Time Elapsed: 00:59:49

Severance stood beside Jack Coyote, gripping a handful of Vast's fur. The second they had arrived, Vast had begun vibrating like an engine. The beast didn't like other people, especially when they clumped together like flies on a turd. And there must have been turds everywhere, for players had gathered to the point where Severance wondered if he'd travelled back in time to the early days of Eliona.

"Why are there so many people?"

Jack gave him a flat look, as if disappointed that Severance even asked the question. Yet he answered anyway. "It's because this town has become the true neutral. People can freely gather here with no restrictions."

"Ah." When put that way, it made a grim sort of sense. The two other cities had become polar opposites, which meant most players only had two options to hang out now: Ascendance, or the city that was friendly to their clan.

As he took a closer look, he began to recognize different identifiers from all clans on the players wandering about. And not only that, but there were a few who he couldn't identify. Either they were part of some obscure, unknown clan, or they were purposefully hiding their affiliation.

Like the Valkyrie.

He wasn't the only one doing the observing. Several nearby players had spotted Vast, and they eyed him with varying degrees of curiosity. After all, it was kind of hard to miss a silver creature the size of a small horse. Severance kept hold of Vast and eyed them right back. He hoped none of them got the stupid idea to approach.

"On the left," Jack Coyote warned. He spoke softly, while his gaze swept the area around them with sharp focus.

Severance glanced left and had the urge to facepalm. A full team of players headed over. Their relaxed swagger said that they were unafraid of the giant silver animal rumbling like an army of subwoofers. Well, that was their problem, not his.

The tank came first, a lumbering truck of a man covered in solid metal plating. He appeared to have gone for as much defense as possible, because his armor reminded Severance far too much of the nightmarish K-792 Purge Unit: blocky, solid, and impenetrable. It was also quite ugly, like it had been hammered out of a chunk of metal by a hairy brute that only had two words in his entire vocabulary.

Behind the tank came four others. Going by their gear, Severance guessed there were two mage classes, a shade, and a wanderer, whose giant bow was kind of a dead giveaway. But even more important was the red ribbon adorning them. Most tied it around a wrist or an arm, but the girl in the shade getup had used it to tie her long auburn hair into a ponytail.

"Chosen," he muttered. Vast seemed to pick up on his unease and began to rumble even louder. His head lowered and Severance could almost feel the muscles begin to bunch together under all that silver fur. "Hold on, boy."

While he wasn't opposed to Vast tearing into a bunch of Chosen, especially if they were players, it would be better if he at least waited to see what they wanted first.

Subtly, Jack turned his shoulders towards the players. This put Severance slightly behind him, a fact that was not lost on Severance.

With a faint quirk of the lips, he moved over so he could stand at the tank's shoulder. Jack glanced at him, eyes dark and displeased, but Severance pretended to not see it. If things got messy, then he would fight. He didn't need to hide behind a tank.

"Well, look at this," the Chosen tank drawled. He tilted his head, looking first at Jack, then Severance, before stopping at Vast. His gaze lingered on the vastlhidan before returning to Severance. His lips curled up at one corner. "I thought I saw a familiar face."

Vast very slowly began to lean forward, pulling against Severance's hold. Severance tightened his grip. Inwardly, he was trying and failing to recognize any of these players. He was pretty sure he'd never seen them before.

"I don't know you," he said.

Jack Coyote quietly placed a hand on the hilt of his sheathed sword. "Nor do I."

The Chosen tank smirked. He had the kind of blocky face that looked very punchable, and the smug little look made it even more so. "Please, your oversized dog is hard to forget. I remember it squealing like a pig when that one Knight cut it up. And you, Mr Healer with the purple eyes." He snickered. "I'm surprised you're still walking around. Not to mention your name is blazing red."

Severance narrowed his eyes. Now he knew where this guy had seen him. The Veiled rescue mission, where they had to fend off four Knights in order to recover their captured clansman. That was where Vast had shown himself to be a deadly force in battle, and where Severance had come to know just how terrifying a single Knight could be.

Unconsciously, he placed a hand against his chest, right over the spot where the Knight Sessh's long spear had run him through and shattered his spine. The memory of that horrible wound still hovered close. Sometimes his fingertips still tingled with phantom nerve damage.

"What are you talking about?" Jack spoke the question like a command.

One of the mages behind the Chosen tank guffawed. He wore pale robes with a bright red sash around his waist. He was handsome in a vampirish way, with a sinister air lurking beneath his toothy slash of a grin.

"The Knights have it out for him," he gestured towards Severance. "And his friends. If I were you, I'd book it in the other direction."

My friends? The Veiled? It was a bit surprising how well these people seemed to be aware of it. Then again, maybe he shouldn't be surprised. Players tended to spread juicy information amongst themselves like the plague.

"Yeah," said the wanderer. She gave him a pitying look and a sigh that lacked all sincerity. "You should quit the game. The Knights will just keep hunting you down."

Severance just looked at her, entirely unimpressed. Was that the best she could come up with? Compared to Carly's acting, this girl was a toddler.

Coolly, Jack said, "That isn't any of your concern."

"Oh, but I think it is," the Chosen tank sneered.

He raised a heavily gauntleted hand and a claymore-style of a sword appeared. He clasped it with both hands, holding it upraised before him. There was no shield, a fact that Severance found rather strange. Weren't sentinels all about blocking damage?

He tilted his head, scratching idly at his chin. If this guy didn't have a shield, then he'd pretty much lose half of his skill set. How dumb was that?

Weapons appeared in the rest of the team's hands. Their intent was so painfully obvious, it was almost hilarious. There were five Chosen to the three of them, and it wasn't going to be a fair fight.

"You see," the tank went on, all bravado and arrogance, "there's—"

Eh, whatever. Severance let go of Vast.

A silver blur leapt right at the Chosen player, knocking him flat on his back in an instant. The huge sword clattered to the ground.

At the same time, Jack Coyote stepped forth, wielding both sword and shield. He half turned, presenting his shield, and stepped forward into the shade's Rush attack.

The distance unexpectedly closing meant that the Shade slammed right into Jack's shield. She dropped to the ground in a dazed pile, while Jack simply absorbed the impact with a light shrug. He followed it up with a quick sword thrust into the Shade's prone form. His golden gaze unflinching, he twisted the blade sharply before yanking it out.

Severance already had his war fans out, but before he could use a skill, a gust of bitterly cold air blew past him. Alarmed, he immediately sidestepped. But the target hadn't been him. Or Jack.

The ground beneath the Chosen team lit up, forming a complex pattern of glowing white lines. In the next instant, the three remaining players frosted over. They froze in place, unable to move save for their eyes. It was almost comical to see three pairs of eyes darting about, trying to figure out what had just happened.

"You couldn't have waited for me?" A pale cryomancer with fine white hair and ebony eyes strode towards them. He had layered white robes over a washed-out blue-gray, and had chopped them at knee level with little care. It left an uneven hem swaying over his soft boots.

"Snow," Severance felt a bit ashamed. It hadn't even been five minutes since they got here and already they were getting into a fight. "Sorry, we're-"

He was interrupted by an angry yell.

"Get this thing offa me!"

The Chosen tank thrashed about on the ground, trying to throw Vast off. Sadly, the weight of his armor worked against him, as did its cumbersome design. He was like a turtle on its back and Vast was taking full advantage of it. The silver beast had his jaws clamped down on one arm, trying to wrench it away from the tank's face. The player was smart enough to try and protect his only vulnerable area with his arms, but even his great bulk couldn't contend with a vastlhidan that was all fired up.

His screams rent the air. None of the nearby players made a move to help or stop. They just watched from a safe distance.

As if that wasn't enough chaos, one of the Chosen popsicles abruptly collapsed in an explosion of ice crystals. There was a lean, red figure standing on the corpse of the fallen player. A long glaive slanted up behind him, its blade glistening red.

"Ah." Severance relaxed. The suddenness of the attack had startled him. "Valentin."

The knightglaive shifted, his crimson eyes briefly meeting Severance's. His chin dipped in an imperceptible nod. Then he stepped off the player. Without a single word, he lashed out with his glaive, performing a circular swipe across the other Chosen mage's throat before following it up with simple thrust into the gut of the wanderer. It wasn't even a specific skill, but a simple movement that had deadly consequences.

Both players dropped. The frost immediately began to fade on their bodies. The only survivor was the tank, whose face was a horrendous display of gore. Sometimes, being a tank with a lot of health points wasn't a good thing.

Severance lifted both brows at the sight. Then he looked over the rest of the area. Things had happened so quickly that he didn't even get a chance to do anything. He eyed his war fans, before putting them away with a sigh.

"Vast," he called.

Immediately, Vast's head lifted. He looked back over a furry shoulder, revealing a grinning muzzle stained in crimson. Fleshy bits dangled from his teeth.

Severance grimaced. "That's enough. Come here."

Vast's ears perked up. Then he immediately stepped off the twitching body of the tank and trotted over to Severance. There was a definite bounce to his stride, and his bloodied tongue lolled out of his grinning jaws.

"Good boy." Severance crouched and scratched the soft space between those great furry ears. To make it easier, Vast lowered his head and pushed gently against Severance's hands. He rumbled softly.

"Yeah, you're such a good boy, aren't you?"

Pleased with this praise, Vast abruptly lifted his head and gave Severance a swipe across the face with his bloody tongue. It left a gory streak from the left side of the jaw, up across the bridge of the nose, and right over the right eye to end on the forehead.

Severance froze. Then slowly, his brow creased, lavender eyes narrowing, and he looked up with fierce displeasure.

"Vast," he hissed. He was entirely unaware of the picture he made at that moment: a man in black, crouching, his hands holding the head of a savage predator. Both of their faces dripped in red gore, while two sets of eyes—one silver-blue, the other purple-blue—seemed to shine with the same fierceness.

Somewhere in the crowd of gawking players, a man observed the scene. One corner of his lips curved upwards, revealing a sharp canine. He turned and though he was taller than any other person around, no one noticed when he slipped away.

By now, Severance was busy wiping his face on his sleeves, scowling at Vast the whole while. "You're disgusting," he told the beast. "You know that? Forget what I said. You're not a good boy. You're a bad boy."

"Here." A handkerchief appeared before him.

Severance blinked, then realized the person offering to him was none other than Kiah. When had she shown up?

"I wet it with water," she told him. Her eyes sparkled with undisguised laughter. "Easier to clean, yes?"

He took it and found that it did a way better job than his sleeve. "Thanks. Did you just get here?"

"Yes. Sorry, I didn't realize you would start the party so quickly. If I had known, I would have hurried."

"Eh, it's okay." Severance wiped his face one more time. "Did I get it all?"

She tapped her own face, indicating a spot by her nose. "Here."

As he was scrubbing once more, Snow came by and gave Severance a nudge. "Who's she?"

"She," said Kiah in her warm, melodic voice, "is your new teammate."

"Trial teammate," came Jack's icy clarification. "Whether you stay depends on your ability."

Kiah dipped her head, her smile never fading. "Of course."

"Hm." Snow looked at her thoughtfully. After a beat, he offered his hand. "Hi, I'm Snow. Please tell me you know how to have a conversation. These guys are so antisocial it's painful."

With that, he cast a pointed glance at the rest of the team, making sure to include Valentin, Jack and Severance in one fell swoop.

"I'm not anti-social," Severance muttered. He waited for the other two to defend themselves, but Jack just folded his arms and glowered and Valentin just stood there like a stone, unmoving, unspeaking, and maybe even unblinking. It was creepy.

He sighed, deflating a little. Maybe Snow had a point.

Kiah let out a healthy laugh and shook Snow's hand. "It's nice to meet you, Snow." She then shifted her attention to the knightglaive. "And you as well, quiet one."

Valentin just looked at her, showing no response either way. On the other hand, Snow gave an odd little giggle and whirled to face Jack. He jabbed a forefinger into the tank's breastplate. "You better be nice to her, Jack. I'm going to freeze a very important part off if you aren't, and Sev won't be allowed to heal it back. You hear me?"

It was a testament to their friendship that Jack didn't really react to such a brazen threat. "I suggest we get moving before anyone else decides to interrupt us."

"Mmm." Kiah glanced at the bloodstained ground, then at the Chosen tank who lay on his back, his hands covering his gory face. His teammates had disappeared, no doubt to respawn, and still no one else had stepped up to help him. There wasn't a single change in her expression. "So, where are we going?"

"For a walk," Jack Coyote stated. He knew the location of the Elite dungeon since Severance had shared it with him, but the rest of the team remained in the dark. "We can't teleport there, so we'll have to take the long way around."

"Right," Severance nodded. He gave Vast's head a quick pat, causing the vastlhidan to gaze at him with shining silvery eyes. He smiled. "And Vast will make sure no one follows us. Right, Vast?"

He got a whuff in response.

As they headed out of town, it seemed he didn't need to worry. No one showed any intention of following them. Yet the feeling of watching eyes lingered long after Ascendance was out of sight.