Chapter 6

I slowly blinked my eyes open. I saw...the darkness. The darkness of my room that is. I slipped the NerveGear helmet off my head and sighed with relief. I didn't think a game could get so serious, until today. I turned over to my side and looked at my clock. 6pm. My phone sat next to my clock, and so I took it and dialed Hunter's number. After 10 beeps, the phone was answered. "Colton?" Hunter asked.

"Hey," I spoke casually.

"We're not dead."

"Nope."

A pause hung over the phone. Mum always said that games would be the death of me. I never thought about the consequences when I chose to stay by Aubade's side, even though I didn't care about the bounty on Chaos Ripper. But if I said no, I would have regretted it when I found out that I let my best friend die alone. I decided to break the silence by saying, "I'm gonna have dinner. Do you want to log into KHO when an hour is up?"

"Of course!" Hunter's raised voice made me jump, "Don't you care about Oblivion? She would log in the moment she had a chance."

"Since when did you care?" I asked with genuine curiosity. I thought he didn't like her?

"I get she's weird and bossy, but I think it's because she has bad socializing skills and she's angry," Hunter said, "Keep in mind she barely knows you, yet she could see that you're in a shitty relationship."

"She only said that because she's scared for her uncle," I spoke with surprising calmness. I was tired of the game Tori was playing with me; I didn't know how to win.

"I saw you hugging her before I got knocked out," Hunter argued.

"Maybe if you were paying attention to what Chaos Ripper was doing, we would still be in the game," I retorted, "I only hugged her when he was coming at me."

"So you admit to caring for her too?"

"Wait, who said I didn't?" I was incredibly confused. Maybe some brain food would make me feel better.

"Nothing," He teased.

"Ok," I decided to let this one go, "Well, I'm gonna get something to eat. I'll meet you in an hour."

We said goodbye and hung up. I got out of my room and headed downstairs to the kitchen. Someone's rushed footsteps skidded across the floor and I was greeted by my dog. "Hey boy! Did you miss me?" I cooed as I knelt down to give him a belly rub, "I've only been gone for 3 hours."

Mac rolled over to a sitting position and licked my face with affection. He was a Staffordshire Bull Terrier with a brown coat. We got him as a re-homed dog 5 years ago, so I'd say he would be about 8-years-old in human years. "Hey Colton, what are you making?" Chris called from his spot on the living room couch in front of me.

"Macaroni cheese," I replied, grabbing supplies from the cupboard.

"Don't you eat anything else when Mum and Dad are away?" My older brother complained.

"Nope, you'll have to order pizza again," I grinned.

Afterwards I was sitting at the dinner table eating my makeshift dinner. My parents were on a short vacation in Hong Kong. They offered me to come along since they've taken me to a lot of other places, but I thought it would be good for them to have time for themselves.

It's only been 5 days since they've left and Chris has already taken initiative to invite his girlfriend over. Lucky for me I was on school holidays before Term 2 started, so I stayed up as late as I wanted. But Chris's bedroom was right next to mine and it's hard to sleep when I could hear him screwing the brains out of his girlfriend. Speaking of girlfriends, what happened to mine?

"Because I've found someone else."

These words echoed in my mind on a never ending loop. I kept forgetting that I wasn't spending enough time with her, I was an idiot. But was it wrong to want to spend quality time with your video games? I tried my best to get Tori into gaming but it just wasn't her thing. Balancing school, work, footy, games and her was a crazy juggling act, but I didn't know how much longer I could keep it up.

When I told Hunter about Tori's changing attitude, he asked why I wanted to prove her wrong. But who wouldn't? I chose girls based on their personality and she had a wonderful one — confident, adventurous, outspoken and clever.

Panic slowly rose in my chest as I thought back to my new friend, Oblivion. Was she really a beta tester for KHO, or was she just a cheater? Because of Pazu Midori, it made sense that she had found out knowledge about the game. But she also seemed like she had a lot of experience in VRMMORPG's. Hunter and I never got into them before KHO because we agreed it would be better to save money for the NerveGear, and the fact that Square Enix was the first major game developer to use this platform. Before KHO, the NerveGear was only used for indie games.

But for now, the questions I wanted to ask her had to be put on hold. I hoped she was still alive, as it seemed that Chaos Ripper decided not to kill Hunter and I. And who the hell was Chaos Ripper?

Author's note: I know this chapter seems like a filler but bare with me. The reason I don't plan to trap my characters inside a virtual reality is because I want my readers to see their lives outside of the game. I'm planning to make KHO into a trilogy, and have each story in the point of view Oathkeeper, Aubade and Oblivion.