Veran: Part Four

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Veran stood in an airy loft high up in one of the many buildings in Lus Reafetos. The room was empty and sun soaked with a wide, open balcony that looked out over the city. Veran scanned the room carefully, being sure she didn't overlook anything that could ruin her planned experiment.

"I'm tired." She announced to no one.

She looked around the room and, sure enough, an ornate, four post bed had appeared. Veran walked over to it and slid her hands over the satin sheets, the soft blankets and the fluffy pillows, but it was a largely empty gesture. She had slept in the exact same bed countless times before. There was no doubt that it was real.

But where had it come from? Veran had never questioned it before, but now it burned inside her. She had taken the miracle for granted for so long now. It was time to find out the truth.

"I'm hungry." Veran said.

The bed disappeared and a long, food-laden table took its place. Veran was not surprised. It was the same table that served every meal she had ever had, after all. The food and the smells were no different. Veran racked her brain trying to figure out where the bed and the table and the food had come from.

Perhaps the culprit was none other than herself? The miracles seemed to respond to her thoughts and moods. Who else could know what was going on in her head?

"Hello!" Monoite waved obviously, appearing without warning on the bed. "Did you forget I can read your every little thought?"

Veran looked at the boy with the shades.

"So you're the master of this place?" She asked him.

"I should be, perhaps, but I already told you it's someone else. Or I inferred it, at least. I don't remember." Monoite pursed his lips thoughtfully. "It's funny that the first person you nominated to be god of Lus Reafetos was yourself. Don't worry. You're not the first to make that conclusion. Perhaps in the next realm you would be right. How are we to know? But here you are very much wrong."

The boy stood up and, for no particular reason, began bouncing on the bed.

"The only kind of person who would come to that conclusion would be strong and independent." He went on. "Yet here you rely completely on someone you don't even know. Don't you find that a little wyrd?"

"Weird." Veran corrected him.

"Whatever. I came here to tell you this: There are four of us here in Lus Reafetos. There's me and you and the master and one more. She's the one who can help you regain what you have lost."

"What have I lost?" Veran asked.

"There's no way for you to know until you've got it back." Monoite replied.

"Who is she then? Where do I find her?"

Monoite jumped extra high and landed on his back in a puff of downy feathers.

"If I knew that," he said. "I'd be talking to her right now. Happy hunting."

And he disappeared.