The Earth After Rebirth

His eyes couldn't adjust fast enough, he wanted to see the person who had been haunting his unconscious mind for months now. The one who drew him in and threw him out as he pleased.

He kept blinking them but the vision seemed to be getting worse, not better. Especially for someone like him, seeing through only a single eye. This caused panic to swirl up within him.

It wasn't that he was afraid for his life, this was still the game if remembered correctly. But it was about what the place made him feel, there was nothing like it. The closest he could compare it with was when he was dying, on the streets, alone.

Apart from feeling worse than death, he wanted to see before he was thrown out again, maybe if he could see he could make sense of things. He could make sense of why the game followed him in the real world.

"Okay Kiro, calm down." He tried talking himself down a notch.

His other senses however were failing him. He'd never experienced complete silence before—he'd never experienced a place with no odour either.

The panic got much worse when he realised that the people he came in with were all left alone and he had no hope that they could take care of business alone.

Viktor was one hell of a warrior but he was not strong enough yet, Aeron was very excellent at keeping his feet moving but he doubted he could keep it up for very long. He was only a healer after all, one mistake would see the end of him.

"Send me back, send me back right now." He bellowed, flailing his arms around, hoping to touch something—preferably a door.

"Calm down." The deep voice spoke to him again, the moment it did Kiro's anxiety was smoothed. "You don't need your eyes to see."

Kiro groaned in annoyance. He knew that better than anyone but he wanted to see with his own naked eye. The place he was in made it semi impossible for him to truly see through vibrations.

The brightness made it grainy, like he was watching static—or worse chewing on glass. He couldn't exactly explain it but it was very uncomfortable, it made his entire being pained.

"It wouldn't do you any good to have your sight in this place. But if you insist, I'll make it easier on your human eyes." He'd only heard the voice a couple of times, but the familiarity made it feel like he knew the person.

Like a veil had been lifted, the blurriness was fading rather slowly. He'd read about heaven from the books of the old earth, if what was before him right now wasn't heaven, he didn't know what is.

He didn't know why he was so scared before, this place was beautiful. Not only that, it made all his worries disappear. For a moment he didn't even know why he was there in the first place, he was happy being here for all of eternity.

The being in front of him sighed in irritation, this veil was something enticing for lesser minds. He wanted to believe different about his chosen one, but he was just a human after all.

He unveiled the place for only but a millisecond, it was enough to knock Kiro out of his dream state. He was shaking with fear, he was quickly drenched in sweat. He changed his mind about this being heaven, maybe hell?

"It's not hell or heaven, gods you humans are one dimensional." He said bitterly, clearly a great grudge against humanity.

"Then—what—the—hell—is—this," he said in-between heavy breaths, attempting to get up but his knees failing him miserably.

He managed to look up, seeing the man before him made his heart take strides in his chest. He thought he was perfect in every way—too perfect—too beautiful.

"You can't be real." He said catching his breath at last. "You're nothing but a programme in the game called Asgard Online. Why does the system keep pulling me in these weird places?"

The man did not answer, he instead looked at him amused.

"It's neither this nor that, it's neither here nor there." He opted to answer his first question first, he smiled at his only hope. They only had one chance and it was this one.

"I must say, you're more human than I thought—but of course you are."

Kiro didn't say anything. He was scanning the place for a door, he hadn't heard much but it was enough for him. He wanted out. He planned to complain about the game on its official site—he was aware that those complaints would fall on deaf ears as many had.

"Before, you called me a child of destiny, why, what does that mean?" His mind was starting to come back to him, he couldn't find a door so he figured talking with this person will grant him passage back.

He even tried to log out but the system wasn't responsive which was very strange. This only happened once before, that's when he fell into Hubris' home world.

"Yes you are, you're the only one capable. But first, let's take a sit. This will be a long talk, I doubt your human body can withstanding that position for long." He offered him a chair at the table.

Kiro could've sworn there was no table or chairs before. This garden they were in had only beautiful floors before, but the chairs didn't even materialise out of thin air. He didn't see them come into existence, they were just not there and then they were.

He sceptically walked to the table and sat on the chair. The man poured him tea, with snacks on his other side. Another thing that wasn't there and then it was.

"I'm sure those will be to your liking." He chuckled nervously.

Kiro wasn't going to eat anything from this place. Now that he'd seen what the place actually looked like, whose to say the snacks weren't the same thing.

The man noticed this but he didn't wish to prod him any further about it.

"There's no easy way to say this, but the game, I created it." He said apprehensive.

"Oh so you're the creator? Dammit just say so from the beginning. This must be your avatar then? Be honest you made it so only you can tweak your looks?" He was feeling more it ease.

"No, Kiro. You don't understand, the game isn't a game."