Fallon discovered Timothy’s physical body lying down in his bed, his body was still.

  "Tim?" She yelled, hoping that he'd wake up

  Before she could shake him awake, she saw the familiar mark on his arm of an inked looking 'X' symbol.

  Feeling the urge to smack him, she held back because any sudden shock on his body would lead to a potential cardiac arrest and even death. Many X users die that way. The virtual world cannot kill them as long as they aren't shocked or frightened into a heart attack.

  She gently placed her hand on his chest and gave it a light press.

  ”Dammit. I can’t even wake you up. It’s been a while since I’ve gone to X. I have to check if you’re still alright.” She muttered, gently stroking his brunette hair which was damp with sweat.

  As gently as she could, she lay down next to him, took the drug and tightly held onto his hand hoping to connect. It was a risky procedure to try but she mustered up the courage to do it because she still loved him.

  It took her a while to find him but eventually, she did.

  “Tim? Is that you?” She asked him

  He didn’t respond. He sat down with his legs crossed, rocking back and forth. He had his eyes closed. He appeared to be in a state of shock and despair.

  “What the hell is this place? It feels so familiar.” She spoke

  “Ah, welcome back my darling!” Z spoke to her

  “Z! Was this your doing?” She asked him

  ”Yeah? Do you have a problem with that?”

  She hesitated for a moment then decided to say this.

  ”Yes I do actually.” Fallon spoke up

  “Hmm, interesting. I’ve never seen you so confident. Who is he to you huh?” Z asked her

  “He is special to me. You’ll leave him alone now. If you don’t, I might just rip you to shreds.” She growled

  “Ooh, how intimate. You think that you’re capable of ripping me to shreds? You have the guts to do that?” Z mocked her

  “Of course I am capable.” She smiled, walking up to Timothy

  She hugged him tightly and supported him to stand. Timothy’s face was buried in her hair as he took in her scent. Slowly, he opened his eyes.

  “F-Fallon. You’re actually here!” Timothy spoke

  He couldn’t help but start sobbing in gratitude for her being here with him.

  ‘If only you knew.’ He thought, but the words couldn’t come out

  “Shh, it’s alright now. Let’s go.” She spoke, gently rubbing his back

  “Z? What’s this? His punishment isn’t over yet. What do you think you’re doing?” Y spoke

  “Forget it! It’s not fun anymore. It’s no fun when they get traumatised.” Z replied

  “You’ve gone soft Z. Who even put you in charge?” X scoffed

  Suddenly Z grabbed X by the collar and stared him down menacingly.

  “Hold your tongue or I’ll make you suffer like that boy has.” Z threatened

  X nodded and didn’t say a word.

  “What about her? She’s associated with the boy so she’s just as bad as he is! Let’s punish her.” Y suggested

  Fallon’s face immediately turned pale.

  “Are you alright?” Timothy asked her

  ”You shouldn’t have come here. You fool! You don’t know what you’re messing with! This nightmare realm!” She told him

  Before they could escape, the trio unleashed three of the blurred ones at Fallon.

  Strangely enough, she kept her composure.

  ”Timmy. Do what I say ok.” She spoke

  He nodded.

  ”Do not show fear. Do not show excitement. Do not beg for mercy. Their vision isn’t too good and they are slaves to pleasure. Sneak up on them and unleash all of your power if you want to live.” She told him

  ”Aww you’ve ruined the fun! He’s all tough and brave now. The fight won’t be any fun.” X and Y complained

  “Change of plan. You’re allowed to kill them now!” Y commanded the blurred ones

  They were fighting off the blurred ones and Timothy was surprised by Fallon’s strength. She was ruthlessly beating them down whilst he was struggling to fight them off.

  “How are you able to manage?” He spoke, out of breath

  She was sitting on top of the one that she defeated and was digging her shoes into his neck. Most of them were knocked out by both Timothy and Fallon’s joined effort!

  “Your strength in X is not the same as your strength in reality. Some people are stronger here than they are in the real world and-“ She explained

  Fallon was interrupted when the blurred one that she was sitting on had knocked her off.

  “And fucking stay down!” She hissed loudly, knocking him over and holding him down.

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  Overcome with anger, she spat at him, pulled his hair back and repeatedly smashed his face against the cold hard floor.

  “Woah.” Timothy blushed, mesmerised by her

  ”Timmy. You’re exciting them again. Relax. Look out for the one that’s behind you!” She warned him

  He immediately turned around and wrestled with him, beating him up until they stopped moving.

  Eventually after a long and hard fought battle with the blurred ones, no matter how many were summoned by X Y Z, they defeated them.

  Their punishment was over so the trio let them go.

  “You have earned your freedom.” They spoke simultaneously

  Fallon and Timothy went back to the field of white.

  "What's wrong?" She asked him after seeing the look on his face

  "I can hear flutes playing." He told her

  "Flutes? Really?" She replied flatly

  "I am serious! It sounds faint but I can hear music!" Timothy replied

  "That's interesting. Maybe it's coming from your mind. Some sort of adaptation to your fears maybe, but that's the same as blocking them out. Oh dear oh dear." She sighed

  "What do you mean?" Timothy asked

  "Deal with your burdens, Timmy. Before the burdens deal with you." She warned him

  "What burdens? Anyway, thanks for saving me. I don’t know what would’ve happened to me if you didn’t come here. I can’t believe that those monsters ruined my fun!" He complained

  "There's nothing fun about this place which you'll find out soon enough." She muttered under her breath

  I hope that I made it clear that Timothy and Fallon's reactions to X are wrong.

  Timothy sees X as a source of pleasure and unlimited fun which is very short sighted if you ask me.

  On the other hand, Fallon sees X as something dangerous to be feared. Something to avoid completely. I personally am aware of the benefits and dangers of X.

  They walked somewhere and noticed something following them.

  "Is that a child? Where the hell did it come from?" Timothy muttered

  "She's a real toddler. We don't know the cause of her being here but it seems that she arrives at X involuntarily. Her name is unknown, her origin is unknown but multiple people have claimed to have seen her. Two things about her stand out: her unusually bright blonde hair and the fact that she has no burdens. Mr Zero tries to keep her away from him. We call her blondie." She explained

  "Again. What the hell are these burdens you're talking about?" He asked

  "You blind fool. Look at me from behind your eyes. Then you will see." She told him

  He tried to look at her as one looks when they are reading auras. At first he couldn’t see anything unusual on her until he tried a few more times to really look.

  “W-What are those things clinging to you? What weirdly shaped creatures.” Timothy spoke

  ”These are my burdens. I can see 10 of them on me.” Fallon replied

  ”10? More like 24. I just counted them all. Each burden is the height and size of a small adult hand. About 6 inches or so. Hmm. Interesting.” Timothy stroked his chin getting technical

  Fallon chuckled.

  ”Now look at yours.” She grinned

  He gasped looking at the burden resting on his shoulder and another one resting on his knee.

  “I see two. Now how do I get them off of my body?”

  “You can’t. And this isn’t your physical body. It’s a dream body. Similar to the body in lucid dreams. Now how many burdens can you see?” She asked him

  ”Only 3. Why do you ask?” Timothy asked nervously

  “Oh my god. How are you that blind? You have like 30 or more and they’re so packed together and some are even sitting on each other’s shoulders.”

  “Stop joking around. Seriously.” Timothy chuckled nervously

  “I’m not joking. You really have that many.” Fallon told him

  “Argh! What the fuck?! Get it off my body! Get it off! They look like giant mutant rectangular beetles!” He screamed

  “Just shut the fuck up already! The burdens won’t leave you. You’ve had them this entire time. The more that you absorb from the environment the more that they accumulate.” She replied

  ”Hey. Blondie is still following us. Blondie! What do you want from me?”

  The toddler smiled and hugged his arm.

  Blondie turned around and pointed forwards but they were confused because they couldn’t see what she was pointing at.

  ”Blondie. What are you pointing at?” Timothy asked her

  She didn’t reply.

  ”I don’t think she can speak.” Fallon replied

  “Is she really safe in a horrible place like this?”

  “Well she has been around here from birth so either she is incredibly lucky or she holds a mysterious power which protects her. Even Mr Zero is afraid of her.” Fallon said

  ”Again. Who is Mr Zero? This is all too much to process!” Timothy shook his head

  ”Another forced volunteer. Like I was.” She revealed

  “Oh.” Timothy whispered

  “Don’t worry about it. It’s all in the past now.” She smiled at him

  Now I will explain what these burdens are but fear not for I won’t overload you all with too much information.

  Think of a sponge. This sponge is brand new and fresh. Eventually the sponge turns darker as it accumulates more dirt if this sponge is never washed. Eventually it will turn black and look nothing like its former self. This sponge is like the human soul and that which darkens it are stresses absorbed from society. These stresses are: fears, sadness, guilt, empath fatigue, shame, regret and all kinds of vices and addictions. This can be visualised after taking X. Hence, I will stop talking and present to you an excellent reason to take X (at least once a month or once a week if you have the self control to not become addicted).

  Personally, I go to X only twice a month. (1) to check the environment and (2) to release my own burdens to prevent myself from becoming consumed. I admit that I am a magnet for burdens. Some people have less burdens than others. Some people find it easy to release them but others struggle to let go.

  Timothy noticed something and turned to Fallon.

  “Oh my god. What on Earth is that gigantic thing? It’s a mountain of burdens!”

  ”That poor person. They are completely covered in burdens! They are crawling on the floor! How is that even possible?”

  “How is this person able to move? Oh wait. The person is holding their arm out to us.”

  ”STOP!”

  “What a deep voice! It must be a man.” Timothy spoke

  “Why did he yell stop? Did he notice us? Oh my god! It’s-“

  “It’s who?”

  ”Mr Zero! I recognise his voice! He’s actually here.”

  Mr Zero let out a grunt as he forced himself to stand upright. He grit his teeth bearing the weight of it all.

  Timothy shivered but continued to watch the burden covered man. He finally stood up and was forcing himself to move around.

  “It’s so tragic!” Fallon said

  ”What do you mean?” Timothy asked her

  “Mr Zero is the only person who is fully aware of all his burdens! He can see it all. Every single burden. It must be torture.”

  The man let out a long deep battle cry, picking up his green and orange spear and getting into a stance. As he lifted his arms, the burdens were carried upwards too.

  He noticed the toddler walking towards him and he started to back away from her. He stopped after he noticed a very large crowd of blurred ones coming towards him. Immediately he clenched his jaw in anger. He pointed towards Timothy and Fallon. Luckily, the child began to run towards them for safety.

  “Forward..fight! Fight! Fight!” He said to himself with every step taken forwards, forcibly using the rage and sorrow within him to move as freely as he wished with all of his burdens.

  The man was attacked by the large crowd and he immediately let out a shout and hunted them down despite the burdens weighing him down immensely. He was still strong enough to defeat them. The attackers were left with their limbs hanging and their bodies bruised. It all looked brutal and most of them were stabbed with his green and orange spear.

  ‘So much anger. So much sadness. Mr Zero, what on Earth happened to you?’ Fallon thought, chills running up her spine

  Timothy was mesmerised by the man’s immense power but wondered whether Mr Zero was dangerous or not based on what he’d seen and how he’d tortured those who attacked him. He also noticed the man’s burdens releasing more and more until his skin was almost visible.

  What was most unusual was that the man fought on bravely but had tears running down his face.

  “Who are you?” Timothy asked, curious

  The man didn’t speak but moved closer and closer to Timothy. He was still covered in burdens but there were less burdens than before.

  Timothy shivered again after feeling the man’s eyes pierce through him.

  “S-Stop! Don’t come near me!” Timothy spoke

  But the man moved closer until he was barely an inch away from Timothy.

  Timothy could do nothing but look to the side.

  ”These burdens. They won’t go away so easily. But we must carry on.” Mr Zero spoke

  ”Wait. What do you mean?” Timothy asked him

  ”I am a burden magnet after all.” Mr Zero chuckled

  TO BE CONTINUED…