“Are you alright?” Kayla asked, kneeling in front of a boy that sat all alone in the space station. They had arrived on the moon, and now stood in the space station’s main hall. Anton let out a sigh as he waited for the two. He had a feeling that these kinds of encounters would only come more often. As he waited, he took a look at his surroundings. The station’s main hall consisted of a large room, with the height equivalent of a three-story building. A miniature starship, around a fifth of the real one, hung on the roof. Polished titanium formed the entire area, with the exception of some large windows near the ground that showed the city standing beyond the station. Orange lines ran all the way from the ground to the roof, marking sections to the hall while ceramic tiling colored in orange formed the floor.

Each section of the station had its own color. The docking area, where ships come and go, had green colors, while the toilets had a light blue color. It was fairly crowded as well. Not as much as Anton had initially expected, but still quite a crowd. He wanted to return after a quick look around the space city, but seeing Kayla approaching him while holding the boy’s hand, he knew that wouldn’t be the case.

He noticed that the boy had a yellow armband represented by a yellow ring on his T-shirt placed above the boy’s green sleeves.

“Quest NPC?” Anton asked.

“You shouldn’t say that,” Kayla reprimanded him. Normal NPCs were programmed to not be self-aware, thus the word NPC and AI shouldn’t mean anything to them.

Anton decided against arguing, however.

“Fine, what should we do, then?” he asked. The NPC looked up at him, tears in his eyes.

“Brother. I got separated from my brother…,” the boy said, holding back his tears.

“Got it, all we need to do is find him, right?”

“Anton.”

“Fine, fine, let’s go,” Anton turned around and headed for the exit.

"My name's Kayla and he's Anton."

"Umm, I'm Rito."

“Nice to meet you, Rito. Can you give us any info about your brother?” Kayla asked while holding Rito's hand. He looked to be an elementary schooler, his true age unclear to Anton. Anton had no plans on asking about it, either.

The boy wore a mostly white T-shirt with green sleeves and blue shorts. He had black eyes and short red hair with an elegant black watch on his right hand.

Anton made his way across the station while looking around. Beyond the space station was the highway leading into the city. A large bubble made out of clear windows covered the area beyond the highway, creating a controlled environment kind of setting. Outside those glasses, right of the space station, they could see P4ngea and the countless stars that surrounded it. The game’s sun shone on the left side. It didn't shine as bright as he expected, thanks to the glass bubble that covered the city.

Cars come to and from the station. For those who didn’t drive, the moon offered the subway as transport. As they stood in the lobby, Rito started talking about his brother.

“He’s about as tall as Mister Anton, with black hair and black eyes. He has lightly tanned skin, and is wearing a brown shirt,” Rito started explaining.

“Couldn’t you contact him?” Anton asked, his eyes on the train schedule.

“I lost my phone.”

“I see.”

Most NPCs didn't have access to virtual screens and still utilize the normal way of communicating through smartphones and the like. Some do have access to them, but most of those are shopkeepers who used them to sell their wares, or super-rich NPCs for story purposes. It would make sense that a child wouldn’t have access to one.

"Do you remember where he went?" Kayla asked.

Anton looked out at the parking lot beyond the station and the lobby. Cars and buses filled the lobby, picking up and dropping passengers. Most of them had yellow armbands. Some of the people there headed for an underground subway station under the complex, while others climbed onto the buses.

"You think he's still here?" Anton asked with slight doubt. In the real world, it wouldn't make sense for this brother to be far from Rito.

Unless they were terrible people and didn't care about their own family, that is.

Anton checked the quest log. He noticed the lack of quest information. There was nothing there. No quest title, no explanation, nothing.

Anton looked at Kayla and called her to the side.

"You stay here, okay?" Kayla said before approaching Anton.

"Can you check the quest tab?"

"Alright," Kayla said. She opened her own version of the menu, similar to the ones the players had. As an AI companion, however, she didn't normally use it.

"... What do you want me to check, again?"

"There's nothing on it?"

"Nothing."

Anton nodded after hearing that. Kayla noticed what he meant and looked back at Rito.

"It's not a normal quest," Anton added. His words caused Kayla to stare at him.

"Don't say it that way. I may be self-aware, but they aren't."

"Urgh… fine…," Anton eventually relented. Despite saying that, Anton had no idea what he could call this thing.

"Let's just say we're helping someone," Kayla said before returning to Rito.

Anton stood in his position, switching his focus from the two AIs to the crowd. Without a quest log, he had no idea what to do. He couldn't look the quest up, he didn’t even know the title, nor did he have any experience with finding lost people.

Even if he knew the quest’s name, he couldn’t just leave the game and look it up online.

He finally decided to approach Rito and Kayla.

"Do you remember his number?" Anton asked. Rito shook his head.

"We just met recently… I… didn't remember. The contact is on my phone."

"Recently?"

Rito's words made Anton even more puzzled.

It’s not a standalone quest?

Something may come before this quest, with them accidentally stumbling onto someone else's quest, ripping them off necessary information. It may also be no more than some backstory the game made up.

"What happened?" Kayla asked, looking for details. Anton decided to pay attention, hoping to get a hint.

"My… My parents died in an accident. Brother was there and rescued me. He took me to a hospital to get me treated. The doctors told him to leave me in their care, but after realizing that I no longer have a family… he insisted that he took me in."

Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!

"Interesting…," Anton muttered, his voice faint enough to not be heard by the other two.

The game had three types of AI implemented into its program. The first was the normal AI seen in many older games, NPCs, both people and monsters alike, with predetermined dialogue, choices, and actions. The second would be the companion AI, AIs that like Kayla, had the ability to analyze situations, store memories, have personalities, and act as companions for the players.

The third would be the story AI, a hybrid between the standard AI and companion AI. It had predetermined personalities and dialogues, but as soon as something went off the planned route, like in this case, it would turn into a companion AI, creating unique personality and memories for this specific NPC. In a way, it allowed multiple people to complete the quest, but their experience changed depending on their choices. These kinds of AI were susceptible to scenarios that befall a normal NPC, though, things like death, sickness, or getting lost.

Anton, at some point, probably had worked with one. He couldn’t tell because he didn’t go off the quest path, so everything went as planned.

“How about we find your phone, then? Do you remember where you dropped it?” Kayla asked. Anton looked around the station. In this crowd finding a lost item may prove difficult. The game didn’t have lost and found, either. Most players didn’t just lose their stuff, after all.

Even if they did… Well, it's their problem.

“What does your phone look like?” Kayla continued.

Rito paused for a brief moment, his finger tapping his chin.

“It got this gold case…”

“... Just making sure, it’s not real gold, right?” Anton asked.

Despite the game’s setting, the valuables in this world stayed the same. Gold continued being a precious metal. It didn’t make sense for a child to carry such a thing, but Anton wanted to make sure. To his relief, Rito shook his head.

“It’s colored gold, but it’s not gold. It’s made out of rubber.”

“Alright,” Anton nodded and made his way back into the station. Smartphones lost their value in this world, all thanks to virtual screens, so most players wouldn’t be interested in stealing them. Its golden color also made it stand out above the ground.

“Do you remember your number?” Kayla asked. She held Rito’s hand, guiding him through the waves of people while Anton walked in front of them. Rito shook his head.

“How did you get separated in the first place?” Anton asked, his eyes going from one point to another. He paid attention to the building’s corners, especially behind the various decorations that were scattered around the station.

“Brother warned me to be careful, but I got excited and ran to look out the window, and once I looked back, brother was gone.”

“Have you asked the customer service?”

Rito shook his head again.

“Should we start there?” Kayla asked.

“Well, it beats searching the entire station… Where is the customer service?”

“The other way,” Kayla pointed to the direction where they came from. Anton let out a sigh and didn’t say anything else after that. He simply turned around and headed back toward the station’s main lobby. They went past where they just stood and continued on further, before eventually arriving in front of the customer service desk. An NPC could be seen standing while trying to calm down a player.

“Brother!” Rito let go of Kayla and ran toward the player. The player jerked his head back toward Rito. He let out a huge smile as he kneeled and accepted Rito into his arms.

“Where have you been!? I’m so worried about you!”

Anton watched the touching reunion from afar, noticing the lack of a yellow armband on his arm. companion AIs couldn’t get lost, and since no one else stood near him, he must be a player.

“I tried calling you. What happened?”

“Sorry, I lost the phone you gave me.”

“Ah, don’t worry. I’ll get you a new one,” the player patted Rito’s head.

“... Seeing that, doesn’t it make you happy?”

Anton glanced at Kayla.

“Well… I guess?” he replied, only to receive an elbow to his side. The game didn’t simulate pain, but it did simulate the feeling of being touched. He knew, had this been real life, he would be wringing on the floor by now. Giving Kayla her own personality and freedom to do what her programming wished did have its drawbacks, but it made her feel more human, so he couldn’t exactly complain.

He glanced at her, who smiled as she watched the reunion. Anton let out another sigh, followed by a smile of his own.

“Thank you very much for helping him,” the player lowered their head before them, Rito looking up at him and mimicking his movements. Anton winced. The voice felt familiar to him, although he couldn’t remember why. He tried to keep his smile, but the voice bothered him.

Am I hearing things?

“We’re glad to see you two back together,” Kayla said with a smile. Anton didn’t say anything and just stood next to her. The two then left their heads up.

“... Anton?”

He heard his name being mentioned by the player.

“Huh?” Anton looked his way. The player realized what he just said and flailed his arms in front of him.

“Ah, it’s nothing.”

“You just mentioned my name.”

“I, I didn’t mean to.”

“Regardless of whether you mean it or not, you know my name, which means you know who I am,” Anton pushed on, taking closer steps to examine the player. The player had an avatar that he didn’t recognize. He didn’t change his, being too lazy to create a new avatar from scratch and just used his face.

As Rito described, the player’s avatar had short black hair and black eyes with tanned skin. He had a faint memory of his voice, but he only noticed after that player specifically called out his name. He still didn’t recognize the player, but the player clearly recognized him.

“Who are you?” Anton asked, investigating the person. The person took a step back and grabbed Rito’s arm.

“Kayla, lock him in. This is an order!” Anton declared. The chaos naturally caught the attention of passersby, both humans and NPCs alike. Kayla shook the second she heard Anton’s words, but she complied. She approached the player, surrounding him and Rito, making sure neither of them could escape.

“... Anton, are you sure about this?”

“I’m not letting him go unless he spills it out. I can recognize that voice anywhere,” Anton said with a dire tone.

The player looked side-to-side. Anton watched his eyes, trying to guess where he went to escape. From the other end of the room, Anton noticed security guards running toward them, and he assumed a couple of them closed up on them from behind as well. They were running out of time.

“I’m really sorry!” the player screamed and dashed between Anton and Kayla, making a run for it. He stopped at the last second, causing Anton and Kayla to crash into each other. They quickly recovered, but by then, the player had gone past them and disappeared into the crowd. They slipped through the guards and headed for the station’s lobby.

“Damn it, let’s go!” Anton yelled and grabbed Kayla’s hand. The security guards tried to stop him, but they swerved between the crowd, accidentally hitting a couple of NPCs. Anton noticed a yellow armband in the midst and pushed him down, causing him to collide with one of the security guards, sending them both tumbling down.

“We’re sorry!” Kayla yelled. Anton, meanwhile, focused on getting out of there. The player had disappeared. Without the possibility of catching up, he searched for a path to the exit. The chaos had taken over the station. Some players were keen to join in the action and rushed to help the security, while some NPCs stood on the side watching.

So much for pacifist mode!

Anton saw an opening in between the formation. A player, standing near the stairs, taking a fighting stance, a smirk on his face. He quickly glanced back at Kayla, who replied with a firm nod. He let go of her and clenched his fist, positioning it for a punch. The player at the end prepared to receive his punch. He stood right in front of the staircase heading down toward the street.

As they approached, Anton dropped down to the floor, making use of the fact that pain wasn’t simulated, and tumbled, hitting the player on his feet. The surprised player looked below at Anton, who stopped at his feet, only to then receive a powerful blow to his head.

It knocked him and Anton over the edge, causing both to tumble down the staircase. Kayla leaped over them and stopped at the end of the staircase. She turned around, grabbed Anton’s hand and quickly pulled him away.

“That’s one hell of a strategy if I ever see one!” the player said with a laugh as he remained seated near the stairs, watching as Anton and Kayla disappeared down to the subway.

“Thank you!” Kayla answered as she ran away. They traveled the staircase, heading deeper underground.

The two felt a sense of relief as they hid under the LED lights of the subway. They weren’t safe just yet, however. They quickly purchased a ticket and hid behind a vending machine as security guards stormed the area. The next train was a minute away.

“Can you time this?” Anton asked.

“Leave it to me,” Kayla replied, a hint of confidence behind her rugged breath. This subway station was, luckily, not the final destination, so the subway would only stop momentarily here. The iconic sound of a train horn filled the air, followed by the light of the train’s front lights. The three security guards went near the train, guarding its door as passengers came and went.

The crowd forced them to not stand too close, giving enough room for the two. Kayla looked behind and held Anton’s hand. Anton nodded, trying to calm his breath down. With her finger, she formed the number three.

Three, two, one.

Now!

Anton saw Kayla’s lips twisting, his entire body being pulled immediately after. The two made a dash for the subway’s closing doors. Their rapid footsteps caught the attention of the security guards, who turned around only to find their shadow cutting straight through them. They leaped into the subway at the last moment, right before the door closed shut.

The three guards ran up toward the door, yelling from outside. Kayla waved toward them, a smug smile on her face, as the subway picked up speed and left the station.