Origin ARS (Origin A.R.S. Book 2) (3 page)

“You’re an evil woman. You know that right?”

Rhea’s cute expression grew even more powerful when she clutched her hands to her chest and began to fidget. “All I want... is to be closer to my comrade. Is that so wrong?”

Scott was losing the battle of the bed. He just knew it. He had to come up with some way to preserve his masculine dignity. He liked Rhea, cared a lot for her really. Yet, they were not intimate beyond being comrades and maybe friends. At least they had not discussed anything further. Accepting her request would set a bad precedent as far as he was concerned.

The elf girl gracefully glided toward him then looked up at him with her innocent and soulful expression. “I promise I won’t molest you in your sleep.”

“Well...” How could he turn down that offer?

Her eyes widened even further then began to sparkle in the light. How did she do that? He still had not figured it out, yet! Was there some sort of emote command that he did not know about?

Defeated utterly, he said, “Fine. I’ll take the side closest to the door.”

“Great! I win!” She threw her arms around him and giggled like an idiot.

Scott rolled his eyes then smiled down at the girl. She was so cute at times.

“You know I have been looking forward to this for a wh-” began Rhea. She began to fall to the floor, but Scott managed to catch her just in time.

The unconscious elf girl began to snore loudly, much to the amusement of her comrade. At least she would be relatively safe inside the inn. He placed her on the bed, gently.

A great distance away, in a city made of crystal and high-tech modern devices, Origin awoke with a start. She took off the tiara that she was wearing and sighed loudly. On the screen before her were bright red letters. ‘AFK.’

“What the heck?” she asked the empty air.

Origin looked around then frowned. She did not see anyone, but she had been automatically logged out of the system. That does not happen by accident.

She stood up and walked over to check her door. It was locked. She performed a deep scan of the room using her divine powers. She did not detect anyone hiding in the area.

“That sucks. I wonder why I was l disconnected.” Origin sighed loudly. Whatever had caused it had ruined a perfectly sweet moment with Scott.

She tapped on the return button on her view screen. Her current location was displayed on the screen briefly. Once it faded from view she was ready to return to the world below. She placed the tiara back on her head. She slipped off into dream land once more, and the elf girl Rhea awoke. Origin had returned to her avatar and could once again play with her Scott.

After Origin had fully initialized her login sequence, a soft laugh echoed through the room. A beautiful girl with bright red hair slid out of the shadows. “You’re good dear sister, but you’re no ninja master.”

Shara, Origin’s half-sister, smirked then made her way toward the door. On the way she noticed something then smiled a more normal smile. She walked over to her sister’s desk and snatched up a tissue.

“Seriously, what am I going to do with you?” Shara dabbed of the drool coming from her sister’s lips. It perfectly matched he slight drool that trickled down her avatar’s lips on screen.

“They are in Meaden, gotta remember that.” Shara slipped out of Origin’s room quietly then headed off to her own room. She had to figure out the fastest way to get to Meaden. There was no way that she would let her sister hog the human. She really wanted to play with Scott, too!

Once she reached her room she opened her door and stepped inside. She hummed merrily and walked past her closet filled with various cosplay outfits befitting famous pop-culture characters from Earth. She ignored her desk that held cute little anime inspired ninja figurines, and one strangely familiar figure. On the desk stood a one-sixth scale model of Scott in his US Army Uniform, complete with M-4 and kung-fu grip.

She stopped what she was doing then walked backwards until she returned to her desk. She reached down and picked up the Scott action figure.

“Hey. Do you think I’m pretty, Scott?” she said softly to the inanimate Scott. She moved his fully-articulated limbs and made him take on heroic poses.

Shara sighed then made the action figure take on an expressive stance and made its head bob up and down by shaking it in the air. “Yes, Shara, I do think you’re pretty. You’re the prettiest ninja goddess in the whole world! Please play with me every day!”

She placed the tips of the fingers on her left hand, against her chin and smiled radiantly. “Of course I will, Scott. I’ll play with you whenever you like.”

The goddess with a ninja girl fixation played with her figurine for a time then placed Army Action Scott back in his spot on her desk. She kissed two of her fingers then touched them to the doll’s cheek.

Shara turned away from her favorite fictional character and looked down to her desk drawer. A soft smile crossed her lips as she unlocked it. She retrieved a disk then shut her drawer before going to her system node.

The ninja goddess placed the disc into the computer tray and waited for it to boot up. After the loading screen passed she was greeted to a very familiar sight. Scott, in civilian dress, was alone at his barracks room making spaghetti.

She watched him put a few slices of jalapeno into his spaghetti sauce then giggled softly. Honestly, who puts jalapenos in spaghetti? What a Noob.

Shara watched Scott for several hours, as she often did. She was not certain what fascinated her about the man, but a few years ago she had taken it upon herself to watch him. Origin had developed a powerful fixation on the man, and it made her feel like her sister had abandoned her.

The red haired ninja goddess smiled gently. “We’ll finally get to play together soon. I just know it.”

Whether she meant Origin or Scott was anyone’s guess. A close-up image of Scott’s face appeared on screen. Shara placed a finger to her monitor and gently traced the curve of his chin. It was hard to judge human beauty. As a goddess she mostly saw the flow of his spiritual energy. Origin’s love interest had a warm and friendly soul tinged with a hint of violence.

Shara shivered gently, but not due to any form of cold or fear. She was not certain why, but whenever she looked at this man she felt something shiver deep inside. It was not an unpleasant sensation, but it was most unusual.

Eventually she sighed once more then looked down at her console. Her eyes began to shimmer softly in the glow of her monitor. She sniffled a little then turned her head to the side and wiped at her eyes with her fingers.

A sad little smile crossed her lips and she said, “I hope that you want to play with me, too.”

Shara hugged herself while she sat there in her room, alone. Recently she had spent most of her time alone. She had few real friends. In fact, she had no friends other than her family members and Gambol. None of them had as much time to spend with her as they did in the past. The lonely girl hoped that the man on the monitor, a man who she had watched daily for several years now, would want to spend time with her.

Despite her great beauty, Shara did not understand how to socialize properly with other people. She had always been an insular child. While she had played with her sister Origin a lot during their youth, Shara had been drawn mostly to watching Earth human television and playing games. She loved to cosplay as her favorite characters. Her tendency to fixate of characters that she adored had unintended consequences once she grew older, however.

She was not sure why it was important, but she felt strongly about playing with Scott. She bit her lower lip and took a deep breath. Shara slowly released her pent up breath then sobbed out. “Please, play with me... Please don’t be like the others.”

Scott, the man on the monitor, was her last hope. Everyone else, even her dear sister, had seemed to abandon her. Even Gambol was only available on a highly irregular basis of late. He was fixated on Theta, Shara’s older sister, and spent most of his time trying to get her attention.

The ninja goddess hugged herself and let the tears fall. She barely understood human emotions, but like any deity she felt them keenly when they occurred. Emotions were hard, brutal, things. She could not understand how humans were able to deal with them. It was like a torturous wave of things she could not properly understand crashed down upon her at random points in time.

A lonely girl cried in her room that night. Her heartfelt self-prayers were sincere desires to spend time with both the one person who had been there for her every day even if he did not know it, and to once again be able to spend time with her dear sister. Playing with Scott would answer both of her earnest prayers.

The gods wanted to understand humanity to an almost desperate degree. Human cultures, emotions, thoughts, and actions were a mystery to the eternal beings of the divine city. As deities they had incredible powers and could conceivably live forever. Yet, it was only when they could be close to the short-lived mortals that they truly felt alive.

They did not understand human emotion, but they could feel it. Unfortunately, their comprehension and understanding of the concepts of emotion were far more limited than their ability to actively feel such things. In many ways, a human who met a deity and survived might think of them as incomplete beings. In other instances, the gods might seem to be suffering under several varieties of psychosis. Either way, they understood themselves and their feelings even less than they understood human actions and choices. In short, no matter how nice or sweet most divine beings might seem, they were all essentially bat-shit crazy.

Chapter 2: Camping

The battle had been hard fought, but in the end all was lost. No matter what came before the man, he fought to put it down with all of the strength that he possessed. Despite his stalwart nature and incredible dedication the end was inevitable. There could be but one possible outcome. A loud reverberation echoed throughout the room.
*Buuurrp!*

“Jacob Resnell! Don’t act like that in front of company!” exclaimed the lady of the house. She fussed about the man, and made an attempt to excuse his poor manners.

“My compliments to the chef should be appreciated, Honey.” said the farmer with an amused smile.

Rhea casually poked Scott in the thigh under the table. It was obvious that she wanted him to say something to calm the woman down.

“Mrs. Resnell, you don’t have to worry about that sort of thing around us. Rhea does it all the time.”

The elf girl turned to her comrade and looked at him with a scandalized expression. “What!”

“Once a day? Twice on the weekends?” asked Scott while smiling brightly.

She pouted at him then crossed her arms. “That was supposed to be a secret.”

Scott blinked at her. She was going along with him?

He smiled gently at her. It was nice to have someone to play with. “Ah yes, well I changed my mind. The world should know of this incredible news.”

Rhea snorted softly then poked him on the shoulder. “Goofball.”

Jacob could not hold it back anymore. He started to laugh loudly. After looking properly mortified for a moment, his wife joined him with a good natured laugh of her own.

The elf girl chuckled softly then shook her head. She could not take this guy anywhere. Still, she had enjoyed the evening a great deal. “You and your husband get along so well, Honey.”

Honey smiled at the girl then snorted. “Sure, when he’s not being a braying jackass.”

“Which isn’t often.” agreed Jacob.

Scott laughed at that then turned to Rhea. “I know her pain.”

“Who’s a braying jackass?” asked Rhea. She pouted at him cutely.

“I wonder.” He said in a warm and innocent tone.

“You’re impossible, you know that?” asked the elf girl.

Scott nodded to her, “I’m aware of that.”

She snorted at him again then smiled while she shook her head. “Why did I join up with you again?”

“I’m pretty sure that you just needed someone taller than you to act as shade when the sun is out.” said Scott.

The dinner conversation continued like that for quite some time. Scott and Rhea traded sweet barbs, and talked with the farm couple. They discussed life on the farm for a time. Eventually the couples broke off into pairs. The men went outside to have a drink, and the women folk stayed inside to chat.

Scott had wanted to help with the dishes, but that would have made Honey uncomfortable. Rhea volunteered to help in his stead, but that would have made Honey even more uncomfortable. They were dinner guests, and as amusing as it would be to see Scott wash dishes, she could not bear the idea of her beautiful elven house guest doing them.

“So, what’s it like being on the road all the time?” asked Jacob. The middle-aged farmer offered Scott a cup of his special cider, homemade hooch was the best hooch as far as the man was concerned.

The sorcerer took the offered cup then thought about a response. He had not been an adventurer long, but he had moved around a lot when he was in the army. “Tiring at times, but it’s OK when you’re not alone. It can be a little unnerving at night.”

“I bet. Even as a farmer it can be a problem. Bandits pop up, animals migrate, monsters show up out of nowhere. Still, it’s not a bad life.”