Bryson

I woke up the morning after the meeting with a serious pep in my step. I shot out of bed and to my absolute delight my mom made pancakes. Now she did not cook very often because of work and plus she just, didn't much. Though there was no job stopping her now and what was even better, Drew and Jason sat in the kitchen already digging in.

I sat at an empty chair across from Drew with Mom on my right and Jason on my left. They were all too busy eating to address anything at the moment. I devoured the pancakes with no remorse, they were all buttery and soft and warm and if I was completely honest, they made me feel normal.

The gooey heaven cakes were gone in less than twenty minutes. What can I say, we were hungry people. We all sat back, just enjoying the feeling for a moment. Drew was the first to speak up.

"So what is the agenda for today? Our little powwow yesterday was nice but nothing really got accomplished." She stated and I had to agree but I did not really have an answer for her, what were we going to do today?

"Well," I began, "We all have quest right? So maybe we should take to time to explore, get to know these places again," Suddenly an idea hit me, "How about we all go, do a little grinding then meet back at Jason's for lunch?" I proposed and glanced at Jason to make sure it was okay with him.

Like the good sport he was, he nodded enthusiastically.

With that small matter settled, Drew and Jason said their good byes and took on the task of sending out the mass text informing every one of the day's plans. I for one needed to talk to Me'mesprite.

She had been talking to mom who was enjoying having her own mother back a lot, at least as far as I could tell. "Umm, Me'mesprite? Can I talk to you for a second, it is about game stuff," I said interrupting some kind of joke they were telling.

Me'mesprite looked up at me and nodded with a smile. We walked outside and sat on a jutting blue rock not far from the house, only about thirty feet at the most. "What is it Bryson?" She asked.

I took a deep breath, "It is about all this title and power stuff? Like one of my friends said her Sprite told her a little about it, that the title is made of a title and an aspect but I wanted to ask you what mine meant because it is not exactly obvious," I asked her.

She seemed to mull this over for a moment; one of the many pink ribbons she now sported from her second prototyping was floating aimlessly around her head and sprite tail. She then began, "Well, I don't want to give you all the answers but you do deserve some explanation. You Bryson are a Prince of Mind," She told me and I nodded.

"Now none of this really matters until you reach god tier anyway but for right now I will tell you what it is," She said and I nodded again, there was that god tier thing again…maybe she would get to that.

"The Prince is an active class, it means to destroy with mind, or one who destroys mind. All of the classes can go each way," She said carefully and my eyes widened, destroying people's minds! She giggled a bit and shook her head, "No dear, you cannot do anything as extreme as that yet! Once again you would have to reach god tier…which involves something very unpleasant, nothing you are ready for yet!" She chided with a little laugh.

I gave a little laugh, still a little shocked at the information given; this was sort of intense I mean, I could eventually have the power to destroy people's minds! How cool was that.

But obviously that was not happening soon so I settled for the next best thing, "So what can I do now?" I asked carefully.

Me'mesprite looked hesitant to tell me but I guess she finally decided, "Well you can influence emotion, it is not easy though…you will have to work to achieve your potential Bryson but you are a smart boy, you will figure it out!" She said with a smile and patted me on the back, and without another word she floated away.

I contemplated the new information for a while; I had no idea how to even start with this power stuff…maybe my consorts? I tossed the idea around for a second then finally decided to go and pay them a visit.

I made sure I had my knife and some snacks because I had no idea how long I would take. The walk was not long at all and the sky had still not changed, it was still stormy with lighting streaking across regularly.

"It must never stop," I said out loud to no one in particular.

I did not encounter any of the imps on the way down, which was nice but also kind of odd…maybe they did not like the consorts? I shook the thought away and trekked one and after a short hike I arrived at the sprawling city.

I watched the geckos for a moment as they all stumbled around, they still looked confused and I felt my heart ache for them a little, all of their memories were gone…but I did not think about it too much longer because one gecko in particular ran into my leg.

I righted him and held on to his little shoulders, "Sorry little guy, but I have got to figure this out," I told it apologetically.

The gecko only stared at me with a blank gaze, it had no idea what was going on and I felt a little laugh surface, neither did I.

I got the little gecko to sit down with a little pressure to his shoulders, we were in the middle of the street but it is not like we were going to get run over or anything, the other geckos payed no attention either as they flowed around us. I crossed my legs and to my surprise so did he.

"Okay, little gecko, I have no idea what I am about to do so like, if it hurts make a noise or something I guess?" I said almost desperately, I really did not want to hurt the things but I did not exactly want to try this on my friends. So without another word of hesitation I focused.

I closed my eyes and kept my hands on the gecko's shoulders, I imaged myself reaching into his head and whipping away the confused look on his face. I have no idea how long I sat there honestly, could have been minutes or hours but nothing happened….

I tried and tried to reach into my consorts mind but every time I felt like I was getting close, my head got this splitting pain and my limb began to shake…maybe I just need more practice.

I decided that is what the matter was, I had never tried this before so it was just something new and I would catch on quickly!

As I was letting the little guy go, my watch dinged and it was a text message.

Wanna go to lunch together? Rylan already left like twenty minutes ago…don't want to go through everyone's worlds by myself! ~ Mark

I laughed a little, of course he did not want to invade everyone privacy. I quickly typed back a yes. I would not want to walk alone around here and if I was honest with myself, I also just kinda wanted Mark's company. So I set off to my gate with the same little pep in my step that I woke up with this morning.

Nikki

I was still a little shaken when the morning came, I have no idea how but I managed to convince Lofton she was having a bad dream after future me had died. I mean how else would that explain that there were two me's right? So without much more thought she stumbled back to bed and I…I buried myself.

I would not call it sad, I mean…It was sad but it was not like I mourned. It was more disturbing that anything to know that if things went a little different that that could be me.

I pushed those thought away though, like I had told myself, I was going to see some messed up stuff but I could not let it daunt me! When I crawled back into bed, I could almost pretend it was a bad dream as well.

Lofton woke up almost in tears a few hours later, she recounted the nights events and I played the part of acting surprised and disturbed and she accepted the lie with ease, I never lied to her.

She informed me that she was going to go home and check on her brother, who was only two years younger and that she had sort of forgotten about.

When she left I did not do much, I fought off some more imps, got some more grist, played with my Alchemizer and sat around eating some left over ice-cream. Life was pretty simple, fight, create, and eat.

I was sitting in the grass when I got the text about lunch and I smiled, least there was something to look forward to today.

I also explored the small village around my home a bit; the consorts were these little blue lizards that were pretty friendly. They made this funny little noise when you spoke to them that sounded like a noise between a squeak and a hiss and it made me giggle which in turned made them what I think was smile.

Finally I got bored and even though it was about thirty minutes before 'lunch' I went ahead, Jason was probably with Drew anyway. I decided to go the opposite way this time so I went through the other sixes lands, they were not as pleasant as mine by far except maybe Drew's.

I finally reached Jason's land and like I expected, he was nowhere to be found. I took a moment to look around; his world looked a lot like Earth honestly, the plant life and stuff at least. The spires were the only thing that made it obvious that it was not, there were super tall structures of metal jutting into the sky at least every square mile and off in the distance I could see one more amazingly tall spire and I assumed that was the center of his planet.

I was running my fingers around the base of on of them when a voice sounded behind me, "It is not polite to sneak around people homes," It muttered without much emotion.

I jumped a little but thankfully not enough to really notice, at least I hope not. When I looked over my shoulder, Rylan was standing there, leaning against a nearby tree.

He was looking at me with an almost bored expression, his startlingly bright gray eyes boring into me as he waited for me to speak. They were the oddest color, grayish blue like my own but his were so much…brighter. I almost forgot to say something.

"Well, it is also rude to stalk people. Obviously you have been standing there for a while, kinda creepy don't you think?" I asked him with a playful smile, I was creeped out by him but that was no reason to be rude.

He looked surprised I reacted any kind of positively and I could see a small frown tug at the edge of his lips as he straightened, "I have been here for a while Nicole, you just happen to walk over here," He said defensively and I took a step back, why so defensive all of a sudden?

I gave him a raised eyebrow, "Nicole? Please no one here calls me that! I mean we are all friends' right, so you can call me Nikki. Rylan right?" I asked as I walked over to him, I was determined to show him I was not intimidated.

Rylan glanced at my hand and I kid you not, he sneered. "Yes its Rylan, but you are wrong. We are not all friends here, Mark is my cousin and I am here because of him and I will continue to call you Nicole because that is your name, not some childish nickname," He said sternly and I could not help it, I frowned at him

"Look, I know this is all kind of shitty, but there is no reason to be so rude, I am just trying to be polite." I told him with a sigh, and extended my hand again, this time kind of shaking if for emphasis.

He looked at me, an emotionless mask over his features, and finally he ruefully shook my hand. I grinned in triumph but it was short lived because as soon as he touched me something in my mind clicked…

I gasped and took a step back and stumbled a little. I felt my vision cloud a little and I could have sworn I saw little glimpses, people fighting and they looked familiar. They were both obviously male and one had the other on the ground and was standing over him with an object raised above his head. I heard a shout that sounded far away through the cloud and it called what I could only thing was something like 'stop' but the image was gone almost as soon as it appeared.

My eyesight snapped back to normal, and in front of my Rylan was looking just as shocked as I was. I stared at him hard…did he do that?

"What just happened? Did you just show me something because if so a little warning would have been nice," I barked, not hiding my confusion.

He only stared longer, before a different look crossed his face, almost like understanding. "No, I think it was the other way around…you a time player right?" He asked.

I bristled instantly, I had managed to not think about the whole power thing all morning and I did not want to bring it up now. Rylan did not take the hint, he saw my discomfort and that was answer enough for him.

He cocked his eyebrow and let out a dry laugh, "I get it now, you saw something before this too, something that has you all on edge and your trying to understand but your just can," He began, I was about to interject but he kept going, "I get it don't worry, I am a doom player so already I hear these little whispers in my head you know, kind of freaky to be honest." He said with a shake of his head.

I just looked at him and shook my head, "Look don't worry about my powers, and no I have not seen anything freaky," I lied, but I was a pretty good liar, "And sorry that you have voices but I still have no idea what any of our so called powers are so if you would please just forget about what just happened that would be fantastic, thanks." I said dryly and turned around. Where was everyone else?

I could hear him shift around a little, "Fine, I won't say anything but that little vision looked nasty, I mean no one here even really like me but aren't you going to do something about it?" He asked me, his tone serious.

I turned around and scoffed, raising my eyebrows, "And what am I supposed to do? I don't even know who those people were! I would not even know where to start." I sighed, but what he said hit, It was my job to do something wasn't it?

Rylan shrugged, "Maybe I know who they were, being a doom player means I know about people deaths before they happen and I'll give you a hint, one of the people in that vison die." He said quietly.

I took a step back, he could know about people's deaths…I struggled to find my next words, "Well if you know who they were then tell me, so I can do something! Why would they be fighting anyway?" I almost shouted. 'I need to calm down' I thought to myself, I'm never this emotional around strangers.

Rylan just sort of shook his head, "No, I have an idea about who they were but I don't want to 'blame' anyone so I am keeping my mouth shut." He said firmly leaving no room for argument.

Unfortunately for him, I could argue with a brick wall, "Rylan this is dumb, and it is people's lives. Please I am asking nicely tell me who you saw," I said with a deep scowl, this guy was no the most disliked person in my book.

He put a hand aginst his head and sighed, like I was some kind of nuisance, "Fine I will give you a hint, Cade dies at the end," My jaw dropped in shock, I was about to continue before he cut me off. "Now before you go all nuts, I would try looking deeper into that vison, and if you tell him I told you, I am gonna tell your little friend that that copy that died last night was not a dream," He said and I felt a chill run down my spine, how did he know?

'He sees death Nikki, of course he would see that' I thought to myself, slowly I regained my composure, "Fine, you keep my secrete I will keep yours?" I asked through gritted teeth.

He only nodded and I sighed, we have only been here a little over twenty four hours and I am already being blackmailed.

We sat in a very tense, awkward silence before finally Bryson and Mark arrived with Drew, Jason, Lofton, and everyone else.

Bryson

When we finally got to Jason's world we were greeted by a really weird sight, Nikki and Rylan, alone. Walking into the clearing that we all had agreed to meet at the two mentioned were staring in silence and the tension in the air was so thick you could have cut it with a knife.

Nikki's head shot up when she heard us round the corner and I could see the relief flood across her face, she gave me a bright smile and rushed over for a quick hug. As if she could sense our confusion she stepped back a little, "Thank goodness you're here! I got here a little early like Rylan and we were just talking about our worlds," She said and while I did not completely believe her but I let the topic slide, she would tell me later.

I nodded and returned her smile in full, "We also brought lunch! Mark made some sandwiches for everyone." I told her and she nodded and quickly distanced herself from Rylan as quickly as possible.

I looked over at Lofton, trying to catch her eye and see if she knew what was up but when she finally did look up at me she only shrugged.

I finally gave up and took my sandwich over to an old tree stump and began eating. I was alone for the moment seeing as everyone had sorta grouped up.

Mimi, Brandon, and Mark were eating together and I could see Mark was enjoying getting closer to new people. Brittany, Lofton, Kailee, and Nikki sat in a little circle chittering away as they usually did; I guess Brittany took a stab at Nikki because her face scrunched up in mock hurt before she started laughing again. Finally, Drew, Jason, and Cade were all sitting together; I guess Jason and Cade were getting pretty close which was funny because Drew really did not like Cade.

I scanned around for Rylan and saw him leaning against a tree a little off from the others, eating his own food slowly and looking around, watching. Why did Mark's cousin have to be so weird?

I was content for the moment, I really did not mind being alone and I was glad to see everyone getting along.

When we were finally done eating, I stood on my stump that way I was looking down at everyone. "Alright guys, please pay attention!" I called to them all, it took a second but the eventually calmed down and looked back up at me.

I smiled and looked at them all, "Alright, first order of business, I hope you all went and talked to your sprites about your powers and stuff because we are not going to talk about them in a group like this, to many at once." I explained, there were a couple smiles from the small crowd but even more people shifting uncomfortable.

I gave that a second to sink in then spoke again, "Alright, order two! Daily meeting are going to become a thing, if Jason allows it we are all going to meet here for dinner each night. We will take turns supplying dinner for the group by order of entry of the game so Rylan!" I called to him, he looked up at me with bored eyes, "Your next," I said sternly and he just nodded.

Everyone agreed and I kept the meeting going. Everyone had a good time describing their worlds to the crowd.

Brittany raised her hand (old habits die hard I guess) and I sort of laughed and called on her, "Okay Brittany shoot!" I said.

She stood up and smiled, "Guys, you have to come to my world, there is a spa! Like a legit Greek spa and it is freaking bomb." She stated and sat back down. I frowned a little, that was so unfair I just have rocks.

Brandon stood next, his lanky form rising and he pushed his glasses back into place, "If anyone knows how to make a fucking map that would be a fantastic because this whole maze thing is killing me," He sighed and Nikki giggled a bit and looked at Lofton.

"You know how to make a map right? Wasn't that your dad's thing?" She asked and Lofton nodded quietly, I swear she only talked to me and Nikki sometimes.

Brandon mouthed thank you to her and sat back down.

We chittered for a while longer before dispersing again, Mark and I traveled back together per usual. We dropped everyone off happily and when we finally got to Mark's world he stopped me, before I could go.

"Hey, I don't know about Nikki but there was something off with Rylan." He said with a concerned look.

My eyes widened, "How can you even tell, he never says a word?" I asked and Mark just kind of laughed,

"I just kind of know, but like I said, did you notice anything wrong with Nikki?" He asked again and I thought. She would not want me to tell him there was but I trusted Mark.

I scrunched my face a little, "Yeah, she was being really weird…more bubbly than usual which means she was trying to hide something…Nikki can be sensitive though she just probably took something Rylan said wrong I would not worry about it." I told him dismissively and after a clear moment of contemplation, Mark gave up.

I said my goodbyes again but he grabbed my arm, "Hey, stay for dinner! I am sort of lonely around here…the company would definitely be appreciated," He said, eye pleading.

I did not think too long, I mean…it was Mark. "Okay! Sure," I smiled and his face brightened.

We went back to his place after that and I sat on a bar stool while Mark cooked, he made spaghetti. It was simple but it had been a while since I ate it and Mark made really awesome spaghetti.

We chatted for a while about small things, what our consorts were like and how weird sprites were. I asked him about how he was so close to Rylan and I was surprised when I got a really short response.

"He had a rough start; he stayed at our house a lot. Nothing to incredible," He replied quickly and gave me a looking asking me not ask again. At least not right now.

I respected his wish and dropped the topic but after that we started into some more serious stuff, "So your mom is okay? That's good. Both of my parents got knocked cold from an imp and they are fine but asleep for now." He told me.

I wanted to sigh in relief, I had been terrified to ask if they were okay or not but he gave me the answer, I let out a little laugh, "At least they are okay, a few peoples parents aren't around." I sighed and he nodded.

We picked at our food in silence for a moment, the mood had kind of dampened, Mark could not stand the silence though,

"I imaged our first dinner alone to be a bit more pleasant," He said with a frown and I nearly spit the water I was drinking out.

I coughed for a second and he stared at me confused, and then laughed. "You are so easy to fluster, your cheeks are already bright red," He pointed out and my blush only deepened.

"You did that on purpose." I accused him and he only gave me a coy smile,

"You will never know," Mark told me.

We finished dinner and I went to help him with the dishes, he quickly shooed me off though, "I got this! You should get home, it is sort of late and I am sure your mom is getting worried." He said and I just nodded.

I can't really explain it but I felt like I should say something else but my tongue felt like it grew three sizes and the atmosphere got really tense.

Mark looked lost too as he watched me for a moment, his eyebrows brought closer in frustration, his mouth moved in little O's a few times like he was about to say something but each time he changed his find. Finally he just shook his head and smiled, "Goodnight Bryson, be careful okay?" He said it more like a question than a statement.

Finally I seemed to regain my speech ability back, "Yeah, of course…un have a nice evening." I said and quickly turned on my heel and left, leaving Mark a little dumfounded.

When I got back to my world I groaned loudly, "Really smooth Bryson," I told myself…crushes were hard, even when the world had ended.