The Transience of Her

Empty Sunday

Sunday.

6:53 am.

The day of Lianna's burial.

As I've promised, I decide not to participate.

Instead, I will get to spend this entire day enjoying the quality moments I will have with her, in another realm.

And browse the internet casually, too.

My brain got all too tired from all the action that happened in the past two days.

The storm gives way to the calm, poetically speaking.

After having my usual morning rituals as well as breakfast, I go back to my room and turn on my PC.

As I open the windows seconds after the PC boots up...

I can feel a caressing wind blowing gently across my face.

It's as if... Lianna's kissing me goodbye.

Oh, wait. Why I am thinking of such sentimental nonsense?

She still lives, darn it! Only online!

Because I still am mentally bushed from the boss raid yesterday, I decide to browse the internet casually, with some listening to alternative rock via a desktop app on the side.

First, social media posts.

Oh, the official page of The Dreamwalking Releasers has just divulged details on the band's latest album.

Now I'm getting excited to buy such album.

Straight from the vocalist and founder, Erron Alegria:

We're currently working on our latest album, Peace in Pieces. It's a concept album about the many facets of the thing called “peace”. Peace can simply mean “the absence of war”, but it's more than just that. Here, we explore the different kinds of peace we can achieve as the human collective, and the struggles that come with achieving them.

Expect our new album this September!

I immediately give it my like.

Oh, someone's posting pics of Italian pasta and pizza at a restaurant.

The pizza looks like it has some elements of okonomiyaki, or what others call “Japanese pizza”, with a mayonnaise-like dressing on top and all.

It's a fusion dish made possible by round-trip cultural translation.

Looks delicious, but I have no time for anything Italian (but I don't hate Italian food per se, alright).

Oh, I'd wish she were here to taste it (and love it).

Next.

A page for a vinyl wrapping service I liked just recently because I wanted to have my old trusty handheld wrapped for protection has posted pics of a vinyl-wrapped laptop, with a black marble design.

Looks neat.

If paint can't cut it (and it can be smudged and faded away with frequent use of the painted thing in question), then I can just have it wrapped and still look awesome.

OK, enough social media sleuthing.

Might have to check the official forums for Skypaths Online.

Oh, players are now abuzz with the news of the elusive boss being defeated at the hands of a small guild.

(Note: Because of the way accounts Skypaths Online are made, a player's created character also acts as a forum account. The same rules apply: No flaming, no obscene content, no incitement to real-life violence, those kinds of stuff.)

Rina Rindou posts:

I've just heard about the news of a guild defeating that elusive boss! They're really the best of the best... even though they failed 27 times before.

Christopher Icegrale posts:

You know what they say, “If at first you don't succeed, try and try and try again”. They truly prevailed against all odds, like those protagonists in shonen anime!

Pyar Mirasol posts:

Glad they didn't take 24 hours to beat that thing, or else the developers would get sued to hell and back. We're not players who like leather and pain, anyway. What was the revealed name of that boss... again?

Geiz Myoukouin posts:

It's Tempus Casus Daemonium. That name sounds similar to a certain demon king from the future...

Mark Yu Qi posts:

Ah yes, I got that name from someone close to the leader of The Sandwich Guild, Maricar van der Valde. She really trained her members well, that's for sure.

They also already knew the one who survived that one attack and also dealt the killing blow, as documented in further posts.

Devon Hiromu Sakurada-Daniels posts:

Speaking of her members, I hear there's a new recruit of theirs who survived that much-feared initial Pangs of Death attack, dealt the killing blow, and was made the MVP! A 3-in-1 achievement, guys!

John Kyriakos posts:

Oh, I know that guy. He used to be a lone wolf. Spotted him a few times both in Tulyasi and in some high-level dungeons. He's a man of action, letting his gun with a silly name do the talking.

Khaled bin Kasim posts:

C'mon, don't blame 'im for that gun's name. Blame the devs instead for that, plus that really elusive boss that we've all been trying to hard to defeat before! That meat-bag was such a major pain in the rear.

May Nathanielsz posts:

Quit being Mr. Debby Downer! Just be glad that he has set an example for the rest of us. If he and his guild defeated the boss, we also can!

Murielle Sigurdsdottir posts:

Yeah! In fact, my guild, We Hate Loot Boxes, is also preparing to take on the Higher than the Sky quest once more. I wanna see that blasted giant dead with my own two eyes.

I've been showered with online accolades here, there, and everywhere.

But I don't mind them.

I just did what I had to do deep in my heart.

Alright, enough reading reactions outside the game. I want to know the pulse of players inside the game.

I log onto Skypaths Online once more.

I'm back again in Tulyasi, after leaving the now-unoccupied guild HQ.

Some players are displaying messages of praise towards me.

One-third of them are using emojis, another one-third are using chatspeak, and the remaining third are using sensible-looking sentences.

“Come on, please marry me!”

“Hey, wanna go adventuring with me sometime?”

“I'd pay a million yesos for that life-saving accessory of yours!”

Hmm... they're all total strangers to me.

I can't give in to their exact demands; but I'm sure to help them in some other way if ever I bump into them someday.

Moving away from the crowd of adventurers, I want to have some peace and quiet.

Tulyasi is a huge town, which is appropriate since it's the central hub city in all of Eleftheria.

There are many streets and alleyways adventurers usually don't frequent; and fortunately, they are not hideouts for despicable thieves and muggers. Those types of people simply don't exist, period.

I think... I'll go over to that little-known mini-rotunda on the northeastern part of town.

The mini-rotunda is a little spartan.

A simple fountain here, and an ice cream vendor NPC there.

I'm not interested in virtual ice cream, anyway; so I rest my weary body next to the fountain, taking care not to get wet.

“Hmm... I wonder where she is right now.”

Since there's no active party involving me at the moment (and parties automatically disband at the end of a completed quest), I have no way of knowing where to see her.

I'm sure she's not at the guild HQ, since no one else is there.

Maybe she's building up levels again at some random high-level dungeon?

Augh, how will I ever know where exactly she is, despite the fact that she's always logged on 24/7, and possibly 365?

I just can't waste hours simply searching for her, since I will be grasping at straws.

Instead, I decide to read the message that cloaked guy sent to me yesterday, after our guild celebration.

In-game, that was the second message; but chronologically, it's the third one, counting the note that was inserted into my pocket when I was at the mall.

I take it out of my satchel, unwrap the paper, and begin to read the letters typical of a man's handwriting.

Mr. Soren Orr, also known as Melchor Kam'arin in Skypaths Online...

I have warned you twice now, and yet you still persist.

You still want to continue your friendship with Lianna Riversdale, also known as Linnia Beferia...

...even though you know, as I also do, that the person you fondly call a friend exists no more on planet Earth.

You still want to savor more moments both sweet and bitter with her...

...even though her identity and person right now is nothing more than a spirit possessing specific packets of data, however absurd it may sound to you and to me.

You still want a bright future with her...

...even though there is no certainty on how long both the possession, or even this entire virtual world that serves as an escape to the real one, will last.

Yes, she may have started it all, but the most pressing question is... why?

Yes, there are accounts of spirits of the deceased coming back to the world of the living because they wanted to fulfill some unfinished business.

Yes, it's proven that many people expressed regrets of not doing something they wanted to do, of being forced to take the path they didn't choose, in their own deathbeds.

And I'm here to explain the 'why'.

You've endured a storm, but get ready to face another.

You're trying to escape the inevitable, but it will blow up in your face that it will leave scars so deep.

I am a messenger, and I will be delivering a message of complexities, of the circumstances surrounding you, her, and even myself.

I've hidden my face and my body for so long, both in the real world and the virtual one, but not because of criminally suspicious reasons. I am no criminal nor aspire to be one, by the way.

I've always wanted to hide under the shadows, learning about the sordid stories behind the seemingly joyous world of Eleftheria.

In the real world, I've also chosen to hide my identity to you and practically to the rest of this small town, until I fulfill my duty of delivering this one message to you.

Meet me at the Freymont Complex, formerly the Porta Coeli Monastery, on the outskirts of town.

There, all the questions you've been wanting and needing to ask, but couldn't due to the doubts still plaguing your heart, will be answered.

Sunday, 7 pm. Go there alone, with no weapons. I'm unarmed and I'm certain that I won't harm you physically.

But mentally and emotionally... that can be another matter altogether.

You may be surprised at what I'll say that might make you end up not sleeping for days... or losing your appetite... or having your motivation to study diminished.

But no matter what...

You know what many say... 'the truth will set you free'.

For you, that 'setting you free' can be painful...

...but in the long run, it will put you at ease – better than remaining yourself in the delusion you're in now.

My highest of regards from someone you should know,

????? ???????, a.k.a. Andth'oy Cuathra

The number of question marks in the hidden name might correspond to that of one person.

I certainly forgot who they are, as I've last met them so long ago.

And now they are coming back to haunt me?

With a vengeance?

As I've finished reading the letter, I can feel my hands trembling with an emotion that can be best described as an unholy concoction of fear, uncertainty, anger, bewilderment, and determination.

As for the conditions outside the game...

I can sense the windows rattling.

The winds are getting harsher and harsher.

I hear the weather's gonna be gusty today.

Maybe it's a prelude to another storm, as the letter heavily implies?

Truly, this is an empty Sunday.

Empty... because the lengthy message I've just read made me feel that way.

Empty... because I was not able to see her, despite her being available all the time.

Empty... because in the midst of mixed emotions I expected to feel, I feel a sense of emptiness.

Because that would be what the end of my journey with her would bring nothing but.

I decide to log out without seeing her.