Limitless, John Gold [best novels of all time .TXT] 📗

you Anji. Your last name is Ganet, you got it from your father. Should everything go as planned, you will meet us, in real life(realityin person)”

“But who am I to you? Why are we here?”

For the first time in our dream that has gone on for five years, we have stopped. She turned around and I could see her face. It was quite ordinary, nothing stood out, but at the same time it looked so familiar as if I had seen her a thousand times but could not remember it.

“Do you know who I am?”

“No, this is impossible. I’ve checked everyone on the station. Anyone who could possibly be my parents - alive, dead, or reported missing. All of the people living there at the time of my birth. Not a single genetic match. I could not find any photos, or videos of my birth, nor a hospital where I was brought into this world. Just a blank space in place of birth. I’ve looked everywhere… even after Chrysalis gave me my parents….”

“I didn’t give them to you. But, go on…”

“You… you were never really here. No matter how hard I searched… or all that data I hacked into. Ledge, who hacked the database of space nomads could not find anything. I’ve looked everywhere - on Venice, Mars, and Old Earth immigrants base… everywhere I could!”

“I have always been here and looked over you. Although only in dreams, but I have been here.”

“That’s not enough. That’s not the mother I longed for…”

“You don’t get to choose your parents. I may be a bad mother, Anji. But that’s the mother you’ve had all along. I don’t exist in this world anymore, that’s why you can’t see me in person. If it weren’t for my sleep walking (dream walking) ability, and our relation, and your upcoming death, we wouldn’t be able to talk at all. Don’t be afraid. You were meant to die since you’ve been born.”

“Die?”

“She raised her hand in which she held a seed. Just then, in a matter of seconds, it transformed into a blossoming flower.

“Being reborn is one of the greatest gifts I can give you. You will inherit your experience form this life.”

“I don’t want to die!”

She smiled and gently knocked on my forehead with her index finger.

“Your body can no longer withstand what you are trying to force upon it. No doctor will be able to save you. Not after all those wounds inflicted upon you in both of the worlds. The Keepers won’t tolerate any change in what they have planned. Lunar won’t leave you alone. Haven’t you realized, all these years you lived in a comfort of the playground called Chrysalis. The game solved all your problems for you. Everything was so simple. Easy enemies, money, mob killings free of emotion or moral torments. There were simple ethics to follow and some primitive magic along with a simplified approach to both the game and life. No matter how accustomed you’ve grown to associate yourself with Chrysalis, you must understand it is just a game. Chrysalis is a game. You are an adult now, who lives beyond the boundaries of this world. Your childhood is over, it is time your real life started.”

“How could you, my real mother, offer me death. I don’t want to make this choice.”

“You were meant to. The way your body started to fail.”

“Then, I refuse this choice.”

“A child’s whim, no more…” She smiled once again. “…one of the first memories. When I was little, children didn’t want to transfer schools, being afraid of changing the environment and the world around them. They were rebellious, refused to eat, talk, or do what they were told. I was just like that. Catty and bad-tempered, sometimes dreamy, yet always rebellious towards my mother’s authority. Having lived under my parents’ wing, making choices for me was their prerogative. That is the case when you do not have a choice, Anji. Your path in this world ends here.”

“What about my affairs? My friends? What will happen to my family?”

This time, I got a painful flick in my forehead. Had I been asleep, I was sure I wouldn’t have felt it.

“Your affairs are over. But….! You won’t admit it.”

“I’ve got so many questions…”

“How many of those actually matter now, that your path has ended. Accept the fact your real life, and not the casket with ___ and toys. But your real life, as complex and interesting as it is, just begins. You’re eighteen now, and parents no longer give you pocket money. You must find a job. What? Oh, yes. You have never really been an adult. You’ve always avoided adult responsibility, setting life goals, family, and all the rest that felt outside your comfort zone. I presume, living in the Chrysalis’ cocoon was pretty comfortable? Fame, money, primitive life and… degradation you were unaware of. The tunnel vision you held towards things. All that shit you’ve gone through in the last fourteen years, was nothing but a foreplay before real-life kicks in.”

“You seem anything but my mother.”

“Oh no, no no! You’re my baby who’s trying to escape from reality. I know I am no angel. I have neither time nor desire to be stuck here breaking down for you how life really works.”

“Mothers are not supposed to be this way…”

“The game will remain a game. You got so carried away playing Sagie, you forgot who you really are. You can’t distinguish your real self from your game character. Don’t tell me how mothers are supposed to be and how to bring up children. Your sisters were some wild children, but they have grown up into normal, healthy women. However, you - Anji Ganet are my son, whether you want it or not. And if I say your time in this world is over, then it is over.”

The more I listened to Persea de Bran, the more it became clear to me it was exactly the way parents were supposed to be, if they truly cared