Valkyrie's Lament

Gate #6 - Day 4 (Part I)

The battle between Jasper and Sam took a full day to recover. Both of them had already eaten their crystals and could not heal any faster. Instead they stay in bed, letting their body recover naturally. Even without another crystal shard, the crystals that they ate gave them a boost in their natural healing.

“Ding Dang Dong~” A baby angel appeared out of thin air in front of the group. Their cute little buttocks wiggled and danced in front of them with hype and excitement in seeing the four still alive. “We have a winner for the day!”

“What are you talking about?” Brianna looks at the baby angel funny. “There’s literally three days left.”

“Poo~ Stop trying to take the fun out of whenever I’m commenting.”

“The reward please and the people who died?” Silver cut in. The baby angel frowned even more.

“Fine.” The baby angel grumbled under his breath. “Here is your reward.”

This time three large deep red crystals appeared before each of them. Silver ate two out of three and put the last one away. The others followed her example and kept one safe for emergencies.

Twelve pictures of people that Silver had never seen before were shown in front. Silver was relieved that they weren’t anyone who she knew. Every night, she felt a slight uncomfortable tug, wondering if they were dead or not.

“Now then. I have to inform you that the game will be a lot more exciting in the next three days.”

Everyone was now listening in on the angel’s words, wondering what he had got to say. They knew that the news that he had to say was not good at all.

“You can not stay in the same area for more than six hours. Tomorrow it will be three hours, and the final day will be one hour. Your location will be automatically sent to the ‘it’ players if you stay for too long.”

“What?!”

“Now. Now. It’s not all that bad. The size of the playing field will get smaller and smaller. Huhuhuhu.” The baby chuckled pleased at what he said.

“This is bad.” Jasper was scrunching up his eyebrows at what the baby said.

“Now, time to go~ Bye. Bye~” With a poof, he disappeared, leaving everyone behind speechless and for a moment nobody knew what to say.

“So, what does he mean by the area getting smaller?” Brianna asked Jasper, breaking the silence.

Silver knew what the baby angel meant, but she didn’t voice her opinion and stayed silent.

“It’ll be better that we go upstairs to show you.”

The group followed along Jasper and made their way up towards the roof where they opened the door. They went outside to see the whole cityscape before them.

“Can you see the transparent barrier around the city?” Jasper pointed out towards the river where it was a lot more clearer. “You won’t be able to see it during the day unless you run into it.”

“Yea….I see what you mean.” Brianna walked over as close to the edge without falling over.

“That barrier is our playing zone. Three days ago the space was a lot bigger than what you see now. It used to be past the river, but now the barrier is a good distance away from the river. It seems it’s a lot closer than before.”

“I didn’t know that.” Brianna scratched her arms a bit embarrassed that she found out now. The others were dismayed by what he had said.

“Not a lot of people know about it. You either run into it accidentally or see it at night high on top of a building.”

Brianna thought over his words and understood what he meant.

Silver scanned throughout the whole area, looking at the boundaries of the barrier. She estimated that the barrier was roughly three miles. “We should go and rest.” She spoke, breaking everyone’s concentration.

Everyone turned towards Silver and nodded in agreement. These past few days have been draining their body and bringing mental fatigue.

“We have less than six hours before we need to leave this spot. At this rate, we won’t have enough time to rest.”

“I agree.”

Everyone went down towards the bedroom and got ready to sleep. They knew that they didn’t have much time. The others were exhausted and fell asleep in a matter of moments. On the other hand, Jasper set his alarm on his watch and laid on the bed. He stared up at the ceiling, trying his best to go to sleep.

“Hey Silver.” Jasper quietly whispered over towards her.

“Yes?” Both Jasper and Silver were sharing a bed as she turned over her body and faced him. She looked at him wondering if something was wrong.

“Please don’t get angry at me for not telling you everything.”

“Huh?” Silver was confused at the sudden words that Jasper spoke.

“I have a reason.” His voice was low with concern. Silver could tell that there was a lot on his mind. “I’ll tell you at the end of this game. I promise.”

“Don’t worry. It’s alright.” Silver could hear Jasper squirming around on the bed.

Jasper stopped squirming and let out a deep stifled sigh. “You should be. Just please remember, I don’t hate you.”

“You’re saying something strange. Like I said, don’t worry. I trust you. So far you haven’t given me the benefit of doubt.”

Jasper went silent. “Thanks.” His words were like a sigh, barely audible unless Silver paid close attention.

She didn’t understand why Jasper was so caught up on the reason that he did not tell her anything. Jasper was the first one that she trusted in this game and he had proven to himself to her many times. With a sigh, she pulled up her blanket to her chin and let sleep take her.

#####

“Where do you think Ronfonso is this time?” Brianna asked. “Should we split up and come back in about three hours at this location?”

They were in front of an electronic center in the morning. They had walked around part of the city, looking for Ronfonso. Stopping by a restaurant, they ate their breakfast for the day. Not many stores were open during the early hours, until later on in the morning. Every single one of them were slightly tired from not having enough sleep.

“I’m not so sure that’s a good idea.” Jasper spoke. “Going alone will make us an easier target.”

“He has a point. We’ll split up in two. If we don’t come back in two hours, we’ll meet up again at the Cat Hotel at midnight.” Silver spoke towards everyone. “My hunches are telling me that we’ll have another safe night at the Cat Hotel before the barrier blocks us out.”

“That’s good to hear.” Brianna felt relieved at what Silver spoke. “Though I want to go with Sam.” She quickly glomped onto Sam. He rolled his eyes at her behavior and didn’t say anything else.

“Okay, Sam and Brianna are going together. Jasper and I will go together.” Silver stated. “We’ll meet back here in a few hours.”

“Wait, before we go we should go buy ourselves a phone to communicate with each other.” Jasper pointed out to everyone.

“Why waste our money on something that we’ll only use for three days?” Brianna stares at Jasper weirdly.

“Because communication is essential. It can also be used to communicate where not to come if there is an ‘it’ player.” Jasper stated. “Like Kushiel said, ‘it’ players have a special ability that we do not have.”

“Hey, I always wondered. Why haven’t you told us the ‘it’ player’s ability? I mean you were one weren’t you?” Brianna asked.

“Not the right time....”

“Why not?” Brianna was getting curious. She had a knack of wanting to know more.

“There's a reason...later.”

“Something is fishy...” Brianna was leaning over in suspicion towards him

“Leave it be Brianna We’ll go buy a prepaid phone. Let’s go.” Silver changed the subject as fast as she could. There was no time to dilly dally. Ronfonso was always on the move and finding him seemed to be difficult.

“Fine.”

They all walked around some more and eventually went inside an electronic store, and went to buy themselves a prepaid phone. It didn’t take long before they splitted ways. Silver and Jasper went the opposite direction towards the south side where they walked through the more densely populated areas, while Brianna and Sam went West towards the high rise buildings.

As Silver and Jasper continued walking, she noticed bright colorful lights decorated the area as Silver noticed the festive air for a good mile away. As far as Silver could see, there were hundreds of stalls selling trinkets and food. Silver was amazed at the large number of cats that were outside setting up their stalls.

The hot morning sun made it a bit uncomfortable for Silver as she hid underneath the tree to cool down. Hours went by as Silver and Jasper watched from under the tree, looking for Ronfonso and any other players as the people passed by.

“Look,” Jasper pointed in the direction. Silver followed his hands and saw where he was pointing at.

A good distance away, they saw a couple of players with cat ears walking down the path. They could tell that they were enjoying the booths that were out as they checked out each stall.

“Do you know them?” Silver asked.

“I saw them around. Though, I don’t know who they are….” Jasper frowned when they saw the two coming towards them.

One of the two turned around and saw Silver and Jasper, sitting under the tree. As he shook the other and pointed in their direction. Both of them were wearing quite eccentric clothes that made them stand out from the rest of the crowd. Silver thought they had on rocker type clothes with their hair nicely done, they were twins who wore opposite colors to differentiate themselves among each other. They were surprised that Silver and Jasper were there.

“Hello~” The man with the red hair called out with a handsome smile. He winked towards Silver. Jasper could tell that they had a different intent.

Silver frowned at the two that came towards them and did not flirt back. Instead she stood up straight with a cold attitude.

“What are two beauties doing out here?”

“Beauties?” Jasper's voice cracked, not liking at all what he just heard. The words were like a slap to his face that he felt annoyed.

“Yes, one younger sister and the other older sister.”

“I’m a guy!” Jasper blurted out peeved.

“Ah…..that’s truly disappointing.” The redhead replied with a frown and looked at Jasper with disdain. He examined Jasper one more time just to check what Jasper said was true.

“Who?” Silver spoke, bringing both the handsome man’s attention back towards them.

“Ah, my bad. I’m Brook and this is Rook.” The red hair replied with a twinkle in his eyes.

The blue hair of the twin gave them a wide smile and slightly bowed. “We were wondering why you guys are here? Are you here to enjoy the local Cat festival that is going on today?”

“We are looking for someone.” Silver bluntly replied, hiding nothing.

“Who might that be?”

“Have you seen a man with a patch up face? The best word one would describe is Frankenstein.”

Rook stepped forward, showing off his pearly white teeth towards Silver. He grabbed her hands and kissed them. “Sadly, we don't have my lady.”

Jasper's eyes twitched at Rook’s behaviors. He wasn’t too happy.

“We would like to have your company on this abysmal day. You would brighten up our lives.” Brook came over and drew her towards his waist. He then snuggled up towards her like it was natural and raised up his hands towards her hair, brushing against it. “Is this a natural color?”

“Yes, I’m assuming both of you guys aren’t.” Silver peeled him off and took a step back, but the two came towards her with a more intensive approach.

“Please, don’t run away.”

“We love your smile and your enchanting voice.”

“Hey!” Jasper shouted.

Both of them stopped and looked down upon Jasper as if he was no threat.

“Move aside kid.”

“Let the adults talk with each other.” Brook raised up his hands and pushed aside Jasper.

Jasper grinded his teeth at the two.The moment he touched Jasper, he let out an electrifying attack that completely stunned him.

Bzzzzt~

“Aug Ggh!”

“Brook?! What the heck did you do?” Rook was stunned, unable to do anything. “Did you just taste him?”

“Tased him?” Jasper raised up his eyebrows with a smirk on his face. He brought up his hands in front of him as the spark went off each finger.

Brook and Rook stared in shock at the power that Jasper had shown. They were surprised to see someone have strong magical energy that could harm them.

“I suggest you leave.” Jasper spoke with a stern voice.

“Why?”

“We feel like we should stay and protect the lady. It’s not good to see such a beautiful lady, running around in this god forsaken hell hole.”

“There's no point to being such an ass. Having two extra guards is not going to harm you is it?”

Jasper rolled his eyes and their whimsical words.

Sliver watched the two. She felt no threat between the two, but at the same time she wasn’t too happy with their close proximity. “It’s fine Jasper. Let them do whatever.”

“But Silver.”

Silver stopped Jasper from saying anything else.

“See the little lady like our service.”

“Yes. Yes. Little boy, let the adults do the talking.”

“I am not a little boy!”

“We see a boy in front of us. What do you think you are, an adult?”

“Stop.” Silver's voice was cold. The two turned their heads towards her. “I said you can stay, but if you are rude to him you’ll have to answer to me.” Her hand rested on her sword that was brought out in seconds.

The two saw her hand and backed off with a dry chuckle. They didn’t want to get cut up in half and had a feeling that she knew how to use it.

“Woah. Woah. Calm down, we don’t mean any harm.”

“Yes, just like my brother said. We only want to stick around with a beautiful lady.”

They tried to console Silver by putting away her sword. Silver didn’t budget and watched carefully, knowing full well that people were fickle creatures. She felt them out and noticed that they weren’t much of a threat.

“Fine, but if you’re a brother….” Her sword slowly started to come out as it dangerously gleamed.

“Sure.” Rook spoke with a halfhearted chuckle, staring at her sword with worry. “Why don’t you put that dangerous sword away, okay?”

“Yes. Yes. We’re not here to pick a fight.” Brook replied right after like a parrot

“What a wuss.” Jasper mumbled under his breath so that they couldn’t hear.

Silver stashed away her sword. “We’re looking for a man with patches on his face.”

“I see. I see. Well then we’ll help you out.” Rook started with a smile and started forward in delight in helping. “Are you guys just going to stand here all day? You know you’re a target just sitting right here.”

“We weren’t planning on standing here for too long.”

“Well then, my lady, would you like to tour the festival?” Rook pulled out his hands for Silver to hold.

Silver didn’t pay attention to his hand and walked past him.

Rook just smirked and whistled. “She’s quite a difficult opponent.”

“You don’t say brother. You don’t say.”

The two followed after her and walked up on both sides. They continually chatted towards her with vigor as they tried to catch her attention.

Jasper frowned at the two and stuck close to Silver. At times he would push them away, but most of the time he was rebutted because of his small stature.

“So, are you a female samurai?” Brook asked, matching her pace.

“How long have you been using a sword?”

“No, wait. You've been using it for years right?”

Silver was looking from side-to-side watching for any familiar faces. She didn’t answer a single question from the twins.

“Do you guys know and have any magic?” Silver asked.

“We do.” Brook replied.

Their words caught Silver’s attention. “Like?”

“I have the ability to use the moon’s energy.” Brook replied.

“For me natural sunlight.”

“I’m sorry? I don’t understand what you are talking about.” Silver was confused at the second ability. Solar energy? She understands the moonlight ability, but the natural sun sounded a bit weird.

“Brother, I think you got that wrong.”

“What do you mean?”

“Natural sunlight? Are you some kind of plant?”

“Ah….you’re right. That does sound a bit weird.”

“You mean you have solar power.”

“Still, sounds a bit strange, but I’ll go with that.”

“Solar power?”

“Yea, I’m able to use the sun's energy, while my brother uses the moon. We were able to find some sweet abilities in this game.”

They were chuckling with glee.

Then it hit her. A faint memory hit her mind as she remembered the name of the abilities that came into her mind. The Solar and Moon Magic that were quite famous for their power. These two brothers were known for their aloof and powerful abilities in the future. She knew that they had survived through two-third of their game and died a horrific death. Just the thought of their powers being wasted made her frown.

Solar and Moon Magic were considered one of the top magic that could rival a low level dragon species if they trained themselves well. She didn’t remember if it was these two twins that made it very far, but knew that they could become very powerful later on in the games. It even could rival the secondary rare magic like Silver, Sam, and Jasper’s head-to-head.

What really shocked her was that her memory about the beginning games were a lot different than she had expected. The starting point was different and the number of people that survived the beginning was only a few. These two twins weren’t supposed to be in the same time game as her when she played for the first time.

“You guys have Solar and Moon Magic correct?”

“Yes, I’m surprised that you know the name.”

“Isn’t that a given. I mean from your description that you just stated, even I would probably guess the name like that.” Jasper replied. He was getting a bit annoyed at the two’s slow reasoning.

“Twerp, you really have a mouth.” Brook replied, annoyed at Jasper.

“I mean you look cute when you keep your mouth shut.” The other snickered.

Jasper scorn the two and clenched his fist. His veins popping out along his arms.

“I wouldn’t be surprised that you were able to gain such ability. Where did you find it?” Silver was quite curious on how they did it. It was not easy to find the moon and sun magic.

“It was quite a pain really. We had to hide from a large group of rabbits.” Brook sighed, shaking his head. “I mean have you ever heard of a rabbit that can fight like a pro? It’s crazy!”

“It was not easy at all. The hard part wasn’t even that.” Rook replied right after.

“The difficult part was going through a hundred of them without fighting once. We had to literally painstakingly crawl our way over not to get found. Finding the magic stones was the simple part, getting to it was not.”

“You wouldn’t believe how scary strong they were. We saw them easily kill a player when they approached the building. In just one hit!”

“Can you believe that? One hit?!”

“I do.” Silver slowly stated. She knew that the rabbits were strong.

“If you ever meet a rabbit. I suggest you run away. They are no joke.”

“I’ll take that into consideration.” Silver understood who they were talking about, but for there to be over twenty rabbit Game Masters in one area meant that this was a special case. She had the feeling that they were more around the city, but she couldn’t remember where. She didn’t need another magic stone, but having one to give to her future team would help grow the guild.

She knew that the rabbits were bad news, but to have twenty in one spot was something that she did not want to tangle with. These two were able to get in and out without a scratch on their body. They were definitely someone she would like to recruit after she learned a little bit more about them.

“Well then, let’s go enjoy ourselves in this festival. We won’t have such a great chance like this.”