<h4>Chapter 1: Introduction</h4>


    August 3, 2020


    Gwarimpa,


    Nigeria.


    The year of the pandemic was a year that we weed into our lives with one of the most dangerous illnesses mankind has ever known, COVID-19. Millions lost their lives to it, and many more were hospitalised in istion because of it.


    It was truly an illness on a scale the world had never seen. It affected everyone; people''s source of livelihood was cut short since few people worked in an industry deemed important enough to keep running.


    However, while this was going on, there existed a certain human who didn''t even notice the effects of the pandemic. David was a 22-year-old man. an introvert who enjoyed his time indoors and thus spent most of his time indoors.


    His source of ie wasn''t also affected that much considering he didn''t have any mainstream jobs; instead, he was a writer and a gamer. Both earned him a bit of money that was more than enough to take care of himself and livefortably.


    The young man couldn''t say that he was happy about the pandemic, but he could say that it only brought some good news to him, friends who he hadn''t yed with in a long time returned. There were even more readers for his books, which also meant more money.


    Life was going great if all things were considered. His health was also up to par, and he hardly went outside, so he wasn''t going to get infected anytime soon. Instead, David spent his time ying video games and live streaming them for other gamers to watch.


    "<em>No, no, no, don''t go in there; there''s an entire squad waiting there</em>!!" David screamed as the words ''<strong>Game Over</strong>'' appeared on the screen.


    "<em>My guy, are you a newbie or what?</em>" David asked into his headset.


    "<em>Well, even if you deny it, you y like one. how about this, you follow me and listen to my instructions then maybe you can level up and be better</em>" David said feeling a bit too generous and happy today.


    "<em>Good, first since you''re still starting, I would suggest you equip a gun that doesn''t slow you down, shotguns, snipers, and every Marksman rifle is out of the option. Use any other one but always check if the control and damage stat is green before you select it, Okay?</em>" David said a few secondster, as he guided the new yer.


    "<em>Excellent and as for your secondary weapon, if you think, your fingers are fast enough, I suggest a melee weapon, they offer instant kills</em>"


    David continued for a while before the Newbie was finally done. Even he was surprised at how patient he was, normally he or practically any other gamer out there would have simply kicked the Newbie out of their team, but here he was guiding the newbie for some reason.


    "<em>Are you ready now?</em>" David asked after nearly three (3) minutes.


    "<em>Good, let''s go,</em>" David said then began the match.


    Though he has no idea why he was guiding a newbie, he did know that it would surely get him even more viewers if he somehow managed to win the game which would be incredibly difficult considering that the other yers were on his level, and he was guiding someone who just began ying.


    *<strong>Team Death Match</strong>*


    The game was announced as the game began, the rules of the game were simple, deploy from your base and kill the enemies. David, who had yed the same game over and over again for months now, expertly began to maneuver his character around killing the other yers while instructing the Newbie on what to do.


    He followed the Newbie ensuring that he or she was safe as they attacked the other yers. Basically, David was ying like a real soldier covering his partner''s six (6) or back. His role was simply protecting the newbie, so he could win the MVP of the match.


    *<strong>Winner</strong>*


    The game was announced after nearly thirty (30) minutes of gamey. Despite all his efforts though the MVP title was given to him instead of the newbie, so David and the Newbie continued to y so that the Newbie would get good enough to get the MVP title.


    "<em>Yes</em>!!" David shouted after nearly an hour, or probably even more.


    The MVP title was given to the Newbie, who he could hear celebrating over the headset. It was a joyous moment, but David looked outside only to see that it was already dark... Really dark. He immediately checked his phone, only to see that it was already midnight.


    "<em>Hey, I''m sorry, it''s already midnight in my country, I have to sleep? you''lle online tomorrow, right?</em>" David asked as he began tidying his desk.


    "<em>Well, then good night or afternoon for whatever country you''re in,</em>" he said before exiting the game and turning off his PC.


    He may not have anywhere to go the next day, but it was better to wake up the next day without a massive headache due to sleepingte. He still had a novel that was serialized toplete, but that wasn''t something he wanted to do with a headache, so he immediatelyid down on his bed and after plugging in his phone, he forced himself to sleep.


    Or at least that''s what he hoped for since no human had control over sleep, ites when it wants and when it does, you need outside help to ovee it if you''re in a situation where you don''t want to sleep. David stayed awake for some time until everything eventually went dark. He had fallen asleep.


    "<em>Oh good, I caught you before Morpheus did</em>" an ancient-sounding voice was heard as David sprung up from his bed.


    "<em>Who''s there</em>?!!!" David shouted in shock.


    The environment was still dark, very dark. even darker than things would normally be at night. The bed was still there, but there was nothing else, the window that used to be directly beside his bed was gone, and the TV was gone. Everywhere was just dark and seemed to have suddenly grown in size.