Serene

Qi slowly opened his eyes. At first, he thought he had died and he is in heaven with a fairy receiving him.

BAM!

Poor Qi got another slap, a light one at that.

"Wake up, sleepyhead. It's not like you're dead."

The slap shattered his heaven fairy fantasy. And it was replaced by that nonchalant look of that young girl.

So I am not dead. Qi, Dear Qi. You are getting tamed now, by a young girl at that, Hah! He exclaimed in his mind and shook his head.

After a moment he realized he was stabbed by a sword which could fly on its own. He hurriedly tried to see the wound, only to be greeted by a wonderful sight. He was healed! How did it happen? Is it so that I am in a game and can't die?

"What happened to my wound?" he anxiously asked.

The young girl sighed, "I gave you a medicinal pill, called 'Beginner Regenerative Pill', which can regenerate at great speed."

Qi was totally confused now. The pill has a name like in the game! If this continues he might as well go mad. He knew that the girl was real as he could feel that she was all flesh and bones and he could also feel the pain when he almost died. He decided to ask directly.

"Who are you? What is this place? I told you my story but you went berserk. I could even ask a damn thing." said Qi.

"Keep your heartbeat in check. I'll tell you my story." The girl said with a sigh. And then she started her story.

"Before this planet was occupied, it was a barren land. Or so we thought. We, as in humanity. We didn't know that this planet was actually a place that was vied by so many entities. My ancestors thought this will be a good place to settle down after our home planet was destroyed. We don't even know why it was destroyed. After we came here, we came to understand a few things. First, Humanity was not the only race here. Second, this place is so damn vast. And third, Humanity was at the lowest rung of races."

How ridiculous can you be, dear girl? What's with all this 'we' stuff. It's not like you were even born at that time. Qi thought all this but didn't raise any questions for the fear of those slaps.

Wait, I didn't even fear that sword, why do I even fear those slaps?

Oh, dear Qi, you have become a lovestruck fool at first sight, and you don't even know that. Hah!, all in the name of saving Earth, you tossed your love in the trash. Or did you just use Earth as a reason to reject your inner self to deny the fact that you fell in love with her? If his friends on earth knew about this they would be shocked and happy. The cold Qi became lovestruck fool Qi.

Everything aside, the girl continued, "We were nothing but pawns in their eyes. We don't even know who they are. We were confined to a small amount of land and then we were told to do wars against other races. That's how we all lived on. But that was just the mysterious part. At least we survived and not got exterminated. We began to adapt to the situation and we even began to have happy lives because of some great heroes who protected our race. Until more than a decade ago, when we were just about to enter 5001 Year. On the last day, my dad sent me to this place with my mom. I was but 1 year old. Who knew that everyone else outside would be made puppets by a new force who took over this planet. This was what my mom told me. I even asked why dad didn't come and what is this place and all that. But my mom either don't know, or she is being too quiet. And then you came. I was so horrified after you told me that these puppets were used for a damn game. Just thinking of it makes me so horrified. You guys kill monsters and think they will respawn after some time. But is this how things happen? If the outside people were puppets, then where did they disappear? And how did the monsters came that can respawn? My mind ran AWOL and I couldn't stand imagining my father hacked to death and then he comes back to life, only to be hacked back to death. I am sorry about what happened before. I wasn't in the right state of mind. Thank you for saving me."

She was literally crying at that point.

Hell, how do I comfort a crying girl? Ugh, one of the side effects of being cold.

He gave a slight cough and awkwardly asked, "Uhm! What's your name, Miss."

What an improvement from a young girl to Miss! Qi, you are not cold you know. At least to this girl. Better tell her that you fell in love or she will fly away.

By the way Qi, you didn't even give her something to wipe her tears. Where is your gentlemanliness?

The girl slowly stopped crying and said slowly, "Serene Yu, the First daughter of Wallock Yu and Mary.."

"Woah! I just asked your name, Miss. Not your whole family's name." Qi quickly interrupted.

How rude, Qi.

"Uhm! I am sorry. This is how we used introduce ourselves outside." the young girl… Serene said, slightly embarrassed.

"Oh. I didn't mean to be rude. Back in our place we just say our names and that is it." And here Qi was also embarrassed.

What is this? Both of them with slightly red cheeks… Looks like a romantic scene from outside.

"And what might be your name?" she asked in a low voice.

"Chang Qi," he said enthusiastically.

"So Qi, how will you go back to your world?" she regained control of herself. This time she was totally different from that nonchalant young girl. This time she was acting like a simple girl. Yea, you know the type of girls who act like they are with their best friends and open up.

Good progress Qi. Now don't be that cold guy and ruin this moment.

Actually, Qi didn't plan to go back to his cold appearance as he already considered her as his friend.

He thought, I saved her and she is not evil, or else she would have definitely killed me if she had a chance. Moreover, she is acting all goody-goody. I should also be nice to her. It's all for Earth.

Sly, so damn sly, Qi. Why don't you tell yourself, you want her.

"Ah! About that. I have no idea." Qi said.

"Why don't you come to my place and ask my mom. She might have an idea. Or she might know how to get you out of here." Serene said.

"Will your mom agree with me coming with you together at your place?"

Dear Qi. This is a whole different world. Please drop some of your culture of shyness.

"No worries. My mom loves me the best. If I tell her what happened, she will willingly give you a place to live." Serene said joyfully.

"I don't plan to live here. I also have a family waiting for me." He was somewhat happy inside that he won't starve here and will have a place to live, but he was also sad that he won't be able to see his family until then.

Now to think, he didn't even know how much time had passed and what time is it on earth. Will his mom be waiting? Will she be angry?

"How much time has passed since I passed?" He hurriedly asked.

"5 minutes at most," she said and lead the way towards her place.

"Phew!" Qi exhaled and relaxed. Not much time has passed since he came here and all the events that followed. An hour at best.

And then they walked for another half an hour and talked about the differences and similarities between them and the 2 worlds. Serene knew that Qi knew nothing about cultivation so she kept quiet about it and let her mother give him a huge shock. She knew that eventually, Qi would enter the world of cultivation as he was the first person to ever enter this domain.

As they talked to each other, Qi found out that the 'domain' that they were talking about was actually a hidden piece of land from outside and these type of lands were called 'Hidden Realms'. They could be of any size imaginable. The main part was they were hidden and they couldn't be moved. At least that's the knowledge passed down through generations.

They got quite familiar with each other as they continued to talk.

And then they arrived a huge mansion.

"And here we are. My home sweet home."

Qi was stunned at the sheer size of the mansion.

He thought, What mansion? This is a damn palace.