Page 47 of Red Dragon’s Flame

He took Devon’s hand and led her to the edge of the empty area. It was a smooth, flat floor—all she could see were what looked like gold bricks at intervals on the floor next to the walls, beginning just a few feet behind where they stood.

Mikah pressed one of the buttons on his controller, and said a few words in his strange Draken language.

Sci-fi-type force fields sprang into place along three walls of the cavern, with a fourth just behind them—all emanating from the gold bricks.

Sort of like magical wards?

But then Mikah pressed another button and said, “Scenario one.”

Suddenly they were outdoors, on the edge of a thick forest in the late afternoon, looking at a cave opening about twenty feet away.

Devon could smell the damp leaves, feel the shade and the breeze. There was an odd, unpleasant smell in the air.

“Where are we?” she whispered. “And what is that smell?”

“Trolls,” he said. “A nest of them. And you need proper clothes, and weapons.” He pressed another button, and suddenly she was wearing Shadowfire’s signature armored black leather, with her throwing knives and her glaive—a staff weapon with a blade on one end.

And Mikah was Starthrower, in his fur loincloth with his sword in its sheath over his back, and his bandoliers of throwing stars.

“Is this real?” she asked.

He shook his head. “It’s virtual reality,” he said. “Magical.”

“Shit,” she said, looking around. “It’s like a Star Trek holodeck!” And damn, was he hot in that fur loincloth. Like, explode-your-lady-parts hot.

“That’s the idea,” Mikah said, drawing her attention back from his loincloth—and what it didn’t cover. “I’ve been programming it for different adventures. This is a simple one—kill the trolls. You can’t die—I’m pretty sure—but serious wounds will hurt some, and disable you in the game. Hit the button if you want to get out, or say ‘exit.’ If you pass out, you automatically go out.”

Devon gave him a Shadowfire look. “You’re ‘pretty sure’ I can’t die? So I’m your guinea pig?”

“Something like that.” He smirked at her. “You up for it?”

“Please. I’m Shadowfire.”

A happy grin split his face. He hit another button, and said, “Incoming.”

A group of trolls stomped in from somewhere on their right, carrying a captive human. Devon and Mikah exchanged nods and split to either side.

Mikah strode out with a challenge, to grab their attention, while Devon came up behind them for a sneak attack.

The battle was on.

She found that she not only had all her in-game items—the ones Mikah knew about, anyway—but also her in-game skills.

The two of them took out the first group of trolls and liberated the captive, stashed her in the forest behind a force shield, and entered the cavern.

They fought their way through to the Troll Queen, a huge bloated creature squatting in a chamber in the depths of the cave complex, surrounded by the bones of captives, with more in a squalid wooden cage.

They fought as the well-practiced team they’d become, anticipating almost by instinct what the other was going to do.

It felt amazing to have that kind of accord with someone.

Right at the end, Mikah was nearly caught in an ambush when the last of the queen’s guards came out of a secret door. But Devon slid through the shadows like the assassin she was, and took three of them out with knives in their backs. Mikah dispatched the rest.

Devon retrieved her throwing knives and looked around in satisfaction. “Do we get to keep the treasure?” she asked, looking at the gold in the queen’s nest.

“Of course,” he said. “And we get rewards.” He hit a couple more buttons, and they were suddenly in a guest room in a fancy castle, with their spoils in a heap on the floor. There was a roaring fire, a big bed, and what looked like a real meal on the table.

“Where are we?” Devon asked.