Author's Note - Anna has appeared?! Keisuke and Shaw have finally arrived to the City of the Night only to be greeted by the young game master. What does this bode for Keisuke, and what is Anna's intentions for coming into the game?
Chapter Five - The City of the Night [PART II]
"...Anna?" Shaw repeated glancing between the two of them. "Whose Anna, Keisuke?"
Keisuke's eyes were the size of dinner plates taking in every inch of the player in front of him. While Shaw berated him with questions, his eyes never left Anna's face. She raised a finger to her lips in a silent gesture that said 'secret'. Keisuke's lips pulled into a thin line before he let a silly smile cross over his face. Wrapping his arm around Shaw's shoulders, he steered the struggling cleric over to Anna and held his hand out to present her.
"This is Anna! She's my wife."
Shaw nearly jumped out of his skin shoving away from Keisuke and flailing his arms around.
"Your wife?! Y-You don't look old enough to be married Keisuke, no, you're way too young. This is a joke right?"
Anna sighed and ran a hand through her hair.
"Sometimes I wished it was," she grumbled.
Keisuke shot her a pout along with tear-filled eyes. She rolled her eyes and placed a hand over his face to push him away.
"...This is bad," Shaw muttered.
Keisuke's eyebrows furrowed and he looked towards his friend overcome with worry until Shaw burst into tears.
"This means someone as goofy as Keisuke could even be dateable, so what hope does that brew for me?!" He cried.
Anna giggled behind her hand watching as Keisuke drew Shaw into a headlock and held him, the two scuffling on the ground. Her hand slowly fell from around her mouth as she looked towards the sky and the two moons - Eir and Ulr. Eir was a pure white like the moon of their world, but Ulr was a pale green seemingly circling aground Eir. Eir and Ulr, said to be the balance of this world, if one was to disappear - then that could only mean the ending of the world. What an omnious premonition.
But it is a true one, is it not, Miss Anna?
Her chest tightened and she quickly glanced over her shoulder before looking forward only to see Keisuke staring her straight in the face. His smile, his childish aura and his glee eased the tightening in her chest.
"So Anna, what class did you take?"
She snapped out of her reverie to observe the trident on her back.
"Ah, the Disciples of Paganism."
Shaw and Keisuke looked at one another in confusion before looking towards her. She looked between them before sighing and drawing another diagram in the dirt like Shaw had done before.
"The Disciples of Paganism are affiliated with a chosen God, and uses that God's abilities, weaponry and often time calls onto them for salvation or blessing. At the moment, the range of gods is endless but many gods are linked together therefore if you're in a party with someone of the same God - that could unleash a greater potential upon you. My chosen god is Poseidon or Neptune, and I utilize a trident. Since I am not considered a true believer at the moment, my trident appears like this."
Keisuke's arms folded and his mouth was an 'o' but soon formed a grin and he nodded in understanding. Shaw seemed to be interested in the diagram and was studying it to understand.
"So, what are the other classes," he asked.
"There are none," she replied.
Shaw's head jerked up and he waved his arms around.
"So thats it!? You only increase your abilities if you have 'faith', what if someone doesn't have faith?"
Anna's lips drew into a thin line and she folded her arms over her chest. Shaw felt a bit of a chill run over them before a hand pressed against the back of his head pushing him a little forward.
"That isn't what matters. What matters is that you play the game and try to enjoy yourself. Anna, Shaw and I made a party together, you should join so we can all explore together."
She began to wave her hands.
"No, no. I mean, I have work to do and I don't have much time to play a-"
"...Anna. It would mean a lot to me if we could play together."
Her heart tightened in her chest again. Keisuke wrapped his arm around Shaw's neck and grinned. Holding out his hand with a bright smile, and she looked to the palm of his hand. The same hand that she took before, although under different circumstances. Reaching out for his hand, she hesitated for a second before placing her hand in his own. He held onto her hand and smiled softly.
<ANNA HAS JOINED YOUR PARTY!>
With one arm around Shaw's neck and the other around Anna's, the three walked through the gates that led to the City of the Night. Keisuke's eyes widened once they entered the other side. There were buildings all around them, light reflecting out of their windows. The streets were packed with players, the street lamps shining brightly. He could see Staves floating throughout the town entering through buildings and coming out others. Merchants calling out their wares, and players laughing while sitting about or dancing. Simply having fun.
"Hey Keisuke, I forgot to ask but whats the benefits of being in a party?"
Looking back at Shaw, he could see the latter was as mesmerized as himself.
"...The benefit of being in a party is being able to use one another's skills to your advantage. Besides that, you're able to keep a locater on one another so if you stray too far or become injured - someone can help you. You can share EXP like in any other game, and items also are distributed evenly. But the greatest benefit of being in a party is that if you have enough 'belief' in one another, you'll be able to utilize one another's abilities to your own benefit. Because your trust in one another is just that strong."
Anna smiled softly.
"...Now that the lecture is out of the way, I'm gonna go eat curry!"
He raced forward into the crowd and Shaw nearly freaked out before he saw a green dot arise in the sky and begin to move forward in the same direction that Keisuke ran off to.
"Ah, I forgot about the locater that quickly."
Shaw looked towards Anna only to see her smiling fondly towards the crowd.
"...Uhm, I forgot to ask Miss Anna. But what would've brought you into this world? Keisuke seems to enjoy it because of the content, and he knows a lot although he seems to forget other things. But what about you?"
Anna looked at him out of the corner of her eye before focusing forwards.
"Keisuke."
Somewhere in the city, our silly protagonist was eating his weight in curry. Though in the distance, a bespectaled man sat watching with a fond smile gracing his lips.
