Origin ARS (Origin A.R.S. Book 2) Read online

  She turned and called out to Gambol. “We should give the PR ninjas a bonus.”

  “Sounds good.” he said while raising his thumb.

  “Why are you involving yourselves in this? Did these people hire you?” asked Aen.

  Sharde opened her fan and placed it in front of her face. She fanned the air delicately. “Why, whatever do you mean, dear sir? My happy little group was merely out for an evening stroll while enjoying fine company and the nice weather.”

  “You lying...” began Redfang. He was cut off by the sudden impact of a spike that penetrated his temple, killing him instantly.

  “Lady Sharde never lies, she merely speaks the opposite of the truth at times of her choosing.” stated Gambol seriously.

  Sharde said, “Oh ho ho ho.” and fluttered her fan once more. She could always count on Gambol to make an interesting quip.

  “Dammit!” said Aen. What could he do in this situation? He was severely outnumbered and even the weakest of her ninjas was easily higher in level than he was.

  “Do you bastards think you’ll get away with this?” snapped Aen.

  Sharde closed her fan then slapped it down into her free hand. “Yes.”

  That was the signal. Gambol threw two spikes that slammed deeply into Aen’s thighs, easily penetrating his thick steel armor. The orc cried out in pain then discovered, to his horror; that he could not move. He was paralyzed while standing up! His legs had been locked in place by simultaneous pin-point nerve strikes.

  A dozen ninjas raced into the yard and began to hurl throwing stars at Aen. The remaining goblin was killed off quickly, but Aen was cut apart by dozens of small thrown weapons that moved at speeds far too swift for him to avoid or deflect.

  He tried to avoid them but only succeeded in falling backwards. Soon, he was a mass of bloody flesh wrapped in badly torn metal armor. Once he reached a critical state the assault ended.

  Sharde casually walked over to the downed orc and placed her foot atop his chest. “I win. Please praise me.”

  “Why?” gasped out Aen. What was the connection between these people and the sorcerer? Was he in their guild?

  Sharde tilted her head to the side and offered him a wide, innocent, look. “Why?”

  Aen wheezed then began to choke a little as her foot pressed down with casual, but powerful, pressure. The innocence of her expression faded when she smirked at him and said, “Why not?”

  Before he could ask her anything else, she leaned down and slapped her fan against his forehead. The casual action finished off the orc and neatly cracked his skull in the process. “Bad. Boy.”

  The ninjas cleaned up the area and gathered the items of the fallen players. Gambol leapt up and easily cleared the distance between his current position and his guild leader. “So, what do you think we should charge them?”

  Sharde turned to look at Scott then unfolded her fan with a flick of her wrist. “Oh, I’ll think of something.”

  “Really, now?” asked Gambol.

  Scott’s eyes widened when she acquired a seductive look and bit the corner of her lower lip. “Wha...?”

  She blew a kiss at him then winked. He winced slightly then tried to crawl backwards a little.

  The ninja-girl placed her fan before her face once more then fluttered it slowly before laughing out, “Oh ho ho ho ho.”

  Chapter 14: Epilogue

  Reality could be a hard thing to accept. A reality such as the world of ARS was even more difficult to deal with at times. However, as hard as it might be to accept this world there was no denying that it was a true existence. It was his new reality, for good or ill.

  In this new existence, the former soldier had faced many hardships and just as many sweet encounters. Those events had shaped and molded him into a new person, one that he might not recognize if he took the time to reflect on his inner nature.

  In order to make sense of his current life, Scott had been forced to accept many things that he would have considered impossible. He had been forced to fight battles that should have been impossible, largely due to his own arrogance or stupidity, but he had survived. No matter how difficult the situation he had persevered and won. Due to that factor, the events that occurred less than an hour ago weighed heavily on his mind. A man who had managed to always win, had been crushed completely and nearly forced to watch someone dear to him die.

  The true outcome of the battle that they had just been fought was not victory, it was survival. Yes, they would have been resurrected afterward, but that was a cold sort of comfort. The memory of watching Rhea die while he strangled to death would have stayed with him for the rest of his life.

  Despite their best efforts, they had been crushed completely. Scott leaned his head against a tree and balled his hand into a fist. He had never felt that powerless in his life. He had even been robbed at gunpoint once and he had never felt the level of weakness that he had experienced in the fight with the Corpse Rats.

  “Look, I know how you feel. I want to go and wreck that guild myself. It won’t work though.” said Sharde. She had watched him silently for a time, and seen the complex emotions that crossed his face every so often. She had faced similar issues during her earlier development in this world. Though, if you asked her she would admit that no one had ever tried to string her up then make her watch her party members die.

  “Why not? Did you gather information on their guild?” asked Rhea. The blue haired elf maiden currently sat on the ground while leaning heavily against a stump. She had been healed of most of the paralysis, but there had been enough poison introduced into her system to leave lasting remnants of weakness. She would need a good night’s rest in order to regain her strength completely.

  The ninja girl sighed loudly. “Yeah, they are a small guild officially. However, many of their members have developed classes that allow them to raise monster armies.”

  “How big are the armies?” Scott turned to look at Sharde.

  “We aren’t certain. Six and Seven reported that they counted at least eight thousand goblins, and over one thousand orcs. The levels varied, but most are at least as strong as the goblin players you fought.”

  “You can’t just assassinate them?” asked Rhea. She already knew the answer to that, but asked anyway. If Crimson Shadow could have managed that feat, Sharde would have already been working on it.

  Sharde shook her head. “No. We’re a small guild due to the difficulty that it takes to become a ninja. All of our members are above level eighty, but there are only a few dozen of us at the moment. Corpse rat is a small guild filled with trash players, but their guild members outnumber ours twenty to one.”

  The ninja girl raised one hand then called out, “Six!”

  A black clad ninja appeared out of thin air then knelt down on one knee before Sharde. “Here mistress.”

  “You did reconnaissance on the player base for the Corpse Rat guild. What were the numbers and levels?” asked the red haired ninja master.

  “Mistress, there are one hundred eighty-seven members known to currently have advanced classes. There are two hundred eighteen members who are over level forty. There are over fifty-four members who are above level one hundred. The highest known level belongs to their leader, who was level one hundred fifteen during the investigation.”

  Scott blinked. “That’s a small guild?” It sounded like a reasonably decent size for a guild to him.

  “Tiny. Their monster armies help out a bit, however.” said Rhea. She looked up at Scott and he looked down at her. After a brief moment passed her walked over and sat next to her. She smiled in a tired way then leaned against him.

  “Rhea’s right. Without their army, they would get crushed by even a mid-tier guild. Their army is weak at the moment, however.”

  Scott frowned then glared down at the dirt. They had been forced to make a quick run for it after those bastards had been killed. They needed to evacuate the area immediately to avoid the Corpse Rat Guild and to keep them from tracking the
ir movements. Crimson Shadow was willing to watch over them for a while, but it would be bad in the long run for them to become further involved. They were a mercenary guild and needed to maintain their reputation, or some such reason.

  “I can’t even go back for my equipment.” His armor and weapons were left behind in Meaden, since they were being repaired.

  “Can’t be helped. If you go back, they will be able to track you. We could steal your equipment back. But even if you wield it, you’ll be equipping items that are considered stolen. If you die, all stolen items drop.” said Sharde.

  “What kind of crap is that?” asked Scott. How could he steal his own equipment?

  “Well, you can get your boomerangs back just by willing them to return.” said Rhea.

  “Even from this distance?” asked Scott.

  “Yeah, from any distance really. They are locked to you. They won’t receive a stolen tag if you call them back, personally.”

  “It could be worse. At least you are a sorcerer. Could you imagine your loss if you had been a warrior or fighter?” asked Gambol.

  Scott looked to the only other ninja in the area who openly showed his face. “Well, that’s true. But that does not mean that I have to like it.”

  “Nor should you!” replied Gambol.

  Sharde interjected. “What will you two do now?”

  Rhea looked at Scott and he looked at her. The elf nodded as though some unspoken communication had passed between them. She looked at Sharde. “We’ll have to get stronger before we can do anything.”

  “I also need to pay off my debt, for all the awesome equipment that I bought.... but now can’t go get without the risk of being camped down to level one.”

  “True, you could go get it but the risk is high. If they track you, they will be able to find you while you are hunting and just ruin your day repeatedly.” said Sharde.

  Rhea put a hand on Scott’s arm and nodded to him. “We can go get it, or you can just leave it there for a while. The merchant’s guild can be a pain in the butt at times, but they do require certain concessions. The armorer you used will have to hold it aside for at least thirty days before he can sell it. You’ll have to pay a fine if you come to claim any of it, but as long as we return within a month you can get it all back. I mean, if you paid upfront like normal?”

  “Yeah, he wanted all of the money for the repairs upfront.” said Scott.

  “We should be able to come back for it later. They won’t guard this area forever. They have no reason to believe that we will return.” said Rhea.

  Scott started to say something, but Gambol spoke up. “There is an alternative.”

  The sorcerer turned to look at the ninja. Alternatives sounded good.

  Gambol grinned at him and said, “Get better gear. You probably spent a lot on that stuff, but you would have outgrown it in another ten to fifteen levels anyway.”

  “I’d love to get better stuff, but where? I have a little money, but...”

  “Don’t buy it, collect it in drops.” said Gambol.

  “Almost all of the drops that I have found have been garbage.” replied the sorcerer. He had found a few random things, but nothing too impressive. The best item that he had ever found was the rat fang that was used to make his gauntlets, items he no longer had access to for a while.

  Gambol shook his head. “That’s because you’ve been fighting low-tier monsters. Between you, Rhea, and that guardian of yours that I sense slumbering inside you, you should be able to handle much stronger monsters.”

  “Define much stronger monster.” said Scott.

  Sharde decided that she wanted to get in on the conversation. “Well, there is actually one really good place close by that I can think of considering your party’s classes.”

  Rhea looked to the red head ninja girl. “Are you thinking of the island kingdom, Eizen?”

  “Got it in one, sis.” said Sharde.

  “Sis?” asked Scott.

  Sharde grinned at him. “What, didn’t she tell you?”

  “It never came up.” said Scott.

  “Speaking of which, how come you two seem to know each other. I was not aware that you had met until a short time ago.” said Rhea, a hit of annoyance in her tone of voice. How many other girls had Scott spent time with while she was offline?

  “Oh, he did not tell you that we spent the day together recently?” asked Sharde.

  “Did you now?” asked Rhea. Her comforting hold on Scott’s hand casually shifted into a vice-like grip.

  The ninja girl sighed dramatically then threw back her head. She gazed upwards at the heavens. “I was but a poor, lost, little girl... and the brutish sorcerer Scott rammed into me with his great and powerful body...”

  Scott’s eyes widened as pain lanced up his arm. He looked at Rhea and said, “I’ll need that hand later, you know.”

  “You may need it for the rest of your life.” She said in a dangerous tone of voice. The dangerous tone was undercut a bit, however, when she turned her head and pouted at him.

  “Oh, the evil one... He forced himself upon me... with his vile evilness. I had been enjoying my day in the innocent manner that I was accustomed, while delighting in the sugary sweetness of vanilla ice cream.”

  Sharde sobbed softly. Her eyes began to shimmer with crocodile tears. Scott saw this and groaned loudly.

  “My ice cream fell upon my heaving and innocent maidenly chest, and his gaze lingered upon it like a starving wolf.” She pressed the back of her hand to her forehead and made a dramatic pose.

  Rhea snorted loudly then made a low, angry, noise before turning her head away from Scott. She never released his hand, however.

  “As penance for his dark deeds, I forced the path of righteousness upon him. I required him to journey throughout the land, seeking to replace that which his callous and wicked ways had taken from me.”

  Sharde’s eyes widened and began to actually sparkle in the fading light of the evening. She radiated an aura of innocence and purity, and seemed to be on the edge of tears once more.

  “How could you Scott?” asked Rhea. The high elf began to shake visibly. She made strange sobbing noises.

  Scott was about to try and deny at least some of that but he felt something was off. Instead of denials he sniffed loudly then shook his head. “She slapped me on the ass and laughed at my shame.”

  “What?!” snapped Rhea. Her head whipped around and she stared at him. It was obvious that she had not been crying, as her face showed no trace of tears.

  “Hmm? Is that what happened?” asked Sharde. She tilted her head to the side then tapped her chin lightly with her fan.

  “Yes!” exclaimed Scott.

  He began to sniffle a little then raised a shaky hand to his lips. “I was innocently minding my own business when it happened. An absurdly busty girl who I had never seen before came out of nowhere and pressed her chest against me. She utilized her unholy feminine attributes.. U-used her wicked womanly ways to extort ice cream.... Oh it was terrible. You know how much I hate busty girls who show interest in me.”

  “I bet.” said Rhea flatly.

  He nodded to her. “Of course you do. Yes, of course...”

  Before Rhea could retort, Scott began again, “She, she grabbed me by the head and forced me to gaze upon her ice cream covered chest. The quivering horror of what I bore witness to will haunt me for the rest of my life.”

  Rhea closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and then slowly opened her eyes again. “I see...”

  Scott leaned his head back and faux-sobbed in a masculine way. “I struggled mightily against her aggressiveness, but she threatened to cry out that I was molesting her. So, shamed by my weakness... I became her man-bitch. She forced me to escort her around town seeking ice cream to satisfy her wicked womanly needs.”

  “Those needs never did get satisfied, you know.” said Sharde. She looked at Scott with a doe-eyed expression, cute and sad.

  “Good.” said Rhea. She looked at
Sharde with a flat expression, no cuteness involved.

  Sharde looked at Rhea for a moment then blushed. The embarrassment passed and she brazenly asked, “Rhea, can I play with your boyfriend?”

  “No.” Rhea crossed her arms and gave off her best impression of an emotionless ice sculpture.

  “Fine... I miss you, though. When are we going to play together again?” asked Sharde. This time she was far more serious.

  Rhea sighed loudly. “I’m sorry. I know I’ve been distant for a while now.”

  Sharde trotted over and sat beside her sister. She leaned against the elf and sighed as well. “I’ll just put it all out there. I’m jealous.”

  “I know, and I’m sorry.” said rhea.

  Scott was not certain about what was going on, so he remained silent. However, Ero murmured inside his mind and his eyes lit up. She was alright. He had been worried about the tiny little fairy. Maybe she fell asleep if he used one of her powers? He would have to ask her when she actually woke up.

  The ninja girl clasped Rhea’s free hand then squeezed it a little. “We used to play together all the time. You know what that meant to me.”

  Rhea squeezed her sister’s hand. “Yeah, but...”

  “Then... When you came back from visiting Earth that time, you changed. You spent all of your time pining after some boy you were crushing on.”

  “I didn’t pine...” muttered Rhea.

  Sharde stared at her flatly. “Girl, you had it bad and you know it. Still do.”

  Rhea’s face took on a light pink shade but she did not deny it. Instead, she squeezed Scott’s hand a little tighter.

  The ninja looked at the hand holding Scott’s hand then pouted. “I checked into that guy and found out that he was actually pretty interesting.”

  “Sharde...” Rhea’s tone of voice sounded adorably dangerous. It was a hateful sound, but it would make someone want to hug her instead of draw weapons.

  “Can you really blame me? I don’t want to mess up your chance and all, but I miss you. We used to share everything...”

  “Sharde, I know that... but I can’t do that. Not this time.”

  The ninja girl drew her legs up and rested her chin on her knees. She closed her eyes and pressed her eyebrows tightly together. “Did you know that he only likes cheese on a sandwich? Well, single sliced cheese. He likes melted cheese on a lot of things.”