The Novus’ night sky never showed something spectacularly alien, like a majestic orbiting planet or two colorful moons, only familiarity. The Developers did their best to portray the closest to Earth’s moon as possible. As silvery beautiful and shiningly romantic as ever.

Alan recalled the time he admired that very same sky alongside Astrid. That night, she asked if he could name the star constellations she was pointing at, just to reveal that it was impossible moments later.

“I’m kidding.” She giggled. “These are not the same stars you could see from Earth. What you see changes every night depending on The Santa María’s current location. The ship captures daily images of the space surrounding it and sends them to the Novus.”

That night, her eyes shine like the stars she described to me. Eyes as deep as the milky way. I will treasure this memory for the rest of my life, while also loathing it, for I could have kissed her at that very moment. It was the perfect opportunity, and I wasted it. The next day, I disappeared before her eyes and lost my chance forever…

“So let me get this straight,” Amelia’s thick French accent brought him to the present. “This Administrator that just contacted you… uh, Adriano…?”

“Ricardo,” Alan corrected, deviating his gaze from the moon above. From their place atop the rooftop of the Moonlight Dream Inn, he could have a vast view of the small Beginner’s Town.

“Right, Ricardo Silva! So, he doesn’t trust his colleagues?” Amelia asked as she passed him the bottle of wine they were sharing.

Alan gulped it before speaking in a dry tone: “Seems so. He must have arrived at the same conclusion as I did. The only way the Singular could have breached the strict Alvearium’s security protocols is if someone from there smuggled it, which could be terrifyingly easy to do. That devilish thing has proved to fit into a single memory drive. Hey, do you have more of those chocolate bars from earlier?”

“How about something that goes better with wine? Do you fancy some bleu cheese?” she asked as she opened her Inventory window. Then jerked her head in his direction. “Y-You’ll like it, trust me.”

“If it tastes as good as this wine!” He shook the bottle, hearing it empty. “Oh…”

“I have another bottle, so drink as much as you like. It’s courtesy of Kathleen Maher anyway,” she muttered, avoiding his gaze.

“Huh? Did you steal this?”

“I took a couple of bottles as my parting gift, yes… And one of whiskey… and rum. And before you scold me or something like that, she’s a narcissistic bitch, okay?! So I don’t feel bad in the slightest!”

“She struck me as a little mean-spirited, yes, but besides that, I had a good time hanging out with her.”

“Oh, come on! If you knew what she asked Karen and me to do, you’d--!” Amelia opened her eyes wide and fastly pursed her lips.

“Karen? That’s your best friend, right? The gal as tall as you with black hair? What? Did something bad happen between the two?”

Amelia snickered. “Who the hell said she was my best friend?”

“Your sister.”

“Whatever,” Amelia whispered, giving him a plastic box full of thick blue cheese slices. She then hugged her legs and leaned her chin on her knees, as the chilly night air played with her hair. “Hey…”

“Yeah?”

“Sorry.”

“What for?” he asked with his mouth stuffed.

“For what we did to you.”

“You helped me defeat the albino gal, so we’re even now, remember?”

“But what about the others?! Things didn’t have to go this way!” She shut her eyes for a moment before standing up. The moonlight illuminated her distressed face and made her eyes shine like amber gemstones. “If people under Marco’s influence knew what you’ve been through--!”

"Nothing would have changed," Alan interrupted, putting the cheese box aside. "Your pals would have left, anyway. Heck, I even bet the rest would have quitted too as word spread out. It’s the word of one guy against three years of peace in this world." He bitterly chuckled, before his expression turned grim. "Let’s assume for a moment that Astrid listened to me and agreed to help me, okay? So answer me this, Amelia. Who would voluntarily stay in a guild whose main purpose suddenly changed from ‘let’s be the number one’ to ‘let’s look for this invisible threat’?”

“It’s not invisible!” she cried, forgetting for a moment that people could hear her. “What happened today is proof of it,” she said with closed teeth.

“You’ve been saying that all day, but I don’t get you. Why do you think this is all related?”

“Well…” She pouted her lips as she sat again, placing her hands on her lap. “It was pretty obvious that albino gal was targeting you. Can we both agree on that?”

“I suppose, yes… Her timing and the way she spoke to me were rather suspicious.” Alan pondered on it for a moment. “Ricardo Silva had access to my data, so other Administrators could too… So, do you think that albino girl works for one?”

“Most likely,” Amelia nodded slightly, biting her lower lip. “Someone wants to shut you up…”

That definitely sent chillings down my spine! he thought, swallowing hard.

“H-Hold on. If some deranged Alvearium employee really brought the Destructor of Humanity to this place, why would other Users help them?”

“Oh, sweetie. Your innocence is kinda endearing, you know?” She sneered. “While most of us tried to survive or combat that virus, some weirdos worshipped it as the next step in human evolution. That’s why it doesn’t surprise if some of those nut jobs ended up being chosen as passengers.”

“I’m the Embodiment of Progress…” The voice of that mysterious girl echoed in his brain.

No freaking way… That’s exactly what she said…

He leaned forward as if a sudden urge of puking overwhelmed him. “Jeezus…”

“Are you okay?”

“Y-Yes… Thanks, Amelia. I finally got it now.”

Although I prefer this was not the case… If Users are really helping this computer virus to prosper inside this controlled environment… No… No, no, nonononononono!

This nightmare may never end, Isabella! The Novus will be a repeat of Earth!

He pulled from his hair, hid his face beneath his arms, and only repressed his urges to scream because of the girl accompanying him.

“Alan?” she called quietly as she put one hand on his right shoulder. “You don’t have to carry this weight alone. You have Ashley, and now I’m here too. I’m really willing to help.”

“You keep saying that,” he whispered. “But why?”

“Call it a whim if you like! Or it could be boredom. Whatever! You should rather tell me why YOU’RE doing it. Besides this Hero Complex you’ve been shoving down our throats…”

“Whose throats?” he asked, chuckling, as their gazes met. “You know what? Fine! You win, Amelia Laflamme! Let’s team up, or whatever, as you’d say. I’ll talk to Ashley about it tomorrow.”

“You really enjoy playing hard to get, Alan Warden, but I can’t complain.” She giggled, reaching out a hand to him. “I don’t mind a challenge from time to time, it’s more interesting that way.”

‘Playing hard to get?’ Alan repeated in his head, as both shook hands. She looked genuinely relaxed, unlike the rigid expressions she threw at him the day before, and her smile looked as free of malicious intent as that of a child. Which quite contrasts with the nightmare I had about her the other day. I dreamed of her as a blood-sucking demoness, as if my brain was warning me to stay away from her, and now I’m willing to trust my back to her.

He chuckled, while still holding Amelia’s hand.

During that dream, I said, ‘this is not a bad way to die’, or something like that. Was that prophetic? Because if I have to sell my soul to the devil to accomplish this mission, so be it.

“What’s with that smile?” she asked, smirking. “Are you thinking something dirty? Hmm? Come on, share it.”

“I’m just relieved, that’s all.” He shrugged, letting her hand go. “Having someone to speak up about this that is not an expressionless AI feels good.”

“Great. But, don’t you mind starting from zero? I may have some gold saved, but we technically have no resources.” She clicked her teeth, gazing at the town. “It pains me to say this, but if only Marco had agreed to help…”

“Haven’t you heard the phrase, ‘better alone than badly accompanied’? We have Ricardo Silva by our side now! He is worth a thousand Users. No, hundreds of thousands!” Alan munched on another slice of cheese as he also observed the town. Colorful ads promised to give service 24/7. Maybe, after these last frantic days, he could earn some gold and enjoy what the Novus could offer. “Regarding Marco and the others…” He began, sighing. “I can live without ever cleaning up my reputation, but I’ll admit that it eases my heart that the one that hated me the most now knows the truth, and has changed her image of me.” He looked her in the eyes and smiled.

Amelia’s mouth remained ajar for a moment before she replied: “T-That’s right! That means you’ll have to do your best from now on so you can be up to my standards!” She tossed her hair behind her shoulders and smirked, placing both hands on her hips. “It’ll take a while until you can kill a two-headed dragon, so in the meantime, I’ll do it for you!”

“Sure! Go get them, Hell Princess!”

Amelia tilted her head, blushing. “I-I know I’ve been calling myself that, but it’s embarrassing when you said it out loud…” That said, she grinned and picked up Sloochie from the floor, as literal ‘Z’ letters appeared above it. “I’ll get some rest, what about you?”

“I’ll stay a little longer,” he replied, handing her back the cheese and the second bottle of wine, but she shook her head.

“All yours. Good night, Alan.”

“Good night, Hell Princess.”

“Oh, shut up.”

Amelia jumped down the three-story building, leaving Alan alone, with only the digital moon above as company. He looked up at it, feeling tired.

Oh, man. I don’t know why, but I’m in the mood to hear that song again. He opened his User Interface and his finger passed by the *Error* tab. I wonder if Adriano could help me with this. Doesn’t hurt to try.

He tapped on his friend list and sent him a message:

‘Hey, sorry to bother you. I suppose I should have waited until you contacted me first, but… Could you help me with something? One of my UI options has been locked for some reason since my return. You’re the Glitch Administrator, right? Could you help me, please? See ya. Peace, man.’

Having done that, Alan opened again a message from Amelia, from hours ago: ‘Here is the song I showed you earlier. It was not free, just so you know. But I bought it for you so you can become a Cosmic fan too!’

He tapped on the file, and the song started playing inside his head.

‘Can’t you see that I’m behind you?

I never left your side...

Waiting, longing, counting the hours…

For you to return!’

“Music and melancholy… What a match made in heaven,” he muttered.

After hearing the song one more time, he received a new message notification from Ricardo. Whoah, I expected him to reply until tomorrow. Is he an insomniac?

Ricardo: The system must have locked your inbox after you logged out. Do you want me to restore it? Alan: But I’ve been using the messenger just fine since yesterday. Adriano: After you left, some private messages were sent to your inbox, and the System blocked any access to them. There. Restored. And those from Ashley Yates too. I’ll catch some ‘z’s’ now. Today’s conversation has been the most tiring I've had since I started working.

 

“Ashley Yates...” Alan muttered as he tapped the finally available ‘Inbox’ Tab.

‘191 Unread Messages.’

 

Astrid #1: Alan? Where are you? I hope this is not a prank, you idiot!’ Astrid #2: No, seriously. Where the hell are you? This isn’t funny!’ Astrid #5: Are you there?’ Astrid #11: If you’re reading this, please reply!’ Astrid #32: Hi, Alan. Today I reached level 20, and I feel pretty powerful right now! Shooting Stars is in good hands. We are now a group of 10 people. Ten people joined our guild, Alan! Can you believe it! Once you return, I’ll introduce you to all of them. Especially this Helen gal, she is very talented and fights like a ninja. I didn’t even know there was a ninja class! And this Oscar guy, he’s super serious-looking, and Helen teases him all the time. It’s so funny to see him get all red-faced. Well, I hope you can read all of this so you can catch up to what I’ve been up to! Buh-bye!’ Astrid #104: Remember Kathleen? Well, guess what? She changed her class to Cryomancer! Ice Magic, Alan! Can you believe that?! I’m sure that she only changed classes so she could have a chance against me. That bitch! But by that time I had already ditched swords and lances, and focused on my fists, so she was in for a surprise when I started punching her ice shield. Ha! I’ve been training with this Theo guy, and he’s teaching me martial arts. He says that using my strength and my magic at the same time is totally possible. But I don’t know what kind of class I would turn into.’ Astrid #115: Today, at The Novus’ first Anniversary, we learned that the gold you get inside the system is actually a cryptocurrency. So it’s real money, Alan! I don’t care one bit. Well, maybe a little, but getting rich is not one of my priorities! I just want to have fun and kick everyone’s ass!’ Astrid #182: Once you return, we need to talk.’ Astrid #185: Tamara said that I should start a new hobby. She says that being busy with all this guild crap is taking a toll on me. If she only knew the true reason I’m feeling like this... Well, I have listened to her advice. I’ve met new, nice people. The kind of people I don’t usually hang around. They are not warriors like me, so they have shown me a different perspective of living inside the Novus. Now that The Content Creators Patch has been released, they have gone crazy, producing an experimental reality show and a short series. They are trying to see the limits on what kind of content we can produce ourselves, as Users. Their top priority, create new music because the tracks curated by the developers suck ass! They have my full endorsement on that one!’ Astrid #188: There’s something I never told you, but we met a couple of years prior to bumping into each other at Caelum. Since we only spoke once, it’s obvious that you don’t remember me. You used to work at Kintech, right? Can you recall an incident regarding a Maid Automaton appointed to be turned into scrap? The day after that, you gave the owner of the Maid a pendant made with a piece of that automaton’s power cell... Yeah…’ Astrid #189: Maybe I should stop writing these messages. It's not healthy. It was at the beginning, but not anymore. You know what I mean? Astrid #190: I’m still hoping that you’ll come back.’ Astrid #191: ’I fucking miss you.’

***

**

*

 

A few feet behind Alan, inside her room, Ashley also got a system notification. She opened her User Interface and noticed a newly available tab. ‘Inbox’.

‘15 Unread Messages.’