In Search of Epsilon

Dreams Are Always Better Than Reality

Lucius felt confused on how he should respond to the current situation.  

After entering the dungeon, he was given the role of a knight in Atlantis. His job was simply to protect the citizens of the city, yet he had to take philosophy, and ethical classes, and most of his time was spent working with the children of the communities.  

He slowly understood why the knights were forced to do this. People with power are less likely to harm those that they work with.  

And, because the city function as an eutopia of greed, and there was almost no crime, doing services like this was one of the ways the knights made money. 

It was also a way to make sure that the knights understand their responsibilities. They are not meant to maintain order; they are here to protect the citizens. 

But his current predicament was something he was not expecting.  

He had been asked for his hand in marriage by a 12-year-old girl.  

She had this very toothy grin. She quite literally radiated cuteness. Even though she had been rejected by Lucius before, she always had the confidence to ask again. 

She was like a less gloomy looking May. As if May was emo, and she was more into anime. 

“No Mimy, we can’t get married” Lucius told her for the twelfth time today.  

If he received a dollar for every time, she had asked him to marry her, he would not be a millionaire, of course, but he would have made a lot of money.  

The little girl looked at him with a saddened face and she started pouting. Lucius laughed. He had not felt this happy in such a long time. 

He noticed that the people living here were most of the time very happy. Kids played outside at any time they wanted, and the knights rarely had any crime to deal with. Crime was non-existent in this city. 

This was not something Lucius could understand. If greed was the most important rule in Atlantis, how come those that wish riches not steal from others? This was a question that had plagued his mind since he came here.  

Mimy grabbed his hand and was looking up at him again. She had a blue rose in her hand, which was extended towards Lucius. 

“Here, it's for you Luci” she told him.  

Lucius smiled at her and patted her head. He accepted the flower and put it in his hair on tip of his ear. If the people he had killed while being a Hunter saw him now, they would have no idea who he was. 

He had learned to love his position. He shortly, after proving not only his great combat capabilities and good leadership, was promoted to captain in his squad.  

Of course, his combat capabilities were better than any of the knights there because he was a Hunter. The city, he knew, was made before Hunters even existed.  

The only Hunters he had seen around were ones that had entered the dungeon to clear it, but they had decided to remain without any wish to leave. 

Lucius believed at the beginning that Atlantis was simply a dungeon, but after spending time here, he realized that its more akin to a good dream, one that you do not have to wake up from.  

Why would you want to live in the real world when your dreams are so much better?  

Suddenly, a kid near him fell and scrapped his knee. Lucius and the knights turned around to look at the kid. 

But, before any of the knights could reach him, Mimy was there, helping the kid get up.  

He had started to cry, but when he saw Mimy smiling at him, and he instantly broke into a grin. Mimy was a strong girl. She always did what she wanted, and Lucius would later understand that every kid was like this. 

Mimy was not helping this kid because it was the right thing. She was doing it because she wanted to. This mindset was what created Atlantis.  

Lucius smiled at Mimy. He then got closer and put a bandage on the kid.  

“You have to kiss it Luci” Mimy told him.  

Lucius looked at her with an incredulous blank stare. 

“Daddy says that the kiss of a beautiful person can help people feel better” Mimy said. 

Lucius did not know what to think of that. All that came into mind, was that Mimy’s dad was some sort of p*****t.  

But he still knelt down and kissed the kid's knee. The kid blushed. Mimy, upon noticing the kids red cheeks, told him that Lucius was hers, and that she would not share.  

Lucius had to remind her that she was too young to marry him. 

After the mothers and fathers of the kids came to pick them up, the knights were pretty much done with their jobs for the day. 

Lucius now had free time.  

Most of it, he spent it idly looking around for Louis. He thought that he could convince the others of letting him stay here, but he was scared of Louis.  

He had heard of news of him and May, and let's just say that the news shocked him a little. 

The boys’ invitation to hang out snapped him back into reality. 

Most of the time, their hangouts were similar. They first would spend their time playing games and doing some very legal drinking. After this, they would go to different bars and test out all the cool fruity drinks they had.  

After that, they would do something stupid and just have fun. The boys called these moments reaching infinity. It was a feeling of pure freedom and happiness. He loved these hang outs. 

But today he politely refused to go with them.  

“Oy captain! Was wrong mate? You still mad about me beating you in singing em sea shanties?” asked one of his squad members.  

He smiled at his comment, but Lucius had decided to roam the streets of Atlantis for the day. 

After changing and clocking out, he started to walk around the streets of Atlantis. 

As he was walking around the street, he found a shop that displayed a great number of teddy bears. He decided to walk inside the store. 

The store had amazing quality of teddy bears, as Lucius had expected of a*****e in Atlantis. Every store was like this. The more competent you were, the higher you were in the social ladder. It was as easy as that.  

He found two teddy bears that were almost as if they were calling him out. One was edgy and somewhat gloomy, and the other one was happy and exerted positive energy. The gloomy one reminded him of May. 

May had become the little girl of the party. It was almost like she had four dads. Four really strange, really unique fathers. Lucius instantly knew that the girl is going to have mommy issues in the future, 

But he had decided that May having mommy issues was better than him pretending to be her mother, so he settled with her having four dads was normal. 

He bought the pair of teddy bears and decided on giving the gloomy one to May, which seemed to fit her personality, and the cute one to Mimy. 

After paying for the teddy bears, he decided to go right now to where Mimy lived. Since Atlantis viewed selfishness as a virtue, he did not care about the fact that they had just seen each other.  

If he wanted to see her again, he would. If he wanted to give her the teddy bear right now, he would. It was as simple as that. 

He finally arrived at her residence and knocked on her door.  

And nobody answered. 

He then heard, inside his inner monologue, the voice of someone else. The message said that if he entered the house, the dungeon would start. 

Somebody was telling him telepathically that he had two options here. 

One, he would have to abandon Mimy, but he would live the rest of his life happily in Atlantis. 

Or two, investigate what happened to Mimy.