Chapter one

He wandered around our valley many times. Making circles over our pastures as if over a hunting ground. Which he had a habit of going to every day. Bringing fear to all the inhabitants of the valley. Because since he moved here, no one could feel safe. Whether it’s an animal or a human. The dragon liked all living things in his new hunting grounds. No one was sure where he was coming from. Because each time he appeared from a different direction. Which only increased the fear of the valley’s inhabitants. It was impossible to hunt him because his attacks, although they became an everyday occurrence, were always a surprise. And the victim of the Dragonborn usually has no idea until the last moment that he or she is the beast’s dinner on that particular day. And these heart-piercing shadows are terrifying, which the beast cast with its huge body across the entire valley. Wandering around like this, sometimes for hours. Looking out for his prey. And…fractions of seconds. When for that one moment a person or an animal becomes less alert. Then it happens. Trach. And it’s all over. You can’t feel safe when he shows up. Circling high above any reach from the inhabitants. If only it were possible to trace where it comes from. There would be a chance to catch the animal in its lair. However, this hope also seemed beyond the reach of the inhabitants of the cursed valley. Because that’s what she came to be called throughout the Kingdom. A cursed valley over which the ominous dragon shadow fell. But that wasn’t the worst curse. Fear of what might happen.
The Island of the Seven Winds burned. Completely. So now nothing grows on it. Everything completely burned to ashes. Down to the bare earth. And it was an island blooming with vegetation. Almost twice the size of the Cursed Valley. And now it’s just an ash island in the ocean.
Same as with Gotta’s country. He too was completely burned. Only slightly larger than the Cursed Valley. And there’s nothing left of it. Nothing but ashes.
The dragon behaves in the same way in its preferences. He comes to certain areas which become his hunting ground. And he hunts. This goes on for years. Until these areas are completely depopulated. From all people and animals. There’s almost nothing left. Nothing that the Dragon deems noteworthy. And then the worst begins. The dragon starts breathing fire. Destroying everything in its path. Turning it into ash. On which nothing can grow anymore. And living there becomes impossible.
This was what made the people of the Haunted Valley feel afraid. And there was heightened alert throughout the Kingdom. Everyone everywhere was talking about the same topic. How to get rid of a dragon. How to hunt down this vile animal and take its life. However, the further away from the Kingdom, the less people believed the stories about the Dragon. What comes to hunt. And then he burns everything to the ground. Fairy tales for children, repeated. And people laughed more and more when they heard about what the Dragon had done. Than feared.
However, for the Kingdom, these were not just fairy tales for children. Told to scare them. For them it was really happening. The king was approached with so many ideas that it was necessary to create a separate ministry. So that he could only deal with one thing. How to get rid of the Dragon.
This was the most important task for all the inhabitants of the Kingdom. And no one could find any reasonable solution. The only thing left to do was wait for the inevitable. Until the Cursed Valley became nothing but ashes. Then it was time for the coastal lands. After the dragon finished with the Cursed Valley, it headed north. Starting to ravage the coast. Province by province. This went on for years. Until the entire northern coast was reduced to ash.
Then it was time to plunder the inland provinces. For a while, it was hoped that the Dragon had left the kingdom after being struck by lightning in the mountains where it had been feeding for seven years. Then the Dragon did not appear for many years. Forty-seven years to be exact.
For the first few years, there was euphoria in the Kingdom. Years filled with happiness that he is no longer here. That the worst is over. The dragon disappeared after being struck by lightning in the mountains.
Then came the time of ordinary everyday worries. The Dragon was barely mentioned anymore. And if so, only among older people. Remembering the worst. The younger ones weren’t really interested in it. They only knew that the Dragon existed and destroyed. And that’s all. Not realizing how much fear this animal caused in the Kingdom.
In the seventeenth year after the Dragon’s disappearance, a man appeared in the Kingdom who said he had found a way to defeat the Dragon. But then no one bothered with him anymore. The kingdom was plagued by invasions from across the sea. Neighboring countries decided to take advantage of the Kingdom’s weakness and organized plundering expeditions to its lands. Which led to the stories of the Dragon being treated as a distant past. It had nothing to do with what was happening in the Kingdom.
Neighbors invasions were repelled. Kingdom expeditions have begun. Looting all the capitals of the aggressor countries. A period of peace has come. There was prosperity and complete relaxation in the Kingdom. And then he arrived. Dragon. At the moment when he was least expected. As always. He attacked his victim in a moment of relaxation. A paralyzing fear fell upon the Kingdom. Especially since he started his destructive work in the province where the capital of the entire Kingdom was located. Which meant that the news about the Dragon would spread among other countries. Which could lead to more invasions. So time played a huge role.
It was decided to find the one who said many years ago that he had found a way to defeat the Dragon. He was already an old man. Not really suitable for anything. The only hope remained in the notes this man left after his work on the Dragon. They concluded that lightning had to be summoned and directed straight at the Dragon. The best way is to combine the power of many lightning bolts at once. To make sure the beast doesn’t come back. The machine was built exactly according to the instructions. It stretched like a snake through almost the entire Kingdom. Collecting every lightning bolt you could catch. Through its snake body, the machine trapped the lightning bolts somewhere within its innards. Storing for the Dragon hunt. If it ever comes, that’s what they said in the Kingdom in those days.
And the Dragon is the Dragon. He devoured every living creature in his hunting grounds. And nothing could stop him. Because the second part of the plan. As difficult as the first one. It seemed one of those impossible things. Attack the Dragon. But how to do it? How to get so high to the Dragon. It was decided to soar into the sky thanks to magical spells that are used in countries far across the ocean, and warm air. Sorcerers casting spells needed a certain amount of heat to do so. So that the magic could flow from the place where the heat was accumulated. For a vehicle that was supposed to soar into the sky. The sorcerers demanded a high price for their magic. The entire south coast, which wasn’t such a bad move. Because this pushed the option of invasions by neighboring countries into the background. And perhaps the Kingdom will get rid of this problem once and for all – this was the reasoning at the time.
Therefore, it was decided to pay the price to the sorcerers as they demanded. And although the Kingdom will come out of it truncated. However, in the long run, the Dragon will burn everything. So it’s worth it.
Work on the snake machine, as it was called in the Kingdom, was progressing. Everyone wondered what this creature was. Dead. Because it’s made almost entirely of metal. It’s alive after all. Because it moved and writhed like a snake. Especially when he was fighting the lightning. As the lightning bolt tried to free itself from the snake machine. She trapped him more and more in her body. This was when the snake became the most dangerous. Anyone who got too close to him died on the spot.
The work could progress at its own pace. And although they were in a hurry to get rid of the Dragon as quickly as possible, he was hated so much. However, the vision of invasions stopped haunting the Kingdom. The sorcerers who came to the south coast coped with the raids very well. They burned every fleet they could find in the ocean. Burning her completely. So that not even one ship from the enemy fleet remained. Never mentioning it. And when asked if they did it? They replied that the patrols were guarding the coast against aggressors. The kingdom has nothing to fear.
Rumors of fleets that never returned circulated among merchants arriving in the Kingdom. It was said that a battle was once seen taking place close to the town from the coast. It was then seen that the entire enemy fleet was covered with fire coming from the sorcerers’ ship. This one burned every enemy ship. One for the entire fleet. Without suffering any damage. And then he plunged under the water and never came up again. This place was watched all day long. Until dusk. The sorcerers’ ship no longer appeared. Some said it sank. That it must have suffered some damage if it sank. Others said he burned all the enemy ships. He waited until they all sank. Then, slowly swimming away, he submerged himself under the water. Doing it as if it wasn’t the first time he was doing it. Slowly and without any panic on board. He plunged under the water in complete silence.
The Kingdom began to show even greater respect for sorcerers. Rumors of their magic became more and more common. Their tame birds were often seen soaring into the air. Taking large amounts of crates and other equipment inside. The same chests appeared in another part of the Kingdom. Thanks to birds tamed by sorcerers. Which they held captive with their magic. And they were black birds that could stand still in one position for whole days. Unmoved, they waited for the spell to bring them back to life. Then they rumbled from inside. By making a whistle while rising. Probably to tell the heavens that they were coming. Because the lightning didn’t hit them. One of the lightning bolts was once seen attacking an enchanted bird. This one just sparked. Letting out a more terrifying whistle. Heard for miles. And he flew on. As if nothing had happened.
The Kingdom valued such an ally the most. Happy that they had gained such a friendly ally for a small southern part of the Kingdom. The era of prosperity has begun. In the southern provinces. These neighboring sorcerers’ belt – as the lands given to them came to be called – experienced prosperity on a scale never seen before. The amount of goods at the fair there was staggering. Amazing wonders from the farthest corners of lands across the ocean.
Sorcerers never interfered in any Kingdom affairs. They were open and friendly. Everyone in the Kingdom was allowed to settle in lands ruled by sorcerers. Which meant that, over time, more and more inhabitants throughout the Kingdom decided to live in lands ruled by sorcerers. Emigration became the Kingdom’s biggest problem. However, this was allowed because the sorcerers’ magic kept the Dragon away. Their spells created a protective net over the part of the Kingdom that he considered his hunting grounds at the time. The sorcerers said that such a state could not last for long. That their magic is too weak to stop the Dragon forever. They can only delay the inevitable and make its appearances less frequent.
This is how year after year passed. The people who left almost completely lost contact. Only a few maintained it. Those who left the Kingdom mostly settled in distant lands ruled by sorcerers. Which meant that contact with them ceased. This state of affairs lasted for quite a long time. Which left some provinces of the Kingdom almost completely depopulated. Due to the decreasing number of people working on the land, there was a shortage of food in the Kingdom. This caused another wave of migration wanting to live in distant lands ruled by sorcerers. The kingdom was shaking. If other countries had then invaded the Kingdom, it would most likely have been conquered. And the population was given into slavery. Fortunately, we have sorcerers, they said.
The situation lasted so long that the Kingdom, once blooming with life, turned into a land of ghosts. Because it was increasingly rare to meet people outside the cities. Cities were so depopulated that people burned down their towns because they were too large. Those who remained looked ghastly on the deserted streets. Just living in such a city became unbearable. Such matters as supplies were impossible to accomplish due to insufficient numbers of people. Only the provinces directly bordering the sorcerers’ belt remained unpopulated. In fact, the number of inhabitants increased there. There was plenty there. Not like in the rest of the Kingdom.
The long-awaited day has come. The hunt for the Dragon has begun. The airships took to the skies. For the first time, the inhabitants responded to the Dragon. It was supposed to be a fatal blow. The entire Kingdom effort was focused on this one moment. The magical spell protecting the Kingdom from the Dragon has been lifted. And he showed up. As if he was waiting somewhere nearby. Looking for an opportunity to start hunting.
Its large body cast a shadow, which made it easier to locate. There was a Dragon up there somewhere in the clouds. Today he has become the hunted. The roles have been reversed. The fleet with the sorcerers on board rose into the air like a swarm of mosquitoes. Each had an iron rope attached to it that connected to a snake machine.
The dragon spotted its prey and attacked. He must have been hungry to be attacked so quickly. The victim had no chance. However, this time, the sky fleet attacked. The entire sky was covered with lightning. The earth began to burn in places where the iron ropes were. And the Dragon made a terrifying sound. And it burned down…
His remains were searched for. Nothing found. The sorcerers said that the Dragon would not return. After this event, the attitude of sorcerers towards the inhabitants of the Kingdom changed…

Chapter two

John worked at full speed from the very beginning of the project. He was his biggest supporter. He wanted to move the entire game to the new server before they shut down the old server forever. He was simply too old. Technology has moved forward. In the past, server rooms that occupied large areas were like small towns. They have been miniaturized to such an extent that they began to occupy the area of ​​a medium-sized room.
Two years ago, he was assigned to a project cleaning up an old server and archiving desired data. The new server offered unlimited possibilities. And the sheer computing power of computers at that time was able to generate a virtual reality that was almost impossible to distinguish from the real world. Except for one small detail. By touch. Virtual reality was only a reflection of the real world. Light bending at the molecular level. Which created an image around the viewer. Taking him to a world full of adventures. As if he himself participated in the event. This led to the creation of previously unseen films. In which the viewer could move through events as if they were moving through separate locations. Which led to the creation of the Type 2 gaming generation.
The first game created using 2nd generation technology was a game set in the Middle Ages. This was John’s favorite childhood game. He sat there for hours. Fighting on one side of the conflict. Where all countries conducted plundering expeditions. Being too weak for greater challenges. Endless sea battles. Capturing ships. Control of trade routes. Factions send their fleets to different parts of the game universe. The player is one of the crew members. He can be a captain. This allows him to make decisions in the strategic field. Where he swims and plunders. By taking over other units. Anyone could become a captain of one of the sides of the conflict. Building your own fleet. By rising in the hierarchy of the faction he chose when he was good enough. This gave him fame thanks to which he could recruit the right number of crew for his expeditions.
While playing multiplayer, it was possible to participate in fleet expeditions consisting of individual player ships. Everyone commanded his own unit during such an expedition. Battles were organized with thousands of players at the same time. Everyone commanded a unit in their own virtual reality. At the same time, seeing other players who were near him. This gave an amazing experience of interacting with the virtual world from this side. Unfortunately, the game didn’t offer anything other than sea battles.
Of course, there was an entire game universe economy. You could visit coastal locations and walk around virtual cities. Bring goods to cities, which allowed for the expansion of locations. In each city there were characters controlled by artificial intelligence who had their own lives in the game universe. Unfortunately, the player could not influence the management of the locations in any way.
After that, subsequent generation 2 games appeared on the market, offering more extensive worlds. Games began to be designed that offered players unlimited possibilities. You could be whoever you wanted. Simulations of literally everything have been created. And all these worlds were located on new servers. Which made the first Gen 2 game just plain old. Her world was too limited. It was stopped playing. Even John played it for the last time at the age of 13. However, he never stopped loving her. The childish part of him that was inside him.
That’s why he felt sad. He worked 14 hours a day. Trying to transfer characters from the game to new servers before they shut down the server where his favorite game was. The world of his childhood will be lost forever. And he failed to transfer the game characters of even one faction from the game universe. He had communication problems all the time. He could only work a limited amount of time. Then something disconnected him. It was a constant fight against time. John had to find some game character code before he threw it away again. So he always focused on a small piece of code. He was tidying it up because somewhere in between there were unreadable fragments that were not the game’s source code. He copied and deleted the rest. And he moved on to the next piece of game code.
It seemed to him that he would cope with it quickly and move on to the next task that was within the scope of his position in the archives department. Unfortunately, it took him almost two years and he failed. The small part of the game code he managed to archive will not be enough to recreate the entire game on the new server. Which means the game is gone forever the next day. All this time he was working on the game’s code, John felt as if something inside the game was fighting with him. As if additional fragments that were not part of the game’s code were being written right before his eyes. When he mentioned this to someone, they laughed at him. So he stopped talking to anyone about it. However, the fact that he failed to transfer the game to the new server made him very sad. Closing his eyes to sleep, John thought that when he woke up, the game universe from his childhood would be gone forever…