AQUA

Arya's pov 

     Well, this is awkward, I was currently on my way home and it had already been 15 minutes. The car has been silent throughout the whole ride apart from the music blasting through the stereo. The woman's daughter was already asleep as it is and while I was curious, I knew enough to wait for mum to wake up before asking, I wouldn't want to uncover some wounds after all.

     Thankfully we reached Mum's place in the next hour and so I parked the car. Albeit annoyed, I carried Mum to the apartment and simply threw her to her room.

 "Do you have credits to pay for an apartment?" 

I sighed when she said no while carrying her daughter in her hand.

 "Sit I'll be back" 

And I left the room, I went straight to the receptionist of the housing complex and rented a new place near ours. With the keys in my hand, I gave them to the woman who thanked me.

* Bang! * my door closed shut as I lay down on my bed exhausted, 

"I'm so fucking hungry!!" 

I complained but didn't bother to move to the kitchen, and soon enough I fell asleep with the beautiful songs echoing in my room.

    The first thing I noticed when I opened my eyes was the aroma of food, 

"Mum can't cook!!" 

I was startled awake as I rushed downstairs in just a sports bra and shorts and saw the culprit. The woman from last night was in the kitchen whipping up a sumptuous meal and my mum was on the counter conversing with her. Mum noticed when I came downstairs and waved me over, i sat beside her and took the coffee she gave me skeptically 

"Oi don't look like that!! Chanel made it! She's a great cook!"

 "Huh?" 

My mom doesn't usually compliment someone and here she is 'She likes her?' I was a bit lost as the concept of my mum liking someone is odd, she didn't even like my dad!!

    "Right Chanel meet my daughter Arya, Arya Chanel" 

I nodded at the short woman while taking a sip of the coffee 

"This is good!" 

"Ah! G- glad to hear that!! Breakfast will be ready in 10 minutes!"

 It was nice to see her smiling, people are just scum. 

"So...... You are going to ask what happened last night." 

"If she can speak about it why not"

"I don't mind talking about it" 

And with that, she had both our attention, well mine anyway 

"That was my husband, Harris and he kidnapped me because I was trying to divorce him". 

"He looks trashy yes, but why?" 

She laughed sadly 

"It's a long story...." 

"We have time, take your time" 

Mum reassured her.

"I got married to Harris when I was fifteen, my parents were very much against me marrying so young but I didn't listen, I was sure we were in love with each other, he was twenty-five and just starting with his career, at first we were a very loving couple, I'd cook for him before he went to work and when he came back, he was the sole provider and the only thing I was told to do was take care of the house and cook, I dropped out of school then. Along the line, he slowly started taking charge of my funds, my parents were still providing an allowance for me and soon enough he controlled where I could go, who I could see and what I could wear. Two years in the marriage and I was already his dool but I was unaware, I was as in love with him as ever but now, I was dependent on him. I was eighteen when I first got pregnant and - ( sob! )" 

  At this point tears streamed down her cheeks, mum immediately went to hug her and comfort her, 

"It's ok, you're safe. You don't have to continue if you don't want to!"

 Mum tried to persuade but the woman was stubborn, after crying for a while she continued, leaving Mum's embrace.

"That was when the abuse started, I still remember his anger when he found out I was pregnant, with his bare hands! He beat me till I had a miscarriage! That was when I woke up from the lie I'd been living. In a panic, I tried to get to my parents but I finally realized I was trapped in the house with him. At that time, his business was already going well and he had tons of men in his estate, i couldn't escape even if I wanted to. It happened the second and third time! Every time he would get me pregnant and beat the pregnancy away, at this rate I was already afraid of both him and getting pregnant, i wanted to escape but I didn't know the first thing to do or how to get out so this happened for three years straight. Unfortunately, I got pregnant again! But this time, no matter how many times he hurt me, I didn't lose her!! Those nine months were the most painful time of my life. It was also during that time I found out I could divorce him. My wet nurse was the one who helped me with contacting a lawyer, the lawyer told me I had to send him a copy of the marriage certificate before he could move, it took me two years to finally get the certificate out and that's when he found out, he then proceeded to threaten the life of my baby!! She was two when he had a gun pointed at her head and told me to behave. I cut off contact with the lawyer then, as long as my daughter was happy and safe I simply let him do whatever he wants with me till three days ago, I found out - i - he was planning to fuck his child!!! L" 

 "THAT BASTARD!" 

Mum slammed the table with evident anger and she looked like she wanted to kill someone 

"calm down mum, let her finish" 

"I ( sigh ) that was when I knew I had to escape, it took a bit of planning, but since I've been obedient recently he didn't keep a tight leash on me so I was able to get out. They found out soon enough though so they chased after me that's when Alice found me, they took her with us as they didn't want to leave any witnesses and you saved us! Thank you again!" 

"Not a problem, we should take this to the cops though, right? They will handle it cleanly" 

"But you shot people, won't they come for you?!!"

 I looked at the woman whose name I just remembered 

"Miss Chanel, any bodily harm that was caused on the grounds of self-defense is legal, I broke their bones yeah they touched me first. Nothing will happen to me, Mr. Harris, on the other hand, is a different case so I say we take this to the cops, if you agree that is, this is also only viable as long as you are in Aria, other cities have different laws." 

She looked lost at this point as she looked at my mom who simply nodded at her 

"ok! I'll go and wake up Lily!" 

And with that, she switched off the cooker and went to their apartment next door

 "Three plus three plus three, probably five years old, mum you like someone older than your daughter by four years Ha!" 

She just rolled her eyes at me 

"doesn't matter, she likes men anyway" 

"Doubt it's just men but hey! She'll be single soon, wait for a while though cause you know". 

"Just go freshen up so we can go, i would very much like to eat before we have to leave" 

"Yeah sure, you should probably go give them some clothes to wear though, their place is next door and you owe me 50,000 credits!!" 

Mum simply waved me off as I ran to my room to wash up, dressed in green cargo pants and a green hoodie and styled my hair and went downstairs. Chanel and her daughter Lily were already here eating, I went to the kitchen to get food and soon we were on the road to the station, in my car. 

"Mum where's your car?" 

"At work" 

And silence returned.

     Reaching the station, the cops took charge of the matter instantly and by the time we were done, Miss Chanel had successfully divorced Mr Harris, due to damages caused during marriage, according to the law Miss Chanel received fifty percent of Mr Harris's wealth, liquified, she also has full custody of her child as the laws states that the mothers own custody of their children no matter the situation and lastly he was to be imprisoned for five years on the grounds of marital abuse and another ten years for involvement in illegal transportation of melin into the city and thus his business was shut down. With the matter out of the way, we went to the bank to open a new credit account for Miss Chanel so she to deposit the funds the divorce gave her and go back to the housing complex. She sent me the 50,000 credits for the apartment and proceeded to rent an extra ten years for it.

       With all things set aside, I simply gave my car keys to Mum as they were going to register Lily for school as she was homeschooled all this while and also go shopping, i wasn't needed anymore anyway so I simply went back to the apartment. Before I could move to play some competitive game, the doorbell rang. 

I opened the door and saw a delivery man with a big package beside him, excitement rushed through me as I couldn't keep the grin off my face 

"Delivery for Arya Alice?" 

"Yes, where do I sign" 

"Here" 

The signing was quick to get done with and he nodded at me and said 

"Remember to register do a full body scan so that only you can assess the device, if someone does it before you, you won't be able to access it. Got it?" 

"Yea yea thanks!" 

With that, he left and I took the package in, it was light or that was just my strength talking. I moved the package into my room and placed it in the gaming studio I constructed in the room, I had already dismantled my previous gaming setup, so there was a space for me to assemble it.

     I quickly got to work on it, the package was removed and I finally saw the pod, it was shaped like an egg and was colored white, it had a seamless smooth glass-like structure and was big. Have I said that? Either way, I started connecting the necessities according to the manual and in ten minutes the pod started glowing, it glowed for three seconds before the AI spoke 

""Full body scan ready, please enter the hologram"" 

From the pod came out a blue stream of light which projected an image of a male human. I moved and put my body to merge with the hologram and watched with interest as the hologram changed into a similar form as myself. After a minute the hologram disappeared 

""Player registered -

Name - Arya Alice Starr 

Age - 24 years

Height - 6 ft 7

Please have a wonderful experience player Arya""

      "Well that was necessary I guess?"

 Confusion took me over for a second before I forgot about it as I gushed over it, I traced my fingers on the body before finding a button and clicked on it, it seemed to scan my thumbprint as it momentarily flashed blue before the pot opened, the space inside was equally big consisting of a reclined soft bed with a black visor glasses plugged on a little table by its side, I laid on the bed to test how comfortable it is and instantly sighed in content, my right hand stretched out and took the glasses and put them on my face 

"alert!! The realm of Azrath hasn't officially launch, please try again on the 19th of octo, 20: 00 to officially start the game. Thank you"

The glasses were returned as I sighed 

"Three days have never felt so far! I need time to skip!! " 

"AI, when I enter the game will the pod stay open?" 

"Negative. To secure the safety of all players, the pods will be closed. Worry not the pod is self-sustainable so the players will not lose oxygen" 

"gonna go play furious then" 

 With that I left the studio.

Aqua's pov

     ""Player registered - 

Name - Aqua Siren Charming 

 Age - 22 years old 

Height - 6 ft 1

Please have a wonderful experience goddess Aqua!""

I raised a brow as I looked at Liliana with amusement 

"When did Ai start calling me goddess?"

 A smile, prominent on her face since I agreed to play this game held a twinge of amusement 

"The AI for the pods has a new system running, I think it's something along the lines of addressing people in their given title."

 Moving away from the pod, I laid myself on the bed already tired from today's activities as I conversed with my elder sister 

"I didn't know my given title was goddess sister" 

"The world calls you that, what else is needed!!" 

"Right, has there been any news concerning the matter?" 

Sister's eyes went cold at this point, angry and helpless at the same time 

"You. Don't worry about it too much!! We'll make sure to find the best person, it's temporary as well and and um -" 

"sister, it's fine, breath ok" 

Sister's eyes were helpless currently but she still certified 

"Don't worry, we have three months before the contract has to be enforced. We'll find someone then!"

 "Hmm. I believe sister"

 "ok, get some rest, you must be exhausted currently,"

Sister said as she got up from the couch and came towards me, she gently fixed the blankets and kissed me on my forehead 

"Get some rest ok, don't think too much''

 'I'm not worried sister' 

i didn't voice it out though, I simply went to sleep.