14 DRAGON !!
1478 Words
They continued their training as Jenny upgraded to the paladin. Ailsa was especially excited about training and was practicing with her bow as often as she could. Walt helped her with target practice which he made sure increased in intensity as the days went by.
One day, they were out in the field practicing and Walt had an idea to help Ailsa reach another level. So, he told her to stand about a hundred meters away from a single tree in the field, blindfolded. Then he went to stand next to the tree. He cupped his hand in front of his mouth and yelled out “concentrate on the tree, I’m right next to it. Don’t hit me.”
“What?” Ailsa screamed “I don’t want to do that,”
“Come on Ailsa, you’re the only nomadic elf, you can do this.”
Ailsa groaned, at that moment she wanted to kick Walt for always convincing her to do things. She drew in a breath and held up her bow. She could not see anything but knew the direction of the tree. With her heart in her throat, she pulled back the string of her bow with all her strength and released the arrow the same time she released her breath. She heard the arrow hit something and lowered her bow. For a minute, she heard nothing else and felt panic build up inside her.
“Walt?” she said, the blindfold still on her face but there was no reply. She threw Eclipse on the ground and pulled the blindfold off her face. He was standing right in front of her with a grin on his face.
“Son of a,” she moaned and let of breath if relief “you scared me!” she screamed and slammed her fist on his chest. He laughed and held her hands, pulling him closer to her. They hugged and she sighed, she thought she had killed him.
“It’s a game, remember? I don’t actually get hurt,” he said and she looked up at him, frowning.
“I know that it makes no difference. You would be gone, and I don’t know what I’d do without you,” she said and he felt his chest swell. He pressed her closer to him and bent his head to plant a kiss on her forehead. Ailsa was suddenly put in a trance.
“New skill unlocked: Arrow of Cupid. The player can target a single opponent. Congratulations.” The system announced to her. When she came back, she was still holding Walt who frowned at her. “What happened?” he asked.
“I just unlocked a new skill,” she said and Walt smirked. His plan had worked perfectly, he felt like a genius in a moment and Ailsa rolled her eyes at his smugness.
“Ahem,” Jenny’s voice came from their side and they turned their heads to her. She was standing with a smile on her face “guess who has been fully upgraded to a paladin?” she said and Ailsa pulled free from Walt’s grip to run to her and hug her.
“Congratulations Jenny,” Walt said and she smiled.
“We should go celebrate,” Ailsa said and Walt agreed, so they made their way to the central village where the biggest tavern was located. Everyone in the village knew them at this point and called out greetings as they made their way to the tavern. Once inside, Walt announced that a round of everyone’s drinks was on him which made everyone excited.
They were drinking and jesting. After a while, a group of newly arrived singers started to perform. One played the flute, another played the lyre and a third one sang:
I know of a place far and cold,
Where the ice dragon dwells.
Its scales are ice and its fangs not nice,
But its caves are filled with pearls.
Across the rivers, past the lakes,
To the caves of the dragon I will take,
For its scales are ice and its fangs not nice,
But its caves are filled with pearls.
The singers went on for another two verses, talking cryptically about a formidable dragon that had massive treasures but was deadly. Walt, who knew nothing random like that could happen in the game without a hidden meaning, met the singers after they were done singing but all they told him was that they had heard the song around the end of Echo Corridor which was where they just arrived from. Walt figured they were just system prompts like the guards at the entrance to Elves Valley and they only had a single-use. He asked them to write out the lyrics for him, which they did.
He studied the lyrics while the merriment continued in the tavern. Trying to pinpoint specifics in the song. After a few minutes of perusing, it suddenly hit him. He stood up quickly from the excitement of his discovery. Before that moment, the task had been on standstill, mostly because of Jenny’s upgrade but also because they were getting nowhere with their investigations. With his new discovery, the task would get back on its wheels.
“Ailsa! Jenny!” he yelled over the noise as he walked towards his teammates. They both looked at him as he walked briskly towards them, waving the paper the lyrics were written on. “What? What is it?” Ailsa asked when he reached their side.
“I know where all the mana is coming from,” he announced and both women widened their eyes.
“Really?” Jenny asked and Walt replied yes with a smirk on his face. Ailsa and Jenny rolled their eyes at his smugness then he started to explain his discovery to them which fascinated them both.
“Wow. So, what do we do now?” Ailsa asked and Walt smirked again.
“We go kill ourselves a dragon.” He replied.
The next day, they told Luuk about their discovery. He helped prepare them with equipment and supplies and wished them luck on their journey. Armed with the lyrics, the three-man team headed for Ice Field which was the name of the place where the singers had heard the song, it was also the apparent location of the dragon according to them. Some people had told them that they migrated from Ice Field because of the amount of mana there, it was even stronger than the amount in the village.
As they started their journey, Ailsa opted for a more covering outfit because even though she had great strength and resistance power, the cold was starting to get to her too. Jenny’s new armor kept her warm and she did not need the furs and boiled leather which Walt wrapped around himself. He was a bit jealous of them both.
“This journey lasts about three days according to the singers, so we will have to camp but there’s no NPC hotel on the way there,” Walt said as they left the village and Jenny sighed sadly.
“That’s okay, I know how to use the spirits of the forest to draw out warmth from our surroundings. I’ll keep you warm,” Ailsa said and held his hand smiling. He smiled back.
“How about me?” Jenny said.
“I’ll keep you warm too,” Ailsa said with a giggle, causing Jenny to laugh. She was true to her word and the two nights they spent sleeping in the icy forest, it felt like they were in the summertime and only light cooling breezes flowed around them. On the third day, they arrived at Ice Field which was appropriately named. Ahead was a large expanse of land that seemed to be covered in a white bumpy carpet. Looming far ahead of the field was a huge mountain that was so high, they could not see the tip.
“Whoa,” Jenny whispered.
“I agree,” Walt said. He felt this huge swarm of mana around him. Back in the village, the initial feeling of the mana had disappeared and when Ailsa and Jenny talked about it, he could not relate to them. But here, it was thick, like the smell of burning broth “Ailsa, can you feel the direction?”
“Yes,” Ailsa replied, her voice hoarse from the intensity of the whole area. “Okay, let’s find this thing. Jenny, please cast a cloaking spell on us,” he said and Jenny did as he instructed then they followed Ailsa as she made her way across the field, towards the mountain. Walt figured they would find the dragon there; he wasn’t sure what to expect which is why he told Jenny to cloak them.
The mana got more intense as they approached the mountain. It seemed to take physical form as mist settled down all around them the closer they got. They were all quiet because of the intensity of the moment, then they reached the end of the entrance in front of yet another cave, but this one was unlike any they had seen before. It seemed to be made entirely of ice, with icicles hanging from the top of the entrance. A slight growl came from the entrance, so they quickly hid despite their cloaking. They peeked at the entrance and saw it come out.
“Holy s**t,” Jenny whispered.
“I agree,” Walt and Ailsa said.
- Writer
