Take Down Chapter 63: Exploring Level 5

The red line popped up on the angle you had chosen and you heard the whip crack but kept your body and eyes facing forward so you could keep tabs on where the whisper was from the corner of your eye.

Because you were closer to the waterfall, the light sheen of glittery water obscured your vision and you weren’t sure of you had managed to hit the whisper or not.

There was no noise from that direction either.

“Did I get it?” you asked Hansu once your move ended.

“Nope.” Came the reply.

“Damn,” you grunted.

You sighed and headed closer to the waterfall.

“Don’t you want to come back a bit so you can see better?” Hansu called. 

“No. I need to get good no matter what the surrounding landscape is doing,” you called back.

“Well this surrounding landscape is about to change because times up,” Hansu said cheekily.

“Ugh,” you groaned, “why does 2 hours go so fast?!”

“We’ll come back tomorrow,” he replied.

“I’m running out of time because next week is mission week,” you said, walking back to Hansu, “and I won’t be able to practice anymore.” 

“I think you’ve done very well given the short time frame.”

“I can be better,” you mumbled, ignoring another whisper flittering in the corner of your vision, “I’ll be back later…”

………………………………

True to your word you were back in game shortly after midnight and opened your eyes in the lounge of Butterfli3 and O/N’s house beside the still sleeping Migata.

“I hope he doesn’t notice that his avatar has been used while he’s been away doing his exams,” you thought, standing up and walking to the front door.

You stepped out and called for Ægir to come forth, shielding your face as water flew in from all directions and manifested into your fierce companion.

Ægir whinnied in greeting and his ears pricked towards you as he lowered his head and nuzzled into your chest.

You chuckled and wrapped your hand around under his watery cool chin, rubbing back and forth up under his head and neck as you placed your other hand on the bridge of his nose and rubbed between his white eyes.

“Ready to go exploring on your level today, Gir? (Pronounced: Geir)”

He nudged you and whickered, his ears flicking back and forth as he listened to you speak.

You smiled and let go of his head, walking around to his shoulder and giving it a little pat. His watery body was cool under your fingers and you felt it shimmer slightly as he flexed his shoulder muscle.

“Down,” you commanded, stepping back a bit as Ægir bent his front legs and dropped down to his knees then let his hind quarters follow, flopping down and onto his side to allow you to climb aboard.

You did so, and then patted his shoulder as you knitted your other hand into his rushing, wild watery mane.

“Up, Gir,” you called and he threw his head back as he got his front hooves under him then lurched forward to get up onto all fours again.

With a little click of your tongue, you were off, heading to the teleport pad of level 44 and then down to level 5.

The minute you materialized on the platform of level 5, you nudged Ægir forward with your heels, urging him off the platform and down onto the soft grass of the flats of the level.

You felt his body quiver with excitement under you and you held him steady as he walked in a very controlled and collected manner down to one of the ponds.

“You just want go run, don’t you?” you said to him, “I just don’t know if I can hold on well enough, if I let you run free.”

Ægir snorted and bobbed his head up and down, looking around at the level that was his kingdom.

“First, I want to try taking on a few more whispers. Then we can explore a little,” you said to him, swinging one leg back and sliding down his side to land on the ground.

He turned his head back to snuff at your outfit and you rubbed his watery nose.

“You can eat some grass while I do a bit of work…”

He huffed through his nostrils and dropped his head to the grass, grabbing a few blades in between his lips and yanking them free.

You smiled and gave his shoulder one last pat then moved away a little, watching the corners of your eyes for any movements.

It wasn’t long before a whisper appeared and you stopped moving to calculate how far away it was, then pointed your toe into the ground and slid it out in an arc.

Lining the whisper up, you called for ‘move’ and grabbed the whips, flicking one out to the side while swirling the other around so that the tip would just crack at the side of your head.

You heard the rush of water and a wailing scream then the mist filled being exploded into crystals and fluttered away.

“I got it!” you cried excitedly, turning around and smiling at Ægir who was still eating but both ears and eyes were on you, “did you see that, Gir?”

You kinda felt a little stupid talking to your horse but no one else was around so it wasn’t too embarrassing.

Not wanting to practice too much in case your sudden improvement ignited Hansu’s suspicions, you decided to end with your one hit and win and explore the level instead.

So, with smile on face, you walked back over to your water stallion and stood by his shoulder.

“Maybe there’s a way I can get up onto his back without making him lie down on the ground.” you suddenly wondered.

As Ægir stepped forwards, his knee bent a little and you quickly saw that you could use it as a stepping spot to help boost yourself up onto his back.

With this sudden epiphany, you grabbed onto the base of his mane, placed your left foot on his bent knee and lightly jumped up onto his back, landing your stomach across his withers.

“Oof,” you grunted, swiveling yourself around so that you could sit up straddling him, “ok. I’m up, let’s go…”

You rocked your pelvis forward and nudged Ægir on, clicking your tongue against the inside of your teeth.

He raised his head from the ground and started walking forward, flanking the side of the pond and giving you a birds eye view of the fish swimming around in there below.

“Let’s get deeper into the level,” you said to him. 

As you moved along, you looked down into the corner of your vision and saw an information box there.

[FOR LEFT AND RIGHT COMMANDS- CALL:]

 <<COME IN>>FOR LEFT

<<GEE OFF>> FOR RIGHT

<<< Take Down Chapter 62: Taking On A Whisper

Take Down Chapter 64: The Bridge To Level 6 >>>