(A/N): This chapter is going to mostly be Nate's POV, meaning most of the thoughts are going to be Nate's. Also if you don't know already, thoughts or things people say internally are represented by '....'

Whereas, things people actually say have "..."

Hopefully, that helps!

Just a heads up^ hope you liked it so far (^_^)

Also, this chapter is a special one, since we hit 100 chapters I thought I'd make it different, so I just increased the word count lol. It's around 3k words or something.

~~~~~~~~~

As they stepped out of the taxi cab, Nate gulped, he lied to Luke, his friend. In reality, Nate was in contact with Luke's sister and constantly updated her, at times he felt like he was crossing boundaries that shouldn't be crossed. As far as he was aware, Luke and his family didn't really have the best of relationships, however, certain sacrifices were required, especially because he put in all this effort to help Luke prove his family wrong.

At first, it seemed extremely risky, what if his plan failed and Luke hated him? he never intended on betraying his friend, initially, he thought it wasn't as bad as Luke portrayed it to be but gradually, Nate began to think otherwise. What if everything he was told wasn't exaggerated, he wasn't ever told anything specific, so far, Luke only told Nate about the strain in the relationship but nothing other than that.

'To be honest, the scope that Luke and I have in Genesis is something that is worth the risk, that's not even the end, both of his companions, Shade had immense scope and Noctis....well it would be an understatement to say he would be a valuable companion. And even though I'm level 100, I chose not to ascend yet, so I have that as well, and according to Luke there's a possibility I get another buff or something like that, that should definitely be something as well. There's definitely infinite room, within a few months Luke already managed to gain 2 strong companions and even establish relations with one of the Einherjari of the Norse....'

'Once the guild is established, it'll definitely be a lot of work, with the monthly fees and the duties that tag along, of course, the latter is only if we were to associate with any kingdom, though it's almost absolutely necessary for a guild to tie up with an external force such as a Kingdom, at least if the guild was to try and reach the peaks. Hmm, wait, hahaha, I can't believe I nearly overlooked this but it looks like we have a golden opportunity,'

'But let's do this step by step, come on Nate, you got this,' he said internally, lightly slapping himself on the cheeks.

"Alright bro this..."

"Is.."

"Where..."

"Uh.."

Nate stuttered, his thoughts were absolutely wrecked after processing the sight ahead of him, there was a giant framed picture of Luke, it was around 6'feet high and roughly 5'feet wide but that's not all, littered all across the garden were smaller portraits of Luke, all of them were strategically placed, as if the person who planned all this was a mastermind at being a creep.

"I told you, didn't I? let's just go in man....this is probably nothing,"

'This? nothing? whenever I surprised my family, I would just get a boring and lifeless "Yay!", before they proceeded to go back and watch TV or something....' Nate thought as he scratched his cheek.

*𝘒𝘯𝘰𝘤𝘬*

*𝘒𝘯𝘰𝘤𝘬*

*𝘒𝘯𝘰𝘤𝘬*

"Mom! quickly! little Luke's going to be here soon, we can't let him find out how much we worked for th-"

"Hi sis," Luke said with his hand up.

"..."

"..."

"....."

After staying quiet for a few seconds, probably to process what just happened, the woman screamed and threw herself at Luke, completely forgetting about what just took place. She almost broke the door while doing so, but that didn't even phase her, it seemed as if at that moment nothing else mattered.

"F-finally...yo-youre..h..here" she sniffled while gripping onto Luke even tighter than before. However, Luke just stayed calm as if nothing happened, instead, he gladly accepted and returned the gesture.

'The f*ck? for a family that tormented you, they show quite a lot of....emotion, of course, it's not like I expected them to be devils or something, actually, you know what, I don't even know anymore, it is very much possible that Luke is a demon-spawn, no no I didn't mean it like that, I apologiz- wait, I'm thinking to myself, why am I apologizing?...even when I spoke to her before, it didn't seem like she hated Luke...'

"Sis, I'm sure you already know him but this is Na-"

"What happened!! I heard you scream and I came runni-"

"Hi mom," Luke said while patting his sister's head.

"...."

"..."

"....."

"....."

'Oy, aren't the pauses just getting bigger? what's with that? besides why is the same scene repeating agai-' Nate could even finish his own thought as another screamed pierced his ears, the woman who was supposedly Luke's mother, tackled her children. Luke now held both the women, he patted their backs slowly as they constantly sniffled.

'This definitely does not even come close to what this bastard told me....' Nate frowned internally.

"Mom, sis, I'm sure you know him already...but this is Na-"

"What happened! My wife! I heard screams and came as fast as I could! did anything happ-"

"Hi dad," Luke said while patting both his mother and his sister.

"...."

"..."

"....."

'The f*ck am I getting side charactered?? oy oy oy, let him at least get past the first two letters of my name...I'm kinda glad the pauses aren't increasing though, phew,' Nate held back a frown as he screamed internally, 'this is definitely weird...for someone who constantly cribbed about how his family treated him, making it seem like they disliked each other... but now he's behaving like a certain bald man from a movie franchise that enjoys illegal racing'

Luke's father walked forward, his footsteps echoed as the only other sound that was heard was the sniffling of the two women, the man held his hands behind his back and carefully made his way towards Luke,

"Son..." he said as he gently kept his hand on his son's neck and touched Luke's forehead with his own.

"Father, Mother, sis..." Luke said.

'Yes! finally, introduce me, you bastard!' Nate thought as his bland expression turned to an ecstatic one.

"Where's brother?"

'Huh? brother? he has another sibling?? wait that doesn't matter, you motherfu-' it was truly sad to see Nate struggle, not only was he completely ghosted but he wasn't even allowed to finish his own thoughts.

"Oh, he's busy playing that Genesis game, apparently he's some bigshot in it," Luke's mother chuckled as she backed away from the hug.

"Or so he says but it does explain the money he's been earning lately," the sister chipped in.

"It truly is sad, he's earning as much as I do....I've worked for nearly 15 years to earn this much..." the father said with his hand massaging his eyebrows.

"Oh? that's pretty interesting to hear, I guess I'll see him later on!" Luke said as he put his arm around Nate, "Oh and Nate's here as well,"

'YES! Finally, you sonavabitch! phew, alright, calm down Nate,' he told himself internally as he waved, Luke's family was already aware of who Nate was but the reason he specifically announced Nate's presence was because so far no one had noticed him awkwardly standing, they were all just too focused on Luke to even care.

Nate noticed their expression widen, he realized that his presence wasn't even detected after standing right behind Luke the entire time, 'ah whatever, I don't care anymore' Nate thought before he slightly pushed Luke forward as a gesture of telling him to move inside.

~~~~~~~~~~

After settling in and catching up, both Luke and Nate were allowed to rest but, of course, they weren't actually going to rest, they planned on logging in and Nate saved all the million questions he had for once they were inside. Unfortunately, it looked like Luke's brother was still logged in.

"Alright, sit quietly so I can kill you painlessly, that is all I can do, considering you are my friend," Nate said as he pretended to cry.

"Huh? wait what did I do?" asked Night, he was genuinely confused as to what he did, of course, he wasn't aware that his explanations to Nate throughout the years made his family seem demonic. It was a stupid misunderstanding but it was also Luke's fault for exaggerating so much. Nate was still a little confused about the whole situation, but he was sure of one thing, that is Luke and his family didn't hate each other.

"Wait before all that, you just hit level 100 didn't you? go ahead, ascend, there's a chance you'll be summoned I think, anyway, go for it," Night reminded his friend, instantly making Nate forget about everything else.

"Alright, here goes,"

"Ascend!" he shouted with his hand to the sky, a small ray of sunlight illuminating the spot where he stood. 'Yes this is it, I'm the main character as well!'

"....."

"....."

"What's happening? do you feel any different?" Night asked out of curiosity.

"I don't think it worked...."

"Well try again?!"

"...Ascend..." Nate said with one eye open.

"..."

"I think you need to put more...enthusiasm in it you know?"

"Huh? okay...wait... ASCEND!" Nate screamed hoping it would somehow change the outcome.

"...."

"...."

"Maybe try again? what if it's like starting one of those old bikes? sometimes it doesn't start immediately but a few pumps and it starts..." Night shared.

"Yes because saying a word in a game and kicking something in reality work the same way," Nate grumbled.

"Pumping," Night corrected

"You're doing something wrong man like it looks weird, I don't know," Night said as he stepped towards his friend.

"The f*ck does that mean, what you think I can't say a word? is that what you're saying, wow real motivator we got here,"

"Come on now, you know I didn't mean that," Night said as he raised Nate's hand into the air, "maybe go like this? Ascend!"

"Yeah like that woul-"

*𝑹𝒖𝒎𝒃𝒍𝒆* *𝑹𝒖𝒎𝒃𝒍𝒆*

As soon as they heard the sound, the two of them looked at each other to confirm if they heard the same thing. Fortunately, it wasn't a hallucination, the two of them indeed felt and heard something. Unfortunately, they couldn't react in time as a 10-meter wide hole in the ground formed under them, instantly swallowing them along with everything around them.

*𝘊𝘳𝘢𝘢𝘢𝘢𝘢𝘢𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘴𝘴𝘩*

"fuc-"

"Ow, hey that didn't hurt that bad," Nate exclaimed.

"That's 'cause you're on me d*ckhead, how'd you even manage to get above, we were right next to each other...." Night said as he pushed off his friend and dusted himself.

"That's not really important right now, where are we? what happened? and ...." Nate stopped himself as he looked around.

Emptiness, there was nothing around them, plain boundless land that seemingly stretched out forever. No signs of life, there was barely any mana in the air around them.

"Nowhere as of now," A voice said.

*𝑺𝒏𝒂𝒑*

Before they could turn around to see who it was, a blinding light engulfed them, teleporting them to a different location, notifications bombarded them but they were just too confused to even bother.

They were now somewhere in some random place but by the looks of it, it seemed to be some kind of ancient ruins, pillars were broken down, small hut-like buildings wrecked, moss growing on the walls of the buildings that fell. Birds chirping and flying around happily, different kinds of animals, some that weren't even recognized by the two, peaceful monsters, flying around, it looked like the beasts and creatures here had close to no blood-lust.

They quietly walked, taking careful and precise steps and as they continued to do so, they realized they were in some kind of an imaginary post-apocalyptic world. The feeling of the gentle breeze blowing, the smell of the fresh rain-drenched earth, the pleasant sounds of the beings running around and enjoying their freedom. The abundance of pure mana, that seemed excited to just exist.

"Is this even...Genesis?" Night stuttered.

The question wasn't even outrageous, the quality of their surroundings, the overwhelming feeling their senses felt, it was too much for a game to be able to recreate all of this, in fact, this was more than just recreating, this went beyond that, the feeling easily surpassed that of reality.

"Where...are we.." Nate asked as he crouched to touch the ground. They were so overwhelmed that they completely forget about the voice that probably brought them here.

"Haha, think of it as my home?" A voice they heard not too long ago chuckled.

"Home? wait your home? b..but how?" Night asked.

"....." Nate refrained from speaking as he was busy sorting his thoughts.

'What is this feeling? this feeling of belonging? who is she? is she perhaps somehow related to Hecate? is that why I feel...'close' to her? I don't understand, if that was the case then I'm sure Hecate would've given me some sort of warning but why did this happen? there's too much I don't know, as much as I want to sit down and listen to whatever she says, I can't help but shake off this feeling....'

"Hmm, I definitely didn't expect you to tag along...anyway it's been a while," The woman said with a smile.

'Been a while? but....'

'I've never met her...'

'Night's never met her though?'

Both of them shared the same thought, they were awfully confused, little did they know, the woman wasn't talking about Night. If Shade or Noctis were here then Night was sure that one would be protecting Nate and Night while the other would shyly look at the woman.

"Seems like you need some time," the woman said as she stared at Night, he could feel her gaze slowly crawl through his skin, to his bones and finally it broke into the very core of his existence.

"Your presence here is welcomed here but do not interrupt me, this concerns only your friend, act up and I'll have no choice but to use force....actually," the woman said before flicking her hand in the air, in a split second Night was now covered in stone with only his face free, the ground literally bent to her will and covered him up.

"Better," she said with a smirk.

"Wha-" Night tried to complain but his mouth was immediately sealed off by the stone.

"Even better," the woman chuckled, "now, come forth child,"

"....."

"Me..?" Nate asked stupidly.

It was now the woman's turn to contemplate life, "Bah, of course, you, who else would I call? there's literally no one here,"

"Who are you...?" Nate asked as he stepped forward.

"Guess," she said with a smirk.

'Man, for f*cks sake....who is she!!!' Nate expressed his anger internally before looking at her.

She had green curly hair that elegantly fell on her shoulders, her eyes were a mixture of different colours, blue, green and a little bit of brown. She wore a long dark green gown along with a laurel that matched her eyes. Her presence was calming and serene, small birds could be seen flying around her head. Her gown seemed to be made of the roots of trees but they were green in colour. She was definitely an ethereal entity but more than her beauty, her presence and aura was what caught Nate's attention.

"Did we perhaps ever meet before..?" Nate asked innocently.

"...I guess yes, you can say that you caught my attention before,"

'What does that mean? all my game-life I've just been inside the academy or with Luke...did I perhaps cross her on the streets? no, but that wouldn't make sense, a random passerby wouldn't be this strong...

I've been working hard all this time, when I first started I took the harder path, of all the mages, I was one of the few who went the path of all elements. It was much harder naturally, I was weaker and my skill levels were horrible. And to make my situation harder, my obsession with learning mana manipulation just escalated as time passed. And finally, when I somehow managed to learn it, becoming probably the first player to do so, Hecate summoned me....now that I think about it, I've certainly come a long way....

Wait...Hecate summoned me...the woman in front of me said I caught her attention...that was the same notification I got before I was summoned to Hecate's domain....is she, is the woman in front of me the unknown being? the one who confused Hecate?' Nate was going through his experiences to try and remember who the woman was.

Meanwhile, Night watched as his friend struggled, he finally figured out the identity of the woman, upon checking his notifications, Night tried to scream to his friend. No wonder he felt this sense of deja vu. But no matter how much he screamed, Nate couldn't hear him, his mouth was covered and there was nothing he could do.

'F*CKINNN HELL. NATEEE CHECK YOUR GODDAMN NOTIFICATIONS!!!' Night screamed internally.

"The unknown being...was it you?" Nate asked while cocking his head.

"Bingo!" the woman said as she quietly clapped.

"But....won't this cause an issue with Hecate? ....." Nate asked with a frown.

"Oh I don't really care besides, I'm sure she doesn't mind. Do you Hecate? do you mind ME talking to the boy? YOUR disciple?" the woman said, it was clearly a provocation, Nate expected the situation to get ugly, considering Hecate could probably hear the woman.

"It is unfortunate that we must part so soon my disciple..." Hecate's voice resounded, "Great Mother, I can't say I'm too surprised considering I felt something similar in Tartarus...it was only a fluke but my suspicion was confirmed when I saw Hades rush out. I'm assuming that incident had something to do with that boy and not yours?"

"Naturally," the woman said.

"Anyway, let's not waste any more time, you'll know who I am once I curse you, be thankful that you aren't as unlucky as your friend there, he was cursed from the beginning making it miserable for him, anyway, once I pass the curse onto you, I'll be dormant for a while. Oh and Hecate, I trust you'll keep quiet about this?"

"Of course, Great Mother," Hecate said.

"Okay here goes my child," the woman said as she appeared in front of Nate suddenly and gently placed her hand on top of his head.

*𝑯𝑼𝑼𝑴𝑴𝑴𝑴𝑴𝑴𝑴𝑴*

~~~~~~~~~

[WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! FORBIDDEN GRADE CURSE TRIGGERED!]

[VERIFYING]

[*BEEP*]

[*BEEP*]

[*BEEP*]

[OBSTACLE FOUND! DETERMINING OBSTACLE IDENTITY]

[*BEEP*]

[OBSTACLE IDENTITY DETERMINED! 'SYSTEM THREAT' PLAYER NIGHT]

"Uh oh...." Kenny said as he looked at the red siren that was going off.

"Uhm sir...what exactly does "uh oh"..." Reed asked while wiping off the buckets of sweat.

[Searching Files. Data found. Probability of triggering Gaia's curse = One in Ten Billion]

"That," Kenny said while massing his forehead.

[Forbidden Grade Gaia's Curse bound to Player NotYourTypicalMage]