[F6-PP] A stranger, or someone familiar? <<Deforestation>>

[Life 0]

A blue beam of light materialized Life onto the sixth floor, a strange feeling of familiarity crept over him now that he had finally returned from his solitude on the eighth floor. Floor six was no too different, dense forest boarding on jungle, humid climate and an abundance of flora and fauna. He particularly liked these kinds of biomes, favoring them to the harsh colds and boiling temperatures of the others. Krycim would be his first stop, and wasn't too far from his current location. Navigating through familiar obstacles Life took in the same petrichor he had grown so very accustomed to, following the trail of decomposing plant life from the footsteps that came before it. Decayed stones stood as a monument of protest at the ages that have past. Strangely he felt as though he could relate to them. Had that much time passed? With his return he wasn't sure what to expect, perhaps a familiar face? Perhaps an enemy? 

The faint sounds of running water could be heard close by, he had been travelling for quiet some time without a break. His typical blue and gold kimono didn't really fit in with his surroundings, blue black hair contrasting against the overwhelming greenery,  he stuck out like a sore thumb. Life squatted adjacent to the river, cupping his hands in the stream and taking steady sips of the water. He knew it wouldn't exactly hydrate him, but the taste still felt refreshing. He took his time to gather his bearings, while the environment was familiar, the location was not, and he had no intention of getting lost in the jungle. Time to keep moving

Stats: 11 Damage | 2 Accuracy | 2 Evasion | 2 Light momentum | 8 Mitigation | 480 HP | 48 Energy

Edited March 7, 2020 by Life

[Mari 1]

Lush, dense tropics surrounded Mari. It was a striking difference in both visuals and temperatures to her home on the forth floor; but Mari wanted to prove herself. She needed to get stronger so when the time finally came; she'd be ready - right at the frontlines with all the others. Macradon may have been stupid enough to accept you, but do you really think the others will be so willing?  Soft blue eyes fell as her spirits did. That stupid voice in the back of her head, that doubt. Sometimes...she wasn't so sure of a lot of things. Of her friendship with Mac...of her words with Baldur - or the younger players who all seemed to flock to her - Mari helped them. As she felt that was only right - but...was it really worth it? Did any of it really make up for the past?

Going from place to place as a PKer was troublesome; she couldn't just teleport from town to town - Mari had to move through the boss rooms; and by the time she had reached the 6th floor - a whole two floors higher than the fourth - Mari was already tired.  She had ventured up here to complete the quests on the floor. One of them being <<Deforestation>> it sounded easy enough. Follow the giant fire thing and kill it.  Easy. Mari could wipe it out in a single blow.

The woman paused by a river and knelt down. There were signs of charring. Ashen steps lead over the river and beyond - Byakko had been through here; good. She now had a clear trail to follow. But first...

Mari kicked off her boots and shoes - and dipped her tied legs into the river. Rest. She needed rest. It wasn't like there was anyone around here. Most had traversed to higher floors, the others were too low leveled for this. "Mari you're an idiot..." she whispered to herself as she looked at her warbled reflection in the flowing waters.

@Life

 

General
Level: 53 | HP: 1090  |Energy: 106

STATS
DAM: 11 | EVA 3  | MIT 43 | ACC 4 | 

SKILLS
Rank 5 Weapon (+5 DMG)
-Weapon Mod: Precision (+1 ACC)
Rank 5 Charge (+5 Damage -1 ACC)
Charge Mod BULL RUSH: Successful charge stuns target 1 turn
Rank 5 Light Armor (+25 MIT)
SURVIVAL

EQUIPPED
Name: Kusanagi | Item Type: Dagger | Tier 2
Enhancements: Bleed 2 | Damage 2
'Bleed Damage of 24 for 2 turns on a roll of 8-10'

Name: Beacon Necklace | Item Type: Pendant | Tier 2
Enhancements  +3 ACC 

Name: Infernal Shadow | Item Type: Light Armour | Tier 3
Enhancements:  +2 Eva | +1 Flame Aura
'Effect: Prevent (6 per slot * Tier) damage per slot from successful attacks against you. Successful non-critical attacks against you deal (5 per slot * Tier) unmitigated burn damage to the attacking enemy.

Edited March 5, 2020 by Mari

[Life 0]

Life had a lot of time to reflect on the past, he'd done a lot of questionable things and done wrong by a lot of people. The same image of being stranded at sea replayed in his mind over and over, slowly drowning only to be given a second chance at Life. "Honestly.." He muttered to himself. Picking himself back up he decided to follow the river down, It was likely that the river would either pass through the city or be within visual distance of it. As he walked the colour of the jungle began to change around him. Lush green fading to brown and orange, singed bark and ash scattered across the forest floor. This was most likely the direction of the <<Byakko>>. Before coming down to floor six he had been told about such a creature that was the cause of great <<Deforestation>> An amazonian had asked him to save her home after seeing what he had been able to do on floor 8. This creature is burning down everything around it, though the damage didn't look too severe. Perhaps such a creature was beneficial to the floors ecosystem, surely the jungles have become overgrown with nothing getting in its way. But this was the NPC's home, so of course its another creature that had to be slain. Life wouldn't complain, he needed to get stronger. 

Life continued to follow the river until something caught his eye. Locks of orange flowing hair resting on dainty shoulders, cerulean eyes like a pool of water staring into her own reflection. It almost looked like... It couldn't be? Mari? He felt his stomach knotting as the thought filled his head. The woman he called his friend, the woman he lied to and manipulated, the woman he called a monster. Someone he cared deeply for, yet betrayed those feelings, and betrayed her. His own motivations were lost to him, it had been so long ago. But this woman sitting across the river could not be her, Mari had shorter pink hair. That was right.. It wasn't her. Life turned back towards his path. 

"Mari you're an idiot..." 

Life turned around again, was he hearing things? He was certain it couldn't be her, but if it wasn't there'd be no harm in asking right? But, if it was..? How would she react? Part of him feared for his own well being, but part of him also hoped, hoped that she wanted to see him again too. Life stood still deliberating before stammering out her name. "M-Mari..?" Idiot

 

Edited March 4, 2020 by Life

[Mari 1]

"M-Mari..?"

The words were barely audible above the babbling river. A soft-spoken voice filled with a mix of curiosity and...something else, almost a yearning? Mari initially ignored the call for her name. She very on purposefully avoided lifting her eyes. Perhaps, if she did, she'd have seen the pain and regret in Life's eyes.

Instead; Mari lifted her feet out of the water and sighed as she placed her boots back on. "You know..." Mari began. "Not many strangers know me on sight - and those that do generally want me dead, but I really don't feel like fighting now." She rose, like a flickering ember out of the ash - something so small yet powerful. Mari had her regrets, she had her doubts, and if this were just a few months ago - she'd willingly let them take her head. But now, she had something to fight for, to strive for. Even if no one believed in her, even if she couldn't believe in herself.

"So what do you-" Her voice caught in her throat. Before her stood the visage of someone she thought was dead. "But...you're dead." Her words, a whisper of surprise. She would normally think her mind were playing tricks on her, but no. There he was - "First Alkor and now you." Mari said quietly as she pulled her gaze away from Life. He looked the same, tousled black hair that draped around the nape of his neck - eyes blue like the melancholy eyes of October. Even now he stood tall and proud.

It hurt...

It hurt to see him like this.

To remember him for how he was. Her first and only friend, but the first one to betray her. Manipulate and lie to her. Try to egg her on to kill more, she had no doubt that he had sown the seeds of mistrust among the others she had once called friend. Shock fell away to a bubbling anger. She clenched her fists. "You can't manipulate me anymore." She spat the words at him as she stepped into the river to cross it - and pass him.

She wouldn't let him sway  her. She was relieved, irrevocably so to see that he lived - but she couldn't. Her heart pounded hard in her chest - aching with each beat as it echoed in her ears.

He's alive. That was good enough...

So what if he's back? You know he hates you, right? You were nothing but a tool to him. He said it himself.

@Life

[Life 0]

"Not many strangers know me on sight - and those that do generally want me dead, but I really don't feel like fighting now."

So it was her. Even if he didn't want to believe it, she acknowledged the name, she looked different but her response was so like her. A response that told him everything he needed to know about how he left things. Everyone hated her, wanted her dead, and it was his fault. He couldn't blame anything or anyone but himself for his actions. Thoughts raced through his head as she finally noticed him, as if she had seen a ghost, something that haunted her. No, I couldn't manipulate you anymore, I wouldn't be able to even if he wanted to. He cast his gaze down into the river, as if flinching away from a fresh wound. 

She tried to move past him, but he couldn't bring himself to let her go. He extended his arm out in front of her abdomen, being careful not to touch her because he knew she hated being touched. "Wait.." He looked back over to her, trying to make eye contact, to connect two seas. Could she see him stranded? Just as he left her? "I'm not that person anymore. You have no reason to trust me after what I did to you. But I'm sorry Mari, I'm so very sorry. You didn't deserve what I did to you, what I did to us. I betrayed everything I stood for, but even worse than that, I betrayed you. I hope you can forgive me." He felt tears begin to well up, but he closed his eyes shut and looked away, he didn't want her to feel like her was trying to manipulate her emotionally, he couldn't do that again. 

He wanted to tell her that she could go if she wanted to, that in order to prove he wasn't trying to control her anymore he'd simply let her go. But he didn't want to. He missed her.

@Mari

[Mari 1]

"Trust?" Mari spat, her words oozing with the weight of his betrayal. His actions. She turned her gaze side ward to life. "You don't get to talk about such things." She continued - vitriol fueled by pain that she had been forced to bottle up again and again, and the pressure finally becoming too much - it exploded. And Life was unfortunately, right in the blast radius. She turned on him and bat his arm away. Her voice hurt, warbled. Shaking. Mari was shaking. "You're sorry!?" she asked. "What about the time I confided in you, and you relished in the fact that I had taken a life?"

The memory flashed in front of her; 

"I understand, you feel like you need to cling to what sense of humanity you have left. I don't need to know if I am right or wrong I know that everyone fears change but perhaps this is for the better. Whether you know if or not Mari, whether you choose to believe it or not, you're doing the wold a favour. Some people who will leave this game will most likely turn into mental psychopaths like Argumail. A body without cancer is a healthy one and if you decide keep choosing to think that ridding the world of its disease is the wrong thing to do then feel free to let it rot

"Or the time I asked for your help, but you claimed to love me, then decided you never wanted to see me again? What kind of person did that to someone they claimed to love?" Was such a thing even real, or possible for her?  First her ex husband, then Life, even Alkor had admitted the feelings were never real. Have you ever felt so much heartache that your chest physically hurts? It felt like she couldn't breathe - like a dark, cold hand had wrapped itself around her chest and throat and squeezed tight. Choking her without mercy or care.

I assure you this is no joke, it was only by coincidence that we had met up again. Do you really think i was interested in associating myself with you now? You don't seem very shaken by killing this man, oh how you've lost yourself Mari" 
--
To see others suffer does one good, to make others suffer even more: this is a hard saying but an ancient, mighty, human, all-too-human principle.... Without cruelty there is no festival. Right Mari?
-
"You're nothing, but, a, monster. You will soon learn what it truly means to suffer Mari. It's already too late for you. There is no escape from this place"

The words, that he had told her in the past; they wafted in and out of her head. Painful tunes that warbled the truth at her - something she had tried so very hard to escape lately. She wanted to do better. to be better. "You...you and Alkor were the only people I could trust, the only people I had opened up to. But the both of you..."  had She thought they both had died... now...both were back. "You never f**king cared Life." 

 You're so debased and tarnished even Alkor wouldn't touch you" 

"You know..." Mari said quietly. "You were right...Alkor never did want anything to do with me. Not really. I saw him recently - and he admitted everything...that he hadn't felt the words he spoke, didn't mean the gentle caresses we shared. Nothing was real."

Mari wanted to punch him, she wanted him to feel even an iota of the pain that she felt right now but Mari struggled. Hadn't she been doing good? Hadn't she been trying? She even had a friend now, she had Macradon...right? But then others started to trickle into her mind, people like Bahr who would call her a criminal, and rightly so - like Lessa who stood tall wise and proud, too pure for the madness that came with this world...people like Yuki and Quinn. People like Baldur...handsome and serene who leaked an immeasurable warmth... 

 shook her head, her heart hurt. Everything...Everything Life did...even right from the start...it was just to play her - just to hurt her and try to twist her into something she wasn't.  "You....you were my friend Life - you were my only friend for a long time. But you never saw me as that...did you?" She asked.

@Life

Edited March 4, 2020 by Mari

[Life 0]

Life's arm swung back to his side as Mari began to fulminate. "You're sorry!?" I am.. What about the time I confided in you, and you relished in the fact that I had taken a life?" I was wrong.. Or the time I asked for your help, but you claimed to love me, then decided you never wanted to see me again? What kind of person did that to someone they claimed to love?  It was easier that way.. You never f**king cared Life. I do.. 

Life stood there and took it all. watching as her veins bulged and her voice strained. Rejecting him for everything he was worth. How could he put the blame on the game? On a faulty system? Explain the things he heard, the lies he was fed. No, it was entirely his fault. He was weak and undisciplined. Easily manipulated. Mari was his closest friend, and he destroyed her. The worst part was that he remembered how it felt. He remembered torturing her, hurting her, conspiring to end her; and it made him physically sick because he remembered how it felt good. It was funny in a sense, his justification for her killing all those people would easily have applied to himself. The truth of the matter was if he ever got out of this game alive, he wouldn't be able to function, he'd become a psychopath just like Argumail. 

Mari reached out to him, countless times, she knew it wasn't him. She had the strength to persevere through it all and still put her friend first, but he left her for dead instead. He didn't deserve to be anywhere near her, because the truth was that even though she killed, she was a far better person then he. 

"I did.. and I still do, Mari. The truth is I'm the worst friend anyone could ever think to conceive. I can't call you my friend, I never behaved in a way a friend should have. Maybe at first.. at first it was the best friendship I ever had. You needed someone when everyone else was looking down on you, and I saw through you." Life paused, realizing that he was beginning to plead again. He didn't deserve her. "I want to be selfish Mari. You were right. The manipulation, the torture, the lies. It wasn't me. I want to tell you that you're my friend. That I care about you. That I want to ignore the fact that I used your dead daughter as leverage. I want you to trust me again. But I know it could never happen, I don't even deserve to be having this conversation. What I deserve is to pay for what I did. And I can only let you decide that Mari. Only you. I spent so long thinking about what I did, and I realized you're the only person that can answer it."

[Mari 1]

He seemed pensive. Quiet. His shoulders slumped as she verbally attacked him, but how could she not? How could she not be upset. He tortured her. He used her, and he reveled in it. He had a sick fascination with watching her suffer - and Mari couldn't just sweep that under a rug and pretend like it didn't happen. Because it did.  "Were you like that to anyone else?" Mari asked quietly. "Or did you just enjoy watching me suffer?" She didn't wait for an answer "You're not my friend." Mari said cooly. She was proud of herself for how effortlessly the words seemed to slip off her tongue, despite the unwavering turmoil that was raging within her. "You never were - not with how you acted. So don't try to pretend you were." 

It...hurt to say those words - because Mari had seen Life as a friend - despite him constantly hurting her, spewing words of hate at her, and trying to push her to take more lives..she wanted to believe there was good in him. She wanted to believe that beyond all that, was the man that she had befriended in the first place, but somewhere along the way he had disappeared. Replaced with a cruel, callous and vicious child of a man. Mari pulled her gaze from him.

"You shouldn't ignore those things - and its terrible to even suggest that. I don't think I can trust you again."  With her back still toward him Mari lifted her eyes to the path before her- ashen and damaged. Burnt away by a crushing behemoth. "Where were you these past few years?"

@Life

[Life 0]

Life thought on the question, wasn't he like that to anyone else? It couldn't just be that he only targeted her, why? He couldn't tell her that truth, it was already difficult enough. She couldn't trust him, he didn't know if he could rebuild the trust that he once had but he made a promise to himself long ago that he would make things up to her. Life looked away from her, too ashamed to make eye contact any longer. 

"Where were you these past few years?" 

Life stayed silent, trying to process the situation, even though he was being grilled, that much was expected. All things considered he could have been much worse off had Mari decided it to be so, and to be fair, she still could. Life opened his mouth, words following seconds later. "I isolated myself on the eighth floor. The dense jungle made it easy for me to hide from other players and just be on my own. I needed time away from things to reevaluate myself and think about what I did." Life paused. Wait didn't she say she saw Alkor recently? Life eyes widened in bewilderment, how did he miss that detail? Just as quickly as he surprised himself, he regained his composure. He was happy Alkor was alive, he spent so much time thinking about his death and blamed himself for not being strong enough to save him. But that was for another time. He still owed Mari an explanation.

"Sometimes I slept in a log, sometimes on an uncomfortable tree branch. I thought about you almost every day. And then I stopped. Because there was nothing that thinking could accomplish if I just stayed and moped around waiting for everyone else to do the dirty work. We're all in this together and I needed to do better on my end, start pulling my weight again. Though it seems that everyone has completely eclipsed me over the last two years, I don't know if I'll be of any use. I thought I'd come down here since there's supposed to be field boss that was free xp. I'm guessing that's why you're down here too?"

[Mari 1]

His silence said it all. "So I was the only one you ruthlessly tortured - and reveled in it." Mari muttered, her voice heavy with sadness. She couldn't see his face, but she had no doubt it would be torn. The Life that stood behind her was reminiscent of the one she had first met and befriended. The one she called 'little blackbird' the one who she had helped when an awry quest turned him into a frog. But... she had been tricked by that before. Mari wanted to ask him why. Why her? Was it because of how she lost her daughter? Or was she just in the wrong place at the wrong time? He answered her previous question with wavering words that sounded as though he doubted himself. He had isolated himself too, much like she had.

But...thinking of her? How? Why?  After everything...Why

"Why?" Mari asked, pained. "Why me?" She turned to face him - tears burning bloodshot eyes. "Why target me? Am I really so terribly bad?" She took a step toward him. Ash encompassed her boots as she took another step forward. Wind picked up and pushed it around her quickly collapsing form. It was hard to keep her composure. When someone who had caused her so much ache was standing right before her practically begging for repentance. He wanted her to decide? Fine. Mari lifted up her foot and rose it to kick him hard in the chest. Life spluttered - shimmering eyes wide as he fell back into the river.

!!SPLASH!!

"That actually felt good." Mari said as she watched him flail around in the shallow river. He looked completely soaked -like a drowned rat. Mari approached him and reached out her hand. "Despite what I thought...you were not my friend in the past - but everyone deserves a chance at redemption. I won't get in the way of you changing that in the future."

@Life

[Life 0]

It made sense, Mari was a lot more hurt than she was angry, maybe he was sick and twisted for real. The reason? There could only be one reason. Mari kicked him square in the chest as if she were tearing down a house of cards. Life landed straight back into the river, completely drenched. The pressure that hit him was relieving, it wasn't much but it was some fraction of the punishment he deserved. Life flashed back to his dreams, being stranded in the ocean without a life line, that same dream which haunted him for two years replaying over and over.His kimono now weighed heavier then the strength he had to pull himself back up from the water that rushed over his impuissant body. Life stared up into the clouds, giving her the answer "Because you were the closest one to me at the time, that was all. It could have been anyone, the problem wasn't with you, it was me."

The flowing water began to numb him, a river into an ocean. But this time, a life-line? Had someone come to save him? "everyone deserves a chance at redemption"  Life returned to his senses, the rope fading away, the ocean, just a river. Life reached out and took Mari's hand. Was she really giving him a second chance? If she was, it definitely wasn't because he deserved it, no, it was because maybe she too also was searching for a second chance. A chance at redemption. 

Even if the morrow is barren of promises, nothing shall forestall my return. 

Life smiled weakly and stood tall again with Mari's aid, though he still could not face her. "I swear to never harm you again Mari. Or so the Gods may send my soul to hell to burn for eternity. Though now, we have a beast to kill, do we not?" Life adjusted his kimono and walked ahead looking down at the charred earth before him. The beast shouldn't be too far away from this location. "Lead the way, I'm curious to see how far you've come."  

@Mari

Edited March 5, 2020 by Life

[Mari 1]

Mari clasped onto his hand and pulled, struggling against the weight of his waterlogged self. A part of her wanted to let him go, watch him fall back into the lake and leave him there to wallow in his own self pity. He deserved that much. But...if she did that, would she be any better? Would holding onto her hate, anger, and hurt do her any good?

"And I believe in this world of Aincrad, that we all have a chance at redemption."

Mari closed her eyes and sighed, remembering his passing voice. Words reigning true - strong. Baldur was right. She couldn't be like that. She lifted Life up onto safe land and let his hand go. "What do you think will do you better? To seclude yourself and avoid contact with the world, or push onwards, do better, and fight to save lives?"  Baldur had asked her the same thing, and it made her reflect on her seclusion. Perhaps those words would help Life in the same way they had helped her. Not that she entirely felt like she needed to help him...but...maybe it was harder to cut ties than she thought.  Hell... Alkor made it look so easy. 

Gentle cerulean eyes disappeared behind closed lids as a few moments of silence. There was a tremor in her heart, as the silence sunk into their skin like ice. Mari wanted to curse him, to tell him to never see her again. To be rid herself of him. She wouldn't return, nor go back. Not to the past. If she wanted to move forward, she would have to allow Life to as well, no matter how painful it was to see him right now. No matter how much he had hurt her, she had to attempt to cut off that despair. If she let her anger and pain seethe, it'd cut her. burning...silent...potent - till it bubbled over and caused pain to those around her.  That had happened before...and it caused someone to die. 

"We have no choice but to keep on living. No matter how beaten we are..."   Her words, solemn and pensive carried the weight she carried, and with them, she opted to share that with the ghost of a man before her. Mari turned her gaze away from Life and started down the path. "Because we always find something to protect - something we find worth fighting for. You just gotta find that again."

She'd show him just how far she had come, not without words. No idle promises - but with action.

@Life

[Life 0]

Life listened intently to what Mari was telling him, and to his relief it was many of the same questions that he had already asked himself during his own reflection. He had found himself again. The person that wanted to save lives and push out of this hell hole and get back to his family, he was not Life, he was Eric. A person with friends, family, hopes, dreams. He had a life to live and he didn't want to waste anymore of it in this game. But more importantly than that were the other players, they were all people with aspirations just like him too. As Mari turned around he smiled faintly, because he knew his answer.

"I want to live, Mari. I want to fight. Not just for my sake either. For the sake of everyone else trapped around me. I think we get so caught up as players that we forget that we're real people. Outside of this world we have lives, and more than that, their lives are linked with the lives of others outside of it. People who care about them. This is the conclusion I had come to during my reflection Mari, it's why I'm back. I'm tired of treating my life and lives of others as a game. I'm serious."  Life followed behind her as he spoke with determination, gripping the hilt of <<Fates Calling>> tightly.  He looked up into the charred canopies of the forest, trees became sparse, leaf litter turned to ash. They were getting closer to where they needed to be, and he'd find out just how far Mari had come. "Say Mari, since we're both doing the same quest, we should be partied, right?" Life opened the games dashboard and sent her the request.

@Mari

Spoiler

Party invite from player: <<Life>>

Do You Accept?
Y/N

 

Edited March 5, 2020 by Life

[Mari 1]

Mari blinked as she saw the party invite pop up in front of her. It...wasn't a friend request. He just wanted to share the experience with her from the kill. Fine. Whatever. Mari hit accept. "I don't care - I get the same experience either way." She said, assuming she was right in her assumption. Mari gestured for Life to follow her with a single wave of her hand. So he did, quietly. It gave her time to process the events up until that point.


Mari jutted out her arm, stopping Life in his path. "Hold up - that's it right there. I'd rather take care of this quickly. You wanna see how I've grown? Just sit tight."

Thunder cracked the air, rolling overhead with pent up fury. Crying out for the burning forest. Shouting, kicking and screaming for retribution. Well, Mari would just have to heed to the call of those mighty gods. She pulled out her dagger. One that Life would have recognized. She got it from defeating the Orochi. Its blade crimson like a rich wine, or like fresh blood dripping endlessly from an open wound. It flashed, as she activated a Sword Art, <<Eternal Cyclone>>  She lowered herself, then kicked up off the ground.

Charging now; toward the might of the roaring Byakko. It towered over the tiny woman. Screeching an unholy sound as it charged at her with matted hair aflame with embers. Slick pools of drool dripped from its maw as it opened wide- ready to swallow Mari whole, and it just may have if she didn't pirouette  out of the way. Her dagger landed - slicing its cheek. Then another spin as she darted forward. The blade cutting through thick meat of its underside as she span around again and again - disappearing under the belly of the beast.

...Then she was gone.

Byakko rumbled, sounds of a volcano ready to erupt as its eyes shifted to Life; but before it could do any more it exploded. A downpour of data shimmering with flecks of red as they danced around the victorious Mari.

And just like that, in that single attack - the beast was gone. Mari stood solitary in the ashen wasteland that the Byakko had left. She wiped her brow with the back of her hand, smearing ash across her face. There she stood, before Life - a lonely flame amidst death and decay. It was...quite fitting for someone in her position. Just like the Byakko had devastated everything around it...Mari had done the same to those around her. Even now...

Even now...

She was a bother to those around her. She wasn't really anything more than a monster wearing human skin. The battlefield was silent. Hanging heavy in the air. It was like the silence before a storm, or a bomb. Terrifying in its own way - as it waited for either one of the players to grow, or wither - to take that first step forward to mend what had shattered like a fallen glass upon a glassy sky. 

"I sometimes forget how much others have to fight for." Mari said softly, taking that step with her own hands. "And how I just go through the motions of mimicking that." Mari knew there was nothing waiting for her in the other world. 

Thunder cracked, roaring above - then one by one droplets of rain began to fall. As if it heeded to the call of the wild, washing away the devastation. Each drop intermingling with the ashes below, falling softly - so as not to disturb them. Mari lifted her head skywards and shut her eyes. Feeling the droplets fall onto her freckled cheeks.

"Did you get what you wanted from that?"

@Life

General
Level: 53 | HP: 1090  |Energy: 95/106

STATS
DAM: 11 | EVA 3  | MIT 43 | ACC 4 | 

ID:137149    BD:8 +4 = HIT 
11+ 5 charge = 16 x 13 = 208-40=168

[x13] Eternal Cyclone (11 Energy) - The user holds their dagger in a reverse-grip, and then spins wildly at high speeds, becoming a bladed whirlwind that strikes the target repeatedly.

BYAKKO | HP: 150  | MIT: 40
Damage per Attack: 60
On MD rolls of 9 or 10, half the damage dealt is instead dealt as burn damage, which ignores mitigation as a status. This has no DoT.

Edited March 5, 2020 by Mari

[Life 0]

Life felt some consolation when Mari accepted his party request, it was like a baby step towards rebuilding their friendship, even if it was seemingly for some selfish reason. However what Life was more interested in was Mari's growth. He allowed his eyes to look over towards her name and health bar, eyes widening as the numbers indicated registered in his brain. Level 53!? She was more than twice his level now!? Life sheepishly grinned as he looked away, coming to the realisation that now SHE also knew that she was more than twice his level...

Life scratched the side of his cheek with his finger as he looked back towards her as the skies began to obnubilate, the shadows from the clouds cast themselves over Mari only wavering when lightning struck. He watched her stand there as she took the lead, staring down the creature as it skulked out from behind ashen trees. Life almost felt scared, no he was, he feared for the creature that was about to be on the receiving end of Mari's raw emotions. Just sit tight she says? 

Almost as quickly as the creature had appeared, it had vanished. Life standing bewildered as the orange form before him turned into a flashing whirlwind of cuts and strikes. In one move the quest boss was finished. It took Life much more effort to even come close to the same effect on Kumatetsu on floor eight. Though Mari made such quick work of the beast he wouldn't really be able to tell if it was even a threat to him. 

Rain began to gravitate toward the desolate land where Mari stood, as if it were feebly attempting to douse the last ember burning in protest. The flame that was Amari Olfsden would no be extinguished for a long time to come. "Did you get what you wanted from that?" Life blinked at her, still in a state of awe before replying a few seconds later. "I think so.. though I can't believe that I once stood above you, you've completely eclipsed me, that's for certain. Even if you're just doing it for the sake of it, fighting for your life is just as important as anyone elses." 

Life thought for a moment on that statement, he realized that he actually had no idea how far the players had been progressing since his isolation. "Say, Mari. How many floors are we up to now?" 

@Mari

Edited March 5, 2020 by Life

[Mari 1]

Mari ignored the rain as it pelted her skin like tiny shards. She lived on the fourth floor, a little rain like this was nothing  Furthermore; she could go to her house, and sit in front of the fire - letting its warmth leech into her skin.  

Life spoke; his voice   as he spoke of levels and strength. "I have?" Mari asked as he claimed how much she eclipsed him. Mari took this moment to glance at his level. 

.  "I have?" Mari took this moment to glance at his level. "Ah."  He was considerably lower leveled, but for Mari that wasn't entirely anything new. She had been consistently questing with those who were levels 1-5. So to see him like that?  "You know it's really not as big of a deal as you make it out to be." Mari said, voicing her thoughts on the matter. He'd been away for so long after all. She didn't mean to sound callous and cold with her words, she just didn't seem to care what his level was - or who was stronger than who. To her, strength was more than just numbers. Her eyes furrowed at his words. She opened her mouth to protest them, but thunder roared above drowning out callous and hurtful words. 

Instead she paused, and waited for it to pass.

"Floor 24...people are fighting the Labyrinth boss before the final boss to unlock the path to the 25th."  Mari reached out, letting the droplets of rain hit the palm of her hand, pensive. She wanted to leave this place. She wanted to be done with it. She wanted to find someplace dry, and warm and just process everything that happened today. "Are you going to return to the forest like some kind of forest hermit?"

@Life

[Life 0]

It made Life glad that she wasn't so fixated on strength like everyone used to be before he had put himself in isolation. It really only felt like yesterday when the crimson inquisition threw its weight around belittling everyone they came across based on their strength. Life had no doubt if he were as weak as Mari back then he would have also been the target of such nonsense. Yes.. Mari was never like that to begin with, and the fact that didn't change when she was the one with the power put him at ease. Maybe it wasn't such a big deal, but at the end of the day it was their actual lives on the line, it wouldn't be wise to completely ignore the numbers all together. Life sighed "Perhaps you're right, but they're still important from a gaming standpoint. Especially in one that has our necks in a guillotine. Still, we shouldn't forget to treat people like people. Not numbers." Life spoke with a deep upper class aristocratic British voice, an accent he picked up from his father who had came from wealth in Britain before moving to Japan.

Floor 24? It seemed like the other players had made quiet some progress, though the amount of years that had passed... would they really be around long enough to clear all 100 floors? Still, a quarter of the way was still a huge milestone. "I see.. we've come some ways. But there's still much more to do." Life twinkled at the following statement. "Like I said before Mari, I'm back for good now. I've pulled my head out of the gutter and its focused on getting out of here. I'm not about to crawl back into isolation. I hope that doesn't bother you too much, seeing me again..."  He wondered if the thought of him being dead was comforting for her. 

And what now? Life? They had both done what they came to do, were they to part ways? Say goodbye and not see each other for months? 

He paused, almost sulking. He didn't want to say goodbye yet. "I.. like what you did with your hair by the way. It looks nice, I think it suits you." Life attempted at small talk, anything to keep the moment endure as long as it could.

@Mari

[Mari 1]

"From a gaming standpoint...." Mari repeated thoughtfully. Right...they were in a game after all - so many things here were simply not possible in the real world, and vise versa. "Does it really matter, even from that standpoint though?" Mari asked Life. "Strength is never about your own numbers. It's how you act - how you utilize what you have." She shut her eyes. Recently...Yuki, someone barely scraping by level 3 had managed to take down an Elven King, with little more than the thorns on her armour. "With the right mindset, information, and tools - you are just as capable as a frontliner."  Why was she even saying all this to him. It was things he'd surely already know, he'd been there -seen it all. He wasn't some fresh faced player venturing out of the Town of Beginnings for the first time. This was Life. A man who knew how to hold himself in battle, who knew how to fight. And how to manipulate others.

Mari turned away from him. Wet hair clung to the dewy skin of her face. The both of them were absolutely soaked. "It does bother me, greatly. I can't stand here and pretend that what you did was okay - I can't just let all of that go. I'm not strong enough for that."  Mari wasn't one for lying or sugarcoating things. It'd probably bite her in the ass when she started teaching at whatever strange school Macradon was going to cook up. "Honestly...after everything I'm just sick of people lying." Mari said quietly as her eyes shifted to the ground. Tiny buds of green had sprouted from the suffocating ash. Life springing forth where there was once death.

"I just want to go to my home and curl up in front of a warm fire." Mari turned away from him, ready to walk away. She had a long way to go before the 4th floor and by the time it reached the days end, she'd only just be getting there. 
 

 "I.. like what you did with your hair by the way. It looks nice, I think it suits you." 

Mari paused and glanced over her shoulder at him. "At least you noticed it. He didn't even realize." But then again, Alkor never really did see her, did he? 

@Life

[Life 0]

As much as Life didn't want to part so soon, he knew there was nothing left to say for now. So Alkor is alive, and broke up with Mari... It seemed he was wrong in his matchmaking abilities, but he also felt this was just both of their stubborn natures butting heads. They were both loners after all, they needed each other. Perhaps Alkor didn't see it that way. Life sighed, after listening to everything she had to say he began to understand where she was at. Everything was pointed at her, fingers and swords. She needed a friend with innocence, purity, someone light-hearted but full of love. Not someone jaded or cold, withered and battered, not someone like him. "Well I guess that's it then. I'll probably find an Inn or something on a lower floor. Check out the sights and scenery, see the progress everyone's made.. start getting focused on clearing the floors again." Life smiled weakly before turning in the opposite direction. He looked back one more time before leaving "Oh and.. I'm sorry you and Alkor didn't work out... I thought you two would be good for each other. I'm thankful for you letting me know he's alive though. Take care, Mari." 

@Mari

[Mari 1]

"Ahh..." Mari wrapped her arms around herself when Life mentioned Alkor; the name still hurt, an ache that swirled unrestrained within her chest - engulfing her heart and suffocating it. Mari thought she was over the ache, and the pain - but seeing another face from her past stirred it all up again. "Well...it turns out that he was only acting the part of 'Alkor' the person behind Alkor in reality doesn't want that sort of thing. Every kiss, caress, and admission of love was nothing more than a way to placate me, because he thought it was what I wanted to hear. He thought it'd help me...I guess...In a way it had."  Although...hearing that it was all a lie had hurt, more than she admitted to anyone.  How could she... how could she openly talk about her pain? All Mari could do with it was hold it close to her heart as its jagged thorns tore at her. She'd guard it as though it were precious. This was her pain, and her pain alone. Mari sighed. "You should message him though...you'd have more of a chance at getting a reply, and meeting up with him than I." Mari gave Life a weak smile. "In his own way he was doing what he thought was right, I can't... I can't ever blame him for it. I'm just thankful he's alive."

Mari paused as her eyes, bloodshot and tired danced over his dripping form. "I'm...thankful you're alive too Life." And with those words she turned away from him to make the journey home. Mari only wanted to do the quest - to better herself and prove herself to those who were crazy enough to want to be by her side, but after today. She wasn't so sure anymore. 


@Life