A new day home, a new chapter! Hope you like it! Let me know below! :D
Huge thanks to Dan my awesome PR! :D
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Zayvin sat on her bed in a local inn in a daze. The events of the day were replaying before her inner eye as she tried to process everything. Could she believe his words? And everything they implied? Was it possible that… they couldn’t log out? Cause the connection was gone? What happened to their bodies in reality then? Were they in a coma? What were the people around them doing? Worrying over them? And… Would they ever be able to go back?
Questions over questions were racing through her head. Doubt and fear replaced the confusion and uncertainty, then she went over to remember the facts. How the lord had treated everyone until now, how most the system functions were missing, how they hadn’t been disconnected yet, how no GM or other representative of Furan had appeared yet and lastly… how everything seemed different than when this was still a normal game.
Slowly and hesitatingly her mind came to accept the facts. She was scared, very scared, but she couldn’t proof it wrong. This game… somehow… had turned into their reality.
So the most important question right now was… if the system was indeed not working anymore… then that meant they were basically NPCs so… if they died…. What would happen?
She shivered uncontrollably, her arms hugging her knees as she curled up on the bed.
“I-I don’t want to die… I don’t… I dont want to die…”, without her noticing she had started saying her fear out loud, tears were gathering at the edge of her vision.
“-ster…”
‘Eh?’
“Master, is something wrong?”
Kra’s worried voice made her jump and she involuntarily snapped out of her daze.
”K-kra?”
“Master… you were transmitting a really intense fear just now… did something happen? Are you in danger?”
Tears were now flowing from her eyes and she pressed her hands against her mouth. What was she doing??
Her companions and everyone in this world faced that danger every day, yet here she was, bawling her eyes out when the world she loved became real.
“talk about contradictions”, she laughed, wiping away her tears.
“Yes, everything’s alright. And Kra… thank you!”
Zayvin smiled and then made up her determination. She had never treated this world lightly, nor had she really considered it a game. But she hadn’t consciously thought of it as real either, so being shocked was a natural thing after such a thing happened. However… she wouldn’t be weak like this and hide in her room because of that!
“Alright… Let’s start on the preparations then!”, she told herself
“Master? Are you sure everything is alright? You aren’t acting your self today…”
‘Aww, he’s still worrying about me… how cute.’, she thought to herself before answering seriously.
”Yes, Kra. Don’t worry about it. I’m fine. But I need to tell everyone something, can you guys talk?”
The last part she had transmitted to all her demons.
“Just a minute! Fighting…!”, the short reply came back from one of them.
“Yes.”, confirmed the other three.
So after a few minutes she explained her situation to them. She told them everything, the same way she had told the Lord and then told her about the conversation he had had with her. He had told her the exact location of the newly formed link, but made sure to caution her since they knew nothing about the link. There was also a possibility it didn’t lead to their own world, or that they couldn’t use it to get back. But it was the only clue she had to find Paris or get back. There was no doubt that this new link was somehow connected to everything.
Since the lord knew she would undoubtedly want to head out to investigate after hearing this he had asked her for a favour before she went. It was regarding the situation between devils and the other races. Seeing the trouble they were facing now and the death of the Cyclops she had decided it was time to once more aim for a peace treaty.
She was to guard the messenger he would send out in two days and lend him a hand in the name of all the ones from another world.
If she could recruit other players to the investigation in the process then that was even better. After all there were bound to be thousands of them in each capital they would visit on their mission for peace. All of them would want to search for a way to get back without doubt.
However… she wasn’t blind enough to notice that she wouldn’t be able to do that. Not alone that is. She herself knew best just how bad she was at talking to people and expressing her thoughts and opinions. That’s why… she would need Suitcase.
Even though he was only a beginner he was the only one she really talked to, so he was the best choice she had for now.
There was just one problem. He himself couldn’t survive under the sun yet, but her protection spell could be used on other people as well. There would be a time limit until she had to re-cast it, otherwise the sunrays would kill him within 45 minutes. But he wouldn’t have to leave her side during the trip… If he agreed to come along.
She was confident she could protect two people with the help of her demons.
”So I’m asking you, while knowing about me… and my situation… will you still follow me?”
After she ended her speech she decided to stay quiet and wait for their reaction. She braced herself, prepared for curses and accusations aimed at her. The silence that followed didn’t last for more than a minute, bit to her it felt like eternity as she waited for their reaction, ready to accept any reply they gave her.
”Master…”
“Master… of course we will follow you!”
“Eh…?”
“We don’t care if you are from another world. You were the one to summon us, to free us from the darkness and despair we were living in. Master, you were the only one to treat us kindly in thousands of years.”
“Yes, who cares that you aren’t from this world, lad. We’ll still follow you.”
“Kra… Don… “ Zayvin was touched.
”Yea, yea, how could we chicken out when its finally about to get fun?”
“Don’t you ever take anything seriously, woman? He means now that you really need us, how could we just abandon you!”
“Isa… Amy… Everyone… I’m so glad….*sob*”
She couldn’t go on anymore and started crying. They were so good to her. To someone who hadn’t truly lived in this world until today, someone who didn’t truly know their troubles and pains. They simply followed her because they liked her. She was truly blessed to have companions like that.
If others had seen her companions right now they would have truly been surprised. In this world all of them were considered symbols of fear and despair, yet here they were, all of them, a heartfelt smile on their faces, all glad they could be with her and worried about her.
The dragon Kra was curled up in a cave, giggling like a mother hen who was spoiling her chick. The Arachnid Don was the one who had been fighting earlier. He was now chewing on some meat of the foe he had slain, waving it around as he gesticulated while talking and grinning sheepishly as some blood dripped down his face.
As for Isa, she was a Valkyrie of Flame. She was burning some bones in anticipation for a fight. Lastly Amy was a water construct. Her body was surrounded by blades of never-melding ice that created a beautiful but deadly armour. She was half annoyed yet half smiling, crushing the bowl of ice she was just about to eat in her hands accidentally.
As she remembered her four comrades a smile crept onto her face.
‘Yes, I’m really lucky.’
”But Master, if we’re leaving soon when are you going to summon the others? We haven’t found many useful materials yet…”
“That… do you remember the system I talked about earlier?”, Zayvin said sadly, tears were coming back to her eyes “It has a storage function *sob* Earlier before I came here I stored the belt *sob* I made for their cores there… *sob* and now I can’t access it…”
Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
Cross residence in reality
Today the young lady would return home. It would only be a temporary stay but the maid was still excited to finally meet the last grandchild of the madam. She had already met her two grandsons, both of them extraordinary people in their own right, but she had only ever heard stories about the young miss from the other maids.
She had only been working at the mansion for a short while so it was no wonder she had yet to meet every person of the household.
Both of her brothers were very handsome and were excellent in a different way. The older one was currently attending Harvard university and in the process of becoming a doctor specializing in brain medicine. Thus he had very little time and always seemed very distant and cold regardless of whom he talked to.
The second brother was almost the polar opposite of his brother. He was charismatic and athletic. But instead of following his dream of becoming a professional soccer player he had decided to inherit his grandmother’s business and was currently studying management under her supervision.
Having such incredible brothers, she could only imagine what kind of person the young miss would be. The older maids had refused to share any details on the miss with her, so her curiosity was rising by the minute.
Just as she imagined the thousandth time how beautiful the girl must be, the doorbell rang.
‘She’s here!!’, she thought excitedly.
Their butler already headed towards the door to welcome the guest.
“Good day, miss. How may I help you?”, he addressed the one on the door. Apparently it wasn’t the young miss.
“Ah, I am Nurse Paris. I just came to escort Robin back for now. I have to get back to work again as soon as possible so I apologize for making this quick. Please thank Madame Cross again for agreeing to look over her here until we are over the worst. The patients just keep on coming and we are fighting to create even just one more space to treat everyone.”
Paris turned over and faced Robin beside her.
“Robin, don’t forget to come in for a check-up on Monday. We need to make sure your arm is healing properly, you hear? And if you notice anything weird in your condition at all, come back right away, okay?”
“Yes.”, a clear voice replied dutifully.
The young miss sounded really cute! The maid couldn’t wait to see her, but for the sake of her job she had to endure! Just a bit longer!
“Well then, I shall take over from here.”
“Yes.”
“Excuse me.”
The butler took Robin’s uninjured arm carefully and lead her inside.
“It is good to see you back after so long, young miss.”
‘Eh?’, had the girl been in the hospital for that long? The maid could only catch a glimpse of the girl as they went by towards the west wing where Robin’s room was. She was a frail looking girl with shoulder long black hair. She looked like she would break even if the wind was just a little strong. But from her angle she couldn’t really make out anything else.
Pouting silently, the curious maid swore she would see the miss properly today.
In Robin’s room
Robin sat down on her bed in silence as the butler left her to continue his usual duties and mechanically started undressing to change her clothes. Her grandmother would be expecting her to greet her at dinner today.
She sighed deeply. This was very complicated when you could only use one arm.
Her thoughts started to wander off, back to the day of the earthquake.
After the weird earthquake in NeoPangea the game had completely crashed, forcing everyone connected to the servers to log out. She had lost consciousness for some time after that and when she had regained it she had been back in her hospital bed with a broken arm.
A few hours later everything had started making sense after she found out there had been a large scale earthquake in reality that caused power outages all over the world. Buildings had collapsed everywhere, burying thousands of people under tons of debris. Cracks appeared on the surface of the earth, swallowing whole schools of children. It had caused millions of people to die.
Hearing that she couldn’t help but worry about Hikaru. After all he had also played the game at that time. Was he alright?
Afterwards hundreds of patients had swarmed into the hospital each day. So since her condition was stable for now she had agreed to stay back at her grandmother’s place until the situation had calmed down. On the condition she would come in for check-ups regularly. Her grandmother had agreed so here she was.
The servers of NPO would probably also stay offline for a few weeks. There would be extensive repairs and upgrades done, so once the world had recovered to a degree everything could go on. Until then she would have to wait in order to find out if her friend was doing well.
She had finished changer her clothes now. The maids had prepared her change of clothes already and left a basket for her to place her old clothes into. So she did. Afterwards she got up and headed towards where she knew the window was and opened them.
Just then there was a knock on the door.
“Miss, dinner has been prepared.”
“Please enter.”
The butler entered the room and bowed before her, even though he knew she couldn’t see it. Then he took her arm once more and led her to the dining room.
They entered the room and he led her to her place on the table. Before sitting down she bowed towards the right where she knew her grandmother was sitting and only took her place when she beckoned her to sit.
The butler had informed her that only her grandmother and her second brother would be present at dinner today.
They took their meal in silence. There was no conversation whatsoever until everyone had finished their last bite and the servants had cleared the table. Only their glasses remained now.
“You are back.”, with that simple statement her grandmother started the conversation. She could tell from her voice that she was frowning, probably unhappy with her appearance. Or the fact she was back at this house at all.
Not bothering with pleasanties her grandmother quickly said what she wanted.
“Make sure you stay out of the way. You are not to leave your room unless I call you or you leave. That’s all.”
Those words cut like knifes even though she was prepared for them. After all this was the treatment her grandmother had always given her ever since that incident. After all she was a useless and unneeded child unlike her brothers.
“Yes…”, she replied. Her grandmother did not want to hear anything else so she left right afterwards, leaving her and her brother alone in the dining hall.
“To think you’d still dare to come back here…”, he started, anger clearly showing in his voice as he banged his hands on the table. “If it had been me I would never welcome the killer of their son back in my house. Sadly, I don’t have a choice, but don’t think for a second I’ll accept you.”
Robin couldn’t stop herself from shaking. She had thought she had prepared herself for this but… you truly couldn’t fully prepare yourself. So she only faced him with a sad expression until he had stormed out of the room.
Then she slowly got up and pushed her chair back inside, waiting for the butler Severus to lead her back to her room.
This would be a long stay home.
While you wait... check for my writing progress as well as interesting bits about my world here
I've also added a few sketches of how i imagined my world and some characters
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