Aaron quickly sat up becoming nervous from lying on Enae’s lap. As he sits up he feels he still feels the numbing pain but doesn’t know where its coming from.
Aaron thought to himself, “Wait when did I log in… did I fall asleep playing. No I was just at my classes…”
Enae said with a worried voice, “Aaron are you alright?”
Aaron looked back at Enae, “of Corse I am… though when did I get here.”
“you don’t remember… well you just got back and its been a while since I could see or hear you.”
She quickly lunged forward and gave Aaron a tight hug.
“your hugging me to tight… I can’t breath!”
She quickly leaned back with a smile on her face before squeezing his hand with her own.
“I am now able to hold your hand,” She said happily.
Aarons flushed a bright red as Enae continued to hold his hand. He thought of pulling his hand back out of nervousness but left it there as he looked at her smiling face.
“Um…” Aaron tried to think of what to say to her when a window popped up.
GM Video Chat Enabled!
Mythical Legends GM and Developer would like you to join a video chat.
This confused Aaron… Why would anyone want to talk to me let alone someone that helped develop the game?
Aaron looked over to Enea who had moved to his side at looked at the window.
“What is a GM or a Developer… also what is a video chat?”
Aaron scratched at the back of his head, “That’s a bit complicated. GM is short for ‘Game Master’, they keep an eye on the players of a game and make sure all rules are being followed.”
Enae seemed to understand what he said but it just confused her even more, “and a Developer?”
Aaron, “there are many different types of developers but this message means a game developer or someone who creates games.”
Enae seemed lost from his answers so before she could ask more he went on.
“And Video chat is a form of communication… let me show you.”
Aaron quickly tapped the accept chat button at the bottom of the window. The window quickly grew in size before turning into a floating screen. On the screen a man wearing a lab coat and had messy hair sat at a desk. Behind him where a few more monitors and a door. Aaron could barely make out a few pod like machines he knew as capsules before the man began to speech.
Max coughed, “Hello Alan my… my name is Max I am a developer from Mythical Legends Studios.”
Aaron became nervous, “Um is there something you need from me Mr. Max.”
He quickly shook his head, “please don’t use Mr. it… it would be doctor Max but you can use just Max if you like.”
Aaron looked down a bit embarrassed, “um what is it you want Max”
“that’s better. Well Alan I bet you have some questions right now that you want answered.”
Aaron became even more confused, “questions? Right now I’m confused why a developer would be contacting me.”
Max shook his head for a moment, “Memory loss that can be expected from such an accident.”
“What do you mean from an accident I was only at my classes a few minutes ago.”
Max coughed, “I’m sorry about this Alan but you are currently at a medical facility from a hit and run.”
Aaron saw two truck lights flash before his eyes.
“That’s not possible I was just in…”
Enae put an arm on his shoulder, “Aaron…”
He quickly brushed her arm off his shoulder and stood up, the screen moving with him.
Max pressed a few buttons and another window popped up next to the screen.
“I’m sorry but it’s true Alan just look.”
Aaron looked at the new screen. There he was bandaged up and connected to machines and monitors inside an altered capsule.
He began to shake his head back and forth, “this can’t be real.”
Aaron quickly walked down the path trying to turn away from the screen’s but they continued to move with him.
Aaron was once again walking down along the winding road.
“Aaron Look out!”
he quickly shook his head and he was back in the courtyard with screen’s in front of him.
“Alan this is real! You where in the hospital for over a day before your family transferred you to this facility.”
“Why… what …” Aaron was fumbling with what to say as the accident continued to unfold before his eyes over and over. Tears began to roll down his cheeks as his breathing increased.
“Aaron are you ok!”
Enae grabbed Aaron turned him around to face her and looked at him with worry.
“Is it true?”
A tear rolled down from her eye, “I don’t know about what all he is talking about but some… kind of contraption with lights hit you while you where talking to me through the strange window.”
“The App.”
“yes Alan you were using our app when the accident happened.”
“What happened to me?” Aaron asked though already knew.
“From what we could tell you… you were hit by a truck before being thrown into a tree from the impact. The damage was sa… severe. Your arm and legs where broken along with some damage to your ribs.”
Aaron’s hands shook so he closed them trying to stop it, “then why am I not awake in the hospital.”
Max looked down from the monitor, “you also received a concussion… we are not sure how bad the damage currently is. We have another doctor coming in to have a look.”
“Am… am I in a coma?”
he shook his head, “we don’t know for sure but since the incident you have not woken up.”
Aaron stood there unsteadily with his legs wanting to give out. Enae quickly lead Aaron to a nearby stone bench he did not see before.
“I’m sorry to put… put you through this but I would like to ask you some questions about the accident.”
“why do you… why should I.”
“we’re working with the po… police trying to find the people that did this to you.”
Aaron nodded his head, “what would you like to ask?”
Max looked down at a piece of paper, “the police gave me a list of questions… um the first is do you know what type of truck hit you?”
He shook his head, “no I’m not good with truck types and it was dark.”
Max wrote something before asking another, “do you know what color of the truck is?”
“it…” Aaron thought back reliving the accident over again, “it was red I think, dark red.”
Max continued to write and ask questions as he went down the list.
“Well that’s it for questions…” he looked at another monitor, “oh it look’s like your family would like to talk to you.”
Aaron froze worried about how this whole thing has affected them, “how are they?”
Max smiled in reassurance, “Their worried about you. Do you want to talk to them?”
“Ok hold on a moment I’ll switch them over.”
Enae had slowly switched from holding his hand to hugging his to her. As he looked at her his face turned a bright red.
“It would be nice to meet your family.”
He quickly nodded his head unable to say another word.
A moment later the screen turned to an image of his family sitting on the couch back home. Krystle and his stepfather sat there with droopy eyes as if they had not been able to sleep for a while. Cassidy was wears pajamas like she always did when at home also sat next to Krystle. His stepbrother sat there with an irritated look on his face.
Krystle look confused, “Is that you Alan?”
He quickly nodded his head, “yes its me mom.”
“you look a different.”
He looked down at himself, “Oh this is my avatar from Mythical Legends.”
His stepfather spoke up, “is that the video game that… you’ve been playing.”
Cassidy jumped in before Alan could answer, “obviously!”
“Cassidy please don’t interrupt…”
Alan quickly shook his head, “don’t worry about it and she’s right it’s the virtual reality game I’ve been playing for almost three months now.”
His mother spoke quickly, “How do you feel?”
“I feel fine mom…” she stared at him making him feel uneasy, “Just a light numbing pain nothing serious.”
“Nothing serious you almost died!”
He quickly looked down from the screen not knowing what to say back to her.
His stepfather tried to calm her down, “Please he was just trying not to worry you.”
She sighed, “I know… I’m sorry I yelled at you Alan it’s… It’s just been hard on us.”
Aaron nodded still looking down, “I know.”
He looked back up noticing that his stepbrother looked pissed looking towards Enae’s side of the screen.
“who is that with you little bro.”
Aaron quickly looked over at Enae, “Um, this is Enae… a goddess from…”
He could not finish as his family stared at the screen causing a long pause.
Enae quickly ended the silence, “Hello like Aaron said my name is Enae and I am the one of the Goddesses of this realm. Um it’s nice to meet you.”
Enae’s face turned bright red which Aaron thought was from nervousness.
“it’s nice to meet you to Enae… have you been taking of my son, Wait did you just call him Aaron?!”
“Yes I’ve been helping him and ah…”
“sorry about that mom here I named my character Aaron.”
“Then is she an NPC?” Cassidy chirped in.
Aaron rubbed the back of his head with his free hand, “Um you can say that though I don’t see it that way.”
[Kris jumped in to Aaron’s head, “Hay Aaron your Alright! I was getting worried about you.”]
[Laee joined in, “Oh Aaron I…” hiccup, “I knew you would be fine.”]
[“it’s nice to hear from you two but right now is not the best time to talk.”]
[Kris sounded irritated from the comment, “Here we were worried about you and that’s how to talk to use.”]
[“I’m sorry I didn’t mean it that way I’m just in the middle of talking to my family right now.”]
[“oh were are you right now.”]
[“I’m in Enae’s domain right now.”]
[hiccup, “I’ll bring a few drinks.”]
“Are you ok Alan?” his mother said worried.
“I’m fine someone was just whispering to me.”
“oh if that’s all it is…”
Aaron continued to talk to his family for a few minutes. They talked about how the family was and that they were all worried about him though they stayed away from talking about the accident as much as possible.
As they started to change to another topic Aaron noticed a light emanating from across the courtyard. As the light faded he noticed Kris and Laee stepping off the magic circle he had once used before.
Kris laughed, “I haven’t been here in a long time.”
“I cant wait to drink with Aaron its been a while.”
“It’s only been a few days you ideate.” Kris slapped the back of Laee’s head.
His family noticed the flash to but did not see what it was from or the new comers.
“Alan what was that.”
“hunny it could have just been the screen.”
Aaron looked back at the screen, “sorry that was just a few of my friends arriving.“
Enae Pouted as she watched the other two goddesses headed towards their direction. The two continued to argue back and forth as they came closer. Aaron began to worry what might happen and how his family would think about it. Enae just tightened her grip on his arm pressing her body even closer to him.
This just seemed to piss Aaron’s stepbrother off even more. The rest of the family each had different thoughts about what Enae was doing.
Aarons stepfather reacted first, “well we should let you get some rest.”
“hold on I would like to talk to my son some more and meet his friends.”
Cassidy just shook her head and stood up, “Mom I need to get some sleep.”
“Don’t you want to talk to your brother some more?”
“No I’m tired and I haven’t gotten much sleep since before the accident.”
“Ok then off to bed you go… well some sleep does sound good.”
Cassidy quickly walked out of sight of the screen as the two goddesses got even closer to Aaron. As soon as they where a few feet away Laee jumped and hugged Aaron almost nocking them to the ground.
“oh how I’ve misssed you myy dear Aaron.”
“Get off him!” both Kris and Enae yelled.
Aaron’s family was startled by the commotion of the goddesses starting to fight over Aaron. They stared and continued to watch as Kris grabbed Laee’s hair and pulled her head back. Enae tried to pull Aaron away out of the other twos reach while Laee tightened her grip.
Kris continued to yank on Laee’s hair while Laee freed one hand from hugging onto Aaron and threw a fireball at Kris nocking her back a few feet but still standing. Most of Kris’s body was blackened by soot and ash from the fireball.
“let go of him you pest Aaron is mine.”
Enae yelled, “no he is my chosen!”
Laee was about to yell something back as Kris summoned her holly hammer and slammed it into her. She went flying back over the bench and landed in the flowerbed behind Aaron and Enae. Lowered her hammer to the side and kissed Aarons cheek as Laee got back up. Kris quickly ran towards Laee in the flower bed raiser her hammer to block an ice shard that Laee launched.
Aaron yelled, “Can you two stop ripping apart the garden!”
They didn’t listen to him as Laee jumped at Kris tackling her to the ground. Enae quickly jumped up to go and stop them from doing any more damage. Aaron shook his head before nervously looking back at the screen.
His family sat there in total shock most of them with their mouths hanging open except his stepbrother. His face was a livid red showing complete anger at Aaron. He quickly stood up on the screen.
“What the heck is that?! You rotten son of a bitch I should kill you right now.”
Aaron’s stepbrother had yelled so loud that the Goddesses heard it and stopped their fight to look back at the screen.
“Who cares about you pest all you can do is get close to NPC’s. No one likes you, your whole family has to put up with all your shit. You should have died in that accident it would have made life on your family a Lot easier.”
“That’s enough Andrew.”
Andrew turned to his father, “it will never be enough he ruined our lives one to many times!”
“I don’t want to hear this from a college drop out now get out!” Aarons mother yelled with spittle flying from her mouth.
Andrew starred at Her not moving an inch.
“I said get out!” she was in a full on rage mode he whole body shacking with anger.
Andrew stood there a moment longer before nocking some books off of a side table and marching off. Krystle and Aarons stepbrother stared at him as he let and turned back to each other after a door slammed.
The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
“I can’t take much more from your son he has beaten Alan so many times he almost…” she could not finish her sentence and looked at the ground while releasing a breath.
Aaron’s stepfather looked sad, “I’ll go talk to him.”
Krystle looked at him as he left before turning to the screen.
“I’m sorry about that Ala…”
Aaron quickly hit the disconnect button on the screen as tears began streaming from his eyes. He stood there a moment before he noticed Enae wan hugging him tightly to her.
Kris looked angry but also concerned, “Who was that Loser.”
“He’s my stepbrother… He’s always been like that.”
Laee looked like she wanted to hit something, “If I ever get my handsss on him he’s dead.”
Enae loosened her hug and looked at Aaron, “don’t worry about what he said no one thinks that about you.”
“That’s where your wrong most of my family and many of the people I know have said similar things.”
The three Goddesses looked at him sadly, “Don’t worry about what they think Aaron your perfectly fine the way you are.”
Laee grabbed a small bucket size barrel and popped the cork out of it.
“come on Aaron you could use a drink.”
“I’ve told you before that I’m underage and I wouldn’t want to drink my worries away.”
She still grabbed four mugs and filled them to the rim while Kris stepped close to him.
“we are always here when you need us.”
Aaron smiled at them “thank you.”
Laee shoved one of the mugs into his hands before handing the other mugs to Kris and Enae. Laee quickly chugged before giving a relaxing sigh.
“that hitsss the sspot.”
Enae and Aaron began to sip at their own drinks as Kris stared at the mug in her hand with irritation.
“I’ve sure missed drinking these over the years.” Enae said after a long sip.
“Well I can’t stand the stuff.” Kris said after her tiny first sip.
“when was the last time we were all together like this?”
Kris, “well its been a couple thousand years but who’s keeping count.”
They laughed and continued to chat about how things have changed until Aaron had another window pop up with a message from Max. Aaron quickly accepted and the screen of Max’s office popped back up.
“I hope you had… Had a nice time talking to your family.”
Aaron shook his head, “it was ok.”
“that’s good well I just wanted to go over a few details before you go out into the game.”
Aaron looked confused before nodding his head.
“well the first thing is that we will be monitoring your health heart reading to brain scans for anything that comes up.”
“usual hospital procedure isn’t it?” Aaron asked
“Well that’s just the ba… basics of it we will also be monitoring your game activity and performance.”
“why do you need that?”
“the medical capsules are still being tested and improved for future medical use. The company would also like to monitor it for any new developments and changes in game.”
“so I’m just part of your experiment.”
“no, no the basic tests are done and ready for medical use but we hope to improve upon it.”
“ok I’m being monitored and recorded is their anything else I need to know?”
“oh you… you will be logged out at certain times to see if your able to wake up. If you don’t wake up for over an hour or two we will log you back in unless one of your doctors says otherwise.”
Aaron thought over it before asking, “will you be logging me out in the middle of a quest or combat?”
Max shook his head, “No we… we will not log you out until you are asleep in game time so a maximum of four times a day we will log you out and at least once every two days.”
“sounds good to me and thanks again Max.”
“your welcome Alan, talk to you again later.”
Max pressed a button and the window vanished.
“it seems I’ve lost all my privacy privleges.”
Laee, “what do you mean by that.”
“Well I’m being monitored 24/7, recorded and… “
[“I have you guys in my head.”]
Kris, “We do respect your privacy.”
Aaron laughed, “well at least you only peak into my head because your worried about me.”
Kris’s face flushed, “I do not!”
They all laughed and continued to sip at the mugs. Aaron then asked Kris and Laee what was happening on Tellus since he was currently stuck in the underworld. It turns out that the war in the Deathly Isles has calmed down with only a single skirmish before his accident. Jonathan and Riclamin were preparing some forces to head over to the northern Island.
Opal has also been using her Pirates to monitor the coasts and oceans for any trouble. They also had received some news from the Continent that the central kingdoms were at full-scale war making many other kingdoms nervous and readying forces for defense.
Some of the other religions factions were also starting to make moves against each other and forming alliances. The heavenly realms have also pushed back an incursion from some underworld forces. Everyone thought it had to do something with the Dark Lord but were not sure what to make of all of it.
“A lot has happened since I got stuck in the Underworld.”
Kris asked, “So how are you going to get back to Tellus.”
Aaron shook his head, “I can’t yet… I’m in a difficult position right now but we need Kraet and her demon clan if we plan to stop the Dark Lord.”
Kris, “I don’t like it but your right we need the other goddesses to stop him. Well what should the rest of us do that are stuck here in Tellus.”
“we’ll keep moving our forces across the northern Island until we push the dark Lords forces off it. The southern Island we need to keep improving the defenses and the needs of the citizens. We also need to increase goods production to support our current and future needs.”
Laee, “All we need is mead.”
Kris, “that may be all that you need but the rest of use need more to sustain us. But Aaron are you sure about increasing costs with out raising taxes?”
Laee Laughed before gulping down the rest of her mug.
“yes Kris if we raise the tax’s anymore we would be upsetting many of the Islands citizens. I believe we still have time before the dark lord really begins to move.”
Enae nodded, “we still have time the dark lord does not seem ready to make a full push or committing all of his forces.”
Aaron continued to think about what else to do when he noticed the flowerbed that Laee and Kris had ripped apart.
“Enae what should we do with the flower bed?”
Enae looked over at it to, “oh this should fix it.”
She waved her hand and the ripped apart bead reassembled it’s self until it looked like it had never been touched.
Aaron starred at it a moment remembering that he had partial control over the domain. He quickly opened the Domain’s control window.
“it look’s like I have enough faith points to add to the domain.”
Enae, “oh I would love that. Being stuck here only in the courtyard is nice and all but I really would like to bring it back to its former glory.”
Aaron quickly looked over the list of options available. He could add a library, Armory, Forge, Chapel, expand the garden, a great hall, Kitchen… the list went on in on to the point he could make a small city or massive citadel like the one he was at in the underworld.
Aaron continued to think over what to do for a moment before selecting the library that cost 500 faith, he then added the extension to the garden for 200 points. Looking over it some more he added a lounge for 300 points and a training field that also cost 300. The last thing he added was the kitchen costing 200 points when he thought about Enae missing things such as Laee’s mead.
As he closed the window the changes started at one end of the courtyard garden a two-story building began to rise from the ground. Aaron quickly looked around and saw railings to a wide stone staircase at the other end appear.
Aaron quickly walked to the other end of the courtyard and looked down the stairs. Rows upon rows of garden beds appeared some with flowers others with vegetables and herbs. Further out rows of fruit trees rose from the ground before reaching a wide open square and balcony on an edge of a cliff looking down onto empty space. The open square had a few targets, straw men, and empty weapon racks.
They walked down the rows and paths leading through the new garden. Enae even grabbed a fruit from a tree biting into it with a smile. After looking over the garden for awhile they went back to the building.
Aaron opened the double doors leading into the massive library that seemed to be the size of a football stadium filled with ancient books and even a few that looked new near the door. Upon close inspection Aaron noticed they where copy’s of the few books he’s read and gathered.
They slowly walked down the rows of books towards the far end. Enae and Kris pointed out books that they once use to read long ago. As they reached the far end of the library they came to another set of double doors. Enae ran to them and threw them open and went in.
As Aaron stepped through the door he saw Enae sit down into one of the many cushioned chairs. There were couches, chairs and tables all around the room. In the center of the room was a massive circular fireplace that was already going. It’s chimney stretching to the ceiling. Four massive beams stuck out of it like a gun scopes cross hairs. In a large square around the chimney as its center was a massive skylight with light flooding in but no sky on the other side.
Aaron looked around the room and noticed another set of doors on the right side this time. He walked to them and opened them up. There was the last addition he made the kitchen. He looked around at the multiple stone ovens, tables and counters. Unused pots and pans were organized and ready to use. There was even a massive stocked pantry on one side of the room.
The others soon followed him in, “this brings back memorys.” Enae laughed.
Kris looked around before stepping up to a cupboard, “I remember making food here once.”
Laee took a sip of wine that she had found, “and it wasss a failed attempt if youuu cant remember.”
Kris laughed, “what about all they times we found you sleeping on a table covered in empty bottles, glasses and mugs even a few empty barrels of mead.”
“now thossse were the daysss.”
Enae shook her head, “and everyday you wined about having a headache after dinking a full cupboard of alcohol.”
Aaron continued to look around thinking the whole layout of the place seemed like they were only sections of a palace. The kitchens even seemed like they could feed hundreds if not a few thousand. He then turned back to the goddesses who seemed to have a good time together remembering the past.
Aaron eventually joined into the conversation as they went back to the lounge. They sat there talking a few hours until Aaron thought he needed to get back to the underworld.
“Do you know how I can get back to the underworld.”
This ended their happy conversation and brought them back to the present.
Enae nodded sadly, “You can return from the magic circle since your body is still there.”
“what do you mean my body’s still there?” he asked.
“You know how you disappear for hours well when you are in a hotel or a bed room you are assigned or own your body still remains.”
“what my body remains when I log out!”
“if that’s what you call it then yes your body is still in Kraet’s guest chambers.”
“I need to get back.”
Kris shook her head, “what’s the hurry.”
“there are some demon’s there that would like me gone and might even attempt to kill me… wait if my body’s there then why do I have a body here?”
Enae lead the way as they went through the library.
“right now this is only a projection of yourself into my domain. You would be able to do this in your sleep if you practiced.”
New ability Acquired!
Astral projection – ability allowing user to leave body for a time and interact with the world.
Aaron closed the window and quickly followed the three Goddesses out to the courtyard and to the magic circle. He quickly stepped onto it and turned to the goddesses… they all looked sad but ready to get back to work.
Kris stepped forward first, “you better not leave me alone for long.”
“don’t worry I’ll be back, oh and save me some undead to kill.”
Kris laughed, “I cant promise you that.”
Laee was drinking more from the wine bottle she found, “hurry back so we can drink together again.”
“I will but please no more alcohol. “
she drank some more, “Can’t promise that either.”
“I didn’t expect you would.”
The other two laughed as Laee spat out a mouthful of wine in shock before coughing.
Enae quickly stepped forward and hugged him, “I’ll miss being able to hug you or hold your hand.”
Aaron’s face flushed and could not reply as Enae began reciting a cantation. She smiled at him as she finished and the ring began to glow a blinding light. The next thing he knew it was completely dark before he noticed that his eyes were closed.
He opened them to the worried face of Kraet.
“I’ve been worried sick I came in here two days ago to check on you and you… you wouldn’t wake up.”
Aaron sat up, “I’m sorry I didn’t mean to worry you I was just um… oh it was called astral Projection. I was projecting myself into Enae’s domain after I fell asleep.”
Another demon stepped forward, “that explains the symptoms milady now if you excuse me I have more patients to see.”
The demon quickly left the room and closed the door behind him. Aaron looked at the door a moment before looking back at Kraet.
Kraet laughed, “Are you crazy I was worried sick since you wouldn’t wake up.”
Aaron rubbed the back of his head, “Sorry but I didn’t even know what was happening to myself the last couple day’s.”
Kraet asked, “first time Projecting yourself.”
He lowered his head, “yes.”
“your lucky most would not have been able to do that without a teacher guiding them and keeping them from getting lost.