New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

He felt so stupid right now. How could he forget his companion animal?

The events that led to him taking the quest had shaken his mind far enough for him to forget one of his only staunch allies. There was no end to his shame.

"I\'m so sorry, girl. I brought back all the meat from the monsters. I hope that will be enough for you to forgive me."

Astaroth hurriedly went to a counter to complete the quest, while Violette bought peace from the Dire Wolf with head pats and chin scratches.

As soon as he was done submitting the quest, Astaroth hurriedly walked back to the girls. Two feral stares greeted him.

"Why are you even mad at me?" he asked Violette dejectedly.

"You forgot her. You would make a terrible parent, if you even forget a hundred-and-fifty-pound giant white wolf."

"In my defence, the situation leading to our departure was kind of hectic. Also, she never once sent me a signal, or anything..." Astaroth tried defending himself.

"Hmph!"

Violette walked to the side of Genie and climbed on her back. What little she weighed was barely enough to bother the dire wolf, and Genie walked away, carrying her rider.

\'Urgh... This little girl likes to see me suffer, I think.\'

Astaroth followed behind them, his head drooped a bit. Violette, on the other hand, was thoroughly enjoying her ride.

Genie walked with her head high, like she was proud of something, and the little girl on her back was all smiles. What was making them feel so prideful was the stares they were garnering.

The townspeople of Sunpeak were watching the girl ride past them, on a powerful beast from the wilds, and awe was their only response. Genie was relishing in this, and Violette enjoyed it too.

\'If only they knew who that beast was contracted to...\' Astaroth thought from behind, silently chuckling to himself.

Once they had reached their inn, the pair walked in and climbed up to their room. Genie elected to sleep with Violette, trying to make Astaroth feel guilty, so the man had to transfer his part of the bull meat to the girl.

After doing that and getting in his room, Astaroth threw himself on the bed and sighed.

"Well, I guess I\'ll make it up to her tomorrow."

After saying that, he logged out.

Opening his eyes, he pushed open his pod, getting up from it. He turned his head, and Kary was still lying in bed, the indicators on the side of the helmet slowly flashing.

\'She\'s still inside. I guess I\'ll take a shower and sleep in the guest room for a bit.\'

After cleaning up, Astaroth walked over to the second guest bedroom and dropped into the bed for a few hours of sleep. He fell asleep almost instantly.

A few minutes after he fell asleep, Kary started moving on Alex\'s bed. She slowly brought her hands up to remove the helmet.

After taking it off and laying it at her side, she rubbed her eyes a bit. She noticed Alexander\'s pod was open, and he didn\'t seem to be inside it.

She looked around the room before climbing off the bed. Kary walked out of the room and saw the second guest bedroom door was shut.

\'What a gentleman.\'

She smiled softly and went to take a quick shower. After which, she walked to the closed door.

\'Too bad for you, I want to sleep snuggled,\' she thought, with a mischievous grin.

Violette opened her door at the moment Kary was opening the other room. She looked at Kary with wide eyes, snapping her head in the other direction, noticing Alex\'s bed was empty, to which the woman responded with a hush motion.

The two girls giggled softly before they closed their doors again. Kary tiptoed her way to the bed before sliding in as slowly as she could.

The high-quality mattress barely shuddered as she slipped under the covers. Alex was currently sleeping on his back, with one arm under his head and the other along his side.

Kary snuggled up to the side that an arm was up, laying her head on his chest. She could hear Alex\'s calm heart beating inside his chest, and it lulled her to sleep.

A few hours went by peacefully in the house, with all its occupants asleep. A small transparent ripple traversed inside the home, emanating from just outside Alex\'s pod.

Had he been awake, he might have sensed it, but as everyone was asleep, it went unnoticed.

A minuscule amount of unseen particles started seeping through an invisible hole. This same phenomenon was happening in a few spots across the world.

Somewhere far away, deep in space, a small enclosed domain floated around the galaxy. Inside it, a woman was meditating with her eyes closed.

This woman was Alantha Anulo, the kingdom spirit of the Ash Elves. Since her domain was the night sky and the stars, it was normal she would make a part of it her home.

But the woman opened her eyes with a frown.

"This feeling... Has a new world been born?"

Lady Anulo stood, walking to a mirror made of a liquid substance. When she peered into it, the surface started shifting, showing her an expanse of space.

In the reflection, she could see a sector of space appearing slowly, spots of it forming steadily.

"This... This isn\'t a world being born. This is one reconnecting with the rest of it... Where has this been hiding and for how long?"

She looked at her mirror for a while, trying to push her senses into detecting things through the small spots, but it was still too early.

After staring at it a bit more, she walked back to her earlier place, and went back to meditating. In time, she would be able to peer into this part of space and figure things out, but now was not that time yet.

\'How intriguing,\' the minor deity thought, smiling at the prospect of novelty.