"Hey." Zayne called out when he felt tired from licking his ring.

"Mm?" Luna grunted as she continued to lick her ring like it was ice cream.

"We've been doing this for ten minutes. Do you think we just got trolled?"

Luna stopped what she was doing and gazed at the saliva-covered ring. "I dunno..."

At that moment, another notification window popped up in front of them.

 

 

 

"..." Zayne clamped up, expecting a surge of pain like the one they experienced when the book turned into smoke in the forest.

But nothing happened.

He just suddenly knew a bunch of things.

Luna grimaced. "Why couldn't it be like this in the forest?"

"I know, right?" Zayne put his hand together with Luna's ring and cleaned them with a cleaning spell.

<< Sey Len >>

Once the cleaning dust disappeared, Zayne looked up and asked his wife, "So, what does yours do?"

"You first," Luna smirked as she kicked her boots away and put her feet up on the bed.

"Mine's called Isolation." Zayne's lips formed a grin as he stood up. "I'm pretty sure you'll like it."

He waved his arms in the air, causing the space in front of them to become distorted. The distorted space then formed the shape of what seemed to be a stone doorway, with a veil of chaotic space instead of a door.

"What the...?" Luna spluttered. Barefoot, she stood up to take a closer look.

"Let's go." Zayne pulled Luna by the hand as he led her into the portal.

 

---

 

When they crossed the doorway, what greeted them wasn't the farther end of the inn room.

But a two-story house in the middle of a clearing surrounded by different kinds of fruit trees. The house looked like it would fit right into a modern suburb, complete with a tall, white fence surrounding it. The only thing missing was a mailbox.

"What the... are we back on earth?" Luna asked, but one look at the still-fifteen-year-old-looking Zayne told her otherwise.

"Nope." Zayne smiled as he spread his arms wide. "My ring's ability, Isolation, is basically having dominion over a small private dimension!"

"Woah..." Her eyes widened as she gaped. But then Luna nodded slowly in realization. "Wait, so this power is basically so you can be a NEET?"

"Yes and No."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Tut tut." Zayne shook his head and wagged a finger in front of Luna. Her mouth twitched in annoyance but Zayne didn't notice as he continued explaining. "It's so that we can both be NEETs."

"..." Luna sighed. "I don't want to be a NEET, though?"

"Well, then you can just go out and come back when you feel like sleeping in a well-furnished bedroom." He began walking across the grassy field, toward the house. Their house.

"Hey, wait." She jogged after him as she glanced at the surrounding trees. "So these trees..."

"Hm? Oh, those are pretty cool too. The fruit grows back really fast. There are even a lot of different types."

"Uh-huh." Luna nodded as she looked toward a certain tree. "Why is there a potato tree, though? I'm pretty sure potatoes don't grow on trees..."

"I know." Zayne chuckled as he looked at a carrot tree, a watermelon tree, and a tomato tree. "I mean, we're in a world inside a ring within a story that I wrote. Weird trees are kinda low on the list of weird stuff."

"I... guess?" She didn't ask about the trees anymore. Luna followed Zayne through a white-painted wooden gate as he walked across a stone-paved path.

The house's front yard had a well-mowed lawn and a tall tree with a tire swing hanging from one of its branches.

"Welcome to our new home!" Zayne spread his arms wide after kicking open the door. The force was so strong that the door was unhinged, but this only lasted for a moment, since it magically repaired itself.

"Did you have to do that to demonstrate that the house fixes itself?" Luna asked while rolling her eyes.

He nodded as he led the way in. "Yes. That was the best way to show that."

Upon entering the house, they immediately found themselves in a hallway with doors on both sides. Zayne reached out and opened the door to the right.

"This is the living room."

"Hm? It's like the living room in our apartment..." Luna looked around. "Except it doesn't have a TV."

Zayne chuckled wryly. "Well, that's one way to put it."

She was right. The clean white walls that could be found in every room except the bedroom and the bathroom. A comfortable-looking black couch and two armchairs on either side of it surround a small glass table. There were empty display cabinets and potted plants interspersed along the walls — which were an addition that Luna insisted on, despite how much of a pain it was to remember to water them.

The room looked a bit more barren than they were used to though, since there were supposed to be electric fans, a TV, a PlayStation, and an air conditioner in the room.

"This place looks hella boring without all our other stuff..." Luna caressed the part of the wall the TV was supposed to be attached to as she longingly looked to where they would normally keep their game consoles.

"Okay, next place." Zayne walked out but stopped when Luna screamed from behind him. "What are you...?"

"I just realized!" She ran past Zayne and went into the room to the left of the hallway. "My kitchen! Where's all my stuff!?"

"Oh." He blanched as he also realized what having no modern technology meant. With nervous steps, Zayne made his way to the kitchen to find Luna crying on the floor where the stove was supposed to be.

"Zayne..." Luna looked up with a pitiful expression. "H-how am I supposed to cook when there's nothing to use here!?"

He gulped as he looked at the surroundings. "Oh my god..." 

The kitchen's state was tragic.

Since Luna was an aspiring chef, she poured all her earnings from streaming to buy high-quality cooking equipment. Zayne naturally chipped in too, since Luna cooking better food meant he would get to eat better food.

What would happen if you took all of the modern technology stuff from their kitchen?

Barren.

That was the only way you could describe it.

The plates, spoons, forks, other utensils, and the table & chairs in the connecting Dining Room were still there, despite them obviously being made with modern technology. But most of the other stuff was gone. The stove, induction heater, refrigerator, blender, and dishwasher.

Everything.

The "Kitchen" looked like a strangely empty spot behind a countertop in the dining room.

"Answer me Zayne! How can I cook when there's nothing here!?" Luna stood up and grabbed his collar as she screamed hysterically.

"I-I dunno!"

"Zayne!?" Luna's eyes flared red.

"I'm sorry!?" Even though he didn't feel like he should apologize since he wasn't the one that made this house in the ring's world, Luna's aura was just too intense.

'Let's just wait for her to calm down...'

 

---

 

"So... here's the bathroom..." Zayne opened the door to the bathroom as he showed Luna — who was piggybacking off of him — what was inside.

"...Mm." she despondently responded, but her blank eyes still wandered. "Why is our Robo-toilet from Japan still here when my kitchen's in that state? I don't get it. This is so unfair."

"Pfft." Zayne snorted as he tried to hold in a chuckle.

"The hell are you laughing about, huh?" Luna's arm snaked around Zayne's neck in a sleeper hold as she gently bit on his ear.

"I give, I give." Zayne tapped her arm in surrender. Luna eased up her hold but continued to chew on his ear. "Let's check out another room."

"Whatever." After getting her fill of his ear, Luna rested her head on top of his shoulder, eyes dead. "My heart feels only emptiness..."

Zayne led the way to where their work room was supposed to be but hesitated before entering. Aside from his desk and chair, only the computer and the stuff she needed for Vtubing were there.

Naturally, all of the techy stuff was gone now. The room was very different from how it was. This was something he knew because he owned this dimension.

"Let's check out the bedroom instea—"

"No." Luna's grip on him tightened. A grim look of determination in her eyes. "I want to see it with my own eyes..."

Zayne sighed as he opened the door to the room. "Fine."

"..." Luna bit her lower lip until it bled as she looked around the room. It was a bedroom now. Complete with a wardrobe closet, vanity dresser, bean bag chairs, and some other furniture.

"There there," he placatingly said as he gently closed the door.

"Why the hell is there another room anyway? We only need one bedroom!" Luna complained as she got off of Zayne's back.

He chuckled before jokingly suggesting, "Maybe it's for our kid."

"Psh. How can we have a kid when... hm?" Luna's eyes widened in realization as she grabbed Zayne's shoulder. "Wait, are you not sterile anymore? We technically got reincarnated into another person's body right? They just look exactly like us! Does that mean we can have a baby!?"

"Uh, calm down." Zayne peeled the excited Luna off of him as he sighed. "I don't think so. I made Grant sterile too after all..."

"Shit..." She pinched her husband's arm. "Why'd you have to go and do that?"

"Ow, hey! How the hell was I supposed to know we'd get trucked off into the story I wrote?!"

The couple bantered until they eventually reached their bedroom, which was pretty much exactly the same as the one in their apartment.

"It's practically a carbon copy... except for the scenery outside," Luna walked over to open the window and let some air inside.

"Yep. I'm so glad we don't have to look at a brick wall whenever we look outside." Zayne also walked over to stand next to his wife, letting the cool wind hit his face. "Hey, I've shown you my power, what's yours?"

"Oh, right. I almost forgot." She stepped back, letting Zayne get a better view of her entire body. "Check this out."

Luna did a little twirl and the next thing Zayne knew, she was gone.

In her place was Scarlet Johannson.

"What the fuck...?" He couldn't help but splutter. "Luna...?"

"Yeah." Scarlet Johannson — or rather, Luna answered in the celebrity's voice as she smirked. "There's more."

Luna started changing into a series of famous women on TV, in movies, on streaming platforms, and others.

Oprah Winfrey, Pokimane, Alexandra Daddario, Lianna Rhodes, Valkyrae, Megan Fox, Emma Watson, Lisa Ann, Sofia Vergara... the list goes on.

Every time Zayne blinked, she would become a different person.

"What the..." He raised an eyebrow while frowning in confusion. "Did you get a celebrity look-alike ability...?"

"No?" Luna, in Ann Hathaway's form, transformed back to her original appearance. "It's called Perfection. I can pretty much transform into anything female. I just used women I knew as examples."

"Uh-huh..." Zayne nodded in amazement. It wasn't as flashy as his, but Luna's ability had an incredible amount of practical applications.

"I can even do this." Luna did another twirl. By the time she was done, she'd turned back to her twenty-four-year-old self. Her hair was even back to its light-brown color. "Like it?"

Clap Clap Clap

Zayne wordlessly nodded while clapping. Even though he liked Luna's silver hair, he also liked when it was still light brown.

Naturally, he also loved it more when she wasn't flat as hell.

Luna smirked, satisfied by her husband's reaction. "I can even transform my clothes!"

She then proceeded to show off various cosplays and sexualized uniforms, then moved on to casual clothes, pajamas, and stuff she usually wore at home.

"That's cool." Zayne continued nodding sagely.

"Right?" Luna smirked. She was in her twenty-four-year-old version's form while wearing a white hoodie, denim shorts, and sneakers. Although her hair was platinum-silver again.

She intended to stay in that form from then on since she didn't want to go through puberty a second time.

"But where's the balance...?" Zayne asked as his eyes narrowed in inquisition. "Is there a drawback?"

"Tch. You and your goddamn balance..." Luna scoffed.

"So?"

"..." She bit her lip in reluctance, but in the end, she sighed and said, "There is one. If I change my form from the original by too much, I get hit with a fifty percent reduction in all physical stats."

"Woah, fifty percent?" Zayne's eyes were as wide as saucers as he spluttered from the absurdity. "Isn't that a bit too much...?"

Luna shrugged. "The threshold for what it allows is pretty low, so I don't think it's that bad."

"How low are we talking?" He asked in curiosity as he moved to sit on the bed.

"My self from any age I've passed through is considered default forms. Meaning I can use them as a base." Luna gestured at the clothes she was wearing. "Clothes don't get taken into consideration too, though my clothes don't really have any substance to them. An attack can just pierce through even though it looks like I'm wearing plate armor."

"I see..."

After rubbing her chin for a moment to gather her thoughts, Luna continued, "Hair, eye, and skin color changes are irrelevant. Oh, and minor changes to my facial features and body type are okay, up to a certain extent. If I look like a completely different person, it's an out."

"Anything else...?"

"Yep." Luna smirked as she pointed to the top of her head. Zayne looked up to see that a pair of white cat ears were there now. Real cat ears, since they quivered realistically. "Additions like this are fine too. But there can't be too many. Look I even have a tail!"

Luna's smirk widened as she moved toward Zayne and sat on his lap, waving her white tail in front of his face.

"..." Zayne's eyes couldn't help but follow the tail's hypnotic movements. Eventually, he couldn't resist the urge to bite it, though he was careful not to do it too hard.

"Nya!" Luna exclaimed in an imitation of anime cat-girls. But right after she did it, she covered her mouth in mortification. "Oh wow, that was more embarrassing than I thought..."

Zayne freed her tail from his mouth as he chuckled. His hands snaked around her waist as he hugged her to him. "Way to self-harm yourself."

"Shut up..." She leaned back, resting her weight on Zayne. "So, what do we do now...?"

"What're you talking about?"

"I mean, we're out of the dangerous forest, you have pants now, we can get some food downstairs, and we even have these rings with some nifty powers. What's the plan for after this?"

"Oh. That." Zayne nodded as he arranged his thoughts. "Well, the main short-term goal, for now, is to ride a boat to the neighboring continent, and return to Grant's family."

"Grant's family...?" Luna racked her brain, trying to remember everything she knew about GMAG's main character. Though she really didn't know too much since Zayne told her not to read it.

"He was a noble's son." He leaned a bit forward to get a better whiff of his wife's pleasant scent. "After going around this continent — the central continent of Segrada — for three years, Grant makes it back to his family to claim his birthright."

"I see... wait." Luna tilted her head. "He roamed around for three years...?"

"Yep. He just kept meeting shitty people and getting embroiled in all sorts of messes. Getting betrayed, suffering heartache... Y'know, character development and all that." Zayne said nonchalantly.

"And we're just gonna skip that?" She asked, wide-eyed. "Is that okay...?"

"Yep. I don't really want to go through what he went through. There aren't any benefits for us. Aside from becoming battle-scarred." He set Luna down beside him as he stood up. "But we should pick up some nice stuff before going to meet my family. Being too weak when we get there might be dangerous after all."

"I see..." She nodded. "Okay, we'll go with your plan. I don't really know much after all..."

"I'll gradually tell you more later on. Now, c'mon. I'm really hungry. I wanna check out what that cannibal cooks up for me. I wrote her as a very competent cook after all." Zayne held his hand out to Luna.

Luna frowned as she grabbed his hand and used it to stand herself up. "I'm probably way better than her though..."

"Sure sure..." Zayne traced a circle in the air in front of him using his arms, summoning the portal to leave.

"Oh, what? I thought we still had to walk to where we came in from...?" Luna's head tilted in confusion.

"Nah. I can make it reappear to where I am. When going inside this place, I can set the portal's entry point to anywhere. I just did it outside earlier, since I wanted you to get a good view of the place first."

"Oh..."

"Although there's always a delay, I can close it behind me so nobody can enter," Zayne smirked mischievously as he dashed toward the portal. "Just like right now. If you don't want to get stuck here, hurry up!"

"Hey!"

Not bothering to use her legs, Luna flew forward, making it through right before the portal closed.