Cold Sweats

"I don't know about you, but I'm going to save this puppy," yeah, I knew that comment was dumb the moment it left my lips.

After all these years, I still wonder how such a thing is possible, you have a thought, an idea in your mind that seems brilliant and flawless. Then the moment you speak it into action it suddenly rots on the wind, as if it was never truly that great of a thought to begin with.

"Really?" Is all Gwen had to say, her voice speaking what we are apparently both already thinking.

"Yeah, not my best, but trying to rescue this dog," I admit as I begin dissecting the odd cell structures of the discarded dog limb. To stop any further conversations I put out my tongue and rest it against my upper lip. I've learned this trait, because whenever I do it, people generally leave me alone, which is great as most of the time when I do it naturally, I need to focus. But right now, I am trying to avoid making another bad attempt at a cheesy action movie line.

Thump.

During this time Penelope drops down from Kujo's back and actively begins looking around the ground.

"What are you doing?" Gwen asks Penelope, turning her attention from me, to Penelope who is clearly hard at work looking for something. Maybe she dropped a bauble?

"I'm looking for a mutated rabbit's foot," Penelope answered.

"Wh, why?" Gwen asked, her face twisting up in confusion as she tried to begin to understand why Penelope would look for an infected rabbit's paw.

"Think about it, if we could find it and Clone a new one, then we would be able to mass produce real lucky rabbit's feet."

"Real lucky rabbit's feet?" Gwen pressed trying to understand the comment.

"Yeah, most of the time they are either plastic, that or if they were real people would always say things like, how lucky could it be because the rabbit clearly died," Penelope replied, using a mocking tone for that last part, one where she was clearly trying to mimic someone of perceived authority. During this time Gwen just got even more confused as she scrunched up her face to stare at Penelope. As if this new perspective would show Gwen that Penelope was clearly joking. But it seemed that Penelope was being wholeheartedly serious with this task.

"With these mutated rabbit's feet, we can prove that they were lucky feet, as the rabbit clearly shed them to survive," Penelope finally finished her thought.

"And she nails the dismount, despite looking a little wobbly on her approach," I muse to myself as I begin going back to my self-prescribed task of trying to Resurrect this puppy, but I pause as something else that Penelope said catches in my mind, but I can't quite understand what, at least not at first.

"I don't know if that is a good thing or a bad thing that you choose to spend your power as a Tamer to tame mutated bunnies so you can harvest them for your organs," Gwen replied.

At that, Penelope stopped and stared at Gwen, "well everything sounds terrible if you phrase it like that?"

The two look like they are about to get into a deeper conversation, but before they do I realize what was niggling at the back of my mind.

"You said, Clone?" I ask.

With that both go immediately silent as they look at me, apparently not having heard my inner thoughts earlier and just noticing me for the first time.

"What?" Gwen and Penelope both ask in unison.

That's when I fly up and turn to Penelope so she can clearly see me. "Earlier, when you described the process, you said Clone, as in when we found the paw you said Clone, versus Resurrection?"

At that the two just stare at me like I'm mental for a moment, but something in my mind tells me there is a hint of truth to this that I am not seeing, or at the very least not processing. I don't know how these pixie powers work, but I have always tried to follow my hunches, generally they lead to interesting finds.

"Ye, yes, I believe I did," Penelope stammers our confusedly.

I nod.

Silence.

They both look at me like I'm the crazy one, maybe I'm not doing a good job of fully expressing my opinion on the matter.

"Okay, why?" I push, knowing that there is something deeper.

"Why what?" Gwen buts in, her thoughts almost breaking this connection, this thread to a deeper thought process.

"Why use Clone over Resurrection?" I press.

With that Gwen turns from me to Penelope, as she now understands why I would ask such an odd question. For her part, Penelope looks confused for a moment, before suddenly realizing.

"Oh, it was just my own thoughts, but Resurrection truly requires the dead and a soul. Whereas what you normally do with these creatures, especially the ones you cleanse of the Blight for the Kujos and reintegrate as level one Replicas are really nothing more than near identical Clones of the originals."

Heavy weight.

Hearing her, I feel part of my psyche crumble ever so slightly as I realize that if this was true, then I would inadvertently be playing part to murder. Perhaps seeing my discomfort, Penelope fidgets for a second as she tries to fix her original statement to come across as less damaging.

"I mean, there is nothing wrong with this, if anything what you are doing is a mercy. You ensure that the cycle of life can and will continue. The Kujos clearly would eat the rotten Blight meat if you weren't around to cleanse and Clone a copy. So you aren't aiding in the deaths, but doing possibly the most humane thing of allowing an exact Replica of the original to live on and start over in a perfect body. Honestly, it should be commended."

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

The more Penelope speaks, the more the sudden weight of betrayal that I felt dissipates, until it is only a minor weight that lets me know I should try to slow down and take things a bit slower when possible.

Taking a moment to gather my thoughts, I focus my consciousness down at the discarded limbs and realize that she is right. The mutated creatures that left these limbs behind, they aren't dead, if they were, then I would be able to see their bodies rotting nearby as well. The fact that all we see are the limbs means that Penelope is correct. These are nothing more than the discarded remains, a potential lucky loss of a limb. Yeah, never thought I'd be saying that, but then again here we are.

I am about to turn my attention back to the dog's paw I was focusing on earlier, when suddenly a new item catches my attention.

"You've got to be kidding me," I I apparently say out loud as both Gwen and Penelope stare at me.

"What is it mom?"

I just point off in the distance and with a gentle Telekinetic grip, not wanting to coat it too liberally with my energy for fear that it might burst open. Then moving it closer to Penelope, I hold it up to her at about waist height.

"What is this?" Penelope asks.

"Your rabbit's foot," I respond.

"Oh, there was a rabbit?" Penelope asks.

"Surprisingly yes, though I do think Kujo did go a bit exotic there with some of his meal choices for Ms. Kujo while she was pregnant," I admit.

With that memory, both Gwen and Penelope nod in unison, realizing Mr. Kujo had quite the hard time keeping up with the dietary needs for Ms. Kujo. For a moment, I wondered how he was doing, now that he was feeding a litter of twelve, along with Ms. Kujo and an apparently pregnant Pomeranian princess, but then realized sometimes you reap what you sow.

Silence.

There is a moment of quiet that falls upon us, as I suddenly feel the odd sweltering heat of my mana being leached away slowly, causing a slight burning sensation. It is not painful, not yet. That or my resistances have increased since last month, but I do know I will feel a lot better once I am in the cool fields of mana not a few hundred meters away from us right now.

With that, I go back to work.

Or at least I try to, the only problem is that the moment I begin to work on the poor dog paw, I can feel the mana levels within the paw increasing, meaning I will need to move quickly, especially if I want to find a real cure to combat this mutation. Not just keep it from infecting a new host, but a way to potentially purge it from a fully infected host as well. With that last thought in mind, I go to work.

Which honestly just involves me staring at the limb while I go over ideas.

The worst part is that I know I can't take it with me to my lab, that is the Kujo Caverns, as it will either be seen as debris and be eradicated on the spot. Or be supersaturated by mana, then explode, where it will again be eradicated and dissected for parts by the automatic cleaning system set up in the Kujo Caverns.

Mentally, I am just about prepared to go over one of my many different methods, when I see Penelope pull out an odd back of clear liquid, before she begins to liberally coat her Lucky Rabbit's Foot.

"What is that?" I ask, calling out to Penelope who looks confused at first, but then holds up the bag that contains clear resin in it. "This?"

"Yes, that clear substance," I admit.

At my comment, Gwen also turns to look at the bag, only to pause as well, before she opens up her third eye to realize.

"Oh wow, that is completely clear to Angel's Sight," Gwen responds.

"Completely?"

Only now do I realize that this would likely be a great time to use Confidentiality, only to receive a system message.

Merit: Confidentiality (10) unable to be used due to lack of synchronization with server.

Yeah, I get it. Even my vaunted Confidentiality is now off limits due to this synchronization bug that is hitting me. In a way it makes sense, the whole idea behind my Confidentiality was that it allowed me to de-synchronize myself from all tracking methods utilized by the server, only to have all but three minutes come back. My actions during that lack of synchronization would still be counted, and I would get quest rewards and experience for my actions during that time, but I would not get it during those three minutes of heightened Confidentiality. Meanwhile, any and all updates would be noted and recorded, which is what I was seeing and experiencing now.

Hmm.

I think there is something to this, meaning that once I get re-synchronized with the server, I might be able to find ways to push my Confidentiality further. Of course, that would mean I would need to stop and relax, and inevitably dream. My only concern is, what if this is the dream and I still wake up there? If this is a dream, then it is just as real as all the others I have had recently. Also, if it is a dream, then I want it to last just a little bit longer. I need this to be real.

Blurry vision.

I blink once, then twice, realizing that tears were forming in my eyes. While that wouldn't normally effect my Angel's Sight, I can feel my mind pressing itself from the pressure that the fear and anxiety of this not being real would cause me.

"Yeah, it's a special…" Penelope begins, but then cuts off, "are you okay?"

Thump.

Not even thinking about the items in her hand, Penelope quickly drops them on the ground and then proceeds to run to me. Seeing her concern and her rapidly pulsing and erratic magic, I smile as I don't think I could ever even dream of such vivid colors and textures swirling in a person. Seeing her, I smile as I have once again given myself more proof that this is real.

"Yeah," I reply as I wipe away moisture from my eyes and then try to center myself. "Just this heat, it's getting to me."

"Heat?" Gwen asks, holding out her hand as if trying to feel something different.

"Oh come on, you know she melts while away from magic," Penelope responds stopping Gwen and giving me the easy out I needed.

"Yeah, sweat got into my eyes, but I'm fine now," I admit. At this point Penelope comes over and gently pats away actual mana infused sweat that is clearly coursing from me. I wasn't lying, but I wasn't being exactly truthful either about why I was suddenly having a reaction.

"Oh yeah, I remember seeing that, but never thought it would be this bad," Gwen responded getting closer and then staring at me through her third eye.

"I've been through worse, but it's never pleasant," I admit, not quite pulling away from Penelope's cool hands that are possibly the most realistic sensation I've ever felt in a dream, if this isn't real.

"Well, I guess its good that you have a tolerance for this type of thing," Gwen admits getting close enough to truly stare at me. Only now once she is this close does she seem to be worried, that's when she asks, "are you sure you aren't pushing yourself too hard?"

Hearing her question, I pause wondering if she is in fact correct. Am I pushing myself too hard? I don't think so, but I am kind of tired, it has already been a long day, and many of the things I would normally be able to do, to soothe myself are gone.

Taking a moment to pause, I center myself and wonder if I should try to view my status screen. Every time I did before I was either met with nothing, or worse, that was the moment when these dreams would end and I would wake up and be forced to try to terraform a dying planet back to life. Only to then be drained dry by the arid heat around me.

"What's wrong?" Gwen asks.

I just shake my head, not wanting this moment to end, then I make sure to say it, even if it is just a dream, I want her to know.

"I love you Jackie," I say, breaking the moment and then realizing I called her by her mortal name. A name she apparently hated and wanted to change in her afterlife.

"I love you too mom, but are you okay?" Gwen, not Jackie asked, getting closer to me.

"I think I'm just a bit tired," I admit, "maybe this heat really is getting to me."

"Yeah, okay, we have been out her for a long time, it's probably best that we start to head back where you can rest." Gwen admits.

"Wait, I'm close, I think I can solve this puzzle," I admit, looking back down at the mutated paw and trying to work on my process.

Pop.

Of course, I was too quick with my method causing the already over full paw to explode and burst apart on the blighted desert lands. Seeing the mess that I just created, I can only lean my head back and exhale in disgust. Failure is an all too common friend of mine of late.

"It's okay," Penelope replies soothingly as she can clearly see my frustration boiling out on my face.

"No, it's not, I just need this, to finish this quest," I reply.

"Why this quest?" Penelope asks.

"I, just, I don't know." I respond, but then I feel a tugging from my core. One that lets me know that I do know, at least now that I've had a second to think, I know I just told a lie. That's when I decide to answer truthfully. If this is a dream, then I will just have to do it again tomorrow night. But if this is reality, then maybe I will be able finally tell everyone how much I missed them while I was gone. How much they all mean to me, especially…

"Actually, I do know. This is the longest dream like sequence I have had in a long time. And this time, I even went to all the places I never went to before. Places that always caused me to awaken as I could never imagine the inside of new places quite right. I could never imagine them perfectly, and that would cause me to wake up."

"Is that why you have been running around more than usual? Trying to keep yourself busy and awake?" Gwen asks, her eyes growing wide as she seemed to be taking in everything I was saying so quickly.

"Yeah," I admit.

"Is that why you forced the random trips everywhere? Even the blood pool?"

"What? It is not a blood pool, it is an energy convergence," I begin, but then cut myself off as I can see the faint smile cresting Gwen's lips even now. "You know what, that is one of the few things that let's me have hope that this is real, that I am really here."

"But you are here," Gwen began, but she was cut off by a suddenly raised hand by Penelope that beckoned her to stop talking.

"You believe that don't you, that you aren't here? Is that the real issue right now? Why you are pushing for a cure to this new disease you just saw?" Penelope asks.

I want to argue, but then just nod knowing that is the truth.

"So what could we do to prove you are really here?" Penelope asked.

"Did you have crazy people in your family?" Gwen asked.

At that Penelope just nodded, "my grandmother had dementia. When she was there, she was great, when she wasn't…" Penelope trailed off not finishing that thought.

Hearing her, I could realize how this might seem like I was crazy. Then again, that was the nature of this place, here I was sweating mana infused sweat, a symptom my body has instinctively begun to associate with bad dreams, and now here I am sweating. Logically, I know this is part of me mentally being in a Blighted desert that would slowly drain me of energy. Yet, part of me can't stop panicking at the idea that my protective cocoon has broken a seal and I will slowly be roasted to death on that alien planet so far away.

Then sometimes I wonder just how my life got to this point, then I realize there is a solution to my problem.

"There is one thing I can do, to prove that I'm really here," I admit.

"What?" They both respond in unison.

"I could try to pull up my Status Screen," I reply and just like that, the magical command that has always ended with my forced awakening was uttered, and I waited for the result…

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.