Chapter 70 — One Month Later
The days passed, routine at first. Blade logged in occasionally to check Ascender Online but focused more on real life. Liora and her family had moved permanently to Winterland. She called often, sometimes sharing stories of her first experiences in the city, sometimes just chatting about mundane things.
In the game, the team's bond increased subtly. Blade noticed Nyx—Liora in-game—handling missions with more trust, more instinctive coordination. And in real life, the bond between Blade and Liora strengthened even faster. Small habits formed: shared walks in the snow, visits to local cafés, quiet evenings talking about the past, the game, and life.
Blade caught himself smiling more, laughing more easily. For the first time in thirteen years, he didn't feel like the boy lost between Summerland and Snowstar.
One evening, as lanterns glowed over the frozen river, he muttered quietly to himself, brushing a gloved hand over his face:
"…I should visit them. The Wilsons."
It was a thought he hadn't had in years. Not just as Metatron, not just as Blade in-game, but as the boy who had survived, who had grown, who was slowly learning how to live again.
Liora noticed the pause when he said it on a call, her voice soft but curious: "The Wilsons?"
He hesitated. "…Yeah"
Liora didn't know who blade was talking about but she knew it was someone important to him.
"When that day come I will be with you" liora said in a soft tone.Blade didn't answer immediately " I know you will be there...but i would prefer to go alone at first.
The thought of seeing his real family after thirteen years, after everything, was heavy. But alongside it, there was a spark he hadn't felt in over a decade. The spark of possibility. Of connection. Of home.
And somewhere deep inside, he realized that in both worlds—real life and Ascender Online—he wasn't entirely alone anymore.