Running Out of Time

Zuriel looks at me seriously after I asked him a deep question. I kinda regret it because it makes me and Nisha uncomfortable. I can tell by the tightening of her grip on my hand.

"Are you trying to dox me?" he asks with a grin. "It's fine. At least I'll finally know how it feels to be popular in our world."

"No, you got it wrong. And never mind. I regret asking you." Then I whisper to Nisha, "You see how annoying this guy is?"

She chuckles covertly, saying, "I see."

"Alright, alright," he says swaying his head from side to side. "I'll tell ya." He summons a cigarette and smokes it. After he exhales, he says, "I came here to find my older sister."

I raise one eyebrow. This game is dangerous and has been banned all over the galaxy but here these siblings risk each other's lives. One of them should've stopped the other from playing this game if they truly cared about each other. Or it could be that they just wanna hang out here. I don't know for sure. It's not like I have an idea of what it means to have a sibling.

"She's already a Ringer," he says and I'm instantly impressed. "and working for the CTO."

Oh, that's why he wants information about the CTO. . . Now it all makes sense.

"Zaori said she is in the Fifth Ring now."

"Wow. . .," Nisha mutteringly exclaims. "Then she must be crazy strong, huh?"

"Yup, she is!" he laughs, flexing his bicep. "As her brother, I'm so proud! I wanna be as strong as her someday but our gap is too wide now. I would need thousands of years to catch up to her."

"She's been here for a long time?" I ask.

"Yeah. In our time, she started like, a month ago, maybe?"

"That's at least three thousand years."

"Yup, you could be right."

"But why?"

"Well, you see, she tried to kill herself after her husband and two sons died when their home caught on fire. It was found out that it was because she forgot to turn off the water heater before going out to shop."

I think I heard of this incident from the news. I'm not sure but I'll just stay quiet. It's not even important if I heard this or not, after all.

"The guilt drove her mad for three years and started taking drugs. I was there the whole time to watch over her but I wasn't enough. One night, I came back home and saw her on the ground with a bleeding head and my gun in her hand. It was my fault. I didn't hide the gun well enough. I should've known. Luckily, she was saved—only for the time being."

"What do you mean?" I ask, curious.

"The brain damage was irreparable, paired with the drugs she took for three years. I was a fool for not watching her well enough. I should have quit my job before this happened to her."

His jaw muscles harden as he grits his teeth. The cigarette he's biting is gonna snap any moment. But then he calms down.

After sighing, he continues. "They said she's gonna die after a month. It's even a miracle that she survived this long. She could be running out of time. Who knows when? Back then, I wondered if I could just talk to her one more time. When we returned to my home, I put her in the gaming pod and tried to contact her in different games but nothing worked. That is until I thought about playing Shannia. As part of the police, I knew how illegal it was but I was desperate. I plug her consciousness into this world but I thought I'll try plugging myself in tomorrow."

"I thought one hour there is a hundred years here," I mention.

"Yes, and that's the thing. I let her be in there for an hour while I was busy doing something in the house. I didn't know back then. Once you enter Shannia, you will automatically return to Shannia every 10:30 pm whether or not you're in the gaming pod."

"What?!" I exclaim. "Are you for real? Returning here is inevitable and even without a gaming pod?!"

"You heard right," he chuckles. "That's already the case with me and Zaori. We just find a nice and comfortable place to sleep before 10:30 and then come back here."

"This is nothing short of a mental illness!"

"That's why it's illegal in the first place."

*Sigh* "But fine. It's not like I won't come back here. I still have a lot to do and promises to fulfill." Nisha scooches closer to me.

"Me too. So, may I continue?"

"Sure," I nod.

"It's not shorter than a month before I decided to play Shannia for the first time. And that's when I knew what this was all about. I picked the Angelus side and was lucky that their realm is safe and full of players to tell me I'll die in real life if I die here. Then before the century ended, I met Zaori as she was always causing trouble for the Angeli. One day, she captured me and she knew who I was in real life. After that century, I met up with her. We talked a lot and helped me search for my sister in Shannia because I think she doesn't have a lot of time left. In exchange, I helped her plot against my own kind. I even told her about the Angel's Bane." He laughs because the person who was part of that plot is here—me. "Then we figured out that she was already a Ringer. I instantly wanted to go there and meet her. But that means—"

"Doing the Divine Trinity Quest," Nisha and I guess.

"That's right. You two are aiming for it too?"

"We are," I say. "I want to get there and find my mother."

"I want to find the Eternal Blood Chalice," Nisha says.

He grins at us. "That makes the three of us!" Then the expression on his face abruptly turns into confusion. "If that's your goal, then why didn't you stay with Zaori?"

"I don't wanna be her slave," I answer. "She's using the harem system to get stronger—it's so obvious."

"Yeah, but she's bringing a lot back to us whenever she defeats a strong opponent. It's like we're paying our debts to her. Also, our chances of becoming a Ringer are great if we stick around her."

"I know, but I feel I won't get any stronger if I live under her shadow."

He smokes his cigarette and thinks about what I just said. "You don't make any sense."

Damn, I thought he'll agree with me. "I do," is all I could retort.

Even so, that still left him thinking. "Thinking about it," he says. "I could've made the same amount of progress if I was alone. I think being married was only beneficial for a headstart. Now that I'm high-level, leveling up is getting harder and harder."

"So, what do you wanna do?"

"I don't know. . . I'm still thinking about it."

"You could join us," says Nisha.

I'm surprised as well Zuriel but he's laughing.

"Nisha," I whisper, scolding her. I don't want any more troublesome guys in this group. "My daughter is enough to cause me a lot of trouble."

"Someone's flirting with me, ey?" he pokes me with his elbow.

Then Nisha's leg suddenly passes by my face and then kicks Zuriel. He gets knocked away, destroying pavement along the way.

"Why did you do that?!" I yell at her.

"He was out of line," she reasons.

"But he's crazy strong you know! If he retaliates, I don't know if I—"

"It's fine," he says, walking back here all battered up. "I don't hurt good girls. And she was right. I was a little bit out of line. I'm sorry." He sits down beside me. "And yes, uh. . . I'll consider joining your party. Meanwhile, let's talk to Zaori about what just happened. The CTO getting involved with us is very important. She has to know."

"That's a good idea," I say then call out, "Helena! Come here."

"But I wanna play!" she complains.

"Don't you want to talk to Mama?"