Dark...
Everywhere was dark, and her head was ringing. It was loud, incessant, and annoying.
Struggling to open her eyes, her gaze came into contact with the glare of the sun, causing dark spots to fill her vision.
Stunned, she hastily sat up, the throbbing in her head reaching new heights as she tried to scan the area with her barely opened eyes.
"...Lyra... Don't..." Someone was talking to her, but she couldn't hear a thing.
"Ugh..." Slapping away in the direction of the sound, she struggled to stand up, the fog in her eyes clearing up a bit as the ringing in her head reduced, but she overestimated her body's strength as she fell back helplessly.
She braced herself for the fall, but an arm stopped her from reaching the ground.
Opening her eyes this time, she could see clearly, but the sunlight made her squint.
She raised her hands to shield her eyes but stopped in place, her mouth opened wide in shock.
Her hands were currently flickering, their shape distorting, flitting into a garbled mess before snapping back to normal.
"What the..."
"You are glitching. It's expected, as your consciousness has yet to adapt to the game world." She heard a voice coming from beside her. Snapping her head in that direction, she saw a chiseled jawline in her line of sight.
Gazing higher, her brown pupils came into contact with a pair of hazel-coloured ones, so light that they felt almost dreamy.
Was this Mr. Rhett? And without his glasses? His appearance looked so... animated. Lyra couldn't help but wonder, her brows furrowed in confusion.
"Are you okay?"
"Okay, it definitely is Mr. Rhett. That voice is uniquely his," she chuckled to herself, before it finally registered that she was in someone's arms. Quickly taking a step back, she disengaged herself, her cheeks flushing in embarrassment.
"I'm sorry... I was a bit out of it," Lyra apologized, feeling extremely bashful.
"It's expected," Mr. Rhett repeated, his hands going towards his face as if to push up his glasses—which were absent.
Noticing their absence, Lyra asked in concern, "You lost your glasses?"
"No... I used them because I was slightly myopic, but my consciousness does not have that issue, as physical illnesses only affect the body," Mr. Rhett explained, his voice charming and mellow.
"Oh... Yeah, that totally makes sense," she chuckled.
Her eyes flickered to his a few times before she asked him, her voice barely above a whisper,
"Have you been told that your eyes are beautiful?"
"Beautiful? Not really..." he answered, his hands tracing his eyes, caught off guard by the question.
"Maybe it's because of your glasses. I mean, they suit you, but they hide your eyes. Maybe you should consider contacts," she further explained, her voice twisting at the end with embarrassment.
"Well, if it's really as eye-catching as you say, then I'd rather wear the glasses, as they're convenient and would save me the trouble of dealing with unsolicited attention," he mused.
"Oh..." she laughed awkwardly, trying to hide her embarrassment.
"Thank you, though, for the compliment," he said, his eyes staring straight ahead.
Surprised at his words, Lyra turned to look at him and saw that his pale white ears were currently doused with a rose-pink colour, showing that he was a bit affected by her words.
Realizing that, her eyes scanned around as she tried to find something to say to disperse the weird tension building up between the both of them.
Her gaze caught the rest of the team members. Some were lying on the ground, while a few others stood surveying their surroundings. Seeing their actions, she turned to Mr. Rhett, her brows furrowed in confusion.
"Where are we?"
"I don't know exactly. We were off in our calculations by a little bit, but we are definitely in-game," Mr. Rhett replied, his hands in his pocket, his bangs slightly tousled by the wind.
"It looks so realistic," Lyra muttered, looking around, her eyes filled with childlike wonderment at the astonishing landscape. The sky was a deep blue, bright and clear with a fiery sun blazing high up.
"And feels so too," Mr. Rhett echoed, his voice as serene as the scenery, a small smile on his lips.
"Yeah... I can feel the heat and the wind... even my body feels different," Lyra confirmed, stretching out her hands.
"Well, it is indeed different. Your consciousness has been refined to meet the world criteria, so we look animated, 3D-ish—just like the NPCs in the game."
Hearing his words, Lyra took a good look at her body, wiggling her fingers, which looked sharper, more edgy, in her face as she smiled.
"Wish I had a mirror. I so badly want to see how I look."
"You may find one on the way... but you do look astounding," Mr. Rhett said, clearing his throat right after his statement, as if that would take the words away.
Surprised at his words, Lyra glanced up to find his eyes evading hers.
"You should rest. We'll move in a while," he muttered under his breath as he turned away, leaving quickly.
Lyra couldn't help but laugh at his hasty exit.
They'd both had their equal dose of embarrassment today.
Clearing the distracting thoughts in her head, she leaned in while taking in a deep breath, a small satiated smile on her face.
But this was actually nice. It felt different from the atmosphere of the bustling, fast-paced, and foggy city she'd remembered... it was more like the countryside, quiet, peaceful, with the air untainted. It was really soothing.
Having satisfied herself with the view, she walked back to the team, finding them clustered together with various expressions on their faces. They seemed to be having an argument about something.
Hastening her steps, she quickly reached them, and from their words, she figured out what the disagreement was about.
Turns out some of the group were skeptical about which route to go, as the team's spawning point was not the intended spot.
"We only have the player's version of the world map, but there are some places that are distinctly different and not part of the map, as the AI has successfully changed a lot of things in the world, making it more dynamic," Mr. Rhett explained.
"So what you're trying to say is that you have no idea where we are?" one of the team members interjected, his tone impatient.
"Unfortunately—yes," Mr. Rhett answered, not even a bit flustered by the question.
Hearing his words, varying expressions appeared on the faces of the rest of the team. Someone even gasped in shock.
"So wh-which way... do we go?" a lady asked, her voice trembling in fear. Lyra couldn't blame her. Her fear was valid, as any misstep could lead to them being trapped in here—and potentially dead.
"Obviously upland. From there, we can have an oversight of everything," a young man in his early twenties replied, not even giving Mr. Rhett a chance to talk. Most of the team members agreed with him, after all, his words made sense.
Lyra watched the group, silently shaking her head. Then she heard her name.
Turning to Mr. Rhett, who stood there with his hands tucked in his pockets, a playful smile on his lips, she furrowed her brows in confusion.
"What do you think? Should we go... up or... down?" he asked, his eyes boring down on hers as if searching for something in those brown depths.
Lyra raised an eyebrow. She hadn't known Mr. Rhett for a long time, but she somehow felt like they were similar.
"Let's go downhill," she answered confidently, her words causing protests among the rest.
"And why should we listen to you?" a guy from the group asked. There were only three ladies in their group of seven, with three other guys and Mr. Rhett filling the rest of the slots. Lyra disliked the three guys after just a slight interaction with them.
She knew better than to believe in stereotypes, but their willfulness was stopping them from looking at the bigger picture.
"From the map, most cities in throes of chaos are built below a valley. We are currently on a slope, so going down would be the only reasonable choice. From there, we can ascertain our location and then go on with the plan." Ignoring the young man who asked, she explained her reasons for her choice, looking straight at Mr. Rhett.
"Moreover, the idea of moving uphill shows that some people clearly didn't pay attention to the plan, as we had previously talked about the fact that Æther sensory networks were stronger in the highlands... so going up there is not only stupid but dumb as fuck," she concluded with an eye roll. She wasn't one to cuss unless she was deeply annoyed.
The rest of the team were silent. They were all smart people, regardless, but their panic had made them unable to think objectively. Hearing Lyra's words had done nothing but bruise their ego.
Mr. Rhett walked towards Lyra, his eyes trained on her elegant figure. Even being dressed in khakis didn't dissuade her elegance.
But he didn't stop beside her. Instead, he continued walking, his footsteps as leisurely as ever, as the group watched on in confusion.
He suddenly stopped in his tracks, his voice settling in their ears.
"I believe that it was explicitly stated that you'll be safe if you stick to the plan. And when we don't have a plan—I am the plan. So leave whatever bullshit wisdom of yours... We only brought you here for your intelligence." Taking a deep breath, he tilted his face toward them.
"You just have to be nothing more than highly intelligent puppets. Next time, when I say we go downhill, we go downhill and I won't entertain anyone that tries to disagree. Else, we might just have our first casualty in-game," he said casually, his hands still in his pockets as he resumed walking down the slope.
But his words had greatly left the crowd in disarray.
Lyra was very sure he wasn't referring to her, but she still couldn't help but shiver in fright.
What he said wasn't a warning.
It was a threat.