It was around 6 o’clock in the evening. Light from the setting blue star-Rakara- washed the beautiful plants in a reddish hue. The hospital suite teemed with rays originating from the horizon. Some reflected through the city’s skyscrapers. Others barged in directly.

The star set painted the city into a scenic view and the suite serene, with a plain red hue. If not for the topic of discussion in the room, the setting would’ve been abjectly romantic.

Suzane and Nataly sat opposite the doctor on the couch by the window. Gloom replaced the earlier enthusiasm they came to see Phill with after they heard Obrivil’s report.

“He is perfectly stable, and there is no need to worry.” He consoled them after briefing them about Phill’s seizure.

“It’s a common thing to have such seizures in the 8th stage of Glumotoma.” Dr. Obrivil continued, finally letting them be at ease. In return, Nataly breathed a visible sigh of relief.

“The cause of the seizure was not physical but some in-game event as shown by the console. Terrina, collectively with the console’s spectacular next-gen NSS (Nervous System Stabilization) technology, braced the impact perfectly,” The doctor put his tab down on the coffee table and marveled at the console.

“Dr Obrivil,” Suzane gulped slowly before asking, “Did that seizure have any impact on Phill’s remaining time?”

“Rest assured, there isn't an hour of difference. I am sure if we had to stabilize Phill with Terrina’s assistance alone, it may have had an impact on his life expectancy for certain,” Dr. Obrivil stood up and put on his coat, which was resting on the armrest of the couch.

“It’s his time to log-out. I don’t intend to take your precious time with him. Regardless, try and find out about what in-game experience caused that seizure in the first place. Please inform me as soon as possible if it is anything severe.”

Both Suzane and Nataly gave a slight nod, and Obrivil continued, “If required, we can set up a therapy session with Dr. Nortaill. I shall take my leave now.” With that said Dr. Obrivil walked out of the suit.

Getting afflicted by psychological traumas wasn’t a rare thing while in fully immersive games. It had become a common occurrence centuries ago when the virtual realities’ mechanics resembled the real world, especially since the games attuned themselves to violent flavors.

Despite having a short recovery time of a week for in-game traumas, both the girls wished Phill’s last session experience would not solicit a psychologist’s assistance.

“He will be alright.” Natally patted Suzane’s shoulder. Within moments, the console’s lid released pressure valves and slid open.

Phill woke up like an undead, with no expression of any kind on his face, no twitches, no muscle movements, and with a 90-degree posture with his spine to his hamstrings. Then, his consciousness found itself in its native home. He finally yawned while stretching one hand behind his ear and the other to the ceiling.

Broken, but cute! Natally inwardly let out, too afraid of Suzane to let those words out aloud.

“Rise and shine beautiful,” The cheerful teased while the solemn put a brave face as if their conversation with the doctor didn’t happen.

“Good evening Nataly, Missed you Su,” Phill said with a smile. It had been two days in-game since he met Xahi. In their journey through the Alka plains, they didn’t have any more face-offs with monsters.

“I missed you too Philly. In fact, you even gave us a scare,” Suzane said with a bittersweet smile.

“What happened?” Phil asked, an imaginary question mark floated above his head.

“Go freshen up first. We don’t have much time, right?” Suzane muttered with an obviously fake berating tone.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

“Okay…” He then jumped out of his cabin and went to the washroom.

When he came back after a few minutes, his hair was in proper order. With his awfully comfortable hospital gown’s sleeves folded till his elbow, he walked briskly, garnering glares from both the girls.

“Easy there!” Nataly was the one to point out.

The cheerful girl had donned a white one-piece which extended to her knee length. It sported thin straps of mellow yellow, floating from her shoulder to her hips in a cross. The design gave the suite a unique aesthetic. Her hairdo was a high ponytail dyed to match her attire: silvery-gray with streaks of mellow yellow. Suzane, on the other hand, was wearing her usual attire of a white shirt and black skirt.

They had switched positions away from the couch at Phill’s convenience. The appearance conscious was sitting on the couch near the bed. While Suzane sat on a chair placed close to the reclined bed, which Phill usually used to rest.

Once Phill was in his place, Suzane started in a superficial scolding tone, “Your last adventure, what was it about?”

He picked up the apple slices that Suzane had peeled when he was in the Washroom and asked, “What happened?” again.

“I am just worried, as it happened, your recent in-game experience has affected your body, triggering a seizure,” Suzane said without sugarcoating.

With her words, Phill recollected the events of that never-to-be-remembered night. It was all fuzzy, like a memory of the distant past. A dream that he couldn’t tell whether he saw last night or years ago. Despite the dilution of in-game memories to maintain its mystical charm and one of the obvious side effects of time dilation, Ulteria never messed with the chronological order of things.

Phill was still awfully aware of what had happened in sequence, but his intense emotions and clarity for those events lies within the game and game only. It won’t come back to him unless he logs back in.

He scratched his cheek comically. Though not as intense, the sad feelings attached to that night still colored his mood gray. He recollected the events for Suzane and Natally, “Do you remember the S-level quest, which gave me lots of intelligence stats and turned me into a mage?”

Both Nataly and Suzane nodded.

“I don’t know how to put it. But the rewards I got seemed too good to be true. It was exponentially better than my efforts. And as if all reality has this awful rule that everything has an equivalent price. I had to pay for it.”

Once again, Nataly’s ears perked up in anticipation of a great story, while Suzane hoped it shouldn’t be too gory or violent.

“I failed the S class quest, actually. Hugo was a powerful beastmaster who commissioned me to obtain a fruit. But I ended up eating it due to some special circumstances, gaining those magical powers I talked about earlier.”

“The dynamics never stop to amaze me,” Nataly remarked, “What happened next?”

“I thought of ditching the beastmaster, as I knew he would be boiling with anger. But again, he caught me ….”

…

..

.

“In essence, you are now escorting those two chronos to the Kingdom after saving them from the proprietor ?” Suzane concluded, and Phill nodded.

“This Xahi girl, is she as cute as your expression told us when you were talking about her?” Nataly asked, a bit annoyed.

Without thinking much and on the name of Xahi, Phill nodded vigorously.

“What the hell?” Nataly blurted and looked at Suzane, who was similarly looking towards her with the same possessive concern about his brother.

“What’s your plan next?” Nataly asked.

Maybe it was because of Nataly, who had asked the question, that Phill replied with a strategic answer, “I will try to avoid monsters, in the meantime, trying to learn more about how I can exploit my newfound powers with experimentation. Learning actual spells can’t be done, or so I know as per Isha’s experience.”

Not all is lost, Nataly felt happy that Phill wasn’t completely smitten with an NPC. But failed to take in the mitigation of Ulteria. She then commented, “I second that, learning spells is hard. But for that, you will have to find someone who is willing to impart spells upon you. And the other methods are not so reliable given their circumstantial ways of working.”

“I will try my best, anyways.” Phill pondered for a bit but then shook his head to put that on the back burner.

“Well then, it’s time. We also have to leave for an important meeting.” Suzane said and stood up, “I will log into the game soon. I have made up my mind. Don’t lag behind. I would need your assistance.”

Phill went back to the game. As for the girls, both paid a visit to Dr Obrivil. The doctor suggested it wouldn’t be necessary, as Phill’s normal communication and other social interactions hadn’t been affected.