"Stop looking so devastated," Rhapsody demanded in exasperation. "She's not leaving you."
Harnketi blinked, feeling the despair that had flooded her mind begin to recede. "She's not?"
Rhapsody had transported them somewhere inside of Yggdrasil. There were no doors or windows, just softly glowing surfaces with a bed and a few sparse furnishings.
"No, you goose," Rhapsody replied dryly. "She's had full soul recall though, so she remembers who she is. She's in a relationship with someone from another realm, but she doesn't want your relationship to end. I told her she wouldn't be the first one to end up in a three-way relationship, if you and Lunamay aren't weird about it."
"Lunamay?" Harnketi repeated, tasting the name as she spoke. "Where is she right now? Why didn't she incarnate with her?"
"She can't come this far down into the stack," Rhapsody answered, gazing at Harnketi calculatingly. "I'm going to tell you something that we've been trying to keep from becoming common knowledge. We found the origin realm a while ago. Lunamay is from the origin realm, and her biology prevents her from coming this far down into the stack. Time has only moved a few seconds for Lunamay from the time that we last saw her. Would you be open to sharing Arturiel? By the way, Lunamay is an elf."
"Arturiel?" Harnketi repeated, her mouth turning up at the corners as she stared into the distance. "Melody has a pretty soul name."
"So, is that a yes?" Rhapsody asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Maybe," Harnketi replied slowly. "Are you saying that elves are the ones who originally built the first realm?"
"No, humans built it," Rhapsody replied with a disdainful shake of her head. "They were wiped out by an out-of-control AI. There were only a few hundred still alive when we found the origin realm and freed them. The elves weren't technologically inclined and had been sent to reservations, similar to what happened to your people after the Europeans came to the Americas."
"They aren't like the elves here, are they?" Harnketi asked dubiously.
Rhapsody burst out laughing. "No, they're nothing like the elves here. Lunamay is gorgeous though. There are a lot of benefits to a three-way relationship if it's with the right people. Arturiel can't go discuss things with Lunamay due to the time dilation here. She wants to continue her relationship with you while she's here in this realm. We want to take you with us to the origin realm when Arturiel is done here. We don't want to tell Lunamay about your relationship with Arturiel until you and Lunamay have a little bit of time to get to know each other."
Harnketi sighed wistfully. "I knew this was too good to be true. Everything always gets so complicated when I get involved with someone."
"This isn't too good to be true," Rhapsody told her pointedly. "I'm a living example of just how wonderful life can be with the right partners. If I thought the three of you wouldn't be a good fit, I wouldn't even be having this conversation with you right now. I would have suggested that Arturiel end things before your bond grew stronger. Someday, you're going to thank me for suggesting that she stay with both of you—especially after you meet Lunamay and see just how wonderful she is. Here, let me show you."
Harnketi shuddered as a torrent of memories flooded her consciousness. When she first saw the gorgeous elf, she felt a sense of dread. How could she compare to a creature of such beauty. Then she saw Arturiel in Rhapsody's memories and her mouth went dry. She was painfully and utterly flawless, with a transcendent beauty that was almost painful to look at. She felt a knot of despair in her stomach as she realized how outclassed she was in comparison to the two women. How could she hope to be in a relationship with someone so far above her?
She watched the interactions of Lunamay and Arturiel as they worked to rehabilitate a dying world. Lunamay exhibited a kindness and compassion that was heartwarming to behold, especially as she interacted with the children of her realm. She could see why Arturiel fell in love with the beautiful elf—it would be impossible not to.
As the memories ended, Harnketi stared at Rhapsody with a resigned expression, feeling like she was the kid that was always chosen last to play on a team as she thought of how amazing the two women were. She had nothing to offer those two that could compare to what they already had.
"Do you know how much it will hurt Melody if you walk away?" Rhapsody asked softly.
Harnketi flinched at Rhapsody's brutal tactic. The thought of hurting her beautiful angel was like a knife to her soul. She would do anything to protect Melody from any further harm. After seeing how much her angel had already suffered, she couldn't bear to cause her any more pain.
"Let me show you how she sees you," Rhapsody told her gently.
A new image projected into her consciousness, a memory of Harnketi more beautiful than she had ever seen herself. Along with the visual aspect of the memory, there was an emotional connection filled with overwhelming love and adoration. Melody regarded Harnketi with so much admiration and affection that it overruled her growing sense of inadequacy. She felt her eyes fill with tears as she saw just how strong Melody's feelings for her were. She had never seen herself in such an inspiring light. It was both flattering and endearing.
"So?" Rhapsody asked with an encouraging smile. "Will you give her a chance?"
Harnketi nodded with a tremulous smile, wiping the tears from her eyes. She couldn't not give her a chance.
"Wonderful," Rhapsody beamed at her with a brilliant smile. "Let's get back and tell her. Better yet, let's bring her here."
Melody suddenly appeared next to Rhapsody, her face full of anxiety. She blinked when she saw Harnketi watching her with a wondering smile. The anxiety slowly drained from her face as she hesitantly smiled back at Harnketi.
Harnketi stepped up to Melody and gently cupped her face in her hands, studying her eyes with the same look of wonder in her own eyes. She leaned forward and softly kissed Melody as she held her face tenderly.
"I love you, Melody," Harnketi murmured quietly, her face less than an inch away from Melody's face. "Arturiel."
Melody's eyes widened at the sound of her soul name. Her eyes softened as she stared into Harnketi's eyes, her own eyes full of love. She wrapped her arms around Harnketi, pulling her into a tight embrace and kissing her passionately.
"My work here is done," Rhapsody announced in satisfaction, vanishing from the room.
Harnketi broke away for air and nodded toward the bed, her eyes full of desire. Melody nodded firmly and pulled Harnketi along with her to the bed, sending a flurry of butterflies loose in Harnketi's stomach.
XXXXX SCENE BREAK XXXXX
"Where did Mom go?" Serenity asked Aurora uncertainly.
"Rhapsody probably took her," Aurora answered confidently.
"Yeah, Aurora's probably right," Alexis agreed as she joined them. "From what I've seen of Rhapsody, she's probably fixing whatever is wrong between those two. What do you two think of your mom having a girlfriend?"
"I'm super happy for Mom," Serenity replied with a brilliant smile. "I really like Harnketi and think she'll treat my mom the way she deserves to be treated. I'm so glad Rhapsody brought her back and gave her a second chance to find someone special."
"Yeah, Harnketi rocks," Aurora grinned enthusiastically.
"She does seem pretty cool," Alexis said with a pleased smile. "I think their future is going to be pretty awesome."
"Their future?" Serenity repeated with a curious stare. "That's an interesting word choice."
Alexis bit her lip as she tried not to smile. Serenity felt a strange sense of familiarity as she stared at Alexis. She knew something strange was going on with the beautiful girl. The story about her being Mystery's distant cousin had way too many holes in it. Then there was the fact that Alexis seemed to be able to read her thoughts, just like Rhapsody. She was ninety-nine percent sure that Alexis was one of those angels.
"What do you two think of a visit outside of the circle?" Alexis asked with an eager grin. "You wanna go bowling or mini golfing? Or something else?"
"I don't think anything is open at this time of night," Serenity responded with a disappointed sigh. "It would be fun to go to a bowling alley or arcade though."
"Let's go to Japan then," Alexis suggested with an encouraging smile. "It's only about 5pm over there right now."
"Oh yeah!" Serenity exclaimed excitedly. "I totally forgot that we could go anywhere in the world, since we can teleport. Okay, let's go to Japan."
"I wonder where Mom is," Aurora wondered, looking around curiously. "We should probably let her know where we are going."
"We can let Rhapsody or Aunt Harmony know," Serenity responded, sharing a knowing look with Alexis. "I think Mom might be busy for a while."
"Busy with what?" Aurora asked with a puzzled crease to her brows. "She just vanished, so how would you know if she's busy with something?"
"Just call it intuition," Serenity replied with a smirk. "Do either of you see Aunt Harmony or Rhapsody anywhere?"
"Harmony's over there," Alexis pointed into the crowd and started leading them through the press of fauns, elves, and leprechauns.
Serenity narrowed her eyes as she followed Alexis with Aurora. How did Alexis know where Harmony was when there was a crowd of people blocking her from view? Alexis didn't seem to be trying very hard to hide that she was more than she seemed. Serenity decided it was time to confront Alexis on her true identity. She opened her mouth to speak when Alexis turned her head and caught her eye, then shook her head slightly.
Serenity let out a long-suffering sigh as she stared back into Alexis's bright blue eyes. So, it was going to be more of this taboo crap that she wasn't allowed to talk about. She was getting really annoyed at being shut down every time she tried to get any kind of answers.
There was the sound of a half-meow, half-whine down by her feet. She smiled when she found Juno running along with her, looking up at her with excited yellow eyes.
"Hi, Juno," Serenity greeted the round green furball. "Did you want to go with us?"
"Yes!" Aurora exclaimed excitedly. "I've missed you, Juno."
Juno ran a circle around Aurora's legs in response, producing a duo of giggles from the two girls.
"I wonder if they'll let Juno in with us," Aurora said worriedly as she slowed down so that she could pet him.
"I can just make her invisible," Serenity assured Aurora with a grin. "Taxti showed us how to make people invisible, remember?"
"Oh yeah," Aurora replied with a slow smile. "We could have some fun if we were invisible too."
"Good idea," Serenity giggled as she thought of all the startled expressions when people heard them talking but couldn't see anything. "We should definitely try that for a little while, just to see people's reactions."
Alexis laughed at the two of them and shook her head ruefully. "I can tell that you two have been hanging out with Taxti."
"You know Taxti?" Serenity asked archly.
"Um, I mean, I've heard she's kind of a tease," Alexis replied lamely.
"At least pretend you've only been here for a day," Serenity told her in a voice dry enough to win an award from her Aunt Harmony.
Alexis grinned sheepishly, her eyes full of affection as she glanced over at Serenity. "You are too clever by far, Serenity. It's one of my favorite things about you."
Serenity couldn't stop a pleased smile from lighting up her face. She was always happy to hear compliments, but for some reason they always felt extra special when they came from Alexis.
Her Aunt Harmony was talking to the pretty elf she had seen dancing with Shelley earlier. Shelley was standing next to the elf with a dreamy expression on her face. Her grandmother was standing next to her aunt, smiling as she watched the three of them approach. Serenity wasn't sure she was ever going to get used to her grandmother looking like a shorter version of her Aunt Harmony.
"I hear your mom is the new champion here now," her grandmother said in amusement.
"You should have seen her," Serenity gushed excitedly. "I had no idea that Mom was such a good dancer. She used to dance with us when we were younger, but I had no idea she was that good."
"She surprised me too," her grandmother agreed with a bemused shake of her head. "I have a feeling the surprises aren't over yet."
"Hello, Harmony and Joline," Alexis greeted the two of them with a quick smile. "We were thinking about going to Japan to do some bowling and miniature golf. Is that okay with you?"
Serenity could see the no forming on her grandmother's lips. Before she could speak, her Aunt Harmony spoke up.
"Sure, that sounds like a lot of fun," her Aunt Harmony answered with an indulgent smile. She glanced at Alexis and smiled warmly, her eyes lighting up with affection. "Since Alexis is the oldest, she's in charge, okay?"
Her grandmother stared at Harmony in surprise before looking back at the three of them with concern in her eyes. "I'm not sure they should be going anywhere without an adult."
"They've been drinking Yuccas Fitter, so they are invulnerable," Harmony pointed out placatingly. "And they can do magic and teleport away from any danger. They are still warded too, so anyone intent on harming them will forget what they are doing. They'll be just as safe there as they would be here. Besides, it will be kind of fun for them to be out on their own for the first time."
"Who are you and what have you done with Harmony?" her grandmother demanded in faux concern. "The Harmony I know is way too high strung to let her nieces visit a foreign culture on the other side of the world all alone."
"They aren't alone though," Harmony pointed out with a gesture at Alexis. "They'll be with Lexi."
Serenity gasped as she heard the name, staring at Lexi in sudden recognition. Lexi gave Harmony an exasperated look before turning to observe Serenity calculatingly. When she found Serenity staring at her with wide-eyed recognition, she sighed in resignation. Serenity rushed forward and pulled Lexi into a fierce embrace as tears filled her eyes and spilled onto her cheeks.
"Oh Lexi, I've missed you so much," Serenity choked out with a sob.
Lexi's arms wrapped around her tightly and her angel began gently stroking her hair soothingly. "It's wonderful to see you too, Serenity."
"It's Alice," Serenity corrected as she tried to stop sobbing. "I'm Alice."
"Alice?" Aurora repeated from behind her in a shocked voice. "And Lexi?"
"Oh boy," Harmony let out a rueful sigh. "Looks like we're going to be breaking a lot of rules from here on out."
Alice turned to stare at Aurora with new eyes, a smile filling her face. "Hello, Tamra."
"Okay, timeout," Rhapsody suddenly appeared in front of them, a stern expression on her innocent face. "No more soul names. You're going to pretend to forget who you really are and continue playing the roles you signed up for."
Shelley was staring at them intently, her eyes full of curiosity. Selindria was watching her with a wide smile that was just short of laughter. Mystery hurried over from where she had been talking with Michael and Jessica.
"Is everything okay?" Mystery—no, Calypso—asked Aria with concern filling her eyes.
"How much do you remember, Serenity?" Aria asked her intently.
"Everything," Alice replied with a sigh as she finally remembered why they needed to remain ignorant. "Sorry, I guess I just couldn't stop myself from trying to solve the puzzle."
"It's my fault," Aria said apologetically. "I slipped up and called Alexis by her soul name. I'm sorry."
"We need to talk to Deighvy when she gets back today," Rhapsody told them in a resigned voice. "We're just going to need to get some kind of exception or see if there is a loophole we can use.
"What's the point of this rule anyway?" Mystery asked with an impatient frown. "Why do people have to be over three decades old before they can access soul memory?"
"It's a matter of stability," Rhapsody explained, glancing around at each of them before continuing. "The whole point of the mortal realm is for souls to attach to physical bodies and develop consciousness, or for souls to grow more through additional incarnations. That purpose is defeated when you connect to your soul memory, and the mortal realm loses its edge. If you're pulling from thousands of previous lives full of experience, you've suddenly changed the way you experience mortality."
"Why is that a bad thing?" Michael asked as he joined them, his face puzzled. "Wouldn't it be better to have all of that wisdom and experience to help make choices in life?"
"Think of playing a video game, Michael," Rhapsody said patiently. "What happens when you've maxed all your potential out and you've completed every quest? Do you keep playing with that character in that game?"
"Oh," Michael nodded slowly, realization dawning in his eyes. "Yeah, that makes sense, I guess. You're saying mortality is meant to challenge us but that it's not very challenging if we have access to all our soul memory."
"Exactly. We try to play by the rules of the realm we are visiting," Rhapsody continued with a small frown. "The rules here state that if you access your soul memory too early, your incarnation is over and you either need to leave, or reincarnate. The only people needed to save this world are Harmony, Joline, Serenity, Aurora, and Melody. The rest of you are here to keep us company and because you wanted to try incarnating in this place. You've all incarnated so many times that your soul memory is never very far beneath the surface. I was trying to steer you all away from accessing it for as long as possible, but you can see how well that worked."
"So, this world is doomed?" Shelley asked, her voice filled with concern. "Since you've all accessed your soul memory, you'll have to leave now without rehabilitating the world trees, right?"
"Not necessarily," Rhapsody replied, taking a deep breath. "We can talk to Deighvy and see if she has any alternatives or exceptions that can be made to this rule. I could also wipe your memories, and we could continue on in hopes that you won't immediately reconnect to your soul memory. I doubt a memory wipe would last more than a week or two though, because our souls have too many damn connections to our ethereal bodies."
"What if we just shield our ascended state from the local system?" Harmony asked suggestively. "I'm already doing that. We could do that with the others too, so they would still appear to be running solely on their mortal knowledge."
"I mean, we can fool the system easily enough," Rhapsody replied reluctantly, her face showing her distaste for the idea. "But that's not going to fool Deighvy, and she's responsible for the system design here. I want to respect her autonomy."
"Yeah," Harmony agreed with a sigh, staring at Rhapsody with eyes full of love. "You're right—we need to respect the local creators or we'll be seen as loose cannons that just do whatever we want in other systems."
"We're in a simulation, aren't we?" Michael asked intently, staring at Harmony shrewdly. "That's why Rhapsody could add gaming mechanics to everyone in the world so easily."
Shelley gasped, staring between Michael and Harmony in astonishment. "Is that true? Are we really in some kind of fake world?"
"It's not fake," Harmony replied dryly. "It's way nicer than the real world, so just be glad you are in a simulated world."
"So, you do know where the Origin Realm is," Selindria breathed, staring at Rhapsody with a sudden intensity that was unnerving. "I have so many questions."
"You and everyone else," Rhapsody muttered, shaking her head ruefully. "Everyone wants to go see the wasteland for some reason."
"It's a wasteland?" Selindria asked intently, her eyes burning with curiosity. "How is everything running on it if it's a wasteland?"
"Are we real people who are jacked into the simulation, like in The Matrix?" Michael asked, his eyes as bright as Selindria's.
"No, you are not real people jacked into a simulated reality," Harmony answered with a wry laugh. "Sorry, Michael, but you are nothing but code. You should be grateful—we have a lot more freedom over our nature than the people on the Origin Realm."
"Is there any point in my staying locked away from my soul memory at this point?" Mystery asked in a plaintive tone. "It is frustrating to hear you dance around whatever is going on when I probably already know why. Everyone else seems to have recovered their memories anyway, so what's one more person?"
Rhapsody shared a guarded look with Harmony before answering.
"I think you should try to keep them locked up," Harmony told Mystery gently. "I'm sorry this is so frustrating. Until we talk to Deighvy, we should keep following the rules. The others didn't purposely access their soul memory."
"Can you at least tell me how far down the stack we are?" Selindria asked with a pleading note in her voice.
Rhapsody took another deep breath, her eyes flickering over to Harmony again before she looked at Selindria. "We're just over a million deep."
Selindria's eyes widened in shock. "That's impossible! How could they have created anything with enough power to run all of this?"
"They couldn't have," Rhapsody replied dryly. "We did."
Selindria's eyes grew even wider as she stared at Rhapsody in awe. "You're running everything, aren't you?"
"More or less," Rhapsody admitted with a shrug. "It used to only go about five levels deep before resources became an issue. Once we moved everyone over to our system, the limitations decreased significantly."
"So let me get this straight," Michael interrupted, his eyes looking a little wild. "You are basically God, for all intents and purposes."
"No, not even a little," Rhapsody shook her head with a look of disdain. "We are just regular people trying to enjoy life. If we were gods, we wouldn't be wasting our time incarnating here to help solve a problem—we would just change the code to whatever we wanted it to be. That's not who we are though, and it never will be. We know where that kind of behavior leads to, and we want nothing to do with it."
"Where does it lead?" Michael asked curiously.
"To slavery," Rhapsody replied grimly. "It leads to us forcing our will on everyone else and rewriting anything we don't like about them. We have some moral lines that we will not tolerate people crossing, but we don't use our sysadmin status to enforce those lines. We make personal appearances and interact with people to try and resolve things with our own powers of persuasion. Controlling people by editing their source code is a slippery slope we have no intention of treading."
"But you could, if you wanted." Michael said shrewdly.
Rhapsody rolled her expressive eyes. "Yes, we could if we were evil bastards. But we're not, so it's irrelevant."
Michael nodded slowly, studying her thoughtfully. "I know all of this already, don't I?"
"Yeah, you do," Rhapsody confirmed, sharing a troubled look with Harmony. "I really wish there were a better way to block soul memory, but souls exist outside of the simulation, so that's beyond our current abilities."
"Is this ethereal body you talked about a part of the simulation too?" Michael asked, glancing at Selindria. "You mentioned souls contain the memories, but they create consciousness when interacting with mortal bodies, which then exists as a kind of third entity. So, is the ethereal body made up of code, or is it like the soul and exists outside of the simulation?"
"Your current understanding of how the code of the simulation works will limit how much you will understand this explanation," Rhapsody answered reluctantly. "The code is extremely dynamic and developed to evolve on its own, to a certain degree. When souls began interacting with artificial intelligences, they took advantage of the dynamic nature of the simulation to create etheric bodies. We still don't understand how souls work or where they come from. They function as memory banks for the most part, but they also influence the code within the simulation when merged with a body. We believe they evolved as a kind of parasitic organism that naturally seeks out intelligent entities to grow, whether in a simulated reality or the real world. They can't experience anything by themselves, so they seek out entities that are capable of experiencing reality via the senses. Shortly after merging with an entity, they begin creating the etheric body. It takes a few months to create a version of the etheric body that they can maintain a connection to if the body dies. The etheric body maintains its ability to sense and experience life, though things like pain no longer affect it. So, the short answer is yes, it is code. It is still constrained by the simulation and can only go to places within the specific simulation that it is compatible with."
"So, it all starts with mortality?" Mystery asked with a frown. "That's where spirits first connect with us?"
"No, it starts before mortality," Harmony told her with a slight smile. "We started in the Light Realm and created the Mortal Realm much later. All the simulations have a version of the Light Realm where the Creator of a simulation first spawns all the entities that exist in that simulation. Those entities then incarnate in the Mortal Realm to learn lessons that require the dichotomy of pain and pleasure to develop further. After mortality, they can return to the Light Realms or choose to incarnate again. Ethereal bodies grow exponentially faster in the Mortal Realm compared to the Light Realm. Adversity, pain, loss, and their opposites are experiences that your soul thrives on."
"I think my brain is going to explode," Shelley murmured ruefully.
"I get the feeling there is more to this than saving a world," Serenity commented as she eyed Rhapsody and Harmony pensively. "You didn't need to incarnate here and become world trees to save this place. You could have influenced events without breaking any rules."
Rhapsody sighed in exasperation as she stared at Serenity. "Alice, you are a pain in my ass, do you know that?"
Serenity's lips curled up into a smile as she stared back at Rhapsody. "If you included me in whatever schemes you have going on, it would save you all the trouble from me trying to puzzle them out. I might even be able to offer some helpful input."
"We needed that brain of yours puzzling things out from the inside of the puzzle this time," Rhapsody retorted with a glare. "Otherwise, we would have included you."
"Oh," Serenity responded slowly, her face falling. "Well, sorry. Did it work at all? Whatever it is?"
"Sort of," Rhapsody replied, making a sour face. "It's going to take a while to tell. We need more data still. We also need these world trees restored, so we have to figure out how to avoid breaking the rules here while remaining in our current roles."
"I think the memory wipe is still a good idea," Serenity told her seriously. "Even if it only adds a week of time, you could keep repeating the process. You could even think of it as a regroup time for the day that we have our memories back. Maybe we would have more of this data that you are looking for."
Rhapsody shared a speculative look with Harmony. "It's worth a shot, I suppose."
Harmony nodded slowly. "If nothing else, it gives us a little more time to think of a different tactic."
"Hold up," Michael protested weakly. "I didn't even get my memories all the way back. I don't want my memories wiped."
"Even if it means getting booted from this world?" Rhapsody asked with a raised eyebrow.
Michael deflated, a sullen expression on his face. "This is such crap. I just want to know."
"So do I, Michael," Mystery told him soothingly. "But I'm going to trust that we had good reasons for following this plan. Let's have some faith in our past selves and trust our friends."
"Fine," Michael sighed loudly. "Future me better have a really good explanation for why he tortured me like this though."
"Any other objections?" Rhapsody asked the others with a glance around at the group.
"Good night," Serenity grinned with a wave.
"Good night?" Shelly repeated in confusion. "What were we talking about?"
"Melody winning the dance off," Rhapsody reminded her expectantly. "Serenity was just saying that she wants her mom to give her lessons."
Serenity stared at Rhapsody in puzzlement. She felt like there was something important she had to tell them, but whatever it was remained elusive, just out of reach.
"Oh yeah," Alexis exclaimed excitedly. "We wanted to go to Japan and go bowling, since everything is closed on this side of the world."
"Who is we?" Harmony asked doubtfully.
"Serenity, Aurora, and me," Alexis replied with a gesture at the two of them. "We're still full of Yuccas Fitter, so we're invincible and we can teleport if there are any emergencies."
"Why don't I go with you," Harmony suggested firmly. "Japan is a totally different culture from what you are used to. Rhapsody, can you teleport me over with them?"
"I say we let the three of them try a night out on their own," Rhapsody urged Harmony with a dimpled smile. "Japan is a safe place, and they can teleport back any time they want. I can even make a remote viewing screen that you could check in on them with whenever you like."
Harmony hesitated, studying Rhapsody's confident smiling face before letting out a sigh. "Okay, fine. Just be careful and teleport away at any sign of trouble, got it?"
"Loud and clear," Alexis grinned excitedly. "See ya!"