by J D Astra
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The drake’s tongue shot out and tasted the air. “Sss’now, you h’are my’ine.”
I wanted to scream, breath, move, do something! But I had completely lost control of my body. The drake reared her head back and shot forward. I watched, helpless, as five-inch fangs surged toward me. Her mouth eclipsed my vision, and my mind wandered to another place. It was like watching my life flash before my eyes: I was born in Kamloops, grew up in Vancouver, emigrated to the U.S. in my teens, graduated magna cum laude from Stanford, got my job at Osmark Tech, cried when my father was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, laughed when Jack wiped the whole raid, raged when Osmark charged criminals millions of dollars for in-game favors.
When the drake’s eyes disappeared behind its jaw, I was set free. I dove hard to the left, and my hip screamed in agony. My Health flashed an angry red at me, and I cried out at the sharp pain running from my ribs into my neck. I missed the drake plunging her face into the pond, but the aftermath was beautiful.
The scaled monster shrieked and pulled back, her snout covered in golden lava. She whipped her head from side to side, splattering the liquid metal over the den floor, and across my dress. I tried, but couldn’t escape the heavy heat on my legs.
The sound of metal on flesh sliced through the cavern, and I looked up to catch Otto cutting the drake’s other Achilles. She tried to open her mouth, but the cooling gold held her jaw shut with only a small hole up front and one on the right of her jaw. Instead of chomping down on him, the drake used her solid mandible as a bat. She barreled into Otto and sent him sailing across the room. Otto landed in a heap at the entrance of the den and didn’t move.
I popped another healing potion and stood, the broken hip debuff finally ending. “Otto!” I screamed, and the game responded by showing me his Health bar. Just above 20%, and his skin pulsed red with the light of the lava pits.
The drake whirled on me, her eyes ablaze with pain and indignation. She padded forward, and dust floated down from above in a waterfall. The drake parted the curtain of gravel, and my eyes shot up to the ceiling. The stalactite I’d been working on—there was a massive crack building at the base and sediment falling down from it. I readied another fireball and the drake grinned.
She struggled to speak with her jaw held shut, but managed as her tongue licked out through the small hole. “Fire iss-s in my sssoul. You h’ave no powersss h’ere.”
The cast finished, and I thrust my hand overhead, aiming for the fracture. The drake cocked her head at the sound of crack, crack, crumble! The stalactite dropped down on the drake’s right shoulder and pierced through to the ground. She bellowed, and her Health dropped to 35%.
I rushed around the bubbling lava pond and dropped to Otto’s side. “Get up!”
Otto dug his sword into the earth for support and wrenched himself to a kneeling position. “Let’s finish this beast.”
The drake cried out, and I turned to catch her last tug to free herself from the stake in the ground. Her wing tore at the first joint, and her transparent, leathery skin split down the middle. The drake’s gold-coated maw turned toward us. She limped, determined to get her egg back and see me slaughtered. The drake’s Health bar flashed over her head at 25%. She’d inflicted 10% of her total Health in damage just to get off the stake and come kill me.
I wouldn’t be sorry to disappoint her. I needed this egg, I needed my class kit, I needed to see what was in that dungeon, and I needed to stop Osmark before he took over all of Eldgard.
The drake closed in and reared her head back once more. Sounds like a jet engine spooling up accompanied a bright white glow in the red scaly flesh of her esophagus.
“Move!” I shoved Otto, putting myself directly between him and the drake. The hyper-focused beam of fire from the tiny hole in the drake’s golden muzzle slapped against my body, and though the heat was painful, it was not what I imagined actually being on fire was like. The flames licked at my skin and hair, stinging like hundreds of pinpricks, but nothing I couldn’t bear. Fire Inside likely had something to do with that.
I tried to conjure Shell of Molten Ash, but it was still on cooldown. I rolled back to get away, but she turned with me, her flame breath getting wider and less painful as her golden jaw-clamp melted away.
The fire cut out, and I didn’t wait to see what happened next. I ran for the mound between the inferno pools and popped my final Health potion, getting me back up to 85%. The tromping of the following drake was punctuated with stumbles as her ruined back legs gave out with each step.
Sounds of fast wind in a narrow tunnel alerted me to the intro of the drake’s fire breath. There wasn’t time to turn and block, nor did I have the Health or potions to take another hit from her front paw, so I turned to the next best option. A narrow crack on the west side of the mound looked like it could give me cover, at least for a second.
I dashed between the rocks and shimmied my way into the constricted cave, the golden egg scraping and scratching as I wiggled through. Flames licked the edge of the rock beside me, then died out as the drake roared. Her gold-speckled snout came into view, and her teeth glimmered a brilliant white as she wound up for another blast of fire.
“Die, winged snake!” Otto bellowed, and the drake’s face pulled away from the narrow crevasse.
“Otto, no!” I turned to scoot my way out, but the egg caught, wedged between me and the rocks. I slipped out of my harness and wrenched myself free of my hideout, watching as the 15% Health drake slapped Otto into the ground. He bounced and flipped back onto his feet, his skin a luminescent red, and charged into the drake’s guard.
The drake would resist my fire damage, but I would take as much attention away from Otto as I could. I popped the cork on a Spirit potion and held it between my teeth.
“Huck oo!” I shouted and unleashed Inferno Blast. My Spirit trickled away, and the drake ignored the fire slapping against her backside. Not for long she wouldn’t. I tilted my head back and sucked down the potion, then spit the bottle to the ground as my unending flames splashed against her shiny red hide.
12%.
10%.
She raised her paw to slash at Otto, but he dodged.
8%.
6%.
Finally, she turned with a deep bellow of injustice. We’d invaded her home and stolen her unborn baby. I questioned my actions for a fraction of a second, but as her claws surged toward me, I knew I only had one choice.
I popped Shell of Molten Ash and begged for Jinker’s grace one more time. The shield dispelled as the drake whacked it, and I flipped back onto my hands to get away. I hadn’t done a back handspring since I was eight, but muscle memory copied over to V.G.O. characters just fine.
The taloned paw swiped where my body had been, and the drake shrieked with rage at my trickery as the hot ashes spit into her watery eyes. She thought I was going to make the same mistake twice, how wrong she’d been.
2%.
My Spirit was down to 30, and I opened up my palms for Inferno Blast. I wanted to say something cool, have a great killing blow, but honestly, all I felt like saying was “Sorry.”
Fire seared against the drake’s skin, stealing the last few hit points of her life as my Spirit bar hit zero. She stumbled to the side, her eyes distant and glazed as she tried to lock on me. Then, she crumpled, shaking the cavern as she went down.
Class Kit
OTTO AND I STOOD ON opposite sides of the downed drake and stared at one another. We’d done it. Against all odds, especially the 25% resistance to all my damage, we’d still killed the Hoardling Drake. I looked down at her ruined body: snout scales singed from the liquid gold, left wing mangled at the first joint, back legs ripped at the ankle... and for what?
I looked at the pile of three eggs, eggs that would never hatch, and my egg still wedged in the crevasse. Guilt. That was all I felt. This was the second time I’d killed a parent and its babies, all for the sake of progressing myself.
Stop. Stop it, Abby
. These are lines of code. This is a game. They were put here for you to kill.
Otto stepped up next to me and put his hand out. “Up five!” He grinned.
I tried on my best smile and gave his hand a slap.
“What is it?” he asked, reading me.
I chewed my lip. “We killed a mother, and her other babies will die.”
Otto stroked his chin. “We could put them closer to the lava. I’m sure they’ll still hatch.”
“Yeah, but who will teach them to hunt? Who will show them how to catch the Flametongue Salamanders?” I imagined the little drakes working together to catch a salamander or a few bats and slowly starving to death. It was just as bad as not being born at all.
Otto shuffled his feet. “What do you want to do?”
“Naitee is pretty fond of fire. Maybe she can help them?” I shrugged.
He nodded. “If that’ll make you feel better.”
Feel better. I damned myself for feeling anything. These little eggs weren’t real, nor were they even alive yet! I gritted my teeth and cursed myself again.
“Yeah, let’s loot her, grab the eggs, and head back.”
It was becoming a trend that wherever Naitee sent us held no gains. There were a few chunks of gold lying around the den that we could take with us, but the molten gold pit couldn’t be collected, and the drake was devoid of anything of value. Some crafting materials that might sell on the player market alright, but otherwise, nothing.
I unwedged my egg from the crevasse and stepped up to the nest. “Ready to go?” I looked at Otto.
“Anytime.”
I pulled the Scroll of Return from my inventory and popped the seal. I watched Otto go first, then reached out and touched the portal. White light enveloped me, and the typical nausea that came with porting crept through my guts. I swallowed hard and took a deep breath through my nose as the light dissipated, and the Boar’s Head filled my vision.
“Back again! At least you don’t reek this time, but what’s that?” The barmaid pointed at me and the eggs I had under each arm.
“Bounty,” Otto said matter-of-factly, and the barmaid scurried away without another word. My mind turned at her behavior. She’d been boisterous and unabashed before, but now, she ran to the back without a single quip or protest.
Sigorsped, the old woman said: good fortune in battle. It was a quiet inn at the center of action in a large city. High prices on everything. The Boar’s Head had another reputation I was starting to get a picture of: a safehouse for headhunters.
The eggs were slipping free in my sweaty-palmed grasp, so I bumped my hips and jumped to keep hold of them. I looked down at each and watched as my Stamina bar in the corner of my vision dropped by the second. There was no way I’d make it to Naitee with them.
“Otto,” I whined, propping one of the eggs on a nearby table and the other on my knee, “how are we going to get these back to Naitee? Walking through town with two big golden drake eggs under each arm is going to attract a lot of attention.”
“Wheelbarrow,” Otto declared.
He plopped his eggs down next to mine on the table and disappeared into the back. The eggs rolled precariously close to the edge, rocking like little boats as they tried to escape. I pinned one down with my chin and clamped the one balanced on my knee between my thighs to free up my hand. I nudged the others into a stationary position, earning awkward glances from the two sitting across the room. Stupid, not even real eggs, why did I care?
These eggs weren’t real. Their mother wasn’t real. But the guilt was real. Otto was right, the quest didn’t say anything about killing the drake, and I did it anyway for experience and loot. But... that’s what the game was about, right?
Otto opened the front door a moment later and returned to grab his eggs, then motioned for me to follow. I heaved the unbearably heavy unhatched babies under my arms, sumo squatting down to also balance them on my legs. I pivoted and stomped my way out the door like a cowboy who’d been riding for six years straight.
The wheelbarrow was a sight for sore eyes, but nothing special. I slowly eased my eggs into the one-wheeled wooden baby carriage and sighed. Holy heck, my arms were tired. I knew I couldn’t afford it, but I wanted to drop a few points into Strength.
Once all four eggs were securely in the basin, Otto fluffed out a cloth tarp and covered them. He tied the cloth in strange positions, making the content of the wheelbarrow look less giant eggish.
“All right, let’s make a delivery!” Otto motioned for me to pick up the wheelbarrow, and my brow pulled down in a scowl. He chuckled, grabbed the handles, and led the way through the streets.
It was just past 10 AM, and the city was in full morning routine swing. Bakers, florists, butchers, and tailors stood outside their shops hawking goods. Ironworks bellowed away with the pounding of hammers. The fall sun was warm, but a cool breeze stole away any of the discomfort brought on by the heat. Birds chirped on light posts and building roofs, waiting for some of that fresh bread to fall in a more accessible place. It was a beautiful day.
It was a beautifully designed day. The Overminds could make the weather do whatever they pleased—have the sun boil our skin or the winds whip the soft canvas covers of the shop stalls right off. They had so much power over the world I now called home. A home ruled by servers donated by Chinese diplomats, AI created on gold from drug lords, and code generated from thousands of hours of slave labor.
Otto and I turned down the alley to Naitee’s shop, and I snapped back from thought. I’d have to stop going on autopilot.
I barked with laughter as realization dawned on me, and Otto shot a glare over his shoulder.
“What now?” my NPC demanded.
“Autopilot. Otto, pilot! Get it?” I laughed again.
He quirked an eyebrow. “No, I don’t.”
“Okay, well never mind. It’s funny, though.” I offered him a shrug, and Otto rolled his eyes.
Otto dropped the wheelbarrow and wiped sweat from his brow. “Are you going to knock?” He pointed to the door with a bit of a pant, and I chuckled. I didn’t know why he was so afraid of her. Other than being a little creepy sometimes, she was mostly sweet—except when sending us on quests with literally no loot.
I rapped on the door, then remembered we had an open invitation and turned the hot knob. The inside of Naitee’s shop was still a smoldering wreck, but the shards of glass from the display cases were gone.
“Naitee?” I asked, but only silence answered.
Otto poked his head in. “I think I hear her out back.”
I didn’t know there was an out back to this place. I closed the door behind me and walked around the side of her gnarled, crooked, blacked-out building. Heat met me first as I came around the corner, then I saw the fire.
Naitee stood, both palms open, Inferno Blasting a large pot. I didn’t want to get any closer and get a face full of her spell—who knew what level it was—so I waved my arms over my head. She cut the cast off and grinned, her blond hair falling back to perfectly straight as the fiery wind died down.
“Ah, you’re not dead!” she exclaimed.
I put one hand on my hip. “What else would you expect from Eldgard’s greatest Sorceress?”
She smirked. “But what about my egg?”
I turned and motioned for Otto to bring the wheelbarrow. He set it down, and I unveiled our bounty. “How about four eggs?”
Naitee’s face shifted from amused to concerned. Her voice held a tone of accusation. “You killed her, then?”
I bit my lip, the unwanted guilt returning. “Yes.”
Naitee moved to the eggs, placing a loving hand against a shell and stroking it. “Kak’rana was the last female drake in a thousand miles. The shells of her eggs created many Firebrand potions. This is most unfortunate.”
She pulled the top egg up into her arms and cradled it. Otto shuffled his feet and rubbed the back of his neck. I wondered if there was another way to become a Firebrand, or if we’d jus
t totally screwed over the game economy. Maybe she would respawn, or maybe there were other ways to make the potion. Or maybe we were jerks. No, I was a jerk. Otto didn’t want to kill her.
“Can you help them hatch?” I put my hand on the egg she held and felt a tiny shudder.
Her gaze snapped from the unborn drake to my face. “Is that why you brought them all?”
I nodded.
She sucked a deep breath through her nose and set the egg back down. “I’ve only ever raised a single drake at a time, but I suppose this is doable. I owe it to Kak’rana.”
“So, you were friends with her?” I asked, and Naitee screamed with laughter.
When she was collected enough, she spoke. “Friends? No, child.” She wiped a tear from her eye. “We were business partners, whether she knew it or not. I sent her delicious treats, she gave me eggs for potions, I helped repopulate the drakes in Eldgard. Honestly, I feel like I’m doing more work here.”
I mulled over her statement. She was helping to repopulate the drakes so their eggs could be stolen for potion ingredients. Really, she just raised the things for inevitable slaughter. My stomach tightened with the feeling of being wronged.
“You’re upset?” Naitee crossed her arms.
I shook the creases of worry off my face. “No. It’s just—”
“This is how they survive. The Hoardling Drakes would’ve gone extinct ages ago if I had not rescued them.” She tapped a finger on her crossed forearm.
I nodded. “It’s good that you do that. I’m sure they appreciate living.” Living, I reminded myself, was not what they were doing. Putting on hold the idea that they were just code, having their population boosted by external means and surviving in deep tunnels under impassable mountain terrain was not my idea of living.
“Well, you are an overachiever, I suppose it’s time you accept your fate.” Naitee’s foreboding words prompted the quest pop-up.
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Quest Complete: The Path of a Sorceress
You’ve returned to Naitee with not 1, but 4 golden eggs! She’s impressed by your tenacity, increasing your reward XP by 2x. You’ve unlocked the Sorceress: Firebrand Class Kit.