World At War

by Dave Willmarth

  Fitz shook his head. That was a spell he and the others of his race had sworn never to use on humanoids. It was among the most painful ways to die. But the Dark One and the drow wizards had broken ancient covenants through their use of the dark poison. A substance that, while it would kill most living things quickly, was meant to kill dragonkind slowly and painfully.

  Fitz stepped over the rotted bodies and moved toward the throne. Another scrying spell told him there was a hidden compartment in the back. There, he found three of the dark orbs used to open portals. He teleported each of them back to the laboratory that he’d just walked Sophie through beneath Damerion. He’d go back and secure them when he was done here.

  Beneath the orbs was a container of the poison. Fitz carefully removed it and set it to one side. Below that was a chest, which he also removed. It was trapped, and he didn’t have time to fool with it just then. He’d give it to Alexander so that Max or Jules could practice on it. The last thing in the cache was a communication ring. He put that in his bag. The ring likely connected to one of the drow wizards. He might be able to use it to find them later.

  Closing the hidden door, he lifted the jar of poison. Moving to the side of the throne, he pulled a scrap of cloth from his robe. He carefully dipped the cloth into the poison and began to rub it along both of the throne’s arms. The poison blended easily with the onyx of the chair. Then, for good measure, he coated the rest of the chair.

  After that, he produced several needles. Using earth magic, he softened the seat of the throne enough to drive the blunt ends of a dozen needles into the stone until just the tips were visible. Then he coated each of them with the poison as well. As an afterthought, he planted more poison needles into the floor in random spots around the throne. These he left sticking up far enough to penetrate footwear.

  As he finished his task, others began to join him in the room. He held up his hands, keeping them back from the throne and the traps around it. He explained about the needles and showed them the poison. They growled their agreement and set about creating traps of their own.

  The last pair to arrive brought a human with them. Prince Elrid. Or what was left of him. Though the dragons had healed him when they found him in the dungeon, there was no way to replace his missing hand, or missing eye. They had spells to help him regrow those parts, but they were slow and required some components. This was not the time or place.

  Fitz nodded his head. “Prince Elrid. I’m glad to see you alive. Your brother?”

  The prince lowered his head. “Dead. Along with his bodyguard and mine. The man in the black leather…” he started, but Fitz cut him off.

  “He calls himself the Dark One. An adventurer who serves the drow wizards. We’ve set traps for him here for when he returns. Hopefully, they will kill him more than once. At the very least, they will send a message. He sought war with the dragons and our allies. Now he has it.”

  Elrid’s eyes widened. “Our allies? Fitz, you’re a… dragon?”

  One of his escorts laughed. “The eldest of dragons. Fitz was here when the world was new. He’s technically our great-grandfather several times removed.”

  Elrid’s head whipped around. “All of you? You’re all dragons?” They each nodded. Elrid adjusted quickly. “Then I am at your service. Dragons have saved my life this day. And I pledge my loyalty to the dragon king.” He dropped to one knee and bowed his head to Fitz.

  “On your feet, boy. I’m no king. I leave that to my progeny. But we’ll accept your loyalty. And hopefully your father’s as well. I have tried to tell him of the Dark One and the drow infiltrating your city, but he will not listen. He is blinded by his love for you and your brother and thinks to buy back your lives. I will send you to him now. Tell him what you’ve seen here. Make him listen. And make him prepare to defend the docks. When the Dark One finds you gone and is killed by one or more of our traps, he will be angry. He has forces close by that might overwhelm your city if you do not prepare.”

  Elrid nodded gravely, put his fist to his chest, and said, “I will tell him. I will tell everyone. In every allied kingdom. We will prepare. You have my word.”

  Fitz waved a hand and the prince was gone. The other dragons gathered around Fitz and waited. He reached out with his earth sense and smiled. “I think, after we have our fun, we should deny this Dark One his little safe haven here. Two of you remain. Stay hidden and observe.

  “The drow holding back the cursed ones are dead?” he asked. When his brethren confirmed, he said, “Good. After he’s died a time or two, seal this room and open the earth there.” He pointed to a spot on the high ceiling. “Push the opening until you reach the river that runs underground. Flood this place, then leave.”

  Two of the younger dragons volunteered. Fitz knew they were more than capable of completing their task. Especially with all the drow minions dead. The cursed undead would fill the halls and maybe even the throne room, distracting the Dark One. If they didn’t kill him, the traps would. Then they would take away his stronghold. Since he could not be killed permanently, this would have to do.

  Assuming he’d set his respawn point for this room, he would die a time or two from the traps, losing levels each time. Then Fitz’s people would flood the room, so that each time he respawned, he would drown. As long as the water remained, the Dark One would die again and again without end. At least, that was Fitz’s hope.

  He and all but the two who would remain teleported away. Fitz appeared on the cliffside where he’d last spoken to Sophie. He took the jar of dark poison and flung it high into the air before incinerating it. The poisonous smoke dissipated quickly and harmlessly in the ocean breeze. Then he teleported himself back to his tower in Stormforge.

  *****

  Chapter 3

  Insanity

  The morning sun pierced the window of Alexander’s bedroom high in the tower, the light and warmth waking him. Disoriented by the glass and steel around him for a moment, he began to sit up. But resistance on his arm held him down. Looking over, he smiled. There was Jules. Drooling on his shoulder, just as she did in the game.

  He laughed to himself, remembering the night before. He had emerged from the locker room to find Melanie standing there waiting for him. She had a wide smile on her face and was practically hopping up and down with excitement. Jumping toward him, she gave him a big hug. “I’m so happy for you!”

  He withstood the assault without falling, though he had to put a hand against the wall for balance. “Umm… thank you?”

  “You’ve got your very own princess! And she’s like, perfect for you. I mean, she’s just what you need to kick your ass or hold your hand when you need it. We got together and made a little surprise for you as soon as we knew she’d be waking up tonight.”

  Alexander looked warily at the bubbly woman. He waited for her to hand him something. When she didn’t, he stuck out a hand. “Okay, what is it?”

  She looked down at his hand, realizing what he was thinking. “Oh! It’s not something I can give you. I mean, not that I can like, put in your hand. Well, I suppose I could if I had it right here with me, but that would ruin the surprise!” This time she did hop up and down. “I can’t wait for you to see!”

  Alexander leaned his back against the wall. He hadn’t spent this much time on his feet in a while. Melanie noticed and said, “It shouldn’t be much longer. I promise. Then we’ll get you upstairs for… well, we’ll get you tucked in.”

  Alexander was now more suspicious than ever. He was about to press the woman for information when movement behind her caught his attention. His jaw dropped for a moment, then he couldn’t keep from laughing.

  The trainer was pushing Jules’ chair toward them. His girlfriend held up a hand to stop her, then used her arms to help push herself upright. When she was steady enough, she raised her arms and turned in a slow circle. “What do you think?”

  “I think you look amazing!” He walked forward to gather his pink bunnymonster into a hug. Melanie gig
gled with glee and clapped her hands together. The trainer just grinned.

  “We made it kinda fast, so I hope it fits,” Melanie said.

  Alexander took a step back and held Jules at arm’s length. She was covered from head to toe in a pink bunny costume almost identical to the one she wore in-game, from the feet with the padded soles to the ears that stuck up at odd angles. When he let her go, she slowly sat back in the chair. “I’m glad you like it,” she grinned. “But I’m kinda tired. Wasn’t easy to get into this thing. Though it’s very comfortable.” She smiled at Melanie. “Any chance we could call it a night?”

  They had made their way to the elevator and up to Alexander’s office. He pushed her directly to his bedroom and helped her crawl into bed. He was on his way to go sleep on the sofa when she took hold of his hand. “Please, just stay and snuggle with me? No funny business. I’m too sleepy.”

  And that was how he found himself where he was now. And he couldn’t think of anywhere in the world he’d rather be.

  He pulled himself free as gently as possible. Jules didn’t stir. Apparently she slept as deeply in real life as she did in the game. He doubted she could eat as many pancakes. Which he was about to find out. Moving out to his office and closing the door quietly, he said, “Heimdall, can you connect me to the cafeteria, please?”

  A moment later a voice said, “Hello?”

  “Good morning. It’s Alexander. I was hoping I could have some food brought up, if it’s not too much trouble?”

  He could hear background laughter as the woman he was speaking to replied, “Would that be… pancakes?” Rolling his eyes, he began to rethink the policy of letting employees watch his feeds.

  “Yes, it seems you’re way ahead of me. A couple of short stacks with a bottle of maple syrup. Maybe some fruit? And scrambled eggs with bacon. And some orange juice. Please.”

  “We’ll be there in ten minutes, boss,” came the short reply, before the line went dead. He imagined the kitchen was having a good laugh at his expense. Not that it mattered. They were laughing more with him than at him. And he appreciated that they seemed to like and accept Jules.

  Heimdall’s voice floated down from the ceiling. “Your father is on his way down. I alerted him that you were awake.”

  “Tattletale!” Alexander teased the security AI. Nothing could put him in a bad mood this morning. His father stepped off the elevator a moment later carrying a folder full of documents. He sat at Alexander’s desk, formerly his mother’s desk, and began to pull out documents. Alexander pulled up a chair opposite him and his father began.

  “Nothing complicated here. Most of this is transfers of assets and approvals for additional security spending.” He let his son peruse the documents for a few minutes. Finally, Alexander said, “I don’t see anything important here. Am I missing something?”

  Richard shook his head. “Nope. Michael and I are handling everything. These are just items that require signatures from all of us. You can see Michael and I have already signed off.”

  Alexander took up a pen and began signing the documents one by one. A minute later, he pushed them back toward his father.

  “What else have you got? None of this was worth you making a trip down here to bring to me personally.” He eyed his father.

  Richard laughed. “Don’t worry, this wasn’t some kind of test.” He reached into the folder and pulled out several more documents. “This is why I’m here. These are the contracts that will get things moving for your charity. The pod production, the staff allocation for application review, medical, legal, marketing, and logistics.”

  Alexander sat up straighter and took the documents from his father. He began to read carefully, amazed at the amount of work his father had already put into their plan while he was fooling around in the game. He noticed Michael’s fingerprints on a lot of what he read as well. “This is incredible, Pop. Thank you. And please remind me to thank Michael too before I go back under. The scope of this… it’s even bigger than we discussed.”

  Richard nodded his head. “I took a few liberties in increasing the budget. For one thing, you’ve made several million dollars of your own since you went into immersion. The ‘See Ya’ t-shirt sales have earned you quite a bit. But one of our enterprising staff floated the idea to stream your feed live for subscribers, with the fees collected to be funneled into the charity. It was a good way for us to leak rumors of your charitable work and help fund it. In the last month, the subscription fees have been over three million dollars. And we’re only charging ten dollars per month per person.” Richard let Alexander do the math.

  “Three hundred thousand people are paying to watch me play the game?”

  “Not just you. There’s a subscription channel for most of you. The core four, Lainey, Jules, Grumpy, Lugs, Helga. Warren, Lyra, Benny and Beatrix have followers as well, though they are less popular.” Richard paused and flashed a wicked grin at his son. “The most popular behind you and Jules is Fibble. We are, of course, funneling all his proceeds into the charity along with yours. The others are all receiving theirs through direct deposits into their accounts.”

  Alexander laughed. Fibble as a celebrity. The little fella must be getting into a lot more trouble than he’d noticed.

  Richard added, “And that’s just the subscription fees. We’ve been approached by major advertisers. A bidding war has started for ad space next to the feeds. Of course, Jupiter Tech and Io Online are both buying space. We’re giving ourselves the family discount. One company has offered a million cash for the rights to market Fibble plushies. And they are currently the top advertising bidder. They want to make a whole line of stuffed Fibbles, Bacons, Tiggers, and so forth. We’re going to let them do it, but make them pay more before we agree. And all of that money will go to the charity as well.”

  Just then, Jules emerged from the bedroom. When she saw Richard, she ducked back behind the door. After a moment, she said, “Screw it,” and walked out, proudly displaying the bunnymonster outfit. “Good morning!”

  Richard laughed. “I’d heard a rumor, but I thought they were joking. Let me guess. Melanie?”

  Jules nodded. “Yep. This thing’s pretty comfy, too. Though a little warm. I think I might save it for special occasions.” She moved to take the chair next to Alexander.

  Alexander took her hand and said, “Ya know how you were all happy about having a rich boyfriend?” Jules blushed and looked guiltily toward Richard, who just smiled warmly. She nodded her head. “Well, turns out… I have a rich girlfriend!”

  Jules’ face instantly clouded over. She frowned at Alexander, ready to demand to know who this other woman was and why he hadn’t mentioned her before. Alexander immediately saw his mistake and said, “You! It’s you!” He motioned to his father, who slid a piece of paper across the desk to Jules.

  She took it and glanced at it. Then stared at it. “This is a bank statement. With my name on it. And a LOT of numbers.”

  Richard explained. “You’ve been earning a salary while you were in the pod. We’ve been paying you as a tester just like Sasha or Brick or any of the others. In addition, your live stream from the game now has…” He tapped some holo-buttons on the desk and checked her numbers. “Three hundred and forty-two thousand and change subscribers.” He tapped a few more buttons and chuckled. “Which is now about ten thousand more than Alexander has. You’re one of the most popular feeds in the game right now.”

  Jules looked confused. Alexander explained, “Dad and the others set up live feed accounts for all of us. People pay a monthly subscription fee to watch us play.”

  Richard added, “They can only see the ‘public’ feed. They see nothing that happens inside your living quarters, bathrooms, etc.” He held up a hand. “If you’d rather not let them watch your feed, we can disconnect it. But they’ll see much of what you do from the others’ feeds anyway. I recommend you let them pay you for the privilege.”

  Jules took another look at the bank statement and sat up a
bit straighter. “So I’m like… a celebrity?”

  Alexander squeezed her fur-covered knee. “Yep! Apparently a bigger one than me. So from now on, YOU buy the pancakes!” She rolled her eyes at him. Just then, the elevator door dinged and one of the chefs from the cafeteria pushed a room service cart into the office. “Speaking of pancakes… you asked me last night if a prince could make pancakes happen. Ta-da!” He waved toward the oncoming breakfast.

  Jules clapped her fuzz-covered mittens together and then leaned over to kiss him. “My hero!”

  The chef began to place covered dishes on the small table between the two of them. Richard got up, stuffing all the papers back into his folder - except the charity docs. He cleared his throat to get his son’s attention. Alexander quickly grabbed a pen and signed the remaining contracts. Handing them to his dad, he said, “Thank you again. This is all wonderful.”

  Richard just nodded, and he and the chef made their way to the elevator, leaving the two young people to their breakfast.

  *****

  Matt was set up in his new safehouse. The truck was unloaded in the dark hours of early morning while the neighbors were asleep. The windows were covered from the inside so that no light would shine through in the rooms he was using. He sat back in his recliner and slid on his old modified headset.

  A moment later, he awoke in his avatar, sitting on his throne deep underground. Immediately, he felt several small pinpricks on the backs of his thighs and his butt. A debuff appeared on his UI showing that he was poisoned. His health bar began to tick down rapidly and he shouted for his guards. No one responded. He reached into his inventory, searching for a poison antidote, but didn’t find one. “Traitors!” he shouted. “I’ll skin you alive and send your faithless corpses back to the wizards!” He coughed out the last few words as his health bar ticked down to zero. A moment later, he was in limbo, watching his respawn timer tick down.