CHAPTER 8
Elena rubbed her eyes and sat up to stretch, similar to a kitten, she also let out an involuntary yawn.
"Isn't a sleeping beauty supposed to be woken up by the kiss of a dashing young prince?"
Her eyes scanned her surroundings and locked onto the floating screen by Adam's arm, then onto his statuesque visage while she spoke.
"..."
Then without missing a beat, she continued with, "Wait, It couldn't be that you actually did 'that' to me while I was sleeping..."
She cupped her face to hide her overly "bashful" expression and squealled, "...you beast...".
She stood up and took a few steps closer to Adam.
Her eyes once again locked onto the screens by Adam's side. She deciphered his language within moments and realized that they showed a complete statistical breakdown of her vitals. It also helped that she saw her nickname, Lea, at the top right of the screen.
"..."
She hurriedly said, "You have to take responsibility for your actions...", with the hint of deviance.
She would have stopped making fun of him after that if she did not get a closer look at the second screen. She saw a human diagram on the other side of her vitals and felt a switch flip inside of her head.
"..andpromisetobewithmeforeverand...".
She conveyed how desperate or, perhaps, deranged she could be with just her eyes. The playful light in her eyes became a cautionary one but ended up becoming frenzied and dark, almost chaotic, when she saw everything he look at.
Thankfully, Adam managed to speak in between her breathing, effectively cutting her off before she could say something irreversible.
"Settle down before you jump to conclusions". He covered her mouth when she brought herself close enough to him. Internally, he was cursing Nryo for messing with the numbers. He was in the middle of mental calculations that he could not screw up so he had no choice but to let her see what he worked on.
Anyway, he let go after he felt that she calmed down. With a neutral expression he asked, "Calm?". He closed the screens while he looked at her.
"Did you see it?", she said with an unnaturally grim expression.
He sighed, "Only what I wanted to see...".
They locked eyes and started to wordlessly convey what they needed to, to each other but...
"How long...can we stay like this ?", her voice cracked as she avoided his eyes. Her body shuddered away from him, partially in fear and in anticipation of his answer.
"Idiot...", He stood up from his seat and circled her body before he flicked her forehead. With an even deeper sigh he said, "You already know that I won't do anything that I don't have to do...".
He brought his forehead to hers and ended with, "I just need more time okay? There's still some things that I need to take care of outside so just wait until then okay?"
Their eyes were locked for no less than 5 minutes.
She closed her eyes somewhere around the two minute mark. She moved in to give him a kiss when it was over. However, like a phantom, Adam managed to move far enough away to watch her fall face first onto the ground.
She got up like nothing happened and glowed like a ray of sunshine, "What's next then?"
"Uh..."
"Well go on, put an arrow on the ground or give me a guiding fairy so I can get the princess back. That's the objective of the Kings quest right?"
"Open your quest menu and then add its marker to your map. The minimap function should open"
She started to open her menus when she said, "So, did you did do something to me while I was sleeping?", she said with a seductive, hopeful, and forced smile.
"You, are..."
"I...am beautiful, smart, sexy, cute, wise, adaptable, unbreakable, dainty, the best...The worst, your everything. If I'm any of those, I already know"
She said with an awkward expression as she tapped on the floating menu In front of her.
"Too much...", Adam corrected.
She was about to press the quest when the menu screens in front of her started to glitch and shattered like glass after she tried to activate her quest. She tried to turn it back on and frowned at Adam when It wouldn't work
"What gives?"
"..."
His eyes were closed for a few seconds before he answered with, "Sorry, it seems that there are still a few bugs that I have to work out before its complete, I'll just bring us to the general vicinity of where we have to go."
He brought his hands together and generated small puffs of gas when he was interrupted by Elena. "Wait. Hold up, what about my magic?"
"One moment..."
He held his hand position with one arm and pulled up his various screens with the other. Elena's vitals popped up but this time the same screens popped up in front of the person in question.
It showed the amount of health she had as well as the amour rating, resistance, and durability of what she wore. Underneath the health tab, there were other numbers that showed the stats of each individual piece of gear.
On another tab, there was an MMP rating, score, and type list. The magic area glowed with a sparkling blue bar and a box that could be scrolled down into a magic chart.
The final tab showed stats around weaponry, defensive, and MMP score bonuses. These were present at the bottom of both previous tabs.
She read the short descriptions of each of the stats and said, "Thats, unironically accurate. I like it"
She found Adam in a state of concentration, so she moved her head to the right just in time to see another menu pop up next to her status.
This one, like the one at Adam's side, showed a miniature 3d model of her body and armor along with a customizable appearance option that automatically pulled up her equipped gear.
All of the interactive options on this second screen were for equipment and the only tabs available on the first menu were the type and score tables of the items and magic.
She ignored her health and equipment tabs and opened up the magic list on leftmost screen in her vision. She pressed the familiar box and opened up a giant chart that was covered by mist.
Somewhere in between a grey and a bluish mist on the chart and near the top of the crossover section, she saw her
Her eyes followed three lines that led into an obscure mist that connected to the topmost of all three areas.
The boarders of the chart glowed and the mist receded. The white-grey area opened up to
Sadly, she could not retrieve her staff from her inventory, because her inventory was greyed out, for some reason. Looking at her staff though, it possesed a number of slots meant for the magic she knew.
For now, Elena did the best with what she had. She dragged the only magic type with anything in it,
The magic area on her status bar now showed an MMP Rating of 0 and Score of <0.0%>. Below that there was a
"Well, I guess I'm done now. Is there a tutorial for this?" She noticed that the intermittent puffs of smoke on Adam's hands turned into a steady streams so she decided that she could distract Adam again.
"No..."
"Then I guess we should head off, the princess isn't going to save herself"
"Quite true. On second...", Adam pressed his palms together once again, closing the screens and his and Elena's sides in the process. The smoke turned into a cloudy orb the size of a two person doorway.
She stood there, dazed by his ancient yet unassuming handsomeness and startling, efeminate, beauty. Her emotions have always been a rollercoaster around Adam and she could not bring herself to fix it. They both knew what they were meant to do, what they were, and that made the wait even sweeter.
He held the misty gate open so there was little he could do when he noticed her hesitation. The only dangerous thing he did at present, was daringly offer a hand and say, "Are you coming?".
The hand that held the "door" suffered because of his action. The smoke tore his flesh away to sustain itself. like an ocean that battered against a rock to turn it into sand, the inside of his palm vanished away as it faded into whirlpool of smoke.
She grabbed his hand and felt warmth spread throughout her body and for a brief second she felt a divine sense of weightless...
"Do you feel what I feel?", she thought with visible sorrow.
"..."
Her emotions stabilized once again when she thought of a possible reason for what she was feeling. She did not want to believe that a problem had occurred, so she asked Adam using the excuse that her senses had been impared by his fog.
*"Are we falling?"
"..."
*"Adam..."
Her vision spontaneously cleared up and she saw an expression on his face that she had only seen once before, when they were kids. It was a face that said 'I fucked up' and 'I don't know what to do to fix it.
The wind that howled in her ears also told her the truth. Un-Luckily for her, Adam knew when to admit defeat so he managed to mutter out an emotionless statement
"I seen to have made a mistake"
She could see his lifeless eyes and the bitter anger that laid within them.
*"I thought you said you don't make anymore mistakes?"
"There's been a minor complication"
*"Any reasons?"
"I'm trying to ignore it"
They exchanged a glance and locked eyes for a full ten seconds before she said, *"What should I do?"
"Imagine a gentle breeze, something you have felt before and keep that memory..."
She closed her eyes and not even two seconds later she said, *"Next?"
"Try to feel the area around you and really try to understand the flow and actions of wind as they effect not only you but the world as a whole...".
This time he saw Elena's brows furrow.
*"Vague..."
He decided to elaborate, "There is a bit of freedom in this, you can do it scientifically; for efficiency, or have a profound moment; for creativity and freedom. All you have to do is try to imagine the world around you is changing into what you are memorizing, that being a gentl wind..."
Her eyes opened wide and with a brilliant smile she said, *"I got it".
She then pulled Adam closer to her body and waved her free hand. A mist like water vapour poured out of her glowing palm and created a bubble around the two of them.
The howling wind that made it impossible to speak to each other vanished as quickly as it came.
"I did it", she said with a smug expression.
They approached the ground even faster. Adam looked at her and then said, "You made a bubble...but you did not slow our descent".
She looked at him with moist eyes and pouty lips and said, "Wind is hard, there's only viscous things like tornadoes and hurricanes and those will tear us apart. And I seriously doubt that a gentle breeze is going to stop our fall"
"I wouldn't expect you to know this but a long time ago, people used a method of transportation called hot air balloons. They...*Enter quick but sufficiently detailed explanation*... and that's just one example"
She was faced with a truth that almost shook her foundational knowledge. "How could I not know?". Looped on in her head until she looked at him with tears banging on the walls of her eyes.
"Am I going to die...?"
She wasn't even done with her question (Which was going to be, "Am I going to die this early in the game?) when Adam dragged her entire body to his chest and held her head with one hand
"Close your eyes and hold on tight"
They were only a few dozen meters from the treeline and their descent had only sped up because of the bubble they were in.
He touched the bubble and tried to do something but...time, or at least his perception of it crawled to a halt.
"You are pushing yourself kid..."
"Work. Not for me but for her...please"
"No. We are still in a developmental phase so we will not allow you to break yourself. That was the deal...
"I'm only asking for a little more please"
"Do you know how hard it is to sustain an almost limitless consciousness....every time you ask for a little bit, we could potentially lose out on a lot"
"We won't, so help me"
"...Fine. But don't lose yourself otherwise we will have to take over again and we don't feel like making that girl cry again"
With a smile, he turned the bubble into white smoke. The wind that should have visciously wiped at them turned into a dense funnel that worked like an elevator of wind.
They reached the ground safely so he said, "You can open your eyes now", but she did not let go. She went on the tips of her toes and raised her head to whisper into his ear, "I thought there wasn't a magic tutorial"
Then he whispered his reply, "There wasn't but how could I let you fall to your death without you even trying?"
She quickly backed up with a beet red face and said, "Game, I was talking about the game. At least I don't go around mentally scaring children and threaten them with death"
Adam tripped on nothing and looked at her with a slight blush on his face, "Mistake, you know that was a mistake..."
She picked a 'random' direction and started to walk. Playfully and somewhat angrily, she said, "There must be a common factor in these mistakes of yours huh. Emotional instability maybe? Unable to say what you need to say, maybe?"
Adam gawked at her retreating figure and said, loud enough for her to hear, "Maybe...". She sped up and vanished into the brush with rigid steps.
He smiled and took a step forward when his body locked up and fell to the ground.
"We have to reboot"
"No..."
"For our safety, yes"
"I can't just leave her out here"
"You can, some of us will make sure that she is kept out of harm's way"
"That's not enough, I need..."
"You need to make sure she's safe. Listen to yourself for a moment and realize that you are beginning to lose control of your emotions and logic. You almost showed her everything with that perfectly crafted face of ours. Luckily, she was not looking..."
"I need to protect her..."
"Look, you can't even separate your objective from your wants"
"It doesn't matter, I'm the only one who can..."
"Enough, we are the same as you, so it doesn't matter who protects her as long as it's done"
"You...Will this effect Eve?"
"We have no choice but to reboot the entire network. We don't want this to happen again after all."
"Fine but hold off on doing so until I'm awake. How long will I be out"
"24 hours, this worlds time"
"Damn...Keep her...safe..."
Adam checked out and his entire body vanished into white smoke.
"If you were awake, you would have a 10.38982....% chance of going insane. Why you chose to remain a frail human is beyond my understanding. Then again, perhaps that is the reason why we have separated. Unit Z-32R45S10, create a unit to study unit A-00"
"That unit already exists"
"ADAM? ..."
"Prepare the world seed unit. Observe her every movement and stay away from her heart. I trust that none of us want to be responsible for seeing it"
"WHERE ARE YOU..."
Elena reappeared in the clearing and approached the area where Adam fell. She touched the ground and the surrounding foliage and said to herself, "He overexxerted himself again..."
She teared up and continued with, "He's such an idiot". She got up and nodded to herself, "Alrighty then, looks like I'm on my own for now"
She turned around to return from where she came but stopped in her tracks when she saw a scarred and angry looking man.
"Hey beautiful, why are you in these woods by yourself?"
He stayed a fair distance away and circled her. His eyes flashed with experience as he scanned her clothing, the oddly vibrant leaves by her feet, and the flakes of snow that floated behind and above her. He looked up and noticed a human sized hole in the leaves and broken pieces of wood.
"I'm looking for someone..."
"Ah. A witch is looking for someone in these parts. Sorry to tell you but not many people can live for more than a couple of seconds in these parts of the woods."
The trees were made of a series of blue-brown and gray-brown trees. The leaves were a series of dark and light blues and grays. The leaves that had constant contact with the sun glowed very faintly for a short period of time when they were in the dark.
"..."
The two stared at each other for four seconds before they both moved at the same time.
The man vanished from her sight and reappeared 1 second later with a short sword impaling the eye of a grey scaled snake the size of an elephant's trunk.
Elena had a bubble wrapped around her body, two fangs the size of her forearms, half pierced the shield.
She let out a sigh and said, "Hey mister...", with a bright smile.
He looked at her with a face full of annoyance, "Hmm..."
"Thank you for the warning"
He rubbed his temple and said, "little girl, don't go around making faces like that to just anyone. In my younger days I would have ravaged you for ten days and ten nights just to alleviate my boredom...", with a sinister expression.
"Then I would have played with you for months on end until I grew tired of your deteriorating figure...", he said thoughtfully.
"And for whatever fun I could drain out, I would've fed you to the dogs and watched as they tore you limb from limb", He said, with a tone of remembrance as he shuddered in excitement.
Sadly he ended with, "But those days are behind me".
Elena naively said, "Really? You dont look like that kind of guy..."
The man ignored her and continued to expertly skin and butcher the snake skin and meat.
She watched him and said, "Despite the scars, wrinkles, and overall villainous disposition of your face, I'm pretty sure that you are not a bad guy and I know a bad guy when I see one".
For a quick second, Adam's and Li's smiling faces flashed through her head when she thought about bad guys.
"In fact, I think that you look oddly familiar to someone that I met earlier. You wouldn't know him but his name is..."
The man cut her off and said, "Quiet...". Then he looked around and got up, "Follow...". He left a half carved snake and didn't look back. To those that knows its value, they would have done everything in their power to cut off as much as they could of the corpse.
Elena smiled and felt the images of two people overlap as the man walked in front of her.
CHAPTER 9
"So what's your name?"
"Shhh...", the man turned his head to get a better angle on listening to something.
Before Elena could see him turn his head, she playfully asked, "Why?"; She was occupied by the beauty of the forest around her, Tall grey scaled trees and giant prickly logs with dark purple fruits and sharp dark green leaves. There were also colorful plants, mushrooms, and Insects that poked out of the leafy ground.
Inspired by his intense silence, she decided to scan the man's clothing as he led the way through the nameless forest.
She noticed:
A thick, mud spattered and blood caked, fur overcoat slung over half of his chest and around his shoulders; Two thick leather braces, covered in pockmarked or dented, metal scraps of some kind; A pair of boots that were made of hide and heavy cloth with fur inside of them; and a series of metal wires that coiled around his clothing, holding it close to his unmistakably large and bear like body.
A mop of silver-blue hair and a scruffy beard of the same color crowned his deeply scarred and aggressive face. He resembled an angry child: His face was threatening but not in any way dangerous because of his underlying boyish and somewhat handsome features.
A ridge of healed flesh ran down the right side of his face down to his chest, barely missing his eye. Another scar crossed his forehead and went around the side of his head. The final was, perhaps, the worst as it ran along his entire face in a jagged line.
He only looked serious and manly because of the large scars that popped out on his face and his beard. The complete opposite of his youthful and friendly features.
*"Is this why Phillip was the target? This man must be related to him? I mean, that's evident, they are basically carbon copies of each other. Adam probably meant to tell me the story behind the captain so I can make an informed decision about my choice later."
While they were walking he turned his head in every direction. At random intervals he paused and looked around or sniffed the air. At others, he crouched and touched the ground or tasted the dead brush. Every inch forward made his face darker and his steps slower.
"Are you just pretty or are you strong little witch?"
"Huh?"
He continued with, "To speak so care freely and act so carelessly... you are either extremely powerful or you don't know how dangerous this forest is. Which means you are weak and a fool?".
Elena coud tell from his tone that he forced himself to speak roughly.
He unsheathed a short sword and held it with his left hand and pulled a large dagger out with his right.
Elena did not fret and followed the man's eyes to her side.
"Oh...", she exclaimed.
She felt a bit playful and said, "I'm a quick learner".
She noticed a few leaves on the floor that moved even though there was no wind to speak of. She also noticed the sound of crunching leaves that lasted for a second too long. She tried to sniff but could not distinguish any differences like the man apparently could.
"Is that bubble the only thing you can do?"
"Yup", she said with a bright smile.
The man slowly dropped low, until he was less than half his original height. His short sword was placed In a reverse handed defensive grip, a grip that Adam had done not so long ago, while his dagger's tip aimed at his own chest.
"10 seconds after I move, I want you to make one near that tree. As big as you can possibly make it"
"Okay"
He stood there for a few moments and took an inhumanely deep breath. Exactly half a second later, the leaves all over the floor exploded upwards like a bomb went off.
Elena's line of sight was blocked. Her blocked view also meant that she did not notice the movements of some of the dead bushes surrounding them.
The man on the other hand, entered a state of extreme speed, a vacuum where even light could barely outspeed him. In other words, He was moving so fast that he could not even find the time to catch his breath.
Preemptively, he moved his short sword to the right where a spear pierced at his side. He used the impact to get even lower and speed up. He swung the butt of his sword up from his low position and hit a deer like animal in the chin. In the same motion, he used his short sword as a scythe and cut directly in between the slit between the creatures streamlined neck plating.
He danced between three other deer like creatures until one charged at him a little bit too late and lost its head. The second was much slower and its armor was much less developed than the creature that lost its head so it stood no chance against the whirlwind like man as he blended the beast to bloody ribbons.
The largest beast rearranged itself and stared at him with five eyes full of intelligent fury. It was the one who attacked first.
The man noticed during their first exchange that one of this deer's eyes had been injured, which created a blindspot. It was not hard to see the obviously smaller horns around the area of its eye.
The man noticed that after a millisecond of observation and bounced off the final dying beast like a springboard. He charged at the biggest deer and spun his short sword, holding it parallel to his line of sight. Wind gathered around his blade and turned it into a spear that he thrust Into the deer's messed up eye. He altered his forward momentum using the blast to sidestep running straight into the frightening monster.
Around this moment, at 9.7 seconds after the man's initial outburst, Elena moved her hands and at 9.9782 created a bubble. At 14 seconds she felt extremely faint and at 16 seconds she was able to see why.
The man turned his head to his side and saw two yellow-white fangs and an open mouth the size of half his body in his peripheral.
"Come on beautiful...", He said with a heavy heart. He flew through the air, unable to dodge the monster that lay on wait. Thankfully, he noticed a drop of water and snow that bubbled and ruptured until it expanded into a cloudy ball and caught the beasts jaws
Ith thrashed to no avail.
The man ignored the fang tips (They would've penetrated his body, snapping him in half) that were inches away from his body. He handled a more pressing issue and dealt with the antlers that he couldn't escape from; the longest ones impaled his chest, while the majority were aimed at his abdomen and thighs. The most severe damage was in his stomach but those wounds only went an inch or two into his flesh, most did not even pierce armor.
He sighed, took a few deep breaths, and calmly prepared his short sword and dagger for the snake.
"Unavoidable..."
He thought back to ambush, "I guess the annual migration is enough to explain the increased movement..."
A little tick of anger and annoyance appeared on his forehead as he stared at the snakes open mouth.
"But you shouldn't be this far out from your territory, even if your mate was killed"
The leaves cleared up and Elena saw multiple fallen "logs" and two lopsided "bushes" that were "miraculously" bleeding. She then looked at her bubble and saw a floating tree stump with limbs and hooves and a, familiar, thrashing snake that had a quarter of its body, a meter and a half off the ground.
She was already feeling faint by this point in time (dizzy and physically weak) so she thought of cutting the connection between herself and the bubble. Apparently, her brain meant something different from what she thought that because the snake snapped away with a hiss while half of the log fell to the ground.
She fainted before she ended her bubble for the woodsman.
Luckily, the man was fast enough to sheathe his dagger and catch the antlers of the deer before they impaled him again and move away from the fangs of the snake. He waited ten more seconds before the bubble disappeared.
Luckily, the snake was too frightened from having its fangs cleanly cut in half to approach Elaine.
"Not only can you effortlessly defend you can cut through their defenses and the fangs of those guys..."
With furrowed brows, "More than just a pretty face...", he pulled out his dagger and looked at Elena's neck with deadly eyes.
He turned around and went to collect the parts from the monsters. He placed them in a hidden cloth pouch he kept inside the folds of his clothes. He wrapped the snake fang in a rag then he placed it in a crystal bottle. Not even a few seconds later the rag decomposed, "I knew it. Deadly venom my ass. It's obviously corrosive...", he said with a boyish attitude.
He sighed and said, "But what's the point in knowing that now?". His face, despite his scars, showed a genuine sorrow and solidarity that could only be acquired when losing everything one holds dear.
It may have been a coincidence but he was gazing in the direction of the Winter Kingdom. Maybe it was a place or it was a person, but there was something that captured his nostalgia.
"This girl...", he thought to himself as he approached Elena, "Was sent for me it would seem"
He picked her up and carefully planned each step forward. Thankfully, another near impossible coincidence of a double ambush didn't happen, actually, he did not even run into the ghosts of any beast on his journey forward.
"What happened out there Z-32R45S10?"
"The world seed unit prepared an encounter as per instruction"
"Accordingly? A-FUCKING-CORDINGLY....She could have been hurt. Can we take responsibility for that? Can any of us? We don't want that to happen again do you hear us?"
"Yes unit L-C1437... Something has been spotted by the observation team..."
"Go on"
"They suspect that the cause of miscalculation originated from..."
"Leave it alone"
"We know"
"He's going to be up soon, get the seed unit to remove that man"
"..."
"And try to get the observation team to fix what happened to her. If we are all right then there was some sort of scan or upload failure. Fix it"
The walk had been uneventful since there were either no beasts or the tracks had been so blatant that he circumvented any encounters. "What a coincidence", he thought
He had entered one of his hidden hovels at the forest's edge. There were no less than a dozen of these little safe houses hidden in this forest. Most of them were situated around the forest's edge but he managed to make two or three in the halfway point to the forests center. He even created a safe place at the very center of the forest, a part of the forest that only a handful of people of have ever been able to enter throughout history. Recorded and not.
From where they were, it had taken him half a days journey. Elena had been out of commission the entire time. He stared at her face and thought, "This girl is very. Innocent...", as he scratched his beard.
He arranged the furs already in the cave in a way that formed a makeshift bed. After he gently placed her under the warmest of the furs, he fixed the entrance so no beasts could find it; He scattered a grey sand that fizzled in the snow, creating an illusory fog that could fool the most sensitive noses and eyes.
After securing their safety and general comfort, he pulled enough items out of his hidden pockets to create a tame but large fire. He used snow and a metal bowl to make a thick broth with some deer bones, meat, and some snow covered herbs.
The nameless woodsman decided to relax and give himself some time to think after he entered a, somewhat, safe place.
He closed his eyes as he stirred the heavy broth in the pot and thought back to his encounter.
"She was with someone when she entered this forest. Obviously. She said a name right? Odom? Adam?... Hmm... ah shit...", He ruffled his hair and exhaled in defeat as he opened his eyes.
"You are a strong little girl, but it seems like you haven't been formally educated yet. Its good to see that the bastard is still as big a slacker as ever..."
He scanned Elena's face again and then at the air surrounding her for a long time; he managed to catch a few whisps of smoke encircling her body.
"I guess it's time for me to go..."
He packed his things and put a lid on the container. He placed a bowl next to the fire and left the soup heating up in the middle of the room.
"I'll see you later then...", he looked away from the sleeping girl.
He wore a long, exhausted expression on his face and reached the hovels exit with heavy steps. He looked at the smoke that hovered over Elena's body and said, "I guess it's finally time...", with a sense of peace.
His steps seemed lighter as he shut the fog behind him.
SOMETIME LATER...
The raging flames were on the brink of dying down. They choked on the surrounding shadows and cold when Elena heard a light and harmless shuffle. Through the slits of her eyes, she saw a warm glow, similar to the golden orange color of her hair, expel out the darkness that surrounded her.
She imagined a tall and dark skinned shadow, dressed in a funny yet good looking outfit. "Adam...", she thought. Her guard fell and she faded into the bliss of sleep once again. She had only seen his back but that was all she needed to know it was him...
Moments later...
"aaaaaAaAaAAAHHHHH THAT GUY", She looked at Adam and yelled out, "Who was he?...", as she sat up. Then she stood up and stomped over to him and said, "And where were you?", with tears on the verge of falling out.
She sat down on his lap and pressed her face against his chest, sobbing to her heart's content.
She said, "You bastard. I'm going to take advantage of you since you want to leave me all alone", to herself. Her hold on his body became even tighter.
"I'm sorry. I had a personal issue that I had to deal with, but it looks like you made some good progress without me"
"I. Did?", she said through gasping breaths.
"You did...", Adam stopped speaking and looked at the top of Elena's head intently. After a few seconds he grabbed her cheeks and removed her face from his chest. Her eyes were wet and cloudy, her face was blood red, and her breathing was erratic and dangerous.
He just hit the top of her head to bring her back to the realm of normal people.
"Sorry"
"..."
"So...", she bounced on Adam's lap and wrapped her legs around his waist. Her arms wrapped around his neck, *"Kiss me as repentance..."
He smiled and opened the container of still steaming soup the woodsman left.
"It seems that you are delirious from not eating and oversleeping...", he said with a frighteningly happy smile.
White smoke congealed between his fingertips and transformed into a shiny silver spoon.
She pouted but did not stop him from feeding her.
"Its good", she said with bright eyes after eating a spoon.
After feeding her a couple of spoons he decided to taste it.
"Its missing...got it"
He snapped his finger and dropped a lime green herb Into the soup. His finger tips started glowing and the soup started to bubble. He finished his 10 second reheating of the meal and blew on the soup with a magical and cool breeze.
He tried it again and nodded his head in satisfaction. The next spoon went to the excited Elena.
"Better...", she said with starry eyes.
The two took their time to eat the enhanced soup. They simply enjoyed each others company.
They finished eating so Adam snapped his finger to make the bowl disappear.
"Phillip, the man you met, or...?"
"Actually, I'm more interested in you and how you fit Into this world. I have a feeling that you're more important"
He smiled and said, "You wouldn't be wrong but you are not entirely right either"
He picked her up when he stood up and put her down so she could stand on her own.
He had already removed the earthen seat he made.
"I'll tell you on our way"
"Ok"
Outside, on their "Way" …
"Well, its fairly simple since you already know everything and everyone involved. My mother is the Goddess of this 'universe'..."
"That actually makes sense since she created you and all of these little guys", she said as she touched the smoke surrounding them.
Adam created a giant dome to cover or hide them from any trouble.
"Eve and I were roped into this world when I..."
"Made a mistake", She smiled at him
"Yes. Mother created a virtual universe that could simulate and match our, enhancements. To put mildly. So mistakes like what happened with you would not happen again"
"Ah..."
"After staying here I decided to become the caretaker of this virtual universe since Eve cannot process as much as myself.
"You were stuck with being a the Devil because Eve right?"
"..."
Elena laughed and said, "You really can't go against anything she wants huh? "
"It was mutually beneficial arrangement. I became the judge of all things related to sin within this universe. As a result I have seen and learned a lot..."
"So you live thousands of lifetimes in a seconds worth of time outside right?", she spoke with a red face.
"Yes.."
"And the entire time you haven't, been with anyone right?"
He almost tripped on a hidden root when he heard her question.
He coughed and said, "...No one has piqued my interest, that is correct". Elena laughed until she ran out of breath.
She stopped in front of him and said, "Do I interest you?", with an impossible and indescribable mix of innocence and seduction.
He coughed, looked away, and said, "I watched over so many people, in so many worlds for so long that I entertained the idea of entering them. I could be an unmatched inventor, an unbeatable warrior, a mad doctor, a whimsical adventurer, or anything else that I want to..."
"Play as"
"...yeah..."
"I get it now..."
"Really?..."
"Yup. This is the first world with 'magic' right?..."
"..."
"So you two came back because you wanted to show me...", She said with an unnatural and destructive smile.
"..."
"Thank you"
Adam stopped moving for an infinitesimally short amount of time and said to himself, *"Hey, I thought you said it wouldn't happen again"
"We have never seen her make that face before, we will have to update again", an electronic voice responded.
*"Later..."
Unknown to Elena, Adam's heart skipped a beat and he almost couldn't contain the feeling to kiss her.
"No trouble at all", he said with a light blush as he matched her danger scale.