[Author’s note (please read this): I bet you all have been looking forward to this, right? *sarcasm* I have a new idea I want to try out with this story, however, I must please ask that you do not borrow this idea. As far as I know, I’m the first one to do it, (please correct me if I’m wrong with a link to the blog in question), but being so, I’d rather not have everyone using my ideas to their heart’s content.

Okay, onto the idea. Stories are so much more interesting with music, in my opinion, and this bonus is totally optional, but I think it just adds another dimension onto my writings. At the beginning of each segment, I shall add a link that goes something like this.

[Scene 1: Stream/Download] With a link to both a stream and a download of a song. I highly suggest the streaming version, so you don’t have to wait for it to download and stop the reading, but I’ll include a download link in case streaming doesn’t work for you.

How this works: At the beginning of each scene, I place a song for you to listen to while you’re reading, so you can understand the feeling I’m trying to convey. I think it’s a really neat idea that helps people imagine what they’re seeing. Of course, this is totally optional, you don’t have to listen to the music, you could just go on and read as normal. ^^

Again, please do not borrow or copy this idea. It’s taken me quite a while to think of how I would pull it off, and so I’d ask for your kindness and consideration to be creative on your own ideas, not mine.

Now, onto the story!]

[Continued from Act 3.]

But her hands felt an open entrance there. It was a small one, but one none the less. One which had never been seen before.

Sliding her hands gently around the door frame, Mipsacri’s eyes slowly adjusting to the darkness, she began to see the faint outline of a door, small enough that she had to crawl through, but just tall enough that both Lecra and Meriako could get through with ease. Sighing outloud at this barrier, a puff of cold air exhaling from the sheer cold, she once again peered into the darkness of the entrance, placing her hands to her mouth. “Meriako? Where are you?” Immediately, a tiny warm hand reached out from the darkness and grabbed her gloved hand, both of her hands wrapped around one of Mip’s. “Come on!” The voice of the tiny cleric said gleefully, tugging her sharply forward, and catching the tall thief unaware, she slammed her forehead directly into the cold dank wall.

“Ouch!” She said, followed by a few sharp curse words spewing out of her lips, rubbing her forehead rather gently. “I’m coming, I’m coming!” She said in an annoyed tone, finally getting down on all fours. Distinctly, she lept up from the freezing ice that encased the flooring, as it was rather cold to the touch. After a few moments, Meriako completely appeared from the darkness, a somewhat dumbfounded look on her face. “What are you doing, Mip?” She asked politely, as if she genuinely was curious as to what she was doing crawling around on the ice. “What does it look like I’m doing?! I’m getting through the door that was clearly only made for midgets!” She snapped in reply, first annoyed by the archer child, but now trying to fit through a tiny door.

“Silly.” The cleric shook her head, a sweet smile washing over her expressions as she always seemed to do. Reaching her staff up high above her head, standing on her very tip-toes, she gently tapped the wall above the door, just taller than Mipsacri. The sound of the wood against stone echoing with sort of a dull ‘thunk’ throughout that floor, a slight blue flicker of magic emitting from the tap, the same shade that had appeared when she had used her ball of light, a sort of cheerful sky blue.

[Scene 1: Stream/Download

It only took a moments pause before a groan emitted from the entire tower, forcing it to lurch slightly, sending Mip scrambling for something to grab ahold of anything to keep from losing her balance. At this point, she was quite afraid the tower would come to a crashing downfall, while Meriako stood completely still, a grin fixed on her face as she stared upwards, her staff still lifted, seemingly unphased by this.

The walls groaned and creaked, and the door shifted higher and higher, the bricks being quite roughly shoved to the side so the entrance to the door got brighter and brighter as it approached Mip’s height. For some reason, as the entrance expanded, it began to get brighter, exposing quite a brilliant view to the thief. A bright world opened up to her through the wall, one she couldn’t see before, as a breeze of warm air gently floated out of that portal, blowing her long silver curls back, as she was welcome to any form of heat.

Amazed at this passage, she slowly climbed down from the rope once the shaking had ceased. inching over to the door, a magic glow circling the rim of it. Her eyes slightly widened in surprise, her words rather seemed to stumble out. “Where.. where.. is this?” “Ah.. this is my home! Naliea!” Meriako smiled, finally lowering her staff and walking toward Mip. “Naliea.. but isn’t that only a fairy tale? The fairy tale of a safe haven for only the strongest of warriors..” But before she could continue in her pondering, Meriako grasped both hands on Mip’s hand, rather playfully leading her into the vast city, and all the young woman could do was follow in wonder.

[Scene 2: Stream/Download

What a sight it was..

Mipsacri only could gasp at it’s vastness, lifting an arm to shield her eyes from the brilliant sunshine. The green lush jungle like forest spread out as far as the eye could see, and from where they stood, it was on one of the highest points in the village. Down a massive slope a few hundred yards down was the village, while beyond that was a massive world, a deep jungle that was filled with monsters even easily beyond Mip’s skill level, their roars could be heard from miles away. “Amazing..” She mumbled, looking around in bewilderment, while Meriako had by then let go of the thief’s grip, looking around silently, but quite uninterested by the massive landscape.

The portal swirled closed behind them rather noiselessly, but Mipsacri could care less. “Is this place even real?” She mumbled outloud, taking a deep breath of the fresh, humid jungle air, the cleric answering her question promptly. “Yep. This is my home, because it’s safe from people who want to hurt us.” “Hurt…?” Before Mip could finish her question outloud, Lecra, the rather rude young archer from before appeared from over the peak of the hill behind them.

[Scene 3: Stream/Download

“There you guys are. What took so long?” Lecra mumbled annoyedly, brushing a strand of blue hair from his eyes almost in frustration, his massive bow swung lazily over his shoulder. The child was just a tad taller than Meriako, only about 10 or 11, and Mip, (again) was outraged by the fact that he was ordering her around as though she was a child, her eyes snapping from the landscape to shoot him a glare. “Stupid child!” She snapped, in a blur she was behind him, whacking him upside the head. Even if she was weaker, she did have a definite advantage in speed. “Ow ow ow..” He growled, rubbing the back of his head, only then shooting his glare back at her, and sparks of anger were flying.

“How dare you hit a higher ranking citizen of Naliea?! You outta..” Before he could continue, Mip had whacked him upside the head again. Even more so, she also had the advantage that he was only about half her size. Smirking, she folded her arms, childishly chuckling at his pain. “Eheheh.. pipsqueak needs to grow a few inches before he can start back talking to me.” Mip continued rather smugly smirking while Meriako looked back and forth between the two of them, a slightly worried look twinged on her face. “Both of you! Stop arguing.. I’m sure Papa has something prepared for us to eat once we get there..”

“FOOD?!” Both Mip and Lecra had bellowed at the same time, only then realizing they had both gone quite sometime without a decent meal. “Fine.. we settle this.” Lecra smirked, popping his knuckles confidently. “I’ll race you down the hill, first one to the bottom wins.” “If I win..” Mip added, “You get to call me ‘Miss Mipsacri’.” Lecra took a step beside her, turning to face the downward slope, placing both hands on his hips, his eyes not meeting hers, even though he was substantially shorter. “And if I win, you get to eat dinner outside.”

“Mip.. Lecra.. we could just walk down together, you know?” The cleric mumbled meekly as she stood behind them, but was clearly in the shadows between their competition. “Meriako, just stay here, after I beat Mip to the bottom, I’ll come back and carry you down.” At this, a slight twinge of pink flushed her cheeks, as it seemed to Mip she had a childish crush on him. “Okay..” Meriako started, before waving her arms in the air. “Goooo! Go go go!” She cheered, somehow cheering for both of them at the same time.

[Scene 4: Stream/Download

“Ready..”

Lecra mumbled, as Mip aligned herself beside him, a slight blue glow of energy swirling around her from her hasting skill, a smirk curling on his lips from his confidence in winning as he spoke, the tension and energy building.

“Set..”

He continued, flexing his muscles slightly, his bow tied firmly to his back as Mip grinned. “Piece of cake.. this’ll be no trouble at all.” She giggled, shifting back slightly so she’d get a good start. “Better get used to calling me Miss Mipsacri.” She joked, ready for that very moment.

“Go!”

Mip sped off down the hill ahead of him, springing off the first sharp point in the slope and gliding downward about 15 feet, then landing and running some more, moving so quickly, her body was a blur. There was no way anyone could keep up with her. She couldn’t even see Lecra behind her. This was way easier than she thought! Mipsacri was sure she was going to win, no doubt in her mind.

But in a flash, a blink of an eye, a small boy sped past her, leaping off of the sharp rock just ahead of her and into the air. “What the hell?!” She snapped inside, only then remembering that high level bowmen indeed had.. their own form of haste; thrust. At this rate she would have to use her full speed, picking up her step so quickly that it was difficult for the average eye to keep up with her, passing Lecra entirely and leaving him quite firmly in the dust, as they say.

Springing from stone to stone, she laughed outloud as she approached the village, grinning at her victory, as Lecra was no where in sight. Finally coming to the bottom, she skidded to a complete stop, shredding up quite a bit of mud in her path. “Hahah..” She turned around, looking back up the massive slope, cupping her hands around her mouth and yelling. “See that, kid?” She teased, before turning around to triumphantly find some food and maybe some rest, because even though it was sunny here, where she had come from, it was still only about 3 am.

There was Lecra. Leaning against a porch pillar, his arms folded, his eyes closed, sneering darkly. “Oh yes, yes I did.” He said smugly, opening his eyes to look at her. “I guess you’ll be eating outside, huh?” Her eyes widened, her fists clenched and teeth grinding in anger. How was this possible?! He wasn’t a mage, so he couldn’t teleport. But the ranger seemed to know exactly what Mipsacri was thinking.

“Stupid. If you had any sense, you would’ve seen the teleportation portal about halfway down the hill..” “Eeeehhh?! No way.. no way.. beaten by a kid.” She mumbled in her mind, trying to force her jaw not to drop. “If you’ll excuse me, I need to go get Meriako..” He finally said, the child calmly walking past her as though he was a man twice his age, his arms folded, as he seemed to have no victorious pride. “Go ahead into the village, look for a house with the name sign ‘Greynol’, that would be Meriako’s father’s house.”

“Feh.” Mipsacri spat as she marched passed him, refusing to accept that she lost as Lecra turned a corner into the trees, disappearing in a swirl of magic, obviously using a teleportation portal.

—

[Scene 5: Stream/Download

Briskly pacing into the hustle and bustle of the village, it seemed like a mix between Orbis and Ellinia. The wildlife and greenery was absolutely amazing, the smells of flowers and nature filled the air, yet it still had the dreamy, magical feel that Orbis had, and apparently the friendly people too. Although the streets weren’t quite as packed as any common village on any day, people and vendors were quite nice, trying to sell their wares to her, which Mip politely refused. “Which way was it now..” She thought, pausing for a moment to look up and think about which direction she was going in, then snapping her fingers in acknowledgment and continuing.

Stopping in front of a massive fence, she looked at the tiny tag on the mailbox. But she didn’t need to; because sure enough, etched on the massive iron gates, large enough that no one could miss them, that closed off this estate was the name ‘GREYNOL’. Was she in the wrong part? Surely she couldn’t be rich, otherwise, why would Meriako be traveling around like this?!

“You’ve got to be kidding me…”

[To be continued..]

[I hope you enjoyed this as much as I did writing it. It’s really a pleasure to write things that are so much fun, and if you have any opinions on my stories, or my musical idea, please let me know!

If anyone likes it, I’ll continue on with the musical score, as I seem to enjoy doing that as well..

Thank you for reading!
~Mip]

(MaskOfSmak pwns you.)
(P.S: Original sound tracks used:
.hack//SIGN OST 1 & 2
Angelic Layer OST 1)