We slaughter the low level mobs one by one, arriving in a chasm within mount Secludius. It was strange to be underground and see an abyss that goes deeper. It's like swimming in a river and then seeing the infinite expanse of ocean. There is something that breeds awe in that moment. As if I was a mere frog within a well.
We easily climb down, encountering the boss.
Level 45, greater wolf, Vault the bold.
If I had Mack we would one shot it, but I have someone better than Mack.
The beast is felled within a single blow, and we sit down on its corpse holding hands.
"I have wanted to see this for so long." She almost seems giddy.
And honestly I can't help but be myself. I have seen this on the monitor, but never in real life.
A tree begins to spiral out of the ground, its routes spreading over the floor. The sprawling tree blossoms in an instant. Simmering chary blossoms falling to the floor. It was stunning.
It reminds me of the first time I saw it with Big Sis. At the time I couldn't have cared less. A tree was a tree. But she spoke to me like I was some idiot. 'The world doesn't just have value, it is the moments and meaning that grant it purchase within your heart.' She was like that sometimes, a half made philosopher.
Sophia's hand tightens around mine, and I glance at her face. She is filled with so much emotion, it makes my heart throb.
I wanted to speak, but no words would come to mind, so I was left staring dumbly at her face.
They say wise men make the dumbest mistakes. I arrive back at the city, and one could tell by a glance there had been a battle. Corpses are still strung about, as if they were some halloween decorations. They hang from roofs, halfway out windows, and in some places no person could reasonably get, like on the clock tower.
My old self would gage, but the sight and stench did nothing but calm my mind.
There are enemy corpses two, but not enough for it to be a full on raid. The elites then, they picked the time I had left to strike.
Grabbing Monsters soul, I fling it into the light of the church.
If they want a tactics battle, then I will give them one. Who is smarter, me, and all my knowledge of historical battles, or generals acting out strategies only spoken of in history books. That wasn't a question, well it was a rhetorical one. I will not be fallen so easily. I wasn't the number one's guild master for nothing.
Message sent.
Message from Tickle.
Here.
Well it looks like my plans will move smoother than expected, as the strongest guild member has arrived.
"Hu." Monster glances up at me. "Why do I have a bad feeling?"
"Get clothes on already. I don't want to see you junk." I turn around.
"Yes sir." He says pervertedly, that is until the abomination walks through the door.
A being that looks to have been created in order to haunt children's nightmares.
Level 145, Higher troll, Tickle.
"Well well, my guild master, and my vice guild master all in one place." He goes in for a bro hug, which crushes my spine.
Rubbing it, I pry myself free.
The man the myth the legend, and the last man to take the role as vice guildmaster. At the time he had only been playing the game for a year, and even so, no one objected to him taking that role. Ranked five, current rank eighty seven, the man people call the King of L&L, Tickle.
"I got carried away grinding." He explains, not even questioning the corpses. "And then I saw a dragon." A dragon? Dragons are world bosses in L&L and usually require fifty level one hundred players to take them done. "So I shaved off all that rust, by bashing its brains in." That isn't impressive, that is impossible, nothing but a bold face lie, at least I would say that to anyone else, but not Tickle. "Then the sky began to turn red, and I met this tentacle dude, after bashing his brains in, I moved on to some bigger fish until I found myself at your door." How is a messenger just a cliff note in his monologue? "Thought I might dip my toes in and see what's up."
Unlike Monster who never quit playing, Tickle almost completely stopped, just logging in every now and again. Word had it he moved onto a different game, and conquered it easily. He is like a gaming legend.
Even if Monster is considered by the community as more skilled, many would question who would win in a duel.
"I was hoping to reform the guild, you in?" I reach out my arm, but he just glances at it.
"I don't know man, I kinda have things I need done in the real world. The job is going to complain, and my shut-in brother is dependent on my pay check."
"Don't kill the mood." I wave my hand up and down. "You're the only man I trust as vice leader."
"You trusted Harry and Monster before me." He shoots down my argument.
"Come on man." Monster pulls up his pants. "I would love to fight with you again."
"Well if it is you asking I might think about it." Tickle rests his hand on his chin.
"What if it was me asking?" Harry is covered in blood, his bones broken in many places, and a long gash is left down his forehead. Collapsing to the floor, he coughs up blood. "Do it for me."
"Bro, or broet?" Tickle forces a heath potion down Harry's throat.
"I am no damn girl." Harry forces him off of him. "I am still Harry and I still have a girlfriend."
"I prefer wifey." Lilly walks in without a scratch. "Tickle." She jumps up hugging his arm, tears rolling out of her eyes. "I missed you so much."
With how she is acting you might think they had something going on, but that is just how all of us feel about Tickle, in the game he was everyone's best friend, and then he left, so we can't help but get excited seeing him again.
"Lilly." He pries her off. "That reminds me, I got messaged by Bang Bang."
Bang Bang? He was one of the founding members of Roving Phoenix, but he hasn't been online in eight years. He shouldn't even know who Tickle is, but yet again everyone knows who Tickle is.
"What did he say?" I ask.
"As I only have heard you talk about him, I kinda expected something else, but he just said help, and his location." He speaks like that isn't a cry for help, but why did he message him and not me?
Me and Bang Bang are practically brothers, we even talk to this day, though he completely stopped gaming for other activities.
Wait, that reminds me.
I flip through my massive message list arriving at one that I thought suspicious.