by John Nest
"Waaah!" shouted the old HighElf and let out a strong gust of wind in the chamber. Smoke thought that Ouragan had gone ballistic.
"That useless bastard is going to be the downfall of this kingdom!" screamed the Prime Wizard of Vona City.
"He keeps hanging on to the vicious victories of his Grandfather, and the depleted wealth of his Mother. He completely ignores the pleas of his people," ranted Ouragan. "The Ork Hordes have greatly increased in number, and now he sends a hundred of our strongest melee fighters out to guard some forgotten temple!"
Before Smoke could react, Ouragan turned to him. "Smoke, can I leave this harebrained quest to you? I have more important things to do than guard some dusted building."
"Funny, I was going to say the same," chided Smoke.
"I'm not in the mood for jokes," said Ouragan with a straight face. "I was hoping that the King would put us on a mission to wipe out the growing Ork Horde."
"Tsk!" sounded the old HighElf shook his head and clicked his tongue. "I sure hope Cynar's Ork Hunting efforts have been fruitful."
"Alright, I'll lead the Warrior Guards, but can I find Eleve first?" asked Smoke. "And maybe visit a library or two?"
"No!" screamed Ouragan. "King Kajou is an impatient prick, and if he ordered us to do this, then those Warrior Guards should have already been waiting since an hour ago."
"Is King Kajou really that bad?" asked Smoke.
Ouragan grunted loudly. "You don't even know the half of it."
"The truth is, there used to be seven kingdoms in the Sawtorn Continent," began Ouragan. "And there are only two main reasons why there's just two kingdoms left now."
"The first one was because of the ruthless Ork Hordes," explained the old HighElf. "They killed citizens and pillaged cities like there was no tomorrow. Those Orks moved from Kingdom to Kingdom after they've fully consumed everything it had to offer."
The Prime Wizard paused and strongly shook his head in disapproval. "And the second reason was because of King Gagnant XIII and King Matalas."
"King Gagnant XIII took advantage of the suffering kingdoms that were recently attacked by the Orks," added Ouragan. "With barely enough defenses left, he rode into the dying kingdoms and conquered them."
Ouragan temporarily stopped talking and led Smoke outside the underground chamber.
"You better head for those Warrior Guards," said the old HighElf. "I'll tell you more about Sawtorn's history along the way."
Smoke looked at him confused, but followed the Beggar Evocati's lead anyway.
"After subjugating the fallen kingdoms into Vitzytl, Gagnant XIII used Gnomemonia's wealth to rebuild their defenses and conscript the worn out residents into his own soldiers," explained the Prime Wizard. "The conquered citizens were brainwashed into thinking that the Orks were the real enemy and signed up with revenge on their mind."
"How rich was this Gnomemonia?" asked Smoke. "How was she able to do all that? Especially if they did this for each of the conquered kingdoms?"
"Ha!" snorted Ouragan. "She could afford all of it, because the conquered lands were all turned over to her. She then sold them off to the other rich nobles for a higher profit."
"The conscripted soldiers didn't even know that their homes were already taken away from them," said the Prime Wizard. "How would they? When they were assigned to the frontlines of the battlefield."
"And what about the Thanotl King? Matalas was it?" asked Smoke. "What did he do?"
"King Matalas knew of the Ork Hordes rising power. So, he convinced King Tanga of the neighboring kingdom to serve under him, and become an Arch-Duke of Thanotl instead," expounded the Beggar Evocati. "After King Tanga agreed, King Matalas invested wealth of the two kingdoms into strengthening their defenses. In the end, not one of their cities were destroyed by the Ork Hordes. In fact, the Orks suffered almost half their numbers when they fought against Thanotl Kingdom."
Ouragan then paused and looked at Smoke strangely. "Now, that you mention it, it appears like it was the perfect trap for the Orks."
"What do you mean?" asked Smoke.
"Well, King Gagnant XIII was steadily chasing after the worn out Ork Hordes," said Ouragan, forming a fist with his right hand. "And King Matalas was waiting for them with his impenetrable defensive army," he added, fully opening his left palm.
Ouragan then smashed both his hands together and created a loud impact.
PITI
"The injured Orks had nowhere else to run," said Ouragan. "And in comes, King Gagnant XIII riding on his high horse annihilating almost all of them."
"The story always made it seem like King Gagnant XIII was the real hero, but I'm sure he couldn't have done it without King Matalas' own actions," concluded Ouragan.
"Wait, if King Gagnant XIII was such a bad guy? Why did you and the Beggar Brotherhood leave him alone?" asked Smoke. "Why did you allow him to continue his rule?"
"I never said he was a bad guy," reasoned out the old HighElf. "I just said he was a ruthless manipulative bastard."
"Huh? What do you mean?" asked Smoke.
"For King Gagnant XIII, it didn't matter to him how he did it," explained Ouragan. "As long as he was able to protect his kingdom."
After the brief history lesson on how the Sawtorn Continent came to be, Ouragan and Smoke reached the end of the tunnel. The old HighElf then pointed him to the direction of the eastern gate. "Those Warrior Guards should be waiting for you there."
"Alright, I'm going, but I need more information about all of this," said Smoke. "Do you have any books I could read?"
"I'll have someone send over a couple," replied the old HighElf. "'But, it may take a while. So, don't count on it anytime soon."
"Thanks! I'd really appreciate it, if it arrives sooner," said Smoke.
"But, let me just tell you this," said Ouragan. "Since I'm only a Beggar Evocati, I can only speculate."
Ouragan paused. "The reason the Brotherhood allowed King Gagnant XIII to rule was because he ruled all of his people fairly, including those he conquered. None of them were attacked by Orks ever again. Well, until he died that is."
* * * * * *
After he stepped out of his game pod, Nash tilted his head as far back as it could reach and let out a yawn.
CREAK CREAK CREAK
The sound of his spine cracking told him that he needed to do his Eskrima exercises.
'Sure hope those guys ride fast,' thought Nash, as he pictured out the Warrior Guard caravan he logged out from.
He had met the one-hundred Warrior Guards personally assigned by the King, and he gave them strict instructions on what to do before he left.
'Well, at least that one Guard looks reliable,' recalled Nash, as he pictured the Warrior in black who stopped him from entering through the western gates of Votl City. Surprisingly, he was one of the assigned men.
Placing his right foot firmly on the floor and the other over his head, Nash started doing his stretching exercises. It took him a good thirty-minutes, but it did not bother him as he scheduled a two-hour break from the virtual reality world.
Heading downstairs, Nash walked past his Grandmother's room and saw her used dishes outside it. He tried turning the knob, but again, her door was locked.
Although he had the keys to all the rooms of this house, he did not use it. He figured that his Mima would open it, whenever she feels like doing so.
'Besides, she always makes sure to put out her plates or leave a note that says she's doing fine,' he thought and reasoned with himself.
Once inside the kitchen, he quickly made himself a T-L-C sandwich and headed for the sofa to watch some television.
When the screen turned on, he saw a short-haired brunette in her early fifties. She was being interviewed in a talk show, hosted by Timmy Talon. Nash recognized her as the CEO of the Zectas conglomerate.
=======
"Does it bother you that there are numerous Virtual Reality Multiplayer games popping out after your success?" asked Timmy.
"To be blunt, no," replied Lisa Zuckerman. "Sure, our number of daily online players have dropped down by 30%, but it has never gone beyond that."
"I'm sure those players are just curious to see what the other games are like," she added. "But as you know, none of these new games have maintained their OPS for more than a month."
"Sorry, but I'm not quite familiar with that term," said Timmy. "What does OPS stand for?"
"Online Player Stats," replied Lisa with a smile. "There are more than ten games similar to Zectas right now, but we're still here and we're still strong."
Timmy nodded, as he listened to her. "And what do you think is the reason for your success?"
"Well, there are a number of things, but let me cite a couple of them," answered Lisa. "Cutting-edge realism, extremely comfortable game pods, and most of all, our human-like Artificial Intelligence Interactions. "
"Yeah, how exactly do you do that?" asked Timmy. "I've been inside the game. I mean, who hasn't? But during my time there, I could have sworn that the Zectians I've talked to were real live human beings."
Lisa giggled. "Sorry, Tim, I’m afraid I can't tell you that," replied Lisa. "Trade-secrets," she added with a shrug.
"Oh, alright. Just whisper it in my ear when we get off the air," said Timmy. "But for now let's move on to the reason you are here in the first place."
"Like I said, we've broadened our scope of business," said the Zectas CEO. "We've merged with famous companies like Androidyne, Admiral Autos, and Dream Life."
The host of the talk show then encouraged his live audience to clap.
"You know what I really like about all of this?" Timmy asked the CEO.
"No," she replied and shook her head while smiling. "What?"
"It's the numerous outreach programs you have done with each of your newly acquired companies," replied Timmy. "Especially the 'Touch your Dream and Run to your Future' project."
"Yeah, I like that one too," said Lisa. "Our government has graciously funded most of the autonomous-robotic-prosthetics for our soldiers and veterans. You know, the ones who were injured during their heroic service for our country."
She paused and turned to the audience. "However, there are also ordinary day to day citizens who greatly need these artificial limbs," she smiled before she went on. "And that's where that project comes in. Zectas, together with Adroidyne, shoulder the full expense for these everyday people."
"Can we show the pictures, please?" Timmy asked his director.
At once, the lights dimmed down and a large screen was lowered. It displayed pictures of happy children with robotic hands and feet. They gave out wide sincere smiles while they were walking, writing, and even running.
Shortly after, the screen moved up and the lights became brighter.
CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP
"Now, that's what I'm talking about!" said Timmy, while strongly clapping his hands. "That's how you're supposed to use millions of dollars."
"Don't go spending it on a large mansion or some fancy car just for yourself," he added. "Buy these kids a pair of arms and legs instead."
Timmy's live audience clapped even louder.
"But what I really want to talk about is our latest project with the newest member of our family, Dream Life," began Lisa. "Basically, it's just an upgrade to their existing cryosleep technology."
"Cryosleep? What's that?" asked Timmy. "Is that something like crying yourself to sleep?"
Lisa chuckled. "No, no. It's putting a terminally ill patient into suspended animation. You know, in hopes of waiting for a future technology to cure their illness. Especially the ones that are still beyond our current medical discoveries."
"And what's the upgrade? Do they get to exercise while they're frozen popsicles, now?" asked Timmy.
"Well, in a way they could," replied Lisa. "You see, we've added our two technologies together. The Zectas Virtual Reality system, was inserted into the patients who are in cryosleep."
She then turned to the studio audience. "This way, when they swim, they get the sense of being in the ocean. Thus, stimulating their muscles to flex, mimicing the activity. Biking, hiking, you name their dream state exercise and that's what they'll get."
"Wow! That sounds really interesting. And is that also free? Does your company sponsor that as well?" asked Timmy.
"Unfortunately, not anymore. We've already filled up all the free spots," explained Lisa. "But my good news is that this technology is now open to the public."
"And how do they do that?" asked the talk show host.
"Just visit any of our sites or call 1-800-dreamlife," answered Lisa.
"There you have it, Folks," said Timmy. "Please don't hesitate to call them if you want one of your irritable loved ones to be suspended in animation, while still being entertained."
Lisa giggled at Timmy, and nodded her head in agreement.
"I'm really sorry, Lisa, but we've run out of time," apologized Timmy. "I really wish we had more, but please do come back. You're welcome anytime."
"I'll take your word on that, Timmy," she replied. "Expect me to see here again next week."
"Certainly! I look forward to it," replied Timmy with a wide smile. "But before the Zectas CEO leaves, she thought that she should give you all something to take home with."
A large Zectas game pod was then brought out from behind the stage curtain. "Everyone here goes home with a brand new Zectas gamepod!" screamed Timmy, but the audience drowned his voice as they erupted in cheer.
"Well, I think they liked it, Lisa," said Timmy.
"I'm really glad they did," she replied. "Otherwise, I'd have a hard time carrying all of these home."
The two of them laughed and hugged.
"Lisa Zuckerman, Everybody!" he said to the audience.
=======
Engrossed with what he was watching, Nash failed to notice the time. He barely had thirty-minutes left on his scheduled break. He hurriedly ran upstairs to get in a quick power nap before logging back into Zectas.
* * * * * *
Opening his eyes to see the orange skies of early dawn, Smoke sat up on the back of the carriage. As he had just logged back in, he stretched out all of his drowsiness. He scratched his cheek before placing the Paradox Mask over his face. He took a quick look around to see how the Warrior Guards have set up their camp.
'It looks secure enough,' he thought, pleased.
Checking his map, Smoke estimated that they were only one-hundred kilometers away from the temple.
"Good morning, Bon. Anything happened while I was out?" Smoke asked the man in black armor. The same Warrior Guard who stopped him from entering Votl City before.
"There were no attacks, Commander Faux," replied the Warrior Guard. He gave no trouble to Smoke and accepted his full authority over him and the rest of the Warrior Guards.
Smoke remembered how they questioned his entry into the city. Yet, now, all of them followed his orders without question. Thus, Smoke held no grudges against them.
"But there are two new arrivals who caught up with us," added Bon, and pointed to a LightElf and Lioumerean riding on top of dirus wolves.
'What are Xantana and Chouchou doing here?' wondered Smoke.
"Signal the men to prepare for breakfast," said Smoke.
"As you command, Commander Faux," replied Bon with a bow. "What should I tell them to cook?"
"Don't worry about it. I'll be the one cooking," said Smoke.
Cooking was a sure method of raising Intimacy with Zectians, and Smoke needed to increase his Intimacy Levels with these Guards posthaste.
However, Smoke did not begin preparing their meal just yet. Instead, he walked over to Xantana and Chouchou.
"Good morning, you two," greeted Smoke. "What are you doing here? And how did you find us?"
"We've been following you ever since you left Votl City," replied Chouchou.
"I just wanted to know if you were serious about what you said," interjected Xantana. "Are you really going to hel
p us out?"
"I am, but I'm currently on an important mission," said Smoke.
"Yeah, we know," said Chouchou. "With these much Warrior Guards, it could only come from one of the higher ups. Was it Duke Fiable?"
"No, it wasn't him," replied Smoke. "Anyway, I was about to make breakfast. The two of you are welcome to stay, but after that I'm going to have to ask you to leave."
"Alright, we'll stay for breakfast," said Xantana.