A Shepard to guide a lost sheep

The camera’s display updated to a rewards menu when he returned to his room.

You have completed a mission and enriched Laura’s heart! Another mission will be available tomorrow.

Please choose one reward from the list below:

A. $500 deposited in to your bank account.

B. Increase Laura’s Heart Link to Rank 2.

It still seemed like nonsense, but if it was, he had to admit that it was well thought out nonsense.

I don’t get it. What is all this? Why me?

A techno pop jingle erupted from his pocket and interrupted his thoughts. He looked around in bewilderment until he realized it was his phone. The upbeat ringtone was far from the usual sorrowful tune, Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence, that he was used to.

With the way this day’s going, this could be anything. Anything except normal, he thought.

“Hello?”

“YAY!!!! I FINALLY GOT THROUGH!” screeched an obnoxious feminine voice.

He flinched and nearly threw his cellphone out into the main living room.

“Who is this?” he asked calmly, hoping the person would pick up on his mellow tone and chill out.

“Hiya!” the voice responded. It came with the same manic bubblegum quality, but thankfully not loud enough to jeopardize his eardrums.

“Can I help you?”

“You’re Leon Marshall, aren’tcha?”

“Yeah. I’m Leon Marshall. You still haven’t told me who you are though.”

“Ooooo~ YAYERS! Sophie is so so SO excited to be your Shepard! Your Link potential is off the charts!”

Her mention of Links pretty much confirmed she was part of the strange going ons of the day.

“…Do you have something to do with that stuff on my camera?”

“Correctamundo! Sophie has connived her way—oops—been voted to be your ultra cute guide to all things Link related!” she boasted. Cute or not, the way she referred to herself in the third person grated on his nerves.

“My camera mentioned Links. Heart Links, and something called World Links, I think?”

“Sophie’s can’t guide you until you invite her in~”

“Invite you in…where?” he asked.

“Your world, of course!”

For the first time, it dawned on him that he might be out of his depth.

“I feel a little stupid asking this, but after everything else that’s happened today…you’re not like an ancient demon aiming for world domination or something, are you?”

“Hehehe~ No silly! Sophie isn’t like that! She’s an innocent, lovable angel! Or maybe a kitten!”

Why’s she comparing angels and kittens all the sudden? This…whatever she is…is giving me a huge migraine. If one of those rewards wasn’t $500 I’d have hung up on her already, but I have a pretty strong sense there’s more money stake here. More money means better ways to provide for Jessie. So I guess it doesn’t really matter if she’s an angel or a demon or even a kitten. I’ll brave all that and more to make Jessie’s life easier.

“On one condition.”

“Name it! Sophie can handle anything!”

“Don’t mess with my sister.”

Sophie giggled through the receiver. “Don’t worry. Sophie is invisible to everyone but you! Nobody will eeeever see me.”

That sounds like bullshit but as long as she doesn’t mess with Jessie I don’t really care.

“Good. Consider yourself invited.”

The line abruptly went dead.

There was no way to describe what happened next other than to say the air split in two as if torn asunder by a cosmic giant. Leon tried to peer through the widening gap in reality to discover what another plane of existence might look like, but bolts of blinding white lightning foiled his curiosity.

And then a naked woman began to materialize bit by bit through the rift.

I didn’t expect her to be so beautiful.

Her hair was deep blue like a summertime lagoon, the tips light and icy; with gorgeous tan skin marked sporadically by light brown freckles. Her child-bearing hips, curvy legs and pendulous breasts completed her in a way that put other women at a severe disadvantage.

Unbound by gravity’s laws she floated downward like a feather. He moved without thought to catch her.

The girl’s long eyelashes fluttered open to reveal unfocused crimson eyes. They searched until they found his face and a weak smile played at her lips.

“Hiya, Leon.”

The Shepard found her sheep.