Age: 16 years, 1 month

Asher awoke to a blinding light in his eyes. He blinked blearily a few times before slowly turning his head to the right. His parents were at his side, besides the bed. His mom's eyes were red from crying and his father looked tense, with arms crossed tightly. “W-what happened?” he asked softly before he closed his eyes again.

“Oh Asher, honey!” his mother said before she grabbed him in a tight hug. “Don't ever scare us like that again! I though I lost you! My little baby boy,” she said through thick sobs.

He gasped for air while his mother hug-choked him. “M-mom I-I'm fine. R-really. I-I can't breath... gaaaaasp.” His mother loosened the grip, but only slightly.

“This is all because of those games,” she said firmly before glaring down. “I never should have let you play them. You're far too delicate and sensitive a boy to get so excited in your little worlds.”

“W-what?” he asked softly. He hurt all over, but what his mother was saying pained him even worse.

“You were playing your games when you had a heart attack. You could have died!” his mother screamed before she tightened her hug again.

“I-I had a h-heart attack? I-I didn't... g-get that upset...”

“It's okay though, honey. You're going to be fine. No more games. From now on just fresh air and sunshine and living life to it's fullest!”

His eyes went wide at the new lifestyle decision. “M-mom, I'm fine. It wasn't the g-game.” Fear spread through him. Spending the rest of his life trapped and unable to move? Stuck in bed and just waiting to die? How could that possibly be living? He couldn't imagine anything worse.

“How can you say that? It happened when you were playing! It had to be the game.”

“M-mom, you're just blaming them b-because you're scared. T-they aren't d-dangerous at all. B-besides, I'm fine.” Panic filled his quivering voice. “Y-you promised you'd p-play one of them w-with me, too.”

“We most certainly will not. Asher you... you... oh honey don't cry,” she said in as comforting a tone she could muster while he began using his ultimate weapon. Tears. He hated using them, especially in front of his father, but it was the only thing he could think to do. That and he wasn't sure he could hold them back anymore, anyway.

“M-mom I-I don't want to s-stop playing. I-It's the o-only place I c-can even move a-any more o-on my own. I-If I'm going to have to just lay in bed a-and wait to die I might as well be dead...” he said softly. “I’d rather be dead...”

“I...” His mother struggled to find the words, staring at him in shock. Slowly, her gaze softened and she gave a slight sigh.. “I see. Well we'll... we'll see after this weekend. We'll give it a try. But until then you need to get your strength back. No more of those scary games. Understood?”

He let out a sigh and slowly nodded. He wasn't even sure he wanted to go on right away, though he didn't want to lose them forever. He was terrified to find out if he was still trapped. Was he going to miss the quest? Had he really almost died because of it? For the first time he began to wonder if he was too focused on them.

But scary or not, he couldn't give them up. He couldn't let that life fade.

------

The week flew by like a one winged humming bird covered in sap. Slow, loud and oddly messy. On more than one occasion he found himself staring longingly at his head set, just a few feet out of reach. He even tried bribing his nurse once to let him play, but sadly jello cups weren't in high demand among the medical staff.

Jessica started reading to him. Which he wouldn't have minded, except she only chose picture books no matter what he said. He swore if she tried to read to him about a cat that was looking for it's moon dust or some other inane concept one more time he would find the strength to crawl to the book just to beat her with it.

Finally though, the day he'd been longing for arrived. Breakfast had been a slow, mind numbing affair that he rushed through as quickly as he could without choking. He almost felt like he could jump out of bed with excitement when Jessica walked into his room and slowly picked up the headset.

He nearly cried when the device was slowly set into place on his head. He'd have happily given both legs, not that he used them, just to get on an hour earlier. He sadly didn't have any time to log onto LRVR, instead having to go straight to the space game. He breezed through character creation and was soon standing on a space station, millions of light years from their universe. It hovered just over a black hole. Not that he cared. He could finally run.

The moment he was able, he took off like a dart, weaving around and through crowds. He got plenty of angry yells, but he didn't care. He was heading to the zero gravity rooms first. The air blew by his ears and his legs started to get gloriously sore, the sensations breathtaking after a week of no movements.

Halfway to the rooms a loud beeping went off. They had logged in. On time. He had hoped they would have taken at least an hour to figure out how everything worked. He brought up the menu and sent them a call.

“Hey mom. Hey dad. I see you guys got on okay. Here, I'll send you an invite.” He did so and they grouped with him. Completely silent. “To talk to me you have to go to the menus and...” The next three hours were pure torture. Finally being able to run and jump and what did he have to do? Spend all his time playing school teacher to his parents as they tried to navigate the game world.

When it finally came time for them to leave he couldn't help but give a sad, longing look towards the zero gravity areas. All this time online, able to finally move, and he had been unable to do anything with it. He didn't think he'd last another week of this.

“Hon, is everything okay?” his mother asked. He imagined it was her third time saying it as she still couldn't get the chat controls to really work for her.

“What? Ye... no. No it's not. Mom, dad, I'm going insane! I can't go another week like this. This is just beyond cruel! Please don't make me wait another week in that horrible bed withou--” He bit his tongue. He almost said 'without stronger drugs’. If he was going to be trapped, he might as well sleep through it.

“Well dear, we wanted to talk with you about that. We've discussed it with the doctors and they said in a few weeks you should be back to how you were before the heart attack.” A few weeks? He'd go mad by then. “But we know how important all of those games are to you. So if you promise to be careful and not put yourself in any more dangerous situations, we'll let you play.”

He lunged and tackled his mother in a hug so fast that they were both sent flying to the ground. “Thank you thank you thank you! You are the best mom ever!”

“C-calm down, there are still some conditions!” His hope shrank. “First, whatever you were doing when this happened, promise you won't do it again. Also, you're limited to only four hours between naps for now. No more of those all day gaming sessions. You need air and time to rest between sessions. Can you do that for me hon?”

“Yes! I'll do all of that, I'll be safe I promise! Thank you thank you thank you!” He eventually let his mom go and waved good bye as they logged. The moment they did he logged out and switched to his favorite game. His entire body quivered with excitement while the world began to load.

------

Asura awoke in a small bed, staring up at a dirty brown roof. It took a few seconds for it to dawn on her. She practically screamed in excitement before running around, getting plenty of weird looks. She spread her wings and took off towards Sanctuary. Her hands danced through the air before she brought up the menu, but B4hamutt wasn't on. She gliding through the guild member list before finding someone who had been at the fight and quickly sent a message.

“Hey. It's Asura. I got disconnected during the fight, what happened?” She decided it was best to just use that excuse. She didn't want them all knowing she was a medical case.

“Hey. You missed it then? It was awesome! The beast was slaughtering everyone and then Suportano came in with the back guard. I missed most of the rescue, I got killed in the middle of it. But it was amazing.”

She kept silent until she realized he was done. “Well? Did we get Scalios and the others?”

“Oh! Yeah, right. They're fine. We got them all out. Mutt has organized with some of the other guilds to keep the other two masters trapped until the event starts, so they don't try anything else. Happy to see you're back, we were starting to think something happened. Where were you all week?”

“I'd been pretty busy. Life things, and internet was out for quite a while.”

“Oh. Bummer. Still, glad you're back. A bunch of us are going to clear a dungeon, wanna come?”

She considered it a for a moment before answering. “You know what? Yeah. It's been far too long since I've done a nice group dungeon crawl. Besides, I need to wait for Mutt to get on anyway so I can talk more with him.”

“Great! You're an angel, right? You can be our--”

“I swear if you say healer I will neuter you. We CAN do more than just that.”

“Errr... another... damage dealer... eh heh heh,” the man said nervously.

“Good. Which dungeon?” She stopped in mid air, hovering while she waited.

“We're going to try our luck at the Chaos Rifts. Some good end game gear drops there.”

“On my way!” Asura took off like a bolt. The Chaos Rifts were in holy beast lands, so they were fast to get to from angel lands. Unlike the flying cities the angels used, the holy beasts had their homes underground. As such the upper areas of their lands tended to be far less damaged with plenty of tree life. When she flew over a large forest she drifted lower so she was just a few feet over the branches. Technically it was dangerous since monsters could attack her then, but it allowed her to smell the fresh plant life from the trees below. She could never understand how the real world could even hope to compare with this. A plane just didn't have the same feeling as flying by your own power, feeling the breeze on your face and smelling the life around you.

Off in the distance she could see walls of purple light. The Chaos Rifts were caused from when fae tried to blow up the holy beast's home city, Gaia. The bomb had gone off early, but created a scar across the land. Magically mutated creatures ran amok and deadly radiation struck all who tried to navigate the caverns created by the bomb.

So, of course, players headed there by the dozens in order to find what kind of loot was there. It was a dangerous dungeon and, like Niohoggr's, only a small party of six could enter. Fortunately there weren't any stones to gather or keys to unlock first.

She landed outside a large cavern, which radiated purple lights. She sat and waited for the others to arrive. After about ten minutes her patience wore out and she sent a message to the guild mate. “Hey, you almost here? I'm getting tired of waiting.”

“Huh? Oh, right. Sorry. Something came up, we can't do the dungeon. I thought I sent you a message.”

She face palmed with a low growl before closing the connection. She then glanced to the cave. “Well, I'm here anyway. Might as well give it a shot. I can use it for a test too.” Asura lifted her right hand. “Fang! Come!”

A loud shriek split the air before a black blur dove down from above. The blur crashed into the ground just a few feet from her, leaving a crater. When the dust settled the creature was revealed.

It stood on all fours, still a few feet taller than her, with massive black wings. Its body was covered in thick scales and spikes ran down it's spine. Razor sharp teeth and claws were bared while a large red eye turned to watch the angel. Its clubbed tail slammed down on the ground once. The dragon let out another loud roar before moving over and nuzzling the girl so hard she almost toppled over.

“Heyyy! Easy boy, easy! Hee hee. You ready to try your first real fight? We can't clear the whole thing, but we should be able to take the first boss at least,” she said before she gently scratched between his ears. Fang snorted in appreciation, sending a burst of hot air into her face. “Who's a big strong whirling dragon of death? You are! Yes you are, yes you are!” She giggled gleefully before tugging on his head and heading into the dungeon. “Here's hoping you're worth the stat penalty for using you.”

-------

Flames filled the narrow tunnels before Fang's fire breath vaporized a mutated treant, a type of living tree with strange magical boils across its bark. Asura could barely contain her glee while the majestic creature did almost all the fighting for her, while she stood back and tossed heals. “There is no way a wyvern can compare with this. Why didn't I try using a pet ages ago? Oh, you missed one dear!” She motioned towards a purple wolf. Her pet dragon leaped on it and within a few moments it evaporated into red sparkles.

“Okay, come along, Fang. We still have a while to go and these are just the trash enemies. I'll have to start fighting with you soon.” She reached out a hand to gently coax the dragon through the narrow tunnels. Normally she hated fighting enemies in areas like this, but the narrow choke points were working in her favor for once.

While they walked through the tunnels she went through her menus once again to see if B4hamutt was on. Sadly, he was still gone. She brought up her pets options and switched him to a more defensive style, so he would try to dodge and block more attacks instead of just shredding everything. Then for a little added fun she switched her class to dragon and brought out her axe. She was certain she had to look awesome.

They came to a large open chamber holding a massive purple cheetah, with red spots, and a horde of smaller plant and animal monsters. The areas first boss. “Stay,” she said before she walked into the chamber. She lifted her left hand towards the nearest group. “Fireblast!” A small ball of flame shot out of her hand towards the nearest enemy. The moment it was struck it stumbled back, but didn’t fall. Instead, it charged straight at her, along with its allies, while she backed up to the rooms entrance. When they got closer she lifted her hand towards her pet. “Attack.”

The dragon instantly lunged at the closest enemy, a wolf, and slashed its claws across its face. Fang then quickly jumped up and over the wolf when it tried to counter attack, launching more strikes at the wolf's rear.

Asura charged forward a moment later and brought her axe down on a treant. She took a step back when a wooded fist grazed across her side, the shallow blow dealing no damage. The dragon-woman quickly swung her axe into the treant's arm, knocking aside a layer of bark, but not dealing much damage. She then glanced at Fang and let out a eep. “No, don--” But she was too late. Flames enveloped all of them before she let out a pained shriek and backed away, having taken damage from the assault. “Right. Forgot. That's why I never used a pet before. Ow.” With the high damage from the flames the two were able to clean up the monsters in a few moments, though burns covered her.

“Okay, let's go ahead and disable fire breath.” Asura brought up the menu. Fang was giving her sad looks, but she ignored them. “Not going to work. Bad dragon. No lighting your master on fire. Grrr.” When she finished, she cast a heal spell so the burns disappeared.

Group by group she drew the enemies to them, until only the big cheetah's group remained. The giant cat was only slightly smaller than the wolf she faced back in the temple, but fortunately it wasn't a golem. Still a deadly foe. She re-enabled her wings before jumping into the air and charging straight at the monster. “Tornado SPIN!” she yelled before her entire body began to spin and cleave with the axe. She slammed through their ranks and sent the other monsters flying away from the big kitty. “Fang! Get the smaller enemies! I'll take care of the boss!” After a few seconds the dragon moved into position and began attacking as she said. She loved the verbal commands.

The kitty was still stunned so she cleaved with all her might until the cat swatted at her with one paw. She brought her axe up to block, but it powered through and sent her skidding back against the ground. She dove forward and slashed up at the cheetah's stomach, but before she could strike the giant cat, it leaped out of the way. It's massive frame landed on the floor behind her, making the ground shake violently and forcing her to take to the air again. She charged straight at its face and brought her axe down on its nose.

The feline hissed in rage when the blade cut deep. The cat coiled its body up and realization donned on Asura. She tried to fly away, but before she could the cheetah pounced and caught her in it's massive paws, pinning her to the ground. “Fang! Help!”

Almost immediately the little dragon darted forward and latched onto the feline's face, clawing and biting. The cat pulled away, before lifting it's paws up and batting the dragon once. Fang was thrown through the air before landing on the ground in a heap, unmoving.

Asura stared at the little dragon for a moment before glancing at its health bar. Zero. She had to move fast. She held out her left hand. “Burst!” A large flame exploded outward and knocked the kitty back a few feet before she charged to her dragon. She put a hand to his chest before speaking, “Seal.” The dragon disappeared into small red sparkles before turning into a tiny red gemstone, much like a soul gem. She scooped up the gem and ran towards the exit. She stopped when suddenly the cheetah pounced directly in front of her, blocking the route. “Get out of the way!”

Unsurprisingly, the kitty instead swiped at her with its claws. She ducked under, still clutching the gem to her chest while she tried to see a way around the massive creature. Pets were a major investment, powerful allies, but if they died and weren't healed fast enough they had to be reborn. Personality, stats, experience, everything was reset. She refused to have her first real outing with Fang end that way.

The cat opened its mouth before green slime gushed out and slammed into her like a tidal wave. “Ewwwwww!” she said with a groan before she picked herself up slowly. Her movements were inhibited by the sticky liquid. The beast started to circle her and growl while it prepared to pounce. She watched and waited, her axe at the ready.

The cat pounced and she moved into action. She threw her axe at it's face, confusing and disorientating it for a moment, and charged straight for the exit while clutching the gem stone in both hands. After a few confused moments the feline pursued her, but she quickly lost it in the narrow tunnels the cat couldn't fit through. She really never understood the point of having hall ways smaller than the actual monsters. The moment she made it outside she took to the air and glanced at the crystal. Already small cracks were forming around the edges.

“No no no. Come on, Fang. Stick it out. Just a little longer,” she said before she brought up her map and found the nearest town. Another underground lair. Wonderful. She didn't have a lot of options though. She took off as fast as she could towards the city, praying she'd make it in time when another small crack formed on the crystals face.

------

Asura paced nervously in the pet nursery, occasionally glancing at her inventory. By the time she arrived the gem stone had cracked almost clear in half. In the end it meant she had to pay a large fee and there was a percentage chance of her pet making it, depending on how much she paid. She spent the full gold amount and was now waiting. Rather than just flat out telling her if her pet made it or not, they forced a timer on her. If the pet made it, the gem would appear in her inventory and could be released at any time. If not... the egg would appear. She'd have to hatch it, name it and raise it completely from scratch. She wondered what sadistic designer had decided on that policy.

She knew it was silly to get emotionally involved with her pet, since it was just a game. But it was the closest she'd ever get to a real pet. Training pets really wasn't that hard since they gained levels very quickly and followed orders. It would have probably only taken her an afternoon or two if she did it as her angel class. She had spent most the time getting it to her level just while raising her dragon class and axe levels. But each one had their own little personality, that while simple, did give the pet it's own sense of life. Hers was a clingy and cuddly little dragon and she could still remember snuggling it close when it had just hatched. She wanted her Fang back. Not a new dragon. She swore if she got it back, she'd never put it in real danger again. Only for simple farming, NOT for challenges.

Asura was startled by a sudden call. “Huh? What? Hey! Mutt!”

“Hey. I hear you were looking for me? What's up?”

“I wanted to know exactly what happened after I got disconnected. All the details.”

“Oh, sure. Are you in the middle of anything? Wanna meet back at head quarters?”

She glanced at the ground. Technically her being here didn't do anything, except ruin her mood even more. “I'll be there soon.”

------

Asura sat on the throne, her boots kicked off and laying with her back to one arm rest and her legs over the other. “So what happened?” Despite her relaxed appearance she kept looking at her inventory, even though she knew the egg or crystal wouldn't appear for a while yet.

“Well, your highness,” he said with dripping sarcasm before he mock bowed. “We were getting creamed. Out numbered and the monster was attacking everyone there. Some of the demons were trying to escape while they could, when Suportano came in with the rest of his group. They were able to destroy the artifact and get the others out, including Scalios. I'm gonna be honest, I'm surprised you died. I thought you'd run when we started getting over whelmed. Where you been?”

“I got killed by the golem and put in a soul gem. One of the demons picked it up and after that I got disconnected and hadn't been able to connect since,” she said with a slight grumble. “So he saved our butts then? I guess I owe him a thanks.” The words felt like gravel in her mouth.

“You make it sound like you're digging a grave. He's not a bad guy, you know.”

“It's fine, really. I'll send him a message or something. Anyway. Scalios is out then?”

“Yep. Everyone's out except the two we captured. I'll be letting them out a few days into the event. That way no one else can get suckered into their traps and they'll still have time to complete it. As per our original agreement. A few days and it'll be starting, excited?”

“Of course! Dragon is going to be a cinch! I looked over all the information I could find online about the trial, so I should be able to pass no problem. Heck, the dragon ones looks like they'll be a ton easier than the angel ones were.”

“That reminds me. You never told me which of the angel trials you went through.”

“Mine? Well... I tell you what. When I have all six classes mastered I'll tell you,” she said before sticking her tongue out.

“Hey! That'll take forever!”

“I know. That's the fun in it. I'm going to log out now though. I'll see you later, bye!” she said before disconnecting before he could object.

Asher sighed when he appeared back in his bed. He glanced to the clock and was surprised to find he'd logged out early. That somehow felt odd, but he just didn't feel like playing now. Maybe the game was becoming too stressful for him. Maybe he just needed rest before the big event. He reached up and, with great effort, managed to remove the head set. He laid it by his lap and closed his eyes, the minor movements exhausting. He'd just get a nice nap and try again in the morning.

------

Asura could barely contain her excitement when she looked over the announcement board in the dragon's capital city, Camelot. Fang was going to be okay. But even more important... well... equally as important, the quests started today. Already dozens had tried, and the quests had only been going for an hour. She was less than patiently waiting her turn. She had changed to her dragon class and was wearing her angelic armor. Rather than going with one weapon, she had both Excalibur and Scalemorne at her side. She didn't plan on taking any chances.

A small beeping drew her attention before she opened her menu. A new quest had been added. A questionnaire materialized into her hands and she began to fill it out. “Master class attempt, dragon. Previous mastery? That's new, but I guess it makes sense. Angel. Value most about the dragon race. Their unstoppableness. Is that a word? I think it's a word. Done!” She squealed when she tapped the top of it once and it disappeared. Moments later the quest changed and told her to head off to a small cave in the dragon lands.

That was hardly unexpected, which was why she was at the Capital. It was a massive city built into the side of a volcano, with spouts of deadly lava flowing from the walls and magma dripping from above. Not the best place to trip or fall. She disliked the heat, so was thrilled to be leaving. She flapped her wings and took off at max speed, heading away from the scorching city.

Asura soon came to her destination: another large active volcano housing a lake of lava. In the center, sticking out like an island in the sea, was a large cave entrance. It was only barely above lava level so she was forced to descend very carefully.

When she landed, a small message popped up in front of her. 'This is a one time event. Once you participate you will be unable to attempt again this year. Would you like to proceed?' She took one deep breath before clicking accept. The words disappeared and she slowly walked forward.

The cave was dark, so she used the flaming hands spell to light the way. The further she went, the more difficult it got to breath. The air was thin and stuffy. The tunnel soon opened into a large chamber with a massive pool of lava.

“Welcome challenger!” a voice yelled, echoing through the chamber. Just as she expected, now would come the easy part. “As one who admires the strength of the dragons as well as the speed of the angels, a special trial has been prepared for you!”

Asura froze. “My angel class affects this?”

“Prepare for the challenge!”

“What? What's changed? The dragon power challenge is supposed to just be a hydra!” She nervously watched the lava, awaiting the appearance. Slowly, a large green reptile's head arose from the burning lake.

“Oh, I guess it was just commen... commen... tar...y...” She let out a soft whimper as three more heads slowly rose from the lava, all attached to one body. “Oh, please no,” she said with a squeak before spreading out her wings and drawing both weapons. “You're supposed to just have one head!” The first head lunged at her. Asura jumped up, using her wings to catch extra air, and landed on the back of its neck when it crashed into the ground. She raced down the neck before two heads charged at her. The first one missed her by a long shot, but the second one came straight at her. She jumped to the side and flew up so the reptiles head went straight through the others neck.

“Well that's one down,” she said proudly once the decapitated head fell into the lava below. Moments later, a new head grew out of the stub. “Oh, come on!” she said before another head lunged at her. She weaved around the heads as all four of them bit and snapped at her. Up, down, left, up again, over and over she was forced to evade the dangerous fangs while she tried to think of a plan. “Think! What was it that hydra's hate? Cats? Dogs? Rocks? Yes! I just have to bury them in rocks!”

With a burst of speed she flew straight up. Gripping Excalibur and Scalemorne tightly in her hands she began to trail the blades through the roof while rapidly weaving around. The hydra's heads continued to snap and bite at her, but her speed allowed her to keep evading them so long as she moved fast and randomly. Her blades cut through the stones above, weakening them, until finally the hydra's head slamming into the roof with a deafening crack.

Asura tucked in her wings and dove down towards the rocky floor of the room before the roof collapsed behind her. Rocks fell and crashed. The hydra let out angry shrieks and writhed in anger and pain. She landed hard, rolling around on the ground, and lifted her hands as best she could. “Earth dome!” The ground lifted up around her and encased her in a covering of stone and dirt before she skidded into the back of it. Her body ached from the skid burns, but it beat being buried in rock. She knew taking a bit of time to learn that spell, after her fight with Niohoggr, would be worth it.

She slowly got to her feet and put her ear to the dome and listened for the rock fall to stop. Once it did she lifted her hands up. “Rock spear!” A spear of rock shot out through the dome and created a small hole through the rubble for her to crawl out through after gathering her weapons.

Asura stood on top of the rubble and smirked at the buried hydra. There was still a good chunk of roof left, but a few tons of stone had fallen onto the creature. “Hah! Bet you didn't see that coming, did you? Did you think all I could do was angel and dragon spells? Holy beast is my next one! So nyeh! I got plenty of... plenty of... mommy...” The hydra's massive heads were slowly beginning to emerge from under the rubble. “Oh, this isn't fair!” she yelled before taking off into the air.

All four of the hydra's heads turned towards her before opening their mouths. They didn't lunge, which left her confused. Until she saw the orange glow from the back of their throats and she dove, just narrowly avoiding the wall of flame which passed over head. Asura let out another startled shriek before she tried to put out the small flame on the tips of her wings.

Once again the heads began to bite and snap at her, massive fangs narrowly avoiding tearing into her body. She moved right out of the way of one, but a second later another one struck out and caught her in its jaws. In a single massive movement she was swallowed by the creature. She held her breath before slamming both sword and axe into the creature. “Flaming body!” She got a mouth full of nasty fluids, but flames erupted around her body and seared the monster's flesh before she cut her way out. She crawled out, her axe falling from her hands, and took to the air while the flames surrounded her, evaporating the nasty liquids while she coughed and hacked. The neck fell into the lava and went completely limp, lava pouring into the open wound.

“Wait, they aren't immune to fire? EEK!” She ducked under another burst of flame once her spell wore off. “You live in lava and shoot out flames!” She charged down and looped around one of the creature's necks. “It's cause dragon's use fire magic, isn't it? Fine then! We'll play that way! Flaming body!” Flames enveloped her once again while she dove down, straight into the lava. The flame didn't completely protect her while she charged into its underbelly, small burns appearing around her body. She drove Excalibur straight up into the creature's underbelly while quickly racing her way back out from the lava. “Restoration!” She yelled once the flames died from around her. The creature above howled in anger and pain while its heads writhed. She kept going, using her sword to slash more and more holes in the beast while she crawled along its exposed body. “Fireball!” she yelled before she plunged her left hand into the creature, exploding the flames within it.

The massive monster let out a final roar of pain and rage before its three remaining heads shot out straight, and then collapsed into the lava. She flew back towards the piece of dry land, less landing and more collapsing on the shore. She groaned and glanced towards the hydra's sinking body. “Oh yeah. Who's the boss? I'm the boss! I totally kicked your butt...” She groaned before laying down and panting from exhaustion. She was covered in sweat and the place was far too hot and humid to properly catch her breath.

After a few moments of restless panting, she sat up with a grunt. “Still easier than the angel race.” The last piece of hydra was disappearing under the lava's surface before the lake began to harden and turn to igneous rock. 'Quest complete!' formed in front of her in large golden letters before she slowly got to her feet. A massive golden elephant fell from above. It was missing it's right tusk, instead having a silver axe lodged into it. She slowly advanced and gripped the axe in her left hand and yanked.

The words 'Master weapon: Parashu' formed in front of her before it's stats popped up. “Wow...” she said softly. Its stats were about what she expected, very high damage with a toggle to enable or disable the explosions. There was a second toggle option, marked ???, that B4hamutt hadn't mentioned. She clicked on it and the weapon disappeared. “What? Hey! I just... I just... oh... wow...” She gasped when she looked at Excalibur. It's damage had gone up and it was now showing the explosive ability, the cleaving ability AND a new toggle listed as ‘fusion’. She squealed before she raced towards the exit.

------

“--And then I just click it again and boom, I have both a sword and an axe! I chose a silver appearance for it. Not only that, if I do this, Excalibur can get the abilities of both weapons!” Asura told the gathered players while they stood around her in the guild meeting hall. She had logged off almost as soon as she passed the test, since her parents insisted she got plenty of rest between sessions. When she returned she headed straight to the guild hall to see who else had passed.

Their guild now held over a dozen masters, though Scalios hadn't come on to try yet and B4hamutt was in the middle of his test. Plenty of their players had managed to take the challenges and acquired their first master hood. To be honest, they weren't too hard, considering all the information out now. But the first time they happened they had caught most people unprepared and players either hadn't leveled enough or choked during the test, so only a handful had ended up passing in the first year.

Despite all the new masters, she could almost taste their jealousy at her second mastery as well as new weapon. She loved every second of it. “But there is something even cooler. Watch this!” She flipped through the menus until both Excalibur and Parashu formed in her hands. With a few more menu pushes the axe transformed into a perfect replica of her sword. “I don't have to carry a spare around any more. It can turn into whatever weapon I want! Well... an axe or a sword. Excalibur can do the same thing now.” She was adoring the gasps of awe. “Best of all, look at this.” She pushed a few buttons and then her body glowed as a white light coated her skin. A pure, magical armor that appeared as glowing runes across her body.

“So what are you going to master next?” 5t4r asked. He had managed to make his mastery as well this time.

“Two words. Exploding. Arrows. I'm going fae next,” Asura said while she pretended to pull an arrow back and shoot an invisible bow. “It's going to be awesome!”

“Have you leveled the fae class any?” he asked.

“Well, no. Not much,” she mumbled before she coughed into her hand and looked off to the side. “I, uhhh, was planning to master holy beast next, since I figured the tunneling ability would be nice. I can level it up easy enough. Besides, how hard could a bow be?”

“... You've never used a bow before?” 5t4r asked before he crossed his arms and scolded her.

“Nope! Don't give me that look, I never said I was any good with a bow.”

“You certainly implied it! Telling me how I shouldn't be using it because it was bad for angels and all that. I thought you had at least tried it.”

“Oh relax,” she said before she reached out to pat his head. “You wanted to level fae anyway, right? We can group some time. It'll be fun. As long as we're not flying, shooting arrows will be easy. Less wind.”

“How about we go now,” he said with annoyance before grabbing her hand tugging her.

“Err, well, I guess!” Asura said nervously while she stumbled along after him. “Why are you so mad?” She waved back to the rest of the group while they watched.

“I'm not mad, I'm annoyed,” 5t4r said. Once they were outside the building his fingers moved through the air and his wings disappeared. His features remained almost the same, except his skin got a bit darker, his ears got pointier and his armor changed from the white angelic full plate to thin strips of leather. A flimsy wooden bow formed on his back before he glanced at her. “Well?”

“Huh? Oh! Right. Of course.” Her fingers moved out and she initiated the class change. Rather than thick metal covering her body, she instead had thin green leaf mail that covered all but her wrists, head, and feet. Thin leather boots went up to just below her knees. Her wings changed to ones like a butterfly with red, purple and blue fragments of color. She flapped them a few times before grinning. “You should enable your wings too. It's pretty.”

“Maybe. So what does the dragon ability look like?” His voice still sounded very annoyed.

“Hold on. Activating... now.” Her voice was shrill with excitement. For a moment nothing happened until her skin began to get itchy. She looked down and thin leafs began to form over her body, covering her inch by inch. Only her head remained unaffected. “Weird... It's just like my armor. I wonder if that's intentional?” she asked before tugging on the front of her armor and looking down. It was green even there.

“That's kinda cool. Maybe you don't need to wear armor with it then? Anyway, let's go,” 5t4r said before he tugged on her hand some more.

“... You do realize once we leave the guild hall we'll be in an area with monsters far above our levels. We're going to have to fly there if we want to avoid getting slaughtered,” Asura struggled to keep the laughter out of her voice.

“I... I knew that. Come on, let's go.” A moment later the fae wings formed on his back and they took to the air.

“We'll have to do the starter quests for fae's first. Do you know the way to the fae capital?” Asura asked after a few minutes of travel.

“... Not really. No,” he said with a pathetic sigh.

“Okay, navigate through the menu's to the map and...” She explained as they soon readjusted their course and flew off towards the fae lands. She was tempted to remind him that they could just teleport there from their base, but honestly she wanted to try flying as a fae for a bit. The view was breathtaking.

------

Asura slowly exhaled before she pulled the bow string taut. When the string was fully pulled, the arrow magically formed in the deadly weapon. Her breathing stopped when she took aim at a massive stag. The beast was ignorant of any coming dangers when it nibbled at a few berries in a bush. Sweat beaded on her forehead before she finally released the arrow. It flew straight at the beast and lodged itself... in a tree about eight feet away. The stag turned and ran before 5t4r burst into laughter besides her. “That's the fifth one! How can you be so bad at this?”

“S-shut up! It's harder than it looks!” she yelled before her cheeks flared red. The two were perched on a massive branch, almost five feet wide, attached to a tree taller and wider than most sky scrapers. All around them were trees and woodland creatures. Far above, narrow wood bridges were strewn about with small forts all over, creating the fae capital, Yggdrasil. Their first quest was to show they had the capability to be hunters in the woods, basically killing and harvesting a stag.

Unfortunately, the angel-turned-fae was learning something very important. She could not hit the broad side of a barn if it was blindfolded and slowly meandering towards her. 5t4r had gotten his stag ages ago and was now keeping her 'motivated' with a helpful slew of 'encouraging' words.

“Why even level this class? I mean, it's not like leveling the fae is that important. I doubt you'll be able to max your bow skills at this rate anyway. Wouldn't it be better to just-- eep!” The fae squeaked when Asura grabbed him by the collar and yanked him close.

“One more word about this. Just. One. More,” she said with a growl. “And not only am I going to master this class and the bow so I can get my armor-piercing, exploding arrows. But the first thing I am going to do is toss you off this tree. Understand?” She growled with bared teeth.

5t4r nodded rapidly. “Yes ma'am. Mind if I ask one thing?”

“So long as you remember just how far you'd have to drop if I throw you off here.”

“Point taken. Why not master holy beast or leviathan next? If you master fae and dragon, won't that switch your allegiance?”

“Possibly. But who cares about faction? They haven't ever done anything with it. Besides, exploding arrows are going to be awesome,” Asura said before letting loose another arrow, falling far short of her target.

“Yeah, and if they explode you might finally hit something,” he said with a snicker.

“I did warn you.” She grabbed both his wings and pulled them forward under his arms. She then shoved him off the tree branch. He screamed all the way down.

------

Many lost arrows later, Asura killed her stag and the quest was completed. Fae-step had been unlocked for them and they moved to an obstacle course to test it out. “This is the most over powered skill ever,” she said before she activated it again. It was simple to use, first she just had to aim herself towards a location and then tap her foot down twice. Unfortunately, when she used it too much she quickly found herself getting a bit nauseous from the instant movement and was forced to take frequent breaks.

She did it once more and aimed towards a small suspended ledge. The entire world darkened while she blurred past it in an instant. Unfortunately, she wasn't watching 5t4r and the two slammed into each other when he tried to fae-step to the same ledge.

“Ahhh!” They both went tumbling down. They landed on the hard, oak ground a moment later, him on top of her. Technically, they didn't take any HP damage, but the fall still hurt. Not to mention he was kind of heavy. “Get off...” Asura said before she shoved his leg off her head.

He glanced down at her for a moment, his cheeks red, before rolling off her. “S-sorry. I ummm, I gotta go! I'll see you later, okay?” He said before freezing in place. After a few seconds his body disappeared.

Asura stared for a few moments in confusion. “Why did he manual close out? Must of had something important to do if he didn't have time for a normal log out.” She let out a groan before she slowly got to her feet. “Well, I better go work on my aim. I still have a few hours until my time's up and I have a long way to go until I master this bow.” She charged towards the ledge, jumped off the city and hurtled towards the ground below. Moments before hitting the ground she spread her wings out and glided safely through the woods.

MelodyAvant

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