Chương 92: Book 1 Epilogue

By Philll123, 1, 028, 722 upvotes: " Are you fkin kidding me? I bet on Annath for some easy cash, except I just went down two hundred?? Annath lost three versus two against noobs? Isnt this Assassin A kid is rank three hundred and Veyra isn't even a ranker???" Reply By PlinkoPro, 3, 648, 197 upvotes: " Lmao, watch the match and you'll understand where your two hungies went." I grinned at the comments, reading a post titled, "Three Versus Three Grand Finals Discussion Thread."

I sat outside a quiet corner bathroom in the player only area, waiting for Veyra and Aree. We had received the trophy only forty minutes ago, and the comments on the discussion thread already had millions of upvotes, and this wasn't even the most popular post related to our match. The best one was called, "Assassin A carries Veyra After The Grand Finals." My heart fluttered at the post. It included a beautiful shot of Veyra in my arms, hugging the trophy. The quality was high enough to make out strands of hair.

Her eyes were still slightly teary as she looked up at me. I didn't look bad either. My hair fanned back a little with a focused look in my eyes. I knew I'd stare at this image for a long time to come now. Admittedly, I'd been nervous as hell during the stunt, purely focusing on carrying Veyra safely. I'd trained with push-ups, but my hands still felt hot mid-way into the walkway out of the arena. My training still had a long way to go. Luckily, nothing had gone wrong.

Veyra had scolded me for the stunt with her face red, but I didn't think she was actually upset. The comments on the posts were amazing. By GodIsAGirl, 4, 998, 126 upvotes: " Veyra is a jade beauty oh my god." Reply By VindictaRM, 5, 673, 965 upvotes: " Seriously. Assassin A is so lucky. He just shows up to Worlds with the most beautiful mage to exist and he randomly just beats Annath. Not to mention his ten percent contribution damage on Embridge. I wonder if they're dating?"

Reply By Greenwitch, 6, 178, 327 upvotes: " [Attached Image] They might be. I got their signatures. <3" The attached image was Greenwitch's headset with both of our heart signatures next to each other. The door to the accessible bathroom opened. Veyra met my eyes, only to flush and turn away. Aree had a warm smile behind Veyra. They didn't have our trophy. We'd given it to the organizers to send to Veyra's address later, as she was officially the team leader. I didn't mind.

There were many more important things in my mind.

"Congrats, both of you," Aree said.

"I'm so glad I got to come here."

"Sorry for, uh, stealing your job for the ending," I said. Aree chuckled.

"You deserved it. Are you still planning a date today?" Veyra and I looked at each other. Of course we would. I was tired after the match and the interview, admittedly, but I'd always get energy for a date with Veyra. I hoped she felt the same way. Veyra was my girlfriend now. And with that confirmed, I thought I'd be less nervous around her. Except, that didn't help with the butterflies at all. Our stare started to get awkward, and my heart began racing. We both glanced away. I just could not screw this up.

I could not let Veyra go. She was the one I wanted. No matter what.

"So… Which, um, one of our hotels is closest?" I asked.

"Yeah, I guess it's a bit cold to go exploring," Veyra said.

"We can… go to my hotel. If you want." Yes! I thought, and a smile found its way to my face.

"Nothing weird, though!" Veyra said.

"Aree is staying in the other room."

"I could go check out the city as well," Aree said, while stroking Veyra's hair.

"Aiden will treat you well, right?"

"Absolutely nobody will cause any harm to my girlfriend," I said with my hands pressed together. Veyra pressed her hand against her forehead but that didn't hide her blushing. She sighed.

"Okay, okay, let's call the cab." Aree grinned and pulled out her phone to grab us a cab with some app.

"There's one ready," she said. This was it, then. Worlds 2026. Our run was over. We'd won. A literal dream come true. We were really ready to leave. We could have probably arranged more interviews or whatever, but spending more time on those would have left me with less alone time with Veyra. We headed outside, toward the cab. The hallways got busier before our exit, and a lot of players recognized us. Many congratulated us for our victory.

One of them was Oblivara, who, to my surprise, shook our hands and said our match was insane. Outside, the sun was down already, with stars visible in the sky, despite it only being seven PM. A chilly gust of winter air bit through my jacket. Veyra's breath left a puff of foggy air as she snuck her hands into her pockets. Her left hand being paralyzed, she had to tuck it in with her right. Three staff members were smoking cigarettes by the side of the building. A van with a taxi sign waited for us.

The bulky man driving it greeted Aree and Veyra and opened the back. A platform lowered there with an electric motor. Veyra got onto the platform and was lifted to the van, where her wheelchair was secured in place. I sat in the back as well, but unfortunately there wasn't room to sit next to her. The cab drove out past the arena's gates. Right outside, on the grass, a group of attendees sat outside the arena, eating what looked like burritos. I spotted many Zenith Protocol hoodies and a NomNom Catones beanie.

More and more Wonderwind players filled the sidewalks. The arena passed to our right, and the Worlds 2026 banners got further and further. A starry sky opened up as the arena's walls got out of way. Veyra and I watched Sweden's cute little roads pass, lit only by street lamps. The radio quietly played the theme song of Worlds 2021, hitting me with nostalgia I never had, while Aree and the driver talked about what our experience in Sweden had been like. Genuinely, today was the best day of my life.

It all just felt so absurd. We arrived at Veyra's hotel five minutes later—a tower that was much fancier than the hotel I'd been assigned to. We helped Veyra out, and silently, got into the hotel's elevator, to the fifth floor. After a few twisting hallways, we got inside her room. Aree helped Veyra take off her shoes, then asked, "So… Should I go see if any good cafes are still open, or…?" Veyra glanced up at me, with eyes that hopefully remembered the phone call we'd had last night.

"You should," she said, "go see the city. If you want."

"Sure," Aree said.

"I'll see you in two hours or so. Have fun."

"Thank you, Aree," Veyra said.

"I couldn't have gotten here without you." Aree's smile was warm and genuine. She nodded at me and closed the door, leaving us in the silence of Veyra's hotel room. I nervously took off my shoes, as was common in Sweden, while Veyra moved deeper. I followed her into a small but cozy living room. There was a sofa for two and a television with a door to the balcony. The curtains were open, showing the same starry sky. This was only a hotel room, but it felt like I was visiting Veyra's place. I had to be respectful.

"Are all assistants as great as Aree?" I asked.

"No," Veyra said.

"Not at all. She's a saint. I wouldn't have been able to fly here without her." She parked her wheelchair next to the sofa.

"I need an assistant if I want to do pretty much anything. Without an assistant, all I can really do is sleep or head to VR. That's why I told you I live in Wonderwind. It's essentially true. I prefer VR over real life. That's also why I wanted to only date you online."

"Meeting you has been awesome," I said.

"I'm so glad you came. I wouldn't mind seeing you more often." A smile lit up for a moment, only for her worrying look to come right back. She watched her own reflection through the dark television screen.

"You'll need to know what to expect. I can barely visit a bathroom on my own. Dating me will come with problems like that."

"I'll need to assist you, then," I said.

"Should I move you to the couch?" She raised her eyebrows.

"Sure. That would be nice." As gracefully as I could, I lifted her to the couch. My hands were still a bit sore from carrying her earlier, which just showed I'd need to train harder in the future.

"Here's the remote," I said, placing it on the arm rest.

"Should I get you something to drink as well?" She chuckled, as if something I said was funny.

"If I need something, I'll request it. Please don't just offer me stuff."

"Got it," I said and sat down next to her.

"Is there something—""No, stop," Veyra said.

"Assisting a disabled person isn't about being polite and offering favors. It's a lot more tedious than you're thinking. There's a reason why I need to pay for an assistant every day. And well… I kind of wanted to talk to you before we agreed to date. I can easily meet you online, but in real life, I need to know I can trust you." I shifted my posture and calmed down.

"I'm listening." She thought about her words.

"If I tell my assistant I need something, I don't ask them for help. I need help. It's physically impossible for me to stay alive without help. So if I request to move me to the couch, that's more like an order. Every assistant is paid to do exactly as their customer says. They need to help me when I request something." I kept listening. Veyra rubbed her chin uncomfortably.

"No, that's not a good way of putting it. Uh, I guess what I'm saying is that I need to trust any of my assistants to always be there for me. If Aree refused to do something for me, for example, it'll feel like a violation of trust. If that makes sense." She sighed.

"I'm making myself sound so demanding…" This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

"No, I think I get it," I said.

"If you need to visit the bathroom when we're alone together, I'll need to take you there. I need to stop what I'm doing and help you."

"Yeah," Veyra said.

"Or I can always hire an assistant to go on dates with us."

"I'd like to learn how to make you comfortable with me," I said.

"I don't think my requests are that difficult," Veyra said.

"But… assisting me is not just about the essentials like bathroom breaks or eating food. It's—""It's also about stuff like reaching the top shelf for cookies, right?" I asked.

"You can't get them by yourself, so I'll need to get them for you. I can't get grumpy and tell you you've eaten too many." I was worried I'd interrupted her with something stupid, but to my surprise, Veyra said, "Well, yeah. I don't eat cookies, but that's a good example otherwise. You'll also have to help me with silly stuff, and you can't abandon me when you're upset with me." I grinned.

"I'd say I'm more helpful than I look. I can't wait to learn more about your life."

"Yeah…" Veyra said, subtly smiling.

"You've been helpful. I wouldn't want to scare you away. But since we're dating now, I hope you understand both of my conditions, and, well…" She shifted her head uncomfortably and stared at the floor.

"Well, I guess we'll still be spending most of our time in virtual reality, so maybe I'm just warning you for no reason…"

"Veyra?" I said. She raised her eyes off of the ground.

"Yes?" I tackled her into a hug. I intended to tell her something insightful, to reassure her, but she just smelled too good, and her surprised eyes and blushing cheeks were way too cute. I found myself on top of her, my lips against hers. Finally, we were somewhere private. I left the first kiss at a quick one. Her warm breath rose to my neck, eyes staring up at mine. I had to resist the urge to kiss her again. Everything about her was just way too perfect.

"You just told me not to offer anything," I said.

"But… Should I carry you to bed?" The urge got the better of me, and I kissed her again before her answer. A longer one, with our chests touching. By the end of it, I already felt hot. Veyra's breath got even heavier.

"Um, no penetration, please…" she said nervously.

"That can be dangerous for me. If that's okay… help me take off my pants, please."

I was just supposed to go for coffee… Aree tapped her foot in the elevator three hours later. Her eyes spun a little from the cocktails she tried. She was smiling, though she felt a little guilty for being an hour late. Then again, the two hours she'd said was arbitrary anyway. Hopefully everything was going well inside. She had kept a lookout at her phone, though, and no calls for help had come. If anything, they could be still making out, Aree thought and felt a few butterflies in her stomach.

The butterflies only increased from her own night in the city. She'd headed to a quiet cocktail bar, where she video called Luca, her boyfriend. He watched Worlds from Germany, and he'd of course seen the finals and the post-match interview, along with all the posts of Veyra and Aiden kissing. Luca was quick to make sure Aree had no time to feel jealous. He said he missed her, and his voice was cute tonight, and she kind of missed him as well, so…

Somehow, her night ended with her heading out to a VR cafe for a quick visit to Movie Night Simulator. Bless VR, Aree thought as the elevator doors opened, and she headed into their hotel room. Her balance wavered just a little while she opened the door and took off her shoes. The hotel was fully quiet, but Aiden's shoes were still here, and Veyra's wheelchair was next to the sofa. They must have been in the bedroom, then, maybe already asleep. Everything was probably okay. Aree had nothing to worry about.

Aiden didn't seem like the person to take advantage of a disabled person. But… Aree was Veyra's assistant, and this was the first time Veyra was meeting Aiden for the first time. Aree wouldn't be able to sleep before confirming Veyra was okay with everything happening.

"I'm back," she said at Veyra's bedroom door.

"Are you awake?" No response. Slowly, Aree opened the door. Light crept into the dark bedroom, and Aree spotted Veyra's jeans on the floor, alongside a sweater and a pair of shirts, and a bra Aree remembered helping Veyra fasten in the morning. On the bed, tucked underneath the blanket, Veyra had her right arm over Aiden's chest as she slept with her head on top of him. Both of them seemed to be fully asleep. Oh wow, Aree thought. At least she didn't spot any panties on the floor.

It looked like everything was fine. Aree couldn't help but smile. Maybe she'd be one of the people in a position like that next week. She already knew she'd be flying to Germany in six weeks. Her boss had approved her vacation days. Virtual dating was awesome, but nothing could beat actually sleeping in the same bed together. Aree plumped into bed and kept texting with him for another thirty minutes, until she smiled herself to sleep.

Sunlight through the open curtains woke me up. Something leaned against my chest, tickling a little. Veyra's hair. She slept with me as a pillow, still in the same position we'd fallen asleep in. My heart fluttered, clearly remembering everything from last night. Sleeping with Veyra hadn't matched at all with what I'd fantasized about before flying to Worlds. She'd hesitantly let me undress her, as if still expecting me to be off-put by what I would see. Sure, there were a few quirks about her body.

Her right side had much more muscle, making not just her left hand and shoulder look frail compared to the right, but it also made her right boob appear slightly bigger than the left. Not necessarily because her tits were sized any differently, but because she just had more muscle on the right side of her chest. She was goddamned beautiful. I truly believed that, and for the rest of the night, I did my best to show her how much of a goddess I thought she was.

At one point, Veyra told me that there was something she's always wanted to do with a strong guy. She said, " I'll need to show you what kind of weirdo you're choosing to date," before plumping her head down on my abs, telling me to tighten my muscles. My abs weren't really anything to show off, but she was apparently happy regardless as she explored my upper body with her face. We were probably both weirdos, but oh my god, last night was hot.

"Your heart is beating," Veyra said, and I realized she'd been awake this whole time. My chest squeezed.

"And whose fault is that?" She chuckled. We remained there for another few minutes, while I slowly calmed down, my heartbeat turning to comfort. I'd still had lingering worries that Veyra was just keeping me around for convenience, and that I must have for sure been competing against a whole line of guys who'd spoil her way better than I ever could. But the more time we spent together… I was starting to think she was thinking something similar.

"So, do you still think I'm just asking you out for the sake of it?" I asked.

"Why the smug smile?" Veyra asked with a laugh.

"I'm just happy right now," I said. She rubbed my shoulder with her finger.

"You might be enough of a weirdo to keep up with me. But you're lucky I wasn't feeling sick."

"I'm lucky you're you," I said. Her head remained sideways on my chest. I saw her cheeks rise a little.

"Sorry for a weird first night. Hopefully I wasn't too odd."

"You were perfect. Although, I pray for whoever has to wash the sheets out here." She went red, and I continued teasing her from there. Our chat continued from where we'd left off for a bit, but we didn't do anything funny with sunlight shining onto us. We then strayed to more normal topics with both of us slowly waking up. I checked my phone, at ten am, to see all sorts of messages congratulating me from family and old friends alike. One specific notification immediately made me serious.

"Hold on," I said. Veyra watched, waiting to see what I was so curious about. It was a post from Wonderwind's forums.

"Wind Virtual just announced a new expansion," I said.

"For January."

"Really?" Veyra asked.

"A full expansion? Not just an event?"

"It's apparently called Caverns Of Creation." I showed her the post. An announcement about new content was usually expected after Worlds. Wonderwind's servers tended to have events going on more often than not. A full expansion, though, was a bit more exciting. The last one, Path Of Apotheosis, came out four years ago. Expansions tended to have a lot more to explore. Sometimes even new classes and new skills to existing classes.

"Want to try frontrunning it?" I asked.

"Eh, let's not get too excited," Veyra said.

"I'll probably have to start it underleveled. But I think I can play actively again by January." She was clearly still worried about her mom.

"I hope I can meet her," I said.

"When she wakes up."

"Yeah…" she said.

"Thanks." Slowly, and sadly, time started to run out. I would soon need to check out of my hotel, and our flights would be leaving soon after. As much as I wanted to convince Veyra to stay in Sweden for longer, I knew she valued alone time. Not to mention, Aree didn't have the luxury of just extending a vacation if she wanted to. So Aree took over as Veyra's assistant, and I left them alone with the promise that we'd meet one more time at the airport before our flights.

At my hotel, I had just enough time to take a shower before checking out. I then called my sister. Anna and mom both gushed excited congratulations over the phone, while I struggled to take in all the praise. After ten minutes of that, I agreed to eat out somewhere with my family before heading home. I definitely wanted to offer my family some time after they'd spent so much of theirs rooting for me. That included my dad, who showed up at the ramen place I'd picked.

Everyone in my family and extended family continued showering me with disbelief. Ricky tried convincing me to take a shot with him, since drinking at eighteen was legal in Sweden, and I politely declined. Dad was mostly silent, while mom asked me about Veyra, to which I was too flustered to give any close details, but I mentioned I'd probably be visiting her in Thailand as soon as our schedules matched. As usual, I spent most of my time talking with Anna.

Halfway into our meals, she got nervous before hesitantly asking, "Aiden… do you think being a Wonderwind coach is a good job?" I slurped my noodles and said, "It can be, yeah. Why the question?"

"What about being a freelance coach," Anna said.

"You know, for random clients. As a full time job." Something about her tone and posture was suspicious.

"I mean… again, it depends. Pro players usually have coaches, and of course some rich guys might hire a coach to get better at the game. There's a lot of money in Wonderwind if you know where to get it. But why the question?" Whatever her reason for asking that was, she seemed satisfied with my answer.

"No reason," she said with a smile. My family was full of weirdos, I swear. When the check came, I announced I'd be paying for everyone, having just won a tournament. In hindsight, that could have been a bad idea with almost none of my wealth stored in my bank account, prize money still being processed, but luckily my card didn't decline. I was just glad that nothing had changed with my family. The supportive side of my family, my mom and my sister, were as amazing as always.

The distant cousin who had always disapproved of my decision to play Wonderwind hadn't flown to Sweden, but I couldn't wait to see whether I'd still be compared to Alex, my football playing cousin. I sighed at that thought. If I were to guess, my aunts and uncles would pretend like they'd always been on my side, never having said any bad things about my career decisions. Just like my dad.

"Aiden," my dad said while we were leaving the restaurant.

"Can I talk to you for a moment?" I raised my eyebrow, but moved to the side with him, while everyone else waited ahead.

"Yes?" I asked.

"I'm sorry for not believing you," dad said. That was all he said. No explanations or excuses, just an apology, and it seemed to come from the heart. My petty side still wanted to be mad at him. Of course it was easy for him to apologize now, after I won a serious event at Worlds and got successful despite all his efforts to sabotage my career. I didn't know if I could, with full honesty, forgive him. Still… I offered him a handshake. Slowly, he accepted it.

"I don't think I'll be going to school, dad," I said.

"Save the tuition money for Anna. See you at home." Then I turned around and escaped from my family to leave for my flight.

"When can we meet again?" I asked.

"Next year in Thailand?" Veyra looked a bit tired. Or maybe dizzy from all the bustling traffic of the airport. She had mentioned that unfamiliar places made her sick. Aree was in the bathroom, giving us some time to talk alone.

"Sure," she eventually said.

"Next year. Maybe January or February. But don't ask me for a specific date yet." Behind me, the line to board my plane started moving. This was really it. The most absurd weekend of my life was now coming to an end.

"Don't look so sad," Veyra said.

"We'll meet online before that."

"We'll crush the new expansion," I said.

"We'll cheese it so hard the devs will go bald." She chuckled.

"Sure. Don't expect me to keep wearing Emerald Aurora, though."

"We'll get you a better DPS set for next year," I said.

"Solo Mage will be a full mythics guild next year for sure."

"Oh yeah?" she said with a funny smile.

"And should we solo next year's guild PvP tourney together?"

"Yeah, we'll fuck 'em up," I said.

"Surely you can deal with Zenith Protocol's backline alone?" Veyra shook her head, amused.

"Well, GodWall has a lot of defence for you to steal…" The line kept moving. I stood by Veyra, awkwardly thinking of what to say.

"Thanks again," Veyra said first.

"This was way more awesome than I thought. But all good things must come to an end…"

"And the good things will continue next year," I said.

"Actually, make that tomorrow when I log back in." She smiled. The last few people were being boarded. I kept smiling at her, until the very last person was scanning his boarding pass. I gave her a final kiss on the cheek.

"Love you," I said, and before I could see her reaction, I boarded my plane, while already dreaming of the next dungeon I'd cheese in game with her. The End Of Book 1