The Dragon's Wrath: Shadows in the Flame
Read The Dragon's Wrath: Shadows in the Flame Online
Authors: Brent Roth
Tags: #Literature & Fiction, #Genre Fiction, #Horror, #Dark Fantasy, #Science Fiction & Fantasy, #Science Fiction, #Cyberpunk
The Dragon's Wrath: Shadows in the Flame
Copyright © 2015 by Brent Roth
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in retrieval system, copied in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise transmitted without written permission from the publisher.
(Saturday, November 13th Game Day / Friday, April 16th Real Day)
Chapter 76: More Work, My Lord?
(Monday, November 15th Game Day / Saturday, April 17th Real Day)
(Wednesday, November 17th Game Day / Sunday, April 18th Real Day)
Chapter 78: Hard Cap, Soft Cap
(Tuesday, November 23rd Game Day / Tuesday, April 20th Real Day)
(Friday, November 26th Game Day / Wednesday, April 21th Real Day)
(Wednesday, December 1st Game Day / Friday, April 23rd Real Day)
(Wednesday, December 1st Game Day / Friday, April 23rd Real Day)
(Thursday, December 2nd Game Day / Friday, April 23rd Real Day)
(Saturday, December 4th Game Day / Saturday, April 24th Real Day)
(Sunday, December 5th Game Day / Saturday, April 24th Real Day)
(Tuesday, December 7th Game Day / Sunday, April 25th Real Day)
(Wednesday, December 22nd Game Day / Friday, April 30th Real Day)
Chapter 87: Adventures of Em and Val
(Wednesday, December 22nd Game Day / Friday, April 30th Real Day)
(Saturday, December 25th Game Day / Saturday, May 1st Real Day)
Chapter: 90 Creating an Establishment
(Tuesday, December 28th Game Day / Sunday, May 2nd Real Day)
(Saturday, January 1st Game Day / Monday, May 3rd Real Day)
(Monday, January 3rd Game Day / Tuesday, May 4th Real Day)
(Monday, January 3rd Game Day / Tuesday, May 4th Real Day)
Chapter 94: Scenario-Based Training
(Wednesday, January 5th Game Day / Wednesday, May 5th Real Day)
(Monday, January 10th Game Day / Friday, May 7th Real Day)
Chapter 96: The Lightning Strike
(Tuesday, January 11th Game Day / Friday, May 7th Real Day)
(Thursday, January 13th Game Day / Saturday, May 8th Real Day)
Chapter 98: A Kraken on Record
(Thursday, January 13th Game Day / Saturday, May 8th Real Day)
(Friday, January 14th Game Day / Saturday, May 8th Real Day)
Chapter 100: A Story in Minutes
(Thursday, January 20th Game Day / Monday, May 10th Real Day)
(Thursday, January 20th Game Day / Monday, May 10th Real Day)
(Thursday, January 20th Game Day / Monday, May 10th Real Day)
(Sunday, January 23rd Game Day / Tuesday, May 11th Real Day)
Chapter 104: Mutual Understanding
(Sunday, January 23rd Game Day / Tuesday, May 11th Real Day)
(Tuesday, January 25th Game Day / Wednesday, May 12th Real Day)
Chapter 106: Enemy Approaching
(Tuesday, February 1st Game Day / Friday, May 14th Real Day)
Chapter 107: Aftermath of Failure
(Wednesday, February 2nd Game Day / Saturday, May 15th Real Day)
(Friday, February 4th Game Day / Saturday, May 15th Real Day)
Chapter 109: Preparing for a Trip
(Sunday, February 6th Game Day / Sunday, May 16th Real Day)
(Wednesday, Feb. 16th Game Day / Wednesday, May 19th Real Day)
(Tuesday, February 22nd Game Day / Friday, May 21st Real Day)
Chapter 112: The First Battleground
(Wednesday, February 23rd Game Day / Saturday, May 22nd Real Day)
(Thursday, February 24th Game Day / Saturday, May 22nd Real Day)
Chapter 114: Clarity in the Fog
(Friday, February 25th Game Day / Saturday, May 22nd Real Day)
(Friday, February 25th Game Day / Saturday, May 22nd Real Day)
Chapter 116: The Odds of Turmoil
(Sunday, February 27th Game Day / Sunday, May 23rd Real Day)
Chapter 117: Plausible Deniability
(Sunday, February 27th Game Day / Sunday, May 23rd Real Day)
Chapter 118: Cleansing the Rout
(Sunday, February 27th Game Day / Sunday, May 23rd Real Day)
Chapter 119: The End of a Call
The following work contains mature themes, including but not limited to detailed representations of violent combat, death, and occasional profanity that are intended for a mature audience and may not be suitable for children under the age of unknown.
This Volume is a direct continuation of The Dragon's Wrath: Ashes of the Fallen (Volume 2) and will most likely make little sense if you're reading this first. These are not standalone books and are not meant to be read out of order. If you have yet to read the first work, I strongly advise you to do so and then return to this one at a later date.
Other than that, hope you enjoy the read!
Please read the following as it’s for your sanity and ease of reading.
There were a few number of complaints about viewpoint and narrative shifts not being easily noticeable in the first volume and due to that, I’ve tried to make it a bit more obvious this time around.
If you happen to see three asterisks centered at the top of the page directly below the Title and Subtitle (Chapter / Dates), that indicates a narrative shift away from the current narrator. Three asterisks at the end conclude that narrative shift and indicate a return to the normal narration.
* * *
^ Is what it looks like. ^
As far as indications of time shifts or scene shifts within a chapter, paragraph breaks as seen directly above are what I use. That’s what I was taught and for my purposes I feel it should work fine. So if you happen to see a blank space between paragraphs, it’s due to either a new scene or a fast forwarding of time in the story.
Also of note, within the alternate viewpoint chapters I
do not
use American English (AmE) spelling conventions and instead use British English (BrE) as that is what the character is familiar with. These differences are subtle and only serve to remind you that the point of view is different if you by chance miss the asterisks due to Kindle formatting. I’ve seen instances where the asterisks were cut off the page in the first volume, so I felt it would help to have a redundant feature to help give away the narrative.
That’s all the major points so, I won’t keep you any longer!
The noise droned on.
Faint whirs of a fan always on; barely loud enough to conceal the shallow breathing of a man. A man lying in the midst of the darkness of The Cube.
That man was me.
The room had yet to adjust as I waited with relative patience, preoccupied with thoughts on events that had recently transpired. I was stuck on the finality of
the
event
. The event… the raid, was an astounding success.
Yet everything seemed so distant, so disconnected that I was left wondering if everything I wanted to achieve had in fact been achieved. Vengeance was sought and had been rendered beautifully. Retribution distributed in a swift manner unseen and unheard of until now. I broke the mold of standard surprise attacks in-game.
What few there were at least.
The lingering doubt had little to do with the success of the mission though. What I truly questioned was my satisfaction with the result. They attacked my village, killed my men, and deleted Selene. The damage was returned twofold… and the psychological damage had been done.
Milly stood there in front of me with legs and hands shaking as fear consumed her. I thought she practically soiled herself until I ran the scene over in my head. Then I realized the truth. She had actually pissed herself due to the mental trauma I had put her through. It was more than a little scare for her. I was a monster in her eyes.
Maybe those white knights were right.
Perhaps I was taking things too far but was it necessarily my fault, seeing as that was how the game worked? This was a true-to-life virtual reality with only slight modifiers on gore… we wouldn't see all of the gruesome interiors of a person ripped asunder but we would certainly see severed body parts and blood. So what, if one stabs another man in the chest? Or the neck? Or beheads him? All of that, was intended.
This was the evolution of gaming.
Years of progression had led to this moment where full immersion was not only plausible but possible. It was more than possible really, it was already functional. The virtual state had caught up with reality and we were now living in an age where the line between realities had been blurred.
If the realities were blurred, was I… were we all, murderers now?
I didn't know the answer to that question nor did I really want to know.
Sitting up from the chair, I slowly started to take off the attachments that were still connected to my body. The room transitioned at the same time from darkness to a dim yellow as it adjusted to the outside light.
I should say, it adjusted to the lack of light.
Three-thirty in the morning and without anything left to do, it was about time I returned to my real bed. The one and only bed that was positioned in the center of a relatively empty room and remained free of any external presences or other occupants.
I was home alone here.
There was no one to talk to or to distract myself with here. All the time in the world to go over my thoughts and question my actions. I couldn't even do anything inside the game if I wanted to. The automated travel would take care of itself. NPCs there to lead the way and navigate the ship home.
Home, yeah.
Wasn’t I home now?