The Life and Times of Morgan LeFaye-Part 2 (return to pt1)
A few hours later Sage and Morgan arrived at O'Leary's Irish Pub for dinner.
So far the day had not gone as expected; she had arrived at the airport
on time to pick up Morgan. She had waited holding a sign with his name
on it because she had seen people do that in movies when they had to pick
people up from airports. She hadn't expected much, she did not have a
wild imagination if she had she would have been more worried about how
Morgan would look. She watched as families, business men and women all
came walking out of the passenger area.
She saw a few single men but they didn't seem interested in her sign so
she ignored them. Then she saw him, she knew it was Morgan instantly.
'Zourri was wrong' she thought because he looked shockingly similar to
his avatar. Morgan was just about six feet tall; he had the same peacock
colored hair as his avatar and unnatural violet eyes. Sage thought his
hair was fancy and instinctively reached up patted her spikey bun. She
wondered how difficult it was to dye his hair and she was impressed with
the colored contacts. She adjusted her thin wire frame glasses wishing
she didn't have a phobia about touching her eyes so she could wear contacts.
He was pale and thin like Sage and also dressed in all black. He was wearing
black vinyl pants, jacket, and boots all covered with buckles and zipper
detailing; the jacket seemed to have a cape or something that fluttered
down his back almost to his ankles. He looked freakishly goth standing
there in the little pastel colored Pennsylvania airport, holding a laptop
case and duffle bag.
When he saw Sage's sign he came running up to her. He threw his arms around
her and hugged her tightly. Sage wasn't much of a hugger, so she had stood
there awkwardly, her arms a little out to her sides. Then he kissed her,
it wasn't an earth shattering romantic kiss, just a quick touch of his
cool lips against hers. Then he was holding her hand intertwining their
fingers, Sage found this all to be very awkward. Sage wanted to free her
hand from his grip but didn't know how without upsetting him, so she uncomfortably
held his hand and led him to her car.
Morgan had always been chatty in the game but now he was a nonstop talking
machine. He commented about everything, the airport, her car, the landscape,
anything and everything. When she mentioned going to the Zoo, he talked
about how tigers were the last man hunters, manatees were mistaken for
mermaids, and narwhales were hunted for their horns like unicorns. It
would have been annoying to anyone except Sage. Sage liked the talking;
he filled all the silence with little to no conversational expectations
of Sage. She liked all the crazy facts he seemed to know about everything,
she found it informative. Sage liked facts.
They went to her house and she introduced Morgan to Mr. Marmalade. Sage
told Morgan all about Maine Coons while Mr. Marmalade chased his red dot
around the living room. Then they walked to down the road to David Teak's
house. The walk was filled with more uncomfortable handholding and informative
chatter like how cats were worshipped in Egypt, monkeys went out into
space, and why dogs shouldn't eat chocolate. When they reached the house,
one of David's friends opened the door and ushered them inside. It seemed
the party was out back by the Teak's pool. They went through the house
to the back door, but David's girlfriend Rachel was there and she gave
them a nasty look. Rachel thought Sage liked David, which was not true.
Rachel had planned to go to the same college as David in the fall and
she blamed Sage for David taking a year off. She thought Sage had encouraged
David to take a year off from school so Sage could steal him away, which
was also not true. The truth being Sage had encouraged David to take a
year off from school to help Ryan get rehabilitated. Not wanting a confrontation
with Rachel, Sage pulled Morgan back through the house and headed to Ryan's
room.
Ryan was sitting alone in his room his wheelchair pulled up to his computer
desk. Ryan had a light tan from sitting outside in the summer sun; his
sandy blonde hair was a little too long and kept falling in his blue eyes.
He was laughing while watching some video of a talking rubber chicken
on Youtube. Sage introduced Ryan to Morgan, Ryan recognized Morgan from
his avatar in Mythos. Ryan would crinkle his little freckled nose as he
told them stories, and showed Morgan and Sage some of his favorite Youtube
videos. Sage liked the ones with cats doing funny things, she wondered
if maybe Mr. Marmalade could become a Youtube cat celebrity. They sat
in Ryan's room and talked about their current Mythos' quests until it
was dark outside.
Then they got in Sage's little blue Ford Focus and drove to O'Leary's
for dinner. All of the little round tables were packed so they had to
sit at the bar. Which Sage found convenient since that would allow them
to talk with Zourri while she worked the bar. Zourri was popping open
beers and passing them to some men at the end of the bar. Sage introduced
Zourri to Morgan and Zourri motioned her down to the other side of the
bar while Morgan read over the menu.
"He's a little overkill on the goth look but cute. How's it going
so far?"
"Not bad."
"That's a start anyway, I'll let you get back to it." said Zourri
Sage sat back down with Morgan and Zourri poured them a couple of glasses of water and suggested he order the potato soup. Which he did along with a plate of onion rings, Sage ordered a cheeseburger and fries. Sage picked at her food while Morgan dunked his onion rings into the cheesy potato soup.
"I got you a present." Morgan said sounding nervous for the first time that day and handed her a long thin package covered with kitty wrapping paper. Sage opened it slowly pulling off the tape and unfolding the paper neatly on the bar. Inside were two delicate looking silver filigree chopsticks.
"Chopsticks? You guys going out for Chinese?" asked Zourri looking at Sage's present.
"I like Chinese especially Mu Shu chicken it is like Chinese burritos
with plum
sauce, plum preserves are also great! Very tasty not to mention-"
"Focus." Sage said looking over at chattering Morgan.
"No, they are not chopsticks; they are hair sticks, for you know, your hair." Morgan said turning his violet gaze on Sage.
"Thank-you, they are very nice and practical, I wear my hair up a lot." Sage said putting the present into her laptop bag for safekeeping.
"I know." Morgan said looking deeply into Sage's eyes before
she turned back to her uneaten cheeseburger. Zourri looked back and forth
between Sage and Morgan smiled to herself. Thinking Sage's date was going
better than she had thought it would.
"Hey you two, I'm going out on my smoke break, wanna come sit with
me?" asked Zourri
"Sure." said Sage and Morgan followed the girls out back behind the bar. He filled the silence with the history of tobacco farming, how neon signs were made, and why cake is better than pie but not as good as ice-cream. Zourri puffed her cigarette and wondered if taping his mouth shut would be crime.
All three were shocked when Rachel showed up behind the bar wearing a large winter jacket despite the summer heat, her long tan bare legs stuck out from the jacket. She was soaked in sweat it made her short blond hair stick up and her eye make-up was running. She was shaking and looking around wildly. Sage and Zourri thought she looked crazy, Morgan knew however that Rachel was being possessed by someone.
"Hey Rach you ok?" Zourri asked, becoming increasingly worried.
"Die you bitches! David is mine and you can't have him!" Rachel
pulled out her father's revolver and began shooting. That was how Sage's
first date with Morgan ended. It wasn't what she expected and it could
have gone better.
***********************************
Ryan woke up and wondered how he ended up out in the middle of a dark and stormy sea. The last thing he remembered was falling asleep in his wheelchair outside in the middle of a sunny afternoon. Ryan looked around madly and seeing a large rock with struggling figures in the near distance he swam out for it.
"Ryan!?" He looked up and saw Sage. She was still wearing the all black outfit she had been wearing the night she died. She was struggling to hold on to what looked like a very large, very angry, orange cat. There were two other girls on the rock, one who he couldn't quite see, and the other being a slender blond girl chained to the rock.
Sage was a little surprised to see Ryan, but she was also surprised to find that the afterlife was not filled with clouds and harps or even fire and brimstone, but a rock with a screaming blond girl chained to it.
"Ok, we've got her unchained now what?" Zourri asked brimming with frustration. Zourri and Mr. Marmalade were very angry about how the afterlife was shaping up. Mr. Marmalade because it was wet-so very wet. Zourri because she was dressed up in gypsy peasant garb which she found racially offensive, even if it was racially accurate.
"Save me, I do not want to die" The blond girl cried her large blue eyes filled with tears, it seemed to be the only eight words in her vocabulary. Her white dress clung damply but otherwise she seemed unharmed.
"I'm slightly concerned that is all she seems able to say." said Sage.
"I'm slightly concerned that you are more worried about her vocab than us getting to dry land." said Zourri
Ryan looked about nervously "I think I see land" He said pointing to his right. Mr. Marmalade looked in the direction Ryan pointed, then he flattened his ears back and his amber eyes bulged with fear as he growled.
"Um…I don't think land normally moves, or has a face" Zourri replied
Ryan looked up to see what he thought was a whale breeching the water. However as it lifted it's lizard-goat-like face above the water he realized it was most definitely not a whale. The monster howled into the storm and barred its fangs. He was fairly certain whales didn't have fangs….sharks didn't even have fangs.
"Do not fear my fair Andromeda, for I shall save you" Cried out from what appeared to be a flying barbarian warrior. The sea monster spun towards the flying warrior turning its back on the rock and its inhabitants.
"Better to be wet than eaten by a sea monster. Land Ho!" With that Mr. Marmalade jumped into the water and started swimming.
"Did your cat just talk?" nervously asked Ryan.
"Yep, and he said 'Land Ho'. So I say we follow him" replied Sage before jumping into the water.
Zourri tied up her skirts the best she could manage and tugged at the blond girl "Come on, we have to follow the talking cat. While the sea monster is busy fighting the barbarian fairy man." and with that she pulled the girl into the salty sea water.
Ryan followed them and ended up having to help the blond who apparently
did not know how to swim but faced with the sea monster (or possibly the
barbarian) was making a valiant effort. The cat had been right about the
land, which they were all thankful was just out of sight of the monster.
*************************
The small group sat on the beach taking in their surroundings. They could see the tops of some buildings over a sand dune, and there was a small wooden walkway that appeared to lead up into the town.
"OMG Dude! - You're a mermaid!" laughed Zourri as she fell over. Ryan looked down and realized that he was in fact a mermaid. He now had a shimmery fishtail where his legs had once been.
"Actually merboy would be more accurate" said Mr. Marmalade as he attempted to shake the water and sand out his fur.
Ryan began crying and pulling at the scales. He was beginning to have a hysterical fit when Sage grabbed him by the shoulders.
"I know this is bad, but now is not the time for panicking we have to figure out where we are and what we are doing here, we can all have breakdowns later." said Sage. Ryan's blue eyes met Sages dark gaze and he tried to take a couple of deep calming breaths.
"Ryan this is my friend Missouri, Zourri this is my neighbor-friend Ryan, and Mr. Marmalade the cat and the um, screaming blond girl from the rock." Said Sage wrapping up the needed introductions. Sage was nothing if not practical.
"Andromeda" Zourri piped in. The blond girl hearing her name looked up.
"So Misery, did she tell you that?" Ryan asked her.
"Listen fish boy, I know we haven't gotten off to the best start, but its Missouri like the state. And no, that is what the flying-barbarian called her, I work in a bar I'm good with names." Zourri was an excellent bartender and she did have an uncanny ability to put names and faces together usually with a corresponding drink order.
"This is messed up dream; I hope I wake up soon." complained Ryan.
"Sorry Ryan, but you're not dreaming I think we're all dead." said Sage
"I was taking a nap. This is obviously a dream, but it is weird that I would dream about my dead friend, her friend, and her cat." Ryan looked around the beach hoping he would wake up soon.
"Sure kid, whatever gets you through the night." said Zourri fixing the scarf that held her hair back.
"Please stop that." said Ryan to Andromeda who was poking his scales with the fascinated interest of a five year old.
"You don't really look like a regular mermaid." said Zourri
"How would you know? Besides what does a regular mermaid look like?" said Ryan trying to keep Andromeda from poking his scales.
Zourri was ringing her skirts trying to expel the excess water "You know like in movies and stuff, you look more like one of those fighting fish."
"Your fins do resemble a red and blue Betta fish also called a Siamese fighting fish." said Mr. Marmalade desperately working on straightening his fur.
"I wouldn't say red, magenta maybe." said Zourri
"You make a very handsome merman" said Sage nervously. She didn't like awkward moments. Since she found most interactions with people to be awkward she spent most of her time online where she had more control over interactions.
"Your cat is really big." said Ryan; to which the cat replied by narrowing his eyes and flicking his tail angrily. "He is your cat, right?"
Sage bent down to pet the cat while he twisted around her legs "Well, Maine Coons are the largest domesticated cats. Though considering he now possesses speech, and is surely sentient I don't think I own him. He's more of a free cat now."
"When we got to shore your cat said those buildings look Greek; and I thought Andromeda was a Greek god so I'm thinking something ain't right here." They looked at Zourri then at the cat.
"I used to hide under the couch and watch the History Channel" admitted the cat. Or at least Sage's mother had enjoyed the History Channel and generally hated cats. Mr. Marmalade enjoyed tormenting her mother whenever the moment presented itself. "Andromeda was a human girl, whose parents were forced to sacrifice her to Ceto the sea monster because her mother claimed she was more beautiful than the Goddesses of Olympus. Andromeda was saved by the hero Perseus"
"See something ain't right here." said Zourri fussing with her peasant style top.
"Since there isn't much to see here on the beach I think we should
take the path and see if it leads to civilization." said Sage. The
small group headed up the wooden walkway. Ryan had to be carried by Sage
and Zourri, his fins dragging in the sand. Mr. Marmalade made a failed
attempt to converse with Andromeda, who could still only say "Save
me I do not want to die".
******************
There was only a couple of days left before Roger went to go save the world. Sarah hated the morning routine of having to listen to her mom cry over Roger. Besides what did she have to cry about? Roger was the perfect hero. He would be fine. Unlike her friend, Rhyanna, who was gone forever. She sat down beside her mother and began to despondently push her runny eggs around on her tray.
"You'll be leaving on your mission soon, in just a few days. Have they set a time yet?" asked her mother.
"Still uncertain, but don't worry so much. We've had several successful dives. I'll dive in, save the day and come back."
"I know that Dr. Roberts said the dives were safe. But even if the dive program is safe, you are still diving straight into a battlefield. That world is full monsters, not to mention you kids will have to battle The Knights and even Merlin himself." Roger was prepared for the final dive and wasn't overly concerned with the battlefield that seemed to terrify his mother. Vivianne had helped the scientists to track the flow of magic, and all the signs pointed to the magic building up in one place. The final battle would take place inside the virtual landscape of Mythos.
"Mom, I'm not a kid, I'm nineteen. I'm part of an elite team that's been preparing for this for years."
"Just come back to us," said their mom crying and hugging both him and Sarah.
"I'm just going to training," he said with laugh hugging them back "You know if we do this everyday till I leave it's going to be very anti-climatic when the big day comes."
"The more you rehearse the easier it is to put on the play," replied his mother.
Sarah looked back and forth at them. She could feel the heat rising to her face and eyes watering.
"Hey, don't tell me you are going to start crying too." said Roger
"My friend is dead."
"What friend? Was there another diving accident?" asked their mother.
"My friend Rhyanna Ragewind"
"You mean in that game. Not a real person." said their mother
dismissively. Sarah stormed out of the cafeteria and ran back to her bunk.
She couldn't stand them. The both of them were so stupid. Rhynna had been
played by a real person, and now that real person was dead. There had
been a message sent to Rhyanna's friends on Mythos by Rhyanna's brother
that Rhyanna had drowned. Her best friend was dead and no one even cared.
**********************
They reached the town, in which all the buildings had been fashioned in the style of ancient Greek architecture. Sage steered the group through a bizarre crowd of humans and mythical creatures. The landscape was familiar to Sage, Ryan and even Mr. Marmalade. Ryan had been in this same Greek town only a week ago. Sage had been there just days before she had died. Mr. Marmalade had watched Sage walk through these streets many times. Of course they had never actually been to this place before because this place hadn't actually existed.
The group made a left at one of the many buildings. At the top of the building there was an image of a man lounging on a couch surrounded by women holding grapes and wine. They walked up the stairs and entered the door between two 20feet high columns. The inside looked like a cheesey ancient Greek themed bar. They walked to the back of the bar and sat beside a large roaring fire.
"Um, Sage this is just like-" Ryan said twisting his fingers through his sandy brown hair.
"I know but that can't be, can it?" She cut in.
"Why not, I dream about being in Mythos all the time?" He asked hopefully.
"Uh huh" said Sage who knew that while everyone entered REM sleep and dreamed she had yet to ever remember any of her dreams. Sage always felt left out, with no dreams and limited imagination.
"Hey guys, want to clue us in, because I'm really not liking all this." Interrupted Zourri her hazel eyes flashing angrily in the fire light."
"I think" Sage began slowly "We are in Mythos."
Zourri gave her a blank look "And that means what?"
"I don't know." Sage said looking around the tavern. "That when you die you become a character in multi-player online game."
"So I was shot to death on my smoke break and now I'm in a video game? This could very well be hell." said Zourri while Mr. Marmalade tried to smooth out his messy coat. He got close to the fire and made another effort to shake out the water and sand in his coat. Zourri knew nothing of the world of Mythos, except that Sage was hooked on the game.
Sage sighed "Ok. So back, in the um, real world Ryan and I played Mythos. There are various islands or continents that represent different mythological worlds or concepts. The goal is to travel around, and complete as many quests through out the game. You can play with groups of other players or just as a single player. Right now we are in the Greek realm."
"So what about her?" Zourri said pointing at Andromeda.
"You can take up 'The Quest of Perseus" you have to fight Medusa and then rescue Andromeda but you normally just return her to her parents. I did that quest when I first started playing" Ryan said nervously. "I think the tattoos on our left arms are our solu points-in the game solu was always on the left side of the screen, and juvenation is on the right" he indicated to what looked like a blue tribal fish tattoo on his arm.
"And that means?" impatiently asked Zourri.
"Solu is your magic points, and juvenation is your health or life status. I'm guessing we don't need a life marker since we are really alive." explained Sage as she unzipped her black boots and set them by the fire to dry.
"I remember you playing this game all time, but I guess I never noticed how realistic it was." said Zourri ringing out her skirt.
"It wasn't. I mean for a multiplayer online game it did have the best graphicsm but not this good." said Sage running her hand over the wooden bar table. The chairs and tables had a hand carved look that was simple and plain. The walls were adorned with ornate tapestries depicting various myths. The wood had a real grain texture and the tapestries were woven, up close you could pick out the individual strands of thread.
"This dream is really realistic." said Ryan starring at his scaly fins.
"Hey, didn't you say you met Morgan through this game? Why isn't he here-I mean Rachel probably shot him too." asked Zourri. Morgan had been Sage's odd boyfriend of less than 24 hours.
"I did, I met him in the medieval section. Maybe he survived the shooting?" Sage said softly.
"Wait Rachel? My brother's girlfriend Rachel? She killed you both?" Asked a frightened Ryan, the girls nodded in reply. "She was over at my house today. She was over and we were drinking some orange juice when I fell asleep outside on our deck. Then this dream started." he finished.
"Well fins, I think we can say she most likely murdered you too." snickered Zourri. She was correct in her theory. Rachel had infact put a powerful tranquilizer in Ryan's juice. Once he fell asleep she dumped him out of his wheel chair and into the pool.
"If anyone cares I was crushed by a computer desk two days after you and Sage died." said Mr. Marmalade
"That doesn't make sense we all appeared on Andromeda's rock at the same time." said Sage
"You both died about two weeks ago, I didn't hear that your cat died too." said Ryan
"But we couldn't have been on that rock more than what ten, fifteen minutes tops before you came swimming up to us." said Zourri
"Am I really dead?" asked Ryan his eyes tearing up.
"Yes, Fins that's what we've been trying to tell you." said Zourri patting Ryan on the head.
"That isn't the important question; after all we know we died back in the real world. The important question is why are we in this game? And if we all died at different times why did we all end up here at the same time? And what happened to Morgan" said Sage tapping her fingers on the table.
"I never heard anything about him, maybe he freaked out when you were killed." replied Ryan.
"So no one questioned him about our deaths?" asked Zourri.
"Well, not that I heard. You know it's funny but I didn't even remember him until just now." he replied.
"Seriously? How do you not remember a tall guy decked out in black vinyl with hair like a peacock? I mean really? No one said hey 'we should bring peacock boy in for questioning'?" Complained Zourri.
"I don't know, maybe they did, I don't read the paper or really watch the news" Admitted Ryan. This is sadly typical of most teenagers. He did read a number of online boards and was a member of numerous gaming forums.
"The only people I actually introduced him to were you and Ryan. I picked him up at the airport that afternoon. My family was out when we got to the house, then we stopped by David's big eighteenth birthday party. I introduced him to Ryan since we were all friends in the game. I would have introduced him to David too, but Rachel gave me an unpleasant look so we left. She hasn't liked me since that one time that David asked me out."
"I remember her saying something about David before she shot us" said Zourri.
"Then we went back down town so he could meet you. We went outside with you on your break. I always said smoking would kill you and I was right, just not quite the way I had expected." Finished Sage. The group sat in silence starring at the fire as Mr. Marmalade gave up on his wayward fur and curled up by the fire. It was a large stone fireplace with massive logs burning and crackling softly. The fire for all its heat didn't seem to be burning away the logs, like the fake logs in the gas fireplace in Sage's house. Zourri hated Sage's fireplace, you couldn't use it roast marshmallows, and if you can't roast marshmallows then what is the point of a fireplace?
"Alright so I get that we are all mysteriously in this game, but Sage is still wearing normal clothes. Why I'm dressed up in a Halloween gypsy costume and you're a mer-person?" Sage was in fact still wearing a pair of black on black pinstripe pants and a dark scoop neck velvet top that she had borrowed from Zourri for her date with Morgan. While Zourri had been dressed in a red halter top and tight blue jeans with red platform heels she was now wearing a very elaborate gypsy costume. Zourri's auburn hair was pulled back by a scarf tied in her hair that after their swim was now horribly out of place and she had lost her slipper like shoes during the swim.
"I'm uncertain. You might be some type of specially modified character. Ryan had been paralyzed in life, so maybe that is why his character is a merman. You can get a special add-on pack that allows you to search for Atlantis by drinking fish oil that turns you into a mer-person." explained Sage starring intently into the fire avoiding eye contact, this was far more human interaction than she was comfortable with.
"Ok, well that explains everything then" said Zourri in a sarcastic tone rolling her eyes and began fussing with her hair.
"So, what's in your bag?" Ryan asked as he looked at Zourri's purple and gold drawstring purse.
"Oh, just my cell" Zourri replied opening and pulling items out of her bag and setting them on the table. "Make-up and wallet" She gave a confused look as gold coins of various sizes fell out. "Lighter" it was a red metallic flip top lighter with an 'N' engraved on the side. "A pocket knife" a bright steel knife probably a foot long in a soft brown leather scabbard. "How did a knife that big fit in a bag this small? No, no, don't tell me it's a magic Mytho-bag. And my cigarettes." she pulled a small package almost the size of a pack of cigarettes but looked to be a pack of playing card. Her hazel eyes stared bewildered at the items on the table.
"Those are the gold coins from the game-you have about $125 that's enough to buy a couple of potions or maybe a piece of inexpensive armor. That is the novice fire spell. There are three spell levels novice, apprentice, and master, and a thief's knife, I'm not sure what the cards are for though" explained Ryan
"They're Tarot Cards for fortune telling. I had a deck at home but I never really learned to read them. I couldn't remember all their meanings. I'm good with names and faces but otherwise my memorization skills suck." said Zourri starring at the various items on the table.
"You should check your bag too." she said to Sage. Sage pulled her laptop's backpack onto her lap.
"My laptop" She pulled it out and placed it gently on their table. "A $20 gold coin. I think this was an energy drink, but now it looks like a reju potion, it restores health." She explained as she placed the small red bottle on the table. "The hair sticks Morgan gave me. My father's old skeleton key, it was the one from my grandparents old house, they had it engraved for him, he worked as a locksmith to pay for college. I know I left this at home; I keep it in a little keepsake box on my bookshelf." She laid the skeleton key which hung from a long silver chain along with two rings onto the table.
"I didn't know your dad had been a locksmith" said Ryan; the
neighborhood had always been very friendly and he had known the Monroe
family most of his life. He knew Phil was some type of bank manager and
his wife Kay was his family's dentist. Sage had an elder sister, Elaine,
she and her college sweetheart Matt had just recently gotten married and
moved into a new apartment complex just north of town. Ryan and his family
had even gone to her wedding.
"Phil wasn't my biological father his younger brother Danny was,
but he died before I was born. My bio-mom was young and didn't really
have a way to support me so she let Phil and Kay adopt me."
"Oh" said Ryan his blue eyes looking away into the fireplace.
"Don't feel bad, I don't." She opened the laptop at first it looked unchanged, but then she realized instead of a power button there was an old-fashioned key hole.
"What about those rings?" asked Ryan trying to avoid eye contact with Sage feeling awkward about Sage's parentage.
"They're just old keepsakes." said Sage dismissively. Sage had never been a strong conversationalist and found herself rapidly tiring from all the explaining.
Mr. Marmalade hopped onto the table and giving Sage a meaning-full glance said "The people who knocked your desk over on me were looking for a key."
"It's just an old house key. It doesn't even open anything anymore." said Sage
"Nevertheless, I can't help but thinking that this is the key they were searching for." said the cat.
"Ok, well let's see what this does." she turned the key into the computer's lock. There was a whirring sound as she turned the key. The screen glowed blue then went straight to video of Morgan. He was smiling his multicolored hair framing his pale lean face as he stared out of the computer screen.
"Hey Sage. If you get this you are probably dead. I can't bring the dead back to life, but I could prevent you from truly dying. So I put you into the game-Ta-da!" Morgan was particularly proud of himself for this.
"You should bear in mind that you are real in the game, and the game can now kill you-permanently kill you. You probably want an explanation-sadly there is only so much I know. But don't worry, I'm working hard to learn more. What I do know is your world was trying to create the ultimate weapon, Merlin a magician from my world-Oh, I'm not from your world. I'm from a world that is just beyond what we call the 'world veils' our two worlds are next to each other. My world chose to advance using magic while your world chose scientific technology. Merlin pierced the veil and entered your world, and offered up a weapon-a group of magically enhanced soldiers-the knights-they also probably killed you. Anyway the scientists and Merlin had a problem they needed a power source for the soldier's magic. That's where I come in. They abducted a fairy, my mother Avalai, and they used her to create their army, they did something that involved science type stuff. I don't really have the details, it involved lots of tubes." Morgan gave a little frown, wishing he had a clearer understanding of the project.
"Anyway she was pregnant when they abducted her." Morgan considered going into detail about his mother, however his time was running out. He decided instead to stick to the facts that might benefit Sage the most.
"They are using me as a giant battery to power magic in your world. The problem with magic is that it isn't very controllable. It leaks and infects, basically it creates a big mess. In a way it creates stories, the fairy world was a world of stories. You might be able to use the story it's creating to your advantage. I tried to escape into the game world to be with you, but in the process of trying to escape I kind of shattered. I'm spread out through the world you have to collect all my pieces to put me back together. You are the locksmith's daughter, the Master Key belongs to you, but they want it to control the world. You can't let them have it. I love you. Please save me." His image came out of the computer screen and kissed her before flickering out.
Sage looked down at the laptop now there were six key holes.
"Well that made sense." said Zourri, Sage gave her a cold look. "No, I met him and lets face it he had terminal ADD. For him that made sense.''
"That message at least answered how we got in this game, and I
suppose Morgan arranged it so that we all arrived here at the same time."
said the cat
"I guess once we are dry and rested we can go looking for his pieces"
Sage said uncertainly, she had a morbid vision of wandering around the
game picking up an arm here and foot there. It was not a nice thought.
"I don't know Sage; we have no idea where to start. This game is huge there are a ridiculous number of quests just here in Greecia much less the rest of the realms. And if are going to survive we need supplies, like gold, weapons, armor, potions. And I don't want to be a fish." Ryan hung his head. Ryan really didn't want to stay a mer-boy; sitting up without hip bones was difficult. He had given up and just laid down and did the best he could to prop himself up on his elbows.
"Hey kiddo, you know how to play poker?" asked Zourri as she shuffled the tarot deck.
"But I thought you said those weren't playing cards?" asked Ryan
"They aren't but modern playing cards were based on the minor arcana of tarot, diamonds are pentacles, hearts are cups, clubs are wands, and spades are swords. So you pull out the major arcana, the ones used solely for divination, and you have an insta-card deck. We could always play go fish?"
"Play by yourself" he replied huffily.
"Really Zourri, this is hard enough without you being a jerk." said Sage
Zourri continued to shuffle the deck and flipped the top card over to reveal 'The Knight of Wands-the picture on the card was a drawn image of Sage holding a slender wooden wand riding on a horse. Zourri's hand shot up and grabbed Sage's arm the green in her hazel eyes began to glow and the her auburn curls moved about by a non-existent wind.
"O' daughter of the locksmith, this card represents the journey you shall undertake." She flipped the next card 'The Five of Cups' "To open the door of riddles you must gather the keys from five tragic maidens." She flipped over the 'Death' card-on it a shadowy image was holding a large scythe. "You shall visit death and death shall visit you, and it will be the beginning of great change." She flipped over 'The World' it had a picture of a featureless woman surrounded by green vines in the corners of the card there were an angel, eagle, lion, and a bull. "Use what you have been given and you may accomplish the task set before you." She flipped over 'The Chariot' it depicted a pale man with dark hair in a black chariot being pulled by two black horses. Zourri blinked up Sage her eyes their normal hazel looking dazed.
"Oracle" exclaimed Andromeda starring at Zourri with awe.
"What does the last card mean?" asked Sage holding up 'The Chariot'.
"I told you I've never been able to memorize the meaning of the cards. What do you mean last card? That's the first card I pulled…." Zourri looked up the group and then down at the row of four cards turned face up in front of her.
"Oracle" Andromeda said softly her delicate hands clasped, her large blue eyes gazing at Zourri. Mr. Marmalade quickly jumped up on to the table top and explained to Zourri about her odd divination.
"Reading the cards must take a ton of solu points, because you
are wiped out." Ryan indicated pointing at Zourri's tattoo. Her bright
blue bird design had drained of color and only a faint outline was left.
There was a short discussion on what was to be done next but the group
couldn't reach an agreement. Finally they decided it was best to rest
up and face the problem in the morning.
*****************
While Sage was trying very hard to not think about Zourri's prophesy, Roger Newcastle was dwelling on his prophesy. Soon, soon he would be able to bring about the end of Merlin. The Nimuite group was primarily made up of the survivors who helped Avalai and her daughter Vivianne escape from Merlin and The Knights. Avalai died days after their escape. She used her remaining magic to protect their rescuers from Merlin's wrath. Their goal was stop Merlin and to return Vivianne back to her home. Avalai had prophesized that her daughter would fall in love with one of Newcastle blood and that his father would leave behind a tool for defeating Merlin.
The problem with prophesies is that sometimes too many people have them
and they to tend to be vague, or worse yet come in a rhyming scheme. Roger
wasn't the type to question destiny. After all he was a hero through and
through. Sarah hated destiny, but she hated everything. Sarah did however
believe in Roger. If anyone was a hero it was him. Sage was too practical
to believe in something as silly as destiny. Besides only girls who are
unaware of their supermodel level of beauty with strawberry scented hair
have destinies. Mr. Marmalade was annoyed since it was generally his fate
to have delicious wet food served at this time each night and instead
he was wet. Mr. Marmalade was very disappointed by this state and hoped
that tomorrow destiny and wet food would be back on track.
*****************