Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 88010 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 440(@200wpm)___ 352(@250wpm)___ 293(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88010 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 440(@200wpm)___ 352(@250wpm)___ 293(@300wpm)
I decide to keep quiet about that. The look on his face when he was censuring me was enough for me to know he doesn’t want me too closely connected to that thing.
CHAPTER 6
Melissa
Our time alone ends with a dramatic shriek, the cry of a dragon.
A shadow passes overhead, followed by a roar. We are no longer alone. Several dragons are approaching, having apparently been searching for us. Having spotted us, they land.
One looks like a smaller, younger version of Ornix. He hangs back, looking a little guilty. There is also a bright, red-scaled dragon, who turns into a humanoid with red hair, bright green eyes, and a muscularity that is impressive as hell before he shrugs a conjured black leather jacket over his shoulders. There is magic in this place. I wonder if I will be able to wield it. I’d quite like to try. The other one is a steel gray-blue creature who transforms into a humanoid with some obvious age to him. His hair is swept back over his head in a silver cascade, and his eyes are bright blue. He makes me nervous, because he’s so imposing in the way quiet, smart men are. Actually, it might be because he reminds me of the dean at college.
“Sire, it is good to see you,” he says.
“Arkos,” Ornix says. “Good to see you. All is well. I have obtained my mate, the horse, and something else besides. We will speak of it more when we return to the castle.”
“I’m Equinox,” the younger version of Ornix says, sidling up to me. “I’m his nephew.”
“Equinox, why do I know that name… Oh, my god, you’re the developer!”
“Yes,” he grins, flashing white fanged teeth. “I coded and wrote the original game and now there’s a whole company. Ow!”
The last part, the ow, comes from the smack he gets from Ornix.
“This boy is the reason there is so much trouble.”
“What trouble?”
“You, for starters, running off because you think you know the forest.”
“Video games can be a bad influence,” I agree. “But he made something that has brought people from all over the world together. And I love the game. And if he didn’t make the game, and I didn’t run off to the woods, then you wouldn’t have the fifth seal now, would you.”
All eyes go to Ornix.
“You have the fifth seal?” The red dragon speaks.
“Yes, Jak. I have the seal. Someone was trying to send it north using kobolds as couriers. It was not a good choice.”
So there’s Equinox, Jak, and Arkos. Equinox is obviously the scapegoat of the castle. I can tell already that he gets blamed for everything and has learned to shoulder it without thinking about it too much. I feel a kind of kinship with him already. The pair of us look at one another with sidelong glances as the other three enter into a serious conversation about the seal.
I drift away a little and sit on the grass. Equinox follows me and sits down next to me.
“So,” he says. “You’ve been taken as a captive by my uncle.”
“Yeah,” I laugh. I didn’t expect him to be that blunt about it. Ornix acts as though this is all completely understandable and reasonable. Equinox seems to know that nothing that is happening right now is okay by human standards.
“Are you okay?”
“I am okay,” I say. “I’m… okay.”
I don’t want to say too much to him. He’s a stranger, even if he’s a sympathetic one.
“You’ve played the game before, huh.” He grins.
“Dragon Fire Eternity? Oh, my god, so much! I love it. And so much of it seems to be true to the real world.”
“Yes. Uncle is not happy about that part of things. He’s asked me to make some changes, so there’s going to be a big content drop in a few months. What class did you play?”
“I was healer for a while, because my group needed one, but I always liked DPS. I played Dragonkin.”
“And now here you are,” he says. “I knew the second you went to the forest you had played before.”
“I tried to level, but it’s not as easy for real. Killing real things is much worse.”
“I never really intended for the game to be a tutorial for the realm, but it looks like you picked up some gear anyway.” He nods his head at my eclectic outfit.
“Kobold stuff. I need a proper weapon, though. I managed to sharpen a stick. That’s not a good way to do anything.”
“Could be alright for fishing if your dexterity was high enough.”
“I don’t know what my stats are, but they feel like they’re all zeroed out.”
Equinox laughs at my joke. It’s nice to talk to someone who feels like they’re on a similar level to me. He might actually know what it’s like to be human. He’s someone who has built a whole digital world for people to play in.