The Achievement Junkie

"You're next."

"Thanks." Returning the nod, Jack didn't waver and stepped into Brunar's hands. As Jack pushed off with all his strength, Brunar added to his momentum drastically with a hard throw of his hands.

Now airborne, Jack's jaw seized while he prepared for impact with the cave floor. Like he anticipated, the light of his kari crystal grew stronger as a rock ledge came into view along with the light from Slivia and Troni.

Jack gripped the ledge the best he could and used his arms to direct his upward momentum over it. He succeeded in passing over it to safety, resulting in a hard tumble across the ground.

With a sigh of relief, Jack rolled over from his back and sat himself up. The sight of Troni crowding over the fallen Slivia wasn't his favorite but he welcomed it, nonetheless.

As Jack rose to his feet, Slivia brushed off all the dirt she could while she stood herself up with Troni's hand as a stabilizer. Jack looked back at the edge of the massive pit, expecting someone else to fly overhead.

'Catch!'

A sudden shout appeared in Jack's mind as a bundle of rope was expertly tossed over the ledge. Quickly catching on, Jack rushed to the rope and grabbed hold of the end reaching into the darkness below.

Then, a flying Brunar passed the side of Jack. The astounding height Brunar reached proved that it was most likely Maynard who launched his disciple without care for a soft landing.

Grasping the rope tightly, Jack waited for Maynard and Rydel to make their appearances.

At this moment of suspense turning to relief, an arrow shot out of the darkness and pierced into Jack's bicep. His grip wavered as Jack struggled to clench it with his full strength and groaned in pain.

Rydel, who was climbing the rope faster than a monkey chasing a bundle of bananas, felt the change of tension in the rope. When he heard Jack groaning in pain, he sped up and shouted, "Jack, are you okay?"

Jack didn't reply, keeping his focus on his grip while looking back at the others who had escaped the Nightmare Lilies. Slivia was struck in the thigh while Troni was lucky to have his armor block the shot at his waist. Brunar's tumbling had allowed him to evade the shot aimed towards him, but he instead landed on it and the fletching sticking out from the ground roughly tore the back of his kimono.

Just as Rydel got his hands on the ledge, Jack and Slivia felt a tug from the arrows embedded in their flesh. Without warning, ropes attached to the end of those arrows were made taut. Both Jack and Slivia felt themselves being yanked back, away from the rest of the party.

Brunar was busy getting up, still in a daze from his rough landing and confused as to what he landed on.

Troni saw Slivia being pulled away and quickly drew his sword. He lunged forward in an attempt to cut her free, but three more arrows appeared, two aimed at him and another at Slivia.

Pausing to deflect the arrows, Troni watched the third arrow pierce Slivia's upper torso, just under the left clavicle.

Now being pulled with twice the speed, Slivia cried in pain as she was dragged away. When she was almost ten meters away from her party, a goblin appeared in the light of her kari crystal and yanked the lit wristband from her arm. Slivia and the goblin were quickly swallowed up in darkness and Slivia's cries became muffled until they appeared nonexistent.

At the same time, Jack yelled, "Hey!" as he was pulled away from the pit's edge in a separate direction.

Lucky for Rydel, he had grabbed the ledge and let go of the rope the moment he felt the unexpected yet forceful pull from Jack.

Refusing to let go, Jack yelled back to Rydel, "Grab the rope!"

Peeking over the edge while hearing Slivia's cries and Jack's shouts, Rydel noticed the dire situation. He hurriedly pulled himself up to one knee and grabbed hold of the rope.

Rydel's death grip on the rope caused it to instantly grow taut, leaving Jack in the middle. "Aaagghh!" Jack yelled as his body felt like it was being pulled in half from his arms. He could end the agony by letting go, but that was the one thing Jack refused to do at that moment.

Caught in the middle, Jack steadied both feet under him and leaned toward Rydel the best he could.

Not wasting the little help Jack offered him, Rydel braced his arms and pulled back with all his might.

"AAAAAGGGHHH!!"

Jack's lungs almost gave out from the force of his pained shouts. But Jack was happy to be tugged because he could feel the arrow's grip on his muscles weaken.

Another arrow quickly shot out and tried to pierce one of Jack's legs, trying to remove his footing. With great strain and aid from his evasion and perceptions skills, Jack tried to evade it. He managed to keep it from gripping his flesh, but it grazed his calf and forced Jack to crash against the floor.

With the tug-of-war at a standstill, Rydel briefly let go with one hand. At that moment, he pulled out another small knife and aimed the other rope attached to Jack's arm. The shot was difficult, but Rydel's "True aim" skill allowed him to nick the rope.

Seeing the weakened rope slowly unraveling, Jack groaned as he forced himself back to his feet and leaned back towards Rydel.

Unable to hold on any longer the rope snapped, and Jack collapsed to the ground.

A third arrow was shot at Jack but Rydel reflexively drew his bow and nocked two arrows before he launched at full speed. One arrowed collided with the enemy's while the other flew into the darkness, aimed at the hidden archer. Rydel had seen two arrows come from the same direction, confirming the enemy's position and allowing him to strike back.

Rydel's arrow pierced its target and the party heard a shrill cry. Rushing to help Jack, Rydel kept himself ready to strike back but no other attack arrived.

Assuming that the target fled, Rydel looked to the other side. When he saw Brunar painfully getting up and Troni being pushed back by arrows, the now distant Slivia had her kari crystal wristband ripped from her.

As Slivia vanished in the darkness, Rydel was at war between his emotions and his duties as a party captain.

"Hey! Why'd ya take the rope?" Maynard shouted from the bottom of the pit.

Reluctant to do or say anything, Rydel remained frozen for a moment of thought.

"Oh, there it is!" Maynard yelled as he saw the rope a couple of meters off the ground. The ronin jumped and grabbed hold of the rope while repelling a few black tendrils.

Jack, who was still firmly gripping the rope from the insane surge of adrenaline he just experienced, felt his body jerk back towards the pit. Unable to hold himself back, he was dragged across the rough cave floor towards the dark abyss.

"What the..." Maynard was startled when he started to fall back towards the ground with the unanchored rope in hand.

Forced to recognize the strange development by Jack's sudden movement, Rydel again grabbed the rope. With him as the new anchor, Jack came to a stop and Maynard flew up the rope to barely avoid entanglement with another Nightmare Lily.

Maynard heaved a sigh of relief as he grabbed the ledge, happy he was through with wasting the little MP he had left. However, his emotions quickly fluctuated when he noticed the disarrayed party.

"What happened?" asked Maynard, focusing on the collapsed Jack with an arrow sticking out of his arm.

Rydel wearily looked at Maynard, revealing his disparity with a glance. "We lost Slivia."

The ronin's eyes exploded wide open as he searched for the cleric. Seeing only his disciples in awkward stances, Maynard's posture shrunk for the first time during the mission. Maynard asked in a hushed tone, "Goblins?"

"Yeah," answered Rydel, pointing at the rope forcibly attached to Jack by the arrow.

"This changes things," commented Maynard.

Jack was so caught up in his turmoil that he had failed to notice Slivia's struggle and disappearance. Hearing them mention Slivia's capture, Jack's tired head flopped to the other side.

When he saw Troni standing awkwardly amidst some fallen arrows and Brunar with a depressed look on his face, Jack was forced to wake up and smell the roses.

A terrible ache appeared in his chest, yearning for Slivia to come back. He remembered the terror he saw in her eyes just moments earlier and her reluctance to release Jack's hand. The pained tears in her eyes were a fresh memory that solidified itself in Jack's heart.

In the back of his head, Jack wished that Troni was the one they had taken. Troni had refused to let Slivia go first and was only lucky to have the armor that Jack had given up.

The pain in Jack's heart had taken root and the only solution would be to get Slivia back, alive.