Deran stared at Luke in growing horror. The thought that this wasn't his real life didn't even cross his mind, "Wait. What do you mean by the "End of everything"? Please tell me you're just being dramatic."

Luke wearily trudged to the now stuck open door and sighed, "Let's talk on the way back to town. I could really use a drink." Deran nodded, dreading the walk back while carrying the giant dragon's egg. He knew they couldn't just leave it there though, so he repurposed the leather straps from Lyselle's riding gear and made a makeshift sling to hold it.

"Be careful with that," Luke admonished, covering the egg with a blanket, "That egg might be the only thing to save us."

Deran nodded, one hand constantly on the egg to help stabilize it, "You promised more details on that. I'd like to know whatever it is you know about all this fey stuff. Just what makes it such a big deal?"

Luke passed under a branch, swiping at its leaves in frustration, "Yeah. The Fey. Where to begin. They weren't a creature so much as a source of magic. A few of the older players a few years back found it and got ridiculously overpowered. It made the Fey magic much more tempting for people to pursue, as the limits with it were... practically non-existent. They didn't realize that the more they used it, the more they changed. The magic converted them over until they... well until they weren't themselves anymore. No one knew what motivations drove these new magic-crazed creatures, but they overtook everything in their path. The only ones who survived were those who stayed away from the magic completely, a few rare people, and the dragons."

"The dragons? The ones that all died and haven't been seen since these wars? The ones you say started the war in the first place?" Deran provided skeptically, scoffing at the idea. He had never even heard of dragon's in the game before, even with the little research he had done, he was certain he would have noticed that.

"I was getting there. Patience. The dragon's also muddied around with the fey magic but it was never strong enough to actually subdue them. The dragons are such a powerful innate magic that they just couldn't be swayed by whatever controlled the Fey. That being said, not all the dragons were on our side. Some of them thought that the magic they had sway over controlling the world was a good thing. Lucky for us, most of the dragons knew that the fey power could grow powerful enough to even subdue them, deciding to lend us their aid. With their help, we were able to turn the tides against the hordes, though in the final push they used all of their combined magical power to detonate..." Luke trailed off for a moment, caught up in the memory. Deran was certain he saw a tear in the corner of the man's eye before he continued hurriedly, "There's still a crater to this day, though the devs had it open a spring and filled it to make a lake. Even they didn't want a reminder like that around, it almost cost them everything." Seeing Deran about to ask, he chuckled and held up a hand, "You heard me right. See, this was only a year or two after the game came out... something around fifteen years ago? Anyways, I guess they didn't intend that questline to be found yet, so they weren't prepared with enough players. When I said the world almost wiped, I wasn't lying. Can you imagine what would have happened to the company if literally every single person adventuring got killed? The pandemonium that would ensue, the lawsuits claiming it was a ruse. They still had to shell out quite a bit to placate the people who died."

Deran nodded, puzzling out the situation slowly, cursing himself once again for the low intellect, "Okay, I still don't see the big deal. You said it worked slowly over time, so we know to start getting ready now. We can warn people and prepare. It's been fifteen years, the player base has surely grown large enough to handle the quest."

Luke nodded, chewing his lip, "You would normally be right. But I was in that war, I fought those creatures. And your old friend? She was brimming with more power than I ever saw in the war. Maybe it was because she bonded to the fey tree and the link allows more, or maybe the tree just grew that powerful over the years. I think this fight is gonna happen a lot sooner than you think and the world isn't nearly ready. We really need to get that egg hatched and hope one will be enough."

"How is one baby dragon going to help if she's stronger than any of the others have been and a whole slew of them died to stop them? None of this is making any sense!" Deran rubbed his head frustratedly, knowing it was all his own fault.

Luke chuckled, "I tend to forget just how little you know of this world. Like you jumped headfirst in without even checking to see what the water was like. Dragons don't exist anymore but we were allies of sorts with them, so we actually know a good bit about them. They grow by absorbing magic, tending to prefer the energy they grew up with. There wasn't any ambient magic for the dragon beside the nature magic of the tree that quickly succumbed to fey. All the dragon has had to eat was the Fey magic being produced by the converted tree for years. As long as it's been, the hatchling will probably grow super fast for the first few months until it runs out of magic to grow. Then, we plop it in front of a giant steaming plate of its favorite food, all it can eat, and hope there's not enough left for her to kill us all. That's the best plan I can think of, at least." He shrugged and hopped over a slow-moving armadillo-like creature that had spines along the plates. It chittered angrily at him before continuing its slow path.

"That...actually might work," Gorgath admitted slowly, finally breaking his long thoughtful silence. "I have been thinking of all the tales my people tell and there are none more terrifying than the twisted ones. They infected our lands just as easily as yours. Power corrupts easily, with total power corrupting totally."

Deran shrugged off the moment of Deja vu, mind racing, "Is there anything else you know about all of this that he didn't cover?" Gorgath shrugged and shook his head.

"I wasn't in the war, though I hear of it often from the elder brutes. They actually miss the days of endless slaughter, forgetting what the twisted ones did to our people. Our homes. I fear Luke is correct in his assessment that we are not ready for this war. His plan has merit if we can figure out more about that." He nodded to the bundle bouncing along in its carrier.

"And to do that, we need to move on from the starter town." Deran winced at the thought, taking a mental look over his character sheet and the jumble of notifications he hadn't had time to look through.

Quest Completed!

What Lurks Behind?

You know something is wrong with the door at the mine. Can you open it and discover just what was shut away back there? Figure out the mystery of the door in the mine or let it fade away in history forever unsolved.

You have opened the long-locked door and revealed the mysteries inside: An oddly magical tree nestling an egg that radiates power.

Rewards: Access to the Fey tree; 1000xp (+100 bonus XP for an unknown quest); Unique Silver Dragon egg

Consequences: The unknown has returned to ravage and twist the land

"Ominous," Deran muttered to himself, dismissing the notification to be surprised by his experience shooting up to 5,695.

Ding! You are now level 4! You have 3 attribute points to spend.

Quest received!

Behind the Unopened

You have wrenched open a door long held shut to find a mystery inside: The long-lost egg of the dragon race, a mythical creature bound up with magic better left forgotten. Will you be able to harness the odd energy in time to put a stop to whatever has been unleashed?

Possible rewards: Unknown

Possible consequences: Unknown

Deran dismissed the windows and brought up his stats, allocating two of his new points into intellect and the third into wisdom. Bringing all of his stats up to four seemed the smart course, yet he couldn't help but throw the extra into intellect. He had grown tired of always being the slow one and decided to change that as quickly as possible.

The moment he did, however, a new icon started to flash: A pair of crossed red swords.

You successfully killed the player character: TriggerHappy69 (1700 XP after party reduction)

Your PVP counter has gone up by one.

"Uh, hey, Luke. Probably a dumb question. I just got a notification for killing that player back at town and it mentions my pvp counter going up."

"Yeah, it's just a counter for you to keep track of for leaderboards. If the person you killed has a higher counter it gives more points I think, I never really paid much attention to it."

"Why did it just come up now and not when I killed him? Seems kind of odd to have that kind of delay."

Luke glanced over at him sideways, "I'm gonna assume you just threw a few more points into intelligence. The amount of icons that you can have displayed on your screen at the same time is limited to how much information you can handle at once. You always have access to them, you just have to re-prioritize what you want to see until you hit six. That's the last time your HUD upgrades at least, letting you see all of the icons at the same time."

As Luke finished, Deran finally noticed that all of his icons were, in fact, hanging there in his subconscious. Before he had to think of some of them specifically to even see their icon, now it was all available at once. "This game never ceases to surprise me. Some of it is even good!" He tried to bring some light to the situation but Luke just grunted.

"I thought I was lucky. Now I'm not so sure. At least now you have even more reason not to die." When Deran looked at him questioningly, he continued with a sigh, "If you die, that cave becomes public knowledge. How many will flock to the tree not realizing the danger? How many nature mages will become Fey masters? We aren't sure there will be other dragon egg's, there wasn't one there for me. If you die, we might not be able to stop this."

Luke's words sent Deran's newly increased intellect racing, all his false hopes crashing around his ears. Things just kept seeming to get harder and the rewards weren't necessarily good. Feeling the warmth of the egg currently bundled against his chest, he grimaced. "Let's just hope you're one of the good eggs and that you can handle whatever Lyselle throws at you." His words were reaffirmed by Luke's typical grunt as they continued the rest of the trip in silence.

***

Harvey was in, though in the middle of packing when they barged through his door, "Oh, I hope we aren't interrupting something important. Is all well with your brother?"

The businessman looked up with slight irritation before he realized who it was, "Oh, it's just you. No, you are fine, I'm just packing for a trip. We have a large inventory we have to escort and I tend to see them myself. I forgot how soon it was with all that's been happening and find myself in a bit of a rush. My brother is fine, by the way, we had him dispelled just this morning and he's been much his usual self." Harvey stopped packing to look up at him, "Thank you, by the way. For everything. I can't thank you enough, it seems.

Deran waved off the thanks, feeling his face start to turn red, "It was nothing. I had hoped to get some supplies from you direct myself, as we will be heading out on our own here soon as well. The sooner the better, really, so anything you can happen to sell us would be great."

Harvey pursed his lips and thought for a moment, hefting a skin of water to be packed, "Oh, aye, we can certainly see to your needs. We have enough surplus stock for you to get any foodstuffs or the like you need, though we don't have anything too fancy."

Gorgath intervened, "Just food, water, and some traveling supplies, as well as feed for some horses, master trader."

Harvey nodded distractedly, finally setting the waterskin down, "Where were you planning on heading? I travel to Borinheim, the nearest major city to the north, and would welcome your arm if battle struck. Even if you happen to be weaponless." He looked oddly at the spot where the Beacon had once hung but said nothing. The weight of the two broken hilts in his pack weighed heavy on his shoulder.

"That works for me, the nearest major city is where we were heading anyways," He looked at Gorgath and Luke for confirmation, both of whom nodded assent. "That's settled then. We will protect your caravan for you, for food and lodging during the trip as well as two chips a day, each."

Harvey agreed instantly, only half listening, before realizing what had just happened, "Oh you sly one, you. Aye, I'll pay ye as guards, though I'll have you know I would have done at least a bit a day and no less!" With a laugh he waved over a clerk who was sitting at a nearby desk, "Wallace, take care of these folks, any supplies they feel they need. Hurry, we set off soon."

Luke shook his head, "Barely level 4 and you already have wholesale prices. Your luck seems to only deal in absolutes, my friend. At this price, I might as well top some things off." He hurried to speak to the young clerk and place his order for goods. Deran laughed and shook his head, handing a few coins to Gorgath to help pay for things before speaking, "I'm gonna go see about getting a new weapon. Mine aren't doing too much good right now."

Gorgath nodded and did a quick inventory, "I have little need. When they are ready to set out, I will be alongside." They quickly clasped arms in a way that felt natural, yet completely foreign at the same time. Deran marveled once again at how real everything seemed and how the game affected how he actually felt and thought. He left the covered egg with his companions and set out to find a weapon.

Aaron was in his usual spot behind the counter, the familiar clang of metal on metal showing the apprentice hard at work. The bald man smiled, "Oh, my good friend, have you brought more steel for my apprentice to reforge today? He's almost done the last batch."

Deran grinned back, hefting his purse, "Sadly, I'm going to be giving you coin this time. I'm in need of a new blade, a sword that's well balanced and used well with a shield."

The man walked from behind his counter and looked him up and down, eyes darting to his sword belt, "What happened to the mayors' blade, that would surely suit you better than anything I have in stock. Or anything I myself could make." He looked a bit disgruntled at admitting the last, breaking off into an expectant silence.

"The mayors' blade didn't survive its encounter with an ancient magic. Do you think you could make anything from these pieces?" He pulled the two broken, twisted hilts from his pack and set them on the counter. The Smith barely looked at them before shaking his head, "Nay lad, I and none I know could work that metal into anything. The secret of it was lost to us a long time ago, though the master smiths might have some knowledge. Good luck convincing them to give it to you."

Deran shrugged, scooping the pieces back up, "I'll hold on to them for now and see what happens. So what do you have that would suit me?"

After a few long minutes of friendly haggling, the smith was handing him a beautiful steel sword.

You have acquired

Sharpened Masterwork Steel Longsword

Base Damage: 7-10

Durability: 14/14

Quality: Masterwork

Value: 4 Swans

Requirement: Str 2

"It's a bit long, though I can handle it. Another point in strength will help a bit. Well worth the price for a friend," Deran slid the agreed two swans and three feathers onto the counter before adding one of his last three swans to the pile. "Well worth the price indeed."

The Smith beamed at him as the coins vanished, nodding a farewell before returning to his work. Strapping the new sword to his side, Deran found himself wondering how long it would take to level his smithing up to make something out of the hilts. Finding the idea of crafting for that long repugnant, he decided to keep an eye out for anyone who seemed to excel with metals. Maybe the Smiths' apprentice could make something with it.

Deran was lost in his musings until he found himself outside Harvey's office. With one last look around, he found himself excited to see just how big a major city was. Once again, he wasn't thinking in terms of his old life, rather the one where the most people he had seen gathered in one place was a few hundred. The thought of a city came across as rather... terrifying. Every player he met might be on the payroll of the company that ran the game, or they might just know he had secrets no one else had. Gorgath was obviously a perfect companion, being an NPC, while Luke seemed to have no reason to turn against him. Deran made a note to himself to ask the older man more about the wars he had experienced before heading inside. It was going to be a long night to be ready to leave by the morning.