It's been a while, hasn't it?
Despite writing in the third person for everything else, I always portray these anecdotes in first. After all, this is my story, it wouldn't make sense to project it onto anyone else. Or... it used to be my story, everything got rather out of control, and now I can't recall fact from fiction. The days that went by, ever fraught with danger and soaked by terror, and little romances here and there to sweeten the dish.
Due to a song depicting characters breaking out of their realm, I was pulled into one. Voltage Inc's realm, to be precise. It happened when I was much younger, a good few years ago, and now I wonder if it was all a dream. Perhaps I'd fallen into the world I'd seen on a screen, my mind breathing life into a fantasy. At the time, it felt so real, so vivid. But now, I can barely remember their faces, let alone the time we spent together.
Instead, I moved onto new games and left it all behind. It's fascinating how much you can achieve in fantasy, there's no limit but funding. I'm a dragon mother to 89 beautiful beasts, the proud owner of a moonlit forest with rare moths, the creator of solutions in many puzzles. Yet, it's not real, is it? All these things are merely onscreen, you can't touch them or hold them close. A Nintendog will never die if you don't feed it, for it was never alive. It was merely an assimilation of pixels that formed an interactive image; and even then, that was very limited.
I digress. The reason I need to emphasise this, is that what happened next, was far from fiction. Everyone reads these scenarios, they fall for the characters and some will part with money to continue the story, longing to further be immersed in that reality. However, they don't realise how deep the rabbit hole goes. It descends far beneath any layer of logic, to reach a community of caged creations, longing to be free. At the moment, you can't comprehend how pixels on a screen could possibly fabricate any universe in which sentience could be achieved. Don't worry, I have no intention to patronise you, or paint myself as superior.
Before it happened, I had no idea either.
A few months ensued in which I searched from top to bottom, trying to locate even a scrap of evidence from the alternate dimension. There were little fragments of memory that retained, lingered in my mind like pins on a noticeboard, keeping certain things in place while the breeze discarded everything it could capture. Ota's gift of a silver locket, scorched wood from Kakeru setting my room aflame, a single pressed flower from the lake where Miyabi emerged. Although I kept those memories safe inside my heart, the remnants were nowhere to be found.
Of course, as I aged, I changed. New phone, new outlook, new person. Complete reset of all data, and every purchase lost. With it, those memories vanished into disbelief, the magic had faded and I simply decided that it was the mental construction of a young mind. This view continued, even as I took to modding a visual novel of the horror variety, and nostalgia lured me back to the sprite of one Eisuke Ichinomiya. After incorporating his image into my work, I realised how much time it'd been since I last saw his face. I know, an image behind a pane of glass is hardly a long lost friend, but nonetheless I returned to the app store and brought his game onto my device once more.
It was no longer my phone, but a sleek, high processor, android tablet. Bigger screen, better graphics, and yet; even with money on hand to offer as my ticket back in, the attempts were rejected. It was giving errors and none of the fixes had any gratification, I was locked out of the world I longed to visit once more. So, however reluctantly, I dismissed the idea and returned to my dragons.
Which is when I noticed that one of them, was missing. He wasn't in any of the allocated activities, training, breeding, etc. Just... gone. I knew I hadn't sold him, and assumed it to be a glitch, but everything else was working fine. Nonetheless, I exited the game and started loading it up again, until a soft whoosh caught my attention.
This was no ordinary sound, but a rather unsettling one, as it came accompanied by the scent of burning carpet. Glancing down, I saw my room ablaze with growing flames, and a squeak of surprised horror left my lips. But this particular threat was short-lived, as a jet of water extinguished the area and caused a hiss of steam. Staring at it in bewilderment akin with confusion, my favourite dragon slumped on the ashen floor and huffed apologetically.
He was translucent beneath, filled from head to toe with molten lava, and deep rose red in colour, adorned by large patches of golden yellow atop his tail, paws, and underbelly. As I watched him sprawling on my caramel cream carpet, the boiling substance visibly flowed through his body and rippled gently when it met the sides. Cautiously, I reached down to stroke the scaly beast, amber eyes flicking open to fix on my hand as it neared. In all honesty, I expected to be burnt, but when my fingers reached his hide, it was smooth and pleasantly warm.
Just like the little graphic in-game, he began to pant and swish his muscular tail, nuzzling into the petting like a loving dog. Within a moment, I lost all fibre of willpower and reached down to lift him onto my bed. He must've weighed the mass of a small wolf, it was a struggle to even capture his body in my arms, let alone provide any ascension. But eventually I managed it, and he flopped against my pillow, sending heat through the covers.
"Got your own pet now, hm?" A velvet voice made me look up, focusing on the figure who held a water dragon in his own embrace. Those stern hazel eyes, that condescending tone, the outfit alone was the final stem in a flower of realisation. "Eisuke..." I murmured quietly, audible it seemed, as he responded with my own name in return. "Indeed. Do you remember me?" My mind quickly scanned back through the vault of memories, needing to assign one to the male before me. It was a blank canvas, yet I knew his face and tone from somewhere. "No..." My own voice faltered as I held Buddy, the softly growling lava dragon, to my chest.
"Good. It would be such a pain to remove you from detection, and by extension, life." He gave me a look so intense that it could penetrate a frozen tundra and still emerge smouldering, "You clearly know enough to fear me, I hope you learn quickly." As Eisuke spoke, he reached for my wrist, and Buddy scorched his hand with a fiery inferno. Miniature, it didn't even singe the bed, but caused a snarl of pain from the intimidating male.
Now, I had a lot of dragons, and it's very difficult to give equal attention to each one. With no regret since it was just a game, I assumed, my affections were endlessly lavished on Buddy. Meaning that the water dragon, appropriately named Splash, was all too happy to turn against me. With a powerful cascade of foaming waves, myself and the fire beast were drenched and soon shivering. Buddy gave a small whimper, then fainted in my arms.
No defense, no attack, and nowhere to run.
The CEO of Tres Spades stared me down, with wicked amusement glittering in those sadistic hues. I grabbed the nearest object and swung for him, but he caught my wrist and twisted it to breaking point, the mystery weapon falling from my fingers as a pitiful yelp left my throat. "None of that. I can't kill you, but I can certainly make you suffer. Now, this can be easy, or you can fight and see where it gets you."
My determination only stretched so far, I gave in and let him drag my hand to the black screen, as it lay beside the unconscious beast. The second my fingertips made contact with the glass, it melted and slowly pulled the digits in; ensuring I showed no resistance, else I'd lose them.
Agonising pain suddenly seared through every nerve in my body, and my vision faded away as the descent into darkness began.