Dreaming Orora Page 13

  “Are they players or NPCs?”

  “Started with NPCs, as part of the lore. Then some crazies took it as a way of life,” Rain stopped looking back at the circle, “Some people just take the game way too seriously.”

  “So this, a, Realm of the Heroes, kinda like heaven or something?”

  Rain looked at her quizzically, “You don't know much about the lore do you?”

  “Guilty as charge,” Maia raised both hands. Mental note: read more about the lore; don't want to run into those crazy people.

  The old man smiled shaking his head slowly. He placed both hands on his cane, stopped and looked north, “so, should we head to Aargal?”

  “Aargal?” Maia said, “I thought the dome was in Ladara?”

  “It’s,” the old man said, “but all those people are here, and not there,” he pointed at the dome, “for a reason. Pretty much no one can access Ladara now and I think Aargal have some high ranked personal trapped inside, so I’m sure they are planning something.”

  “Well,” Rain said, “Aargal it’s then.”

  ~

  Maia feared reaching Aargal would take them sometime; midnight approached and the prospect of getting early for work tomorrow did not sound good. But they made it in less than an hour. Few mobs tried to agro but the wizard, Rain and Borg proved more than enough to stop any threat. With the enforced penalty in party level difference, she still managed to level up her Black Mage to level three from all the stray kills on the way.

  Aargal was built on an intricate web of waterways and channels. It had no roads, just channels with small gondolas navigating through them. What a romantic place this must’ve been. Now however, small boats flooded the area to the point where Maia couldn't see the water on few spots. She did spot few players swimming in between those boats.

  “Listen guys,” she said, “I’ll have to log off for today. Got work tomorrow.”

  “We’ll loiter here for some time before heading out ourselves,” Rain said, “maybe try to find some leads,” he smiled and fist bumped Borg.

  “Take care guys. I’ll see you tomorrow same time.”

  Maia dropped from the party and pulled the HUD. Pressed on the awake from Orora option and a timer started counting for thirty seconds. An option to cancel the log out below it.

  “Maia, one second please,” the old man stood before her.

  “Oh,” her head went left and right. She reached for the cancel option, “Yes?”

  “Did you set your home point here?” the old man said in the public chat. She turned to face him. In his true old man act, he leaned with both hands on his cane.

  “No, I’ll do it tomorrow I guess.”

  “What about that small port town?”

  “Did you see the crowd there? No of course.”

  “So it’s still in Paya or Arandal?”

  “Arandal I think, why?”

  “Well,” the old man took the cane in one hand and it started to sparkle, “I’m sorry about this.” he raised the cane and white bolts shot through Maia’s body. Her HP stood for two bursts of lightning before her body dropped to the ground.

  “What the hell old man?” she said but then realized she was out of the party chat. “What the hell?” she screamed again in public.

  The old man leaned above her, his head few inches away from hers, “If you are shouting right now, I can’t hear you. So save your breath. If you are waiting for anyone to raise you, forget it. I’ll kill them before they even start to cast. Port home Maia.”

  She cursed the old man again and again under her breath. Rain was right. He’s nothing more than a senile old geezer. Not wanting to get anyone else hurt, she ported home. She looked at the time, twelve thirty five. She pulled the HUD and selected the awake from Orora option. The timer started ticking down to zero before everything went black.

  Mia drew a full lung and let it out. She repeated it few times. Nostrils flared. Eyes shut. She took off the VRR and sat on the chair for few minutes. She smiled and got up in one smooth move. This feeling, of anger, consumed and concerned over a video game. It’s back. And she loved it.

  Want to talk to your friends in Orora? Unlike the real world, there are different modes of chatting besides just talking.

  The private chat is between two friends only. You can use it only with those in your friend list. Some called these PM, or Private Messages.

  There is also the party chat and the guild chat, both of which are self-explanatory.

  When all fails, there are the outside Orora systems. For those you know in the real world and trust with your personal number.

  18 – I hate the rain

  For a guy who always regarded himself as a pro and a player that could read few steps into the future, Jack hated himself for not seeing this coming. The Ladaran army ceased the city parameters, no one moved in or out. Magic, weapons, items and even mounts were blocked. Why the hell did he set his home point here?

  Eric sat next to him on a bench few feet away from where all the mayhem took place. They took shelter on the side of a small shop from the relentless rain pounding the city ever since the siege started. The world was weeping, some called it, surprisingly only inside the city. The surrounding area had clear skies for the most part.

  “I hate the rain.”

  Eric looked at him and sighed, “Just when I thought luck finally tilted to our side. I’m really wasting my time here, I think I better log and be with Karin.”

  “I hate to say it, but I told you so. This tournament was nothing but trouble.”

  “Come on man, the tournament had nothing to do with it,” Eric said, he nodded towards a group of players in the distance, “another wasted day and these guys don’t seem to get it.”

  “Keep telling you people are stupid.”

  Eric snorted, “not everyone, Jack. We are stuck here too.”

  “You know that’s not what I meant. As individuals, people could be smart, I admit. But put them in a collective bunch,” Hok pointed at the mass in the distance, “apply some stress and you get stupid at its best.” Hok followed with his eyes the human wave charging towards the gate. They all fell to the rain of arrows and bursts of spells exploding between them before they even reached the wall of guards blocking the way.

  “It’s like watching a fast moving traffic at an intersection,” Hok looked at another group gathering opposite the gate. “From afar, it looks complicated and you wonder how in the hell are they not getting into an accident?” The group expanded and more and more numbers joined, “in reality, each driver in the intersection is focusing on his own immediate area. A small amount of thinking to manage really.” Few men broke off the group and charged towards the gate. Others followed in broken waves, “add the drunk driver in that intersection and you get stupid,” he pointed at the group being annihilated once more. “Can’t blame them for trying though.”

  Atop the city walls, archers and mages stood at the ready awaiting the next wave, which started to gather yet again. With no way to fight back, the players inside tried to break through by sheer numbers, a human stampede approach. Obviously their numbers dwindled in the past few hours, but some still tried. The ground muddied, the air thick with heavy none-stop rain and the sky flashed every now and again with blinding booms in an otherwise dark purple sky, yet those guys were still at it. Some people just enjoyed the experience.

  At times like these Jack hated how his brain worked. Overanalyzing everything to a fault. How he wished he could just get up and charge with those people towards their impending doom, towards some mindless fun. Be stupid every once in a while. But he knew the outcome. He knew it wouldn’t work.

  “This is just XP suicide,” Eric said, “we need to setup a plan, but everyone is too egotistic to cooperate with the other.”

  “Everyone wants to be the first to say I broke through.”

  For the last few hours, inside and out, people tried to break through the cage Ladaran officials constructed. And to their credit, the
Ladarans were able to foil all attempts to access the city so far. They sat a dome around the city blocking anyone’s ability to use magic or weapons. This insured their upper hand and gave them enough time to act on any break in attempt. But for how long? If Hok trusted what he read on the net, the outside world was brewing and bound to reach a breaking point soon.

  A huge bulk of a man blocked their view to the first rate action. Short military hair, tan tone and muscles bulging from his biceps leading to a big rock of a fist.

  “Ah, one of the good things we got out of this, I have to admit,” Hok stood up next to the tower of a man, “This is Murad, of the Jonood Al Arab guild.”

  “A pleasure,” Eric shook the big man’s hand.

  “So, you guys say you have a plan to beat this thing?” Murad said.

  “Not a plan, but a probable cause,” Hok said, “find it, and this whole thing goes down.” Hok waved his hands around gesturing at the huge dome like purple aura surrounding the city and replacing their sky.

  “It’s the Dark One, we know,” Murad said, “and if I’m not mistaken you are the one gathering people to help your wife.”

  “Yeah.”

  “See,” Hok said facing Eric, “that’s another good thing about this. If people are slowly reacting to the Dark One’s advances, this sure as hell will expedite things.”

  “You didn’t approach our guild by the way,” Murad said.

  “Well,” Eric shrugged, “I didn’t know anyone there, and it’s a huge game you know.”

  Hok rolled his eyes. As much as he sympathized with Eric, he couldn't even begin to imagine how would he feel if he needed to beg for help from total strangers. Jack wouldn't even like it if he had to ask close friends of his.

  “True,” Murad said, “I don’t think we would’ve met under any other circumstances, but I know my guys will be more than willing to help. We did try and fight him when he first escaped, some even tried when he was back in a separate instance. Believe me, this guy is undefeatable.”

  Another big bang went off behind them. The three men looked around at the source of the sound. Only smoke stood where there might’ve been people. The sky boomed again and the place shone like an afternoon sun just passed through, then darkness swallowed everything once more.

  “They don’t get it,” Eric said, “the Ladarans won’t even think about such act if they can’t stop few players from breaking through, let alone bare handed players.”

  “They must’ve gathered some army though,” Murad said looking up at the city walls, “not easy lining up all those soldiers, plus all the soldiers rounding the city streets. All of that and they are claiming the Dark Army is still on their way.”

  “Claim is the correct word,” Hok said, “I didn’t hear or see anything about them so far heading this way.”

  “Last I heard they were headed north in Sheab,” Eric said, “Actually, people claim they are heading northwest rather than north. Perhaps heading to the shores to make their way here.”

  “We better act fast then,” Hok said, “if they make it here we are all doomed. The Reaper will have a field day here,” a shiver ran through his body. “This is why we want you here. You are amongst the few max level monks who got trapped here.”

  “Yeah, finally my job is worth something,” Murad pounded his fists together and bellowed.

  In ranking the jobs based on their DPS, or Damage Per Second, the monk ranked amongst the lowest. They acted more a tank/damage dealer hybrid, so they were neither top damage dealers nor best jobs to tank. They could withstand a punishment though.

  Being experts in hand to hand combat and the fact that they were the only profession capable of dishing out a decent damage even empty handed made them desirable in here. They dished significantly less damage than when they had weapons on, but it outmatched the excuse of a damage the other jobs dealt. In fact Hok only met Murad after seeing him knocking few soldiers out before being apprehended by a large number of troops.

  Players caught on to the monk advantage quickly and everyone that had a decent leveled monk changed their job. Unfortunately, and due to its lack of popularity, not many people had max level monks inside the city. The Ladaran army were quick to notice that as well and hunted down any monk inside the city participating in any form of uprising or not. This drove most monks to change their jobs to any other low level jobs they had, losing XP with each death did not sound good at all.

  “So how can I help with this?”

  “To be honest, we didn’t want you just for this,” Hok said, “if all goes well, we want you in the fight against the Dark One as well.”

  “Like I said, I have no issues there, but all in due time.”

  “True,” Hok said, “let’s walk closer to the action.”

  Hok stepped out of the cover and the rain soaked his body. He shivered and remembered, again, just how much he hated the rain.

  They moved closer to the explosions and arrows whooshing through. Close, but not close enough to get hit by anything. Hok wanted the noise to cover their part of the conversation. The lack of a way to private message one another gave them a hard time keeping a hush conversation, and they didn’t know who might be listening. The constant hum of rain and thunder were not enough to conceal a conversation.

  “Ever wonder what or who could possibly create such a field?” Hok looked up at the sky.

  “Well,” Murad scratched his head, “I read some people suggesting something like a containment field.”

  “Could be,” Hok said, “but if that was the case, you’d think more people would use such spell or item to defend their guild or territory.”

  Murad nodded, “True, true.”

  “I’ve seen this before,” Hok’s gaze fixed on the sky, “this could only be-”

  “Move,” a voice screamed behind them.

  The three men stepped to one side as a phalanx of Ladaran soldiers marched passed them. They stopped not few feet away from them and a group of Vagrant came to a stop next to them. Ivan atop a black Vagrant tut-tutted around the three men looking down with disdain in his face. He dismounted and stood face to face with Hok.

  “Hok Seven. I’ve been looking for you,” Ivan said. He looked older than the last time they met. This siege must’ve taken its toll on him, on an NPC no less.

  “Hey traitor,” Hok said, “to what do we owe the none pleasure?”

  “Seize him,” Ivan said pointing at Hok and stepped few feet back. The soldiers charged at the men.

  “What the hell?” Murad said shoving and punching soldiers at arm’s reach.

  Hok tried to back away but few spears blocked his way. Three more joined in. He glanced at Eric who had his hands in the air. Murad however punched and screamed his way to the ground.

  Ivan unsheathed his sword, “just kill those two.”

  Murad didn’t take long with his level one Black Mage to bite the dust, so did Eric. Only Hok stood with soldiers surrounding him.

  “It’s time to give those people someone new to hate,” Ivan said then got back on his Vagrant, “let’s go.”

  Hok looked up at the relentless sky. He really hated it.

  ~

  Jack felt like his eyelids were burning. His eyes were closed, but he could clearly see the wash of red color behind them. He opened his eyes to an alert flashing again and again, a call from Eric.

  “Hey man,” Eric said, “are you ok? I didn’t hear anything from you for quite some time?”

  Jack moved his head around. Apparently he fell asleep while playing and the VRR still on his head. Not the first time that happened. The game logged him out after a period of inactivity. Last thing he remembered being kept in a dungeon below the castle for quite a while. Setting in a small dark room with the promise of Ivan visiting him soon.

  On the way to the castle Eric did talk to him and Jack promised to call back once he got more information onto what was going on.

  “Sorry man, fell asleep. I’ll log in and get back to you for any u
pdate.”

  “If you are tired, just let it wait for tomorrow.”

  “It’s ok, got nothing better to do.”

  With that Jack fired his VRR up and got back inside Hok’s skin again. When the darkness dissipated, the grin in Ivan’s face was the first thing to greet him. The man sat few feet away from him; the cell bars separated the two men.

  “Ah, you are finally back,” Ivan said.

  “Were you waiting for me here the whole time?” Hok looked at the clock, it’s been two hours or so.

  “You are my top priority now.”

  Hok chuckled, “Boy am I glad I’m not stuck here like you.”

  “You know,” Ivan took his time standing up, “it never ceases to amaze me how you people consider having to leave this world an advantage.”

  “Like I said, we are at least not stuck here like you are.”

  “And yet more and more people choose, by their own well mind you, to spend more time in this world than yours. Makes you wonder ha?”

  No matter how Jack wanted to believe otherwise, what this man said rang true. Even when the whole world stood against him and they literally didn’t want him here, he still preferred coming back than not. But he needn’t admit it now.

  “Well, we have an escape. A second chance. That’s why we can still talk to each other even when you stupidly try to cut all communications.”

  “We knew you still could, we were just making it inconvenient.”

  “Yeah, while you think you are in control, you can never be because of our so called other world. So yes, it’s an advantage.”

  “Is it really?” Ivan backed up and started pacing back and forth a foot or two away from the bars, “We lived in this world for far longer than you did. If you had to play by the rules, we lived them. You need to eat, we don’t. You need to rest, to sleep, we don’t. You need to go to your other world for many silly reasons, we don’t. So who do you think knows better about this world? Who do you think deserves to rule this world?”