As promised, his brother arrived right around noon. The young college student, who had only become an adult a few months prior, wore his usual relaxed attire as he slowly walked into the bowling alley. Unlike his game avatar, Brandon didn't have a goatee, although his other features were the same. He had curly, dark brown hair long enough to meet his ears and a pair of light brown eyes to match with it. Underneath Brandon's eyes was a thin layer of freckles over his tan skin. His real body was a full head shorter than Edward's, and his skin was as young as a teenager's. To any onlooker, it would be clear that the two boys were related, with Edward being the older brother.
As soon as he arrived, Edward raised his hand to get his attention and called him over, "Brandon, over here."
Brandon smiled and jogged over to meet his brother, "Edward! How have you been?"
"Good. Now, sit," Edward said. He tried to hide his nervousness, though his smile must've shown some sign of it, as Brandon's eyes narrowed with suspicion as he sat down. Soon after, Brandon looked around and noticed the lack of people surrounding them.
"Why did you choose to meet here? There's like nobody here," Brandon mumbled to Edward as Edward sat down opposite of Edward. Edward sighed as he noticed Brandon's suspicion.
'Of course, my plan failed,' Edward thought to himself.
"You were always a quick one," Edward sighed quietly. He looked at Brandon, then began to speak, "I have something important to tell you, and I need you to promise me not to tell anybody else. This is a huge secret, understand?"
Brandon nodded as the smile on his face turned more serious. Edward took a deep breath and began to speak.
"I have to tell you the secret behind Avalon Online, Brandon."
—
"That's why your luck has been outrageous, recently. Don't you remember when you passed your test by randomly guessing the answers?" Edward told him. Brandon stared at the table with a heavy frown as he held his head with his hand, "In fact, Avalon hasn't just affected you. The connection between that world and Earth is even deeper than I've described."
Edward slowly removed his cap and sunglasses and put them on the table. Brandon looked up at Edward, and his eyes widened in surprise.
"While half of your abilities have been transferred to your real body, my entire avatar has replaced my old body," Edward took another deep breath, then removed his gloves. Brandon's gaze turned to the black, glassy scales covering Edward's knuckles as his mouth gaped open. Edward snapped his fingers, and a small red flame appeared above his thumb, "Including all of my abilities."
Edward extinguished the flame, then turned to Brandon and waited patiently for his brother's reaction. Soon enough, Brandon looked back at Edward. He was almost lost for words, only capable of staring silently as the information from their conversation was slowly established within his mind.
After a minute or two, Edward finally put his glove back over his fingers while Brandon opened his mouth to speak, "How long has it been since you found this out?"
"Since I started playing," Edward answered him, "Leila and Markus both know already. I was afraid of how you'd react, so I only gathered the courage to tell you today. I'm sorry."
Brandon nodded, then leaned back in his chair and sighed. After a moment, he spoke again, "The stat total of the average person only sums up to five. Most people should only have one point in each attribute, right?"
"If we consider level one to be the norm, then yes. For all we know, the average level of humanity is higher than that. In the game, most of the people who live in Avalon are between levels five and ten, which means the stat total is somewhere between forty-five and ninety-five," Edward speculated, "If everybody's attributes are balanced, that means the weakest individual will have nine points in each attribute."
"That's forty-five points of health," Brandon said, "Yet I already have triple that. Doesn't that mean our natural defense is already strong enough to stop bullets? That's unbelievable."
Edward nodded as the memory of when he was mugged flashed through his mind. He had been shot five times, yet each bullet only felt like a finger flick to him— not even enough to leave a bruise. Of course, he didn't tell Brandon about that.
"As you can see, this is very serious," Edward nodded. He leaned forward, "You can't tell anybody— the sooner we can keep this from spreading, the more time we'll have to prepare."
Brandon nodded and sat in his chair, "The future will be bleak. Do you think I should drop out of college? If all of my time is focused on Avalon online, I'll be more prepared."
"It's your choice," Edward shrugged, "I can't make that decision for you."
"Then that's what I'll do," Brandon nodded, "In the meantime, I'll live with you. It's a good idea to talk to Mrs. Snow if I'm getting involved, after all."
"Do you need me to show you where to go?" Edward asked. Brandon shook his head, then took his phone out of his pocket. The pair of brothers stood up and began to walk to the door. The bowling alley staff, who were watching from a distance— out of earshot, luckily— appeared disappointed that the two were leaving without purchasing anything.
"I'll just call a ride," Brandon told him. Then, an idea popped into his mind as a smile appeared on his face, "I haven't tried to run at my top speed in a while. I thought I'd gotten faster recently, so I guess that mystery's solved."
"I just told you to keep this a secret. If you run at your top speed, even with half of your agility, you'll end up as fast as a car," Edward sighed, "Only use your abilities if you absolutely have to, okay?"
"I got it. I won't even tell Mom and Dad," Brandon sighed. He turned to the door and pushed it open with ease. Soon enough, Brandon had left the building, causing Edward to find himself alone.
"That went better than I thought it would," Edward mumbled as he took out his phone. A smile crept upon his lips before he began to call Leila.