*Frostina*

A month. A fucking, goddamned month of this shit and I'm still struggling! My sweating palms gripped the rails on either side of me as I walked up the stairway to fucking nowhere in this crap ass physical therapy place. After making it to the top stair I turned on shaky legs and started back down. Oh I haven't been doing this for a month. Oh no, there's been all types of fun crap for me since getting back to the real world.

Let's see. Occupational therapy like, can I make a bed? Yes I can make the damned bed! Physical therapy, can I walk? Shakily but I get around. I'm just...really weak still. Counseling, do i want to talk about what happened? Huh, let's see. A year ago I put a helmet on my head, almost died, lost my legs and my husband is still in there. I'm peachy fucking keen! Sweat dripping down my face,

I reached the bottom if the stairs finally!

"You're doing great, a lot of improvement today!"

Blow it out you ass Susan…"Doesn't feel like it…"

Susan gave me a patient smile. Ugh, I know she's trying to help but really i would rather accuse her of getting off on causing me this pain. "I know it seems that way Marie. But look at how much progress you've made! A month ago you couldn't even stand and now you're climbing stairs riding bikes and balancing on balls!"

I stared at her in response as my shaking legs grew less steady and threatened to give out on me. "I need to sit."

Susan assured me she had me, which meant using a beige cloth belt around my waist in case I began to tip and she walked with me back to a chair. 15 minutes later she reviewed my home exercises to practice and I was on my way home. The one sunlight in these dreary days: my children. As I drove home my thoughts turned to Zet, I needed to know how she was doing. When I get home, I'm turning on the Zet channel to see what she's doing.

***

Nrago

I stood over the body with my hands trembling something fierce. I'd killed her. I looked at the white demon thing on the ground before me. She'd run at me with twin knives, I….I hadn't killed anyone before! I knew I would have to but, this. This is so… I started to vomit but managed to turn so I didn't desecrate the corpse.

Wiping the sputum off my face, I reflected on my time in the game while I caught my breath. Any distraction was a good one, right? I mean there isn't much to reflect on I guess. I uh, well I've never played a MMO before. This just seemed like a neat way to experience medieval times. Until the experience got too real anyways. Obviously. I hid. I hid like a coward, cried myself to sleep most nights. All. All nights, I guess there's no reason to lie…

I heard about the holy army nuts, how they were rounding people up and impaling them on stakes. But, what could I do? I don't want to die! So I hid. Until I was found and I told them everything they wanted to hear. All the rhetoric they espoused, ya know? Then they wanted me to kill one of those...I mean someone they had captured. I stood there, knife in hand as a young man cried in front of me, hands bound behind his back. His mouth was gagged and he couldn't cry out or speak. I was so sweaty and scared, my hands shook and my heart was up in my throat. I placed the blade to his throat as his whimpering grew louder, tears filling my eyes. I couldn't! I couldn't do it!

I had backed away and felt strong hands grab my arms. A shouted threat to kill the fr….person, in front of me or to join him on a stake drove me to action. There were four guards and I'm no fighter. I didn't have a choice. But I'm no murderer either. I slashed the rope binding the man's hands and shoved a guard to the ground as I ran. I guess they found their escaping prey more important because no one followed me. I hid in the sewers after that. always moving and hiding when I heard a noise. I don't know how long that went on for but eventually the server announcement happened.

The letter found me in the sewers, there was a holiday event for Christmas. I was worried but it stated right off the prize was "what you most desire". All I desire is to go home and well. that's worth most risks. Isn't it? The event was a battle royale, at that point I nearly tossed the letter but right after it specified that all levels, stats and equipment would be modified to pre-set levels so everyone would be on equal grounds. The scroll-bearers get to keep their talents but how bad could that be?

Well here I am. 3 rounds in, winning the first two because everyone else killed each other while I hid again, the last two would be champions bled out before getting to me. This third round I thought I was dead for sure. This demon woman charged me with her daggers, in a reflex of fear I blasted a spell at the last minute. A Holy Spell that burned a hole in her face. She lay there now, not breathing, leg occasionally twitching, her raven black hair covering the killing wound I had dealt, all while I vomited.

I rose with my whole body shaking and a bell began to toll. Fuck, the next round is starting! I made my way to the door, this whole arena was some kind of maze with the 'champion' of each match continuing to the next room where others would be entering. I don't know how many matches were in progress but for a holiday event it must be pretty massive.

I wiped my sweating palms on my pants, I preferred a tunic and trousers over the traditional priest robe. Taking a few deep breaths and failing to calm my pounding heart, I waited with a death grip on my staff.

The door opened into a room of all white. White walls, white floor. white roof. It freaked me the fuck out, just a shiny white everything. I felt like I was walking into some Dexter crap. Others walked through doors from around the room. A woman with a bow, some guy with a giant axe, another dude with a staff and a karate kid reject. We all stepped onto the small circles before our doors, the starting point to mark ready. I started to panic as I looked around the room, no trees, no bushes, no low walls. Nowhere to hide! I'm fucked! The sound of clopping like a horse's hooves on cement drew my attention away from my panic. A tall demon strutted into the room like she owned it, as though no one else was here.

Her white hair was matted to her face with blood, one horn on her head had blood and the other, I swallowed my vomit, had chunks stuck to it. The second horn was shattered but if it was recent or not I couldn't tell. Her left eye was swollen shut and she had cuts oozing blood all across her body. Her stomach in particular had strips of cloth binding a wound closed, the blood was soaking through showing an enormous gash. She stood there in a bra with a demons skull strapped to her right shoulder like a pauldron. Her only other garments were a white cloak hanging down her back and a black mini skirt that stopped mid thigh, but that's not what drew my eye. I mean don't get me wrong, I'd be attracted as hell to her if I wasn't struggling to not piss myself at the sight of her. What drew my eye were the blades over sticking like metallic wings behind her, crude and thick, they promised a gruesome death to any found in their path.

"New plan noobs!" The dudebro with the enormous axe shouted in a resonant baritone. "Let's have a truce until that bitch is dead!"

The woman with the bow huffed, "and why her? You two know each other or something?"

The blood covered miniskirt demon seemed oblivious to the planning, she was busy muttering to her pauldron. I felt bad, maybe she's crazy and hasn't had her meds since this all started?

"Because that thing is a Scrollbearer," my head whipped back over to the miniskirt demon with new found fear. "They call it 'The Butcher of the Northern Plains'. I was hoping to find it here."

The karate kid wanna-be rolled his eyes, "You can just say she. What's all this 'it' stuff about?"

The dude bro's face contorted with anger, "IT is one of those freaks we're trying to save all of you from! Not that it matters, once it's dead the truce is off. But the only way any of us live is if that thing dies first. I watched it kill thousands of us, innocents on the Northern Plains. We were there to quell a rebellion and it attacked our flank, killing even those who attempted surrender…"

"Whatever. I heard you guys were attacking an independent village and killing civilians."

"That bitch killed my brother! I'm not going to stand here and let you dis his memory!"

"Let's jus- uh, let's just team up. K?" I hate speaking up in the middle of a fight but...we were running low on time. The bell would ring any moment to begin the fight. "If it, she is a Scrollbearer then, then we don't have much choice. Right?"

The bell rolled loudly just then, the others nodded quickly and turned their attention to the Butcher of the Northern Plains. Her eyes were fixed unwaveringly on dude bro but she stood still as a statue's as everyone pulled out their weapons.

"Wimpy kid. What are you, a priest? Lock?" Great, dude bro was yelling at me now.

S

"A um. A priest…"

"Great. That thing is weak to holy damage, hit it with your strongest spell while we keep it busy." He turned back to the Butcher, completely dismissing any response I may have made.

Silence assaulted my ears, the creak of leather, ting of metal against floor and of heavy breathing as everyone waited for someone else to move first. I thought about what I could use. Pillar of Light? Too AOE. Holy Arrow? Too risky. The walls are too damned bright! It's making it hard to think...it clicked, the walls aren't just a harsh white, their fucking lights! And I can use that.

I started casting my spell, light seeped from the room around me, pooling into a ball above my head. I looked to my target as the spell built in strength and felt my mouth run dry. I had her full attention but rather than attacking me she settled back onto her right foot and arched an eyebrow at me with her head cocked. I focused on my spell, my only hope of living. If I killed her with this spell then the room would be plunged into darkness, I can channel light giving me a strong advantage over these others.

The ceiling, walls and floor all lost their color and went dark. Shadow claimed the room as the only source of light hovered above my head, a beach ball of pure energy. I could feel everyone's eyes on me, the expectation that I could kill the woman standing there, patiently waiting. I'm sorry lady but it's you or me. I dropped the ball of light and as it fell before me I bopped it like the beach ball it resembled and it shot into the air. When it reached a point above the Butcher it stopped and disappeared. I looked away knowing what would happen next.

A pillar of light tore through the space where the ball had been. White, yellow and pink hues would be making up that light as the pillar expanded in size to destroy any within reach. I turned my back on the continuing distraction and looked to the others, they were holding their eyes and seemed to be screaming in pain, though all sound was lost to the roar of my inferno. I took advantage of the distraction to run to the back corner, when the room was dark and they were blind I would be nowhere near where they last saw me. I made it just as the light faded and the room was plunged into darkness. I crouched in place to wait for them to kill eachother off.

The sound of my breathing filled my ears, I placed a hand over my nose and mouth to silence myself. I heard footsteps in the distance as the others began to stumble around. A whistling noise followed by a clang sounded to my right, I guess the ranger was trying her luck in the dark. It paid off a moment later when a wet thunk was heard followed by gargling and something heavy hitting the floor.

Then I heard it. A single clop. I prayed it was imagination, I closed my eyes and prayed I was hearing things. Clop-clop. It sounded again and when I looked up I saw a single, glowing blue light staring towards me. I could see nothing else. And then it was gone. I heard a sharp crack and when I looked to the sound, it was there again, the eye. It disappeared once more and I heard a body hit the floor. A cry of surprise was next and a gout of flame sprayed across the room. In its light I saw her, she stood behind the other robed guy, a mage it would seem some distant part of my mind identified. He spun, still spewing flame, trying to find her. Her hands turned into foot long icicles and as he turned to face her she impaled him through the stomach with one icicle hand. As she removed it, her other hand pierced his upper back as she stepped behind him. With one final motion she shoved her right hand through his head, the ice sticking through the back glistened with his life's blood.

His flames had consumed one of the others and lit several bodies on fire which provided a meager light to see by. Dudebro the axe wielder was sneaking up behind her, axe raised to kill her. My heart beat furiously, if he killed her then at this distance I could easily kill him! He hefted the axe and I noticed her tilt her head to the skull on her shoulder. As the axe descended towards her The Butcher twisted so that the metal wing over her shoulder caught the blow. Despite catching it on her sheathed weapon, the axe smashed her into the ground.

The Butcher twisted and delivered a hooves kick to the dudebro's side sending him stumbling sideways along with his axe. She rolled onto her feet and pulled both blades over her head, hefting a 4 foot crescent blade in each hand as she turned to face dudebro.

"You killed my brother! Prepare to die you bitch!" He charged her and swung his axe in diagonal arc, she stepped back just enough to miss being hit. He continued the momentum into an upward swing at her but she spun past him before he could connect. Not to be denied his vengeance it would seem, he spun and brought the axe down at her head. She was facing away from him but raised both blades to her shoulders and crossed them over her head with the one horn she had beneath their crossing point. The axe connected and drove her to her knees.

He swung again when she tried to rise and then again. He appeared to have the upper hand but then on his third strike she seemed to pull the swords down her shoulders a bit? In the light of the flame it was hard to tell. She used the axe to push herself back towards the dudebro and rolled onto her back and she slid between his wide stance. As she passed under him, she swung both blades into his groin and slashed down. His scream filled the room and deafened another sounds I might have heard. I saw The Butcher's mouth moving but could hear no words. She rose to her feet and with a casual swing relieved the dudebro of his head. It was just her and I now. Her gaze turned to meet mine and I felt warmth spread through my trousers as I pissed myself. Great, now I die hiding in a corner and with dirty underpants. My parents would be so proud.

She stared at me a long moment before blurring. Suddenly she stood before me and looked down at me with her sword raised.

"Please! I don't want to die…" My voice was thick with fear and tears, which bow flower freely.

She stared at me a long while, so long I started to think she hadn't understood me. When she spoke I jumped, her voice came out in an unnerving two tone. A Male and female speaking as one with the skull moving its jaw in sync with her words, "Pity you didn't consider I might feel the same before trying to kill me."

Oh God! I'm about to die. If I hadn't already peed myself I definitely would have now. I casually reached behind me and found a knife I kept tucked into the back of my belt. Well, I'm not dying here! I'm going home damnit! She met my gaze without blinking, her face softened a bit and she lowered her blade. Now! I swung the blade towards her abdomen and suddenly felt a pressure against my throat followed by a blossom of pain. What happened? The room spun around me and I struck the floor hard. I tumbled and caught a glimpse of her standing over a headless, robed body that was slumped against a corner. She'd already killed someone else? Huh. I guess….the darkness began to close in around me. I guess I'll never figure out what happened….