Prelude VIII

  (Larry Yo-Boy’s BiPrism News)

  (One Month Later)

  “All right, it is official,” a clearly bedraggled Larry begins. The studio that normally looks pristine and well maintained is now slightly disheveled, signs of dust, and with what appears to be a coffee mug clearly resting on a table of trophies.

  Also, Larry himself seemed to have somehow aged ten years in the matter of one month. His face is unevenly shaven, as if he did so in the dark with a razor being used by a person recently recovering from wrist surgery. Worst of all is the clear sadness in his eyes.

  Yet, despite the clear pain he is going through, Larry manages to sit up straight and stare confidently into the camera. Had this been radio, no one would be able to see the clear pain and discomfort he is experiencing.

  His suit looks rumpled, with what could possibly be a mustard stain on his otherwise blue tie.

  “The world of BiPrism has gone to the Abyss, the robots have taken over, and not in the good way. What everyone had hoped would happen, has happened, that is the Teleiotís have officially become a playable race. The good news, they are magically powered robots that can regenerate wounds by eating metal and meditating. The bad news, there is a higher race of what are referred to as hybrid Qi and Mana users that all Teleiotís must obey at all costs, and no player can become those. Worse, you know what I had a graphic for this, where is it?”

  With that Larry begins fiddling around with a set of controls that clearly look out of place on the normally empty studio table that he shows himself on.

  “I’m sorry, there are technical difficulties here, it is clear that I cannot do this alone, I am sorry…” Larry states, as a note of panic seems to fill him for a moment, before he clicks on a few buttons and finally reveals the description he wanted.

  Larry let the message stay up on the screen for a few seconds, before finally coming back on with his own commentary.

  “Yes, the story we all saw coming, humans create killer machines. Machines are brought to life by one being. Killer machines are relatively calm and passive while that one being is here. Then that one being disappears for a month, ruining all your parlays, and showing it so you do have an addiction that costs you your girlfriend and best thing that ever happened to you, and now you are left worshiping an absentee God, begging them to come back, and at least give you a second chance to show you’ve changed.” Larry stated, clearly mixing more into this montage than was likely called for.

  “Holy Wars, that is what the Teleiotís call battles for unoccupied pockets of lands that have lingering traces of Dr. Spiritlight’s presence,” Larry continues, showing scenes or carnage that occur throughout Legrand territory, and especially how Legrand’s capital city of Timult has all but fallen due to the horde of Teleiotís both centipede, Ma-Mes, and Di-Mes Teleiotís.

  The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  “As for the students of SVC? What are they doing while the instructor is gone? Well, apparently most have already been pushed so hard so fast, that they have more than met the requirements to be a Sophomore or Junior, as such most have either taken time to self-learn, or have taken groups who are then watched by Rune-Ulacrum.” Larry states, as he pushes a button and changes the display on the screen.

  This time, the screen goes and shows five active views, four with various versions of Dr. Spiritlight bustling about and doing clearly defined roles.

  “For her part Rune-Ulacrum is primarily reached out to by members of the Enchanting curriculum. Other students did originally go to Rune-Ulacrum for additional help themselves, but soon found her ability to teach anything other than runes was lacking in comparison to the Doctor. As for the doctor, as you can see, her feed has been cut off ever since that second explosion set up by Legrand.” With that Larry just laughs maniacally.

  Heheha.

  “It’s funny, that second blast, the one that supposedly got the Doctor, it never did. Also, as everyone else can see the other Doctors are back and mostly functioning as normal, the only difference is that they all seem to be twitchy for a bit, for three-minute intervals all at the same time. Yes, I think it is them somehow using Dr. Spiritlight’s Confidentiality, but I can’t prove it, and the betting agencies would not accept my analysis as proof, thus the lost wager. Again, I’ve learned my lesson, I should have quit while I was ahead, while I still had her.”

  “Similarly, the Doctor’s husband arrived. He arrived as a giant pixie, who immediately took one step forward, crashed to the ground and had his own hollow bones shatter upon impact. From there, things were worse, for he was there on the first day of Teleiotís occupation of Timult. From there he was taken prisoner and seemed to be locked away somewhere. Some are calling it karma, he left the Doctor and his family to start a new one elsewhere. Now, when he seemingly needs the Doctor to save him from the monsters she created, she is nowhere to be found.”

  At that, Larry pushed a few more buttons and brought up a clip of the pixie who was locked away in a prison created by earth magic. There in the screen was a poor excuse for a pixie who seemed to be getting crushed under its own bodyweight.

  “Help, I’m so hungry, and thirsty, help. Please Cass, I’m sorry…” the rantings of a dying colossal pixie.

  Now Larry sounded really depressed.

  “Yeah, I can empathize with him, had something great, and then he ruined it all,” Larry continued. “As you can see, he does not have the Spiritual Sustenance spell that Cass uses religiously.”

  Then with that, Larry seemed to change, he stood up a little straighter, not that this removed any of the wrinkles on his suit that had been worn for multiple days in a row.

  “Speaking of religion, I too did get something. As proof that I wanted to change,” Larry began as he pulled out a pen with a red ribbon around it and a slash that cut through two letters ‘AA’, which he pulled out and pinned to his rumpled jacket.

  “Addictions Anonymous, I finally got the help I needed,” Larry declared as he looked into the camera screen. Then with a seeming note of resolve, he took a deep breath and calmed himself.

  “I have been praying, looking for signs from any of the Gods and religions. I’ve prayed to them all, asking for guidance. You know, F-it I’ll even try it as the Teleiotís, to see if they have it right all along.”

  With that, Larry closed his eyes and clasped his hands together and then prayed, or at least what he considered to pray.

  “Cass, Dr. Spiritlight, if you are capable of helping me find redemption, please just give me a sign. Anything…”

  Silence.

  At that, the five screens showing the four Dr. Spiritlight Simulacrums and the one empty screen remained the same. The Simulacrums only made minor movements, nothing denoting that they were changing.

  At that, Larry just shook his head, “yeah I expected as much.”

  With that Larry looked almost lost, as if his last hope had even failed him. Then he went to look for the switch to kill the feed, a feed that cost him money for each second he aired the moments from BiPrism’s channel, as such he knew that with his dwindling viewership it was important to kill the feed immediately.

  But before he could find the button, something magical happened.

  Gasps.

  All four Simulacrums took in a deep breath all in unison and then turned and looked upwards. Some turned away from the camera, others towards the cameras, and one to the side, but they all stared up in unison.

  “What is it?” Penelope could be heard asking Rune-Ulacrum.

  For her part Rune-Ulacrum just remained silent, then pointed her finger. To Larry’s surprise all four Simulacrums also pointed their right pointer finger at the exact same spot. Or at least, that was what Larry thought in his mind as he mentally mapped out their location.

  “What is this? Are they pointing at something?” Larry asked, disbelief filling his own voice as he looked on.

  SCHWOOOOOOO!!

  Suddenly the sound of wind violently flowing through and down a wind tunnel could be heard.

  Just hearing the sound was close to having the hairs on the back of Larry’s neck raise up, as the hairs on his head also seemed to rise up as if witnessing first hand effects of static electricity.

  KABOOOM!

  Then on the fifth screen, the empty screen, a violent eruption of purple light appeared, erupting through the screen and seeming to reach out and send jolts of violent purple lightning out to the outstretched fingers of the four silent Simulacrums.

  “Could this be?” Larry asked, a note of excitement filling his voice.

  Then finally the violent burst of light began to fade from the fifth screen, revealing a colossal pixie, one that now seemed to sport bright purple eyes.

  Despite the bright purple eyes, not much else seemed to have changed. The dress that had been worn was the same wedding day dress worn by Cass on the day she disappeared. There were minor cuts and tears on the normally pretty dress, but they all soon began to repair themselves after a few seconds, revealing a glowing and slightly more vibrant Dr. Spiritlight.

  Cass for her part just turned her head, as if trying to look around, before a giant smile filled her face.

  Then she declared with three words, a message that would go down in the history of BiPrism, as its turning point.

  “I’m BACK BABY!” Cass declared.

  Hearing that, Larry who was now on his feet, having knocked over his production chair with excitement rose up, and with a beaming smile on his otherwise bedraggled face, suddenly looked young and enthusiastic.

  “You heard it here first, SHE IS BACK! Oh, Gods, there is a chance, this is great, this is perfect…” Larry began but trailed off, “I’m going to call her, to tell her that I’m sorry, that some things are worth fixing. Oh Gods, this is great, we can…”

  Then Larry realizing where he was, suddenly paused as he looked somewhat sheepish, before collecting himself and staring at the camera.

  “We are back, I am Larry Yo-Boy, bringing you everything you need to know about Dr. Spiritlight,” he began, but then paused, “also, Martha if you are listening,” he paused seeming to try to come up with the correct words to say.

  “Know that I have finally heard you. I’ve heard you, and I am sorry,” with that Larry reached down and hit the button to kill the feed. As the lights faded, the only thing that could be seen was the childlike smile that was plastered on Larry’s face. A smile of hope, and more.