The dragon bellowed a pillar of flames.
My shield raised up like an umbrella, keeping the waters of death from soaking my body.
The heat prickled. Although the tongues of flames did not touch me, they danced close enough to make the hair on my arms singe behind a suit of steel armor.
As the fire stopped, I looked over my shield. The ruby dragon that haunted the country side was on all fours, looking ready to crush me into powder and then turn me to ash.
Both myself and it knew it had to face vengeance, or i would perish trying to bring it to justice.
I drew my sword and ran at the foul beast. It swept its tail low, trying to bat me into the rocks. Just as it was a few yards away from me, i lunged my body over the mass of scale and muscle.
It let its momentum reposed itself to slash me with its claws while i was down, and i raised my shield again.
I shut my eyes as i heard the shriek of metal tearing, its claws through my only defense. My left arm was cracked where the leather straps bound the shield to my arm as the dragon smashed through. I was sent down to my back, my right hand clutching a shaking sword fighting back a scream of agony.
The dragon lowered its head to my level. It's emerald eyes looked down though me, past the pained expression and into my soul. It was smarter than a blood thirsty animal. It loved the pain it inflicted. It wanted me to die slowly.
I lashed out with strength i did not know i had, aiming at its eye with my only working limb, a feeble attempt to drive it away. My steel blade ground against its scales, sparks rained down on my face.
The sword's weak cut skated over red scales and nicked his eyelid, but it was enough.
It stepped back and hissed. Its wings curled up and its eyes narrowed. Its jaws opened like before as it sucked in air.
Everything slowed as adrenaline pumped through my blood.
I acted on the instinct of a warrior.
I rose and gripped my sword with two hands as the dragon drew in air. A war cry came from my lips as i drove my sword under its chin, between the scales and into its throat. Before it could act, I twisted the blade, opening the wound farther as boiling hot blood ran out like a faucet.
I let go of the hilt and jumped backwards as the behemoth of a monster roared in pain as it tried to free it's neck of the sword. It tried vainly, and its roars of agony grew more desperate.
I watched the struggle for what felt like hours, and it felt to the ground, as it died slowly. When its eyes dilated and grew gray, I limped to my sword, twisting the blade, and ripped it free from its neck.
The metal had melted in some spots and blood leaked into the cracks where the blade met the guard and the guard met the hilt.
The smell of burned leather and blood became overpowering as all feeling in my body left...
_____
The Virtual Reality pod opened and my eyes opened with.
I gasped for air. I knew I wasn't alone in the room, but i could only see fussy outlines.
"We've been working on this project for a decade, only with recent discoveries in neuroscience hav-"
The voice was far away. The light was pale. My senses seemed to mute themselves. I shut my eyes, pretending to hear the voices.
After a full minute of deep breathing, I opened my eyes.
The engineers and programmers with clip boards stood eager to hear my evaluation.
"-Simply using a Headset instead of these..." The engineer tapped the Pod i was laying in.
"Your cognitive lag is a side effect of being 'Unplugged'. Were you satisfied with our demo of our game,
VR HEROES AND HEROINES?" The lead directer of the VR research asked as i sat up in the pod.
I looked at my left arm and flexed it. It was sore where the dragon in the game had broken my arm.
"Very satisfied."
Home 
Latest images 
Search 
Register 
Log in 
