Saiyan

THE WAR FOR MYTHERIA - Isekai Adventure

"Hah..." Staggered breaths. Excitement. Relief. Shock. Perhaps a little hilarity.

As Zell and MacKensie stood, back safely on the tree bridge, in an awkward but extremely tight embrace, the Englishman wondered if maybe the Grim Reaper had taken a liking to him. Perhaps tempting fate all of those times, walking into dark alleys and seedy nightclubs with large amounts of cash to buy narcotics, psychedelics and stimulants from dangerous people, had finally pushed the Archangel of Death to teach Zell a lesson. Perhaps he'd die in this world, then be transported to another to spend a peculiar day or two before dying horribly again. And again.

In addition to the thundering drum of his own heartbeat under his heaving chest, he could feel the heartbeat of MacKensie thudding against him. He looked down at her golden crown, feelings of gratitude flooding his high octane concoction of current emotions, but he was lost for actual words. The entire moment seemed to last an eternity before she suddenly released him and reprimanded his clumsiness. There was no reply at first, the shock not yet wearing off until they started to move. Once his mouth started working again, his heart told him to thank her. His head however:

"That doesn't count," he told her, glancing between her and literally watching his step. "I grabbed the branch. I could've gotten back up, you know," he explained further, to no reaction. "That doesn't count as you saving my life again."

When they made it across Adam's tree bridge, Zell whistled and made an ironic show of wiping his brow with relief. James accosted him with curses and questions, and the swordsman held his hands up. "Relax bro, I'm good." He chuckled, not expecting his friend to be so intense about it, and quite flattered to see how much he cared.

"Just... just be careful dude" .

"Alright," he promised with a slightly gruffer voice, attempting to laugh off the seriousness of the situation, giving James a manly pat on the arm. "Message recieved."

He gave a nod to Adam and Joji as he stood next to them to watch and wait for the rest of the party to cross the bridge, hoping none of them would be as lacksidasical as he'd been while crossing. When MacKensie came back with a report about one of the passages in the maze, Zell felt his sword-arm tingle. He had a feeling they wouldn't be getting out of this maze without a fight. That roar in the distance, and now this? No. Something was in The Mazy Hillocks with them. And if it hadn't noticed them yet, it would only be a matter of time.

"Hey dude, just wanted to say thank you, without you we would have likely lost Zell..."

"I grabbed the branch," he said annoyed over his shoulder, like he was already sick of explaining it.

"...and that would have sucked, even if he is a moron sometimes"

"I'm standing right here bro!" he threw his hands up as he turned around to the pair, his performative outrage mostly for comedic value. When he turned back to face the bridge, he smiled. It occured to the asshole, once again, that he should thank MacKensie for helping him (not saving him. Helping. Assisting.) but James and the Frenchwoman had moved on to another conversation, so he left it for another time.

THE WAR FOR MYTHERIA - Isekai Adventure

By the end of this story Zell's gonna be rescued more times than the princess from Super Mario lol

THE WAR FOR MYTHERIA - Isekai Adventure

"Ah fuck," Zell commented, after Fenna and Lillianna delivered the bad news. "And here I was thinking it was gonna be a boring day." When Adam gave his own response, emphasising the importance of teamwork, Zell nodded. "You got it, Adam."

The final decision went to James, "On you, big brain. What'cha got for us?" Zell turned his back and kept a lookout for danger while the Cleric thought about the situation. There was no danger in sight, which somehow made things more intense, like some kind of horror flick. Protect, was the word in bright Vegas lights, right now. Water Stance: Free-flowing combat technique and philosiphy relying on ever-moving footwork and slashes rather than stabs. Effective when defending and outnumbered on disadvantaged terrain where bottlenecks cannot be utilised. It was like a rollerdex of combat theory just span around a spat out something helpful for him. Still so strange to have so much knowledge he'd never actually learned just sitting in his head. When James made the decision, Zell approved, though he kept lookout until the group was ready to move again. "Kicking through the front door, I like it. Let's do it."

MacKensie offered to scout, the tone of her voice drawing Zell's attention moreso than her words. When he looked at her, he saw the same face from that moment on Hommas' eastern wall when she shot a bolt right by his ear. She was ready to rock. She and Fenna went ahead, then the group began to move. "Meatheads, weapons ready," Zell said to Clive and Arthur, giving a pat on Joji's back - a quick reminder of their battle role - before he drifted to the lone rearguard position once more.

"Hoe. Lee. Shit," Zell muttered as he saw, in the distance, MacKensie just start fucking flying up to the top of a tree, out of nowhere, blonde hair n blue cape billowing in the wind. Since when!? For all of his efforts to stay on point, he couldn't help but be drawn up top, continually glancing up to check on the Frenchwoman. She was using some kind of magic rope to do some of the craziest circus shit Zell had ever seen in his life! It might've been less shocking if the Ranger had shown any signs of these abilities during their last battle, but as far as he'd seen, she was a crossbow-toting badass and nothing more.

Adam stayed sharp, leading the way through enemy territory with the help of information Fenna and MacKensie were feeding him. There were a few hot moments where Zell was gripping his sword-hilt, ready to jump into action and formation, but the group managed to stay out of trouble. In truth, Zell almost preferred that they just get it over with and fight. The anticipation was killing him. But once the party was in the clear and everyone was back together and walking normally again, he slowly started to relax. The sense of danger slipped back into the shadows. After what Lillianna had told them, danger would always be present, but at least it wasn't immediate, giving them a bit of a mental rest for a while.

When Joji swore under his breath, Zell walked up to the man's side to see what the issue was. "You and me both, big guy," Zell agreed, looking out onto region that stood between them and their destination. It looked like an actual maze carved out of nature. "I'm a pretty simple guy," he told Joji. "Not a big fan of puzzles, tee-bee-haeche."

Joji asked if they could go around and Zell knew the answer before Adam said it. As far as the eye could see, both east and west, was a cascade of jagged rock. They'd have to go through. As the group started descending into the labyrinth, Zell fell into step beside MacKensie.

"Since when the hell could you fly around like Batman?" he asked. It almost sounded like he was offended she hadn't informed him earlier. However she replied, Zell's tone would change as he looked at her, a raise of his eyebrows and a grin on his face. "Pretty badass, if I do say so myself."

...

"My god," Zell complained. "How much more of this shit do we have to take?" It had been a while and quite the work out. The changes in terrain, the climbing up and descending back down. "My ankles are killing me." The constant feeling that some monster could come jumping out from a crack or crevice at any moment. "Screw you, Vadim. We save your ass and this is how you repay us."

His whining stopped when the group came to what seemed like a dead end. That is, until Adam started casting, giving an example of the plant magic he was talking about back in Hommas. Dude straight-up just grew the gang a bridge. Zell's jaw dropped, a smile on his face throughout. The amount of impressive feats he'd seen just continued to increase.

He watched Adam go in the first pair as they went across, then took his turn next, nodding to his partner and starting the journey. It would seem that although Zell heard Adam say, 'Be careful,' he wasn't actually listening, because the dumbass swordsman decided to lean over the edge as he was traversing the tree-trunks, so he could see how far down the abyss went.

One of his feet slipped and his arms flailed out as he fell over the edge, slipping through the gap under the 'hand-rail trunks.' One hand barely managed to grab a conveniently placed branch to stop him freefalling into the black hole. With an arm and leg dangling, Zell was one wrong move away from never being seen again.

THE WAR FOR MYTHERIA - Isekai Adventure

OMG I almost lost a long-ass post to an internal server error lmao I was about to rage.

That chemistry tho. No need to talk ;)

Enjoy your weekend mate

THE WAR FOR MYTHERIA - Isekai Adventure

lmao Freudian slip. Nah, it was fun though. Always is, she's amazing. Had a realization though: When she's got half a wardrobe worth of clothes at your house, the very next step is giving her a key... ... ...bit weird.

Zell is like a mafia don - anyone close to him might get shot at lol

THE WAR FOR MYTHERIA - Isekai Adventure

@ZoolY'alright mate. Yeah, I'd normally come online on a Thursday evening and get a bunch of posting done, but romantic obligations had to take priority lol so I made some room this morning for RPing.

Did you notice this?

"Morning Lilly pad-

You alright there?"

M<acKensie's New BFF

@Crusader Lord

lol

The Second Falling of the Big Brother Government - (A Tale by KrystalKleo & Saiyan)

"A pleasure gentlemen," was Isaac's farewell as he and Zara left the office and rolled out of town. "Nice work, Zara. You cut the time on that job in half with those tracking skills of yours."

"A job well done. Do you think we will actually make it there by dark?" Zara inquired.

"Nah," was the answer. "We should make it the old Manhattan area, but we'll have to hole up in some ruin for the night. Should make it by the end of tomorrow though." Off down the small roads they went, heading for main road that ran from Grasscroft westward to Liberty Point. "You ever been in the old Manhattan area of New York?" he asked her. "Buildings there are so tall. I've never seen anything like it anywhere I've been in the wasteland. New York must've been something special in the Before Times."

...

When the orange-tinged afternoon was showing signs of drawing to a close, Isaac and Zara reached the edge of the skyscrapers that'd had been on their horizon all day. The two checked buildings, one after another, looking for one that was defensible from critters, raiders, the wind and the rain. They eventually found a good place with a decent view of the surrounding area and went up to the second floor to drop their stuff.

Isaac walked over to the window and put his hands on the sill as he looked out on the surround, squinting a little as the orange light of the sun shone on his face. There was no sign of danger, but he did sight some tin cans and bottles in the yard below, which pushed him to the decision of redeeming himself as a teacher, and giving Zara a proper lesson in shooting.

"Hey, let's go outside and get some real shooting practice in," he said to her before leaving the window view. "If you're not too tired. I could set up some cans, show you the Weaver Stance technique properly. Wha dya say?"

THE WAR FOR MYTHERIA - Isekai Adventure

Have a wonderful Easter weekend y'all! o7

THE WAR FOR MYTHERIA - Isekai Adventure

@ZapdosYup lol sounds like him.

THE WAR FOR MYTHERIA - Isekai Adventure

With the rest of the front-liners at the head of the column, Zell decided to take up rear-guard duties, walking solo in contented silence as he kept a vigil on the surround. Two days travel from Hommas to Valhiem. This meant that today would be nothing but walking. Boooring! was his thought in assessment. His body could handle it, but his mind was far better suited to being occupied with something interesting. Like money. Or beer. Or how to get money to buy beer. Nonetheless he would do it without complaint. Perhaps Professor Bradford's influence that had led to a turnaround in attitude over the last few months would pay dividends for this new stage in his life. He had a task to complete. It may involve uninteresting stretches and require an extra effort of attention and concentration. Get it done to the best of one's ability. For the good of the future.

Yes. The old university lecturer had finally gotten through that thick skull. And those truths that Zell needed to hear were perhaps more important now than ever before.

Zell's eyes drifted skyward to catch sight of the falcon that had befriended Fenna, gliding high up in soaring circles. It only occured to him now that that the bird of prey's interest in the ranger might have something to do with The Gift. What a world this was. Like a medieval marvel movie or something. Zell's media knowledge didn't extend far enough that he had anything else to compare it more accurately to, but he felt the fantastical potential of it all, and wondered if sword fighters like himself had ways and means of attaining special abilities too.

So many questions, so few answers - A running theme since he woke up in the recently-rennovated bathroom of ol' Edric and Lilian.

He took his eyes off the surrounding woodland once more to see up ahead, James and MacKensie chatting. Then he heard and saw Clive talking to Lillianna. The sights brought a slight smile to his face. It was good that the team were building chemistry. The stronger the bonds, the stronger the will to run through brick walls for eachother. It'd be hard to establish such a strong connection between strangers so quickly, but they would have to make do with the hand they were dealt. And everyone was trying. That was the important part.

Alright, enough mushy stuff asshole, Zell told himself, his smile growing as he looked away to focus back on his job. Doesn't suit you one bit.

After an hour or so, he took his backpack off to retrieve some rations that were easy to eat on the go. His relatively disciplined regiment of diet and exercise was going to go out of the window in this world, he could feel it already. Still, skipping breakfast completely would be a crime, so he munched on some bits n pieces as he walked, his hands ever-ready to drop everything and draw his sword, should his senses detect an attack.