Akiol was happily munching on a chicken sandwich.
An hour had passed and the party had met up in the food court. As he ate he couldn't help but admit that the food quality wasn't as good as some places. But it was still far tastier than what he was used too.
Yielya, who was sitting next to him, eyed his expression, "I feel like you enjoy the food far more than us."
"This stuff is tasty."
"Yeah but still, you always seem like you're experiencing pure bliss whenever you eat."
Akiol put down the sandwich and made a sad look, "Why must you say such things, I just like the food."
Yielya smacked his shoulder lightly, "I'm just messing with you, enjoy your food. Besides we all like the food, that's the number one thing this world has it going for them."
Wrock nodded as he was chewing a burger, "This stuff's great."
"Manners Wrock.", Akiol said.
"Oops."
Tilia commented, "Their fruits aren't as high quality though. Most of it seems. . . off."
"Because most of it is mass grown. With the idea of quantity over quality. Of course it wouldn't be as good as the fruits that grow under the sun and ambient mana. Though apparently it was worse before.", Kan'na answered.
"I know, it's just a little sad."
~ ~ ~
Rebecca walked up to a short blonde girl, "Elli? That you?"
"Oh! Rebecca!"
Rebecca examined her, "You're a little shorter than I though you'd be."
"Oh wow, is that what you say when we first meet up?", Elli pouted.
Rebecca lightly laughed, "Sorry."
A man walked up to the two, "Sorry for listening in, but I couldn't help but hear some familiar names."
Elli examined the man before asking, "Ryan?"
The man nodded.
Rebecca exclaimed, "Ayy! It's Ojay!"
Ryan cringed, "Let's not call me by my game name please. I fear for my sanity."
Elli asked, "So we are just waiting for Charlie?"
Rebecca was already seated on a chair, "He won't be here for another five minutes."
The two sat with her as Elli asked, "How do you know?"
"He entered through the opposite end of the mall, that's about a five minute walk from there to here."
"Did he just now enter?"
Rebecca flipped to an application on her phone and showed them.
Charging Phones: I just arrived! I somehow ended on the south entrance, give me a bit."
Whilst Ryan simply nodded Elli quickly pulled out her phone, "There's an app for the forums? Why don't I have it?"
Rebecca closed the application as she asked, "Is that why it takes you a while to respond?"
"Yeah! I am mostly away from my laptop during the day. What's the app called?"
"A World's Legacy Forums."
"What a lame name."
"Have to be direct right?"
A person walked up to them, "Elli? Ryan?"
Rebecca answered, "And Rebecca."
"I found you all! Hi!"
They happily greeted back.
The four chatted for a bit before Rebecca spotted James across the sea of tables. She saw him chatting with a group of people she had never seen before.
"Whatcha looking at?", Ellie asked.
"My brother, he's sitting down there."
"Where?"
Rebecca pointed. As Elli examined the group she gasped, "Your brother is friends with the owner of Daydream Designs?"
"What?"
"That lady over there, it's hard to tell but I would remember her face anywhere. She's the owner of that outfit that grew extremely popular recently. She has her own business now."
Ryan was also paying attention to them and cut in, "Not only that, but that dude over there. Is he that one content creator?"
Charlie asked, "The Third Reaction?"
"Yeah that's the one!"
"Didn't he quit?"
"More like hiatus until further notice, but he's right there!"
Rebecca frowned, since when had James been friends with so many influential people?
~ ~ ~
Wrock groaned, "Ughh. . ."
Akiol patted his shoulder, "I told you not to order so much."
"But it was worth it."
Akiol shook his head, Wrock had overeaten and was suffering from a stomachache. Regardless of how much pain resistance one had, a stomachache wasn't pleasing.
Tilia drove back to the house and Wrock walked to his room. Akiol called out, "Don't pop!"
"If I pop I will blame you."
"Hehe."
Akiol sat on the couch and closed his eyes, he didn't feeling like playing right now. Slowly he fell into the arms of sleep.
. . .
"You monster! This happened because of you!"
"Leave my child alone! He never caused this!"
"You're at fault as well! If you hadn't birthed this monster, our village would have been fine!"
"You can't blame us for something out of our control!"
"If you die then everything will go back to normal!"
"No-!"
Akiol awoke suddenly. After massaging his tired eyes he sighed, another dream like this.
"Oh! You're awake?"
Akiol looked over to see Yielya, "Just recently, what time is it?"
"Around four in the morning."
"I was asleep for that long?!"
Yielya shrugged, "We left you alone, did you not sleep well?"
"I slept alright."
"I meant before this one."
"I'm pretty sure."
"Perhaps you needed it."
Akiol blinked to water his dry-feeling eyes, "What are you doing up this late. Or is it early?"
"Just logged out of the game, figured I get some water before I got to sleep."
"Oh."
"I would ask if you're going to sleep as well, but the circumstances tell me that isn't going to be the case."
Akiol faintly laughed, "I think I am going to go on a walk."
"Don't get stabbed, though I pity the soul who tries to."
Akiol stood up, since he was still dressed for outside he didn't need to be dressed. As he opened the door he said, "Sleep well."
"I plan to."
Akiol walked outside an breathed in the night air. The street was mostly quite, for some cricket decided to ruin it.
As Akiol walked he felt the cool breeze across his skin. He soon lost focus on walking, instead of what he was planning on doing.
Does he really have to save the world again? Why him? Why is it that the Gods always decided his path? Why could he never choose?
Akiol heard a pair of footsteps behind him and stopped. He looked behind him and saw a dark dressed figure walking towards him. Akiol frowned, was he really about to be stabbed? Why else would some dress so suspiciously?
Akiol really didn't care though, he would know when the blade was coming. So he continued to walk forward.
As he walked he noticed that the suspiciously dressed person wasn't out for his harm. Instead their pace synced with his.
He was being followed.
Akiol frowned as he turned the corner. As he did a different person stood there holding a weapon, barrel pointed towards him.
It looked like a gun, but it was definitely not. The way it was built did not look like it was meant to fire bullets. The barrel was pointed at Akiol, the trigger being pulled.
Akiol was not confident in dodging anything that came out of the barrel, at least when it was fired. He didn't hold the speed of his in-game character after all.
Reacting to the trajectory Akiol jerked to the side, bending his knee to lower himself. The trigger clicked and an object flew out from the barrel. The projectile sailed harmlessly past.
He manage to catch a glimpse of it: a dart with a sharp needle. The only reason he saw it was because the needle reflected the light off a nearby streetlight.
These people were aiming to harm him, but not kill him?
He dashed forward and knocked away the weapon. Placing his hand on their throat he moved his leg behind the shooter's own. Pushing forward in one smooth motion he knocked down the opponent.
The man grunted and said something, but Akiol's attention was drawn to the rev of a nearby car's engine.
A van quickly came into view, it was black van. It screeched to a halt, the side door slid open and a man was crouched, holding another one of the weapons.
Akiol dashed forward, he was now more confident in dodging the projectile. For it wasn't as fast as he thought it would be.
However he would still need to predict when they would fire. Dodging too quickly may leave him exposed.
They man pulled the trigger as Akiol slid to the side. The projectile swung harmlessly pass.
Akiol gripped the weapon and wrenched it free. Using the stock of it he slammed it in the shooter's gut, and then nose.
The man rolled back with a swear, his nose bleeding.
Pwiw-
A soft firing sound was heard behind him. It was similar to the firing sounds from the weapons.
Akiol remembered, he hadn't dealt with his tailer. He was too occupied dealing with the closest person.
He turned to the side, he felt the projectile's movements through the air. However it wasn't enough. The projectile pierced his arm.
He quickly tore it out. Who were this people?
His vision turned blurry, he couldn't believe it. There was about a second of time that the projectile was in his arm. What was acting so fast?
Another shot fired, Akiol's movements were sluggish and he couldn't react in time. The projectile pierced his back, and Akiol's vision faded.