I stepped outside my room and immediately went out of our house to take a walk. I needed to breathe. Our house seemed to be suffocating me.

I saw Mom inside the kitchen but she never bother to peek at me. I didn't want to argue with her. Dad would be home any minute now that was why she was preparing dinner already.

I was thirsty but I was only allowed to drink water after a meal and only a gulp! But like everyone was doing, enduring was the best option. 

C category people like me and my family were given water two days a week individually. And we needed to divide the water to survive for a week. We only took a bath twice a week. Washing the dishes once a day. Washing the clothes once a week. Half of a glass of water a day. We couldn't afford to drink coffee or milk. I also didn't know what their taste was.

I was used to it though because I was born during the pandemic. I didn't experience swimming in the ocean or pool. Or even in the middle of the rain.

There were times I was wondering how it felt to be able to dip into the deepest of the sea. What would it be like to see children playing in the rain?

The cold breeze of the wind instantly hugged me as I stepped outside our house. It freshened my mind indeed. But the burden I felt was still lingering inside my heart. 

I was walking on the street. Roaming my eyes around our village. I couldn't see any kids playing on their terraces, not that I ever saw one. There was no grass, trees, or even flowers. Every village was like haunted.

The sun was burning high but the wind was cold. How peculiar the climate was.

I came across a convenience store. I was glaring at the vending machine in front of me. There were canned juice and even water. But they cost a fortune. Yeah, we're not poor but we couldn't afford water. Like I was buying a car.

"Excuse me." A voice at my back suddenly interrupted my thoughts about how the juice tasted.

I stepped aside and I saw a boy my age, wearing glasses and his head was pulled back into his hood. He glanced at me and I knew he was hesitant about whether to smile or not. But he chose to ignore me. He inserted a card into the vending machine and he picked up the juice I was staring at a while ago.

I smiled bitterly. Another fortunate boy. I stepped backward and decided to leave. My envious self appeared again. 

Not that long when I was walking away from that vending machine, I heard someone calling my attention.

"Hey! A boy with messy hair and blue eyes, wearing a black shirt."

I roamed my eyes around but there was no one aside from me on the street with blue eyes and wearing a black shirt. So I turned to look at the one who was shouting like a mad girl.

I saw the fortunate boy holding the canned juice not just one but two in his both hands. How rich he was? He was looking at me.

He ran towards my direction and stretched his hand that was holding the one canned juice. "Take this."

"Why?" I didn't know why I asked him that question.

"What why?" he asked back with his crumpled forehead.

"You know what I mean," I said stiffly.

"Is that how you guys here say thank you?" he asked me again, never holding back his hand.

"So you're new here?" I questioned him like an investigator.

He nodded and still his hand was stretching out to me. I looked at the canned juice he was giving me. "People in this neighbourhood were not chivalrous as you are. There were lots of rich people here, but they never care."

"Should I accept it as a compliment?" he asked me again. He move forward to hold my hand and put the canned juice in my grip. "Take this as my offering of friendship."

"Friend..." I whispered as I looked at his back walking away.

"Hey!" I shouted. "What's your name?"

He turned to face me. "Well, just call me rich kid!"

I laughed at it. If people were like him, there would be no suffering and mankind would live peacefully without worrying about tomorrow.

I looked at the wide sky and darkness was taking over. I turned around to go home while looking at the canned juice.

I didn't know if I should drink this. But it was one of my dreams, to know how tasteful the juice was.

----

I was now tucked in my bed. I had dinner with mom and dad silently. I never spill a word. I just nod and shook my head if dad would ask me. I was not in the mood. Mom seemed to be neutral. She didn't mention to Dad about our argument a while ago.

I was busy looking at the canned juice and thinking whether to drink it or not, when a notification suddenly popped up in the netbook. I barely forgot about the meeting Rayumi said earlier.

I got up from bed and headed straight to the area where I was playing. It had a swivel chair that could be transformed into a mini bed where I could lie if I would log myself inside the Auresia.

I recalled how happy I was when mom gave it to me as a birthday gift. I felt guilty somehow. I should talk to her and apologize for being a little rude.

I opened the netbook and I saw Rayumi's message. 

"We're waiting."

I sucked in a huge breath before grabbing the headgear and putting it on my head. I closed my eyes as the light inside it was not a good sight. I pressed the button on the right side of the headgear.

"Please attach your fingerprint..." 

As I heard the system's voice I immediately put my index finger on the left side of the headgear.

"Fingerprint confirmed. Please make yourselves comfortable before diving in."

I pressed the button under the swivel chair's armrest. I rested my back on its backrest and pushed it using my back. It slowly moving down. I quickly moved away my finger from the button. "Let's dive in!"

As soon as the light was out, I immediately opened my eyes.

"Welcome to Cardinals of Auresia!"

I was inside a capsule-like cubicle made of glass. It was called the portal. I saw my reflection. I looked handsome here way more than what my true self looked like. I got a grey-coloured and shoulder-length hair. I chose a not-so-masculine body. I also had grey-coloured eyes. I was not fond of grey colours, didn't I?

I saw players outside. Some were logging out and some just got in. We were under The Centrum, also known to be the centre of Auresia. The Centrum was enormous. The Big Three was living on the highest floor.

The Big Three were the brain or should we say the owner of Auresia, they were also called Popes. No one knew if Vinitor was one of them and no one knew what they look like. No one got the chance on meeting them.

The Cardinals of Auresia consisted of four divisions: Popes, they were The Big Three. They had no status bar. Bishops, they were the staff inside the Auresia. They also had no status bar, but they looked like a fairy in appearance. Cardinals, the players. Obviously, they were the only ones who had a complete set of the status bar. Priests, staff that managed all the stores and others inside the Auresia. They had no status bar but they had gold wings. Lastly, Visitors, they had the word visitor on their status bar.

It was easy for everyone to recognise each other inside the Auresia.

I stepped forward and the portal automatically opened.

I scrolled up in mid-air and my menu bar popped up. No one could see the menu bar except the owner. You could see in the menu bar the cardinal's status or statistics, profits, items, weapons, the map, the announcement board, and everything that a cardinal owned.

Cardinals could buy items and weapons from stores inside the Auresia. They could also have one as a price from tournaments.

"Hey, Reign!"

I looked up and saw my pet. It was a gift from the trial I had won. I was the only one who received a price from that trial. They were not for sale and I could say I was lucky to have a pet. They were rare and not all players had the chance to own a pet.

Basically, pets were really helpful if they were being upgraded annually. But unfortunately, I couldn't afford to upgrade my pet, Prime. So, he couldn't help me that much, but could only tell me danger was approaching. He was a little dragon that loved to sleep a lot.

"How are you, Prime?" I asked him as I was looking at my map.

He didn't answer me so I looked at him again. He was looking at something and when I turned around to check it what was he looking at, I saw Nerios, walking out of his portal.

He saw me.

Here we go again. My envious self.