As we leave, I look back and watch as Melissa removes the knife from her neck. She falls back to her knees sobbing. I feel bad, but I just saved all of our lives. Whether I'll actually come to regret that decision, I'll soon find out.

Ambrosia had a small wooden wagon waiting just outside the ruins. It is her personal transportation and looks like it has seen better days. The horse, the first I have actually seen, is a black stallion with armor made of bone. It pulls the wagon using chains. Inside, it isn't much nicer. There is some soil, a collection of books, unlit black candles, a few animal skulls I don't recognize, a collection of daggers, a short sword that looks like it has a face with teeth, and several dozen blankets and pillows. Two ghouls are following us out as we climb aboard.

"Yours?" I ask.

"Not mine, feral. It took me a long time to build my forces against Nestor. Taming ghouls is no simple task. There are rituals, blood sacrifices that need to be made," she answers.

I can hear the anger of defeat in her voice as she walks over to one of the feral ghouls and starts ripping its head off. The other she slices in half with her claws. As half its body falls to the ground, it lets out a moan before she stomps on its head. It is a vicious display of power and one I expected in the little time I had gotten to get to know her. Her clothes and body are covered in blood. Some of it I'm sure had been Melissa's. She licks it off the tips of her finger and gives me a look.

"Come pet, we ride for Lycia," she adds pushing me onto my back inside the wagon. She snaps her fingers and I can feel the wagon moving as she climbs on top of me. She pulls her clothes off almost immediately. There is more blood on her skin than I thought. Her breasts, stomach, and thighs are all covered in blood.

"Trapped inside that gem... it was a nightmare. I clawed and scratched, I tore through layer after layer to no avail. It was like time itself had slowed down. I would have gone mad spending another minute in there. But you..." she runs her sharp nails down my chest, tearing my shirt off, "you set me free."

"I did what I..." she holds her finger to my mouth, and I stop speaking immediately. I'm not sure if I have been charmed again or if it is a mixture of adrenaline and exhaustion, but I can still feel my heartbeat racing as she places her head against my chest and starts biting my nipple. Strands of her hair fall to the side of her face, and I can see her teeth biting down on me. I watch as she grazes her dulled fangs across my skin, sending shivers down my body. I take note of the difference between this treatment and the time in the cavern.

There is more sentiment in this gesture, more meaning. Ambrosia seems... genuinely grateful.

Her mouth shifts toward my neck and she licks the back of my ear with her tongue. For a moment I think about taking initiative this time, possibly pinning her down to the wagon floor. But before I can even begin to take control, she snatches my wrists within her grasp and pins them above my head. With her free hand, she disrobes me, tossing my clothing to the side without care. The smirk that previously adorned her lips fades, and what is left is a softened expression. What doesn't change is the way her eyes sparkle in the moonlight, and I feel something clutching at my chest. I can't name the feeling, but it is something I've never felt in a game before.

My mistress presses her hips against me, rubbing her body against mine in a slow, rolling dance. With each roll of her hips, my shaft grows harder and harder. The tip slides between her lips, ever so slightly grazing against her clit and the folds of her labia. It is a wet, anticipatory dance that edges me on by the second.

A soft moan escapes Ambrosia's lips, and she tilts her head backward. We rub against each other like this for a while, enjoying each other's bodies and caresses. Eventually, though, the tease becomes too much to bear. Absentmindedly I increase my pace, wanting to slide inside her immediately.

"Patience pet," she whispers in my ear, her nails dragging down my chest toward my cock, "You must save your stamina for the duration of the night."

Is this the graciousness of a vampire mistress? I wonder as I watch her gradually increase her pace on top of me, her fingers dragging through the streaks of blood that mark her body down towards her clit. She is giving me a show, I realize, as her fingers begin to stimulate her entrance. Even with this, I can feel that she is still dominating me. While the domineering aura isn't apparent, her power is.

The way her thighs hold me in place, to ensure that I do not move, along with her strong gaze, is proof enough that I am under her authority. And at this moment, I don't mind. Raw power right on top of me, being used to pleasure her pet. And I can't be more accepting.

Once Ambrosia is stimulated enough, she settles herself above me and slowly takes me in. A gasp escapes my lips once I'm completely inside. My shaft is welcomed by a tight, warm contraction of her walls; a wet and hot embrace. My tip brushes against her cervix, which incites a moan from my mistress.

"I love the way you feel," she breathes, digging her nails into my torso as she starts to bounce on top of me. The wagon rolls over some bumps on the road, causing our bodies to jerk and rumble with it; only adding to the sensations.

Then, the bliss in our bodies begins to escalate. I dare to cup her breasts within my palms, flicking her erect nipples with my thumbs experimentally. They harden even more in response, begging for more attention. As my hips roll up against hers, our moans join in a synchronistic chorus that echoes through the walls of the wagon. Her nails dig deeper into my skin the more pleasure she feels, and the mix of pain and pleasure sends a bolt of ecstasy through my body.

"I'm going to come," I gasp, feeling myself twitch and jerk in the confines of her womb.

"Fill me with your seed pet," she orders, and I of course, oblige.

For the first time, I pull Ambrosia into a kiss. It catches her off guard, but I am too focused on my climax to worry about her surprise. As I begin to climax, she begins to melt into it; her body falling into my arms. I feel her shoulders relax and her lips start to move against mine, shifting and deepening the kiss. Our tongues swirl in a hot dance, each flick and turn adding to the sensual experience. This is when I begin to come, shooting every drop inside her.

After a few moments, she stands and spreads her legs wide. She then starts to mix the blood on her body along with my seed into her pussy, looking up at me to make sure I am watching. For some reason, this doesn't disgust or deter me. It is oddly sexual and intense, mixing the blood of her enemies along with the fluids of her pet inside her. Another demonstration of who she is as a powerful Vampire Lord, and it is a turn on.

"Ready for another round?" Ambrosia asks with a mischievous smile, descending onto me again.

"Of course, mistress," I reply with a smirk.

We fuck hard for the rest of the night. It takes me three more rounds for her to finally approach her climax, which is glorious. Her screaming moans echo into the night sky, her thighs trembling around my waist with the ferocity of an earthquake. I've never witnessed a woman having such an intense orgasm such as this one, and I make sure to burn the memory in my mind. Each round seems to vitalize my mistress while I become more drained by the minute. Once the sun begins to rise in the brink of dawn, we fall into a deep sleep while the wagon rolls on.

Everything after is a blur. When we awake the next afternoon, I reset my magic skills. I am Well-Rested. The wagon had stopped. We are still far out from Lycia and it looks like we will need several new spokes on our wagon wheel. The boxing had also broken. The spokes will be easy enough to fix, but the boxing will take a small piece of metal. Something I will not find lying around.

I let Ambrosia sleep while I explore the unfamiliar area of the forest we had entered. I'm not even sure if she can venture out in the daylight as she lays covered in a cocoon under the blankets, I honestly have only one thought and that is how fragile she looks.

Into the woods I go to search for supplies, hoping maybe I can find a village around and buy food and wine. I'm not on the lookout for more quests but I'm sure if I find someone to trade with, it will make our journey easier.

Along the way, I can hear strange animals coming across my path. I make note whenever I see a fresh one and check the bestiary with my NCI. Most of the time it is a small squirrel or rabbit, but there are a few strange creatures I have never heard of before. A small fox-like creature with more than one tail is labeled as a nine-tail fox. It is said to bring good luck but I'm not sure I believe in any of that. Another creature called giant sloth moves across the limbs of a giant tree above my head. I feel like I will be a goner for sure if it attacks me. My Insight tells me it has a Threat level of 9. The creature instead drifts gracefully over me as I gaze at it in awe.

The air in the day isn't cold like night. Instead, the sun beats down on my skin, almost burning but not quite, and makes me feel energized. I can feel the warmth as god rays shine through the branches all around me. I am grateful we stopped when we did.

Coming upon a small river, I do my best to catch something to eat. I grab a branch from a tree and use one of the daggers I had taken from the wagon to fashion it into a small spear. I spend about an hour trying to spear a fish. Finally, I catch one that is smaller than the palm of my hand. At that point, I am losing my appetite.

I look at my Herbarium and find several dozen edible plants to ease my stomach pains. Each one probably tastes worse than the last and I am regretting not taking more time to advance my fishing skills, which I'm sure are now a minus ten. Like climbing, I assume many skills in the game are passive or based on prior knowledge. It seems I can advance them in certain ways. When I was carving the spear, I noticed that I improved both my knife skills and carving. My experience went up. I am halfway to Threat Level 3. If I carve a hundred spears I'd probably level up, but that is a grind I'm not interested in working on. Honestly, it would probably be just as bad as playing games back at the Arcade.

With a stomach full of sour berries, I am missing the strange paste that they gave us in the Meadows. There are a few other things I miss about home, such as Smeme and Leda. Have they noticed I've been missing for over a day now? How would they even know I was gone? Does time move differently here? I can imagine Smeme giving me another lecture about how I shouldn't click on random invites to games from strangers. Always on the lookout. I bet he'd be the first to die in this world. That or as a slime he would just eat everything and everyone, trapping them in the void that is his stomach.

I open up my crafting guide and begin to gather wood to use for spokes, hoping I can fix the wagon before Ambrosia wakes up. If she is as rough with me for saving her life, I can only imagine what she will be like mad. Tempting as it might be, I’ll refrain from provoking her.

I've always been good at finding my way around. Whether it was games, dungeons, or fantasy role-playing. Maps were another one of those things I was superb at. I wander about half a mile from the wagon and go in a small circle around it. Double-checking Markos' map I know that at least three hundred years ago there weren't any towns or villages nearby.

When I approach the wagon, I spot my first goblin. Threat Level 3. HP 17 out of 40. Apparently, it had tried to mess with the horse who kicked it hard.

"This is my chance," I say, preparing to cast Fire Bolt on the little green creature. But something is amiss. It seems too easy and had I been placing bets I would have been right. The little goblin isn't alone. I should have known goblins traveled in packs. Not only was it in my bestiary, but it was common knowledge for every adventurer. Goblins are easy to kill one on one but a horde, that is a different story. The other thing about goblins… they smell. Like a mix of rotting eggs and shit. I can smell all of them from where I am hiding. Three are approaching me from the right side. Another two from the left. That is six goblins in total. They are between Threat Level 2 and 3. Each one is malnourished and carries a marking by their name that means they are in a frenzy. On the bright side, it means they are already low on health points and my NCI verifies my hypothesis.

I pick up the spear I had made and toss it in the one's direction closest to the wagon. From what I can tell it is the only one not in a frenzy, which means it is probably their scout or leader. Given its fat green belly, it has probably been stealing what food it had found for itself.

A critical hit. The goblin falls. HP 0, signifying its death. Strange thing is that goblins don't disappear like ghouls. In most games I've played, corpses of random encounters disappear to save processing power. In this game, however, things are different.

"That got their attention," I say smiling to myself. I pick up another stick. It isn't sharpened into a spear like the other, so I light it on fire with Fire Bolt, making it a torch. The goblins, without thinking walk straight into the fire. Honestly, it is like they feel no pain. They keep coming.

I take the dagger from my belt. If fire will not stop them, I'd just have to attack them the old-fashioned way. I kneed one in the chest, knocking it back into the other, and slashed the third in the stomach. The two to my left are running up toward me. Being pack animals, they are used to attacking from all sides. All angles. They will overrun me in less than a few seconds if I don't move. Luckily, despite eating nothing but salads all day, my stamina has refilled and I am as fast as ever, much faster than the little green men. I kill two with a swift strike to each of their throats.

One of the faster two goblins I had knocked down jumps up and grabs me by the back of the head. His little claws scratch at my eyes and I feel my HP dropping several points as I struggle to pull it off, slamming it down to the ground in front of me. I try to attack it with the dagger but miss as it bites my ankle. The goblin's teeth sink into my flesh and not in a good way. I kick it off with my other foot and turn, stabbing another that is trying to attack me the same way. Fool me once, that's fine... you know the saying. Adapting to my surroundings, that was something I was good at back in Elysium. This game experience is no exception. Maybe all that hand-eye coordination from working in the Arcade is finally paying off.

I'm already healing as a result of my Vampire Regeneration.

The others are afraid now. The lower their number, the more they have to lose. They know they are no match and run. That is when I see it. A Hob creeps out of the woods. It is three times the size of a regular goblin and has a Threat Level of 7. They haven't come in low numbers after all.

A Hob is a Hobgoblin, basically a larger grey variant of a normal goblin. Some think they are an advanced form of goblin born every so often to lead them. They have slightly higher intelligence, much greater strength, and they are usually the alpha. Killing a Hob isn't exactly easy. If this was a dungeon and not just a random encounter, the Hob would probably be the boss.

I cast Fire Bolt again. I can feel my magic running low. Not that I will let that stop me. It fries two of the smaller goblins and when the last of them runs up to the Hob sobbing; it picks up the little guy and snaps its neck. The Hob’s Threat Level goes up to 8. I guess even monsters can level themselves up in the real world.

I stand there, dagger in hand. Ready to fight for my life, for Ambrosia, for the nameless horse, for the party I have. I've never felt more heroic and stupid at the same time. I love the blood rush. This must be what people meant when they said they were adrenaline junkies from the e-books I've read back in Elysium.

The Hob lets out a war cry and starts running toward me. I can see the hunger in its eyes. It's nearly over me and I wonder if I will see all twenty-four years of my boring life pass before my eyes. Suddenly, a figure holding a pitch-black falcata sword, her body wrapped entirely in blankets, appears in front of me almost instantaneously. The Hob's head goes flying and lands on the ground in front of me.

"Pet, what are you doing out here?" The voice is muffled but I can tell it is Ambrosia. The blankets are also a pretty good giveaway.

"I went foraging for food, water, and wood. The wagon..."

"The wagon is fine. I have all the wood I need," she says. I look over and see the spokes along with the metal boxing have already been replaced.

"You shouldn't wander off on your own, last thing we want is for you to get lost."

I stand there in silence. I'm not sure what to say. It is true the two of us have formed a party, therefore I feel the need to watch out for her, but I will not be hostage to anyone.

I smile and wink. "Just trying to make sure I have my stamina built up."

****

The sun goes down, and the night comes. I stay awake and study several of the books Ambrosia has in her wagon. Most of them are nothing but nonsense, but a few catch my eye. Specifically, the ones focused on sorcery and the dark arts. I even discover the origin of the one-eyed troll who used to live in the ruin there. The ruin had in fact been a small castle and the troll himself had been a human duke that liked to party too much. Cursed by a witch and granted his hideous appearance, he had her head chopped off. Rather than hide away, he made artisans craft monuments of his new form and had his fill of women daily.

****

It has now been days since our battle with Melissa. Ambrosia keeps stalking me and from time to time, she keeps harassing me. I can't blame anyone but myself for what happened. I was the one who proposed this and now I pay the price of my foolishness.

We have encountered nothing but goblins in days. The sword she used to slay the Hob, she gave it to me as a gift. She told me the sword was named Lush, and she had forged it with the blood of one of her vampire sisters with the help of her Forgemaster. The horse that pulls our wagon. His name is Abraxos. Every time we encounter a goblin now, Ambrosia has me do the work which helps me upgrade a bit and now I’ve reached Threat Level 3 and HP 28. Still, I'm no match for most opponents and the only thing I can easily kill is low-level goblins. Ambrosia keeps pushing me to fight those tiny creatures so that I can level up and be a strong pet, as she calls me.

I haven't mentioned that she becomes restless by the day, having days to taste soft and pudgy flesh, but only mine. She refuses to drink goblin blood and yesterday she took a bite out of me.

She told me, My, aren't you tasty? As she grappled me and had her time with me. My HP decreased momentarily from the bloodsucking, but thankfully, my Vampire Ancestry comes in handy as it helps me heal pretty fast. It seems I don't need to drink blood to replenish my strength and I don't have any weaknesses. On the other hand, I don't have the powers a pureblood vampire has. I'm left to wonder, however, if this will be the case as I keep leveling up. There has to be a catch!

As the sunlight inflicts damage to my vampire entourage, we travel only at night. I don't mind though, as it is the same for me. Dark Vision helps me see clear as daylight.

Taking a night walk with Ambrosia, I get glimpses of her, staring at me with a drooling face again.

"I'm hungry!" The vampiress says, licking her lips.

I know what will follow, but I keep looking the other way as I tell her, "Soon we'll reach the city of Tlos, then Patara, the royal capital of Lycia."

Her face becomes paler than usual. "Are you sure you want to go there? The entire kingdom of Lycia is unrest from the recent events. Alastor, the Demon Lord that rules these lands is a cruel and strong man. He killed my former master, Lamia, the Vampire Queen of Pedasa, and now gathers a great army to fight the Undead King of Lycaonia. I must warn you though, since he came into power, devilish creatures have emerged, making even creatures as vampires look gentle and kind."

I keep wondering if Alastor and Sarpedon are Players, just like me. It will be of great interest to meet them and see how this story progresses.

"So what else can you tell me about this Alastor?" I ask her.

"He is... was actually the fifth prince of Lycia. His two elder brothers died, and Nestor, the third in line, was considered dead. Pero, the fourth in line, reigned for two years, till Alastor killed him and took over the throne. That's how much I know, but all of these Lycians are evil and bloodthirsty. What man would kill his own brother? Their devilish bloodline will bring doom to all of Anatolia. Of that, I'm pretty sure," she tells me with certainty.

I dare to ask, "How strong is this Alastor that makes even a Vampire Lord as you shiver?"

Ambrosia grunts upon listening to the foolishness I’ve just said. "I've lived centuries mortal, don't you dare mock me again or you'll pay for it dearly."

I nod agreeably, waiting for her to continue.

"He is strong, stronger than any creature I've ever encountered in my long life. Stronger than my master, Lamia. He ventured into her chambers, killed her and her elite guard single-handedly. He had powerful friends with him, a demoness, and a necromancer. They stormed the Vampire Castle with Nestor and killed most of the vampires and Vampire Lords. I was wise enough to retreat with two other Vampire Lords and my Forgemaster. Only we were spared. Not of Nestor's benevolence though, but because of our cunningness. Alastor left soon after and went back to Lycia with his dragon, or so I heard. He left Nestor behind to act as Lord of Pedasa. Things have been worse for us since he took over control. The bastard drank the blood of Lamia before Alastor could kill her and gained some of her powers. Even though he was the weaker and younger of the Vampire Lords, he obtained great power. Now he's the one who plagues Pedasa."

Your Adventurer's Log has been updated, I'm notified.

More questions come into my mind now. "Isn't Pedasa a city of the kingdom of Caria? How is it that Alastor, a king of another kingdom, decided who the Lord would be?"

Ambrosia nods and keeps explaining. "Pedasa indeed belongs to the kingdom of Caria formally, but because Lamia plagued these lands for centuries, Caria had no real control over the city. I heard that Nestor tried to claim ties with the Carian Throne, but who would believe a Vampire Lord? No one dares to come to Pedasa. Which begs the question, how did you come and what was your business?"

I take a deep breath and start explaining everything to Ambrosia. She listens carefully to me but doesn't understand much of what I'm saying. Well, it's the usual reaction I've been waiting for. In all the game worlds I've been, the NPCs never believe where the Players come from and think we're mad. It makes sense plot-wise as this would ruin the game’s experience.

Suddenly, she grabs me by the neck. "Stop," she orders.

I know it's about time she feeds on me. But no, that's not the reason she silences me. I hear the clatter of horses and men fighting. I understand that there's a battle taking place a few hundred feet away. My heightened senses catch glimpses of black knights, pillaging, and attacking unarmed merchants. Strange, usually raids take place during daylight.

"We have to help them," I tell my vampire friend.

She seems amused for some reason I cannot understand but quickly agrees to my demand. "I've been dying to taste something else. Let's help those merchants... for now..." she smiles wickedly.