2 Earth, a World Unknown to the Abyss

"So we're never going to see him again," Aaron asked Sylvia, with a lowered gaze.

"You were listening," Sylvia realized.

"I wasn't that far from the gate when you guys started talking, so I heard most of it. The twins are already running around all over the place though, so I doubt they heard anything. But, are we really going to be separated just like that." Aaron said as a dark expression formed on his face.

"Seems like it," Sylvia said, as her eyes began to moisten once more.

"Sorry, sorry. Um, oh I know, want to explore that weird building over?. Let's hurry before the twins find all the cool stuff." Aaron said, realizing the waterworks were coming and wanting to calm her down.

"Ah, there you two are, the twins are inside already. Sorry for not meeting you as soon as you arrived." A woman said, looking like an older version of Sylvia.

"Aunt Elaine!" the siblings yelled, in excitement and confusion.

'That's odd, why is Aunt Elaine here, oh wait...' Aaron thought to himself before coming to a realization. '... How could I forget, Father said she'd be here.'

"Um, what are you doing here Aunt Elaine." Sylvia couldn't help but ask as she took the chance to dry her eyes.

"Well, as your Aunt, it's my job to take care of you when that idiot brother-in-law of mine can't. Honestly, I know he was young at the time and his old man sounded smart when he said it, but Telios really should have thought more about it before making that stupid oath. All it did is make everyone's lives harder. Well, I guess it doesn't matter anymore. Come along know children, I find this place to be pretty interesting, and I am sure you will too. By the way, the twins already ran inside and have started claiming their rooms. Honestly, those rascals scared me so much, I mean, none of you were supposed to arrive until June 12th ..."

"Aunt," Aaron interrupted her before she could say more.

"Yes," Elaine looked at him and said.

"Today is June 12th." He informed her.

Elaine's smile twitched, and she couldn't help but internally curse her own forgetfulness. 'Damn it, I just made myself look dumb in front of my nephew.'

Elaine was somewhat of a talkative person who cared a lot about her image, especially in front of her nephews and nieces but tended to be forgetful and occasionally clumsy. She was never the most elegant of her siblings and was more of a tomboy than anything.

Aaron and Sylvia looked at each other for a few moments, then turned and ran past their Aunt toward the house.

Once inside, they started looking around at the strange earth contraptions and observing various things lying around. Elaine followed after them and started answering their questions while rounding them upstairs so they could go ahead and pick a room.

Night came swiftly. All four children had picked their rooms and were feeling sleepy from running around in a brand new environment for several hours.

"Alright, is everyone tucked in?" Elaine asked all the children.

"Yes," they all yelled back.

"Good, now stay put. I have to do some paperwork to make sure you all have an alibi for being here, and the government doesn't start poking around."

"Un," Aaron replied, already half asleep.

...

A few months later.

The 4 children were in the living room, while the twins watched TV and Sylvia mulled over a piece of paper, and Aaron fiddled around with a small square device his aunt gave him that many would recognize as a phone.

While Aaron was scrolling through various articles, he found something that caught his eye.

[Breaking News: Wolrd's Top Technology Firm expects Full Dive Virtual Reality Technology will be available in the next 10 Years.]

'Full Dive Virtual Reality? What's that?' Aaron thought to himself. 'Guess I'll look into it a bit more.'

'Hmm. This is pretty interesting. I mean creating a device that sucks people into an imaginary world just so that they can play. And I thought the parties and games from my world were cool. And according to this if it wasn't for the interface installed these VR games could possibly even be mistaken for the real world. How would that work? Would the opposite also be true, such as the real world being mistaken for a VR game if an interface was added? I should show the other's this stuff too.' Aaron thought to himself before standing up from his seat.

"Hey guys, I found something cool, see there's this thing called VR ..." Aaron excitedly explained all he had found on the subject to his younger siblings. After he was done explaining, Sylvia thought of something.

"Hey guys, if we could somehow disguise the Abyss as a VR game and got people to join, do you think we'd be able to retake the Abyss?" She asked, unsure of her idea.

"Well, maybe. We'd have to study this more, and there are a lot of details to sort out, but I wouldn't rule it out just yet." Aaron answered.

"Hey, that is a good idea." Aunt Elaine told them as she walked into the room.

"Oh hey. When you'd get back?" Aaron asked.

"A few minutes ago. I was just about to grab a snack and walk in here when I heard you guys talking. I admit I don't know much about this world's tech, but there's nothing stopping you guys from learning."

"We can learn? Oh right, you went to enroll us in that school thing didn't you. You mean they teach this stuff there?" Sylvia asked.

"Well, from what I dug up, they don't teach that kind of stuff until the higher levels, but they can start you guys off," Elaine answered.

"We're going to school now?" The twins both asked, not quite sure what was happening.

"Yup, you'll all be going in 3 weeks, so you better get ready," Elaine told them. The twins just nodded and walked out of the room, while Sylvia returned to her paper.

"Well, that's good I guess," Aaron said, still oblivious to the stress often associated with school, his only understanding of it is that it's a place to learn various subjects and socialize with other children around his age.

"Besides, according to this, we shouldn't expect this 'Virtual Reality" stuff to be available for another 5 years, so we have plenty of time to sort out the details until then. After all, we can't use Virtual Reality as a cover story if no one can even access Virtual Reality yet. By the way, what is this about an interface?" Aaron said as he showed Elaine an image on his phone.

"Well, I know they are these screens filled with information people see and interact with inside Video Games. As for what one looks like, I guess you'd have to play a few video games yourself to really understand," Elaine told him.

"Well I could gather that much from this article, but I guess you're right, I'd have to play a few of these video games myself to really understand. Plus I heard they're really fun, so that's another thing I'm curious about. Hey, Aunt Elaine, do you think it's possible to get me a few so I can test them out?" Aaron asked.

"Hmm. You'll have to wait a few weeks since I need to find out how much they cost and where you would even get them, but thanks to my new job I should be able to get you some video games." Elaine responded.

"Oh yeah, speaking of work. What is your job?" Aaron asked, curious as to what his aunt did for living in this world.

"Well I don't really understand this world's tech too well, but I can use it just fine and I've always been good with numbers. All I needed was a bit of forgery here, some illusions here, and a pinch of mind control there, and I managed to get work as a high-ranking government employee." Elaine said with a very prideful voice.

"Really, that's cool I guess," Aaron said, only pretending to understand what her job was.

Elaine noticed this and couldn't help but feel disappointed that she didn't get more of an awed reaction from him.

"Well, no matter. They say there's no time like the present, so let's see what we can do to get that plan of yours started, even if it's finding out the basic requirements," She said with a grin.

"Sure, why not," Aaron answered, excited.

...

Eleven years later. Aaron and his three siblings stood in front of their new base of operations. A private studio building their aunt bought them so they could kickstart their plans.

Opening the gate of the building, Aaron looked back at his siblings with a grin. "Well, then time for us to begin."