Lapis in Aeternum

When a person is stuck waiting in a state of anxiety time itself seems to always stand completely still. The illusion of time standing still always leads to the inner turmoil of what might happen as one is never completely in the know of what will happen, but the possibility of what might happen. The thoughts in Stephano’s mind raced as he waited for a reply from Alexia. Stephano frowned as he felt a twinge of anger that he hadn’t received a reply to his text message to Alexia. He put his phone into his pocket groaning in annoyance and moved to pick up his Dr. Pepper from his desk. The moment he picked it up the icy cold soda became lukewarm. He instantly glared as he took a sip of it not enjoying the taste of the now lukewarm beverage. With his temper now heightened the soda in the bottle started to bubble slightly. Noticing this he started trying to calm himself down as he went into the kitchen and poured the rest of the soda down the sink not really wanting to drink hot soda before throwing the bottle into the garbage. Just as he threw the bottle into the garbage he received a notification on his phone. Taking it out of his pocket he noticed Alexia had texted him back. The text message read.

Care if I come over and take a look?

Stephano’s eyebrows lowered and he had a look of annoyance at the text. Did she really need to come over? He texted her back.

Fine, my address is 71 School St, Boston, MA 02119. How fast can you get here?

Alexia popped up out of thin air with a popping sound to Stephano’s surprise. As she approached him he couldn’t help but feel bewildered at the sight of someone just popping up out of nowhere.

“How the hell did you do that?” Stephano asked her in a bewildered voice as Alexia looked up at him rubbing her chin with her forefinger and thumb looking as if she were deep in thought. She had a calm, cold, and logical demeanor about her.

“I’m an air elemental. I can travel freely wherever I want to.” Alexia said in a monotone voice as she looked over the burned areas of his home. She then turned to him and said “You’ll need to embody courage or patience to get your power under control. The fire element is deeply seated in the root chakra so you’ll need to focus on that mostly.”

“That might be easier said than done. My life is filled with annoyances.” Stephano said in a frustrated tone frowning at her slightly.

“You’ll just have to find a different way to emotionally deal with any and all situations. Put logic before emotion and that should help.” Alexia said as she smiled slightly. “If you embody the virtues of your stone your natural abilities should emerge with time.”

Stephano looked skeptically at her but took her advice relaxing his mind back into a state of patience. Alexia looked at the burnt body-shaped burn mark on the sofa curiously running a hand over it. She plopped down on the sofa relaxing as she put her feet up on the coffee table making Stephano give her a look of slight annoyance.

“You’ll want to disconnect from all forms of anger or wrath and use it as a tool to control your power.” Alexia said casually as she leaned back on the sofa closing her eyes.

“Would you not put your feet up on the table?” Stephano asked her patiently as he sat down next to her.

“Sure, sorry.” Alexia said with a sheepish smile as she took her feet off the table. She then ran her fingers through her hair and said. “Well…I suppose I should get back to work.”

“What type of work do you do?” Stephano asked giving her a curious smile.

00

“Oh, nothing special. Nothing you’d want to hear about.” Alexia said thoughtfully not looking as if she were keen on sharing that information.

“Fine then, keep your secrets.” Stephano said giving her a smug smile.

At this reply, Alexia smirked up at him playfully and in a sarcastic tone said “Did you just rip that off from Lord of the Rings?”

“So what if I did?” Stephano said with a shrug as he playfully smirked back at her.

“Well, in any case, I should be going. Ciao.” Alexia said as she got up off the sofa and popped out of sight.

Stephano was left once again by himself. He sat down and opened an animation program to work on his next video. He became lost in the task losing track of time while engrossed in what he was doing. As this was going on the world outside continued moving forward without him. He was safe within the world of his own creation and quite at home and at peace.

(Meanwhile)

Alexia had gone back to her apartment, the atmosphere of the place was quite cozy and warm. She sat at the kitchen table looking over her bills for the month. Having them all neatly organized and put away she scratched her chin a bit looking rather thoughtfully at them before putting them away into a folder. She looked up at the clock seeing it was ten till 4 P.M.

“Looks like I need to get to work.” Alexia said as she went into her room where a dual monitor computer sat.

She did at-home call center work which she found rather boring and dull, but it paid the bills. She took endless hours of phone calls occasionally taking a break to go get coffee. She kept a friendly upbeat voice during all her calls as she solved problems and performed minor data entry here and there. She had a wireless headset so she was free to roam around her home while not on a call. She took a shoe box from underneath her bed opening and smirking down as she took in the sight of ten ounces of gold with them being in the form of coins and bars. She wasn’t about to depend on a single person for help. No, they would only depend on her. There was no reason to bother anyone for help anyway. She’d always be in control of her own fate. She was the master of her own life and that’s how she preferred it.

(Meanwhiile)

In a world where people are expected to provide something of value in exchange for their livelihood, one might think of such a thing as a form of slavery. They wouldn’t be far from being wrong, but an existence built on a material realm is heavily dependent on productivity. There is simply no other way around it. Stephano knew this just as well as anyone else. He looked at the time seeing it was already 9 P.M. and decided to order some dinner for himself. Opening the Door Dash app he looked to see what was available. He quickly decided to order a burger and fries. He thought about texting Alexia but wasn’t quite sure what to say to her. After about thirty minutes he had his food and sat on the sofa flipping on the television. As the playful cartoons came to life on the screen he wondered what type of special abilities he’d be able to hone in on. He felt the energy emitting from the television and felt compelled to touch the screen, although he wasn’t sure why. He felt his body conducting the electricity and the radio waves of the television through his whole body from the screen. It was a strange, but energizing feeling. His hand slipped into the television screen as if it were a portal to another world and almost instantly he was transported into the world of My Little Pony Friendship is Magic. He found himself in the middle of Sugar Cube corner and had now taken the form of a unicorn. He had no mane, but he did have a short raven black tail. His coat of fur was a firey red color. He had a stocky frame that was slightly plump. He still had his stainless steel nose ring in place. His presence there didn’t seem to make much of a difference to the main characters' interactions with each other, however, anyone tuned into the channel and had been paying attention would see the difference. He decided to approach Pinkie Pie who wasn’t currently interacting with the rest of the main characters she looked slightly surprised by his presence as she was leaving her home.

She turned to him with a puzzled look and said “I’ve never seen you around here before. What’s your name?”

Stephano raised an eyebrow and felt put on the spot so he wasn’t sure how to respond to her and blurted out “Hotdiggetydemon?”

Pinkie Pie chuckled and pranced around him and she said “Well that’s a weird name. I need to go see my friends but I guess I’ll be seeing you around here. Bye-bye for now.”

Pinkie Pie then continued on leaving him behind to join the others.

Stephano left the television back into his home having a look of utter confusion. Did that just happen or was he tripping balls? Well, in any case, it was certainly an interesting experience. Just then he received a flood of texts mentioning they saw him on My Little Pony. He looked at the texts unsure of how he’d answer any of the questions they had, so he didn’t reply. He went back to eating his food as he continued watching My Little Pony Friendship is Magic.