by Dante Doom
The Black Dragon
Dragon Kings of the New World
Dante Doom
Contents
Dragon Kings of the New World
The Black Dragon
Blurb
Dante Doom
Prologue
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
Epilogue
End of The Black Dragon
Thank you!
Sneak Peak
Dragon Kings of the New World
The Star Dragon
The Black Dragon
The Iron Dragons
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales, is entirely coincidental.
RELAY PUBLISHING EDITION, OCTOBER 2017
Copyright © 2017 Relay Publishing Ltd.
All rights reserved. Published in the United Kingdom by Relay Publishing. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
www.relaypub.com
Blurb
Mysteries abound as a dangerous game becomes deadly…
Dedicated gamer Van and his CIA agent partner Sang have successfully infiltrated Dragons of the New World, but the further they go, the more questions arise. They return to find that the in-game kingdom of Silver Peak, which Van once ruled as one of the most powerful players in the game, has now fallen into disrepair. There they recruit a mercenary party of adventurers from among Van’s old comrades and venture to find the hidden realm of Bloodrock—which Van suspects could hold the key to the game’s mysterious origins.
Before they can do that, however, they must complete a series of high-level missions to access the new region. These quests will test the new group—and their fast-growing dragon—to the limit of their abilities, intelligence and resourcefulness as they push to get to Bloodrock before it’s too late.
Each day of gameplay increases their strength, reveals new secrets and prepares them for the tough battles ahead. But nothing can prepare them for the discovery upon breaking into the fortress of Bloodrock… what they find there could jeopardize their entire mission—and the fate of the world.
Dante Doom
Dante Doom didn’t touch a videogame or fantasy book until his 23rd year on Earth. He started working at an old-school arcade—hired primarily, he was told, because of his “badass ridiculous name”—and from then his education began. They started him on the classics, a strict diet of Pac-Man, Galaga, Donkey Kong, Asteroids, Dig Dug, Street Fighter, and Rampage.
Freakish proficiency. Beginners luck, they said. He was given well-loved copies of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn, Patrick Rothfuss’ The Name of the Wind and Anne McCaffrey’s Dragon Riders of Pern.
Devoured in days. Finally, he was invited up to the arcade owner’s private gaming room: Battletoads, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (NES), and Ghosts ‘n Goblins followed. Defeated, at last—maybe he wasn’t such a wunderkid, after all. But he didn’t give up. And that earned him a seat at the group’s D&D table. Many a happy day has passed since—he even beat TMNT’s Dam level and its health-draining pink seaweed.
Then a year ago, that same group introduced him to the new Fantasy-LitRPG genre—what Dante saw as the final stage in his education. Because, for him, it doesn’t get any better than LitRPG. The combination of an immersive fantasy world, gaming objectives and levelled progression makes for a fascinating storytelling experience. Inspired, he took two weeks holiday from the arcade, sat down and wrote the Dragon Kings of the New World series.
Find out what Dante is up to next at:
www.DanteDoom.com
www.facebook.com/DanteDoomBooks
Prologue
Van stared at the long, silver tube. He felt a shiver run down his spine as he remembered the last time he had been inside of that machine. A few weeks ago, he had been fighting for his life inside of that thing. His body had been perfectly still; the only parts of him that would move when he was inside of that tube were his eyes. He could remember the feeling of pain, too—the deep sensation of agony as he’d broken his bones from an impact. The simulation had ceased to be fun, and had grown far too real for his taste. And now… now he was going to be crawling right back into it.
“You look worried,” said a gentle voice beside him. Van glanced over to see one of the nurses quietly preparing the station. She smiled at him reassuringly. “These things are brand new, Van. The haptic pods are perfectly safe.”
“Were they safe for Trefor?” Van replied, putting a hand on the silver tube. A few weeks ago, he had been high on adrenaline, ready for anything, but now that he’d had more time to think, he realized just how real the danger of death was. The CIA had found the corpse of a young man in one of those tubes. They had kicked down the door to Trefor’s apartment, only to be greeted by a terrified staff of attendants.
Those people were supposed to have been the ones in charge of taking care of Trefor while he’d rested in a comatose state, playing the game professionally for Draco. According to Trefor’s head nurse, everything had been fine. His vitals were perfect, the game was running smoothly, and there were no errors being reported with the pod. Then, in a single moment, Trefor had been unable to breathe. He’d died a few moments later.
The autopsy had been revealing; it showed that Trefor’s spine had been severed at the neck in a single motion. The forensic pathologist’s office notes stated, “His spine was broken as if a pair of jaws closed around it.” Trefor’s body had been killed in the exact same way that his character had died. This was no coincidence, Van knew. Draco had either killed him or allowed him to die in real life. And this was the same fate awaiting Van, should their mission fail.
“There he is!” said a cheerful Sang. Van turned to face her and saw that she was beaming at him.
“Why are you so happy?” Van asked.
“Are you kidding me?” Sang asked, stretching her arms. “That vacation was terrible! There was nothing to do in that stupid country.”
“Nothing to do? Sang, we hiked, we ate the local cuisine, you took a four-day sojourn into the wilderness... we did a lot.”
“Yeah, but we didn’t get any work done!” Sang replied as she ran her hand over the haptic pod. “I think I’m ready to admit I’m a workaholic.”
“Yeah, well, if I could do nothing for the rest of my life, I would,” Van replied.
“Once we’re done with this mission, you can go right back to doing nothing,” Sang answered.
“I cannot believe you are this cheerful,” Van said. “You know we’re about to go into enemy territory again, right? We could die.”
“Die? Feh, we’re fine. I’ve been studying nonstop on Draco’s security systems. We’ve got this. Van, we have the entire government aiding us on this whole thing. We’re gonna do just fine.”
Van didn’t reply. He just quietly stared at the tube.
“You’re nervous, aren’t you?” Sang asked.
Van nodded, but didn’t spe
ak. He felt his heart in his throat as he looked at the tube.
“Hey, man, listen, I know it was kind of crazy last time we were in there, but this is different. We’ve got a full team backing us up now. They think they’ve figured out how to eject us anytime the game gets crazy. We aren’t going to die in there. We’re going to march in there, do some reconnaissance, and kick some weird alien ass. How does that sound?”
Van looked up at her and met her gaze. She seemed strong, confident and ready for action. The way she held herself was reassuring, as there was nothing but excitement and hunger in her eyes.
“Are… are you sure we can do this?” Van asked.
“Where is this coming from?” Sang responded, slapping him on the shoulder. “I thought you were an expert gamer who wasn’t afraid of anything.”
“When I was an expert gamer, the only thing I was worried about was losing fake internet points and my items,” Van replied. “Not dying. The only time I was worried about death was when I realized I had forgotten to eat for 12 hours straight.”
“Look, you have a choice here, Van. You can step up and serve your country and the world. You can come with me on some incredible adventure, fight bad guys, get paid, and have a blast. Or you can… go home. Buy a little haptic system for yourself. Play this game as just a regular player, and try to pretend that you are blissfully unaware of what’s going on here. You do have a choice, my friend. You can be the PC or the NPC. The hero or the shopkeeper. What’s it gonna be?”
“I’m legitimately surprised you used a gaming term right,” Van said with a smile. “Of course, I’m following you. I just wish I wasn’t this nervous. Trefor’s death spooked me like you wouldn’t believe.”
“I read the autopsy last week; crazy stuff, but don’t worry. We’re going to be fine,” Sang said as she lifted open her pod. “You ready?”
Van nodded and lifted his own pod open. It was eerie how coffin-like it looked on the inside.
“All systems are go!” called an engineer from the command room. Above them was a long glass balcony full of government workers who were monitoring the haptic pods. The CIA had put plenty of resources into this mission, and they had gone from a decrepit abandoned office to an actual counter-terrorism facility located somewhere in Washington.
“See you on the other side,” Sang said as she clambered into her pod and laid perfectly still. Van slowly climbed into his and took a deep breath. The lid slowly lowered over him then, and all he could wonder was if this was the last time he’d ever see the real world again.
Chapter One
Sang stretched her bowstring backwards, feeling the tightness of it. She still couldn’t believe how lifelike the game system was to her. She could smell the sweet scent of barbequed meat. There was laughter and chatter all around. It was incredible how detailed everything looked. She could even see the little bumps on the tavern table, and she could feel the coarseness of the wood with her fingers. Four weeks had been long enough for her to almost entirely forget how realistic the game was.
“Sang, earth to Sang,” Van said, snapping at her. She stiffened and looked up at him.
“What? Sorry, I was spacing for a moment.”
“The dragon—what are we supposed to do about the dragon?” he asked, pointing to the little dragon that was quietly sleeping on the table. It was about the size of a small dog, and seemed content just to lay there.
Sang gazed at the creature. She felt an aching in her head as she looked at it. The good aliens, nicknamed Allies, had pushed some kind of code into her mind and, despite all of her attempts, she hadn’t been able to understand what the message said. Every now and then, she would get hunches and inklings, but there was little she could decipher. And the government was equally baffled by the symbols that she had drawn for them. Contact was entirely dependent on this little dragon, whatever it was.
“Urp!” the dragon said as Sang poked it gently. It opened its eyes and yawned, its sharp teeth glistening in the light.
“Do you remember me?” Sang asked. It looked at her and slowly nodded.
“Earth, yes?” the dragon said.
“Yes, earth,” Sang replied.
“No,” Van interjected. “Not earth, video game.”
“Don’t confuse it!” Sang snapped.
“I’m not trying to confuse it, I’m just trying to tell it the truth!” Van protested as the dragon turned and began to gnaw on a piece of beef that had been sitting on the table.
“I have no idea what this thing is. It’s gotta be a program, right?” Sang asked. “Transmitted through the game to make conversation?”
“If it were a program, it’d speak in coherent sentences,” Van said.
“I heard it speak before,” Sang said. “It was kind of poetic. It said that Draco’s like locusts, hungry and unending.”
“Uh-huh,” Van said, his eyes shifting away from hers.
“Oh, you don’t believe me?”
“I didn’t hear it say anything other than earth,” Van said.
“I know it said something to me, damn it!”
“Damn it!” the dragon repeated.
“Hahaha, perfect. Let’s teach it to cuss!” Van said.
“Damn it!” the dragon said, hopping up and down.
“Yes!” Van cheered.
“Well, it needs a name. Do you have a name?” Sang asked. The dragon stared at her with its big yellow eyes. She wasn’t sure if it could comprehend her.
“I’m gonna name you… Jet!” Van said. “Cause you’re jet black!”
“Wow, way to go for the original name, Van,” Sang said as she rolled her eyes.
“It’s pretty great, isn’t it?” Van offered. He pointed to the dragon. “You Jet!”
“Jet?” the dragon repeated.
“Yes! You, Jet! Me, Van,” he said, pointing to himself. He pointed at Sang. “She, Damn It.”
“Don’t tell him that! My name is Sang; I’m Sang.”
“Sang. Van. Jet,” the dragon slowly said.
“Haha!” Van cheered, “It’s learning! I did it! I taught a dragon how to speak!”
“Well, keep it up,” Sang said. “Maybe if you endlessly babble to it, it’ll learn faster.”
“Genius!” Van said. He placed his elbows on the table, leaned his head forward, and began to babble endlessly to the creature.
As Sang watched the dragon try to bite Van’s nose, a noise caught her attention. It was a deep balooooo of a horn. She glanced out the window of the tavern just in time to see a streak of green scales fly past.
“Oh no!” Sang said as she leapt up and ran to the window. She could see a green dragon flying through the air, and riding atop it was a man holding a war horn. He blew into it again, emitting another loud balooooo sound.
“What’s up?” Van asked as he tried to pry the dragon off of his nose.
“We’re under attack! Draco knows we’re here!” Sang said.
“What? This quickly?” Van answered as he rushed up to one of the other windows. He glanced out and gasped. “Aw crap, we’re in trouble.”
“What’s the plan?” Sang asked. “Log out? Fight?”
“Run!” Van said as he made a dash for the exit, cradling the dragon in hand. In a split second, the entire tavern was on fire, flames bursting through all of the windows. Sang narrowly managed to avoid getting hit by the fire. The green dragon had flown past again and was breathing fire into the building.
“Get out of here, Sang!” Van said as he tried to force his way past the rubble. Sang could feel the stinging sensation in her lungs as she inhaled the smoke. She hacked and wheezed as she tried to navigate through the debris. The roof had collapsed from the fire and smoke was everywhere, making it nearly impossible for her to see.
“Van, I can’t see!” she called out, gasping for breath. Her health meter was beginning to rapidly drop due to the fact that she was inhaling nothing but smog. She wobbled a bit, but felt a strong hand grab her and pull her.
“There y
ou are!” Van said as he led Sang out of the burning building. They collapsed on the ground, coughing and wheezing as the tavern’s entirety imploded behind them.
“No time to celebrate,” Van wheezed as he scrambled to his feet. “We’re under attack!”
“How could Draco have found us so quickly?” Sang asked once she caught her breath. Her lungs still felt as if they were on fire, and she could see that her health meter had dropped down to half.
“Good news is, it’s not Draco,” Van said. “The bad news is that it’s an invasion.”
“Invasion?” Sang repeated, looking around to see that the small town they had been occupying was now entirely on fire. People were fighting in the streets against Goblins and Orcs, and the dragon was flying around lighting anything it could see on fire. It was pure chaos.
“Yes, invasion,” Van said as he straightened up. “This town is in Rosethorn, one of the Contentious Kingdoms. That means that other kingdoms will occasionally declare war and try to attack. Right now, it looks like we’re fighting against the Kingdom of Ceren.”
“Oh, so this is an event?” Sang asked as she watched the dragon land on one of the buildings and begin to bite at nearby adventurers.
“Yeah, it happens all the time,” Van said. “It’s good experience points if we join the fight, even if they lose. Let’s jump in!”
“We’re not here to fight in events,” Sang said. “We’re trying to learn more about Draco.”
