by Dante Doom
“Shoot the underbelly!” Van shouted. “Shoot where the heart is!”
Sang nodded and aimed right at where her Hunter’s Instinct told her to. There was a spot right between the right front leg of the Dragon and the Dragon’s chest that was the perfect spot. She took a deep breath and fired. The arrow seemed to move in slow motion as it streaked through the air, striking the exact spot on the yellow Dragon. It roared out in pain as blood began to gush out of its body, and then fell to the ground; the words CRITICAL: LETHAL appeared over it. It hissed and snapped frantically, thrashing its tail as the flames continued to consume it, but there was nothing it could do.
Sang collapsed backwards and let out a sigh of relief once it became apparent that the Dragon was dead. “Oh, oh man, we did it!” she said.
“Yeah, we did! We beat two players way out of our league!” Van said, sitting on the ground next to her. “You look like you’re in a lot of pain, though,” he muttered.
“Yeah, it’s… it’s more realistic than before. I need some healing potions,” Sang said as she checked her system’s status again. It was still offline. That wasn’t good. That wasn’t good at all.
“Hey,” Van said as he handed her a bright red potion. “Check it out!” Sang glanced at where he was pointing and realized that the yellow Dragon was beginning to melt into the ground, fading away slowly.
“Weird... normally monsters leave behind treasure,” Van mumbled. “Ah, well, not really the time to be thinking about free gear, although I gotta tell you, if that Oil of Everburning Agony hadn’t worked, there was plenty of more stuff I could have used. Trefor was hooked up with the best gear I’ve ever seen.”
“Yeah, best gear,” Sang emptily repeated as she tried to contact her team. Every time she sent out a message, though, she received the same error message. “Van, can you contact anyone?”
“Nah, I got a message from Neil once, but that was about it. He said you were sick and going to die. We gotta get out of here as soon as possible.”
“I’m fine now, actually… that thing up there, it healed me. Somehow, it was able to stop the poison from killing me.”
“Well, let’s be sure to send it a thank you card from the other side. Can you get us out of here?” Van asked.
Sang shook her head. “I’m afraid not. I can’t figure out why, but we’re still on lockdown. I mean…Trefor’s dead, the Dragon’s dead… so who else would be keeping us locked in here?”
“That weird alien dude?” Van offered.
“The Messenger,” Sang said. “He must still be controlling our ability to leave. Crap. Van, I don’t think this is going to be over until we kill it.”
“Can we kill it? I mean, what is it?” Van asked.
“It’s a Draco alien, I think. I don’t know. It seemed to be interested in representing Draco anyway... Wanted me to turn over everything I knew about the Others willingly.”
“Did you?” Van asked.
Sang shot him the dirtiest look possible. “Really, Van?”
“Come on, I was just kidding!” Van said. “So, what’s the plan?”
Sang glanced at her UI again. It was back online now, but she still couldn’t access the dev console, meaning that she wouldn’t be able to hack into anything. This was bad news. Without any kind of communication to her team on the outside, and without the ability to log out, they were sitting ducks.
“Van, we gotta go back up there,” she said, shaking her head.
“Again? Are you kidding me?” Van asked.
“Well, what do you propose we do? Hide down here? Wait for a whole squad of professional players to show up and obliterate us? We got lucky. Now... if there were other people up there, they certainly would have been all over us the moment we were trying to escape from the platform, so I have to think that there was only Trefor, that Dragon, and then the Messenger. The clock is ticking here.”
“What about all of those people on those floating desks?”
“They didn’t react at all to our escapade; whatever they were doing was far more important than capturing us, I guess.”
“Well, how do we kill this thing? Do you know?” Van asked.
Sang felt a strange pressure in her head. She buckled backwards for a moment and gasped.
“Hey, you okay?” Van asked, putting his hand on her back.
“Ah, I’m… I’m hearing… Dragon…” Sang mumbled as she grabbed her backpack and opened it up. The egg, the little purple egg that she had stolen from an island so long ago, was beginning to pulse a little bit. “They’re trying to tell me something,” Sang whispered as she pulled the egg out and looked at it. She could see that the life inside of it was beginning to stir.
“Man, are you going crazy? Because right now is not a good time to go crazy, Sang,” Van said. “It’s just a Dragon egg; you need to use a quest to hatch it. It’s not even worth carrying around because Draco personally has to give you that quest.”
“Maybe…” Sang said as she put the egg on the ground. She knelt down and looked it. The egg was still pulsing, beginning to really move. She leaned forward and began to etch some symbols with her knife very gently on the shell. As she slowly cut the symbols, built from the alien language that had been embedded in her brain, the egg began to hatch.
“Whoa! How are you doing that?” Van asked as the egg began to crack and shatter. A beautiful black Dragon emerged from the egg. It was tiny, almost at the size of Sang’s fist, but it stretched its wings and it clawed its way out of the eggshell. It hissed and snapped its jaws a few times, shaking its head. Then it slowly stood up, shakily at first as the embryotic fluid gently dripped off of it.
“Dude, you just unlocked a Dragon!” Van said, kneeling down next to Sang. “I can’t believe it worked!”
The Dragon wobbled as it took its first few steps. It’s slender black tail flicked back and forth as it examined its surroundings. It turned to face Sang. She cocked her head as she looked at its beautiful yellow eyes.
“We are impressed,” boomed a voice inside of Sang’s head. At first, she thought it was the Dragon, but then she realized that it was the chittering hive sound of Yvgo. She glanced up and saw that Yvgo was standing by Trefor’s corpse. The alien was alone, but stood tall and unworried.
“It isn’t every day that you see players of such a low level defeat a professional player and his Dragon companion,” Yvgo said. “But playtime is over. It is unfortunate that you have killed two of Draco’s allies. We needed them. Transporting you should have been a simple task, but alas, such weakness was the nature of Trefor. He was chosen because he was second best.”
“Shut up!” Van said, throwing a dart at the creature. The dart froze in midair as the Messenger raised its hand.
“Are you always this hasty, Van?” it asked. “You were our first choice, you know. We liked your vim, your vigor. The way this game was everything to you. Trefor reported that you refused our offer, however. Shocking, indeed. What’s most shocking is that you would condemn yourself to death over people who have been controlling you. Blackmailing you. Owning you.”
“Yeah, well while the CIA might be a complete bunch of jackasses, at least they aren’t interested in killing the entire world!” Van shouted back.
“There is no point in this back and forth,” Yvgo said. “We are not recruiting you anymore. But we have an offer. You are freed from your controls. Log out now and live. Stay, and die.”
“Ha. You must realize, at this point, that I’m dead-set on getting myself killed in here,” Van said as he raised another dart and prepared to throw it. Before he could do anything, however, he began to float in the air.
“Die!” Sang shouted as she drew her bow and let loose several arrows at once, using her Multi-shot power. The arrows all stopped in midair and just hung there, though.
“This is amusing,” the Messenger said. “How humans in the face of certain death would rather die than surrender. This is why Draco likes humans. In a century or so, all of that rage, tha
t power, that primal stupidity will be shaped. It will be focused. And most importantly, it will be useful.” “Aghhh!” Van cried out as he suddenly began to turn red.
“Van!” Sang shouted as she rushed forward, drawing her sword as she charged at the Messenger. It merely raised its hand and a blast of force was emitted from its fingers, knocking Sang backwards. She hit the ground hard, but stood up and charged again.
“And you still try? Even in the face of overwhelming superiority, you try? It will be such a shame that a warrior of your caliber will be nothing more than a mindless husk in a few hours,” the Messenger said.
Sang felt another blast of power strike her and throw her backwards. She had completely underestimated how powerful this creature was. She felt the wind get knocked out of her as she scrambled to stand back up.
“Is… that… all… you’ve… got?” Van wheezed as he continued to turn more and more red. His hand dropped down to his side as he pulled out a small bottle. He crushed it in between his fingers, shattering the glass and causing a red ooze to drip over his hand.
“A potion’s not going to do you much good,” Yvgo said, shaking its head. “At least not without you drinking it.”
“Not… for… me,” Van gasped. Sang stood up in time to see that the little Dragon had crawled over to the puddle of red liquid that had dripped onto the ground, and had begun to lap up the potion. It hissed a little as it drank it. But then its head began to shake slightly, and a moment later, it was howling and shrieking. It turned around and looked at the Messenger.
“A curious… creature,” Yvgo said, taking a step back, “but easily killed.” It raised a hand to emit a blast of power, but was too slow. The Dragon howled and rushed as fast as it could, with blinding speed, leaping and latching its teeth onto the side of the Messenger’s long hand. The Messenger let out a loud piping noise as it buckled and thrashed, trying to get the Dragon off of it.
Van immediately fell to the ground, gasping for air. “Sang, it’s distracted!”
Sang nodded and began to snap off arrows. The Messenger raised its other hand to repel the arrows, but the Dragon was still fiercely attacking it, leaping from limb to limb and biting into the alien’s flesh. A few arrows bounced off to the side, but one found its home and lodged itself right into the side of the Messenger’s face. Greenish blood gushed out of the wound as the creature collapsed to the floor. The Dragon continued to bite and claw for quite some time still, until the Messenger stopped moving entirely.
“Is it dead?” Van asked. Sang shrugged and slowly walked closer. It wasn’t moving at all. Slowly, she peered over to see that the Messenger’s eyes were still open. The Dragon had ceased from its violent attacks and was instead lying on the ground, gently snoozing with its eyes closed. Whatever kind of potion it had drunk seemed to have worn off immediately upon the alien’s collapse.
“Truly, humans are the most admirable species,” the Messenger said as it slowly blinked. Sang grabbed her sword and pressed it against the creature’s forehead. “Resilient and able to overcome all obstacles, even in the face of impossibility. Draco is pleased with your actions, Sang. End this vessel’s life now. End it and be free. Take your reward.”
Sang glanced at Van, and he nodded.
“Tell Draco that I’m not going anywhere,” she hissed as she shoved the blade down hard, stabbing the creature right in the brain. It let out a hideous shrieking noise and then ceased moving completely.
“That was intense,” Van remarked. “I’m so glad that Potion of Burning Rage worked.”
“No kidding,” Sang said as she turned to look at the Dragon that was quietly snoozing. It seemed to have a smile upon its face.
Behind the two of them then, there was a strange whooomph noise. Sang leapt up and turned around, her bow in hand. In front of them was a pod. It was about the size of a small airplane, and it was smooth and made of chrome. The ramp to the pod was open, as well, leading into the ship.
“Whoa! I think that’s how the Messenger guy travels!” Van said as he walked toward it. “Hey, stay away from there—it could be some kind of a trap!” Sang warned. “Trap, schmap. Come on, let’s look inside. I bet we can find some kind of a clue,” Van replied as he walked right up the ramp.
Sang sighed and gently scooped up the snoring dragon. It nuzzled against her a little as she carried it toward the ship. She didn’t like the looks of this strange pod and she certainly didn’t like the fact that Van had just climbed in like an idiot. This entire adventure would have an extremely disappointing end if, somehow, he got killed inside of that pod. They had defeated three powerful foes in a single day, and he was going to risk it all for this? Why did she even bother trying to save his sorry ass?
“Check it out!” Van said as he waved her in. She looked inside the pod and saw that there were dozens of screens and computer consoles. There was a single chair at the helm of the ship, and a few harnesses lining the walls for people to strap themselves into.
“Interesting,” Sang said as she sat as the console and began to fiddle with the controls. A dev console popped up, prompting her to let out a sigh of relief. She could change the log-in credentials from here, allowing them to finally get out of the game! She was ready to log out and never ever think about this game again. As she deceived the log-in blocks, the console began to hum a little. There was a high-pitched whine next, causing the Dragon who was sleeping in her lap to suddenly open its eyes and look around. The whine continued for a few moments and then ceased. Next, words began to sound from the console. The voice was deep and throaty, a voice that seemed to resonate and shake the very pod itself.
“There is no hope. We will win. Tremble at the future,” the voice said. The pod began to slowly hum and vibrate then as the screens caught fire.
“Ah crap, let’s get out of here!” Van shouted as he leapt up and scrambled out of the pod. Sang followed after him and they managed to clear the pod just in time, before it erupted into a massive fiery explosion. The warm heat of the flames pressed against Sang’s back as she held the Dragon tightly, shielding it from the debris.
“Man, I am so glad that didn’t blow up earlier,” Van said, turning around and facing the wreckage of the craft once the immediate blast of heat had worn off.
“Whew, yeah,” Sang said. “Well, we’re free now, right? We can log out, so let’s go ahead and get out of this wretched game.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Van said. “I’m exhausted!”
“Ex… hausted,” mumbled the Dragon. Van and Sang both stopped and looked at the creature. It wriggled its way out of Sang’s arms and leapt onto the ground before slowly walking around in a circle, sniffing about.
“Van, can Dragons talk? New ones?” Sang asked.
“Uh, I dunno. I mean… this thing isn’t exactly acting like any AI I’ve seen in the game,” Van replied as he looked at it curiously. The Dragon turned its attention to the both of them and yawned, opening its big mouth wide. Sang could see that its baby-sharp teeth had already emerged in its mouth, and its scales were forming relatively quickly, as well. It was growing—and quickly.
“Earth?” the little Dragon asked as it tilted its head at Sang. “Is… Earth?”
“What?” Sang whispered as she crouched down to look the creature in the eyes.
“Far away, across the stars,” the Dragon whispered back. “In a realm beyond eye and a realm beyond light. We rest. But far we are. Draco consumes. Close and hungry, violent and clever, they are unending, like the locusts of the field, or the ants of the valley.”
“I think this Dragon is an Other!” Sang shouted. “We can talk to it! It can talk!”
“Far away,” the Dragon repeated as it looked up at the sky, “but here now. There is much to do and much to be done. Salvation is at hand, but so rests the darkness.”
“How? How can we defeat Draco?” Sang asked. “What does this equation in my head mean? Is there some way to take this entire network down?”
The Dragon smi
led and opened its mouth to speak, and… suddenly, Sang was inside the haptic pod again. She gasped as she felt the system disengage and the tubes pull themselves from her skin.
“Pod deactivated—we hope you had a fun time!” the AI said as the pod slowly opened up.
“Agh!” Sang gargled as she realized how dry her throat was. She sat up, still holding the gun that had been in her hand when she’d crawled into the contraption. She was incredibly disoriented, though, and had no idea how long she had been in there.
“Easy there, cowgirl,” Neil said as he pried the gun out of her hand. She fell forward as she tried to stand up, only to be caught by O’Hara.
“There’s an Other; we gotta… talk to him. I need to…” she mumbled as she felt her stomach begin to turn. “Oh, I need to throw up.”
“Easy, easy!” Neil said as she began to dry heave a little. “You’re alright!”
“Man, what happened? There was a Dragon and it was talking,” Sang whispered.
“Yeah, well, we got the greenlight that you could both be pulled out without getting killed, so we took the opportunity,” O’Hara said.
“Man, I can barely walk,” Van said as he stumbled out of his own pod. No one was rushing to his side, however. He hit the ground hard and crawled a few inches forward before giving up and just collapsing fully onto the ground.
“Help… help Van,” Sang said as she slowly began to stand up on her own.
“Van’s not the problem—you are,” O’Hara said as a full medical team rushed to grab her. “You’re lucky to still be alive. We gotta get you under a scalpel immediately!”
“I’m cured!” Sang said. “The aliens, they cured me.”
“Right, right, down you go,” Neil said as he shoved an oxygen mask over her face as they threw her onto a gurney.
She felt the oxygen pumping into her lungs and realized that it was spiked with something. Her eyes opened and closed for a few moments until a dark, dreamless sleep overtook her.
