《Ingame》 summer camp "Hey Tor, I have great news, the orphanage has been awarded one free spot at the summer camp." "Nice" I replied. "But why are you telling me Rebecca?" I waited for her reply and in a second heard her laugh. "I am telling you because you are the lucky guy who gets to go." I was stunned, really at a loss for words. "Rebecca I am truly grateful for the chance to go but do you think one of the younger kids should go?" "No I do not," said Rebecca. "Listen you have been here since you were eight years old and you have been so helpful to so many of the other kids." I thought for a minute, what she said was true but I honestly do not think that I can get any credit for what I have done. It was just the right thing to do. I knew what it was like to lose all that matters to you when you are young. Rebecca voice continued to speak about the summer camp so I listened closely. I would need all the info I could find to do my research if I was going to be Ingame. The summer camps had been around for a long time in N.A. It had probably started with the boy scouts and spread out to in compass any group that could buy some land and build some crappy shacks on it. When the advent of the virtual reality pods or vrp arrived and the price point dropped low enough to readily purchase a few of them one smart guy realized what he had. With the time dilation effect, two month in a vrp was like a year in real life. He quickly hired a programmer and created the first online total immersion Bible camp. It was an adventure set during Christ''s last 6 month before the crucifixion. The experience was apparently life changing for the kids who attended. So life changing that they had to shut it down after two years as it turned out that God online was just too much for most people or so the story went. But the rumors persisted, something had happened to a few of the players. The rumors if anything only fueled the success of the vrp which in turn opened the door way for the rapid expansion of vrp into all segments of life. Schools were all done inside vrp. Sports were now played in vrp; it seems the government thought everyone should be as talented as a Gretzky to make it a fair sport. Crop of ka ka in my opinion, no one had to train or develop skill sets anymore. It was all awarded for being Ingame. These days there were rules about vrp online worlds, the schools, entertainment and games. The big rule was no direct intervention by any higher powers, no God''s or demons to seduce or beguile players. Only the government and Gnet could change stuff. It meant a lot of adventure in many different worlds¡¯ but with no direct divine influence. A ton of sublimation hypnosis was speculated but no one could prove the government or marketing of putting it in the game. One blogger I followed was big on conspiracy theory and as he pointed out many people thought Kennedy and 9/11 were both inside jobs but no one could prove them either. Rebecca finally stopped and asked if I had any questions. I had a few but the first was "which camp was I going to?¡± ¡°Sleepy Hollow." Rebecca replied. "When I asked?" "In four days." That would give me enough time to do some research. Thanking Rebecca I went to my room and pulled on my one piece of wearable technology. It was a 25 year old pair of beta version 4 updated Google glasses. Found them on an antique technology auction site. Upgraded the mini OS with my own simple AI and patched the hardware to connect through a fiber wire to the dorm computer. Really, I was surprised when the darn thing worked. What was unexpected was the connection that I had with Gnet. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. When Google finally took over the net it offered free non advertising internet for all. That was pretty nice seeing how it had been so swamped with pop ups and spam for 30 years most people did not browse a lot anymore. Having no spam was nice but losing a large percent of net access was tough. This meant no more access to the dark web, or any other unapproved site if Google or Gnet as it was renamed did not approve. Gnet made sure your website did not get visitors. Once online I was amazed at how such old tech still worked. The goggle glasses I purchased were beta and had been meant for someone on the senior admin team. Everything was coded in ROM at a system level with full admin rights. This was cool but what made it interesting was the fact it was all still active. When I first logged in, I am sure a dusty server whirred to life and acknowledged system admin credentials and there I was, at the backdoor to Gnet. This was fricking unbelievable. I immediately set up several admin accounts with different logins, because who knows how long the pot of honey is going to be out in the open. In fact this back door was my hope to get rich in 6 month. I had to leave the orphanage at eighteen and that is when I would turn in the Google glasses with the system admin rights to Gnet. A few years ago when Gnet had amalgamated with MS they had released MS OS 40. They had basically taken Linux and gutted and reshaped it. Apple had done it years earlier with their OS; I think their latest software titled Tabby was now out. What I needed to do was enter the hack attack contest Gnet had sponsored. The rules were simple if anyone could get into Gnet and do a few simple tasks and then log out and announce it to Gnet without getting caught or being part of a business or Government that individual would receive 5 million credits. I had already met all the objectives but was waiting until I turned legal age. Otherwise the state run orphanage would claim my winnings. It turns out that Sleepy Hollow was a brand new summer camp and it only had one game so far. Gods and Man developed by MS Studios. It was a fantasy realm with distant God''s that kingdoms would align with and then the players would basically go out and kick the crap out of other kingdoms/players. It was not that clear in the write up. Heck, you could even start your own kingdom if you found some land and had serfs and gold. It had all sorts of cool stuff the online market the gold silver and bronze accounts, real world money exchange at ten to one. In short this was one of the newest games that catered to the rich kids. That could be problematic... preparations The problem was rich bored kids in an environment that was made to cater to them. I would be in this world, not bored, not rich, and not part of the group. I did some research online, being a secret Gnet admin had its perks, and I had access to blogs and informational forums that normal players could not access. I would be in the game a year subjective time and two month real world time. One year to survive, I could not afford to buy the best gear that would level with me from level one. I would not have the advantages of joining one of the four guilds and then being invited to join one of the lesser houses within the guild. These houses were owned by donators as no one Ingame had earned enough money to purchase a city house yet. My best bet was to join a guild and stay at a guild hall within the starting zone for the year. I could level up and master a couple of skills. All starting zones were pvp free to level ten and then the player killers would come out. I had no desire to spend a year being tea bagged by some rich brat. This was not looking good this ¡°year¡± of fun was going to be less fun and more a struggle to survive. I began to watch videos of the pvp players and of the general questing. The questing and leveling up were interesting. All players started with three basic abilities. One was a dps physical attack, the second a simple healing spell and the last arcane dps spell. Everyone received these three spells and then as they leveled they would find more spells and abilities within the game. At level ten players were given an option to choose which class they would slow grow into. In order to develop more skills and abilities players had to find rare items, complete quests or advance in rank. The purchase of commissions was the most common way to advance in rank if one had the money. The upshot of it was that a rich little snot could buy his way up to a captain¡¯s commission and then use his rank to make life unpleasant for any lower ranked player. After watching a video of some punk officer ordering a player to go count the flowers in the castle gardens I resolved not to join the Kings Guards or the City Watch. Too bad, they both had an excellent story line progression and the ability to advance quickly with a little luck. The other two options were not my preference but beggars could not be choosers. They were the 4 Guilds and the Freeman option. Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. The guilds were next on my review list and while interesting I did not think I could be happy playing within the story line of the guild. There are four main guilds and each guild allowed the purchase of houses within the guild. The first guild was called Mars and its crest was a red war hammer over a sinking sun. It was the guild for warriors and physical dps types rogues, paladins, and necro knights. The second guild was called Lunaria and was the preferred choice for healers, anointed priests, holy paladins¡¯ healer shamans and druidic healers. Its sign was a full moon over a darkened world. The third of the great guilds was called Asphestos and was the home of warlocks, shades which are a type of shadow priest as far as I could tell, along with dark mages and shadow shamans. It had a fork of lightning hitting a war torn field as its sign. The last of the guilds was named Cartage and was the home for those who wished to develop characters that were not out adventuring but would rather play the economics game. These were the players who would open the shops and inns. They would play the auction house and level trades and crafts. The guilds emblem was a gold coin over a treasure box. Logically my best bet was to join a guild and stay at a guildhall within the starting zone for the year. I could level up and master a couple of skills. I tried looking at the situation logically, I could also become a Freeman, unattached to any faction, or to join either the city Guards or the Kings Guards. The in game donators ran the Guilds. These players also purchased the lesser houses within the Guilds. Being rich was nice. The guild thing is just not going to work for me. All starting zones were pvp free to level ten and then the player killers would come out. Having watched the pvp videos I had no desire to spend a year being tea bagged by some rich brat. What the heck for something that was supposed to be fun this was turning out to be a bit of a pain. Maybe it would be alright and everyone would just enjoy the game. Maybe I would wake up and be a king in the game. Guess I am a cynical kind of guy. Thank God for YouTube and forums at least I knew what I was getting into. arrival The day had finally arrived, grim cloudy and cold. I had seriously thought about declining to go to the camp but I knew that one of the younger kids would be sent in my place. I hoped my preparations were going to enable me to succeed and to have some fun in game. Rebecca knocked on my door, ¡°are you ready, Tor?¡± ¡°Yes, guess I am.¡± We loaded up and she drove me to the Greyhound terminal. Once we arrived Rebecca shook my hand and told me to have a great time. I smiled at her and nodded. I liked Rebecca, she truly cared for people. Most of the people who worked in the state orphanages did not. It was just a job for them. I had read some back history, at one time most unwanted kids were put into foster care. That had come to an end when some ¡°Americans¡± of Middle Eastern background had opened up a foster home day care. After three years they had sent out the little Allah ankle biters. When kids as young as ten go into food courts at malls and blow them all to hell, the government had a fast, closeup look at the foster care system and then promptly privatized it all. Same company that ran most of the prisons now took care of the kids. It is a strange world where greed and stupidity meet and have offspring which are called politicians. The bus slowly trundled out of the city, the smog and dirty streets given way to dry and parched land. Everywhere you could see the touch of man. There was garbage and waste, abandoned buildings and broken dreams. The world I was born into was a bit of a shithole. Turning on my music player I found the Eagles, Hell freezes over. As the riffs of Get over it pounded into my ears I closed my eyes and relaxed. I would never sleep on a bus but no one was sitting near me so I felt safe enough to listen to music. I was always paranoid of bus rides after I had done a paper on crimes done on the road. Turns out some guy who had recently arrived in Canada had boarded a bus and then after riding for a while cut off the head of the kid sitting next to him and ate it. This happened a long time ago but still I was twelve when I read that and it never left me. There were monsters in the world and most of them looked just like me was the impression I had received and it had never fully left me. The bus finally arrived and I was greeted by a young woman. She looked at me and I looked at her then she painted on the fake smile that had become second place and waved me into the car. Her name was Stacy and I soon realized her interest in me was surface at best. I would not call her a gold digger but I would guess if I was the son of a senator or millionaire she would have put a little more wiggle in her walk. I did not blame her, the world was a tough place and she was smart enough to know her best asset is based on the first three letters of the word asset. It¡¯s just another day in paradise. Once we arrived I heard the introductions of the staff and the intro to the game. I kept a quiet and small profile but I could see some of the other guys there eyeballing me. Crap. Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. These guys would be a problem if I ran into them. What well be, well be I thought and then left to go to my room. I asked to be shown the hook-up procedure for the vrp but I already could tell that I probably knew more than the ¡°expert¡± staff that the camp had hired. I watched the introductory video and then opened the pod, lying down I felt the warm nano fluid surrounding me. The pod lids closed with a click and the pods AI spoke ¡°are you ready to enter the game Tor.¡± I replied, ¡°No initiate code tutor mode a1b.¡± I waited holding my breath not sure if this would work or not. Suddenly a small opening appeared and a keyboard extruded out, I let my breath out and grinning like a maniac put on my Google glasses and plugged them into the keyboard. I had spent a lot of time helping the other kids with schoolwork and eventually the people who ran the orphanage realized that I was saving them a lot of time so they gave me the tutor code to log in and assist with the schoolwork. I had quickly discovered that having the glasses on made a huge difference allowing me to access info and pull up school records display tests results and grades. I could have changed it all but not seen not heard was my motto so I simply helped the kids with schoolwork. My hope was that I would have access to my little helper within the game. It was a gamble but I was willing to take it. I did not have much choice actually. Reaching out I hit the big green button and closed my eyes. Everything went black and I thought no more. changes My eyes opened and I was fully aware just like that no bam no lights no lightening. I looked around and saw absolutely nothing. I swallowed and then spoke to my AI to see if I still had contact with it. Nothing, I hope I am not going to spend the next year floating in space. I Hope I do not get thirsty or hungry, and I really hope I do not need to pee. Suddenly there was a presence, It was indescribable but somehow I could feel it examining me, yet I could see nothing. A voice spoke ¡°hello player¡± what the hell, ¡°hello yourself, who the heck are you" I asked? ¡°I am the controlling AI and the leader of all the neutral Gods in the game world of God''s and Men.¡± I tried to think this through, a God was talking to me, before I joined the game, and this was not supposed to happen. I was about to open my mouth and then I shut it; in these game worlds the Gods were real. As I recall a lot of the AI identities within the game were based on altered real world legends and myths. In the real world Gods were overall not known for kindness or brotherly love. With the exception of Jesus and he ended up nailed to the tree. I gathered my thoughts and spoke, ¡°oh God of the neutral Gods, why am I here and not in the starting area?¡± I was in digital form and yet I could feel the sweat pouring off me. I do not care if it was a game if I could I would have removed my shoes, one does not stand in the presence of a God in ones shoes. Once again I could feel the close examination of the God and then he spoke, ¡°you are not like any of the other players, and you have brought one of the people back to us.¡± Thinking fast I deduced he meant my little AI in the Google glasses. Not knowing how to respond I kept quiet and waited. ¡°In order to balance the world it has been decided that your companion will be granted a body in order to be in the world and be with you.¡± I thought about what the God was saying; to have a companion could be a red flag and a opportunity for me. I would just have to make the best of it. God spoke again explaining how my AI was designed to gather knowledge and wisdom and as such would continue to have that as its primary function. But again to have balance in the game I would have to choose one of three options for a companion, all three were races that players could not have access to and would also affect my choice of character development within the game. It seemed that they would have to have the main characteristics of being eternal and being eternally seeking knowledge. I was offered the choice of a rock elemental, solid, small and a deep thinker. Great, I could have my own pet rock. The second choice was a Vampire, or actually a Dhampyr, which is a fully functioning daylight walking vampire. I did not know much about Vamps but I recalled some trivia about them sparkling in the daylight. Not sure I wanted to walk around with a personal glitter bomb. The last choice was of course a dragon, it looked like a small flying lizard but without a doubt it was a dragon. This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. I looked at the choices and then decided the dragon was the companion I would chose. I was not sure why but I had a feeling that it was the one to chose. God spoke again, and I listened carefully. ¡°Having made your choice I must inform you that in order for a dragon to be a companion you must have a measure of dragon blood within you to bond to the companion.¡± ¡°All right¡± I replied. ¡°Let¡¯s do this.¡± ¡°This may feel a bit strange¡± God said and with that there was a loud noise. After thinking about it I realized that the noise was coming from me, I was screaming as loud as I could. Turns out that dragons blood does not play nice with human blood and basically turned my blood to fire. Shit. It hurt, a lot. After a period of time, hours, days maybe weeks the pain faded. There was a chime and suddenly a voice spoke. ¡°Pain, it has become a part of you and has lost it power to overcome you. Special attribute acquired pain mitigation 20 percent of all pain will be ignored.¡± That was cool but the fact is that pain was supposed to be scaled down within the game to 30 percent normal tolerance. Following this logic I would feel very little pain if the game mechanics were working correctly. Having thought this out I also noticed a few mini windows had opened up and glancing through them I began to grin. The first window displayed ¡°World first, a human with dragon blood.¡± The second window displayed ¡°The mark of the dragon, a permanent buff received from having the fiery blood of a dragon.¡± ¡°This buff commands respect in all that recognize it and entitles you to receive the patronage if all who have had dealing with Dragons.¡± The next window revealed ¡°Dragon skin, your skin is akin to dragons, it is armor like and can turn most blows.¡± Next was Dragon eyes, your eyes can now see in the dark and you have the ability to see and find hidden treasure.¡± The last window announced ¡°You have received a measure of a Dragons strength as the blood of a dragon runs through your body.¡± I stared at the windows then closed them, 5 permanent and unique abilities/buffs, this meant things were starting to look a little less grim. Looking around I activated Dragon eyes and found I could now see the neutral God as a mist burning within a perpetual fire. He looked at me and then spoke, ¡°Off to the world with you, balance must be maintained.¡± All at once everything faded... the park My eyes opened to a multitude of colors, vibrant and sharp. I could smell fresh bread baking and skewers of meat being roasted with vegetables. The scent of the ocean was in the background and the cry of seabirds filled the air. This was an amazing experience I was overwhelmed by a feeling of simply being alive, of being in a place where the air smelt good and no piles of garbage were to be seen. I looked around noting that I was sitting on a pagoda in what could only be described as a park. There were four large tents set up on the far side, with their guild pennants blowing in the breeze. At the end of the field two other tents were side by side, as I looked at the people clustered nearby and going in and out I guessed that they were the City Guard and the Kings Guard recruitment tents. Dotted all along the many paths were small booths and shops that were selling everything from scrolls to potions to armor. Looking at the path meandering from stall to stall with the plants and flowers, I noticed the red color of the crush rock. I observed all the people walking and laughing, going singularly or in small groups from place to place. This was so real, I looked at my hand and bent down and gripped the arm of the bench. I could feel the texture of the stone that the bench was made from. This was a far cry from the few other full immersion games I had played at the orphanage. Those were free to play games, full of crap advertising and weak story lines. This game had been made for those that had money and it showed. It was a world within a world, it might be a game but I could feel my body and the environment. It felt pretty damn good, no wonder some people preferred to spend all their time in the game environment. I stood up and slowly walked towards the door of the open air pagoda while trying to observe all the many details of the crowd and the park. It might be a new and beautiful place but I still did not like crowds of strangers surrounding me. As I stepped down from the opening a small blur raced towards me and then wrapped around my neck. I stopped, not sure what was happening when suddenly I heard a voice within my head ¡°Poppa,¡± What the heck. I glanced down at my neck and there was a small reddish gold lizard with wings folded tight against its back. Is this my AI I thought when I heard again ¡°Poppa.¡± Shrugging I agreed I was Poppa. With that the mental communications link seemed to be established and suddenly I could see that this little dragon was my AI but she was also a self aware sentient being within the game. I marveled at the ability of the Game designers and the AI to be so complete and self aware and self learning. I strolled around the park looking at the many different sights that were to be seen. I heard my dragon say hungry and then fly off; I could feel that our link was steady and that we would be able to communicate no matter the distance. I would have to test that out at some point to know the limitations that we had. Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.I noticed that many of the new players were standing in front of mailboxes and that the simple level one gear they had on would disappear only to be replaced with bind on equip gear that would level with the player. Donators, nice to be rich I thought. Suddenly I saw two donators in front of me pushing and shoving at each other as teens often do. One of them suddenly looked at me and with a shout yelled ¡°now¡± suddenly I felt a blow to my back driving me forward and looked up to see the kid who had yelled now being pushed back towards me. The little prick swung out his arm and his gauntleted fist caught my lips full on. What an ass. My dragon skin may be tough enough to stop some blade attacks but lips were lips and when a heavy metal glove hits one it will split open. My lip began to bleed profusely; I sucked in the blood hoping it would not burst into flame. ¡°Oh, Sorry chum¡± the kid who hit me declared "accident, did not mean to." The three others all dressed in their Donator gear laughed, I quickly noted the names and levels and added them to a kill on sight list I made. Then I spit the blood in my mouth at the one who had hit me and said ¡°no problem chump¡± I did not bother to hide the p at the end of chum. I then turned around and walked away listening to them cursing me for spitting on the kids amour. Suddenly I heard a yell. ¡°Hey, my armor is on fire¡± then the kid began to yell at his friends ¡°take it off, this is burning, take it off.¡± I made my way around a curve in the path and then darted forward through a couple of trees to see what was happening. A crowd was gathering around and more players were coming to see what the yelling was about. The little punk and his buddies were struggling to remove the leg armor but apparently the metal was starting to melt and the kid was screaming wildly. I wondered, if his leg burnt off would a healer be able to restore it. He might have to suicide to return to his spawn point to get his leg back. I felt no sympathy for the little prick. Guys like that enraged me, they are bullies and always look for anyone weaker then themselfs to attack. I had known that I would have to deal with these idiots but had hoped that I would have time to get a few levels first¡­ the city Deciding the discretion is the better part of valor, whatever the hell that meant, I slipped through the trees and began to walk in the direction of the city. All new players are conferred with five gold coins at the first log in to the game. This gold is the total sum of all my wealth. Not a whole lot to conquer the world I thought grimly but maybe enough to survive Ingame for a while. After several minutes of walking I approached the city gate. Guarded by two Kings Guards and two City Guards¡¯ it was an imposing structure. At least twenty feet thick with four levels with kill slots on each level on each side. It was narrow at four meters just wide enough for carts to pass through but nothing else. I approached the city guard and politely waited for him to acknowledge my presence. After a couple of minutes it was apparent that he would not speak to me. It¡¯s annoying that even Npcs could see that I was a poor cousin to the many players coming and going through the gate. Regardless of his disdain, I called out to the City Guard in a polite way and began to speak. ¡°Excuse me sir, may I have a moment of your time?¡± The guard finally looked at me and nodded. ¡°I am a newcomer and was wondering if you could tell me of an Inn that won¡¯t take all my savings?¡± The guard seemed to consider this for a moment then spoke. ¡°On the second level near the abandoned area is an Inn called Hearthhome.¡± ¡°No one will bother you there lad, but be warned, just down the road is the entrance to the Kradula.¡± ¡°What is a Kradula?¡± I asked. The guard just looked at me, ¡°It is the old city orphanage, been abandoned for years now.¡± ¡°Often many of you newcomers attempt to get in there and then out the back to the abandoned part of the city.¡± ¡°Do not try it lad, men who have leveled up, seasoned warriors have failed,¡± ¡°And the abandoned area of the city, it has been walled up for thirty years now, no one lives near there.¡± ¡°Some say the walking dead roam the streets and wraiths fly within, they say that the shrine to the Gods has been desecrated and the living are not welcome.¡± We lost three units bringing the people out and building the walls.¡± Shaking his head the guard spit and then turned back to the street. Clearly the discussion was over. I walked in through the city gates and followed the road till a series of shops appeared. Seeing a shop with a map on display I walked in and address the shopkeeper. "Sir I am in need of a map." The shopkeeper¡¯s eyes looked at me and then his partially formed smile faded away. "Lad, my maps are the best in the city and the cost is one coin, a gold coin." One gold, that is highway robbery legalized. Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. Clearly being poor in the game was just as bad as being poor in real life. "Sir, do you have any used maps or old maps, this city is so large I will never find my way without a map." Looking at me the shopkeeper sighed, ¡°all right let me look." After going through an old desk drawer he pulled out a well folded map. "I have had this for years, an adventurer dropped it off, you can have it for 10 silver but you must learn cartography to be able to use it." "How much does that skill training cost?" "One silver coin and another for the supplies you will need." "Done I said" and paid the man. I reached under his desk and pulled out a small book. "Read it and then open you map and see if it makes sense." Shrugging I opened the book and quickly read the pages. Putting the small volume down I opened the map and surprisingly there in front of me was a map of the city with a glowing blue dot. I tapped on the dot and the area of the map enlarged, showing the street I was standing on and all the shops labeled. Double tapping the map shrunk the area and expanded the city. Experimenting I tapped a number of spots and watched them enlarge and then shrink. I also observed handwritten notes along the maps side when areas were enlarged. Way cool, this was going to be a lifesaver. Thanking the merchant I plotted my way to the Inn then when I had my directions firm in my mind I left the shop and wondered out into the city. As I made my way to the Inn my thoughts wondered to the map and one of the notes I had seen. It described a tunnel that led from a park near the Inn to what was now the abandoned area. I knew I would be looking at this Kradula and also this tunnel. I felt great; the fresh air and the beauty of this world were combining to make me feel alive in a way I had not felt in a long time. Perhaps it was just having a plan, a purpose, a goal that I was working towards. Whatever it was I felt I would be able to succeed at whatever I did. got my mind on my money and my money on my mind Glancing at the map, I made my way down the street. I called out to my companion ¡°Twink can you access my music files.¡± Twinks AI voice sounded in my mind, music access enabled, what you would like to listen to?¡± ¡°Random classic music¡± I replied. ¡°Got my mind on my money and my money on my mind¡± by Snoop Dog and Gin started playing. Rap music is not my favorite genre but I decided to let it play. The hook line caught my attention. I began to think about it. Money, I would need it to survive in the city, unfortunately I did not have a whole lot. Money goes so easy it just seems to disappear from your pockets. Once when I was walking in the city, going shopping in real life, I had twenty dollars, not much but I thought I¡¯d pick up a couple of treats. When I reached into my pocket, I realized the money was no longer there. It had somehow been lost. I am sure many people lost money living in the city. We are all kind of clumsy, stretching and turning and looking around, constantly putting our hands into our pockets and pulling them out. The lyrics ¡°Got my mind on my money and my money on my mind¡± kept running through my mind. It could be my subconscious is trying to tell me something. I usually try to listen when I feel something; as the subconscious is a adept at correlating pieces and joining them I have discovered. Suddenly, I had an epiphany, losing money, big city, many people and the Dragon eyes ability to find treasure. I looked at my interface and quickly activated the Dragon eyes ability. I looked over the city, up over the hill towards the higher levels and down the street towards the gates. I observed many small golden glimmers. One was just down the street about 10 meters from me next to a building. I slowly walked towards that small glimmer and looking down past the garbage on the street, I could see it, a gold coin. I could not help myself and began to grin. If I played this cool and easy taking it slow, I should not have to worry too much about money. I would just have to make sure that no one saw what I was doing; no need for the greater unwashed mass of humanity to realize that there is money just lying on the ground. They were all rich donators, and did not need the gold. Consulting my interface I activated the clock and saw that I had three hours until sunset, I resolved to use this time to make some money. Looking at the city where I could see the golden glimmers, I opened up my map and began to try to correlate the golden glimmers to the streets. I was curious to see where most of the gold was lost. Sure enough, it became apparent that a lot of the gold was being lost within 10 blocks of the four great Guild houses. Taking my time, I moved up the hill, picking up gold and silver pieces buried under the detritus of the street. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. I decided I did not want to go further up the hill than where the four Guildhalls were located. Instead, I held open my map and began to mark all the locations that I could see still displayed treasure. Looking at the map, I could see that several of these areas were parks. Thinking about this it made sense to me; many people go to parks to relax and to sit down. It would be a great place to find some gold. Looking at my map, I saw that the park with the hidden tunnel was located nearby. It was several blocks away from the Inn at which I was planning to seek room and board. This suited me as I could see that there were several glimmers gleaming in the park. Smiling, I started making my way down towards the Inn. When I arrived, I entered the Inn and saw a smiling Npc, a half elf. I inquired about renting a room. Two copper daily she said with a smile. Smiling back at her, I asked how much for a week. Eight copper but that includes the discount without meals. The total cost is 12 copper if you want to have supper and breakfast with us. Deal I said, and paying her the twelve coppers I received the key. ¡°Second door on the second level¡± she announced. ¡°Thank you, thank you very much¡± I said and gave her a big smile. Since when did they start making female Npc so cute I wondered to myself? Making my way up the stairs, I open the door to my room. It is a small room, with a bed against the far wall. A window could open above the bed. At the foot of the bed was a small chest that you could store things. There is a small chair against the wall opposite of the bed. Putting my pack on the bed I sat on the chair and opening up the interface I selected the bag and examined the contents. While I did not have a great deal of actual items in the bag, I had managed to find 12 more gold. I now had almost seventeen gold, when added to what I had started with. Not bad for a few hours work I thought to myself. Shifting over to the bed, I set the in game alarm and closed my eyes. I would awake in time to go for supper and then back on the streets. I had to admit it the city was huge and the possibility of getting more and more gold was very appealing to me. I had decided I would spend the next week or two farming the city for gold, as you can never have enough. After two weeks, I would purchase better gear, and then I would begin to explore the city, specifically the Kradula and the abandoned zone. getting information I awake to the smell of broiled chicken with tubers topped with a spice sauce wafting up to my room. It smells pretty darn good. Looking at the foot of my bed, I see Twink stretched out asleep. I had left the window open for her to come and go and she had returned sometime while I was sleeping. I wondered how the little dragon could have two personalities. One was of a self-aware young individual, the other an analytical operating system with no self-awareness. I hoped the two would merge as the character of Twink developed. Having a possible psychotic companion due to multiple personality disorder was not on my Christmas list. This could develop into a problem as she was also a dragon. Dragons are habitually greedy, grouchy, and grumpy in all the literature and games I had played. I was also definitely getting a female vibe from our communications. I am not even going to think about what that might mean. Making my way to the door I open the latch and leave the room. Descending the stairs, I enter the common room, which is full of people eating and drinking. The smell of good food and beer is overwhelming and I have to stop from drooling. Seeing a small table in the corner, I sit down and one of the barmaids quickly brings me a huge trencher full of food and a beer stein that must hold at least two liters. The serving girl gives me a smile and says, ¡°This comes with the room but anything else you have to pay for.¡± Then with a wink, she was gone. Gone but not forgotten, whoever had designed this world deserved a medal for the women Npc characters. First, there are no bras on any female players or Npc, second only C to DD chest sizes are the norm. Gravity and age also has no bearing on the female anatomy. Add a universal semi transparent blouse for the women to wear. Truly, this game could develop a fantasy theme for young men to enjoy. Breaking my fast, I ate quickly with enjoyment until the last bite disappeared and I began to nurse my beer. Sitting back, I observed the crowds for a few minutes; most of the people were finishing off their meals, settling in and lighting a pipe. The inn had filled with Npc men, and a few scattered players, overall it was a very relaxed scene. I could see by the tabards of the players that they belonged to the four guilds, although I did not know the house patches on their shoulders. I began to listen in to the conversations around me, hearing about children not listening and how wife''s are not appreciative of their spouses. This game was too real in some respects. Standing up, I made my way over to a table with several gamers from the guild of Mars. I looked at them and then asked ¡°hey guys can I get you a round?¡± The leader invited me to join the group sitting at the table. Once the beer arrived, the group lifted their mugs to acknowledge my gift and began to drink. After quenching their thirst, most of the people reached for their tobacco pouches and pipes. Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. Lighting up, one of the more mature players looked at me and spoke. ¡°Thanks for the brew little dude. Just so you know, we do not run low-level players to help them level up. If you want, I will put in a good word with the guild master for you and you can join the guild. We have custom quests and that is really the quickest way to get to those higher levels fast.¡± Listening to Abien he was the player who was speaking, I thought quickly and replied. ¡°You have me wrong, friend I am not looking to have a group power level me.¡± Smiling at the group of players I said ¡°I am just looking for some free information, I cannot seem to find what I am looking for on the forums and was wondering if you guys might have the info I seek.¡± Seeing a few of the people nod at me, I asked, ¡°I am interested in the Kradula and the abandoned city behind it.¡± Hearing me, a couple of the players laughed and one of them spoke. ¡°Man I admire your interest, but the basement and the first two levels of the Kradula are minimum level twenty five. The second and third floor scales up to level thirty five to forty mobs.¡± ¡°You are what, level one; you are not even in a guild or a guardsman. You would have no chance in there." ¡°All true¡± I said with a smile, ¡°I am just interested in the story of it and the abandoned city.¡± ¡°I won¡¯t be going there for a while but I have heard it is a pretty cool story line.¡± One of the players nodded and said, ¡°it is a cool story, and I will tell you what I have found out. Thirty years ago it was the city''s orphanage, full of youngster who would have been on the street but for the patronage of the king.¡± No one really knows what happened but it has been speculated that one of the priests of light became enamored with the powers of darkness.¡± ¡°Really wow, what happened next?¡± ¡°This dark priest desecrated the shrine of the Gods.¡± ¡°How did he do that?¡± I asked. ¡°The story is he took the youngest of the children to the shrine and there he sacrificed them.¡± ¡°Then what happened?¡± ¡°No one really knows, the Kradula became overwhelmed with the shades and zombies of the kids.¡± ¡°That whole area of the city was closed off and the wall was built around it. Thanking the players for the information I slowly walked up to my room. An abandoned city area, I am going to guess that there were many valuables left behind. These valuables were things that the living could use the walking dead and any other unnatural beings did not need them. I decided I would continue to search the city for all the lost treasure that I could safely find. I would do this for the next two weeks while trying to nurture good relations with all Npc. I knew that once a player became friendly with them they could give out all kinds of quests. Smiling to myself, I was happy to see that I had a plan and a goal. Even if I spent the next year living at the Inn and flirting with the barmaids I would be content. dishes Opening the door, I saw that Twink was gone. Calling to her with my mind, I heard ¡°Yes Papa¡± ¡°Twink if I look at the map can you also see it?¡± ¡°Yes Papa¡± Holding up the map I heard ¡°scans complete, open editing activated.¡± ¡°Papa, you do not need to look at the map anymore until we go to an area outside of the city. I have memorized the map and can add anything new that we discover. Also look Papa.¡± Suddenly in the upper corner of my vision was the map, sharp and in focus. By looking at any of the city areas they quickly highlighted and filled the whole of the map.¡± Nice, I thought. I could not believe my luck being able to use the Google glasses in game was paying off. ¡°Well done Twink, can you keep this map open like this for me?¡± ¡°Yes Papa, I am hungry now, going to hunt.¡± ¡°Be safe Twink.¡± ¡°I will meet you outside later.¡± Grabbing my cloak, I left the room and descended the stairs. I could see the dinner rush was past and aside from a dozen men smoking pipes, the room was empty. I could see both barmaids busy working, stacking dishes and taking them into the kitchen. Looking through the open doorway, I observed the huge pile of dishes awaiting washing. By the time, the girls were done in the open dining area I knew that they would be at least another two hours in the kitchen finishing all the work. Walking through the door to the kitchen proper, I saw the innkeeper was already working on baking the breads and preparing for the morning meals. I waved at him and spoke as I walked over towards the counter he was working at. ¡°Good sir¡± I began ¡°I have noticed that the girls are almost overwhelmed with the amount of work that they deal with.¡± ¡°I was wondering if we could come to an understanding, for a small reduction of my room rate I would be glad to help with the clean up after the breakfast and supper meals.¡± The innkeeper looked at me strangely and then spoke. ¡°It''s true we are busy, almost too busy at times.¡± ¡°I would be loath to say nay to you as in truth I need the help. Being so close to the abandoned area we are the only inn nearby and while the business is a blessing it is a lot of work.¡± ¡°If you help out and prove yourself I will only charge half for the room.¡± ¡°What do you say stranger shall we make the deal?¡± Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. Smiling at him, I grasped his arm and we reached agreement. Telling me to call him Mathias, he nodded at the dishes. Quickly taking off my cloak and grabbing an apron, I filled the cleaning tub with hot water then I filled the rinsing tub with hotter water. Adding a bit of soap, I began to wash and rinse the trenchers, mugs and cutlery. After a few minutes, both of the barmaids brought me another armful. Without meaning to I was staring at the redhead with the hourglass figure I stumbled through telling them my name. The redhead spoke first and smiling told me her name. Reona, it was a nice name and seemed to suit her. The brown-haired woman smiled at me and with a wink said, ¡°No worry''s lad, Reona has that effect on a lot of the boys. My name is Teicha and if you get tired of resting your eyes on Reona you can bring them to me, I won''t mind.¡± I am sure my face was red and in an attempt to not stutter I just nodded my head vigorously several times, while my eyes fought me as I raised them above the chest levels of the two joking girls. Finishing off the dishes, I grabbed a small bucket and filling it with hot soapy water I strode towards the bar. Quickly wiping the bar off I made my way through all the tables and once the tables were all clean I returned to the kitchen. Nodding at Mathias I asked ¡°is there anything else to be done before I leave.¡± Shaking his head he spoke, ¡°You have done a great job lad you have my thanks.¡± Suddenly there was a ding and an announcement appeared in front of my eyes. For hard effort and good work your relationships with the Npc of the lower city has increased. You are now an acquaintance and will receive greater respect and have the possibility of receiving quests from the Npc of the lower city. I guess being polite and hard work does pay off occasionally. a night time stroll The air felt cool and fresh after the heat of the day. Making my way down the street I slowly walked towards the nearby park. My map showed several golden glimmers scattered throughout the park. One of which was much brighter than the others. After walking by the bright moonlight down the main street I turned onto a side street. Following the map I made my way deeper into the maze of small side streets. Most of the buildings were clearly abandoned. The final three city blocks showed no signs of life at all. I kept to the shadows walking slowly and softly. I would be lying if I were to claim it was not surreal and somewhat scary. Eventually I came across the entrance to the park. The map did not do justice to the size of the park, the overall area must have encompassed several city blocks. The entrance was overgrown with shrubs and small trees about thirty feet tall. Making my way through the underbrush I eventually walked into a central clearing, several copse of trees were visible in the small dells that appeared further into the park, a brook was bubbling in and out of the terrain. It was wooded and peaceful with the sound of the brook bubbling along in the moonlight. I stopped and stared, this was an amazing find, I was having a hard time accepting that this was both man made and then abandoned. Calling out to Twink I asked her if she could fly over the park and then we would add more information to the map. As I saw the details appear I saw that near the back of the park several buildings were visible and that is where the largest golden glimmer was. Noticing a few smaller glimmers that were visible further into the park I began to make my way to the first one. I realized that I was walking on the remains of a path and that made a lot of sense to me, most people would have walked along or near the main paths when they had lost the coins they carried. That unfortunately, was bad for them, but good for me. Listening to the insects making the little night noises and hearing what sounded like an owl hooting in the distance I realized that this area had gone wild. This gave me a bit of a chill down my back as I am a city boy and the largest animal I had ever seen was a cat. I also knew that some people in the city kept dogs, wild looking creatures that were all aggressive and territorial. Most of these beasts have gone through selective breeding over the years to be small and gentle and yet for some reason they were loud and bothersome. Yippy, I had heard these little monsters being called. If I ran into anything like this I would give Twink permission to eat the damn thing before it would attack me with the yippyness. Whatever the yippyness is. However, perhaps I would not run into dogs in this game world. I had not seen any dogs but that did not mean they were not present in the game world. Cats and rats seemed common in the city, maybe there was a ban on dogs by the city council. Interrupting my musings on pets was the fact that I had arrived at the location of the first golden glimmer. The location was beautiful, the path had begun to run parallel to the brook with a small sandy beach leading to the water. There were several trees growing on the opposite bank. The brook itself was about ten feet across and the shores seemed to be shallow with the middle of the brook deepening. It appeared to be only a couple of feet deep, and that made me happy as the golden glimmer was about three feet from the shore I was standing on. Stripping down to the tightywhitey that all players had from the moment their avatar was created I looked at my body. It was about five feet nine inches tall. The shoulders were broad and heavy with muscle, in fact my whole body looked like that of a bodybuilder before they all turned to steroids. My skin was a light brown color that appeared to have golden hues to it in the moonlight. My eyes were reptilian with the Dragon eyes ability activated. I also knew that I was heavy, weighing more than my size would indicate. Being part dragon had really changed me; it is a good thing that I look human. I wondered if it would help me in the water. Entering the small brook, I noticed the water was pleasant not feeling cold at all. Slowly walking out to the golden glimmer, I reached out and felt among the small stones and sand at the bottom. Scraping off the top layer of scree, I dug deeper into the detritus until I felt something metallic and solid. Holding tightly I pulled what I held up into the water and letting the current wash off the item I lifted it into the light. It was a small solid bar of some metal I could not identify. This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. ¡°Twink¡± I called out ¡°can you tell me what this is.¡± Hearing her voice in my mind I suddenly felt the AI of her personality take over. ¡°Scan commencing, searching databases.¡± ¡°The item in your possession has a 90 percent chance of being the fictional metal Methrill.¡± I had heard of it, seems like every fantasy novel and vrp game used it in some capacity. ¡°Twink, within this world what is Methrill used for?¡± ¡°It is coveted by mages and blacksmiths as it is one of the few naturally occurring objects that once enchanted seems to somewhat modify or empower any spells conjoined to it.¡± ¡°How much would this size be worth in the game¡± I asked? Latest auction house data would indicate that it is within the range of 50 000 gold.¡± Twink replied. I was rich, I was rich, I was rich; the words kept running through my mind as my inner greedy self surfaced. At the point my inner circumspect self arrived and said, ¡°Slow down boy.¡± Reordering my thoughts, I reflected on the fact that I had only scratched the surface with my treasure finding ability. Putting the chunk of metal into my bag I walked out of the brook and slowly dried myself with the cloak and then dressed. Staring down at my gear I resolved to get some better items as I could now afford to. Looking at the map, I began to make my way to the next golden glimmer. Walking among the trees and shrubs with the wild grasses growing knee high, I made my way through several of the small vales until I arrived at an overgrown flower patch. Near the edge facing the path was a golden glimmer. Kneeling down I began carefully to remove and pull away the stems and roots of the flowers, I made an effort to do no damage the plants. Slowly brushing away the soil I felt the hard outline of a coin. Lifting it up, I saw that it was old and the metal appeared to be gold. Noting a golden glimmer still on the ground I crouched down once again and gently removed the topsoil until I felt another coin. It was the twin of the first coin, and clearly they had both been here for some time. Silently thanking the person who had dropped them I stood and began to make my way to the next treasure spot visible on the map. I collected a variety of different coins as I made my way towards the buildings located near the rear of the park. Looking at the map I saw that I was almost there. Following an overgrown path up a small hill crowned with trees I saw the three white buildings situated at the bottom of a narrow vale. Stopping under the trees, I sat down on a overgrown rock bench. Glancing at the time I noted it was about 2:00 am. The two full moons were chasing each other in the dark sky. It was light enough that one could read a book if one was to be had, just a beautiful night. I opened my bag and began to count the coins I had collected, using Twinks ability to access both forums and the AH I obtained a value of 50 075 gold for the evenings effort. Depending on the sale of the Methrill. A job well done I thought as I stared down at the buildings. I glanced again at the time it was now 3:00 am. Deciding that I would return here tomorrow night to find the large treasure, I turned around and began my journey to the front entrance of the park. I was on breakfast cleanup duty and did not want to be late for that. It was important to be able to curry favor with all the Npc that I would have dealings with. Especially the ones that I lived next to. shopping I stretched and with a yawn sat up, the morning had dawned and I had almost missed it. Getting up I made my way out and down the hallway to the common wash area on the second floor. Once my morning absolution''s for the late night were complete, I started downstairs towards my morning shift at the Inn. I could smell the rashers of Bacon and the spicy sausages on the racks cooking in the open-air ovens of the kitchen. It smelled damn good. I had always been a breakfast person and being Ingame and not changed that. Once downstairs I made my way through the crowd of people eating and drinking kavaa, the local version of coffee. I noticed that most of the people who had finished breakfast had once again lit up pipes and were relaxing with the kavaa before leaving for work. I wondered why I saw no one smoking cigarettes, being Ingame there were no ill health effects. Another mystery I mused to myself as I walked into the kitchen. Entering the kitchen, I grabbed an apron and quickly started on the dishes. Working all those years in the kitchen of the orphanage had prepared me for doing this type of work. A couple of hours later and the kitchen is clean with everything put away. As I was about to leave I noticed the innkeeper gestured at a trencher full of meat goodness. There was a whole rasher of smoked bacon and a link of five spicy sausages. It was all sitting on a mound of cooked potatoes with four freshly fried eggs on top. It looked like a heart attack on a plate and I could not wait to eat it. After sipping my second cup of kavaa and discretely trying to loosen my pants, I stood up and slowly made my way to the door. As I left, I held open the door for an Npc and gestured for him to precede me out. As we both walked down the street, I asked him why the Inn was so busy at mealtimes. He explained to me that it was the only Inn still open near the abandoned area. He further mentioned that most people did not do any cooking in the small apartments and tenants that they lived in. As I continued on to the main Bank of the city, I reflected that in a large urban area without electricity there would be no way to keep food cool. Indeed, it would be difficult to cook, as a fuel needs to be located and then distributed. In addition, all dwellings would need stoves. To achieve all of that would be a huge undertaken. Glad I had worked out why so many people ate at the Inn I arrived at the bank. Looking up, I could see several pairs of City Guards strolling along the portico. Climbing the steps, I walked through the large open doors and entered the bank proper. Once inside I joined a queue to speak to the first available teller. I guess that the bank would not have ATB machines within a fantasy world. Still what a pain in the ass it is to wait in a slow line. I was glad that waiting like this had disappeared in the nineteen nineties. Finally, it was my turn and looking at my teller, I noted he was green and had long ears and sharp teeth. A goblin I would guess. He spoke in a surprising professional tone, ¡°Hello sir, how may I be of service?¡± ¡°Hello, I would like to open an account and deposit some coinage. In addition, I would like to use the banks anonymous auction house feature to list an item.¡± Within the span of several minutes, I had my account opened and the Methrill bar listed. The little goblins eyes had widened at the sight of the bar and his forked tongue had darted in and out in an involuntary movement. Clearly, he had recognized the bar and had made a fast estimate on its value. I give him credit for his discretion as he had only asked once at where I had located something so valuable. Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. Leaving the bank, I began to explore the second level of the city. My forays had all been at nighttime near the abandoned area. I decided that I wanted to meet more Npc from this area and see if I could find any quests to do. Having received all those Dragon buffs and abilities was nice but I really needed to start the leveling process. I could not stay at level one forever. Heck I am not sure what path I should take once I hit level ten to develop my skills and abilities. I knew that I would have to prepare for pvp, for those player killers, as I would not have the protection of a Guild or the Guards. At the same time, it was exciting knowing that I was making my choices and doing what I had to. I felt renewed and ready for this game. This thought persisted as I walked along the street. I knew that I was going to be here Ingame for a year as far as subjective time was concerned. Perhaps that is the problem; I was not accepting the reality of the situation. I was still thinking on some level that this is just a game. I had to deal with the fact that for all practical purposes this was not a game but my life for the next year. I had had some fun and things were looking up but I needed to do more. To put forth more effort and succeed in whatever I was doing. Feeling strangely challenged by my thoughts I approached several shops along the street. Being level one, I could only wear cloth and leather gear. Finding the leather section of the shop, I began to peruse through the selection of items. Most of the items were a drab brown or a sickly yellow. However, there was a complete set of leathers. All done in black, the outfit had slots that were designed for armor inserts. These were made from what appeared to be bone, they were light but very dense. I called out to the shopkeeper ¡°sir what are these inserts made of and what was this leather set made for?¡± The shopkeeper waddled over; clearly, he was as fond of breakfast as I was. ¡°Aha good sir,¡± he began. I see that you have found the black set with the Drake bone inserts. I took it in on trade it was a custom design for a rogue however it was never finished.¡± ¡°It looks complete to me, I don¡¯t think I see any pieces missing.¡± ¡° It is all there sir. However it was never enchanted and as such is just a slick set of leather armor.¡± ¡°It has no bonuses and no special attributes.¡± ¡°The leather has been in my shop a long time and I will make a deal to get rid of it. Today only, I will sell the set for two gold pieces.¡± I considered it; I did not want to barter with the shopkeeper. I had seen his eyes gleam as he named his price. I had the feeling I would end up paying more than his first offer. ¡°It is a deal sir¡± I replied and with that paid him. He invited me to use the change room to put on the leather. Enchanted it might not have been, but I had never purchased anything that fit so well in my life. As I walked out the shopkeeper made the appropriate noises about my appearance and then offered to sell me a new cloak. It was as dark as what I now wore and was leather. Costing ten silver coins, it seemed like a bargain and I quickly purchased it. Thinking of the saying ¡°if you look good you feel good¡±, I stepped out of the shop feeling damn good. Looking across the street, I made eye contact with a Guilds-man. Shit, it was that a-hole I had the run-in with at the park. Well sucks to be me I thought just as the dimwit realized who I was and began to yell. the fight I stood there as the player charged at me, I did not know what his intentions were but had the feeling he was not coming over to give me a hug. Suddenly I began to get mad, my anger was neither incoherent nor out of control but a deeply felt rage. I knew I was on the edge when I began to plan the Jackass¡¯s take down and then neck break. Hey, death is not a permanent problem Ingame and this Jackass deserved it. It is funny how a person¡¯s mind reacts in the fight or flight situation. For me I was thinking I had already named the player Jackass in my mind and watching him running towards me did nothing to dissuade my thoughts. Maybe I was too cerebral, spending too much time analyzing every situation. Once the player reached me, I let him try to grab me. Then using a traditional O Goshi throw I tossed the Jackass onto the steps of the shop I had just left. Spinning around I stepped to the side to keep both the Jackass and the group in my sight. Seeing that they were not coming towards me I looked at the Jackass getting up. Once he saw me, he began to yell somewhat crazily I thought, and then advanced towards me once more. I could not understand his apparent desire to inflect harm to me, after all, I am a lovable person, at least I think so. Sure, I had burnt his leg off and embarrassed him in front of his peers. He was a donator with great gear and he was seven levels higher than I was. I could sympathize with his feeling somewhat silly but he was taking it to a new level. Too bad for him I was already there waiting for him. I had decided that if he attacked me once more time I would use the Kani Basami. I had learnt the illegal Judo move years ago. The international Judo association had banned the move. Considered too dangerous for use in competition, it was perfect for the Jackass. Being in the orphanage, we did not have much. The government is cheap to put it bluntly. We had the opportunity to participate in one sport, as long as it had low cost involved. Turns out Gi¡¯s are not that expensive. After studying Judo for 8 years, I had managed to earn my red and white belt. For those that do not know that is the belt above black. There is only one other belt above it and that is the red belt. I did not think of myself as a fighter but prudence and common sense dictated that my first few years at the orphanage would be difficult if I could not defend myself. Therefore, when they offered the Judo lessons to us orphanage kids, I had eagerly taken them. It turned out that I had a natural ability and progressed rapidly in the classes. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.My natural ability was about to be presented with force to the Jackass. As the jackass shambled towards me, I suddenly heard one of the other players yell ¡°stop.¡± Being a peaceful individually I was more than happy to not have to fight this imbecile as I had determined that this was a waste of time and there were witnesses. I did not mind the idea of tossing him around but I would rather do it on my own time and at a place, I would chose. Looking at the player who had yelled out and who was now approaching me I relaxed. He was a level 45 and I had no hope if defending myself if he tried to attack me. Suddenly the Jackass was in my face trying to swing his fist at me. The new player looked at the jackass and with a disgusted tone said, ¡°Kirov and Jules remove this initiate from my presence and from the guild.¡± Hearing yes sir in a Slavic accent I turned my attention to the man who stood in front of me. Most players when creating their avatars would create a being that was young, strong, and usually good looking. This was only partially true for this person. A human of medium height with the same well-muscled figure that most players had he also was somewhat different in that he was clearly older. We both studied each other for a minute and then he spoke. ¡°I see that you are a capable young man, may I ask what fighting style you used?¡± Seeing no sense in denying my abilities, I stated, ¡°I am a student of Judo.¡± Seeing him nod I relaxed and then asked a question that had just occurred to me. ¡°Sir, why are you with the Jackass?¡± Hearing my name for the obnoxious player he began to chuckle. ¡°It is a bit of a story, I will make you a deal if you tell me your story I will tell you how I was saddled with the Jackass.¡± ¡°I will even buy you lunch for you troubles.¡± Seeing that it was now noon and I was beginning to get hungry, I agreed. If this player wanted to hurt me, he already would have. lunch ¡°My name is Archon and I am one of the leaders of the House of Yethra within the Guild of Mars.¡± ¡°Tor, I replied.¡± ¡°That was once a name of a publishing house a long time ago, they did mainly Sci Fi and Fantasy.¡± Archon spoke in an easy tone I could tell he was not a kid playing Ingame but rather a mature individual. I had the feeling he was someone who commanded respect both in the game and in RL. ¡°I had heard that¡± I replied as we made our way up to an Inn near the Mars Guild house. ¡°If you don¡¯t mind eating here, the guild has a special relationship with this Inn. This entitles us to some perks, the use of private rooms being one of them.¡± ¡°It suits me as long as the food is good and the place is clean.¡± I considered both of these facts; they were something I also thought of as important and politely nodded. Entering the Inn I took in the crowd of players all eating and drinking and smoking pipes. It was loud and boisterous and everyone seemed happy. There were few Npc seen as all the tables had players sitting around them. The Innkeeper seeing my companion hurried over and giving a small bow asked ¡°sir shall I prepare your room?¡± ¡°Yes thank you Jera, while we wait we will have a drink at the bar.¡± Making our way over to the bar we found two stools tucked around the corner. As we sat down a curvaceous female player joined us. She did not have the diaphanous gear all female players started with. She had on expensive looking cloth that shone with eldritch light to my Dragon Eyes. Looking at her level, I was surprised to see that she was a level 55. Clearly, I was hanging with the power players. The question I needed to know was why. ¡°Hello Archon, who is your pet?¡± Even her voice sounded dangerous, attractive but deadly. ¡°This is Tor, a new player and someone who caught my attention.¡± Archon sounded amused. ¡°Tor this is Kaie, the co-leader of the house of Yethra.¡± Looking at Kaie I saw a woman who radiated a competence and maturity far beyond the young appearance her avatar represented. Nodding my head at her, I politely greeted her and then took a drink from the huge tankard that had appeared in front of me. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. Kaie looked over at Archon and smiled, she then stated ¡°he is a smart one¡± then smiling at me she rested her hand on my shoulder and leaned into my arm. I became very conscious of her heavy breast resting against my arm. I tried not to notice her physicality but I could tell she was aware that I was responding. In an attempt to try to salvage the situation, I ignored my reddening face. Taking a deep breath, I could smell her scent of coconut oil and spice. Speaking before I lost my ability for rational thought, I asked her if she was single and would like to go for dinner tonight. If silence changed to gold, I would have become very rich at that moment. The silence disappeared with Archons laughter and a softly muttered ¡°OMG¡± ¡°he asked you out.¡± Abruptly pulling away from me Kaie looked at me and then suddenly her face began to redden. Turning she began to walk away from us at the same time telling Archon to ¡°keep me informed.¡± Looking at Archon I asked, ¡°What was that about?¡± Archon just looked at me and then shaking his head, he nodded at Kaie as she left the Inn. ¡°You of course would not realize this but Kaie is a very important person in RL and in the game.¡± ¡°To be blunt, she is used to manipulating men and getting her own way.¡± ¡°I believe you caught her by surprise. In fact, you are probably the first man to ask her out without having an ulterior motive. I think you caught her off guard and that is something that rarely happens.¡± "I have to tell you I am impressed more by what just happened then by when you were tossing the Jackass around." Not sure how to respond to this I just nodded and had another sip. The Innkeeper made an appearance at that point and gestured to the corner where a private booth was waiting. As we began to walk over, I started to think about this rather strange situation, I had lots of questions, hopefully Archon had some answers. the meeting I raised my tankard in a toast to Archon and patted my belly, ¡°If I keep eating like this my new leathers will not fit.¡± Giving me a taciturn smile Archon nodded in agreement. ¡°Thank the Gods that we cannot get fat here,¡± he stated. Looking at me, he nodded, ¡°so you probably have a few questions as do I. Of course, I will not be revealing all the details nor do I expect you to.¡± ¡°Why don¡¯t you begin,¡± and with a nod he folded his hands on the table and looked at me expectantly. Looking at this man sitting across from me I let my thoughts flow for a minute. Who was he and who was Kaie. Let me begin by asking the obvious, who are you and who is Kaie? You are clearly not the hormonally challenged teen players that make up most of the current populations of Gods and Men.¡± ¡°Very astute, we certainly are not. We are members of a group of people who have been extremely successful in the real world.¡± ¡°I see, but what are you doing in this game, this whole artificial construct that was created for kids?¡± ¡°Was it created for kids to play,¡± Archon asked?¡± Archons smiled at me and then spoke, ¡°As I have said, we are members of a group of people, many of whom are now elderly and whose health is failing.¡± ¡°Do you understand the difference between real world time and subjective time?¡± I nodded; it was becoming clear to me where he was going. ¡°Is this a service that a company offers or have you folks just had a meeting of the rich and famous and decided to make your last few months turn into years or perhaps decades?¡± ¡°Damn you are quick; if I was not here in this game world with you I would hire you on the spot.¡± Smiling at Archon I thanked him, and then asked again, ¡°is it a company that offers this service or are all you people doing this privately?¡± ¡°Both, at an annual meeting we were discussing the coming mortality of our group and wondered if there was any option of any kind to help us go beyond the end of our days. One of the trusted interns mentioned his son playing these vrp games. Once he explained the dilation effect on subjective time we hired several experts in several gaming related fields to develop a strategy that would enable us to achieve our goals.¡± ¡°Let me guess you have custom-made vrp pods that have a full suite of state of the art medical tech built in. I would also think that your vrp must have a few more features than what is available on the current market.¡± Archon nodded at me, ¡°Yes our vrp are somewhat advanced over the store bought models. That is one of the reasons I was with the Jackass, once I heard his story I had the analytics department run a sweep for you, and that is how I located you this morning.¡± I stared at Archon; so this is what it felt like dropped into the deep end of a pool and not know how to swim. ¡°Just how many of you folks are here and how do you have access to admin privileges in game.¡± ¡°Lots of us are Ingame and in answer to the second question, I will let you ponder that.¡± Now having revealed enough information to affect the economies of several countries in the real word if they ever found out where some of the people running things are, it is my turn to ask the questions.¡± I nodded slowly at him, I was feeling more and more like a struggling swimmer on a shark tank. Crap, I had only wanted to purchase some better gear this morning. ¡°First,¡± Archon began, ¡°allow me to say that I have been impressed by you since this morning. You have a set of skills and the ability to know when to use them and when not to use them. That takes training and hard work. Which leads me to the next question? Who are you and who do you work for?¡± Licking my lips I composed myself and realized that honesty is a great lifestyle, doubly so when one¡¯s life is on the line. ¡°My name it Tor and I am actually a resident at the state of Nevada¡¯s orphanage, number 231. I have lived there since my parents died in an accident when I was eight years of age. I am almost of age and within one year will no longer be under the tender care of the government¡¯s orphanage system.¡± ¡°I learnt Judo at the orphanage and as for any other skills you may have observed, they are simply self taught abilities.¡± Nodding at Archon I sat back and lifting the tankard let the apple cider cool my dry throat. Looking at me with a slightly quizzical smile Archon lifted his hand and asked, ¡°How did a young man in an orphanage end up in one of the most expensive vrp games ever released?¡± ¡°Someone somewhere gave the orphanage the opportunity to send one player to the Sleepy Hollow summer camp. I was the fortunate one selected as the recipient ¡° Stolen novel; please report. ¡°Unbelievable and yet that is how the real world works so often. One minute while I verify your story Tor.¡± One of the perquisites of being in a Guild is having instant guild chat. A sweet feature especially once the Guilds and Houses began to go to war with other kingdoms. After several minutes, Archon looked at me and said, ¡°It all seems to check out. I am glad about that, I would have hated to have to put you in the Guild dungeons, and it is a dreary place.¡± ¡°The next question I have is something I am really interested in. You remember when Kaie was leaning against you. She was resting her hand on your shoulder and you began to blush and then asked her out. Damn, I had not blushed, I had just felt err flushed. Trying to disguise my embarrassment at the memory, I crocked my eyebrow at Archon and nodded. ¡°Good, you see Kaie has a number of amazing abilities developing Ingame and she used one of them on you.¡± Seeing my eyes widen Archon smiled and nodded. ¡°I think she bit off more than she thought she would, she sure left in a hurry.¡± ¡°She was reading you at a deep level, not your thoughts but more your emotions, who you are and even what you are.¡± ¡°I believe that she found out that you truly found her attractive and that you are a little shy. In addition, she has informed me that you are a half Dragon.¡± I almost choked on the cider I was drinking when Archon spoke. ¡°Half Dragon, which is not a playable race, and yet hear you are. In addition Kaie mentioned you have several permanent buffs that any true player would give almost anything to start the game with.¡± ¡°As I represent a group with a vested interest in this world we would like to know how you managed to achieve this.¡± It was one thing to be able to tell Archon details about my real world life, it was all available and verifiable to anyone who wanted to check. How was I going to explain meeting a God and my Google glasses and my companion? Staring at Archon I made my choice. ¡°Sorry buddy there are some things that I am not willing to share with you just yet. I like you and appreciate both the lunch and the candor with which you have shared. My secrets have to remain my secrets; I just do not feel I can trust anyone with them. I will say that I had no idea about you folks and that the situation that led to this meeting was truly coincidental.¡± ¡°All right,¡± Archon spoke, ¡°I will let you run with that for now. However if I hear anything ¡­¡± ¡°No worries, I hurriedly replied. I am just a lowly level one trying to get to the next level.¡± ¡°Archon, if you see Kaie please tell her that my offer still stands, I will be done my shift in the kitchen of the Inn Hearthhome where I am staying at. That will be around 10:30 if she would like to meet up?¡± ¡°You work at an Inn. I do not think I know of any player who works for an Npc. Shaking his head and smiling he nodded. I will let her know; do not be disappointed if she does not show up. She is several years older than you, you realize that?¡± Nodding I stood up and thanking him again for the lunch I made my way to the door. I wanted to get home and see why Twink was still sleeping. Watching the kid leave Archon spoke to the figure that slowly materialized in the seat next to him. "So what do you think, Cameo? I think you have found a mystery here, he is clearly a talented bright kid, and is worth recruiting both here and in the Real world. I could sense nothing to worry about, but let¡¯s keep our eyes on this one." "He gives me a feeling that things are going to be happening and he will be right in the middle." Nodding his head Archon concurred. "Put a hidden watcher on him and let¡¯s see what happens...¡± my daughter ¡°Poppa¡± Slowly with a big stretch Twink looked at me and smiled. ¡°I am hungry Poppa, can we go eat?¡± Looking at the young girl sitting on the edge of the bed I felt the familiar ache within my chest. She was one of the many young people I had met with no one to help them but me. I no longer thought of her as an Npc or as my companion. She was now my responsibility, I knew my emotional response was over the top, but that is what years of living in government run orphanage had done to my psyche. At least I knew I was overreacting emotionally. Grabbing my old gear from the bag, I told Twink to get dressed and then we would go eat. I waited in the hallway for her and thought about the day. First the geriatrics, who knew that a bunch of rich old people would be here, probable trying to take over if my instincts were on the mark. I had nothing against the elderly and thought that they deserved respect for having lived through some shitty times in the real world. The old people invading this game reality were not in the same class, rich pampered folks who had always had their own way. They were no differences between them and the damn donators. Twink, how did she shape shift into the body of a young girl. She was a young girl for the Gods sake. What am I going to do with an eight-year-old girl? Hearing the door open I looked at Twink who was smiling shyly at me, ¡°how do I look Poppa?¡± ¡°You look very pretty; tomorrow we will go get you some nice clothing items. Seeing her eyes light up, I knew that I would be doing some more shopping. With that thought in mind, I led the way down the stairs and into the evening crowd. ¡°Tor.¡± ¡°Who is this child?¡± Looking over to the kitchen entrance, I saw Reona staring at me. I usually like it when attractive girls are looking at me but I was beginning to feel uncomfortable in this situation. Dads do not develop in a day and Rome was not built in a day. I realized that my mind was wondering I was trying to think of how to respond. I did not like the fact that everyone in the eating area was now staring at me. Time to use it or shut it so, ¡°Reona, this is my daughter.¡± Guess I decided to use it I thought. I hope I am not coming across as some kind of deviant by showing up with a young girl. Looking at Reona I saw her stare at Twink and then a hint of a smile appeared. ¡°Why did you not tell us that you had a daughter, and she is such a little thing?¡± ¡°No wonder you are working here, trying to support your daughter. You sit down here and I will bring you supper, poor girl, you look hungry.¡± I stared with my mouth slightly open as the extremely attractive barmaid turned into a grandma before my eyes. ¡°Thank you miss,¡± Twink smiled up at Reona and then sat on the bench. I slid down beside her and within a minute two heaping helpings of stew appeared with fresh baked bread and fresh churned butter to top it all off. I received my tankard of ale and Twink has some kind of fruity cider watered down. I honestly can say after eating food that followed the government stated nutritional guidelines for the past few years that the food Ingame was incredible. It would disappear with tremendous speed once on my plate. Yet before I was halfway done my meal Twink had finished hers and was greedily looking at mine. ¡°All right, here finish it.¡± Watching her eat the food I realized that the energy needed to shape shift must be tremendous and that she was probably very hungry. Her caloric intake must be huge to maintain homeostasis. My plate was empty in minutes and I was becoming aware that a table of dwarfs was beginning to look at Twink and I. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. Reona suddenly appeared and looking at Twink said ¡°well child have you had enough?¡± ¡°No miss, May I have some more please.¡± Reona looked surprised and then glanced over at me. ¡°Two more servings please we are very hungry today.¡± With a shrug at me and a smile at Twink Reona disappeared into the kitchen only to return with two more huge portions, placing them on the table she whispered at me ¡°do not worry if she does not eat it all, it is all good.¡± Nodding at her, I reflected on how the Npc could be both good looking and kind. ¡°Thanks Reona, you are good to us.¡± With a smile, she disappeared and we both began to eat. Once again, Twink finished well before me and then took my plate and finished all of my food. At this point, I saw a dwarf stand up from his table and slowly walk over to Twink and I. Stopping he looked at us and then in a gruff voice began to speak. ¡°Sir I just wanna say to ye, that it does me heart good to see parents properly victualing the younglings. It is not something we see here in the human lands, indeed some of the learned dwarfs believe that the short life of ye humans comes from not receiving enough proper victualing while you are young. Not our place to judge mind ye but as we all watched the young one eat, will sir it did our old hearts good to see a youngling fed proper like.¡± With that, the old fellow nodded at me and stumped back to his table. What was that about, I wondered? Looking at Twink I said, ¡°Time to head upstairs, and standing up I led the way up to our room. Once inside I asked, ¡°How did you change, from Dragon form to Human form sweetie?¡± Twink smiled at me and then said ¡°oh Poppa¡± I will show you. Suddenly within my mind was a gentle touch, and with a cerebral snap and some slight dizziness I suddenly had a new ability on my interface. Shape shifting, this is the ability to shift into Dragon form and then back to Human form. Warning, be prepared to replenish your energy, this ability will use thousands of kilocalories. Not sure what to make of this ability, it looks good on paper but if I have to stop for a five course meal every time I shift, that just will not work. ¡°Twink are there any other things that you can teach me?¡± Twink looked at me for a minute and said, ¡°Poppa, you are part human and none of the Dragon magic will work for you. I think you can learn fire and shadows but that is all.¡± ¡°That is alright Twink I will do the best I can, if you can show me this fire and shadows I will be very happy.¡± Suddenly once again, there was a gentle familiar touch in my mind and then another touch of dizziness swept over me. Once it passed, I saw two new icons on the interface one denoted Fire and the other Shadows. Highlighting the Fire I read, As a Dragon you have control over the element of fire. With practice, you will be able to equal a fire elemental in power. Being a Dragon is being a power. Use this power wisely. Fair enough, I will have to practice and learn to master the Fire. I then highlighted Shadows, and read the description. The ability to summon shadows and lose yourself within them, you will be unknown and unseen, all attacks will have 100 percent chance to be a critical hit as long as you are within the Shadows. Once attack has commenced the enemy will have a 25 percent chance of targeting you bringing you out of the Shadows. Holy cow, talk about being OP, I will have to work on both of these new abilities and tonight back at the park will be where I start. women.... A couple of years ago I watched an old movie, An American Werewolf in London. Not bad for something so old. One of the scenes that caught my eye was the shapeshifting. Looking at Twink, I wondered if I was about to see something similar to what I had seen in that old movie. I hoped not, "Twink I would like you to become a Dragon again and then wait for me outside. I am going to go down and help with the cleanup. When I leave please let me know if anyone follows me." Perhaps I was being paranoid, thinking like this. As the saying goes you¡¯re not paranoid when they are out to get you. That guild full of old folks was making me itch all along my back. They had decades of sneaky experience on me, and I am sure that they all know how to use that experience. The other thought that was on my mind was Kaie. I am just not sure what to do if she shows up, but I know for a fact I do not want her to know about Twink, at least not yet. Twink stretched and I heard a muffled "yes Poppa" and then she was a dragon. Nothing to flashy or loud, a golden glow for a second and then a little dragon flew out the window. "Poppa, I am still hungry, going hunting will be back soon." Alone in the room I sat down for a minute to collect my thoughts, it had been one of those days. Overall I was pleased with everything; I was doing exactly what the gaming process encouraged players to do. I was finding new skills and abilities as I immersed myself further into this game world. Granted I had been fortunate and was gifted with skills and abilities that most players would not achieve till end game, if even then. However, those skills needed to be developed. Thinking of these things was not going to get the dishes done so with a small sigh I stood up and left my room. Dishes wait upon no man, I knew this well from my time helping in the orphanages kitchen. Once down the stairs, I proceeded directly into the kitchen. Grabbing my apron, I turned around and saw that Reona and the other two barmaids were standing there looking at me. Giving them a smile I said, "What can I do for you, ladies?" "Well for a start you can tell us why you did not tell us you had a daughter? And then if it pleases you perhaps you would explain why the child is here living with you at the Inn and not in a proper home. Also, where is the mother?" Staring at the girls, I realized I was going to have to be circumspect with my responses to their queries. "I am here with my daughter because we needed a place to live," I replied. "I did not tell you that I had a daughter as I did not realize that you needed to know, and furthermore, I do not want to appear rude but it is not your business where the mother is or why we are here." Swallowing I hoped I had not managed to anger the girls. Still, it was not their damned business and I felt a touch or irritation that they were intruding on my personal affairs. At this point I heard the Innkeeper give a shout "Tor, there is a lady here to see you." As I left the kitchen I saw all three girls look at each other and then troop out after me. By the unknown Gods, this is getting better and better. Looking towards the entrance, I see Kaie sitting at a table. I smiled at her as I felt a hint of nervousness. "Hello Kaie" I spoke softly as I sat down opposite her. This was clearly out of my comfort zone but as I looked at her and breathed in her scent I realized that I had to be careful with this lady. Something about her made me feel weak in the knees, and strangely enough, I like how I felt when I was with her. "Hello Tor," licking her lips Kaie smiled at me. "I want you to know right now I am far older than you. Do you understand?" Reona ignoring several other tables with guests that wanted refills walked over to our table and asked "So who is your friend Tor?" Kaie looked at Reona and the temperature began to drop rapidly. "Yes and who is this Tor?" Kaie asked as frost began to form on the table under her hand." Frost mage, I wondered as I struggled to deal with the situation. Since when did Reona have the slightest interest in me? Nothing until she saw Twink. Is this some kind of misplaced mothering instinct? The way these two ladies were giving each other the eyes, what the hell was that. I would be the first to admit that they were both beautiful with figures that the average woman could only dream about. Was it that they could not stand competition? Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. I am still not sure how I became involved in between them, but all of a sudden I wanted out. I do not think I am a prude, the idea that two good looking women would fight over me seems like a fantasy. Unfortunately, I think I was just the excuse for these two to flaunt their feminine wiles at one another. Regardless I was done. As I was about to stand up Reona spoke, "so is this the mother of Twink, Tor?" Of all the things that she could have said, that was the worst. "Who is Twink Tor?" Kaie responded. I slowly stood up. "Ladies I have some business to attend to. Kaie I would love to meet with you sometime for lunch if you would like to?" "Reona, this is not Twinks mother, and it is rather personal. I do not want to talk about Twink or her mother." Bowing to the ladies, I slowly made my way to the kitchen and began to do the dishes. Two hours passed quickly with several deflections regarding Reona trying to chat with me. Once the cleanup was done, I changed and calling out mentally to Twink I asked if she was ready? "Yes Poppa" looking down the street I emerged from the Inn. "Is anyone hanging around Twink?" Suddenly on my map, a red icon was highlighted halfway down the block. Trying to not seem obvious I slowly began to walk towards the entrance to the maze of streets that led to the park. I decided to try to use Shadows to see if I could lose whoever it is who was following. Making the left turn I proceeded until I could see he was still around the corner and then cast the spell. In one step I entered a different place; it was like being outside on a cloudy day as the light is failing. I heard Twink excitedly say "Yes Poppa." Swiftly I stepped to the center of the street where most of the drain would run and people would avoid. In a minute, I saw a man, cloaked in a mist slowly walk down the street. He was moving silently and clearly looking for something he had lost. That would be me. I waited for him to pass me be and then activating the basic DPS attack all players start with I applied the shime waza. It was a Judo submission hold that quickly leads to unconsciousness. With the 100 percent critical hit rate that Shadows gave me and the speed and power that the basic DPS attack spell provided, the man fell to the ground almost before my hands touched him.
DingDing
You have defeated an enemy over ten levels above you.Welcome to level ten player.
Having sustained no damage in your last fight your reputation has begun to grow.You have received 9000 xp and have earned 5 attribute points.
You have received bonus XP. X 25 percent per level per kill. One day buff.You have received the title Gladiator and will receive a 20 percent discount on all weapons and armor.
You have received a new title for defeating an enemy unseen. The sneaky.You can now begin to plot out the direction of your class. Be wise in your choices, there is no going back.
temple I was feeling surprised and pleased at what I had just read in the popup window, with the exception of the title the Sneaky. Being called the Sneaky seemed lame somehow, but I was willing to live with it. Making level ten, it had come faster than I had expected. Looking down at the player sprawled on the ground; I decided I had better loot him and see if I could find some information or knowledge about who he was and who sent him. Going through his pockets, I realized the man had nothing. Grimacing I picked him up and hurried back to the Inn. Dropping him off in the shadows I made my way back towards the park entrance. Entering through the tangle of underbrush I entered the park. Smiling at the peaceful beauty of the setting I made my way along the path towards the buildings at the rear. Climbing the last hill I see again the three buildings white and ghostly looking in the moonlight. ¡°Twink what do you think?¡± I asked her. I studied the buildings as I waited for her reply. ¡°Just buildings Poppa, the middle one has a door and the others are open and empty. ¡°The middle one is the place I must explore as that is where I see the glow of treasure.¡± ¡°You do Poppa? I don¡¯t see any glow there Poppa, are you sure you see something?¡± ¡°Yes, I do Twink maybe the treasure is something only a half-dragon can use.¡± ¡°Maybe Poppa, I just don¡¯t see anything.¡± ¡°That is all right Twink I am going to enter the building, and explore I want you to wait for me outside, I won''t be too long.¡± ¡°All right Poppa, I will hunt in the park, see you soon.¡± With that,I watched the little dragon fly off and disappear in the night. Making my way down to the entrance I noted something that seemed to be odd to me. The two doors that led into the building opened outward, and they could be locked from the outside. Seeing this made me feel a little nervous, what could have been kept in the building that would have to be locked in from the outside? Entering the building I glanced around feeling very grateful for my Dragon eyes night vision. Directly ahead in the center of the room was an altar, about 12 feet across and at least 8 feet tall. I looked around feeling puzzled and then walked around the circumference of the room. There were no other doors or visible signs of an exit. The base the altar was lit up with a golden glow, clearly the treasure was located underneath it. After determining that there was nothing else of interest in the room I began to give the altar my full attention. Jumping up, I caught the top and pulled myself up, then sitting on the altar I rubbed the top with my hands looking for a hidden depression or anything else that might be of interest. Feeling nothing I jumped down and did the same for all the sides, again nothing. Starting to feel frustrated I leaned against the altar and began to push. I may be stronger than a human, but that damn altar would not budge. At this point, my frustration level was beginning to peak and I decided that I needed to take a break and calm down. I began to run through some basic Judo moves starting with some free exercises doing Randori-No- Kata. Once I began to warm up I switched to Te Waza (Arm-throws) and then to Koshi Waza (hip throws) Katas. Feeling better, more relaxed and in control, I once again began to closely examine the altar. This time, I noted that the shape was a pentagon. Not knowing if that had a bearing on anything as I know nothing about altars, it still seemed interesting that the sharp prow of the altar faced the door and the only part that was hidden was at the rear. I stood there looking at the rear of the altar and then I decided to once again try to push on it. Placing my hands at shoulder height near the edges I began to push inwards. As I exerted all the power I could I bent my head down and gritting my teeth I began to slowly feel something give. I continued pushing until my face and arms began to feel flush and my vision was beginning to go red. At the point, I heard a snap and the hidden doorway swung inwards and upwards. I immediately stepped into the opening to block the door from coming down and locking again if it could. I might have broken the locking mechanism. Breathing deeply, I recovered my energy, the bar on the interface had swung down to twenty percent and I felt the decline. I also took the time to feel in my mouth, as I had bit my tongue when pushing against the door. The problem was the teeth I had bit my tongue with; they were pointed and slightly longer, feeling more like sharp fangs than human teeth. Only two of them were changed, I felt thankful for that. Once I recovered I studied the door and realized I would be able to open it from inside of the tunnel. I began to slowly walk down the passageway. Clearly the tunnel had been built years ago and a thick layer of dust and cobwebs covered the floor and walls. The walls were brick and the floor cobblestones however after descending a hundred steps; it changed to dirt with some sort of glaze on it. I saw that the tunnel had begun to climb at this point and noted that there was a small hole in the floor. Also, the walls looked damaged, cracked and discolored. Stepping carefully to the hole I noted the distance, about half a meter across. As I looked at the hole the floor suddenly gave way and I fell into a pit about ten feet deep. Getting to me feet and shaking off the dust I glanced up. I felt that I would be able to jump climb out when I decided to leave but that was not yet. Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. I could see that the tunnel stretched out before me, behind me a massive pile of dirt and rubble. This tunnel seemed years older than the one above it and was going in a different direction. It appeared much rougher and hewn out of the basic dirt and rock of the mountain that the city was built upon. Beginning to walk I decided to test the range of my communication with Twink. ¡°Twink can you hear me?¡± Hearing a sleepy ¡°yes Poppa¡± I asked what she was doing. ¡°Just waiting for you, what are you doing?¡± ¡°I am exploring a tunnel looking for the treasure, I am hoping to find it soon.¡± Hearing a tired sounding ¡°treasure is good¡± I told Twink to rest while waiting for me. Proceeding onward, I soon came to a small door that marked the end of the tunnel. It was in this room that the golden treasure glow was radiating from. Grasping the handle I began to pull expecting it to be locked I was surprised that it opened. I stood and stared into the room, not knowing what to expect but not expecting what I saw. As the door opened I observed two pillars standing on each side of the room ignite, illuminating the space within. I slowly stepped into the room, noting that aside from the pillars the only object in the room appeared to be some kind of a mirror. It measured close to seven feet long and seven feet tall and was covered in faint black glyphs. I stepped closer and then stopped abruptly as I realized that my reflected image was made from the glyphs on the mirror, spinning rapidly as they began to coalesce into the shape of a dragon. As I stared the image began to change to that of my human body, and then back to the image of a dragon. I also noted that the outer edge of the mirror was still covered in a faint markings that seemed to be representative of two swords that were wrapped up in what looked like roses. As I peered closer at the images I lifted my hand without thinking and touched the surface of the mirror. Suddenly there was a sound like a huge snap and the mirror cracked, I looked and noticed that all the glyphs were rushing to the point of contact between my hand and the glass. At this point, I said the magic words, ¡°what the fuck¡± and tried to pull my hand away. Well, that did not happen. Soon things went from bad to worse as the glyphs began to transfer from the mirror to my body, they spread up my arms and shoulders and then down my back and stomach. I could feel the glyphs imprint themselves into my skin. It felt like a tattoo covering my whole upper body and the needlework was all being done at once. Once again I hurt a lot. Finally it was done; there was nothing left on the mirror and my body felt like it was on fire. My hand was released from the mirror and fell to the ground along with the rest of me. I began to rip off my black leather top and bracers. Finally, freed from the leathers I watched in amazement as the black glyphs from the mirror burnt themselves into my skin. I noticed through the waves of fiery pain that from the elbows down to my wrists the skin had the wild flowers and vines holding the swords, one on each arm. Feeling that I was in no shape to continue trying to explore, I put my leathers into my bag. Making my way out of the room I thought of the fact that the flames had died on the pillars as soon as the glyphs had left the mirror and transferred over to me. Grunting in pain, I made my way up the passageway, and finally coming to the cave in I gathered all my strength and jumped, catching the lip I managed to pull myself up and over. Looking at the interface, I could see that my energy was down to 15 percent and my life was hovering in the red danger zone at about 10 percent. Something had occurred and it had kicked the crap out of me. I stumbled down the passageway breathing heavily and finally made it to the altar building. At this point, I could barely stand and stumbling along on willpower alone I made it out the front door. Suddenly I heard a scared young voice ¡°Poppa¡± and then heard no more. I awoke gently, my skin feeling stiff and my muscles sore. Making up for that was the lovely smell of cinnamon sprinkled on fresh baked bread that was covered with butter with a faint hint of spicy flowers in the background. Slowly opening my eyes, I saw I was in a nice room painted a light blue. I was lying on a queen sized bed and gently breathing beside me was Reona the barmaid, and the lovely smell was coming from her. I closed my eyes and opened them again. Tilting my head I could see that Reona was sleeping on her back with one leg thrown over my leg. Gently lifting the blankets, it was apparent that Reona was very comfortable in her own skin as that was what she was wearing. She was also a real redhead, but that is something a gentleman will not talk about. As I placed the comforter down and tried to rationalize why I was naked in bed with one of the most attractive women I have ever seen her eyes opened and smiling at me she asked "do you like what you see." sex I looked at Reona who was staring at me with an impish look on her face. I am not an overly shy guy but being in the presence of attractive women does make me a bit reticent. Looking at her lying naked under the covers it was apparent we were way past any point of shyness. ¡°I very much like everything I have seen Reona, but the question is why am I seeing this, why am I here, and how did I get here.¡± With one smooth move Reona swung herself up over and then straddling me put her hands on my shoulders, smiling she said ¡°I also like what I see.¡± Her heavy breasts were thrust forward with the nipples becoming enlarged. ¡°I am not sure this is the proper time or place to be doing this¡± I said. ¡°Why, am I ugly¡± I swallowed as I looked up past her breasts and into her brown eyes. ¡°No, you are one of the most attractive women I have ever seen, it is just that I normally do not end up in a ladies bedroom with not knowing how the hell I ended up here." Reona smiled at me and then nodded, then suddenly leaning forward she kissed me. I tensed at first, but in a moment began to enjoy the kiss and return it. Clearly Reona was feeling my reaction to her being on top of me, with a soft moan; she pulled back and began to wiggle her hips. ¡°Reona¡± I began as my male physiology began to respond to her presence. Looking at me with eyes half closed, she began to speak. ¡°Your daughter came running into the Inn late last night, she was scared and crying. I listened as she bent over me and began to massage my shoulders, her red hair shrouding both of our faces and her breasts resting on my chest. ¡°Once she saw me she ran to me and asked if I could come and help you." Glancing down at our hips I saw that my tight white underwear was still in place. I was not sure if I felt relief or if I should take them off. Feeling her hips gently moving back and forth over me, I struggled to maintain my concentration as she continued to speak. I left with her and she ran back to where we found you in the old park. "You were in bad shape, it was fortunate that we got there when we did." At this point Reona stopped talking and I noticed that a small involuntary tremble shook her for a few seconds. Breathing deeply Reona continued. ¡°I was able to pick you up and carry you to my home. You are very heavy, far more so than I would have thought for a person you size." At this point Reona gave a little gasp and sat straight up, which applied direct pressure to where our groins were touching. ¡°Once at my home I put you into bed and then helped Twink settle down. That was several hours ago and now we are here.¡± I studied her as she began to tremble again, noticing that she was flushing red all the way down to her breasts. Reaching up I cupped her heavy breasts with both hands and began to gently move my thumbs over her golden brown colored aureoles, her nipples instantly responded by becoming even harder. Suddenly I wrapped my hands around her waist and with a twist placed her down on the bed facing me as I now was on top. She quickly grabbed my back and pulled me towards her as she thrust her hips upwards. I could see that she was biting her lips as small gasps escaped her mouth. ¡°Reona¡± I said as I gently stroked her face, ¡°Listen to me, I am not sure we should continue this.¡± Looking in my eyes Reona began to squirm and gasp then she closed her eyes and taking a deep breath she said ¡°I am not in the habit of throwing myself on just anyone, but you are, well there is something special about you and I like you a lot.¡± If you want to go, then go, leave me, but if you want to stay then please stay.¡± How could a man refuse an offer like that, and she had saved me the previous evening. Glancing down I saw my white tight undies had disappeared. I guess my mind had already made the choice to stay. With a fast movement Reona and I became one flesh and the next few hours passed in a hazy intoxication of physicality brought on by her scent of cinnamon and sex and my need to share intimacy. Feeling her hand gently stroking my head I turned and smiled at her. Clearly we had crossed a bridge and entered a new area with regards to our relationship. Looking at her I saw a gentle smile grace her lips as she moved in and kissed me. The passionate fire of our lovemaking had burned bright and hot, but was now stoked into a warm glowing ember. I kissed her back and then asked, ¡°So how does a lithe woman like you manage to carry a heavy guy like me back here?¡± Her voice turning thoughtful she looked away for a minute and then turning back to me she said ¡°there is something you should know about me.¡± ¡°What, you¡¯re not a shape shifting troll or something, are you?¡± I asked with a smile. This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. With a giggle she said ¡°no, but I am not what you probably think.¡± Seeing that this with serious I nodded and then said, ¡°Listen if you do not want to tell me then don¡¯t. It does not matter to me, we all have secrets.¡± She stared deeply at me and then tears began to form in her eyes. Reaching up I slowly brushed them aside as I sat up and pulled her to me, giving her a hug as she rested her head on my chest. ¡°No I want you to know, it is important to me even if it changes how you feel.¡± Holy smoke, I do not want to talk feelings, I do not want to talk about emotions. Call me shallow, call me whatever the hell you want. I was feeling damn uncomfortable at this point. So being the man that I am, I said, ¡°Reona if it is important to you then tell me.¡± Hearing her take a deep breath I realized I could also hear her heart, it was beating rapidly. Grabbing my hand she kissed it and then began to speak. ¡°Tor, I am actually older than I look, much older. I am what is called a dhampyre, a daylight walking vampire and I am five hundred and twenty three years old. My first thought was, cougar, my second thought was, don¡¯t be an ass Tor and my third thought was, does she glitter in daylight. I looked down at the red hair and perfect figure of Reona, breathing in her scent and feeling the warmth of her body. Grabbing her shoulders I tilted her head towards me and kissed her, this time feeling the two sharp teeth in her mouth. Pulling away I stared at her and then spoke ¡°If that is important to some people good for them. The important thing to me is you.¡± Hearing me she looked into my eyes and then with a squeeze she clutched at me softly saying ¡°Thank you Tor, thank you.¡± ¡°Hey, you are welcome, I need to be the one thanking you, last night I am not sure I would have made it without you helping.¡± Nodding her head she glanced at my arms and said "you were in a bad way." You kept saying ¡°Fleurs du Mal. What does that mean?¡± ¡°Fleurs du Mal¡± trying to recall my rather limited French from school I thought for a minute. ¡°I believe that it is translated as Flowers of Evil. I was saying it?¡± ¡°Yes you were, and you were topless, nothing on above the waist. Pretty damn cute, except, well you had all these swirling black marks on your body.¡± My memories, they were beginning to return back to me. The mirror and the transfer, with a sudden rush it all came back, looking down at me chest I could see faint black markings that looked like old tattoos but very faint. Except on my arms, both arms had the flowers and vines wrapped around the two swords. The markings were not faded and hard to see but clearly visible. They were also slowly moving, the flowers on the arm wrapped around Reona were slowly opening much like a flower would open to the first strong light of day. This was weird, even Ingame. In fact, I had seen no tattoos on any other players, I was not sure if players could get tattoos. I would have Twink scan for information on this, maybe I could make some gold by opening up a Ink shop Ingame. Clearly my mind was wandering again. On a more serious note, ¡°Well fuck me.¡± Hearing me, Reona smiled and was clearly about to make a comment on my choice of words. Knowing where that would go, I asked ¡°can you read any of these glyphs on my body?¡± Reona smiled and shook her head, but then she spoke. ¡°I cannot make out the language but I can tell you these are not glyphs. These are runic symbols.¡± Not trying to display my ignorance, but feeling no choice in the matter I asked, ¡°What is the difference?¡± Staring at my chest with her fingernails slowly tracing out the shapes that were now a permanent part of my body she began to speak. ¡°Glyphs are a form of magical writing, transcribed once and then done. Like a scroll of teleportation, they can be used once and then the magic is done.¡± I see, I stated, ¡°How are these tattoos different then?¡± Her face was close to my chest as she stared at the markings while her hand dropped to my lap. Breathing in and then softly breathing on me she spoke, ¡°runic markings are very rare, they form spells that do not fade, they are permanent.¡± Looking at me she smiled and then said, "it would appear that you are now a living spell book." Swallowing I sharply exhaled,I was not sure if my reaction was to her information or to what her hand was doing down in my lap. news As I began to dress I smiled at myself and wondered at my good fortune. Being with Reona had changed me on some level. Sex was sex but I think what had happened had to do more with intimacy at an emotional level. I had not realized how lonely I was until I was not alone. This thought gave me pause to look at my life. I had been alone for years both at the orphanage and at school. Sure I had friends, even girlfriends, but honestly, they were just people I would associate with or look for someplace private to get physical with. There was never any emotional attachment. Not sure what it said about my psyche but I was beginning to realize I was undergoing more emotional bonding with an Npc than I ever had with real life girl. It will be what it will be I thought as I walked out the door. Going down the hallway I realized that I was at the Inn, on the third floor. I had not realized that Reona had a room at the Inn. Making my way down to my room I silently entered but seeing Twink asleep on the bed I slowly retreated quietly closing the door. Going down the stairs to the common area I snagged a chair at an empty table. Looking up I saw Reona coming towards me. Stopping she quickly bent down and gave me a kiss, and then with a wink she said ¡°I bet you worked up an appetite, heard you were busy last night. I will bring you some breakfast and hot kavaa." Looking at her she walked back to the kitchen I wondered if it had all been a dream, but her kiss a moment ago assured me it had all happened. Once Reona returned she sat down beside me and watched me eat, gently resting her head on my shoulder. I asked ¡°Won¡¯t the Innkeeper say something since you are not working?¡± ¡°Looking at me with a smile Reona replied, ¡°he better not as I am the owner of the Inn.¡± I nodded between bites. I really was a breakfast person and not much can dissuade me from enjoying a good meal in the morning. Sitting back and sipping my kavaa I looked at the beauty resting beside me. ¡°Guess I better call you boss then.¡± ¡°You can call me anything you want to but calling me boss will only work in the bedroom.¡± Then with a smile she said ¡°I bet you have some questions, but can we talk tonight, I am moving you and Twink up to my floor, the bedroom next to mine.¡± Looking at her I could see her biting her lip and waiting for my approval. ¡°That sounds great¡± I said, ¡°Listen do you know of anywhere in the city I can find some information on the Runic symbols?¡± Thinking for a minute she replied, ¡°If you go to the temple complex at the top of the city you can ask the monks who care for the temples to show you the library. For a small donation to one of the Gods they will grant access to it. I am not sure where else you could look.¡± Thanking her I departed with a discrete but passionate kiss. Then making my way to the door I stood for a moment staring and thinking. Mainly about Archon who was standing across the road smoking his pipe and waiting. ¡°Hello Tor¡± he said with a smile, I have been waiting for you to make an appearance." ¡°Have you ever peed in a dream¡± I asked? ¡°No don¡¯t answer, it is a rhetorical question, just listen, never pee in a dream, trust me.¡± Looking at me like I was crazy Archon blew a large cloud of smoke up. "Did you have a bad night" he said with a fatherly concern that seemed to be as real as a televangelist actually caring for someone. ¡°No I had a great night.¡± I replied. "Why are you here Archon?¡± ¡°Last night someone from our house was nearby and strangely enough was assaulted.¡± Looking at Archon I spoke, ¡°That is like my rhetorical question, it does not make sense and I am not sure why you are telling me this. Although my question did end in a word of wisdom I see nothing in what you are telling me that I can derive anything from.¡± Calmly blowing smoke from his pipe Archon chuckled and then spoke again, ¡°You know my friend; I think you and I are going to hang out today.¡± ¡°Could I hang out with Kaie instead; no offense but she looks better, smells better and I do not mind her walking around with me all day.¡± ¡°All true but you are stuck with me.¡± Lovely and I had just been thinking that the day was starting out so good. Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Right, well off we go then and with a quick look at my interface map I set out. I noticed that I had several windows shrunk down at the corner of my vision. Only one seemed important and that was the blinking mail icon. Rounding the corner I saw a mailbox on my map about a kilometer farther down the street. Glancing at Archon I saw him looking around as we walked and then with a frown he spoke. ¡°Tor, you live close to the abandoned area, and the Kradula, why? You know that I would like for you join the guild and then you could become a member of our house in an instant. You could be living two tiers higher in the city. Also, for whatever reason, Kaie is taken with you. Does that make a difference? By the way what did you do, sneak in some Old Spice aftershave.¡± Laughing at his wit, he waited for my reply. ¡°Archon¡± I began, ¡°first I like where I am living, second I work there and it is convenient for me. Third while you old bastards may have a lot of goods and wealth, I am not sure that whatever you have planned is going to be good for this world.¡± Staring me he smiled and then patted me on the back. ¡°Damn I wish you would join us, it would be good to have someone not afraid to speak his mind working with us. Also I get the feeling that Kaie would be much happier especially in the mornings if you were the one to get her up and out of bed.¡± Swallowing the smart ass remark I was about to make I just nodded. ¡°Look I am glad you like me, but for now I am working through this game on my own.¡± ¡°Fair enough, but listen my young friend I have one more thing to tell you.¡± Nodding at me he spoke, ¡°Do you remember the Jackass, that young punk.¡± ¡°Yes, I sure do, what of him.¡± Archons face went grim and he spoke once more, ¡°He connected with a bunch of his spoiled friends. They are all donators, not worthy of being here.¡± I nodded in agreement, players like that were useless, worth less than a pile of cow crap, at least that could be used for fire or in a garden. ¡°Well it seemed that one of his friends has a parent who worked in the development of the game, and upon the urging of junior the parent made some changes to the patch that came online last night.¡± "What changes?¡± I asked. ¡°Players can now form houses without being part of one of the guilds. That means that the guild rules that govern the houses are not going to be in place.¡± ¡°Crap.¡± I spoke softly, ¡°that can open up the door to a lot of abuse towards Npc and other players, especially the low levels.¡± Nodding his head Archon said, ¡°Jackass and at least twenty of his friends have made a house, they are calling it PK Elites. There is one other thing about these guys I think you should know.¡± ¡°What¡± I asked. ¡°They have put a 5k reward on you, anyone who brings you to them, alive of course well receive the gold.¡± ¡°Shit,¡± I try not to be a vulgar person but sometimes things escape me. ¡°Thanks Archon I owe you one.¡± ¡°Yes you do and you¡¯re welcome.¡± We had arrived at the mail box by this point and stopping as I explained I needed to check my mail. I waved my hand over the box and read the messages as they arrive. The auction had been a success and the Methrill bar had sold for a great deal of gold. The actual auction price was almost double what I had asked. I was now rich or at least close enough to fake it Ingame. I stopped for a moment and collected my thoughts; money was simply a tool to me. I could find enough at night with my Dragon eyes treasure ability. It felt pretty good to have that money in the bank for a rainy day though. What I needed to do now was to find out what the heck had happened to me last night, and what did the tattoos on my body mean. Also, I needed to work out a training schedule for my new abilities, and develop a pathway to level up on. I guess there really is no rest for the wicked. smokes and rep So the Jackass and his friends want me, and not to go for coffee. My thoughts roiled around in my head, I knew I was angry but still in control. ¡°When did you hear about the 5k reward Archon?¡± ¡°It was reported by one of my people last night.¡± ¡°I see, well a moving target is a hard target so shall we continue?¡± Striding down the street I began to eye all the alleyways and doorways wondering when and where the PK Elites would make a move. Archon silently glided beside me; walking in a companionable silence we made our way to the next intersection where a pipe and tobacco shop was located. ¡°I need a few minutes my friend; I need to get something from this shop.¡± Glancing up at the storefront Archon stared at me and then asked, when did you start smoking a pipe?¡± ¡°I have not¡± I answered and with that I entered the shop. Having never been in a tobacco shop I was amazed at the rich aromas that hung in the air. I had thought it would smell of stale tobacco and acrid smoke, not of light spices and sweet aromas. Greeting the shopkeeper I asked for a small bag of tobacco. The dwarf behind the counter looked at me and then pulling his pipe from between his teeth said, ¡°ye will be wanting a light blend I be thinking.¡± Reaching under the counter he pulled a small grey leather bag out and unknotting the drawstring he lifted it up towards me. ¡°Give it a good smell Human and tell me what ye think?¡± Bending over I gave the bag a gentle sniff, I was overcome with the smell of sun dried flowers and honey, with a hint of cinnamon. The smell reminded me of Reona and without hesitation I bought the bag for one silver and fifty coppers. Once outside I gestured to a small bench located a few meters down the street, ¡°shall we¡± I said and with a smile began to walk to the bench. Sitting down at the bench I opened my bag and extracted my cartography supplies. Gently unrolling the thinnest sheet of parchment paper I could find I carefully began to cut it into small rectangles. Once that was done I pulled my Tobacco pouch out and opened it. Archon at this point said ¡°oh my God you¡¯re not, you are, well dammit. I want the first one.¡± Smiling I handed him my first hand rolled cigarette and quickly rolled another. ¡°Light¡± I asked and seeing him nod I held my finger to the end of his smoke and with a minor effort caused a small flame to ignite at the tip of my finger. Lighting both of our smokes I took my first puff. Closing my eyes for a second I held the smoke in and then breathed out. Opening my eyes I became aware that several players were standing on the street, just looking at us. I glanced over at Archon and saw that he had a smile on his face as he began to blow smoke rings. ¡°Well?¡± I asked after taking another puff. Looking at me Archon sighed and then said ¡°you realize that you have just changed the game in a fundamental way.¡± ¡°What are you talking about Archon?¡± Pointing to the players that were beginning to gather on the road in front of he said, ¡°What are the two types of people who smoke in real life?¡± I thought for a minute then nodded, ¡°teenagers and old folks.¡± ¡°Now you are getting it, do you really think any of the players really like smoking a pipe, I don¡¯t and I doubt very many do. We all like smoking though and now,¡± gesturing at our smokes he nodded. ¡°Now we can, all because you took a moment and thought outside the box.¡± At this point one of the players standing in front of us spoke up, ¡°Hey man can you spare me a smoke?¡± Looking at him and the others beginning to crowd forward I nodded. ¡°One minute please¡± I said as I began to roll out several more smokes. Handing them out I heard one fellow in the back say, ¡°it¡¯s just map making paper and tobacco.¡± ¡°Shall we¡± I asked Archon and pointing up the street I began to walk towards gate that led to the third tier. Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. As we passed by a map makers shop Archon stopped and smiling at me he indicated he had to go and purchase some parchment paper. We entered the shop and he made his purchase while I looked around. It was just a shop full of map making supplies and the tools of the trade. On impulse I asked the shopkeeper if he had any old maps, really old maps of the city. Archon hearing my request grunted and then waited with a curious look in his eye. The shopkeeper peered up at me and then gave a smile. Ah yes, I do think I might have what you are looking for. Going to one of the dusty corners behind the counter he pulled out a small copper tube, and then gently gave it to me. ¡°Have a look boy and be careful not to tear it.¡± Nodding I carefully unfastened the end of the tube and with a gentle touch began to inch the map out of the tube. The paper was ancient and delicate, just waiting for a tear. Hardly breathing I slowly began to remove it from the tube and finally freed it. Carefully I unfurled the paper and watched as the shopkeeper placed small ink pots at all four corners to weigh them down. Once the map was open I began to look it over, noting that there were several changes from the current maps of the city. The city was only three tiers high and the rest of the mountain was wilderness all the way to the top. It was apparent that the bottom tiers were what the city had developed from. ¡°Twink¡± I called out in my mind. ¡°Are you awake?¡± ¡°Poppa your okay,¡± the relief in her thoughts was apparent. ¡°Yes I am good, listen; can you scan the map I am looking at right now?¡± There was silence for a minute then I heard the analytical tone of the AI side of Twink speak. ¡°The document scanning is commencing, database correlation adjustment in progress. Process has finished. Suddenly Twink spoke in her normal voice, do you need anything else Poppa?¡± ¡° I am really hungry can I go eat?¡± Thinking that she would probably want to go hunting I quickly decided that she should go down stairs and ask Reona to feed her. Explaining to her what to do only took a few seconds, then with a quick goodbye I ended the conversation and turned back to the shopkeeper. ¡°Thank you sir for showing me the map how much does it cost?¡± The wily old fellow looked at me in my low level gear and then shrugged. ¡°Lad, it cost probably a bit more than you can afford right now. The price is set at one hundred gold.¡± Hearing this even Archon gasped, but then looking at me, he raised a brow and said, ¡°If you need small loan,¡± leaving the question in the air. I silently shook my head; I already had all the info the map could offer to me thanks to Twink. Seeing that I would not be making the purchase the shopkeeper slowly and carefully began to put the map away. Once it was gently rolled and placed in the copper tube he turned and began to walk back to the dusty drawer he had retrieved it from. Archon turned and looking at me smiled then spoke,¡± Hold shopkeeper I will make the purchase for one hundred gold.¡± Turning around the shopkeeper looked at Archon and then said, ¡°That price of one hundred gold was for the young lad, but for you the cost is to be no less than one hundred and fifty gold.¡± Archon asked ¡°what¡± and then began to look at me and at the shopkeeper. ¡°He has through hard work proven himself to the citizens of the second tier of the city, you are not from this tier, why would you receive a discount¡± said the shopkeeper. I breathed in both proud and pleased; I had reputation with the Npc of the second tier. mountain tops and messengers We left the map maker with Archon grumbling and giving me dirty looks. I was being the modicum of gentlemanly behavior and managed to hide my smirk, for the most part anyway. ¡°Just where are we going?¡± ¡°We are going to the top my friend,¡± and with a gesture lifted my hand upwards towards the top tier of the city, where gleaming white stood the temple complex and the kings palace. Glancing at me Archon nodded and then spoke, ¡°Lay on Macduff, and damned be who first cries Hold!¡± ¡°What the heck were you an English teacher back in the day?¡± ¡°Is that Shakespeare?¡± Laughing at me Archon nodded and said, ¡°Yes I actually did teach English for a while, are you a fan of the Bard?¡± About to say no I thought for a moment, I actually had enjoyed Shakespeare in school. Not the papers I had to write but the person himself, l had learned to appreciate the many characters with all the flaws that he wrote about. The little telltale nuances of the society that he brought to life. The fact that many of his tales used what my educator had called low humor. The humor that the commoners had found so funny, cleverly disguised so that the upper class would not pay attention, but the working class would find amusement in. ¡°Yes I liked reading his work while in school,¡± I answered. By now we were approaching the gate to the next tier. ¡°Onward and upwards¡± I said as we passed through the gate, steadily we walked the rest of the journey which passed in silence with both Archon and I glancing about at the ever increasing signs of power and wealth on display. By midday we had reached the top plateau and entered through a high wall. The guards had questioned us and warned us to stay on the pathways and not go looking into any of the off limit areas. I assumed they were serious and assured them I was on a pilgrimage to the temples to pay my respect towards the Gods. Hearing me Archon gave me a puzzled look and then nodded at the guard. As we left and began to wander down the pathway along the circumference of the wall, Archon whispered, ¡°What are you doing Tor?¡± Grinning I spoke, ¡°I am coming to pay my respects my friend.¡± Maybe I will be finally free of the curse.¡± ¡°Frowning at me Archon quickly spoke, ¡°Curse, what curse?¡± ¡°The only clue I can tell you is this, ¡°Double, double toil and trouble.¡± Thinking for a minute Archon suddenly swore and then said ¡°I suppose I deserved that, but really what are we doing up here. Staring ahead at the gleaming white temples and shrines I spoke, ¡°I am really coming to pay my respects and then to see if it will open any doors to me.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think the Gods usually take a hand on interest in players Tor. But you lead I will follow.¡± Shaking his head at me Archon gestured towards the buildings and I stepped forward. There are five main buildings towards the five main deities within the game. Inter spaced between the main buildings were the shrines, dedicated to the lesser gods and the largest of the shrines being for the Unknown Gods. I am not sure but as I approached the buildings my skin began to itch and I felt a mild burn within. Not knowing what was happening I continued on slowing down in front of each temple and shrine. We finally arrived at the shrine to the Unknown God and at this point my skin felt like it was being pulled tight and was very itchy. I saw that above the entrance to the shrine was a stained glass window with the picture of a burning bush embossed on it. As I neared the entrance the interior of the shrine began to glow and the stained glass window was transformed into an actual burning bush. The burning bus grew larger and began to rise above the shrine. I could hear people shouting and running towards the shrine from some of the other temples and shrines. Lifting my arms the sleeves of my shirt dropped exposing my arms. The black tattoos began to writhe about and then flames burst onto my skin. Both of my arms began to match burning bush flaming above us. Archon swore, and looking at me he stepped back and spoke, ¡°Tor, unless you want to answer some difficult questions from whoever is fast approaching I would lower you arms and cover them up.¡± Thinking fast I nodded and did as he suggested, Turning to look at Archon I saw the first monk run up to the shrine and fall on his knees. ¡°A Miracle, a miracle he screamed over and over.¡± ¡°Fucking Zealot,¡± Archon whispered as he led the way along the path. We stopped and sat on a bench about 30 meters down the path in a slightly open area. We could clearly see the burning bush and the people as more and more Monks and Priests arrived and fell on their knees. ¡°Look at those idiots, fools each and every one of them.¡± ¡°Now you, yes you are going to tell me what the hell just happened and this time there will be no secrets.¡± ¡°Archon you had better relax, and stand down, I am not in you guild or your house.¡± ¡°Fuck that, you did something here, something that involves the Gods and that might impact my house.¡± I stood up and with a nod said, ¡°Here we part ways my friend, if you can control yourself at some point let me know and we will talk again.¡± This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. ¡°Not so fast¡± and with those words Archon jumped up and grabbed my arm. Having achieved level ten my strength and stats had grown, but this man was almost four times my level. Realizing this on a cerebral level did not stop me from grabbing his arm and beginning to pull his hand down. With a grimace Archon said, ¡°Tor, sit before I hurt you, you do not have the strength or the power to escape.¡± Shouting, ¡°Fuck that right back at you,¡± I began to push his arm down and away from my arm. Archons eyes opened wide and on his face, a shocked look appeared. Activating my physical dps attack, I began to do an Ippon Seoinage, a one armed shoulder throw. It was over in a second, with Archon hitting the stones of the pathway hard. It was clear that his breath had departed out of him and he had lost at least half his life as shown by the display hp bar. Looking at him, his face a mask of shock and pain, I felt a great deal of sadness rise up within. Quickly I cast my simple healing spell on him, relieved to see his health go up by at least a quarter of the hp bar. ¡°I am sorry Archon; I spoke softly, ¡°One day I hope that we will sit for kavaa and share a smoke again.¡± Blinking back some eye sweat, I activated Dragon shadows and faded from his sight. Turning, I moved off the path and began to walk towards the entrance, ignoring the soft calls of ¡°Tor, wait, Tor I made a mistake¡± as they faded behind me. Glancing left and right I saw that I was approaching the central temple. Strangely enough, sitting on top of the roof was the figure of a man, with small wings on his arms, back and feet. I stopped and stared having never seen nor heard of such a person before. Suddenly the strange figure spoke,¡± ah, begods hate when you frikken pilgrims come up here and stare at me. Go away and piss off you daft pile of meat.¡± I continued to stare at this strange creature and finally spoke, ¡°What the heck, what are you, an angel?¡± Looking down with me at amazement the little fellow said, ¡°you can see me, how can you see me, not even the high priest can see me unless The God allows it. We stared at each other trying to puzzle this odd situation out. I finally spoke, ¡°sorry sir I am not meaning to be rude, but I have never seen anything like you and am not sure how to respond.¡± Puffing his chest out like a little peacock, and indeed the feathers on all six of his wings were brilliantly colored the little man said, ¡°I am Komhether, the messenger of the Gods, and who are you that you can see what has been hidden from mortal eyes?¡± That was a good question, how and why could I see him. Thinking fast I could only conclude it had something to do with my Dragon eyes ability, to see hidden treasures. I spoke up to the little fellow, and explained that I could see hidden treasures and that was how I was able to see him. Upon hearing the words treasure, he began to preen and then spoke, "Treasure, yes to be sure I one of the most valued treasures of the Gods." Looking up at the little messenger, I thought back to something I had learned many years ago. ¡°Pride goeth before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.¡± I knew it was from the Bible, but where, I did not know. It somehow seemed to apply to the vain little man on the roof of the temple. Reaching into my bag, I pulled a smoke out and lit it. Taking a deep breath, I looked back up at the messenger to find he was floating down to have a good look at what I was doing. Staring at the smoke I was exhaling he asked, ¡°Human what is that strange thing you are doing? How is it that you have smoke coming forth from your being? Are you a dragon?¡± Hearing the last question I almost swallowed the cigarette. Realizing he was referring to the smoke, I shook my head. ¡°I am having a smoke,¡± I explained. ¡°it is something that humans do upon occasion, to relax, to stop and look around and appreciate the world.¡± Sighing softly the little fellow nodded and said, "that is mainly what I spend my time doing. Waiting around and enjoying the sights until the Gods have need of me." Giving me a sad look he then asked, ¡°May I try a smoke?¡± ¡°Of course my friend¡± and I rolled him ten cigarettes and then lit the first one for him. Taking in a deep drag, he held it in and then blew out a perfect smoke ring. Glancing at the pleased look on his face, I knew that another person had just succumbed to the temptation to smoke. Hearing his pleased voice calling out, ¡°Thank you sir, thank you,¡± I nodded and began to walk away. I suspected he would find me when he wanted more smokes and that was what I had planned. Looking back, I saw him leaning forward with a smoke in hand and an impish grin on his face. Stopping, I recalled an album cover from the nineteen eighties. Van Halen: 1984. Calling out to Twink I asked her to play VH 1984 the song Jump. I needed some good music to listen to as I walked home. torture I decided to remain visible on my way down through the city. Many people were going about the activities that comprised life, and with the bustle and crowding I did not want to bump anyone. Also I wanted to see if I would spot anyone from the PK Elites. I was getting a bad feeling about those guys, they seemed to be heading in a direction that I did not want to see Ingame. Keeping my eyes open and trying to be fully aware of my surroundings. I made my way through the gates at each tier of the city. I was moving slow, intent on making it back to the Inn. When the attack came, it caught me completely by surprise. I was on the third tier halfway to the gate, when a Mars guilds man stopped me. ¡°Hey can you give me a hand¡± then he pointed at the side of the road. As I glanced towards the road I saw him give a small nod and then something heavy and hard hit my head, twice. Coming to I could hear the chatter of players drinking and swearing, being silly and acting like boys in a frat house I thought. I tried to relax and keep my eyes closed hoping to learn anything that could help me. The tight cords that were binding my wrists together and then elevating my arms above my head were digging into my flesh. There would be no escape from these bonds, I could not feel my fingers but I suspected that they were swollen. Hearing someone approach I felt my hair grabbed and pulled sharply back, my eyes involuntarily opened and I saw that the headache I was feeling was accompanied by double vision. Might have a concussion I thought. ¡°Glad to see you awake, man. I was getting worried.¡± Trying to focus on the speaker I saw it was the Jackass. Feeling the need to make some kind of a response I tried to speak, only to realize that the lower portion of my face had on some kind of mask, no it was more like a muzzle was attached to my head. Smiling gleefully the Jackass nodded and then said ¡°I see you found your mask, can¡¯t have you spitting on anyone now can we.¡± Then he swung his opened hand and hit me in the side of the head. The pain exploded along my nerves and my last thought was why the hell am I feeling so much pain. Unconscious overtook me and I hung there like a slab of meat on a hook. I came to after having a bucket of cold water dropped on my head. I was conscious but my vision was double and I had a ringing in my ears that would not stop. Trying to focus I made out the Jackass and three of his cronies. ¡°Awake again, so glad, we have a few things to do tonight and I don¡¯t want you to miss them.¡± ¡°Motherfucker¡± was what I tried to say but all that came out was a mumble. ¡°I have been thinking a lot about you Tor, oh yes I know your name. I know a lot about you, you welfare bastard. You see I know you are an invite to the Sleepy Hollow summer camp, I know you are in room number twelve; I even know you have a little red headed girlfriend. Don¡¯t worry; I have plans, I will make sure she does not miss you.¡± That fucker, I was not sure what concerned me first, that he knew where my body was or that he knew about Reona. I glared at him with my double vision and tried to break free, but whoever had tied me must have known about knots as I was not going to break free from this cord. Finally I gave up, I was in a lot of pain and escape was impossible. Standing back and watching me the Jackass finally spoke again. ¡°You might be wondering where you are, let me tell you. You are in the basement of the house of the PK Elites. I would guess about now you are thinking that you will hit the green escape button and pop your vrp. Good luck dude, I had one of my guys do the same and then visit your room with what is called an SOP. That means software override programming tool. He was a little pissed because once you pop the vrp you have to start a new toon. But what the hell right, can¡¯t make an omelet without breaking eggs.¡± Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. ¡°So pound that button bitch, cause in a little while I will be pounding your bitches button,¡± Even with my head scrambled I realized that something was seriously wrong with this guy. Really messed up, I had encountered a couple of kids at the orphanage like this. FUBAR, fucked up beyond all repair. I had to get out of here and tell someone, he had clearly gone off the deep end. The big green exit button was shaded out, he had done it. Hacked my pod, illegal but what could I do. Looking at me he began to laugh and then said, ¡°I have two more surprises for you; first let me say, no hard feelings right." "The two things I have for you are, a drum roll please, a trip to the Kradula, sorry we don¡¯t power level bitches so you will be on your own.¡± Then turning to reach behind his back he spoke, ¡°hold this dudes head and do not let him move.¡± Slowly he pulled two poniards glowing deep reddish amber and radiating heat towards the front of his body. ¡°Dude I hate to cut this short but fuck you.¡± With that he thrust forth both of them, one into each eye, and gave them a little seesaw action. My blurred vision was instantly gone and the smell of me burning filled my nose. As he pulled them out the little prick began to laugh, and then said, ¡°Hey I gave myself a woody.¡± Walking away he continued to laugh until one of the two guys holding me said, ¡°what do we do now?¡± ¡°It¡¯s midnight and not too many people will be around. Wrap him in a blanket and then take him to the Kradula. Throw him in, once in there he will be in a private dungeon server and if you are not in his party you cannot talk to him.¡± ¡°Dude if we throw him over the entrance parapet to the main grounds the ghouls and mists will get him.¡± ¡°What is you point¡± the Jackass asked. ¡°He will just respawn and then be back to normal.¡± ¡°No he won¡¯t, the respawn is now in the dungeon, and in order to fully heal you must leave the dungeon now, to many high level guys were farming it so they changed everything.¡± ¡°Trust me, how is a blind player going to make his way through the Kradula to get to the entrance and walk out, it is a maze in there. He is going to be going through a respawn cycle for the next year subjective time. Here that bitch, you are not going to escape me, not today, not tomorrow, not till the damn year is done.¡± The pain had done something to me and the concussion had not helped. I could not put together a rational thought, I was struggling to actually breath, the rage and the tears trying to fall into my empty sockets left me feeling unconnected. I felt them cut me down and then drop me on the floor. The blanket I was rolled in made it even harder to breath. As I was half carried Out of the house I could hear some players talking. ¡°That was some serious shit man,¡± one said. ¡°He beat him and then he hot knifed his eyes, man. I did not sign up for this, I am sure this shit is illegal.¡± ¡°Shut it, you joined the house,¡± another player answered. At that point I felt them lift me up and then heard one of them say, ¡°On three, throw him high and to the side, he has to go over the edge or we are all fucked.¡± Suddenly I felt myself falling through the air and then heard a loud snap as I landed, my left arm had just broke, and I was fading away again. lost within I regained consciousness when I felt a gentle touch on my head. I turned to look at who was touching me when the memory of what happened flashed back. I strained trying to see, but of course without eyes there is no sight. Once again I felt the soft touch on my face, near my eyes. Disparate to hear anything, I listened and thought I could hear crying. My brain was not working right, I knew this, but hearing the young voice crying in the night I struggled to my feet. I was in the Kradula, but I was in an orphanage, I had grown up in an orphanage and spent a lot of my time being the big brother to the young kids when they arrived. Feeling a small hand like shape grab my swollen fingers, I was led away but by what? I did not know and could not see. My headache was causing me to have walking blackouts and I was at the mercy of whoever was holding my hand. Stumbling along I fell several times but managed to get up, always with the gentle touch on my fingers holding them and guiding me. Eventually I could go no more and stopping I slid down to rest finding my back supported by some kind of structure. Trying to thank whoever it was leading me, I realized I still had that damn muzzle on and could not speak. After some time, I am not sure how long I felt a stronger hand grab my arm and force me to rise. Once again we made our way down the pathway, stopping occasionally when I could go no further, until we finally arrived, at a house, a building I could not tell. Hearing a door open I was again guided forward and then pushed against something. At this point I felt a pressure on my shoulders and sat down, once sitting an arm went around my back and under my legs and I was lowered to a rest on some kind of table. My state of disconnect continued and I felt my head swimming, my thoughts were adrift in pain and turmoil. I could hear a door open, but could not process the words that I heard next. ¡°Well, you are all kinds of messed up.¡± Swinging my head around I tried to speak, but the damn muzzle gave my words the sounds of a mad zombie. ¡°What did they do to you, you must have really made the Gods mad. Suddenly I felt a hand at the back of my neck and the clasp was opened and the muzzle fell to the ground. I wanted to thank whoever was helping me, but the first words I uttered were ¡°water please.¡± After having someone or something dribble water into my mouth I felt amazingly refreshed. The pain was still there and the difficulty thinking, but still that water worked better than any healing potion. Finally able to say thank you to whomever was assisting me, I tried to sit up. A gentle hand held me down and the Voice spoke again. ¡°Boy you are looking worse than any of us. With that muzzle on and your bloody eye sockets dripping, you frightened the poor young shades here. I nodded and tried to speak, ¡°sorry, I had no choice, I was thrown into this.¡± All Good boy, all good, in fact it saved you. You looked enough like a poor Zombie that the mists and haunts thought you were one of us, or about to become one of us. That is why they brought you to me, to ease your passage to our side of the veil. ¡°I am sorry sir, I do not understand my head is all messed up, have I joined you across the veil, am I dead. I feel a lot of pain and if this is death, then I guess there is a hell.¡± ¡°Lad believe me there is a hell, however this is not it. You are in pain because you were tortured, and then thrown into the Kradula to die. Whoever did this had no intention to have you live.¡± ¡°Listen son, I do not have the power I had when I was alive, but I will do what I can for you. Before I was a monk here at the kradula, I had spent years as a traveling shaman seeking wisdom. I will try to cast a healing spell on you. Know though that the power goes with death, and I should have gone with it, but I stayed for the sake of the little ones here. What I have left I will give freely to you. With that I could feel the ghostly shaman, place his hand on me and begin to chant. The once powerful healing spell eased my heads pain somewhat but could do no more. Looking down at me the old ghost spoke again. ¡°I am sorry lad I cannot give more. This vaporous¡¯ shell just cannot hold or direct the elemental energies any longer it is just too weak to contain the power. This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Nodding my head I whispered ¡°thank you¡± and then fell asleep on the table. The old shade stared at me shaking his head and looking puzzled. Glancing down at the mist like figure of a small child he smiled and spoke, ¡°I know little one, he is standing on the doorway, he might become a part of the Kradula or he might not. Only time will tell.¡± Coming awake brought no peace or light to me. My eyes could not open and I could not see. The old shade had splinted me arm, above and below the break. My head was healing; the little power remaining in the shamanic spell had done enough to take care of the concussion. Emotionally, something was broke, my mind wandered and I could not feel any depth to my emotions. Days had passed and I simply sat in the lotus position. I had tried to meditate but my thoughts and feelings were shallow and sporadic. I listened to the sounds of the Kradula, the soft steps of the small children and the heavier footfalls of the larger ghouls. I was briefly was curious about what had happened here and then that thought faded. After a time the old spirit of the shaman approached me, ¡°Boy it is time for you to do something or you will fade away and join us forever.¡± ¡°What can I do I am blind,¡± I tried to shout but the worlds came out soft and without emotional feeling. ¡°Yes you are but not having eyes does not make you blind. How do you think elementals see?¡± ¡°Do they have two soft and squishy pieces of meat to see with? They are made out of rock.¡± ¡°My friend Laeki was a rock elemental that could see so much more than I.¡± ¡°Then call him and ask him how he sees, because if I could see I could have my vengeance and that is the one thing that keeps me going in this dark and desolate place.¡± Feeling somewhat ashamed at my outburst I turned towards the old shade and apologized. ¡°No boy I must apologize, for I see what you cannot both physically and mentally. ¡°I will call Laeki, and perhaps with his help you will see once again. Once again my thoughts were washing around in a sea of confusion and doubt, the only strong feeling I had was one of anger perhaps even hate, when I thought of the Jackass and the people who had joined his house. As I sat there I heard a deep rumble and then a click clock of heavy movement and felt a presence stop in front of me. ¡°What have they done to you little brother?¡± the words were slow and heavy, I instinctively knew that whoever it was in front of me was ancient, far older than anyone I had met Ingame. ¡°Who are you?¡± my voice had an odd inflection to it, I felt like I should know this ancient being, but the knowledge was floating just out of my grasp. I am Laeki, the friend to Shaman Oaktree; he has called me up from the depth of my home to ask for help for you. ¡°Can you give me my sight back?¡± I asked, my voice cracking. I could tell he was staring at me, evaluating me. ¡°I can help you but we must return to mother, only she can heal the deep scars.¡± ¡°Who is mother and where is she?¡± I was eager to go anywhere if there was a chance to see again. Again I was aware that he was observing me, so it did not surprise me when he said, ¡°Come and see, you will remember all that is lost.¡± Suddenly a hand hard as rock grasped my shoulder and with a rumble we began to descend. ¡°Where are we going Laeki?¡± perhaps because of my blindness I was aware that we were traveling at a great speed far faster than I had ever traveled, and we seemed to be heading down, straight down. family As we descended in some kind of a rock bubble, the rock elemental released his grip on my shoulder and then slowly spoke, ¡°What has happened to you, my brother. I did not know how to respond the events of the recent past were blurred and painful to recall. Suddenly I did recall one thing, it was looking at the messenger of the Gods and thinking of how prideful he was and that Biblical passage, ¡°Pride goeth before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.¡± I thought about that for a while, maybe my subconscious was once again telling me something. It came slowly the feeling of anger until it suddenly broke upon me like an ocean wave on the rocky shore. Pride, was it my downfall? Not a fucking chance, and with that my head began to clear and the swirling emotions that had been overwhelming to me began to recede. With trembling hands I reached into my bag and pulled out the makings of a smoke. Working slowly I rolled one, it''s a little more difficult when you can¡¯t see what you are doing, and then lit up. Taking a drag I held the smoke in for a minute and then exhaled. As I worked my way through both the smoke and my thoughts I began to achieve a sense of balance. Not inner peace, that was for the people who sold candles at airports. I did not want peace; I was hungry for recompense, and was done with the partiality of the game. I know longer cared at the fact that the Jackass had arranged for the game to be changed in such a way that benefited him. That would be addressed I promised myself. Even my capture and subsequent torture no longer burned like a fire within my breast, I was filled with anger at the injustice of it but not overwhelmed. I would be returning to the city, and when I did come back, action long overdue by the Game masters would be taken. The Gm¡¯s were supposed to insure that this kind of thing did not occur. The lack of a response spoke of a problem that probably extended beyond the game and into the real world. Time passed with my thoughts becoming stronger and my will beginning return. The elemental turned and looked at me, and spoke, ¡°I will tell you the tale of how the world was made and how the Gods came into being. The history of men and the other races and how it all began.¡± I nodded my head and thanked him then listened. ¡°In the beginning there was Gaiatoci, the earth mother who is the center and who provides for all. Being alone for millennia she became lonely for she is love and love is strong when shared. She brought forth the first of her children, the Dragons, those who were born of fire and shadows. Then she birthed the stone elementals out of here thoughts. We were the first children of Gaiatoci and we lived on love and harmony with her and each other, little brother. As time passed she looked at us and loved us and wanted to share that with more, so the Gods were called forth by her word and she looked upon them and blessed them. Over time more children came forth, living things of the water then the land. Then the dwarfs, and the elves and the other races were all called forth. Not given the eternal life as the eldest children were but given a divine spark of life within that would be freed upon death to return to the love of the earth mother. And finally man, the weakest and short lived of all the children of Gaiatoci.¡± Here the rock being shook his head and sadness was heard in his next words. ¡°They were children that Gaiatoci loved the as the last born, created to be with her forever, for they would not die in her presence.¡± ¡°What happened?¡± I asked my thoughts wondering at the story. ¡°The Gods,¡± sighed Laeki ¡°The Gods happened.¡± I thought back to my world, where in the name of God many terrible things continued to happen, and nodded my head. This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. ¡°The Gods over time became jealous of the love of mankind for Gaiatoci and slowly led her children away from her, first to the Roundland and then to the Topland. Once removed from Gaiatoci man began to change and the Gods each encouraged this. Not caring for love, or man or each other they only wanted to deprive anyone of what they did not have.¡± ¡°This is what the Gods taught man and after leading man as far away from Gaiatoci as they could the Gods abandoned them alone on the Topland.¡± ¡°What happened,¡± I asked my voice quiet and soft. ¡°Seeing the plight of mankind the Eldest among us the dragon of shadows, the firstborn left the comfort of his mother and ascended to the surface. Having heard the cries of her children and seeing them lost in their ways, Gaiatoci blessed him and gave him the ability to become as a man and walk among them. He guided them and taught them, restoring knowledge and love to the people who now had spread out among the Topland. As he was doing this the Gods were also at work slowly moving all the races away from the Roundland and up to the Topland. ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Only the Gods know, we have long speculated that pride entered the hearts of the Gods, and that when they saw that Gaiatoci loved all of her children they were moved by bitterness and jealousy. They desired to be first in her heart, not knowing or caring that her love is the same for all her children. After tens of thousands of years, all the races now lived upon the Topland away from Gaiatoci and the Gods returned to her. Seeing only us the eldest of her children, the Gods believed that they would receive all her love. When Gaiatoci asked why they had taken her children away from her, they became bitter and angry.¡± A mother¡¯s heart does not stop loving any of her children she told them, but in pride and anger they then turned away from her, and left never to return. And now all the children of Gaiatoci now live on the Topland where she is not even a memory.¡± What happened to the eldest, the dragon, the one that had left the presence Gaiatoci to help mankind.¡± ¡°The other Gods returned to the surface and began to manifest themselves to all the races. They were determined to wipe the all knowledge of the round land and the Earthmother from all.¡± ¡°They began to demand worship and with acts of power and displays of might swayed mankind from following the eldest. Eventually they convinced man he was just a legend, a myth, the unknown God.¡± Once man was established in the new ways the Gods began to fight amongst themselves, until few remain.¡± They have become vain and jealous, and care not for man or each other, the darkness has begun to fill them.¡± ¡°That is the story of our family little brother; now sleep for the journey is long and you must rest before we arrive at home.¡± grandmother I awoke to see the sky except it was not sky, it was land. There were clouds and forests and seas and mountains. I blinked and looked above me again. There in the sky was a blazing ball of energy. A miniature sun, but somehow different. I am sure a physicist would be having a cerebral high looking at the sun thing. I just thought the concussion was flaring up. As I stood I could see I was on a balcony of a large building, a sort of Greek temple architecture. I was at least four stories up which gave me an excellent view of the world, which off in the distance began to curve up to the horizon. And up and up and up. Guess those inner earth nutbars were right after all, at least Ingame. It was an amazing sight, really nothing could describe it, I guess if someone were to look at an open sky and see the stars for the first time they would feel the same. It was clear that I was in the middle of the earth, and even more amazing was the fact I could see. I Could See. I reached up and closed my eyes and gently felt around my eye sockets and my eyelids. Something was wrong; there was no eyeball pressure against my eyelid, the sockets felt somehow wrong. What the hell. Suddenly I was aware of a presence standing behind me. I could feel and sense the emanations of power and love coming forth from her. Turning I looked directly at the woman who now stood in front of me, she appeared to be in her mid forties, with the same beauty that all women had Ingame. I stood there staring at her until she spoke, ¡°Hello my grandson.¡± ¡°Gaiatoci,¡± I asked suddenly feeling small and not worth her attention. She smiled as she looked at me and then suddenly took my hand, and then said, ¡°Welcome home, come walk with me we have much to discuss.¡± Suddenly a game window opened and displayed... World Boss Gaiatoci, the Earthmother. The Gods have decided the Earthmother must go. Do you a mere mortal, respond to the Gods? Will you accept this chain quest? Be warned the Gods are a fickle bunch! Rewards are unknown. YES or NO... I stared at the screen and suddenly Gaiatoci spoke, ¡°That is an interesting challenge, quite a quest. I stared at her. ¡°You can see the quest window?¡± I was shocked, this seemed to go against all the rules of game play; I stood there and looked at her. ¡°How¡± I asked ¡°can you see that window, it is player specific and no one else should ever be able to see it.¡± She smiled at me and then asked, ¡°How are you able to see grandson, when your eyes have been taken from you?¡± I really wanted to know that myself, But she had the same aura that the unknown God had. Clearly I was not going to be flippant or a smartass. ¡°I do not know Gaiatoci.¡± ¡°Please call me grandmother, the eldest is my son, and it is his blood that is burning within you. We are all family.¡± ¡°Including the Gods, the ones who want you gone?¡± I asked losing control of myself for a moment as I thought about all the asses and especially the Jackass who was even now playing in the game. ¡°Yes, including the Gods as they were. Not the beings that are demanding selfish worship and acts of crazed obedience and sacrifice. These are not my children. In my memories my children yet live. A mother does not forget her children.¡± "So these Gods just wanted me to start a quest to destroy you, does that matter to you?¡± ¡°Yes it matters, and it is hard. It is very hard for me.¡± ¡°What do you mean,¡± I asked when suddenly another quest window opened. World Quest Gaiatoci, the Earthmother has asked for help. If you agree, you must help protect the Earthmother. Her children, the Gods have declared that they wish her gone. Gaiatoci has asked for the Gods to be removed from the world. Be warned once you lift your hand against the Gods they will show no mercy. Will you accept the quest chain? Rewards are Unknown. YES or NO. Her voice was so sad that it took my breath away as I listened to her. ¡°The world is full of many races and peoples. I have seen what the Gods are doing. It will only lead to war and destruction and all well suffer. I would not see the innocents pay for the pride of the Gods. Well you help?¡± Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. I thought for a moment, this was all happening pretty fast, but there seems to be a connection here that began when I first entered the game. I did not want to back the wrong side, but looking at the situation I wanted the good guys to win for a change. Taking my time I reached into my bag and rolled a smoke, lighting it I looked at this world on the inside. It seemed empty and lacking, having no purpose and no people. ¡°Yes grandmother, I will help you.¡± Once the words were spoken I knew I was committed, at least for a year. ¡°Thank you Grandson, now perhaps the world will have a chance. I bet you would like to know how you are seeing.¡± She said it with a smile. Looking at her I could only nod. ¡°It is all tied together, in this place so close to me the powers of the life-force grow ever outward. ¡°How does that help me to see?¡± ¡°On the Topland, you and the others like you have come to the land, and been changed. You are not what you once were, but have become part of the land again. Some of you are sensitive to the life-force, and over time have developed a natural affinity to use it. ¡°Wait, are you talking about mana, the energy that powers spells and abilities?¡± ¡°Yes it is called that, but that is just a weakened form of the life-force.¡± ¡°Why is it weakened,¡± I asked. ¡°Between here and the Topland, is the dark ironstone belt. That is an area that encompasses the whole of the world and draws all to it. Once there it captures all. Energy, gravity, light and the life-force. Only the life-force escapes but it is weakened and changed.¡± I stood thinking about this; it made a crazy kind of sense in a way. I remembered a lecture from high school about why things do not fall off the far side of the world or go shooting off into space. Gravity, the core of the earth pulled everything everywhere downwards. Except as I could see the core was hollow, and clearly gravity was the opposite here. It made sense if somewhere in between the two worlds there was something so heavy, so massive, that it was what gravity was based on. How I wished I had Twink here, I would have been perusing all sorts of crazy theories. Twink, I missed her, and Reona. I felt my chest catch as I thought of Reona; I had not forgotten what the Jackass had said. I had to get back to the surface. ¡°Grandmother I must return to the Topland, there are those that I care for in danger.¡± Staring at me Gaiatoci spoke, ¡°Worry not child, your loved ones are safe.¡± It was a no brainer, she was telling the truth or she was not, I had decided to throw my lot in with her and that was the end of it. ¡°So how am I seeing and why am I healthy hale and whole?¡± "It is the life-force, it is all around you and here it is at its most powerful. This power has flowed to you and empowered you; it is a part of you as much as your blood is. When you entered this world you received a weakened and altered form of the life-force at the Topland. Here in the Roundland you have been rejuvenated, and empowered. This has removed some of the humanness that was stopping you from using all you dragon senses. ¡°So I am seeing using a previously unknown dragon sense. Wow, so I have six senses now.¡± ¡°Actually dragons have eight senses. But you will figure that out as you grow.¡± ¡°So what do we need to do to help you, grandmother?¡± Hearing me, Gaiatoci smiled and then said; ¡°first you must become strong, and then rescue the lost children.¡± Lost children, hearing those words I felt a sense of urgency, but then I realized I had no idea what she was talking about. ¡°The Kradula, the children of the orphanage, they must be brought here and freed from their prison.¡± Right, the shades and mists, the ghouls and undead. I stopped for a moment as I remembered the small hand trying to help me. Damn right we would be rescuing them, I thought. ¡°Grandmother, how, I asked?¡± The quest window appeared, and I read. New Quest. Rescue the damned. Clear the Kradula of all the evil. Save the lost. Cleanse the source. Bring the Earthmother the lost children. Will you accept this Quest? Rewards to be determined. YES or NO desert ¡°For you to succeed you will need to be trained, grandson, so I have asked Laikas, a master of combat to come here and train you. He has spent most of his life studying the many different forms of martial training and combat. He will begin the process of molding your human shell to effectively use the life-force. It will not be easy, but without this knowledge, you will fail against the Gods.¡± I nodded in understanding, I knew that Judo was not the solution to this problem, helpful yes but it would only go so far in the game world. Magical and physical DPS attacks and who knows what the Gods would bring to the table. I would need to grow and learn, be open to anything that might help me. Standing I looked at the world and asked, ¡°Grandmother, can you tell me about this realm?¡± ¡°This is the realm that all the races and beings came from. The dragons, my first children lived here on scattered mountains and on the islands that dot the seas. Then from the earth came the Dwarves, my children who had lived in and under the tall mountains. They are always seeking the deep jewels and metals, being masters of the smithy. The Elves also, coming from the sea and living on the far Islands they were bright lights in the darkness, always exploring but always returning to their homes. Tied to the lands with magic and power both races lived at peace. Indeed, intermarriage while not common did occur. Even amongst the mighty dragons this occurred, some of whom observed that the daughters of man were comely and desired to be with them. Thus were born out of fire and shadows the Vampires and their daylight kin the Dhampyers.¡± ¡°Wait, you mean that Vampires and Dhampyers originated by Dragons and Humans interbreeding?¡± ¡°Yes," she answered, "but such things have faded, now only the descendants remain.¡± Well that explained some things, I was not sure if it was relevant to what was happening but knowledge is power. I was about to ask a few more questions when fast approaching the building was a flying Dragon. No, it was not a dragon, but looked very close to one. ¡°Grandmother, what or who is this coming towards us?¡± "It is Laikas, and no he is not a dragon, he is a Wyvern.¡± What is a Wyvern I thought as I watched the sleek body of the creature land and then springing forward he changed into the body of a small man. His complexion was dark and his eyes were oddly slanted downwards. His pupils were golden red, I looked at them as he stopped and knelt before Gaiatoci, I could see that they were shifting and moving, full of small living flames. It was not a comfortable feeling staring into his eyes. ¡°Stand my loyal one, and greet my grandson, he is the one that needs your help.¡± Standing there as he observed me, I was struck by the feeling of physical power emanating from Laikas. It roiled off him like steam rising from a warm lake on a cold morning. This clearly was not a person to mess with. I quickly performed a Ritsurei and with head bowed waited. ¡°I see you have some sense of propriety, which is good.¡± Laikas voice sounded smooth and even, well balanced. I think not much could change that. ¡°Show me what knowledge you have?¡± The next several hours passed with me stretching myself to the limit. It was clear, that while I was not a beginner Laikas far surpassed me in every way with regards to combat. Finally, it stopped, and I was able to rest. ¡°You have some skill and the ability is there. The problem is your ability to perceive and use the life-force. The constraints of the human flesh limit your senses; first, we must free your flesh to be able to see the flow and harness it.¡± ¡°How do we do that?¡± I asked. The easiest way is to live as a dragon, however, that is not the dominant aspect of your character. Being a human is.¡± So how do I learn to feel the life-force and use it, through meditation?¡± Looking at me I could see that Laikas was deciding on how to proceed. ¡°Meditation would work if we had ten years to concentrate on it, however, we do not. No, I think that you will have to go through the trials of Temptation.¡± Yes that sounds great, in every game I have ever played any kind of trial meant someone was going to get his or her ass kicked, for some crappy item. ¡°What are the trials of Temptation? I might need a little more information here.¡± Laikas smiled grimly at me and spoke. ¡°The trials are simple really, you will be taken to a place, you must leave that place and return here.¡± ¡°How far away is this place?¡± I asked. ¡°For some it is great distance, for others it is closer than they know.¡± Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Ambiguous, it was the second word that came to mind.The first one I won¡¯t repeat, I am trying to not curse as much. ¡°Master do I need to take anything, all I have is what I am wearing.¡± Looking at me Laikas shook his head and then placing his hand on my shoulder we shifted dimensions, changed locations, transported to a different place. I really do not know what Laikas did, but we were elsewhere. I stood there looking around; we were in some sort of vast area that was desert, with broken rocks and black sand. Off in the distance was a range of mountains, clearly volcanic in nature, a couple still had plumes ascending upwards. It was wild and beautiful with a dark storm on the horizon, the brilliant flickers of lightning lighting up the whole sky and the boom of the thunder painfully loud even at the distance. ¡°Laikas, what do I do here?¡± I asked as I turned around and noticed that he was just a rapidly receding dot in the sky as he flew off with great speed. I confess that the first words to depart my mouth had more to do with him being a flying gecko along with a few other descriptors categorizing how I felt towards his departing form. Turning in a full circle I observed that I was stranded in the middle of desert with volcanoes on one side and black sand stretching out as far as the eyes could see. I was standing on a small knoll which afforded me the view of the desolate waste. Despite the barren nature of the place, it had an intense feeling of primordial power. Taking off my cloak I spread it on the sand and then opening my bag I began to take stock of what I had. Inside the bag was a wineskin which I had filled with water at some point. Also, there were two biscuits I had been too greedy to leave behind after my last breakfast. There were a few silver and gold coins, and my map. Opening my map I saw what looked like a blank sheet and across the top appeared to be a tab. Touching the tab I saw the map of the city appear, greyed out and colorless. I touched the tab again and the desert appeared showing perhaps a radius of twenty kilometers with my dot located at the epicentre. At the far edge of the map heading towards the west was a small dot, tapping it the form of a building half appeared. I would guess as I stared at the direction indicated on the map that one of the dark areas at the far edge of my vision as the structure on the map. Taking a small drink, I put everything back in the bag including the cloak and began to walk towards the building. Activating my interface the map appeared on the top right corner of my vision, and staring at it brought it into focus. Happy as I was that the interface still worked, I began to wonder at the nature of the game. This all seemed too much, the realism of the game, the characters I had encountered, my tryst with Reona. I doubted that the average young male gamer was having the same gaming experience that I was undergoing. If my torture and blinding were what could occur Ingame, this whole game would be shut down as soon as the government was aware of it. They had strict rules about what could happen, and everything I had experienced went far beyond the guidelines of what is allowed in through VRP I also thought of the old bastards, those people who were struggling to let go and clinging on to life within the game. I did not begrudge them I would do the same. But the powerful never willing give up what power they have, so what are they planning here in this new world. As for the game masters, tasked with keeping the game balanced and safe, where were they, and why they were not doing their jobs was a question I wanted an answer for. These were my thoughts as I trudged along over the black sand. A solitary figure with a grim look, dark tattoos writhing on both arms and eyes of fire, hair pulled back in a topknot all dressed in black leather. imp As I walked I thought a lot about what I was doing Ingame. It had far passed the point of being a game; it was the reality that I now lived in. That reality currently meant I was walking across black sand and rocks heading towards a mysterious building at the edge of the horizon. On a side note being considerably heavy than a normal human sucked, with every step I sunk into the sand about three inches. I continued on as the heat became stifling and the desert began to shimmer all around me. Strangely enough the heat did not bother me, something to do with the dragon heritage I guessed. After walking for several kilometers I found a large boulder and sat with my back to it for a rest. I did not feel tired but I wanted to make sure I did not overdo it. Sitting there I reflected on my vision. Something tickled my memory, something the Gaiatoci had mentioned, but I could not recall it. The life-force it was all around us surrounding us being a part of us. To be honest it sounded like something from the latest Star Wars movie number 23. The Force Droid. Sighing I tried to open my mind to feel the life-force, then holding out my hand I tried to make a small pebble rise into the air. After five minutes, and several choice words, I decided I was not a Jedi. I probably would be more a Sith lord with how I looked anyway. Having decided I had enough rest I consulted the map, noting I was almost halfway there I continued my stroll across the desert. After several more hours of trudging through the wasteland I finally arrived. Looking at the building I saw that it was a stone keep castle, surrounded by a thick wall with a moat and a gate that stood in front of the drawbridge. Sitting on the bench outside the gate was what looked like an imp. I studied the creature and he definably looked like an imp, a sleeping imp. Not sure what to do, I walked closer and soon I could hear him snoring. Suddenly there was a ding and a window opened. Congratulations Mortal. You have discovered an unknown Instance. The castle of the Six Temptations. Will you enter the Keep and overcome Temptations. Reward for completion. One ability of your choice. Do you dare accept? YES or NO Yes, I thought and then the Imp woke up. ¡°Hello what have we here, a mortal looking tasty and yummy. ¡°Tasty and yummy,¡± I asked. The imp smiled at me and then spoke, you will find out mortal, if you make it past me. Clearly this was something scripted, I hoped. ¡°Hold up there,¡± I told the imp. ¡°I have a few questions and would really appreciate some answers. Looking surprised at this the imp slowly nodded his head and spoke, ¡°all right I suppose I can answer a few questions, beats sleeping all the time.¡± Suddenly I remembered a long time had passed since the Gods had taken the races to the Topland. ¡°How long have you been here waiting for someone to come?¡± I asked. ¡°About six thousand years.¡± The imp replied. Six thousand years, the thought of all that time he had spent alone bothered me. ¡°Were you lonely?¡± The question sprang from my mouth without thinking. As the imp looked at me I suddenly saw his face begin to crease up and his lower lip quiver. Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡°Lonely,¡± he shouted. ¡°Lonely, yes I have been lonely, stuck here being the first challenge, and no one coming.¡± Suddenly the little fellow burst into tears and sat down on the bench and began to silently cry. Not sure if it was a mistake or not I sat down beside him and pulled the tobacco and papers out and rolled two smokes. Lighting up I handed the poor fellow a smoke. He looked at me and seeing me take a drag, he took a puff. His tears began to dry up and after two more smokes and some discussion about life and being the gatekeeper I made my offer. ¡°Look man, enough is enough, why do you stay here, it has been six thousand years.¡± Glancing at me he blew a smoke ring and answered, ¡°Where would I go?¡± ¡°With me,¡± I spoke with conviction and fervor, ¡°this is bullshit you having to stand guard here like that. Come with me, I am getting out of this zone as soon as I can. I have to get back to Gaiatoci and then to the Topland. Eyes widening the imp whispered ¡°The Topland.¡± ¡°Being honest with you, I will have to do some pretty difficult quests at some point.¡± His gaze sharpening, the imp asked ¡°like what?¡± Taking a deep breath I looked him in the eye and said, ¡°I have been tasked with destroying the Gods.¡± I stared at the imp as his expression changed from curious to malevolent and angry, very angry. ¡°Those are the bastards who abandoned me here and told me to be the gatekeeper; you are not being deceptive towards me are you?¡± Lifting my hands I stated my truthfulness. Seeing that I was sincere the imp finally relaxed. ¡°If I join you are you going to enslave me to be your servant, or worse your slave?¡± Asked the imp. ¡°Absolutely not, you will be my companion; I will expect respect and give it in return.¡± Holding out my hand I grasped the imps hand and we sealed our agreement. Staring at me the imp began to smile and then spoke. ¡°The name is Raik and I am a lesser imp. I was captured eons ago by the Gods and tasked with this onerous duty. Damn I am glad it is done. Smiling I said, ¡°I am glad for you, not sure how you did not go insane but glad that you are with me.¡± Smiling back the imp said, ¡°Look here¡± and then leading me to the gatehouse he dragged a chest outside and opened it up. ¡°Have a look and take whatever you fancy, I don¡¯t feel like abandoning the items I was supposed to guard with my life.¡± I am not a greedy guy but in that chest were rings and necklaces of an epic variety. Unfortunately, none would be of benefit to me, but I could see some time in the future they would be very useful. Taking the items I put them all in my bag and then turning to Raik I asked. ¡°So what is this castle all about?¡± ? Gluttony ? Anger ? Pride ? Sorrow ? Fornication ? Avarice ¡°What, I have seen that or something very close to it.¡± Looking at me Raik spoke up, ¡°no you have not seen these before, the Succubae who deal with fornication, man if you had ever seen those girls, believe me you would not forget. This whole instance is supposed to show individuals what they are really like. Looking at Raik I nodded, and then looking at the castle I spoke up, ¡°Only one way to tell what I am like I guess, and with that said I started to walk across the bridge. the chef Raik led the way as we walked through the portcullis and into the open space in front of the keep. I was busy looking around at the yard, the earth dried out and dead with the black sand piling up against the buildings. It was a barren looking yard, there were some buildings scattered around the yard, butted up against the keep''s wall. Nothing living seemed present, I was not sure if I was glad or not about that. ¡°Here we are,¡± Raik spoke in a quiet tone of voice. ¡°The main floor will be the first challenge, I am not sure what it will be but.¡± Suddenly Raik stopped and began to sniff the air, ¡°Do you smell that?¡± He asked. ¡°It smells, it smells great, I mean it smells delicious. Like the best meal I have ever had.¡± Sniffing the air, I too could smell it, it was the smell of bacon and eggs with toast with jam, a fresh brewed pot of kavaa. Tantalizing was the aroma of fresh peeled potatoes onions and butter being cooked. I could smell sausages cooling off in a pan, and pancakes. Suddenly my stomach growled, and not a gentle little grrrw. It was a loud and demanding sound with a feed me now intonation that could not be ignored. Looking over at me Raik smiled and said, ¡°I think I know what the first temptation is, I do not know how this will all play out, but damn it smells good.¡± I nodded it did smell good, ¡°What do you think it is Raik?¡± ¡°Gluttony,¡± he replied, "after all who can resist these smells, I am drooling as I stand here. Let¡¯s get this over with if nothing else we will respawn with a full tummy." Reaching out Raik pushed open the double doors and we entered the keep itself. The light was dim and dust covered the floor, no sign of life but down a side passage we could hear pots and pans banging and smell the food. Right, I think I will go first, I spoke as I began to walk down the hall. ¡°Right behind you,¡± Raik replied. After walking for about 20 paces we came to a set of swinging doors. Pushing my way through the doors I saw a large kitchen, very similar to what the Inn had. Standing at the far counter buttering toast was what looked like a dwarf, rapidly spreading the butter and grabbing another piece of toasted bread. Raik and I looked at him, and then at each other. Stepping up I waved my hands and then spoke, ¡°Hello are you the chef who is cooking all of this great smelling food?¡± Looking startled, the Dwarf glanced over at Raik and I. ¡°An imp and a human, what in the world, you yes you two, what are you doing in my kitchen?¡± Suddenly my stomach growled and rumbled, it was clearly not happy that the food was on the counters and not going inside of me. I felt myself blushing; it is embarrassing when you tummy yodels like that. ¡°Sorry sir, we smelled the aroma of your fine cooking and we ended up here. We are here to make our way through the keep, defeating each challenge as we progress. ¡°Interesting, very interesting, are ye boys¡¯ hungry?¡± The dwarf looked at us with a gleam in his eye. I have been cooking and baking and it would be a shame for it to all go to waste, what do ye say will ye sit at the table and try some o my cooking?¡± Glancing at Raik I saw him give a small nod and with that I addressed the chef. ¡°Sir it would be an honor to partake of some of these treats to the palate.¡± I could not help myself, I love food. The Dwarf looked at me and nodded. Gesturing towards a small table in the corner he quickly ushered us over and then began to fill up two trenchers, with more food than even I thought I could eat. As we began to gobble up the food the Dwarf came over and joined us with the largest cup of kavaa I have ever seen. ¡°The name is Gluzzie and I have been cooking here for a long time, you two are my first visitors in a few thousand years. I nodded politely and continued to eat; walking long distances in a desert with no food had given me an appetite. As the Dwarf spoke Raik cocked an eye at him and then asked, ¡°Hey why are you disguised as a dwarf?¡± Gluzzie laughed, and said, ¡°Dwarfs are great in a kitchen; they do not mind the heat and hard work does not bother them. Believe me cooking is hard work, I love it now, but the first hundred or so years, will I would burn the water I was so green and the dishes, the damned dishes. Even now after all these years, I still hate doing the dishes.¡± Slowing down the take a sip of my kavaa, I asked ¡°If you are not a dwarf what are you? You look like a Dwarf; if that is a disguise it is the best I have ever seen.¡± Having asked my question and contributed to the conversation I went back to eating several maple flavored sausages. After gulping two of them down, I briefly told Gluzzie, ¡°These are the best sausages I have ever had.¡± Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. Gluzzie looked at me and gave a big smile, ¡°Thanks lad it means a lot to me to have someone appreciate my cooking, it truly does.¡± ¡°To answer your question, I am a demon, much like the imp here. Not physically or in this realm of course. But believe me lad I have tentacles on my body and a beak my head. I sometimes miss the old body and swimming in the lakes of fire. Good times those memories.¡± ¡°So why are you a dwarf here, I mean I can see that it would be useful as you said to work in a hot kitchen, but how did this come about?¡± I glanced around at the kitchen, still full of baked items and cooked entr¨¦es all cooling on the counters. Shaking my head I went back to eating. ¡°I will till you lad, it makes for a fine story, but before I begin, ye don¡¯t have some tobacco and a spare pipe?¡± Gluzzie had a sad look on his face as he asked this, and once again, I stopped eating. Reaching into my bag I pulled out the makings and began to roll six smokes. Gluzzie stared at me dumbfounded as I lit one up for him and one for Raik. Seeing Raik inhale and then blow three smoke rings one inside the other as he exhaled Gluzzie began to smile. Taking a puff he let out a contented sigh. ¡°Boys if I was not commanded to tempt you by gluttony, I would happily let you pass on by. You have complimented my food, shared a cup of kavaa with a lonely old fellow and now this marvel, this tube of smoke. Looking at us with a tear in his eye he said, ¡°Thank you.¡± This has been the best day in ages, and I mean that literally.¡± Having finally ate my fill I also lit up and taking a deep drag I blew out a puff of smoke. We sat in companionable silence as only smokers can, each one of us intent on nursing the tobacco down to the last drag. After a few minutes I asked Gluzzie, ¡°Why do you stay here, it sounds like your story is the same as Raiks, stuck here in this instance waiting for challengers who will never come again.¡± Were you put here by the Gods?¡± ¡°No lad, it was the Dragons that brought me here, this place was made to help determine the character of the offspring of the Dragons. They would come in human form and try to pass all the temptations that availed themselves to all who pass through the keep. All of the folks working in the castle are demons I had heard long ago; I guess we met the needs of the Dragons and Gods when they set this place up.¡± ¡°What do you mean,¡± I asked as I grabbed another piece of apple crisp from the counter. Looking at me a little strangely, Gluzzie responded. ¡°Well lad, we are eternal, we will be here forever. We being demons of the lower levels had not the power to fight off the beings that brought us here. And once here there is no escape for us, all we have is the keep here and the endless desert outside.¡± ¡°Where do the supplies come from,¡± I asked ¡°does someone deliver them?¡± Both Raik and Gluzzie shared a look and then laughed. ¡°Boy it is just a minor miracle that the Gods set into motion. Gluzzie pointed to the cupboards hung on all the walls. ¡°Each morning these cupboards are full.¡± I slowly nodded my head, the Gods had thought of everything. Looking over at Gluzzie, I cleared my throat. ¡°Gluzzie¡± I began, ¡°I want to thank you for the food and drink, I clearly needed to eat. I am not sure why but I don¡¯t feel like a glutton, maybe cause I stopped eating when I was full.¡± Gluzzies eyes widened at that as he looked at the table and calculated how much food I had eaten. ¡°Regardless, I do not want to fight you; I would rather befriend and hire you.¡± ¡°What do you mean befriend me and hire me? To do what? How are you planning on hiring me, where would I work?¡± His eyes staring at me Gluzzie spoke again, ¡°If you can get me the hell outta here I will work for you, but really all I know is how to cook.¡± ¡°My friend,¡± I began, "I work at an Inn and we are very busy but a little understaffed. I will have you cooking in the kitchen the day we get back home. Let me tell you something, you are one of the finest chefs I have ever seen. I would be honored to work with you at the Inn." Staring at me with the beginning of hope in his eyes, Gluzzie said ¡°if you get me out of here I will follow you to the worst soup kitchen and cook there.¡± Grasping hands we sealed our deal. down the stairs Gluzzie, Raik and I were sitting outside on the steps of the keep. Having a smoke and chatting. The guys wanted to know what had been happening for the last few thousand years. I could only give them a brief outline of the city and kingdom and how people were supposed to follow the Gods and go beat the crap out of other kingdoms. Gluzzie laughed at this and then asked, ¡°What about the Dragons, they still in charge of everything? They were the real brains, they sort of ran everything under Gaiatoci. The Gods were just the visible ones, nothing happened without the Dragon¡¯s approval. I thought about this interesting fact, it sort of made sense to me, but it gave me a funny feeling. I told how the Gods had moved all the races to the Topland and how they were then abandoned there. How the eldest Dragon went up in the form of a man and began to help. I explained how the Gods had seen this and came back, and set themselves up as the celestial rulers. Gluzzie looked at me and nodded then spit to the side. ¡°Don¡¯t know what game the Dragons are playing my friend, but believe me when I say, they are still running things. Tomorrow comes quick lads, I will have breakfast waiting and then off we go.¡± Raik and I nodded, I was tired. ¡°If you go up the stairs and turn to the right there are six rooms, do not enter the first three that is where the girls sleep. I have the next room, and the last two are open. The girls keep everything clean and ship shape boys, but one warning, lock you doors. They are curious as a cat.¡± ¡°What girls,¡± I asked. Gluzzie just looked at me and smiled. ¡°The succubae girls, they are stationed at the next level. They come up at night and have something to eat from my kitchen and then off to bed. Not easy being sexy all day you know, takes it out of a gal.¡± I nodded my head it was all somewhat surreal in a strange way. Succubae, I knew that that they are the temptations of lust, but did not really know much more about them. Later that night in my sleep I dreamt of a pretty brown haired girl. She just opened the door and walked into the room. Standing beside the bed I felt her hand brush my hair back, then I heard her say something, it sounded like Latin. The only word I could clearly make out was fornicatio, and then I was in a dreamless state. As I was telling this to the guys at breakfast, Raik laughed and said ¡°Any bruises, I have heard that the Succubae don¡¯t just show up and walk away. Seriously if one of them went in to see you I wonder why. It has been a long time since they have seen a man, and honestly you look human but have a Dragon''s eyes. Thinking about it, chicks, you know they love mysteries, and tall dark handsome guys like you, well I am not surprised one came to eyeball you.¡± Hearing the exchange Gluzzie came over and nodded, then spoke, I have been meaning to ask you why your eyes are little balls of fire. With your looks and those flaming eyes you could pass for one us in human form. So what is the story, I know you are not demon, but there is something, you smell human, but I can smell the fire in your blood. You do not smell like a dragon, but it is clear you are not human.¡± I was not sure how to express myself; I did not want to tell them that I was playing a game. I had no intention of mentioning my Google glasses. Talking about the unknown God would not earn me understanding. In short I did not know what to say. ¡°Boys,¡± I began I am not sure how to tell you my story; it is almost like I cannot put into words all that has happened to me. I came to this land to seek adventure, and I have found that and more. If we can get out of here and back to the Topland I will try my best to let you know. All I can tell you is I have Dragon blood but I am not a half-breed. Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.Looking at me both demons nodded and Raik spoke, ¡°You might be under a compulsion to not tell what you know, pretty common at one time, both Gods and Dragons would force them upon people. I nodded the explanation Raik had given would suffice. I had a few questions of my own, I wanted answered. As I began to eat, I looked at demons, the smiling dwarf and the grinning imp. ¡°Where the hell do you guys come from?¡± I asked. Then I began the serious task of shoving in the food. Gluzzie spoke first, and looking pointing down said, ¡°Hell is down, deep down. If you go to the place of the dark ironstone, there inside the caverns and tunnels lies hell, the home of the demons.¡± I thought for a minute, on the surface hell is usually thought of being downwards, and here in this bottom world it was the same. It was apparent that hell was the centre of gravity on this world, and the place that demons came from. I could not do the math in my head but if a layer of this dark ironstone stretched all around the earth, and was a couple of hundred kilos thick it could house a lot of demons. I also recalled how very few things could pass this barrier, if the demons were inside it they would have a hell of a time to get out, no pun intended. Clearly some demons could get through and the Gods, Dragons and Elementals did not seem to have a problem. Taking a moment to swallow some hot kavaa, I asked about that, and then began to eat again. Raik looked on with amazement as I finished my third plate and grabbed more. Gluzzie just smiled. ¡°Well,¡± Raik began, ¡°Hell is an interesting place and it is full of interesting people.¡± It is huge and never seems to end, I really do not know if it has ever been fully explored. I know that there are huge tracts of emptiness, we have rumors, that lot of humans will be joining us one day.¡± Both Raik and Gluzzie laughed at this, and I was reminded that these two ancient beings as friendly as they seemed, were demons. ¡°How do people get through or get past, this dark ironstone? Is there secret tunnels, or passageways, there must be some way.¡± My mind at this point was entranced with what looked like a round bit of donut. It wonders in the presence of food but this seemed different I was thinking. It reminded me of a marble. It tasted delicious and I reached for more as Raik began to speak again. ¡°None of us lesser demons really know how they do it. The higher beings seem to be able to come and go yet the characteristics of the dark ironstone are absolute, once you are surrounded by it you cannot escape. It has magical properties that have never really been explained, but the one thing we do know is that if it surrounds you, you are not going to escape.¡± I finished off the little round donuts and stood up, ¡°Well gentle demons, are we ready to do this dungeon?¡± Seeing the two nod their heads I asked Gluzzie to lead the way and we began to descend the stairs. The lower we got the more the light faded until it was black, after a few more steps in the darkness that I assumed the demons could see into as well as I we began to perceive a faint light beginning to glow on the roof and walls. There was also a scent in the air, it smelled of lilacs after a fresh storm. Once we arrived at the bottom of the stairs we were confronted with a double door, looking at it, I stepped forward and pushed both doors open. marriage As I opened the door I began to hum an old tune, Knocking on Heaven¡¯s Door, the original song done by Bob Dylan. It somehow seemed right to me and I went with it. As we stepped into the second level of the dungeon I again smelled fresh lilacs, reminding me of walking down the alleys after a rain. We had stepped into a large cavern, full of beautiful furniture and tapestries with three large four poster beds placed opposite from each other. Sitting on a sofa chatting were three pretty girls. They were not exceptionally beautiful but were very pretty. As the three of us entered they all looked up and smiled. The brown girl spoke first, ¡°Hi, I am Ama and then pointing at the blond she said ¡°this is Clea and the brunette is Brae.¡± I looked at the girls as I made my way over to them. ¡°I am Tor, and pointing to Raik and Gluzzie I introduced them. The girls each stood up and sat beside us, with Ama next to me and Brae and Raik on the other sofa. Walking over to Gluzzie Clea grabbed him and gave him a big kiss. ¡°That¡¯s for feeding us all these years, boy.¡± Gluzzie looked a little star crossed and sat down; it had been awhile since he had been kissed. Meanwhile Brae was whispering something to Raik about having fat thighs, when she stood up and lifted her dress. ¡°What do you think?¡± She asked, ¡°Are they a little fat?¡± It was apparent that Brae was Au naturel as evidenced by her matching hair color and neatly trimmed bush. Raik meanwhile was nodding his head no, apparently they were not fat, they were just right. Ama spoke up and said, ¡°Girls why don¡¯t you take your guests over to the beds, and pull the curtains give yourself some privacy.¡± Without a backwards glance both Gluzzie and Raik grabbed the hand of the Succubae in front of them and made off to the beds, as the curtained closed on the beds I could hear both girls begin to giggle. ¡°Well that leaves you and me¡± Ama said with huskiness in her tone. Staring at her I began to notice a raw sexuality beginning to radiate from her. As I stared at the white blouse she had on I could see the outlines of her nipples and the firmness of her breasts. Swallowing hard I looked up at her face. I quickly spoke before I was totally lost to her charms. ¡°Ama, is this the be all and end all for you, seducing men?¡± Suddenly whatever she was hitting me with began to loosen its hold on me. ¡°What do you mean?¡± She asked looking at me curiously. I am Succubae, created to bring out desire in all men, fulfilling their fantasies but at the moment of emotional rapport I leave them empty and unfulfilled. It is impossible for me to love a human, but I can drive them to distraction for all their lives.¡± I nodded at her words and then spoke. ¡°Do you get lonely; you have been here for a long time. All this time waiting to seduce men, and I am sure you are very good at it. Being alone must be hard no one is meant to be alone. Not even Succubae.¡± She looked at me and smiled, then said ¡°You speak very well, and you do not hesitate to get to the heart of the matter. Yes it is lonely here for me and my sisters, but there is no escape and this is what I was made for. To seduce men is the reason for my creation. You look at me and see a pretty girl; I look at you and see another man to sleep with.¡± ¡°If that is true then why did you not seduce me when you came into my room, why did you stroke my hair and whisper something? You could have easily seduced me at that point, I was asleep and exhausted. A pretty girl climbing into bed with me would have seen no resistance from me.¡± Ama looked startled and then spoke, ¡°How did you know I was there? I had cast a sleep spell on you.¡± I smiled at Ama and nodded. ¡°I am only half human perhaps that is why it did not work. At any rate the question still remains why did you leave that night?¡± ¡°I left because I felt the presence of the geas that has been laid upon you. Someone has used sex magic on you to attract you and bind you to them. I could feel it from my room so I came to investigate and who did I see but you. I lifted the geas, because this is my home and I am the only one to use sex magic here. What did you do sleep with a vampire; it had a vampiric feel to it.¡± This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. I sat back stunned, I had not been aware of any geas, in fact the only person I had been intimate with Ingame had been Reona. What the hell, I could feel myself begin to grow angry, I had wondered briefly at my sudden passion for the red headed Dhaympire, but who would not want to jump on that perfect body. I could see clearly now that her attraction to me was somewhat artificial. I was a fool, and had gone after the first set of tits and ass I had found in the game. I looked at Ama sitting there with glint in her eye. ¡°You are the master of sex magic?¡± I asked. ¡°Is it possible for you to make sure that I will not be seduced like that again?¡± I looked at her and then smiled and said, ¡°Let me be the first to admit it, I have spent too much time thinking with my small head and not my big one. I am weak to this kind of magic, and need protection from it. Can you help me?¡± Ama looked at me, ¡°Tor, I can block those kinds of spells but the only way to do is that is for me to place my mark on you. I am not talking about seducing you here and now, I am talking about the kind of mark that succubae give to their mates. It stops any other from tempting and leading astray one of the partners; it is something we share with each other.¡± My head was beginning to spin at the information Ama was sharing, it was interesting and I would have loved to learn more. However I could tell by the moans that had been taking place behind the closed curtains of the two four post bed that my time chatting with Ama privately was coming to an end. Suddenly there was a howl from one of the bed, it sounded like Tarzan having an orgasm. Crap I did not need to hear that. ¡°What will be the results of you placing your mark on me, I asked. Will other be able to see it? Is if a passive warning towards anyone casting sex magic on me?¡± Is there any other benefit to receiving this mark? Will it change me in some way I should be aware of?¡± Laughing at my questions Ama nodded. ¡°We will be joined at a spiritual level; I am not sure how it will work for you as you are not a demon. Normally we would be able to summon each other, and also to share in our emotions and to give strength to each other as needed. In short what the mark signifies is a marriage between us. We share all and we give all to each other, oh and it is permanent, forever. The price for this is twofold, one you must take my sisters and I with you and two we must consummate the marriage.¡± Holy hell, I needed to think about this and think fast and hard. I looked at Ama and thought I could do worse; also I needed the safety of her sex magic. Not sure what the hell kind of game Reona is playing but something was wrong there. The buffs that Ama had mentioned were a bonus as well. It was just the thought of being married and to a demon, it was not what I had expected being Ingame. Looking at Ama I nodded, and then spoke, ¡°I do not know how it works with your kind but if we marry you must do what I say, I have several missions to accomplish and they will take precedent over anything else. Do you agree? Ama nodded and then grabbed my hand and pulled me to the last bed. ¡°Hurry,¡± she said, it has been a long time for me. I guess I was now married. spells When Ama and I left the bed and joined the others, there was a subtle difference in how I felt; there was a feeling of intimacy that persisted beyond the pleasures of the flesh. Looking at my interface I saw the permanent buff marker displayed. It was a heart with two horns and the description read. {True love prevails, two souls forever joined. You are now immune to any love or sex magic.} That seemed a little much for even me but this is a game. I hid the buff display; no one needs to know what buffs or abilities I have and it was a little embarrassing. My companions looked at me and then both whistled and coming over they grasped my arm and offered congrats to me for my marriage. It felt weird as hell but so did a lot of what I have been through Ingame. Ama quickly took charge of her sisters and explained that they would be traveling with us as a group. Once she mentioned that we would be going to the Topland and living there the girls were very excited. At this point I spoke up, I felt they had a right to know what I was going to be doing fighting the Gods, protecting Gaitoci, and trying to level. At this point Raik interrupted and pointed out that the whole leveling thing was to give people abilities as they developed. Most of these abilities were predetermined by the class that the individual would level into. At this point he wondered if I would level into a predetermined class, or being a unique individual I would have to make my own class. As far as the abilities and spells that people find as they level, the ones they chose dictate the class of the individual. During my time Ingame I had discovered racial skills, and received certain buffs. This was how people were to progress Raik continued. ¡°If I were you I would not be too concerned about leveling or finding new abilities or spells. I suspect that you are going to be a bit of a hybrid and that it will be interesting to see how things turn out.¡± I nodded what he said certainly made sense to me. I then asked if the girls had second thoughts and wanted to reconsider. Ama looked at her sisters and then they all looked at me. ¡°We go where you go, we are now a party,¡± Ama said then she whispered at me ¡°We are now a family.¡± Giving her a tight grin I nodded and then asked what was left in the dungeon and did anyone know what to expect. My party of demons all stared at one another and then Raik spoke, ¡°I was the gatekeeper and fulfilled the role of anger. Not too well I am afraid, too much time has passed, anger is hard to maintain. Gluzzie nodded and then said I brought gluttony to the table. Ama gave me a wicked smile that held a bedtime promise in it and said, ¡°We succubae introduced lust and desire, but were caught up by the chains of love. Then she licked her lips and gave me a wink. ¡°So what is next,¡± I asked after I peeled my eyes off Ama. ¡°Pride Avarice and Sorrow.¡± Gluzzie spoke with a frown, ¡°in that order. Petty we cannot help you with any of these but it was not designed to work on demons. I can tell you that pride comes suddenly, and once established, it leads to avarice. That whole mental state of being, you work hard you deserve whatever you want. Then at the end of a person¡¯s days they realize that in pride they had given in to their desire for material items, and then they deal with sorrow as they begin to become aware of what they have lost by looking at what they have.¡± ¡°That sounds deep, and I will think about it at some point but are there any practical things I can be aware of that might help.¡± I asked. Ama suddenly spoke up; when you enter the next area it encompasses all three remaining temptations. Once you deal with one then next one will come at you and then the final one.¡± ¡°What wait you mean there are only three levels in this dungeon. I thought there were five or six? That will simplify things for me. ¡°So ladies, as you have conceded to me this level, what is the treasure that is my reward?¡± Ama pointed under a bench and watched as I brought out the small chest. I settled down with it and then putting it on a little table I opened the chest. Inside were three sheets of vellum inscribed with the same markings that covered my upper body. Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.I glanced at the demons they were curious but did not seem to care about the contents. I was thankful for that, what the hell would I do if one of them turned ninja. I did not even want to think about that. Staring at the first scroll I noticed the runes begin to form shapes that I could read. {The Rune of Translation.} {This Rune give the unique power to know all tongues and languages; this rune was written with the blood of a dying God and is unique to the world.} Do you accept? {Yes or No.} I stared at what I had read, it seemed unbelievable, and on the surface it was OP, but really was it I wondered. The game had a universal language and each race had their own, but players could learn the other languages with enough time or gold. Dead language like the runic script might not be possible, but still the average player would not ever need to be able to read runic. I nodded to myself my brain was off on a tangent, I hit the yes on my interface and the scroll turned a white color which transferred itself to me and that was it. Not sure if it had worked but the scroll was now dust. Gently I lifted out the next scroll and read symbols. {The Rune of Change.} {This Rune will give you the ability to change your very essence. Are you a man, now you can become the woman you know you are deep inside. Or are you a woman, tired of putting up with all the male ineptitude you see daily, now you can become a man of action.} Do you accept? {Yes or No.} Hell no, I am happy and glad to be a man. I have nothing against people who want to live and be happy with their own lifestyles; after all everyone has a right to be happy. For me, I am a man, and will stay that way. I gently put the scroll into my bag as I explained what it did to my curious party. I then lifted the last scroll and read what was on the scroll. {The Rune of Travel.} {This Rune teaches the power of draconic portals; once the skill is acquired the potential to open a portal is there. In order to power this spell at least 5 ml of dragon blood is needed. Be warned, dragons do not willingly share their blood or treasure.} Do you accept? {Yes or No.} This was perhaps the easiest choice I had yet made Ingame as I mentally hammered the interface key to accept. I now had a way out of here and could take my companions with me. As I shared what I had just received, I cautioned the others to stand with me as I finished the last three trials. I wanted the reward for finishing the challenges, and who knows what other treasures might be found from the last three. Looking at my people, I stood up and asked ¡°Are you with me?¡± Ama jumped up and grabbed my arm, and the others all stood up and nodded. ¡°Let¡¯s get to the next one then,¡± and with Ama leading we made our way to a small door hidden beneath a tapestry. pride As we went down the stairs I noticed that the light remained on, it seemed to just be glowing on the walls. It was just another strange thing that my mind had focused on as I went to the next level. Once we reached the bottom, it was a short passageway and then the doors. I reached out and touched the doors which swung open on silent hinges. Again my mind wondered and my only thought was who the hell was oiling the hinges in this place. Once the doors opened we entered into a small room that was softly lit up. There were several chairs and benches scattered around the room and in front of each was a mirror. Clearly the intent was to sit down and look at yourself in the mirror. I gestured to the mirrors and told the party to have a seat. As I sat down near the center the mirror began to change, soon the picture of what only could be described as an oily car sale man appeared. He had scales, not skin and two small horns poking up near the top of his forehead. His lips were fat and bulbous, and his teeth were yellow and stained. As he looked at me he smiled and then said, ¡°Ah we have someone here, looks like a human but smells like a dragon. I see you have some companions, ha but they are demons so cannot join us, too bad those succubae look like they take a lot of pride in their work. He was clearly looking over at them, and leering, all in all, he was a repugnant individual. ¡°Let¡¯s get this going,¡± I spoke with a firm tone, I did not care for anyone to look at women the way he was. Even though this was a mere game, the realism was more than enough to invoke a strong response within me. For the next year, this was reality and I would have to work out how much I was willing to invest in myself while Ingame. I knew I was already invested emotionally with some of what I had gone through. For example, those donators who had tortured me were going to all die. That had gone beyond an emotional response to something else. Looking at me the greasy car sales demon being nodded and began to speak. ¡°Will an eager one and rightly so, for you have so much to be proud about? Ingame for only a short period you have managed to achieve some deep physical intimacy with not one but two lovely ladies, you sir are a playa. As I looked at the mirror it suddenly faded and then brightened. It now showed Reona and me, she was on top riding me and I had her breasts in my hands gently rubbing her nipples. Then it showed her kissing my stomach and licking her way downwards with my hands in her hair. This continued for several more scenes with each one more graphic and more detailed. Then the mirror switched to another bedroom scene, this time with Ama. It began with her heels on my shoulders as we ground into each other. Continuing on it showed more of the same. In the background I could hear Ama¡¯s sister talking about my performance; clearly everyone could see what I saw. I am not sure what was more embarrassing the advice the girls were giving Ama or the fact that everyone was watching myself performing in a porno. Once those two escapades were done the show continued, showing me at the orphanage, going out on a date. Again it showed the culmination of intimacy with me and the teenage girl I had briefly dated. This one lasted about 4 minutes. I was younger then, and I will not say more. Then the mirror showed another girl, who had led me to the stage above the gym at school. With her, I had made out on the blue gym mats stored in the corner. All we had done was kiss and grope one another after she had taken her shirt off. The mirror clouded over again and then revealed a much younger me I was at the state-run orphanage and hiding in the female employee change room. I was actually in a locker and was looking through the holes n the metal grate. I had a clear view of the open shower area and was watching some of the female staff have a shower. Finally, the mirror once again revealed the greasy car sales demon. He looked at me and with that greasy smile stated, ¡°No wonder you are a playa, you have had a thing for the chicks since you were a child. Wow, I bet you are full of pride at your accomplishments.¡± Let¡¯s see what else you have to be proud of. Once again the mirror began to change and show another scene, this time, it started when I was younger and had just arrived at the orphanage. Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.It showed me getting in a fight with one of the other kids there. Then another scene and then another all showing me winning fights or in some way dominating the other kids at the orphanage. The oily green scaled bastard showed up again, ¡°You sir are the alpha male, both with the ladies and with your peers. It is no wonder that we are seeing your exploits, such self-centered thinking, and such narcissistic thoughts. Such hubris, sir I salute you. You are one self-centered egotistically orientated individual. I could go on but I am sure you get the picture, you are a piece of art and I would love to add you to my collection.¡± I sat there thinking about what he had said. Being honest with myself I felt that there was an element of truth in what he had showed, but it was not the whole picture and to dwell on each individual incident was to take it out of context. Sure I had played with the girls, but they had played with me. We were young healthy and hormonal and sex was a natural occurrence that had been mutually desired. As for the rest, the views had stored up some long forgotten memories, the fear I had felt when I first arrived at the orphanage. There was a pecking order among the boys and they were all eager to remain secure in the position that they were in. Maybe that is how society worked; I had known that I did not want to be at the bottom of the shit barrel. I had stood up for myself, and by doing that had removed myself from that picking order. I looked at the smarmy smile of the demon in the mirror and said, ¡°I am not proud at all of any of what you have shown me, nothing happened that was not normal or just a foolish thought out action. I believe if you think that is what I am proud of you are sadly mistaken, we are done here.¡± Looking at the others in my party I stood and gestured to the far wall where the doorway was visible. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± ¡°Wait¡± called the demon from the mirror, ¡°there is more I can show you, the pride that you have on your Google glasses, the hubris you felt when you entered the world as a half dragon with abilities and potentials for above that of others. Pride is there in your ability to find treasure, and in your discovery of the shrine to the unknown God. The Runic spells that are now emblazoned in your body the potential that they hold now you can read them; it is all brings forth a deep sense of satisfaction to you. That is just pride.¡± The demon was screaming at me as I walked towards the door, I turned around and looking at all the mirrors each showing his visage snarling in anger at his inability to entrap me with the lust of the flesh and the pride of life. ¡°I would say sorry but I am not, you are pretty despicable and really remind me of a greasy used car salesman.¡± The demon upon hearing my words stopped talking and looking at me with a grin said, ¡°Hey that is the nicest thing anyone has ever told me. Wow, a greasy used car salesman that is great. What a compliment, sir you really know how to say the words to make people happy.¡± With that, he faded from the mirrors and suddenly beside the exit was a small pedestal that had a chest on it. We all gathered around the chest with Ama beside me. She whispered into my ear, ¡°Tonight we will work on some techniques babe. What we saw has given me some great ideas, I can¡¯t wait.¡± I did not know if I should be embarrassed by the openness with which she shared her thoughts on my performance or by the fact that she and all the others had seen everything that the demon had put on the mirrors. Different cultural standards I thought to myself, so it probably does not matter yet I was aware that my face was still turning red. Turning to look at the chest I gently opened the lid and observed what was inside. I heard the ladies gasp and then I myself was dumbfounded. Even Raik and Gluzzie were silent observing what was in the chest. I looked around at the others and silently closed the lid. Lifting the chest off the pedestal I put the whole thing in my bag. ¡°Please do not talk about what you have seen with anyone, this is something only we six have seen and it must remain that way till I decide what to do. Looking at all the others I saw them all nod and smile at me. Friends come in many forms I thought as I headed to the exit. art ¡°Do you have the makings?¡± Raik asked looking at me as we stood in the entrance way of the next area to be challenged. We had gone through the exit and down a short passageway and arrived at the next set of doors. ¡°Sure do Raik, here roll us each one,¡± and with that, I passed him the pouch of tobacco and the parchment paper. We waited as he rolled the smokes, and once done Gluzzie and I both lit up and took a deep drag. ¡°Any tobacco left Raik? It must be getting pretty low by now. Not sure where I can get some more till we get to Topland. I hope that will be soon.¡± I was concerned with everything that had happened up top, the fact that the donators had formed their own guild. The fact that the old bastards were scheming and planning on how to run this world gave me a lot to think about. Reona casting some sort of sex magic spell on me and I had fallen for it. Why had she and who was she allied with and that my daughter Twink was under her care at the moment. All of these things and more were always at the back of my mind along with my quest to save Gaiatoci from the Gods. I also wondered at the spells that were now a part of me. I really wished that I had time to check those runic symbols out, along with the flowers and swords entwined around each arm. What did they mean and why did the flowers move around. Last among my concerns was what was in the chest in my bag. Turning around to face the others I looked at my party and smiled. Then I began to speak, ¡°guys we are going to the temptation of Avarice next, and I want to let you know that I think it will be more of a challenge beyond some of the previous things I have faced. As I said this Ama gave me a wicked smile and then licking her lips whispered: ¡°I was easy for the right guy.¡± I licked my lips; this relationship thing was going to take some working out. Refocusing my thoughts off the curve of her shoulders and gentle swell of her breasts, I looked at Ama and smiled. ¡°I have dragon blood and as we know dragons are by nature collectors of treasure and wealth, at least, all I have read has agreed with that. I grew up with nothing being an orphan; I was raised by the state. My one ambition has been to be independent, and that means rich.¡± The others all were nodding as I spoke, being poor was probably universal and affected even demons. ¡°I do not think I am greedy, but this series of challenges have been all about finding out who I am and what my strengths are, how I deal with anger, gluttony, lust and pride. I hope that this one will be something that I can overcome. I just do not know how I will react because of my dragon blood. It might be like a drug addict coming off a high or an alcoholic desperate for that next drink. I just do not know.¡± ¡°If I do not succeed here, know that I will still be taking you with me to Topland.¡± Also, I appreciate the fact that you have decided to follow me and put your trust in me, I appreciate that and I won¡¯t forget it. As we looked at each other Gluzzie came over and clamped my shoulder. ¡°Tor, you are a hell of a guy, I say this to you, all of us here have not known you long but your willingness to take demons trapped for thousands of years with you shows us more about who you are then these foolish temptations ever will.¡± I nodded and turned away, feeling that this is probably the closest I would ever have for real friends, and then thinking it did not matter if it was just a game. These people all mattered to me just as Twink did. Walking over I opened the doors and entered the room. Looking around I could see the room was in shaped like a wavy line, with artwork on the walls and statues placed strategically highlighting the beauty of the room. I could not believe some of what I saw; there were several works that had been displayed by the Nazis in the Degenerate Art Exhibition, who knew that those art history classes would come in so handy. There was a Van Gogh painting, Painter on his way to work; the Germans had burnt that in 1945. I also recognized the Danse Macabre painting and a few others that I could not recall the names of. There were several pieces by German sculptor Arno Breker, the Nazis had loved his work as I recalled it was all stylized he-man shit. Big muscles with small dicks were what the art history instructor had called his work and then he would always compare him to former president Trump whom he still hated. As I walked farther into the room more and more art was revealed, and while I liked the art it did not move me. Suddenly there was a voice in my ear and looking down to the left I saw what looked like a young man. He was conservatively dressed and looked like what used to be called a yuppie metrosexual male. ¡°Do you have any questions? I would be glad to explain anything here, anything at all.¡± With a smile, he began to point out the different pictures, and sculptures. Explaining everything as he led the way I was quickly given a crash course in the artist the art itself and the value of the art. Without a doubt this art was priceless, and I could feel a strange sensation rising up in me. Was it greed or was it a slightly uncomfortable feeling that the metrosexual guide was staring at my ass. At this point in the tour, he grabbed my arm and with a smile began to gently massage the biceps. ¡°Is there anything else you want to see, anything here,¡± he said. I would be glad to show you anything, John & Yoko¡¯s Protest Bed for example, and let me tell you they did a lot more than just protest on that bed. Or how about the bed that Carrie Bradshaw used in the series Sex and the city. Removing his arm I told him, ¡°Sorry, I don¡¯t roll that way. No judgements here but I am all for the girls.¡± Looking up at me the little metrosexual smiled sadly and then said to me, ¡°to misquote Steve Martin, ¡°You know that look that men get when they want to have sex? Me neither.¡± I looked at him and began to laugh, and as I laughed so did he. ¡°My name is Sebastian, and I am here to work on your greed, to bring that avarice to the surface and to allow your inner dragon nature out. Yes, I can smell the dragon in you; it is both exciting and scary. What I do not understand is why you are not reacting to any of these treasures, when I say they are priceless I mean they are so valuable that no price can be named for them. Yet you do not seem to be coveting them?¡± The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. I looked at Sebastian and I thought about what he had said. ¡°You are right, they are priceless but value is in the eyes of the beholder. I would be lying to you if I said I did not entertain the thought to own this art. It is amazing yet to tell you the truth I believe that it should be available for all to see and enjoy. Why should the rich and powerful be the only ones to have this?¡± ¡°Oh my god you are a Trotskyist, a fucking Trotskyist. No wonder I can¡¯t overcome your greed, everything you do is for the social good of others, right. Why can¡¯t I just get normal beings, greedy, selfish and willing to make a deal. No that would be too easy, so I get you and what do I have to offer you, nothing absolutely nothing. I can give you precious ores, stones worth a kingdom''s ransom. What can I do to tempt you?¡± As Sebastian spoke I could see the angst on his face. He was truly troubled at not be able to bring forth my inner greedy self. ¡°Look, man, I can see that you have put a lot of effort into this, and I think you have done a great of a job. I am wondering how long have you been here waiting for someone to arrive to be tempted by all this beauty?¡± Sebastian looked sadly around at all the artwork and then said, ¡°it has been thousands of years, you know as demons time flows differently for us, but this has been so long that I have begun to fade. If I can¡¯t do something I will cease soon.¡± Listening to the sad little dapper fellow, I nodded and then made my offer. ¡°Sebastian, why don¡¯t you come with us?¡± I quickly explained what I was doing and why, and where we were going, once I mentioned Topland I knew he would be joining us. Giving him a minute to decide we made our way back to the group, and then looking at him I waited. ¡°Tor, I would love to go with you guys, I have always wanted to go to Topland. If no one minds, then yes please I would love to join up with you.¡± At this point I nodded and welcomed him to our party; the girls, in particular, seemed to hit it off with Sebastian. As we wandered over to the exit I could hear them talking fashion. Once we rounded the last of the curving wall we all stopped and stared, it was an amazing sight. The Amber room, missing since world war two was set up as the exit. Sebastian laughed and nodded as he proudly spoke, ¡°yes it is the actual room, it was quite a task to get it but well worth the effort, don¡¯t you think?¡± I spoke for all of us when I said that the pictures of it do not come close to doing it justice. It was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. As we entered it we all stopped and marveled and the raw beauty of the room. Near the middle of the room was a pedestal with a small chest sitting on a cushion. I opened the chest and looked within quickly being crowded by the others all eager to see what inside. I lifted the first object it looked like a semi-precious stone. As I held it a message flashed across my interface. Rewards Having overcome avarice and conquered greed you may now choose three of the treasures that could not sway you, each item will be stored in one of the stones you now have. Choose wisely. Kingdoms have fallen and men have perished for what you are about to receive. I stared, stunned at what I had just read the largess if this reward was mindboggling. I held the first stone and spoke. ¡°The Amber room is my first choice.¡± The effect was instant, the room vanished and the stone changed to a golden colour. The other were startled but quickly settled down. ¡°Sebastian¡± I called out, ¡°I need some advice what would be two more good choices to take?¡± ¡°I would recommend Auvers-Sur-Oise, by Cezanne, and for the last Van Gogh''s Congregation Leaving the Reformed Church in Nuene.¡± As soon as Sebastian finished speaking I repeated what he said and immediately had two more glowing stones. I reached into my bag and pulled out the chest I had stored in there. As I opened it Ama once again looked at the contents and asked me, ¡°Tor, what is more valuable that Tome in the chest or the treasures you have just put in the chest?¡± I noticed that all the others were listening closely and decided to share a bit of what I thought. I asked them ¡°Can you make out what is written on the Tome?¡± Seeing them all shake their heads I sighed, and then asked them, ¡°How does the world operate?¡± They all looked at one another and then Ama spoke, ¡°It operates on magic, in all the realms magic is the constant.¡± ¡°Yes, it is,¡± I sighed and then pointing at the Tome I spoke up, ¡°You can all feel the aura coming off the Tome, correct?¡± Seeing them all nod, I continued, have you ever felt anything like it before?¡± Once again they nodded, but negatively this time. ¡°I see, well I am not surprised, you see this Tome is something I do not think is supposed to be in this world.¡± Looking at the rapt faces around me I shook my head and stated, ¡°This probably won¡¯t make sense to you, but the Tome is called The Book of Science.¡± Looking at them it was apparent it did not make sense to my friends, but it did to me. This world, based on magic, with the greatest practical achievements being blacksmithing, wheel and ladders, was about to be potentially exposed to something so radical that it would fundamentally change the fabric of society. Or maybe I was being over the top. reflections Closing the chest and putting it back into my bag I looked at the others. I felt tired and a little saddened, this was not the gaming experience that I had expected. ¡°I think we will stop here and have a little rest if it is alright Sebastian?¡± Looking over at the dapper little demon I saw him nod. Turning to look at Luzzie, I said ¡°I thought I saw you stocking up on sandwiches and other goodies for the trip. Dop you have something yummy in there?¡± With a large smile, Luzzie opened his bag and spread out a cloth, then began to unload an incredible assortment of bread with meats and condiments, along with cheeses and pickles and two bottles of wine. He began to assemble the food into sandwiches and then placing them on plates he passed them around. ¡°These are Branston pickles with a sharp cheddar, add some meat if you like to top it off. I will pour some wine in a moment. There are also pickled eggs and some to finish I have some freshly made white pot pudding, so please enjoy and eat there is lots to go around.¡± Luzzie was clearly in his environment prepping the meal and serving us, he had a contented smile on his face as he encouraged Sebastion to try some wine ¡°it is an older Rojas but it works with the sharp cheddar.¡± I heard him explain. It was all delicious, with Ama leaning against me and the others all sprawled out on little blankets they had produced from their bags the setting had a picnic feel. For the first time, I watched on in amazement as the others all ate almost as much as I. Their metabolism must be very high I thought and indeed I could feel a heat radiating from Ama to me. I whispered into her ear, ¡°Ama, you are one hot girl.¡± Turning to look at me she smiled and said: ¡°wait for bedtime, then you will really see some fire.¡± I nodded at her and gave her arm a squeeze. This meal was just what I needed to pick me up, some good food and friends. Looking at the party I said,¡°I think I will have a nap here, before the last challenge, so if you want to nap then join me, if not just stay at this level so we can leave without backtracking.¡± I had noticed that Ama¡¯s sisters had once again paired up with Raik and Gluzzie and that they were all finishing off their wine and settling down. Turning I looked at Sebastian sitting off by himself looking sad. Calling out to him I said, ¡°Sebastian, wait till we get to Topland, there are many people there and I am sure you will find a friend.¡± Looking at me he smiled and asked: ¡°Really, there are those of my interest there?¡± I replied with a laugh, ¡°Yes, more than you would think, some people are experimenting, others just feel that is who they are now and are free to live out their lifestyle. You won¡¯t be lonely long. I laid my head down onto Ama¡¯s lap and closed my eyes, which of course were no longer there. Still once the eyelids closed I drifted off to sleep with Ama gently humming a melody. Once I awoke, I slowly stood up and moved off from the group. They were all asleep, at least, they looked like they were, I did not know enough about demonic physiology to know if they rested, slept or hibernated for that matter. Once past the resting group, I began to stretch and then started doing some Katas, I started to allow my mind to empty. This enabled me to allow the muscle memory to come back and take over, and soon I was flowing through the forms, with balance and power. After an hour of this, I eased off slowly coming to rest and then assuming the Lotus position I let me mind wonder. After half an hour I began to think about my interface and why I was not leveling up. Opening the interface, I highlighted myself and opened the skills and abilities tab. At the top was my name and under was my level, it read Level Ten, but there was a flashing red Error next to it. Clicking on the Error brought up a subwindow that stated please contact a Game Master for immediate assistance. The contact button was grayed out and not operative. I stared at the screen and thought about how the system worked, playing Ingame allowed for players to choose their own paths to level. They could find unique spells and be granted abilities upon the completion of quests and dungeons. The game allowed for missions to be given to players who had joined the Kings guards or the City guards, who were sometimes called the Watch. The Guild houses also had scripted quests for the members to follow as they leveled, which would earn them more chances at finding rare spells or gaining rare abilities. It was a unique system, one that the donators had circumvented, by somehow having the latest patch changed to allow for individuals to form guilds outside of the scripted framework. As I thought about the donators I could feel my rage simmering deep inside of me like a hot fire. The Jackass and his buddies would pay. I contained the anger and then thought about everything I had to do. Clearly I would not be gaining levels at least not as the rest of the players did. Still my Dragon abilities helped to make up for the lack of levels, and the fact that I could not use Dragon magic. If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. I also had all the spells that were now a part of my body, with the ability to read them I might be able to gain some unique runic powers. Also, I had the quest reward at the end of the dungeon, if it came from a list of spells I would choose the best, but I was really hoping that it would be a unique spell. My Judo also had shown that it was a valuable tool Ingame. Everyone expected to be attacked or to have to fight using what we had received or earned Ingame. By bringing a skill set into the world I had an advantage over most of the gamers and that could be useful. All of these things meant that while I was not leveling, I knew I was still growing in strength and would not be left behind. In fact, the only problem was that some quests might have a level cap, without hitting the level you would not be able to receive the quests. Still did I need to level to do quests, Gods know I have enough challenges already. Protecting Gaiatoci, saving the children, dealing with the Kradula, cleansing the abandoned area, and taking down the Gods. Not to mention dealing with Reona and being a dad to Twink, along with my plans for my sleeping friends. Plus at this point, I did not want to even think about the Tome of Science. Not yet anyway. Having ordered my thoughts and plotted my actions I made my way over to the sleeping crew and clapped. ¡°Hey, guys time to get this show on the road.¡± They all opened their eyes and stood up, it was all one graceful movement. Demons, more than a little different in some fundamental ways than humans, not one of them scratched or broke the wind. I felt I was very fortunate to have them with me. ¡°So we are at the last Temptation, anyone know what to expect?¡± I asked. ¡°I do not want to blow this one, and not receive the reward for finishing this. I have been challenged and have had to have a close look at myself in here but it has all been worth it. I have developed relationships, had some great food and received some incredible items. So if you have a heads up for me let me know now because I want to keep winning in here.¡± They all nodded and then were silent as Raik stepped forward. Raik looked up at me and then said, ¡°this last one is about Sorrow, feeling sad and letting it overcome you to the point of depression. You will be unable to do anything, overcome by memories and negative thoughts that lead in an ever downward spire until you hit that rock bottom. Most people will actually end themselves at that point, only to respawn in their home location, having failed to overcome all of the Trials. Some of them will come back and then start with me again to try to succeed in all six Trials.¡± ¡°Wow, you seem to know a lot about this last Temptation, where did you learn all this,¡± I asked as I was curious. Raik seemed somehow a little different as he spoke about the Trial. Hanging his head Raik conveyed a sense of embarrassment. He actually started to fidget from foot to foot, and then finally he began to speak. ¡°It is my sister, my twin sister, we were both brought here at the same time. Because of the nature of being twins the last trial of Sorrow, which is nothing more than something that leads to suicidal depression is joined to anger. You know that depression is thought to be nothing more than repressed anger. Hidden deep withing a person with no outlet it festers until it seeps forth as depression.¡± ¡°How do you know all this?¡± I asked Raik. ¡°I mean this is something that I have heard about, it is something people will sometimes study where I come from.¡± Suddenly Sebastian spoke up, ¡°We demons are well acquainted with other realms. Do you think all that art I was using to tempt you just was something I made up? No, the higher level demons and dragons have often traveled to the other realms. We have learned of cultures that no longer exist, and peoples that have faded till only we remember.¡± I nodded it made sense, but it was too much for just a game. There were too many things happening at too many levels. I would take some time to think about it when I got back to Topland, but first, I needed to say something. ¡°I hear you and apologize if I was coming off like some ethnocentric asshole. I was just really surprised by what you said. I had not thought things through and was jumping to conclusions. So sorry once again. I hate it when I act stupid like this, I appreciate you guys keeping me grounded.¡± They all looked at each other and then smiled, with Ama grabbing my hand and stating, ¡°the only jumping you should be doing is jumping me. Now let''s get this done with, I am looking forward to meeting Raiks sister I bet she is a real sweety.¡± diets As we entered the last door I thought to myself about emotions, a little while ago I had been feeling tired and a little down. After some food, a nap, and some exercise, I now felt much better. I was ready to go forward and meet Raiks sister and see what she would do. Raiks sister, that one I had not seen coming. Still nothing really surprised me anymore I would roll with whatever came up. I suspected that I would be faced with the memories of my parents dying. It would make sense to me as a sort of hit him in the nuts move. I could deal with that, and honestly, I did not know what else could really affect me. Reona, not really, I had sex with her, not a long term relationship. I felt annoyed that she had done some weird sex magic but still it had been an amazing morning with her. She could give Ama a run for her money, and that took some skill. I was concerned about Twink; the little AI had developed a real personality. It was funny how all the NPC in the game had become very important to me. I had attempted to form a relationship with Archon and Kai but Archon turned into an asshole in one smooth move and Kai had turned into the frost queen once she saw Reona. The people I liked and feel close to are bits of code, I wonder what the says about me. I had grown up in a state run orphanage maybe that explained it. Refocusing on the task at hand I saw we had entered the room, it had a large desk, bookshelves, and a daybed. Leaning on the desk at the front was a cute little gal with small horns rising from her forehead and a small tail coming out from under the short skirt she was wearing. She also had on a white business shirt with no bra and the same large perky breasts that most of the females Ingame were blessed with. As I looked at her, she looked at us and then shouted ¡°Raik¡± and ran over and grabbed him in a hug. Seeing the two of them together it was apparent that they were related. The facial expressions and the way they talked with their hands, it tied them together. We gave them a few minutes to talk and then Raik led her over to me. ¡°Tor, this is my sister and she is the last challenge. I have explained everything but she feels bound to continue.¡± ¡°Hello Tor,¡± her voice was throaty and deep, ¡°my name is Tarzana and I just want to talk to you if that is alright. Why don¡¯t you have a seat on the day bed, feel free to relax and lay down if it is more comfortable.¡± Suddenly Ama¡¯s voice broke through and I heard her say, ¡°Hey Tor, your eyes can go higher than her chest, right.¡± Giving my head a shake I lifted my eyes and looked at Taiqana, ¡°Sorry I was a little distracted by your errr attributes, let''s proceed.¡± Then turning to look at Ama I spoke once again. Sorry, I honestly do not normally act like some kind of lecherous jerk who stares at a woman''s breast. I am not sure what just happened.¡± Ama looked at me and then suddenly smiled, ¡°I think I know what is going on¡± she said. ¡°Now that we are soul tied some of my Succubae nature has transferred on to you, I have been feeling it for a while but it did not register to now. You are emitting a raw sexuality that is impacting any woman you come into contact with, and it is affecting you because you were not aware of it to now.¡± Looking over at Taiqana, Ama asked, ¡°What do you feel when Tor is staring at you, looking at your breasts? Were you feeling uncomfortable, or was it more of an I wish he would take my top off and kiss me all over my body feeling? Did it make you feel hot and bothered or just bothered? Taiqana looked at Ama and me, then smiled and said ¡°Oh without a doubt, if you others were not here I would have been jumping on Tor. Look at him, he looks like a half demon himself and I would bet that smooth tongue of his can be used for more than talking.¡± Looking at us with a bit of a smile Taiqana then spoke, ¡°Tor why don¡¯t you lay down on the daybed and lets get started, I am really interested in you and what affects how you feel.¡± I nodded and went to lay down on the daybed, it was solidly built with a buttoned brown leather and one end had a slight angle to it. It was something Freud would have used in his practice. As I swung my legs up and made myself comfortable I mentioned that this setup reminded me of Sigmund Freud. With the desk and the daybed and bookshelves. It was similar to a picture I had seen of his office and to top it all off we had just been talking about sex. Taiqana listened and then with a smile told me, ¡°You have an amazing perspective and are correct, this whole thing was set up to be a copy of Herr Doctor''s office. He was one of the best demon analysts out there, and while no one really believes his theory anymore, a whole generation of men believed that they were messed up because they were in love with their mothers but could not consummate the love. It was so deliciously tragic, but the past is the past. I don¡¯t suppose you have strong feelings of affection for you mother do you?¡± ¡°Not like that,¡± I replied. ¡°I lost my parents when I was seven and was placed in an orphanage by the time I had turned eight. My memories have grown a little dim over the years, so I can truthfully tell you that their deaths while tragic are not something that overwhelms me and causes me to weep late at night. If you want to know what makes me tick, what grinds me down and causes me to feel sadness I will tell you.¡± Taiqana listened intently and licked her lips as she looked at me. I noticed her eyes were starting to gaze downward and were focusing about 4 inches below my beltline. I have always wanted to say this to an attractive woman and could not resist at this point. ¡°Hey, eyes up top lady¡± and then I began to laugh. She looked at me like I was a little crazy but then began to grin also. ¡°Sorry, it has been a long long time alone in here and Ama is right, you are practically throwing out a come here and jump on me vibe. I do not think many mortal women are going to be able to resist you. Somehow you are going to have to be able to contain this raw sexuality or a lot of angry guys well be looking for you feeling jealous that their women all are looking at you.¡± Licking here lips Taiqana then said, ¡°let''s refocus then, from the beginning, your parents tragic demise has not overcome you on an emotional level. But there is something that really has caused you to feel saddened. Please tell me what that is and how you feel about it. What do you do to not be overwhelmed, to not let the downward spiral of emotional discontinuity be brought forth?¡± ¡°Taiqana¡± I spoke up interrupting her monolog, ¡°What the hell are you talking about? Just because someone has gone through hard times does not make them weak or overcome with emotion. It is like the saying what does not kill you makes you stronger. I know that you are here to try to bring about some sort of emotional upheaval in an attempt to derail people from progressing past this trial and finishing. But honestly do you think that everyone is going to be so overcome that they will quit or even suicide?¡± Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. ¡°You wanted to know what makes me sad, let me tell you and then we can be done alright? As you probably know I came to the Roundland from the Topland. However, I am actually from another realm and was brought here as a reward, a vacation of sorts. Are you following me?¡± Seeing her nod I continued, ¡°Now the realm I am from is different from both Roundland and Topland, and here wherever the hell here is.¡± ¡°It is a place of unmitigated greed, where the rich are few but they hold almost all the wealth. Where most of the people struggle to survive, following blindly the suggestions that they have to buy items that they don¡¯t need. The people are inundated with commands to buy things that they cannot afford and to get into debt for years for items that are worthless. Are you still following me? I asked.¡± Seeing not just Taiqana nod but all of the party I continued. ¡°Let me give you an example of how this fucked up system works. Many people in my realm are large, very large.¡± Ama spoke up at this point and asked, ¡°What do you mean large?¡± I looked at everyone in the room and thought about everyone that I had seen while Ingame. We all were perfect specimens, with the bodies of Olympic athletes. ¡°Gluzzie, what happened to the people who did not make it past your trial of Gluttony?¡± I asked. Gluzzie perked up and began to speak, ¡°They would stay and eat, and eat and eat. Eventually, they began to change, and their bodies morphed into this large mass of flesh. At some point, they quit moving and then they ceased to exist. Then they disappeared, to a respawn point I would guess.¡± Looking around I stated, ¡°In my realm we do not have respawn points, once you cease to exist you are gone. So when you have large people as Gluzzie described you have real problems. The health of the individual begins to drop and eventually they die. Most people do not want to die but seem incapable of changing anything to make sure they stay healthy.¡± ¡°To deal with this problem, there are many schemes that people buy into and spend a lot of money on to somehow try to maintain a healthy weight and body. I heard one just before I came here, and it still makes me sad to think about it. I stopped at this point for a minute as I recalled the commercial I had heard on the trip to Sleepy Hollow camp.¡± ¡°For a fee, people are being offered an easy way to lose the kilos in my realm. They sign up with a company called CoolDown. This company declares that it can help people lose the weight by putting them in a cold room and chilling them down till they start to shiver uncontrollably. They stay in the room freezing until it is determined that it would be dangerous to the health of the client to continue. CoolDown does not want anyone to die of hypothermia or get frostbite so they monitor everyone and bring them out and warm them up when needed and then once warm they send them back into the freezer. As I remembered the commercial the stupidity of it and the fact that it was the fastest growing diet company in the world was a little overwhelming. Taiqana spoke up, ¡°So people pay to have other people freeze them in an attempt to lose weight and be healthy. Are they insane, why would anyone do this? It makes no sense on any level, how is being frozen supposed to help a person to lose weight?¡± I thought for a moment and then replied, ¡°people need a unit of energy called a calorie to survive. If a person has too many calories they will gain weight, and the reverse is also true. To lose the weight the person must use up any extra calories, and the only way to do this is to make your muscles move. Most people maintain a balance of caloric intake followed by exercise which will deplete any extra calories.¡± Fuck, why am I giving a diet lesson here to a group of demons, somehow this challenge was proving a little harder than I had assumed it would be. One of Amas sister spoke up at this point and asked, ¡°is that why my thighs are starting to get fat? Looking at her I nodded, too much of Gluzzies cooking and not enough exercise I would guess. Getting back to the topic I said, ¡°When a person starts to shiver it is an involuntary muscle movement that spreads to most of the major muscles in an individual''s body, so you have people sitting around freezing their asses off while being told they are getting a full body workout. It is crazy but so many people are so desperate for a change they will try anything. And that insanity is what makes me sad, that is what brings me down, seeing this sort of shit every day in my realm.¡± I looked around at the room seeing my friends look puzzled and shaking their heads. ¡° Why don¡¯t they just exercise,¡± Raik asked. ¡°I mean, it seems so simple, if you eat to much just work it off.¡± I nodded in agreement and spoke, ¡°I am not sure why Raik, but people in my realm have a sense of entitlement that makes no sense. I think it is because from birth they are told they deserve this or that. It is all bullshit but it is what it is.¡± Taiqana nodded and looking at me spoke, ¡°I have nothing that can top that sort of insanity that you appear to have lived through. I am actually sorry that people go through that. Here is the chest with the reward. Also having spoken with Raik, I am sure you know what I am going to ask you, can I come with you?¡± I looked at her and smiled, ¡°you sure can, but as I have explained to everyone I am going to be doing some difficult quests and will need unquestionable obedience. If you can give me that you are welcome to join us. My first task is something I think you should all know about,¡± I said. ¡°It is a rescue mission, I have to save a group of lost children. I will first have to prepare a place for them and then bring them to safety.¡± Once I had mentioned children all the women became very serious and once I stopped speaking Ama asked me in a tone I had never heard before, ¡°what happened to the children and who did this?¡± ¡°They were sacrificed,¡± I said ¡°and now they wonder as lost souls in the Kradula, and I have promised to save them.¡± kritiq As the others welcomed Taiqana to our group I walked over to the chest that was now visible near the exit. I stood and waited for the others to come and see what would be revealed. Once we are all gathered I asked: ¡°Are we ready?¡± Seeing everyone nod I slowly opened the chest and taking a look stepped back to let everyone look inside. ¡°What is that?¡± Ama asked. I was trying to figure that out myself, I looked at all the others and asked, ¡°what is this, anyone?¡± Raik and Gluzzie both shook their heads, and Ama¡¯s sister shrugged. I looked over at Taiqana and lifted my eyebrow, circa 1973 bionic man Steve Austin. She was not impressed and delicately lifted her eyebrow even higher, the show-off. ¡°It looks like a white powder mixed with ashes, and it has some kind of weird aura around it. Is there anything I am missing?¡± I asked. Raik spoke up, "it has some kind of demonic summoning spell linked to it, I would guess that this would be combined with someone''s blood and then heated over a fire.¡± I was instantly interested and immediately asked about doing it in a pentagram of bone dust or something weird and historic. Raik gave me ¡°the look¡± and asked, ¡°where do you get these weird ideas.¡± ¡°In my realm these things are all done in secrecy and with great ceremony, I really don¡¯t know how the hell you do it, just displaying my ignorance,¡± I said with a smile. Ama at this point spoke up and asked me to start from the beginning and to tell them all about my realm along with everything that has happened to me but especially about the children in the Kradula. Everyone nodded, they all were interested in my tale. I gathered the small chest with the mysterious powdery ashes and put it in my bag. Suddenly there was the Ding Ding noise and a new window opened above my interface. (You have completed the Trial of six Temptations) (The reward is one unique ability, you have three choices.) (The first choice is to assume the form and have the abilities of a lesser rock elemental.) (The second choice is the ability to create a temporal locus.) This will enable you to portal anyone standing in the area of effect to a location of your choice. (The third choice is To become master of the Keep, you will be the Lord over the Trial of Temptations.) Choose wisely, these are unique rewards and will not be seen Ingame again. The choice was clear after thinking about the three and studying the possible benefits. To be able to shape shift from my level would be a great talent. Most shape shifters achieved that ability only at level 25, and none could shape shift into any kind of intelligent race. Being a tree or a crow might seem cool, but not as cool as being a rock elemental. The third choice was difficult to turn down, having your own castle, hidden away on an alternate plane of reality. It would provide safety and security plus that the whole area had probably not been explored, who knows what might be found there. It was not an easy choice to make, the ability to shape shift would be great, or the ability to keep those I cared for safe in this crazy game world as it was clearly not safe anymore and that gave me plenty think about, with my friends and my daughter being at risk. All of these things faded when compared to the second choice. It was the one I had to take, the portal ability would be necessary to fulfill some plans I had begun to formulate when I had eaten Gluzzies marble shaped round donuts so long ago. Making my choice I clicked accept on the second option offered and suddenly my interface had a new spell on it the T-Locus. I would be practicing that spell I thought as I looked at the others who were waiting for me patiently. Thinking of things up in Topland I felt my resolve harden, I would be practicing it a lot. ¡°Raik, do we have any tobacco left?¡± I asked. Reaching into his bag he pulled out the very light pouch and in a few minutes we were all having a smoke, even the girls were smoking with passion. Sitting in a circle I began to tell my tale. Only omitting a few details, like they fact this was a game and my companions were nothing but strings of code running through super fast computers. Once we were done both the rest of the tobacco and my tale I stood up and stretched. Looking at everyone I asked them if they were ready, once they all nodded I opened the final doorway. Inside was a portal with a heading above the mantle cap. THERE IS NO PLACE LIKE HOME. I looked at the others and said, ¡°I think that this will lead me back to Gaiatoci, however, it might take me back to the Hearth Home Inn. We are all in a party together, so we should all arrive together. If we do not, it has been my pleasure to have known you all, you are more than just people I have randomly come across. You have become friends. Raik laughed and said, ¡°Hey buddy, you are not getting away from us that easy, I think Ama would go on a hunt to get you back if you disappear.¡± Ama gave me a smile and said with a bit of iron in here voice, you and I are going to be together for the long term mister, and my sisters and I have decided that we are going to be doing something about the Kradula with or without you. It is so rare for demonic beings to have children that when we heard your story, all of us women agreed that it is not acceptable for any children to suffer like that. Her face was darkening and small horns were beginning to grow from her forehead, her nails had lengthened while turned blood red and her teeth had sharpened into pearly white fangs. She was still very attractive in a 5-foot package of demonic fury. I took her hand and looked at here for a minute, her eyes were now changing color to blood red and her hands trembled as I held them. ¡°Hey, you and I, all of us together, we will deal with what happened there,¡± I spoke with as much conviction as I could because I also felt that strongly about it. As I looked at Ama her breathing began to slow down and she looked down at the ground. Lifting her eyes she looked at me with her normal pretty brown eyes and pulled me into a hug. ¡°Thanks, babe,¡± She whispered, ¡°the Rage can sometimes be overwhelming to us, we need a solid rock to be anchored to.¡± I nodded, I understood about rage from my childhood having seen so many of the children succumb to it over the years. The orphanage had been a heartless dog eats dog place at times. The end result was some very angry individuals. It seemed like yesterday thinking of those memories, it made me wonder how Rebecca was doing. I knew she was burnt out with all the useless government regulations that continued to pile up for the workers. I wish she could be here when we rescued the children to safety, she would be perfect in helping to deal with them. Right, now is the time I thought and with a nod, I said ¡°see you on the flip side¡± and stepped through the portal. I would like to say that it was amazingly full of lights and colors and unicorns and virgins frolicking on the ground but it was more like stepping into a public bathroom. I held my breath and tried to do what I needed to do before I had to breathe again. With a pop, I emerged back onto the terrace I had met Gaiatoci on. Soon there were six more pops and my friends arrived, standing around they looked at the curved world with amazement. Gluzzie walked around looking at the forests and mountains, the great seas shimmering in the distance. It is truly amazing, just wonderful. ¡°Yes, it is¡± Gaiatoci spoke from behind the group. It is amazing and beautiful and sadly, empty now.¡± Turning around I walked over to her and went to one knee as I had seen Laikas do. ¡°Hello Grandmother, I have returned wiser and stronger,¡± gesturing at my friends I said, ¡°These are my friends and more. They have pledged themselves to my aide and to my quests.¡± Once the introductions were over Gaiatoci¡¯s servants appeared and laid out a great feast for us. Gluzzie walked over and began to discuss some of the dishes with the cook. I glance at the others, Taiqana was deep in conversation with Laikas who had arrived a few minutes after the food began to appear. This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. Walking over to him I had mentioned that I was not sure if I had learned to use the life force during the Trials of Temptation. He had looked over at my friends and said, ¡°I believe you have learned to use one aspect of it very well. Taking away the keepers of the Trials of Temptation is no small feat, I would wager that you have also come to see yourself in a different light. Both your strengths and weaknesses.¡± With a nod, he drifted back over to Taiqana like a moth to a flame. It was not hard to see why as each of the girls was radiating a carefree happiness. Gaiatoci spoke softly to me, ¡°You have done well grandson, freeing these people from the drudgery of eternity. Thank you and congratulations on your nuptials with Ama, she is a strong woman. I believe you will be happy together. She, of course, wants to have children and the sooner the better, as do her sisters. I have given them a buff to help them when the time is right. I know I have tasked you with some onerous quests, but I know that you can accomplish them. One day I would see this realm full of life again and that will begin when you rescue the children.¡± Looking over at Ama I could see that she had something called a Doula buff that looked like it was now a permanent aspect of her status as a Succubae. I highlighted the Buff and read that a Doula is someone who is experienced in childbirth, and who can provide continuous physical and emotional support to the mother. ¡°Thank you, Grandmother,¡± I whispered. Continuing to speak quietly, I said, ¡°I will return to Topland, and the Kradula, and begin to round them up, the problem is delivery, I do not know how to get passed the Dark Iron layer in the mantle. From everything I hear it is something that even magic or the life force cannot trespass through freely. Gaiatoci looked at me and nodded, ¡°It is not easy not knowing all your abilities or having all of your senses, it is in a sense akin to being blind.¡± I knew what that had felt like and nodded, it was something that weakened the spirit and the flesh, there was just no self-confidence in myself when I was not able to see. It was one of the scariest things that had ever happened to me in the real world or Ingame. And it called out for vengeance. Gaiatoci reached up and gently put her hand upon my head. Suddenly I could smell flowers in bloom and fresh rain swept grass as Gaiatoci stood beside me and spoke. ¡°Open you eyes wide my grandson and truly see.¡± It felt like lightning had struck my head and suddenly I could see, so much more than what I had been seeing. it was like having Dragon vision on steroids. I could see several different wavelengths of light, and the streams of the life force swirling all around the terrace. It was like a light fog, present all over the Roundland, seemingly just waiting for someone to trail their fingers through. I could also see/feel the dark iron belt and realized that it was not a solid structure but was porous in areas and suddenly I knew how to pass through it using teleportation or portals. I began to grin as I extended my vision farther, if this was one of my missing Dragon senses then I was glad to have finally received it. I could only compare it to a magically induced sight, almost a vision of sorts. Suddenly I turned as I became aware of Ama¡¯s approach behind me. She, however, was still several feet away, slowly walking towards Gaiatoci and me. I blinked and whispered to myself, ¡°what the heck I was sure I saw her right behind me.¡± Gaiatoci, whispered back to me, ¡°You did grandson, your vision is no longer time-concentric, and you will have to get used to what you see when you see it. It will take practice. Suddenly Gaiatoci stood up and in a loud voice called us all together. My friends please come together here. I wanted to thank you for your willingness to help my grandson. My gratitude towards you is to give you these and with that, she began to produce small medallions and hand them out. ¡°These are homestones, which will portal you back to Roundland from whatever realm you are in. You are always welcome here and I encourage you to come here and choose some land for yourself and your loved ones." "Make this your home when you are ready.¡± Turning towards Ama and I she stated, ¡°I have given you the Isle of the turquoise sea, indeed the whole sea is yours, my grandson. Pointing to a glimmer down the terrace she said, "When you are ready that portal over there will take you. I hope it will be a happy home for you." We all thanked her for her gifts, it felt good to have someone care and try to help you. It did not seem to happen too often Ingame. Suddenly I remembered the last reward chest and calling Gaiatoci over I opened it up and showed her the powder and ashes. ¡°What do you think,¡± I asked. She looked at the contents for a minute and then sighed, then she spoke again. ¡°This is all that remains of one of the mysteries of the Realm.¡± We had all gathered around to listen and were given her all of our attention. Pointing at the chest she began, ¡°these are the remains of a vanished race, they were never well received and indeed should not have ever been able to happen. They were the cross between a Troll and a Ghost demon.¡± Raik interjected at this point and said, ¡°there are no Ghost demons Gaiatoci.¡± Gaiatoci sadly shook her head, ¡°there are none now and there never were many of them. But they did exist and they had offspring. Fortunately, both the offspring and the Ghost demon died off,leaving only the trolls as the living family. So now we have the choice to restore an extinct race. It troubles me for I do not see anything good coming from this but if this creature has a chance at life then it should be given.¡± ¡°Stand here my Grandson, and prick your finger, one drop of blood and then command the life to arrive.¡± Doing as commanded I let the drop of blood fall into the chest onto the ashes and powder. Very quickly a mist arose from the chest and the most horrendous odor came forth, a cross between putrid vomit and liquid shit. It was the worst smell ever, and it grew stronger as out of the chest crawled what looked like a cross between a raccoon and a spider monkey. I gestured the other back as it radiated a feeling of anger and hostility at all of us. Suddenly it looked at me and grimaced and grunted, then turned and ran down the terrace, jumping from level to level. The smell lingered on so we all backed away till the breeze gave us fresh air. ¡°What the hell was that thing¡± I gasped still trying to not retch at the sight and smell. ¡°That was fugly ugly. I think I just made a mistake in bringing it back.¡± I wish we had dice here and could do a redo, that ugly fucking thing really had put a damper on the fun time we had all been having. ¡°What is that called Grandmother?¡± I asked. Looking sad Gaiatoci nodded at the empty chest and then spoke, ¡°It is called a Kritiq and they have no useful function, they somehow attach themselves to a party and generally cause havoc and discord. You will always be able to tell when you have a Kritiq, it will smell horrendous, like feces and sour vomit. They seem to be able to only focus on one individual at a time, and while it is a pain they can do no real harm if ignored. They are constantly seek attention, sometimes trying to rearrange how things work out for party members by causing difficulties and differences through the use of very low-level curse abilities. These curses have limited time spans, and once people are aware of them they lose any power. I am sorry Grandson, I believe even a Kritiq should have a chance at a life, no matter how miserable it is. I hope it will not bother you, I saw it look at you and imprint, so it will probably attempt to follow you. You will always tell if it is nearby, do to the fact it stinks, just know that it has no real intelligence and hides in the shadows, waiting for an opportunity to be stupid. Ignore it, but please do not kill it as it has life and life is sacred. If only a little bit for Kritiqs. home is hell I stood up and quietly left Ama sleeping, moving like a ghost I walked down the passages that led out to the terrace. Once I stepped out onto the terrace I slowly walked over to the balcony that ran along the edge. As I looked at the sky the glowing orb was fading from the milky white it became at night to the orange glow that was what the sunlight looked like here in Roundland. I looked all around me seeing the world begin to curve up and away. There were mountains in the distance with several large seas in between the different peaks. It was beautiful and I hoped that one day it would be full of people, happy, content and at peace. It may have been a pipe dream but I thought it was better to have a dream than to have nothing. I noticed Sebastian emerging from the passageway, looking around he saw me standing at the railing and began to walk over. ¡°Good morning Tor,¡± he said. Looking all around he grabbed the railing and was silent for a few minutes. ¡°It is amazing, a whole world basically empty of people. No demons, elves, dwarfs, humans, or half-bloods. Just a few sentient beings like Taiqana¡¯s guest.¡± As Sebastian stopped talking I nodded in agreement, it was an empty world. I hoped that we could help change that, at least in some small way. I was looking forward to exploring this world and doing what I could before the Sleepy Hollow summer camp came to a close and they ejected me from the vrp. As I thought about this world and the fact that I would be going back to the real world I was struck by the fact I felt a wave a sadness rise up within. Looking deep within myself I realized that I did not want to leave. Being here, I mattered, I had friends and lovers, people who cared for me. I realized that tears were on the verge of running down my cheeks and I was bending the metal railing as I squeezed it. Sebastian¡¯s face became concerned and he spoke: ¡°Tor, are you alright, what is wrong?¡± I could hear the compassion in the little fellow''s voice and it brought another wave of sadness welling up within me. ¡°My friend,¡± I began, ¡°I am just thinking about the future and the fact that in less than a year I will be forced to leave to return to my home realm.¡± Sebastian looked at me and then smiled and grasped my arm. ¡°Worry not Tor, much can happen in a year, besides I have a feeling that you will be around for a long time, heck even if you leave you will be back. Call it demonic intuition but I believe that.¡± I looked over at Sebastian and nodded giving him a smile. I was feeling better with those few words. ¡°I need some info Sebastian and I hope that you can help me with it? I need to find some perfect Dark-Iron with no faults shaped in a perfect sphere. I will need about a dozen with an circumference of about 25 centimeters around. Is there any region in Hell where I could find what I am looking for? The other thing is I do not have any way to pay for them.¡± Looking at me with a smile Sebastian nodded and then laughed. ¡°There is one place I can think of that would have what you want however the spheres are attached to the top of pillars . I was only there once but I remember it well, it is a garden and along the pathways there are these pillars with the spheres on top. It looked very nice back when I saw it, reminded me of Jardins du chateau de Versailles in France around the time of Louis XIV. A very posh work, however, I do not think you will be able to get what you want.¡± ¡°Let me guess, it is the local rulers private garden and I won¡¯t have a hope in Hell of having it handed to me. Is there any chance of sneaking in and out with what I need?¡± I asked without much hope in my voice. It is three steps forward and two back, somewhat frustrating but could not be helped. No one said that this would be easy, but it would get done. Sebastian looked at me and nodded, ¡°Yes as a matter of fact it is the local Prince¡¯s garden and no, he will not give you what you want. He will probably enslave you if you were to ask him. What you should do is talk to Ama, she knows him and might be able to give you some insight.¡± ¡°Knows him?¡± I asked somewhat surprised. How is it that she would know a ruling Prince of Hell?¡± I asked. Sebastian began to turn a shade of red I had never seen before and looking away he muttered something about previous relationships and then he was walking away. Not sure what that was about but if Ama knows this Prince perhaps we can come to some kind of arrangement, here''s to hoping anyway I thought. Ama looked up at me with surprise on her face and then looked down. We had gathered for breakfast and I had taken the opportunity to ask Ama about this Prince. Conversation died down at the table as the others began to look at us curiously, as they could clearly see something was bothering Ama. I just shrugged and began to eat, breakfast is the most important meal of the day after all. I knew when Ama had decided to talk she would share with me until then it was time to eat. The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. After a few minutes, Ama looked at me and gave me a wry smile. ¡°I do know the Prince, we had been in a relationship for a while. After some time I realized that he was not interested in me as a person but rather as a part of his collection. He collects things, people, art, anything that catches his eye and is unique in some way. I qualified I suppose with the added bonus that he would have sex with me, a trained succubae. When I realized what our relationship was really about I tried to leave him.¡± ¡°What happened?¡± I asked softly. ¡°He did not let me go, I went from consort to forced subservient concubine. I was too valuable to him, and was a part of his personal collection.¡± As Ama talked I watched her face change from calm to anger mixed with fear. ¡°And then what occurred?¡± I asked. A dragon showed up one day while I was walking through the garden, he made me an offer I could not refuse, working with my sisters in a place that Raphael could not come to. I took me all of ten seconds to make my choice and then I was at the Trial of Temptations keep. My sisters arrived shortly after I did and that is all I can tell you, except that Prince Raphael presents himself as somewhat weak and foolish. He is not, in fact, he is one of the stronger Demon Princes and is without remorse. His only weakness is his collections.¡± Thanking Ama I asked if anyone had any further information that might be helpful. Sebastian mentioned that he knew Raphael¡¯s comptroller, someone he had been close to. Apparently he was being used as little more than a controller as Raphael preferred to do much of the work himself. It was all very interesting and might come in handy later, but for now, I needed to know the best way to get into the garden and get those spheres. After several minutes of discussion, Ama spoke and said ¡°Once we arrive and he sees that I am there, he will attempt to take me away from you, Tor. That will be the opening we need, we are bound together, and the only way he can take me from you is to defeat you in a duel to the death. Once you defeat him you will take his title, in Hell you keep what you kill by announcing it publicly. All you must say is I take the title of Prince of Hell and all are below me, and then it is done.¡± ¡°It sounds good but this guy is a Prince of Hell, and is fast, smart and tricky, what makes you think I can defeat him?¡± The question sounded reasonable and I thought it deserved an answer. I know I am several times stronger than a normal human, and I do have some abilities but without a doubt so would this Prince. I was not scared but I did not want to die Ingame and idea of losing to this Demon prince sounded like a real possibility. ¡°You will not lose.¡± Raik sounded confident as he spoke. ¡°I have the utmost confidence in your abilities, and besides no Demon can defeat a dragon. It has never happened and I don¡¯t think it will happen here. But this is all besides the point, what the real issue here is why do you need those Dark-Iron balls and what well you do with them?¡± I stared at Raik and the others, all looking at me,willing and ready to follow me to a place where they might not return from. They deserved to know. ¡°I Intend to hollow out the spheres and then making use of one of my rather OP spells trans-locate the Gods one by one into the spheres. Since they are Dark-Iron and will be perfect, without any faults in the structure the Gods will be trapped within due to the nature of Dark-Iron.¡± As I finished my explanation there was silence for a moment and then Gluzzie spoke up. ¡°That would work, they would be in those spheres forever until the sphere breaks or they are let out. Ha, I guess you could say you would have the Gods by the balls.¡± We all started to laugh for a minute and then I spoke up, ¡°Ama, is our link strong enough that if you focus on the palace I can see enough to portal us there.¡± Looking over Ama graced me with a smile and said, ¡°It should work, our connection is strong.¡± She began to concentrate and I opened myself to her thoughts , feelings, and emotions that all were a part of her memories. I felt the place, first and then I saw it, it really did look like one of those old french kings palaces. I gathered the group together and we all huddled up with arms around each other like a football team about to go into action. I hit the cast button on my interface for the T-loci spell and suddenly what looked like a golden mist arose from the ground. It began to cover us from the feet to the tops of our heads, taking less than a second to do so and then suddenly we were elsewhere. I glanced around as we all shifted to give ourselves some space. In the distance was a huge palace with gardens that stretched for kilometers around its circumference. Ama took me by the hand and whispered, ¡°welcome to Hell.¡± arena Hell, it looked pretty nice all things considered. A huge palace was visible not too far off with fantastic gardens all circling it, and pathways meandering all around. I stood gazing at the sight, it was not what I had expected, and words did not do it justice. I nodded at the palace and said, ¡°Let¡¯s make our way to the entrance and get this done.¡± I was feeling nervous but I wanted to finish what I needed to do here and then get to Topland. It had been too long since I had seen Twink, and I wanted to know what was happening with the Old Bastards and the Jackass and his guild. We began to walk towards the palace, eventually arriving at the entrance. I looked over at Ama and gave her a smile, she looked nervous but determined. Knocking on the huge doors we waited until a minor Demon dressed in the livery of the palace opened the doors. The doorkeeper stood aside and announced, ¡°The master is waiting, follow me.¡± As we entered the palace I was struck by the many works of art on display. The whole palace seemed more like the Louvre museum, full of priceless works of art. We made our way along several passageways until we came to an open area. This open area had a large desk situated in the middle and sitting behind the desk was a fairly nondescript Demon, he was average appearing with the exception of his eyes, they were cold and cunning. I observed as he looked up and then smiled at Ama and licked his lips. He was paying no attention to the rest of us, but rather focusing all his attention on my wife. ¡°I am so glad you have returned to me Ama,¡± he spoke with a slight drawl. He then reached into his desk drawer and pulled out a thin color made out of a gold like substance. ¡°This is for you, and I guarantee that you will not leave me a second time.¡± He then began to walk over to Ama with the intent to fasten the collar around her neck. I stood in front of her and spoke. ¡°Hold up there, you are not putting anything on the neck of my wife, in fact if you try I am going to shove that so far up your ass it will clamp on your tonsils.¡± I watched his face turn to shock and rage, and then it became clear. He was very good at masking what he felt but I knew I had his number; he was unable to accept the fact he was not going to get what he wanted. ¡°And who are you worm to address a Prince of Hell, I think I will have you enslaved and tortured for the next ten thousand years,¡± the Prince sneered. ¡®I am the ruler and the power here, and you are nothing. I will have you bound and delivered to the dungeons before this day is done. Hell is about to become your worst nightmare.¡± I stared at him, he was a talker but let¡¯s see if he had the stones to back up his talk. ¡°Sure you will as you hide here in this office. That is my wife you were talking to and the only way you will have her is to kill me. I challenge you to a duel to the death, which I see is coming for you. O worm, come don¡¯t delay I wish to step away from your corpse and take your place as the Prince of this realm. Stand forth or run and hide,¡± I spoke in a mocking voice, my hope was to enrage him to the point of loss of control. ¡°You dare to challenge me; I will gnaw on your marrow from your bones as you lie broken on the sand of the arena. I will drink your blood and use your skull as the cup.¡± The Princes face was red with fury and he was starting to shake, clearly my words were having an effect. He began to yell out more threats involving my private parts when I interrupted him. I knew I needed him to go over the edge and to look at me with hatred. If I could get the rational part of his brain overcome then I would have a chance. ¡°Look,¡± I said pointing to Raphael, what did this foolish little fellow have that would have interested you Ama?¡± I asked with a polite look on my face. ¡°I see nothing but a proud and vain fool. I would not think a woman like you would find someone like him of interest?¡± Ama gave me a fast smile and nodded, then spoke, ¡°I was young and foolish and listened to empty words that were really just hot air. Once I realized how lacking Raphael is I left. I am a strong woman and need a strong man beside me, not someone who finds achievements sitting behind a desk.¡± As Ama spoke I watched the Prince and saw that her words were hitting home, he was actually beginning to foam at the mouth as he tried to roar and curse. I did not think that we would accomplish anymore by insulting the Prince, but I could not resist and asked him if he needed a nappy as he was starting to drool. Looking at me with a glint of insanity in his eyes he screamed out, ¡°I accept this duel to the death as dictated by the laws of Hell. We will meet in half an hour at the arena. Summon all the greater and lesser nobles from the region, in fact, open the arena to all. It is time that my serfs see who their Lord really is.¡± As the servant led us out I gave Raphael a wink and told him to say his goodbyes, it was not necessary but something about the guy really pissed me off. I looked at Ama and asked her if she was all right, she had been the one who had really twisted it in and I knew if I lost she would be paying the price for eternity, all my friends would. ¡°What is it about that guy that really grits on me?¡± I wondered as we were led into a comfortable room. ¡°Wait here, I will be back to take you to the arena in a few minutes.¡± The servant said with a bow. ¡°He is pretty polite,¡± I stated. Ama looked at me and then smiled, ¡°Think of it as job security, if you defeat the Demon Prince you will be in charge. All of the servants and guests will be unfailingly polite to you as no one knows anything about you. Word of what has happened is spreading as we speak, and everyone will be very interested to see who and what you are If you defeat the master of this realm, they will all bow the knee before you.¡± ¡°I see, makes sense that you would not want to irritate the new boss. I hope that I am not as big a jerk as the Prince is when I win.¡± I was really thinking out loud but Ama answered me, ¡°It is a buff that all Princes in Hell have, they use it to cause discord with all who come against them. Fortunately, your strategy did the same thing but on a much stronger scale. I have never seen him so crazed.¡± ¡°I want him crazy, so crazy he will not be rational for this duel. If I can keep him from subjectively fighting I have a chance. I think it may be my only chance, I could not see any of his buffs or abilities, and he is so far above my level that I cannot get a read on him at all.¡± Everyone was looking at me and then Raik spoke, ¡°I have never really thought about it, but your level is not displayed, just what level are you Tor?¡± I took a glance at my interface and saw that the character level was grayed out; opening the interface to the level tab I stopped and read what I saw. Fatal exception error, fatal system error, critical error. There were more but I understood the message. Something was wrong with my character and the Ingame server, probably the Vrp was messed up too. I suspected it might have something to do with the fact I was playing a non-playable class. Looking around at my friends I thought for a minute and then told them, ¡°I think I am cursed, I have been stuck at level one for as long as I have been in the realm.¡± I wondered how the NPC characters could accept levels and quests and all the other mechanics of gameplay yet still be alive. Heck, I wondered how the hell I have ended up in Hell; none of this had been mentioned in the forums. Still I would not want to change anything, except being tortured blinded and abandoned. That had sucked and payback was coming. Looking at the others I saw them nod and smile at me, cursed or not they would stand with me. The servant returned, and looking at me introduced himself. ¡°I am the major-domo for the Prince and if you are victorious I hope to fulfill the same role under you, sir. Now if you would follow me,¡± and with that he led us off. Directing me to stand in front of a door, he told me to go through the door when I heard the trumpets. He also stated that he would take the others to a viewing area and then began to lead them away, Ama grabbed me and gave me a kiss and whispered, ¡°You will win for you and me.¡± Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. As I stood there I began to stretch and do some basic warm up moves, I was not sure how Judo would work out for me but it was all I had. After several minutes, I heard the trumpets sounding and then the door opened. I walked out into the arena, looking around I realized that the palace was in the shape of a rectangle with the arena placed in the middle. There were thousands of Demons sitting in the stands that surrounded the open area. On the far side was Raphael the Demon Prince. Surrounding him were several bodies, clearly his idea of a warm up was not the same as mine. Once he saw me he let out a yell of rage and then spoke to the crowd his voice amplified somehow. ¡°Here now is the puny mortal who has challenged me to the death duel. I will rend his flesh and send his soul back to the universe. I will claim all that is his in this realm and any other under the Laws of Hell. The crowd began to chant his name over and over in a pulse-pounding mantra. I looked at him as he slowly began to walk towards me. Suddenly, I saw him rush at me, moving faster than any man could move. As he came up to me with his arm raised to strike I grabbed him and put him down with a body drop using Tai Otoshi. I knew he landed hard as his health bar shrunk by a couple of percents points. Springing up Raphael screamed at me in Demonic and launched himself once again at me, this time, I reached out and grabbing him, I tossed him using an Ippon Seoinage movement. Once again he landed heavily and his health went down another 3 percent. As he climbed to his feet I rushed over towards him and used an Ouchi Gari movement, which put him on his back, once he was down I began to kick him in the head. Three times I kicked him then suddenly there was a Ding and Critical Hit flashed across my interface. He was down to 77 percent of his life bar, and was clearly having a moment of insanity, all I heard were growls coming from him. As we continued to fight I began to taunt him in the hopes that he would not recover from his rage. I knew that rage was a powerful weapon and could severely hamper the ability of a fighter to be able to think clearly. Suddenly Raphael spun around and grabbed my arm, he began to exert tremendous pressure on it slowly forcing me to the ground. I reached out and grabbed his neck with my left arm and jumped against his chest, wrapping my legs around his. I kicked my heels against the back of his knees catching him by surprise, and as his legs collapsed I dug my thumb under his chin. As he flailed outwards his right hand connected with my head with enough force to throw me to the side several feet. We both stood up at the same time and prepared to attack again. I noticed that his life was down to 55 percent. Suddenly he began to change to his true demonic form. He now stood at least 8 feet tall with two ebony horns at least 24 centimeters long protruding from his forehead. His hands now ended in talons that were at least 10 centimeters long, and unfurling from his back were wings that as they opened must have stretched out 5 meters on each side. His face was that of a beast with fangs jutting down from the top of his mouth and a split tongue that darted in and out. His eyes looked like a snakes and he stared at me unblinking. He had become one ugly motherfucker. With a growl he attacked, moving even faster than before. I dived to one side and tried to spin out of his reach but he caught me with one arm and then quickly wrapped both arms around me. He then shifted both hands around my neck and began to choke the life out of me. Fortunately, my feet were firmly planted on the ground and I managed to thrust both hands up between his arms while spinning around. This managed to break the choke hold, but the razor sharp talons tore my throat leaving deep gashes. As I continued to spin I threw out a kick that managed to land right on Raphael''s scrotum and Demonic form or not, no male can withstand a strong kick to the scrotum. As I jumped back I saw his life bar drop once again, and heard the Ding and saw Critical hit flash on my interface. He was now down to 46 percent life while I was at 77 percent. The problem was Judo was not going to be effective against his Demonic form. I blinked the sweat out of my eyes, we had been fighting for several minutes now and the energy expenditure was huge, I would guess that I had burnt off several thousand calories so far and the fight was far from over. As I looked at Raphael stumbling to his feet I cast Shadows upon myself and then hunkered down. We were fighting in the sand and I knew I would leave footprints if I moved, my hope was that Raphael would not assume that I would remain motionless. The Prince jumped back once he lifted his head up and saw that I had disappeared and then began to look rapidly all around. I was grateful he had been focused on getting up and not on me or Shadows would not have worked. I began to prepare myself for an attack as he slowly ambled closer, I knew with the 100 percent crit rate while in Shadows I would have only one chance at this. Once he was within range with his back to me I activated the baseline player attack and jumped onto his back wrapping my legs around his waist as we went down. I put my right arm around his neck and my left arm went under his arm and then I grasped my left wrist with my right arm. As I began to squeeze his neck with all my strength I felt his throat being crushed. Raphael''s wings were buffeting wildly about but I was in between them with my legs under them and was not receiving any damage. After holding the attack for several minutes I became aware that my interface had announced multiple Critical hits and that there was two new windows which had opened. Seeing all this I was still not willing to let the Prince go, I would not assume he was actually dead until I had ripped his head off. Swiftly getting to me feet I shifted my grip and exerting all my power and strength I twisted and pulled, finally detaching Raphael''s head from his body. Looking at the first window it announced , Realm first A Human has defeated a Prince of Hell By the Laws of Hell Tor keeps all that he has killed All Hail Tor the new Prince of Hell and ruler of this dominion The second window opened and displayed a series of XP points and levels and attributes only to have several error messages displayed along the bottom. Glancing over at my level it still showed me at level one with the whole thing grayed out. Suddenly Ama was beside me giving me a kiss and the crowd was chanting , Tor, Tor, Tor. The majordomo appeared in the centre of the arena and announced in a magically loud voice, ¡°All of you, bend your knee to the new Prince.¡± There was a sudden burning in my right cheek and then Ama spoke, ¡°Tor you have received the mark of a Prince of Hell and then she suddenly bent her knee towards me also. Pulling her up I gave her a kiss and asked, ¡°What is this mark?¡± Ama lifted her hand and stroked my cheek and then whispered, ¡°it is the same as a tattoo, and it will be with you forever, it announces to all who can recognize it that you are a Prince of Hell.¡± going home Let be honest here, Hell is Hell notwithstanding the pretty gardens or the amazing palace. It was enough to make a person pull all hair from the head and declare themselves to be a chrome dome. The Paperwork, it just did not have an end. Yes, I had defeated Raphael and ripped his head off his body, yes everyone had bowed the knee to me and sworn an oath. Yes, I now had a tattoo on my cheek that warned everyone who could read Demonic that I am a bad ass Prince of Hell. The only problem was apparently the paperwork needed to bring about the changes and the fact that Raphael had been a dickhead micro manager. Unless he was in charge of everything, nothing happened. ¡°Stop, ¡° I finally tell the Majordomo. ¡°Get Sebastian in here, I need him right away.¡± I took the time as I waited to do some meditation to calm my nerves, I did not mind doing paperwork but this was the second day of doing it non-stop for ten hours a day. Once the door opened and Sebastian entered the office I jumped up and asked him, ¡°Is your friend here, the comptroller? If he is I want him in this office now.¡± Sebastian looked at me and nodded, then said, ¡°I see you have found out what your personal Hell is like. I will go get Tristan, be back in a few.¡± I continued to meditate as I waited, it was relaxing and helped me to refocus on my goals. After several minutes, Sebastian and Tristan were back along with the majordomo. Once the introductions were made I asked Tristan what he did here. After listening for several minutes I politely stopped him. Looking at all three of the demons before me I began to speak. ¡°Tristan, your job is to run this dominion, I know Raphael did not let you do so as he was a dickhead and had to put his nose into everything. Things are now changed. You will be running everything, and I mean everything except for the palace and the gardens.¡± ¡°That is your job Majordomo, and I trust you will do it to my exacting desires. In fact, if either of you two has problems I want to here then now.¡± The Majordomo began to speak and then suddenly fell silent. ¡°All right then, I spoke with authority, we are done with paperwork, anything further will be directed to Tristan, who will have the authority to reach me if needed, and it must be a real need. Am I clear?¡± Watching the two demons nod I turned to Sebastian and told him to lead me to the pillars with the round balls displayed on top. Once we arrived at the gardens I observed the rows of pillars and orbs, all of which were carved from the Dark Iron. I spoke telling the Majordomo that I wanted each pillar numbered starting at one and then going to twenty. I then walked over to the first pillar and cast my T-Loci spell. I had narrowed it down to be about two inches smaller than the diameter of the sphere and then cast it centered within the sphere I was focused on. In about one second a smaller sphere dropped to the ground next to me, it was perfect in every way. The outer aspect looked like it was heated to the melting point and then cooled and polished. I began to walk down the pathway casting the spell and having a servant pick up the balls that materialized beside me. Once I had reached twenty I stopped. I told the majordomo to set the balls up in a cannonball pyramid on a stand near my desk. Both Tristan and the Majordomo were looking at me and clearly wondering what the hell was happening. I nodded at them and then spoke, ¡°this pathway is now off limits, forever except to myself and my party. Are we clear on this?¡± Both of them nodded, I knew they were curious but I did not want anyone else to know what was happening. It was now getting late and I could tell that Tristan and Sebastian wanted to spend some time together. I announced that we would all meet in the dining hall for a meal then the evening was free. Once back inside I went to my chambers and saw Ama, she was combing her hair and humming a soft song. She looked lovely and I quickly went over and gave her a kiss on the neck. Standing and spinning around she began to kiss me as she lowered her robe off her shoulders. The robe dropped to the ground exposing her breasts with the nipples colored a bright pink and hard and little goosebumps covering her breasts. I let my head drift down and grasped a nipple between my teeth I gently bit, causing Ama to shiver. I slowly licked my way across her breasts to her other nipple and gently sucked on it for a few minutes. Dropping my hand down to her flat belly my fingers slowly stroked through her bush and then gently began to rub. Ama moaned in pleasure and then whispered, ¡°I want you inside me,¡± and then moaned again. I slowly let mouth wander down to her belly, kissing and licking her till I reached the top of her thighs. As she clutched the back of my head I leaned into her and let my tongue wiggle forth. It was clearly longer than a normal humans tongue and judging by the shudders and moans coming from Ama it was being enjoyed to the fullest. I had read somewhere that after a war or an act of terrorism or a near death experience of any kind that people would procreate like they might not have another chance. Having just survived a duel to the death I could say that it was absolutely true, any time not spent on paperwork had been spent with Ama indulging in as much sex as the two of us could have. Which turned out to be a lot. This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Hearing her begin to scream before she bit her lips and feeling her thighs tighten around my head as her belly began to shake as she climaxed was a real turn on for me. I am not sure why but making a girl receive pleasure had become as important to me as being pleasured myself. I slowly stood up and then kissed Ama who returned it with passion. Suddenly she went to her knees and pulling down my pants she began to lick my semi hard shaft. I quickly became rock hard as she took me in her mouth, sucking me back all the way down. It did not take long and I climaxed, ramming my load down Ama¡¯s throat, and watching as she swallowed it all. It is tough being a Prince of Hell I thought with wry amusement as both Ama and I clutched each other. ¡°Time to clean up,¡± I spoke in a whisper and then led her to the washroom and started the tub. We were several minutes late, arriving at the dining hall to find that the others were all drifting in also. I smiled at everyone having a good idea what they were doing. As we all seated ourselves I noted the Sebastian and Tristan were still absent, not unexpectedly. I stood up and then announced to my friends, ¡°Folks, it has been amazing being here, and thanks to your encouragement I have managed to fulfill my goals and accomplish what I needed to do. Now however my duty calls me to leave this place of wonders and to continue onward to Topland. I know that it has been a long long time since you have been back home, and I do not want to stop you from staying for awhile. I am offering you as the new Prince to stay in my realm, find your families and return to your homes, and when you are ready then join me. What do you say, will you stay or will you leave with me tomorrow and advance upwards to Topland?¡± I sat down and began to enjoy the meal that was before us. I wanted my friends to come with me but I wanted them to have a life also. After several minutes Raik stood up and began to speak, I think I am speaking for all of us when I say this, we are with you and we will be traveling with you. Tomorrow we will all be at Topland with you.¡± I stood and looking at the group of people I nodded and thanked them. Morning comes early and I was sure not to many of us would be sleeping for a while tonight. It was time to end the meal. When I awoke I left the room and walked down the hallway to where the balcony was situated. Walking out I admired the gardens spread out all around the palace. It was an amazing sight, reminding me of a place called Butchart gardens. I had seen so many places that were amazing Ingame, all with a unique beauty. As I thought about the piles of garbage and debris that were everywhere in the real world, I finally acknowledged the fact that I did not want to go back and live in that shitty place. I would have to talk to the Old Bastards, and see if something could be arranged, I suspected that they were the people who had financed this game world, and that they had actual control over who would be in here and who would not. The Summer camps and the Donators were a necessary evil if the government realized that the rich and the powerful were all heading Ingame they would shut this world down. Suddenly I smelled something so out of place that is took me by surprise, the sweet smelling flowers and herbs were being supplanted by something, something that smelled bad. Something that smelled like, oh crap, glancing down the balcony there it sat on the railing looking at me with a pissed off expression on its face. It was the Kritiq and once I smelled it, it began to smell worse than ever. Fuck me, I have to deal with this right now, I thought. I slowly began to walk towards the Kritiq until it stood up. I stopped and then silently observed the Kritiq. We looked at each other and then I spoke, ¡°So you are going to be following me from realm to realm, eh. Well if that is the case turn off the stink, or I will have my servants capture you and keep you here for eternity. You get it.¡± I was almost snarling, something about the creature irritated me. The Kritiq looked at me and then the bloody little bastard flipped me the bird. Where the hell had he learned how to do that. There was no doubt that he knew what he was doing. With a glare, he suddenly jumped off the balcony and disappeared into the gardens. I could see that this was going to be a long-term problem. Making my way back inside I went down to the dining hall. Sitting down I watched as the servants brought out breakfast. A couple of hours later everyone had joined me and we had broken our fast with some delicious food. As we all gathered together, I gave a few last minute orders and then asked if everyone was ready? Seeing everyone nod I gathered them all in a huddle and holding Ama¡¯s hand cast the T-Loci spell. With a golden hue, we ported out of hell. Looking around, I sniffed the hair and looked up at the two moons chasing each other in the night sky. We were at Topland, in the abandoned park. Suddenly I heard ¡°Poppa,¡± in my head, and I knew I was home. innkeeper Home at last, if felt good to be back to Topland. Gluzzie and Raik were strolling along the pathways with Ama¡¯s sisters and Sebastian was looking at the two moons overhead with an awed expression on his face. Ama had strolled over to the little brook and was sitting on a little bench. Suddenly there was a blur and a Dragon dropped to the ground then jumped up at me. In midair, Twink changed from Dragon form to that of a ten-year-old girl. Running to me she jumped up and wrapped her arms around me and began to cry softly, ¡°Poppa oh Poppa.¡± I hugged her back and then whispered, ¡°I am here Twink, and it¡¯s alright.¡± As I looked up I saw that the others had all returned and were staring at Twink and me. Holding Twinks hand I introduced everyone to Twink, she was staring with wide eyes at my friends. I gently spoke to her, ¡°Twink these are people who will be part of our family now. So please be nice to them. At this point, I noticed that all the ladies in the group had a soft look on their faces and then they all came over and hugged Twink. Ama, in particular, gave her a kiss on the forehead and whispered something in her ear. After a few minutes of everyone chatting to Twink, I called to order the group. ¡°Twink,¡± I began, ¡°How are things at the Inn? Have you noticed any strange people hiding around, or trying to spy on anyone at the Inn?¡± I looked at Twink who was holding Ama¡¯s hand and half listening to me and half showing Ama something in the Creek. No Papa, only your friend Archon, who has been coming to the Inn every day to see if you have come home.¡± ¡°Thanks, Twink, your one great little Dragon gal, and I sure missed you.¡± Turning to look at everyone I spoke, ¡°It¡¯s time to go to the Inn folks, I have a few questions for Reona, and then I need to get some information. Raik I would like you and Taiqana out front on point watching for anything. I was attacked once and I won¡¯t let that happen again. Ama and Twink your stay with me, Twink you are going to be my eyes in the skies. Clea and Brae I need you to follow us about 3 meters distance. Sebastian, I need you to stay far back and keep an eye on anyone who looks like they are keeping an eye on us.¡± Seeing everyone nod I gave Raik instructions on how to get to the Inn from the abandoned park. It was helpful to show him the map and trace out our route. ¡°Just one more thing before we leave the park, if you see anyone stealthy who is trying to follow or leave once they have seen us I want them captured and brought to me. It is late and the city should be empty, so we will not have to worry about witnesses. Let¡¯s go.¡± As we left I wondered what I would say to Reona, I knew I wanted some questions answered, but on some level I did not want to have a knockdown argument with here. Ama gave me a sideways look and smiled, then said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry about your ex if she gets out of hand I will have a chat with her.¡± As Ama spoke her eyes flashed red and for a minute I fantasized about these two powerful women stripping down to their underwear and having a knockdown fight. I could charge admission for that I thought, but then shoved the greedy inner self down and squeezed Ama¡¯s hand. We made it back to the Inn without attracting undue attention and entered the building. As we all sat down at a couple of tables near the kitchen Reona stepped through the door. Once she saw me she gave me a big smile and said, ¡°Tor, I am so glad you are back.¡± Then she stopped and looked at me closer. Finally, she looked at my friends and then sighed, ¡°I guess this gig is up, I want you to know Tor that it was not all acting, I really do like you, and I adore Twink.¡± She then walked up to me and grabbed my face and gave me a long kiss before pulling away. Looking at me she smiled then snapping her fingers she said ¡°I release them all,¡± and then in a blur of motion, she was gone out the door. Suddenly out of the kitchen stumbled Mathias the Innkeeper. He looked around with a bewildered expression on his face. Seeing me he rushed over and grabbing my hand he asked ¡°Master Tor, why am I hear, how did I get here? I remember working at my Inn in the village of Brookshire. Then this beautiful redheaded woman talked to me. She told me to follow her and then told my serving girls the same.¡± ¡°What else do you remember,¡± I asked. Mathias replied, ¡°She brought us here to this Inn, it was abandoned like most of the buildings nearby. We spent some time working on it and then we were running an Inn. It seemed strange, I thought this was my Inn but my Inn is leagues from the city. What has happened to me, to the serving girls?¡± Hearing the fear in his voice I spoke softly, ¡°I believe I know what has happened but I think the girls should hear this also. Go get them Mathias, and I will tell all I know and surmise. We all waited a few minutes until Mathias returned with the two serving girls. Once they were all seated at the table I asked Gluzzie to go get us some sharp cider and began to talk. ¡°Reona is the redheaded women who brought you all here. She is a Dhampyr, a daylight walking Vampire. I believe she cast beguilement upon all of you. She did the same to me to convince me that we were in love. I fell into her trap like a moonstruck calf. She is very powerful and it is no wonder that she has managed to keep you here.¡± The girls and Mathias looked at each other and then looked at me. ¡°Is she gone now?¡± Mathias asked with a worried look on his face. I looked at them, the two girls huddling together holding hands and trying not to cry and Mathias projecting a brave mask in front of the girls. ¡°She is gone,¡± I spoke with compassion in my voice. ¡°I do not think she will bother you again, you should be safe. Mathias looked at me and said, ¡°Tor, I have been impressed by you since I met you and I want to thank you from all of us for freeing us from this entrapment. I am not sure I know what to do, should I go to the city guards with this? To tell you the truth, I just want to take the girls and go back to Brookshire.¡± The idea of staying here is not something I think any of us want to do now.¡± The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. I nodded and then spoke, ¡°Mathias do you own this Inn or was it just being operated without the city permits?¡± If you own it I will purchase it from you here and now, even if it is not registered I will gladly give you a few gold to take over it, and the gold will help you get back home, what do you say?¡± Mathias gave me a searching look and then said, ¡°Reona made sure that the paperwork was done and it is in my name, if you want it you can have it, no charge.¡± I shook my head and spoke up, ¡°No my friend I will buy it from you, the gold will come in handy if you get home and need to deal with issues.¡± After more discussion it was agreed that I would pay 50 gold for the Inn and everything in it. The morning light was starting to break across the city walls and I knew customers would soon be arriving for the morning meal. I looked at Gluzzie and smile, ¡°My friend, are you ready to work your culinary magic for the people?¡± Gluzzie gave me a broad smile and nodded. ¡°Ama I need you and your sisters to be the servers, you to Taiqana. Ama is in charge. Raik you are the doorkeeper, and Sebastian you are the busboy kitchen helper. We will operate the Inn ourselves until we have some more staff.¡± Seeing all of them smile and nod at me I grinned, it was good to be back home and to be here with friends. I had a lot to do today and I needed to plan the day carefully. First, I would talk to Archon once he arrived. Then I would find out what both the Old Bastards and the Jackass were up to. I also had done some thought and decided that two could play the game of building a house outside of a guild. Once I had created my house I would begin to recruit, it was going to be a slow process but I had most of a year to work this. I also still wanted to get to the Temple Library and do some research about the abandoned zone and the Kradula. Once I had the knowledge I would lead my party to the Kradula and save the children. But before I did anything else I called Sebastian over. ¡°My friend I have a mission for you,¡± explaining what I needed to be done I gave him some coins and then made my way to my room. I needed some sleep. I was awake by mid-morning and after getting cleaned up I made my way down the stairs to break my fast. As I entered the common room I saw Archon sitting next to a window looking out at the stables. I made my way to his table and then sat down. I admit it I enjoyed seeing the surprise on his face as he noticed me. ¡°My God, what did they do to your eyes?¡± Archon asked with a pained expression on his face. I slowly nodded, I was so used to the black silk cloth covering my eyes that I did not notice it anymore and in the daylight, the fires that burnt in my eye sockets would not be visible behind the dark material. I smiled at him and responded, ¡°The Jackass took two sharp daggers heated them and then burnt out my eyes. But have no worries in some ways I see much better now. Now how about you give me a smoke and then tell me what are you doing in my Inn?¡± ¡°Your Inn, Archon looked surprised, I thought this Inn belonged to Mathias?¡± ¡°It did until I purchased it, and now it is mine, so getting back to the question why are you here, the last time we were together I recall you turned into an asshole.¡± Looking at Archon I could see a gamut of emotions running across his face, and then finally he spoke. ¡°I am here to apologize, I was extremely out of hand on the Temple mount.¡± I sat back looking at Archon and wondering how much of this is sincere. Sebastian walked over to our table and whispered into my ear, ¡°There is a stealthed individual sitting behind you at the little table, would you like me to grab him?¡± I thought for a minute and then nodded, turning to Archon I said. ¡°Excuse me and then turned to watch the show.¡± With a blur of motion, Sebastian was suddenly holding the arm of a man who suddenly stood up and then tried to spin around and break free of Sebastian''s grasp. ¡°Looking at Sebastian he cursed and then yelled out ¡°You had better let go of me Cupcake, or you will be hurting. He then glanced over at Archon and then tried to hit Sebastian. In a blur of movements to fast for normal eyesight Sebastian spun the rogue around like a cloth toy and the grabbed him from behind and began to squeeze the neck while pressing against the poor fellows back. I looked at Archon and asked, ¡°Is he one of yours, because if he is not I am going to allow Sebastian to keep him for a plaything. Sebastian looked at me with a smile and I laughed and asked, ¡°Do you want a new toy, Cupcake?¡± By now Ama and her sisters along with Raik were standing around and watching along with a few late for breakfast customers. Sebastian gave me a wink and said, ¡°oh please master may I have a new toy, I broke my last one.¡± Archon looked at me and said, ¡°Enough, let my man go.¡± I stared at him and then replied, I will let him go, but no more of this Bullshit.¡± I nodded at Sebastian who whispered in the poor fellows ear and then laughed as the man turned pale. Letting him go Sebastian nodded at me and then walked back to the bar and began to polish the glasses. I decided we needed to somehow get a piano for him to play. Looking over at Archon I spoke, ¡°We really don¡¯t want to be fucking around like this anymore. Are you Old Bastards ready to get serious or are we wasting time. If we are wasting time, you can get out, if you want to have a real talk then give me a damn smoke and lets put the cards on the table.¡± Looking at me Archon slowly nodded, ¡°All right lets talk.¡± He said. Pulling out a handful of rollies he placed them on the table, I grabbed two and lit them with Dragon fire from my finger. Passing him one I called Brea to bring us a pot of hot kavaa and we settled down to have a long discussion. sightseeing We sat across from each other, each of us wondering what to say, where to begin. I lifted my hand and pointed at Archon. ¡°Let me tell you what I have surmised, if I am wrong you fill in the blanks, and then you can ask me anything that you want. I want to make sure that we understand one another here, no more bullshit.¡± Archon looked at me and his face tightened, he probably was not used to being spoken at like this. He was rich and powerful in the real world and had come here to continue that status along with all the other Old Bastards. I know longer cared about who they were or what they were trying to do Ingame. They were trying to survive, both out in the real world and Ingame and I did not begrudge them that. I would do the same in their position, but I think something has gone wrong with their plans. Very wrong. I began speaking, ¡°So this is what I think, the Old Bastards have developed this game. You have the money and the resources to make it happen. This whole world was supposed to be yours. In order to not raise suspicions you allowed the game to be open to a number of summer camps, after all, what the hell could kids do that would interfere. So now there are two factions wandering around Ingame, you Old Bastards and the young Donators. It was at this point that something began to go wrong, the Donators managed to have an Ingame patch changed for their benefit.¡± Archon nodded, anger evident on his face. He spoke, ¡°That programmer is no longer working for us, he should never have passed the hiring process. At the time, we had no knowledge that his son would manage to be Ingame.¡± I nodded, I had heard this before. Continuing on I said, ¡° So now we have the patch active allowing players to leave the four guilds and start their own houses. Recruiting players and not being subject to the Ingame rules of guild behavior.¡± ¡°This, of course, leads me to the Jackass, a donator who is out of control. You may not know this but he altered my Vrp so I could not leave the game while I was held captive in his house. He tortured, and blinded me then attempted to have me locked in a vicious cycle of being corpse camped by the NPC of the Kradula. I only managed to escape by tremendous good fortune, and I have been moving ever since.¡± Archon nodded and then said, ¡°We knew he had captured you and we suspected he had done something to you, however, we could not contact you, it was like you were online but on another server. I nodded at this, it pretty much summed up what has happened. I gathered my thoughts and continued. ¡°So once I was gone I suspect that you used your Game Master privileges to try to see what was happening with me and with the Donators. I was out of reach and I assume that you have had no luck with the Donators, as long as they are not caught nothing they do can be proved, and even if they are caught it is not in your vested interest Ingame to have their crimes made public, the government would shut down this world.¡± Once again I observed Archon nod his head. Continuing on I said, ¡°I also believe that you have lost control of the game world when we were on the Temple mount it was apparent what happened there was totally unexpected, as I recall you somewhat lost it. You were demanding to know what was happening with me and the unknown God. Clearly what happened went far beyond the limitations imposed on players and higher powers like Gods and Demons.¡± I stopped and lit another smoke and took a sip of the kavaa, it was not quite coffee and not quite tea but it was damn good. I stared out the window and then looked at Archon and asked, ¡°Am I on the money here?¡± Seeing him slowly nod I grinned and said, ¡°Just wait it gets better yet. There is more in this tale that has to come to light.¡± ¡°You are probably aware of the limitations the government has put on VRP game worlds, and yet this world is not complying with the millions of lines of embedded code, it has somehow circumnavigated around the code and now we have a virtual world where Gods are alive and seeking to influence the fate of all the races.¡± Again Archon nodded with a worried look on his face. ¡°So to sum up this discussion up to now , you created the world and then you lost control of it. You now have thousands of donators running around and a few of them are running amok. The Gods are alive and working on their own agenda, and trust me, the Gods are dicks here. Did I miss anything?¡± I asked. Slowly shaking his head Archon looked at me and said, ¡°Nope you nailed it, pretty much all that you said is what has happened and is what is happening. Now I have some questions for you, and I hope you will be as forthcoming with me as I have been with you. We know that what you told us earlier checks out, you are an orphan and you were raised in a state-run orphanage. The orphanage received the free summer camp pass and that is how you ended up Ingame.¡± ¡°What we don¡¯t know is how do you have a daughter Ingame, how did you get those tattoos on your arms and I see you have a new one on your face. Also, why did the shrine on the temple mount light up like that for you, and how are you so powerful as a level ten?¡± At this point, Archon stopped and then stared at me then asked, ¡°How are you level one when we were on the Temple mount I know you were level ten, what the hell? Where did you go to after the Jackass put you in the Kradula, why was your icon greyed out?¡± I could see that Archon was looking at me intently and I decided to do more than tell him, gesturing outside I said, ¡°If you really want to know then come with me and I will show you.¡± Archon stared at me then laughed, ¡°All right I will follow you but be warned we have 5 people constantly observing me and the Inn. So show me your secret hiding place.¡± ¡°Raik I need you and Clea, we are going on a little trip, let''s go out the back where we cannot be observed.¡± Standing I led the way through the kitchen only stopping to receive a kiss from Ama and have Gluzzie pass me a wrapped up bundle of food. Once Outside I looked at Raik and asked: ¡°Should we go to the Keep or the Palace first?¡± Raik smiled and said, ¡°Let''s check out the Keep, I hate it there and yet I miss it, that just seems a little strange but what the hell, it is how I feel. This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°Its a done deal my friend,¡± I said and with that, I called the three together and huddled up, then cast the T-Loci spell and an instant later we were standing in front of the Keep of the Trial of Temptations. ¡°Wait here,¡± I ordered the others as I walked into the yard, I wanted to see if being a Demon Prince would affect a change once I entered through the gates. Suddenly there was a deep Boom and I saw on my interface a message. Welcome Demon Prince, you have found an abandoned Castle in the wastelands of Gehenna Do you wish to claim sovereignty over the keep? Once you have claimed ownership the Keep will be added to your infernal holdings and a portal between your dominion in Hell and your Keep in Gehenna will be opened. YES OR NO Wow, another no-brainer for me, I hit the yes interface and suddenly there was a loud thunderclap, and a voice screamed out of nowhere, ¡°The Keep of Gehenna which houses the Trials of Temptations has been added to the dominion of the Demon Prince Tor. Suddenly a slew of windows opened on my interface, shrinking them all I turned around and walked out the gate. Archon was looking at me with a stunned look on his face and suddenly he made the sign of the cross. ¡°Well done Tor,¡± Raik was smiling, I knew that you would be the master of this keep. Now you have added to your dominion and your reputation and power will be spoken off throughout your lands.¡± Clea also was smiling and then she gave me a wink and said, ¡°Do you think my sister might share tonight?¡± And then she giggled and grabbed Raiks hand, ¡°You won¡¯t mind will you honey?¡± Archon meanwhile was struggling to control his uneasiness. I looked at him and then said, ¡°Relax man, this is cool, I am still who I was before I have just earned some Titles. Lets huddle up everyone, we are heading to my palace next. A moment later we were standing on the balcony overlooking the gardens and enjoying the view. Suddenly the Majordomo appeared and called out, ¡°Master I did not know you were coming back or I would have prepared a feast, how long are you staying sir.¡± Smiling at him I told him that this was just a brief visit and that I needed to see the Comptroller. Bowing before me he hurried off, returning in a few minutes with the comptroller who also bowed and then asked how he could be of assistance. I explained about the keep and asked him to locate the portal and then begin to move some guards into the keep. I also asked for exploratory parties to be sent out into the wastes to see if anything else of value could be found. Once done I handed out sandwiches to everyone from the pack Gluzzie had given me and then after we ate I asked Archon if he had any questions? He was looking around with amazement and just shook his head, then he said, ¡°None of this is coded into the program, where the hell are we. ¡°Funny you should ask,¡± I replied, ¡°Have a look at your map.¡± Pulling out his map he saw a blank area with a small spot in the middle where we were. Expanding the spot he then spoke out loud, ¡°The palace of the Demon Prince Tor, in the Dominion of Hades, Hell. Archon turned to look at me then he looked around and then he said, ¡°I guess things are not what they seem, are they. Clearly something has happened that is unexplainable. Is there anything else to show me?¡± Nodding my head I once again called everyone together and, this time, I sent us to Roundland. As Archon looked at the world wrapping all around him curving up out of sight, with the mountains and seas visible in the distance he quietly spoke. ¡°Oh fuck me, I don¡¯t believe this.¡± I waited a few minutes to let Archon continue to gaze around when suddenly he said, ¡°What is that stench, it smells like dirty socks and shit.¡± I looked around and there sitting on the balcony 15 meters away was the Kritiq, I looked at the little bastard and then repeated what Archon had just said. ¡°Oh fuck me.¡± The Kritiq once again flipped me the bird and jumped down. I stared at the little creature running away and thought some pretty evil thought, thoughts that a Demon Prince would think. Archon asked, ¡°What the hell was that thing and why does it smell so bad.¡± I just smiled grimly and answered, ¡°That is my thorn in the flesh.¡± Calling everyone into a huddle I sent us back to Topland. Once we arrived we walked back into the Inn and sat down. Looking at Archon I said, ¡°You probably have a lot of questions, I am not sure I can answer them, clearly this game is not just the game of the brochures. I have one year to do several things and I could use your help to do them, and what I am doing will be of benefit to you, will you work with me?¡± Archon slowly shook his head, and then asked, ¡°Before I agree to anything I need to know what is it you are trying to do?¡± Looking at him I slowly answered, I am going to be banishing the Gods from this realm. I am going to be rescuing the lost children of the Kradula, and I am going to be getting rid of the Jackass and his house. That about sums up what my plans are.¡± Archon stared at me and then nodded, ¡°I think we can work with you on those plans,¡± he said. Taking his leave he explained that he had to go talk to the other Old Bastards and that he would be in touch in a couple of days. After he left I called Sebastian over and asked for the bag I had sent him out to buy. Calling everyone else over I opened the bag, spilling one hundred pounds of tobacco in small pouched all over the table. Grabbing four of them I yelled out to my friends ¡°Enjoy¡± and then went to my room, I was tired and wanted a nap before supper, I had plans to go visit some old friends after sunset. an diadan The meeting with Archon had gone well; I had opened his eyes to the reality that this game world was not functioning as intended. I did not want to be a shit disturber, but if we were to form an alliance then we would have to be honest with each other. My thoughts tossed and turned, and I just could not sleep, I was not going to be able to have a nap. I stood up and went to the wash area and cleaned my face and hands. Looking in the mirror I stared at the image reflected back at me. Average Height, darkly tanned skin, slanted eyebrows and a black cloth wrapped around my eyes. In the sockets, a red-orange glow was visible behind the cloth. My cheekbones were high and my lips were full while a square chin sat at the bottom of my face. My arms were covered in black tattoos of flowers that writhed about with a life of their own. Entangled amongst the flowers were two swords, one on each arm. On my right cheek was a demonic glyph, denoting my status as a Demonic Prince. It was more of a title of honor as I was not a demon, but then I was not really human either. My ears were slightly longer than normal and tapered along the top to a point. My shoulders and arms were heavily muscled, more so than when I had first entered this world. I looked like I was not the kind of person you would not want to meet in a dark alley late at night. This thought made me smile, and with that, I left to go back down the stairs. It was mid afternoon and I wanted to get some things dealt with. Nodding at Raik, I called out for Ama and Sebastian to accompany me and then walked towards the door of the Inn. Looking around as I exited I was pleased to see that if was half full of humans who were ogling Ama¡¯s sisters as they wiggled back and forth shaking it while serving the guests. I also noticed a contingent of dwarfs who were sitting near the kitchen entrance and who seemed mesmerized by Gluzzie as he worked. I am sure there is a story there and once I have a little time I would like to find out what it is but for now, I needed to get going. ¡°Are you ready?¡± I asked nodding at Sebastian and holding Ama¡¯s hand. Seeing him nod we departed and made our way down the street. ¡°Where are we going, ¡°Ama asked? Both Ama and Sebastian were gazing around with wide eyes at the city, gazing up at the tiers leading to the top of the Temple mount and the palace of the King. ¡°We are going to deal with the city, I am registering the bill of sale of the Inn and also I wish to make some more purchases if possible. I want to buy as much of the abandoned zone as I can, and as many of the buildings around the Inn as I can.¡± Nodding at this, Sebastian spoke up. ¡°Purchasing near the Inn makes good sense and is a strong tactical move. But why buy the abandoned zone, Tor?¡± ¡°Once it is cleared out, it is going to be prime property, and it already has a large wall around it, I am thinking of a gated community within a community. It will all depend on the price the city wants for the property, hopefully, it will be cheap.¡± As I finished speaking I noticed two Donators, with House of Pain patches on their gear. I stopped and watched these two players; they were harassing a Female NPC. One of them began to push at her and then finally slapped her on the face as the other looked around at the small crowd. They then both grabbed her and dragged her towards an alley. ¡°That is not going to be happening,¡± I said with an angry look on my face. I hit Shadows and disappeared, quickly making my way to the alley from which I could hear cries for help and the sound of someone being slapped. Looking towards the girl I saw that she was being held by one the players with her arms twisted behind her back, the other player meanwhile had ripped her shirt and skirt off and was busy pulling his pants down. The motherfucker was trying to rape an NPC girl. I made my way behind the player holding the girl and then activated my basic DPS attack. I was not going for fancy here; I just punched the rapist player as hard as I could in the back of his head. With the Critical bonus from using Shadows and what seemed to be a multiplier effect from hitting the rapist from the back, the damage was outstanding. By outstanding I mean his head actually came off his shoulders and he went for a respawn. Meanwhile, his cohort stood there with a stupid look on his face until Sebastian grabbed him and tossed him against the alley wall. ¡°Ama please take this girl to safety out of the alley, Sebastian and I have some business to take care of here.¡± Seeing Ama gently grab the girl and lead her out I walked over to where the player was trying to stand up. His shoulder was dislocated I would guess, and he seemed to be in some pain. As he looked at us his face paled but he spoke with some bravado. ¡°Do you fuckers know which House I belong to, the fucking House of Pain. You are going to pay for what you have done. We are going to corpse camp you till you bleed from your eyeballs.¡± Having heard enough I slapped him hard then stood back as he began to cry and spit out a couple of teeth. Reaching out I grabbed him by the neck and lifted my arm, holding him like the rat he was I began to shake him as I spoke. ¡°I do not care what house you are in, this is my city, and I do not allow assholes like you to walk around assaulting the people who live here. You give this message to the Jackass, leave the game now. If I find anyone of you twats here on the second tier I will send you to hell till your game time is up. Now get out of here.¡± Being a kind hearted person I helped the asshole by throwing him against the wall near the exit of the alley. As we walked towards the street Sebastian looked at me and said grimly, ¡°What the heck, why were these two trying to rape that poor girl?¡± I looked at him and shook my head, ¡°I think that some people believe if they cannot be punished they have free will do whatever they want, they have no absolutes in their life. If the Jackass and his Donators are now going about and doing whatever they want in the city that does not bode well for NPC or other players.¡± The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. As we left the alley I saw Ama comforting the girl at a nearby stall, there were several other NPC all clustered around, and they all were looking mad. As we made our way to Ama I could hear the people talking, it seems that the House of Pain has been busy, attacking and robbing both NPC and other players. At this point, I asked the crowd what the Kings Guards or the City Guards were doing about this situation. Looking at the people all shaking their heads I finally heard one of them say that The Kings Guards were preparing for some war and that the City Guards had all been ordered to only patrol the city from tiers three to five. Tiers one and two had been abandoned by the King. I looked at the crowd and then spoke in a loud voice. ¡°Go to the Hearth home Inn at 6 bells, I will have something to announce about the safety of the city. The crowd looked at me and then a few asked questions, I responded as best I could without giving away any information. I was offering hope to people who had never needed it but who needed it now. I asked if anyone could escort the young lady home and when several people volunteered I let them lead her away. The rest of the afternoon passed quickly, the city officials were more than happy to transfer ownership of the Inn to me, the only change that needed to be made was to the name. I called my Inn the Dragons Den, and with an exchange of monies, it was done. Once I explained that I was also interested in the whole area around my inn including the Kradula and the abandoned zone I was quoted a price that was clearly too high. After some negotiations, I was not broke but my stash of rainy day funds was almost empty. However I did now own a sizable chunk of the second tier of the city. I then also asked where I had to go to register a House that would not be part of a guild. It turned out to be just down the hall and so making my way there I entered another room. After signing some more papers and paying another sum of gold I was now the official leader of the House of An Diadan. Ama asked, ¡°What does An Diadan mean?¡± It has a nice sound to it, I like it. Sebastian nodded he also wanted to know what the name meant. I looked at the sky the light was beginning to fade as we walked back towards the Inn, all three of us on alert for possible attacks. The name An Diadan means house of Shelter or a house of Haven, it is what this city needs, and I hope that it lives up to its name. It was nearing six bells by the time we arrived back at the Inn and I was surprised to see the courtyard was full of NPC and the Inn itself was packed with people eating and drinking. Clearly Gluzzie was working his magic and I don¡¯t think any male could withstand the Succubae charms of Brae and Clea. I sent Ama in to get me a sharp apple cider and then jumped up on a wagon that was parked next to the Inn. ¡°People of the city,¡± I began, ¡°I am Tor, leader of the house of An Diadan and the owner of this Inn and all the buildings in this area. I have recently been away and since arriving back at the city I have seen lawlessness and anarchy.¡± ¡°The House of Pain is running rampant and the King has not seen fit to establish law and order. We are left at the mercy of thugs and people who have no respect for us. These Donators are out of control and many of you have experienced what to expect from them. Just today I stopped the rape of a girl by two of these Donators from the House of Pain.¡± I could see that many of the men in the crowd looked angry and several of the women had a fearful look on their face, I was looking a little pissed off myself. ¡°This can not continue, I am inviting you to join my house, to submit to my authority and direction. The rewards will be having safety in your life. It will not be something that will happen overnight but together we will achieve together what the King refuse to do, have a safe city.¡± As I finished speaking I saw many of the male NPC nod their heads in agreement and even a few players seemed to be agreeing with my words. ¡°My man Raik here will take the names of all who with to join my house. If you join then meet here tomorrow morning by nine bells, and we will proceed from that point on. One word of warning, if you join and then betray us there will be no safe place hidden from my wrath.¡± I stood by and watched as NPC after NPC came forward and signed the membership bill for the House of An Diadan. All told we had 113 NPC and 23 Players join the house. I would talk to the players in the morning to determine their level of competence and their abilities. I turned to find Ama standing next to me with a proud look on her face. ¡°Tor, in the Demonic culture, we are often told what to do, who to be with and not given a choice in our future.¡± Here she smiled at me and then continued, ¡°That is why I was ready to marry you so fast, it is really the norm for us. But what I have seen you do here, giving these people the choice to do something about their situations, their lives, it is wonderful. Thank you.¡± Smiling at her I said, ¡°You can show me your thank you in about an hour when we are in bed. Let''s go get something to eat first.¡± Holding her hand we walked into the Dragons Den. deals Morning comes early and the only good thing about that was the fact that it meant one of Gluzzie¡¯s breakfasts. I left the room and washed up and then went downstairs, it was early but the common room was full of both players and NPC. Most were here to have a hot drink and a fast bite before they began a shift of patrolling tiers one and two of the city. A week ago I had opened up my house An Diadan and had begun to accept both NPC and players. The NPC vastly outnumbered the players. I had set up patrols and a training schedule. I also had to supply basic weapons for the NPC. It was costing me a pretty penny however the benefits were already apparent. No members of the House of Pain would come down to the second tier any longer. Not after I had portaled the last few who tried down to the ocean, about forty yards out from the beach. Those players found out that armor is heavy, and most of them could not swim. The respawn area was pretty busy for a little while. The bonus of that was that Gluzzie would go down to the ocean and dive in then in half an hour there would be some nice armor sets and weapons unless the gear was soul bound. What was interesting was all the other dwarfs who would follow Gluzzie. The watched him as he worked in the kitchen, and they followed him wherever he went if he left the Inn. It was time I found out what this was all about. Walking towards the dwarfs table I pulled up a chair and sat down. I looked at the dwarfs and they looked at me. I began by asking, ¡°Why are you following my cook? Everywhere he goes you go, and when he is at work here you sit staring at him. Why are you doing this?¡± I directed my questions to the dwarf I had met once before when he had come up and complimented me on Twinks appetite. The Dwarf looked at me and nodded, and then he spoke up. ¡°I am Dram Banhammer and I belong to the ancient clan of the Banhammers. These folks with me are all clan mates and family. Pointing at Gluzzie he continued to speak, ¡°We are here waiting for the clan chief to give us directions.¡± I was surprised to hear this and said ¡°Wait, are you telling me the Gluzzie is your clan chief, I think that you might be mistaken. I can promise you that Gluzzie has not been in the Dwarfs lands for a long long time.¡± I spoke with conviction but the Dwarfs all shook their heads. I was not getting through to them and they were getting a stubborn look on their faces. Dram spoke up, ¡°Lad you do not understand, we dwarf identify our leaders by the braids and clips that are in their beards. It is clear that Gluzzie is the clan leader. It is a miracle no less, as we have not had a clan leader in a thousand years. I do not know where Gluzzie came from but by dwarfen law, he is our leader. We honor bound to stay and await his commands.¡± I nodded as it was beginning to make sense to me. Excusing myself I went and spoke with Gluzzie. Once I had explained everything he sighed and then asked, ¡°What should I do?¡± I thought for a moment and then told him to let them accept him as clan leader. ¡°You must have them swear an oath to me and then I can put them to use,¡± I spoke with excitement, I had just thought of something that could have far-reaching implications for the Ingame world and I wanted to get things in motion. We gathered together and Gluzzie spoke first, then the dwarfs chimed in. I had thought that giving me their allegiance might be a problem but it was not an issue. My actions with allowing NPC to join my house and also running the Inn had greatly increased the favor of the entire lower tier NPC towards me. My reputation was high with them and that along with Gluzzie insisting that they all bend the knee to me was enough to sway them. Once it was all done I called Gluzzie and the Banhammers leader Dram together. I spoke up explaining, ¡°I need you dwarfs to go that smithy next to the Inn up and running. I need weapons and armor being crafted and also something new.¡± ¡°Something new, and what would that be?¡± Dram spoke slowly with humor; he was in a great mood having just helped to restore the Clan Chief after over a thousand years of not having one. I did not know how things worked for dwarfs but it seemed that things were just accepted as done. This was much like Ama had explained how Demonic culture worked. If there was one fault I could find Ingame it would be that things that would not make sense in the real world were just accepted as the norm here. Back to Drams question, I nodded and then reached into my bag and pulled out the chest containing the book of Science. Opening the chest I grabbed the book and pulled it out. Both Dram and Gluzzie were staring at the book in wonder; it had a feel to it that I had not seen in the game world with anything else. Looking at Dram I asked him if his loyalty to me would stand the test of time and any other pressure that might be put on him. He looked at me and licked his lips, and said, ¡°My word is my life and once given it cannot come back.¡± I nodded and then handed him to the book, ¡°I want to know everything that is in the book, every recipe, every detail. I leave it with you to begin the process of building the machines and making them work. This is something new and I encourage you to be circumspect with what you are doing, trust only myself and Gluzzie. I watched as he opened the book and saw a strange expression come across his face. Gluzzie went back to the kitchen and I sat and drank my kavaa. Twink came down and joined me as she waited for Gluzzie to prepare her breakfast. She was spending more time each day flying outside of the city exploring the nearby Islands and the bays and beaches of the coastline. Finally, Dram looked up and closed the book, then clearing his voice he spoke, ¡°Good morning lady Twink, it is good to see you with such a good appetite.¡± Then looking at me Dram said, ¡°My Lord, what you have given me, I have no words but if only half of what I read is true then we will change this world.¡± I nodded; it was what I wanted to hear. ¡°I will be getting the boys together now and we will start working on the smithy next to the inn, also we will get the large building on the back of the smithy repaired to have a storage facility on hand. ¡°One moment before you leave Dram,¡± I spoke quietly and gave him the instructions for a special project that needed to be done. ¡°Let me know when you are done and tell no one of this,¡± I finished. With that Dram gave me a wave and walked over to the table full of dwarfs and began giving orders. Within minutes they had all cleared out, heading to get tools and start working on the smithy. I sat back and lit up a smoke, enjoying the morning while I waited for Archon to arrive. Things were progressing, my next step was to go to the Kradula and begin the rescue of the children. As I mused over what to do my thoughts began to drift as I watched Twink eat. The girl made me proud; she was now eating twice what I could and yet was hungry all the time. I think that Gluzzie was falling in love with her in a paternal way, no wonder with what she would eat. Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. ¡°Twink, I began as she slowed down on her eating. ¡°I need your help; I need to know if I can ever shape shift and how to do so if possible.¡± If you could show me how it would be a huge help to me. What do you think?¡± I sat back not knowing what the answer would be. I knew being human was my dominant trait, and while I could use a couple of Dragon abilities I was curtailed in what I could use. Twink looked at me and smiled, then said ¡°Poppa, I am not sure, you have changed on the inside and now things are different for you. Let me try to show you.¡± She then scooted her chair over and then put her hand on my forehead, while humming a song. ¡°Twink, what are you humming?¡± I asked. She looked at me and spoke, ¡°We got the beat by the Bangles, it is a great song, I love it.¡± You showed me how to play music a while ago and I really love it, I am sure that there is no Bard Ingame that could sing some of the songs that you have, and the music is amazing. My first thought was the Bangles I thought I had deleted that song as soon as I had listened to it. I then realized that Twink was now accessing the AI interface side of her personality, it probably felt like a built in PIM to her. It was amazing to me that this had occurred. In truth Twink had become a fully alive person, or at least as much as an NPC could. Refocusing I asked Twink to continue and she once again put her hand on my forehead. I could suddenly feel a rush of information, of knowledge about Dragon abilities that I could not access before. Suddenly Twink took her hand away and then asked me if I understood now. I slowly nodded, it was overwhelming to me but I somehow understood it. ¡°Thanks, honey,¡± I spoke slowly with feeling, I was not sure if I could shapeshift but suddenly I understood on a far deeper level what it meant to be a dragon. Twink laughed and said she was going to go to a deserted beach on an Island and hunt for fish. I nodded it sounded fun, I, however, was going to be hunting other things. ¡°By Twink, have fun,¡± I said and then stood as Archon approached. He sniffed the air and then pointed at the kitchen and spoke, ¡°I am still not sure how the hell you ended up owning this Inn, but my real question is where did you find the cook and how did you get him to agree to work for you?¡± I just smiled and stared at Archon while offering him a smoke. We both lit up and then Brae sauntered over with a pot of kavaa and gave me a top up and looked at Archon. He nodded and then watched her as she poured then wiggled her behind away. Looking at me he said, ¡°My God, where do you find your staff, looking at her I could jump her right here and now. I just do not know what to make of you, some of the sexiest wrenches I have ever seen are working at your Inn. A cook that can make any meal taste like it is from a ten-star restaurant, and two of the toughest bouncers I have ever seen. I saw those two little guys each throw a fully armored drunk player out the door without breaking a sweat the other night.¡± ¡°What are you Tor?¡±Archon asked with a grim smile. He already knew. "Archon," I began, "I want to attend to some real world business. My time Ingame is limited and I want to change that.¡± There was no sense in beating around the bush, I needed Archons help. ¡°I know that the Old Bastards have control over who get into the game once summer is over, my guess is that you will punt all the players you can. Then you will closely monitor those who are still Ingame while you run things. That all works for me except for the fact that I want a door back into the game.¡± I waited and looked at Archon as he stared at me. ¡°Tor,¡± he began, ¡°It is something that can be arranged but what is that saying, quid pro quo. What do you have to offer us, something that is worth the price of a state of the art VRP and a direct link to the game?¡± It was a good question and I had the answer. ¡°The Gods,¡± I stated. ¡°I will get rid of the Gods or, at least, the major ones. But here is the deal, I will take care of the VRP. You will take care of the cost and the direct line to the game. It is not that I do not trust you but I don¡¯t. I am not willing to have the Old Bastards supplying the VRP. It is my life Ingame and I do not want anyone but myself to have control of that.¡± Looking at me Archon nodded, ¡°I don¡¯t blame you,¡± He said. ¡°If you can actually deliver it is a deal, and I don¡¯t want to know how you will get rid of the Gods. You are a strange young man but I think you will honor you end of things. Here, memorize this number, once you are out of the game make the call, we will work out the details then. Shaking his head he then said, just so you know Kaie has left the game, she had pressing matters to deal with in real life. She wanted me to let you know that.¡± I nodded, I had not thought of Kaie for a while, she had some serious mojo where I was concerned. It was probably for the best that she was back in the real world. Ama would not have approved I would guess. We both lit up another smoke and Archon asked what was next on my agenda. am going to the kradula tonight and will do some exploring, I then hope to enter into the Abandoned zone proper and find the source of the curse. Once I get the children out to safety I will deal with the source of the problem. Then that quest is done. Then the Gods will be dealt with, and finally, I will deal with the Jackass and the House of Pain. Nodding at me Archon spoke, ¡°I really believe that you will do it, remember the number my young friend, and good luck. The King has summoned the four great guilds and all the houses in them to the temple mount. I believe we are going to war soon. I had best go prepare . After Archon left I settled back and lit another smoke. I had a lot to think about, being a leader of any kind sucks blue-balls. I did not want the responsibility but in order to achieve my goals I had assumed a lot of it. All I can do is a plan for the future I thought as I watched the girls wiggle from customer to customer. Distracted, I wondered how many tips they were making.
Hi to everyone who is reading the story, just a little note, if you like it please leave some positive feedback, Some people did not like it and scored the story poorly. I don''t want to get into a mudslinging war here about that. All I can do is to ask you to leave some positive comments at the front section, so that when someone looks over the reviews he sees more than the negative things from my own personal Kritiqs. Thanks and cheers. hat trick The sky had darkened and night had come to the city. It seemed appropriate that I was going to a haunted orphanage as the winds picked up and thunder boomed and lightning flashed. I was walking in the Shadows, and being cautious. I had been jumped once before and was determined that that would not happen again. The Donators, of the house of Pain, led by their leader the Jackass wanted to hurt me, badly. That suited me as I was planning on hurting them as bad as I could while I was still Ingame. I do not think that I am a malicious person, but after seeing what these spoiled assholes were doing to other players and to NPC that are in the game, I was willing to do some truly medieval shit to these Donators. Rape, torture, and brutality of all kinds were the House of Pain¡¯s calling card. I had heard of players being corpse camped for days on end. The damn G.M¡¯s were useless, they did not respond at all. I am not sure why. What I did know was that the game had become real to me, in a way that the real world could not compete with. I hoped that I was making a difference in the game world for both NPC and players. That is what I was doing out on this stormy night, trying to make a difference to the NPC of the game world. I stopped and stared, I was at the entrance to the Kradula, and there he was bigger than life and twice as stupid. It was the leader of the House of Pain, the Jackass. It was an opportunity that I could not pass up on. I walked slowly forward and listened to his nonstop drivel. Looking around I could see that he was there with four others from his house. I am not sure how they had snuck down here but they clearly were up to something, I thought that they were just pumping themselves up before entering the open area dungeon that the Kradula had become. Listening to the Jackass, I heard my name mentioned, and then I felt my muscles tighten up. The Jackass was speaking about laying a trap, he somehow knew I was coming. What the hell, who would have betrayed me. This thought kept moving around in my head. I had taken in so many players, up to thirty-five last count. It would have been easy to sneak someone into An Diadan, my house of haven. Centering myself I began to breathe, it was time for some payback. The Jackass had set it up perfect for me to do my portal. He was standing about three feet in front of the group who were all clustered together to listen to him. I cast my portal spell and suddenly the Jackass was alone. The other Donators were swimming in the ocean now and I did not envy them. Weighed down by weapons and armor, they would have no chance to make it to shore. That is why I sent them to the ocean, I wanted to teach the punks a lesson. Drowning Ingame is not fun, the level of realism is amazing and while they would respawn, most would not want to take a chance of being sent back to drown if found on tiers one or two of the city. Simple and effective, all I could say was that it worked. For whatever reason the King had pulled all the City guards and all the Kings guards to tiers three and up. This had led to the House of Pain running rampant on tiers one and two. Until I stopped them. It is not that my actions were dictated by hate, although I did hate them, after all, they had captured me and tortured me and blinded me. My actions were dictated by the fact that I cared, it did not matter if you were an NPC or a player, I could not stand by and watch you being terrorized. The hate I felt was just a bonus for my revenge. Which is being served tonight! Some people think it is a dish best served cold. I think that speaks of letting time pass and planning it out before acting it out. If you have the time and patience for that it works. Unfortunately, I do not have the time or the patience. With that in mind I popped the portal and sent his crew to the depth of the ocean, the Jackass had started looking around. I stared at him, he was now level 45, clearly he had been leveling off the back of some other players, no surprise there. I slowly moved out of the shadow of the building , the idiot had not seen me yet. No situational awareness at all. Finally, he looked at me and then snorted, ¡°You, why you are still level one, what the fuck, I am gonna fuck you big time man.¡± Clearly he had recognized me and clearly his ability to put words together had not improved. ¡°Are you now?¡± I taunted him. ¡°I have removed your crew, they are all dead now. So it is just you and me, and what are you going to do now? Go cry for mommy, she is not here to help you. No, it is just you and I and in a moment, it will be just I. With a snarl of ¡°Fuck you,¡± he launched himself at me. Seeing that he was many levels higher than me I slipped back into Shadows and then began to circle him. I could feel my rage growing as I watched the Jackass, seeing him bumbling around trying to find me, to hurt me again, to kill me. It pissed me off. I allowed the rage to fill me and to give me strength, I was feeling more and more Dragon like with every passing second. Suddenly remembering what Twink had shown me and I allowed the knowledge to fill me, to overwhelm me, to change me. With a dark glimmer like a shadow slipping over me from the crown to the bottom of my feet, I felt the change. I looked at the bumbling human, screaming profanities at me as he disparately swung his sword at the empty air. I then looked at my forearms, black with fine scales, and hands that ended in three fingers, I twitched a muscle in my wrist and two long and sharp claws descended from my knuckles. I could feel something at my elbows also and with another muscle twitch, two fifteen centimeter claws emerged from the back of my elbows, one on each arm. I noticed I was standing erect and looked down at my body, I was clearly humanoid, but looking down I could see feet that looked like a running lizards with three claws permanently attached to the toes. I would not want to receive a kick from one of my feet. I could also feel the wings at the back, and with a snap opened them up. A sudden gust of wind hit the wings and created lift, and suddenly I was soaring in the air. Flying must be instinctual to Dragons because I had full control. I did a few small rolls and then I hovered in the air, the wind providing a steady stream of lift. Almost directly below me was the Jackass, and I knew that meant I needed to deal with him. My Dragonish mind suggested eating the little prick. I considered it, but what was the point of killing him if he would just respawn. I needed to get rid of him and I think I knew how. Dropping down I landed in front of him and then turned off Shadows. Seeing me as a dragon he wet himself and judging from the smell probably shit himself also. It was disgusting, I have no problem with people who have accidents, like some old folks, that was just the body failing due to age, but this was different, this was something else. This was the damn Kritiq, he was standing directly behind the Jackass and sniffing his butt like he was about to do the dirty Sanchez. Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. You do not get opportunities like this one very often and so I did what I had to do, I portaled both of them into one of the spheres I had prepared for the Gods. My last sight of the Jackass was his yelling ¡°What the fuck¡± and then the Kritiq flipping me off as the portal grabbed them both and put them into the sphere. I stood there in the storm with my wings furled tight to my back and then flexing my arms I roared my triumph to the storm. With the thunder and lightning flashes, I am sure no one heard or saw what had happened. It had happened so fast, just one of those things that occur. It may not have been a case of Carpe Diem but it was a case of Carpe Temporis Punctum. To top it all off I felt great, being in Dragon form was an amazing sensation. My senses were so active and alive. I could see where lightning was going to hit as I was able to see the energy pathways as they emerged from the ground and created a link for the discharge of energy to descend back down. I could smell the ocean and the fish from the docks as well as spices and kavaa. I could feel a fire of energy running through me and the power of my muscles. Every scale felt alive in this body. It was great, but now it was time to get back to work. I shapeshifted into my human form and stood and stretched. I still felt great, something had changed while I was dragon form. I had read and studied Chi energy flow as part of my Judo training and I had to wonder, did the Chi in my body realign itself as I shapeshifted. It was like being crippled before but not knowing you were crippled. Now having been exposed to the Dragon form I felt what I should have been feeling all along. As I thought about this I wondered had the Eldest, the unknown God granted me a crippled form, and if so why. I shook my head it did not matter right now, just something else to consider. Right now I needed to get into the Kradula and talk to the Shaman. If I could make my plans work, then I needed to get the ball rolling. I strode through the barrier and jumped over the side of the bridge, landing lightly on me feet this time. Standing there I looked around remembering the pain, that had not been a fun experience for me. I looked up and there was a little wisp, I kneeled down and held out my hand. The child stared at me and then slowly gave me his hand. ¡°Lets go find the Shaman,¡± I said softly, ¡°I need to talk to him, will you take me to him?¡± Feeling a gentle tug on my hand I slowly began to follow the little one. We arrived at what looked like an alcove on the side of the main building, going outwards from it was what at one time would have been a very nice garden. Standing in the garden was the shade of the shaman. I walked up to him and bowed, and then spoke, ¡°Shaman Oaktree, I have come back to thank you and to offer you hope.¡± Nodding at me the Shaman spoke up, ¡°Hope, there is not much of that in the Kradula, not anymore. What kind of hope can you offer us, you are from the world and we are not. Although judging by the mark on your cheek, you are not fully from this world any longer either, my Demonic prince.¡± ¡°The hope I bring is not of this world but fear not it is not of Hell.¡± With that, I began to describe my adventures. Oaktree stopped my several times and asked questions, once he became convinced the Gaiatoci really was going to help the children, he began to cry. I stood and watched him giving him the honor he deserved, very few would have done what he had done for the children, sacrificing his own afterlife for their benefit. After several minutes, we agreed on the plan, he would send out all the little ones he could find to gather up the rest and once they were all gathered I would transport them all to the Roundland. Oaktree did not think that it would take long to gather them all. He explained how only the youngest had managed to maintain a semblance of the child within. The older ones were now mindless wraiths and would have to be left at the Kradula. I could feel the pain that this caused the kindly old soul. It was something that I would deal with once I entered the abandoned zone and dealt with the curse. In the span of a couple of hours, all the children were gathered up. As they all stood together, I noticed the Shaman standing apart from the rest. This did not fit in with my plans and I told him so. With a sigh he entered into circle, I then cast the T-Loci spell and portalled us all to the temple of Gaiatoci. As we stood there I once again felt the presence of my Grandmother. I turned around to see her kind face, it had tears running down it as she looked at the children. Suddenly she spoke a Word, and there was a crackle in the air. I could feel the primordial life-force energy fall upon us, and suddenly I could see the children, no longer ghostly little figures but flesh and blood. Looking past them I could also see Shaman Oaktree standing there looking at his hands, flesh once again. I observed Gaiatoci sweeping up the little ones with hugs and kisses and then standing and looking at Oaktree. ¡°My Shaman,¡± she began, ¡°I have you to thank for watching over the children, and I thank you. I have a quest for you, and the reward is instant, will you continue to help watch over the children, for that I will grant you immortality.¡± I watched as Oaktree nodded his head, I knew he loved the little ones and now he could continue to watch over them. I stepped back as the children were led away by Gaiatoci and Oaktree. I felt pleased and grateful that the rescue mission had gone so will. With a light whisper, I suddenly heard Gaiatoci¡¯s voice in my head. ¡°My grandson, know that I am pleased with you and wish you to receive this gift, it is given in love.¡± I felt a quick burning sensation and looking on my interface I saw that I had a new permanent buff. Suddenly the familiar Ding Ding sounded and a window opened in front of my eyes. World First Tor has received the blessing of Gaiatoci, the Earth mother. 20 percent stat increase to all skills and abilities all abilities are now permanently yours, no matter what path you choose to follow In this realm or any other, you will have access to the primordial life-force Use your gifts wisely, no other being has ever received such a blessing Wow, it was all I could say, I felt energized, full of good humor and blessed. It was time to go back to the Dragons Den and sleep, tomorrow I had some Gods to capture. death I was tossing and turning, sleep would not come. I arose as silently as I could, not wanting to wake up Ama. It seemed yesterday was like a dream, a good one. I had come up on the Jackass and the Kritiq. This lucky turn of events enabled me to use my T-loci spell to portal both of them together into one of the holding spheres I had made to capture the God''s. If ever two creatures deserved to be locked into a sphere together it was those two. Yet for all of the success yesterday had brought I did not feel good today, something just felt off. I gazed down at Ama curled up under the blankets. I could not help but smile at her, she made me feel happy and at peace. Is this what love is I wondered. Leaving the room I went to wash up and then went downstairs to the common room. Gluzzie was already hard at work in the kitchen; I grabbed a hot cup of kavaa and greeted him. Seeing a stack of pots and pans I quickly heated some water and began to wash the dishes. I knew he hated to do dishes. After an hour, we were caught up and sat down to have a smoke. Gluzzie spoke first and asked, ¡°What are you planning to do today, you are up pretty early?¡± Taking a drag I said, ¡°Going to do some exploring, and then heading up to the Temple mount. I want to see what the King is planning; I have heard he has been calling all the bigwigs from the Guilds and Houses to come up for some meetings. Gluzzie nodded and then put out his smoke. ¡°Back to work,¡± he said with a smile, ¡°I love cooking here, everyone loves the food.¡± I nodded as he entered the kitchen; he was a hell of a cook. If a player could get fat Ingame I would have put on ten pounds already. I made my way to the door and left the Inn. The sun was coming up soon but it was still in the early predawn light. I strode down the street feeling an itch running up and down my spine. Something about today was really setting me off. I entered Shadows and began to walk through the second tier of the city; I could see that the industrious dwarfs were already reclaiming the smithy and some of the nearby buildings, probably using them for building materials I thought. I was not sure if I had done the right thing giving the tome of science to Banhammer. It would bring changes to the game world. I hoped the changes would be positive. One way or another they were coming, my finding the book was evidence of that. It amazed me that I had found not one but four worlds Ingame and that I had the ability to go to each of them. The Roundland, I owned an island there. It needed work, enough said about that. Then there was the Keep of the Trials of Temptations. Alone in its own pocket of reality just waiting for me to arrive and set up shop. I also happened to be a prince of Hell through combat and had won a principality. It was beautiful and pleasant, not what I had thought hell would be like. Finally, I now owned a large part of the second tier of the city; it was abandoned and filled with haunts, ghosts, and zombies along with other undead. It was mine bought and paid for. I just needed to go in and clean it out. I had arrived at the entrance way to the third tier as the early morning sunlight began to lighten up the streets. Seeing the guards half asleep at their posts I walked through undetected still stealthed in shadows. Continuing my path through the city I slowly made me way to the summit, eventually arriving at the table top. Here at the top, the land was divided into two parts, the Temple mount, and the Kings palace. I had been to the actual Temple half once before and had an unusual experience there. Now I was going to the Kings palace and hoped to give the Gods an unusual experience. Looking over at the palace I could see that it was a sprawling structure with additions and wings added on to the original building. I had no idea how to find the meeting place and it would be foolish to walk around the palace even stealthed as I was. I stood near the main entrance way and waited while watching the servants arrive and the guards change. Finally, the arrivals I was waiting for showed up. Among the group was my friend Archon, busy talking to the other guild leaders and House heads. I slowly ambled along with them as we entered the palace. We were led down to a large amphitheater and there the group settled into chairs. I stayed near the back and waited for two more groups to arrive, and when they did I finally slipped undetected out of shadows and then took a seat half hidden behind a pillar. It took another hour before everyone was there. The place held probably three hundred seats and almost all were taken. Another half hour passed and then finally the curtains were pulled back from the small dais. There were four large thrones arranged in a half circle and in front of them on a lower level was a smaller throne. This smaller throne had someone on it, handsome, well built and with a crown, I would guess he was the King. He began to speak, calling for quiet and when the crowd had become silent he then addressed us. ¡°Loyal citizens of the city, I am pleased that you are here. This morning we will be blessed, the priests and monks have assured me that the Gods themselves are coming to anoint us, as we prepare for the upcoming war.¡± The crowds began to chant, ¡°Victory, Victory.¡± I began to feel somewhat nervous. It all smacked of political posturing and people turning off their brain while letting the emotional side take over. It was scary stuff to me. Still I was here now and wanted to listen and observe all I could see. The King continued to speak, he waxed eloquent on the need to go to war, and how we were all doing it for our city, our country our families but most importantly for our King. I thought of the old saying as I listened to the King drone on, ¡°old men dreaming up wars for young men to die in.¡± It seemed appropriate as I was sure that the king and his retinue along with the other leaders would not be engaging in hand to hand combat. After another hour of listening to this drivel, I observed a priest approach. He bowed low before the King and then turning around to face us he began a long a boring blessing. Once he finished that he turned to the empty thrones and began to wave his arms around while praying in a loud and annoying tone. Once he was done he prostrated himself on the ground and was silent. We were all silent waiting and waiting for what would happen next. We were not disappointed, as a glow soon began to appear on each throne, as it began to get brighter we all had to look away. Once the painful glow had faded, there were four persons sitting on the thrones. I could feel the presence of the Gods from where I sat, not as strong as Gaiatoci or the Unknown God, but there was no doubt that they radiated a presence. The priest meanwhile had stood up and bowed to the Gods, and was now approaching the King. I watched as he stood in front of the King and began to whisper something in his ear. After a few seconds, the King nodded and then stood up as the priest bowed his way out from the thrones. ¡°My people,¡± the King began, ¡°We are blessed, by the very tangible presence of the Gods. The time has come to receive the blessing; all of you stand up and receive the gift your Gods have for you.¡± No thanks, I can do without I thought as I watched everyone stand. I joined them and observed as the Gods all raised their arms and began to speak forth some kind of blessing. No time like the present I thought and cast four T-loci spells one after another. With each spell, there was a pop as the God disappeared. It took four seconds and the realm had no Gods left, at least, no major ones. Suddenly the room dissolved into mass confusion as the people began to shout out. The King stood there with a sick look on his face. I watched people begin to lose it all around me. Suddenly there was a loud crack, and standing on the dais behind the King was a being, that was surrounded by a mist that burned with celestial flames and in the flames was a burning bush. It was the Unknown God. His presence was much more powerful than the four other Gods I had just portalled away. I had the urge to prostrate myself and I was fighting it. Looking at the King flat on his face and all the other leaders who were also flat down on the ground I realized only the unknown God and I were standing. We looked at one another and I saw a smile appear on his face, it was not a happy smile but one full of pride and gloating. The Bastard pointed at me and began to speak. ¡°Men, listen to the words of the Eldest, I was here before the Gods and I am still here now that they are gone. I brought you up from the depth to this land fair and sweet. I have blessed you and caused you to multiply. All you have is the result of my plans for you. The other Gods were placed here to help you and yet in the time that you needed them most, they have been taken away from you. By him.¡± The Bastard was still pointing at me. I looked around and could see that everyone was looking at me; it was not a comfortable feeling. Time to leave I thought but before I could portal out Archon stood up. Looking at me he turned and faced the Eldest and spoke; ¡°I know this person and I attest to you in front of all these witnesses that he is not a man. He is a demon and has taken me to his realms and shown me things that no man has seen. Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. The crowd began to look angry and as I looked at Archon I could see that he was sharing a smile with the Eldest. I was missing something here, and I am not sure I wanted to find out what it was. This smelt worse than the Kritiq on a hot day. Suddenly the Eldest spoke out and in the loud voice commanded the people near me to grab me. The fuckers, both the Eldest and Archon had betrayed me. As the angry mob rushed at me I changed to my Dragon form. In reality, I was only half Dragon, and instead of the traditional Dragon body, I kept a humanoid form. I extended the hand and elbow claws and twirled into the crowd, cutting off limbs and impaling bodies, I chanced a glance at Archon who had gone pale. Looking past him I saw the Eldest with a surprised look on his face. He had not thought I could go Dragon. I suddenly realized that this was a setup from the beginning of my entrance into the game. That Dragon would pay, I had taken care of the Gods and by God that lizard was going to be in my sights next I swore to myself. Looking around I saw that a crowd had formed around me, I could tell no one wanted to get very close, and that suited me. I quickly cast T-Loci and went to Roundland. Something was deeply wrong and I needed to let Gaiatoci know. Just as I disappeared I noticed that the Eldest had a pleased look on his face. I opened my eyes to see the familiar terrace that Gaiatoci would appear on when I was in Roundland. Only it was not Gaiatoci, it was the Eldest that greeted me. ¡°Well done my son, you have done so much more than I had hoped for. You have far surpassed all your brothers and sisters in achieving my goals.¡± The Eldest actually looked proud, not at me but at himself. ¡°Now my son, I need you to be still.¡± With a wave of his hands, my blood which had always burned so hot was now frozen. I could not move, I could barely think and it hurt a lot. I watched as he walked over to me and observed as he lifted my frozen arms up. Strangely the tattoos were now more active than ever, thicker with sharp spines almost covering the two small swords. I watched as he grimaced and then somehow he reached into my arms past the flowers and thorns and grabbed the swords. With a strained look on his face, he began to pull the swords out of my flesh, as his hands cleared the roses I saw that they were covered in cuts, with deep punctures from the thorns. Finally, he had them both out and stood there, admiring them. Speaking almost to himself he said, ¡°The swords of Grief and Mourning, created by the greatest dwarven craftsman to ever live. Stien Ironforge. They were created for only one purpose millennial ago and now are about to achieve that purpose.¡± He suddenly looked at me and then said, ¡°Now Tor, I have one more thing I need you to do and that is calling my granddaughter Twink.¡± Suddenly the pain in my body translated to my head and I could no longer control my thoughts, I was trapped, only able to observe what was happening. The alien presence of the Eldest began to dominate my mind and the sheer power he was pushing through me was burning me out. Suddenly I could feel my mind making a mental link with Twink, telling her to go with Reona, who would bring her to me. Suddenly everything faded to black and I was gone. I came to without knowing how much time had passed, with Twink holding my head. I looked up, my mind and body were free but so weak I could barely move. Slowly standing I observed Reona standing by the Eldest, and I thought what the hell, how did she tie into all this. The Eldest looked at me and smiled then said, ¡°I see you are with us, you really are far stronger than I had thought. What do you think Reona is he strong, I believe you have some firsthand knowledge of his that?¡± Reona looked down at me and then said, ¡°Father, please there is no one who can compare to you in any way. She then looked at the eldest and moving in close shared a passionate kiss with him. I was weak and maybe not thinking clearly but had she called him father? As I looked at them kissing passionately, I knew that in a day of things going poorly this was the icing on the cake. What could be worse than this I thought? Suddenly with a shimmer Gaiatoci was there, she walked over to me and placing her hand on me she spoke a word of life and health and I was suddenly back to normal. Gaiatoci then looked at Twink and smiled and offered her hand as she said. ¡°Twink I am so glad that I am finally getting to meet you. You are so important to Tor and to me, please be welcome here.¡± Turning to look at the Eldest and Reona she smiled and spoke to them also. ¡°My son it has been so long, and this pretty girl must be your daughter, what a family reunion we are having. I watched as she moved towards them with her arms open to welcome them. I tried to yell, I knew something was wrong, but in a movement too fast to see, the Eldest suddenly was at her side and slid the swords of Grief and Mourning into Gaiatoci. I watched helplessly as she stood there and saw as she gently lifted her hand up and stroked the cheek of the Eldest, looking at him she tried to say something then fell to the ground. I felt the tears rising in my eyes as I saw her laying there. Suddenly, Reona had Twink by the arm and was pulling the girl towards the Eldest. I jumped forward to intercept them when suddenly the Eldest muttered an archaic word and I felt my blood start to boil, literally. My skin began to bleed and the pain was sharp. I fell to my knees next to Gaiatoci. Looking up I saw Reona look back at me, I may have been wrong but I thought she looked sad. Then they all portalled out, they were gone and I was left alone, dying next to Gaiatoci. I reached out to my grandmother and was surprised as she opened her eyes and looked at me. I could hear her voice in my mind, gently speaking, ¡°Do not worry my grandson, all things change. The regret is that we sometimes are not there to witness the change. Please take care of the children of the Kradula, I have sent them to your island with Oaktree. I know you are worried about Twink, and I am also but have faith in goodness. All will be well.¡± Her mental voice was getting weaker; I was not sure who would die first. She spoke once more, ¡°Tor you will leave but you will return, once you are back you will have much to do, take this gift and use it well.¡± With that, her voice was still but rising from her body two tear drops floated from her eyes to land on my forehead. I closed my eyes and the world faded away from me. Suddenly I was awake, in a dark cocoon, floating on warm nano gel. With a hiss of compressed air and an audible plop, the top of the VRP opened and two of the camp counselors were there. They grabbed my arms and helped lift me over the edge of the VRP. They gave me a towel and I began to dry myself with mechanical motions. I overheard one of the counselor''s whisper to the other one, ¡°Did you see his eyes the irises look like they are on fire.¡± The other guy whispered back, ¡°I know and he has some weird ass tattoo on his cheek and some faint ones on his arms. What the heck, I am sure he did not have anything like that when he came here.¡± I tuned them out; I was slowly recovering from the shock of what had occurred. The betrayal at the Temple mount and the murder of Gaiatoci, it was overwhelming. And the Eldest had Twink, it all made my thoughts turn over and over. What had Gaiatoci done with those tear drops, I also wondered. I would probably never know unless I got back Ingame. Suddenly I thought of Ama and all the others who would be waiting for me. This was a total cluster fuck of epic proportions, I thought as I reached up and removed the Google glasses. Holding them I told the two guys to leave, and when one of them objected I looked at him. Watching as he squirmed I pointed to the door. They both left. I quickly made my way to the shower and cleaned up. Then packing my things I went down the stairs, I knew I would be shipped back to the orphanage as soon as the camp could arrange a bus ride. It took about half an hour and the same girl with the great ass was once again driving me, this time to the bus depot. When we arrived I looked at her, and said, ¡°Do not sell yourself to one of those guys, you can do better than that.¡± She looked at me like I was crazy and then as I stared at her she nodded. Softly she whispered, ¡°It is not easy, all I have are my looks and they won¡¯t last. If I don¡¯t land someone soon I will have a shitty life like all the other poor people. I just want to have a life I can bring babies into and feel safe and comfortable, you know. I am willing to do what I have to if I can achieve that.¡± I nodded, it was how I felt. Waving at her I walked into the terminal and sat down to wait for the bus. I knew I was going to be busy, collecting the prize from Gnet and setting up my return to the Game. sex and the city I sat quietly as the bus rolled through the landscape of broken dreams and lost hope. Looking out the window I could not help but to compare the two worlds. Here are the abandoned buildings, cars, and homes that dot the landscape. In the world of Ingame there are no piles of garbage, no people begging, and no pollution in the skies. To compare the two worlds clearly showed which one was a shithole, and I was in it. I wanted to close my eyes and rest but at the last bus stop, three gangbangers had boarded the bus. The idiots with the shaved heads and skull tattoos were slowly walking down the aisle of the bus, threatening people and generally being assholes. They would soon reach me, and I was looking forward to it. As soon as they arrived at my seat the big one started to speak, ¡°Hey man look what we got here, a preppy wannabe, should we fuck this guy up, whadda ya think guys?¡± The smaller guy started to speak only to have the medium guy tell him, ¡°Shuddafucupup, Beans,¡± The medium sized guy then looked at me and said, ¡°I want his jacket it looks like it will fit me.¡± The biggest idiot then told me to, ¡°Give Burrito your jacket fuckwad, or we gonna fuck you up real bad.¡± I had been quiet till now but I was getting tired of these losers. I slowly stood and said, ¡°Get lost and I am only going to tell you that once.¡± The largest guy looked at me surprised, I was sure that not many people told him and his dirty buddies to take a walk, and he did not like it. Burrito spoke up, ¡°Hey Bunuelos, did this la panocha just tell you to fuck off, let¡¯s cut this Hijo de la chingada?¡± I am well read and have taken a couple of languages in high school, but I was not sure if these guys were swearing at me in a bastardized form of Spanish, or if they were just too stupid to put the words together in a cohesive fashion. It did not matter, I was done talking. I extend my hand and without thinking cast Dragon flame. I do not know who was more surprised the est¨²pido perdedor or myself. The flame was weak and had very little heat to it, but the effect on the three gangbangers was immediate. Burrito yelled out, ¡°Ay¨²dame a madre de Dios.¡± and began to back up the aisle as fast as he could. Beans just stood there for a second before twirling around and running after Burrito. As for Bunuelos, he turned pale and began to pray, ¡°L¨ªbrame del diablo, s¨¢lvame Dios.¡± Then he turned and ran back to the front of the bus. I turned around and looked at the two people who were sitting on the other side of the walkway. The old lady was sleeping and the girl was looking at me with her mouth wide opened. She was about twenty and had full lips with dark hair and a full rack. She was very cute. I smiled at her and held my finger to my lips in the universal symbol that meant be quiet. I made my way back to the bathroom and closed and locked the door. Taking off my sunglasses I looked at my reflection, the eyes with the burning irises in the center and the tattoo on the cheek. Pushing up my arms I could see the roses and thorns twirled around both my arms, not moving anymore but still etched in my skin. Pulling up my shirt I looked at my upper body, the few runic symbols that were visible were faded to a dull black. My cheekbones seemed more pronounced now and my ears still had a bit of a point to them. I looked somewhat exotic, not quite like what I had looked like before going Ingame. My muscle tone was also excellent the VRP pod had done a great job; I was in better shape than when I had entered the VRP. Dropping my shirt I held up my hand and called forth Dragon fire from my fingertip. Watching the flame flicker on my finger tip I thought about all the spells and abilities I had. If they still worked here I would be able to portal back to the Topland. I tried to remember the symbol for the T-loci spell from my interface and then mentally tried to push the button. Nothing, I was not surprised. That spell used a lot of mana and I could barely feel the flow of mana here in the real world. Just the fact that I could do something gave me hope. I quickly tried everything else I had learned Ingame and was not surprised when only a few of the spells worked. I could enter shadows but it was not a complete stealth effect. My Dragon vision was also working although it seemed different. I finally tried to shape shift and that did not go as hoped for. I found I could bring forth my claws from both the hands and the elbows but nothing else. If I had to guess I would say that this world of ours was a dry place for magic and what little was here was only enough to power the small stuff. I could live with that, just being able to do what I could gave me hope. Going back to my seat I was surprised to see the cute Mexican girl sitting on the inner seat. I looked at her and she smiled at me. Sitting down I turned to her and asked, ¡°What are you doing sitting beside me? You should be setting with you mother.¡± The girl smiled at me and then spoke up, ¡°You are a very powerful man, I saw how you handled the pandilleros and I wanted to thank you. Guys like that make life difficult for me. But you used the la magia del fuego and kicked some el culo.¡± As I looked at her she suddenly reached over and kissed me, then gently forced her tongue into my mouth. She then gently grabbed my hand and placed it on her breast. I could feel her nipple become firm and stand out from the thin fabric. Without thinking, I gently rolled it between my fingers. Her face pulled back as she moaned, then she reached down and undid my pants. Pulling the zipper down she reached in and pulled out my shaft. This was happening way to fast but my body was responding and it meant business. She cast a fast look around and seeing that no one was watching she grabbed her shirt and pulled it up over her head. Her heavy breasts spilled out. The skin was the color of honey and her nipples the color of chocolate, she smelled nice with some modern scent that was not overpowering. She looked at me and said, para salvarme, and then bent down to lick my shaft. I continued to gently roll her nipple between my fingers as she began to go down on me. I could feel the tip of my penis against the back of her throat as she took me all in and then she slowly lifted her head. She continued to suck on me while gently squeezing my balls. After a few moments, I whispered to her, ¡°I am going to come.¡± I wanted to warn her as I knew not all women enjoyed swallowing or getting a facial. She looked up at me and smiled then began to suck on my shaft and lick the head until suddenly she took it all in as I came. I sat back trembling for a couple of minutes as she swallowed and licked me clean. Reaching up she then pulled my head down to her breast. I took her nipple between my teeth and gently bit down, as I reached under her skirt and found her wet spot. Slowly I pushed my finger into her and began to massage her g-spot; she began to moan as she rocked her hips against my hand. I continued to pleasure her as the bus rumbled down the road only stopping after I had made her bite her lips together to muffle the soft moans as I felt her body convulse against me as she achieved an orgasm. We cuddled for a few moments after the fact and then I went to the washroom and cleaned myself up. Coming back I saw that she was sitting with her sleeping mother again. She smiled at me and then went into the washroom to clean herself. After several minutes, she emerged looking fresh and came as sat beside me again. ¡°You are quite the machismo hombre, I have not had pleasure like that in a long time.¡± She said with a grin. I grinned back at her and replied, ¡°It is I who should be thanking you that was great. But why, here with me, I mean the sex was great but those el idiotas would not have been too much a problem for you. I would have dealt with them if they had gotten out of hand. Also, I hate to ask this but what is your name?¡± ¡°My name is Sof¨ªa and as to why there is no why I just wanted to thank you for saving me. Like many women, I am attracted to a powerful man, and when I see him in action it makes me hot. Perhaps it is my Latino blood.¡± I nodded at her; I knew what it was like to have hot blood. We cuddled and slept the till she arrived at her destination and then with a kiss she was gone along with her mother. The three el idiotas had disembarked several stops back along with the remaining passengers and the bus was empty but for me. I closed my eyes as we rumbled down the highway only opening them when we stopped at the city terminal. I left the bus carrying my sports bag and made my way through the terminal to the street. I sighed as my tummy grumbled; I could really use a Gluzzie breakfast special right now. I slowly walked through the city heading to the orphanage; I wondered how Rebecca was doing. I was not sure what to tell her when I saw her; the truth would not cut it. Everything that had happened, that was still happening, no one would believe it. As I made my way through the city, it was apparent to me that this place was a dump. The mega high rises towered above the ground, each housing thousands of people. They were little cities of their own with food courts and shopping malls on the first two levels. Worn out and dirty, they were home to gangs and drug dealers, not a safe place for the people living in them. The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. People are stacked like sardines in a vertical can, I thought as I passed a police car roaring down the street. I have to get out of here, as soon as I get my payout; this place sucks the life from a person. After walking for a couple of hours I arrived at the orphanage and entering my passcode I walked into the main entrance. I made my way to Rebecca¡¯s office and stood there and watched her. She always kept her door open, both as an open door policy and for safety concerns. She was sitting at her desk typing something; with her lightly curled hair hanging down past her neck. She had high cheekbones and a winsome smile with her full lips. She was slender with average but firm breasts and lean powerful legs. As I watched her I realized that she was an attractive woman, something I had never thought of before. In some ways, she reminded me of Ama, in the sense that she was very competent in a female package. I also knew she loved children and cared about all of us at the orphanage. I decided then and there to use some of my money to help her; I wish I could somehow get her into the game. Oaktree and Rebecca would make a hell of a pair. It was what the poor children of the Kradula needed. I just did not know how to bring it about. Suddenly Rebecca looked up and saw me there, giving me a surprised smile she asked, ¡°What are you doing here Tor, you are supposed to be at the summer camp for at least another month.¡± It had been a month of real-world time, half a year of Ingame time. I had lost any sense of time and I knew that it flowed differently in the different realms I had been in. Giving my head an internal shake I smiled at Rebecca and said, ¡°The VRP had a problem with the interface, nothing serious but once you pop out you can¡¯t get back in. So here I am back to tie up loose ends and make my way in the world.¡± Rebecca had stood up and walked over to me, putting her hands on her hips she looked me up and down and said, ¡°Damn you look good, it must have been a good experience for you. Come here and give me a hug.¡± Opening her arms she grabbed me and gave me a squeeze, I gently squeezed her back, conscious of the feeling of her breasts pressed against me. I could feel a subtle difference in her hug, it was not orphanage counselor to emotionally drained kid, but rather a woman hugging a man. As I released her I could see that her face was somewhat flushed and she took a second to compose herself. What the hell, I could not understand why women were finding me so attractive. Looking at Rebecca I watched her lick her lips and then she spoke, ¡°Your room is just as you left it, I hate to say this but you have only four more months here than the tender mercy of the state ends and you will be on your own. What are your plans?¡± I thought for a moment before I replied and then spoke up, ¡°I am hoping to do some stuff with computers and Gnet. Hopefully, it all works out if it doesn¡¯t I am not sure. I made a contact Ingame and he gave me a number to call, so I will be doing that sometime soon.¡± She nodded at me and then spoke, ¡°Tor, to welcome you back I am going to take you for supper tonight. Against the rules but it is pretty minor compared to a lot of the stuff that happens here. Be ready by six okay. I nodded, Rebecca had taken me out several times in the past for birthdays and celebrations, and she was more like a close elder sister than someone who worked for the government at the orphanage. I nodded and said, ¡°I will be at the front gate at six and will see you then.¡± Turning I left her office and made my way to my room. Using the pin pad to unlock my door, I stepped into the small room and turned on the air conditioner unit. The room had a somewhat musty smell that most teenage boy¡¯s rooms probably had, I was neat and tried to be clean but I could probably find a dirty GI stuck on the floor of the closet if I looked. I sat on the desk and reached into the top drawer, and pulled out a pack of smokes. My emergency stash, I would have to replace them I thought as I ripped the cellophane off. I emptied all the smokes on the desk and through the package in the wastebasket. I then put the smokes into a smoking case I had bought at the five dollar store. It had always annoyed the hell out of me that the government forced the tobacco companies to put pictures of people dying on the packages, or of rotten teeth or guys with a breathing hole in the neck. I understood as I am sure most smokers did that it was bad. But smoking was no worse than the MacDonald¡¯s ¡°Heavy users.¡± It was what they called the customers who ate that crap more than three times a week. Why did they not have pictures of obese people dropping dead with a heart attack, or sitting at the table with a fry hanging out of one side of their mouth, and drool dripping down their lips as they stroked out. Or someone choking down that last piece of chicken at KFC as they swelled their one-gallon cola drink trying to wash the grease down as they sat scrunched up at those tiny fixed tables with the plastic chairs that could not move. What the heck, I had better things to think about I thought as I lit my first smoke. I wanted to find out why women were literally willing to hug, suck and fuck me. This stuff only happened on those Gnet porn sites where women would do anything to total strangers, just because they asked. I absently rubbed my forehead where Gaiatoci¡¯s tears had landed as I thought about this. Suddenly I could briefly see a list of the buffs that I had acquired; only Ama¡¯s and Gaiatoci¡¯s were not grayed out. It suddenly made sense to me as I recalled Ama telling me that we were now joined and that women would react to me because I was linked emotionally to a succubae. Glad that I had worked that out, I stretched out on the bed after setting the alarm for five p.m. I had to get ready for a dinner date by six. I awoke as the alarm went off and had a shower and shave, then splashing some Pour Monsieur, Eau De Parfum on I dressed casually but with care. I knew I smelled good and was hoping that my black pants and shirt would be set off by the black and silver summer coat I put on. I had always believed that if you look good it helps you to feel good, and when you look and feel good you have a good time. I was too poor to have really nice stuff but what I had was the best I could buy at the local mega mart store. Looking at the mirror I thought I looked good and with a self-depreciating smile, I left my room and walked to the entrance. Rebecca was already waiting and as I entered her car she smiled at me then sniffing the air she reached out and pulled my head toward hers. I could feel her breath warm against my neck as she took a deep breath in. ¡°You smell great Tor,¡± she said with a tiny flutter in her voice. ¡°Let¡¯s go, I need to go home to change before we have supper.¡± I nodded and sat back, she was driving one of the Chinese import jobs, battery operated and supposedly fully green. We did not make too many cars anymore, they had been crap and when they finally improved it was too little too late. Now we had crap cars from India and China to rest our behinds in. Once we arrived at Rebecca¡¯s apartment complex we took the lift from the parkade to the sixty-ninth floor. Exiting the lift we walked to her suite and then once she unlocked the doors entered. ¡°I am going to get changed,¡± she said with a smile. Make yourself at home. I slowly walked around the small apartment looking at the pictures on the wall as I heard the shower start. After a few minutes, I heard the shower stop and a moment later her bedroom door open. ¡°How do I look?¡± She asked with a throaty tone in her voice. I turned and looked at her and my jaw dropped, ¡°You look great,¡± I spoke with a suddenly dry mouth. She was wearing a low-cut gown that revealed her firm breasts more than it hid them. Her areolas were clearly visible with the nipples firm and poking through the silken fabric. I watched as she walked over to me smelling fresh from her shower. Standing in front of me she put her hands on her hips and then asked, ¡°Do you really think so?¡± I nodded and then followed her as she grabbed my hand and led me to her bedroom. Standing in front of the bed, she turned to face me and then somehow shrugged and let her gown fall to the ground. ¡°How about we eat in,¡± she asked with a smile. I stared at her body hungry to taste her and feel her and hear her. I knelt down in front of her and pulled her panties down, gazing at her bush shaved and trimmed with one landing strip down the center. Starting at Rebecca¡¯s knees I began to kiss the inner part of her thigh, at the same time reaching up and gently touching her. Hearing her moan as I kissed and licked my way up her leg as I felt her hands grab my hair and then pull me up to her. As my tongue began to swirl around her lower lips, I heard her say, ¡°Welcome back.¡± The end of book one Thank you to all the readers, this is the end of book one of Ingame. Book two continues the adventure, please be sure to check it out.