Open World

by Casey Moss

  “So you’re telling me… what, exactly?”

  “No they haven’t. Other than feeling run down and tired lately, Faith’s all right. Cassandra hasn’t spoken or acted any different.”

  “Run down and tired as exhausted from activities or lack of sleep?”

  “Good question. I’ll ask them when I get back to the house.”

  “Either way, one of them is vulnerable. Her lack of rest will make her more susceptible to attack. I have a feeling Faith is Buzz’s next target. Cassandra was pretty open with her animosity toward him. He’ll go after who he considers to be easier prey. Sorry, buddy, but you’ll have to brush up on your mystic skills along with your warrior skills. You need to Hyzendro, practice your telepathic reception, and ascertain what Buzz is doing. We’ll probably need to fight Buzz in his manner and on his turf.”

  “Why can’t you Hyzendro?” He glanced up and down the street. No one was around. The deserted area just west of downtown became much lonelier. He hated how the mere thought of being in water rattled him.

  “Because your energy is there and tied to the situation so you’d be a better receiver.”

  Tavis shuddered. Blood rushed from his extremities and face creating icy swaths in its wake. “You mean I need to get into a pool?” His heart leapt, skipped a couple of beats.

  “Geez, it’s weird that as a Statiochapel clan member you don’t like Hyzendro. I can’t believe you’re still skittish about swimming and meditating under water…in character or not. Why’d you even create your character in the Marine Class?”

  “Cause they needed people to test it. Figured it was a game. I wasn’t the one who’d have to do the water activities. My character would. Who would have ever guessed we’d be sucked into this world. Besides, we’re warriors, not mystics. We shouldn’t have to water meditate.”

  “Good point. We’ll have to bring that up in our follow-up meeting after the LAN party. If we ever get out of here.”

  “If? Dude, we better get out of here. I don’t want to live in a world where there are vampires, CWUs and other nasties. Speaking of which, have you run into any bad guys?”

  “No. And I’m betting by your question you haven’t either. Weird.”

  Tavis surveyed his surroundings again. The perpetual gray sky darkened to a deeper hue. A gust of wind blew lightweight debris along the fractured road. With the blast of air came an acrid, burnt scent. He’d smelled something like that before when some electrical wiring had shorted out. Not a good smell in either reality. In one it meant the possibility of fire. In the other it meant a nasty storm was on its way.

  Still, he saw none of the bad characters that normally plagued the game.

  “Yeah, it’s strange. Then again, it’s for the best. I’d hate to find out what happens if we were to die while we’re in this world.” What would the ramifications be? Would he reincarnate in the game as normal while his body stayed…what? Asleep in the club house? If he were attacked and killed, what would happen to his body in the real world?

  “Same here. So let’s try not to find out. Back to the Hyzendro.”

  Tavis groaned.

  Den ignored his protest and continued, “For the time being, maybe you could try a long shower or a bath. A bath would be a better bet. I don’t think you’d have to submerge to get a vision about what Buzz is up to. The bit of water you’ll be in should conduct enough energy to garner some information. You won’t get a full picture, but you should pick up enough to see what he’s up to in regards to Faith.”

  “Thanks for the suggestion. Do you think I’ll be able to find out something for you regarding Hope?”

  “If I remember my training right, no, you won’t be able to. Like you said, we’re warriors, not mystics, and we’ll only be able to pick up on who we’re attached to and nothing about the future. That’s how I ended up here in GV. The bit of insight I received pointed me in her direction but not to her. And once this storm passes, I’ll go under again and try to channel another revelation. I’m so rusty with my techniques, and you’ll probably find yourself feeling the same way. Anyway, do try to hurry. I believe time is of the essence right now and we don’t need another woman succumbing to his charms.”

  Tavis sighed. He hated to be pressured to do anything, especially when it came to water. Just thinking about Hyzendro—underwater meditation—made his blood run cold.

  The last time he had gone under water was during a fishing trip with some friends his senior year of high school. The driver thought he’d be cool and race the boat. When the guy made a sharp turn, he went overboard and almost drowned. Since then boats and deep bodies of water made him nervous and sick to his stomach.

  Meditating and spending copious amounts of time under water was the one aspect of being a Marine class member he didn’t enjoy, and not being able to do what other members of his clan could do made him miss out on a lot. Yet, he was all right with that. He was a warrior after all and a good one to boot. “I’ll do my best. I’m on my way to their place now and will go…umm...under as soon as I can.”

  Back at the house, Tavis came upon Cassandra quietly reading at the dining room table and inquired as to where Faith was.

  “She’s upstairs napping,” Cassandra replied, without looking up from her book.

  “Good. And, just so you know, I’ll be in the tub for a bit. I, umm, tweaked my lower back and need the moist heat.”

  “Cool. Have at it.”

  He shook his head, took the bag of goods he collected on the way to the house and went upstairs. In the bathroom, he placed the bag and the clothes and the ski mask he grabbed from his room on the hamper, then made sure the door was secure and locked.

  Reverently, he removed the items from the sack and put them on the counter—herbal salt to purify the water, incense to cleanse the air. The box of straws and nose plug would be for later. If he had to literally go under, then he wanted to breathe normal and not have to go into the Statiochapel state of dormancy.

  He turned on the water, testing it to where he could stand the hottest setting. He’d be in the bath for a long time and didn’t want the liquid to get too cold too fast. As the tub filled, he tossed in the salt crystals, lit the incense and put the straws and plug next to the basin where the items would be in reach. With a flick of his hand, Tavis turned out the light, letting the ambient gray daylight illuminate the small area. Undressing slow and easy, Tavis cleared his mind to focus on his task, then slipped into the almost intolerably hot water.

  The heat permeated his body, soothing his tired muscles and frantic mind. He breathed deep and slowly let the air out of his lungs. The water swished around him as he sank down and closed his eyes. In through the nose and out through the mouth he breathed. The sweet and spicy, warm earth scent of the incense, with its light notes of sandalwood and musk wafted on thin tendrils of smoke above him. Dredging up background info about the Marine class, he remembered the litany he needed for the meditation. Several moments passed. He slipped further into the required tranquil state of mind before he spoke the lines.

  “Loving Mother Goddess of the sea,” he whispered quietly. “Maker and Guider of all, may pure energy, love and light be with you as with me as I seek the answer to my question.” Again he concentrated on his breathing and moved down into the water. His chin touched it. He repeated the litany and let his mind wander.

  It had been ages since he’d last seen the ocean. Many a family vacation had been spent in the Caribbean and other coastal locations. He summoned images of the locales with ease. The Pacific Northwest with its brown, black and gray crags, craters and fissures creating caves and hidden nooks. He loved the secret coves the best, fantasized that buried treasure could be found there. His parents liked them due to their private nature. Another of his family’s favorite places to go was the shores of Baja California Sur, where warm breezes caressed their bodies while they lay upon the beaches and looked out upon a blue-green sapphire sea. It was this place in which he finally pictured himself as
he delved deeper into his trance.

  “Goddess, wrap me in your warm embrace,” he urgently whispered, freeing his mind and soul from any despair and negativity. “And tell me, how does the prince attack my lifemate Zya?”

  Fully in the hypnotic state of Hyzendro, he slid completely under the water without fear.

  Murky visions rolled on the dream screen of his mind, first of a strange man and Faith sleeping in separate beds, not under the same roof. Then the scene flicked to the man, who seemed to rise from his body and propel through time and space. The stranger traveled to where Faith lay and, with a faint touch of his ghost-like hand, merged into her.

  Tavis bolted upright out of the water, panicked and gasping for air. Water dripped into his eyes from his soaked hair. He batted his face to wipe away the water and get the long, wet tresses slicked back.

  Is he Buzz? The man who the family said took Hope? Could that man be the prince? If so, he’d developed the ability to astrally project and enter the dream states of others.

  He frantically wondered about Faith’s predicament as he scrubbed the streaked makeup off his face. Was it possible the stranger was entering Faith’s mind and inflicting himself upon her in her dreams? Preparing her for a time when he needed her?

  Calming his anxiety, Tavis remembered how the meditation process wasn’t always accurate for warriors, and how it usually only gave warriors a smidgen of information to work on. Normally something was better than nothing, but he had a feeling that this time, he received the whole package.

  Musing over his options of what he’d need to do next, he stepped out of the tub, dried off and got dressed. He picked up the straws and nose plug from the floor, laid them on the counter next to the burnt out incense stick, and caught his reflection in the mirror. The imprint of scales still covered his face and upper portion of his neck. He never should have tried to make his character shift before reaching the appropriate level. Now he was stuck with deformity. He hoped that once he reached the time he could officially shift the scales would go away.

  Fingering the ski mask and looking at the brown extended wear cosmetic contact lenses that covered his deep green eyes, he mentally vented on how he hated wearing the blasted things. He also disliked dying his light golden brown hair to a dark chocolate brown, but all the changes were necessary for the time being.

  So maybe the scales are a blessing. Makes me have to cover them and disguise myself more to keep off of the prince’s radar. I just wish I could tell Faith who I was.

  Sure, Alden could have been the one to wear the makeup and change up his appearance because they needed an upper hand in their investigation. One of them had to be undercover so if the other was discovered they could still continue tracking Buzz. But, alas, Alden hadn’t drawn the short straw. He had and thus transformed with the disguise and name change. If they were lucky, no Caesachapel members would recognize him, and he and his buddy could keep their advantage for as long as possible. The downfall to this? The family believed him to be someone else. Coming clean and disclosing who he really was, was an option, but at this point in time there was no sense throwing the family off guard even more than they already were.

  With a resigned sigh over his temporary but feels-like-eternity fate, he slipped on the ski mask, gathered his things and opened the door.

  On his way out of the bathroom, he encountered Cassandra leaning against the wall with a sly smile on her face. “My, my, my, you’re as bad as a female with how long you’ve been in there,” she joked. “You must have had a lot of thinking to do.”

  When she winked, his breath hitched. Had she enlightened already? Pondering the woman, he scratched the ski mask on his head. Did she know he had been meditating? He wished he could ask her, but that would blow his cover. Besides, it wasn’t his place to inquire about her progress, that task was for her lifemate. But he did have a question for her, and he was pretty sure she could answer it. Neither the Q or A would give either of them away. “Do you have any books about astral projection in your Wiccan arsenal?”

  “How did you know I’m a Wiccan?” she asked in surprise.

  Because it’s the closest thing to Harlestchapel Clan’s religion and how their abilities in this world come about. “A couple of times at the theater I overheard your cousins discussing your, umm, hobby I believe they called it. Makes sense as to why you put your character in the Harlestchapel Clan.”

  “Well, great. Isn’t that just lovely. If you’ve heard and figured it out, then there’s no telling who else has, which means my aunt and uncle might know,” she fumed and turned with a wave of her arm for him to follow. As they walked into her room, she continued, “Yes, I have two books. I’ll let you borrow them. Just don’t tell Grace or James anything about my real world interest, okay?”

  “You have my word.” Tavis fingered an X in the air over his heart. Cassandra dropped to her knees next to the bed. “Is Faith still napping?”

  “No.” She pulled a slim footlocker from beneath her bed, produced its key from a chain around her neck, unlocked the container and searched the box’s contents. “She’s watching television now.”

  “Has she had any weird dreams lately?”

  “Here they are.” Cassandra rose to her feet and handed him a couple of books. “Yeah, she’s had a strange recurring dream. Faith’s had some kind of bizarre daydream as well.”

  “Daydream?” He flipped through one of the paperbacks.

  “She told me she saw an ocean out back. That she could smell and feel the salt in the air. She said she felt homesick. Now, that’s weird, dontcha think? Don’t mind the notes in the margins,” she added, pointing to the books in his hands.

  “The notes may be good. They’ll probably help. Thanks for letting me borrow these.” He tipped the books to his head, then toward her.

  In the relative safety of the guest room, he locked the door, took off the ski mask and rubbed his cheeks. He couldn’t wait until Faith enlightened and realized who she was. Then he could reveal himself to her, and they could be together once more. And from what Cassandra had just said, it seemed the process had started.

  He lay on the bed, opened one of the books and eagerly began to read, understanding he had to learn everything he could as quickly as possible. He needed to help Faith fight off Buzz’s advances.

  He hoped he wasn’t too late.

  Chapter Twelve

  Three nights. Three whole bloody nights. Tavis pitched the book about lucid dreaming to the end of the bed. All that time and he had no idea if the techniques he practiced from the manuals Cassandra loaned him worked or not. He had dreams, which involved his test subject, Alden, but he wasn’t about to ask him about his dreams. He could imagine the conversation, “Hey, Alden. Have any interesting dreams lately? Ones that I showed up in?” That’d go over well…not.

  Until Alden approached him and brought up the subject of his dreams, he would keep his mouth shut about what he’d attempted. Better to ask forgiveness than permission, especially with a bear of a hard head like his friend.

  So far all the two of them had to go on was that a man named Buzz kidnapped Hope. That Faith was having strange dreams. She didn’t care to discuss them but did say she’d never seen the man’s face due to a hawk mask. He didn’t offer his theory to her or Alden that she’d been the victim of someone who could astrally project and dream walk. The hawk mask happened to be a huge clue though. The Caesachapel Clan, comprised of the prince and his followers, was Bird of Prey class. Buzz had to be the prince. The man they needed to capture and defeat.

  Voices broke him out of his thoughts. He rose and went downstairs.

  His perception went on alert for any little change concerning Cassandra and Faith. Nothing seemed amiss. Alden confirmed his assumption with hand signals to state all was well. He nodded to his friend, indicating he understood and looked to Faith who appeared asleep on her feet.

  “Faith, are you all right?”

  Faith groggily looked at him, then Alden, the
n back to him. She swayed a bit.

  With a quick motion, he reached out, clasped her arm and steadied her. “Faith?”

  “I’m okay. Just tired is all.” She patted his hand. “I’d love to stay and chat with you fellows, but I’m going to go hit the hay.” Faith released herself from his grip and shuffled in the direction of the stairs.

  He watched her slow progress, concerned about her pale skin, sunken eyes and listless brown hair. The poor thing looks whipped.

  “Any more luck on figuring out what Buzz is up to?” Alden asked when Faith had made it all the way up the stairs.

  “I have some ideas,” he offered cautiously.

  “Care to share?”

  “Umm…” Tavis stalled for time, unsure if he should tell Alden yet or not about the astral projection and dream interference.

  “Fine. Okay. Don’t tell me. But let me tell you something. I had the weirdest dreams the past couple of nights.”

  “Really?” Tavis tried his best to hide his excitement. This could be what he had been waiting to hear about. If Alden mentioned him and making him dance, he had found his way to help Faith.

  “Yeah, you were in them. You were trying to teach me how to do… What was it? Oh, the hokey pokey and the chicken dance. You said I’ll need to know them for my wedding.”

  “Wow, that is weird,” he replied, stifling the cheer welling up in him. Tavis held the inside of his cheeks between his teeth to keep from grinning like a mad man. He had done it. He had successfully entered another person’s dream state, which meant he’d be able to enter Faith’s and assist her with fighting off Buzz’s advances. Thank the Goddess.

  “So are you going to tell me what’s up?”

  “Tomorrow. I’ll let you know what my next Hyzendro session discloses and if what I’m hoping will work to correct the matter works. Trust me on this.”

  “Hyzendro?” Cassandra queried as she walked into the living room, banana in hand.