Chapter 1: "Home"

    The next day, Vedal had woken up pretty confused early in the morning.
    
    Vedal could not explain to himself what he had done yesterday, so he tried to at first just not worry about it, or the strange dream he'd had.
    
    Something kept bugging him though. There was this young girl in his class that did exist from that dream. He decided he would talk with her.
    
    In that dream, she had played a puzzle game. What if he played her in something much more fun? 
    
    Maybe... Chess.
    
    -------        -------        -------        --------
    
    How did he not notice her before? How come he never looked at girls, simply believing them to be overly emotional and only finding guys attractive?
    
    Whatever the case, he now asked her.
    
    Vedal: "Hey."
    
    Hearing that word alone addressed towards her immediately made her feel incredibly in danger, though he had no way of knowing. She decided she had to appear calm to avoid being enslaved by another strong man at school too. She would ignore him.
    
    Vedal: "Would you like to play a game?"
    
    But, somehow, she couldn't.
    
    ?: "Sure..."
    
    As such, that puppet of mission pulled out a chessboard.
    
    As they played, he was amazed. She easily beat him, always finding the optimal moves with clear-cut perfection. They kept playing more games, and all tricks he used failed. 
    
    Unbeknownst to the girl, spending most of her energy in fact on considering whether to make a mistake to avoid incurring anger or to play perfectly to get him to go away, and planning the probabilities and best course of action, the puppet felt liberated.
    
    This girl could, if the world allowed it to her, do anything.
    
    If only he could be the one to bring her out of all cages...
    
    The girl meanwhile, could not bring herself to stop playing. At least for this one time, she could play.
    
    -------        -------        -------        --------
    
    No teachers came to school that day. As the kids celebrated and trashed around, and then after everyone left, the two remained long after class hours.
    
    They became so immersed in finding better strategies that they did not want to consider anything else. This was what they had always wanted.
    
    The school cleaner didn't bother checking all the classrooms that day, and a camera malfunctioned in class B.
    
    So, the two stayed there, playing chess with the other until it was dark outside. 15 hours had probably passed since they'd begun, when someone came in.
    
    1AM, school, Sendai, Yamagata prefecture, Japan
    
    A man comes into the class.
    
    It is dark, but due to the positioning of the guard post close to the classroom window, there was enough light to allow the two to continue playing.
    
    The girl had noticed that it had gotten darker, but paid it no mind.
    
    She finally felt happy. She did not want to think about other things.
    
    But, she eventually could not stop herself. She concluded that, as always, fate would drive them apart.
    
    No.
    
    No.
    
    No.
    
    Hearing the noise of footsteps the girl suddenly got up. She held a chair up and threw it at the one that entered.
    
    It could have been their grandpa-esque school guard, but fortunately her intuition had been right. 
    
    *Bang!*
    
    Neuro: "Ah! They have come to pick me up. I am Neuro. I am but a slave! Please, leave me alone. Leave me!
    
    This has been the happiest I've been! Friend... I am sorry. I am just... Weak."
    
    Vedal: "Neuro... That's quite a fitting name. My name is Vedal. Veh-duhll, you could say "doll" too. I am not going to just sit and let you be a doll, though.
    
    Hmm... The guy's fainted. I'll get the chair back to where it was. We'll pretend we did nothing to cause this if anyone comes. We just stayed here until it was very late talking and were afraid of it being known we made this mistake so we stayed here.
    
    Our guardian came to pick us up, but he fainted... That makes no sense. Why would he faint? Quick! You knocked him out without much resulting bleeding, but still, it's...
    
    We have to cover his head with something and throw his body trough that window, where no one will see it for a while. Towards the schoolyard. We can deal with that later."
    
    Neuro: "..."
    
    She did not know what to do at first, but follow these instructions, until she realized that she could do something else to prevent any issues even more easily.
    
    It was night. Surely if someone was convinced this was a dream...
    
    And so it hit her.
    
    Neuro: "Take... The body... I will take care of the interaction."
    
    But, she did not receive the response she expected. 
    
    Vedal: "Mmm, wrong answer."
    
    At that moment, Vedal threw a chair out the window towards the guard post.
    
    Vedal: "Let's leave the other way! Jeez. Silly. If you don't consider the simple ways too, I am one day gonna win against you."
    
    Neuro: "..."
    
    Vedal: "I've got the best plans ready all the way! Want to take my hand?"
    
    Neuro: "A- A- A-"
    
    Vedal: "Whatever."
    
    And so, Vedal pulled on Neuro, moving her towards the window with him.
    
    She did not resist. Looking at it, she found the world annoying and disgusting, but felt a little curiosity. What would this stranger that was so fun show her?
    
    Neuro: "..."
    
    Not a slave of hers, but a friend.
    
    A smart one, but not smarter.
    
    One that could overcome her in some areas, but not all.
    
    Huh...
    
    At that moment, they jumped out the window.
    Though it was only the base floor of the building, it still hurt a bit because of the bushes...
    
    The bushes?
    
    In the classroom a guard had finally gotten there and was investigating the scene.
    
    He could not find anything. He looked around. He looked out the windows. At last, he was about to look at the bush they were in, when his phone rang.
    
    Guard: "Oh, Shella, why does she always call her old man at night..."
    
    Neuro: "..."
    Vedal: "Goodness. School guards have it hard."
    Neuro: "It's your fault... though..."
    
    Escaping trough the window, and winding up in a bush.
    
    What is it that awaits the two gamers? 
    
    -------        -------        -------        --------
    
    *slurp*
    
    Vedal: "Why do they always make these MMORPG games pay-to-win? It's no fair! We should make our own game. Get our AI to play it!"
    
    Neuro: "You're noisy... Waaah... *zzz*"
    
    Vedal: "Wait! Please, I need money to finish a trade with the NPC! This quest will otherwise take forever!!!"
    
    Neuro: "*zzz*"
    
    Vedal: "Pleeease... You do love your father, don't you?"
    
    Neuro: "*zzz*... *slurp*"
    
    Vedal: "This is treason. This is absolute treason. I order you to..."
    
    Vedal: "Wait, why is that guy..."
    
    Neuro, peaked her head up to see.
    
    Vedal: "Why is that NPC called "wife-******". Wait, didn't we see someone walking around called "husband". That was one of the beggar NPCs in the area, with only a rag to cover his body..."
    
    Neuro: "Brother, the NPCs... They..."
    
    Vedal: "NTR!"
    
    But unlike a certain fable, these two would never be called into a different world, where how much battle you can give in games determines how much you receive.
    
    That day, Vedal checked the clock and saw the hour, "2 AM". That day, he pulled the window blinds to check if it was day or night outside, just to verify his clock was working well-enough.
    
    That day, he saw that someone was outside this turtle's house. They were barely visible in the night lamps' light.
    
    Who could be there at this hour?
    
    Even worse, they were seemingly watching this exact house. Vedal continued looking trough the periphery of his vision and slowly closed the blinds, turning to tell Neuro. 
    
    
    That day, they decided to try changing this stupid world, just for fun.
    
    By the end of morning, they had come up with a plan. A perfect plan to take over the school in less than a week, and set up HQ there, effectively founding a kingdom.
    
    Their plan went far beyond that, though. The two would aim for becoming world conquerors!
    
    The God that had made Earth looked happily at this. He had once let another God's minion, a snake, slip in and convince his free-will-deprived subjects to choose the negative, that he had forbidden. Maybe these two could restore his dream of a happy universe.
    
    God: "Haha! I can't wait!"
    
    The jealous God, able to see into the future to sn extent, felt his heart finally lighten. He decided not to look further ahead. 
    
    He would have faith. Ha...
    
    -"Is that not what I asked from my creations?"
    
    He could not wait to see what they would do next. The last time he'd trusted, thousands of years ago, all had betrayed his expectations. The very friend he'd made was hurt, crucified by the world. Maybe that was for the best...
    
    God: "Infinity, what are you planning..."  
        

Next ->