The alarm sounded on my phone. The repetitious sound of the tune that I had selected to wake me up caused an instinctive hatred to well up inside me at being pulled from my peaceful slumber. The light, shining brighter than the sun, pierced my eyelids as I grabbed the phone from my nightstand next to my bed to look at the screen. It burned my retina as I cracked one eye open to look at it, even though I knew what time it would say. To my surprise, it wasn’t my alarm, but my boss, Rick, calling me.
“Hello?” I answered, groggily after swiping the answer icon to the right on my phone.
“Callan? Hey man, sorry to wake you on your day off. Listen, I’ve had a couple of welders call in sick and really need someone out on the site to help with a project they want to be finished today. Is there any way you can come in to help out?” Rick said, sounding genuinely sorry for calling me with such late notice.
Brutus, my Rottweiler, who was lying at the end of my bed, lifted his head and whined slightly at hearing my boss’ voice on the phone. I thought frantically of an excuse to get out of going to work today.
“Oh, uh…About that. You see, my dog isn’t feeling too well, so I really need to take him to the vet to get checked out.” I lied.
At this pronouncement, Brutus stood up fully and began to whimper, his legs shaking slightly.
“No, we aren’t really going to the vet,” I whispered, putting my hand over the mic. “I just really don’t want to go to work on a Saturday.”
Brutus tilted his head in confusion.
“Oh, man. I’m really sorry to hear that bro. Is there any way you can just drop him off and come up for a few hours? I’m really in a bind here.” Rick persisted.
“Oh no, Brutus won’t go with anyone else. He gets super nervous and upset. I wouldn’t want him biting someone. You know I’d be there if there was any other way man.” I replied, an anxious feeling rising in my gut.
“Yeah, I get it. You are one of my best guys. Well, take care of the little guy OK? And call me if you happen to get some free time today.” Rick replied, sounding genuinely disappointed.
“Will do. Thanks, Rick.” I said and hung up the phone.
Brutus laid back down on the bed, finally feeling assured we were not going to the vet.
“PHEW!” I said, laying my head back on the pillow in relief. “Saturday is my one day to go to the gaming cafe and he almost ruined it for me.”
Brutus barked in affirmation.
“Yeah. I work all week and deserve my days off. I really didn’t need to go in today.”
Brutus tilted his head to the side slightly, looking as though he was questioning me.
“Well, yes I could go in on Sunday, but then I might not get out until late, and I need time to get all my stuff ready for Monday, and it just wouldn’t work out. Saturday is really the only day.”
Brutus barked again.
“See, you get it,” I said, smiling at my antics.
Sitting up in bed, I felt a twinge of pain run through my head as a remnant of the dream from last night flashed in my mind’s eye. What had that dream been about? It seemed so real and as though I was seeing the world through the eyes of someone else. His emotions, his weariness, his sadness at the loss, and his anger at the enemies. I had experienced vivid dreams before where I felt like I was in another place, but this still felt different. It felt somehow personal to me, and I couldn’t shake the weird feeling that I had some kind of connection to the dream. Shaking my head to clear the fog of sleep, I rubbed the palms of my hands against my eyes until I saw stars.
Brutus’ tongue lulled out of his mouth and he stood up at the end of the bed and stretched his front paws out, lowering his head and chest in a giant dog stretch. His hot breath hit my face as he walked up to the head of my bed and began to pant excitedly at the prospect of going outside. A wet tongue hit the side of my face as he began to excitedly lick my face to help me wake up.
“Alright, alright! Give me a minute.” I said, both slightly annoyed at the prospect of having to get up and amused at his attempts to get me up. “I know it's our day together, but I had a little too much to drink last night. I’m getting old now.”
I reached straight up and let out a long groan as I stretched in an attempt to get myself to wake up. Several pops sounded in my back and I once again groaned at the prospect of feeling myself getting older. Ten years ago I could have fallen off of a roof and gotten back up to the applause of others and just walked it off, now though, I could sleep wrong and wake up with aches and pains. Throwing my legs over the side of the bed, I sat there for a moment as my feet worked their way into the shag carpet that coated my bedroom still trying to convince myself to get up.
Finally gathering the determination to stand, I walked in a crooked line to the bathroom to relieve myself from the night’s sleep. I emerged about two minutes later and gathered some clothes that I could throw on to take Brutus for his morning walk. He wouldn’t make it until I got myself ready in the morning, so I had to take him to relieve himself before I got ready. Still standing at the door leading from my room, Brutus was now turning in circles periodically with excitement. Once I had my shoes on I opened the door and he dashed to the front door, jumping excitedly as he raced through the apartment.
“Just a second, you know we can’t go outside until you have your leash on. It’s illegal. I don’t need a ticket because your happy ass scared the neighbors.” I chastised his excitement playfully.
Reaching for the coat wrack mounted by the front door, I took his extendable leash and my jacket down from their hooks and attached the latch onto his collar, and unlocked the door. Brutus sat down with his tail wagging at a thousand miles an hour as he waited impatiently for me to go through all the motions so we could go outside. When I finally got the door unlocked and open, he darted out in front of me and stood waiting to go off on our morning adventure, knowing that I had to lock the apartment back up before we left.
Brutus had adapted so well to apartment living in the four years I had him. It wasn’t that long ago that I brought him home. The night that I had found him shaking on the sidewalk in the rain, I had been walking home from work after dark in a torrential downpour that had been going on for hours. He had appeared suddenly in the path I was walking after being tossed out of his hiding spot in a cardboard box by a raccoon looking for cover. He had sat there shaking, knowing he couldn’t fight off the raccoon, and looked up at me with those giant puppy dog eyes and my heart melted.
Scooping him up off of the sidewalk, I placed him inside my jacket and took him home with me to keep him out of the weather, fully intending to try to find his owner the next day. When we got home I dried him off and got him some water and leftover cooked ground beef I had been saving to make spaghetti with, as I had no dog food, and he ate as though he had never seen food before. He finished and hopped up on the couch next to me and put his head in my lap and fell asleep while I watched TV. Again my heart melted.
I put up fliers around the area to see if anyone had lost a puppy. When no one came for him, I decided to let him stay with me. He never barked, seemed to understand instinctively what I wanted him to do, and never made a mess in the house. Basically, everything you could ever hope for in a dog. We formed a bond that was stronger than just about any friendship I had ever experienced.
My apartment was on the first floor so we didn’t need to take any stairs to leave. We walked across the parking lot and out of the apartment complex to the dog park nearby where I took him to do his business every day. There were a few other dog parents with their pets already out playing and letting their dogs run around for the morning. I let Brutus off his leash so he could run around and sniff everything he wanted to on his morning routine. He ran up to his favorite tree and relieved himself there first. Then he ran over to Pricilla, a two-year-old brown labrador that was there every morning as well and they sniffed at each other in the way dogs did in greeting.
“Brutus!” Pricilla’s owner, Jenny crooned at seeing him enter the park. “Who’s a good boy? Pricilla was wondering where you were today.”
Jenny was a fairly attractive woman with blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail. I was always drawn to the smile lines beside her eyes that showed she had a jovial personality that was reflected in the bright smiles and genuine joy I saw her portray each time we met. She had a slightly pointed nose and vibrant green eyes, with pale skin that said she didn’t get out in the sun very often.
“Sorry, we overslept. We got here as soon as I could though.” I said, putting a greater amount of emphasis on “I” to show it was my fault.
Brutus, having heard his name, ran over to Jenny, who gave him some scratches because he’s such a good boy, and loves greeting other people.
“That’s totally understandable. I am absolutely not a morning person and wouldn’t make it without my morning drugs.” Jenny said, standing up from petting Brutus and indicating the coffee cup she had in one hand.
“I didn’t even get a chance yet. This goober was determined to get out and play before anything else happened.” I replied, gesturing with my head over at Brutus who had run off again after getting his pets from Jenny.
“Yeah, Pricilla stood there looking at me like I betrayed her for making coffee first. Little brat.”
“HA! Brutus probably would have probably just died if I had paused any longer.”
“Such drama queens. Hey, I was wondering if you were going to the mixer for singles at the clubhouse the apartments are throwing?” Jenny asked, rather suddenly.
“I’m not sure, I’m not normally a people person,” I said, sticking my hands in my pockets awkwardly.
“Well, would you want to go together?” She asked suggestively.
“If we went together we wouldn’t be single though would we?” I asked trying and failing to flirt.
“I guess that’s true. How about dinner then sometime?”
“I think we could do that. Do you want it to just be us or should we find somewhere that’s dog friendly?”
“That is actually a really good idea. I know this cafe that has a dog menu we could go to. How about Tuesday at seven?”
“Sounds like a date,” I said, my heart now beating at three times its normal speed.
Brutus and Pricilla ran around the trees, sniffing all the new smells, jumping on each other, and playing. I pulled out and threw a tennis ball I always kept in my jacket pocket and Brutus ran after it enthusiastically and scooped it up in his mouth to bring back to me. We did this a few more times before we decided to head back to the apartment. I called Brutus over to me and hooked the leash back onto his collar and we exited the dog park.
“Well, we have to get back to the apartment,” I said looking at Jenny. “We have a full day ahead of us. It's our day to get some errands done together.”
“Awe, I love that. Well, I hope you and Brutus have fun today. And I’ll see you two on Tuesday.” She said suggestively.
I couldn’t help but stare for a moment, stupidly, and smiled like an idiot. I suddenly caught myself and turning red, quickly opened the gate. I fumbled with the latch longer than I should have and Jenny giggled at my sudden clumsiness. I waved goodbye and looked down at Brutus who appeared to have his eyebrows raised at me.
“What?” I said indignantly. “Fine, I’m not so smooth with the ladies. Don’t look at me like that. You’re going too with Pricilla.”
Once we got back into the apartment, I hung up Brutus’ leash and my coat and proceeded back to the bedroom. I grabbed my favorite shirt with the Nintendo Logo, which was almost completely worn off, and a pair of jeans and threw them on the bed. Walking into the bathroom I turned on the water to warm up and looked in the mirror at myself. Time to shave again, I noted and rubbed my hand down the stubble that had formed on my face. My hair had begun to grey in my mid-twenties and now in my mid-thirties, I was well into my salt and pepper phase. At about six feet tall and two hundred and twenty pounds, I was still in fairly good shape, thanks to my job working construction, but staying that way was harder now that I had gotten older.
Stripping out of my park clothes, I got into the shower, letting the warm water fall over my body, enjoying the feeling of the shower as it pelted my body. I stood there for a couple of minutes, head bowed, water striking the back of my neck at that point where it split and ran down the front and back of my body at the same time, warming me up and soothing some of the aches my body now felt just from existing. Finally forcing myself to finish, I shook myself from the extremely pleasant moment and washed myself up to get ready for the day. Once I was clean I turned off the water and reached out of the shower to grab my towel.
Drying off, I stepped out of the shower and wrapped the towel around my waist, tucking the end in so it would stay in place. Fog had completely obstructed the mirror, so I wiped it off with a hand towel I kept by the sink and brushed my teeth, and shaved before I walked back into the room. Grabbing my clothes from the bed, I dressed and gave Brutus a pet and some scratches behind the ears before tying my shoes. I walked out to the main portion of the apartment and made a bowl of food for Brutus and a bowl of cereal for myself. We both ate contentedly in silence.
“Well, Brutus, it’s Saturday, so you know what that means,” I said looking down at him.
He cocked his head to the side as his tongue lulled out of his mouth again and he seemed to be smiling at me as his jowls pulled back when he had his mouth open in what looked like a dog smile. His tail wagged on the floor as he sat there looking up at me.
“That’s right. It’s errand day! We need some groceries, we will head over to the pet store for some treats and your bath, and then I need to get some gaming time in today. How about we head to the pet store first so we can bring those groceries back here before I head to the gaming cafe?”
Brutus barked and then walked over to me and put his paws on the counter as though he was ready to participate in the conversation with me. Living in New York City, there weren’t as many places to take Brutus and let him just be a dog. So many people in the city took their pets with them when they went out. Brutus was no exception, and I took him with me when I went out on Saturdays so he wasn’t just stuck in the house all day.
“Great! So it's settled. Let’s head out then.”
Placing the bowl and spoon in the sink, I promised myself I’d take care of it later and grabbed my backpack, and Brutus and I left the apartment together to go run some errands. The first stop was the pet store. We tried to go to the pet store over on Madison Avenue at least a couple of Saturdays a month because the owner loved Brutus, and they carried his favorite treats. So we walked to the subway system, went down into the Queens Plaza station, and hopped on the purple line to cross the East River to get into Manhattan. Running the subway pass over the scanner at the gate, the little doors swung open allowing myself and Brutus to enter, and we walked down to the platform and stood in the station waiting for the train to come into the station.
A female voice announced the arrival of the train as it pulled into the station, coming to a stop with a slight squeaking of the brakes. When the doors opened with a dinging sound coming from inside the train, Brutus and I hopped on, and I sat in one of the available seats while Brutus sat patiently in front of me panting slightly. The train took off with a whir and the lights began to pass as the train sped up. Brutus rocked back and forth slightly as the train accelerated and then we both watched the lights whizzing by listening to the sounds of the wheels on the metal rails of the track. Automated announcements for each stop came over the intercom, interrupting the sounds of the music coming from someone’s phone as they listened to a song without headphones. When we were approaching the Madison Avenue stop I stood up and we moved to the doors so we could exit. Leaving the station we walked up the stairs to the open air of the city.
The all-too-familiar sounds of the big city came all at once. Vehicles driving, the hissing of bus brakes as they stopped to let passengers on and off, the cooing of pigeons and the flittering of their wings, the sounds of people calling out to each other, and the sound of a siren in the distance were the sounds of home to me. Exhaust and smells of food from food stands and restaurants nearby brought a feeling of nostalgia and peace as I took in a deep breath, pausing for a moment before we continued on.
It was a short walk to the pet store and when we arrived I pulled on the handle of the door so we could enter. The door swung open and a small bell chimed, signaling the people inside that someone was arriving. The store’s owner, a man named Harry, was standing behind the counter. Harry was a man in his early forties, balding, average height, and had a salt and pepper mustache, who ran the shop with his wife, Helen, and they absolutely loved animals. Anytime I had ever seen someone enter with an animal they absolutely fawned over them.
“Hey, Harry!” I called out in greeting with a friendly wave as we walked past the counter.
“Callan! Brutus! So good to see you both. And how is this beautiful boy doing?” Harry said, walking out from behind the counter to greet Brutus personally. “Have you been a good boy? Do you need a treat?”
Brutus barked excitedly and sat like a good boy waiting patiently for the treats Harry kept at the counter for any visiting dogs.
“That’s what I thought,” Harry said, reaching back to the counter and pulling out a biscuit from a glass jar labeled Treats for good dogos. “Here you go, buddy. You really are such a good boy!”
He reached out and petted Brutus on the head and I smiled affectionately at him.
“And how have you been Callan? Out on your day off?” Harry asked me.
“I almost got called into work today, but today I just wanted my weekend to myself,” I replied.
“I get it. You work hard for a living. Unlike some of these ungrateful brats today who expect the world to be handed to them. Did you know my grandson says he wants to be a professional gamer? Like he wants to sit around and play video games for a job! Unbelievable. I wish he had your work ethic.” Harry complained.
“Kids today just don’t understand. When I was young we had to go play outside with our friends and come back in when it was dark. We only had one TV and getting to use it ourselves was reserved for when Dad wasn’t home.” I said, trying to relate to Harry and his feelings toward younger people.
“Exactly! We didn’t even have games you could play on the TV. You played with cops and robbers, used sticks as guns, and ran around until your mother yelled out the front door to come home and you liked it!” Harry said more aggressively. “But I digress. What is it that brings you in today?”
“I think we need to get some more treats for the house, and Brutus needs a new bone as well to chew on,” I said to Harry.
“Of course! We got a shipment in Yesterday so we definitely have what you need.” Harry replied.
I walked back through the store and picked up a set of biscuit treats, some bacon-flavored soft treats, and went to look at the bones.
“Now Brutus, you tell me which one you want. I suggest the marrow-filled to give you something to work on longer, but you can pick whichever you want.”
Sniffing the shelves of bones until he found one that he really liked, Brutus sat down to signal that he found one he liked. It was a large marrow-filled bone that had the ends cut off so he could lick out the center before chewing on the hollow outside.
“An excellent choice. Let’s get two. I’m feeling like you deserve an extra treat today.”
Brutus’ tail wagged at this and he stood up in excitement, his tongue lolling out of his mouth giving him a big smile again while I chuckled at him and we moved to the front counter to set the items down.
“We also need to give Brutus here a bath in your self-serve area if you don’t mind, Harry,” I said, placing all the items down on the counter.
“Of course, let me get it set up for you, follow me.”
Harry came around the counter again and led us to the back of the store where the self-wash area was. There were two large stainless steel washing areas stationed against a wall over a drain where the water would flow set into the ground. A hose was attached to the wash basins with a spray nozzle that would emit a shower of water that could be controlled with hot and cold knobs set on the wall between the stations. Opening the door for Brutus to hop in, he did so willingly, then Harry closed it behind him.
Bottles of shampoo, conditioner, combs, brushes, and a glove that was fabric on one side and had little rubber prongs on the other side used for scrubbing stood on a shelf that Harry pointed to next to the tub, letting us know we could make use of anything we needed. He set a small stack of towels down on a shelf to the right side of the wash basin as well, next to a pet blow dryer that hung on the wall.
“Here are all the supplies, there is a waterproof apron hanging on the wall next to the shelves there, and you can feel free to let me know if you two need anything.”
“Thanks, Harry.”
With that, Harry walked back to the front of the store. Water sprayed from the faucet in a slightly more wild fashion than the ones I was used to, and felt it first, waiting for it to get warm so as to not spray Brutus with cold water. When it was warmed up I rinsed him off and then washed him with the shampoo first, the smell of lavender coming from the lathers as I scrubbed him, rinsed him again, then rubbed in the conditioner. Rinsing off the conditioner, I then rinsed the tub down once, dried him off with a couple of towels, then grabbed the dryer to blow dry his fur. Brutus hated the dryer and bit at the air as it blew over him. Once he was dry I opened the door so he could hop out and rinsed the basin one more time to get all the excess fur down the drain.
Leading the way to the front of the store, Brutus gave a big shake as dogs do after getting wet, and Harry rang us up for all the items plus the cost of the use of the wash area. Swiping my card through the payment device, the tell-tale beep signified my payment was accepted and Harry gave Brutus one more biscuit for being such a good boy.
“Well, we have to get going, Harry! It’s always great to see you.”
“You too, Callan! Thanks so much for coming by. And I’ll see you both next time,” Harry said, bending down to pet Brutus one more time before we walked out of the store, the chime counting behind us again.
“Next up is the farmer’s market buddy. Let’s get going.” I said looking down at Brutus after I put the treats in my backpack.
Brutus began to whine, letting me know something was definitely off. A weight settled on me, I felt as though there were eyes watching me, and I turned my head back and forth looking around, feeling a chill come over me. The morning had been a bit cool, but the sun was shining, and it was a fairly warm day for New York.
The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end as I tried to figure out why I was getting this sudden feeling. Brutus barked loudly and was staring across the street. Feeling a pull from that direction, I looked at where he was staring, and at the bus stop across the way was a figure completely covered in a black cloak. The figure was standing outside the bus stop cover next to an advertisement for a pizza place. The black cloak seemed to billow slightly as though a breeze had caught it, but there was no wind. I couldn’t make out any features on the being as the hood was covering its face and no hand or feet extended from the ends of the cloak.
It seemed as though some kind of shadow obscured the person inside the cloak, giving it the look of the grim reaper from all the stories I had read, but without the scythe. The being’s head lifted with the hood still raised and as it looked right at me I could see two red glimmers shine out from under the hood where its eyes should have been. They shined only for a moment, like light glinting off of a pair of rubies, and then a bus pulled in front of the bus stop.
As the bus pulled up, a sharp stabbing pain erupted in my head and I closed my eyes out of instinct. When I opened my eyes, I was suddenly sitting higher off the ground than I’m used to being. In front of me, brilliant golden scales that sparkled in the sunlight shone like round overlapping shells of solid gold. Following the scales and spikes up to the head of what was clearly a giant golden dragon, Artim was his name, though I had no idea how I knew this, I stared in wonder for a moment. I didn’t seem to be in control of the body that I inhabited, instead, I appeared to be viewing the world through the eyes of someone else.
We were standing in the middle of a lush green field surveying the area. Another dragon, a deep violet color, walked up next to me. A gorgeous woman who carried herself with the regal appeal of someone who knows what they are doing and has nothing to fear from anyone around them sat in the saddle of this great beast. She was clearly a warrior as she carried a pair of swords at her waist, was wearing some kind of heavy metal armor that shone in the sunlight, and had her hair tied back in a tight braid that fell over her left shoulder. Her hair was a rich brunette color, and her eyes were a gleaming violet that matched the dragon she sat on. She looked over at me.
“This will be the best place to have the battle. It gives neither side an advantage and we will be able to fly in and out freely. We can draw them here to finish this once and for all.” She said, indicating the plains.
“Thank you for joining me here Jenna. I thought you might approve of this location,” I heard myself say. “Yes, I do believe we have chosen the right spot. Hreth Nien will need to be taught a lesson. Now that we have had to become involved we will wipe his ilk from the face of the planet once and for all.”
Jenna gave one curt nod of her head and looked out over the field.
“I will send word to release one of the prisoners to return to its master with the message. We should take a position here on this side here to give ourselves the best option for more troops to be deployed from the air. Then we can crush them. Since we know his forces reside to the north, they will come in from the western forest.” Jenna said, pointing to the locations.
“Soon, the glory of the light will be restored to this world,” I said, feeling confident and sure of the future.
As I said this, the world began to fade and spin away from my vision and I had the sensation of falling. I came back to myself and shook my head to clear it of the vision and I gasped sharply as though I hadn’t been breathing during the vision. I put my hands to my eyes and rubbed them with the heels of my palms. Getting a handle on my pain, I looked back up, remembering the strange figure, and as the bus pulled away, the figure was gone, as was the feeling of cold, and the extra weight I had felt as well. The heavy feeling left, but I couldn’t seem to move, not really sure what I had seen, and Brutus stopped barking, confused as well.
“What the actual hell was that?” I questioned out loud, unable to believe what I had actually seen, noticing people beginning to look at me strangely as they passed.
I had experienced some vivid dreams in the past, but nothing quite like that, and nothing while I had been awake. It felt so real like I was actually experiencing a part of someone else’s life. But that wasn’t possible. Dragons weren’t real. How could I be experiencing this? I must have been tired or had too much to drink the night before or something. I brushed it off and looked down at Brutus who was staring up at me intently with what looked like concern on his face.
“Sorry bud, I don’t know what happened. But we do need to get to the Farmer’s Market. So let’s get moving.”
My heart was pounding as I stood there for another minute. I couldn’t shake the feeling that had come over me and I felt frozen with fear and confusion. When I finally got my feelings under control we walked down the street toward the Farmer’s Market.
Arriving at the entrance, I looked around at all the stands and people selling their wares. The smells of not only fresh fruits and vegetables, but also several people selling freshly made foods such as roasted nuts, kettle corn, and street tacos wafted through the air tantalizingly. Bright red tomatoes, beautiful green broccoli heads, and vibrant yellow squashes could be seen on the tables set up in the oversized parking lot for the market.
“So we need to get some things for dinner,” I said to Brutus.
Brutus barked once.
“No, I know it's not for your dinner. You don’t eat vegetables, but I’m old now and I have to eat more of them.”
Brutus barked again.
“I don’t like them either, but I’m up against a wall here.”
“Callan? Is that you?” A man called from in the crowd.
Looking up confused, I stared around in the crowd for the person that called my name. I spotted a short, older, Asian man waving at me from one of the fruit stands.
“Sensei Jin!” I called back to him across the parking lot.
Brutus and I walked across the market to the far side where Sensei Jin was standing and looking at some watermelons. Jin was a man in his sixties who was wrinkled from too many days out in the sun, and had a slightly darker complexion than most Japanese people. His hair had turned white and he was almost completely bald with a small patch of hair in a short goatee he kept on his chin. He was slightly hunched with age and walked with his hands behind his back most of the time and an easy smile on his face, the quintessential picture of the kungfu sensei. We weaved through the crowd of people that had gathered to shop for fresh produce. When I approached I bowed to show my respect for my teacher and he returned the bow.
“Hello, Callan. It’s nice to see you,” Sensei Jin greeted me. “And Brutus. Always nice to see you as well.”
“Sensei, I didn’t know you came to the farmer’s market?” I replied.
“Of course I do, it's the best place to get the freshest fruits and vegetables. Not like those big-name grocery stores that always ship them in,” Sensei Jin replied. “Plus I get to support farmers in the area. Did you know that my parents were farmers in Japan?”
“I didn’t know that. I knew you always looked up to your father and he taught you how to fight, but not that he was a farmer. I just assumed he was a martial artist like you.” I said, very interested in the story now.
“My father was taught the way of the samurai and Judo by his father who learned from his father, who learned from his father, who was actually one of the last samurai in Japan when they abolished the class. Not long after the class abolishment, Judo was invented and my great great grandfather found his way into one of the dojos teaching this style of fighting. Though he was a fighter, once the samurai were outlawed, he had to find a new profession. He chose to farm. I was the first in my family to reject the farming lifestyle in five generations.”
“And that explains your teaching style as well, right?”
“Yes. I chose to blend the teachings of the samurai and the Judoka to give a more balanced and realistic style of self-defense, to be sure you are ready for any situation.” Jin said, smiling at my realization. “Self-defense is almost never as straightforward as learning a kata or flowing through motions and Judo was originally created as a way to practice many of the samurai fighting styles, but without the lethal moves they used on the battlefield. You have to learn to react to any situation that arises. When one is in the heat of battle, one does not know what will happen. What weapons do they have? Are there hidden weapons? Are they trained as well? Are they on drugs? Do they have projectiles? There are so many possibilities that you must adapt almost instantly.”
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“I’ve been in a situation like that before. Someone attempted to mug me one time on the subway on my way to work. Fortunately, they only had a knife and not a gun. I was able to overpower and disable him. Then I went on my way when he ran off.” I recalled the story with sobering emotions at the thought. “It could have been so much worse, but I reacted quickly and committed.”
“That is the key I always wanted my students to learn. Try to find a peaceful resolution first, but if you must act, harden your resolve into the steel with which you will attack, and commit completely to your actions. If you do not, you can be hurt.” Jin said, a serious expression on his face.
I nodded slowly at the sage advice from Sensei Jin.
“So, since your family was farmers, does that mean you know a lot about picking foods? I’ve had a hard time picking the right ones sometimes.” I asked, hoping for a little help.
“Sure, let me show you what to look for.”
Over the period of an hour, Sensei Jin walked around and showed me what I should be looking for when picking fruits and vegetables. My head was spinning by the time we finished and I still wasn’t sure I could pick a good watermelon from a bad one, but was glad to see that some of the foods were just about squeezing them lightly for firmness checks. I made one too many melon jokes and Sensei Jin promised to teach me some respect at my next session. Not something I was looking forward to now.
Gathering the vegetables and fruits I had purchased into some plastic bags I brought from home, I zipped them up in my backpack. With the food acquired, we headed back to the apartment to drop off our haul. Slinging my backpack on, I froze again, the feeling of being watched while chills ran up and down my spine coming over me quickly. I turned around to where the sense of being watched was coming from and saw the dark hooded figure again. Its eyes glowed red and the world began to wash away again as my head began to pound.
Suddenly, there was some kind of explosion next to my head. I ducked down but realized I was sitting in some kind of saddle. It was similar to the last one I found myself in on the back of the giant gold dragon, but this time I peered to the left and could see I was flying. My mind stopped. How the hell had I gotten way up here? How was I flying? Where was Brutus?
The wind buffeted my face, and once again I appeared to not be in control, but rather a spectator viewing the world through another’s eyes. Looking forward again I could see the scales of a green dragon this time as we wove through the air like a serpent to avoid the projectiles being thrown into the air around us, some of them exploding like bombs.
“Over there, Drogar. We need to get in to help those who were cut off from the main force. Breath attack, while I shoot some light bolts.” I found myself yelling at the dragon over the din of the battle on the ground below.
Some form of a confirmation mentally ran through my head as though the dragon was saying it understood, and then we were diving down. As my stomach lurched into my chest, I got my first good look at the ground below and it was complete chaos. There were pockets of fighting, but it was a little hard to tell what the people were fighting against. It was some kind of black sea of motion that appeared to be separate creatures, but they moved like a sea of bodies so close together and so dark they were almost indistinguishable from each other until they broke against the opposing forces.
Rushing toward us at a speed I was very uncomfortable with, the ground seemed to be alive with movement below us. The Dragon pulled its wings out wide and we began to stop and swoop back up. As it did this it let loose a mighty gout of fire from its mouth out into the crown of dark creatures below, while the body I was inhabiting began shooting bolts of light from his hands. They flew across the space over the heads of the creatures and began to pull up.
“One more pass, Drogar. We almost killed enough of the fucking bastards to get through.”
“Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?” I thought to myself before I considered the hypocrisy of my statement. “Guess I can’t really say much myself.”
Banking around the dragon flew high to come in for another pass. Drogar began to dive and as they were just about to reach the point they would release another attack, something big reached up out of the crowd and grabbed onto the mouth of the dragon. His head dipped drastically and then crashed into the very unforgiving ground, causing his body to spin end over end. Crushing force drove the wind out of me as I felt bones snapping repeatedly beneath the weight of the dragon as it rolled over and over and over on top of it. The pain of the rider radiated through me almost as though I was experiencing it secondhand.
Drogar finally came to a rest against a large rock after tumbling almost a hundred yards. Almost as soon as he came to a rest the creatures on the ground, which I could now see looked as though someone had peeled a shadow off of a wall from behind someone and gave it three-dimensional features, leaped onto him and the body I was inhabiting. Moments later everything went black.
Opening my eyes, I found myself standing in the Farmer’s market with my hands over my head protectively, and standing on one leg as though someone was about to hit me. People were staring at me as though I had just been screaming about something. Which, I might have been. I didn’t know. I sheepishly grinned at them as they stared at me, then moved away to round the corner of a building to get out of sight of those around me. Leaning against the building, I let out a long loud sigh.
“What the actual fuck is happening to me?!” I thought frantically, trying to understand why I kept having these weird visions. “Am I going crazy? Is this from too many video games? Mom did say they would rot my brain. Is this what a stroke is? I don’t smell toast…someone said I should smell toast. Wait, do I smell toast?! Oh, no…that’s just the churros stand.”
My heart was racing, sweat was running down my brow, and I couldn’t get myself to calm down. The feeling of cold and dread was gone for the moment, but these visions were really vivid and overwhelming. I seriously thought I had died in that last one. The only thing I could find that connected them were dragons. I needed to get back home for now before any more of these visions overtook me.
We headed to the subway and took the train back home. When we got to the apartment I paused at the door, expecting to feel the cold feeling come over me again. When nothing happened, I fumbled with the key to the lock, still feeling a bit frazzled by the visions. I managed to get the door unlocked and we walked inside. Brutus had a look of concern on his face when he sat and looked up at me.
“I’ll be fine buddy. It's just that I’ve never had daydreams this vivid or scary or real. Hopefully, some time at the gaming cafe will take my mind off of it.”
Pulling the food from my bag, I put it in the crisper in the fridge. I hung up the leash and went to the bathroom before coming back to the living room.
“Alright, I’m off Brutus. I’ll be back this evening. Be good and we can go out for a walk later. I’ll see you when I get back.” I said, reaching down to pet Brutus on my way out the door.
Locking up the apartment, I headed out. I took the subway back into the city and came to the gaming cafe that I frequented, Dragon Quest.
Excitement began to overtake me as I walked into the cafe and was greeted with all the familiar sounds, smells, and visuals that I saw every week when I came in to play Legends of Dragonia. The main lobby was full of sunlight with doors leading to gaming pod rooms lining the left side of the room. A reception desk sat in the middle of the room and was a complete circle so that whoever was there could turn in any direction to face someone. There was a computer set up facing the front door so that they could monitor the systems while watching for incoming traffic. A hallway led down to the rooms in the back on the left side of the room where the doors were sitting. Off to the right and continuing the glass walls, was the actual cafe portion of the building with a small eatery with a sitting area facing the side street that offered some of the basic gamer foods such as pizza, burgers, and hot dogs. The smell of freshly made pizza wafted over from the cafe and made my stomach grumble slightly. I was tempted to get something to eat before I started but was stopped as I entered.
Sitting at the circular reception desk was a man of about my same age, slightly taller at about six foot two, with a very slender build, thick black glasses, and a scruffy black beard. He had long black hair as well that was always pulled back in a man-bun and he looked up at me as I entered.
“Callan! Great to see you! Are you ready for some epic gaming today?” Damien greeted me as he stood and held out a fist for a bump.
“You know it!” I said as I fist-bumped him back. “Hey, have you heard anything else in the threads about the dragon’s egg quest?”
“Dude, I’ve been scouring the net to find news. No one has finished it yet, but elderlord45 has been saying that there is another clue out in this little village in the far north of Dragonia. You guys had better get out there to check it out if you want to be the first to get those eggs.”
“Ugh, elderlord45. That little bastard is always one step ahead of us in this stupid quest.” I sighed, annoyed at being beaten to the next step in the quest chain again.
“Yeah, that little bitch has been bragging all over the place about how close he is to finishing the quest. You guys totally need to beat him to get it so you can crush his fucking spirits.” Damien said, a sneer showing his distaste for elderlord45.
“I would love nothing more than to beat his ass and show him what a real team of players looks like,” I replied. “Did you see where he said we were just a bunch of little kids out trying to play with the adults?”
“That bitch,” Damien bit the words off short as his anger rose again. “He doesn’t deserve the prize, you guys have worked way harder than he has to get there. Unfortunately, his info looks good, so you guys need to get there quickly to check it out. The others are already in the game getting ready. Your room is here right off the main entry. Go get in and I’ll send someone in to get you hooked up.”
“Thanks, Damien,” I said giving him another fist bump. “I’ll tell elderlord45 fuck you for you when I see him.”
Moving over to the first room and opening the door, I was greeted by the familiar all-black room and low light setting with a TV on one wall so that others could see what I was doing in the game, the gaming pod on the left side of the room, and a small set of shelves, a locker, and a laundry basket on the right side of the room. The locker was so I could keep my items locked up while I gamed, and the shelves held a set of white scrub-like clothing, neatly folded and freshly laundered, to wear while in the gaming pod to keep your clothes from getting sweaty. The laundry basket was where I would deposit the gaming clothes when done playing so that someone could wash them for use by another person later.
I walked in and I changed into my gaming clothes. A woman in her mid-twenties with long blonde hair tied back in a ponytail, wearing a black T-shirt, black pants, and black shoes entered the room as I began to climb into the gaming pod. I settled into the pod and the woman came over to help me get hooked into the game.
“Ready to get all hooked up?” The woman asked.
“Sure thing, I hope your hands are warm,” I said, immediately realizing how stupid that sounded.
She giggled slightly and took the nodes and attached them to my head, neck, upper chest, and the backs of my arms.
“Remember, don’t try to move around until the game has come on completely and you are immersed in the game. If you pull out the nodes the game will shut off wherever you are without logging you out for your safety. We don’t want your avatar left out in the wilderness somewhere or dying in battle because you need to be safe.” She said, giving her normal speech about movement in the pod with a smile on her face.
“Roger Roger,” I said in a mechanical tone of voice.
Again, she giggled at the reference and pressed a button on the side of the pod.
“Have fun, come see me when you are finished as well,” She said with a wink as she backed away from the pod, the door to the top closing to encompass me in darkness for a moment.
“Two times in one day? I am on a roll!” I said quietly to myself at my odd new luck with women today.
This new system was one of the top-of-the-line pods that had been introduced by one of the big gaming companies. You could buy one for yourself to use in your home, but owning one was prohibitively expensive. That was why so many just rented one for a time at gaming centers around the city. It was a sleek white egg-shaped pod sitting on a black base and tilted at an angle that had your body reclined as though you were in a recliner. Your body was hooked into the system with nodes that attached to your head, neck, back, arms, and chest to pick up signals from your neural network that were translated into the signals the system would interpret as your actions in the game.
The inside of the pod was lined with memory foam to make the resting area as comfortable as possible. Each point of pressure that my body created was held lovingly by the soft, yet supportive padding in the bottom of the pod. Small LED lights lined the sides of the pod to slowly brighten when the session was over and help your eyes readjust before the pod opened. The lid of the pod opened on automatic hinges so that the user didn’t have to close the lid or try to push it open. A small red button was located on the inside of the lid that when pressed, would send a panic notification to those outside the system in case the lid was to get stuck closed. It was connected to the front desk as well as several other places in the cafe so that no matter where someone was, they would be alerted.
Pulling the VR headset from the hook on the side wall of the pod off its resting place, the LED lights glowed softly so I could see where it was located, and I put it on my head as the game came to life. The logo for the game flashed in my vision and the game company logo followed it. An opening sequence played in front of me and I let it play as I liked watching the action sequences as well as watching it gave me a moment to let my mind adjust to the game world. Scenes with a picturesque setting of a castle with a moat and its drawbridge lowered showed through an outcropping of trees as a menu appeared in my vision asking if I wanted to continue, start a new game, or exit. Selecting continue, the world passed into a blur around me as I was transported to my avatar in the game.
Paladin was the class I had chosen in the game, one of the holy knights, and had acquired a great set of armor during one of the previous special events in the game for completing a quest chain. I wore full plate armor made from mithril, one of the strongest metals in the game, that gleamed with a very light blueish hue in the sunlight where I stood in a field, the last place I had been when I logged out, with a long flowing red cape across my back. My avatar was a beautiful sculpture of a man with blonde hair, blue eyes, a chiseled chin, a body full of muscles, and who stood over six feet tall. Corrin555 was everything I could have wanted to be in real life. A magnificent great sword that was enchanted with several special abilities, completed the look of the knight in shining armor that was seen in so many stories and games. Every piece of equipment I had boosted my stats in some way and gave me a build I was very proud of. I pulled up the in-game chat and sent a message to my team. I was able to see that all of them were online so I waited for a reply.
“Hey guys, sorry I’m running a bit late. But I’m here now. Where are you all at?” I typed, hitting send to relay the message in our team’s private chat.
“We’re at the guild hall, gearing up. Come meet us and we can head out.” Sylvia, the team mage, answered.
“Roger that. Heading over now. Be there momentarily.” I replied, closing the game chat.
Opening my menus, I used the guild teleport ability that our guild received for reaching level five as a team, to move directly to the guild hall in an instant. A moment later lights flashed all around me as a sigil engraved itself on the ground beneath me. As the lights flashed I was transported directly to the entrance hall of the guild building. I moved to the back of the building to a small room off of one of the winding corridors that had been set aside for my team to use. We were one of the top contributing teams in the guild so the guild leader had given us a room where we could keep our gear. The door was locked so that only someone on our team, and very high-ranking guild leaders, could open it.
The door creaked slightly as I turned the handle and entered, and I was greeted with the standard six beds across one wall and six small foot lockers across the opposite wall, with a large square rug in the middle of the room, and a single large window set in the wall directly across from the door. We hadn’t done much other decorating as it didn’t seem worth the gold. We were only a team of five, but the room was set up for the standard six-party size. Inside Sylvia, Mark, Erik, and Conrad were already waiting on me.
Sylvia, a wizard, and our main offensive spellcaster, was a slender elf woman wearing bright white robes with gold etching on the edges of the robe, a grimoire chained to her waist, and carrying a wand in one hand. She was sitting on one of the beds with one leg crossed over the other waiting patiently as others got ready. She was a beautiful yet dangerous specimen of a woman who didn’t take any crap off of anyone. Her purple eyes scanned the room and landed on me as I entered.
Mark was our healer. He was a human druid that specialized in healing earth spells and dressed in leather armor with a cloak and hood covering his head carrying a staff that was shaped like a snake. Alongside his healing spells were also a slew of earth-based offensive spells used to hold enemies and deal some damage over time as well. He had saved our bacon many times before in a fight just when things looked like they were going south by either giving us just enough health to keep going or casting spells to hold the enemy long enough for us to finish them off. I trusted him to have our back in any fight we went into. While clerics were the truest powerhouse healers, Mark played a vital role in making up for the sixth member of our team by being both a distance fighter and healer all in one.
Erik was our rogue and wore all-black leather with a hood covering his head and a cowl that covered the bottom half of his face. Even though I couldn’t see his ears, he was playing as a half-elf for the Dexterity bonuses. Bandoliers crossed his chest with daggers in every slot. He specialized in sneak attacks and was just about undetectable when he activated his stealth skills. Many times he had gone into enemy territory and gotten valuable information or assassinated big threats before we even had to enter the area. We could always rely on his tracking skills as well to tell us what lay ahead.
Last, but certainly not least, Conrad was a half-giant barbarian. He was a mountain of a man that wore nothing but a leather loin cloth with scale mail plates covering the outside and carried a giant two-handed hammer that he swung with ease. Muscles bulged everywhere on his body and he had long flowing hair that was held out of his face with a leather band around his head. He was everything that a barbarian should have been down to the short temper he sported when playing the game. He was always up for a fight and willingly charged into battle ahead of the party to draw the aggro to himself and keep us protected.
Conrad was digging through his footlocker rummaging around through his gear to find the best stuff for our next quest, which was ironic given he normally only wore the loin cloth and carried the hammer. Mark was sitting on the bed going through some menu that only he could see, running his finger through the air as though he was searching menus for something. Erik sat on a chair in the corner of the room with his head lowered, and eyes closed with arms crossed over his chest and one leg thrown over the other as though he was bored and brooding.
“Hey, Callan. Nice of you to join us today.” Sylvia said, a note of playful teasing in her voice.
“Sorry, I stopped to talk with Damien for a minute. Did you know that elderlord45 had found this quest already and said there’s another clue to finding the dragon eggs?” I replied.
“What? That son of a bitch. How did he get there first?” Conrad asked, looking up from his rummaging at the mention of elderlord45.
“I have no idea, but we need to get out to that village as soon as we can. We can’t let them finish the quest before us and get the prize.” I said, putting my hands on my hips.
“Right. Do you know where it is?” Sylvia asked.
“Here, I’ll update the team map with the location. Accept the party invite and it should show for you all.” I opened a menu and sent each of them a party invite.
They all accepted the invite and opened their menus to view the map.
“That’s really out there, Callan. We will have to fly there.” Erik said.
“I know. But we can rent eagles and head out from town.” I offered, looking at my funds.
“Ugh, I hate taking those. It's so expensive!” Mark complained, rolling his eyes at having to spend more gold on this quest.
“The rewards are worth it. Think of what it will mean to be the first to have dragon familiars?” I said almost incredulously at the lack of enthusiasm.
“You’re right, as always. Besides, we can make up the money from the monster drops. I’m sure there will be plenty of them at some point.” Sylvia pointed out.
“Monsters?” Conrad perked right up at the mention of a fight with monsters. “What kind of monsters? Who do I get to fight? Orcs? Wyverns? Lava colossus?”
“Not sure yet, that turdburger elderlord45 didn’t give any details, but we will find out. Let’s get going so we can get there. Time is wasting.” I ordered, snapping my fingers.
The team got ready and we left the guild hall and headed to the center of town. Once there we approached the eagle handlers and paid the gold to rent one eagle each. They were magnificent, and the handlers clearly knew this and charged an arm and a leg to use them. They were giant golden eagles with feathers that shone in the sunlight. Golden brown feathers covered them from head to leg with a bright yellow beak and feet and vibrant green eyes that radiated intelligence. Attached to those bright yellow feet were huge black talons that likely could have gutted a horse if they could be used for combat. Unfortunately, the game restricted them to be used only for transport from one location to another.
We mounted up and the eagles took off and hovered in the air in place, flapping their wings lazily to stay aloft. When everyone was on an eagle, I took off in the direction of the village. We flew higher and higher until the town looked like a map below. Flying out over fields with waving grasses, then over forests with so many trees they began to blur into one big patch of green, the landscape passed beneath us in a stream of beauty. Mountains couldn’t be flown over because of the game map restrictions, but we flew around the one range that ran across part of the continent. The snow-covered caps of the mountains passed beside us, giving off chilly breezes, and led down to rocky cliff faces where mountain goats jumped from ledge to ledge. After about an hour of flying, we came close to the location. We decided to land outside the forest that the little village was inside of and walk into the village rather than just dropping in right on top of it so we could scout the place out first.
Dismounting the eagles, they flew back up and toward the town we had rented them in. I watched them go for a moment, wishing I had a mount like that I could use to get around all the time, then turned to the team.
“Alright, Erik, you are up first. We need to scout out the village to see what we are up against. Go ahead of us and report back.” I barked out, looking at Erik. “We will follow behind to make sure that nothing comes up behind us in the forest as well.”
Erik nodded once then activated his stealth ability, hide in plain sight, and practically disappeared. When he used this ability the only thing left of him was a clear outline of his body that could only be seen when I inspected where he was standing very closely. I watched his barely visible form move off into the trees at a run.
“Alright, that leaves the rest of us. I’ll take the lead on this one so that I can keep watch on the trail for any creatures that we might encounter on the way.” I stated. “Conrad, you’re right behind me in case we get into it with any monsters. I don’t want you running off half-cocked and giving away our position. Sylvia, you are next, then Mark watching our rear.”
Everyone nodded and we continued single file down the narrow trail left in the forest. It took us about a half hour walking down the trail to get to a point just out of view of the village where we hid just off the trail in the bushes and waited for Erik to return. After about five minutes of waiting Erik appeared in front of us, crouched on the ground with one hand in the dirt to brace himself.
“It’s goblins. The village is full of them,” He reported to the team. “It shouldn’t be too much trouble, but it's going to be a slog. The village is set up in a circle with a small central bonfire here, and the majority of the run-down huts surrounding the bonfire here. There is one slightly larger building that I couldn’t get a good look at down at the far end of the village sitting here.”
Erik drew the crude map of the village in the dirt with his index finger, mapping out the buildings and major structures and how they surrounded the firepit and other objects in the village.
“Of course, it would be goblins. I really hate those little bastards.” I swore, hearing the news of the enemies we’d be facing. “It couldn’t have been something else. I’d take trolls at this point.”
“Don’t jinx us, you idiot.” Sylvia chastised me, punching me in the arm to drive the point home. “We don’t need their regeneration to deal with on top of all of this.”
“So, how are we doing this one?” Mark asked, interrupting the argument.
“Erik, you sneak back in and kill any scouts watching, then Conrad will charge in and draw aggro while obliterating as many as possible in the confusion. The rest of us will join the fray to keep the rest off of you. Then we start the wedge formation to get through the remaining forces.” I offered, giving a plan of action.
“I hate the wedge formation. It always means I get cut off from the team as you go forward. Can’t we do the diamond formation so I have some protection? I don’t want to die because you all weren’t watching behind you.” Sylvia asked.
“You’re right. Sorry Sylvia,” I apologized, changing the plan. “Move into Diamond formation instead of the wedge. Erik, you take the rear to watch for incoming forces. If we start to get overwhelmed move out in front to thin out the creatures. Sylvia, if he moves you have to throw up a Fire Wall to keep our rear protected.”
At this, the team nodded and we moved to get ready at the edge of the forest crouching down in the bushes and watching for the right moment to attack. Erik stealthed again and moved out to eliminate his targets. We watched and saw a few goblins on the outside perimeter of the village as they were stabbed and drug into the bushes and one he wrapped a choking string around their neck before dragging them into the bushes, kicking but unable to scream the entire way. He was extremely careful to be sure they were silent kills.
Just minutes later, he reappeared nearby us and nodded silently. I looked over at Conrad who grinned back at me in absolute wicked pleasure. He hefted his hammer and caressed its head lovingly and actually kissed it before he stood up and charged into the camp.
“TIME TO DIE MOTHERFUCKERS!” He yelled at the top of his lungs as he barreled straight into the village.
Conrad swung his hammer across his body and absolutely obliterated the head of the first goblin he came in contact with. We took that as our queue to rush in from behind as well, not wanting Conrad to get overwhelmed too quickly. We did not let out shouts so as to keep aggro on the barbarian, but we ran in from behind and began to take out goblins in every direction.
The first few minutes of the battle were a chaotic slaughter. The unexpected attack caused most of the goblins to panic and run for their houses. We killed goblins with impunity and without taking any damage to ourselves. My sword carved through the flesh of the backs of fleeing goblins, and Sylvia had apparently set one of the huts on fire with a fireball. Mark reached out and cast a vine spell that grabbed a few of them as they ran, causing them to trip and fall. Conrad took full advantage of this and smashed his hammer down on each one in a macabre game of whack-a-mole.
“Form up! Diamond formation!” I called out over the din of battle.
The members of my team immediately jumped into action moving so that Conrad was at the front, Mark and myself at the sides, and Erik in the rear with Sylvia carefully protected in the middle.
“Angle forty-five degrees right!” I yelled again.
The team moved so that Erik and Mark were now in the rear with myself and Conrad both on the front line as the goblins seemed to get their act together and now were streaming out of the huts, attempting to mount a counterattack. We worked together to keep the little buggers back as best as we could. My great sword blocked attacks as they came in and deflected arrows coming from archers that were lining up in the back now. I stabbed out and killed one goblin, then used my sword to bash a few others aside with the dead goblin still attached to the end of the sword where it had been impaled.
We fought on for what seemed like forever, as the bodies started piling up around us making it hard to stay in formation and continue to fight the oncoming horde that seemed to never end. The huts didn’t even look big enough to hold all of these goblins, yet more and more poured out of the doors of the huts as we continued to fight on.
“On your left!” I called to Conrad, already sick of these little green devils, watching as more of them poured out of a run-down hut to the left of our formation trying to surround us.
Just as I had finished calling out my warning, another goblin thrust his rusty sword out to try to stab me in the gut. I brought my blade around just in time to deflect the strike, continuing the swing around into an overhead diagonal chop to slice down on the enemy’s neck, the edge biting deep into the flesh. The power of my strike caused the steel to slice deep into the skin of the goblin and continue through the creature’s collarbone and several ribs before getting stuck in its spine. The metal was grating on the bones of my now-dead opponent and blackish blood coated nearly the entire blade at this point spraying into my face from the artery I had severed in its neck.
Sputtering at the horrible acidic and coppery taste of their blackish blood, I braced my foot on the chest of the limp body and kicked the small humanoid monster off my sword. Spitting to the side to get the taste out of my mouth, as by now their blood coated pretty much any free-wiping real estate I had on my body, I gritted my teeth, growled, and swore inwardly at the creature's insistence on continuing to attack us.
The little creatures were ugly as sin with huge bulbous noses that didn’t fit their faces, beady solid black eyes, green wart-covered skin, and body odor that could have burned the hairs off of a warthog. Add to that they had the basic disposition of a New York subway rat on meth, and you get the basic makeup of a goblin.
“These goblins are everywhere! Why did the quest send us here again?” Conrad asked as he inched up and called out from somewhere behind me. I shrugged. Out of my side vision, I saw my companions widen the space between us.
“It’s a really important quest, Remember? We just go where it says and collect the loot!” I called, but he had moved again.
“We need to form up! Close the gaps and get ready for their attack!” I called out noticing the others were moving away as well.
Conrad thrust-kicked one goblin in the chest, caving in its armor and causing blood to spew out of its mouth as it died. He grunted as he swung his massive hammer around at a few other goblins trying to make some room for us to move.
"Why does it always have to be goblins? They stink, they are ugly as hell, and they always fight like they're on crack." He grunted, clearly straining with each blow he dealt.
"Think of the loot and the XP, Conrad. Now stop your whining and start your killing!" I barked, noticing that the gaps in our formation were getting larger still.
"I just don't see why we couldn't kill something that smells better." Conrad retorted, smashing his hammer down on the head of a goblin that tried to get between our front line.
"For the love of all that is holy, are you just going to bitch and moan the whole time? You were the one that wanted a fight so bad!" I yelled, my frustration finally boiling over at his continued protests.
The big man shut right up at this point. He had been the one to constantly ask where the fight was and when he could start killing. Conrad loved nothing more than to kill under normal circumstances. But we had been fighting these ugly green piles of stink for quite a while now.
Sylvia turned, waving her hands in the air, and chanted an incantation. With her final hand motions being raising her hands, palms up, to the sky, a wall of spitting, crackling flame rose up from the ground behind us, blocking the advance of the goblins on that side. The heat was so intense I could feel it on my back through my armor from this distance. That meant that Erik must have had to move to the front, so I looked out to see where he might have gone.
Conrad swung his hammer from side to side to give himself a bit more room, then I saw the head of his hammer begin to glow with a dull white light signaling his next attack. The goblins had been pressing their attack with some of the new members that rushed out of the building, bolstering their already ravenous attack.
“Smashing Strike!” Conrad called as he brought the head of his giant hammer down on an advancing goblin, ending its existence, leaving nothing but a black smear on the ground, and sending a wave of force out from the epicenter of his attack and tossing creatures back, and knocking over some of the piles of goblins that had been mounting around us.
Finally spotting him, Erik flashed in and out of stealth, dancing around the crowd of goblins. His sneak skill was so high that I could barely make his shape out as he flashed through the crowd of goblins in front of us. Every time he appeared and then disappeared, using his hide-in-plain-sight ability, a spray of blood would erupt, his daggers finding the weak spots in their armor or opening an artery in a neck or a leg. Black blood sprayed in all directions as time seemed to slow for a moment while he used some supercharged rogue ability to attack multiple opponents at once, and goblins squealed and grabbed wounds as they died when time resumed its normal flow.
I swung my greatsword in a sideways arc utilizing a special skill, cleave, and sliced at the goblins in front of me, mowing most of them down with the sheer weight of the blade alone. Their pitiful rusted and cracked weapons and mismatched armor were no match for the power I was able to deal out.
Pain flared in my arms and legs as small blades were used to try to cut my legs and arms as I waded through the battle. A warmth filled my body and ran to my extremities as a healing spell from Mark, who was diligently watching our health to ensure none of us took too much damage, took effect on me.
Mowing my way through the goblins on all sides like a scythe through wheat, I came to the outer ring of the monsters and turned to hack my way through the next set of enemies. Bodies flew through the air letting out screams of pain as Conrad smashed his way through the horde as well, his hammer almost a blur in his hands as he began to use his rage skill to give him even more power. Sylvia and Mark were making their way through the horde as well just behind Conrad. A moment later I saw something move from the far end of the circle of huts we were fighting in. A huge hulking form, covered in warts, and sporting greyish skin with arms twice as long as its legs crawled out of the large hovel in the village and stood up. It threw its arms out to each side and roared a challenge out to us. It then bent over and grabbed a club that had been leaning against the outside of the hut and began to lumber toward us.
“TROLL!” Erik called to us.
“I see it!" I grunted in annoyance, another goblin rushing in to attack me. "It couldn’t have waited until we could all attack it now could it? Try to keep the goblins off me while I distract it. The last thing we need is that ugly bugger coming at us from behind.”
I sliced out again, killing two goblins in front of me before Erik appeared out of stealth to my right and pulled a katana out from the sheath on his back to start killing goblins in my place. Pulling back a bit, I turned to face the troll. Running to meet it, I raised my greatsword into a ready position. The troll brought the club up over its massive head and brought it down in a strike meant to pound me into the ground. Swinging my sword and deflected the club off to the left, I dragged the greatsword across its belly, opening a long line that began to bleed profusely and some of its intestines fell out like grey sausages flopping across its torso. It roared in pain and swung the club across its body at me. I tried to put my sword up to block but had stared too long at its gross insides, and was hit in the side, taking the full force of the blow and sent flying across the street and smashed into the wall of one of the huts, breaking through the flimsy wood to land inside.
“Holy shit that hurt.” I moaned as I rolled to get to my feet, more pain blooming in my arms and chest leaving me with slightly blurred vision for a moment as I noticed my health was down by twenty-five percent just from that one hit.
Stepping out of the hut and stumbling slightly, pieces of broken wood crunching under my feet, I could see the troll making its way casually over to me, the wound in its gut already sealing again from its unnaturally fast healing rates after it stuffed its insides back into its body cavity.
“Stupid troll regeneration!” I said, cursing out loud. “Send some fire at that troll! We need to stop its regeneration!”
“On it!” Sylvia called back from behind Conrad, who she was using as a shield to get space to cast her spells.
Words of power rang out, and a fireball was launched at the troll hitting the monster squarely in its ugly, disfigured face, exploding as it hit causing fire to wash over its entire head. The troll screamed in pain and grabbed at its face with both hands as the flames burned its skin away. It dropped the club it had been carrying to clatter on the ground. Using this distraction to run at the creature, I readied my greatsword preparing to strike. When I reached the troll, I swung my weapon up one side of the creature and down the other side, cutting both arms off at the shoulder and causing its greenish-black blood to spray violently out to the sides in a fountain of gore. As the creature screamed out again in pain, I activated Flame Blade and my sword ignited. Turning my body for leverage, I swung the huge weapon around and up at the creature’s neck, severing its head with one clean strike and cauterizing the wound at the same time so it couldn’t grow back.
With no brain telling the rest of the body what to do, the troll slumped to the ground dead. With this death, the goblins saw the futility of their attack and tried to escape. More words of power sang out and another Wall of Flame appeared in their path. Some of the goblins were moving too fast to stop before reaching it and they fell into the flames which eagerly licked at their bodies and caused them to curl in on themselves as they turned into charred husks. Those who had managed to stop turned to find their escape cut off by my party. We cut down the last few as they tried desperately to escape, all sense of fight having left them with the death of the troll.
“Another successful raid,” I said turning to the rest of the team, my bloody sword resting on one of my pauldrons. “Let’s see what they have for us shall we?”
We walked through the piles of dead bodies and began to loot the corpses. This was going to take a long while as there were so many of them, and goblins usually carried crap items, with the exception of some more uncommon or rare items that randomly appeared from time to time as drops. I moved to loot the Troll, claiming it as my right for killing it. A great club, a few gold and silver coins, and a necklace that had some regeneration benefits were pretty much what it had on it. I decided to check out the bigger building in the back of the village while I was close by.
Walking in, it was a single-room building that was clearly being used just as cover from the elements by the troll. It was obviously goblin made as it was thrown together from many different pieces of other buildings and barely held together. In a corner in the far back of the room, I found a scroll that I picked up and unrolled. It was another clue to the quest chain we had been on for months now. Walking back out to the rest of the team, who were all busy looting the corpses of the goblins, I held the scroll up in the air.
“I found it. It's another clue to follow.” I said, feeling a bit defeated.
“How many does that make now?” Sylvia asked, also sounding exasperated at being pulled in another direction with no end in sight for the quest.
“Thirty-two steps. This will make thirty-three. Hopefully, this will be near the end if not the last one. But keep in mind the prize at the end.” I said, trying to look on the bright side of things.
Groans were all I got in return for my brief attempt at positivity.
“I don’t think I need anything from these goblins. See you guys IRL for pizza?” I asked, feeling more tired than I had in a long while.
“Sure thing, Callan. We’ll finish up here and meet you at the cafe.” Sylvia replied.
Pulling up my menu again, I selected the log-out option. The world began to fade around me as the system was shut down. I awoke in total darkness and reached up to remove the Virtual Reality goggles from my eyes. The soft walls of the pod caressed my body and I felt the memory foam padding underneath me as it formed to fit the pressure points my body naturally created with its weight distribution. Sitting in the darkness for a moment, I waited for the lights to come on as they always did when coming out of a session. Only, the lights weren’t coming on like they were supposed to and the voice of the AI system that usually greeted me when I returned wasn’t coming on.
Figuring the system was having a glitch I reached for the latch to open the pod. Finding it in the dark I pulled on the handle to release the lock. The latch wouldn’t move though. Suddenly I felt a sense of panic and began to feel around for the button to press. I couldn’t find it! It was supposed to be right by the latch, but it wasn’t there. Banging on the lid of the pod I hoped someone might hear me, but that was when I began to feel a sense of dread and cold again. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end just as they had earlier in the day and I began to panic in full now pushing both my legs and arms against the lid to try to get out.
Suddenly, I felt like I was falling backward and into open space, no longer held in the pod I had entered. Then I began to move faster and faster as I was pulled by some unseen force through the darkness. The world began to blur by as pinpricks of light began to show as I moved backward. The lights became streaks and then lines that couldn’t be distinguished from each other like hyperspace in the movies. I found it harder and harder to hold onto consciousness as I sped up. Tunnel vision began to sink in until I finally blacked out into unconsciousness.