Dream Storm Online

by Jareth Stark

  “We’ll probably need to stay the night here anyway won’t we?” said Lily, pulling him out of his thoughts. “And it’s not like we can exactly walk into the Magician’s Alliance. Well, you could, but I’ll be sent back to Eelry”.

  “Yeah I s’pose so,” Henry replied sullenly. What choice do I have?

  Key in hand, Henry and Lily walked up the narrow wooden steps to the second floor of the building, and found their room. The decor here was a lot brighter than at Arabella’s inn, but the damp, musty smell was the same.

  “So mister, I think you have some levelling up to do,” coaxed Lily, giving Henry a gentle kiss on his cheek. “Let me do all the work. You’ve had a hard day”.

  Henry couldn’t argue with that. His Stormcom told him that it was just past midday, but they’d been on the road for hours… Pete had made it seem like days.

  “Stop thinking about things Henry. Please!” urged Lily.

  Henry tried to do as she asked. He let Lily push him backwards onto the bed, and felt her slide his pants down over his legs. The second she took his large shaft in her hands, he gasped, goosebumps covering his flesh. She really was an expert when it came to his cock, and even now when she touched him, he still seemed to forget everything else around him.

  Leaning on his elbows, Henry watched as she playfully licked and teased his long shaft. Her hot breath tickled his flesh, and as she took him deep, he groaned loudly and pushed his fingers through her long hair.

  “Take your clothes off,” Henry ordered. “I want to see you”.

  She did as he asked, and Henry nudged up on the bed, inviting her to join him. As she climbed on top of him, Henry held onto Lily’s waist, tentatively at first, but soon in the strong way that was more befitting his build.

  “I want you to fuck me hard,” Henry said, a ferociousness in his voice. “I want you to sit on my cock and fuck me like you’ve never fucked anyone before”.

  “Like this?” Lily asked as she slid onto him, surrounding his thick, hard cock with her pussy. Her voice was innocent, and for a second Henry almost believed that she was the same person he had met on his first day in the Alliance.

  “Yes baby, like that. Oh fuck yeah, like that”.

  As Lily began to fuck Henry’s cock, he rocked his hips in time with hers. She pushed her hands down onto the surface of the bed, using the sheets for grip as she moaned. Her hot, wet body devouring his with every movement.

  “Fuck,” Lily panted. “Oh yes Henry, yes”.

  Henry continued to hold Lily tight, forcing her onto him, letting his cock plunge as deep into her slit as he could. “You like that baby?”

  “Yes my orc, yes”.

  Passion coursed through Henry’s veins and he began to move his hips more quickly. Lily couldn’t keep up with his movements, but he continued to thrust himself inside her, pounding her and pounding her until she could take no more. Lily’s moans became uncontrollable, and Henry kept his eyes on her, watching to see just how much she wanted it… wanted him.

  “I can’t hold out Henry,” she urged. “Oh fuck”.

  Henry didn’t let up. He continued in the same relentless motion until his own orgasm was there. All thoughts of quests and escaping and fighting developers finally left his mind as he groaned and came hard. “God, yes,” he grunted. “Yes, yes, yes”.

  21

  “Are you sure they’re going to be there Henry?” Lily asked as they walked towards the cafe.

  The town was still buzzing with elves, orcs, humans, faeries, and pretty much every other race you could think of when they left the inn on the way to meet Nellie. Henry’s sour mood had completely abated after his orgasm, and now he wanted nothing more than to find out what the end game was. The furious sex with Lily had lit a passion within him and he felt more motivated than he ever had in his life.

  “Yes Lily, I’m sure they’re going to be there”.

  “Can we get something to eat? I’m starving!”

  “Sure. Here’s some coins - get whatever you like and get me a coffee. I’ll sit outside just in case Nellie’s nearby”.

  Henry sat down by a table in the corner and scanned the marketplace for Nellie or Sara. Will they be wearing a disguise? he wondered. Surprisingly, he still hadn’t met any other adventurers on his travels. This was pretty weird considering they were everywhere when playing the game in the real world. The developers would never have been able to keep it running had it not been popular. Are people still playing out there? Can people see me? The thought unnerved him.

  “Hello stranger!”

  “Nellie. You found me!”

  “I sure did. How was the trip?”

  “About as bad as you can imagine… not that I really want to talk about it right now. How are you? And Sara? And god Nellie, I really want to know what’s going on”.

  “We can’t talk here; there’s too many people and you don’t know who could be listening. You’ve seen the church right?”

  Henry nodded in agreement.

  “Meet me there at midnight. I’ll explain everything then, I promise”.

  22

  “Oh Henry, I’m so glad you made it,” said Nellie, sweeping him into a huge hug that almost knocked him off his feet. “I was afraid when I left you that something would happen. I had to get away with Sara, though, you know that don’t you? If it had been safe for us in Eelry, I would have stayed”.

  “I know Nellie, it’s fine, honestly,” Henry replied. “Is there anywhere more private that we can talk? We have a lot to discuss and you promised me some answers”.

  Nellie looked around to make sure no-one was there, and when she was certain they were alone, she gestured for Henry to join her by the bushes behind the church. “Over here,” she said.

  Henry watched as Nellie moved the brambles out of the way, and dug around in the dirt. The sky above them was as clear as could be, though the moonlight still didn’t provide as much light as Henry would have hoped. He could hardly see what Nellie was doing.

  “Got it!” she exclaimed.

  Henry heard a creaking sound and looked back down to the floor. Seeing his surprised face, Nellie chuckled. “It’s where we’ve been hiding. Come on, there’s some steps leading down. We don’t want anyone to find us”.

  Henry squeezed his large orc frame through the trap door, and began to walk down the steps, followed by Nellie. Once they were safely underground, she flipped the latch and lit a torch, leading the way through to a large underground room filled with bookshelves, barrels of food, desks, and more surprisingly, lots of people.

  “Who are…” Henry started.

  “It’s everyone who’s going to help us Henry. This is Jackal, the leader of the resistance. Over here, we have Sam and Paul our alchemists. Then there’s Leonardo the cook and Randle the blacksmith. Jess, Kirsty, Pritchard and Layla were all adventurers too - they’re all currently looking for an escape. There’s even more people here too, including Sara. Most are sleeping at the moment”.

  “How did you find them all?” Henry asked, the surprise clear in his voice.

  “The same way I found you. I kept trying to save Sara, and that meant helping a lot of adventurers with the Ice Widow’s quest. Some weren’t interested in my help, which was fine. But of those that were, I told them as much as I could depending on their level. Many of them joined me. Since then, we’ve been trying to work out who is real and who is an NPC. It’s not as easy as you’d imagine, but we’ve been building our ranks here for quite some time. You are the last one to join us, but hopefully not the last adventurer who will escape”.

  “Do you think we’ll really be able to do it then?” asked Henry.

  “I do. But we still have quite a bit of planning ahead of us, and I still want to check your skills are up to the battle. Come, let’s sit over here and talk more. We have a lot of catching up to do!”

  Henry followed Nellie over to a small table by the corner of the room. A young girl with blond pigtails offered them a couple of beers,
which he accepted gratefully. “That’s Claire,” said Nellie. “She can’t remember whether she was an adventurer or not, she’s been here that long. But after talking to Sara, she wanted to help us. Most jobs were taken by the time she arrived, so Jackal told her just to provide food and refreshments to those in need”.

  “This is incredible!” said Henry. “I can’t believe how much you’ve done”.

  “It’s not been easy Henry, but this game is so fucked up. I can’t just leave everyone behind either. I’m so glad you’re willing to help me. We’re the only two who are technically still ‘alive’ in the game, and they all need our help”.

  “Don’t you think it’s a bit weird that there are hardly any adventurers still alive here?” asked Henry. “Aside from me and you I mean. Dream Storm Online is such a massive game in the outside world. It just doesn’t make sense”.

  “I have considered it Henry, I really have. I think every time the developers want to expand the game, they somehow draw people in from the outside. They do it slowly, though, so as not to arouse suspicion. I definitely hadn’t heard of anyone dying while playing the game on the outside, so I have no idea how they do it. Our actual bodies could all be sitting in some weird virtual reality room for all I know.”

  “But if that were the case, why wouldn’t they just unplug us? Set us free?”

  “Maybe they can’t. I mean, with millions of players, things would look suspicious if a load of quests disappeared overnight. You’d think it weird, wouldn’t you? People would stop paying for DLC packs if all of the content suddenly disappeared. It’s almost like they created a shell of a world and have used actual people to populate the content. It’s just fucked up Henry”

  “Yes, I suppose, but…”

  “Arabella genuinely thinks we’re going to break the game doesn’t she. She told you that if you didn’t stop me, I’d break it…”

  “She said the same to Lily as well,” Henry replied. “About me, I mean. Arabella knows I’m helping you”.

  “In her eyes, we probably are. I don’t think she followed you down here - at least my scouts didn’t see anyone following you as you arrived - but we are planning on launching an attack. We have a day, maybe two, before everyone in Eelry stops focusing on Flinn Searcy’s visit and Arabella tells them of her plans. I know she’s been strategising, trying to work out what to do with us, but the visit is holding her back. After that visit a storm will descend on the world and we’ll need to fight it if we’re ever going to escape”.

  Henry felt his head swimming. There was too much to process. Everything was happening so fast. He took a gulp of his beer and tried to focus his mind.

  “The quest I did for the merchant in Eelry. Did you set that up? I mean, some of the NPCs know what’s happening already don’t they?”

  “The guy who stunk of rotten fish you mean? Yes and no. I was supposed to deliver a shipment for him, but I had to escape with Sara and I couldn’t hang around to see him again. I didn’t organise for you to do his quest, but I knew there were very few others who would be able to do it for him. When Rizon told me you’d picked it up, though… well, I breathed a sigh of relief. It told me you were serious about coming over here. I don’t think the merchant knows what we’re doing though. Or if he does, he didn’t say anything to Rizon”.

  “Something just doesn’t seem right Nellie. I don’t know what it is. My mind has been working overtime the last couple of days, trying to work everything out. I don’t know whether I can trust Lily…”.

  “Your girlfriend?”

  “I have no idea what she is now. I don’t know why these quests all seem to be slotting in together. Everything just seems a little bit too perfect if you know what I mean?”

  The girl with pigtails came back to the table, and wiped it down. Henry hadn’t realised he’d been spilling his beer, his nerves were making his hands shake. Nellie grabbed hold of his fingers, trying to steady them and keep him calm.

  “It’s not going to be easy Henry. But, if Arabella is anything like the bosses in the game, a group of us should be able to take her down. Sam and Paul have been making potions day and night to help us, and Randle has been forging superior weapons for the melee fighters. Me and you can stand further back from Arabella and attack her with our spells, and then the others will be behind us, keeping us fully healed”.

  “Lily might be able to help with the potions too,” Henry replied. “If you need anyone else. She was the alchemist in the Magician’s Alliance when I first met her”.

  “How much do you know about her?” Lily’s face was stern, concerned.

  Henry wasn’t quite sure how to respond. Things had been tense between him and Lily since they’d arrived in Thornforest, and he still didn’t know how much he could trust her.

  “Erm, I’ve only known her a few days” he replied. “I honestly thought she wanted to help me at first, and then, after speaking to Rizon, I began to question everything. He doesn’t trust her - he said as much. Why do you ask?”

  “Rizon said he saw her talking to Arabella. He’s been watching the town day and night since I left, and Arabella has been visiting her while you’ve been off doing quests…”.

  “Wait, what?”

  “I’m sorry Henry. It was too dangerous to tell you this while you were in Eelry. The resistance knew what she was doing, but telling you would have caused a scene and Arabella would have discovered that we know more than she thinks”.

  Henry felt like he might faint. “So, everything I thought was real isn’t? I had an idea something weird was going on. But she’s here, at the inn, waiting for me to return. She knows about you and Sara. She saw Jackal too when we dropped his shipment off. Oh fuck! What the hell am I supposed to do?”

  “You can’t let her know that we know Henry. Tell her that I’m keeping you in the dark about most things and that you don’t know what’s happening. She may be useful in a day or two when we have a plan. We can feed her incorrect information to pass back to Arabella. She can help us without realising it”.

  “Fuck, fuck, fuck. I don’t know if I can do it Nellie. I’m a terrible liar. I’d have had no idea if Rizon hadn’t…”

  “Stop it Henry, it’s not your fault. It’s the game - she may have been on your side at first and then had her character corrupted by Arabella. We have no way of finding out though”.

  “Was she ever an adventurer?” Henry asked. “Was anything she told me true?”

  “I don’t know Henry. But after this is over, I’ll help you get to the bottom of it, I promise”.

  Henry rested his head in his hands. He’d realised as much about Lily before speaking to Nellie, but listening to the words being spoken out loud somehow made them more real. Of course someone like Lily would never be interested in someone like him. How could he have been so stupid?

  “Come on, let’s go and see Sara,” Nellie told him. “She’s been really looking forward to seeing you, and told me to wake her up once you’d arrived”.

  23

  Henry tried to smile; it had been a few days since he’d last seen the young stable hand and while it would be good to catch up, he had more important things on his mind. Not wanting to disappoint Nellie, though, he finished the remainder of his beer and followed her through a large wooden door, out of the hall they were in and into another tunnel. The ground was muddy underfoot, but thankfully torches lit the way for them to walk. Before long Henry began to see more doors leading off from the walkway.

  “These are all the bedrooms,” Nellie explained. “Arabella and the developers know we’re in Thornforest, I’m sure of that. But they don’t know where we’ve been hiding. Most of us stay underground, helping with the resistance, and planning for the fight. And when we go to the surface, we make sure we’re fully disguised. Sam has even concocted a potion that hides our adventurer levels. It’s quite clever really”.

  “Wow, that’s quite something,” Henry agreed. “Though I guess not many of you have…”

  �
�SARA!”

  Henry jolted at the sound of Nellie’s scream. He had no idea what was going on but followed quick on her heels as she ran to a door further down the passageway. The closer he got to it, it became obvious why Nellie was worried. The door had been left ajar, and scuff marks could be clearly seen in the corridor outside.

  “SARA! Answer me!” Nellie shouted as she got closer to the door. But there was no response. “Where the fuck is she Henry? She was here when I came to meet you. Where has she gone?”

  “I…” Then he saw it. A note had been left on Sara’s bed. He pointed to it quickly, words failing him. Sensing something terrible had happened, anxiety coursed through Henry’s veins, and he tried desperately to catch his breath, feeling like someone was choking him. How the fuck had he got himself into such a bad situation. Why would anyone take Sara? She wouldn’t leave of her own accord… would she?

  With shaking hands, Nellie picked up the note and read it out loud.

  Henry & Nellie.

  This has gone on for long enough. I have taken Sara and will be disposing of her in the same way we dispose of all our faulty NPCs. Don’t try and find me - it will be too late.

  Both of you should leave. Leave now before you cause further trouble.

  No name had been signed. “It’s Lily isn’t it?” Henry asked. “Lily did this. How could we have been so stupid?!”

  Nellie’s face turned a ghostly shade of white, and she began to weep. She had gone to great lengths to help Sara escape and within hours of Henry arriving she had been kidnapped and taken against her will. “They’re going to kill her Henry. My Sara. She’s going to die”.

  Henry thought as quickly as he could. His palms were wet with sweat and he could hear his heart beating through his chest. “Nellie, look! Reading the parchment seems to have triggered a new quest. Check yours quickly! There may be a way for us to save her”.