Noctis Noir

Everest Woods was a great hunting ground for those who needed iron for crafting. Several herbs could also be harvested there to make potions or delicious food items. Creatures inhabiting the quiet forest never attacked players, except for one: the wyvern.

The wyvern lived quietly within a hidden cave for most of the day. During specific times, it leaves its cave and searches for nearby players to attack. Many low level players often fell prey to the wyvern when they entered its territory unaware of the monster waiting for them.

"There it is."

The girls stopped in front of the wide patch of land that was said to be where the wyvern often visited once it was out of its cave.

"It should come soon," Astrid said as she checked the time.

Lyria nodded. "Alright. I'll buff everyone ahead of time. Line up, ladies."

While they were in the middle of buffing, a loud roar resounded throughout the forest. In a few seconds, the large flying creature came into view right above them.

"He's here." Astrid smiled.

"Hello, Mr. Wyvern!" Amelie greeted the creature.

"That wasn't very nice!"

Astrid shouted, "Amelie! Dodge the flames no matter what!"

"Oh bloody." Lyria frowned when the wyvern started swooping down towards them. "Take cover!"

"The cave is too far away!" Luna replied.

They all ran without stopping until they reached the middle of the patch of land. The wyvern landed right in front of them. Its weight made the ground tremble. Luna immediately rushed forward to tank its attacks.

"I guess it's time to fight, huh?" Astrid readied her katar and rushed behind the wyvern. She liked aiming straight for the head to kill it faster.

Amelie hurled ice bolts at the wyvern, slowing its movement. In between spells, she drank mana potions.

"I'm gonna ride it!" Luna announced.

Astrid shouted, "No, Luna! If you fall from that height, you'll get killed instantly from fall damage."

"Don't worry. I packed a few revives. Plus, I've always wanted to ride a wyvern." Luna propelled herself forward and jumped on the wyvern's back. It roared and flew up erratically in the air to throw Luna off its back. Luna held on tightly. "Oh yeah! This is awesome!"

"I can't believe what I'm seeing," Astrid said as she watched Luna make her debut as a wyvern rider.

Lyria stood beside Astrid. "Is it ever coming down though? We can't fight like this."

"Not to worry!" Amelie flipped her hair to look cool. "I have long range magic. I'll just keep firing."

"Amelie, did you learn Magic Missile?" Astrid asked.

"Nope!" Amelie said with a smile.

"In that case, good luck aiming."

"If this game was SkyEdge, I could've easily used a shout to make it land!" Lyria said as she renewed the buffs on Astrid and Amelie.

"If this game was SkyEdge, I could've easily used a shout to make it land!" Lyria said as she renewed the buffs on Astrid and Amelie

Amelie began casting her bolt spell and aimed straight at the wyvern. One of them flew past Luna. Only a few of her bolts made a direct hit.

"Amelie! Don't hit me!" Luna shouted from above.

"I'm sorry! It's really hard to aim. It moves around too much."

"We need to focus on getting it to land. It's too hard to fight like this," Astrid said. She desperately tried to think of a plan. "Luna, we need to get you off the wyvern. It doesn't seem to be landing while you're on its back. Do you think you can damage one of the wings before jumping off?"

"Wait what? You want me to jump off?" Luna asked to make sure she was hearing it right. "I can't hear you. This thing keeps roaring like crazy!"

"Lyria, how far can you cast the damage reduction spell?" Astrid asked.

"I think the spell range can reach Luna, but I don't think it's enough to make her survive the fall." Lyria looked worried. "Maybe if we had something to counter the fall..."

"Would a wind spell work?" Amelie asked.

"It's worth a try," Astrid replied. "Or we could freeze one of its wings and hope that Luna survives the crash landing."

"I'll go with the freezing idea. She has better chances of survival. I'll cast the damage reduction spell." Lyria aimed her holy mace at Luna and surrounded her with a coat of protection.

"Amelie, do your best to aim carefully. It's all up to you."

"Wait! I can't take all this pressure!" Amelie shook her head. "I mean... Leave it to me!" She winked, trying to look cool. She concentrated hard on her aim right before launching the freeze spell. By luck, it hit the wing and froze it.

Flying using just one wing, the wyvern struggled to stay up in the air. Luna screamed as it plummeted to the ground. Right before her face collided with the dirt and grass, a player suddenly jumped out of a nearby bush and saved her from getting any fall damage. When Luna opened her eyes, she was in the arms of a high level crusader.

"Are you alright?" the crusader asked. It was like a cliché scene from a romance novel.

Luna was speechless at first, then slowly regained her ability to speak normally. "Yes. Thank you for saving me."

"Luna!" Astrid, Amelie, and Lyria shouted in unison and ran to her.

"Wait woah. Who's this guy?" Amelie asked when she saw the random crusader that just appeared out of nowhere.

"Sorry to interrupt your battle. I couldn't help but save your friend from falling. It was hard just watching without doing anything." The crusader placed the dazed Luna down. "Can you stand?"

"Yes, I can." Luna's heart was beating fast.

"Wait, watching? How long have you been here?" Astrid asked.

"Actually, my guildmate and I were supposed to go hunt the wyvern for some iron, but it looks like you got here first."

"Oh. Sorry!" Amelie apologized.

The crusader laughed. "It's fine. It should respawn soon anyway after you defeat it." He glanced at the immobilized wyvern nearby.

"Your guildmate?" Lyria asked.

Suddenly, one more player emerged from a bush. He was also a high level crusader. Lyria felt like she saw him from somewhere before. Perhaps he was a famous person?

The second crusader greeted them. "Hello! My name is Lyngvi."

Amelie tried to say his name. "No offense, but your name is hard to remember."

He laughed. "Tank and the others call me Vi. So, you can call me by that nickname."

"Vi..." Lyria repeated his name softly to herself and smiled.

"I'm Tank, the guildmaster of Knights Alliance. Vi is my second-in-command."

The girls introduced themselves.

Tank looked at Luna. "You know, our guild is recruiting new members right now. We could use a new recruit with guts like yours. What do you say?"

Luna was ecstatic to hear his invitation, but she knew where her heart was. "Sorry. I'll have to decline. My friends and I are starting a guild. I want to stay with them."

Vi laughed. "It looks like you got rejected, Tank."

"Is that so? Looking forward to seeing your new guild then!" Tank grinned. "Godspeed to you! Vi and I will be off now."

After the two crusaders left, Lyria and Luna squealed at the same time.

"Tank was so cool!" Luna placed both her palms on her cheeks.

"Vi was so cool!" Lyria followed.

"I'm so cool!" Amelie did a pose and a hair flip.

The wyvern appeared to have stopped moving for good. Astrid gave the wyvern a kick to check if it was still alive. It dissolved and dropped some loot.

"Looks like we killed it," Astrid said as she picked the loot up.

Lyria examined the loot. "Is that iron? Magnus wanted me to sell him some."

Astrid gave the iron to Lyria. "It also seemed to have dropped a large egg. Is this a cooking ingredient?"

"It doesn't look like one."

The egg cracked and an infant wyvern emerged from within the shell.

Amelie squealed. "It's so adorable! Can we keep it? Please!"

Astrid's appraiser eyes shone. "This looks like a pet that can sell for millions." She grinned. "We hit the jackpot, ladies."

"No! Don't sell it! It's so cute! I want to keep it!" Amelie protected the little wyvern like how she always protected her pizza from her brother.

"But we killed its mother. It's going to grow up resenting us once it becomes a fully-grown wyvern. Then our hard-earned guild headquarters will become merely a charred land filled with memories of our glory days once it gets its revenge."

"Aren't you being overly dramatic?"

Lyria laughed. "Let's just keep it, Astrid. We can always kill it if it goes against us."

"You monsters!" Amelie was horrified by the idea of slaughtering her new pet.

Astrid sighed. "Fine. We can keep him."

Amelie picked the little wyvern up. "We'll name you... Rune! Welcome to the family, Rune!"

Upon seeing Amelie's happy expression, the rest looked at each other and smiled contentedly.