Origin ARS 6 (18 page)

"I am the light that illuminates the shadows. Let no darkness survive my presence," he said once more, this time with greater confidence.

Sweat began to pour down the side of his face. For the first time in this world he was attempting to create magic in the true manner of a twilight sorcerer. Even this simple feat was extraordinarily draining. There was no pattern, no safety net. Scott now attempted to warp the very nature of existence to effect the change that he wanted, not as a mage would do it, but as a pure unadulterated act of will.

He repeated the words once more. His breath became measured. His body began to calm itself. It would take time and focus to create the change he desired. It was entirely possible that it would not happen now, but over the course of the next few minutes ... it did happen.

A crackling ball of brightly shining elemental lightning hovered above Scott's palm. He was the lightning. The lightning was he. Scott raised up his other hand and willed the mystical ball of radiant death to arc through the air. He shifted the energy within himself and captured that lightning above his other palm.

He held the manifestation as long as his concentration and mana would allow. A few minutes later, it faded away as though it never existed.

Thoroughly exhausted from his triumph, Scott could only smile while he leaned heavily upon the balcony rail. Patterns were good. They would teach him a lot, but now he understood more about his true nature. Sorcery was hard work. It was the art of will merged with the flesh. Unlike a mage, he would have to be able to unleash his spells at a moment's notice while actively engaged in physical combat. He would rarely have the luxury of standing around at a distance while chanting.

Scott sighed heavily. He was temporarily exhausted by his feat, but there was a smile upon his lips. "I wonder what Rhea's gonna say about this?"

He rested for a time then began to practice once more. As the moments passed, he became bolder and more curious. His currently skill level would allow for some interesting developments, even though it would take time for any of them to become strong enough to be of use in a fight.

After a long and eventful night, morning came. With it came a beautiful promise. That promise came in the form of a blue haired goddess descending unto the mortal realm in her chosen form, that of an equally blue haired high elf. Origin, in her guise as Rhea, stretched her arms then yawned delicately into her hand.

"Feels like I slept for a week," she said cheekily before offering a small grin to the world around her. She returned to the world in the same location that she left, near the fairy town that Ero was currently located.

She scanned the area for a moment then headed out toward the train station. During her walk she took in the sights and sounds of the world. It was nice to be back. Previously she found it difficult to be here for anything other than level grinding, but now the worlds of ARS represented a much happier place for her. It was no longer just a job, or simply stress relief. It was a world filled with the promise of beauty and love.

Once she arrived at the station, she read the schedule then nodded. "About half an hour, huh?"

Rhea went to get a drink then sat down on a bench. The train station was not crowded that early in the morning. Most people took the later train, since they would actually be awake in time to catch it. That left Rhea mostly alone in the area.

The goddess in elven form began to hum a cheerful song while she took out her Crysta-Com. "Better let Scott know I'm coming..."

Message sent, she took a sip of her drink then waited for his reply. It did not take long. A warm smile spread across her lips at the swiftness of his reply. It was nice that he was as eager to be reunited with her as she was with him.

She read through what he had sent, mostly stuff about how he could not wait to see her. There was an interesting bit about wanting to show her something that may or may not have been innuendo, but the most interesting thing of all was the last line. "I have enclosed an artistically rendered photo for your viewing enjoyment."

Rhea laughed a little then took another drink. While she did so, she clicked on the attachment that had been sent. She froze in place for a brief instant before the contents of her mouth shot out like a water from a firehose. Rhea's face turned bright red and she made a strangled noise.

The image on screen was of Scott. Had it been nothing more than a simple selfie, it would have been sweet but unremarkable. However, this particular image featured Scott completely nude. He was lying down with his back to her, the curvature of his masculine booty lightly arched to further her supposed enjoyment. He looked at her over his shoulder with his head tilted back a bit, an expression on his face that was a cross between goofy and sensual. One hand gently framed his chin, while his lips were slightly puckered in the ancient style known as
duck face
.

Rhea barked out an embarrassed laugh then covered her eyes with one of her hands. After she stopped her body from shaking, her fingers slid open. She peaked at the image on screen once more. Her laughter returned and tears began to flow. She tore her hand from her eyes and waved it at the air as though she was warding off an enemy. "R-really, Scott?!"

The thoroughly amused and embarrassed girl could not see properly due to the tears pouring down her face. Her hands were a bit unstable from the raucous laughter she continued to unleash. The few people in the train station drew away from her a little. It was not right to mess with the crazies.

Unfortunately for Rhea, her current state caused her to do something she would never have intended. Thinking to respond with a strongly worded message about how she was going to get payback, she attempted to open a message window. Instead of the reply button, her shaking hands and reduced vision caused her to click on the
share
button instead. Defaulting to
share all
, the image of her fiancé in all his ridiculous glory was sent out not only to her immediate family, but rerouted through her work terminal. The
not safe for work
image was sent out to all company staff members.

It was not long before she became flooded with replies from her immediate family and notifications that she was receiving large numbers of messages from staff members at her terminal. Rhea realized what she had done then slapped her palm over her face once more, and started to cry for a different reason.

"No, no, no..." she mumbled like a mantra. The messages and notifications grew rapidly from there.

A few minutes before the train arrived, she developed the courage to read what her family sent to her. She did not even begin to have the nerve to see what the company staff was going to say about it.

[--]

Mid_the_Amazing:
Dear Childe...
             

[--]

[--]

Silence_Bro:
Sister dear. Contrary to what certain assholes on D-Net forums might say, I am really not into this sort of thing.

[--]

[--]

Sexy_Mama:
Oh my... Dear heart. If you don't want him, I'll take him.

[--]

[--]

Big_Sis_Theta:
Wow, so that's what all the fuss was about. Pretty sweet level design there sis...

[--]             

Rhea groaned loudly as she read through those, and then a few more messages from the family. Shara's was certainly expected even if it took a while to come through.

[--]

Modern_Ninja_Girl:
So cruel... *Sniff. Sniff.*
PS:
Does this mean you've changed your mind about sharing? *puppy dog eyes*

[--]

However, when her father responded Rhea took a deep breath before she read the message. "Wow, even dad..."

Rhea bit her lower lip. How would her father respond? This was without a doubt the single most ridiculous thing she had ever done by accident. Timidly, she clicked the message to open it.

[--]

Lord_Arbiter_1024:
Daughter. I do need a new screen saver, but this does not seem appropriate for work.

[--]

Rhea's eyes bulged outward slightly. "He... He played it off as a joke?"

Her delicate fingers rose to her trembling lips. Her smile returned, this time a gentle indication of warmth welling up inside of her. "Maybe daddy approves of him?"

[--]

Incoming message: Lord_Arbiter_1024

[--]

She blinked then clicked on the new message to see what her father wanted. Rhea immediately groaned a little after she read what he said.

[--]

Lord_Arbiter_1024:
Don't jump to conclusions, my daughter.

[--]

"That's dad for you..." she muttered. He was keeping his decision on whether he approved of Scott, or not, a carefully guarded secret even now.

Still thoroughly embarrassed, Rhea sighed at the picture of Scott's bare backside then shook her head. "What am I going to do with you?"

[--]

Incoming message:
Sexy_Mama

[--]

Rhea groaned loudly once more. "Mom! I am so not reading that!"

"Mommy, what's wrong with that lady?" asked a little boy in a slow, deliberate, manner.

"Hush now. It's not polite to question people about their troubles," said his mother, before pulling the child further away from Rhea.

The mortified high elf sent Scott a simple message. He was
so
going to get it when she got there. His reply caused her to turn bright red once more.

[--]

The_Fiancé:
I hope so. Your
its
are the best thing ever.

[--]

Rhea snorted softly then huffed a little. "I'm mad at you, you know..."

Sure, she had brought it on herself. He was the instigator and needed to bear the responsibility for forcing her to witness his naked glory.

She sighed slightly after a brief moment then looked down at her chest. She sent him another message, and asked if he was sure about what he'd just said. Her smile returned when he responded with a prompt, "Hell yeah."

Slightly mollified after her horrific embarrassment, she became a little playful. Rhea leaned back and made a
tough
expression then poked her lips out just a little for emphasis. She took a quick photo, and then sent her much less embarrassing photo to Scott with a message that said, "Does this look like the face of mercy to you?"

Scott's response caused Rhea to nearly fall over due to the sudden explosive occurrence of another ridiculous laugh. "You ass!" she cried, before she laughed once more. Attempts to draw enough breath to continue living were made, but she was soon gasping for air.

The love of her life had responded with an image. He had dropped his pants and bent over a little before taking a photo of his rear end. The attached message had read, "Please be gentle."

And so, two of the people who were in many ways the last best hope for the world continued to send each other ridiculous self-shot photos to pass the time while they were waiting to meet up for their date night. Neither of them could know the veritable storm of intrigue and controversy one little accidentally shared duck-face selfie might cause, but it would not be too much longer before they found out.

Chapter 7

The train pulled into the station at Valkovia a few hours after the
incident
. During the time on the train Rhea was forced to continue to deal with the fallout from her accidental overshare. Unfortunately, another problem occurred on her way to see her fiancé.

A loud emasculated scream echoed through the air as the train doors opened. Rhea was the first to reach the platform from her section, but not long afterward a large man with bull horns growing from his head staggered out of the train. He clutched at his injured manhood and cried out high-pitched promises of pain and death toward Rhea, before falling to his knees.

The elf maiden tossed her hair over her shoulder then strolled off from the scene as though nothing happened. She had needed that. Crushing the hopes and dreams of a train pervert greatly improved her mood.

It did not take long before she spied her boys. Scott and Herbert stood next to each other, each of them smiling warmly in their own fashion. Herbert's smile was a bit subdued due to his rodent features, but it was obvious that he was happy to see her.

She strolled over to where they stood, but then took a surprised step back when Scott called out, "Battery! Attention!"

Scott and Herbert stood up straight, arms at their sides. "Present... Arms!"