Hello! This is my attempt to translate Folded Dreams to English ... please understand that the bulk of the work is done by software and it has A LOT of weird errors... so I'll try to fix thing by hand... eventually.

Thanks for your patience.

Gerli.

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Dante opened his eyes.

A lonely cloud was crossing the deep blue of the sky at that moment. The young man remained following that piece of white cotton until it was lost out of his field of vision dragged by the perfumed spring breeze.

He would have stayed in that position for several hours, but felt he was gaining nothing from it. He turned his head to the side and through a meadow of green grass dotted here and there by some rocks he saw an unknown landscape. A forest of dark firs grew a few miles away, and behind it a distant mountain range raised its steep peaks to the bright blue of the sky, casting white flashes where the snow crowned the peaks.

He turned his head to the sky again and saw the distant silhouette of a bird soaring to the blue of the heights.

He raised his hand and looked at it carefully, highlighted against the clearing of the sky. His skin was slightly darker than he remembered.

—I wonder what my avatar looks like. —He said, surprised at his own voice.

So his voice had changed too. They really had thought of everything.

Sighing deeply he sat down on the grass in one motion and let the wind caress his hair. It smelled good, like flowers and green grass.

He stood there for a few minutes, immersed in his own thoughts, knowing that these were probably his last moments of relaxation before sticking his head back in front of a monitoring terminal.

He turned his head to the other side and saw the rocks nearby, but what immediately caught his attention was that the rocks themselves looked back at him.

—What?

The rock golem slowly got up and the two little eyes glowed with a reddish glow as the monster adapted its aggressive behavior.

—Oh crap!

Dante ran to safety from the inevitable attack. He quickly fled from the reach of the powerful granite arms, but had not yet completely escaped. The golem's next attack was to throw a huge boulder as easily as a child throws a marble into the air.

The young man fell backwards into the grass and watched in horror as the projectile fell irreparably upon him. He instinctively raised his arm to protect himself and at that moment the world seemed to turn upside down.

Something exploded under the grass where he was lying, as if the green mantle itself suddenly stirred like a liquid. The grass was suddenly agitated and grew in the form of a column between his own legs, rising like a spear to meet the enormous boulder.

As soon as the vines touched the stone a bunch of stems, leaves and pods wrapped the projectile as if it were an enormous net, pulling it out of its deadly trajectory just enough to make it fall a few inches from the young man's head.

—Now! —Run! —shouted an unknown voice behind him.

Dante didn't think twice and jumped to his feet and ran to where he had heard the voice. The Golem turned his huge head to where the new enemy had appeared.

The young woman stood defiantly with her legs spread as she held a strange wooden stick in front of her. Dante immediately took refuge behind her and watched in amazement as the giant enemy slowly approached them.

—I can only stop him long enough for us to escape. —said the young woman, without looking away from the enemy. —Prepare to run on my signal... we will go to the nearest trees. Understood?

The young man nodded and prepared to act on the signal of the mysterious girl, only then did he notice the striped tail moving nervously back and forth under the strange garment.

—You... you are.

—Concentrate!

The tip of the cane suddenly lit up with an emerald glow, and bright little dots began to dance before the outstretched hand of the young woman, who recited a strange word in an unknown tongue.

The grass at the feet of both young people began to twist as if in that small space a hurricane had been unleashed, but Dante did not feel any wind on his face.

—Now! —she shouted as she pointed the stick at the golem, just a few meters away from where they were.

As if it were a huge dragon, a vine of almost a meter in diameter emerged under the thick legs of the monster and grew around the rocks of the powerful body, getting more and more tangled until it completely covered the arms and torso of the creature.

—Run!

Dante and the mysterious young woman began to run into the forest without looking back. They heard the monster's growls as it tried to free itself from those vines, but soon the wind and distance carried away the sounds until they heard no more.

Without ceasing to run they reached the edge of the forest, yet they continued to run without daring to look back, going deeper and deeper until all above their heads were branches and leaves that formed the impenetrable cover of the forest.

The ground had been rising continuously since they entered under the trees. Soon they came to a clearing where an enormous oak tree grew next to a small stream of water that jumped among the rocks forming a small waterfall before flowing into a stream that disappeared among the roots of the trees on its way to the valley.

Dante was not tired at all, but he was surprised to see how his body imitated the gesture of having lost his breath after the escape.

The two sat down under the tree and leaned their backs against the trunk.

—Are you all right? —asked the young woman after a few minutes.

Dante nodded. —He didn't do anything to me.

—I'm glad to hear it. —I'm glad to hear that," she said with relief, ignoring the boy's question, after which she seemed to examine him in detail. —You're a freshly created PJ, I see... What were you doing in a place like this? There are creatures here twenty levels above you and they could kill you just by looking at you wrong. —he said.

The young man shrugged his shoulders. —I appeared here when I put on my Virtual Reality helmet. —he replied. —It's the first time I've logged on to the system.

The girl looked at him in surprise. —Helmet? So you're not in a pod like us Colonists?

Dante shook his head. —I arrived at Fleet 41 just yesterday, finished unpacking my things and when I saw the Virtual Reality equipment in my cabin, I wanted to try it out right away.

The young man saw how the cat's ears peeking through the girl's brown hair were moving restlessly.

—Which means that we are not yet in the long—term FOLD," she said thoughtfully. —So you're a visitor, Dante?

—How do you know my name? —asked the boy.

The young woman gave him a reproachful look, "You haven't activated the UI yet?

—Oh.

Dante stood up and with a gesture of his hand made a holographic screen unfold in front of his face. There were several options and one of them was off. He placed his finger on the indicator and the letters changed to a green tone.

In front of Dante's eyes, the Simulated World User Interface was displayed. A compass, a clock and the mana and life signs occupied the limits of his field of vision. When he turned his eyes to the young woman he saw that now a small indicator had been displayed above her head along with a word.

—Silvana? —asked the young man, reading the name in white letters.

—Nice to meet you, Dante —She said, stretching out her hand. —Welcome to Calypso.

The young men shook hands as the breeze blew the flowers around them. The sun rose high among the treetops and the song of the birds was all that could be heard over the murmur of the water that fell among the stones of the small spring.

After a few minutes in silence, the young woman went back to her partner. —Where are you from?

Dante was relaxed feeling the breeze on his face and was taken by surprise by the question. After straightening up a little against the trunk, he looked at the birds that were crossing over the clearing at that moment. —From the Earth. —he answered.

—The Earth. —repeated the young woman, following the boy's gaze to the sky. —Is it as beautiful as it appears in documentary videos? —she asked, interested.

The young man crossed his arms behind his head and leaned back even more. —The ecosystem is rapidly recovering. —she said, closing her eyes. —The ozone layer has been completely restored about ten years ago, so recently they have begun to reintroduce more biodiversity of plants and animals that could not survive before due to the intense radiation from the weakened atmosphere... for example, recently they have reintroduced wild bees so there has been an explosion in the spread of wild flowers.

—Flowers? —asked the young woman excitedly. —Flowers? —Real flowers?

—Of course. —said Dante. —Most biomes are now savannah and grasslands, forests and especially jungles will take at least a couple of centuries to fully recover... but bio—engineering and mass cloning has helped quite a bit to restore much of the planet's greenery.

Silvana was excited to imagine that distant planet and her tail was wagging frantically back and forth. Dante saw that gesture and smiled funny. —Are you a Voldorian? —I ask.

—Yup! —nodded the young woman. —The forests of Voldor are giant and their inhabitants are adapted to live with plants and animals... ah, but I am really human. —she quickly shaken her hands. —Only my character is of that race.

—And your character is a kind of...

—Druid. —replied the young woman. —My class specializes in controlling nature to help those who are fighting to protect the forest and its inhabitants.

Dante scratched his head. —It's a good thing we met in that meadow where there were so many weeds... if the same thing had happened to me in a rocky desert, I could now be considered dead. —he said thoughtfully.

The young woman laughed at that remark. —Even in the driest and most hostile places, there are always animals and plants that do their best to survive... it is true that my magic is less strong in those places but... even a simple twig in the middle of the dunes can help me protect those I love.

The young man nodded. —You are what is called a support character... someone specialized in helping others to be stronger, but also to defend and hinder their enemies.

Silvana nodded. —Other druids can specialize in invoking wild animals to fight for them, but I don't want to hurt anyone or use animals for violent purposes... plants are powerful and great allies.

—That's something very noble. —That's something very noble," said Dante.

—In our Guild we only hunt and fight monsters that threaten the balance and harmony of this world, so we only use our abilities against evil and unnatural things.

—I see.

The young woman stood up and after walking a few steps she unfolded her holographic interface in front of her face and after selecting a series of items, as if by magic a tablecloth and a wicker basket materialized on the grass next to her. —Would you like to have some lunch? —she asked, turning to the young man.

Dante got up and approached the improvised picnic that Silvana had made appear as if by magic.

—I prepared it myself. —she said with a smile.

Dante sat down next to the tablecloth while the young woman removed some food from the inside of the basket.

—So... the settlers are in suspension pods? —he asked, watching the cat—girl work.

Yes, those of us who choose to participate in the long—range immigration program are in special pods, which allows us to be connected to the simulation all the time.

Silvana prepared the food on the tablecloth and in a few minutes the Picnic was ready. —Serve yourself whatever you like. —She said, pointing proudly to the dishes she had prepared.

Dante watched the food and drowned out a cry of astonishment; everything looked so real and delicious.

—Wow! —he exclaimed, taking a sandwich that had been cut into a triangular shape. —This looks... so authentic.

The young woman took one of the sandwiches herself and took a bite. —Don't just look at the item. —She explained with a wink. —What matters is the stats.

Dante held the sandwich in front of her eyes and soon a small window opened showing the relevant information.

—Grade A+," the boy read.

—Someday I'll be able to make S grade meals," Silvana sighed. —But it's something that could take years and years with the quotas of experience I gain daily.

The young man took a bite of the sandwich and after chewing for a while swallowed the food without noticing any particular taste. Immediately a small symbol near his life bar indicated that he was receiving a bonus for good food intake.

—In the Academy we had full simulations during the most important trainings. —Dante explained, examining what was left of the sandwich. —But the models of things we were manipulating in those virtual environments were very different from these... everything had a kind of plastic sheen to it, like a fake. This sandwich looks real... I can see even the little crumbs falling from the area that I have bitten.

—Calypso is one of the most realistic games ever made with Macross Consortium technology. —Silvana answered. —They say that the level of detail in the world reaches the very same atomic level.

Dante finished eating his sandwich and remained silent looking at the clouds in the sky. Certainly he had "felt" the sandwich in his mouth, but it had all been a series of illusions created by sensory impulses in his brain. No food had entered his body of course, but that was not the case with the colonists of that emigration fleet.

—So right now you are in a pod and the system is feeding you according to your actions in this place? —asked the young man, turning to the girl.

—The system feeds us periodically whether we eat food at Calypso or not. —explained Silvana.

—I understand.

Now it was the young woman's turn to ask something. After finishing her sandwich, she turned curiously to the young man. —What about you? —she asked, wagging her tail. —What kind of character are you going to become?

Dante looked at her in confusion. —Character? Oh... well I don't know if I should really make one... I don't think I can play this game much while I'm working here.

The cat girl shook her ears. —Have you come here to work?

—That's right.

Silvana looked at the sky pensative. —You mentioned an Academy earlier.

—The NUNS Officers' Academy on Earth. —replied the young man. Silvana's eyes widened. —Are you in the military? —she asked in surprise.

—Yes, well, no. I graduated last year, but I was discharged immediately after receiving my diploma.

—That... that must have been very hard for you. —she said, feeling sorry for the young man.

Dante crossed his arms over his knees and sighed. —I thought I could go into active duty right away in some newly commissioned fleet but... NUNS doesn't need new strategists apparently. —he said, shaking his head.

Silvana bowed her head. —Strategist? —Is that what you do?

—Battle plans, supplies, intelligence... all that. —explained the young man.

The cat girl took a finger to her thoughtful head. —I'm sure our Guild could use a strategist to prepare the weekly raids and the conflicts with other Clans. —he said as a smile lit up his face. —I'm sure the others would love to meet you, Dante!

The young man shrugged his shoulders. —As I told you... I don't think I have much time to devote to an online game... let alone one as... "immersive" as this one.

Silvana blew a disappointment. —It already seemed to me too good to be real. —She said, fiddling with an apple on the tablecloth. —In any case, you have to become an avatar to enter the virtual world, whether you play or not.

—What do you mean?

The cat—girl stood up and pointed at the forest. —Calypso's world is not only this Massively Multiplayer RPG. —she explained. —Many of the settlers don't play games and just live their normal lives in a completely ordinary environment, with cities, stores and other modern things.

That surprised Dante. —Do you mean that there are two "Worlds" in this simulation?

—Sure. —replied the young woman. —After all, I'm still in high school... I go to school in the morning and only go online in the afternoon to play with my friends.

Dante looked at her in surprise. —It made you more... adult. —He said, looking at the cat girl's figure. —So... you're eighteen?

—Seventeen. —replied Silvana. —What about you?

Twenty—five. Oh wait, actually, twenty—six... I had a birthday last month during a week—long FOLD, I almost forgot all about it.

Silvana laughed when she heard that. "How does one forget one's own birthday? —she asked, amused.

The young man scratched his head and shrugged again. —The truth is... so many things have happened in this last year that I haven't been very aware of my own existence. —He explained. —I left Earth wearing nothing but my clothes, and I've been traveling around the galaxy until I finally found Starfleet 41.

—Wait a minute. —said the young woman, looking at him curiously. —Earth is no more than a month and a half away from where Fleet 41 set sail... How come it took you so long to get here?

—Let's just say that the logistics of NUNS are not what they used to be. —explained Dante. —I'd tell you in more detail but... something tells me you're going to fall asleep in the middle of the story.

—At least one thing is for sure: you have arrived at Fleet 41 and you must definitely create an avatar according to this new world... whether you play in Calypso or not.

Dante sighed and raised his hands in front of his face. —Do you think this body is wrong?

The young woman shook her head. —Many people use their real features when using the simulation. —He explained. —But Calypso gives you the option of using two different avatars... you can be yourself when you're in the simulated world with the other Colonists and a Meltran warrior when you play with us... you can really be any race or sex you want here and no one is going to judge you for it.

At that point Dante had no choice but to accept, at least he felt it had been worthwhile to meet someone so soon in that strange place.

—I'm not promising to play in your Guild but... I'll do my best to at least meet your friends. —he winked. —Something tells me that my work won't leave me much time to share it with you.

—Oh... you'll see. —replied the young woman, getting her hopes up. —Which reminds me...you still haven't told me what your new job in the 41st Fleet is going to be.

—I was hired by the comp... Hey, is it suddenly cloudy, or does it look like it is to me?

Silvana's reflexes warned her of the immediate danger. In one jump she grabbed Dante by the clothes and together they jumped to the side just as the huge rock was falling on the tablecloth with the rest of the food.

—But what...? —Dante shouted, protecting himself from the stones that flew in all directions. —That Golem again?

—Yes... and no. —answered Silvana and the tone of her voice made Dante's heart stop.

—What do you mean?

The young woman pointed to the rock with her cane. —Look.

The dust had settled a little and Dante could see what had fallen in the middle of the clearing. What looked like a simple boulder suddenly revealed itself as something more sinister. The Golem's eyes were now just dark holes in the cracked rock; all that remained of his head.

—But... What...?

A thunderous voice sounded over the trees and both young men turned their heads in that direction.

—At last I found you, Druid.

A smiling giant watched them above the treetops. Dante calculated that he was just over ten meters tall and suddenly knew what that meant.

—A... Zentradi?

—Run! —shouted Silvana suddenly raising the stick above her head with her right arm. —It's a PK!

—PK?

—A player who kills other players... You have to run, Dante! —she shouted, pushing him with his free hand.

—Run? —I'm not going to do that! What...?

—Do it! —shouted the young woman as an aura of magic enveloped her from head to toe. —Follow the stream until you leave the forest, then go to the pillar of blue light you will see in the distance; it is a guardian and when you are in its protection zone the PK will not be able to hurt you! I will try to stop it as much as I can!

Meanwhile the giant had raised a huge mace; a terrible object that looked more like a ship's mast than a weapon and landed a terrible blow to where the two young men were.

—Run! —Silvana shouted again as she moved the staff in the direction of the giant.

A dozen vines rose from the branches of the trees and entangled themselves like snakes in the enormous mace, stopping the powerful blow halfway.

The giant shouted a curse and with his free hand easily tore off all that plant matter that had completely covered his weapon.

Dante began to run in the direction of the stream without looking back. The noise of the fight made the treetops tremble and soon the clearing was hidden behind the thick trunks and vines.

The stream snaked among large trunks and rocks as the land descended and a gully began to open up towards the plain. The trees began to become more and more separated from each other as the forest shrank and the green grass became more and more abundant and tall.

When Dante left the forest the fight was no longer heard; only the sound of the wind and the birds reached his ears.

The first thing he saw in front of him was the plain covered with grass, and in the distance, perhaps a little more than a kilometer away, he saw a column of blue light rising towards the clear sky.

The guardian. Dante remembered the words of the cat girl and began to run in the direction of that beam of light.

Could her new friend face a giant like that? Dante had read very little about Calypso, just enough to know that in that game the different races that the Protoculture had created throughout its long history of galactic domination were used as characters. Humans, Zentradi, Voldorians, Zolas, Ragnarians, even the mysterious Protodevilns and their strange demonic appearance, all served to create a fantastic world where magic was mixed with the genetic crucible that the mysterious Protoculture had sown throughout the galaxy.

As Dante ran towards the saving light he turned his head towards the woods in the hope of seeing his friend running out of that death trap.

Something fell a few meters behind him and the explosion of earth made him fly off to the side.

—Ahh," he shouted rolling on the grass as dirt and debris fell around him.

When he stood up he saw that his life bar had been reduced almost to half and all because of some flying stones that had hit him. Silvana was right, he was too weak a character, anything could kill him out there.

The projectile had fallen nearby, a few more seconds and it would have been a direct hit. Dante walked to the crater and looked at what had almost crushed him.

—Silvana!

The young woman was half—buried between the earth and the shattered grass. She seemed unconscious and suddenly saw the bar of life above her head. Only a small red line flickered frantically next to her name as it grew smaller and smaller.

—Oh shit.

He bent down next to the cat girl and using both arms pushed away the debris that had fallen on her. At the moment of touching her a series of windows appeared with options. One of them was a context menu for healing, but to the young man's dismay all the options were turned off; Dante simply did not have the skills necessary to heal the young woman.

—Silvana resist. —said Dante not knowing what to do. —There must be something I can do.

A lighted window caught his attention. It said "STABILIZE".

He pressed the button and a percentage bar began to fill up, but he couldn't complete even ten percent when a red sign with the word "FAIL" crossed the screen completely indicating his failure.

—Shit... try again.

Dante repeated the actions over and over again, but the irritating sign always appeared every time the bar exceeded a third of the percentage to complete the action.

On the tenth attempt the bar finally filled up completely and the life indicator stopped blinking furiously. Now only a small line indicated the little life that remained in the young woman.

To her relief Silvana opened her eyes.

—Are you all right? —asked the young man holding the girl's head. —Can you walk? The Guardian is close, we have to...

The eyes of the girl opened wide and Dante saw the fear reflected in them when the shadow of the giant covered the sun that shone on the crater.

—Oh for the love of..." Dante began to say as he looked up.

The giant had squatted and looked at them from his height with a smile on his lips. Now that the trees did not hide the rest of his body, Dante could see that he was wearing a kind of armor of leather and furs, perhaps cast from the skin of some gigantic beast. The huge trunk he used as a weapon was firmly attached to his huge back.

—You would have let him die. —said the giant, spitting out the words. —Then at least I could be reborn in his Guild... now I think I will have fun with you both.

Dante clenched his teeth and depositing Silvana gently on the grass came out of the hole to face the terrible enemy.

This only caused the giant to burst out laughing. He immediately stood up and looked at the little human who was looking at him with a warlike gesture through the crushed grass.

—A Newbie Level One and a half—dead Druid... don't make me laugh. —he said, shaking his head.

Dante extended his hand and pointed at him. —You think you're so bad at sneaking up on people? —What kind of game do you think you're playing?

—One that we always win. —replied the giant with a sneer. —I've been following this Druid for several days now and I know she's coming to this forest to train on the sly, today I'm finally going to fulfill my mission to kill her.

—Your mission? —asked the confused young man.

—Stop talking, I'm bored. —said the huge warrior. —I'm not going to spend a normal attack on you; I'm going to spit on you from up here and that should be enough to kill you.

Dante saw how the giant made the gesture with his mouth to fulfill his threat but suddenly a roar made both of them cover their heads.

—What the hell? —shouted the giant.

A silvery glow passed between them and after a hurricane wind that almost made Dante fly away something landed right in front of the crater where Silvana had fallen.

Dante's eyes opened wide when he saw the newcomer.

—Is that... a VF—4? —he exclaimed, recognizing the unmistakable figure of the robot with the enormous shoulders from which two enormous energy cannons were sticking out.

The VF—4 stood up on its almost twelve meters high and silently watched the giant, who had taken out his huge mace while assuming a defensive position.

—Hey," he suddenly exclaimed, pointing at the robot with a nervous finger. —That's Metagaming! You can't be there!

To everyone's surprise, a female voice was heard coming from the robot's head.

—I'm on a mission representing NUNS as a Calypso Collaborator and Grantee. —she said coolly. —I have not come to intercede in the game in any way.

—You are interfering with my Kills. —shouted the giant emboldenedly as he pointed at Dante and the cat girl lying in the grass.

—Please consider writing a report to the administration if you think that is the case. —said the robot without moving an inch.

—I'll do it, bitch... you military people don't have any power here. Get the hell out of here!

The robot's head moved a little bit down and Dante knew that the monitoring cameras were focusing on him at that moment. —It will only be a moment, then he can continue with his game. —said the female voice coming from the robot.

The giant smiled and without warning lifted his foot so suddenly that Dante had no time to move away. The stomp was so strong that it crushed the young man and sank him into a crater even deeper than he had caused Silvana's fall.

The young woman screamed at the sight and tried to get up, but her strength failed.

—Then I'll make it quick. —shouted the giant. —I don't want to waste any more time with your shitty business, I have other things to do.

The robot looked at the crushed body of Dante at the bottom of the crater when the giant withdrew his foot and after a few seconds looked up towards the Zentradi. —I will ignore the insults, but I will consider that action as an attempt to hinder my task as a seer.

Without waiting for an answer, the robot turned on itself and launched a terrible flying kick towards the giant's head. The unfortunate man received the blow in the face and the power of the robot made him fly around like a spinning top a hundred meters in the direction of the forest.

The earth trembled with the terrible impact and the Zentradi's life bar was soon reduced to zero. Seconds later, a light enveloped the enormous body, indicating that the player had decided to be reborn in some temple and not just lie there waiting for someone to revive him. The body exploded in a rain of luminous pixels and suddenly it was no longer there.

Meanwhile the VF—4 had adopted the Gerwalk mode, after which the cockpit was opened and the pilot was able to descend from the aircraft with an almost feline movement.

Silvana had managed to get up a bit thanks to the regeneration of her race. The few life points she had recovered allowed her to sit on the ground while watching the mysterious pilot approach the crater where Dante's body was. Without saying a word she passed by and leaned over the hole.

—Hey... Are you going to stay down there all afternoon? —she asked, looking down.

To the cat girl's surprise, Dante's name appeared at the edge of the hole and seconds later his head did.

—Will you help me? —he asked, holding out his hand.

The pilot took the young man's hand and pulled him out in one go.

Silvana drowned out a scream of amazement. The life bar above Dante's head indicated only a single point of life, but his body showed no damage.

—How...? What...? —he began to say without believing what he saw.

Dante shook the earth from his clothes and walked to where his friend was. —Are you all right? —He asked, leaning over.

—I'm... fine... I think. —she answered, more confused than before. —How are you alive? That stomp should have killed a fully armed level twenty warrior...

—Alpha Corporation employees have immunity from death caused by non—consensual attacks by other players. —said the mysterious pilot as she removed her helmet.

Silvana's eyes were wide open when she heard that. —Are you... an employee of Alpha Corporation? —she asked turning to Dante.

But Dante had been speechless when he saw the pilot's face, who was watching him at the foot of the enormous robot.

—Who are you? —asked the young man, standing up.

The young woman with black hair and green eyes made a military salute while holding the helmet with the other hand. First Lieutenant Karina O'Higgins, a NUNS Officer Officer in Project Calypso of the 41st long—range emigration fleet. I'm here to escort you to the company offices.

The three of them stood silently, not knowing what else to say, as the wind blew the grass around them.