NIGHT

squared beneath her, however, was the entity that had pulled her to one side for safekeeping, if not additionally for laughs. but day rose rather woozily, hands upon the player’s back as the latter got up enough to sit on her knees. in night’s mouth was day’s own cloak – completely soaked, just like her tracksuit. there was a warm mark on the entity’s neck where there hadn’t been before. night released the fabric gently, as it fell into the pond, drenched even more. “sorry for the disturbance, izzalth. … we might need a moment to change our clothes.” the dragon bu

she must’ve woken it from its slumber. this was not a good sign. in her own tales, it was best not to wake sleeping threats unless with a direct kill. so she had already lost two advantages in a potential fight. “gently, now.” and there was an echo in her head. the gentle voice, alongside the slow winks of the beast before her signaled to her that she should follow along, and so she did, form loosening. the moment voscira put her spear’s head away, and set it into position of a proper salute back in the village, the dragon turned away, eyes upon elsewhere instead.

the light faded away quickly into shade, a few steps further into the grove. obscured by only shadow from a large bodhi overhead, there came a trembling and a low yawn from something large. almost like a tiger, but the vibrations of its movements spoke of grandeur, more than just a large cat. by the time the beast showed herself, voscira was already prepared with her spear out, in a low pose, ready to fight off the predator she knew of and expected. but she lowered her guard soon – not out of safety, but of sheer disbelief, the way her eyes widened at the sight of something unbelieva

there was no ill individual in sight. no animals, little insects; the grove she’d stumbled into was cut in a near diagonal from where she rose from, a waterfall to her right, while the moss that rolled into grass the further she’d walked extended, followed the path of the stream. and what sunlight bore down into that quiet clearing was through broad leaves she would have never thought about touching to begin with – never, because she recognized falls as such to be locations she should have never approached. voscira was stunned. remained silent. as she stood in the center of the clear

behind her, voscira was finishing off the last of the fowls that had kept up with her – surprised, even, that she was capable of doing so whilst running off at full sprint after someone who was, by her acknowledgement, supposed to be sick. and, between the burst of strength from herself pegged against the capability of someone else that matched, who wasn’t in full, she was starting to wonder if her experience in krycim was even worthy enough to be known by who she believed was a stranger to their world. no hesitation, unlike the player who’d lead her. leg first, she slid down the slo

luckily, their guide came out just fine. up ahead, however, was the approaching loud roar of a waterfall, enough to have night start to trip in her run – though she did, eventually find her stride once again. her eyes darted about, reading the telegraphs day had set out, doing her best to ease her nerves from what was up ahead. the earth shaped as such: a linear stretch flanked by trees and brush, with a few rocks and rotten logs as obstacles. then there was the growing presence of bright green moss against dull, aged foliage. and finally, an opening in the mountain, appearing almost like a mo

perhaps, for the first time in the game’s history, in this instance, the yellow flower that hung from that tree’s branch shook, welcoming the ceremony of the hurtling flock. it was enough for voscira, who was technically still drifting upon the wave of jungle fowl, to take her eyes off her target for one moment to notice the change in her environment. wherever they were, she was not familiar with these outskirts. and day continued charting a path, axing out waypoints in blue and white, shouting out vague movements that night wouldn’t believe afterwards she was able to deciphe

in between racing chicks was their final group member – their supposed guide – being lead around by giant prey, the likes of which should’ve been afraid of encountering a hunter such as herself. and likely, voscira should’ve been preoccupied with trying to take advantage of the situation for herself and her village – if not, protecting the wildlife from being struck down numerously, especially all at once without gain. but likely cardinal was the common distractor amongst all of them. so too was it for night, though the player did her best to keep up – at some point, ducking under br

so what did she get in return? cock party. just kidding. still a chicken run, though. the flood of fowls that burst out of the group’s roost near overpowered their chasing npc, preventing her from moving, and the sounds were enough for day to look back and wonder why in the world night had done such a thing in the first place. the player didn’t have time to read the question on her face, however. night realized her error fast, even after day shot her the vocal, “why?!” so the player, sword drawn, continued to run with searching’s aid, highlighting her path in reco

off in full sprint. if night hadn’t known better, she would’ve assumed this a racing game, the way she was fighting to keep up with day’s head start. the moment she noticed a few enemies casually lounging by, she cast her gaze over her shoulder to check if voscira was still there. she was. and night didn’t like the look in her eyes. unlike day’s own predatory gaze, the amazons of the floor seemed almost to be paralytically striking; the player had felt compelled to stop, so she slowed. but unwilling to be caught up with, the player waved down her sword into existence as she gave the fe

so day shot a coy look to night. “you are a horrible person to perform quests for,” she said, with full honesty. “you know that, right?” and just as night was about to shoot back a retort, day tore herself away from night, taking off down the path ahead of them. night but followed quick, and despite being generally silent, caught the attention of an alert voscira, who spotted her gunning down a hazardous path. “hey! wait!” seen by no one, the amazonian but rolled her eyes again, tilting her spear’s end to rest on the edge of its end. “ugh, luna

well, it wasn’t her fault that the moment they’d passed through foliage that her end destination was immediately located. there was something completely obvious about the gold flowers, with red styles, were leading them one way, in a direction completely different from where voscira was headed towards. still, the quest did register as the woman following the party. so part of night did wonder if she was going to be able to lead, rather than be led, after all. “day,” night began to an almost-crying npc. day wiped her tears away with the back of her hand, grinning, despite th

voscira was a woman slightly shorter than night – and to the player’s memory, shorter than nari, too. she’d spun her spear and prodded the butt of it onto the panel she was standing on, turning her back towards their party. “come, follow me.” so night looked towards day, who had her own eyes covered, the construct doing her best not to snort up a storm. at least, at her own expense, she was able to force a smile onto her counterpart. “we’ll be passing through the jungle for a bit. and don’t worry, there’s no way i’m letting the sick travel harmed.” the player but

“– the floor’s in danger!” “pardon?” with two hands, the gemini sank her face into nothingness, doing her best to cope with her original’s mad ramblings. voscira but glanced to their floor – a sturdy rope bridge. “then just move off of it. how did you even make it here if you were afraid of a little bridge?” forget the poison on this floor. even without it, night seemed like she was doing way, way worse than the tortured souls. the player tried to correct herself. “i mean the village. the jungle, the – everyone’s in danger here.” “... you know, if you’re

go night. well, if that wasn’t it, then perhaps the player should change tactics. “no, not dragons, just… hunting in general.” two hands rubbed at her cheeks, night trying to wake herself up. “look, just – we’re here to hunt a dragon today –” “we?” “– er, me! me; i’m here to hunt a dragon today –” “dragons haven’t exactly been seen around our village for a very long time.” “– well! that’s… exactly… why i’m here to… fffffind one…” night simply looked constipated by this point. her teeth found the back of her thumb, to the bewilderment

shortcuts allowed their stranger not to wait long. with a few taps on her interface, night was able to glimpse a brief profile of their guide. “you are… voscira.” and the woman folded her arms. “how do you know that?” by now, if day had been at her side, surely she would’ve gotten a whisper of an ad lib. unfortunately, the exchange only told her how much her secondary wasn’t exactly excited on interrupting their time out together, despite the fact that night wasn’t exactly counting on it. besides, the quest was much easier to complete this way.

then, unwittingly, she bumped into someone, and from the corner of night’s eye, day’s head snapped to their presence. “sorry,” they said, though night hadn’t looked, noticing how her hound’s glare was more reflective than was normal – absent whites from lucid blues, like a predator’s in the dark. their stranger was still, emanating briefly coldness and hostility. “though i think you should be the one to watch where you’re going.” the player was slow to register who that was. on the dragon hunter’s questline, she wasn’t expecting to have gotten help from any other individual

run down, indeed. she wasn’t exactly able to tell if it was due to the matriarchal society that this floor seemed to be fairly unpopular, or if it was simply the presence of disease and blight. there was also the factor that the enemies present on this floor seemed to be targets that weren’t frequently appreciated – night knew she had difficulty in trying to take each fight with a big cat seriously, and the jungle was full of such beasts. discarding the humanoid figures, the plants, though hostile, didn’t exactly seem like fun combat experience either, especially in a dense environment such as

still, she figured it was an idea worth considering, if it meant she was able to complete the quest before her. and, anyway, it was bistro’s fault she was out in the first place. someone ran out of funds after having declared herself sole organizer of the boss raid. night shook her head at that, understanding not what drove the alchemist to have such ambitions for aincrad. even night herself didn’t exactly have them. but she did fight the labyrinth guardian, so– the player tapped back into reality, with a few steps down from the teleporter. it overlooked a great waterfall,

<<dha:6>> | floor06. maybe, if she wasn’t looking for the outcome, she wouldn’t be so afraid. that’s what night told herself as she appeared on the sixth floor, holding a loose piece of cloth commissioned earlier – a blindfold. ironically, her counterpart had informed her to be the case otherwise – “it only works if you trust your environment,” she said, and night did not trust the wilderness nor cardinal’s entities, especially if they had the capability to kill her. but she did trust day. so that must count for something. night paced about on the spot,

it was only after she'd checked back in with the stores that she determined her eyes had been deceiving her. case in point -- the blindfold that she'd meant to collect from the store, then, explained her rationale for wanting it in the first place. if she'd gotten the order sheet back with a retort, perhaps she might've wanted to say something. in either case, she refrained from correcting her own mistake. abrasive night. the player but gave her thanks in the form of a nod, wordless, as she wandered out the store. and her first order of business... ... would be to get back home witho

approved.

was she reading the conversion rate right? 700col to 6 materials. given the general merchant, it may have been best to up that col price. night scribbled the feedback on the back of the order sheet, before flipping it over with her own inscriptions. something told her that she had better focus on trying to build up her storage (or rather bistro's play-fund), and she could do so at the same time as playing dragon slayer. vicious or not, each of them seemed to have behaved in a similar manner. and so night decided this may be an appropriate time to exploit the best of them for their wo

"is that all?" poetic or not, it was the type of answer night would expect from any player worth their salt. if she kept herself tight-lipped, it was also due to the fact that she hadn't completed the quest herself, either – not for lack of trying, of course. she'd heard wonderful things about the art locked away behind it, but ultimately, night knew she didn't need it to survive, so it hadn't exactly been of high priority. for nari's specialization, however, it mattered more. they passed into the keep, and night placed her hand on the hilt of her sword just as th

again?! she'd been standing right next to alkor, and given the largeness of the lung, she was entirely surprised that it would be so accurate – enough to only strike her, and not her ally. better for their bulwark, but confusing to night herself. the quick whip of its tail was but to cause her to slam towards wushen itself, and night had no complaints about being sent forth for another strike again, if it was looking for another cut. all she needed was a slightly greater impact against the beast's scales to be able to stop her flight in midair, so that's what she d