“We have not heard the name of that thing spoken aloud for an age,” a great white dragon with hints of silver mingled into his coloration said as he pondered over what Dracuoatlax had told him and his fellow dragons.

Orðgäering, it seemed, was also the name of the council of dragons that gathered upon the mountain; thirteen of them gathered around in a circle, and those who addressed them, such as ourselves and Dracuoatlax, stood in the middle of that circle. None of them were above the other by rank, though certain dragons had a stronger influence that garnered them a comparable effect. The silver and white one who addressed us was one of these. His name was Dhonanargäd, one of the oldest dragons here.

“Indeed, the Orbs of Sung'ro were almost legend even to us. Leave it to the kh'varktakarr to keep it in memory.” a female dragon of red color with hints of gold on her spinal ridges and upon the horn at the tip of her snout sniffed.

“There is no need for such derision, Ka'larnei.” Dhonanargäd scolded her.

“A what?” Ariana asked Dracuoatlax.

“Its true meaning is 'conqueror'; now, it is a term of scorn for such as myself who return no longer to the Dragonholt unless in grave need.” he told us.

“Hrrmm.” I remarked.

“My apologies, Wise One.” Ka'larnei dipped her head.

“You remember, as do we all, the day that orb was sealed away forever.” Dhonanargäd returned his attention to Dracuoatlax.

“Remembering when is not the same as remembering where; you yourself know that only a select number from the council gathered to do just that in a location unknown,” Dracuoatlax replied.

“Until the day came for its need again, according to the wisdom given us.” the other nodded. “Do you tell us that day has come, you who have walked your own path and given no thought for those of us here?”

“It is because I walked my own path and forged my own legend that I know more about what goes on in these lands, and accumulated a greater store of knowledge for wisdom,” our ally returned at once, to which the council of dragons looked at each other hesitantly. “You look only to your lives here; I have looked upon the world as it is, and have seen many strange things. I know the time of the orbs is near for the first time in many long counts of stars.”

“Tell us your words.” a third dragon, this one brown in color, said to him.

“In one word: Djaziim.” our friend said in reply. At this, the other dragons definitely stirred, and some of them even inadvertently let loose growls.

“That foul creature has risen from his slumbers, has he?” Dhonanargäd intoned darkly.

“We cannot let this stand!” Ka'larnei exclaimed indignantly.

“Never mind the personal grudge between that demon and Dracuoatlax; he once did us great harm here in our own land, did he not?” the brown dragon said with venom.

“The Year of Shattered Eggs,” Dracuoatlax growled with anger, and many of the other dragons growled as well.

“Yet only mortals can unseal the orb now.” Dhonanargäd told him.

“What is this?” our ally returned.

“Deep within the ancient halls of the sacred mountain Vorgus Eir we sealed the Draigod Orb. Its guardians are yet dragons, but they have become witless, for no dragon can withstand the orb's influence for long, nor can they remain on the mountain without giving up themselves. Can these mortals who have claimed your allegiance make their way through that now-terrible place?” the silver-white dragon asked sternly.

“Of all places, you hid it there,” Dracuoatlax shook his head in vexation.

“It was the only place we knew it would be safe from all comers, until the appointed time. It seems that time is now, with Djaziim on the rise again.” the brown dragon said.

“I do not mean to question your wisdom or your methods, Gergrokund,” our friend said to him, “But surely if you had a plan for sealing it there, you had something that would help to unseal it on that day which is now?”

“There is the Staff of Eir,” a fourth dragon then remarked.

“Kron.” Dracuoatlax said with a more reverent nod.

“It is kept on another mountain, however.” the dragon named Kron continued. “But it is less arduous to obtain.”

“What mountain is this?” Dracuoatlax asked him.

“The Mountain of Souls.” came the reply.

***

“The Mountain of Souls is where I will be able to help you,” Dracuoatlax said as he flew the three of us there. “After that, I can only take you to Vorgus Eir. To enter that place would be my doom,” he added.

“If it's a mountain that harms you, why is it sacred to the dragons?” I wondered, a look of confusion on my face.

“Lady Lana, it is because that mountain is harmful to us that it is sacred. After all, there is not much in this world that can truly threaten us or even harm us,” he replied.

“Oh.” I returned quietly, understanding now.

Sure, when you put it like that, I can understand the respect for it, and the caution, I thought to myself.

“The Holy Mountain in Xuanpu is the opposite; dragons were always welcome there, according to the stories,” Anhe remarked.

“I have heard this,” Dracuoatlax nodded, “But I have yet to go there myself.”

“I am sure the other dragons there would--”

“Peace, little one; there is a great deal of difference between them and myself. They love wisdom and rule with benevolence; I am Dracuoatlax, the fierce conqueror and devastator of ancient times. They would not welcome me all at once,” he said, and Anhe frowned. I smiled over at her, giving her a pat on the shoulder.

“It's fine. Fyu likes him!” I said, and she smiled again, nodding back.

“Fyu Dongtian is a worthy friend.” the dragon returned. “Perhaps he could have entered the mountain; but he is with your friends now, I presume?”

“They did take him along, yes.” Ariana nodded.

“Hmm.” the other nodded. “Ahh, there is our first destination,” he then said.

There were quite a lot of spectral-type monsters on the mountain. Deep in their midst was an ancient shrine with dragonic ornamentation on its roof. I readied my bow while Ariana prepared a spell, and Anhe quietly augmented our attack strength and defenses.

“I shall scatter their outer ranks.” the dragon said as he landed to let us off.

“We'll get the staff and hurry back!” I said as I released a few arrows, and then switched to my short-swords while Ari let loose with her spell-casting and Anhe and I tore into the specters ahead of us.

They weren't particularly difficult to get through; I guesstimated that they were around half our level. We plowed through them nicely, but their re-spawn rate was over the top. For every two we downed, two more appeared about five seconds later. Even when Dracuoatlax wiped out fifty of them, fifty others came swarming in from somewhere else.

“This is goofy!!” Ariana sighed with exasperation.

“You're telling me!” I agreed.

“I will add a speed aura,” Anhe said.

“Go for it!” I nodded, and she thumped her staff, activating the third aura.

“Go!” she then said, and I activated Shadow Speed, now superbly augmented by Anhe's aura. I reached the shrine, almost blasting through the door before I skidded to a halt before it so that I could open the door and head inside. The staff was on a stand in the center; I picked it up, and raced back out towards the others.

“Back to Dracuoatlax!” I called as I ran by them, and Ariana turned on a floating bubble spell she could use in emergencies to get her and Anhe back to the dragon. He blasted back the specters once more as we got on, and then took to the air again, heading for our next mountain.

“Pah, fiendish dead!” he spat with distaste as he flapped higher before allowing the wind to carry him.

“That wasn't bad, but that was also ridiculous.” I softly griped.

“Right??” Ariana groaned.

“We got out of it quickly, so no complaining!” Anhe grinned over at us.

“Ahh--sure,” I smiled back weakly.

“You got it!” Ari gently laughed, and Anhe laughed as well.

On our way towards Vorgus Eir, we flew over a wide valley that had several streams running through its length. There were a variety of fruitful trees and other plants scattered about these, and large animals of an almost cow-like disposition grazing in small herds here and there. If a cow looked more like a rhinoceros, or perhaps if the rhinoceros looked more like the cow, that was what these things looked like. Other, smaller animals were roaming or darting around as well, but we could not see them as well as we could these.

“What are those?” Anhe wondered with curiosity.

“We call then vagräastaf in this land.” Dracuoatlax told us. “They are a most exquisite morsel; I imagine the roasting of their flesh would also be palpable.”

“They look as large as a rhino.” Ariana remarked, echoing my unspoken observations.

“They are large indeed. It takes a large morsel to satisfy a dragon, after all.” the reply came.

“Ahh, true.” she softly grinned.

At the end of this valley we neared the foot of the mountain, and here Dracuoatlax set down to let us off. As I approached his head, I could see him fixated on the mountain with an expression of great hesitance unusual for him. It must really be a bad place for dragons here, huh? I thought to myself as I observed the look.

“Any suggestions?” I asked him, and he looked back at the three of us.

“Master; you were told earlier that the dragons sealed within here have all succumbed to a madness from the orb. Let me ask you a question: would you be confident in facing me as a foe?” Dracuoatlax gazed at me with a piercing look.

“I... would not be confident, no.” I said after a moment. Fighting against an untamed dragon like Dracuoatlax in this game of all games would likely be beyond crazy, which is why we had enacted our bit of trickery at our first meeting. Naturally, we did not mention this aloud.

“Then, master, if you are troubled by the prospect of fighting a dragon whose wits are intact, how would you feel about facing a witless dragon who cannot be reasoned with or even tricked?” he continued, the faint hint of a dragonish grin upon his features.

“Ahh...”

“But I will say this. The Staff of Eir is not just for opening the seal; that staff is an ancient weapon once used against fighting the dragons, sanctified by a forgotten priesthood long ago and imbued with the power of facing us. It is because that staff has absorbed so much power from its creation and its conquests that we chose it to be the key of our seal. I am not sure if Lady Ariana or Lady Anhe would be more suited for its uses once inside, however. That is all the advice I have for you, except to say, good fortune. I shall await you further down the valley.” he said to us then, and I nodded back.

“Enjoy your meal!” I said, anticipating his reasons for doing so, and he chuckled back.

“Of course, master. I always do.” he returned in a merrier tone, and with that he turned away to stalk off down the valley towards the vagräastaf herds.

“What do you think, Anhe?” Ariana asked the other girl as she handed the staff to her.

“Hmm...” Anhe mused, looking at it carefully. “There are no spell charges or spell bonuses on it; it does add to Wisdom and Charisma but it also adds to Dexterity and Strength as well. The only notable bonus is the damage to dragons, and a one-percent chance to deal a major critical damage-over-time to them.”

“One-percent, huh?” I sighed wryly. “But it sounds like that staff is meant for someone who fights like you, then.”

“I shall do my best!” Anhe nodded in reply. “Let us open this seal first, and then see what we find!”

“Let's go!” Ariana smiled, and I nodded.

We made our way towards the sealed entrance of the mountain, where we saw a stone relief depicting what we believed was the ritual of sealing. This was on the right of us. On the left, it seemed to be going in reverse; that was probably the way to unseal it. Anhe performed the steps and stances as indicated from this relief, and we heard--no, we felt a sort of snap as the barrier came down and the door opened to let us inside.

“Let's go,” I softly echoed Ari's words, and we headed on in. The door softly closed behind us.

“Typical,” Ariana remarked as we continued along the passage.

It led downward at first, and then made its way up until it terminated in a wide, wide open hall. Near the very top, I could just make out the hint of something shining. Was that the orb? How far up was it from here? My gaze slowly lowered; I observed little by little that there were intermittent pathways leading up to the top. And there were a lot of dragons in this mountain.

Okay, maybe not an endless horde. Maybe around fifty or so, at least. That's still a lot compared to a party of three. If they all woke up at once, that'd be real trouble real quick.

“Ho-ly snap.” I quietly sighed.

“Lana, do you think we can get by them without fighting?” Anhe asked me, and Ariana looked at me studiously, reading my expression.

“There's at least a fair chance of doing so,” I noted.

“Just so long as we don't snap our fingers?” Ariana playfully quipped.

“Ah-heh-heh-heh...” I returned with a flustered grin. “The real problem though,” I said after a moment, “Is that pathway. I don't know if there's any way to not make noise at some point while getting up there.”

“I could try muffling our sound with a spell,” my partner said. It took all I had to not snap my fingers. As soon as I instinctively started doing so, I clutched my hand tightly, looking at it with annoyance. Ariana covered her mouth as she soundlessly giggled, and Anhe grinned at me, shaking her head.

“After you were just told not to!” she whispered in amusement.

“O-old habits die hard...” I softly replied. “But yeah, let's do that,” I agreed as I settled for crossing my arms.

Ariana then cast the spell on us, and we proceeded cautiously along the pathway leading up to the top. As we passed by the first dragon, I kept a wary eye on it. It was twitching in its sleep, the way a dog might when it's having a dream. I actually stopped a moment, blinking in curiosity as I watched it. What did dragons dream about? Was this thing dreaming? Did other NPCs dream, if so? What did that mean for this world, this game-world, meant purely for entertainment?

“Someone asked a long time ago, do androids dream of electric sheep?” Ariana softly remarked as she placed a hand on my shoulder.

“That sounds like a book,” I quietly replied as I managed to tear my gaze away so we could continue walking. Anhe looked at the dragon for a moment as well, and then softly giggled.

“I wonder if it dreams about chasing those things in the valley,” she suggested with a smile, and Ari and I grinned.

“Maybe!”

“Definitely!” we agreed.

Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

We resumed quietly stealing our way upward, incredibly, making no noise on the rickety platforms and creaking stairwells that I was sure would give us away. Somehow Ariana's spell also affected things we set foot on or touched, which was definitely handy.

“That's from the Manipulation School, isn't it?” I asked her at one point, and she nodded back.

“Thinking about adding it to your development?” she asked.

“I can see it coming in handy for sure.”

“This is moderately high up in the skill-tree, though.”

“Hrrmm...”

“I bet we could find an item with the spell on it someday.” Anhe softly noted at my sudden consternation.

“Oh, true,” I agreed.

“Probably!” Ari smiled.

“…zzzzZZZZhhNnerrgahhhahh…” we suddenly heard directly ahead of us.

I looked ahead, and right. In. Front. Of us. Was a great, green dragon. It had stirred in its sleep, and its eye was opening. I immediately grabbed Anhe and Ari, activating Shadow Sharing to hide us. The eye, a golden orb with a black slit of a pupil lazily opened to full, scanning the place. I could feel not only my tension, but that of the other girls as well. The dragon sniffed the air for a moment, the eye blinking; after a few more superbly tense moments, the eye closed, and the beast fell back asleep. We anxiously crept away, hurrying as fast as we dared move up the path.

Carefully we avoided coming near the other dragons in our path, remembering their keen sense of smell and our great fortune to have not been sniffed out by the green one. The trickiest parts were the breaks in the pathway. Sometimes there were remnants of rope that we could use to swing ourselves over; other times we either had to jump, or to make use of Ari's teleportation spell. At least one time there was a dragon actually sleeping along a ledge that spanned one of these breaks; we very carefully crept along its side, gingerly stepping so as not to prod it awake by accident. We heaved quiet sighs of relief after getting across it, and I looked up towards the top again. There was quite a ways to go yet.

“All this and we're only about halfway there...” I quietly fumed.

“Lana, that shining thing; I don't think that's the orb,” Ariana whispered to me, and Anhe and I both looked over at her. She activated Mystic Vision, taking a peek up top. “It's a receptacle slot, probably for the staff.”

“Which means there's a door up top. At least, I hope it's up top.” I noted.

“If it is at the bottom I will cry.” Anhe remarked as her shoulders faintly sagged.

“Right?” Ariana agreed.

“Hahh...” I sighed wearily, “That'd be so rude if it was.”

“But on the bright side, it seems like there's less dragons as we get further up,” Ari then noted.

“That is definitely something in our favor.” Anhe nodded.

“For sure.” I said. “Anyhow, let's get up there and see what happens.”

The two girls nodded back at me, and we resumed our ascent. Though there were less dragons, there were more tricky-crossings and even a few traps along our path now. The rudest one had to be the rope-swing right next to one of those sharp discs that suddenly burst out of the wall at certain intervals. Ariana teleported herself and Anhe across straight away, and she was about to come back for me when I impulsively grabbed the rope and began swinging across. Both of them covered their mouths to stifle a scream as I did so. I hoisted myself upwards just as the disc came rushing out of the wall, and even used it as a springboard to go higher in the air so I could complete the jump safely. When I had landed and set the rope aside, Ariana came over to me with a grumpy look and softly smacked me a few times.

“That was twenty years off of my life!!” she quietly fumed.

“S-sorry, really I am,” I sheepishly replied.

“For all that Lana is a cute girl, your impulsiveness is still somewhat boy-like.” Anhe remarked with a sigh.

“I wouldn't have done that if I knew I couldn't make it!” I defended myself, and Ari sighed.

“I guess that's true of you,” she said with a wry smile. “How did you do that anyway?”

“You only watched the Arizona Tom movies, huh?” I returned as we continued walking. “'Mysteries of the Lost City' is such a good game, though!”

“Oh! You got it from another game,” she realized.

“What kind of crazy games did you play before this one?!” Anhe wondered incredulously as we made our way up a rickety stair, and I grinned back.

“You have no idea.” I replied. “Anyway, weren't you the one soloing group dungeons before we met?” I then remarked.

“That was that, and this was this. Creatures and monsters have somewhat predictable patterns; traps do not always have them.” Anhe countered.

“Ahh...”

“The point is, we're all crazy.” Ariana quipped, taking my arm.

“Ah-heh,” I smiled softly.

“May-be.” Anhe shrugged, turning back to grin at us.

After that little incident we managed to get up to the top without anymore hair-raising obstacles, except for the classic spikes-in-the-floor right near the end, and when we made it past this we carefully crossed a rope-and-plank bridge to where our lock was situated. I looked down as we crossed over, and my stomach slightly churned. With a grimace, I hastened across as fast as I could without breaking the thing, finding the other two already studying the receptacle.

“I hope I can keep the staff...” Anhe remarked as I came over to look with them.

“It looks like you just have to hold it there for a few seconds, and then the door will open for us,” Ariana said as she finished reading the inscription at the base.

“But where's the door?” I wondered anxiously.

“I guess we are about to find out,” Anhe said, placing the staff in the slot. There was a glow, and above us, the ceiling began to part.

“Oh, there,” I then said, inwardly heaving a sigh of relief that it wasn't below us. When the door was open all the way, Ariana used levitation to get herself up there, and when Anhe had taken the staff out I tossed her up and then jumped to follow her as the door shut again. She took my hand, and performed a second jump to get us over to a ledge, where Ariana met us with a smile. We then looked around.

There was a single path leading up to a wide platform, and beyond that was another stair leading up to a smaller chamber. Since the larger platform had a dragon upon it, I presumed that the smaller chamber further ahead contained the Draigod Orb we were looking for.

“Come to think of it... if the orb here affects dragons so badly, isn't Dracuoatlax in danger when we bring it out?” I suddenly realized.

“Ahh--!!” Ariana exclaimed softly as this thought struck her as well, and Anhe pouted thoughtfully.

“This is true...” she quietly sighed. We thought for a moment, quietly staring at the dragon before us.

“I mean, as long as I keep it in storage it shouldn't affect him, right?” Ariana then said.

“That should work,” Anhe agreed.

“Hrrmm, I guess that's true.” I nodded. We then ascended the first flight of stairs in this chamber, whereupon the dragon immediately woke up. No stealth skills will work on this guy, huh? I bemusedly remarked to myself.

“Mortals... mortals have entered Vorgus Eir, the Sacred Mountain; mortals who... have not bathed in the blood of dragons, yet who bear the Dragonbane, the Staff of Eir, which has sealed us away in this place as everlasting protectors of the Draigod Orb.” the creature said as it stood to its feet, spreading out its wings as it gazed down on us. “Since you bear the staff and have not shed the blood of my brethren, it is my belief that you do not wish for combat, nor do you wish to harm the dragons. What is your purpose, mortals?”

“To vanquish the evil known as Djaziim,” I replied, and the dragon's eyes widened, then narrowed as it lowered its head to look me in the eyes with its great golden one.

“Djaziim? Djaziim, you say?” the dragon asked, and I nodded back. “Hrm! That vile thing walks the world again, does it? Well, then, I should let you take the orb and be done with it! Many long years ago we sealed this orb at the behest of certain priests, who warned us that Djaziim might one day rise again. For this purpose we dared to seal ourselves with it, prepared to destroy any intruder with ignoble intentions. I acknowledge your quest as noble and true; yet I ask this boon: heal my brethren of their madness, and I will certainly let you take the orb from here.”

“I suppose just taking the orb away wouldn't solve the problem? To say nothing of being in the mountain for so long?” I returned, and the great beast shook its head.

“We need someone skilled in the ways of battle and wisdom; their aura could cleanse these halls and set my brethren free of the curse, allowing them to fly once more under their own wisdom.” the dragon told us.

“Aura?” Ariana and I both said at once, turning to Anhe.

“Hm? Hmm?” she looked at us with an uncertain grin. “I do not know if my battle auras could spread through this whole mountain,” she said to us hesitantly.

“What is this? You have such a person with you?” the dragon remarked, turning to fix its gaze upon Anhe. “You bear the staff; and since you have not slain any of my brethren, you may be able to do a certain thing. Just now, I called that staff Dragonbane, for such it is. Yet when wielded by one pure of heart, that which is the bane of dragons may be their salvation. In such a case, the staff will amplify your aura and send its presence throughout this mountain, curing my fellow dragons!” it hurriedly explained to her.

“Ah--um, I would like to do so, if I can!” Anhe meekly replied. It narrowed its gaze at her.

“You must do so with absolute confidence, placing the staff upon the altar near where the orb rests.” the dragon told her, and she nodded back.

“I will do it!” she then said, and ran to do so, the dragon watching as we followed her up the stairs.

“I wonder if the dragons knew,” I wondered as we made our way up after Anhe.

“I guess it was a test of some kind, wasn't it?” Ariana returned, looking over at me.

“That's reasonable,” I agreed. “Who knew our hesitance to fight a mountain full of dragons would unlock a bonus side-quest to save them?” I said with a cheesy grin, which she returned.

“Right?” she giggled.

The altar the dragon had mentioned was in the middle of the small chamber we now entered. On the far side was the orb, still sealed away.

Oh, I get it now. That orb would be unsealed if we had slain all the dragons. But since we chose a path of least resistance, it's still sealed, and the guardian here gave us the challenge of helping its comrades instead of fighting us. But if we fail and end up inadvertently destroying the other dragons, I bet it turns into a fight... I mused internally, my brow furrowing in thought. Ariana looked over at me, probably intuiting my thoughts on the matter from the way she then gripped her staff. Behind us, I could feel the dragon's eyes fixated on us.

Anhe took a deep breath, activating three auras as she placed the staff in the slot upon the altar. I didn't recognize them, but she had probably never used them before. She gripped the Staff of Eir with all her might, letting the auras radiate around her. All of a sudden the staff and the altar lit up with a pure light, and we could hear a luminous sound of sorts beginning to fill this chamber and seemingly spill down into the vast hall below us. I could also hear the sound of the doors below opening again. A stronger light began to enter the chamber, and I looked back to see that another set of doors further above us was also opening. The dragon below us looked up with a pleased expression. The doors ground to a halt; the sound stopped, and the barrier around the orb was disabled.

“Heroes; your compassion for the dragons does you credit. Take the orb, and take the thanks of the dragons. You can now use that staff as you will.” he said, and as he rose into the air we could see the other dragons already flying out of the mountain. The green one who had almost woken up before gave us a funny look as it flew out, and the one we had used as a bridge did the same. After they had all departed, the final guardian took his leave, and flew out of the mountain with a merry laugh.

I looked over at Anhe, who had been staring at them in wonder as they soared out, and placed an arm around her, smiling. Ariana did the same, and she smiled back at us.

“That was incredible!” my partner said to her.

“Thank you!” she beamed happily.

“Good job, Anhe! By the way, did that staff's attributes just change?” I wondered as we let go of her, and she examined it again.

“Hmm... ahh!!” she exclaimed in surprise. “The damage effect will now tailor itself to whatever monster I am fighting at the time!” she told us with awe.

“Cool!” I said with excitement.

“Oh wow!” Ariana remarked. “That's a definite keeper!” she nodded.

“For sure,” I agreed.

“Yes!” Anhe smiled back. “But let us get the orb before we forget!” she then said, and Ariana retrieved it, placing it in her Mystic Storage before we headed out of the mountain.

When we had finally gotten back down into the valley, we found Dracuoatlax waiting for us. The sun was nearly down, and he opened an eye as we approached him.

“I saw a flight of dragons pass overhead not long ago; master, did you indeed lift the curse on those who were sealed?” he asked us.

“Anhe did, yes.” I nodded back, and Anhe blushed as our dragon-friend nodded at us with approval.

“It is well, then. That, perhaps, was the best outcome of this particular quest. The dragons will owe you a favor for this deed.” he said. “Now, I cannot fly back in time, for I sense you must soon leave this world; but there is a wayport near Orðgäering.”

“That's fine,” I replied, and he nodded again.

“Then I shall take you there, and I shall take my leisure flying back to the Torching Mount after.” he grinned. “I have had a full meal, and the joy of seeing your support of my kinfolk rather than mindlessly putting them to the sword. I am grateful, masters, truly.” Dracuoatlax said to us.

“We were glad to do so, Dracuoatlax.” Ariana told him, and he nodded once more before we climbed upon his back and set off for Orðgäering.

***

So Anhe did in fact end up being gifted the staff as a reward, and after we were promised that the dragons would aid us at a time of our choosing sometime in the future, we used the wayport nearby to head for Cloverbell, deciding to lounge in the hotspring as a reward to ourselves. It was about ten minutes later that Anhe looked around idly, a sudden question on her features as she began looking around more attentively.

“Come to think of it, the others are not back at all, are they?” she remarked.

“Hm?” Ari said as she became more alert. “We were up there in Dragonholt for a while, too... I wonder what they ran into if they're not back yet?” she continued, checking her messages. A few moments later she shook her head.

“Nothing, huh?” I said.

“Hmm...” Anhe let out a sigh, letting herself sink back into the water.

“I'm sure we'll get yelled at later by Lizzy for not being up there with them,” Ariana said with a wry grin.

“Ah-heh-heh-heh,” I grinned weakly.

“We had a hard enough time persuading her to let us help Lana,” Anhe nodded in agreement. At just that moment, I got a message notification.

“Hm?” I wondered, opening it up. It was from Healina. “'Failed at the last stage; could use the two of you next time, see you at the house'... uh-oh.” I suddenly felt a shiver.

“Lana?” Anhe wondered curiously as I hopped out and Ariana quickly followed.

“Come on!” my partner said to her, and she followed us out. We got ourselves dressed again, and I quickly selected a random destination when we got to the wayport, setting it to wipe the last ten destinations visited as the magic enveloped us.

“Hm? Ahh! You do not want to get yelled at!” Anhe said with a big grin.

“Of course not!” I quipped back as the wayport whisked us away.

Now, I had paid a certain amount of gold to the wayport for this destination. That was because it was a destination I didn't have. You can do that: pay a certain fee to unlock a wayport you haven't been to, but most of the time I'd rather go and actually find it--and keep my gold for other things. The only reason I paid this time was because it was a destination I knew none of us had.

“Where did we go?” Ariana wondered as we stepped out of the portal.

“Hm? Oh, the Summerlands Isle.” I replied.

“Hmm... I thought that region wasn't active yet,” she said as we began making our way along the boardwalk.

“It's not as active as it will be during the event, but unlike the Other Realm we can actually visit this place any time we want.” I told them.

“This place looks fun!” Anhe said with excitement.

“Right?” I agreed, and Ari smiled. “By the way, this island is south of the Aldholt -- pretty far south, actually,” I told them.

“Hmm... so even further south than Alamari and the Isles of the Seven Lucky Gods?” Anhe asked.

“Yep!” I said as we stopped at an outdoor tavern.

“There's a lot of players here, aren't there?” Ariana remarked as we looked around. A waiter came by to serve us a round of fruity beverages.

“It's basically a summer resort here, so yeah,” I agreed. “Though I did hear a rumor about ultra-rare resources hidden somewhere on the island.”

“I would think there will be a summer-quest for that sort of thing,” Anhe observed as she sipped on her drink.

“Oh definitely.” I nodded back.

“Figures.” Ari smiled. “I still can't believe you actually wiped the travel-log from the wayport!” she said, and then laughed. Anhe soundlessly giggled as well, and I shrugged, a wry grin on my face.

“Anything to avoid being Lizzied.” I quipped.

“Pffft! You made her a verb!!” Ari cackled, and Anhe's laughter became more audible as well.

“Aww, Poor Lizzy!” Anhe laughed helplessly.

“Oh please. She'd get over it and own it in a minute.” I grinned, shaking my head.

“Hahh, true,” my partner agreed.

“She really would.” Anhe nodded.

We spent the next couple of in-game hours lightly bantering like this, enjoying the dishes of the Summerlands Isle before joining in the beach dances and bonfire celebrations nearby with other players, ending up in a long and wild game of capture the flag that ended with the other team's victory. The one thing that was more refreshing than the drinks or the food down here was that no one seemed to know who we were. Then I noticed that most of the players here had a level lower than forty, where as we were over three times that now.

“You can't all have been here like this for the past several months?” I asked one of them as we sat around another bonfire later that night.

“Some of us have,” she shrugged. “I only came to enjoy tonight's party with my girlfriends. There's more than a few people who've taken up residence here, though. Some of them even made a guild: The Summerlanders.”

“Oh wow,” Ariana said with interest.

“Yep! They're led by a girl called Cherry Star, a mage of some kind I think,” she said.

“Maybe she and her guildies are trying to get a clue on that ultra-rare resource before the events here actually start,” I pondered, and she looked back at us knowingly.

“That's one of the rumors, yeah. The other is that she's actually making a quiet petition for her and her guild to be the 'NPCs' of the Summerlands Isle so that they can make money here as opposed to letting the gold go back into the game system,” she said quietly.

“There's no way the GMs would allow that,” I replied.

“Right? But it is a fact that the player shops here are tending to do better than the NPC ones. I know NPCs aren't exactly people here, but it still seems kind of harsh.” the other girl softly grimaced.

“Hrrmm... the system keeps them going, so they'll always be here even without player interaction... but that is kinda...” I trailed off, uncertain of what I wanted to say or how to put it.

“Some of the NPCs in this game are incredible, though,” Ariana remarked, and Anhe nodded back.

“Oh I know it.” our companion told us. “It's like if you put them in our world, would we even know?”

“Right??” Ariana agreed.

“Anyway; I guess whatever drama's ahead for us this summer, the main event on the continent will still overshadow it.” she shrugged. “By the way, my name is Melody here. But most people call me The Blade.” she winked at us, and I smiled back.

“Lana; and this is Ariana and Anhe.” I replied.

“Hey there!” Ari smiled, and Anhe did as well.

“Hmm? Some stars here tonight, huh?” Melody grinned back. “I hope you don't fall too far down from the sky during the event, Silvernight Queens.” she subtly winked again.

“What's that supposed to mean?” I wondered back with a laugh, but she only stalked off with a smile on her lips, blowing a kiss back. I half-gulped, and Ari coughed to get my attention.

“The Blade, huh?” my partner said, a wry expression on her face as she observed the other girl heading away.

“She seemed nice, but also dark at the end...” Anhe noted.

It was at that moment I suddenly recalled that I had heard that nickname before.

“Ho-ly snap.” I breathed.

“What is it?” Ari turned to me with concern.

“We just met one of the most dangerous players in the game.”