Further information followed.

 

You do not have control over the Illusion Barrier. Escape is impossible at your current level. Defeat the enemies or convince them to let you leave.

 

‘Who? Why? How did they find me? I just got these powers yesterday. Did information really travel that quickly? Did Moira sell me out? She didn’t seem the type. Then again, I don’t really know her.’ Thoughts raced through John’s mind. To his surprise, they were relatively calm ones. An effect of his increased Wisdom, perhaps?

Whatever it was, he was thankful for it. He analysed the situation with a calm mind. His schoolmates were gone, vanished into thin air. He sat alone in a copy of his classroom, even the scribbles on the chalk board at the front were the same. This was still the school he knew, just as the forest had been yesterday, but eerily silent. Whoever had snatched him up was not close yet.

There was no time to lose. He didn’t know who was attacking him or even if he was  being attacked. In any case, he deemed his best chance at survival was to hide until they lost interest. If they could find wherever he was, well, then he was fucked either way.

‘Roof? No, that’s a dead end. Downstairs? I might run into them. Let’s find somewhere to hide on this floor,’ he resolved and activated Sneaking. Every little bit counted. ‘The class F room is located above a thick hedge and they have lockers. I can hide there and jump out of the window in an emergency.’

John hastened towards the door. His hand reached for the handle. Then, there was pain.

Three long, bony fingers had wrapped around his right arm. They gripped with bone creaking intensity, just short of causing actual damage. John looked at the greenish black, thin limb. In desperation, he pulled, but it was unmoving. He traced it back to where it was anchored in the wall, extending from a shadow cast upon it.

A second arm surfaced, then a spiderlike head. Red eyes stared; the lack of pupils deeply unnerving. A set of mandibles and fangs clicked in a happy manner. The creature belonged in a horror game, extending segment for segment out of the wall. It was larger than him, thin and  chitinous. Its lower half seemed like a legless centipede. ‘Observe,’ he willed himself to do something.

 

Wall Shadow, Level 23

A monster of the Shadow Lurker family. It hides within walls and shadows. It stalks its prey until it spots weakness, then strikes aggressively. Currently bound to an opportunistic biker gang.

 

Level 23. ‘That’s it, I’m dead,’ he thought.

The Wall Shadow turned its many-eyed head. John followed the gesture. He heard the trampling of heavy boots. Then he saw her. Moira, in full plate armour, her red hair bound up into a ponytail. She turned the corner at a speed that would have made Olympians stare with disbelief. A large shield was attached to her right hand. With her left, she raised a great warhammer.

The shadow skittered once, then let go of John’s arm. Like a bobbit worm, it retreated nearly instantly back into the wall. The hammer slammed into the plaster, cracking it open. Dust and debris flew around.

Moira quickly drew her hammer back. She struck an imposing figure, in a radiant armour that form-fit her figure, from the medium sized breasts down to the long legs. A red tabard covered the chest plate, on it a symbol of a golden rose. She was positively radiant, her presence pushing back surrounding shadows. More than the armour or her weapon, it seemed to be the shield that caught her light. Silver and gold, the defensive armament exuded an aura of ancient power.

“Are you okay?” Moira asked and turned her back to him. Shield raised, she gazed down the way she came from.

“Yeah. But... t-the hell is going on?” he asked, hating himself for the stutter. Moira sent him a comforting glance and he hated it even more.

“Exactly what I warned you about, somebody is trying to kidnap you and sell you to a Mana Factory.” Moira said, keeping the shield in her right hand raised. “And it sounds like they’re approaching.”

“Are they?” Another voice asked and two more people came around a corner. One was a large man. He had shaven, brown hair, barely more than a stubble. Combined with his black tank top and the camouflage pattern cargo pants, his muscular frame was imposing. He must have been in his late thirties, judging by the mild wrinkles around his steel blue eyes.

The voice, however, belonged to the girl next to him.

She had neon pink, dishevelled hair. Seriously dishevelled, to the point that it left the realm of reasonable bedhead and became an artform. Something that chaotic should not have been able to look that silky. It probably would have reached all the way to her back, had it not ran criss-cross and curved towards the tips. Most of her hair stopped at the neckline. A few select strands, of a deeper colour, went a lot further, as if they had a mind of their own.

That pink hair framed and partly covered her beautiful face. Almond eyes betrayed an Asian heritage. In her blue irises, a soft pink lustre played around the pupils. Her lips were almost as pink as her hair.

The shoulder-less top she wore half revealed the black bra underneath. She had petite breasts, a B-cup by John’s uneducated estimation. The inwards swing of her midriff left nothing about her flat stomach to the imagination. It was followed by the alluring outwards curve. The woman had hips to kill for, the bottom to a pear figure that transitioned into a nice pair of thighs, balanced perfectly between thick and long. The tight yoga pants accentuated every aspect of her bottom half. In other circumstances, he would have prayed to every god that she’d turn around and bend over for him.

He had more pressing issues though. A quick Observe on both got him a little more context.

 

Travolta Meyer, Lvl 19

Leader of Collide

Age 37, Founder and current leader of the small guild Collide, who are all about finding interesting uses for their powers. Headstrong, enjoy with caution.

Relationship: -10

 

Jane Hollmey, Lvl 15

Fun Loving Rave Girl

Age 19, Daughter of an Abyss Auction Employee. Innate Fighter with affinity to light and member of Collide. Her love of techno, skimpy outfits and flashy dancing fighting style earned her the name ‘Rave’.

Relationship: 12

 

Observe Lvl 4:

Now reveals current emotions of the target Observed as well.

 

‘Jane?’ John asked himself. ‘Same Jane Thomas talked about? How come I never saw her before?’ Not only was she a total, presumably half, Asian hottie but neon-pink hair was not exactly camouflage.

“Rave!” Moira shouted at the pink haired girl. “Always stirring trouble!”

“Well, duh, it is in the title, Moi-Moi, we collide with people.”  Rave tauntingly stuck out her tongue, revealing a little piercing. “Whacha gonna do about it?”

John made the mistake of blinking. Moira stormed at the two and Rave took a step forward. The warhammer swung in a horizontal arc over the ducking stranger’s head. Immediately Rave went for an uppercut. Moira narrowly pulled out of the path of the attack. A swift exchange of blows followed.

‘It’s more than punches.’ John barely realized. Their movements were too quick for him to follow properly. Analysing carefully, he spotted technicolour lights dancing around the newcomer’s fists. Even when she didn’t completely connect, the energy impacted on the armour.

The two seemed evenly matched. Rave was swift and unpredictable, Moira efficient and thorough in her defences. The caveat had to be added that Moira was confined in her swings by the corridor. Through shield and armour, it was effectively transformed into a stalemate.

There was a whole different problem, though, that everyone apparently forgot. The two girls were swinging at each other and the burly man just watched with crossed arms. The combat eventually brought the two fighters to a dark corner of the corridor. “Watch out!” John shouted and jumped into the fray. Rave and Moira turned his way, for a moment.

He tackled the pink-haired woman. It barely brought her off balance, but the switch in attention was enough for her to kick away the claws coming for her feet. She stumbled off to the side and, with him attached, fell to the ground. John felt heat rush to his face, when he realized he was laying on top of the bombshell.

“Ey, Gamer, ya could buy me dinner first.” Rave winked.

 “Uhm, h-how about tomorrow?” John managed to get out before Moira grabbed him by the collar and ripped him out of the way of another swipe by the Wall Shadow.

 

Achievement Unlocked: Baby Steps

You actually flirted with someone! Nice going!

Charisma +1

 

“Why would you make your own creature attack you?” Moira asked.

“Our creature? Excuuuuuse you, princess, I ain’t using monsters to fight for me!”

“Could we please look at this objectively?!” John begged, “And not attack each other when there’s a horrid spider monster on the loose that’s more powerful than either of you?”

“A, ya sound mighty confident about that.” Rave held one foot up as she said. “Two, that would mean not pissing off Moi-Moi here.” She jumped to her feet and held up two fingers in a victory sign. “And not pissing off sticks in the mud goes against my principles. Thirdly, what’s the worst that could happen?”

“Regan tears me a new one,” Travolta finally got involved, his voice deep and gravely. “We will listen. A Wall Shadow is not an opponent I want to take lightly.”

Rave pressed her lips together, the pink colour draining from them. “Fine, Baldy,” She checked her blue-painted nails and stepped back. Moira herself took a deep breath and relaxed. “So, John?” She turned to him.

“My ability told me that the Wall Shadow is currently bound to a group of bikers – are you two bikers?” He actually had to ask. One girl certainly had punk aesthetics and the other fit the general mould. They did shake their heads though. “If you can believe… p-please do believe me… that does make them innocent, right?”

“…Yeah...” Moira admitted and glared at Rave. “She still asked for it though.”

“I won’t miss a chance to give ya a spanking.” Rave stuck her tongue out again.

“ENOUGH!” Travolta shouted into Rave’s ear, which caused her to take a step back,

“OW! Baldy, that wasn’t nice.”

“Jimmie managed to get himself shut out of the illusion barrier because he needed to buy cigarettes and a Wall Shadow is stalking us. Also that bunch of bikers this kid mentioned. You had your fun, now it's time for priorities!” Travolta looked at Moira, “Girly, I think it’s best if we work together on this.”

Moira nodded. “There’s much to answer for, but your misdemeanours pale in comparison to this attempt to assail an innocent person.”

“Whatever, as long as we get to have fun.” Rave rubbed her left ear. “Hope ya shape up to be useful, Gamer.”

That wasn’t the first time she called him that. “Why do you know my title?”

“’Cause I went and eavesdropped on ya, duh.” Rave confessed with a big grin. It was directed more at the annoyed redhead than at him. Before further questions could be raised shouting echoed from the nearby staircase.