3

"Target up front!"
"Yeah yeah!"

As Icarus neared the half-burnt city of Prontera, he sensed that something was really wrong. Since when had zombies and ghouls who rose from the grave decided to do some serious demolishing? Drawing his Ring Pommel Sabre, Icarus felt a feeling of deep foreboding and he tensed himself. This would be his first time dueling with monsters of human-sized, if not, dead humans. Suddenly, Icarus heard a scream from one of the acolytes caring for a wounded knight's wound. Around them are several pieces of rotten anatomy. Icarus glanced at the scene and he realized that, like in his dream, one of the corpses had exploded and the skeleton rose, using a another dead corpse's spine as a short sword. The acolyte was weakly force-healing the skeleton, but the skeleton only paused to absorb the damage and continued forward. As Icarus had been raised in an honorable family and they had instilled the spirit of chivalry within him, he threw a stone at the skeleton.

The acolyte saw a young and possibly inexperienced swordsman with a sabre of sorts walk towards her. As the skeleton turned its head towards her, she gasped in horror. Luckily, that swordsman threw a stone at the skeleton and it directed its attention towards him. Still panting, she concentrated most of her energy on the wounded knight while focusing some of her attention on the young swordsman.

The skeleton turned its skull 180 degrees, and turned towards Icarus. This would be his first fight. Icarus tensed his arm muscles and held up his Ring Pommel Sabre. Recalling everything his mentor taught him, he summoned energy from his body and brought the sabre down on the skeleton. The skeleton flinched and stabbed Icarus's thigh with the spine.

"Argh...!" This is more difficult that he thought.

"Why didn't it fall? I... must... get rid of it!" Icarus summoned his energy, and brought the sabre down on the skeleton with a resounding crack. The skeleton attacked Icarus again, but he dodged that nearly-fatal stab by flicking it slightly away with his sabre.

Icarus looked at the skeleton, noticed that the acolyte was looking at him earnestly, and looked at the skeleton again. He took a deep breath, and summoning all the energy he can get, he brought the sabre down on the skeleton again. Light shone around Icarus as he bashed the skeleton and the skeleton crumbled into a heap.

"Level 10 Bash..." Icarus mumbled, looking at the skeleton bones satisfyingly. He had finally achieved the ultimate level of his favourite attack. Most of his enemies fall within 1 attack, but the first monster he met in his first major quest took him 3 hits, and he had nearly fell. His faith had been badly shaken. Glancing at the acolyte, he realized that she was still half-curled up with her hand stretched towards the space where the skeleton once was. There was a frightened expression on her face and she one of her half-closed eyes was looking at Icarus timidly.

"Look..." Icarus's expression soften. "I am here to help."

"Can you?"

"I know that Prontera is suffering a... crisis."

"There are too little warriors and too many opponents..."

"I know I can help, and with all my strength I will, and must."

"What's your name?"

"Rivea. Yours?"

"Icarus."

Helping Rivea to half-carry the knight, Icarus walked in front, with his sabre held ready. Rivea followed behind with her hands over the knight, with her eyes half-closed concentrating on healing the knight.

"I just became an acolyte... I thought Prontera was safe... never did I thought..."
"Look, it's alright. I'm here, don't worry."

They continued the stretch towards the Prontera Sanctuary without incident, neither one speaking to each other, walking in the awkward silence. Glancing at the destruction around them, Rivea recalled the first time when she experienced such a nasty phenomena...

"Yuna, Mother Mathana wants to meet you at the side of the church," Rivea's best friend and fellow acolyte, Riala, prodded Rivea. She had an unusually serious look on her face.
"Ah... ok. I'll be there soon after I've finished cleaning up my room."

At the side of church, Mother Mathana had a grave and solemn expression. Realizing that something serious had happened, Rivea quickened her pace and approached Mother Mathana.

"What's wrong, Reverend Mother?"
"Something serious had happened..."
"The people are peaceful, crime had been brought to an all-time low..."

Mother Mathana put up her hand signalling Rivea to stop talking.

"This is about... different things..." Mother Mathana looked at the young acolyte and was not sure how to break the news to her. Everyone knew, and was prepared, but this new acolyte still was still naive, and she was not sure how to tell her.

Rivea had a confused expression on her face.

Mother Mathana looked at the young face untainted by the evils of this world, and sighed inwardly. She hardened her face and began in a grave tone.

"This might be your first time, Rivea, but the zombies have risen from their graves. As you have read from the Prontera Sanctuary Archives, this isn't the first time that this had happened."

Rivea had taken the news very seriously and had been advised to stay in the Sanctuary, and that is what she did, hurrying about with other rookie acolytes creating as much holy water as possible.

As Icarus and Rivea neared the burning Prontera Square, she prodded Icarus to move to the left to avoid a dead Prontera soldier. Tears welling up in her eyes, she remembered that this was the soldier who often gave her directions to the different locations of the many Prontera Libaries. Swallowing back her sobs to prevent that swordsman from worrying about her, she thought of what happened almost recently.

"Rivea! Quick, our defenders are seriously wounded! We do not have enough acolytes, and the priests are trying to keep up the Holy Sanctuary around our Church. Head towards Prontera Square, and go to your right. We have received psychic intelligence that there's a wounded knight there. Don't bother about the rest in that area. They have... ascended."

Yuna had took some holy water, put it in her small bag, and practically half-ran towards the location, guarded by 2 swordsmen. Grief clouded her heart as she remembered how these 2 swordsmen had given their lives to ensure her safety. Without a guard, she avoided most of the battles and finally found the wounded knight. Unfortunately, a skeleton had risen, and here, this swordsman have came like an angel, to protect her. She glanced at him again. He had a pained expression in his grimaced face as he bit his lip and continued the walk towards the Church, readjusting his grip on the wounded knight every now and then.

This tragedy was too serious. There were too many casaulties. All Rivea hoped was that Icarus and the rest of the defenders would not to be one of them.

2

With a sharp whiz, the arrow hit its mark. Archer Joe clapped. On the target board in Archer Village, there are 5 arrows lined up in a straight line. The first arrow was stuck on the center of the target, while the other 4 arrows stuck to the arrow before, making it look like some kind of long wooden procession. Arklen Korhal smiled for the first time today. Today is the Archer Village's Annual Archer Contest. In order to instill a competitive nature and to make sure the fitness levels of the archers stay up, the mayor of Archer Village set up this contest. The winner would get a free month's tutorage to learn the archer skill, Arrow Repel. This skill enables the archer to let go an arrow at such a fast pace that the enemy will get stunned slightly and pushed back with the force of a boulder. Arklen tied his Critical Gakkung behind his back and walked to the Contest area. Looking at his faithful bow, Arklen recalled the background behind his bow...

He was only a child travelling with his family. They had originated from Geffen, but the high prices of Geffen City made them travel. His father was a hunter, his mother, a dancer. His father made a living by hunting animals for food and accepting small quests to rid tiny villages of bandits. His mother helped the family income by providing entertainment for the villagers in Inns and Pubs. Ever since seeing his father's ability to fire arrows at nearly the same speed as an assassin's attack and seeing the way his father fires arrows gracefully, he had wanted to be a hunter. While walking around Payon, and on a trip to Archer Village, the zombies of Payon Cave started to get out of hand and moved out of Payon Cave, assaulting Archer Village, killing and converting all in their path. In the midst of the chaos, he had lost his parents, and he wasn't even sure whether they are still alive. Rindus Crake, on of the village's most powerful and the kindest man ever found in Payon, had taken Arklen back to his house and fathered him as any normal father will do.

When he thought of Rindus Crake, Arklen's tears started to build up in his eyes, and he wiped them off with his glove.

Not long before, a group of bandits had attacked Archer Village again. The archers and hunters of the village had risen up to the invasion, but the bandits were purely evil, slashing and burning all in their path. Men, women, children. They slaughtered all. While running for his life, Arklen chanced upon a horrible scene. The body of Rindus Crake was found, with several knives and swords stuck into his body. Rindus Crake had been lost in the battle, with the bodies of 25 bandits beside him. Rindus Crake had died defending his very hometown. Rindus Crake had died a hero.

Arklen tried to stop thinking about the past, but the image of his Critical Gakkung brought back fresh memories of the tragedy.

Arklen had stopped running, and he tried to not think about the way Rindus Crake had treated him. Kind, benevolent and fun. Arklen felt a deep anger boiling inside his body, and rushing forward, he grabbed Rindus Crake and shook his body, but deep inside, he knew that Rindus Crake was lost. Not bothering to wipe the tears off his face, Arklen felt a deep calm inside him when he picked up his foster father's Critical Gakkung.

Arklen paused to remember what his foster father said to him about the Critical Gakkung.

"Arklen my boy, my father gave my this Gakkung when I became a hunter. As I assisted in many anti-undead skirmishes, I had chanced upon this Skeleton Soldier card while fighting for my lives in the Pyramids. My other comrades have died, but this is the very card that helped me survive. I pushed this card into my Gakkung and sealed the card hatch, and felt this immeasurable power in my hands. Using this Critical Gakkung, I had scored plenty of lucky hits on Mummies and Skeleton Archers in order to run out of the Pyramids alive. Remember this well."

Arklen then had took his foster father's sharp quivers, and had aided his village in the invasion. Soon, Arklen had injured many bandits and killed a couple with the force of the Critical Gakkung, Sharp Arrows, and the warmth of Rindus Crake. The bandits were killed, the invasion was quelshed, but the hole in his heart started to open. Ever losing his father, he had been parentless until Rindus Crake came in to fill the gap. Now, Rindus Crake was gone too. At Rindus Crake's funeral, everyone in Archer Village, as well as an amazing number of townspeople from Payon, came to attend his funeral. Rindus Crake had died a hero. The warmth of his touch would remain in everyone's hearts.

Shaking off the sad memories in his heart, Arklen Korhal walked towards the Contest Area with a new determination. With Rindus Crake's Critical Gakkung, Arklen would win this contest. For Rindus, and for himself.

1

A majestic dragon with gold scales and silver claws rose to the evening sun, with several dark shapes slithering swiftly after it in the golden sky. As the dragon twisted and twirled, trying to escape the unforgiving shadows, it gave a magnificent roar, but the dark shapes continued their chase relentlessly. Soon, the phantoms caught up with the dragon. The dragon roared frustratingly, but the evil silhouettes swirled around the dragon, and the dragon cried out in pain. Not long after, the dark shapes let go of the dragon. A mass of gold stopped moving and fell from the sky, and a white, translucent figure of a dragon followed the shadows in the sky...

"Icarus!", a hollow cry sounded after the little boy. As he watched the mist of fire and death, he saw his very own villagers being butchered before his very eyes. McGrudger, the vegetable seller, was cut by a dark figure, and from the boy's very eyes, McGrudger's body exploded and its skeleton rose, grinning evilly. His village is gone. His parents are gone. His family is gone. The destruction of it all shook his very soul and the boy was not sure if he could take it any more...

A young man awoke, sweat glistening on his forehead. The sun was still in the midst of rising, and he could smell the fresh air of morning. Icarus wiped the sweat off his forehead and donned his Swordsman Armor. He could not remember seeing that scene before. Putting his Blade into his sheath and pushing the nightmare out of his mind, Icarus walked out to Izlude Square. He could still feel the joy of being accepted into the Swordsman Guild. After years of serious training as a child, he could finally become a swordsman.

"Hey Icarus!" His mentor, an experienced knight, held him on the shoulder as he was walking.
A grin flittered across Icarus and went away as quickly when his mentor told him about his new mission.

"Prontera seems to be... unclean for the moment."

"Huh?" Icarus was confused.

"The zombies have seemed to have risen from their graves, and the townspeople of Prontera are getting... uncomfortable."

Icarus knew that the zombies have killed some of the people of Prontera, from the solemn tone of his mentor's voice.

"I need you to destroy those zombies. It might violate the rules of non-corpse-mutilation, but they aren't corpse any more. As long as I'm concerned, they aren't corpses. They're monsters."

Icarus have heard of unnatural things like this happening before.

"But won't they just rise again?"

"The acolytes are trying their best to create holy water to pour on the graves. But it isn't enough. Similarly, the priests are trying to hold off the zombies, but there seem to be too many of them. I have heard from reports that there are ghouls too."

Icarus cursed under his breath.

"Here are some food to last you on your journey. Take these few orange potions as well. I'll give you a base-refined Ring Pommel Sabre. You'll need something stronger than that blade of yours to cut those zombies. Now, go!"

Icarus exchanged his blade for the Ring Pommel Sabre and started on his journey to Prontera. Luckily for him, Izlude is just but a satellite city of Prontera, thus the two towns are very close. Icarus felt a slight happiness in his heart for a base-refined sword is a sword that has been refined to its maximum 'safe point'. He could see some traces of shine from the semi-strong ore, emveretarcon, welded together with the Ring Pommel Sabre. Sheathing his sabre, Icarus put the food and potions into his haversack and began walking towards Prontera.