The Dragon's Wrath: Shadows in the Flame by Brent Roth Read Free Book Online

surroundings… the feeling of being possessed. Ah, this was a familiar feeling , I thought to myself.
    In an instant the wind had picked up as the snowfall began to obscure my vision. The noise of the supernatural storm blocking out the calls of my troops as they tried to ask for instruction. It seemed even the trees were against me as the canopy that had been letting in light slowly grew dark.
    Standing under the shadow of a tree amidst the frenzied snowfall I was alone. The white and green scenery around me turned to white and gray as I started to scan the distance. Looking from left to right in a circular motion, I continued to turn until I had scanned the entire area surrounding me. The thickest part of the storm was where the sun was moments before.
    Marked trees told me the direction was west… in this forest I would never be lost without the sun. I couldn’t be lost here. I, we, prepared for that. There were thousands of marked trees in the vicinity, something to bide my time while the male and female NPCs played at being players. They hunted while I prepared for the worst.
    Now it was time for me to hunt.
    This [Frost Troll] was mine.
    Taking one step after the other I continued on my westerly course, straight into the thick of the storm. One glance at my arm revealed the amount of packed snow that had accumulated on my clothing. My shoulders were growing heavy… my face, almost frostbitten. The temperature had plummeted to below freezing as the small creek along my path had frozen over, with instances of wildlife clearly visible.
    And clearly frozen.
    Then as I took another step into a heavy and hard gust that forced me to lean in, there it was. The [Frost Troll] in all its glory. Hunched over the carcass of a small bear, the troll was distracted by its dinner. Believing in its supernatural defenses that protected it while keeping others at bay, it munched away on raw flesh with the ignorance of an apex predator. This creature had nothing to fear here.
    Walking towards the monster and through the miniature blizzard that surrounded it, the closer I got the easier it became. The eye of the storm… pleasantly cool and nothing else. The wind had died down as the snow continued to fall heavily around the outskirts of our small radius but inside, inside we were free from the effects of the storm.
    “Hey, do you speak?” I asked with real interest.
    In total shock the troll sprang up from the shock of an unfamiliar noise as it dropped torn flesh to the ground and took a step back. Eyeing me for a moment before something registered in its brain, alerting it that I was a threat.
    “So you’re not intelligent,” I said dejectedly with a frown.
    Anger quickly flashed across its face as it roared loud enough to shake the trees. Throwing its arms up in the air with a speed that was hard to follow, the air around me began to immediately cool as thick white snow began to rapidly circulate.
    Dropping all pretenses I lowered my shoulder and charged through the wind wall, bursting through and right into the chest of the massive troll as it was startled by my move. Tackling the troll proved impossible as the massive eight-some foot tall creature must have weighed in excess of five-hundred pounds. Shifting my weight while wrapping my arms around the creature’s waist, I swung a leg behind it and engaged a throw.
    Utilizing all of my superhuman strength born from countless hours of manual labor within the game, I slammed the creature down into the ground as it quickly grabbed me and attempted to pull me apart. Locking arms with the creature, we wrestled in the snow as it tried to rotate on top of me. A quick shift of my weight and position allowed me to turn on its back as it attempted to throw me off.
    Managing to mount the troll’s back, I quickly sunk an arm around its neck with my left hand placed on top of its right shoulder. Left arm completely across the creature, I then grabbed my left hand with my right as I pulled