"That voice." Kiyro's mind raced, and a name popped in his head. It was Sylph.
"You're that wretched perverted ring," Kiyro eyed him with contempt. "What are you doing here?"
The fat bird turned around and stuck out its chest. "I am not a perverted ring. I am a pervert King. So bow down to your holiness."
"That's not something to gloat about," stated Kiyro. However, he wasn't so sure how he should take this all in. A ring taking form and appearing before him as an avatar; why now?
"You should be glad I am here to help you."
"I don't remember calling for help."
"You didn't. I've been specifically sent to guide you through your quest. Think of me as your personal guide and avatar." Sylph puffed up like a bird making him look adorable.
"It's so cute." Anna squealed with delight as she watched. "I want one."
"Lady. You can have me anytime." Sylph winked at Anna.
Anna's hands went towards Sylph, attempting to put it on the head, but her hands slipped through.
"Oops. I forgot," said Anna. She pulled her hand back and acted cutely.
"That tickled." Sylph giggled like a Pillsbury doughboy as if he was touched.
"You're a hologram." Kiyro raised his eyebrow. He wasn't sure if Sylph was just playing around with them or if Anna really touched Sylph's body.
"I can feel too, you know." Sylph pouted. "Just because I'm see-through doesn't mean there are no interactions. This is high-technology. Why wouldn't there be a function of one?"
"Really?" Kiyro started to reach over towards Sylph with his outstretched hands.
"No. I only like it when a lady touches me. I don't want dirty man hands." Sylph fluttered around and landed on Anna's shoulder.
I swear if this fat bird wasn't in such a form, I would think he was another Zeraph. He might even be worse than Zeraph. So Kiyro thought, and he cringed. One was enough, but two sounded like a disaster.
"Well then, what is it that you came here to help me with?" asked Kiyro.
Sylph hopped around Anna's shoulder and flew towards Kiyro's shoulder. He landed lightly on his shoulder and made himself comfortable.
"Tch. I dislike being on men's shoulders; it's so uncomfortable."
"I don't understand how you can supposedly feel what it is like on my shoulder. Can you please get on with it?" Kiyro stated, a bit annoyed. Sometimes he wondered if Sylph just said those things to annoy him.
"Fine. Fine. Put on your Alive gear."
Kiyro nodded and picked up the Alive gear that he left on the desk. Putting it on, the world around him was lit up with a projection of the map of Georgia. A few red dots were placed heavily in downtown Atlanta while a few were more spread out around the suburbs. Finally, the image zoomed in toward the destination close to where he lives. He examined it closely and noticed it was just empty land with only a few apartment buildings surrounding it.
"What the..?"
"Hmm?" Sylph jumped around Kiyro's shoulder, peering into his Alive gear map. "Is something the matter?"
"Yea. It looks like an empty square of land. What exactly am I supposed to do when I get there?"
"Don't worry about that. You just need to arrive at the location before it gives you the next step. So get up and let's go. We don't have all day."
"Wait now? Why can't I do it tomorrow?"
"Don't you want to finish this and get the reward?" Sylph peered over towards Kiyro, and he quietly mumbled. "Tch and I want to stay with the pretty lady and her boobs."
"Yes. You're right. Why not go?" Kiyro heard every word Sylph stated, and he was not going to let this stupid bird do something stupid.
"Is it a world quest?" Anna asked. She was finished with the bucket of ice cream. Kiyro always wondered where all that food went in her skinny body. Her stomach was like a black hole.
Kiyro nodded.
"Really? Now, this is getting interesting. What do you know, my own brother has one."
"It's not a big deal. It's just a quest."
"Just a quest," gasped Sylph as if he heard Kiyro state it as if it's dirt. "This is not just a quest. It's the quest that affects the world. Don't you know how serious this is?"
"Not really. It's just a game." Kiyro lazily stated. He wasn't sure why Sylph was getting so caught up in the quest.
"I can't believe this idiot. Even though a curse to you is small in the beginning, when time passes, it accumulates and can become something big. It's not something you look away from as if it's nothing." Sylph tutted and wagged his wings at him like a child. "But the strength of the curse depends on how strong the caster is. If they are not strong but weak, the curse is sent back to the caster, but for it to be a world-scale curse, that being is very powerful or knows what they are doing. He or she has found a way to cast the curse without it returning to them. It could mean that there is not just one source of power from which the curse is being cast."
"So, how does this affect my life?" Kiyro crossed his arms together.
"Sigh. Think about it. Why do you think that this quest is being held in your world? It would have made sense if it was held in Noriene."
"Surprisingly, you can tell the difference between Noriene and Earth."
"Duh. I've recently been reprogrammed to understand both worlds. Tch." Sylph rolled his eyes.
Already Kiyro was at the point where he wanted to smack Sylph several times. He was even at the point where he felt he should create a program that did that specifically for him whenever the perverted ring acted. So already, he was formulating a couple of plans in his head.
"I could try coding a command code whenever he made that stupid sound," mumbled Kiyro a bit too loud, but luckily Sylph did not hear it and continued chatting.
"So let's go before this gets worse. There are 3,333 quests to complete. Each quest holder already has a personal avatar and understands this situation. Look, it's already 300 quests completed today."
"You should go," replied Anna. "Don't worry about me. I've got to go and do something as well. I just got a text message to come in." She motioned him away and sighed. "I'm going to be late, so don't worry about setting dinner for me."
"Fine with me." Kiyro got up and walked over to the door. "This isn't going to take too long, is it?"
Sylph fluttered around above Kiyro's shoulder and head. "That depends on how fast you will be getting this done. It could take all day or five minutes."
He reached over and put on his gym shoes. He would have let this slip if it wasn't for the possibility of gaining something. Not only that, it made him wonder what Sylph was implying when he stated that this was connected more to the world. Was there some secret that he was missing?
"You ready?" Sylph asked.
"Yea." Kiyro got up and headed out towards the door. "I'll be back." He called out to his sister.
"Be careful out there," said Anna.
"I'll be fine." Kiyro opened the door and left towards his quest's location.