As they finished the monster up, Eisen had some sort of grand master plan to show to Randy that he was the one who saved him, he wanted to see the look on the bully's face as he would tell him that it was actually he himself, Eisen Evans, who saved him.
But before Eisen could speak to Randy much clearly, Randy just vanished out of thin air. "Oh, did he log out?" Blizz asked as he had a confused expression on his face.
The Gemini sat down once again, pondering for a moment the absurdity of what happened. That was when he noticed something else once again, it was a building. A building from reality, a tall skyscraper that should have no business being in the medieval setting of Zodiac Ascension at all. Eisen stood up in a panicked manner as he was confused at what he was just seeing with his own two eyes. "T-Tell me you see that too, right, Blizz?" He asked his other half. "Yep. I do see that. I wonder what it is? Some kind of monster?" Blizz said as he did not know what futuristic buildings looked like himself.
He looked at the global chat box wherein every player could type in their messages and have it be seen to the whole player base of Zodiac Ascension. The different players were talking about random and weird occurrences that were happening inside the game.
[GomuWarrior: Guys, a car has just appeared out of nowhere right in the middle of the town!]
[24Sumeru: This did not happen to me, but my friend's cousin randomly ended up inside Zodiac Ascension! He wore his own high school uniform and all that, just what is happening? This is not supposed to be a modern game!]
[xTerrorEyex: Could this be some kind of secret event by the Game Mods? Maybe it is! Some kind of real-life x Zodiac Ascension, right? What do you think? Still, it is pretty creepy to see people you know in real inside the game…"]
As Eisen Evans kept reading on, he realized that whatever happened to Randy was really happening to the others as well. Buildings, even people from the outside world were getting transported into the world of Zodiac Ascension.
"I-I have to get going, Blizz. See you later, alright?" Eisen bid farewell to him as he pressed the logout button. Eisen Evans removed the Reality Altering Headgear (RAH) from his head and proceeded to stand up and get his phone. He went to Randy's social media account and saw some various posts that the high schooler was indeed missing. "M-Missing?" Cold shivers went down Eisen's spine as soon as he read various police reports on the internet as well.
He thought about going to the cops and telling them all about what had happened inside Zodiac Ascension, but he was worried that it would be nonconsequential. That maybe what had happened was just in fact a bug. Eisen went to the bathroom and washed his face as he prepared to go to bed.
Eisen had a dream as he slept. He dreamt that when he woke up, he was no longer the loser that he was in real life. That he was the exact same as his avatar in Zodiac Ascension – that he was actually something in life other than the loser that he is. He saw his avatar reach out to him, Eisen tried to grab him by the hand but something was holding him back.
Morning came soon after as the rays of the sun hit his windows. Eisen was confused as to why his alarm did not ring at all. He looked at his table and saw that his phone was not there at all. But what was more alarming was that he woke up in a familiar bed. It was a bed that he had inside his avatar's house in Zodiac Ascension.
He looked outside and saw that the world outside was now reverted back to medieval times, complete with castles and horse carriages instead of levitating cars and bullet trains. Eisen then stared at his hands and saw that these were the Gemini's hands. He ran to the bathroom and saw that his face and stature was that of his avatar, the Gemini. He kept poking his skin to see if he really did feel anything. Even resorted to pinching himself to wake him up from his dream.
Eisen ran downstairs to go to his parents, but they were missing. He made his way outside of the house and noticed that the interior and furniture were no longer futuristic and from the modern times, they were now old. Medieval old.
The chaos on the streets was just apparent. Everyone was running around confused about what was happening. Eisen gulped down and took deep breaths. Before he could take another step, however, a familiar voice stopped him from doing so. "What's up, buddy?" It was Blizz, his other Gemini half.
"B-Blizz! What the hell is happening?!" Eisen raised his voice as he shook him. He was curious to know what was happening. "Come with me, this place is far too chaotic to be able to talk in. Sheesh." Blizz said as he made Eisen follow him up to a cliff.
"I mean it still seems impossible for you. But the world of Zodiac Ascension has now overtaken your reality. In real life, you are the Gemini as well, not only when you put on the Reality Altering Headgear. The worlds have collided with each other." Blizz said to him.
"C-Collided with each other? How the hell does something like that even happen?" Eisen asked. "Beats me. I guess the Game Mods found a way to hack into the city's very own network itself and turned it into an exact replica of Zodiac Ascension's. It is possible to do but the amount of hacking one has to do to achieve this…it is quite something." Blizz replied.
Their conversation was then interrupted by a couple of kids who recognized Eisen Evans. "Look! That is him! That is one of the Zodiacs!" The kid exclaimed happily. It was like he saw some sort of celebrity.
Blizz smiled at Eisen Evans in an 'I told you so' manner. "Not everything has to be bad in this new world of yours, though. I mean take myself for example, I can accompany you even without the RAH being used!" Blizz said in an excited manner.
The kids approached Eisen and shook his hands. "Y-You are the Gemini, is that right, mister? We've heard of how strong you are! The numbers of monsters that you have taken down over the years is one for the history books!" They asked Eisen in a giddy manner.
Eisen Evan's tears started to fall without him noticing it. For the first time in his life, he was actually recognized in the streets without the intent of bullying or discriminatory purposes. He was both the Gemini and Eisen Evans. The two of those were no longer interchangeable. His online world life in Zodiac Ascension was now merged into the same thing.
"Hey, you alright?" Blizz asked him as he gave him a box of tissues. Eisen obliged and wiped his cheeks with it. After a short while, they journeyed towards Eisen's school. He was now ready to show them who he was now.
He walked along with Blizz to his high school which had was now filled with different Zodiac Ascension (ZA) players. They were equipped with their own equipment, armor, and weapons as well.
When Eisen walked up to the entrance. They realized that the person they have been bullying since the freshman year of high school was actually one of the Twelve Zodiacs. One of the strongest players in ZA. The same people who laughed at him and looked at him in a mean way were now in awe.
"Where's Randy?" Eisen confidently asked the others. "H-He is in the kitchen…" Another one of the heinous bullies answered him. "The kitchen?" Eisen turned to Blizz with a confused expression on his face.
"Ah, well. This is going to blow your mind. But I would rather show you rather than just outright telling you, go see it for yourself." Blizz said as he led his friend to the cafeteria.
Randy was now molding flour to turn into bread while wiping the sweat off of his temple. Eisen's glowing presence as the Gemini made him look back. "O-Oh, you were the one who saved me from that monster yesterday! I did not get the chance to thank y-" His words were cut off by himself as soon as he realized who the Gemini was.
Eisen grinned at him. "What is the matter, Randy? You should finish up what you were trying to say." Eisen added as he smirked. "And before you do that, I want you to fix me a couple loaves of bread while you are at it." The Gemini said to Randy as he looked down in embarrassment.
Blizz whispered something into Eisen, telling him about the situation. "You see, non-players of ZA have now been relegated to menial tasks such as cooking food, cleaning and sweeping the town, washing clothes, and all that. They are now essentially the NPCs of this world…" Blizz said to him.
Eisen turned around once more. "And Randy, make that into fifty loaves of bread. Give it all away to everyone in the hallway." Eisen threw a pouch of gold coins on the table as he said so. He had successfully shown the bully who was in charge. And it could only be none other than the strongest players of ZA, which included him – the Gemini.