Scott understood what she meant. He too still was trying to understand what was really going on with this world and all of Tuomas’ secrets that he is still hiding from them. They needed more than what he has given to them. He needed to make a plan and get Tuomas to spill on the rest of the story that they had not been told yet.
12:
The evening settled in, they were all called down to the dining hall. They sat around the large pine table, quietly staring at each other. Servants flooded out of the kitchen door, platters in hand. Their footsteps were all that ruffled the sound in the room as they shuffled across the wooden floor. The food served was warm and the rich smell filled the hall. No one spoke as they stuffed themselves with their first full meal in this world. The metallic silverware scratched upon the clay platters, as the silence between them continued.
Donovan looked over at Scott, looking for a signal, as if they had planned previously, though they had not. Scott stayed himself and showed it was not time. Donovan switched back away down to his meal. Time in silence continued and Charlotte shot Scott a glance, trying to get him to look over at Tuomas. Scott didn’t understand at first, but caught on. His gaze shifted toward Tuomas; his face blank yet Scott knew his mind was stirring. Donovan began shifting around in his chair, he looked extremely uncomfortable in the small chairs.
Without a flinch, Scott shattered the tense silence that was lingering in the dining hall, “I think it is time for a full explanation Tuomas. I fear that now that we are here in this mansion you aren’t even going to move forward with anything that we had talked about the past few days.”
Tuomas made a gesture to respond but Donovan added more to what Scott had said, “How do we know that you are going to do what you said you would? We are all getting worried that you aren’t planning on leaving this world, and not letting us leave either.”
Tuomas looked at Scott and then to Donovan. His face set like stone, “I am doing what I know is right for us all. To get us out.”
Scott spoke after him, “And what is that? We haven’t really had a discussion other than to trust you here, we are getting to the end of our ropes here. We are a team, and I think I speak for all of us when I say that we would like a solid plan and a guarantee that you are going to be working this!”
Without a beat Tuomas countered, “I will not guarantee something that isn’t a certainty. I haven’t even had a moment to do anything yet. You still have your bloody watch! What am I supposed to do wave my hand in the air and magically fix it? It isn’t that simple!”
Tuomas looked around at them all before continuing, “And even if I don’t want to leave doesn’t mean I am going to force you all to stay if I can get you out. Someone is going to have to go after Drake and Deborah now that I am in a position that wouldn’t effect me.”
Everyone paused for a moment, the air tensed. Scott gazed at Tuomas, “So then do you have a plan at all? Even if it is draft of thoughts?
Tuomas responded, his voice leveled, “I do. I am going forward with the plan Scott and I talked about our first day here.”
“So then walk us through it, where are we?” Alissa asked brining in a softer voice, waving Scott to back off.
Tuomas sighed, “Once I get your watch for a few hours I am going to be converting it as an interface into the system software. I built in a command console in my personal study. I have it hidden so that no one can find it if they entered without permission from me.”
“Okay,” Alissa started, “That’s a start, where do we go from there?” She gestured to Scott to hand over his watch.
Scott took his watch off and handed it over, “I will need that back. For more than one reason.”
Tuomas accepted the watch, and continued, “For now? Relax here, train, do what you need to do to keep your heads on straight. I need to see if this will work, and if it does then I will do what I can to make some headway in getting all of us home.”
Charlotte made her way into the conversation, “And one last thing. Who is Elana? Why kind of role does she have here?”
Tuomas sighed, knowing he wasn’t going to be able to keep this under wraps any longer, “Remember when I told you that my fiancé was killed?”
They nodded, “It is her, actually her, not a copy.” They all looked at him in disbelief.
“No way, you said she died.” Nick countered, now seeming to heat up the discussion again.
“Wait, don’t get your knickers in a bunch. Please let me explain.” Tuomas quickly kept up not wanting to open himself up to accusations, “She did, but she knew that I was building this project. She had helped me with it, to an extent.”
Tuomas could feel everyone’s gaze upon him, “She didn’t die right away in the accident, so on her death bed she asked me to put her in the world, so that she could live longer and see me again when I finished this.”
He looked around at them all their faces blank in confusion, “I digitized her brain, down to the atom. I copied part of her brain to help me excel in the creation, which is where part of the artificial intelligence was born from. It was her mind.”
Scott put his hand on his chin, thinking about how this works, and trying to connect the missing links of this project. Tuomas continued, “I had the basic shell done, but she gave me the opportunity to use her mind, digitize it and make a copy to build the rest of this world.”
Scott interrupted, “A true artificial intelligence? Except that the mind was once a human’s mind? That can be dangerous.”
Tuomas hesitated, formulating his answer, “Yes. Except that her original mind is here but the copy was used to build this world. I designed a guardian for the copy, a caretaker is a better term, and is what I will contact through Scott’s watch to help us out of here, hopefully, it is programed to not interface with anything from in world.”
“So, the woman on the grounds?” Alissa asked.
“The original mind of my fiancé, not a copy for a deranged man who misses his love.”
“When shall we be allowed to meet her? For real. If we are to be living here, I would think that meeting her would be inevitable.” Charlotte asked.
Tuomas signaled at a servant who then left the room, “How does right now sound?”
A woman entered the room in a rosary dress; her eyes were soft and gentle; her physique was average but with distinctive features along her body and face. She bowed her head, “I am Elana, a pleasure to meet you all.”
She took a couple of steps over to Tuomas. Leaning over his shoulder she kissed his cheek. “Is everything okay my love?”
“I think everything will be now my dear.”
The others looked at her, Elana’s voice was soft, like a woman out of a romance movie. “I’m glad.”
Elana shifted her gaze up to meet everyone else, “You all must be the companions of my husband here. I am sorry if I caused you any trouble. I knew you were coming, and I am still not too fond of people I have never met. Part of this was my idea. I did not know if I could trust you yet.”
Each one of them let out a small apology for Elana. Elana reached for a chair and sat down and joined them for the rest of the meal.
As dinner finished the mood changed completely in the mansion. Tuomas began to return to the way he was before getting to the city. Everyone else began to introduce themselves to Elana and learning about her life in the world and her life here alone without Tuomas and how the world has changed around her here. The incite they received was full of information, and how she though she noticed a few different things beginning to change that she swore was different than they were a week ago.
“I think Drake may have been messing with world seed, or even someone else, or something else. The biggest thing is some of the stain glass has changed, but none of the servants think so. I swore that a few were different,” her words were vague, but she didn’t really leave the city, she had no reason to leave the walls of the city, she was not the adventuring type.
Over a week passed, Tuomas seemed to li
ghten his mood as they trained together, he was still stern, but he seemed to begin loosen up again and return to talking with the group and explaining more of the world that he had designed here. The group of them came up with formations they could use against the foes that they encountered throughout their journeys out of the city. They knew that they would have to pick odd jobs to keep money flowing in. There was much for them to explore and find out about the world.
Thought their fear came to pass. Once the two week mark came. They all braced for their return back to the real world. It never came and they went into a panic for a few days. Scott took it the hardest. His was reminded of the day he learned that he had been trapped in Cogs of War. He secluded himself for a few days except for meals until he was able to function in a group again.
***
On their downtime as the next few months passed by, Donovan was able to improve their weapons with new metals he was able to get from suppliers in the city, their armor became lighter and more durable due to his wanting to re-forge most of what they already had. He made everyone a helmet as well, since they never were issued one before they entered the world. He made Alissa a larger, lighter and more durable shield that had the crest of the house on it.
After he finished all of their gear, he started creating weapons and equipment that he sold to the city and other individuals who wanted to protect their farms or wanted to adventure out into the wilderness. He took special orders and bulk orders that he filled. His craftsmanship started making its way through the city, as one of the best that they had seen in years. Donovan was humbled by how people took a liking to his work. The world had let him accomplish more smithing in a few months where it would have normally taken the most skilled black smith a few years to create as much as he had.
Alissa found her time at the Apothecary’s hut. She had learned about new plants and roots that would help them with first-aid, and updated their first-aid kits for their treks to come. She had time to work more with experimenting with herbs to make pain killers and started to dabble into poisons that they could use against people or animals that they might encounter.
Nick spent time with Alissa helping with the kits and moving in and out of the city trying to gather information about the sorcerer that Tuomas and the others encountered at the fort where they killed the chimera. For the most part he heard tall tales about a sorcerer but nothing that matched what little that Tuomas and the others gave him. It dead ended mostly, they were given no solid leads. The sorcerer was more of a ghost than anything else to the people of Crystle.
Charlotte spent time practicing her swordsmanship in the training rooms. She would occasionally do some drawings, trying to copy the stain glass windows to see if they had been changing like Elana said they had been. Charlotte spent some time with Alissa, wanting to learn more about first-aid in the world. Alissa taught Charlotte what she had been taught from the Apothecaries. More than that, Charlotte found herself spending time with Scott since they were able to spend the nights together without interruptions from others. There were nights where they found themselves sitting in the garden area watching the sky. She tried to get more out of him about Cogs of War, but Scott kept skirting around the subject.
During the day Scott kept disappearing off of the property but always came back with gold, everyone figured that he didn’t have anything else that he could do in the mansion he was hunting for work from Sir Belthor to keep the wildlife and bandit rabble away from the city and the farms that surrounded it. He would come back bruised up and Charlotte would patch him up, using the skills that Alissa taught her. Scott had become a bit anxious about the next move, he wasn’t convinced yet that Tuomas was really making much headway.
One of the nights that Scott and Charlotte spent together, Scott prompted Charlotte with a question, “What would you say if I wanted us to stay together?”
Grabbing his hand, Charlotte replied to him, “Yes.” she said to him, “I would say yes.”
“Even though I am a bit younger than you?” He countered, looking at her in starlight.
“Even then.” She laughed that he brought the age gap up again, “I think that the slight age difference won’t matter in the long run.”
“You are right.” Scott said to her, as she leaned into him.
“Why ask such a strange question?”
“I am not sure.” He responded, “I guess I feel about weird for asking you out this way.”
She laughed, “Scott, if I was worried about it or if I didn’t want you to say it, I never would have given you the chance to do it. I meant it when you had first mentioned the slight age gap between us.”
“I know, still doesn’t mean that it feels weird to actually say it.”
She laughed again, “Okay, whatever you say.”
They sat there for a while longer, Charlotte ran her hand through her hair, and flung it back over her shoulder and neck. Scott leaned in to her and kissed her forehead. “I think that no matter what happens we will stay together, I have a feeling about it.”
Charlotte smiled at him in the dim light, “I think so too, I don’t know why, but I think you are right.”
13:
Two more months passed before Tuomas had said anything on where he was with reprogramming the world that they were in. He said he needed two more days until he would be able to get it online and out for a public release as a beta test for Virtual Industry. No one questioned what he had to do to get it to work, they knew they wouldn’t understand a single word that would come out of his mouth. He began to explain the process of what they would have to do to win the game once it launched. They were going to have to defeat two Norse mythos ice giants that were on the top of the mountain range. He warned that they needed to be careful and not run into the Northmen that live on the mountain that they were headed too in the next few days.
The night before the conversion launch, they met one last time for a full dinner with Elana. They had a merry night and they drank and ate, for the next day would be slim for food and not a lot of down time hiking up the mountain. They had all of the highest quality food and drinks they had on the property.
Alissa had been able to make a high concentrated alcoholic mead for them to enjoy the festivities. She said she had not had time to fully test it so it could make them super drunk easily.
During the meal Scott hadn’t touched any alcohol unlike everyone else. While he was enjoying his meal, he noticed that Charlotte was fumbling around in the dining hall. He chuckled at the sight and decided that he should see how she was doing. Carefully maneuvering, he got around everyone to get to her. He pulled her aside and asked, “How are you holding up?”
Charlotte hiccupped, “I am fine!” Her face was red, and she could barely stand up.
“How many of these have you had?”
She gave a bubbly laugh, “Three.” She held up a large tankard that was empty.
“Come on, time to put you to bed,” Scott responded, scooping her up in his arms, and began marching his way to their room.
She smiled at him, “You are the best person I know; you are so dreamy!”
Her breath stank of ale, Scott smiled: that is the alcohol talking, “You don’t say,” he kissed her forehead.
“Yeah, you are the best, I love you,” she responded in her slurred speech, snuggling her head into his shoulder.
Scott stopped mid stride. That was the first time she had said, even though she was drunk, he was happy she said that. He was positive she wouldn’t remember this, but he knew that he would remember it well.
Scott opened the door to the room, shuffling in making sure he didn’t hit Charlotte against the door frame. He looked down and saw she was fast asleep in his arms. “You are a silly girl, and I love you for it.”
He placed her on the bed and moved the sheets so he could cover her. Sliding her in she woke up, and her eyes met his, “Kiss me,” she demanded.
Scott leaned in and kissed her on her forehead, she smiled and immediate
ly passed out again. “Sleep well,” he whispered, knowing she would be up in the morning puking her guts up.
He sneaked back out of the room and made his way down to the study. The mansion became quieter as he got further away from the dining hall. This was the first night Scott took to himself in a few days. He liked the quiet, he forgot that that is all he knew for a time. Back in his little one-person apartment. Back when he was struggling to get to the next day. His whole life was upside down, and as everything has developed in this way, he wouldn’t change any of it. But he couldn’t get this bad feeling out of his gut, he wasn’t sure what was coming, but if his gaming experience taught him anything it was to keep his guard up.
Sitting down in the leather chair that was the center piece of the study, Scott looked around, admiring the collection of written works that lined the walls. Each book was leather-bound, with a distinct style, like how the old book of private libraries were in the times of the Renaissance of Old England. The odor from the forged age of the books calmed him, it was refreshing from all of the running around had been doing for Tuomas in secret, getting certain supplies and different influences throughout the city. He knew he couldn’t tell anyone else and, in this moment, he felt like no matter what happened next, he was content with the outcome that would happen soon. He yawned, gripped the leather arm rests, and drifted away into a deep sleep.
The morning arose, the mansion was quiet, save the embers cracking in the fire pits. Scott found himself in the study chair, his neck hurt from sleeping up straight. Standing up, he stretched and popped his neck and lower back, letting out a sigh of relief, then made his way back towards his room.
Upon arrival he saw that Charlotte was not in bed, but the sheets were thrown over off to the side. He saw the bathroom door open, but didn’t hear anything coming from the bathroom. Daring the bathroom door, he could smell vomit, he swore under his breath, and braved going in to see Charlotte hanging over the toilet, fast asleep. He filled the glass on the sink up with water, and placed his hand on her shoulder. Swaying her gently, trying to get her awake, Scott became cautious at what a hungover Charlotte was going to be like.
The Seeds of Evermore Page 12
