A New Day

We decide pretty quickly not to file any kind of report with the mundane police. It’s more hassle than it’s worth, and I decide on calling my landlord tomorrow to explain that there was an accident and that I’ll pay for the damage. We gather up the shards of broken glass from the smashed windows, something made pretty easy with our combined magic, and dump them into the bin.

It’s pretty hard to fall asleep after that. We’re all tired but none of us can really rest, given the situation. It’s 2AM which means we have plenty of time till dawn, so we set a night watch roster. One hour keeping watch each. We make sure Ivy gets the chance to sleep as well. She doesn’t need it physically, but after the day we’ve all had and the awful things that we’ve seen, we all need to rest our tired minds and try to keep ourselves from remaining in anxious and paranoid survival mode permanently.

After a while, I drop off without realising it. One moment I’m laying wide awake, the next, Ivy is gently waking me up for my turn on the watch. I stand vigilantly in the doorway for an hour, occasionally patrolling the apartment to make sure nobody is trying to sneak up on us. Eventually my hour ends and I wake Mia up for her turn.

Waking up to the sun shining through the window is a welcome sight. We thankfully made it through the night without any more gangs trying to break into my home. That didn’t stop the fear of it happening, but we all managed to get some sleep nonetheless. As the four of us wake up, Ivy makes us breakfast.

We cuddle together, eating breakfast and watching more of The Looney Tunes Show. We’re all tired, despite the sleep that we got. The atmosphere between us feels very exhausted. We’re all mentally drained, and none of us really know how to move forward. The best I can figure is to take it one step at a time.

After breakfast, I call my landlord. I explain that I have some friends over, that we were messing around and that there was an accident where the window broke. He’s a bit upset, but he cuts me some slack since we’ve never had any issues before. I assure him that I’ll pay for the damage and he tells me that he’ll send over somebody to repair the window. I thank him and hang up.

“That went about as well as it could have.” I say, sitting back down on the mattresses with my girlfriends. “I’m proud of you.” Ivy says, kissing my cheek. “I’m proud of us. We’re still here, despite everything. That’s pretty amazing.” I say, putting my arms around Mia and Ivy who are the closest. Skylar joins in happily on the group cuddle. The spell is broken by the ding of a window.

I read the window, slightly confused. Ivy’s level up windows pop up just after mine do. “Hey uh girls? I got an achievement that has some new systems.” I say. I send a quick thank you to Gaia for giving me the achievement early. Before anything else, I open my character sheet to spend the new statpoints.

I go with my instinct and put it all into strength. I don’t ever want to be held down by somebody like they did yesterday, ever again. I also spend Ivy’s statpoints while I’m at it. I can feel through our mental connection that she contemplates asking me to give her more strength too, but she ultimately asks me to finish getting her endurance to level 50.

The massive increase in stats along with the scaling increase brings Ivy’s HP bar all the way up to 700, a nice round number which I’m quite happy with. The stat increases done, I consult my girlfriends. “Sorry about that, Gaia just gave me 4 level ups for some reason.” “Bullshit.” Mia says, and I giggle. “The other two things I have access to now are something called ‘the class system’, as well as a new spell called ‘Enter Kingdom’. Which one should we try first?”

“How about the enter kingdom spell first? I’m really curious to see what that does.” Ivy puts in. “Yeah let’s see!” Mia agrees. Skylar smiles at the aeromancer’s enthusiasm. “The new spell sounds good.” She remarks. Nodding, I click on the description of the spell on my character sheet and read it aloud.

“On activation, this spell will transport you and anybody you choose within your vicinity to your kingdom. Exiting your kingdom puts you back in the place you entered from. Your intentions of who you bring with you will affect who is able to enter your kingdom. Nobody can enter your kingdom without you letting them. This spell costs no mana.” I read.

“That sounds so cool, let’s see what happens!” Mia squeaks excitedly. “I have a good feeling about this.” Ivy hums, her spirits lifting. “Take us all in, let’s see what this kingdom thing is.” Skylar says. Without another word, I activate the spell.

The first thing that hits is the cold. I’ve never felt anything like this before, the closest thing to it was the ice rink that Skylar and I went to for our date. The entire landscape has changed around us. From my cozy and homey but cramped apartment, to a wide open space outside. Trees dot the white, snow covered landscape, themselves covered in a layer of snow.

Chills run down my body as I take in the beautiful sights around me. I become conscious of the chilling wind rushing gently around me, and I close my eyes, breathing in the fresh, invigorating air. The cold energises me and I feel my spirits lifting high from yesterday. If this gorgeous place is my Kingdom, I can definitely make this work.

I open my eyes and turn around to my girlfriends, who are watching me silently, smiles on their faces as they see how happy I am. “Sorry I-” It’s then that what’s behind them catches my eye. My breath catches in my throat as I look it over. My girlfriends turn around to see what I’m looking at, and each let out similar gasps of surprise.

It’s a gorgeous looking palace. It’s bigger than the central house at the Burgess property is, looking roughly three or four stories tall and spanning an area wider than it is tall. The palace is topped with multiple spires that are mostly decorative and although it’s small by the standards of a palace, it’s still a very sizable place.

It looks almost entirely made out of ice, and the spires shine with a glowing blue hue that gives it a really magical look. I can spot comfortable looking carpet in the entrance way through the large arch. There’s no door, just a simple doorway leading inside. From everything it looks like, I begin to dare to hope: it looks like it could be a home for us.

I close the window with a smile, noting in the back of my mind that I’ll have to check out the class system after I’m done exploring here. My polycule is still gaping at the palace as I start speaking to get their attention. “My loves, I think this could be a new home for us.” I say, cautiously optimistic and slightly suspicious of the massive break that Gaia has given us.

They turn to me, and I can see Ivy’s eyes tear up, and Skylar’s smile widening. Mia is the first to recover from the shock. “What are we waiting for? Let’s do some exploring!” With a happy giggle, she rushes forwards and starts into the palace. Not wanting to be left behind, I sprint to catch up with her, and a second later, I can feel Ivy and Skylar doing the same.

To our slight disappointment, most of the first floor isn’t furnished. The exception is the kitchen, which is ready with a fridge, a microwave, a toaster, a kettle, an oven, a dishwasher and checking the cupboards, a variety of other appliances. The cupboards are also filled with really cute plates, bowls, glasses and cutlery, all of which fit in with the ice themed nature of this place.

Checking the second story, we find more empty rooms that are waiting to be furnished. The windows open out onto a gorgeous view of the landscape around us, but apart from that, there isn’t much to say about the second story. The left and right spires, one on each side of the house, while empty currently, can easily be turned into lavish guest bedrooms if we feel like having anybody over. Each one has an ensuite attached.

Then we get to the last major part of the house to explore, the central spire. The central spire is larger than the other two and as we walk up the stairs, a window pops up, asking me to choose the aesthetic of the bedroom. I stop in my tracks to think for a moment, not sure what to choose. My girlfriends stop behind me. After thinking for a few moments, I shrug and hit the blue and silver option, before closing the window and continuing the walk, eager to see our new bedroom.

In the central spire, there only two rooms. As we discover, one leads to a large bathroom, with facilities easily large enough for the four of us to shower together. We open the door to the bedroom and I’m stunned at the sheer luxury. The bed is huge, bigger than I’ve ever seen a bed before. It looks bigger than any mundane size, and it’s enough to fit the four of us easily, with plenty of room to spare.

The floor is the same soft and pleasant carpet as the rest of the palace, while the room is painted a pleasant blue colour and decorated with ornate silver pillars and designs along the walls. Flowers line the window frames that house beautifully decorated windows. The windows themselves provide a stunning view of the surrounding landscape.

The ceiling is decorated with beautiful silver and blue geometric patterns that I’m extremely happy to note are perfectly symmetrical around the room. A beautiful chandelier that could equally be made of ice or glass, hangs in the middle of the room, above the bed. As I look closer, I notice that it glows a soft blue. Following an instinct, I flick a mental switch and the glow intensifies, bathing the room in a pleasant cool hue. I will the opposite to happen and the light dies down, leaving only the soft sunlight streaming into the room.

I giggle happily. “This is so freaking cool!” Looking up at the ceiling, I can’t help but shout. “Thank you Gaia! I love this place!” My girlfriends burst out into fits of giggles at not only how happy I am, but the realisation that this is our new home. This is a place where we can hopefully be safe. “What do you say babes? Are we home?” I ask. An immediate and enthusiastic chorus of agreement puts a smile on my face.

Author's note: Here's the inspiration for the palace and the bedroom :)