The Trapped Mind Project (Emerilia Book 1)

by Michael Chatfield

  She rubbed it absently. The Dwarves might be a smaller crowd, but they were as strong as oxen.

  Where the Elves showed their affection with hugs and small gestures, the Dwarves did it through head-butts, shoulder punching, and when they gave a gift, you damn well knew about it.

  Again, that searching magic rippled out from the man.

  Deia and Lox looked back at him.

  He was dumping clay all over the pit that he’d made.

  Lox shook his head at the sheer amount of clay. “What is he—a human ore cart?”

  Deia just smiled at Lox’s antics.

  ***

  “Shit!” Dave said, looking at the pop up.

  I have a meeting with the Japanese delegation today!

  Dave had parroted the orders he’d given his bot the day before and logged off as quickly as possible.

  He rose his hands to his head, ready to pull his VR headset off…only they grabbed his sunglasses instead.

  Zane looked around, finding that he was in his car heading for work. His hands went to the wheel but he found that he was in auto-pilot mode already.

  “The fuck is happening?” Zane asked as he looked around the car.

  He had been playing Emerilia just a second ago, right?

  Memories started to leak into his mind as if filling in the blanks. It was all hazy, him getting up from his VR then getting ready in time for the meeting.

  He checked his watch with a glance.

  I’m going to get there on time. I could swear that I thought I was going to be late. Maybe I fell asleep and started dreaming of Emerilia? That has to be it. Zane reassured himself. There was no way that it could be anything else.

  Slowly, Zane’s sleepiness faded away as his car moved through traffic and headed for Rock Breaker’s compound. The company spread out over fifteen acres of land. The gate opened for him automatically, Zane’s security detail that shadowed every move he made riding ahead and behind him as Zane glided through and towards the main building.

  Zane looked around the compound. People were walking around working on all manner of different subjects. Zane wished he could be out there working in a group to solve an issue. Buying pizza to celebrate a breakthrough and having drunken debates about their workload.

  I miss that garage and working to make Rock Breakers a success. Now it just feels so hollow.

  Zane followed his security detail into an underground parking lot. Zane’s and their cars were moved into a secure section of the garage, fitted with its own bank of elevators. One of them opened as Zane walked out. Two of the security detail went with him as he stepped inside.

  The elevator’s doors closed before shooting upwards. Zane looked over the compound, buildings of glass and stainless steel and thousands of people that all worked for him.

  They had come to see Zane’s dream turn from possibility into thriving business.

  Zane felt more energy return to him as time went on, as if he was waking up slowly. With a fake smile, he turned to face the doors once again.

  They opened to show the executive floor.

  He walked through the place, waving and greeting people here and there. They were all managers of managers, people that had million dollar homes and had left pizza victories and drunken consolations well behind.

  To Zane, they felt bland and lifeless.

  Suzy was waiting for him as he moved towards the conference rooms.

  “How’s my favorite secretary?” Zane smiled.

  “Sleep deprived and underpaid,” She shot back with a smile.

  The two of them had become close as Rock Breakers had grown around them. They were like brother and sister when outside of work.

  They found a friendship with one another that no others had been able to help with. Zane knew all about her and she knew all about him.

  Even though Zane thought of her as a sister and she was interested in the fairer sex, as best as she tried to hide it, people would insinuate many things to make headlines. So, Zane and Suzy had always been thought of as an on again off again thing.

  Each time that they got together to have a night off and be themselves, there was sure to be a tabloid somewhere saying that they were rekindling their relationship or having a secret getaway.

  “The delegation is in conference room three. Things are deteriorating with the American government. I have several locations picked out for the headquarters in Japan. It seems that the Japanese delegation had a good time here and we should expect to hear something back from them within a week,” Suzy said.

  “Thanks,” Zane said, beaming as he walked into the conference room with the Japanese delegation.

  “Morning!” He said as they returned his greeting in their various ways.

  The rest of the morning went easily. Meeting with the Japanese delegation and seeing them off. Then paper work and looking at different issues. A few reports to the shareholders that were getting uptight about the company being an American company.

  Zane didn’t understand it. Sure, he liked America, but he wouldn’t let them put him over a barrel and beat him bloody because he wanted his company to be ‘all American’.

  Thankfully he got through another grueling day. He looked up as Suzy threw him a snack bar.

  “Thanks,” He said, catching it and putting it on his desk.

  “Aren’t you hungry, you haven’t eaten anything all day,” She asked, looking concerned.

  “No, I feel fine. I was a little peckish earlier but then my hunger kind of disappeared,” Zane shrugged.

  “Well if you’re done with those reports then I don’t have anything else for you. I’m going to punch the clock out and order some damned wine,” Suzy sighed.

  “You should get Emerilia,” Zane sing-songed with one of his few genuine smiles in the day.

  “You and your video games!” She admonished before smiling.

  “One of these days, you’ll try it out. It’s a lot of fun, trust me. Better than just watching movies and drinking wine all night! Even with those hangover tabs,” Zane leaned back in his chair.

  “I’ll think about it; it does look interesting. What are you doing in Emerilia right now?”

  “Building a house outside of a city called Omal. Just somewhere to get away from this all and do my own thing,” Zane said, waving at the compound and tower around them.

  “Maybe,” Suzy said, she wasn’t fully convinced but Zane had hope for her yet.

  “Well, if you need me, I’ll be out of touch! So, remember to email my private email server,” Zane said, grabbing his jacket.

  “I will,” She assured him with a friendly smile.

  They kept up appearances around everyone else, but they were tired, from the job, from the press. Everyone was trying to get a piece from them and it was exhausting.

  “Look after yourself Suz,” Zane meant it, she didn’t take personal days unless she couldn’t get up from bed, and for holidays, she and Zane hung out together. Pariahs of their families, Zane for not sharing his wealth with them. Suzy for also being a lesbian.

  “I’m the one supposed to be saying that to you!” She complained as they walked out of his office.

  “Have to be quicker next time,” Zane smiled, heading for the elevator and then the procession that would take him home.

  Chapter 6: Coming Together

  As soon as Zane got back from his trip and everything had been taken care of, he’d went home and back into Emerilia.

  His worries faded away as he looked at what Bot-Dave had been able to do in his absence. The foundations looked good, there was plenty of felled lumber and a good amount of clay in his bag of holding.

  Dave rubbed his hands together and moved to the pile of lumber off to the side of the camp.

  Dave started working on the wood. He looked at it, touching it and understanding it. He saw where the knots and imperfections were—how he could use them to his advantage.

  His saw moved with the wood, cutting the tree he’d picked first into a
rectangle and then into boards.

  Throughout, he continued to use Touch of the Land. Still, the thing below sucked up power. He didn’t feel as though it were a nasty entity. It just felt as if it was there. So, on he went with building.

  The fabricated kiln was functional. In the bricks went.

  Dave headed off and cut down some more trees. He’d set four of the ten that had been cut down to the side. They would serve as siding.

  He turned notifications off as he just started working. For years, he had been stuck at the top, unable to do some real work. He liked using his hands, being able to say I had a part in that.

  He’d become a manager instead of an innovator as time went on. Sure, his company was innovative, but then it wasn’t him creating things.

  “Shit, shit, shit, shit.” He pulled out the bricks without letting the kiln properly cool. His Health took a big hit as he pulled pliers out of his bag and pulled them out. His hands were badly burned but he put the pain to the back of his mind and continued to pull out the now finished bricks and replace them with another batch that was waiting.

  Burned (Difficulty handling items, loss of feeling if not treated)

  He put the tongs down and looked at his hands, which were painfully red and starting to rise.

  “All right herbs, what have you got for a nasty burn?” He went through his bag. “Got moss of the night, then root of the Ertal flower. That should work.” He pulled out a mortar and pestle, sitting down and grinding the two together. He added some water to make a paste. He put his hands in it, giving a relieved smile.

  “Well, no more sticking my hands in kilns—got it.” He smiled as he put the paste on his burns.

  The Burned notification dimmed in brightness.

  Holding things still hurt but the pain was going away and the hits he’d taken to his Health bar were slowly coming back.

  He moved to a log and leaned against it as he got something to eat.

  He opened his notifications.

  New Active Skill: Builder

  You take materials and build things. Pretty normal, pretty boring. Isn’t any kind of quest!

  Level: Novice level 3

  Effect: 9% speed making items with more than one material

  Required: Tools and Materials

  Active Skill: Lumberjack

  Level: Novice level 7

  Effect: 17% increased speed and damage to cut down trees

  Cost: 10 Stamina/second.

  New Active Skill: Alchemy

  You take herbs and throw them together. Sometimes it makes stuff, other times it just smells really, really bad.

  Level: Novice level 1

  Effect: Combine two ingredients together for a 5% boost in effectiveness

  Required: Alchemy tools

  With the heat from the sun, a full belly, and the kiln warming up the place, he decided to take a nap.

  ***

  He woke with a start.

  Something was wrong. His senses were trying to figure out what had brought him awake when he heard a noise.

  There was a loud growl and a pitiful squeal. Animals were fighting nearby.

  Dave was on his feet in minutes. “If I don’t deal with them, then they might come closer to my camp.” He pulled out his bow and a quiver of arrows. His hands were healed; they felt tingly now.

  It was also nighttime but his night vision made it easier to see. He studied the area the noises were coming from. His Surveyor skill highlighted the location of the animals fighting: two were fighting each other, a third was being protected.

  Dave crouched low and moved off. He felt as if he broke every damn stick as he shuffled forward. It took him ten minutes to find the fight. There was a massive snake. It had wrapped itself around a wolf, its fangs dug into the wolf’s neck.

  Level 15 Swamp snake

  Level 45 Timber wolf

  Level 4 Timber wolf

  Dave fitted an arrow to his bowstring, and moved forward.

  A small wolf pup was biting at the snake. It was trying its damnedest to rescue its parent. It would have been comical if not for the fact that the snake had clearly won the fight against the larger wolf. It hit the small cub with its tail, sending it flying.

  Dave had always loved dogs, he’d had one as a kid and never forgotten her. Seeing the snake and wolf fight, he didn’t hesitate to draw his bow and released without conscious thought.

  The snake’s health went from fifty percent to five, a big hit for something that was five times his own level. The snake was trying to disengage from the wolf but it had new energy seeing its cub hurt. Dave strung another arrow, but missed. He missed again; they were simply moving too much and it was his first time using the bow. The last time he had fired one, he’d been a kid back in Texas.

  The wolf collapsed with the creature in its mouth.

  Dave moved up to the snake, a new arrow on his string. He put another arrow into it but it didn’t move.

  The large wolf made a keening noise in the direction that the small pup had gone in.

  Dave moved to go find the creature.

  The small wolf was broken; its neck had hit a tree, killing it.

  The adult wolf stopped keening.

  Dave carried the wolfling back, finding that its mother had died as well. He put the pup down with its mother and pulled out his shovel. A tombstone icon floated above the creatures; it looked like loot. Dave pressed the icons.

  Swamp Snake Remains

  2x Snake scales

  3x snake meat

  2x Venom pouches

  1 Silver

  Take/Take all

  Dave highlighted it all and accepted. As soon as he did the snake seemed to burn up from the inside, turning into dust and disappearing.

  Dave moved to the Wolves, again taking all of the loot.

  Their bodies fell apart like the Snake’s.

  He got a Silver from the mother, and some fur, he only got five coppers from the young wolf. Their meat was tainted with venom, making it useless.

  He wandered back to his camp and went to his kiln, pulling out his new bricks and putting in clay blocks. He stoked the fire up and sealed it again.

  His base floor was coming nicely. His gravel was down, his clay layer was complete, and his bricks were finishing it all off. He put the bricks down, using clay as mortar.

  Dave grabbed his axe. He was running low on trees and he was restless after the fight. He moved to a group of trees. He placed his hand on the ground, feeling the area around him. He could sense items in a larger area as time went on. Out of the eight trees around him, three were good and strong; he could already imagine where they would go in his house. The others were dying but good for firewood.

  He rolled his shoulders, checked his axe head, and set his feet.

  Thump. The blade sank into the tree; with a tilt and twist, it came free. He made a down cut and started to get in the rhythm of things. The world seemed to fall away as he cut one side of the tree, went to the opposite side and cut the other.

  “Timber!” Dave grinned as the tree cracked and groaned, coming down in a crash. He moved to the other four. He had plenty of work to do.

  Tomorrow, he’d go hunting for some food: the rations were getting dull, and he might need them later. He opened up his Internet browser and watched tutorial videos on archery. He wasn’t impressed with his performance with it.

  Chapter 7: Foundation

  The sun rose and Deia stretched in her hammock. She’d placed it high in the treeline, hidden from below.

  Who the hell is making all that noise?

  She got out of her hammock, dropping to another tree limb, swinging to another branch, perching on it and looking at the origin of the noise.

  Something looked new about the scene in front of her.

  “He’s been cutting down trees. Does he ever sleep?” She heard a cracking noise as a tree disappeared from view.

  She looked over the little area that the halfling had created.

 
There was a quarter of the pad left without brick and clay. Another layer of clay had been added. Several trees lay near their fallen brethren. The man pulled out a rope and disappeared.

  Deia ate some dried fruit and other items she’d scavenged on her trip. She sat on the tree limb and leaned against the tree itself.

  My, my. A mischievous smile appeared on her face as the man grunted out into the early morning sunlight. He was dragging a tree into the clearing he’d made around his foundations.

  She watched him drop off the tree; he pulled the rope off the tree and headed back into the forest. He repeated the process; more trees came out. He was covered in grime and sweat.

  He took off his shirt. Dark-brown hair—the color of his small beard and hair. He had a strong build. She must have been imagining things as he seemed to be taller and more muscled than she had seen in previous days.

  Once the trees were in the clearing, he pulled out his axe, taking off branches and then bark.

  Deia drank from her herbal tea. It was cold but it was still refreshing.

  Around mid-morning, the man stopped, sitting on a stump near his kiln and eating his own breakfast as sweat glistened off his body.

  Interesting creature.

  ***

  “We’ve got the trees we need and everything else is looking pretty good. A few more loads of bricks in the kiln and we’re well on our way.” Dave looked over what would become his house.

  It had been too long since he’d made something. Sure, it wasn’t rocket science, but it felt good to make something with his own hands.

  Even if they’re torn to all hell. I really need a healing potion.

  He looked over his hands. They had white scars from burning them; using his various tools had left blisters. Thankfully, callouses were starting to form and he couldn’t feel all of the pain.