Tanya knew that Charlie didn’t really want to be with her; she had to accept that the dream was over. He had talked to her, but he was cool and distant and it was clear he didn’t want to be involved with her any more, but she needed help with this.
‘Hello, how are you?’ Kali said over the distant wind.
‘Hi. I’m busy right now.’ Tyr replied.
‘But I need to talk to you; I need your help.’ She called back.
‘I can’t now. I’m in the middle of something.’ He said.
‘Ok, I’ll talk to you later then.’ She was disappointed, but she understood, if he was in the middle of a quest he wouldn’t want to be disturbed.
Anika couldn’t hear the private messages he was getting, and she marched straight to her yurt and went inside without a word. She was nervous; the prospect of going on a quest alone with this fit young warrior excited her, but at the same time, she was apprehensive about it.
‘Erm . . . Hello, I’m trying to be a gentleman here, are you going to invite me in?’ he popped his head around the door, grinning.
‘Oh yes, of course. Come in.’ Anika replied.
She began to pack, trying to stop her hands shaking as she gathered together some small bottles of essence. Tyr stepped inside the yurt and stood in the middle of the space. There was a long uncomfortable silence before he spoke.
‘I’m all packed and ready to go. Is there anything I can do to help?’ He said expecting her to say no. She did. ‘I have some spare essence, if you need it.’ He offered next. She was putting her own bottles of plant essence into little pouches in the side of her pack.
‘I think I have all I need thank you.’ She replied. ‘Besides, it seems like I can use this Geo power now, which means I have the ability to slow down time. I don’t know if it is a permanent affect or not, but I’m sure it’s going to be useful.’
‘I’m sure it is.’ he laughed. ‘Don’t use it in the wild lands late at night, unless you want us to have to huddle close together to keep warm. It gets cold out there.’ He winked. Anika bit her lip and tried not to smile, or give any other sign she might like that idea.
‘I’d better bring a thick cloak then.’ She said, and turned her back to him, bent down to wrap a small torch, as she spoke quickly.
‘This is going to be a long quest and we will have to do it in parts. There’s no time limit, so we should be alright.’
‘Yeah, that sounds good to me,’ Tyr laughed; he knew it was the only way to do it.
‘I have to tell you because you should know. There might be times when I just disappear and I won’t always have time to say goodbye.’ She sounded flat.
‘Why? Don’t you have a good connection or something?’ He asked. Her connection was fine and she couldn’t lie.
‘I can’t explain,’ she said, ‘It’s too complicated. It just might happen, that’s all!’
Tyr was quiet.
‘Well? Is that ok?’ She asked again.
‘Yeah, I guess so.’ He frowned.
‘If it happens, I will be back on as soon as I can, so don’t go too far. I’ll return to the same place.’ Anika said. She could see he didn’t like this. ‘Unless you want to go ahead without me of course - I’m sorry I can’t explain. Are you okay with that?’
‘Well, yeah, I suppose so; I want to do this quest with you, so I’ve got no choice.’ He said.
‘Good. Well that’s it. I’m all packed. I’d better go now and get some rest.’
‘Alright, I’ll look forward to seeing you in the morning.’ Tyr said. He stepped forward and reached out to touch her arm. She backed away and let out a nervous laugh. ‘Well, until tomorrow then…’ Tyr ducked under the door frame and stepped outside, but before leaving, he turned to look back into the yurt.
‘I’ll be thinking of you. Sweet dreams.’ He winked at her. Anika was grinning, she lowered the canvas across the door, her heart was pounding. Then in a thought and a feeling, a clear intention, pulling her consciousness back to reality, she disappeared and allowed the darkness of her bedroom to cover her.
***
She made out the dim outline of the chair pushed against the door and remembered how she really lived. Her eyes fell, but still, she felt some lightness in her heart. She turned the light on, plugged in her Lightcrystal and left it to charge, then got herself ready for bed. Letting her clothing fall to her feet she looked in the mirror over her shoulder at the large bruise there. It had faded to an olive green and she no longer sucked through her teeth when she touched it; now the pain ran deeper. She covered the mark with an over sized t-shirt, climbed into bed, snuggled down, and hugged herself tightly. She was thinking about Tyr and how sweet it was to spend time with him. She recreated his image in her head, settled on a clear picture, and fell into a dreamless sleep.
***
Tyr had stayed in the game to talk to Kali.
‘Right, what is it? What’s up?’ he asked.
‘Hi, um, well, it’s about Dolhran really. I don’t know how to say this. He’s in trouble in the real world and he might be in serious danger. Have you watched the news recently?’ she asked him.
‘No, I never watch the news.’ He said.
‘I caught this news report, there’s this 14 year old kid who has gone crazy because of Creation, he was playing the game, something bad happened, and now he’s in hospital.’ Kali was worried about how he might react, whether he would think she was being melodramatic, or that she was making it up, or worse, maybe he wouldn’t care.
‘This kid’s name is Alexander, and I think it’s Dolhran. He left at around the same time, and he hasn’t been back on, and I know he ran into these entities because I saw it.’ She told him.
‘It’s a co-incidence, it’s got to be, just because he has the same name, it doesn’t mean it’s him, there must be lots of people called Alex who play.’ Tyr said.
Kali was certain it was the same person.
‘It has to be him! I saw him die, he was in real pain, and he saw these entities, and they kept him in the game while his character died; he went crazy. I can show you if you like. I created a programme.’
‘How did you see him? Is this another one of your programmes?’ Tyr asked.
‘Yeah, I worked out how to show a replay, I just had to find out what happened to him – it’s horrible. Do you want to meet me and take a look?’ she said.
‘Well, not really, not if it’s that bad. I’m just starting this quest and I don’t really want to get caught up in all this now.’ He didn’t want to get caught up with her either, not now he had found Anika.
‘But he’s your friend and the rest of us could be in danger too. Please help.’ Kali pleaded.
‘I’m not going to get involved at the moment,’ Tyr said. ‘Can’t Tern help you?’
‘No, he’s not on much since Dolhran disappeared – and anyway, you know what he’s like, he won’t take it seriously; he only ever came along for a laugh. You’re the only one who’ll believe me.’
‘I can’t help you now. I’ve got to go. Tern will believe you, talk to him.’ He tried to convince her, but she wouldn’t change her mind.
‘He won’t, I need your help Charlie.’ She said.
‘No. I can’t, I’m going now. Goodbye Kali.’
His name disappeared from her friends list; he’d gone, and she felt hollow and alone.
YOU ARE READING
Creatrix
Science FictionShe was prepared for just about anything, but this. If it were the start of what she thought it was, it would send ripples of fear across the world; Creation had taken its first victim. Enter a world where dreams become reality. Dive into Creation...
