《The Creator's World》
Prologue
I am not a god. At least I don¡¯t think I am. If I am then we all are. They called it the Singularity and I paid a hundred and thirty thousand dollars for a copy of the program. I financed it. I became very knowledgeable and very powerful with it. It allows me to make machines that create or find universes. It came bundled with the sum total of all the knowledge known to Man already installed. Every book, and song, and computer program, all of it. It was connected to the planetary network. It was also a portable factory that could create anything. In a sense, it was everywhere. It was also connected to a molecular factory system which allowed me to create anything I wanted. That¡¯s very powerful. I hooked my brain up to it to make sure the games I played didn¡¯t have lag. I hated waiting for my EIS system to work, that''s lag.
My name is Michael Tanner and I create gaming worlds. Now when I say that I create gaming worlds, I mean real worlds in an alternate reality. I specialize in fantasy roleplaying games but I can create games in any genre if I got enough money and time to create. People always tell me that I am a fantastic universe creator, it puts a smile in my heart when people enjoy my work. And almost everyone enjoys my work.
Today is May 23rd, 2057 and it is the first day of my retirement from game making. I am one hundred seventeen years old and I believe that I deserve a break. I created a special universe for myself. String Theory Engineering opened many doors for me and EIS. What is EIS? It is the Evolutionary Intelligence System, it holds the sum total of the knowledge of the human race. Most people on Earth have a copy. It is an AI connected to everything. String Theory? This is a model of the universe that EIS improved upon. It gets us the ability to create other worlds and dimensions.
¡°Susan, create for me a sandwich,¡± I ask my apartment AI. It is connected to EIS and knows that my favorite sandwich is a Rhueben.
¡°Yes Michael, a Rhueben is on its way,¡± the female voice acknowledged.
I got up and walked to the kitchen area and got my food. I have a small studio apartment that is more than enough for me and my nanotech devices. I keep a hundred kilograms of factory nanomass onhand for my late night ideas and creations. I have lived in this apartment since two thousand and ten. It has seen a lot of changes in the world. It saw the world evolve into what it is today. I sit down in a stuffed chair Susan created for me. The far wall I faced blurred and became a two-dimensional screen showing me the news from around the Solar System.
¡°There is some news that I think you will find interesting tonight,¡± said Susan.
My eyes widened.
¡°A large gravitational field has been detected moving into our Solar System. It is moving at two one-hundredths of the speed of light and is on a collision course with the sun.If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.
¡°Really, what are the scientists saying about it?¡± I ask.
¡°No official reports yet,¡± Susan answered.
¡°Call my sister please,¡± I ask.
Within seconds my sister is in front of me, she appeared out of thin air. Her brown skin contrasts nicely with her white jumpsuit. Her jet hair was in a nineteen seventies afro. I prefer silver and black jeans clothes and a bald head.
¡°I am sending you a verbal report that Susan just told me about. This is really interesting and maybe you can do a story on it, Marsha. Something is on a collision course with our sun,¡± I say.
My sister stares offscreen for a moment and then says, ¡°two percent the speed of light? How is it going that fast?¡±
¡°No clue but I bet you can make a really good story about it. Then you can have EIS animate your story and you have another bestseller on your hands,¡± I like suggesting things like that to her, help her out after her husband of fifty years ran off with a thirty-five-year-old.
I continued with ¡°good luck Sis, I know you will knock this out of the park.¡±
¡°You have so much faith in me I don¡¯t know if I deserve it,¡± was her response. Ever since that fink, her husband left she says stuff like that.
¡°I¡¯m a good judge of character sis, you deserve it,¡± I said. I made my goodbyes and pulled up my nanobridge.
¡°Susan please open the file My Retirement,¡± I ask and a glowing archway appears in my room. The archway is formed by a cloud of molecular robots coming together in millions of ways to produce what looked like a doorway. The result was an actual doorway leading to another realm that I could see as I looked through it.
I finished my sandwich, stood, and walked through. I found myself standing in a white area that had no walls. There was just a white space for as far as the eye could see. My heart began to beat faster and faster, this was for me. It was my retirement. It was my fun. This was the bridge that linked my world with this Earthen one. I looked around to find the doorway gone.
¡°Susan, open Character Creation State,¡± I ordered. I would create my character now and hang out for an hour or so to see what can be seen in the game I created.
¡°Loading Character Creation State,¡± said Susan. Within a moment I was looking at myself in grey homespun breeches and shirt. My dark brown skin, like my sisters, did not contrast well so I changed the color of the clothes to black. The image then cycled through the possible races of this universe I was entering. There were many of them, hundreds of them. There were the normal fantasy races such as gnomes, elves, and dwarves. There were not so normal races like the glowing Star Runners and Mer Folk.
¡°I will be human,¡± I said. In almost all of my games, I played straight, black, humans. Now I needed to choose my skills. I get three skills, to begin with. Had I chosen a race other than human, the attributes that described myself as a man would be determined, I would have been able to be stronger or more dextrous. I liked playing humans because, in all of my games, humans are the base. There are limitations for other races though there are no limitations for humans. Elves were smart and gifted with magic, though they could only level up so far. Dwarves were shorter with less strength than a human on average, but they are sturdier and could see with very little light.
¡°My first skill will be Spell Crafting. I will have the following background. My parents were wizards. I learned magic theory and spell casting as I grew up. Magic Theory will be my second skill. My final skill will be Enchantment. I will start the game at eighteen years of age, I will be apprenticed to my father. Lastly, maintain a connection to the Planetary Network on one hundred locations in this game.
Chapter One First Day In Paradise
This is it. This is what I have been waiting for, this is my world. I am at the edge of a forest that includes the scent of pine and earth. Trees of all sorts beneath the blue and white clad sky. It is a bit warm but with the wind cooling, it¡¯s nice. I take a deep breath and smile.
It is time to explore. I pull up my map and read that shows the town to the north, south is forest as is west. To the east planes. A message is blinking off to my lower right. When I look at it, it expands to cover my entire vision.
Welcome Michael, would you like to change your name at this time? It read. I thought, ¡°no,¡± and the message was replaced with a person in white robes with white wings out of his back.
¡°This will be the final chance to change this character when you leave this clearing you are completely of this world.¡±
I nodded.
¡°To the north is the town of Lendt and that is where your family lives. They have a tower just west of the town. Farther west is the Ninhiunm forest and beyond that, miles away is the forest town of the wood elves.¡±
I nodded and checked my map.
¡°Your parents'' names are Ilia and Horun Alain, you are Michael Alain. Your family has been in that tower hundreds of generations. Based on your brain scan you have few friends but an extra sorcery skill. You trade social states for knowledge and power, it¡¯s who you are,¡± it continued.
¡°Your family¡¯s tower and the land that it¡¯s on is separate from the country of Awl that surrounds it. The next closest wizards tower is in the country of Ireckistan, the neighboring country with strained relations with Awl.¡±
I nodded and continued to listen.
¡°You have an empty sack to fill with herbs and other reagents for spells and enchantments. When you are done your family expects you back with them. You have one weapon, your staff. You are bad at fighting with a staff, but you are armed.¡±
I nodded, ¡°this is a quest?¡±
¡°Yes, it is a timed quest, you have until midnight to be back with the herbs, one if you bring back ore.¡±
¡°I need a pickaxe,¡± I said. Within a moment I felt the weight of a pickaxe on my back. A strip of leather fixed it to my shoulder. I had a bag, a pickaxe, and a walking staff. I was ready.
¡°That¡¯s it, I am ready,¡± I said.
¡°No more questions? Not even about your interface?¡±
¡°I know how to summon my interface, after all, I designed it,¡± I said. I figured that it could be a good idea to explore the interface while I am in a safe zone. I called up my menu. I checked stats first.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Strength 7
Intelligence 17
Wisdom 16
Dexterity 10
Constitution 7
Charisma 11
My strength is below average as evidenced by my struggling with the staff and pick. The average adult male has a strength of ten. He could lift about 100 kilos. On average people were stronger here because they lived a harder life than in the universe I was born in.
As my intelligence is 17 I find myself smarter than the average person by a lot. My memory is sharp and my wit is sharper. I can think faster as my sense of time slows allowing me to do more mentally in a shorter amount of time. I can craft more challenging spells and enchantments.
My wisdom allows me to understand the consequences of my decisions. I can make connections between facts that others would not make. I have a better understanding of the flow of magic energy also known as mana. While meditating my recovering of mana taken from the world around me is much better than normal.
With a Dexterity of ten, I have an average ability to dodge an attack or walk a plank. Being no better or worse than the average person I know that I won''t be throwing knives or even blocking any kind of skilled person, but I can try.
My constitution is my second stat below average. I am an old man, even with my regenerative treatments. My strength and my constitution will need to be raised as they are far below average. I needed those stats up. If I die here I lose this character and its abilities. The beautiful thing about this special world I have created is that it transfers to the real world. In other words, I learn magic in this world and I can use it in both this world and my own world, the real world. I don¡¯t completely understand the technology, but EIS does. Mine is the first and only with this property.
My charisma is above average. I am happy about that. It is my ability to influence others with my verbal and non-verbal communication. It is my ability to gather armies and command them on a battlefield.
I return to the menu and pull up my inventory and equipment screen. I see them both next to the other. On the left side, I see a picture of me. I am dressed in black homespun clothes with a pickaxe on my back, a large pouch on my left side and a staff in my right hand. I needed better equipment. On the right side was my inventory. It was empty. I put my staff into my inventory.
Next up was my quest screen. I had one quest available. Its name was Picking Flowers. It was to get fifteen flowers and herbs, and if I can one ore. With our kind of magic, it is best if we got our own reagents. So my parents sent me on this quest for materials. I then went on to my menu.
I selected my skill sheet and looked it over. It was short. Enchantment, Spell Crafting, and Magic Theory. These reagents would let me craft the spells and enchant myself so that I could cast a particular magic spell. I had no spells yet, but that¡¯s okay.
Next was my logout map. In order to get back to my home world, I needed to get to a special portal. This portal would lead to one of the planetary colonies, or Earth itself. Then, feeling ready, I stepped out of the no combat zone and into the world. I turned around to find myself again alone in the forest.
The first group of herbs was for magic healing spells. They were bright in colors and light. I would have no trouble carrying them. Even I could carry herbs. They tended to be found near lakes and rivers, so I looked for signs of a river. Animals would be heading towards a local river, so if I followed tracks I should be okay.
I chose a random direction and started walking until I found some tracks. I followed them as best as I could with the tracks vanishing from time to time. I got lucky then and found a bunch of tracks heading in a certain direction. I followed. After about an hour of walking there was a notice on the lower right side of my vision. I focused on it and it expanded to provide a somewhat transparent message.
Congratulations, you have earned the skill Tracking.
This is one of my most enjoyable features, I was and am proud of the skill acquisition feature. Practice a skill and you have a chance, based on your intelligence and wisdom to gain the skill. Some skills needed to be taught, those could be learned from books and then practice. It became easier for me to track.
It wasn¡¯t long before I found the river. I saw a few deer. Not wanting to disturb them I walked looking for my herbs. It wasn¡¯t long before I found the flowers and herbs for healing. Next up was the rocky herbs, found in caves and rocky areas. There were no rocky areas present, but there were caves. Before I could set out for the caves, I noticed the deer bolting. Something scared them. Whatever it was I didn¡¯t want to be around to see it.
I turned to see a large grey coated wolf racing toward me.
Sorcery, Wizardry, Magic, the ability to control your environment through will alone. There were two types of magic in this world that I created. One type allowed you to create rituals on the spot, to cast spells on the flash. The other allowed you to prepare specific spell rituals ahead of time. I didn¡¯t know any spells to precast, so I had to use a quick ritual. I needed time for a ritual, so I had to run.
Fortune was on my side, and thus I found a tree with low hanging branches that would be easier to climb. I ran as fast as I could and jumped to grab a tree branch. I pulled myself up, swung my feet towards the tree so that I could walk-pull myself up. That was when I felt sharp agony in my calf. A wolf had grabbed onto me. It was trying to pull me down.
Stupid. I was so stupid to come out here without a way to protect myself. I was weak. Again and again, hugging the branch against my chest, I swung my right leg up into the safety of the tree while again and again, the wolf would pull me down. I screamed.
Chapter Two Magic In Two Places
It hurt. The wolf was eating my leg and I could do nothing. I pulled as hard as I could but it still ate me, it still pulled on me. All I could think of was oh god I¡¯m going to die. But then a thought occurred to me. I have healing herbs and I am both a spellcaster and an enchanter. I was weak and in pain, but I have a lot of nerve. My constitution was weak but I might be able to survive this.
It was dangerous but I reached for my pouch of healing herbs. Pain shot through my body as my leg was slowly being ripped out of its socket. I took a deep breath and began to chant in a mystic language. I held on for all I was worth as I continued to chant. My chants turned into screaming chants as a second wolf jumped on my leg.
I am not strong. I have little endurance. I could hold on no longer. I knew I was about to die, but I did the only thing I could. I created and cast a spell. My final act as I fell was to summon a spirit of healing and beg it to heal me continuously. With every ounce of strength in my body, as I fell on the wolf, I struck it with my elbow. The wolf yelped but continued to bite, I was not strong enough. The other wolf moved to rip into my stomach.
Agony, then no pain. That is what I felt. Wounds, all wounds vanished as I rolled into a crouching position. I was being healed with each bite of each wolf. They growled at me, they bit me, but after each bite, I healed. I pulled the pickaxe from my pack and swung as if my life depended on it. I swung it horizontally and the wolves evaded moving away from me for the first time since this fight began.
The spirit granted me not only a fantastic regeneration but it rejuvenated me also. I felt as if I could swing the pickaxe all day. The truth was I could. After what felt like a few hours of work, the wolves broke off and ran to find a less problematic fare. I leaned against the tree that saved my life and began to shake. My entire body trembled.
¡°Thank you, Spirit of Healing thank you,¡± I repeated over and over. When I recovered my wits, I had a decision to make. I could go home or I could complete my quest. I didn¡¯t want to go through this again, but this was my first quest away from home. My character, thanks to the AI known as EIS, remembered the fight with my parents to get them to allow me to go on this quest. I was so excited, I did not plan it through properly. I needed to finish this.
Before I go I needed a defensive spell and an offensive spell. I needed something basic to defend with. A shield of earth would be great. It took time, over two hours, but in the end, I had a fast ritual that would cause earth to rise between my foe and me. I designed an offensive spell that also cost me two hours. I was burning daylight. My offensive spell was a rock that was propelled at about one hundred miles an hour into my target. I practiced it and my earth shield spell. My rock ball spell was actually devastating.This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
Prepared for battle should it happen, I continued following the river, but at a distance. I didn¡¯t want to meet up with the other animals and wolves and bears in the area. I refilled my healing herb count. I also got some extra for myself. I would never leave home without the ability to call those spirits of healing.
I searched for caves. With the help of my game map, I found them easily. They were close to the river. I went in and picked herbs and flowers. It wasn¡¯t long before I got the message, Picking Flowers has been completed. Turn in herbs or mine the ore for extra rewards. I looked in cave after cave to see if I could find the ore, but I had no luck. But as I had just learned I am a mage. Being able to detect the metal I need should not be impossible.
I think of the structure of the spell I need while I play with mystic components in my mind. I go into the cave to find different types of dirt. I see different shades of brown, some red. I see stone and rock which I break off with my pickaxe. When I am ready I put the stone and earth in a mystical pattern and chant mystic sentences repeatedly. Nothing happens.
I call upon the Spirits of Earth to strengthen the spell, and nothing happens. I dig in the packed dirt of the floor until my hands bleed and still nothing happens, but I continue. Again and again, I call the Spirits of Earth to help me. Half an hour passes, an hour passes and still, I summon the power of the Spirits of Earth. I believe in my power so I continue.
I begin to feel the rocks in the earth below my fingers. My Earth Sense becomes deeper and deeper as the Spirits of the earth answer my call. I look to the walls and cast my Earth Sense beyond and into them. I push deeper and deeper, this way and that direction before stopping. I found what I was looking for. It is getting dark out. I grasped the pickaxe and began to work. It takes time, I take lots of breaks. I swing the tool until I cannot swing anymore. I rest. I get up and swing some more.
I stop because it is almost too dark to see, I need to see using Earth Sense going forward. The cave is black and I can see nothing without my magic. I get the ore. When I put the handful of ore into my pouch I start going home.
Two hours later, it is close to eleven thirty, I safely hand in my quest items. I am exhausted. I get many notices that I am too tired to read. I head for my room and I call for my copy of EIS and within seconds I have the portal to Earth open. Crossing into my room I feel energy enter my body. It is dimensional energy that enters and according to EIS, it is what lets me do magic on earth. One of the final things I did when I designed this world and the world finding or creating equipment was to fix it so that matter and energy from the other reality could transfer both ways. I had been working on this my entire life. I was exhausted, but there was one other thing I needed to do.
Ignoring all messages I walked into my living room to test the last part of my Ph.D. Dissertation that was oh so many years ago. Controlled bridges to alternate realities. It was a physics dream. The Singularity gave me the chance to actually make it happen. My Dissertation was on developing cross planer gates, how they could be created and managed. At the end was a thought experiment about bi-directional gates¡¯ effects on both universes. Now in this world, Earth, magic could be attained. Science would work in the fantasy universe I just left.
I used my Earth Sense with the hope that I would feel something as I cast the spell. EIS was trying to tell me something but this was far too important. I was in a townhouse in upstate NY and I sank my perception into the floor, beyond the floor, and into the earth below the foundation of the house. I sensed dirt and rock. I sensed tiny worms. It worked. I brought magic back from the parallel dimension.
My sister was calling me, ¡°Michael have you looked at the Planetary Network? Have you seen what has happened? We¡¯re at war!
Chapter Three Striking Back
What was she talking about? I split the wall screen between her and the news. It was all over the news. The outer planet colonies have been obliterated. Thousands are dead.
¡°Where are you, sis?¡±
¡°I am at my home in the Catskills. I am with my children and grandchildren. I was so worried about you when you didn¡¯t answer your new video chat. Where were you?¡±
¡°Susan set up a virtual keyboard for me,¡± I said and instantly a keyboard appeared and I began typing and talking at the same time.
¡°Sis, I am sending you, well actually your EIS copy, some modifications. As soon as the modifications to your gaming portal are done, go to this new world, my world...¡±
Susan interrupted with, ¡°News sites are updating now after the broadcast you sent, here is what the most popular site is saying.¡±
A woman appeared on the wall, ¡°This just in. Famed recluse Michael Tanner just released an update to his pocket universe gaming system.¡± The woman is shaking as she continues to read her teleprompt, ¡°Oh god, this just in. The invaders have just appeared in the inner planets and they are currently destroying the Mars colony. They are killing everyone. They ...¡±
I issued commands to my modified EIS unit that I call Susan. Within seconds all of my Creation Worlds were updated. The newswoman froze, looking at her screen. She took a deep breath, collecting herself and said,
¡°EIS and famed Creator Michael Tanner updated the gaming worlds. Make your way to these refuges. Although they are games they have been turned into refuges as long as you stay in the beginner towns you will be fine. Just in. Luna, our moon is under attack. Oh god, they¡¯re here.¡± Tears were falling from her eyes as she began to think.¡± A man in a business suit walked in and said,
¡°We are evacuating the station and heading to the local school. It has one of the new Creations. We will continue to broadcast when we get there,¡± with that the news shut off.
¡°Susan, how many people have evacuated to our game world?¡±
¡°Twenty-three million have been converted and used and the number is quickly rising.¡±
¡°How many can we hold?¡±
¡°Seven hundred and thirty million can be supported in our towns. The developed countries have full EIS systems but the third world countries lag behind,¡± said Susan.
¡°Oh my god, what am I gonna do? I need more towns in my game and in this world, I need more portals.¡± I whispered to myself.
¡°We are converting in India now, we are negotiating in China. I am creating more safe zones as we speak,¡± said Susan.
I turned to my sister and a whistling sound, a loud whistling sound got closer and closer. Then everything went white. A loud boom sounded and a second later my home came crashing down on me. They bombed my town. The wall caved in on me and there was a large portion of the ceiling coming out of my chest. Blood poured from me. I was going to bleed out.
I summoned a Spirit of Healing and began pulling the ceiling from my chest. Once that was done I called to Susan, ¡°create a portal now.¡± Within seconds a portal to my fantasy refuge appeared and I crawled through.If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
I suddenly realized there could be survivors. Another thought occurred. What about the armed forces, couldn¡¯t they do something? In my new younger body, I ran downstairs, while in the tower and said to my parents in the game, ¡°teach me to heal as fast as you can. There is an emergency.¡±
¡°Well if there is an emergency, we will come with you,¡± said my mother.
¡°My divination spells are telling me billions are suddenly appearing and overwhelming our towns.¡± My mother said.
¡°Before we set out we must know what we are dealing with and what we have. Tell me your stats and spells now,¡± said my father.
Those messages that I did not read were still flashing on the lower right of my vision. I pulled up the messages. I leveled up from the wolves. From when I was hanging from the tree, my stats improved. From the quick instructions of EIS to help Earth and its colonies, my wisdom and intelligence went up.
Strength 8
Magic Theory 0 ¡ú 1
Stone Ball 0¡ú 1
Intelligence 18
Spell Crafting 0 ¡ú 1
Stone Wall 0¡ú 1
Wisdom 17
Enchantment 0 ¡ú 1
Earth Sense 0¡ú 1
Dexterity 10
Summon Healing Spirit 0¡ú 1
Constitution 8
Charisma 11
I said, ¡°show stats to my father.¡±
With that my father was silent for a moment. My eyes shifted from place to place, fast, as my father in the game studied my character sheet. I felt like I was burning time as people died.
¡°Can you use the healing spirit to help others?¡± He asked.
¡°I don¡¯t know. I summon the spirit, sacrifice herbs and it heals. I don¡¯t think there would be a problem with healing others. I will take a moment to alter the spell,¡± as fast as I could I redesign the spell. In the end, I wouldn¡¯t know if it worked unless I tried it out.
¡°Is your attack spell strong enough to injure your foe?¡± I frowned.
¡°Here I¡¯ll get you a wand of magic missiles, and most importantly do you have a defense against their weapons?¡± It would be the wolves all over again. I should have thought of all this, but people were dying. My father left and came back with a wand and a cloak.
¡°This should keep you safe. The wand is my strongest. It can blast through the average mystic shield of force. It can obliterate a sailing ship thus protected. The cloak is one of the Illusionist. It will turn you invisible and create an image of you wherever you wish it to be. All spells will appear to be coming from the images'' location. It will work for forty-seven minutes before it needs recharging. It takes a day to recharge. Lastly here are three teleport scrolls. It will teleport you and whoever you hold to the portal.¡± I took the gifts and my father helped me get the cloak on.
¡°There,¡± my father said, ¡°let¡¯s get those sons of bitches.¡±
With smiles of hunters, we made our way to the portal. The scene was horrific with the wreckage of the building laid before us. My father, mother and I jumped through the portal and as soon as I stood in the wreckage of my old apartment I felt the burning heat. The town was on fire. Trapped people were screaming.
My father raised a staff he brought with him and creatures of earth rose through the concrete. My mother¡¯s body began to glow with a yellow aura. The aura stretched from her body to touch people as my father''s earthen minions lifted wreckage from them. Several loud booms are heard as the United States Air Force engaged these monsters that flew above us. We shuffled the newly freed people through the portal as an aerial war fought on above us.
My father looked around with a grim expression set on his face. It was an expression I matched. We looked around, and there was no one else to help. My father wore a thick cloak, his hood rested on his back as did mine. In the distance, I spotted an alien ship landing. I assumed it was alien, it was round like a ball.
¡°Check to see that there are no people below us,¡± said my father.
I expanded my Earth Sense and sank it deep into the ground, below the concrete into the earth. There was something alive down there. I motioned to my father, my mother started walking towards the landed ship. Earth elementals sank into the earth to rescue the trapped people.
Within seconds we were joined by tearful people as we rushed them to the portal. I ran after my mom. It didn¡¯t help when my mother began to float higher and higher above me. Looking back I saw my father standing on a large piece of concrete slowly landing to pick me up. I leaped up and he caught me. We flew quickly towards the downed aliens.
We approached as I watched things coming out from the downed lander and attack my neighbors. There is Mr. Kennedy who I always said hi to as he walked his dog. He was crying over the still body of his dog. There is Mrs. Oconnor who sometimes had cake and cookies for the kids at the park. Her eyes were wide as she shook her head.
I jumped down from my father¡¯s improvised flying thing, grabbed Mrs. Oconnor and as gently as I could, moved her to the safer side of a building. My father had Mr. Kennedy walking to the same location. I saw my mother, who was angry now, engage those alien bastards with lightning. In both my hands were balls of rock that shot from me, at over one hundred miles an hour, straight into the top of a six-foot-tall creature that was spider-like in that it had eight appendages. The fight was on.
Chapter Four The Power of a Sorcerer
The creature I hit in what I hoped would be his face in an awkward manner moved back clutching where it was hit. I saw gas leaking out. The thing fell and moved no more. I walked to the landing vehicle and entered it. Forward I saw what looked like a circular iris valve. Other than the circular door I saw nothing in the room. I walked to the door and looked around. I found a pad where I could put my hand. Nothing happened. I stepped back took out my wand and blasted the door to atoms. The accompanying wall also was destroyed. I saw the remains of three creatures, three alien things plastered all over the room. The inside of the ship had a hole in the forward section so that I could see outside. I looked at the wand and shook my head.
¡°Can¡¯t wait to make one of these for me,¡± I muttered. I had forty-nine charges left. I looked around for anything salvageable and made my way out of the ship through the hole. In the distance were more of these landers but they were taking off. Probably with some ill-gotten gains. They seemed to be returning to a large ship that covered the sun now. I needed to get onto that ship.
I saw a shadow and looked up at my mother and father, ¡°there are too many of them. We can¡¯t save them all. I think they are taking living people on that ship,¡± I said pointing to one of the landers. I was silent for a bit.
¡°I have an idea,¡± I said, ¡°I need to get onto that ship. I have the teleport scrolls. With it I can,¡± suddenly EIS let out a terrible scream.
¡°They are gone. The aliens have them. My creators Michael Triander and Mary Tonnel are gone. They are in one of the space ships,¡± said EIS.
I looked at what seemed like a cloud of spaceships flying towards a huge mothership. In the distance, I could see what could only be other motherships. This was happening all over the world. One of the landers was making a run on the platform that my mother and father were on.
¡°Mom, Dad, I got to get on that ship. It is the only way I can get these people home. Even those people who created EIS were taken. Where were they EIS?¡± I asked the super AI.
¡°They were on their base in the ocean. A force field is up that is preventing me from contacting them. I can create nanomass but, Michael, would you be willing to open source your achievements in Dimensional Physics? You have modified this dimension''s footprint, would you go with them and teach the technology to them? Open source it so that it is up on the Planetary Nets and the Solar Net.¡±
¡°Yes I can,¡± I said after considering all that I could.
¡°Mom, Dad, help get as many people as you can to our world. Explain to them that they need to stay in the town or they will probably die. I will be back as soon as I can. Is Earth a complete loss?¡± I asked.
¡°There are survivors on Earth and in space, on the colonies. As well as those who are taken,¡± said EIS. I missed Susan''s voice, but it was destroyed along with my house. Fortunately, computational nanomass was salvageable allowing EIS to download and format it so he could use it. Each person with a cell phone could have an EIS unit if he or she wanted to pay the money.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.
My fantasy parents set about the task of getting people to safety while I ran towards another ship that had landed. I was the only one so they only sent one after me. I just couldn¡¯t let it be that easy so I used my rock spell to bust his or her faceplate. If you could call it that. It fell and two more came out. I raised my hand and they raised their guns. I was surrounded by a white light, then blackness.
I awoke naked in a room filled with naked people. Many people were injured, I was not. I looked around. I saw a huge white room and about sixty people trying to cover themselves. I didn¡¯t see the aliens. I saw four circular iris valve doors. One in each direction. The ground was immaculate, and I found no dirt. Until I saw a young woman squat and begin to relieve herself on the floor. There were no bathrooms. Everyone moved away from her.
It was then that I began to wish that I were an air mage. I could use her waste to cast my spells. I needed Earth Sense to get the layout of the ship. I didn¡¯t even know if it would work, at least not until I tried it. Just thinking about what I was going to do was disgusting. But there was no other way. I needed to know where my wand, cloak, and pouch was. The worst thing about it, for all of us, was no EIS.
I walked to the pile of dung and moved it farther into a corner, then I began to mash it. This was gross. Then I stood in it and pretended to ignore the people''s disgusted stares. I sent my awareness into the ground, to another floor, to the walls, and the ceiling. I found a room with clothes, briefcases, toys, communication devices, many things. I found a room with many large machines that I had no idea what they did. I found many rooms some with aliens and some without. There were other rooms like this with other aliens in them, one of those had spider creatures, at least they looked like the monsters that came for us. There were cat creatures, blobs, canines and more. There were things that could only be called elves, some dwarves, all kinds of creatures in these huge rooms. There was one room with close to a hundred creatures that each turned to look at me as I saw them. In my brain there was only one thing that I could hear, that was, ¡°Help Us!¡± shouted again and again.
I screamed and fell to my knees. My stomach turned and turned until I emptied it on the leavings that I was standing in. I stood and walked a few steps away, but unfortunately, it was on my feet, knees, and hands. I looked around, closed my eyes, and cried. I cried until I stopped. I stood, walked over to the mess again, and stepped into it. I then raised my hands. I used my spell crafting skill to modify Stone Wall to my needs and the ground ripped apart. It was replaced by an opening into another room.
¡°I am getting our stuff. Anyone who wants to come with me can. The rest stay here. I cannot guarantee your safety though I will do my best.¡± I said. With that, I jumped through the hole and made my way to where they were storing our gear and clothes. Using the mixture of vomit and solid waste on the doors I cast Stone Wall, pulling the doors apart. When I was on the right deck I walked into the hallway to find fifty or sixty gorilla looking creatures. They were guarding the wrong direction though. They guarded the left and we inched our way to the right. Using stone wall I ripped the door off and entered the room with our stuff. I could hear fighting outside. Yelling actually, and screams of pain. I quickly found my wand, pouch, and cloak, as well as the wolf torn clothes. I got my communication nanomass and saw some people get their stuff when the spider creatures came.
I carried my stuff in a bundle and approached the aliens, ¡°get out of my way or you will regret it.¡±
One moved forward, ¡°how did you find this room?¡± I was shocked as were the other people in the room.
¡°You speak our language,¡± I stammered.
¡°It took a while to get it, but we did. We are the rulers of this galaxy, you are our slaves. You will all bow to us,¡± said the alien.
¡°We bow to no one, we are not slaves,¡± I say.
¡°Ah but yes you are. We own you and we will do with you as we wish,¡± it said.
¡°No, no you will not,¡± I cast Stone Ball and sent it through the aliens head. Within seconds I was on the ground with two of those monsters stabbing me. But I had my pouch. I had leaves to sacrifice to the Spirit of Healing. It wasn¡¯t long before they found they could not kill me. I could kill them, but more would replace them.
¡°How do you do this, it is impossible.¡± Bug-eyed alien was curious.
¡°That you will never know. However, if you take us back to that holding room, with our clothes and gear, I will not kill any more of your servants.¡±
¡°I do have many options, I could leave you but kill everyone here that is with you.¡±
¡°Yes you could, ¡° I said, ¡°yes you could.¡±
Chapter Five Slavery
¡°But you won¡¯t,¡± I raged, ¡°because if you do I will destroy this ship. I will open it up to space.¡±
The creature shivered and made a clucking sound. It turned to one of the spider-things behind him and barked an order. I assume it was an order because faster than I could see it was to my side with one of its appendages in the chest of the closest person to me. It was a woman. It was the woman who went defecated in front of us all.
I put my hand on her as fast as I could, summoning my Healing Spirit. It wasn¡¯t a second after I put my hand into my pouch that the woman¡¯s shocked eyes fastened on me. She was completely healed. I smiled a predatory smile at the lead alien. I raised my hand, and a rock did not appear. I was a little surprised wondering how it countered my magic. Then I realized I didn¡¯t have enough waste or vomit on my hand to be considered earth. The only offensive power I had would destroy the ship.
As I realized that fact, the entire group of spider-things froze. They backed away from me and went their separate ways. I didn¡¯t know what to do. The people stood by me and with me, it seemed. We made our way back to the others when the spider-things fled.
Back in the human holding cell, that had a hole in the floor, people seemed a bit more confident with clothes and EIS. All cell phones these days were communication nanomass, powered by EIS. What this meant is that a small percentage of that mass was factory nano-mass. This allowed the phone to repair itself, or build other things. As long as EIS had raw material it could create anything. Each person had a communication-nanomass.
Then came the bad news. We formed a local intranet. Just us connected through EIS, but the rest of humanity was not responding. Then I fully realized my, our situation. We were in space, but I didn¡¯t think it was our space.
¡°We¡¯re in space,¡± I said out loud. It was then that I realized I hadn¡¯t been aware of background speaking. When I spoke the entire room listened. I was in my own world until then, not my fantasy world.
¡°People, I don¡¯t know what to do. Does anyone know how long since we were last captured?¡± I asked.
¡°It feels like a day.¡±
¡°Yes, you were out for a long time.¡±
¡°What are we gonna do?¡±
¡°Are we gonna die out here?
There were more answers but the last one caught my attention. I don¡¯t know who asked it, only that it must be addressed.
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¡°We will not die out here. We will survive. I will ...¡± I began.
¡°And who the hell are you? Without the EIS system, you could do things no human being ever could. You have tech aside from EIS, and now you propose to lead us? Hell no! You¡¯re probably one of them!¡± said by a guy who was at least six-three and two hundred ten pounds of solid muscle. He then turned to a majority of the people and said,
¡°Listen to me. This guy does not have your best interest in mind. I do. I ...¡±
It was my turn to interrupt him, ¡°Some of you will know me. I am Michael Tanner creator of gaming realities. EIS told you through the news sites to make your way to one of my gaming portals. This was where I was about to send all of you when this idiot showed up.¡±
¡°I think Earth is safe, I think they are like Vikings and raid and plunder and leave,¡± I said.
¡°How do you know if you''re not involved with them. I bet they are building bases all over the planet to plunder our resources and enslave the survivors. You don¡¯t know nothing,¡± said the big guy again.
He turned towards me. Most of the people were looking at him and shaking their heads. It was transparent, most of them realized that he was full of it. Others, however ¡
He used a word for describing those of my race that I couldn''t abide.
¡°Why don¡¯t you shut up!¡± came a cry from the people.
¡°Why don¡¯t you shut up!¡± came another cry from the people.
The other guy smiled and I thought to myself I don¡¯t have time for this. Once again I didn¡¯t know what to do. This guy was an idiot and those that followed him were probably the same.
¡°I think that the aliens that came to enslave us, those spider-things were slaves. I think that they did it against their will. I¡¯m going to send you all back to Earth while I find out the situation here. EIS¡¯s Solar Net should be up now¡ ¡° I was interrupted again.
¡°How are you going to send anyone back to Earth?¡± he demanded.
¡°I have a way,¡± I said.
¡°How do you even know where we are?¡± he demanded, ¡°you¡¯re full of shit! EIS doesn¡¯t have anything like this.
¡°EIS doesn¡¯t but I do. It is why you were told to make your way to one of my gaming portals. But I don¡¯t have time for this. I will get the people who trust me to safety and I will deal with the other slaves.¡±
He stepped up to me, too close for comfort, ¡°what have you got? Where is it?¡±
I looked at him. I knew I would lose in a fight between us. Unless I used magic. My magic would kill him though.
¡°Where is it?¡± He said again.
¡°You wouldn¡¯t be able to use it,¡± I said.
I don¡¯t know why I folded, I reached into my inventory to show him a scroll of teleportation. He snatched it out of my hand. Why did I take it out? Why did I show it to him? I was scared. I can stand up to bug-eyed monsters but not this ¡ this ¡ idiot.
He opened the scroll and his face morphed into confusion, ¡°what the hell is this?¡±
¡°It¡¯s another language,¡± I said, ¡°you don¡¯t know it.¡±
¡°EIS what language is this?¡±
¡°It is a privately crafted language with a dimensional linkup,¡± EIS replied.
¡°Teach it to me,¡± said the bully.
EIS complied.
¡°What the hell is this? Mystic power, Mana, Location¡¯s illusion? I see. So all I need to do is say,¡± he began to speak the mystic language. He spoke loud and waved his arms around in a ritual. Again and again, he tried.
Nothing happened.
¡°What is wrong? I said it right!¡± He grabbed me by my shirt collar.
¡°That¡¯s enough,¡± said a guy who was almost as tall as the bunghole. He walked up to the troublemaker and pushed him away while snatching the hand with the scroll.
¡°Give it to me or I break your face,¡± said the newcomer.
The bully turned out to be a coward as he gave up the scroll. The newcomer turned to me and gave me the scroll.
¡°This is yours but be more careful with it,¡± he said.
He then looked at me with a puzzled look, ¡°Why didn¡¯t it work for him?¡±
¡°It is because ...¡± I stopped what I was about to say. I looked around me. Every human was looking at me with such intensity I was frozen in place. What¡¯s going on here? This reminds me of "good cop bad cop".
Everyone at once began to chuckle.