Ios chuckles a bit from her standing position to the side of my bed, both of our faces blushing deeply as she gives a small nod and a wink to . "We could probably get it right now, but you need to rest a bit and recover your stamina for tomorrow. How about this, you go knock that second tribulation back to the skies and I'll buy everything as soon as we get back here to the room~? A little more motivation never hurts, right?"
Damn, she kinda has
there. It kinda sucks when she's being all logical and sexy all at the sa ti, but again, I can't really find an argunt to try and persuade her to reconsider. I just fake a heavy sigh and roll back onto my back in the bed, acting depressed at having to wait for what sounds like one of the best purchases ever~, "Fine, fine. Be all smart and right about everything, like always Ios." I hear her giggle a bit which does make my acting break as my own smile starts to pull on the corners of my mouth, but I carry on, "If that's how we're going to play it, then I expect the reward to be quite amazing~. After all, I think Akiko made
hit like 20 orgasms just from using her tail earlier today. You've got quite the act to follow~."
I glance to the side to see Ios make a bit of a complicated face, one that looks slightly annoyed yet also brimming with determination to overco the challenge I just laid out before her. With a small huff she turns to the side and replies back with a haughty tone, "Tch. I thought you didn't want to see sex as sothing competitive or comparative, Aims, but fine. I'll accept your little wager. I hope you're ready for the consequences of your actions, because you seem to forget that I am essentially in your entire nervous system as well as your endocrine system. I quite literally know what makes you tick, and you best believe your perfect ass that you're in for a wild ride now~."
I gulp a small bead of emotions, mostly a bit of fear and blooming lust, as I cough from my prone position. I really should learn how to check what my mouth says... Oh well, at least it kind of worked out this ti~. "B-bring it, I'm r-ready for whatever you throw at ~!" I stamr back with as much fake confidence as I can muster. Its Ios' turn to shoot
a sidelong glance as her smile starts to creep up her face again, obviously seeing through my thinly veiled attempt at stoicism.
She turns to face
fully, her erald eyes starting to burn with the hunger of arousal and promises to co as she leans down and whispers into my ear, "I'll hold you to that, Aims~. Now, get so rest. When you wake up you'll still probably have to use [Steady Breathing] for a while to catch up to your new stamina pool, so you'll need to be up and at 'em pretty early." I glance at the clock across the room, noting it's just barely past ten now, not really relishing in waking up before the sun...
I give her a little nod in response and then wiggle around a bit to get more comfortable, the weariness of the day starting to weigh on
more than any comfy blanket that now coils around
in various spots. I whisper out a quiet, "Goodnight." to Ios who responds in kind, her comms box going quiet as she apparently dematerialized her hologram right afterwards. With another small exhale of breath, I lean back onto the pillows and feel myself slip into the sweet embrace of dream land~.
I find myself back in our three-bedroom ho on the outskirts of El Reno, my body small and childlike as I blink a few tis to get my bearings. Huh. Definitely a dream, or a mory, as I look around to see posters of my little pony, Dora the Explorer, and various Barbie thed portraits strewn about the off-white cream color of the walls. I look around a bit more, seeing various books for children - mostly picture books - tucked into a small shelf next to a bunk bed that Sandra and I share, and will for the next couple of years if I'm right about my current age. I wonder if this is going to be a recurring thing due to my ever-exploding Wisdom stat, the lucid dreaming.
With a little shrug at knowing I won't be able to find the answers here anyway, I stand up from my seated position, small fingers and toes moving across the short, brown carpet that lines the entire room, its scent always clean and fresh from how often mom likes to vacuum around the house. She apparently really likes the sll of a freshly cleaned carpet, and after eting and falling in love with Akiko, I can't really bla her~. I walk my still slightly awkward gait towards a standing mirror in the room sat in between two little desks that Sandy and I use from ti to ti to color or draw and take in my younger self.
Shoulder length curly dirty blonde hair that will eventually turn full chestnut, round puggy cheeks that signal the baby fat has yet to even co close to being trimd down, and a cute little pastel pink dress that hems down to just below my knees. My brown eyes stare back to , even with this ridiculous clarity for a dream I notice that there are little discrepancies here and there. Images in the background fading or distorting once I lose focus on them, or shifting into sothing else that is equally familiar yet new. Honestly, it's kind of a mind fuck, I don't think humans are supposed to be this aware while we dream, our brains basically running on autopilot or whatever during this ti.
Just as I'm about to inspect the room so more, the door to the room bursts open in chaotic and sudden energy. I startle a bit, nearly jumping in surprise from the sound, before my vision flicks over to the intruder and my heart stops beating for a second. Sandra, all smiles and limitless stamina as she darts up and gives
a crushing hug, her own curly brown hair tickling my face as she rubs her cheek against mine. "Alia~! Mom and dad said they'd take us to the park! Go get your shoes and socks on~! C'mon, hurry!"
I let out a childish giggle at hearing her overly high-pitched voice again, sothing I never thought I'd hear after we grew up and started hitting puberty. "All right, all right~!" I laugh back to her in an equally high tenor as she starts dragging
toward our shared dresser, eager to go on a little adventure for the day. I smile as I watch her fling various clothes out of the way, her manic searching making the once clean room considerably ssier. I go around and collect everything she's flung, waiting for her to claim her prize - two pairs of socks - before I walk up and put everything back in its place.
She looks at my little arms filled with errant clothing and mumbles out a soft, "Sorry." A blush crossing her innocent face which only makes
smile back even harder. She eventually becos the responsible one, always on ti and dedicated, always having her shit together. But it's nice to co back to these mories or monts and rember what a little ball of energy she used to be... Before I started having my ntal health problems... Shit... I breathe out a heavy breath for the small body I inhabit now, deciding this is as good a ti as any to try and get so of this off my chest.
"Sandy, I want to say so things to you." I quietly voice as I turn toward her fully and grab her hands in mine. She gives
a confused look before she just nods and leads us to the lower bunk, mine if mory serves, and pats the spot next to her as she jumps up on the mattress. I follow suit, our hands still locked together as she asks, "What's wrong sis? You look like you need to go to the bathroom~."
Wha- This! This cheeky mory of a girl!! I puff my cheeks out, so of my own childishness surfacing through the dream as I huff out, "I don't need to go to the bathroom, Sandra! Just... Just listen to
for a second, okay?" She gives a small laugh but does as I asked as I feel her attention firmly focused on
now. "Okay... this is a dream, but I just wanted you to know that I'm sorry. I'm sorry if, when we get older than this, you had to beco an adult way to fast and miss out on more ti like this. Earnest and carefree. I get... well, my brain gets sick and the doctors, therapists, and the dicine barely help most tis. It isn't until we get moved to a whole new world after we die here on Earth that I finally get rid of all of that pain and suffering.
But anyway, yeah. I'll be sure to tell this to the real you too, but seeing you like this again just hurt too much not to say anything at all, while I had the chance." I look up to her face, tears starting to bubble heavily and wet in my eyes as I choke out, "I'm sorry I took this away from you, Sandra. I'm sorry I made you take care of
and grow up way too soon, deprived you of your chance to just be a kid, to go to sleepovers with friends from school, or to do anything else that kids our age were supposed to be doing instead of staying ho and taking care of . Especially in the beginning, when I was so confused and hurt and scared that you basically never left my side. For years. If I could go back in ti and tell you that I would be fine, that you deserved to be happy and live your life too, I would without a doubt. Even if it ant suffering a little while on my own."
I sniff and clumsily wipe away a few of the globules of salty liquid that clump and pour down my cheeks, trying my best not to just break down and cry after letting out sothing that still hangs on
to this day, before a warm and soft hand cos up to my cheek. "Alia, I know this is a dream silly. And it's not just your dream either. I don't know how many tis I've had this little mory play out now, and my mind is starting to get clearer every day, but just when I think I'm about to wake up and beco whole, so new scene will play out. So other ti we spent together or shared. It's honestly a little frustrating, haha!"
W... Wait... "Sandra??" I ask out cautiously, my trembling hand coming up to mirror her touch on my face to hers. "This... You're not like, so dream fignt of imagination? You're actually Sandra? Like, the sa sister who's still healing inside of ?" I feel my throat tighten up as my mouth goes dry, the implications of what she is about to answer making my mind nearly co to a screeching halt as my heartbeat begins to speed up in anxiety.
She leans into my palm and just gives a small nod, tears now forming in her eyes too as our gazes stay locked together. "I am, or at least, that is mostly what I am. I have all of these mories, all of these deep and powerful emotions that get stronger and clearer by the day, but I still feel... incomplete? Weakened, for sure, and I still find it hard to rember everything. But, I rember the hydra fight. I rember you growing as tall as mountain to deal with that last creature who hurt both of us, and how amazing you are becoming in that new world we share now~. Sadly, I don't have monts like these too often yet, where I'm in control and aware enough to even try talking with you here. It also doesn't help that you're not actually here very often with how crazy your life's becoming too~."
A wince of hurt drops across my small face to which she just chuckles and brings
in for a hug as she continues on, "It's okay, Alia~. I caught glimpses here and there of what you're going through, usually through your dreams or when I was awake enough. I know how hard you're fighting for the both of us, so don't feel sorry for . Honestly, I doubt I'll even rember this whole conversation, just that we had one and how happy I was to finally give you a hug again, hehe~. But to answer you about what you said before, before we run out of ti here, just know that whatever I did after you got sick, I did it for you and you shouldn't feel bad about it. I may not rember everything you said or exactly what I did when we get a little older than this, but I know in my heart that I wouldn't have done anythingdifferently if it ant keeping you as safe and whole as possible."
I lean back from her embrace, feeling overjoyed at the unquestionable amount of devotion even her still fragnted mind throws at
without hesitation. "Did... Did you always feel like that towards ? I know we were closer than most kids or siblings growing up but..."
She hums and looks up toward the bottom of the top bunk as she thinks for a mont, the dream starting to wibble and wobble as it becos unstable making her words co back to my mind. 'Before we run out of ti.' I quickly grasp her hands as the prophecy seems to start becoming true, walls replaced with pitch black void of distorted aning and presence, the floor falling away into the ether as soon it is just Sandra, , and the bunk bed floating in a charcoal sea of nothingness.
Just when I'm about to call out for her, to wrap her in one more hug before we are ripped away again, she finally turns back toward
with a big goofy grin on her face as she says, "I think I've always loved you, since the ti I could understand what that ant. And I know I alwayswill, Alia, in whatever form you want
to have with it." She grabs my hands back and gives them a small squeeze as she says, "I know that's confusing to hear, probably, but I'll always love you. You are my everything, my every want and desire. I know that I had to hide that part of myself away, either from sha or fear about how you would react, or the perceived wrongness of it back ho... but now? In this new place we're in with limitless possibilities? I promise I'll never hide any piece of myself from you like that again, so long as you want
to."
I weep openly and dive into her arms, wrapping both of our now suddenly adult Earth bodies up in a bone crushing hug as I nod against her shoulder as the void is bedazzled in rainbows of color all around us, the faint sound of trumpets and horns sounding out in victory in the background as we lock together. "I'm sorry," I choke out, "I'm sorry you had to hide like that. That I wasn't well enough to see your feelings or how you were struggling with them. I think... I think after everything I've learned here so far, all the progress I've made and finding out more about our past lives, that I... that I want this too. I want to have you by my side and be soone you can be proud of and love and not have to worry about what anyone else thinks about us. You an so much to , Sandy, I would break the world for you, just to have you in my arms like this again."
She slowly strokes my hair as we nuzzle into each other, wet splashes landing against my cheeks from her falling tears as she leans down and bumps our foreheads together. "I know, Aims~. I love you, and I can't wait to see you properly again."
We gaze longingly into each other's eyes for a few heartbeats more, before both of us close our eyes and begin closing the distance between our lips to the growing crescendo of the orchestra and rapidly pulsing prismatic lights. Inch by inch we cross, to so finish line that both of us are desperate and hungry for. Just when I feel the very first sensation of that awaited eting of red, plush lips against mine, I jolt awake and back to the real world with wide eyes and rapid breaths. I look around, audibly tearing the sheets and covers in a mad dash to find sothing to write with, to chronicle what just happened as I feel it already slipping out of my mind in a hazy wash of amnesia.
Ios pops up and tries asking what's wrong, concern evident and heavy on her voice as I just speed past her and finally find a fountain pen at the desk in the room. I tear off a nearby sheet of paper, but as soon as the tip of the pen hits the blank white surface, the last dregs of the dream are fully subsud by my now awake mind. The only thing I can recall now being the nearly overbearing amount of love, joy, and happiness that the dream left behind.
"Damn it!!" I say in a mixture of anger and despair, knowing that sothing amazing and wonderful was just lost to
forever. Sothing that I would kill to get back, that much I know for certain, which only makes both emotions and more flare up and sing within
as I toss a pile of books to the floor in my wrath.
"Aims! Tell
what's going on! Please!" I finally hear from my side, Ios' face set with compassion and a frown, her green eyes laced with worry. I sigh as I look to the now scattered on the floor books, slowly starting to pick them up as the bubbling emotions calm down to a simr inside . I pick up and fix the last one before I turn back to the table and sit down, finally addressing the growingly more and more worried Ios for the first ti.
"Sorry, Ios... I.... I had so kind of dream that I know was important, incredibly so, but before I could write anything down about it, it faded away. I got so mad, like sothing in my core was screaming at
to keep the mory with everything I had but I still lost it." I run a hand through my hair, scratching my scalp as I try to center myself again before I add on, "All I can rember now is how it made
feel. Loved, understood, and full of hope, but it seems like I'll never know why now. I can only imagine it had sothing to do with Sandra, going by the last couple tis sothing like this has happened, but I've rembered those tis without issue, so why not this one? The one that feels like the most important one yet?" I ask out quietly as I rub a few budding tears from my stinging eyes.
Ios hums as she sits next to , still obviously concerned with my little outburst and now explanation. "I don't know, hun. Dreams here in the cultivating world can be quite profound and important in their own ways, and yours are obviously no exception. I know I offered it last ti, but there are skills we can get you that will help catalog and record any dream so that you can recall it perfectly."
I lean back and take in her words, the sudden eagerness of never having this happen again screaming at
to do as she said and just buy whatever I need to stop this from occurring in the future. "Alright," I say out slightly defeatedly, knowing that buying it now won't help much for what I just lost, "go ahead and buy whatever you think will work best. We're sitting on a fuck load of skill points anyway, even when we factor in buying [Precognition]. Mad at myself for not taking you up the first ti..." I mumble out at the end.
Ios just shakes her head as she ghosts a hand over mine, a caring smile poking through finally on her pretty face, "Don't beat yourself up, Aims. You didn't have a lot of points back then and we were trying to marshal them until you started really getting into training. It sucks, for sure, but now that won't ever happen again. Here."
You have purchased the skill [Dream Archivist] for 100 Skill Points!
Available Skill Points: 1,501
[Dream Archivist]: Never again suffer from losing the mory of a precious dream! You will automatically store any mory, dream, or occurrence in liminal space inside of a ntal vault that you or any soul bonded entities can access, provided you give them permission to do so. There is no limit on the number of these entries, and you can recall, erase, or combine them as you see fit.
Yep. That would have been pretty fucking handy about... well, however long ago before I knocked out. "Great." I deadpan out, still a bit miffed at this whole morning so far. Ios gives
a sympathetic look as I just sigh and rub my face a few tis. "Well, I guess it's good to have for the future. Maybe whatever happened will happen again and I won't have to worry about recalling it now. Either way, I'm ready to just put this out of my mind for now or I'm going to sit here and be a grumpy girl all freaking day."
I bring up my status screen and check the numbers for stamina, frowning a bit at just how little I've recovered after resting for... about 8 hours going by the clock:
Stamina Pool: 56,774 / 525,517
I really need to break through to the second Realms and get the recovery rates boosted. My stats just pushed the overall pool to such insane degrees that I'd be in trouble if I didn't have [Steady Breathing]. Speaking of which, I decide to just go ahead and start using it while I ditate like Ios suggested last night. After I quickly hop in the shower and do all my other morning rituals, of course. As soon as I sit back down on the chair, my red hair still a bit wet from the shower, I activate the skill and start to ditate which instantly pushes it up to level 6 and makes the multiplier 12x instead of 10.
The first hour goes by, bringing
just a little past 100k stamina, making
huff in frustration. "Ios, how many points do I need to spend to get this to MAX level? We're going to be here all day at this rate."
"Hmm..." She thinks back to
as her eyes go full matrix mode again, chiming back to
after a few seconds of work, "You'd need to spend 10 for each level, so 40 in total now. With your learning rate you'll likely get it maxed out by the ti you're finished naturally, and Akiko already stopped by to check on you and said to take as much ti as you need to get ready." ???????? ????????s?? ??????????????s ???? Nove1Fire
I blink, not even realizing I missed that whole exchange while I was recovering. Damn, I could have really used a comfy fox hug this morning too... As well as apologizing for waking up so heated. "Well," I sigh out, "let's just go ahead and burn the points. We're still up to our ears in them and going to get a shit load more after the other training quests. Not to ntion having SB at max level is just generally a positive for future use."
"Okay sweetheart~." Ios replies chirpily as the system pings
four tis in rapid succession. I pull up the last ssage just to verify everything:
You have used 10 Skill Points on [Steady Breathing lvl 9]! Skill has been upgraded to [Steady Breathing lvl 10 MAX]!
Available Skill Points: 1,461
[Steady Breathing lvl 10 MAX]:You find your center and calm yourself. Using this skill while ditating gives a 20X multiplier to health and stamina recovery rates for as long as you keep it active, up to an hour. You can use the skill while moving or preforming actions for a decreased multiplier of 10X, and a usage ti of 20 minutes. Regardless of how the skill is used, the cooldown until it can be used again is 5 minutes.
Oh nice~! Looks like it buffed so of the timings too, which is beyond handy! I once more get comfortable as I wait for the now reduced tir on the skill to tick away, Ios humming softly next to
as her illusory legs kick in the space under the table. I give her a little smile, so of the tension from earlier bleeding away at her adorable face and antics as she just vibes in comfortable silence with . Before I know it, the skill is ready to use, and I bring myself back into a calm ntality, eager to get this show on the road.
A few hours pass, the process repeating a handful of tis before I finally get the numbers I've been wanting to see ever since yesterday's explosive growth:
Stamina Pool:525,517 / 525,517
Reviews
All reviews (0)