Leon woke up early the next morning. Looking at the time on the holographic map, it was 6am.
"I guess I'll check out of this inn."
'What are you going to do after checking out of this inn? What stalls will be open at this time?'
"Well, ever since I arrived here last night. I felt a pull in my heart. I'm guessing it's a bit far from here too. So I'll go borrow a mount that is fast and look for the end of the pull before coming back and meeting the rest."
'A pull? Is your golden finger trying to tell you something? Are you about to reach the 2nd level?'
"I think so. We'll find out. Let's go!"
Leon did what he planned and arrived at the end of the pull. Again, he felt a barrier in front of him without being able to physically see it. Leon took a step inside and closed his eyes, feeling the world energy flow into him. He could see within his mind, the process bar to level up his golden finger reach fullness.
'Ding! You have successfully unlocked level 2!'
System No. 369 sounded within his head. Just like a notification you receive when you level up in a game. Leon opened his eyes and immediately pulled up his game screen.
[ New! You are now able to send a chat bubble to your character, Kayden! ]
[ New! You are now able to teleport into your character's home! ]
[ New! You are now able to access the space storage of Kayden! ]
[ New! You are now able to access the player's game bag! ]
[ New! You are now able to access the cooking and crafting tab! ]
"Eh? I wasn't able to send a chat bubble before?"
'He was never there to try it out, right?'
Leon nodded in response and continued to look through the game notifications. Looking at all the changes, Leon got excited and clicked the game bag. What popped up was his storage space of ten squares. But he noticed the added items within the cubes. The red dots on the corner of the images had 99+ within it. He checked each box and saw all his game items that he bought, saved, collected inside. Next, he tapped on the tab that was titled: Kayden's Storage Space. Other than the food, all the clothes, weapons, and gifts he sent were all inside! Like the chests he checked in Kayden's bedroom, a lot of broken weapons were stored and a lot of useless tattered outfits were stored.
"Oh? I can use the smelting tab and the disassemble tab."
'It might be because you have access to the cooking and crafting tab. Now you can reuse and reproduce items you have made. I think you should tell Kayden before doing whatever you want with the scraps. It seems like he treasured everything you gave him.'
"Of course I will tell him. He's my husband! Humph!"
'Just tell you before you let your impulses control you. I know you take action before thoughts.'
"Yeah, yeah."
Leon closed the game screen and finally looked at his surroundings. He saw a small field of crops behind a wooden fence. Then he saw the tiny home. Curious, he entered through the gate's of the fence and approached the home. Then he went in front of the window and looked inside. His eyes widened in disbelief. It was Kayden's home! The bedroom! It's Kayden's bedroom! This world is the game world! He had transmigrated into Kayden's world!
"How are you able to get past this space's restriction? I should be the only one able to enter."
A familiar voice questioned him from behind, a few feet away. Leon whipped his head and his eyes opened wider. It was Kei! No, he should be Kayden if he says that only he can enter this space. Kayden was without his cloak and face covering this time. The outfit he was wearing was crafted by Leon himself. Why didn't he notice before? The same habits and body movements. The same emerald eyes and silver hair. The same unamused face and the same small replies during conversations.
"Hubby?"
Leon unconsciously called out. Kayden had a slight frown on his face. He was extremely confused and his thoughts were a mess. Leon then gasped and yelled at him.
"Hubby, you traitor! I stayed loyal all my life and you go and get together with that brat, Tiriana?!"
Leon banged open the door to the home and locked himself into Kayden's bedroom. He was pissed. Very pissed. Leon dry heaved as his lungs tried to take in air.
'Relax. You're too emotional right now.'
"B-but I…Waaaahhh!"
Leon bursted into sobbing tears as he curled up in Kayden's bed. All this time, he had held back his grievances and relied on the fact that he would be able to meet Kayden and they could pass through the hardships of each world together. He didn't care about returning to his original world. Kayden within the game had followed him after death. But he realized that Kayden and Tiriana were together. He thought that Kayden had gotten over him and moved on in life. If he didn't have Kayden then what's the point in going through all this world travel and missions? All this time, he had acted and pretended that everything was fine. That he is fine and would be fine, but it wasn't. Leon cried himself to sleep.
Kayden stood in front of his bedroom door. He noticed a lot of things and connected a lot of things. Leon was the presence that appeared one day. He was going through his normal life routine. Waking up early, training his swordsmanship and magic spells, hunting for food to eat at lunch, training and practicing more magic spells, eating dinner, and then going to sleep. He was 24 years old at that time. He woke up one morning, saw a rune-like message hovering in front of him. After reading it, it faded and another line of magic runes popped up.
[ Good morning~! ]
Was the first message. At first, he was annoyed. Then it became part of his daily life. Each day, he woke up to a morning greeting. Then at lunch, he would be in the kitchen to get a glass of water. And then a line of runes popped up within his eyesight.
[ Here! I cooked you some food! Try it~! ]
Kayden had to try the food or the other would spam the messages until he did it. When he first tasted the dish, he frowned deeply. It was barely edible. He finished it all and the plate and fork faded away. The same thing happened at dinner time. He ate it without much thought. Then one day, he received a different message.
[ I just crafted this weapon. Here, I'll give it to you as a gift! ]
He took the weapon and went to train for the morning. After a swing, the sword broke into two.
"..."
[ Ah, don't worry! I made more! ]
Kayden tossed the broken weapons into a huge chest. And so his new daily routine was made. As time went on, the other gave him better food, better weapons, and even clothes. The other started to talk about his life a bit during the morning, a bit during lunch, and for an hour before he went to sleep.
[ Today, a customer came in angry and splashed me with a cup of water. Sigh~ I'm so tired. But it's all okay! I'm fine! Don't worry about me! ]
Kayden was able to read the lines of runes but some words didn't seem to exist in his world. So he couldn't understand but he still responded that he was listening once in a while. This routine went on for almost a year. Then the other stopped sending magic rune messages and gifting things. It's like he completely disappeared. For once, he was unaccustomed to the silence of living alone. He was truly alone in this home. No one to cook him food, no one to care for him by giving him things and no one to tell him about their day. He remembered the day the other asked him to marry him.
[ Kayden, I love you. Will you please marry me? ]
"Un."
He gave the same response as always but this moment was forever engraved in his memory. The other had given him a wedding gift. He always wore it. Only when bathing, did he put it within his storage space. He had fallen in love with the presence and they had been married for 8 months out of the one year they knew each other. Their daily life was peaceful, warm, and fulfilling to his mind and soul. He felt completed and that he had found his other half. He had lived life emptily before. Everything was gray before he met the other's presence.
After a week of waiting for his love, he finally accepted that the other was gone for good. But he couldn't help but feel devastated and he didn't care that he wasn't taking care of himself. He had started hearing whispers within his head. All day and all night, there were whispers even within his dreams. He was beginning to go crazy.
'Where did he go?'
'He's not dead! I won't believe it!'
'Don't leave me…'
'They should all die! They took you away from me!'
A day later, he decided to go on a journey. Since he disappeared then he would just search for him. Kayden set up a magic boundary. Making it a separate space from this world. Only he would be able to enter. He left the elven kingdom when he couldn't find a hint of the other's presence there. He looked for the same magic runes. He realized that he didn't know much about the other's appearance. Not even his voice. It was always the other coming to him and sending him messages. He didn't seem to mind not knowing before. He had assumed the other would always be with him. Kayden traveled for almost 4 years. Sometimes he would return and check if anything new appeared or anything had changed within the home. Only to be disappointed.
At the beginning of his travels he had rescued a little girl. That girl was Tiriana. He saved her and then left. But the girl seemed to get attached to him and followed him everywhere. He ignored it since he didn't have energy to care. Then he learned to ignore the girl's presence. Within 4 years, the whispers in his head got worse. He was always on the verge of going crazy. He used so much self control and forced his will to keep on living. He hadn't found his lover yet. But he knew that soon he would completely break down and lose control. His bloodlust and killing intent would overflow and he would go on a rampage of a killing spree.
He has traveled around the four great lands two times now. On his wait back to the elven land, he met Leon. Like any stranger, he didn't care to pay attention. Honestly, he couldn't put any energy into caring. His mind was in chaos. Filled with dark energy and evil whispers to kill everything and everyone. That morning, he was doing his usual routine. Waking up early, training his sword and practicing his magic. But then he felt his soul be bound. Then the whispers disappeared. His mind never felt so…peaceful and silent. So he walked from the back of the home to the front. He saw a person looking into the window of his bedroom.
It was Leon. From his recent adventurer's party. He was confused and questioned the other. Only for Leon to turn around in shock and then shout at him with anger and hurt in his eyes. Kayden followed the other and stopped in front of his bedroom door. He understood that Leon was who he was searching for. He used his dark mana and shifted into the shadows and moved inside the bedroom. Yes, he was the Dark Dragon that everyone was trying to find and kill. But he didn't care. He was planning on letting himself be killed when he couldn't control himself anymore. What was the point in living in a world without his love?
But as long as Leon was with him, by his side. He would be at peace, mentally and physically. Kayden formed out of the shadows and appeared next to the bed. Leon was sleeping softly. There are still undried tears on his cheeks. His heart pained at the sight and thought of Leon's sadness and hurt. Kayden stood there, watching Leon sleep for over 30 minutes.