“I may have gone overboard,” Reynald admitted, despite looking remarkably refreshed.
“... He’s alive, right?” Louis squinted at the currently-unmoving body.
As if on cue, Fenris suddenly sat up. He blinked a few times before looking at Reynald.
“One more.” Fenris’s expression was unchanged, but his tail was kicking up a small dust cloud.
“... There is something profoundly wrong with you,” Reynald facepalmed, summarizing everyone else’s thoughts. Nobody cared to point out that Reynald’s character had completely slipped—nor did they blame him. Regardless, the ‘mild-mannered’ vice guildmaster decided to get the lesson back on track.
“Setting that aside,” Reynald coughed. “I’m afraid we’ll have to leave it at that. Everyone, please return to practicing while keeping the demonstration in mind (Just forget about it, you aren't going to be doing anything like that for a long time).”
All present (besides Fenris) seemed to understand Reynald’s underlying message this time.
“... While they’re doing that we could--" Fenris began.
“No.”
———
With the course finished, the newly-inducted adventurers filed out of the guild.
“Yo, Fen!” Louis called out, slapping Fenris on the shoulder. “Once we pick out our weapons from the markets, I’m gonna party up with Gen and Lily. You wanna come with?”
“I’m going to meet with my sister soon, so…” Fenris declined.
“Darn, that's a shame. I wanted to see you fight again."
“Oh, right!” Lily said, suddenly remembering something. “Before you go, let's add each other as friends!”
“... Friends?”
“Indeed,” Gen said. “It will be much easier for us to keep in touch that way.”
“I… never had friends before…” Fenris looked bewildered, yet also moved. He liked them, but was it fine to call them friends? Was it really that easy?
…
It was that easy.
Fenris stared at the three new entries displayed on the window in front of him.
“Friends…” He repeated, his tail slowly wagging.
The trio gave Fenris warm smiles as they left towards the south.
Once Fenris was satisfied with looking (people were starting to give him weird looks for just standing there), he found himself a seat along the central fountain. Supposedly, Amiya was going to meet him there once she finished hunting with her party.
When Ferris asked about what she looked like, Amiya gave him an impish smile and said that “he’d know when he saw her”, which he found mildly concerning in retrospect, but figured that she meant that she’d kept her real life appearance.
That said, Fenris couldn't see anyone that looked like her, nor anyone that particularly stood out—besides the buckethead machos, who were currently baptizing another group of newcomers.
“Big bro, I found you~!”
Despite the innocence of those words, an indescribable chill filled the plaza.
As Fenris turned towards Amiya, who had come from the eastern district instead of the south, where he’d been looking, Fenris immediately understood why Amiya’s presence had filled the surroundings with dread.
Amiya looked like a chimera that had gotten within the city walls: brutal, forward-pointing horns jutted from the sides of her head like a terrible crown, with bestial ears underneath them; crimson scales ran from her cheeks down to the back of her arms and her lower body, glimmering like freshly-scattered blood; and her lower arms and feet were covered in some kind of heavy, jagged metal, like armor—or perhaps shackles.
Amiya’s entire being had a somewhat corroded aspect to it, seeming to fleck away and ooze an unnatural, iridescent substance from the gaps that appeared, which sublimated into the dark haze surrounding her. The space felt distorted by her mere being; an uncanny emptiness threatened to consume all that beheld her, like a ravenous beast.
While Amiya alone was enough to unsettle onlookers, there were two more aberrations following her—equally striking, albeit in different ways.
The companion to her left could only be described as a “black knight”; unlike the silver-white metal of most Mechkin, the knight’s body was fully consumed by the iridescent effluent and attained an ink-like luster. Their imposing figure easily stood two or three heads above the average player.
On the other hand, the one to Amiya’s right was only slightly taller than average—but, instead of the angular, defined form of the knight, they were only a vaguely humanoid mass, with luminescent, lantern-like white eyes.
Whispers seemed to follow the shade—but compared to the nightmare-inducing screeches Fenris heard during character creation, they sounded more like the hushed chatter one might hear in a busy place where people are expected to be silent, but the rule isn't very strictly enforced. Fenris couldn't tell if there were actually any supernatural whispers or if it was just the surrounding players gossiping about them.
Regardless, Amiya ran ahead of her two companions, pouncing to hug Fenris.
“Sorry, our hunt took longer than expected! Did you wait long?”
“No... I just finished the guild’s course.” Fenris explained as he blocked Amiya’s horns from goring him. “So... what are you, anyways?”
“An argent-behemoth-dragon hybrid, with a lil’ extra!”
“... I see.” Fenris didn't understand half of what Amiya just said. “And the… smoky stuff?”
“Yeah, that's the ‘extra’ part. They haven't called it anything in-game yet, so I dunno what it's called.”
Having finally caught up, the shade cut in.
“Most players have taken to calling us Aberrants,” the shade explained, introducing themself as Belphegor with a ‘how-do-you-do’ and literally glowing smile.
“We should come up with a better name,” the knight called Murmur—a woman, based on her husky voice—complained. “It doesn't convey the cuteness of the race at all.”
Amiya agreed.
“Right? That decayed feeling is just sooo good!”
The two excitedly began discussing what the cutest parts of the Aberrant were and coming up with better names for them.
“... Do you… also think it's cute?” Fenris asked Belphegor.
“No, I’m just a horror fan.” Belphegor shrugged. “At first, I thought my wife was too, but…”
“Nn… It's good that they're enjoying themselves.”
“That it is, er… Pardon, what was your name?”
“Fenris.”
“By the way, why'd you go with that spelling?” Amiya asked, apparently done chatting with Murmur.
“Fenrir was already taken…” Fenris was also closer to his actual name, so he was actually more comfortable with it. “... Why did you name yourself Calamity?”
Amiya—or rather Calamity—innocently tilted her head.
“It's cute, isn't it?”
“I see.”
———
(EXTRA:)
“I wanted to go with ‘Ravenous Beast’ at first, but somebody already took it.”
“That's the name she wanted...? And she wasn't the only one?!” The eavesdropping players weren't sure what was worse.
———
(EXTRA 2:)
“By the way, how does your body feel? It looks like you're dissolving.”
“It feels like I'm in a jacuzzi,” Calamity replied.
———
(EXTRA 3: After the fight against Reynald...)
“How much HP do you have left, Fen?” Louis asked.
“Uh... 2?"
“Wait, you actually almost died?!”
“I may have gone overboard,” Reynald admitted, despite looking remarkably refreshed.
“... He’s alive, right?” Louis squinted at the currently-unmoving body.
As if on cue, Fenris suddenly sat up. He blinked a few times before looking at Reynald.
“One more.” Fenris’s expression was unchanged, but his tail was kicking up a small dust cloud.
“... There is something profoundly wrong with you,” Reynald facepalmed, summarizing everyone else’s thoughts. Nobody cared to point out that Reynald’s character had completely slipped—nor did they blame him. Regardless, the ‘mild-mannered’ vice guildmaster decided to get the lesson back on track.
“Setting that aside,” Reynald coughed. “I’m afraid we’ll have to leave it at that. Everyone, please return to practicing while keeping the demonstration in mind (Just forget about it, you aren't going to be doing anything like that for a long time).”
All present (besides Fenris) seemed to understand Reynald’s underlying message this time.
“... While they’re doing that we could--" Fenris began.
“No.”
———
With the course finished, the newly-inducted adventurers filed out of the guild.
“Yo, Fen!” Louis called out, slapping Fenris on the shoulder. “Once we pick out our weapons from the markets, I’m gonna party up with Gen and Lily. You wanna come with?”
“I’m going to meet with my sister soon, so…” Fenris declined.
“Darn, that's a shame. I wanted to see you fight again."
“Oh, right!” Lily said, suddenly remembering something. “Before you go, let's add each other as friends!”
“... Friends?”
“Indeed,” Gen said. “It will be much easier for us to keep in touch that way.”
“I… never had friends before…” Fenris looked bewildered, yet also moved. He liked them, but was it fine to call them friends? Was it really that easy?
…
It was that easy.
Fenris stared at the three new entries displayed on the window in front of him.
“Friends…” He repeated, his tail slowly wagging.
The trio gave Fenris warm smiles as they left towards the south.
Once Fenris was satisfied with looking (people were starting to give him weird looks for just standing there), he found himself a seat along the central fountain. Supposedly, Amiya was going to meet him there once she finished hunting with her party.
When Ferris asked about what she looked like, Amiya gave him an impish smile and said that “he’d know when he saw her”, which he found mildly concerning in retrospect, but figured that she meant that she’d kept her real life appearance.
That said, Fenris couldn't see anyone that looked like her, nor anyone that particularly stood out—besides the buckethead machos, who were currently baptizing another group of newcomers.
“Big bro, I found you~!”
Despite the innocence of those words, an indescribable chill filled the plaza.
As Fenris turned towards Amiya, who had come from the eastern district instead of the south, where he’d been looking, Fenris immediately understood why Amiya’s presence had filled the surroundings with dread.
Amiya looked like a chimera that had gotten within the city walls: brutal, forward-pointing horns jutted from the sides of her head like a terrible crown, with bestial ears underneath them; crimson scales ran from her cheeks down to the back of her arms and her lower body, glimmering like freshly-scattered blood; and her lower arms and feet were covered in some kind of heavy, jagged metal, like armor—or perhaps shackles.
Amiya’s entire being had a somewhat corroded aspect to it, seeming to fleck away and ooze an unnatural, iridescent substance from the gaps that appeared, which sublimated into the dark haze surrounding her. The space felt distorted by her mere being; an uncanny emptiness threatened to consume all that beheld her, like a ravenous beast.
While Amiya alone was enough to unsettle onlookers, there were two more aberrations following her—equally striking, albeit in different ways.
The companion to her left could only be described as a “black knight”; unlike the silver-white metal of most Mechkin, the knight’s body was fully consumed by the iridescent effluent and attained an ink-like luster. Their imposing figure easily stood two or three heads above the average player.
On the other hand, the one to Amiya’s right was only slightly taller than average—but, instead of the angular, defined form of the knight, they were only a vaguely humanoid mass, with luminescent, lantern-like white eyes.
Whispers seemed to follow the shade—but compared to the nightmare-inducing screeches Fenris heard during character creation, they sounded more like the hushed chatter one might hear in a busy place where people are expected to be silent, but the rule isn't very strictly enforced. Fenris couldn't tell if there were actually any supernatural whispers or if it was just the surrounding players gossiping about them.
Regardless, Amiya ran ahead of her two companions, pouncing to hug Fenris.
“Sorry, our hunt took longer than expected! Did you wait long?”
“No... I just finished the guild’s course.” Fenris explained as he blocked Amiya’s horns from goring him. “So... what are you, anyways?”
“An argent-behemoth-dragon hybrid, with a lil’ extra!”
“... I see.” Fenris didn't understand half of what Amiya just said. “And the… smoky stuff?”
“Yeah, that's the ‘extra’ part. They haven't called it anything in-game yet, so I dunno what it's called.”
Having finally caught up, the shade cut in.
“Most players have taken to calling us Aberrants,” the shade explained, introducing themself as Belphegor with a ‘how-do-you-do’ and literally glowing smile.
“We should come up with a better name,” the knight called Murmur—a woman, based on her husky voice—complained. “It doesn't convey the cuteness of the race at all.”
Amiya agreed.
“Right? That decayed feeling is just sooo good!”
The two excitedly began discussing what the cutest parts of the Aberrant were and coming up with better names for them.
“... Do you… also think it's cute?” Fenris asked Belphegor.
“No, I’m just a horror fan.” Belphegor shrugged. “At first, I thought my wife was too, but…”
“Nn… It's good that they're enjoying themselves.”
“That it is, er… Pardon, what was your name?”
“Fenris.”
“By the way, why'd you go with that spelling?” Amiya asked, apparently done chatting with Murmur.
“Fenrir was already taken…” Fenris was also closer to his actual name, so he was actually more comfortable with it. “... Why did you name yourself Calamity?”
Amiya—or rather Calamity—innocently tilted her head.
“It's cute, isn't it?”
“I see.”
———
(EXTRA:)
“I wanted to go with ‘Ravenous Beast’ at first, but somebody already took it.”
“That's the name she wanted...? And she wasn't the only one?!” The eavesdropping players weren't sure what was worse.
———
(EXTRA 2:)
“By the way, how does your body feel? It looks like you're dissolving.”
“It feels like I'm in a jacuzzi,” Calamity replied.
———
(EXTRA 3: After the fight against Reynald...)
“How much HP do you have left, Fen?” Louis asked.
“Uh... 2?"
“Wait, you actually almost died?!”
