Free Novel Read

Dreaming Orora Page 5


  It was a huge bulk of a green female Orc. Bone armor around the waist and shoulders covered the otherwise bulging with muscles body. A thick orange short hair and huge tusks pierced both sides of her mouth. An Orc, a female Orc, no less. Why would a man notoriously known for imprisoning females in crystals be holding one in a cell? And what could Bale and the Orc have in common to remain imprisoned and not dead?

  The fact that the Dark One saw not only humans as enemies, but Beastmen as well troubled Bale all the more. This Dark One waged war against all. And having Recruits on his side further complicated things.

  Bale sat on one side of his cell stewing over those thoughts for some time before he heard a low voice, “Psst, hey. Soldier boy,” the hoarse rasp said.

  “That’s Bale, Warden of East, for you.”

  “Bale,” Bale thought he heard a chuckle, “I’m Varga. I know you humans don’t like Orcs, but it’s safe to say we’re both stuck here.”

  “Whatever,” Bale wanted to end the conversation. Even here, he didn't see himself befriending a Beastmen. He got up to walk towards the other end of the cell.

  “You know why you are here?” Varga said, “Because I sure don’t.” Bale stopped and turned around to listen. It seems she’s as clueless as him about all of this. “I see, the silent treatment,” Varga chuckled, “you’ll come around.”

  “Shut the fuck up Orc,” the guard said, Bale could only hear him.

  A rattling sound came from Varga’s cell followed by her shaking the bars. “When I’m out I’ll chew your head off,” she said.

  “You’re lucky my boss needs you alive. Otherwise I’d gut you, you ugly pig.”

  “I’d like to see you try,” Varga roared and the guard screamed back. It took them few more minutes before they settled and the guard took off.

  Still, a big question gnawed at Bale ever since the attack at the outpost. The elephant in the room. This guy, The Dark One, was supposed to be in an enclosed area. He should not be out in the open. How could this possibly be?

  Do you find yourself asking why does this monster hate me? Why is the game always against me? You might want to brush up on your hate management.

  Every monster in Orora is governed by the hate system. Every action you do during battle accumulates hate towards you and drives the monster to you. The more damage you do, or heal, the more hate you accumulate. Every hit you get reduces the hate. It’s a delicate system to juggle and keep that hate on your tanks.

  Also note, some monsters got abilities to reset hate. Happy hunting.

  7 – Boy who cried wolf

  “And I’m telling you it’s too fracking much,” Oz said.

  For the last ten minutes or so, Oz argued and screamed at the merchant to somehow reduce the price of some arrows he planned on buying.

  “Come on Oz, forget it,” Fitch said, “just use the normal ones.”

  “No man,” Oz turned his head at Fitch, “these are much better,” he turned to face the merchant and screamed, “but he’s ripping me off.”

  “It’s like this everywhere,” the merchant said, “We are simply not getting enough raw materials.”

  Few more minutes of this before Fitch and Paragon pulled Oz away kicking and screaming. This was the third merchant after the auction house that he tried. All of them had spiked up prices for certain items. This usually happened due to supply and demand. A new quest or an event could hike the price of certain items involved. Other items could go up based on the season. But this spike was sudden and unprecedented.

  Oz’s arrows were not the only item that saw a huge raise in price. Few other items that needed Mythril saw the same hike. Further inspection proved Mythril prices shot sky high compared to what they normally go for.

  “What the hell man? Are we supposed to mine Mythril ourselves?” Oz said.

  “That’s somewhere in Falagan right?” Fitch said.

  “Yeah,” Paragon said striking his beard, “The Mythic Mines, somewhere to the South of the continent. I heard an event or something happening there. Some NPC is raining havoc and no one even dares to step in that area.”

  They reached a small gate manned by two soldiers. The iron doors were spread on both sides of the gate. The soldier nearest to them smiled and nodded as they passed through.

  “Oh, that Dark One people are talking about?” Fitch said.

  “Yes, it seems he took over the southern region of that continent and luck have it that the Mythic Mines are there.”

  “So? People decided not to mine it?” Oz said.

  “It’s more like they can’t,” Paragon said, “that guy, the Dark One, set his headquarters somewhere around that area. And people are scared to even approach him.”

  Oz smiled, “Sounds like an awesome event if you ask me. Want to check it out?”

  “No,” both of them said.

  “Come on guys. What is there to lose?”

  “I don’t know, but if high level players are not going, there must be a damn good reason for it,” Fitch said, “besides, that area is too high level for us even before all of this.”

  “Fitch is right,” Paragon said, “just get any arrows and let’s go level up. We’ve wasted enough time.”

  “I already have those cheap ones, just don’t blame me if I dish out less damage.”

  “It’s ok. Not like we are doing any raids,” Fitch said, “besides, we finally made it here, so let’s check it out.”

  They were in a small town called Gaff near the mountaintops to the south of Sheab, the largest continent in Orora. During spring and summer time this place boasted some amazing scenery where players could see all the way to Yomaria and the northern sea. In early autumn the view was said to be spectacular, but the trees had already shed all their leaves in preparation for winter. Naked trees and stubs peppered the area while a ridiculous amount of foliage covered the ground as far as Fitch could see.

  “For the time it took us to get here,” Oz said, “this place sure is ugly.”

  Fitch tapped his feet on the ground. It stood as nothing more than a carpet of dead grass, foliage and dry soil.

  “You know, winter is coming,” Fitch said.

  Oz smiled, “tell me you didn't deliberately say it this way?”

  “Say what now?”

  “Game of Thrones?” Oz extended his arms, “winter is coming? Come on man.”

  “No idea what you are talking about.”

  “Yeah, yeah,” Oz said, “Anyways, we all registered at the statue of Altana right? I don't want to have to cross this god awful way again.”

  “Amen to that,” Paragon said.

  Fitch’s back and behind still ached from the ride here. Because they never been to this place before, they couldn't teleport here. So they had to hoof it up on their mounts for about ten hours. Granted, Oz’s lack of attention span to stay on track and get distracted by anything on their way added to those ten hours. Fitch just hoped this wouldn't turn into a giant waste of time like always.

  “We’re all set,” Fitch said, “let’s do this.”

  The monsters around town were, in the most part, not agro. The occasional Stark or Wild Bear strolled by at times, but nothing too threatening. Few minutes of pre battle preparations and they fell right into their usual rhythm. Oz would pull, Fitch acted as a meat shield and Paragon kept them alive. Oz, as usual, pulled a Stark or a Bear every now and then to spice things up.

  One hour passed before Fitch heard a victory melody. “Level Up” popped in front of him for two seconds.

  “Nice, sixty three,” Oz said, “Congo rats man. Any new abilities?”

  Fitch scanned his data for few seconds. “Doesn’t look like it.”

  “Bummer,” Paragon said.

  “Used to it,” Fitch shrugged, “Isn’t this taking too long though?”

  “Hmmm,” Paragon said while fiddling with his menus, Fitch could see him waving and pointing in the air, “I didn’t really keep track. Did any of you?”

  “Yes, I did,”
Fitch said, “I was around ninety percent into the level when we started.”

  “So, what?” Paragon said, “ten percent for an hour’s worth of fighting? I think it is normal. Nothing wow, but not bad also.”

  “I can pull tougher mobs if you want,” Oz grinned.

  “Nah, I guess its ok,” Fitch said, “let’s continue and see how it goes.”

  They fought for few more minutes before Oz noticed a rather larger than normal Stark walking in the distance. He pointed it out for the guys. Its eyes burned red and its huge mane danced on the wind. Monsters shied away from its path, but it was still far away to pose any threat to the party.

  “Guys, what do you think? Should I pull it?” Oz pointed at the Stark.

  “I know nothing about it man,” Fitch said, “It might wipe us.”

  “So? We all sat our home point here. I’ll get him.”

  “I can search about it if you give me a moment,” Paragon said.

  “Where is the fun in that?” Oz said.

  “At least let me buff,” Paragon said. Oz came close and they started preparing for the battle. Paragon put on few protecting spells, Fitch and Oz ate food to boost their stats and Oz got on his way.

  He shot an arrow at the Stark and came back to his usual spot. Fitch took over and faced the beast. It stood two feet taller than Fitch baring its teeth and fangs. Fitch learned long ago not to be intimidated by monsters or he’ll lose half the battles. Facing a beast this big in real life would mean certain death, but in the game it meant certain fun. Besides, he needed to protect his friends. So he unsheathed his sword and cracked it at the beast. Its HP did not move.

  “Damn it, look at this abysmal damage,” Oz said, “if only I had the good arrows.”

  “Yeah, yeah,” said Paragon, “keep at it man. No choice now.”

  The beast took a good chunk of Fitch’s HP with every bite. Two or three bites max and Paragon would have to cast a healing spell. “My defense is not good enough to fight and attack. I have to switch to a defensive stance,” Fitch said.

  “Cool, will save me some MP,” Paragon said.

  Fitch placed his sword inside his shield and squeezed on the hilt. This stance would take half his sword’s damage and convert it to shield defense. “Oz, go easy on the hate. I’m not attacking.”

  “Roger that,” Oz said.

  The fight took longer than any one of them liked. With only Oz doing noticeable damage, the beast’s HP chipped away in an abysmal pace. Fitch bashed him with his shield every now and then while Paragon casted a poison or white noise spell to chip away some damage. If this continued, they’ll get in trouble soon.

  “Few more minutes and he might rage,” Fitch said.

  “No idea if this one does,” Paragon said, “High level MCs most certainly do, but I’m not sure as far as this one goes.”

  “Let me do some SP abilities,” Oz said, “otherwise this’ll take forever.”

  Fitch’s SP was at three hundred percent. “Ok, I’ll hit my shield ability then provoke it. Should be enough for you to hit your ability.”

  They did as planned and it went smooth. With that strategy in place even Paragon could cast an offensive spell or two every once in a while. The Stark’s HP started to deplete faster and they where will in their way for an easy victory. The final ten percent loomed close by.

  “Get ready guys,” Fitch said, “it’ll rage soon.”

  “Don’t jinx it man,” said Oz.

  “Not trying to, all MCs do when their HP goes red.”

  “I know,” Oz loosened another arrow, “just he might not have tough abilities to use.”

  “One could only hope,” Paragon said and refreshed their protect spell in anticipation of what’s coming.

  Another thud on Fitch’s shield as the beast hammered his paw on him. Two, three, Fitch counted the seconds expecting the next hit. It didn’t come. Fitch lowered his shield to look at the beast. The Stark took few steps back, its eyes glowed red and he let out a deafening howl. Fitch had to raise his shield to stop the sound vibrations. It echoed all around them.

  “That’s it?” Oz said.

  Two small miniature Starks materialized besides the big beast.

  “You just had to ask, didn’t you?” Paragon said.

  “Shit, now what?” Fitch said, “Run?”

  “Well,” Oz turned his head about, “the town is close in case things go south. I say we try.”

  “This does not qualify as trouble?” Fitch said.

  “So what? Worst case we lose some XP.”

  “Yeah sure, some XP,” Fitch said, “I just leveled, I will definitely level down.”

  “We’ll get your XP back,” Oz said and shot an arrow on one of the small Starks, “I can take one solo, just keep the rest busy.”

  Fitch sighed then provoked the small Stark. Both the big and the small one were now taking turns gnashing on him. He could barely focus on his battle so he left the third Stark to Oz. With Paragon focused on keeping Fitch alive, Oz was completely on his own. A quick analysis of the small Stark did assure Fitch that Oz should not have an issue.

  Fitch’s HP depleted faster than before. With full defense mode on, still Paragon had to crank spells faster than before. Both Starks tried once or twice to go after Paragon, but Fitch managed to maintain hate so far.

  “Guys,” Paragon said, “kind of running out of MP here.”

  “I’m almost done with this one,” Oz said, “I’ll two hour the other.”

  The small Stark changed direction and run towards Oz. “Alright, Arrow Rain incoming. Paragon, hit me with a cure.”

  Paragon did and the small Stark changed direction to face him. It changed its mind immediately when Oz started to rain arrows on it. The big wolf hammered few more claws at Fitch but his shield held. He dodged the next attack and backed few steps away. The beast jerked to the side. Oz’s arrows were pounding it on the side.

  “Damn it,” Oz said, “the rain is over.”

  The beast backed away few steps and its eyes started to glow red. Red smoke arched out of them. Then it howled. Fitch raised the shield and the vibrations hit him hard, again.

  “Are you fucking kidding me?” Oz said.

  Two small Starks materialized next to the big Stark. This time a little bigger than the last.

  “Um, run?” Fitch said.

  “Hell yeah, run,” Oz said. He already started.

  Fitch tucked back his weapon and shield and started hoofing it back to Gaff. The town was not far off. Oz and Paragon were ahead of him, as a paladin he had to make sure they were safe. For as long as he was alive, but once the beasts finish him off, they’ll go after them for sure. At least in town someone might help.

  Oz and Paragon made it behind the gate of Gaff. In front of them the two guards on post duty were waving him away.

  “Are you kidding me,” one of them shouted, “take that thing away.”

  Fitch pressed on towards the gate. He passed the guards and turned to face the beast. The two guards raised their spears but the big beast plowed through them with ease. The other two wolfs followed.

  “Damn it,” Oz said, “no one is here but NPCs.”

  Paragon laughed, “This beast will have a field day here. He might even level up.”

  And true enough. The big beast charged on Fitch and gnashed on his shield. Fitch stumbled and fell on his back. Screams came behind him as he scurried to his feet. The other two Starks terrorized the town folks. Merchants screamed and ran in panic.

  “I think if we kill the big one it’ll all end,” Oz said.

  “I don’t have MP,” Paragon said.

  “Well, take it like a man, I guess.”

  Another bite. Then a slash. Fitch ate damage hard and fast. And Paragon’s MP was obviously gone cause Fitch stopped receiving any heal for some time now.

  “Two hours?” Fitch said.

  “Yes,” Oz said, “What the hell are you saving it for?”

  Before Fitch managed to pull it off,
a rift ripped the space few feet behind the beast. Red and crimson shots of lightning poured out of it. A man clad head to toe in red armor jumped out of it and the rift closed just as fast as it appeared. The man raised his huge sword and brought it down at the beast. It turned around and howled before charging towards the man. Two, three slashes and the beast fell on the ground. Dead.

  Fitch was awe struck. His mouth just hanged there for few seconds before he realized it and wiped the dumb look off his face. Another man in the same red armor holding a huge bow stood next to carcasses of a now two dead small Starks.

  “What the hell?” Oz said in the party chat.

  “I think, they are GMs,” Paragon said. His gaze interchanged between the two men in red armor.

  During the year and so Dreaming Orora, Fitch never saw a GM. Heard and read about them few times, even saw images of them, but never stood face to face with one, let alone two. They looked the part.

  “Congratulations Fitch,” the GM with the huge sword said in a private chat, “You’ve completed the unique quest ‘Boy who cried wolf’”

  “Oh, I…” Fitch was still in disbelief.

  The GM extended his hand, “as a reward, please accept this ring.”

  Fitch gladly grabbed the ring and checked its status.

  Gain double XP for every mob defeated. The item was EX.

  “Oh man, I, thank you so very much.” Fitch kept thinking of the possibilities. This thing would make them fly through levels. Looked like his luck finally took a turn for the better. Then he remembered. Them. Paragon stroke his beard admiring the GM standing next to him while Oz was actually taking screenshots with him.

  “This is awesome,” Oz said in the party chat. He stood next to the man and struck a pose.

  “What about my friends? Weren’t they part of the quest?”

  The GM turned his gaze back at them, “the reward is for whomever was fighting the mother Stark.”

  “Um… I see.” That’ll disappoint the guys for sure. How could he explain it to them? “I guess it’ll come in handy for leveling my subjobs.”