FOURTEEN: DEWDROPS
(Tyrone Lee)
I had been wandering the West Warrenton for about two hours or so when a new notification came:
ORB OF SHADES HAS BEEN FOUND
REMAINING ORBS: 6
At this rate the Quest would be finished by tonight. I had to work harder to find at least one Orb. I had no idea of knowing if the Shades Orb was found by the same party that had found the other Orb. But if I found at least one Orb, no one could complete the quest. But I had no idea how to find the Orbs. Just then two notifications arrived.
CONGRATULATIONS! THE ORB OF SHADES HAS BEEN ADDED TO YOUR PARTY!
The second one was on the Team Chat, from Alex:
ALEX KROSS: Guys, I recruited the owner of the Orb of Shades into our alliance, hope that's alright?
That was brilliant! Now I could at least be relaxed that no one else was gonna complete the Quest. But we still had 7 more Orbs to find. One of which was already claimed by someone. It was not going to be easy. I had no idea what to do. I flew around the west for nearly two hours and still had no idea where an Orb could be.
After another hour, I decided to stop for a while and think of something. I opened and closed the Quest window a couple times, maybe I missed something. I opened the Inventory and then it hit me!
What if I could buy Orbs on the Shop?! I had quite a decent amount of Shards and maybe that's how people had already found two orbs. I quickly opened the Shop and searched Orb.
No results found!
Well that was anticlimatic. I just sighed and looked below on the recommended items tab. They had some Orbs, but none which represented what I could use. I was scrolling idly, because I had nothing else to do anymore. There were lots of stuff I couldn't even pronounce. They had Orb Destroyers, Orb Makers, Orb Detectors, Orb Amplifiers, Orb Nullifiers and so on.
Wait a second! I scrolled back a few items when I realised what I had missed. This was it! Maybe this could help me gather all the Orbs! It was costly, but I could afford it! I immediately purchased it for twenty thousand Shards.
I jumped into the air and shot around the block. With my new purchase in my hand I could easily find the Orbs. And sure enough within a few seconds, it went BEEP.
I had bought an Orb Residual Detector. It could find any residue of any Orb nearby. The range wasn't specified but it was all I had. It was like a pocket watch. It vibrated with each beep and had a slight pull in the direction of the Orb residue. Right now it was puling me ahead. I boosted ahead. It slowly changed to the right and I swerved right narrowly dodging a building. The vibration grew stronger.
I was above a sewer entrance when it started pulling downwards. I landed in the sewers and took out my Spear. I willed 5% of my fire in it. It burned in a calm yellow shade. I held it in front of me like a torch. I held my Detector in my left hand and the Spear in my right.
The Detector guided me through the labyrinthine sewers. Fortunately there were no monsters in this Quest. The eerie silence with the occasional bang and creak gave me the creeps. After about half an hour, as I was finally getting frustrated and was thinking maybe I should blow up the sewers, the device gave a strong BEEP and vibrated with a BZZZ and died.
The reason was pretty clear. I had walked into a cavern. There were pipe networks all along the walls. The way I came in through was the only way out. There was water dripping everywhere and the floor was wet. It splashed with every step I took. And at the far end, right across from me was a pedestal. It was about three feet high, made of bricks and circular in shape. And on top of it was...
"An Orb!"
I whispered to myself as I slowly advanced towards it. It was glowing with a crystal blue shade. It was slowly rotating a few inches above the pedestal. Without worrying about hidden traps, I lunged at it.
BAM!!
Someone had hit me from the right with extraordinary speed. I shot and hit the wall on the left. I hit my arm hard. Luckily it didn't seem to be broken. I turned towards my assailant.
It was a guy a couple inches shorter than me. He was wearing a black hood and cloak. But I could sense the devouring glare from under it. He summoned two Daggers from his Inventory. They were pulsating blue. Crackling with electricity. They were curved, kind of like Jenny's Moon Knives. But more fierce looking.
I spun my Spear to attack stance and willed 70% of my Mana into it. It roared to bright Purple this time. It was going to be harder to run and attack on the wet floor. But that was the least of my worries.
I was thrown across the cavern before I even realised what was going on. He was fast! Faster than even Alex was, and he was the fastest person I knew. He didn't even slash me with his daggers. He just whacked and kicked me at super speed.
I coughed up blood as I was thrown across the room for the seventh time now. My Spear was nowhere to be seen. I was bleeding all over and I couldn't get up. Is this the end? No way! I still have to live! I have to win!
With the sudden adrenaline rush, I drank a Recovery Vial and could feel my broken bones mending. I had a couple seconds, where my opponent had stopped to breath. He wasn't invulnerable after all! This was my chance. Screw the Spear. I could do it myself.
I pulled out every last drop of my Mana and burned hot. Even I could feel the heat this time. I wasn't getting burnt or damaged but the heat was incredible. I boosted myself straight at him with my 100% power.
He seemed to have realised what was going on. He spun around at superspeed and slashed his dagger across my face. I could feel it slicing through my flames and then a deep gash on across my nose. But the force multiplied by speed gave me enough power to knock him back. We collided with the wall of the cavern and shot through it.
As we were going through the sewer walls and corridors, my opponent slowly disappeared in the shadows. I finally stopped around a mile or something away from the Orb. I passed out on the spot.
When I can to, I was sore all over. The flame was out. The Orb was glowing brightly at a distance. I groaned, all my muscles aching, as I got up to a sitting position. I took out my last Recovery Vial and downed it in one go. I could feel the strength returning. But I was too weak. Maybe from the Mana drain or from the ass whooping from the Speedster.
I liked slowly to the Orb and grabbed it, praying that there were no more obstacles. I grabbed the Orb and pulled it off the pedestal, falling back on the wet sewer floor. I laughed a little as I felt the cool, glassy surface of the Orb. It was glowing from deep within. I could feel a faint bubbling inside, like a heartbeat. I coughed up some more blood, as I put it in my Inventory.
I sent a SOS to the team chat giving my location. I was in no condition to get up right now. The speed freak had wrecked me. I hope Alex never became a psychopath like that. He wasnt fast enough anyway.
I fell back looking at the cavern ceiling, feeling the water droplets on my face. The notification finally came along.
ORB OF DEWDROPS HAS BEEN FOUND
REMAINING ORBS: 5