Barrier complete, but at what cost?

John floated in an endless void, his mind reeling from what had just happened, did it even happen? His train of thought was interrupted when he saw Ellie’s lifeless body fall from above and slam into an unseeable surface only a foot below him. Her extremely pale body began twisting and turning in inhuman ways before she stood looking directly at him.

Her eyes were red, and her body was beaten and covered in blood and mushrooms. “You did this to me John!,” she accused. “I am dead and it’s all your fault!”

John couldn’t say a thing; he couldn’t even move. It was like he’d been frozen and was only able to listen. “I don’t even know why I hung out with such a worthless nerd loser in the first place, maybe I was taking pity on you, but that was obviously a mistake, wasn’t it, John!?”

She walked around him; her body radiated an uneasy, unnatural aura. She stopped right in front of him again. “You almost got me killed when you dragged me into another world, John! If it weren’t for that fairy, I would have already died then and there… The only problem is, that was only delaying the inevitable, wasn’t it? You should have realised it was a bad idea to split up, in a world, we didn’t know, but instead, I was all alone to face those things, and in the end, and all you could do was pathetically watch as I died.

“Now my body will be used as a feasting ground for those fungi and you are the one to blame. John, you are the worst thing that could have happened to me, JOHN!”

“John,” her voice took on a more sombre tone and tears streamed down her face, “John, wake up, please!”

John felt his body lurch and shake. “John!” Ellie’s voice rang in his ears. His eyes, which he was sure were already open, cracked to allow light to come through. The first thing he saw was Ellie’s face streaked with tears with the treetops behind her. “Oh thank god!” she cried as she wrapped her arms around him.

John’s eyes began to fill with tears, distorting his vision. “I’m sorry,” he croaked, “I’m sorry, I didn’t protect you, I wasn’t there, I dragged you into another dangerous situation. I’m sorry I fell in love with you and I’m sorry that you ever had to meet me and I’m sorr-.”

Ellie let go of him, causing his back to thud back onto the ground. Her hand swung towards his face. SLAP, it stung like a bitch. John stopped babbling and laid on the ground, tears still streaming across his face.

“You shouldn’t be sorry for any of those things! None of it was your fault, I suggested splitting up, I stayed to fight when I should have continued running, I chose to follow you on these adventures…” Ellie paused. “...D-did you just say you loved me?”

Tears still rolled down his face but his cheeks began to flush. He swallowed hard and nodded. Ellie’s hand brushed up against his sore cheek, causing him to flinch. She let out a giggle before her lips firmly pressed against his. He moaned into her and his arms wrapped around her body pulling her down on top of him. The kiss became more passionate, and soon John felt Ellie’s tongue lashing at his lips, which he happily opened, joining her in a fierce battle.

After five or so minutes of kissing and groping, they parted. Ellie rested her head on his shoulder and John tightly wrapped his arms around her, refusing to let go. That’s when he noticed the notification in the corner of his vision; he absentmindedly tapped it to get a window to appear.

Quest completed!

Penalties: Party member died. XP and cash reward are halved.
250xp
$500
Yew Ash
Belladonna Root
Powdered Ectoplasm
200xp

Ding Level up: Level 6
+5 skill points

John was glad to see the level up, but seeing the penalty, his heart sunk and he began feeling extremely guilty again.

[Just don’t let it happen outside of an instant dungeon or training barrier.]

John sighed. ’The description of the barrier could have at least said that…’

[What did you think failure meant? You wouldn’t get half-XP if you were dead, would you?]

’I guess…’ Rather than arguing he internally celebrated that Ellie was still fine and alive. ’I need to get her something, something that could help her with her alchemy stuff maybe? Something that will potentially help her get stronger so that this never happens again... I probably shouldn’t disturb Wentworth with this, but she’s the only one I could really ask about it.’

John enjoyed cuddling with Ellie, it was only made that much better that they were in a wooded area of the park not far from a stream making the environment extremely serene.

Lying for a little while, Ellie finally spoke up, “So, did I collect the reward for both of us? If so I should probably give you your half of the cash, right? And I’m guessing that you don’t have use for dried Lavender, bone meal or red aloe, right?”

John blinked, thinking. “Uh, I guess we both got rewards separately, and that means you probably want the ingredients that I got too.” He put on a smile, taking them out of his inventory and allowing her to store them before hugging her tightly again.

After a few more moments, stroking up and down Ellie’s back, he looked at his phone to see that his time was almost up, “Hey Ellie, I really don’t want to leave, especially with what just happened, but I have to get back to school.”

“Okay, that’s fair. Maybe I can meet you for lunch or dinner tomorrow? After you negotiate getting extra credit from your sexy teacher?” She giggled.

John let out a dry laugh. “Yeah, something normal sounds great. I think I need to have a movie night or something with my mom too, though, because she’s been feeling a little abandoned since I’ve been out of the house more this week than I have been in the past couple years.”

“I think a movie night is called for then, and you better let her pick the movie without complaining about it. You can deal with a couple hours of watching a movie you don’t want to watch,” she demanded while pinching his arm.

“Good idea, but what gives you the impression I would complain about the movie? My mom happens to have great taste in movies, and even if she didn’t, I know that she has put up with watching more than a few terrible movies that I’ve chosen,” John defended himself.

They both stood and briskly walked back towards the edge of the park. John saw the bus stop and, lucky for him, no one was around.

John remembered something and reached his hand out, touching the bus stop.

Fast travel location discovered: Umber Park

He nodded, glad that he now had more locations, and reached out touching it again.

Fast travel locations:

• Old Spring Forest
• Lower East Side
• The Milton Hotel

He internally chastised himself for not touching the Ashcroft Academy stop but quickly got over it when the bus he needed finally arrived. John stood from the bench, leaning down to give Ellie a kiss. “Love you, I’ll see you later,” he said jumping on the bus.

“Ah, wha?” Ellie stammered, her face blushing.

He took a seat and waved goodbye to Ellie as he went. Only a moment later did he receive a text.

< E: That’s the second time you’ve said that now xx >

He genuinely smiled to himself for the first time since leaving the barrier and replied.

< J: It is, isn't it? Oh well, I’m not going to take either of them back xx >

< E: ¬.¬ >

< E: I love you too xx >

The last message caused his smile to grow into the goofiest one he’d ever had.

< J: You’ve said it now! You can’t take it back either because I screenshotted it xx >

< E: you dork! I wouldn’t take it back after saying it anyway xx >

< J: say you love me then call me names, I’m getting really mixed signals here. Hey, I’m gonna get off now, my stop is next. I’ll text you later, love you xx >

< E: Good luck with the evil teachers :P xx >

He stood and got off the bus. Before going anywhere else, he tapped the bus stop.

Fast travel location discovered: Ashcroft Academy

He nodded and walked towards school, quickening his pace after hearing the bell.

He wasn’t able to focus on maths. As soon as the room had quietened down while the other students got on with their work, John’s only thoughts were of what had happened in the barrier. It kept him from his assignment, and even with Vanessa squirming next to him, his thoughts wouldn’t be pried from what could have been Ellie’s actual ****. He opened his character sheet hoping for a distraction and looked at his stats. He put points into strength and endurance, bringing them up to 20, and then brought agility up to 18. Unfortunately, that distraction only lasted for a minute before his thoughts returned to the barrier.

His next class was history with Mrs. Wentworth. His lesson was spent in much the same way as maths; he did notice Vanessa’s frustrated and twitchy state but didn’t give much attention to it. He waited for everyone to leave before approaching Wentworth. “My office,” she stated flatly as she stood.

He followed her into her office and was pulled into a barrier again. “Something happened to you? I’m not going to pry but I know that look. I’m guessing you need something from me?”

“What will it take for you to tell me if there are any magic stores or anything? Specifically, anything to do with alchemy,” John inquired.

Wentworth sighed, “I’m not about to take you to the Inferno to visit Greed and I have an… aversion to the Abyssal Auction.” She grabbed a piece of paper and began scribbling before sliding it over to John. He looked down to see an address. “Make sure the store is empty before asking for anything and don’t mention me.”

She began going about her business while leaving John standing confused. “Didn’t you say you wouldn’t help me for free anymore?”

Wentworth let out a long drawn out sigh. “John I am many things and will do many things to accomplish my goals, that doesn’t mean I am evil or will take advantage of someone, and right now I can tell that whatever happened has left you in a somewhat **** state, so just treat this as me being kind and don’t expect it to happen every time something happens to you.”

With that, John felt a familiar feeling of coming out of a barrier and was back in Wentworth’s actual office, alone.

John left the school and loaded up his GPS as he started walking to the store Wentworth had pointed him towards. John’s mind was almost empty as he walked, and before he knew it, he was standing outside of an old looking building. The facade of the store was dark varnished wood with the store name in gold on an old hanging sign, “Ancient Wisdom”.

John entered and was hit by a myriad of smells. Looking around he could see candles, soaps, incense, bath bombs, dream catchers, and crystals… Before becoming part of the Abyss, he would probably have said this would be where all the crazy people shop for their magic home remedies. Now, though, he couldn’t say if any of those ‘natural’ cures weren’t at least some partial truth.

He walked around the store, casting observe on everything, but other than the crystals, the other items were just ordinary, of course. He looked at the quartz and picked up a bunch of the largest ones before continuing around the room. There weren’t many people in the store. Other than him, there was a goth looking guy and the cute clerk. She was amazingly curvy in all the right places, and the short red kimono she wore didn’t hide that figure at all. Especially her chest which almost burst out of it. She wasn’t as big as his mother or June, but that wasn’t a fair comparison. Her hair was extremely long and auburn. John thought she looked as if she might be half-Japanese but couldn’t be sure, and her hazel eyes were warm and welcoming as was the smile that adorned her cute face.

John continued to rummage around until, finally, the guy bought a couple boxes of incense and left. John picked up some ingredients he assumed Ellie could make use of, dried lavender, sage, white sage, sage wood, and some boxes of weird resin. Then he made his way over to the counter where the girl gave him a wide smile. “Good afternoon, how can I help you on this beautiful day?” Her voice was very soft and friendly.

John placed his items on the counter. “Uhm, well I was sent here by… an acquaintance who said you might be able to help me with alchemy supplies.”

Suddenly, he heard a snap and a slam came from behind him. He turned to see wooden shutters closing by themselves, the open sign turning to “closed” and the interior thin wooden doors snapping shut. The room became dark until small balls of free-floating fire ignited around the room, much like the candles in Harry Potter but… without the candles. Once everything had settled down, John turned back to the girl, jumping a little in surprise at seeing rounded animal ears poking out from her head and a large bushy tail swaying behind her.

Please don't forget to leave a like if you enjoyed the chapter, it helps me know what people like and also gives me more motivation when writing the next chapters.

Feel free to buy me a coffee if you enjoy my branch enough or sign up for the membership which gives you access to early chapters and my private discord.