[draft/CW] Endless Dawn

[Steelloverbecca]

Chapter 1

Average life for a white, American, brown haired, brown eyed woman on earth, is so average. Oh so average and I want that goddamn promotion. Seriously, I work way more many days than almost all of my other coworkers, the only ones that work more are well other moms. For as long I have worked there I have never taken a sick day or a vacation. The only exceptions were going on the honey moon, giving birth and getting divorced. I know every in and out of this stupid company from what is covered on the company’s insurance to how my boss spends his Sundays. God I wanna take over this stupid company already, I don’t have to worry about getting screwed over if I take a vacation or the off chance I decide to get pregnant again via sperm donner and I can arrange for a paid maternity, and paternity, leave. My girlfriend could finally stop working at Starbucks, I could afford to get out of our shitty apartment and into an actual house. Bills, alimony wouldn’t be such a worry. Or that would be the case if we were considered working class. In all actuality I’m pretty well off. Though in all seriousness I would kill to have complete and total control of the company. I really want to find out where I stand on the corporate ladder so I can kill off everyone that is ahead of me and the CEO’s connections so I can sit on his god damn throne. But if I did that then my girlfriend would break up with me and I would feel empty because the reason I even murdered for my position is gone.

“Honey, are you getting worked up over trying to take over your company?” My girlfriend asks looking over my shoulder as I am repeatedly pressing the space bar while looking through Google pages on CEOs.

“Yes …” I said.

“Lavi, we’re at a good position right now, neither of us are in debt, we’re paying our bills on time and we can afford people to take care of our kids when we’re at work.”

“Those people are my ex-husband, his new spouse, your brother, and his husband we’re not even paying them.” I point out

“Okay, those details aside, you should be happy right now.” She assured rubbing my back.

“Chrys, I’ve been working there for fourteen years.” I said.

“I know, you’ve told me several times.”

“Let me finish, during those fourteen years I only took twelve days off. Twelve days Chrys! Do you know how much time my boss is off per year? At least ten times more than that!”

“Yes, I know. But aren’t you actually the head of some department?” She asks.

“ … yes …” I mutter.

“And isn’t that enough?”

“No, I’m in charge of some insignificant part of the company that nobody cares about and I still have a boss. I’d rather be in charge of something like sales or the whole damn company!”

“Honey … do you honestly have to be in charge of everything?”

“Ugh … You’ve asked this several times before and the answer is the same, yes.”

“Well I think you should probably step back and look at the bigger picture.”

“If you’re trying to make me more humble, it’s not working honey.”

“Oh Lavi, I may constantly underestimate how ridiculously ambitious you are but you constantly keep forgetting how stubborn I am. I’m pretty sure that one day that you’ll see that you don’t need to be in charge of your work, even if I have to bug you about it.”

“Good luck honey, seriously, good luck.” I said. Just then the twins came running in, shrieking. My little boy had was waving a stuffed bunny over his head while my little girl was running from him holding a princess doll. She then fell on her face and she started crying while Chrys picked up my boy.

“No no no no no no no no no!” He cried flailing in Chrys’ arms. I took my girl in my arms.

“Shhh sh sh sh shhh, it’s okay, I’m here, don’t cry, it’s okay.” I cooed, I bounced her a little while I comforted her.

“Adam, what were you doing?” Chrys asked. “Adam …” Knowing that tone Adam’s giving her a ‘You’re not my daddy I don’t have to tell you’ cold shoulder. “Adam.” She repeated. “Tell me Adam.”

“Don’ wanna.” He said.

“Let him be Chrys.” I sigh. “They were just playing some game and it escalated to chasing each other.”

“But Luna-“ She began.

“Luna’s okay, she just fell, she doesn’t have any broken bones nor is she bleeding.” I said picking up my still crying daughter. “Besides I think these two should go to bed.”

“No!” Adam protested.

“C’mon, sleep is good for you.” I said.

“No!” Adam protested again.

“You know there are kids much older than you who don’t get to go to bed as early as you because they’re stressed out with homework.” Said Chrys.

“Weawy?” He asked.

“Yes, in fact we’re jealous of the time you get to go to bed because we love sleep so much.” I said playing along with Chrys.

“C’mon let’s go to bed!” He said enthusiastically.

“I never thought I’d hear him say that.” Chrys laughed after the twins had fallen asleep. “That’s cute that you had Adam think that he’s doing a grown up thing.”

“Well it sort of is.” I said, “Don’t get me wrong I love staying up until five on my days off but I like my sleep, if I could I could spend the day sleeping.” Chrys started laughing. “What?”

“Nothing, nothing.” She said. “To be fair you do stress yourself out over your job very often, you could use the sleep.”

“Yeah I know.” I said. “Though that’s not the only reason.” I muttered.

“What was that?” She asked.

“Nothing.” I said.

Edited August 21, 2015 by Steelloverbecca

[Steelloverbecca]

Chapter 2

At night I tend to dream about a far off world called Ayrtha. There I am a princess of an economic power house called Ulluminate but I still haven’t lost my lust for power. For some reason I’m a bit younger than I was back on Earth, like I’m in my early twenties. I’m not married and I don’t have any children, which in itself is a surprise because my father keeps saying that I need to marry a man by the next year. However most male suitors say that I am far too picky that I only want to use them for procreation purposes, which is very much true. I would only want a husband just so I can have my kids just like I do on Earth. However I’m well aware that if I marry a man I most likely will be queen of another country. Wait … not even that, I’m most likely gonna be off with a duke or lord who has less power than the king. My brother would most likely get a princess to marry and become king, unless he dies. Even then it will go to another brother and when my father runs out of sons it will go to a male cousin. Then I would have absolutely no power unless I either throw a coup or manage to kill every possible male heir. In that case power would have to transfer over to my mother and all the girls in the family. However throwing a coup against your family sounds very stupid and killing every male in the family is just impractical so I stick to bribes and manipulation. Speaking of which I am currently consulting with one of the higher council men. A real old geezer that is really close with my dad, I tell him that I can run the country much better than my brothers and I am far more knowledgeable about the Ulluminate’s economics … well economics in general, than my brothers.

“But Milady, we need you to marry a foreign lord to maintain relations between our allies.” He tried to argue.

“Oh and them marrying a foreign lady won’t?” I retorted staring at a gold coin, which is a hundred Pieces or a hundred of the currency coins of the country, that I was playing with between my fingers I look up occasionally to see that he is staring at the coin and he will continue to stare as long as the coin is insight.

“They will.” He admits, “But …” He tries to retort again, but I don’t listen because whatever comes out of his mouth is gonna sound mind numbingly stupid. It’s a grace that I’m not listening to him embarrass himself.

“Let us not delay this any longer.” I finally say, “The both of us know you are very loyal to my father. However, we also know that you yourself are greedy.” I wave the coin back and forth. His eyes are moving to the direction of the coin and his fingers twitch ever so slightly. It is painful to him but very amusing to me, so amusing that it’s hard to not crack a smile. “How about we make a deal, you get the hundred pieces.” I said putting the coin up to his face to see if he’ll try to grab it. I smirk now knowing that he is more resilient than I originally thought. “In exchange, you convince my father to have Samuel marry the Duchess of Liiga putting everything I told you into your own words. Do we have a deal.”

“Yes milady. I shall discuss this to the king.” He says before leaving.

“One more thing.” I say. “If you fall back on your word I will find out and you will pay some serious consequences.” I make a slashing motion across my throat.

“I understand.” He replies with a bow before leaving. I leave down the hall opposite to him to meet my personal maid, Lien.

“Ah, Lien, what did you tell my father?” I ask.

“You are being a good lady and you are not consulting the people.” She said.

“And?” I say.

“And that you are wanting to see suitors.” She admits.

“I see, did you send for the Lord of Reem?” I ask.

“Yes Milady.” She replied. “But why do want him?”

“It is an easy divorce.” I say.

“Is this because of the rumors that he isn’t interested in women?” She asks.

“Precisely.” I reply. “I can use him to produce a couple of heirs and then we can separate. Though we do have to make arrangements about the children, but since this country prefers males I’ll take no more than two sons and a daughter. He can take the other sons and daughters.”

“What if your daughters end up being as diabolical as you?”

“Then I will be proud and they can rule.” I say just as we got to the garden. The sun was shining, it was very warm outside and there were a few clouds in the sky. “Lovely day.” I say.

“Yes milady.” Lien replies, like she always does because it’s her job. Then we saw the palace guards going through the gardens with a prisoner struggling to get away. Me and Lien went up to see what was going on.

“Let go of me! I need to see the princess!” The prisoner cried.

“To kill her I bet.” Said one of the guards. “Why else would you sneak in.”

“No!”

“Now wait a minute.” I say stepping in. “This young man has made an appointment with me, I bet he got tired and climbed over the wall.”

“Your highness, he crawled through a hole in the wall.”

“Details.” I dismissed. “Now I’ll shall speak to the man while you two fix the hole in the wall.”

“Yes milady.” The guards replied simultaneously.

“Good.” I said walking over to Lien with the prisoner following me. “Bring your spear just in case he is an assassin.” I whisper to her. She nodded and left while me and the prisoner walk up to my bedroom I shut the door and left it unlocked for Lien. I pulled a chair.

“Sit down.” I order, and he obeys. I tried to get a good look at his face but its totally obscured by the hood he wore, and I couldn’t tell what his body looked like because his cloak covered every detail on the body. I backed away slowly to my dresser and got my unloaded pistol out of the top drawer and hid it behind my back. I watched him as he sat there unmoving.

“Now, do you know what this is?” I ask. He remained silent. “If you try anything I will shoot you.” I warned pointing it at him when Lien came in armed.

“Has he try to harm you milady?” She asks.

“No, not at all.” I say. I go up to him and point the pistol right next to his head. “It would be unwise to attack two armed women. Talk. What are you here for?”

“… I need to fulfill a prophecy.” He answers. I press my gun to his head.

“Do you think I am a fool?” I question him cocking the gun. “Who would try to fulfill a prophecy by the ancients centuries ago? They’re nothing but frauds.”

“This one has some truth!” He claimed. “When the peoples riot the grim dragon will awaken and all shall fall, turning Ayrtha to dust.” He recited.

“Ah yes, a prophecy from the Church of the Creation Dragons I am well aware that there are various racial disputes and the war over the ‘bridge’ continent is making matters worse. I highly doubt that it brings the resurrection of a mythical doom bringer.” I say, Ulluminate tends to be home to several different religions due to it being a huge trading center, so people from around the world come by and even stay. However the most prominent is the Church of the Creation Dragons with the belief that every facet of the world including all the races began with the dragons laying an egg or something. They also believe in an evil dragon named Raginite that once raged against the other creators and tried to destroy the world. However legend has it that the creators defeated Raginite and trapped his soul or something like that.

“Additionally, Raginite has been dug up when I was a little girl and there has been no magic emitting from him and according to necromancers there is no spark of life that could bring it back.” I informed. “The grim dragon is not coming back.”

“But there’s more to the prophecy!” The intruder claimed.

“Yes, sure there is.” I say sarcastically.

“In the event the grim dragon returns a small army of sixteen double walkers must be found.” He recited. I raise an eyebrow I had not heard of that one before, Lien almost lunges forward but I put my hand in front of her. I don’t blame her for being protective but now is not the time to act hostile … well not yet anyway.

“Double walkers? I had not heard of these.” I tell him.

“That’s because they are from secret texts only the most devoted scholars know of these.” He says.

“You are a scholar from the Church?” I ask. He nods. However I couldn’t help but think that he’s lying. “Why would you not share this information like any other scholar? I’m sure even the Church of the Creation Dragons would not mind this shared information.”

“It is risky business.” He replies. “It is forbidden to share that information from the church because they know that the people will try to find these double walkers and harass them. Plus there are people who are going for the resurrection of the grim dragon so they’ll try to kill them.”

“What exactly is a double walker?” I ask

“Someone who leads two lives, one while awake and one while asleep.” He explains. “While dreaming they’re in another world, much different than ours where no magic exists and it’s only humans.” My eyes widen.

‘Holy shit! This might not be a dream if they’re aware of that world!’ I thought. ‘But then again this world it could be catering to my desire to rule, so it’s still a dream, there’s no way there’s fifteen others that manage to share the same dream as me.’ However for some reason Lien seems noticeably uncomfortable but I brush it off.

“Does this prophecy, for some convenient reason say who these Double Walkers are?” I ask.

“No, but it does leave hints about their possible identities.” Said the man.

“All right what are they?”

“Three of nature born, friend to the trees, three of the small ones of the mountain, three of the small ones that love to play, three of the beasts among the people, three among the common and one of a people bred for evil but now walk the land.” He said.

“That is saying that among the sixteen that there are three of elves, dwarves, hobbits, beastpeople, and humans, and one orc. Is there anything else more specific?” I ask. I look over to Lien to see that she made no move against our um … guest … I guess.

“Only four are pale as pale as the moon.” He said.

“Anything else?” I ask again.

“Only three are of royal blood.” He said.

“So basically there are thee of each of the most populous races and an orc. Out of the sixteen, four are white skinned and three are royalty.” I summarize while thinking out loud that I am a human, that might be dreaming about this place defining what he said a double walker is. Also according to the hints so far, I am white and royalty. “Can “white” and “royal” overlap?” I question.

“It never says if they can or cannot overlap, but I figure that it would be acceptable if they did.” He says which convinces me that in these dreams I am this Double Walker thing, assuming that it is not a dream.

“I see, why have you come to me about this you got any hunches that one of the sixteen could be me?” I tease.

“No.” He replies. “I and another companion need help finding them. And we would ask if we could have financial support for this.” I raise an eyebrow and look over to Lien, she is doing the same. “We need some help with transportation, lodgings when we get them and food.”

“I would like to meet this companion.” I say. He stays quiet for a while again.

“Very well, I’ll take you to her.” He replies getting up.

“Perfect.” I say. “Lien, come.”

“Milady, are you sure this is a good idea?” She asks. “This could be a trap.”

“I know, but if it is not I could use more information about these double walkers.” I reply. “Plus if it is a trap we could just kill them and claim it was an act of self-defense.”

“Fair enough milady, I assume that you need ammunition?” She asks pulling a cartridge of bullets and gunpowder out of the top of her maid uniform.

“Yes, thank you.” I say grabbing it. When we went outside the castle gates a masked woman ran up to our guest and hugged him.

“Oh thank the gods you are unharmed!” She cried. “I was so worried when I saw you climb over the castle wall! I thought the guards had caught you and thrown you in the dungeon or worse, killed you!”

“I’m sorry sis.” He cooed hugging her back.

“Am I right to assume that your sister here is your traveling companion?” I ask ending this reunion from being separated for twenty minutes.

“Yes.” He replied.

“You managed to be in the audience with Princess Lavender?” I heard her whisper.

“I see, is she also aware of this double walker business?” I ask.

“Y-yes milady.” She replies.

“Do you have any more knowledge on them than your brother?” I ask.

“I’m afraid not.” She answers.

“Do either of you have any idea where to look?” I ask.

“No.” The two said rather bluntly. I sigh knowing that their quest is highly likely going to fail due to the fact that they don’t know where they’re going.

“You know to make your quest slightly simpler I’ll say this, I am most likely one of the double walkers you’re looking for.” I say. Lien looks over to me in shock and the two stood silent.

“Well …” Said the male guest. “I guess you’re either really cocky, lying, or see this as a joke.”

“Well I guess it could be, but only time can tell if I was right.” I teased. “Plus with no direction or whereabouts about any other double walker I figure that I would help you out by traveling. Plus it would be impractical to roam around with a band of sixteen. I raises too much suspicion, so I propose that we arrange a meeting place for them, like for instance a certain royal family summer home in the south that is indistinguishable from the other buildings in the area would raise less suspicion if several people go over there. I know where it is and I can take you to said possible hideout.” Plus if this is a dream and not a world where I have some sort of psychic connection with this uh … body I could will everyone to forget what I told them.

“Milady is this an excuse to get away from your father for a while?” Lien asks.

“To an extent it is, if my bribe doesn’t end up working.” I shrug. “Mostly I am interested in these double walkers and what they’re supposed to do. Since after all I doubt that they’re supposed to kill off a resurrected version of a long dead mad dragon.”

“Very well Milady, but when do you suppose you want to head to said location?” The woman asked.

“I can try to arrange for a carriage there tomorrow.” I say.

“Ah, thank you milady, we shall stay at an inn nearby.” The woman replies

“Very well, shall I see you tomorrow?” I ask.

“Yes.” The man replied and then the two left.

[Steelloverbecca]

Chapter 3

When I got home from work Chrys greeted me with a kiss in the cheek.

“How was work Lavi?” She asked.

“Eh, nothing new except the business trip coming up.” I shrugged. “Speaking of which have you and the kids started packing yet?”

“Well I haven’t, I’ve been spending the last few hours trying to explain to them that they can’t bring a prop sword.” She said.

“Really? I’d think that it would take a few minutes.”

“Well most of it was Luna throwing a tantrum with her brother following along and then the two burning themselves out. Then trying to simplify 9/11.” Said Chrys.

“If we were in front of your brother or sister they would throw a fit, but since we’re talking to a pair of toddlers who wouldn’t understand extremism I guess that will do.” I said patting her on the shoulder. “So are they packed?”

“No.” She stated.

“Well we have a lot to do tonight don’t we?” I said. “Should we start with our luggage?”

“Sure.” Said Chrys. “We are still going to have the kid’s clothes in one suitcase right?”

“Why are they wanting separate suitcases?” I ask.

“No, just asking.” She said.

“All right then.” I said. Then we spent the next hour or so packing our suitcases. Then a while trying to have the kids pack their clothes and toiletries and trying to convince them that they can’t bring their princess dresses because tulle is a delicate material and a bit difficult to sew back together. Then came the two wanting to bring their favorite toys.

“No you can’t bring that.” I said.

“Bu’ I wan Pwincess Appwecown!” Luna protested.

“I wan’ Tigadog!” Adam protested.

“No. You’ll loose them.” I said. Then the two ended up throwing a screaming fit, instead of Chrys’ method of waiting until they burn themselves out I try to interfere as calmly as possible. “But Princess Applecorn and Tigerdog would be much happier if they are left here.”

“Bu-but she’s aw awone! And she has a tea paty on da twip!” Luna complained.

“And we hafta safe you fwom da ninjas!” Adam whined, Chrys ended up snickering at that.

“But don’t they have other friends here that they can have a tea party with them and need protecting from ninjas?” I ask.

“But dey would feel sad if we left them!” Luna argued.

“And how would you feel if we ended up loosing your toy on the trip?” I ask.

“I would feel sad.” They reply.

“More sad than you feel now?” I ask. They nod. I don’t really remember what happened afterwards besides finishing packing, putting the kids to sleep and going to bed ourselves only to wake up at 5:00 a.m.

[Steelloverbecca]

Chapter 4

To be honest today was not entertaining in this world either. Sure I got a carriage from the usual bribing and manipulation but the ride was so quiet it ended up being awkward.

“So … why don’t you two tell me a little bit about yourselves …” I started.

“With all due respect Milady we’re not allowed to talk about ourselves. We can’t even tell you our names” Said the mystery woman.

“Is it some sort of vow you two made when you joined the Creation Dragon Church?” I asked.

“Something like that.” Said the mystery woman.

“Well great.” I sighed slumping back into my seat. We sat in silence again. I think Lien fell asleep. Well she had her eyes closed and was leaning back so I guessed she was asleep. “How about a game?” I suggest.

“What type of game would you suggest Milady?” The mystery woman asked.

“Um …” I started. I leaned against the window and looked out of the carriage window, I sigh frustrated knowing that something would be so much easier on Earth. I thought about how I play my license plate game with my ex-husband and later with Chrys and the twins, however that would be impossible here due to the lack of cars. I also thought of eye spy, something the twins would like to play but there’s nothing there but there’s nothing around but grass. Then I thought of something that I would play with Chrys and my ex-husband when we both didn’t want to talk about anything in particular and we didn’t have any cards. “How about two truths and a lie?” I suggest.

“How do you play?” The mystery man asked.

“It’s simple, you have to tell three things about yourself, two of them have to be true while the third one has to be a lie and everyone else has to try and guess what the lie is.” I explain. The duo looked at each other.

“I think we’ll have to decline.” Said the mystery man.

“All right.” I shrugged, I then try to think of another game but eventually I fell asleep.

[Steelloverbecca]

Chapter 5

We get up, throw everything in the car, drive to the airport, go through usual airport shenanigans and get onto a two hour flight. I couldn’t sleep, but I think I would be fine in the other world since that sun would have already set and the carriage ride would take a whole day if you consider that the horse also needs to rest and eat. It would be pretty boring so it’s kind of nothing to wake up to. The kids fell asleep on the plane. When we landed we got our baggage and the rental car and drove off to our hotel. Actually to be more accurate it’s a shady cheap ass motel that smells like cigarettes. Not that the kids minded though they jumped on the bed as soon as we got to our room. Relief that it was a day before the meeting so I can squeeze in some time with the family.

“We wanna go to da pool! We wanna go to da pool!” The twins demanded.

“Now hold on you two shouldn’t we get some breakfast first?” Chrys suggested.

“No!” They cried. “We wanna go now!”

“Oh You sure?” I say. “You’re gonna get really hungry while going swimming and we won’t give you anything while you’re in the pool.”

“Honey are you sure we-“ Chrys started.

“Oh but I guess if you don’t want to eat you can go to the pool, we’re gonna go get breakfast. Have fun.” I say grabbing the girlfriend by the arm and dragging her along. Then they ran up to us immediately crying.

“No!” Adam of them cried.

“Mommy Mama don’ go!” The Luna cried.

“That was really cruel you know that.” The Chrys murmured to me. “I really hope you stop doing that when they start going to school.”

“I can’t exactly promise that.” I whisper back. The girlfriend huffed and rolled her eyes at me then turned her attention to our crying.

“Oh, shhh shhhh, don’t cry we weren’t going to leave you!” She assured her voice she uses when calming the kids always tugs at my heart. I would’ve turned into a puddle of mush if the kids weren’t there.

“Weawy?” Luna asked.

“Of course not.” She said. “In fact lets go ask where to eat.”

“I’ll go ask for a breakfast place.” I said heading into the motel lobby. “Excuse me but do you know where a breakfast place is.”

“Why of course.” Said the man at the front desk. “There are several waffle houses in the area.”

“How about some place that serves gluten free stuff?” I ask he gave me this disgusted ‘really?” look. “One of my kids has a bad gluten intolerance, I really don’t want to have to go to the hospital during this trip.”

“Let’s see…” He said digging out some menus and flipped through them. “This one I believe does have gluten free options as well as some vegetarian options it’s just next door. And … this one…” I ended up zoning out on his list of gluten free restaraunts and ended up seeing one of the cleaning ladies. A dark skinned woman with long wavy light brown hair and green eyes. kinda busty as her uniform seemed a bit tight across the chest, though I’m more willing to bet it’s from muscle and some nicely toned arms.

“Lien?” I let slip out. She looks up to me. Her mouth drops when she sees me.

“Milay- Lay-Lavender?” She says.

“Honey, the kids are getting restless, what’s taking so long?” Chrys asks.

“We’re heading to the place next door, it should serve gluten free. Just take the kids there I’ll meet up with you later. I have a friend I need to catch up with.” I tell her picking up the menu and pointing to it.

“Oh all right. See you then.” She said we kissed and then she left. Lien then pointed to somewhere in the back of the lobby. I nodded and followed her there.

“I can see why you wanted an easy divorce.” She said.

“Yeah I just want to have the kids and raise them with the love of my life.” I say.

“Which is another woman.” She states.

“Yeah pretty much.” I say.

“What if she doesn’t exist in that world?” She asks.

“Oh she exists all right.” I say. “My whole family exists in that world, brothers and all. Though the only thing different is that one of them is dead here and there’s no family business that we have to fight over the ownership for.”

“Ah, okay …” She said. “Well I guess you certainly weren’t lying about being a double walker.” She said.

“And you’re here to witness this as proof.” I said. “And I guess you’re also one.”

“Yeah.”

“Well that makes two. However finding the others will be difficult.” I say crossing my arms and leaning back against the wall. “We know what we’re looking for but we don’t know where.”

“We also don’t know why since I know you don’t buy the dragon resurrection stuff.” She said.

“True, true.” I sighed. “Anyway I have a family to get back to.”

“All right, see you tonight.” She says.