Draconia Offline vol. 1

65.1. The Call of the Distant Homeland - Part 1

I end the phone call with the Japanese Prime Minister and collapse in the chair. There's something deeply crushing and frustrating about not being able to do anything. Erik and Gotrid are caressing my wings, comforting me that there's nothing I can do. But I can't help feeling I should be able to do something.

"You're doing it again," Erik frowns. "You're putting all responsibility on your frail shoulders."

"I can at least try reaching out to local Celestials?" I suggest eagerly.

"It's too late for that," Gotrid shakes his head. "They either feel it because they're in the vicinity so they're heading there as we speak or they are too far away to intervene."

It's hard to describe how I feel right now. New York was the first, I didn't have time to think about it when we went to the battle. Greece and Korea were over quickly and it happened when I was sleeping. Prague was a personal thing, it's my home. But Japan is my birthplace, it's also a personal thing.

"We were too slow establishing battle units," I regret.

"No, we weren't," Erik strongly disagrees. "These attacks started just a few days ago. I know it feels much longer but it's been barely a week."

I shiver when the Prime Minister sends us the live video stream from one of the police drones that are monitoring the situation. Local Draconians showed up after all but it's obvious they lack a commander. Their attack patterns are chaotic and they don't cooperate effectively. At least there's no tripoderra but two heligorrs and at least two dozen filandras are giving them a hard time.

"I can't watch it," I bury my face in Gotrid's wing because one Clawfang gets badly injured by a heligorr's claw.

"More Draconians are arriving," Gotrid comforts me. "There are many high-level players in Tokyo, they'll be fine."

"But why Japan right after Prague?" I shake my head. "It can't be a coincidence. Is my father sending me a message or something?"

"We still don't know if he's responsible for these rifts opening," Erik reminds me. "There's no technology to do that."

"There wasn't technology for transforming millions of players into fantasy races either," I oppose.

We continue watching the streaming but it's unnerving to observe. If I was there, the battle would be over already. Instead, the first heligorr goes down after hellishly long thirty minutes and many Draconians got injured in the process. The second heligorr takes even longer because filandras started going after humans so local Draconians had to divide their forces.

"See? They could do it," Erik celebrates when all the monsters are finally eradicated.

They could, fortunately, but I'm afraid the price for that was too high. There will be many casualties—humans and Draconians alike. Unless we seriously level up and get organised, these attacks will get out of control. And what if stronger monsters start appearing as well? Heligorrs and tripoderras were only low-level monsters in the game. Not even I could defeat a manticore with my current level.

"We have to...," I get up from the chair but the moment I straighten, my head spins. I wobble but Erik and Gotrid hurry and catch me in time so I don't end up on the floor.

"Love, you're exhausted," Gotrid is worried. "You shared too much mana with me."

"I'm okay, just tired and hungry," I murmur wearily.

"Why didn't you say something?" Erik sighs.

"Give me a sandwich and I'll be fine," I wave my head. "With Liana out of the picture, I have to..."