-=Lance’s Ascention=-

***Lance struggled to get back up, pain clutching at his side. When he was refocused, he noticed Skye’s bow on the ground, but the bowman herself was nowhere in sight. “Skye!” he called out. He was about to call again, until the pack of boars caught his attention, still running towards him. He held himself in a defensive position, but his thoughts were still elsewhere: what happened to Skye?

Meanwhile, Lance’s girlfriend was lying on the ground far below, unconcious. Blood was trickling from her head. All around her, a number of wild boars, along with stumps that held a darker shade of bark, had noticed her fall. Slowly, the monsters headed towards her….***

Lance’s nerves were shot. He was standing face-to-face with ten ferocious, battle-ready boars. Worse yet, he was alone. The others were still far up ahead, and Skye had seemingly vanished. Overall, the boars were at the forefront of his mind. Even with his prior experience, he wasn’t yet strong enough to take on a single boar, let alone ten. They, on the other hand, had more than enough bite to take him down. The pain in his side he felt from the earlier attack continued to remind him of that. Despite all of the odds, however, he continued to stand his ground, ready to fight. If he ran now, they would only chase him down and finish him off.

Steeling his will, Lance cried out in fury, dashing at the monsters once more. The boars responded in kind. Once in range, the warrior stopped suddenly, bringing out his iron ball in another horizontal swing. The boar, tricked for a moment by Lance’s sudden lack of velocity, didn’t see the attack come, and was hit in the side of the head. *Excellent! Score one for me!* he thought, confidence slowly brimming in him. Unfortunately, the burst of hope faded quickly as the boar barely reacted to the hit, giving its head a single shake before glaring at its attacker once more. Frustration poured out from Lance as he went for another swing, but he quickly fell back upon seeing the other boars come at him. He braced himself, holding out his iron ball to guard him, but the next tackle he received from another boar broke through his stance. Even amidst stumbling, the young fighter resisted gravity to regain his position. It came too late, however, as a third wild hog tore into him from his left side. The shot jolted Lance, throwing him all the way to the edge of the cliff. As he began to fall over, he quickly grabbed the ledge of the rock, holding himself up with all of his might. The pain running through his body made it difficult; his latest battle damage was brought to the same side as before, amplifying the burning he felt. Fear was running rampant in Lance’s mind; he only wondered why the boars hadn’t chosen to do the same. Instead, the herd slowly approached him, their ravenous eyes staring intently at their prey, as if daring him to do something unthinkable…like fall off the cliff.

Their advancement was halted, however, when a dagger flew like an arrow at high speed, catching the lead boar in the head. The dagger victim was flung from its brethren by sheer force, rolling over several feet before lying still on its side. Lance and the other boars, all just managing to catch sight of the spectacle, looked over to see a one armed bandit filled with determination rush into the scene. Shadow Viper leapt effortlessly over the boars, retrieving his dagger and assuming combative position. The boars began to run at him, though the ones at the rear were stopped quickly; two pairs of magic claws were slowly but surely slashing at them. Those noticing the mystic assault split away from the others to bring their assault to their new attackers: Genya and Emma. The Raine sisters stood off well from the battlezone, though keeping their magic in range as they continued to hack at their pursuers. Amber, the non-adventurer of the group, kept herself concealed behind clusters of stones farther off still.

Beaming at the arrival of his companions, Lance began to climb back up. A sudden squeal from below halted him. Curiosity took over as he looked down. Numerous boars, as well as some dark stumps, were clustered in an odd arrangement, and it looked like two of them were bickering over something. *The boars…that’s where they’re supposed to be,* he thought, noting the situation, *but it looks like an argument is going on between some of them…*

Scanning the area quickly, Lance soon found the reason for the chaos, which brought a horrified look to his face. In the middle of all of the creatures lay Skye, seemingly knocked out cold.

*Why didn’t I realize it?!* Lance’s mind yelled out, berating himself for not thinking of this outcome. He knew this was a now-or-never moment; he had to be at her side, protecting her from all coming monsters. Yet at the same time, he knew it was a dangerous risk; there was a score of monsters down below, and he would again be alone. Then it came to him: he didn’t have to stay and fight. He only had to get Skye back up to the rocky height they once stood upon. Looking in another direction, he saw where the low earth sloped up towards the earthen structure he hung from. He knew how to escape, though he’d have to act fast. Taking a deep breath, he let go of the cliff.

Down below, Skye was slowly beginning to show signs of reawakening. Though still out of it, she could slowly begin to sense the world around her.He Her head ached terribly, and it felt like a small stream of liquid was flowing out of it. Her vision was blurred with shades of brown, blue, and some gray patches here and there. Her ears rang endlessly. Throughout the anguish she was under, she only had one thing on her mind.

*Am….am I….am I going to die here?*

Then, right in front of Skye’s eyes, a new color appeared. Though it was as blurred as the others, it appeared to be a lighter gray, and in the shape of a boot. Then she thought she saw another near it. At that point, the light grayness seemed to suddenly grow larger, blocking more of her view. One of the boot shapes disappeard, replaced by a larger shape. Skye struggled to narrow her eyes, but to no avail; she couldn’t tell what was going on around her. She made an effort to move, but her muscle tension brought waves of pain through her body. Tears stung at her eyes. She was becoming scared; her mind and body were too far battered into oblivion to realize what was happening.

*I….I can’t believe…I’m going to…*

“Skye! Thank goodness, you’re alive! Relax, don’t try to move, I’m gonna get you out of here!”

Skye could somehow hear the words over the ringing. They were words of hope, words of protection, all aimed at her, meant to offer comfort and safety. Though she didn’t quite realize it, her body began to relax, especially when she felt something run softly through her tuffled hair. What she did understand was the familiarity of the voice that brought the positive message to her ears. Lance had come to rescue her. In an instant, she felt herself being lifted off of the ground. *Then again…I guess I’ll make it through this okay,* she thought, her sense of touch embracing the arms that held her up. A feeling of relief washed over her as she passed out once more.

Meanwhile, Lance looked about him as he kept Skye out of harm’s reach. The logs and boars stared at him intensely; this was their territory, and a chance for a filling meal had fallen within their grasp until he came and took it away. Angered, the boars squealed at him wildly, while the darkened stumps plodded loudly towards a potential fight. Thinking quickly, Lance repositioned Skye over his right shoulder, holding her in place with one hand and brandishing his iron ball in the other. Fighting with an iron ball one-handed would be difficult, since the weapon was heavy and meant for two hands, but he knew he had to take a chance, or he would never escape. Steeling his will, he gathered all the strength he could muster and swung the iron ball at the monsters in front of him. A dark stump took thefull brunt of the swing, stumbling back a bit from the attack. The other creatures drew back a little from the display of force. Lance smiled at this; the dark stumps were easier to handle than the boars were. Perhaps he could use that as a scare tactic. Slowly and steadily, he made his way forward, taking more swings at the wild entourage around him. He concentrated on the same dark stump as before, pounding away at its blackend bark. Eventually, a final shot sent the stump careening to the ground, motionless. The other dark stumps wavered at the sight of their fallen comrade, and began backing off from the group; they never expected someone they believed weak to hold his own against such a large group!

Despite driving the stumps back, the boars were not as intimidated, and kept their circular trap imposed on Lance. The swordsman sighed; his plan only partially succeeded. It quickly became clear to him that he’d have to fight another boar, possibly the entire group. Still, the warrior’s hope didn’t falter; he wasn’t about to lay down and die now. Instead, he looked up to where the earth rose higher. Two patches of hovering, rocky land, each adorned with a rope, led up to the higher canyon, and safety among his party members. That quickly gave him an idea for an escape.

As Lance set to moving slowly towards the exit, the boars threateningly edged toward him, steadily shrinking his circle of space. The swordsman didn’t back down the slightest; rather, he immediately swung at the closest boar. The shot struck the creature atop its head, dizzying it for a moment. At this, the other wild hogs closed the circle even farther in, their tusks inches from the warrior’s legs. Even then, Lance continued to smash at his same target again and again. Each successive hit pushed his opponent further back into the pack, which in turn forced other boars apart, causing a gap to start appearing in the circle. Victory came alive in Lance’s mind as he saw the new path appear, pushing him to give the rugged, four-legged obstacle one more crushing blow.

The tactic succeeded. The iron ball shot drove the boar through an entire chunk of the monstrous doughnut, opening a way out. Without hesitation, Lance burst out of the surrounding at breakneck speed without a single look back. Hurriedly, he climbed up the ropes with one arm, still keeping the prone Skye secure with the other. The climb was added strain to his already battered body; the pain he received from prior boar tackles still clung to him, and climbing with one arm proved difficult. Nonetheless, he fought through the task through will and strength. Eventually, he reached the top and was back on higher ground. His hard work had finally paid off, and he and Skye were safe.

*Skye…oh, no, Skye!* Lance suddenly remembered her unconcious state. He gently lowered his girlfriend to the ground. Before he could do any more, the archeress began coming to, her eyes fluttering open. “L…Lance?” she asked in a whisper upon seeing his figure. Lance was about to respond until he saw Skye’s bow nearby. He grabbed it and placed it in her hands.

“Welcome back, hon,” he said happily.

Skye was soon an instant swell of jubilation. “Lance!” she cried out. She then threw herself into his arms and kissed him deeply. When their lips parted, she said gratefully, “I’ll never forget this second rescue. Thank you.”

Again, Lance’s potential reply was hesitated, as he noticed a line of blood on Skye’s face. He immediately grabbed an orange potion and gave it to her, which she drank as soon as her hands touched the bottle. Upon finishing, the bleeding stopped, and she felt herself able to stand up again.

“Hey! You’re alright!”

The couple turned to see Shadow, Emma, and Genya sprinting towards them, with Amber bringing up the rear. All of their faces were decorated with relief.

“We were so worried when we couldn’t find you!” Emma exclaimed. “When we saw the boars, we feared the worst. Don’t worry, though, we took care of them.” She directed Lance and Skye to a spot behind the group littered with ten boar carcasses.

“We’re…..glad……you…..are…..okay,” Genya slowly managed in a shy yet determined whisper. Emma patted her sister’s shoulder, nodding at the statement approvingly.

“Thank you, we’re sorry we worried you,” Lance confessed. “We stopped for a moment, and, well….let’s put it this way: next time, we’ll stop as a group.

“A good idea we shouldn’t forget,” Shadow agreed. “Nevertheless, don’t worry about it. I have a feeling you two worked hard to get back here, and we’re glad to see that you pulled through.”

Amber was about to offer her remarks on the couple’s return, but stopped short upon noticing a familiar monster appear out of nowhere and charge at the party. “Another boar!” she yelled.

Lance turned abruptly, his eyes confirming the discovery. The boar headed towards him and the others, pure velocity in its veins. Lance couldn’t help but groan angrily at the sight, even as he prepared himself. “Unbelieveable!” he complained. “How are they getting up to where they never appear? This doesn’t make sense! The tusken raider came closer, but Lance readied his iron ball for another swing.

“Lance, I’m ready this time.”

The swordsman heard Skye’s words and soon understood what she meant. He immediately moved aside the voice, and watched as an arrow fly past him, catching the impending boar in the eye. The monster fell back, agitated from the wound, but it soon made another rush attempt. Again, an arrow burst out in response, nailing the reckless creature in the other eye. Effectively blinded, the boar stumbled around uncontrollably, panic and rage flowing through it.

“It’s all yours, now,” Skye said calmly.

“My pleasure!” Now it was Lance’s turn to take to the offense as he ran in on the boar. His iron ball was in full swing as he relentlessly bashed the monster into submission. This time, his attacks were fueled not by desparation, but anger. With each blow he landed, he clearly showed that he wanted nothing more to do with the vicious boars. Eventually, the boar was heavily weakened, barely showing signs of life. With every remaining ounce of strength, Lance brought down one final overhead smash to the monster’s head. It never moved again. Victory his after eight power-infused swings, Lance dropped to his knees, panting heavily.

Skye rushed over to Lance’s side, holding him close. “You did it,” she whispered happily.

Lance turned to face Skye, staring into her eyes. “No,” he replied softly. “WE did it.” Then he brought her into a kiss. The others-Shadow, the Raines, and Amber-broke into applause.

After the moment, Lance and Skye stood up. “Perion is close,” he announced. “Let’s finish this journey.” Once more, the group set off as one.

As they walked, Shadow patted Lance’s shoulder. “You did excellent today,” the bandit said earnest. “As I said, you’d become stronger, and today you have.” Lance smiled at this; deep down, he felt he’d truly ascended.

-Woobledywop!-

Out on the ocean to the west of Victoria Island, the large vessel from Southperry made it’s voyage to Lith Harbor. On board, amidst the throng of adventurers stood a lone girl. She bore blond hair, blue eyes, and wore a black leather vest top with red trim, along with a black dress-skirt. A regal-looking crossbow was slung across her back. She leaned against the port side of the ship, watching the sun set beyond the horizon. Her face was a mask of determination, especially in her right eye. Her left eye was covered by an eyepatch. As she gazed fiercely into the darkening sky, one constant thought played in her mind.

*My love…I promise you…he will pay for taking you away.*

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Hey everyone! Sorry my story took so long. I was on vacation a while back. Still here it is, perhaps my longest chapter yet. Sorry about that as well, I just had tons of ideas that seemed to go together. Mountain Dew for you!^_^

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