Dragon Ops

by Dragon Ops (retail) (epub)

  My feet slipped out from under me the second they came into contact with the ice. I hit the ground hard, knocking the wind from my lungs. But I couldn’t stay down. Forcing myself to stand, I dragged my battered body another step backward.

  And the dragon followed.

  The creature screeched in surprise as it came down on a weak spot of ice. There was a loud crack as its foot punched through, and the ice crumbled under its feet. Flapping its wings, it tried to push himself airborne—but its claws couldn’t find traction on the slippery surface. The rushing water soon soaked its wings, making them too heavy to lift. It bellowed in rage as it fought, thrashing helplessly, until the current finally dragged it down and under.

  Until it was gone entirely.

  I stared down at the massive hole in the ice, my heart racing in my chest. At first I was half convinced it would rise again—ready for round two. But then my game menu blinked, registering the kill, and the experience points began to rack up on my menu screen. Another level gained.

  But I barely paid attention to that. Instead, I turned away from the hole and back to where I’d left my sister trapped in her block of ice. I’d hoped her prison would melt with the dragon’s death; that was how it worked in some games.

  But no. My heart sank as my eyes fell upon her frozen body. Her mouth was open in midscream. I ran over to her and banged on the ice with my fist, trying to shatter it. But it was solid as a rock.

  Which meant… what? She was stuck here? But for how long? Would it ever wear off? Would she be alive when it did? I tried to figure out if she was still breathing, but I couldn’t tell. It didn’t seem as if any part of her was moving. My heart started pounding in my chest. What was I going to do? I couldn’t lose her! My sister!

  “Oh, Lilli,” I cried, leaning my forehead against the block of ice. It was so cold. She was so cold. “I’m so sorry.”

  This was all my fault. I’d dragged my sister here, against her will. Put her in danger, all because I wanted to play some stupid game. And now… What if this was it? What if this was game over for Lilli? What if she was real-life dead and it was all my fault? I cried so hard my throat hurt, and the freezing tears stung my cheeks.

  “Wow. Looks like your sister could use a bit of a warm-up,” remarked an amused voice.

  I whirled around, shocked to find Ikumi standing behind me. She was dressed in a thick white fur coat. Her hair was now glowing fluorescent green and was piled on top of her head like a Christmas tree.

  I stared. “You’re not dead,” I whispered before I could stop myself. Way to state the obvious, dude.

  She smiled. “I told you I’d catch up to you,” she scolded. “It just took me a little longer than I thought. Sorry about that. Didn’t mean to make you fight that guy alone.” She dropped her gaze to the hole in the ice. “Though you seem to be doing pretty good without me.”

  And with that, she raised her hands and muttered some strange-sounding words under her breath. When she finished, a warm golden glow flashed over Lilli.

  And the ice melted away.

  My sister collapsed to the ground, still dripping wet and out of breath. I ran to her, putting my arms around her, tying to help her back to her feet. She looked up at me, then Ikumi.

  “Holy icy fortress of awfulness! I seriously thought I was going to be stuck in there forever. Thank you,” she said to Ikumi. “I owe you my life.” Then she turned back to me. “And thank you,” she added with a grin. “Also, never tell me you’re bad at this game again, because I will call you a big fat liar.”

  I couldn’t help it—I threw my arms around her and squeezed her tight.

  She laughed, struggling. “I can’t breathe!” But she didn’t sound like she minded that much, and a moment later she was hugging me back just as hard. Then she raised a fist to the air.

  “Team Dragon Slayerz forever!”

  I laughed, raising my own fist. “Long may we reign!” I added, finishing our old chant. We’d made it up when we first started playing Fields of Fantasy and formed our first guild—a group of friends joining forces to play together. We’d called ourselves the Dragon Slayerz (with a z, since the s version was taken) and even made T-shirts with our crest (a giant dragon’s face with two swords behind it). I still wore my shirt sometimes, even though it was, like, two sizes too small now. Lilli, on the other hand, had thrown hers away when she quit the game. I still remembered how crushed I’d been when Mom asked me to take out the trash and I found it in her room, tossed out as if it had meant absolutely nothing. I’d felt as if I’d lost my sister forever that day.

  But now she was back. She was alive and smiling and looking genuinely excited about playing the game. And it made my heart so happy I wanted to burst into tears all over again. Or hug her. Or tell her how glad I was that she was here. Team Dragon Slayerz forever!

  “Not to break up this happy reunion?” Yano interjected. “But we might not want to be hanging out here when Ice Breath respawns.”

  I glanced over at the icy hole where the dragon had fallen. In my excitement over killing the deadly monster, I had almost forgotten it was a video-game deadly monster. Which meant after a certain time period, he might come back so the next group could fight him.

  In other words, time to make like a banana… and split.

  “Are you with us?” I asked Ikumi, holding my breath for her response. “You want to join the Dragon Slayerz?”

  She smiled. “How can I refuse?”

  Stepping carefully, we managed to make our way through the rest of the ice field and start the actual climb. The good news? We no longer had to worry about footsteps and infrared. The bad? More trash mobs. Tons more trash mobs.

  Thankfully, this time, we had a secret weapon named Ikumi.

  It was funny; when I’d first asked her to join our party, I had no idea what character class she even played. But I soon learned she was a druid, which meant she could cast healing spells, which we desperately needed, and could call forest animals to come to her aid. Soon we had what felt like an entire wolf pack fighting by our side, under Ikumi’s command. At one point I actually wondered if I should tell her to call them off to give me a chance to fight.

  But that was ridiculous. I thought of Derek, trapped in his cage, waiting for rescue. We needed to get the Elemental Stones as fast as possible, and Ikumi was helping us get there.

  “She really is amazing,” I remarked to my sister as we walked a few paces back, allowing Ikumi and her little friends to rip into an Abominable Snowman. “Though, I guess playing the game for two years straight will do that.”

  “Yeah. She’s something,” Lilli agreed, watching Ikumi with a puzzled expression. “But…”

  “What?” I asked.

  She shook her head. “I don’t know. It’s just… do you think there’s something strange about her?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Okay, this is going to sound really weird,” Lilli said. “But… is she actually here?”

  “What? Of course she’s here. She’s right there!”

  “Yeah. Right. But so are those wolves. And that Bigfoot guy,” Lilli added, gesturing to the new monster that had stepped into our path. “But none of them are really here here. Not like we’re here, anyway. I mean, if we were able to take off our goggles, they’d disappear, right?”

  “You think Ikumi is virtual?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

  My sister shrugged. “I don’t know. But don’t you think it’s weird how she just showed up like she did? As if she had appeared out of thin air?”

  “Maybe we just didn’t see her coming. I was a little busy kicking dragon butt,” I reminded her, half hoping to get another little shout-out for the dragon-butt kicking in question. Not that I needed praise; I was just doing my job. Like a warrior should. A really talented warrior…

  “Well, I was stuck in a block of ice,” Lilli said. “And I saw her appear out of nowhere. Like she’d just zapped into existence.”

  I scra
tched my head. “Maybe she has a warp spell?”

  “Yeah, but how do you have a warp spell in this game?” Lilli asked. “Do you think we could warp? Our real bodies?”

  “I guess not…”

  “Also, how did she survive the Ghost Hollow thing? You saw what happened there; there was no way anyone could have gotten out. So did she regenerate? Or…”

  Before I could reply, an oversize snowman leapt into our path, surprising us. I drew my sword and slashed at its snowy body. The creature snapped its teeth, then started shooting razor-sharp nose carrots in my direction. I held up my shield in front of me to block them. From behind me, I heard Lilli mutter a spell.

  A moment later, the snowman exploded, covering us in snow. All white, thankfully. No dog pee this time.

  “Nice one!” I cried, wiping the snow off my face as I turned to my sister. I raised my hand and we fist-bumped. She laughed awkwardly.

  “We’re getting pretty epic at this, aren’t we?” she asked.

  “Dude. We are the epic-est,” I declared with a grin. Then I got back to the subject. “So what, you think Ikumi’s, like, an NPC or something? ’Cuz, no offense, but she doesn’t act like one. You’ve seen the quest givers and townspeople. They all think this is real. She clearly knows it’s a game.”

  “Yano knows it’s a game, too,” Lilli pointed out.

  I glanced over at our dragon guide, who was up ahead, jeering at the monsters Ikumi’s wolves were slaying, as if he was taking them out all by himself.

  “I know, but…” I shook my head. “I don’t know. She seems real. The things she says.” I thought back to our crazy dance in the tavern in Ghost Hollow. The conversation we had in Dragonshire about old-school video games. “I mean, she’s super into old Mario games!”

  My sister snorted. “A twelve-year-old girl who’s into old-school Mario? Yeah, that’s super realistic, dude.”

  I frowned, watching Ikumi now. Her long green hair had come undone and was flowing in the breeze as she shouted orders to her wolf pack. Could this girl—who looked so alive—really be nothing more than a bunch of pixels mashed together into a person?

  And if so, did it really matter? She was helping us. Shouldn’t that be enough?

  “Are you okay, Ian?” Lilli asked, peering at me with concern. “You look like someone ate your pet dragon.”

  “I’m fine,” I said, shaking my head. “It’s just…”

  “You like her,” Lilli concluded. “I get it.” She sighed. “Just, let me give you some good advice, little brother. Never trust anyone you meet online.”

  I groaned. “Here we go again. Technology is the devil. Everyone’s out to get us. Soon we will be taken over by robot overlords who will turn us into human batteries to run their machines.”

  Lilli opened her mouth to reply, but before she could, Ikumi’s voice rang out.

  “We’re here!” she called. “The Temple of D’ou!”

  My eyes lifted to the temple. Sitting on a flat expanse of rock, it looked like something you might find in Japan—a squat red wooden structure, topped with a curved roof, covered in snow. A set of stone stairs led up to a simple, unadorned bamboo door at the front.

  “Cool,” I exclaimed, giving a low whistle. “And no, I don’t mean cold,” I added, shooting Yano a look before he could make the temperature joke for the hundredth time.

  “Check this out,” Lilli said, pointing to the base of the steps. I looked down to see a golden dragon statue surrounded by small piles of food and gold and other treasure. “What do you think this is for?”

  “Dragons don’t just love tacos, you know,” Yano replied, landing on the statue. “They’re suckers for gifts, too.” A shimmer of gold danced down his scales. “Which reminds me—you totally missed my last birthday.”

  I rolled my eyes. “So these are all offerings to Lord D’ou?” I asked in wonder. There was a ton of cool stuff in the pile. “Who are they from?”

  “From adventurers like yourself who come seeking his favor,” Yano replied in a duh voice. “What, did you think you were the first?” Then he raised a bushy eyebrow. “Oh! You didn’t get him a gift, did you? Wow. How… awkward.”

  “We need a gift? Why didn’t you tell us?” Lilli demanded.

  “You’re supposed to be our guide,” I added. “You didn’t think to offer up some guidance while we were near a store?”

  Yano’s snout turned bright red. “Sorry,” he said. “I just assumed you knew! You said you’d played Fields of Fantasy.…”

  I groaned. Of course! How could I have forgotten that whole Dragons Love Presents quest chain I’d done two Decembers ago? Our group had been sent to the far corners of each land, searching for rare treasures to give to the Santa Dragon, who had made his temporary home at Dragonshire for the holiday. Each treasure could be exchanged for a unique holiday-themed piece of armor. I’d gotten this awesome Santa hat helmet that would say Ho, ho, ho! at the touch of the H key. It had driven Lilli almost as crazy as the Pumpkinhead one.

  “Actually, this is my fault,” Ikumi said, looking guilty. “I bought a great gift down in Ghost Hollow for this very purpose. But then Atreus attacked and burned down the town. Turning my present into a pile of ashes.”

  “Well, there’s nothing we can do about it now,” Lilli declared. “Maybe he won’t notice.”

  We headed up the stairs and into the temple, which, despite its humble exterior, was all rich woods and dark golds inside. The main corridor was lined with large murals depicting great battles—dragons destroying cities with fire and ice while humans ran away screaming. My heart started beating a little faster.

  “We really should have brought this guy a gift,” I whispered to my sister.

  Before she could answer, a man stepped into our path. He was small, stooped, and dressed in a simple brown burlap robe with a hood pulled over his bald head. As his eyes lighted on us, they narrowed suspiciously.

  “Who are you?” he asked in a low voice. “And what brings you to this sacred place?”

  “Um, is this the temple of D’ou?” I asked, my voice a little unsteady. I hadn’t expected to find humans here. Perhaps this guy was Lord D’ou’s servant? Or part of some dragon-worshipping cult?

  The man’s expression did not change. “It is.”

  “And is he around or whatever?” I shuffled from foot to foot. Wouldn’t it be crazy if we’d come all this way, only to find out D’ou was, like, away for spring break or something?

  The man cleared his throat. “And who are you to inquire about the great D’ou’s comings and goings?”

  “Um…” I stammered. “My name is Ian?”

  “His name is Lord Wildhammer,” Ikumi broke in. She stepped toward the monk, squaring her shoulders and lifting her chin. “And I am Lady Ikumi, esteemed druid of Ghost Hollow. We have traveled far—from the land of Dragonshire—to seek an audience with the great and mighty D’ou.” She smiled sweetly. “So if you would be so kind as to inform him of our presence?”

  I shot her an impressed look. Right. What she said!

  The monk regarded us with skeptical eyes, clearly not as blown away by Ikumi’s awesome role playing as I was. “And where, may I ask, is your offering to D’ou?”

  Uh-oh.

  I gritted my teeth. “Yeah, about that. Actually, we—”

  “Brought him gummy bears!” my sister burst in. She reached into her pack, pulling out one of her giant gummy bears and presenting it to the monk as if it were a set of expensive jewels. “Dragons love gummy bears, am I right?”

  The monk stared down at the gummy bear for a moment, then gave a haughty sniff. “I suppose we shall see. Come along.”

  We fell in line behind him. I gave my sister an incredulous look. “Dragons love gummy bears?” I said.

  She grinned. “Everyone loves gummy bears, Ian.”

  The monk stopped at a heavy wooden door at the end of the hall. He turned to us, his lips pursed tightly together. Geez. This guy seriousl
y needed to lighten up. Though that was probably not part of his programming. All the NPCs we’d met so far had been so one-dimensional, so focused on their specific role in the game. I guess that made sense. Why spend the time and energy perfecting a monk on a mountaintop that only a few players would probably ever even interact with?

  But what about Ikumi? I watched her closely as the monk pushed open the heavy wooden door, ushering us outside. Could she really be just another game character? And would she admit it to me if I asked her outright?

  Once outside, we walked down a small path lined with the most gorgeous ice sculptures I’d ever seen, all shaped like various dragons. There was even one of Wyrm herself, though she didn’t look half as gross in ice as she had in real life. Which reminded me—we couldn’t forget to ask D’ou about Lilli’s turd stone. And… well, not mention how we got it.

  The monk stopped at a wide circle outlined in snow. He raised his hands to the sky, murmuring some words that sounded a lot like Latin. Or maybe some kind of Tolkien Elvish? I knew from the original game that dragons had their own language—was that what he was speaking? It’d be cool to learn how to talk to dragons. Not that we had time for that. I’d learned my lesson on the last side quest. But if we ever came back…

  Okay, what was I thinking? We were never coming back to this nightmare. If we survived this (and I still assumed this was a big if) it was going to be button mashing on the couch for me from this point forward.

  My ears caught a small crackle. Soft at first, but growing louder. In seconds it was so loud I had to clamp my hands over my ears to block it out. I looked up at the sky.

  Whoa. Now that was a dragon.

  I watched in awe as Lord D’ou (who else could it be?) seemed to float down toward the earth, as if he were weightless and suspended in air. He had white scales, tinged in a ghostly blue, that rippled down his body like a frothy ocean after a storm. His neck was long and graceful as a swan’s, and his body was that of a legged serpent with a tail that looked like it belonged to this fancy goldfish I once won at the state fair. He had bushy eyebrows, like Yano, and a long goatee, and his deep-blue eyes were bright and curious. I tried to imagine him in robot form—what he’d look like without the goggles on—but I couldn’t picture it.