Magnus followed him, and started espousing the greatness of his father, much to Andaros's chagrin. It wasn't like he disliked the guy, but Magnus was definitely high energy, and didn't stop for a moment. Andaros wasn't used to being treated so friendly, and being around such a high energy guy, since his mother in their world was a very calm and slow woman. Andaros soon found a cabbit, and proceeded to fight it, dodging attacks, and using his spirit-guns to kill the little creature. After it was dead, he followed the habit he had established, and bled it out, then skinned the hide, and finally cut the worthwhile meat off the body, and packaged it, before going on to the next creature. He even saved a number of tendons, and the intestines of the creature after cleaning them, and a number of other organs.
He kept going about finding the cabbits, and got Magnus's okay to finish up his cabbit requirement before moving on to the enri for their shared quest. It turned out that the enri were the next goal for his quest with the guard captain, but the number required was an enormous two hundred enri killed.
As they were fighting the Enri, Magnus suddenly cried out to him, “Yo, yo, yo, how'd you get to be a one-man army bro? You're slaughtering these things, and keeping the hides from taking much damage at all, my nizz.”
“I'm not that good,” Andaros told him, “I'm trying to get better though. I was a burden to my last fellowship mate.”
“Dude, I've only got a weak heal, and you're making this easy on me,” Magnus responded, “You sure your last fellowship wasn't just bad?”
“No, I didn't think of, or know how to dodge, and because of me we almost got killed by a drolf alpha.”
“DUDE! You killed a drolf alpha at level two, fo' rizzle? Your healer must have been pretty awesome, and you must have kicked butt! Those things're seriously dangerous, my nigg,” Magnus called out, sounding impressed.
“What do you mean?” He didn't correct Magnus's errant thought because he was wondering what he meant.
“Well, I watched my bro play the game until just recently, and his fellowship of six people got killed in just a few minutes with two healers in the fellowship,” Magnus explained, “He hooked up a widescreen monitor so I could see what was goin' on and get the four-one-one on what I'd be facin'. They was doin' fine 'til the alpha started callin' 'is niggs to rough 'em up. How many peeps did ya have?”
“Just one other person,” Andaros responded, “although Shiro was a part of that fight, she wasn't my companion yet. The alpha didn't call any new drolf into the fight while we were fighting him, I think he had already called them in to kill Shiro, and we just cleaned them up bit by bit until we could fight the alpha solo. If Shiro hadn't lasted so long, I think we'd have been dead. Reiya barely kept me alive through that fight. I think if I'd been capable of dodging, she wouldn't have had such a hard time healing me.”
“That little cabbit lasted long enough you could do that?”
“Well, she is a literal boss creature,” Andaros told him.
“You tamed a BOSS? You da man!”
“I'm not really, I think it was just that she was grateful for our help, and more than a little out of it at the time,” Andaros told him.
“Nah man, that little cabbit loves ya, fo' rizzle,” Magnus responded, looking at him like he thought Andaros was missing something obvious.
“I guess you could be right,” Andaros responded, “Let's get to killing off the rest of these enri. I wish my quest wasn't so different, I'll kill the rest after you find your companion creature.”
“I think I may have just found it,” Magnus suddenly said, and Andaros looked up to find him looking in a certain direction.
Following his view, Andaros found a bird that looked a lot like a hawk, with flame patterns through the feathers on it's wings. Magnus moved toward it, and soon began to chant a string of words Andaros didn't recognize, and soon a vibrant blue light circled him, and reached out to the creature. The bird was angered by Magnus's actions and prepared to attack, but Magnus was completely unaware.
“Look out,” Andaros cried out, and rushed forward stepping in between the two just in time to catch the bird awkwardly. It struggled with him, and he kept trying to avoid harming the creature as he fought to protect Magnus. In his desperation, he used the tame skill, and the creature suddenly stopped fighting.
You have successfully tamed a [Pyre-wing Hawk(???)]
Meanwhile, Magnus stood there dumbfounded, his ability had failed, but Andaros had so easily tamed the creature. He couldn't understand why Andaros had done that though.
“What's up, my nizz, weren't you helping me?”
“I had to do something,” Andaros told him as he moved the bird to sit on the arm of his psiber-armor. “I couldn't hold on much longer, and she was adamant in attacking you. All I could think of to stop her was to tame her. Don't worry, you can still form a contract, but I'll have to trade her to you first.”
The bird let out an angry cry, and turned to glare at Andaros upon hearing his words. Seeing this, Magnus's shoulders slumped, and he said, “Nah, my nigg, she doesn't like me. I'll just have to find another partner. It's a shame, she's really pretty too. So, it's a female?”
“Yeah,” Andaros told him as the bird jumped off, and circled him, then landed on his shoulder. “You sure you won't let him contract with you,” Andaros asked her, “I know he's rough around the edges, but he's a great guy.”
Hearing his words, the hawk turned away, refusing to hear what he had to say. It was obvious she hadn't liked the way Magnus had approached her, and his use of the contract skill without her approval had angered her.
“I screwed up, huh?”
“Try getting to know them before using your ability. Or, I can try to tame a creature, and then trade them to you when they haven't already been angered,” Andaros suggested. “I know Shiro let me tame, and contract with her, but I think she was grateful, and that's why it worked without much trouble. I doubt I could get her to let me contract her now.”
“I don't know man, she seems ta like ya,” Magnus doubted his words, “just doesn't like me. Who knows, maybe she had her eyes on ya, and got mad at me for interfering. She was watching us for a while, but didn' show any aggression. Thought she was lookin' at me, but maybe it was you, my nigg.”
Magnus was surprisingly right, the hawk had been watching Andaros for quite a while and was only angered because Magnus had suddenly tried to contract her. She hadn't been interested in him, but in Andaros, who was with him. This particular bird had learned long ago to never mess with horned cabbits, so while she might have been interested in any other cabbit, she hadn't been interested in Shiro. It wasn't particularly that she wanted Andaros to tame her, but she felt far more comfortable with the angaellis caelestial-born than with this fellow of his.
“Would you like to form a contract with me,” Andaros asked the bird.
She sat there for a moment as if in thought, then nodded her head, and tapped one of her claws on his shoulder armor twice.
“I think that means yes,” Magnus told him, accurately gauging the creature's intent this time around.
Andaros activated his contract skill, and the creature quickly became his second summons.
“So, you'll need a name,” Andaros told her. “Let's see, how about Blesse? It means something like blaze, but can also mean to protect, preserve, endow, or favor.”
The bird seemed to think about it for a moment before nodding and tapping her claw twice once more.
“Alright, your name is Blesse. Alright, let's try to find Magnus a partner.”
Blesse looked at the boy for a few moments, and then let out a piercing cry. Very soon the cry was answered, and a bird of the same type came flying their way. The bird landed at their feet, looking like it was the lord of the roost. Blesse gave it a look, and then cried out. The bird then approached Magnus, and showed a humble look, stunning the two sojourners.
Magnus looked at Blesse with wide eyes, “You want me to contract with this one?”
Blesse nodded and tapped her claw twice without any hesitation this time.
Magnus looked at the little hawk, and asked, “You're okay with this?” These birds had already shown themselves to be quite intelligent, so he didn't feel weird asking such a thing. The smaller bird nodded, and tapped it's foot twice as well. Magnus used his chant once more, this time having no trouble contracting the pyre-wing hawk before him.
“Eh? You're her son? Oh, I get it, my nizz,” Magnus suddenly began to talk like he was talking to the bird he had contracted, and Andaros could see that the requirement to find Magnus a companion had been completed. All that was left was to defeat the remaining enri, and turn his quest in, and he would be done. “Yo, yo, yo, let's name you, can't have ya havin' no name if I need ta call ya. Let's see, how 'bout Ruben.” The bird thought for a moment, before responding with acceptance.
Andaros handed Magnus a collar for his new friend. “Here, put this on him, so people won't confuse him for a wild creature,” he told him. “It can adjust to his neck size automatically.”
“Thanks,” Magnus responded, surprisingly subdued compared to normal, he took the collar, and put it on his new friend, and it shrunk to fit.
Andaros pulled out a blue collar, and put it on Blesse, The color wouldn't blend into either her feathers, or Ruben's, so he thought it was a good choice. “Gotta make them visible,” he told her, just to make certain she understood the color choice as he put it on. Thankfully, she didn't seem bothered, and didn't complain in the least as the blue collar tightened down until it was snug on her neck.
It's important to note that the hawks were not sentient, they had a certain amount of intelligence, but were not on par with humans as far as that went. It could be said they had around the mental capacity of a one and a half year old child, but they did not have the capacity to develop that intelligence beyond that point, unlike sentients. The important dividing line was that sentients could develop their intelligence far further than non-sentients, although many non-sentients could display a surprising amount of intelligence that was deceptively robust. This could lead to people thinking of their favorite creatures and animals as almost human, and even cause them to deceive themselves into thinking they were human in some way or form.
The contract ability would actually allow them a bit higher intelligence level, but most such skills could only advance their intelligence up until a three year old child's intelligence level, and no further. Of course, this meant they had all the markings of a typical sentient, except for the most important factor, the ability to develop that intelligence. For instance, Blesse could now learn to speak a very basic amount, but she would never be able to develop that ability beyond the grammar ability of a three year old child who was not taught how to speak well early on by their parents. That is, of course, assuming that she didn't have any other handicaps in regards to speaking, which she unfortunately did. If he had contracted a parrot, which is already able to learn to speak, the situation would be different, but as she was a hawk, her vocal cords simply were not designed for the function. Magnus got around this due to his contract ability being a superior kind, which allowed them to speak in a manner similar to telepathy. While not telepathy, it was still able to allow them to converse, and even gave Ruben a leg up over the ability Andaros had available to him, giving Ruben an established intelligence level on par with a well-taught three year old, which can be quite well-spoken indeed.
While this was the case, it was not important to what they were doing, and Andaros suggested the two return to hunting the enri. Magnus agreed, and decided to continue beyond completing his own quest, helping Andaros to complete the quest he had. The process went much faster with two further companion creatures, and Andaros found they took much less time than he expected to complete the task before him. When the two hundredth enri fell, the final objective appeared, and Andaros couldn't help sighing. Of course it had to turn out like his.
Go to the local slave market, and purchase a slave.
Andaros wasn't happy with this, but Magnus quickly asked him what his last objective was. When he learned what it was, Magnus actually worked very hard to convince him to do as the quest said, saying that usually such requirements suggested that someone needed to be saved, or helped in order that terrible circumstances do not befall them. In this case, Magnus assured him that being bought as a slave by him was likely much more humane than whatever was about to befall that person if he were to refuse. The trick was to keep from becoming too distracted, and pay attention to everything in the place you were sent, in order to buy the life from terror, bondage, and destruction, and bring them out to safety. It was sophistry at best, but it did make Andaros wonder if maybe there really was someone he was meant to find, and save before they could be put into a much more horrid situation than being his slave, no, his companion.
With Magnus's prompting, Andaros headed back with him, and the two turned in their quests to Percy.
“Well then, you are done with your tutorial quests now, Young Magnus,” Percy told the other young man, the one that was actually of the human race, “I do hope you enjoy your life here. Oh yes, I forgot to bring this up with you, young Andaros, but you should visit the guard headquarters and register with Captain Celia.”
“I have already done so, and am performing the quest she gave me to prove my mettle,” Andaros explained, “I'm not happy with this part, but can you tell me where the slave market is?”
“Ah, so you got that task,” Percy nodded in a sagely way, “I know it is a difficult thing for sojourners to stomach the existence of, but the task is there both to help you understand the differences between the slavery most often depicted in your world, and perhaps to also save someone who may go into a situation similar to that.” Percy's words quickly confirmed Magnus's conjecture, and he felt much better about the concept of owning a slave at this point. “If you head to Adolpho's and head the opposite direction of the crafting and social class tutors, you will find it there, it''s quite hard to miss. Be careful young Andaros, not all the slaves situations are as they would make them out to be. Some there are criminals, with high crimes and misdemeanors that caused them to become slaves. Perhaps you will believe you can save a few more, only to have them kill you in your sleep, be cautious. Remember most permanent slaves are these kind, although not all are.”
Andaros thanked the man, and Magnus ran off ahead, while Andaros made his way there as well. He followed the directions Percy had given and, indeed, the building was quite easy to pick out. Well, building was a generous way to address it, it was a fort of sorts, with large outer walls, but the inside was more of an encampment with many cages surrounding a single wagon in the center. They lines the walls, and while the cages did provide some protection, they mostly provided a roof over the head. That being said, the cages also had canvas surrounding them, so as to provide a decent amount of protection from the elements. In the front of each of the cages, the canvas flaps were held open by ropes that were elegantly decorated. The canvas was of a light grey our of necessity, as white would be too hard to keep from looking dirty under normal circumstances, and the ropes used as decoration, or to hold the flaps, were of a black color. To the side of the wagon, were a couple of tents that were likely for the staff aside from the owner, or so he thought. It was almost as if tents were placed around the cages, a strange combination indeed. Andaros found that a canopy had been setup in front of the wagon in the center of the place, and underneath was a table, or desk, with a man sitting behind it.
Magnus was already busy looking around at the various cages. Andaros couldn't quite fathom the young man's energy, even as a young man himself, and gave a wry smile as he watched him run around.
“Welcome dear customer,” the man at the desk addressed him as he entered into the place. “Do look around at the merchandise, but remember, by I have guards here to watch over my people, and my merchandise.”
“People and merchandise,” Andaros asked, “Aren't your merchandise people.”
“Indeed, the guards are there both to protect yourself, and those within the cases should it be necessary. A hazard of the business is that people are the merchandise, but one must both watch over the merchandise, and the people they interact with, both customers, and personnel,” the man told him, “It never hurts to warn the customers, lest they believe they can do whatever they wish with the merchandise, or those who work for me.”
“I see,” Andaros responded, “I'm not looking to cause trouble.”
“I'm not saying you are, young quava, but it never hurts to be cautious,” the man responded, mistaking his race.
The fact that this merchant couldn't view his information was a bit of a relief, and it confirmed that only certain individuals had such information. As this was a “tutorial village” kind of place, he assumed that Percy, and Crafts Master Jurgen had access to his information due to their position. As for Nimar, he knew through Percy. No one aside from Percy seemed to have major access to his information though, which was good. Crafts Master Jurgen was a bit of a special case, and seemed to have more knowledge than most.
Andaros began to browse, seeing if he could find the person he was hopefully meant to find and help. He had bolstered his courage to do this through the thought that he would be helping someone, yet intended to never purchase another person again if he could avoid it. As he walked along, looking into the cages, he saw that the people had some amenities in their cages, but most were simply soft things, with the exception of each cage having something that looked like a toilet affixed in them, within a small curtained-in area. The curtains wouldn't do much to hide the person within, but they did prevent any definition, and gave the person within a bit of privacy. At one of the cages, he stopped and waited to see the person inside, which was obviously a woman from the silhouette, but he couldn't be certain what the person was like as he couldn't see them.
“Like what you see boy,” the middle-aged woman teased him upon seeing him. While a beauty, he decided to move on, the way she had posed upon seeing him, and smirked at him, definitely made him think she was not an innocent person. She frowned upon seeing this, but didn't remark further. Andaros continued around the slave market after that encounter, but didn't find any more situations like with the woman.
The people in the market were separated into groups, based on the type of slave contract. Some of the slaves were under contracts that would be like indentured servitude, while others were permanent slaves. The people were further separated into different sub-types under these two types. There were even sex slaves, but for some reason more of these seemed to be under the indentured servitude style of slavery. There were exceptions, but most of such slaves seemed to be in that category. Talking to the man, Andaros learned that most of these slaves were voluntary, and were not forced, which was a relief to Andaros's mind.
As he was looking through, he didn't find anyone that stood out as needing help, but he had the strangest feeling he should look again. As he did, he noticed a shaded area with a single cage in it. Looking in the cage, he found a girl who looked much like him, but with different features than his own. The girl was a beauty with a crown of antlers, although a bit different from his own, mixed with fox ears. She had a gigantic chest, and although she had some scales on her body, which were shaped more like gemstones than regular scales, these scales were not very common. She had three tails, one fox-like, and the other two like a wolf's. These tails were arranged so that the two wolf-like tails were on the outside, and the fox-like one was sandwiched between them. It also appeared she had small wings on her back, although these were too small to fly with. Aside from the creature features, she looked very human-like, although her nose was a bit fox-like. The girl looked like she didn't want to be there, and looked at him with a pleading look. Seeing this, Andaros enquired about her circumstances with the slave master.
“That's a rather sad situation,” the slave master told him. “The girl was improperly turned into a slave. Unfortunately the crest which was used on the girl is binding, and cannot be undone. This means she is stuck as a slave until seven years of servitude have passed. To make matters worse, the girl is a quarter malkiim, and the crest is a birthing slave crest.”
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
“What does that mean,” Andaros asked.
“To activate a birthing slave crest, the slave and master must have sex. That in itself is not the problem, but it leads to the problem. The girl is one-half Cluuv, one-quarter Angaellis, and one-quarter Malkiim,” the man told him, looking to see if he understood, seeing his blank look, the man told him, “The females of the malkiim race bond to the first male to mate with them, and will never have another mate. They are, in fact, incapable of mating with another male besides their first mate, and will even fall in love with that person, regardless of their previous feelings toward them. This leaves the girl in a very tragic situation, as the cut-off point for this racial trait is at one-quarter heritage. I stopped the situation from going further, but I have to sell her within a certain period of time in order to keep her from the clutches of the man I believe to have prompted her improper enslaving. The laws put into place to protect slaves have some limits, and I am unable to protect her past the statute of limitations that will be arriving in three days. If I cannot sell her by that time, that man will be able to claim her, and I will be unable to protect her further.”
“Why hasn't she sold yet? She's very beautiful.”
“Aye, this is true, but there is a problem, her cost is too exorbitant for anyone in this area, and someone has been putting pressure on my contacts so that I can no longer sell in the surrounding kingdoms. This is why I believe that man to be behind the girl's situation, only he has so much power that he can cause peoples of all three kingdoms to stop working with me. He is a cruel man, one best not to anger, but I am willing to risk this, as she is the child of a dear friend. Sadly, both the cost, and the chance of drawing that man's ire are enough to stop any would-be helpers from the natives of our world.”
“Isn't she going to be a lifetime slave either way?”
“Perhaps it appears this way to you, but even if she would be a slave, to be a slave of anyone else, even murderers and other cruel men, is much better than being the slave of that man,” the slave master said, shivering. “If I could prove his connection to that slaver, and what he has done to bring about her improper enslavement, perhaps things would be different, but I could find no traces regardless of my searching, so I can only do what I am doing.”
“How much does she cost,” Andaros asked.
“One hundred Mythril,” the man answered.
Andaros thought about it, it was a huge amount of mythril under normal circumstances but he did have the funds right now. After a long time of thought, he decided to go see the girl beforehand, he didn't want to force her into the situation, and while he found it hard to talk to her, he felt he should do so. He could at least see her, and hope she asked for help, but he was not so sure she would want it. He excused himself, and made it back to the cage, where the girl, seeing him once more, showed a hopeful look for the first time.
Seeing her reaction, Andaros couldn't stay silent, and spoke to her, saying, “I heard your story, do you want me to help you?”
The girl hesitated for only a moment, then said, “Help me, please. I don't care if I will be bound to you forever, just don't let me end up in that man's hands. It will truly be my end.”
“Is there any way to help you remove that crest,” he asked the girl.
“No, Sir Roland tried all he could to remove the crest, but it wouldn't work,” the young woman replied.
“Sir Roland?”
“Roland Domain, the master of this slave market,” the girl responded, sighing. “He has truly tried everything to help me, but I have no time left, please help me.”
Andaros considered for a while, and finally made a decision. “I will help you, although I can hardly call it helping considering the situation. I'll go speak with Roland.”
Andaros returned to the man, and found him nodding his head toward him. “It seems you have decided to help her. I thank you for your consideration,” he told Andaros.
“How did you know?”
“I can't simply trust my workers in this line of work. I have all sorts of means of surveillance, due to the hazards of the business. A slave master, for better or worse, must be very careful to ensure his goods are in the condition that is claimed, and to ensure slaves such as her are not taken advantage by the help, or customers. Once a contract is signed, they are bound by it, but until then there are many ways they can mistreat the slaves. Unfortunately, there are no similar contracts for workers, as that would allow a shrewd business owner to take advantage of their workers,” the man explained, and complained.
“I see,” Andaros responded, and pulled out the one hundred mythril. “Here, the price for her.”
“Alright, here's the standard slave owner's contract. Look it over before signing,” Roland responded.
Andaros looked carefully over the contract, and found it quite straight-forward. He was to conduct himself in an appropriate manner, and not mistreat his slave after receiving her. Furthermore, he was responsible to meet a certain standard in the meals the slave was given, plus they must provide the slaves a certain number of meals each day as well. The amounts were reasonable, and he saw no problems with that part. Going over the contract he became aware of the various protections slaves were accorded, and there were a great many protections given to them. In the end, he signed the contract in many places, likely to make certain he had read the details there and could not claim ignorance. He had to sign two copies of the contract, surprisingly.
“Good,” Roland said, going over everything, and making sure he had signed the numerous lines for required signatures on both copies of the contract, “you've indeed filled out the contract properly. I will send a copy of the contract to her homeland, and here is a copy for you to review yourself. I will keep the second signed copy for my records. Please proceed into the tent to your right, and I will have her enter to fully activate the crest.”
Andaros entered the tent, but he wasn't sure what was going to happen. Of course, he wasn't completely oblivious, but he didn't really wish to admit what he would soon have to do either. The only thing in this tent was a small bed, with a clean, white, fitted sheet on it. He was confused by why a white fitted sheet was on the bed, but there was no one to ask this question. He waited for quite a while, trying to figure out what to say, or if he even should say anything at all when the girl came in.
It took quite a long time before Andaros heard a rustling sound behind him, and turned to see the beautiful girl enter the tent in a rather revealing outfit. He gulped upon seeing this, now entirely too sure what would happen here, and quite uncomfortable with it. He wasn't able to do anything else to help her though, nor was he any longer able to ignore the implications of what would be happening in this tent. The outfit she had on was entirely too see-through, despite actually hiding the details, and made it clear what was expected of them. He realized what birthing slaves were, and what they were meant to do here, as clearly as can be expected, but again, he wasn't comfortable with it. Still, it was the only way to help her.
Andaros shook his head, his thinking was going in circles, and this wouldn't help things.
“Am I displeasing to my master,” the young woman asked him, seeing he was hesitating.
Andaros shook his head, “I'm sorry, it just hit me how serious this situation is,” he told her.
“There's nothing for it,” she responded, “We must do it, or I will have no control over my own life at all.”
Andaros nodded, gathering his courage. There really 'was nothing for it but to do it', and he had already made of his mind to help the girl, so he should follow through. Following this short exchange, the two clumsily joined themselves together. In the midst of the act, something strange happened, suddenly the world stopped moving, and a pop-up appeared.
Threat detected, attack in progress, Initiating defenses.
External origin found, tracing threat.
Threat found, determined to be a slave crest on the native. Threat has endangered sojourner and native, initiating elimination of threat.
Threat resistance is detected, contracting administrator for threat assessment and treatment. Adjudication, and resolution will follow.
The world held still, as Andaros felt incredible pain lance through his body while unable to respond in the slightest.
-----
Alarms were blaring, and red lights pulsated in the headquarters of Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, SuperCal for short, and personnel quickly began to analyze the situation. An old man came into the room alongside a middle-aged woman, had Andaros been here he'd have recognized the man.
“What's the situation,” Norton Coolidge asked.
“A Dolvorian Slave Crest has been activated, a modified birthing slave crest,” one of the technicians responded.
“One of those damnable things was found? Begin countermeasures immediately. Who's involved?”
“A new sojourner by the name of Andaros, real name, Brad Fulton, and a native of Aegis, a young slave woman by the name of Eva.”
His secretary gave him an accusatory look, but he ignored it.
“Pull up the details on the big screen,” Norton ordered, these crests were bad news, and it was important to treat them properly. They shouldn't even work in the current system, but some people couldn't just leave things alone. It was likely to act very much like a virus, a virus that could affect actual bodies in the world of Aegis. There was no way the boy was involved in this crest's production, he had just arrived in the world. This thing was too complex, and wouldn't even be something he should have come into contact with yet, he determined upon seeing the details. This crest was far too thought out, although it had been written badly in a couple spots, it could be seen that someone had piece it together with much thought. “So it's been modified in that manner, girls, you know what to do.”
“Yes Father,” the three A.I.s responded.
“We've neutralized the program,” Rino's words came a bit later, “but the damage to both individuals involved is extensive. Their genetics are severely degraded, and we are unable to restore them as they are. We need a solution, they're fading fast.”
“Activate directive A.O.42013 under my authorization,” Norton responded.
“Norton.”
“We can't let them be harmed Pam, I'll explain to the board myself,” Norton replied, while looking her directly in the eyes. He only stared for a short moment with determination, and then looked back toward the big screen. “It's not ready for a full-scale release, but the Caelestian race should be ready, right?”
“Yes, Father,” Elga told him.
“Make a unique copy of the race for each of them, and activate it using it to bridge the gaps in their genetics. Is the girl still linked to Aegis?”
“The damage was too extensive, we had to disconnect both of them in order to save their lives,” Rino informed him.
“Use Project Alpha Omega,” Norton told her, “it should have never existed, but if it can save her life, then we'll just have to use it.”
“NORTON,” Pamela cried out, utterly horrified.
“Use the new genetics for her new body, and get a medical crew to the Fulton's residence,” Norton told his daughters. “I just hope HE won't mind this, I don't like doing it, but I'm not content to let her die because we screwed up and didn't erase all traces of those damnable crests. Contact Brad's mother, I need to speak to her, and contact the lawyers, we'll need to come to a settlement in order to appease her, and the investors.”
-----
Andaros was in deep pain, as he sat there in a form of paralysis. He couldn't understand what was happening to him. It seemed like he had been there forever, dealing with the pain. Suddenly an old man he recognized appeared in the tent, and looked at the two of them, giving them both a sad look.
“Brad, my boy, Eva my dear, I'm not going to lie to the two of you, we're dealing with a very bad situation here. I have medical crews at your home Brad, they're ensuring nothing dangerous is happening to your body in our world. As for you, young Eva, we're preparing a body for you, we had to disconnect you from your world in order to save you,” the old man explained. “That crest, is something that shouldn't exist, and the damage it has done to you, and to young Brad's sojourner, Andaros, is too extensive to heal by normal means. We're getting a fix together now, and will soon heal your bodies here. Eva, you'll become a sojourner in our world, and will have to connect to your own world through the same means Brad and all the other sojourners connect to it. I cannot apologize enough for our fault in this circumstance, but I promise to make things as right as I can. Please be patient with us, I know it hurts a great deal, but we won't let you come to any further harm.”
Andaros wasn't able to reply, but if he could, he'd ask the old man to contact his mother.
“That's already been taken care of. Your mother is here actually, don't worry, we've got the three guardians to communicate for you,” he replied in a gentle voice.
“I'm right here Brad,” A gentle, motherly voice called out to him, sounding like she was about to cry.
I'm fine, Mom, Brad couldn't help thinking, hoping to make her feel better. The girls relayed his thought, thankfully leaving off his hope. He was putting on a brave front, it hurt a lot after all, but he didn't want her to feel bad. The game had been her idea after all, and he really didn't want her to continue blaming herself.
“We've come to an agreement, and have put together a settlement for you,” the old man told him.
“Norton has really been very generous,” his mother told him.
Who?
“Ah, I'll explain,” the old man told him, “My name is Norton Coolidge, the man behind Trinity Online, although I cannot claim to have solely come up with it. We came to an agreement, and put together a settlement for you,” Norton told him, “Although the board members are a bit disgruntled, they've agreed to all the stipulations we put together, or at least allowed them. Your mother is quite the negotiator, my boy. Hmmm? Are you girls ready? Alright, let's get this done with, and free these two from this torture. I swear, when I find the one behind this...” Norton's voice took on a hint of steel as he came to the end of his words. A moment later, the world went black, and then a moment later he appeared in a white room, alongside Eva.
“Welcome back, the procedure was a success, do you feel any discomfort?”
Andaros felt a feeling of incongruity, but no real physical discomfort, and shook his head. He looked over to Eva, and found her looking around in amazement.
“Is this the afterlife,” the girl asked after getting her bearings.
“No, this is simply one of the log-in rooms of Trinity Online,” Norton responded, then explained, “That's the system which connects sojourners from our world to Aegis. Unfortunately, the incident has caused us to have to bring you to our world. You'll be logged out momentarily, but first I promised a certain someone to be able to see her son, and ensure he was doing fine before we send the two of you out. There's been a minor problem with your body in our world, and she wants to ensure you're, well, you.”
Brad's mother appeared with a somewhat different body than she had in their own world. It wasn't that different, but she shared features with his own body on Aegis. Actually, there were some different features, some of them matched Eva's, but they were mostly the same.
“We had to modify your bodies, and you are not the same as before,” Norton explained, “We used features from your caelestial-born transformation, and combined them with the racial characteristics of the two of you. This has resulted in a rather unique Caelestian origin that only your mother will share with the two of you, for the time being. Caelestians are a special race of Aegis which has been lost to history, although they will return to the world in time. While you do not have the same traits you once had, you have access to a caelestian class, which can access the same features, each of you has received one thousand mythril as part of the settlement for your situation, and Eva, your mother has been contacted.”
“What about Magnus, and my parents on Aegis,” Brad asked.
“Your parents there have been appraised of the situation, and Magnus logged out soon after we disconnected you from the Aegis side. If he's a friend, you'll just have to explain that you were forced to log out for some reason, and were stuck in real life for a while,” Norton told him, with a wry look at the end.
“The board members required a non-disclosure agreement as part of the settlement, so we can't talk about the incident with anyone who doesn't already know at this point,” his mother explained.
“Unfortunately so,” Norton responded, “You will be receiving a number of benefits, both of you, and your mother has requested quite an interesting home option for you as well. The board refused to pay, but I have the funds, and so I'm covering a number of things from the settlement myself. Anyway, I should warn you, don't talk about the caelestian race and classes in either our world, or Aegis, they're a secret race involved in the next expansion, and not meant to come out yet. The class systems will allow you to train your new skills, but you should refer to yourselves as you had before. Eva, you have been registered as Andaros's wife, rather than his sex slave as you would have been. The genetics we were able to save connect you to him, and we've replaced the crest with a slave wife crest, a sort of companion crest that will benefit the both of you. This crest takes the place of a wedding ring in our world, but unlike the normal one does not allow a divorce, and has some features that will let the two of you know where the other is in an emergency. Eva is connected to you, young Brad, and it's even so to a degree in our world, so I hope you can understand.”
“I see, what happened to my body,” Brad asked.
“Your body in our world has undergone a number of changes, although no obvious ones that are too big. Your hair and eye colors now match those inside the world of Aegis. Aside from that, you look normal,” Norton explained. “Although, the board requested that you be moved to somewhere else, where people won't recognize you.”
“It was included in the settlement. I had the right to refuse,” his mother responded, “but considering what was happening in that school, I didn't.”
“It's fine,” he told her.
“Actually, that request is inconsequential in the grand scheme of things, especially with the house option your mother requested,” Norton responded, “but I shouldn't ruin the surprise. As for your mother, Eva, she is looking forward to seeing you again, but has been informed it will be some time until you can see her again. Anyway, I'm activating log-out procedures. We'll see you outside in just a moment.”
-----
Brad Fulton woke up to find himself in an unfamiliar place, a room that looked like it belonged on some starship held eight pods within it, two bunk units were housed on each wall. He could see that in the other pods near the ground were three people. One of these pod's soon opened, and the old man got out of the pod, and then came his way as another pod opened, and his mother got out, looking like she always did. Norton Coolidge opened his pod, and helped him to get up.
“How do you feel,” his mother asked.
“Okay, but I have a bit of a headache,” Brad responded.
“Yes, I assumed you would,” Norton replied, “Now, let's help the other occupant of the pods get up, I assume she is rather bewildered, and will need some time to adjust to the situation.”
“I'm a bit bewildered myself. What happened with my body? It feels a bit strange.”
“I can understand your bewilderment, and that is a long story, I'll explain it to you when we're done here,” Norton responded to his comments.
The three headed over to the last pod, and Norton pressed a button to open the pod, which opened differently from his old pod, the glass panel moved forward a slight bit, then slid downward to reveal a rather unique beauty.
“We moved you two here using a special device to keep you connected to Trinity without breaking the connection,” Norton explained, “This button is the outside emergency release, although it will not work without a code under normal circumstances in order to protect the sojourners within. The code hasn't yet been set, so it works without the code for now. Let's help young Eva out.”
Thankfully, Eva was wearing a plain set of clothes similar to a hospital gown, but without the open sides. This covered her body, and didn't leave her exposed, something Brad was very grateful for. Brad helped her get up, alongside his mother. Norton sat back this time, and waited for her to get her bearings. It really hit home when he noticed her unusual features. She looked just like she had a few moments ago inside the game.
“Follow me,” Norton told the two of them, and walked out.
Brad looked toward his mother, and she nodded, while Eva was busy looking around in awe at the room they were in.
“I know this is all new, it is to me too,” Brad told her after a few moments of waiting, “but we shouldn't keep Norton waiting.”
His mother lead the way, and both Brad and Eva soon followed her down the hallway to a lift, where Norton was waiting patiently. Once everyone was on the lift, he lowered it to the floor below, and Brad looked around to find something like an R.V., but quite large. Norton took them over to a couch that was wrapped around the sides of a seating area. He sat down, and indicated that they should do the same. Eva and Brad shared a look, and then Brad looked to his mother, who nodded once more. Once they were seated, Norton began to speak.
“I'm sure the two of you have many questions, but I'll first explain to Eva. Eva, this is our world, and you are currently sitting in your new home on our world. This house is known as a recreational vehicle, and serves as a “Tiny Home” of sorts. This is the request your mother made to me in regards to a new home for you. This unit is forty-three feet long, or forty-three mels for you Eva, and is part of a two-part unit. The second unit is across the covered porch from here, and is thirty-three feet long. Both units are currently sitting inside my company's headquarters, and are currently in the final stages of assembly. They should be finished tomorrow, and once they're done, you can take them anywhere you want. What remains to be installed is just some trim, and some decals we will be installing. This is actually partly a cover for Eva. Your cover story is simple enough, being a mascot for Trinity Online, it will also be a good cover for the monthly payments I will be making to you from now on.”
“What's going on,” Brad asked.
“Simply put, you have just received the single largest settlement in Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious's history, and the board was a bit antsy about that, so your mother and I came up with a cover story for the event that occurred,” Norton explained. “As part of the agreement, you will be taking care of Eva, and acclimating her to our world. This is, of course, in exchange for some benefits for you, and your new wife. She will be acting as a sort of spokesperson for Trinity Online, making appearances at the various events and tournaments. I've also got a set of equipment for you to play the part of of a caelestian, but that will become useful later on, when we release the next expansion, The Caelestian Era. It's in production at the moment, and should be ready tomorrow as well.”
Norton had spoken with his daughters about the expansion, so he was quite knowledgeable about everything they were planning for the expansion with HIM. He suggested this play upon realizing Brad's situation, and he had all the items required in the process of production. A woman came aboard the house at this time, and looked their way.
“Ah, Pam, good, you're here. Why don't you take young Eva and prepare her for what she'll have to face, we only have a day or two to get her ready. Let the eggheads marvel over her for a bit as well, but don't let them go far. I still need to explain to Brad here what has occurred with his body,” Norton told her.
Pamela let out a sigh,and said, “Eva, I'm Pamela, Norton's secretary, and assistant. I'll help you understand our world a bit more.”
“I'll come with you,” his mother said, seeing Eva's reluctance. “Go easy on him Norton,” she told the old man.
“I intend to,” Norton responded.
The two women got up, and Pam lead them away, Eva seemed to relax around Brad's mother.
“You've undergone a bit of a transformation, young man,” Norton said once the women had gone. “We found traces of a strange energy on your pod, and when we did scans, we found you had become an angaellis, much like your character Andaros was originally. I even have hints that you will be able to use the [Heaven's Touch] skill you have in Trinity. This shouldn't have been possible, but our pods have changed you, irreversibly so. This should not have been possible however, so I think there is more to it than we know. I believe it is a change the creator of our world has wrought, although this is just an unfounded guess. Anyway, I'm having a suit of armor and psiber-swords produced. Those items will allow you to use your psion emanations without drawing too much attention to yourself, it will simply look like a power armor suit with unique force fields, and the psiber-swords will act similar to a plasma sword. I assume I don't need to warn you about using your new powers improperly?”
“No, Sir,” Brad responded, he decided right then and there never to try using them improperly, he didn't want to cause problems at all.
“Good! We'll also be adding an emitter to the arms of the suit that will explain the additional shields you can now call. You can find out about the ability when you are back in Trinity,” Norton told him, “It's the only new ability with your caelestian race, and was a pain to find in the systems' databases to find out what it was, and ensure it was on your sojourner. When the med-techs and technicians got to you, the ability was activated in it's secondary form, and it took a while before it deactivated and they could get to you in order to stabilize you.”
Brad wasn't sure what to make of this, was he somehow becoming his sojourner? He really didn't know, but he couldn't help being grateful for the thoughtfulness shown.
“Be sure to thank Pam, she was the one who came up with the idea of producing a small psiber-armor for you, and including a few emitters that would make it capable of channeling your new abilities,” Norton informed him. “I was shocked I hadn't thought of the idea myself. Anyway, just don't use your new abilities for nefarious ends, and nothing should go wrong.”
“Thank you,” Brad told the man.
“It's partially my fault this happened, I wasn't thorough enough in destroying those damnable things before,” Norton responded in regret, “After the incident with you two, we searched and found thirteen remnants of such crests that we had to dispose of, and replace with things that were not so dangerous. You probably won't believe this, but it's been three months since you were last on Aegis.”
Brad was alarmed at the revelation, he had an important quest to do there.
“What, what about my sister,” Brad asked.
“Don't worry, she's still fine, there are a few more people in the area of the tutorial hamlet on the veiled isle, but you needn't worry too much about her. We looked into your ongoing quests, and made sure the event wouldn't cause any problems for you,” Norton told him. “As for the twins, we contacted them. They're actually orphans in an orphanage my company funds, and I've arranged for them to come stay with you as well. They were getting near the cut-off age for the orphanage, so I spoke with your mother, and she agreed to the proposition. Girls!”
Two young ladies came into the bus from outside, and Brad was left wondering which was which. This seemed to be very amusing for the three, and Brad couldn't help feeling that this was a bit of an unfair situation.
“This is Reiya, and Meiya,” Norton said, indicating which was which, “Although they have switched their names within the world of Aegis, so you had actually met Meiya, and not Reiya previously. The girls will be staying on the second unit, and since they love gardening, they will be attending to the greenhouse there. They know of your situation, and have agreed to keep it confidential. Furthermore, they know about Eva, and will be helping to keep her situation under wraps as well. In exchange, I will be giving them a few additional benefits, but you'll have to wait until you log in once more to learn about those. Oh yes, that reminds me, the girls have been taking care of Shiro and Blesse for you while you've been gone.”
“Thank you very much,” Brad told the two.
“Your mom there has been doing most of it, but we've been trying to help,” Meiya told him. Brad noticed that the two could actually be told apart by the ribbons on a pair of medallions they each wore. One was blue, and one was red, it was a bit strange.
“The medallions are something I gave them, they'll allow them to deploy a field similar to the secondary usage of your shield ability, but they had to promise not to switch them between the two of them, as they won't work for the other sister, they're set to only work for the girl they're meant for.”
“It's no fun,” Reiya complained, “but sister didn't want to do that anyway, not for you, she made me promise.”
“Thanks,” he told the girl who had stood up for him. “So, you're Reiya inside the game, but Meiya out here?”
“Yes,” Reiya responded, with a nod at the same time.
“Didn't you tell me that your parents had set curfews?”
“I was too embarrassed to say it was the orphanage director,” she told him, looking down.
“Don't be too hard on her, it's not exactly something most people want to hear,” Norton told him, “Many people are reticent to talk to those who grew up in, and are still in an orphanage. Anyway, let's give you the tour. You can catch up with the girls later.”
After that, Brad came to learn about his new home. The unit he was in when he woke up was the main drive unit, and had been his mother's room, and a storage room, a computer room, and a pod room in it's upper level, while the lower level housed a gathering room, a kitchen, a dinette, and the cab, which housed a number of seats for those onboard. The trailer unit had it's own gravity drives as well, but was designed as a trailer. On the top floor was a greenhouse, and what would be Brad and Eva's bedroom, while the lower level had several rooms with two beds in them. It was like they were designed for a team of some kind, which they actually were. These units were designed to be used for professional teams, but had been modified specifically for their group. Normally the trailer unit would have bunks installed, and more per room, but that wasn't necessary for their group, they had eight pods, but they likely wouldn't use all of them anyway. There were only enough beds on the two units for the number of pods, which was actually nine. This was because his mother's room actually had a pod bed, while she had decided to keep his and Eva's room clear of the pods, as well as anyone else they might take in along the way. The units each had bathrooms, complete with showers, and in the case of the trailer unit there were two of these. Their included toilets that would cremate the feces put into them, turning them into ashes fit for use in the greenhouse.
Their group actually remained at Supercal's headquarters for another five days while Eva learned about their world, and the kinks with the power cores for the drive systems were ironed out. After this, they said their goodbyes, and left to make a journey to the first place their mother had decided they would stay for a time. Brad's mother had adopted the girls, and since Eva was now Brad's wife, they had all become her children. It was a bit awkward for Brad at first, but once he got use to it, it wasn't so bad. Brad and Eva didn't do much in the way of intimate actions, as he was not ready to become a father just yet, and the best way to avoid impregnation was, simply put, abstinence.