Immersion World

by Max Jager

  However, she noticed that Kaden would continue to bring plates of cookies and leave them in the main buildings of the town. She never would have guessed that Kaden had such an interest in baking, and she hadn't thought he had actually cared about the other players. But it seemed like he cared enough to feed them. It had become a routine, he would bring the cookies at 8:00am, 12:00 noon, 5:00pm, and 10:00pm every day and made a point to never be late. The timing was lined up perfectly with the daily schedule of most of the villagers; When they woke up and began work, on their lunch break, right before dinner, and for a late night snack. The villagers quickly got used to the cookies being there and it became part of their daily routine to take one or two.

  Zanath didn't stay in the village. He paid a few of the fairies to build himself a mansion not far from the village and moved all his things from his old home in the elven village to the new one. He wasn't seen around the village much, he only showed up from time to time to bring more survivors and otherwise kept to himself.

  Mendelen stayed within the village and trained his own small army. They trained and ran through whatever dungeons they could find for two weeks. By the end of those two weeks the village had grown into a small city, and Mendelen stood outside the city walls with his small army, talking to them as they prepared for battle. "Alright everyone, today is the day we take back Oline city! We all know the plan, we've gone over it several times, correct?"

  When he received a collective "Yes" from the crowd he smiled and nodded. "Good, because we have one hell of a battle ahead of us. We are taking on a dragon, and after that dragon a massive army of giant spiders and goblins. I have selected my supportive fighters, Sarah, Drake, Amanda, Em, and Maya, out of everyone here you five are among the strongest and overall best fighters. You five will be fighting by my side as I take on the dragon, I trust that the five of you will be able to help me and survive this fight no problem. Everyone else, you are going to be the backup, as planned you will keep your distance from the dragon and will kill any goblins or spiders that come after those of us fighting it. We need to ensure that we don't get ambushed by some other creature while distracted with the dragon. Once the dragon is down, we follow the plan to wipe the city clean of whatever else has taken it over."

  "You sure you don't want me to come with you?" Estellese approached Mendelen from behind "I can help."

  Mendelen shook his head. "You have your own village to look after, and I can see that this has put a lot of stress and responsibility on you. I know you're busy, so I'm not going to ask you to help me claim my city. You take care of yours, I'll be fine."

  Estellese nodded "Alright, good luck then. And if things go south and you need me just message me, I'll get there as quickly as I can."

  "Thanks, it's good to know you still have my back." Mendelen replied.

  "Of course, why wouldn't I?" Estellese gave him a questioning look.

  "You'd have to ask Zanath and Kaden that, I wouldn't know. But they aren't around anymore." Mendelen gestured in the direction of Zanath's house.

  "Zanath is still around, he's just introverted, and Kaden is... Well Kaden. What do you expect from him?" Estellese pointed out "We're still all friends, even if it doesn't seem like it at times. I can tell."

  "You're probably right. Anyways we should get going, good luck with your village." Mendelen said as he gestured for his army to start moving, and began leading the way to Oline city.

  "You too, be careful out there." Estellese called back to him before she began walking back to her own village.

  Next Chapter: Reclaiming Oline City

  Chapter 23: Reclaiming Oline City

  - Chapter 23: Reclaiming Oline City -

  Mendelen marched towards Oline city, with his small group of sixty soldiers following along behind him. As he approached the city he put on his steel helmet. He had upgraded his armor, shield, and weapons to a set made of steel, with the same weight-lowering enchantments on them. He carried not only a sword on his hip, but also a spear on his back and a dagger on his other hip. "Alright, from here on we are following the battle plan, be prepared for everything and follow my lead."

  Walking behind him, separate from the main military force, was his specially chosen forces for taking out the dragon. Amanda and Em, two of the women Zanath had rescued, had come with him. Amanda was wearing some armor made from the scales of a black dragon, and was unarmed. Her black armor contrasted with her very light blonde hair and blue eyes and made her stand out a little more than the others.

  Her wife Em stood beside her, the 5' 10" tall woman towered over her, as usual, and was wearing her own heavy set of steel armor. Em's long red hair was tied back in a braid and she carried a large battleaxe.

  Beside them was Drake, a man in his early thirties, he had white messy hair and soft brown eyes. He stood at 5' 9" and wore a white vest, with a black shirt and brown baggy pants. He also wore a couple small gold earrings. Drake carried a massive greatsword, and had a blue dragon scale gauntlet on his right hand.

  The next woman in line, Maya, was in her late twenties. She wore a short, white, slightly revealing dress with a floral design, along with a short white cape. Her straight, long white hair reached her mid-back and covered her right eye. Sticking out from under her hair, was a white lotus she was using as an eyepatch to cover her right eye. She carried a simple longsword that also had a floral design on the handle. Like Drake, she too had a black dragonscale gauntlet on her left hand, the same hand she held her sword with.

  It would seem that everyone in this group specially chosen by Mendelen had slain their own dragons before. They all had some sort of equipment made from a dragon they defeated in the past. All except for Sarah, who was the last person in the line. But Sarah was a special exception, she wasn't walking alongside them, she was riding on a wyvern. Being only twenty Sarah was the youngest in the group, and she stood at 5' 2" which made her even shorter than Amanda. Her hair and her eyes had been artificially changed to a light shade of red, not quite pink, and they matched her armor. Her armor was just thin and light pieces of iron armor, and even at that she didn't wear a full suit of armor. Just a chestpiece that covered her torso and arms, hip guards and boots. She left her legs covered only by her khaki pants so the armor wouldn't slow her down too much. She carried a simple spear and a small shield.

  Her wyvern, and her best friend, was Charley. He was a green wyvern that stood at 8 feet tall when walking on all fours. He was nothing compared to the size of the dragon, but Mendelen thought he could still be of use in the fight.

  Once Mendelen gave the order to follow the plan from here on out, Sarah and Charley moved to walk in front of everyone else. So when they found the dragon they would be the first ones to face it. They lead everyone into the city streets, with the small army trailing a short distance behind them.

  "You sure it's safe to have her in the front?" Drake asked. "She's the weakest out of all of us. And that wyvern of hers can't stand a second against a dragon."

  Mendelen nodded "It's fine. Trust me when I say I have planned for everything. We have Em here, her signet will keep Sarah safe."

  "You never did explain how that works." Drake insisted.

  "I did. But you weren't here at the time, you joined the team in the last minute Drake, you missed a lot of the explanations and planning." Mendelen stated. "Em's signet allows her to protect one person. Any damage that person takes is redirected, and hits Em instead of them. And before you ask how that is any better, Em trained her body to be inhumanly durable. So any blows that strike her not only need to pierce her heavy armor, but her own body is as strong as a second layer of armor. Amanda did the same thing. So blows that would kill you or me, would only injure them. In addition to that, Em's armor is enchanted to make her body constantly regenerate. So she can recover from whatever wounds her signet causes her over time. There's more to combat than raw strength Drake, that may have been the only thing you trained yourself in, it wasn't the only thing the rest of us tra
ined ourselves in."

  "If she's that strong, why do you need us?" Drake questioned.

  "Because, like you, her and Amanda only trained in one field. Defense. They might be nearly unbreakable walls, but they can't harm the dragon. While you and Maya can harm the dragon, you two are our main forces for damaging the thing, but neither of you can survive any blows from it. That's why the team is set up like this, each group covers the weaknesses of the other."

  "Then what are you and Sara doing here? You two fit into neither category." Drake pointed out.

  "I'm the leader, I need to be present to lead the forces. Without my tactics you won't survive. Plus I'm a more niche fighter and will be assisting on both offense and defense. And you will see why Sarah is here, she is also here for her signet." Mendelen answered.

  "I should get myself one of those signet skills." Drake mumbled.

  "That's the downside to being a lone wolf Drake. You miss out on key information, like what signet rings do." Mendelen pointed out. "You should join us."

  Drake shook his head "I have no desire to be part of a military force. This is a whole new world, with new laws. To be blunt, I feel the tension in the air and I don't know who to trust."

  "What? You mean between me and Kaden?" Mendelen shook his head. "We're friends, he's just not all that bright so we argue a lot. He just doesn't understand the complexity of running a civilization. There's no tension between us."

  "Who's Kaden?" Drake questioned. "I've seen the humans building the city north of here, Era city I believe. The ones who built a village in the desert, Barre village. I've seen both elven villages, I got my sword from Elwood, talked the princess into letting me in. None of these cities and villages seem to trust each other. I'm just waiting for the inevitable spark."

  Mendelen was silent for a moment, thinking it over. 'Kaden has been reporting every new discovery he makes in the world to us on a weekly basis. I knew he probably omitted some things, but is he really hiding a second elven village, and two human villages from us? Knowing Kaden, I'm inclined to believe Drake. What else is he hiding from us?' Mendelen sighed and shook his head. 'Come to think of it, both the fairies and Estell mentioned that the new scythe he has isn't a normal scythe. They both said they could sense some dark magic within it. The fairies labeled it as feeling similar to necromancy, and Estell labeled it as a foreign magic she didn't recognize. Where'd he get something like that? There must be more he's not telling us then I thought. He must be playing us, but why? What is his goal? Where's Zanath when you need his brain?'

  "Found her!" Sarah called out.

  Mendelen quickly snapped back to reality and signaled for the army to stop, then he and his group of specially chosen fighters rushed ahead to catch up with Sarah. They stood just a short distance behind her, while Mendelen himself stood beside her and Charley. The massive dragon towered over them as they stood in the street in front of it. The dragon seemed frozen and confused as it stared back at the humans. It's eye was scarred from when Zanath threw a knife into it years ago.

  "I… Can understand you?" The dragon looked perplexed as it stared at Sarah.

  "Yes. I am Sarah, and this is my best friend Charley. I'd prefer to call you by your name, so what is your name?" Sarah bowed a little in greeting.

  "Charley?" The dragon looked down at the little wyvern with a questioning look, as if she was about to laugh.

  "I didn't have a name when she found me. So that is the name she gave to me." Charley answered.

  "Alright, that's not as bad." The dragon laughed. "I am Alydrath, to get to the point, why are you in my home?"

  "Well." Sarah took a deep breath. "That is precisely why I am here. And I really don't know how to say this, because I do not agree with what they are doing. But your home here, is inside a human city. It is also their home." She took another deep breath and sighed again, trying to find the right words. "They were going to come here and fight you, to take their home back. Charley and I came here to try and see if we can resolve this without a fight. I know of a new home you could take and-"

  "No. This is MY home, not theirs. I have enough problems here with those little green things stealing all of my stuff, those spiders making a mess of everything with their webs, and the bugs making hives everywhere. I will not put up with some humans, or whatever the hell you call yourselves, marching into my home and kicking me out."

  "Look, I completely agree with you here Alydrath. But I have no control over these people, they came here to kill you and if you don't leave they will. They are willing to negotiate, to give you a new home they made for you in the mountains." Sarah tried to reason with her.

  "This is my home. I am not leaving, you're not taking my home from me." Alydrath growled. "I've killed thousands of those green things, you humans are no different. You can't hurt me."

  "Sarah, is it agreeing to leave? It doesn't look like it is agreeing." Mendelen cautiously rested his hand on his sword. He could only understand Sarah and she was not translating what the dragon was saying to her. Whatever the beast was saying, it didn't seem compliant.

  "This is her home! You have to give me time." Sarah shot Mendelen a glare, then turned back to Alydrath. "You have to understand, humans are not like the goblins you killed. They can kill you, they are much more powerful. Just look at them Alydrath, several of them are wearing dragon scales from other dragons they killed. Please, I don't want you to become another one."

  Alydrath growled "I am well aware of what the humans are wearing. It is disgusting that you would wear the carcasses of my kind. This sick form of intimidation does not scare me. You may have killed others of my kind, but you have not and will not kill me. Now leave my home."

  "Alydrath," Charley joined the conversation "Sarah is not lying to you, these humans are incredibly powerful. Sure, you could easily kill one or two of them, but there's too many. You can't win this fight. You have to trust us, we are trying to save you."

  Alydrath hesitated and looked around, then turned back to Sarah and Charley. "No."

  "Please." Sarah pleaded "You have to, you will die if you don't."

  "Then so be it! This is MY home, I grew up here! It means too much to me! You're not taking this away from me." Alydrath growled back. "Leave."

  "I can't make them leave, I have no control over them. They want their city." Sarah argued.

  "It's MY HOME, not their city." Alydrath growled back.

  "I agree! But they don't see it that way. I can't stop them. Please, I'm trying to save you. They won't leave." Sarah argued.

  "Then I will make them leave!" Alydrath roared as she reared up and spewed a torrent of flames from her mouth, directly at Mendelen.

  With a quick wave of his hand Mendelen summoned his Dark Undershield, and the flames were sucked into the black circle under his feet. "Move in everyone, stick to the plan, take it down!" He called out. His small chosen group rushed past him and began fighting the dragon.

  "NO!" Sarah shouted back. "I'm still negotiating! Give me time!"

  "She's attacking and it's taken too long as it is." Mendelen shook his head. "You tried your best."

  "It's HER home! She grew up here, she has a sentimental attachment to it so of course she doesn't want to leave. Give me time!" Sarah argued.

  "It's too late, the creature made its choice." Mendelen stated.

  "HER choice, not it's choice, the dragon is a she! It's a living thing Mendelen. You can't just kill her because she's in the way. Estellese wouldn't want this." Sarah argued.

  "And that is why Estell is not here." Mendelen stated. "This is my city it is not her decision to make, she has her own. Look Sarah, I tried to end this peacefully. I don't want to kill it any more than you do. Believe me I really hoped you could talk it, her, into leaving peacefully. But I have to. Sacrifice one life to save thousands, it's the right thing to do. There's not enough room for everyone in Estell's village, nobody else will fit in there. We need this city to save lives. I'd have to be some sort of asshole to sacrif
ice all those lives just to save this one dragon. I'm sorry, I can't let those people die. I tried to do this peacefully, I was willing to make any compromise the dragon wanted. The dragon made her choice."

  "You can't just kill her! Give me more time, I can make this work!" Sarah argued.

  "Sarah, you're not my soldier. I can not order you to stop trying to sway the dragon's opinion. Nor do I want you to stop." Mendelen stated "It could be a useful ally if it were alive, a dead dragon is of no use to me. I don't want to kill it, so keep doing your thing. But we can not sit back and wait any longer, it's fighting with my soldiers as we speak. We must fight back, and who knows, maybe a show of force will sway it into giving up our city."

  "You mean she'll give up her home. It isn't our city" Sarah stated as she climbed onto Charley's back.

  "No, our city. It isn't her home, not anymore, we need this city or people are going to die. We are trying to save lives here." Mendelen stated. "I would never do this if lives were not at stake, I do hope you understand that."