Legend
Episode 3: A Friend?
Shadow Wanderer
sat there, staring at Sapphire Shard for no more than two seconds before
turning away from her and beginning to walk away. "Wait!" she said,
she stood up and hurriedly ran after him. "I wanted to thank you for
saving me, even though it wasn't necessary. I mean- I would have just
re-spawned, it's not that bad."
He continued to walk, not saying a word. Sapphire shifted nervously,
"Soooooo. Why did you help me anyway?" He just grunted, not even
breaking stride.
She
folded her arms and smirked mischievously, "Ooooh. Are you one of THOSE
players that are quiet around everybody until they find that ONE person that
they care about then they spend every POSIBLE second they can with them. Then
they try to protect them and sacrifice themselves even though they don't have
too and the whole thing is OVERLY dramatic. Then they fall in love and meet
each other in real life and get married hand have little geek babies!"
He
stopped in his tracks and slowly turned around. He had one of the best, "What the crap?!?" looks on his face
that she had ever seen. "Bwahahahahahh! The look on your face!" She
fell on the ground laughing her little virtual head off; Shadow Wanderer face
palmed. He took a deep breath before replying, "No I don't think I'm one
of those people, and I don't think I want little geek babies in this stage of
my life."
Sapphire
finally stood up after a long laughing session, "Sorry, I couldn't resist.
Let me formally introduce myself; my name is Sapphire Shard and I all ready
know your name Shadow Wanderer." She stretched out her hand, he cautiously
took it, they shook hands. He cleared his throat, "So then, Sapphire
Shard, I assume you're on your beginner’s quest?" She nodded, "Yup! I
didn't expect the first enemy to be so hard though..." He turned away from
her, “That’s because you skipped right to the mini boss, you were supposed to
walk through the woods and fight smaller groups of enemies, getting you
experience. Plus you used all your wing stamina and you didn't counter attack.
Talk about a noob."
She
looked at the ground, a saddened expression on her face. No one likes being
called a noob, even if they are one, but having all those flaws pointed out
hurt more than it should of. "I-I guess I wasn't really thinking... I-I
guess I'll go finish my quest....Thanks for the help..." she whispered as
she slowly walked away.
Shadow
Wanderer felt bad, he had never felt bad about calling someone a noob before.
Maybe he felt bad because he was used to the hateful replied most people give,
he wasn't used to this sad but polite reply. "Wait, Sapphire Shard... I'm
sorry. I was just trying to let you know what you did wrong, sorry for being
rude." She turned back around, her sad expression instantly turned to one
of understanding, "It's ok, thought I still have to finish my quest, want
to come along?"
Shadow
was surprised by the quick forgiveness, this girl was something special. But
her request for him to tag along made him a little nervous, he was always a
loner king of guy so he didn't know what it was like to fight with another
player. "Umm...... I guess I can come along..."
Sapphire's
face instantly lit up, "That's great! I'm sure we'll beat up those wolf
monster creatures with no problem!" She jumped up and down with
excitement. Shadow wasn't sure if this was still a good Idea but he didn't want
to douse her excitement, plus she was kind of adorable when she was happy.
"You know, most people call those wolf creatures Bolfs." She stopped
hopping, "Bolfs? What kind of a name is that? That doesn't sound cool, I
mean what am I going to tell my friends? Oh,
I fought some bolfs in Legend yesterday! See it doesn't sound cool."
Shadow
sighed and face palmed, "Can we get a move on. Please?" Sapphire
stepped back embarrassed, "Oh. Yeah. Sorry." And so, the two of them set off deeper into
the forest.
They
strode forward in an awkward silence; Sapphire wanted to break it but she
didn’t have the guts. Shadow Wanderer walked through the silence better than
Sapphire, he almost seemed at home in it. He was a curious fellow, Sapphire
couldn’t quite understand him. What are his motives? Why did he agree to come
along? Why did he choose a samurai for his character? These questions plagued
her mind.
After a
few minutes of walking a group of four bolfs emerged from the trees, they
snarled and growled as they slowly approached. Shadow Wanderer readied his
scythe and Sapphire summoned her sword, “Soooo, what’s the plan?” She asked. He
looked at her like he’d forgotten she was there. He stood there, not quite
knowing what to say. “He must never have
been in a commanding position before.” She thought. The bolfs stood there,
growling, ready to attack at any time. Sapphire finally said, “You know what,
How about I take two bolfs and you take two bolfs. Ok?” he nodded looking
relived that the leadership position was taken off of his shoulder.
They
stood in attack position, Shadow spread his knees apart and griped his scythe;
Sapphire held her sword at her side and stood on the balls of her feet ready to
dodge any attacks. She jumped forward and slashed the first bolf several times,
killing it, before it even had the chance to attack. The second bolf jumped
forward, trying to attack her before she could withdraw, she easily jumped out
of the way and its jaws only caught air. She swiftly slashed at the creature
and turned it to dust.
She
smiled to herself and turned to see how Shadow was coming. He was leaning
against a tree, scythe at his side and no bolfs to be seen. She looked at him
confused, he seemed to smirk under his scarf. “It took me one swing to kill
them” he said to answer the confusion on her face, “Nice job this time, Using
your characters advantages to overcome any of the enemies attacks” She folded
her arms and made a pouty face, “I asked if you wanted to come with me, not be
my teacher.” He rolled his eyes picked up his scythe and they continued on.
After
about thirty minutes of slaying small hordes of bolfs they finally entered into
a large, gray clearing. Dozens of bolfs were gathered around an area where
there were several boulders set up like a stage. A plain bag was set in the
middle of the stage with two bolfs on either side of it. Sapphire pointed to
the bag, “Is that the bag off seeds I need?” Shadow covered her mouth and
dashed behind a tree with her. “What was that?” she asked. He shushed her, “If
they hear you they will be on you before you can cry for help.” He whispered.
Realization dawned on her face and she nodded with understanding
They
peeked out from behind the tree and watched the bolfs. The two that were by the
bag must have been the ones to steal the bag. Some bolfs tried to leap up on
the stage but were swiftly pushed back into the crowed. The two on stage began
to howl and soon all the bolfs had their nose turned upward in a howl. Sapphire
and Shadow turned to each other. “Do bolfs eat seeds? Their half bore so I
guess that makes sense.” whispered Sapphire. Shadow shrugged, “I don’t know,
when I did the quest, they had stolen bag of meat from the butcher. The first
quest is different for everyone.” he whispered back.
Sapphire
folded her arm thoughtfully, “How are we going to get that bag?” after not even
five seconds, she jumped up with excitement, “I know! I’ll fly in, defeat the
two bolfs on the stage and fly out! Easy peasy lemon squeezey!” Shadow Wanderer
groaned, “Even if you were able to get the bag and fly out, you would have
dozens of bolfs on your tail. And like before, you would run out of flight
stamina and fall. It won’t work, trust me.” Sapphire smirked, “Ah, but you have
only heard the first step in my plan. Next, I would fly onto one of the
branches of the surrounding trees, the blofs can’t climb the tree so they will
surround it and wait for me to come down or fly off, and in that time you can
pick them off in the back. I’ll even help weaken them by using my ranged
attack.”
Shadow
stared at her, not sure whether to think she was crazy, or a genius. He folded
his arms and let out another groan, “All right, let’s give it a shot. But if
thing go wrong, don’t say I didn’t warn you!” Sapphire nodded and took to the
air, she summoned her sword and pointed it at the nearest of the two bolf. She
kicked off the tree and flew toward the bolf as fast as she could. Her sword point
slammed into the creature with great force, instantly killing it. The second bolf
turned to her and snarled with rage. A few slices later and it was dust. She
grabbed the seed bag and held it under her arm. With a quick jump she took to
the air, hovering there for a moment she heard all the growls and snarls of the
bolfs below. Her eyes shifted from tree to tree looking for the ideal branch,
she picked one that was roughly 10 feet off the ground. At that height the
bolfs could see her but not jump to reach her
She nimbly
landed on the branch and gazed at the surrounding trees, trying to catch a glimpse
of Shadow Wanderer. There was no sign of him. Doubt crept into her mind, did he
leave her to fend for herself? Her gaze swept across the trees over and over,
hoping to see him. A flash of red appeared in the corner of her eyes, maybe it
was his scarf. She turned to look but he wasn’t there, but a bolf at the back
of the group gathered around the tree crumbled into dust. She saw the red again
and turned just in time to see Shadow’s scarf disappear into the shadows. Sapphire
laughed, realizing what was going on, “He
must be using some kind of concealment spell to hide himself so the bolfs don’t
turn to attack him!”
In fact
it was Shadow Wanderer’s special ability, just like how Sapphire Shard can fly.
Shadow can become invisible in the shadows, it’s impossible to discover him as
long as he is in the shadows.
Sapphire
aimed at the bolfs below shouted, “Swift Shard!” A crystal hurled towards the
bolfs below and shattered upon contact of one, it was damaged but not dead. She
continued to send crystals hurdling down at them while Shadow picked them off
in the back. He started to pick up speed, destroying 2 or 3 of them at a time.
Soon there were only 12 of them left, they stopped barking up the tree and
started to sniff around; they knew something was hunting them. Shadow stayed
hidden, not wanting to be overwhelmed be them. One barked at the group and 5
bolfs started ramming the tree, it shook with such force that Sapphire struggled
to hold her balance, she fell. It happened so fast that she didn’t have any
time to react, so she fell head first into the open jaws of the bolfs below.
She screamed as she fell.
“Sapphire!
No!” shouted Shadow. He came rushing out of the shadows, red scarf trailing
behind him as leapt an impossible height over the heads of the bolfs; he caught
her and skidded to a stop on the ground. Sapphire looked as surprised as the
bolfs; she burst from his arms and hovered a few feet in the air, bag of seeds
still in her arms. “You ok?” he asked. She just nodded and stared at the
remaining bolfs. They growled and charged at them; Sapphire and Shadow readied
their weapons and attacked.
Soon all
that was left of the bolfs was a pile of dust. Sapphire dropped the bag of
seeds and laid down on the ground. Shadow leaned over her and stared at her. “You’ve
got to stop saving me, I don’t need you as a guardian. But thanks for saving my
butt back there.” He rolled his eyes and picked up the bag of seeds and said, “Come
on, let’s get your quest finished.” She smirked and stood up; and with that
they were on their way.
Keith was
sitting on the fence when they got back, when he saw them approaching he rushed
over. Sapphire held out the bag to him. He held the bag bewildered, “I can’t believe
it; you actually got it back! Oh, thank you Sapphire Shard! Thank you!” She
smiled a gentle smile, “Your welcome Keith.” He cradled the bag in his arms, “Oh,
I can’t wait to tell dad. He’ll be so happy.” He turned to Sapphire, “How about
you come inside. I’m sure my dad will reward you for saving our farm.” She
smiled again, “I’ll be happy to come inside.” Keith nodded and towards his
front door; Sapphire began walking that way when she realized that Shadow stood
still back where Keith met them.
She turned
to face him, “You coming?” she asked. He gazed at the ground, “Your quest is
done, our partnership is through. This was fun…..Sapphire Shard.” He turned to
leave. “Wait! Don’t go… I still haven’t found out Legend’s story, that’s the
whole reason I went on this quest. Please…don’t leave me yet.” He paused, “Go
into their house, you’ll learn the story there… I’ll wait for you out here…” A
smile spread across her face; she ran up and hugged him, “Thank you…” she
whispered.
Shadow
stood shocked; this girl was something special. He watched as she ran into the
house. She made him enjoy the game in another way than he was used too. He was
so determined to leave her but for some reason… He felt like staying with her.
He leaned against his scythe, trying to decide what to do. “Maybe a traveling companion wouldn’t be so
bad.” He thought. He made up his mind and waited for her return.
This was the start of a legendary
friendship.
