The Reveal

"This is Asteria."

Always prim, always proper. Not a single thing out of place, not even a speck of dust going stray. Ash's room was the tip-top antithesis of the word disorderly. I mean if cleanliness was really next to godliness, then Ash's room was basically a piece of heaven.

Sadly, there were more urgent matters at hand to attend to rather than me going around complimenting, smiling about what a finely made bed there was off to the side then.

Yeah, right then, compliments and smiles were far out of mind.

"I don't, Master… I," Ash blinked, a warm glow of colors basking her face in soft hues of reds, whites, and yellows. "This is..."

Why the red, white, and yellows? Because those three were the primary colors that made out the triumphing trumpeting title screen of Asteria. Colors that confounded her, colors that blinded her - gazing with eyes tightly scrunched.

"Chronicles of Asteria," Ash read out loud, her neck craning close to the laptop display.

There I was standing by the sidelines, white-knuckled, staring at her with pursed lips. This day, this scenario, I never ever accounted for. In hindsight though, I really should have.

Did I seriously think I could have hidden this fact about her forever? She was bound to find out about it anyway sooner or later… hell, she already did… sooner than the soon that I would have liked.

Didn't even know where to begin, but I suppose we should start where everybody always starts.

"The start button, Ash," I muttered, urging her on with a great reluctant nod, "Press away."

Controllers are rather complicated devices apparently. They sat there uncomfortably in her palms, angled in ways that controllers should never be angled. Took a moment of fiddling and a little inspecting before she found the fabled start button staring right at her in the face.

After a quiet realizing: 'oh', Ash hovered a hand above the controller and precariously tapped the button with the tip of her forefinger because apparently the usage of her thumbs was rendered impossible due to the fact that she had them all the way around at the back of the controller.

How the heck do you even do that?

Probably should have warned her of sound effects beforehand, too late now though. Once the title screen was whisked away, she was then greeted by a thundering orchestra that nearly flung the controller out of her hands in fright.

Didn't help that I kinda forgot to set the sound levels beforehand, so what was basically a catchy fantastical tune at 100% volume output to my ears, hers was instead more of a heavy metal concert with a very nice, very light output of a 1000%.

Really, from the way her shoulders rocketed upwards, you'd think someone might have fired a shotgun against her ears. Which, in all likelihood, wouldn't be entirely inaccurate.

My bad. If anything though, her reaction at least got me chuckling slightly.

Noticed I said 'slightly', because that's all it was. A small bit of reprieve in the face of what's to come next… and came it did, as Ash shifted her eyes over to mine.

"I've… I've read mention of this before," Ash said to me. "I believe the term used was vidya - no pardon that, it was video… video - "

"Video games," I said, walking towards her with arms crossed.

It didn't surprise me one bit that she had heard and no less understood the concept that was video games. The polished shelves on her walls were lined with the spines, both thick and thin, of many, many books. Some had makeshift markers to keep track of progress, others simply did with a bookmark jutting out in-between pages. Not a single book she had in her possession went unread.

Studious, dedicated, and always curious. It's no wonder Ash got accustomed so fast here… it was simply in her nature.

Yet it was also because of her nature, that we were here, right now… staring her world straight in the face from beyond the border of an LCD display. Which brings us back to now - the truth, a begrudging whisper from my lips.

"This is Asteria."

As my words resounded aloud amidst the game's ambient noise, I couldn't help but recall back to the words spoken to me that spurred all this in the first place.

<<You don't know that>>

Ash's reaction… yeah, I didn't know.

Didn't then, didn't now.

Just the title screen alone, and already a hard-to-read expression reared itself into the spotlight.

"How… however do you mean by that?" Ash asked. "You mean to say the knowledge from my world you've attained through here?"

"Yeah…"

"An archive, then."

"No, look - no, Ash… listen..." I hissed in a breath and pointed at the screen. "This is your world."

Calm and quiet, a far cry from the shock and outrage that I was expecting from her, still, there was no denying the confusion that riddled her expression.

"I am... still not understanding, not quite yet, from what you claim… it's…" She trailed away, a strained look on her face. "I recall reading that video games are purely forms of entertainment, a listless pastime for your people to indulge in."

"You're not wrong there."

Then abruptly and so suddenly, barged in cold stark realization.

She stared back at the screen. "Master, are you implying…"

"I'm not implying anything," I told her. "It is what it is."

"Surely it's not," She shook her head. "Asteria is not…"

Ash never finished, didn't think she wanted to… The prospect of it alone, I couldn't even imagine feeling as she did right then. So there laid her sentence, lingering in the open air unfinished.

"It is, Ash," I finished for her. "Asteria is a video game."

Even I hated saying it.

Hearing it come from me didn't help in lessening the blow whatsoever. Truths like these don't come easy. They're always painful, disorienting, and quite often merciless even to the strongest of wills.

And Ash was no exception to the truth's agonizing embrace. What was real just wasn't anymore.

"Can't be…" I heard her say.

Denial kept her adamant. Denial helped her to cope. I knew the feeling. Probably why it took so long for me to accept who and what my parents really were…

"You think I would lie to you now?" I asked.

The shake of her head was almost instantaneous. "No, no, Master - I would never accuse of you of such… you must understand, what you just stated - I'm unsure of… Master, I… I don't know… I just don't understand."

Of course she didn't understand, who would honestly?"I know, Ash," I said, doing my best to comfort, "I didn't expect you to, something like this… it's just - "

"But I want to understand," She said, looking back up at me. "I need to understand."

Resolve gleamed and glittered in her eyes, turning, confronting the laptop display once more.

"Whatever this may be… I know I can never avoid it. Asteria, I… I… want… this..."

Want. Elf-Knights don't want. But Ash… Ash did, the controller still remaining a firm grip in her hands.

Studious, dedicated, and always curious. It was simply just in her nature.

"Will you show me?"