The compound surrounding the school was a luxurious and well nurtured park that looked like it belonged in front of a mansion on a private island, and although for anyone else it might have been complete agony,for Zen, walking to the school park was....a walk in the park, when compared to what he had faced.
Zaria took Zen to a rather inconspicuous corner.
"Here we are"
"Fancy" Zen said looking at the roofed bench covered completely in vines,roses and other different types of of flowers.
"You of all people should know things aren't always as they seem,player"
Zen didn't reply to that.
Zaria suddenly took Zen's hand and started walking towards the tall stone fence.
Zen didn't have enough strength to resist but suddenly realized he didn't have to as Zaria and himself walked through the wall like it wasn't there.
"What do you think?" Zaria asked
"Secret garden.....a little cliche"
Zaria led Zen to a bench here and sat down before gesturing for Zen to Join her.
"This place is....."
"A mix of abilities and modern science. You're honestly the first person I've shown it to" Zaria answered
"Why did you bring me here" Zen asked.
"..... I'm really sorry, for everything. I shouldn't have..."
"It would make no sense for me to accept your apology "
Zen brutally cut her off.
"What?"
"I don't have any grudges against you, you have no reason to apologize "
Zaria sighed.
"But my conscience isn't clear. I don't know why, but I can't accept what i did to you. Can't you just accept it, for me?"
".... alright,i accept your apology " Zen said feeling a bit weird.
Zaria let out a breath of relief
"Thank you, but I need to ask "
"What is it?"
"Are you really a....?"
"Are you going to tell anyone if I answer that?"
Before either of them could say anything,a loud boom suddenly cut them off.
Zaria suddenly jumped in her seat at the familiar sound of thunder while Zen didn't move at all.
"L-looks like it's going to rain. We should get to class"
Zaria suddenly grabbed Zen's arm and suddenly started taking him with her. Strangely he didn't do or say anything and just let it happen.
The two had finally gotten out of Zaria's garden but as soon as they did, it started pouring heavily.
"Oh no. Zen, do you mind if we sit here for a while"
Zaria turned around to see that Zen was already sitting at one edge of the small bench. Quickly, she joined him on the roofed bench, seeming a bit panicked.
She suddenly looked at Zen, tears already forming at the edges of her eyes.
" Listen,Z-zen i have something to tell you. I can't leave, i-i have acute astraphobia, it's a...."
Zen's cold voice suddenly cut her off.
"I know what it is"
Zaria suddenly noticed that Zen's arm looked to be shaking.
"I... have it as well"
"W...what?"
"You asked if I was really a player, right?"
"What does that have to do with..."
Zaria's voice suddenly dropped to a whimper as the loud boom of thunder rang out.
Zaria looked at Zen and noticed that ever since the rain had started, he hadn't moved a single muscle except for those he required to speak.
"He's frozen" she suddenly realized.
"My birth parents abandoned me while I was still young"
"What?"
"I was found by some people from the player organization, that's how I got in"
For the first time since the thunderstorm had started, Zaria had focused on something else.
"That..."
Zen looked at the sky and once again tried to move but it was pointless.
His heart was steady and his mind was calm, but for some reason he just couldn't move. He had somewhat hoped that after what happened with Freya,he was cured, but it didn't seem so.
Sighing he decided to just continue his story.
"Although I can't remember it, the people who found me said that it was in the middle of a warzone, the sky was a terrible color and it was one of the worst thunderstorm in history .That night, one of them had managed to hear the soft sound of a child and had followed it to find a child a little over a year old in a baby carrier, abandoned and alone in the middle of a raging thunderstorm larger and worse than a regular supercell thunderstorm.They took in the child, taught him, trained him,cared for him as they would one of their own, but.... I....he...would never be able to endure the sound of thunder and lightning, something about it....weakened him. This was especially troublesome since one of them had the ability thunderstorm".
Zaria was silent for a few seconds. She was no longer panicked. Something about hearing someone who truly understood her calmed her down,made her feel safer.
"I didn't realize we were so similar. Mine happened during the day while I was barely a few months old. My parents came to the this city to help with a beast tide during a thunderstorm. I somehow got separated from my parents and captured by some assholes who knew who I was. My parents didn't really give me lots of details but from what they did tell me, those punks left me in the storm all day without a care. Eventually my parents found me, but by then i was already.... scarred, badly".
Inside Zen's mind Freya couldn't help but sigh as she listened to all this.
"Poor kids "
Zaria's suddenly perked up a little bit.
"It isn't all bad though. Whenever there's a thunderstorm, everyone in my family drops whatever their doing and gathers around me to help me cope. We play board games,eat snacks,watch movies, and have loads of fun. We even all sleep in the same room that night. The only problem is I've caught my dad groping my mom so many times that by now it's nothing but an eyesore. What about you?"
"....."
"Y-your parents don't help you? I thought you said they cared for you as one of their own?"
"They did, but in a place in the arcade,familial love isn't exactly something that can be showed often, even among biological families "
Zaria suddenly went quiet as she realized how hard Zen's life must have been. It was the first time she ever contemplated the fact that the players had struggles of their own and might even have worse lives than most regular people.
"I'm sorry " Zaria said as she put her hand on his shoulder. By now,both of them had calmed down enough to converse without shaking, however neither of them would be able to leave until the storm stopped.
Zaria smiled as she tried to comfort Zen. Looking down she suddenly noticed something.
"Where is your watch?!"
Zen couldn't only sigh as Zaria pulled up his sleeve to confirm her thoughts.
"B-but it's impossible to take off"
"*Sigh* you already know one thing, might as well know another . Black, could you come out here for a while"
Black suddenly popped out of Zen's skin and into his open palm.
Zen winced since his bones were no longer being bandaged but luckily the system didn't bring up the notification of him losing health.
"What is that?"
Zen spent the next ten minutes explaining what exactly Black was and what it could do, including everything else he knew about it. Strangely, Zaria seemed pretty chill about the whole thing and patiently waited for him to finish.
"Woah! So what you're saying is they're alive?"
Zaria said as she looked at her watch.
"Yes" Zen nodded.
Zaria slowly extended her hand in front of Zen and giggled as it slowly moved onto her hand.
"Hello there,Black. I'm Zaria"
Zaria's eyes sparked
"So cute!"
Zaria started softly nuzzling Black against her face. During this, Black had managed to touch her forehead for a second.
On Zaria's hand, the black slime suddenly formed to create a different shape.
"Even cuter!" Zaria shrieked as she saw the tiny black cat in her palm. It was hairless and looked a bit slimy but Zaria didn't seem to mind.
Zen on the other hand was surprised. He didn't realize when, but at some point it seemed he had completely forgotten that Black could shape shift.
"I always wanted a cat!"
"Can't you get any pet you want?"
Zaria sighed.
"Yeah, but I already have dragons so it honestly seems a bit dumb to ask my parents for more"
Zaria suddenly got an idea.
"Hey, can you wake mine up?"
Without hesitation Zen said no.
He wasn't even sure if what happened last time was a one-time thing or not, not to mention that even if he tried, he was in no condition to deal with the after effects, considering how exhausted he was last time. His last reason was that Zaria might actually begin to mistake this for an ability,or even worse, get curious about what it was that he was doing.
"Oh. That's too bad"
Zaria suddenly smiled.
"It's funny. Everything i ever heard about people like you was telling me that you were monsters even worse than beasts, and now here i am having fun "
Zen thought for a while but the only reply he could give was
"None of us chose this. Where i come from, you're a player from birth, There's no such thing as 'hope' or 'freedom'. It's been that way for centuries. Once you're born, you're in, and that's it. The only exception is me"
Zaria suddenly went quiet
"This is yours " She said, handing the box to him.
Zen didn't try to be polite and accepted it.
"Thank you"
"And Zen, i really am sorry "
[Main quest (winner takes all): Failed]
[Side quest : completed!]
[Main quest ( Shhh) : completed!]
[Hidden quest: Completed!]
[Level up!]
[Gained 3 skill points]
[Name]Zen Hollow
[Level 2]
[Exp: 5/500]
[Species: (Base - human) (bloodline - ?????)]
[Class: soul sage]
[Profession: Assassin(Arcane)]
[True name/soul name:???]
[HP 9/110]
[Sp 15/15
[AE 100/100]
[Strength: 15]
[Agility: 18]
[Endurance: 15]
[Intelligence: 15]
[Charm: 50](bloodline effect)
[ Wisdom(class specific stat): 10]
[Stat points: 5]
[Skill points: 5]
"Hmm? Zen....did you feel something just now?"
Zen was surprised that she was able to feel a change just by observing the surroundings.
He suddenly noticed that she was staring at him strangely.
"Did you.....?"
"What?" He asked
"N.. nothing, must have just been my imagination "
Zaria suddenly went quiet
"What is it "
Zaria took the box from Zen and pointed to the top of it
"I want you to teach me this "
"Okay "
"You're not going to ask what for?"
Zen turned to face her, though with more effort than he usually would have.
"It's a simple basic language of the old era, it's nothing special "
Zaria looked flabbergasted
"Simple? Basic? Things like this have been lost for thousands of years "
"Exactly. Lost, not hard"
Zaria simple stared unsure of what to say
Zen simply shrugged and decided to ignore the system and Zaria for now. He suddenly pulled something out of his ring and decided to put it on.
"What's that?" Zaria asked.
By now the lightning and thunder had stopped,so they were able to talk normally, but they still couldn't bear to be out in the rain.
"My headphones. They help me deal with the rain "
"Can i try"
Zen suddenly snapped the thing in two at the middle.
"It's broken".
"No, just magnetic"
Zen handed one half to her while fixing the other on his ear.
"The buttons on the side help you select the song you want"
Zaria found the buttons on the side of the thing and started browsing through it.
They both spent the next thirty minutes there in silence as Zen allowed Zaria to pick whatever music she liked until the rain completely stopped.
"Phew. Looks like it finally stopped" Zaria said as she got up.
Zen could feel his muscles working properly again and only now did he realize how much stronger the upgrade made him. Standing up, he started stretching to free his cramped muscles.
"Sorry about freaking out like that. Truth is that not all rainy days are like that for me, even if there is lightning and thunder"
"Same" Zen replied as he thought back to his fight using Freya's ability. He just couldn't shake off the feeling that the equip did more than just give him her abilities.
"Come on, I'll walk you to the infirmary. You're still pretty banged up if you didn't notice.