Beta || Iancorn (NaNoWriMo 2018)

Level Fifteen

The sun was still rising when Mari shook David awake the next morning. Ian hadn't been lying; after so many nights sleeping outdoors, the floor of the house had felt like his bed. If it hadn't been fore Mari waking him up insanely early, he probably would've felt well-rested.

Everyone else seemed to have gotten the same treatment David did. He knew that Mari despised Ian, but this seemed a bit obsessive. What could he have possibly done to earn this intense hatred? 

Every part of Ian was a mystery. The way Mari and Joven talked about him made it sound like he was another player, another real person instead of a program like Araba and Badú. But if that were true, why was he here, in the middle of a swamp? Why wasn't he going through the levels with them?

So many questions, all of which David was sure he'd never get an answer to. He kept his mouth shut as Ian sluggishly got out of the only bed in the house to Mari's persistence and rubbed the sleep out of eyes, before yawning and stretching. David was pretty sure he was taking so long just to piss Mari off. If that was true, he was succeding.

"Let's eat breakfast, shall we?" he asked with a smile, looking right past Mari to the five people still struggling to get out of their sleeping bags.

A few minutes later, everyone was sitting at the table with potatoes and little wooden forks laid out in front of them, along with some glasses of water that Ian assured them was clean. That meal was probably the most awkward of David's life. No one said a single word, and Mari never once stopped glaring at Ian. David kept his eyes cast to the table the entire time, half-scared that she would turn her attention to him if he didn't.

Finally, everyone finished, and Joven spoke. "What's the objective, Ian?"

Ian cleared his throat. "In the heart of the swamp, there is a witch. Cut out her heart and bury it under the tree to advance."

"Then we're done here," Mari stated, her chair screeching against the floor in her haste to stand up. "Thank you so much for your hospitality."

"Do you not want directions?" Ian raised his eyebrow.

There were a few seconds of silence, before Mari pulled her chair back in and sat down. Ian pointed to a spot on the map. It was the stone building from before. With everyone's attention on it, David inspected it closer. 

Calling it a building was an overstatement. From the looks of it, it was just a bunch of stone pillars collected in a circle, with a tree in the middle of it. It was surrounded by water, and was in the direct middle of the map.

"That's where you can find her," Ian explained. "And the tree is where you must bury her heart. Follow this lake," he traced one of the numerous blue lines, "westwards, and it will take you right to her."

"And how do we kill her?" Mari demanded. "What's stopping us from getting her heart? Don't try to tell me there isn't a catch. There always is."

"I can't tell you that," Ian replied.

"Why not?" Mari inquired angrily.

"There are things I am forbidden from telling players," Ian closed his eyes and took a heavy breath. "I am only allowed to tell you what they let me tell you, Mari. You know that."

"And you can't break the rules just this once?" she asked cooly.

"Why would I?" he breathed. "So I can have you glare at me for a few more minutes?"

"You said that you cared about me," she argued. "You help those you care about."

"I am not going to risk my life for someone who hates me," Ian stated. "Is that not understandable?"

Mari didn't answer. Instead, she got to her feet with a huff and swiped her wooden glass to the ground, letting the water spill out. "We're leaving."

"I know," Ian sighed. "I have some supplies-"

"I'm not taking anything from you," Mari growled, cutting him off. "Everyone, pack up your shit."