Alagan ordered Shella to start the game. The light burn of the semi-lethargic coma spread their init. Propelled into the Heroica Tagush game of the earlier day, a forest of pedunculate oaks welcomed the three of them.
The perfect simulation lured the brain and even reproduced the five senses. Their body image was projected into the wooded area of Heroïca. Alagan's game character was not very good at fighting, but he spoke several languages, wore a cloth headdress, a large bronzed belt with a broadsword, and soft leather waders. Next to him, Nam—dressed in black from head to toe and armed with a blade—reminded them they had to find the secret entrance to Barrabas" Abyss. Cassiopeia was waiting for them: brown hunting pants, with a turtleneck sweater attached to the middle fingers, and adorned with a brown triangle on the back of his white hands. At the ring finger, she had invented a sumptuous ring for herself and had also endowed her avatar with greatest agility and dexterity.
The young redheaded girl scouted along a path covered with alternate leaves and acorns, followed by the two boys. As they advanced, the fleeting image of Kassandra crossed Alagan's mind. Nam, who stared at Cassiopeia's tight-fitting outfit, took him out of his daydreams:
—"She's cute, Cassiopeia, in her hunting outfit," he whispered to his friend.
The latter laughed, so much he found the observation unexpected.
It would never occur to him she was anything other than a child. Her often immature reactions and her still rounded baby cheeks witnessed this.
As proof, he raised his eyes to her, but seen from this angle, the sensuality of her marked curves baffled him. Damn it! Cassiopeia had grown up. How had he not noticed? He was looking at her from the side, when she stopped and faced them. Alagan detailed her strange turtleneck sweater with a circle pierced on each of her shoulders that made him see her skin.
He spotted a mole, right in the circle of skin not covered by wool. Virtual coquetry? Cassiopeia halted, alerted by an unusual noise in the thickets. The three of them stood there for a few moments, listening when they heard growling noises.
—Wordaks! cried Nam.
Frightening creatures five feet high came crashing down on them and made them run like hell. Their terrifying red eyes contrasted with the blackness of their fur while large, hard, shiny scales covered their shoulders. The three youngsters were running out of breath when pebbles began to fly over their shoulders and heads from all sides, more or less reaching the monsters' chests.
A score of gnomes then emerged from behind the trees and aimed at the slingshot of the dozen wordaks that had just appeared. As if not enough, a gigantic troll came out of nowhere and headed towards Alagan. The little characters' rock barely grazed it. The young man scurried away until, out of breath, he tried to take a furtive look back. The massive slow-moving creature followed him no longer. Alagan caught his breathing when a blinding light diverted his attention to the right and the song of a lament reached his ears.
The one who Edesse secret unveils
Will find the keys to the riddle
Thus can the truth itself reveals
Fiction and reality mingle
The labyrinth end will design
The answer to the lament
Where a young palatin'
Will find a noble assignment
YOU ARE READING
Edesse 1. Alagan
ParanormalThe government knows everything about you. Where you live, who you are, if you are healthy and performant in your job. When 18 year-old Alagan first meets the gorgeous Kassandra during his virtual class in the matrix, he knows he's in trouble. Dys...
