Dragon Ops

by Dragon Ops (retail) (epub)

  “Cool,” I said. Another dragon robot. Hopefully this one wouldn’t be as evil as Atreus. Or as slimy as Wyrm.

  “Yes. Very cool,” Yano agreed. “In fact, quite cold actually. ’Cause it’s… made of ice?” He rolled his eyes. “Humans are so slow sometimes.”

  “Um, hello?” Lilli interjected. “Can we talk about this swamp that’s right in front of us?” She waved her hand at the bog. “Do you have any useful info on this place?”

  “Of course I do!” Yano shot back, looking offended. “I wouldn’t be a very good guide if I didn’t!” He cleared his throat. “This,” he said solemnly, “is the Soundless Bog.”

  “And…?”

  “And it is… soundless. And… a bog.” He gave us a duh look. I groaned.

  “So helpful!” I muttered.

  “Why thank you! I aim to please. I also accept tips, if you are so inclined at the end of the tour.”

  Ignoring him, I joined my sister on the walkway. As I stepped onto the wooden platform, I tried and failed not to notice the pair of large black eyes blinking back at me from under the water’s murky surface.

  Just a fish, I told myself. A very… big… fish.

  “Come on,” I said. “Let’s go. Quickly.”

  We started our trek across the bog, moving carefully and navigating the maze of paths as best we could while avoiding rotten floorboards. It was slow going, but we were making steady progress, and I was starting to feel confident we could get through this with little trouble.

  Until the fog started to roll in.

  It was a thick fog—the kind that books always compared to pea soup—and soon we were socked in up to our waists. Which wouldn’t have been much of a problem except now we couldn’t see the tangle of walkways beneath our feet. Leaving us with no way to tell which floorboards had rotted through and which passageways led to swampy dead ends.

  I gulped, looking across the sea of white before us, stretching out for what seemed like miles. With no way to tell where the bog ended or where it began.

  Or, most importantly, which way we should go.

  I glanced worriedly at Lilli. She opened her mouth to speak.…

  But nothing came out.

  Her face went as white as a Mario ghost, and she gripped her throat with her hands. I tried to ask what was wrong, but even though I felt like I was speaking just as always, I didn’t make a sound.

  It was at that moment I realized how quiet everything had become. We’d been so focused on picking our way across the boards, I’d barely noticed the sounds of the birds tweeting from the trees or the leaves rustling in the breeze. Now their absence and the absolute silence that had fallen over the swamp was nothing short of terrifying.

  The Soundless Bog.

  Suddenly Yano’s explanation made a lot more sense.

  I started shuffling slowly, feeling for the wooden walkway under my feet as my heart pattered hard in my chest. Why hadn’t anyone bothered to build railings on these things? Wasn’t that some kind of safety violation? Right now, there was nothing to keep me from making a wrong turn and plunging into the swamp. Finding out firsthand what those eyes were attached to.

  I looked around for Yano, hoping he’d be able to guide our way. But he was nowhere to be seen. Instead, my eyes fell on a strange shadow creeping through the mists. Large and dark and sort of human shaped, but way too tall and skinny. With a few too many arms… and legs…

  And teeth?

  How could a shadow have teeth?

  I grabbed my sister’s arm and pointed. Her mouth twisted in horror. She tried to speak, but still, nothing. Desperate, she made a frantic gesture with her hands. I didn’t need to hear her to know what she was trying to say.

  Run.

  But we couldn’t run. Not without risking launching off a walkway and ending up in the swamp. Instead, we were forced to step carefully, quietly, hoping maybe the shadow was just a shadow and not a murderous creature out for human flesh. Hey, maybe it didn’t like the taste of human flesh. Yano thought we were gross. Maybe we were gross to this shadow monster, too.

  But… let’s not try to find out.

  Suddenly my foot hit air instead of wood and I flailed, waving my arms madly as I tried to keep my balance and not fall face-first into the swamp. Just as I was about to go over, strong hands grabbed me and yanked me back to safety. Lilli released me with a grim look. She gestured with her hands: Slow down, idiot. I sighed and gave her a thumbs-up to let her know I understood.

  My eyes rose back to Ghost Hollow. It still looked so far away; how would we ever reach it? The walkways had been a maze even when we could see them. Now we were walking blind.

  I checked behind us. The shadow monster was so much closer than it was before. It floated over the fog, as if it were a surfer cresting a perfect wave. I could make out a few more details now. The thing had glowing red eyes, a body that seemed almost made of smoke, and way more of those freaky shadow teeth than I originally thought. Could shadow teeth dig into real-life flesh?

  My sister grabbed my arm and pulled me down into the fog. My vision blurred white and I couldn’t see a thing. Why did she think we were better off down here? But there was no way to ask her.

  I was about to stand up again when I felt her tap on my arm. She grabbed my hand and placed it down on the wooden walkway at our feet. Then she picked up my other hand and placed it a foot in front of me. My mouth opened as I realized what she was suggesting. We couldn’t see the pathway from above. But we could crawl through the fog and feel our way through.

  While staying out of sight of the shadow monster.

  Okay, so Lilli was basically a genius.

  We crawled blindly on our hands and knees, unable to direct one another or even really see each other. We were nothing but hands on wood, feeling our way through, praying we wouldn’t run into the shadow monster and his teeth. I had no idea if we were even still heading toward Ghost Hollow, or back to where we started.

  Still, anything was better than being out here.

  Finally, after what seemed like forever, I felt dirt under my fingers. We’d reached solid ground. I let out a cry of joy—and was more excited when I realized I could actually hear my voice again. I rose to my feet, blinking to clear my vision, and spotted the entrance to the village not ten feet in front of us.

  “We did it!” I shouted. We had made it through the Soundless Bog! I turned to see my sister collapsing onto the grassy bank beside me, breathing heavily, and when I looked back at the swamp I saw that the fog had lifted—just like that. The shadow monster had disappeared with it.

  My menu blinked. Another level gained. Yes!

  “So was that fun or what?” Yano chirped, appearing beside us.

  “I think you need to review your definition of fun,” my sister grumbled. Then she grinned as she realized she could speak again.

  “Ah, come on, admit it,” Yano cajoled. “That was a fantastic level. Really unique. One of my favorites, actually. And that shadow monster. Beautiful piece of programming!”

  “You should probably look up the definition of ‘beautiful’ while you’re at it.” I laughed, climbing to my feet. “’Cause that thing was not winning any contests.”

  “You may be right,” Yano said, relenting. “But in any case, you made it. That’s what matters. And on your first try, too! Quite lucky, actually, seeing as Atreus probably wouldn’t have given you a second one.”

  I frowned, my joy now clouded with dread. We still didn’t know what might happen if we died in the game. Atreus had said there were no do-overs, but what did that even mean? If we died in the game, would the game trick our brains into thinking we were dead in real life?

  Ugh. I didn’t want to think about it. We’d made it. That was all that mattered. For now.

  “Good thinking, by the way,” I told my sister. “I never would have thought to go down into the fog.”

  “Thanks!” Lilli replied, looking pleased with herself. “I did this Ninja Warrior Hallowe
en course last year. And they had this cemetery section with a fog machine. It was the only way to get through.”

  “Awesome!” Together, we were becoming quite a team. Like we had been in the regular game. Though I didn’t want to jinx it by pointing that out to Lilli just yet. “Anyway, let’s go check out this town. See if we can find Ikumi.”

  I turned back toward Ghost Hollow, ready to head inside, but something stopped me before I took that first step. My eyes widened at what I saw at the front gate.

  Orange lights. Grinning pumpkins. Creepy music drifting from the town square.

  I raised my eyebrows. “Speaking of Halloween…”

  The front gates of Ghost Hollow looked ready for a party, with large, grinning jack-o’-lanterns impaled on spikes and cottony spiderwebs draped across the front gate. Even their town crest was Halloween inspired, depicting the famous headless horseman riding into town with the words BOO TO YOU written in fancy script below.

  I turned to Yano. “Is it Halloween?” I asked excitedly. I had always loved when Fields of Fantasy changed up the game every year in October for Halloween. Or All Hallows’ Scream, as they called it. Every village and town would be decked out in spooky decorations, and some would even offer special quests and games. Bobbing for ghost apples, pin the tail on the demon, and my favorite, broom-riding races. If you played the games, you got special prizes, too. Various potions or unique pieces of armor. I once scored a pumpkin-head helmet that made ghostly moaning sounds every time I put it on. Which I did, repeatedly, just to annoy my sister.

  “Actually, Ghost Hollow is something new for Dragon Ops,” Yano explained. “People loved the All Hallows’ Scream event so much, they decided to keep it going full-time. This way, whenever you have a chance to visit the island, you can celebrate the holiday.”

  “No way! I wonder if they have Ghost Goop here!”

  Ghost Goop was the coolest stuff ever, in my opinion. A frothy, rainbow-swirled milkshake that glowed in the dark and had the power to make you glow, too, after you drank it. I always wondered what it tasted like. Maybe I could finally find out for real!

  “Uh, remember. We’re here to find Ikumi,” Lilli reminded me sternly. “We don’t have time to trick-or-treat.”

  “I know, I know.” I waved her off. “I’m not going to waste any time. But if there, like, happens to be Ghost Goop, just sitting there as we run by? I’m going to drink it. Who knows if I’ll ever get a chance again!”

  She rolled her eyes. “You do you, Ian.”

  We headed through the gates and into the town, which turned out to be much smaller than Dragonshire. There was a general store, an armory, a magic shop, and a tavern, along with maybe half a dozen small cottages lined up and down a single dirt road.

  At least if Ikumi was here, she wouldn’t be hard to find.

  Except…

  “Wait, is everyone wearing masks?” Lilli exclaimed, looking at the people gathering near a huge black cauldron filled with a bubbling purple liquid. A female gnome dressed in a pointy black hat was handing out cups of her brew to the crowd. A crowd, I realized in dismay, all decked out in fancy party masks. There wasn’t a single visible face in sight.

  Uh-oh.

  “Well, this certainly ups the difficulty level,” Yano remarked. “How will you know which one’s your girl?”

  It was a good question. I peered around the bustling town, trying to identify anyone roughly Ikumi’s height. But in truth, I didn’t really remember how tall she was. And who knew if she’d even be the same size now? Or have the same color hair? She’d been playing the game for two years. She probably had all sorts of cool outfits and purchased looks that she could change into.

  “Can you find her on your map?” Lilli asked.

  I shook my head. “All I can tell is she’s somewhere in the town.” I let out a frustrated breath as a band of masked villagers pushed past me, laughing and chowing down on huge turkey legs. “This is going to be impossible.”

  Yano smacked his lips at the sight of the turkey legs. “I’ll catch up with you later,” he said. “Cheers!” And with that, he launched off my shoulder and flew in the direction of the turkey.

  Lilli watched him go. “I’m pretty sure our guide would lead us into the pit of despair if it meant a bite to eat.”

  “Yeah, well, I might join him at this point,” I declared. Everyone was eating something here, and it was making me realize how hungry I was. “We haven’t eaten since the game maker’s cottage, and I have no idea how long ago that was in real life.”

  “Don’t we have some kind of protein bars in our packs?” Lilli asked.

  I wrinkled my nose. “You want to eat protein bars? Look at all the cool food here!” My eyes fell on a woman handing out big bags of orange-colored cotton candy, and I sighed.

  “Virtual food is not going to cut it,” Lilli scolded. “We need real-life energy if we’re going to have a chance at this. Now come on. Let’s find Ikumi first, then worry about eating. Maybe the local tavern would know where she is? That’s where you always find the good info in the regular game.”

  I reluctantly followed her into the tavern. Like the town square, it was all done up in over-the-top Halloween decorations—eerie ghosts floating from the ceiling, cobwebs draped on every table. It was packed with people, too. Some sprawled out around a smoky fire pit in the center of the room, drinking out of large copper mugs, while others sat at long tables chowing down on stew served in hollowed-out pumpkins. There was even a band up on a makeshift stage, playing an upbeat song. It took me a moment to recognize it as “Monster Mash.”

  And everyone was wearing a mask.

  “Argh,” I exclaimed, frustrated. “This is ridiculous.”

  I followed Lilli to the bar and slipped onto one of the stools. “Excuse me, barkeep,” my sister said, tapping his arm to get his attention. She had to yell to be heard over the band. “We have traveled here from a faraway land, in search of one who will aid our quest. Perhaps you can help us?”

  I hid a smile at the way she said it, as if she were her character rather than a real-life person playing a game. I wasn’t sure when it had changed for her—during our crazy encounter with the earth dragon, or perhaps it was the scare in the Soundless Bog? Whatever it was, having her all-in made things feel like old times again.

  The barkeep turned to Lilli, wiping the bar surface in front of her with a dirty rag. He had a long, narrow nose and tiny ratlike eyes, and was the only one in the place not masked. “Well, well, what have we here?” he asked, setting two huge mugs in front of us. “Adventurers, from the looks of you! We don’t get many of your kind here.”

  “I can’t imagine why,” I muttered, thinking back to the shadow monster.

  “Might ye be looking for work? I have some tasks that need doing. I would reward you greatly.”

  Here we go again.

  “Uh, we’re good on the whole questing thing,” I assured him. “We’re actually searching for someone. Her name is—”

  “I need salt for my stew,” the bartender interrupted, a white star appearing over his head. “Fetch me three salt rocks from the nearby Cavern of Echoes and I will—”

  “Oh for goodness’ sakes!” Lilli interrupted. “Our lives are in danger here! We don’t have time to salt your stew!”

  “—give you the recipe for making Ghost Goop. The best thirst quencher in town!”

  “Really?” I burst out before I could stop myself. “The actual recipe?” If I had the recipe I could make it all year round back home in the regular game. I’d never have to wait for All Hallows’ Scream again!

  Lilli rolled her eyes. “Can you at least try to remember our lives are on the line here? We don’t have time for side quests.”

  “I know, I know.” I turned back to the bartender, poking him again to get his attention, accidentally accepting the Ghost Goop quest. Lilli groaned.

  “Look,” she said to the bartender. “We’re kind of in a hurry here. We’re looking for
a girl. Her name is Ikumi. Have you seen her?”

  The bartender stared at her blankly. “I need salt for my stew,” he declared. “Fetch me three salt rocks from the nearby Cavern of Echoes and I will give you the recipe for making Ghost Goop. The best thirst quencher in town!”

  “Yeah. Thanks for being so helpful,” Lilli muttered, pushing off her stool.

  I sighed, scanning the tavern again, a sinking feeling in my chest. “This is going to be impossible.” I cupped my hands around my mouth and shouted, “Ikumi? Are you in here?”

  But the music was too loud, drowning out my words. No one even noticed me.

  “Come on,” Lilli said. “Let’s not give up. For all we know they may lift their masks at midnight or something. In the meantime, we can find someplace to sit and eat our protein bars.”

  My stomach gave a sudden growl. “Yeah,” I agreed. “Good idea.”

  I started to follow her outside. But just as I was about to step through the door, the band started playing a new song.

  A very familiar-sounding song…

  “Wait a second!” I exclaimed, whirling around. “That song’s from Mario 3!”

  Heart in my throat, my eyes lifted to the stage. There, in the center, stood a girl strumming a guitar. At first look, she appeared to be dressed like everyone else in town, in a simple peasant skirt and apron and wearing the same kind of mask.

  But on closer examination, I noticed something else. Namely, a strand of pink woven through her otherwise black hair.

  I ran up to the stage. “Ikumi?” I asked. “Is that you?”

  The girl onstage, startled, almost dropped her guitar. Her eyes locked on me and she cocked her head in question. “Who are you?”