BRAND NEW WORLD

"Nghh..."

As the last of my mana drained away, my vision began to blur.

It felt as though my very veins were burning beneath my skin. A high-pitched ringing filled my ears, while a creeping cold spread inward from the tips of my fingers.

Slowly...

everything went dark.

Nothing remained.

When I finally opened my eyes again, I found myself somewhere completely unfamiliar.

White.

That was all I could see.

The walls were white.

The floor was white.

Even the ceiling above me was white.

It was as though the world had been stripped of every colour, leaving behind nothing but an endless void.

I slowly pushed myself upright.

"Where... am I?"

There was no answer.

I looked down at my hands.

My body was still here.

I could still feel myself.

And yet...

The last thing I remembered was—

My mana being completely drained.

My vision fading.

And Ringga’s voice, faint and distant, just before I lost consciousness.

Don’t tell me...

"Am I... dead?"

"..."

"Relax. You’re not dead."

"...!"

My body jolted.

I immediately turned toward the voice.

Two people stood not far away from me.

A man.

And a woman.

"..."

My breath caught in my throat.

Their faces...

I knew those faces.

There was no way I could ever forget them.

Not even after so many years had passed.

Not even after the world I once knew had changed beyond recognition.

"M-Mother...?"

My voice trembled.

"Father...?"

Both of them smiled.

My chest tightened painfully.

"Wait..."

I took half a step backward.

My mind desperately tried to reject what I was seeing.

"Why...?"

My voice grew quieter.

"Why can I see you?"

Because...

They were dead.

They had been gone for a very long time.

And yet now...

They were standing right in front of me.

As though they had never left.

If that was the case—

"If I can see you..."

My lips trembled.

"...then that means I..."

"..."

The man who looked like my father sighed.

"I told you this was a bad idea."

"Alright, alright. Let’s get straight to the point," replied the woman who resembled my mother.

I could only stare at them in confusion.

"First of all, I’m sorry for confusing you," the woman said gently.

The man beside her continued.

"To answer your question... you’re not dead."

"...?"

"At least, not because of the battle you just fought. We merely brought your consciousness here."

"...My consciousness?"

"That’s right."

He gave me a faint smile.

"We brought you here because there’s something we need to discuss with you. But before that..."

He glanced around the white room.

"...let’s move somewhere a little more comfortable."

CLICK!

He snapped his fingers.

In an instant—

the entire world changed.

"...Huh?"

I froze.

The endless white disappeared from my sight.

Wooden floors.

Wooden walls.

A wooden ceiling.

An old table standing in the corner.

Simple chairs.

Even the faint scent of aged timber lingered in the air.

I knew this place.

How could I not?

"This..."

Without realizing it, I reached out and touched the wall beside me.

"...Grandfather’s living room in the village."

"That’s right," answered the woman who looked like my mother. "The place that left the deepest impression on you."

I said nothing.

My legs moved on their own.

I walked out toward the veranda.

And when the scenery beyond opened before me...

I stopped.

"..."

Grandfather’s old wooden stilt house.

The spacious yard.

The trees.

The quiet village air.

Everything was the same.

Exactly as I remembered it.

When I was little, Father and Mother often brought me here.

And this veranda...

I used to sit here with them.

Watching the scenery.

Listening to the wind.

Back then, I never imagined those simple days would one day become memories I would miss this much.

I remained there for quite some time.

Just looking.

Remembering.

Longing for something that could never return.

"Ahem!"

"...!"

I snapped back to reality.

The woman resembling my mother was already sitting on the edge of the veranda.

"Come here."

"..."

I knew.

I knew she wasn’t really Mother.

I knew that face was only one borrowed from someone else.

But...

Could I be selfish for just a little while?

Just for a few minutes.

Could I pretend...

that Mother had really come back?

I walked toward her.

Then sat beside her.

"...?"

Something felt strange.

Mother suddenly seemed much larger than before.

I looked down.

My hands...

were small.

My fingers were short.

My feet no longer reached the ground from the edge of the veranda.

"...I’ve become a child again?"

"That’s right."

The woman smiled gently.

"Right now, you’ve returned to the body you had as a child."

"..."

Can they read my thoughts?

"Of course."

The man resembling my father sat down not far from us.

"But perhaps we should start talking about the real reason you’re here."

He paused.

"You may call me Adhama."

Then he gestured toward the woman beside me.

"And she is Hawra."

Adhama.

Hawra.

I repeated both names silently.

"I’m sorry for using the appearances of your father and mother," Adhama continued. "We had no malicious intentions. We thought... it might be easier for you to speak with faces that made you feel safe."

I looked at Hawra.

Mother’s face.

Mother’s smile.

And yet...

not Mother.

"..."

It was strange.

Knowing that should have made me pull away.

Instead...

It only made the ache of longing in my chest grow stronger.

"Then..." Hawra raised her hand. "Let’s begin."

Two holographic screens appeared before us.

The first showed my avatar standing together with the other players.

We were facing the Demon King.

The second...

showed a building I knew very well.

Bahtera Terakhir.

The company that developed The New World Online.

"This was the final day of the Demon King event battle," Hawra said.

"..."

I stared at the first screen.

The memory remained painfully vivid.

The final battle.

The players.

The screams.

The explosions.

And then...

Starfall.

Light swallowed everything.

After that—

I woke up in this world.

But on the second screen...

Something else happened.

Lightning struck the Bahtera Terakhir building.

CRAAASH!!

The entire building went dark.

Then—

One by one, the lights throughout the city began disappearing.

Within seconds...

the entire city had been plunged into darkness.

"The lightning that struck the building was far stronger than it should have been," Adhama explained.

The lightning rod was destroyed.

The electrical system failed.

The TNWO servers suffered catastrophic damage.

I stared at the screen without blinking.

"..."

"The players who were connected that night were unable to log out," he continued.

My heart began beating faster.

"Wait..."

"The following day, Bahtera Terakhir attempted to restore TNWO."

"..."

"After six hours, the servers successfully came back online."

I released a breath I hadn’t even realized I’d been holding.

But Adhama’s expression didn’t change.

And at that moment...

I knew.

Something was wrong.

"However..."

That single word made my entire body tense.

"...the players who were online on New Year’s Eve never returned."

"..."

What?

"Their bodies were immediately taken to hospitals."

No.

"Medical teams did everything they could to save them."

No.

"They all fell into comas."

"Unable to wake."

"One year later..."

Don’t.

"...1,862 players were officially declared dead."

"..."

The world around me went silent.

I couldn’t hear anything after that.

Adhama’s lips were still moving.

But...

I couldn’t hear him.

One thousand...

eight hundred...

and sixty-two...

"...Including you."

"..."

Me?

I lowered my gaze.

My small hands rested in my lap.

My fingers began to tremble.

I...

was dead?

"Six months later, on June 10th, 2051, The New World Online officially ceased operation."

"..."

I said nothing.

I couldn’t.

So...

There was no way back?

All this time...

Some small part of me had still believed that perhaps one day I might find an answer.

Maybe there was a way.

Maybe there was a way of return.

Maybe my body was still lying somewhere.

Waiting.

But...

There was nothing left for me to return to.

My body was dead.

My life there...

had ended.

"..."

My gaze drifted toward Grandfather’s yard.

This place still looked exactly as I remembered it.

But the real house...

might no longer look anything like this.

I had no idea what had happened to the people who once knew me.

I didn’t know who had cried when they heard of my death.

I didn’t know who had stood beside my body for the final time.

I hadn’t even...

been able to say goodbye.

"...Hhk."

Something warm fell onto the back of my hand.

A tear.

One.

Then another.

"Hhk..."

I bit my lip.

Don’t cry.

I’m not a child anymore.

I have children.

People depend on me.

I—

A pair of arms wrapped around me from the side.

"...!"

Hawra.

Her embrace was warm.

Exactly as I remembered.

And something inside me broke.

"Mother..."

I knew she wasn’t Mother.

I knew.

But...

"Nnnh..."

My small body turned toward her.

I immediately threw my arms around her.

"Mother..."

My tears burst free.

"Waaaaah...!"

There was no Luna the High Elf.

No Skill Master.

No sorceress capable of calling stars down from the heavens.

At that moment...

I was only a little girl who missed her mother.

And I cried.

I cried for the life I would never be able to return to.

For the home I had abandoned without ever saying goodbye.

For myself...

who had apparently died years ago.

Hawra didn’t say anything.

She held me.

Slowly stroking my hair.

And letting me cry for as long as I needed.

✦ ✦ ✦

I didn’t know how much time had passed.

When my tears finally subsided, I slowly pulled away from her embrace.

"S-Sorry..."

Hawra smiled.

"You don’t need to apologize."

Her hand gently wiped the remaining tears from my cheek.

"You may take as much time as you need."

"..."

I knew she wasn’t Mother.

But...

Just for now.

Just for these few minutes.

Was it alright if I thought of her as my mother?

Hawra’s smile grew a little wider.

It seemed...

she had heard that thought too.

But this time...

she said nothing.

CLAP!

Adhama softly clapped his hands.

"Alright."

He sat a little straighter.

"Now that we’ve gotten through the hardest part..."

His expression became slightly more serious.

"...there’s something you need to know about your new life."

I raised my head.

"My... new life?"

"That’s right."

Adhama looked up at the sky beyond the yard.

"We’ve actually been watching you since the day you were born."

"...What?"

"For humans on Earth, it may be difficult to explain exactly what we are."

He paused.

"Think of us as intelligent entities that have reached what humans might describe as one hundred percent utilization of the brain’s capacity."

Hawra continued.

"We create life throughout different galaxies."

"..."

I could only stare at them.

I still hadn’t fully processed the fact that I was dead.

And now they were telling me...

They created life?

Adhama smiled awkwardly.

"It does sound rather excessive when said out loud."

"...A little."

Hawra chuckled.

"We like you, Luna."

"...Me?"

"Yes."

"But why?"

For a moment...

the two of them looked at one another.

Then Hawra smiled.

"The answer to that..."

She raised a finger to her lips.

"...isn’t something you need to know yet."

"..."

I narrowed my eyes.

For some reason...

I had the strong feeling they were deliberately avoiding my question.

"Because we’ve been watching you," Adhama continued, "we know just how much you loved The New World Online."

Hawra looked directly at me.

"And I wanted to create a place where you wouldn’t merely survive..."

"..."

"...but where you could truly live."

I froze.

"Don’t tell me..."

Hawra smiled.

"The world you’re living in now..."

"..."

"...was created by us."

My eyes widened.

"W-What?!"

I stood so quickly that I nearly lost my balance.

"So this world...?!"

"That’s right," Adhama answered.

"We used TNWO as its foundation."

"Why...?"

Countless questions flooded my mind.

Monsters.

NPCs.

Kingdoms.

Skills.

Magic.

Rimaria.

Rania.

Radhimar.

Bhartasz.

Everything...

wasn’t a game.

They were truly alive.

"And you’re not the only one," Adhama continued.

I turned toward him.

"We managed to locate the consciousnesses of the players who died that night."

"...!"

"We then brought them into this world and placed them inside bodies corresponding to their avatars."

I held my breath.

"Then..."

Hope suddenly surged inside my chest.

"They’re all..."

"All of them are in this world?!"

Adhama fell silent.

Hawra immediately shot him a sharp look.

"..."

"Well, when I say that..."

Hawra closed her eyes.

"...Adhama."

"...some of them have already died."

"..."

The hope that had just appeared...

collapsed instantly.

"Some were killed fighting monsters," Adhama continued. "Others died of old age. Most of them chose the Human Race, so—"

"Adhama."

Hawra glared at him.

"...What?"

"I told you not to say things that would make her lose hope again."

"B-But I was only answering her question!"

"..."

I stared at the two of them.

Then...

without meaning to...

"Pfft."

They both stopped arguing.

I covered my mouth.

But a small laugh still escaped.

"Hahaha..."

There were still tears at the corners of my eyes.

My chest still hurt.

But for the first time since learning the truth...

I was able to laugh.

Hawra smiled.

Adhama awkwardly scratched his cheek.

"Well... at least she’s laughing."

"Because you’re an idiot."

"Hey."

A faint smile spread across my lips.

Entities capable of creating life throughout entire galaxies...

and yet they could still bicker like an ordinary married couple.

Strange.

But somehow...

it made me feel a little more at ease.

✦ ✦ ✦

A little while later, Hawra stood.

"I think it’s time."

"...Time?"

"You need to return."

"..."

I looked at Grandfather’s house.

The yard.

The trees.

Then...

Father and Mother’s faces.

No.

Adhama and Hawra.

I knew that.

But...

Even so.

My chest felt heavy.

"Will..."

I hesitated.

"...will I see you again?"

Hawra smiled.

"Perhaps."

Adhama chuckled softly.

"We’re always watching you, remember?"

"..."

Hawra knelt so that our faces were level.

"Luna."

Her gaze was gentle.

"Your life on Earth has ended."

I lowered my head.

"But that doesn’t mean your life itself has ended."

"..."

"You’ve been given a new life."

Her hand gently touched my cheek.

"So don’t spend that life constantly looking back toward a place you can no longer reach."

"..."

"Live."

One word.

And yet...

My chest tightened again.

"Live as fully as you can."

"Laugh."

"Cry."

"Get angry."

"Fall in love."

"...!"

"And when everything truly ends one day..."

Her smile softened.

"...make sure you can look back and say that your second life was worth living."

Tears gathered in my eyes again.

But this time...

I smiled.

"...Yes."

Adhama stood beside Hawra.

"We’ll always be watching over you."

Hawra nodded.

"Always."

White light gradually began filling my vision.

Their bodies slowly faded away.

I knew they weren’t truly Father and Mother.

But before they completely disappeared...

I still said the words I’d wanted to say from the very beginning.

"...Father."

Adhama fell silent.

"...Mother."

Hawra’s eyes widened slightly.

"Thank you."

Both of them smiled.

And the world turned white.

✦ ✦ ✦

Chirp... chirp... chirp...

"..."

Birdsong.

I slowly opened my eyes.

Morning light streamed in through the window.

A familiar wooden ceiling stretched above me.

I knew it.

"...This is..."

I slowly looked around.

"...my house at Lake Dewata?"

I tried to sit up.

My body felt heavy, but I could still move.

I had really come back.

Beside the bed...

someone was asleep on the sofa.

"...Ringga?"

He was sleeping deeply.

His hair was slightly disheveled.

His face looked exhausted.

I had no idea how long he’d been there.

For several seconds...

I watched him.

Then Hawra’s words returned to me.

Your life on Earth has ended.

A faint ache passed through my chest.

But then...

I looked at Ringga again.

That doesn’t mean your life itself has ended.

"..."

A faint smile appeared on my lips.

Knock.

"Excuse me."

The door opened.

Lusserina stepped inside, carrying a wooden bucket and a white towel.

I turned toward her.

And smiled.

"..."

Lusserina froze.

Her eyes widened.

All the colour drained from her face.

Then—

CLATTER!

The bucket slipped from her hands.

Water spilled across the floor.

"Lu...?"

She remained frozen for several seconds.

Then—

she turned around and ran out of the room.

The sound of the falling bucket—

THUD!

immediately woke Ringga.

"Huh?! What?! Enemy?!"

He frantically looked around.

Then...

his eyes met mine.

"..."

Ringga froze.

"Good morn—"

Before I could finish—

he was already in front of me.

"...!"

His arms wrapped around my body.

Ringga pulled me tightly into his embrace.

"Finally..."

His voice trembled.

"...you finally woke up."

"...Ringga?"

"I..."

His embrace tightened.

"I really thought you weren’t going to wake up again."

"..."

His body was trembling.

Ringga.

The man who was always smiling.

Always relaxed.

Always acting as though nothing in the world could ever truly shake him.

And now...

he was trembling.

I could hear his heartbeat.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

So fast.

So loud.

My arms slowly rose.

For a moment...

I hesitated.

Then—

I returned his embrace.

"...Sorry."

"Hm?"

"For making you worry."

Ringga said nothing.

But his arms didn’t loosen.

I closed my eyes.

Warm.

Strange.

Only a short while ago, I had been crying over a home I could never return to.

And now...

For the first time...

I understood something.

Maybe...

home wasn’t simply the place where you were born.

✦ ✦ ✦

THUD! THUD! THUD! THUD!

The sound of hurried footsteps came racing up the stairs.

A lot of them.

Ringga immediately let go of me and stepped back.

The door flew open.

The first person to appear—

"MOOOTHER!!"

"Radhimar?!"

Radhimar rushed forward.

Without caring about anything else, he dropped down beside the bed and wrapped his arms around my legs.

"Mother..."

His voice broke.

"...you’re finally awake..."

"..."

"Radhimar..."

I gently stroked his head.

Then Rania entered.

Daisy followed behind her.

"Mother!"

"Mother!"

Both immediately threw themselves into my arms.

"Hey... easy..."

I laughed softly.

But even my own voice had begun to tremble.

Then I noticed someone standing slightly farther back beside the bed.

Bhartasz.

He didn’t move.

Both hands were clenched tightly.

His head was lowered.

As though he were desperately holding something back.

"...Bhartasz."

He looked up.

His eyes were red.

I smiled.

Then opened one arm toward him.

"Come here."

"..."

His lips trembled.

"Ma..."

And his defenses collapsed.

"MA!!"

He threw himself toward me.

"B-Bhartasz?!"

His large body joined the pile of people already embracing me.

"Hey! It’s cramped! It’s cramped!"

But no one let go.

Radhimar cried.

Rania cried.

Daisy cried.

Bhartasz cried louder than anyone, despite having tried the hardest to look strong.

And eventually...

I began crying too.

But not because I was sad.

Not this time.

I lifted my head.

Standing in the doorway...

was Rima.

Beside her were Lusserina, Abiyasa, and Anandhita.

Their eyes were all filled with tears.

Lusserina even covered her mouth with both hands.

And yet...

They were smiling.

Smiles of relief.

The smiles of people who had been waiting.

I looked at each of them in turn.

Then at my children, still clinging tightly to me.

Ringga stood not far away.

And Hawra’s words returned to me.

Your life on Earth has ended.

Warm tears rolled down my cheeks.

But I smiled.

She was right.

I couldn’t go back.

My old home...

had become part of the past.

But as I looked at everyone standing before me now...

I finally understood.

I hadn’t lost everything.

I had...

spent so long looking back that I’d failed to notice what I already had.

My family.

My friends.

The people who had been waiting for me to come home.

I tightened my embrace around my children.

"...I’m home."

And for the first time since arriving in this world...

those words finally felt completely real.