Chapter 2

New Brussels - Naelis residential complex

“I love this place SO MUCH!” She screamed in the main hall while raising her hand. They were alone in the lobby of the building, minus the receptionist, a beautiful young woman with long red hair. Ah, Uncle always loved red-haired peoples. She looked at her own long straw-gold hair. Mine aren’t too bad either.

“I’m happy to see you that happy.” Said her uncle behind her.

“Clarissa, we’ve luggage in the car, please take care of them.”

“Yes, Master Naelis.”

Ah yes, master, I remember. Each time she went to her Uncle’s she was surprised to find that the whole staff was calling him master, like some chief of martial art family in a chinese cultivation novel. Bah, Uncle is weird. Weird is good.

“I’m sure you’re relieved to be far from your mom at last.” A piece of guilt… or was it regret? Whatever it was, his voice was a bit sad when he said this.

“She as always been obsessed with careers in the business world. As you know, we… didn’t get along very well. She thinks I’m a slacker after all, some kind of parasite that leach on society. But entertainment is a noble career, and nothing forbid you to make money out of what you enjoy doing.” He added.

“Yeah. It’s like a… a dream.”Her gaze was a bit hazy, as if the idea was indeed strange.

“I know. But you’re not concerned by that for now. Let’s install you in your room and then why not go directly to the main course of this visite of yours?”

“Already? We’ll go to Star Overdrive’s Deep Dive building?”

“You’ll see, just come with me.” His smile was mysterious and mischievous. They took the private elevator at the end of the main lobby, greeting the few people that were passing by, minding their own business, and went directly to the last floor, the thirty-seventh one, the floor where her Uncle lived. Technically, the whole building was his, but he rented a big chunk of it.

He called that his “backup plan” in case he one day needed to stop playing at Binding Fate or, at least, to stop making money out of it. He only kept the two last floor for himself, making some sort of villa out of it. The private elevator opened on an entry hall with furniture to store shoes, coat and sweaters. No natural light came here since it was at the very centre of the building, so artificial lights were doing the job when someone presented themselves. Circular luminaire lined on the ceiling like little domes, creating a smooth blue light that succeeded being warm despite the colour it had.

The walls, here, were white on purpose, as the luminaire was casting flicker of light on them just like the sun did on a riverbed. Overall, it gave quite a bizarre feeling, but also very likeable. “It’s been a long time you’ve visited me, right? I’ll give you a nickel tour, see if you remember anything.” He smiled, happy to show is home to a member of his family. After all, Zoe and her Uncle played every summer together, but it was from their respective home. She only remembers coming here once or twice, when she was little.

???

And… I… Have… Finished! “Pfui!” She had finally completed her choir for the morning. After going to Greypa’s home, talking and goofing around with the old man, she came back home to tend the home and the garden. Her mom was out helping the Bramna family building their house since the guy hadn’t finished before his wife got mysteriously pregnant.

Dumbass, everyone knows you need to finish your home before getting someone pregnant. It was, in fact, one of her village tradition. That Bramna guy wasn’t looked kindly by the villager because of that, yet her mom still helped him. There ought to be a good reason, mom doesn’t do things for shit. Of course, her dad was out working too. One of their wells wasn’t in a very good condition so he went to clean and fix it. But this afternoon, they won’t work! Family time ahead! She thought, pumped up by the notion. She loved her family so, so much.

New Brussels

I forgot how awesome this place was. The entrance all gave way to a balcony overlooking both the living room, the dining room and the kitchen. In fact, there were not 3 separate places but one big room that changed style from left to right, with the kitchen at the left all in white, the dining room in the middle with its overhang balcony and its glass dome that let you look at the city while eating, and the living room with its cosy sofas surrounding the holographic projector.

Once more, the luminaire wasn’t a simple light but, this time, it was even more beautiful. A hidden holo-projector was creating a miniature milky way floating under the ceiling and slowly spinning, illuminating the whole room in a soft radiance.

“Wow. I really forgot that?”

“Nah lassy, I installed it after the last time you passed by. Like it?”

“Yes, very much!”

“Then looked at that: Light the kitchen, please.” He said to no one in particular but, suddenly, stars fell from the galaxy and flew toward the kitchen, nestling into an empty light bulb and illuminating the kitchen. Tiny sun was filling casting their soft rays over the white kitchen, giving it the feel of an afternoon picnic.

“Cool right?”

This place is really amazing.

???

“Picnic! Picnic! Picnic!” Said Dzive, beating the table at the same rhythm.

“Yes yes, calm down will you, your mom will come in no time.” Answered her father with his warm smile and peaceful countenance. Her father was a tranquil man, so much that she really didn’t know how he married her mother, who was always so hotheaded and full of energy.

“I never really asked you before but, how did you and mom finish together?” Her father looked at her, surprise flashing in his eyes, and opened his mouth to answer but was interrupted by her mother’s voice.

“Ahahah, you ask that to us now? Wait a bit, we’ll talk about it once we’re at the picnic spot!” She said with her indomitable voice.

New Brussels

“And that’s your room.” He opened the door and withdrew a step back to let the girl enter first. The doop gave way to a beautiful room. The walls were a soft blue and the ceiling was a dome in the middle of which a moon-like sphere was seemingly floating, diffusing its soothing radiance over the furniture. A large circular bay window was giving a direct view on the… A garden?

“You’ve a garden?”

“Well, yes? I mean, I’ve a roof to use so I put a garden on it. It purifies water and works as a good insulator. Also, I like to have a bit of green. Your mother’s love for a garden is the same as mine, after all.”

“So it’s my… my room?”

“Yup. I give it to you, use it as you please. I even made it soundproof for when you need a bit of, you know, privacy.” Is smile couldn’t have been more perverted.

“Uncle!”

“Ahahah, can’t an old man laugh from time to time? So, you like it?”

“Very much, yes. Thank you Uncle!”

“It’s nothing, it’s nothing, you’re family after all, and I can’t let the only gamer of our new generation suffer your mom’s temper after. By the way, you can open the window.” He demonstrated it right away.

“So you can go to the garden whenever you want.”

“Thanks!”

“Stop thanking me, lassy. Now, do you want to start playing at Binding Fate or not?” He added, already exiting the room.

“Yes!”

“Then come with me. We’ll do a quick test in the car to see if you’ve studied enough to start playing.”

???

The sun was high in the sky, giving its all to heat the noon and bake everything, but Dzive and her parents had taken refuge under the shadows of the nearby forest. On a day like this, the chance to encounter an aggressive beast or a monster was practically void, but her mother still took her sword with her.

“Soooo? How did you meet?” She came back with her earlier question.

“You really can’t wait, do you?” Retorted her mother in a playful voice.

“That part of her definitely come for you, my dear.” Her father used this occasion to take a dig at her mother.

“Meany.” She said before kissing him. Dzive smiled, seeing her parents happy always made her react this way.

“So, how I and your father met… Well, you know that before a certain invader started growing in my belly…” She gently pinched the nose of Dzive. “... I was an adventurer, right?”

“Yes!” Answered the girl with enthusiasm.

“Then listen closely. One day that I was raiding a ruin alone, as always, I encountered something I thought was only a legend. A Corpse Sea.”

“You were adventuring behind the Old Guard, in the Dead Plain?”

“Exactly.” Dzive looked at her mother with yet another layer of reverence. She already knew her mother had been adventurer, but only madmen and women went behind the Old Guard.

“So this day, it happened I found a Corpse Sea. Of course, I ran. No one would battle such a thing alone. But just before I started retreating, I saw something: in the middle of the Corpse Sea, a group of humans was fighting for their lives. Fire was blossoming everywhere as their mage was trying to open a path for them, but nothing was doing. I couldn’t let them like this, so I lowered my helmet, took my sword, and started carving a path through to undead. It took me a while and numerous kills to get to them. I helped them push the Corpse Sea back. Dried blood and rotten bodies were flying everywhere as we were slowly walking toward the Old Guard but, suddenly, the cleric of the group collapsed. The young boy couldn’t take it anymore, he had given is all to keep his allies alive and thriving. Once the cleric was down..." She dodges a falling tree branch.

"...we started losing people one after the other. Normal undead couldn’t really do anything to full-plated knight, but sly monster using poison or undead knight with big swords took one of our knights from time to time. In the end, the defensive formation collapsed and we were overwhelmed. Just at this time, their mage begged me to save the cleric, tears in her eyes. Wounded and poisoned, tired by a long journey, I wasn’t even sure I could save myself, but her tears moved me. So I took the cleric and punched right through the Corpse Sea. I really don’t know how I did it. I was filled with an ardour I never had experienced before. I made it to the Old Guard, with the young cleric on my back. One thing brought another, and this young cleric and myself started adventuring together. I was twenty-four back then, if I remember correctly, and you were seventeen.”

She said at her father. “Three years later, this young cleric happened to give me a little gift and, when I discovered I was pregnant, we chose to settle down here, in Clarity. This young cleric was, of course, your father.” She smiled lovingly at her father before the kissed again.”

“So you were an adventurer too, dad?”

“Yes. An interesting part of my life, but I’m way more adapted to the peaceful life of a village, taking care of my family.” He answered before messing with Dzive’s hair affectionately.