The wedding was going to be a lot smaller than the last one, and much more
intimate. When Mateo and Leona married in the replica of The Colosseum on
Tribulation Island, over 48,000 people attended. This was at the behest of
Arcadia Preston, who was forcing them to marry. It wasn’t that they didn’t
love each other, but it wasn’t on their terms, so the event would always
have that asterisk next to it. This was their choice. The two of them wanted
to marry Olimpia, and she them. Hrockas assumed that they would want to
choose a venue in Party Central, but they weren’t really interested in that.
Sure, it had plenty of options. It could be indoors or outdoors, rustic or
modern, big or small. But they wanted something different; something
special. They chose Mythodome for Olimpia’s affinity for fantasy stories. It
wasn’t the safest dome on the planet, but it was a lot of fun, and one of
the more interesting ones. They also came up with a system to protect the
ceremony from outside interference. Thanks to a program which Hrockas
instituted, the wedding party shouldn’t have to worry about it.
Mateo, Leona, and Olimpia were getting dressed in their fancy stylish
outfits in front of a wall of mirrors, the former in the middle. She was
working and reworking her hair. “Where are we again?”
“Hall of Hephaestus,” Leona answered, straightening the collar of her dress.
“You don’t have to keep doing it manually. Here.” She took Olimpia’s hand,
and placed her palm on the glass. She turned it to the right, prompting the
image to change. Olimpia still looked like herself, but her skirt was now a
pale mint green.
“Ugh,” Olimpia said. “Pastels are not my colors.”
“It’s somewhere in your subconscious,” Leona explained. “I’m not making the
image change. You are. It’s powered by your intuition, so just imagine what
you want to look like, and this will show you.”
“Done.” Mateo playfully adjusted his bowtie.
“Great,” Leona replied sarcastically. She faced Olimpia again. “I like your
hair the way it is, but if you want to change it, find your preference in
the mirror, and we’ll ask Medusa to style it for real.”
Olimpia laughed. “This place is wild.”
“Hey, guys, look. I have cold feet.” Mateo was playing around with the
Protean glass now too, making it look like he was standing on the snow and
ice. Actually, it was probably Jotunheim.
The gigantic doors to their left opened up. Angela walked in and approached
them. “I don’t want you to be mad. Romana is considering this to be her
wedding gift to her father, but she doesn’t know how you’ll take it, so
just...be nice.”
Mateo stepped away from his mirror. “What did she do?”
“We met two twins called the Ashvins. I don’t know how they did it, but they
seem to have retroverting abilities.”
“What?” As Mateo was trying to figure out how he was going to react, Romana
walked in, but it was unlike how he knew her. She was about seven or eight
years old. It was quite alarming. “Romy! What a surprise!” He still didn’t
know how he should feel about this.
“Before you freak out,” Romana began, “this is temporary. I just wanted to
be a flower girl, instead of a flower woman.”
“I didn’t want you to change for me,” Mateo contended. That was all right to
say to her, right? Right?
“I know, but you had a little ring bear at your first wedding, and I just
think this will give it a better look. You’re not mad, are you?”
“No, of course not,” Mateo replied. Yeah, that was definitely the right
thing to say. He stepped over to hug his little girl. “I never got to see
you like this. It’s a lovely gesture, and we appreciate it.”
“This is just for you,” Romana said. “You each get your own gift. Them’s the
rules.”
“We don’t need gifts at all,” Leona reasoned.
“Then you don’t need to get married,” Romana volleyed, playfully, but still
trying to win the argument, since they were getting gifts, whether they
wanted them or not.
“Thank you very much, little girl,” Olimpia joked. “Do you need to go potty
before the ceremony?”
“It will wear off,” Romana reminded her with a frown. “I do have to
go get my basket, though.” She spun around a few times like a ballerina
before hopping away.
“Kind of wish it wouldn’t,” Mateo admitted. “...wear off, that is.”
“She’s still your baby,” Leona assured him.
Magnolia walked in from the other—smaller—door on the other side of the
room. “Hey, wadya’ll still doin’ here? We gotta keep things moving. Where
are your other escorts?”
“I believe Ramses is inventing a gift for us,” Mateo answered.
“We don’t have time for that. Gifts later. Chop-chop,” Magnolia insisted.
“Your hair,” Leona said.
Olimpia changed the mirror back to being a true reflection. “You’re right,
I’ll keep it as it is. Let’s get out there.”
Angela stuck her elbow out, and let Olimpia take it. Even though it was only
the three of them who were getting married, everyone on the team was
involved. While Romana was throwing flowers on the ground before them, they
all walked down the aisle together. Angela was escorting Olimpia, followed
by Ramses with Leona, and Marie with Mateo. This wasn’t their version of a
father giving away her daughter, but an expression of the love that they all
shared for each other, and a reinforcement of their bond. No chief
attendants, nor honor attendants; just seven people up there to advance
their dynamic in a loving and meaningful way.
The Officiant was officiating, having already conducted her compatibility
meeting earlier this morning. All of their closest family and friends were
in the audience. Gavix was here too, as he had invited himself years ago,
having known that it was coming. Three invitees weren’t in their seats, but
up and about. Mythodome was an unpredictable, and potentially dangerous,
place. Mythological creatures and figures from all sorts of cultures were
basically tossed into a melting pot. Their customs and responsibilities were
often naturally contradictory, and so a new culture emerged. There were
different types of beings with the same name, for instance, coexisting here
in as much harmony as anyone could expect to find. There were political
alliances, and tensions threatening to break them apart. Individuals had
their own motivations and agendas. Learning any given mythology wouldn’t
help you all that much here. Not even studying them all would do a whole lot
of good. The combination of these disparate and diverse customs created
something new. A unique civilization was taking shape, and not everyone
would be pleased to hear about the wedding. They chose to hold it in
Takamagahara. Not only was it gorgeous and serene, but on an upper level of
the dome, and not somewhere that just anyone could travel to.
To protect them from outside interference by troublemaking locals, they
conscripted the help of Kallias Bran, Aeolia Sarai, and Jesimula Utkin.
Everyone on Team Matic was what Hrockas decided to call a Regent. For
programmed intelligences who were not cognizant that they were living in a
simulation, a Regent could essentially control them. If a manticore, for
instance, made their way here, and started trying to eat the guests, a
Regent could simply command them to stop. The manticore wouldn’t understand
why it had to obey such commands, but it would do so without question, and
leave if asked. Since all Regents were part of the wedding party, they asked
their friends to take on the role temporarily. They chose these three to be
proxy regents because they could be trusted, they lived here, and they
wouldn’t feel left out for not technically being part of the wedding. They
also all knew how to protect themselves, in case their commands didn’t work.
Nothing should go wrong, but if it did, they would be here to insulate the
event from attack, or just from being bothered by a trickster god, or a
kitsune.
The vows were about to begin when they heard a commotion in the back. “Stop!
Stop, stop, stop, stop!” Jesi cried.
There was nothing that she could do, though. A man with wings soared over
them in the air, swung around, and landed off to the right side of the
little stage.
Kallias jogged up, and placed himself between the man and the wedding party.
“Get out of here right now.”
The man chuckled, and dismissively said, “please. That doesn’t work on me.”
He lifted a perfume bottle up, and sprayed it in Kallias’ face, causing him
to fall down to his side. “Fear not,” the stranger said when some in the
audience started to get defensive, particularly Darko. “He is only asleep.
My name is Daedalus, and I run this dome.” He looked around at their
surprised faces. “That’s right, I am aware of the dome. Did you think I
wouldn’t notice? If you walk far enough in any direction, you will hit a
wall that looks like a sky. Do not worry, however, as I have not told anyone
else. I am not here to cause trouble. It is actually to my benefit that I
should be the only one to understand what this world truly is. But my
silence and compliance does not come without a price. Two, actually.
Number one, I insist on respect, and a formal recognition of my authority
over these lands, internally speaking. To prove to me that I have it, you
must ask for my blessing to allow these nuptials to continue.”
Mateo didn’t remember much from his western civilization class, but he
remembered that Daedalus wasn’t an evil guy, and he definitely remembered
Leona’s Rules for Time Travel. There was no reason to antagonize this guy,
whether he was an antagonist, or otherwise. “Kind sir, Daedalus. May we have
your blessing to marry?”
Daedalus was a bit shocked at how easy it was, and how quickly he received a
positive reaction. “You have my blessing.”
“I thank you.”
“What is your second condition?” Darko pressed. He was still ready to take
action.
Daedalus smirked. “I’ll let you get on with it. You’ll find out later.” He
spread his wings, jumped into the air, and flew away.
“Wow, that was weird,” Marie noted.
“Sorry, guys,” Olimpia said.
“You didn’t make him do that,” Leona replied. “This is a lovely place to
hold the ceremony. I couldn’t have chosen somewhere better. Go on,
Officiant.”
The Officiant opened her mouth to continue, but a small wooden box suddenly
fell from the sky, and landed in the grass. “Wedding gift!” Daedalus shouted
down to them.
Ramses pointed his fist at the box. Part of his suit emerged into what
looked like a weapon. He fired one laser shot at the box, and it
disappeared.
“Did you just destroy that?” Mateo questioned.
“Teleporter gun. I placed it in quarantine in one of my pocket dimensions.
We’ll worry about it afterwards. Please, proceed. No more interruptions.”
There weren’t any other interruptions. The vows were relatively short,
despite there being three people getting married today. Both Mateo and Leona
were relieved to have the chance to make up for their less than stellar
speeches at their previous wedding. They really took the time to make sure
they came up with beautiful and profound words. They were older and more
experienced now, and not feeling Arcadia’s pressure, so that had a lot to do
with their success. Olimpia’s vow was just as lovely. Once it was over,
Magnolia had the audience stand up, and move off to the back. She generated
her black hole portals under all of the chairs, spiriting them a few meters
away, so they were each now circling tables. The center area was now a dance
floor, which everyone was able to begin crossing within seconds.
People were eating and dancing during the reception, and enjoying the
incredible views. Kallias woke up near the beginning of it, feeling rested
and energized, and ready to get back to work. He and the other proxy regents
apologized for not being able to stop Daedalus from breaching the perimeter,
but really, what were they gonna do? He had wings, and was reportedly a
genius. Mateo tried to have fun at the party, but he couldn’t think about
anything but that little wooden box. What was inside? What could it possibly
be? In their world, you could fit an entire universe in there, but
surely Daedalus had his limitations. Surely he didn’t know anything about
that stuff. He was programmed to be familiar with ancient times, and to only
be ahead of his peers from that frame of reference. “Man, I gotta see what’s
in there.”
“I wouldn’t,” Ramses argued. “I’ve been scanning it, but it’s shielded.
Whatever it is, it’s not something you would expect to find in Ancient
Greece. Since magic isn’t real, a guy like Daedalus should still be working
within the laws of normal physics.”
“If he knows about the dome, maybe he knows about temporal manipulation, and
the like. He’s not the real Daedalus, since the real Daedalus didn’t exist.
Correct?”
“You think that’s a better reason to open it, Matt?”
“Come on, it’s my special day,” Mateo insisted.
“Oh...you can play that card once. It won’t work tomorrow.”
“I don’t need to play it tomorrow. I’m playing it right now.”
Ramses turned his hand, and apported the box into it. “Open at your own
peril.”
“You’re here too. So is everyone else.” They both looked over at the
party-goers, and thought better of it simultaneously. Without speaking, they
teleported a few hundred meters away, to the middle of a meadow. Mateo took
a breath and opened the lid of the box. Some sort of something or other that
moved too quickly to spot flew out of the inside, and latched itself onto
Mateo’s chest. It spread like nanites, wrapping itself around his chest,
with the two ends meeting each other in the center of his back. They
continued to spread from there, though Mateo obviously couldn’t see.
Suddenly, wings appeared from behind him, and spread out to the side. “Hell
yeah!”
“Hell yeah!” Ramses agreed.
“Hell yeah!” they repeated in unison.
