Short Story: [Emberfate] Nathan's Birthday

Hey everyone!

First short story reward post coming right up! This is technically to make up for the lack of short story last month, so another one will be coming tomorrow.

This is the start of a new mini-series for each LI's birthday. We'll have Nathan's birthday first. As with before, this was drafted by Anna 'Lavinnia' Kończak and then edited by me.

I hope you all enjoy!

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"Y'know, time really flies! I can't believe it's already been — what, over two years since I've stepped foot in this place?" Ruby's chipper voice reaches your ears through your headset, which is quickly followed by Cat's agreement. "Yes, I believe our final raid here was not long after the second last expansion came out. We haven't been back since we started getting better loot from the newer raid dungeons."

"I'll be honest, I never really liked this raid..." Jim chimes in, his character on screen running around the group in circles. "It's so gloomy and dark! Why is this Nathan's favorite dungeon in Emberfate when much cooler places like the Lost Caverns or Forlorn Halls exist?!"

Aedriss' voice joins the fray. "Ugh, the mechanics of this raid suck too. How many times did we wipe on the skeleton boss? His voice line still appears in my nightmares!"

You can't help but laugh at the memory. You know exactly what voice line she is talking about. "Well, now that we're twenty levels higher and much better geared, we've come back for our revenge!"

"Yeah! Thanks for the opportunity, Nathan!" Jim cheers. "Though I still think he's insane for liking this place so much. But well, it is his birthday, so he's the boss!"

"It's the boss music that's got him captivated. You know what his priorities are." You answer with a chuckle, scrolling through the new messages in the guild chat and inviting the late guildies that've just logged in and are asking to be added to the party.

"Hello! I'm sorry, am I late to the preparations for the party?" Khanyisa sounds out of breath as if she's just run a marathon, and you quickly reassure her. "No, don't worry, we haven't started yet! Teleport over whenever you're ready."

"All right. Let's start clearing out the trash mobs. Potato, did you bring the party outfits and hats?" Cat, the ever trusty main tank, starts to shotcall.

"'Course! I would never fail such an important task." Potato replies. "I'll start sending out trade requests and handing them out now."

As you control your character to run up to the queue that's forming in front of Potato's Dragonkin bishop, a soft ping distracts you — and you tab to Harmonies to discover a chat message from Nathan that makes you frown.

"Hold on, guys, we might have a problem here... I'll be back in a minute." You state in a hurry before muting your mic. Then you pull out your phone and dial your boyfriend's number.

Nathan picks up in a few rings. Already knowing the reason for your call, he sighs and opens with an apology before you can even say a word. "I'm sorry. I know I promised you I'd be on Emberfate today to spend time together, but I really don't think I'll be able to make it."

The evident tiredness and dejection in his voice causes your frown to deepen in concern. You try to keep your voice soft and soothing as you respond. "What's the matter, Nathan? Did something come up?"

"Sort of. You know the big client I've been composing for lately?" Although you can't see him through the voice call, you can already envision him running his hand though his messy hair and tousling it even further in his frustration. "I sent off the final draft to him earlier, and he just replied to me saying that it didn't turn out the way he wanted. He just sent me a bunch of new references and asked for a redo."

"Ah..." You let out a sympathetic sigh. Now that's not something you can help with exactly, but you feel the need to try and at least cheer him up a bit. "Hey, don't beat yourself up over it. It wasn't your fault — I'm sure your draft was great. Clients can be fickle sometimes."

"Yeah, I know, but still... And with the deadline being this weekend, I'm going to be on a tight schedule if I want to finish in time after throwing a week's worth of work into the bin like that. So I have to cancel on you after all. I'm sorry."

You bite your lip as you think. "I understand, but you don't really sound like you're in the right state of mind to jump back into work and whip up a new track now, do you?" He hesitates, and you feel encouraged by his lack of objection to your observation. "So why don't you take a small break to refresh yourself? Even just for an hour or two. It is your birthday, after all!"

Sensing his wavering resolve, you move in for the kill. "Besides, don't you want to spend time with me on your birthday? Celebrate your special day with your special person?"

"O-oh..." You can almost feel him blushing over the phone. "W-Well, when you put it that way, how can I say no? I'll be on in a minute, sunshine."

You give a little fist-pump at your victory, hurriedly returning your focus to the monitor to see how the rest of the guild's preparations have been going. "I'll see you in game then!"

The moment you hang up, you unmute your microphone and put your headset back on. "Okay, false alarm, we're good! Is everything ready? Nathan's gonna be here any moment now!"

"Oh, thank God! You scared us — I thought there was going to be a change of plans!" Ruby lets out a dramatic gasp of relief before affirming that they're all set to go.

You see Nathan's name light up in the roster of guild members. Grinning, you throw him a party invitation and teleportation request, both of which he accepts.

"Hey sunshine —" He pauses as he notices the massive raid he's found himself in rather than a private party with just you as he expected. "Wait, uhhh... What’s going on?”

“Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to youuuuu~” The only response he gets is the sound of the entire guild belting out the birthday song, each person trying to be as off-key as possible on purpose.

“My ears!” He yelps with a laugh. "Is your birthday gift for me trying to deafen me?!"

"Nope! Your birthday gift is... a run through the Hollow Depths!" Right on cue, Nathan's character materializes at the front of the raid entrance as he finishes loading in after the teleportation. Immediately, all of you rush forward with your colorful party hats on, firing off fireworks and party poppers into the musty air of the dungeon. "Surprise!"

"Whoa!" Nathan sounds taken aback by the scene he's greeted with, and when he speaks again, his voice is slightly wobbly from emotion. "Aww, you guys... Is this for... me? But I thought you all hated this dungeon!"

"Yeah, well, unluckily for us, our weird officer loves this place, and it's his birthday, so..." Chris mumbles, eliciting a laugh from the weird officer in question.

“Maybe you’ll find the inspiration you need for your commission too while listening to your favorite battle music,” you add as your character inches forward in impatience. "Now let's go! Time to give the skeleton boss the beating he deserves after all this time!"