Chapter 19: First look

His eyes shot open and he jerked out of bed like a man possessed, a tangle of sheets as he stumbled, almost crashing into the door of his bedroom but managed to stop right before he hit his head on its frame.

He struggled for each breath he drew, a relentless headache ailed him with mind numbing intensity, the haptic visor sat on the bedside table but he had no recollection of taking it off or even logging out.

He staggered out of the room barely able to keep standing as he walked into his toilet and went straight to the sink, He turned on the tap and washed his face of the drowsiness, a dull ache ruled over him forcing him to grit his teeth as he raised his head and stared into the mirror. He caught his own reflection and even though he looked the same, it felt like he was staring at a stranger, His brown eyes had darkened, his hair had grown last the length it was when he'd last seen it, now at an extent where it was about to become a hindrance to his vision, his jawline was more profound and every blemish or spot on his skin was no more.

“What the—” He paused as he caught a glimpse of his own body in the mirror, foreign, yes he worked out from time to time to stay healthy but—the definition of muscles on him were only accomplished through obsession but that still wasn't what drew him in, that honor would have to go to the tattoo's that swirled around his body, in a repeated pattern on twist and turns that started from his neck down to the sole of his feet.

“The fuck is this?” He said, closely examining every line and curve of the blank ink, on closer inspection he noticed it wasn't just a plain black line but rather tiny moths drawn with impeccable attention to detail over and over again till it looked completely black, he stared at it for a while then remembered the last message before he had woken up “vessel of the mothlight.”

The mothlight, that was what Daragura had passed unto him, the thing that turned him into a deity had now been passed on to Rylan. He stared at his arm like the limb belonged to someone else.

“The game did this.” He said quietly to himself then his eyes widened. “Maerik.” He remembered and immediately rushed out of the toilet, he needed to warn him about what was about to happen while they still had time, Resonance was still a relatively unknown stat to majority of the players and they were the outliers, If they could find a way to stop everyone from getting the stat then the Merger will never be triggered.

I picked the visor up and immediately put it on.

\[Welcome to Axiom online\] the message read as the world began to render around him till he appeared in front of the gate of Iron Ascendancy, it looked bigger, more formidable than he remembered but he ignored it, with a step forward the large doors opened and allowed him entry, immediately he was hit by the noise of players chatting, the lobby was full almost ten times the amount of players that had been here the last time he entered into this hall, the guild could only be entered by those invited or those who belonged, He seriously doubted Maerik had invited all these people so they had to be members but why the drastic increase in a few hours or did this happen when they were in the Unmapped zone.

He forced his way to the crowded hall till he eventually got to the end where Maerik's office was. Two guards stood in front with spears crossed over each other to block entrance and a stern look on their generic faces, Maerik stopped in front of them.

“I'm here to see The guild leader.” He said, they looked at each other then shrugged, shifting their clashing spears and allowing him entry. Rylan had half expected for it to be a hassle like with Dravy but then he remembered that to them this was still a game.

He walked into the room, larger than he had remembered and saw Maerik standing at the far end of the room, back turned to Rylan and a map opened in front of him.

“Whoever you are, now's not a good time.” He said, waving his hand, a dismissal, Rylan raised a brow, taken a step closer. Maerik didn't turn but he physically tensed up. “Sorry if I wasn't clear—” He turned swiftly. “—leav..” The words stuck in his throat as he locked eyes with Rylan, His expression softened, relief washed over his solemn expression. “RYLAN.”

His voice was unnaturally loud and the relief was too much for someone he'd seen a few hours ago.

“You're alive.” Maerik said, taking slow steps towards him. Rylan remembered, the last time they saw, Maerik had just logged out and he was about to get killed by Callum Vrey.

“I am. Safe and sound.”

Emotion flashed through his eyes.“I left you, I'm Soo sorry, I left you to die, I…I….I should have stayed, I should have stayed and fought Vrey. I abandoned you.”

He was glad, glad Maerik had that reaction, glad he'd been beating himself up about leaving him even though it wasn't his fault, even though his presence wouldn't have changed the outcome because it confirmed everything he’d thought about him.

Rylan offered a comforting smile. “You didn't abandon me, you didn't leave me behind, I let down my guard and I paid the price, It had nothing to do with you.”

Maerik gave a sigh of relief, gladness bubbling through him when a thought crossed his mind. “If you were alive, Why haven't you logged in for a month?” He broke through Rylan's thoughts with a question that made him raise a brow and ask.

“Huh??”

“You've been offline for a month.” Maerik repeated.