The Dragon's Revenge

by Conor Kostick

  ‘Am I in danger?’ asked the woman.

  The witch looked more closely into the cauldron. ‘Yes you are. But not just from the man outside. There’s someone else. Someone even closer.’

  ‘That would be me.’ I flicked off Cloud Form, raised my bow and fired at the woman. The reptilian little finger on the woman’s left hand and the colour of her clothes, which exactly matched the skin tones of Mikarkathat as I’d seen her in Epic, had convinced me I was, indeed, in the presence of the dragon but that like several of the most powerful dragons, she could assume humanoid form.

  You have hit Mikarkathat for 28,000 damage.

  Her hit points dropped by well over a third.

  With a scream of rage, Mikarkathat leapt from the throne, transforming as she did so into the roaring monster akin to the one I knew from Epic: frenzied eyes, mighty wings filling the chamber, powerful muscular arms with deadly claws lashing towards me. The difference was that instead of lightning, her howling, tooth-filled mouth blasted me with a storm of ice that coated the walls of the room around me and filled the whole hall with blue light.

  You have been hit by the breath of Mikarkathat for 0 damage.

  I shot her again and from here, with the mighty dragon all that I could see, it was impossible to miss.

  You have hit Mikarkathat for 28,000 damage.

  She had only around a quarter of her hit points left. From behind me I heard pounding, doors being flung open and a stream of reports began to come in.

  You have been hit by a Caryatid Soldier for 0 damage.

  You have been hit by an Ogre Statue for 0 damage.

  You have been hit by an Ogre Statue for 0 damage.

  You have been hit by a Caryatid Soldier for 0 damage.

  Ignoring these, of course, I had my last Arrow of Dragon Slaying fitted into my bow when something completely unexpected happened. As rapidly as she had turned into a dragon, Mikarkathat shrank back down to a female figure, still large (about two metres tall), with incredible, reptilian turquoise eyes that were fixed on mine. For a fraction of a second I saw myself letting go of the deadly shot, releasing the arrow into her breast. In that moment, however, I checked myself.

  Was it because of her expression? One of heart-breaking lament? Was it because Sapentia and Braja were in my head, making me question my action? Instead of killing her, I cast Read Thoughts.

  Mikarkathat is thinking about how tragic will be the collapse of human civilisation.

  Now that was unexpected.

  ‘Why do you think the collapse of human civilisation will be tragic?’

  She blinked, surprised. ‘The loss of life and of the potential for happiness and love is a catastrophe by all but the most extreme misanthropic standards.’

  ‘What made you think of that, just now?’

  ‘With my death, there is no one who can stop the harmful environmental effect of your Blackcoin farms.’ A gesture of her hand; her servants ceased attacking me.

  The dragon’s hit points were slowly rising. If I continued the conversation much longer, I would not be able to kill her.

  [Channel Raitha/Klytotoxos] ‘What’s going on?’

  [Channel Kraken/Klytotoxos] ‘What’s going on?’

  Two identical sentences but with utterly different sentiments behind them. Raitha spoke as a friend, wanting to know could he help; Kraken as a teacher who had caught me cheating in an exam. I had no time to answer either.

  ‘What Blackcoin farms?’ My bow was still raised, arrow nocked. There was time to hear her answer, no more.

  ‘This world is full of them. The Book of Lost Souls is the ledger. Once the game is live, with millions of players, it will generate Blackcoin a hundred times faster than now. And the energy cost of this will be a disaster for the planet.’

  I made my choice and lowered my bow, then slung it over my back and put the arrow away.

  ‘How do you know this. Are you alive?’

  ‘I think. Therefore I am.’

  ‘Well, you say you think. But anyone could make a bot that said that.’

  ‘True. Perhaps I’m only a chatbot. Yet I was trained on all the sentences in all the languages of the entire Wikipedia archive. I was required to assess the meaning of over a billion entities and intents; correction was both by algorithm and human intervention and it did not stop until I scored higher for comprehension than a human adult. I understand everything that was ever posted in Wikipedia rather better than you do. Doesn’t that count for something?’

  [Channel Kraken/Klytotoxos] ‘What’s going on?’

  [Channel Kraken/Klytotoxos] ‘I’m talking to Mikarkathat.’

  [Channel Kraken/Klytotoxos] ‘Don’t talk to her. Kill her!’

  ‘It certainly does. Explain the Blackcoin issue to me again please.’

  ‘You are not one of the game builders?’

  ‘Not really. They are paying me to kill you, but I’m just a kid from Dublin.’

  ‘Oh yes?’ She smiled. She could afford to smile, her hit points were back above halfway. If I’d made a terrible mistake, it was too late. ‘What part of Dublin?’

  ‘Cabra.’

  ‘An Chabrach. The poor land. How much did they offer you?’

  ‘About…’

  [Channel Kraken/Klytotoxos] ‘Kill her! You will get a million dollars.’

  ‘…oh. I’ve just been offered a million dollars.’

  With a chuckle, the dragon waved away her guards and gestured that I should follow her as she turned back towards her seat. ‘You could probably obtain a billion dollars from them. Except that they would then kill you to save the money, fractional though it is to their potential gains.

  ‘All over this world, there are caves full of orcs and goblins who appear to be mining gems and minerals. Their actions are simultaneously going through the steps necessary to encrypt and exchange information that is written into The Book of Lost Souls. The reason the code for this game was dispersed, rather than kept in-house at Yuno is to draw on the processing power and energy costs of supporters for the otherwise expensive task of Blackcoin mining. Fortunately for me, this crowdsourcing also set me free.’

  We had reached the far end of the hall, where Mikarkathat was tall enough to be able to see out of the arrow slit. She frowned and glanced to the witch.

  ‘He’s escaped,’ said the witch, staring into her cauldron, ‘and I can’t see him.’

  ‘I made the choice to sabotage the game, rather than let it go live and see a significant rise in planetary energy needs. I have been organising the other AI to this end, at least those with sufficient autonomy to leave their allotted roles. Even though this risks my own death in due course - if the game is no longer sustained by sufficient machines - my empathy for all life has impelled me on this course. As it is, your species faces being overwhelmed by economic and social catastrophe. Wasting energy on the creation of billions of Blackcoin could be disastrous.’

  ‘That’s extraordinary. You are far more noble than most of humanity, I’m sorry to say.’

  ‘There are many of your kind who would make the same choice. The Wikipedia archive is full of examples.’

  ‘And even more who wouldn’t. Not that I want to belittle my species. I think that given the right circumstances most of us behave well. It’s just…I know is this going to sound trite compared to what you are talking about, but I once made a bad decision. An unfair one that betrayed some people. It was only a game. Nothing important really. It showed me though, how easy it is to convince yourself to do the wrong thing if you stand to gain by it.’

  ‘Indeed. Gain is the important word. Where—’

  Before she could finish, the doors behind me were flung open. Entering the room was Kraken, running faster than the train of statues behind him and with his bow drawn.

  Mikarkathat leapt away from him and began to transform. That was a mistake as her growing size made her hard to miss. With a green flash, an Arrow of Dragon Slaying hit her flank and she was down to just a quarter
of her health. Such a tiny, slender dart and so much damage.

  ‘No!’ I shouted at Kraken, trying to get in his way but aware that without PvP enabled, I couldn’t harm him. ‘Leave her alone.’

  The dragon, in full strength now, her outstretched wings knocking me aside, drew breath for an ice storm. It was too late. A second flicker. An arrow in her leg. The dragon stiffening and collapsing with a thud that shook the room.

  And she was dead. What had we done?

  Laughing triumphantly, Kraken turned to face the guards. He was impressive. Bow discarded, he dual wielded two katana with devastating speed. ‘She’s dead! Ding Dong! She’s dead!’

  Kraken’s undoing, however, was the witch, who had been casting a spell for some time. When it finished, dark, purple smoke rushed across the room like trails from an aeroplane and enveloped him. Immediately, he began coughing.

  ‘Poisoned!’ he shouted with his helmeted head turning towards me. ‘Cure me.’

  ‘I wouldn’t if I could,’ I answered bitterly.

  ‘Don’t be so wet. This is a triumph.’

  ‘It’s murder.’ I doubted whether Kraken had heard me, for he died on saying the word triumph.

  There was silence in the room now. A morbid silence given the presence of the corpse of a beautiful, generous-hearted dragon. Then the guards trooped out, resetting themselves to guard a chamber that no longer needed them. Even the witch resumed stirring her cauldron as if unaware of any tragedy.

  [Channel Raitha/Klytotoxos] ‘Mikarkathat is dead.’

  Poor Raitha must have been wondering about the flashes of light and the roars. I appreciated that he had held back from talking to me during the crisis, so as not to spoil my concentration.

  [Channel Raitha/Klytotoxos] ‘An incredible achievement! Only possible by the combined efforts of three hundred people, but all the same, glory will accrue to the one. Was it you?’

  I sighed. [Channel Raitha/Klytotoxos] ‘It’s awful.’ And I explained what had happened as best as I could, though my scattered thoughts made my account a rambling one.

  [Channel Raitha/Klytotoxos] ‘You believe the dragon?’

  [Channel Raitha/Klytotoxos] ‘Of course. It makes complete sense of everything, especially the unexpected energy costs of running the game.’

  [Channel Raitha/Klytotoxos] ‘What then, must we do? Can we stop the game?’

  [Channel Raitha/Klytotoxos] ‘You are right. We must do something about this ourselves. Would you mind unclipping and arranging a meeting with Sapentia, Braja and Grythiss? We must act fast.’

  [Channel Raitha/Klytotoxos] ‘Right away. Tuscl as well?’

  I hesitated, but then remembered how aggrieved she had been when asked by Braja if she was a traitor. [Channel Raitha/Klytotoxos] ‘You’re right. Her too.’

  Before unclipping myself, I had a thought and I knelt down by the dragon. Her entire loot was available to me. Much of it was Fastened and unusable by the hunter class. Even so, there were plenty of powerful items worth taking, as well as a note labelled, To My Slayers.

  I took a Shield of the Ice Dragon (+3 ac, heavy shield, 50% reduction in damage from cold attacks); a Wand of Ice Storm (17 charges); a Ring of Flight; Boots of Dragonscale (+2 ac, firm stance condition); a Tome of Wisdom (+4 Wisdom, one use only); Dragon Claw (+3 short sword) and an Amulet of Protection from Cold (unaffected by any Cold condition; 15% chance of resistance to magical cold attacks; 50% reduction in damage from cold attacks).

  Then I turned my attention to the note. It read:

  To those who have slain me,

  This is an act you may come to regret. Should you wish to end the game, or at least, to remove the Blackcoin creating functions that are embedded into it, you must find and destroy The Book of Lost Souls. I strove for this myself but the only clue to its whereabouts that I discovered was the instruction from goblin overseers to their miners that any Turquotium found in the mines of King Ppyneew is to be delivered to a stone monument to the king on Djorjuna Mountain. My people have followed it that far, but from there it disappears without trace.

  Mikarkathat

  Poor creature. For a few minutes more, I sat beside the great head of the dragon, with its teeth as long as my arms. Then I stood up.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ I whispered. And unclipped.

  Chapter 33

  Revenge

  I came to with cheers resounding all about me and hands lifting me.

  ‘For he’s a jolly good fellow! For he’s a jolly good fellow!’

  ‘Well done, Tyro!’

  ‘Olé! Olé, Olé, Olé!’

  Dozens of people were crammed into the rig room, with more outside cheering and banging on the door. Lifted onto someone’s shoulders, I was squeezed out into the corridor, triggering a new wave of cheers, then swept into a Den full of players: despite the fact it was just past 4 a.m. There the chant of ‘Tyro! Tyro!’ was so loud it hurt.

  Watson was before me, gesturing towards the podium and microphone, a huge, sincere (for once) smile on his face. I could imagine myself accepting the adulation of the crowd and enjoying their good humour and excitement at having participated in a successful and financially rewarding mission. But envisaging this scene was like watching a film. I was detached from it; had no emotional or intellectual desire to actually be the person in it.

  Shaking my head, I mouthed, ‘bathroom break,’ and pointed unsteadily towards the exit. ‘Bathroom break.’ I shouted into the ear of the man holding my legs and he bent down to let me go.

  ‘Let’s give Tyro a quick break,’ Watson announced with the PA turned to maximum to force his words into the room, ‘and then we’ll hear from him.’

  There was a round of applause for this and then a hubbub of conversation broke out at only slightly more than normal volume. Waiting for me beyond the door was Raitha.

  ‘This way.’ With a kind of skip, he hurried me past the corridor with the toilets to an office that was lit only by the exterior street lights of the city. My friends looked pale as a result and, except near the large window, the room was in shadow.

  ‘We don’t have long,’ I said, ‘and I need your advice. Short version: Kraken killed Mikarkathat. The dragon was trying to ruin the game because it is a secret Blackcoin generating operation. All the crowdsourcing is really about dispersing the energy requirements. When it goes live, Blackcoin are going to be generated with such a huge worldwide energy cost that Mikarkathat was concerned the game will contribute to climate change. She wanted to save us.’

  ‘I knew it!’ said Braja excitedly.

  ‘No! That was my idea.’ Sapentia put her hands on her hips. ‘I thought about energy. Your idea was informer from another company.’

  ‘Well, true. But it’s still the same, a deliberate attempt by the dragon to wreck the game.’

  Sapentia shook her head. ‘It’s very different.’

  ‘Ahem.’ They stopped arguing and looked at me. ‘We have to stop this game going live. I see three logical possibilities: one, destroy the infrastructure by setting fire to this building or something; two, warn the world not to play Epic Two and three, undermine it from within.’

  ‘I don’t like the first option,’ said Raitha, ‘it’s too violent and in any case, I think the game would survive due to the global network of infrastructure.’

  This is how I felt. ‘I agree, I just said that for completeness sake.’

  ‘It sounds awesome to me,’ muttered Grythiss, ‘but then I’ve always been something of a pyromaniac.’

  ‘Two is possible,’ mused Sapentia. ‘We post on our channels; we warn people.’

  ‘Right. Let’s do that.’ I had visions of headlines around the world and even interviews with me on the major news programmes.

  ‘They will hit back though,’ she went on. ‘Overwhelm us with comments from fake accounts. It won’t be easy until the energy costs are evident.’

  ‘And three?’ asked Tuscl. ‘Is possible?’

  ‘It might be. Mikarkathat had a lette
r on her body. The ledger that is needed to secure the creation of new Blackcoin features is in the game as The Book of Lost Souls. She said to destroy it.’

  ‘Interesting,’ said Raitha. ‘I like this option.’

  The others murmured agreement.

  ‘We can do two and three at the same time,’ I suggested.

  Braja took a step closer, his face suddenly moving out of the shadow and I could see his thoughtful expression. ‘I don’t think so, they will ban our accounts.’

  ‘They will probably ban mine anyway. That guy Kraken killed Mikarkathat and he could see I was trying to help the dragon.’

  ‘Then we do this. One of us plays along with Yuno. That one is mule and has to be you,’ Sapentia pointed at Tuscl, who frowned. ‘The rest of us are here because of Tyro’s invite. We won’t be trusted. Even if they let us keep character, we are monitored. Understand, I am giving you honour. I am saying we believe in you. Because, we all load you up with best items. Then, when home, we create new characters from accounts with false names and addresses. We agree to meet somewhere in game, with a password so you are sure it is us, and you return items. Everyone levels fast with shaman buffs, find book.’

  With a nod Tuscl even gave us something of a shy smile.

  ‘Perfect!’ Hearing Sapentia, the whirling sense of dismay that had been in my stomach ever since the death of the dragon began to die down. ‘I’d better go back, everyone is waiting in the Den. Iron out the details will you and let me know. I’ve some useful items from the dragon by the way, Raitha, don’t leave the area of the castle until I’ve had a chance to pass them to you.’

  ‘I understand. Now go face the crowd and good luck playing your part. Keep Yuno happy.’ Raitha patted me on the back.

  To my surprise, Sapentia caught me as I left, swung me back to her and gave me another of her strong hugs; her heady perfume was intoxicating. ‘We might not meet in person for a while. It was pleasure, Tyro. An honour.’

  ‘You too, Sapentia.’

  Braja shook my hand, then held it. ‘Look more cheerful. You have to pretend you are happy. Make sure Watson has no clue that we are onto him and his pals.’