by Daniel Annan
The moment I arrived there, my heart broke when I heard the tune of sorrows, a dirge that was being sung by my familiar. Fei was perched atop my altar, her eyes closed as she sung a lament for her bonded soul, one that brought tears to my eyes. I fell to my knees before her, letting her song wash over me for a time I could not count, my sphere of attention drawn in to myself and my familiar. My awareness only expanded once again when she spoke to me.
“Hello Master,” Fei chirped as she flew over to me, right into my palm.
“Hello Fei,” I replied, unable to keep the smile from breaking out on my face. “You look beautiful today.”
“I look beautiful everyday, Master. But flattery will not save you from what’s coming next,” She warned sternly.
I winced. “Lay it on me.”
And she did. I received an earful for a good 5 minutes, some spoken verbally and some mentally. At some point, Fei even started speaking through both, when she was especially agitated. It was one thing to have your friend and pseudo-wife chastise you, but when your bonded soul who you saw as a daughter, ripped you apart with words, you realized that up till that point, you had it easy in life. As it were, she declared that she was letting me off easy since I came back, but any further foolishness and she would never speak to me again. Promising her all the goodies in the world while praising all her attributes, I managed to soothe her eventually.
“Well, as long as you understand,” She sniffed haughtily.
“That I do my love, that I do,” I chuckled moving in to give her a wet kiss.
“Eugh no way!” She exclaimed, diving into the relative safety of my hair, prompting a laugh from me.
Since it had been a while since I promised the Dragonkin to accompany him to his summoning, I took off with haste to the courtyard, letting the full burst of hustle that 49 points of speed afforded me. If Sonic could see me now, he’d be sweating out of his ass. As such, I found my way to my destination in under five minutes, which given my grand sized townhall, was quite the achievement.
“Ah, if it isn’t the grand Lord himself. Jax the Great. Jax the Wise. Jax the stabbed in an alleyway. Jax the bleeder,” Clarent teased with a wide grin. Laughing, I appropriated a spot beside him and took in the surround.
The courtyard was definitely large, almost the size of the plot of a townhouse. With the exception of the entrance behind me – which I came from – there were stone pillars along the walls, creating shaded passageways for people, should it be raining in the courtyard, allowing them to move about efficiently, if not slightly sluggish. I could see various doors along the corridors, each one leading to somewhere or the other. Aside from that, everything else was plain stone.
“So my fire breathing ally, when do we begin?”
“Well, since you’re here, let’s hit it off!” He clapped his hands together, stretching them out over the space before us. Instead of the typical language of magic, he spoke in a heavy form of Dragon tongue that set fire to my chest.
__________________
You are under the effect of Dragons Touch!
+ 500% to all fire spells
+ 1000% to all Dragon Fire abilities
__________________
Well that certainly explains my sudden urge to bathe everything in flames.
Clarent clapped his hands once more, signaling the end of the long and powerful ritual spell. Almost immediately, the effects became clear; a wide blue portal opened up in the center of the courtyard, its structure looking stable and firm. It was opaque however, so we could not see what was on the other side. Standing in the square, we only had a moment to share an excited smile before the portal flared before us. Neither of us had any doubt that the sudden conflagration meant that something was coming out.
Unfortunately for us, what came out wasn’t exactly what we had both expected.
Instead of a cute little Dragonling, we were graced by a large claw that swept through the area right in front of us, prompting us to backtrack quickly. A second claw quickly emerged after the first, sweeping in a similar arc around the proximity of the portal. After a bit of flailing, I noticed that the claws were not trying to attack us – no. It was even worse. The talons gripped each side of the portal, widening it further until it was three times as wide as it had been before.
This act of course, gave the mythical beast the chance to pop its head into our realm, educating me and my companion as to who exactly answered his summons.
A red dragon.
Its eyes roved the area before landing on us, the tension rising as both parties stared the other down; the dragon in contempt of us while we gawked in openmouthed shock.
“Clarent, I don’t suppose this is part of the summoning,” I asked my companion with a shaky voice, drawing my sword and assuming a battle stance.
“No, I don’t either. I don’t feel a bond with that one so…” He answered, letting the obvious implication hang in the air. He mimicked my action and brought his red longsword out.
Well, this is going to be fun.
The magnificent creature spared us one more glance, taking in our pitiful forms before its might.
Then it roared.
Afterword
I would like to thank all of you who have taken the time to read my first attempt at a LitRPG book. I fondly remember a few months ago when I stumbled upon Aleron Kong’s The Land saga and instantly fell in love with the sub-genre. As one who loved Skyrim, Runescape, WOW3 and more recently, Skyforge, the genre spoke to the avid gamer in me. I also had a passion for RTS games like Age of empires and my all-time favorite, Evony online.
For those who wanted a clearer idea of the mechanics I used for The Realm’s design, specifically pertaining to Jax’s version of Ivory Online, I simply borrowed some aspects from Evony Online for the RTS sections and Runescape/Skyrim for the RPG elements with a great many modifications, obviously.
As for The Realm in general, there are multitudes of continents contained in that expansive world. Vena would go for nothing less. Every top game of every know video game genre and sub-genre exists in The Realm, whether steampunk, visual novel, JRPG, FPS, Horror or even arcade. Everything.
How I’m going to implement them is another story, but as my skill in this genre grows, so will my comprehension of the beast I’ve created. Until then, please leave a review on IO so that I can get a grasp on my failings and correct those that I can before book 2 releases.
Thank you!
Recommendation
Get my fantasy novella, The Severin Knight today! The story revolves around a Legendary Knight who decides to take one more quest before retirement, but ends up embroiled in a scheme larger than he could predict.
About the Author
As a law student in Ghana, English is a language of trade for me. This translated into an advantage when I moved into creative writing, where I could finally explore my passion for action and adventure.
I head the Epic Works Studio, which is an imprint of TopHat Studios LLC; writing and directing projects since mid-2016.
A Gift
Ivory Online was originally intended to be a long running manga, but my demands as studio head forced me to put it in writing form lest the project be swept away. As such, I have these character designs below that should give you an idea of how the ‘staple three’ look like (or were supposed to look like).
Jax
Clarent
Mira