“I’m impressed,” Sang said as they walked side by side toward Bloodrock. They had been marching for nearly six hours straight, and most of the players were on auto-walk, waiting for a direct message from Van to inform them that they had arrived at their location.
“I know,” Van said. “I am quite the impressive person.”
“And humble, too,” Sang said with a laugh.
It was so strange how happy she seemed as they marched toward their certain death. Maybe that alien technology had damaged her mind somehow. Van couldn’t make sense of it. “Well, speaking of humility,” Van said as he pointed up ahead. “I think we’re in for it.”
Ahead of them was a small retinue of horses and soldiers, clearly waiting for Van. Carrying a banner was none other than Captain Edwardson.
“Crap,” Sang said. “I figured he wouldn’t notice us vanishing on him.”
“Yeah, well, I’m sure he was pissed when we didn’t show up at the battle when we were supposed to,” Van replied. “Let me do the talking.”
“Just be careful,” Sang replied.
Van departed from his group and made his way to the retinue. Edwardson had dismounted from his horse and was standing with his arms crossed.
“Well, well, well,” Edwardson said. “I cannot believe what my eyes show me. Is it true? Do I see a well-armed cadre of deserters heading my way?”
“We’re not deserters,” Van said. “Uh, sorry about the oversight, though. I forgot to mention that the Iron Dragons are formally leaving your army.”
“More like formally leaving my army without any back-up. You were supposed to take out those archers on the ridge. We were slaughtered out there!” Edwardson bellowed.
“Sorry, dude, but we’re allowed to leave anytime we want. That’s what mercenaries do.”
“You’re lucky that I don’t cut you down where you stand!” Edwardson replied.
“Sorry, sorry—we’ll make it up to you later,” Van stammered. “But we’re needed elsewhere.”
“Indeed, you are,” Edwardson said. He leaned close to Van. “The first cave that you see when you enter past Bloodrock’s walls. It’s called the Cave of Fantasy. All you need to do is enter with the dragon and everything will be forgiven. There will be a place for you at the table when Draco decides to start the feast,” he hissed. “Do it, before it’s too late.”
Van felt his blood run cold. He stepped back from the man and shook his head. “Leave us alone.”
“Oh, by all means,” Edwardson hissed. “Please proceed. But don’t think for a moment that you’re leaving Bloodrock alive if you don’t go into that cave.”
Van didn’t make eye contact with the Draco pro. Instead, he just turned around and moved back to where his army was resting.
“What did he say?” Sang asked as she walked up to greet him.
“He was just mad,” Van said. “But I smoothed it over. Let’s keep going.” He wasn’t sure why he was keeping this bit of information away from Sang. She needed to know about the cave… but at the same time, something was keeping him from telling her. He wasn’t sure what it was. Did he really want to betray humanity? No, that couldn’t possibly be it. He knew that he needed to tell her at some point, but he decided that he would wait. There was no reason to cause her excess worry; at least, that’s what he told himself.
The army began to pick up the pace as they marched onward. The journey was grueling and it took nearly 12 hours, but eventually they made it to the base of the gigantic walls that prevented people from entering into Bloodrock.
“Man!” Bidane said as she walked up next to Van and stared straight up. “Have you ever seen walls this tall?”
“They’ve got to be nearly 50 feet tall!” Kylian said.
“It’d be fun to push someone off,” Capello said.
Van chuckled at the banter. He had missed hearing them all talk and joke during the long voyage. Now they were all standing before the massive walls, staring up in awe.
“How are we supposed to get in there?” Kylian asked. “Those walls are too high to climb and the only entrance is guarded by Level 99 guards. I don’t care how many of us charge at them—we’ll get the stuffing kicked out of us.”
“I know, but I’ve got a plan,” Van said. “Everyone always talks about how impenetrable these walls are, right? They make a lot of noise about how they were enchanted to never break, but it got me thinking... what if we were to tunnel underneath?”
“Like what, be mole people?” Sahara asked. “As a fire wizard, I oppose earth.”
“I thought a fire wizard would oppose water,” Dolly asked.
“Well, um, I oppose both,” Sahara said as she threw her long orange hair over her shoulder.
“Right, anyway. So, we have enough people. We grab shovels and get to digging, and we can probably go right underneath. No problem!” Van said.
“I’m not well-versed with this area,” Sang said, “but wouldn’t someone have already tried that?”
“Well, the people who traditionally try to enter this place are high-level enough to fight those guards over there,” Van said, pointing to the large steel gates that were guarded by four huge four-headed dogs.
“Oh, right,” Sang said. “I guess no one would have any reason to try and get inside here if they were the wrong level.”
“So, are we fighting or what?” Capello asked as he clacked his axes together. “I’m getting impatient here.”
“Getting impatient?” Sahara asked. “I can’t remember a single time when you were patient.”
“Seconded,” Dolly said. “In fact, I say we all vote to make him dig.”
“Get as many players as you can,” Van said. “We’re going to start digging underneath the wall. Hopefully, it doesn’t go into the ground too deep.”
Bidane shot a look over at Van. He tried to ignore her and went back to focusing on organizing his team. He knew that she was going to be very suspicious about the fact that they were now in an insanely high-level area, but she had been so busy running her own team so far that she hadn’t had time to argue with him. So, he’d just have to make sure to keep her as busy as possible until they got through the walls.
As Van tried to ignore her stern and annoyed gaze, a black figure in the corner of his eye caught his attention. It was Jet. The dragon had trotted over to a section of the wall and was staring blankly at it. It clawed a few times at the structure.
“Hey, Sang,” Van said. “Something’s up with Jet.”
Sang turned from her conversation with Kylian. “Well, go find out what he wants—I’m trying to figure out logistics here.”
Van opened his mouth to argue with her about her tone, but realized that she was most likely overwhelmed with the stress of the situation. Rather than lay into her, he chose to turn and walk to where Jet was standing.
“What’s up?” Van asked.
Jet didn’t reply, and rather placed one talon on the wall.
“Is it weak here? I’m really not up for the Lassie treatment here, so just whisper,” Van suggested as he knocked against the wall. It was nice and solid, not hollow in the least.
Jet growled a little at him, but didn’t turn his attention away from the wall. Van placed both his hands on the wall and tried to push. A hissing noise emanated from the wall as the stones began to slide apart slightly. Van could see something behind the sections. Lights shined as he continued to push open the stones, which then fully slid open into what looked like some kind of a maintenance panel. Crystals of blue and red were arranged on the side of the panel as if they made up some kind of circuit board. It reminded Van of looking at a box full of fuses.