“Then why are you talking to us?” I asked.
“I’ve lived for thousands of years and I know good people when I see them,” he replied. “I might have waited a bit longer before making contact with you but preposterous comments about dragons laying eggs tend to… unnerve me.”
“And ye’re willing to share all yer knowledge just for a speaking partner?”
“If you’re thinking of asking for information that might bring harm to others, dwarf, you might as well ask a brick wall,” the voice answered. “I can aid you in return for my sanity. That seems like a fair deal to me.”
“Deals with dragons never benefited anyone other than the dragons,” Rory snorted.
“I’m sorry you feel that way, dwarf,” Ommanth replied. “I hope that with time, you’ll come to change your mind.”
“I doubt it,” Rory said.
I interjected before the conversation was completely derailed. “Ommanth, I’m sure you’d be a valuable ally and counsel, but you must understand that we need to be careful.”
“Absolutely,” the dragon said.
“We’ll need to keep the orb in the bag until we can verify you are indeed who you say you are. I hope this is acceptable to you.”
“I’m willing to stay in there as long as you need and answer any question you think might help put your mind at ease about my identity and intentions. I sincerely hope we can start a healthy friendship. With all three of you.”
“I hope so too,” I said. “Goodbye for now.”
“Goodbye, Ommanth,” Louie replied.
“Alex, Louie, Rory. Goodbye,” the dragon said, and I placed the orb back in my inventory.
“Well that was interesting,” I said. “At least we know what one of the items is now.”
“Take good care, lad,” Rory warned. “Ye need the item to keep you hidden from anyone who might be seeking for ye or the book. But ye don’t need to talk to the beast. And I don’t trust a word it says. Cunningness and exploitation run in the blood of all dragons.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” I assured him. “You don’t need to worry.”
“I’ll be careful too, Rory,” Louie said.
“Bah,” the dwarf threw his hands into the air, apparently not wanting to talk about the issue any longer. “Shall we continue counting our loot then?”
“I guess we’ll have to do it on the floor since your table and my couch have been destroyed.”
“Better get to it then,” Rory said and we all returned to what we’d been doing before we found out that we owned an orb containing the soul of a dragon.
We finished counting the cash just before the break of dawn. Of course, we had no idea the dawn was about to break, since Rory’s dark apartment seemed to have been specifically designed to make you lose track of time, in the same way casinos are made without any windows, only here we weren’t going to lose our children’s college funds on the slots.
The grand total in cash was a bit more than sixty-four million dollars spread across the eighty bags we found. It seemed that one million dollars would only fit in a single briefcase if you really stuffed it in, and that wasn’t the case here.
Leo had already texted me the full address of my new apartment and Rory dropped me off a couple of blocks away. It felt nice to walk the streets of New York again, especially since I’d taken the day off and could go at my own pace. Calling in sick and strolling around was always great, even more so now that I didn’t have to look over my shoulder for any thugs. Rory had decided not to join me, partly because he wasn’t very keen on the looks people gave him on the street but also because he was anxious to get back to crafting.
We agreed to split the cash and keep it for our own purposes but to sell the additional loot we’d recovered in order to stock up on resources for crafting and capital to paying mana rechargers and perhaps some new crafters. I could tell how keen he was to get back to his workshop by the way his beat-up car’s tires screeched as soon as I closed the door behind me.
The new apartment was all I wanted and more. I wasn’t sure if it was Leo or the management company who’d taken care of the move but the apartment was tailored to all my needs and routines. Inside the apartment itself there was a fully equipped gym, a sauna, and a cryo-chamber. These things would save me lots of time on trips to the gym so I could be with Louie all the time.
His favorite room probably held some kind of record for the most screens per square foot. It was a gamer’s dream, complete with giant RGB LED screens for each console, an awesome Wyrmwood gaming table, and a streaming setup that was quite an upgrade from the already fantastic one I had but never utilized. My favorite room, however, was the spacious living room which had floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking Central Park.
Any floor in the double digits around the park was bound to provide the occupants with an amazing view. On the triple-digit floors, however, it was almost surreal. Only after focusing on specific spots on the ground could you actually force yourself back to reality and remember that you weren’t watching some sort of advanced CGI. This was our new home and the base of operations for what was to come. And even though I couldn’t immediately tell how heavily warded this place was, I felt safe knowing it was at least up to DiFiore standards.
Leo met me on my arrival but didn’t stay long. I promised I’d meet him the next day to go XPing. I hadn’t forgotten my promise, of course. How could I when it had cost him tens of millions of dollars in loot? In truth, I no longer wanted to avoid the Apocosmos. I may have been thrust into it unwillingly and hated everything about it, but it had brought me so many good things. I was far closer to Leo. I had found the most unlikely friend in a grumpy old dwarf. And, most importantly, I got to experience a deeper connection with Louie, even to the opportunity to bind his soul to mine. All of them were things I’d never have had if that thug hadn’t pulled me in.
Thinking about the fight that started it all made me crave for the cheeseboat I didn’t get to enjoy on that day. Louie was more than happy to take the six-mile-long walk to get there if it meant he’d have an abundance of cheese and bacon and I hadn’t had the chance to treat him since we’d got out of hiding.
The roads were busy with people getting on with their lives, some of them rushing in and out of subway stations, others strolling lazily under the burning sun of the last days of summer. All these people, going on with their lives, ignorant to the world parallel to this one… or perhaps knowing, but keeping their identities hidden. It was fascinating to think about.
We arrived at the cheeseboat place and, as per usual, there was a line for people who wanted to order takeout so Louie and I took our place at the end of it. Lo and behold, a suitcase-carrying, bleached-teeth—and most probably bleached-asshole—asshole paraded to the front of the line while talking on the phone amid protests and boos from the other people waiting.
“I’m in a hurry,” he said in the most condescending way possible. Ordinarily, that would have been enough reason for me to block him from entering the store.
But I didn’t care about it. Not today. This little person could think he was more important than everyone else all he wanted. He could think he was cleverer and more successful than the rest of us suckers waiting in line if he wanted, but in my eyes, the blind led the blind as far as the Cosmos was concerned.
“You’re not gonna do anything about it?” Louie whispered to me.
“It’s fine, buddy,” I said and stroked his back as to not attract attention to the fact I was suddenly conversing with my dog. “I need to start controlling my temper, right?”
“Well, I don’t,” he replied, as the more-important-than-thou guy exited the establishment with a smirk on his face.
By some unexplainable force, the laces of his well-polished black shoes got tangled up with each other and the poor bastard tripped over. Luckily for him, his reflexes were swift enough to save his face from too much damage. Luckily for Louie, he had ordered extra bacon on the cheeseboat that was now spread
over the sidewalk in front of him and Louie wouldn’t let it go to waste.
“Get a hold of your dog,” the man shouted.
“Why? Are you gonna eat that?” I said, barely able to control my laughter at what Louie had started.
“Karma’s a bitch, ain’t it?” I heard the woman just in front of me tell him, before smiling at me.
The man didn’t reply, but neither did he push to the front of the line again. He patted his pants, fixed his laces, and scurried off, swearing under his breath.
“You’re a naughty one,” the woman in front of me said to Louie and she bent down to pet him.
Louie didn’t pay her any attention, but his tail-wagging accelerated for the duration of their encounter.
“He’s very sweet,” she said when she stood back up.
“That he is,” I replied casually and continued watching him with a smile on my face.
“I’m Jenny,” she said, offering her hand.
That’s when I realized what was happening.
Nope!
“Alex. Nice to meet you,” I replied, taking her hand and shaking it.
Ah, damn. How do I get out of this?
“He shouldn’t be eating all that cheese and bacon though, right?” she asked, looking me straight in the eye.
“Well, just don’t tell my wife!” I blurted out and smiled, satisfied at how fast I’d come up with a convincing way out.
“I see,” the woman said and smiled again. “I won’t.” She turned to face forward again.
Our next interaction was as she was leaving with her takeout bag in hand. She smiled at me and I nodded.
This is weird.
“That lady seemed interested in getting to know you,” Louie said once we were sitting on a bench, eating, a few blocks away.
“Maybe,” I replied, trying not to make a big deal out of it.
“But you weren’t,” he pushed.
“No,” I said between bites.
“But why?”
“You know why, Louie. How can you ask me that?”
“It’s been years—” he said, but this time I interrupted him.
“I don’t care how long it’s been,” I said, barely able to keep my voice down. “Let’s just enjoy our food, okay?”
“Okay,” Louie said and buried his face in the aluminum-wrapped delicacy he’d selected for tonight’s dinner.
Our walk back home took us a little longer since we were carrying the extra weight of our guilty pleasure. I guessed I wasn’t in a good position to work out for tonight and in any case I felt more like gaming. It was Friday after all, and I’d be home just in time for my regular 6 p.m. streaming window.
After a quick shower, I booted up the PC Leo had custom-built for me. I unplugged the camera since I never used it though I didn’t trouble myself with putting it away. I moved the microphone out of the way and booted up Castlevania: Symphony of the Night on an emulator.
A couple of minutes after I went live, I saw I had one person watching my stream. That was Leo of course. He had always been supportive of my streaming. I was even foolish enough to think I’d be able to make money playing games. I had thought that working for a games studio would give me an edge over other streamers, but when I never got any traction, I blamed it all on my lack of good equipment.
Then I stopped streaming altogether when… when things changed. And in an effort to get me back into my old habits, he’d bought me a great setup. I never used it, but I still streamed my games with no microphone or camera just so he would know I was there. Maybe he deserved better.
I turned on the microphone, and for the first time, started talking on my stream.
“Is this thing on?” I said, awkwardly looking at Louie who was happily panting next to me. “Welcome to twitch.tv/DotDisorder. Happy to have you here, my number one fan. It’s a hot evening and I’m glad you joined me on our weekly appointment. Here every Friday at 5 p.m. New York time. This time, we’re going to be playing a classic, as you can probably already see. So I have a question for you. What is a man? Is it A, an adult male human? B, the evolution of a boy? or C, a miserable little pile of secrets?”
Last man standing
Coda
“Alexander Rage!” a voice shouted, and the berserker cut his story short. “It’s time.”
Alex stood up and glanced at the people around him. There were a lot more there now than when he had started recounting the events of his life. And they were looking at him with interest. What he had told them was only the beginning of his tale.
The people around that bonfire had found out how he’d gotten that nasty scar below his ear. But not how he’d gotten the rest of them. They knew how he’d entered the Apocosmos and progressed to level 4. But the man before them was now level 43 and looked like he’d seen more death than any one of them.
He walked toward the voice and saw a minotaur waiting for him. Alex thought about examining his stats, but what would be the point? He wouldn’t have to fight him. He was just another servant. The minotaur walked in front of him, the still wet ground splashing under his damaged hooves. One in front of the other, they headed toward a big tent illuminated by magical white torches.
“You must be quite a warrior,” the minotaur said. “The doctore hasn’t shared anything about your past, but considering you’ll have the whole arena to yourself…” He let that statement linger for a few steps, but after seeing how it got no response from Alex, he continued. “I’ve prepared the equipment you’ll be using. Pretty powerful stuff.”
Yet again, the human offered no reply.
“Do you fight with heavy armor or light?”
Alex considered the question. He didn’t have a preference. Armor was just a tool to get a job done, and the job it needed to do was keep him alive. He considered the information the doctore had given him. Three weaker fighters. A rogue, an archer, and a tank. If those were his only enemies, it would have made sense to go with heavy armor. But then there was the sword dancer who was able to buff the rest of his party and was a swift attacker as well. He would no doubt have already buffed his opponents beforehand, so there was no particular reason to give priority to him initially. At least not before the spellcaster was taken out of the picture.
The healer was the biggest threat of all five of them. At level 46, he would have gained a dangerous arsenal of spells. The likes of sleep and resurrection would, of course, be useless to them—sleep would never land in Alex’s fighting state, and once a nameless was down, they wouldn’t be able to be revived. But evolved healing skills or even group healing spells might quickly turn the tide during the battle. He needed to take down the spellcaster first and he needed to do it quickly.
“Light,” Alex replied, just before the minotaur parted the flap of the tent and walked inside.
The interior was much more spacious than what the outside might have indicated and there was enough light to make both of them squint as they crossed its magical threshold. Inside, there was a buzz of people working, of tools clattering together, leather and metal being scrubbed, and liquids splashing. But no voices. There was no talking among the slaves who were cleaning the blood and gore off the armor of the fallen. No smiles or even looks between those who patched holes made in the leather by the fangs of beasts that had no place in captivity.
“Are you ready, berserkr?” the thunderous voice of Yalfrigg asked.
“As ready as I can be,” Alex replied and stood in front of the dwarf.
The minotaur retrieved three boxes from one of the large chests in a corner and placed them on a long wooden table next to the two warriors.
“The man has chosen light armor,” he said to the dwarf, who nodded in agreement.
“The dominus has agreed to let you fight alone in the pits tonight,” Yalfrigg confirmed. “But you need to live up to your infamy.”
“The crowd wants to see violence, so your weapons are heavily enchanted,” the minotaur said. “Glowing weapons make the people go wild with excitemen
t for the damage potential. Glowing armor, however, means enchantments to increase your defense and nobody likes that.”
“So no enchantments on the armor?” Alex asked.
“None above the safety threshold,” the dwarf replied. “+4 is the maximum you’ll get, so that people won’t think we’re boosting your defense too much.”
“Same goes for the jewelry,” the minotaur added and opened up the smaller of the boxes.
Name: Hope of a Dying Race +3
Type: Earring
Rarity: C Grade
Magical Defense: 51
Durability : 1982/8600
Weight: 150st.
Description : These simple metal loop earrings were the last line of defense for a race that was invaded by murderous hordes of spellcasters. The majority of their population was slaughtered. It wasn’t until they crafted these earrings that they managed to fight back against the invaders. Unfortunately, it was already too late. Their numbers had already thinned so much that genocide was inevitable. These earrings are a testament to the fact that they never abandoned hope and died fighting.
Name: Ring of Orphans +3
Type: Ring
Rarity: C Grade
Magical Defense: 35
Durability : 7559/9550
Weight: 150st.
Description : The Order of the Orphans was an organization created by twenty-one adolescent practitioners of magic who rebelled against their abusive caretakers. The group of children burned down their orphanage with all of their abusers in it, then moved on to do the same in several more orphanages, growing in numbers and power each time. These rings, pearls in a platinum base, were gifted to the orphans on the day they joined the order.
Name: Soldier’s Lament +3
Type: Necklace
Rarity: C Grade
Magical Defense: 67
Berserker: A LitRPG Urban Fantasy Adventure (Apocosmos Book 1) Page 30