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The moment Meliadol logged in, he pulled up his friend list.
Name: Bast Class: Lvl 60 Berserker Status: Offline for 12 hours
Inwardly, he couldn't help the slight feeling of disappointment. Every time he had logged on previously, Bast had been there, dropping everything so he could keep his vigil over Meliadol's attempts. Part of Meliadol wanted someone to witness his trials and his eventual success. A smaller part of him could admit that he appreciated the company too.
It was odd how comfortable with someone's presence a person could become…
He was being greedy and he hated it.
But it would be an eventual success.He felt it was inevitable. The show Darlia had put on the other day had at least shown him it was at least possible. With the goal achievable, he had thought it would have been smooth sailing from there.
Oh, how wrong he was!
After Darlia left, in an attempt to emulate her actions and to ignore her words, he had thrown himself at the two damnable skeletons with renewed vigor. Yet, try as he might, things did not go well. In fact, if he was being honest, it actually went worse than before. He couldn't copy the agile woman's motions, the flowing rhythm to her steps, and the hint she had given him was incomprehensible.He had actually played worse, dying four more times before he gave up.
What was the secret?
He had left in a huff yesterday, angry and embarrassed, but logging on today, with the wind gently ruffling his hair and the sun upon his face, he felt calm, composed. It was with a hopeful lilt in his step that he made his way through the crowded city of Arendall, toward the portal that would take him to the plane of Styxx. He knew the way well by this point, before long standing at the massive towering black arches.
The portal was active, the water-like shifting sheen reflecting the torn landscape of Styxx within its depths. Closing his eyes, Meliadol stepped through. It stole his breath, stripping him bare, like being haf-stuck in a yawn as a wave crashed over him.
One…two…three…fo–
The atmosphere of Styxx hit him hard, dragging across his body and he sucked in the air greedily, coughing slightly. He would never get used to that. Meliadol pulled out his sword as he followed the trail north, along a mountain ridge. He had found out the hard way that the mobs were too high of a level for him within the center of the torn plane. The quests he had picked up directed him to kill the low level monsters at the Skeleton Boneyard, collecting reagents for an eccentric wizard in Arendall.
Every single quest had the "group" tag on it, highly suggesting the one take on the quest with a stalwart group of like-minded individuals. Meliadol was stubborn though, and thanks to Darlia showing him the way, he knew it was possible to solo them.
He just needed to get good.
Bast has logged on.
A message floating across the the top of his screen as he arrived at the Skeleton Boneyard, as if everything was planned. Meliadol looked at the pair of skeletons, his mind's eye flickering back to the endless hours he had spent dying to them over and over, before settling on Darlia's words.
This game isn't meant to be played alone…
He felt something crumble inside. He didn't want to bash his head against the wall that these skeletons represented any more. Seeing Bast log on made him happy. Perhaps he wished to see more of this game that the berserker loved so much? Maybe he was just tired of dying like a stubborn idiot.
On pure impulse of the moment, he made a decision.
He swallowed his pride.
Pulling up his chat window, he sent a single message to the berserker:
[01:23:35]You to Bast: What am I doing wrong?
[01:24:02]Bast responds: hmmmm…that's no good!
Meliadol was confused by the man's odd words.
[01:24:15]You to Bast: What's no good?
[01:24:40]Bast responds: just asking me like that? what happened to that fire you had? did u give up?
He felt the heat rise up his neck as he read the berserker's words.
[01:24:47:]You to Bast: No! Just…
Meliadol paused, his hands hovering over the in-game keyboard overlay for a moment.
[01:25:10]You to Bast: Well…this game isn't meant to be played alone. I'm giving it a shot.
There was a long pause, and for a moment Meliadol wondered if Bast was busy, and a flicker of doubt began to creep into his thoughts, but then a series of messages flashed on his overlay.
[01:27:01]Bast responds:
[01:27:03]Bast responds: okay!
[01:27:07]Bast responds: meet me in arendall. second floor of the temple
[01:27:13]You to Bast: Sounds good.
Meliadol wasn't that inconvenienced by Bast's request. He looked regretfully at the skeleton pair in front of him, silently promising them all sorts of doom upon his return before fishing out the necklace from under his armor. On the end was a milky blue stone that seemed to shine brightly in the dull bleakness of this world. The Necklace of Recall was given to him by an NPC before he was allowed to use the planar gates.
He tapped it, and it began to swing on its own, like a pendulum. With each pass, the stone glow grew brighter, until it was blinding. There was a sucking sound, and then a thunderclap; Meliadol and the light vanished, leaving Styxx to its own devices.
The sun was high in Arendall as he appeared with a crack, still stumbling slightly on the well-cut stone street.
"For fuck's sake, I will get the hang of that." he grumbled.
Still, he was in a good mood. His confession of his failure was like a weight off his chest. He'd be remiss if he had said he wasn't looking forward to seeing the rest of this game beyond the small surface he had scratched. It was so big, so encompassing, that he had latched on to the one aspect of gaming that he knew: beating challenges. Those skeletons, beating them as a 'newbie' and on his own would have been impressive, but he had failed.
Meliadol had realized, from his disappointment at not having Bast online to greet him initially, that perhaps it was wrong to treat this like his other games. This was an MMO, and like Darlia had said, this wasn't like the solo player games he had played with his father as a young boy. From someone who had avoided online multiplayer games like the plague, Meliadol considered this concession an indicator of personal growth.
It was exploring new ground.
The city was bustling as usual, but Meliadol knew the location where he was to meet Bast well enough. When he had received his Necklace of Recall from the portal guard, he had been cautioned to keep well to the lower rung of portals that encircled the center of the city. Though every connected world had high level areas, most also contained low to mid-level areas as well for those leveling. Quests available to lowbies, as they were known, generally helped direct new players to these locations.
The exception to this rule was the second floor of the Temple of Crossroads. These planar portals was where the toughest challenges lay. There was no concessions to new players within their depths, and only the hardiest dared combat the horrors that lurked within.
And Bast wanted to meet him there?
Sure enough, as he climbed the final few steps, he saw the hulking berserker's frame, standing by one of the portals.
"Little Mel!" Bast's voice boomed across the way, drawing the attention of other players.
Meliadol's ears burned, and for a second he wished more than anything to be able to disappear. "I told you not to call me that!" he hissed as he approached. He could feel the stares on his back.
Bast just laughed.
"What are we doing here?" Meliadol asked, looking up at the portal they were in front of, the chaotic crimson landscape visible through the water like miasma between the two arches.
"Oh, we're not going in there!" Bast chuckled, "The Demon's Scar is not a place for you."
Meliadol breathed a bit easier. "Oh, okay, good. I was about to say that–"
"No, we're going in over there!" Bast said, ignoring Meliadol's words as he pointed to the another portal.
The depths of this portal were an inviting green, not at all hostile like most portal surfaces. Still, Meliadol was doubtful. "I'm level one, are you sure? What does this have to do with you helping me?"
The grin that Bast gave him was almost evil. "You're level one, what do you have to lose? This is a game. Where's your sense of adventure? Don't you wanna see something amazing?"
There was no way that this wasn't a bad idea. Being a level one character meant that higher level monsters would notice, also known as aggro, him easier. The larger the disparity in levels, the longer the aggro range. From what the NPC had said, these planes were full of dangerous monsters far beyond a single person to fight. He'd be so popular the monsters would probably have to take numbers and queue up.
Still, it would be an adventure in this new world. It was more interesting than dying over and over again to the same two skeletons. Furthermore, from the way that Bast was smiling, Meliadol surmised that the berserker had something truly interesting to show him, or a reason to bring him to an area he had no business being in. At any rate, curiosity danced on the edges of his thoughts.
This was an easy choice.
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