From the time I was about, oh, say eight, I was playing video games. Wait. I guess you could say from the time I was four or five...
Yeah. We'll go with that. I mean, even though console racing games with characters that appeal especially to kids aren't quite what most gamers call “games” at a certain age, they really still are. And let's be honest. Most of these guys who tend to ridicule those games in one way or another still play them.
Honestly though, they're still super fun. I mean, racing against cartoon dinosaurs or other strange but oddly cute creatures and villainous or heroic looking characters with crazy mustaches and silly voices on racetracks filled with colorful mushrooms and stuff? Childhood, man. Childhood.
But when I turned eight I got slipped a copy of “Molek”. At the time the graphics weren't as great as most things that were coming out, but it was the darkness and the story that got us hooked on it. Up to that time I had been playing in fairy worlds or castle-building sims and even games where you build up whole civilizations to take over the world. Pretty generic stuff if you ask me -- or anyone. But “Molek” changed all that.
This dark fantasy game about fighting demons and twisted creatures and fallen heroes in this winding labyrinth to find Molek, Lord of Doom, in the very pits of darkness itself? I was not prepared. Not even a little bit. And ever since then, though I still enjoy racing that green guy with the outrageously colored shoes on the console, most of the games I've played followed the aesthetic of “Molek”.
Take the “Eldritch Tomes” series. Its third game, “Sorrowdin”, came out when I was nine. And then they followed it up with “Void Crisis” two years later. I still believe “Molek” is the darkest fantasy game ever, but the “Eldritch Tomes” had a stark realism to them with graphics that most other games of the day weren't even coming close to. Not that anything ever stays the same for long in that industry. A game that's cutting edge when it comes out is considered so-so only a year later when the next thing comes out.
I was obsessed with games, really, and I played in a lot of different worlds as a lot of different characters; “The Legend of the Midgard Rings”, “Galaxy Avengers: Knights of the Star Kingdom”, “Age of Hyperborea” -- the list could go on. And, of course, being an adolescent boy of a certain age by the time these things started coming out, I had a habit of playing female characters. That's right. I was, and still am, a gamer G.I.R.L. -- “guy in real life”.
Not that I never played as a guy. I really did. My character in “Molek” is a level seventy-eight knight-templar I called Heracles. And my most played character in “Void Crisis” is a level ninety mage-rogue hybrid named Myrddin of the Shadows. They're by far my favorite out of all the games I've played in my short life. Yet when the option to roleplay as a girl, whether in single or multiplayer games, first came to my attention, the allure was just too much.
And may I just say: that first one I created was something else.
I was playing “The Legend of the Midgard Rings” when I first did this in a massive multiplayer online game. I saw the option. I took it. Forest Elf, redhead, blue eyes, rogue-archer class. I didn't really do it for the attention. Honest. But I did end up with quite a lot. If it was the right kind of attention, you know, the “let's team up and beat this thing” attention, I was cool with it. But if it was the wrong kind of attention--you know, the creepy kind--then I did whatever I could to shrug it off.
Except tell the other person I was a guy.
Which, really, would have saved me a lot of trouble. But I never did. I never told anyone. And within a few short years I had a reputation as this bad-@$$ solo-playing femme fatale in whatever game I was in, under my preferred name, “Lana Wind”. Of course, I would alter that last name slightly in different games to suit the theme of the place I was in. I had “Starwind” for “Galaxy Avengers” and “Windbow” in another fantasy game.
And why “Lana”? I kind of borrowed that from a bit of Irish: “lann na --”, it means “Blade of --”. So, more or less, my character-name is “Blade of the Wind”.
Because once I played that rogue-archer, I had a taste for sneaking around, for sniping, and yet being able to hold my own in close and deadly combat. Don't get me wrong, I still play lots of other characters: mages, knights, healers, lore-keepers, even a crusader one time because the guild I was in didn't have a tank for raids and dungeons. But I always wound back up on that deadly character, Lana Wind.
And today was the day she was reborn in yet another new world.
***
So when I turned fifteen, virtual-reality became a thing.
No, not the kind you're thinking about.
Not that stupid goggles-and-gloves interface that was popular for nearly a decade and a half. We're talking about immersive virtual reality. We're talking about the Dream Machine. And we're talking about its signature flagship game: Panarena Fantasy Online.
This Dream Machine? It's the real deal. There's a headset interface connected to its own special tower designed specifically for Immersive VR games. You turn it on, and basically your body kind of goes to sleep but your mind wakes up in a customizable avatar in a somewhat bland but also kind of cool VR apartment. In other words the product was just as advertised. Take that, Walton Mart.
Or course, my folks knowing my penchant for games, they naturally didn't want me to have it. But I have this aunt who's really fun, and she gave it to me along with the game. There were some restrictions at first, but it being my birthday at the time they decided to save them until after I had rampaged a bit through this brand-new fantasy world that had come to me.
Panarena: a fantasy game bringing together all sorts of magic and tale and scenes from all around the world. I mean all of it. One minute you could be walking down your typical Medieval European village, and then next you'll find a portal chamber to all sorts of places based off of stories and mythologies from not just Europe, but East Asia, the Middle East, Africa, India, the Americas, Pacifica... need I go on and explain the attraction?
And what an ambitious project too. I can't even imagine how hard the people who designed it had to work to get it right. Because it was done right.
On that fifteenth birthday, after everyone had gone on home and I was left to my own devices--literally--I turned on that Dream Machine and entered Panarena as Lana Windstrider. I went with human this time, a Gael, more precisely. Dark auburn hair (my own was a sandy brown), blue eyes (same as real me), average height, average size. The thing I'm careful about is to be natural, not exaggerated and bloated like some people make their avatars.
Now, Panarena doesn't actually have a class system. They have a skill system with a variety of stats that you can customize to your own style of playing. But I already knew exactly what I was going to do. This game? Sure, it was new. It was cutting edge. It would be unbeatable in terms of “revolutionary” for decades. But at its core were the basics of games I had played since I was eight. And I knew while logging in that those seven years of playing in other worlds had all been to prepare me for playing this game. I selected a voice output to complete my avatar (you can do that to alter your own voice in this game), and then pressed the “Complete Character” option on the menu. A bright light flashed, and I was suddenly watching the introductory cinematic.
There was the iconic epic music of course. And then the expected stylized title screen with the name of the game. It went dark for a brief moment, and then in my field of vision I saw a shining castle on top of a great mountain with a massive city sprawling around it.
Behold, the Kingdom of Harmonia, greatest and most magnificent land in all the west, the mostly cliché yet still awingly epic deep-voiced narrator said. Then I started flying through the air. I flew across so many kingdoms and so many mindbogglingly awesome places; pyramids, pagodas, set-temples, island-kingdoms, massive walls, small villages, raging rivers, tranquil lakes, huge waterfalls, majestic mountains, towns, cities, lodges--all of it passed within the space of a few seconds. And then there it was.
It was a castle as dark and as vile as the other one had been magnificent and beautiful. The city that grew up beneath it seemed ramshackle and filthy.
And behold, the Kingdom of Onyxus, darkest and most twisted land in all the world. Here I saw a dragon flying around the towers of the castle; I whistled to myself in awe. Would that be a boss?
These two kingdoms have forever warred against each other in the world of Panarena, and on both sides there have been miraculous victories and terrifying defeats.
Now, a new era has come, a new generation of heroes rises up from the ashes and regrowth of the last great war. You, hero, will tip the balance in this newest conflict, and have your name recorded in the Annals of Time.
Choose your side wisely, and make your deeds known to your friends and enemies alike as you battle for glory in the Sagas of Panarena.
The voice stopped narrating, and I was suddenly at a choice of two doors. They were marked with the flags of the two kingdoms.
A field of blue trimmed with golden fray, with a golden rampant-lion surrounded by four hearts and four swords. Under it was the word “Harmonia”, I guessed. This was the door to my right.
And on my left was a black ensign, frayed and worn but still defiant, a blood-red dragon etched into it. The dragon had five skills and five daggers around it. Obviously, this door went to Onyxus.
This was a choice I had never really had before. I mean, sure, you could be a jerk in the “Eldritch Tomes”, but you were still basically the hero on the side of right. Somehow.
But now you're telling me that I can choose to be good or evil?
“Wow, what a concept,” I said aloud. It was weird at first, hearing that female voice, but then I smiled at how good it was. “Heh, they didn't waste any money on this one. And dang it feels cold in this room!” I continued, and then crossed my arms. I suddenly had the oddest sensation, and then looked down.
Of course. There they were. My -- avatar's -- breasts. This'll take some getting used to, I thought to myself with a funny look on my face. Then I returned my attention to the doors.
“Hmm... I like being a rogue-archer in the sort of grey area, but I don't want to be pure evil,” I said to myself, and selected the door on the right. Another bright light flashed. Harmonia, here I come!
***
I stepped out of the portal to find myself in a market square of this little woodland village that seemed to be made up of Humans, Elves, Dwarves, and a few other fantasy creatures. There was a Satyr for sure--or was he a Faun? And there were a lot of Fairies. Like, a lot. You know how pigeons haunt or otherwise live in train stations? It was like that. Except it was cute instead of disgusting.
As I walked down the main road I got a lot of looks from people who were obviously players. Of course by this time I was sort of used to it, and I knew dozens of rejection lines and catchphrases to ward off anyone who wanted a pretty face in their party. But as a smug grin came to my face some of them instinctively knew not to try it. Had they seen my character name in other games? Did they recognize it from some other world I had been in? I could only wonder.
Then I saw a guy with his shirt off, standing around near the edge of the little town. He was definitely a player. I looked away quickly, and suddenly wondered; there was an inn to my left. I entered, and asked for a room; it was cheap enough, so I took it, not bothering to even think about the fact that it was a double room. I got inside the room and closed the door behind me, and, slowly, peeled off my jerkin.
My face turned bright red. No bra! Before my eyes were a lovely pair of--
Suddenly, another door opened. I panicked as I then remembered it was a double room. There was someone else here?! Quickly I put my jerkin back on, and out of the door came this gorgeous girl with long, dark hair in a side-tail on the right and red eyes; she was only just shorter than I was, and her ears were pointed. A Wood Elf!
“What on earth are you doing?” she asked as she saw me putting my shirt back on. A smile came to her face.
“S-sorry! I thought--” I stammered out, and she sighed as she shook her head.
“I forgot it was a double room, too; figures they'd do this. I was just trying to fix this hairstyle I had to make it more like my real self, you know?” she remarked as she sat down on a chair. I began to calm down a little bit.
“Ah--ah, yeah; most games aren't that flattering with them, after all. At least in this one you have the option to look more like yourself,” I replied, and she smiled back, a smile which became mischievous very quickly.
“So what were you doing?” she asked me again more emphatically. I hadn't been prepared for such a question, but I hastily found an answer I was quite proud of -- well, circumstances considering.
“Eh? Oh, right... I saw this guy with his shirt off outside and I just got kind of curious; I mean, in real life I'm... they're not so... busty... it kind of, surprised me... I mean, even though, you know...” I managed to stammer out, and she began to laugh.
“It's okay, it's okay! I actually saw the same guy. It surprised me, too, so I snuck in here to see for myself before fiddling with my hair, and wouldn't you know there's no underwear?” she giggled, and I managed to giggle back.
“Like really!” I laughed back. “Well, I guess it's not exactly for kids, though...” I added with a wry smile.
“Standards have really lightened up since we were little though, don't you think?” she returned as she got up from the chair.
“They really have,” I nodded in agreement. “I think it was Sorrowdin that really tipped the scales on that matter.”
“My brother played that,” the girl shrugged. “I wasn't really in to games for a long time, but then this thing was in the news, so I thought, why not?”
“It's amazing so far,” I said in an awed whisper.
“You're telling me,” she agreed. “Sights, sounds, smells even!”
“And it feels, I dunno, autumny outside.” I nodded back.
“Yes!” she clapped her hands. “It's so amazing! I think I'll definitely keep playing. What are you planning to be? Oh! I forgot, my name is Ariana!” she said, reaching out her hand to me. I smiled, and took it gently.
“Lana,” I replied as we shook hands. “Lana Windstrider.”
“Heh? Last name too, huh? But I felt that a single name was more fitting for an Elf. This is my first game, but I've read a lot of fantasy books!” she said with a smile.
“Nice; Lana's a name I've used in other places,” I said with a small shrug. “I'm planning on a sort of rogue-archer build; agile, swift, bow-fighting and maybe a bit of swordplay...” I told her, half-musing on it to myself as well as I brought up the skills and stats panel.
“You're experienced in it, aren't you?” Ariana said as she did the same. “I like the idea of stealth, I think, but I want to do magic too, or something sage-like.”
“Oh nice,” I said to her with a nod of approval. “It's not hard to combine the two if you want. I did that for another character, actually.”
“Really!” she turned to me with a look of excitement. “Say--are you in a party of group or anything like that?” she then asked me.
“I'm not,” I shook my head. “I wasn't planning on being in a guild here, yet, but I'm not against the idea of having a party, if you want?” I said to her, and she smiled again.
“Absolutely yes! Heavens, I was starting to think I'd never find a decent girl in this game. Most of the real ones are so aloof, and I bet some of the ones clinging to the guys here are fake; sick, isn't it?” Ariana said disapprovingly.
“I don't get them either,” I admitted, with pure honesty. I really didn't. And what the actual heck does that sort of smoochy, leeching behavior do to you as a person anyway? “But between the two of us we really can get good faster. I've never done anything like this myself, so we're both in for a challenge!” I told her with a smile, and she took my hands again, a smile on her face also.
“It's settled then! We're a team!” she announced proudly.
“Partners in everything Panarena!” I returned happily.
And so began my first day with Ariana.
***
After exiting the inn, we discovered that the name of the little hamlet we both arrived in (by sheer coincidence, for there were a lot of beginner towns) was called Ipping. It was surrounded by forest; there were several streams that ran through it, and a few ponds and lakes that dotted the area. The Ipping Forest Reaches, needless to say, had a lot of quests. We took a few beginner-slash-tutorial quests to get ourselves oriented first. It was kind of the same old stuff, but in this virtual reality setting they were just different enough that even a veteran gamer like me had to acclimate a bit.
As we went through them, I told Ariana what would work best in a skill-and-stat game like this to train her ideal character. We also discovered that, if you paid the company a certain amount of money, you could open up a second build. That option, it need not be said, was put aside for the time being.
The skills: any sort of weapon and crafting proficiency that was within the fantasy scope was here. There was even an engineering skill, which spoke to the steampunk element that had become a popular thing to add into more recent fantasy games.
The stats: typical. Strength; melee proficiency and carry amount. Vitality; health and resilience. Agility; acrobatics, sneaking. Dexterity; precision, accuracy. Wisdom; magical prowess. Intelligence; not unlike wisdom, but more geared for scholastic or crafting skills such as engineering. Charisma; the art of persuasion, of course, and also a help for certain magical disciplines; in this game it was also a form of willpower, a resilience against magic. Perception; awareness, alertness, perfect for someone like me who wanted to be a rogue-type character. And lastly there was Luck; should I even bother explaining it? I don't think so.
Nine stats, and a load of skills.
We went through our introductory quests, and then I helped Ariana set up her first few rounds of stat points (we got to level seven that day) to the kind of build she was hoping for, and after I did the same for myself we spent another hour or so hunting small creatures for crafting materials or junk-loot to sell off. It was only then we noticed it was past midnight in real-time.
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“Yikes! I need to get up early too!” Ariana said.
“Ah-heh, me too, actually...” I laughed nervously.
“What should we do?” she asked me.
“Let's go back to the inn; we can get the room again and log out there until next time.” I told her, and she nodded.
“We'll do that then. Will you be on tomorrow?” she wondered.
“Maybe, I think so, in the evening.” I nodded.
“Good, me too!” she smiled.
We went to the inn after that; the room was still registered for us, and I put a few coins down so that we could have it as a base for a few days more. With that we went upstairs, and Ariana gave me a huge hug before logging out. I almost felt guilty, but after all, I hadn't been rude or tried to take advantage of her. No, I had been a perfect--gentlelady?--whatever. I hugged her back, and after a few moments she let go, smiled, and then poofed. I went to lock the door, and then went into the smaller room that Ariana had come out of earlier.
As I thought, it was a small lavatory. I considered examining myself again, but settled for looking in the mirror. It was uncanny, and I saw my cheeks coloring red in the glass.
Yeah, wow, it's the real thing. Oh boy. Now I've done it, I thought to myself as I exited the room; a sigh escaped my lips.
“Well, I didn't plan for a partner just yet--but she's good, for a newbie.” I said to myself as I headed for the bed. “Let's see how this partnership goes!” I added excitedly, and then logged out when I had laid down.
It was 12:32 am when I pulled off the headgear. No one had come looking for me. Dinner, after all, had been served, and with a generous dessert too. I put the Dream Machine on top of its tower to rest, and then went to rest myself. All that night and the rest of the next day, all I could think about was Ariana, and how lucky I was to meet her -- even if she herself might say she was the lucky one for running into Lana.
***
I went through the dull routine of my real life the next day; going to church, working on pre-assignments for school, or doing chores. From eight-thirty to six pm I felt as if I was just a video-game character being ordered to do this and do that by someone behind a keyboard or with a controller. As if Panarena was where I had actually started living, and this was just some bad dream of a place I wanted to wake up from.
Come to think of it, I'd felt rested when I started awake from playing the game. Maybe it was living up to its name? But I could remember everything, unlike any dream I'd ever had. And boy do I mean everything. It took all I had not to let those details slip when asked about the game I had gone up to play last night. I told them that it seemed like a lot of fun and that I had met this really fun person and that we might be hanging out a lot in the future.
“Just so long as you don't neglect your real life or your real friends and family,” my dad said, and I nodded -- even though on the inside I was thinking, what friends? No one at school likes me; and as for family, you all think of me as a day-dreaming recluse that hates everyone; you don't understand even a little bit... except for my aunt.
But I would never say that out loud. Mostly because I wanted to keep playing the game. If I ever vented like that it would be all over for my gaming career. And so I let the day go by me, its dull and dreary apathy gnawing on my mind until it was mostly over. Dinner was eaten, and after it was ensured that I had actually done my summer homework (I always do the homework, in spite of what they think; I'm not that dumb), I was allowed to spend the rest of the night on the game.
As soon as I was back in that world, I let out a huge sigh of relief and flopped down on the bed. Moments later Ariana logged in, and, seeing me in a somewhat weary position, jumped onto it beside me with that miraculous smile on her face.
“La-na!” she called to me in a sing-song voice, poking my cheek.
“Eh?” I said, still a bit stressed out from the day but warming up to where I was as she continued poking me.
“Where should we go today?” she asked me.
“Hmm,” I wondered, the question beginning to ask itself in my mind too as we both sat up and I pulled out the map. “We went all around the hunting grounds and stuff last time; hm? What's this?” I said out loud, zooming in on a marker near one of the bigger lakes. “Grotto of the Twin Dragons...”
“D-dragons?” Ariana said with a hint of nervousness. “At these low levels?”
“It's not unheard of,” I shrugged. “Maybe it's even a prank-boss. One that's there just to destroy anything that comes near it instantly. But there's no penalty for dying in this area, from what I've read.”
“That's true,” she nodded, “But it would still be so weird to die; I mean, we'd feel it eating or burning us, right?” she continued, and my face scrunched up. I hadn't thought about that.
“W-well, we're both getting good at sneaking around; we could at least take a look. Maybe if we're lucky there's some sort of secret loot there.” I said, bounding back from my agitation. I was rewarded by a sudden look of delight on Ariana's face.
“You're right! We can just sneak in! Ah, come on, let's go!” she said, suddenly closing the map and pulling me along. I barely managed to lock the door behind us, and with that we were on our way to the grotto at the edge of Ipping Forest.
Now I may have mentioned this before, but I've been playing games since I was eight. It was practical experience that had been talking when I mentioned we could try sneaking in to see this grotto and whatever lay inside; it was no noobish fantasy. You're talking to the guy who evaded and snuck around seven world-bosses in “Age of Hyperborea” to find a rare set of daggers. And that was something thought to be impossible by literally everyone in the game. So when I said that we could slip into the Grotto of the Twin Dragons to just take a look, let me say it again, it was practice and experience that spoke with me.
And of course as the two of us dashed through town, hand in hand, we got a lot -- I mean a lot -- of looks. I wasn't sure if Ariana noticed, and if she did I wasn't sure what she thought, but in a weird way it was kind of a relief. At least, no one made a pass at us or sent us a creepy IM. That's an instant-message, in case you didn't know. But you probably did. Anyway. Ipping was soon behind us, and we found ourselves walking along a little used path deep in the forest, heading towards the grotto. Ariana then let out a sigh.
“I was worried I was going to get hit on in a place like this, but we got through all of those players without a problem.” she smiled gently.
“I think they think that we're...” I remarked with a half-laugh, trailing off and giving her hand, which still clasped mine, a gentle and quick squeeze. She suddenly blushed with embarrassment. Wow, you're cute... I thought to myself as she turned to face me.
“Does--is that--does it--bother you?” she stammered out.
“Ah--I mean--I'm not--it's just--what about you?” I suddenly tuned red as I made my own scattered reply.
“N-not really,” she said, regaining a bit of composure. “If it keeps them away I don't care if they think we're a thing.” she added defiantly, and I managed to smile back.
“You're right. Well, they're half-right, too. We are partners in adventure!” I said, my smile getting brighter, and she nodded back with one of her own.
“Team Us!” she returned happily, and with that we almost skipped the rest of the way to the grotto.
Two small waterfalls were trickling down from the top of a hill, joining together to form a watery curtain across the entrance of the grotto. Making use of my newly acquired skills, I noticed that no one had been near this place for some time, maybe never. Come to think of it I'd seen rumors on the forums before entering the game about a high level boss dungeon in a starter area that a certain party had tried to conquer, ending up as the conquered instead.
That couldn't be this place, right?
On either side of the entrance was the carved image of a dragon. One seemed sharp like a dagger, it had a sinister and shadowy aura. The other seemed ancient, wise, and powerful. That almost seemed like a coincidence to me.
“I wonder if they have lore in this game we can read about,” I wondered aloud as I looked at the two dragons.
“Would that be useful for playing the game?” Ariana asked me.
“Of course, especially for a mage-type like you.” I nodded back.
“Hmm,” she murmured back, thinking about it. “Well, let's put our sneaking to the test!” she then said, taking out her staff that she had won from last night's quest. I readied my bow, which was from the same quest, and we entered the grotto.
For the first few minutes it was a dark and dank natural corridor; Ariana had her staff lit up so we could see. The dragon motifs continued along the walls, and more and more I found myself wondering about the lore in this world. I could tell Ariana was interested as well; she paused every now and then to look at certain depictions. I soon realized they had letters or characters of some sort etched onto them.
“Wow,” I sad as we halted before a particularly elaborate one filled with the strange symbols that had to be some sort of writing.
“These are runes of some sort,” Ariana then told me.
“Hm? Like Viking runes?” I asked her.
“Exactly,” she nodded. “This region is generally a Northern European fantasy area; but I don't recognize these runes; maybe they invented their own...”
“Probably,” I nodded. “Heh, the details in this game really are superb. Maybe we can find a book in them in a village somewhere and come back to find out what they say.”
“Wait!” she suddenly said. “I do recognize these! Ah, I see, they're all backwards and upside-down!” Ariana giggled. “They sort of invented their own, at least.” she remarked, and I looked at her with true amazement.
“Wow, that's cool! Do they say anything important?” I asked her. Just because they were legible didn't mean it wasn't a prank or joke by the designers.
“Hmm... most of it isn't too relevant; or maybe it is?” she frowned. “According to the last few lines, the twin dragons of shadow and sorcery were sealed away in this cave to prevent them from wreaking havoc across the world of Panarena ever again.”
“Hmm... eh? Ah? Huh?!” I suddenly burst out.
“What are you afraid of?” she suddenly smirked at me. “We're sneaking in, remember?” she told me, gently flicking my nose before heading on.
“I've got a bad feeling about this, I mumbled quietly, following my brave little partner deeper into the caverns.
We fought a few serpent-type monsters as we wound our way down, along with a few vicious bats and the occasional biter-fish. The one thing we noted to each other along the way was that the deeper we went the bigger the serpent-things got. Soon they were holding weapons, but fortunately for us we had gotten some levels out of their predecessors already. By the time we got to the ultimate dungeon door (or so we reasonably estimated from how ornate it was--and then Ariana noting that there were runes identifying it as the resting place of the dragons), we had reached level fifteen. We paused before that final door, archetype of the practically infamous boss door of every fantasy game for decades now, and prepared ourselves.
“We could just go and call it a day; I mean, we did more than double in level.” I said as she read the runes on the door.
“True, but now that we're here I want to have at least this one boss fight, win or lose, before school starts tomorrow.” Ariana remarked in answer.
“Oh. Right. That.” I sighed in a flat tone.
“You too, huh?” she said with a grin.
“I have a stupidly large pile of summer homework to turn in tomorrow; luckily I actually do it, unlike most of the others...” I said with a barely concealed disgust.
“I had a lot too. Just transferred into a new school actually. I wonder if we're at the same one?” she smiled at me, then shook her head. “Never mind; it's bad form to bring up too much about real life here, people say.” she quickly added.
You have no idea, I thought to myself anxiously.
“Well, this is definitely the boss room; let's look at these twin dragons!” Ariana said excitedly, and I felt my own sense of thrill and wonder surging up to meet hers. We pushed the door open as quietly as we could, and stepped inside.
One dragon was of a silver-white coloration; the other was black with hints of gold. They were both asleep. It was not they they were huge; they certainly were large, for sure, but there was more than that -- there was a certain menace to them. A menace that not even the “Eldritch Tomes” had managed to infuse into their creatures. And let me tell you, that demon-king at the end of “Void Crisis” was something that made Demon King Molek look like a teddy-bear.
So I was definitely hoping that these two would not stir. Ariana and I crept towards the ledge above the main room like ghosts, making not even the slightest sound. We huddled side by side as we got closer, gazing at these magnificently terrifying beasts with awe, our hearts thumping.
“Wow...!” she suddenly said aloud, and then with a jolt she clamped a hand over her mouth as my eyes widened at the sound of her voice reverberating throughout the wide room.
Too late.
All of a sudden the door we had come in shut with a loud boom, and two pairs of eyes opened, scanning the room for intruders.
“Okay,” I whispered to Ariana, “They have wings, so they might fly; that gives us an advantage, maybe. Dragons are usually vulnerable in the underbelly.”
“That's in some of the stories I've read, too,” she whispered back quickly, getting a hold of herself. “I wonder if we can combine my magic with your arrows to try and beat them?”
“Maybe!” I snapped my fingers excitedly, and then suddenly realized that was a really dumb thing to do.
“There you are!” one of the dragons said.
“By Razgoth's Eyes, burn!” its partner said, and with that the fight began.
Ariana rolled away from the spot like a pro. As for me, I inadvertently did something I used to do in real life; I did a cartwheel. Suddenly I realized that my real-life abilities could be used here, augmented by the stats and skills of the game. I laughed out loud at this.
I wasn't always an obsessive gamer. Okay, I was. But even I had to face reality now and again, and part of that was being involved in quite a few different Eastern Martial Arts classes -- you know, Kung Fu, Aikido, Tae Kwon Do, those sorts. Even one of my sitters, who I think was Vietnamese-Thai, had shown me some moves when she was called on to watch me. It was one of the few things I kind of enjoyed, but for some reason I never managed to stick with any of them. But I was still good at doing them if I had to, and it was at this moment I knew this game was probably the ultimate game in the world at this moment. I looked over at Ariana, who had literally pirouetted away from another attack. Was she a dancer? We looked at each other, locking eyes for a moment; we could do this.
Using the skills that had been burned into me for ten years or so by various instructors, I nimbly dodged dragon fire and dragon swats while at the same time taking a shot with my bow every few moves. My first arrow glanced off the black dragon's paw, but my second shot hit it under the forearm.
I looked over to my partner; Ariana had distracted the silver dragon with a flashy spell, and was preparing a more deadly one to strike with next. As for me, I shot an arrow towards the black one's nose as a feint and then shot a fourth arrow into its eye as it dodged that one. It roared at me, and I scurried away from another blast of fire, nearly getting smacked in the chest by its swift and strong tail. Missing me by millimeters, I watched with fright as it smashed up one of the stalagmites in the cave. I very quickly did a backflip from the spot and then shot a fifth arrow, but this one was deflected.
Ariana on the other hand had managed to severely wound her dragon in the chest with some sort of ice-spell. It wasn't even that powerful, as far as we knew, it was just that she had hit a really vulnerable spot with good luck. My next move was to perform a series of jumps, dodges, and spins as I ran towards the black dragon; I then jumped onto its back as he swatted at me, and he ended up swatting himself. It was hard not to laugh; the impact didn't budge his hitpoints, but it was enough of a distraction so that I could get my sixth arrow into his other eye. Now he was blinded.
As for the silver dragon, it was being more cautious. It was on the defensive, but so was Ariana. There was something in its movements that bothered me; same for the black one: something was off. This was... too easy?
“Brother!” the black dragon called out as I slid off and backed away, “It is time! We must merge!”
Oh, snap...
“I hear you, brother,” the silver one answered, “Let it be done!”
“Ariana!” I called running over to her so that we too could stand together as one.
“I knew it was too good to be true!” she said as I reached her.
“Maybe,” I said, “But it might also be our chance, if we're lucky!”
“What do you mean?”
“Ready that ice-spell again, and wait for me to shoot!” I told her, and she nodded.
“By the Stars of Krosus and the Rising Moon,” the silver dragon began.
“By the Depths of Time and the Setting Sun,” its counterpart continued.
“What was sundered shall be united soon!” the first one said.
“We two brothers shall be as one!” the black dragon finished.
They began to merge. I drew my bow. Ariana had her ice-spell ready. I waited; in certain games there was sometimes a mechanic like this, but the trade-off was that, at a certain point, there was a one-hundred percent vulnerability chance during the merge. If we were off by even a second...
Wait--there!
“Now!” I said, releasing the arrow. Ariana's ice-spell was right behind it. Just as the two of them were merging our combined attack hit them. I saw their merging health bar go way down. “Again, quick!” I said, and once more we fired our combo attack at the merging twin dragons, killing them this time. They thrashed around piteously for a moment, and then burst apart in a shower of silver and black.
A huge sigh of relief escape from both of us. We looked at each other, and immediately shared a hug.
“Woo-hoo!” Ariana cried out as she embraced me.
“Nice teamwork!” I said to her as we stood there for a moment, and then we looked over at where our enemies had been. There were two chests sitting there now.
“Rewards?” Ariana said hopefully.
“They'd better be!” I said as we rushed over. One chest was silver, the other was black.
“You take the black one, I'll take the silver?” Ariana winked.
“Why not?” I winked back.
She opened hers first; inside was a silver and white set of armor with a staff, book, and orb; it was called the Silver Sages's Mystical Star Garb. What a relief, I thought to myself. It was almost tailored for her, and it was a quality set that wouldn't be replaced any time soon by anything else we found.
I opened mine then. There was a black and gold set of gear this time, with twin daggers and a venomous looking bow with matching quiver and arrows. It was called the Assassin's Accouterments of the Golden Crescent; a gold moon with a dagger was etched onto the right shoulder. Needless to say, it was something I would definitely have chosen as gear.
“Let's try them on!” Ariana said excitedly. We took off our old gear first, stowing it away. I sneakily glanced over at her; she had a lithe and graceful form. She looked over at me too. We both turned red. She giggled after a moment. “Sexy you.” she simply remarked.
“I don't know; I'm thinking maybe I should have tried an Elf now.” I managed to say in answer.
“Hmm; but I like that you're more curvy.” she said with a smirk, and then began donning her armor. Blushing and stuck for words, I put on my own set of gear.
It was not the stereotypical exhibitionist armor that certain games would employ, but it did tease that one certain area, and of course my midriff and thighs were exposed. Ariana's was more conservative, but her navel was also showing, and that certain area was also teased on her. We looked at each other, smiling awkwardly, then laughing, and commenting about the fact that we really did look nice.
“Although if I dressed like this for real I might get in trouble,” she remarked.
“No kidding; same here.” I laughed nervously, and we giggled again.
“But it was fun anyway. Let's get out of here and get back to the inn; we should probably get off early for our schools tomorrow.” she said, and I nodded.
“You're right,” I agreed.
And so we left the dungeon, returning to town to looks of awe and amazement. We entered the inn, had a quiet drink together, and then returned to our room to log out. It was 10:23 pm in real time.
“Will you get on during the week?” Ariana asked me.
“Probably.” I answered. “We'd mostly likely have only a couple real hours a night though, so we'd better plan it out--ah, we got a level from the dragons, too.” I suddenly noticed, and began allocating skill and stat points.
“Oh!” she remarked with delight, doing the same. I looked at her with curiosity.
“Are you--are you a dancer of some sort?” I wondered, and she nodded.
“Some ballet, some classical. And you -- martial arts?” Ariana remarked keenly.
“You got me.” I smiled back.
“So things we can do for real can help us in this game.” she noted.
“Some things,” I nodded back. “That's the plus of a VR game; we're not limited to the system mechanics, we have the freedom of our natural abilities as well.”
“Very cool,” she said with a satisfied smile. “All right, so... after homework and dinner, maybe? Eight to ten?” she suggested, her cheeks turning a faint red.
“Eh? Ah, right; sure, that'd good.” I answered. There was a brief silence.
“I've never had a friend like you.” she told me softly. I smiled.
“I've never really had a friend myself. I hope we see lots of amazing things together here,” I told her, blushing a bit.
“I hope so too.” she smiled back. “So... see you next time?” she asked.
“Yeah, see you next time.” I nodded back. We shared another hug, and then Ariana logged out for the night. I laid back upon the bed, feeling a certain anguish.
What would she think of me if I had been a guy? And what if she finds out that I am a guy? I wondered to myself. Leaving the question be for now, I logged out, and went to bed.