End Online: Volume 4 (15 page)

“F-Fen? You?” Lost
stammers after seeing my actions. “You are a genius!”

The next Antril we fight,
Lost aims his dagger at the horn, but unfortunately he only leaves a deep scar
on it and gets blown away by the counter-attack. Clicking his tongue, he
attempts it again, luckily manage to land the short sword along the existing
cut and cleanly removing the horn from its head.

This process continues for
several hours and Lost begins to look extremely fatigued. He periodically
withdraws food to keep his and my hunger satisfied, but we haven’t slept in
quite a long time. I don’t feel the need for it, but apparently he must.

“Finally, that’s 200.” He
sighs in relief.

“Let’s go… I’m sleepy…” I
say, not because I am tired, but because I hope it inspires him to get some
rest.

“Yeah, me too. We will go
up to the surface then log off.”

We exit the cave by
backtracking the path we took down. After getting lost several times, we find
the ravine path. The sky is shining brightly with clusters of stars and a few
ghostly white clouds illuminated by the moon. I don’t know what it is about the
sight, but it reminds me of the man and woman holding hands earlier today.

I hesitantly extend my
hand and grab onto Lost’s hand, interlocking my fingers with his before he can
say anything. He glances over his shoulder at me, and I nervously bow my head
and look down. He doesn’t say anything, and when I raise my head back up, he
has already faced forward again. The silence of the night is broken by the
sounds of swords clashing with armor and battle shouts from up above us, but it
barely registers as background noise at the moment.

***************************************************
***************************************************

-Lost-

I sit next to the phone
all morning, waiting for the anticipated call from my sisters. The only sounds
are those of a clock ticking in the silence and me occasionally tapping my
finger on the table. I only manage to wait for half an hour before returning to
my room to look through the End Forums on my computer.

The latest news doesn’t
seem to interest me at all. There is a sighting of Gladox and a report his
level is fast approaching 400. I also see a video by a blogger who is busy
trying to supply the latest news and updates from End Online. I play the video,
but skip through the majority of it. The only interesting thing I hear from him
is that apparently the single, large continent of End Online is called ‘The
Continent of Thede’.

Scrolling down at the
older updates, I see one which brings me to rapt attention. It is a post
confirming the location of the Elves to be the far northern forest in the
Kingdom of Forste. They are asking for information on how to enter it, as they
continue to end up outside the forest where they entered no matter what.

Suddenly deciding to
follow a whim, I search for the ‘Battle Colosseum’ in Swordbreak. Mouse had
informed me that the solution to all my problems is there, but I don’t quite
understand what he meant.

A seemingly endless amount
of posts and information appear onscreen and I struggle to figure out where to
begin. Picking a random spot that catches my eye, I learn about betting on
matches, the gladiators, and how I can become one.

It is a pure player versus
player arena, where only players can fight in various duels, battle royals, and
tournaments. The second post I look at tells me all of this, including a
schedule for upcoming bouts. In two weeks, there will be a large tournament
with a massive prize of 10,000 gold and some ancient tablet.

This must be what Mouse
meant when he mentioned I could solve all my problems here. I understand that
it would definitely help me buy that scramasax, but it will hardly solve
everything.

Choosing another post
about the rewards of fighting, I try to find more information regarding the
battles and am stunned at what I find. The winner of each fight will not only
be rewarded with gold for their victory, but they will also gain fame!

Just as I decide to become
a gladiator and join the arena to gain enough fame to offset my infamy, the
phone in the other room starts ringing. I eagerly run over and pick up the
phone.

The following conversation
with my two little sisters seems to pass in an instant, despite the hour I
spend on the phone. We talk about menial things, including their schooling,
friends, and some strange man that visited my Aunt this morning. By the end of
the conversation, I can’t find a way to say my farewell for the next week and
don’t want to put the phone down.

The girls are the first to
say they have to go, as Aunt Jude is calling them. When the phone finally hangs
up, I can hear their voices in my memory, and recall them attempting to cook in
the kitchen, running around the lounge room, and staying up all night gossiping
to each other. A small part of my heart aches when I recall it, my mind
creating ghosts of them in the house.

I eventually return to
where I left my V-Link, logging back into End Online to begin my path as a
gladiator. After informing Fen that there are a few things I want to do, I make
my way towards the colosseum. Not the main gate which is flooded with players
trying to make their way in to get the best seats for today’s matches, but the
smaller entrance further around the building.

Crowding around this
entrance are a few dozen high-levelled players fully equipped with top tier
gear that is all most likely of the ‘Unique’ rarity at least. They give us some
hard stares, but don’t cause any trouble. I mostly ignore them, and make my way
to the NPC door guard. Naturally, my intimidating aura induces fear in the
guard and my infamy consequently grows larger. But I could not care less about
the gain in infamy, considering I will soon be parting ways with it.

The journey to the
vaguely-described area somewhere in the north is slightly eventful.
Encountering a group of players trying to extort us, I opt to break out of
their formation and run. Getting a player-killer skull in such a heavily
populated place is a recipe for disaster.

We finally reach the area
and discover the mission targets are inside a maze-like labyrinth of tunnels
snaking throughout the area. All of the Antril species have an appearance
strongly similar to fire ants, if only more menacing and about as tall as the
average person.

I kill multiple ‘Antril
Warriors’, yet not a single horn drops. I rack my brain trying to find out why
there hasn’t even been a single drop.

‘Is my ‘Luck’ stat
too low? Am I missing something?’

Fen becomes my saving
grace, using her ice daggers to cut off one of the horns in mid combat. After
her success, I attempt to replicate it as well, but I find the creature’s horn
to be classified as a shield, meaning I can’t ignore its defensive value with my
speed. Being forced to rely on strength alone, it takes between two and five
strikes to sever the horn, depending on how accurately I can repeatedly strike
the same place.

The time when everyone is
due to meet back in Swordbreak is fast approaching as I finish collecting the
required 200 horns. Walking out of the cave and onto the wall of a ravine, I
gaze upwards to the nighttime stars. I consider why it is only here in Dalbe
that the nighttime sky appears so much more vibrant than in the other two kingdoms.

I feel a warmth envelop my
hand, it is a pleasant feeling that makes me want to hold onto it a little bit
tighter. I know whose hand it is, but I still glance over my shoulder at the
girl who is acting shy behind me.

‘Well, it’s not…
unpleasant.’ 
I think to myself as I
turn around and start ascending the ravine.

The sounds of players’
swords cutting into Antrils and the shouts of party leaders issuing orders
pervades the night.  Once we reach the surface, I log out and return back
to my locker. In my own personal space with the theme of ‘China3’, I decide
that perhaps just for tonight, I will not return to reality.

Moving to the back of the
living area, I open the double sliding door and reveal a bedroom. I could call
it mine, but I have never actually personally been in it. A large four poster,
king sized bed is centered on the back walls. A couple of pieces of furniture
lay on one side of the room for clothing storage, while a few empty bookshelves
occupy the opposite side.

I climb into the bed,
which feels like it is ten degrees warmer than the surrounding air. Basking in
the warm sheets, I quickly enter a deep slumber.

***************************************************

My consciousness stirs and
I feel a pleasant feeling against my body. My arm is outstretched, and on top
of it at the shoulder is a head of snow white hair. I can only see the top half
of her head as the bed sheet covers up to her petite nose. Fen’s warm body
clings to me tightly, refusing to let me go anywhere.

I put up with it for a moment
before I force myself to sit up and inevitably disturb her rest. She yawns and
stares up at me with her eyes just above the blanket. No emotions are betrayed
by her eyes, they simply stare at me.

‘I overslept!’

My mind goes into alarm
mode when I notice the current time. It is 9am, meaning I have slept for seven
hours. I only meant to sleep for five hours, allowing me time to return to
Swordbreak before everyone else arrived.

Any thoughts of Fen flee
my mind as I rush to log back on and hurry back to the city.

Along the way, I send a
private message to Verde, Sir Laurence, and the brothers to apologize for being
late and that I will be back in the city soon to meet up and reform the party.
They seem rather understanding, even though the blonde prince curses me for
being irresponsible.

Fen and I make haste back
to Swordbreak, not stopping at all and even barging through a few groups of
players along our path. By dusk that day, we finally make it back inside the
gates of the capital city.

“I’m back,” 
I say to Mason over a privately message, 
“But there is
something I must do in Swordbreak so I don’t want to leave for a week or so. If
that’s fine with everyone else?”

I would have sent the
message over the party chat, but unfortunately, logging off disbands the party
and there hasn’t been the chance to reform the party as I was not around. Well,
perhaps the others have already formed the party and are just waiting for Fen
and I to join.

“Lost! Sorry, we
decided we didn’t want to wait for you, and have already left Swordbreak.”

“Wait, what?”

I stop walking in the
middle of the busy street out of sheer shock. My head feels slightly dizzy and
numb as I attempt to come to terms with Mason’s words. However, his voice
sounds in my head before I have the chance to continue.

“I’m kidding. We are
all at the Sandy Sun Inn having a few drinks. It is a little west of the
colosseum.” 
He speaks in a dry voice
that causes me to imagine him with a cunning grin as he speaks them.

“…I will see you
soon.”

I slowly move toward the inn
Mason described in silence. I get lost a few times and it is well into the
night by the time I find it. Sure enough, everything is sitting around a small
table chatting over large, wooden cups of beer. It is a unique sight of
completely different personalities, Mason is being overly joyful while Matrix
is shy and avoids eye contact. Verde is cupping the drink in two hands and
takes short, delicate sips, while Prince Charming is sitting overly close to
Verde and pretending to be protecting her.

I move over to the table
and sit at an empty spot next to the prince, with Fen sitting in between Matrix
and myself. Matrix sends a nervous glance at Fen and shuffles away somewhat,
ending up closer to his brother.

“Haha, Lost! It’s good you
can make it!” Mason bellows out cheerfully.

Before I even have a
chance to think, two cups of beer, the same as everyone else’s, appear in front
of Fen and I. Resigning myself to the cup, I eagerly join in on the
conversation and forget about the past few hours.

***************************************************

The sun rises in the game,
signalling a new day. We had reformed our party at some stage last night while
dancing around, causing more than one bar fight in the progress.

I walk out of the inn and
my head feels like it is still spinning slightly. I am forced to squint in the
sunlight as the brightness induces an uncomfortable feeling behind my eyes and
makes me feel slightly nauseous. I know what this feeling is from a few
experiences in the past; it is a mild hangover.

When I look at my stats
screen, I see that I have a flashing status effect on me for being ‘drunk’
which reduces all my stats by 25 percent for the following day.

“Lost,” Verde politely
speaks to me while also rubbing her eyes in the sun, “You told Mason you had
something you wanted to do earlier? What was that?”

“It is something very
important to me. I wish to go participate in a few matches in the arena.”