July 31, 2049

Five hours later, Azalea strode through the mass of players, the image of the boss still seared into her mind. The more she thought about it, the boss seemed even more deserving of the title ‘ruler of all seas’.

Night had fallen, leaving the plains shrouded in darkness. The surviving players had grouped together with any that they knew—if they had been sent here with anyone, that is. For the most part, she had stuck with Javier, but even he had eventually gone off to see if anyone he knew had been sent here too. The grass in the plains rose halfway up to her knees, tickling her feet as she continued, passing group after group. Her sandals squelched, still damp from the ocean water.

Hundreds of different banners flew in the plains, all with different emblems. Guilds had quickly taken to claiming territory and making camp while gathering as many of their members as they could. There was a banner to her left with the symbol of an eye surrounded by a sun, with only around twenty people gathered around a crackling fire. To her right, there was another with the symbol of a green gorilla with hundreds of members erecting a makeshift barricade out of wood and stone.

Which left Azalea with her current goal: to find her brother’s guild.

The Rising Flame was Iadral Online’s ninth most powerful guild, with thousands of active members. Her brother, Ayleon had founded it years ago and it had quickly sky-rocketed through the rankings. Being led by the son of one of the most famous players, it was bound to garner some attention, but it had surpassed all expectations. And it didn’t hurt that Ayleon had been the World Champion of Iadral Online just over a year ago.

Azalea had been walking for nearly an hour before she finally caught sight of The Rising Flame banner. It was identical to the ones hanging from the walls of Ictol, with the flaming silver sword pointed upward. Compared to many other guilds, it was a rather basic emblem, and yet, she thought it was perfect. Her plan had been to eventually join her brother’s guild after playing solo for a while. But obviously…that plan had been thrown out the door.

Upon first sight, there seemed to be at least a few hundred guild members present, which filled her with relief. Like many of the other guilds that had been lucky enough to have a decent number of players sent here, they had begun erecting a barricade around their large campsite, and guards had been posted at the lone entrance. It was filled with dozens of tents, and while she could smell the meat cooking in the air, she wasn’t sure that anyone would be able to find their appetite.

Two guards crossed their spears in front of her as she attempted to enter, both wearing light silver armor. It was like the armor the NPC guards had worn back in Ictol, but these player’s had bright orange lines decorating the ridges. Both had a chain around their neck, with the guild’s flaming sword hanging on the end, made of pure silver. Upon joining a guild, a player was automatically provided with a guild charm, which couldn’t be replicated or forged, so it served as definitive proof of your membership.

The female guard on the right spoke first, her voice light. “We don’t see any charm on you.”

Azalea folded her hands behind her back. “I—I know. I’ve just come to see if my brother was here.”

The other guard glanced at Azalea, squinting his eyes. After a few moments, he nudged the first guard, jabbing his thumb in her direction. Azalea shifted nervously.

“Are you her? Azalea?”

“Uhhh, yeah?”

“Leon did say to keep an eye out for her,” the female guard said. The pair removed their spears from in front of her and gestured for her to step past. “He did say that they looked similar…I just wasn’t expecting them to be this similar.”

“I know what you mean,” the other guard chimed in. “It’s kind of scary, actually.”

“Uhh…thanks?” Azalea said. The two guards looked at her like they just remembered she was there. “Do you know where I can find my brother?”

“He can show you the way.” The female guard said, making the other groan loudly. “If I left the post, then he’d just let every person in sight wander into camp.”

“That’s not true,” he grumbled, but started walking away from the entrance, nonetheless. “Man, she’s always berating me....”

They began their walk in silence, and Azalea preoccupied herself with looking around the camp. Groups of people were busy chatting between themselves as they ate or tried to discuss what was happening. A few were sleeping, although she didn’t know how they managed that. Even hours after being sent here, the thought of all those players being killed got her heart racing. If they couldn’t fight back against the eels, then she would never stand a chance, which made the thought of not being able to respawn even more terrifying.

“So…” she began, garnering the guard’s attention. A player stumbled drunkenly out of a large tent as they passed, throwing them a shaky wave, mug in hand. “How long have you been a part of the guild?”

The guard stared at her for a moment longer, before grunting and turning away. He didn’t pay her any attention after that, and with it, all her desire to start a conversation had faded. They eventually made it to a large tent with banners hanging by the front door. Even from here, Azalea could hear the voices shouting from inside, and her heart began to race at the thought of being able to see her brother again. She had first logged into the game without him, even though she had promised to wait. Hopefully, he wouldn’t hold that against her for too long, although she knew that he’d probably just be relieved to see her. Nerves bubbled in the pit of her stomach. She’d gladly take him being upset with her for a little while over being stuck here alone.

“He’s in there,” was all the guard said before he turned and walked away.

“Thanks…” she replied, although it went unheard.

The argument from within the tent only grew louder, and she hesitated as her hand gripped the loose flap. Steeling her resolve, Azalea brushed aside the flap of the tent and peaked in. The inside was basic, with only one large table in the middle covered in maps with a few candles shining bright from the center. There wasn’t even any type of flooring, with the grass nearly reaching the table top. A group of people surrounded the table, all adorned in an assortment of different equipment. Some wore full sets of armor, while others wore robes or thin leather padding. Each looked strong, yet none could compare to the figure at the head of the table.

Ayleon wore dark red plate armor, with his greatsword slung across his back, the ruby embedded in the hilt shining in the candlelight. He had tied back most of his long blond hair, although a few loose strands hung over his face. Even as the rest of the table argued around him, he remained stoic, the dark eyes that matched her own staring down at the table intensely. His helmet lay on the tablet to his side, with a single plume running from front to back.

One of the gathered members slammed their fist down on the tabletop. “The war hasn’t just magically vanished! Our enemies are still our enemies, just as they were yesterday.”

“Would you give it a rest?” another said exasperatedly. “None of us have any idea as to what’s going on. The last thing we need is to end up in battle with any number of guilds.”

“Enough!”

Ayleon’s voice rang throughout the tent, and Azalea winced from the intensity. The arguments immediately died down as all eyes fell upon him. Although, she couldn’t help but notice a group of three people whispering between themselves on one side. The one with red hair glanced in her direction, although she couldn’t tell if he noticed her. She shrunk back a little anyhow, unnerved by his stare.

“We’ve only just begun scouting the zone,” Ayleon began. “And we’ve already discovered numerous monsters much higher levelled than ourselves. With the players that died still not respawning, the last thing we need is players killing other players. We must work together.”

“I understand, Ayleon, but our point still stands,” the first speaker interceded. “The wars won’t just vanish. The Rising Flame’s history with the other guilds won’t vanish. The peace won’t last forever.”

Her brother shut his eyes, turning away to face the back of the tent. The other members around the table glanced between each other, remaining silent. Azalea was used to him acting so foolish all the time, cracking jokes, and making light of every situation. She had rarely ever seen him in such a serious mood. Then again, she only knew the Ayleon that lived outside of the game—the one person that had stuck by her after she had died.

“You’ve heard my order,” Ayleon eventually responded. “For the time being, we have no enemies. Everyone is trapped in this game together, and until we start figuring out how the game operates now, we won’t resort to fighting.”

The table broke out into more muttering until Ayleon dismissed them all with a wave of his hand. Azalea scrambled to move out of the path of the departing players, although none paid her much attention anyways, being much too invested in their conversations. There was only one person who watched her—the man with red hair and black robes—but he didn’t do anything besides glare at her before he disappeared behind another tent. She didn’t know what his problem was, but his lingering stare made her shiver. Perhaps he had seen her earlier?

When the last player finally stepped out of the tent, Azalea finally stepped through, the flap swinging back softly behind her. Ayleon was leaning against the table, eyes still closed as if he was deep in thought. From here she could see the weariness on his face, which was only emphasized by a slump in his shoulders. She stood there for a few moments, watching him in silence before she cleared her throat, making him jump.

“Who—” Ayleon froze once he turned towards her, eyes widening. Before she could say or do anything, he rushed up to her, gathering her tightly in his arms. She lost her footing as her head was pulled into his chestplate.

“Lea!” Ayleon shouted in relief. After a moment, he finally released her. “I can’t believe it! I wasn’t sure if you had been sent here too!”

“Yeah…” She pushed herself away from him, trying to remove the stars from her vision. “I’m stuck here with you, unfortunately.”

“You’re fortunate that the happiness I’m feeling is overpowering the offense I feel to that last statement.”

Azalea laughed, a true laugh that she hadn’t felt in a long time. She had hoped that playing the game once again would allow her to relax a bit more—to allow her to escape her reality—but that obviously hadn’t been the case. And yet, even in the darkest of moments, her brother could always bring a smile to her face.

She knocked on his chestplate. The metal was warm on her fingers as a bright golden glow appeared where she had hit, undoubtedly an enchantment he had added to his armor. “It’s cool to finally see your armor in person. It’s so different from seeing it through the television.”

Ayleon hummed in agreement, looking over himself. “I always thought so too. Watching through a screen in the real world never did the game justice.”

“Sorry for logging in without you,” Azalea admitted suddenly. “I know you were wanting to play through the beginning with me, but I just couldn’t wait.”

“Forget it, it’s fine. I know how hard it's been for you to wait so long to log-in again. We’re both here now, which is all that matters.”

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They fell into a comfortable silence. While she may have watched the game for years, Azalea was still completely new to the world, and with the only person she trusted from the real world here, things began to look a bit brighter.

“So,” Azalea began. “I’m guessing that was a meeting to discuss everything that is going on.”

Ayleon groaned, burying his face in his hands. “Don’t remind me. None of my commanders were sent here with us, so I’m left with guild members that I’ve never even met before. I try to keep track of all my guild members, but after hitting five thousand, it just got harder and harder…”

“And my guess is that they didn’t appreciate that?”

“...Let’s just call it a difference of opinion,” Ayleon finished.

“What do they think? About all this?”

“As far as I can tell, there are no real thoughts on it yet outside of speculation. Right now, every guild is busy doing something different. Some are exploring the zone, some are trying to contact others, while some have even just become content to wait out the storm and just relax until everything is fixed.”

“Fixed?” Azalea said. “Do they really think that everything will just magically get fixed?”

Ayleon shrugged. “I don’t know. I think many of them are still in shock. Half of the people here were so busy partying when this all happened, I’m not even sure they realize just how serious this is yet. Hell, I’m surprised we’ve managed to regroup this fast, especially after what happened on the beach.”

The HARROWING EELS were unlike anything she had ever seen before. Even though she knew that this was a videogame, the creatures had looked like they had been pulled right from the real world. Azalea thought that she had been frightened when fighting the monkey monsters outside of Ictol with Javier, but after seeing the eels, she knew what true terror felt like. Azalea thought back to the archer she had seen last, firing the arrows desperately at the creature’s scales, to no avail.

“What were those creatures?” she asked. “Have you ever seen anything like them before?”

“Never,” Ayleon responded. “You know how strong I am, and even I was barely doing any damage. If we hadn’t run, no one would have stood a chance…”

Azalea was silent for a moment, before asking, “What do you think about the lack of respawning?”

“I spent a while discussing it with my other guild members. We aren’t positive on anything just yet, but we have our theories,” Ayleon responded. “And so far, everyone’s reluctant to experiment, for good reason.”

“Experiment?” Azalea remembered the beams of light ascending into the sky as the players had been killed by the eels. Even now, the gear that they had dropped upon dying still remained on the beach or floating in the ocean, untouched.

“It doesn’t matter.” Ayleon continued, walking over to the table with the maps, placing his hands on the edge. “For now, we need to continue mapping out the zone, and start preparing our next course.”

Ayleon turned to her then, shaking his head before his lips curved upwards into a light smile. “Ah, I’m rambling again…Sorry about that, it’s just that my place as Guild Master has never been tested in such a manner before. Everyone’s looking for answers, and I can’t blame them.”

She would never admit it to him, but in these past few moments, Azalea had never seen him look so much like their mother before. Their mother had always been calm and collected, and Azalea didn’t think that she could think of a time where her mom had been otherwise. Some would say that she was cold—Azalea even thought that herself most of the time—but none could deny how good she was at the game. And many players preferred to be on the winning side, even if their leader was a bit disliked at times. And here Ayleon was, able to stay calm and lead all these people when many of them were on the verge of full-blown panic. It was something that she could never imagine herself doing…and it just made her admire her brother even more.

“It’s fine,” she muttered. “Any word on mom?”

Ayleon shook his head. “Nothing. I know that she was logged in when this happened, but as far as I know, she wasn’t sent here with us.”

He flipped his wrist, summoning his menu. After waving her over, she watched as he clicked on the FRIENDS tab and pointed to the many names that were lit up. She didn’t recognize any, but there were quite a few.

“If the name is lit up, then they are logged in,” he explained. Ayleon began to scroll through the list, and Azalea noticed that most of the names were darkened. Eventually, he came to a stop at a player named Ptolemueu and tapped the name. “Except, that I know for a fact that he was logged in at the time. A few of us were in the midst of discussing the war when he suddenly disappeared, and I was taken away. My best guess is that everyone was sent to a different zone, and communication between zones has been disabled, so it’s showing him offline.”

“I see.” Azalea peaked at the menu again as he kept scrolling through, tapping on a few different names here and there. He had just tapped on one that had been lit up when she remembered part of what he had just explained. “Wait…you were taken away?”

“Well, that’s what I’m guessing.” He rapped his knuckles on the table a few times. “Something weird happened to me, but I don’t know why. My party said that I was the one to disappear, but I don’t remember that.”

“Were you sent to the white void?”

“The white—” Ayleon faced her, eyes wide. He placed his hands on her shoulders, looking suddenly serious. “You were sent there too?!”

“Well…yeah,” she replied, trailing off. Part of her was relieved that she hadn’t been the only one to experience being in that strange place, but the fact that Ayleon had been sent there too made her suspicions rise even more. “When you were there, did someone talk to you?”

Ayleon pulled his hands back and leaned back against the table, not responding. He stared at her for a few moments before closing his eyes with a sigh. For the outgoing person that he was, Ayleon had never been great at hiding his thoughts or emotions from those around him, but even so, it was rather obvious that he knew something.

“What was that place?” Azalea eventually continued when he didn’t respond.

“It’s nothing,” he replied. “Just that it has something to do with…you know…”

“When I died?”

Ayleon groaned, rubbing his cheek. “You don’t need to say it so nonchalantly.”

“I don’t remember any of it,” she said, shrugging her shoulders. “So, it’s never bothered me much.”

“I remember it.”

“I know,” Azalea said sharply, more so than she intended. Her cheeks grew warm. “Sorry.”

Ayleon shook his head. “I know how it’s been between you and mom.” He nudged her lightly. “Although I’ve been pretty sweet, haven’t I?”

She shoved him back, although she could stop the smile from tugging on her lips. “Yeah, yeah…”

“I was in the white void, as you put it, but I’m not sure about anything just yet. Someone did talk to me, but it was nothing more than just vague messages.”

“Like what?” she inquired.

“I don’t know, something about finding some item…” His face fell as he trailed off, suddenly somber. “I would ask that you share everything that you experienced while there, but honestly, I’m dead-tired and from the looks of it, we’re going to have plenty of time to discuss it.”

Azalea nodded, partly in relief. While she wanted to share everything with her brother, and also hear about his own experiences there, she had barely had any time thus far to even consider them herself. And since it seemingly had to do with her own memories anyway, she wasn’t exactly sure if her brother would be able to help to begin with.

Her eyes widened as she suddenly remembered something. Azalea flipped open her menu, tapping on the ITEMS menu and withdrew the cheesecake that had been given to her while she was there. It was rather plain looking, with a dab of whipped cream on top. Her stomach began to churn as she dropped it on the table.

“Uhhh, you’re looking a little green…” Ayleon began, staring at the dessert. “Is that a cheesecake?”

“The person gave it to me when I was in the void,” she explained, shooting the delicacy a distasteful look. “They couldn’t have picked a worse gift. I hate cheesecake!”

“I know,” Ayleon said. Azalea waited for him to continue, but he never did. Instead, when she turned back to him, she found him staring at the cheesecake emotionlessly.

“You okay?”

Her question knocked him from his thoughts. “Y—Yeah. I just think you should hang on to that for the time being. You know in case it proves to be important later.”

She shot him a disbelieving look before sighing and tucking away the cheesecake back in her inventory. There was something he was thinking about, but if he didn’t want to share it right away, then she wouldn’t push him. Like he said, they’d have plenty of time to discuss things, and there were plenty of other worries on their minds for the time being.

Ayleon suddenly snapped his fingers, eyes widening in realization. “I can’t believe I forgot to ask!” he exclaimed, seemingly back to his normal self. “So, what class did you choose?”

Azalea winced, the robes around her suddenly feeling much heavier. Her brother was the one of the strongest players in the game, and with the Swordbreaker primary class, he stood leagues above so many other players. In comparison, she’d be lucky to even survive out in the wild for more than ten minutes on her own once she reached max level. If she ever got there, she realized, which wasn’t even a guarantee since she’d have to rely on the aid of others to level up. At least in the beginning.

“From the lack of an answer, I’m going to assume that you don’t like your primary class.” Ayleon said. “Don’t be shy, as your older brother, it is my duty to guide you through all the aspects of the game, including the management of your class. I mean, it can’t be that bad—”

“Heartmender.”

Ayleon fell silent, staring at her with a blank expression on his face. From outside the tent, she could hear some of the other Rising Flame members laughing and chatting between themselves. It was a pleasant thing to hear, especially since she wanted nothing more than to curl up into a ball and cry at the thought of how useless she was.

“Please, spare me the sympathy,” Azalea eventually muttered. “I wasn’t too happy when I figured it out for myself either.”

“You’ve got to be joking, right?”

“I wish.” Azalea slumped down further. “Turns out my past self wasn’t all that bright.”

Ayleon sighed. “Alright, alright. So, it isn’t the greatest primary class, but you can always look forward to unlocking your other classes. We shall work out the best combination so that you will be able to keep up with the other top players.”

“Do you really believe that?” Azalea shot him a deadpanned look, only to receive an unconvincing smile from him. “I’ve watched the game for the past six years, and you know just as well as I that the Heartmender is useless, even if I choose the best possible secondary classes. I’ll never be able to reach the top-tiers in either of them, meaning I’ll always be behind.”

“We’ll work it out. Just try to look on the bright side.”

“There is no bright side of being a Heartmender.”

“If there’s anything I’ve learned from all my years of playing Iadral Online, it’s that there is always a bright side! Even if you’re stuck with the worst class in the game. I’m sure that there’s something we could find for you to do! Heartmenders do make great healers, I suppose.”

Azalea shot him a deadpan look. “You suppose?”

“Well,” Ayleon said. “I can only suppose because there’s only been a couple hundred players to actually choose the Heartmender as their primary, so I don’t have any idea as to what any of the Heartmender skills may be. As you know, it’s near impossible for a Heartmender to get to max level alone, and it’s still difficult to do with others, so the players that picked the class eventually just gave up.”

“Thanks.”

“Not that you’ll be the same, of course!” He threw his arm around her shoulders, pulling her in close. “It’s like I said. With my expertise and knowledge, we shall turn you into the greatest Heartmender the game has ever seen, and I promise that you’ll be just as powerful as any other top-tier player out there!”

“Uh-huh,” Azalea responded, unconvinced. While she was still disappointed with being a Heartmender, she couldn’t deny that her brother’s enthusiasm was beginning to rub off on her. Perhaps—just perhaps—being a Heartmender wouldn’t be so bad after all. “So, what’s the first step in that plan?”

Ayleon’s smile grew even wider. He stepped away, reaching his hand over his back to draw his greatsword. The dark blade was shining, perfectly polished, making the red ruby at the end seem even brighter.

“Well, the same step as in every MMO, of course!” Ayleon exclaimed, slamming his sword into the dirt by his feet. “It’s time to grind!”