Kol sat separate from his peers, away from the commotion. 

It was a busy time in the gleaming white halls of the building with people of all ages and backgrounds buzzing about, waiting for their names to be called for the opportunity of a lifetime, a chance to work for DRE. 

It was a big deal indeed.

Nearly one and a half years ago, a newly founded company called Dauntless Realms Entertainments announced their first game; The Gateway.    

A virtual, hyper-realistic MMORPG that would revolutionize the world of gaming and technology itself. They promised hundreds of unique servers and absolute freedom for their players to explore and make a name for themselves.   

An ambitious claim. The public took it as a joke, unfounded bravado coming from people who had no background in game development wanting to garner attention.   

Five months after the initial announcement, the game entered its alpha state, and people got to test it out and witness the game’s flow. Turns out everything they promised was selling the game short. It was a wide success.   

It was so successful in fact that Dauntless Realms Entertainment was in a sudden need of staff within the game, so they started scouting people for internships. 

Kol was one such individual. 

Though some had already finished their interviews and stayed to make their commitment to get this job clear to others, he didn’t stay for such pretensions. He was waiting for someone.   

People kept their distance from Kol, not that he cared for that matter. He was just staring in front of himself, off in his own world. That was his preferred way. He minded his own business and kept to his own, and others did the same.   

Not at this moment, though.   

The feeling of being watched brought Kol back down to earth. He looked around to confirm his suspicion. His eyes locked onto a guy leaning against a pillar at the end of the hallway. His light brunette hair and emerald eyes, as well as the unusually informal shirt and bright blue jeans he wore made him stand out from the crown. 

Standing beside him was another guy, far more fit than the other, who wore significantly more extravagant clothes than him.   

Together they gave off the vibe of a playboy and gym jock who’ve been buddies for a long time. People kept their distance from them too, though for different reasons. Perhaps they were famous, or perhaps people were intimidated by them. Perhaps both.   

Kol cared little for any of that, though. The only thing he was concerned with now was the unwanted attention he was getting and the feeling that he knew the playboy from somewhere. 

Sensing Kol’s growing suspicions, the playboy averted his gaze from him and whispered something to his friend. The jock then turned his head towards Kol, frowned, and started to make his way to him. However, the playboy immediately stopped him by whispering something to him again, causing the jock to frown even harder, then smile. 

They left a minute later, and just as they did, Kol finally remembered. 

At that moment, a girl came out from one of the conference rooms and skipped her way to Kol, her chocolate brown hair buns bouncing with each hop. “Hey, I’m done!” she said with a cheery voice.   

“Let’s go, Annie.” Kol said, his voice wary. “I need a smoke.”   

“Oh. ‘kay.” 

*** 

Kol and Annie navigated their way through the busy building and stepped outside to a parking lot to find a designated smoking spot. It was a windy that day with only a little sunlight slipping through the stream of clouds.   

Kol reached for his pocket, and pulled out a fag and lit it. They kept silent or the most part and didn’t cause any disturbance, yet people walking around them kept scowling at Kol.   

Who could blame them, though? 

At first glance, Annie was easily mistaken for a twelve-year-old due to her size and appearance, and sometimes her antics. There were multiple instances of people confronting Kol about it, only to get viciously chewed out by Annie instead.   

“Smoking wasn’t the reason you brought me out here, was it?” Annie asked. 

Kol shrugged. “What makes you say that?” He asked back.   

“I’ve known you for a long time now, and something’s definitely up when you’re making that face.” Annie countered. “So, what’s up?”   

Kol took a deep breath before answering. “I think I just saw the creep you were talking about,” he replied as he blew the smoke.  

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

“Oh, that guy...?” Annie fell silent for a moment as she recalled her last encounter with the guy. She had met him during an expo she attended about The Gateway. ‘Met’ was not the right word for it, rather ‘noticed him creeping around her’.   

“I just thought you wouldn’t want to be near him.”   

“Well, thank you for thinking about me,” Annie said in a cheery voice, returning to her usual persona. “Let’s not talk about him anymore, though. How was your interview?”   

Kol sighed, preparing to say something, but before he could, a car pulled to a nearby parking spot and began honking softly. “I’ll tell you about it on the ride home,” he replied as he took a long drag, ending his smoke prematurely. 

*** 

The two got into the back of the car, Annie taking the right side and Kol the other. 

Inside the car sat a woman in the driver’s seat and a man next to her with a laptop on his lap, Dia and Ben. More famously know as Mum and Dad. 

“Hi sweethearts!” Dia greeted them. 

“Hi kiddos,” Ben followed up. “Strap in!”   

“Hi Mum! Hi Dad!” Annie replied.   

After a few minutes of Dad typing on his laptop, he spoke up. “Let’s cut to the chase,” he said with an enthusiastic voice, shutting down the lid of his laptop.  “Tell us all about the interview!” 

“Did you act proper lady-like?” Mum asked in a mushy voice. 

Annie groaned. “I think I nailed it. Definitely overstressed the whole think though.” Annie admitted and sighed. “And yes, I behaved. To the best of my abilities, anyways.” 

“Then all is right in the world. Making a good first ipression is a very important part of an interview! What about you sweety,” Mum then asked Kol.” How was yours? Fancy seeing you so well put together!” She chuckled. 

“Don’t get me started,” Annie cut in. “Do you know how hard it was to get him to at least shave? If only you cared as much about your appearance as your accessories."

Kol smirked slightly. “Well, it was unusual, to say the least.” 

“What do you mean?” 

“The questions they asked made it feel more like an audition to get into a D&D party rather than to a dedicated company.” 

Annie giggled. “Really? Because mine was exactly like a standard interview about me, some of my history, y’know, the usual stuff. You sure you didn’t accidentally apply to something else?” 

“Well, I can see questions like that being asked by them, considering the job they’re hiring for.” Mum chimed in. “What about the results?” 

“We don’t know yet,” Annie answered. “They just said they’d mail us the results soon.” 

“Mail?” Ben asked. “As in e-mail?” 

“They just said mail, so I don’t think it will come through the internet.” 

“Huh, kind of old-fashioned for a company so modern,” Ben said, then tilted his head. “I thought they would just use a fancy drone or something just to show off like they always do.” 

DRE was notorious for defying the “norm” society created for itself. They handled everything differently, their marketing and recruitment being the prime examples. 

“How are you working for them and don’t know basic stuff like that??” Diana asked.   

“Hey, that department is a completely distinct branch in the company! Why would I, a marketing agent, know how the gaming department likes to handle things?” 

“Maybe because you are specifically marketing their products??” Diana proclaimed in bewilderment.   

“I—” Ben sighed. “—Okay, you got me there. If I’ve had to guess, they probably want to capture that old school excitement of getting admitted to an event.”   

Diana rolled her eyes, not satisfied with the answer. “Might be so.”   

“On a different note,” Annie interjected. “I still can’t believe you’re not freaking out about it. Thought you would try to stop us with everything you got.”   

“Oh, I still am very much against it, and no, not because of some crackpot theory.” Diana said as they neared their house and pulled into the driveway. “I will trust your judgement when it comes to stuff like that. You are both adults now, after all.”   

*** 

“Okay kids,” Ben said as he got out of the car. “You can go ahead and do whatever for the rest of the day. No chores, no restrictions. You earned it.”   

“Thanks, Dad!”   

As they got out of the car, Kol stayed inside. “Kol? We’re home.” Diana called out, but received no answer from him. “Sweety, are you okay?” She asked worryingly.   

Kol was staring blackly staring in the distance with his usual stoic expression, oblivious to the fact that they’d arrived home and not answering.   

“He’s been like that all day, dunno why... Best to just snap him out of it.” Annie replied as she smacked Kol on the head, which finally got him to snap out of his trance.   

“… Sorry.” Kol replied. “I just need rest,” he said, holding his forehead as he made his way into the house.   

“Rest? It’s still only 5 in the afternoon though...” Ben said, now equally as concerned as Diana. “Are you feeling all right?”   

“I just feel tired.” Kol snapped at him with a sharp tone that sent a chill down everyone’s spine. 

“O-okay bud, if you say so...”   

Before reaching the door, Kol stopped for a moment, then looked back and muttered “I’m sorry.” and with that, disappeared into his room. 

What he did not tell his parents is that his head had been hurting for a while. It started off as a slightly discomforting feeling before the interview and only worsened after growing into a migraine on the car ride home. There wasn’t anything he could do about it now, though, only hoping that resting would help.   

“You good?” Annie knocked on the door and slipped into the room quietly.   

Kol sighed. “Just a headache...” 

Annie narrowed her eyes and pulled her mouth. “Remember what I just told you?” she asked. “I can read you like a book.”   

Kol stayed silent for a while, contemplating. “... I just got a blast from the past during the interview. Don’t worry about it.” 

“You su—”   

“Annie, just...—not now, please...”   

“... Okay.” Annie backed down and headed out the door. “Just know you can talk to us,” she said with a smile, and she closed the door, leaving Kol alone.   

As Kol slipped deep into sleep, his mind eased up. Suddenly he recalled a fragment of memory, a woman’s voice from before the interview. She exuded a gentle sensation. Distant, yet dearly familiar.   

But like before, Kol would forget by the time he woke up. 

*** 

“Kol, hey, Kol, wake up!” Slowly but surely, the high pitch voice of Annie’s screaming woke Kol up. “The admission letters, they’ve arrived! —” she squealed. “—We’re in!”