Chapter 17: Hunter & Huntress (2)

Approx. 6min reading time

*FLASHBACK*

Brandon had cooked some food for them after school and they decided to watch a movie. It was a romantic comedy, and they had made it to one of the sex scenes. Needless to say, they were restless.

At least she was.

"You want to try something like that?"

"W-what!?" she had been completely caught off guard.

"I mean we can, as long as you don't mind the demons..." he said, with the most serious face she'd ever seen him make.

"Wha-!" Then right on queue, he ripped one.

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"BEGONE DEMONS!"

*FLASHBACK END*

Rose spat out some of her OJ as she choked in laughter. It still cracked her up whenever she thought about. From that day on, her parents hated when she went to the bathroom.

'DIVINES! GIVE ME STRENGTH!'

The food? $10.59. The movie? $1.50. Waging a holy war every time you take a shit? Priceless.

Rose sighed again after she finally caught her breath. Brandon had always been a fool, and she still loved him from the bottom of her heart. How many times was she going to dig up old memories? How fair was it to Joseph that her heart wasn't in the relationship?

"You know what? To hell with it..."

She was going to the hospital. Today. She was going to use the money Brandon gave her to buy a fancy wheelchair and haul his ass out. If she needed back up, she'd call his mother. She and Mrs. Welding had been cool from day one.

But first, she would have to break the news to Joseph. Things had been going smoothly for the past few months, but after all that time, her thoughts still went to Brandon.

A few hours later, Joseph came back with an excited look on his face, and bags in his hand.

"Hey, I picked up something that I think you'll like!"

"Wait a minute, Joseph. We need to talk. You're not going to like it, so I hope you kept the receipt for whatever is in that bag."

"Oh....you're breaking up with me right?"

He had guessed it. She didn't want to hurt his feelings, but such things were inevitable in these situations. She nodded.

"Well, I figured it would be sooner rather than later. You looked like you were trying a little too hard sometimes..."

"Was it that obvious?"

"I wouldn't say it was obvious, but," he made a difficult face," sometimes when you look at me, you're not actually looking at me. You know?"

Rose winced. He was right on target. She had truly tried. Not to forget, but to move on. Joseph had been a lot more patient than she gave him credit for.

"But enough about that. Just consider this a parting gift cause I'm really sure you'll want this."

Joseph pulled out two Sonsoft Deep Dives from the bags. Rose had certainly heard about the device coming out along with the 'hardcore' Chaos Online. There were open positions in her department specifically made for researching the game. Unfortunately, because of the high pain ratio, few actually applied.

"Now I understand if you want to take this home and play, but I'd really like us to play together for now and register as friends. I'm not to big on games myself so...'

She couldn't deny him such a simple request. Now that she didn't have school, she had a fair amount of free time. It wouldn't hurt to play a few hours here and there.

"Alright, just give me a few minutes. I want to do some research before I play."

"Sure."

Rose pulled out her laptop and started scouring the internet for useful information for beginners. Then she looked up additional info for classes she was interested in.

By the time she finished, she knew how she wanted to build her character, what city she wanted to start in, and what race she wanted to be.

"Okay, I'm ready."

They both put on the jet black helmets. preparing to dive.

"Make sure to pick Hammerrun in the Sigurd Kingdom as your starting place."

"Okay."

[Scanning]

[A new user has been registered. ]

[Would you like to launch Chaos Online? ]

"Yes"

[Welcome to Chaos Online ]

There was a bright flash of light, and Rose was immediately taken to the character creation room.

[You will now create your avatar to represent you in-game. ]

[What race- ]

"Nor"

[Name?]

"Rosemary"

An image of her avatar appeared. The Nor were a race of warriors that lived in the southern continents. The barely looked any different from humans, save the fact that they all had marks on their faces. The marks symbolized which tribe they belonged to, and as a Traveler, Rose was able to create her own mark.

She changed her hair color to match it in real life, and created a bright red semi-circle around her left eye. Then she look over her avatar once more.

She had gotten quite toned over the past few months of hitting the gym. She could see the growth from her boxing sessions as well, and she looked rather intimidating with the mark over her eye.

"Grrr." she laughed as she flexed. The avatar matched her motions.

[Would you like to make anymore changes? ]

"I'm done"

[Choose your starting destination.]

"Hammerrun, Sigurd Kingdom."

The room flashed white as Rose was transported to the capital city of the Sigurd Kingdom. She received a message as soon as she arrived.

[You have been blessed by the Tegaia; Goddess of Love, War, and Humility. Her most devout follower, Thadius, has asked the Goddess to bless any and all those who resemble his lover, whom he cast away out of love. As his actions were done purely for her happiness, the Goddess agreed to his request.

His lover was described as having fair skin with wavy hair that darkened from blood red to black, as dark as a starless night.

All EXP. +10% EXP ]

Rosemary read and reread the message. She grit her teeth as a tear rolled down her face. The description was too familiar to simply be a coincidence. She could clearly picture Brandon on his knees, praying to the Goddess of Love for forgiveness in earnest. And from what she just read, he was probably praying everyday.

"Most devout follower huh? We'll see."

A man walked up to her. He resembled Joseph, except he was a little taller with a few tweaks to his face.

"Hey." he greeted her as he walked up smiling.

"Hey. What's your name? Lets add each other now while we have the chance."

"Oh, its Crushing Fist."

"Alright, come on. I need to go to the temple first. After that we'll get started."

The city of Hammerrun was like a giant stone garrison. Everywhere you looked was grey. Even the overcast weather matched the wall that surrounded the city, blending into the horizon

Various shops lined the perimeter with Travelers and NPCs selling their wares. The further into the city you went, the bigger the buildings became.

Rose asked the nearest NPC for directions to the temple. Within minutes, they had arrived in front of a building with a giant statue out front. From what she read online, the temple of Hammerrun mainly worship Braumas, the God of Order and Strength. The statue in front must be him.

Rose led the way as they walked into the building, asking a wandering priestess where the statue of Tegaia was.

"Who?" The priestess looked seriously confused, then her face lit up. "Oh! This way!"

The priestess led them further into the building, leading them down multiple corridors until they were brought to a shabby looking door.

The statue of Tegaia had been hidden away in one of the back rooms of the temple. The statue was almost as large as the statue of Braumas outside. There was no way that they could have fit it in through the small door.

"Why is it back here?" Rose asked the priestess. She had read that the statues were enchanted, directly reflecting the power of the God. That fact that the statue of such a powerful Goddess was lock away was strange, to say the least.

The priestess just shrugged her shoulders. She said she had found it while cleaning, and was told to just leave it alone.

'I smell a quest'

Rose knew there had to be some lore that explained why this Goddess was neglected, and that Brandon was knee deep in it.

"My turn..." she said as she dropped to her knees. She summoned all the feelings that she had ever felt for her ex.

---

Tegaia was having a very pleasant day. She was sweeping the Tower of the Gods as usual, humming a tune to herself. She had received Thadius' prayer hours before, and felt dangerously close to the power she needed to proceed with her plans.

She knew Thadius' prayed in the morning. So when a fresh wave of power washed over her, she was truly surprised. Using her power, she immediately located the subject.

It was the young woman with red and black hair that Thadius had shown her.

*Goddess, I come to you now asking for your assistance and your mercy. My name is Rosemary, and I believe we know someone in common.*

An incomprehensible rage gripped Tegaia, but the words that followed it made her laugh.

*I ask for your assistance in finding this man, that I may show him the error of his ways. Then I ask that you be merciful with my punishment when I punch him in the face!*

The woman took a deep breath to quell her anger. Tegaia could feel her passion, and was reminded of the first time Thadius had prayed to her.

*As the Goddess of Love and War, I trust that you can understand my frustration in falling for a fool with a heart for brains. Now and forever, your humble servant. I thank you in advance. Oh, and please keep my existence a secret from him because he'll run.*

If anyone had walked into the lower floors of the tower, they would have found a Goddess laughing hysterically.

---

[Your earnest prayer has earned you the faith stat and the 'Priestess Initiate' pre-class. Would you like to train to become a priestess?]

"Yes"

[You gained the pre-class: 'Priestess Initiate'

+100 Faith

+Holy skills gain 10% additional experience]

Rose looked up to the statue of the Goddess with a satisfied expression. But now she had to make other plans.

"Alright Crush, I need to log out for a second. I'll be right back."

"Sure."

"Logout."

---