Chapter 1

At the end of the last story, Miranda had used up all her life-energy, her Phoenix fire, in a failed attempt to force open the wormhole that could carry her back to New Eden and home. Tabatha and Elaine had sealed the wormhole against her to prevent an altered reality that had begun to unmake their entire world, though neither truly understood why Murielle and Miranda needed to remain in the past. Miranda didn't understand time-shields and, as a result, she expended all her life-force trying to reopen the shielded wormhole, and it simply sucked away all her power, causing her to starve to death in only a few days.

Murielle, having been lost to her twin until she regained her identity (after being eaten and reborn as a pterodactyl), found Miranda's dead and desiccated body a week later. She also discovered that a Praetor had been left in this time period, and it had captured Murielle's soul – her life force – and was holding her twin in stasis, when it showed Murielle how to interact with her twin's spirit by sharing their dreams.

After happily discovering her twin's spirit still existed inside the Praetor, Murielle, having learned how to recreate her own body after she had fed it to various carnivores (a sexual activity both twins had, at one time, indulged in), realized that she could create a body for her twin sister as easily as she had often recreated her own and proceeded to do so, enhancing both their bodies so they appeared more beautiful and curvy than the originals.

However, Miranda, having been betrayed more than she could endure by those whom she thought loved her, refused to come out and play, deciding to remain in the relatively safe confines of her dream world inside the Praetor. That left Murielle with two bodies to control and protect, although she soon found new ways to ease her frustration now that she had an 'extra' body to play with.

Murielle began to spend her days making love to herself, using both bodies to stimulate both of her. At night, she spent all her waking hours – sleeping hours, rather – dreaming with her 'dead' twin, sitting and talking by the lake in Lisa's Grotto.

"Hi Mira," Murielle greeted her sister and sat down beside her. She lay down on her back and motioned for her sister to join her. "I want to show you something."

Closing her eyes, she created an image of twin sisters snuggled together in a hidden cove, safe from raptors and other creatures that roamed the night.

'This could be you and me, darling sister, ' Murielle thought into Miranda's mind. 'See that sexy girl there with her arms wrapped around me and smiling in her sleep?'

Mira nodded, not really interested in her sister's obvious attempt to draw her out.

'That's the body I made for you, ' Murielle informed her. 'I created it with Phoenix fire out of my love for you – my need to have you with me. I'm keeping it alive just for you. I know you'll love it. You can see how beautiful she is – how beautiful you will be.'

"That doesn't look like me," Miranda pouted. "That's just some fantasy you created." She sat up and turned away.

"Mira," Murielle sat up. "Of course it's a fantasy. It's an idea – just a dream to keep me going until you're willing to come back to me."

"I don't want to come back – go back – to you," Miranda replied sullenly. "I don't want anything to do with anyone out there."

"Even me?" Murielle asked, hurt more than she thought those words might hurt her. When she didn't get an answer, she remained silent for the moment. It would do no good to press the issue. It would only push Miranda further away.

With a sigh, she asked Miranda's backside; "Do you mind my visits with you? These dreams?"

Miranda turned around and gazed at her sister, sitting there, acting so patient and willing to wait while at the same time she knew her sister was torn up inside. She understood that, by rejecting life, she was hurting Murielle, probably more than anyone else ever could. After all, Murielle was the only one who hadn't turned away, who hadn't abandoned her like everyone else. Of course, it was likely that no one else even knew she was still alive – the last everyone else had known, she was – One Sister: Missing and Presumed Dead.

"Poor Muri," Miranda sighed. "I know how you must feel – to create a golem to take my place so you won't feel so lonely ... And here I am, refusing to come out of ... wherever I am to join you in that horrible, beastly world out there.

"Let me make you a counter-offer," she continued, "as I find it lonely in here at times ... You release your golem to the fire and come join me – inside my dream world. In here, you can create anything you can think of: any variety of lovers, adoration and power, the infinite beauty of worlds you can only dream about out there. You offer a world full of pain and hostility, but I can offer you a world full of dreams – of everlasting love ... of my everlasting love."

Murielle felt the tears flowing down her cheeks. Her twin's offer was so tempting that it was hard to reject. Every night, she hid both her bodies so that she wouldn't have to protect them while visiting her sister in her dreams. And even with the distractions she could create with herself, her dreams were becoming more important than surviving in the reality of a world so accurately described by her dead sister.

"Mira ... this is..." Murielle didn't know how to say the words. "Your world isn't real. All you have in this place is dreams that won't ever come true. I can't promise that my world is any better – but your soul won't wither and die there, and eventually, here, it will. You will."

"The only thing I want to come true is that you stay here with me," Miranda pleaded, tears coming to her eyes. "I love you. I want you to stay with me. Don't reject me like everyone else has."

Mira, I won't turn away from you," Murielle promised. "I'll come to you every night. But I don't want to give up everything else to be with you. Eventually, I'd wither and die in here, just like you will. Is that what you want? Do you want me to die with you?"

"No! You're twisting everything around!" Miranda cried. "I love you! And you make me sound like a vile, clinging dead thing that wants to suck the life out of you! I'm not like that! You know me, Muri, I'm not like that so stop screwing with my head. Get out of here! This is my place, not yours. My dreams – so get out!"

Murielle let the tears flow down her face, unashamed of the emotions she was experiencing. "Anger is a part of life, Mira, so is grief – and love. I'm not going to abandon you. I'll be here, in your grotto tomorrow night, and every night until the world ends – or however long it takes for you to realize that life – real life – exists out there, where you can be hurt or rejected or worse. I'm going to be living that life, however bleak it may be and it will be bleak as long as you're not with me, but at least, I can have you in my dreams, here, for however long we both have."

With that, she turned and walked away. Miranda watched her sister fade, understanding that Murielle would be waking up to face another lonely day in the 'real' world. Muri had shed tears here, in this dream world – Miranda wondered if she would shed tears for her when she was awake.

Another night, another visit with her twin. Mira seemed cheerful, but determined to prove to her sister that she had made the right decision...

"So all I have to do is hold out my hand..." Miranda grinned, and held out her hand to seemingly pluck a long, lightweight saber out of thin air. "Can you do that in your world?"

Murielle replied, "Of course I can. I've learned how to make anything I want out of Phoenix fire – even fresh meat and vegetables. I could make you your favorite stew, even though the veggies don't exist in this prehistoric era."

"That's another thing," Miranda added, "I don't have to live in an age where I'm constantly on guard against giant predators that want to eat me. I can have a flying car if I want it. I can go to my favorite restaurant, watch my favorite Tri-D shows just like I could on old Earth, and..."

"Mira," Murielle sighed. "I'm tired of all this arguing. This place may seem infinite to you, but you live in a bubble. No matter how many people or places you dream up, you and I are the only real people here. Someday, this won't be enough for you..."

Chapter 2 »