Goddess

White space, white floor, and an endless white sky.

Ziro stood there and glanced around, wondering how he got there.

"How are you here?" a female voice called out.

Ziro looked back to see a woman wearing all white standing in front of him. Her hair was white, and she had golden eyes.

"I asked, how are you here?" the woman asked again.

Ziro stared at the woman and ogled her body, "That's what I want to know. Why am I here?"

Something was wrong; Ziro's eyes weren't azure as they were supposed to be— they were red. And even his clothes were different.

The woman swiped her hand in the air, and a screen appeared in front of her. "Tell me your game ID."

"ID? What's that? And no one orders me."

"Are you some kind of fanatic or lunatic?" The woman asked as she continued doing something on the screen. "Tell me your game ID kindly, so I can log you out."

Ziro frowned his face and asked, "What if I don't?"

"I will ban you and report you to the VR game council of the world."

"Hmm," Ziro placed his hand on his chin and rubbed his thumb on it, "I don't understand what you are talking about. Are you speaking some sacred terms?"

The woman stared at Ziro with a puzzled look on her face, "I am the developer of this game, and you are here in my dimension without my permission."

"Developer? What does that mean?"

The woman was now perplexed, "That means I am the creator of this game."

Ziro walked one step forward towards the woman, "Surely, you don't have any power over me— the king of Xioccetra, the mortal realm where I reign supreme."

The woman raised her eyebrows and rolled her eyes, "I see, so you are some delusional freak who somehow got into my dimension."

"Silence! Mortal, choose your words carefully. Otherwise, you might regret your existence."

"Heh!" The woman laughed, then smirked, "What will you do?"

"You dare to mock me, stupid mortal!" Ziro moved his hand towards his waist— as though he was trying to grab his weapon— but there was no weapon.

Ziro glanced at his waist and noticed there was no weapon. "What's going on?"

He looked at the woman and squinted his eyes, "What kind of magic are you using? And what is this strange thing floating in front of you?"

The woman shook her head as she muttered, "Why am I dealing with this weirdo when I was supposed to go to sleep?"

"I heard that," Ziro commented.

The woman's eyes wide opened in surprise, 'Impossible. My voice was so low that even I couldn't hear it.'

Ziro chuckled as he watched the woman's reaction. "You are funny, mortal. State your name, and I shall grant your wish."

"Are you trying to hit on me?" the woman asked curiously.

"Hit you? As you can see, I don't have any weapons, so even if I wanted to hit you— I wouldn't be able to. And besides, I have no plan to harm you."

"I…" Ziro glanced around, "I don't even know how I got here. The last thing I remember is… dying."

Ziro gasped, "That's right. I died, so why am I here?" he wondered.

He then pondered for a while and glanced at the woman, "Wait… could it be that this is heaven? And…" He took a step back as his eyes widened, "And you are a goddess?"

"You can say that," she nodded. "I am the goddess of this game."

"I was sure I would go to hell after all those sins I committed."

The woman got bored and walked closer to Ziro, "Enough of this roleplay now. Tell me, who are you?"

Ziro stared into the woman's eyes and smiled inexplicably, "State your name first, then I would gladly tell mine."

"My name is Olivia, and I am the developer—" She coughed and cleared her throat. "Goddess, I am the goddess of this game— world."

"I have my suspicions on what you say, but as I promised— I will tell you my name. My name is ——"

———

"Where is he?" Alina was standing near the fountain, glancing around to look for Ziro.

"He will come. Don't worry too much, Alina," the orange-haired woman said as she patted Alina's shoulder.

"But it's been ten minutes since he was supposed to log in, and he is still not here."

"Pipe down, you worrywart," the brown-haired man said as he hugged the orange-haired woman from behind.

The orange-haired woman leaned back on the man as she chuckled, "I was excited since Alina mentioned her boyfriend would log in today, but it looks like my excitement needs to wait some more."

Alina glared at both of them and frowned her face, "You are not helping."

"Whoa~ She is angry~" both of them teased in unison.

Alina glanced around and noticed a player with similar attire as Ziro standing at some distance. She rushed to the player and saw it was Ziro.

"Ziro!" She shouted and jumped on him to hug him.

Ziro moved his hand to hug her back— but Alina pushed him back and glared at him, "You are not Ziro," She frowned her face and hissed, "Who are you?"

Ziro's appearance was the same as Alina chose; still, Alina noticed it wasn't Ziro.

Ziro's eyes widened as his lips trembled, "No… way."

He looked baffled— as if he had seen a ghost.

"Why… how… impossible."

He moved his hand to touch Alina's face— but Alaina pushed him away and took out her sword.

"What did you do with my Ziro?! Give him back!"

Ziro stared blankly at Alina, then glanced around, "I see. This is not another world— this is just the future."

Ziro's body started distorting as if it was glitching, and after some seconds, it stopped.

Ziro was holding his head because of the pain, and he had no idea of his surroundings.

Alina put her sword back in her sheath and muttered, "Ziro?"

Ziro's head moved on its own as he heard his name, and noticed Alina, "Alina?"

He then glanced around and noticed he was in the game. "What? I…" Ziro couldn't comprehend the situation as he tried to remember what happened after he logged in the game.

"Are you okay?" Alina asked as she patted Ziro's shoulder.

"Yeah, I am fine now."