by D Richardson
Regardless of how I felt about it, it seemed the world was headed that way. I heard how guns and airships weren't a thing last season, twenty years ago, and in that short of a timeframe, they're already perfecting them. It would make sense, after all, that a player gets a hold of a musket, complains about its accuracy, then demands a blacksmith to rifle the barrel.
"Alex."
I looked up and saw Willow standing there, staring at me as if she were about to burst into laughter. "Hey."
"You've been staring at that rock for about thirty minutes." She smiled. "Have you found a new hobby? Pet rocks?"
I tossed it aside. "I prefer dogs."
She laughed. "The ships arrived. We have food, so now we have no excuse to go hoppin' through portals for a quick food run." She crossed her arms at me.
"I offered to go each time! But you guys never let me," I said.
"We just want to make sure you're safe. Maybe once we know you can take care of yourself, you can go on your own."
"Really?"
"But you'll have to wear a disguise. Obviously."
"Deal."
We started off back home, enjoying the breeze and sunny day instead of just farstepping there in an instant. It was something we got used to, something to clear our heads and minds and be at peace with the world during the short trips here and there. "Willow," I said. "We need an engineer. A good one."
"Oh? We already have a few who are good at that sort of thing."
"I want the best."
She shrugged. "How could I know who’s the best?"
"Wasn't there somebody who brought guns to our world? Airships? Surely something leaked over."
"So you want a player."
Hearing it stung a little. I didn't want to find myself needing a player for anything, but even I knew there was knowledge to be had from that side, knowledge that could give us advantages. Yet this pursuit would make me no better than those I once fought against and those who I have resolved to fight. Maybe we could just kidnap a player and torture the information out of him.
"You're brooding again," Willow said. "You do that a lot, you know."
Maybe there could be at least one person, one player who would side with us, to side with our beliefs, our ideology, our sovereignty. But who? No. It wouldn't matter. Regardless of what anyone says or does, we could never trust the players. I was sure that either Simone or Relce leaked the information of the Seekers, the entire event of my past to their side, eventually spreading back into my world. As soon as I would ask a question to a would-be engineer, there would be no guarantee he wouldn't hop on a forum and tell one of our enemies what we were after. Until I could find a solution, we'll just have to settle for what we know.
Fingers jabbed into my sides, and I jolted back in surprise. "Willow!"
"Relax, for goodness sake," she teased. She ran her hands under my arms and sides and anywhere she thought I'd be ticklish. I was everywhere, and soon she tackled us both into the grass as I struggled against the laughter.
After a moment we were out of breath, with her straddled on top of me - my wrists in one hand and my exposed stomach vulnerable to her other. "Come on, Willow!" I begged. "I can't breathe."
She looked down at me with a taunting smile. "Are you done overthinking everything? Maybe you can relax now."
"Sure, fine, whatever. Just get off me."
She did, then pulled me to my feet to dust us both off. A shout hit us from the cabins. "Willow, get here now." It was the huge guy, and he seemed to be in a hurry.
"I'm coming," she shouted back.
"It's the priestess. It's time."
The color drained from her face, and she reflected her worry to me.
Chapter 29
The Heiress
A lump in my throat. Vanilla incense that meant to calm but didn't. The priestess rested comfortably in her bed, the port windows of the ship letting in only a sliver of light to bring a veil of dust between us. She had never once left the ship since we've arrived, and I hoped she was getting better, but I was wrong.
"Alex," she said with a warm smile. "I believe in you." Her voice was weak, but it still carried her passion.
"Thank you, gramma."
I could tell she wanted to chuckle at that, but she lacked the strength. Seeing her face brighten was more than enough. "You remember things faster and faster each time, it seems." She coughed. "Perhaps with this iteration, you will find peace."
"I hope," I said. I dropped my gaze from her.
"Oh, don't look so glum. I'm old, you know." She beamed, and it pulled a smile from me.
She was right. We had only known each other for a couple weeks, but something told me I had known her forever. Maybe I did. I walked over and gently brushed her hair aside. "Thanks, for everything."
"No, thank you." She eased her head in a bow as well as she could lying down. "And, Alex, as soon as you can, take the reins of the Seekers."
"I will," I said.
"After all, you made us."
***
I went outside a distance away from the cabins and the ship and everything that was happening. I sat in the grass and let the breeze caress my face and pull my worries and sorrows away. The priestess was leaving - not dying, as they insisted - and I was not invited to the ritual. It was something I could respect, and they even promised to explain after.
Time spent as I let my mind drift away in peace, staring across the plains and valleys and mountains and sky. The world felt so empty here, yet so peaceful. This was a real sense of nature that no person could experience on Mars. I was lucky to be a copy, lucky to experience this in its fullest form.
Footsteps in the grass approached me. It was Willow. Her eyes were tired, her face pale. "Alex," she said as if in a dream. Her gaze searched me as if I had a secret to tell, but she seemed to have known them all already. "It's done."
"Oh. Okay. So..." I trailed off. "What happened?"
"I took her essence."
"What?"
"Her spirit. Her power. Her everything," she explained. "Besides her identity, I became her." She stood as if in a trance. Her emerald eyes dug into my soul as if to reassure her suspicions. "I was to be the successor, and all is as it shall be."
"Willow, you're not gonna be weird like this from now on, right?"
Her cheeks flushed, and it even surprised me. "No, no!" She waved away the accusation as she covered her mouth. "I just - I have a lot to take in." She pierced me again with that analytical glare.
I crossed my arms at her. "She told me I created the Seekers. Is it true? Did I once start this boy scout club of yours?"
"I tried to believe it at first," she said. "But now I don't have a choice." She took a step toward me, then eased to her knees to sit as a polite lady should.
"You're being weird, Willow."
"Just let me think," she said. "Just let us rest a bit."
I nodded. The loss of the priestess would've hurt them more than I imagined. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. I snuck beside her to rest my head in her lap. I couldn't deny a juicy opportunity for a lap pillow, and Willow didn't complain. She idly ran her fingers through my hair as she lost herself in thought, her eyes gone to some unimaginably distant place.
I closed my eyes and slipped away.
And for the first time for so long, I dreamt.
{" And so I'll bury it here, and I'll find it again and again. "}
Water dripped and splashed on my cheeks. I groaned and eased my eyes open. I was laying in the grass on my side, and the sky was dark and overcast. It thundered in the distance. I sighed and tried to get up, but something pulled at me. It was an arm. I looked over. It was Willow, and she was spooning me with glee in her face, wistfully dreaming about whatever girls of her caliber dream about. There was a snicker beside me.
It was Yun, and he was standing there looking down on us with the biggest, stupidest smile on his face. "Ya'll gonna get wet."
As if he himself summoned the rain, the a
pplause came, and it was heavy. I groaned and struggled to my feet, but Willow wasn't giving up. Even in her catatonic state, she latched on to me. "Willow," I whined as I tried to shake her away.
She moaned. "Just carry me."
"God!" I looked at Yun for help. He only stood there as we were all soaking wet, maintaining his Cheshire grin. I grunted as I pulled her to my back and looped my arms around her legs. We trekked the rest of the way back, into our home, and I flopped Willow on her bed.
She might not have been the heaviest, but neither was I, and now I was out of breath. Yun had lost interest in the affair about halfway when the rain soaked into his socks. He shook his head and left the room, knowing what had to be done. And what had to be done was revenge.
This little punk succubus mage was about to soak her bed with her wet clothes, and if she wasn't about to wake up soon, I was going to strip her - and I was going to like it!
"Willow!" I demanded. "Get undressed before you mess up the bed!"
She whined almost inaudibly. I poked at her side, but to no effect. I shook her shoulder, gently at first but soon I was yanking her back and forth. "Ugh," she croaked out. "Just do it for me."
"F-for real?"
"Hmm, yeah."
I thought my heart stopped beating for a moment there, and I felt at my face. It was hot. I shook the dirty thoughts away. It probably wasn't a good idea and doing this while she was likely mourning would've been selfish. Right?
"Nah," I said. "You'll probably toast me later if I did."
She turned over and stared into me, her lips moving in a whisper that I couldn't hear. Her emerald eyes beckoned me in, her soft lips whispered my name, and I craved her. I wanted her, I needed her, and in her eyes, I saw us together, wrapped tight in passion, losing ourselves and our minds shattering against the raw, sensual lust. Her brown hair smelled like oranges, and her pink lips tasted like wine. Her hands traced my skin, under my clothes, and I trembled beneath her. Her smooth skin pressed against my own, her hands stroking my most sensitive places, and my body felt so alive. I heard a moan. It was me.
I blinked.
Her bed was damp on my bare skin, and her hair was wet on my face. She was straddling me, her face inches away from my own, her eyes hungry and taunting. "Willow," I said with patience. "Why are we both naked?"
She grinned and threw the blanket over us before digging her face into mine.
Chapter 30
The Governor
Morning came, and the sunlight fell through the windows and brightened my room and our sleepy hearts. It was a comfortable place, made exactly to my liking. A flush rug that kept my feet warm in these winter months, a string of glowgems that lined the edges of the ceiling like fireflies, drawers and a wardrobe for my expanding selection of outfits and wizard robes.
I nuzzled my face into Willow's hair. It had been a week now since she moved in with me. Though she still has her room, it felt like she was too reluctant to sleep there, too reluctant to sleep alone. Who was I to complain? If not me, she'd be with Yun, and I wouldn't blame her. Maybe she was trying to build her own harem and was making me a part of it.
"Willow," I whispered.
"Hmm."
"Are you awake?"
"Mmm."
She spent the entire week returning to the plains by herself, gazing out to wherever, as if she could see the past and the reality around her at that point in time. Maybe she could. I wondered if she saw all of my pasts, the ones far beyond Lord Gaia, the ones less interesting. Maybe she was looking into her own?
"Willow," I spoke softly. "How did you get her power? The priestess."
"Mmm," she whined. I tickled her sides, and she struggled against the laughter. "Okay, okay, I'm awake. Geez."
"Did the priestess zap you with magic?"
"No," she said with a yawn. "She scrolled herself."
"What?"
"She wrote the spell on her hand, and I held it."
"I see." I didn't really see. "So you... absorbed her?"
"I understood her. In the same way that you would use a scroll to learn magic, I learned the magic of her."
I pulled her close to me and felt the warmth of her back against my chest. This must've been some tradition that spanned a few generations, maybe more. I was curious to know why Willow was the designated heir to inherit the power, to inherit the leadership, but it didn't matter anymore. Eventually, she would be the one to take control of the Seekers, and I hoped for it. Even when they wanted me to guide them on whatever journey, I felt it was wrong, that I was unworthy - and rightfully so. Who was a peasant to lead a king?
If there was one thing I wanted to lead, it would be the development of this fake republic we've built for ourselves. I would gladly be the fake shadow-queen behind the fake republic to handle the fake politics and fake this and that. It had been so long since I've had this much fun doing something besides torching things.
And so I started to drift my mind to the strategic side once again. Willow had fallen back asleep, letting off the faintest of endearing snores while I laid behind her calculating prospective economic ventures and construction. Maybe in my real copy, I was into those types of games - real-time strategy, base building, grand strategy.
Our daily operations were running smoothly, and we already found ourselves living comfortable lives, much better for them compared to life in the mountains. But I was ambitious and curious to see how far I could take the republic. From what we heard, the small Eastern European nations were paying well for some of the western products but knowing who wants what and for how much escaped me. Delegation of the economy would need to go first, but even the Seekers didn't seem to have much acumen in that respect. Especially after I witnessed Yun returning from another business trip with a five thousand gold cowboy hat.
I could expand the docks and storehouses as quickly as I could spend the money, but it would be a pain to handle with what few people we had here. And so that's what I needed - people.
***
Willow was standing at the stove, guarding her sizzling steaks against Yun and I as we both sat at the table. The smell was wafting over and making us both salivate like dogs, our stomachs whining and complaining while we maintained our sanity over a kettle of tea.
"Yun," I said. "Where are you going to next?"
"Braltar. Sits right at the exit of the sea to the ocean." He sipped his tea as a proper lady would. "I'm gonna see what goes in an' out, trade-wise."
I was wrong. Perhaps there were some here who were good at this sort. "You're making orders?"
"Yep. Mostly I'm puttin' our name out there. Lettin' people know there's a tradin' post right here, so they don't just sail by without sayin' hello." His sharp eyes traced the edges of his cup. "We'll be havin' a lot of throughput in trade, so we ought to consider puttin' another post at the strait. Since we're workin' under a shell company, an' all."
It was a good idea, but one that would need to wait. Not only was that area poor for resources, but it was also mostly just glass and craters. For now, we needed to focus on manpower. "We should get employees, I think."
"Is that a good idea?" he asked. "They'd have to live nearby, and I doubt people would move out so far to this empty place just for a job."
"What about people who would want to move? Surely there's somebody who's trying to escape their boring lives." I waved my arm beside me. "This is the land of opportunity here! Let's bring in some immigrants or something."
He nodded. "Yeah, alright, but once word gets out that we are here, someone's gonna cry to their auntie back home an' the next thing we know bounty hunters will find us."
I sighed. "Then we'll just have to be separate from them, and when we can't be, we'll need to be careful." My mind raced for a solution, stopping only when a plate tapped the table in front of me. Food! "Thanks," I told Willow. She smiled in return and joined us at the table.
"Why don't I just send word through my network," she said. "We'll let people know about us, invite
them here, and maybe we can have our own little settlement, maybe a cute little town."
Yun shook his head. "Still the problem of them findin' us out." He looked at me. "Keep 'em away from us. If they wanna live here, they ought to live on the sea."
"A port town," I echoed as my eyes drifted along my plate. "That's perfect for a merchant republic." I nodded at them both. "Let's do it."
And so we did. It took two weeks before the first settlers arrived - a ship full of nipsies with smiling faces, open arms, and empty pockets. They were refugees from Nisa, and I was terribly glad they couldn't recognize us with our disguises. We all wore heavy fur hats and spoke with whatever foreign accent we could conjure. "Yesh, yesh, ladiesh and gentlemansh, yesh," I would say, nodding and smiling with my fake mustache stuck on my face.
"Ja, ja," Willow said from behind her aviators and fake beard. Her turban rustled with each shake of her head. "Velcome to Reka Republik, ja." She didn't even try to sound like man, but the immigrants were too elated to care.
"Thank you so much," a father told me. Two young girls latched onto his hands as they looked with wonder at all the strangeness. "We were turned away from Vellen, even after they took the city. It was like they no longer wanted anything to do with us. Can you believe it? The city isn't just the buildings, it's the people." He looked into my eyes for affirmation.
I returned it with a nod. "Yesh, mein friendo. We have home for you here, yesh."
"Dad," one of the little girls whispered. "His mustache is peeling off."
The man pat her head. "Not now, sweetie." He reached out for a handshake, and I gave him a manly one. "Tell me, who is the leader of this blessed nation? Does it have a prime minister, maybe a president?"