Severance traced his path back to the creek, each step feeling like he walked along the deepest part of the ocean floor. It took a long minute before the feeling of Weakness faded, and by then, he was passing by Lady Joveline and her tree.
She gave him a knowing smile, one that only fueled his irritation further. He crossed across the bridge and pretended she didn't exist.
This time, he approached the Star Flower meadow with great caution.
The bees zipped around in the air above the meadow. It was a wonder how he'd failed to notice them the first time. They looked a lot like the bees on Earth if one ignored how ridiculously large they were. He could see their wicked stingers protruding like lethal needles.
Severance moved along the outskirts of the meadow, watching them carefully. None of the bees made a move to attack him. The second he stepped into the meadow, however, their droning changed pitch into a higher, louder frequency that let him know they didn't appreciate his presence in their territory.
Still, none of them attacked.
Maybe if he moved slowly and made no sudden movements, it'd be alright. He reached out to touch a flower. Before his fingers could even brush the petals, two bees separated from the horde. They buzzed towards him like two fighter jets maneuvering to intercept an enemy craft.
Severance backpedaled. Something delicate crunched beneath his feet. He only had time for a horrified gasp before the bees screamed towards him with all the grim determination of a kamikaze pilot.
You have Fallen.
You have gained Weakness.
White stars faded from his vision and the familiar sounds of Ascendance serenaded him merrily. Severance opened his eyes, his teeth grinding against each other in poorly suppressed irritation. Those bees. Those freaking bees!
He stalked back towards the meadow, ignoring Lady Joveline's little wave along the way. He'd deal with her later. There was no way she couldn't have known what hell she was sending him into.
Before he even stepped into the meadow, he had his fancy tree branch ready. He pointed the leafy end at the nearest bee.
"Bolt," he coolly stated. The leaves on the end of the Staff began to glow, lasting only a second before an orb of light shot towards the bee like an arrow. The bee fell in one shot, dissolving into a shower of purple sparkles before it even hit the ground.
1/20 Thelma's Bees
Severance didn't have time to admire his work, because the entire swarm took notice of their buddy's death. Every last one of them turned their soulless eyes onto Severance. And then they dive-bombed him as one.
You have Fallen.
You have gained Weakness.
"Stupid bees," he growled softly the second he opened his eyes in Ascendance.
If they thought they could just scare him with their giant size and many numbers and one-shot kills, then they were entirely correct. He was going to have nightmares about them for weeks. Still, his desire to see them dead was greater than his fear of getting killed again, so off he went once more.
This time, when he passed her, Lady Joveline was occupied with talking to another player, so she wasn't able to give him that annoying little smile. He appreciated that a lot, and reached the meadows in a slightly better mood.
Okay, he thought, staring at the swarm of bees. If I attack one of them, they all come to kill me. If I try to touch a flower, two of them try to kill me. So if I kill those two, maybe I can pick the flower without getting killed by the others.
Readying his staff, he approached a Star Flower and nudged it with a toe. Two bees separated from the horde and drew near, buzzing unpleasant threats at him. Severance charged a Bolt, and let fly.
2/20 Thelma's Bees
One bee fell, poofing into purple death sparkles. The second darted right at him, but Severance was ready this time. He dove sideways, the bee striking nothing but air.
Ha! He mentally cheered. This was going so much better. These bees were going down! He planted his feet, and started to charge a second Bolt. There's no way that it could –
"Gah!"
You have Fallen.
You have gained Weakness.
+1 Vitality
Severance opened his eyes. Very slowly, he narrowed them until they were mere slits. He breathed in through clenched teeth and glared at the surrounding people of Ascendance. He didn't really see them. Instead, he saw a crowd of yellow and black bees moving around him mockingly. Even the noise of a busy town started to sound a lot like the droning of thousands of wings beating the air.
He strode into the multitude, too worked up to even notice when he bumped against other people. His mind was laser focused on only one thing, and that was bringing death to Thelma's Bees.
"Everything alright, dear?" Lady Joveline had the nerve to call out to him when he passed her yet again. Even though he wanted nothing more than to go scream in her face, he plastered a smile on his face.
Oh yes. Everything couldn't possibly be better than this.
When he got to the meadow once again, he was just in time to catch sight of a random player get mauled by no less than two dozen bees at the same time. The poor guy fell into a bed of star flowers, and lay there for a short while before his body slowly dissipated into a series of white sparkly motes. These floated upwards into the sky where they faded away.
Severance watched curiously. It was the first time he saw a player get killed. It looked rather pretty, the whole dissolve-into-a-million-stars-and-float-away thing. Did his own body do that when the bees took him out? He hoped they choked on his dying embers.
He approached a star flower, and when the usual two bees pulled apart from their group and came at him, he was ready with the first Bolt. As soon as he fired it, he turned and ran out of the meadow as fast as he could.
3/20 Thelma's Bees
After about ten paces, he spun around and prepared a second Bolt. The second bee followed him to the edge of the meadow, where it instantly lost interest and started to return to its horde. But before it could do so, Severance released the Bolt.
4/20 Thelma's Bees
Yes! Severance grinned victoriously. He went back into the meadow, feeling more confident now, and found the star flower he had originally tried to reach. This time, he was able to pluck it without any interference from the bees.
1/10 Star Flowers
Now he just had to get nine more. And that meant he had to take out 18 more bees. Ugh.
As he inched towards another flower, the same player who was flattened by the bees earlier returned to the meadows. Severance paused, watching as the player ran full-tilt into the field. The guy didn't even slow down—he ran straight for the horde of bees, brandishing a pair of daggers.
Severance's eyes widened. This guy was a rogue class. If the daggers hadn't given it away, the fitted dark clothing and leather bracers did. Other than the bracers, rogues didn't have any armor. Did this player seriously intend on tackling the horde head on?
Apparently he did. He lasted all of two seconds before his body disintegrated into sparkly white lights.
Shaking his head, Severance concentrated on claiming another flower. Now that he had his system, it didn't take too long. One Bolt took out the first. He then had to dodge the second bee and run out of the meadow. Since he was no longer in its territory, it simply turned around at the edge of the meadow and flew back to its group. After that, all Severance had to do was aim a Bolt at its back and wait for the kill notification.
6/20 Thelma's Bees
2/10 Star Flowers
+1 Intelligence
Congratulations, Severance! You have reached Level 5.
He smiled to himself as a sensation of warmth rushed from his toes up to his head. Maybe it was his imagination, but he felt a little bit stronger. And he got more intelligence. That was perfect, because he felt smarter for figuring out how the bees worked.
Just as he started on the third flower, the rogue player returned. The guy raced up to the nearest bee, stabbed it, and then fled for his life. Severance watched in mild interest as the rogue ran circles around the meadow's perimeter, while crushing one star flower after another. All he did was enrage the entire horde of bees further.
While he was keeping the bugs busy, Severance reached for another flower. Two bees left the chase and flew over to Severance. Of course they would still guard their precious flowers. It would have been too easy otherwise.
He sighed and aimed his Staff at one of them. "Bolt."
8/20 Thelma's Bees
3/10 Star Flowers
"Nice!" The rogue shouted. He gave Severance a thumbs up as he passed by. "Party?"
The last word was hollered over his shoulder as he charged off into the distance. Severance didn't understand. There wasn't a party going on somewhere, was there? He couldn't even ask the rogue because the guy was galloping around the meadow. So after a baffled look at the player, whose name was apparently Awesome Dude, Severance baited out the next two bees.
10/20 Thelma's Bees
4/10 Star Flowers
Awesome Dude cheered from across the meadow. Severance could barely make out the small form waving his arms like a madman, the big mass of bees trailing after him like a cloud.
"Hey," the rogue shouted as he neared again. "Party?"
Severance adopted a confused expression and shrugged. He proceeded to whittle down the bees and pick flowers. This repeated a few times, with Awesome Dude running energetically about, as if he was taking his pet horde of bees for a good run in the park.
For some reason, he kept asking to party. Severance wasn't interested anyway. He hated parties. Nothing good ever happened at those.
18/20 Thelma's Bees
8/10 Star Flowers
+1 Intelligence
Eventually, Awesome Dude tripped over his own feet and got brutally destroyed by all 44 bees that were trailing after him. He vanished in an explosion of sparkly light.
Severance sighed, and finished off his last two bees. He didn't think Awesome Dude lived up to his name very well.
10/10 Star Flowers
Completed: Pick 10 Star Flowers
Completed: Kill 20 of Thelma's Bees
Return to Lady Joveline for your reward.
Oh, I'll give them to her alright, Severance thought darkly. Picking ten flowers had never been so difficult and traumatizing as this. Not that he had gone flower picking much in real life, but still. He imagined it was a lot more pleasant than navigating a minefield of bees.
He happened to run into a familiar figure on the bridge over the creek. A certain rogue stepped in his path and stuck out a hand. He seemed entirely ordinary, with brown hair and eyes, tanned skin and generic features. If there was a default setting for a character, it would probably be him.
"Good work out there," Awesome Dude exclaimed. When Severance just stared at him in response, Awesome Dude retracted his hand. But he extended it a second later and gave Severance's shoulder a soft punch instead.
Startled, Severance looked down at his affronted shoulder. It had happened far too quickly for him to react, but it left him uncomfortable. He shifted back a step to put more space between them.
"It's too bad you couldn't hear me back there. I wanted to join your party so I could help you beat up those bees. I mean, I saw you die once, and figured you could use the help. But anyway, you did really good for a healer." Awesome Dude let loose a million watt smile.
Severance then immediately averted his eyes. For some bizarre reason, Awesome Dude had a gold front tooth. It shone obscenely in the sunlight.
"Thanks?" He still didn't know what the party thing was. Severance was the last person in the entire universe that would hold a party, never mind willingly go to one. Was it a common occurrence in games? He'd have to ask Fenn about that.
"Anyways, if you need help killing anything, just give me a shout. I'll see you around, okay?" With a last flash of the golden tooth, Awesome Dude left the bridge.
Severance didn't leave immediately. He stood on the bridge, taking a moment to process everything. Now that he'd finished killing the bees and Awesome Dude had left, he felt mentally drained. There was also a sense of pride, because he'd managed to figure out a quest on his own.
He went to the edge of the bridge and looked down, watching the clear water gurgle merrily over its shallow bed of rocks. It wasn't very deep. A person could easily wade through it if they wanted to.
Severance lifted his gaze to the sloping banks of the creek. Grass covered them now, but he could tell the creek had once been deeper and wider, channeling a lot more water. After a while, he pulled away, intending to resume his trek across the bridge. That's when he caught sight of someone standing on the bank.
It was a man in black, looking straight at him.
Shock rippled through Severance. From this distance, he couldn't see the color of the man's eyes, but it didn't matter. The clothing, the stance, the faint smile—they all felt familiar.
He spun sharply, half expecting to see another one looming behind him, wielding a shiny knife. But there was no one there.
And when he turned back to the bank, the man in black was gone.
Severance stared. He rubbed his eyes and checked again. There was only an old man who hobbled into view on the bank, carrying a wooden pail. Severance watched as the fellow knelt with great difficulty in order to dip his pail into the water.
Doubt ate at him. Had he just been seeing things? People couldn't disappear that quickly. It was impossible. Maybe it had been just a shadow of a bird flying over. It was the only thing that made sense. Either that, or he was so emotionally exhausted from his battle against the bees that he was hallucinating.
Unease dug at him, and he had the urge to get as far away from this creek as possible. He hurried across the bridge and down the trail.
He only took a few steps before a chime interrupted him with a System notification.
Awesome Dude has sent a friend request. Would you like to accept?
He frowned, but didn't stop moving. A glance over his shoulder revealed no mysterious strangers after him, but he still didn't feel safe.
The notification didn't go away, even after he reached the main street of town. With this many people around him, he felt less exposed, but his anxiety didn't fade. It'd be easy for a person to hide in these crowds. He turned a slow circle, seeing nothing but other players. A few made eye contact with him, and white names appeared over their heads.
He didn't even read them, because the notification hung before him, tugging at his attention. Since he didn't see any black in the crowd, he finally relaxed. Surely his hallucinations wouldn't follow him this far, right?
He gave the annoying notification his full attention. So, the rogue wanted to be his friend?
Severance didn't believe it. No one wanted to be his friend. Even if they said they did, it all turned out to be a lie later on. Why waste time pretending otherwise? It was better if he rejected it.
It'll just make it easier on the both of us.
Severance sighed, ignoring the tiny twinge of regret. "Yeah, no thanks."
Friend Request accepted. Awesome Dude has been added to your Friend List.
"Wait! No, I said no!"
Stupid game!! He threw up his hands in frustration. Now he was just going to have to wait for things to happen as they usually did. Hopefully Awesome Dude would just leave him alone, or even better, forget about him.
In his experience, being ignored was always better than being remembered.