Afterlife Dream

"HellWitch, I..."

I did not know what to say. "Sorry" was overused. "Thank you" was inappropriate. I stammered a mix of both, hoping that my sincerity would go through but it only invited laughter from HellWitch.

"I guess it was worth it to see you looking so guilty," HellWitch smiled at me.

"Antares, let's give it our best shot, okay? I hope we will be the ones to save them all."

HellWitch extended her soapy hand at me. I took it gratefully.

"Thanks, HellWitch."

"And by the way, maybe we should continue washing the dishes."

"Oh, right."

It was good to clear up the situation between us, but I was slightly disappointed with the outcome. For some reason, I had been hoping that she would truly like me. Who did not want to be liked?

HellWitch and I finished our chore twenty minutes later. After admiring the result of our hard work, we said our goodbyes and parted for the night.

The next morning, the four of us met again for another day of hard training. Again, I got two levels while the others only got one each. I trust that with this speed I was going to be able to catch up real soon.

Cecilia hit 141 and she was very excited to get to 150.

"I never thought I would come this far, you guys," she said while we enjoyed our lunch on a safe platform.

"I thought that I would always be level 110 something, never reaching the fourth job, never coming this far."

Munching on a tuna and egg sandwich that Cecilia prepared for all of us, HellWitch queried, "And what changed?"

"The game," Cecilia answered as a matter of factly. "It all started with BlackPuma's disappearance. And then I feel like the game slowly unravels."

Wait, that was not quite right.

"It doesn't start with BlackPuma's disappearance," I corrected Cecilia.

"It starts with the Dimensional Master's appearance," Lazarus piped up.

"Yes, that."

The two girls exchanged looks before they stared at us apprehensively.

"I guess one can put it that way. What triggered the Dimensional Master's appearance again?"

"The Giant Mushroom..." I said subconsciously.

"The what?" my three friends asked in unison.

The Giant Mushroom. I proceeded to tell them about me and DragonTalon spending the night at Kitty's and Wolfhound's farmhouse. How the night ended wonderfully but then we were woken up by the Giant Mushroom bouncing its way down to the farmhouse.
"Right. The sudden appearance of the mini-bosses..."

Cecilia leaned back using her arms as support.

It felt like ages ago.

"No, the mini-bosses were the result of the Dimensional Master's appearance. Even though the Dimensional Master was announced after the mini-bosses appeared," HellWitch rubbed at her chin.

Cecilia nodded furiously.

"That makes more sense. Why would the mini-bosses appear out of a sudden? Someone must have orchestrated their appearance. Who else but the Dimensional Master?"

"So why would the Dimensional Master appear?"

That was a question that none of us was able to answer. If not for the ominous things that happened afterward, we might have passed it off as a game update.

Wait, a game update?

I turned to Cecilia. She played the game the longest among the four of us.

"Say, Cecilia, how was it when the other raids were updated?"

"What update?" she gaped at me.

"You know, the raid updates... the events..."

Cecilia laughed. "Oh my. Antares, there had never been any raid updates or events until the Dimensional Master made his appearance."

"So you are saying that for the longest time, nothing similar happened in Afterlife Dream before?" I still couldn't believe it.


Cecilia nodded. "Yup. Nothing. This is a first."

The mystery deepened. Or maybe we did not look at it closely enough. At any rate, we were still stuck in the same spot. We had no other way but to move forward. And hopefully, we would be able to find out what triggered the series of incidents.

After three days of training, Livina and ZhaoYun finally showed up on our training map. They immediately complained when they saw our levels.

"God damn it, you guys could not wait long enough until we made our decision??" ZhaoYun was beyond unhappy.

The four of us were a little dumbfounded. We had agreed not to pursue the matter just in case ZhaoYun and Livina decided to not take part. That was why we moved on with the training without waiting.

"Well, uh..."

I could hardly explain.

Livina pursed her lips. "Sorry for taking a long time to think. I believe we are ready now," she said while exchanging looks with ZhaoYun. ZhaoYun smiled and nodded at us.

"Let's make it happen, guys. Let's save Afterlife Dream."

"Thanks, guys," I sincerely said. I was so touched that my tears were about to fall. Thankfully the girls burst into tears so I had time to wipe the tears off my eyes before they dropped.

"I am so glad... Livina!"

Livina, HellWitch, and Cecilia went to do a group hug. The men, I mean, the boys just nodded at each other in a masculine way. That was the unspoken rule, I thought. Then ZhaoYun put his arms around me and Lazarus.

"Sooo, boys," he grinned. "Ready for some leveling?"

After our party was complete, we picked a bigger training ground to facilitate our training process. Just for the fun of it, we decided to level to 150 at the same time. This meant that some of us had to step off the training ground once they were at 99.9% at level 149.

Cecilia was the one to reach that milestone.

And then HellWitch. Then Lazarus. Then ZhaoYun. Then Livina. And then I was left alone.

It felt rather lonely, training alone.

I could not imagine doing that with all my friends gone. And so many of them went away already, one way or another. I was only at level 148, around 50%. A long way to go still. At least two more days. Three if I was not motivated.

On the second day of my solo training, HellWitch came to sit on the safe platform to talk to me while I trained.

"Heya," she greeted me.

"Hey," I said, mildly surprised to see her. "Why are you here?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. I thought that you might be lonely training alone, so I come to accompany you."

I laughed. "Yeah, it has been quite lonely indeed."

HellWitch crossed her legs and watched me train.

"You know what, we have been friends for so long but I never knew your name."

Hmm?

"My name?"

"Yeah, your name. Okay, maybe that is not the right word. Your name back when you were still alive."

For a moment, I had to think. I had not used the name for so long that I almost forgot it myself.

I stopped killing the monsters for a while and stepped on the safe platform. HellWitch was still sitting there, cross-legged, and waiting for me to answer.

"Daniel Weston," I answered.

She smiled and held her hand out in my direction. I took it and pulled her to her feet.

"My name is Lara Baker. Nice to have met you, Daniel Weston."

After two more days, we were finally there. It was a wonderful morning when we finally reached level 150 together. This time none of us were able to contain our tears. We did it. We made it. We were finally level 150.

A lot of megaphones were shot into the sky to celebrate our achievements. And then I got a message from Kitty.

"Antares, let's have dinner together one last time in my farmhouse? Bring your friends with you, please."

Of course, I agreed. We gathered at Kitty's and Wolf's farmhouse for dinner that night, enjoying ourselves one last time before we faced the Dimensional Master.

When I went to sleep that night, I somehow felt like that night a long, long time ago in the hospital. That I was going to wake up in a completely new world, and start a new life.

In a broader sense, that might not be wrong. The six of us were going to meet with the Dimensional Master, and we were going far, far away. Hopefully, we would be able to come back. And hopefully, we would bring our missing friends with us.

The Dimensional Master's reign of terror had gone on long enough, and we wanted it to stop. It was time to bring back the Afterlife Dream that we knew and loved.

The morning sun brought with it an unusual warmth. It was as if the game knew that we were heading toward the end. Kitty gave me a peck on the cheek. Her eyes were glassy and red.

"I am not going to say goodbye," she said with a trembling voice. "Because I know that we are going to see you again. All of you," she added, throwing glances at the other five in our party.

"See you all again."