1-5 // Skeletal Fist

  Sirius gasps as he's sent flying backwards after blocking the skeleton's strike! His back slams hard into the trunk of a tree, hearing a loud CRCK as it happens. He hopes that was the wood cracking. Sirius slides down the tree, slumping to the ground with his hand still loosely curled around his sword's handle. Fake pain shoots through his body, the kind of pain full-VR games use to simulate it legally and without stimulating the actual body's pain. It was a sort of vague and faint pain, like how you'd feel after slapping yourself a few times.

  Not that it mattered at the moment. Sirius coughed and gasped, trying to reclaim the air that was unrightfully stolen from him by that punch just now. He was still vaguely aware of his enemy—sitting still staring at him. The skeleton still had his fist outstretched from where he made impact with Sirius' blade. They slowly began to reel their fist back into their combat stance, said stance being a wide-leg stance with his arms held near his hips.

  The skeleton's movements were slow and methodical, not daring to make any quick movements or adjustments.

  Sirius took deep breaths, regaining his composure. He slowly clamors up to his feet using his sword as a balance. His legs shake as he lifts the sword from the ground to a defensive stance, holding it with both hands in front of himself. The skeleton's glowing golden eyes seem to shine, focusing on him.

  "You're not her." That same voice, masculine and seemingly echoing around in Sirius' mind. The skeleton's jaws part again, releasing another small cloud of golden dust that scatters to the wind. "Who are you?"

  "Are you asking if I'm my sister?" Sirius responds. Keeping wary of the skeleton's movements as he speaks. "I'm not her, my name is-"

  "Silence." The skeleton speaks, immense foreboding in his voice. "Speak lies and I'll rip your tongue out, fool. Who are you?"

  Sirius clicks his tongue in annoyance. He was telling the truth and this skeleton wasn't listening for some odd reason. It was irritating him. "I don't know who you're referring to, but if it's the original owner of this account, that would be my sister-"

  Instead of simply cutting off Sirius' words, the skeleton dashes forth with another punch—obviously dissatisfied with the answer.

  However, just behind the skeleton's head sat the violet star Sirius followed out of town before. It floated ominously behind the skeleton and just when they were about to burst forth with their attack—it flashed a bright red. Sirius saw this and understood almost instinctually what it was relaying to him this time.

  Even with the star's warning, Sirius was only just barely able to sidestep the skeleton's fist. A burst of intense wind-force almost knocks him off his feet, Sirius holding his sword up to block the flowing air. The skeleton's head turns with surprise as they watch Sirius slide across the ground next to them.

  Before the skeleton had a chance to reel their fist back, Sirius lifted his blade up with a yell and dashed forth in a similar, yet immensely slower manner to the skeleton. With his sword lifted over his head, he attempted to bring it down over the skeleton's neck...!

  The skeleton was caught off-guard by the level one's sudden ability to dodge a strike and found themself in a bad position now. A blade quickly coming down to slice their neck clean. The skeleton scoffs, using their freehand to quickly manifest a holy sigil and cast a spell.

  Sirius' eyes go wide as a golden light engulfs the skeleton's body, covering its bones in holy energy. A skeleton using holy magic? Sirius was confused, but had no time to rethink his attack with his blade already coming down at high speeds. The iron sword slams into the skeleton's exposed neck with a TWANG... and then promptly bounces off as if it had hit a solid wall.

  "Huh?" That is all Sirius is able to mutter out as the skeleton pivots on one foot, sliding himself to face Sirius without leaving his monastic stance. He can only watch in horror as a boney fist extended into a palm flies forward and slams into his solar plexus. The palm strike appears to absorb the holy energy that coated the skeleton's body straight into the attack, causing a shockwave of holy light to blast out the other side of Sirius' chest.

  The strike was powerful enough to make Sirius hack up blood as he was once again sent flying backwards, once again slamming into a tree and sliding down to slump onto the ground. He had let go of his iron sword from how strong the blow was, that faint virtual pain intensifying as his vision began to blur.

  The skeleton seemed to know that the fight was over, walking towards Sirius. They no longer held their boulder-like monastic stance.

  "Once again, I'll ask you." The skeleton calls out to Sirius, who was quickly losing consciousness. "Who are you?" They ask again, kneeling down. The skeleton grabs a handful of Sirius' hair and yanks him up to make sure their eyes met. The golden glare of the skeleton's light-eyes juxtaposed to the dark glimmer of Sirius' violet ones.

  Sirius groans. "I'm..." He can barely string together the sentence. "I'm Ada's brother..." He mutters out, coughing as his character loses consciousness.

  The skeleton watches as the adventurer he was currently holding up slumps over, limp. They scoff again, lifting Sirius up over their shoulder. They stand up and walk towards the moss-covered stone circle. Sirius can just barely see the menu filled with maps and locations he can't read fly by. The skeleton selects one and the stone begins to glow. Sirius watches with blurry vision as blue light surrounds the two and they're transported somewhere in a flash of light.

  Sirius passes out before he can get a look at his new surroundings, his wounds too heavy. It felt as if someone had slammed several sledgehammers straight into his chest repeatedly...

  When Sirius comes to, he finds himself sat in a chat. A rather comfortable one too. Before he even opens his eyes, he can smell something delectable in front of him. His eyes open, still blurry from the beating he endured just moments ago... moments? How long had it been? He was unsure. He still felt sore, body aching from the intense attack it took.

  In front of him seems to be a large... steak dinner? That's odd. His vision was still blurry, but it seemed to be very obviously a steak. A large one at that, seared and cooked to about medium-rare. A large two-pronged fork was stuck into the side of it and a steak knife was stuck in the process of slicing the first piece of the steak off. To the side was some assorted greens with some tomatoes and vinegar mixed in. There was a large glass mug as well with a red and white swirly straw stuck out of it. Sirius leaned over to sniff the cup, noting that the fizzy brown drink inside had a distinct cola scent.

  His brain still felt foggy as he lifted his hands to rub his eyes, attempting to clear up his vision. He could faintly tell he was in some sort of fancy manor, regal wooden walls engraved with various flourishes and imagery surround him, and not to mention the table he was currently sat at. It was a long dining table, one that reached both sides of the room he was in. Was this some sort of dining hall?

  With great effort, Sirius stood up from the table. He didn't want to touch the food, not knowing who made it or what purpose it served. To his left was a wall covered in large fanciful windows. He limped to the windows to look at where he was, legs still waking up from however long of a nap he had just taken. Sluggishly, Sirius presses himself up against the windows as to keep the weight off his aching feet and peers out the glass.

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  Looking out the window, Sirius could tell immediately this was nowhere near Eryn. Instead of farmland dotted with various forests and trees, this place seemed to be right in the middle of a desert. Crimson red sand-dunes were all that he could see for what looked like miles in every direction. He could make out vaguely in the distance large white crystalline structures rising up from the sand in spiral patterns, pointing to the sky. He could also see a city far off in the distance, most noticeable a massive tower that seemed to pierce the sky right near the middle.

  "Enjoying the view?" A serious feminine voice called out. Sirius turned quickly to the source of the voice, slightly startled.

  Standing in one of the dining hall's many doorways was a woman. Being on almost the opposite side of the room to Sirius, he couldn't make out much of her features. What he could see however was a dark black horn protruding from the woman's head. Was she a demon?

  "..." Sirius kept silent, hand reaching down to his waist to unsheathe his sword. Except there was no sword at his waist.

  The woman seemed to take notice of this. "Oh, don't worry. I'm not going to rough you up like Athas did." She waved her hand, as if she were dismissing the notion she was here to fight. "I'm just here to see if you logged out."

  Sirius clicks his tongue, relaxing his stance. "Would Athas be the skeleton that just punched me?"

  "Bingo." The woman smirked. "Sorry about that, we tried to tell him not to do anything to you just yet." She shook her head, grumbling something under her breath in annoyance. "Anyways... whenever you're ready, come to the main room so we can talk. Just follow your minimap and you'll find it." The woman waves her hand as she turns to leave. "The food's not poisoned, by the way." She says just as she leaves.

  Sirius watches as she walks off, disappearing behind the wall. He looks to the food still sitting on the table. A pleasant aroma wafts from the steak. Walking towards it, he leans over the table instead of sitting down again. Taking the large pronged fork and knife, he slices a small piece off the side of the steak and lifts it to his mouth to take a bite. It tastes... good.

  As he takes the bite, a small game notification appears in the corner of his vision. It simply reads "Gained food buff!" There's a button at the bottom of the small notification that allows Sirius to further examine the food buff in question. He decides to ignore it for now, a simple thought dismissing the notification. He slices off another larger piece of the steak and takes another bite.

  "Seriously, Athas? You went and beat up some level one over this?"

  "That level one is on Fafnir's account! You're just going to ignore that?!"

  "I'm not ignoring it, but it's not a good look for the guild to have a member beating on new players..."

  The two's conversation stops as they hear footsteps. Both of them turn to see Sirius walking into the main room from the hallway. Sirius looks at the two with a suspicious squint. "Are you talking about me?"

  The horned woman sighs whilst the skeleton crosses his arms. The woman is first to speak. "Yes, we are. I'm currently trying to hammer it into Athas' head that attacking new players is a horrible look for our guild." She shakes her head, side-eyeing the skeleton.

  The skeleton, who seems to be named Athas, speaks. "Why are you on Fafnir's account." He scoffs out, ignoring the woman's words.

  "Fafnir?" Sirius responds, confused. "Who's Fafnir?"

  "Such bullshit that you wouldn't know Fafnir!" Athas flies into a rage, raising his fists as they begin to take on a golden glow, only to have the woman immediately step in front of him.

  "Athas." She says sternly. Athas rolls his eyes and drops his fists, walking towards a lounging chair and sits himself on it. He glares daggers into Sirius from across the room. The woman sighs and approaches Sirius. She holds out her hand. "I'm Lillian. Lillian Orobas."

  Sirius looks down at the woman's hand. Her being so close, Sirius could get a better look at her now. She had long flowing dark black hair, shimmering crimson eyes that burned like an intense fire, stared straight into Sirius. Sirius could see that horn closer now, noting that she had a similar black protrusion on the other side of her head, most likely a second horn that was sliced off in combat. The base of her horns both had hints of red similar to the color of her eyes that ran up the length of the horn, stopping at just about the halfway point for her horn still left in-tact.

  She wore a white Victorian blouse buttoned up paired with a long modest skirt that went all the way down to her ankles. She also wore a set of rectangle glasses with a blood-red frame, giving her a knowledgeable and dignified look.

  He stared down at her hand for a few more moments, noting the sharp jet-black claw-like nails on her hand. Sirius reached his own hand out and shook hers. "I'm Sirius."

  "It's good to meet you, Sirius." Lillian gives Sirius a gentle smile as they shake hands. The handshake lasts an uncomfortable amount of time, Lillian staring down at Sirius... who seems unshaken by the attempt to scare him.

  After a few more uncomfortable seconds of shaking, Lillian lets go of Sirius' hand, turning away from him. She walks towards a large velvet couch close by, one tucked into a corner under a large window. She sits down and motions with her head to a single seat across from the couch. "Let's talk." She says.

  Sirius nods and walks towards the seat, sitting down.

  "So, Sirius..." Lillian begins. "My friend over there, Athas... he's a bit worried that you're a malicious player on our friend's account. Personally, I don't think you're malicious seeing as how you would've logged out the moment you realized you were out of combat." Lillian shoots a glare over at Athas. The skeleton rolls his eyes and turns away. "That doesn't mean I don't suspect you of anything though." Her glare returns to Sirius. She seems to peer straight through him.

  Lillian shifts on the couch, a previously hidden thin demon tail thwipping through the air. "Mind telling me who you really are then?" She smiles again. Her smile is gentle and welcoming, yet hides an aura of doubt.

  Sirius keeps himself calm, speaking in a matter-of-fact manner. "I am the brother to the previous owner of this account."

  As Sirius speaks, Athas slams his fist into the armrest of his chair. The loud slam echoes through the large room. The skeleton's glowing eyes focus in on Sirius with frustration. "Bullshit you are." He stands up from his chair, only stopping when Lillian shoots him a glare. "You're on that account to trade her items off, aren't you? Bet you're some Sanctity Order player on your main."

  "Sanctity Order?"

  "Ugh. Can you please let me handle this?" Lillian groans, clearly annoyed with Athas' interrogations. The skeleton goes silent and sits back down. "Please just ignore him for now." She sighs, pinching her nose in annoyance. "So you're saying you're Fafnir's brother?"

  "Yes." Sirius nods.

  "Haah, okay." Lillian shakes her head. "Admittedly, I find that hard to believe. She's talked about her brother a lot and made him out to be the kind of guy who'd never play a game like this." The demon-like woman closes her eyes in thought for a few moments. "Mind if I ask you a few more questions?"

  Sirius nods. "I don't see why not." He felt in danger with his current situation still, having been essentially kidnapped and placed in this strange manor in the middle of some odd desert he's never seen before... he could always log out if the situation got tense, either that or just allow himself to be slain. He'd probably just respawn back at Eryn.

  "Good!" Lillian smiles. "Can you tell me why you're playing on her account instead of your own?"

  "I don't have my own account and she gave me this one." Sirius responds with a flat tone of voice. He can hear an annoyed mumble from across the room as he speaks.

  "I see." She nods. "Why'd she give you her account? She didn't tell anyone in the guild that she was quitting the game or anything..."

  "Hm." Sirius puts a hand to his chin in thought, wondering if he should approach this question with a blunt answer or to dance around the topic fancifully. He imagined that lying or omitting it would probably lead to confusion later down the line, so it'd be better to rip the bandage off now. "She..."

  "She gave it to me after she passed away."

  The room falls silent.

  Both Lillian and Athas seem surprised by Sirius' answer. Their eyes are both wide with confusion, Athas leaning forward as if to fly out of his chair. Lillian simply stares at Sirius... or rather staring past him, as if lost in a deluge of thoughts.

  "What?" The both of them blurt out.