Saturday morning.

Francesca placed the steamy omelet at the center of the table. She was a morning person and always  the one to help her mom prepare breakfast. She placed the plates next when her older sister entered the dining room.

"Good morning, ate," she greeted.

Hannah just groaned and slumped herself to the chair. She rested her chin on her palm while eyeing the dishes that were laid on the table.

"You should see the flower hairpin Door gave to me. It's so cute, ate, you should see it!" Francesca sat beside her older sister.

Hannah groaned again as an answer. She slumped lower and buried her face on the table.

She was too upset to do anything.

She didn't even have the chance to get inside the game. Not even a glimpse.

She had to pretend that she was okay when they were waiting for the power to come back the night before. She pretended that she couldn't hear them as her dad, and Francesca exchanged stories about the game. The welcome gift they received from the pixie, the swarm of players, the small but almost real starting town.

Hannah didn't want to hear it. She was envious.

So envious that she even stayed in the game room just in case the power would come back.  She just wanted to know what her welcome gift was. She fell asleep, unfortunately.

"Breakfast, everyone," Mrs. Verdandi entered the room carrying a bowl of rice still steaming. Behind her was Mr. Verdandi who was yawning and rubbing his eyes.

"Did you get in last night, Hannah?" Mr. Verdandi asked as he seated his place at the table.

Hannah lifted her head and for everyone's knowledge, she groaned again.

"Oh, poor you, everyone received their gift except you. They say that Door only gives gifts on the first day," Mr. Verdandi said, half laughing as he piled a considerable amount of rice to his plate.

"That's unfair, it was not my fault. How come you get yours and I can't have mine?"

"I heard that Door''s gift is the only true weapon. Tsk, you should see my silver hammer," Mr. Verdandi added.

"That's so unfair! Mom, I should file a complaint!"

"Enough with that. We are in front of the food!" Mrs. Verdandi scolded the two. She forked a couple of hotdogs before she passed the dish across the circular table. "More eating, less talking," she added.

"Don't worry, ate, I'm sure Door has prepared something for you. I'm sure that  it's going to be a rare item like mine," Francesca chimed in before she took a gulpful of milk.

"Ugh, it's so unfair!" Hannah repeated.

"Tsk, enough I said. Are you going to eat or what?" Mrs. Verdandi threw Hannah an irritated look.

The two children and Mr. Verdandi became quiet all of a sudden. They busied themselves with their food while avoiding eye contact with Mrs. Verdandi. They had known better, it was better to mess with other people than the creature more terrifying than a fire-breathing dragon.

***

One o'clock in the afternoon.

After a lot of bribing and arguing with her younger sister, Hannah managed to finish the household chores that were assigned to her. Of course her mom would not let her play if she hadn't done those. 

Plus, part of it was to supervise Francesca's list of chores. She has to see that it was done thoroughly or both of them would be stuck to it. Unreasonable as it may seem, but Hannah already got used to it--being the one who looked after her sister in good and in unruly times.

With that, Hannah let out a job-well-done sigh as she had herself seated on her favorite chair in their game room. She deserved it. She adjusted the VR goggles over her eyes and braced herself from the blinding light.

The loading screen came into view. It only took three seconds before the surrounding changes. Greeneries emerged slowly, people walking about, huge letters floating in mid-air that read, "Welcome, Decibel!"

Decibel smiled from ear to ear. She made a little dancing motion, and made a little twirl like the figure in a music box would do. She even hummed and if endless was possible, she would do just that.

She made her way to a more crowded place. Fish vendors behind rickety wooden stalls, huge bulky men carrying a fish double their size, a faint sound of waves.

If floating in the air could be described to a person, Decibel was the perfect match.

Nothing was more appealing to her than the sound of waves. She loved the sea, everything about it.

With the addition of squaking of seagulls at a distance, Decibel's neck turned considerably longer to search for the source of the sound. Of all things, she has to see it.

She spotted some men carrying rolled fishnets over their shoulders. Their seemingly tattered clothing was wet and dripping as Decibel followed their trail.

Not long after, Decibel spotted the shore. Wooden boats were lined in the sand like parked cars. The air was filled with laughter of children playing in the water.

Decibel joined in the laughter and ran to the sea. She dragged the long wool skirt she was wearing as it became too heavy in the water. She trudged until she reached the point where the water was knee-deep.

"Oh, my God, it looked so real!" she shouted while splashing water to herself. Decibel closed her eyes as she let the warm breeze touch her skin. When the ripples from the water dissipated, a school of fish swam around the brown leather shoes she was wearing.

"Ah, so cool!" she said. She even attempted to sit down on the sand when a loud ding rang in thin air.

You have one unclaimed package at the Celery.

"What the freak is a Celery?" Decibel straightened up and headed to the shore. With all her excitement, she almost forgot all about the pixie's gift.

Decibel proceeded to the crowded place where she was earlier. She dismissed the idea of having to get a package from a bunch of vegetable stalks--because that would be silly. 

Instead she went on looking for something that would somehow look like a post office. Something that had parcels and such.

She crossed out the small rickety house from the list. There was a furnace at the corner and a beefy old man pounding a flattened metal in an anvil. His sweat and the silver hammer he was using was bigger than himself--surely not that one.

She ventured further and saw another rickety house by the bend of the road. This time it had a long table standing at the front. She really wanted to check out the variety of fruits that were laid on it, but she felt that it wasn't the priority at the moment--and also she crossed that one out.

Decibel walked a little more as her eyes went from one person to another. Not that most men wore skirts over their trousers amused her, but the fact that they were lively and talking to each other without getting distracted by smartphones from time to time. She found it annoying when she was talking and someone else's phone dings.

"That's cool," she thought. Maybe she could make Magus the place where she could talk without the ding distractions.

To test her theory, she hippity-hop approached a girl standing by the side of the road. She usually didn't follow the "don't talk to strangers" rule. She smiled at her, not minding that the girl was having trouble carrying a wooden crate.

"Hi, what's that?"

The girl answered Decibel with a suspicious glare. She turned sideways to try and hide the crate.

"What? I'm just asking…"

"Go away, shoo...shoo!" said the girl as she tried to hide the crate even more.

"Sheesh, okay! I'm just trying to be friendly," Decibel walked backwards as she was still trying to find out the content of the crate--just in case the girl wasn't looking.

Unfortunate to her, the girl didn't leave her eyes off her--until the view of her was being blocked by the sea of people. Decibel puffed out her annoyance, she mumbled under her breath that she was just trying to be friendly.

So Decibel went on her quest to find the Celery. She has to restrain herself in going over a garden fence she accidentally came across--she could not bear the thought of stalks bearing packages.

She would've dismissed it when at a distance, rows and rows of green stalks--healthy and fat were swaying happily as the wind blew. Decibel drew closer and wondered why such a big garden was just about celeries.

She always has this attitude to investigate curious things. As she was getting nearer, a building situated at the center of the farm came into view. It was bulky like a barn, tall with rows of windows--also it was leaning on one side. Decibel could not help but see a game designer drunk during the working hours.

She took the cobbled stone path, a smile paved its way to her lips as she saw some other people came out the building carrying crates in varying sizes. Crates as big as a refrigerator to as small as a bar of chocolate. Decibel's eager feet broke into a run. She made her way inside the building and proceeded directly to a beautiful lady standing behind a long reception table.

"Good day, is this where I can claim my package?" Decibel asked cheerfully.

The lady peered at her behind the square glasses. Her eyes lazily went back to the notepad she was holding then back to Decibel. "Name?"

"Hannah…" Decibel paused, she almost forgot that she was inside the game. "I mean, I mean...my name is Decibel."

The lady checked her notes before she snapped her long and colorful fingers.

Not long after, another lady came out from a door behind the bar. At least this one looked friendly, she was smiling as she laid down a crate the size of a shoe box on the table.

"Package for Decibel…" she said. The other one peered at it and scribbled something in her notepad.

"You can have it." She pushed it in-front of the overly-enthusiastic girl.

"Yes, thanks!" Decibel grabbed the wooden crate and rushed out the building. Too excited to open her package, she went in no particular direction.

Not long after, she found a small bench at the side of the road. She settled herself there and the box beside her--without further ado she removed the top covering and leaned in to check the contents.

First, she saw a rolled brown parchment nicely laid in a pile of dried straw. It was so old that the sides of it were torn at random places.

As soon as her finger touched the paper, something on her right wrist glowed green. She was bemused that she was wearing a large wristwatch the whole time--she chuckled at the sight of it being so out of place.

Without warning, a hologram light appeared on top of the watch. It was showing some texts in it while it was also giving light to the parchment--as if highlighting it.

You recieved [E] Malady De Deus (3)

[E] Malady De Deus (3)
Rarity: Epic
Type: Music Piece

[A siren mourning for a lost voice. Unheard and tormented her wails pierces through anything.

Collect all four pieces to complete the sheet.]

Decibel smiled. She was proud of herself having something much better than her sister's rare hairpin.

She also found out that there was an inventory option in the hologram. Upon pressing a text appeared and asking her if she wanted to keep the item inside her bag.

Decibel clicked yes and the parchment turned matrix green before it disintegrated to smaller pieces.

She went back to the crate and began shoving the dried straws. Her dad mentioned about a weapon, it has to be somewhere beneath the pile.

Not long, her fingers found something hard. She made a tight grip and pulled it out.

Like earlier, the watch glowed green and a hologram appeared. Decibel moved it closer to her face, trying to make sure if she was reading things correctly.

You received [C] Wooden Slingshot

[C] Wooden Slingshot
Rarity: Common
Type: Ranged Weapon
Exp: 0/50

[Very useful for hunting chickens for dinner. Also useful for attracting aggro, use at your own risk.]

"Are you kidding me? A Common? Oh, come on! Door, where are you at? I need an explanation right now!