Chapter 15 - Return To The Farm

The scenery on the other side of the window slowly came to a stop.

"We have arrived at the station. Please pack your belongings and ensure..." the recorded voice of some worker announced. Tom ignored the warning and continued to stare into the distance.

'It feels different,' he thought to himself after a moment before standing up. The train came to a complete stop. Tom grabbed the few things he took and leisurely walked out of the wagon.

"Ah." Tom breathed in the fresh air of the countryside. He stretched his hands up before releasing the gust of air from his lungs.

"Let's go home," he said to himself, fixing the straps of his backpack.

His home was quite away from the nearest train station. Tom wasn't in any hurry, though. With a backpack on his shoulders and perfect weather to contemplate, he moved forward.

From the small city with the train station, Tom walked roughly five kilometers to another city. This gentle stroll took him roughly an hour. From there, he took a small coach further into the farmlands. Five kilometers later, he dropped off the bus, finally reaching the vicinity of his farm.

"Home, sweet home," Tom said silently, approaching the rundown building and placing his hand on the doors.

"What the fuck are you doing?" someone shouted. Tom has yet to even pull out the keys when an annoyance appeared.

"Who the hell are you?" he asked, while turning around to face the intruders.

"Oh boy, just look what kind of city filth has come here!" A young man sitting on a motorbike shouted. His face was twisted with disgust.

A girl around the same age was sitting behind him, observing the situation with a shocked expression on her face.

"Well, well, and here I thought that it was the city that was full of shit, color me surprised!" Tom shouted back, stepping away from the doors.

The young man jumped off the bike, pushing forward in confident strides. Ten steps. Five steps. Close quarters.

No hits were exchanged.

"It's so nice to see you!" Tom shouted joyfully, patting the back of the young man.

"Man, it's been ages!" the young man responded, hugging Tom tightly.

"Don't tell me." The girl on a bike almost lost her voice before discarding it all together and jumping forward.

"My bike!" Tom's old friend shouted as his twin sister assaulted Tom personally. She tightly wrapped her hands around Tom, taking a moment to let the reality sink in.

"Marvin, Cleo, it's great to see you again," Tom said with a huge smile on his lips. It was the very first smile that appeared on his face ever since the disaster. "But now that I think about it, what are you doing here?" Tom suddenly asked.

"T-That's..." Cleo hung her head low, hiding her face.

"Well..." Marvin averted his eyes, "we kinda turned it into our refugee. I hope you don't mind!" his tone suddenly changed. His spine bent in half as Tom's friend bowed.

Cleo quickly followed suit.

"Well, I don't really mind, but..." Tom brought his hands up, intentionally turning the atmosphere slightly tense. "I already have plans for my garden and the next hour," Tom said with a mysterious smirk on his face.

"Eh?" Marvin moaned, clearly disappointed.

"After all," Tom said with a smile, "this meeting calls for a grill and a beer!" he announced with glee.

"You have grown so big, yet remained exactly the same," Cleo spoke up to Tom.

"I could say the same about you," Tom replied, going back to the doors. This time, there was no spare celebra to this moment. Tom opened the doors as if he did it yesterday, not over three years ago.

"Let me drop my stuff and get my bike," Tom said to his friends. He threw his backpack on the sofa without a care, leaving only the phone and wallet behind.

"So they are still here," Tom mumbled as he smiled at his thoughts. He picked up the garage keys from the designated handle near the entrance and moved back outside.

"Hey, we will go get the stuff. I'm sure you are empty after all this time in the city." Marvin waved at Tom, already sitting on his bike.

"Sure, it would be lovely to get the taste of the real thing." Tom waved his friends away before turning towards the massive gate beside the farm's entrance.

'I wonder if anything is left.' Tom's interest got piqued. With huge parts of memories returning, he understood his situation a lot better than before.

Tom unlocked and pushed the garage door open. The insides were far from their days of glory. The skeletal structure of the small barn was pretty depressing without the stacks of hay filling the gaps.

'It should be somewhere, around...' Tom thought while searching through the building, "here!"

Tom stopped in front of a tiny, cleverly hidden hatch. The metal plating of the door made it impossible to notice it just by luck.

Tom opened the hatch and slipped to the tunnel below. Roughly three meters high, it was both easy to climb and to descend from.

'Thank God.' Tom breathed a sigh of relief. The hidden underground room was filled with all sorts of equipment. From simple rifles, through tactical HQ set, all the way to a damned bombing drone.

'Treasury worth the lieutenant,' Tom thought, allowing his bitter thoughts to strike his mood down. 'Still, without a source, it won't be of any use.' Tom shook his head before turning around and climbing up to the hatch.

The heirloom left by Tom's father couldn't be revealed. Even if unofficial one, Tom had to procure a fake origin for those treasures. Because of a single, heavy reason.

The plan that appeared in his thoughts, along with all the memories.

The knowledge behind the plan.

The knowledge behind the reasons for the plan.

All of that continued to burn through Tom's head for the last fewteen hours. Along with the loss of his main avatar, meeting with that unexplainable monster, Tom's entire reality crumbled under the onslaught of all those.

Yet his plan prevailed. The plan that his father devised but failed to fulfill.

The plan to conquer the portals that appeared all over the earth. To conquer the truth behind the measly lie of the Dungeons Online game!