29 - Alexander the Great

                                    

                                          
Yet, just as Lucy set her sights on throwing materials into a pot and calling it cooking, she turned out of the alleyway at the sound of yelling and hollering. There, players were running about like headless chickens.
                          
"Why the fuck is the forest burning?!"
                          
"I just burned to death!"
                          
She blinked her eyes, looked at Shana, then both stepped out of the alley along with Alice's floating form.
                          
". . ."
                          
". . ."
                          
Around Acron's outskirt, there was fire. It wasn't something small. A conflagration of crimson and orange burned on the outskirts west of the gates. Thick, gray, darkening smoke rose into the sky with the flickering flames of trees burning.
                          
"Why the heck can the game world be burned?!"
                          
Shana shrugged at Lucy's outburst. "Realism?"
                          
"Goddangit developers!"
                          
She had never seen a mmo that made the environment this destructible and susceptible to magic. Sure, Eclipse was a full-dive virtual reality, but wasn't this still too much? What would happen if it changed the terrain completely? Could the trees regrow?
                          
[It seems the western forest is on fire, master, the forums think a player named 'Alexander the Great' accidentally lit it ablaze.]
                          
'Alexander the Great?' Lucy had a sudden terrible premonition. That username sounded all too familiar. Very familiar. 'Accidentally?' That sounded familiar too. All too familiar.
                          
"Come on, Shana, let's go!"
                          
"What? Go where?"
                          
Lucy had already begun running.
                          
"To find a clumsy, unlucky friend of mine," Lucy replied, "Before all the players get to him and beat him up!"
                          
"???"
                          
"Faster!"
                          
In little time, the two exited Acron's northern gate and crossed the field of Rabid Rabbits, which they proceeded to ignore entirely. Ahead of them, players were running away from the forest, cursing.
                          
[Player 'Alexander the Great' has earned the achievement 'Arsonist' by becoming the first player to kill 50 players through flame magic on the American Server! Congratulations!]
                          
"What the fuck? That fucker got an achievement for killing me?!"
                          
"Are you fucking serious?!"
                          
Color drained from Lucy's face.
                          
"We should hurry. . ."
                          
"Really," Shana huffed, "Why are we hurrying?"
                          
"That fool is going to get himself into serious trouble with other players at this rate!"
                          
"??"
                          
[Master, after collaborating the comments on the forum, I have tracked down a projected area the player 'Alexander the Great' might be. Would you like me to display a trail towards him?]
                          
Lucy and Shana were dumbfounded.
                          
"She can do that?"
                          
"Alice, you're amazing!" Lucy yelled. "Show us!"
                          
[As you wish, master!] The A.I sounded happy.
                          
A translucent line floated in front of both of their eyes and the followed it, entering into the burning forest.
                          
A tree crashed in front of them, leaves aflame and bark blackened.
                          
"Drats," Lucy said, blinking her eyes through fire and smoke, and moving carefully to not find herself aflame the next moment. "We need to jump this one."