Augmented Aspects [Steampunk], [Progression], [Gamelit]

An Impossible Last Wish

There I was, seeing my mother for the first time since my childhood truly ended. The day when both of my parents opted to retire among the cloud servers, versus going into crippling financial debt to try to cure their illnesses.

I had noticed the signs, heck we had all noticed the signs, but my parents worked twice as hard to get me a chance at college. It wasn't until I was in, and deep into my degree program that they uploaded. By then funding came through in the form of an anonymous grant that I applied for and mercifully received. Enough money that I easily got my Bachelors and Masters in Applied Mathematics. The start I needed to truly get a good start in life. With that grant, I was able to get a job, while finishing my degrees as a lowly intern, which kick started my career. A career I kept for fifty years.

It wasn't until years later that I realized the source of that grant was my parents. Rather than using that money to fight on through different treatment options, they decided to start over together. At the time I cried, as I felt like I had funded my career with blood money. Money that could have been used to give them a better life, with me.

Those were my thoughts at first, until I saw them laughing and smiling together. Despite how dangerous the world got, they could always take a moment to center themselves by staring into each other's eyes, then rob a bank, or do something else that was equally fraught with peril. Even in death they were inseparable, and the idea of one being without the other for a day was heartbreaking.

That was why, they always made sure to die each time together. It was poetic, in a morbid sort of way.

I'd watch them grow try, and fail over and over, yet they never stopped smiling. I can still remember my dad's last words at the start of life number seven, while staring deeply into mother's eyes he said, "last time, but it is worth it already."

This was what love was, what I thought love should be. Never giving up, even when the world fought against you, and tried to cripple you with its massive weight of expectations. Knowing the only thing propping you up was your partner in crime.

Seeing my mother, I want to tell her so many things. But in a way, I'm scared. Here she was, the example of a perfect marriage, but mine failed, miserably. I couldn't even say it was a mistake, for that would mean my children were a mistake. Obviously with my daughter Gwen right there, it is clear that I had to have done the mango-tango at least once. But I don't want to admit my failure, at least not now, even though I doubt it would matter too much.

Thinking about my own mistake, I suddenly realize something.

"Wait, where's dad?" I ask, suddenly looking around, as if that will change my viewpoint for my 360 degree view around me.

Chuckle.

That's when my mother laughed the way a hiccupping hyena would. Hearing that odd raspy sound that sounded like she smoked two packs a day let me realize just how much I missed from my own mother.

Hearing her natural laugh, one that was so ridiculous that you couldn't help but join, I laughed. That's when she hit me with the ultimate line.

"Actually, now that I've been awakened, I realize that he has gone missing."

"Missing?" Gwen pounces in, stealing time with my mother.

Mother, hearing the voice just turns and smiles a radiant smile. A smile formed by golden rays of light that are all but bursting from her melting avatar. An avatar that has her true form and silhouette, at least the silhouette she had by the time she passed away.

That was another thing that I learned, both my parents waited until they were well into their careers to start having kids, and by then, they could only have me. At least that is what they told me, I think I was likely a bit of a handful and they opted just to watch.

One of the saddest moments was knowing that they didn't get to see their grandchildren, a sentiment that Rob's parents followed. But Rob's parents didn't see their grandchildren because they were never in the scene. Part of why we got along so well, I was recently an orphan and he was orphan by existence. You know, looking back, I should have seen that as a sign. If is own parents were the type to dip out of lives, I should have been aware this was a possibility he had as well. Maybe I could have. . .

Snap!

The crisp snapping of fingers right next to me pulls me from those deep thoughts. Hearing the sound I instinctively turn towards the source, only to find my mother shaking her finger at me.

"None of that now, can't you see this is my last request? The last request of a dying woman, surely this should be worth some attention?" My mother asks, and like that I want to say that she is being melodramatic, but then cut myself off. She is right, I've spent years waiting for this moment, and I'm wasting it by not focusing enough on the present.

"Good, speaking of your father, I can tell that we were alive this time as well." Mother begins.

"An eighth life?" Gwen asks what we all came to understand.

With that my mother turned her head to the side as if trying to understand things. As if turning her head just so will allow the waves of the world to filter into her ears, allowing her to hear the world's dark secrets.

"Yes, I guess you could call it that. After our seventh life, we didn't want to move on," Mother begins as she stares at me, then begins to hug me tightly. "We knew that you would be coming shortly, so we opted to stay, knowing that you would find us."

I'm feeling a but coming along here, like how did they both get an eight life together, but she is all by herself?

"Everything was going fine at first, we somehow managed to grow up in different cities, in different nations, and found each other. I still remember falling in love with him at first sight, which was bad, as I was already with someone else at the time." Mother begins.

"You were?"

"Yes, I even had a daughter with that man, before I left," mother admits.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

"You left your own daughter?" Gwen and I ask in unison.

"I had to, she loved her father, and well I loved your father. Also, her father had spoiled her rotten by that point, making her someone contemptuous, and I was just a Mistress, one of many." My mother responds honestly, retelling parts of a story of her life that would have happened had she never met my father. Then how it would all change once she met him. Hearing her speak, I knew they were perfect for each other, the type of love that sets every child up for failure as they will inevitably try to reach for the same perfection, not knowing the hardships taken along the way.

"WHAT?" I scream, but mother just waves hear hand in a stop it already gesture.

"Look it's water under the bridge, then we destroyed the bridge on our way out, to make our escape from the Legrand empire." Mother states.

"Wait, does this mean I have an aunt running around?" Gwen asked, glad she was here as I was too focused on other parts of that story. So, even in their eighth life they were against the Legrand Empire?

"Yes, she beings," then she pauses and again seeming to pick up some cosmic joke that the world is now telling her she looks at me, "who knows, you might run into her at some point."

Hearing that cryptic comment, I just sigh, but apparently this is enough for the world to let me know that it might be important.

.

Yep, even the quest is super cryptic.

"Is that what you wanted? Me to find my sister?" I ask, realizing that this might be more of a pain than originally intended.

"What? No, she's a prat. No, I need you to find your father. He died while protecting me, which means he is around here somewhere. Please find him, so that we might meet again." Mother states as the last of shreds of her avatar begin peeling away, leaving little more than a giant pillar of golden light. But even at this I can't help but stare straight at her, with my third eye still glowing. That's when I get my second odd system quest.

There's a weight to this quest, a sort of finality that needs to be addressed quickly.

"What does he look like?" I ask, trying to wrap my mind around what is happening. Will he be a child still growing? Or will he be one of those adults that are important and filled with character already?

Then a slightly deeper and more ominous thought hits me.

"Wait, is this how some of you are so real, and vibrant, while others seem bland?" I ask, completely almost calling my own mother an NPC, without actually saying the words NPC.

Chuckle. Mother seeing my mother laughs at my confusion, "to answer your first question he should be an adult. As for your second question, well I think you already know the answer to this, don't you?"

I suddenly feel sick, as I realize why I suddenly like some NPCs more than others. Could it be that all good NPCs are just the reused souls of former players who ran out of lives and never moved on? How would that work? Are they given positions similar to how they played? Or is it something closer to their actual personality, the one exhibited before their arrival here? But I stop that odd train of thought and focus on the more immediate questions.

"How will he know where to find you? Also, why does that one have a time limit?" I ask, suddenly realizing that one has a very clear time limit, which implies it will be impossible to complete after a certain point.

"He'll know, because once you awaken him, he will remember me, and be able to find me, always." Mother states.

"Wait, doesn't that mean you can find him now?" I plead, my mind going to the obvious conclusion of that statement.

Odd sputtering chuckle.

"Cassie girl, you are still too smart for your own good. Love you." She says, while leaning down and kissing me on the forehead.

Tingle.

I can feel her embrace at the top of my head tingling just for a moment, then it is gone.

Swoosh!

There was a moment of silence, as I let the brevity of the situation sink in. A moment I had been looking for, a chance encounter was now gone. Worse, I now knew for a fact that my mother had moved on. Perhaps that is what happens to all the players who get reincarnated here for an eighth or ninth life, they are all here waiting to have their last moment fulfilled. It is precisely as I have this thought that I get a new system message.

Taking a moment, I breath in, then I immediately change my form to be that of my mother.

Poof.

Tingle.

There is an odd stretching sensation as I feel my naturally hovering pixie body suddenly collapse to the ground and fill out to be an older woman who still had the fresh lingering after energy of golden light. I still didn't know what that golden light was, but I had my guesses. For a moment I wondered about being able to replicate it, but then realized it was beyond me, at least for now. It was too violent, too perfect to truly mimic the way I can with other energy types.

Big hug.

"Oof," I feel the wind get pressed out of my body as Gwen wraps her arms violently around me, before coming in close to hug me. Only now do I realize that she went through that entire event, without ever going up and hugging her grandmother.

"I didn't say goodbye?" Gwen lets out.

"I didn't either, all I got were two distraction quests and a misdirection," I reply annoyedly.

"Gods, she is just like you," Mallory declares coming over and hugging the both of us. While she said it to both of us, I knew those words were directed towards me.

"What does that mean?" I reply indignantly.

"Just that by her talking you get twice as many questions, without her ever actually supplying a real answer to any question. Then she creates twice as much work for you to accomplish, before you even realize that she is gone. Again, just like you." Mallory declares.

I am about to protest, wondering how she knows about my quests, but then remember she has that whole Guild master thing that lets her cheat.

"I'm not like her," I state defensively.

"Oh come on, mom, I mean she is just like you."

"I'm a mistress?" I protest, wondering about this half-sister I have running around somewhere. I wonder how old she would be at this point.

"Well, not that, but finding your true love, then blowing up a bridge to escape in the middle of the night. So romantic, and so you," Gwen replies.

Hearing that, I kind of pause wondering if that is something I would do. Then I realize, yeah, destroying a bridge might be the easiest way to escape, if I had to travel on foot.

There was an awkward tension that seemed to be leaving us all. Finally, after the avatar lost her new soul tingle, I felt kind of odd.

"I'm going to change back," I replied. That was all the excuse I needed to not be double hugged, as I changed back to my normal self. The moment I felt my body begin to shrink, I half jumped up and regained my typical normal person height in the air.

Then as if on cue, my Simulacrum that I Positional Switched with, back to the registration area out in the middle of nowhere, pulsed a form of energy at me. That was the signal to let me know that she was ready to open their half of a Positional Teleportation loop.

"Oh, one second," I reply flying a few feet away and completing the loop.

Swoosh.

At that, the portal was complete and all nine Teleiotís came through one after the other. To my surprise, or maybe I was just being paranoid, but it seemed as though the Teleiotís all came through the portal in the exact order that I chose them for my different Simulacrum.

I hope they know it was just a random puzzle that determined the order, and not any inherent bias for or against these different Teleiotís.

Seeing the Teleiotís come through, Mallory instantly perked up.

"I see you all have volunteered for the mechanical and mechanoid warfare portions of the tests, I assume this means that you were able to talk our pixie out of competing?" Mallory asked, her eyes going wide with something, possibly relief?

Hearing the question, Raygunnr just stared at her for a moment in confusion. Only after a second did I realize, Mallory still not used to Mana Language just spoke, assuming that the Teleiotís would be able to understand her.

Seeing the confusion, I run forward, and act as interpreter, "someone isn't keeping up with their Mana Language studies."

I chide as I then speak in both regular and Mana Language, something only a few have been able to do up to this point. Mainly those around me, Gwen and Penelope are fluent in speaking both at the same time. Jhonny has to focus on one or the other, but can't really do both at the same time, yet.

As for Mallory, she is busy, but she is trying as well.

"Actually, about that," I begin providing the answer for everyone. "Good news."

Then realizing that my Confidentiality is out of time, I decide to go to plan B.

Using Telepathy to talk to Mallory directly, and relaying my actual words through Mana Language, I speak out the following.

"Well, there is some good news," I begin projecting my thoughts twice with mana. This is actually a sort of odd sensation, as this is the first time I've used Telepathy with Mana language, it is surprisingly easier than I thought. Though it does feel like I'm talking with an echo.

"What good news do you have exactly?" Mallory asks, again speaking her thoughts out loud and not trusting the secure communication channel that is Telepathy.

Still, I can't help but take this exact moment to focus on the real reason why we are all here, and what we intend to do at these upcoming placement tests. With a large smile, I lean in conspiratorially and reply with the four words that let everyone know you are truly taking any competition seriously.

"We get to cheat."