You can't run away from destiny, but you can change it.
---Anonymous
(Real World. Nex's House. Few Hours Before Nex's Team found a Glowing Flag)
"Hand over the kid, Jienne." The man let out a sinister smile before stepping inside of the room.
"How dare you enter this household without my permission?" Mrs. Ortula said through gritted teeth.
"I said, hand over the kid. You've grown rusty Jienne, by the looks of it, you won't even be able to provide enough entertainment for me." The man said.
"No, I will never let you touch even the slightest hair of my son!" Jienne strongly said as she clenched her fists to draw courage.
"So, what are you gonna do? Fight me? We both know that you haven't done much fighting lately." The man explained with his hands settled inside his pockets. "I need a sample of your son's deoxyribonucleic acid, and also some bone marrow, cardiovascular tissues and one of the most important thing, his brain tissue by hook or by crook, even if it means killing the two of you here."
"Damn you." Mrs. Ortula grabbed the nearest thing she can reach and threw it to the man.
"A pillow? Seriously?" The man grinned and easily deflected the pillow to the side, but then Jienne is already in front of him and gave him a strong blow in the face, the man immediately blocked it with his fist but did not get to react as the second assault pushed him out of the room. She used that instance to hurriedly lock the room and block it with a little furniture.
"Who's rusty now? I still have it in me you dumbass!" She proudly said with a triumphant look before flipping her hair.
"You won't get away Jienne! This door won't separate our plans and that kid! I swear I will take him!" The man said in the middle of pushing and kicking the door but Jienne already prepared the things they need and she know a perfect place for them to be safe. She searched for a hidden button under Nex's bed and pushed it, then they are enveloped in a glass-like sphere. Jienne's house activated its self-destruct mechanism but the entire room that they are in were protected by the glass sphere and it hurriedly moved them underground. She saw an underground cave and immediately entered that.
A glass monitor popped out in front of her and it showed a tiny blinking red light that is moving south west of the 3D map. "I guess we're moving in that way." More glass monitor started popping beside the previous one that showed relevant information about the glass sphere, calibration, engines, GPS, even a monitor of what is happening inside the game.
"Seems like your group is still being monitored by those officials, they knew perfectly where you are." She observed the movements of five people moving towards SEO TORNO, constantly jumping from roof to roof, she recognized the first one that is leading them, that is, Nexus.
"Damn you Oddle. I swear I need to give you a hit the moment I see you." She said as they are moving at a very fast speed. "Now, how should I explain these things to him?" She threw a sad look at her son that is busy in another world.
A drop of tear came out of her eye in which she wiped it away the instance it reached her cheeks. "I guess we can't really run from reality. I knew this day would come but I didn't thought it would come so soon, now that you still haven't reached full maturity."
She caressed her son's cheeks and said, "I promised to give you a normal life and I did my best in keeping it that way, but I think normal life is really not in our family's blood. I'm sorry."
***
(Real World. Cabin in the Woods)
Odelius left the game to check for updates on their true mission. He walked around the whole wide room filled with people on their own monitor, watching over the game but one person came up and called him.
"Sir, I've been picking up a signal underground. It seems like GS V4.03 AU Craft has been used after a long time of being inactive. It is heading towards us at approximately 48 kilometres per second coming from north, north west of our location."
"That must be Jienne! That is the vehicle I secretly put under her house. If she's using it now, then that means that man finally found them." Oddle said. He got his hopes up that after all this time, she is finally going to work with them to catch that man. "Keep an eye on them and send out units to secure their safety. We know his capabilities and I'm sure he knows where they are heading now." He ordered to one of the officers.
He saw a tiny red dot constantly beeping and is moving at an incredible speed towards their location. On another monitor shows the happenings inside the game. It is focused on a huge number of players that is waiting in the middle of a massive stadium. Flags in different neon colours were still beaming with light and is scattered throughout the whole stadium. There are players that keeps on coming from the entrance and he knew it is the time to go back to the game.
"Is the portal ready?" He asked to everyone in the whole room . . .
***
A spherical glass-shaped vehicle finally resurfaced on a certain lake after an hour of travelling. Its two passengers are still occupied on what they were doing, one unconscious, and the other, steering. "I guess it's safe to resurface now. If I remember correctly, their HQ is just straight ahead."
Jienne took another look at his son that is about to wake up any minute now, then glanced at the sky that is slowly starting to light up. Streaks of purplish light came rushing from the east, illuminating everything that she can see.
The Glass Sphere continued to hover straight at a steady pace. The slowly lighting up forest swallowed it completely and then it finally started to speed up.
***
"If it isn't Nex and his friends." Claudius warmly greeted as soon as he saw a peculiar group of mixed race landed safely on SEO TORNO.
Everybody smiled back at the man and replied, "Hey Claudius."
"Looking at it, I'm sure you got a Glowing Flag right now because you're here right?"
"Um, yeah, so what now?" Fawn said.
"The god of this game still hasn't arrived so we have to wait for him." Claudius replied back.
"Well, I guess I have to log out first, mom's going to kill me if I can't eat breakfast on time." Nex half mumbled the last part but they clearly heard what he said.
He was just about to open the menu when Jake and Claudius shouted in unison. "Wait!" They looked at each other and realized they both have the same purpose on stopping Nex on going back to the real world.
"It wouldn't be wise for his leader to abandon his team in this time, you know, your Flag might get stolen or Odelius might appear any minute now. Without the team's leader, you can't proceed to the next round. " Claudius explained but with a slight persuasion in his tone.
Nex calculated the man's words while looking at him and Jake.
"I-I'm sure, your mom would understand it because it's a special day, right guys?!" Jake followed, he turned to his other friends to find help. They all nod in unison.
Still, Nex finds it suspicious that even his friends would not let him go out.
"But . . . "
"No, buts, besides, it's just today. Do you want to get disqualified just because your mom wants you to eat at a fixed time?" Claudius trailed off, all of them were waiting for Nex's movements.
"I feel like there is something going on and you guys are not telling me any of it." He shot a cold stare at everybody and only Jake and Claudius reacted to it.
"I don't know anything about what you're talking about, but following Claudius' words, we should not be separated from each other until the next round." Fawn said while her hands are crossed on her chests.
"Can't object to that." Myckael said with his hands raised in the air.
Nex let out a fast groan before giving in. "Okay okay, but if my mom scolds me for this, you guys are going to take the blame."
"What the hell is going on here?" A woman stepped in and asked, as her long blood red hair waved at her every movement. The Cursing Saint took a quick glance at everybody and got irritated that nobody answered her quickly. "Hey! Did you bit off your tongue? Why can't you speak?!" Her voice boomed at their ears and they realized they have been staring at each other.
"Uhh, sorry, we were just discussing some matters." Claudius said in a hard tone. Gloriosa felt the man's rudeness.
"Oh, were you planning on taking my people into custody after the game? I assure you it will be a bloodbath with your blood." Her hair moved on its own and surrounded the group of women who wore the same clothing as her.
"That matter is not here to be discussed Cursing Saint, I'm afraid we have to deal with more important people than bathing in our blood." Claudius turned to see the group of Nex. "I shall be going then, remember Nex, you all will be disqualified if the leader logs out." His face lit up after bidding goodbye and leaving them.
"Why are you guys always so hot when you meet?" Jake curiously asked.
"To make matter easy for your brain, let's just say Claudius is the good guy and Gloriosa is the bad guy." Fawn butted in. Jake's face turned red and stormed off behind the other two men. "Sorry about the term." Fawn then sheepishly smiled at Gloriosa.
"You did not say anything harsh girl. That is the truth." The Cursing Saint assured. "Well, congratulations on getting a Flag. I want our next meeting to be inside the arena later." She turned around and walked past other players.
Just then, a loud crackling noise was heard above them and a massive face formed out of thick clouds can be seen looming above SEO TORNO. . .
***
Claudius immediately went out of the game. He should report to Oddle that he assured the boy will not get out of the game. But as soon as he opened the door to the main hall, Oddle wasn't there already.
"Where is the President?" He asked to one of the officers that is designated on helping Oddle get to Second Earth.
"Sir, he just left, he said he will be going back to the game." The man said.
Claudius' shoulders fell. "And I was so excited to report to him about them."
"What is it sir? I can tell the President the matter that you want to report to him later after he comes back."
"Tell him that I assured the boy's stay in the game. Tell him he won't be worried about them." Claudius said.
"Sir! They are here already!" Another man in front of another monitor shouted. He looked at the monitor and saw a Glass Sphere that is slowly entering their base.
"Who are the passengers?"
"It's Miss Jienne and his son, Nexus." The man replied.
Finally, Jienne and his son arrived at the Cabin. How would things turn out from this point? How would they explain this things to the unconscious boy?
. . .