“Well, anyone who is a daughter of Bob is a friend of ours. Let us know if you ever need anything.” Deia smiled.
“Thank you.” Anna smiled, nodding to Deia before she walked off.
Deia opened the door to her house, finding Dave and a gorgeous High Elf—wearing clothes that showed her perfect white skin in many places—drinking some of Dave’s finer drink.
“Dave?” Deia looked at the barely dressed woman and then at Dave.
“Hi, babe.” Dave smiled at her and then frowned at the other woman.
“Sorry, he’s a bit of an idiot like that.” The High Elf stretched out her hand.
She’s even more beautiful standing. Who the hell is this woman? “Hello, I’m Deia.”
“It is good to meet you. Zel told me a lot about you. My name is Suzy.” The woman smiled.
Suzy—like the Suzy Dave knew on Earth? Deia’s eyes squinted and she pulled up Suzy’s stats. “From Earth?”
“Uhh, yeah.” Suzy’s smile faded as she looked away and her face turned serious.
“Dave, what is going on?” Deia asked.
“My damned shell is being a piece of shit, that’s what’s going on,” Dave growled darkly. He took a drink from his glass.
“Dave—sentences. Remember the thing about muttering?” Suzy snapped.
Dave grimaced but nodded.
Who the hell is this woman?
“Now introduce us and pull your head out of development and angry stage!” Suzy snapped.
“Fine! Okay, Suzy, this is Deia, my fiancée. Deia, this is Suzy, my secretary from when I was Austin Zane.” Dave stood.
Suzy and Deia gave each other appraising looks.
“Suzy here noticed my face from the battle while at the same time my shell was doing some paperwork. Intrigued, she looked into it some more and finally visited Emerilia. Right now, my shell is making some speech to the people of Japan while I’m here drinking a beer. Now Suzy is in the twilight zone as what is happening right now shouldn’t be.” Dave sighed.
“I’m sorry.” Deia winced at Suzy.
“Me, too. You have to deal with him.” Suzy brushed past the elephant in the room.
Deia smiled and looked over to Dave.
“Hey, I am here, you two!” Dave muttered into his cup again.
Suzy and Deia looked at each other, smiling.
“So, are you staying for dinner?” Deia asked.
“Seems like it.” Suzy smiled.
Chapter 5: Through the Veil
Suzy looked at her television, which was showing Austin Zane talking at a dinner in Japan. She checked her planner. He was exactly where he appeared. She looked out over her new apartment in Tokyo. She pulled the helmet back over her head and skipped through the menus and started up Emerilia again.
Sitting there on his porch was Dave and Deia, the same as they had been when she left them.
“How?” Suzy asked.
“Welcome to the real world, Suz—that one where we met, it’s just a simulation to make us think of this as a game. Who gets PTSD from a video game? Who cares who they kill in a video game? Who would ever believe a game is real?” Dave asked.
“How the hell didn’t we know of this?” Suzy asked.
“For centuries, Players roam Emerilia, disappearing for a few decades before reappearing. The new batch of Players are grown, fed the lie that is Earth and they eat it up. Your lives were made to make you more susceptible to play Emerilia and get addicted to it. There are only about four million Players in Emerilia and about five million people who are truly real in Earth. Most of them live in technologically advanced places, so it is easy for them to get the rig but their situations are changed so that you are more prone to stay,” Deia said.
“Our friend Jules plays this game because she needs to make enough money to keep up her medical treatments. She’s a veteran with a limited claim, even though she doesn’t have legs.
“The leader of the Stone Raiders was a stock trader who turned to gaming to get away from his life. I was so tired of meetings and just waiting for the next meeting that I went out into the woods and made a house to get away from it all.”
Dave pulled Deia close to him; it was easy to see their affection for each other. “I found a few other things along the way, though.” He grinned.
“So, how did you figure it out?” Suzy asked.
“Well, I had a bit of a helping hand and I was in here for days. I came out, not being hungry, nor tired. As my body here rested, I would gain energy in the simulation. I took more and more time between waking up. Until I started waking up and my body wasn’t in the chair anymore. I was in the middle of a meeting, or at my desk. It’s not possible for me to do that, unless it was a simulation.”
“Uggh, this is a lot more complicated than I thought.” Suzy slumped into her seat.
“So, what kind of magic are you thinking of specializing in?” Dave asked.
Deia hit him.
“Ow. What?” Dave rubbed his shoulder.
“First, we’ll work on your Agility tomorrow—you’re getting slow. Second, she just found out that Emerilia is real and you’re asking her about magic?”
“What? I’m curious!”
Deia pinched the bridge of her nose.
Suzy couldn’t hold her laughter anymore at seeing Austin—no, Dave—that happy and with a woman who was clearly putting him in his place. She was clearly a strong-willed woman and exactly what Dave had needed.
After a while, her laughing died down.
“So, what you thinking, Suz?”
“What makes you think I want to live in another reality with you?” Suzy asked.
“Aww, don’t be that way Suzy-suz. We make a good team and come on, look at this. We’re on another damned planet. We might have been running Rock Breakers, but we both knew what our ultimate goal was.”
What do I have left on Earth but parents who hate me because of my sexuality, a boss who is now trying to hit on me and isn’t the real guy, and a work life that doesn’t allow me to do anything but work constantly? Whoever made that simulation was pretty damned good. There’s pretty much nothing that I would like to go back to there. Even Dave’s beer ain’t bad and Deia is a fair hand at cooking. Was always interested in checking out one of those all-natural diets.
“I think summoning,” Suzy said.
Deia looked over. She seemed a bit shocked but also impressed. “Why is that?”
“Well, he never plans small and I have a feeling that I’m not going to be much good at fighting on the front lines. But I sure as hell can get a group organized and facing the right way. If I can summon me a few useful characters, then, coupled with Dave’s conjured creations and your fire power, then we’re going to have one hell of a fearsome party,” Suzy said.
“Someone’s been doing their homework, I see.” Dave smiled.
Suzy rolled her eyes. “With the amount of damned video game information you were spouting all the time, some of it rubbed off on me.” She grimaced.
Dave laughed and winked while Deia looked amused.
***
After talking for a few hours, Suzy went off to wander Cliff-Hill while Dave and Deia retreated into their house. Night was coming and it was getting chilly quickly.
They sat on the couch, lying next to each other and watching the dancing flames. Dave looked down at Deia, tracing his finger over her shoulder and down her neck. She shivered slightly and turned to him.
In that fireplace glow, with her red eyes, Dave drank in the sight of her face, that moment of peace. The more she used her fire and gained a greater understanding with it, her eyes seemed to become more flame-like.
How the hell did I get this lucky?
He tilted her chin up, kissing her lightly. After a few kisses, Deia pulled him closer as their lips and tongues melded together. Deia pushed him back a bit, her face flush.
“Well, seems I still have it.” Dave grinned.
She rolled her eyes and snatched a quick kiss. �
�Before we move this to the bed, I felt it’s time that we talked about what we’re going to do now. Do you want to join the Stone Raiders?”
“I wouldn’t be against it. They showed that they are good people and I’ve even heard that they plan on making this their base, training with POEs and accepting them into their ranks.”
“I was thinking much the same thing. So tomorrow, shall we make it official? I would feel a bit better if we had a guild backing us and when we’re done training, then we know that they’re going to be in the middle of the fight.”
Dave nodded. “Also, Kol did give me a quest to become a Dwarven Master Smith. I haven’t decided if I’m going to accept it or not.”
“Why didn’t you tell me earlier?” Deia hit his arm.
She might have smaller arms than his but her strength was up there. She’d been fighting for centuries; he was just slowly picking things up.
“Sorry, babe. I meant to, but with Suzy and everything…”
“Who is Suzy to you?” Deia asked.
Alarm bells rang around Dave’s skull, telling him that he had indeed walked into a woman’s minefield.
“She was pretty much my only friend back on Earth. I think of her as a sister and she’s like Jules and Esa toward her taste in partners.” Dave hoped that he had covered most of the main points. “Though, she’s kind of sensitive about that. On Earth, her parents cut off all communication with her when they found out that she liked other women. Both of us don’t really have a family, but we had each other to get through the hard times.”
Deia’s face softened as she hugged Dave. “Well, you’ve got a lot more people who care about you now,” she said into his chest.
He kissed her head. His heart swelled at her words.
“Will she stay here?”
“Well, that is the million-dollar question.” Dave scratched his head in thought. “I think so. Suzy is common-sense smart and over the years, she’s gained a lot of technical smarts from all the projects that she’s worked on.
“She might not be an engineer, but she’s definitely a planner. With all the evidence, I think we can expect to have another bleeder hanging around.”
“So, then, when does your Dwarven Master Smith training start? Also, where is it going to be?” Deia asked.
“I didn’t accept yet—thought that I would run it by you first. What do you mean, where is it going to be? Wouldn’t it be at Mithsia?”
“I knew I didn’t just go out with you for your looks.” Her hand ran down his shirt and across his groin.
He turned to kiss her more.
“Plan first, fun later,” she said, a wicked gleam in her eyes.
“Damn tease.”
“Makes it all the more fun. Dwarven smiths are trained all over. To my knowledge, they go to another Dwarven settlement to show their skills. This is to make sure that there is no one getting coddled and they’re worthy of the Master Smith title. So, will you accept the Dwarven Master Smith training?”
“If you agree. Kol was vague on the details.”
“I do. Your conjuring was the support that we needed to cut through those cultists’ defenses and tear them apart. I know how much work you have put into learning smithing. If you stop here, I know that you will regret it. Knowing the secret ways of the Dwarven Master Smiths coupled with your conjuring ability, you will only grow in strength. And I know you’re not the kind of man to leave things half-finished.”
“Oh, is that a fact?” Dave’s eyes traced over her body and back to her eys.
She was trying to look serious, but the upturned corners of her lips failed to obey her.
“Now, Malsour and Induca want to join us, and I think that Anna might for a time as well.”
“Well, it is rather nice having those two around. Haven’t really had much interaction with Anna, but she seems nice enough and she is Bob’s daughter.” Dave thought about that little factoid for a moment.
“Very well. Then, once you’ve got your Master Smithing thing sorted out, I want to head for the Mages College of Per’ush.”
“Oh?” Dave asked.
“Malsour, Induca, and I have talked about it. If you want to learn more about Magical Circuits, they are the place to go. They are the oldest and the most knowledgeable mages college in all of Emerilia. If Suzy does join us, then she should have a grip on the basics enough that the information at the college won’t go right over her head and she can use it to alter her own spells and casts. It is, also, one of a handful of cities that holds a known working portal.”
Dave thinned his eyes accusingly.
“You know me too well.” She simply smiled at his accusation.
“I want to get my smithing higher, but then I don’t want to ruin everyone else’s plans.”
“Don’t worry. I have talked to them already. Malsour and Induca are used to waiting and they have other things that they are interested in. I’m not sure about Anna but then I don’t know what her aims are. Suzy, well, just like you when you first came here, she needs to build up her skills more. The good thing is that you can conjure tools for all of us to improve ourselves with as we work.”
“Well, it does seem that you have this all planned out.” A mischievous smile crossed Dave’s face.
“What?” Deia dragged the word out.
“So good, in fact, I think that you should be the leader of our little party.”
“What? Why? You should be—you’re the one doing the support,” Deia said.
“Deia, you talked to everyone and are starting to plan out our next moves while I’m still just reeling. I might have led a massive company but that is not much use here. Here I’m the guy who makes weapons and armor and supports from the rear. Malsour and Induca don’t have the temperament for being our overall party leader. Sure, in some situations either of them would be good. The day-to-day running of it?” Dave shrugged. “No one knows Suzy or Anna enough yet to make them our leader. So, that comes to you.” Dave’s voice was soft but firm.
He knew it was the right choice. He had picked out the leaders of those who would work on the moon and run his various departments. He knew that he wasn’t built to be the leader of this group. He was completely fine with Deia taking over. She’d been in more battles than Dave and he trusted her completely. He knew that the others would agree as well.
She didn’t look totally convinced.
Dave moved so that he wasn’t on his side but above her. He made to kiss her.
“Dave, this is a serious discussion,” she said as Dave started to kiss her neck, his left hand moving to her shirt.
“Da-aave!” Her eyes fluttered.
“As the other…” He slowly kissed where her neck and jaw connected. “Person…in this discussion…I do believe that it is over.” His hand had undone her shirt as he moved from her neck to her chest.
“Uhhnnnrgggh.” She moaned and pulled his face closer.
Dave grinned as her fingers found their way into his hair.
Chapter 6: Onward and Forward
Dave tapped the doorway into the bunk room.
Two Dwarves playing a card game looked up at him. “Who are you?” one of them asked.
“I’m looking for Gurren and Lox,” Dave asked.
“Dave?” Gurren called out, getting up from his bed.
“Well, it isn’t exactly going to be a sweet maiden. I Think you scared them all off wiht your ugly mug.” Dave grinned.
Gurren let out a barking laugh and embraced Dave.
“Look at what the damned wolf dragged in. You sure you don’t use something to make yourself look uglier every time I see you?” Lox moved the separating curtain from his bed and small table. As a warband leader, he got a few more luxuries.
“I swear, every time I see you, your beard is shorter. It’s like you’re reversing your puberty,” Dave shot back. He clapped Lox up in another hug.
“I heard that you’ve been offered a position as a Master Smith,” Gurren said. The others in the room looked
on in interest.
“Yeah, that’s something I wanted to talk to you about.” Dave looked at them nervously.
“You took it?” Lox asked.
“Yeah.” Dave winced, expecting them to be displeased. They had all lost Joko, Tounk, and Max less than two weeks ago, and now Dave was planning to leave with Deia.
“Good! Seems that Deia is actually able to get something in your thick skull!” Lox grinned.
He saw some sadness in there, but he also saw the pride and happiness.
“Let’s go to the common room,” Gurren said.
They walked out of the bunk room and headed down to a room with a few chairs here and there, as well as a fireplace.
“So where are you going?” Lox asked.
“The Benvari Mountains.” Dave slumped into his seat.
“Some good Master Smiths there. Kol talks of them highly,” Gurren said.
“He hasn’t said much to me other than I’d be reporting to someone called Jesal.”
“Jesal, huh? That woman can bend metal with her damned hands. She’s one of the strongest Master Smiths in Benvari, if not the strongest. Makes sense.” Gurren stroked his beard in thought.
“Why?”
“Because you’re the first person who’s not a full Dwarf learning what are the Dwarven race’s biggest secrets.” Lox held Dave’s eyes. “The Master Smiths are not just a new tier of smiths. It’s easier to think of them as a sect. Their skills bring them together but they do much more than just hammer metal together. I’ve only seen Master Smiths truly at work maybe a few times. Their creations are not only magnificent but powerful. Everything that Kol has done in your workshop has been done to a master’s high degree of quality, but none of it has been a master created piece.”
“When Grandfather Kol makes even a simple knife or piece, then he is unable to do anything but his highest quality. His standards won’t allow him to do any less. A knife made by him could cut through steel as if it were butter. He is not one to use his skills unless it is absolutely necessary and then they are only needed if he is making something. He can add bonuses to items that he works on, even though the original piece, if not created by him, is not to a master’s tier of work.” Gurren leaned forward and looked around. “Grandfather said that when you become a Dwarven master that you not only learn all of the skills that come with the forge, you learn your true forming.”
Benvari Mountains (Emerilia Book 2) Page 5