Interlude: A Conversation with Mum

Never, under any circumstances, would I have believed that any meditation would do me any good. Ever.

But after activating the Blood Circulation skill two more times during the day, each only for about ten minutes, the improvement in my sore muscles was extremely noticeable. So much so that I was feeling good enough to go back to the gym later that afternoon.

But I decided to visit Mum before I went to the guild gym.

It was still so strange seeing her standing and being generally "alive" since all that I saw of her in the original timeline was a shell of a woman who was dying slowly. She hugged me tightly when she opened the door for me, and we had a pleasant time chatting. She wanted to catch up on all that she missed out on while she was in the hospital, while I took the opportunity to find out what the "me" that was originally in this timeline was like.

"Hey," I cautiously approached the subject, "Since I've become a Player, I decided to start improving my habits and getting healthier—"

"Oh, that's a wonderful idea!" Mum excitedly said, "Whatever you need, Alan and I are here to help out however we can!"

In the original timeline, Mum and I barely spoke to each other after her diagnosis. I was there for every appointment as silent emotional support, but we never…chatted. It had been such a long, tiring journey that I forgot how kind Mum was. This fact made it harder for me to work out how to ask for a favour from her.

"I— I know I'm a full-fledged adult, being 31 and all, and you — and Alan — have helped me tremendously with handling the rent payments of my apartment…" I rambled a bit as I struggled to get to the point.

"Well, of course! We're family!" Mum said, her brows scrunched together with worry, "What brought this on? Are you okay?"

I reached out and gripped her hand, just tight enough to hopefully reassure her that I was okay, "It's okay — I'm okay. I just wanted you to know that I'm grateful for everything that you, and Alan, had done for me over these past few years."

"Oh, Eric, it's fine—" she started, she placed her other hand on top of mine.

"—I just want you to know, that even though I still need you guys' help right now, since I'm not strong enough to get a proper Player job, I'm not simply going to keep taking your money without paying you back at some point."

"You don't have to," Mum started, but I shook my head which made her stop talking.

"I want to, Mum," I said, I smiled at her to reassure her, "As part of me improving my life, by getting healthier and such, I also want to pay you back for the support you've given me all these years."

"It's what Dad taught me," I added, "And I want to make him proud also."

It looked like Mum almost cried when I mentioned him, but a sad, kind smile appeared on her face. She reached up and patted my head softly like she did when I was young.

She leaned forward and I stood up to get closer to her and she hugged me tight and close.

"I don't know what's changed in you," her voice muffled as she spoke into my shoulder. I could hear her voice break as she spoke, "But I haven't seen you this passionate about something since before your Dad died."

"I've missed this version of you," she sobbed into my shoulder quietly while I could only continue to hug her.

When she stopped sobbing, she pulled away but held my cheeks with both her hands and looked up at me.

"Welcome home," she said softly.

***

Probably because I didn't have it a lot when I grew up, wholesome moments always felt a little bit odd for me. After that hug where she cried on my shoulder, I explained to Mum that I would need help with keeping me on track on my weight-loss journey.

She explained that Alan would be open to being an accountability partner, making sure that I went to the gym regularly, and if I was struggling, she could occasionally prepare meals for me, though realistically, I should be doing that for myself.

I told her that that was too big a step for me to take currently.

And we laughed.

The mood lightened up.

She asked me if any of my old friends would be open to helping me, but like myself in the original timeline, this version of "me" seemed to have regressed into somewhat of a hermit as he grew up and kept his distance from everybody.

We ended our little afternoon chat soon after that and she made sure I had Alan's number added on my phone. Unsurprisingly, the original "me" didn't save the number, but seeing the positive impact that Alan had on Mum's emotional well-being, and in the name of maturing a little bit and bettering myself, I added his number into my contacts.

Almost as soon as I said goodbye to Mum, and when I had entered my car, I received a text message from Alan.

"Eric! Your mother just told me that you're motivated to improve your health and become a stronger Player!" the text message said, "In fact, I've been hearing rumours in the guild offices today that you went to the guild gym. That's awesome man! Good on you! Tell me when you're coming back around, and I'll show you some of the exciting things that Edward has managed to get for our guild!"

I shifted in the seat and glanced at the bag that I brought to the gym yesterday. It was now a little bit fuller. This time, I made sure I packed an extra towel, and I even had a little toiletries bag in it with some soap and a small bottle of shampoo.

I felt and (I imagine) smelled disgusting when I went home yesterday, so I didn't want to go through anything so embarrassing again today.

I texted Alan back, "I was planning on going back again today, I'll be there in twenty or so minutes."

Alan quickly replied a simple thumbs-up emoji.

***

The drive to the guild was boring. I found a public parking spot and was almost instantly accosted by Alan when I entered through the main entrance. He almost literally bounded across the front lobby towards me, holding a card in one hand. He handed the card to me, excitedly.

It was my guild membership card.

"They were going to send it to you later today, but since I knew you were coming, I decided to hold onto it," Alan explained. Before I could thank him, he spun on his heels and beckoned me to follow him, "Come on, there's something cool I want to show you."

We walked past the front reception table, and I followed his example by tapping my membership card on the scanner and following him towards the elevators.

When I visited the guild for the Registration process a couple of days ago, it all happened on the ground floor, so when I entered the elevator with Alan and saw that he pressed the "B4" button, a sense of excitement made me shudder.

This elevator was much roomier than the one at the hospital, so I didn't feel as claustrophobic as I did that time.

"What's on B4?" I asked Alan casually.

The giant man chuckled, "Oh, you'll see! It's pretty cool!"

I looked up at him. From what I remembered of the man in my original timeline, he seemed pretty reliable, and his towering physique gave him the mystique of a gentle, soft-spoken giant. I had never seen a more child-like, excitable version of him than I did right then. His reactions reminded me of vague memories of Dad showing me a new video game that he was excited about when I was young. Way too young to know anything about some of the games he showed me.

A particular memory of Mum scolding Dad for letting me watch him play the new Mortal Kombat came up and I smiled.

The elevator dinged to a stop and Alan, and I exited.

I followed him through the pretty empty halls until he stopped in front of a door with a scanner. It was the only door that I saw so far with a scanner.

"We only just finished installing it a few days ago, and it's pretty sick," Alan said, his grin growing wider with excitement as he scanned his membership card. The door beeped and I heard a lock unlock.

We stepped into a sizeable control room. A big, main console sat by a long clear window that peered deeper into another room. To the right as you stepped in was a station that held a full-body suit and a headpiece of some sort and just through that station, I could see another door.

As we stepped in, the lights in the other, deeper room started to turn on section by section and I was shocked to see a massive, open room lined with square panels. Every flat surface was lined by these panels.

The room was around the size of one of those fancy ballrooms that somebody would hire for a school formal or a wedding reception. It was almost five metres tall and was impressive as hell.

I turned to Alan and asked, "What is this place?"

He grinned, "It's Hero's Stand's brand-new AR Training Room."