Chapter 12: Chapter 12 – The Sword of Damocles

The Queen’s first egg was to be presented in ten turns of the seasons as a new bride. Such was the desperation of the alliance with the fate of the world on their shoulders. The Dragons in their great pride would never forget what the ‘lesser races’ had forced upon them, and their resentment would only grow with the passage of time.

- On the Cataclysm by an unknown Quassian Scholar circa 103 AC

Calm. I sought calm across the battlefield of my thoughts. A thousand times I had probably replayed my exchange with Jongshoi and Navigator Olai.  Was there anything I could have done to steer the conversation in a different direction, a different path, a different strand of fate to cling to?  Trapped in endless contemplation, I continued to pace about my cell in circles as rosy-fingered dawn came again to light up the sky. The hush of the night was broken by the voices of industry and commerce.

My breakfast was a death row inmate’s last meal without the flavor.  Despite all of my efforts, my last training session had ended with only a single point increase in Strength. This yielded a small bump in Health, and from that, I was able to deduce that Strength’s threshold for increasing Health was probably every four points. Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution all had a role in determining my endurance and Stamina, though to what degree I had not calculated yet.

I smiled wryly, thinking that if this was back home I would have sifted through the message boards, forums and Wikis to confirm my theory. Here I just had myself. I checked my character sheet as I prepared to meet the rest of the day. It looked like I had also gained another ten experience points, and my character sheet had been updated with my chosen name. I marveled once more at the game-like nature of this world, far removed from my old one.

STATUS

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