It took Amanda a long while to stop freaking out. Understandably so. Ether constructs were classified into four categories. Vestiges, the weakest and more abundant, remnants, spirits, which could gain the power to manifest on the physical plane, and eidola. The latter category was for those constructs that were so powerful they were akin to gods or demigods.
An encounter with a remnant was potentially lethal for one-star Archs. Spirits had a range and diversity of powers so big that most people would run unless they were powerful three stars or more.
Finally, eidola encounters were deific encounters that defied logic or reason. Amanda knew that very well, having survived an encounter with Cerebelon.
On top of that, the uniques. Normal ether constructs were more like really smart automata. They followed their behavior with little deviation and had a limited ability to react to sudden changes. A unique, however, had its own soul and personality. They were unpredictable.
But a unique spirit, like the two mice present, could grant an Arch an extra affinity. That if they didn't already have the same affinity. If so, the spirit would grant a unique affinity, something that defied the laws of the world and all reason. Like the classical textbook example, flames which froze what they burned.
And Robert was friends with them. Friends!!
*
*
Robert gave Amanda the time she needed to process this huge secret. He was ready to stop her if she attempted to do anything stup– unadvised.
It didn't come to that. She eventually smiled at Mickey and Minnie and did a little curtsy.
“It is a pleasure to meet the two of you, Mickey, and Minnie. Please forgive my initial shock and thanks for looking after Robert.”
“Oh, gee!” Mickey squealed. “It's no big deal, Amanda. I'm also very happy to meet you! Robert always said good things about you! Golly, making a new friend makes this the best day ever! Hot dog!”
Amanda glanced at Robert and smirked. “Did he say those things now? I am so curious!”
“Robert is a very dear friend, indeed,” Minnie said.
“I am also happy to see you! Is there any trouble brewing?” Robert asked.
“Just the usual, nothing to write home about, “Mickey replied. “No, we didn't come to seek help. We just sensed you were in such high spirits that we decided to come and see. And, oh boy!”
The mouse couple seemed very excited. “Congratulations on your wedding!” They said in unison.
Amanda laughed and clung to Robert, while the guy froze.
“We… didn't…” Robert mumbled.
“Do you think we make a good couple?” Amanda asked, overjoyed.
“Definitely!” Mickey said straight away.
Minnie tugged on his arm drawing attention to Robert's discombobulated state. “Mickey, I think we are mistaken.”
“No big deal!” Amanda giggled. “Right, Robert?”
“Sure, of course, no big deal,” Robert tittered nervously.
She shook him. “Is the thought of being married to me so abhorrent?”
“What? No! It's not… abhorrent.”
Amanda stared at him but didn't push it any further. She feared she might hear what she didn't want to if she did.
“We are going to the Victory Ball,” she explained instead. “Robert won the Imperial Academy’s battle tournament.”
Congra-two-lay-tions!” Mickey cheered with a lilt and a cute air punch.
Minnie clapped her hands. “That's why you two were dancing, then! A rehearsal!”
“Sort of,” Robert admitted. “I couldn't resist, crossing this path with such a gorgeous lady.”
If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
Amanda blew a fuse. She did a good job hiding it but the segmentation fault threw her reasoning off-kilter. It made sense, didn't it (no)? He had kind of kidnapped her into the liminal void (a stretch of reason). And now he was responsible for her (she forgot that was already his job). Therefore, he should get on his knee and–
BSOD
> Amanda O.S. v.19_y.o.
>
> Rebooting.
>
> Please wait.
>
> Checking for updates… none found.
>
> Scanning hard drives for errors… 22 delulu clusters fixed.
>
> Loading kernel…
>
> Connecting to network… Skynet could not be reached. Termination protocols suspended.
>
> Reactor, online! Weapons, online! All systems nominal!
SOCIAL_BUTTERFLY.EXE
Amanda giggled. “Oh, Robert! You should stop, or your infamy as a lady-killer will only grow.”
Mickey and Minnie giggled too.
Robert looked at the girl, worried. Did she just have a mental breakdown?
*
*
They talked a lot, the two humans and two spirits. Mickey told them tales of his adventures, all of them recaps of his old cartoons. But the two humans never watched one as all the digital media and most of the analogic were wiped during the rift cataclysm.
After the two spirits departed, Robert had to find a way to let Amanda sleep without ruining her gown. The only solution was to have her take it off and sleep in one of his spare shirts. Which was a risky adventure, because they couldn't break physical contact.
“We could use the silk rope tied to our ankles,” Robert suggested.
“No, that could ruin my stockings,” she lied. As if those stockings weren't almost indestructible.
He held to a loose strand of hair and faced away while she changed.
“Robert, where did you get this shirt?” Amanda asked. “You may turn around now. I'm decent.”
He turned and looked at the shirt. It was black with a cartoon image on the front. It was the human-sized Minotaur armor descending from above and punching down. Underneath it was a cartoon human missing his torso, head, arms, and legs moving away as if blown away. On top of the image, the stylized words, “SAMSON SECURITY”, and below, “CEASE YOUR AGGRESSION.”
“I have no idea how that shirt appeared,” he said with dread. “All I know is that this batch of clothes is one I put in my ring straight from the drier.”
"Most likely, it was another of Granny's pranks.
He also noticed that Amanda wasn't wearing anything underneath that shirt but said nothing about that. Spatial senses worked kind of like x-ray vision but without colors. Anyone could know that if they read the primer on Space affinity, so he felt it was not necessary to talk about that little aspect. Yes, definitely unnecessary.
*
*
They sat on a foldable mattress Robert had in his ring for bivouacking in the liminal void. Amanda leaned on his arm and studied his regenerated hand. More precisely, the new hands he made, because whatever the Headmaster did to his old hands, they weren't growing back.
“How are your hands?”
“They're fine now. I have only to fix a few errors in the size of the fingers,” he showed his other hand. The pinky was as long as the ring finger.
Amanda didn't laugh. “The headmaster, former headmaster, had this nasty disintegration talent. I was so worried, and then you defeated him in less than a second.”
“Two hands felt like a cheap price for victory.”
"Robert," Amanda said seriously, "We didn't win."
"What? How?"
"We didn't win the tournament. We got caught up in this massive web of politics. Please tell me you figured out at least a bit of it."
Robert thought. "The headmaster and some of the referees were in this conspiracy with the Shayvers."
"Okay."
"And they wanted to put Phillip in the first place."
"Go on. You are on the right path."
"And the Empress knew all that."
"She had several puzzle pieces but it was you who gave her a reason to act publicly. So she seized it," Amanda explained. "So far, the headmaster and the Shayvers owed her a debt and she owed you a debt."
"But then, why did she have me fight the headmaster?"
"Because if you died, the debt to you would vanish. And the headmaster didn't exist in a vacuum. She had the Shayvers for the illegal drugs but her case against the headmaster was too weak. He would walk away from all this with a slap on her wrist. That's where you enter. The Empress used you to give the headmaster's faction a way to save face. You were obviously right but she still threw you into a fight you had no reason to fight. She used you as her executioner!"
Robert was shocked by Amanda's honesty. It made sense but it also painted the Empress as this cruel and calculating character. The opposite of the public persona she displayed.
"That's not all. By throwing you to the wolves – and make no mistake, she expected you to die – she was bidding the favors she owed to you in a double-or-nothing bet. She would have offered only a half-baked apology if you had died. Philip would be crowned champion posthumously and Samson would be burdened with huge reparations.”
“Really?”
"That's when it gets even funnier and aggravating for us. Because she stole this big asset from Samson to throw into the headmaster, she now owed us a big favor. The reparations we would have to pay were a threat against that favor. We would be unable to complain about your fate and just accept it because she could take many things from us if you lost."
"Including the Gurglock world."
"Yes. They know we've been delving there and they know we took the potions from the dungeon in there. They might even know as much about that realm as we do because they might have sent infiltrators or scried upon the world. Some people can see into other realms regardless of the distance."
"But I won. The Empress owes us big and I saved Samson a lot of trouble. Is that correct?"
“Yeah, you got it. That's why she was so magnanimous and upgraded my request. She knew I wanted the Lightning treasure, and she dangled it in front of us. You saw me cry during the award ceremony, right?
"I did."
"Those weren't tears of joy," Amanda said with a scowl. "Now, about the Samson assets you saved. Why do you think Granny gave you that satellite core? Do you have any idea how expensive that artificial star is?”
“No, I don't.”
“And still, it was less than what we'd lose if the headmaster had killed you. I demanded she did that, and then she not only pretended she was being magnanimous but also pulled that prank on us out of sheer pettiness!”