Stashing the horn in my inventory, I take to the skies once more, beating my wings as I check my level. 38! That’s three more levels than I had when I started! Whoooo! I’m gonna keep this up. I’m probably not gonna catch up to Dana anytime soon, but I definitely don’t want to lag behind. As I cruise at altitude, I chat with my audience, answering questions about my plans for the new content release.

The devs have released some more information, with one continent across the sea, and an archipelago of floating islands and mountains in the sky.  From the names and data of the released areas, “Darkheart” is a country shrouded in deep mists and night seems to last longer there, with even the day looking more like a prolonged twilight, while the land of Aerene is a ‘continent’ made up of many islands and mountains, a series of atolls and reefs inhabited by a civilization of winged humanoids. Yeah, that’s where the Skyborne originate!

Something catches my attention below. A fox, not a Vulpa but an actual animal with golden fur is dashing through the trees, a swordsman in hot pursuit. Something about the blade he wields gives me a bad feeling. It’s a curved-bladed spar of metal, a sickly green shade of steel that seems to taint the very air around it. The fox darts behind a tree and the sound of metal on metal rings out for an instant. The fox keeps moving, the swordsman in hot pursuit.  I can’t just watch this!

As the swordsman draws his blade back for a thrust, a loud crash rings out instead of the meaty thunk he’d expected. His blade met with unexpected resistance. When the cloud of dust and debris clears, I’m standing between him and the fox, my shield pierced by his blade.  Luckily, he’d chosen a shorter thrust over full extension, so I hadn’t been hit. I can see a strange, thick miasma surrounding the blade, though. When a leaf brushes the emerald metal, it wilts and rots away in seconds.

“Who are you?! What the hell d’you think you’re doing, interfering in my hunt?!”

I raise an eyebrow. “Funny way of ‘hunting’, if you ask me. Normally, you’d use a bow or something, rather than whatever the heck your sword is.”

I twist my shield, causing him to almost lose his grip as he yanks his arm back.  A familiarly-accented voice comes from the fox. “Ah, thanks f’r the save, Kettrin! ‘Tis a pleasure t’ see ye again!”

The golden fox with a black brushtip and ears shifts and warps into a relatively short but well-muscled Vulpa with sandy hair, wearing a half-plate set and carrying a curved greatsword.

“Sionnach?! What the hell were you getting chased for?!”

The swordsman looks a little put-out as I ignore him to ask the Vulpa Argonaut what the heck is happening.

“If I could-“

He tries, and I shush him. Sionnach grins. “Well, he’s chasin’ me because I put a stop t’ his attempts to hit on someone. She wasnae keen, he didn’t take no f’r an answer, and I may have spanked him with the flat of my sword and launched him intae a nearby fountain.”

“Lies! That fair maiden was close to succumbing to my charms! If you hadn’t humiliated me, she and I would have become lovers by now!”

I shake my head. “Sionnach, is this guy an NPC, or an actual Argonaut?”

She flicks one ear. “NPC, actually. Why?”

I shrug. “I don’t want to kill him. If he’s a player, he’ll just come back to life, remember?”

She nods, her tail flicking. “Good point. Also, watch that sword; it’s made of a poisonous metal that inflicts heavy damage as well as a damage-over-time effect. ‘S a nasty thing.”

Upon closer inspection, I see that the sword has these deep channels cut into the blade, inlaid with the eerie green compound. I bet Ulged would be interested in this. He certainly loves weapons and armour. Maybe I should check in on him later and see if he can upgrade my armour. It’s starting to get a lot more damaged than I’d like.

The swordsman looks very grumpy, and moves his blade into a ready position.

“Are you going to get in my way, or are you going to step back and let me get my revenge?!”

I shrug. “Sionnach, shall I help you? Or do you want to handle him?”

The Vulpa pauses. “Well, I CAN beat him, but I wouldnae turn down the assist. Better do it meself, though, or he’ll jes’ try again.”

I step back, surreptitiously activating Strength of the Ancient Ones, targeting Sionnach. With the damage reduction and the regen, she should be able to safely ignore the poison and fight freely.

Leaning against a tree, I study the match taking place before me. During the fight against the Fear of the Endless Desert, I didn’t really have time to watch Sionnach fighting. Maybe I’ll learn something new!

The pair face off, the trees around us thick and overgrown. Silence falls…. BOOM!

Sionnach’s blade swings, and a tree creaks and crashes over, severed through the base of the trunk is a single blow as the poison swordsman dodges. His moves are fluid, but there’s something about him that seems… hesitant. Not fearful, but like he’s unwilling to engage properly.

His blade flickers out, and a narrow gash appears across the Vulpa’s left bicep. “There! That should… wait, how are you still standing??” his question is answered by a swift overhead slam from Sionnach’s massive curved sword, and he flies back, slamming into a tree. If he hadn’t blocked, he’d probably be bisected.

I watch, noting each movement. Sionnach’s strikes each carry great force, but her speed isn’t very impressive. I’m guessing high STR, low AGI. The other guy seems to be the antithesis. Low STR, high AGI. He’s using that sword because of its venomous properties, if I had to make an educated guess. Poison your enemy, and then dodge until the venom does its work. Quite clever, honestly. However, that relies on your opponent not having any way to nullify or neutralize the toxin. He strikes quickly, inflicting a series of gashes in the Vulpa’s flesh, but her strikes are calculated. She’s missing, yes, but she’s up to something…

Her opportunity comes when the swordsman’s boot shifts, the ground beneath it loose and cracked by the Bladebreaker’s attacks. He takes his eyes form her for just an instant, but it’s more than enough.

Sionnach lunges, grabbing the swordsman by the arm and pulling him off-balance. As he tries frantically to re-orient himself, she slams the pommel of her great curved blade into his cheek, sending him reeling, before she swings again.

“That arm’s mine!”

He shrieks, and then a clang rings out as Sionnach’s blade meets his in just the right way to send his sword flying from his grip, the bottle-green blade skittering across the grass. She one-hands her own and dives, rolling and snatching the venomous sword up, claiming its power as her own.

The swordsman looks petrified. “M-my sword… you can’t just take that! It’s mine!”

The look Sionnach shoots him makes him reconsider his stance on ownership rights, and he legs it, screaming. While I cackle, the Vulpa examines her prize. “Whoa… this thing is pretty badass.”

I look curiously at her, and she hands me the sword she’d ‘won’ for herself. Looking at its stats, I can’t help but whistle. It’s not the highest base damage, but the poison effect is a natural passive. It’s a lot heavier than I’d like, but then, it isn’t mine to use. It’s got a name, too. Hydra Bite. Fitting for a toxic weapon that can strike so fast that it appears to be in multiple places.

I hand it back. “Awesome, I hope you get some use out of it! Not my style, I’m much happier with this spear, but…” I look at my armour. “I really need a better set…”

Sionnach nods. “Good idea. Sorry for getting’ you caught up in that, but thanks f’r bein’ a witness if he tries summat else. I’d better go; I’m meetin’ up with Marika for a hunting quest! Shall I tell ‘er you said hi?”

I nod, smiling. “Give her a kiss from me!” I laugh, rocketing into the air as Sionnach cackles in her fox-like way.

Well, that was interesting. Not gonna help me level up, but still.  Circling twice, I look through my contacts, messaging Ulged about an upgrade to my armour and a better greatshield, and then notice a small indicator winking by Harvenhaight’s name. A message?

I read through it, and then grin. Thumbing Harvenhaight’s name, I use the communication spell to get in touch. “You’re on, I’m interested in fighting!”

“Heheh, I thought you might be up for it! We’ll be starting soon, so get your butt to me and I’ll get you inside!” he hangs up, and I mark his location in my map, looping tightly in mid-air to power straight to him, getting back a confirmation from Ulged. I ask him to transport a set of the best light-but-strong armour he has available right this moment, plus a shield, fit for a lvl 38 player, to me, paying the full cost via a long-distance trading function. Sure enough, the armour arrives safely in my inbox. I’ll have to land in order to change, but I don’t have the time right now.

Flying as fast as I can, I drop my shield. The weight is only slowing me down. Reaching up, I fumble with the straps for my pauldrons, tugging them free and letting the wind take them. My gauntlets next, then my helm and breastplate. Thankfully I’m wearing a decent tunic under it. The remaining fauld, then my sabatons and greaves.  Once all my old, dented, broken armour is scattered, I can move sooooo much faster! The difference is unmistakeable!

I spiral effortlessly through the air, my wings feeling stronger and more powerful than ever. Did that armour really weigh so much? It didn’t feel like it did before…

A fierce, wild grin crosses my face as I zoom through the sky, my feathers rustling near-silently in the slipstream as I home in on Jeffrey’s whereabouts, letting the joy of flight overwhelm me. Spotting the black-and-white checkered pattern and black-feathered wings of my friend below me. I swing my hips, angling myself into a nosedive. As my shadow falls across him, he looks up and shouts in alarm.

“K-Kettrin?!” his voice reaches me, and I spin, whooping as I plummet straight down. Mere metres from the ground, I swing my body and beat down with my wings, landing in a rush of wind. Straightening up, I smile. “Hi!”

He blinks. “Uh… what happened to your armour? You had that set of black, red-trimmed plate, right?”

I gesture back the way I’d come. “If I had to guess, in bits all over the forest. It was getting too damaged, plus it was made for level 20 use. I needed to upgrade.”

Shaking his head, he laughs, “So you just… decided to rain random armour parts down on the forest? Typical Kettrin.”

I open my inventory and don my new set. It’s been painted to match my older set, but the stats are way better! The design is much more elegant, too, less bulky, almost avian, and the helmet, when I put it on, is… invisible? I can’t feel it until I reach up to pull it off. Then it appears. I guess it’s to make it LOOK like I’m helmetless. Cool!

Working my fingers in the gauntlets, I pick up my greatshield, emblazoned with a striking hawk, and pull my swordspear out of my dimensional pocket. “So, let’s go! I want to see how this tourney goes! It’s kinda awesome that Lord Elif Thade’s holding it!”

Harvenhaight chuckles, giving me a thumbs-up. “Good! Now, let me open the Way, and we’ll get you there. And… prepare to die, by the way. You’re going to be revived, but you’ll be out of the tourney!”