[SP-F?] <<The Spartan>>

[Razmor 0]

Angel was walking through the street of the 2nd floor, looking around at the various shops and buildings that inhabited the medieval style city. It was by far his favorite of all the floors, mainly because it was where he had set up his shop and temporary home. It was familiar to him, and he liked familiar things. It made him think about a better time when he didn't have to worry about being killed by coding or another player. It reminded him of a world he wished desperately to return to.

As he walked, he saw something very interesting on the local Info-Hub; a spartan had been sighted. He frowned as he looked at the report, scrolling through it a few times to get the full story. "A non-enemy Spartan? In Aincrad?" He said as he put the report away. "Maybe it's a player." He said to himself. But then another thought occurred. "What if it's an NPC?" An NPC spartan could be a treasure trove of possibilities; new quests, new XP, and new loot. Angel smiled and started heading for the local Teleport Pad. He stepped on and shouted, "Teleport, Floor 7!" Instantly he was whisked away to the upper floor.

[Razmor 0]

Once Angel materialized on the 7th floor he looked around. He had heard about a town called Rig that was heavily Greek inspired; what better place to look for a spartan? Angel began his long walk towards the town, his sword and shield at the ready. He scanned the path as he walked, looking for a possible ambush. With all the mountainous rocks and jagged landscape, it was a nice place to hide and lie in wait. Angel had experienced this once and was in no mood to repeat it.

As he walked, he suddenly heard a strange hissing noise. He froze, holding his shield close and tightening his grip on his sword. After slowly turning a few times to find the threat, he saw it. Hiding among the various rock formations, was something reptilian. After taking a few steps towards the monster, it moved out from cover and revealed itself to be a dragon. Angel frowned, "An Earth Dragon. Of course." He said as he got ready to fight.

[Razmor 0]

The dragon rose out of it's rocky cover, baring it's teeth at Angel as it hissed at him. Angel stood his ground against the threat. The two met eyes and Angel charged forward. He jumped off of an elevated rock and attempted to stab down into the dragon's stony head. But even though the dragon was large and bulky, it was surprisingly fast as it not only dodged Angel's blade, but countered with a thundering backhand. Angel was thrown back until he crashed into the rock formation behind him. As he slumped onto the ground, he watched his health bar slowly drop. His body was sore from the hit as the dragon crawled towards him, hissing as it did so. Angel lifted his shield over his body in an attempt to cover himself up.

[Razmor 0]

The dragon glared at Angel as he continued his approach. Then, the monster arched it's back and raised it's head, the universal sign that it was about to attack. Just before the monster lunged forward and snapped it's massive jaws onto Angel's body, the player rolled out of the way and onto his feet. He readied his weapon as he charged forward and stabbed his blade into the side of the dragon's head. The monster roared in pain and fury as it reared once again, this time taking Angel's sword with it. "Damn it!" He cursed to himself as he watched his only weapon escape his grasp. He looked around for something to use when he realized that he still had something; his shield was still attached to his arm. Angel looked between his arm and the dragon as it attempted to recover from the sword strike. Then he ran forward, his shield held close to his chest. The dragon saw this and, with fury in it's eyes, lunged forward as Angel. Then the world slowed down.

[Razmor 0]

Just before the monster could reach Angel, a loud, almost unearthly, yell echo through the canyon. Both Angel and the Dragon turned to face the sound. It was another party. Consisting of three players, the party had what appeared to be a Tank and two Fighters. They didn't have any guild symbols on them which made Angel guess that they were a rag tag group of friends. But apparently the dragon had other thoughts. As he backed away from Angel, the Dragon turned to face the new party. They engaged and Angel put the pieces together. They had seen him in danger and had rushed to his aid, the Tank using his <> Skill to attract the Dragon.

Angel slowly stood, opening his inventory to find a new weapon. He didn't carry many items on his person to save of storage space and he was paying the price for it. While this was going on, the party and the dragon had engaged in combat. And so far, they were doing pretty well. The Tank held the dragon's attention while the Fighters kept dealing damage to it. At first, Angel wasn't sure if they needed him. But then, something changed the game. The dragon reared its head like it was about to snap it's jaws, but instead of biting at the Tank it shot a massive flurry of flames at him. The Tank wasn't ready for this and he was thrown back by the breath weapon. With the Tank out of the way, the Dragon quickly took care of the Fighters. He swung a massive claw at the nearest one, sending him flying. And for the second one, it lifted it's front left paw and stepped on the player. A terrible crunch was heard as Angel watched the player's health go into the red.

That was enough. Angel closed his menu as he charged forward, his shield held to his side. A fire burned in his eyes as he rushed at the Dragon's head, a plan in mind. As the party that had attempted to save him were backed into a corner, broken and bloody, the Dragon glared down at them with an almost visible sneer. It's head was low to the ground, ready to snap up the party in a single movement. But Angel made it first. When he was next to the dragon, he put all his weight into slamming the flat of his shield into the exposed sword hilt which still protruded from the side of the dragon's head. The blade went deeper into the dragon's skull, causing it to rear and hiss in frustration. Using this window to his advantage, Angel gets in between the monster and the party. Even if he died in the cross fire, he'd defend other players till the end. When the Dragon refocused on the party, it looked mad. Angel held his shield high, ready to end it.

[Razmor 0]

Suddenly, the dragon reared once again, this time in pain. It stood straight up, reaching it massive claws behind itself. At first Angel was confused; but then the dragon turned around. Stuck to its back with a spear end sticking out, was a mysterious figure dressed in Grecian armor. Attached to his right arm was a massive circular shield made of bronze. In his left hand was firmly attached to the long Javelin spear that he had impaled into the Dragon's spine. But Angel noticed something weird; the warrior had a different weapon on his person. Attached to his right hip was a short sword, a weapon Angel recognized as a gladius.

Angel was always fascinated with the idea of Spartan warriors and the culture that surrounded them. That was one of the reasons he had started his search for the mysterious warrior in the first place. That and he wanted the extravagant loot that may or may not have come with the warrior's discovery. But no matter what the reason for his search, he was glad that the warrior had shown himself now.

As the dragon thrashed about, the Spartan continued to hold on tightly to the shield and spear. Then he dislodged the weapon from the dragon's back and jumped down, landing next to Angel. Almost like a machine his shield instantly snapped up, his spear held back so that the tip barely peaked out in front of the shield face. Angel was amazed at the grace that this warrior possessed, even though it was supposed to be one of the most fearsome foes on the battlefield. As the dragon refocused on us, the Spartan glanced over at me and we met each other's eyes. His were cold, yet strong. He had the eyes of a leader; the type of eyes I wanted.

[Razmor 0]

The Dragon's roar returned our attention to the fight. I noticed that it's health bar was nearing the red and I got an idea. I quickly opened my menu and unequipped my sword. I saw it pixelize out of the dragon's head and it appeared in Angel's inventory. Then he re-equipped it. Like he had hoped, the sword now materialized in his hand. He stole a glance over at the spartan before assuming his usual posture; shield held up with the sword held back a bit. Then the Dragon roared and charged us. In unison, the Spartan and Angel stepped forward with their inside foot and stabbed their weapons upward. At the same time, they pressed their shields up and against the Dragon's rough scales. The monster roared in anger as it's health bar quickly made it into the red zone. Just one more hit, Angel thought to himself. Then the Spartan disappeared from Angel's side. He didn't retreat because when Angel looked to his side, he saw the Spartan caught in the dragon's massive claw. The monster seemed to realize that Angel was distracted because while he was looking away, the dragon swung his massive claw and knocked Angel to the side, slamming him against the rocks. Angel's vision was blurry as he tried to recover.

When he could see clearly, he didn't like what he saw. The dragon was standing straight up, it's angry eyes focused on the Spartan in his claws. Then he held the warrior up and over his head and opened his jaws. Angel's eyes went wide. He quickly recovered as he got his sword and shield ready. He jumped up and charged forward, holding his sword a little differently than normally; his grip was more loose. As the dragon dropped the warrior into his jaws, Angel planted his right foot into the dirt and hurled his sword over handed like a throwing knife. The blade flew straight and landed point first, driving itself into the Dragon's hide. The monster paused for a moment before exploding into pixels. In his place, was the Spartan warrior. He seemed perfectly fine as his shield shined in the sun and his spear tip seemed to catch all the extra light. He looked victorious.

[Razmor 0]

Angel watched as the Spartan approached him, his shield and spear still firmly attached to his arms. When the warrior stopped, he planted the end of his spear into the dirt and starred directly into Angel's eyes. The two of them shared a moment of eye contact, both of them having a moment of silent understanding. Then the Spartan turned and started jogging back up the mountain. Angel processed this for a second before taking off after the Spartan.

Angel followed close behind the warrior, jumping over various jagged rock formations and large gaps. For the size of the warrior's shield, he moved with astounding speed and precision. Then, as they got to a high point on on of the various mountains, the Spartan surprised Angel. He reached his shield arm back and attached the massive piece of bronze to his back. Then he ran towards the edge of the cliff side at full speed. Angel wavered for a second but kept up his speed, following the Spartan's lead and attaching his shield to his back. Then the Spartan threw his Javelin off the cliff side, and then swan dove off the side. Angel came to a stop at the edge, his boots grinding against the rocky ground in an attempt to slow down. He starred over the side but was surprised to see that the Spartan had disappeared into a thick fog cloud. Angel took a few deep breaths before turning around. He kept shaking his head and scratching his hair. Then he turned and faced the cliff. "Damn it." He said before running back towards the cliff side. Then he took the dive.

[Razmor 0]

Angel fell straight down, breaking through the thick fog cloud and continuing downward. The wind stung at Angel's eyes as he starred into the black abyss that waited below him. As he fell, a thought crept into his mind; was this all a trap? Was the spartan nothing more than a monster trap that lured players to their doom with the promise of loot and prizes. Then Angel shook his head. "This game may be cruel, but that'd be just awful." He told himself. But in reality, he knew that the game was fully capable of something like that. Perhaps he deserved to die for jumping off a cliff. Or maybe he deserved the rewards for being so daring. Whatever the case, Angel knew that he had made his own choice. These thoughts kept going through his head until he saw the ground. It was a small pond, with a few ripples going around it. Angel crossed his arms in front of his face and braced himself. Then he crashed into the water's surface.

[Razmor 0]

The virtual water crashed around him, he felt a wave of cold wash over him. His crossed arms broke the surface, making him not take to much damage from the impact itself. After turning himself around and swimming up, Angel took in a couple deep breaths and was surprised to realize that the air was cold. After pulling himself out of the small pond and onto dry land, he saw that his breath was visible in the cold air. He stood up, drying himself off a little before actually opening his eyes and looking around.

It was as if he was on a completely different floor. The environment had changed from the usual rocky terrain to a flat grassy area. It looked like some kind of Greek temple with a massive front yard. After looking around a little more, Angel saw various trees growing around the estate, along with a small stream running through the center. Angel stretched his shoulders and started walking towards the temple. It looked like the Parthenon in Greece; a massive temple dedicated to all the various gods and goddesses of Greek mythology. The only difference was the size. The Parthenon was massive, but this temple was almost a quarter of the size.

Angel slowly walked up the stairs, looking around and admiring the architecture. He was always fascinated with the Greeks and their works, especially their mythology. As he entered the temple, the familiar smell of incense entered his nose. He heard a strange noise as he continued deeper into the temple. As he got closer to a certain room, he recognized the sound as prayers. What he thought was strange, was that the prayers were in Latin, not Greek. Angel frown as he slowly pushed open a door and saw the Spartan kneeling in front of a shrine.