Hollow Twilight - A LitRPG Novel

Chapter 12

Reid: I didn't?

There had been no answer to Reid's text for the rest of the day. He was still staring at his phone as he walked home after his club. Issac and Maple were chatting away, as per always, he could see all the notifications coming in. Reily's was stagnant.

It's not like there was anything incredibly wrong with Reily finding out about the game. Anyone could know about it, couldn't they? He had found out because his friend heard about it through someone they met online. It wasn't a secret. Just a totally normal game that took you through to another dimension.

Reily had confirmed that part was definitely true. He vanished from the face of the Earth the second he went in there, and he was back an instant later. There was no denying that proof.

Was it wrong that it made Reid's heart flutter each time he reviewed the text? It wasn't over Reily or the nerves; that had subsided over the course of his walk. Now it was about the possibilities, prior feelings that seeped up from the basement of his mind. This really was some sort of brave new world to go into. This would be his world.

The second Reid was home, he shot straight to his bedroom, passing by his father on the couch who mumbled something like a hello. He let his backpack slide off his back and tumble to the floor, pushing the button on Hollow Twilight immediately.

Gone were the ominous feelings, the gut-wrenching wrongness of this place. Now it was almost familiar. The sky was the same as always. The dilapidated buildings all around him. The almost total absence of sound, save for his heartbeat in his own ears. On the edge of his vision, that something that was always there, just on the boundary. It comforted him with his immediacy in arriving. As another dimension, this place had rules and boundaries. It was a game, had to be, even if it took place somewhere else. Nothing in reality could create such perfect predictability in its existence.

Reid checked his profile immediately. The bar had reset to the beginning. Level three.

Shadow of the Damned.

Reid blinked as he reread the Twilight. That can't be good, he thought. It was fairly ominous. It seemed like the kind of name that belonged to a curse spell you would cast in a different video game. It was black magic, forbidden arts, an instant kill move or a slow, inevitable death timer hanging above a little character's face.

Shadow of the Damned. He put his phone back in his pocket, leaving his hand there for a minute as he processed. Now, he had a weapon. Sort of. It meant something, at least, more than what it meant before. K's Twilight had had a really robust name, so his was following a pattern. Maybe Tim would be the right person to call in.

"Yo." Tim's way of answering his phone was still jarring to Reid.

"You answer the phone really weird."

"I do?" Tim went quiet on the line for a few seconds. Reid pulled his phone away to see the call was still connected. "I just say hello. Hello is normal, right? Or like, are things different in your country?"

"No, I mean...it's like...no, never mind. Maybe I'm weird? I'm usually the weird one."

"Dude, we're all weird to someone."

"Right." Reid rubbed at his face. It was good he hadn't involved Tim before. This casual level of philosophical resonance would've knocked his friends flat. He could see Maple hanging off of every word. Issac down on his knees bowing to this man, unworthy of his nonchalant view on life. Meanwhile the nervous geek would be back on the usual sidelines of life.

"You're down to party this time, right?" Tim asked. "Man, last time was a sick bait, you got me all excited."

"You get excited to form parties in this game?"