Creatrix

Chapter 2 - Watchers of the Dark

Sitting alone by the river where she and Tyr used to go fishing, Kali wasn't as sleek or in control as usual. She sulked. They had another argument this morning. She was still angry that he didn’t go with her to find Dolhran, so she  told him he let the team down and especially his dead friend. He’d been distant ever since Dolhran was found. Tyr said he needed space and time to train and  he had other things to do and other people he wanted to be with. Kali was jealous of course. 

She stood up to cast her fishing line into the water. She had no idea how guilty Tyr felt for letting his friend down or how messed up he was over Dolhran not coming back online. He told her he didn’t want to chase her imaginary conspiracy anymore. He was tired of it and just wanted to have fun playing the game. It was just a game after all; an amazing, awesome, remarkable, consciousness-interactive experience, but it was still a game. 

She flattered herself; she could find out what happened without his help and she didn’t need him. He was just a distraction. If only she could find a motive. Why would Somasync, or anyone for that matter, create an experience that was so horrendous? And why had Dolhran’s character not regenerated as usual?

Kali felt the line pull, thought she had a catch and tugged back on the rod, but her fingers became clumsy and her temper thinner. She fumbled with the reel and the fish got away. 

She missed Tyr. When she was with him she would imagine that she was with the person behind the image and in her mind this made them closer. She thought of him often. Even in the real world, when she was going about her daily life and during the quiet moments when she was working he would creep into her mind and it would make her smile. At the end of the day, she would imagine she was going home to be with him and in  a sense she was. It was better than the reality of going home to a cold and lonely flat. 

Kali startled thinking she saw a shadow flit across the landscape, but when she looked straight at where it had been there was nothing. Her heart quickened, she squinted, looked again. No, there was nobody there.

She was heart broken. They were close; more than good friends and she’d imagined she was in love with him. In real time they were strangers but in the game she felt a strong connection right from the start. He liked her,  made her laugh, teased her with the things he said and made her feel cherished and special. When she was with him she knew a sweet love that was missing from her own life. What they had together was precious and she had fallen for him. Kali knew that the character that he projected in Creation was just a small part of himself, like his dream self, and it was the same from her perspective, just a little perfect part of herself, not even a true image. They were playing. It was all an illusion, the earth, the trees, the town, the sky, the people, and the love. The love was an illusion. Even so, her feelings for him were real.

There it was again, flitting on the edge of her vision. She was sure she had seen something this time. She held her breath and listened. The water, spilling over the rocks and licking up to the bank, wind teasing the leaves on the trees, a distant bird call, and her pounding heart; she heard nothing else. She was jittery, decided to pack up her stuff and head back to town. Walking along the riverbank she scanned the backdrop of trees and hedgerow, saw nothing, but still kept checking behind her as she walked.

She was here alone because she'd screwed up; she tried to tell Tyr how she felt, but the words didn’t come out right. This wasn’t like her, she was together and sophisticated, and there she was acting like some desperate kid with a crush. She ended up telling him that if he didn’t give a damn about his old friends he might as well ignore them. He said that was fine by him and blocked her. Now she couldn’t talk to him at all; he wouldn’t hear her. She grieved like it was a real loss because it was. He didn’t want to be with her and it hurt, she felt it like a dullness pulling at her chest.