Nina gave me another look of concern as I collected myself. “Are you sure you’re ok, sis?”

“Yeah, I will be,” I replied, with every ounce of courage I could muster. I was still scared, of course, but my recent revelations had restored a part of me that I never knew went missing. My mind felt much clearer now that I had been able to let go of all that denial and self-doubt.

“So, what did the aptitude test think our baby trans girl would be good at?” Kei asked jokingly. I felt a tingle in my left hand at the question. As Nina watched over my shoulder, I opened my hand to reveal a four-pointed star pin with a yin-yang symbol in the center.

“Oh, an Elementalist!” Nina exclaimed, recognizing the class symbol. “We only have a few of those in the guild, so there should be plenty of equipment in storage,” She headed towards the guild’s storage in search of gear for me.

Elementalists, if I remember correctly, were the game’s support class. They used marble-like stones to manipulate and combine elements into buffs, heals, and hexes, allowing their teammates to dominate the battlefield. I typically loved support classes, but the complexity of the Elementalist class had scared me away from ever trying it.

The four-pointed star represented the elements I would soon be manipulating. Each point of the star represented the material elements: earth, air, water, and fire, while the yin-yang symbol represented the spectral ones: Light and darkness.

My thoughts were interrupted by a mechanical marching sound slowly getting louder from the guild’s portal. Curious, I moved towards it to investigate, before practically being flung away from it by Kei.

“Idiot!” She hissed, voice low. “Are you trying to get yourself killed?”

“Sorry!” I whispered back. “What’s marching towards us?”

“The anti-cheat guard. They must have caught up to us while you were taking the aptitude test. We need to go meet Nina, quickly!”

Following Kei’s lead, we quickly headed towards the guild’s storage. By now, the marching sounds had grown loud enough to echo around the guildhall. As we approached, we saw Nina hunkered down behind one of the weapon racks. She motioned us towards her, shifting back to give us space to hide. She then passed me a bag of elemental stones, the Elementalist's class weapon.

We stayed hidden as we watched four figures enter the guildhall. They were humanoid, but their faces and body were completely blacked out, giving the appearance of a 3D shadow. Each wore a badge of a shield on their chest, which I recognized as the logo of the anti-cheat system the game used.

“Is there a way we get out of this?” I asked quietly.

“We’d have to obscure their vision somehow,” Nina said. “They’ll just delete our attacks if we try to brute force our way through them,”

“Elementalists are pretty good at that sort of thing,” Kei continued, giving me a look. Seeing the fear and anxiety on my face, she quickly added, “You’ll be fine, Syl. If you prefer, we can see what happens when they catch you,”

Point taken, I began fishing through the bag of stones idly, searching for a solution. Surprisingly, I was able to fish out whatever element stone I wanted just by thinking about it.

“Anything in there that can create smoke, or fog, or something?” Nina asked with growing urgency. The anti-cheat guards had spread out into the guild hall to search for us and were running out of places to search that wasn’t our hiding spot.

I tried to focus on determining the elements of fog. It had to be a combination of elements, and probably included water. Maybe if I combined it with air, and maybe darkness because it obscured vision? Or, maybe earth since it was low to the ground? Maybe water wasn’t even part of the equation! Maybe…

I shook my head. I was making this way too complicated. Nobody would play this class if it was that hard! I tried again, trying not to get carried away. Fog was just water vapor, right? So, if I could somehow evaporate water… 

Inspiration struck, and I grabbed a fire stone and a water stone, then threw them out towards the center of the room. They followed the trajectory of my throw, then floated towards their destination and hovered there. I felt strings of magic wrap around my fingers, and they went taut as the stones arrived at their destination. 

My movements did not go unnoticed, however. I stifled a yelp of surprise as one of the strings snapped. One of the guards had fired a red needle of… data? Whatever it was, the fire stone had vanished on contact with the beam, and the water stone quickly followed suit. The guards looked around, seemingly scanning the area. Abruptly, they all turned to face our hiding spot in the corner. In sync, they raised their hands and…

“Shit! Time to move!” I yelled, and the three of us scattered as the attack hit our hiding spot. Having found their target, the guards moved to surround me. Acting on adrenaline, I grabbed a few handfuls of fire and water stones and tossed them at my feet.

“Sis, are you crazy?” Nina called out. The guards were completely focused on me, and left plenty of room for Nina and Kei to escape.

“Maybe!” I called back. “Just get out! I’ll be there in a second!” The guards had formed a loose circle around me, and before they could shoot holes into me, I yanked back on the strings, activating the elements stored in the stones.

The area around me exploded into mist, quickly spreading and obscuring the entire guildhall. The anti-cheat system, now unable to find me, began firing at the ground, trying to dispel the source of the mist. I expected my vision to be blocked as well, but the mist seemed to thin wherever I looked. Thankfully, I saw that it only worked for me as I made eye contact with one of the guards. I froze like a deer in headlights, but the guard carried on, looking back towards the ground for more stones to shoot.

I made a run for the portal under the protective blanket of the fog. A lucky shot hit my thigh as I reached the portal, followed by several more embedding themselves into the portal frame. Wincing, I threw earth stones in front of the entrance and pulled. Sections of the floor rose up, serving as a protective barrier as I checked my injury. A sharp needle of data had pierced my skin, but instead of dissolving my body, it simply read ‘ERROR’. 

Another round of shots hit my barriers, and they burst into piles of dirt. Quickly, I pulled the needle out with a yelp of pain and slipped through the portal before the guards could skewer me with any more of these things.

Ninichu

Phew! Seems like everyone made it out. Sylvia's party is on the run, but where do they go from here?
On a different note, I just wanted to say thank y'all for all the constructive criticism and overall positive reception I've received on this story so far! I've never really posted online before, but I'm glad to see that there's quite a few of you enjoying it! My plan for right now is to post 1-2 chapters a week until I finish the book. I hope y'all stay tuned for the story! Again, constructive criticism is always appreciated as I continue to improve my writing!