The sun was up in the sky. A 16-year-old boy was sitting alone in his favorite corner of the café he used to go to with his brother back in the day... well his stepbrother. Seraphim missed those days so much. Despite choosing to lose his emotions, there were things he couldn't abandon so easily like the nostalgia he felt every time he came here.
'Hehe, fool... when will you let go of these distant dreams you chase after?'
'I won't... not with you reminding me now and then!'
There was a loud laugh, but, strangely enough, no one turned to him as if none had heard it. How could they when it was only in his head? This other him who laughed was the manifestation that got corrupted due to that one hell of a night. Every time he remembered it, the hair on his neck stood up and a shiver ran down his spine. This dread that devoured his heart and mind was also one of the few feelings he still had, but it was without a doubt the one he hated the most. Hatred, he also kept it and he hated quite a lot of things. He hated his weak self, he hated the two-faced-fakers who were everywhere, he hated betrayal.
'You hate a lot of things for someone without emotions', said the damned voice.
'Oh yeah, I hate you too', replied Seraphim... thought actually.
'How can you hate me when I'm you?'
'No, you're not'
'Yes, I am... look!'
Suddenly, a vague figure appeared out of thin air, standing on the opposite side of the table. Thick black hair, brown eyes, pale white face, average height, and slim body. That was truly him. The only differences were that the apparition was unclear like it was some ancient ghost. And it was... in a sense? It was the ghost of his past trauma. Despite that unclarity, the other difference was very clear... That burning madness in its eyes was so real and startling that it almost scared Seraphim. If not for the fact that he was even more crazy, he would have peed himself on the spot.
'See?'
'As I've said before, you're not me... You're not as half crazy as me.'
'True, I'm not the one having a conversation with an apparition after all.'
Seraph ignored the crazy laughs of his mind as he let out a sigh. He was getting tired of waiting.
'Where are they?'
Just as he finished that thought, the door opened and three Kids entered. His only friends in this world had finally arrived.
Morgan, Lucy, and Kai came a little later than they said they would. Once they all welcomed Seraph and sat down, Kai said:
"Where were you last night? Why didn't you log in? Were you unable to sleep?"
"No, I did sleep", answered Seraph,"I just wanted to take a rest that's all. Why... did you miss?"
"Of course not, who in the right mind will miss a little bastard like you? if anything, Lucy would be the one who missed you!", jocked Morgan with a relatively loud voice while she tapped her sister on the back.
Lucy got all red and said in a shy angelic voice:
"I-It's not like that... I just wanted all of us to hang out in the Dream World."
What was Seraph seeing was very strange. One found it hard to believe that these two girls, with all their differences, were sisters, and twins at that. Morgan was very tall for a girl, she had short brown hair and green eyes. Her body was fit and she was wearing a blue top, black jeans, and white sneakers. Her olive skin reflected the light to a degree. On the counterpart, Lucy was very short, shorter than Seraph. She had long blond hair and blue eyes. She was petite and she was wearing a blue dress. And the differences did not stop there, but they also continued to their personalities. Morgan had a strong one and she was independent. on the other hand, Lucy was shy and stupidly kind-hearted, she depended on her sister and their cousin, Kai, most of the time.
Kai was more like a brother to them than a cousin. he was the oldest one in the quartet at 17 years old. He was the tallest and had a muscular body and alabaster skin. His eyes were black, and so was his relatively long hair, he had a funny personality and he loved all of his friends equally. To cut it short, he was the incarnation of the perfect friend, but, for some reason, whenever he was around, Seraph was wary of him despite knowing him for so long.
'And you consider him your friend! Why are you so contradicted?'
Ignoring that comment, Seraph said:
"Enough with the chatting... How long do we still have to wait?"
"Just half an hour...", replied Kai," I swear your brother knows how to irritate people well. Like why did he disappear so suddenly and then surprise the whole world with a week countdown?.. Did even spare you a word?"
" No of course,... but I used to it. Ever since Zephyr invented the Dream World which became the best game in the world, he has disappeared a lot. I don't know why though."
"I still can't understand how this game works, it's very complicated", said Morgan scratching the back of her head.
"As I've told you before, This device creates a virtual world and sends our consciousness to it while we sleep, hence the name. While we wonder with our consciousness in that world, our subconsciousness fills it with projections. You can think of it as a shared lucid dream where you can do everything you want as long as it doesn't break the rules", replied Seraph
"..."
"You forgot the rules didn't you?"
"...Yes"
'God...'