Berserker: A LitRPG Urban Fantasy Adventure (Apocosmos Book 1) by Dimitrios Gkirgkiris (phonics readers .txt) 📕

“Where are ye, beast?” Rory stood up and pulled his hammer out of his inventory.

At the same time Louie jumped to my side, prepared for battle, and I quickly accessed my swords that had been safely stored in my inventory. For all the potential magical abilities this item might have, I had never considered that it might bring an enemy into our midst.

“Oh, but I’m in the orb your human friend has for some reason confused with an egg, good dwarf,” the voice replied.

“And ye said ye’re a dragon?” Rory asked, taking a step toward the orb.

“Indeed. Where are my manners? My name is—”

The voice was interrupted abruptly as Rory brought his long war hammer, spike-first, down onto the orb. Not only did the orb not break as he’d presumably hoped, but a strong wave of an unknown force pushed me and Louie back against the wall. Rory catapulted back with such fierceness that the table he landed on was completely destroyed. As was my favorite longtime friend, the couch. Once Rory stood up and the pieces of couch filling and garments had finally floated back down to the floor, the voice spoke again.

“Touchy, touchy, are you, dwarf?”

Rory picked up his weapon again and rushed forward to attack the orb a second time. From a quick glance at the item’s stats, however, I didn’t think his attacks were having any effect at all.

Item : Dragon’s Reckoning

Type : Greater Magical Artifact

Durability : 7200000/7200000

Rarity : S Grade

Weight : -

Description : ???

“Rory, stop!” I shouted and brought my hands up to push him away. “You’re not damaging it at all.”

“Fuck if I care,” he replied, but put down his weapon nonetheless.

“There, there,” the voice said. “Now we can talk. I’m sure you have a lot of questions.”

“Yeah, we have. Why the hells are ye in my house?” Rory bellowed and pointed his weapon toward the orb that was now on the floor. “Ye’re not welcome here, beast.”

“I’m not here by my own volition,” the voice replied. “You brought me here yourselves, remember? I’m imprisoned in this orb.”

“Who are you?” Louie asked.

“Ah, at last. Someone civilized. My name is Ommanth. You might have heard of me as Ommanth the Beneful.”

“Nobody has heard of ye, fiend.”

“You wound me, good dwarf,” Ommanth said. “My name is known far and wide across the planes. I’m sure your more educated friend from the other day must have heard of me. Leo is short for Leonardo, correct?”

“We’re asking the questions here,” I said, trying not to give away any more information than I had to. “Why are you imprisoned in there?”

“Throw it in yer inventory and forget about it,” Rory said. “At least now we know it’s useless.”

“I beg you,” the voice pleaded. “None of that. I can be your ally. My knowledge spans millenia and hundreds of worlds. All I ask for is somebody to talk to.”

Rory didn’t say anything, but instead furrowed his brows and looked at me.

“Then answer our question,” I prompted him.

“Many, many years ago I was part of a dragon order,” the disembodied voice of the dragon began explaining. “We had taken it upon ourselves to hunt down and destroy dragons who were terrorizing the… smaller races.”

Rory grunted upon hearing this but didn’t say a word.

“We were a revered and loved group. I think some of them still are. I bet they’re still wondering what happened to me…”

“What did happen to you?” asked Louie.

“A dragon. A powerful one. He attacked a city on the day they were celebrating the queen’s birthday.” The dragon’s voice became softer. “There was no time to wait for my guildmates. I made a decision. Turns out it was the right one to minimize casualties but the wrong one for me.”

He stopped talking and Rory rolled his eyes though it was obvious he was interested to know more.

“Why was it the wrong decision for you?” I asked this time.

“It was an ambush. The dragon was waiting for me. He knew I was the only other dragon in that realm and he made sure I wouldn’t be able to communicate with anyone from my order. He imprisoned me in this orb and threw me to the bottom of an ocean, someplace far, far away from there. Maybe in a different realm altogether. My order must have thought I was slain that day. Not that it matters anymore, I suppose.”

“Why not?” Louie asked. “I bet they’d be thrilled to find out you’re still alive.”

“Many things have changed since that time,” Ommanth replied. “Most of the order has died and those who are still alive either don’t care or aren’t as good as they used to be.”

“And I guess ye want us to rush into an epic quest to free ye from yer prison?” Rory asked sarcastically.

“If only,” the dragon said, and let that linger for a couple of seconds before continuing. “There is no escape from this prison. The dragon who put me in here knew exactly what he was doing. I can only hope to extend my sanity by communicating with others. I’m doomed with eternal imprisonment. If anything, I would have been pleased for you to destroy this orb and let me move on to the divine dragon realm, but alas that too is impossible.”

“We’re sorry to hear that, Ommanth,” Louie said with dropped ears. He’d obviously been affected by the dragon’s sad story.

“It is what it is, gentle creature,” the voice said. “I do not ask for much, only that you let me out of your extra-dimensional satchel every once in a while. Perhaps we can talk. I don’t have anything to offer but the advice and knowledge of history that many have forgotten.”

“I don’t see how this could cause us any trouble,” I said and looked at Rory, who was taking a deep breath, no doubt readying himself to voice his objection. I spoke again before he was able to. “Give us a moment please, Ommanth.”

I put