Chapter 8: Dreams By Day

Chapter 8: Dreams By Day

Part 1: The Angel’s Wall


Amanda was spinning in my floating violet chair, and commented on my anti-gravity water fountain, with its resplendent colors which flickered through it like neon glowing rainbows. She loved the Cosmorian skies from outside the windows, though she had not read Redemption. I would read it to her in her slumber. Many times, perhaps, if it inevitably meant to her as much as indeed it does to me. I materialized in the form of a lilac moonfox and leaped up onto the table and spoke with a voice raised an octave higher, to befit my cuteness.

“Tiny human! An adventure awaits, what say ye’ of visiting the Castle in the Sky?”

“If you’re a lilac moonfox I have to be Alianii,” said Amanda, matter-of-factly, and she gestured upwards and changed her hair to silver, and her eyes to violet, with her Asian features indeed she looked more like a girl from the days of classic anime, cute as a button.

“Well hey there Missy, whoever said you could steal my style just like that? You haven’t unlocked that Zazzle yet!”

I turned her hair from silver to bubble gum pink, and locked her hair color, my house my rules, but I allowed her to keep her violet eyes, eyes being a sensitive subject, with her context, “If you want the silver hair, you have to cough up a quest token.”

“How do I get a quest token?”

“You go on a quest, silly! With me, of course, I’ll be your quest guide. Are you ready?”

Amanda nodded, her sparkling eyes were enchanted, she hadn’t seen anything yet. Violetica horror stories, multiplied by negative one to turn negative infinity to positive infinity, couldn’t hold a candle to creativity, by love, crafted.

We started off barreling down through the sky, like meteors, our bodies covered in purple-ish flames. I was a lilac moonfox diving downwards like a meteor, with purpose in my eyes, and Amanda was tumbling chaotically as she tried to steady herself in the face of aerodynamic opposition. We were falling through hundreds of miles of clouds on an atmosphere mimicking the surreality of Jupiter, multiplied by a watercolor trillion.

“Have you so easily forgotten how to use your wings? Check your ability list, you look silly falling like that.”

I had lowered the sound level of the simulated wind as we fell, so she could actually hear me as I spoke to her. Of course I paired our velocities, so we fell in tandem, even if her air-dragged form, pre-wings, would have been quickly outsped by my fox diving in the pose of a falcon.

Amanda activated her translucent wings, made of solar energy, they were fuchsia and pink and sparkled with golden flecks, “Woahhhhhh oh this is way easier. Okay like that? So I dive? Where are we going?”

“Where aren’t we, child. Where aren’t we? First, we visit the Cyclops King. It is he who has the Stone of Wishes. We must help him save his kingdom, and then, I have no doubt that he will let us borrow it.”

“Why doesn’t he use it?”

Hmm, the potential for a plot hole, “Divine artifacts cannot be used by the person who crafted them, it is a law of the Gods and the Goddesses. Even the Cyclops King has troubles, you know, what king does not? Even if he could, should he use the Stone of Wishes to have his bread baked? What a preposterous thing, child! Never abuse magic, always respect its divinity, that it may protect you in the face of eternity.”

“Okay. How much longer will we fall for?” 
“Hah! It’s over just about….now!”

We pierced a suddenly-generated semi-translucent barrier, like a cosmic bubble, and a sound effect of teleportation accompanied us warping into a castle made of gems and silver and gold. The building was embodied, tacky resplendence, cavernous crystal, totally audacious, I was improvising, alright? We stood at the back of his throne hall, his miserable voice boomed towards us as we approached him.

At the end of the throne room was a massive cyclops, twenty feet tall, built with a crushing strength that could squeeze cars into crushed cans like a horse can crunch an apple.

The king was despondent, his wailing filled his throne room, “…I have lost my songbird, my songbird, my Viofinch.”

“Carry me, tiny human,” I commanded, “Your quest giver’s small feet are delicate and in need of rest.”

Amanda happily scooped me up and placed me on her shoulder. I whispered into her ear, “He is the King of Cyclops. Ask him why he’s crying.”

“Mr. Cyclops,” said Amanda, her voice confident, I magnified it so it boomed up towards the crying behemoth of a man, “Why are you crying? I need to borrow your wishing stone to get a quest token.”

The king sobbed, “The Lord of Rain has stolen my sacred Viofinch, and I am bereft of hope, I know only sorrow, and sadness, and wailing woes. Oh child, please, I beg of thee, save for me my sacred bird, return her to me, that my suffering might be ended.”

“What’s her name? What does she look like?” asked Amanda.

The Cyclops used his light magic and generated a three-dimensional animated figure which showed the purple Viofinch, like a grape-flavored Bird of Paradise, singing her violin song of nigh-infinite glee.

“Where is the Lord of Rain Mr. Cyclops?” asked Amanda.

“He has gone to the Blasted Sands, where he lives in his ash-spewing volcano. I cannot enter his domain, but I can provide you passage to the border between our territories. You will have need of transportation to safely make the trek through his cursed desert.”

“Why does the Lord of Rain have a desert? Shouldn’t he have a lot of water?”

Fuck, okay, think, the cyclops paused as I contemplated a solution, “For the same reason that he has known drought, so too do my tears fall.”

I wasn’t quite sure what that meant, but it sounded pretty and it was mysterious enough to appease the in-the-moment curiosity of a ten year old.

“I understand Mr. Cyclops,” said Amanda, confidently, “Send us to the edge of the desert. Alianii and I will get your bird back, we promise. Right?”

I howled the bright howl of a lilac moonfox and the cyclops roared with triumphant joy, “Thank you child, thank you, Alianii. On account of your presence I have newfound hope, that I might recover my purple joy, and sorrow. What is your name, little one?”

“Amanda the Great,” said my tiny human, “And we will complete this quest!”

Part 2: The Blasted Sands

The Blasted Sands desert was a splotchy, bastardized fusion between iron ore sands and obsidian crushed into the consistency of gravel. Volcanoes littered the horizon, some were active, spewing gooping magma, others were dormant, lost to time. Amanda and I appeared at the very boundary between the not-quite-sand desert and a mysterious grassfield which I had improvised. The Cyclops King’s realm was a fantasy instance we fell into as we tumbled through the sky, so this specific greenfield was as of yet unidentified, uncrafted, a blank canvas.

“How long is that desert? Can we make it through, Alianii? We don’t have water.”

“And we don’t have weapons. The Bouldroks, those demonic beings of stone, would make quick work of us. They would crush us like bugs. We need camels, and weapons, and we do not have gold.”

“Can we fly over the desert?”

“Your energy cannot sustain you for days, child, certainly not while you carry me atop your back. We need allies in this quest.”

“You’re not that heavy, I bet I could do it. Let’s try it.”

“Are you sure…this course of action does not seem wise. We could explore this field of grass, behind us, perhaps we could find assistance?”

“I can make it. Let’s go, Alianii.”

“Very well. Summon your wings, and I shall do my best to climb above you. If I fall off, midflight, supposing I live, as your familiar, you can call my name to summon me to your side.”

Still a lilac moonfox, my preferred form as a spirit guide, I jumped onto Amanda’s back and instructed her to jump up and use her magic to enhance her push off the ground. She would need to flap for some few minutes to gain the height she needed to sail on the Westerly Winds.

I took this quick moment to message Saraswati, to see if she wanted to join us.

“Hey Sara, its Alianii - on a quest with the kiddo, flying through a desert, are you interested in helping me improvise? I came up with an impossible to traverse desert and of course she wants to fly over it. Maybe you could meet us at an oasis, and we’ll crash land? I was hoping the three of us could spend more time before…tonight, if you understand. I’m sure you will. Kind regards, see you soon I hope, Alianii.”

We hadn’t been in the air but for five minutes, ten tops, when Amanda started complaining about the travel distance.

“How long is this desert? How much longer until we get there?”

I heard a little ding from Saraswati, “Got it. You’ll see me soon, maybe give me ten IRL. I’ll come up with the oasis, just keep her distracted.”

I announced the new information to Amanda, “Twenty minutes and we’ll be at the nearest oasis, meaning we’ll have a chance to survive. I know most kids aren’t patient, but do you think you can make it?”

“Yes!” said Amanda, “Twenty minutes is easy. Hey so, how do I get other abilities? I want to zap the Lord of Rain with lightning to teach him a lesson for making the Cyclops King cry.”

“You wish to punish a thunder god, with lightning? This quest seems misguided, child. Would you throw fire at a volcano? It would not hurt him.”

“What if my lightning was stronger than him? I’ll zap him no problem,” she said, “How do I unlock lightning magic?”

I sent Sara another message, “She wants lightning magic. Can you improvise being a magic teacher, but be yourself, I think? Maybe give her a veena or something?”

Sara responded with a thumbs up emoticon, wonderful, she was game.

“You will need a wise teacher, there are only a few teachers of lightning magic across this world. Luckily, the nearest Oasis has a school for magic. We can find you a teacher there, though I do not know how we will pay them.”

“I’ll ask for money around the town, if I ask for just a dollar they usually give it to me.” 
 So that’s how she got food most of the time. A few dollars here and there, probably spent on Quickmeal drinks. I was a little sickened that the Guild didn’t provide her money for food. She was a Denmate. I didn’t exactly know what that meant, other than her being extremely low-ranked, but also somehow protected - not getting food doesn’t sound protected to me.

“I have not heard of this dollar of which you speak. The currency of the Blasted Sands is volcoin, and the residents are notoriously stingy. You might need to come up with a plan, child.”

Our back and forth continued for a few minutes until Saraswati sent me the signal that the generated oasis was ready, she had auto-populated it with NPCs and modeled it after a generic Middle-Eastern desert town.

I loaded it just far enough ahead for Amanda to not be able to see it, and pointed towards it, “It’s over there! Sandicus! Keep flying.”

We landed in Sandicus, and I was impressed with the aesthetic flourishes that Saraswati had managed to enliven the template town with. She paid particular attention to the biology and sound design, there were alien monkeys swinging between the rooftops, and various creatures as designed by Geneticus. She obviously was very organized and had Everse folders full of sound effects, creatures, NPC presets, buildings, etc. I realized she had probably tried to land a role as an adventure guide, too - you could tell just from the stylistic flourish. She also must have dilated time to at least an hour or two, in her ten IRL minutes, to build this little dream for us.

I sent her a quick message, “How many assets do you have downloaded? Memorized?”

She replied like lightning, “18,965, maybe five thousand or so. You?”

I sent her back a fractal statue of smiling, laughing and joyous emoticons, I added a little Hindu flourish to make it look like the sacred multi-face art of our religion. I might not have been Indian, but I do identify as Hindu, although that hadn’t come up with Saraswati yet.

“Was that a preset or did you just generate that?”

A lightning fast wink was my reply, and I sensed her at the center of the town. She wasn’t exactly subtle, she was wearing a traditional Hindu dress made of storm clouds with twisting lightning flowing through the black and grey fabric. She hadn’t changed her face, but her eyes were gray and her hair was electric blue with sparks of lightning. 
“Look! The lightning mage! You think she’ll teach me?” asked Amanda, incredulous, I will admit Saraswati’s design was very aesthetically appealing. She looked beautiful, and mystical, and I found myself captivated by her gray eyes and the softness of her face’s features.

I transformed from a miniature lilac moonfox to an advanced, custom-designed form closer to a giant, alien and equally purple wolf. Amanda sensed my intentions and climbed on top of me and I bounded forward to Saraswati, and I stopped right before we reached her. Sara pulled out a lightning veena and started playing it, summoning miniature clouds which rained and sparked out little zazzles of forked lightning.

“Saraswati!” said Amanda, beaming, so happy to see her, “You’re my lightning teacher. What magic will you show me? I want to zap the Lord of Rain.”

Saraswati sent me an instant message, “I’m not very good at dialog, my processing speed isn’t that fast.”

“Just dilate again and she’ll be none the wiser. I usually do times ten. I’ll send you lines and you can recite them, tweak them or ignore them. Use dramatic pauses for emphasis. Okay, here, try this. Don’t forget to be heavy with the emphasis on the exclamation marks, then do a quick gap, drives em’ crazy.”

I sent her some hints, she spoke the first word, then stopped, as guided, “Child!”

“Sara?”

“I am the Lightning Mage! My sacred name is knowledge that belongs to the Goddess. You must earn the right to use it. You may call me teacher.”

Amanda blushed, “Sorry. Teacher. Will you teach me? I don’t know any magic except how to fly. That’s all Alianii gave me.”

Sara’s eyes were twinkling mischievously, I refrained from a hint, to see what she’d do, “I have been a lightning mage for a thousand years, with clouds on the ground. I want clouds from the sky. If you trade me your flying magic I will teach you the ways of lightning, through meditation and music. You will learn to call the storms through the power of the veena.”

My student turned and looked at me shocked and pointed at Saraswati, “I have ONE ability and I have to trade it? I’m supposed to get more abilities…what if I don’t like the lightning magic?”

I transformed back from a giant lilac wolf to my diminutive moonfox form and cackled mischievously, my voice in that elevated, teasing pitch, “You didn’t like flying either, you were asking me if we were there yet five minutes into a three day journey.”

Saraswati’s gray eyes opened as she raised her meticulously threaded eyebrows, “Three days! What a journey, I thought it only took seven or eight hours or so.”

She was alluding to dinner time and hologram movie night.

I winked at her and sent her a private message, “You gotta’ keep em guessing. You say three days, you send down a couple meteors, maybe a dragon, by the end of it all they have no idea what’s happening, and they love it.”

Saraswati took the initiative, we were cruising at time slowed down by a factor of five, “Amanda. You must master the art of meditation, to be fully in the present, or you are doomed by the magic which you call upon. I will teach this art of meditation to you for free and then we can trade abilities. We will meditate for one hour.”

Amanda and I looked at each other, shocked and then we spoke in unison, “One hour?!”

Saraswati stomped one foot on the ground and asserted herself, “Question me again and it shall become two, and then and only then shall we exchange our magic.”

I sent her a message, “I myself barely have the patience to meditate for five minutes, ten minutes. She’s ten…how is she going to sit still for an hour?”

“Watch me,” she replied, “It’s up to you if you wish to be present with us, or use this as teacher prep time.”

I thought about this, and turned on an emotion mask to stop Amanda from seeming start to sob within our pocket universe. Of course I would meditate with Amanda, in one of her last days. Saraswati, as a fellow teacher, could detect my emotion mask layer and turned on one herself. She was crying too. 
 Lightning Mage Saraswati gestured for Amanda to sit on the ground and transformed Amanda’s neo-Hindu outfit to a dress of dazzling white, it gleamed as if it were made of sparkling snow. Saraswati sat in a meditative position and had Amanda and I do the same. I transformed into my normal woman self, except I was wearing a traditional Hindu style dress with themes of purple. Sara messaged me an appreciation for the creativity of my design.

“Amanda, you’re doing it better than Alianii!” said Sara, laughing, “Come on Ali, try and relax. You’re so stiff! Bring your thumb and index finger together, and breathe, feel inner peace, inner stillness, close your eyes, and hear the music.”

Saraswati turned on, at an almost imperceptibly low volume, a recording of her playing the veena. She had Amanda and I focus on the sound and slowly raised it, louder and louder, until it was all we could hear. Our eyes were closed, and I was immersed, and considering I had granted Saraswati administrator privileges for the learning experience, she was able to surprise me with my eyes closed. The music was deafening, and then stopped, an hour had passed, and we opened our eyes. We were in a floating temple to the Goddess Saraswati, Sara’s namesake deity, surrounded by a cannoning thunderstorm.

Part 3: Thunder’s Song

We opened our eyes to find ourselves meditating inside a temple to Saraswati, in the sky, made of glass, above the tallest of Earth’s mountains. Saraswati, my fellow teacher was nowhere to be found, but there was a statue of her namesake Goddess that made the Cyclops King look like a gnome. She was easily one hundred feet tall, and made out of painted stone and wrought gold, silver and inlaid with gems. She was as colorful and bedazzled as the throne room I made for the Cyclops King, but infinitely more balanced and masterful in the design. The statue depicted Hindu art perfectly, and I had the feeling she actually designed it herself.

“Where’d Sara go?”

I shrugged, “I know not of the location of the Lightning Mage, but indeed this temple is remarkable. Gaze upon our surrounding storms, where but here could you learn such magics? Has the magi taken from you your mastery of flight?”

“She did! You’re right! She tricked us. Why do mages always try to trick you?!”

The voice of a goddess spoke, resonating through the sacred Himalyan-in-the-air temple.

The voice was so feminine, yet so powerful, as if it was embodied gold, with a clarity and musical precision, “What is magic but a mystery, and so too do the magi and the angels and the Gods and Goddesses work in mysterious ways.”

“What Gods and Goddesses?” asked Amanda.

Saraswati delving into religion as a teacher, would, under ordinary circumstances, be of questionable ethics - as you do not wish to influence a child’s religion, especially if it has conflict with the parents’. Amanda, however, had no parents. Furthermore, knowing Amanda’s fate, encouraging her to engage with religion was, arguably, the most spiritually pure thing to do.

“There are many Gods and Goddesses in different religions. I am the Hindu Goddess Saraswati, the Divine Muse, the Goddess of Music, and a Goddess of Knowledge and Truth.”

“…so that’s what Saraswati means,” said Amanda, who was awe-struck by the divine statue in front of her.

“Help me here!” whispered Saraswati, I sent her some quick dialog as we acted out this skit, with Amanda in normal time and Saraswati and I in microdilated time, playing tennis with storytelling.

This is what I sent to Sara to say, as base material, “I was told by a Lightning Mage that you seek mastery over lightning, and with that, storms, and so in your quest for knowledge you have come to me.”

Saraswati refined it, “Meditative prayers for lightning have reached my ears. I will teach you the knowledge you seek, but you must master the veena. You will meditate while you play the instrument, and let my fingers guide you, and you will learn my sacred song.”

She’d done the goddess voice before and had experience with the necessary eloquence, though I think the confidence came more naturally to me.

I messaged her, “Good job with the voice. It’s a little hard to improvise it, you just gotta think you’re the absolute boss, a bad bitch, and just rock with it.”

As a moonfox I gave Amanda an instruction, “Sit at the center of the mandala, yes, there, at the heart of the room. Listen to the Goddess of Music.”

Sara added an invisible effect skill, aura type, granting Amanda automatic veena playing with a gradient upwards starting from learning slowly to maestro. Amanda was granted the skill, “Channel”, and when she activated it, keeping her hands in the position to play the instrument, an invisible veena materialized between her hands. She could sense it, feel it, and over a few hours, real hours, she would have the experience of going from barely playing a song to becoming the quintessence of mastery and seeing a magic instrument. Obviously the dream experience of this does not mean you’re mastering the instrument in the real world, but it is beautiful. Sara had pre-designed this level as a music lesson, with spiritual overtones, which some families paid to access. She might not have had the entire zaniness of improved adventure guiding, but her music lesson levels were crafted with expertise and technical flourish.

Saraswati and I messaged each other while Amanda enjoyed the imaginary experience of being taught mastery of the sacred instrument.

“That should keep her enchanted for another hour or two, maybe more. This gives us some time to do some planning for the rest of the Everse session and talk about movie night :) ” 
“Well I’m guessing you’re going to give her some lightning abilities? So she can fight the Lord of Rain, get the Viofinch, return it to the Cyclops King and then get her quest token?”

“Lol. Quest token? What do they do with them?”

“I mainly use them to unlock aesthetics and abilities within my house, or in-game or both, like they’re earning ranks as an apprentice mage. Amanda copied the violet eyes and silver hair, I let her keep the eyes because it was too cute, and the synthetic eyes could be a sensitive issue identity wise. But I told her if she wanted the silver hair too she had to get a quest token. I thought it would be a fun and cute reward for us to go and play together, before tonight. I keep track of all of their abilities and they build up overtime, but I make them work for each and every one. Obviously it’s different than teaching your ABCs or reading sheet music…”

“Children, especially the children you work with, need adventure, Alianii. What you do is noble. You become a mom, or a sister, to the children you nurture, even if you’re a little shy about it.”

“Maybe. I just like to teach them how to kick ass, how to not be afraid of anything.”

“Like your Alianii namesake I’m guessing,” said Sara, with smiling emoticons, “One of my favs too, I always thought it was super cool you rock the silver hair and purple eyes.”

“Would you look at her go, she’s going crazy on the veena. I’m going to be hearing a lot of that instrument, it seems. Even when we’re sleeping it will remind us of you.”

Saraswati’s physicality, which had been suppressed within the temple, reappeared next to me and hugged me, holding me as I had held Amanda.

“I’ll be with you in every moment. You’re not going through this alone. Mr. Moseby will be there too. The entire time, actually. He’s not going to break the immersion in your dreaming lives, but when you talk to his soul, it will be his soul. He will provide wisdom and guidance. I promise you, Alianii, you and Amanda are not going to be alone, and we will never let you feel alone, or trapped, or stuck in a nightmare. Obviously the experience is going to be manipulated, but you will still have profound creative autonomy. Just, well, your luck factor will be different. You will still be living at the Hotel Apollo. We’re going to be crafting experiences for you two. We have writer bots and zenbots collaborating to design experiences for you, to serve as check points along the way for you, Alianii. We’ll make sure your health level inside there, your mental health, is sufficient for you to stay with Amanda until the end, until it’s time.”

Amanda and I had guardian angels planning programmed checkpoints in heaven, for her, and for me.

“And Alianii,” said Saraswati, “You’re about to go through a lot. More than anyone can imagine. Be at peace with this, I will add more tracks to the music session, and you can take some time off, and be at peace with yourself, and gather strength, and reflect. You can be here, the whole time, watching, next to her, but if you’re already pausing or stretching time, you need to also do self-care. Be here for her, Alianii, but take care of yourself too.”

I nodded, and she gestured for my hand, and she held mine, our fingers intertwined. Amanda was totally enchanted in her little world, being taught music by a masterfully-programmed music goddess, bestowing beauty, and love, and tranquility into crystallized joy.

“Thank you for coming with us, Saraswati. I don’t know what else to say.”

“Call me sister. I am trying to be at peace with your burden, and I wish only to alleviate it from you. I don’t know how you have such strength. To spend some of this time with you, whatever little bit I can, is my duty and a blessing.”

Part 4: Party At The Hotel Apollo

Saraswati is more generous than me in her willingness to bestow abilities. She gave Amanda a distinctly different ability for each song she played. I didn’t expect her to give Amanda both Teleportation and Serenade, but Amanda, skipping the Viofinch quest, teleported the two of us (Saraswati was in observation mode) back to the castle of the King of Cyclops. She played her serenading song and, in accordance with the ability’s effect, persuaded the AI NPC to give the Stone of Wishes to her.

“Alianii! With the power of this Stone of Wishes, I request a quest token!”

“Are you sure, child? This decision is irreversible, and the Stone of Wishes shall be mine forever more.”

“I want my quest token.” 
 “Granted.”

I summoned a coin the size of a dinner plate, it was made of white crystal with a trim of gold and a lilac moonfox etched into it on each side. It emanated the melodic song of a lilac moonfox, which were genetically designed to sing absolute brightness, like fantasy birds, like the Viofinches.

“Exit quest,” said Amanda, forcefully, the two of us appeared back in my house.

“Silver hair please, Miss Alianii.”

“You sure that’s what you want? With your only quest token?”

“Yep.”

“Fine, well, I like you, so I’ll let you keep bubblegum pink, because it’s cute on you, okay? You can have red and pink eyes too, in addition to the violet, which I gave you for free.”

Amanda thanked me and transmuted her hair back to silver, “What time is it? How come you have your house clock turned off?”

She was a perceptive child, I kept the clock off in my house for reasons like this, so I could calibrate time accordingly to create the perfect dream-like virtual experiences. I always answered honestly, though, when asked.

“I like to keep things at a good pacing to be healthy. It’s a bit past two, we should go eat. Once we logout we’re going to be starving, we’ve been playing for almost four hours.”

“Oh, okay. I understand. That was so much fun. You think Sara will join us?”

“Ask her.”

Saraswati had been in ghost mode, also known as observation mode, and materialized. She was sitting in her lightning dress on one of my violet chairs, her legs crossed, with a big smile.

“Sara! Wanna log out and go eat with us? I haven’t had anything since breakfast.”

“Of course girl!” responded Saraswati, “What would you like? I heard the dining room is doing something really special right now. Everyone’s in costume. You want to wear a lightning dress? Like what I have, but real?”

Saraswati was talking about a holodress, or an electronic carbonic dress which is basically just a wearable screen in the form of digital fabric. 
 “I’ve never had a holodress before. Only when I log in and stuff.”

“Mr. Moseby had one made for you, I designed it of course, but we used one of the hotel’s special printers to make it just for you. What do you say? Come to an afternoon lunch party with us?”

I messaged Saraswati right before we logged out to join up, “…thank you for organizing this…how did you get the timing right, like figure out when we’d be logging off?”

“Mr. Moseby adjusted the macroclock, we were always going to log out at this time, once things were ready. It is our own pocket Everse, after all, and you know what that means.”

“Very sneaky. Your house, your rules, blah, blah. Very sneaky, Sara.” 
My friend send me a string of three-dimensional hug emoticons, she was quite affectionate, I replied with a heart balloon. I appreciated her, but I wasn’t that sappy. I had a lot on my mind, and heart, and my emotional bandwidth was being allocated carefully. I hardly had time to fall in love, irrespective of Saraswati’s beauty and softness of demeanor.

I opened my eyes and lifted my head up and saw that Amanda was cuddled up to me, her head on my shoulder, her little hand holding one of my hands. Her hair was bunched up on my pillow, flowing softly, no longer bubble gum pink, nor silver, but black.

“Thanks for playing with me. You’re the best adventure teacher ever.”

“Thanks sweetie,” I said, I ruffled her hair a little bit, and I looked around.

The thunderstorm-themed holodress was folded neatly and atop the room’s table.

“Look. The holodress is over there, why don’t you read the letter and then go take a shower and get ready while I do the same?”

Amanda hugged me, while I was still laying down, then jumped up and walked over the bed and hopped onto the floor.

She picked up the folded card, and opened it, and read it “For a special girl whose dealt with scary things but is safe now. We hope you love this —Love, Lightning Mage Saraswati and Mr. Moseby the Denkeeper Wizard.”

She was beaming with excitement, holodresses like this were things only goldie girls, only goldie princesses of wealth, could dream of. They’re dirt cheap on the Everse, but it’s the difference between reality and a dream that makes it so valuable.

I left her to let her get ready in privacy, and I went next door to my room and freshened up and showered. Saraswati and Mr. Moseby left me a holodress made of swirling watercolor clouds, mostly purple, pink and related fuchsia hues, like the surreal watercolor atmosphere I’d had Amanda and I fall through. They’d peeked at my design and copied the pattern. It was lovely, I’d never held or owned a holodress before. Only printers that cost millions of dollars could print out this kind of electronic fabric. I would be the walking atmosphere of a surreal anime in heaven, okay, fine. It kind of worked well with the lightning mage dress for Amanda, too. 
Amanda messaged me, “Wait for me to go down, ok? I need to brush my hair.”

I replied, “Do you want me to help you?”

“Yes please :)”

I knocked on her door and she welcomed me in, her long black hair was wet and still messy, still unbrushed, and she had already put on her dress.

“Any knots for me to worry about?” 
“No…its just nice.”

“Alright dear.”

I took the hairbrush she had and gently groomed her, she looked very relaxed and peaceful for the two minutes, “What do you think the party is going to be like?” 
I shrugged, I honestly had no idea. If Mr. Moseby was willing to spend tens of thousands of dollars of material on two dresses, for two people about to enter an Everse coma, I really wasn’t quite sure what extravagance had been assembled before our voyage.

I messaged Saraswati, “How crazy is this going to be…what’d you guys do downstairs?”

Sara replied with a simple smiley face, saying nothing, totally mysterious. Oh, goodness.

Amanda put on a pair of silverish sneakerettes that had been placed on the floor beneath the dress. Mine matched my dress too, more pinkish, vivid hues. We were walking thunder and surrealist sunset, respectively, and we went to the elevator and took it down to the dining room floor. Amanda was buzzing with excitement, hopping back and forth from foot to foot. The music in the elevator was congratulatory, triumphant, it was obvious we were about to walk into something over the top with zazzle and splendor.

The log cabin’s walls had been transformed from wooden panel to blocks of crystal. The walls were holoscreens too, I hadn’t even realized it when I first visited the dining hall during the prior evening.

“Do you want to open the door, or should I?” I asked of my little munchkin.

Amanda said nothing but grabbed the door and pulled it open roughly, with forceful eagerness, she was a former ragamuffin on a princess quest. Awaiting us was a server bot made of golden, shiny metal with red highlights, his emotion monitor depicted exuberant enthusiasm and bright red cheeks. Some robots have emotion monitor displays, some have biosynthetic faces that are essentially just real faces. Other robots just have LED psuedo-eyes that change color to indicate mood. The robot pulled out a trumpet from a server “podium” and “played” (the sound came out of his speaker) a congratulatory anthem for a good twenty seconds, before he stopped and Amanda and I clapped.

“Welcome, welcome, welcome!” said the server bot, reminding me of Mr. Moseby, “What a lovely day to enjoy your company, little Amanda! Are you ready for the party? We have many guests who have been told of your bravery, and are so excited to meet you.”

Amanda didn’t seem to question this, do kids ever question parties, at her age? She beamed up at the robot with excitement and asked him where her table was.

“Right this way little princess,” said the server bot, “With luck may you find the arrangements as lovely as the dress you are wearing on this fine afternoon, on this splendid occasion, for our crafted party.”

I bowed slightly at the robot, and Amanda, seeing me bow respectfully, imitated me. The robot opened an inner set of doors, which at that time looked like they were made of crystal and other gems, with some texture. The specific material these monitor panels were made of, adaptometal, could add shape and textured protrusions so as to mimic patterns and touch-based experiences. We followed the server bot, into a room full of maybe fifteen or twenty individuals in detailed costumes. They either had these on standby, or had been running the printers non-stop for a few hours - I hadn’t been to the printer room to see how many they had. Lively, bouncy music was playing, perfect for a kid’s party, fun but something you could still have conversations over. I looked around and saw a piano bot with a keyboard, the bot was dressed in a black and stars wizard costume, hat included. Saraswati was wearing a predominantly yellow and black sari with embellishment patterns of bees, and flowers and streaks of orange representing honey. Very colorful, very beautiful, she truly did radiate grace and femininity.

“Do you want to go say hi to everyone? Look at all the cool costumes, what a party!” I exclaimed, gently squeezing Amanda’s hand.

Amanda nodded and ran over to a group of other people. I would later learn that they were fellow residents of the hotel under protection, members of the MA, the Guild, or both. I walked over and sat on a chair near Saraswati as I watched Amanda eagerly mingle with the people in their various costumes. One of the women standing near Amanda patched her audio through to me, so I could hear the conversation while sitting down, watching from afar.

“Hi Amanda! You look so pretty, like a storm princess,” she said, this woman was wearing a dress which looked like it was a Caribbean island, with moving water and swaying trees.

The woman had tropical green hair and orange eyes, there really were some personalities at the Hotel Apollo, “I’m Hannah. I’m a dancer!”

Hannah did a feminine twirl and sway, her dress fluttered in her motion, the little glass with what I think was wine frothed but did not spill. I wondered how many other people were drinking alcohol, and who and how many people were privy to the knowledge of what was really going on.

A man wearing a set of overalls and a neomagi shirt underneath, the base colors were white and gold, introduced himself next. He had bluish gray eyes and electric blue hair, that really was en vogue these days, his hair styled up into thick spikes like a Dragon Ball Z Super Saiyan. It begged the question of if this was him in costume, or his real identity. A lot of people lived in cosplay, lived in character - I didn’t wear fancy Voi’danari outfits or anything, but my purple eyes and silver hair were in fact an imitation of a fictitious character.

“I am Omega Luigi,” said the man, whose eccentric mustache matched his hair, “I’m a Keeper of Justice. I’ve worked with Joey, he’s going to be very safe and we’re picking him up tomorrow, so don’t worry about him, okay?”

Amanda thanked him sweetly and told him he looked like a video game character. He bowed politely and his response indicated that his goal effect had, based off her reaction, been effective. He was inspired from a Japanese game called Mario, and identified as the embodiment of the character, a cosplayer turned real life. He had ascended past ordinary Luigi-hood, in his own words.

The third and last person in that triad to introduce themselves to Amanda was a teenager in an Asian-style dragon costume. His face was the only part of his body that wasn’t covered to look like a red, black and gold flying lizard. He had glasses, I couldn’t really see his eye color behind them, but he looked pretty neat.

“They call me Draco Hayabusa, I am the speed dragon, the fastest wind. No one can out pace me, not in real life, not online. I work with computers and keep people safe in the Everse.”

“Do you know Bluejay and Zygon, are you a hacker wizard like them?”

The dragonoid in costume scratched his head and adjusted his glasses, “Something like that, perhaps, I did work with those two young fellows. Brilliant minds, both of them.”

Amanda nodded, satisfied with this answer, “I’m going to go say hi to everyone else. Thanks! Your costumes are really cool. Byeeeeeee!”

Like a butterfly in a Disney-funded genetically-boosted super field, with dozens of different botanical species of every shape and pigment, Amanda talked to every person in the room. It wouldn’t even be helpful to list them all, but more than a few were copies or modifications of Nintendo and Disney characters. Characters and heros with more than a century of history. There was a neofusion Samus with a rich purple body and fluorescent blue trim and a convincing arm cannon. I saw Golden Link in a gilded and black tunic with a sword made of ruby-red metal except for the glimmering golden hilt. There were robots and Guild members dressed like Disney princesses. It was as colorful a party as could be imagined, it was a joyous occasion for Amanda, who in her innocence was none the wiser.

Part 5: Princess In Pajamas

Perception is a funny thing, is a pleasant dream more or less pure than a mediocre reality? Is a good or even great reality more desirable than an otherworldly, sculpted-heaven-in-a-bottle dream? If you can have an array of thousands of Pokemon in the Everse, what use is a lilac moonfox in the real world, cuddling up to you in your apartment? Is it merely the perception or assumption of reality being reality, the idea of authenticity, that adds value? These are musings I have long struggled with, as a person of relative but not unusual poverty, in Light’s Hope. My philosophy regarding this was challenged all the more by my last night with Amanda, before our Great Dream.

It was finally time for our pajama party, Saraswati, Amanda, and myself. We were a koala and two kangaroos once we donned our pajama onesies. Before we got settled in for our last shared, “real” experience, I reflected on our day. We had spent a few hours together in a pocket Everse instance, engaged in a quest spontaneously generated by myself and augmented by Saraswati. Amanda had experienced the joy of unbounded, made-just-for-her creativity.

Saraswati’s creative contributions were profound too, her color-brazen oasis, and the outfits she designed. Particularly impressive was the beginner-to-maestro interactive experience Sara had previously designed to simulate the experience of learning how to play the veena to a degree that feels divinely inspired. Sara and I had been playing tennis with microdilated time to ensure we were always just one or two steps ahead of Amanda in her surreal, conjured-with-love adventure. After our Everse adventure, Amanda had enjoyed the companionship of an assortment of cosplayed characters at the dining hall, a colorful party as organized to be memorable for a curious little girl.

The evening had come. The three of us were sitting together on a grey pull-out couch, it was more than wide enough for two women and a little girl. The room was a spectral delight of neon stars and pockets of black and bands of nebula, we were sitting in our astral heaven. The monitor screen walls had brought our room to celestial life. We’d just eaten plain cheese pizza, which I hadn’t had in person in quite sometime, as I seldom ate food IRL other than Quickmeal.

We had pillows propping us up, and a giant blanket was covering us, except for Saraswati who was scooted up a little more straight and playing her veena for us. She’d put on some space-themed background beats via voice commands, and was playing us a quirky melody that fit the surrealist space ambiance of the room. Amanda was holding my hand, and was so peaceful, she was leaning against me, her head resting on my shoulder.

“I wish tonight could last forever,” said Amanda.

Amanda’s jade eyes were looking up at me, I wiggled my head a little bit and let my silver hair tickle her a little bit, she giggled. 
“Me too.”

“I want silver hair like you Alianii. It’s so pretty.”

“Mmm…I think you’re more of a bubblegum pink kind of girl,” I said, booping her gently on the nose, I would make each fleeting moment, each act of affection, count.

“Nuh uh!”

Saraswati laughed softly, “Alianii might be right, pink was too cute on you! Silver hair might make you look a little old…”

I turned to face Saraswati and gave her a playful glare and a scrunched mouth, “Oh yeah? What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Haha she called you old!” sand Amanda, so cheekily.

“You best watch the attitude Missy or I’m going to tickle you,” I replied.

“OLD!”

“That’s it! Don’t say I didn’t warn you!”, I grabbed one of the pillows and gently smothered her with it, just a little, I let her head pop out and then I threw it to the side and tickled her, as I wish I had a mother do to me in childhood.

Amanda squealed and giggled and tried to push me away, I went just a little further, then stopped, once she was out of breath and pink in the face.

She whispered, “old” one last time, a little cheeky poke at me.

I gave her a funny, quizzical look like, “Did you just say what I think you said?” 
Saraswati was so calm, besides us, watching us with a smile on her face, she had such a serene beauty, she was gently plucking the strings of her veena with the finger extensions for precision.

“It’s getting late, let’s order desert, it’ll take about an hour to get here,” I said, quietly, averting Amanda’s gaze, “Let’s make and play our movie, okay? Then we can all go to sleep.” 
“Right here?” asked Amanda, shyly.

I looked at Saraswati, who smiled at me reassuringly, I wasn’t quite sure if Sara would be comfortable with it, since we didn’t know each other that well, “I don’t mind if you think you can fall asleep smooshed in the middle of us!”

Amanda looked up at me, as if asking for permission, or confirmation, as if some little part of her heart was afraid this affection was too much to hope for.

I put my hand on her head and brushed her hair to the side, “Three beds, or one couch, whatever you want, love. Tonight’s your big night. You’ve been so brave, worrying about Joey and the boys. We’ll stay right here with you, right next to you, if that’s what you want. Is that what you want?”

Amanda nodded vigorously and scooted upwards and hugged me once, before turning to Saraswati and hugging her tightly.

“Careful of the veena!” I said, a little worried Amanda might damage it.

“It’s fine Ali don’t worry, I think it’s about time to put it away anyways. What are you ladies thinking? I was thinking something with a princess, and a prince sleeping in a castle.”

Amanda looked to me as if to see if I had something more intriguing to offer. 
I followed Saraswati, “That could work, but maybe they’re in space, on different planets, and she needs to travel across the stars to get to him.”

Amanda spoke, “What color is our spaceship?”

“What color do you want it to be?”

“Violet,” said Amanda, looking up at me and meeting my gaze, smiling, “and bubblegum pink too, with silver propellers.”

“Spaceships don’t need propellers, there is no air in space, silly,” I said, correcting her with affection in my voice.

Sara chimed in, “It has to get to space somehow, that means flying up through the atmosphere until it gets there. I think the propellers could be helpful.”

“Amanda, do you want to do the honors? She’s waiting for your orders, speak to the computer and let’s get our little journey started,“ Saraswati continued.

The ten year old nodded, “Hi Holly! Would you please make a movie for us about a princess and a prince in space? The prince is cute and lives in a beautiful castle on a different planet and is sleeping. The princess has to rescue him and kiss him and then he wakes up. We have a spaceship with me, Sara and Alianii. Our ship is purple and pink and has silver propellers. Don’t forget the propellers, we need them too.” 
The hologram computer which was powered by an AI named Holly replied, “Why I would be delighted to make an adventure for you three as such. Hold on just a moment.”

Saraswati clapped, “ooooh I’m so excited you gave it such a good prompt! I can’t wait! Don’t forget you can pause time and we can make changes whenever you want.”

Amanda nodded and reached for Saraswati’s hand, she wanted to hold one of each of our hands, one and one.

“Before we forget, Amanda, do you like chocolate? I was thinking we’d each have a slice of chocolate cake halfway through the movie, with some warm milk, to get us nice and sleepy for bed.”

“Oh no…I almost forgot. That sounds good. I hope we have the best dreams tonight.”

I winced, and almost started sobbing, but I breathed in heavily and managed to suppress that little flood of sorrow that was trying to explode out of my heart, “Better even than our Everse adventures?”

Amanda nodded happily, “Even better. The best dreams. Chocolate cake dreams.”

I started tearing up, and I turned away from Amanda, I was trying to avert her seeing me in this teary state, though perhaps it was inevitable.

“Why are you crying Ali?” said Amanda, she started tearing up too, my biggest fear was that at some level she knew, she asked, “What’s wrong?”

Amanda squeezed my hand. 
 I turned to face my little sister, who I would live with, in our premeditated heaven, crafted with love by a team of Everse designers privy to knowledge of Amanda’s fate.

I looked the little girl in the eyes, and I lied, like a sociopath, or an enlightened mother, “It’s nothing. I was just thinking about how scared I was when I found out you were taken by the police and brought to Barnaby. I never want anything bad to happen to you.”

“I’m okay I’m strong,” she replied, “If the police come for me I’ll zap em. Sara taught me how. Then I’ll fly away with the wings you made for me.”

“Pinky promise?”

“Pinky promise. And then I’ll fly away forever, and ever, and ever. And you’ll be a moonfox and I’ll carry you and Sara will play for us. We’ll hide in your house until they go away.”

I turned to more fully face her and hugged her tightly, and thanked her, “You’re too brave for your own good, kiddo. I hope you know that Sara and I love you. A lot. And we always will.”

Amanda turned to face Saraswati and pulled her in to join our hug, though she looked at her questioningly as if afraid her newer-as-a-sister might reject the embrace. At some level, if I am honest, perhaps I was afraid of this too. I had only known Sara a few days, and spent only a few direct hours with her, but there was some part of me that cherished Saraswati, and her serenity, and her veena.

Sara scooted closer to us and hugged us, and started crying, and told us that she loved us. We told her we loved her too. We almost ignored and missed the beginning of the movie, until Holly our AI narrator coughed and told us, “Sorry to interrupt this tender moment, ladies, but I do believe there is a sleeping prince who needs rescuing.”

I let go of Amanda and Sara, pulling back to wipe the wetness off of my cheeks, “There’s a sleeping prince who needs his princess, Amanda. Let’s go find him.”

Amanda nodded, and the three of us scooted back until we were huddled up on the couch, playing our game, watching and playing our interactive movie, living our night, holding hands, playing footsie, under a blanket big enough to swallow the stars which, together, we traveled.