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(TFT) SOLO III part 022



Solo III
Demon World
Part 022

Next Rebecca calls "Julie." All the kids look to one girl who gets up from a table triumphantly. She walks over to the carpet like she knows every eye is on her, and sits down with a little flourish. The other kids look on with envy. "Close your eyes and concentrate." Gail says. You do too, and the next instance the three of you are floating in the cosmos. Infinite stars shine in perfect clarity. Julie's head swivels around like a tourist. "Think about you mom or your dad." You and Gail are thinking of Julie and the next moment the two of you are floating next to her in a foyer of some regal estate. Julie is looking at a maid sponge cleaning the marble floor. She walks around the maid a little, then looks to you. The next moment the three of you are in a large kitchen where breakfast is being cooked. You can't smell any of it, but the sight triggers smell memories. Fried sausage, boiled eggs, slices of oven ham, a big pot of potatoe soup, and many many different golden breads. Suddenly you and Gail are in a garden where a man in cover-alls and a straw hat is trimming the hedge. Julie walks up to his right side. She just stands there next to him in astral form. Watching him clip leaves. She seems to be hypnotized by the rythm of the shears. She's just standing there, being close to the gardener. Gail walks up and puts a hand on her shoulder. "We need to give the others a turn." All three of you open you eyes and you are back on the carpet. Sitting in circle facing each other.

Most are children of servants. Minor servants of very powerfull people. Butlers assistant, cook, gardener, animal handler, seamstress, and other types of household servants. Almost all the rest are children of magicians. After seeing the meger labs their parents work in you realize that your lab downstairs is very expensive and better equiped. In fact one childs mother is a magician at a large guild hall with a huge lab. And that lab isn't stocked with half of what you have. Out of all the children''s parents there are two interesting exceptions. An orphan and a prince. The orphan takes you and Gail to an alley where other kids hanging out. You can see blankets behind and inside abandoned crates and boxes. The prince appears at the side of a Queen sitting before her vanity. She is being attended by four ladies in waiting. They are helping her prepair her face. Her thin gold crown sits on the vanity table by her right hand. And there is great sadness in her eyes.

It all goes quickly, and only one child cries when they come back. Laura, Jenifer, and Hildi, who seem so similar to each other, have totally different parents. Hildi's mother lives in a cottage alone. Out in the woods somewhere. She is making potions. Jenifer's mother runs a salon. Very aristocratic clientel of genteel ladies come there to buy magical beauty secrets. And Laura has a den mother. Her living room is full of children and she it teaching them to read. It looks like some kind of day care or home school.

Then comes Rebecca. She has a father and six brothers. They are hard working ranchers with fine looking horses and cattle. But Her mother is no where to be found. The three of you wind up by a small grave. Rebecca seems saddened by the news. Ada doesn't want to go. At first. And she is the last to sit on the carpet. When she does, she insists that Gail go before her. Gails mother and father are working together in a small shop selling herbs, animal parts, and other magical ingreedients. They seem to sense Gail's presence. They stop working and look at each other. A brief moment of sadness. Then they turn away and loose themselves in their work. Ada spends a bit of time just looking at the stars and working up the nerve. Finally the three of you appear next to her parents. They are wearing perfect suits of mithril plate mail, with staves of power and long swords at their sides. They lead a large escort of guards in iron plate with nasty looking spikes, and they are traveling down a road. There is a large wagon that is a cage and contains many silent children. They seem to be collection agents for the demons. Collectors of children. Maybe they gave up their own child willingly, as a show of loyalty. Either way, due to the magical nature of their helmets the husband wife team immediately perceive the three of you. They stop their horses and just stare at Ada like she is a ghost. Ada grows scared and returns to the carpet instantly.

David Michael Grouchy II

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