Transcending Limitations

by Brian Wilkerson

There was more than enough of both food and conversation. They talked about their day, news in the village, news in the world, and future plans. In other words, everything except Annala’s sacrilege. She herself brought it up several times, but her family didn’t regard it as important. Finally, she pounded on the table and shouted, “I blasphemed and committed sacrilege of the highest order today! And not for the first time! Why don’t you care?!”

  “We do care,” Nunnal said, “but we don’t mind.”

  Annala deflated. “...You...don’t?”

  “All of us are free to worship however we wish, and that includes not worshiping at all or committing sacrilege. Priestess, tell me if I’m wrong, is there a religion about blasphemy?”

  “Yes, indeed,” Priestess said. “It’s called ‘Cohorts of the Chaotic Contradiction’ and one of its tenets is that praise and blasphemy are the same thing, that is, an intense belief. Just as chaos is both hot and cold, good and evil, left and right, so too are praise and blasphemy a dichotomy.”

  “They should have a shrine somewhere in the village,” Nunnal said. “Why don’t you find it?”

  Annala’s posture could be compared to a frightened deer. “...You’re really okay with this?”

  Nunnal stood up and gathered Annala into her arms. Kissing her forehead, she said, “Of course I am, sweetie. Whatever system of belief or non-belief you decide on, I’m here for you. You can even worship Order himself, and, as long as you don’t lead him to our village or let him in, then I will support you.”

  Annala hugged her. “Thanks, Mom.”

  Dinner continued, and when it was finished, the family cleaned up. Nunnal insisted that the guests didn’t help. Instead, they stayed at the table drinking tea.

  “Eric, are you traveling now?” Priestess asked.

  “Yes, we are.”

  “You encounter obstacles, don’t you? Roadblocks and broken bridges,” she waved her hand, “that sort of thing?”

  “All the time,” Eric replied.

  “Those are awful,” the cleric said while staring into her cup. “I remember how I used to be a gate guardian and how it led to my becoming a hypocrite. Allow me to help you the next time you encounter such a problem.”

  “Thank you, Priestess.”

  “Don’t mention it. I’m here to help.”

  “EEEE!”

  The squeal of glee came from the kitchen, where Annala was hugging her twin with fervor. He was hugging her back, but without the same enthusiasm. Nunnal was patting his head and telling him that she was proud of him for doing this.

  “Just don’t embarrass me, okay?” he said. “Sonic has a particular way of running the place and he’s just starting to let me make small things.”

  “Definitely, don’t worry,” Annala said. “I’ll bring doughnuts and study the diagrams and dispense with any and all discussion about anything dorky you still do.”

  He hugged her tighter. “Now I know you’re feeling better. Come on, I’ll give you the run down.” The elf twins raced upstairs.

  “What was that about?” Eric asked.

  “Forge suggested Annala create a weapon to fight reapers,” Nunnal said delightedly. “To make a weapon meant to kill death itself is certainly in league with the Cohorts of the Chaotic Contradiction. It will also help her fit in again because she will be using her eternal life to learn a new skill and her intelligence to create something. It will keep her busy, and put her energy and drive towards something other than depressing thoughts.”

  “That’s elven life, all right,” Kallen said. “Stay busy, hug your family, and try not to go insane while living forever.”

  “Speaking of which, it is time for her to explore the outside world,” Nunnal said. “Her first walk-the-earth adventure is just the change of scenery she needs right now. Dear, please make the arrangements through the embassy.”

  Ponix looked up from the Anich finger trap he stuck on all ten of his fingers. It was a specialized variation with twenty openings whose interconnected weavings provided for a greater challenge than the traditional device. Still working on it, he said, “The Arch of Kresnik won’t work. No one on that side remembers where the exit is. For now, she’ll have to do an old-fashioned border crossing. I’ll tell Hasina to meet her at a designated location and the Knight of International Relations to receive her, but she’ll need an escort.”

  “I’d be happy to do so,” Priestess said. “Annala and I can discuss matters while we walk.”

  “It’s alright with me,” Nunnal said, “but Annala might disagree.”

  Priestess stood up. “I will ask her.”

  Priestess and her Perrault excused themselves from the table and walked upstairs.

  “It was actually me that escorted her to Roalt,” Kallen said. “I also helped her settle into the library.”

  “Two Kallens equals a paradox?” Eric asked.

  “Yep. That’s why ‘Priestess’ came to help. The exit should be open now.” Eric, Kallen, and the genuine Perrault climbed the stairs and found Priestess standing by Forge’s room. Its entrance was now the mouth of a cave.

  It had walls of brown stone, a white stone floor, and veins of other kinds. It twisted and turned as it moved deeper into a mountain and its sides were rubbed smooth. It was like a creature created it by burrowing, and then polished the sides. This led Eric to wonder if it was the lair of a snake. He snapped his fingers.

  “I know this world’s theme.”

  Kallen turned to him. “Already? The only thing here is a cave.”

  “It’s a lair for a dragon and I imagine it has treasure of two kinds.”

  He dashed forwards without explanation, so the girls had no recourse but to follow him. Sure enough, only two bends passed before they saw light reflecting off gold. Only one more bend passed before they came into a treasure room.

  Gold. In coins, armor, jewel settings, and clothing, it reached the ceiling in countless piles. The only sections of floor not covered by it were pathways. Even though she knew it wasn’t real, Kallen was stunned by the scope of the wealth. Eric was looking for something still more valuable. He found it at the center of the trove.

  A stone pillar connected the floor to the ceiling. Growing out of the pillar was a hook. Threaded through that hook was a hemp rope that terminated in a loop, and that loop was cinched around the neck of an elven girl.

  Her clothing marked her as an elven princess. She wore a violet gown composed of an amethyst bodice and royal purple skirts, along with soft pink opera gloves. A golden circlet crossed her forehead. Her golden-brown hair could not be seen because it was up in a divided hennin covered in a pink hanging veil. Gold earrings carrying rubies adorned her pointed ears. A gold necklace with a ruby center hung from her neck alongside the noose.

  More ropes bound her wrists, and coils around her waist secured them behind her back. As she circled the pillar, her skirts shifted to reveal both her pink kitten heels and the fetters on her ankles. All of a sudden, she noticed Eric and jumped in fright.

  “You should not be here!” she whispered urgently. “It is dangerous!”

  “A dragon kidnapping a princess?” Kallen asked, eyebrow raised. “What does that cliché have to do with anything? And this far deep in her mind! The Annala I know isn’t a damsel in distress at her core.”

  “That’s because she’s not,” Eric said calmly. “This world has more layers than you think.” To the elven princess, he said, “You should have chosen something more obscure. I know what this world’s identity is as well as its purpose.”

  Annala’s regal brow furrowed. “World’s purpose? Are you a new prophet? My mother’s realm has enough of those already.”

  Eric cupped his hands to his mouth and shouted, “HEY! DRAGON! I’M GONNA STEAL THE MOST VALUABLE THING IN YOUR LAIR!”

  Annala gasped. She would have brought her hands over her mouth, but the cord at her waist refused to allow her to do so.

  “Do you have a death wish?!” she demanded.

&n
bsp; “You think I do, but I do not.”

  All the coins in the room rattled. The walls shook. Mighty footfalls created a sound that would chill a common soldier’s blood. Then it appeared. From another tunnel stomped a fearsome dragon.

  It was bigger than any monster Eric had ever seen short of the city-sized Tazul. Its head alone was bigger than himself. The pair of horns upon it were longer than he was tall and the claws longer than his legs. It roared in Eric’s face with enough force to topple nearby treasure stacks. Its long, sharp, and bloody teeth hovered inches away.

  “You’re not real.” He turned his back on it. “I don’t need to kill this dragon.”

  “Why not?” Kallen asked.

  “Do not turn your back on it!” Annala shouted.

  “It doesn’t truly exist.” Eric pointed at Perrault. “She is the real dragon.”

  “So you finally figured it out,” the familiar said casually. “Yes, I am the ‘dragon,’ i.e. the supernatural creature who exists to keep the knight and princess separated.”

  “When Annala didn’t tell me why you dislike me so much, I started thinking about it,” Eric said. “One version of her briefly mentioned a fear of abusive boyfriends, and then there was the fact that Order brainwashed her by making her see me as her master instead of her boyfriend. Then there was the way you didn’t like it when we were affectionate. It all came together. You were protecting her from me on her subconscious orders.”

  “As a fellow defender of Annala,” Perrault said, “I’m glad you understand.”

  “I do not understand,” Annala said. Her eyes were wide and she struggled fitfully in the ropes. “She does not look... and that dragon...”

  “You can drop the act now,” Kallen said.

  Blinking innocently, Annala said, “Act? I assure you, stranger, that I do not act.” She tugged and twisted more forcefully but only succeeded in proving that she was helplessly tied up. Casting her doe eyes on Eric, she said, “Please untie me.”

  Eric stepped forward and Perrault blocked his path.

  “I cannot allow you to go any further. You said it yourself; you are the greatest threat to her because she loves you. You could hurt her in ways no one else could. You could reject her, replace her with someone else or otherwise leave her by way of death like Uncle Mori. Thus, she subconsciously wants you to stay away from her. This desire is represented by that dragon.”

  “I haven’t forgotten that you tried to kill me,” Eric said, “nor that Annala tried to make me forget it.”

  “You have forgotten the dragon!” Annala shouted. “You cannot defeat it! Please leave!”

  “See?” Perrault asked.

  “Annala, I’m not going to leave you,” Eric said. “I would never ever leave you.”

  Her eyes turned gooey with affection. “Really?” Then they narrowed. “Uncle Mori said the same thing... I mean!” Her expression immediately became forlorn. “I thank you, kind sir, but the dragon will make you. It will kill you or take you far away.”

  “You still think I’m going to die on a guild mission, don’t you?”

  The dragon breathed fire, but he effortlessly shielded himself with a barrier. Flames couldn’t hurt him anymore. Perrault groaned in annoyance and touched its underbelly. It melted and drained into her. As a result, she became a wolf/human/dragon hybrid. She blocked Eric’s view of Annala with one of her new wings.

  “This cave is not a prison but a shelter,” Perrault said. “I am not a jailer but a guardian. Those ropes are not restraints but braces.”

  Again, Annala squirmed and made sure to do so where Eric could see her. “I beg you, good sir, please save me from this creature!”

  “By projecting these desires into me, she doesn’t have to deal with them. She can continue to be your adoring girlfriend without any conflict marring her beautiful image.”

  Eric took a fighting stance and planned his offensive, but then he froze. His stance softened and his eyes widened.

  “I was wrong...This world isn’t Annala’s core. It’s yours.”

  “I am her,” Perrault replied. “Everything I am, she is as well. This world best represents her desire to keep you both safe and exalted as well as how she feels about your relationship and how I fit into it. Princess, tell him what would happen if he defeated the false dragon.”

  Annala looked frantically for some escape. “I still don’t understand. Please explain—”

  “TELL HIM!”

  Annala jumped in fright and then whimpered as the ropes dug tighter into her skin and pulled her back into place.

  “I would be grateful, and, once returned to my mother’s castle...I would certainly reward him...” she blushed and looked away shyly, “as he wished.”

  Perrault laughed a throaty dragon laugh. “Then a new challenge and a new adventure would separate you again, and again and again. The ‘Royal Champion’ would be forever busy and his princess could love him from a distance without thinking about the future.”

  Turning back to Eric, Perrault continued, “If you didn’t figure it out, and I won, I would add you to my ‘human collection.’ Separate from Annala but still close enough for her to see you are safe and talk with you.”

  Eric returned to his fighting stance. “This was your plan all along. That’s why you guided us through the scenarios. You were leading me into another cage.”

  “Boss fight,” Perrault hissed. A dragon tongue slithered out of her mouth. “Perrault the Dragon Knight!”

  Perrault lunged. Eric lunged. Annala screamed, “STOP!”

  Eric’s spear was inches from Perrault’s neck. Perrault’s claws were centimeters from Eric’s heart. Both of them stared at the princess.

  “Please don’t be mad! It’s not that I want you dead, not at all! I’m afraid of losing you or being hurt by you. I...even after you became immortal the first time...I was scared.” She blubbered inelegantly. “I don’t want you to fight each other just because of some irrational fear.”

  “Your fear was given life in me,” Perrault said. “My purpose is to protect you from your fears and threats.”

  Annala’s eyes settled into a state of resolve. She stood straighter. Despite the ropes, she suddenly looked more like a commanding royal than kidnapper bait. “Your purpose changes now. I’ve realized that watching you two fight is more painful than any trouble with Eric alone. I want to protect him and stay with him, but I want you to be with me as well. Therefore, I forbid the both of you from fighting each other.”

  Eric bowed at once. “Your Highness’ wish is my command.”

  Perrault hesitated, then she too bowed. “Yes, princess, I understand.”

  The ropes vanished. Annala lifted her skirts, walked to Perrault, and rubbed her belly. The familiar’s eyes closed and she wagged her wolf-dragon tail. Without removing her hand, Annala leaned over and pecked Eric’s check. He smiled.

  “Let me get this straight,” Kallen said. “Annala, you viewed both your familiar and your boyfriend as both knight and dragon and created a world where they could fulfill both roles simultaneously while you yourself were both the damsel in distress and also the one who controlled the scenario?”

  She grinned sheepishly. “When you put it that way, it sounds so much more complicated than I thought it was.”

  Without warning, she kissed Eric. He returned it, but when she reached behind his neck, he grabbed her hands, pushed them down, and broke the kiss. She looked at him, heartbroken.

  “I thought this was what you wanted. When you refused the first world, I thought you were lonely; that abstract love wasn’t enough. I can do that and more if you want.”

  “What I want is to leave this world,” Eric said.

  “You’ll die! Gruffle will never stop and I will never be able to stop him.”

  She stepped away and twirled, ending in a curtsy.

  “Do you like this outfit? I can generate a different one if you don’t. Frankly, I think the headpiece is kind of silly. Perhaps you’d like somethin
g where my hair hangs loose!”

  Eric shook his head. “You look gorgeous right now.”

  “Then a change of location it is! I can do a royal palace, a fighting tournament, a library, a hot spring, whatever you want. I am the goddess here. This world exists to give me what I want and what I want is to give you what you want.”

  “I want to leave.”

  Annala scowled. “You want to become a better mage than Dengel? Fine.”

  She snapped her fingers and Dengel appeared at her side. He was exactly as Eric remembered him and the spiritual presence felt real too.

  “I can clone the soul of the real Dengel and you can go on adventures with him until you’re better. You want to become a mentor and senior in the Dragon’s Lair? Fine.”

  She snapped her fingers and the area shifted into a perfect copy of Roalt’s warrior district. Eric could see his bridgehouse at one end of the street and his guild at the other with all the various shops and homes of the others in between them.

  “I can replicate everything about it from your home to its members to its missions and you can advance through its ranks. I’ll send a remotely operated clone of you into the outside so it can work on your behalf.”

  She reached up to cup his face with one hand while holding his hand with her other one.

  “This is not a ‘dream world’ where nothing you do matters. This world is every bit as real as the one outside. You can even talk with people outside through a transmission that I can set up. There is nothing you can do out there that you cannot do in here, so please...” Her expression softened. She begged with her eyes. “Stay here.”

  “Just one more question,” Eric said. “If you can answer it, then I will stay here forever.”

  Annala beamed. “Ask away!”

  “If I were to stay here, could I spread creativity of mind, freedom of knowledge, and the fulfillment of each person’s full potential?”

  Annala’s smile wilted.

  “You don’t like that one? Okay, could I cast down rulers and free slaves? Could I dissolve oppressive governments, whether they are legitimate or not, with my presence?”

  Annala looked away from him and tugged her ear.