Air Strike

“Your class is… Advanced?!” Sky exclaims. “It’s Blood Blade. I gotta say, you two are quite interesting after all. Lemme put these away for now.”

As Sky was quite excited about this occurrence and walked out to put the cards away, Arte and Leo were taken aback by it. Arte peered over at Leo without turning, and he gave her a similar glance while grinning.

“Don’t you dare say it.” She whispered.

“MENTOR CHARACTER.” He whispered back.

Arte bit her lip in frustration because she knew he was right. Most mentor characters in the game started from advanced classes. Naturally, everyone in the game cheers for you, but the reality is much crueler. Advanced classes are a pitfall. All those shining mentors end up peaking before many others do. The thoughts swirled in her head like a hurricane. She knew the fates of such characters, and part of that scared her.

“Hey, stop that,” Leo says.

She snapped back to reality.

“Stop what?” She questions.

“You always furrow your brow like that when you’re in deep thought. It's not hard to know exactly what you’re thinking about.” He gently grabbed her hand. “This may not be a game anymore, but when it comes to the two of us together, there’s nothing we can’t do.”

“I mean, we couldn’t get good jobs when we put our heads together.” She mumbled.

“Come on now, is there anything you know better than this?” He asks, extending his other arm outward.

“No…” She states.

“That’s right. We spent most of our childhoods living in this world. Literally eating, sleeping, and going right back in for days at a time!” He says. “We’ll figure this out.”

Seeing the wide smile on his face, Arte couldn’t help but sigh. His smile beaming, his very nature infecting, she couldn’t help but join in.

“You’re too much sometimes.” She smiled.

Meanwhile, Sky had walked in a few moments ago, watching the two stare deep at each other while holding hands.

“Ah, I hope I’m not interrupting anything,” Sky says. “You humans get sexually aroused far too easily.”

“Whoa!” Arte nearly falls out of her seat.

“I’m not aroused.” He then turns to Arte. “Were you?”

“No! We’re not like that!” Arte exclaims.

“Are you sure?” Sky questions, gesturing as though she were eating from a bowl of flamecorn.

The confusion between them only grew as they continued to speak. After which, everyone went to bed. Sky graciously lent them a shared bedroom, which had only a single bed. Sky practically laughed into the morning with the way Arte’s face looked like a tomato. When morning came, Arte awoke, wrapped in the warmth of a blanket, lying in a bottom bunk. Sky had lent them another of her rooms with a pair of bunk beds within. She blinked a few times and yawned, then peeled back the curtains and stared out of the second-floor window. The forest of Siladhi was still there.

“I had to check a few times myself. We’re really still here.” Leo said from the top bunk, his arms were nestled behind his head, and his legs were crossed over one another.

“To think just yesterday we were worried about our rent, now we’re worried about classes and training.”

“Life comes at you fast, I guess.” He replied.

She chuckles.

“This is a bit more than fast.”

“I guess you’re right. There’s a lot to do.”

He hopped down from the top bunk and stretched his arms out. Then began moving his left arm around.

“Wow, my arm’s already healed.” He stated, “Magical incenses really are amazing.”

Arte removed the blanket from her body and sat up in bed, checking herself over and realizing there were no burns left on her body.

“You’re right.” She muttered.

The duo heard a knock at the door.

“I hope I’m not interrupting.” She says.

Arte groans.

“Nope!” Leo states.

Sky walks in, dressed in her daily attire. A green shirt covered by a leather chestplate, a pair of white pants with leather leg guards, and some tall boots that stopped at her shins. Her hair was cut short and slicked back, revealing most of her forehead and face, and she had a blue hair band holding her white hair in place.

“Are you two ready to get started for the day?” She asks.

“Hell yeah!” Leo exclaimed.

“I’m ready!” Arte exclaimed.

“I love the energy you two,” Sky stated. “Come on down, let's eat before training.”

The delicious aroma wafted into the room from downstairs, sending Arte and Leo into a stupor.

“Whoa, what is that…?” Leo asks.

“Come on down and see.” Sky grinned.

The trio headed downstairs into the dining room, where there was a large oaken table covered in decorative vines and flowers in the center of the room. Surrounding it were chairs with a similar design. Last but not least, the table was covered in a spread of various foods. Insanicorn sausage, Phoenix boiled eggs, Skelescorp shanks with a light sear on both sides, and ygdrassil salad. Followed by the apple-like Romero fruit, and angel fruit salad.

“Dig in. You’re gonna need all the strength you can get.” Sky says.

They each took a seat at the table and began. Arte was steadily building her plate with a variety of things, while Leo was eating, trying some of each, then shovelling the ones he liked best onto his plate.

“What is it that you both seek? Surely no one wants to become a hero unless they’ve got some sort of reason, right?” She asks.

The sounds of their silverware hitting the plate ceased when she asked that question. Memories came flooding back like a dam had just broken.

“This is the question she asked the hero before training him. A seemingly normal set of questions will follow… That decides just how difficult the game will be.” He thought.

He looked to Arte, and she to him. Knowing each other deeply, there was only one answer that came to their minds. The hero’s story of how he began his journey.

“We both came from a remote village to the south.” Arte began.

“We… were the only survivors and knew that this couldn’t be allowed to happen again,” Leo added.

“The reason we’re here is to prevent more tragedies like the one that occurred in our village.” Arte continued.

“Ridding the world of the Malady’s crystal scourge. And freeing humankind from her grasp.” He finished.

Assuming her words would determine this world’s difficulty, Leo and Arte went exactly for the hardest challenge: Death March. Whether this would have any bearing on the world, they were unsure, but for them, taking on the toughest challenge available to them was everything.

“My mother said that a hero’s words are just as important as their actions. I’ll be watching to see whether you two can live up to those words.”

After finishing their food, Sky had them step outside the cabin. Handing Arte a broadsword and Leo a dagger. Giving them a bit of distance, Sky held one arm behind her back. Her eyes were painted with blood, and the calm breeze began to swell, whipping into violent winds. Leaves danced around her like a veil hiding the smile on her face.

“Come at me.” Sky beckoned.

Her almost teasing tone sent a shiver down their spines as they raised their weapons.