"Why you insolent little kid!" The man snarled, grabbing the end of his jaw. The youthful kid, with fear and bravery in those silvery eyes. Bruised, and felt small compared to the man on the opposite end of him, he cowered for a moment.
"Although, you have such fire. I am delighted to see it." He smiled grimly, his wrist releases the jaw of the kid and walks away with his back turned. "Start.. again!" The kid could imagine that sick face with his grin spread across the face.
He screamed. "Chris!" A distant voice yelled.
"CHRIS!"
He awoke abruptly, cried out for an attempt to muffle his own scream. Soaked down to his shirt, clinging to his skin. "What was that?"
He swallowed his thick saliva, his throat dry. "Yes, mother?" I replied to her, the sun has risen above the horizon giving mild color to the town. Her mother voice filtered from below the floor, "Your father and I are going out, get down here and prepare for school. Right. Now!"
"Yes, mother," I said dutifully, sliding out of the bed.
The road outside coated in shadows of the trees, the sun above the trees with the sound of natures. He admits that he liked waking up at this ungodly hours only for a couple of reasons. I live in a town northwest of Lake Superior, cold but calm wind greets my face as I ran for the bike perched just outside of my home.
I left the bike in a secluded spot near the trees as I approached the school, I heard the tinkling sounds of someone bike pedaling towards me. A familiar face came out in the edge of my eyes, Kevin Indiary as he too stopped near the trees. "Finished the schoolwork yet?" He teased.
Ah, yes. He always teased me for that time I slept in the middle of schoolwork on the desk, a quite embarrassing moment since I would never let my eyelids droop. "Never going to let that go, are you?" I sighed exasperatedly.
"Nope!" He said cheerfully, too cheerfully.
I narrowed my eyes suspiciously at the strange behavior, "So, what's up?" I asked casually, his lips twitched at the subtle attempt. "You'll see soon, a surprise." He says ominously. I huffed and kept walking.
There is another friend that I have, a quiet kid who moved in the last two years. His name, Cadmus Dwayrian. Quite a mouthful name he has. Despite being quiet, he talks loud and cheerful in the form of online chats. So, let's compare him to Soundwave. It always cheers him up when we compare.
I dropped my book lazily into the bag and slung it down on my back, and walked out of the classroom. I see that both of them are waving at the less populated exit in the school. "So..?" I asked uncertainly, as I approach them.
"Remember when you expressed an interest to a certain game?" I nod, not quite getting where this conversation is leading to. Cadmus stuck his hand through his bag, seemingly searching for something. "Well, Cadmus. Open up the box," said Kevin with a winning smile.
He pulled three cases, three-disc that was too out of place to be ignored. I gasped as soon as I saw the title, "You did not buy this for all three of us!" I cried out feebly. A weakness for himself, he hated it when other wasted cash for such quantity. "I-it was on sale, r-really!" said little Cadmus, supported by Kevin himself.
"Oh fine, I'll allow this to pass for now." I sighed, a faint smile on my lips.
"We will bring our laptop. So where will we be staying?" I whirled around walking to the front gate of the school as the two followed me from behind. The hair rose from the behind of my neck for no actual reason, the sky is getting darker. "I and Cad agreed to stay in his home."
"I'll do a marathon with my bike to my house, then we will stay at your home. Cad." He nods and takes out his bike from behind the trees and pedaled to an intersection in the innermost of the town, while Kevin follows the same road of my home.
He and I separated as he turns left to his home, parked neatly inside his garage. The sky is getting rather dark, with unknown feeling to the dark that it brought all the hair standing up in my body, a ringing bell sounded in my ears as if it was inside my head.
That feeling of being watched starts suddenly, I could see the fumes of my breath as the air slowly gets cold and colder. A muffled voice as if drowned out by underwater interference, I start to pedal faster as my breathing quickened.
"Is this how the Missing 411 starts?" He starts to wonder if he will ever get to his home, the forest is silent as the skies itself. A passing voice shouted, startling him. "Miranda!" A male voice, older than myself cried out in desperation. "You must run away! Go, now!"
The sound of the swords clashing together, a blood-curdling scream and the world around him starts to turn light as if something had pulled him out of there, it was horrible. His body sweating, shaking and shivering from that horrifying experience.
He didn't bother parking the bike neatly, only ran inside and upstairs to get his laptop and his charger and ran outside once more, pedaling quickly to the inner town to get to Cadmus home. A high-pitched sound released into the wild as he passed the same road, and a rather disgusting sound of something as if something is melting a flesh.
He saw the sight of horror, of something that should not exist in the reality of this world. Purple corroded vines had grown from the ground nearby the road and had climbed upon a single tree, dripping a strange clear purple liquid. A plague, maybe? Impossible of a plague to be like this in reality, coming from a horror movie... sure!
He reached the town safely, away from that nightmare road. I parked the bike on the porch along with the two bikes, and rang the doorbell as the feeling of safety washed over me. The door swung open, revealing a rare sight to behold. A happy Cadmus.
Despite being settled in the basement, it was quite lively for the basement room. "Three desks, three laptops, three friends," I observed with a smile, we started onto our newly made adventure as we spawned into a beautifully made forest. The sun shining on the humid grass underneath, "I'm surprised our specs can handle this quite well." I said in the chat.
"The developer cared about the graphics and the core game, they optimized it quite well than any other game. Solid sixty frame per second," said Cadmus through the game chat, I smiled and walked around the map... A beauty.
A storm brews in the distance of the game, lightning flashes from the distance. They did well with the volumetric cloud and fog, to think this is made in the twenty-one century baffled me. "Right, chop chop. A UI just appeared." A boxy UI had indeed appeared, showing the instructions of the game.
Days, and days passed inside the game. A beautiful town near the riverside, in the world we have made and discovered the inhabitants named the Villager. As our town grows, the more we attract to our town. An impressive set of the wall had been set by Kevin to defend the town from the monsters.
One of the towns had been slaughtered by the monsters, only twelve had survived the attack and escaped past the rubble. Chris, seeing nothing to do with anything traveled the town and visited many shops to view their deals.
In real-time, it had been one month since we bought the game. It solidified the relationship as friends within ourselves. Trust between the three of us. As time progresses, the half of the current month as rain raged the city. Chris entered a tavern, with a sigh beyond the screen.
His sharp ears caught a conversation through his headphones, three villagers huddled together whispering to each other. "Did you hear the rumor? The northern road was attacked, not monsters. I swear!" One whispered furiously.
"How do you know that it isn't a monster?" The two asked curiously, leaning in closer. The three huffed exasperatedly to the other two. "The autopsy reveals that they are shot by a fatal arrow, so far nobody had told the three king of this news."
Quickly, I approached them and pressed the 'E' Key on the Keyboard. The game has a very clever way of interacting with non-playable characters, that you have to answer with a microphone due to the immersive-ness problem. "Gentlemen," I said curtly, my two friends looked at me curiously hearing my voice.
"The second king, I never thought I'll meet them in a tavern!" The two said in awe, then became quickly ashamed of his own rudeness towards the great three kings. "No offense, of course. My lord." said the one with a sheepish smile.
"None taken, gentlemen. I merely wish to know the attack that you have whispered to one another." I said respectfully, the three suddenly became constipated with their faces as if they are afraid to admit it somehow. But one speaks out, "The legend of the Pillager, it is only known to the oldest family of Villagers. It was rumored a long time ago that they had spawned the monsters as the only way to slaughter our people as they sleep in their tomb."
"We had always avoided those tombs, in fear of awakening what is inside. Now, the latest rumors or news had said that something attacked our latest supplies shipment, killed whoever is inside that hellish carriage with a poisoned, fatal arrow." He swallows nervously as if expecting something to jump into the tavern armed.
"Please, my lord. Protect the town, they are dangerous as the legend said." said the two, I nod and executed a graceful emote which made a sword cross and left the tavern as quickly as possible. My head is swirling with the lore of a new race in the game. "Guys, meet me in the War Room." I typed in the chat.
"Yes, Mr. Greatness," said Kevin sarcastically in the chat. I rolled my eyes as I walk down the road to the center road to our palace. "What fun do you guys have now?" asked Cadmus curiously in the chat, unsurprisingly to him, I kept silence.
I had authorized the Iron Golems to patrol the city more often and alert the village guard of any threat possible to the city. I am not taking any chances for the villagers to destroy my home, my city. "Chris, what is this? Why have you authorized the Golem to patrol more?" Cadmus frantically asked as I enter the War Room.
"Have you heard of the Pillager news?" I ask them both, staring at the map of the entire continent as I marked down the northern road where the carriage supply was attacked by unknown means. No civilian will ever get the way of getting dangerous weaponry. "Have just heard when I walked down the alley," said Kevin irritatingly.
"Yes, indeed. It seems that a carriage which was walking down the northern road attacked by unknown force with a poisoned bolt or arrow. The villager in our city is rampant with fear of these attackers, and the man I talked to only say that they were the one that spawned the monsters to slaughter the villagers family. Judging by the legend, it seems they have entered some sort of cryogenic sleep in their tombs." I explained calmly through the long chat text.
"What are their motives, though? What do they gain of attacking a supply carriage?" Cadmus said.
"A supply carriage is filled with food and other resources. Perhaps they are starving after the long good sleep they have awaken from." answered Kevin with a thoughtful look outside the game, "Do we trust the strength of our Golems and our wall from the strength of the legend and infamous Pillagers?" I said absently.
"We won't be expecting an attack any time soon, we will be expecting a shortage of resources if they are aiming for the carriages. We're lucky that we do not transport the metals and minerals through our land carriages."
"In before, that they have boats," Kevin replied with a cheeky smile.
"Unlucky for them, our naval strength is superior. Surely they don't have cannons," said Cadmus.
"Are we agreed that we send three Golems with any supply carriage?"
"Agreed." We all said. I stood and groaned as my spines popped from the stress of sitting six hours in the chair, dragging myself up and into the bathroom. I exit the bathroom, hearing the muffled noise of rain outside the quaint modern home of Cadmus. The hair on the back of my neck stood suddenly, and adrenaline suddenly burst onto my veins."Not this again..!" He thought wildly.
I hear the distant noise of a bulb popping upstairs, the side lamps suddenly went dark one by one. The loud popping noise startled the two awake as they are asleep in their chairs. "Mom?" whimpered Cadmus fearfully, the room suddenly drops into sudden darkness.
"Quiet!" I yelled quietly over the silence. A noise of dripping liquid echoed above the floor, and I heard the scuffle of Kevin bringing out a flashlight and shone it at the darkness. The light gave me comfort, but it was simply not enough. "Cadmus, walk behind us," I instructed gently.
We ascended upstairs and saw it was complete darkness, same with the outside. The liquid drip brought my attention back to the darkness and saw the fuse.. completely covered in bright purple tentacles-like vines. Corroded, like the one in the forest. Pulsing, and making flesh noises. "W-what i-s that-that thing?" whispered Cadmus.
"I think I have a lot of questions with the government now, what is this?" said Kevin, approaching the tentacles wrapped around the fuse box as if it was nothing but merely a nuisance. The tentacle moved, and suddenly a large fluid bursts around the box sending sparkles through the air as the fluid dropped onto the floor, corroding into the floor.
A long and thin tentacle suddenly shot out of the corroded floor into the air, aiming at his neck and brutally choking him. "The knife! Cadmus, bring me the fucking knife!" I screamed aloud, startling him into the kitchen and I saw Kevin's face becoming bluer. "Now!" I shouted out, the parents of Cadmus came downstairs and shone the light at Kevin and screamed bloody murder.
He threw the knife, and I grabbed the knife frantically fumbling with it. And slashed upwards from underneath the tentacle, it practically sliced through and the tentacle fell downwards with a high-pitched whine. My friend fell onto the ground and suddenly took a gasp of air every second, as he crawled away from the fuse box. "Holy shit, what the fuck is that thing?!" He shouted, practically crying with relief.
A loud cry of gunshot erupted from the darkness, as the father of Cadmus shot the fuse box with a shaking arm, the high-pitched scream of the damned clearly loud before fading into the silent. "I've seen that before, at the forest," I said quietly, my breath slowly going out and the vision getting darker.
"Son, are you alright?" The worried voice of Cadmus father rang through my ear, the room became more blurry as I fell backward onto the floor. A sudden dark covered my eyes. "Son, did you smuggle this into the house?" said Goranth, the father of Cadmus to his son.
"N-No. W-Would never do that.."
"W-we would never do that." As they stare at the damaged fuse box, with five bullet holes and completely filled with strange corrosive liquid that seems to be their blood or their life force. They wonder of its origin, but will they ever find out?
For I had another terrible dream, I could not see but only hear around me. The sword clashed together, this person Miranda had presumably run away from their home. But from what, that is what he wondered. His head would never take the possibility of him being the chosen one. No, he could not take that sort of responsibility.
And one, why is he receiving these dreams, these experiences of another that he never met before? A hoarse voice yelled out from the dark, the noise of a bow being fired. "You are not a soldier, Crystal. Never fought with another living being!"
"Do not call me by that name, filthy pig! I do not wish to be grouped with my traitorous family." snarled the man with the name Crystal, presumably as his last name. Due to his last sentence, a noble family? Those do not exist anymore.
"Oh, very well then. Calibur, is that better?" The hoarse, and yet amused voice said.
"Well, it is better!" And the noise of the two swords clashing together started once more. And more darkness had come.
He could hear something, a scuffling. He felt a sharp pain in his arm, he moved to swat the pain away but he couldn't. He began to panic but suddenly the darkness lifted and he saw himself in a sterile, white room with a comfortable bed. A beeping noise is heard from my right.
Hospital. He recognized this place, he had visited the place when his uncle died years ago. His two friend came in and practically hugged me from two sides. And three parents came into the room with a smile and one doctor with a sad smile.
"A miracle, Mr. Schuvaz, I must tell you the news that your brain activity had stopped for a moment and started back up after fifteen minutes of idleness." He said with a smile, I stared at the doctor incredulously at the fact I was brain-dead for many minutes.
"You're not serious, are you?" I croaked out.
"I'm afraid I am serious, indeed." He brought out a glass of water and gave it to me. Taking the glass quite gratefully, and drank it quite slowly. "Now, there is no need to be worried. Our best scientist in the country is working together to find this discovery, a plague for a way to kill it efficiently. Please, if you find more of these spots. Inform us."
"I will, sir," I answered genuinely.
"Good lad, now I'm afraid you will have to stay here for a day. A brain-dead and resurrection activity like that is going to bring some headaches that we are unable to ignore. You will get out of the hospital tomorrow, now I will allow you to converse with your friend and the rest."
"Yes, sir." I nod.
The three of us talked cheerfully, forgetting that an alien tentacle tried to choke one of us off. But, we will never separate. Even after such a disaster, we stick together. I closed my eyes peacefully and rested under the clear night sky, the brightest star in the constellation shone below.