Vivid Dream Reality 3

by Savannah Maun

  We were a little more prepared this time and had brought a little bit of camping equipment so we could rest on ice chairs covered with a high tech blanket, sipping cups of tea. If someone wanted to sleep, Dani moulded the surface to a surprisingly comfortable bed. The blankets were still required or you got cold. Well, I didn't, but I think that was just because Dani was able to help me. The biggest complaint on the previous journey was a lack of toilet paper. Dani could create an ice toilet and privacy, but wiping was a bit of an issue if you are not prepared.

  Andi was able to keep Mia appraised of our progress, so when we finally arrived, we were welcomed and lead to refreshments and bed quickly. I had advised Wendy to keep apart from Mia until after our next visit to Lagbit's World. She had been coming with me so that she could spend time with Myra, but that meant spending any time with Mia was painful. Her love was in full bloom and to see the person you love not reciprocating was heartbreaking and I didn't want it to continue any longer.

  The first thing the next morning, I invited Mia and Wendy to my bedroom. Vee was with me along with our maids, Clair and Belle, who had been waiting for our arrival so that they could start to really act their parts. Our location was essentially a large farmhouse. It suited us because it was quite isolated and a proper palace could be built next to it before it was demolished.

  My maids helped me set everything up with the headsets and staggering the arrival so that Wendy was lying down with the headset on, next to Vee who was similarly ready, by the time Mia arrived.

  “Are you missing your Taigoa session this morning?” Momma asked.

  “Sort of. There have been some developments on Lagbit's World and Myra suggested you join her so that she can explain everything. I also think you could do with a break. You have been working so hard, a week's holiday in Lagbit's World is just what you need.”

  “A week?”

  “Well, two hours Earth time, so a week in Lagbit's World. I am not taking any people to be transformed. I figure Myra could do with a break as well and she is in charge of all our applicants, so it is just going to be the four of us, you, me, Vee and Wendy,” I responded.

  “Wendy?”

  “Yes, Wendy, our druid with a fire familiar. I know you remember her as you suggested her for the Cari rescue. She has bonded to someone on Lagbit's World so I bring her with me whenever I can.”

  “Oh.” Momma was instantly sad, although I think she was also puzzled as she probably didn't know why she was sad.

  I hated to see her that way though and wanted to hurry the process. “Please lie down next to her and put the headset on, so we can get started. We can discuss it all when we get there.”

  “OK,” Mia said, sounding subdued. What I had said had taken the wind out of her sails, but hopefully, I had set it up so that she would listen to her other self and we could bring this drama to a conclusion.

  As soon as everyone was ready I logged on.

  Chapter 20

  Normally when I wake up in Lagbit's World, I just snuggle with my sweetheart and slowly gather myself, as my maids get my Taigoa clothes ready. Today I was too excited, worried, thrilled and anxious about Mia and Wendy arriving together next door. Myra was sleeping in one of the beds in anticipation of Wendy arriving today and I could see all sorts of possible complications and misunderstandings, but had the belief that it would all work itself out favourably.

  Myra had requested that we leave it to her to fix the situation without interference and I knew she was correct, but I still had to resist the urge to go and knock on the door or try and eavesdrop with Inda. Vee tried to calm me down by stroking me gently and I tried to relax but I was too highly strung that morning. I got up and got ready, Vee joining me after a grumble. She loves her lie-ins and is not really a morning person. Pregnancy has necessitated more trips to the bathroom so she hasn't been able to indulge as she would like. Fortunately no morning sickness, just bladder urgency.

  We went to our Taigoa practice and I wasn't really surprised to find Myra, Mia and Wendy missing. I just crossed my fingers and used the meditation while moving that Taigoa provides to try and calm my frazzled nerves.

  At the end of our Taigoa session, with still no sign of them, I returned to my suite. I wasn't allowed to interfere, but that didn't mean I couldn't ask my maids if they had heard anything. Elves have very good hearing and the maids are careful gossipers. They would never reveal any secrets, but they were a great resource of information. I was not given any details though.

  ◆◆◆

  Wendy's POV

  I woke up in the bed I usually found myself in when I came to Lagbit's World, the main bed in the suite next door to Tia's. Lying next to me was Myra, so without thinking I snuggled up to her with a sigh. Rather than relax into me and possibly turning around to cuddle me properly, she went rigid. That startled me enough to wake my brain up. I scrambled away from her, not sure whether it was Myra or Mia.

  “Myra?” I asked.

  “No. I'm Mia. What are you doing?”

  “Hi Wendy,” Myra said, coming in from one of the small bedrooms off the main one.

  I moved to Myra who immediately hugged me. “I'm sorry Mia, I thought you were Myra.”

  “What is going on?” Mia asked, her voice having an edge of anger in it.

  Myra lifted up the glowing ruby that was on a necklace around her neck. “Wendy is my beloved,” Myra stated, very matter of fact.

  “How could you do that! What about Elaine?” Mia demanded angrily.

  Myra held up a hand to Mia as if to say wait and then turned to me, ignoring Mia. “I think I need a bit of privacy to talk to Mia. I'll see you at lunch, OK?” Myra asked me.

  We had discussed this before. She knew that her other self was going to take the whole thing badly, just as she had and didn't want me caught in the middle, so had requested I make myself scarce when the confrontation happened.

  Whenever Mia looked like she was going to start again, she was stopped by Myra either with a word 'wait' or a gesture, so they both waited while I got myself together as quickly as I could and left them to it. I was nervous as hell, so I walked out of the palace and into the city. Walking always calmed me down and I needed to distract myself so I visited the merchant quarter. If all went to plan, later today I would be copied and part of me would stay here forever and part of me would rarely if ever, return.

  Myra had talked about Elaine, her previous bonded. She had been a fire mage and was a casualty of the previous war with the goblins. It was slightly awkward since I was presumably the same soul in a different body with no memory of any previous existence. I wanted to be loved for who I was rather than who I had been and the love we shared allowed me to overcome my fears and insecurities about measuring up. Facing it again brought up my worries again.

  I was browsing through an enchanters shop talking to Spitfire my familiar, trying to work out if any of the enchantments could be useful for a fire druid when I noticed the shopkeeper close the door and lock it. I wasn't worried, but I was curious.

  “Why have you locked the door?” I asked her.

  She smiled at me sweetly, “It's rare I get a celebrity visit my shop, so I want to make sure I can give you my full attention.”

  “You know who I am?” I asked in bewilderment.

  “Of course. You are the consort of Princess and High Priestess Myra. Now, how can I help you?” she asked.

  “I was just browsing really. I am a fire druid so I am not sure any of this,” I said gesturing at her wears, “could be used by me.”

  “I do have one thing that might be of interest to you, but it is downstairs.” She put her hand on my shoulder and started leading me to the back of her shop. I felt a sting on my shoulder where her hand was. Like a mosquito bite. I didn't like it though so I moved to remove her hand when I started feeling funny. I stumbled a bit, struggling to stay upright. I called out to Spitfire to get help, but my connection to her seemed to be cut off. The lady put her arm around my waist to keep
me upright as I lost all strength. I couldn't even keep my eyes open.

  I felt her carry me down some stairs and lay me on a stone table. She positioned my hands above my head before they were locked in place and the same with my feet. Once I was even more helpless I felt another sting on the very top of my head and then slow heat radiating down from there. When it reached my eyes I was able to open them again, although I couldn't move my neck so I could only see what was directly above me which was a plain ceiling. Intellectually I knew I should have been panicking, but I'm guessing the drug had a sedative effect, cutting me off from my emotions, just like it cut me off from my familiar.

  The shopkeeper's head came into my view. She was expressionless. I could tell that she wasn't taking any joy from my circumstances, but it didn't seem to bother her either.

  “First things first. When will you be missed?” she asked me.

  “Lunchtime,” I responded unwillingly. I knew we used truth spells all the time so I shouldn't have been surprised to find myself unable to resist telling the truth.

  “Did you tell anyone where you were going?”

  “No,” I answered.

  “We have at least a few hours then. Humans have been arriving every day for months. We can't work out who they are or where they are coming from, but they are entering your temple and coming out as Elven women, then mysteriously disappearing. You as a people have broken your treaty with the Empire. You can't steal humans, change them to elves and get away with it. You are under a truth drug which will force you to tell the truth, but I am trying to reason with you here. Don't just tell me what you have to, tell me everything and maybe we can avoid a war that nobody wants. I've been living here for ten years. You, as a people, seem boring and peaceful, so I struggle to believe that you are deliberately provoking a war with the Empire.”

  She leaned over me to stare me in the eyes. “What is going on?”

  Chapter 21

  Tia's POV

  We had finished Taigoa and were heading back to my room to get clean and relax a bit before I was due for my music lesson when I felt myself pulled, almost ripped out of my body and back to Earth. I fought off the disorientation and undid the headset as quickly as I could so that I could help whoever it was that was sobbing nearby.

  Mia and Vee were still confused, but already they were working on releasing their headsets. It was Wendy who was crying, turned on her side in the fetal position. I went to help her get her headset off as Mia started hugging her and crying as well. Clair and Belle rushed into the room looking very confused which made most of us.

  “What happened?” Belle asked. “You have only just started.”

  “I don't know. I'm guessing Wendy knows and we'll find out when she has calmed down a bit,” I replied. I carried on stroking Mia and Vee attempted to help comforting Wendy.

  “That was horrible,” Wendy said when she was able to gather herself. “Can we sit at a table, I need a coffee.”

  “Was it my fault?” Mia asked, still visibly upset.

  “No!” Wendy exclaimed vehemently which was followed by a fierce hug. “Myra and I had discussed different ways of telling you, knowing that you would be resistant, just like she was.”

  “She had difficulty? She was telling me off for behaving childishly and she seemed so accepting,” Mia responded a bit irritated.

  “Well, she is now, but we have been an established bonded couple for months. When we first found out, she reacted just the same as you. That's why she knew how you were going to react and had pleaded with me to make myself scarce so I wouldn't be accidentally hurt by your conversation,” Wendy replied.

  We all headed to the kitchen to sit around a large wooden table. Clair had preceded us and was making hot drinks. She knew all our preferences so I was confident that I didn't need to direct her in any way and sure enough, as Wendy was presented with a coffee, I was given my hot chocolate.

  “So what happened?” Vee asked Wendy. “The only other time we have been pulled out of the VDR was when armed thugs pulled out our connections.”

  “Not quite, don't forget my first ever use of the VDR when I was ejected because I went through too much pain,” I reminded her.

  “That must have been it,” Wendy muttered. “Let me tell you what happened. I felt the need to walk so I wandered out of the palace and found myself in the merchants quarter. I started looking through various shops and found myself in an enchanter's shop. I wasn't sure there would be anything that might be useful for a druid with a fire familiar, but I was curious. The shopkeeper recognised me and locked the front door, saying that she wanted to be free to give me all of her attention. When I told her I was druid with a fire familiar, she told me that there was something I might like downstairs, but when she put her hand on my shoulder I felt a prick. Before I could react I was unable to contact my familiar and all strength left me.”

  Mia reached across to hold Wendy's hand a look of horror on her face. “There is only one poison I know of that can do that and it is incredibly rare and expensive. It is supposed to block the connection between your soul and your physical body and if left untreated usually results in death within a couple of hours. It is an assassin's poison and illegal in all Elven territories.”

  “Well, she did treat it. Once she had strapped me down so I was completely helpless, I felt another pinprick on the top of my head and a wave of heat made it's way down far enough that I could move my eyes and talk. I think it included some kind of truth drug since I had no choice but to answer her questions. The shopkeeper is an Imperial spy and although she looked elven she seemed to consider herself as part of the human empire.”

  “She knew who you were and she poisoned you with a deadly poison. That is tantamount to declaring war!” Mia exclaimed.

  “Maybe, but I think she thought war was going to be inevitable anyway. They have observed humans being transformed into elves. They are unsure where these humans are coming from and where the elves are going but that just makes them more nervous. She believed our actions contravene some kind of treaty.”

  “The treaty only refers to Empire citizens. What did you tell them?” Mia asked.

  “I told her that I hadn't told anyone where I was going and that I probably wouldn't be missed until lunchtime, so she thought we had some time. I didn't want to tell her anything, but when she asked a question I struggled not to answer. She explained what she knew and then asked me what was going on and to be honest I don't know exactly what is going on, so I didn't answer. I thought about telling her what I knew and was debating whether it would be a good idea or not when she decided that I wasn't going to answer without persuasion and stuck another poisoned needle into my foot. I felt this incredible pain build up and then I woke up here.”

  There was a pause while we considered her tale.

  “What do you think will happen when you log back on?” Clair asked.

  “There is no guarantee to this, but, from what I understand, every time I log back on, I magically create the people I take with me, as they are here on Earth, or at least, as their body image says they are. Normally they appear in the room next to me, but the last time I was unintentionally logged off, we reappeared where we had been, so I would presume that we will all wake up in the same places, but Wendy will probably not be poisoned anymore,” I answered.

  “Even if that is true she will still be tied down. Mia, do you know if that will prevent Spitfire from helping her?” Vee asked.

  “Shackles can be enchanted to prevent someone from using mana externally, but a druid's connection to their familiar is internal and I don't believe there is any physical restraint that will work. I would suspect that is why poison was used in the first place,” Mia answered.

  “So theoretically Spitfire should be able to protect Wendy and prevent her from being poisoned again. She will still be tied down in front of an empire spy who is probably also an assassin.” I looked at Mia who didn't look particularly worried at that prospect.

  “
You can enchant clothes and armour to be fire resistant, but you can't enchant yourself. If she was quick enough she could create a shield, but she wouldn't be able to attack without dropping the shield and with a familiar waiting to get through, she would never be quick enough to hurt Wendy. No, if you are correct, Wendy will be safe. What if you are not though?” Mia asked.

  “Worse-case scenario is that Wendy wakes up in exactly the same place still suffering from the poison, unable to connect to her familiar and completely at the mercy of her captor. But, and this is a big but, we now know that she has been taken, and there can't be too many enchanter shops in the merchant quarter that have closed and locked their doors. Wendy, can you remember which shop you entered?”

  Wendy couldn't remember exactly but she vaguely remembered the previous shops she had entered and Mia cast a truth spell which helped Wendy to pick out details so we were fairly confident that we could find it quickly.

  Vee then asked the most awkward questions. Could we prevent war with the Empire and what were the consequences if we didn't? How did we manage this situation to ensure Wendy's safety, but also circumvent the prospect of war?

  Chapter 22

  We brainstormed different plans. The easiest answer was to return to Lagbit's World without Wendy connected and then storm the enchanter's shop. The fear was that if we did that, the shopkeeper would either escape or commit suicide, after sending a message that would result in war between our nations. Mia was that plans biggest supporter, but Wendy had gathered her courage and wanted to help.