Alure's Crypt.
9:23 p.m. 16th Peniel 1091.
Boom!
"Uaak!" Syèl cried out in pain as he crashed into one of Alure's many statues. He grimaced as he clutched his ribs and stumbled to his feet, blood seeping from gaping wounds on his arms and face. A quick scan of his Health Bar left him pale as he realized his HP had dropped to less than 1000 points. One strike from that woman had wiped out over 90% of his entire HP!
Syèl cursed and looked around, searching for his partner. Luckily, he found Shokō slumped against a wall, unconscious. Judging from the rapid rise and fall of her chest, she was still among the living, but with the rate at which she was losing blood, she would soon join the dead.
Syèl frowned and roared at the woman floating over her coffin. "Wake up already!" Attracted by his shout, the woman's eyes snapped to the halben. Syèl quickly dove out of the way, and his eyes narrowed as he watched the statue behind him explode into dust. The halben cursed as he could neither see nor comprehend the attack. It was not a blast of air or something with physical mass.
It seemed more like a devastating force instantaneously materialized around whatever Alure looked at and acted on it.
Syèl panicked as he watched debris from the explosion land dangerously close to Shokō, with a few particles grazing her arm. He realized she was utterly helpless in her state, and would most certainly perish if she took an attack from Alure.
Syèl left his hiding spot with grim determination in his eyes and stood at the center of the room. Alure turned to him, blackened eyes filled with malice.
"I don't particularly take pride in this, but..." Syèl dashed forward and fixed his gaze on Alure's eyes.
In response, Alure let out a shrill cry and blinked.
'I was waiting for that!' Syèl dropped to his knees and bent backward, so the back of his head was only an inch away from the ground. The force of his initial sprint carried him along the ground like he was participating in an advanced game of limbo.
Whoosh!
Syèl winced as wind escaping a mini explosion above him slammed down against him. However, because of his momentum, the bulk of the wind force first struck the ground and then pushed him from behind, which resulted in the halben spinning forward like a spinning top.
Alure, shocked by the unconventional method of escape, paused for a moment, unable to process how she should respond to that.
That momentary pause was all Syèl needed.
"Too late... Now wake up!" Syèl cried as he shot off the ground, stretched out his leg and kicked her right under the chin, using the momentum from her own attack to power his strike.
The force caused Alure to bite her tongue as she was launched into the air, but the halben was not through with her. Once he landed, Syèl jumped again, spun around, and kicked her in the chest, which sent her crashing to the earth.
Alure fell to her knees and looked up to see Syèl looming over her. He grabbed her by her robe before she could blink and lifted her till their faces were only inches apart. "Sorry about this."
SLAP!
Alure eyes widened in shock from the blow, but she had no time to process it as he soon repeated it. SLAP! SLAP! SLAP! SLAP! SLAP! SLAP! SLAP! SLAP! SLAP! SLAP! SLAP! SLAP! SLAP! SLAP! SLAP! SLAP! SLAP! SLAP!
Syèl unleashed an ultra-super slap combo born from the frustration of being weak and borderline insanity. Helpless against the hits, Alure's face was sent flying in all directions. Amidst the blows, life slowly returned to her eyes.
"St... pl... sto... plea... I SAID STOP DAMNIT!" Alure suddenly yelled, and an invisible force knocked Syèl into the air and held him in place. Several veins popped on her forehead as she glared at the halben and tried to keep her rising anger in check.
"Finally!" Syèl exclaimed with a sigh of relief. "Thought you'd never wa—!" The words froze in the halben's mouth, and he suddenly clutched his throat as he felt something constrict his breath.
Alure's eyes sparked with rage as she examined the struggling Syèl. "Nufufufu... To think that I would be treated so rudely by a mere halben."
"H-hey. Y-you were crazy! What was I supposed to do? Roll over and die?" Syèl angrily argued his case.
Alure sighed. She knew the halben had a point. She reluctantly released her grip on him, and Syèl fell to the ground, coughing. She regarded the spluttering halben with mirth in her eyes and said, "I suppose I owe you my gratitude for rescuing me."
'Great. I drew the proud goddess card.' Syèl took his time standing up as the pain from whatever had grabbed his throat still lingered. He warily looked at Alure and questioned, "So, what now?"
Alure raised a brow. "Pardon?"
Syèl noticed the blank look in her eyes and sighed. "You don't know where you are, do you?"
Alure looked at the halben and then at her surroundings. A few moments later, her gaze returned to Syèl, filled with confusion and questions. "Do you know of me, elf? It would seem my memories are foggy at best."
Syèl sighed and asked, "Does the name: Alure, goddess of death, ring a bell?"
The goddess Alure went silent as she looked beyond the elf. "Alure... yes... that is the name father gave me." She walked past Syèl towards Shokō, who was on the last of her health. "I was tasked with sending souls back to the Circle." She reached out to touch Shokō, but Syèl grabbed her arm.
Syèl's defiant glare met hers as he challenged, "She's not dead."
Alure regarded the halben with a blank expression. "Do not fear. It is not yet her time." She easily pulled free from his grasp and placed her hand on Shokō's head. A bright glow radiated off Shokō as her injuries closed up, reflected in the rapid rise of her HP.
Moments later, Shokō jerked awake, nearly bumping into her savior. She looked from Syèl to Alure and then to her uninjured body and full health and accurately drew a picture of what was going on. "Haaa... I really thought I'd bitten it there," she said with a sigh as she stretched her limbs.
Syèl chuckled. "You almost did. You need to thank the Great Me for saving you."
Shokō narrowed her eyes at him and sneered, "Hmph! I bet you were just lucky."
"Hey! See here—" Syèl started to protest, but sudden laughter drew his attention. "Hmm?" He turned and noticed Alure had her hand over her mouth, trying to gracefully hide her amusement.
Syèl's brow rose. "What's this? Gods can laugh, too?"
"N-no... forgive me... haha... it is just you remind me so much of my brethren. They bickered a lot too while sharing a bond most unbreakable," Alure revealed with a wistful smile.
Shokō and Syèl shared a look and then turned to Alure. A few seconds of silence passed and then the trio fell into cheery laughter, amused by the weirdness of their dialogue. One second they had been fighting for their lives, and now they were reminiscing?! That was just uncanny.
"You have my undying gratitude, young adventurers," Alure said when she had regained her composure.
"It's fine," Shokō said. "We aren't exactly saints ourselves."
"Brave and truthful. A rare quality. Would any of you like to learn my secrets?"
Syèl considered it. Choosing whatever class she offered would force him out of being a Blood Mage, but he had already developed a fondness for the Class. Plus, he would have to start afresh. Shoko shared a similar train of thought.
Shokō and Syèl politely declined the offer, but Alure was not upset. "Still, I must reward you for releasing me. How about this?" She grasped their hands in hers, smiling as a warm glow enveloped the duo.
"I am sorry I cannot do more for you," Alure apologized. "It will be a while before I regain my full strength."
"No way! This is perfect!" Shokō yelled as her eyes beamed at the notifications.
A Blood Mage like Syèl might not get the gravity of the blessing they had just received, but this was pure gold! Warrior-related classes like Shokō's received a penalty to their mana regeneration, which resulted in long waits for mana to build back up. In many cases, it could mean the difference between life and death in a boss fight.
Add that to the fact that at their current level, an item that granted +6% Mana Regeneration Rate would sell for thousands of Syros on the market, and one could begin to get a picture of just how lucky the duo truly was.
This was worth more than any number of random loot.
"You have our thanks," Shokō said and politely bowed.
Syèl noticed she bowed, not curtsied, but decided not to pursue the subject... yet.
Alure shook her head. "I am only repaying a debt. Do you have any requests you would ask of me?"
Syèl recalled the reason they had entered the dungeon in the first place. "There's a town above us whose residents have been petrified. Can you do something about that?"
"Petrifaction? Yes, I can assist with that. Hold on to me." Alure beckoned as she held out her palms. Shokō and Syèl grabbed one each as a mandala formed below their feet. Light from the mandala enveloped them, and a second later, they disappeared from view.
Neverun
A mandala suddenly appeared at the outskirts of Neverun and revealed three people after its blinding glow died down.
"Ah! Sweet fresh air!" Syèl exclaimed with his arms spread wide as he sucked in a deep breath.
"Geez, you can be so unrefined." A light wind tugged at Shokō's hair, raising a slight smile from the swordswoman's lips. "Though, I have to admit... this isn't too bad."
Alure watched the humes, and a stray tear rolled down her cheek. She quickly wiped it away and put on a pained smile. "Once again, I thank you for saving me, but I must return to the Circle."
"...and the villagers?" Syèl asked.
Alure pointed to the village. "See for yourself."
Syèl did not have to. Cries of joy rang out from the village as men, women, and children embraced each other, overjoyed by their freedom. The young halben sniffed and let out a proud grin. "Heh. Not too shabby."
Shokō punched the back of his head. "Do not mind him. You have our thanks."
Alure smiled, and her body broke away into little petals that were carried by a gentle breeze towards the heavens. Shokō and Syèl watched the petals fly away and then were making their way to the nearest city when a great tremor like none they had ever felt before shook the entire world.
Kerta
Adventurers and residents alike ran out of their homes, terrified by the sudden earthquake that threatened to bring down the world around them.
Inside the Training Centre, Bert opened his eyes, a sharp gleam in his gaze. He stood up and walked towards the door, somehow perfectly maintaining his balance on the trembling earth. Once outside, he removed his gloves and raised his right hand as if to grab the moon. A tattoo of seven broken swords tied by a sash of blood burned in anticipation on the back of his hands.
Nama Woods
Fladnag raised his staff to the sky as his robe was set ablaze by a tattoo on his back. "Finally..." he muttered, his voice cracking. "Finally, time moves again."
Jatakem (The Holy City)
At the center of the continent lay a city called Jatakem, where Aethir was rumored to have regularly visited before The Calamity. The city still possessed her blessings long after her disappearance and was supposedly impossible to impregnate by any forces of evil: physical or otherwise.
The High Church was located at the city's center and at its center was a room in which a young girl with long, dark violet hair, dressed in a white ceremonial kimono, sat with several Priests, offering their prayers for the realm's and their gods' safety. The girl looked to be in her late teenage years and had a plain face like you would see amongst any commoner on the road.
However, that seemingly ordinary lady also exuded a holy aura so potent, the very concept of sin itself seemed to bend its knees at her feet. The lady looked up as the earth began to tremble, causing candles and lanterns to fall to the ground.
"What sorcery is this?!" a Priest cried as he shielded himself from falling embers from candlesticks. "Where is this attack coming from?!"
"Calm yourself," the girl with raven hair said. "It is not our time yet."
"Sayen-sama!"
The girl called Sayen looked to the heavens as the silhouette of a tattoo glowed beneath her gown. "It has begun..."
Planide
Several female wisbens gathered around an old wisben woman whose right arm burned with a strange tattoo they had never seen before.
The aged sorceress looked up to the skies and murmured as the edge of her lips cracked with a weak smile. "Ah... Dear Alure. Finally..."
???
Somewhere, at an undisclosed location, a kafu with snow white skin shut the book he was reading and directed his gaze to the night sky. A hidden glint shone in his eyes as he pulled a glove off his left hand to reveal the glowing tattoo at the back. "Finally, we can begin."
5 Miles East of Neverun.
A few miles from where Syèl and Shoko were, a dragon nudged its master with its nose concern in its eyes.
"It's nothing," its master said, clutching his arm. "This only means..."
As if by some force of nature, all seven wielders of the tattoo chorused at precisely the same time. "The Circle is Reborn."
???
In a forest somewhere, a level 49 Summoned lost his footing due to the earthquake and cried in anguish and anger as the boss goblin he had been fighting crushed him with its club. The poor man sighed and resigned himself to his fate. He had already died once before and knew what to expect. Darkness, followed by the words "Game Over!"
However, to the man's surprise, something different happened this time. A warm, green light appeared around him as a beautiful lady with white hair appeared before him. She wrapped her hands around him and a new message popped up.
The young man blinked with surprise, but then quickly chose yes.
"For real?" The young man exclaimed as he stared at the prompt, slack-jawed. Even when the game-over message came up shortly after, and he returned to the real world, he was still dumbfounded. He stumbled over to his laptop and quickly checked L.N.E's online forums. As expected, he was not the only one to have experienced the strange message. The internet had already gone bat-shit crazy about it. The man searched out one of his favorite forums and joined the discussion.
@Wastertime98: Dude, my character was totally saved!
@pwnnebs4523: I knw! Lol.. hw u think we get dem bk?
@Draculgun: She said something bout a circle? What the heck is that?
@Wastertime98: Newb!
@pwnnebs4523: Noob!
@Wastertime98: GTFO!
@TheInstructor: Guys chill. @Draculgun The Circle is from the last game. It was basically their excuse for why we could come back to life.
@Wastertime98: *applause* We've got an MLK here gents!
@pwnnewbs247365: I'm a girl -_-"
@Wastertime98:...
@pwnnewbs247365: So... hw we go abt fixing dis here circle.
@TheInstructor: Dunno.
@Wastertime98: Fuck if I know!
@Draculgun: Um.. I'm new here and all, but why don't you just ask whoever released Alure?
@Wastertime98: ...Fuck off Noob!
@TheInstructor: You shut up! He makes a good point! @Draculgun Problem will be if whoever released her agrees to share the info...
@pwnnewbs247365: yh well, as in the immortal words of Klein. "Net Gamers are a selfish bunch..."
@Wastertime98: lmaoooo! Soooo true!
@TheInstructor: Hate to admit, but that is quite accurate.
@Draculgun: ...Who's Klein?
@Wastertime98: Seriously?