“Thank you,” I said gratefully and bowed, eager to show respect to the wise and powerful Ra.
“Although you bested Anuket in your last mission, you still have much to learn from her. She will give you your next mission,” Ra said, and her voice shook me. She disappeared, leaving Anuket and I staring at one another.
“Haha. I’m your boss now, Gothy,” Anuket said in a singsong voice. “What should I make you do?”
I grimaced, dreading what embarrassing task Anuket would assign me.
“Should I make you build me a tree fort? Catch me a snack? Be my scratching post for a day?” she asked rhetorically, giggling after she proposed each absurd task. “No, no, I want to think of something cool. This is the first mission I’ve been allowed to assign. Oh, I know! You can help me take down a Mini-Drake,” she said, brimming with excitement.
“A Mini-Drake?” I asked. I didn’t like the sound of that.
“They have great loot, but I haven’t been able to take one down by myself. They always see me coming, and take off as soon as they notice me,” Anuket explained, though it was still quite unclear to me what we would be facing. I nodded in spite of my lack of understanding.
“Just let me know what you need me to do and I’ll try my best,” I said, attempting to sound competent.
“I’m thinking you’re going to be the bait. Formally your mission is to help me defeat a Mini-Drake, just so you know. What are you waiting for? Let’s go,” she said and started hopping away through the forest. I started after her, and the five new points in speed were a godsend. Each step hit the ground harder than ever before, propelling me nearly a foot farther with every stride.
We leaped over fallen rotting trees, ducked below hanging vines, and steered clear of a huge NPC gorilla that was holding a small torch. I assumed it had an interesting quest for us if we were to interact with it, but it also looked quite scary. Even if Anuket was half as strong as her mom, I’d bet that gorilla could take the two of us with one arm. The gorilla pounded the ground and it sent a shockwave through the surrounding forest that knocked me to the ground. I got up quickly and we picked up our pace, not wanting to deal with any distractions. Anuket was as motivated as I was to complete this mission. I really liked working with a team for a common objective.
I’d grown used to being able to see the night sky and look to its infinite beauty whenever things got hard. This jungle world was a whole new kind of dark. Layer upon layer of branches and leaves formed a thick canopy that blocked out nearly all light from above.
“We’re almost to the spot where flocks of the Mini-Drakes like to rest,” Anuket said in a hushed tone. “Keep it down, and prepare to be amazed.”
We slowed our pace to a crawl and I entered sneak mode. We came to a large pile of rocks and crept to the top of it, where we could peek over and view what lay below. The forest opened up to reveal a deep pond fed by a small tributary. Moonlight reflected off the calm water’s surface. A few downed trees floated on the water, providing a resting place for the fifteen Mini-Drakes.
Their bodies were a little larger than a golden retriever’s. They had long slender and scaly tails, which wrapped around the logs where they slept. They were a mix of blues and greens, and their scales looked smooth and mirrored the water, providing natural camouflage. They had sharp pointed claws that dug into the logs, folded wings, and long snouts with muscled jaws that would make a crocodile blush.
Anuket slashed my leg with her small paw and then signaled me to keep quiet. My health bar was lowered to 80%. Ouch. I bit my tongue to help disrupt the pain.
“All right, goth boy. They’ll soon wake as they smell your blood. Your job is to entice one close enough that I can get the jump on it.”
“I’m always the bait,” I said glumly and started walking to the pond. “Ow,” I cried out, hoping to get the attention of the Mini-Drakes and also letting my pain out into the open. One of the Mini-Drakes splashed the water with its tail as it woke up, and flew high into the air to see what was making such a commotion. It spotted me a moment later, and I jogged back to the rock pile, where hopefully Anuket was ready to launch her attack. I looked up to the top of the rock pile but saw nothing. Doubt flooded my mind, and a second later I was hit in the center of my back by the Mini-Drake’s nimble tail. I fell face first into the dirt below. I tried to react, but before I could, I felt teeth tearing at my ankle.
“Help, Anuket, help,” I screamed as the Mini-Drake ripped my legs apart. My health bar was falling fast. It was at 30% in the blink of an eye and was continuously flashing red. I pulled my pistol from my cape and began to aim at the beast. The Mini-Drake grunted and whipped my hands with its long, flexible tail and my pistol flew from my hands. The pain was unreal. I truly felt like I was going to die here and now. I wanted to give up; the pain was too much. My health dropped to 15%, so I drew my ax in desperation, and hacked at the large lizard’s snout. The ax bounced off the drake’s armored scales and hardly left a dent. My health dropped to 5% as the drake took a bite out of my stomach, and I took one more swing. I knew it was the last I could muster, and the small dragon took a moment to catch the ax between its front two feet.
It hissed in short bursts, as though it were laughing at my futile struggle. Suddenly, two small paws appeared on both sides of the Mini-Drake’s neck. Anuket was on the dragon’s back, slicing quickly and furiously, laughing as she fought. The beast thrashed around, first with its arms, then with its tail, trying to remove the little jaguar from its back. It began flapping its thin wings trying to get into the air where it might have an advantage, but Anuket sank her fangs into the beast, which stunned it for a couple of seconds.
I dove on the beast's tail and sunk my teeth into its scaly flesh. I drained its blood and began recovering some health. Using all my limbs, I pinned the tail to the ground, which made Anuket’s job a little easier. I regained health up to 50% and received Blood Bonus benefits, but no Blood Lust stat increases, as that only took effect if I consumed human blood. I looked over at Anuket, who had just sprung high into the air. She did a flip off the side of the Mini-Drake’s back and on her way down, her claws cut clean through the wyvern’s neck. Its severed lifeless head fell to the ground in a pool of green blood.
“We did it, woo-hoo,” Anuket said and started bouncing around the slain lizard, not seeming to mind getting some blood on her small furry paws. “You weren’t completely useless either. That was a big surprise,” she said and laughed. “All right all right all right, let’s see what we can plunder.”
She jumped onto the scaly corpse and closed her eyes to view its inventory. I received a mission complete message informing me I had reached Level 10. I now had a free special vampire move point at my disposal. I also had a free attribute point to use, so I put it into strength, which brought the stat to 24 (+5). I walked a few feet away to pick up my pistol from where the Mini-Drake’s tail had sent it flying earlier.
“Here. You can have the stuff I don’t want,” Anuket said dismissively.
I closed my eyes and saw a couple things get added to my inventory. Mini-Drake scales were the first added. They could be used to improve any piece of clothing by adding +5 health to the garment, as well as changing its appearance to a scaly and mirrored look. I combined the scales with my cape and opened my eyes to give it a look. The now blue and green cape glinted and reflected my surroundings. This looks awesome. I closed my eyes to view the second thing Anuket gifted me. It was a Mini-Drake eye. A diamond-like jewel certain to catch the eyes of anyone nearby. No stat upgrades, but it could be sold for $100 RM.
“I can’t wait to tell Mom, she’ll be so proud of me,” Anuket said in a state of pure bliss. I smiled, happy I could help her achieve this goal she had been working toward for so long. We started back through the jungle and reached the gold-capped mountaintop after a short, happy, journey. Anuket had been singing jaguar-themed songs the whole way there. We waited on the top of the mountain for only a minute before Ra appeared next to u
s.
When Ra showed herself, a happy Anuket leaped onto her back and started purring happily.
“I did it, Mom, I finally defeated a Mini-Drake. I’ll bet I’m the youngest being to ever defeat one,” Anuket boasted proudly.
“You surprise me every day, Anuket,” Ra said and also began purring. They nuzzled one another happily. Then Ra turned to me. “So you now have a point available to learn Dark Magic. Do you wish to learn a spell?” she asked. I nodded, excited to finally become one of the elite vampires who knew magic. “Let me think for a moment. I’ll find a spell that suits your current build. One that will complement your playstyle. A spell that will help you reach your ultimate goal,” Ra said and began to analyze me with her golden eyes. I felt the weight behind her stare, and a part of me felt she was seeing my memories, my wants and desires, and even seeing into my soul. I began to shiver.
“You don’t know who you are?” Ra questioned and continued to scan me.
“I haven’t known since I began playing. I know who I am in this game, but not anything about who I was before I started playing.”
“Interesting. I may be able to help you. First, you must vanquish the Starboys once and for all. Then I will show you your past life, and you will know who you were.”
“But how? Damien apparently has the funds to revive himself whenever we take him out.”
“This alludes to the nature of the spell I will teach you. It will come with the stipulation that you can only cast this spell once, or else the game may become plagued by your enchantments. You can cast the spell Exitium on one of your weapons. It will grant that weapon the ability to permanently delete a player’s account whenever it strikes.”
“Ra, I owe you so much. Thank you,” I said and bowed low to the ground. I began envisioning putting an end to Damien’s unjust power.
“You would be wise to keep your enchanted weapon a secret. If word gets out, many players may try to kill you just to get hold of the weapon you enchant.”
“I only plan on using the enchanted weapon once,” I said honestly. “Just to take out the Starboys’ leader, Damien.”
“I suspected as much. You have a good soul, Aker. You must use every advantage you can find to defeat the Starboys. I will refresh your Time Warp ability and Blood Bonus cooldowns, so you can use them again today if you need to. I’ll transport you to Minnetonka now, so you can find Damien and delete him. I’ll bring you back here when you succeed. Then I will reveal your past.”
I nodded grimly as I nervously brushed my long bangs out of my eyes. Do I really want to know who I was before I entered the game? I like who I’ve become here. Although I started out scared and weak, I’ve now proven to my friends and myself I am willing to fight for what is right. But I need to know my past. What if I have a family? A wife and kids? I should get back to them. I’ve been gaming for so long.
My body began to dissipate. I felt lighter and lighter, and then I felt like the air itself.
“Good luck, Gothy,” Anuket called out to me, but her voice sounded far away.
Slowly, my body began to reappear. Pixel by pixel I was rebuilt in the parking lot of the old abandoned church that had begun to feel like my home. I took out my silver pistol, the first weapon I’d acquired in the game. I placed my hand over it and said, “Exitium.” Dark purple and black tendrils of smoke began curling around the gun, then sank to the ground. I closed my eyes and could see the gun was now enchanted. The description read, “A silenced standard silver pistol with a dark curse. Good for close- and medium-range fights. A shot from this dynamo will permanently delete a player’s account.”
I put the gun back into my cape, and it somehow felt heavier and deadlier; it was a truly lethal in-game force. I stalked around town but stayed in the shadows. I neared the Starboys’ old base, but it appeared empty. I went back to the Russian Sleep Xperiment to see if anyone knew anything about Damien, or had seen anything weird going on.
I passed the leprechaun bouncer confidently and entered the electric nightlife that lay inside the trendy club. I scanned the crowd from a dark corner, inspecting all the new faces, all seeming to be having the time of their lives. A rush of emotions flooded through me when I saw Jon. His huge burly body stood out from the crowd, and his red eyebrows accented his tough face. I waved to get his attention and he made his way over to me, jostling a few people out of his way. He outright shoved a small man who didn’t make room for him to pass. He was a beast and one of the first players I’d encountered in VampQuest. He was someone I could trust.
“Aker? How have you been, bro?” he asked, raising his beer mug to exchange cheers with me, only to find I hadn’t gotten a drink yet. He took a long swig from his large metal stein.
“I’ve been okay. I’ve been grinding—that is, when my friends aren’t being killed,” I said while looking for a butler so I could order a drink. Jon scanned me for a moment.
“Whoa. You really have been grinding. Heck, you’ve got better stats than I do,” he said with newfound respect for me.
“Yeah, I’ve been paying my dues,” I said, trying to sound tough. “So has there been anything new going on with you?”
“My real life has been kicking me in the butt lately. I’m still working on saving enough to buy a new car, so I’ve been walking five miles to work each day, then five miles home. Can’t afford health insurance so I have to pay a fine, but I may be coming down with some kind of sickness. I don’t feel as good as I used to. In a way, I can’t afford not to have health insurance now. Ugh, I don’t want to think about it. Glad I can spend my time-off here, where I can have some fun, and feel great. I wish I could afford the amnesia drip, I would use that in a heartbeat,” he said and took another long drink from his tankard.
“I’m glad you're here, man,” I said and patted his shoulder. “Things will get better in real life too, keep working at it. Keep chipping away and you’ll move past whatever’s holding you back. Have you noticed anything strange around Minnetonka lately?”
“Strange? Not too much. There’s been less Reel-C floating around lately, but besides that not much seems different here.”
“Any unexplained deaths, or overpowered players wreaking havoc on innocent players? Have you seen anyone with a huge green mohawk? Specifically named Damien?”
His rugged face turned to a frown.
“Now that you mention it, a mohawk-sporting effer has been winning every tournament for the last week at Fight Night. He’s killed three players in just that short amount of time. I’ve stopped competing, since for the time being, I can’t afford to die in-game right now.”
“Do you think he’ll be fighting tonight?”
“Only one way to find out. You think you can take him?” Jon asked incredulously.
“No,” I admitted, “but I may have the means to take him out once and for all if I can get in the ring with him.”
“I like the sound of that. If we hurry we can still make tonight’s fights,” he said. He slammed the rest of his beer and threw the mug to the ground, where it bounced off the floor and hit him in his shin. He hopped around on one foot, howling in pain.
“Are you all right?” I asked, but he waved me off.
“Let’s get out of here. Follow me,” he said.
I followed close behind him as we exited the bar. He now walked with a slight limp.
“Any other worthy opponents at the Fight Night lately?”
“A lot of newcomers, but no one worth mentioning. With your improved stats, you should be able to reach the final round of the tournament easily. After that, your guess is probably better than mine,” Jon said and slugged my arm. His punch connected hard with my shoulder, but I was unfazed. I was totally focused on reaching Damien and bringing him down. I envisioned aiming my pistol, pulling the trigger, and erasing Damien from this world’s code. It would be a bittersweet victory, but much better than the flavorless and depressing defeats he had thrust onto me and my fallen friends.
I went through th
e scanning process once again as the high-tech telephone booth read all my stats. Instead of ranking me Noob, Middle-Class, or Expert, it said I had a three-round bye. I received a message informing me of the night’s rules that read: “New rules! This tournament is single elimination. The two players with the lowest stats will face off in the first round. The winner of that round will face off against the person with the next lowest stats, and so on. Finally, when there is only one player left who has emerged victorious in the qualifying rounds of the tournament, this competitor will face Damien. This may seem unfair but it is for competitor safety as Damien has a high rate of fatality against opponents, and no one has defeated him in the past week. We want to limit the total number of players who may die in this tournament, and make sure only the most skilled player is facing Damien. To keep things interesting, the prize for defeating Damien is $20,000 RM. Listen for your name, and arrive in the ring at least five minutes before your fight. Good luck!”
We entered the long bustling hallway leading to Back Alley, and it brought me back to the first time I was here when I was a complete noob. Now I strode confidently past all the contenders, knowing I was a force to be reckoned with. I led the way to the bar and ordered two vodka Red Bulls. The butler quickly made the drinks and handed them to me. I passed one to Jon, then we clinked our glasses together and drank. The sweet, but potent liquid packed a punch that left me coughing, yet feeling ready for the challenge that lay ahead of me.
Jon and I started getting amped up as we had another round of vodka Red Bulls, and my heart was pounding faster than I could run. I was nervous but also felt euphoric. I was the pinnacle of what I aspired to be. Finally, I’m taking things into my own hands, and making a difference however I can.
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