Unlucky?Player

"Wake up..."

"Huh? Wah? Nate?" Luke groaned as he blinked multiple times until finally, the blurry image of his dear friend entered his mind. He could hear the sound of birds chirping and a ray of sunlight managed to slip past the curtains that were dancing about due to the morning winds.

"You've been asleep for quite a while and you had next to nothing to eat, so I was worried. Besides you were murmuring something in your sleep. Although, I could barely understand what it was..."

"Oh.....Well thank you for waking me up," Luke said as he sat up and played with his hair. He rubbed his eyes and looked to the window. It was already morning. When he logged out of the game the previous day, it was a little bit past 11 in the night and yet it's already been nearly twelve hours.

'How...no wait. What was that dream? It seemed....realistic?'

"Oy," Nate waved his hand in front of his friend, bringing him back to reality and away from his thoughts. "We need to talk about what happened but before that let's get some food, you're mom made some pancakes,"

"Alright....just gimme 5 to freshen up?" Luke said as he stretched his arms and as soon as his feet touched the matted floor, he began to exercise the rest of his body before finally, heading into the washroom.

After around 10 minutes, both, Nate and Luke walked down the stairs to the smell of fresh pancakes and maple syrup in the air. The sound of butter melting and bubbling, blueberries being poured into a bowl and finally, chocolate syrup skillfully served at the side of the plate.

"Ah, the world-famous celebrities are here. Oh and I didn't know whether you liked the chocolate on your pancakes or at the side, so just to be safe I chose the latter option, hopefully, that's okay? Now quickly get your asses here and tell me everything about it," Luke's mother said as he pointed the streaming hot spatula at the two.

"Yes....mother.." Luke gulped as he quietly walked over and sat down.

Once all of them settled down, Nate and Luke began to tell their story of how everything started and how they got to this point. Of course, they didn't go into the detail but they managed to piece the story together in a way that made sense.

"To think there would come a day where you're not only able to play games but also become so good at it that you're known all over the world. I'm so happy for you.....both of you...wait a second. Does that mean you know who Liam is inside the game?"

"Well...."

"That's a bit complicated but for now, we're leaning towards no,"

"That's a weird thing to say but I'll leave that for now.....Oh and one last thing. Tell me, son, Where did you learn to fight in such a way..." she looked at Luke with a puzzled expression as she was genuinely curious as to what happened in the few years that her son was away.

"I'm not sure....after I left for college, I was lost. I wasn't allowed to do what I want here and I get that, you guys were only trying to protect me from harming myself, but I had no other interest. Of course, this was until I walked into a gym. One thing led to another and K Johnson decided to personally train me and three years later, here I am," Luke said as cut a piece of his pancake and chomped it down.

"That's an awfully modest approach, you're not going to hear this anywhere but Luke's at a stage where he can literally take on both K Johnson and Jace Cirillo at the same time and all this is while he's going easy. I don't see him losing to anyone, ever. Unless they're not human then that would be explainable," Nate said as he looked at his friend scarfing down his breakfast.

"....." Luke's mother was at a loss for words. She was aware of who K and Jace were, and to think her son would be capable of taking on both at once with just three years of training is something absurd. However, the reason she was quiet was because of how much pain Luke must've gone through. "It must've been lonely huh? The journey. I'm sorry...I really am. We just couldn't see you losing yourself, and yet, in the end, that's exactly what happened. I'm so sorry....I couldn't be there for you, especially when you needed it the most..."

"Mother. Stop." Luke said as he looked at the woman in front of him, "You have to understand that, every time something goes wrong in my life, it doesn't mean that it's on you. I'm grateful you guys decided to stop me back then, whatever was done, only helped me find myself. Look at me now, I'm happy, happier than ever to be honest, and as a bonus, I can beat up people, so don't blame yourself and anyone else. It was bound to happen, besides, you make it sound like I had no one at all. Nate was there with me for most of it, so I wasn't entirely alone,"

'You're damn right about that. On that note, shouldn't I NOT be here for such a conversation?' Nate thought as he nodded his head while chewing. Everytime Luke or his mother would say anything, he would hit them with the "that makes sense" or the "you're valid" nod.

"I'm glad....I'm sorry just give me a second," Luke's mother replied as he took a tissue and wiped her tears away, "I'm glad that you had someone at least for a little while. And thank you for being their for my son. I mean it. I hope you know that if a day comes, where you have no where and nobody to turn to, then this house will always be open to you. I'm sure my son considers you family if not more, so with that being side. I do as well. So please continue to be by his side," she continued as he grabbed Nate's hands and held it. 

"Mom-"

"......I will," Nate replied in a daze, he could feel an unusual warmth circulating around his hands. It was pleasant and loving, something he hadn't particularly felt from his biological mother. At that moment, he couldn't even process how cheesy it sounded but the only thing he could think of was agreeing to whatever the unusual source of warmth spoke.

Luke hid his face in his arms, the conversation was far too embarrassing for him. Especially because of how easily it could be misinterpreted. It was weird to hear something like that, but at the same time, he felt happy. It was as if a huge weight had been lifted off his back.

"Oho, he's embarrassed hahah. Go now, if you're done eating. I'm sure you guys have a lot of work to do. Just make sure you enjoy okay? Don't harm yourselves," she said as she took her plate and placed it by the sink.

Once they were done, both of them washed their plates and went upstairs. However, as they were walking, Luke noticed that his friend was behaving slightly unusual, in a way that he had never seen before.

"Is everything okay? If it was the conversation before, then I'm sorry you had to sit through that. For real." 

"Hmm? No no, I'm totally fine, it's nothing at all. I was just thinking about Genesis and Kingdom. We have a huge quest coming up and we have no real solid leads, so we're kinda doomed if we don't figure something out,"

"Oh that...." Luke hadn't thought about Blade's death since he fell asleep. The conversation with his mother and everything that had happened kept his mind off the topic. Running away was stupid, if Luke learnt one thing through out his experiences, it was that facing the problem was the only real solution. "You're right, however, Linto is a good start no? And I don't think we're at the stage to face off someone at Daminos' level, if my guess is right, he should be as strong as Master. We have half a year if I'm not wrong. In reality I mean, but yeah, we have enough time to get stronger, so let's take our time and carefully grow,"

"Oh yeah on that note, did I tell you? I met Loki, the Norse god. Oh and after killing the Pope, there was this weird thing that happened. Also what did you get from the raid?" Luke continued as he recalled the events that they had gone through individually.

"Huh? wait wait wait. Slow down what the fck??"

As the two of them disappeared into the room to enter the world of Genesis, the sound of a woman reading the news out echoed throughout the house.

"The Primordials have successfully cleared the first ever raid of Genesis. They managed to defend the beautiful Kingdom of Vraun. Player NotYourTypicalMage, The Prodigy himself, seems to be doing more than a phenomenon job at leading the others. At the same time, Player Night, The Anomaly, has changed in game appearance??"