Hollow Reign: Knowledge of Those Lost

While Rachel was making her way back to the Elven capital at her fastest pace, Ren, who was the target of their concern, awakened.

"Mmm…Where?" Ren mumbled to herself.

Surrounding her was darkness as usual, yet she felt something which she hadn't felt in a very long time.

She thought back to the time she was a little girl and her parents had brought her to the beach.

The cold ocean beating against her feet, threatening to sweep her away along with their return. The coarse sand below which wanted to swallow her whole.

"Sand…That's right! I remember I was being chased, and then I tripped! Then….then…?" Ren thought to herself as she lifted her body off of the sandy floor and racked her brain in an attempt to remember what had occurred after her fall.

"Water?" Ren, having remembered hearing the sounds of water before she had fallen unconscious, wondered even more about her current situation.

{…he…e…he…}

"Is…is someone there?" Hearing voices coming from her surroundings, Ren couldn't help but to call out.

{…Hehehe…}

Ren swiveled her head around in an attempt to better pinpoint the direction in which the sounds where coming from, yet it proved to be fruitless as the voice reverberated around her making it sounds as if it was coming from all directions simultaneously.

"H…Hello?" Ren called out with fear, slowly budding within her.

{…Dead…} The child like voice exclaimed. It's light, soft tone rang out clearly within Ren's mind.

{…She Died…Hehehe…} Another child said, it's tone slightly more masculine then the previous one.

"Who died?" Ren asked.

{…Shhh…Don't make fun of her children…death claims us all with time.} Another voice called out in reprimand. This out sounding more mature, like it belonged to a kind, loving mother.

{…Hehehe…} The voices of multiple children giggled in response.

"What's happening! Please…someone…" Ren was beginning to grow more and more afraid as she felt alone and vulnerable.

She didn't know where she was or how she got here, all she knew was that she wanted to see her family and end this nightmare.

'That's right…this is just a game…its just a game Ren…' She thought to herself In realization.

'Log Out!!' Ren called out in her mind.

[Log out of Hollow Reign? (Yes/No)]

'Sys!! Yes! Log out now!' Hearing the familiar tone of her system, Ren pleaded to be let out of this nightmare.

[Command Confirmed…Logging out in…10…9…]

{…Hehehe…}

{…*Sigh*…We shall meet again, oh lost child…} The woman called out, before her voice began to fade into the distance.

{…Bye Bye…Hehehe…}

Hearing the voices bidding their farewell overlap with the system's countdown, Ren didn't know how to respond.

Yet it was at that moment when the voices of the children giggling began to fade in a similar manor as the matured woman's voice, that Ren saw something.

That's right, within her vision which has been forever shrouded in darkness, for the first time in her life she saw something.

A butterfly.

Shinning with a myriad of different colors, it floated within her vision before fading away along with the giggling of children.

"Wait…" Ren called out in disbelief only for her words to be cut off by the system.

[Log Out Successful]

Along with the voice of her system, the feeling of the coarse sand underneath her slowly began to turn soft as she felt a familiar feeling.

A comforting feeling which she hadn't felt in what seemed to have been an eternity. Something which in the past, she had no idea she would one day miss so much.

"My bed…" Ren whispered as tears began to form in her eyes.

"Ren?! What's wrong?!"

Hearing the familiar voice of her brother, Ren could no longer hold in it and dove into her brothers arms.

"Ren?!" Seeing his little sister suddenly break into tears, Liam didn't know what to do aside from hold her and comfort her.

********************************

Back at the place Ren had just logged off from, a conversation was occurring.

{…Hehehe…Fun girl, Fun girl…} The voices of children exclaimed seeing the girl vanish from her location.

{Come little ones, we have work to do. There are many spirits which need our assistance.} The woman's voice from earlier spoke up in reprimand.

{Come help…Come help…Hehehe…] The children called as they fluttered over to their 'mother'.

If someone was there they would be awed by the wonderous sight which just occurred.

A world seemingly submerged under the ocean, yet with no water present. Glowing fish swam through the 'air' in leisure, while translucent butterflies fluttered their wings as they traversed the reefs which decorated the 'sea floor'.

Amongst the butterflies, one stood out. A large butterfly the size of a mountain which transcended normality. This butterfly easily dwarfed all of the surrounding creatures with its massive size and wingspan that seemed to encompass all things.

This enormous butterfly was known as 'mother' by the creatures which inhabited this world.

In the dark abyssal 'skies' above this mystical world, stars glistened and multiple planets could be seen in close proximity dominating much of the skies. Each of these worlds looked similar to one another, however only few knew of the truths regarding them.

…

A glowing fish accompanied by a translucent butterfly swam towards one of the myriad of planets of planets above as It breathed out tiny air bubbles.

*Blub...*

*Pop!*

It wasn't long before like the bubbles which it blew...the fish too, soon disappeared.

…

The world which Ren was just in was one which was only foretold to have existed in myth.

It is called many things by the people whom inhabited the 'worlds'.

Heaven…

Hell…

The After Life…

The Spiritual Plain…

It has many names, however, one thing remains constant regardless of its name. When the people that inhabit the 'worlds' enter that place, they are no longer part of the living.

Of those that enter, only a select few are able to leave. Those people are known to the inhabitants of the 'worlds' as…

…'Travelers'…

******************

Back within a certain teenage girls room…

After a while, Ren was finally able to calm down and stopped crying.

"What happened Ren? Please tell me." Liam pleaded with worry evident in his voice.

"I was so scared! I got chased around by strange people who attacked me…" Ren started to describe everything that she had experienced during her time in the game to her brother.

Although she didn't tell things in order, she told her brother everything from the beginning with customized her character all the way to when she was attacked and fell from the cliff only to wake up in a strange place.

"Hmm…a butterfly you say…it sounds like you died in the game." Liam spoke gently after contemplating for a moment.

"…Died?" Ren asked in a daze.

"Yeah. I remember my team leader once mentioned to me some of the lore surrounding the game. He said that within the game there exists something known as 'The Hundred Hollow Worlds'. While connecting these worlds together was a place known as 'The Spiritual Plain's of Edith'." Liam said in wonder.

"Edith…" Ren muttered.

"Yep. I remember he had mentioned that Edith, the 'God' of the Spiritual Plain's took the shape of a butterfly while her children ferried the departed to their next life. However, this is only for the NPC's (Non-Player Characters) of the world. For players, upon their death they pass through the Spiritual world while receiving Edith's grace before their spirit is sent back to the 'Hollow World' which they had died in. I had taken it as just the lore of the game in order to explain why players could revive while the NPC's couldn't. Still to think that they had actually made it a part of the game…" Liam explained as he grew curious as to how the company had managed to create such a mystical universe within their game.

"I see…that explains a lot." Ren said in relief as she just now realized how silly she had acted.

When she entered the game, everything felt so real that she had forgotten the fact that she was still only playing a game.

Now that she looked back on it she couldn't help but laugh slightly at her overreacting to everything.

While she was thinking to herself, she heard Liam speak once more.

"Still though, I heard that the players wouldn't be able to interact with Edith or any of the other 'Gods' until much later on in the game? So it might not have been Edith that talked to you but I've never heard of one of the 'Spirit Butterflies' sounding like a mature woman aside from Edith…Most of them sound more like the childish voices you had described so I'm not to sure. The only thing we can do now is to put the experience behind us and move on." Liam said with a smile.

"Mmm, I'm sorry I acted so silly. I guess I should have asked more questions about the game before I just jumped right in." Ren admitted as she too smiled brightly.

"No, I'm also to blame. I should have taken into account the fact that you didn't have much experience with these types of games and explained what would happen once you had loaded into the game. I had miscalculated by thinking you would spawn within a populated area and have NPC's around you who could help explain things better, so it's my fault." Liam said feeling rather guilty.

The two faced each other after apologizing.

"Hahahaha!"

"Hehe…"

Laughing at themselves, the two let go of the past as they understood each other well enough to know what the other was thinking.

Being siblings the two had grown up together and shared many experiences. Over the past sixteen years they've had enough 'fights' and misunderstandings to know that excessive apologies were unnecessary especially over something trivial.

"So, do you want to take a break or go back in? It's still only 2:00pm after all." Liam asked.

Ren thought about it for a moment before replying, "I think we both need a break for now. After all you were working all night right? After getting home you didn't even rest before helping me with the game. So how about getting some rest before dinner?"

"Alright then, I'll do just that." Liam laughed before heading back to his room to get some rest.

After making sure her brother left to go rest, Ren began taking off the game suit before gathering a change of clothes and heading to her bathroom in order to take a much needed shower.

Although her first time in game didn't go as she had expected. She still enjoyed being able to experience new things so she wouldn't let the experience deter her.

After taking a shower, Ren wrapped her hair in a tower to dry before turning on her computer and starting her extensive research in video games and gaming culture in general.

While showering she had thought of ways to help her understand the game better. Her first idea was to go online and look up similar games in order to increase her knowledge and understand of the genre. This would ensure that she is better prepared for any kinds of experiences she may end up facing in the future.

There were bound to be some professional video game players, or hardcore gamers, that knew their way around multiple games like it was the back of their hand. These types of people would no doubt have an edge simply due to experience, something she was greatly lacking in.

Her second idea was to talk to her brother during dinner later to learn more about the lore surrounding the game.

Although he had more then likely signed an NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement) which prevented him from talking about company secrets. It didn't really apply in their situation to much at this point. His boss' without a doubt knew he was giving his early access privilege over to her and she would be playing the game instead of him. Based on what her brother had told her, they seemed like a company that planed ahead and made sure nothing was leaked. Otherwise it was hard to explain how they had managed to get so far into development without any information about their game being released to the public.

These facts made her realize that the company most likely didn't care that family members of their employees would be gaining early access to their game and the knowledge of it's existence that came along with doing that. So she figured that as long as she or any other people that gained early access didn't share any information publicly, they were allowed to share some information amongst eachother.

Since she had no plans to share anything publicly, she was sure that it would be alright. Plus if she was able to understand more of the lore surrounding the game, it would be very beneficial to her.

Having decided on those two plans for now, Ren got to work by first researching game related subjects on the internet.

She did this for three hours, while only taking a break to do her hair after it had dried.

At around a quarter after five in the afternoon, Ren was forced to put a pause on her research due to the food she had ordered for dinner arriving.

After giving a tip to the delivery man, Ren said her thanks before closing the door and moving to the kitchen with her take out.

Waking her brother up, the two had a nice meal together while Liam told Ren everything he knew about the lore surrounding the game.

Even though dinner stretched on longer then normal neither of them had really noticed as they were absorbed in their conversation.

After nearly an hour of talking, their conversation finally came to a close.

After which, Liam left for the gym and Ren returned to her room in preparation to give the game another go.

Liam had been concerned and didn't want to leave her alone but it didn't take to long for Ren to convince him that she would be alright this time around as she knew what to expect.

Although he insisted on watching over her just in case, Ren already felt guilty for not turning him down the first time which caused him to miss out on some sleep. Thankfully he had the day off work so he would be able to get some more sleep after he got back from the gym.

With everything taken care of in the real world, Ren took off her comfy PJ's before putting the gaming suit back on.

It was then that she noticed what made the suit so special. She was positive that she was sweating earlier when she exited the game, yet the suit was the same as before. It was almost like it was still brand new which was rather strange all things considered.

'Brother did say I wouldn't need to clean it but…meh of well.' Putting her thoughts about the suit behind her, Ren got comfy on her bed before getting ready to re-enter the game.

'This time, will be different!' Ren thought to herself as she puffed out her cheeks in determination and a small amount of resentment.

[User detected…Serenity Rose Leonora…]

[Would user like to launch last program, 'Hollow Reign'?]

'Well…here we go again…' Ren thought before calling out to the system.

"Yes!"

[Command Received! Launching 'Hollow Reign'.]

Soon, for the second time that day, the soft feeling of her bed disappeared as she once more 'descended into hell' of her own volition.