Before I could check on the kids’ memories, to make sure they were okay, Mira came barreling through the door, crying out, “DADDY, IT’S GOT COLE!!”
“Shit!!” I yelled out, then tried to check Cole’s memories to see where he’d last been, but…all I could see was Mira’s perspective of inspecting all of the different Landscapes. I took a deep breath, and tried to figure out what to do. Clearly, the Elemental was in one of the towns that I’d made, but Mira and I can’t split up to search them, or else it might get her too while I’m away. For the same reason, I can’t leave her here, or else it might come and get her while I’m gone. This means that we’ll have to go together. Cole had started at the beach, and was probably working his way towards Home so that he could meet up with me here, so I would do the opposite, starting at the closest town near me, Ghostfire Mountain, and working towards the furthest town away.
“Mira, grab on!” Without hesitation, she wrapped herself around my arm, and I waved my hand, bringing us to the bottom of the spiral staircase of my latest city, an artistic piece that I’m usually actually rather fond of, but in this particular situation…
“Fuck me and my goddamn incessant tinkering!!” I swore, looking out at all of the towers I’d have to inspect one by one. To make sure I didn’t miss one, I took them all one at a time, starting from the smallest towers and working my way towards the biggest one. Tower by tower, room by room, I searched, coming up empty every time. The longer we searched, the more erratic my heart was beating. With every door I closed I felt my throat closing up in response. Every time I was at the top of one tower and I moved to the bottom of another one, I felt my stomach falling deeper within me.
Is this…
What I’m feeling, is this…
Fear?
The longer Cole stayed unfound, the more restless my body seemed to become. Was the world trembling, or is it just my eyes? Did the world grow colder, or is it all in my head? The symptoms I’m experiencing all are in line with my understanding of ‘fear’, but… I’m not actually in danger? The only thing at risk right now is Cole, and while he does have his own personality, while he does ‘seem’ alive, and while I treat him and Mira like my kids…He’s not. At the end of the day, he’s just an Artificial Intelligence that I’d made, and if something happens to him, I can just remake him. Hell, I don’t even think he’d notice that anything happened, especially since I could give him an ingrained access to the room that houses all of his memories, so why…
Why…
Why am I so afraid of losing him?
What is this terror that something happened to my kid?
How am I feeling so affected when at the end of the day…there’s no real risk involved?
Is it because Cole is attached to a part of my soul? Am I worried that the Dream Elemental might work through his mind and latch onto my soul? But if that happens, I can just channel Desire’s Flame into my soul and burn it away, so it doesn’t make any sense for me to be worried about my own safety right now. Which means…am I just genuinely worried about Cole’s wellbeing? Even though he’s just an A.I. that I built to keep Mira company while I’m awake, even though I can just remake him if something happens…
Unbidden, various memories of the times that I’ve spent with Mira and Cole started playing in my head as we searched. Sitting on my chair, with Cole in his black cat form on my lap and mira coiled around my shoulders, as the three of us just relaxed. Mira grabbing Cole by the hand and leading him on one of her random adventures. Cole’s interest in learning how to wield a sword, and the spars that we’ve had while he was learning. The look of wonder on his face whenever I make a new cool plant for Mirage.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
It seems like…at some point, these two ended up meaning more to me than I thought. At some point, instead of pretending to be a Dad and his Two Kids…I think we actually became a little version of a family. It may all just be a dream, and none of it may actually be real in any conceivable way, but…if it’s real to me… then isn’t that enough? Isn’t that enough for me to care about it?
Honestly, it kinda sounds like borderline schizophrenia to me. Caring about something imaginary, with the justification that ‘it’s real to me’? That just sounds like the ramblings of a man in a padded room, but…that doesn’t stop it from being true.
These kids…
They may not be real…
They may just be A.I….
Fake…
Just a Dream…
But…
They’re MY Dream. My Family. The best one I’ve ever had. And as crazy or pathetic as it may be, that’s enough for me. That’s enough for me to care about them.
And as I made this determination, I opened yet another door, and found Cole, lying on the ground, seizing uncontrollably.
“COLE!!!” Mira shouted, as she flew towards her brother. I reached out to grab her tail, to stop her from risking herself and ending up in the same situation that Cole was in, but…her body fell limp in my hands.
“SHIT, MIRA!!!!!” I thought that the elemental had gotten her too, but…then I saw it. A formless cloud escaped from Mira’s head, a formless cloud that I recognized. Back when I first made Mira, I had constructed her consciousness and her body separately, and left the two pieces alone. It was in this state that Mira developed control over the formless cloud of her own mind, and managed to possess her own body, but due to this…She was never really fully integrated with it. Unlike Cole, who’s mind and body are perfectly unified, and he is one complete and holistic being, Mira is something more like a ghost, puppeteering her own body.
Apparently, Mira’s been keeping secrets from me, I never knew that she could do this. It seems as though this odd state of being has made it so that she can slip out of her physical body at will, and move around as just a pure consciousness, but…she doesn’t have any eyes like this, so how the hell can she see where she’s going?
Due to the fact that I don’t fully know what Cole’s going through right now, the fact that I apparently don’t know about Mira’s capabilities, and the fact that I have no idea of what she’s planning to do, I was left stuck, just watching as the formless cloud of my daughter wrapped itself around the head of my son, and…
Wait, what is she doing?!
Is she…trying to possess Cole?? Fight the Elemental on his ground??
Dumbfounded, I watched as Mira’s formless body entered through Cole’s mouth and nose. It looked exactly like how I’ve seen tv representations of Demonic Possession, but that doesn’t make sense…if the Elemental has taken over Cole’s body, then it should be outside the scope of what I can command right? So why is Mira entering the domain of a different being’s dream? Won’t that just be giving the Elemental control over her immediately, without even the slightest chance to fight back? I thought that maybe Mira was just panicking, and rushing in headlong despite how bad of an idea it was, but…
Despite her young personality, she does still have all of my memories. The memories of a man who’s survived everything that two worlds have been able to throw at him. No matter how she acts…doesn’t she know better than to let her emotions drive her to such a disadvantageous situation? Assuming she does…this means that she has a plan in mind. Or, maybe I’m wrong, and she’s just doing the first thing that popped into her head. I sit on the ground, holding the still body of Mira in one arm, and the writhing body of Cole in the other, and decide to try having a little faith in my daughter.
I sat there for a minute.
Two.
Five.
Half an hour.
An hour passed, and I was still sitting there, waiting. The idea that Mira had a plan and wasn’t just foolishly charging headfirst into battle was slowly fading, as I became more and more convinced that both she and Cole were now completely under the domain of the Elemental, until…
Smoke started pouring out of Cole’s head. As I watched, more and more of it seemed to pour out, and into Mira’s body. But something was wrong. More of the formless smoke that made up Mira’s conscious mind was leaving Cole’s body than I saw go in. Did she kick out the elemental and it’s now taking up residence in her body? I couldn’t be certain. I didn’t do anything to help or hurt the smoke, since I didn’t know what was going on. Soon, the last few tendrils of smoke left Cole’s mouth, and entered Mira’s. Everything was still for a moment, then both Mira and Cole opened their eyes.
“Daddy, you have to destroy Cole’s body, quick!!”
“No, you have to destroy hers!”
My kids were pointing at each other, yelling at me to kill the other one. What the hell just happened?