The Dragon's Wrath: Shadows in the Flame (39 page)

I was afraid that our names would be on that list, if we had stayed in.

Combing through the Leaderboards, interestingly enough Alliance One was actually the highest ranking player on our side of the boards with twenty-seven kills, zero assists, and zero participations. She racked up thirteen more off the twenty-two that came by.

Bored out of her mind while waiting, we let her have them without much argument from our side. She was ready to steal them from me if I didn’t give them up anyways and with no desire to chop her in two by mistake, I stayed back and gave her the space she needed and wanted. Emily was as bloodthirsty as they come.

Ethan and Emily both worried me a little.

In addition to Emily’s progress, Barik had moved up to four kills and nine assists, while Ethan accumulated five more kills and a bunch of assists. Valerie still had zeros in every category as she didn’t care to join in.

As for me, I added two more kills and five assists to bring my total to twelve and seven respectively. The most interesting thing from all of that was how twelve kills put me into the category of Known Threat on the rankings, while Emily was now at Notable Threat having broken into the twenties. We were wanted targets now.

Alliance One and Alliance Zero.

“Congrats on number one Emily,” I said as I exited the boards.

“You know it,” she replied with a pat on her flexed bicep. “If we were still out there, man… I’d have like a hundred kills by now.”

“More likely you’d have been dead at the thirty minute mark as exhaustion set in or other players grouped up to target you,” I claimed as I rolled over and lay out on my back.

“Psh yeah right, I would have dominated if you didn’t hold me back,” Emily joked in reply as she threw a muddy snowball at me for fun.

“Notice how all those people on the Leaderboards are dead though?” I explained as I stared at the stars. “Grayed out names of players with all the kills yet still behind you and they won’t return for another twenty-four hours. War is an endurance race, not a sprint. You train to endure and outlast, not to rush to your death.”

“Uh okay Mr. Tactical Philosophy,” she retorted as she threw another snowball at me, missing this time as it splashed a bit of mud on my face.

Continuing to stare up at the sky that was quickly transitioning over from day to night, the first battle was over as players filtered out and returned to the camps. We weren’t obligated to return and I had no intention of doing so as it was already 4:00 AM. It would be easier to log out where we were, only to resume our activities with the coming sun.

Four hours wasn’t all that long of a wait.

“Hey guys, where’s Alan?” I asked as the thought randomly occurred to me, curious as to why we hadn’t seen him in so long.

“Had a kid,” said Barik immediately. “Didn’t ye know?”

“What…” I replied while still lying on my back, too comfortable to be bothered to move. “So that’s why he hasn’t been on… when’s he coming back, if he is coming back?”

“Couple months,” Barik answered as he got up. “We’re headin’ out if you guys are done ‘ere for the night, play time is burnin’ away.”

“
Yaauuuhhh
, yeah I’m calling it a night,” said Emily with a drawn out yawn. “Good fight today guys, see you at the break?”

“Break of dawn?” I inquired, wanting to be sure.

“Mhm!”

“Yeah, I’ll be on in four hours,” I replied while closing my eyes.

The sounds of Barik and Ethan’s footsteps soon disappeared into the distance as Emily’s body vanished with the blue rings signaling her logout from the game. The only one who had yet to leave or make a move or sound was Valerie as I turned and glanced her way.

Lying on her back the same as I was, she was staring up at the virtual ceiling and enjoying the scene as random shooting stars crossed the night sky. The moon wasn’t visible from our position but the stars were bright enough on their own. There was no aurora down here but the place still had its own charm to it.

“I’d offer you my coat, but I’ve got no furs with me,” I said as a joke, as the weather was pleasant despite it technically being winter for a few more weeks. The ground was still wet though.

“Mm. Appreciated,” she replied.

Silence returned as we both relaxed and spread out, neither of us in a talkative mood. After watching the stars for what seemed to be an hour, she started to nod off and eventually fell asleep only a few feet away.

Automatically logged off, her body disappeared as I was left by myself for the remaining three hours. A nap in my real bed didn’t sound half bad this time… especially since there was no Katherine around to keep me warm.

A strange thought, really.

Chapter 113: Stages of War

(Thursday, February 24th Game Day / Saturday, May 22nd Real Day)

Thousands of men and women marching in half-assed unison arrived at the designated location and promptly halted their advance. Stopping short of actually engaging once again, the adventurers froze and waited for others to join in. With the inhabitants providing only support for now, they resumed their drums and horns and did what they could to add to the atmosphere as hundreds of players began to filter out.

As if watching a mob of ants swarm from their holes, dozens of bodies began to fill the space between the two masses as the fighting finally resumed. Arrows and magic of all colors bombarded the center as friendly fire was largely ignored. Shields clashed into other shields as men were impaled by spears and women fell to swords.

Axes and polearms dismembering and beheading with wide arcs as the entire scene turned to red. Unorganized masses fighting without unity, without care, with only glory on their minds as allies bumped into allies and friends were shoved to the side. Players were falling by the second as the second battle turned far bloodier and far more brutal than the first.

Watching from the comfort of the northern forest, large groups of players were seen moving about with some form of unity as they hit weak spots and then promptly retreated. My side was outnumbered from the start nearly two-to-one and with the growing confidence of the enemy army, more and more began to join the fight.

Dark magic caught my eye as a few users utilized area-of-effect magic that seemed to suck and displace bodies in an unnatural way, only for fire and ice to rain down on the clustered souls that had been hit by the large crowd-control. Waiting and watching as our side began to falter under the might of the entire enemy force, a weak lightning strike struck the crowd and brought a smile to my face.

“Lightning has now been unlocked,” I mumbled with a grin.

As both forces began to unleash a torrent of magic, dozens of lightning spells flashed across the field and paved the way as my individual specialty would no longer single me out. The kaleidoscope of colors nearly blinding even from a distance, the mixture of dark and holy magic providing contrast as fire and frost dueled for supremacy. Nature and lightning too, played their part as every color imaginable burst onto the scene.

Heading out and picking up our pace as we flanked the enemy army, the five of us stuck to the cover of the forest for as long as we could as we began to build momentum. Nearly sprinting as we turned within a hundred yards of the enemy force, all eyes were facing forward as we charged. Gripping my axe tightly as I entered a full sprint at maximum effort, my allies were left far behind as I came within fifty yards of the enemy force and immediately dropped to a knee.

Sliding in the muddy snow with momentum carrying me nearly ten yards forward, my hands began to spark with electricity as I tossed my axe ahead. Mouthing a chant and staring at the ground ahead of me, I completed the cast and jumped back up to my feet as the other four caught up nearly five seconds later.

Resuming my sprint while grabbing my axe that was sticking out of the mud on the way, a dark cloud had formed over the heads of the dense crowd in front of me. Streaks of lightning dancing in the cloud as the eyes of my victims remained fixated on the threat ahead of them. Engaged and preoccupied with the thousands of others battling it out with every type of weapon imaginable, they couldn’t see it coming.

Entering into the crowd with a bull rush, Barik barreled through with shield held high and sword held straight ahead as I followed closely behind and swung my axe in a circular motion with little care to what I hit. Decapitating and dismembering everyone in my path as I spun a whirlwind of destruction, I stopped for a second as I turned my head away and put my hand up to signal the others.

Closing our eyes for a fraction of a second, the God-tier lightning strike flashed and streaked down the sky in a magnificent display of pure power. Blinding white light piercing and burning through the crowds as the eruption of a thunderous ground-shaking roar hit our ears. In an instant hundreds of players all around us on both sides clutched their ears and eyes as they struggled with their loss of hearing and vision.

Eyes opened, Emily caught the first disabled man in front of her with a flying knee that sent him flailing to the deck as she transitioned and followed with a heel stomp to finish. Ethan rotated over and with a shift of his position, crouched and released a flame wave over dozens of unsuspecting players.

Following up with vision and hearing still intact, I began to cut down the disabled players as they screamed and shouted while lit aflame. Barik came in low and repeatedly sliced at hamstrings to force players to drop to a knee and as they fell, ended them with a quick thrust and pull.

Turning to Valerie as she stood and watched, Emily came up and finished another with an elbow to the exposed neck of a man on his knees as blood shot forcefully out of his mouth with head dangling and flopping all the way down to the ground. Pushing through the crowds as I cleared a path with senses now returning to the enemy, I mindlessly hacked away while continuing to make way.

Emily and Barik falling in behind, they finished the ones I dismembered as Ethan continued to pelt with fire blasts without breaking his stride. And then as if she didn’t have enough, Emily jumped and rolled from one target to the next, kneeing and elbowing necks and faces as she went. Only stopping to clutch and clinch for a second as she finished another blind victim, unsatisfied with the maimed targets that I left behind.

Shaking my head as I turned to face the swath of destruction left behind in our wake, the crowd control effects had fully worn off and hundreds of pairs of eyes returned my gaze. Motioning for the crew to continue the push, I resumed my work and eyed the friendly armbands nearly twenty yards away. Surrounded and outnumbered, we fought without care to our positioning so long as we could continue to move. Not stopping for a second, the entire northern flank had begun to shift as players were turning in reaction to the surprise attack of a few.

Then as the man in front of me was hacked to pieces, split down the middle as I pulled my axe back, the five of us found ourselves back to back as the enemy cleared a space and formed a circle around us. Slipping behind Barik as he kept his shield raised and with the other three covering me, Valerie decided to cast a heal on us and in that moment of distraction as the golden light engulfed Barik, my chant had finished and my cast was nearly complete. Glancing at the ground where death and salvation would be found, I confirmed my target as I released the spell.

Another dark cloud forming above the enemies’ heads to the west, my mana was spent. This would be our last opportunity to push and make it through to our forces on the other side. Waiting as a few hands began to glow all around us, I whispered to the men and women around me, “On two, run straight to the lightning strike, keep your eyes low.”

“One,” I said quickly.

“Two,” I said loudly as I broke into a sprint with the other four following.

All five of us running into the crowd with weapons raised and eyes staring at the ground, magic shot forth from every direction as I tumbled and rolled along the ground, only to hear the distinct crack of thunder and catch the blinding white light of lightning landing twenty feet in front of me.

Picking my head up as I jumped back to my feet with all four behind me doing the same, a few of us had been hit by spells but most had crisscrossed and impacted their allies as the land before us was now vacant and charred. A heat wave left behind hit me as my nose reacted to the smell of burnt bodies as nearly thirty players struggled to get back to their feet. Breaking off from the pack and executing those that I could as I ran by, I altered my pace and entered into a skip and hop with a chop here and a kick and hack there.

To my right Barik simply ran by and sliced at exposed throats while Ethan melted defenseless faces with glee. Emily had no such luck as she resorted to kicking heads as if they were balls, while Valerie continued to watch and run. Pushing through and cutting through where appropriate, we made it back to our side of the field as we dispersed into the crowd and made it to the outskirts safe and sound.

Taking up position off to the side, we traveled down to the southern forest this time and stopped to take a break, out of breath from all the sprinting and fighting and needing to let our minds catch up. Letting out one big exhale as my heart pounded in my chest, I pulled the earplugs out and began to relax.

“That was kind of close,” I said as I sat down and began to check the Leaderboards, curious to see how the battle was going and if our impact was as severe as it appeared.

“Fun though,” replied Ethan with a smile as he stretched out and lay down on his back, with chest and stomach rising and falling rapidly.

“Hah. Yeh,” Barik muttered with a laugh, a comical reply in its own right as he struggled to breath.

“Damn man, that’s so unfair,” stated Emily as she grabbed her knees and began to huff and puff, straining for air.

“Mm. I’ve got participation now,” mumbled Valerie.

“Haha, yeah, yeah you do,” I said, laughing at her.

Watching as three of the five struggled to breath, Valerie and I appeared to have the most stamina by far. It was surprising at first but then it made sense to me, as she played a lot and spent a lot of time traveling by foot. She had built up her Endurance through hours of exercise in-game. Emily put all of her points into her Strength, and Barik split them up with most going to Vitality for health. Ethan… well, he was all into Intelligence, to increase his damage as his mana pool was quite insufficient.

“You passed me up,” cried Emily as she kicked me lightheartedly. “I had twenty-seven to start the battle and was clearly number one, you had what, twelve? Ugh so unfair.”

Looking at the Leaderboards, my name was now number one on our side, with forty-nine kills and twenty-eight assists. I was now an Exceptional Threat, though so too was Emily as she had thirty-eight kills to her name but no assists still.

“Hey mate,” called out Ethan while still lying on his back. “I noticed this before but didn’t have anything to compare to back then, why is your lightning different from the others? It’s brighter, louder, stuns ‘em every time, and I swear it does more damage too.”

“Yeah!” shouted Emily as she sat down and rested her head on her closed knees. “He casts one spell and poof, ten kills and fifteen assists. Casts one more, bam, double!”

Staring up at the canopy, I was mulling over how to best explain this but couldn’t come up with a good excuse. If I lied then my secret was safe for now and no one would know of relics for a little while yet… but that was a road that shouldn’t be traveled when it came to friends, even if they were only friends in a game.

To lie would set a precedent and create issues of trust later on, there was no need for that. If anything, Emily already knew of the Relics and probably had her suspicions to boot. It wasn’t worth lying and I would probably be caught if I did. So that left the truth… or a shade of the truth.

“Yeh, ye can teleport too, can’t ya?” asked Barik.

Ah, that’s right… Alan saw me teleport during the fifth boss fight, when I needed to grab a weapon to kill the goblin chief. They didn’t mention it so I thought they had somehow missed it, much to my surprise and peace of mind at the time.

“Uh, yeah,” I replied hesitantly. “I can teleport too.”

“WHAT?!” shouted Emily as she jumped up and kicked me in the shin with her shin.

“Ah! Hey what’s with you and your abuse woman,” I yelled back as I sat up and grabbed my shin, rubbing it as the pain spread throughout my leg. “Fuck you’ve got a hard kick, calm yourself alright?”

“You can teleport and you didn’t tell us?!” she said, angry for some reason even though she saw me use it when we met in the North.

“Why would I need to mention it?” I countered, gritting my teeth while confused with her reaction and trying to deal with the spreading pain. “You already saw me use it anyways damn! It’s not new check your memory, shit.”

“You’ve got a Relic don’t you,” she spat out immediately.

“Oi, what’s that?” asked Ethan right away. “You’ve got a what mate?”

And that was the end of my secrecy, as my suspicion was right on the money. She was well aware of the game’s secrets… which made me question her, if she happened to have one as well to supplement her inordinate amount of strength. She wasn’t that high of a level but her punches, kicks, elbows, and knee strikes were vicious. As evidenced by her recent kick that left me reeling in pain… especially when aided by equipment.

“Do you have a Relic Emily?” I asked angrily, ignoring her question.

“Of course not, they’re impossible to find,” she said curtly. “You’ve got one don’t you, you lucky bastard, where did you find it?”

“I climbed a mountain and found it at the top,” I said through clenched teeth, still rubbing my shin that appeared to be shattered as the pain that was registering was incredibly intense. Gritting my teeth, I looked at her once and shook my head. “Nice of you to fracture my tibia Emily, appreciate it.”

“Uh… I didn’t kick you
that
hard,” she said somewhat curiously. “Serious?”

“Don’t you have iron-splinted leather greaves on?” I questioned while casting a holy light on myself, mostly to relieve the pain as the broken bone would need the care of a higher level priest. “Damn, think before you do stupid shit.”