Author's Note: I'm not sure if many people know this, but as much as I am a writer, I'm also a Map Maker for Warcraft 3. What map did I create? Life of a Dragon, and its successor, Life of a Dragon Sequel. A popular fantasy-roleplaying map on. This a story about that map.
P.S. I've completely rewritten this chapter!
Full Preview Description: When Louise had begun summoning her servant, it reaches out for Saito. But magic is a fickle thing, it's based off intent just as much. In the words of a Roleplayer, they put their heart and soul into their character. When the summoning magic reaches Saito in the midst of the start of a Warcraft 3 game, the results are catastrophic. Now a huge portion of the game's map, Life of a Dragon Sequel, is brought to life in Halkeginia, the players and Saito find themselves in their chosen character's bodies, most scattered about, and the observer, the Map Creator himself who also had the map loaded in World Editor in the background, finds himself with the power of a god.
And there is only one way to return back home… And unfortunately, many Warcraft 3 rulings carried over in strange ways, and the Map's Triggering can't be changed.
Life of a Zero Dragon
Chapter 1: Zerocraft
Louise Francoise Le Blanc de La Valliere stood anxiously towards the back of the crowd, fellow students of Tristain's Academy of Magic, a prodigious national education facility dedicated to the tutoring of nobles, excitedly awaited to begin the Spring Summoning Ritual.
She was the Third Daughter of the Valliere Noble House, a family with close ties to royalty, and she had the responsibility to uphold the reputation as a child of the legendary Karin, The Heavy Wind, to fulfill her duties and bring glory and pride for her family. But, even with her remarkable similarities, her pale skin glistening in the bright sunlight and long velvet pink hair waving beautifully in the breeze, her petite form matched that of an underdeveloped teenager despite her age, even when clothed with her academy uniform hued in black and white colors.
Even with all that, Louise's hands gripped her lower shoulders, the esteemed daughter of a hero was a nervous wreck. The reputation she tried to live up towards only crumbled with the constant failures, for all of history that put her in the favor of other's eyes, her ineptitude towards the magical arts marked her as a target for insult.
As Louise Valliere could not cast a single spell without it exploding in a spectacular fashion.
She would constantly refer back to the Rule of Steel, an ideology crafted by her mother, to shut out one's emotions to accomplish the task at hand. But, when ridiculed constantly day by day, Louise's mental barriers suffered, forcing her to push down the emotions harder, suppress them into a cage within her heart.
Now, that cage racked with every successful summon done before the entire class on the grass-cut schoolyard. The bars that held back the source has rusted and worn, and only her willpower managed to hold back her own trembling emotional weight.
This was her last chance, if she failed this spell, a sacred ritual passed down generation by generation from the Founder himself, the gifter of human magic, there would be no doubt that she would be cast out and shamed.
"Rule of Steel," Louise chanted under her breath, but the words would only serve a voice of comfort, her belief in them rattled, the Rule of Steel did nothing to help her in her time of need, only further harm the girl.
Her Professor called out, "Is that everyone?"
"I believe Louise hasn't gone!" Another student called out her name, she found herself shrinking to avoid the gazes that glanced towards her.
"That failure?" A boy laughed.
"She'll only cause a disaster," There was a girl who spoke those cruel words.
An ember of courage bit back her emotions and the mask of personality fitted onto her expression.
"I am ready to begin!" Louise shouted out without giving away her inner thoughts and doubts, stepped forward and pushing the crowd as she made her way towards the open circle.
"I trust you are familiar with the ritual?" Her Professor questioned.
"Naturally," Louise replied. "Every aspect has been studied thoroughly."
"You are aware of the consequences should you fail?" His voice was kind, concerned for her wellbeing and future career.
Such pity only shook her inner caged emotions further, but she could not find the time now to deal with the surfacing torrent.
"Yes," Louise Valliere replied and her hand shakenly pulled forth her wand, a black and brown wooden carved piece with magical components instilled within, it was her everything, her only source of ability.
"Then begin," The Professor spoke.
Her interior shattered, a tear flowed down her cheek.
In the prior day, in the wake of more insults, she had mistakenly proclaimed that she would bring forth a mighty dragon as her familiar as her summoned entity. As it was now, there happened to be a classmate that had done that very deed and many more who brought out numerous animals of mundane and magical origin.
More… More remarks of their superiority…
"Please…" Her voice quivered in whispered desperation, "Oh familiar that soars in the purple light through the sky!"
She didn't just want any familiar.
"Fly past reality and leave illusion behind!"
She didn't just want a magical creature.
"Spirit that believes in magic that I know could never be!"
What she desired lied in something that a dragon could never accomplish, the individual known as Louise would break apart at something so simple, her wish and emotions swirled with the fierce determination of the truth.
"Open my mind enough to see the world you've been!"
Her entire body stood resolutely firm, her wand directed at the location of summoning, but her emotions were elsewhere, beyond the physical realm, transcended to a plane that could no longer harm her.
"Catch the wind, pilot of fantasy, into my sight!"
For what she truly desired was a world where she could be herself.
Louise Valliere swung the wand fiercely in a single motion.
A blinding explosion of magical energy, smoke, and the light lit up the entire courtyard.
Saito Hiraga sighed in relief as he sat himself on his swivel chair which was placed in front of his desk, where on top lay the eagerly awaited object of the day, a laptop. He had installed a vast array of programs, but today he was feeling like returning to an old video game which had recently been receiving updates from the company creator, Blizzard Entertainment, known as Warcraft III.
It had aged quite well since its initial release and expansion material, but while the single-player campaign content was a spectacular masterpiece; Warcraft III lived through its community created custom maps created by passionate Map Makers through the World Editor, a powerful software designed for the aforementioned possibilities, it's sheer flexibility and adaptable code work has allowed for projects capable of recreating virtually anything, even serving to pioneer entire genres.
These Map Makers were the sole reason why Warcraft III remained so popular and alive, and they would not get to that point without fans of their projects helping as well.
Saito opened up the game and briefly reminiscent in the Arthas Theme as he into the multiplayer service within Warcraft III, BattleNet, eager to browse through this hours' hosted custom games. Today, in particular, he had a lot of free time to forgo quick matches and fast played games in favor for RPG or RP-related created content. It honestly, it had been a long while since he logged in, and while he had updated the game yesterday, he's hadn't gotten around to playing online for quite a number of years.
A miracle he hadn't uninstalled it in all this time, but nostalgia held quite a sway on the decision to keep it.
"What to play…" Saito said to himself as his mouse scrolled through the hosted custom games list, all of which were hosted through online services, that hadn't changed at all. Unfortunately, for the most part, it was the daily mix-ups of PvP-focused content, with a dash of more arcade-like maps.
Something caught his eye.
"A long while since I've played that… Seems to have updated too! Wonder what's new, sure, I'll give it a shot," Saito double clicked on the title and inside the Lobby he was. "Oh thank goodness, not Empire or Kingdom!"
The name of the custom map he has come across?
Life of a Dragon Sequel, version 2.0.
Hardly the most advanced, the most RP-focused, or even having any incredible RPG mechanic, this map instead used the Warcraft 3 format to its advantage rather than force it to obey customized code. While that gave it a traditional Warcraft feeling to it, using unique gameplay features displayed in such campaigns such as the one included the character, Rexxar, there was only one focused goal of its conception.
Everything in this custom world revolved around the presence of Dragons, nearly all its custom created content circled around the notions of Dragons, taking in ideas and mythologies from Earth and implementing so that one play as such in it.
"An observer…? Is that the Map Maker?" He questioned, an observer was as the namesake stated. "He's host, and it seems we have a full house of decent roleplayers." He clapped his hands. "So glad I took those English online courses…"
The game's team set-up was rather simple, and since it was an RP-RPG title, none were actually restricted to being allies or enemies, rather they were free to choose them in-game.
To begin, the first five of the ten available player slots were the Chosen Dragons, special dragon heroes that would begin as hatchlings and grow to become powerful adults from a large selection of elemental colors. This was followed by the Dragon Slayer and Dragon Catcher, each being self-explanatory, while the eighth is the all-important role of the human Kayla Kingdom.
Personally, he found that particular slot rather boring to play, but he understood the significance of it in any game in Life of a Dragon Sequel. It controlled a vast region of space scattered throughout the world, all of them being towns and cities, not to mention the Capital itself and its massive castle.
Following up, the orcish Fel Empire, another slot that played similarly to the Kayla Kingdom, and then the Mercenary, a standard choose-your-hero selection of blank states that then drop you into the world.
All that is now is to wait for the game to begin.
Saito didn't have to stay still for long, the countdown began and the loading screen featuring a pride-standing dragon came into view.
"Hope for a good game!" Saito spoke excitedly.
"Oh familiar that soars in the purple light through the sky!"
He blinked and looked down to his laptop's speakers, that had been some solid audio quality for a game as old as Warcraft III. It was widely known that the maps usually can't handle custom audio due to their file size restrictions.
"Fly past reality and leave illusion behind!"
Actually, now that he thought about it, those sentences had a familiarity to them… What movie was it… Agh, he couldn't remember.
"Spirit that believes in magic that I know could never be!"
"Regardless," Saito spoke. "Kudos to the Map Maker for finding a voice actress, wonder what else he added."
"Open my mind enough to see the world you've been!"
Saito leaned in with eager anticipation, his mind racing with ideas on how he would roleplay as a dragon, or what scale color he would pick to go along with the act. He knew a decent deal about the old version, used to play it multiple times a week, but with the update, who knows what could have changed?
Ah! The map has loaded and the cinematic is now playing-
"Catch the wind, pilot of fantasy, into my sight!"
A blinding emerald light erupted out of nowhere in front of him, engulfing both his laptop and Saito Hiraga… As well as the internet connection…
Saito Hiraga felt his body constrained and trapped, or what felt like his form, there was the sense of liquid wrapped around him in a comfortable warm blanket instead of the chill sensation of water. He couldn't wrap his head around what it was, but logically knew he should escape from this prison.
But… He couldn't move… His muscles wouldn't respond and his eyelids refused to open for sight. Saito's body was unfamiliar to him, like a patient undergoing muscle rehabilitation he barely could move without great effort, but whatever sense of touch remained came into contact with the hard surface akin to a shell-like structure.
That was not all he felt, if the body seemed unfamiliar, the source of energy slumbering within was alien him. An inner power source that no human would ever have yet seemed like a welcomed presence, a part of himself that represented who he is.
His mind's chaos suddenly gave way to clarity.
"Chosen Dragon…" A distant voice, feminine but monotone spoke, its tone would have him questioning but caused him to relax instead. "The time of your incubation comes to a close, with it, the first decision of many arrives."
A vision, an image of five large eggs gently lying in the midst of an enchanted forest covered with breathtaking flowers and sparkling with light, it represented something…
"Like the generation before you, the choice of one's talent is yours alone. Chosen Dragon, will you choose Strength, Agility, or Intelligence? The offensive, defensive, or mystical arts?"
Saito thought to himself that this was eerily similar to the starting choices in Life of a Dragon Sequel, of which he had already predetermined which of the three he would have selected.
"Agility, Chosen Dragon, speed, dexterity, and the improvement of natural armor is now your Attribute."
His body spontaneously received a surge of energy and control. He lunged to tear open the shell that holds him in, the entire prison shaking with every moment.
"Hatch, Chosen Dragon… The world has need of you and your kin once again."
Almost… Freedom was at his grasp, his hearing heard a cracking sound identical to an egg, eyes opened at the moment light shined through through a small hole. Saito attempted to break free, moving radically, which caused more scattered lines to cover the shell as it continued to shatter.
A pair of pale hands reached in, it looked gentle and feminine, and started ripping off chunks of the egg, allowing Saito greater movement before he then pushed his entire weight out of the hole and towards the outreaching appendages that greeted him.
He had to shut his eyes for a moment as sunlight blinded him, but he was free of his prison, the breeze of wind touched upon his body, hearing picking up numerous voices all talking at the same time, thankfully, he zones them out.
There was a strange mix of animalistic growls coming from awfully close though.
Saito Hiraga finally opened his eyes and let them adjust to the light, his first thought was that everything was gigantic, and whether or not someone had laced the soft drink that he bought from the convenience store. However, even if that were the case, and he wouldn't know if it were, the bodily sensations were too real, his eyes trailed down to examine himself and found the shapes and appendages of that Warcraft III Life of a Dragon Sequel's hatchling model.
His mind blanked for a moment there, but he recovered rather quickly, it didn't seem so unnatural to be in this new form… Logically, he knew that he should be freaking out right now, but that didn't seem to be the case. Perhaps, with this physical change, came with it a mental one as well?
It was a scary thought, but one that made the most sense.
There was a girl kneeling in front of him, rather young looking compared to her… Classmates? Yes, it seemed like that with all the identical uniforms adorning the other female members. She was positioned in front of them all, and seemed to only glance at an older male adult figure, likely the teacher with authority, who was conversing to her.
"Congratulations, Louise, now complete the ritual," The male replied in a language that was neither Japanese or English, but Saito understood it perfectly.
Well, from what he knew in Life of a Dragon Sequel's Lore, nowhere did it state there were other languages. So either he would naturally know all languages, or it was another change… Too confusing, he'll just scoff it up to Warcraft III nonsense.
Saito took noticed that this girl, Louise's, hands were covered in a sticky liquid, glancing back he found a broken egg that matched his current size, which was up to the young teenager's kneecap. It made sense, given the size that dragons could grow too… Still, was he really a dragon now?
In any case, Louise was responsible for helping him escape that claustrophobic prison. She started to bend down towards him and he immediately picked up that she was going to kiss him on the head, like the hatchling he now is… Not strange, but kinda disgusting considering he's still partially covered in liquid.
She perked a kiss anyway.
And a sheering pain rushed into one of his paws.
"Gruwaar!" Saito's roared and lashed out immediately by survival instinct.
"C-Calm! It only lasts for a moment!" Louise took a step back as Saito's already developed claws swiped at her face, making a small narrow cut.
The pain dulled, he felt like that inner source of energy, likely his mana, or magical energy, had fought back against some invading force. Something had tried to worm itself deep in his mind as well, but it couldn't bypass something… His… Ah, it couldn't reach through his natural magic resistance, an aspect that all Warcraft III Heroes had… Sure, it was a bit lower than the default in Life of a Dragon Sequel, but it remained. What did get through was this new mark that now rests on his paw, runes of sorts, the Professor attempted to get close, but Saito growled menacingly at him in caution.
"C-come on…" Louise trailed off and reached out gently with open arms to wrap around, to carry him.
He debated it… But, he decided it couldn't be too bad, she did appear apologetic.
Besides… He was tired… Very tired… Sure, he fought off whatever influence that ritual seemed to do, but it had drained him of his mana quite significantly… Sleep would restore it.
Saito Hiraga collapsed in Louise Valliere's arms and fell into slumber.
He was the Map Maker responsible for Life of a Dragon Sequel, a hobby and passion project started in his pre-teen years and worked up to its current state as an adult. An enjoyable to be sure, and while it had annoyances made through it, they had been solved in time and never did outshine the enjoyment he received from others playing and having fun with his creation. But, in all his years, never had something so mystifying or miraculous, and not in a good way, occur to him in a manner like this.
The Map Maker, or Maker as he was jokingly called by his map Testers, stood in the center of a vast large white hall, which was more likely a gigantic room with snow blinding color pillars placed decorative throughout it in an orderly fashion. This would be referred to as The White Halls in his map's lore because this was exactly as he pictured it would be, but this place was not what surprised him the most.
In front of him, with the width and height of three meters, stood the very screen that pictured Warcraft III's World Editor, with supposedly the filename of his map, Life of a Dragon Sequel, loaded on to it.
But that wasn't entirely correct.
Sure, it had the filename title on the top of the World Editor, but the overhead camera depicting the terrain didn't fully match with what he knew it to be. It was mismatched, scattered, expanded, and above all else, much, much larger. In fact, the Maker could vaguely make out a distinct Europe-like similarity to the newly shaped continent, which completely contrasted the world of Kayla, the name of the world in which his map took place in.
Not that he couldn't pinpoint the regions which were distinctly of Kayla, they existed, and of some part, remained together, however entire areas had also been uprooted and displaced, namely those containing the Dragon Nests.
Then, there was also the case that everyone on the map… Well, if he didn't believe in true artificial intelligence before, then he surely did now, if this wasn't some ruse. He already did a freak out earlier, but it had been a calm one. The living entities on the map no longer did repeatedly standing animations, they reacted and chatted like living people, even if couldn't hear any audio from the World Editor. These were not pre-placed monsters or units, but something of an entirely different caliber similar to real people.
For simplicity sake, he'll refer to them all as NPCs, that's because...
"Brief check," The Maker said to himself.
As if he pulled up the Player Properties, each one was active, in a list of 'Current Status', he could even pinpoint each of them on the map, the Dragon players were hatching, the human players were… Well, they were unconscious or in the middle of a freakout, so the Players were actually the Players he knew, their player names were listed, so in a way, he remained the Observer still… But with the inability to talk to them.
He tested out placing an item, something out of the way, went with a 'Cheese' item. The surprise on the look of some NPCs not related to his map had been… Enlightening.
So did the hanging 99% alert on the bottom left corner of the World Editor, which, after a few minutes, ticked back up to 100%.
The revelation that any World Editor changes caused the battery to drain would need further experimentation to determine the most efficient use of this limitation. Especially if he wanted to keep safe his Players from any potential disasters.
Luckily, a few changes to his current Triggers should make them basically immortal…
Or not.
The Trigger Editor, a sub-window to the World Editor, where all the code work that made the lifeblood of the custom map… Had all the previously created Triggers locked from access. He was unable to change or alter them in any way, while he could still create new Triggers, it still posed a major nuisance.
The Maker rubbed his forehead, "Alright… Uh… Shit… Well…" He trailed off and narrowed his eyes. "I need to look over everything I can before I do anything... "
So, the Map Maker got to work, hoping that eventually, he'll discover a way to fix everything without killing his Players or destroying the world.
Author's Note: I hope you enjoyed the first chapter! The story will primarily follow Saito Hiraga and Louise. But will have occasional transitions to the other 9 players and the Map Maker. But every chapter will include both Saito and Louise! This status menu below served as a way to keep track of all the Players.
Current Status:
Chosen Dragon Player 1: Saito Hiraga - Alive - Hatchling (Agility) Level 1
Chosen Dragon Player 2: Unknown
Chosen Dragon Player 3: Unknown
Chosen Dragon Player 4: Unknown
Chosen Dragon Player 5: Unknown
Dragon Slayer Player 6: Unknown
Dragon Catcher Player 7: Unknown
The Kayla Kingdom Player 8: Unknown
The Fel Empire Player 9: Unknown
Mercenary Player 10: Unknown
Observer Map Maker: Map Maker - Alive - The World Editor