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The sea was hot, the salt like acid against his wounds, burning gloriously as he trudged through the dwindling surf to stand upon the pebbly shore once again Deood one with its fifty-foot tail, launching his body toward the ocean, beyond where theswell And so he’d swu his heavy breastplate, his hel his and silence his heart
Except his greatsword, Slayer No, never that
Gunner Skale had clutched his weapon with one hand and sith the other, his eyes open to watch the fiery beast, noAnd noas back, exhausted and achy, but ready to finish the job If he killed Dereatest gaue and its thousands upon thousands of bloodthirstyas if it weighed half a ton, Gunner broke into a run once he reached dry ground, sprinting as best he could to where the beast crouched, eating the re that had once been huht its last blow had finally killed the greatest warrior it had ever faced--and if not, the raging sea would’ve finished the job And so, ever arrogant, it feasted, its back to the gray-green waters of the ocean and its battered shore
Gunner picked up speed, holding Slayer’s hilt with both hands, his ar on a moment’s notice The pebbles turned to rocks, rocks to boulders over which he bounded without so lance down He couldn’t afford to take his eyes off the beast And so he trusted his instincts, his balance, his feet, his peripheral vision Hell’s glory, he was Gunner Skale, for crying out loud With a sest, baddest, deadliest et its head chopped off
Demonhatch finally heard his approach and whipped around to look at Gunner with all four of its slitted, red-tinged eyes Then itswith hundreds of blade-sharp teeth, jagged points with serrated edges, perfect for ripping up its prey Then came the roar, followed by the burst of fire, an avalanche of liquid flanited the Shield spell for which he’d had to betray his closest coh he knew he’d feel some residual burn when he Lifted back to his Coffin He landed, spun, leapt back to his feet, hefted the greatsword Slayer up above his head, ignoring the variety of pain that crisscrossed his body He wanted this to be over
Igniting an Air spell, he flew thirty feet into the air, vaulting toward the beast’s head A quick slash of his sword pierced one, then two of De out in strea its roar of agony as it counterattacked Gunner flipped and dodged, landing on the beast and bouncing off, igniting all the spells he’d saved up--Pouncer and Burst and Waterswell and Fists of Iron--throwing all his power at the creature in one final onslaught
A final onslaught that took another hour
An hour of ruthless battle, stroke and counterstroke, three es back to the shore, spell ignition after spell ignition, sword against claw and tooth, quickness and Shield against liquid fire Gunner took out the beast’s res, its tail But still Denited the Air spell one last ti into the sky, far above the wounded, weakened beast With a raging yell that he knew could be heard throughout all of Plague, Gunner fell back toward the ground, raising his rip,his descent with the power of his eyes Demonhatch tried to flee, tried to roar, tried to breathe out flame one last tiht the sword down and severed the head of the hty stroke The warrior landed on his feet under a shower of De Slayer in its hoth spell and picked up the beast’s head, ready to show it to the world
Later, after clai the ultimate victory with the Game Masters, he Lifted back to the Wake
Gunner Skale was late for work
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Most people hated the transition from the Sleep to the Wake The disorientation, the retraction of the NerveWires pricking out of your skin, the strange discomfort until you were finally up and out of the Coffin Not to mention the disappoint you’d done it--in realizing that the vast world of the VirtNet wasn’t real That real life was real, and eventually you always had to go back to it
Gunner relished the transition He wanted the reamer as he was, and as much as he loved the VirtNet--and no one loved the Sleep like Gunner Skale--he was too smart to let it take over his life He’d seen it happen to too many of his friends The line betas real and asn’t became blurred, then disappeared After that, there could be no happiness
How can you enjoy ice crearandh it didn’t stand up if he thought about it too much--Gunner was pretty sure he could eat ice cream and only ice cream for the rest of his life and be just fine--the point had been taken and never forgotten To fully appreciate the Sleep, you had to eery
Once the devices of the Coffin had fully retracted, the blue light ca him the sparse office in which he kept this most treasured possession of his There was a desk and a couch, nothing else outside of the NetBox Groaning, he sat up and dragged hiy pair of boxers, he stretched and yawned, felt the weariness, the soreness, froh the , just starting to light up the city beyond Gunner headed for the shower
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Rachel was sitting at the kitchen counter, sipping tea and eating a bagel, when Gunner walked in, all spiffed up and ready to go for another day in the jungle of real life Her eyes lit up when she saw him, reason number one that he loved her so much Because she loved hih school, way before Gunner Skale becaamer in history She ay too pretty to love so like his, but she hated it when he said that out loud