Chapter 2 - The World of Entwines


    I focused on the notification, feeling all the surrounding quieten down. This was my chance to get my revenge without losing my future and possibly my life.


    I immediately clicked on the notification. If it worked like any other notification, then it would point to an app, making this the fastest way to access it.


    And indeed, an app I hadn''t installed launched. Weirdly, there was no loading screen. Immediately, I saw some kind of lobby open in front of me, like an MMORPG lobby that appears before you choose your character and dive into the world.


    I saw [Character 0/1] and after it, in bold red, a timer running: [23:58:14]. A countdown. And under it in even bigger, bolder text: [A character will be randomly created and randomly spawned into the World Of Entwines if not created before the timer runs out]


    Glancing around, I saw many occupied with their own phones. Even that useless teacher was focused on his screen. Gritting my teeth, I knew I couldn''t waste another second! I couldn''t miss the opportunity to be among the first to enter this new world. Deep down, I felt it—this was real, not a joke.


    I urgently clicked on the large golden "Create" button. A character creation window appeared before me. A stunning, lifelike male character materialized before my eyes. I couldn''t believe it—the amount of detail was astonishing. Looking through my phone at the starter character, it felt like wearing VR goggles. It felt magnificent and unreal, giving my gut feeling even more credit that this was no joke, but something that would change societies. Glancing at my surroundings, I felt my lips curling into a smile as I muttered:


    "Will change for the worse for you fuckers."


    Looking at the creation window, I was stunned by the number of settings one could change. I would have spent hours on this creation screen, but deep down I felt an urge to quickly create the character. All the noises around me didn''t help. I randomly clicked buttons to change the settings—height, hair color—clicking on anything randomly. The last setting was choosing gender. I was confused seeing gender as the last option; shouldn''t this setting be the first choice if available? I deliberately selected female. More cover for me.


    I quickly finalized the settings, entered a random name for the character, then clicked create. A confirmation window appeared:


    Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    [There is no way to change the character settings after creation. Are you sure you want to continue?]


    I looked at the lifelike but ugly female character in front of me. Luck didn''t seem to be with me this time creating a character by choosing random settings. I felt conflicted—should I go back and make the character more presentable? But my gut was screaming at me to just accept the fucking creation. I contemplated for a bit, giving the character one last glance, feeling disappointed that I didn''t get lucky with this character creation, then clicked create.


    Immediately after, my vision went black. A feeling of utter helplessness washed over me as a booming voice sounded in my being, deep down in places I never knew existed:


    [Smiling Coffin, Participant number 49, welcome to the World of Entwines. Decisiveness, one of the Magnificent Entities, Sovereigns Ruling Entwines, has blessed you with 7X the Experience points you make. May you find your path!]


    Immediately after, my vision returned, and I could see my character had spawned into a grand-looking chamber. An in-game notification told me I had spawned into the Summoning Chamber of the Star Shattering Empire. I could see 48 characters in this grand hall, but I couldn''t help but tremble with rage. The golden notification stated I had been blessed by Decisiveness with a 7X experience bonus—which was huge—but I could have gotten 10X if I hadn''t wasted my fucking time!


    I couldn''t help but smash my fist against the table and yell loudly:


    "FUCK!"


    I was seething with anger. I almost grabbed the gun and blasted every goddamn fucker in this classroom. Had it been quieter, I would have been able to trust my gut even more—it had never betrayed me before. But I held myself back and tried to calm my anger.


    Looking around, I saw everyone had stopped talking, all eyes on me after my outburst.


    "Did that quiet kid just lose it or what?" one voice asked.


    "Heeey, heey, Jacob, what''s gotten into you? Did you piss your pants or what?" A smug voice sounded from behind me, a hand gripping my shoulder. Laughter erupted all around.


    "Kasim, shut the fuck up and don''t start it! We''re already busy exploring this new strange game, so don''t start because no one''s interested in what you''re doing!"


    "Come on, Sandra, you keep your attention on that new game. We''re going to play a bit with Jacob, ain''t that right?" I heard Kasim''s voice faintly, and giggles around us. Looking forward, of course, that useless teacher was still on his phone.


    Feeling rage from missing out on that 10X bonus, I couldn''t hold back my fury as I slowly turned to face Kasim. I even heard my muscles tensing and cracking from how hard I was straining them. I could feel my knuckles whitening, could feel blood in my palm from how hard I was clenching my fist.


    I turned my body slowly, my right hand inside my bag. Slowly and with such cold rage that I didn''t even recognize my own voice, I said:


    "Get. Your. Hand. Off. Me."


    The words left my mouth slowly and calmly. Everything blurred around me. I didn''t even feel the hand on my shoulder anymore. All I could feel was the cold, hard trigger beneath my finger, begging to be pulled.