Brent Roth - The Dragon's Wrath: A Virtual Dream

by Brent Roth

  Chapter 12: Return to the Face

  (Wednesday, February 10th Game Day / Thursday, January 14th Real Day)

  As the login process commenced I soon found myself in the bitter cold, shaking and freezing on a random ledge somewhere along the mountainside.

  Maybe if I had slept near a fire I would have been alright, but there were no trees on this side of the mountain.

  There was no shrubbery at all.

  Just rock, a little bit of snow where it could accumulate, and more rock.

  Looking down at the rest of the rocks below I could only help but think that the entire thing looked like a series of steps for a giant. The rock faces were staggered about in such a way that the designers must have been aiming for that kind of look.

  If one came from the north and viewed the mountain while facing south, you would have seen what looked like massive stone walls hundreds to thousands of feet high in a stepping stone formation. If you came from the easterly slope and faced west, you would see the gradual slope of a normal mountain... nothing too out of the ordinary.

  But if you were on the western side of things, it looked a bit like a dragon's body that was curled up with the tail extended out through the river.

  It was a beautiful mountain really; beautiful but deadly.

  Looking up against my better judgment I soon saw that I had quite the distance to cover and less than four hours of light to do so. In the dark of night it would be impossible to scale the mountain, so I had to press forward as fast as I physically could while the daylight burned.

  Tossing a piece of jerky into my mouth I soon started pacing along the ledge that I was on, looking for the best route to ascend.

  Lucky for me, this time I was able to spot a nice crack nearly thirty feet up that would serve as a great spot for my hook. I quickly pulled out the hook with an attached rope and tied all three ropes together, giving me some added length. Tying one end around my waist and securing the bag as well, I started to swing the hook-end of the rope around.

  Building momentum I eventually released my grip as the hook flew towards the crack.

  With a clang clang clang it bounced harmlessly off the rock face and fell back down to the floor beneath.

  Repeating the process four more times until I finally heard a chink instead, I tugged and found the hook had secured itself.

  What took a minute would save me at least five.

  Testing the rope I found it had been excellently wedged in place and felt I could safely ascend with it. Grabbing the rope with both hands outstretched I quickly pulled myself up using the muscles of the back and then let the rope hang between my legs. Using one foot to bring the rope up and the other to step on the rope between the insets of my boot, I created a hold I could slide with or rest with.

  If I was in a hurry I would simply use my back and pull myself up with my arms alone, but this was an endurance race and not a sprint. So, instead I used the brake and squat method of climbing rope, by raising my knees to my chest and then squatting up, standing on the rope as it was locked between my feet.

  It was a simple method and an effective one that could be done quite rapidly and without any real effort once you had some experience with it. A few seconds later I had reached the crevice where my hook was wedged, thirty some feet had been scaled in a matter of moments.

  I loved ropes.

  I missed climbing them.

  As the day progressed I had ended up doing a mixture of rope climbs and free climbs along the varying 70-80 degree walls, with the occasional 85-90 degree or worse walls with overhangs. But, by the time the sun had started to set nearly four hours after I began, I had managed to climb roughly five-hundred and fifty feet and stood at least 1,350 or so feet above the base. I was getting closer, inch by inch to the top.

  With darkness settling in, it was now time for my much needed break.

  Once I had finished the log out process I soon found myself using the restroom, getting a glass of water, and then looking for food. It had become an oddly habitual recurrence that wasn't anywhere close to a normal schedule.

  I was still playing with my four-hours on, four-hours off schedule and was sleeping in three blocks of roughly three hours each. It was a shitty schedule, but I wanted to make sure I did everything properly for the "Event."

  There would only be six real-world days left after tonight, so I needed to be careful and I needed to continue to push. Carefully pushing the tempo isn't something that should be said together, but it was a necessary necessity.

  Attempting to heed my own words, I ended up skipping the third day cycle to get some solid sleep. I had been noticing slight performance declines over the past few weeks as my sleep had become more sporadic and less frequent. The last thing I needed was a clouded mind and sloppy judgment when I was over a third of the way up the mountain.

  Yeah, it was bed time for me.

  Staring at the bed in front of me I plopped down and closed my eyes with my face buried in the pillow. I couldn't help but think about the blind girl that I had met at the meeting.

  I was unusually attracted to her; infatuation would probably be the better word for it really. I mean, she had everything I looked for in a girl… tall, intelligent, confident, pretty.

  Shame it went the way it did.

  Oh well.

  Things don't always work out the way you want them to anyhow.

  They rarely do.

  Well, maybe I can at least find some comfort in my dreams.

  Opening my eyes and glancing out the window I could see that the sun was nearing mid-day. It seemed I overslept considerably.

  In truth, I had woken up hours prior but was in the middle of a rather enjoyable dream with a beautiful brunette, so I decided to go back to sleep. Though the contents of that dream were definitely of a more PG-13 nature than a rated R one, it was that feeling of closeness that I had been longing for.

  It was sad thinking about it, but that was the truth. Years of bad health had destroyed my self-confidence and I had stopped dating completely. I always believed that if you couldn't be happy with yourself, you wouldn't be happy with someone else. It was imperative that you fixed yourself before getting into a relationship… less you just want a broken one.

  That and I had also become extremely picky from years of bad experiences and I held myself to the same standard.

  If I wanted an attractive, intelligent, and healthy girl with a good personality then I would need to bring the same to the table. I felt I could match all but the healthy part, and by extension I wasn't reliable or able to provide in any sense.

  I wouldn't want to date a deadbeat, but I was certainly one of them.

  Thinking about the dream as I lay on my back, eyes closed with my forearm resting above them, I tried to remember the contents of the dream but found everything had started to blur.

  Strangely though, I ended up recalling the previous dream that was quite strange. I was dreaming of dragon's fire before it switched to a beautiful brunette.

  I couldn't help but wonder why, why dragon's fire of all things.

  Chapter 13: The Mountain's Peak

  (February 24th Game Day / January 18th Real Day)

  Pulling myself up the rope that I had hooked on a crack, I finally found myself on the last ledge that I would need to climb.

  With a few movements, I was there.

  I was done.

  I had successfully managed to scale the highest peak in my region, I had reached my destination, and I had conquered the mountain. Letting out an internal cry of joy I threw my fist into the air and clenched my teeth, shaking my fist as I just stood there silently, enjoying and savoring the moment for what it was.

  It was a monumental achievement.

  The journey was a long one that was altered midway through, as I ended up dividing my climbs into two four-hour blocks a day while giving myself an adequate amount of sleep and rest. I had allotted twenty-two in-game days or a little over seven real-world days to accomplish th
e task, but in the end I only needed fourteen in-game days.

  Relief washed over me as I fell to my knees and stared at my objective.

  My goal, the stone anvil, sat motionless without any airs, just as it had when I discovered it nearly a year ago.

  It looked exactly the same as it did before, the same emotional presence that I couldn't understand. I knew deep down it was something special, or it wouldn't have been put there. There was no way it was a simple Easter egg with some developer's signature on the back.

  My intuition, my senses, my attentiveness was telling me that it was more than that. I may not always believe in myself, but when it comes to my gut I always believe.

  After a few minutes had passed and the excitement and relief had settled to somewhat normal levels, I looked around the area to see if anything else had changed.

  Walking around the stone anvil and checking out the surroundings led me to nothing out of the ordinary. There was a simple outcropping of rocks a little ways off from the stone anvil, but other than that the peak was somewhat bare. An expected thing in reality, as the peak of a mountain usually doesn't have much if anything at all if it's tall enough.

  Sitting down behind the outcrop of rocks, I decided to build a makeshift campsite. There weren't any trees here but I could see the tree line just a few hundred feet below on the easterly slope.

  Just looking at the slope that had such a gradual incline made me sick to my stomach, if I could have managed an extra three weeks I might have been able to utilize it. I should just accept that I'm a bit of a masochist. There's no explaining it otherwise, why I always choose the harder and more difficult paths.

  I can't always chalk it up to enjoying the challenge.

  With seven game days to kill I was stuck twiddling my thumbs, thinking of what to do. I had been so efficient with my time that I found it an absolute waste to just sit idly by.

  I had brought sufficient food with me and had little to do near the top, so I decided to venture out to look for animals or monsters to hunt.

  There had been some mountain goats spread out sporadically the last time I came up the easterly slope and my hope was that I could find one and corner it. Fresh meat, a nice thick wool hide, and a pair of horns all sounded like good things to me.

  Unfortunately, I spent the better part of four hours chasing shadows; there were no goats here today.

  As the next day came I decided to change my focus, hunting a goat with nothing but some rope and melee weapons would be a waste of time. I had seen a large growth in my agility due to climbing the mountain, to the tune of +28 to my Agility stat. Seeing as my other attributes were already quite high I saw minimal gains in those; I only gained +2 to Endurance and +6 to Dexterity.

  So, objective #2 was now in effect: short wind sprints up the mountain side, and then leaping and maneuvering down the mountain side in repeat until my stamina let out.

  It wasn't more than an hour before I was thoroughly exhausted, but I had gained another +1 in Agility. The extreme conditions seemed to vastly improve my rate of progression. I had no complaints. Dinner was pre-cooked and previously dried, so I retired for the day.

  Repeating the process until the day finally arrived, my emotions seemed to have died on me as I couldn't even muster any excitement or fear. Whether it was due to all of the effort that I had put in until now, culminating in the moment to come, or that I had simply burned myself out I didn't know. But whether the event was a success or a failure, I had already accomplished quite a bit.

  I wouldn't consider this a loss if my guess turned out to be wrong. Gambling isn't about losing anyways; it's about taking a chance to win big. If you always sweat the losses then there's no reason to take the chance.

  March 3rd had finally ticked over. Months of preparation had led to this moment. I was the only one in the game, with a user base exceeding 500,000 that knew of this location and was eager to reap my rewards.

  Yeah, I was going to reap my rewards.

  I could feel it in the air.

  I knew something was coming.

  As the night approached, just like a year to the day before, dark clouds had suddenly started to appear in the sky and silently obscured the moon. Through the gaps there was barely enough moonlight to see the hand in front of my face, but even that comfort soon disappeared. I was standing in complete and utter darkness.

  The atmosphere had been one of strange power and now it had turned frightening.

  Rain soon started to fall, softly at first and then harshly as time went on.

  Without any shelter or waterproof gear I was soon soaked through and through. I was completely drenched, leather and fur sticking to my body as I shivered in the extreme cold of the extended heavy rain, 3,300 feet above sea level, on a barren snow-covered mountain top, with wind constantly licking my face.

  Wrapping my arms around my body in an attempt stave off the bitter cold, I kept thinking to myself: when would it start, when would it happen, when would it end.

  The weather was miserable but I didn't dare move from my spot. I was standing on the top of a mountain awaiting thunder and lightning to strike a mere fifty feet away from me and I wasn't going to move until it happened.

  I knew it wasn't the smartest thing to do but I had found a suitable hiding place behind a rock, lest I die to lightning before I claim my prize. I did have some hesitation that the rock would do any good though.

  It wasn't long after, that the clouds started to rumble as if the Gods were busy rolling over the table in a drunken stupor.

  And then it happened.

  Flash.

  Bang.

  My vision went white and a notice flickered in the middle of it all, [You have been blinded by witnessing lightning up close]. I covered my face and put my head down and after a short time my eyes had started to recover, thankfully this wasn't real life or I would most likely have suffered some serious damage to my retinas.

  Though as I was thinking that I noticed my ears were still ringing loudly from the thunder, I was temporarily deaf as well.

  As I regained my sight in the pitch black darkness, I looked over to where the anvil should be and saw it glowing faintly, a pale blue hue.

  I could hardly contain my excitement as I stared on, oblivious to what was to come.

  Flash!

  Bang!

  And there it was again… [You have been blinded by witnessing lightning up close]. I quickly muttered, "Oh son of a bitch."

  I couldn't even see it coming and since I hear it after I see it, sound was useless to me. But that assumes I could hear… which I couldn't, as my ears rang so badly it felt as if my mind was splitting. I was blind, deaf, and dumb at the moment.

  Dumb for not realizing that the second strike comes after the first.

  Regaining my senses I quickly looked to the anvil that was now glowing steadily, the pale blue hue radiating light outwards and sizzling and sparking as the rain hit. I quickly covered my eyes and ducked my head down. The third strike, if it follows the same pattern as before should hit any... BANG!

  I immediately opened my eyes as I practically jumped out of my boots simultaneously.

  The stone anvil was now radiating a strong pale blue hue and was humming, much the same as an electrical wire running high voltage. But that wasn't all, the anvil was also crackling, letting off small tails of electricity… it was like looking at a tesla coil.

  The rain that had been landing on it before seemed to be repulsed and a barely visible electrical field appeared to be the cause.

  Throwing caution to the wind, I decided to make a move and approached the anvil like any sensible adventure would do.

  I had witnessed the event but had not seen any event message pop up.

  I had started to doubt myself.

  Maybe this wasn't an Ancient Relic that gifted powers? Maybe it was an Ancient Relic used for master blacksmiths to imbue the power of thunder and lightning?

  I don't know.

  And no one else
knows either.

  I approached the anvil ever more slowly, up to within arm's reach.

  Nothing was happening… should I touch it?

  A lot of memories started flowing through my mind as I stood in front of the glowing and humming anvil, with one specific memory standing out. I had nearly died to electricity not too long ago and was still recovering from it, yet here I was about to touch off a thrice-lightning-charged anvil that was not only humming and crackling like a live high voltage wire but was visibly arcing all around it, with enough power to somehow magically block out the rain with a bubble.

  I had never really been scared of anything in my life until I had an experience to significantly scar me. Concussions made me afraid of fast flying objects near my head. Nearly dying via electric shock along with a few other close calls had me scared of electricity.

  The glowing blue anvil with sparks flying and crackling off, despite how cool and comforting it looked, it was certainly something that would kill a man if touched but… I had spent months building up to this moment, why turn back now?

  It was simple, really.

  I reached out and placed my hand on the anvil.

  BANG!

  I was instantaneously thrown back into the air from the sudden discharge of power and fell back onto the snow, sliding nearly fifteen feet and only a few feet from the ledge.

  It happened so suddenly I didn't know what was going on or what just happened.

  I didn't even recall touching the anvil, I just got close to it and then I was gone. The world hadn't turned gray yet. I could see the cracked remains of the anvil glowing faintly in the distance, dimming by the second.

  I was still alive.

  Checking my Health bar, it was still at 100%.

  I was completely confused… what just happened?