Unbreakable Fate

Ophellia searched for the painting in question, she didn't know what it looked like, but any portraits were named. She found it, and after a quick examination, found that it was on hinges.
He actually built secret passages. She thought as she pulled it open, revealing a short hallway into a small room.

Artemis rounds a corner to find the village square with food shops all around. A cornucopia of scents infiltrate her nose and puts her sense of smell on overdrive. A slight rumble comes from her stomach and as if being led by the scents, she begins approaching one of the shops outfitted with breads being held in baskets. Both of which range in sizes depending on the buyer. "Well, good day. You're a new face." A woman's voice rings out, breaking her from her hypnosis. She looks up to see a heavyset woman wearing an apron with a splatter of flour on it. And don't you fit the cliche to a "T" Artemis thinks. "Yeah, I just came in not too long ago. I'm making my way to the city and thought that I'd take something for the walk there." Artemis says casually.

As she entered, Ophellia scanned the room for the book, and anything else valuable. A few pieces of jewellery, a golden cup and of course, the book. She stuffed all of it into a small bag and left the hidden room, heading back to the window she'd entered from.

Once safely away from the villa, she removed her mask and hood. She needed somewhere safe to read the book, something nowhere in the capital could provide. After changing into something that looked a little more like travelling clothes, she started walking, staying away from the outer wall of the capital.

"Well, you've come to the right place, traveler." The bread maker says boisterously as she gestures to her wares with a waving hand. "Do you mind me asking where you're from? Not many people 'round here have that hair color." Artemis' gaze wanders over the bread and as soon as the inquiry comes she jumps slightly. "From a far off land" Artemis answers collecting herself. She reaches into one of her satchels and produces some of the coins that she had taken from the old hag's home and drops them on the sill. "A far off land, eh? You look like an adventurer by your attire. You said somethin' about headin' into the city, right? You can find the adventurer's guild there." The bread maker says, dominating their conversation. "I'll check it out." Artemis says, picking up a loaf of bread and biting into it. "I should mention that the route to the city from here is blocked off." The bread maker informs her which makes her furrow her brow in confusion.

As she walked, Ophellia realised that she'd left her bow behind. Oh well. She had plenty more. According to the map, she'd have to pass through a place called Reksha, and then towards the Vahlan border. She sighed, it was a long walk, but she wanted to waste some time.

"And why is that?" Artemis says with a mouthful of the bread. Though what she says comes out a garbled mess, the bread maker answers as if there was nothing obstructing what was said. "There's a group of Ogres that wandered on the road. Guardsmen from here and the city are trying to take care of them."

Artemis nods. In UF, Ogres were mid-level mobs that excelled in using brute strength, much like their Cyclopes counterparts. The only obvious difference between the two is that they were smaller and had two eyes. The real question is how they got so close to the city. Artemis thinks. She takes another bite of her bread before asking. "Are there any weapon shops around here?"

The road was mostly deserted, something that seemed odd. Even at night, traders and travellers would arrive at the city gates, but this road was completely empty. On her right, there was an overturned cart, the contents and owners missing. As she approached, she found that one side had been completely smashed, as if hit by a boulder.

As she stood back up, loud, thundering footsteps sounded behind her.

"You're not seriously thinking about going to fight those things, are ya?" These words were the only ones that were able to leave the bread maker's mouth before she notices Artemis bolting towards the weapon shop. Artemis had seen it as soon as she turned away from the bread maker's sill. She runs into the building and buys a simple, run of the mill longbow. Now broke, she runs to the north gate that is being blocked off by guardsmen. After convincing them that she was with the guild and had just simply left her badge with one of her fellow guildmates who were lagging a bit behind, they begrudgingly let her in. After a ways on the road, she leaps onto a branch and begins using the trees as her transportation. She wants the element of surprise on her prey.

Ophellia turned on the spot, reaching once again into her cloak and pulling out a full-length dual spear. It wasn't the one she'd used while posing as the King's henchman, but it was still a high-level weapon. In front of her was an Ogre, its fist already swinging towards her.

She rolled to the side, the attack going just over her head and stabbed at its leg with her spear.

Artemis counts her blessings that it appears that her agility is still fully intact. She watches the roads for any signs of activity. She sees no Ogres at this point in time, but she does see the damage they had dealt to the guardsmen who had been sent. Blood strewn all over the road and glistening off of the tree's leaves. She picks up her speed and as she does so, in the distance, she can see a large creature throwing a punch. Another guardsman? She nears closer and perches herself on a branch. She brings an arrow from her quiver and brings it to the string. She brings the string back, aims and let's the arrow loose. She brings two more and fires them in succession. They all three fly and hit their mark.

As the arrows strike the beast's side, momentarily distracting it, Ophellia withdrew her spear, a minor wound inflicted on the Ogre. As it turned to identify the archer, she jumped, clinging to its fur and using the bony protrusions along its spine to pull herself up.

Artemis leaps to the next tree up, and then looses three more arrows. If she had her magic bow, she wouldn't have to rely on these primitive arrows, but it feels just like back when she started in UF. Most of her bow related skills are useless and she doesn't really want to get up close with the Ogre. Whom she can see from her position has someone climbing it. From here, it doesn't look like a simple guardsman. That reassures her that maybe they won't get killed.

As soon as she could reach Ophellia started stabbing her spear into the Ogre's head, holding on with one hand. It reached for her, only to have its hand stabbed when it came into range. As it jumped in an attempt to crush her beneath it, Ophellia let go and rolled as she hit the ground, narrowly avoiding that fate.

Artemis leaps to another tree, the another, coming closer to the fighting. She brings four arrows up and looses the four of them one after another. Two hit the arm of the ogre, one hit's the hand and another hits dead center in one of the eyes. She weighed her options, deciding now would not be a good time to use her signature, even at level one, she would be exhausted.

Ophellia paused as she approached the downed Ogre's head. She pulled her spear back, held it for a moment, and thrust forwards thirteen times, the final thrust causing the Ogre to convulse and die. She walked towards the archer, wiping blood off of the spear head.

Artemis hops off of the branch, making sure everything was clear before doing so. She strings her bow to her chest, letting it rest. She looks at the person with the spear, a woman. She looks at her face as she approaches and there is a striking resemblance to Ophelia, however. This woman looks aged beyond Ophelia's years, besides, this woman possesses a different hair color. Even so, she cocks her head at the woman and decides to give her praise for her hard work.

"Good work." she says happily.

"Thanks," Ophellia replied, smiling at the archer, "You didn't do badly yourself."

Ophellia examined the woman with suspision. She didn't recognise her, but her skill with a bow wasn't something that was comman, as far as she knew. "Are you an adventurer?" She asked, attaching her spear to her back.

"I've been many thing, but yeah, adventurer would be apt to call what I am now." She replies ofering a smile and a hand. "Artemis, archer expert at your service."

The name sounded familiar, but Ophellia was sure she didn't know the woman in front of her.
"Svari," She answered, "I'm a traveller, for now." She smiled again and shook hands with the woman, now known as Artemis.

She lets go of Svari's hand and nods. "Well met, Svari. I was told there was a group of ogres out here. It looks like the others might have been sated and ran off, if the corpses and blood were any indication." She looks around once more checking if there were anymore of this ogre's ilk ready to attack them.

"If you're suggesting we hunt them down, I don't do charity work. This one just got in my way." Ophellia replied with a shrug. "Besides, I'm travelling for now."

"I was thinking on doing it more for the fun, instead of charity. I'm not registered here at all." Artemis says with a sly smile. "Hell, I don't even know where here is. I just woke up in a town not too far from here. Not a single memory except for my name." She let's her lie leave her lips confidently.

"So you're on a grand quest to find your past?" Ophellia teased, "Sounds like the beginning of a grand adventure." Ophellia, for the first time in a while, thought back to before she'd come here. She'd played a game set in... Russia, she thought, that started with the protagonist losing his memory; his only lead being the mission to kill someone.

"But I'm not really interested in hunting down monsters into the middle of the night. I've got a long walk ahead of me."

"Aww cmon. You can be the wise native teaching the amnesiac about the world." Artemis begs. Suddenly she points to the sky and makes an audible "ah hah!" As if she had come up with an idea. Which she did and relays to Svari. "I'll stick around with you for a bit. You seem pretty handy with that spear." She says deciding her own plan. "So, where are you headin?"

"There's a city on the Vahlan border," She answered, "It's abandoned, and apparently cursed by the devil himself. Not even animals go near. You sure you want to come?"

Ophellia, personally, didn't mind having Artemis tag along. She didn't have any secret plans, she just wanted to read her new book somewhere she wouldn't be disturbed by humans. Chances are that even if this woman was crazy enough to follow her, she'd be killed by one of the monsters that roamed the city.

Putting her hands together behind her back, Artemis nods. "Sounds like a good place to gain experience on the area." Mostly to check and see what else carried over from UF. I haven't seen any bloody unicorns, but that doesn't mean they don't exist. Griffons are here and so are Ogres, chances are most of the mobs have come over, but it doesn't hurt to check.

Olyx sat by the side of the road in her blob form. She was feeling particularly lazy today and couldn't really be arsed to make herself take her usual shape. So there she was. A blob by the side of the road. She'd even forgot where she was when she'd logged off last, and she couldn't be bothered opening her map. So there she sat. Waiting.

"Oh? So you're not afraid of the devil?" Ophellia asked, raising an eyebrow, "Are you really a world-renowned hero? Or are you some kind of heathen?" Without waiting for an answer, she continued towards Reksha.

"I'm far from being a hero, I think." Artemis replies as she puts a spring in her step following Svari. "As far as heathen goes, who knows?" She says, trying to keep up her lie of amnesia. "What about you? Hero or Heathen?" She asks, shooting the question back.

"Heathen, of course." Ophellia replied, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "I'm off to open a portal to hell and to let the devil roam free in our world," She continued, adopting a slight sing-song voice.

"And then we kill the devil and rule with underworld." Artemis says, going along with Svari's sarcasm. As they walk, she can see what appears to be a blue blob. She picks up her pace slightly to see what this blue blob is. Chances were it was a slime and as she grows nearer, her suspicions are confirmed. "What do we have here?" She says, drawing her bow and aiming the slime down.

"Not a monster for you to kill. Bog off." Olyx spat out the words with the mouth she formed. She did think she must have looked quite odd sat there. A blob in white robes.

The voice sounds familiar to Artemis to which she lowers her bow. She digs deep in her memories for anything that can lead her to the right path. Suddenly, a bolt of lightning runs through her brain and a name rears itself to the forefront of her mind. "Olyx?"

Olyx took the time to reform, seeing as how right now she didn't have eyes to see with. Once she was done, she looked the two newcomers up and down. One of them rang a bell in her memory but she couldn't pinpoint the name.
"Yeah?"

"Oh," Ophellia said as though she had just realised something, "So you're a heathen who-" She cleared her throat in a very fake manner, "-Consorts with monsters?"

"Hush" Artemis says to Svari as she continues to look at Olyx. "It's Artemis, we ran a few dungeons together a long time back." She says, informing the slime girl. If I say anything else, my lie to Svari will be unveiled. It isn't like it wasn't going to expire at some point anyway. "My rear was a bit larger and more like a spider's back then, though."

The slime girl shrugged at her. "Don't recall. Sorry. Have a nice day." She blobs herself back into position and waits.

Artemis blushes in embarrassment and with a dumbfounded look on her face turns around. Was she wrong? Maybe Olyx is a common slime name? Whatever the reason, she sighs, "Sorry, I guess I mistook you for someone I knew." Without another word, she walks passed the slime and continues on to Reksha.

Olyx watches the girl slyly out of a newly formed eye as the girl walks away down the road. A few seconds later, she forms up and shouts. "Oh yeah. I remember you now." Can't mistake that backside

Artemis stops walking and with an annoyed huff turns around and walks right back up to Olyx. "It's good of you to remember me after I walk away." She says as her hands find her hips. She looks to Svari. "I lied about having amnesia it was just something I thought would be a pretty good ice breaker, but I really don't know where I am." She says, nipping the problem she got herself into in the bud.

"I don't really care," Ophellia replied, shrugging, "But that raises the question; how do you not know where you are?" Without waiting for an anwer, Ophellia resumed her journey.

"I was in a castle with my friend, Ophellia. The next thing I knew I was in some storage closet in an inn." Artemis answers, staying with Olyx for the time being. "Sounds like someone used some kind of spell on me." She continues, not wanting to add in the bits about the entire game world shifting into this one somehow. Maybe this was all a dream? This question keeps entering her mind. Maybe Arthur had just used the headset for too long? She had tried to not think about it until now.

"You'd be smart not to repeat that," Ophellia replied, almost whispering to Artemis, "If someone overheard you, they might get the wrong idea. You'd probably be burned at the stake."

"See, this is why I need someone to guide me through all this. I don't know what's taboo here or not." Artemis says flatly. "Why would I burned at the stake for that?" She asks with a slight laugh in her voice. "I just saw her not too long ago. What could she have done in that span of time that would make people be angry at her?" She can actually think of a lot of things, but time wise it doesn't add up.

"Ophellia Tepes," Ophellia started, "The self-titled Vampire Queen; About seventy years ago, she raised an army of the dead and invaded Albion. She killed thousands before a Vampire Slayer managed to kill her."
Good times, Ophellia reflected as she finished the short explaination.

Olyx gestured to Artemis that they should probably catch the other girl up instead of having an increasingly louder conversation. She chimed in herself. "I don't know where I am either."

"Well, apparently we're in some place called Albion instead of the world in UF." Artemis says to Olyx before replying to Svari, "I'm fairly certain I'd remember that." She says somewhat confidently. "Seventy years? That's..." She says trailing off into her own thoughts, her face reflecting that by forming a pensive look. "You said she was killed? Nah, she wouldn't be felled by a mere slayer." A denial coming from her voice as it shakes. How would I miss seventy years? How would I miss all of this? Nothing makes sense.

Ophellia stopped and turned, sighing.
"See, that's the kind of talk that'll get you executed," She said, "People start talking, and suddenly there are rumours of the Vampire's return, and you're suspected of being her ally."
It's actually Artemis. She thought to herself, And that slime is probably a player as well.
"If you wanna learn about a long dead Vampire, feel free, but I'm not getting dragged off by an Inquisitor to be tortured and executed because of someone I just met."

"Yes, all of the people around us are going to start rumors." Artemis says sarcastically then points to a nearby tree. "This one heard everything." Her hand falls down back to her hip. We were just speaking to one another... hours ago. Apparently, I'm some sort of time traveler or I completely missed seventy years and forgot when the merge happened. She thinks to herself, still confused at the whole situation.

"Well, looks like you've got a few things to think about," Ophellia said, "But I really need to be off now, it's a long walk." Turning around again, she resumed her journey.
This is bad, She thought, How many players are there?