Aya pulled the Revista off her head in a fit of panic, rushed breathing escaped her nostrils as she fought to regain her calm.
"It was just a game, it was just a game," she muttered to herself nearly sobbing the words. She touched her neck where a cluster of miasma had wrapped around her neck choking the life out of her.
Aya didn't want to know what it would be like to die in the game. She placed the Revista down beside her and flopped back onto her bed with force. Resting a hand over her face, she hadn't realized how sweaty she had gotten under the headset.
"Oh my God, that was intense," she said still breathing hard. Aya sniffled, bringing up her phone to check the time and realizing she had forgotten to set the alarm.
2:39 AM
"Crap!" She sprung out of bed, quickly putting the gaming gear aside and turning out the lights. Aya flew back underneath the covers and tried willing herself to sleep.
"I'm going to fall asleep at work for this!" she whined, squeezing her eyes shut.
----------
All over the Moon Valley forums, chat rooms were lighting up.
New Forum Title:
[Dark Area On the Map Cleared]
Laruga: Guys! One of the locked Regions just cleared up.
Polly4n41: I just saw, it's close to that Bloom Haven area, no one even plays there so what gives?
Laruga: Someone's got to be playing there, who else could have killed that hidden boss?!
KillxKill: It has to be a fluke, those areas of the game literally have people remaking their accounts when they spawn there. What idiot would play in Bloom Haven?
Sleeze4eva: Agreed, maybe the devs are just doing something with that area finally.
New Forum Title:
[Bloom Haven Solo Player]
Runicsl4y: There's gotta be someone solo grinding in Bloom Haven, we all know that right?
Peanutcups: We can't rule it out but I always assumed Bloom Haven was just Dev's testing ground, that's why it couldn't be accessed.
Runicsl4y: Agreed, probably some spoiled brat or Beta tester who's never had any real challenge.
New Forum Title:
[Moon Valley's Urband Legend]
Vanderl00t: So we agree there's something to be said about the ghost players right?
Soph1ta: Does it really matter? This better not be one of your theories about getting that championship title again, the gods of Moon Valley are dead.
CakeKnight: That's the storyline, what if the Devs are trying to resurrect them?
Soph1ta: Then why kill 'em in the first place? So dumb! I'm logging out now. Night you idiots.
DarknessArises: Finally, can't stand her, so what are we thinking about this ghost player?
Vanderl00t: Could be a puppet of the devs?
CakeKnight: Has anyone tried data mining this thing yet?
The forums continued to light up with speculation about what could have happened to cause the dark zone to disappear. Elsewhere a certain group had similar ideas on progressing things in their favour.
----------
Aya woke up to the sound of her alarm clock blaring, At that instant she considered throwing it out the window but instead rose from her bed to get ready for the work day.
She won the battle against Viseli but at what cost? She hadn't logged back in to check her rewards and the work day would be a long one with her lack of sleep.
The sleepy girl rubbed her eyes and yawned over her breakfast of soggy cereal and off-brand orange juice.
Aya exited the apartment still yawning from how tired she was. On her way down the stairs, she met Mars staring at her phone with utmost focus. The girl's eyes were set in a firm glare, as she read whatever was on screen.
"Mars?"
"Did you do this?" Mars asked, holding her phone up to Aya's face the moment the girl was close enough to her. The Moon Valley forums were all over the screen of Mars' high-end smartphone.
Aya scanned through the webpage, her eyes widened at the sight of the topic discussion.
It was her.
It seemed a post discussing the sudden disappearance of the Miasma in Bloom Haven went viral all amongst the players, people who thought those areas were blocked off were now searching for her to tell them how she did it.
"Mars, what is this?" Aya asked, looking up at the taller girl.
"What do you mean? You're famous." Mars said shoving her phone back into her pocket. She leaned against the apartment wall with folded arms. To Aya her friend seemed deep in thought, possibly also wondering how she did it.
"How did you do it?" she asked. Aya launched into a rant about dark wolves and magical flowers but her explanation is stopped by the sound of the Seelim bus pulling up to the bus stop.
"I promise to explain in person when I get back." she said running off to catch the bus before it would leave her behind. Mars said nothing, watching as Aya ran off into the distance.
Something that could clear the dark spots would be very valuable at the auction house. Mars chewed her thumb once again falling deep into thought as Aya's petite silhouette disappeared from view.
"I might have to change course." Mars said, she stuffed both her hands in her pocket and entered the apartment building to play some more.
Maybe she would pay Bloom Haven a visit of her own.
----------
Aya arrived at Nue Corp just in time to have another stack of letters dumped on her hands.
"Geez haven't these guys ever heard of email!" she said.
Her boss smirked, lowering his glasses to shoot her a look.
"That's all confidential you know?"
"But what's so confidential it can't be sent through the net?" Aya asked loading up her cart, her boss gave a small laugh.
"There's still so much you don't know about this company," he said.
"I'm not paid enough to know, let me guess top floor?"
"The highest."
Aya sighed and loaded the cart into the elevator with some trouble. The old thing's rusty wheels were just about to give out, not that it mattered to those in charge.
She pushed the button that would take her straight to the President's level, eager at least, that seeing Atlas would be a possibility.
The only one there is Vivian, Aya deflated at the sight of the blonde woman just waiting to give her hell for her very existence.
Aya observed the silent fury upon the bespeckled woman's face and decided there and then that she wanted none of that.
Aya gathered the stack of urgent letters into a neat pile and rested them on the table with as much care as she could muster. She turned her back and made to leave, thankful the blonde woman hadn't said a word to her.
"You're not even that pretty." Vivian scoffed, Aya pretended not to hear her and jumped into the elevator with the rest of the urgent mail for all departments. What did it matter if she was pretty or not?
"I just want to go home already. Argh! Why do I have to work a 9-5 why can't I be like Mars?"
"Who's Mars?" Her boss asked, Aya's hands fell from her head with a start.
"Don't scare me like that! And Mars is none of your business!" Aya said to him, he watched her pull the cart out of the elevator with great exasperation all the while chuckling at her distress.
"Can't you at least help me out?"
"I don't really have to." the man said waving as she walked away to sit in his comfortable office chair.
"Ass!" Aya grunted, the stuck tire came free with a squeak, letting Aya know it was due for an oiling.
----------
"We need a new mail cart." Aya said.
"When have we ever been approved for funding?" her boss asked sarcastically.
"I'll go on strike." Aya deadpanned.
"Good, saves me the trouble of getting rid of you myself," he said flipping the television to another channel. The news came on and the business segment went on about the rapid growth of Lumos Inc.'s new game Moon Valley, her boss was about to change the channel when she stopped him.
"Wait," she said. the man stopped, raising an eyebrow at her demand but acquiesced to her request.
"So you're telling me that this company was able to triple its revenue just by having a player-focused game economy with barely any advertising?" the male anchor said.
"That's right, my daughter is a player too and I have to say Moon Valley is taking the world by storm." the female anchor opposite him said. the male anchor chuckled, facing the camera with a grin.
"You heard it here first folks, if you need to earn some quick cash, consider playing Moon Valley and finding yourself some rare items, that way you can sell to other players." The male anchor said with a pleasant smile, he arranged some more news reports on his desk as he continued, resting his laced hands on the table.
"But I warn you, the time taken to find said item will have you addicted to the game before you even know it."
"Speaking from experience Sam?" his Co-anchor joked, they shared a laugh before the woman continued.
"You can also join many of the player vs player tournaments popping up all over town lately though that's of course for the safe areas, we don't recommend going somewhere like Axen."
"No, No certainly not, in fact-" the business report ended with the anchors going on to report the crime and financial distress plaguing Axen City.
The two anchors laughed, Aya frowned, it was true but it wasn't a great feeling to have your city be a mockery.
"What do those Evangelis chumps know about Axen anyhow." Aya's boss said as if noticing her mood. "You play that game they were talking about? Moon something."
"Moon Valley, yeah."
"Is that why you always seem so occupied now?"
A flush of embarrassment grew on Aya's face. She sputtered, trying to come up with an explanation for her recent behavior that would justify it. Her boss only laughed.
"Just keep it up! I like this new you." he said. He picked up a newspaper, flipping through the morning pages to read some odd news around town.
Aya went to her usual seat to see what the forums said about Bloom Haven. They were still talking about her recent exploits in Bloom Haven.
"Hmm, I wonder if they'd freak out if they knew it was some girl working a dead-end job and not some pro player like they're starting to think it is," she said.
The broadcast was still on her mind, Aya considered herself pretty strong, and she wondered if she could use her character in a PvP match against someone and win some money, then she would really stand a chance of quitting this job.
"Even if I could just farm spell stones the probability of them dropping is still too low, I've killed hundreds of enemies and I've only gotten a handful of 'em." Aya whines, resting her back against the mail room wall.
"Maybe I should go Pro."