Author's Note: Heh, forgot to mention I'm 21 now. Not that it probably matters… I hope everyone is enjoying Life of a Dragon Sequel v2.35 which released on March 8th! Many new fixes, changes, additional content, finished some 2.3 content, buffs and nerfs, and also maybe reintroduce an old secret. :D
Since I forgot to mention, if Player 8 (Pink) in v2.35 leaves the game, or if its unused, Player 1 (Red) can type "-No Kingdom" to enable a feature which allows humanoid heroes to take control of the Kingdom on the first one to reach the throne!
Also, I'll like to thank everyone for their support and welcome new readers into our small fold of a community!
Enjoy the chapter everybody! Please, by all means, leave a review!
Life of a Zero Dragon
Chapter 30: Calm Before The Storm
"I really want to rub it in Kirche's face now, my familiar, a dragon of the magical arts! Hah!"
Louise Valliere was quite ecstatic, how could she not be? Her familiar, Erisdar, had become a Purple Chosen Dragon, not only was it a color befitting that of a noble but by Erisdar's explanation, it was an 'arcane' element.
While the word 'arcane' hadn't been used in centuries by scholars, Louise's education allowed her to know of its base meaning, arcane refers to magic, raw magic.
A familiar is a representation of their Master, so everyone back in the Academy couldn't say she was a Zero any longer!
"Louise, we should move," Erisdar said.
"Why, the bandits are…" She blinked, taking a glance at the clearly dead men.
A familiar is a representation of their Master, familiar actions are their own.
"Oh, Brimir…" She felt sick, vomit coming up her throat before she could no longer resist the urge to puke on the ground.
"Are you okay?" Erisdar's voice may have that draconic undertone, but it was filled with genuine concern for her wellbeing.
"We killed people, Erisdar, they're dead…" Louise trailed off in realization, she had committed murder.
"Maker's breath, we did," Erisdar said, "I didn't… I just reacted, I had to protect us, it was self-defense!" He exclaimed.
"Rule of Steel," Louise Valliere muttered under her breath, she was a noble, they were brigands, it matters not if they died by her hand for in attacking a noble of tristain they were doomed to execution.
The Valliere were a militaristic noble house, Louise has trained mentally the prepare in dealing with this situation.
But… She hadn't expected this… It took all her mental fortitude to even stop her body from shaking and collapsing in shock.
Erisdar, however, seemed less affected by his actions. It was most likely to do with the fact that he was a dragon first and foremost, he wouldn't understand human morals… That must be.
He did his duty as her familiar, protecting her.
"We should head back, have you cooled off your head?" The Chosen Dragon asked.
She could only nod.
"Alright then, I had us a room back in Winterfall, with a comfortable bed, a hot tub, even provided meals."
That did sound nice.
"Sure, it cost me pretty much all the gold I had… But, see that road, Louise?" The dragonet pointed along the stone-paved road leading straight through the forest. "This road leads straight to the Kayla Kingdom's capital city, once there, I'm utmost sure we can find someone to help us return to Tristain borders. But for now, let's return."
The noble wiped her eyes and cheeks, drying out a few strings of tears that she didn't know had even dripped down. "Lead the way, Erisdar, I…" She stopped, before continuing with, "And stay close."
"I wouldn't leave you alone even if you commanded me too!"
"Well, yeah, you're my familiar, my partner!" Louise yelled back. "Now let's get out of here before more brigands show up!"
Asuna Godiva swirled into an aileron roll, which gamer's commonly mistake as the barrel roll, outside of hardly believing the fact that she just accomplished a feat of aerial dynamics as a dragon, she was more preoccupied with dealing with yet another Fel Stalker. With the exception being, she was not alone.
She has made a… Um… Well, not a really friend, but more of a companion.
A spiraling torrent of flame erupted from her companion's, Kirche Zerbst, wand. It traveled through the air, scorching the ground below, before it unraveled itself and dispersed into nothingness as the magical energy within was devoured hungrily by the Fel Stalker.
"Now, dear!" Kirche exclaimed.
"Nether Claw!" Asuna shouted a loud as her body vibrated with chaotic energy before it imploded outward and condensed into an arcing lightning-like bolt of red mana, which shot and impacted against the Fel Stalker with the speed of a gun's bullet. The mana traveled along the creature's hide, tearing it asunder and entering the wounds before causing the creature to explode in a mess of blood and guts.
A shining golden light erupted around Asuna's draconic figure, before vanishing as quickly as it arrived.
"Another level," Asuna said as she hovered down close to the ground, as a Nether Dragonet, she didn't have any corporal limbs, but she could still feel them in a sense.
It was a very odd sensation.
"How close are we to the exit?" Kirche asked.
"Just about round here, the portal should be visible once we pass that archway there," Asuna jerked her head towards the direction said.
Ever since Kirche's eventful appearance into Outland, the germanian girl, and the Chosen Dragon decides that if they were to survive it would best to stick close together. Kirche owed Asuna her life after the Nether Dragonet brought her to the Healing Hay within the Nether Nest, restoring the teenager and knitting her wounds.
They didn't get along in terms of mindset, having conflicting thoughts on certain subjects. Kirche believed Asuna to be too much a farm girl like Asuna thought Kirche as some sort of whore in a brothel.
But, they decided that being together was better than dying by a Fel Stalker's giant ass pincers and teeth.
"Just, give me a moment, my mana is low…" Asuna took a small break, letting her mana slowly regenerate itself back to a sufficient point. If a Fel Stalker's Mana Burn ability hit her under a certain point of reserves, she would be knocked out cold in a single hit due to mana exhaustion.
Mana Burn…
There were only two creatures in Life of a Dragon Sequel that had the ability, the ability to combust a target's set amount of own magical energy against its own person. It literally used their own magic against them in a sort of implosion that was painful in varying amounts.
Fel Stalkers being one of them.
"Sure," Kirche said. While they may have conflicting viewpoints, that did not mean they could not be tolerating to one another.
Asuna had her lifestyle, Kirche has hers.
Even if Asuna beliefs in her religion conflicted with Kirche's life decisions, she had learned from her pastor back on Earth to be forgiving.
The player wondered if her father could handle the farm without her, but he did have many more years of harvesting than she did. If he did need help, her mother was sure to aid. Huh, american dad and Japanese mother, and now they have a dragon as a daughter…
Well, she can now safely say her family was even odder now.
"Should be enough," Asuna stated, she could feel her mana reserves, not the exact amount, but it should be fine. "But let's avoid them, I don't want to risk being hit by those spells regardless if I have enough mana."
"You've made me a bit curious on this mana energy, Asuna," Kirche said. "Care to explain it a bit?"
"It just means magical energy," Asuna said, knowing that much, she didn't know too much about RPG mechanics or Life of a Dragon Sequel, but she did have experience in playing Warcraft 3's story campaigns. "It's like a water reservoir that determines how much you have to cast spells, except it naturally fills up over time."
"I see, interesting," Kirche commented. "And these Fel Stalkers?"
"Uh, all I know is that they are creeps."
"Oh?" Kirche smiled in a teasing matter.
"Not that kind of creep! Like a monster, a hostile creature!" Asuna noticed Kirche didn't change her expression, "Stop doing that!"
"You are awfully easy to mess with for dragon," The red-haired mage replied.
"I used to be human, I don't know how I became a dragon… There was this flash of green light and I suddenly appeared as one…" She trailed off with a sigh, the third player didn't understand what had happened, only a few tidbits.
"A human?" Kirche's interest in the subject had been intrigued. "I don't know any spell that can cause such a radical change, but if what you informed me earlier, then I believe we are a few days travel to the academy from the lake."
"An academy? What kind of academy?"
"Magic, of course! What kind of academy wouldn't teach magic?"
"Um…" Asuna trailed off, "We should get moving. Look, I can see the portal over there!"
"Changing the subject, hm? I'm liking you better every minute my dragon girl."
"Stop saying stuff like that!"
"You are just too easy, hun!"
Celdrahil, the sixth player, the dragon slayer of Kayla, walked with boredom along the stone-paved road that led towards the nearby noble's residence. He took quite a few notes on the current conditions and progress since leaving the town he had come across earlier, while also understanding the differences between himself and the average man. It was clear to him that he had a Warcraft heroes significant advantage, the leveling system being on the most notable point, but also the superhuman properties tied to it.
His 'character' so to speak, was fully decked in armor, while in-game this would be little more than a visible appearance, since the Transition, it has greatly improved his survivability thanks to the sheer quality of the plate armor with underlying leather. Any effort that any possible foes hoped to even get past them to injure him was only with magic or armor-piercing ammunition from crossbows, though it might be plausible with muskets, it was unlikely given the current gunpowder technology.
Though, a person capable of using a war hammer or massive two-handed weaponry would also be able to injure him. He was also light on his feet, the armor, while it did have some weight, was surprisingly light.
Not that plate armor was as heavy as media portrayed it, but he guessed even he was influenced by the stereotypical viewpoint of it being heavy.
Celdrahil continued onward, before coming across a small band of what appeared to be militia hanging just outside an iron gate, looking past the bars revealed a two-story building, surrounded by a sizable green hedge.
"Greetings, my fellow men!" Celdrahil exclaimed in greeting, walking up nonthreatening. "What is with this small gathering?"
"Who are you, sir? Are you a chevalier of Gallia?" A militia man, looking young, probably in his teen years, spoke.
"No, but I have some training like them." Celdrahil lied, "I'm a well-equipped, seasoned adventurer that has come here of my own accord to speak with the local noble about the town prosperity."
"He's not letting anyone in until we deal with the dragon," The boy replied, "He's commanded us to go kill it, but what can a dozen of us do against a beast like that?"
"I hold the title of Dragon Slayer," Celdrahil said, finally a creature worthy of his time and also something to take away boredom, "I have training and skill in dealing with them, if you can give directions I'll take care of the problem for you. All I ask is an audience with the noble after I'm finished."
"We can probably give you it," The militia boy said, "Just bring back some proof so he'll actually believe you, now follow the road a mile down and stop when you reach two trees with branches hanging over the road like an archway," He began. "Head west from there, up the hill and through a small outstanding of boulders, the dragon should be around there. Be careful, it's very hostile and will attack you on sight."
"Noted," Celdrahil said, taking a moment to memorize the directions, "I'll be off."
Current Status:
Chosen Dragon Player 1: Saito Hiraga - Alive - Purple 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 11
Chosen Dragon Player 4: Artos Archway - Alive - Green Dragonet (Agility) Level 8
Chosen Dragon Player 5: Cora Rune - Alive - Blue Dragonet (Intelligence) Level 10
Dragon Slayer Player 6: Celdrahil - Alive - Slayer Level 8
Dragon Catcher Player 7: Rosina - Alive - Catcher Level 12
The Human Kingdom Player 8: Aylmer and Abigail - Alive - King Level 4, Princess Level [Error]
The Fel Empire Player 9: Grom - Alive - King of Fel Empire Level 8
Mercenary Player 10: Elizabeth Loyal - Alive - Sorceress Level 7
Observer Map Maker: Map Maker - Alive - The World Editor