Car horns and the jumble of city sounds below invaded his peaceful sanctuary through the window. Not that it mattered. Noisy or quiet, life still felt the same.
Owen had lived what everyone called an exemplary life: top of his class, fairly social, and a good job practically handed on a silver platter. Everyone looked at him and thought, "That guy has it all." The reality was far less impressive.
"O!"
"I can hear you just fine without the yelling, Mel."
He closed the fridge with his foot, balancing a can of energy drink and a candy bar in each hand, phone wedged against his shoulder.
"Hearing is not listening. I'm yelling because you're not listening to me."
Plopping onto his bed, Owen set the drink on his side table, picked up his phone, and put it on speaker. His lethargic eyes scanned the caller name—Lil Sissy—and the profile photo of the two of them eating ice cream together.
Sigh.
"What exactly do you want me to listen to then?" He bit the candy bar, noticed the taste was off, and tossed it toward the trash can across the room.
"Go back to work, O," Melanie said through the phone. "They're reasonable people. If you ask sincerely, I'm sure they'll accept you back."
Owen stared at the expansive night sky outside his window, having a contemplative moment of silence.
"Hello?"
"Yeah, I'm here."
"Well then, what do you say?"
"You know where my head is at. I'm not going back."
Melanie stayed silent for what seemed to be an eternity. Owen already had an idea of where this conversation was heading. He'd danced this dance with her before. Everyone else eventually got tired of trying to reason with him and disappeared, but not her.
He didn't really understand why, though it did make him feel a bit remorseful for the grief he put her through.
"...How long do you think you can keep living like this?"
The tone of her voice caught him off guard. He had never heard her sound this defeated before.
"Mom and Dad pretend you don't exist, and Sylvie changes the subject whenever you're brought up. It's agonising. I hate being the only one who cares about the family being whole again. I hoped maybe you'd start caring about others eventually and meet me halfway... but I'm tired."
"Hey... Me—"
"Bye, Owen."
His eyes lingered on his phone for a while. He cracked open the drink and chugged it, trying to wash down the knot in his throat. She was right. He was selfish. No matter how much he rationalised it, the core reason for his current condition was rooted in his self-gratification.
This world wasn't for him. Twenty-five years and he'd never felt settled, content, or happy. All the years of being the "perfect" son, brother, friend, student, worker—it never felt like it was for himself. He was always living on someone else's terms. That led him to the question: When will I start being happy as who I really am?
He never did find the answer. But...
He picked up his controller, turning on the TV that sat on the little stool across the room from his bedside. Immediately, he booted up the game that occupied his entire life now. Regalia of the North, the title screen read, the starting screen music blaring out of the speakers, prompting a knock through the walls from his next-door neighbour.
Reducing the volume, he clicked start and picked up the game from where he'd left off.
"Ah, right... I was going to go kill Reiker and finish this Ego Knight build run. I don't really feel like doing that right now though..."
Owen wondered if there were still any side or extra quests he could do instead. He opened the progress window and was disappointed to find everything completed.
"Well, damn."
Reiker, it was.
Regalia of the North was your stereotypical fantasy-adventure game. You built a character, selected a starting point, and went on a journey that, early on in the game, led you to the Academy.
Gameplay-wise, you never actually did much at the academy, other than raising stats, researching equipment and character customisations. You still had to meet a minimum attendance record, but otherwise, most of your time was spent going on adventures around the map.
The plot revolved around preventing several different catastrophes that could lead to the end of the world. With the penultimate villain being your character's rival in the academy. The mechanics, sequence and music score for that battle were quite something, so it was rated highly and hyped in the online community.
What really made RON stand out as a game, however, aside from the interesting story and gameplay, was the rich worldbuilding. There was so much extra content and hidden storylines that it led the players to believe that a sequel to the game had to be imminent.
Reiker, for example, was a character who acted as a hidden final boss. He was made available to challenge only if you beat the main story boss a specific way. The difficulty was hellish, but Owen had played this game enough to be able to manage with ease.
"And there's my ninth win using an ego build character..."
He recalled Melanie's words about how long he could keep living like this. He could admit that even RON was starting to become boring for him. There were only so many times he could play it differently.
The train of thought was interrupted as the screen played a cutscene he had never seen before.
You have unlocked the secrets of the Pandora continent.
You have become aware of the fluttering black cloaks that aim to ravage the world.
Please continue to prevent the end.
'What in the world...?' He thought, standing up in surprise.
"You've unlocked new special classes...?"
He blinked his eyes a few times, rubbing them to see if he was hallucinating. A smile spread across his face. He still had something to look forward to after all. Even more so, since it seemed he was the first to discover this secret content from the game.
"Let's call it a night here. I'll get right back on it first thing tomorrow."
Turning everything off, he laid down on his bed. He wasn't even going to try to sleep; it would be a pointless endeavour. He wasn't certain if that was due to the energy drink or his excitement.
'I should tell Mel abou—oh. Right...'
Owen wondered if, like she had said, there truly was going to be no more communication between them. She always came back, a part of him reasoned, but should she, he questioned. His life was a mess, and he ran from everything by investing his time and efforts into a game instead of doing something more meaningful.
'She had suggested I try streaming or uploading my gameplay,' he thought, shaking his head. Much like everything else, that didn't interest him.
He was a dark, gloomy person these days. He, himself, didn't have much expectation for his future, nor did he have something he wanted to do with himself. That's why he could understand why no one wanted to deal with his negative outlook on things.
Melanie had overlooked it while trying to get him to change, but people could only ignore such things for so long...
Bzzzt...
'Hmm, what was that?'
He got up, looking around the room for any electrical appliance that might be sparking or whatever else could make such a noise. Finding nothing, he laid back down, turning on his right side to look at the wall.
"I must be going crazier than I already am..."
Bzzzt...
He shot up once more. This time, getting onto his feet, his head swerving around like a madman.
"Okay..." he said, massaging his temples. "I'm probably just tired enough to go to sleep now."
Owen turned towards his bed.
BZZZZT
A flash erupted to his left, and before he could react, an orb of grey and white light expanded across his room, consuming him entirely before disappearing with a loud booming sound.
Knocks came from through the walls in response to the loud sound, the neighbour completely unaware that Owen was gone.
---
Emptiness.
That was what Owen woke up to.
He was floating in what appeared to be an endless white expanse.
'No... It's not endless,' he thought, noticing the reflective panels that hummed with periodic rainbow coloured glows.
He looked around before making an observation that stopped his heartbeat.
There was a familiar panel in what he assumed to be the centre of the space. In Regalia of the North, it didn't exactly appear that way, but still... that was the character builder.
"No way..."
Owen made to move towards it, but found himself motionless. Struggling as he might, he had no control over his faculties aside from his head, and seemingly, being able to rotate his body's perspective.
Suddenly, another person appeared. They stood right in front of the panel, looking around in a frenzy.
A light similar to the one from his room earlier leaked through a tear in the space in front of the other person, revealing the celestial form of what appeared to be a woman.
Just as she was about to start speaking, he felt himself being tugged. At first gently, and then with enough force to make him feel like he was being ripped apart. He flew backwards, disappearing, but not before hearing the woman's inhuman voice.
"Please do your best to preserve the world."
His vision went black for what felt like hours. And then...
Gasp
He woke in a startle. Immediately grabbing at his body with his hands. Sighing in relief that he could move again. Collecting his wits, he realised he had been laid out on the floor.
The building didn't look familiar either. He got up, moving towards the door.
"Reoloy," a voice came from a side of the room, alerting Owen to the fact that he hadn't been alone. "You're finally up."
A lime-green-haired young man, looking about fourteen or so, walked up to him. He spoke in a friendly tone, which led Owen to believe he wasn't a threat.
'But wait... Reoloy? Who is that?' Owen wondered.
"We really thought you died this time after you saved us from the fall."
The boy seemed to be holding back tears. Owen figured they were really close then, but he couldn't help but feel anxious about the situation.
He laughed awkwardly. "Yeah... I thought I was a goner, too. I got lucky."
"You did?" The boy questioned, tilting his head in confusion. "You usually do things only when you're absolutely sure. You're a coward after all."
Owen cursed in his head at the fact that he was already stumbling so soon.
"Ha... right, I'm just really tired still," he said. "I just wanted to go get some fresh air real quick..."
"Well, see you later."
He then ran out before the boy could say anything.
Walking around outside, it became obvious that they were somewhere coastal. It seemed to be quite a busy town too, with fishing and transport ships being unloaded at the docks and merchants inspecting their wares in preparation for sales.
Passing by a store, he froze.
'Galley-La...?'
That was the name of a famous merchant company from RON. He recalled the scene in that white space before he woke up here. Looking around, he noticed other tiny intrinsic details. Now, he was certain of exactly where he was.
Laughing nervously, drawing the odd looks of sailors who passed by, he clasped his hand over his face, looking up at the sky.
"Well... shit."