It was time for them to meet their final match.
GONE_ROGUE_13: Remember. This one is real fiery. When it whips its tail, move out of the way. When its nostrils start smoking, move out of the way. And Fallon, this way buddy. No, not that way. THIS way. Good-o. Well done on finding us.
UNINVITEDSYNNER: Let’s do this, folks.
Rahel darted to the side of the dragon, casting a paralysis spell to kick things off. Though not fully effective against something so powerful, it bought a few needed seconds to allow them to charge forward and commence their assault. And that was when smoke started to bellow from the creatures’ nostrils.
UNINVITEDSYNNER: Move. Move.
All of the avatars scattered towards the rear of the creature with the exception of Fallon. Knowing she was cutting it fine, Rahel pulled him by the arms and dragged him towards safety.
But her actions were not quick enough.
Fire shot from the dragon’s nose, burning her skin. The aggravated beast thumped its tail – the ground shaking around them – as it drew a deep breath to prepare for another blast.
She felt the ORACLE suit send reverbs through her muscles as she watched her health bar start to dwindle. As the bar turned yellow, the suit started to vibrate even stronger and the world around her started to blur with a sickening red tint.
UNINVITEDSYNNER: Heals. Heals NOW!
The second stream of fire stopped and she saw Crawler emerge from behind the beast. Within a split second, a flurry of leaves and wind surrounded her avatar and her health bar started to a vibrant green. The red tint fell away, and the haptics fell quiet.
The other avatars came to view, attacking the dragon with every bit of power they had.
The great beast’s health dwindle but it was excruciatingly slow. Rahel breathed a sigh of relief as the others confirmed her own suspicions.
GONE_ROGUE_13: Did they change this thing or what? I don’t remember it being this hard.
NIGHTCRAWL3R: Usually, this is a free pass for me. But I’m struggling right now.
UNINVITEDSYNNER: We need to try to finish this.
What otherwise would had been done in five minutes turned into an antagonising and hair-raising ten minutes. Fallon had died, thought somewhat heroically, and had to be resurrected by Crawler twice. Crawler himself was struggling to keep everyone alive due to low mana levels, and Rahel sustained a heck of a lot more damage than she would have liked.
Which also meant – the repairs were going to be hefty and would hit her gold stash quite a bit.
The battletorn heroes stood, battered and bruised, and watched as the dragon swayed and collapsed heavily at their feet, defeated. Dirt bellowed in giant, particulate clouds, settling to unveil the fresh carcass. A subtle gold sparkled surrounded the fallen creature as it awaited the avatars to claim what was theirs.
The avatars moved towards the beast.
Rahel watched the loot screen open, her eyes pausing at what appeared to be a dainty looking key.
It twinkled in her inventory, teasing for her to touch it; to just take a hold of it in her hands.
UNINVITEDSYNNER: Anyone ever receive a weird key-thing before?
NIGHTCRAWL3R: Key? Nuh.
GONE_ROGUE_13: Never. What are you going to do with it?
Rahel paused, torn between two minds.
She had never seen one before and almost every inch of her being and her soul wanted nothing more than to play with it and see what it did. But there was a small part of her that was hesitant and that was what kept her from jumping straight on it.
Instead, she hovered over the item and let the description fill the bottom of her view.
KEY OF ORACLE. RARE. SOULBOUND.
NIGHTCRAWL3R: Sell it? Is it rare? Trade it for hardware you need.
UNINVITEDSYNNER: It says it’s soulbound, untradeable. Doesn’t say anything else.
Her fellow avatars shrugged with blank faces, lost for words.
FAL1ON: I thought I heard rumours that the creators like putting in random items sometimes for people to find. Usually ends up scoring them some insane rewards one could only dream of.
GONE_ROGUE_13: Maybe just sit on a bit and do some digging on it. On that note, I’ve gotta run. Catch you abysmal bunch of sad sacks later.
One by one, the avatars disappeared into the void until Rahel was left standing in the enormous cavern alone.
The key continued to glimmer in her inventory, eagerly waiting for her move. She could feel her finger creep towards a registered hand-movement to select the item and–
She quickly snapped her hand back to her side.
Resisting the temptation of lust which had bloomed within, she snagged the headset off from her head and left the ORACLE world – and the key – behind. That was a matter for another day.
Rahel paused on her way to the bedroom, staring at the blazing red letters of the overdue bills mounted to her freezer. The pieces of paper fluttered against the metal door as a draft filtered through the small kitchen.
What if it really did promise rewards?
As she struggled to get to sleep, tossing and turning in the sheets, waiting for the gentle embrace take her to the land of dreams, she could not help but hear the key call for her through the headset.
Its voice was melodic, as captivating and enchanting as a sirens’ song calling for sailors. All she had to do was amble to the other room and slip the goggles over her head. The attempted seduction was not dissimilar from that of the bottle which waited patiently in the corner of the cupboard. The sweet contents fought for attention, beckoning her to take a swig or two which she knew she could not afford.
Rahel seized a pillow and mashed it to her face, the blacks of her eyelids the last thing she saw as she succumbed to sleeps’ awaiting arms.
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