Landasy Reality: Angel's Escape

by Fredrick Stokely

  But scary or not, he couldn't give them up. He couldn't let his life fade.

  ------

  The week flew by like a one winged humming bird covered in sap. Slow, loud and oddly messy. On more than one occasion he found himself staring longingly at his head set, just a few feet out of reach. He even tried bribing his nurse once to let him play, but sadly jello cups weren't in high demand among the medical staff.

  Jessica started reading to him. Which he wouldn't have minded, except she only chose picture books no matter what he said. He swore if she tried to read to him about a cat that was looking for it's moon dust or some other inane concept one more time he would find the strength to walk out of bed just to strangle her.

  Finally though, the day he'd been longing for arrived. Breakfast had been a slow, mind numbing affair that he rushed through as quickly as he could without choking. He almost felt like he could jump out of bed with excitement when Jessica walked into his room and slowly picked up the headset.

  He nearly cried when the device was slowly set into place on his head. He'd have happily given both legs, not that he used them, just to get on an hour earlier. He sadly didn't have any time to log onto LRVR, instead having to go straight to the space game. He breezed through character creation and was soon standing on a space station, millions of light years from their universe. It hovered just over a black hole. Not that he cared. He could finally run.

  The moment he was able, he took off like a dart, weaving around and through crowds. He got plenty of angry yells, but he didn't care. He was heading to the zero gravity rooms first. The air blew by his ears and his legs started to get gloriously sore, the sensations breathtaking after a week of no movements.

  Half way to the rooms a loud beeping went off. They had logged in. On time. He had hoped they would have taken at least an hour to figure out how everything worked. He brought up the menu and sent them a call.

  “Hey mom. Hey dad. I see you guys got on okay. Here, I'll send you an invite.” He did so and they grouped with him. Completely silent. “To talk to me you have to go to the menus and...” The next three hours were pure torture. Finally being able to run and jump and what did he have to do? Spend all his time playing school teacher to his parents as they tried to navigate the game world.

  When it finally came time for them to leave he couldn't help but give a sad, longing look towards the zero gravity areas. All this time online, able to finally move, and he had been unable to do anything with it. He didn't think he'd last another week of this.

  “Hon, is everything okay?” his mother asked. He imagined it was her third time saying it as she still couldn't get the chat controls to really work for her.

  “What? Ye... no. No it's not. Mom, dad, I'm going insane! I can't go another week like this. This is just beyond cruel! Please don't make me wait another week in that horrible bed withou--” He bit his tongue. He almost said 'without a gun'. Jessica was really starting to get to him.

  “Well dear, we wanted to talk with you about that. We've discussed it with the doctors and they said in a few weeks you should be back to how you were before the heart attack.” A few weeks? He'd go mad by then. “But we know how important all of those games are to you. So if you promise to be careful and not put yourself in any more dangerous situations, we'll let you play.”

  He lunged and tackled his mother in a hug so fast that they were both sent flying to the ground. “Thank you thank you thank you! You are the best mom ever!”

  “C-calm down, there are still some conditions!” His hope shrank. “First, whatever you were doing when this happened, promise you won't do it again. Also, you're limited to only four hours between naps for now. No more of those all day gaming sessions. You need air and time to rest between sessions. Can you do that for me hon?”

  “Yes! I'll do all of that, I'll be safe I promise! Thank you thank you thank you!” He eventually let his mom go and waved good bye as they logged. The moment they did he logged out and switched to his favorite game. His entire body quivered with excitement as the world began to load.

  ------

  Asura awoke in a small bed, staring up at a dirty brown roof. It took a few seconds for it to dawn on her. She practically screamed in excitement before running around, getting plenty of weird looks. She spread her wings and took off towards Sanctuary. Her hands danced through the air before she brought up the menu, but B4hamutt wasn't on. She gliding through the guild member list before finding someone who had been at the fight and quickly sent a message.

  “Hey. It's Asura. I got disconnected during the fight, what happened?” She decided it was best to just use that excuse. She didn't want them all knowing she was a medical case.

  “Hey. You missed it then? It was awesome! The beast was slaughtering everyone and then Suportano came in with the back guard. I missed most of it, I got killed before then.”

  She kept silent until she realized he was done. “Well? Did we get Scalios and the others?”

  “Oh! Yeah, right. They're fine. We got them all out. Mutt's still holding the other two masters until the event starts, so they don't try anything else. Happy to see you're back, we were starting to think something happened. Where were you all week?”

  “I'd been pretty busy. Life things, and internet was out for quite a while.”

  “Oh. Bummer. Still, glad you're back. A bunch of us are going to clear a dungeon, wanna come?”

  She considered it a for a moment before answering. “You know what? Yeah. It's been far too long since I've done a nice group dungeon crawl. Besides, I need to wait for Mutt to get on anyway so I can talk more with him.”

  “Great! You're an angel, right? You can be our--”

  “I swear if you say healer I will neuter you.”

  “Errr... another... damage dealer... eh heh heh,” the man said nervously.

  “Good. Which dungeon?” She stopped in mid air, hovering while she waited.

  “We're going to try our luck at the Chaos Rifts. Some good end game gear drops there.”

  “On my way!” Asura took off like a bolt. The Chaos Rifts were in holy beast lands, so they were fast to get to from angel lands. Unlike the flying cities the angels used, the holy beasts had their homes underground. As such the upper areas of their lands tended to be far less damaged with plenty of tree life. When she flew over a large forest she drifted lower so she was just a few feet over the branches. Technically it was dangerous since monsters could attack her then, but it allowed her to smell the fresh plant life from the trees below. She could never understand how the real world could even hope to compare with this. A plane just didn't have the same feeling as flying by your own power, feeling the breeze on your face and smelling the life around you.

  Off in the distance she could see walls of purple light. The Chaos Rifts were caused from when fae tried to blow up the holy beast's home city, Gaia. The bomb had gone off early, but created a scar across the land. Magically mutated creatures ran amok and deadly radiation struck all who tried to navigate the caverns created by the bomb.

  So, of course, players headed there by the dozens in order to find what kind of loot was there. It was a dangerous dungeon and, like Niohoggr's, only a small party of six could enter. Fortunately there weren't any stones to gather or keys to unlock first.

  She landed outside a large cavern, which radiated purple lights. She sat and waited for the others to arrive. After about ten minutes her patience wore out and she sent a message to the guild mate. “Hey, you almost here? I'm getting tired of waiting.”

  “Huh? Oh, right. Sorry. Something came up, we can't do the dungeon. I thought I sent you a message.”

  She face palmed with a low growl before closing the connection. She then glanced to the cave. “Well, I'm here anyway. Might as well give it a shot. I can use it for a test too.” Asura lifted her right hand. “Fang! Come!”

  A loud shriek split the air before a black blur dove down from above. The blur crashed into the ground just a few feet from her, lea
ving a crater. As the dust settled the creature was revealed.

  It stood on all fours, still a few feet taller than her, with massive black wings. Its body was covered in thick scales and spikes ran down it's spine. Razor sharp teeth and claws were bared as a large red eye turned to watch the angel. Its clubbed tail slammed down on the ground once. The dragon let out another loud roar before moving over and nuzzling the girl so hard she almost toppled over.

  “Heyyy! Easy boy, easy! Hee hee. You ready to try your first real fight? We can't clear the whole thing, but we should be able to take the first boss at least,” she said as she gently scratched between his ears. Fang snorted in appreciation, sending a burst of hot air into her face. “Who's a big strong whirling dragon of death? You are! Yes you are, yes you are!” She giggled gleefully before tugging on his head and heading into the dungeon. “Here's hoping you're worth the stat penalty for using you.”

  -------

  Flames filled the narrow tunnels before Fang's fire breath vaporized a mutated treant, a type of living tree with strange magical boils across its bark. Asura could barely contain her glee as the majestic creature did almost all the fighting for her, while she stood back and tossed heals. “There is no way a wyvern can compare with this. Why didn't I try using a pet ages ago? Oh, you missed one dear!” She motioned towards a purple wolf. Her pet dragon leaped on it and within a few moments it evaporated into red sparkles.

  “Okay, come along, Fang. We still have a while to go and these are just the trash enemies. I'll have to start fighting with you soon.” She reached out a hand to gently coax the dragon through the narrow tunnels. Normally she hated fighting enemies in areas like this, but the narrow choke points were working in her favor for once.

  While they walked through the tunnels she went through her menus once again to see if B4hamutt was on. Sadly, he was still gone. She brought up her pets options and switched him to a more defensive style, so he would try to dodge and block more attacks instead of just shredding everything. Then for a little added fun she switched her class to dragon and brought out her axe. Perfect.

  They came to a large open chamber holding a massive purple cheetah, with red spots, and a horde of smaller plant and animal monsters. The areas first boss. “Stay,” she said before she walked into the chamber. She lifted her left hand towards the nearest group. “Fireblast!” A small ball of flame shot out of her hand towards the nearest enemy. The moment it was struck it charged straight at her, along with its allies, while she backed up to the rooms entrance. When they got closer she lifted her hand towards her pet. “Attack.”

  The dragon instantly lunged at the closest enemy, a wolf, and slashed its claws across its face. Fang then quickly jumped up and over the wolf when it tried to counter attack, launching more strikes at the wolf's rear.

  Asura charged forward a moment later and brought her axe down on a treant. She took a step back when a wooded fist grazed across her side, the shallow blow dealing no damage. The dragon-woman quickly swung her axe into the treant's arm, knocking aside a layer of bark, but not dealing much damage. She then glanced at Fang and let out a eep. “No, don--” But she was too late. Flames enveloped all of them as she let out a pained shriek and backed away, having taken damage from the assault. “Right. Forgot. That's why I never used a pet before. Ow.” With the high damage from the flames the two were able to clean up the monsters in a few moments, though burns covered her.

  “Okay, let's go ahead and disable fire breath.” Asura brought up the menu. Fang was giving her sad looks, but she ignored them. “Not going to work. Bad dragon. No lighting your master on fire. Grrr.” When she finished, she cast a heal spell so the burns disappeared.

  Group by group she drew the enemies to them, until only the big cheetah's group remained. The giant cat was only slightly smaller than the wolf she faced back in the temple, but fortunately it wasn't a golem. Still a deadly foe. She re-enabled her wings before jumping into the air and charging straight at the monster. “Tornado SPIN!” she yelled before her entire body began to spin and cleave with the axe. She slammed through their ranks and sent the other monsters flying away from the big kitty. “Fang! Get the smaller enemies! I'll take care of the boss!” After a few seconds the dragon moved into position and began attacking as she said. She loved the verbal commands.

  The kitty was still stunned so she cleaved with all her might until the cat swatted at her with one paw. She brought her axe up to block, but it powered through and sent her skidding back against the ground. She dove forward and slashed up at the cheetah's stomach, but before she could strike the giant cat, it leaped out of the way. It's massive frame landed on the floor behind her, making the ground shake violently and forcing her to take to the air again. She charged straight at its face and brought her axe down on its nose.

  The feline hissed in rage when the blade cut deep. The cat coiled its body up and realization donned on Asura. She tried to fly away, but before she could the cheetah pounced and caught her in it's massive paws, pinning her to the ground. “Fang! Help!”

  Almost immediately the little dragon darted forward and latched onto the feline's face, clawing and biting. The cat pulled away, before lifting it's paws up and batting the dragon once. Fang was thrown through the air before landing on the ground in a heap, unmoving.

  Asura stared at the little dragon for a moment before glancing at its health bar. Zero. She had to move fast. She held out her left hand. “Burst!” A large flame exploded outward and knocked the kitty back a few feet before she charged to her dragon. She put a hand to his chest before speaking, “Seal.” The dragon disappeared into small red sparkles before turning into a tiny red gemstone, much like a soul gem. She scooped up the gem and ran towards the exit. She stopped as suddenly the cheetah pounced directly in front of her, blocking the route. “Get out of the way!”

  Unsurprisingly, the kitty instead swiped at her with its claws. She ducked under, still clutching the gem to her chest while she tried to see a way around the massive creature. Pets were a major investment, powerful allies, but if they died and weren't healed fast enough they had to be reborn. Personality, stats, experience, everything was reset. She refused to have her first real outing with Fang end that way.

  The cat opened its mouth before green slime gushed out and slammed into her like a tidal wave. “Ewwwwww!” she said with a groan before she picked herself up slowly. Her movements were inhibited by the sticky liquid. The beast started to circle her and growl as it prepared to pounce. She watched and waited, her axe at the ready.

  The cat pounced and she moved into action. She threw her axe at it's face, confusing and disorientating it for a moment, and charged straight for the exit while clutching the gem stone in both hands. After a few confused moments the feline pursued her, but she quickly lost it in the narrow tunnels the cat couldn't fit through. She really never understood the point of having hall ways smaller than the actual monsters. The moment she made it outside she took to the air and glanced at the crystal. Already small cracks were forming around the edges.

  “No no no. Come on, Fang. Stick it out. Just a little longer,” she said before she brought up her map and found the nearest town. Another underground lair. Wonderful. She didn't have a lot of options though. She took off as fast as she could towards the city, praying she'd make it in time as another small crack formed on the crystals face.

  ------

  Asura paced nervously in the pet nursery, occasionally glancing at her inventory. By the time she arrived the gem stone had cracked almost clear in half. In the end it meant she had to pay a large fee and there was a large percentage chance of her pet making it, depending on how much she paid. She spent the full gold amount and was now waiting. Rather than just flat out telling her if her pet made it or not, they forced a timer on her. If the pet made it, the gem would appear in her inventory and could be released at any time. If not... the egg would appear. She'd have to hatch it, name it and raise it completely from scratch.

  She kne
w it was silly to get emotionally involved with her pet, since it was just a game. But it was the closest she'd ever get to a real pet. Training pets really wasn't that hard since they gained levels very quickly and followed orders. She had spent most the time getting it to her level just while raising her dragon class and axe levels. But each one had their own little personality, that while simple, did give the pet it's own sense of life. Hers was a clingy and cuddly little dragon and she could still remember snuggling it close when it had just hatched. She wanted her Fang back. Not a new dragon. She swore if she got it back, she'd never put it in real danger again.

  Asura was startled by a sudden call. “Huh? What? Hey! Mutt!”

  “Hey. I hear you were looking for me? What's up?”

  “I wanted to know exactly what happened after I got disconnected. All the details.”

  “Oh, sure. Are you in the middle of anything? Wanna meet back at head quarters?”

  She glanced at the ground. Technically her being here didn't do anything, except ruin her mood even more. “I'll be there soon.”

  ------

  Asura sat on the throne, her boots kicked off and laying with her back to one arm rest and her legs over the other. “So what happened?” Despite her relaxed appearance she kept looking at her inventory, even though she knew the egg or crystal wouldn't appear for a while yet.

  “Well, your highness,” he said with dripping sarcasm before he mock bowed. “We were getting creamed. Out numbered and the monster was attacking everyone there. Some of the demons were trying to escape while they could, when Suportano came in with the rest of his group. They were able to destroy the artifact and get the others out, including Scalios. I'm gonna be honest, I'm surprised you died. I thought you'd run when we started getting over whelmed. Where you been?”