Ashes of the Fallen

"Nope! The guild's all back at our camp, we're working to turn it into a town!" she exclaimed rather enthusiastically. "It's a lot of fun, we've got some small buildings shaping up and the spot we selected is super cute, it's a really great location!"

"Oh, you guys didn't want to stay to grind the dungeon?" I asked, perplexed.

"Hmm? No not really, my guild members didn't have a good experience," she said with a suspicious grin. "I heard they had a tank they disagreed with."

"Haha… is that so, well that's too bad," I said, fully aware of what she was hinting at.

"Yeah, she said the tank was an elitist asshole that kept trying to push the pace," she went on. "Something about how he wanted to dictate how everything was being run, she said he was cocky and a jerk."

"Mm… sounds like a wonderful guy!" I said with a laugh.

"You wouldn't know him, would you?" she teased with that grin of hers proudly displayed for all to see. "Strangely, his description kind of matches you."

"Hmm maybe, I'm not saying," I said with a wink and a smirk.

"Psh whatever with the secrets, they were talking about you nonstop in guild chat!"

"Hah, well, I can't help it if that's how they see it," I replied nonchalantly. "Anyways, do you think you'll be ready for a fairly large shipment in a few weeks' time?"

"Ohhhh we're not done with the previous conversation!" she stated eagerly.

"I'll have… an interesting mixture of items, if it strikes your fancy."

"No! We're talking about you being an asshole, you can't escape!"

"I'll hit you up in a few weeks then, I'll be bringing a lot of goods!"

Exiting the video call with my patented half-assed salute and a grin, I continued to run towards my destination. It seems, that hunter and priest really didn't like me, but I figured that from their silence after I took over. The rogue seemed to like me though, I'm guessing that's why Ellieby was trying to tease me.

Didn't really matter to me though.

If I rubbed people the wrong way that was unfortunate.

I wasn't going to be bothered by it. My intentions were good, and there was nothing malicious about it, if I am to be misunderstood… so be it.

Halfway through my marathon sprint I caught sight of a strange animal off in the distance, slightly past the trees and hiding behind a bush. The only thing that gave it away was the shimmer of light as it passed between the sun and the open leaves. It was only a split-second but it was a disturbance that made my eyes dart to the left and as I continued to stare at the spot, it moved again.

I couldn't tell what it was from where I stood on the road, but I drew my bow just in-case. If a creature happened to cross my field of vision, I would stop to hunt it… unlucky for it, lucky for me. Slowing my pace to a stalk, I slowly moved forth to get a better angle on the creature hiding behind the bush.

The creature came into view and quickly raised its head as it spotted me.

Freezing in place for a moment it hesitated to make a move.

It was… a house cat.

No, that wasn't right, it was too large to be a house cat. It was definitely a feline of some sort except it was the size of a medium dog. The cat had a long fluffy coat of hair that formed what appeared to be a beard, what with its white neck contrasting with the mixture of brown, gray, and black colors covering the rest of its body.

It was a fairly cute cat, but so large in stature that I hesitated to call it such.

Yeah, it was a good-looking cat, perhaps a lynx or something of the sort.

Drawing my bow, the cat stared at me while I made my motions. It simply watched my actions and made no effort to move, despite the fact that it struck me as fairly intelligent. Those eyes weren't empty… they had purpose.

I couldn't decide, whether to shoot the cat or not.

The thought of shooting the cat for its fur jotted my memory; I recalled how certain wild animals could be domesticated, and this one fit the bill. There were numerous creatures in this game and some were considered livestock, while others could be construed as pets.

This cat, could definitely be a pet.

I decided to follow it, putting my bow away as it scurried off into the forest. I had never traveled to this part of the continent, nor had I ever been to any of the elven lands a bit further north. The entire area was unfamiliar and unknown to me, yet that only spurred me on. I wanted to explore, to learn the lay of the land and to hopefully discover something new.

Maybe, I would even find something rare, at least that's what I hoped.

The cat suddenly burst into a sprint as I gave chase, running through the forest with my eyes barely able to track the swift and nimble movements of the large cat. As it dashed between trees and turned with deft, agile precision, I eventually lost sight of the creature as I stopped to catch my breath.

"Damn, too fast," I said with a sudden audible exhale following.

If this were a real body, I would have been outrun at the start.

Thankfully this was the virtual world.