“Alright, Marrow Peaks, here we come,” Kayla said as she pushed the throttle. Rurack airport had a long runway, and Anton felt curious about how it felt like if they took off normally, like a normal airplane. He flew with planes before, but never a fighter jet. 

Back when they took off from Murkmar, Kayla did a vertical take-off. Once they were airborne, Kayla rotated the nozzle backward, pushing the plane forward, but the rotation was slow to allow the plane to maintain its altitude while increasing its speed. The acceleration from a normal take-off felt far stronger. 

“Will we even be able to reach it?”

“As long as we didn’t fight anyone, although by then our fuel would be thin,” Kayla replied. Anton leaned back, resting his body on his seat as the jet increased in speed and altitude. He looked out of the cockpit, which gave him a good view of his surroundings. The landscape extended to the distance, the sun going farther behind them. 

As they flew farther away from the center of the map, the sky started to darken, replaced by tiny lights twinkling in the distance. He looked to his right, to the north, and found a starship traveling in the opposite direction to them, flying a few thousand meters higher than their current altitude. The sight of it reminded him of the abandoned city, the one located deep underground. 

He couldn’t shake off the feeling that this was just another version of that world. Those stars that twinkle in the afternoon sky, as the eternal darkness slowly replaced the light of the sun, were nothing more than LED screens feeding light into this world. He knew everything was just a simulation, a game, a world a computer fed to his brain. It was fake, everything here wasn’t real, it wasn’t supposed to be. Nothing more than code, he thought, code that he participated in developing. Yet, seeing the sights filled him with various feelings that he couldn’t describe. 

He was just a little cog in the massive program, a single variable. 

This world continued to tick, whether he was here or not. It could only move forward, and never backward. The time he spent here, the time he spent with Kayla. The encounters he met, the friends he made, all part of this journey of his. A world that felt as real as the real world. 

“Anton.”

“Yes?”

“Just curious, why Marrow Peaks?” Kayla asked. 

“Camping.”

“Camping?”

“Yep.”

“I see. It has been a while, hasn’t it?”

“A long while.”

It was his hometown, in a way. Marrow City, located at the foot of Marrow Peaks, the place where he first spawned into this world, the place where he met Kayla and started his adventure. As his journey progressed, he went farther east, going into the eternal day from the eternal night. He managed to reach the center of the world, and bought a home in Alvandor. 

With the end of the game looming in front of him, its future uncertain, he wanted to visit his hometown one last time, and spend some time there. He had no idea when the game would officially end, and he didn’t want to ask Rebecca for updates on the case either, but he may never have the chance to explore the game’s eastern map. It was unfortunate, but he couldn’t do anything about it. 

He wanted to prioritize ending it where it all began. 

“Anything you wanted to do once we arrived there?” Anton asked. 

“Actually, I do… but it’s a weird one,” Kayla replied, her voice weakening as the sentence went on. 

“What is it?”

“I wanted to buy an apartment.”

Anton remained silent, surprised. Buying a house or apartment wasn’t something unnatural, per se. Some players, although not many, wanted to have a house. A house didn’t really have much use in the game. The game didn’t allow teleport, so having multiple houses didn’t really benefit the player in any particular way. But sometimes, even without real benefit, some still saw it as a cozy place to return to after a day of adventuring. 

He was more shocked of Kayla being the one making that request. AI companions do have things they want, and would sometimes make requests, but not much nor often. When they did say they wanted something, it often had something to do with the players themselves. An AI companion could ask the player to upgrade their weapons so they could better protect them, for example. As an AI companion, Kayla should know that a house didn’t serve any unique function, yet she made that request anyway. 

“Okay,” Anton replied instantly. 

“You sure?”

“Of course. I’ll do anything for you.”

“Aww, thanks a lot,” Kayla replied, returning to controlling the plane. As Anton looked at the instruments, looking at the small numbers spread across the instrument panel, he wondered why Kayla asked him that. What did she want with an apartment?

Well, Anton would still buy it, even if she had zero reason for asking that. Kayla rarely asked something from him. He had the money, and Marrow City was a special place for him. They would also be staying there for a while, maybe until the game ended. If the game ended tomorrow or the day after, then the stacks of cash in Anton’s account would all be gone anyway. 

He wanted to create memories with her, and if fulfilling that request could help him, then he didn’t mind spending some money. As the sky darkened, the little twinkles grew brighter. Patches of light started spreading, marking active cities and villages, decorating various spots on the ground. As the plane descended, the lights became clearer, with buildings of various kinds sprouting from the ground. 

Streetlights mingled together creating one large string of lights traveling across the map. 

“Dear passengers, this is your captain speaking, please prepare for landing,” Kayla said cheerfully. She turned the plane and aligned it with the airport’s runway. Anton received the notification, telling him that he entered a peace zone. He couldn’t see the airport’s runway, the front panel blocking him, so he trusted Kayla on it and enjoyed their approach. 

The buildings grew larger and larger. Cars made their way through the streets, with several NPCs enjoying a casual walk in the night. The field below Anton soon transitioned into a little river. Anton and Kayla flew above the waters. Anton watched the world from both the left and right of his canopy, enjoying the view as they got closer and closer to the ground. The river soon changed into solid land, the green grass changing to black asphalt. 

The jet touched down, shaking as its landing gear rested down on the surface. Kayla pushed the brakes, causing the jet to reduce speed. She then turned around at an exit, and taxied to a hangar. From outside the hangar, a twin-engined propeller plane came out. The plane carried bombs underneath its wings, its cockpit in a unique bubble-like shape. 

Anton watched as it taxied away to the end of the runway. Kayla, meanwhile, brought the plane into the hangar. Like before, ground crews came and attached ladders to the jet. The two got off the jet and headed for the exit. 

The cold night air blew on them as they left the hangar and walked to the empty street in front of them. The sounds of engines filled the air, coming from the airport, with the voice growing louder every time a plane took off. In the midst of all the noise, he could hear the voice of crickets hidden behind all the sound. 

He then navigated the virtual screen and ordered the LAV from the vehicle menu. The Tarup 57 spawned not far from them, and they made their way to their vehicle. As usual, Kayla got in the driver’s seat while Anton climbed in the rear. 

“Where should we go?” she asked. 

“Let’s find an apartment, first,” Anton said.

“Okay. Should we go to the agency, then?” Kayla opened her screen and scrolled through the map.

“Alright.”

Kayla set a marker on the map and drove that way. The vehicle’s thick armor prevented the installation of any windows, as those windows would serve as weak spots. Anton watched as the view went by from the cameras attached to the vehicle. Anton enjoyed cold nights, feeling that the air felt a lot more fresh when compared to the day. He could feel that freshness in the air of this city, even if Marrow, being a city engulfed in eternal night, would always be busy regardless of the hour, that being the truth for almost all locations in this world. The program had NPCs set to different things at different times, maintaining a little crowdedness in the game’s world. The game’s randomizer gave them random tasks at different times, so there would always be people regardless of time. Like Oakport, Marrow too suffered the reduction of player count, Anton not seeing as many players as before.

Despite that, Marrow still had its own charm, maybe the lack of players helped with it. Anton wanted to enjoy the night air, so he moved forward and kneeled behind Kayla's seat, his hands gripping the seat’s rest. Kayla glanced back at him before opening the driver’s hatch. The fresh night air blew into the armored vehicle. 

“It sure feels nice,” Kayla commented. 

“Yeah…” Anton nodded. Just then, they felt the wind picking up all of a sudden. A helicopter passed by them, flying just a few meters above them, blowing wind all around the place. 

“... I don’t know that thing can fit here,” Anton said, only to see the helicopter’s blade hit the side of an office building. With them being inside a peace zone, the helicopter couldn’t damage the building, but the same couldn’t be said for itself. Its rotor broke apart, and the entire thing crashed onto the road. 

It flew low enough that it didn’t explode after impact. The twisted metal settled on the road, blocking access, the pilot coming out from the helicopter’s wreckage. Kayla turned around, taking an alternative route.

Anton sighed at the sudden change of events. They took one of the smaller streets, careful to not hit anything themselves, and went to the agency. 

 

“Which one?” Kayla asked, her hand on the tablet. Using her finger, she slid through the various selections. 

Many of these apartments were made using copy-pasted assets, with differences in style, color, and layout, but in general, they look similar enough. Apartments, acting like houses, could be bought empty as well, leaving the player the freedom to customize their homes. Thus, the two things that made apartments and houses important weren't their looks, which could be customized, nor their usefulness, as they serve no special purpose. 

Location and price became a much more important deciding factor when it came to real estate. Players who bought the apartments tend to set it as their home in this world, meaning a place to wake up from and return to. While in theory logging out outside in the wilderness would be optimal, minimizing the time required to get from one spot to the other, it made the game feel less immersive. Less like real life. He couldn’t deny the cozy feeling of having a home to come back to. Thus, apartments located close to the Adventure Terminals cost more thanks to their locations. Vacation homes, meanwhile, were expensive because of the place they were placed in, Anton’s own house in Alvandor being one example. 

Anton decided to check the apartment closest to the Marrow Adventure Terminal. He stood left of Kayla, looking at the tablet. He brought his hand above the screen, prompting Kayla to pull her hand back. He then chose the location and looked through its offering. 

It offered several different units, with the larger and more expensive ones occupying the top floors. Those offered a great view of the concrete jungle, and even a view toward the airport. The building sat just a few hundred meters from the Adventure Terminal, making it the perfect spot. Anton selected a unit, revealing several different customization options.

“Should we choose a style or…?” 

The screen showed various different pre-furnished options.

“You won’t decorate it, though.”

“Yeah, that’s true.” 

There were the classic white and wooden brown. The elegant black and red. A vibrant yellow, gray, and light green. A colorful red, blue, and green, along with various other styles. Anton decided to go with the classic luxury colors of white, gray, and wooden brown. He didn’t choose it yet, however. Instead, he moved away from the tablet. 

“Which one do you like the most?” he asked. 

Kayla, being the AI companion, would be the one stuck in this world. He wanted her to at least enjoy being there. Kayla moved forward once again, checking through the list. Surprisingly, she decided to go with the same style as Anton. 

“How about this one?” she asked while pointing to the style. Anton nodded and looked toward the lady that sat behind the receptionist's table. 

“Very well, would you like to check the apartment?” she asked. Anton and Kayla nodded. A new marking appeared on Anton’s map, a new quest in his quest list. Of course, this quest wouldn’t reward him, functioning as a guide for the player. 

The lady stood up and followed Anton and Kayla back to their LAV. She was forced to sit in the cramped rear as they headed off to the apartment, which luckily wasn’t located far from the agency. Being a game, once Anton entered, he found the apartment already in the style he requested. Immediately after entering, he was greeted with the wooden panels that formed the floor. A separate bathroom occupied the space left of the entrance. Moving deeper, they found the kitchen on the left side with a bedroom on the right. Anton realized that this apartment in particular felt quite similar in layout to the one in the underground city, just much larger and fancier. The apartment had clean white walls with a light gray ceiling. 

Various different furniture filled the kitchen, made with a mix of wood and granite. It also came with a dining table and seats for six people. The apartment’s living room occupied the space beyond the kitchen and dining room. It had a sofa, a glass coffee table, and a large TV. A large ceiling-to-wall window sat beyond the living room, giving a magnificent view of Marrow City. The apartment lacked a balcony, however, different from the one in the ancient city. On the right side were two large, separate bedrooms, both with king-size beds.

A screen asking for confirmation appeared in front of Anton. It listed the property’s price. The price was quite steep, but not too expensive, pretty decent for an apartment of this size. He looked at the amount left in the account before making the decision to press the button. The system processed the transaction before showing confirmation that it had succeeded. The screen closed, and the apartment officially became theirs. 

“Thank you very much for your purchase,” the agent said before giving him his physical set of keys. The game didn’t use normal locks, unless the player chose to, but it was a nice item to have. With her job done, the NPC turned around and left the apartment. Anton looked around before sitting down on the sofa. 

He didn’t turn on the TV, but instead turned his head toward the beautiful lights that shone outside his apartment windows.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” Kayla asked, sitting down next to him. The game didn’t simulate interior light reflecting off the windows, making the view outside clear as if all the lights were turned off. 

“Anyway, I’ll log out for a bit, for dinner,” Anton said, bringing his attention back toward Kayla. Kayla’s lips twirled upward and nodded. 

“Okay, I’ll be waiting for you.”

Anton turned his head back forward and rested his body on his brand-new sofa. He closed his eyes and left the game.