Ajax glanced at the ash pile and grimaced. “She’s gone. But you can bring her back, right?”
Sobbing, Lillus shook her head. “Not until I’m level 6 and get the ability Resurrect Demon.” She shuddered. “I felt her... go. It wasn’t pleasant. She was in a lot of pain.”
He reached out and put a hand on her shoulder. “I’m sorry. Yana died trying to save Valeria.”
To his surprise, Lillus wrapped her arms around him and rested her cheek on his armored chest. He put his arm around her and kissed her lightly on the top of the head. They held one another for several minutes, the wind gently blowing by the cave entrance. On that wind came the sound of distant trumpets and drums.
The Dernese Army was on the march.
Ajax let go of her. “We need to get ready to leave and report to the Imperator, so we can warn her about what happened last night and about the Dernese invasion.”
Letting him go, Lillus stretched. “You have seen now what is coming. The void and its legions. They are real.”
He started preparing them a bland meal of bread mixed with some cold vegetarian soup ration and bean curd. “I figured they were real. It just seemed the threat was far away.” He paused what he was doing. “Where have they taken Valeria? Do we go find her?” His quest had told him to go straight to the Imperator, but how could he leave the Spirit Mage alone out there? Who knew what those things would do to her.
“I assume they will take her back to the void. We can do nothing for her now. She is long gone.”
Ajax recoiled from the memory of what had happened the previous night. “I couldn’t even see what they were in the information panel. What were they?”
“I call them void wraiths. They make up one part of the legions of the void.”
“Void wraiths. How can we fight creatures like that?” He shivered. “The cold...”
It took her close to a minute to answer. “I don’t have all the answers, but I know we must try to unite all of Dernmore. The Independent City-States, the Imperium and the Republic, for all the armies of humanity, maybe even the entirety of Visaria that has yet to fall to the void, will need to stand together to defeat this threat.”
“Good luck with that.” He broke up the bean curd and placed the chunks in their bowls. Now that she was opening up about what was happening, he thought he’d better press her for more information. “How do you know so much about the void? You seem to know far more than you are letting on.”
She forced a small grin. “I have sworn an oath not to tell you certain things until you have a need to know them. I wouldn’t want to overwhelm you.”
“An oath?” He handed her the soup. “To who?”
“One day, you’ll find out.”
Ajax frowned. “Then what can you tell me? This vagueness of yours is getting on my nerves.”
Lillus slurped some soup down, then lowered her bowl. “I can tell you that you are important.”
“Why?” he demanded, refusing to start eating until he got at least some answers to his hundred and one questions.
“Because you are something known as a chosen one. You know that old trope from fantasy fiction, right?”
“Well, yes. I used to play video games back before this.” He waved vaguely at the world outside the cave. “And I read comic books.”
“Then explain what you think a chosen one is.”
As he drank a mouthful of soup, he thought through his answer. “A chosen one is a character picked by a god, ruler, bloodlines or fate to be the center of the epic events of a story. To have powers no one else has.”
Lillus nodded. “To move the plot forward, to be the one who must find a way to overcome the antagonist.”
“Yes.” What they had just said sank in. “So you think I am a chosen one like that?”
She finished eating and placed her bowl on the ground beside her. “Visaria was originally made as a video game virtual world for people to enter and enjoy. It was never intended to be what it has become now—a permanent place of residence for the remnant of humanity who survived the wars on the surface.” She brushed back her hair. “Have you ever wondered why, when humanity has dwindled to a mere fragment of what it once was, they have continued their wars against one another? Knowing full well our kind is on the verge of extinction in the real world? You’d think they would work together and wait out this exile in peace and plan for what to do upon our awakening.”
Ajax shrugged. “It was always this way. The Dernese and the Imperium have long hated one another, ever since they betrayed us.”
“No.” Lillus stood, and waited for him to finish eating so they could leave. “Your two factions hate one another because this game world made them that way. Once, players could choose what faction to side with. Choosing a side determined your start location, your friends and allies, as well as what class you could choose to play. That is why you of the Imperium can’t have Spirit Mages, and why the Republic can’t have Spiritual Warriors. It is also why only the Independent City-States can have Demon Mages.”
“We have dragons, and they have goblins and trolls.” It all made sense now. He had not played Visaria Online before the end, but many MMOs, going back to the early days, worked much like Visaria. Factions, conflict, crafting, exploration, questing, leveling and so on.
But they were just games. Now Visaria was home.
“Yes,” Lillus said. “Both sides were made to be different, and these differences have continued now. A fantasy world needs its factions vying for power and ceaselessly warring with one another.”
“And it needs the great threat that will destroy everything if the warring factions don’t stand united.”
“Yes, but the void is not that threat. In one of the expansion packs for Visaria Online, that threat was a being called Pendrax, who was banished long ago. Now that the game designers and writers who made him are all dead, they’re unable to continue Visaria’s world progression.” She glanced outside the cave. “This world is a sandbox now, and anything can happen. This void is different. Something not of this world.”
Ajax put his uneaten food back in his inventory and started walking. They stopped at the entrance to the cave and breathed the chill morning air. Horns still sounded in the distance, but they were far away. He turned to her. “Then where is it from?”
“That I have no answer for, but when you meet the being that made me swear my oaths, you will find out.” Lillus paused. “You’re the Chosen One, after all.”
“I still don’t get it. Why me? I’m a nobody.”
“Who can say?” A grin formed on her lips. “Well, other than the computers at the heart of this place.” Taking an apple from her bag, she took a bite out of it. “Maybe it’s because of your manly good looks, or your simple peasant-boy charms.”
“So... it is going to be up to me to unite the warring nations, lead the human armies against the things we saw last night, and defeat them?” It all sounded crazy to him. No, not crazy. Absolutely, positively insane + 100.
“You forgot your most important task.” She took his hand and led him out into the snow. “You’ve got to keep me company!”
CHAPTER 15
KNEEL OR DIE
Four days (and one hospital visit) later, Ajax stood before the imposing gates of the Dragon Keep, home of the Imperator, heart of the Imperium. He shaded his eyes against the glare of the sun and stared up at the spires stretching two thousand feet into the sky. This city had not been built by human hands, for no one in their right mind would build such a colossal structure with so many spires, let alone make it the center of power of an entire empire.
But in Visaria, the impossible could be made real with nothing more than the manipulation of numbers and the skills to create art with them.
And so, the spires reached the clouds, their points as sharp as spears. Dragons soared overhead, flying in and out of the many large openings built into the sides of the center spire, the tallest and thickest of them all.
Glancing
over his shoulder and past Lillus, Ajax took one last look at the giant red stone wall ringing the Dragon Keep. Hundreds of soldiers manned those defenses. Elite Dragon riders patrolled the skies. From its gates could march ten thousand soldiers, both player and NPC alike, for the capital was nothing more than an armed camp. Only twenty miles distant were the great cities of the Imperium. The Twin Jewels. Mafra and Yalinga. They too could send out thousands of soldiers, even with half the army sent to invade the Republic.
The Dragon Keep was an impregnable fortress—the Imperium, an unconquerable superpower. How could something like the void and its minions ever threaten such a mighty empire?
“You look like one of those clown heads where you put the balls into their mouth and win prizes at the circus,” Lillus said, hiding her laughter behind her hand.
Ajax snapped his mouth shut, his teeth clicking together.
He led her up to the guards standing before the gate. Saluting them, he shared his quest to report to the Imperator with them, allowing them to see it in their mind’s eye. The two guards at the front were players, probably real-life military by their postures and the hard look in their eyes. “Paladin Ajax Stoneheart, eh?” one of the guards said. He wore a purple cape, making it clear that he was part of the Imperator’s Elite Guard.
“Yes, sir.” Ajax didn’t check out the other man’s character panel, in a show of respect. One did not get into this man’s position without years of hard work, bravery and unwavering duty to the Imperium.
“You may enter, Paladin. I will have you escorted straight to our beloved Ithilda.”
The elite turned to Lillus with an icy expression. “Demon Mage. You hide your character information behind the cash shop item Talisman of Obscurity. I can see you name, your level, race and class and little else. Why should I not have you dragged to the prison for interrogation?” He made a threatening step toward her.
“Oh, no please. I mean no harm, my lord.” Lillus made a convincing show of being meek and afraid. Or maybe she truly was afraid. Only a level 4, she stood face to face with a dozen players and a few NPCs who were far higher level. If they wished her dead, she would not be able to stop them.
Then he remembered her overpowered alchemical abilities.
I better step in. “Sir, I’m sorry to interrupt.” Ajax suppressed his anxiety at addressing one of the Imperator’s Elite Guard. “But, she is with me and I need her.”
The elite stopped and glared at him, his gaze as cold as the aura around the void wraiths. “She your wife?”
Ajax blinked. “Uh—”
Lillus took his hand. “We’re not married, yet, but I’m his fiancée, and this is the beautiful ring he gave me when he proposed.” She showed him a golden ring she had on her index finger that Ajax had never seen there before. Her cheeks went bright pink. “My dear beloved, champion of my heart, got on his knees and asked me to marry him on the bridge leading into Stormwind Castle back in our World of Warcraft Reborn days.” Her eyelashes fluttered. “Oh, it was so wonderful. The flowers were out in full bloom, pink and red—a woman’s colors, you know?”
Oh, god, she is going to get us both killed. Ajax scanned for the quickest route of escape.
“I hate pink,” the lone female NPC guard standing behind the elite in front of them said, her face showing less expression than a stone.
A male player guard laughed. “Red’s not so bad. I wear red underwear.”
The elite spun to face the laughing guard. “Silence, fool. Speak again and I will have you patrolling the latrines for the next week!”
“Yes, sir.” The laughing guard was no longer laughing. Instead he wore a stern expression.
Turning back to them, the elite said, “Tell me why you have the talisman, mage. If I find your answer acceptable, you may enter. If I don’t, you will be dragged away and tortured until we have all the information we desire.”
Lillus gulped.
Great. Ajax tried to look impassive and nonthreatening. Maybe we came all this way to die at the hands of a humorless curmudgeon.
“Look, she uses it because I asked her to.” Ajax swallowed. “She is from the Independent City-States, and as you know, their kind are not looked upon favorably here.” No one liked them because they refused to take sides in the war between the Imperium and the Republic and acted as mercenaries for both, switching sides when it became convenient or profitable (which normally went hand-in-hand). “Plus, she is a Demon Mage, another reason for people to not want her around.”
The Elite studied him, his eyes hard blue pits of ice. A long, tense silence passed, and then the elite stepped back. “Fine, take her in. But if she steps out of line, I will personally feed her to the dragons.”
Lillus gave him a polite curtsy, lifting up her black cloak as if it were a fine dress. “Thank you, my lord. I will not betray your trust.”
As they strode toward the huge iron gate, it rose quickly to allow them entry. The female NPC guard fell in with them. “I will be your escort up to the Imperator’s Dragon Roost.”
Ajax’s chest clenched. Dragons. He would get to see dragons up close for the first time. “Does she normally meet her underlings in the Dragon Roost?” Lillus asked, her eyes darting around as they entered a marble-floored antechamber.
Polished to perfection, the marble floor had a giant mural spread over it. The painting showed the mighty armies of the Imperium clashing with the Dread Legion, the now-vanquished followers of Pendrax. Ajax had heard the legends of that war. It had been fought in the time before Visaria had become the permanent home for the remnant of humanity.
Back then, player death had meant little. You died, either respawned at a graveyard or on perma-death servers, simply made another character. Things were so different now. Death had permanent consequences. Three deaths, and you were exiled to oblivion, waiting for a call to return to the earth’s surface that may never come.
“We go up the lifts,” the female guard said, motioning them toward a platform at the center of the room.
They walked onto it, and a moment later the ground levitated and they passed through a narrow entry in the roof and up a long dark chute. This was no ordinary lift, like the ones in the malls from before. This one was powered by unseen magical forces, and lacked walls and doors. If one went to the edge, they risked plummeting to their doom.
“No elevator music?” Lillus shook her head. “I always loved dancing to that.”
Ajax raised his eyebrows. “I thought everyone hated elevator music. I know I did.”
Her smile made his heart flutter. God she’s beautiful.
“As we’re in such polite company.” She glanced at their escort. “I will not tell you what I thought of ‘everyone’ back in the day.”
“Humans are vermin,” the female NPC guard said, staring forward, her posture as rigid as an iron bar. “I spit on them.”
What a strange thing for a human NPC to say. Lillus made a face behind the woman’s back.
Grinning, Ajax pulled her behind him before she got them both in trouble.
It took several minutes to reach the top of the elevator. They stepped off into a vast hall filled with sunlight shining in from huge openings in the stone walls. At the far end of the vast room rested two giant red dragons. From this distance, it was impossible to tell if they were awake or asleep.
The guard led them forward. As they began the journey across the room, movement to the left and right caught Ajax’s eye. He stopped dead in his tracks. Within the sunlight-drenched openings in the walls were dragons! Their heads and bellies rested on the ground, but their eyes were open and alert. Standing next to them, in perfect military attention, were heavily armored warriors with glossy blue capes hemmed with golden yellow running down their backs.
Imperial Dragon Riders. Ajax wanted to fall to his knees and worship them. These warriors were his heroes. The elite of the elite. They were everything he ever wanted to be.
Dozens of the Dragon Riders and their scaly mounts watched
them. Most had their helmets on, but one across from them—a fiery-haired man with a long red beard—had his off. The man nodded his head in greeting to Ajax.
Lillus put her arm through Ajax’s and led him on. “Remember what I said about the clowns? You’ve got that look again.”
“Dr-Dra-Drag...” His ability to speak coherently had been lost to his giddy excitement.
“Drag queen? Is that what you’re trying to say? Drag races? Or do you want me to drag you around?” Lillus giggled.
“Dragons.” He finally got the word out.
She stopped him. “Where?” She looked around, her eyes passing over the dragons watching them. “I don’t see any. You haven’t drunk some of my psychedelic Cloydid Weed with Toad Thistle concoction, have you?”
“What?” He pointed at the nearest dragon and it raised its head from the floor and snorted smoke out of its nostrils. “There, look.”
Lillus turned. “I don’t see anything.”
He frowned. “It’s right there!” He wanted to tear his hair out.
“Hurry up, humans,” the female guard snapped, still staring forward.
“Oh, now I see it.” Lillus burst out laughing, and led him along. “I was just playing with you.”
As they moved on, Ajax finally saw a giant woman sitting on a giant metallic throne beside the two dragons at the far end of the hall. Both of the beasts had their heads resting in her lap. There could be no doubt the woman was Ithilda, the Imperator of the Imperium. She wore a giant silver crown and instead of a normal player panel appearing in his mind’s eye, Ajax simply got a skull with three question marks underneath. Ithilda was no ordinary player. She may have once been an ordinary mortal woman—a janitor maybe, a house wife or a lawyer or any number of other things—but here in Visaria, she was the near-immortal ruler of an empire. It would take hundreds of enemy players and NPCs to vanquish her in battle, for she was like the raid bosses of old.
Powerful. Hunted. Feared.
As they neared, the female NPC guard turned to them, her hand resting on her sword. “Lower your faces, humans. It is a great sin to look upon our ruler’s face. Then kneel before her—or die.”
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