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 but shut her eyes, playing blind to the pretend of mortals as it retreated back slowly into its lair. the long neck it had extended earlier but curled up gracefully and laid rest by a collection of rocks and roots nearby.

no wonder voscira had been caught by surprise. she would never have seen such a creature – at first glance, they would’ve appeared to be a giant vine amongst the forest floor.

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.

towards the waterfall. the hunter held her breath. why?

in instants, she knew, and it made her wonder if the command had been for herself. from behind the order of rocks acting as lining for the stream, night finally got up on all fours, pulling herself away from her quarry. with a thumb, she lifted the blindfold.

the player was just fine and dandy.

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 unbelievable.

large leathered wings, and scales like quills, draping across its serpentine body. a long snout – like a canids, but with a slimmer snout, and eyes bright; more docile. it was as though she was watching nature itself crawl out of its hole. now voscira knew that dragons were real, and one was situated right before her, pulling itself out of its cramped, cavernous lair.

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 clearing, she took note of how the herbs, opposing the waterfall, had seemed to be grown in a linear order, alongside a make-shift counter with several flat rocks, each with their own collection of food, segregated in piles.

someone, or something, must be living here. but then where exactly was the lunatic she was tracking?

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 slope, watching the light at the bottom start to intensify. by her side were crags, first, then an abundance of ivy as curtains, where the light seeped in through their cracks as openings. her landing was soft, on mossy carpet, and through the gap at the end that she’d escaped from, the mountainous overhang was but a clean cut from the forest floor, as though an opening that was intended for beings, such as herself, to have passed through.

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 mouth to swallow them whole. down its throat was a slope that was cut off from view, veering to the right, and night opted to trust day the moment she heard her familiar, “in here!”

so she put on her blindfold and let the world guide her through.

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 decipher – alongside the accurate read of her environment. talk about risky. she heard a “duck!” when there was a narrow opening crafted by branches; night slipped in between them after a hop over the bottom root, then tumbled down to a lower jungle floor, before sending a blast upwards. surely, if voscira were to be hit by that wave, she would’ve at least be brought to rest for a few moments.

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 branches and scooting over tree roots as ledges, day was the one to perform call outs, as though this was a hypothetical raid boss she had to be become acquainted with facing.

at the notched tree, day kicked herself off of it, pulling out a scimitar just to mark out the environment with a harsh blue gash. so night did the same, in movement, attacks shifted towards the charging horde instead.

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 record time with the glow of the different plants. she struck at the ground accordingly – every so often as she could, four of the flock would go down, and so too would she catch a hint more of voscira struggling to keep up.

“are you insane?! get back here!”

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 few targets to her side a slice. giant junglefowl, of various earthy colours, only the males of the group were seen to be of differing eye-catching hues, the likes of which night had thought to strike at first – but then missed her shot.

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, lunatics.”

then, in a flash, she started to chase after them, the gust of wind tailing behind her a testament to her apparent strength. and despite the rules she would’ve abided by to not reveal herself in lieu of her hunt, in pursuit of her prey, she did so willingly, with a just and equal measure of frustration.

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 their circumstances. “yeah?”

“we should just go without her and let her catch up.”

“what?” the entity choked again, looking to voscira’s form as the woman was peering past several broad leaves. knowing that she was entirely cloaked in camouflaging colours, it was very easy to believe that even if they did lose track of her, voscira would be fine, at least for the duration of the quest’s completion.

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 squeaked as she noticed the distance growing between her and their quest guide. so she moved quick, crossing the bridge only to grab day, and running behind their lead, before voscira could notice the strange change in her velocity.

“right! coming along!”

the whole while through the jungle, day let loose her laughing fit.

“– 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 sick, i can take you to a healer nearby.”

night suffered under voscira’s scrutiny, the woman hunched over, ready to hit the floor with her palms. but then she heard a stifled giggle from behind her. and, even better yet, the quest log updating with the familiar jingle.

how was this a bingo?

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 of voscira, who seemed stunned, but quickly running out of patience. “well, you likely wouldn’t be able to find one. anyone else would’ve told you that. if that’s all, then i’ll just be off.”

day but rolled her eyes. “oh, just tell her about the–”

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.

“uh, a friend! told me about you. yes – ” night glanced poorly day’s way, and watched her shadow fold her arms, leaning by a nearby post – “we heard about your expertise in… uh, hunting… dragons?”

“what?”

“erm.”

voscira had a brow raised, and an uneasy look upon her face. her turn to look at day’s general direction, despite no acknowledgement of the woman about the additional entity, was only a testament to how much night was failing the social interaction aspect of the quest.

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 – but if the opportunity presented itself, then perhaps it made sense to take advantage of fate’s good fortune.

so night stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. “wait.”

and under the gaze of two prospective individuals who must’ve hated her now, night only felt lucky that looks couldn’t kill… at least, not just yet.

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 this.

night then managed to wonder, too, if it was the humidity. she watched day move ahead of her, taking in the sights slowly, as the player contemplated seriously if being in krycim was difficult for many others. she’d heard frequent complaints about the conditions in her home country, and the settlement seemed to be no different.

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, the likes of which sent shudders down her spine, knowing what waited for her underneath the waters. of course day didn’t seem exactly too perturbed, falling to her side – each stride seemed almost like she’d owned the place. night’s gaze then went over the different roofs of each house in the vicinity.

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, looking up from her equipment, just as day bounced out of the aether to greet the player with a nod. “well, if you’re certain,” she spoke, with a hint of doubt in her voice.

“i’m not,” night reiterated, looking back at the blindfold. it was bistro’s idea in the first place, told to her in an off-handed jest.

"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 the dead started to rise. her ally moved first, and quick – with all four targets marked in red gashes, it was easy to tell where she should hit. night wondered if she should rescind her remark on breaking these in record time, after dulling out oathkeeper's judgement. each time her arm swung, a distant clatter of chimes would sing; perhaps the sword was feeling better from being recovered already.

the player withdrew with a stumble, a couple of steps upon her heels, offering the floor to nari with a gestured hand. "nothing's more useful than getting the last hit in."

again?!