Melia the Magnificent

“Mistress, will you be returning to the mansion?”

Melia paused in her perch on the bed, watching everybody pack. The group had spent the better part of several hours exploring the bear museum, and now it was late afternoon. Moeldywn insisted they were welcome to stay in her residence as long as they liked. Alastair, the responsible adult that he was, did not want to impose.

Jessica tossed him some serious side-eye at that, and it was clear to Melia that she had no such reservations about mooching off an ex-princess as long as she could.

“The mansion?” Melia parroted. The only mansion she could think of was the one in the hills, which technically she wasn’t sure if she actually owned or not. Yes, she woke up there, and yes, she had the keys…so okay, fine, maybe she did own it, if possession was nine-tenths of the law, or whatever the saying was. And now that her [Retainers] were asking about it? The fact that it was hers was all but solidified.

And then it hit her. She owned a mansion. And she had servants.

There was soooo much to unpack there, but for some strange reason, the part that stuck her like a dagger was the fact that they had to clean the place.

“Uhhh,” Melia stalled nervously. Lethia chuckled, seeing right through her.

“My lady, any of your residences here in town are ready for your return. But should you wish to restore your grand abode to its former glory, I’m ashamed to say that we were unable to maintain it in your absence. It is sealed, and we cannot enter. I’m afraid the key is lost.”

“Oh!” Melia cried. “I have it! Don’t worry about that!”

“You…have it?” Lethia gasped. “My lady, I am so sorry it isn’t ready for your return…!”

“I said don’t worry!” Melia chided her gently, tossing a pillow at her face. “And I’ve seen it. The mansion, uh, might actually be worse off than you think. It’s, uh, in need of repair. Badly. But you don’t gotta worry about that! I can help!”

“My lady, I’m sure you can, but do not worry yourself with such trifles. Leave the mundane tasks to us.”

“Right!” L’menia punched the air excitedly. “We got this!”

“You might want to rethink that once you see it,” Melia chuckled. “Half the walls are missing.”

“That…is understandable,” Lethia said with a pinched face.

“But now that you mention it, I was meaning to visit. Maybe we’ll stop by?”

“In that case, allow us to attend to you,” Lethia said with a deep bow. Melia couldn’t find it in her to deny the poor [Retainer], and she had a hunch that if she tried, all three of them would follow her anyway.

Whether their destination was the mansion in the hills, Lakeridge, or the other side of the world, none of it mattered until they figured out how they were getting there. And that posed a slight problem.

Mainly, what to do with Midna.

She was coming with them, obviously; it was a foregone conclusion in Melia’s mind. But there seemed to be a few inconsistencies and roadblocks that she needed to work through first. From what Melia could tell, taking an animal through a warp point like an Aetherstone was…complicated. Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn’t. Unlike the game, where mounts and pets weren’t truly real entities and basically glorified items in an inventory, any person who wanted to ride the lines needed to be attuned.

Real-life mounts, ones that had been trained enough to gain real levels and skills, could be attuned. Or so Melia was told. But that did not instantly grant somebody, or something, access to crystals they’d never visited. Since all of Melia’s warp points had vanished, she felt it likely that Midna didn’t have any either.

So that was Aether-warping out.

Teleportation created its own set of problems. As Ellesea and Moeldywn could both attest, teleporting oneself and opening a portal for others to pass through were very different beasts. Creating a stable portal was a complex, finicky, and delicate process that would instantly fail if given half a chance.

And that still required familiarity with the area a person wanted to port to. A passing familiarity after visiting once or twice wouldn’t cut it, even for people with perfect memories. There were a few exceptions to the rule where people could bend the system to their whims, but they were extreme. Such as Moeldywn’s ability to teleport people other than herself, since she was the [White Witch], or the fact that Melia was so magically strong she could probably bully the world into doing what she wanted.

But both of those had consequences. Moeldywn’s [Mass Teleport] came with an excessive mana cost, on top of requiring knowledge and masterwork proficiency in 20 teleportation locations and 10 portal anchors. Not only power, but experience, was hard-required.

Melia’s method…could be worrying. Using her unreasonable might to portal a group of people around the world without going through the proper channels might do nothing…or it could break the area she was teleporting into. There were plenty of scenarios in the game, mostly in dungeons, where some [Mage] or spellcaster tried meddling with powers beyond their comprehension and ended up opening a rift into the void.

Teleportation was out.

Again, if Midna were to join them, they couldn’t really put her on a gryphon to fly her down to Lakeridge, and stuffing her into a carriage like a pampered housecat felt like it defeated the purpose of having a mount.

So that left walking.

Which was for chumps.

And, as it so happened, [Sunrise] was due for an upgrade from [Chump] to [Chad]…or whatever this world’s equivalent of a cool person was.

They were going to ride…in style!

​

Or at least Melia was. Moeldywn led the group to the Royal Stables, which she revealed had become home to Melia’s orphaned mounts. The news that her collection of animals remained when she was “asleep” gave Melia mixed feelings. On one hand, they didn’t starve to death, but on the other, she basically abandoned them, even if it was by accident. She really wouldn’t blame any of them if they didn’t want to travel with her.

The decision, ultimately, wasn’t in her hands. With the exception of Jewel, Midna, and two very old horses living out their twilight years in blissful abundance, all the other living mounts had passed away. One hundred years was a very long time for humans, let alone animals, and most normal creatures didn’t have that sort of life expectancy. Melia could at least take solace in the fact that their lives were long, peaceful, and worry-free.

Some of them had been very busy, too.

Her horses, in particular, were incredibly prolific, creating dynasties of their own, with pedigree certifications and waiting lists for people who wished to purchase any of the offspring. According to Melody, one of the two remaining horses, which had been a simple [Palomino Horse] in the game, had produced an entire herd of show-worthy golden steeds. The other, a [Chestnut Mare], saw all of her offspring grow large and strong, entering the exclusive service of the military as [Warhorses].

Other signs of her collection were present, with a showy [Peacock Strider] strutting around the pens and a slew of rams, the favored mounts of dwarves, chomping on some grass.

Melia saw one young Nightsaber slinking around in the shadows, its coloration suspiciously familiar. Melia turned and gave Midna a hard stare, but the giant cat feigned disinterest and licked her paws. Melia wasn’t fooled. She knew exactly who that cub’s parent was.

“Are you at least a good mom?” Melia asked.

The cat, as expected, said nothing.

Melia’s collection included plenty of exotic mounts, too, and either they were too unusual to house with the normal animals, or else had already passed on, leaving little to no mark on history. She saw no trace of the giant woolly mammoth that could seat multiple players, nor the wide varieties of camels that had come in one, two, or three humps.

…for a very brief moment, Melia had a vision of walking up to a mount-breeder like one would a car dealership, and when a salesman asked her about extras and options, she then had to consider how many humps, as if they were powered windows or a sunroof.

[Sunrise] spent a little while browsing through the available options, and eventually settled on a pair of horses for Alastair and Ellesea, a cobalt colored [Strider] for Y’cennia, and a surly grey ram for Jessica, because none of the horses wanted to let her get on. Ellesea had to turn away to hide her snickers, while Alastair simply gave Jessica a gentle smile that was simultaneously benevolent, accepting, and patronizing.

All three of Melia’s [Retainers] had their own mounts, including Lethia’s white and grey Nightsaber, and Brandy rode on Midna with Melia. Regrettably, Moeldywn was far too responsible, so she waved to them until they were far out of sight, staying behind at the castle despite clearly wanting to go on an adventure. Melia had a hunch it was only a matter of time before the fun-loving princess gave in.

​

The ride away from Horizon felt surreal to Melia. The sights, sounds, and ambiance of a summer afternoon were mostly expected, even if their mode of transportation was new. They sped along tirelessly, their mounts leveled and conditioned for long hours of constant running, with skills and abilities to boot. They passed multiple carriages, several groups traveling on foot, and the occasional rider on the road. All of that was normal.

What made this journey special was the fact that Brandy was there.

Melia spent countless hours in the game going on rides just like this one, or at least, where the two of them rode side-by-side. They filled the long stretches between destinations with constant chatter: Brandy would spout random snippets about her days, and Melia would reveal the juiciest drama and gossip from the game. Sometimes they were content to let the talk serve as filler. They could talk about boys, or class, or even the weather; anything that set their jaws moving and their laughter spilling. More than one secret and heartbreak had been revealed during a chunk of travel during their many long years in the game.

And yet…they were silent.

Melia was almost in a daze, letting Midna do all of the navigating all on her own, since she didn’t actually need to be guided by reins. Brandy was here. Actually here, really here, in the flesh. Not a game.

If Melia were honest, the fact that Brandy was here still worried her tremendously. And while her best friend assured her that she wasn’t missing out on life back home, and she wasn’t actually dead (or injured), Melia’s heart wasn’t able to accept that at face value. She desperately wanted their time together to never end, but she knew someday Brandy would have to go back, and Melia would trade everything to make sure that became a reality.

She knew Brandy wasn’t quite as carefree and undisturbed about her sudden appearance in Ebonvale as she let on. Perhaps Brandy didn’t realize it, but Melia’s senses were sharp enough to pick up on subtle body movements and gestures.

A drawn-out sigh here, a forlorn or wistful look there.

How, sometimes, Brandy’s smile didn’t reach her eyes.

And that was another thing.

This Brandy was older than the one she left behind. Not by much, not enough to make a real difference in their ages, but she carried herself differently. She seemed more…grown up. Parts of her carefree attitude had been replaced by something…heavy. Melia wanted to reach out, wrap her in a hug, and tell her everything was going to be okay, but she couldn’t.

Melia herself didn’t know if she believed that was true.

And the one thing she could never, ever do…was lie to Brandy.

But then Brandy went and did something magical, which helped wash the funk away.

“What’s on your mind, little munch?” Brandy cooed in a soft voice. “You’ve been quiet for hours. What’s got you down?”

Little Munch.

Brandy had called Melia that ever since they were kids. Brandy had been ever so slightly taller, and as the years went on, it became something of a term of endearment. At least, it felt that way to Melia, hearing the fondness in her friend’s voice and finding that her own eyes were suddenly very sweaty.

“Brandy,” Melia finally squeezed out from between bitten lips. Her voice cracked and she dabbed her eyes on her arm; a small, wet trail left behind. “Why are you here? You should go home.”

The old Brandy would have tossed her head back and laughed, saying something like, “Are you trying to get rid of me? Don’t you want me here?”

But the new Brandy was much more thoughtful. She slipped an arm around Melia’s middle and pulled her against her stomach in a one-armed hug.

“Don’t worry about me,” she said instead. “Right now, I’m fine. We’re together again, let’s enjoy it while it lasts.”

Melia had no idea how long that could be. Maybe a day, maybe a month, maybe a year. Secretly, she hated that the longer the time frame got inside her mind, the more excited she became. She shook her head, leaning back against the steady, soothing presence of her friend. The rock that stabilized her for all those years. For a little while longer, she’d lean on Brandy some more.

​

The horses and the [Strider] given to [Sunrise] tired first. It should’ve come as no surprise to anyone that they could not keep up with mounts belonging to such high-level [Retainers] and a dragon. They had lasted much, much longer than any horse on earth ever would have, but in the end, their endurance waned and the group was forced to pull over for the night. As for the ram, it was impossible to tell because it was always grumpy.

They found a clearing just on the forest side of the Serenity border an hour before dusk. Alastair took charge of setting up camp…or so he attempted, but was very swiftly rendered useless by the speed and competence of Lethia, Layalee, and L’menia. The three [Retainers] had the ground cleared of brush and debris, a fire pit dug, and the tents set up. Each one was supplied with bedrolls and whatever possessions each member carried physically with them. The mounts, at least the ones that needed it, were tethered to a nearby tree.

All that in about the time it would have taken for [Sunrise] to find a suitable location to dig a toilet hole.

The [Retainers] did that, too.

Melia tried helping out at first, but she got fussed over. L’menia sat her down and complained loudly about how she had been gone for so long and she should let her [Retainers] do their jobs. At least she was given some tea for her troubles.

Once the mounts were watered and fed (or, in Midna’s case, allowed to go hunt), Lethia started preparing a stew in a large pot over the fire. Staring into the open flame brought back memories of the Midsummer Festival and giving everybody buffs. Melia felt the previous dance she did was special and didn’t want to replicate it, but she really wanted to perform something for Brandy. More than rewarding her with a potentially powerful buff, she wanted to show off and entertain her friend.

As they ate, Melia considered what to dance. [Dancers] were not required to perform to music, nor did they need to be near a bonfire, and there wasn’t a particular song playing through Melia’s mind as she wondered how she was going to craft a dance. Technically, the class was a supportive combat class, not a storytelling or performing arts one, specifically.

“This is Serenity Forest, right?” Brandy asked, breaking the contemplative silence. “It’s been so long, I almost forgot what it looked like.”

“Yeah,” Melia grinned. From the sparkle nearly hidden behind Brandy’s magical eyes, Melia could tell her friend was just as captivated with this world’s natural beauty as she had been.

“And that was Gold Coast,” Brandy confirmed, turning around to gaze in the direction they’d come from. The golden fields and rolling hills weren’t visible through the layers of trees blanketing the land in a canopy of darkness, but she could easily picture them in her mind’s eye.

“Does that mean the garrison is to the north?” Brandy asked, facing that direction.

“It’s a full-sized town now, my lady,” Lethia answered. “Westshire.”

“That’s where we laid over on our flight to Horizon,” Melia nodded. She watched as the high elf swiveled her head around, as if placing her memories of the game into the real world.

“I wonder if that elite mob is still around?” Brandy mused. “He should have been around here somewhere, right?”

“Ha!” Melia laughed. “You mean [Bruin the Barbaric]? He was further south, and I think you’d have to go into the forest further too. I don’t think we have to worry about him.”

“Who’s worried?” Brandy teased. “We’ve got death-maids and a tiger. What’s a bear gonna do about that?”

“If all else fails, Melia could eat him,” Jessica muttered from Brandy’s side. Melia and Brandy both turned to stare at her and she shrank back, unsure if she should have said anything. Brandy obviously didn’t care, as she leaned over with her long arm and pulled Jessica into a side hug.

“True,” she grinned. “I hear our gnome has quite the appetite. What’s a bear to a dragon? I’m surprised he wasn’t called [Bruin the bar-bear-ic]!” Brandy laughed. Melia scrunched her face in distaste.

“Bad puns should give you a debuff,” she huffed, blowing a puff of hair out of her face. “But funny that you should mention [Bruin]. I was just talking about him the other day with Melody.”

“Oh?” Brandy raised a brow.

“Do you remember the Nekkid Mile?”

“Hahaha!” Brandy almost rolled off her log backwards, she laughed so hard. “How could I forget! Do you know how long it took to march that party all the way from Stronghold? They clogged up the city for hours!”

“So…that was real, was it?” Ellesea timidly asked. She took Jessica’s earlier interruption as admission into the conversation with the two ancients.

“Very much so,” Lethia nodded seriously. “The leaders at the time did not put enough stock in the threat of a measly level 180 [Brown Bear]. Too many young lives were lost before its status as an [Elite] was confirmed, and even then, all the marshals were willing to do was offer up a bounty. So the Visitors, in a fashion only Visitors could do, took the challenge personally.”

“What went through the minds of ancient heroes?” Alastair asked. Then he seemed to remember he was currently sitting with two of them. “Present company excluded, of course.”

“It was a different time, a different place,” was all Melia said. But then she stood up, having made up her mind. Last time she danced in front of a fire, the flames came to life to tell a story for her. Perhaps they could again? Or at the very least, she’d get a decent workout.

“I’m going to dance for Brandy,” she declared, making the girl in question sit up curiously. Melia turned toward her teammates and [Retainers]. “You can watch if you want to.”

Melia changed into her [Sultana’s Favor] and readied her chakrams. The last dance, during the opening festival, was lively and energetic. It featured sharp movements and exaggerated punctuations. It was punchy and powerful, with thrusts and lunges designed to emphasize her power more than flexibility.

This time, Melia wanted something more…playful. Something smooth and flowing, where her skills and abilities could roll together seamlessly to tailor an entire performance from a single thread.

She stepped in front of the fire, knelt low, and began spinning. And once she started, she didn’t stop. Thankfully, her Dexterity and Agility prevented her from getting dizzy, and as she added [Steps] and [Leaps] and [Bounds], she never lost her footing even as she twirled around and around. The fire behind her roared, as if somebody had tossed on an excessive amount of fuel, filling the clearing with comforting heat and nearly blinding light. Tiny licks of flame cast shimmering images of miniature soldiers, and shadows played at hints of moving troops.

Around the fire Melia spun, her weapons whirring in the otherwise silent night, the bells on her wrists and ankles creating a cheerful symphony of chaotic energy.

She almost wished she had some music, thinking of how the fight eventually devolved into madness. It brought to mind timeless classics such as “Yakkety Sax” or “Corncob,” immortalized by silly memes.

Melia started humming. As she spun, adding dramatic flair that made her appear unstable or as if she were about to stumble and fall, the images in the flame built to a crescendo: a gigantic bear appeared to tower over the tiny soldiers. Of course, Melia never truly lost control, but the image playing out raised the bear’s monstrous claw, swiping down to devastating effect.

The fire crackled, hissing loudly as sparks popped and fizzled, and when it reformed, the attacking army was in disarray. A solid tenth of the attackers were no more, a massacre in the making. Order abandoned, chaos reigned. It was, to use an archaic phrase, a clown fiesta.

The dance itself lasted a little more than 12 minutes, and when Melia was finally done, she looked up in shock. Each and every one of her companions was fast asleep, knocked out cold where they sat, dead to the world around them.

At first, Melia was dismayed, slightly put out that her hard work had been ignored, but then she noticed everyone had a buff, and she smiled. She did her job; her work was done. Much like the buff from her first performance, this one was Exotic grade, raising stats and increasing the chance for class evolution. And, amusingly, in the moment, she found the last line incredibly fitting.

​

[Very well rested. Increased experience gains by 300 percent, and sleep soundly through the night.]

​

Not much could be said about the next day’s journey. The party did, in fact, wake up refreshed and ready to go. The mounts in particular were champing at the bit, eager to let out all the energy they suddenly found filling them near to bursting. After a light breakfast and a quick rinse in a nearby stream, they all saddled up and rode out.

The destination, in the long run, was going back to Lakeridge. According to Al, who managed the group’s schedule, they had quite a few days before any obligations cropped up to disrupt their normal workweek, but traveling like this did cut into that by taking away a few days. Their new mounts were much faster than walking, but only slightly faster than a carriage, and not even close to comparable to winged flight. Until a more efficient system could be put in place, they’d have to ignore sightseeing on the commute and head straight to their destination.

Except that Lethia reminded Melia that the [Retainers] wanted to see the damage to the mansion themselves, and, of course, everybody else wanted to see it too.

So, about an hour or two before noon, long after they passed the turn-off point to go to Abbyton, Melia steered the group off the beaten path into the untamed shade of the forest. The group’s trust in her never wavered…until they came into a small clearing at the edge of the forest where the trees butted up against the rocky feet of the imposing mountain range.

“Uh, Melia, I don’t mean to alarm you,” Jessica stated in a mock-worried tone, “But I think we might have hit a wall.”

The group peered up at the tumbling cliffside of the mountain face. It wasn’t a sheer drop, exactly, but with the exception of Midna, none of the other mounts could travel up it, and the people couldn’t either without some serious climbing gear.

“You think?” Ellesea rolled her eyes. She almost pointed at the closest boulder, which was somewhere around 10 feet tall, but it wasn’t really necessary. “What gave you that idea?”

The two girls got down to squabbling with each other in a good-natured way, but Brandy was staring at the mountain thoughtfully.

“Man, I remember when we first tried scaling all these barriers,” she said wistfully. The nostalgia of running against a literal wall was strong. “Sometimes I felt like such an idiot.”

“You actually managed to climb this?” Alastair asked. He turned his gaze from the foot of the mountain to the summit. The boulders didn’t seem to get any smaller. “Impressive.”

“Yeah, well, that’s great and all,” Jessica sighed, “But how are we going to get up there? I’m not sayin’ I’m a bad climber, but Ellesea on the other hand…”

“I have [Slow Fall],” the [Mage] quipped. “I happen to make an excellent climber.”

“Y’cennia on the other hand…,” Jessica instantly corrected, not missing a beat, shooting the catkin a sly smile and some side-eye.

Y’cennia was nodding along absently until she realized she was being insulted. She bristled and hissed, but Jessica let her bop her several times with ineffective punches as payback.

“Nobody needs to climb,” Melia said. She got off Midna and leapt up to the closest boulder. “Not when I can take you to the top!”

“Wait, just a moment,” Brandy laughed. “You aren’t thinking about turning into a dragon right now, are you? A big, scary dragon? Right in front of our mounts? Listen, Midna might be one thing, and the rest of us are people, but those fellas are animals we just met yesterday. You’ll scare them to death! Literally dead! We can’t let that happen!”

Melia paused, her mouth half open to come back with a quick retort, but she slowly closed it. Brandy was, and always had been, very good with animals. Maybe that’s why she got so obsessed with collecting pets in the game? Melia shook her head.

“Sorry, you’re right. So how do you suppose we climb to the top, then?”

“My lady, might I suggest the path?”

Melia turned, where several yards away, Lethia was standing behind a boulder. There, Melia could see the faintest hint of a trail, little more than something used by wild game, barely wide enough for a single rider, snaking up the mountainside.

Melia let out a groan. Certainly, if her [Retainers] were asking about the mansion, they knew how to get there. Melia slumped her shoulders and let Brandy pull her back on top of Midna. She’d get to fly them around soon enough.

​

The day Melia woke up in this world felt so long ago now, even though it hadn’t even been an entire month. When she first left the mansion, she had exited from the crumbled ballroom, where half the wall and the roof were missing. Entering from the front had a very different feeling, and though Melia must have explored all around the mansion in her gaming days, she didn’t remember it being so…ominous. It was large, this she knew, but she hadn’t quite taken the scale of it into consideration.

The entire building was pitch black, with purple accents running along the eaves and columns, jagged, spiked bars across the windows, and heavy-looking shutters bolted in place to keep the light out.

Or perhaps anything inside from getting out.

Judging from the windows on each floor, there were five large stories, each of them sized for two. On top of the cracked and crumbling awning were rows of black gargoyles, no, obsidian dragons standing watch, daring anybody to come close.

The entire clearing before the mansion seemed dim, as if the blackened stone was sucking up the light. A pair of ancient trees lined the walk, decrepit and dead, their wind-swept branches long since bereft of anything close to being green. They had to leave the mounts at the exit from the winding mountain path; they would not cross into the clearing.

“You used to live in this thing?” Jessica asked, rubbing her arms. Despite being in the middle of summer, the heat of the day was not present. In the shadow of the mansion, the entrance looming before them, she felt positively chilled.

“Eh, not really,” Melia admitted. “I used it mostly to just…lounge around.”

Jessica stopped shivering long enough to stare at the gnome in disbelief.

“You had a mansion. For lounging.”

“And sometimes plotting evil deeds,” Brandy added unhelpfully, waggling her eyebrows. Melia kicked her playfully in the shin while the others glanced between the dark, foreboding mansion and the elf, wondering if she was joking.

“What else would you use a place like this for?” Melia chuckled, deciding to lean into the bit. “Come on. Let me show you inside.”

Melia climbed the steps, each one close to a platform at her size, and when she reached the top, she stared up at the large, formidable entry before her. Maybe it was because the mansion’s model needed to be skewed in the game so people could see it as they flew by, but everything about it was larger than life. Or, perhaps it was simply made so large and imposing to make anybody daring enough to come calling feel small and insignificant.

While Melia would not likely be able to fit through the double doors in her real form, she might be able to squeeze her head inside. Each door was roughly 20 feet tall and 10 feet wide. There was a heavy iron knocker set next to a handle slightly less than halfway up, but there was no chance Melia would ever be able to use it on her own. Even Alastair would need to reach above his head just to grasp the ring.

Melia stood at the bottom, neck craned back as far as it would go. If this place was hers, and she had the key, how was she supposed to use it if she didn’t bring anybody with her? Granted, she could get in around the side, but that was besides the point. She reached into her inventory and pulled out her key ring, locating the massive [Obsidian Key].

Turning to her [Retainers], who waited patiently behind her, she stood before Lethia and held the key aloft.

“It would be my pleasure, Mistress,” she said, taking the key reverently. Even she, a forest elf of impressive stature, looked small standing before the door. The key was large in her hands, but she fit it in and turned it with an ominous, echoing clunk. Despite their size and age, the massive doors swung open at her slightest touch, not a creak or protest of a rusty hinge to be heard.

Lethia walked slowly into the hall, followed closely by her fellows, who sharply turned once they were standing in the foyer, bowing in unison toward the gnome.

“Welcome home, Lady Meliastraza,” they said in unison, not rising until Melia entered properly.

If this were home…it certainly fit the description for somebody called the Destroyer of Worlds. She felt, more than she heard, her companions entering behind her. Their feet echoed across the marble floor, into the vaulted ceiling far above their heads. But like the courtyard out front, this entryway felt enchanted to be anything but welcoming. Layalee walked comfortably in the darkness, suggesting some level of familiarity with the ruined mansion, eventually finding and channeling mana into a conduit. After several seconds, the hall lit up. Bright white stones, affixed to heavy iron sconces on the walls and a pair of wicked-looking chandeliers from way up high, cast harsh light and decisive shadows. Around the perimeter of the room, countless statues and works of art sat toppled from their stands or slashed and ruined within their frames, while what little wooden furniture remained seemed better suited for firewood.

“It’s a bit of a fixer-upper,” Melia eventually said, nodding. She had never seen this room before, as it wasn’t physically available in the game. But once again, she had to give this world props: if they wanted to hype up her reputation as some evil overlord, this was a step in the right direction.

Melia noticed the sounds of her friends around her had grown quiet, so she turned to look up at her companions.

“A…fixer-upper?” Jessica asked, flabbergasted. “Melia, a fixer-upper is a shack you find in Sickledrop. This place looks like a war zone. Hell, it looks like an army raided through here…and…sacked…oh gods.”

Jessica had gone slowly white as her brain caught up with her words, and she raised a hand to cover her mouth. “Melia, I am so, so sorry.”

“They were my friends,” was all Melia could say. To her, they were, but to this world, they were not. And to be honest, Melia didn’t know most of them. She liked to see the good in people, but when she tried looking at it through the lens of a fantasy world…did things change? If she really had been a flippant, near-immortal dragon that liked to toy with Humanity, known for its immeasurable riches and potential to become a tyrant, would she need to be stopped? Would greed overwhelm the players-turned-adventurers? What would that sort of power do to either of them?

“You’ve got better friends now,” Jessica said staunchly. Perhaps it was a bit arrogant of her, but Melia took the compliment for what it was.

“Yeah. Yeah I do.”

“Right,” Brandy cut in with a giant smile. “She has me.”

The hall fell silent for a moment before everybody burst out laughing. The shackled mood was successfully dispelled.

“Okay, okay,” Melia giggled. “Want to run around? See what the place is like?”

“I’d advise against any running, Mistress,” Layalee said, ever the paradoxical voice of reason. To look at her, one might expect her to be the first person to ignore the rules.

“At least until we have the surroundings cleared.”

​

The surroundings would take a very long time to clear, if the foyer was anything to go by. It seemed that every door that could be locked was locked, so until Melia relinquished her key, everybody would have to follow her. Some rooms were little more than storerooms, with furniture covered so deeply in cobwebs and layered dust that one might need a shovel to excavate it all. And then, even if they did, then what? The first ancient-looking armchair Y’cennia approached to curiously examine crumbled under her slightest touch, disintegrating into a fine pile of dust. The catkin froze, mortified, but Melia laughed it off; she had no attachment to anything in these rooms in the first place.

There were multiple wings to the mansion. The east wing seemed to be excess bedrooms and lodging…though if Melia was honest, anything more than a single room would be excessive for her alone. Some had fireplaces with long since vacant hearths, while others held the remnants of four-poster beds with moth-eaten curtains and bedding. At the end of the wing was a Conservatory, which at the moment conserved nothing but dust and spiders, and several brickwork planters filled with dry, barren soil.

The west wing was much like the east, and though perhaps in times long since forgotten it was meant to be the master’s chambers. Hints of finery along the walls, such as delicate tapestries, hung like shreds of ribbons. And yet, in all of the destruction, some color could be seen, some nearly forgotten warmth could be imagined. A roaring fire, the sounds of stringed instruments, laughter, and joviality.

Perhaps in better days.

And so it was that the group finally entered the Grand Ballroom.

Lethia, as ever, held the door open so Melia could walk through first. Seeing this place again, her heart beat rapidly in her chest, and her tongue felt strangled in her throat.

Here…she died.

And here…she was reborn.

She heard whistles of appreciation echoing around her, and she felt a gentle grip lift her up. Judging from the soft white gloves, the hands holding her belonged to a [Retainer], and judging from the frilly cuff and how it ended just barely at the wrist, that [Retainer] had to be L’menia.

“Oh wow,” Brandy gasped from beside her. Melia looked and was grateful she could see her best friend’s face instead of the underside of her chin.

“Melia, I think you need some roof repair.”

“Just a bit,” Melia chucked. The joke was, of course, obvious. The entire southern wall of the building was gone, as well as at least a quarter of the roof. This was, in fact, the only part of the Obsidian Mansion a player could see from the air, looking down upon the ruins of a once great stronghold. And it was the only place a player could actually enter. As such, she and Brandy had more than a passing familiarity with this room.

“How many people do you think could fit in here?” Alastair asked. Jessica and Y’cennia both turned to Ellesea, who knew more about nobles and mansions than the rest.

“Several hundred, I would wager,” she guessed, and perhaps, she was not wrong. It was a different voice that gave a more shrewd account.

“Just one,” Melia said with a lopsided smile. “With not much space to spare.”

It took several seconds for the group to understand what she was talking about. Eventually, Jessica looked from the gnome to the ground, to the crumbling ceiling, and the broken wall.

“Are you really that big?”

In response, Melia wiggled in L’menia’s arms. Once she was free to move around, she skittered into the middle of the room and had her friends retreat to the hallway. She had to shoo them further more than once. Once they were safely out of her way, she let her body return to its natural form. The white light faded, as did the gasps that inevitably leaked out at the sight of her monstrous body, and she blinked an amused eye, which filled the entire doorway.

“A bit cramped, yes,” Meliastraza giggled. But she sat perfectly still as the others crept around her like ants circling an inconveniently placed boulder. She could feel them brush up against her, once again running their hands along her scales, and now that Jessica was much more comfortable around her, starting to ascend her tail.

“Don’t worry, Mistress,” Lethia assured her from somewhere close to her left nostril. “We will have this place fit for your glory sooner than you think.”

Perhaps, Melia did think, that any time would be sooner “than she thinks.” She did not consider herself a person who had glory, let alone the need to display it. But she had [Retainers] now, and people who, while not dependent on her, deserved to have her in their lives. Such as Penny, Melody, Brandy, and the rest of [Sunrise]. And if she was going to be present, she might as well give them everything she could offer.

“My lady, what is this?” Layalee asked from around the crook of her front right forearm. Melia had no idea what Layalee was talking about, or even what she could possibly see with Melia’s massive bulk in the way. So, she made sure nobody was using her as a jungle gym and reverted to a gnome.

There, in the middle of the wall, was a door she was certain she had never seen before.

“Weird,” she said. “I don’t know.”

“It’s strange,” Lethia said, holding up her hand. “It’s like it isn’t actually there.”

Melia’s curiosity was piqued; her eyebrows flew up into her hairline as she scampered toward the door. Sure enough, it was as if an illusion had been projected over the blank stone wall. Not even she, the supposed owner of the mansion, could touch it.

Except for a large, black keyhole, through which no light could pass. Melia did not wait for somebody to pick her up. Instead, she quickly shoved a fallen tile from the roof up against the wall to help her get enough height and leverage. Once the hole was within reach, Melia excitedly stuck the Obsidian Key inside…and turned.

At first, nothing happened. Then, slowly, the room began to rumble. Cries went up around her, and Melia cast a quick barrier above them just in case the rest of the building was about to collapse around them. But the mansion held firm.

The rumbling intensified, the shaking forcing nearly everybody to their knees as the entire mountain trembled with the force of an earthquake. A grinding, grating, tearing sound shattered the silence, and through the haze of double vision brought on by all the chaos, Melia could see a stone rising from the middle of the ballroom.

A giant, black stone, made of impenetrable bedrock; etched with the most elaborate, incomprehensible spell array, designable only by the system itself.

A [Summoning Stone]…only ever found at the entrance…to a dungeon.

And there, behind her, as the ethereal doorway leading into nothing opened, a writhing, swirling vortex revealed itself. And in the center of the portal, spanning from top to bottom, side to side, phasing in and out as if conjured by the miasma, was a floating, purple skull, with hollow eyes, two sharp horns, and a wicked, fanged smile. There, in front of everybody present, a system screen appeared.

​

[Obsidian Mansion]: unlocked!

Dungeon type: Raid

Suggested Level: 1000

Difficulty: Nightmare.