The Bathrobe Knight by Charles Dean, Joshua Swayne Page A

she served the Empire. She had put off leveling for a bit to scout today at her Commander’s request. She didn’t need the EXP of more grinding, she had gained plenty in the First Missionary War killing the Fire-Walkers who refused to accept the Sun God’s blessing.
    “Great work, Valerie. Fly back and turn in the maps. We’ll get some of the Fire-Walkers to start fortifying the mines until we can afford the workers.” Of course, he was an NPC. NPCs never acknowledged that they were NPCs. ‘If you keep up the good work you might get promoted to Herald soon.’
    “Be there in no time.” Valerie was going to glide the rest of the way back, but the mention of being promoted to Herald spurred her wings onwards and she darted off like a bolt of lightning across the sky. Heralds could command troops. Just the regular ones could have command of ten NPCs under them. If she reached that rank serving the Sun God Empire, she would be the first PC in the entire Sun God Empire to have her own little mini army. Imagine if I became High Inquisitor Valerie! She knew it was reaching for the stars, but being able to fly after a decade of sitting in that detestable wheelchair watching people look down on her with pity like her legs had been the only important aspect of her life made her think anything was possible.
    When she finally got back to the town, she was lost again in its beauty. The Fire-Walkers, the ones who, with the Eagle-Wings, were first blessed of the Sun God, had built for the White-Wings a massive city of glass ten stories above the desert sands. The glass buildings on top of the platform were two, three and four stories tall with no flat sides, visible edges or sharp corners. Their buildings twisted and turned as they grew higher like lightning reaching for clouds that weren’t there.
    “Welcome back, Valerie! It’s short notice, but are you ready to go out again?” the Commander, waiting for her right where she landed, asked as soon as her feet touched the ground. The Commander, a Raven-Wing wearing a complete set of the heaviest Leather Armor White-Wings were able to wear and still fly, had come out with all nine other White-Wings in her unit.
    “I can leave at a moment’s notice. What’s going on?”
    “A group of lava- and onyx-skinned Fire-Walkers still devoid of the Sun God’s blessing were spotted to the southwest of our holy city.”
    “For the Sun God,” Valerie chimed enthusiastically. She was getting more and more into her character every day. She was Valerie, the dual-wielding, Hawk-Wing of the Sun God Empire, and she would make those pagans taste her Iron Daggers.
    She equipped her Daggers, and the group took to the skies, flying in a clean V formation with the Herald in front. As soon as they spotted the enemy, they broke off and started circling their prey. Deep breaths, Valerie, deep breaths. We’ve done this dozens of times before.
    As soon as one of the reddish lava-skinned Fire-Walkers spotted their group, the twenty or so heathens pulled into a tight group and started packing small balls of sand. It was their specialty, and it was scary even for a VR. Valerie started dipping up and down and strafing left and right sporadically as she got closer, trying her best to stop them from guessing her movements. I’m almost in range. Be careful. The Fire-Walkers didn’t get their name for nothing. One of the racial perks and key reasons a lot of players liked to pick them--though PC Fire-Walkers started as part of the Sun God Empire--was their racial ability to make and manipulate fire at will. It’s how they made the glass cities, and it’s also how they stuck fire to balls of sand and turned them into flaming glass balls. Dodge! Shoo . . . that was close. Valerie had weaved an inch away from one of the glass projectiles as she saw four more coming. No matter how many times she dodged one successfully her brain always convinced her that the next one would hit. A paranoia the accident was