Right before I closed the door, he halted me, “Wait. Get back in. Are you absolutely sure?”  

His usual menacing smirk shifted into a childish curiosity. It didn't matter to him whether I was lying or relaying the truth. Honestly, I was taken aback that this type of man would be interested in phantasmal tales. But despite his nature, he was human too. Obviously, I also considered the possibility that he had just said so to make me open up and then mock me. I considered making a witty remark and walking into the hotel; never having to talk to him again. But his reaction was genuine. Heck, he had already spouted his fair share of shaming me during our throwdown; even if he mocked me anymore, his mockery would mean nothing now after he had just given me a ride. I let out a visible sigh and sat back in, closing the door. 

“You can think I'm delusional if you want but that was the truth, I saw many years ago. The two people who were with me… are real people. I was the only one to make it out since I was the one who cleared the Demon Lord. But the worst part is-”, I looked down; the anger I had hidden away was slipping out once more. “No one even remembers them.” 

    I was fully expecting him to burst out in laughter as his evil grin took over. 

“It may be worse than you think.”, he said instead. “If no one remembers the people who failed to return are forgotten, your pals may not be the only people stuck. Thousands of copies of that game were sold. It is not possible that only the three of you played it. Which means that countless people could have disappeared, and no one would even know.” 

“Yes, I've thought about it.” 

“And what about the possibility that your pals are dead.” 

Those words stung my heart like a sharp blade. I gritted my teeth trying to endure the pain that came from within. I had known that this was a reasonable conclusion. But I had been denying it forever. I didn't want it to be spelled out to me. Theo had no filter when he articulated his thoughts. 

“Yes… I've considered it as well.” 

I didn't want to hear him speak anymore. If he kept going, the walls I had made around my heart would shatter one by one, forcing me to face the truth; the truth that my friends were dead. 

“Then… I could have lost someone too. Without ever knowing.” 

    Theo grew agitated while lost in his own thoughts. From how he was reacting, he must have had a copy of the game himself. Though the blasting incident occurred before he could play it. At least that's what he would remember now. Maybe he had someone… someone who he had bought it for… but before he knew, he would have forgotten everything about them. But the reason for his distress couldn't be that. He wasn't a man who cared for anything but himself… at least now he was. He was agitated because of the existence of something that he had no control over. It most possibly had toyed with him, but he couldn't do anything about it, let alone remember. 

“You had bought Lethia, hadn't you?”, I asked. 

“Yes. That accursed ******* game. It ruined my entire life. And now you tell me that it could have ruined more than what I thought it did.” 

“It ruined you? Did something happen in the blast?” 

“Yes. It robbed me of everything. It put me on the streets, not a single coin to even feed me. Back then I worked as a game modder. Original games tend to bore people after some time. That's where I came in. I would tinker with the games, make copies, add and fix the cassettes. I made a living of the copies I sold at cheaper rates. And then there was Lethia. The most anticipated game. It was going to be the largest hit. Moreover, not many copies were sold. Which would mean that business would skyrocket for me. People who couldn't get their hands on it, rich, poor, collectors, game hubs, addicts, it didn't matter. They would pay me loads for a replica…”, he clenched his fist as he continued.  

“But then it had to get sold off before I could get my hands on one. I paid everything I had to obtain it. I didn't have much to my name, but I wagered it all for it. I had merely started working on it and then boom. It went off right beside me. That measly explosion didn't even kill me, but it took away my equipment with it. Whatever money I had left was used to cure the damage it did to me. I had to spend so many days on an empty stomach because of whoever made it. But I had opened it apart. I knew that there was no bomb. For so many years I believed that it was because I couldn't find the bomb hidden in it but some otherworldly force. So many years I thought that it was my fault for not going through the components thoroughly but there was something else behind my misfortune!” 

    I was right. He wasn't angry that he could have lost someone close to him but that he was powerless before the powers that had made Lethia come back to life. Suddenly, his grin returned. Every single cell of his face screamed revenge. He fastened his seatbelt and started to drive. 

“Tell me. Do you want to continue working on connecting the two worlds? I can help you. I am a good guy after all.” 

“But the project has closed. I can't work without the RVR technology.” 

“And what do you think happens to the already existing gear. There is no point in disposing it off. It will be stashed somewhere eating dirt. And I have more authority in this company than it looks. You are not the only one who I keep under my thumb.”  

The way he spoke implied that I was already below him. He was less injured in our fight. But I know how he moves now. If he were to force me into something, I wouldn’t hesitate to beat him up even if I ended up worse. He was a dangerous man. But like I said before, he did things on a whim. And I was glad that for this once, his interests aligned with mine. 

    After some time, I found myself at his house. It was lavishly huge. He was no longer as poor as he had said he was in the past. Apart from his house, his garage was also absurdly big. It was big enough to host multiple vehicles.  
“You can stay there. I will get a bed arranged for you.” 

“But I have my flight to-” 

“Too bad. I don't think you can make it now. In case you have a misunderstanding, we aren't working together. You are working under me now. Call your boss and ask for a little vacation. If you get fired, I'll make sure you get a job here.” 

I knew that it would be the worst case if I had to get a job with this man's help. It would be no less than selling my soul to the devil. But then again, what the devil offers in exchange is hardly ever unenchanting.  

    He showed me the inside of the garage. It wasn't filled with cars as I had imagined. Instead, it was filled with machinery. Tools were scattered everywhere around the two desks that stood by one wall.  

“I'll have your meals provided as long as your pitch is still appealing. As foolhardy it may be, I want to believe that I can ruin those who ruined me once. We will work right here.” 

And so, our days of truce for bringing down a common enemy began. It was a truce built on revenge and pride rather than noble ideals. But still, the bond through our hatred was stronger. He had a bed arranged for me in the garage and there already was a washroom in one corner. So, I didn’t really need to go to see his house actually. He had shown me the replica of the game which was the basis of our little troupe and the other equipment arrived in two more days. 

“This is Lethia but it doesn’t work no matter what I do. There isn’t any problem with the code either. I have gone through it countless times. Even the little snippets work individually. But when I put it together, it’s like it laughs at my effort.”, he said.  

“That’s because that world itself has gained consciousness. It is no longer bound by the science we know.” 

“But it is bound!”, he said with a prideful tone of having accomplished something. “I said that this is Lethia. It almost is. But it is not all Lethia. It’s a part of mine too. There are a few modified things of my own in there. And it may not start, but it accepts my code without giving errors.” 

“As I thought. This game's ROM size is ridiculously big. What kind of things have you even added?” 

“No. That’s all on the original developers. I too was shocked when I first saw the size. Apparently, they had added an entire design for space along including a very few planets. They wanted to expand the story later and had come almost perfectly close to creating what can be considered outer space for a 2d planet.”  

“So, if I manage to get back in there, will a real space be around the world? It did have stars, but we didn’t think much about it back then.” 

“I wouldn’t know more than you do. You will have to figure it out yourself. Which brings us to work. C’mon chop chop. Get started. I am not one on a vacation; I still need to be at work.” 

Despite his sadism, he didn’t bother me much after that except that he often boasted about how great he was... or how much of a good guy he was. Unlike what I had thought him to be, he was a very hardworking man. His source of determination came not from his prospects but from his wish of nihility. Sometimes, he would fall asleep in his chair with me in the garage but whenever I woke up, he was already dressed for a new day. It took us a long time to finish the completion of a working RVR in spite of it already being in the final stage of creation. The supposed vacation I had been granted had already concluded. Each moment I spent here was like a ticking time-bomb waiting to explode. I had gone through this decision numerous times in my head. Should I return to my job or stay here and see it through till the end. But it wasn’t much of a difficult decision as I always came back to the same conclusion. “The odds were never with me. But I have held out for so long. I just have to hold a little bit more. I’ll surely win.” 

And then, on the day it was finally perfected... we had successfully made a RVR. We had tested it with other console games... and now it was time for the final event Lethia.  

We knew it was foolish to go in without any plan but he asked me to trust him with controlling whatever went wrong from this side. While we went through our days of cracking our heads open over this RVR, he had been secretly adding things to the code. Something that would make us invincible against any enemy. But trusting him was the one thing I couldn’t do. I had already surrendered myself into becoming one of his pawns. Any more deeds out of blind trust would mean my demise. But there was nothing I could do about it. I had already received a text earlier that I was fired. News reached my parents and they had called me to check if I was fine. I assured them I was. I was fine... in fact, better than ever. Perhaps this little shenanigan of ours would end up resetting the world to when we were kids. Or perhaps it would alter our reality to make it so that they never left. Or... perhaps, the device would launch just a simple game on the cartridge, ‘Lethia’ instead of some other fantasy world.  

But I was ready to face whatever life threw at me. I was brimming with confidence as I wore the headgear. 

Theo had loaded the cartridge... and now, … It was time for Lethia. 

I closed my eyes for a brief moment and recalled my memories of Lethia. How we had been first summoned into the castle... how we adventured through the kingdom, meeting all kinds of people, both those that supported us and those that meant harm... I remembered how he rode under the starry night, slaying monsters and living life however we wanted... with high risk... but with high freedom as well. I also remembered how I slew the Demon King and moments later the world was destroyed. This time, if it worked, I would defeat the Demon King together with the catastrophic monstrosity that rose from beneath Lethia. This time around, I would be the one destroying that world. 

And so, I opened my eyes with a brush of wind storing across my face.  

I was in Lethia 

I was in Lethia... 

I was back... 

I was in Lethia... but not where I expected to be.