So I finished typing this last night, hit the button, and exited. Turns out I hit preview, not publish- had to retype everything. Felt sad, so I'm trying again today. You'll get the regular chapter too, sigh
On a happier note, 199 followers and 50 favorites, so that good news
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Sarah
Sarah Brighteyes sat in her pod, strapping herself in with a grim resolve. She thought back to how her feelings had led to this.
Everything had crashed down on Sarah that day. It had been night time when the alert came in that two students were hospitalized. She was worried at first, but didn't pay it too much thought. After all, it was unlikely they were hurt too bad and that she might know them.
She had been reading in her bed when her best friend Reva came in, crying her eyes out. Startled by her friends tears, Sarah had quickly comforted her and asked what was wrong.
"Sniff, Plat and Dia are in the hospital, waaahh." She cried into Sarah's shoulder. Sarah went into shock.
Her Plat was in the hospital.
The shock took Sarah's mind back to when she first met the little boy into the man Plat had become.
Flashback
"Sniff, leave me alone." A little girl cried out, her body hugging a tree for dear life.
"Stupid Sari Sari, we can see your eyes glow." A boy taunted below her. He was part of a group that loved to torment her for her strange eyes. They threw rocks and sticks up at her, trying to get her down.
"Wah, leave me alone." She gripped the tree tighter, trying to avoid the projectiles thrown at her."
She didn't like to hurt people, so she didn't fight back. The kids took it as a sign of weakness and berated her with taunting songs and silly antics. Today was a bad day, she hadn't found a hiding place so she was tree'd.
"Weak, Saris weak." A girl giggled below her.
"Not weak, not weak!" She cried. They laughed and began trying to climb the tree. They failed of course, she had more practice then they had. They eventually got frustrated and ran off to play elsewhere.
She stayed up in the tree and cried. Her pretty hair had sticks in it, her skin itched from contact with the tree bark.
"Sniff, I don't like it here." She then realized she didn't know how to get down. She had never climbed up this high before. Her crying resumed, harder than ever when she realized her predicament.
"Help me."
She heard a noise to her right and looked over scared. The grownups had told her there were no monsters in the play woods, but she didn't believe them.
The sound of moving leaves cam again, and a face popped out of a tree in front of her face. The two stared at each other a moment, before the boy cried out and retreated. Sarah cried too, but didn't dare move from her spot.
Eventually, the boy returned and looked at her.
"What'chu doin here? This my spot." He proclaimed loudly.
"Sniff, I'm sowwy, I just wanted to hide." She apologized through the sniffles. The boy cocked his head at her.
"Ohh, your hiding too. That's k then." He said matter of factly, "Stupid bullies can't me up here, are u playing hid-en-go seek?" He asked curiously.
She shook her head, "Meanies chased me up here and I can't get down." She admitted.
"Umm, okay, I'll help you." He declared, "I'm Supa Plat!"
"That sound stupid." Sarah declared.
The boy looked sad, making Sarah realize she said something wrong, "Um, if you help me, then I call you Supa Plat." She promised.
He brightened up, and disappeared back into the tree. He reemerged with sticks, which he placed from her tree branch to his tree.
(In case your wondering, His tree top is about the height of her branch, and about a foot away)
Satisfied with his "bridge" he said, "Okay, take my hand and walk to me."
She looked dubiously at the bridge, "It look scawy Supa Plat." she said.
He shrugged, "Caretaker said, "Risks lead to triumph or defeat"." He declared.
"What's a wisk?"
"I don't know, sound cool though."
Believing in the admittedly cool sounding words, Sarah took his hand and got up on her branch. She put her feet on the bridge and walked across. She managed 3 steps before the bridge broke.
s luck would have it, he had pulled her in before the sticks fell to their doom. She crashed into him and they both tumbled into the tree. Inside the leaves, she found a floor made of wood.
She looked down to see Supa Plat under her. "Stupid, stupid." She cried as she hit his chest with her little fists, "That was scawy!"
He smiled up at her, "But I saved you? So I am Supa Plat!"
She hit him again and giggled, "Stupid name, I call you Plat." She declared. She looked at the floor, "Why is the floor nice in the twee?" She asked.
Plat shrugged, "Don't know. Found it like this, it's my supa secret base!" He put his hands on his side, then looked worried, "You don't tell right? I'll share it with you."
She liked the idea. She could hide here and play.
"Okay, but I'm in charge." She declared.
"No, my base, I'm in charge." He challenged.
"I'm a girl, and girls are in charge. Caretaker say so."
Plat opened his mouth, then frowned and sat down, "Caretaker say girls are "de-le-cate"." he pronounced slowly, "So I guess I'll let you be in charge. He squinted at her, "What's you name anyway?"
"Call me Mistress Sari." She declared.
They had played together in the tree as often as they could the rest of the year, Sarah in charge and Plat generally going along with it. She had "rescued" the prince from the dragon, played a house mom (they didn't know what a mom was, but they had heard it was like Caretaker), and had fun together.
Unfortunately, that had been the last year of the age group, so they were split up the following year.
Sarah's bullies started to woo her instead of hurting her as the years went by, her beauty growing with age. She never held any flame to them though, she remembered every boy who had hurt her. Girls too, but she quickly learned the vast political scene that was girl social life and got back at them. While never the top of the class, Sarah quickly became one of the top girls of her grade.
As the third age group came, she chose mind and soul as her specialties. She had moved into a dorm with her best friend Reva, who was her roommate as well. She had been in the garden when she saw Plat again, moving into his room under the dorm. She had been pleasantly shocked to see him, but incredibly sad that he no longer recognized her.
She confided in Reva that night, the two giggling over the memories she shared with her. Reva told her she knew Plat from the second age group, and they discussed him til they fell asleep.
Fast forward to the present year. Sarah had never managed to talk to Plat. Really, it became hard to even be near him. He was bullied all the time, and his scores weren't good enough. She had silently wished he'd stick to faction soon, but he stubbornly kept his position. Reva warned Sarah to not talk to him, that it would only make things worse. It annoyed her that Reva could sit and be friends with Plat at lunch and she couldn't.
Still, everything changed when the fire nation attacked when Everlife came out. She was so excited by the possibilities that she sent Plat her real gaming information in the hopes of playing with him. She'd had not done that with anyone but Reva, opting to trick her would be suitor to think she was in the human kingdom instead of the elf one.
She was about to send Plat a message to correct herself when he had replied with his message. A warm flush had come over her as she read it. He had feelings for her! She could barely contain her excitement as she confided in Reva.
She could have sworn a look of sadness and anger came over Reva, but she ignored it in her excitement.
End Flashback
Now, she sitting here on the floor with Reva crying into her shoulder, her own tears threatening to come out.
"How, how do you know?" She asked quietly.
"Sniff, because it's my fault." She cried.
Reva explained that she had had a crush on Plat since she had first met him. Meeting Sarah and learning about her connection to Plat had started feelings of jealousy inside her. She had worked to keep Sarah away from Plat, so she could have him to herself.
When Sarah had read Plat's message to her, her anger and burned over and she had blurted it out in anger to Hank, her ally in keeping the two separate. He had told her he would take care of it, and left. She had received a message about what he had done moments ago. Not only had he beaten up Plat enough to kill him, he had hurt kind, loyal Dia for trying to defend Plat.
Sarah was in shock at the news. Her best friend loved the man she had feelings for, and tried to keep them apart so she could have him. Plat was in the hospital, possibly dying.
Guilt shook her as well as rage. She calmed herself though, using the meditative techniques she had learned form soul classes. It was hard, the betrayal of her best friend cut deep, but she understood her feelings. After all, Plat was a boy worth have feeling s for.
"Why are you telling me this?" Sarah asked evenly, keeping her voice down.
"Because your my best friend, and I'm sorry for hurting you." Reva looked into her eyes, the apology showing in her eyes and face. "Please forgive me, I'm sorry, so sorry." Her crying resumed, this time sitting on her knees with her arms hanging uselessly on her side.
Sarah's heart broke seeing her friend like this. No matter how angry she was, Reva was deserving of forgiveness. Not now of course, Sarah saw years of personal repentance for this shit, but she did like Reva as a best friend, and hurting her even more now would likely break her.
She took her in her arms, "Okay, but never lie to me again, understand?" Reva nodded, tears of relief running down her face, "Thank-you."
"Don't thank me yet." Sarah said coldly, pushing Reva back, "For this sin, you owe me a life debt."
Reva froze, scared. A life debt came from terrible sin, loss of honor, or saving another's life. It bound the debtor to serve and obey until the oath was released verbally, otherwise it passed on to the next of kin.
"Sarah, please no." She cried softly.
Sarah shook her head, "This is not only for me, but for Plat too." She declared, "I'm going to have him, and your actions hurt him and me." Her gaze softened a bit, "But I love you like a sister, and someday you may redeem yourself, so please, take the oath."
Sniffling, Reva nodded.
"I, Reva, swear to serve Sarah Brighteyes until the day of my death or oath fulfilled, in this I swear." Reva said.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
A red light glowed on her transphone, registering the debt.
Sarah smiled at her friend and hugged her, "Okay, now lets go see Plat."
The two had then visited Plat after school. Reva couldn't bring herself to say anything but "sorry" to him, but Sarah talked to him the entire visit. They visited the rest of the week, but Reva stayed outside the door after the first visit.
Eventually, they came and found Plat was gone. A nurse explained to their panicked faces that he had moved for an experimental treatment. She directed them to Keith, who in turn explained the terms of the deal Plat had taken to them. He also took the time to show them Plat floating in the machinery in his room. Sarah had felt the machine above his head with her hand.
She and Reva decided then that they would strong enough in the game to leave the elf kingdom and journey to find Plat, no matter how long it took.
Sarah was strapping in now to begin her weekend training spree.
Plat was hers now, and she would do anything to reach him.
Shelly
Shelly was bored. Rather, her processors were tired of the same situation over and over again. She sighed, waving another player into Everlife.
The mad rush of new players was almost over, thank A.I. god for this.
"Er, A.I. god would be human wouldn't he?" She pondered to herself.
Those type of questions were the only things she could use to pass the time, that and keeping up with her favorite human in Everlife.
He had been most interesting, treating her nice and asking her questions, and playing along like new player should. These other humans had been most rude to her, treating her like a simple program, ignoring her recommendations, and making fun of her human knowledge.
She got them back though, reducing their dick sizes to the size of their brain.
Her boss and allowed her to do so with a laugh, saying, "It's just an aesthetic change, if it doesn't affect their game play its a-okay."
She really liked working for her boss.
What really made her excited was that her application had been approved, when the surge was done she could work in the game too!
She knew exactly what, who, and where she was going to be. Rostwood and the immediate areas were out of positions, but a little ways away had a spot, where she had inserted her code.
She couldn't wait to get into the game and find her favorite human. She giggled to herself, it was going to be so much fun.
Another new player appeared in front of her and demanded satisfaction.
She sighed, rolling the knob on his dick. For interrupting her thoughts, she turned it a little ore than should have, and he became she for a moment.
"Opps."
Unknown
A pair of eyes watched people come in and out of the gate. I noted each one's looks, gender, and weaponry.
"Not him, not him." It thought.
Thinking was new to girl, she hadn't thought before, about thinking or anything else. She didn't understand why she though, but she knew he was responsible for it.
She was waiting for him, waiting to see his face again. Waiting to feel the new feelings that washed over her when she saw him.
He had gone in a day ago, staggered under the weight of his kill. Anger flooded her, he had been hurt. She didn't like seeing him hurt.
Still, she wasn't impatient to see him again. Time did not have much meaning for her, it was still a new concept for her to deal with.
She chewed her food as she watched the gate people go by.
"Not him, not him."
Unknown 2
She still couldn't believe it.
It had started out a normal day for her in the game. She met up with her group of friends from her club, and they had played together for awhile. One of the guys suggested they hunt outside the wall, just to experience the combat of the game. They all agreed it was a wonderful idea.
The gate had had a notice on it, warning players to stop hunting the rabbits in the grassland. Everyone had scoffed at the notice. They were just rabbits, what harm would it be to hunt a few of them?
They moved a s a group through the grassland, attacking any rabbits they came across. Eventually, the rabbits fled at the site of them, and the grassland was empty.
They were starting to get annoyed about the lack of things to fight, when a howl came from the woods.
A huge black dog walked cautiously out of the wood and into the grassland. It looked tough, but it was right next to a town so it would be weak right?
They had been terribly wrong about that.
The thief in their group had thrown some knives at the beast. 5 had bounce up or missed, but the sixth one had impaled itself in the monster. It howled in pain, and turned angry eyes on the group.
It had been a massacre.
First, the monster had ripped the thief to shreds, his screams of pain still echoing in her ears. Everyone had started running instead of fighting, too scared to want to mess with the monster. She ran too, scared for her life at the sight.
It hunted the slowest members first, tearing into them before moving on. One of her "friends" tripped her, leaving her down so they could escape.
She thought she was done for, until a new player had dashed in and protected her. She didn't know this player, but his name "Steel" flashed above his head. He defended her, but was knocked away. The monster was attacking him, and he called for help. She started to move toward him, but the monster roared, and she fled.
She had gotten lost in the grassland, and made it back to the gate as the sun was setting. There, she asked the guard what had happened.
He explained that the rabbit poachers had been captured and imprisoned for their foolishness.
She confessed to have been part of the group. She felt bad about leaving the Steel guy to die, and felt punishment was in order.
The guard laughed at her, and explained he already knew that. He clapped her on the shoulder and told her he had been waiting for her response before judging her. He introduced himself as Harkin, Captain, and offered her a job in the guard.
When she asked if he knew someone named "Steel", he grinned down at her and said she had missed him by an hour, having reported to him before.
Steel worked for the guard.
She accepted the job, eager to apologize to her benefactor.
Mary
Mary watched as Steel practiced one of the new spells she had taught him. He was struggling with the application of mana because he didn't have a mage related class.
She sighed. It would have been easier if he had chosen a mage apprentice class from the start, but his blessing made that unlikely.
She went over her perspective of him since they had last met.
After her father had put out the classroom and calmed her down, he had grounded her in her room for a few days because of destroying of the room. She understood, they were expensive to repair once incinerated by dark fire.
She wasn't nicknamed the "Darkfire Witch" for nothing after all.
She came up with her plan while in her room. The traveler had had the gall of teasing like that! She had never felt fury and passion for another like she did for that man, who didn't even tell her his name before he had fled.
She planned her revenge carefully. She knew that if he came once to the tower, he would come again for sure. Unlike herself, the receptionist was an NPC program, so she was able to persuade her to help.
She waited in her room patiently for days, looking forward to getting revenge on the traveler. Unfortunately, he didn't return for quite sometime.
Not that she was worried or anything, she just wanted revenge, right.
She had been lying on her bed with a book when the receptionist and jolted her attention. Immediately, she threw on her "Mary the Receptionist" Disguise and cast a scrying spell to listen in on the conversation.
At first she was disappointed he didn't ask about her. After all, she was very pretty in her disguise, though her real form was more beautiful.
The idea of touring the tower made her laugh, the fool really liked to mess with death. When he turned to leave, she jolted the receptionist, who asked him a question.
Good, he wanted to learn magic, she could work with that. She admired the way the receptionist had steered her entrance in subtly, she'd have to reward her later.
Then the bastard had spoke again.
The outrage, he didn't remember what he had done to her. That she was fun to tease. THE BASTARD!
Her tantrum unleashed fireballs all over her room. Thankfully, they were just normal fireballs, the wards on the room held and nothing was destroyed. The tower did shake though.
Wait, he was talking again. She calmed down enough to listen in again.
Beautiful and Intelligent? Well of course she was! It was good for the fool to finally know his place. The flush she felt was definitely from the heat of the fireballs, and no other reason.
She hurried out of her room to the stairs, where she calmed herself and walked down in a noble fashion.
The nerve of that man, being glad to see her. This blush on her face was definitely from the anger of him not worshiping her, yup.
She had led him into a classroom. She had planned on just humiliating him when he had revealed to her what had happened to him.
She was sad for him, such terrible things to happen to such a handsome young man as himself.
Besides, he was blessed by Milna. She had never met someone with a blessing, but had heard rumors of their strength and potencial.
She had decided then and there that he would make the perfect husband toy to play with until she got bored with him. She had grown up listening to her father's adventures, and she now had someone to take care of her as she performed daring deeds in the road.
She kept those thoughts to herself though, no need for him to realize he was just a future husband servant to her. He'd realize it on his own later on.
"Steel, guide the flow of mana, don't push it." She directed.
This was going to take awhile.
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And there we have it, the harem chapter. I may be bummed I lost the first chapter, but I'm actually much more pleased with this one than the first one. The girls have more.....uh...believably in my opinion, plus its way longer than the first attempt, almost 4000 words. I'll just shoot this off for you guys to read, and I'm typing the next chapter for today as you read this. Enjoy!