AUTHOR'S NOTE: Right. So. Dragonica Online is, as some people may have guessed or already know, an MMORPG (Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game). Obviously, I play it and have quite a bit of fun doing so. I'm not advertising it or anything-I was just suddenly struck by the impulse to create a fanfic about it. I have no idea how long it's going to be. Hell, it may just be this one chapter and that's it. HOWEVER, I am itrying/i to not get bored with it. And if I do, I'll actually wrap it up.

Anyways, I'm not looking for this to be amazing. My roleplays have been reasonably slow lately, so I turned to Dragonica, and this occurred to me, and...yeah. Not very long this time 'round, but it might be a bit better next time. Still plenty of talking, though. Enjoy?

(Please note that this is not the actual Dragonica storyline. Well, the beginning part is, and then I totally do my own thing. I haven't a clue where this is going-totally playing it by ear. :3 )

By the way, lame title is lame. Any better suggestions?

Different viewpoints are divided by the horizontal ruler until I can figure out a better way to separate them. Sorry for any confusion. .-.

- Dragonica Online is copyright of THQ*ICE. -

"Since the close of the Dragon War, dragons and humans lived in peace on separate worlds – humans on their homeland, and dragons exiled to the depths of the Aether.

It was not to last.

Consumed with the desire for revenge, the Dark Dragon Elga led a revolt that brought the death of the Dragon Lord and an invasion of the human world.

One thousand years have passed since the Five Heroes of legend defeated Elga in battle, and imprisoned him in the labyrinth prison of the Shadow Cabinet.

Now, an unlikely agent threatens to release the Dark Dragon, spreading evil's corruption across the land. And as before, heroes must rise to beat back the darkness."

Ira raised a brow at the cloaked man standing before her once she had finished reading aloud the words on the piece of parchment he'd handed to her. The hood of the cloak was up and made an attempt to conceal his face, but the archer could still see the concerned look in his eyes. And they seemed almost...pleading. However...

"I am no mercenary," she stated bluntly, holding the sheet of paper back out towards the man. "And I'm not a hero. Go to Honor's Path north of here-there's sure to be someone there who will take you on."

"There is already someone there, recruiting a warrior," the man assured her, twitching his dark hood slightly. He couldn't hide his nervousness, though. Why he was so jittery, Ira hadn't the foggiest, unless it had something to do with what the parchment had said. Which was just a silly story anyway-only a few people actually believed in it. True, there had been an annoying influx of monsters lately, but what was an extra Stumpy or two? The four small towns lined up along the westernmost edge of El Grego were monster-free, thanks to the people who protected said towns. Ira was one of those people, and had always been considered of average skill. Until now, anyway.

"Well then, let him take care of it," she snapped, beginning to lose patience. In fact, why was she still here talking to this guy? She had work to do. Stumpys and Wolves, unfortunately, didn't kill one another. It would have saved all of the archers in Archer's Range a lot of trouble, but whatever. This thought in mind, she turned to leave.

"If you do not go, Elga will raze this village to the ground, along with every other village in El Grego-nay, the world!" the man cried, but his pleas fell onto deaf ears. The archer had already disappeared into a small alleyway, and would doubtless have gone by now. Whimpering slightly, the man withdrew into a nearby inn, preparing himself for the worst.

"Are you SERIOUS?"

"Dead serious," was the flat reply. The cloaked woman wished she hadn't been chosen to go to Mystia Lane and seek out the magician there. He was too...

"I am so OUTTA this town!"

...hyper.

Tory was so pumped. The piece of parchment he'd been handed by this mysterious woman was crumpled up in his hand, forgotten in the young magician's excitement. He had been looking for an opportunity to leave boring old Mystia Lane for ages, but noooo, they wouldn't let him. Just because he had grown up only with the village's help, they saw him as indebted to them, and so wouldn't allow him to leave. No, he was just a guard, chucking a blast of magic at any monster that approached the small village. But this woman and this paper was his ticket out of here! Any sort of adventure was a hell of a lot bette rthan this place, and how could the elders say no to this mysterious person and random piece of paper? Quite ecstatic, Tory pumped his fist into the air, turned, and dashed off, shouting over his shoulder, "Gonna go pack, leave a note, stuff like that! WOOOO!"

The cloaked woman shook her head, wondering why, out all of the competent magicians in Mystia Lane-hell, all of El Grego-this guy had been chosen. But it hadn't been her choice. She was just there to deliver the message and persuade them to accept. Not that this guy had needed persuading. Her job had been easy...but she preferred them when they were hard. Feeling somewhat tired just from seeing the magician's seemingly boundless energy, the woman retreated to the inn.

Aaron was rolling the sheet of parchment between his hands, deep in thought as he stared at the ground. Apparently allowing him to mull things over in silence, the hooded man who had approached him only a few minutes ago was simply standing there, watching him closely. The warrior didn't feel uncomfortable about this because he didn't really notice. Besides, he was busy weighing the pros and cons of accepting the challenge that had been lain before him, and he still couldn't quite decide what to do. He finally glanced at the hooded man, waiting patiently for him to try and encourage him to accept, but he stayed silent. That was probably smart: it really made Aaron consider what was being asked of him. But...

He held out the piece of paper at last, shaking his head. "I'm sorry, I cannot accept. I can't foresee this being very beneficial to me because I do not believe it's true."

Silence. The man did not speak, nor did he make a move to take the paper from the warrior. Sensing this, Aaron's hand dropped to his side, and he inclined his head. "I apologize for wasting your time. Good day."

"Those swayed easily by the opinions of others make not for good leaders," the man suddenly said as Aaron turned to leave, catching the young man completely off his guard. When, however, he turned to face the man again and ask him exactly what he meant by that, the cloaked man had vanished. Frowning. the warrior folded up the paper and stuck it in his pocket, mostly because there wasn't a wastebasket around. He wasn't easily "swayed by the opinions of others", as the man had suggested. After all, he made plans. Constantly. They were his own decisions, all mapped out before him. No one else had a say in them, obviously.

Suddenly, to his chagrin, Aaron found that in the back of his mind, he had begun to already plot out his course through the monster-infested lands of El Grego that would eventually lead to Port of the Winds. How stupid-he didn't even know if that was where he was supposed to go. In fact, the guy hadn't really said anything about it. He hadn't really said anything, except that last bit before his disappeared. A little annoyed with himself for doing something as silly as planning for the journey ahead that would never happen, Aaron strode past the inn that stood nearby, attempting to turn his mind to other, more important things.

No way he was going to be outside the town at sunrise tomorrow, as the bottom of the parchment had requested he be.

"Have you ever tried to climb cliffs? It's rather hard, you know."

"You have? Goodness, why would I ever try something like that?"

"Actually, it was more on an idle dare than anything, and there was a wolf at the top just sitting there. We couldn't let it go unchecked, could we?"

"Oh please, Miss Blaire, could you give my offer some thought?"

"There was an offer somewhere in there? Really? I hadn't noticed."

This sort of conversation had actually been going on for a fair three minutes, with many of each person's answers being mixed into some form of a question. It had been Blaire who had suddenly changed the subject, of course, from the immediate perils of El Grego to the oddly-shaped cloud in the sky, and that had led to various other topics, which now seemed to be changing from cliffs back to the original offer. If there had been an offer. Blaire really could not remember if he'd ever posed something like that to her. After a moment, she decided not. Though perhaps he had...

The man blinked twice rapidly, sighed, then blinked again. He blinked quite a lot, as his eyes dried out quickly. "Will you save El Grego from the perils that are to befall it if nothing is done?" For good measure, he added, "Please?"

Blaire examined him for a moment, thinking. She had been approached by a stranger wearing a dark hood cloak, though she could still see his face fairly well, and he had handed her the piece of parchment that she was holding loosely in her hand. After reading it aloud...well, the conversation had gone somewhat astray. At last, she shrugged. "Oh sure, what the heck. If the world's in danger and I can do something about it, shouldn't I?"

"Excellent!" the man said happily, clasping his hands together in delight. He was glad Blaire had been rather easy to persuade. Not that he'd actually done any persuading, but that was beside the point. "You'll meet them outside the town at sunup tomorrow?"

Blaire nodded, smiling, but as she suddenly realized what the man had said, her smile faded a little. "Wait-'them'?"

"Who's 'them'?" he asked slyly, then blinked, winked, blinked again, and whirled around, hurrying off. It actually never occurred Blaire to chase after him, as she had spotted a silver piece in the street nearby. Better than a copper, worse than a gold. Ah, well-she would take whatever she could get.

Her mind did eventually come back to it later that day, though: who exactly was 'them'?