Dex Warrior (Libertas Online)

4: Accosted

When the world slowly appears to me I realize it's still the digital one, and I'm not in the inn anymore. Or even Cutter's Cry for that matter. Twinkling stars of white and red speckle the black night sky. Two moons cast a dull glow over rolling plains and forest at the base of a mountain range in the distance. The wind is chilly and humid, but the bonfire next to me warms my side and illuminates a looming gray wall not far off. It's at least thirty feet tall and made of massive blocks that would put the Great Pyramid of Giza to shame. A shadow moves across it and I freeze.

"Hey," a voice says. "He's awake."

I turn to face the voice and realize, with displeasure, that the wizard Finn is holding his hands over the campfire with a devilish smile. Even Lenard is standing next to him, leaning on his staff as he chews animatedly on something. "Yeah," Lenard says, smacking his lips. "Alloy will be here soon. Figured we'd wake you up before then."

I shove myself from the ground groggily, feeling as though I just woke up from a coma or a stasis pod. My head is aching, and rubbing my temples does nothing for it. "Where am I?" I mumble. "And what was that? Did I die or something?"

Finn laughs. "No, you didn't die. If you did, then you wouldn't be waking up here, smarty pants. Don't you know that wizards at third level can choose a sleep spell that works on any target that is half or less the casters level?" His spotty mustache curves as he smiles, and I remember that he's a level 4 wizard, making him twice my level.

"No, I didn't know," I say, "but you're admitting that you knocked me out? How long have I been asleep?"

Lenard spits something into the darkness around the fire. "It's been about 12 hours, I'd wager."

Gosh, Rin was kidding when she said that this was a PVP game. I'm barely out of the tutorial and I'm already playing the loser.

Thinking about Rin and Cutter's Cry jogs my memory. I remember what I was doing just before I fell unconscious, the conversation I was eavesdropping on, and my blood begins to boil. "Back at the Inn, what the hell was that talk about taking over the Shield?"

Both Lenard and Finn crease their brows and glance to one another in confusion. They shrug, then Lenard asks, "What'r you talking about? Taking over the shield? Think you hit your head when you fell." He smiles behind his red beard, but not the sinister kind that makes me think he knows more than he's letting on. It's just a smile of general amusement at my situation. Even Finn doesn't seem suspicious.

I curse under my breath. "You weren't the ones in the room, were you?"

They shake their heads.

I let out a groan. They're telling the truth. "Do you have any idea what you interrupted back there? And why? Why would you knock me out and take me away from Cutter's Cry?"

Lenard shrugs, then wanders over to a tree stump and sits. "I thought you would've figured out the moment you woke up and saw us, smarty pants." With a sausage-sized thumb, he points at the massive stone walls behind him. "We gotta run this dungeon, and we need a tank just like we were saying, so you're being volun-told to help us."

"And trust us," Finn says, "we're saving you from Rin, not interrupting you. You'll see that the River Raiders aren't as bad as she says they are."

"Ain't that the truth," Lenard adds.

I'm not sure how to respond. So far, I don't like these guys one bit, but bringing up Rin like that does make me a bit uncertain. I mean, I do barely know her. If she was lying to me about the River Raiders, I would have no clue. Maybe she was in the wrong, I don't know. A sigh escapes me, and I turn around to take a better look at the massive stone walls and think for a minute. "So what kind of dungeon is this? A castle?"