Eden's Gate: The Sparrow: A LitRPG Adventure

by Edward Brody

  Eden’s Gate

  Book 2: The Sparrow

  Edward Brody

  Contents

  Introduction

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Author’s Notes

  The End

  Copyright © 2017 by Edward Brody

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Introduction

  Book Two of the Eden’s Gate Series!

  After accepting the fact that he will never know his old reality again, Gunnar looks forward to building a new life inside Eden's Gate.

  It's time to form a guild, gather resources, and earn the acceptance of the Edgewood inhabitants.

  If only things were that easy...

  The dark elves aren't thrilled about having humans in Edgewood, the mine isn't vacant, and you can't form a guild without at least a few guild mates.

  Will Gunnar pursue Adeelee? Is Rachel still out there somewhere? And who is Jax exactly? Could he really be a Sparrow?

  “Individually we are but a drop, but together we are an ocean.”

  -Ryunosuke Satoro

  Chapter One

  01/08/0001

  Adeelee took a step towards the bottom of the waterfall and tugged at the zipper on the back of her vest. When it didn’t release right away, she turned her head to glance at me over her shoulder. “Can you help me with this?”

  I gulped, feeling a bit shy about the situation. It was nighttime, so there were no other elves bathing at the waterfall, and the guards that were usually standing around guarding the Vale were mysteriously missing. Still, I was standing in front of what was perhaps the most beautiful female I had ever seen. I had every reason to feel a little nervous.

  “Don’t be shy, Gunnar. It’s just a bath.”

  I instinctively licked my parched lips and took a step forward until I was right behind Adeelee. I grabbed at the zipper and tugged slowly, the sound of its tiny teeth unhooking from each other almost like fireworks in my ears. The heat from her body pulsed from her skin, and I was close enough that I could smell a clean, garden scent radiating from her.

  “Thank you,” she said low when the zipper was finally undone, and took another step forward, letting her jade, leathery vest fall to the ground.

  I watched as she unzipped her skirt and let it, too, slide down her legs then skillfully slipped off a pair of tiny panties. She had already taken off her boots, so she was fully nude as she stepped gracefully into the water. Just the image of her slender, elven frame was enough to make my blood boil—not my magic ability.

  When the water had just barely met her shoulders, she turned around smiled. “Come on, Gunnar! Get in! It feels great in here!”

  I gulped again before I set my weapons aside and started pulling off my leather garb as quickly as I could.

  When I was bare, I walked forward ungracefully and caused a small splash as I entered the pool below the High Elves’ palace. She was right—the water was perfect; it was cool, and the feeling of the soft sand at the bottom felt great against my feet.

  Adeelee dipped her head back into the water cascading down from the falls then wiped her hands over her eyes to clear them. She gave a brisk exhale and smiled. I followed suit and placed my hair under the waterfall, pulled it out, and shook my head from side to side. It was… refreshing.

  When I cleared my eyes, Adeelee was making her way towards me with a bar of strange, green soap that the elves used during their bathing ritual. She turned back around once she was close and held the soap over her shoulder. “Can you wash my back?”

  My heart thumped. Damn. Damn. Damn!

  I nodded and stepped forward, grabbing the soap out of Adeelee’s hand and rolled it around, creating a thick layer of lather in my hands. Adeelee smiled once my fingers met her body, and I started rubbing the soap up and down her back.

  My hands moved over her spine and to the nape of her neck, and I felt like I was going to explode when my hands moved downward, and I could feel the small, slippery crevice that started where her back met her bottom. Adeelee let out a low hum; she seemed to be enjoying it as much as me.

  I took another step forward until Adeelee’s body was pressed against mine, and I inhaled her fresh scent that was much more pungent with her head right under my chin. My hands moved forward across her tiny navel, and unable to control myself anymore, they moved up until I felt the soft, fleshy mounds that I had been dying to handle since the moment I first saw her in Addenfall.

  “Hey…” Adeelee scolded. “That’s not my back.” She turned around slowly, revealing her entire body to me—unashamed—and locked her eyes on to mine. But she didn’t move away. She just stood there, looking at me with desperation etched across her face—and goodness knows I probably had the same desperation on mine as well.

  I dropped the soap, letting it fall into the depths of the water and placed both hands on Adeelee’s hips. She brought her fingertips up to each side of my face, and suddenly we were drawing closer to each other like weak magnets, unable to resist each other’s slow, unwavering pull.

  “You’re amazing,” I said when our faces were only an inch apart.

  Adeelee just smiled, and before I realized what was happening, our lips were pressed together, and my eyes were closed.

  My hands rubbed up and down the length of Adeelee’s hips as our mouths engulfed each other. Adeelee’s hands pressed hard onto my cheeks and pulled me closer at any signal that I was going to move away. It was passionate, intense. It had been so long since I had felt anything like it, and to have that with someone as stunning as Adeelee? Indescribable. The last time I remembered such a thing was—No, I shouldn’t think about that.

  I pulled away and sucked in a deep gulp of air, relishing in aftershocks from the princess’ kiss.

  “Don’t leave me, Gunnar,” Adeelee said, but this time her voice was a little different. It wasn’t the sing-song elven tone that she normally had; it sounded far more… human.

  I opened my eyes, and my heart felt like it stopped. Standing in front of me was Rachel—or at least half of a Rachel. Her body was that of Adeelee’s but her face was the same as my girlfriend—or was it ex-girlfriend?— I had back on Earth.

  “What’s wrong?” she questioned.

  “What’s going on?” I replied and backed away. “What are you…? Where’s Adeelee?” I was so confused.

  “What’s wrong?” Rachel asked again as I continued to move backwards. She held out an open hand. “Don’t leave me, Gunnar.”

  My heart was pounding, and my breathing was heavy. I wasn’t sure what was happening, but I needed to get out of the water to figure things out. I turned and splashed in the pool as I rushed to get back on lan
d.

  “Don’t leave me!”

  My feet suddenly felt heavy against the soft mud under the water and dry land was somehow growing further and further away with each step that I took. I pushed my legs harder and harder, trying to outrun whatever was happening but failing miserably as my vision grew more and more distorted.

  “Don’t leave—!”

  I slipped, and my head dipped under the water. I could see nothing in the dark, and all I could hear was the rumble of the liquid in my ears. I swatted my arms frantically in the pool, trying to pull myself back to the surface, but no matter what I tried, my head stayed submerged.

  I couldn’t breathe. I was bewildered. I wondered if I was going to die.

  “Adeelee?!” I shouted under the water, but nothing happened. I couldn’t even hear my voice. “Rachel?!”

  I jolted upwards in my bed and tried to catch my breath. My heart was racing, and my skin was covered in sweat. The scent of alcohol I drank from the night before filled the room.

  A dream?

  No.

  A nightmare.

  I was sitting on the bed inside the inn at the town of Thorpes—the closest town to the Edgewood, about a 15-minute horse trot to the southwest—and gathered my senses. My head was pounding with a hangover, my lips were chapped, and my mouth felt dry as a desert. My bed was half-covered in water, and I could see from the ceiling that there were still tiny droplets of liquid leaking from somewhere outside. It must have rained, and the inn’s roof was in need of serious repair.

  The dream was strange, but I wasn’t going to put much thought into it. Sleeping with water falling on your face would probably make anyone dream up weird shit. I just needed to get some liquids inside my body—food too.

  I stood up from the bed, threw on my worn, leather armor and headed to the tavern area downstairs.

  The inn was buzzing, despite it being morning. The atmosphere wasn’t as wild as the night before, but music was playing, and most of the seats were filled with patrons chatting and enjoying their morning meal. Jax and Aaron were both already up and sitting at a large table with two other men that I didn’t recognize.

  “Hey guys,” I called as I approached their table.

  “You’re up late,” Jax said with a smile.

  “Morning,” Aaron said and quickly diverted his attention back to the table.

  One of the men sitting on the other side of the table—with frazzled, black hair and stubble that could be mistaken for dirt from afar—jolted his arm out, and a single die fell out of his hand. The small, white, six-sided object clanked on the wood and rolled a few inches, landing on the side with three tiny dots.

  “Boom!” the guy boasted with a snap of his fingers. He grinned, showing two of his front teeth missing. “That’s 18, boy!”

  “You going to hold on that one?” the other stranger asked. He was a heavyset fellow with a completely shaved head.

  “Hell no, Bruno!” The man picked up the die again and let it fall on the table. It landed on a 6. “Whooooo!” the guy screamed. “That’s 24!”

  Aaron looked worried.

  “One more, Sully?” Bruno asked.

  Sully paused and sucked in his bottom lip as he scanned up and down Aaron’s frame. Aaron was wearing a cheap, brown robe that he had picked up at the Vale. It offered him no defense, but he was able to throw it over his fur armor to prevent any further misunderstandings that he was a non-human. “I think I’m good, Bruno.”

  “What’s this?” I whispered to Jax.

  “A variation of Pig,” Jax explained. “A popular game in these parts.”

  Aaron picked up the die and dropped it on the table. It landed on a 5.

  “How do you play?” I asked.

  “One guy rolls the die as many times as he wants, adding up his count with each roll. When he’s confident with his score, he can “hold” to see if the other player can beat him, but if he rolls a 1 at any time, he scores 0 for the round.”

  Aaron dropped the die again and it landed on a 3.

  “So Aaron needs to get a score better than 24?”

  “Yeah. Now he has to roll ‘til he scores 25 or better, but if he rolls a 1, he loses. He could hold at 24 to force a tie, but I’ve never seen anyone purposely take a tie in Pig. That would sort of defeat the ballsiness of the game.”

  I nodded in understanding.

  Aaron picked up the die and shook it in his hands a couple times, then dropped it on the table again. This time he hit a 6. “Ten more, baby,” he clucked. He lifted the die again and dropped it, but this time, it landed on a 1.

  “Boom!” Sully said and raised a fist in the air. Ten gold pieces were sitting near the center of the table, which he quickly scooped up and shoved in his pocket.

  “Damnit!” Aaron spat.

  I leaned over to Aaron’s ear and whispered, “Probably not a good idea to be gambling all your gold away already.”

  Aaron shrugged. “Yeah, you’re right. But I won a couple times, so I’m only down about ten gold.”

  “You up for a game?” Bruno asked me with a wide, toothy sneer.

  I smiled and waved a hand. “No, I’m good for now.”

  “And you, Jax?” the man asked. “Up for another game?

  Jax stood to his feet and stretched his arms. “I think I’ll head home, actually. I’ve seen enough of this side of the Freelands for now, and I’m dying to work on my alchemy.” He threw Aaron and I a wink. “I’d like to put that spider’s silk to use.”

  The two gamblers got up and started walking towards the other side of the tavern, looking for their next victim. Aaron stood up as well.

  “Are you two going to be okay out here?” Jax asked.

  I looked at Aaron who seemed confident enough. “Yeah, I think we’re good.”

  “Be careful in Edgewood,” Jax warned. “The dark elves don’t have the best reputation. And be careful in Thorpes or anywhere else in the Freelands too.”

  “So be careful everywhere?” Aaron asked with a smirk and comically raised eyebrows.

  Jax grinned and nodded his head. “Yeah, actually. ‘Be careful everywhere’ is probably one of the best strategies anyone in Eden’s Gate can follow.” He leaned in close and whispered, “Even Reborns.”

  “We’ll be careful,” Aaron said and lifted an open, upwards-pointing palm to Jax.

  Jax swung his hand into Aaron’s hand hard, and they both gripped tightly. Then Jax repeated the process with me. As Jax started walking towards the exit of the inn, he held up a finger. “Oh, and Gunnar… Watch your drinking. You handle your liquor like a little girl!”

  “Good idea!” I chuckled. He was right. Before I entered Eden’s Gate, I hadn’t been much of a drinker. I don’t know if that had somehow translated into the game, but the night before, I had gotten near blackout drunk as we swam in drinks and enjoyed the festivities of the tavern. It was a great night with two great fellas, but I really needed to watch myself—so that I wouldn’t have another hangover and crazy dreams, if anything.

  After we had arrived at Edgewood and met the dark elf, Donovan Sylvari, the day before, we decided to travel to Thorpes to rent rooms for the night. The homes the High Elves were building us wouldn’t be ready for a couple days, so we needed a place to sleep and eat in the meantime. Aaron and I also needed to buy a few gear replacements before we set off on any further adventuring. Donovan had agreed to meet us back in Edgewood the next day to give the elves of Edgewood a formal introduction to its new, human residents.

  “Did you have breakfast yet?” Aaron asked.

  “I just got up, but I’m starving.”

  “Well, let’s see what they’ve got. I’m pretty hungry too.”

  The inside of the inn was much like the inn in Linden, but the Thorpes building was almost twice the size. And just like Linden, in the center of the room was an innkeeper who stood behind a counter, always looking busy until a customer approached.

  “What can I do for you?” the innkeeper asked.


  “Got a menu?” I replied.

  The innkeeper pulled a slip of parchment from below the counter for us to see, and written on the menu was a decent-sized list of food and drinks—everything from small food rations to gravy and biscuits. I was surprised to see pancakes on the menu, which I ordered, and Aaron settled for a plate of sausage, eggs, and hash browns.

  Within a few minutes, a barmaid brought the food to our table, along with two tall glasses of orange juice. My pancakes weren’t as tasty as elven pie, but they were still better than any pancakes I had ever eaten back on Earth.

  “I’m going to need to buy some tools,” Aaron said as he shoved a forkful of sausage into his mouth. “I’m not sure if I’ll start with crafting armor or weapons yet, but I’ll need a pickaxe for mining, and I’ve got to find someplace near our homes to mine. I’ll also need a saw to cut wood and—”

  “So you’re really just going to sit around and craft all day?” I asked.

  Aaron smirked. “I expect a lot of people will take up the life of a crafter. You don’t have to go out and kill things to enjoy yourself in this game.”

  “This world, you mean?”

  Aaron nodded. “You know, before I came here, I wasn’t really into RPGs or MMOs. Fighting monsters and gathering loot isn’t really my thing. But Eden’s Gate wasn’t just built around everyone fighting monsters—or each other—all the time, so it’s got something for everyone.”

  “Not into MMOs?” I asked. “But you were a developer…”

  “Dude, I worked at Nexicon for years, primarily on puzzle games. Did you ever play that Nexicon game, Candy Mashers?”

  “Is that the virtual game where you match floating candies together or whatever? The girls back in High School were crazy about that crap.”

  “Yeah. It sold millions. And I programmed that in just two months. Dr. Winston brought me on to Eden’s Gate to help with the core AI programming—the ability for the NPCs to think and feel like real people. Dr. Winston did nearly everything, but I was there to debug code and make it clean. I could program faster than just about anyone else at the company, and I helped build out a small portion of the actual world design as well.” Aaron shrugged. “But being able to code shit into games doesn’t make you a MMO gamer.”