The Achievement Junkie

Thirty minutes flew by. Jack then descended and stored his prized mount. Now that he was near his destination and not traveling over random forests and wildernesses, he didn't want to draw any unneeded attention to himself. Although he did feel temporarily depressed after putting away the exciting mount, which had fulfilled many nostalgic, nerdy fantasies.

But the decision paid off.

With his minimap out, Jack passed the final treeline. All that was left was a breath-taking view.

Shadow Gorge was aptly named. Two sharp cliffs stood on opposite sides of each other with a river and some lush land far below separating them. Large trees would sporadically sit at the cliff's edges. They couldn't compete with the Life Tree in Estonya but they could match plenty of the trees within the Prehistoric Forest. Those same trees had roots burrowing out of one cliff and into the other, making natural bridges overtop the gorge with thousands of vines connecting roots or falling to the deep gorge below. The amount of sunlight landing within the gorge was minimal at best due to the sheer amount of shade those trees, roots, and vines produced. But there also seemed to be a dark fog that dwelled within the gorge and slowly followed the flow of the river below. The river was virtually unnoticeable from where Jack was standing but he knew it was there.

There was one other thing that startled Jack, though it took a minute for Jack to realize it. Jack couldn't hear a thing.

There was no noise from the powerful raging river below. The hero couldn't hear any wildlife from within the gorge. It sounded as if no wind was following the walls of the cliffs. But it was obvious that all three of those things existed, either from the little that Jack could see at the moment or his in-game visits to Shadow Gorge. Obviously, there was a river as it was what naturally created the gorge in the first place despite the silence. Birds or other wildlife could be seen traversing the vines and roots or even dwelling inside them, but no sound was heard. And the dark mist was moving, proving that wind was indeed present within the gorge.

Yet Jack couldn't hear a thing. He felt like he had accidentally muted the game, only it was no longer a game.

It took Jack a few minutes to better grasp the situation and disregard the strange phenomenon. Finally, Jack took a deep breath and leaped off the cliff.

Wind spattered against Jack's unguarded face as he used no magic to shield himself. The hero reached out his arm and grabbed one of the thinner vines to swing off and redirect his course. He did this a few times, eventually finding himself at the center of both cliffs. Then, Jack simply let himself fall through the thickest part of the black mist.

Jack's cheeks were slapping his face over and over as he plummeted through the mist. Soon, his eyes started to find dots of light to his left and right. Knowing he was on course, Jack took a deep breath and did his best to smile in the face of the insane wind pressure.

The moment Jack exited the mist, he was still a hundred meters above the ground, or water in Jack's case.

An almost black river of water was flowing steadily beneath the hero. On each riverbed was a plethora of wildlife, most of which could create light via bioluminescence. Those lights are what confirmed Jack's trajectory and allowed Jack to target his freefall with accuracy.

Closing his eyes and pointing his arms and hands downward, Jack took a deep breath.

SPLASH!

Jack careened downward through the water as it dissipated his momentum. Even with his high-level physique, Jack felt some numbness on his fingers, arms, and face from the dive, but not enough to stop him or take away from the adrenaline rush he felt.

Once his momentum was gone, Jack swam for the surface. The Dim River wasn't known for rapids or high waters but it's strange wildlife, so Jack found it quite easy to reach the shore.

Taking in one deep breath after another, Jack was calming his excited body while smiling at his menu screen.

[Adrenaline Junkie: completed]

[Leap from the top of Shadow Gorge to the depths of Dim River without the use of spells or skills. Unique reward: 300 skill points. Would you like to claim this reward?]

It wasn't much but Jack wasn't going to complain about the freebie skill points, especially after feeling the true rush of the achievement without a computer monitor dulling his senses. Jack claimed the three hundred skill points and glanced around the gorge.

To his surprise, now he could hear the rushing water and the occasional humming of insects.

But just when Jack was reinspecting his surroundings, he heard the powerful flap of wings in the distance. The hero turned his attention to the southeast and could roughly make out a large figure coming toward him. Now inside, Jack fully understood why the place was called Shadow Gorge. Because anything without bioluminescence appeared to be a different shade of a shadow.

As the figure got closer and grew larger, Jack remained still and admired the grace of the now-gliding beast. He was astounded by the sudden speed the beast had gained when it started gliding, becoming far faster than when it was flapping its wings.

The dragon flapped its wings once more, halting his flight as easily as it had gained tremendous speed. It landed on the soft riverbed with soft footsteps and retracted its wings. Without any eyes or eye sockets, the dragon turned to face the hero. "Are you Jack?"

"I am."

"Come with me, please." The Nocturnal Dragon extended one of its wings to the ground, acting as a ramp for the human before him. "I'll take you where you need to go, on Perchet's orders. Please remain silent and say nothing until we reach Perchet's home."