Awaken Online: Unity by Bagwell Travis

Author:Bagwell, Travis [Bagwell, Travis]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Published: 2019-06-17T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 20 - Apprehensive

Frank blinked at the sudden transition. A moment before, he had lain down on his bed, placing the VR equipment over his head. Now he was lying in a cave, ice lining the walls. The glowing embers of what had once been a fire rested in the center of the cave, small tendrils of smoke rising into the air.

The team’s equipment was conspicuously missing, and the members of the hunting pack were nowhere to be seen.

Frank quickly rose, checking his own meager equipment and once again bemoaning the loss of his axes and bags. Maybe he could remedy that problem when they got back to town. There was a limit to what he could carry in his pockets.

Speaking of which, his hand hovered over the small lump in his pocket. He knew a malignant crystal rested in those folds of cloth – a demon’s heart. He still wasn’t sure what he planned to do with it – or what he really could do with it. He had a feeling that the crystal’s cost would far exceed its benefits.

For now, he had larger problems. His eyes shifted to the leather sheet that obscured the entrance. Had the group simply left him here? He wasn’t sure he could blame them if they had. Even now, he could visualize Howl’s and Runner’s shocked expressions. What he and Silver had done had potentially endangered their people.

Letting out a soft sigh, the vapor billowing in the frigid mountain air, Frank pushed aside the leather flap hanging over the entrance to the cave. Powdery snow fell to the ground in clumps, and he held up a hand to ward off the bright sunlight that suddenly penetrated the cave.

The area outside the cavern had experienced a transformation. Frank hadn’t been able to appreciate the beauty of the mountains while freezing to death in a magical blizzard. But now he had a chance to take in the ivory peaks that loomed around him and the way the snow clung to the ground, reflecting the sunlight and practically glowing.

“Finally,” a voice spoke up. Hoot hopped down from his perch above the entrance to the cave and slapped him on the back. “We’ve been waiting on you for ages.”

They were interrupted as two wolves – one large and brown and the other a brilliant white, streaked with lines of silver – came loping through the trees. They transformed without stopping, Howl and Silver re-assuming their human shape.

Frank heard another thump and whirled. He found himself staring into the feline eyes of a snow leopard. It was perched above the cave, watching him. As he stared, the mountain cat transformed, leaving Runner sitting atop the cave with an eyebrow raised. Lastly, Spider drifted to the ground behind him, lowered by a tree branch. The nearly mute man patted the tree’s trunk before joining the group.

They had waited for him.

“Damn, he’s back,” Howl said from behind Frank – although he sounded more disappointed than excited by that fact.

“I was just saying the same thing!” Hoot said with a grin.

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