Gold Raid Arc 1 Chapter 1

(Love at First Fight)

            Luke

            On the ruins of an old cathedral, a pure white altar stands alone, unscathed amidst the rubble and debris. On top of the marble surface lays an encryption, "Let red flow like winter snow." Littering the ruins are the remains of an ancient battle. Swords and staffs lay in the hands of skeleton soldier fallen in battle. What once was a beautiful mural painted in the name of Gods and angels, was now nothing more than rubble in the dirt.

            A large group of warriors, mages, and professions of all sorts flooded into the site. They all surrounded the white altar, some looked at it in fear, others in excitement. From this large group they called a "Raid Party," one priest stepped out of the crowd. That fearless man was me. I wore a snow white cassock, and on my back rested a large bladed cross; my weapon of choice. When I reached the alter I raised his hand to the group, and out of the crowd a hand lent me a dagger. I pricked my palm, and blood slowly began to seep out of my cut. with one swift motion, one swing of the arm, I splashed his blood onto the alter; painting it scarlet with my own life juices.

            Immediately the ground began to rumble and the clouds turned a dark shade of red. Blood soon started to fall from the sky, and give life to all the skeletons. From amongst all the chaos, a swarm of black dust started to flow through the air. When the dust had finally took form, a giant black skeleton stood in the middle of the battlefield as a raid boss. We all looked in terror as the colossal monster made a charge at the group. Then a voice from the group yelled out:

            "INTO POSITION!" Immediately everyone split into five groups of five and began assaulting the endless waves of enemies. Two groups dashed off in opposite directions, one to the east and one to the west. These two parties were meant to hold off the endless waves of skeletons entering from the walls. The remaining three groups dashed for the main boss up ahead by the back wall. Two of the three parties attacked from the front and the last party flanked him from the back. This teamwork and sheer moment of thrill. This was a raid.

            Everyone did their part to contribute to the raid. Mages rained down their magic spells on the army of skeletons. Archers and Gunslingers laid down a relentless assault of bullets and arrows on the boss. Paladins and Dark nights held the front line, protecting the more variable damage dealers behind them, and dealing some damage of their own. Finally, the priests and alchemists supported the entire group with their healing, buffs, and shields. Everyone was working together like clockwork.

            The raid was going fine, the battle cries of allies, and the sound of steel clashing steel made my blood pump faster in a rush of ecstasy. This feeling could be described as nothing less than epic. Waves after waves of mobs were being cut to the ground, and things were looking fine. It appeared that the boss' health was depleting steadily, but just as we neared what we thought was the end of the fight, A loud battle cry came from the beast, and all the skeletons along the wall turned into dust. This dust floated away and gathered into the large skeleton boss. Everyone watched in fear as its strength replenished, and he grew two times his original size. Then the skeleton boss consumed one of his own bones, and spit it out at everyone instantly killing almost everyone. Then to finish off his act of terror, he pulled out a claymore from a magic circle that had formed in the ground, and swung it around, killing anyone who wasn't already dead.

            I was lucky enough to have blocked the attacks with my bladed cross, however the everyone else wasn't so lucky. I looked at the party lists and was terrified to find that there was only one other person alive, by the name of "Kim." Wary of a second attack I slowly raised my head only to find the catastrophic damage that had been done. I was out of the boss's line of view so I looked around quickly for the other person, spotting their outline behind the altar. Silently and swiftly I ran towards the altar and took cover behind it.

            There I found a cute girl, her beauty almost distracted me from our life-or-death situation, but I managed to keep focused. She wore a baggy pair of dark green pants, and a small tank top covered in oil. But the most distinctive features about her were the wrench she had in her hand, and the gun she had sitting in her holster. It was clear to me that she was a combat mechanic; I didn’t see many of those around.

            "A mechanic huh? Don’t see many of those around here? I'm Luke." I said putting my hand out for a quick friendly handshake.

            Kim

            "Hi I'm Kim." I said shaking is hand. My heart was pumping, my nerves tensed up. And I was crunching numbers in my head on how we were suppose to beat this monster with just tow people. No matter how I did the math, our chances of success were slim. I was so busy doing my mental mathematical calculation that I didn't realise that the person in front of me was talking. I didn't catch a single word, but I nodded my head in confidence anyway. Despite knowing that this was a suicide mission, every fiber in my body was filled with an undying determination for adventure. I lived for the thrill of battle.

            I ran onto the battlefield with guns blazing. Luke followed right after, racing ahead of me to fight him face to face. I on the other hand, began working on forming a robot army. I swiftly crafted two dozen small metal boxes that I would scatter across the battlefield. I ran circles around the boss, dropping on the floor, these curious contraptions. After a moments delay, the small cubes transformed into unmanned gunner turrets, each one spewing a hailstorm of bullets. The combined forces of all my inventions overwhelmed the Boss, and I was sure that Luke was impressed with me now.

            Luke

            "WHAT THE FUCK WAS THIS BITCH DOING!?" Was something I thought to myself as I fought off this colossal skeleton lord. I specifically told her not to attract too much aggro, but she was letting down a full out assault; was she not listening to my plan? It was no question that she would become the target of the boss, what with all of that attention she and her turrets were gathering. And as I predicted, the boss turned away from me, and began to charge at Kim. I knew she wouldn't last a single attack from the giant bone hulk so I dashed into action. I raced the giant with his massive strides to reach Kim first.

            The raging boss made one finally battle cry before drawing back his sword, ready to swing and obliterate Kim from existence. I made a foolish move, running even faster towards what was most probably my impending doom, getting in-between Her and that massive sword just spelled out death, but I continued to run anyway. Just as the sword was in mid swing, I threw my body towards Kim and used my Large bladed cross as a shield to protect the both of us.

            The moment was unforgettable, time and space both froze to commemorate my efforts. There I stood, wielding a cross, pushing back with all of my strength, the weight and force of the boss' giant claymore. Kim fell to the ground in shock, her eyes widened trying to comprehend the events that just took place. With one finally valiant effort, I pushed back the colossal monster, and sent him tumbling backwards onto the floor.

            In the few moment it took for the boss to get back up on its feet, I healed all her wounds, and casted a shield over her to protect her from any further attacks. We didn't speak a work, but the look in her eyes, burned with determination. With a second try at a combined effort, Kim and I worked together as a team to take down the boss. In the middle of battle I realized we made great partners. We moved and attacked in sync, it was like we could read each other's mind, because neither of us spoke a word, we just knew each other. I was her shield protecting her from all harm with my cross, and she was my sword, piercing the hearts of the enemy with her wrench.

            In a climactic last stand that lasted little more than an hour, we finally brought the skeleton lord to an end. We both collapsed to the ground; exhausted. Rolling my head left and right, I was unfazed by all the death surrounding my, because after all this was just a game. As I laid on the floor, I pondered how technology had advanced over the years, to the point where we can connect our conscience to the internet, and use our minds as a controller. Suddenly, when you connected to the game, the world of "Endless Dungeon Online" became reality. You could feel the action, the pain, the thrill, all as if it existed in real life.

            I was still in the middle of my thoughts when a window appeared in front of me. It was a Friend request from the girl who I had just fought together with. She walked up to me and said:

            "Thanks for earlier, you know saving my life."

            "No problem, it's what I do."

            "Hey, I'm not sure about you, but I thought we made a pretty good team. Is there any chance that you might want to do some quests together some time?" she asked looking slightly embarrassed.

            "Well, I don't usually add random people from the internet. Especially not people who I just met but-"

            "No-no I totally understand, I just thought I would ask." Her face turned as a cherry. She quickly turned away and walked towards the exit.

            A small "Ding" notified her that she had acquired a new friend. She looked back at me, happy and confused.

            "I don't usually add strangers, but there's just something about you that strikes me as 'special'." I said after accepting her friend request. I picked up a bag of loot from the fallen boss and walked out to town with my new friend.

            We made small talk about how we loved the game "Endless Dungeon Online"; the one we were currently playing. And we also talked a bit about our regular lives outside of the game. I learned that she lived a boring high school life just like me, and that we were both sixteen. We got to know each there a lot better over the passing hours, and I finally felt like I had a made a real friend. The only problem being, how real can a friend be if they only exist online?

            It was getting late and I wanted to make one last stop before logging off. We walked to the town back and I deposited all of the funds we had earned, in an account named "Guild."

            "Wow! I earned a lot of gold today."

            "Well, that's probably because we only had to split the loot fifty-fifty. You know, because everyone else was dead." She said grimly with a smile.

            "I guess you're right." I said trying to gloss over her morbid humor.

            "What's all that gold for anyway?" she asked.

            "Oh this? I want to start a guild some day, and I just need to save up a ton of gold. Yea I've been saving all of this for almost a year now. Soon I'll have enough to buy a guild building. If I work really hard, I might have enough gold by the end of the month." I explained.

            "A guild? That sound cool. What are you going to name it?" she asked.

            "Actually, I haven't planned that far yet, but if you're interested you're welcome to join." I offered.

            "Actually, I don't think I'm that type of- I'll pass.

            "No. I totally get it, but if you ever change your mind. . ."                                     

            We continued to walk around town, and after an eternity of talking, the sun set, and the moon rose in real life.  It came time for us to disconnect, We waved a finally goodbye, and I logged out from the game. My conscious was returned to my physical body. I opened my eyes to a bland white ceiling, my body on my bed and a pillow by my head. I dragged my left arm across my body, to unplug the Ethernet cable from the port on my wrist. As I placed the cord on my night stand, I caught a glimpse of the calendar on the wall. Tomorrow was a Monday; I didn't want to go back to school.