Chapter 1 – Crazy Couple

People always thought that they were special. But, only some would try to show that specialness to the world, even if that was in the form of an imagination.

Society usually made fun of that kind of person, cast away, and branded as strange. Why? Was it because they were different?

No. The answer was actually pretty simple. People loved normalcy in the real world, even if they had to fake what they were doing or hide what they actually loved. 

So, where would they be able to channel their inner desires?

The answer was in the VR games.

"Fer!"

"On it, At!"

A large explosion rang loudly as Ferin punched a large behemoth made from molten lava rock in front of her. Ice formed where she punched the humanoid monster, spreading slowly and freezing the monster in place.

She immediately backed away after she finished what she did and looked at her partner.

"Your turn."

At Ferin's signal, Atlas raised his staff and activated a skill.

"[Decay Ray!]"

A green ray of beam shot from the tip of his staff, engulfing the monster completely. The frozen monster couldn't do anything except watch its body decay at a fast speed as it was affected by the skill's effect.

Only 5 seconds were needed before the monster disappeared completely.

[Ding! 1x Level 85 Lava Golem has been defeated!]

[1x Molten Rock obtained.]

Hearing the notification, the energetic girl with black horns crowned by her silver hair jumped at Atlas from behind, hugging him.

"Yay! We finally got the last [Molten Rock] we needed to complete our quest!"

Facing the sudden hug from his partner, he only smiled softly and held her hand.

"Not now, Fer. We need to return to the Hub first to submit the quest. I'd like to leave this place soon before Lava Titan spawns again."

Ferin's body shuddered when she heard the word Lava Titan. She had a bad memory of that monster.

"Ah, that baddie! You're right. I absolutely don't want to fight it, considering how troublesome it is. That monster is for a raid. Not even my [Ice Gauntlet] can freeze it. Ugh… I also still remember when he crushed me like a bug when I was still low-level."

"And after that, he swats me away like a little bug." Atlas added with a chuckle, "I will teleport us to the Hub now. Let's craft that item. We have worked hard to gather the ingredients."

"Right! We can finally craft that!" Ferin chirped happily, "How long has it been? 2 years? It really took a long time just to gather the ingredients. We finally gathered all those strange ingredients for that mysterious item."

"Indeed. I am excited to find out what item this is."

Atlas nodded at Ferin and tapped his staff twice against the ground. A magic circle appeared under their feet and glowed brightly. Their figures disappeared from the rocky area covered in lava.

They reappeared in what they called Hub, a large ship flying above the cloud. Many people looked at them and began whispering. 

"Hey, aren't they…"

"Yeah, the crazy couple."

"It's such a rare sight to see them at the Hub."

"I wonder what they are doing all the time. The untouchable crazy couple… Atlas even beat that Breeze, no? The two of them are competing to get the synchronization test world record back and forth."

"He's a monster among monsters… In Horizon Online, almost no one but the top rankers can touch them!"

Listening to them, Ferin giggled playfully, "It seems we're still remembered, At. Listen to them whispering about us. Hehe, it makes me feel good."

"I heard it. They are probably just jealous of our relationship."

"Hahaha, you're right. Most of them are singles, after all! Maidenless club member!"

"Isn't that what Breeze made when he just started streaming? That was hilarious. Too bad we only met after a certain incident involving your best friend."

"Yup. Though everything went all right in the end."

Both of them were in their own world as they entered their private room. The room was larger than it looked from the outside due to the space enlargement they bought. It was as spacious as a small warehouse, divided by two, with a large bed in the middle.

Entering the room, they went to the right side, at Atlas' area, to craft the item on the workbench. It was his role to create items and potions, while Ferin was in charge of equipment and accessories. They divided the work between themselves so they could operate alone without anyone else's help.

Anyway, Atlas grinned when he reached his workbench. There was already an item lying on it, some sort of a golden ball with an empty socket.

"Quick, At! I want to see this item's description!" Ferin urged as she leaned against his shoulders. "What sort of item is it? A mage item? Or accessories? Or could it be a World Quest item? Hehe, I am curious."

"Give me a second, Fer," Atlas said as he took out the [Molten Rock] he gained from the Lava Golem earlier.

The rock was perfectly rounded and a bit smaller than his palm. It glowed brightly and lit the workshop area with an orange hue.

He slowly moved the [Molten Rock] toward the empty socket on the ball. When it got close, the two items seemed to attract each other. The [Molten Rock] was pulled into the socket as if sucked by a strong magnet, forcing it to leave his hand.

Click!

With a click sound, the [Molten Rock] sat perfectly in the socket. It was as if this was the place it was supposed to stay at.

"Oh?" Atlas let out an intrigued voice. 

Nothing had happened, unlike his expectation.

"Huh? Is it complete?" Ferin was also confused. Her face got closer to his, and their cheeks rubbed together. "Hey, is it complete yet?"

Curiously, she extended her hand and poked the golden ball. Atlas didn't stop her because he was also curious why nothing happened. There wasn't even a notification of an item successfully crafted like usual, meaning it wasn't complete yet.

However, when Ferin's finger touched the golden ball, a bright light burst from it. The runes written across the ball's surface glowed a golden light, and it flew toward the air, circling around them.

"W-What happened?" Ferin freaked out, something rare that came from her. "I can't move my body! At, do something!"

"I can't!" Atlas shouted back. 

The runes that flew from the golden ball seemed to bind them. He calmly assessed the situation and said. 

"It's the item. I can't do anything about it. You were the one who touched it. Can you try to deactivate it?"

"No use. I've been trying to do so since earlier."

At that moment, they heard notifications that sounded different from the usual.

{Ball of Time has activated. Rewinding time to when everything has yet to start.}

"What the–"

"Haah–"

Before any of them finished their sentence, their consciousness was cut off, and darkness filled their visions.