Afterlife Dream

Devin looked down at us for a while before he finally nodded in reluctance.

"That is the ID that I use while testing the game. I guess you can say that it is me. Do you know me from somewhere?"

Cecilia broke into a sob before she launched herself at Devin and hugged him.

"Oh, God. BP! BP! You are alive and well!"

Devin blinked in confusion. He put his hands gingerly on Cecilia's shoulder, unsure what to do with the girl who suddenly hugged him because he turned out to be "BlackPuma". She even called him "BP".

Lazarus pulled a grimace. "Technically, he's dead."

"No, he's not!" Cecilia snapped at Lazarus. "I mean, of course, you are dead. We all are."

Lazarus slumped against HellWitch and said nothing else.

"I want to know who you all are, now that you are not in danger of getting 'eliminated', I think you can tell me."

"I will start," I said.

After sucking in a deep breath, I started to tell my life story. And then HellWitch and Lazarus did their part. Then ZhaoYun. Then Livina. And finally, Cecilia.

"We all died on earth and were reborn into the game you created. The Afterlife Dream."

Devin rubbed at his temple. He staggered backward and slumped onto the leather seat in front of the gigantic computer.

"Wow," he whispered. "In a way, I guess that means that my program is a success? I don't know whether I should be happy or not, though. Because based on what you just told about the 'BlackPuma' in the game, it seems that I died a long time ago."

Cecilia grabbed Devin's hands.

"BP, don't be scared. Just log into Afterlife Dream. You will see."

Our eyes drifted to the gigantic computer behind Devin.

"By the way, what is that thing for?" Lazarus asked in excitement.

"This? This is the computer I use to program my games. That's right. You are right now in Afterlife Dream's birth chamber, if I may say so myself."

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Afterlife Dream's birth chamber?

I inadvertently started to pay more attention and looked around in amazement. Other than the gigantic computer, the seat, and the lamps, the room was practically empty. Apparently, Devin was quite a loner. And a nerd too. He did not even have a small fridge inside the room.

"So, how do I log into the game?" Devin asked weakly.

"Easy. Your full name with an underscore is your username, and your birth date is your password," Livina quickly said.

"Fine."

Devin turned on his seat and started the computer. There were a lot of icons on the desktop. One of those icons was naturally the Afterlife Dream icon. He double-clicked on the icon and waited.

We all held our breaths in anticipation.

Afterlife Dream started, and Devin entered the information into the boxes.

Soon after, the screen lit up and Devin arrived at the avatar page.

Just like what we all expected, BlackPuma was there. Intact. Strong and powerful just like on the day he left us to challenge the Dimensional Master.

He entered the game, but he did not see himself inside a dark room on the screen. What he saw was the scenery of Daisyville, depicted across the three giant screens. And then, the computer started to talk to him.

"Hello, Master... you are finally back."

Devin swallowed hard. "Fairy Chan?"

I stared at the screen, trying to recall the NPC. It had been quite a while since I last saw her. Fairy Chan? That Fairy Chan? Was she not that beginner NPC?

Fairy Chan, the tiny fairy with dark green hair and a green outfit, fluttered into the screen and faced Devin. She bobbed up and down, her tiny face carried a smile.

"It is me," she confirmed.

"What do you mean, I am finally back? From where?"

"From the death," Fairy Chan smoothly answered.

Devin swallowed again. "How did I die?"

"I shall replay the video from the 23rd September..." Fairy Chan's voice trailed off and the screen cut into black.

Soon after, the screen flickered and a video started to play. It seemed to be a CCTV video.

Devin was there, sitting and typing on the gigantic computer with vigor.

The door opened and an elder woman entered with a tray of sandwiches and a milkshake in a bottle.

"Devin, you should stop programming now. There is still tomorrow. Why are you in such a rush?"

The Devin on the screen merely broke into a grin. "I am so close to changing the world completely, Mom. I can't stop now. If I succeed, then MMORPG will rule half of the world!"

The elder woman sighed. She put the tray of food and drink onto an empty spot on the table and rubbed her son's head.

"Devin, life is so much more than playing MMORPG. You should go out sometime, enjoy some sun."

Devin grabbed his mom's hand and rubbed his cheek on her hand in a spoiled manner.

"Don't worry, Mom. By the time I am done, I will enjoy as much sun as I want. Inside and outside of the game."

Devin's mom must have thought that Devin had gone nuts. She merely scoffed and pulled her hand away from Devin's grip.

"Silly boy," she murmured before she left the room.

It was unclear how long Devin worked on the game. He took some bites of the sandwiches and some sips of the milkshake before he put them down again as soon as he got some inspiration for the game.

"The Dimensional Master," Devin murmured into the screen. "Yeah, that should be it. The Dimensional Master..."

Devin yawned. "Oh God, so tired. What time is it? I guess it is time to sleep..."

Devin rose from his seat but then he tumbled down to the floor and started to suffer from a seizure. In this room. All alone. He flailed frantically on the floor, trying to get help but no one was in the room. No one could hear him. He was all alone.

That was how Devin Wentworth, the inventor of Afterlife Dream, died.

The video showed Devin's mother entering again, presumably to get Devin to bed. When she saw her son's lifeless body on the floor, she screamed in terror. A few moments later, more adults rushed into the room to see what happened.

Unfortunately, it was too late.

It was all too late.

Devin already died.

At present time, Devin hung his shoulders sadly. "So I really died," he whispered. "I never finished the final arc with Afterlife Dream."

"Then the Dimensional Master..."

"I never finished it. I merely managed to set the raid and the final boss' name, but that was it. I had planned to continue working on it the next day but then I died."

"But the Dimensional Master was a real menace," HellWitch argued. "If he was nothing but a name in your program, how could he do all those things?"

The one who answered was not Devin but Fairy Chan.

"Master's will is strong. After death, your soul was split into two. One part went inside the game and reincarnated into Afterlife Dream. The other part, the one with full memories of the past, remained on earth and continued working on the game."

"What...???"

"How is that possible?" ZhaoYun asked. "He... I mean, he...."

He died, that was clear.

"Fairy Chan, can you explain further?" I queried.

Inside the screen, Fairy Chan nodded gently. "The other part of Master's soul guided more and more players into the game, and gained power from every player who got reincarnated into the game."

"When it was strong enough, it sought to be reunited with the part of Master's soul that was playing the game. Since Master just hit level 150, it decided to assume the position of the Dimensional Master to lure Master into the raid."

So when BlackPuma went alone to challenge the Dimensional Master, it was all according to plan.

"When Master finally entered into the raid, unfortunately, Master could remember nothing. Neither the past life nor the life inside the game. Master was trapped in the time loop but Master did not even realize it."

"Master's other soul half was slowly getting overwhelmed. It was sheer impossible to keep Afterlife Dream going while having another world open and keeping the time loop going."

"And that's why so many inexplicable things happened in Afterlife Dream," Cecilia whispered.

Inside the screen, Fairy Chan nodded. Her head drooped in regret.

"Fairy Chan failed to protect Afterlife Dream. I am so sorry, Master..."

Devin rubbed at his face and sighed.

"It is not your fault, Fairy Chan. It was mine. I messed it all up. Now that I am back... what can I do to make it all better?"

Inside the screen, I believed to see Fairy Chan's face lit up. But maybe it was all just my imagination, because how could an NPC be happy or sad for us?

"Now that Master is back, we can fix the Afterlife Dream together."

"Alright," Devin said while rolling up his sleeves. "Where should I start?"