February 29th, 2027.
I swung my bow at him blocking his blade. I spun around and swung down at his sword and knocked it out of his hands. I held my blade to his neck, we paused panting, exhausted.
"Good job." Sterling smiled.
"Thanks." I lowered the bow down and sat on the ground.
"You're a fast learner. I didn't realize you'd catch on so easily."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"You started off as a transporter, so you only knew basic combat skills right?"
"At first yes, but I upgraded and advanced to hand held weapons. After I became the Crimson rider I had to advance to full body combat skills and raise my skills with fire arm weapons, when I became the Crimson Knight I learned how to use a sword." Sterling looked surprised and nodded his head.
"I-I'm sorry I doubted your skill set. My bad." I started laughing.
"Its fine."
"I find it interesting that you've advanced in the game so much with such little time. I only have the one skill, but its useful."
"It is." I said getting up off the floor. We made our way back inside to cool down from working out for so long. For the past two days we've been training almost non stop.
I was siting in the lounge trying to catch my breath. My life levels were almost fully up. I had no idea why it was taking me so long to heal.
I really took a beating that night. It was starting to make me mad how long it was taking me to heal.
"Hey." Sterling threw a bunch of clothes at me.
"What the-" I pulled them off my head and looked at them, "What the heck is this?" I asked him.
"Lets go into town for a bit."
"You sure?"
"Why not? You'll most likely be healed by tomorrow. Its technically our last day together right?"
"Right."
We were walking around the wizard market looking at all the trinkets and things. The place was so lively. So many people were crowding around and buying crazy little trinkets. They were going crazy as if they needed those things right away.
"Don't they know that all this stuff is temporary?" Sterling asked.
"You can't say much considering you're wearing that thing." I pointed at his hat and poked at it.
Sterling was wearing this ridiculous beanie.
"Just why in the heck are you wearing that?" We started walking further down.
"Because I need to hide my ears." He whispered. I was about to ask why, but then I remembered what Sterling said about the elves hiding after we had all been locked in the game. They're not well liked. Soon I realized Sterling was uncomfortable in the market.
"If you have to hide who you are, why are we here?" I nudged him, "Lets go back. I want you to be comfortable." I said grabbing his hand. "There's no need for you to suffer trying to take care of me you dummy."
"Wh-wait, what are you-"
"Come on we're going back." I said dragging him along. We started walking back to the castle. We started talking about random things and almost everything. He got more comfortable as we started talking.
"Hey," a merchant called out to us. "You wanna buy a nice necklace for the pretty lady? Or how about a head band?" He smiled at us trying to invite us over to buy one of his necklaces. Sadly what he was selling didn't look like the prices he was selling them for.
"No thank you." We kindly rejected him. As we were just starting to walk away a man ran in to the market place screaming.
"Hey you guys!" He came in panting.
"What the heck are you doing Hector."
"You won't believe what I saw!" He looked at us and was throwing his arms around like crazy.
"What are you talking about boy?" A crowd started to form around us as the man was trying to speak. I began to feel claustrophobic.
"I saw this new player, he calls him self 'The Hunter.' Dressed in a blue and black suit he took on 4 knights at the same time and beat them all."
"Where was this?" Sterling asked,
"Back on level 12. Everyone who saw it is talking about it right now. Rumor has it he's on his way to beat the final boss on level 23."
The crowd murmured and whispered amongst themselves. The news had them going.
"What's wrong." Sterling asked me. I was deep in thought for a second. It was crowded, so compact. It felt like I couldn't move.
"Hmm?, nothing, I just I don't know I got to thinking is all. Lets get out of here." My hands were shaking a bit.
Keep it together. I told myself, but the crowd got even tighter and closer together. It felt like I was drowning in the mess of this crowd.
No, I gotta get out of here.
"Hey, You alright?" Sterling asked.
Shit, keep it together damn it. My hands were shaking even more. It only go worse. I started panicking a bit. The crowd only got closer together as I was trying to find away out.
No, no, no, no. Let me out! I-oh my god.
Suddenly I felt someone grab my hand and then I found myself siting on the ground.
"Hey, what happened back there?" Sterling put his hand on my head.
"I-uh- I don't know." I brought my knees up to my chest and buried my face in them. "I'm sorry just, give me a second okay. I-I just need some time."
I began to cry trying to calm myself down, but it wasn't working. I felt Sterling pick me up in his arms and start to carry me back to the castle. Startled I started kicking and bitching.
"What the hell are you doing? Put me down I'm fine." I tried to wiggle out of his hold but he only tighten his arms and gave me a serious look.
"You really need to know when to ask for help you know?" He said. I pouted in his arms and there was a long pause of silence.
"Do you have crowd anxiety by chance?" He asked. I snapped, I jumped out of his arms and started walking on my own.
"We should hurry up and get home." I said marching away. I guess part of my pride was torn.
