Eternal Awakening [LitRPG] [EtA Book 1]

Chapter 1 - Thoughts to Withhold

After Obi's long Dive, Dern was not happy with him. The peace of the Weld was interrupted by a yank, and incessant screeching from the overprotective butler. Dern knew the family's predicament, knew about the financial struggles and knew that Obi was always in turmoil about his baby sister. 

"You know you can't stay there for that long! You know the reports, I know the reports, YOU COULD GO MAD!", Dern screeched at Obi.

Obi didn't have a response. He never had one. He just stared at the gently lit ceiling, waiting for the rage to pass. Interestingly, Obi could make out new patterns in the ceiling. A swirl here, and a different shade there. Suddenly, Obi snapped back into existence; seeing that Dern had folded his arms and was looking at him intently.

"You know what I was doing Dern. It's not new. I know I was in there long,  and I accept it may damage me, but fail-safes are put into place for reasons."

"Oh, I don't buy that at all! Your 4 hours here are 16 hours in there. Who knows when they'll malfunction and permanently damage you in the end. You know Rory? Sector 12,  A4? He had to be sent to a medical ward for multiple seizures! You can't go on like this forever, if something happens to you, then... Who'll take care of her?"

That hit a deep spot inside of Obi. His only weak link was his precious little sister. He would do anything for her. Absolutely anything, such was the deep love he had for her. He stared back up at the ceiling again. Head rested against his wheelchair, and thoughts racing inside his mind.

"I'll try next time. I got 12 today. Not a hefty sum, but it'll work. I wanna surprise Sara. When is she gonna be home? I heard she has some events today?"

Obi wheeled over to the Holoscreen and clipped the table in the process. He groaned as he fell limp to the floor.

"Sometime around 5 PM, she told me - which is just around 3 hours from now.", Dern said as he rushed over to help Obi back to his wheelchair. "Still a bit woozy eh, Obyn?"

'It's Obi, not Obyn."

Obi carefully positioned himself against the screen. He flicked through catalogs while nonchalantly shrugging. He peered at some items, but let them go. Most of them were too expensive for his budget. 

He found a scarf and immediately placed it to order. It was perfect. Just a solid grey color, and with pink running down the middle of it. Sara would love it, especially as it would go along with her pink prosthetic arm.

"I placed it to order, it should arrive before she does.", Obi said cheerily.

"You HAVE to be out of your mind! Our credit supply is already dwindling, and now you just spend it on a scarf?", Dern scolded.

"I have it covered. There should be a transfer of 17 thousand credits to our account, go check that. And while you're at it, go check in on the mail. Hopefully, there's some reply from the courts."

Obi's parents had kept a will ready before their death, and it stated that most of the assets and the family money would go to Obi, and some precious items locked away until he was 18, the legal adult age.

Their family lawyer, C. Maglen, was a sneaky and cunning man; he was after the assets for a long time, and now he wanted to lay hands on them more than ever after Obi's parents died.

Maglen told the court that Obi could have a small portion of the inherited money, and a small rented house that he would provide, and twisted the will to his advantage by telling the courts to keep custody of the money and the items until he was 18. There was only 3 months until he was 18.

Obi waited for Dern to go outside the house before rolling up to the wall and punching it as hard as he could. Wincing from the pain, he shut his eyes and calmed himself. Drifting off into another world, a world of his own.

~The Next Day~

'I don't think about the future. About what would happen when she becomes older. I would have to tell her the truth. The real reason why our parents were dead. About who they were, what they did, and how important they were.' Obi thought. He turned onto his side.

~Crash~

The next thing he knew, Obi was sprawled across the floor with his tongue lolling on the floor. His bed's side legs had fallen off, making him roll off and smash into his bedside table. The table was beyond repair now. Its hollow insides had been smashed in.

Dern rushed in to investigate. He helped Obi into his wheelchair while tutting.

"What a pity. Such a spontaneous occurrence isn't it. Looks like it could have been worse, the table saved you from rolling farther."

Dern took a closer look at the bed. He reached out to pick up one of the legs and was shocked to find all the fasteners missing!

"I've found the reason. The fasteners have been removed from the legs!", Dern said while checking the other leg and confirming his suspicion.

Obi snapped out of his reverie and took a careful look at the legs. It was 7 in the morning and he knew that no-one else could have tampered with it. Yesterday was a Wednesday, so it was only Obi, Dern, Sara and -

"It could have been that cleaning lady. She was in here yesterday to mop up the house.", Dern suggested.

"Well then, call her here. We need to have a talk."

Sara meekly peeped around the door. She was ready for school, in her uniform, wearing her schoolbag, and clutching a small lunchbox. She had been watching them talk for the entire incident and seemed nervous.

"It was me, Owi. I took them out for fun."

She held out her palm filled with shiny metal screws, all neatly taken out and arranged in order of size.

Obi was angry, but when he saw those beautiful wide blue eyes, he softened up a little.

"I only did ith 'cause ith was gonna be funny, and I thougth it won'th gonna hurt big bwother.", Sara looked sad. "I wath only playing..."

Sara's front teeth had fallen out only a week before, and she still wasn't used to it. Obi's heart swelled. He was blessed to have such a good sister. All his anger floated away and he rolled up to Sara.

"I'm thowwy Obi", Sara apologized.

"It's okay, Sara. This time, I didn't get hurt. Being like this is good, but don't take it too far, okay? That's my good girl!"

Obi ruffled her hair and sent her off to school. It was time for another dive in the weld, and this one was important. He had received a message from his gaming buddy, Cole. He had wanted to talk about some kind of a quest.