by Dante Doom
“Screw you!” Sang said as she released her bow, firing an arrow toward Lemuel. He leapt to the right, narrowly avoiding the hit.
“Think carefully about your decision,” Lemuel said. “There are some things that you cannot take back. You haven’t even heard my offer yet.”
“What could you possibly offer us?” Sang asked.
“An excellent question,” Lemuel said as his tail thrashed up and down. He didn’t look perturbed by the attack at all. In fact, Sang could have sworn that he’d smiled when she attacked him. What was going on?
“Allow me to be up front with you both,” Lemuel continued. “If we wanted you dead, we could have easily ended your miserable lives. We could have done a host of things to make sure you’d never be able to interfere with us again, but that’s not very sporting, is it? In case you haven’t noticed, Dragon Kings of the New World is very rules oriented. We programmed a very intense series of rules and logic into this game, and everything follows it. That is because rules bring order. We do not deviate from our rules. As such, you will be interested to know that one such rule which we follow, our sacred rule, is that only those who are strong will be worthy of respect.”
“Why respect strength?” Van asked.
“Because strength requires discipline in order that it be attained. Discipline comes from order. We like a race that shows strains of order. In the end, when all races have been properly tended to, there will be a grand hierarchy. Those who show great skill, even when geared toward chaos, will be rewarded with positions of power. Think of it sort of like your United Nations, with the most powerful races being the ones who will help usher in decisions.”
“So, like a trial by fire kind of thing?” Van asked, stepping slightly toward the girls. The lizard didn’t move or change his expression as Van began moved. Van inched his way closer to Bidane, who had begun to stir.
“Exactly. We are looking for only the best. Which brings me to my offer. We will allow you two to continue down your path for as long as you can survive. It would be unfair for us to change the rules of our game just because we don’t like what you’re doing with it. To change our operations based on that consideration would be a decision made in service to chaos.”
“So, what, you just let us take what we want, then?”
“If you can fight hard enough, sure,” Lemuel said as he strolled toward the back of the ship. “It was nice to finally meet you two. I was hoping that wretched Xevov would be with you, but it appears that it was smart enough to avoid this entire area. Soon enough, we will find it and kill it. Of all the races, I’ll tell you that I despise the Xevov the most. It is ridiculous to know that they are relying entirely on you humans to rescue you. They have no strength. Goodbye.”
And with that, Lemuel simply vanished from the room.
“Well, that didn’t go as horribly as I was thinking,” Van said.
“Don’t talk just yet,” Sang said as a door on one side of the room slid open. Four burly men armed with spears and wearing plate mail emerged. Sang quickly pulled up their character sheets to find that they were all identical, albeit very simplistic.
Character Sheet
Name:
Warrior
Level:
20
Health:
25
Strength:
15
Items:
Plate Mail (Damage resistance +50%)
Spear (10 damage)
Helmet (Reduce critical damage)
Much to Sang’s surprise, it appeared that these warriors had lower health levels than normal, but then again, Sang’s health had been pretty low in the previous fight, too.
“Oh, crap,” Van gasped as he dropped down and cut Bidane and Dolly’s ropes loose. “Girls, you better get out of here.”
“What in the hell was all that about?” Bidane demanded as she pulled the gag off of her mouth. She tried to stand, but her legs were too weak and she buckled to her knees. Dolly wasn’t doing much better, as she wasn’t speaking at all and could barely stand.
“Look out!” Sang said as she aimed her bow at the four men who were in a square formation, standing shoulder to shoulder. “Hey, back off! You guys have one chance to back off; if you don’t, you’re going to die.”
The men said nothing, but continued marching towards Sang. One of them lunged forward and hurled his spear at her, but she was able to dodge out of the way. The spear crashed into one of the screens behind her, causing the entire wall to fizzle and spark.
“Oh man,” Van said as he grabbed a dart from his belt and chucked it at one of the spearmen. The dart bounced right off of the plate mail. The words Insufficient Penetration floated above them.
Sang snapped another arrow off. It sailed through the air and lodged itself right between the shoulders of the front spearman’s armor. 20 damage floated above him. He winced and dropped to one knee, and Sang could see blood dripping out of the wound.
The three remaining soldiers broke formation, raised their spears, and rushed toward Sang at the same time.
“Look out!” Van shouted as he threw himself forward, crashing into one of the spearmen. They fell to the ground and began to roll around, violently wrestling each other. The Grappled status appeared over the pair of them, with a corresponding bar indicating who was winning the grapple also showing itself.
Sang leapt back, narrowly avoiding the spears jabbing at her. “Is that all you got?” she shouted as she pulled her sword out and dropped her bow at the same time. Her heart was pounding and she could feel the adrenaline coursing through her body. She was determined to win this fight at any cost. She wasn’t going to let Draco win, no matter what.
She held perfectly still, crouched down and poised, waiting for one of the men to strike. One had moved to the left of her and the other was coming in on the right. They were extremely coordinated and disciplined. No one struck. She continued to back up, waiting for one of them to make a move, but neither of them did.
“Come on, you bastards!” Sang shouted. “You really think you can take me down?” Neither of them moved—they just continued to wait on her. Sang knew that, if she struck first, they would react and take her down, but if she waited, they might catch her off guard with a coordinated assault. She didn’t have time to think, but what was she supposed to do in this situation?
Bidane, who was still trying to stand up, grabbed one of her daggers and threw it hard at the back of a spearman’s head. It wasn’t a good enough throw to stab him, but the weapon thunked hard against the back of his skull, causing him to temporarily lose focus. Sang took advantage of the moment and spun toward the distracted guard, pushing closer to his body so that his spear was no longer of any use. Once she was inside the strike zone, she grabbed his right arm, looped her arm around it, and thrust her short sword right into his stomach. 10 damage floated above him. He grunted, but otherwise made no noises.
“Look out!” Bidane yelled. Sang spun around just in time to narrowly avoid being stabbed by the other spearman. His long, pointed stick flew at her, jabbing multiple times, but she kept backing up away from it. Dodge, dodge, dodge appeared each time she avoided the attack.
“One on one, I’m not giving you good odds here,” Sang said. She glanced over to see that Dolly had crawled over to where Van was wrestling and grabbed one of his opponent’s arms, throwing her entire body atop it. This had just allowed Van to get the upper hand as he rolled atop the spearman and began punching as hard as he could.
Sang blocked a few blows from the spear, feeling more confident with each block. It seemed that these men worked best when they were working together as a unit. Even though the man she faced was trying to maintain an air of being expressionless, she could see that fear and worry had cropped up over his face. He knew that he was in trouble and he didn’t know how to act as an individual.
Sang crouched low and raised her sword high. “Last chance,” she said. “Get out of here while you still have the chance.”
The spearman shook his head at her and took a step back, lowering his spear for a charge. He took a deep breath and screamed at the top of his lungs, “For Draco!” as he ran toward her. Sang waited half a beat and then lunged forward, rolling to the left so that she’d be outside of the spear’s range. The long wooden shaft moved past her. He pressed right into the danger zone of her sword and, with a single flourish, she lopped his head clean off. Critical Hit, Lethal Blow went flying along with his head.
“Holy crap!” Sang shouted in terror as his head went flying off. Blood spurted from his corpse as it fell to the ground, twisting and writhing.
“Oh God,” Bidane said. “That is gruesome.”
“A little help here!” Van wheezed. He was in a headlock with the last remaining spearman on his back. The other spearman, the one who had taken a shot to the arm, had bled out and was lying on the ground, unconscious.
“You’re done!” Sang said as she shoved her sword against the guy’s head. “Give up.”
“Ack!” Van gasped. “Choking… can’t breathe.”
The man didn’t let up his grasp, so Sang pressed her sword against the man’s back, where his heart would be, and thrust down as hard as she could. Coupe De Grace floated above him as he gasped and stopped moving.
“Urgh, that was horrible,” Van said as he crawled out from the man’s body. “Whoa!” he said then, once he spotted the headless corpse.
“I don’t understand—they didn’t say a word,” Sang said as she dusted herself off. “Why fight to the end?”
“Probably indoctrinated,” Van replied. “Too far gone.”
“Yeah, speaking of too far gone, what in the hell is going on here?” Bidane shouted. “Lizard people? Obliterating planets? Why can’t I log out, Van? I’ve been stuck in this game since yesterday! What’s going on?”
“It’s a really long story,” Van said. “But the short version is that this game is being run by crazy aliens, and they have the power to kill us if we’re in specific areas. You better get out of this place quickly and then log out. Maybe you shouldn’t come back in the game for a while.”
“I feel really sick,” Dolly said. “I think I might be dying of dehydration in the real world. I use a haptic set, but I can’t move my body.” She was lying on the floor, unable to stand.
“Bidane, please, get Dolly out of here,” Van ordered.
“Alright, fine, but I’m going to need answers when you’re done with whatever the hell you’re doing here!” Bidane said as she knelt down to help Dolly up. They struggled to get her to her feet, but eventually they were able to do so. They quickly limped out of the ship.
“Okay, I’ll watch the door,” Van said as he knelt down to pick up one of the spears. “You get to hacking.”
“Right,” Sang said as she walked up to the large computer console that was in the center of the room. She looked at the keyboard and sighed. It appeared to be constructed entirely in a different language from her own. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” she mumbled as she tapped a few buttons. The computer screen in front of her activated. She could see dozens of surveillance feeds showing the entire area of Bloodrock. She could see the castle where there were hundreds of Iron Dragon mercenaries fighting against the hundreds of Kyrissians. The battle was quite fierce, too, and she could see that it was attracting more players from the surrounding area. A large icon floated above the battlefield, indicating that anyone who joined either side would receive x10 experience points for fighting.
“Find anything?” Van asked.
“I’m trying, but this isn’t in our language. I really wish we had Jet with us.”
“Tell me about it,” he replied.
Sang fumbled around with a few more keys, pressing buttons at random. As she tapped, though, she suddenly felt an intense pain surge through her head. “Gah!” she cried.
“You okay?”
“I’m fine...” she wheezed. Her head felt as if it were being crushed by a vice. Was Draco killing her? Words began to surface to her mind then—alien words that she didn’t quite understand. She glanced up again at the screen. Flashes of symbols came to her mind, each of them showing symbols that she had first seen in her vision when she had made contact with the Xevovs. These symbols, she remembered, perfectly matched a few symbols that were now on the screen in front of her. Shrugging, she navigated the computer’s cursor to those matching symbols. When she clicked on them, another display appeared. This display showed a variety of different panels, each with different kinds of symbols and words on them. One offering set said: “Native Language.”
“Hah! I found an English option!” Sang cheered as she clicked on the native language button. Immediately, the displayed offerings turned into English.
“Really? How?”
“There’s some kind of interface system. I dunno, I think the Xevovs told me about this. Or maybe they’re telling me about it right now. To be honest, I have no idea how, but hey, lucky for us, right?”
“Yeah, good to catch a break,” Van replied. He didn’t say much else as Sang hurried through the computer’s files. She searched meticulously for any kind of data, but there was nothing worthwhile to be found.
“I’m not finding anything,” she said. “Oh... crap.”
“What?” Van asked.
“I think… no, no no!” Sang stepped back from the console, knelt down, and looked at one of the ports. Sure enough, there was a small slot where a data stick could connect in. The only problem was that the data stick was missing. “Oh, great. That Lemuel bastard must have stolen all of the pertinent data.”
“How do you know it was him?” Van asked. “Anyone could have moved it, and we can’t just assume Lemuel has it.”
“Let me see,” Sang said as she tapped away at the computer. Security footage of the inside of the ship came up rather quickly. She brought the security footage to an hour ago, to see Lemuel busy walking back and forth, talking to a few humans. They were all listening intently. One of them was Draumed. Sang shivered a little as she remembered ending his life. What a horrible thing she had done. She shook her head, trying to get the images out of her mind. She’d have to worry about that later.
“Go forward! Look!” Van said, pointing at one of the players in the video. “It’s the leader of the Kyrissian forces!”
“You mean Zac?” Sang asked. She watched for a few minutes as the video moved in fast forward. She slowed it down right as Lemuel pulled the data stick out of the console and handed it over to the Kyrissian general.
“Nice! We know who has it!” Van said. “Let’s get moving, quick!”
“I don’t understand,” Sang said. “Why would he give the data stick over to the Kyrissians?”
“Don’t you see?” Van asked. “It’s another test. Lemuel wants to see if we have the strength to retrieve this data stick from a high-ranking player. He’s trying to see how far we’re willing to go.”
“I’m just not getting this,” Sang said as she shook her head. “Why would Draco try to toy with us like this? Why not just get rid of us?”
“They like rules, remember?” Van replied. “So much so, they were willing to build an entire game world that followed a hard set of rules—rules that they rarely ever change. Sure, they tweak an item here or nerf a class there, but the internal logic of this game world has always been rock solid.”
“So, what, they have a rule that says they have to tolerate meddlers?”
“Who knows?” Van answered. “Maybe they’ve been waiting to find a race that’s worthy enough to actually fight back. From the looks of it, they just roll over any planet they show up at. Maybe they’re bored and they enjoy the sport of it.”
“That’s insane, Van,” Sang replied as she shook her head. “These aliens are crazy.”
“Yeah, well, at least they’re crazy in our favor,” Van replied. “Now, let’s get going. The battle is still going on. If we move quickly, we’ll be able to get the drop on Zac and steal the data stick without hi
m noticing.”
“Alright,” Sang said as she bent down to grab one of the spears. “Let’s go find that data stick.”
The two walked out of the ship together, both with weapons in hand. Van was holding a spear and Sang was wielding her bow. The spear would come in handy in case someone tried to rush her. But as the ship hissed, opening widely for them to exit, they both froze in their tracks.
Standing before them were several dozen men, all armed with swords and shields. They wore the banners of the Kyrissian army and they were all laughing and joking amongst each other. Standing in front of the army of soldiers was none other than Zac.
“Long time, no see,” Zac said to Van.
Van shot a look of fear over to Sang. There was a very big chance that these players had no idea they were in a lethal zone. If they were ordered to attack, they’d be running to their deaths without knowing it. Sang swallowed hard. It was one thing to kill people who were trying to murder her, but to kill innocent people who thought it was all some silly video game? That would be too much. This was a trap, and she knew it. The smirk on Zac’s face gave it all away.
“It’s a pleasure to see you both,” Zac said, “although I believe this is the first time you’ve met me in my regular character’s body.”
“Nice to see you,” Van said through gritted teeth.
“You seem stressed out,” Zac said, chuckling. “Relax. We’re just here to talk. It would be a great travesty to come to blows in this area, wouldn’t it?”