Dawn, Prime Shard, 2565 A.D.
Archos Alpha Site, Northeastern Continent
Opting not to go outside again, Alessia had dinner with Barb in one of the cafeterias bordering the outer wall of the facility. That way they could see outside the windows but didn't risk any mirrors from the sky devouring them. It wasn't as private as they would have liked, but neither wanted to eat back at the dorm, either. There was a strange safety in numbers.
"Do you think anyone else will notice?" Alessia asked lowly into the silence after casting Privacy, watching the third of Dawn's moons drift lazily behind a cloud.
"I hope so." Barbara replied back around a mouthful of fettuccini. "Or maybe not. Is it better if they don't notice, or if they do?"
"I wonder if Peter would help, if he did pick up on the body switching."
"He'd probably prefer a fake Farash," Barb snorted, "if he's committed to the job enough."
"Maybe," Alessia sighed. "I just wish we had more help."
"I know what you mean. We have too little information, and even less chance of figuring out how to get the boys back even if we *did* know what happened and where they were."
"Well - " Alessia twirled her pasta thoughtfully. "Farash could be on Fennoth, given the snowy landscape we saw."
"It could have been the pole of a different planet."
"But Kai, too. He was on Fennoth when the incident occurred." Alessia pointed with her fork. "I don't know if he was replaced then or later, but it's a possible link."
"But didn't you say a receptionist got replaced, too?"
"We don't know about her situation, true." Alessia bit her lip. "But I'm not sure how we'd find out."
"OK, stick to what we can find out then. Hmm." Barb pulled up her pad. "What about a virtual dive? You up for some gaming tomorrow?"
"Gaming?"
"Yah, they'll let us use some of the company pods if we want to play one of the games on the Iconia system. There's even a couple set on Fennoth that were released a couple years ago. The planet may not be open for tourism, but we can take a virtual tour of whatever portion of the planet is in the games. We might recognize something."
"Oh, that's right!" Alessia perked up. "But wait - weren't those romance games?"
"Yep," Barb laughed. "'The Frozen Duke's Smile' and 'Ice Princess Academy.' I hear the first one is an especially intense virtual novel, while the other is your typical reverse-harem."
"I'm not sure those will let us go gallivanting across the countryside," Alessia frowned, "but maybe there will be in game maps or something. The place Farash disappeared to had frozen waterfalls, and lot of them, as well as prominent mountains. That seems like it would make a significant landmark."
"Then we'll check them out tomorrow. Get in, find the lay of the land and check all the maps we can find."
"And hopefully we find something that looks like what we saw - otherwise we are back to square one."
"So," Barb asked once the Privacy spell expired, "do you have a preference on which game you want to play? I hear Duke
Lanslet is quite the steamy romantic once you break through his icy shell."
"Oh, please." Alessia groaned. "Real life romance is hard enough, I don't need the fake kind." She thought for a moment. "I think I'll try Ice Princess Academy, actually. An Academy should have books and maps a plenty."
"Be sure to pull up a guide for the librarian, then." Barb laughed. "That way you'll make sure you can access the library all you want."
"This is not how I expected to be spending my weekend." Alessia rolled her eyes and stabbed at her dessert. But if all she had to do was briefly play a romance game to potentially confirm where Kai and Farash would be, then she couldn't really ask for a better way.
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The two decided to get an early start, hitting the gym at 6:30am before heading over to the pods they'd reserved. Alessia wanted to practice a particular spell on the manipulation novice list:
Manipulation Novice Core Spell Target Range/Limitation Use Requirements Store Object/Complex Object .5m/10cm³/No uncontained liquid or gas/No living organisms/Max 10 Stores a targeted complete object or complex object in a pocket of subspace until withdrawn
Voice; Hand Gesture; Laying on hands with intention
It seemed a safer choice to practice than "Blink" or "Phase," since she didn't want to risk sending herself into subspace without knowing what to expect or what to do if something went wrong. But putting an object into subspace seemed simple enough. She tried a few times with some light barbells.
Storing itself was easy enough: she could lay her hand on the object; tap it with the third and fourth fingers; say, "store;" or even roughly wave at it with a wiping motion. Any were enough to work so long as she intended to store it. But withdrawing it was tricker, not the least because the spell list didn't actually have a "withdraw" spell and she couldn't touch the objects or see them. She could say, "withdraw" but it wouldn't distinguish between objects. If she had three barbells stored, it would randomly withdraw one if she didn't specify - and sometimes with a bit of force as well! The second time she got bruised by an emerging barbell, she decided to clearly focus on where she wanted the object to reappear.
"Withdraw blue barbell," or even, "blue barbell" accompanied by a scooping hand motion was specific enough to reclaim the correct object, but Alessia still hoped for a way that didn't require voicing it. What if she wanted the element of surprise?
"What if you number them?" Barb suggested, pausing the treadmill she was on.
"I could try." Alessia took all the barbells back out of subspace and laid them out. "Blue one, silver two, black three," she said, then cast "store" several times to place them back in their subspace pocket. "One," she scooped her hand, and the blue barbell fell into it. She almost dropped it in surprise. "That does help! Although I can store up to ten, and ten might get a bit hard to remember by number. Still, that's a nice trick."
"You have your own personal inventory."
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"You could, too," Alessia pointed out. "It's a novice spell."
"That's true -" Barb came over, wiping her forehead with a towel. "Show me how it works."
They spent the rest of their gym time on it, until Barb had mastered the technique as well. She put her gym towel in and left it there as the two girls headed for the gameroom. "No one's going to miss it, right?" She grinned.
"We come to another planet, find out we're mages, and you use your awesome power to steal a hotel towel," Alessia teased.
"The towel is the most important thing a Galactic hitchhiker can carry," Barb quipped back. "But we're here - "
Inside the gameroom, they could see a dozen different large egg-shaped containers around the room, each almost twice as large as an adult human. Most of them were closed and occupied, but two were open in 'hatch' position - the machinery inside them disconnecting from the humans who had been using them.
"They will be available in a few minutes," the room manager let them know, "plus another two minutes of cool-down. Then we can get you hooked up for your session."
The girls nodded, taking advantage of the short delay to down a couple breakfast bars. It was recommended not to eat a large breakfast before doing a virtual dive, but one also wanted some sustenance to minimize any dizziness or nausea.
Soon the capsules were free, and they were able to climb inside the pods for themselves. Alessia swallowed, looking to Barb for a last reassuring glance before the other girl's pod closed. Inside her own, a thousand intricate parts molded to her body, almost like an exo-skeleton, but with a slight framework to carry most of her weight. The start-up process began, slowly moving each limb to get her used to the feel of it aiding her, but not preventing her own movements. Only when that calibration was done did the mask portion fit to her face and the neck brace attach.
Alessia had never been in such a luxurious pod before - this was far more comfortable and sensitive than the ones at local arcades and game cafes in New Idaho. She closed her eyes as the pod finished up, basking in the almost-floating sensation for a few moments.
"Start-up complete. Iconia engaged. Which game will you be playing, today?"
The voice of the system was professional, with just a hint of cheer. Alessia opened her eyes and found that she was in a small room, facing over twenty different floating posters. Some of the game options were old, at least fifteen years since release, but hadn't lost their player base yet. If it had been any other day, Alessia would have loved to play, "Dragon's Bane" or "Vengeance of the Cursed," but they were on a mission. "Ice Princess Academy" it was.
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Virtual Dive, "Ice Princess Academy," Fennoth
"Excellent choice, welcome to a world of romance and fun!"
Did Alessia detect a note of sarcasm in the system's voice?
The scenery shimmered, and Alessia found herself with an aerial view of an impressive academy that looked a cross between a sprawling Abbey and a medieval castle. Snow dotted the grounds in patches about the various outbuildings, but little crocus-like flowers peeked out amid patches of grass, hinting that it was almost spring.
The world moved, and Alessia felt herself coming in for a landing.
"Welcome to Prinas Academy," a dark-haired girl in a flared coat welcomed her. "I'm Amanda Park, daughter of Baron Park." It was obvious she was the tutorial guide, as the npc student proceeded to give Alessia a tour of the Academy as well as introduce the plot. "I know mid-year transfers can be rough," she said, "but I think you'll love it here."
Alessia nodded along half-heartedly as she was shown the dorm she would be staying in, given the rough outline of what classes she'd be taking, and had several 'encounters' with suspiciously good-looking men within the space of the fifteen-minute tour. This game did not waste time! Cinnamon roll Albert had dropped his books in the courtyard, Prefect James had warned her not to go anywhere off limits when they passed a locked wing of the school, and friendly Barrett tossed her an apple after jumping down from a large tree.
But those weren't the routes she was looking for. She stayed friendly and polite, but tried to avoid triggering any of their romance flags.
"Is there anyone else you'd like to see?" Amanda asked as the official tour ended.
"Yes, I'm interested in the library," Alessia prompted her. Having read the guide as Barb suggested, there were several secret paths in the game that only opened up if you suggested one of their starting locations at this point.
"Certainly, how could I have forgotten that?" Amanda led the way, and soon Alessia was standing in an ornate library, five tiers of books - more than she could ever read in a lifetime - filling every space on the wall.
Alessia gasped, as the scent nodes in the pod were releasing the smell of sandlewood and old paper. She could even reach out and touch the dimpled leather of the book spines. Pulling a book out at random, she flipped through it - it was a real book, or at least really full of words that were more or less in a sensible order. The detail was phenomenal - if she didn't know she was in a virtual environment, it could almost pass for real.
"Can I help you?" A low voice asked from behind them.
"Yes," Amanda turned first, "This is her Royal Highness, the Princess of Zothlan. She just transferred."
"Please," Alessia turned and curtseyed, "Just Robin is fine. I'm the youngest of fifteen, there's little need for a title."
"Miss Robin, then. As you wish. I am Valjon, the librarian here. Please ask if you need any assistance."
Alessia sighed in relief, she'd navigated the first interaction exactly as the guide suggested. Now she could come back anytime around the scheduled 'classes' of the game, which were mostly mini-games anyway, and peruse the library as she wished. "Actually, I do need help," she said and straightened, "I'm very interested in geography, and was told you are an expert cartographer."
"Expert is too high of praise," the overly handsome man took off his glasses to wipe them, revealing a large pair of honey-brown eyes beneath dark-blue bangs. "And only a few of the maps here are my own."
"That's all right," Alessia gave what she hoped was the 'dazzling smile' the romance guide encouraged, "I would love to see them."
"I'll leave you two to that, then," Amanda winked at Alessia, as if the npc was encouraging the budding romance of two library waifs.
Alessia chuckled inwardly and followed the librarian. In the game, he was supposed to be the disgraced son of an Earl, laying low from the wrath of his brothers. He would fall for the new girl, who loved books and was also a neglected, youngest child. The guide had described the happy ending where Valjon is inspired by Robin to fight for his title and her hand in marriage.
But Alessia's happy ending wasn't an Earl or a Prince - it would be finding one spot in the hundreds of maps organized into one corner of the library. "Do you happen to know which ones have waterfalls and mountains?" She asked hopefully - might as well narrow it down.
"I suppose I could find those for you."
"Thank you, Valjon," she smiled as he unrolled one map before her, the scent of ink wafting up. "This Academy really has the best library."