AN: So, we begin a bold new phase of the Blackthorne saga. We'll see this chapter completed this week at the very least, so strap in and enjoy. :)

Chapter 47.1: Legal Briefs

The excursion to the fantasy world library did not prove fruitful, but it did lead to the possibility of answers elsewhere. Scott needed to attend to other business, before he would be able to rush off on that personal quest. Case-in-point, he needed to spend time training with Shara, and there was a certain selection of items to hand out. Upon his return to Earth, he sent out word that he wished to speak with his beautiful lieutenants.

Scott waited on the roof of the headquarters building. The task at hand was to meet up with the girls, and go over a few things. Thessaly, the gorgon, was not going to be in attendance. She currently resided in the dream world, as the people there were slightly less freaked out by her appearance, but her existence as part of the faction as his personal servant gave rise to a bold new idea that he would discuss soon.

Ashton waved happily at Scott when she arrived on the scene. He waved back at her, and offered a slight smile. Her tail wagged from side-to-side happily in response.

Sonja, and then Shara arrived not long after. Hugs, a few friendly kisses, and one overly affectionate sniff at his neck occurred before everyone settled down.

"Ladies, I called you here today for several reasons," said Scott. He looked to each of them then nodded his head.

"Cool. What's up?" asked Ashton. Her tail curled lightly around Shara's backside as she said it.

A friendly sub-conscious gesture to be sure, but it made Scott smile slightly none-the-less. It was nice to see the girls still got along.

"Well, the first order of business is the reminder that Shara and I will be heading out to train soon."

Scott chuckled slightly when Shara unleashed a wild and happy cry of joy. "Woohoo!"

"Before that, there are a few things that I want to discuss. The first being the fact that I've begun looking further into what happened to my summoned shadow wisp," said Scott.

"Your wisp...?" asked Ashton. "Oh, her! I haven't heard about her in a while..."

"Right. Well, it's obvious I can't figure this out on my own. To that end, I went to the library at that big port town on the coast. I didn't found out anything useful, but I did get a lead on a place that might be able to help," said Scott.

"What lead?"

"The Arpeggio Archology? Ever heard of it?" Scott looked to Shara, and then to Sonja, for an answer.

"I've heard a few bits and pieces, mostly from travelers. It's a place where mages study," said Sonja.

"Yeah, it doesn't ring a bell, but if you like I can look up records?" asked Shara.

"If it won't get you in trouble, I'd appreciate it," said Scott.

"At this point I really don't care if it does. I'd have to do something a lot worse that disseminate basic lore to get into any real legal trouble, anyway," said Shara with a smile.

"Great. I would appreciate that. We can worry about it when we get back, if you don't mind," said Scott.

Shara giggled warmly before she rapidly nodded her head up and down. "Our cute little training trip sounds much more fun."

Scott could not help but smile slightly at her enthusiasm. "Great. I look forward to it as well."

He spoke again before the conversation could be derailed. Scott knew these girls well enough to know that if he did not speak confidently and quickly, they would begin to discuss all manner of other gossip. "I'd like to know what has been going on here, but we'll save that for last. First up, there is another bit of new business that I have considered."

"Oh?" asked Ashton. "Should I take notes?"

"Not yet. At the moment it is just an idea," said Scott. He nodded to his favorite business fox then said, "We can discuss the numbers and accounting regarding the possibilities later. For now, I just what to put the idea out there."

Scott took a breath then said, "I think capturing and training monsters might be a good idea as a method of force multiplication. Especially aerial monsters that can carry riders."

"Monster taming? Is that really something we're equipped to do?" asked Sonja.

"We'll need to find the people who have taken up those skills, either here or in the dream world. Our time is short. The ability to travel back and forth will end soon. We have a lot to do before that happens, not the least of which is to finish the build-out here," said Scott.

"How long will it be until access to the dream world ends?" Scott asked Shara.

"There is a bit of confusion on that," said Shara.

"I thought it was definite, now?" asked Scott.

"There is an injunction going through court proceedings. I didn't want to mention it until something was definite," said Shara.

"An injunction?" asked Scott. "What kind of injunction?"

"Well, my brother Silence—" Shara looked to Scott and smiled, "You've met him."

"The god of death?" asked Scott.

Ashton and Sonja looked at him like he'd lost his ever loving mind. Neither knew what to say to that bit of news.

Scott looked at them then quirked his eyebrow. "Seriously? I told you all this before."

"I don't remember that..." said Ashton.

Sonja nodded her head. "I'm not sure..."

"Well, fine. I met the god of death. He seems nice, by the way," said Scott. He turned back to Shara and asked, "What did Silence do?"

Shara coughed slightly then said, "Well, honestly, he settled for attempting to have an injunction placed. Technically speaking, he wanted to kill the project committee, and banish the remnants of their souls to the abyss."

"I'm assuming I don't get to throw him a parade?" asked Scott.

"No, obviously he did not kill them. My mother talked him out of it since he would have been banished from the city for that, at the very least." Shara frowned. "No one wants that."

"So, what happened?" asked Ashton. "What is this injunction, you mentioned?"

"Silence is furious over the casual disregard for proper soul transference protocols. You know, what happens when people die," said Shara. She then pointed to Ashton and said, "He takes the transitional phase between one life and the next seriously, as it's his primary professional focus. All the jerking around the committee has done in regards to death rules has gotten him to the point of contemplating deicide."

"What does this in-junction do?" asked Sonja.

Shara said, "It seeks to force the committee to change the death rules and mechanics to one from a more stable system, such as the original version in the OEC GPL."

"So, what would that be like?" asked Scott. "And why would that stop the whole going live thing?"

"If you die, you get a period of time to be resurrected. If you aren't resurrected within that reasonable time-frame, you pass on from that life and go to a place of rest to prepare for the next," said Shara.

She continued by saying, "The committee can't go live if they have a court case to deal with in regards to their incompetence. So, while we are like slightly under two months remaining till the worlds separate, if the injunction process takes longer than that, the live update will be pushed back to a different date."

"So, what about tokens?" asked Ashton. Her ears perked forward lightly while she acquired a curious expression.

"They could be used for free resurrections, or for system rewards. They would become much rarer in the future, though. Pretty much only acquired from exceptional luck, or through defeating raid and world boss level enemies."

Shara took a breath then continued, "The problem is that the injunction has to pass through two levels of court before it reaches the desk of a sympathetic arbiter."

"You have a judge who's sympathetic to the cause?" asked Ashton. "That's good, right."

"Yeah, but it's already stalled a little at the first level. The project committee leader, Sax, filed a counter-injunction. He claimed his files have been hacked and that it is disrupting the system."

"So, what's that counter-injunction do?" asked Scott.

"It would prevent outside interference, and also enforce a legal situation wherein he has total right over all systems until the end of the test and transition phase," said Shara.

"Somehow, that does not sound good..." said Ashton.

"He currently has to abide by certain rules, but if his counter-injunction passes no one can legally even look into the system for this world until it goes live. We'll be completely at the mercy of the project committee," said Shara.

"In short, we're fucked if it passes," said Scott.

He drew in a breath then released it in one solid burst. "Can I speak to this court of yours?"

Shara blinked. "Seriously?"

"Damn right, seriously," said Scott.

He continued quickly and aggressively. "Where the hell do these people get off thinking they can choose all this shit about our fucking lives in the first place!"

Scott glared at Shara briefly then closed his eyes and took several deep breaths. "Seriously. Even if you claim we all agreed to live in one of those garden worlds created by your people, we damned sure did not agree to this cluster fuck of pure bullshit!"

Shara bit her lower lip then nodded slowly. "I'll talk to my sister, and her mother. If they think it's possible, I'll see if I can bring it up with dad. If he can figure out a way to legally allow for it, then maybe you can do just that."

He took another deep breath then slowly released it. "Good, thanks. Something has to give. This back and forth bullshit has to stop. At this point, I'm half inclined to think the whole thing should be scrapped and someone should just make a whole new world for us poor saps to live in."

"That would be nice," said Ashton with a chuckle.

"Yeah," said Scott. He acquired a smug smile. "Sir, your apocalypse is bullshit. May we please have another?"

Everyone laughed at that. Though, what Scott suggested was tantamount to wiping the whole planet, it was nice to at least relieve a little stress.