Phaser sat on top of the mansion roof at night. looking down at the city lights glittering far beneath. From up here, he could almost forget that the world was about to get swallowed by a Fluve Field tomorrow. The mansion Norphie built stood tall on a hill. Its design blended futuristic precision with classical Roman decadence. The view was absurdly cinematic that Phaser almost felt guilty for admiring it.
"She really went all out. Norphie must have bribed the Empire to build this thing on top of a hill."
Before he could drift too deep into his thoughts, he felt something cool pressed into his hand. He looked down.
It was an expensive bottle of whiskey. Hinesia sat next to him with bottle of her own in her hand and a faint mischievous smile on her lips.
"Why this all of a sudden?"
"Because it's beautiful tonight, and I feel like drinking. Simple as that."
He stared at her, then at the bottle again.
"You know, that's exactly what alcoholics say."
Hinesia chuckled and took a sip, her gaze drifting out to the horizon. The lights of Rome shimmered in her eyes. For a moment, the only sounds were the wind and the distant hum of city life. Phaser twirled the whiskey in his hand, then finally sighed.
"I don't drink."
Hinesia blinked, mid-sip. "You don't drink? You? Phaser?"
He shook his head. "Nope. Not a drop."
"Why? Some religious thing? Or moral code?"
"Neither. Just… tendencies."
"Tendencies? What kind of tendencies?"
"Long story. And you brought me whiskey of all drinks?"
"Because I thought you'd be the kind of man to drink while brooding dramatically under the stars. Turns out you're drinking..."
She rummaged in her System Inventory out of thin air and handed him something.
"...an energy drink."
Phaser raised an eyebrow at the can she pressed into his hand. "You've got to be kidding me."
"Hey, at least it fizzes."
He looked at it like it was a personal insult, then opened it anyway.
"Fine."
"First time I've ever seen someone turn down whiskey for caffeine. That's so on-brand for you it's almost painful."
"Yeah, well, someone has to keep their head straight tomorrow. You'll thank me when I'm not drunk calling the Fluviums to fight me one-on-one."
"Please. You'd do that sober."
He didn't argue. She had a point.
After a few minutes, the humor softened into something more mellow. Hinesia leaned back, looking up at the night sky.
"So, what were you back on Earth? You never talk about your past."
"Neither do you."
She took another slow sip. "Touché. Fine, I'll go first. I was the daughter of a rich Japanese family. My parents were... the kind of people who thought money could fix everything. They sent me to my aunt's house while they worked overseas. My uncle was the worst kind of man. He sexually assaulted me a few times, you know? And my aunt… she didn't care. I was just a pretty ornament in their home. I kept pretending to smile, study and be normal."
The silence stretched. Even the night air seemed to dim around her words.
"Honestly, I got tired of pretending so I left my family and they have me an expensive apartment to live in. I found out about MoDS by then. So when I woke up here, I was glad. I don't miss that world. Not one bit."
Phaser looked at her for a long moment.
"I'm sorry."
"Meh, don't be. I'm a hot Egyptian princess now, engaged to a tall, secretive man who pretends he's a philosopher but is really just emotionally constipated."
That earned a short laugh from him. "You make me sound like a damn statue."
"You kind of are. Cold exterior, deep thoughts, no instruction manual."
"That's rich coming from someone who swings between teasing and trauma dumping like it's a mood playlist."
"Hey, that's my charm."
He smirked and took a sip of the energy drink, grimacing slightly.
"Ugh. Tastes like guilt and sugar."
She laughed again, more freely this time. "Then drink more of it. You could use the energy tomorrow."
"You know, for someone who nearly traumatized me with that backstory, you're handling it well."
"I learned that pain only owns you if you feed it. And I stopped feeding mine. Besides, I had my revenge on them. Can't say I regret it. Your turn, secret man."
"My past is… complicated."
"I have whiskey."
"Let's just say I wasn't exactly a good guy back on Earth."
Her brows lifted. "Oh? What were you, some kind of criminal mastermind?"
Phaser stayed quiet for a long while, thinking if he should tell her. Finally, he exhaled through his nose.
"You really want to know?"
"Only if you want to tell me."
He gave a humorless chuckle. "Want? Not really. But you opened the trauma buffet, so I might as well serve the main course."
She smiled faintly, though she could already sense the weight behind his tone. He looked up at the stars again, then began.
"I was assumed to an orphan since the day I was born, apparently. The monks told me I was left at the monastery steps one cold afternoon, just a crying baby wrapped in a blood-stained towel."
The stars above seemed to dim with his words.
"They said I was probably left by some foreign tourist who gave birth during one of those sightseeing trips in the mountains and didn't want the scandal. I didn't look like anyone from there. Pale skin, brown hair, grey eyes, they said I was probably American or European."
Hinesia didn't say anything. She just listened.
"I grew up there in the monastery. It was peaceful on the outside. People came every day, took pictures, prayed, donated money and such stuff. It looked holy. You know, the kind of place you'd expect angels to visit. But inside? It was hell dressed in white robes."
His hand tightened around the can in his grip.
"They weren't monks. They were a cult. They used the monastery to launder money, hide drug shipments or hire mercenaries. Some of them were ex-military. Some were just killers pretending to seek enlightenment. I learned early that prayers don't mean anything when there's a gun behind the altar."
Hinesia swallowed, her fingers trembling just slightly around her glass.
"I wasn't the only kid there, by the way. There were others. Dozens of us. Orphans, runaways, kids bought from slums, they told us we were chosen. 'Children of the Mountain,' they called us. We were taught scripture by day, and how to kill by night. They trained us to fight hand-to-hand, with staffs, blades, even guns. Said it was to keep up appearances in case tourists asked for martial arts demonstrations. That's what they said but we were being raised as disposable soldiers for their dirt jobs."
Hinesia didn't even take another sip upon hearing his story.
"There was one boy. We used to sneak to the roof at night, kind of like this, and talk about leaving. He used to say, 'One day, we'll get out, we'll go down the mountain, we'll live normal lives.' His name was James. Apparently he heard it in a movie and called himself that. Not that we had names anyway. He died when the police came."
The words came out flat but Hinesia could hear the crack hiding underneath.
"The government had been investigating the monastery for years. When they finally raided it, it was chaos. The monks turned on each other. Kids ran. Guns went off. I was fifteen. I watched James get shot because he tried to protect one of the younger ones. Guess I was too frozen to move."
Hinesia's eyes softened, her hand hovering close to his but not touching.
"They arrested everyone, me included. They thought I was part of it. I mean, I was wearing their clothes, covered in blood, holding a weapon, I can't blame them. I spent almost a year in a juvenile cell while they did investigations. Every week, they'd come and ask the same thing. Who I was what did I know, what did I do, and every week, I told them the truth. I didn't know anything. I just lived there."
He scoffed. "Turns out, they found out who I was eventually. Some investigator traced my blood and birth records. Guess what? I really was from the States. My mother had gone missing for a few months after a trip to Asia when she was young. Turns out, she wasn't missing. She just dumped me on a mountain and gone back home as if she was doing an international delivery. By the time they contacted her, she already had a husband and kids. And when they asked if she wanted to take me back…"
He laughed under his breath but it was empty.
"She said no. Said I'd bring back bad memories. Who knew that she was a teenager when she had me. Makes me wonder why she went to the monastery for tourist stuff while being pregnant but I didn't want to know."
Hinesia's throat tightened.
"So, they put me in a foster program. A rich family took me in. It was a business couple who loved the idea of saving a poor, broken orphan. PR points, you know? They moved to South Korea soon after, and I went with them. They were kind, I guess. Just… distant. It felt like they bought me but didn't know what to do with me. I went to school, learned Korean. Pretended to be normal. I also had to pretend that I wasn't the kid who used to clean blood off temple floors. I went to university. Got into computers, languages, games and one day, my new friend told me to play Masquerade of Dreams: Shattered."
He chuckled softly, but there was no humor in it.
"Funny, right? The game became my escape. I was good at it. It gave me control over something, finally. And now I'm in it and living it. And that's the summary of my life. Honestly, it's not as bad as yours though. Not that I'm comparing sob stories because everyone has one but... yeah, that's my story."
For a long while, neither spoke. Hinesia stared at him. Her lips parted but no sound came. The fire in her usual playful demeanor was gone.
"Phaser, that's… brutal."
He shrugged, forcing a faint smile. "It was a long time ago."
"No. That's not something that just… goes away."
"Maybe not, but I'm still here. And that's enough for me. Also, I'm glad I came here too. There's nothing for me back on Earth anyway. Guess we're both broken in our own ways, huh?"