Orc Wars 2 : Lazarus

Chapter 78 - Revelation

Night came before the group could get off the mountain. Although Lazarus had recovered somewhat, they still moved slowly taking in the foreign land. It was more 'savage' the word came to Valentine's mind unbidden. That was the only way to describe this realm, he thought. Everything was larger, rougher and coloured in weird hues. It was cold too, so very cold that that the three Heroes had worn thick cloaks to stay warm. They did not notice Lazarus still shivered under his thick furs.

Anya and Tania's fur had lengthened, growing thicker and more luxurious to adapt to their new surroundings. Xico kept his feathers puffed up to trap air and body heat when he was not in the air. No wonder the orcs wore minimal clothing when they were in their realm. With weather like this, it must have been hot for them.

Now, the group sat huddled around a small campfire.

Valentine ran a hand through his blond locks. There was no known cure. What a mess. "Laz ..." he begun.

"Don't worry about it." The assassins' brows knitted together as he tried to wrap his head around the information. His eyes wandered to Anya. "I'll find another way ... I have to."

"But the whole point of us coming here was to find a cure. Now they tell us there is none? It makes no sense," Constantine threw his hands up in the air dramatically.

"There must be another way or Simtrixx would not have allowed this, right?" Lazarus' confident rationalisation conflicted with his insecure tone. He was losing hope. The Assassin bowed his head in despair. "We must be missing something."

Constantine hit Valentine on his shoulder and jerked his head towards Lazarus. Valentine made a face at the warlock and shrugged helplessly. He too was devastated. If Lazarus did not play anymore, he too would not feel like playing either and Tania ... Tania would face the same fate as Anya. She would fade away and be deleted by the system after a while. He had come to realise this earlier.

"But of course, my friend! Why else would the sneaky game put this, errmm, quest in? It must be like a hidden quest, yes? To find a cure for the incurable, ahh, it will make us Heroes to remember!" Constantine waved his hands about getting excited by his own deductions. "We will achieve the impossible. We will cure you and the little prince. Our names will go down in Orc Wars' history foreverrrrr!!"

Valentine rolled his eyes but took up the argument almost desperately. "A secret quest? Yes, Laz, that must be it!" He was clutching at straws, anything remotely logical to shed some hope to this impossible situation.

Lazarus looked up dejectedly. "You guys think so?"

"Anything is possible, especially in MMORPGs, you know that!" Valentine continued warming up to the idea. "Hey, you thought my awesomely stupendous badass Orb Trial was impossible ... but you did it, right?" He nudged Constantine. "All it takes is a different perspective to the problem."

"Yes, yes and mine too. My Trial was a badder ass than his. All of you died there ..." his cajoling tone turned boastful as he recalled watching his friends yelling in terror and fighting for their lives against all the horrors he had so carefully laid out. "... so many times, yes I am a definitely badder ass than you." He nodded proudly in satisfaction at the Thief, his face lighting up with a pleased smile.

"It wasn't that bad!!" Valentine retorted. "We completed it."

"Yes, yes you did indeed ... all the while screaming like babies."

"We certainly DID not! We were heroic ... we went down fighting every single time!"

"Yes, you did! I have it all recorded! Every little scream, cringe and wetting of the pants." Constantine laughed evilly rubbing his hands together. "I can let you watch it later if you want."