Ed turned his head around and counted six of them.

“So, what do we have here?” asked the man who threatened Goro.

“We’re all friendlies here,” Goro said swiftly, letting them hear his US accent, his empty hands, nevertheless, pointing to the stars above.”

“We’ll decide upon that, who’s friendly and who’s not,” the man answered in a rude tone.

“And you brought modern warfare inside a fantasy setting?” Ed said with disapproval. “That’s just great. Leave it to Uncle Sam to screw things up.”

The man who spoke was suddenly on top of Ed, smacking his head and shoveling him with one hand toward the fire.

“Hey! He’s just a kid! Let him be,” a woman jumped in and suddenly was there to pick Ed up so he did not end up in the campfire.

“Shut up, Reina,” the man said and pointed his finger at the woman. “I’ve killed boys younger than you, so you better keep your tongue tied. Do you understand me, boy?”

“You shut up, Morty. You hurt this kid, and I’ll put a bullet in your stupid ass! Don’t know who the fuck you think you are! But you’re not our group leader, and that's for sure.”

“Well, I guess, our group leader is not with us anymore. Or his second. Someone has to step in.”

“You lost members?” Logan dared to ask.

“Yes. Some dudes dressed in the black armor,” answered the man with a long yellow beard who came behind Logan.

“Could you not gun them down?” Logan asked.

“Not so easy,” the man answered, lowering the gun down and putting on the safety, then telling the others to do the same. “They have some shields our regular ammunition cannot pierce. I think we got maybe five of them with grenade launchers. Not even a heavy machine gun would cut them down. They were like tanks on two feet. And those that rode horses, they moved too damn fast. We lost three members. That’s why we’re a bit nervous.”

“Understandable,” Logan said, ready to speak more. He was just burning to tell them all about how Goro alone had cut three of them, but Goro just cast him his iron stare and shook his head, and Logan knew that it was probably better to keep his mouth shut.

“So, who are you, and why are you making all that noise? We could hear you from a mile away. Watched you for like last five minutes.” The man who smacked Ed asked.

Ed rubbed his head where the man slapped him, and when Goro and Logan did not want to offer any answers, said, “We got here almost by accident. We’re just trying to figure things out.”

“I did not ask you!” the man snapped at him. “Let the adults talk.”

“He told you the truth,” Goro said. “Please sit down by our campfire. It seems we have… some things in common.”

The man sighed and looked around, not ready to sit down. He asked Goro, “Have you met anyone called the Joker?”

“Nope,” Goro answered instantly.

“How about you kid? You know who the Joker is?” asked somebody from behind, obviously noticing a change on Ed’s face.

The night and darkness proved a good allay to Ed on that occasion since his face went bloodless pale for a long second.

“How could he know anything? He’s just a kid,” Logan answered instead.

“I’ll ask the question, and you, office Bob, sit your ass down.”

“Name’s Logan.”

“A good tough name. But the name does not suit you, you pussy face. So, shut up!”

“Leave him be,” Ed said and turned his attention to himself. “He had it rough already. If you tell us what he looks like, this Joker… Maybe we could help you. But… At least I have not met anyone called the Joker.”

“Our team leader had a description. Probably the second in command did as well. But we were not told.”

“And how did you get here?”

“We were given sedatives. When we woke up, we were here, strange men dressed in mail attacking us before we knew what was up and what was down.”

Goro and Logan exchanged quick glances.

The woman saw that and asked. “And you? How did you get here? Were you conscious for the whole trip? Do you know where we are?”

“We…” Goro said, shaking his head. “We also don’t know anything. Have no idea how we got here. That’s the truth. Just trying to talk among us to try and figure things out.”

“So, you’re working for the US Government?” Logan asked, trying to move the talk away from Goro.

“No, a private company. We are all veterans. Did our duty. This is private. Just trying to earn an extra buck.”

“And that’s your mission, to find the Joker?”

“Our instructions were very brief. We were to go to this place called Dover’s Tavern and wait for the Joker to come. We chose to go through the woods on account of the road being patrolled by those knights in black. So, all we know is that we need to find this Joker. We are to provide him an entourage while he completed some secret missions. We have no idea what those missions were. We were just told to be at his disposal.”

“Enough, Reina. We don’t need to give that info to the civilians. Who knows? They may be spies,” Morty said.

“Oh, yeah. You’re so screwed now. I’ve been a spy for like… ten years now,” Ed said. “Went to Elementary Spy School, graduated Magna Cum Laude, then eight years to CIA Middle School for Super Spies. Although I made there on the dean’s list only once on the account of booze and women, you know.”

“Funny. Do I need to slap you again?” Morty asked.

“You’re pretty tough with someone so much smaller than you,” Goro answered him right away.

“You’ve got something to tell me, Mister?”

“Oh, man, look at the eyes on that one. You better watch out, Morty,” someone added from the side

“Why don’t you put that gun down, and then maybe I will.”

Morty chuckled at that. “Maybe I will, pretty boy.”

“No time better than now.”

The shriek of thousand lions broke the tension. They all looked instantly to the sky which a second later turned into countless shades of orange as the fire shut down on the forest around.

“What, they’ve got a dragon here?” Morty asked as he raised his weapon.

Goro grabbed Ed and jumped toward the part of the forest that was still dark while Logan followed close behind.

“Don’t stop!” Goro told Logan, noticing how he slowed down and turned around to look at the mercs firing their weapons toward the sky where a long dark shape of beast blocked out the stars.

But their run was short as the trees in front of them suddenly burst up in flames. They ducked down and hit the dirt, feeling the heat of flames on their cheeks, Goro covering Ed with his body.

They hugged the earth, waiting for the dragon’s flames to subside. Logan turned on the ground around to watch the firing of the weapons, the bullets bouncing off the dragon’s skin, its rage exploding in fires everywhere.

When it landed down in the clearance, it became clear what a truly magnificent beast it was. The horns decorating its head that was big enough to swallow a whole sheep, its tail so long and powerful it severed any tree it came against as if it was not more than a leaf of grass.

The man firing the grenades was the first to go, right into the mouth of the beast that sliced his body in half with its long fangs, just to spit out the other half in the direction of another man firing.

Its tail swooped over the campfire, and anyone standing was not left standing, one of the soldiers still holding on to the trigger, shooting in the void with his severed dead hand.

The shooting stopped long moments before the beast roared again, now with its victorious cry. Then just the noise of fire cracking on the wood and the flapping of the huge wings to take the beast up and away.

Logan was the first up, running toward the clearance to see the beast off to the stars above.

“We need to see if there are any survivors. And then head out. This was probably heard and seen from miles around,” Goro said as he picked Ed up. “Maybe it’s time for you to go home.”

“Not yet,” Ed said. “I still have time.”

“Well, I can’t make you go back.”

“This was so damn awesome,” Ed said, looking at the fire trail of the dragon. “MOLI, how is my experience now?”

You survived the attack of the Dragon Doverinix.

Your Experience has increased by 100

Your Health is 50 of 100.

Advisory:

If you do not get medical attention for your cuts, your health will continue to deteriorate at the rate of 1 per hour.

“How did you guys do? I did all right,” Ed announced.

Goro rubbed his shoulder gently. “This is not a game kid. People died tonight. Do you think you can understand that?”

“What?” Ed asked.

“Real people. Not avatars. Real, like you and me.”

“Yes,” Logan said from the place of the carnage. “I don’t think anyone survived. They are all either burned or chopped.”

“What?” Ed asked.

“Something that I’ve been trying to tell you ever since you came here. This is not a game, kid,” Goro said and tapped him gently again. “It might be better to go home and stay there. While you still can.”

“But, but… those people were sent here… To look for me.”

“Seems like it, if it’s true what they say. Still-”

“I have some purpose here then.”

“Anyone alive?” came a weak voice from somewhere in the forest.

Logan ran to it. “We’ve got a survivor here! It’s that woman, Reina, or whatever her true name is. But she’s bleeding bad.”

“I, I can run and get some bandages. And, some antiseptics. I think I need some too.”

“Yes, why don’t you do that? We’ll take her to Dover’s Tavern and meet you there then,” Goro said, and a second later Ed was already gone.