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[indent][indent][indent][color=gray][sub][right][color=#98A9B1][b]Location:[/b][/color] Kazuki’s Home-- The City of Thorinn, Aetheria[/right][/sub][/color]
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He woke up. 

But he did not respond. 

For hours, he stared out into empty space. Kazuki had no idea what was going on in his brother’s head, but he needed to give him time to heal. He had his own ideas and plans to consider as well, so in the morning he set out with his own goals. 

But what was going on in Kazuma’s head? 

[i]He’d remembered every aspect of that dream. Perhaps it wasn’t really a dream then, but a fantasy so strong it just erupted through his mind. A desire for friends, for belonging, for understanding. For people who cared about him and treated him like a person and not just a...useless thing.[/i] 
[color=#2E2C2C]Atlas..[/color]
But fantasies don’t come true. They’re fantasies for a reason. Playful dreams and ideas those without power think of, and dream of. Kazuma thought that Pariah Online would let him feel powerful, like he belonged somewhere. But it was no different than home. It was [i]cruel.[/i] 
[color=#2E2C2C]Enos…[/color]
It was [i]unfair.[/i]
[color=#2E2C2C]Aaginim.[/color]
And then Kazuma began to think. His mind racing about every minute detail of the past few days. Everything about the glitch. Their hunger, their pain, their senses. The death. 

It was [i]real.[/i]
[color=#2E2C2C]Luci…[/color]
And Kazuma expressed the first emotion he’d been able to, with the isolation of his brother’s house protecting him from the gaze of others. 

He wept.  

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