proofread by Daylius

CHAPTER 17

A broken promise

Year 2040

London

Feb 20, Monday, 11am

A quest is directly related to a rumor. That is an undeniable law in the world of MMORPG games, virtual or not. The same law applies to Dragon Lore. Every time somebody succeeds a quest a rumor starts to spread, every time when a quest fails a rumor spreads too. Thus quests and rumor are like two sides of the same coin, always together but never the same.

The same thing also happened with Ryu or Shiv, but the rumors did not spread until he set his foot on the Bredon Kingdom. When he had received the Oberon’s blessing, when he got the chains of time or the black dragon or the hidden class there was no rumor of the so called Oberon’s child. One would wonder why there was such a situation where the undeniable law or quest and rumor was broken.

“The answer is simple” Allen Perez, CEO of Phoenix Enterprises spoke. The man was in a meeting with the heads of different departments of his company.

“This so called Shiv was not part of the Orrinshire world, he was beyond that, he was in Draklake, the garden of the Gods. Is it not understandable that if a being does not exist then rumors does not exist either? This player was in Draklake so rumors spread in Draklake, that is all”

“Then why is it spreading now in Valmoor continent?” asked one of those who had gathered.

“Because he is now in Bredon Kingdom which is a part of Valmoor continent. The problem is not the spread of the rumor. The problem is this event is not supposed to have been triggered so early, it is too early. Nobody is supposed to have access to Draklake unless a dragon agrees to take the player personally to the village, which is supposed to be a reward of a SSS rank chain quest. That boy can change the entire world with his will. He has more power than us. I want you to find out the reason as to why did that boy reach there and how was he able to get the blessing, the chain of time, the black dragon sword and even the goddam class. Get out”

Allen was furious. An event that was supposed to happen only after a year had been unlocked on the first day of the release.

‘What is that AI thinking? I should not have given it the ability to judge people and act accordingly’

The AI of Dragon Lore named DAI (Dragon AI) had the ability to read peoples brain waves to understand players need, desires, character, abilities, physical prowess, intelligence and many other things. Sometimes, if the AI found the player interesting, it would give the player a little advantage in the beginning of the game. That was what happened with Ryu. The AI saw the boys desire to be free, the desire to be above all, his abilities, his pain. Emotions were something the AI too had, and the emotion it had towards Ryu was not pity but care. So when Ryu had asked to send him to a random location, DAI without hesitation had send the boy to Draklake, a village that DL (Dragon Lore) fans would call Shangri la.

“Stupid AI” cursed the CEO. “Yuki, find out the details about the boy, everything about him and try contacting him” he ordered his secretary, a beautiful Japanese woman.

“I am afraid we can’t Sir”

“Why is that my lovely secretary?”

“His is the next King Sir”

“King? What just because he got a tattoo and sword you think that makes him King of Dragon Lore? Don’t joke around Yuki”

“I did not mean that Sir, he is the heir to Yasahiro Industries”

Allen froze. He now understood what his secretary had meant by King. The Yasahiro industries were powerful, powerful enough to cause earthquakes in even America. There was only one King in the world now, and that was Isamu Yasahiro, powerful, cunning and if time calls for it, brutal too.

“Contact the Yasahiro Industries. Request for a meeting with the boy and Yuki”

“Sir?”

“Release the Jabberwocky”

This time it was Yuki who froze.

---***---

‘10 levels! Sweet. That makes me lvl 60’ Shiv was happy about the increase in levels. The explosion had earned him a lot of exp. He left the bonus stats point unassigned and decided to take down the remaining goblins. He had been running at his max speed. Every time he came across goblins he would stop and hide. This was to understand how many goblins were there and to come up the most efficient way to deal with them. With his increase in level, a single hit was now enough to deal with the goblins. Every time he would activate ‘Kaze’ and ‘Hono’ to instantly take care of the goblins. He had dealt with 15 of them so far. After dealing with the goblins he began running deeper into the cave, and in one such occurrence Shiv came across another goblin. But this one was different from the rest, its skin color was not as dark as the previous ones. It had horns on its head and was much bigger, almost twice Shiv’s height.

‘He is strong. May be a lvl 50 but not strong enough to be a boss monster. Goblin general may be? Let’s see, he has a two handed axe huh. So the strength type. Probably will have high health and defense, low agility. Armor throughout the body except for back of the neck and his arms. The head guard is thick only his eyes are unprotected. That is some armor, I will have to move fast’ gauging his enemy he moved forward.

“Kaze, Hono, Wind scythe (wind magic)” activating three skills Shiv moved towards the goblin general. Instead of going for the back or the neck Shiv appeared in front of the general and using the arrows he had in his hand he stabbed both the legs of the general at the same time. This was to decrease the general’s movement is what a normal person would think. But to a martial artist the scenario changes. When a martial artist or a normal person tries to perform an action like punching, the power that generates in his hands starts from the legs. The power starts from the leg travelling and building up throughout the body and finally reaches at the hands to produce a powerful punch. A punch which does not use the legs is not even half as powerful as a full body punch.

Shiv’s motive was simple. Limit the goblins leg and there by killing the power behind the general’s attacks. And it worked wonderfully. The general lifted its axe to swing but the swing would not come. The generals upper body was unable to handle the weight of the huge axe and thus unable to use it. The general was surprised, his legs collapsed under the weight of the battle axe. During the confusion, Shiv lunged towards the general who was on his knees. With another two arrows in his hands he stabbed the two eyes of the goblin with all his might during his lunge forward. The arrows bore through the general’s eyes rendering him blind. This became a routine for Shiv, if the enemy was stronger. ’Blind them and they will fall’ was what Shiv thought and it was true. The blinded general became an easy prey. It only took Shiv 10 minutes to cut down the monster.

Once the hunt was over Shiv took time to rest and regain his stamina and satiety. He knew that he had 7 days left so he took it easy. And so the rescue mission continued. The cave was a single road with no branches which made it easy for Shiv. Had it been one with several branching Shiv was sure that he would have got lost in seconds. It took Shiv another couple of hours of running to reach the place where the villagers were held captive.

The villager were held captive in a large circular hall with them chained to the walls. Half of the villagers were crying half were on the ground. At the center of the huge hall was a gigantic throne made from human skulls, partially completed. A huge sword was pierced into the ground like it was some sort of Excalibur. Sitting on the throne was a monster, easily the size of a 2 storey building and as fat as a couple of elephants together. He like the general before were of different color, red. A red goblin monster sat on the throne with a sword in front of him. A body covered with armor throughout except for the back of the legs to allow movement. A true boss monster, goblin king.

‘Don’t tell me. Those skulls were from human sacrifice? You killed humans to make a fucking throne?’ rage was building up. Shiv looked at the hostages more carefully. His legs lost all its strength, tears rolled out. The bodies which were lying on the ground were all headless with blood flowing around them.

‘I was late. I was sleeping and playing around when people were being killed. Unforgivable, I will slaughter you. I will show you pain’ a dark aura began to form around Shiv, his eyes bloodshot. He took out his black sword which too was now covered in the same red aura.

“I will slaughter you!” shouting he ran, concentrating all the red aura into his sword. Detecting the sudden movement the huge goblin lifted his sword and waited for Shiv to attack. The goblin king’s eyes were focused on Shiv but then suddenly Shiv disappeared. The king was shocked. He did not expect the human to disappear. Keeping his guard up the king searched the surroundings for any sign of the enemy. It was like lighting that Shiv suddenly appeared in front of the King’s face with the black dragon ready to strike. The goblin king though surprised used all its strength to block the oncoming attack and was partially successful.

Shiv had used Kaze to disappear from the king’s vision then had used the leg armor of the king as footing to jump towards the king’s face. With the sword clad in red aura and Shiv clad in the yellow aura from Hono Shiv swung his sword at the king’s face. The goblin king had barely parried it and so reduced the damage it received.

The slash gave a small cut on the goblin king’s face near to its right eye. Shiv had intended to blind at least one eye of the goblin king but failed.

‘Trrrng’

New skill unlocked: Blood Aura A dark red aura born from the lust for blood and revenge.

Your anger and hatred towards the goblin king has brought forth a hunger for revenge.

+5 AGI, STR, STA

+20% attack damage

+5% defense

Duration: 3min

Mana consumption- 300

Shiv did not even bother to go through the new skill window. Closing it he once again used Kaze to disappear, equipping the bow he shot all the arrows he could at the goblin king’s face. But the sword was ready to block the arrows too. Only a couple of arrows managed to find its target but none of them hit the eyes at all. Once the volley of arrows ended the goblin king ran towards Shiv. For its huge size it was fast and agile. Not wasting time Shiv took out his dagger and sword and ran towards the goblin king.

The goblin king swung the axe vertically down at his enemy. Shiv rolled forward to avoid it and rolled in between the goblin king’s legs. With this Shiv was behind the goblin king. Using his dagger his stabbed the goblin king behind the knee and slashed it as hard as he could. the goblin king roared and yanked his leg backwards sending Shiv flying.

You have taken 200 damage

The hit drained Shiv more than half of his health, blood was now dripping from his head. The impact had made him let go off his dagger but he somehow managed to hold onto the sword. Shiv got up and then activated three skills at the same time depleting his mana source.

“Kaze, Hono, Blood Aura” bolted towards the goblin king. This time instead of aiming for the back Shiv targeted the hands of the goblin. All three skills being activated at the same time increased the attack damage tremendously. The goblin king’s swings were slow and easily dodged by Shiv. Shiv did not even think about parrying the blows, it was impossible for him. The axe was swung three times. On the third time just before the axe reached Shiv, he used chains of time to slow down time. This gave him more time to cut down the hand. Holding the sword directly above his head Shiv brought down the sword with tremendous strength, his years of kendo practice aiding his move. The sword came down clean, beautifully. It was as if the air was being cut into two.

‘Slash’ and off came the thick right hand of the goblin king. The pain caused it to roar, a deafening roar. Shiv had already moved back sensing the danger, but it was futile. The roar caused something Shiv had not foreseen.

You have been affected by the Goblin king’s roar: You have been paralyzed

Duration: 30sec

Shiv’s eyes widened. Paralysis was not something he had expected. Even though 30sec was a short amount of time, it was enough for the goblin king to kill Shiv. Unable to move Shiv gazed at the goblin king and then at the people who were crying. A horrible thought crossed Shiv’s mind at that time. All those who were crying being beheaded, Shiv’s mind was imagining such a brutal scene.

“Move, move you stupid body. I promised, I promised Bella I would protect everyone. Move. Please god. Move” Shiv was crying and screaming. Losing one’s parents is a pain Shiv did not want another person to feel be it a real person or a NPC. With all his might he tried to move. The goblin king was limping towards Shiv with his left hand raised, ready to squash Shiv. Shiv’s earlier stab to the leg had slowed down the goblin king but that was not enough to buy him time to escape. Shiv was cursing, cursing himself for being so weak, so useless. He stared at the approaching nemesis eyes with hate and anger.

“I will come back for you, I will hunt you down till all eternity. In the name of Maheswara I will dance on your dead corpse one day” Shiv yelled. The goblin king smirked at Shiv. It was then something happened.

The goblin king stopped running and howled with pain. It was then he noticed that a man was standing next to the goblin king. On his hand was the dagger which Shiv had lost a while go. The dagger had landed near the man who had used it to escape from his binding. And now he had stabbed the goblin kings legs from behind. The man was a thin tall man who himself was shivering.

“Hey boy. Take care of my daughter for me will you?” said the man tears running down his pale cheeks and yet he had a smile on his face.

‘Eh? Daughter?’ Shiv looked at the person with the dagger in his hands and then at the goblin king. The goblin king kicked the man with his foot making the man fly towards the nearby wall.

“No no. leave him alone you mongrel. I am right here. Come at me you sh*t head, not him, not Bella’s father” Shiv screamed as he watched the goblin king reach for the man and picking the man up in his hands. Then with left hand, the goblin king squished the man as if it was some bug. Blood sprayed out from the gaps between the fingers, the man could not even scream. The goblin opened its arms and began licking its hands. At that moment Shiv snapped. The moment he snapped, his paralysis wore off too.

“Hey meat sack” Shiv called out to the goblin monster. The goblin king looked at Shiv, with delightful eyes, happy to have caused pain to his enemy. It began laughing as if it was watching something funny going around and then looked at Shiv and began to lick its hand again. It was smiling, with its eyes focused on Shiv.

‘Swoosh’ that was all the goblin king heard and his left hand slid down from the elbow. A perfect clean cut. It was instantaneous. The goblin king did not feel any pain due to the speed by which the hand was cut. The next thing that happened was something beyond the previous. The goblin felt the world around it slow down, it felt itself slowing down like being bound by chains. It began to panic. First time since the fight had begun, fear crept into its heart. It looked at Shiv, the boy was walking towards it slowly, eyes fixed on it.

The goblin king looked into Shiv’s eyes just for an instant. That very instant was enough. The goblin king began walking backwards, a strange fear was making it take step backwards.

“So now you want to run away. After killing people for your stupid entertainment, now you want to walk away. You think cutting down two hand is a pain? No, not at all. Pain is something you will know shortly.” And again Shiv disappeared. The goblin did not feel anything. It was confused as to why it had suddenly lost its balance. It fell down to the ground. When it tried to stand up on its legs, it felt strong pain on its right leg. When it looked at its leg, the right leg was missing its feet.

The goblin no longer tried to move, fear clouded all its senses. It could only see one thing and that was a ‘god of death’.

---***---

Bella and the other children were waiting at their houses for the return of Shiv along with the villagers. A day had passed since Shiv had entered the cave to rescue the others. Bella was happy that she could meet her father again. Her father was the village chief. Her mother had died when Bella was young, so for Bella he father was everything.

‘I must make something good for my father when he returns’ Bella was thinking while preparing food for the other children when she heard the children crying. Grabbing the kitchen knife she rushed out. Outside the house there were people, the villagers. The children were hugging their parents and crying, the villagers too were crying. Bella had tears, tears of happiness as she could finally meet her father. She ran towards the crowd searching for her father. When the villagers saw her, everybody looked down avoiding eye contact, nobody had the courage to tell her the truth.

“Father? Where are you father? It’s Bella. Where are you?” she yelled. No reply came to her calling.

“Father don’t be quiet. Say something. Father” She called for her father again. Her knees were shaking for some reason.

“Bella”

“Shiv, you brought the villagers back. Have you seen my father? He is the village chief”

Shiv then took a necklace from his pocket and placed it on Bella’s hand.

“Why do have mothers necklace with you? It is father’s treasure. I must give it back to him. Tell me where he is already”

“That is all that is left him Bella” Shiv whispered.

“Eh? Don’t lie to me Shiv, I know he is somewhere here. Father? Father?” she called for him again.

“I am sorry Bella, I am sorry. I could not…”Shiv’s voice failed him, he was crying, his heart in pain. Bella did not speak, she froze.

‘Slap’, ‘Slap’, ‘Slap’

Shiv was slapped continuously by Bella. The girl was emotionless.

“You promised that you would protect them. You promised that you would return them”

“I am sorry. I could not keep my promise”

It was then that tears started to run down Bella’s fair cheeks, he knees gave up and she fell onto Shiv’s chest. And she cried and cried till the tears of her heart could no longer come out.

The boy who had promised and the girl who had believed the promise stood there with their hearts shattered like Castles of Glass.

---***---

(I don't know whether you guys will like the drama. but i want to write a ff which has drama as well as action. so enjoy)

Pls rate my ff. Give me your review. Have fun

MAIN PAGE