"How are you feeling today, Mr. Knowles?" The pheromone therapist asked.

Leo stared at the window as he leaned back on the black couch across from the therapist's chair. He wondered how long he had to be here or even keep doing this pointless therapy. He wanted to leave and log into Starlight Journey already; today was even a day off from livestreaming.

"Mr. Knowles?" The therapist called his attention.

Scratching the mask on his face with a sigh, Leo finally faced the therapist and answered, "The same. Nothing has changed; I still get nauseous with other people's pheromones. And I don't think that will ever change."

"Mr. Knowles," the therapist almost sighed, "have you tried the recommended exposure therapy?"

Leo remained silent for a few seconds before looking towards the window again, "I haven't. I cannot do it; the pheromones make me sick."

"Mr. Knowles, how can we improve if you do not want to work with us?"

A beep resonated in the room, causing Leo to stand while glancing at his smartwatch. He nodded to the therapist before walking to the door, "Our time is up. I will see you in two weeks."

"Please try to work on our plan." The therapist called out as Leo left the room.

I am tired of this. Leo thought as he left the office and walked to his car, driving home.

He wasn't always like this. Before he presented, pheromones were nothing to him. He could be around omegas and alphas without a problem. Everything was simple then.

But once he presented as an alpha, things changed.

When his family and friends came around to celebrate him becoming an alpha, all he could remember was throwing up until he blacked out. When everyone's pheromones hit his nose, he felt sick, and a strong aversion coursed through his veins. He didn't want to be around anyone.

Once this happened, his parents freaked out, taking him to doctors to find out what was wrong with him, and wondered if they could fix the problem. The doctors diagnosed him with a pheromone aversion disorder. Pheromones, minus his, made him sick and nauseous.

Leo was locked up in a closed-off room at the hospital for two years before he was able to enter society again. Those two years were boring for a twelve-year-old boy, leading him to discover online gaming.

During that time, his parents barely came to visit, upset with the diagnosis. And once he was released, stuck with wearing a mask to block pheromones, his parents tried pushing him onto betas.

At fifteen, he realized that even betas did nothing for him. Even though betas had zero pheromones, he felt nothing for them. He felt sick for omegas and alphas, and felt nothing for betas. At this point, he told his parents that he would be with no one and that he could be asexual.

His parents, always hoping for a grandchild once he grew into an adult, were pissed. They pushed him out of the house and decided to have another child who could give them grandchildren. At sixteen, he had a little sister whom he barely met because his parents didn't even want to acknowledge him.

Leo never cared about his parents kicking him out; he had money from online gaming and streaming, so he easily got an apartment (with the help of his friend's older brother, since he was a minor at the time). His parents' attitude didn't bother him because they had a strained relationship, even when they tried to push him to marry his childhood friend (an omega).

The only thing he regretted was barely hanging out with his little sister. Even now, at twenty-one, he would sneak to his sister's kindergarten after school and hang with her before his parents picked her up. Their time was limited, and the meetings were sporadic. And what hurts each time is his little sister's words before he goes:

"When will I see big brother again?"

Times like that, he wished he didn't have this disorder because then he could be with his little sister all the time.

With a sigh, Leo thought his sister was the only one who could cause his mind to waver.

Ring, ring!

His phone ringing caused his thoughts to break as he turned on the Bluetooth and answered the call.

"Captain, when are you coming online? We want to raid the Mad Conjurer soon." A whiny voice instantly answered.

"Nathaniel, you are the oldest one in the group. Isn't it too much to whine like this?"

Three years ago, when Starlight Journey first came out, Leo formed a Guild with his best friend, Ruben, and his childhood friend, Cecil. From there, they met others they had grown close to, like Nathaniel. The only thing is that Nathaniel is older than they are by a few years, but loves acting like a child.

"Sooooooo, are you at home yet?" Nathaniel ignored his question and begged Leo to go online quickly.

"You know, I don't have to be there for the raid. If Ruben and the twins are online, you can have Ruben start the raid and add one of the twins to the group."

"We could, but Cecil is also online and wants to do the raid with you," Nathaniel slowly commented in a flirtatious tone.

Leo's smile, covered by the mask, quickly fell.

When Leo and Cecil were only four, their parents pushed for an arranged marriage because they thought they were cute together. They always said that Leo would be an alpha while Cecil would become an omega because they had the characteristics for it. So, they pushed and pushed for them to be together.

Leo never thought of Cecil that way. To him, Cecil is like a little brother whom he spoiled and took care of because he promised he would. But maybe he spoiled too much, or maybe their parents poisoned Cecil's mind because Cecil believes they belong together.

Cecil is in love with Leo and extremely possessive; he pushes away anyone who shows interest in him (Leo) and acts like they are together. He also has a delusion that only he can cure Leo's aversion, or that Leo can only stand his pheromones.

It is a crazy fantasy. Leo often told Cecil that Cecil was only his brother and that even if he didn't have this disorder, his outlook would not change. But Cecil ignored every comment.

Leo hasn't ended their friendship because he cannot relinquish his promise to care for Cecil. Once he made a promise, he always kept it.

"Don't start," Leo warned Nathaniel, "I will be on soon." He hung up the phone, his mood dropping once more.

He regrets making that promise. Furthermore, he should set more boundaries while still finding ways not to break his promise.

Once Leo got home, he entered his gaming room and started his computer, entering the game. He adjusted his headset while his character stood in the last area he logged out of.

His character stood in the middle of a forest, wearing a white long-sleeved shirt that was long and flowing in the back. The front was cropped to the waist and crossed, with a bit of his chest and collarbones showing. A black-like rope belt wrapped around the waist, closing the shirt tightly while connecting two swords crossed in the back. The character wore tight black trousers with long, matching leather boots that were armor-like at the knees. And lastly, his hair was short and brown, covering his forehead and nape.

Zero glanced at the Guild's group chat, hurrying him to the Guild's house while peeking at his private chat and seeing that Owl (Cecil) had left a message.

[(Private) Owl: Do you want to do a dungeon run together after the raid?]

Zero clicked his tongue, deciding to ignore the message. This must be the real reason why Owl wanted him to go online. He thought.

[(Guild) Captain Zero: I will be there soon]

[(Guild) Ayn: Yay! Mad Conjurer, here we come!]

[(Guild) Thoja: Let's aim for the new record. Fallen Guild completed the raid in 00:14:16 minutes.]

[(Guild) Owl: With Zero here, I know we can beat it!]

[(Guild) Ayn: F*** don't mention them to me.]

[(Guild) Vice-Captain Snow: No cursing, or do you want to be banned again? We can take Moon instead of you for the raid if you cannot act right.]

[(Guild) Moon: I am ready to take the old man's spot.]

[(Guild) Ayn: Who are you calling old, you little demon!]

Zero shook his head, laughing as Ayn and Moon started arguing in the chat, practically blowing it up. He quickly teleported to the Guild's house, stopping their fight.

"Let's get started." Zero entered as he chose the teammates joining him on the raid.

Once the raid ended, and they beat the Fallen's Guild record by 10 seconds, Zero left. He did not stay behind to join Ayn's silly celebration because he did not want Owl to start pushing to run dungeons together. He told everyone he would go farming and quickly left without letting them know his location.

Owl sent him another private message that he continued to ignore. Zero knew that outside the game, he would make it up to Owl later because he couldn't stand him crying.

He traveled back to the forest he had initially been in. The forest held corrupted and mutated level 140 wolves, which gave him enough experience even though he was in the 200s.

When he entered the area where he knew a group of wolves would rest, Zero already saw a character occupying the area, standing around dead wolves.

The person used a woman character with long white hair, reaching three inches past their behind. The character wore a long, dark purple and black dress with no sleeves but connected around the collar. The top part crossed around the chest, while the stomach area lay open, showing off the character's stomach. The bottom part reached the ground while the sides had slits, letting the wind show off the legs.

The character's open black crown rested on their forehead, while black stripes lay under their eyes and stopped at their cheeks. The character held a black and deep red scythe with engravings surrounding it, while a floating, glowing red book rested open.

A skull rested at the character's waist, showing they were a Necromancer.

Zero glanced at the name showing above the head:

{Grim (Level 267)

Fallen Guild}

Fuck. Zero encountered Grim, the Captain of the Fallen Guild, or more specifically, Niko Graves, the known Mad Dog.

Niko Graves is someone everyone feared while secretly craved. He is an omega: beautiful, rich, and powerful. His family had a foot in many industries. Six years ago, learning that Niko loved playing games, they entered the gaming industry and started the famous company, Era Studios. (Era Studios owns the game they are currently playing.)

Even knowing all this, everyone stayed away from Niko because he also had a pheromone aversion disorder, but his was different from Leo's. Instead of feeling sick, pheromones made Niko violent—extremely violent. He would enter a violent frenzy, beating anyone who was near. For an omega, he was strong, stronger than a lot of alphas combined.

And even when his heat would come, which would weaken omegas, it made Niko crazier, sending people to the hospital.

Even though Niko was breathtakingly beautiful, people stayed away because he was not someone you would want to cross. And being the only omega in his family, they spoiled him to the point of getting rid of anything Niko deemed a problem.

Zero, not wanting to cause any problems, started to turn around, thinking about finding another area with wolves. But he didn't get far when Grim teleported before him, causing Zero to stop abruptly.

"I've been feeling bored playing on my own. Why don't you join me?" Grim invited.

Zero swallowed, wanting to reject, but knew it was impossible to, "I planned to hunt wolves."

"What a coincidence, me too. I heard there should be a wolf lair east of the forest. Why don't we go conquer it?"

"Do you know that I am the Captain of Deserted Chaos?"

"Does that matter?"

"Our Guilds are rivals."

"Are you telling me no?"

Even though they spoke through text, Zero could feel the danger in those words. "No," he quickly denied. "I just wanted to mention it; I don't believe our Guilds would want to see us together."

Grim was briefly silent before walking east, "Are we children? It is only a game. Follow me."

Zero followed, no longer mentioning anything else. It never hit him that this meeting would be a turning point for both.

A turning point he would never regret.