by Kieron Uchee
I sat back and lit up a smoke, enjoying the morning while I waited for Archon to arrive. Things were progressing, my next step was to go to the Kradula and begin the rescue of the children. As I mused over what to do my thoughts began to drift as I watched Twink eat. The girl made me proud; she was now eating twice what I could and yet was hungry all the time. I think that Gluzzie was falling in love with her in a paternal way, no wonder with what she would eat.
“Twink, I began as she slowed down on her eating. “I need your help; I need to know if I can ever shape shift and how to do so if possible.” If you could show me how it would be a huge help to me. What do you think?” I sat back not knowing what the answer would be. I knew being human was my dominant trait, and while I could use a couple of Dragon abilities I was curtailed in what I could use.
Twink looked at me and smiled, then said “Poppa, I am not sure, you have changed on the inside and now things are different for you. Let me try to show you.” She then scooted her chair over and then put her hand on my forehead, while humming a song. “Twink, what are you humming?” I asked.
She looked at me and spoke, “We got the beat by the Bangles, it is a great song, I love it.” You showed me how to play music a while ago and I really love it, I am sure that there is no Bard Ingame that could sing some of the songs that you have, and the music is amazing.
My first thought was the Bangles I thought I had deleted that song as soon as I had listened to it. I then realized that Twink was now accessing the AI interface side of her personality, it probably felt like a built in PIM to her. It was amazing to me that this had occurred. In truth Twink had become a fully alive person, or at least as much as an NPC could.
Refocusing I asked Twink to continue and she once again put her hand on my forehead. I could suddenly feel a rush of information, of knowledge about Dragon abilities that I could not access before. Suddenly Twink took her hand away and then asked me if I understood now. I slowly nodded, it was overwhelming to me but I somehow understood it.
“Thanks, honey,” I spoke slowly with feeling, I was not sure if I could shape shift but suddenly I understood on a far deeper level what it meant to be a dragon. Twink laughed and said she was going to go to a deserted beach on an Island and hunt for fish. I nodded it sounded fun, I, however, was going to be hunting other things. “By Twink, have fun,” I said and then stood as Archon approached.
He sniffed the air and then pointed at the kitchen and spoke, “I am still not sure how the hell you ended up owning this Inn, but my real question is where did you find the cook and how did you get him to agree to work for you?” I just smiled and stared at Archon while offering him a smoke. We both lit up and then Brae sauntered over with a pot of kavaa and gave me a top up and looked at Archon. He nodded and then watched her as she poured then wiggled her behind away.
Looking at me he said, “My God, where do you find your staff, looking at her I could jump her right here and now. I just do not know what to make of you; some of the sexiest wrenches I have ever seen are working at your Inn. A cook that can make any meal taste like it is from a ten-star restaurant, and two of the toughest bouncers I have ever seen. I saw those two little guys each tosses a fully armored drunk player out the door without breaking a sweat the other night.”
“What are you Tor?”Archon asked with a grim smile. He already knew. "Archon," I began, "I want to attend to some real world business. My time Ingame is limited and I want to change that.” There was no sense in beating around the bush, I needed Archons help. “I know that the Old Bastards have control over who get into the game once summer is over, my guess is that you will punt all the players you can. Then you will closely monitor those who are still Ingame while you run things. What you are doing works for me, except for the fact that I want a door back into the game.”
I waited and looked at Archon as he stared at me. “Tor,” he began, “It is something that can be arranged but what is that saying, quid pro quo. What do you have to offer us, something that is worth the price of a state of the art VRP and a direct link to the game?”
It was a good question and I had the answer. “The Gods,” I stated. “I will get rid of the Gods or, at least, the major ones. But here is the deal; I will take care of the VRP. You will take care of the cost and the direct line to the game. It is not that I do not trust you but I don’t. I am not willing to have the Old Bastards supplying the VRP. It is my life Ingame and I do not want anyone but myself to have control of that.”
Looking at me Archon nodded, “I don’t blame you,” He said. “If you can actually deliver it is a deal, and I don’t want to know how you will get rid of the Gods. You are a strange young man but I think you will honor you end of things. Here, memorize this number, once you are out of the game make the call, we will work out the details then. Shaking his head he then said, just so you know Kaie has left the game, she had pressing matters to deal with in real life. She wanted me to let you know that.”
I nodded, I had not thought of Kaie for a while, she had some serious mojo where I was concerned. It was probably for the best that she was back in the real world. Ama would not have approved I would guess. We both lit up another smoke and Archon asked what was next on my agenda.
I am thinking of going to the Kradula tonight and will do some exploring, I then hope to enter into the abandoned zone proper and find the source of the curse. Once I get the children out to safety I will deal with the source of the problem. Then that quest is done. Then the Gods will be dealt with, and finally, I will deal with the Jackass and the House of Pain.
Nodding at me Archon spoke, “I really believe that you will do it, remember the number my young friend, and good luck. The King has summoned the four great guilds and all the houses in them to the temple mount. I believe we are going to war soon. I had best go prepare.
After Archon left I settled back and lit another smoke. I had a lot to think about, being a leader of any kind sucks blue-balls. I did not want the responsibility but in order to achieve my goals I had assumed a lot of it. All I can do is a plan for the future I thought as I watched the girls wiggle from customer to customer. Distracted, I wondered how many tips they were making.
Chapter forty four: Hat trick
The sky had darkened and night had come to the city. It seemed appropriate that I was going to a haunted orphanage as the winds picked up and thunder boomed and lightning flashed. I was walking in the Shadows, and being cautious. I had been jumped once before and was determined that that would not happen again. The Donators, of the house of Pain, led by their leader the Jackass wanted to hurt me, badly.
That suited me as I was planning on hurting them as bad as I could while I was still Ingame. I do not think that I am a malicious person, but after seeing what these spoiled assholes were doing to other players and to NPC that are in the game, I was willing to do some truly medieval shit to these Donators.
Rape, torture, and brutality of all kinds were the House of Pain’s calling card. I had heard of players being corpse camped for days on end. The damn G.M’s were useless, they did not respond at all. I am not sure why. What I did know was that the game had become real to me, in a way that the real world could not compete with. I hoped that I was making a difference in the game world for both NPC and players.
That is what I was doing out on this stormy night, trying to make a difference to the NPC of the game world. I stopped and stared, I was at the entrance to the Kradula, and there he was bigger than life and twice as stupid. It was the leader of the House of Pain, the Jackass. It was an opportunity that I could not pass up on. I walked slowly forward and listened to his nonstop drivel. Looking around I could see that he was there with four others from his house.
I am not sure how they had snuck down here but they clearly were up to something, I thought that they were just pumping themselves up before entering the open area dungeon that the Kradula had become. Listening to the Jackass, I heard my name mentioned, and then I felt my muscles tighten up. The Jacka
ss was speaking about laying a trap; he somehow knew I was coming. What the hell, who would have betrayed me. This thought kept moving around in my head. I had taken in so many players, up to thirty-five last count. It would have been easy to sneak someone into An Diadan, my house of haven.
Centering myself I began to breathe, it was time for some payback. The Jackass had set it up perfect for me to do my portal. He was standing about three feet in front of the group who were all clustered together to listen to him. I cast my portal spell and suddenly the Jackass was alone. The other Donators were swimming in the ocean now and I did not envy them. Weighed down by weapons and armor, they would have no chance to make it to shore.
That is why I sent them to the ocean; I wanted to teach the punks a lesson. Drowning Ingame is not fun, the level of realism is amazing and while they would respawn, most would not want to take a chance of being sent back to drown if found on tiers one or two of the city. Simple and effective, all I could say was that it worked.
For some reason the King had pulled all the City guards and all the Kings guards to tiers three and up. This had led to the House of Pain running rampant on tiers one and two, until I had stopped them. It is not that my actions were dictated by hate, although I did hate them, after all, they had captured me and tortured me and blinded me. My actions were dictated by the fact that I cared, it did not matter if you were an NPC or a player, I could not stand by and watch you being terrorized. The hate I felt was just a bonus for my revenge.
Revenge which is being served tonight! Some people think it is a dish best served cold. I think that speaks of letting time pass and planning it out before acting it out. If you have the time and patience for that it works. Unfortunately, I do not have the time or the patience. With that in mind I popped the portal and sent his crew to the depth of the ocean, the Jackass had started looking around.
I stared at him, he was now level forty five, and clearly he had been leveling off the back of some other players, no surprise there. I slowly moved out of the shadow of the building, the idiot had not seen me yet. No situational awareness at all. Finally, he looked at me and then snorted, “You, why you are still level one, what the fuck, I am gonna fuck you big time man.” Clearly he had recognized me and clearly his ability to put words together had not improved.
“Are you now?” I taunted him. “I have removed your crew, they are all dead now. So it is just you and me, and what are you going to do now? Go cry for mommy, she is not here to help you. No, it is just you and I and in a moment, it will be just I. With a snarl of “Fuck you,” he launched himself at me. Seeing that he was many levels higher than me I slipped back into Shadows and then began to circle him.
I could feel my rage growing as I watched the Jackass, seeing him bumbling around trying to find me, to hurt me again, to kill me. It pissed me off. I allowed the rage to fill me and to give me strength, I was feeling more and more Dragon like with every passing second. Suddenly remembering what Twink had shown me and I allowed the knowledge to fill me, to overwhelm me, to change me.
With a dark glimmer like a shadow slipping over me from the crown to the bottom of my feet, I felt the change. I looked at the bumbling human, screaming profanities at me as he disparately swung his sword at the empty air. I then looked at my forearms, black with fine scales, and hands that ended in three fingers, I twitched a muscle in my wrist and two long and sharp claws descended from my knuckles.
I could feel something at my elbows also and with another muscle twitch, two fifteen centimeter claws emerged from the back of my elbows, one on each arm. I noticed I was standing erect and looked down at my body, I was clearly humanoid, but looking down I could see feet that looked like a running lizards with three claws permanently attached to the toes. I would not want to receive a kick from one of my feet.
I could also feel the wings at the back and with a snap opened them up. A sudden gust of wind hit the wings and created lift, and suddenly I was soaring in the air. Flying must be instinctual to Dragons because I had full control. I did a few small rolls and then I hovered in the air, the wind providing a steady stream of lift. Almost directly below me was the Jackass, and I knew that meant I needed to deal with him. My Dragonish mind suggested eating the little prick. I considered it, but what was the point of killing him if he would just respawn.
I needed to get rid of him and I think I knew how. Dropping down I landed in front of him and then turned off Shadows. Seeing me as a dragon he wet himself and judging from the smell probably shit himself also. It was disgusting, I have no problem with people who have accidents, like some old folks, which was just the body failing due to age, but this was different, this was something else. This was the damn Kritiq, he was standing directly behind the Jackass and sniffing his butt like he was about to do the dirty Sanchez.
You do not get opportunities like this one very often and so I did what I had to do, I portalled both of them into one of the spheres I had prepared for the Gods. My last sight of the Jackass was his yelling “What the fuck” and then the Kritiq flipping me off as the portal grabbed them both and put them into the sphere.
I stood there in the storm with my wings furled tight to my back and then flexing my arms I roared my triumph to the storm. With the thunder and lightning flashes, I am sure no one heard or saw what had happened. It had happened so fast, just one of those things that occur. It may not have been a case of Carpe Diem but it was a case of Carpe Temporis Punctum. To top it all off I felt great, being in Dragon form was an amazing sensation. My senses were so active and alive.
I could see where lightning was going to hit as I was able to see the energy pathways as they emerged from the ground and created a link for the discharge of energy to descend back down. I could smell the ocean and the fish from the docks as well as spices and kavaa. I could feel a fire of energy running through me and the power of my muscles. Every scale felt alive in this body. It was great, but now it was time to get back to work.
I shape shifted into my human form and stood and stretched. I still felt great; something had changed while I was dragon form. I had read and studied Chi energy flow as part of my Judo training and I had to wonder, did the Chi in my body realign itself as I shape shifted. It was like being crippled before but not knowing you were crippled. Now having been exposed to the Dragon form I felt what I should have been feeling all along.
As I thought about this I wondered had the Eldest, the unknown God granted me a crippled form, and if so why. I shook my head it did not matter right now, just something else to consider. Right now I needed to get into the Kradula and talk to the Shaman. If I could make my plans work, then I needed to get the ball rolling. I strode through the barrier and jumped over the side of the bridge, landing lightly on me feet this time.
Standing there I looked around remembering the pain that had not been a fun experience for me. I looked up and there was a little wisp, I kneeled down and held out my hand. The child stared at me and then slowly gave me his hand. “Let’s go find the Shaman,” I said softly, “I need to talk to him, will you take me to him?” Feeling a gentle tug on my hand I slowly began to follow the little one.
We arrived at what looked like an alcove on the side of the main building, going outwards from it was what at one time would have been a very nice garden. Standing in the garden was the shade of the shaman. I walked up to him and bowed, and then spoke, “Shaman Oaktree, I have come back to thank you and to offer you hope.” Nodding at me the Shaman spoke up, “Hope, there is not much of that in the Kradula, not anymore. What kind of hope can you offer us, you are from the world and we are not. Although judging by the mark on your cheek, you are not fully from this world any longer either, my Demonic prince.”
“The hope I bring is not of this world but fear not it is not of Hell.” With that, I began to describe my adventures. Oaktree stopped my several times and asked questions, once he became convinced the Gaiatoci really was going to help the children, he began to cry. I stood and watched him giving him the
honor he deserved; very few would have done what he had done for the children, sacrificing his own afterlife for their benefit.
After several minutes, we agreed on the plan, he would send out all the little ones he could find to gather up the rest and once they were all gathered I would transport them all to the Roundland. Oaktree did not think that it would take long to gather them all. He explained how only the youngest had managed to maintain a semblance of the child within. The older ones were now mindless wraiths and would have to be left at the Kradula.
I could feel the pain that this caused the kindly old soul. It was something that I would deal with once I entered the abandoned zone and dealt with the curse. In the span of a couple of hours, all the children were gathered up. As they all stood together, I noticed the Shaman standing apart from the rest. This did not fit in with my plans and I told him so. With a sigh he entered into circle, I then cast the T-Loci spell and portalled us all to the temple of Gaiatoci.
As we stood there I once again felt the presence of my Grandmother. I turned around to see her kind face; it had tears running down it as she looked at the children. Suddenly she spoke a Word, and there was a crackle in the air. I could feel the primordial life-force energy fall upon us, and suddenly I could see the children, no longer ghostly little figures but flesh and blood. Looking past them I could also see Shaman Oaktree standing there looking at his hands, flesh once again. I observed Gaiatoci sweeping up the little ones with hugs and kisses and then standing and looking at Oaktree.
“My Shaman,” she began, “I have you to thank for watching over the children, and I thank you. I have a quest for you, and the reward is instant, will you continue to help watch over the children, for that I will grant you immortality.” I watched as Oaktree nodded his head, I knew he loved the little ones and now he could continue to watch over them.
I stepped back as the children were led away by Gaiatoci and Oaktree. I felt pleased and grateful that the rescue mission had gone so will. With a light whisper, I suddenly heard Gaiatoci’s voice in my head. “My grandson, know that I am pleased with you and wish you to receive this gift, it is given in love.” I felt a quick burning sensation and looking on my interface I saw that I had a new permanent buff. Suddenly the familiar Ding Ding sounded and a window opened in front of my eyes.
