Expedition:Overdrive

Chapter 3

A week later, I cleared about five levels. I walked inside an inn and sat down on a hide couch in the lobby of the inn. The inn wasn't crowded and the only people inside the inn was me, the inn keeper, and a lute player. I munched on a piece of bread and watched the fire pop and crackle in the cobble stone fire place. Suddenly, Culir popped up behind me and grabbed my shoulders. "Hey!" he shouted. I jumped up and started choking on my bread. "Oh crap!" Culir said as he started to pound on my back. I finally spit up the piece of bread and started gasping for air. "That would've been bad of you died choking on bread," Culir said as he rubbed the back of his head. I glared at him.

I climbed back up on the hide couch and slumped over. "Hey, I see you got a new coat," Culir said, changing the subject. I just recently received a new coat from the last monster I had defeated. It was navy blue, with sliver buttons all the way up its sleeves, and shoulder armor pads. "Thanks, I see you got a new outfit too," I said. Culir had a long sleeved, white shirt on, with a leather vest over it. The vest had brown wooden buttons on it. He was also wearing brown pants with tanned, leather boots. "Are you going to church or something?" I asked as I died out with laughter. The same way Henry laughed at me when I did something retarded. Culir punched me in the arm. "No! It's all they had for sixty three coins!" Culir pouted.

I wiped my eyes and finally quit laughing. "Are you done?" Culir asked me with a sour tone. I nodded and looked back up at him. "So anyways, I have this clan and we were wondering if you'd join the group. We were going to try and clear the eighth stage tomorrow night." I have always thought about joining a group, and why not join with Culir? "Sure. Sounds cool. Why not?" I said smiling. Culir grinned and sent me an invite to his group.

Later that night, I walked down the cobble stone road to the restaurant I was suppose to meet them at. I looked around at the small, wooden houses and buildings. I walked right in front of a small hut and looked over at the hanging sign from the post. "The Hungry Dragon," I said reading the wooden sign, with a picture of a dragon eating a bear on it. I walked inside of the restaurant quietly. The place wasn't crowded at all and the place had a smokey smell to it. I sat down at the bar area, and rubbed the soft, wooden table with my index finger. The stools had rough leather covering the seats that made me keep having to rearrange my butt. A girl with short blonde hair and blue highlights came up to me and tapped my shoulder. I turned around and looked at her. She was wearing a blue top that only covered her chest, a brown mini skirt, a silver belt with a big heart buckle on the front, and brown ankle boots. She leaned down as if she was supposedly showing me her cleavage. I tried not to look and made awkward eye contact with her. "You Aldan?" she asked me. I swallowed the sweat forming in my mouth and nodded. I felt my face getting warm. Suddenly, I felt her grab my arm. She pulled me to a round, wooden table in the back of the restaurant where Culir and two other guys sat. 

"Hey! You made it!" Culir said getting up. I sat down and gave a shy smile and wave. "This is the guy? He's young though! Like, young young!" the girl said. I was getting pretty tired of being called "young" when I am only fifteen. I've seen eleven year old kids in this game. "I'm fifteen," I groaned as I looked at her. "I'm seventeen. Culir is about twenty two, and those guys, Durai and Faris, are twenty." I rolled my eyes. "That guy over there is Durai. He's the leader, so do what he says and DON'T piss him off," the girl said. She was pointing to a guy with a white muscle top, navy green pants, and a military haircut. "That guy with the cloak on is Faris. He knows all sorts of spells." She was now pointing to a guy with a shaved head, glasses, and a dark green cloak. "I suppose you know Culir already, and I am Erin," she said smiling with a hand on her hip.

"So, Aldan is it? What level are you exactly? Culir kept telling us all about you, and we wanted to know if it was all true, or all talk," Durai said as he got up from the table and walked towards me. I opened my menu, and went to my Player Status. "Level 16 is what it says," I said. "Are you for real real?" Erin yelled with a high pitched voice. I nodded. "Come look if you don't believe me!" I said. They all walked over and looked at my status. "See? What did I tell ya? Isn't he a keeper?" Culir said with a cocky tone and his arms crossed. Faris looked over at Durai. "Are you keeping him? I think he'd make a good add-on to the team if you ask me," Faris said. Durai cleared his throat and stood up straight. "Fine! He can join!" he said.

After dinner, we stayed at the inn Culir surprised me at earlier. We were all sitting in the lobby, drinking ale.  "So, you ready for tomorrow?" Culir asked us. "Yep. I heard from someone that the monster we have to slay is called an Axel. It's tail is as sharp as an axe, and can cut you in just three strikes." Durai said as he finished his cup of ale. "So that must be how it has its name, huh?" Faris said as he put his cup down. "The rumor I heard was that this clan was trying to defeat it, but they didn't have the right weapons or something. In just one attack, the Axel killed them all," I said. Everyone stared at me with shock. "Are you serious?" Erin asked me. "That's just was I heard," I said. Durai looked at me. "Well, what kind of weapons do we need?" he said. "I heard that the monster dies quicker if you have either black magic or black flames," I said. Luckily, I had bought this sword a few days ago with my earnings of quest. It was a big, black sword, with a silver outline around the sides. The blade was thick, but really sharp. I also had it custom made to have black flames at the tip of it to make it do more damage. All I really needed now was a carrier strap, that I attached to the back of my coat to carry my sword. 

Later, I walked up the squeaky, wooden stairs and up to my room. The first thing I did when I got inside, was flop down on the bed. It was made of animal fur and hide, but it was really comfortable. As I took my coat off, I heard Erin and Durai start to laugh. I laid my coat on the wooden chest in front of my bed, and slowly walked to the door to listen. I saw that they were all inside Durai's room, and that his door was ajar. "So what are you going to do with this guy? His level makes US look bad!" I heard Faris loudly whisper. "Shut up! He'll hear you! Now, we can't just kick him out of the clan, so, we'll just kill him," Durai whispered. My eyes widened. They were going to kill me? I listened closely. "How about this. When the Axel is about to strike and Aldan is about to attack, we'll 'accidentally' trip him! The Axel will surely kill him so we won't have to. It's perfect!" Erin said with pride. Durai rubbed her head. "Good thinking. And we'll just tell it Culir it was an accident and act all sympathetic and shit." Faris and Erin started to laugh. "Perfect! Let's put the kid in the front attack line though," Faris whispered. Durai silently chuckled. "Perfect! It's all perfect!" Durai said laughing. "So it's settled then? We'll 'kill' the kid?" Erin said. Durai smirked and held her hand. "That's just what we'll do." They all started to laugh silently.

I quietly slammed the door, locked it, and laid down on my bed and thought. They were seriously going to kill me?! Should I tell Culir? I rolled over and thought for a second. "No, he wouldn't believe me if I told him," I said quietly to myself. I couldn't kill them. One reason was because Culir would hate me forever, and he was like a brother to me. The second reason was because I would be labeled  as an outlaw, and anyone could kill me if I did. I pulled the blankets up the my chin and thought for a long time. Finally, I fell asleep and didn't even know it.