*********************************************************************************************************
"Welcome to The Fairy King's Playground!" Bast said, his arms raised as if to physically present the sight before them.
The pair stood on the lip of an expansive crater, and within was a sea of green, a forest canopy, stretching out as far as the eye could see. Thin wisps of mist leaked out, the wind making them dance like flames. The sun was bright and strong.
Meliadol gave a low whistle. The place was huge, and they were so far up along the crater that clouds drifted by at eye level. He had no idea where to even begin.
Bast, on the other hand, didn't have that problem. Right as Meliadol opened his mouth to ask, the berserker jumped, hitting the side of the crater and throwing up large clouds of dust as he slid down like a snowboarder that had left his board at home.
"You've got to be shitting me." Meliadol muttered as he got closer to the edge, watching the berserker continue down until he was nothing more than a speck.
"Itsagameitsagameitsagameitsagameitsagameitsagame…" He repeated the mantra to himself, inching forward until he couldn't any longer. But despite his bravado, looking down to the forest far below, with the wind whipping his hair, he had a hard time believing his words.
He took a deep breath.
It was an awfully long way down…
He half-jumped, half slipped.
The wind tore at his face as he hit the side of the crater hard, folding over himself before falling backward. In panic his hand shot out to steady his landing. His skidding slowed gradually. For a moment he held his current position, kneeling on the sharply angled crater wall.
It was as if time had stopped in the infinite space between two breaths…
A rock under his foot slipped, rolling down the incline to impact far below. As if it was a cue, more dirt and rocks began to slide, dragging him along with it. Faster and faster, and he had to lean far back to keep his balance. Dust and debris obscured his vision.
Suddenly he hit something that snagged his foot, perhaps rock, and he was jerked forward into a chaotic roll.
His world spun, occasionally being thrown in the air whenever he hit a small outcropping of stone or dirt. The entire time, with each jarring impact, his health bar flashed in his vision, slowly decreasing. Down it went, turning yellow at forty percent…thirty… red at twenty-five…
The angle of his tumble abruptly changed, slowing down, and he came to gradual stop, skidding on his back, head first, within a nest of rocks and dirt. Twenty-one percent flashed in warning across the top left of his vision. Meliadol ignored it, staring up at the blueness of the sky.
The silhouette of a large head blocked his vision, "Well, it wasn't the most graceful of entries…We'll have to work on it!" Bast grinned at him, before pulling back and offering to help him up.
His own hand seemed small by comparison in the massive paw of the berserker as Bast easily pulled him to his feet.
Meliadol looked around, making ready as if to dust himself off. His hand stopped midway.
"Holy. Shit."
The scope of the forest hadn't seemed that odd from way up high on the crater. But he learned it was only a matter of perspective. The trees jutted up from the land like hulking behemoths, each easily the size of the largest skyscrapers, with twisted, gnarled roots that created natural tunnels through the undergrowth. A hundred people, arms linked, couldn't have made it all around the width of each tree and as bright as the midday sun burned, no light pierced the canopy above. Meliadol could only wonder at the secrets contained within these darkened trails.
"Our goal, little Mel, is the center of this forest."
"Oh yeah? What waits for us there?"
Bast began stretching, shifting back and forth on his legs like a runner before a sprint. With the man's size, it looked ridiculous. "Well," he said, grunting as he leaned this way and that, "If you follow the lore of this plane, this is where the fairy king goes to hunt for sport, and within the center is a giant tree that has the greatest prize sealed within. The prize, of course, being a monster. Only the worthy can break him free to kill him for the fairy king's favor"
Meliadol didn't know who the fairy king was, at least in terms of game lore, but it seemed rather important regardless. "So there's like a big boar or something inside a tree?"
"Try a really pissed off green dragon."
"Oh."
"Yeah, it's a fifty man raid boss."
"…oh." Meliadol openly gaped at the berserker, "So…why are we here again?"
Truly, that was the question of the day. Why were they here? He was a new player in a max-level zone, heading toward an encounter designed for an organized group of fifty people to tackle. Try as he might, Meliadol couldn't understand Bast's reasoning.
"Trust me, little Mel!" Bast's smile was sharp enough to cut stone, "We are here for adventure, and adventure we shall have!"
Meliadol was about to say something snarky about his nickname, but the berserker suddenly lunged, the strong fingers closing with finality around his neck. Meliadol's shout of surprise was lost as the berserker jumped, midair flipping Meliadol over his opposite shoulder like he was carrying grain.
Wham!
Bast hit the side of a tree like a missile, his fingers digging into the hardwood.
Wham, wham, wham, wham!
Again and again the berserker's hands punched into the wood, carrying Meliadol along with him as he navigated his way up the trunk. In no time at all, they were standing on a branch, high up, just below the canopy.
"Bast!" Meliadol spat, catching his breath, "What the fuck are you doing?"
"Hold on, little Mel!" It was all the warning the berserker gave before leaping from the branch.
Meliadol panicked, shutting his eyes and scrambling to dig his fingers into the Bast's leather armor, his stomach rising and dropping as the berserker hit the high point of his leap before crashing back down again on the thick branch of a nearby tree.
Each time the berserker landed, he'd take a moment to orient himself before leaping again. It was a steady practiced motion that indicated that the berserker was no stranger to this method of travel. They jumped from tree to tree like monkeys, each landing punctuated by the sound of splintering wood and shaking leaves.
Meliadol didn't like being treated like luggage, but the arm holding him tightened when he began fidgeting. "Stop struggling, little Mel!" Bast whispered fiercely, "Take a look around! Your situation would not be good if I stopped!"
It was only at Bast's words that he finally opened his eyes, and he saw the truth in the man's statement. Large shadows belonging to things that he could only guess at lurked below. From the way they seemed to follow the berserker's path, it was obvious they didn't intend to shake hands and exchange stories around the campfire.
"They're level sixty-two and you're level one." Bast confirmed Meliadol's thoughts, "With your increased aggro range since you're so low leveled, we'll soon have every monster in the area following us."
Well, he couldn't complain now, could he? There was nothing he could do, so he settled down, though he still grumbled, being treated like a sack of potatoes. "What are they?" He asked Bast as the berserker steadied himself after a jump. The forest was too dark and they were too far up for him to see them clearly.
"Bunch of beasts and monsters collected by the fairy king." Bast responded, pointing to the shadows below, "The bigger ones are most likely giants or ground wyverns. Smaller ones are various game beasts such as Dire Wolves, raptors, and big cats and the such. Normally you have to come here multiple times, collecting pieces from them until the fairy king deems you worthy to fight the raid boss in the middle."
"So…what are we doing here again?"
"Patience, little Mel. Patience."
Meliadol gritted his teeth but didn't say anything, and the berserker continued his path through the forest. They remained just out of reach of the beasts below, and gradually, as Bast's mastery of unconventional travel revealed itself, Meliadol began to relax. Outside of the occasional branch slapping him, it wasn't the worst way to get around.
Though if he wasn't slung over a shoulder, it'd probably be better.
"Here we are! This…is the world tree!" Bast interrupted Meliadol thoughts, setting him down on the branch.
Compared to the other trees in the forest, this one was a behemoth, making the others look like children crowding around the legs of an adult. It broke through the canopy, and a small amount of light trickled in from that break, making the tree look aglow in the relative darkness of the undergrowth.
Meliadol's back slid against the trunk as he sat, rubbing the feeling back into his legs. The shadows of the chasing monsters grew prominent in the slight light. He could see the biggest ones, the giants. They had dumb expressions, gnarled teeth, and dark beady eyes.
Meliadol turned away in disgust.
"Alright, so what is it that you wanted to show me?"
The berserker pulled out a rope, shaking it to draw Meliadol's attention. "Not yet. We still have the tough part to do. Tie this around your waist."
Meliadol didn't argue, wordlessly taking the offered rope and tying it tightly around his midsection. He waited for the berserker's explanation. The branch they were on shook slightly as the monsters began pounding on trunk, unable to reach the pair.
"Okay," Bast began now that Meliadol was ready, "This is the hard part. The world tree is guarded by the fairy king's elite guardians. They hit really fucking hard. When I toss your ass, you need to grab on to whatever you can and hold on for dear life. We'll only get one shot at this. If you miss, the guards will kill us, and if we fall by accident…" Bast looked pointedly at the surrounding figures far below.
Being put on the spot, knowing that failure wasn't an option, ignited his blood and got him excited. This sort of challenge was why he played video games. For the first time since they came here, Meliadol felt in his element.
He took a deep breath, trying to steady the beating of his heart.
"I'm ready. Let's do this."
*********************************************************************************************************