A Virtual Band of Heroes

There weren’t always dragons in the Valley. And the game used to just be a game.

I slipped the immersive gear over my eyes, immediately questioning whether I’d spawned into the correct location. Apparently, Adira had taken our parting words to heart, breaking the townhouse in with quite the party. To say the room was trashed was the epitome of an understatement. Had it not been for the two mops of white hair, it would have been near impossible to sort her from the mess of it all.

Adira sprawled across the couch in full gear, snoring like a sailor; her lightly gripped goblet dribbling mead on the floor. None of us were stupid enough to wake her within her swing radius. One near miss of twin daggers slitting our necks was enough for us to get the message. A bucket of water would do the job just fine. Besides, the cushions would need a wash after absorbing the stench of her armor’s slain ogre blood and stale beer anyway.

I chuckled to myself . How I’d even befriended these people was a mystery, but I wouldn’t trade them for the world.

We were balanced - Adira, initially a low-level player who turned out to be a scheming pickpocket, Finn, whose dual wielding axes paired well with strategic gameplay assessment and all things sweet, Sho, a naïve longsword wielder who happened to have a knack for magical runes and myself, a skilled informant who loved to bash and trash in close-handed combat.

The perfect blend of tactics, skill, and play style - minus the long range advantage.

And to think our first raid had been probably one of the clumsiest disasters I had encountered to date, but somehow that fateful day, I met my in-game family. It was strange being so close and not really knowing any of them. Or rather not knowing the other half of their life.

It was the one thing strictly off limits per game rules - talking about your real life.

No one in the realm really knew who anyone else was, only their game name and user id. And yet, I trusted my team members more than some of my acquaintances in the real world. The only other person I actually knew who played the game was my older brother, Shaun, which was an inevitable connection since he introduced me to the game in the first place.

Stepping around the chaos, I worked my way across the main living area toward the rear exit. Though not the largest, our newly purchased abode provided exactly what we needed, even if it had been accomplished by a small loan from my brother. It was a given I’d be paying him back with information anyway.

Each of us had a room, though most time was spent in the main area, with the one other interior location dedicated as an armory of blades, gear, and magic arranged to appreciate our triumphs. Sho had really outdone himself with that one.

I crossed the entryway into our courtyard as the warm breeze caressed my cheek, and slumped against a post of the shallow overhang. Our place was modest, but the courtyard was a major improvement from our last dwelling. That and it didn’t smell of wafting horse manure from the next door stable.

Even the walls, crumbling and worn, welcomed one into its simple enclosed paradise. The warm sand-colored stone balanced the refreshing, manicured grass strategically decorated with patches of dirt, detailing a practice area for dueling.

Along with the firepit and sword grinder, both recent additions thanks to the money from our latest quest drops, the place felt like home. Maybe even more than my new apartment.

As expected, Sho was in the middle of a morning practice. Unlike my short-sword, Sho wielded a massive two-hand longsword, along with the height and frame to balance it. Visual ripples blurred the air with his movements, the vibrations from the blade an added bonus to its hit damage if mastered.

With each pass of Sho’s blade, shivers ran down my spine, leaving my arm hairs standing on end. As my first time playing since the recent updates, it was safe to say the developers had outdone themselves again. Immersive gaming was hardly accurate. This place began to blend with the real world if you let it.

Sho took another swing exposing the full of his back; the contour of his muscles reflecting the soft rays of the dawn sky. The deep gash stretching across his skin came into view, lighter and calloused compared to the skin around it. If caught in the right light, one could see its discolored veins running as if the poison settled beneath was waiting to awaken and finish its job.

I held back a cough as he transitioned the blade with effortless skill to the next form in his practice. Thank the heavens Sho didn’t have the skill level to see the redness of my cheeks. I turned muttering into my shoulder as I wrestled with my reactions. For all I knew, he could look nothing like that in the real world…but it still left the door open to wonder.

Every avatar was generated with smatterings of our human selves granting us one unique ability no one else in the realm could wield. That was part of the novelty with the game’s AI and one of the biggest selling breakthroughs that made this virtual immersion game much more real.

As the sun broke the horizon, the shadow cast from the slats overhead drizzled across my figure contrasting the few streams of light that managed to slip through the slits. And apparently, just slit enough, to drip water right in front of the door. Seems the game developers had quite the sense of humor regarding those who lurked in doorways.

Taking the hint and wiping the dew from my face, I started toward Sho. Might as well get a jump on it, now that we were all here. There was no time to rest on our laurels if we were going to qualify for the unranked tournament this month.

Adira had been dying to compete, though she only recently leveled up to be competitive. I hesitated to mention the challenge it posed playing against the higher-ranked, seasoned players for fear of diminishing her excitement.

Finn, on the other hand, had always wanted a shot at a legendary position, less for the quest perks, and more for the armor. From competing once alongside my brother, it was fair to say the tournament was not for the faint of heart or underprepared.

“Up for the Pass of the Searing Wind?” I pulled my gloves tighter over my hands, flexing my fingers to feel the fit. They’d be fine for now, but it was worth another go at the training area for a calibration. “We need maybe two more quests this month to make the preliminary tournament cutoff.”

Sho froze, unaware I’d arrived in the time since he’d started. To be fair, with my level of sneaking and standing in shadows, I was practically undetectable. His tension lifted realizing it was me and that his chance of being pranked had dropped ten-fold.

“Haven’t you seen the new quest notice? Showed up a few minutes ago. Looks like it went out world wide.” He brushed his forearm across his face to wipe the dripping sweat, a habit likely carried over from the real world.

“Probably a lagging connection,” I mumbled, as he tapped through his screens to share the notification. I channeled as much annoyance for the delayed message as I could to stop the blush from returning to my face.

The white, semi-translucent box blipped in front of my view; my fingers flicking as I scrolled to the bottom. So there were other dragons…Being a skilled info broker had its perks, almost on par as a high-level shapeshifter, but not even I had come across a lead to the white death dragon that perched in the upper regions.

Ever since the game launched, there had been only rumors of what laid in the mountainous, forested wastelands where the howling winds alone dropped your hit points like crazy. Only those with the legendary titles could make it past the lower levels and what lay within the mystery of its perilous fog was no further known.

There had been backlash online with the original release, “An impossible level in an impossible game”, but most players accepted it as a challenge earning those who made progress the highest form of respect. And the developer had made it publicly known there was a way to achieve it, and that no changes would be made in any later releases.

Now dragons were in the Valley.

“I’m up for checking it out. Gather the basics, see if we give it a go. We should still have enough time to prep for the tournament.”

Being first run had its glory, but first victory mattered more and wasting resources without reconnaissance was not worth the risk. There had only been a smattering of lucky idiots who had pulled off first run attempts and it was clear from the playbacks, luck was the only thing they’d had on their side. Tactics were everything, and if it was anything like the North Mountains quest it wasn’t going to be straightforward.

The upper right hand of my view caught my attention with a flashing message icon. I scoffed. So much for that high-speed internet connection I’d purchased.

“Looks like mine finally came in.” Really, there was no reason for me to have clicked the red icon except that the constant flashing would have slowly driven me mad.

Upon opening the notice, I headed straight for the close icon seeing the quest title reading the same, but paused when the body only contained a few lines of garbled text. My fingers moved to where my brow furrowed, as if it would help me reach a conclusion. Must have been a glitch.

“Something up, Elda?” Distracted, I hardly noticed as Sho approached, resting a hand on my shoulder. The hesitation of my answer solidified his intuition.

“We’re still on for mission prep, right?”

“Yeah…of course, right.” I shook my head, breaking from my daze. “Just…” There was no way to tell him yet. Maybe it was just a mistake or an over-anxious assumption, but my instinct knew something was wrong with this quest. If my instinct didn’t, my skill set did. “Just, meet me at the scout location with the group after you gather supplies. I want to do some recon first.”

Sho could tell that something in the message hadn’t been the same; that there was more on the table, but the gentle smirk of his lips alleviated the need to say more. What a relief it was to be trusted. Sho headed for the house as I scouted my map for a starting surveillance point.

“Oh, and one other thing,” I added as Sho turned, his figure blocking most of the doorway, “Good luck waking Adira.”

Sho chuckled as he pulled up his control panel, fingers scrolling through his inventory. With a tap, water sloshed onto the rock entryway and a wooden bucket appeared, filled to the brim. As he trudged into living area, I teleported hearing nothing but Adira’s shrill scream and a long string of curses pouring from the door.

The game had been released for almost two years, its upcoming anniversary right around the corner and the motivator for all the recent updates.

I still remember Shaun shoving the crinkling cellophane packaging way too close to my face rambling random marketing phrases about “The AI of the Future” and “Breathtaking Immersive Play”. Even so, if he was heckling me this much about a game, it was worth a try.

We had even joked that names weren’t needed since they basically knew everything else about us anyway, which still took us by surprise when it turned out to be the case.

I checked both the real time and game time nestled in the upper left hand of my view. It was shocking Shaun hadn’t reached out to me yet. I knew Shaun couldn’t log on until around 7pm in the real world, which calculating, should have placed him on the map half a day ago.

That gave him plenty of time to read his messages, something he never delayed, as much as reaching out to his infamous info-broker sister to get the rundown of what he might have missed. As if he needed any help.

Shuan was, by far and bias aside, one of the best players of the game. While I took an in-the-moment, brutal approach, Shaun was calculating and always focused on the end goal.

It came as no surprise when he’d won the monthly champions tournament and to this day, had filled the role of the legendary demon king. It was also not a shock that he’d held its rule for the longest in the game’s history, four consecutive months of real world time.

I shifted my position. Waiting for a shred of info with no leads was starting to get old along with the twig stabbing me in the side. I’d sat in guilds, hidden among bustling market stands, and blended in the tops of trees anxious to piece it together.

Anything was a start - places that had appeared since the quest release, tactical shifts of the primary guilds, or even a decrease of materials through trade routes.

There was always a chance someone with a unique quest would keep quiet, much like myself, but if it were a bug, someone would have complained. Realistically, a rumor at the very least should have started. Grabbing my attention from the group below, a ping from Finn let me know that Adira and Sho had arrived at the scouting location.

I watched for a minute more as the team I was trailing disappeared around the bend. Nothing. Utterly useless. Just a bunch of party gossip about the Rampage of the Wild Gnomes quest. I took off my cloaking spell and dropped from the tree branch in which I was perched.

If anything was going to show, it wasn’t here. I located Finn’s player beacon on the map and equipped a teleport crystal. Fingers crossed he’d found something.

I stood next to Finn with my mouth pressed into a line.

“Hasn’t changed a bit,” he said, hands outstretched explaining the battlefield play. We were nestled on a cliff outcrop that peered into the Valley below, an excellent vantage point with the dragon’s lair lying right in the cross hairs.

“No one can even break the barrier sentinels. And right when you think they’re going to breach the front…” A wall of ice sprayed across the field, shattering players to respawn before they could even freeze. The only echo through the valley were whispers of their chilling screams. Finn’s eyes widened.

“Well, the ice is new. So far, it’s been mostly fire, lightning strikes, and one reported account of a sound attack.” As the countdown timer reached zero, another wave rushed toward the enemy lines.

”They’re estimating 2000 hp drop per second hit.” It was my turn for widening eyes. That sort of damage with random attack variation could barely be managed on any front. And threw most tactics out the window. And those were just sentinels…

I drummed my fingers against the outer edge of my arm. There had to be more information out there. If anyone knew something, Shaun would know. He knew everything about this world. I’d even forgo sibling bragging rights for a morsel of a clue.

I watched as the thirteenth set of teams coordinated their approach. By now, they’d tried every armor, every attack breakdown, and still, they were no further from the starting block. Instinctively, I began pulling open conversation windows. At the edge of my view, Finn eyed my movements, eyebrows raising with intrigue. Or concern, it was hard to tell which.

“I will graciously hand the watch over to you, O Devoted One.” I nodded to Finn, acknowledging his jesting bow as he trotted off to banter with the others. My eyes scoured the endless chats, the auto scroll speed almost too fast to comprehend if my info-broker level had been any lower.

Something had to show. If not now, sometime soon. It was a longshot, but I threw the last chat open. It hadn’t been answered in months; so long in fact, the log had been wiped clean due to underuse.

The sun began dipping below the horizon; the game hours passing with nothing appearing. Message boards remained bumbled garbage and waves of organized players continued being obliterated by the onslaught of the dragons. A few more minutes and I’d fold, going to join the others for a round of fireside dice.

Only then did a message appear against the background of the lifeless chat.

The demon king has disappeared.

Blurring spread across my viewport, seeping quickly from the edges as I felt my avatar’s movement controls beginning to slip. Only seconds later, did I feel my knees give. Before I could fall, Finn was cradling me into his chest, Adira and Sho staring into my disoriented glances.

I grasped at my surroundings, unsure what was happening.

“Elda…” Concern pooled in Adira’s crystalline jade eyes. How could they have known?

“We saw your hp drop.” Even in glances, Sho could read my thoughts. Emotional pain. Of course. Fear was emotional pain. The intricacies of the game design were sometimes frightening.

“I have to go.” Still unsettled, I righted myself, turning from their faces to pull up the logout icon. I wasn’t even sure what the message had implied. My finger hovered over the button. It was hard to clear the wavering from my voice, but I composed my demeanor as best I could.

“Don’t go near that valley.” I turned a final time meeting their collective focus. From their darting eyes, it was obvious they knew the panic was related to my quest earlier. Sho must have filled them in, but none of them pressed for further details. How could I tell them I knew the real demon king - the one clear rule not meant to be broken?

My eyes caught the darkening twilight as I returned to my bedroom, the white ceiling a hazy blue dulled by the headgear’s translucent screen. If there was something, Shaun would know. He had to know. I slipped the gear from my head and stumbled to the glowing light of my charging phone.

He always knew. Then why did it feel wrong as I scrolled to his name and waited for him to pick up? Shuan would know, right? Half-choked sobs met me on the other end of the line. I hadn’t talked with Shaun’s girlfriend in weeks.

“Rachel, is everything okay?”

For a few seconds, there was no response, only crinkling as a shoulder brushed against the edge of the receiver. The returning voice was not of Rachel’s, but that of my younger brother.

“He’s missing, Layla. Shaun’s missing.”