Have you ever wished people would leave you alone?
In Big Brother Eight, I felt for Amanda when she was dragged into an argument between two other housemates, Gerry and Tracy. Ultimately both those two were evicted. The Marchant twins were criticised because they were never seen to argue with anyone and thus being fence sitters were considered the lowest of the low.
But have these detractors ever known what it was like to be piggy in the middle, not afforded the luxury of picking a side. What do you do when people you work with and live with fall out and both ask you to to side with them against the other.
I had been there too, but that was another decade and another millennium and another lifetime.
Now that familiar feeling was returning. The Mystical Realms was in civil war, Trolls versus Trolls and orcs, fairy folk being ethnically cleansed and crossing dimension doorways from the human generated collective consciousness into virtual worlds in cyber space and this world.
Since the death of the Spirit of True Love, I could not have cared one hoot, let alone two what they did. But now they were breaking into our world, and trying to commit murder. Things must be really bad if they had resorted to killing higher spirits, those beings who in ancient times had been worshipped as gods.
I had seen, what used to be the Greek God of war, felled by a treacherous arrow from an orc. If the Guardian of Mortal Struggle was trying to escape into our world, how bad must it be?
The only thing that could save us, was some kind of warm feeling, generated by two people falling for each other on a TV show, and being together for ever. How it would save us from dimension breaches, I had no idea, ut that is what the Spirit of True Love's daughter, The Spirit of Fancying had said.
I packed my backpack and laptop and headed down to the bus station to catch one of those mega buses to London. It was cheaper than the train. I had also packed a small orb, I had found in the blackened grass where the Guardian of Mortal struggle had died.
I was not sure what I was doing, if that orc arrow had been meant for me, who knows what the orcs and the troll collaborators would do. Would they try and kill either of Brimanda, creating a misery that would weaken the boarders between the Mystical Relam and ours. Were they after this other sister of the Spirit of True Love and the Guardian of Mortal Struggle. I had never heard of this sister, so maybe she was living in our world and also the next possible target.
The trip down to London, was surprisingly uneventful, apart from the occasional traffic jam, nothing unexpected in our mortal realm.
My first objective was to find a wifi point, at a coffee shop. Cafe Nero, just outside Parliament I found the perfect spot.
I finally took the plunge and signed up to World of Warcraft and logged on. Maybe Yagel Swift Pen or the Spirit of Fancying would know about this other sister, who may be on the hit list. I could hear the orb pulsate, and suddenly, I was no longer at the coffee shop, but in a medieval world. I was now in the game, somehow I had crossed a dimension gate into cyber space.
I looked kind of odd in my civvies in this world, and a number of players commented about my "lame avatar"
I asked at the nearest tavern if they had seen an elf with a young teenager, and got funny looks. Obviously some players thought that World of Warcraft had been penetrated by the kind of monster only humans could create.
Suddenly I felt a presence
"Why are you hear, you could ruin everything"
It was Yagel Pen Swift
With him was the Spirit of Fancying
"It's the Guardian of Mortal Struggle" I replied, "They have killed him"
Yagel shook his head and put his face in his hands "This is grave news"
The young spirt looked pale, "Uncle" was all she could whisper and looked for a stool to sit on.
"I'm sorry, there was nothing I could do" I mumbled to her, not being much of a comforter. I could tell she was crying quietly. Not only was this a civil war, it was also a family tragedy
I turned back to Yagel, "before he died, he mentioned something about a middle sister."
Yagel looked straight at the Spirit of Fancying, "I know nothing of her, or her modern or ancient name. They say she chose to stay with your world. Apart from that I can say nothing.
"Would you be any safer in our world" I ventured
"I fear not, if we did, we may loose our powers to those who would not use them to your best interests."
"But how could this middle sister so survive" I asked, curious at this contradiction in Yagel's positions about this sister and hiding in our world.
"Fancy a good time lovey" came a gruff voice behind. A large knight was trying to proposition the Spirit of Fancying. She looked up at him in horror. This was a mere player trying it on.
Yagel addressed him, "She is with me"
"How much do you want for her" the knight asked
Suddenly I remembered I had not generated a weapon. I visualised a loaded crossbow. Suddenly I had one in my hand. I levelled it at the knight.
"Back off, unless you want to have to buy a new subscription"
The knight took out his large sword and lifted it up.
Then in the distance I hard the cry "Tarquin, dinner time"
The knight groaned and suddenly disolved, as the user logged out.
"Thank you" the Spirit of Fancying Whispered, eyes streaming with tears, "What now"
I thought for a moment and then told the two, "I have come to our capital, possibly to look for the middle sister, and possibly to find Brian or Amanda from our world. If Brimanda is the key to saving both our worlds, then one of them may be in danger"
"Oh" she muttered "I never thought that I could put anyone i danger, I just wanted a nice low key romance to make people happy" At this she dissolved into tears, and Yagel came to comfort her.
"Fancying, we need to go from here, it is too crowded"
I noticed that even in the World of Warcraft I had the orb, and now it was pulsating again.
I was back looking at my laptop, it had gone on to powersave.
"Oh your back" commented the female barista.
"Sorry, I had to pay a visit"
"That guy over there wanted to see you" she replied
I looked at the guy in a large raincoat, he looked disturbingly familiar.
He got up and sat down in front of me. I closed the laptop down.
He pulled down his hood
Sitting in front of me was a troll from the Mystical Realms
"The Lord Low Troll was my father" he growled, "and now I finally get to see you, the one he always said, got away"
To be continued