4.4: Golden Ticket – Part 3
Emelia (and Aeryn)
Hello everyone, Emily here! I’m excited I finally get to have my own chapter! As much as I love letting my gorgeous fiancée hog the spotlight, it’s nice to finally be able to step into it myself. It’s hard to believe we’ve already had almost 150 chapters! Allie and I have come so far in such a short amount of time, it’s crazy to think where we might end up in a year, five years, or ten years! I am so thrilled to be a part of her journey and that I get to share it with all of you. Maybe in a bit more detail than I am personally comfortable with… never thought thousands of people would get to read about the intricacies of my sex life…Anyways… I hope you enjoy this chapter, and I will do my best to convince Allie to let me have the {Main Character} badge more often so I get the chance to share more with you all. Love you guys!
Team 406Sabbie - Demon - Level 77 Dread DollSammie - Demon - Level 77 Dread Doll
Total Wins: 3Total Losses: 0Total Points: 5
Match 4 versus Emelia - Demon - Consort of Eternal Winter & Aeryn - Demon - Arachnid King
Objective 1: Defeat Emelia and AerynObjective 2: Locate and decipher the 3 rune sequences to open the door to the lower levels
As soon as the screen containing the next opponents disappeared, I found myself across from Aeryn inside an ornately decorated room that I recognized as Areandra’s “Fallen Heaven.” Despite having already done hundreds of matches, I had only been paired up with my twin a small number of times, and the last had been hours ago. I floated over to where he was standing and gave him a small hip-check. He rolled his eyes as he gave me a playful shove. His solid black eyes focused on me as he gave me an inquisitive stare.
“Have you seen or heard anything about these particular challengers? Three straight wins with only 1 point missing is a pretty good record so far.”
I opened the menu that had minimized itself in my field of vision and reread the information.
“Hmmm… Can’t say I have. Dread Doll sounds like a unique as hell class. And they both have it.”
He nodded as he looked away and held up a hand. Magic swirled around his outstretched palm before the form of a massive spider the size of an SUV started to take shape. After a few seconds it solidified, it’s creamy white and black body looking somehow delicate despite its enormous bulk.
“At this level I only have one Brood Mother. I can use her to make some scouts so we can get a better idea what we’re up against. You wanna do some aerial recon while she does that?”
I briefly opened up my character menu before frowning slightly and shaking my head.
“Flying takes too much MP at this level. I may have a lot, but it is still a fraction of what I’m normally used to.”
He nodded his head absentmindedly as he spoke in a sort of growl at the massive arachnid. He placed a hand softly on her head and I couldn’t help but smile as the giant creature leaned into his touch like an affectionate pet. After a moment the Brood Mother turned and moved quickly through the room and exited through a large doorframe. He nodded again and looked back at me.
“OK. She’ll let me know when she has her brood in position. In the meantime… you wanna help me with something? I’ve been testing out a new kind of spider, and I’ve had some pretty awesome results with the other clan members.”
“Is this that Arcane-Infusion thing you mentioned earlier? You never got a chance to show me cause we sorta got tossed into the fight from the get go.”
“Yeah, it’s called [Arcane-Infused Summons]. Basically it lets me infuse various forms of magic into the spiders themselves and give them all sorts of unique abilities based on whatever magic they’re imbued with. So far I think the coolest was spiders who’s webs had a constant healing effect and defense buff thanks to being imbued with Ghost’s magic. The ‘vampire spiders’ that were the result of Jade’s magic were a bit… extreme… and I don’t even want to think about what would happen if they got ahold of Allie’s magic.”
“I don’t know… corrupting spiders would be kinda cool. I think she’d be into that.”
He chuckled and rolled his eyes as he started walking in the direction his spider had gone. I followed behind him until he suddenly stopped and turned back towards me.
“Speaking of Allie… how are the two of you doing? You and I haven’t gotten to talk much since we had dinner with Mom and Dad last week.”
“We’re good! Allie is working with a real estate agent to find a place up here in Boulder. She and I are gonna go up to her house in Aspen sometime this week to get all of her stuff packed up. You should come! Bray, Spence, and Blaine all said they’d help out. And I’m sure Blaine will talk Tiff into coming. Apparently Allie has a massive house… so she said we could have a party before she packs up all her stuff.”
Aaron looked thoughtful for a moment before happily nodding.
“Yeah! That sounds like a–”
He suddenly turned his head to the side and narrowed his eyes.
“Well… that’s gonna make things interesting. Apparently our opponents both have some pretty impressive psychic powers. They blasted all of the broodlings all at once with some sort of focused mind blast. Even Mali got hit, and she wasn’t anywhere near them. It looked like they already have two of the rune sequences entered and were on their way to locate the third. How do you wanna play this?”
I thought for a moment, picturing various scenarios in my head. While I lacked Allie’s keen tactical sense, my own goal-oriented method of dealing with things tended to work well enough. I opened my character menu for a moment, noting each of my skills that I had access to and what my current limitations were. I gave my brother a look, and without even saying anything he opened his own menu and turned it around so I could see it. A small smile ghosted across my lips as I formulated a plan of attack.
==
A bright white spider with small flickers of icy magic skittered across the floor towards what appeared to be two small girls floating in the air, both of them holding hands. While both had ghostly pale skin, their eyes looked like two black orbs of darkness, even the small traces of light having no visible shine in their eyes. All of their body and facial features were identical, save for the color of their hair. One of them had hair that was an almost delicate looking shade of pink, while the other’s was almost as black as her eyes. The one with pink hair was dressed in what appeared to be a small white lolita dress that only served to enhance her child-like appearance. The other wore a dress that was similar in appearance, but was instead all black. Both girls seemed to be no taller than that of a child, perhaps just barely over four feet tall, but their soulless black eyes and the way they sort of floated lazily in the air certainly lived up to the name Dread Doll.
As the spider drew closer it suddenly propelled itself forward with a huge leap. Just before the creature could slam into them, the girl with pink hair held up a single hand. The spider’s momentum was instantly halted and it hovered in place less than a foot away from the pair.
“What a–”
“–fascinating creature. It’s much prettier–”
“–than the others we destroyed. But alas, it presents-”
“–no more challenge than the others did.”
Suddenly the spider exploded in a hail of frozen shards as Aeryn triggered the self-detonation of one of his creations. Thanks to being imbued with my magic, however, I had been able to hide myself inside of the icy confines of its body like a sort of Trojan Horse. As my body solidified back into a humanoid shape, I summoned a pair of ice blades and swung both of them at the closest enemy. Just before my blade could strike her skin, however, the black haired girl’s face scrunched in concentration, and a shimmering barrier deflected my attack and caused me to stagger backwards slightly. Instead of giving up my momentum, however, I used [Power of the Spoken Word] to cast [Shard Storm] and directed the magic at the pair. As I floated backwards slightly I watched as the pink haired girl again lifted her hand, and suddenly it felt as if I had been grabbed by a giant hand that was doing its best to squeeze the life out of me.
Before the force binding me could squeeze me any further, I cast my [Mirror Image] spell and fought against the wave of disorientation as my vision suddenly split in two. After a moment my [Enhanced Multi-Mind] ability kicked in along with [Semi-Autonomous Control], and the pressure on my brain was immediately reduced to a dull ache. I allowed my subconscious to take control of the body that was currently being crushed while the new body that I had summoned above both girls began to channel a spell. The sound of breaking glass filled the air as the copy of me caught in the psychic grip began to crack and break apart. Before it was fully destroyed, I used Spoken Word again to cast [Mirror Image] again in order to keep the pressure on both of my enemies. I switched control of the body channeling the large spell to my subconscious and took over of the newly created copy. I again summoned a pair of ice blades and began attacking in a rapid flurry of strikes, ignoring the fact that every single attack seemed to bounce harmlessly off the same barrier as before. A sudden black blur raced across the floor and slammed fist first into the barrier of the girl I wasn’t attacking.
Aeryn’s fists seemed to almost break the sound barrier as he swung relentlessly over and over. Small cracks started forming along the chitinous armor that covered his body and his leg suddenly bent in a way it wasn’t meant to, but he never let off the pressure. Just before the psychic attack was able to finish him off, the protective field around our opponents shattered with an enormous wave of force that blasted outwards from both girls. Aeryn was hurled hard against the nearest wall, followed by a sickening crunch and a smear of greenish ichor trailing down the wall as he fell to the floor. I barely had enough time to cast [Ice Blast] in order to shield my body that was almost finished casting the spell that would hopefully end this match definitively. The other body detonated into razor sharp ice shards and covered my side of the room in deadly frozen shrapnel. Before either girl had the chance to react and orient themselves, I channeled every last bit of MP I had and finished casting [*Primordial Ice Age*].
Despite my near total immunity to ice magic, given the proximity to my own World Tier spell, I still managed to nearly obliterate myself just from the force of the blast alone. It took every ounce of willpower I had to direct the blizzard of ice shards at the pair of girls in the hopes that I could at least finish them off while Aeryn used his body switching ability to take over a fresh copy of his Arachnid King form. I collapsed in a heap as the storm obscuring our opponents began to clear, and let out a long resigned sigh. Before I could say anything further, a loud scream that could only be heard in my mind caused me to nearly black out.
*YOU! KILLED! MY! SISTER!*
A wave of force that felt like a tornado, a hurricane, a typhoon, an earthquake, and a full strength punch from Alie all combined crashed into me and my screen dimmed and faded to black as my body was utterly obliterated. After a moment my vision cleared and I found myself standing in the respawn area we had set up for the clan. Hana was standing a few feet away, wearing what Allie called an “almost smile.” Before I had a chance to speak, she held up a hand and pointed to a nearby screen. I watched for a moment and saw that it was multiple viewpoints of the match I had just died in. I watched as Aeryn sent wave after wave of dog-sized spiders at the girl, all while dodging blasts of mental magic that was shredding everything in sight. Several of the spiders managed to reach her and successfully bite her a few times before a shimmering barrier appeared around the black-haired girl and her attackers were knocked back and blasted apart with a visible wave of destructive energy. Unlike the balance of offense and defense the pair of girls seemed to have together, this was a chaotic display of utter destruction with very little regards towards staying alive.
In the end, Aeryn’s speed and the unfocused nature of the single opponent’s attacks secured the victory for the clan. But as I looked at the remains of the battlefield, just the sheer level of complete destruction was astounding, especially considering that it was all done by a single level 77 attacker. The screen faded to black and I turned towards Hana with wide eyes.
“That was fucking insane! Even my own magic wasn’t that powerful at that level. My own World-Tier spell was only marginally more powerful than just her regular attacks. I think Aeryn and I need to talk with them to see if they’re a good fit for the clan.”
“He’s already got you beat on that count. As soon as he spawned back in the waiting area, he headed out to meet them.”
“Awesome. Can you let him know I’ll join him in–”
A screen popped up in front of me alerting me that I was scheduled for another match.
“Scratch that. Looks like I have another match. Ooooh. Another Ice mage! This one outta be interesting.”
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Aeryn
Aeryn made his way through the crowded waiting area that the challengers were amassed in, following a tiny spider that had already managed to locate the girls he had just fought against. Doing his best to ignore the random people who massed around him, he was finally able to come face to face with the girls. An almost inaudible whisper came from his lips as he asked Hana to erect a sort of barrier that would give the three of them a little privacy. As soon as the magic took effect, he opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off when the girls floated up slightly into the air and began speaking.
“Hello again–”
“–Arachnid King. Despite our loss, we still–”
“–enjoyed that match immensely. We apologize for–”
“–Sabbie’s behavior at the end.”
Aeryn’s eyes bounced back and forth as the two girls seemed to finish each the other’s sentences. The speed at which they did it indicated they had some sort of bond that let them share the other’s thoughts. Even knowing that, it still didn’t make the effect any less creepy. Both girls seemed to sense this and gave a simultaneous giggle. Aeryn narrowed his eyes as both girls started speaking in unison.
“Is this better? Perhaps a little less disorienting?”
As he rolled his eyes, both girls giggled again and looked back at him with amused grins.
“I’m guessing that even if I asked you to, you’d still find a creepy way of talking to me, wouldn’t you?”
Instead of a verbal response, Aeryn heard a voice echo in his mind as the girl with the pink hair tilted her head to the side slightly.
*Of course. We know how we look. We would be fools if we didn’t at least have a little fun with it.*
“I guess I can’t fault you for that. Although… now it looks like I’m talking to myself.”
Both girls broke out into huge grins and laughed before their eyes settled back on Aeryn’s face expectantly.
“Despite the way the match ended, you both displayed a level of skill that is above and beyond what many others presented today. If you don’t mind, I’d love to ask you both some questions.”
*Is this way of talking OK? It’s actually easier given our telepathic abilities.*
He tried to answer in his mind, but when neither girl reacted he sighed softly through his nose and let out a dry laugh.
“That’s fine. Honestly, this is one of the less weird things that has happened to me since I started playing this game. Don’t even get me started on how I got this body or my abilities. So… why don’t we start with names. Obviously you know I’m Aeryn. And I know your names are Sabbie and Sammie, but I don’t know which is which.”
The girl with the pink hair held her hand on her chest and spoke directly into Aeryn’s mind.
*I’m Sammie. It’s short for Samantha*
The girl with the black hair mirrored her the other’s actions and spoke in a tone that was identical to the other’s.
*And I’m Sabbie. Which is short for Sabrina*
“OK, cool. Do you prefer those names or your full names?”
Both girls shrugged simultaneously and smiled in almost the exact same way.
*It makes no difference either way. We like both names.*
Aeryn nodded and smiled as he thought of the perfect question.
“You’re not required to answer if you don’t want, but I am curious about something. Are you two related in real life?”
Both girls nodded at the same time and grinned. The voice sounded in his mind again, but neither of the girls gave any indication of which one was speaking.
*Yes. We’re sisters. Identical twins, actually. Which only makes the demon forms we transformed into that much more fitting.*
As Aeryn started laughing loudly, Sabbie and Sammie looked at him with confused expressions.
“What are the odds of that? Emily uh… Emelia, I mean, is actually my twin sister.”
They each gave him surprised looks as their smiles grew even wider.
*That is so cool! So basically we just had a battle of the twins?!*
“Exactly! Sounds like the name of a Game of Thrones episode.”
Sabbie nodded her head while Sammie looked at her sister.
*Sammie hasn’t watched Game of Thrones yet, but you’re right… definitely fits with the whole theme. Although I think given that the four of us are demons, we’d likely be on the bad guys’ team.*
“Sometimes rooting for the villain is just as fun as rooting for the hero. Plus, don’t bad guys usually get the cooler outfits?”
This time both girls nodded at once and spoke in a much more excited tone in his mind.
*OK, thank you! That’s what I’ve always said! Plus they always get the some of the most badass lines that makes them that much more memorable. If they’re written well enough, you can’t help but hate them that much more, which makes for the absolute best bad guys!*
Aeryn’s smile was so wide it almost looked manic as he opened his character inventory.
“That settles it. You two are absolutely perfect for our clan!”
He retrieved a shiny golden object and directed his eyes upwards.
“Hana. I’m redeeming my golden ticket.”