POV Brown:
The man in brown walked down a long corridor of black marble and basalt. The arches and columns supported the vaulted ceiling above his head, decorated with brass ornaments.
His heart was all the way in his stomach from the stress. It was the day he was finally going to submit his work, ‘If I mess up, losing my opportunity will be the best outcome.’
He just kept walking and walking, but the corridor stretched deeper under the ground. It was lengthy, and he couldn’t even begin to see its end, ‘How deep into the volcano this leads?’
Everywhere his eyes fell were guards, their horns long and curled, with their red capes pristine clean as if they were just sewn. It was evident they were some kind of an honor guard.
He could feel their gazes upon him, constantly watching, ready to strike him down just at the sign of him stirring trouble.
‘Are they all the elite, horned kobolds?’ He couldn’t help but feel like it was utter nonsense that the dragon had such numerous security detail, ‘I would bet they are here mostly for fancy looks and to impress, then for actual security.’
He shook his head, not understanding the thought process of the rich and powerful that made them spend so much on useless stuff.
Finally, a bright light almost blinded him as he entered a half-circular chamber with chairs of marble placed along its edges.
There were no walls, as the entire thing was built upon a platform hanging on the internal side of the volcano.
The brightly glowing magma flowed behind some kind of an invisible barrier, threateningly looming over the chamber.
A golden portal, no, a crack in space, pulsed within the center of the platform. All the chairs turned to face it.
‘I bet this is not just for decoration but also for security. They can probably collapse the barrier blocking off the magma, letting the burning liquid bury the portal.
“You may enter. His Majesty is expecting you.” The cold voice of a kobold brought him out of his thoughts.
He stepped into the portal with a sure step, and the world around him twisted and changed. Just a single step, and he stood in a world of fire, ice, and lightning.
He couldn’t see further than a few steps through the dense, impenetrable clouds of smoke that lingered within the air.
He removed his brown hat and bowed, ‘Screwing this just because of messing etiquette would be a pity.’
“Your Majesty, I have compiled all the lore into a book containing all the draconic faith’s tenets, laws, and credos. But, there are a few details that I would like to consult.”
His hands trembled with excitement, his heart beating so loudly that he felt like he could hear its echo. It was the moment he had waited for!
“Speak!”
Dozens of questions ran through his mind that he had prepared beforehand, but he couldn’t risk them, so he decided to start with the one he was most curious about. There were more important ones to ask, but he just wanted to know this piece of lore.
“What does the draconic faith think about a multiverse and multiple worlds?”
It was one of the questions that burned on his mind for a long time.
It was the lore that interested everyone, but the mortals knew only a little bit of it. This was his chance to gain an answer from the being that was not too far from the world’s top powers, ‘I wonder what dragons know about the multiverse? Do they know about more worlds besides this one and Earth?’
There was just silence. The smoke was slowly moving and swirling. Then suddenly, the dragon spoke, “Other worlds? I don’t care about them. But…” the air warmed up, and the dragon’s tone became much more severe, “you should know that you are the intruders here. If I were you, I would be worried about someone retaliating.”
He stood there, his eyes wide in terror, his hands and legs trembling. It was the first time he realized such a possibility.
The image of a dragon burning down entire cities flashed before his eyes.
‘What would we even do? Nuke the dragon? That would destroy the city anyway.’
As if enjoying his fear, the dragon continued, its voice carrying threat and terror, “Be careful, young immortal. Your actions and crimes you commit here may one day catch up to you.”
His fear grew even stronger as he knew all the mess the players were causing, knowing they could, ‘How many enemies did we make? All these bosses and raid bosses that are moving here, and we kept bothering them or plainly provoking them. They are all like walking nuclear bombs.’
“If you can get here, be sure someone will eventually get to you. When there is a road, that road always leads both ways.”
He was pale as snow as he knew that it would be more likely for the first contact to be hostile, ‘NPCs are tolerant of us, but that is because they can’t get rid of us. But wouldn’t that change the moment they gain access to our world?’
“H-how are you so sure of it? Maybe some…”
“Hahaha, because it already happened? All your myths about dragons, demons, and angels. They had to come from somewhere…”
𝑜𝗏xt.𝗇t
He felt like someone dumped freezing cold water on his head as his fear became even worse, ‘What if they aren’t just myths? That would mean they already were once on the earth, but then they vanished.’
“Why that fear, my minion? When the day of retribution arrives, and you have served me well, I might even protect you. Aren’t you my loyal minion?”
Brown felt weak, and his hair was so wet from the sweat that he looked as if he just came out of the shower. For the first time, he realized the severity of this world not being just a game.
He realized the possibility of a war between worlds. The war he felt like they couldn’t win, at least not without too many lost lives.
‘No, we can’t win now. But we have our technology, and with magic, we can make it all much more powerful. Just the energy we can generate through it would give us a way to create particle guns that could melt through tanks.’
But that was only when facing the mortals. His true fear came from the so-called four balance races, ‘They are ancient, immortal, and powerful. They even visited different worlds… What could we even do if heaven declares war on us?’
“I hope you know what we dragons think of traitors…”
‘All these years of living without fear, all the murders…’
He couldn’t handle the pressure anymore, his legs giving up under him, and his vision turned black.
POV Vesuvius:
The dragon stared at the unconscious player in brown. He still wasn’t entirely sure if it was a good idea what he had just done, but he was still more inclined to believe it was.
From the moment he heard the news of players awakening their powers back on the earth, he knew it was inevitable, and sooner or later, they would have to face the harsh truth that their actions weren’t just part of some videogame that they should have consequences.
‘They are acting without fear as they knew there would be no real threat to their lives. They need to know the fear of death and its repercussions.’
This was his way to forever bind his player minions to himself, ‘I offered them protection beyond worlds. No, one else did it. At the same time, it will spread fear of consequences to others while offering immunity to my servants.’
It was a single move that would destroy the morale of every single player, not serving him while assuring his own and boosting their morale.
He hoped they would be more inclined to keep to themselves and not get involved in wars between great powers.
He wanted to scare the players enough that none would dare to stick their noses into global politics or even think about going against him.
He saw the small green camera icon above the player’s head, signifying he was recording, ‘I would bet that the first thing after he wakes up will be posting it on the forum. And that is what I need him to do to maximize the effect of my words.’
“Hahaha!” He could already see the chaos this single recording would cause and the fire that would engulf the forums, ‘No, this will be much more far-reaching. Maybe even their governments will step in, as what they are doing is not that far from provoking wars with countries in this world.’
“Is it true? Will there be a war between worlds?” The elf spoke, her face was no longer pale.
The pain subsided enough for her to finally speak, even though energy kept flowing around, brightly glowing as if she had bathed inside a star.
“Who knows, my minion, who knows… But, as long as each side has resources and they are greedy individuals, there will always be wars. When you have a second world full of resources within reach of your hands, wouldn’t you want to grab it?”