The Dragon's Wrath: Shadows in the Flame (14 page)

“Do you wish revenge for your family?” I answered.

“I do.”

“Then our answers are one and the same,” I said.

Cheers erupted around the bar as all of the onlookers began celebrating Annalie’s decision. Now that the solitary dark cloud that had been lurking in the corner finally brightened up, the celebration was well warranted. In a jovial mood myself, I paid for a round of drinks for everyone in the bar. Grabbing both plates of food that had been sitting, forgotten amidst the excitement, I carried both plates on my left arm with a drink in each hand as I returned to the table where Annalie had been standing silently.

“Sit, eat, and find me at the docks when you are ready, we set sail at sunrise.”

With nothing more to say on my part, I began to enjoy my rabbit stew and mead. A simple dish that wasn’t up to par with the mutton or lamb but a comforting one that relaxed the soul. The tension had put a strain on me and it was nice to finally relax.

Life had been full of tension lately.

“Do you intend to fight the kraken with the rising sun?” she asked after a few minutes had passed us by, having already finished her meal.

“No, I only have two units with me and they are in need of rest,” I replied honestly. “We need to integrate you with our methods and will regroup with another ship and another compliment of troops.”

“You mean to say, you don’t intend to attack the kraken for some time?” she asked, clearly agitated by the bait and switch tactics that I had seemingly used.

“No, I’m returning in three weeks to raid an enemy village south of here. The kraken will come before or after that, depending on when it shows itself.”

“Why not fight immediately?!” she nearly shouted.

“You have waited how long?” I asked plainly. “I do not wish to lose anyone, we will move at my pace and when I deem we are ready. You are welcome to come along if you want, or you may opt to stay here and hear of the results in due time.”

Taking a sip of my drink, I thought over our previous conversation and decided to reiterate a point that had been made earlier on. “I do not need nor want anything from you, I’m only offering a chance to participate,” I said after a short pause. “As I mentioned before, I have a bad habit of meddling, is all.”

“You mean to say that you will ask nothing of me, before during or after?” she asked calmly while staring me in the eyes with hands folded together.

“What you decide on is up to you,” I stated plainly. “I will not ask anything of you.”

Content with my answer, the truth was that the situation had changed my original plan and opinion on the matter. Originally excited with the thought of gaining a new Companion, I set a plan into motion to attempt and figure out the parameters for her recruitment. It became evident early on that her predicament was tied to the rampaging krakens in the area. But over time, the thought of pursuing her as a Companion had slowly become less appealing.

By the end of it, my interest in her being attached to me in the same fashion as Kate or Selene was nearly zero. There was truly no interest in having a moody, depressed shield-bearer attached to me at all times. We weren’t a fit on any measurable level and I was moody enough for the entirety of Dragon’s Breach.

There was no need for another me.

She was purely a case study at this point.

Silence having returned to our small table as the rest of the bar grew increasingly louder, my discussion with the companion had come to an end as the system itself confirmed my assumptions.

[Annalie has accepted your Quest.]

Hm so that’s how it worked
, I thought to myself over the strange message.

She accepted
my
quest. Meaning, this entire situation had developed in such a way that I was able to issue a challenge and a quest to an NPC and in turn they were given the option to accept or decline… completely the opposite from Katherine’s quest to save Selene from the Earl of Andal.

I was right after all.

Annalie was an answer to one of the many questions I had.

The only problem being that she posed more questions than answers. Well, that would have to do for now as my plans had been progressing smoothly and there was no room for complaints. There may have been a lot of tension and strife but there were just rewards at the end waiting for me.

In due time, it would all be mine.

Chapter 87: Adventures of Em and Val

(Wednesday, December 22nd Game Day / Friday, April 30th Real Day)

* * *

“Em, what town are we heading to now?”

“Hmm Havanger is the big one, though we could stop somewhere else along the way,” she replied with a carefree attitude. “Havanger can take us to Halstad and then from there, the last major port town would be Bergenheim. Would save us days of walking and the land between here and there is all identical. Or was there a place in mind that you wanted to check out? We could do something else instead.”

“Oh no, don’t mind me,” I answered while thinking over our current plan.

We had been taking the scenic route, starting from the edge of the northern territory on the western side while slowly making our way up along the coast by foot over the past few weeks. We had stopped at a few of the finer locales to adventure and explore, taking our time with no immediate goal in mind. Eventually we would tour the entirety of the North and then move on to the next location, ideally the eastern Elven side.

We were more tourists than adventures in this programme, really.

As I had finished my thought, a sudden swell caused the medium sized ship to roll ever so slightly as my body was sent forward then back. Attempting to regain myself while standing in the middle of the ship, I decided to move closer to the edge so as to have something to hold. I wasn’t so afraid of the waves or the splashing water as I was of the constant bumping and falling. The whole affair was rather unpleasant.

“This being my first time on a ship, I have to wonder… is the ocean always so tempestuous?” I asked as I grabbed onto the hard wooden edge in order to brace myself. “It’s mm, how to put it, a bit disheartening is it?”

Emily had been standing with feet planted firmly apart, immune to the influences of the ocean. As if the waves were nothing more than a faint breeze. The breeze itself of course, was quite salty and cold this time of the year.

I
had
visited the beach before in real life, though there was nothing for me to do at that time. The ocean scared me a bit, what with the waves coming and crashing down on one without warning. You could hardly hear the waves coming.

And it wasn’t as if I could see them.

“It’s a little rough,” she said with a smile. “We can log out now though, the boat will take a few hours before it arrives at Havanger. Sure you don’t want to stop elsewhere?”

“Positive,” I quickly replied as I wanted to log out as soon as possible. “The ocean isn’t quite for me, sorry to say.”

“Hehe, it’s not for everyone,” said Emily with a smirk. “Dinner?”

“Whereabouts?” I inquired curiously, as my stomach informed me of its interest.

“There’s this hot new place I heard about, just opened up,” she began to explain with her voice rising in pitch slightly as she became more excited. “You’ll like it, trust me. I have to pass by your place too, I can pick you up on the way if you want?”

“Mm, that would be lovely, not sure I have a ride available otherwise.”

“Awesome, see you in an hour?” she said to confirm.

“Mm.”

Logging out of the game was a strange process as the images began to dim and were replaced with nothingness. The colourful rendition that had been displayed before me soon changed to a scene void of colour. There was nothing in this world.

Some refer to it as seeing nothing but
black
.

But
black
was something that had no meaning to me before the programme. There was nothing and therefore the names of colours meant little to me. They had no meaning until now. Now with the advances in technology giving me the gift of sight when inside the virtual world, everything was different. Everything had changed.

Black
was
my world now.

Returning to the real world meant a return to my sense of touch, sense of smell, and ability to hear as my primary senses. My spatial awareness had been formed primarily through those three senses and resulted in the mental map that I had created of the world. In combination with my sense of time and distance, there was little stopping me from carrying out my day to day life.  

Removing the attachments with ease as I placed them on the counter that had been positioned a full arm’s reach to my left immediately from the chair if one sits up straight and turns slightly, the next step involved swinging my legs over and standing while facing away from the chair. Two steps forward and to the right of my outstretched hand was my cane but it only served as peace of mind around the house.

There was no need for it here.

Four steps forward and out the door, the loud droning of the computer fans still running inside The Cube were left behind as the sound of a fan attached to the window sill replaced it. The smell from the kitchen which was twenty-three steps and a half turn to my right was faint but there was clearly garlic involved.

Walking down the hallway, the sounds of utensils scraping against the metallic pan reached my ears as I made my way into the kitchen and stopped short of the counter. The sounds of my mother cooking gave her position away as I placed my hands on the cold tile-top counter, waiting for the break in her motions to ask my question.

“Mum, I was thinking of going to dinner with Emily if that was all right?” I asked while facing the direction that I believed she was in. “Were you far along?”

“Oh it’s not a bother,” she replied. “I only just started.”

“You’ve yet to add the vegetables or the meat?” I stated as the lack of certain sounds and smells told me everything I needed to know.

“Could you hand me the meat? It’s on the first shelf, far left.”

Leaving my cane on the counter, I walked towards the fridge and opened the door on the right. With countless hours of experience, my hands reached out and grabbed the package of meat mainly by texture. Checking via smell, dinner appeared to involve beef.

After setting the beef down near the stove, I made my way towards the sink to wash my hands of the faint slimy texture that had contaminated my hands. Once finished, I grabbed my cane and made my way back down the hallway and past the location of The Cube as I headed towards my room.

Everything was organized specifically in a way that made it easy for me to find, with clothes separated first by type then by style and colour. It wouldn’t do to dress myself in odd colours that were poorly matched, only to look the fool. A visual confirmation from my mum, dad, or nan would serve to correct any mistakes made as well.

“Mm,” I mumbled to myself as I tried to decide on what to wear.

Life in the programme was certainly different.

In a way virtual reality had spoiled me with the gift of sight and in turn it left a hole in my current life that couldn’t be filled. My needs remained the same but my wants had changed. I wanted to look at the outfits that I would be wearing. I wanted to be able to look out the window and see what others saw on a regular basis. I wanted to see if something was coming my way when walking out on the foot path or pavement.

To no longer have to fear the unknown was something I wished for.

Putting my life in the hands of strangers every time I step foot outside of the house was taxing on me emotionally and mentally. If I could only see as I did inside the virtual world, then there would be nothing to fear in this life.

Em had been helping though
, I thought to myself.

Emily had been involved, along with a researcher from the company, with taking the data from my gameplay and compiling it with other individuals in similar situations in an effort to create a better system that could possibly help us out in the real world.

According to Em, the gustotopic map was where research began on recreating taste, with electrical signals being sent from the tongue to different regions of the brain in order to report the proper taste. Seeing how each section was responsible for the type of taste, such as salty or sweet, it became a game of mimicking signals.

The same ideas were prevalent in other fields of research and after nearly two decades they had finally made their breakthrough and a true-to-life virtual reality was born. Sending signals directly into the brain instead of relying on screens to project images, we could now experience everything in a modified dream state.

We were essentially dreaming everything that happened inside the game, replete with all of the senses and connections to the outside world. To think a lucid dream, a virtual dream, could be so effective.

My dreams had always been based around my sense of touch, smell, and hearing with those three senses being heightened. Now, I had begun to dream in colour… in picture, with images of the world that I had seen within my mind, within the game.

Life was no longer the same for me.

I was content with life before but now I sometimes missed being in-game. My family and friends were outside of it but… life felt empty outside. Inside the game I felt complete. That was something that I had yet to tell anyone though, afraid that they might misconstrue my words as me being unhappy with my current life. I was content after all.

There was just another alternative now that happened to be a little better.

“Val! Em’s here!” called my dad as he must have recently returned.

“Be there in a minute!” I lightly yelled back.

After all was said and done, I was glad for the programme.

* * *