Chapter 13: The Serpent Channel

I waited at the tavern, sipping a strong, bourbon-like beverage, while Jess had headed inside Ironford to get Amaya, Sasha, and Fay. Speaking of, the four women entered the tavern, escorted by Alia and a male knight.

“Sebastian, this is my brother, Walt.” Alia introduced me. I nodded at the male knight.

“You’re not coming to Thornmaw, then?” I checked, naming the only town between Ironford and Lightcairn.

“No. I belong with the Knights of the Fourth Realm, especially if Zahreem is gathering recruits.” Alia said, and I gathered Jess had explained what had happened at Iddul Az.

“Alright. You’ll be missed.” I said, and hugged Alia. She gave me a bright smile, and Amaya slipped her fingers through mine. I glanced at her, and smiled. Amaya and my sister both wore hunter’s garb, and Amaya had a much better wand than I did, while Sasha had a sword over her back, being a swordswoman, while Amaya was a mage.

“Shall we set off?” Jess asked abruptly, and I dropped Amaya’s hand. Fay looked between Jess and Amaya curiously. She fell back to speak with Jess as Sasha and I led the charge with Amaya walking between the two duos.

“I missed you, sis.” I told her.

“You missed me? I thought you were dead, so I could argue I missed you more.” she smirked. I chuckled.

“True, true. So... I’m really dead?” I asked. Sasha nodded.

“Yes. And... I guess I am, too. Poor Mom and Dad. I did leave a note, though, explaining everything.” Sasha explained.

“So... both their children died in a VR world.” I sighed. Sasha nodded.

“Maybe they’ll come through. I did explain how to do it in the letter.” Sasha admitted. I grabbed her shoulder.

“Hey. You did a good thing. You told them the truth.” I said, and Sasha smiled.

“So, what level are you?” I asked.

“2.” Sasha told me.

“Nice. So, do you happen to know anything about the main campaign? I never got a chance to start it.” I said.

“I do know something about it, actually. It starts at a small town called Northhall, which is in the Fifth Realm. The campaign is supposed to span the Seven Realms and take months of in game time.” Sasha said eagerly.

“Jess!” I called over my shoulder.

“Yeah?” she asked.

“You ever heard of Northhall?” I asked her. She shook her head.

“I have.” Fay raised a hand.

“Really?” I asked. Fay nodded.

“Yes. Father spoke of Northhall’s booming mining operations with reverence. It’s Fifth Realm, right?” Fay asked. I nodded and turned back to my conversation with Sasha.

“So we have a guide.” Sasha grinned.

“No. For one thing, Fay’s the least qualified adventurer present. And second, the reason we’re headed to Lightcairn is that her father, king of the elves of the First Realm, is there. She fell off a caravan and was lost.” I explained.

“Oh. Well, at least Lightcairn’s pretty far north. We can consult some maps, but Northhall can’t be that much further north. Just east.” Sasha told me.

“I guess so.” I agreed.

“Whoa!” Amaya yelled, and I abruptly realized she’d moved to scout ahead instead of standing in the middle. We rushed to her side, and found her on a cliff’s edge, looking out over a huge, tempestuous river.

“That’s the Serpent Channel. Probably the most treacherous river in the Fourth Realm.” Jess told our party.

“Is there a bridge?” I asked.

“Not up this far north. We’d have to hike all the way down south, and then back north. It would add weeks to our journey.” Jess shook her head.

“Hm. Maybe we should’ve followed the road.” I grinned.

“Well, Amaya’s a mage. Can’t she clear some water for us?” Fay asked.

“I’m only Lvl 4!” Amaya protested. Fay turned to me.

“I only know fire and healing magic.” I held up my hands.

“So how do we cross the Channel?” Sasha asked.

“I’m not sure. We could head north along the river and see what we encounter.” Jess suggested.

“So, our options are south, where we know it’s a hell of a walk. Or we go north and potentially have a shorter walk, but it could be way longer.” I summed up. Jess nodded.

“Correct.” she told me.

“Alright, let’s go north, then. I’m feeling lucky.” I grinned.

“So, how do we we get down the cliff? We don’t have Alia anymore.” Fay pointed out.

“There’s a path right there.” Amaya pointed out. We all turned to see it. I chuckled and we all started down the narrow path leading down to the lower level of terrain.

Amaya led the way, then Sasha, then Fay, then me, then Jess. My heart almost stopped when Fay slipped, but I managed to grab her by the hips to keep her from falling. Until the path crumbled and the two of us were falling. I twisted to take the impact of the fall and Fay was screaming loudly as we hurtled downwards and crashed into the ground. Fay grabbed my face, crying.

I noticed abruptly the youthful elven princess was straddling me, and it was a very intimate position.

“I’m ok.” I grunted, and lifted my hand.

“Heal.” I said, and my hand glowed gold. I felt the wounds on my back knit together and the cut on Fay’s cheek she’d gotten from a stray tree branch closed as well. A relieved Fay kissed me. I was shocked, but my hands lifted to cup her cheeks, and kissed back passionately. Fay pulled back with bright red cheeks and a shy smile. I ran a hand through her dark brown hair and she snuggled up against my chest, her immense tits squashed against my chest. Our party joined us quickly, and found Fay laying atop me.

“We’re ok.” I said tiredly.

“He’s low on mana.” Fay reported, climbing to her feet. Jess offered me a hand up, and I took it, stumbling. She caught me before I fell, and brushed some of the hair off of my forehead, and she gave me a tender kiss.

“You’re alright?” she murmured. I nodded.

“We’ll camp here.” Jess said.

———

The next day, I woke up with Jess curled against me. That had caused a bit of a rift between me and Amaya, who hadn’t expected me to find someone to love in a video game.

“Hey.” Jess smiled affectionately. I kissed the top of her head.

A half hour later, everyone was awake and we were eating something similar to bacon as we walked. Jess was walking closely to me, probably in case I fell again. We were walking north along the Serpent Channel, and we probably would have spent days walking along the river, if not for a fortuitous meeting. We heard horses clopping along in the forest, and Jess drew her short sword. Amaya pulled out her wand, Sasha and I grabbed our swords, and Fay unsheathed Eclipse, which I’d given back to her just after we left Ironford.

I’d expected riders to emerge from the forest, but instead, it was centaurs.