Not Your Average Revenge Story

Suddenly, I wasn't someone who just saved a girl laying there in the deep forest. I was being worshipped. Praised.

Vaniti and I sat on the log. She kept her hands on her lap together. Her light armor was already torn and tattered, but not to the extent of my cloak. I crossed both arms over my chest, which timed perfectly with my deep sigh.

She begins speaking either way. "I…I am humbled, and esteemed. Truly, thankful for your mercy. Ryuuzen."

Yeah, that too.

Being recognized when I've done the bare minimum. Speaking to me as if I descended down from the heavens and gave her a vision of something.

I turn my head towards her, "Yeah, well, least I could do. Care to tell me how you got up in that mess?"

And how you also let low level skeletons no diff you?

She clears her throat, and I had to hide my disgust and scowl on my face quickly before she took notice. She would give me those eyes where the fear was visible even when I had no intentions of doing anything to her.

"I-I…was here on a mission. F-for practice I think and…" She trails off.

"M-my squad abandoned me."

Woah. Timeout.

Things just got serious.

I leaned over, not too much, but just to show a little interest. My tail waved around curiously as I rested my chin on my knuckle.

"Seriously?"

She nods. Her head down. Wow, her split hair is really amazing. Blonde and Black. Wonder if—back to the task at hand, Ryuuzen.

"It was a simple practice mission. My squad leader had…told me of some things that I wasn't ready for, and h-he pushed me out there."

Cruel.

Unfortunately.

Some PvP guilds I know used to do that all the time. Send you out there to go solo one of the weakest legacy bosses when all you wanted to do was AFK grind and trade.

Hated that stuff, man.

But weirdly enough, one thing I noticed about Vaniti.

Is that she's too calm about it—even in her voice, she's not on the verge of breaking up. The slight stutters are only there because of my presence, not because of what happened. I would know.

Her tone, too. Way to monotone. Not laid back or relaxed…just…surprisingly complied with all of it.

Sounds like she's accepted betrayal too easily.

I tried to see if her story linked up, but since skeletons don't generate mana, I could only sense her's…and it's fairly low. Not scary enough, or great either. Anyone could miss it if they weren't sensing it hard enough.

So, with something like that. That made losing to a group of skeletons all the more believable.

"So, what's the plan?" I ask, out of nowhere, out of the blue.

Vaniti looked up, and then around. She didn't have the perfect answer, or maybe an answer at all. I'm no genie, and I won't help her get revenge…

…but I won't deny if she brings it up. I'm just not going to be the one to do it. Revenge in PvP happens all the time. I've had people log off for months and appear offline because they knew I was online at the same time they were.

That's fear.

I get my head off of my knuckles and stretch a bit. My tail raises and stretches out as far as it could, and it was long.

"Look, I'll help you finish your training." I offer.

Something those squadron bastards could never do.

Vaniti looks pleased, not with a direct smile. If it's just fighting skeletons, what could go wrong?

…

…

…

An accidental chuckle escapes my lips.

I cover it, but Vaniti notices. She tilts her head, but doesn't say anything. Confusion.

I get off the wooden log, and back up far enough.

"Vaniti, real quick," I say.

"Hit me with your hardest spell."

Her eyes widen. As if I told her to disrespect a great being to that extent. Yes, that crazy.

She stands up, and within a respectable range, holds her hand back like she's about to throw something. Then, she speaks.

"Firebolt!"

It's casted, ignite to life. Held within two of her fingers on her right hand. She then throws it towards me at incredible speeds.

My eyes widen.

Woah.

The flame is snuffed out before it even hits me, though. We exchange glances, and I cross my legs as I begin to float.

"Well, here's my assessment of you, and before I continue, if you're wondering how your fire never hit me, I'm just strong. Ridiciously strong." I say.

Eh, sort of. Just know how to find the loophole in gameplay mechanics. Nice to see that they still exist. SO that also confirms my theory of still being in here.

"1," I raise a single finger.

"You weren't going to hit me in the first place."

She wasn't. Her aim was off. If I let the firebolt even come close to me, it was at best going to graze my shoulders. Having one eye can mess with the depth perception and vision, so that's expected.

And fucking two.

Which gets on my damn nerves.

"Two…" I try to conceal the uprising annoyance in my voice. By the way she looks slightly worried again, I think I failed.

"Who told you to use fire magic?" I asked.

She opened her lips, but I cut her off.

"Don't bother it was a rhetorical question. You're an elf, right? By all means, who ever told you to use it was setting you up for failure."

Which…makes all the more sense as to why she struggled against those skeletons now that I think about it.

"It's like dipping a cookie in water, forcing you to like it when there's milk ready for you. You were going to do no damage, but if somehow you aimed properly, and I was incredibly weak—you still would've done zero damage." I tell her.

Might even do negative damage. That's how bad it is.

Elves have certain affinities, and there's no reason as to why they shouldn't attune to them unless they were ridiculously bored…or just failed to learn the basics.

Which means with Vaniti…

…I might need to start from the basics again.