Save State Hero 2 -ch 10- (Patreon)

Dot brought the massive shipping container down into the clearing outside of the rather large, and walled, village. This was where Oz had directed them to find the shaman.

Edmund had managed to find an intact warehouse that had literal tons of Andrea’s favorite pancake mix. It’d been hard to forget about it considering how often she had complained that the company had “gone away”.

Whenever he’d asked her about it, she’d skirted around answering him any further about it. As if she couldn’t really answer it.

He now understood why.

“Alright, there we are,” Dot stated, looking to the village. “That’s where we were meant to go, right?”

“That is correct, Dorothy,” Oz confirmed.

“Alright. We see if we can’t get him to agree, offer to trade all this pancake mix over to them for their help, and go from there,” Edmund paraphrased. “Thanks again for doing that magic-y stuff and making sure none of this would expire as long as it’s in the container.

“It’s a bit of a gift all on it’s own for them I suppose. Might even be worth more than the pancake mix itself.”

“Of course, of course. I don’t see a reason not to do such a thing,” Dot said, her eyes glued to the village. “It isn’t as if it’ll matter. None of this really matters. As soon as you run another save-state, we all vanish and don’t exist. Right?

“No memories at all for anyone other than you. And Oz, I guess.”

Edmund just nodded his head.

He had a few suspicions about Claire and what she’d done, but otherwise, what she’d said was correct. Everything in this save-state didn’t quite matter.

“I mean, I could go rob a bank, blow up the world, get pregnant, none of it would matter,” Dot continued, her left hand coming up and making a casual gesture. A shimmering thin material appeared between them and the village. “I could easily see how people could lose themselves with such thinking. Where nothing you do matters at all.”

“I was using it to make stock-market deals. It kept me active and invested in the world to a degree,” Edmund offered.

The village had been a lot like an ant-hill when they’d arrived. People with weapons, people watching, or people running, in every direction.

Not that Edmund could blame them.

Two people flying in by magic on a shipping-container without warning would certainly cause alarm. If Edmund was in the village and didn’t know any better, he would most certainly be on edge.

“That makes a lot of sense. Did you… ever… you know… date… with it?” Dot asked curiously. “You see the movies, tv-shows, and games about that kind of stuff.

“Where they just endlessly loop until they figure out how to get the girl. Learn everything to do that’s the ‘right route’ and the like?”

“No. I’ve deliberately avoided that. I feel like it’d just serve as an action, rather than genuinely caring for someone. Like… an achievement,” admitted Edmund. An older man was making his way out toward the wall now.

“Oh… ew… yeah, I can see your point. That’s definitely not how you’d want to view a relationship,” Dot conceded. “It’d put a really unhealthy power dynamic into it, too, wouldn’t it?

“No fight or argument could ever occur without you just… going back and trying again. With the other partner never even knowing.

“I think… I think I’d rather not know, if you were doing that to me. I’d almost feel like a toy being played with at that point.”

“Well, good news, I haven’t ever repeated a day just to try and get in your pants,” Edmund murmured, the old man had come right up to the top of the nearest wall and was staring at them now. “I did think about it a few times. The dark version of you was kinda hot, but your moral compass was turbo-fucked.”

Dot snorted at that.

“I remember dressing like that for a time,” she said, staring back at the old man as he stared at them. He had a dark complexion with gray hair and eyes that were milky white. As if he were blind, but he was looking directly at them. “Got out of it pretty quick. Got the wrong kind of attention and the wrong connotation.”

The old man started shouting something at them.

“He would like to know what it is you’re doing here,” Oz translated.

“You gonna translate for me Oz?” Edmund asked as he considered his response.

“I don’t need to. Dorothy will be able to adapt a spell easier than I can do it,” Oz replied.

“Ah… oh, yeah. Haha, whoops,” Dot said with a laugh. The shimmering screen between the village and them changed colors twice and then seemed to solidify to a degree. “Good morning. My name is Do-Dot. This is Edmund.

“We came here to barter for your services as a shaman. A friend of ours died and we’re attempting to reach out to her spirit. It has gotten lost.

“This container will keep any item put inside of it, from spoiling. I wouldn’t recommend putting anything in it other than food as I can’t guarantee what might happen.

“Right now it’s filled with a great deal of pancake mix. It’s a type of sugary sweet bread. It was the item the person who died was closest to.”

The old man had been paying close attention as Dot spoke. His head tilting to one side and his mouth forming into a strange type of frown.

“You just want to find out where their spirit went?” the shimmering barrier said, rather than the man. It’d taken a second after he spoke for the translation to come through.

“Yes. Because we believe it left this place and traveled elsewhere,” Edmund said. “You could easily end up reaching into a different plane of existence to find her.

“That’s also why we brought such a large item to barter with. We wanted to insure that we were paying you adequately for your services.”

The old man snorted, smiled, then nodded his head.

“She was closest to this sugar bread you say? It’s in a mix? Then… we shall have a feast,” the man proclaimed. “A feast of this… pancake. During that height, we shall call out to her spirit. You will get your answer.

“Though, if she has left this plane, the answer won’t be that helpful, I think.”

“I’ve already accounted for that. Also I momentary halted the translation,” Dot said after a casual flick of her fingers. “As long as he can reach her. Find out where she is, I can link you to her. Then you can go find her.

“I already figured out how to hook it into the spell work Claire made, but it’ll be something you can discard just with a keyphrase.”

“That’d be nice. What’s the phrase?”

“Alina’s hot, but I prefer Dot,” Dot said with a wide smile.

“But… I might say that in casual conversation,” Edmund replied, putting on his best confused look for Dot.

To which she raised her eyebrows in response.

“Ah well,” he said after it seemed she was at a loss for words. “In the infinite wisdom and words of Andrea… Pancake Party Time.”

***

Edmund had been forced how to make pancakes by Andrea.

Then critically reviewed as being terrible at it and forced to make more.

Andrea wanted everyone to learn to make pancakes the way she did it, but also didn’t want to eat pancakes from anybody else, other than herself.

The only exceptions were made were going out to a restaurant with Felix or somewhere else.

At the moment, he was currently making an endless stream of pancakes. Just as Andrea often did.

Making them, plating them, handing them out, and making more.

There was a never ending line of people who all wanted them so it wasn’t really much of a problem. The pancakes came quick, easy, and were devoured.

“They’re quite happy,” Dot remarked, acting as his cooking assistant.

“Food has been difficult at times. This is a sweet-treat,” said the shaman, who went by the name Obawi. Dot’s translation spell was working on Edmund directly now instead of as a barrier. “It is a good day. It will be good to make these in the future as well considering how much of it you have gifted us.”

Edmund didn’t argue Obawi on the word usage. Gift vs barter really didn’t matter as long as both sides got what they want.

I wonder if it maybe has to do with how the village perceives him. Or he perceives himself?

There’s so much tied into one’s own self worth and how they fit into things.

Ha… look what I’m getting all philosophical about.

I was just considering what I really am the other day and if I actually exist, now I’m thinking about what I am to myself. Or how others perceive themselves.

Flipping several pancakes over, Edmund discovered without surprise that they had a perfect golden brown that Andrea would approve of.

“Pancake!” Edmund shouted in the exact way she would, picked them up with the spatula and dished them out to an eagerly waiting child.

Who took them and ran off giggling all the while.

“I must confess that I have already connected to and found your friend,” Obawi stated even as Edmund continued to make pancakes. “You were understating how close she was to… pancakes.

“Truly, her level of devotion to such a simple thing trascended anything I’ve ever seen before. It isn’t even hard to find her with such a firm attachment.

“You chose well in your item to pair to her. Very well.”

Edmund laughed at that.

When he’d suggested it, he had been nearly dead certain that he was picking the right thing.  Andrea had been known for pancakes, wanted pancakes, and really didn’t hold back about them.

Felix had hypothesized to him at one point that it was some type of trauma related thing. Something she either used as a crutch, or was at the center of an issue.

“I’m not surprised at all. She’s the one who taught me how to cook like this. This is her favorite mix. I’m doing everything in the exact way that she would ask for it,” Edmund remarked as he casually flipped over the next set of pancakes. He saw that they were just like the others.

Scooping them up quickly he put them on the next nearby plate.

“Pancake!” shouted the child who held that plate with a joyous energy that he couldn’t help but return.

“Pancake!” he called back as Dot leaned over and poured out more pancake batter onto the large cooking surface.

“Yes… and it is as you warned me of. She is not here on this plane. In fact… I don’t even know where she is,” admitted the shaman. “Well… I know where she is, but not where this location is. I can only tell you that it is not in a place, time, or even location.

“She exists, she is confused, and very lost. Endlessly searching for a way back, but finding nothing and no-one. She has not given up but is tired.”

“Could you please share your power with me?” Dot asked and held up a rotating sphere of magical energy. “Just… try to manifest where she is inside of this sphere for me. Eddy here will be able to run it down from there.”

Obawai frowned, then reached out and put his hand into the sphere.

There was no noise at all that preceded it or came after, but a strange silhouette appeared in the sphere. After a few seconds it quickly morphed became absolutely recognizable as Andrea.

She was standing absolutely still and staring blankly out at nothing.

“Ahhh, it made a trail rather than a location,” Dot mused, then reached over and pushed it into Edmund’s chest. It vanished into him, likely where the rest of Claire’s spellwork was. “You’ll be able to trail her with this but… it feels… weird. Very weird.

“Almost random, in fact. I don’t think you’ll end up where you expect at any point.”

“I mean, what if I expected to be in an ocean with a shark constantly eating people while singing a kid’s show theme at them.”

Dot’s eyebrows cranked upward on her forehead.

“Then you have a more vast imagination than I considered,” she allowed with a chuckle.

“Actually… was just a hell I saw. There’s a lot of hells. So many,” Edmund grumbled. “There was this really weird one that was absolutely political. Where one sides heaven was the other’s hell. Having a full majority and beating them at every government choice. Team politics is disturbing.”

“I mean, Zeus vs Runner is team politics in a way,” offered Dot.

“Is it? I’m pretty sure the other half of the political scene wouldn’t just get murdered if one side won,” Edmund argued. Then offered three more pancakes to someone. “Pancake!”

Hours after the party died down, and an entire continent away with a handy portal from Dot, the sun was rising.

They were sat down on the eastern seaboard and watching the sun creep up over the ocean.

“Alright then. Well. I suppose this is goodbye,” Dot mused, taking a sip of her coffee. “Since I personally won’t exist after you leave.”

“I mean, you exist. Just a different Dot,” Edmund disagreed. “Besides, I’ve met a lot of Dot’s. By and large you’re the same person in every one.

“Though that dark Dot was different because a different Edmund had screwed up that world pretty bad.”

“Different Edmund,” Dot repeated.

“Yeah… it’s confusing but… I had a bit of a situation where a whole bunch of Edmund’s lived their lives out,” he explained. “Then went back to me. Lots of them. Thousands. They’re now what I call echoes. Shadows. They like to give me information about their own lives and things they knew.

“I keep most of it out of my head as apparently that’s a great way for them to take me over. Rather than me being me.”

“You know what,” Dot said with a slow nod of her head as they stared out at the water. “I think I’m suddenly glad I’m not aware of my other lives or selves. That I’m just… Dot. That there’s only one of me at a time.”

“Kinda convenient when there’s only one of you,” agreed Edmund.

“Save-state created,” Oz reported. “How curious. Dorothy is still deeply romantically interested in Edmund despite the situation. If not more so.

“A curious footnote. Though I suppose footnotes do not matter since I won’t be able to reference them. My own memory shall have to suffice.”

Groaning, Dot blew out a breath and shook her head.

“Has he been like that the whole time? You knew I was interested from forever ago or something?” asked Dot in a weird voice, turning to look at him with a face that was red from hairline to collarbone.

“Something like that,” confirmed Edmund. “It’s not that I was never interested, just busy.”

“Urgh. I feel so cringe now. Like my skin wants to crawl off and drop to the ground,” Dot complained. “Go… go now before I get even more sick at myself.”

Edmund grinned, shrugged, then reached out to pat Dot on the back.

Then he hopped into his Alina save-state.

Oz had determined that it would be the best case to attempt to go after Andrea as they could use other various save-states to track her.

Given their link that Dot had provided them, and attached to Claire’s spell-work, he would be able to move to save-state’s where Andrea had a presence.

The problem Edmund had with all this though, was that it was now clear that Andrea was indeed aware. That she was moving save-state to save-state just as he was.

She wasn’t going backward in her movements, nor had she stopped. She was still moving forward, despite all the actions he was taking.

Andrea had managed to somehow get lost in a liminal space between universes, worlds, times, and planes of existence.

I mean, that really does kinda fit her pretty well.

Edmund scratched at his jaw as he looked at the save-states all around him.

“Call up Andrea’s if you don’t mind, Oz,” Edmund asked. “After you adapt to all your new memories at least.”

“Yes… attempting… to merge it all,” reported Oz. “It isn’t as hard as it was previously but it is still always a shock to find new memories suddenly being shoved at me.”

“At least the Obawi had good news. She exists, she’s out there, and we can find her. Much better than I feared,” Edmund murmured.

“Yes. Though I do share your likely thoughts that she is moving with you from save-state to save-state. Somehow.

“I have no idea how she managed it, but then again, Andrea always had a way of making things occur that no one was really able to predict.

“Much in the way that an element of chaos can screw up your save-states, Andrea was the same for Felix. It often forced him to account for things that kept him grounded and human.

“For all that though, all that chaos that she was, things happened around her that left the casual observer wondering.”

“I mean, that’s one way to put it. Heh,” Edmund acknowledge with a snicker. “Andrea was Andrea. It’s why Felix needs her. Why I need to find her.”

“I’ve absorbed my new memories,” Oz stated. “However, I regret to report that there is only one save-state that we can load into to attempt to find her and… it is very strange.”

“Strange?” Edmund asked.

“Yes. Strange. She somehow ended up in a place that has nothing to do with her at all. Not in any way,” said Oz. “We’ll be going to the world where Ryker and Runner were born into.

“Andrea somehow ended up there after departing her own plane. I truly am not sure how she managed it, but… she did.”

“Oh? Huh. When… is the save-state?” asked Edmund curiously.

“Ahh… when… Runner became the man he is,” Oz reported.

A blue save-state appeared in front of Edmund. He got the impression that it wasn’t a happy memory.

Given that it looked like Runner was knelt down and holding a woman in his arms that looked rather pale. She had blonde hair, green eyes, and the way the two were looking at each other left Edmund expecting a sudden and bad end.

“The man he is, huh?” Edmund inquired.

“Yes. This moment changed him forever forward. It was good at the time, but it has skewed his view on life further and further,” Oz whispered.

“Off we go then. There’s no time to waste and a lot of things to do,” Edmund proclaimed and activated the save-state.