Mythran's Master Of All

The make out session lasted for quite a while, and the both of them had lost track of time. Neither of them knew exactly how long they'd been away; but, now that their immediate passion had been quenched, Lara chose the Aurora Library from the drop down menu and opened the door to her closet. They stepped out and Lara shut it behind them.

“Hey, Ren.” Teepo said. “That was fast.”

What do you mean? Ren asked as he and Lara walked back to her desk.

“You only went in there a few seconds ago.”

Really? Ren was surprised. It definitely felt a lot longer than that. He thought about the time dilation he'd experienced before. I wonder if it has the same time compression as the fire realm?

“Probably.” Teepo said and landed on his shoulder. “As it stands, you've got plenty of time to get back to House Neram before nightfall.”

Lara came to a stop by her desk and turned around.

“Teepo says only a few seconds have passed.” Ren said, and Lara nodded as she leaned against the desk.

“Ren...”

“Yes?” Ren stepped right up to her.

“Can... can I... come and see you?”

“If you want to.” Ren said. “But, you know... I'm right here.”

Lara smiled. “I meant in real life.”

“It can't be for a couple of days.” Ren said. “I have to work tomorrow, and I've planned on meeting my girlfriend Elise on Sunday.”

“I'm home most of the time anyways, so I can come and visit whenever you want me to.” Lara said.

“Can I ask why?”

“Sure.” Lara said. “You can ask.”

“Ha.” Ren said. “Why do you want to see me in real life?”

“I just... I want to know... I need to know... if we have this connection out there, too.”

Ren nodded. “I know what you mean.”

“You do?” Lara asked, surprised.

“You want to know if the memories the game showed you is influencing how you feel.”

Lara's mouth dropped open in shock. “How... how...”

“When you kissed me, right here.” Ren said, and stood in the spot she'd kissed him before they went into the closet. “Time seemed to stop, and I saw all these scenes of us together.”

How is that possible? Lara thought. That's supposed to be my ability!

“I don't know how it happened.” Ren said, almost as if he could read her mind. She didn't realize what he was actually doing was reading her facial expressions. “All I know is, my mind opened up and I lived all these memories with you.” He smiled and touched the side of her face. “Then I felt how much love you had, and how much of it you wanted to give to me.”

“Ren...”

“I'm sure you didn't intentionally share that with me; but honestly, it doesn't really matter how it happened.” Ren took her into a warm embrace, and Lara wrapped her arms around him just as warmly.

Why does it feel so nice just to be held like this? Lara asked herself as she rested her forehead against his, then she sighed. “You should have just enough time to get back to the dwarf lands.”

“I know.” Ren said. “Teepo told me.”

Lara smiled. “You didn't give that scroll to the foreman at House Lodur's mines yet.”

Ren froze still for a moment, and then started to laugh. “I completely forgot about that!”

“I know you did.” Lara said, and kissed him. “Thank you very much for the tiara.”

“I'm really glad you liked it.” Ren said, and just held her.

“You really do have to go.” Lara reminded him, but didn't loosen her grip.

“I know.” Ren said. “It's just really nice holding you like this.” He said, and repeated her thoughts. He sighed and let his grip loosen. “I don't know when I'll be back.”

“That's okay.” Lara said and let her grip go, too. “Even I don't know that.”

Ren smiled. “I'll see you when I see you, then.”

Lara chuckled. “Not if I see you first.” She said. “Do you want my phone number?”

“That might make it easier to call you, so sure.” Ren said and grinned.

“Smart ass.” Lara said, and gave him her number. “I'll look forward to hearing from you.”

“You should.” Ren said. “Unlike every other man you've ever known, I really will call you.”

“You better.” Lara smiled. “Goodbye, Ren.”

“Bye, Lara.” Ren stepped back, gave her a regal bow, and walked away down the aisle.

*

Lara looked down at her hands, and she could feel the ache in them. She wanted to keep a hold of him so badly; but, she also had to let him go. He can't only be mine. She thought. Nathalia was right. There's just too much in him for only one woman to have.

*

Ren walked down the hallway and opened the door when Teepo gave the all-clear signal. Several people now sat in different places and were reading various books. Ren stepped out into the main room of the Library and shut the door quietly. Despite that, the Head Librarian looked over at him with her finger over her lips.

Ren gave her a slight nod, activated his Sneak ability, and made his way across the floor without making a sound. When he came to a table with a man sitting at it, he frowned. The man had his chair balanced on it's back legs, his feet on the table, and flipped the pages of the book he was pretending to read like they were indestructible. Ren stopped and bent close to him.

“You should be more respectful of the books.” Ren whispered.

It startled the guy and he jerked, then started to fall backwards. Ren was ready for this and caught the chair, and him, easily.

“What the...”

“Shhh!” Ren whispered and sat him up straight. “This is a Library.”

“Like I care.” The man said and tried to toss the book on the table. Ren grabbed it as soon as it left the man's hand. The man looked at Ren in surprise, and spoke. “I came here looking for you.”

“This is not the place to talk.” Ren continued to whisper and placed the book on the table. “Outside. Now.”

The man stood up. “Now listen here, I don't-muhm!”

Ren clamped a hand over the man's mouth, grabbed him by the waist, and tucked him under an arm. He walked calmly to the front door of the Library with the man flailing around. Ren shifted his grip and lifted the man out in front of him, turned around, and pushed the front door open with his back. He tossed the man gently away from the door, looked back inside, and saw the Head Librarian as she stared at him. He gave her another regal bow with a flourish, received a genuine smile and a head bow in return, and he shut the front door.

“What the hell was that for?” The man asked, irate. “I was only talking, for crying out loud!”

“Yeah, that was the problem.” Ren said as the man stood up. “You'll get banned faster than getting shot, if you don't keep a civil manner inside.”

“Like that matters.” The man said. “I only came here to see you.”

“Why?”

Stolen from NovelFire, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

“There's some things we should talk about.”

“I don't have to talk to you at all.” Ren said. “I have no idea who you are.”

“Oh, right.” The man said. “We've never actually met.” He said and held out a hand. “I'm Charles. I work as a tech at Sid Tec. I wrote the Giant expansion for the game.”

Ren glanced at the guy's hand and raised his eyebrows. Charles dropped the hand and smiled.

“Look, is there somewhere we can go to talk?” He looked around. “Somewhere a bit more private?”

“No.” Ren said. “The last time I was led off somewhere by the tech guys, I was killed.”

Charles sighed. “Look, I'm sorry that happened; but, it wasn't me.”

“Like that matters.” Ren said, throwing the man's own words back at him. “What do you want to talk about?”

“The giants, obviously.”

“You mean their obvious stupidity?”

Charles shook his head. “They aren't stupid. They're just... written to follow a directive.”

Ren smiled. “So, blindingly stupid then.”

“Ren...”

“Walk with me.” Ren said and started walking. Teepo.

Teepo took off from his shoulder and scouted up high. Charles followed Ren down the steps and they walked up the street.

“So, what's the scoop on the giants?” Ren asked.

Charles sighed. “Look, you've accessed content that's not finished.” He said. “You've even gotten the Chancellor of the giants involved!”

“Technically.” Ren said. “All I did was bring a huge problem to their attention; not that they needed reminding. It's not my fault they are ignoring the very simple solution I've proposed.”

“No, it's mine.” Charles said. “It's one of the main purposes I added into the code.”

“What? To be dicks to their own people when they are suffering? To kill them because they've been exiled?”

“Yes.” Charles said, and Ren chuckled.

“Boy, that really sucks.” Ren said. “How the hell would that work with player characters dying and respawning?”

Charles sighed again. “It's not supposed to.” He said. “This was supposed to be lore. A background that the giants went through, to let others come and join them.”

Ren snorted a laugh. “Are you serious?”

Charles nodded.

“It was really stupid of you to have them attack the dwarves, then.”

“We didn't do that.” Charles said. “When the giants were exiled from their homeland, there wasn't supposed to be a way for them to live long enough to get to the dwarves.”

Ren shook his head. “Well, someone screwed up the numbers somewhere.” He said. “Not only have the crazy giants been attacking the dwarves, but I personally fought over a hundred of them.”

“That kind of an attack wasn't supposed to happen for...” Charles smiled. “It doesn't matter.”

“So, you did plan for the dwarves to be attacked.” Ren said. “Just not this soon.”

Charles didn't say anything, and Ren smiled.

“I'm going back there to save the refugees again, you know.”

“We know.” Charles said. “That's why I'm here.”

“Please tell me you have a magic button I can push to stop the attack.” Ren said.

“Sorry.” Charles said. “But, in order for the system update to work...”

“DUCK!” Teepo shouted. Ren ducked and rolled out of the way as a sword slammed into the street. A ripple went out from the impact site, and Charles lifted the sword. It was nearly a tall as him, and Charles was close to 6 feet tall.