Haven Online 195 Time displacement syndrome

Closing his eyes he waited for the inevitable darkness to envelope him as the logout process transitioned him out of the game and into reality. A few moments had passed, and Xinya could once again see light fluttering in through his closed eyelids. 

Knowing that he was back in the real world, he opened his eyes. Turning on his side, Xinya found the control pad that was located on the inside of the pod. Pressing the correct sequence he opened the hatch that was keeping him locked inside.

Pushing himself into a seated position, he pulled his wheelchair over towards himself positioning it in front of his pod. As he slowly began to maneuver himself into it, he couldn't help but miss the feeling of being able to walk freely.

He had these thoughts before whilst he was inside of the game, especially recently when he was racing against Wandering Sound down the mountain to reach Arkala's town gate. And as he struggled to get into his chair those thoughts began to manifest once again. 

However, he also knew that he shouldn't let thoughts overwhelm him since his situation could have been worse. He should just be grateful that he could still walk, even if it's only with the use of a crutch. Locking away those harmful thoughts once more, Xinya made himself comfortable in his chair. 

Flipping a switch, Xinya activated the chair's hoover mode, before making his way out of his room, and down the narrow hallway straight to the parlor. When he entered the living room his presence went completely unnoticed to Wei who was already there, lying lazily on the couch with her eyes closed.

Feeling playful, Xinya slowly floated himself over to where she was laying, grabbing one of the small pillows that were on the loveseat along the way. Once he was close enough, he raised the pillow high in the air, and using half of his strength he smacked her on the butt with it.

As soon as Wei felt the hit, her body reacted as though she was still inside of the game. Eyes snapping open, she jumped over the couch, it was only when she couldn't find her guns did she realize where she was. 

"Not funny, Xinya!" Wei yelled, looking at the dark-haired man who was softly giggling to himself with ire.

"Maybe not for you, but to me that was hilarious," Xinya told her, trying to hold back his amusement. "Why are you resting here anyway? You can't be tired."

Getting up from her crouched position behind the couch, Wei stretched her arms above her head. "I'm not, I was just having some weird thoughts."

"Like what?" Xinya asked curiously.

"Well, doesn't it feel like it's been longer than usual since we were here in the real world?" questioned Wei, with furrowed brows. "It just doesn't seem real that so many days have passed in Haven online, but it's only been 23 hours here in reality. This didn't bother me before, but now.. it just seems so odd."

After listening to Wei's words, Xinya could tell exactly what was happening to her. She was experiencing time displacement syndrome. This was something 5 out of 10 new players encounter when they start playing Haven Online. 

Time displacement syndrome is one of the side effects that happen when people play VRMMO's for a long period of time. Instead of adhering to the time changes, in reality, the time in the game world becomes more prominent to them. 

This somehow damages a player's mentality when they log out into the real world. However, it isn't as dangerous as some other problems that playing VRMMO's might bring, and there is a cure for it. 

Xinya almost slapped himself upside his head. He couldn't believe he forgot to tell her about this since it was one of the first things that she had told him about in his previous life. 

"I'm so sorry Wei, I forgot to tell you about that side effect. It's called Time Displacement Syndrome, and all you have to do is sync your pod so that it shows our country's date and time instead of Haven's Online," Feeling contrite, Xinya started to explain everything he knew about the syndrome to her. 

"Oh! So that's what that was. I thought I was going crazy. No wonder I was feeling that way," Wei told him with a look of relief. Seeing that he still looked upset about forgetting to tell her about it, she grinned at him while saying, "Don't beat yourself up Xinya, you didn't know that I would be one of the people who would get it." 

Xinya could only flash her a fake smile in response because he did know that she would get it and he stupidly forgot to tell her about it. However, he understood that nobody was perfect, he was bound to forget some things that had happened in his previous life. 

"Your right, I shouldn't beat myself up. At least we caught it before you really started feeling the effects of it." Xinya said, reluctantly. 

"That's right, plus it's an easy fix," Wei cheerfully remarked. "Which I can go and do now, while you are off cooking."

"So I guess that means you're leaving me to cook all by myself without any help? '' asked Xinya. 

Eyes fluttering closed, Wei flopped down on the sofa feigning illness, and in an extremely dramatic tone said, "How could I help in this state, I would only hold you back."

"Alright, whatever you say," Xinya replied chuckling at her performance. "You are excused from helping. I will just call you when I'm done cooking."

"Awesome!" Wei exclaimed, stopping her performance. Smiling brightly she hopped off of the couch and started to head back to her room. 

Before she was completely out of sight, Xinya stopped her by saying, "By the way, don't ever quit your day job because your acting is horrendous."

"Don't worry, I won't," Wei announced with a laugh, continuing to walk out of the room and down the hallway. 

Chapter end