Month 1, Day 4, 12:05:12; Arvium, Arvium Forest

Aella yelled as she swung her bow up, matching the targeting grid with the boar's face. She released the bow, her eyes widening as it bounced off the boar's head.

Run.

She turned and ran, ducking beneath a low-hanging branch as her feet pounded the ground. She yelled as she heard the boar squeal behind her, crashing through the underbrush behind her. The ground changed beneath her feet, turning from dirt and leaves to rock. She glanced up as she saw an outcropping of rock on her left, some of the smaller ones loosely perched on top of the others.

"Defense spell," she said, throwing her hand up. She ran forward as the rocks rumbled and fell, blocking the path behind her. The rocks turned into a narrower path that led uphill, showing she was climbing a cliff that extended to a plateau.

She paused for a moment, looking to the expanse on the right. In the distance, over the tops of the trees was a city on a hill, gleaming white in the sunshine. Arvium, and home. She reached her hand up to her helmet,

"Get a move on, Princess," Garron said.

She jerked, her mouth open as the rocks rumbled and suddenly blew over the edge of the cliff, and the boar plowed through toward her. She turned and ran, scrambling up the steep path. As it turned more vertical, she slipped and ripped her pants and she winced as pain flared along her leg.

She screamed as the boar jumped, landing on her legs. She turned, jamming the end of the bow into its eye and it roared, its fangs inches away from her face. She pulled the bow away and blood spurted onto his face, burning wherever it landed. The boar leaned to one side and Aella screamed as they both fell off of the cliff.

She landed on the rough skin on the boar, and bounced off to the side, the momentum flinging her off into the underbrush. She lost the grip on her bow and flew into the underbrush. She groaned, multiple points on her body stinging from where her chain mail had dug into her skin. The boar started to move, and she rolled over, shaking her head as she started crawling through the ferns and roots away from the animal.

She paused, her hand moving to the sword on her hip. "Menu on," she whispered. She glanced up as an abbreviated version of her player menu appeared on her visor. Her health bar was halfway empty, but she still had most of her magic left.

Think, think. She nodded and turned around, pulling an arrow from her quiver.

"Assemble bow," she said. Useless Alpha. She grabbed the handle as it appeared in front of her. She nocked the arrow and pointed it at the boar, lining the grid up with its other eye. She released, and the arrow sunk into the target, making the animal scream with pain.

She winced, and shook her head, pulling another arrow from her quiver and nocking it. She paused as the animal stilled, it's head laying on the ground. She lowered the bow, and lowered her own head. I wouldn't have had to kill it if Garron hadn't made up that stupid alibi. If he hadn't kidnapped me.

The boar made a soft moan, its head moving slightly.

Her eyes widened as she saw the movement and she dropped the bow, scooting forward. She paused just in front of the boar's face, feeling bile rise in her throat as she saw the arrows. "Assemble half of the moonflowers," she said. A small pile appeared next to her knee, and she picked a few up in one hand. She crushed them in her palm, then sprinkled the dust on each of the boar's eyes. It whimpered for a moment, then its tail wagged in a slow arc. She pulled one arrow out, then the other, laying them aside.

"Assemble manual and Galaxium crystal," she said. The manual appeared on her lap, and the crystal appeared next to the moonflowers. "Locate healing spell," she said, biting her lip. The pages flipped, stopping on a page that held a basic healing spell. She nodded, looking up at her magic bar. "Just enough."

She held up the crystal in one hand, and the rest of the moonflowers in the other. I hope this works. "Binding spell: Galaxium crystal energy and moonflowers, then enact basic healing spell."

Blue light sparked and zapped the flowers, turning them a light blue color, then stopped, the Galaxium crystal now clear. The flowers started to glow and she crushed them between both of her hands, then sprinkled half on one eye, then the other.

She grabbed the crystal and her arrows and turned, scooting through the ferns away from the animal. She glanced around her, then hissed as she saw her manual lying next to the animal. "Return manual and crystal to inventory," she said. She smiled as the book disappeared.

The boar sat for a moment, unmoving. Then it stood, and shook its head, before turning and running away in the opposite direction.

Aella sat for a moment, looking up at the sunlight filtering through the pine trees. She took a deep breath, feeling cuts and scratches sting all over her body as she moved. She scooted back against the rough bark of a tree and leaned her head back, closing her eyes.

"Bod?" she whispered.

"Bod?" he said, his voice strained.

She frowned. "Are you ok?" She opened her eyes as the dirt crunched in front of her.

Garron crouched in front of her in full armor, his visor down. "I should be asking you that." He reached up and tapped the side of the helmet, the visor sliding up and into his helmet. He looked her over, then leaned forward, touching her face and frowning. "I'm sorry," he said.

She lifted an eyebrow. "Why?"

He lowered his head and leaned back, sitting on the heel of one of his feet. "When I said to make your alibi look good, I didn't mean for you to get hurt so badly. I underestimated the boar." He looked up at her, then back down at the ground. "I can't stay long. Mortia is gathering and I don't know why. It might be retribution for beating up one of their leaders."

Aella moved to sit up but she stopped when he shook his head.

He glanced into the forest, his eyes narrowing. He turned back to her. "For now, your only focus should be on getting stronger, learning spells and combat moves. Get to know your team. I can't keep you with me because it's too dangerous, else I never would have brought you back. And, if you can, learn to trust me. I am doing everything I can to protect both Trinity and humans--there is a fight much larger than this Game going on in our world."

Aella looked at his face, seeing only a calm confidence in his pose and attitude, but it was overshadowed by his slumped shoulders and tired eyes. "I will try," she answered, her voice soft.

His face grew solemn as he nodded to her. "That's all I ask." He glanced up in the direction of the city, and stood. "I have to go. There are Alphas approaching, coming this way. They'll have their scouting spells activated and they can pick me up on them."

"Wait--" she said, holding out her hand.

He smiled. "What?"

She lowered her gaze, her hand dropping to the ground. "You're not leaving for good, are you?"

He knelt, bending over so he could look at her face. "You are going to miss me that much?'

She growled at him, sticking her tongue out at him.

He laughed, and held up his hands. "The answer is no. I'll be keeping my eye on you. I promise--if you need me, I will come as fast as I can. Just keep that chat open."

She nodded, giving him a small smile. She turned as she heard shouts coming from the direction of the city, then turned back to Garron, but saw only an empty forest. That man and his teleporting. She slapped the air, imagining it was his face, and smiled.

Then she took a deep breath, and let it out. "Return armor to inventory," she whispered. The weight lifted off of her body, bringing with it a stinging sensation and the rush of warm liquid from her leg.

"I'm here," she shouted. "Over here."

Minutes later, Sigmund and Gemini appeared above the ferns, smiles on their faces.

She waved a hand. "Hi," she said.

"We found her," Gemini shouted.

Sigmund made his way to her side, quickly looking over her energies, pulling bandages out from the bag slung over his shoulders. "I hope the boar looks worse than you do."

She laughed. "About that--"

"The Alphas saw it on their scanners," Gemini said, waving his arms. "They said you managed to wound it and it took off. Half of our group split to go capture it, including Maeva and Gemina."

She nodded, sighing as Sigmund placed a cold salve on the wound on her leg.

"It'll take some of the pain away," he said, smiling up at her.

She turned her head as Anadon and several Alphas came through the underbrush, two of them making their way to her side.

Sigmund stood, letting the two take over.

She smiled, leaning her head back against the tree. At least life is never dull in the Game.

"We're going to treat you to dinner at the tavern," Gemini said. "It's the least we can do for a hero."

She looked up at him, wincing as the Alphas helped her to stand. But maybe it's a bit too exciting. "Say what now?"