Sphe sat on a rock in the darkness. She was looking up at the sky. The moons faintly shown and stars twinkled in the sky. She was waiting for the sun to brighten over Sphere but for now it was only a dark hole in the sky. The camp behind her was abandoned like was usual for this time of night. There was a small long burnt out campfire and several tents pitched around it. All of the tents were empty.
She always felt that the night was the loneliest especially out in the wilderness. She much preferred to spend her evenings in Proserphine which was filled with people regardless of the time of day. However Proserphine was about a days travel away. Her party had left Proserphine yesterday and had traveled east toward the mountains. It had been a fairly casual journey which only took a couple of hours and they only encountered a few monsters. However it was growing later so they had called it for the evening and agreed to meet back together in the morning.
So Sphe continued to sit there in the darkness waiting for the sun to glow and her friends to return. She considered going home for a while until her friends arrived but it would be just as lonely there as it was here. It was colder here near the mountains but it was more refreshing then anything else.
She reached down to her waist and unclipped her Archive. Lifting the small book she flipped it open to check the time. It was almost six o’clock in the morning and the sun would be rising soon. She changed the page and sighed, her mail was empty as usual. She laid back on the rock and continued to stare at the sky. She closed her eyes and decided that she should try and go back to sleep.
There was the uniquely strange sound of somebody appearing and Sphe opened her eyes and tilted her head backward so that she could look at the camp. A man was now standing in the camp. He was dressed head to toe in steel, armor that would protect him from most injuries and a broadsword was strapped to his back. A scare crossed his face making him look grizzled but that illusion was broken when the man smiled at her and said,
“Your logged in early as usual.”
Sphe raised her hand and waved at the figure who was upside down in her vision. “I didn’t really have anything better to do.” It wasn’t really a lie, not really. “You are early too. You don’t normally arrive until 8 or so on weekends.”
He sat down on a nearby log and drew his sword from his back sheathe. “I neglected some of my maintenance back in Proserphine and wanted to make sure it got done before we head out today.” A moment later he had retrieved his sharpening stone and began to use it on his sword.
Sphe nodded to herself and then rolled over so her belly was on the stone instead of her back. “Galain, are you nervous?”
Galain paused and looked up at Sphe while contemplating the question. “I suppose. The Riven Caverns is a dangerous place and it is a difficult quest that we have undertook. I also hear that the Queen’s influence doesn’t work inside the Caverns so if we fail that could set up back a week.”
Sphe smirked at Galain, “You worry too much. We have a good team who are all appropriate level. If there are any major problems that they couldn’t deal with then you and me will work together to beat it.”
“Your confidence is boundless.”
Sphe’s smurk turned into a grin, “Your pessimism is just weaker than my optimism.”
Galain continued to sharpen his blade and the two of the just waited there for a moment. The morning was breaking and the sun began to slowly brighten and fill the sky with light. The moons dimmed and vanished from the sky alone with the stars. The background of the other side of Sphere began to become visible through the sky although you could make out almost nothing at this distance.
Eventually Galain spoke again, “Are you going to be alright too? If we get into a major battle I might not be able to protect you. An elite in close range might be able to defeat you before I can aid you.”
“You are continuing to worry too much. I’ll be fine. I even managed to learn a few new techniques in case something like that happened.” She gave him a thumbs up to show how certain she was.
“Another new technique? At this rate you going to run out of techniques to learn. This isn’t something stupid like last time is it?”
Sphe has a look of pretend shock on her face when she send, “How dare you call my Battle Music Magic a stupid technique. It helps improve moral and makes things more enjoyable.”
“And is a total waste of mana. Really you learn the strangest useless abilities. I didn’t even know that most of those skills and techniques existed until you showed them off. You have far too much free time.” Complained Galain is a casual joking manner. Sphe had been a reliable partner for the two months that they had been working together and despite her oddities always managed to pull through in a pinch. Plus she knew more about Sphere than nearly anybody else.
Then a third voice spoke, “You two are annoying with your constant friendly bickering.” Neither Galain nor Sphe had heard the sound of him appearing. The brown cloak and hood covered his face and most of his body making it difficult to make out his features. However it seemed like his was a skinny tall man under the cloak. His voice had the annoyed quality of somebody to spent too much time complaining.
“Your early Mudon” Said Sphe.
“I’m always early.” Come the solemn response from Mudon.
“I see, your jealous that you don’t have cool Battle Music Magic like me.”
“Like I would want to learn anything that useless.” Mudon swept forward toward the burnt out camp fire and with a motion of his hand it burst back into life again. “Your time would be better spent learning useful magic instead of petty cantrips.”
Galain glared at Mudon but Sphe took his complaints in stride. “I suppose the mighty mage Mudon knows what is best. From now on I’ll only devote myself to learning useful skills like lighting camp fires.”
Sphe smiled as Mudon glared at her but he eventually decided that she wasn’t worth the effort. Instead he turned to Galain and asked, “All right, now that we are almost there we need to share information about the Riven Caverns. Surely you must have spent some time figuring out what is there.”
Galain nodded, “Yes we knows some things and I spend some more time last night checking forums about what we might expect to see. However I’m going to wait for everyone to show up. That way we won’t have to explain everything multiple times.”
Mudon grunted in acceptance and the three of the waited in gloomy silence. Mudon had managed to kill all manner of conversation. Sphe suspected it was a skill of his. As grumpy as Mudon seemed he was still a valuable party member. Not many wizards of his caliber took part in quests like this.
Magic wasn’t uncommon is Sphere but dedicated wizards like Mudon were uncommon. Instead you have people like Galain who used magic to enhance his armor and defense or Sphe who knew all sorts of random spells but lacked the focused discipline and training that made Mudan strong.
Olivia was the next to arrive, precisely on time. She wore light plate which covered most of her body. It wasn’t quite as strong as Galain’s armor but it a little lighter and more flexible. Her hair was cropped short and it was a dark reddish color. A variety of weapons were strapped to her, all in easy reach, and Sphe knew that Olivia had even more weapons stored in her inventory in case they were needed.
Olivia glanced between Sphe and Mudan before saying, “Don’t tell me you’ve been standing around silently waiting for my arrival. This sort of gloom will just make it harder for us to pass the Riven Caverns.”
Olivia’s arrival brightened Sphe up. She stood and moved over toward Olivia. Olivia was more practical then serious so it was easier for Sphe to like her than Mudon.
Galain compared them while they stood side by side and they were a stark contrast. Sphe was short and young looking while Olivia was much bigger and heavier set. Olivia wasn’t as tall as Galain but only by an inch or two. Olivia has a lean dangerous figure while Sphe had a more relax friendly look.
Comparing them Galain didn’t know which one he thought was more dangerous. It was hard to tell because Olivia was a straight fighter with no skill in magic, an unusual thing in Sphere. Mages had an advantage in PvP so he suspected that Sphe would win in a straight fight between them, despite her looks she was dangerous. However in a dungeon like the one they were about to enter Olivia were gold. Not relying on mana gave her a level of consistency that none of the rest of them had.
She was also a stabilizing influence on the party. Mudon respected her practicality and skill and that helped keep them from all splitting up.
Neil was the last to arrive in a fashionably late manner. He was in blatant violation of the fantasy visual standard of Sphere by wearing a black suit. It looked good but it looked out of place regardless of where he went. Other than his suit he was rather normal in appearance except that he carried no weapon.
Sphe knew that Neil didn’t need a weapon. Neil specialized in unarmed fighting and augmented himself with magic. Unarmed combat used to be considered a subpar skill because it didn’t have the extra bonus of wielding a weapon. Neil and several others pioneered a combat style when they realized that their body could withstand much more augmentation than a weapon could.
Neil didn’t say anything when he appeared, he only tipped his hat at Galain and took a seat near the campfire. Galain clapped his hands and said, “Good, we are all here. As you all know we are heading into the Riven Caverns today and I wanted us to all go through what we know about them before we enter.”