by D Richardson
Abdul wandered across the worlds, searching for whatever men of his ilk searched for. Girls? Money? Adventure? There was no telling.
Huge Guy ran a fancy restaurant on the other side of town. Not really fancy, more like raunchy, since all the guys worked and served shirtless.
Yun had been spending most of his time with the Worldbreakers, developing new dungeons in a sub-world, as we've come to call them. Those acted as games within our world that we could dive into with the players on equal footing. Granted, equal footing was already there, but if one of our citizens died here, they'd have to go through the pain of respawning at the temple and traveling back. That could take hours.
"Hey," Tae said. "There you are!"
We followed his gaze to an old friend. Red hair, calming turquoise eyes, and a freckled smile to melt our hearts away. "Sorry," Leila said with her gentle voice. "I was watching a cartoon and got distracted." She looked away, her cheeks pink in embarrassment.
"Aw, Leila!" I called out. "Don't apologize to that runt!" I shot Tae a mocking stare. He laughed, checked his watch, and walked out to join her.
"Sorry I missed out on the beach," she said.
I waved the thought away. "It's fine. Are you still coming to Phobos with us?"
She nodded, then slipped her hand into Tae's. They stood together. "I have class that morning, so I'll be a tad late."
"The new semester is about to begin," Tae said. "It's not too late to start, Alex. You can finish that degree of yours."
"Ew."
Willow nudged me. "Aw come on, Alex. You can suffer college together with those two."
"Aw shit," I said. "I have to do that if I'm gonna be a space pilot, don't I?"
"Can't get a license without it," he said.
"Fine."
Tae and Leila chuckled together. "Take care!" Tae waved, a gold light pulsed around them, then they vanished.
Life was changing all over. With the gates open, people who were locked in the other games were free to come and go as they pleased - for a small fee, of course. Alexander would visit to spend time with the magi, we would visit as mercenaries for his conquests, sometimes on the enemy side just for fun.
Since death was no longer a thing and territorial issues still existing in some of the other worlds, conflict had completely changed in nature. Some had evaporated entirely, some continuing on just for the sport. Frederick and Alexander were no different.
"Willow," Simone sang. She was beside us on her knees, stars in her eyes. "What are you doing this weekend?"
Willow stared down at her with narrowed eyes and a smile. "Why?"
I answered for her. "She wants you to cosplay as a cat maid."
Her eyes shot open, and she grabbed Simone's face, squeezing her cheeks. "Yes!"
They squealed together in a hug like a couple of weeaboo fangirls. I rolled my eyes.
"Well?" Simone asked with fox eyes. "You're joining us, right?"
I sighed. "I wanted to be lazy for at least a century."
Willow scolded me. "You have all the time in the world to be lazy!"
I laughed, then offered a warm smile. "I guess I do."
End Note
Hey buckeroos!
I hope you enjoyed the story, and if you like the way I sling words, feel free to follow me on Amazon to be notified when new stuff comes out.
If you did enjoy it, go ahead and slap a rating/review on Amazon and spread the word!
You can also follow me on Royal Road to keep up with ongoing projects. Most of what I write sticks in the same universe.
Future Projects and Stella Vallis Timeline:
- 2984, Of The Cosmos
- 2988, Heavensborne: The Fall [Life on Earth rediscovered in the dark ages]
- 2989, Heavensborne: The Rise [The rise of the antagonist]
- 2990, Heavensborne: The Vindication [The end of everything]
- 2991, [End of Earth/Mars events]
- 3009, Polyglot()
- 3010, Untitled Sequel
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