“Quite a character, that one,” Richard said, munching on some potato crisps we’d had delivered to our door. One of the perks of renting the penthouse suite—24/7 concierge. Didn’t even have to pay for room service.

“Certainly is,” I said, kicking my legs up on an empty chair and clasping my hands behind my head. The elf had been quite persuasive… Probably because his plea came across as genuine to the core.

Aerion, Richard, and I were currently relaxing around a reed table on our balcony that overlooked the street below. While it wasn’t quite the epic view Sinclair had from his solarium, I couldn’t complain. Sounds of the city drifted up to us, but not so much that we couldn’t hold a conversation. It made for a nice ambiance, and the shade above our heads protected us from the hot, muggy sun.

“So? What shall we do?” Aerion asked, delicately placing a crisp into her mouth.

I leaned back in my chair and stared up at the clear blue sky. “We just got out of a life-and-death struggle… I’d be lying if I said I wanted to dive into another dangerous scenario. That said, we’ve got a duty to end the Cataclysms, and as we’ve learned firsthand, sparring and friendly training only gets us so far. If we want to survive… If we want to save lives, we need to get as strong as we can as fast as we can.”

Aerion nodded gravely.

“Looking at it that way, we’ve got no reason to refuse, yeah? Besides, we’ve still got a week to relax,” I said, popping a crisp into my own mouth. It wasn’t quite as good as the potato chips on Earth, but it was close enough that it satiated that itch, so to speak. “Only question is… What’s Richard going to do?”

“Your words ring true, Greg,” Richard said. “Even so, I doubt subjugating a band of rogue elves hiding out in some forest is what Passion has in store for me. As much as I love your company, I’m afraid I’ll have to bow out.”

“Figured you’d say that,” I replied, unconcerned. Richard had very few reasons for joining us on this mission. “Still, we’ll be traveling northeast from Basecrest. Same direction you’re headed if you want to get back to Passion’s territory.”

Richard’s normally jovial expression fell, and he glared at me. “You’re not suggesting what I think you’re suggesting, are you?”

I respected the gravity of the situation by sitting up, my back ramrod straight, and leveled his gaze with one of my own. “I do.”

“Well, then,” Richard said, his tone as cold as ice.

“I don’t understand,” Aerion said, standing up in panic. “What’s the matter?”

“Well, then,” I echoed, ignoring the panicking Reaver.

“I guess I’ll be traveling with you awhile yet, friend!” Richard said, moving toward me and clapping my shoulder.

“Guess so!” I replied, beaming.

We broke out laughing at the same time, which left Aerion crossing her arms and staring daggers at us.

“Why the long face, Aerion?” Richard asked in between fits of laughter.

“I swear,” she grumbled. “One of you was bad enough. What have I done to deserve this!”

To everyone’s surprise, Richard moved over and gave the diminutive elf a brief hug. “Thank you, Aerion, for all you do. Truly. It’s not fair to you that we behave this way, and for that I am deeply sorry.”

“No! It’s fine! I’m glad!” Aerion squeaked, her voice muffled by Richard’s chest. Her ears had turned bright red, and though I couldn’t see the rest of her face, I was sure it matched.

“To the Sylvanglade, then!” I said, raising a potato crisp. “Though, I suppose it won’t exactly be a field trip if we take Sinclair up on his protection detail offer.”

“Must we?” Richard groaned, finally releasing Aerion from her agony. “Coin’s of no concern to any of us, yeah? Not like we need employment.”

“Well, if these elves are preying upon caravans, guarding them would make it easy for Aerion and I to find them,” I said, scratching my cheek. “Plus, I’d feel bad if they were attacked and killed.”

Richard let out a breath. “Well then, that’s that. If you lot are going, I s’pose the matter’s settled. I’ll tag along until you’ve neared the forest. When did the good baron say the caravan’s due to leave?”

“A week from today,” I said. “Which is good, because we need to make that appearance the Baron was talking about. And, I don’t know about you, but I need some time to get my things in order.”

And to say ‘hi’ and ‘bye’ to a few friends, I didn’t add. I owed it to Philip to at least pop my face in and tell them I was alive. As for Rogar… he wasn’t the sort of guy you just ghosted without expecting retaliation. I’d rather not sow bad karma right now.

“Right, s’ppose you do,” Richard said. “Not to mention raiding the baron’s armory.”

“You sure you don’t want to come with?” I asked. “Not too late to tell the Baron who you are.”

“After the bugger strong-armed you lot into making a public appearance? I think not! Besides, Passion’s got all the weapons and armor I could ever want. Not like I’ve much use for swords, anyway, with my power.”

“Good point,” I said, cringing at the thought of being put on display like Eskil. Judging from how Aerion looked like she’d just drank sour milk, I was sure she was thinking the same.

And then there was the matter of all my recent windfalls. Aerion and I still had to ‘raid’ the Baron’s armory, as Richard put it, and I still hadn’t turned my Basecrest armor into a [Set].

Not to mention all the other stuff, like Initializing whatever I got in the armory, Initializing Aerion’s Aurora, her Soulkeeper, and, if I had enough spare Essence after all that, Rocky.

“Well, friend,” I said, standing up. “Seems like there’s lots to be done, and precious little time to do it. Aerion and I are scheduled to enter Sinclair’s vault later today, and we’re supposed to appear for the procession later this week, which doesn’t leave all that much time to get this stuff done. I suggest we hop to it.”

----------------------------------------

First up on our agenda was clearing out my Spatial Inventory and reconfiguring it for the journey ahead. And since Richard had left to go run some errands of his own—something about getting his clothing repaired—we had the whole penthouse to ourselves.

Which of course meant the large living area was now littered with ration bars, waterskins, and all sorts of odds and ends I thought I’d need in the dungeon, but didn’t end up using. Blankets, spare clothes, socks, underwear, and much more.

“I’ll be honest,” Aerion said. “We won’t need nearly as much food as we have here.”

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

“Sure, but my spatial inventory just got some upgrades. I can fit it all without much trouble. I could even fit you,” I said, glancing sidelong at my elf friend.

Aerion turned to me and frowned. “What do you mean? What’s with that look?”

“What look?”

“The one that says you’re about to do something I won’t like!”

I felt a smirk come onto my face. “Well, you’re not wrong… As I said, my inventory just got upgraded. I can fit more stuff now… But I can also fit living, er… beings.” I said, not wanting to call Aerion a weapon. “Living beings I’ve Initialized.”

Aerion’s brow shot up. “And why, pray tell, would you ever wish to do such a thing?”

“Uh, you kidding?” I asked, genuinely unsure if she was messing with me.

“No?” Aerion said. “Why would you think that?”

“Because the applications are endless,” I said. “Just imagine popping out on an unsuspecting enemy, [Reave] activated. They wouldn’t stand a chance! You want to talk about the element of surprise? Well, it doesn’t get better than this.”

Comprehension dawned upon Aerion, and her eyes widened. “Or, you could put me in there when I pass out!”

“Exactly!” I said, getting excited. Her vulnerability had always been Aerion’s biggest concern with [Reave]. Now, we had a solution. “Or hell, if we practice it and we happen to be close, you might even be able to dodge incoming attacks by slipping in and out of that space. I dunno… We’ll have to test it.”

“Well?” Aerion said, grabbing my hands with an excited grin. “What are we waiting for?”

----------------------------------------

“Okay, before we give this a whirl, there’s something you need to know, first,” I said, broaching the one part of all of this that could bring everything crashing down.

“Yes?” Aerion asked, looking up at me.

“Well, why don’t you read the description yourself?”

I waited as Aerion pulled up my status screen and skimmed over the text.

Spatial Inventory

An inventory you can store stuff in and pull stuff out of. Might even keep perishables fresh! Good for storing weapons, armor, and maybe even little people. Size: 4ft x 4ft x 4ft. 80 lb Weight Capacity.

Living weapons may now be stored inside the Spatial Inventory. NOTE: Significant trauma may occur if organisms are stored for extended periods of time.

[Launch]: Aim and fire objects from your Spatial Inventory at moderate speeds. Launched objects cannot be intercepted or stopped until they have fully exited the Spatial Inventory.

Aerion’s eyes froze exactly where I thought they would. “What does this mean?” she asked, voice wavering slightly.

“I honestly don’t know,” I said, pursing my lips. “I don’t know how long this trauma takes to manifest, or what it’ll feel like. If you want to back out, just say the word. If I could stick myself in my inventory, I would, but I already tried that and I can’t.”

“I’ll do it,” Aerion said, almost before I’d finished speaking.

“Er, don’t you want to think about this?” I asked.

“This will keep me safe in fights,” she said without a trace of fear or doubt. “And it will better allow us to destroy Cataclysm forces.”

“That’s all true, but… Well, there’s no changing your mind once you decide on something, so I won’t try. But you need to promise me you’ll tell me, in detail, what it’s like. And when it gets too much. I’ll only let you in if you do.”

Aerion nodded. “I promise.”

“Okay, then… Here goes…”

I touched her shoulder and thought about sending her into the inventory space.

ERROR: Object does not fit in Spatial Inventory. Size: 4ft x 4ft x 4ft.

“Well, I should’ve expected that,” I muttered.

“What’s the matter?” Aerion asked, seeing my frown.

“It says you’re too large. The space is a 4 ft cube, and you’re a bit taller than that.”

“Shall I sit, then?”

“Worth a shot.”

Aerion sat on the ground and brought her knees up to her chest, hugging them. “Will this work?”

“We’re about to find out,” I said, kneeling next to her and touching her shoulder. I thought about placing her in my inventory, and this time, something happened.

A 4 ft square of infinite blackness appeared and swallowed Aerion in the course of a few seconds. Then it disappeared, taking her with it.

Opening my Status Screen, I brought up my inventory. Sure enough, Weapon:[Aerion] (Uncommon Soul) showed up alongside all my other stuff.

I wasted no time and summoned Aerion back out. Just like my weapons and gear, she appeared over the course of a second or two. Her left side appeared first, followed by the rest of her, as still as a statue.

A knot formed in my stomach. Was she alright? Was she stricken by fear? Or pain?

It was only when she was fully materialized that her body unfroze and she heaved in a deep breath.

“Aerion! You okay?”

Still holding her knees, she whipped her neck and looked up at me. “We need to talk.”

----------------------------------------

“Okay, so let me make sure I have this straight,” I said, sitting across from a slightly-spooked Aerion on the floor. “You can’t move your body even an inch in there. Which means you can’t breathe, either.”

“Correct.”

“But you don’t suffocate, because time’s frozen inside.”

“Yes. At least, it seemed that way.”

“But you are conscious?”

“No… Well, somewhat. ‘Tis the most bizarre sensation I have ever experienced, Greg,” Aerion said, pursing her lips. “When inside, my thoughts cease. I cannot think or breathe or move.”

“But you do experience the passage of time…” I said, growing more confused by the second.

“Yes. I retain enough awareness to know that time has passed.”

“I’ll admit, that makes very little sense to me,” I said, leaning back. I staring up at the ceiling as I tried to puzzle this out. “I’d have expected time to pass by in an instant. Kinda like how it is when you’re asleep. But this?”

“It is a most unusual sensation…” Aerion said. “I believe this might be the trauma the message was referring to.”

“Yeah, no kidding,” I said, trying to imagine what it was like. “Okay, I guess that cans that experiment. I’m truly sorry, Aerion. I won’t ever subject you to that again.”

Aerion frowned, giving me a confused look. “Whatever do you mean?”

“Uh, isn’t that what you want?” I asked, now equally confused.

“Why would you think that?” she said. “I said it was uncomfortable, but it doesn’t hurt. I am not physically injured.”

“No, but mentally…”

“Don’t misunderstand,” she said. “I would not wish to be kept in there for days on end. A few minutes, though? Perhaps even an hour? That I can manage.”

I gave Aerion a long, hard look. “I don’t like this,” I said.

“As you said, ‘tis too valuable not to explore,” Aerion replied. “Besides, I doubt I’ll experience any of this whilst unconscious. I imagine I won’t even be aware of it.”

“That’s… probably true,” I said, thinking it over. “You sure this is what you want?”

“Yes. At least, I would like to experiment with it a bit more.”

“Okay,” I said. “But we go slow and cautious, yeah?”

Aerion smiled. “Of course. And Greg?”

“Yeah?”

“Thank you. For your concern. It… means a great deal to me that you would feel that way.”

“Come on, Aerion. It’s what any friend would do,” I said, shaking my head. I was never much for pity, but it was hard not to feel bad for her.

Whatever childhood she’d lived, it clearly hadn’t been healthy or easy. I couldn’t even begin to guess at what all she must have experienced.

If only she had more friends—real friends, not contacts or acquaintances—she’d know that. But she never had. Not until now, anyway. I really hoped that would change in the future. Aerion deserved better.

I ruffled her hair and tried my best to smile.

“Now, c’mon. If you’re up for it, how about we try out this [Launch] ability?”

I’d always wanted to see a human cannon in action. Or, I guess it’d be an elf cannon in this case, wouldn’t it?