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Virtual Reality: Dragon Quest

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DISCLAIMER:

The stories in the "Celebrity" section of Literotica are all fictional parodies - none are true, nor are they approved of by the celebrities named in the stories. Authors write these fictitious stories about famous people for the same reason that Larry Flynt made fun of Jerry Falwell, because they can. The Supreme Court of the United States, the country where this site is located, has ruled that parodies involving famous people are perfectly and totally legal under the United States Constitution. The specific case law on this was decided in the case of "Hustler Magazine, Inc. et al. v. Jerry Falwell" in 1988. No harm is intended toward the celebrities featured in these stories, but they are public figures and in being so, they must accept that they are fair target for parodies by the public. We believe in the first amendment, and more broadly, in the basic principle of free speech and this section may push the boundaries of that principle, but the United States Supreme Court has approved of this type of material. We believe that the Supreme Court was correct in their decision.

Author's Notes: The characters of Rubiss, Gwaelin, Lorik, the monster archetypes, and the world setting are not my creation. This is fanfiction, and I have put my own spin upon the DQ world in this story. No toe-stepping or offense is intended.

This story picks up where my previous stories in the chain left off. You’ll want to read VR:DQ4, VR:DQ2, VR:DQ3, and VR:DQ5 (in that order) to know the whole story. Hope you like it!

@===||>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

The featureless sky above was unnerving, devoid of clouds, sun, or any other feature that should be there. The dull gray made me feel like I was inside some sort of dust-covered snow globe.

I could see well enough, but the lighting gave the impression of a late fall overcast, chill and gloomy despite the warmth of the air. The grass was much the same color as the evergreens, a deep green so dark that it was hard to tell where the shadows ended and the boughs began. The sea and mountains I could see were equally bland and almost lifeless looking.

I tightened a couple of straps on my magic armor and sheathed my flame sword, thinking that the somewhat mournful overworld theme running through my head fit the place perfectly. After visiting the other bright and welcoming DQ worlds full of life and beauty, this one was a sharp and disheartening contrast.

I’d already seen several slimes and even a few red slimes, but the creatures had shied away from me. If I remembered my last save in the game properly, I was on my way to the final battle in the SFC remake of the game. I couldn’t translate more than a little of the Japanese, but I knew the original game so well that I’d had little trouble finding my way. Thus, the monsters were fleeing from me exactly as they would have the hero in the game.

I could see the town of Brecconary and Tantegel castle a short distance away. Both looked far more like dark ages fortresses than the cities and castles of the other DQ worlds. Turning toward the sea, I could see the black basalt specter of Charlock rising from the swirling mists. I could just make out the one bright spot in the world, the Rainbow Bridge.

The old man had hinted that I was supposed to go to Kol, but I really wasn’t looking forward to the long hike around the mountains. The place was depressing, and I felt exhausted for some reason. Turning back toward town, I decided to stop off in Brecconary for a beer or three and a rest.

The streets were paved with crumbling stone and lined with buildings constructed of whatever the occupants could find. A few substantial structures of stone lined the road, but most were made of wood, and some were little more than rude shacks.

The people looked as downtrodden as their town. Everyone moved slowly from place to place with their heads down, and few spoke or acknowledged the others they encountered. Once I stepped into the inn, I realized that the tiles in the game had left out a lot. There were actually several rooms in the inn, and a small drinking area with a bar. A few townsfolk sat around nursing their brew silently, but I did see a few listening to a flute player with faint smiles on their faces. I grinned as well, recognizing the tune he played as the town theme of the game.

“Welcome to my humble establishment, good traveler. Do you seek a place to bed down, perhaps?”

I turned to the innkeeper and nodded. “I need a beer and a bed something fierce.”

The innkeeper’s smile spread far wider, and I could see hope in his eyes. I assumed that he probably didn’t get much business to the tavern, and even less from people seeking rooms. I tried to remember the cost of the inn from the game, and then doubled that. I still had more gold coins jingling around in my bag than I knew what to do with, so I figured I might as well spread the wealth.

“Good Master, this is...”

“What I’m paying you,” I said, cutting him off. “Just take it.”

“You are most kind. I will endeavor to make your stay here the most grand you have ever experienced.”

“I appreciate it,” I responded, taking my room key from him.

I walked over to the bar and took a seat. The flute player was now recounting the legend of Erdrick. I knew it well enough, considering I’d played through it in DQ Three several times. He linked the current descendant of Erdrick to the story, trying to drum up hope amongst those listening.

I dropped a coin on the bar and ordered a beer, chuckling as the barkeep bit into the coin before staring at it in wide-eyed surprise. I turned back to the minstrel telling his story, and something hit me. I knew I was in the SFC version of the game, because I’d been able to discharge a fireball from my flame sword as I chose my equipment. The minstrel was referring to the characters and places in the game by the familiar U.S. localization terms, though.

“Your mind changes things around to make you more comfortable,” a voice I knew all to well said from behind me.

I turned toward the old man with a sigh, wondering what he was going to pull on me this time.

“They aren’t even speaking a language you could actually understand. It’s part of the magic.”

“Thanks for the heads-up. I suppose you’re here to try to shuffle me off to Kol. Well, go fuck yourself, old man. I’m staying right here.”

The old man waved his hands in front of him in a gesture of mocking fear, and then scoffed before saying, “I’m here for the beer. You’ll go exactly where you’re supposed to go.”

“Yeah, whatever,” I grumbled, purposely turning away from him as I finished my beer. When I glanced back over my shoulder a little while later, the old man was gone. A look around the room didn’t reveal him anywhere.

I shrugged and ordered another beer. A little while later, with a good buzz on, I dropped a couple of coins in the minstrel’s hat and headed for my room. Just like hunger is the best sauce, exhaustion is the softest mattress. I fell asleep almost as soon as my head hit the scratchy pillow.

@===||>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

I awakened to cries of alarm, the sounds of a fight, and a drakee furiously beating its head against the window of my room. Fortunately, after so long practicing, I could pull on my armor as quickly as any soldier in the DQ worlds. I managed to get dressed and get my sword ready just as the drakee burst into the room.

With little room to swing my sword in the tight confines, I resorted to a maneuver that had served me quite well on numerous occasions. I blocked the screeching bat-like creature with my shield, constantly batting it toward walls. Finally, the critter was in the perfect position to smash it hard against the wall with my shield.

The sickening crunch told me that I’d surely busted several bones in the drakee’s body. It slid down the wall in cartoon fashion, flopping off the simple hand-carved headboard of the bed to land on the mattress. I scraped it off onto the floor and stabbed my sword into it to finish the drakee off.

I heard a terrified woman’s scream from outside the inn, and I certainly couldn’t ignore that. I found the innkeeper furiously bashing a red slime to death with a broom, and other members of his family likewise dispatching other slimes with various household implements.

With everything under control inside the inn, I stepped outside. Everywhere I looked people were battling slimes and drakees. While the townsfolk were doing well against the slimes, the flying drakees were staying out of reach and diving in to attack. The townsfolk had few weapons that could attack the airborne menaces.

I drew my sword with a wicked grin. I pointed it at the nearest drakee and tracked the creature’s movement. I released a fireball from the sword just ahead of the creature’s path, and it fell like a screaming meteor to the earth below. My second fireball missed, but the third and fourth connected.

Facing my effective fireball assault, the drakees took to their wings and fled the town. Without the distraction of the flying monsters, the slimes didn’t stand a chance. Red and blue goo soon coated the cracked flagstones throughout the town.

With the threat finally ended, I turned to find the innkeeper wiping his brow after smashing a final slime to the ground. Towns were safe havens from monsters in the game, unless the plot demanded otherwise, so I was a little surprised at the attack. “Does this happen often?”

The innkeeper shook his head. “Never before have any monsters dared to attack the town. It has happened before in other towns, but the monsters there are far more fearsome.”

Must be some last ditch effort to stop or distract the hero, I thought.

A group of soldiers suddenly burst through the main gate of town to fan out and stare with amazement at the carnage. I assumed by the embellishments on his armor that the one approaching the innkeeper and I was some sort of officer. When he addressed the innkeeper, that led me to the assumption that the man was some sort of unofficial governor in town.

The soldier took off his hat and said, “We were set upon in the castle as well. I apologize for not arriving sooner, but it appears you had things well in hand.”

The innkeeper slapped me on the shoulder and said, “Nay. Were it not for this traveler and his magical sword, we surely would have still struggled against the invading creatures even now.”

The soldier looked me over and grunted approvingly. “The King will surely wish to reward you for your bravery, traveler.”

I could tell that the guy was fishing for a name, so I supplied one. “Thakkor.”

The soldier raised his eyebrows. “You seem to share the bravery and skill of the man for whom you are named.”

That was a surprise. Apparently, my most common name in DQ Three actually translated over to the legend in this world. “Just did what I could,” I responded with a shrug.

“Please, come with us and guest in the castle. The King will surely receive you in the morning.”

I knew better than to refuse a Royal summons, even when issued without the direct word of the King. I turned to the innkeeper and clapped him on the shoulder. “Looks like you’re getting an even better deal than before. You get double the rent for half a night.”

“Would that we could repay you for what you have done this night,” he said, clasping my hand in a firm handshake.

“No need,” I responded, not knowing what else to say.

I followed the soldiers back to the castle, where they put me up in a far more comfortable room within the castle. With the adrenaline rush gone, I soon slipped back into an exhausted slumber once more.

@===||>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

I was awakened politely, but insistently, the next day by an attractive middle-aged woman. The castle servants had somehow managed to polish my armor and bring in a tub without waking me, a testament to exactly how tired I was when I hit the hay. I was still pretty hazy when I tossed back the covers to climb out of bed.

I came back to my senses just in time to notice the woman glancing away from my morning erection, hidden only by my boxers, and blushing furiously. She looked once more before closing the door, and I had to wonder if she’d find some excuse to come back in once she assumed I was in the bath.

Washed and dressed in my sparkling armor, I had to admit that I cut a pretty dashing figure in the full-length mirror. Too bad this look wouldn’t work quite so well in the real world.

A knock a few minutes later revealed another servant hoping I was ready, because the King was ready to see me. I was rather ill prepared for what awaited me when I exited the door. Quite a few of the townsfolk had turned out along with everyone in the castle to line the pathway to the stairs where the King and Gwaelin awaited.

As soon as I stepped outside, armored men on either side of the path presented weapons, while others took up instruments. It was a little hard to not straighten my back and puff out my chest as the powerful, swelling cords of Overture sounded, the common theme of all the games. It never failed to give me goose bumps the first time it rang out whenever I started a new game, and it had the same effect upon me then.

At the same time memories of getting my hands on a new game for the first time flooded through me, I also felt a little like I was reliving the end of the first Star Wars. It all combined to make me forget pretty much the entire procession, and the speech the King gave. I have no idea how I responded, and I only really came down as I ascended the stairs to the throne room with the King.

The King wearily took a seat on his throne while Gwaelin took her place across from him. It was only then that I really noticed her. Damn, the hero is one lucky bastard, I thought as I looked at her. Gwaelin appeared to be about nineteen, with honey-gold hair that hung in perfect ringlets framing her face, and even the conservative gown she wore could do little to hide her perfect figure. She looked like a supermodel, but something in her eyes bespoke a lot more humanity than that, despite her lofty station.

I had to fight the urge to chuckle as I remembered that I’d gone to rest at the inn with the hero while carrying Gwaelin home after rescuing her in the game. I had to wonder if the hero took opportunity to do more than sleep before returning her home to her father. I don’t know how he could have resisted.

“We wish to offer our thanks personally for your brave and noble deeds in protecting our citizens. We also wish to ask of you a boon, Thakkor.”

Crap. Knew this was too good to be true. “How may I be of service, your Majesty?”

“One has come to us in need of escort to the city of Kol, and we cannot spare the soldiers to accompany her. The fair lady now intends to make the journey alone, and this weighs heavily upon our heart.”

I could almost hear the knobby-kneed old man chuckling in my ear.

I knew I was trapped, so I put on my best Mandorallen lofty nobility and responded, “Surely it doth weigh heavily upon mine own heart to consider the peril that a woman wouldst face alone upon the long, harsh journey to fair Kol, and I cannot in good conscience allow this to come to pass so long as I do possess the strength to lift mine sword, your Majesty. I do vouchsafe that the fair lady shall meet no misfortune so long as she doth travel at my side, though the foulest of monsters and creatures of the dark do beset us in our grand journey to the safe environs of fair Kol.”

I was rather proud of myself when the King paused, obviously needing a moment to process my answer. If I’d opened up on him full force, I’d probably have knocked his crown off waxing poetic and verbose.

“We are most pleased and grateful to hear such fine news, noble Thakkor. The fair lady impatiently awaits your answer, having agreed to wait only at our insistence after hearing of your deeds within Brecconary. We do hope you can leave on your journey soon, as we doubt she shall wait for much longer.”

“I need only what I have, your Majesty. We may set out this very morn, from this very room.”

“Our beloved daughter, so recently returned to us from the clutches of darkness, will escort you to the fair lady immediately then. We do fear that we must take council with wise men to discern the best course of action in light of the recent attacks.”

“I understand, your Majesty,” I said with a bow.

Gwaelin stood and gestured for me to approach. While she maintained her royal demeanor as she escorted me out of the throne room, I could see it falling from her shoulders like an unwanted cloak as soon as we closed the door. She pulled something from the bodice of her gown and glanced down at it. The heart shaped pendant could be only one thing, the twin amulet to the one the hero carried — Gwaelin’s love.

“He’ll return to you soon enough, safe and triumphant. You’ll know long before he arrives, however, as light and life returns to the world ahead of him.”

She turned to look at me with a mixture of surprise and curiosity. “I pray that you speak true, but are you a prognosticator? Is the future yours to behold?”

I smiled and replied, “I put my faith in the blood of Erdrick, and in the cause of justice. He has already delivered you from the clutches of a dragon and liberated the artifacts of his line from far and wide. What evil could stand against him?”

Gwaelin swelled with pride, love, and what I do believe was a hint of desire. “I believe as you do, though few share such high hopes. There is much of my love in you, I think. You resemble him, and so do your deeds. The one you are to escort is as dear to me as a sister, and it gives me comfort to know that she will travel with one such as you.”

“I’ll protect her, Gwaelin.”

Her smile was absolutely radiant. “So few will speak my name because of my station. It sounds almost as fine on your lips as upon those of my beloved Matusen, and though I like your noble tongue, I find your common speaking also a welcome change. I will take you to Renelle, that you may see her safely to Kol. She had experienced a vision, and I believe time is of the essence to see her delivered there.”

“I’ll get her there as quickly as possible.”

Gwaelin knocked on a door and said, “Renelle, he says he’ll escort you. He’s ready to leave whenever you are.”

The door opened to reveal a woman that could very well have been Gwaelin’s twin, except for subtle differences in their facial features. Renelle’s robe gave me a better view of her body than Gwaelin’s gown, but it also revealed the woman’s profession.

Well, at least I don’t have to worry about getting into trouble with her, I thought as I recognized her cleric’s vestments.

“I’ve heard about what you did in the town. I’m glad you’re willing to protect me on the journey to Kol.”

“Whenever you’re ready,” I responded.

“Please be careful,” Gwaelin said, taking Renelle’s hand.

“I will,” Renelle responded. “We must go now. I have waited to long already.”

“My father has provided some things to aid you on your journey. I wish it could be more, but...”

I held up my hand and smiled. “I understand. You have a whole nation to protect. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few — or the one.”

The urge to do the Vulcan salute was almost impossible to resist.

Gwaelin led us to a pair of treasure chests containing the supplies she’d spoken of. Within were several bottles of fairy water, a large tent, a pair of bedrolls, healing herbs, and other camping essentials. The thought of camping out in a hostile land full of riled up monsters wasn’t appealing, but I didn’t see any real choice. The old man was going to get me to Kol somehow, and he’d found his way. At least this way, there would be two sets of eyes and ears.

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