The Dragon's Wrath: Shadows in the Flame (31 page)

As more scenes of adventure are displayed in quick succession, it becomes apparent that there is a close bond shared between the inhabitants of the village as one woman appears closer than the rest. But then the music begins to trail off and the cheerful track ends in silence as the man is seen in the forest, surprised by the appearance of a player.

“A lost player, seeking help.”

Agreeing to help her, she follows him back as they travel for a week through the forest, detailed by the passing days displayed on the subtitles, only to finally arrive at the village he calls home. Shortly after her arrival, a boat is seen leaving with a number of men and when he wakes up along the riverbank, he learns that the player has left as one female explains what she saw.

“She left unseen and through the forest,” reads the subtitle.

Then the video cut to him sitting at the top of the mountain shortly after waking and discovering the odd event. Staring out into the distance, the first-person perspective allows us to see the appearance of glimmers in the distance. Realizing something is wrong, the man alerts his people. The village becomes filled with activity as men, women, and children run about, trying to prepare for what is to come. Then as he moves to the walls, a horde of players is seen approaching.

“Warning was given, of trespassing and of military action without declaration,” explained the subtitles. “But no response was heard from them, as the horde fifty-some strong continued to advance without reason, unprovoked and unknown to us.”

The battle ensues as the chaos is focused around the man and his efforts to repel an advance while outnumbered two-to-one. They fight valiantly but men continue to fall left and right, as flashbacks cut in between the scenes, showing off-colour moments spent with each of the fallen. After over twenty such scenes were rapidly shown the video slowed down once again, focusing on the player in question.

The man was on his knees with the female that appeared to be close to him, as she lay dying in his arms with their pet wolf dead in the background. The entire village on fire as the second woman is seen crying next to them. As she dies, he is hit by magical flames that burn and melt off a portion of his face but he ignores the pain and charges back into the fray, wanting revenge on the players that attacked him.

Disfigured and severely wounded, he rampages through the remaining players as they begin to retreat, only for the scene to stop as the lost player is seen amongst the crowd. The player he attempted to help was standing there with weapon drawn.

“For no good deed goes unpunished,” read the subtitle.

Strangling the girl and then hunting down the remaining players, the video goes over the remains of the village as everything had been burnt to the ground. A funeral is then shown, with the bodies being burnt so only their ashes would remain. The man, stricken with grief as a dark composition of the violin plays in the background, then goes on a rampage through a cave. Slaughtering possibly a hundred humanoid rats as his eyes begin to burn red. Anger, rage… displayed for all to see.

All manner of beasts are slaughtered afterwards as the footage transitions to one in the middle of the night out on the open ocean. Only the sounds of the ocean and wildlife are heard as the ship pulls up into a village in relative silence and the troops disembark.

A man is killed instantly, stabbed with mouth covered without a sound escaping, then fire and shouts are heard as the noise is blocked out by the returning sounds of the violin. The somber music shadows the fight as the town is burned down to the ground and the same girl is seen again at the center. She finds herself scared and can hardly protect herself as the man leaves her alone and returns to his ship.

Sailing off into the distance, another subtitle appears.

“This was only the beginning.”

A second raid where nothing occurs is showed, as he sails through the village unharmed with onlookers baffled by the events. Then scenes of hunting, camping, and interrogating players is shown. More subtitles fill in the blanks as details emerge from the aggressor’s side that they only did what they were told.

“It’s only a game.”

And then the last raid, the one shown by the other video is replayed from this player’s perspective as the child appears, crying on the ground in the middle of a pack of adult players. The man sheathes his weapon and kneels down, asking the child if he is hurt and how old he is. After receiving his answers he then calmly asks the child to log out.

The child runs off and after exiting the field of battle, blue rings appear and transport him out of the game as he logs out, physically unharmed. The man then turns to the players, asking them about the child, to which the players show no interest or care.

Anger resumes as the man’s eyes flash a bright red, far brighter than before.

Discussion follows as the guild members show a complete lack of interest and insult him, as if everything had been his fault. After hearing enough, he walks off and with a quick wave of his hands, a lightning strike hits the ground behind him and obliterates the players that remained. The subtitles that were running throughout the entire event explained what couldn’t be inferred.

And then the man departed by ship as the next scene had him inside an inn, an inn located within Bergenheim as he discusses the Kraken with a few sailors at the docks. References are made to how the economy and populace are suffering and are in need of help. His decision is made.

Departing from the port, two ships brave the high seas as dangerous swells nearly roll them over but after a short time lapse, they find themselves in still water as the shadow of the kraken appears from underneath. In an instant the arms of the kraken wrap the ship up and the characters in the scene begin to wildly attack as men are stabbed by the claws and hooks and some are knocked overboard. A hectic fight with weapons and magic flying in every direction, the protagonist then jumps into the water as the kraken appears to retreat, having suffered enough damage.

Underwater while in third-person, we watch as the man swims up to the gigantic black eye of the monster and then latches on. Switching to first-person, the blurry recording then shows him stab the center of the eye with his knife as he tears into it and slashes it open. The scene then fades to black as a piano begins to play and two independent subtitles are showcased, one after the other.

The first of which read, “Death comes to those who resist.”

And then, “Help comes to those who ask.”

The video had a lot of mixed messages and lacked the emotional impact of the first. It wasn’t nearly as moving as the child crying but it had a story with certain elements behind it and it painted a clear enough picture to understand the entire story and who exactly we were dealing with. The man seemed to mind his own business but when it came time for action he gave no quarter and fought relentlessly.

Even though a few scenes broke the flow of the story and seemed entirely out of place, by the end they made enough sense in that it told you exactly who this player was. He was the first player to grace the North, evidenced by his title. He was also the first to conquer the Outcast Goblin dungeon which was no small feat as only a few had managed it before its difficulty was reduced in a patch. His efforts to work hard, train hard, and fight hard were clearly showcased.

He wasn’t trying to elicit any emotional response with this video… he was sending a warning to those who got in his way, all while exposing the enemy guild for what they were. Added with a scene of a kraken fight that had yet to be seen or heard of in-game, the man was accomplishing world firsts without a guild. A man challenging the world.

And winning.

“You were right Em,” I said after thinking it over. “It does explain a lot.”

“I didn’t realize he put so much effort into building the village,” said Emily while leaning on the railing. “I can kind of see his point, why he would be upset with me.”

“But it was your job,” I quickly replied.

“Yeah I couldn’t help that,” she began to explain with a weak smile. “But if you spent thousands of hours building up a place and someone else was responsible for all of your secrets being released to the general public and then someone acted on that information, destroying everything you worked for… I get it.”

“You aren’t to blame.”

“Then who is?” she asked.

“The ones who used that information, the ones who had their village burned down.”

Even with the situation now understood, I still wasn’t happy with the man for taking his anger out on us the day before. I could understand his emotional conflict but we weren’t responsible… well… not as responsible as he might have believed.

“What did you have in mind?” I asked, as it was clear that she had been mulling some ideas over in her head. “Are you going to talk to him?”

“I think I will,” she said after some time had passed. “I’m mad that he thought I was responsible… but I’m more upset with whoever was dangling my name out there as one of the possible scapegoats. That person, needs to pay.”

“What do you mean?” I inquired, having missed something.

“Oh I didn’t explain it did I?” she said with a laugh.

“Mm. No you did not.”

“I’ll fill you in then, on everything I read,” she exclaimed as she looked up at the sky. “Maybe over some more seafood, let’s head downstairs.”

“Uh, more…” I replied while shaking my head. “Haven’t you had enough?”

“Never, there is no such thing as too much seafood!”

* * *

Chapter 104: Mutual Understanding

(Sunday, January 23rd Game Day / Tuesday, May 11th Real Day)

Lying on the bed with Kate bundled up to my side, the plain cabin ceiling wasn’t much to look at. The walls were much the same, barren and free of decoration. Free of clutter was my original thought but now it all seemed so empty. A makeshift wooden chest and shelf held the majority of our combined goods while a coat rack I carved out of a log kept our furs off the floor. This was our cozy little home… with only Kate and the cats left to fill the empty space between.

It really felt empty.

After yesterday’s events, my night’s sleep was a lousy one. Filled with far too many thoughts to be able to sleep peacefully, I ended up turning to the internet in an attempt to silence my mind. My late night research proved to be pointless though as there was nothing pertinent out there. All of the forum threads were old and didn’t help me come to a conclusion one way or the other.

In the end, I had to go with my gut feeling.

My war with FWB was over as far as I was concerned and my search for those who leaked the details was over and done with as well. I had put far too much time and emotion into my quest for vengeance and what had been done on my part was sufficient enough to call it even.

FWB paid the price for their transgressions and abandoned their village site as a result. Where they were now was inconsequential so long as they didn’t interfere with my game. The propaganda war appeared to be neutralized as well so there was little left for me worry over.

The decision I wanted to make was on how to conclude my affairs with Emily and her friend Valerie. The principal issue was one that I created off of a most likely misunderstanding. My gut feeling on the matter was that Valerie spoke the truth, so the onus was on me to fix the relations to a manageable degree. More importantly, I needed to apologize for my aggressive and hostile behavior.

An entire day had passed me by while I laid out on a bed, thinking over all of the possibilities. It was almost 9:00 PM now real-time and I wasn’t even sure if my visitors were still here. Well, time was wasting away.

Getting up and walking out into the cool night air, I could only hope that the two girls were still around. If they weren’t around, it wouldn’t be much of a surprise. Deciding to check the inn first, I made my way over only to run into one of my new recruits on the way out.

“How goes it Elsa?” I asked the enchanter that arrived only a few days before, while we were out on the mission. “Finding everything you need, I hope?”

“Oh Sir Sigurd it’s a lovely place,” she said with a slight bow. “I am well supplied for now, thank you for asking… though… a workspace would be a wonderful and welcome addition, if you are able.”

She was an interesting lady, direct and to the point. My first interaction with her went in a similar fashion, with her immediately requesting supplies and items so that she could carry out her affairs. She was of a decent level but it required a lot of materials to produce enchantments of any significant degree. She also needed enchanted items to learn new enchants by way of reverse engineering. Unfortunately, all I had were my +Attribute rings as the halberd was destroyed for its iron content. 

In the end, she took my rings without hesitation.

“I’ll see to it in time,” I replied casually. “There’s a long list but you’ve been added, give me a few weeks and it will be done.”

“Thank you Sir Sigurd,” she said with another bow, this time bending over and showing her cleavage. “If you’re looking for the visitors, they’re in the restaurant, they were looking for you, I believe.”

“Ah is that right…” I mumbled while wondering if her actions were intentional. She didn’t strike me as an aloof individual that lacked presence of mind. Elsa was… more a calculated individual, though not in a bad sense. “Thanks for the info.”

Ignoring the enchantress, I made my way into the inn’s first floor and checked the lounge on the right as it appeared to be full with NPCs. The restaurant on the left was rather empty on the other hand, as a few NPCs remained spread randomly throughout.

My visitors were there though.

A little anxious and nervous, I shook away the apprehension and walked up to their table with only a little hesitation showing. Emily was busy burying her face into a very large plate of oysters as Valerie appeared to be content with a stew and a loaf of bread. From what the cook told me, Emily only ate seafood… and she ate a lot of it.

Maybe that was her revenge on me.

“Is the food up to standard?” I asked as I grabbed a seat at a table nearby and pulled the chair out. Not wanting to join their table uninvited, I kept my distance.

“Mm. It passes,” mumbled Valerie with little interest.

“No, I’m not satisfied,” said Emily as she continued to ravenously devour what was in front of her. “Not satisfied at all, I’ll need another plate. Make it two, two more plates.”

“Well, that can be taken care of,” I said as one of my hosts that worked as the barkeep and waitress gave me a funny look, as if she was asking me if it was okay to serve them. Nodding at the waitress while returning my attention to the two ladies, I decided to apologize now and be done with it.

“From what Valerie has told me and other details coming to light, an apology is in order from me. It would seem I’ve made an error in my judgment and have treated you wrongly because of it. I apologize for my prior behavior and actions at the river.”

Leaving it at that, I waited for a few seconds as no reply was heard. Content with the apology given, I stood up and nodded as I began to walk away.

“Ah wait a sec,” said Emily as I reached the doorway. “Come back, I’ve got some questions for you.”

Stopping in my tracks while letting a laugh slip out that they couldn’t hear, I grinned as I shook my head internally. She was definitely toying with me now but that was fine. I could take a little punishment for being rude.

“It’s not polite to laugh,” said Valerie as she stared me down.

“Hm?” asked Emily as she clearly didn’t hear it.

“It’s in my nature,” I said with a shrug as a grin escaped. She had exceptional hearing, this blind girl. Was probably only natural, really. Devoid of one sense, other senses become sharper… it was to be expected. “Anyways, ask away.”

“Why did you think I was the one responsible?” asked Emily while facing her plate.

“I didn’t,” I answered honestly. “Not you alone at least, but collectively you played a part and as far as I could tell from my side, you were the one who originally gave out the information. I’m now told you withheld information secretly… if that’s the case, I suppose I owe you thanks as well.”

“How many times have you been attacked?” asked Emily somewhat innocently while ignoring my previous reply.

“One fifty-man raid, eight five-man excursions, and twenty-five encounters with stragglers looking to poke and prod,” I responded with a somewhat matter-of-fact answer. “The smaller ones were nothing, the fifty-man raid… well, you should know of that one.”

“I only know that your village was burned down,” she said with a puzzled face. “I had no idea you were being attacked so often… have you lost a lot of NPCs?”

“Yeah, I’ve buried a lot of NPCs,” I said with real emotion beginning to tug at me. “It was a little hard to deal with but I’ve dealt with it. Started a regular war over it.”

“So if it was that bad, why didn’t you ask me about it?” she shot back.

“I wasn’t in the most trusting of moods after my dealings with Milly,” I said nonchalantly while leaning back in my chair, hands behind my head and elbows extended out. “You had already revealed the information by that point, you weren’t on my list of people I wanted to talk to at the time.”

“So you were angry with me?” she asked.

“Yes.”

“I see,” she said plainly while looking around. “I saw your video, we both did.”

“Then you’re aware of part of the story,” I mumbled while staring at the ceiling, hands still relaxed on the back of my head.

“Was she a Companion?” she asked. “The one that died.”

Taking a second to ignore the brash line of questioning, I relented and answered honestly, as I wanted to see where her train of thought was taking us.

“Yeah,” I said succinctly.

“I had one once,” she said somewhat off-handedly. “Let him go because I realized an attachment was beginning to develop. If he died, it would have hurt me.”

“So you say,” I said.

“I’m sorry,” she said unexpectedly. “I understand if you blame me for releasing the information but I had no idea it would lead to anything of the sort. I also had no control over the slides… they were prepared by team members and I just presented them.”

“What’s done is done,” I began to explain as I continued to stare at the ceiling. “As far as I’m concerned the war is over and FWB has all but disbanded. Their propaganda war has been successful but from the looks of it, hostility towards me has calmed. I’m not mad at you or anyone else at this point, I simply wish to return to a normal game.”

“You jest,” interjected Valerie as she looked me in the eyes.

“No,” I replied. “I’m tired of fighting and I’m not one to hold grudges for long.”

“What?” said a shocked Emily as she stopped eating for the first time during our conversation. “You mean you’re going to ignore the guy who started it all?”

“Eh?” I muttered, confused by her reply.

“I didn’t know anything about your situation except that you had been fighting a war,” she explained with her temper flaring. “But now that I’ve done some research and read through the forums, watched the videos… it’s so obvious that someone is pulling the strings! He’s a member of the AnB meetings for god’s sake! How can you let him get off?!”

“Do you have a name and proof?” I said plainly.

“No…” she replied with slight hesitation.

“Neither do I,” I said with a shrug. “I have no proof of the matter, only a guess and a theory as to who is responsible. The same guess and theory that led me to thinking you were as guilty as the rest. Do you truly advise me to go off that, again?”

“No…” she replied again, with greater hesitation.

“What if I find out who did it?” she suggested with a serious expression that was hard to ignore. “What if, I pull some strings and find out who was behind it all? If I provide you with actionable intelligence, would you act?”

“Yeah, sure,” I said without much care. “Connect the dots and show me evidence that is hard to refute and I’ll sail my ship to anywhere on this continent.”

“See?” she said to Valerie as she nodded with approval.

“You’re right,” Valerie replied. “I’m not surprised though, he hinted as much in the video… practically shoved it in our faces, really.”

“Eh?” I muttered out again, confused by what they were talking about.

At that moment, Ethan messaged me and distracted me entirely as I switched to a video call. Raising a hand to signal that I was busy, I got up and walked over to the bar in order to put some distance between me and the girls.

“What’s up Ethan?”

“Alan just called me and Barik, said he joined that movement’s private thread in order to figure out what they were doing,” he explained quickly. “Turns out they’ve mobilized almost two-hundred players of all levels in the North to launch an attack on you. They just set a date, they’ll be there in three days, Friday night mate.”

“Uh whoa, hold up man,” I replied, a little bewildered. “Explain in detail if you can?”

“Nothing else to say mate, they’re coming to hit you and they’ve got the numbers,” he said clearly as he shrugged his shoulders. “Alan told us soon as he heard, Barik’s not on but I was at home so, jumped on to tell you.”

“Well shit,” I mumbled while letting the situation set in. “That’s too many for me if they happen to have higher level players.”

“Oi, I know it sounds bad but we’re too far to make it in three days,” he said. “We’re down in Byrnfast still… even by boat I don’t think we’d make it in time.”

“Ah fuck it all,” I nearly shouted. “Thanks man for the head’s up, I just sent my one remaining ship to Ellieby with a bunch of furs… they won’t arrive until sometime tomorrow morning. If my first ship wasn’t at the bottom of the ocean, I could have sent it down to pick you up but yeah, it would be almost four days round trip. There’s no way you can make it… damn.”

“Sorry for being the bearer of bad news,” said Ethan as shook his head.

“It’s fine, I’ll manage,” I replied. “Thanks though. I’ll talk to you after this blows over.”

“Right, good luck,” he said as I ended the call.

Walking over and sitting back down in my chair, I couldn’t help but laugh at the coincidence. The timing was perfect really but it had been building and this was a possible outcome. I figured my video would dissuade the majority of them, turns out it only spurred the remaining supporters to act faster.

“You know I don’t believe much in coincidence,” I mumbled as I looked to the sky that was blocked by the ceiling. “But after everything that has happened between us these past two days… this sure is a funny coincidence.”