Fantasy [Private] El Stories

[LegenDarius]

Ren felt Airi's slender arms wrapping around his petite body, and he blushed a deep red.

"G-Goodnight..." he stammered, pleasantly surprised at her gesture. A split second later, he fell asleep in her arms.

He awoke to the feeling of Airi shaking him, her hands gripping his shoulder.

"Hmmmn?" Ren awoke with bright eyes and a bright smile. He'd slept like a baby last night. "Good morning, Airi!" he said cheerily to her.

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[Heavengiver]

Rain
​

She dreamed about her death.

It wasn't like she wanted to, but her talk with Lara must have pulled her mind to recall that terrible day.

She and the El Search Party were gathered in one of the inns in Lanox, trying to figure out how to go around defeating the demon general after Rena became corrupted by dark El and kidnapped Raven. Elsword looked disillusioned: his eyes hollow and grim. Aisha, his mentor, watched over him with heavy concern. In fact, everyone seems to be different. Chung is more isolated, except when he's vigilant and snaps at everyone. Eve is colder than usual. And Rui...Rui now carries the role of motivator, something that Rain didn't think she'll ever see.

Chung gives his Silver Shooters one last check and heads out the door.

"That guy hasn't been staying around us ever since that damn fire priestess betrayed us," Elsword bitterly remarks, grabbing his sword and following in Chung's footsteps.

"Aisha, can you help me again? I'm still not getting this skill down."

"Yeah, I can. Let's go."

Soon, the others file out in the same fashion, unable to cooperate with each other. Only Rui and Rain remain in the inn, silent and unsure.

"Well then, siren. Let's go over the locations we've been to and try to see if there's a way we can proceed."

"My dear, how many times are you going to call me that?"

"As many times as I want, Rain. Don't lie to me about not liking it."

He turns around to head to their room, and the moment she lets a smile form on her face...pain erupts through her body.

The attack through her heart was swift and precise. Blood erupts from her mouth, and her back arches at an inhumane angle. In the moment she was able to feel the torturing pain, all she could think about was to call out Rui's name. She tries to look down at the weapon that pierced her, but she only registered a light blue color. Her vision blurred rapidly, and then darkness unrelentingly swallows her whole.

Rain couldn't even scream.

The healer wakes with a desperate gasp. Her body shakes fervently, and she covers her mouth to push down the vomit clawing its way up her throat. Rain keeps gasping for air. The komodo staring at her flops onto its back at her abrupt awakening and flails.

"Oh god...oh god....oh god..."

"Mmm...Urghh...."

No good, she's going to barf soon, but her body feels heavy, almost lifeless.

Late

 

[Late]

Komodo scrambled back onto his feet, confused and somewhat frightened at Rain for waking up abruptly. He quickly jumped over to the bathroom door and clawed the wood, roaring out in attention. Komodo kept doing it until Xavier finally opened up the door with an annoyed look.

"Geez, can I at least put on my shirt, Komo?" Xavier grumbled, having a towel over his head in which his hair was wet from his shower, was only dressed from the waist down.

Komodo tugged his pants in urgency as his tail whipped around. Xavier, confused, looked where Komodo was trying to drag him to. He saw how Rain looked awfully sick and understood Komodo's panic. At first he wasn't sure on what to do, worried for the girl.

Xavier looked around and his eyes set on a trash can that was just at arms length if he bends over for it. He quickly picked it up and briskly walked over to Rain. He helped her to sit up so she can use the trash can to empty her stomach. Xavier glanced over at Komodo, wondering if the dragon had to do something with this but Komodo gave innocent and worry eyes to Xavier. He sighed, carefully petting Rain's back in hopes it would comfort her as he aid her in holding the bin.

Heavengiver

 

[Heavengiver]

Rain
​

The vomit spilling from her mouth tasted like blood.

Xavier was quick to grab a bin and assist her, gently rubbing her back as she throws up last night's meal. Her heart pumped frantically, as if paranoid that it had actually stopped. She continues to grapple for air, shoving mouthful after mouthful into her once she finished vomiting. She couldn't see anything; everything was shifting, splitting apart.

"P-please tell me I'm alive...that's not blood in the trash can right...? M-my heart is beating right?! T-there's nothing sticking out of me, right?!!"

Late

 

[Late]

"H-hey slow down," Xavier stammered. The way she talks made Xavier assume that she had a bad dream. "Just breathe, nothing happened to you. Take it slow and steady. Slowly inhale and slowly exhale, Rain," he pleaded. The dream must have been horrible. Xavier didn't ceased to stop stroking her back, having a worried look. "Your vomit looks fine, and you are very alive at the moment." Bad joke. "Focus on your breathing, Rain. No one is going to hurt you, you're safe here..."

Heavengiver

 

[iFlipTables]

Airi was taken aback to Steele's cheery demeanor. Is he alright?

"Ummm... Did we do anything inappropriate last night?"

LegenDarius

 

[Phant0m]

Outskirts of Bethma

Phantom yawned as he pulled down the cloth that was covering his nose and mouth and he walked on into the village. "So you're telling me that there's a lizard genocide going on?" He asked aloud, seemingly to himself. The man tilted his head as if he was listening to a response before he sighed. "Fine, but I'm not going to do funerals here... But maybe some exorcisms." He paused. "Yeah I'm worried about getting work! Sure, I'm worried about all the murders, but I've been walking from village to village. This was a long trip and I spent a lot of money doing good and inn stops because a certain goddess didn't warn me about wild animals in a forest and I found my tent in shreds!"
He stopped when he noticed the villagers were giving him weird looks. Phantom sighed and he rushed over to the first inn he saw and he rummaged through his pocket satchel to find some ED to pay for a breakfast as he made his over to the innkeeper.
"Excuse me, miss?" Phantom called out to the woman behind the desk, "Do you serve breakfast here?"

 

[Heavengiver]

Rain
​

"Rain..."

"I-I can't...oh god..."

It took her a long time to stabilize. Xavier's words did little to comfort her, but his presence was something that she greatly needed.

"W-why did I remember that...? I-I can still taste the blood in my mouth..."

She had the sudden urge to drink water, and she waves her hand slowly, spawning a bunch of water droplets that she plucks into her mouth. To calm her heart down, Rain begins to draw pictures out of the water. Some were random things, but others were quick draws of her friends, their weapons...things that reminded her of the good things in her world.

"Thank you Xavier...I appreciate your help. I'm going to be okay."

She still finds herself unable to move her body from her sitting position. The siren lets out a nervous chuckle.

"Can you order some breakfast here? I can't seem to move quite yet."

Late

 

[MementoDei]

Lara noticed a newcomer asking loudly for breakfast come in. Good, life was continuing its course. Still, something was off. She couldn't put her finger on it yet. She glanced at the strange man, his accent was as mixed as some of the traveling merchants' children. He didn't look like one, and Lara lost immediately her curiosity on him. Whoever it was, he had nothing to do with her nor her objective. Not yet, in any case.
Phant0m

 

[LegenDarius]

Ren was taken aback by her question, as shown by the pink streak across his face. "N-no..." he stuttered. "As soon as you hugged me I fell asleep. Did... Did you do something to me? You took advantage of me in my sleep, didn't you!"

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[Late]

"Alright, sure. Take your time," Xavier said with his head nodding. He remembered the towel on his head and gave a slight smile. "Just give me a second." He patted her shoulder before leaving her side to dry himself a bit better. Komodo watched Xavier drying up his hair the best he can and putting on his shirt.

Before he left the room, Xavier looked at Komodo and pointed at him.

"Watch her and be sure nothing bad happens," Xavier said to the dragon. Komodo nodded his head and turn to face Rain, tilting his head at her and taking a couple steps forward so he can be beside her bed.

Xavier left the room to get her breakfast. It didn't necessarily took long, there wasn't a lot of people down there. Though it felt strange? He wasn't sure how to put it, unless it was always like this in the mornings. There was only two people, the strange woman and someone he never met before. Xavier curiously eyed the newcomer until he was finally given a plate of breakfast food by a waiter.

"No need to pay. Stella told us beforehand to give you and your group a free breakfast for helping her out. Take care," the waiter said, making Xavier lighten up at the free food they were granted for the morning. Eventually the waiter turn over to the newcomer to see what he wants, leaving Xavier to walk back to his room.

He returned back with the tray of food, glad to see nothing bad happened when he was gone. Komodo did exactly what he was told, keeping watch so nothing bad happened. Xavier went ahead to set the tray on the small table in the room, looking over at Rain.

"How you holding up now?"

Heavengiver MementoDei Phant0m

 

[Phant0m]

Stella nodded. "Our waiter here can serve you! Please take a seat!"

"May I help you?" The waiter asked.

"Um.. yeah. I don't know how much food I can get with this," Phantom shows the waiter how much ED he has, "So.. can I have what I can afford, please?"

The waiter smiled before counting the ED and walking away.

Phantom walked over to take a seat across the room and he unstrapped his staff and started to fidget with it. He hummed as Xiopetec pointed out the other lady in the room, and Phantom glanced over to her. "Interesting chick, that's for sure," He said as he looked about the room. "What else are you picking up? I don't need to watch my back do I?" He paused. "A dragon? Nice. This group sounds cool!" He whined. "Aw! I need to make some new friends you know! People think I'm crazy because I talk to a goddess in my head, and I'd like to socialize with a physical person, thank you very much."

Phantom rolled his eyes as he tossed his staff from one hand to the other. "That lady probably thinks I'm absolutely insane, she probably heard everything."

MementoDei

 

[MementoDei]

Lara paid her meal, trying to concentrate in the matters at hand and inevitably heard the young man's whining to a...goddess? Inside his head? She rolled her eyes and took out the notebook she had taken from the airship to write.... She had no ink. Nevertheless, she opened it and began to pretend to be concentrated reading something. Free time called for desperate measures. If only she had asked to the lizard boy where his group was sooner. Not that she was certain that he would've told her anything, he seemed to be wary of her, like Steele.
Phant0m Late

 

[iFlipTables]

"Of course not! I would never do something of that calibar!" Airi replied, looking flustered.

LegenDarius

 

[Heavengiver]

Rain
​

The komodo looks at her strangely as she continues to weave pictures from the water she's spawning. She giggles and makes a chibi version of the komodo.

"Komodo, does this look like you? I'm afraid I'm not the best artist in the land."

It tilts its head as it stares at the watery doppelganger. The healer laughs again and attempts to eat her creation. The dragon jumps up trying to grab it, but the girl reshapes the water dragon into a sphere and places it into her mouth. It gives a hurt puppy face and sulks on the bed. Rain pets the dragon in order to cheer it up, and the komodo hesitantly nudges her hand back.

"Seems like you're okay with me now. That's good."

Xavier walks in after she finishes petting the dragon, holding a plate of delectable breakfast in front of her. Her body suddenly remembers that it's alive, and her other self lunges for the plate, eating as if she's never had food before.

"I forgot how good these eggs are!"

She continues to eat greedily, ignoring the probably disturbed dragon boy in the room.

Late

 

[LegenDarius]

Ren raised a brow, before bursting out laughing. "Hahaha, Airi! I was just kidding." He laid his head back down and closed his eyes, ready to fall back asleep. He smiled to himself, knowing that another girl seemed to genuinely care for him. He hadn't had that since he was separated from his mother all those years ago.

A stream of memories flashed by. Memories of Karis, a succubus who had captured and abused him for days before he was rescued by a party of adventurers. Ren took care not to dwell too long on those memories. He wanted to keep the good vibes going. Airi somehow brought out the childish side of him. A side that Ren thought had been long dead.

Ren lowered his head into her chin. "Airi... Thank you so much for keeping me company..."

He stayed in that moment until the smell of fresh bacon snapped him back up. "Airi! Breakfast!" Ren quickly got up and changed clothes (in the bathroom, of course). Once he did, he headed out the door and followed his nose to the restaurant. He took in the sight of the many foods arrayed in trays like a buffet. Turning to the waiter, Ren said, "I'll pay all I need to for what I eat. It's been at least 24 hours since my last meal."

Without waiting for a reply, Ren grabbed a plate and began heaping it with mounds of food.

I iFlipTables Late Heavengiver Phant0m MementoDei

 

[Late]

Xavier watched her carefully, surprised on how she eats and hopes she doesn't choke herself. Komodo didn't seem to care as he eyed at the food curiously. "I guess you're back on track," Xavier commented with a small nod of his head.

He start to look around for his gauntlets now, his fingers nervously tapping against his leg. Sometimes some wisps of fire lepted out of his fingers but they weren't large or dangerous. Even Komodo found a new game to play with that now he failed to capture the water and tried to snap at the small wisps. Eventually Xavier found his gauntlets and he stopped fidgeting around, curiously study the weapon for any dents from last night.

"Stella award us free breakfast since we completed our mission last night. So if you want more, just ask," Xavier said to her. "Besides that, I guess we can check about the others. I probably need to apologize for...Perkisas' behavior."

'Even though its best if he apologizes himself.'

"I only apologize if I feel sorry for it. In which I don't." Perkisas grumbled low, sounding rather sleepy as if he woke up from his own slumber.

Heavengiver

 

[Heavengiver]

Rain
​

Her other self couldn't help but laugh hysterically at his last comment.

"Xavier, it's not really your fault, but then I remembered that Perkisas is a very prideful dragon. Hearing him apologize would probably be the end of the world."

She continues to laugh as she eats. Her breakfast disappeared in minutes, and the siren flops onto the bed.

"That was good. I needed that."

"We're leaving today. What do we do about Lara's offer?"

"I say throw caution to the waves. Even if we know this land by heart, the distortions can come up anywhere."

"H-hopefully it's nothing too bad..."

"There's also the issue with Steele, Airi, and Arya."

"If they leave, there's nothing we can do. I did say that I will go in alone if I must."

Rain regains her body and heads to the bathroom to get ready. She takes a long shower, reveling in the feel of water on her. Once she finished, the healer takes the remaining water droplets on her and absorbs them into herself. Rain heads out with a bright smile and goes out with Xavier, who has his gauntlet on again. While she can easily fix the scars on his hand, it looks like they're important to him, and so she instantly drops the idea.

The two head to the restaurant, where they see Steele devouring a plate stacked high with food. Lara was there too, sitting in the corner. There was also someone new...and was he talking to himself?

"I'm glad we're not the only nutcases around here."

"No kidding."

She decides to address Lara first, and she walks up to her wearing a gentle smile.

"Good morning Lara. I hope you slept well. About your offer, I'm afraid that I have horrible judgement in what people want, so I was wondering what would be a suitable price for that information."

Late MementoDei

 

[iFlipTables]

Airi followed Steele's suite and went down for breakfast. The smell of bacon made her stomach rumble.

She spotted Lara, Steele, Rain, and Xavier. Remembering her pay, Airi walked over to Lara.

MementoDei

 

[MementoDei]

Lara glanced at the elf and finished her tea in silence until Rain came to talk. She returned her smile and listened to the girl's words.
"Good morning to you, Rain. What I want is pretty simple, really. I-" She let her words trail off as she saw Airi approach and greeted her in a warm voice.

"Good morning, Airi! I'm glad to see you're doing well. I think I know what you're here for. Here you go." She handed over a bag of gold. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm discussing some business with Rain here." She turned her attention to Rain again and continued:

"As I was saying, my interests are very simple. This won't take very long, but I feel bad seeing you stand like that all along." She pushed back the chair in front of her and invited her, with a smile, to seat there.

Heavengiver I iFlipTables

 

[Late]

Xavier went ahead to get himself breakfast though Komodo was distracted. Not from the food, to Xavier's surprise, but from something else. He watched Komodo sniffing around the area, grumbling to itself as having a rather concentrated look. Often Komodo would bump into tables and chairs by accident but was quick to resume back to his search.

Xavier sometimes doesn't understand the dragon. He got his plate of food and went ahead to sit on his own, wanting to check on his supplies of el shards for him and Komodo. He did let the dragon go for a hunt for more, but Xavier had a different plan for them. He hopes it will work, he just needs Komodo to lead him on where he sashed it out in the dry land.

 

[Heavengiver]

Rain
​

"Oh, thank you."

She sits down in the chair and orders some apple juice. The inn was finally bursting with energy, and it helped her regain a good mood after her recollection from last night.

"So, what exactly are those interests, Lara?"

MementoDei

 

[MementoDei]

"To put it simply, Rain, your existence intrigues me. The world your real self knew, how you got here, how far both of you will be willing to go. It's a fascinating mystery that I'd love to see unveiled one day." Realizing she had probably talked too much, Lara chuckled softly and continued in a more apologetic tone: "I must sound a little weird, but compared to a certain mercenary you got under your payroll, I think it comes in pretty cheap for your pocket. Of course, if more bounties come in your journey, I'll take a part of the bounty, I need to survive somehow on my own, regardless who I'm working with, right?"

Heavengiver

 

[Heavengiver]

Rain
​

"So you wish to follow me?"

What a weird request. And she even asks for nothing more than enough to survive on. Her other self feels on edge. While she talks with her other self, Rain maintains her posture and facial expression. Being a performer has made her a master of hiding inner doubt and nervousness.

"That's a low cost from us. What is she planning?"

"I do not know...but if we accept, we would have another person who would help us."

"Fine, at this point, help is going to be scarce. Just don't get too comfortable with her."

"Well, I'm flattered that you're interested in little me. You're welcome to join, Lara, if that's what you're offering. I can always use the help."

Speaking of help, Rain turns to the elf greedily eating down his plate of food and sighs heavily. For sure, he's not going to stay, not while he sees Xavier as a threat. And with him goes Airi, since she's 90% sure that the girl is following him around.

"I have some things to take care of first, so once I'm finished, we can head out right away."

Standing up and curtsying to the girl, Rain then walks over to Steele and pulls out the bag of money from her purse.

"Steele, here you go. You are free to leave if you wish. I won't hold it against you if you do."

MementoDei LegenDarius Late I iFlipTables

 

[MementoDei]

Lara smiled and let the girl go. Perfect, things were going perfectly well. She glanced at the mercenary and searched to grab his attention through a quick telepathic message:
"Remember those 40 million? Meet me at Cobo's bank once you're free and the money is yours."
She ordered another glass of iced tea and silently drank it before heading out.
******************************
Bethma's bank wasn't very impressive, an old wooden cottage recently remodelled to fit its new purpose. As always, it was empty and the only worker, Luriel, was half-asleep on the counter. Lara approached, scaring the poor employee once she was ten centimetres away from her.
"A-AH!!! Ex-Excuse me, ma'am, you've startled me. Uh, t-this is Cobo's Bank Service! Nice to meet..t-to see you again, Miss. Lara. What c-can I do for you?" She stuttered as she adjusted her glasses over her eyes again.

"Good morning Luriel, I'm glad to see you're doing well. I've come here to know how are my funds."
"O-Oh. Got it. You see, it's very rare to see you alive and kicking after...what happened to Resiam. As a precaution, we froze your account. You've come quite close before your account's termination, but I must make you sign a form so you can gain back its contents." She said, slowly becoming more professional at each sentence. Luriel pulled out a ten pages contract which was titled as: Account retrieval.

Retrieval. Lara hated that word, it was as if her money had been held hostage by the company and they were asking her to sign to their terms as a ransom to get it back. It was maybe not far from the truth, but she was very lucky to come just hours before her account's termination, according to the paper. She read carefully, finding here and there more strict terms of use, as if it had been her fault that the...she shook that thought away and reached the end of the contract. Lara took a blue pen at the corner of the desk and signed her name where it was indicated for her to do so.

"Thank you, Miss Lara. About your account, you know that your former alliance with the Red Knights gave you a revenue for working for them and a pension found once you became a veteran, right?" Lara nodded and Luriel continued the exhaustive explanation Lara was more or less in the mood to hear. "Well, we, as good subjects of Velder's kingdom, took a percentage of your account's liquidity to help the cause of the King to push back the demon offence. I'm sure you understand that even Kings don't have the luxury to depend solely from their peasants in these cruel times. This was obviously done with terminated and some frozen accounts. From the richest, as to keep the percentage quite small, but-" Lara was close of slicing the head of that blonde girl, but she simply clenched her fists instead. Her gesture didn't escape Luriel's gaze, who began to stutter once again. "I-I'm sorry, L-Lara. It was necessary. Uh... we want this world to be at peace, uh, once more, y-you know?"
Lara smiled and spoke with a kind voice although her eyes remained as cold as ice, freezing the bank's employee on her chair: "Of course I understand that, Luriel. It must've been a tough decision for all of you, as a company made for the happiness of your customers. I can't help feeling a little upset about this, but the King's causes are still my causes. Now, I'm in a bit of a hurry, so if you'd kindly tell me how much is left in my account, I'd be forever grateful to you and I'll continue to trust your respectable company for its incredible services."
Luriel muttered an inaudible "yes" before turning her attention to a screen, ancient salvation of Nasod technology. She typed on it Lara's information and changed its status from "frozen" to "active" once more. Her sister would kill her for not following the standard procedure, but once she knew it was Lara Tureen's account, Ariel would probably forgive her. Heck, even the higher-ups would almost certainly be happy about it. After some minutes, she came up with a number. 4.5 thousand millions. Lara's cold stare didn't budge. Last time she had checked, she had 5 thousand millions. It wasn't what she would've called a small amount, but holding grudges against the sole active bank in Elrios wasn't a smart choice.
"Thank you Luriel. If you don't mind, I'll stay a while here until a certain man comes in. I owe him some money. The amount is small, so it won't violate the contract's terms."
Luriel nodded and Lara sat in a hard green couch nearby, waiting for Steele to come up.

LegenDarius Heavengiver