Smoke filled the sky as, below, the city burned. The fields under Teresa’s gaze were littered with the bodies of her men, many pierced from with arrows. She watched, a wicked grin on her face while the defenders of the city fell, one by one. Hovering over the city she could see a small, red bar that was slowly shrinking away.

She reached out with her right hand and a small menu appeared. She glanced at the clock before nodding. She had plenty of time. The main gate was finally battered down and, right on cue, one of her soldiers raced towards her, yelling.

“Commander! Lu Bu’s forces have gathered in the east. They’re ready to join the assault,” the soldier yelled.

“Good! Signal him to begin the assault! The city falls tonight! And from here, we march on the capital and free the emperor! Charge!” she yelled, hitting her heels against the side of her horse. It took off like a bolt. She held out her right hand and a long, black fangtian ji formed in her hand, the tip a polished edge with two crescent blades on either side. She aimed the tip of the polearm at the city. “Today we bring another city under my banner!”

Arrows flew through the air, though none found their way to her unit. The smell of smoke filled her nose, but she ignored it, continuing her charge forward. She burst through the shattered gate, ducking under the wood. Her soldiers were spilling forth, but the defenders of the city had risen to meet them, forming a wall of spears with archers behind. She laughed, her left hand reached out and, with a quick gesture, a blue mist seemed to wash over herself and her nearest troops. “CHARGE!” she yelled, racing forward and crashing against the spear wall. The spears seemed to slide around her body, though her ji found its home in one of the soldiers, sending them flying back to the ground. Some of her own soldiers met a similar fate, though she ignored them. The prize was within reach. She laughed heartily, blowing through their lines and cutting them down.

Victory, victory was at hand! Finally, she--

The world froze. Fire, smoke, soldiers. All of the screaming and battle ceased, as if time itself had stopped. A moment later, the world melted.

She was laying in bed, her headset lifted off her head and a slight tingle going through her body when she tried to re-orient herself to her real body. Inside a small room with a desk, a television, her bed and her annoyed looking boyfriend. Back in her old body, long, brown hair. Green eyes. A tiny bit over weight, not a powerful warrior princess in the Three Kingdoms era of china. Just a normal, simple girl.

She HATED having her headset forcefully removed, it threw everything into turmoil. Worse, she felt like she was going to throw up from the sudden shift of the world. She blinked a few times before looking up at the person towering over her. Despite the nausea she slowly formed a smile.

Normally William had the cutest, brightest blue eyes she’d ever seen, with angel-soft hair that cascaded around his face. Normally she thought he was the most gorgeous guy, even counting what she saw in her virtual reality games.

Now, however, his eyes were narrowed in frustration and his mouth was in a flat, unamused frown.

“Hiiiii, William,” she said softly, not wanting to move from her position. She wasn’t sure what she’d done to upset him, but throwing up on their bed likely wouldn’t make it any better. “I was just laying siege to--”

“You told me you’d have the dishes done,” he said flatly.

She gulped and mentally kicked herself. Why hadn’t she done them before she started? “I will! I promise! I… err...” She glanced over at the clock realized she’d been playing for hours. No wonder he was mad at her. Still, she swore she had more time. “I got distracted. You told me you wouldn’t be home until this evening.”

“I got out early,” he said, before shaking his head and letting the headset fall on the bed, making her wince when the expensive hardware bounced on the bedding. “It’s fine. I really wish you’d just tell me if you’re not going to do something. I could plan around it.”

She slowly nodded and sat up. “I’m sorry. I’m really, really sorry. I was going to do it as soon as I was done with the siege, really. It was almost done. Lu Bu was going to join forces with me and we were going to crush them.”

William rolled his eyes. “Of course you were. I already took care of them.”

Teresa’s eyes widened and she lowered her head, guilt flowing through her. She reached out her hand to take his, but he pulled his hand back. “I’m sorry. I’m really, really sorry. You didn’t need to do that.”

“Someone needs to do stuff around here.”

“I know, I know. I’m really sorry. Let me make it up to you? Please?” she asked, getting to her feet and walking to him, trying to take his hand again. This time, he let her.

He sighed and then, slowly, gave a smile. “Fine. But only because you’re so cute when you have game head,” he said with a laugh. “You know, you’re really lucky. Most guys wouldn’t let their girlfriend play games all day while they were at work.”

Teressa sighed and shook her head. “I wasn’t just playing games, I was taking a break since I cleaned out the--”

“Sure, sure,” he said dismissively, waving his from side to side and pulling it from her grip. “Listen, I’m beat from work today and then having to go and take care of the dishes.” She felt a fresh stab of guilt pierce her. “Can you go ahead and get dinner?”

“Yeah! Of course!” she said quickly, giving a small smile.

“Good, I already ordered us dinner from the chinese place down the street. Can you go pick it up?” he asked.

“Okay!” She turned and grabbed her purse off the desk, quickly rummaging through it. “So, since it’s for carry out, should I--”

“Don’t leave a tip, that’s only when you eat there,” he said with an exasperated sigh, eyeing her headset. “Are you done… working… for the day?”

Her cheeks burned and she nodded. The way he said it made her feel almost dirty. She suppressed the urge to argue that she DID do work on it, she just wasn’t when he came in. She mulled her words over for a few moments before speaking softly. “Yeah. I was just enj--” She stopped when he started to pick up and disconnect the set. She cringed when he tossed the expensive equipment into the box next to her bed. “Honey? Can you be a bit more careful with that? I still need it for work.”

William sighed and shrugged. “Fine. Can you go get the food? I’m hungry.”

“Right. Sorry. Thanks! For the dishes. And I cleaned out the cabinets today!” she called back.

Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

“Good job?” he said, the confusion evident in his voice. She couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed in that, it had been a hard job and she couldn’t deny that she had hoped he’d have been prouder of her for it. Moments later she could hear the television come on. She shook her head and walked out the door, closing it behind herself. She managed to make it to the car before her phone went off. She quickly pulled it out from her purse and smiled at the message.

‘Love you, babe. Pick up some soda while you’re out too, okay?’ She quickly started to text him back, but after a moment another message popped up on her phone. ‘Can you drop off the cans, too?’ She glanced into the back seat and sighed. A large bag of cans was resting on the floor in the back seat, half of them having fallen out.

She shrugged and texted him back. ‘Sure, I will. But I thought you said you’d take them today? :P’

‘I was busy. If you don’t want to, I will.’

She eyed the phone for a moment before glancing back at the cans. A part of her wished he would, but that wasn’t fair. He’d been at work all day, the least she could do was take the cans out for them. Finally, she sent a message back. ‘No, I will. I love you, honey.’

‘Thanks. No need to make such a big deal about them. Love you too.’

------

Teresa hovered a few hundred yards above the small, tropical island below. From her position, she could see the entirety of the island and the ‘ocean’ that surrounded it. In the current view, she could see the white lines that made up the invisible walls stopping the players from going too far out. The ‘island’ itself was just a small patch of sand for the moment.

A small message hovered in the air to her right, the list of requirements by her client. The first was simple enough. ‘Hot tub’. Personally, she didn’t see the reason to HAVE a ‘hot tub’ in a virtual reality beach. But then, she was just the creator, not the decider. If they wanted her opinion, they’d have asked. She tapped on a few of the menus with her left hand, before holding down one of the invisible buttons. Her right index finger then reached out, sliding along the air. Below, the island began to slowly shape itself at her direction. On the northern end of the island, three large, circular pillars began to form. With a few quick taps of her finger, their tops hollowed to a depth of a few feet, before filling with steaming water. She eyed them a few more moments, before pulling both hands back and tapping away at her options.

Satisfied, she then started drawing her right hand along the air, the island shaping to her whims. Before long the basic outline was finished. The three pillars were now three hot tubs, the first a few feet above the surface, with each going a bit higher then the prior. Starting from the last one, the water overflowed, creating a small waterfall effect that flowed out and across the island, as well as into the lower hot tubs. At the very base of the three pillars was a very small, crystal clear river that flowed through the island and out into the ocean. She then reached out and eliminated the lower areas of each ‘pillar’, so they hovered in the air. Small, but bright, flowers decorated each one, making the soft, tropical atmosphere complete.

Teresa smiled at her creation, before lowering herself to the ground and walking around her design. She snapped her fingers and the water stopped flowing. She looked it up and down, searching for some signs of imperfections. Any glitches or data loss. She had to modify a few of the colors and adjust a little bit of the foliage to make it perfect, but soon she was satisfied. She then quickly adjusted the controls, allowing the temperature to be altered by the menu of anyone who stepped inside, though it would only adjust it for them.

Her eyes then wandered back to the list that followed her everywhere. There were still a dozen different requirements listed on it. She gave a sigh, before pinching the bridge of her nose. It had been such a small part, but a quick glance at the clock told her it had taken her almost two hours to code and shape everything. Perhaps it was time for a break. She tapped on the log out function.

Once again, she awoke on her bed. This time, however, it wasn’t nearly as disorienting. Primarily because ‘her body’ was the same as her body in reality. “Honey?” she called out.

“Are you almost done?” William asked from the other room. She let out a soft sigh. She could smell something cooking. Eggs? “Its been almost four hours.”

She sighed and slid off the bed. “No, I’ve only just started. I’m taking a break,” she muttered, before walking into the other room, eyeing him. He was sitting on the couch, watching a sitcom she didn’t recognize. “Sorry, I hope you’re not feeling lonely.”

“Not really. You’re almost done, right?”

Teresa gave a soft sigh. She would have sworn she just said no to that. “No. I told you, I’ve only just started. Custom commissions like this take a lot of time.” She walked into the kitchen and, to her disappointment, found that the frying pan was dirty and in the sink, with a dirty plate on top of it. There didn’t seem to be anything to eat out. Her stomach growled in objection. She buried the disappointment down, though. He had no way of knowing when she’d be out, there wasn’t any reason for him to make her anything. “I’m going to cook something, are you hungry?”

“Actually, yeah. I made some eggs, but I could really go for actual lunch. Why’s it taking you so long? Just generate some island and send it off. Or use one of your pre-fabs. Isn’t that why you make those things?”

Teresa took a long, slow breath. She wouldn’t be paid nearly as much if she could just send something she’d already built. “It’s not quite that easy. We’ve talked about this. My pre-fabs are just mass produced. Custom orders like this can take weeks to do. I only just finished the--”

He gave an exasperated sigh. “You overthink these things all the time. But fine, if it makes you happy. If it is going to take so long, you should have taken a bigger down payment.”

She pulled out a pot, filling it with water before hauling it to the stove. She carefully went over her word choices, before turning on the heat. “I know. But it was what they offered. I’ll be being paid in installments, again. Just please be patient, okay? It’s not like we have any big expenses coming up.”

“Actually...” his voice came from the other room and she felt her stomach drop. Had something bad happened? Was there something wrong with his car? She quickly did some mental tallies. How much money did they have saved? Would they be okay? “Remember my friend from work? James? Lives down the street?”

“Yes? Did something happen to him? Is he okay?” she asked, turning the heat on high and walking into the living room to see him.

“Oh, he’s fine. We went down to the market while you were playing games. You know how he collects those old models? Those robots? He found one from the vendors. Cost a lot, but I figured I still owed him for everything.”

Her eyes widened. “What? How much are we talking about? Why didn’t you talk to me about it?”

“I’m talking about it now. You were playing your games.”

“You could have called me! I wasn’t playing anything, I was working.”

“You asked me to not call you while you were working, remember? Unless it was an emergency? Do I really need to come and ask for permission every time I try to do something nice?”

Her cheeks went a little red and she shook her head. She supposed it didn’t really qualify as an emergency. “Well, no, I just would have liked to know. You could have sent me a text message.”

“You do know. I told you as soon as I saw you.”

Teresa gave a sigh before nodding. Even if it had been shocking in the moment, he did tell her the moment he saw her. It would hardly be fair to get annoyed over that. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have gotten upset.” She moved over, sitting next to him. Slowly, her hand reached out and rested on his knee. She felt a smile toying on her lips, though. Buying a friend of his something like that? It really was generous. She always felt he was so giving. She slowly leaned against him, eyeing the television. “Thanks for putting up with me.”

“Always, babe. You’re a lot of work, but you’re worth it. Besides, it’s just money. You need to remember that,” he said, before reaching out and gently tapping her nose. She blushed and gave a light giggle, staring up at him.

“So, I’m thinking some chicken soup? We need to use the chicken before it goes bad.”

He gave a light laugh, before nodding. “Sure. Just try not to burn it this time, okay?”

Her cheeks went scarlet. “I haven’t done that in years.”

“I know how forgetful you are.”

She sighed. “Fair.” She, grudgingly, pulled away from him to head back to the kitchen.