by Dante Doom
“Oh, right,” Sang said. “I guess no one would have any reason to try and get inside here if they were the wrong level.”
“So, are we fighting or what?” Capello asked as he clacked his axes together. “I’m getting impatient here.”
“Getting impatient?” Sahara asked. “I can’t remember a single time when you were patient.”
“Seconded,” Dolly said. “In fact, I say we all vote to make him dig.”
“Get as many players as you can,” Van said. “We’re going to start digging underneath the wall. Hopefully, it doesn’t go into the ground too deep.”
Bidane shot a look over at Van. He tried to ignore her and went back to focusing on organizing his team. He knew that she was going to be very suspicious about the fact that they were now in an insanely high-level area, but she had been so busy running her own team so far that she hadn’t had time to argue with him. So, he’d just have to make sure to keep her as busy as possible until they got through the walls.
As Van tried to ignore her stern and annoyed gaze, a black figure in the corner of his eye caught his attention. It was Jet. The dragon had trotted over to a section of the wall and was staring blankly at it. It clawed a few times at the structure.
“Hey, Sang,” Van said. “Something’s up with Jet.”
Sang turned from her conversation with Kylian. “Well, go find out what he wants—I’m trying to figure out logistics here.”
Van opened his mouth to argue with her about her tone, but realized that she was most likely overwhelmed with the stress of the situation. Rather than lay into her, he chose to turn and walk to where Jet was standing.
“What’s up?” Van asked.
Jet didn’t reply, and rather placed one talon on the wall.
“Is it weak here? I’m really not up for the Lassie treatment here, so just whisper,” Van suggested as he knocked against the wall. It was nice and solid, not hollow in the least.
Jet growled a little at him, but didn’t turn his attention away from the wall. Van placed both his hands on the wall and tried to push. A hissing noise emanated from the wall as the stones began to slide apart slightly. Van could see something behind the sections. Lights shined as he continued to push open the stones, which then fully slid open into what looked like some kind of a maintenance panel. Crystals of blue and red were arranged on the side of the panel as if they made up some kind of circuit board. It reminded Van of looking at a box full of fuses.
“Whoa,” he mumbled as he placed a hand on one of the crystals. It crackled and popped as he touched it, firing electricity into his fingers. “Yipes!” he yelped as he pulled his fingers away from the crystal. Was it some kind of control for the gate? It didn’t look like anything he had seen in the game before. This might be some kind of technical control that the programmers could be using. Maybe it was a debugging panel.
“Sang!” Van said, waving over to her. She was busy overseeing the team of men who had begun to dig into the ground.
“What?” she asked as she glanced over at him.
“Come take a look at this!” Van called.
Sang frowned as she walked up to him. “Did you figure out what Jet wanted? The team is seriously giving me flak about digging through the ground, and they’re starting to…” her words trailed off as she noticed the panel sticking out of the wall.
“I think it’s some kind of control,” Van said. “But I dunno.”
“Hmmm,” Sang replied as she glanced at the crystals. “I’ve seen these before, as some kind of message board, but these look different. The message board I saw was larger. I wonder…” She grabbed a crystal and pulled it out of the wall.
“How is it not shocking you?” Van asked.
“It is, I’m just ignoring it,” she replied as she pulled one of the blue crystals out. “What happens if we switch these?” she mused as she swapped the two crystals. There was a loud ka-thunk noise that emanated from the wall itself.
“What happened?” Van asked.
“Not sure, let me mess around with this,” Sang replied as she began to fiddle with the crystals. After a few minutes of pulling out the glowing gems and rearranging them, there was another loud ka-thunk sound, although this one was far louder. A grinding noise accompanied it and Van could see that the wall itself was beginning to slowly open up.
“How did you do that?” Van gasped as he stepped backwards. The left and the right sections of the wall were opening up like a doorway.
“This thing controls how the wall functions on a programming level,” Sang said. “Some gems control height, strength, width, etc. So, all I did was change the dimensions so that the wall could open up for people. I believe it was put in for pro players to use in controlling how sieges go. Sometimes the wall can be shattered, and sometimes it can be impossible to break through.”
“Amazing,” Van said as he turned to face the team that was busy digging. “Hey, guys, cancel that order! We’re moving through the wall!”
“What?” Bidane asked. The entire army turned around at once to see the large opening that had been created. “How did that happen?”
“Looks like it was some kind of oversight,” Van said. “Let’s go, team!”
“Incredible!” Kylian said as he began to walk toward the opening.
“Oversight…” Bidane repeated as she crossed her arms. It was clear that she wasn’t buying what Van was selling. In his defense, he wasn’t lying; it really had been an oversight on Draco’s part. They should have done a better job of hiding a game control system from the players.
“Yeah, there was some kind of bypass that we figured out,” Sang said. “It’s not our fault that they didn’t patch it.”
Bidane shrugged. “I guess there’s nothing wrong with using something they didn’t fix. But…” her voice grew quiet and she looked around to make sure no one was within earshot. The rest of the army was hastily moving into Bloodrock, though, and no one was paying any mind to them. “Look, you guys aren’t hacking, are you? There’s something really off about this.”
“What? Hacking?” Van asked. “Not at all—we don’t cheat.”
“Are you sure?” Bidane asked as she pointed to Jet, who was lying on the ground and staring wistfully at the clouds. “Because for you to have a mount at this level… it seems a little suspicious. Especially when it’s a dragon mount.”
Sang shrugged. “I don’t have to answer to you. You’re free to leave the group if you want, but some of us have things to do.” And with that, she stormed off past the walls. Jet didn’t move to follow her, however.
“Wow, is that how you’re going to treat a teammate?” Bidane shouted back at her. “Get back here! Don’t you dare walk away from me!” The priestess chased after Sang, who was still ignoring her and pretending not to hear.
Van sighed. While it would suck to lose Bidane, they were at a point where they had enough people on their team to make up for the loss. He slowly walked to the entrance to Bloodrock. Glancing at Jet, he spoke. “Hey, you coming?”
Jet shook his head. “No,” the dragon whispered. “This place is different.”
“How?” Van asked, wondering if it knew there was a trap waiting.
“I am a physical vessel resting in a tube,” it replied. “The biofeedback systems can kill me. Bloodrock is different from the rest of this place.”
“You think we’re going to be killed in there?” Van asked.
Jet nodded. “I fear the worst.”
“Well… is there any way to avoid dying in there?”
“Just stay alive in the game,” Jet said.
Van looked at the entrance to Bloodrock. He felt a shiver run down his spine.
“I fear that I am not willing to risk my life for you,” Jet said. “If you two should perish, I will find others.” It paused. “No offense.”
“Gee, none taken,” Van said as he gritted his teeth. He had been fine with being inside of the game, but with this revelation, he was facing one of his worst fears
. Then again, what was he supposed to do? If he didn’t carry on with the mission, the world would be obliterated in some kind of a horribly cataclysmic chain of events. He had to move forward, for the good of the mission. With a deep breath, he took a few steps forward, but then felt himself stop.
“Afraid?” Jet asked.
“How can I not be?” Van asked as he turned to look at the dragon. “I don’t want to die.”
“I don’t believe anyone does,” Jet said. “But, you must ask: is it worth living in the world that Draco is creating?”
Van’s mind flashed to the various offers that Draco had given him. The contrast between dying and living like a king was quite steep.
“I… I don’t know,” Van whispered as he walked on into Bloodrock. “I just don’t know.”
12
Van glanced at the weary army as they trudged through the mountainous realm of Bloodrock. Now that they’d gotten past the wall, they could see Castle Ceren in the distance. King Lemuel would be there.
“Man, this pace is too much for our troops,” Kylian said. “Most of them keep logging out.” They had briefly stopped at the base of the mountain that would take them straight to Ceren. Players kept leaving the game, though, and the forces were dwindling down to only a handful of people. Van could count about 20 left.
“Too much for me,” Sahara said. “I’m loving this crazy event, but I need to sleep at some point in my life. I’m out.” And with that, she vanished.
“Me, too,” Capello said. “Too late for me.”
“And me,” Kylian said. “I’m gonna take off.”
One by one, the rest of the group vanished—all except for Sang, Van, and Bidane.
“I know you’re cheating,” Bidane said. “I know you’re cheating and I want to know why.”
Sang growled at Bidane, but said nothing.
“Look, Bidane, take it easy. We’re all tired; why don’t you log out and then we can figure it out tomorrow morning.”
“Feh,” Bidane spat. “I’m not going anywhere.”
Van shrugged. “Well, we need to keep going.” He began to walk up the path leading toward the mountain range. Sang followed him wordlessly.
“Why shouldn’t I just report you two?” Bidane demanded. “You’re breaking all sorts of rules, just by being here.”
“Report us? Do you have any proof?” Sang asked.
“I’ll have proof when I catch you hacking again,” Bidane said as she followed the pair forward.
They walked in silence for some time, and reached the peak of the mountain area pretty quickly; this one wasn’t nearly as large as some of the other regions. The castle wasn’t too far from them now. It was heavily fortified, with walls that seemed to be made of steel. Van could see the movement of the soldiers below.
“Van!” Sang hissed as she pointed over to the right of Castle Ceren. Van squinted to see that there was a Kyrissian army flag raised high. “Why are they here?”
“No idea,” Van muttered. “Are they fighting?”
“They can’t be,” Sang said. “If they were, they wouldn’t be camping right now. It’s not like they can lay siege to a place this powerful.” She frowned. “Actually, you know what... I intercepted a message that one of the pro players was supposed to be moving over there. I think his name was Zac.”
“Zac? Oh, he’s one of the leaders for the Kyrissians. A Draco pro…” Van’s words trailed off once he realized the enormity of the problem facing him. If Zac actually was there, then it meant that Draco was expecting Van and his team to arrive. The army would be strong enough to fight against Van without King Lemuel being anywhere close to the battle.
“Crap,” Sang said. “If he’s a pro, then we’re in trouble.”
“I really wish you had told me about this sooner!” Van chided.
“I completely forgot,” Sang said as she shook her head. “Sorry, with all of this pressure and the not sleeping, it’s starting to get to me. I told you about the sleeper, right?”
“Yeah, you mentioned him,” Van replied. This information didn’t really change anything, but it would have been nice to know ahead of time.
“Sorry,” Sang quietly mumbled. Van opened his mouth to lambast her, but realized how exhausted she looked. He chose instead to just brush past it and focus on the problem at hand.
“How are we supposed to get close to Lemuel with two armies against us?” Van asked.
“What are you two talking about?” Bidane asked. “We don’t have a big enough force to take even one army. Why are we even here?”
Van gritted his teeth. He had no idea what to do. As he stared intently at the army several miles away, his eyes drifted to the left. There was a forest that was right next to the castle. The front of the castle was completely clear of all trees, but the forest was connected to the side of the castle walls. It would make for the perfect cover for the army to move through. They could scale the walls early in the morning and surprise Lemuel. The Iron Dragons didn’t need to defeat the army, after all: they just needed to capture the king.
“Alright, I have a plan. Sang, we’ll need to scout ahead. Bidane, for the love of God, please stay behind and set up the camp so that everyone can log in right here in the morning,” Van said.
“You’re crazy if you think I’m staying here,” Bidane replied.
Sang walked away from them and began to head down the slope leading toward the forest. It seemed that she had come to the same conclusion as Van.
“Bidane, you’ve got two options; stick around here or leave the group. It’s up to you,” Van said as he crossed his arms.
Bidane growled at him, but said nothing. Her eyes narrowed as she glared at Van. “I’m not going anywhere. So fine, I’ll stay here and get the camp going. If you think you can ditch me, though, you’re in for hell. I’ll march right down there and talk to those pros and tell them all about the two hackers I’ve been working with.”
“We’re coming right back,” Van said. He turned and began walking after his partner. The two walked down the slope wordlessly. Eventually, when they were out of range, Sang began to speak.
“The clock is ticking here,” she said. “An hour to go before Sleep Time. Then we’re done. How in the hell are we supposed to find anything here?”
“Don’t ask me,” Van replied. “It’s not like we were expecting some kind of big bookshelf that said ‘Draco’s Evil Plans’ on it.”
“So, you’re thinking about using the forest to ambush Lemuel? Scout the area and find a path to an unprotected place on the wall?”
“Exactly,” Van said. “It’s kind of cool how we’re thinking on the same wavelength.”
“It would be better if this operation wasn’t tanking in an hour,” Sang said.
“I thought you said we’d have some kind of chance to keep going after this.”
“I don’t know what I said,” Sang replied with a long, heavy sigh. “I’m really tired, Van. I’m exhausted and I don’t know what to do.”
“Just keep pushing forward, I guess,” Van said as they walked up to a sign that was sticking out of the ground. It was placed at the mouth of the path leading into the forest. It was in a foreign language that Van didn’t know.
“Crap, what does this say?” Van asked.
“No idea. Doesn’t look like any language I’ve seen before,” Sang said. “Almost like an alien language. I wish Jet were here; he could read it.”
“Yeah,” Van said, thinking briefly about the cave they had passed on the way up the mountain. He’d been glad that Jet hadn’t been with him at the time, because the more he thought about the chances of dying, the more scared he was becoming. It would have been really easy to buckle in a moment of weakness.
“Well, let’s go,” Sang said. “We’re burning moonlight.”
They walked into the forest and, at once, Van could feel a powerful chill washing over him. The words You Have Entered A Dangerous Place floated above them. “Holy crap, this forest is freezing,” he m
uttered.
“No kidding,” Sang replied as they walked. “It’s almost like someone turned the air conditioning on.”
There was something off about the trees. They were broken and warped, bending forward as if they were rotting. Moss hung from them and they seemed to sway in the breeze. The entire area was devoid of all life, though. No birds chirped; no creatures rustled around. They were walking in a dead and barren forest.
“Something about this place is really off,” Sang said.
“Tell me about it,” Van replied as he looked around. A very long snake slithered through one of the roots on the ground, causing Van to pause. He watched as the creature slid across the ground effortlessly. It seemed to be most at home in this weird place. It looked at him for a moment, and Van realized that the snake had no eyes. The words Snake ??? hovered above its head and, when Van tried to access the creature’s character sheet, it didn’t have any additional information other than two stats.
“The hell?” Sang asked, watching the snake in curiosity.
“Probably some kind of bug. Maybe this area is under construction. That would explain why it’s so weird,” Van reasoned as they continued down the path. The forest was growing denser with each step and Van could scarcely see in front of him. Sang’s lantern was dimly lit, for fear of attracting unwanted attention.
A loud clucking sound caught both of their attention at once. In the distance, by one of the trees, there was a single chicken. It clucked as it hopped around.
“This is no place for a chicken,” Sang chuckled as she continued forward. Van frowned and decided to investigate further. He slowly walked over to where it was, only to hear the snapping of the twigs on the ground. He leapt behind a tree just in time as a woman appeared next to the chicken.
“There ya are,” the woman said with a raspy voice. She was wearing tattered robes and her hair was long and wild. Dirt was smeared across her face, and the torch she carried in her left hand illuminated a very nasty sneer.
