When the darkness disappeared, and he felt like his body function had returned, Atlas immediately opened his eyes and shouted.
"Fer!"
However, once he did that, his body froze. The scenery around him wasn't that of his room in the Hub. There was no touch that indicated Ferin's presence behind him.
He was in a strange room, somewhere he didn't remember.
"Where is this?" He exclaimed, a bit confused.
An unfamiliar ceiling and an unfamiliar small room.
No, when he calmed down and looked around, he realized he recognized this place. The old VR Capsule beside his bed was the trigger that jogged out his old memory.
"My old room?" He asked himself. "But this apartment was destroyed 3 years ago."
His head was in pieces from confusion. What actually happened?
For now, he got off the bed and looked around. Was this a prank, he wondered. However, that possibility was low. Why? Because he found out about something shocking.
"I got younger?"
His reflection in the mirror in the bathroom was that of his younger self. More specifically, his 20-year-old face from 5 years ago with blond hair.
"What the… Am I still inside a VR world? This joke isn't funny. Fer! Just end this joke alre–"
"Shut the fuck up, bastard! I am trying to sleep here!"
Bam!
Just as he called out to his lover, someone from above shouted loudly and hit the ceiling hard. Atlas stayed still and looked at his ceiling. Yeah, he remembered that his upstairs neighbor was someone with a short fuse and always shouted like that. It was something that Ferin didn't know.
Still, he refused to believe it. How could he return back to this time? Or rather, was it truly the past?
At that moment, he had an idea. He knew something that couldn't be tweaked no matter what you do.
"The date…" He muttered as he looked at the smartwatch on his left wrist. He operated it skillfully, and a hologram screen popped up before his eyes.
Large letters showing the current date were written on the semi-transparent screen. It said June 4th, 2043.
'It's actually 2043.' Atlas repeated and hissed in surprise. 'Is this time travel? How does this make sense? But… the system's date is something that can't be faked. It's something that the Central database is directly responsible for. Changing it through hacking or manually is impossible.'
Atlas left the bathroom and sat on his bed. He needed time to process this. But, just as he sat down, he received a message from an unknown number. A hologram screen popped up in front of him.
Thinking that it was probably an electricity bill or something, as he was quite poor at this time and had debt, he was about to delete it. But then, he saw the preview message, and his hand stopped mid-air.
"Fer?" He muttered as he saw the first few words. Then, he decided to check the message.
[Ferin: At! WE TIME TRAVEL! WHAT SHOULD I DO?! It's me, Ferin! Your future girlfriend!]
A smile appeared on his face, followed by a chuckle. It seemed like he wasn't the only one. Also, her message seemed like a scam, especially with that future girlfriend stuff.
[Atlas: Fer? Is that you?]
[Ferin: Oh my god, At! You're with me!]
[Atlas: Yes, I am. How about we meet directly? I am in New Eden City right now, around block C. There are a few things we need to talk about.]
[Ferin: I am on my way! Wait for me in that café at the corner where we first met!]
[Atlas: Got it.]
***
After getting ready, Atlas immediately went to the mentioned café and got an outdoor seat.
He still remembered his first meeting like yesterday, when he met an arrogant girl who raged in a café because her gacha was a miss after spending more than $1,000. She even gave him a strange look and accused him of being a pervert because he stared at her.
But that arrogant girl turned out to be someone very sweet and loving once he got to know her. They met a second time in a game, but that wasn't important right now.
What was important was that they needed to settle what happened right now. The world outside was, without a doubt, real. But the scenery was that of the old one, something he remembered from 5 years ago. Even the café layout perfectly replicated what he remembered when he first met Ferin.
However, something definitely changed.
"Yahoo! There you are, At!"
Ferin appeared from a distance in a white summer dress. Her long silver hair glitter under the sun, under a hat made from hay that gave her shade from the strong sun.
A beautiful smile plastered on her face as she jumped at Atlas, hugging him.
"Hehehe, you look different, but I recognize you right away."
"While you still look as beautiful as before, Fer," Atlas said as he smiled. "But for now, can you release me? We're getting a strange look."
"Hmm?" Ferin hummed in confusion.
She looked around curiously. And just as he had said, many people looked at her and whispered not-so-quietly. Most of them didn't even try to hide their gaze.
"Ah, right." She exclaimed in realization as she backed away from Atlas, pouting. "I am still a famous model now…"
"That's right, and you can't quit for another 3 years," Atlas said as he made space for her to sit next to him. "For you, milady."
"Hehe, thank you." She giggled as she sat down.
With a cute face, she looked at him and asked.
"So, with this, can we confirm that we're indeed in the past? And out of all time, 5 years ago? Isn't that absurd?"
Ferin ordered a drink through the café's application while she was there. She had long since ignored the gaze people gave her.
"It is absurd."
Atlas agreed with her. He also ignored people's gazes on them because he was already used to it.
"Is it related to that golden ball? Before I blacked out, I heard that the Ball of Time had been activated or something."
"Ah, me too!" Ferin exclaimed, "After I touched that golden ball, the strange runs bound us, and I realized I was in my room. I didn't find your clothes or anything when I looked around, so I contacted you urgently. And then we're here!"
"But, do you think an item from a game could time-travel us?"
Atlas' question was left unanswered. They had no answer for that.
"Well, let's talk about it and plan what we should do next."
Both of them talked about their conjecture of the current situation. The drink Ferin ordered arrived; it was for both Atlas and her.
After talking for a while, both of them agreed that they were in the past, and the clue was probably inside Horizon Online. Whether they wanted it or not, they needed to play the game to find out about it.
However, as both of them were avid gamers, it wasn't even a question whether to play it again or not.
"The release date is in a month. We will play on the opening day?"
"Agreed." Ferin said, nodding excitedly, "Still, isn't it kind of cheating? We're playing a new game+ of the game that was just released."
"Do you know something, Fer?" Atlas smirked as he stirred his drink with the small spoon. "It's not cheating if no one finds out. No one will believe that we time-traveled from the future."
Ferin's eyes widened, and she nodded in agreement. That was correct.
"Still… there is a problem." He continued in a soft voice, looking at the sky.
"Hmm? What is it?" She asked innocently.
"My situation isn't exactly great right now. Because I haven't made any money from Horizon Online yet, I am still riddled with debt. Also, my capsule can't even bring out my full capabilities. It might take time until I can fully take off. A week after the release, I assume."
Hearing that, Ferin grinned widely and puffed her chest.
"Well, that's a simple matter! Your girlfriend over here is rich! Just leave money-related problems to me! And I will buy you the latest capsule. Let me contact Peter."
Atlas' eyes widened. Right, she was rich! He clapped his hands and praised her. Right now, she shone brightly in his eyes, just like an angel sent from heaven.