The chirping of the bird could be faintly heard from afar as his mind rose from darkness.

"Mnnhh.....ah?"

He slowly opened his eyes, letting them get used to the bright room illuminated by the sun. He groggily got up and scanned his surroundings in a lazy manner, his mind still not fully awake yet. He doesn't recognize where he is, and it was certainly not his room. The room he is in is small but decently decorated, it was only 3-4 meters wide across. He sat up and slowly touched the floor with his feet, feeling the floor warmed up from being bathed in sunlight. He stay sitting on the bed for a moment, his mind slowly recalling yesterday's events and his current situation.

"I'm...still here."

Neo said as his current situation sinks into him. He got up and looks out to the window, watching the pair of birds chirping on top of the stone wall. After watching the birds for a bit, he gets up and left the room after a few moments and goes down the stairs as he hears the sounds of music from the kitchen. He turns the corner and saw Sasha, sitting on the dining table as she enjoys her cup of tea. She seems to have noticed him and turns to look, she smiles in a relaxed manner and greeted him.

"Good morning. You must be really tired last night, did you get a good night sleep?"

"Good morning. Yes, I slept great. I thought I was alright but, it looks like I was more tired than I thought."

Neo says as he looks around and found the clock, it was 10:30 in the morning. The old lady speaks out, seeing him loot at the clock.

"Come, sit. I will get you some coffee. Americans love coffee right?"

"Thank you, I will have some. Do you also drink coffee ma'am?" Neo replies as he sits down.

"Not that much, but I understand that some have a different kind of taste. My youngest son works at a coffee shop, he always brings some bags of coffee whenever he comes back to visit." The old woman says as she reaches for the bag of coffee.

"Cool. So he works part time then?" Neo was now donning a curious look.

"Yes, he does do part time. How did you know?" 

"I just guessed it since he's also going to college right? I thought, there is no way he could do a full time job. He wouldn't have the time to do it."

"I did. Haha, silly me."

She chuckles as she pours the hot water into the cup, then she grabbed a jar of white powder from the shelf and gave it to Neo.

"This is...creamer?"

"It is. My daughters hates black coffee, so I had my son bring some instead of coffee bags. After that, my daughters spent more time here after learning that I had him bring those instead. They were quite happy when they knew about it."

"Thank you. They must be drinking coffee a lot then."

"They do. You know, my youngest daughter wants to move to England. She said she wanted to build a café there."

"That's really ambitious."

"Isn't it? I was worried what has gotten into her, suddenly wanting to come to such place."

"Did you ask her why she wanted to go there?"

"I did. She said that the people there loves teas and coffee, so she is taking exams to be something like a chef or barista."

They continued to talk, mostly about her children. But, the topics they talked about was always changing. Neo impressively catches up to a ladies talk, something that Sasha was pleased about. They continued to talk and had dinner, eating the leftovers from last night. Neo was the one show washed the dishes today as he wanted to do something useful, since letting him stay to hide and doing nothing in return doesn't sits well with him.

Right now, they are currently having another set of tea at the living room with the TV on. They are having a small chat, mostly Sasha saying her thoughts on the programs. Neo was listening attentively to the old woman while sometimes looking at the program. The two was having a peaceful conversation, the old woman was speaking a lot as if to satisfy her loneliness from being alone in this house and not having a conversation partner. The pleasant atmosphere was interrupted by the blaring intro of the afternoon news.

A news reporter was saying something in Arabic that Neo couldn't really understand, but he just watches it seeing some video feed at a really poor quality as the news reporter continue to talk in Arabic.

"Neo. Is this the trouble you were involved in?" The old woman suddenly said as the TV zooms in, showing the chaotic scene from yesterday.

Neo's eyes was pinned to the screen, his body stiff. Cold sweat can be seen on his face as he remembers it vividly. People crying out in pain and confusion, panic ensuing everywhere as the multiple bloody bodies lay on the ground. His mind repeating the scene, until a sudden sharp pain on the back of his head pulled his mind out of the dark hole. He blinked a few times as he held the part where he felt the pain from.

"Are you alright?"

He turned to see Sasha was holding a wooden back scratcher, immediately knowing that she hit him with the stick. Seeing his slightly dumbfounded face made her ask him again.

"Neo, are you alright?" 

"Y-yeah. Thank you."

"You weren't saying anything when I called you several times."

"Sorry, about that."

Neo looks down, his shoulders slumped. The worried look on the old woman's face turned sympathetic, rubbing his back in a gentle manner.

"Don't apologize. I can perfectly understand that, that experience was horrific."

"T-thank you."

"Drink some tea, it will help calm down your nerves."

He drank the whole tea in his cup in one breath, feeling the warmth flow into his stomach. Taking in deep breaths, he calms his mind of the thought. Taking in a deep breath, he lets it out and slightly timidly looks at the elderly woman. He opens his mouth and started to tell his story.

In the road at the Desert...

The roar of the pickup trucks engine fills the air with its noise as it speed through the desert road, a powerful that was felt with the ears of the people inside. A tanned white haired girl was of the drivers seat, staring at the dusty road with her sunglasses on. Thamriyell has been driving for almost an hour now, seeing nothing but electricity posts lining the side of the road and occasional hills seen in the distance.

"Do you think the road leads to somewhere?" Tham asks.

"What? You think this is some endless road?" Tryx at the back seat asks back.

"Not really. I just thought this road is too long."

"Or he could've just went hitched a ride that passed by chance." Nomo joined in.

"Maybe. But in the middle of nowhere? We don't even know if Neo's in this world."

Tryx said, not looking forward to the idea of looking around in the desert world where sparse vegetation could be seen.

"Let's at least see if he really did just walked out of the village. It might take some time but should be able to find him."

Tham said optimistically.

"We took several hours looking for you in that forest, you know?" Nomo said, turning back to look at Tryx.

This made Tryx curious. She moved to the middle seat and leaned forward.

"Really? Because I have been walking in that god damn forest for who knows how long, and I get chased around almost became that kitty's meal."

"Did you try taking a shortcut through the rain forest?" Tham asks, joining in.

"Yeah? Why?" Tryx cutely tilted her head to the side with a raised eyebrow, an action that she didn't realize at all. 

"We were following your foot prints in the road you left behind. We didn't know where you went when it stopped, so we all headed to the building we thought you were trying to get to." Tham replied.

"Wait, how come you guys know which world I last went to?" 

"Welmet was in your stream last night, remember? He remembered the world you last went to, and then he managed to open a portal to that world." 

"Oh! He was there wasn't he?"

"So. After we got there, we went around looking for some weapons. Welmet said that the world was full of dangerous animals." Nomo continued on this time.

"So that's why you guys have those guns. I thought all the building had was a revolver. Did you find those guns somewhere else?"

"No, we found it just upstairs in the second floor in a room sealed by metal bars. Do you know about that?

"Wait what? A sealed off room?"

They continue to talk about the time during their search for her, passing time as they drove through the desert road.

Tham was still driving straight, only a few small curves and a rare occasion of almost road killing lizard that was in the road. The only eventful thing was when they finally came across the intersection that leads to different places, they couldn't understand what was written except for Nomo telling them that they are in the Middle East. They received a bit of surprise from the news but quickly switched to voting on which was to go, something that ended quickly as everyone opted for the shorter route. 68 Kilometers was the closest of the two.

In less than an hour, they could see the city in the distance. Somewhat excited at the prospect of going to a city in different country, Tham accelerated further making their time to view the city from afar shorter.

"I guess we're here." Tryx says as she leans forward between the seat, trying to get a better view from the front.

Tham slows down as they approach the oncoming traffic, slowly merging to its chaotic pace as motorcycles weave through as though they have no worry of crashing with other cars. Everyone was looking around like a country bumpkin as they look at the different buildings and the different types of stores. Driving around trying to avoid heavy traffic, Tham makes a turn but was caught in the red light. Tryx, who has moved to looking out from the right side sees the flat bed tow truck beside them, was filled with the charred remaining pieces of a car, as if it was shredded from the inside out. 

"Hey, what the hell do you guys think destroyed this thing to pieces?" Tryx asks the two curiously.

"Destroyed what to pieces?" Tham looks at her confused.

"This car." She points at the wreckages.

Thamriyell leans in and sees the pile of scrap metal.

"Holy fuck, what happened to that." She says, looking at one of the doors that was destroyed.

"I think that thing was rigged to blow up." Nomo says as looks at the damages.

"Really?! That scary." Says Tham, but was cut off by a loud honk from behind making her realize her light was green.

Once again driving aimlessly, everyone was silent again as they continue to look for Neo.

"I think we should go on foot and spread out. We won't find him like this." Nomo says, still looking out for him.

"Yeah. I think we should, considering he could be anywhere in this city." Tryx agrees with her.

"So, how are we planning to find him in this whole city? Does anybody has an idea?" Tham asks.

"Shouldn't we ask the police first?" Tryx says as if stating the obvious.

"I don't think that's a good idea."

"First of all, how are we going to report a missing person who doesn't have any pictures of him or any ID." Tham states the facts.

"Plus, we don't have anything on us too. If they for our ID or VISA then we're screwed." Nomo added, getting where Tham's coming from.

Tryx was reminded again how their not in their real bodies now what they know what is happening.

"Let's just play it safe, we don't know what's even happening in the first place." Nomo says. 

"Yeah, it's better to be safe than sorry."

"Should we hide our faces? I don't think we should let the people see us."

"I think we should just hide our ears, or else we would look suspicious if we hide too much."

Says Thamriyell as she turns to park at a slightly busier location in front of a closed store.

"But I think Nomo should at least cover her face. Her tattoo like things are moving whenever she talks." Tryx points at her cheeks bones just beneath her eyes.

"Wait really?" Nomo turns to ask them.

"Yup." Both said at the same time.

She turns the rear view mirror to her direction and she saw the tattoo like thing does move whenever she makes a voice.

"Shit. I don't think we have some makeup on our pack, do we?" 

"Nope." Tryx shook her head.

"I'll just hide my face then. Tryx, can you pass the bag over there please?"

She passes the bag to her. After handing that over, she turns to Tham and asks.

"By the way, should I bring the gun with me?" 

"Yeah, although there shouldn't be someone stupid enough to break into this car, I don't wanna give someone with a clear evil intention a gun." She says, not liking the thought of arming some random thief.

"Figures." Tryx said as she puts on her sunglasses.

Tham just grabs the military cap from under the dashboard and puts it on to hide her cat ears. She is wearing large sunglasses, that somehow doesn't fall despite the lack of human ears and a plain white T-shirt paired with hot pants that hugged her bottom perfectly. She picks up the pistol, a pistol that came with her skimpy police officer avatar , and she tucks it in her pants and arranged her shirt so that the guns silhouette wouldn't be noticeable. Meanwhile, Nomo has wrapped her head with a thin scarf that only shows her eyes. Tham notices something and says.

"Nomo. You should wear sunglasses. Your eyes would attract some attention."

"Huh? Why?" Nomo tilts her head and asks.

 "Your eyes are glowing a little, and it looks really bright." 

"Yeah. Yellow eyes aren't something you would normally have, more so when it looks like it's shining."

Tryx said as she leans in between the seats to look at Nomo's eyes.

"Ah."

She lets out a voice as she realizes the problem. She grabbed a pair of sunglasses and puts it on. 

"Good?"

"Yeah, your good." 

With all their preparations done, they exited simultaneously. And almost immediately, they have already turned several heads towards them. After all, a foreigner beautiful woman with pure white hair and a cute teenager that was also a beauty just came out of the same truck. And then there's also another girl in the group, that although her face is concealed by the scarf and sunglasses. Her skin tone was as white as a pearl that was similar to the teenager at her back, paired with her slightly petite physic, makes one wonder what she looks like.

Seeing that they already gathered some attention, they were slightly unnerved. Tham quickly calms herself and calls out to one of the locals.

"Excuse me, mister."

"What, what is it?"

"Do you know what's the name of this street? We can't really read the letter around here."

"This is, ehm... Akham street."

"I see. Thank you mister."

"Your, eh...welcome."

Finished with the conversation, she turns back to her friends.

"You guys remember the plan right?"

"Yeah. Ask around if anyone has seen him or his other avatar right?" Tryx says.

"And call out if we ever find him in the radios. If not, we meet back here again in 2 hours." Nomo added, patting the radio clipped to her pants.

"Then let's go." Tryx said as she turns to leave.

"Careful, just avoid getting attention." Thamriyell.

"I know." Tryx replies as she walks further away.

Nomo and Tham looks at each other and shrugs. They splited up, with each heading into different directions trying to cover as much area as possible. Asking around definitely earned them some stares, but they weren't staring in an ill manner. It was more of a state of curiosity, as they were obviously foreigners with their looks alone. They made a conscious decision to avoid the police they saw patrolling, so they could avoid the problem of trying to present an ID or VISA, something that they obviously don't have. Time quickly passes by and they all came back to the truck. 

"So no luck huh?" Thamriyell said disappointed at the lack clues about their friend.

"Let's try in another area. Maybe we'll find something about him somewhere." Nomo suggested, to which they quickly adapted and they drove away.

"It's nice that the air conditioner works for this truck. Ugh, I wish mine works just like this."

Tryx said as she remembers her home's finicky air conditioner.

They drove for a couple minutes and found a relatively nice parking spot in an alley hidden from the main road. Tryx hopped out last as she tries to enjoy the last whiff of the cold air.

"So, what's the plan?" Tryx asks Tham.

"Same as before. We spilt up and ask around if anyone has seen him, and come back if we can't find anything." Thamriyell says to her.

"I really hope he's in the city. We don't even know on where the hell we are in the first place."

"Guys. I think I found him." Nomo suddenly said.

Tryx's ranting was immediately answered by Nomo making both of them to look back at her. She was staring up at the old box TV at the corner inside the open diner. Walking up to her, they saw what was being shown.

A tall young man with brown skin was walking in the sidewalk before stopping and was grabbed by two people running. The scene was fast, but they saw the mismatched Egyptian style pants in contrast to his simple dark gray shirt. The design was instantly recognizable to them as they have seen it more than a hundred times already.

"Holy shit." Tryx quietly said. Her jaw dropping at the following scene.

A few minutes later, they gathered their wits. Asking a few bystanders who happens to be there, they immediately left and headed for the direction where the car bombing incident took place. And after a couple of minutes, they arrived to the busy streets on where it took place.

"I think this is the street we were looking for." Tham said as she slows down.

"Yup. Look it's the store next to where the car blew up on." Nomo points at the store with the broken glass wall.

"Hold on, stop the car for a sec." Said Tryx. 

She lowers the window and calls out to a random person.

"Excuse me! Mister! Do you know what happened here?"

"Car exploded here yesterday. Al-Ahmad attacked again."

"Oh, I see. Did they catch the attackers?" 

"No. They, escaped after car exploded."

"What about the guy they tried take with them?"

"What guy?" The man looks visibly confused at the question.

"No, nothing. Well, thank you for your time mister." 

Tryx thanks the man as she raised the window. She looks at the two who were listening into the brief conversation and asks.

"You guys heard that? Looks like everyone thinks Neo is a part of those guys."

"Why? Didn't they clearly see he wasn't with them?" Nomo said, upset at the situation.

"Maybe the police didn't see him struggle free against those guys?" Tham said.

"Well, whatever the reason, Neo's probably hiding somewhere right now." Tryx said as leans in between them.

"We should look around the here. He couldn't have gotten that far." Tham said.

They drove around trying to find a spot to park the pickup truck. After finding a parking spot, they went around trying to find him. Going around alleys and other likely places where he could've been to. But even before the sun sets, they still couldn't find him. They returned to the pickup and discussed their plans.

"So we got nothing huh?" Tryx said.

"Yeah. I even asked around if they saw anyone resembling him, but I still got nothing." Said Thamriyell.

They look at Nomo and she shook her head in disappointment.

"By the way, where are we going to spend the night?"

Tham took in a thinking gesture before saying her thoughts.

"I think we should go back to Welmet and check up on him. But I don't know if placing a portal here will work though, but what do you guys think?"

"What do we do about the truck, though? Will we leave here?" Nomo voiced her concern

"Let's just go back to the village where we got this from, 'cause I don't think placing a portal here is a good idea either." Tryx said as she crossed her arms.

"Yeah, let's do that."

She started the car and headed back to the village.

A couple minutes back to Welmet...

As he stands in front of the mirror, he makes his suit disappear turning it into blue wisps of energy and poses coolly by grabbing his tie while putting his other hand on his pocket and tilts his head to the side. He completes his pose by turning his gaze into a half lidded one with a serious look.

"Heh."

He smiles at himself, pleased with the pose he just made as he looks at himself in the mirror. His glee was interrupted by the loud growl of his stomach. He sighs as he tries to curb his stomachs whining.

"They should be coming back soon."

He looks at the digital clock on the wall. They have been gone for almost 8 hours now and they have planned that should they encounter any problems, they would retreat to this room immediately. He sat down on one of the bean bags and closed his eyes, letting his mind wander. Thinking about how they got into this situation, how the others doing, or how crazy this situation is right now. Eventually, he began to think of food. The thought of foodstuffs sent his stomach growling, much louder than last time. With satiating his stomach becoming his objective, he began to think of worlds where there are food. 

"Let's try it."

He said to himself, full of motivation to sate his hunger. Standing up, he brought up the image of world into the top of his head and opens a portal. He pokes his head through the portal slightly wary, but seeing as there are no danger to be seen, he goes through fully. 

The place he went to was a small medieval town with the fountain as its center point. He walks towards one of the cobblestone streets, the scenery quickly changing. Hoping that what was there has changed, his steps hastened.

"Oh! It's there!"

Welmet approaches one of the stalls, happy that his hunch was correct. Where he went to was a street full of stalls and inn where food and other merchandise was being sold. Not much has changed except for the food and other items to be real instead of an image just pasted over it. Elated, he quickly grabbed several skewers and a few stews and sat down onto one of the deserted seats, finally sating his hunger. The food that was enough to feed 3 people was quickly wolfed down by him in just a couple of minutes. 

"Burp! Excuse me."

He says after he puts the wooden bowl and spoon down, he pats his belly satisfied. He sighs, looking at the cloudy blue sky. After a minute of looking listlessly at the sky, he remembers about the time the others on when they are supposed to get back. Not knowing how long he have been here, he hurriedly opened a portal back to the room. 

He got through and sighs, seeing that they haven't gotten back yet. Sitting down on one of the bean bags, he realizes that he has nothing to do but wait for them. Thinking of ways to pass time, something came to mind. He stood up and opened the portal to the same world, walking back to the stalls. He grabbed a tray and a basket full of bread from a nearby bakery and put several kinds of foodstuffs from several stalls, quickly filling it full. He returned and quickly passing through the portal, but just as he passed it, the food he was carrying vanished.

"What?!"

Surprised, he looks down searching, but he couldn't see a trace of all the food he just brought with him. Thinking that it's mysteriously back at the other side, he goes back through his still open portal. Looking around, he didn't see a trace of the food on the path he just took. Confused, he looks around the area. During his search for the missing food, he noticed something. On the stalls from where he got all the food from, it felt to him that as if something has changed. Looking closer, he was once again surprised at what he found.

"No way... Everything back to where it used to. "

He quietly said in disbelief. The roasted skewers he got from that stall was all there except for the several ones that he ate earlier. He looks at the other stalls to find the same thing, but a few were different from the others. Some of the parts of the stalls was glowing, a wispy blue glow gathering to a single point. 

"What the hell is happening?"

Not sure on what to do at the strange sight before him, he stood there just looking at the phenomenon very slowly unfolding itself.

"Welmet! What the heck are you doing out here?"

Someone shouted from behind him, he looks back and saw the three come through the portal he unknowingly left open.

"Welmet. You okay now buddy?" Tryx peeks out from behind Nomo and asks his condition.

"I..uh, yeah. I was just looking at something weird." Welmet stammers as he replies.

"By something weird. You mean those glowing things?" Tham points at the blue glowing particles emanating from several stalls.

"Yeah. I tried to bring some food through the portal, but it disappeared when i passed through it." Welmet explains while pointing at the glowing stalls.

"Wait! What?" Tryx asks in confusion.

"What do you mean it disappeared? Did it, like vanish in front of you?" Nomo tilts her head and frowns slightly.

"Yeah, and I just found some back to where I found them." He further adds.

For awhile, no one said anything. The silence lasted only for a while before Thamriyell broke it.

"Oh! Maybe, just maybe, that the rules from the game is still in effect!" She said in realization.

"That makes sense. But wait a minute, didn't we just took a pickup truck from that world? We even drove it through the desert and all that." Tryx cuts in.

"Maybe it doesn't work on all of the worlds?" Nomo provides her theory a little meekly.

"Maybe. But we should figure that out for later. Welmet, we have found Neo." Tham said.

"Really? Then where is he?" He asks looking around them, as his excitement left as quickly as it came.

"Sorry. I meant we've gotten a clue on where he is, but it's not good." Tham said in a frown.

"Before you continue. Have you guys eaten yet?"

Welmet interrupts her and asks. But as soon as he asked that question, a wonderful synchronization of loud growls came from their stomachs.

"Pfft...kuhkhahahah! I...heh guess you guys are."

The harmonious sound made him forget about the seriousness of Tham's voice from earlier and unintentionally splutter as he tries to hold down his laughter, that he failed to get a hold of.

"Shut the fuck up! It wouldn't have happened if you hadn't said it to us." Blushing, Tryx tries to make an excuse for it.

"Then you want me to talk to you guys after your orchestra?" 

Nomo sighs, her cheeks loosened by the usual banter from the group.

"Let's just eat, you guys," 

Nomo picks a random stall and gets her food, Tham follows her lead and gets her own portion. Seeing the two get ahead of her, Tryx follows along. 

An hour later...

Downing the whole mug of water, Tryx pets her stomach as lets out a sigh of satisfaction. Several wooden bowls are stacked on the table, the other two was also quietly resting.

"So... you guys got a clue on where he could be right?" Welmet started to talk about their search results.

"Yeah. We found out about it because he's on the news, something happened and now he's hiding somewhere." Tryx says.

"We saw him on the news because of the car bomb that exploded from across the street on where he was standing."

"What?! The news?! What do you mean? Where did you guys go to anyway? Didn't you guys go to a different world?"

Shocked and confused, Welmet asks them several questions in a row. Nomo quickly notices his worried look and calms him down by grabbing his forearm, and said in a gentle voice.

"Hey, relax. Calm down. He's okay, we just gotta find out on where he's hiding."

He lets out a sigh, calming himself. Tryx looks at him before continuing.

"Anyway, to tell a long story short. We did go to a different world, but we somehow ended up somewhere, in what we think is in the Middle East. We got there, we looked around but didn't find him, we looked around again and we saw him on the news, we go where he was last seen, looked around again but never saw him anywhere so we got back since it was turning night."

Tryx said everything in one go. Welmet asks as he tries to get his head around on how did they get to the Middle East and the obvious red flag.

"Wait. How is there news about Neo in the first place?"

Tryx went silent for a few seconds before asking something back.

"Before I answer that. Welmet, you were on my stream last night yeah?"

"What?" Welmet asks, as if he didn't get what she just said.

"I said, were you on my stream last night?" She repeated in a firm tone.

He frowned from the out of place question, but he still nodded to affirm her.

"Then you watched us explore that whole world with that tiger roaming around the forest right?"

"Yeah, i did."

"Then, did we ever encounter those guys? The guys we were running away from."

"No. I don't remember ever seeing any NPCs in that world." 

Tryx took a deep breath and nodded to the other two, they nodded back, she spoke in a serious tone towards Welmet who getting more perplexed at how their acting.

"Welmet, you need to stay calm after what I'm about to say okay?"

"What are you guys on about?" Not knowing why they are acting like that, his tone has a hint of nervousness.

"Welmet. I think the guys we were fighting in the forest are real people in the real world."

Nomo says it to him, not knowing on how he's going to react. Silence dominated the place as Welmet sat there not moving as if he was frozen solid. Slowly, as if thawing out of his frozen state, his mouth slowly tries to form words out of his mouth.

"Y....you guys, are joking, right?" He said haltingly.

Tryx nodded while looking at him in the eyes, gauging his reaction. 

"Th...then, I...k....d. e....le."

His voice was very faint, only managing to barely hear his words. Tham and Nomo are both frowning from his reaction, not liking how he's muttering something with a frozen expression of shock. Grabbing his shoulder, Nomo tries shake him out of it.

"Welmet, hey! Welmet!" She raises her voice, trying to get his attention. But he kept muttering something as his face looses its color, the blooding draining from his face. He won't respond to their voices as they start to yell out his name, until someone took a slightly drastic action.

"I-I kil-."

SLAP!!!

Welmet words were stopped midway as a loud resounding slap, that was followed by a stinging pain on his cheeks. Shocked, he touches his stinging cheek before slowly turning towards his friends. There, he sees Thamriyell with worry etched into her face, her right hand raised into a pose of after doing the motion of slapping someone.

"Have you snapped out of it, Welmet?" She asks in a worried tone.

He stares at her blankly for a couple seconds before returning from his stunned state.

"Ah. Yeah... S-sorry." He says

"Don't worry buddy, your not the only one who's having a hard time about it." Tryx says sympathetically.

"Yeah..." He replies weakly.

"Are you okay, Welmet? I didn't hit you to hard did I?" Tham asks him.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a faint sting left, but I think it'll be gone in a bit."

"That's good."

A couple seconds of awkward silence took place. Tryx coughs and continues speaking.

"Anyways, as I was saying. We don't know how the fuck we got to the Middle East of all places, but we at least know where he is. and so, we are going back again."

"But you guys haven't found him yet, right?" 

"That's why we are going to look around you dingus. Anyway, your good now right?" 

Welmet nodded.

"Then, come help us look for Neo. We should be able to find him faster if we have more people looking around for him." Tham said as she pats his back, earning a small smile from him.

"By the way, have you looked around the town yet, Welmet?" Tham asks to change the mood.

"Uhm, not yet. I just headed straight to this place to see if there was anything that changed in this place."

"Then, let's look around to see what else changed." Smirking like a child, she pulls his hand towards the other streets.

"Wait a sec, don't pull me! I'm not a kid!" He says as he tries not to trip.

The two people left behind just looks at each other and sighs before chasing after them.

Back to where Neo's location...

Putting the mop back to the bucket, he sighs as he looks around proud at his work as the floor was swept clean. He stowed it away after he finished using it and got back to the living room, just in time to see someone open the door.

"Welcome back, Mrs. Sasha. Let me help you carry that."

"Thank you. You can put it down on the table at the kitchen." She passes the basket full of her groceries to him, happy that the heavy weight of the bag was taken from her.

Neo took the bag to the kitchen and poured a cold glass of water before serving it to the old woman.

"Here, water."

"Oh my, how thoughtful, thank you." The old woman said, gladly drinking the the glass empty.

"It's nothing, it's just you look exhausted ma'am."

"I see."

She nodded satisfied. A moment of silence as she smiles before it was replaced with a serious expression.

"Neo, come sit here for a bit." She said, gesturing toward the sofa opposite of her.

Neo sensed her slight changes in her tone and silently sat down onto the sofa facing her.

"The police is looking around, probably searching for the other two men that involved you."

The old woman said, making him look down with a slightly complicated look. She starts speaking again after a moment, continuing her words.

"And besides the police, there were some foreigners who was looking around for you."

"Foreigners? Wait, what do they look like? How many are they?" He asks in a hurry.

"Hm? There's 3 people i have seen so far. One is a teenager, black long hair with a scarf and a sweater. Another is a white girl with yellow hair, black leather jacket and pants. And the last one is a tanned woman with a pure white hair, she has blue eyes, white shirt and hot pants. I couldn't see what the second girl look like because she had her face covered."

"White hair, blue eyes..." He repeated in a whisper.

"Do you know who they are?" She asks, hearing his voice tinged with emotion.

"I think they're my friends. They must have somehow followed me somehow!" He said happily.

"I see. Then I'll go see if they are still there." She said standing up from the sofa.

"Let me come with you, they will immediately recognize me if we see each other!" Standing up swiftly, he says in an excited tone.

The old woman shook her head, refusing him flatly.

"No. It's best that you stay here for now, the authorities will also instantly recognize you if they see you."

"But!"

"No. You can leave this to me, okay dear?" She cut him off, not giving him a chance to refute.

He stood still there for a few seconds before, letting out a disappointed and sad sigh.

"Okay. But please tell me if its really them, the woman with the white hair is Thamyell while the American girl should be Tryx."

"Thamriyell and Tricks? I see, I will hurry and will be back in a few. Don't let anyone know your here okay?"

"Okay, I will stay inside." He nodded obediently.

The old woman smiles before leaving the house again.

Once again left alone, he sat back down on the sofa. Idly staring at the ceiling as his mind race, the ticking of the clock resounded as he silently thinks about the news he just heard.

His friends are here, looking for him. He doesn't know how they got here or how they know he's here, but right now he was anxious about the possibility of it just being a stupid coincidence. He doesn't know if it's really them or not, but he was optimistic. His heartbeat racing from elation and anxiety. Staring at the ceiling motionless, his mind continue to revolve around it.

"Please be them..." He says after a few minutes of silence.

He stood up from the couch, feeling restless as he awaits for the old woman to come back. Heading to the kitchen, he starts to put the groceries that should be put in the fridge in it, same goes for the other items in the bag. Once finished, he starts to set up the table as it was near lunch time. Next he heated up the left overs from last night and left it in the pot so that it won't cool as he waited for the old woman to come back, thinking that it was rude to eat first without the owner of the house.

45 minutes later...

He hears the faint sound of the squeaking noise the gate outside. He get up from the chair to greet the old woman back again.

"Welcome back. How did it go?"

The old woman shook her head in disappointment.

"Sadly, I couldn't find them. I asked around, but they said they left in a hurry it seems." Says the old woman.

Neo was visibly dejected at the news.

"I see..."

"Don't worry, we'll try again tomorrow okay?" The old woman said in a kind tone.

Neo just nodded silently. 

"Did you heated up the leftovers from last night?" She asks after a long moment of silence.

"Uh, yeah."

"Good timing, i was just getting hungry." She says, heading for the dining table.

And so, they ate while watching the morning news silently, even if Neo has no idea what they are saying. As he ate his dinner silently, he was thinking about his friends. 

"How did they get here? Did they ended up in the same place and just somehow missed each other? Or maybe they somehow managed to get to where he is through by some means?" He thinks to himself silently.

Thinking that there was something not right, he stopped his train of thought for now and finished his meal. After thanking the old woman for the meal and doing the dishes, he returned to the room lent to him. He lays down on the bed and blankly stares at the ceiling, deep in thought. As he continues to think about his friends, his eyelids slowly gets heavier together with his blacking out mind sending him into dreamland.

A couple hours later...

His consciousness resurfacing as he faintly hears, on what seems like, the screeching sound of tires of some vehicle. Slowly opening his eyes, he sees the faint light of starlight through the wavering curtains. Realizing that it was already dark out, he quickly sat up from his bed and looks up to the night sky. Seeing the moon high up into the sky, he assumes that it must be before or after midnight. Neo rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand, wiping the sleep off his eyes. He slowly opens the door, careful to not make to much noise and goes down to the dark living room.

He walks to the kitchen and grabbed a glass and a pitcher of water. As he was downing the water, he noticed that he didn't even turn on the lights and that he was walking in what supposed to be pitch black darkness. Looking around, no source of light could be seen and that he was seeing things clearly as if he was in a dim room in day time. After putting everything back, he sat at the sofa at the living room, not bothering to open the lights as he can see everything perfectly fine. Looking at his hands, he closes them and thinks to himself. He still doesn't know how or why he is in his avatar, but he can certainly say he felt different. His senses sharper and his body doing exactly what he wants perfectly. It was like his original body was a degraded version of his current one. In his silent soliloquy, he catches something shine at the corner of his eyesight.

"Hmm?"

Looking there, he didn't see anything out of place. He looks around but found nothing of interest, but just as he was about to look away, the curved sword on the picture frame let out a blue glow. He looks at it confused, not knowing what on earth is happening. But his confusion didn't last for long as he sees the blue light condense on the blade, instinctively feeling its mysterious power, he tried to get out the place. But the condensed power on the sword exploded before he could even take a step, his consciousness was sent flying as he was hit by the blue explosion.

In an unknown location...

"Haah...haah...haah"

The rhythmic sound of foot steps and ragged breathing echoes throughout the wide bloody hallways. They kept running even when exhausted, just to gain as much distance as possible. Thinking that their current situation won't change if they do something, they prepared themselves to fight. Gritting their teeth, they turned around and raised their gun at the same time. 

"Haaahhh!!!!!" 

With a shout of courage, they pulled the trigger, blasting whatever they could see from the dark unlit part of the hallway. For several seconds, they held down the trigger eliminating whatever was chasing after them. Their shout ended together with the click from their gun, indicating that they spent everything that the gun could spew out. The place went silent, nothing but their ragged breath echoes in the dimly lit hallways where the only light source are from the emergency red lights. Seeing that none of whatever was chasing after them wasn't making a single noise, they let out a relieved sigh as their shoulders drop. But just before tension left their body, they heard a faint sound from the end of hallway where they just came from. Staring into the darkness, they saw the source, something that immediately sent them running on their heels.

"Nononono!!!" A panicked voice of a woman came from the helmet.

After a couple seconds later, emerging from the darkness chasing behind them was letting out a screeching sound as it slithers across the ground with frightening speed. It's appearance was similar to that of a snake, except for the fact that it lacks any scales making it look like some fleshy tentacle covered in slimy mucus with a serrated teeth lining what appears to be a mouth.

Not keen to look back on the creature making the noise, the woman simply increased her speed. Running at speeds that would leave even a human in a bicycle in the dust, she tilts her body to the side as she turns and even started running on the walls using her speed. As the woman ran in both fear and disgust, one of the metal sliding doors ahead of her opened as a creature emerges. The creature that exited the room was similar to the one behind her, except that it was standing on its two legs and its body hunched forward  facing its large head that was as wide as its body to the front. Along with its large head was also a large mouth lined with similarly large razor sharp teeth that was as big as woman's hand.

GRAHG!!!

Perhaps it was just coincidence that it just wandered out of that room or it heard the shots echoing in the hallways, whatever the reason was doesn't matter anymore as the monster already noticed the woman. It charges at her with its maws ready to welcome its newest victim. Seeing it charging at her for a bloody welcome, sends a chill down her spine. The woman instantly jumps into one of the smaller corridors to her side, not wanting to face that thing with another one in her back. The woman slaps the console next to the door as she passed by, not wanting to wait for the two pursuing monsters. She continues running and slaps the next console she passes to close it behind her, making sure that she would have enough time to flee if they have enough strength to break through the reinforced steel door.

THUD!

A muffled thud came from the first door, presumably the bigger one slamming into it. The woman continued to run until she reached a very spacious room and closes the door behind her. She turns on the lights of the room with her gun raised, ready to blast whatever creature that would pounce on her. Seeing as there was nothing besides her in the room, she leans her back to the door as relief and exhaustion catches up to her. 

"Oh my god..." 

She says as she slides down leaning on the door. With her ragged breathing calming down, she took off her helmet and puts it down beside her. With her head freed from the confines of the helmet, she shook her head whipping out her crimson hair feeling the fresh cool air. She sat there for several minutes, trying to get enough energy to take action for any unexpected foes. After resting, she looked around the room she entered in.

The room looks like it was some sort of VIP hotel room used by some big shots in some medical institution, as it has both a living room and a mini laboratory separated by two single sliding doors. In one corner of the on the opposite direction of the mini laboratory was a bed room with its own bathroom. Outside the bedroom was a tiny kitchen, large enough that it could fit 2 people without getting in each other's way.

Curious, she opens the fridge with some small expectations. To her pleasant surprise, the fridge was filled with food, ignoring the obvious medicine bottles and test tubes. She quickly grabbed a several bowls of different types of stew and some cold fried chicken. Setting those down in the counter, she happily put the food in the microwave. Thinking that she should get some plate, she opened the cupboards and was immediately greeted with a horrible surprise present.

GHIIH!!!

An alien creature crawling on its four spider-like legs was in the cupboard. The creature that looks exactly like a face hugger found on some alien planet, leaped into her face. She leans back and screamed in surprise making her bump into the small counter, but the aliens speed was also fast as it immediately latches onto her face.

"MNNHIIIHHMN!!!" 

She crashes onto the counter as she struggled to rip off the creature from her face. She started to grope around the ground, trying to reach for her gun panicking. Seeing that the victim was still struggling, the creature tightened its grip on her face. The woman felt that the way things are going isn't a desirable route, her minds gears spun into action trying to get rid of the face hugger. 

"MNIH!"

The woman started to crawl forward until she reached a wall. Standing up with her hands on the wall, she leans her head back to the limit and then slams her head to the wall.

GHUIH!

The alien let out a cry of pain, something that made the woman happy. She continued to slam her head towards the wall, each time she slams the creature attached to the wall earns her a cry of pain as the creature persistently clings onto her face. After a couple times of beating, she felt its gripped loosen. Taking advantage of the small chance, she grabbed its two thin legs on her hair and exerted all the power she could muster. The creature that was stunned from the beating, was finally ripped off her face.

"You! Son of a! Bitch!"

She curses at it before slamming it into the wall using her full strength. The force of it just made it look like as if it was squished, sending its bodily fluids to splatter across the wall. Unfortunately, a small spray of it was sent flying back towards her. Something that she immediately tried to dodge but the spray of goop still caught her in the chest. The only blessing here was that it only got sprayed onto her armor and not on her face.

"Fuck! Eww!" 

Still she cringed as the brown alien goop sticking to her armor. With her face twisted at how disgusted she was at the alien splattered corpse, she turned towards the bathroom hoping that there should be something there to clean this mess. 

Ding!

The microwave oven let out a resounding bell, indicating that her warmed food is finished. Sighing, she turns around to the kitchen, pulling out the hot steaming stew and switched it for another before heading to the bathroom. Taking a box of tissues, she spent a couple minutes of wiping everything off her armor, only stopping a few times to replace the warmed up food with a cold one in the microwave.

After cleaning up both the corpse and brown goop, she stood in front a full body mirror turning to see if there is any alien blood still stuck on her. The appearance reflected in the mirror was a woman with crimson red hair, wearing a futuristic armor that would be immediately be recognized by people who played a certain military game set in space. Except that it was slightly modified to fit the person wearing, as the woman who was wearing it now has her crimson fluffy tail poking out just above her buttocks. 

Seeing that there is not a single drop of it on her, she goes back to her now all warmed up lunch. As she enjoys her food, she didn't notice her tail wagging and her ears folded up to the side, almost similar to how a dog or wolf that was getting head pats.

As a side note, for how she disposed of the aliens corpse. She just dumped it one of the trashed rooms she passed by earlier after triple bagging it with trash bags.

30 minutes later...

She has finished finished eating, leaving only bones of several chicken drumsticks, fruit seeds and skin, a couple rib bones, and finally a stack of plates and bowls. The plates were spotless as if it was licked clean. Standing up with a smile on her face, happy that she was finally able to sate her hunger. Fetching her gun from the kitchen counter, she left the place. Although she could've stayed there for safety, she has no plans to prolong her in this god forsaken place. After all, she wants to get out of here as soon as possible. The machine gun in her arms feels heavier, something that she happily welcomes. After all, more lead to shoot down those who get in her way the better.

With a swift gait she heads outside, ready to fight her way out.

Alisa-Hutako

Hey ho~! How is everyone~? I hope that everyone is doing good~ sorry for the Hiatus~ very busy with my life right now~ anyway~ I think I am going to make the chapters shorter as suggested by someone in the previous chapter~ and I also agree since it's taking a long time because of the length of the chapter that reaches around 10-15K words~ it's going to be around 3-7K words next time~ So I hope that everyone would have no problem with that~? Don't hate me~! As a side note~ I wrote half of my previous chapter and this one while drunk~ so if you noticed some obvious poor writing~ it must be that~ because I sometimes don't check what I wrote~