The Game Before the Fall

Chapter 5: Preparation and Reparation. (Part 1)

Chapter 5: Preparation and Reparation.

2 months, 3 days after the fall:

"Not much further Aria, Teremire should just be past this hill," I held on to Aria by the hand, pulling her through the dense forest. "We'll be safe soon."

"Ardy...," though there was hope in her eyes, it was clouded by all that we had seen. The friends we had lost along the way.

The dense forest broke away. The result was the fear we had already expected. The port city of Teremire had crumbled. The thick stone walls defending its boundary had been torn apart. The buildings collapsed and not a trace of life remained. No smoke, no bodies, just the leftover scars of battle.

I grit my teeth, "Aria I'm so sorry."

She gripped my hand, "We're still on the boundary of Crysis right? Maybe they fared better further inland." Her words were for me more than herself as I couldn't help begin to cry from the loss of the world I had grown to love.

"Y-yeah," I wiped the tears away. "Let's get supplies. Stay close to me."

*

It was still early morning. After dinner the prior day I had gone back and played for several more hours before returning home to sleep. There were many things I needed to do in the game, but there were just as many things I needed to do in the real world. The tiny sensation of mana still dwelled in my chest and like I had the previous day I sat on my bed and closed my eyes, focusing on the energy.

Mana was broken up into approximately 40 types. It was the combining and conversion between the types of mana that resulted in magic. The knowledge didn't help at all in the game where skills could be triggered by simple thought, but when the system broke down half a year after the Fall, players all across the globe lost their strength. That was when the already terrible became that much worse. It was akin to kicking down a child who had barely managed to begin standing.

I was lucky to be interested in the process of magic in the first place and studied quite hard after the Merge. When the system broke down I was still able to use magic to a degree. The mana itself however came from two sources, one from our planet and one from Areithia. Though using either mana had the same result, it was like the subtle difference between two types of the same fruit. The mana within me currently was Areithia's. It made sense as the game's severs ran on magic mixed with technology and would leave a trace however small.

Eyes closed and meditating, I used the tiny fragment of mana to try draw in more. After half an hour there was no noticeable difference and I had to give up as my body began to shake from the effort. Areithia's mana was locked behind the virtual world and the planet's mana hadn't been triggered to grow. Trying to pull mana in the middle of an apartment block close to the city was, as I thought, a pipedream. I'd need to do some research on places nearby that could have a higher density, even if it was only slightly.

I headed out from my room and went for a quick jog around the block before returning to have breakfast. From there Aria and I headed to Zen's gym to help out and exercise. Dad was already there speaking to Zen about the latest results of her budding social media channels.

"So you're saying a hundred thousand people watched me?" Zen was amazed. "Did they say anything?"

Dad smiled at her curiosity, "You can check it yourself as well. A lot of people were really impressed. It seems however your routine is still a bit too hard. Most your views are from," he paused unsure how to phrase it, "... men admiring your beauty."