Everlast Online

The starry void, the stadium began to fill quickly. 

By the end of it Liz found herself surrounded by just over 50 of what she believed were souls around her. Around a minute after the lights stopped appearing in the stand a wave of energy passed over Liz. Things were starting it would seem.

"Welcome child." Liz spun around to see a large, indescribable face looking down at her. It was like every colour all at once, while still not being entirely black as one would expect. Instead it radiated some kind of celestial wisdom of a being far beyond what Liz could possibly comprehend, but she didn't feel unsafe as it continued to wash over her.

"What is it you seek?" As Liz remained silent, the face spoke once again, even without eyes she could tell the souls were staring at her, waiting for an answer. Was this all it took to be worthy?

"I want to summon a guardian to assist me." Liz saw a number of lights blink out as she finished speaking, sweat formed on her brow as she failed to understand what she did to upset them. What was wrong with her question?

"No, child." The head said, "Not what you are here for, rather what is it you so greatly desire? Within the deepest parts of yourself, what is it that your heart and soul yearn for?"

What did she want? Her greatest desire?

Has she ever been given that opportunity? That chance? 

Of course not, so she had no means of responding. She was just her, and this seemed to be enough for others to leave as 3 more lights vanished.

"I don't know." She responded, the head seemed to shake, Liz didn't know what to say. She didn't understand, was this just a game because this hardly felt like one; something about this world she found herself in was abnormally realistic, even more so than the realism of Galdrash. But she had no time to ponder the reality of what was going on, she had to find her deepest desire.

"Of course you do, child." The head chuckled, it was soothing, like the sweet laughter of a parent Liz had long forgotten, "It could even be the most simple of things, just think upon it. What is it that you desire?"

Liz thought, her greatest desire? 

If it was simple then surely it wouldn't be my greatest desire. Liz moaned in her mind, I mean, no one's greatest desire is something simple like a sandwich or something. A greatest desire is money, connection, fami-

Liz had an epiphany; and it was just as simple as she was told.

"You seem to have grasped at something." The head smiled. Liz nodded and spoke:

"My greatest desire is to protect the one I care about; to give her the life she deserves. To be able to grant her the world should she so desire it." Liz's love for Piper knew no bounds or confines and she knew this is what she wanted.

As she spoke, many lights vanished, but just as many shone harder - she was finally making progress!

"HAHAHA!" The head laughed, Liz still didn't understand what kind of cosmic being this thing was, but she didn't feel it was dangerous, "THAT, is a wonderful desire child. A wonderful one indeed, but I wonder if it is merely that simple?"

The head offered a leading question, Liz pondered for a moment as some of the lights shone brighter again. 

What else is there but to make Piper happy? Liz thought, Perhaps it's something deeper this time. Something hidden away in the deepest parts of my mind.

Liz searched, her eyes were shut tight to the world around her. She looked back on everything; every joyous moment spent with her sister; every horrible abuse she had suffered. The trauma of being abandoned, the feelings of being beaten. 

There was so much darkness within her that it could swallow gods and demons whole, yet she persisted.

Why? Why can I keep going?

Tears fled Liz's eyes as she felt herself relive every painful moment of her existence. Until, right at the end. A silver glow, illuminating the darkness of her existence, the joy she felt at its notion was all she needed to keep herself going.

"I know what I desire." Liz opened her eyes, a few of the souls were gone, but it was of no consequence. The head had a grand smile spread across its face.

"I see." It spoke gently, "And what may that be child?"

"I want to show them…"

"Show this world that I can succeed just as they do. To show those uppity bastards who look down on my family that they aren't better than me just because they were born with a silver spoon rammed deep up their asses!"

"No! I don't just want to show them they aren't better; I want them to see how much better I am than them! Show those pieces of shit  that they are nothing more than filth beneath my shoes as I trample over them!"

"My sister deserves better! I deserve better! And I want the power to display that!" Liz yelled, almost screaming, "That is my desire! To show the world that being born lower doesn't make you worse; that it makes you strong!"

"HAHAHA!" The head laughed boisterously, louder than before and the glow of many souls shone so bright it was blinding, "A truly noble ideal child! I am sure many here wish to help you see that come to fruition! Those who do, please present yourselves."

Many lights moved around, crashing into each other until 5 souls shone right before Liz; Liz had to squint to see.

She could see many lights of equal intensity so didn't understand why they too had not come forward.

"Only five may come forward as champions, child." The head said scholarly, "Should you return here I'm sure many would rush to your side."

Liz nodded and looked over the choices she had available.

[Alzac Carrion] [Class: Grave Lord] [Mythos: A great leader and worthy warrior who faced an untimely betrayal. He and his entire battalion of soldiers were wiped out by their own king's command as his paranoia grew uncontrollable. Now dead, he is the only one strong enough to maintain his mind in undeath]

This sounded pretty basic, a simple bruiser type it seemed. Certainly useful, especially as one to command her forces, but Liz felt he was not what she needed.

[Karror's Obelisk] [Class: Dark Tower] [Mythos: A mighty necromancer from the humblest of origins. Having been despised for lacking a noble lineage, yet having talent that far surpassed even the bluest of bloods he rose to a position of power. Yet as the peak of his greatest ritual, those who considered him inferior came to attack, with no choice left her was forced to fuse his soul with his spire, hoping to protect himself a while longer]

Liz didn't understand this person's class, but began seeing a theme. It was likely each of the souls who presented themselves were betrayed by those in power; but that begged the question: This many? There were many souls who contested to appear before her. Had all of them been betrayed by the upper class?

[#6] [Class: Shade Stalker] [Mythos: Taken from her parents at birth, #6 was raised and groomed as part of an elite force of assassins working for a powerful noble. When that noble's treachery was discovered - as #4 was captured, tortured and interrogated - the group was used as a scapegoat. Each of them were hanged and their master lived on in luxury]

Liz found this was the saddest story of the lot and she definitely a powerful choice. But Liz needed someone with more frontal abilities.

[Eren] [Class: Fallen Saintess] [Mythos: Eren was found within a dumpster as just a child and raised in a church’s orphanage. Eren was extremely pious and with her kindness and beauty she was ordained a saintess. However, Eren discovered that the church's leaders were stealing donation money for not only their own pleasure, but to experiment on the children within the orphanage. When she attempted to reveal this to the public, she was executed as heretic]

Liz became more and more angry as she read of the cruelty each of these people faced. She understood their desires and it only affirmed her own. She turned to the final panel.

[Gloria] [Class: Demise Knight] [Mythos: Born in a world where a person's position relied on the ranking of their race, Gloria desired nothing more than to allow her race to flourish. As a member of one of the lowest ranked races Gloria left the safety of her village in order to raise her rank and evolve; aspiring to become a champion who would lead her people into a new age. Upon her return, her people had become cattle for races who considered themselves superior; she fought and destroyed to free them, but their minds were shattered and their bodies ruined. She was killed as the united force of multiple empires converged upon her.

Liz looked over everything. Each of their stories were tragic, and their classes sounded powerful. It was a difficult decision to make.

The [Grave Lord] class sounded powerful, especially as a leader, but there was a lot that could be misunderstood.

In a similar sense Liz did not wish to risk choosing [Dark Tower]. She was not even sure how that would function; that option was crossed off for now.

#6 Would definitely be helpful, especially right now with her current quest. But what about after; Liz felt she was far too specialised for what she needed right now.

Then there were Eren and Gloria. Both seemed like very rounded classes. Saintess implied powerful healing abilities, while fallen, to Liz, implied some decent attack. On the other hand, Gloria's [Demise Knight] seemed incredibly powerful. Demise was not a word she took lightly and as an enjoyer of fantasy she had heard of Death Knights and how powerful they were. 

It was a difficult choice, and even with each soul having their drawbacks, Liz felt she could easily choose any of them.

"I can take my time with this." Liz muttered to herself, "I have all the time in the world."

---

Meanwhile, within Galdrash, players were quickly approaching the scene of the event.

It had been mere moments since Liz entered the sphere and opportunistic players had already begun arriving in droves. Luckily, they were busy fighting amongst themselves where they met as most believed this to be a first-come-first-served kind of deal. 

So, many players were currently fighting just out of sight of the skeletons. Liz was safe for the time being.

"I wonder what she's doing in there." Nina sighed, she had little to do, and with Smokey's skeletons on patrol she doubted any monster would get to her. This was the least of her worries though when an arrow came whistling by.

Nina managed to dodge the attack and looked to see a party of players arriving.

"Look!" A muscular man wielding an axe yelled, "Someone beat us here!"

"Eh! What do we do!" The small healer girl said, she looked nervous as she held a staff that was slightly too large for her.

"Kill her!" The player dressed in black commanded, he seemed to be the one with the arrows and the group's leader, "It's our treasure, no one's taking it from us!"

What the hell are they talking about? Nina didn't understand, her first thought was they are PKers, but that didn't seem to be it. What treasure are they talking abooooo...

Oh.

Nina's eyes wandered over to the giant hemisphere currently encasing her party leader; then she remembered the giant beacon of light it emmitted.

"Dammit..." She muttered, activating the skill she got at level 10: [Stealth (F)].

She had put a lot of work into this one and had levelled it up to level 9. As such he knife easily cut into the feeble healer's neck as their team eyed the skeletons, wondering why they weren't attacking yet.

The healer dropped dead as Nina's stealth came undone. The man with the axe - clearly their DPS - noticed immediately and moved to attack her. Thankfully, Nina had her level 30 class skill: [Slippery Escape (F)].

It was a passive skill that increased her dodging ability, her acrobatics and gave a slight increase to her AGI stat.

She was surely not up to the level of Smokey, but Nina was a force of her own!

She knew she had little chance in a direct confrontation against the axe-wielder, but the hunter? She thought there was a chance.

His level was lower than hers at 24 so she doubted he had any decent sensing abilities, or at least one that could surpass her level 9 stealth. She was right as when she disappeared the 2 men showed caution, allowing her to strike at the hunter. She did not manage a fatal blow but did cut across his chest with her knife.

The moment she was visible the warrior attacked, forcing Nina backwards towards the skeletons. The warrior held a smirk, expecting a win, but it only created an idea in Nina's mind.

"Ha! These are even skeletons dumbass!" She called out as she passed them into the circle, "They won't attack until the event starts!"

She let out a laugh, taunting the 2 men who scowled that their plan had failed. Then they pursued, not even caring to look at the skeletons as they passed. Had they looked they would have seen how they raised their swords and killed them with one attack.

The last thing the 2 did see however, was Nina's evil smirk, watching the consciousness leave their bodies. Nina had always felt it was weird that player bodies don't disappear for hours until after they die, but figured it was just the result of players needing to get their lost items back.

"Haa." Nina sighed, "Glad that's over with. No more tricky situations or fights to deal with at all. Nope. None at all. Just a regular day watching this weird sphere thin-."

Once again Nina leaned backwards to dodge an arrow being launched at her. Another party of players was arriving.

"Look!" A lanky man wielding a spear yelled, "Someone beat us here!"

"Eh! What do we do!" The small healer girl said, she looked scared as she held a wand that was slightly too small for her.

"Kill her!" The player dressed in green commanded, he seemed to be the one with the arrows and the group's leader, "It's our treasure, no one's taking it from us!"

"Dammit..." Nina muttered.

I'm getting this crazy feeling of deja vu. Nina wondered why that was.

---

Nina thought Smokey was inside her little hemisphere for far too long. 

Many players had begun to arrive, powerful ones that Nina could not hope to fight; nor would she want to as she saw the representatives of 2 mega-guilds.

She had gone into stealth and silently took out the approaching player's weakest links, while the skeletons took on the brunt of the attack.

The floating hands Smokey had summoned had long summoned her golem, and had been resummoning her undead when necessary, but there were simply too many players.

It looked like a battlefield as bodies and blood littered the ground; the undead had been holding their ground for a while, but when the mega-guilds showed up they displayed the reason they were considered as such. The players swiftly took out the skeletons where needed and Nina began to wonder just how much mana Smokey had to keep summoning for this long, especially as she saw 3 golems dying, they couldn't be cheap to replace.

Soon, Nina had no place to interfere as the site became a 3-way battle. The skeletons killed anything that approached while the 2 mega-guilds (Golden Radiance and Diamond Star) fought not only the skeletons, but also each other. They fought, believing this was an event for the first guild token; it had been 2 weeks and no guilds had been formed.

There were no guilds in the beta either, but that was because the feature wasn't added; meaning no one actually knew how to make a guild. These 2 seemed to think this was it, right here.

The infighting allowed the skeletons to gain their footing again as they no longer had the full, undivided attention of a player army all over them.

Still, Nina wasn't sure how much longer they could hang on. Even if Smokey was powerful, she didn't have endless mana.

It was then that a few words established a silence. The skeletons fell back and the players just watched,

The ethereal dome had fallen; revealing what lay inside. 

And it wasn't a guild token.

"What a mess."

That was all that was said as a pair of women revealed themselves from the inside of the dome.

Nina allowed a smile to spread over her face even though she was still slightly nervous, Smokey was strong sure, but was she strong enough to take on 2 mega-guilds at once. 

Nina knew Smokey was strong, she just didn't know how strong.

She was about to find out.

====

Name: [Smokey]

Race: [Abandoned Doll] (Attributes)↓

Class: [Necromancer (51)]

Title: <Defy The Odds> <Bandit Killer> <Lizardman Slayer> <D-rank Monster Hunter> <Learned> <Swamp Matriarch>

[Reputation: 13,100] [Gold: 143,800]

Stats: [STR: 13 (+2)] [END: 15 (+2)] [AGI: 53 (+8)] [INT: 100 (+25)]

Race Skills: [Voodooist (S)] [Puppet Hand (7) (C)]

Class Skills: [Bone Spear (10) (F) (evolve?)] [Summon: Skeleton Hound (10) (F) (evolve?)] [Undead Enhance (4) (F)] [Summon: Golem (3) (E)] [Summon: Skeleton Soldier (2) (E+)] [Raise Horde (1) (A)]

Soul-Bound: <***>

Other Skills: [Mana Bolt (7) (F)] [Dismantle (28) (F+)] [Traveller (0%) (E)] [Sharp Claw (10) (E) (evolve?)] [Dark Slash (3) (D-)] [Multitask (29%) (D+)] [Apothecary (27%) (C)] [World Map (A)] 

[Inventory]↓ [Equipment Menu]↓

[Player Auction]↓ [Currency Conversion]↓

====