“I am bored”, whined Kyrie.

This was the seventh time today that she had declared she was bored.

Marcus looked up from the book he was reading and turned towards Kyrie. He whispered, “You could read a book, you know. We are in a fucking library after all.”

Marcus gestured around. They were indeed sitting in a library. It was the library in Florianne. According to Marcus, it had luckily escaped harm when the demons had attacked the city.

Kyrie said, “I don’t want to read a book. I want to fight another adventurer.”

Marcus hissed, “Keep your voice down. May I remind you that we are in a library? I think I just mentioned that.”

Kyrie pouted but she did not speak anything else. Marcus could understand her frustration, but could not do anything about it. He knew that she would need to have patience. They were, after all, waiting for the champions of Una.

Tamara and Tanniv, the champions of Una, were highly interesting personnel according to Marcus. Tamara had achieved maximum level as she had been adventuring for quite some time now and refused to retire. Tanniv was also at quite a high level. Marcus would refer to his notes later but he remembered Tanniv to be in the mid hundred and forties. Level wise.

The champions had invited Kyrie and Marcus to Florianne to go on an expedition. It was the next step of their major quest. The details of the expedition were not given. However, the champions had told Kyrie that when Marcus woke up, they should go and wait for the champions in Florianne. The champions had some other demon business to take care of before setting off on the expedition. Tamara had promised it would not take them more than two weeks.

Marcus had woken up from his coma-like state the next day after the update in the major quest. He had heard from Kyrie as to what happened after he passed out in front of Marbas, the demon lord.

Kyrie had asked Marcus if he remembered what Marbas had told him. It seemed that Kyrie had forgotten and could not recall the words of the demon lord, no matter how hard she tried. Marcus had refused to tell her. He gave the reason that the information Marbas had given was not complete. It was sort of a half truth and Marcus did not want to burden Kyrie with the information which she clearly was not meant to know.

Kyrie had not been happy but had understood. It was Marcus’ burden to bear for now. She had offered help if Marcus required it in the future regarding this matter and they had closed their discussion on the same.

Then, without anything else to do in Opulential, they had portaled to Florianne. That was one month ago. There had been no signs of the champions since they had arrived in Florianne.

The champions had travelled to Artorios, the landmass of the elven kingdom. They had gotten vision from the Game Masters regarding a major demon plot on the landmass and the champions had gone to check it out.

Marcus and Kyrie had been stuck in Florianne. Well, Kyrie felt more stuck than Marcus. Marcus knew that Kyrie was very much interested in adventurer versus adventurer. Obsessed was a rather apt word. And considering that almost half of Florianne had been destroyed in the demon attack, the arena was closed until further notice.

Marcus wondered why people were surprised so much destruction was caused by the demons. Florianne was a city filled with trees, surrounded by a forest from all the sides and even though it had a high wall, trees grew over the wall. There were four paths through the forest that led to the four gates of Florianne. Florianne was not a strategic city where they could defend much against demon attack. A single spark and Marcus imagined there would be fires everywhere. Well, there were more wooden houses in Florianne rather than stone houses.

Marcus had actually been impressed that only about half of Florianne had been destroyed. Considering the demon army came through the forest and not the roads where they could be easily seen, the adventurers did a really good job of defending such an inflammable city.

Marcus closed his eyes and took a deep breath as he heard a groan from Kyrie. Marcus had been to the library, researching on Filinile, the Game Masters, the adventuring system and in between he had also read some fictional novels. He had also done some minor escort quests and helped in rebuilding Florianne quests. Kyrie had joined Marcus in those quests too. However, Marcus was sure that without adventurer versus adventurer, Kyrie was going to die of boredom. Literally. He believed that Kyrie would just pick a fight with a random adventurer if the arena did not open soon. And it was not going to be open soon.

Marcus whispered, “Don’t you need to have your monthly dip?”

Kyrie whispered back, “I shall go tonight. But right now, I want to kick some adventurer’s arse.”

Marcus was surprised a bit. Kyrie rarely swore. And she just swore. That, according to Marcus, did not feel right.

Marcus stood up and asked Kyrie to follow him. They exited the library.

Marcus said, “Get your mount out. Let me take you somewhere.”

As they exited the library and summoned their mounts, Kyrie said, “Where are we going?”

Marcus said, “Let me show you the world. Shining. Shimmering. Splendid. Tell me princess, now when did you let your heart decide?”

Kyrie frowned, “I am not a princess. And why are you singing?”

Marcus hesitated a moment. Where had that come from?

Marcus said, “I don’t know. It is a song. It just came to me.”

Kyrie said, “Come on then. Sing the rest of it. It sounds interesting.”

Marcus frowned now. He said, “I don’t remember it now somehow.”

Kyrie shook her head and mounted up on Nalana, her mount. Marcus mounted up on Lara, his mount. Then they took off. They soared through the skies protected by a spell which held them on their mounts, protected them from winds and stopped them from knocking themselves off their mounts.

Marcus opened his map and looked at where he wanted to go. Then he turned Lara there and they shot through the air. Kyrie and Nalana followed. They reached a clearing on the top of a hill in about half an hour. The clearing was flat and almost circular in shape. Grass grew and some rocks lay scattered. Other than that, nothing can be found in the clearing.

Marcus landed and dismounted Lara. They had reached level 3 and now had 300 health points. It also felt to Marcus that with each level up, the features of Lara were also changing. It was as if they were getting sharper.

Nalana had also leveled up too. Marcus and Kyrie dismissed their mounts.

Kyrie asked, “What is this place?”

Marcus replied, “This was where the battle of Atop hill took place. Adventurers faced zombies controlled by an evil necromancer and won. It was a hard, long fought battle. The top of the hill was devastated after it and the Game Masters decided not to have another similar scenario here, let the hill have some rest. The battle affected the ground. Somehow only grass grows on this hilltop.”

“Fascinating”, said Kyrie, “How long was the battle though?”

Marcus said, “I believe about more than a thousand years ago. The exact date is not mentioned but it was the first set of adventurers on Una who fought the battle. Rauros and Leyda were quite new, and they had just set their first major quest.”

“You do read a lot, don’t you?”

Marcus laughed, “And you are realizing that now only.”

Kyrie shook her head and said, “So, what are we doing here?”

Marcus said, “We are going to fight.”

Kyrie raised her eyebrows. She said, “And who are we going to fight?”

“Each other. This is a good duelling area. We fight till death. I know we will resurrect at the resurrection stone in Florianne but at least you shall have one adventurer versus adventurer fight.”

“And what makes you worthy to fight me”, said Kyrie.

Marcus could see the hint of a smile on her face as if she was teasing him. Marcus decided to play along. He said, “I hoped that we could trade pointers oh great master.”

Kyrie snorted. She could not hold back and started to laugh.

Kyrie said, “Okay then. Shall we begin?”

Marcus and Kyrie took positions. Marcus took his position near the center of the hill, behind a rock which was jutting out of the ground while Kyrie took her position at one of the ends.

They decided that they shall restrict themselves to the hilltop and not let their battle spill over on the hill side. Once they were in position, they both raised their hands. Then they put them down together. Their fight had begun.

Marcus charged, trying to close the distance between him and Kyrie while Kyrie shot an arrow at him. Marcus dodged the arrows and made his way forward. When Marcus had reached about two thirds of the distance to Kyrie, Kyrie started to run towards the left. She still continued to shoot arrows. Marcus had to either dodge or parry the arrows with his twinblade. He had not been hit yet.

Marcus managed to reach up to Kyrie and slash. Kyrie dodged under his twinblade, managed to get behind Marcus and slam her leg on Marcus’ right leg. As Marcus stumbled, Kyrie shot an arrow point blank at his head. It dealt him 60 points of damage.

Marcus swore and rolled out of Kyrie’s further attacks. He charged right up to Kyrie and cast [Whirling Weapon]. Kyrie tried to dodge the attack, but she did get hit. Marcus could see her health points. They dropped to 119 because of the attack.

When [Whirling Weapon] stopped, Marcus sidestepped to avoid the arrow he knew Kyrie would be firing. Marcus stepped up to her and slashed his twinblade. Kyrie jumped and landed on the tip of the twinblade. She shot two quick arrows in succession which dealt Marcus 42 and 32 points of damage. His health was now down to 66. He would die at this rate.

Marcus closed the distance again, dodging and parrying the arrows and did something Kyrie was not expecting. He threw his twinblade at her. Kyrie dodged it at the last moment, but it did graze her for 19 points of damage. Marcus tackled her and they both went down. Marcus rolled out of the tackle, picked his twinblade and charged at Kyrie who was just getting up.

Kyrie tried to block but Marcus got a hit in for about 52 points of damage. One more hit and he would win. But Kyrie tripped him and then disappeared from sight. Marcus knew she would have cast [Fade]. That meant she would not be moving but would be at the same place where she cast the spell.

However, he did not know where she was. He had missed her last location when Kyrie had tripped her. Marcus tried slashing in the general direction where he thought Kyrie would be but met thin air.

Then he felt the arrow hitting him hard and there was blackness.

A question popped up in front of him.

Do you want to revive?

Yes No

He selected Yes and Marcus was back at the adventurer’s guild in Florianne. Marcus smiled as he oriented himself. He had lost but it was a fun fight. He understood the charm of adventurer versus adventurer.

Kyrie messaged Marcus. It read, Are you alright?

Marcus typed back, I am fine. Just revived. I will be going back to the library now. See you there?

The reply came, There is a lake nearby. I can sense it and see it on the map. I think I shall go for my monthly dip. Thank you for the fight. I enjoyed it.

Marcus smiled as he exited the guild. Then he started walking towards the library. As he walked, he thought, Maybe I should give this adventurer versus adventurer a try after all.

***

Kyrie was feeling calm now. She had a nice fight with Marcus and won; and now she was sitting on the bank of the lake which she had found near the hill. She had already swam once around the lake and now she was sitting on one of the banks which was at some height from the water. It was not too high as her feet still dipped in the water.

The ground on which she was sitting was rocky but had water on it. As a result, Kyrie was not uncomfortable. She was kicking water with her legs slowly and humming a tune which her mother had taught her. She smiled as she remembered the days spent with her mother, learning the tune. It was one of her happier memories.

After she had finished humming, she dived back in the lake and swam deep to the bottom of the lake. Then she swam around the lake till she felt a bit tired. Normally, swimming did not tire her. Swimming did not tire any water nymph. It was akin to walking, actually requiring less energy than walking. But swimming for hours and especially after a good fight, Kyrie was bound to get tired.

Kyrie got out of the water and settled in a nearby puddle. The puddle was not that deep or long and it was comfortable. Kyrie did not turn into her water form in the puddle. She would be sleeping in the lake later that night but right now she wanted to sit and think.

Kyrie thought about what to do next. Marcus was content sitting in the library and reading his books till the champions arrived, but Kyrie was not. She had an idea. She needed to convince Marcus to go to a nearby town where she could participate in adventurer versus adventurer. The fight today was good. But it was a small fix. Kyrie was not that patient that she could go without adventurer versus adventurer for long when she knew that she could easily fight in an active arena which would be in the nearby town.

Kyrie decided that she would really talk with Marcus tomorrow. They should go to a town. They would wait for the champions there. After all, the champions would communicate with them once they arrived in Florianne. It did not make sense to wait longer for them.

Kyrie was sure Marcus would see reason. As she thought about ways to convince Marcus, he heard a splash. Kyrie was startled. The next moment, she had stood up, equipped her tank top, shorts and circlet and brought out her bow, arrow drawn.

Kyrie saw someone swim in the lake and approach her. The person swimming came up to the shore where Kyrie was and came out of the water. It was another water nymph.

Kyrie smiled. She unequipped everything and gave the water nymph their traditional gesture. She gave a short bow while twirling her hand making the sign of tide and ebb. The water nymph returned the gesture.

The water nymph introduced himself, “Hail kin. I am Kieran Hardwater, the nymph local to this lake and the stream which is due West of here.”

Kyrie introduced herself, “I am Kyrie Shiningstar. An adventurer. I came here to spend time in the water. It is a lovely lake. Are you alone? Are there no other water nymphs?”

Kieran shook his head sadly and said, “There were once many. However, the demon army took its toll on us. I am the last survivor of our group. I have been living alone, swimming in the stream and the lake. However, it is getting lonely.”

“Demon army?” inquired Kyrie.

“You must have heard of the demon army that attacked Florianne”, said Kieran and Kyrie nodded. Kieran continued, “A part of the army passed through this lake. We were all resting when we were attacked. I somehow managed to escape, but the others, the others…”

Kieran could not continue. Kyrie understood what had happened. An entire group of water nymphs. Killed. By the demons.

Kyrie said, “Did you not have a high priest or priestess?”

Kieran said, “No one in our group was that trained. And we were not large in number. There were only ten of us. We had thought of travelling to a larger group in the future but for now we were content.”

“I am sorry”, said Kyrie and Kieran simply nodded.

There was silence for some time. Then Kieran spoke, “It is good to see another water nymph. An adventurer too in fact. I wonder how that happened. I believed that we were not strong enough to fight. Was that wrong?”

Kyrie shook her head. She said, “Water nymphs can fight. You are on Una. A place of magic and adventures. You do not need a bow or a sword to fight. You can fight with magic too. You should have known when you came to this planet. Let me tell you about this world again from the perspective of a water nymph adventurer.”

And Kyrie told her about her journey from Solaris to this lake. She did leave some parts out, parts that were personal to her and focused more on quests, adventurer versus adventurer and travelling through Una.

Kieran was a good and patient listener. Kyrie enjoyed talking things with him. Kieran reacted aptly at various instances, and they talked late into the night enjoying each other’s company. They slept in the lake when they were tired from talking.

The next morning Kyrie woke up refreshed. She wished she had the [Well Rested] bonus that Marcus had. It was so unfair according to her.

Kieran also came out of the lake in the morning. They greeted each other and had some breakfast. It was a few fruits and herbs which Kieran had gathered. The breakfast was delicious. The more time she spent with Kieran, the more Kyrie felt enjoying herself.

There was a certain charm around Kieran which somehow Kyrie found attractive. Kieran stood at about a foot taller than her and had a well-toned and muscular body. His swimming prowess was also good which Kyrie had observed last night and this morning. He was definitely pleasing to the eye but there was a hint of sadness lingering around him.

After breakfast Kieran said, “What will you do now?”

Kyrie said, “I need to go to my teammate in Florianne. I need to convince him to go to another town. I am getting bored in Florianne. I need a fight. An adventurer versus adventurer fight.”

Kieran nodded, “Yes. Adventurer versus adventurer. You explained that to me.”

Kyrie said, “What are you going to do, Kieran?”

Kieran said, “I think I shall go look for a group. Maybe the one in Umanahash in Sosquatch forest. I think I would like it there.”

Kyrie smiled at that. She said, “That would be good for you.”

Kieran nodded. There was silence between them for some time. No one moved or said anything. They spent some time in silence. It was somehow comforting to Kyrie.

Kieran said, “Will you be leaving now?”

Kyrie asked, “Should I stay?”

“I would like that. I do enjoy your company. It has brought me healing. I had actually thought of becoming one with the water when I met you. I want to court you, but I have a feeling that you would be more focused on being an adventurer as of now”, said Kieran in a rush.

Kyrie laughed out loud. She said, “I like you too, Kieran. But yes, you are right. You cannot court me as I am an adventurer now. I have just started my journey and have no plans of retiring as of now. Maybe, after my life as an adventurer is over, maybe you are not courting anyone by then, maybe we can see.” Kyrie did not know how to continue.

Kieran nodded, “I understand.” He got up and continued, “I will make my way to the stream then. It leads to a river which leads to the ocean. It will be a long journey, but I think I can make it to Sosquatch forest. I will take help from other nymphs on my journey.”

Kyrie said, “Or you could come with me, and I could help you teleport to Opulential. From there, you can make your way faster.”

“You would do that? For me?” said Kieran.

Kyrie blushed and said, “It’s not a big thing. Adventurers teleport all the time. And I have heard that non-adventurers teleport too if they have the units.”

“I have no units.”

Kyrie waved his concern away, “I have you covered.”

Kyrie then summoned her mount. She asked Nalana whether they would be able to carry two nymphs. Nalana gave an asserting grunt. Kieran admired Nalana all the while they were flying to Florianne. Kyrie could see that Nalana was pleased with Kieran’s attention. It seemed that even her mount liked Kieran.

Kyrie paid for Kieran’s teleportation to Opulential and further instructed him regarding what to do once he reached there. She also gave him some units in case he got into trouble. Kieran thanked her and hugged her. Kyrie was feeling a bit giddy by the end of the hug. They said their goodbyes and Kieran stepped through the portal.

Once Kieran was gone, Kyrie walked around in a daze. She felt happy somehow. Time spent with Kieran had helped her. But now she had to focus. She found Marcus at the inn where they were staying.

Kyrie said, “Let’s go Marcus. I am tired of waiting for the champions. Let us go to a nearby town where the arena is operational. The champions can contact us when they are here. We cannot keep our adventuring on hold for them.”

Marcus looked at Kyrie closely and said, “Something has changed about you. You look more grounded. What happened after our fight?”

Kyrie said, “Are we going or not?”

Marcus said, “Yes, let’s go to a nearby town. You are right.”

They checked out of the inn and started making their way towards the portal.

Marcus said, “Will you tell me though as to what happened to you after our fight?”

Kyrie laughed and dragged Marcus by his hand, “Come, I will tell you on the way.”

And the two adventurers made their way to the next part of their adventure.