To Kill Gods or Die Trying

Havanna Whittaker

"This is it, guys!" I cheer to my friends and stream. This is the second week of trying to kill the troll. At first, we just went out and got a hit whenever we could, but now, with an understanding of everyone's, skills, limits, and strengths, I've taken the role of front-line tactician.

"Essej and Rachel! You're up again!" I order, pulling back. Rachel, wielding a dagger and Essej, a long knife, sprint forward. Essej performs a front flip over the troll's moving club, which Rachel ducks under. They stab the troll all around and dodge its massive swings.

"Pull back before your stamina drains!" I warn watching their stamina deplete on my HUD. They have easier times keeping up with their stamina because their weapons are so light versus weapons like my claymore. Still though, they need to save their energy.

Essej is clobbered in the face and his health drains to half. Rachel tries to drag him in his disoriented state back to cover, but looks up to see the massive troll with its arms raised high over its head.

A big shard of ice passes through the monster, then back, dropping its health to critical. Mack sneers as he pulls the ice back to him and returns it to his liquid state which rotates in a ring, around him. He's using up MP just to do that... I really don't get the guy. Who is he trying to impress? Himself?

"Alright, Alo, get Essej and see if you can fix his HP. Mack, stop wasting your MP. I'm going in!" I shout running forward.

The troll raises its club then brings it down when I'm in range. I raise my sword up to block—one hand gripping the hilt, the other supporting the end of the blade. Clang! The troll is strong as hell. It looks into my eyes to try to intimidate me. Before the pressure breaks me, I use my leather boot to kick the monster in the stomach. It staggers back, which gives me enough time to pass my sword through it.

The troll's body breaks down into white particles and floats away. "Hell yeah!" I cheer. My chat fills with, "finally," and "gg," and "clutch."

***

We burst into one if the Capital's many taverns laughing and boasting. The place is always packed and lively, making our party vibe even stronger.

"What have you adventurers done this time?" an NPC waitress asks curiously.

"We finally killed our first raid boss!" Alo cheers. We cheer in pride, and the NPC chuckles impressed. It's fun to share positive vibes.

"Good thing you're already happy for happy hour. All drinks are half off!"

We take our places at a booth and collapse exhausted.

"And what can I get you tired adventurers?" a different NPC waitress asks. They're so real. It takes some getting used to experiencing talking to them. Nevertheless—

"Let me get a strawberry beer," I request. "Mint beer," Essej says.

"Coffee beer," Rachel says. "Caramel beer," says Mack. "Water for me," Alo gleams. "Hipsterrrrrr!" we all jeer.

"Yeah yeah, that's me," he surrenders rolling his eyes.

"OK guys, what should we get? They have so many options," asks a British girl in the booth behind me. Curiously nosy, I turn around.

A Spellcaster class. All alone. Who is she talking-

The blue-haired girl turns around and faces me with curious eyes. I seem to recognize her and she seems to recognize me.

"I think I know you," she speculates.

"Yeah, you seem pretty familiar," I agree. Where do I know her? I know I know her! We study each other for a moment then come to the realization at the same time when our eyes widen and we shout, "GameCon 87!"

We both laugh.

I went to England with Essej and a few of the other varsity guys to the biggest gaming convention located in England. We did a few rounds of 6S7 against Oxford's varsity gaming team. They beat our asses in and served them back to us on silver platters. It was brutal and embarrassing, but we used that experience to learn from our weakness, get better so that we went undefeated until we graduated.

"Wow, you're still rocking the blue hair," I compliment chuckling. "Yep, and you've still got the full beard going, nice," she replies with a smirk.

"Well, come sit with us," I beckon.

"Sure thing," she accepts. She gets up from her empty booth, and joins ours, to be met by Eesej's confused stare.

"GameCon 2287," I say.

"Oooooh!" Essej exclaims recognizing her. "Yeah you guys destroyed us; that was pretty embarrassing."

"So you're a streamer now, I'm assuming?" I ask. "I heard you talking to nobody and I thought you had dementia or something."

She giggles. "Yeah, I have about 400 thousand live viewers right now."

"Damn," I swear impressed, "I've got 150 thousand. Alo's got around 50 thousand." Girl gamers: can't beat them when it comes to popularity.

"Oh, you guys are streaming too? Nice! I never knew I would meet fellow streamers," she exclaims. "It's nice to meet you all, I'm Havanna Whittaker."

We go around the table and formally introduce ourselves. "So, like, what class do you play, Havanna?" Rachel asks. "Spellcaster," she replies with a gleam of satisfaction.

Mack smirks. "Are you even any good? Cause we're looking for strong players to join us."

"Cool it, Mack. More or less, he's right, are you good enough to shut this show off up?" Essej asks.

"Yeah, says the hybrid with no magic," Mack jeers. "Or the guy with no weapon," Essej retaliates.

"Not a hybrid class so jokes on you," Mack replies.

Havanna opens her inventory and a thin book forms in her hand. "It's a wood-rank spell book," she explains. "I've already memorized and mastered a lot of the incantations in it. They're all in Latin, which I'm glad I took advanced classes from high school until college. Anyways, though, since launch—like what? A month ago? I've been at it solo using the spellbook, my wand, and good aim to clear some dungeons and bosses. But... It's not like I'm looking for some people I could play with..."

I grin and toy with her. "Well, it's not like we're looking for another support class to help us on our endeavor to get to Copper dog tags."

"I doubt that she's even as good as she says," Mack mutters.

"It's OK to be in second place, sweetheart. Silver would suit you well," she jeers. We howl and laugh as Mack slouches angrily, refusing to speak. I like this chick already.