"No!" Astherielle had screamed. They were losing the game and Beatrix was yet to join them. She said it was only going to take her a few minutes. Those few minutes were closing in on an hour.
They were in the hallway, sitting against the wall outside one classroom on the second floor of their campus building. Jaspreth was cursing beside her.
"We have crappy teammates. Where's Beatrix at?"
"I don't know. Ugh. I'm no longer interested in keeping up the fight. This sucks."
Putting her phone down, Astherielle looked to her left, where she finally saw Beatrix approaching them. Beside her, a girl in a jumper skirt and boots came along.
"Hey, it seems like Beatrix found a new friend."
Jaspreth looked up from his phone, his mouth dropping open in an 'O.'
"Holy crap. Don't you recognize her?" Astherielle gave the girl another look. She had a pixie cut. If she added highlights to her hair, it would have made her look cuter.
"Um, should I?"
"She's Governor Valentine's second daughter."
Gasping, Astherielle stared at the girl beside Beatrix, who was now standing right in front of them.
Getting on her feet, she immediately extended her hand towards her.
"Astherielle Mizuni. Nice to meet you." Zera looked at the other pretty girl who had her wavy hair in two pigtails, sporting some bangs over her forehead.
The black shirt and checkered skirt she was wearing were giving off her playful vibes.
The guy sitting beside her had almost a uniform shirt. His blue jeans and sneakers fitted him right too.
In Zera's mind, she was thinking supermodels might surround her instead of usual high school students.
Shaking Astherielle's hands, Zera smiled.
"Zera."
Astherielle beamed. The guy beside her took his turn to shake her hand, grinning at her.
"Jaspreth, you can call me Jay."
"Nice to meet you, Jay." Zera smiled. Beatrix looked over at their phones and frowned.
"You both started a game without me." she folded her arms over her chest.
"You were taking so long." Astherielle complained.
"And you lost." Beatrix smirked, turning to Zera. "Do you play mobile games?"
Zera shook her head.
"Are you serious?" Astherielle blinked. "What do you do in your free time?"
"Reading."
"Oh, dang. You need to level up, girl. Reading is just… ugh." Beatrix clicked her tongue, opening her hands, palms up towards Zera.
"Hand your phone over. You need a new hobby."
–
"DUCK!" Jaspreth screamed at all of them. Beatrix had pulled the trigger, releasing one bullet each for the two members of the other team. She watched as the translucent screen appeared before their heads, showing their lowered health points when her bullets grazed them.
For the Tarzan boy, he had clutched his shoulders while Zera's captor stumbled on his feet. Amid the chaos, Beatrix was relieved that the cat lady forgot to shoot her arrow, running for cover towards the trees as she saw the same thing which Zera was seeing.
If she was to shoot a few more bullets, they'd be finished. However, with the command to duck, she had to dive on the ground to avoid being at the receiving end of Nayowmi's own version of the snowball which only moments ago had been thrown their way.
While Zera and her friends were busily facing off with the other team, Nayowmi invaded their lair and used their own weapon against them.
This had Zera whistling and appreciating being on the same team as Nayowmi. Otherwise, they might have been the ones suffering the lowered health points.
Astherielle had inflicted a minor wound on the other girl player while Jaspreth had successfully evaded the other team player's hammer. A snowball coming his way saved him from getting smashed to bits, the snow by his feet clearing, splashing it on its surrounding.
Running towards the nearest tree, Zera took cover as Nayowmi continued to fire from what Zera could imagine was a cannon.
Most of the other team players had dispersed, leaving Zera and her friends alone. The realization brought Zera some relief. However, when she thought it was over, a low rumble from the ground had her looking from her left to right.
On the south end, the vast whiteness seemed to move, having Zera gasped upon concluding what it might be.
"Guys!" she screamed. "Snow storm!"
Her warning had Astherielle, Jaspreth, and Beatrix looking in the same direction.
The four of them dashed deeper into the trees, seeking shelter and trying not to panic.
"Okay, how are we supposed to hide in these trees? The storm could easily overtake us, no matter how much we try to hide in here." Beatrix lamented.
Zera frantically eyed their surroundings, looking for any form of cover. The collection of trees seemed to stretch on forever. Right when she was about to let out a frustrated sigh, a large pine tree had its bottom carved open in a cave like fashion.
"There!" Zera pointed towards it, encouraging her friends to run faster despite the rumble on the ground, which grew louder.
The space wasn't massive. The four friends had to huddle, sticking close to each other to fit inside the cave-like opening.
"Phew." Jaspreth muttered, hovering close to the opening. He took off his red vest and stretched it on the mouth of their hiding place to keep some of the snow from coming in.
Zera leaned against the tree. She eyed her friends and couldn't be more grateful to have all of them intact.
"When this is all over," Astherielle breathed. "Do you guys want to go camping?"
"No," Beatrix immediately replied. "I'd rather we just have a movie night and enjoy some popcorn and soda."
Zera nodded, agreeing with Beatrix's comment.
"Popcorn and soda…" Zera trailed off. "Come to think of it. We have eaten nothing for the last few hours."
"Surprisingly, I don't even feel hungry." Jaspreth eyed Zera.
"Me neither." Astherielle seconded, and she was the resident food lover among the four.
"Huh."
Silence had enveloped them as they waited out the storm with Jaspreth fighting off the shivers as bits of cold air passed through. His outstretched hand was now hurting.
Several minutes ticked, Zera counted to five after no longer sensing the rumbles and hearing the wind whistling.
Lowering his arms, Jaspreth was the first one to take a peek and gestured with his head that it was safe to come out.
Rubbing her arms, Zera immediately came out and stared at the snow that doubled its covering on everything around them, the cold rising to a higher temperature..
"Map." Zera stated, getting the hang of summoning the translucent screen. She summoned the map's vicinity once more, her eyes scanning for where Nayowmi might be.
Engrossed at her discovery, Jaspreth stared at Zera. The other two coming towards her as well.
"Whoa, we've been so dumb this whole time." He muttered.
"We're new to everything around here, so that's a given." Zera replied, dismissing his concern.
Locating Nayowmi, Zera breathed a sigh of relief.
"Thank goodness she's alright." Astherielle voiced out.
"Can we locate the other teams using that map as well?" Zera shrugged at Beatrix. She blew out an exasperated breath.
"Probably not. It might be deemed as cheating." Jaspreth snorted.
"Ugh, that would at least be advantageous."
"Advantageous but not playing fair." Jaspreth retorted.
"How do we know they aren't doing the same?" Beatrix snapped back.
"Guys," Zera shook her head. "We don't have time to argue. We need to make use of having the advantage of our health points being intact."
"Great job. We almost lost our heads, though." Jaspreth stated.
"Sorry." Zera muttered. "That was my bad."
"Eh, Nayowmi saved the day. But where is she?" Beatrix commented.
"She might be stuck on the other side." Astherielle pointed at her unmoving dot. "She's great and knows what she's doing. So I'm assuming she's alright, fingers crossed."
"We need to divide the task. Two of us should find Nayowmi and the other two should focus on the big boss until we are reunited." Zera caught her friend's gazes.
"Before that, we need to know what we're facing first." Jaspreth replied.
"Of course. But how do we know that?" Zera put a hand on her hip, blowing out a sigh.
"Um, guys?" Astherielle pointed towards the south, the same direction where the snowstorm came from, eyeing a moving silhouette which their view of the area allowed them to see.
Two red eyes were the first thing they noticed against the white fog which the snowstorm had left.
"Ugh, I am not liking this one bit." Beatrix commented.
"None of us do." Astherielle turned to her friends, sighing.
"Okay. Why don't EE and Astrid find Nayowmi? You both have long-range weapons. Master Tricks and I will take care of the big boss until you secure her."
"Will you two be alright?" Beatrix asked.
Zera glanced towards Jaspreth. He nodded, fixed determination in his eyes.
"He is our best fighter and I am the best support. I think we can make it out alive. Plus, I'm sure the other team would focus on the monster, as it seemed to have moved towards their turf." Zera's comment had the rest of her friends follow her gaze.
The fog was clearing and they could see an enormous form trudging towards the other side from where they were at.
"Okay, it's time to move." Jaspreth eyed the two. "You can activate the map too, I guess, and follow Nayowmi. Remember, none of us likes our situation, but I want to come back in time to meet with my girl."
"If we aren't in such a mess, I would actually be so proud and find that very sweet, Jay." Beatrix put a hand over her heart. She rolled her eyes right after and gestured for Astherielle to follow her.
"We'll be quick. But for now, good luck!" Astherielle called out, waving as she disappeared with Beatrix, following Nayowmi's tracks.
Zera breathed out a sigh. The icy breath that came out had her wondering if they were doing the right thing.
"We're not really killing them, right?"
Jaspreth stared at her.
"Are you worried about that?"
"You're not?" Jaspreth shrugged.
"It's a game. I'm uncertain what is real and what is not, but let's just do what we must. I know that sounded selfish, but Z, if we don't win, we'd be the ones on the losing end."
Biting on her lower lip, Zera stared at Jaspreth for a long time. She glanced towards the approaching beast and then back at him.
"I want to go home, too." Zera took a deep breath, releasing a nervous sigh right after.
"They're not real." She muttered.
"Nope." Jaspreth agreed. "But we are."