by L. R. Wolf
“Don’t I know it!” Voksil instantly liked the barbarian.
“The children will be here in a moment. We have synced them up so that they arrive at the same time.” Jordan’s gaze was unfocused as he relayed the information from the techs that were with the children.
Two small forms appeared before them, one was about three feet tall while the second was only about a foot and a half tall. The children looked just how they did in the real world but with a few differences, most notably they had slightly pointed ears as the technicians who had created their avatars had mixed Aya’s human race and Voksil’s wood elf. Their eyes were slightly larger and the hair on both of them was a bit longer. They had brightened Jean’s hair so it was a fiery red color while Donald’s hair was more platinum than blonde.
As soon as they were fully materialized they both looked around. Donald saw all of the toys waiting for them and headed for them but he stopped and turned around as Aya rushed towards them, tears flowing down her face. “My babies!”
“MOMMY!” Jean ran to Aya and wrapped her arms around her neck kissing her cheeks.
Donald squealed as he saw his momma. “Maaahhhhmahhh!” He ran over and held his arms up as Aya wrapped an arm around him and pulled him closer. She rained kisses down on both of her children. “Mommy has missed you so much! I love you both soooo very much! How’s my big girl and my little man?!” She hugged them tightly as Jean started to talk about some new toys she had gotten and Donald kept repeating mahhhmahhh.
It wasn’t long before both kids wandered off towards the pile of toys nearby. Jean was looking at the enormous selection of stuffed animals. Donald climbed onto the larger rocking horse and started rocking it back and forth. He slipped off the horse, Aya rushing towards him to pick him up, but he just stood up on the moss and giggled before climbing back up on the horse and then jumping back down into the soft cushion making a game of it.
Aya stood back, watching and listening to her kids play. Though she had been able to watch them whenever she wanted through cameras that Ray had set up around their play and sleep areas, it wasn’t the same as having them there with her. Voksil stepped up beside her and took her hand, intertwining his fingers with hers as they watched their children play.
****
Jordan cleared his throat once again, pulling Aya and Voksil’s attention away from the two laughing children who were chasing after bubbles that Brackerd had conjured for them. “Sorry to interrupt, but I fear the children only have a few more minutes before we need to pull them from the Dreamscape.” He could see the disappointed look on their faces so he quickly continued. “Rest assured, we will be going over their records and monitoring them closely in the hopes of extending their time here with you in the future.”
“Come give Mommy hugs and kisses!” Aya knelt down and held her arms out as both kids ran and stumbled over towards her. She gathered them both up in her arms and kissed them both on the heads, foreheads and cheeks. “You’re going to have to leave here for a little bit, but Mommy will talk to you later, ok?”
“I don wanna go! I wanna stay here!” Jean stomped her foot down on the ground.
“I know, Honey, I want you to stay here too, but mommy doesn’t want you to get hurt.” Aya fought back tears. Deep down she knew that she would be able to talk to them later after they awoke and she’d be able to actually hold them for every night for an hour.
Jean started crying which caused Aya to follow suit. “I’ll see you the next time you go to sleep, Honey.” Aya reached up and cupped her little girl’s face in her hands using her thumbs to wipe the tears away. “Just remember that I love you bunches and bunches. You be a good big sister and keep an eye on Donald for mommy, ok?”
“Ok, Mommy, I love you bunches and bunches too.” Jean turned and wrapped her arms around her little brother. In the blink of an eye, both children disappeared. Aya stayed on her knees, sobbing into her hands. Voksil walked up behind her and put his hands on her shoulders to comfort her.
Chapter 33: The Phoenix
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The next morning was a complete blur for Aya. She kept to herself, only really talking to Elohwa to tell her about the night spent with her husband and kids.
“I know you were busy with your family last night, and will be again tonight, but I thought I should make you aware that Srev was in the Temple of Fire. He found a key bearing the same markings as those on the Ancient Phoenix chest we found yesterday. With it, I was able to open the chest. I found these within it and thought you might like them.” Elohwa linked the item to their chat.
Party chat-Elohwa “[Unique Ancient Mana Infused Elemental Foci]
Aya half heartedly focused on the link, her eyes going wide as she realized what exactly they were.
Ancient Mana Infused Elemental Foci-Unique 150-200 spell dmg. +100 Sta +100 Int +100 Will. These Foci are thought to have been created by the Gods and Goddesses themselves. They were bestowed upon Lady Equoy, Companion of Thar’val. These Foci are made from a Celestial stone which is comprised of multiple gems representing each school of magic. Spells in every school will be greatly amplified. The user may choose one school to specialize in. Any spell cast within that school will be much harder to resist and can no longer be dispelled. These Foci will grow and evolve with the wearer.
Aya read the description multiple times. These bands would allow her to cast any spell from any school without the penalty of having to specialize into one particular school due to the focusing gem. All spells would be as equally powerful with these.
Elohwa, reading the look on her face smiled and pulled the Foci out of her bag and held them out to Aya who took them and stared at them. The Foci swirled with color, a galaxy of stars contained within the stones. Aya knew that Elohwa was just trying to distract her from the coming night where she would get to see the rest of her family. “Thanks, Elohwa.”
Elohwa’s eyes softened a bit as she placed a hand on Aya’s shoulder. “Anytime, my friend. Shall we grab the rest of the chests before you need to leave?”
The Ancient Chests had re spawned a few hours previously and the women had immediately began porting around to get them. All of the traps that Elohwa had disarmed the previous day had caused her trap disarm skill to skyrocket. She had reached a new proficiency level which improved her speed and accuracy with finding and disarming the trap mechanisms.
“Let’s do it!” Aya pulled off her old Foci and slipped on the new Unique Foci. She felt a rush of power as all of her spells were strengthened. A prompt appeared in her vision.
You may choose only one school to specialize in which will increase the power of the chosen school making spells more difficult to resist and will make any spell from that school no longer able to be dispelled. You may choose a different specialization once a day. Which spell school would you like to specialize in?
Aya now knew at least a few spells from all of the magical schools, but her go to spells had been fire based so she chose fire. A fiery glow surrounded her hands, her gloves took on the effect of the chosen school. To anyone else though, the effect looked like simple Ruby Foci due to her vanity settings. She couldn’t reveal the phenomenal armor and loot they had come across until much much later so as to avoid any questions. Between herself, Elohwa and the items they had for Voksil, they already had four incredibly powerful Unique items, which, in some cases, would be four more than what most Dreamers would see in months if not years of constant play.
The two went from chest to chest, Elohwa disarming any traps that surrounded the chest. Aya would put any decorative items in her bag to put up later as those had respawned as well. Any chests that didn’t display a Dragon, a Phoenix or a Forest they just slipped into their bags to take back to the vault deep within the Eventide Falls Keep when it was repaired. The Dragon chests, Elohwa was able to open by touch, the Forest Chests were able to be opened with a touch from Thorn, while the Phoenix chests they now had the key to, a gift from the Goddess of Flame herself. They were st
ill ignoring the loot within the chests they could open, at least until they finished this round of chests. The loot was dumped into their bags followed by the empty Ancient Chests.
Elohwa hadn’t really gone through much of the loot she had managed to obtain during her time away from Aya when she had finished grabbing the rest of the Ancient Chests while the Dreamer was with her family, for she had been distracted by worry for Aya. She knew the Dreamer was in a fragile state and she didn’t wish to add to the problem by bombarding her with questions about what to do with the loot they were gathering.
They used another map piece to teleport to another Phoenix chest. Aya made a quick pass of the cave looting the various decorative objects after Elohwa had looked them over for traps. Elohwa focused on the enormous cloth banner that covered the chest. This one looked markedly different than the previous ones they had seen. The fires surrounding this phoenix moved as if alive. If she strained hard enough she could swear she could hear the crackling and popping of the flames,because their only light source at the moment was coming from Aya’s Fire Shields, she knew the sound wasn’t coming from that as that spell didn’t emit sound, at least not for them.
“Aya, take a look at this.” Elohwa watched as the mythical bird turned its attention to the two women as it hovered in the center of the tapestry. She could feel Aya approach her from behind. The Phoenix drifted towards the bottom of the tapestry just within reach of the women and appeared to land folding its wings up against its side.
“Wow….amazing particle effects….” Aya reached up towards the bird, her flame covered fingers gently touching one of the wings. She pulled her hand back a bit as she could swear she felt real feathers rather than some enchanted embroidery. She reached out again, this time she held her hand up in front of the majestic bird in offering. The Phoenix tilted its head to the side as if pondering her before the fiery head bobbed up and down. Aya extended her hand towards the head, her fingers seemingly going through the tapestry and resting on the top of the head of the Phoenix. “Ohhh…” With childlike wonder she started scratching the bird’s head, its eyes closing in bliss as Aya moved her fingers down and under its beak to its neck.
Elohwa just stood and watched the interaction. She had never seen or even heard of a banner like this. She raised her own hand and reached out towards the cloth, but rather than run into the expected resistance her hand appeared within the tapestry. She moved her hand towards the folded wings, her fingers lightly caressing the feathers. The Phoenix cooed in pleasure as the two women scratched its breast and wings.
Aya frowned as she looked at the clock at the side of her vision. “We should probably get going.” She regretfully pulled her hand out of the tapestry, the Phoenix’s head tilted a bit in question. “Sorry we need to head out, Elohwa? You think it’s safe to put this in our bags?” Normally, Aya would have just grabbed the tapestry and shoved it in her bag, but she wasn’t quite sure how this magic worked, she didn’t exactly want to end up suffocating such a beautiful creature.
Elohwa frowned as well. “I am...not quite sure to be honest.” Elohwa looked the Phoenix in its burning yellow eyes. “May we take you with us? We will have to put you into our bags to get you back to our city, but if it will end up hurting you then we will have to figure out another way.”
The bird’s head tilted to the other side before it nodded again. A wing extended out from its side and swept down, the tip of the wing pointing at Aya’s bag.
“It’s safe, then? It won’t hurt you being in there?” Aya just wanted to be sure.
The bird jabbed its wing towards her bag once again before ruffling its feathers. Elohwa chuckled a bit before scanning it for traps. She nodded to Aya when she didn’t see any.
Aya opened her satchel and lifted it up towards the bottom edge of the tapestry touching it to the corner. The tapestry disappeared into her bag. “Wonder where we should put this? Should we hang it somewhere public for everyone to see and enjoy?”
Elohwa bit her lower lip. “It would indeed be a shame to hide it away. That is definitely something we should think on, but later. It is almost time for you to get ready for your family.” Elohwa looked over at Aya, a soft smile raising the corners of her mouth when she saw excitement flash within the Dreamer’s eyes. She liked to see her friend in good spirits, she knew how hard the coming night would be for Aya, considering she would be able to see her entire family, but only have one hour with her children.
Chapter 34: Reunion
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It was proving to be a difficult night for Aya, full of tears of both joy and pain. Family members from all over had entered the Dreamscape to see her and it had turned into an impromptu family reunion as some family members were too far away or couldn’t afford to physically meet up with other family members. The workers that had been working on the city had paused their tasks in order to set up tents and games for the adults. A massive feast was being prepared by the kitchen and its staff. Meats, breads, soups, stews, fruits and vegetables lay across multiple tables like a buffet. Brackerd had opened up the play area to other young family members and now Aya and Voksil’s children were busy chasing and playing with their long lost cousins. Aya and Voksil saw people they hadn’t seen in years or in some cases decades. Though the technicians had let the adults choose their own avatars in case they wished to use them in Infinity later, they had chosen avatars for the children that blended the traits of the parents avatars just as they had with Jean and Donald. The technicians had installed filters in their interfaces so that everyone would see their family members as they were in the real world so as not to cause confusion or fear in the children as well as the more elderly family members.
Elohwa would have remained in the shadows, but Aya wanted her to be there to meet her family so she had stayed. She met Aya’s parents who she learned were divorced as well as a cadre of brothers. One who was currently busy running and playing with the kids. Aya had sent her a private message telling her that in their world he wasn’t able to run due to a medical condition he had been afflicted with since he was a child where his legs didn’t quite work the way everyone else’s did and that he normally had to use crutches to get around. Here, he could not only use his legs to walk, but he could run and jump just like everyone else could.
Though the night was supposed to be about Aya, it had quickly shifted focus when her grandmother had arrived. Aya, as well as everyone on that side of the family had nearly broken down upon seeing her last surviving grandparent. Her grandmother was in a nursing home and dementia had set in but Dreamscape technicians had been working with her mind while she slept to ease the effects. Here in Infinity, she hardly recognized the woman as she stood tall and proud instead of hunched over a walker. She was completely cognizant of everyone and everything going on around her as if she were a woman in her forties or fifties rather than her nineties. Before all of this had happened, Aya had feared her grandmother would never get to meet her children. The cost of the entire family travelling was too prohibitive to take everyone up to see her, just as she was too old to travel down to see them. Now, Aya had been able to introduce her kids to their great grandmother and Grandma had showered them with love. Her own children and their children and even their children surrounded her and inundated her with hugs, kisses and more than a few tears as they witnessed the change of their mother, grandmother, great grandmother and even great great grandmother.
Aya wiped tears away as she watched her grandmother cuddling and doting on all of the children present. Descendents she may not have gotten a chance to meet otherwise. Aya found herself almost grateful that this had happened to her if only for this one moment with the entire family.
Elohwa stepped to Aya’s left as Voksil was to her right, his arm around her waist. Aya reached out with her left arm and grabbed Elohwa’s arm pulling her closer before linking her arm through hers at the elbow. She glanced over at Aya, a white eyebrow raised.
“Thank you for being here, Elohwa. It mea
ns a lot.” Aya knew that Elohwa was probably feeling uncomfortable around so many strangers. She had begun to feel a bit guilty. She felt as though she were rubbing this in her Companion’s face, but when she had brought it up to Elohwa she had only smiled and said that she would see her own family in the flesh soon enough.
Elohwa’s eyes constantly scanned over the crowd of people. She did indeed feel uncomfortable but only because her elven hearing had allowed her to overhear some rather unflattering things in regards to her Dreamer, but she remained quiet as she didn’t wish to ruin the moment for Aya and her family. She took mental notes about which family members to keep an eye on, she didn’t want them to attempt to take advantage and benefit from Aya’s current situation.
After an hour or so, the younger children disappeared as they could only stay within the Dreamscape for a set period of time. The older children were able to stay longer while the adults could stay until they awoke naturally. Once the younger children were gone, the adults began playing some of the games the workers had set up. There were archery competitions, lumberjacking, blade throwing, and an assortment of card games, to name a few. Everyone who was about to wake in the real world received notifications so they were able to bid farewell to the family and to Aya. She was able to hug and kiss her grandmother again before the older woman awoke.
Aya wiped tears from her eyes after her closest family members were gone. Her only comfort now, was that with the Dreamscape back up, she would be able to see everyone far more often. She wiped away another tear before she turned back towards those who remained.