Chapter 9: Achievement Unlocked?!

Chapter 9: Achievement Unlocked?!

“Hold on,” was all Hiral had time to say as they raced toward the wall. How strong would it be? Would they bust through or splatter against the surface? Favela... She was in front! He needed to shield her somehow, needed to...

The wall was right there, and Hiral did the only thing he could, hauling his legs up in a vain attempt to go over the wall he clearly was heading straight for. It was never going to work. His mind ran through the vectors in the split second before he hit, and he braced for the flight-ending impact...

That didn’t come.

Huh?

Hiral glanced down as his legs barely passed over the top of the wall, which somehow looked shorter—what in the...?—but he didn’t have time to dwell. Ahead of him, the island was barely more than a thin strip of land, more like a bridge covered in thick grass than an actual island. They were going to overshoot it!

Already halfway across and with the far edge coming up fast, Hiral tried to let go of the kite—his only real choice—except his fingers didn’t respond.

What is it with kites and not letting go today?

He looked down at Favela. “You need to let go. Now!”

“No!” she said, shaking her head and then burying it in his neck.

Fallen’s balls, he didn’t have time to argue or fight with her. The edge wasn’t more than seventy feet away, so he focused again on his hand. He’d held so tight, and for so long, that the joints screamed in protest as he asked them to unlock.

Come on. Come on.

Fifty feet, and the first finger came off.

Almost there.

Thirty feet, and the second came off.

He wasn’t going to make...

The other two fingers completely gave up, and Hiral’s stomach jumped into his throat as he fell. Instinct kicked in again as he wrapped his now free arm around Favela’s head and tucked his left shoulder to protect her from the worst of it.

Still, this was going to hurt.

Hiral closed his eyes as the green grass raced up to meet him, then clenched his jaw. His shoulder hit first, but the collision didn’t shatter every bone. Instead of flipping and rolling, it was like he was digging into some kind of... cushion? Still, with the momentum they’d built up, the slide—or maybe it was a skid—went on for long seconds until they finally came to a stop, and he felt something almost spongey under him.

“Favela? You okay?” he asked as he opened his eyes, finding himself half-buried in what looked like some kind of super-thick moss. But wasn’t it grass...?

“My hand kind of hurts,” she said, and looked toward where her arm was between Hiral and the thick moss.

“Yeah, I think so. The landing really wasn’t as bad as it looked thanks to this...” He trailed off as he eyed the ankle-high grass all around him. Did he... imagine... the moss?

“Give me your hand,” Seena said, standing up and offering her arm.

“Yeah, thanks,” Hiral said. Making sure he wouldn’t drop Favela, he took Seena’s hand and let her pull him to his feet. Huh, didn’t even strain her—she must have a decent Str.

“You idiot. What would I have told your father, or—Fallen’s rutting toenails—your mother, if something had happened to you?” Arty fumed as he stormed up to Hiral. “I leave you alone for five minutes, five minutes, and then somebody comes in screaming you jumped off the island! What did I say about trouble?”

“Wasn’t like I planned it,” Hiral said.

“Nobody plans getting into trouble,” Arty said, but then took a breath and seemed to visibly calm down. “Are you okay? Anything broken?” the man asked while Caaven joined the group of Nomads and quickly explained that no, Hiral was not kidnapping the girl.

“Nothing broken,” Hiral said.

“Your sword is all dirty, though,” Favela offered, giggling.

“Oh?” Hiral said as he turned his head to look at the hilt over his shoulder, dirty with earth and moss. Okay, so at least he wasn’t imagining that.

“Come on, let’s get back up to Caaven’s,” Arty said, and gestured back to the platform. “We can talk on the way. Starting with how you ever thought that was a good idea.”

“I didn’t think,” Hiral said as they walked, Seena falling in on his other side. “Kind of just... acted.”

“You have no idea how lucky you are,” Seena said quietly. “The kind of kite you grabbed wasn’t meant to be used like that. How it didn’t burst apart under the strain, I’ll never understand. Or you, doing that with one hand... What level are you anyway?”

“Ah... that’s a bit complicated,” Hiral said as they got on the platform, and Shaper Jenno stepped up in front of him, her head a solid foot above Hiral’s.

“That was impressive.” Jenno gave him a quick pat on the shoulder, then went back to stand beside Shaper Fual.

“Impressively stupid,” Arty said.

“Okay, I get it!” Hiral deadpanned. “It all worked out in the end, though, right?”

“It did,” Caaven said, joining the others as Shaper Fual lifted the platform into the air. “Really, we can’t thank you enough for what you did. With the missing party, everybody was distracted from what they should’ve been paying attention to.” The man spared a small glance at Seena. “An accident like this never should’ve happened.

“How can we thank you for saving Favela?” Caaven finished, putting his hand on the young girl’s head. By the smile she gave him, they were pretty close.

“I...” Hiral started, but the memory of the strange blue prompt flashed through his memory. Of the mention of a class. A dungeon interface, huh? What if that could help figure out what was wrong with him? Well, there was one place he could probably find something like that. “I want to go with Seena to help find her sister.

“I want to go to the surface.”Ñ00v€l--ß1n hosted the premiere release of this chapter.