Faerie

The roaring sound of fire was all that could be heard throughout the forest as Fae stood opposite the monster guarding the demonic shard that the gypsy women had told her to go get. She hadn't told her that there would be anything like this guarding the fragment of demonic energy, or else she wouldn't have taken on the quest so lightly. The firelight Caused shadows to dance across the clearing as the wind blew through the fiery barrier keeping her trapped in her duel with the guardian. Fae could barely hear the thunderous cracking sound of the whip as the guardian lashed out for another attack

A dull throbbing started up in the back of Fae's head as she grabbed the next arrow out of her hip quiver, a feint ringing feeling like it was attempting to escape her skull. With a sharp intake of breath Fae brought the bow even with her chest, holding the arrow loosely to the string waiting for the signal to draw and then fire, the dull aching and ringing growing every moment as if building up to some crescendo. The customary whistle blew out and Fae drew the bow in one solid motion, only sighting for a second before letting the arrow fly. The ringing seemed almost tied to the arrow growing

Back at the starting line Fae held up her bow, pulling the string back and taking a moment to focus, she doubted that the wind had changed enough at this point to make her arrow go too far off stray if she just aimed for the same place she aimed last time. Once again methodically lining her bow up to where she thought she had aimed previously Fae release the arrow, watching as it soared through the air, thudding softly in the distance into the second of the yellow rings, this one wasn't worth as much as the bullseye in the center, but it was still worth a lot for this set. After loosing

Fae methodically lined up her second shot, she had overcompensated last time, but now knowing where the arrow hit the target she could aim for the exact point that would land it in the bullseye. Releasing the arrow Fae held her breath, she didn't want to be shown up by these monsters, and this was a sport that she not only had a passion for, but was also skilled at. The arrow flew being carried by the strong wind, thudding into the center most yellow circle. Fae couldn't help but let out a cheer as a shockwave blew out from her target and caused the guardians shot to go wide. It wasn't m

It was Nari's words of encouragement that broke the spell that had a hold on Fae. she wasn't the same as she was the last time that she had seen this creature, she was stronger and she had people or person behind her that was even stronger. Sliding the blue blade out of the sheathe on her lower back Fae locked eyes with the creature shoving the fear deep down as she charged at it sword drawn. Fae was hoping that she would be able to use her speed to her advantage with her wearing the lightest of the armor categories and with this creature's size this should be no problem. Fae was proven

Fae leaned into where she thought the wind was coming from so that she could make sure that it hit the target even after being veered so off course. Calmly she pulled the bowstring back her fingers lightly gripping the arrow that she had knocked to the string. Breathing in calmly Fae let the arrow fly, making note of exactly how far off to the side she had aimed so that she could adjust if the arrow still missed. Letting go of the arrow Fae concentrated hard to see where the arrow landed on the target that was seventy meters away she would need to know how much to adjust her shot by if it hit

The long bow in Fae's hand felt comfortable and it made her smile as she thought back to the first time she had ever learned to shoot one. She had been a small kid, it was after her mother had left her and her dad and she needed something to latch onto in that time of need. An archery camp had put up flyers in their home town, advertising a week long retreat where they would learn how to shoot bows and do other activities. Fae remembered racing home from school clutching the flyer, begging her dad to let her go, and he did. The week long camp wasn't all that great and most of the people there

Fae stood around for a while, waiting for something to happen as she pulled out another one of the potions strapped to her thigh, downing it in seconds and bringing her health up again by a sizable chunk. It took another couple of minutes for anything to happen until suddenly Fae could see a target appear off in the distance, and next to her was all of the gear and set up for an archery competition. "Welcome once again folks to our third and final round of our competition, it is time to see If Fae can come out on top, or if the guardians intense blaze will be able to take her out." A round of

The void didn't answer to any of Fae's protests as the other guardian stepped forward picking up a ball made to look like the sun, and following the same motions as the other one rolled it down the center of the lane to come crashing into the pins in the same fashion as the last time, again causing Fae's health bar to drop as a shockwave blasted out from the pins. L:etting out a string of curses Fae stepped forward picking up the same green ball that she had last time, lifting it high in the air, and letting go when it was parallel with the lane that she was throwing it down. The ball raced to

The guardian with the ball took a single step forward, bringing the hand with the ball swinging out behind him before bringing it swinging back in front, letting go of the ball to let it slide down the lane towards the pins set up underneath the health bars of the guardians. Fae watched as the ball twisted over itself countless times before slamming into the center of the triangular set of pins, with a crash all ten of the pins seemed to fall and disappear sending a wave of energy through the air that once again lowered Fae's health. Cheering erupted from an audience that didn't exist and

Fae wasn't falling for very long before her feet hit the ground, at least if you could call the empty void of space surrounding her as ground. Looking around there was nothing to see in the empty space, until suddenly a bright flash of light like a star exploding resounded throughout the void. When fae was finally able to see again the sight before her was even more suprising than the stage that she had just been on, their were what appeared to be two long lanes for bowling, the flaming guardians on one side with a health bar above the pins, and on the other one of Faes. The booming voi

Fae began to dance, slowly moving her body in twirls and leaps that made the cloth on her half cloak billow out, making it seem like a fairy was fluttering on the stage before the crowd. The silence continued as the slow dance and music went on, a stark contrast to the heavy and fast music that backed up the fiery gargoyles. With one final leap and twirl into the air Fae smiled, it wasn't exactly the best dance in the world, but it was something that she had accomplished on her own. Feet hitting the floor softly Fae looked up to see a wave of energy shooting out around her blasting the

"Okay folks, things are starting to heat up, and literally." the ethereal and non existent announcer called out to the audience as a ring of fire erupted around the guardians who started dancing more gracefully than you would expect for something both made of lava, and shaped like a gargoyle. "The first bout has come to completion, and it appears as though the high hopes we had for Faerie might have been placed poorly, meanwhile these guardians are really showing us what they're made of." the dancing continued for a moment before ending, a large cheer erupting from the audience as a wave of en

With the ending of the guardians dance another round of applause and cheers ran out from the completely featureless mannequins that were acting as the audience to the fever dream that was this current fight. Wincing at the state of her health bar after the guardians attack Fae quickly grabbed a potion and downed it as the guardians stepped out of the way, clearing room for her to dance in the center of the stage. Fae awkwardly shuffled to the middle of the stage, staring out at the audience and gulping. It was even more disconcerting that they had no mouths despite the cheers and applau

Fae didn't know exactly why but she was struck with the sensation that she should move to the side of the stage and make more room in the center for the three guardians. Fae did as the sensation told her, twisting to stare at the wall behind the stage, where two large holographic screens currently showed the health of both her and the guardians, as well as a larger screen that showed the stage from different angles. The music suddenly stopped and a voice rang out as if through a large speaker. "Ladies and gentleman, Welcome to the show! the voice paused to let the crowd clap and shout their en

The laughing continued to reverberate around Fae, the source being just as ambiguous as it was before, coming from nowhere in particular, but still bouncing all around her as if she was surrounded by the deafening sound of her dead friend laughing at her. The laughing on top of the unbearable heat was starting to heavily weigh on Fae, making it almost impossible to concentrate as she tried to focus on the guardians in front of her. It was at this moment that Fae's vision went black for a moment, and she felt as though she was falling, the sudden darkness disorienting all the more with how brig

The figure of Kas laughed as Fae was once again struck by the fire around her, continuously failing to land any attacks on the speedy airborne guardians. the laugh reverberated around Fae like she was in an underground cavern, bouncing off of nothing before eventually fading out. "You should just give up, anyone with half a brain can see that you're going to lose this." Fae didn't understand what was happening, the figure was clearly not her friend, he had died two years ago, and he would have never said things like this, he had always been kind and compassionate even in his last moments, but

Fae dove out of the way of another set of attacks from the demonic guardians, blanching as she felt something hot against her back. Fae had been cornered and she didn't have anywhere to dodge at two flames dove towards her singing her cloak and sending waves of smoke into the air. Looking for any way out of the situation Fae dove underneath the hovering gargoyles coming up behind the and putting as much distance between them as possible, she needed to keep this fight in the middle of the cage of fire or she would have a bad time ahead of her. Fae shook her head getting the green tipped h

Fae kept up her evasion of the guardians onslaught as she quickly slipped a vial out of the belt on her thigh, a bright red liquid sloshing around inside of it. Unstopping the cork Fae downed the contents before tossing the vial to the side, watching as her health rocketed up to a much more comfortable level. she only had five of the vials on her, and they weren't exactly cheap so Fae was hoping she could finish this fight before she had to use another one. The fiery guardians seemed to need to recover before they could completely act again, their skin sizzling as the air cooled the now

The three remaining guardians let out a roar as they watched one of their number perish. Fae watched as two of the creature's lifted up their unarmed hand, the black igneous rock swirling in the bright magma like they were floating in a river of lava. Fae didn't know what they were doing, but she knew that it couldn't be good as the rock throughout their body began to move in unison to their outstretched hand, coming to form a massive flaming black ball of rock. Fae's eyes opened wide with fear as the meteors grew in size before launching impossibly through the air at her, it was too late to d

Fire raging all around of her, the sound of whips cracking scorching the now barren earth all around Fae found herself dancing around like a ballerina, there was barely enough time to dodge all of the guardians attacks, much less to find an opening to attack the airborne creatures. Feeling the all too familiar sensation of one of the guardians fiery weapons landing against her arm Fae found her opportunity, the guardian that she had left weaponless threw its useless whip to the ground, the fire snuffing out as the molten handle fell through the air. With a roar like an inferno the now weaponle

Grimacing Fae dodged out of the way of another frenzy of the fiery whips, making sure that she kept fully out of their reach so that they could not home to her while she was in the air. It was clear that these Demonic Guardians were here to protect the scale that Fae had found, and that to get the scale that she needed to finish her quest she would need to beat them, but that was easier said than done. The molten gargoyles were not some meek foe that Fae could afford to take lightly, they had already almost dropped her to half health and there were four of them. A screech like a roaring flame

Nari's confidence was contagious as she went on about how this was the first floor and that they had this in the bag. Fae could feel herself getting more and more confident about facing the field boss from so long ago 'She's right, this is the first floor, nothing here can be that dangerous and I have had two whole years to get experience. Plus Nari is here nothing can go wrong now.' Fae kept up the mantra in her mind as she walked "Yeah, all we have to do is stick it with the pointy end." Fae smiled at Nari behind her as they neared the cave that she and Kas had been so unlucky as to run into

The uncomfortable heat in the clearing grew hotter and more unbearable as the demonic magma creatures pulled themselves out of the ground, the grass around them shriveling and turning black as if under an intense blaze. Fae was mesmerized as the four beasts stood snarling, their skin writhing and turning over on itself like a pool of running magma, the orange of the molten rock mixing with the deep blacks of hardening igneous rocks. Smoke poured out of the demonic guardians noses as two of them suddenly flew into the air, their tattered fiery wings stretching out to hold them aloft as they l

Fae could feel the burning sensation of the flame barrier against her back as she stared out at the clearing, the flame was uncomfortable, but it far outweighed the idea of finding a blade in her back. Fae held her blade as a small amount of fear slowly enveloped her heart, right now she was completely alone in what is clearly a trap surrounded by impenetrable flames and from the stories that she heard this was the most common way for players of any level to die. Fae stood with her blade in hand ready to dive out of the way of some monster or towards a monster as the situation required it.