.
The guild receptionist sighed, then informed me of everything that had happened the night prior: my abduction. Tim and Tina had tried to save me, but ended up battered and bruised. Exile, Kit, and Noobie had come to my rescue. Lastly, Noobie had carried me here, BURNING with dark flames.
"I…I was burning him!?" I questioned while I stared at my dragon gauntlets with my palm out, "I…I…" I tried to rip the armor off me, but to no avail.
"Oh, that's not all you did…" The guild receptionist smirked as she then explained about ALL the other things I muttered and said while under the effects of the hallucinogenic shrooms.
I covered my beet-red face, crying, "I…I hate myself!!! LEAVE ME ALONE!!"
The guild receptionist then hugs me to comfort me, "There…there, it's okay, if anything, I'm sure Noobie didn't mind. After all, it wasn't your fault to begin with."
I cried even more.
"Where…where's my flower?" I pouted my lips as the tears continued to stream down my cheeks.
The Guild Receptionist then smiles as a Knight phantom who had been kneeling beside my bedside presents it to me, sealed in an ice casing that does not melt, shimmering in beautiful hues as it glitters.
Why was it frozen, I thought?
"It appears, Noobie must've saved it from being burned by your own flames," The guild receptionist concluded, "And this little guy is yours from now on, a present to you from Noobie." She points to the phantom knight.
I cried even more into her chest, thanking her, but apologizing about how useless I was and how predictable I had become.
The guild receptionist patted my back more, reassuring me that she'd look after me more since the events unfolded.
I looked at the ice globe; none of the ice had touched the flower as it swirled with shavings somewhat like snow, the petals still retaining their color.
"Receptionist?" I quietly asked.
"Yes, Missy?" The guild receptionist replied with a heartwarming smile.
"Where is Noobie? Where did he go after I burned him and said all those things to him?" I asked innocently.
"He went to pay respects to his oath, he'll be back, I'm sure," the guild receptionist reassured me as I dried my tears while still trying to pry off the armor.
A rusted sword was being driven into the ground, scattering debris.
Noobie takes a step backward. He takes a long look at the rusted Great Sword.
"I said I'd protect the kingdom in both our lifetimes…easier said than done…" Noobie admitted guilt. He smiled sheepishly, as if talking to an old friend. He held the back of his neck with one hand.
Noobie looks beyond the grave. Banners, revealing, are scattered across a now-lush green plain, layered with banners of the UNFALLEN KINGDOM. Swords, rusted, are planted in front of small mounds of dirt, now covered with wildflowers and weeds. Arrows still lie buried amid the chaos. The one rusted great sword that Noobie propped back up as a tombstone for his counterpart. Upon closer inspection, the sword's handguard shows the king's right hand, rusted but still visible.
"It took us years to find you, Left-hand of the Unfallen…" a voice emerged.
Noobie is surprised and steps back from the rusted greatsword as he rests a hand on his Mist Edge. He realizes he is no longer in his ragged newbie armor and no longer has the time or fashion sense to cloak himself.
The figure then reveals itself, accompanied by four other dark knights in dark cloaks, each bearing a dark banner representing the Tyrant himself.
"The Unfallen Kingdom falls today…" the leader confirms as he unsheathes his sword and assumes a stance, followed by his three subordinates.
Noobie doesn't unsheathe his weapon, instead spending the seconds he has left to type in the TEAM chat… "PBDPT."
Before a dark sword comes over Noobie's head, only to clang against his sheathed Mist Edge.
I sat at my table with Tina and Tim, both drinking their sundaes again and covered in bandages, alongside their two other friends, John and Shadow Hunter, who were eating breakfast. I was disturbed and spacing out when the Team chat pinged.
NOOBIE:/ PBDPT
My eyes widened in confusion as I tilted my head, scratching, trying to decipher the message. What was that message for!?
Exile and Kit find me immediately as they enter the tavern, breathless as if they had run from where they were.
"What…" I began as Kit silenced me by placing a finger before my mouth, while he stared around.
Exile hands me a Party exfil gem. "You go first and help Noobie, Kit, and I will follow..."
I nod, but then proceed to whisper, "What does PBDPT mean?"
Kit sighs but explains, "Pursued By Dark Paladins; banner being Tyrant…"
Exile hands me a stealth scroll, "Use it to conceal yourself, but if they detect you, it becomes useless… Remember THESE are PLAYERS, and THEY ARE PROFESSIONALS!"
I nodded, understanding the terms, I think. I immediately activated the scroll, then the gem. Kit and Exile dashed out of the tavern, and the phantom beside me became stealth as it teleported with me.
When I opened my eyes, I found myself on a green plain. It was filled with UNFALLEN KINGDOM BANNERS, swords, and arrows; it was chaotic.
Was it a battlefield in chaos? What was this place?
My eyes widened as I looked around, trying to make sense of it all. On the green plains, in the midst of the field, a rusted great sword lay plunged into the ground like a tombstone. Beyond it, spell blasts and explosions erupted as Noobie ricocheted off the spells from his shield. NOOBIE! I discreetly made my way to get a better view with the phantom that followed me nearby.
My blood ran cold upon seeing that Noobie was heavily outnumbered by 38 dark paladins mixed with warlocks, who were blasting him with magic, while the dark paladins kept the pressure up on him.
They launched icicle shards toward Noobie as he put his shield on his back, slicing the ice with Mist Edge. One of the dark paladins swung their sword and barely missed Noobie's head, while another slammed a club into his shield from behind.
I inched closer, slowly and carefully, making sure not to step on any branches. I could see Noobie was bleeding from his head, and blood gushed out of his visor. He breathed heavily as he shifted his weight back, stabilizing his stance so he could put both hands on Mist Edge.
My hand clenched so hard it turned white.
The paladins don't waste any time; they don't let him heal. They lunge forward once more with Lightning spells that barely miss Noobie as he rolls to the side. Noobie uses Mist Edge's guard to hook a paladin, using him as a shield. The enemy takes the brunt of a stab meant to harm Noobie, killing him and disarming the one with the club.
My heart skipped a beat.
Noobie uses the hilt to the rib of the Dark Paladin holding the club. He takes the club in his right hand and strikes the head to stun the Dark Paladin, before being engulfed by fireball spells shot from his flank. However, he waves his torn banner through the flames as he rolls out of range of the spellcasters.
I held my breath.
Noobie swings Mist Edge into a deadlock with another Dark Paladin. As he disarms NOOBIE, causing Mist Edge to fly and plant itself upright on the ground far away. Noobie swaps out to his shield hastily before getting hit with a rock burst spell right as he's able to hold his shield steadily to brace the attack.
Heat was rising, radiating off from me as I watched, biting my bottom lip to keep from making a sound.
He then breathes uncontrollably, rattling the shield as blood trickles down his visor. The Dark Paladin stabs forward. Noobie blocks with the shield. But another, wielding a lance, jabs with all his might at Noobie's back.
I gasped, releasing the breath I held. NOOBIE!!! Hold on, just a little longer.
CLANG!!!
The phantom…the RIGHT-hand unstealthed itself… and went to deflect the blow from the lance! It brushes the lancer away from Noobie while gesturing with the hand lift to help Noobie up.
Noobie smiles, an exhausted smile. "Y-you brought backup, huh?"
The phantom points to the lone tree in the plains where I was hiding.
"Right, let's remind these losers why we didn't lose the war!" Noobie roars, his fist raised.
Both of them rushed toward the dark paladins. The warlocks cast spells to bombard them, trying to keep them from getting closer. The two launched into action. Noobie led the charge, using the shield to deflect the stab. The right-hand phantom used a feint stab motion with the flat side of his great sword to stun the first one. A meteor ball flew toward them, and Noobie twirled himself around the right-hand phantom to ricochet the meteor spell back at the dark paladin next to him. The right-hand phantom switches with Noobie to parry an attack and counter with the sword guard hook. Giving Noobie enough time to knock that Dark Paladin out with a shield bash to the head. The two would make it far enough to collect Mist Edge for Noobie.
Those desperate foes tried to use their ace in the hole to get rid of Noobie. They summoned more soldiers to deal with Noobie and the Right-hand phantom. Not wanting to sit idly by, I realized I had seen enough and quickly made my way over to regroup with them.
Enough was enough!
As the warlocks chanted, I caught up with Noobie and Right-hand phantom, and we regrouped.
The dark paladins became buffed with corruption magic. We charged together, their warlocks falling one by one as they buffed their paladins.
I would charge alongside Noobie and the right-hand phantom. As the first one, Dark Paladin, came, Noobie blocked the blow with his shield. The right-hand phantom met and deflected the side attacks. I drove my spear into the first one, decapitating him instantly. The scepter spear had its first victim, and no armor could block it. I followed up with Noobie and the right-hand, as the two would block spells and parry attacks while I went for the warlocks.
They gazed in terror as they took a better look at me as I swung the scepter spear to injure their comrades.
"She…SHE'S the DARK STAR BEARER!!" One stutter, and they all instantly lost morale.
As soon as he uttered the name, my new name, a HUGE PURPLE HEALTH BAR with an x15 hovered above all their screens: Dark Star Bearer, with a Latin choir in the background, audible only to players. A fog suddenly sealed them in with us, signaling the raid had begun.
The seed had bloomed, igniting the rage within me. The feeling was old and familiar, yet foreign.
"Let us begin, then, shall we?" I replied to the warlock's declaration, smiling as I could finally let loose.
I felt a pull from deep within me, something I hadn't felt in a while. A pulse of power; perhaps it came from the early killing? I wanted to crush all the enemies in that arena. I wanted them to fear me. The thirst was thrilling.
The field formed a bright purple spell circle that began expanding outward toward the edge of the arena. The spell circle didn't stop; it extended past the arena, past the green pastures, past the forest tree lines, and stopped right at the border of the mountains. Kit and Exile, who had just arrived, noticed the spell circle. Exile cast a barrier spell for them as they took cover.
I couldn't move… but somehow the dark flames swirled up to me and my arms, curling around the scepter's spear tip, and it launched a dark beam into the sky.
I yelled at the top of my voice, "ABYSMAL DAMNATION!!!"
Fire souls then fell out of the sky and began homing in on any person I chose with discretion, as Noobie and the right hand stopped and stared at the chaos.
I smiled and chuckled as I saw them unable to defend themselves against the black flame's wrath, which reduced their armor and charred them enough not to kill them, but enough to wound them and cause them to flee in mortal fear.
As I chuckled, tears simply ran down my cheeks.
"That's right…Ha ha, RUN, RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!" I yelled.
As the players ran in panic, a HUGE RED DEFEAT showed up on their screen as they then flailed helplessly and passed out from fear. In contrast, others were knocked unconscious by Noobie and the Right-hand phantom as I watched the view from the center of the battlefield.
I stared, and I stared. Was it truly my power? What was happening to me? Why was I burning with such rage? Why didn't I just kill them? What was a Dark Star Bearer? I felt the darkness about to swallow my vision.
Someone nudges me on the side, startling me.
It was Noobie. He smiled as he raised his visor, revealing his face, though bloodied and battered. He planted his sword in the ground, knelt on one knee, bowed his head low, and took one of my hands in his.
I didn't understand what he was doing, but I patted his shoulder. "Okay, you can get up now, weirdo."
I was feeling uncomfortable.
Exile and Kit finally showed up.
"Did you just?" Kit pondered.
Noobie nods quickly. Both Exile and Kit look at each other.
"Awesome," Exile nods in acknowledgment, "Now that we know you can defend yourself…perhaps we may have to rely on you more."
"R-rely on me?" I asked, "For me to help you guys?"
"Yeah," Kit replied, "Have you ever seen Noobie try to deal damage? He sucks at it!"
"I was never meant to deal damage!" Noobie argued.
I chuckled and smiled. I've never felt so proud as when helping others. Still, perhaps I've helped many before without realizing how small my help could be.
Maybe…I don't hate him…not today, just his stubborn ideals.
The battle sequence ends as the fog arena fades away…
Noobie level 396
Boss girl level 180
No experience points awarded to Boss girl…
"WHAT!? NO EXPERIENCE POINTS!?!?" I shouted.
"You let them all go, so nobody gets anything," Noobie explained while trying not to laugh.
"I wanted EXPERIENCE POINTS!! THAT SPELL MUST'VE COST A FORTUNE OF MANA TO CAST!!" I complained.
"Nope, you did nothing but laugh and told them to run, so no EXPERIENCE POINTS!" Noobie reminded me.
I hate this world…
"Wait. YOU'RE LEVEL 396!?!?!?" I shouted.
Noobie shrugs, "heheh, you weren't supposed to know or see that, I'll just go peel off that part of the page up there..."
"Y-YOU LEVELED UP FROM THAT FIGHT DIDN'T YOU!?!" I interrogated Noobie.
"…" Noobie puts on a blank smile as he slowly closes his visor. Then he darts to run back to the guild tavern.
"Y-YOU THINK YOU CAN GET AWAY!?" I throw a random rock at him, and it bounces off his armor. With a huge CLUNK!
God, I swear, this world is SO unfair…