Age: 18 years, 0 months

Asher went wide eyed when his face was covered. He couldn't breathe! What was going on? Where was he? He struggled to move, but his body refused to listen to him. Something was over his face, soft and warm. Light as well. He tried moving his head, but nothing moved. He tried screaming and calling for help, but no noises came out. His heart beat frantically against his chest and he tried to do something, anything. Whatever it was curled around his head and slowly began to slide into his mouth, nose and ears. Unable to move he laid there and trembled when death slowly began to envelope him.

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY!” His eyes burst open and light blinded him. Nothing was covering his face and he could breath clearly. His eyes turned wildly while he tried to figure out what happened, and his cheeks turned red when the realization that it was a dream struck him.

“W-wha?” he asked softly once he could focus. Amy was standing over him with a smile. In her hands she was holding his gaming headset.

“Happy birthday!” she said again before moving closer to attach the headset. “Your parents asked me to get you up bright and early today for your special day. Are you excited?”

“Huh? O-oh... o-of... c-course...” he said once she strapped his chin in.

Once the headset was turned on the world slowly began to fade out of existence yet again. Messages popped up and soon as the world loaded. He gulped and reached out to touch his face. “Was just a dream. No need to be freaked out anymore. It was just a dream,” he said before clicking the messages. One was from B4hamutt, asking if Asura was ready. He applied Asura's voice filter. “I'll be around later. I have some things I need to deal with first. Bye!”

He then disabled the filter and clicked on his parents invite, accepting it. Almost instantly the world around him shifted and a room materialized around him. A large table with cake and other decorations and a few dozen chairs lined the room. A few of his family members, at least he assumed they were, sat around the table and seemed to be discussing amongst themselves. Across the room from the table he saw a small terminal, designed for choosing games or attractions to play, and a few children playing in a bouncy house it had summoned. He snickered a little at that. “The power to fly through the stars or go under the ocean, and they choose a bouncy house.”

Asher crossed his arms and walked towards the table. “Hey everyone! I'm sorry I'm late, just woke up.”

“Hey honey,” his mom said before getting up and walked over to give him a hug. She looked far different, younger, not pregnant and with much shorter hair. A lot like how she looked in his parents old wedding videos. “How's my little boy today?”

“Fine. You do realize I'm taller than you here, right?”

“You'll still always be my little boy,” she said with a smile. He smiled and noted she didn't seem as nervous about being in the game world any more. All their time together was helping.

“Is this everyone?” he asked before glancing at the bouncy house.

“What? No. Just your cousin Alison's kids got here early. My parents are over there,” she said with a motion toward the mid-30's looking man and woman talking to his father. “We're expecting a few more, though not everyone can make it.”

He nodded and crossed his arm. “Yeah, the home sets can be kind of expensive. I guess not everyone wants to spend the money on the arcade ones either.” He paused for a moment before glancing to her stomach. “How's ummm... the kid doing? Have you... had it yet?”

She froze for a moment and glanced down. “I... no. It'll be another month or so. If you want to see the bir-”

“NO! God no! Just, no!” he said quickly and shook his head. “I'll just wait until after birth pictures. Errr, of the kid after it's born.”

“Well, suit yourself. Your father is going to try and stick through the birth this time. Did I ever tell you about when I had you? He ran-”

“From the room and toppled over a nurse. I know, you've told me a hundred times,” he said and his eyes wandered off to the side.

“Fine, fine. So what have you been up to then? Any plans after you finish hanging out with your boring parents?”

“Actually, yes. There's another master quest coming up in my game so I've been training with some of my guild mates. We all have our class and weapons to the highest level, so we've been practicing actual combat. There's this really fun medieval combat game with arenas and stuff that we've been playing lately. You can choose all kinds of different weapon combinations and it even gives you combat training on how to throw certain shots, watch out for and counter them. We formed a three man team and... mom, I can see your eyes glazing over.”

“What? No! I'm listening. You're playing castle with your friends and getting points,” she said quickly.

He gave a sigh. “That's about as close as I can expect. Anyway, I told them I'd see them around four tonight so I should have plenty of time to--” He stifled a yawn. “--hang out with the family. Did you have to have them wake me up?”

“I'm sorry. I just didn't want you sleeping through your party. You always stay up so late and sleep so long,” she said with a low, sad voice.

“Well, there's just not a lot to do during the day. Most the other players come on later at night after work and school. The place gets pretty dead in the morning so I don't see as much reason to get on,” he said. His eyes went a bit wide. “I-I'm not complaining. I really am thankful you and dad let me play all I want now. I can try to fix my sleeping schedule if you like.”

“No honey, relax. We know how precious all that is to you. Your father and I only want to keep you happy, we won't be taking them away from you. Promise. Now, come give your mother an actual hug.”

“Ugh, fiiiine,” he said with mock exasperation before wrapping his arms around her. “So, what game is this?” he asked once he pulled away.

“Birthday something seven. Your father got it from a special at work. Apparently a couple of his co-workers used it to celebrate their birthdays and went sky diving.” She glanced over towards the kids in the bouncy house. One of them had fallen out, only to be teleported back in before they could hit the floor.

“Oh? Well I'm turning eighteen now. Does that mean I get strippers?” he asked with a chuckle. His mother whipped her head around and glared, causing him to gulp nervously. “N-never mind, w-was just a joke. You know what? Those cookies look delicious. I'm gonna go have a few. Bye!” he said quickly before walking to the table layered with food. He took a raisin cookie right when a loud chime went off.

He glanced over to the bouncy house and a couple appeared in front of it. He recognized them, his cousin Alison and her husband. “Sorry we're late. We had to make new avatars since our old ones were so basic they wouldn’t even load. The kids haven't been causing any troubles, have they?”

“No, they've just been playing a few of the games,” his mother said with a smile. “Complete dears. We were just talking with my dad about the riots down south. Have you been keeping up on the news?”

“Not much. We've been pretty busy with the kids and their activities. First time we've all had a day off in ages. After the party we were planning to drive down to the park,” Alison said before walking over to give Asher a hug. “I haven't seen you in ages. How are... oh. Right. I ummm, hope everything is okay there.”

He let out a sigh and crossed his arms. “It's fine. Everything has been fine. I've been playing a lot more and keeping myself occupied.”

“Well, it can't be all bad then, right? I mean, I'd love to be able to sit around all day and play games,” Alison's husband said with a nervous chuckle.

“Chuck!” Alison snapped angrily while he garnered the glares of both women.

“It's fine, really. It is kinda nice being able to play games all day,” Asher said before glancing to the bouncy house. “I've actually been playing a lot of sword games lately.”

“Oh? I used to do a little kendo back in college. Maybe we can try a match sometime,” he joked.

Alison shook her head. “Don't. It's his birthday and you know he's... special...”

Asher's eyes twitched and moved to the terminal. “No, it'll be fun. Don't worry, if it's too... intense, I'll stop,” he said with narrowed eyes. Chuck looked worried, now, obviously not expecting the ‘special’ boy to take him up on the offer. Especially not now. He flicked through the options before choosing a small dueling game. Not too advanced, but it would suffice. He chose single wooden longsword for himself and shinai for Chuck. “Shall we?”

The man glanced to his wife who, after a few moments, gave him a nod. “Just be careful,” she said just loud enough for Asher to hear, though she tried to hide it. “He's not like the kids. If you hurt him who knows what will happen?”

Asher sighed and entered the game with a click of the button, appearing in a small round field. The wooden sword with a simple brown hilt and scabbard appeared around his waist.

A few moments later his Chuck appeared opposite him, the shinai at his side. “So how does this work? Do we get armor?”

“No. First one to receive a death shot loses. I've turned down the pain feed back to minimum so there shouldn't be any problems. Ready?”

“I don't see why n- GAH!” Before he even finished the sentence Asher's sword charged through his chest. ‘Toys’ or not, they followed the same rules as any game weapon, simulating death blows perfectly.

“I thought you said you were ready?” he asked once the man reappeared a few yards away.

“I didn't expect you to come at me like that. Heh, don't worry, one lucky swing won't be all,” the man said and gripped his weapon in both hands. “Try that again.”

Asher charged forward while holding his blade tip a few inches from the ground. The man swung down hard with both hands. The boy quickly stepped to the side so the blade flew by and brought his sword up once to smash into Chuck's arm, before twisting around to stab the blade into his uncle's throat. When he respawned the man almost angry, the frustration evident on his face.

“How are you able to move so fast? I thought--”

“There aren't any physical limits here. Your real speed, strength, weight, none of those matter. All that matters here is experience. When it comes to sword play, well... I've been training a lot. Even if I can't move in reality, there is nothing here to hold me back.”

“I see. I guess I won't have to hold back to much then, heh,” Chuck said before charging forward, swinging wildly.

Asher frowned while he watched. It reminded him of the way he used to fight, wildly swinging and hoping to cut something. He wondered just how well his uncle had practiced his kendo. Granted, with the spells it had made it far easier. It was one of the reasons he originally got into player combat, because he knew his actual sword skills were sub par. He easily deflected the shinai away with the flat of his sword and struck up, ending the assault with another blow to the throat. Again and again he cut Chuck down, easily knocking his blows away and cutting through him. Asher did die a few times though. His defense was far from perfect. After a while he raised a hand. “How about we stop here?”

“What? Getting tired?” Chuck asked with a glare, his hands clenching the kendo weapon tightly.

“A little. Even if it's not physically tiring it can wear on the mind. Being so tense.” Though there wasn't a drop of sweat on them and the game didn't register fatigue, he was beginning to feel the strain on his mind. “Besides, if we'd actually been fighting in the real world we'd be near the point of exhaustion by now.”

“Fine, I guess,” the man said before his hands moved through the air. Within a few seconds the two were back in the main party room. A few more adults had joined and the bouncy room was now empty.

The kids ran up to the two when they appeared. “That was awesome!” one of them called out. “You were all like, slash cut jump jump! Can we try next? I wanna fight next!”

“No, I do!”

“I wanna play next!”

Asher chuckled and made his way towards his parents. “Maybe in a bit. I need to take a little break.” He took a seat at the table. “So how is it going?”

“Good, good. We're just discussing some business matters. Are you having fun?” his dad asked.

“Loads. Thanks for setting all this up for me. I know virtual parties can be difficult to get everyone together for.”

“It's fine, son. Today is a special day. You're legally an adult. One of the big land marks in anyone's life,” he said with a sad sigh.

“That and you don't think I'll make it to my next landmark? Or my next birthday?”

“What? No. I'd never say that,” he said before his eyes gazed down at the plate in front of him. The table went quiet and the adults nervously looked to each other.

“Dad? Can I talk with you for a moment, in private?” he asked softly. Almost instantly everyone stood up and walked away. “I actually meant me and you heading a bit away, but I guess this works. I ummm... I just want to tell you, thanks.”

“It's fine. Everyone deserves something special on--”

“No, I don't mean for this. Well, I do mean for this. I mean for... everything. I know you and mom work really hard so you can afford paying for all my medical bills and games.” Asher said and nervously rubbed his hands in his lap. “You do so much to keep me happy. I wish there was something I could do to make it up to you too.”

The older man glanced back to his son before reaching out and hugging him. When Asher was pulled into his father's chest his eyes went wide, he couldn't remember the last time they had hugged. Even if it was virtual.

“Dad, I--”

“You never have to make it up to us. You're our son. All we ever cared about was making you happy and ready to head out into the world. We would have worked ten times as hard as we do now to always ensure that,” he whispered into Asher's ear. “Don't ever be sorry for any of this. Just be happy. Enjoy the life you have and that is all your mother and I will ever ask for.”

Asher felt his eyes get warm and wet when he nodded. “T-thanks dad. I... I am happy. You know? I still have goals and things I'm trying for. I don't... I don't think things could be going any better for me than they are. Thank you.” He hugged his father back. After a few moments the hug ended and the party continued on around him. He played a few more rounds of combat, had some of the desserts and talked with some more of his family that made it. Eventually it was time for him to leave and he waved good bye before he brought up the menu. He gave one last glance to his parents before disappearing from that world.

------

Weeks passed quickly after his birthday and soon the announcement he waited so long for finally came. It was time for the masterhood quests. The truce had, fortunately, been negotiated a few weeks prior. All prisoners had been released and the borders were temporarily open between all the races. There had been a few incidents where those wishing to end the truce had captured and imprisoned others, but they were quickly broken up by the combined forces that wished for the temporary truce to succeed. There was nothing like the threat of imminent and total destruction to make people want to play nice.

Asura flew high over the oceans and looked around. Her masterhood quest had directed her to the Black Sea, waters so murky and dangerous that not even the leviathans held an outpost. The water, despite it's name, was not actually black. In fact, from above the water looked clear and calm. The sea was completely smooth without even a ripple, and as far as the eyes could see it was completely clear.

She dove down when the small map in the corner of her vision alerted her she was at the location. The water was ice cold, even with the leviathan's resistance to it. She swam down a few feet and the world around her changed. Despite the sunlight being only a short distance away, it was completely dark. Even with her dark vision abilities she could barely see more than a foot ahead of her. She nervously gulped and brought out a small compass from her inventory.

It was called an enemy-pass. In areas with heavy vision problems it showed just how close enemies were by displaying a small dot in the center and other creatures, as dots, in the distance. She let out a gulp as almost instantly dozens of dots, far larger than hers, appeared around her. None appeared directly on top of her though so she kept swimming forward and prayed nothing caught her.

It was, for obvious reasons, one of the least explored regions in the game, along with spider hell. She remained extra alert for anything to appear. She nearly screamed when an alert flashed in her vision. A call from B4hamutt.

“What do you want?!” she hissed once she accepted the call.

“I was curious how your masterhood is going? Have you found the quest location yet?”

“No! I only just arrived at the location it's supposed to be. I haven't actually found it yet,” she whispered softly, as if afraid something might hear her.

“Really? I just found mine a bit ago. It gave me a guide to follow this time. How about yours?”

“Big arrow. Straight to the Black Sea.”

“The... Black Sea? It sent you there? Have you ever been there?”

“No! I brought a few enemy-passes though. I should be able to avoid any fights until I get to the masterhood location,” she whispered again before looking back at her device, nothing seemed to be coming yet. “I don't know how deep it is though, I can't see anything.”

“That's why it's called the Black Sea. Be careful. I've heard from a few players who went there, most the monsters aren't cataloged so they'll be hard to fight. There are even rumors that some of the original leviathans live down there.”

“What? You mean something like Niohoggr?”

“No. Well, yes, but the full version, not just awakened. You'd never even know it was there until suddenly it's jaws clamped around you and--”

“Enough!” she said quickly while her eyes refused to look away from the enemy-pass. “This is freaky enough without you telling me stories like that. Is there anything else you wanted to ask?”

“No. I just wanted to say good luck.”

“You too. Don't worry, I'll be fine. With all the practice I've been doing this will be a cinch. Well, it will be once I find the place I'm-- GAH!” she shrieked once a sword suddenly appeared in front of her and she slammed into it face first. “My eye!”

“What happened, are you okay?!” he asked quickly, his voice worried.

“Ow, ow ow, yes. Greater heal. Ow. I think I've found what I'm supposed too. It's an old rusty sword just floating in the water,” she said before knocking it aside and swimming down again, albeit slower. “There's more of them,” she whispered once spears, swords, maces and other debris slowly began to appear in her small field of vision. She knocked them aside or swam around them while she went. Within a few moments of swimming down she came to a floor of wood planks. “Bingo. I think I've found it. I'll call you after I finish, okay?”

“Okay. Good luck.”

The call went silent and soon the only sound was the movement of water when it flowed around her. She reached out and wrapped her fingers around a piece of the wood. It snapped off in her hand, sending small pieces of long rotted timber into the liquid. She glanced at the piece in her hand before tossing it away. She lifted her foot up and brought it slamming down so the wood planks crumbled under the blow and fell down, out of her range of vision. A smile slowly spread across her face before she swam in through the hole.

It opened into a rotting wooden room, filled with long broken furniture and damaged crates. She moved over towards one of the crates and tore a chunk of moldy wood away. A scream burst from her throat when long slimy creatures, with bodies like eels and small glowing orange orbs dangling from their foreheads, burst out of the crate and darted past her. When they passed she felt their slick bodies rubbing her flesh and it sent a shiver down her spine. After a few moments the creatures were gone, leaving behind a crate holding a few rusty chunks of metal.

“Calm down, you can do this,” she whispered to herself before she turned back around and glanced up. “So I just need to go down, huh?” A quick glance at her enemy-pass made her blood freeze. Something big, so big it took up about a fourth of the device and still continued out past its boundaries, was coming towards her. Slow, but steady.

She kicked the floor out from under her and slowly swam through. A skeleton suddenly appeared in front of her and she quickly drew her mace and shattered the bones. After a few moments she realized it hadn't been moving. “Oh... well. I'm happy no one saw that.” Once again she broke through the rotten floor and this time she was gifted by the sight of rock under it. The seafloor.

She glanced back at her device and trembled when the thing came ever closer. It's body now took up almost half the screen and still spread out past it. It would be on her soon. A loud hum filled the air and she heard something above her crackling and snapping. A shard of wood came down between her legs and she let out an eep. Quickly the leviathan girl turned and swam as fast as she could, keeping as close to the floor as possible.

Light suddenly filled the underwater region when thousands of eel like glowing creatures suddenly burst out from behind her. Turning back she saw the wrecked ship she had been moving through was being torn asunder by massive tentacles that, as far as she could tell, were attached to a wall of purple flesh and fangs. The wall moved after her, chewing through the ship and grabbing mouthfuls of the glowing fish while it swam.

Asura gulped and looked around. With the new and temporary light she saw a large number of sunken ships and, to her delight, a large crevice in the sea bed. She swam at it as fast as she could and, right when her hands went into the breach, she stopped. She shrieked and looked back. A long, purple tentacle had wrapped around her leg and was slowly drawing her towards the gaping mouths. The teeth jutted out in random directions, but they moved and wiggled about as if they were alive, cutting through wood and fish with ease.

She lifted her sword in her right hand and pulled her leg as close to herself as she could. Before she could strike, another tentacle shot out and latched around her arm. “NO! Let me go! AHHH!” she yelled before another tentacle wrapped around her left arm, stopping her from drawing her dagger. Slowly but steadily the appendages drew her closer and closer to the wiggling teeth. “No no no! LET ME GO!” When she got closer she could see weird things moving around the mouths of the creature. The teeth were alive.

They buzzed around the creature's massive mouths, cutting and slicing all that came closer for the thing to absorb when its tentacles brought larger things within reach. “No no no! Flaming body!” Flames erupted from her body. The water around her boiled and the tentacles pulled away, though the fire quickly disappeared. An ear splitting cry that seemed to come from all directions deafened her before she turned, unwilling to see the monster a moment longer. With a powerful kick she took off towards the crevice and within moments she entered it. When she finally worked up the courage to glance back, back she saw one of the tentacles attempt to slide in after her, but it wasn't nearly long enough.

When she swam she occasionally bumped the walls and had to crawl, rather than swim, down. She glanced at the enemy-pass regularly, but nothing appeared on it once the monster left. The crevice began to get narrower and she struggled to squeeze through. Finally, she saw a strange glow ahead. Gripping her sword tightly in her right hand she clawed and crawled her way to the glow until, eventually, she saw the source.

The crevice opened into a large underwater cavern. Glowing magical orbs drifted through the space, casting their light and creating shadows throughout it. The water was crystal clear, allowing her to see all the way to the opposite side of the chamber. There was no life in the chamber, not even coral or moss. All that resided in the wide open space was an underwater castle. It had five towers, though three of them had long since collapsed, with pearls the size of her head on top of the tower tips. She slowly swam to the building to get a closer look.

The stones were smooth and, when she ran her hand along them, she didn't feel any slime. She pushed on them a few times and they didn't budge. Finally she drew her fist back and punched into the wall, hard. Pain shot through her and sparks enveloped her arm, sending her flying into a pile of rubble.

“Ow. Magic protections on it still work. Mental note, don't kick the walls,” she said with a groan. She glanced at her health. “Good, not too much damage. Guess this is where they wanted me to go. Here's hoping this works okay.” She gave one more look at the massive stone building before swimming in through the large open gateway in the front.

The inside was much like the outside. Small glowing orbs were fused with the walls to spread light through the halls. Many of the walls had collapsed, but a few of them were still standing. Aside from the lights, the halls were completely bare white stone in all directions. Not one speck of algae anywhere. When she looked in the bare rooms she sighed in annoyance. “Come on, something like this and there isn't even any treasure? There should at least be a golden chalice or something. I wonder if someone else found this ages ago and-- ahh!” she yelled when she saw something move from the corner of her eye, darting into one of the rooms. She gulped and slowly made her way towards the room and peered inside. Empty.

“Okay. Keep it together. There's nothing... hostile down here. If there was, your enemy-pass would be going off. Calm down,” she whispered to herself before peering down another hallway and saw a stairway heading down at the end. She swam to it and began her descent. The staircase ended in what had once been a dead end. The stone, however, was broken to pieces and continued on into a dark cave. She gulped and slowly swam forward. After a few moments words appeared 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 gulped and clicked accept. The world around her shifted for a moment, but soon she was back swimming through the dark tunnel. Despite the lack of lights she was still able to see thanks to the leviathan's racial abilities. The walls were covered in algae and moss, which slid across her body as she swam. She was soon out of the tunnel and into a new cavern, much smaller than the one holding the castle. Dozens of similar tunnels opened into the large rock filled space.

She slowly drew out a sword and dagger and looked around for any sign of her challenge. “Come on. I don't know what kind of challenge you are, but I know I'm going to crush you. Just hurry up and show yourself...” Nothing happened and she swam about.

After a few minutes of waiting she sighed. “A puzzle? Come on. This is my fourth masterhood! I was expecting something... major! You guys didn't even make me choose a category this time.” She swam down near the rocks. She sat down on one of the larger ones and sighed. “Okay, tunnels. Probably supposed to go through one of them.” She failed to notice the rocks behind her when they slowly began to shift around and gather into a pile. “But which one? Any of the tunnels could be it,” she said with a frustrated groan. “Going through the wrong one probably makes me fail the challenge too. I won-- AHHH!” she yelled when she was suddenly sent flying forward into the ground. “Owie...” She slowly looked back while getting to her feet.

The stones had gathered together into a large humanoid shape. One large rock stood in the center of the massive creature and the chunks of smaller rocks came together to form crumbly limbs for the creature to walk on and other limbs to strike with. “A golem? Really? My big challenge is a golem? Easy!” she said once the name appeared over the creature. Guardian of the lost city.

Asura swam straight at the beast, weaving around its arm when it struck, and stabbed her blade into the stone in the center of its body. Her sword shattered to pieces. “W-what? But that's imp-- ugh!” She was sent hurtling back when the creature's other arm slammed into her. She hit the wall opposite the creature and slowly peeled herself off it. “This has to be a joke,” she said while she held up the hilt of Excalibur. “This sword can't be broken. It's a master level weapon! Ahhh!” She ducked down when the golem's arm attempted to crush her. Turning around, the leviathan quickly darted into one of the tunnels.

“Okay, think. You can do this! It's obviously weak somewhere. Maybe the game glitched and it was only supposed to break normal weapons. But how do I kill it then?” she asked herself. A loud scraping could be heard behind her, and when she glanced back she saw stones barreling down the tunnel in pursuit. “Oh, you gotta be kidding me!” She kicked her legs harder and she flew through the tunnel. Hanging clumps of algae made it difficult to see, making her brush against the walls with each turn. Fortunately, the stones were slow and unable to keep up with her speed.

Unfortunately, she popped out of the tunnel's opposite end and found herself back in the chamber. The massive stone creature charged immediately after her, not even pausing to turn around. She dove to the right after one of its limbs shot at her. When it went by she held out her right hand. “Freezing draft!”

The rocks went still when the water between them froze solid. She quickly swam out of reach when the creature remained still for a moment. “Okay, new sword, new sword... come on!” she said before bringing up the menus. The dagger changed in her hand to an exact replica of Excalibur. “Really? I don't get to keep all the benefits I had with it? That sucks,” she said. “It better not be permanently broken.”

She swam down to the ground before the golem finally freed its arm. It slowly began to lumber back to her. “Come on you over grown lawn ornament...” After a few moments the creature's arm lashed out at her and she tapped on the ground twice with her foot. She disappeared and reappeared a few feet away and lifted her hand. “Freezing draft!” The arm was encased in ice and she charged the golem. “HIYA!” She brought her blade down. When it struck the ice, a large fireball burst from it and enveloped them both, boiling the water. Fortunately she was immune to the fire from her blade.

Once flames died down the ice was completely melted and, to her horror, the creature appeared unhurt. “Oh come on! I hit you with... everything...” She caught sight of the massive stone in the center of the creature. Cracks and burns had formed across the boulder, covering about one fourth of it where the limb was detached. Once the arm returned the damage began to heal quickly.

“So that's it!” she said before swimming back at the creature. “Freezing draft!” She froze the beasts other arm before slicing down on it with her blade. When flames enveloped the two, she was knocked aside by the stony monolith's other arm. She slammed into the chambers opposite wall and alarms went off. Her HP was dangerously low.

“Ow, okay. But too little, too late big monster. I know your... what?” she said and stared at the thing. Not only had the first damage marks already completely healed, but there was no damage from her second strike. She peeled her way from the wall with a groan before the beast lumbered towards her. “Okay, so this is going to be harder than I thought. Greater heal!” she cast and her health shot back up, though he MP was almost exhausted. She wouldn’t be able to cast another spell like that. She began swimming up again and the beast sent its arms flailing about to crush her. Stones rained around her while she weaved around, struggling to avoid them.

When she turned to avoid one of the arms the monster's leg shot out. Unable to avoid it in time, she lifted her arms with a shriek. The stones crushed and cut her when they drove her back with the strike. Rather than hitting the wall, she was sent hurtling into one of the tunnels. Trapped in the confined space the rocks pelted and twisted around her, crushing and smashing her while she tried to crawl out. Her armor began to crack and dent under the fierce assault and she felt herself being torn apart. Desperate and hurt, she finally kicked out with her foot and tapped twice on the wall.

She fae-stepped away and appeared outside the tunnel. “Ice wall!” she yelled out before ice coated the exit, trapping the limb of stone within. She stared for a few moments while the rocks pounded on the other side of the wall, but couldn't break free. “Of course! That's it! Okay, you over sized lawn gnome! I've got you now!” she yelled and turned around to the golem, which was now missing a leg.

She turned towards the nearest open tunnel and swam in a tight circle for a few moments. The creature struck out in a horizontal swing when she moved out of the way and narrowly dodged the blow. The creature swung again and again while she dodged and weaved, never moving more than a few feet from the tunnel. Finally the creature sent the stones hurtling straight at her and she quickly dove to the side. When the stones brushed past her and disappeared into the tunnel she lifted her right hand. “Ice wall!” Instantly ice covered the hole and blocked the stones.

She tore off at the stone again and, diving around the golem's remaining arm, drove her sword across the stones now bare side. Her sword cleaved through the rock and fire enveloped them again. She kept swimming and moving towards the next tunnel. “Yes! Hah! I've wo-- AHHH!” Suddenly stones shot out from the tunnel and enveloped her. “No! Aghhh!” She struggled and slashed with her sword in an attempt to break free, but to no avail. The creature lashed out with its other arm and enshrouded her in stone.

Within seconds her HP hit zero and the world turned dark. After a few more moments she appeared back in Everlight. The words 'Mastery quest failed' flashed in front of her, but she didn't look at them.

She couldn’t believe them.

She just fell to her knees, mouth hanging open.

MelodyAvant

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