Side Quest: Searching For My Favourite NPC!

Chapter 18 - Alternative Route

Hearing her name being said by Amara triggered a million thoughts in Lauren's mind. What did that mean? How did he find out? He still held Darka's face, watching his reaction.

— How... how do you know?

— What are you doing here?! How did you get here?! — Amara's expression was a mix of surprise and curiosity, but with a strange hint of fear. — What did you do?

— I don't know, they were going to close the game server and I wanted to see you and the next thing I knew I was already here, in Darka's body!

— They closed the server?!

— I have no idea! I logged in a few minutes before they shut it down... but how do you know all this?!

Amara's hands let go of his face, and he looked down. Still waiting for a response, Darka continued.

— Were you also a player who came here? If you remember me as Lauren, were you from my contact list?

— No, I wasn't a player.

— Then how...

Amara sat in a chair, burying his head in his arms crossed on the work table. Darka, not knowing what to do, just sat in the chair closest to his friend and waited. He knew that a barrage of questions would only stress him out even more, and even if he was on the verge of a nervous breakdown it was better to take it easy.

— Let me guess, it's a long story?

— Not so much... — His voice was muffled. — Maybe.

— Do you know where are we, at least? This isn't exactly the game, right?

Finally lifting his head, Amara relaxed a little. Darka was also relieved to see that he was less tense.

— I'm not sure, but yes and no. — He straightened up in the chair. — This isn't the game Red Ocean itself, but I think it's a parallel reality or something, which exactly mirrors the world of that game. More specifically your game.

— How do you know it was my game? — Darka tried to go slowly, but he was still very curious. — How did you know I'm Lauren?

— Ah, about that... — Amara scratched his head. It was difficult to explain everything when not even he knew exactly what was happening. — In short, you are the protagonist of the story and everything that happens here is a reflection of the decisions you made in the game. You've probably already noticed this.

— Yes... But it still doesn't explain how...

— ... I know about you, yeah. I've been here a long time, I think since you first opened the game. — The mechanic turned to him. — To me, you always talked about things in your "real" life, about your stupid father and your problem making friends at college and at work. Of course, apart from the conversations about your adventures in Argrene. So it was kind of obvious to discover that you were the protagonist and a person who lived a life outside of here.

— Did you hear everything?! — Darka had a moment of realization, suddenly standing up. — I knew! I mean, at least I always had the impression that you were different from the other NPCs, it wasn't just in my head! Your responses were automatic, but I felt like...

He froze as he realized that this meant the mechanic also heard the wails and suicidal thoughts. Feeling embarrassed, he sat back down and sulked. Noticing his friend's change in mood, Amara tried to continue the topic.

— Automatic responses? Seriously? I always responded normally to what you said to me, so the game translated it for you as closely as possible, apparently. Oh, and how I knew it was Lauren in front of me... I think it was intuition. Or was it just you acting out of character towards Darka, that was a huge flag. Amara laughed. — Crying like a child when you saw me was also very strange.