Chapter 308 - Memories (2/2)

There, she revealed she was a journalist. An investigative journalist that worked with one of the few free and independent papers in the world. She wanted to let her closest friends know because the day afterwards, she was going to travel to a mounting conflict in Southeast Asia where the new cold war between east and west had caused massive tensions involving a toppling regime and a rebel insurgency.

This was the most dangerous assignment she had ever undertaken, and she felt conflicted. For most of her career, she had spent her time with lower level corruption cases of which there were plenty. This was the first time she would cover something big.

Something real, she claimed. Her whole life, she wanted to make a change in this bleak world, and when she could not, when she did not have the courage to, she escaped to Elden World to feel like she did something big.

And now, she had the chance.

But she was afraid. She knew the danger, so she turned to her two closest friends to ask what she should do.

Should she go?

Oceanmaster had said no. It was nonsensical to risk her life for anything. Nothing was worth fighting for in this world. She might as well be happy with the game.

Li had told her to go. He knew she wanted to make a difference in the world in her own way, and he knew this was big for her. He knew what it felt like to lose sight of your dreams and become lost, and he did not want that for her.

The aftermath of that decision broke the guild apart. She never came online again. Oceanmaster quit from the guild and severed connections with Li. He took an extended leave of absence from being guildmaster.

Like dominos toppling, everything seemed to go wrong after that. Elden World started to stagnate, no new content developing and the game slowly falling behind its competitors. A few developer controversies made the player base bleed, and a year later, Li was left tending to a garden full of rare, hard won seeds like a gravetender taking care of tombstones.

”Papa?”

Li blinked and looked back down, snapping his mind back to the present. The here and now in a world so very far away from where his memories were. He saw Tia looking up at him with evident worry on her face.

”You okay, papa?”

”Of course. Just thinking,” said Li as he put a hand on Tia's head.

”About what?”

Li glanced around to find the rest of the party looking at him, having moved past Lira's disappearance to see whether he was okay.

No, he realized. His place was here. Right here in this world he had chosen to protect. When all was said and done, order realized and balance restored, then he would entertain bridging any gaps in his past.

For now, there was so much in the here and now. So many lives and hopes relying on him.

”Nothing much,” said Li, a little loud to make sure everybody heard. He smiled and whisked Tia off her feet, putting her on his shoulder. Her ruby necklace glinted red in the night, lighting up her toothy smile in a faint shade of crimson.

”All of you, get some sleep. It is late, and I want to move soon after first daybreak,” said Li. ”I want to reach the Shibboleth by afternoon tomorrow. It is about time we reached the western continent.”