Author's Note: I've been making great strides with version 2.3 of the Warcraft 3 RP map. Finishing the Main Story Route, adding new content, and fixing/balancing numerous things that had previously bugged me. Like items actually crossing over to the new hero when you get your color/element!
In any case, enjoy the chapter, please review by all means! And if you play the map, tell me your own adventures now and then!
Life of a Zero Dragon
Chapter 22: Confliction of Realities
Artos Archway appreciated the familiar setting that the environment around him provided, while the inherent look of it had changed drastically, it still was the same pathway and crossroad that remained in all the different versions within Life of a Dragon Sequel. The farmland disregarded as possible terrain changes done by the Map Maker, the same four building surrounded by wooden fences marketplace remained in its usual setting.
The Green Chosen Dragon stayed his distance, though, while he was aware of what the game would normally be like, he couldn't count on the programming to enact similarly, if not exact, behavior in this transition.
There were four pre-placed Boulder Towers at all four sides of the crossroad, Artos had confidence he could destroy the defenses given time, but he didn't know if the Human Kingdom of Kayla would retaliate with excessive force.
After all, he had no idea if the Kingdom was 'allied' to Chosen Dragon players like himself.
He could handle a few towers, but he couldn't handle an army. The Green Dragons were known as support heroes, with healing spells and damage over time abilities.
It wasn't like the Green Dragon could reverse his spells' to deal damage, that would be like, he didn't know, Acid Dragon or something?
As far as he knew, an 'Acid Dragon' choice didn't exist.
Artos shook his head, 'No need to overthink, just hover up there and see if they attack you!' He thought to himself.
The Chosen Dragon player slowly hovered up toward the crossroad, approaching the market cautiously. A moment passed, and already he found himself within the range of the tower's defenses, it could easily fire a boulder at him with the catapult construct within.
It didn't.
He released a breath he barely knew had held.
"Stop right there dragon!"
Artos practically jumped in surprise as he looked toward the sound of the voice hastily, alone footman, a common soldier of the Kayla Kingdom.
The footman continued, "I'm going to ask you to stop sneaking around like that, it'll make citizens uncomfortable."
If Artos' eye would twitch, it would right now.
'Sheesh, it's like Skyrim with a sentence like that.' He thought in a comment to the footman's words.
The Chosen Dragon opened his jaw to speak the first words to another sentient being since his arrival in this vast, untamed world.
"I apologize, it won't happen again."
How quaint.
The footman nodded, "Enjoy your stay in Farmer's Cross; dragon of Kayla," He finished, before continuing his patrol along the Kingdom road.
The Chosen Dragon sighed, before looking towards the east road.
"I wonder…" He trailed off as he began following the stone-paved ground.
He pressed a hand against the wall, held breath releasing as a relax position overtook him. The King of Kayla they called him, the leader of an entire Kingdom, it was an overbearing pedestal forced upon him by the sheer chance of being unfortunate enough to be sucked into a new world. Aylmer wished nothing more to be rid of the garments that were placed on him, the metaphorical clothes that he wore a mask to a large populace of people that depended on his every decision.
Aylmer, the eighth player, slumped in exhaustion against the stone, cold walls. He barely managed to keep himself from slipping into the state of dreams but refrained from it with his remaining willpower. The King, after all, was suppose to be an image of perfection in the eyes of the people.
How much a burden it weighed on him, the reality of monarchy with good will nothing like the simple act of playing a game where one was royalty. Nonetheless, he would try all he had until he found a way home, and find a way he would, for his young sibling's life depended on it.
He heard something but decided to ignore it as he began walking down the hallway towards his bedchambers.
The sword on his side dangling slightly despite being tightly placed along his waistline belt. Aylmer's eyes drooped with the lack of sleep, even his reserves of magical energy were affected by the crucial necessity.
There it was again, a sound, distant and echoing.
"Might as well see what it is first…" He trailed off as he forced himself to turn.
Step by step, he closed it on the sound… No… It was a tune, a repeating string of notes resounding along the walls. A quiet sheet of music played in a repeating session, its origin emanating from the room of his little sister.
He pressed a hand against the door, it slowly creaked open, letting out the musical piece that looped every few seconds. A simple sound, only a few notes, played again and again from a tiny hand-sized music box that lay on top a simple wooden desk in the midst of the room.
"Abigail?" He said in a near whisper, his eyes trailing from the small music box towards the child with long, flowing blond hair that on a crude chair while curiously looking towards that little music player like a silent audience.
"Can you see it?" Abigail spoke in a strange, yet gentle tone. "I can see it, I can see them… Beyond the valley, leaving the delicate, moonlit groves…"
"Abigail?" Aylmer said again, walking up and taking a knee to his sister's height.
"I can see so much, Aylmer…" Her voice returned, "It's so scary yet pretty, it's like I can see what's going on without being there… I can see what might happen without it occurring… Or I can see what lies in the past that never truly was, yet now is…"
The big brother of the due placed a hand on the spinning music box, stopping its repeating notes and removing the tunes that echoed throughout the room. "Abigail, many things have occurred in the passing days… And I previously thought you didn't change at all when we arrived here… I was foolish."
"Do you know what's happening to me?" Abigail spoke, the eight-year-old looking at the elder sibling.
"Perhaps you have magic," He responded with a smile, "But you don't know how to control it like I do, or Elizabeth. You have magic that isn't from Warcraft, I mean if we can come here… Then maybe there was magic on Earth? But it didn't wake up until we came here."
"You think so? That maybe my magic is special?"
"I know so," Aylmer said. "Maybe it has to do with the seeing stuff? Like a fortune teller, except way better!" He exclaimed to brighten the mood.
"Hehe," Abigail giggled, "So I can see things that might happen, and then I can help you as well!"
"Yep," He responded, "Just don't try to hide it, okay? Don't fight it, I'm sure your magic just really wants you to use it, you just have to let it help you out until you learn yourself how to use it."
"Okay!" Abigail said, "I'll work hard!"
"Good, now big bro is going to sleep, he's really, really tired."
"Alright, I'll wake you up if something happens!"
"I'm sure Marthan will dump a bucket of water on me anyway, but I appreciate it."
It was a long ongoing plain of grass, with rolling hills and spots of rocky outcrops. A nearly unfathomable transition from the dense foliage and high over tops of Moonshine Grove, so quick it came as if Moonshine Grove was rather plucked from one area in placed spot middle within another. But, such was the case here, these large plains were the southern borders of Germania, a nation with a blurred line between noble and commoner, power obtained by wealth instead of privileged birthright.
Saito Hiraga looked over the seemingly endless terrain in front of him, his expression on of both awe, but also annoyance at the fact that both he and his partner would have to traverse such a breathtakingly long environment.
"Erisdar, I found something!" A voice called from behind him.
Saito turned to face her, seeing the pink-haired noble just making her way out of the forest with a strange, glowing yellow tome in hand.
"How the hell did you pick up a tome?" He questioned.
A tome, in more simple terms, was a hero-only powerup item that when picked up would automatically activate and grant a Hero its bonus. Such bonuses included permanent increases to certain attributes, gains in experience points, or rarely even an entire level's worth of experience.
But, that was the issue, or rather, the peculiarity of it. A tome activated once picked up, it did not wait for the player to 'click' on the item to use its effects.
Not to say he wasn't happy about it, after all, tomes only dropped during the beginning portions of the map from pre-placed creatures, creeps that were created from the editor and put on the map, not made from triggers such as events or the respawn system. This made tome drops a fleeting item that grew rarer as Life of a Dragon Sequel progressed.
"This is a tome?" Louise said with fascination, "As in, a magical tome?"
"Yeah…?" Erisdar responded with confusion.
The young mage opened the tome, surprising the hell out of the first player at the impossibility of the act. But it quickly passed, knowing that the 'transition' into this new world possibly allowed for improbable actions to even subjects related to Life of a Dragon Sequel, Warcraft, not to just Halkeginia.
"I can't read any of this," The girl's enthusiasm deflated.
"Here, let me," The Chosen Dragon said as he used his wings to hover over to his master, looking over her shoulder and checking out the strange dialect that was written into the tome.
"See?" Louise said, laying a finger on top of the words.
Saito hovered a bit closer, and laid a paw on the tome to angled it at his direction-
The tome lit up in brilliance, it burst into golden particles and surrounded both Louise and Saito, a similar light erupting around the latter dragon as he felt himself become stronger by the Tome of Power, the tome of leveling, by one.
Then came pain, his head screeching like someone puts claws to a chalkboard, both he and Louise collapsed, the small girl attempting in vain to cover her ears to block a noise that simply didn't exist outside of her head.
Critical Exception Error!
"Aaack!" Saito yelled as his vision blurred, breathing quickening and his heart pumping madly.
"Make it stop!" Louise exclaimed in similar distress.
Report: FX00000C2152, Warcraft 3: The Frozen Throne has encountered an error and will shut down.
"Damn it!" Saito screamed as he struggled to get up, but his body felt heavy, he could barely move it as if it was no longer under his control.
Louise Valliere banged her fist against the ground, she breathed in heavy intakes of air as she struggled to fight valiantly against an unseen foe, her magic swirled and boiled under her skin, willpower mustering upward into her forward mind.
Report Crash to the creator of Program, press close to exit- VOIDING.
Program has stopped responding- VOIDING
Critical Exception Erro- VOIDING.
Report: FX00-VOIDING.
Restarting Program…
The pain stopped suddenly, both Louise and Saito on the ground, the former completely exhausted as her willpower simmered down into a state of dormancy. The Chosen Dragon got back upright, the endurance of a Warcraft III hero allowing him to recover quickly.
"Louise!" Saito said in concern as he faced the downed girl, "Are you okay?"
"I'm…" Louise trailed off, "...Fine now… What happened?" She questioned.
"I don't know…" Saito said, but he had an idea of what occurred, "But let's not try to use any power up items again, or at least, don't use them together."
Louise Valliere nodded, "Just… Give me a few moments to rest…"
"Sure thing, I'll stand guard," He said as he sat down.
"You better… You are my familiar after all… My partner…" The pink-haired girl stated before taking a break to both catch her breath and recover from the recent, odd ordeal.
The Chosen Dragon player sighed in relief, 'But… It looks like there's more conflict between Halkeginia and Life of a Dragon than it seems…' He couldn't help but think to himself, what terrifying events could occur in the future.
Current Status:
Chosen Dragon Player 1: Saito Hiraga - Alive - Dragonet (Agility) Level 11
Chosen Dragon Player 2: Alex Storm - Alive - Bronze Dragonet (Strength) Level 8
Chosen Dragon Player 3: Asuna Godiva - Alive - Nether Dragonet (Strength) Level 10
Chosen Dragon Player 4: Artos Archway - Alive - Green Dragonet (Agility) Level 8
Chosen Dragon Player 5: Cora Rune - Alive - Blue Dragonet (Intelligence) Level 8
Dragon Slayer Player 6: Celdrahil - Alive - Slayer Level 8
Dragon Catcher Player 7: Rosina - Alive - Catcher Level 10
The Human Kingdom Player 8: Aylmer and Abigail - Alive - King Level 3, Princess Level [Error]
The Fel Empire Player 9: Grom - Alive - King of Fel Empire Level 5
Mercenary Player 10: Elizabeth Loyal - Alive - Sorceress Level 7
Observer Map Maker: Map Maker - Alive - The World Editor