{-Myr-}

The only thing she knew were the dark alleyways, the rumbling of passing trains, and the ever-present smog looming over all of them. She was used to the constant mumbling of nearby conversations, the bustling of players and NPCs alike going about their day. There was none of that here. The closest sign of the city that they had left was an abandoned railroad track, one she only noticed because of the sign next to it.

She hadn’t thought she could’ve missed the place that she wanted to leave so much.

At least she had good company, making the trip more interesting and keeping her mind off the unpleasant things.

“We spent the entire lecture on our computers playing the same game.” Zetai was recalling a story of her real life; something to fill in the silence after Llewel refused to participate in any other kinds of games. “The usual professor would’ve called it out immediately, but this guy didn’t. He even joked with us when the first one of us died. To this day, I don’t know if he realized what was going on and decided to amuse us or thought that we were actually doing work.”

“I feel obligated to add that I was not there,” Reynneak remarked. “Unlike you, I’d like to graduate with a good grade…”

“Come on, you’re the smart guy. You don’t even need to try and you’ll pass.”

“You haven’t started college math, have you?”

“Be honest, you know any kind of math class is meant to be skipped.”

Honestly, Myr had no idea what they were talking about, but she was more than willing to listen.

Something else caught their attention before another story could begin; the calls of someone else. Llewel was the first to stop and look, but it took until Reynneak noticed it for any attention to be brought to it.

“There’s a bunch of monsters down there,” he mumbled, “and it looks like they aren’t doing well against them…”

Zetai squinted in that direction. “Did they forget to check their weapon uses like I did or are the NPCs that are a part of a quest..?”

He paused and looked at the map. “If they’re a part of a quest, then it’s not one that shows up on the map. I think they might seriously need our help.”

“Then what are we waiting for?” Myr hated just standing there and looking at them. She could be out there; she could be helping them. But she wasn’t stupid enough to think that she’d be able to do it without her companions.

“Are you really all considering that?” Llewel questioned blankly. His gaze was an uncaring one, something that made her want to scold him just for that. “Look at those monsters. We don’t have anything that we would need to be better than those people. If we go down there, we’re just going to end up like them and then we’re all going to die.”

“I think you can live to be a little more optimistic,” Zetai pointed out. “A part of adventure is saving those who need help. Maybe we’ll be able to get some stuff out of it, too, even if it’s not a quest for anything. They’ll probably be willing to show their gratitude for helping us out somehow.”

Llewel still didn’t budge.

“You’re not even going to try to give a better excuse?” Myr questioned, turning all her attention to her brother and only getting more impatient. “They need us! Why are you just going to stay there and pretend like nothing is different? Like they’re still going to be okay if we don’t do anything to help them?”

“I never said that they’d be okay if we didn’t come. I said we were all going to die no matter what we did. I’m not here to be these people’s savior. I’m out here to see the world and, in case you haven’t noticed, I can’t exactly do that if I’m dead.”

“Would you rather keep on walking knowing that you did nothing? That you didn’t even try?”

Still, that didn’t seem to change his mind about anything.

She wasn’t going to get anything out of him, so she had to take the initiative herself. “Well, the three of us are better than none of us.”

Zetai nodded but Reynneak hesitated.

“What are you waiting for?” Myr couldn’t wait—they couldn’t wait. Waiting meant risking everything and, no matter who they were, they didn’t deserve what would inevitably come to them.

“I just need to get one thing ready,” Reynneak responded quickly. He pulled up his Inventory and went through it until he reached what he was looking for. “[Signal Flare]. Llewel’s right about us probably being unprepared, but we should be able to help hold them off. With this, we just have to buy enough time for someone more capable to show up.” He handed it to Llewel. “You might not be coming with us, but you could still do something to help. If anyone comes by, point them in our direction.”

Llewel gave it a casual look but his inner thoughts were betrayed with a glance at Myr and a whispered, “Please don’t die.”

She didn’t say anything. Figuring they’d already wasted enough time as it was, she took the lead and went into a run in hopes of reaching the group of people. Zetai and Reynneak were close behind her and she didn’t bother looking back in hopes Llewel had changed his mind; she knew he wouldn’t.

Getting there both brought some more order to what they had seen from afar and added to the chaos. Not everyone was fighting—a younger duo and a few younger kids were further away from the monsters, though a couple did manage to sneak through the adults—but even if they were, there wouldn’t have been enough of them. Even with the additional helpers of Zetai, Reynneak, and Myr, they would be largely outnumbered.

“This kind of thing never happens,” Zetai muttered. “As far as I’m aware, co-op creates mobs based on the number of party members traveling together. Even if these guys are all a part of a huge party, there’s not enough people here to spawn this big of a mob…”

Reynneak took in the fight in front of them. “I’m glad I decided to buy all those [Heal]s while they were on sale… Come on, Zetai, let’s try to help them out.”

“What am I supposed to do?” Myr prompted. “I came here to help, not sit on the sidelines!”

Reynneak gestured to the kids. “These guys could use someone to watch over them. You’re the best person for that job. Not to mention I very much appreciate Llewel’s help and I don’t want him to turn against us if you end up getting hurt.” There was no other time for questions or complaints before he and Zetai threw themselves into the fray.

“Don’t feel bad,” the older boy remarked. “They said the same thing to me.”

“Except you really would just get yourself killed if you went out there,” the girl said. “You might be killing those monsters that come at us, but your papa did most of the work before that.”

He shot her an annoyed glare, but she paid it no mind.

She looked at Myr. “So, what are the names of the people coming to help us? I’m Mari, this is Alu, and we were traveling with a bunch of other smaller families to Anthalas City. We do it pretty often—we give quests to players that happen along our route—but we’ve never encountered monsters like these before. They were all weak enough that our papas could handle it, even if players didn’t show up.”

“I’m Myr, and the other two that came with me are Zetai and Reynneak.” Myr gestured in their directions when she said their names. Then she motioned to the figure of Llewel in the distance. “That’s my brother, Llewel. He didn’t think we should come and help you. He’s kind of a jerk.”

“Maybe he’s just scared,” a little kid offered. “Alu was scared—”

“What did we say about lying?” Alu interrupted, though he went ignored.

“—when Sei left to join the others.”

Myr followed their gazes towards the fight. “Which one’s Sei?”

Alu, humbled in the fact that he couldn’t hide it any longer, pointed to a girl. She couldn’t have been any older than Zetai. “She’s my older sister. I know it’s a weird thing to say coming from the younger one, but I don’t want to see anything happen to her. Honestly, I would have happily fled with her and Mari to Anthalas City without caring about everyone else… if she hadn’t jumped in to help our parents.”

“Yeah, that… sounds like something Llewel would have done, too…” Myr continued to watch until, eventually, a realization crept inside all of them. The others were definitely losing. “The others need help.”

She was just about to rush in until a flurry of feathers announced a woman that stood in her way. “No, what they need is someone who knows what they’re doing. Leave this to me. I’ll make sure everyone comes out alright.”