Maxwell

The clash of wooden training weapons echoed alongside the more experienced sound of metal on metal. Void Elves, Dark Elves, and Goblins were training alongside each other in preparation for the coming battles. Looking at the grim faces, I hoped that Aurora would come through and managed to trim the enemies’ numbers.

I snorted before shaking my head. Relying on an enemy to deal with an enemy. That was completely mental.

“Something funny, my lord?” Commander Telmu asked as he joined me on the balcony.

“Just thinking that fate can be a real bitch sometimes,” I replied

The commander leaned against the railing. “Perhaps, but then again Fate brought me here. Hard to say if I’d like to be somewhere else.”

“Didn’t like your former life?” I asked joined him. He pulled out a pipe, adding some tobacco or this world’s equivalent. With a snap of his fingers, it lit instantly. After he took a long pull, he offered me the pipe but I declined.

He let out a large plume of smoke. “It was difficult. Dark Elves… generally like the shadows. It was often that I would be walking along the street to find a dead body that had been stripped of its belongings.”

Players… Even if a world tries to downplay a certain stereotype, there were always those that wanted to roleplay as something. Dark Elves were famous as thieves and assassins in most literature around the world. That extended to video games. I guess it was the NPCs that really suffered in the end.

Telmu let out another plume of smoke. “This place, its different. We’re all not trying to stab each other in the back here. Is it because we’re on the surface, because you’re our leader, because our very survival hangs in the balance, or something else entirely. I don’t know the answer, but I want to do my part to make it last as long as possible.”

“That’s a good way of looking at things, Commander. As the lord, I’ll keep doing my best to keep the people safe. I owe it to all of you for dragging you all here.” I wasn’t sure how respawning worked for humanoid NPCs, but it was possible that by building the immigration Gate I pulled them from a better place, or from the next chapter in their books. Reincarnation seemed farfetched, but their code being reused was certainly possible.

The commander thanked me but was pulled away by his duties. I watched for a while longer before I teleported away. I popped around the town looking for a certain dragon. I hadn’t seen her in the last few days with how busy I was, but the talk about keeping people safe brought her to mind.

I finally found her after my fifth jump. She was playing with some Dark Elf children. I prayed to Voasis that she wasn’t planning something like eating them when they tired out. She noticed me as I approached, though, given her skills, she probably noticed me when I teleported.

“If it isn’t Lord Maxwell. Having fun getting ready for your big war?” Lapis asked, before tossing a ball for the half a dozen children to chase.

“I would be if a certain dragon felt like helping out when the time came,” I retorted with a hopeful smile.

She returned my smile with one of her own then in one of the most cheerful voices I had ever heard, she said no. I dropped my head, not really sure why I expected anything else. “Then again, it is really hard to find who killed you in the middle of an open battle.” The temperature dropped a few degrees. “So, I will at least think about it.” That was better than nothing.

I sighed before turning to leave. I was about to teleport away when I remembered the coming war council with everyone. I back over my shoulder. “Your advice on matters would be greatly appreciated in the coming war council. I’ll make sure there is snacks there for you alone.”

“I’m in!” Lapis replied instantly. Really?!

Lapis said goodbye to the children. It was almost sweet to witness. “Some friends?” I asked, holding my hand out.

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She took it and I teleported us over to Razz’s place. His war room was better equipped than mine. “Children are fun. Their worlds so untainted by the reality that we live in.”

“What reality is that?”

Lapis smacked me hard on the back, hard enough that I knew it was going to bruise. I might not feel pain, but the pressure of the blow was still there. “That might makes right.” She exposed her shark-like teeth in a toothy smile. “Try to impose one of your laws on me. I’ll eat you before I burn your entire city down.”

I rubbed my back. “I knew that without the demonstration.” Lapis just laughed loudly as she strode into the war room. I straightened up as best that I could then followed her inside. Razz, a few of his fellows, Rowena, Sasha and Kevin from the Jade Collective, and Kaga sat waiting for us around the war map. I faced the others. “Let’s get this started.”

“I’m not sure what there is to discuss,” Sasha commented as she looked around at the group with confusion. “We go in crush the goblins like we would if it were a raid, then be home for supper. Repeat this a dozen times or so, and before you know it there is no more goblin army.”

“That’s thinking too simply. Remember there are enemy players in the opposing army. While we might convince a few of them to join our side with the world message, there is a chance that some will use that to their advantage.” Razz tapped the map, zooming in on a spot to the northwest. Since it was greyed-out, it was hard to make out any concrete details, but it looked like there was a river or lake there. The Goblin army will have supplies, but they wouldn’t ignore a fresh water source. Unlike the real world, most lakes are safe to drink from in this game.”

I looked closer at the spot. “You want to poison or somehow trap the water source?” I asked with interest. If a sickness overcame a large contingent of the enemy force, they might retreat.

“That or use this site as an ambush. It is close enough that they might even consider using it as a forward base,” Razz added.

“What about your vampiric friend?” Kaga asked with a raised hand. “Doesn’t she operate further to the south and east?”

Silence filled the room as we all contemplated the problem. I bit my thumbnail nervously. She had a point. I was really relying on her to trim the enemy numbers down to more manageable levels. I studied the map. The lake was pushing north. It might be enough for the goblin army to avoid Aurora’s influence. That would make my threat against her meaningless. If she barricaded herself in her dungeon with that force she showed me, ten thousand goblins, player led or not, might not be enough to take her position.

I felt a cold hand grab my arm causing me to jump. It was like being touched by a ghost. “Perhaps if the water was in a state impossible to drink from,” Lapis remarked with a devilish grin. She bit down on one of the cookies set for the meeting. To me it sounded like bones.

~~

The sun caused the tranquil looking lake to glitter. It was quite a sight if I said so myself. One that a person would want to share with a lover or their family. Instead, I was here with a demon, I mean, dragon in the form of a child. Lapis walked over to the edge of the lake.

“It has been a while since I’ve done anything this fun,” she remarked splashing the water.

I joined her though kept a bit of a distance. “I thought you weren’t going to join?”

She shrugged. “I do what I want. There is a reason I want to help.”

I looked at her skeptically. “And that would be?”

“Secret,” Lapis replied with a cheeky grin. She turned away from me then began to pull in air. I had to quickly put some more distance between us as it felt like I was in the middle of a tornado. She kept it up for nearly a solid five minutes and yet her tiny body hadn’t changed in the slightest. Finally, it seemed that she reached her max capacity.

With a boom, she released the pent-up air toward the lake. The tranquil surface became any but an instant later. The water was whipped up to the point that there was a ten meter high wave. As Lapis continued to blow, it eventually broke apart and reformed. It was like watching a storm in a bottle. That was when the temperature dropped to below freezing. I shivered as I tried to warm up the blood in my hands. If this lasted more than a few minutes, I feared I would die of hypothermia.

Lapis finally finished her spell as the last of the air she gathered left her lungs. In front of us was a twisted frozen hell. Jagged spikes, tall walls, deep pits, and more. You would have to be extremely skilled to navigate that nightmare. Lapis turned to me with a smug expression.

“Looks good. You will do it again when the enemy arrives, yes?” I asked doing my best to control my shivers.

Lapis looked at me with a confused expression. “Why would I do it again?”

It was my turn to be confused. “I thought you said you would help us?”

“I just did.”

“I can see that. This is quite the feat. That’s why I want you to do it again later.”

“Why?”

We stared at each other, one of us obviously missing something important. I rubbed my hands together to try and generate a little heat. “Ice melts. You know. This will be gone by the time the goblins arrive.”

Lapis continued to stare at me before laughing loud enough for it to echo around the frozen lake. She slapped one of the ice pillars that had formed near her. “This here won’t melt until I want it to.”

“Oh.” Realization dawned on me. “Wait. What?! What about all the monsters and animals that need this lake to survive?”

“Not my problem.” I teleported back to the manor without waiting for her. I was done. First Aurora, now her. Why couldn’t the women in my life be a bit more pleasant?