by Dante Doom
He could smell the disgustingly musty stink of the underground mushrooms as he descended lower into the temple. He nervously checked the time; it was 2 hours past Sleep Time’s beginning. He hated being in the game during Sleep Time. Finally, he reached the room where the Council was waiting for him. He took a deep breath and pulled his cloak off from his head.
“Now or never,” Kenwar muttered to himself as he strolled into the room. It was dark. Too dark for him to see anything but silhouettes of figures in the background. They moved back and forth, and he felt an uneasiness run through him. Never had he seen so many members of the Council before. Not at once.
“Manhunter Kenwar,” boomed a voice. “Step forth.”
Kenwar did as he was told, stepping out into the small beam of light that was cast upon the center of the room. He knelt down.
“You may arise,” said an elder, crackly voice. “We have called you forth because your services are required.”
“As you wish, my lords,” Kenwar said, keeping his head bowed. His heart was through the roof right now; if they were upset with him in any capacity, if he’d offended them, they were liable to kill him. He knew that all too well. The fate of the last Manhunter had never been officially disclosed, but everyone knew the truth. He’d mouthed off and then been silenced for good.
“We have a great problem in our midst,” said the elder, “for a Messenger lies dead.”
“How can that be?” Kenwar gasped.
“He was a fool!” croaked another elder with a deeper, almost froglike voice. “He played his hand too quickly and was cocky. He made the mistake of underestimating humans.”
“You speak as if Messengers controlled themselves!” shrieked one of the others in the darkness. She had a feminine voice, but it was bridled with rage. “The elder who controlled the Messenger was toying with the humans. We will find the one whose mind directed that Messenger and they will be punished!”
“Do not speak of Draco matters in front of a human!” boomed another one, his voice far more powerful than the others who’d already spoken. Everyone’s murmuring stopped at his words. “This is not for you to worry about.”
Kenwar just kept his gaze down, not responding to anything that was happening quite yet.
“The one who killed a Messenger is not like the other humans who wander in this world,” the big voice continued. “For she carries within her head a valuable item. She carries the words and wisdom of the Others.”
“The Others? I thought they were just a myth!” Kenwar said.
“You thought what we wanted you to think!” shrieked the rage-filled female. The rest of the room chittered with anger, as well.
“Silence! We will show respect to the Manhunter!” croaked the froglike voice. “For we have chosen him to undertake such a task as this!”
“To respect a human is to respect an ant!” the woman said back.
“Again, I say, silence!” boomed the big voice, and this time there was some kind of force to the way he spoke; it resonated throughout the entire room and it drove Kenwar hunching further toward the ground.
“Manhunter! Listen to my words. There is a woman who holds the key to fighting the Others. In her company is a Dragon. Kill the Dragon, and bring us the woman. We have a spy within her ranks. He has successfully persuaded her and her organization to return to this world in order to learn our secrets. We will not act with an open hand, for we do not know what they have learned yet. You and you alone are the one who is tasked with this job. We shall pretend as if we are not watching their every move. They must feel safe. They must believe they are prevailing over us. Then, you will swoop in and seize her. Under no circumstances can you allow her to die.”
“I see,” Kenwar said as he rose to his feet. “You have nothing to worry about. I shall do as you ask.”
“There is another matter at hand,” said the loudest elder. “There will be in her company a fool of a man. See to it that he is not killed until we say so, for he will be useful to us.”
“Yes, my lord,” Kenwar said as he glanced at the interface. He saw the picture of a ranger and a bard. He analyzed them for a few minutes.
“They will be returning to this world within six weeks, Manhunter. Do what is necessary to prepare for the mission.”
Kenwar bowed deeply. “I am honored to receive such a mission. I will not fail.”
“Oh, we have no doubt that you will succeed. You will not be like our previous Manhunter,” cackled the female. “Unless, of course, you fail! Then you will resemble her in more than one way!”
Kenwar felt a shiver run down his spine as he turned and walked to the exit. He heard the chittering and laughter of the voices behind him.
End of The Star Dragon
Blurb
Mysteries abound as a dangerous game becomes deadly…
Dedicated gamer Van and his CIA agent partner Sang have successfully infiltrated Dragons Kings 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.
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 speak. 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.
1
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.
“Wha
t’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 you 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.
