Dreamscape: Infinity (Book 1)

by L. R. Wolf

  “I’m so tired.” Aya was absolutely exhausted, her mind was both racing and yet at the same time foggy, everything seemed surreal. She wasn’t sure if it was because her body was comatose or if she had just been in Infinity so long that it was her Avatar that was tired. She had never bothered trying to sleep in the game as she was always entering the world refreshed since her body was resting in the real world.

  “Here, take these bedrolls and stack them under you, it might make it a bit more comfortable. Since the rain has stopped I am going to go out hunting for some fresh food. If you need me for anything just message me, no matter what it is you need.” Elohwa rose to her feet, stretching out to relieve some of the pain of being in one position for so long. She hadn’t planned for them to stay there long as she didn’t know this area, so had never unpacked her bedroll. She pulled two bedrolls from her bag and handed them to Aya and then slung the new bag over one shoulder and then across her body. She approached the tent flap and hesitated. She wasn’t sure if she should leave her Dreamer alone in such a state so she turned around to return to her seat only to find Aya slumped over one of Elohwa’s rolled up bedrolls. She smiled and returned to her dreamer’s side. She unrolled the bedroll that Aya wasn’t leaning against then gently lifted Aya up off the other one resting Aya’s head on her shoulder so that she could unroll the second bedroll on top of the first so it had extra padding. When that was done Elohwa gently lifted Aya and placed her out across the bedroll. Aya’s eyes opened sleepily before she rolled over and went back to sleep.

  “Sleep well, my Dreamer.” Elohwa whispered as she opened the tent flap and headed out. The smell of wet grass and trees filled her nose. She closed her eyes and breathed it in. While she had been a prisoner within the starting tutorial dungeon all she had smelled was the must and dank of the stone walls. She had been able to hear the low level monsters moving about or the rare Dreamer come through, but she had always been wary. Her experiences with Dreamers in the past hadn’t been pleasant so she tended to avoid them. They’d rather try and kill her for experience or loot. While she had been in that dungeon, her powers and abilities had been suppressed so even a level one Dreamer could have killed her, but out here in the open they were slowly returning to her. She set off in search of fresh food for Aya and herself.

  ***

  Aya awoke to the smell of meat roasting. “Ray must be grilling again,” she thought. She rolled over trying to push down the memory of the horrible nightmare she’d had about falling into a coma and her mind being trapped within the Dreamscape. She finally opened her eyes and found herself staring at a dark green wall of cloth. She sat up and looked around, the fact that the nightmare was real, hit her like a truck. It hadn’t been a dream. Her shoulders slumped and she had to fight back the sorrow beginning to creep back up. She vowed to herself that she was going to make the best of a horrible situation. She managed to pull herself together just as Elohwa opened the tent flap.

  “Ah, you are awake!” Elohwa ducked inside the tent but left the flap open to let a gentle breeze into the tent to circulate the stale air out. “I managed to find some game close by and a wild grape vine.” She approached the fire and poked at the meat before flipping it over on the makeshift grill. “This should be done here shortly.”

  “How long was I asleep?” Aya yawned and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. Her mouth started to water at the smell of the meat cooking nearby.

  “About six hours. It is almost dusk now. I recommend we eat quickly, break camp and use our recall spells though before darkness settles in. I saw some signs that undead are in the area as I was out hunting. They like to come out at night and catch unwary travelers by surprise.” Elohwa stabbed a piece of meat with a fork and placed it on a plate which she handed to Aya before placing another piece on her own. She quickly reached into her new satchel and pulled out two beautiful sets of knives and forks. They were silver with a bit of gold filigree outlining the same type of animals that graced the satchels that Jason had given them earlier. Elohwa noticed the look on Aya’s face as she examined the silverware. “Ah yes, I almost forgot,” she grinned as she held the satchel up, “You are really going to want to take a look in your bag after dinner.” Aya looked around and saw the satchel sitting off to the side. In her shock earlier she hadn’t really been interested in taking it much less looking in it, but if she was going to be stuck here she might as well make the best of it. Aya reached for the bag but before she could grab it Elohwa’s hand flew out and gently swatted her hand away. Aya arched her eyebrows in surprise as she looked at Elohwa. Elohwa only flashed her a smile. “If you open that satchel it is quite likely you will not get through dinner before night sets in, so you just sit right there until you have finished eating!”

  Aya blinked in surprise before she burst out laughing. She hadn’t known Elohwa for all that long, it hadn’t even been two full days, but she already knew Aya well enough to know her loot fascination. “Yes ma’am,” she managed to get out between laughing. She then placed the plate of food on her lap so that she could cut the meat. As she brought the meat up to her mouth she sniffed at it a bit out of habit as she had no idea what she was about to eat. It smelled a bit like pork so she shoved it in her mouth; it tasted just like pork too. She devoured her piece of meat both because she was starving and Elohwa had managed to pique her interest in the satchel. Aya stared down at her empty plate contemplating if she should take another portion of meat when suddenly another piece dropped down on her plate. As much as she desperately wanted to find out just what was in that satchel, her hunger won out over potential loot. “You read my mind, this is so good, thank you!”

  Elohwa flashed a smile and nodded as she finished her own meal. When she was finished she fished around in her new satchel and took out a special cloth used to clean plates and silverware. It was the same type of cloth she used to clean her blades. You could very well clean the blood from an entire battlefield with a single cloth and it would still remain good as new. Usually you would have to have a cloth specifically tuned to the particles you wanted to remove so you would need one for blood, one for food, one for other fluids, the list went on and on. Fortunately, the High Elf Jason had included an all purpose cloth among all of the other goodies in the satchel that would work on anything and everything.

  Aya watched as Elohwa finished cleaning the plate and silverware and returned it to her bag. Aya looked down at her plate that had a few small bits of meat and some juice coating it. “How do you get them so clean without washing them with soap?”

  Elohwa chuckled a bit and held the cloth up explaining its magical properties. “It is imbued with special magic that allows one to clean anything off anything without leaving bacteria or getting the cloth itself dirty.”

  “Wow, we could use those where I come from.” Aya started looking for a cloth in her starter bag so that she could clean her plate, but couldn’t find one. She looked up at Elohwa, “Can I borrow that for a minute please? I guess I didn’t start with one of those.” Elohwa handed the cloth to Aya.

  “Yes, I do not imagine that anyone would start with one as they are fairly expensive due to the rarity of the cloth and the different spells that have to be applied to it to make it able to clean anything and remain clean itself.” Elohwa was about to tell her that she would have a cloth of her own in the satchel, but she didn’t want to ruin the surprise.

  Aya wiped the cloth across the juices on the plate and then held the cloth up to look at it in wonder. It should have been brown, but not only was it still clean, it was still dry. “That’s incredible. Seriously, I need one of these.” Aya finished wiping her plate and then the silverware before handing the items back to Elohwa who handed her the long awaited satchel in return. A hungry grin spread itself across Aya’s face as she took the satchel. It was only now that she actually examined it, her mouth falling open in shock.

  Superb Satchel of the Architect-This satchel was a gift from a being of higher power.

  Reduces the
weight of items held within by 100%

  Bound to Dreamer Aya

  Once a day will spawn a stack of 5 of a random High Grandmaster level potion

  A bag like this so early in the game’s life could possibly go for hundreds of thousands of platinum and that was just for the weight reducing properties. Add the fact that it would spawn five of a high grandmaster level potion once a day could add a few hundred thousand platinum more. If it hadn’t already been bound to her she would have seriously considered selling it. Before she could start feeling disappointed at the loss of potentially nearly half a million platinum she unbuckled the satchel and opened the top. An inventory screen popped up in her vision, her eyes nearly popping out of her skull. The bag was chock full of various items and crafting materials. It appeared there were multiple stacks of rare crafting materials from herbs to ores. There were different armor and weapon box caches. From those boxes she could choose one item and then the box would disappear. As she was content with the Firecloth gear she currently wore she left the armor caches alone, instead opting to peruse the weapons. Until now she had only actually tried the longbow and that had failed miserably. Since then, she had only used her hands to throw her spells. There was a gigantic selection of weapons ranging from blades, and bows, to blunt weapons and even whips. It would take her forever to go through the sheer number of weapons. She glanced outside where the sky was growing darker as the sun began to set. She looked up at Elohwa and bit her lip, “How difficult do you think the undead will be?”

  Elohwa had been packing up the bedrolls and picking up the odds and ends she’d placed in the tent and placing them back into her new satchel as Aya had been going through hers. She looked out of the tent opening at the setting sun where barely a sliver of sun was left. Soon, true darkness would fall. “Honestly, it is difficult to tell. Typically undead that do not come out until night are either too weak to survive daylight, or just waiting for nightfall where they can bolster their already considerable power.”

  Aya turned her attention back to the inventory screen in front of her. She decided to leave fully delving into the inventory for later. Her eyes locked in on one item that was glowing and she let out a small gasp as she removed it from the satchel and held it up to the firelight to look at it.

  Architect’s Potion of Skill Experience- This potion can not be made by the hands of mortals. Grants 20% skill experience for 2 hours. Effects are cumulative with similar potions and persist through death. Does not adhere to skill experience caps.

  Aya heard Elohwa gasp as she examined the potion. A grin slowly raised the corners of Elohwa’s mouth. “We are not leaving are we.” Elohwa was stating a fact rather than a question, she already knew what the answer would be. She just hoped that the undead spawning would be worthwhile. Undead, typically, didn’t carry much, if any, loot on them besides any armor or weapons they might be wielding at the time.

  “Nope! I need a few minutes to see if there’s anything else that will be useful for our upcoming friends.” Aya was about to dive back into her inventory screen when Elohwa held out a small bundle.

  “Here, I made you some more armor pieces while you were sleeping.” Elohwa placed the bundle in Aya’s hands before she started going through her own satchel looking for anything she might have overlooked earlier. They were going to be in for a long night it seemed. Elohwa was glad that she had gotten in her own three hour nap earlier.

  Aya gingerly unwrapped the bundle revealing a few more cloth items that would fill in the rest of her armor slots.

  Firecloth Fingerless Gloves- Made from the silk of the lesser molten spiders found within the outer reaches of active volcanoes. 6 AC +25 Fire resist. Enhances fire abilities by 8. +5 Int

  Firecloth Hood- Made from the silk of the lesser molten spiders found within the outer reaches of active volcanoes. 8 AC +25 Fire resist. Enhances fire abilities by 8. +8 Int

  Firecloth Mantle-Made from the silk of the lesser molten spiders found within the outer reaches of active volcanoes. 8 AC +25 Fire resist. Enhances fire abilities by 8. +8 Int

  Firecloth Belt- Made from the silk of the lesser molten spiders found within the outer reaches of active volcanoes. 6 AC +15 Fire resist. Enhances fire abilities by 8. +5 Int

  Firecloth Cloak-Made from the silk of the lesser molten spiders found within the outer reaches of active volcanoes. 8 AC +35 Fire resist. Enhances fire abilities by 10. +10 Int

  Elohwa had already given her some of the Firecloth items earlier, but she hadn’t been able to try them out. Now she had a full set of the armor and enemies would be spawning soon. “I can’t even begin to thank you for this. Is there anything I can give you in return?” Aya pretty much already knew the answer to her question, but she decided to go ahead and ask it anyhow.

  “You are quite welcome and it is all right, there truly is no need to give me anything, though I do appreciate the offer.” Elohwa pulled out the potion that her satchel had spawned for her, while not the experience potion that Aya had found, it was still quite a find.

  Architect’s Potion of Luck- This potion can not be made by the hands of mortals. This potion grants increased chance of finding higher level items and increased monetary drops from corpses and chests for 2 hours. Effects are cumulative with similar potions and persist through death.

  Elohwa put four of the potions back in the satchel, placing the last one in a specially designed quick release strap in her belt. She wasn’t going to use it until they started fighting. Aya was just finishing up putting on the rest of the gear that Elohwa had made her. The effect of the complete set of armor was incredibly beautiful. The boots, which represented the earth were brown, they flowed up into the charcoal black pants. As the pants went from charcoal black at the knees it started to take on the appearance of burning embers. Around the hips the black gave way to the orange, red and yellow of flames, the shirt was covered in flames up until just above the breast at the armpits where the flames died down turning to gray smoke which swirled around the mantle and cowl. The cloak followed the same scheme, starting off at brown on the bottom then transitioning to charcoal, embers, flame and then smoke. If one had been looking at Aya from a distance they would see only what appeared to be a fire. The embers actually glowed, the flames shifted subtly and the smoke drifted upwards. It was a wonder to behold.

  As Aya donned the last piece of armor to complete the set, a purple armor icon flashed at the side of her vision, with a thought she opened it.

  Congratulations Dreamer! You have completed a secret armor set by wearing all of the Fire Cloth armor! As a bonus, while you wear the complete set the effects on each piece of armor is doubled.

  Aya giggled happily at reading that last part. She really couldn’t wait to try this new gear out. Elohwa was still watching her when Aya opened the notification. When she did that, it triggered the bonus of the set. The orange, red and yellow flames shifted to varying hues of blue. As a fire burned hotter, the colors changed, so too did these flames as Aya’s power was suddenly doubled.

  “What’s wrong?” Aya noticed that Elohwa kept glancing outside.

  “My map does not appear to be working, so I have no idea where we currently are. If I had some idea as to our location, I might be able to ascertain if there is a town or village nearby, somewhere we could retreat to if need be. I tried to scout around earlier while I was hunting, but I did not wish to get too far from you if anything were to attempt to sneak up on the tent whilst you slept.” Elohwa had been more concerned with the Dreamer’s mental state than her physical well being considering everything she had been through.

  “That’s odd...my map isn’t working either, it’s just all black. What the hell?” Aya had grown reliant on having some kind of map or indicator, but she hadn’t even noticed until now that it was gone due to everything going on.

  Elohwa once again looked out into the coming darkness. The trees that had dotted the landscape during the day were now towering giants as their shadows stretched long across the ope
n and barren fields around them. In the distance, mountains loomed, throwing their own dark shadows. With her elvish sight, she could see glowing eyes seemingly rise out of the earth about a hundred feet from them. “Because you received skill experience potions from your satchel you may wish to use them all at once to maximize the skill experience gained as well as extend the duration, but do not use them until after we kill something so we know whether or not it will be worth it to use them in the first place.” Elohwa ducked out of the tent and motioned Aya to follow. Once they were both out of the tent, Elohwa waved her hand extinguishing the fire and then she got to work breaking the tent down. In a matter of thirty seconds, the tent was down and bundled. Elohwa slipped the tent back into her bag. The flames from Aya’s armor lit up the area making her a prime target for the undead that had spawned. The two women watched as glowing eyes turned their attention in their direction and began lumbering towards them. Elohwa concentrated on the one that would make it to them first.

  Skeleton Warrior-The bones of this once great warrior have become yellow and brittle with age. It would appear that any hard strike would bring it to a final end

  Skill Level 40

  Elohwa’s jaw tightened at the discovery. If they could somehow manage to kill something thirty two levels higher than Aya, her skill experience would skyrocket, especially if she used all of the potions, but if they died, they would lose anything not bound to them.

  “If we are to attempt this, put everything from your old bag into the satchel that way if you die you will not lose anything.” Elohwa followed her own advice, placing her small brown pouch into the satchel where it was automatically sorted. She watched as Aya did the same thing. Elohwa had had the foresight to make the armor she had made Aya bindable so if she died she wouldn’t lose anything.

  “Won’t hurt to try if everything is bound right?” Aya was absolutely itching for a fight, especially after the grueling day she’d had. She wanted, no, she NEEDED to take out her anger and frustrations, her pain, on something.