《A Heart of Ice (hiatus)》 Prologue -- Neglect Author''s note: This is my first fan-fiction so feedback is greatly appreciated! If you want more, don''t forget to leave a follow ^_^ --- I gazed outside of the window wistfully, wanting to get away from this place. An ocean of blue filled my view, spotted with fluffy white clouds. The sun was shining, rays of illuminating sunlight beamed down through the window. Birds chirped and frolicked about as if they couldn¡¯t find anything else better to do. Pitiful. Every day is the same day, one after the other. A constant stream of time blurred into nothingness. My god, I wish something interesting would happen for once. I turned back around. Class has just started and it seemed as if our tutor had some sort of announcement to make. I can already tell what it¡¯s going to be. ¡°Class! I have some fantastic news! We will be doing a project on the benefits and costs of Virtual Reality as the first VRMMORPG, Aurora, will finally step out of its testing stages into a live client. I know isn¡¯t it exciting?¡± He clapped his hands enthusiastically. ¡°I will sort you out into pairs. You¡¯ll have the rest of the day to work on it and you¡¯ll present it tomorrow with your partner. Get a move on.¡± I groaned inwardly. A project? And on top of that in pairs? As if my day can¡¯t get worse. I knew who I would be paired with instantly. Ellie. A girl with long golden hair that went all the way to her shoulder blades and dazzling blue eyes that captivated any guy that looked at her. A fair face, and a heart-warming smile, she was the definition of beautiful. Furthermore, Ellie was incredibly popular, not due to only her looks but to her intelligence prowess as well, which was the reason why she was on the student council and why the teacher matched us two together. We were polar opposites. I admit, I had a crush on her when I was 16 or so, but it went away as quickly as it had started. Any other time, I would have been ecstatic at being paired together, but that had long faded away in the past. That and the last thing I needed was attention. -- ¡°Hey Lucian! Where¡¯d you think you¡¯re going?¡± Rock shouted. I started to walk away. ¡°Punk, don¡¯t ignore me!¡± He came up to me and punched me in the gut, whilst grinning to his group of friends. I doubled over in pain as he loomed above me. A circle had formed between us two, filled with his friends and spectators, both males and females. Ellie was in this circle gazing at me. She knew I had a crush on her at this time but revealed nothing towards my emotions to her. ¡°Please. I¡¯m just trying to get home.¡± I said weakly. ¡°Hah! The weakling wants to go home. Too scared?¡± Rock spoke mockingly. ¡°Tell you what, if you manage to floor me, I¡¯ll let you go home. It¡¯s too generous of an offer for a murderer like you but y¡¯know I¡¯m a kind guy.¡± He glanced towards the circle of onlookers who nodded back in approval. As he was saying this, I slowly got up and composed myself for what to come. If he wanted a fight, I¡¯ll give it to him. I was such a reckless fool back then; I didn¡¯t know what I was getting myself into. Whilst he had his head turned, I managed to muster my strength and throw a punch at his ribcage, hopefully winding him in the process. I heard the sound of bones cracking and he grimaced as he fell to one knee. I could tell everyone was shocked. Nobody expected me to retaliate. He then stared at me with fury in his eyes. There was definitely some killer intent in there. Rock shook his head as he slowly got back up. ¡°Heh, weakling. You¡¯ve definitely got some guts, I¡¯ll give you that.¡± He whispered quietly. It seemed like an eternity passed, the silence and the tension between us was almost unbearable. Then someone shouted, ¡°Go get ¡®im Rock, beat him up real good!¡± Without warning, he flew like a bullet to where I was and landed a roundhouse kick to my chest so hard that I instantly hit the ground with a sickening thump. From then on, he was punching and kicking me, an onslaught of physical and mental torment as he threw punch after punch, insult after insult. The crowd was cheering him on, screaming encouragement at him, fuelling his anger towards me. I looked around to Ellie. She could stop this, she could tell him to back off and he¡¯d listen. Ellie peered down at me, expressing no emotion whatsoever at what was happening right in front of her. I pleaded with my eyes, please stop this. Her mouth tightened as her look became condescending. She started to walk away. No! I wanted to scream at her, tell her to come back, but with a final glance she walked away, leaving me here being beaten to a pulp. -- ¡°Hey-¡° ¡°You don¡¯t need to do anything. I¡¯ll do the work myself.¡± I told her. She pursed her lips in frustration. ¡°I¡¯m just trying to help here, you don¡¯t have to do all the work you know.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t need your help. Anything you can offer me, I can do myself.¡± ¡°Seriously, stop being an idiot. We got assigned to do something TOGETHER, so let¡¯s do it TOGETHER.¡± She was trying be logical with me in order to stop me from embarrassing her even further. But I really didn¡¯t feel like doing anything, not with her anyway. After all those times I asked for help, she gives me none and now she wants me to help her? Nice try. ¡°You should be glad that I¡¯m offering to do the work for you, I could just leave you to do all the work by yourself. But you know, I¡¯m not that cruel unlike some.¡± Now I could see she was starting to get a bit angry with me. ¡°Really? Fine, do all the work by yourself. Here while you¡¯re at it, you can do all my assignments I have today.¡± She dumped the content of her entire bag onto the desk. ¡°In fact, here, I¡¯ll be your slave. Just tell me what I can and can¡¯t do.¡± She said angrily. ¡°After all, you¡¯re better at managing what other people do rather than what you do, especially with your sis-¡± She stopped abruptly. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. I closed my eyes. She went too far. I didn¡¯t want to hit a girl but I desperately needed to vent out my anger at something and I didn¡¯t think I could control it by being here so I stood up and tried to leave before I did anything stupid. ¡°Lucian wait! I didn¡¯t mean it-¡° She grabbed at my arm but I just shoved her out of the way and she was sent sprawling to the floor. The room went silent. Every head turned towards us, or towards me specifically, and I could see in each of their faces their expressions a mixture of disbelief, anger and hatred for what I done. To hell with this place. I sprinted out the room, my legs carrying me all the way home from this place. I didn¡¯t want anything to do with the project or the class or her. I really, really despised attracting attention to myself but it feels like anywhere I go, I¡¯m like a magnet to everybody¡¯s unwanted emotions. I shut the front door and breathed in a deep breath of relief. Finally, somewhere I can relax. I lived on my own, mainly because I didn¡¯t want to burden my parents with extra costs who were living on what little money they had but also because I wanted somewhere where I could be alone. Alone from the outside world. The only sanctuary I had in this world was Aurora, somewhere that I could escape to and forget all about my real life. It was the only thing I lived for. It was time.
Start up Aurora? [ Yes / No ]
I selected yes and I was immediately transported into a sea of vibrant colours. Afterwards, my surroundings materialized into what was known as the centre of the town ¡®Nightfall¡¯, the centre in all four kingdoms, known for its incredible activity during the night. Here I was known as ¡®Cian¡¯, a mercenary who lurked in the shadows and took odd jobs around the town. In truth I was actually a level 201 Revenant, a unique assassin class which only I had obtained, to my full awareness. I knew that the highest level around was around 167, nowhere near where I was. Well, I guess that was to be expected since I did spend the majority of my life farming monster and doing quests. Even though the nightlife in this town was amazing, it was also home to corruption, the main source being from the players who had a constant influence on the crown and their decisions. That being said, I was no hero of justice, I didn¡¯t align myself as someone good who tackled the bad every day. I suppose that¡¯s who you become after a lifetime of torment, a sort of personality of indifference develops in you since I couldn¡¯t really care less about what happened to be honest. God it feels so good to be selfish for once. It¡¯s such a pain having to rescue people in this place. Suddenly, a special announcement popped out in my screen:
Beta phase ends in approximately 10 minutes. All stats, inventories and memories will be wiped clean in 10 minutes.
I guess even this enjoyment wouldn¡¯t last very long either. I imagined myself hunting all the bosses, discovering new things, collecting rare items. Tedious, but it wouldn¡¯t matter anyway since I would have no recollection of my past actions. Before the real game started, I went to go visit the temple and pay homage to the Goddess of Darkness, Lira. I wasn¡¯t all that religious, not in real life or in here, but it didn¡¯t hurt to pray for once. The next few minutes went with a blur and before I knew it, it was time to start my journey all over again. Perhaps I could be a hero this time.
Beta phase ends in 5¡­4¡­3¡­2¡­1
A white glow surrounded all of the players around me including myself. I could practically feel my inventory go lighter, my speed slower and my strength weaker. Goodbye, my precious stats. I spent hours upon hours training and to see all that go to waste couldn¡¯t stop a tear from falling from my eyes. A calmness spread through my body. There was just one last thing to happen. I braced myself for my memories to be absorbed into the void and for a new experience to start once again.
Beta phase has ended. Client has now reached live stages, initiating start-up.
What? Beta phase ended? But I can still remember everything from before. Surely¡­ I checked my status and inventory which revealed that indeed everything had been reset to level 1 and my inventory contained nothing but a small dagger and a couple of rolls of bread. No way¡­ Is this for real? The company who made this went through rigorous checks often in order to stop hackers from exploiting the game. Something such as this would have certainly sparked a message in the system, they wouldn¡¯t let this slide past. Alright I¡¯ll relog to make sure the system isn¡¯t screwing with me, this isn¡¯t funny. But as I searched for the button to log out, I realize to my horror that there was just a blank space where it had previously resided. You have got to be kidding me¡­ I clicked on the blank space in the hopes of it logging me off but to no avail. I looked around and saw people were staring blankly in a daze, wondering how they got there. However, what was even more concerning to me was that everybody didn¡¯t seem to realize that this was just a game. It was as if this had become their real life. Chapter 1 -- Preparations Please read the bottom of the page once you''ve read the chapter. ----- I gazed at the players around me in bewilderment. Why am I the only one who remembers anything? Surely if my memories are intact then there must be others like me. That¡¯s right. I¡¯ll try and find them and figure out what¡¯s going on. I strolled up to the nearest person who was still visibly reeling in wake of what had just transpired. He had a puckered mouth, making his face resemble that of a fish. ¡°Hey! Um. I was wondering if you know how I can log out of here?¡± The player just shook his head and stared at me like I was crazy. Oh I¡¯m the crazy one now, is that it? ¡°Well, thanks for your amazing help.¡± I couldn¡¯t help but say sarcastically. After a couple of more attempts at conversation with other people in the hopes of shining some light on the current situation, I gave up. I sat on the floor and sighed deeply. Looking around I could see everyone in a similar state of confusion so it should have been clear from the start that it would have been pointless to ask. Obviously not. Tsk. How irritating. Suddenly, I remembered that announcements were delivered through the in-game notification system. Maybe there was something there. Of course. How could I have been so stupid? I scrolled through the various categories in my status window. Profile¡­Inventory¡­Social¡­.Inbox. Ah there it was. I opened it to find that all my messages had been erased, leaving nothing but a single red message that was labelled ¡®IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT¡¯. I selected it and my eyes widened at the content of such an announcement.
Welcome to Aurora! In this beautiful world, the only thing you need to do here is live! Simple right? As you venture more and more, you will discover your class; a profession you will excel in and love. Go forth and explore new dungeons, make new friends and defeat bosses together! Be warned however, you only have one life in this world. There are no second chances here. After all, this is reality; you die once and you die forever. Aside from that, make the most out of your life and reach new heights! [Note: You cannot have more than one class at any time.]
Honestly. It sounds like your typical RPG game. How lame. But ¡®you die once and you die forever¡¯, what does that mean? Surely it can¡¯t mean I¡¯ll die in real life as well. It¡¯s not possible¡­ I shivered at the possibility of such a prospect. I relied so much on the system letting me respawn over and over again when I attempted at taking down bosses on my own, there was no way I¡¯ll be able to do the same thing again. It¡¯s a shame really, considering it was much more rewarding personally when you defeat a boss on your own after countless attempts. That, and I didn¡¯t like to work with other people. The thought of just working together made me cringe inwardly, and I also didn¡¯t want to share any of my secrets to success. Besides, I¡¯m not a good person. I try not to be anyway, it¡¯s just not in my nature. Okay. Well, I suppose I should set a plan on what to do, I can¡¯t sit around and do nothing all day. I gave it some thought. Then I decided my top priority would be getting out of this game. There has to be a way. Even though I hated my life outside of Aurora, I didn¡¯t hate it so much that I¡¯d spend my entire life in a videogame. Oh the irony. The way I would achieve this would be to make my character the most powerful in the game. I would obtain the strongest class so much so that my enemies would cower at my feet whenever they were graced with my presence. Yes¡­. That seems like a great idea. I grinned sinisterly at the thought. First things first, I¡¯ll go get my old class back then I¡¯ll decide on what to do from there. Revenant, if I could remember, was a unique drop from a hidden boss called Nocturne. The problem wasn¡¯t with the boss itself, that wasn¡¯t very difficult to defeat. Finding it however, was the difficult part. It resided in the centre of a labyrinth that was filled with darkness. As such it applied a severe amount of debuffs that would turn anyone away just thinking about it, especially considering they had one life. Such debuffs included: Fear, Confusion, Armor and Magic Resistance reduction, Paranoia, Blindness and several more. On top of that, you took constant damage per second so you were on a time limit; there was no way you could be in there for more than 2 hours, even at my level. Coupled with the armor and magic resistance reduction, this was truly a force to be reckoned with. Nocturne was just there to finish any stragglers that actually managed to complete it by luck, by which all of them would be far too weak to fight it. I would need a lot of preparation before I entered the labyrinth. Hell, I was still level 1, I wouldn¡¯t last a couple of seconds in there let alone fight the damn thing. It was time to go hunting. ***** The method I used in beta phase consisted of me farming one species of monsters and its variants for 10 levels, where each species was around 10 levels ahead of me in order to maximise the experience I got from the creeps. This also meant I was more reliant on my technique rather than my raw power so I could hone my fighting prowess better. If it took an entire week to raise my level by 5, it would mean it would take around 40 weeks to reach the level I first started at. Hopefully by then, people would have some clue as to what was going on and my body would be finally ready to tackle on Nocturne¡¯s maze after some rigorous training. With each level, I would gain 10 stat points which I could distribute into 6 categories, of which were: Attack, Defense, Agility, Vitality, Intelligence and Dexterity. These categories had the following effects: I decided to revisit the path of the assassin if I were to acquire my original class, which meant that I was essentially a glass cannon. I would put 3 stat points into Attack, 3 stat points into Agility and 1 stat point into everything else. I would be therefore, an assassin who excelled in annihilating my enemies in the shortest time possible. Without further ado, I began training. ***** Week 1 ¨C 10 (Location: Elderwood Forest) (Creatures present: Slimes, Dire Wolves, Treeants, Forest Spiders, Grizzly Bears) At first it took a bit of getting used to moving around in my god awful movement speed. Literally I was just standing there hitting the damn things, moving around like a log and taking a massive load of unnecessary damage as a result. However, once I figured out the patterns of the monsters, I could identify each of their weak points and target them, repeatedly attacking them until they were dead. Efficient and easy. I breezed through these monsters without sustaining any major damage. Week 11 - 20 (Location: The Mines) (Creatures present: Underground dwellers, Locusts, Albino Bats, Cave Lizards, Skeletons) Afterwards, I ended up training at the Mines, an underground area consisting of an abandoned gold mine home to various creatures. Most notorious were the skeletons which were the remains of fallen adventurers and the first undead I encountered. I figured the trick to killing these skeletons was to use blunt force as it was the most effective method since their bones were very brittle and could easily be smashed apart. Apart from that, the rest of the monsters were just experience farms, they were way too unintelligent and clumsy. Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. Week 21 ¨C 40 (Location: Mt. Kappa) (Creatures present: Raks, Hawks, Wyverns and a Dragon) I proceeded with my training regime by climbing up Mt. Kappa in order to naturally increase my stamina. Along the way, I encountered Raks and Hawks, known as the dominant predators of the skies, usually flocking together in packs to feast on unsuspecting victims. Perfect. It was a great time to increase my precision with throwing daggers. Nearer to the top of the mountain, I saw wyverns flying around. There were avians that were related to dragons but significantly smaller and weaker, though still incredibly vicious. Since they were descendants from the dragon species, they gave more experience than I had anticipated and my level had more than doubled battling such creatures. I decided to hunt these for a longer period of time and the experience given at the end was amazing. As I reached the peak of the mountain, I spotted an alcove in the side. Peering inside, I discovered a snoozing dragon resting upon a nest of eggs. Previously, this was known as the Ages Dragon, a one-of-a-kind deviant from the original species gone reclusive by residing in the mountains. The experience it would provide was mind-boggling; especially considering it was a boss monster. Also the eggs might prove to be somewhat valuable later on. An assassin had no code of honor, I didn¡¯t care much about the values of honor, not when faced with an enemy of this calibre. I simply went up to the sleeping dragon and stabbed it in the belly a few times with a poison laced dagger I had found wandering around. With such cowardly methods, the dragon bellowed and howled in a mixture of anger and pain, yet unable to move due to the strong paralysis of the poison. I looked on with an air of indifference, the dragon crushing its eggs as it tried in vain to move. I felt a little bit of guilt I suppose, but the feeling soon passed away once I condoned my actions as something necessary. For the future of all the players here, I decided. As it passed away, I looked over the remaining eggs and to my disappointment; all but one of the eggs had survived. I quickly pocketed the single egg and proceeded down the mountain. By then, my stamina had vastly improved from being on such a high altitude for a long time. My other stats had also improved as I had returned to the level I started out at, 201. I opened my status window and it displayed all my stats as well as several new skills I had learned over my training regime. [tr][tr]
Status Window
Name:CianAlignment:Neutral
Level:201Class:None
Race:HumanGender:Male
Titles
None
Health:4020 / 4020
Mana:2010 / 2010Stamina:2010 / 2010
Movement Speed:Up to 302-
Attack:603Defense:201
Agility:603Vitality:201
Intelligence:201Dexterity:201
***** Before I went to battle Nocturne, I travelled back to Nightfall. During the time I spent in my training, the town had vastly changed from when I first visited it. It had quickly transformed into that of a buzzing marketplace, people buying or selling their wares everywhere. I was going to do some serious business here. I went off and sold the various materials I harvested from farming, amounting to a hefty sum of gold of around 1,000. At one of the stalls selling a variety of equipment, I recognised a familiar face browsing through the items. ¡°Yo! Mr. Fish Face!¡± He turned around to look at me. ¡°Remember me? That handsome guy you had the pleasure of talking to from a year ago?¡± He stared at me blankly. Does he still think I¡¯m the idiot? ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s me. I was wondering if you got any clues on how to leave this place.¡± Fish-face¡¯s expression brightened. ¡°Ah right! Let me tell you how.¡± Now it was my turn to stare at him, the cogs in my mind turning a million miles a minute. ¡°Use one leg and take a step forward. Now, with the other leg, take two steps forward. Repeat this process until you are out of my face. That help ya?¡± ¡°¡­Thanks.¡± I muttered under my breath. ¡°No problem kid. Come by any time and I¡¯ll give you some more life tips.¡± I gave him a look of confusion. Fish-face just shrugged and sauntered off jovially. Hmm¡­why is he so happy? What a strange guy. ¡°Oh don¡¯t worry about him, he¡¯s always like that.¡± An old lady, presumably the owner of the stall, came up to me. ¡°Now, what can I do for you young man?¡± She grinned a toothless smile at me. ¡°I¡¯d like two daggers of your finest quality, clothing which has the highest movement speed, 50 throwing knives, vials of poison, smoke bombs¡­¡± I went off and listed the vast amount of ingredients I¡¯d need to defeat this boss. In the end, I was nearly broke, having spent most of my money. 40 weeks¡¯ worth of gold, all spent in a couple of hours, good thing I didn¡¯t have this much money in real life. Now, with all the correct preparations in place, It was time. ----- The first couple of chapters relate to Lucian getting his original character back, so bear with me for a bit. There will be a little bit of info dump (not a lot I promise) in these chapters so that I can move forward with the story faster. I hope it wasn''t that bad of a chapter and I tried to lighten it up with a bit of humor from Lucian and his thoughts. Thus the gem of this story will lie within its plot and not the combat, though they will go in a much more detailed and exciting fashion than the ones in this chapter. As such, if you enjoyed it be sure to leave a comment below and a follow for more! Chapter 2 -- Ellie A shorter chapter this time but I hope you enjoy it nonetheless. Author''s notes are found after the chapter. Feel free to leave any comments or feedback below. -- **** Back in reality **** Ellie was worried. It had been almost a week since Lucian came to school and she hadn¡¯t heard a word from him since that eventful day. The thing was, she admired him greatly and would sometimes secretly sneak a look at him whenever she thought he wasn¡¯t looking. He was quiet, modest, and wanted nothing to do with superficial things like appearance. He came in to school every day, hair messed up (in a cute way she thought), and sat at his desk looking outside of his window, staring into space. His eyes were a dark brown, almost black, and she would always lose herself in those deep, bottomless pits of his eyes whenever she stared at him. He was the exact opposite of her. However she was sometimes caught in the act and the glare he would give back always sent chills down her spine. What did I do to deserve such hate? She often pondered this question in her head over and over again but could come to no logical conclusion. She frequently believed in how opposites attract, both in magnetism and in humans. Even though Lucian would make her doubt her belief at times, she was determined she would be the one to unravel the complex puzzle that his heart was. It was strange when he didn¡¯t come into school the next day, especially since he had a perfect attendance and the project was due to be presented that day. When the teacher asked about it, she gave some lame excuse about how they were still working on it and couldn¡¯t give it in. The teacher knew something was up but had to relent when Rock and his group of friends backed her up, saying that Lucian was slacking off and she had to do all the work herself. It wasn¡¯t like that, she kept trying to say, he was the one who did all the work but never got any credit for it. In truth she knew she was a coward, she wanted to stand up for him but was afraid of rejection, a feeling she knew far too well. In the end, she decided to side with Rock and his friends, succumbing to becoming a superficial person, something she regretted every passing second of her life. As several days passed, her worry soon became frantic; there was no way he could be out of school with no reason, not even when he was mad at her. He didn¡¯t give her any contact details but she managed to locate his parents¡¯ phone number from the school records after calling in a couple of favors. She decided to phone his parents. ¡°Hi there, Mrs ¡­?¡± ¡°Sykens. Hurry up young lady, I don¡¯t have much time.¡± ¡°Mrs Sykens, I was wondering if you could spare me the place details of your son. He¡¯s left his bag in school and I¡¯d like to return it to him.¡± The lie slid smoothly through her words. ¡°And you are¡­?¡± ¡°His¡­ girlfriend.¡± She replied with a blush. ¡°Ah, young love. Of course. He lives in apartment 251 on the 2nd floor at the end of Matata street. You can¡¯t miss it; it¡¯s a massive apartment complex next to Hakuna plaza.¡± ¡°Thank you, Mrs Sykens.¡± ¡°No worries, just take care of him for me okay? He usually doesn¡¯t like visitors so it¡¯s strange that he¡¯s found a girlfriend all of a sudden. Ah who am I kidding, he was always the romantic one in our family.¡± Romantic? She thought. That was way too dubious to be true. Ellie quickly gathered her things and ran all the way to Matata Street, not stopping along the way. After all, it was only a 10 minute run from the school. She stopped as soon as she saw the Hakuna apartment complex. It was definitely huge, more than 4 floors to what was surely stacked with around 100 rooms per floor. She stumbled up the stairs and came to his apartment. The door was slightly ajar. Please tell me nothing bad has happened to him, she thought as she flung open the doors to each room. - There was a single green light in a sea of darkness in Lucian¡¯s bedroom. It came from a headset that covered half of his face, enveloping the top half of his head in grey dull metal. His face was calmly still as if he was finally relieved of all his problems in the world. The green speck was in fact an indicator of whether the player was online and Aurora was functioning without any problems. Or so everyone had thought. In truth, the green light measured the brain activity of all of its users and whether the brains were still alive or not. It was a secret way by the company behind Aurora to find out how many lights had gone out as it had simply meant that the player¡¯s brain had stopped working. A fantastic method, a man thought as he continued monitoring behind a dozen computer screens. - A beam of light penetrated the dark, growing increasingly wider as Ellie opened the door to Lucian¡¯s bedroom. There she spotted Lucian on his bed with the VR headset around him, the green light indicating that he was online in Aurora. Ellie immediately went to him and started shaking him, desperately trying to wake him up. When that didn¡¯t work, she tried to switch the headset off but to her horror, the green light was still lit and her attempts proved futile, even as she tried to manually remove the headset to find that it was firmly clamped to his head. If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Stumped, Ellie knelt beside him. It was clear that he was trapped in Aurora, a game she had started to despise for making her lose her friend. I gave up on him so many times in the past, but there¡¯s a first time for everything, she thought. It was decided. She would go into Aurora herself and together they would find a way out of the game. Ellie brought out her phone and called her mom. ¡°Hello?¡± ¡°Mom, I need you to come to the Hakuna apartment complex. There¡¯s a boy who¡¯s stuck inside a VR game and no matter what I try to do, he won¡¯t wake up.¡± ¡°Hold on a second. A boy? First of all, we¡¯ve gone over this topic many times, I don¡¯t want you going over to any boy¡¯s house unless it¡¯s Rock¡¯s which I¡¯m almost certain it¡¯s not. Secondly, what the hell are you even doing there?¡± ¡°He¡¯s¡­ my boyfriend.¡± Ellie still had trouble consolidating this idea in her head. ¡°Look, mom, please, I really need you to do this for me, just this once.¡± There was a massive sigh at the other end of the phone. ¡°There have been reports about similar situations all over the news; you can¡¯t expect me to take in everyone who¡¯s like this. Ellie, I-¡° ¡°If you don¡¯t do it for me, I¡¯ll run away from home.¡± She knew she was being cruel, considering her mom was genuinely afraid of her leaving home since her dad had run away from them when she was very little, however she had to do whatever was necessary. ¡°Fine. We¡¯ll talk about this later when we get home.¡± Her mom hung up. She collapsed against the wall in exhaustion. All she had to do now was wait. An hour later, Ellie¡¯s mom came by in a family car and together they loaded Lucian¡¯s still body into the passenger seat without a single word. They drove back to the Borealis household in silence, tension oozing between Ellie and her mom. Ellie¡¯s mom was the first to break the silence. ¡°I¡¯ll hook him up to an IV drip, that way his body will still continue to receive nutrients as if he¡¯s been constantly eating and drinking all this time. That¡¯s the least I can do for him. Just promise me you won¡¯t do anything stupid again, Ellie.¡± Ellie just nodded back in response. Her mom was a former nurse so it wasn¡¯t anything unusual for her to have a large amount of medical knowledge and equipment lying around. As promised, Ellie¡¯s mom hooked Lucian up to an IV drip in the guest room, and she was grateful that he was still alive, being in that state for so long. After that, her mom left the room leaving her and Lucian alone together. She stared at his face. The way that his brows were furrowed along with the serene expression he had on his face made her smile, a sad, knowing smile. She leaned over slightly and pressed her lips against his. The coldness of his lips made her shiver, in more ways than one. I¡¯m coming, my prince. ***** Several hours later, Ellie¡¯s mom came to the guest room to check on the boy¡¯s state to see if he showed any signs of improvement. She found him to be in the same state he was when they had first brought him in. The only difference was that Ellie had disappeared. ¡°That girl¡­ I tell her not to do anything stupid and she goes running off again.¡± As she went to make lunch, she noticed the door to Ellie¡¯s room was shut. Whatever, she was probably still mad at me for earlier, she thought. As she proceeded to make lunch, Ellie¡¯s favorite in fact, she wondered what Ellie could see in that boy that made her like him so much. ¡°Ellie! Lunch is ready!¡± When she got no response, she shouted again. ¡°Ellie, come out of your room, I made your favorite!¡± Again, she was rewarded with silence. ¡°Honestly¡­¡± She made her way to Ellie¡¯s room, carrying the lunch she made for Ellie with her. ¡°Young lady, if you don¡¯t come out of your room right now, I¡¯m coming in there!¡± After the third time she received nothing, Ellie¡¯s mom slammed open the door and went in. What she saw made her drop the lunch she was carrying, the vibrant colours of the food mixing in with the scarlet red of the carpet as she sunk down on to her knees. -- Author''s note: Several hints to the future plot here, you''ll know when more chapters are uploaded. I hope my descriptions are on-point ^_^ Anyways, I probably won''t be writing about Ellie for a while, though she is an integral part of the story later on. Also, a cookie to whoever can find the reference I made in the chapter, it''s pretty obvious (I ran out of ideas for names). Chapter 3 -- Nocturne Hey, forgot to notify beforehand: I was away camping for a week. Regular schedule will be back. In order for Lucian to find a way out of Aurora, he first needs to reinstate himself as his past character. To do that, Lucian requires his former class, Revenant, a unique drop from the hidden boss Nocturne who lay in a maze. -- I waited until dusk. In the meantime, I decided on my plan of action. By plan, all it really was was improvisation. I would proceed by going through the labyrinth, finding the boss and defeating it. Easy. All the factors in-between, I¡¯d deal with when I get to them. Nightfall, itself was the capital of the continent. A single statue of the king was located in the middle of the town in the market square and shops and stalls were set up around the statue. Further beyond that, the homes of the residents could be found where it would be deathly silent during the night where cries could sometimes be heard. I went to the nearest manhole located just north of the statue. The maze itself was actually the entire sewer system, because the creators of the game couldn¡¯t find anything more amusing than watching people walk through tons of crap. In the middle of the maze was Nocturne, which was where the 1 on 1 boss fight would ensue. **** Before Nocturne came about, people believed that dreams were part of their imaginations, that it was something able to be controlled. This theory was put to the test when Nightfall residents would sometimes wake up screaming, terrified and unable to be calmed down. Some would be unable to sleep, slowly going insane as sleepless nights came and went. Some simply did not wake up. Thus Nocturne was born, out of the nightmares of the people living above. He continues to terrify and plague the people of Nightfall as long as he remains undefeated. An entity, who¡¯s form is entirely unknown, located deep underground, somewhere where not even the bravest adventurers dare wander. **** Before I ventured down, I calculated that with the all constant debuffs occuring, it would take 1 hour for me to die from being down there so long. That meant time wasn¡¯t my ally, though it never usually was anyway. I¡¯d have to pace through this as quickly as possible. I checked the time in-game; it was 19:58:02. I¡¯d have until approximately 9pm to complete all of this and obtain my class. Bracing myself, I climbed down the ladder. Instantly, I felt the full effects of the darkness hit me. The cold, as sharp as a knife, biting at my skin as my body grew weaker due to my defences started being reduced. The overwhelming darkness of the maze made my vision entirely useless. As a result, I started to second guess myself. Is it even possible to beat this? Do I need to do this? Wait, it¡¯s still not too late to go back, I don¡¯t have to risk my life for this. I tried to ignore the constant popup notifications that warned me of the various afflictions on my body, but it was extremely hard to do when I was there alone in the darkness. Why am I still standing here? Come on Lucian, focus. Stop wasting so much time. How did I manage to navigate this maze the first time? I mentally slapped myself for not figuring this out before. Alright so, I can¡¯t see a goddamn thing here, it¡¯s freezing and I¡¯m going to die if I stay here too long. Good start. As I shuffled around in the dark, I accidentally hit something which sent it flying down the tunnels, the sound of which echoed as it clattered along. Then it clicked in my mind. Of course. I just have to see without using my eyes. That was one of the key steps to becoming an assassin. Skill learned!
Skill Name:Skill Rank:Skill Level:Skill Experience:
EcholocationBeginner10%
Description: The art of seeing with your ears.
Echolocation. The process of making a sound which once reflected, allows the user to locate objects based on the reflected sound. It wasn¡¯t really useful during assassination attempts when you were trying to be stealthy but it was incredibly helpful when you are trying to navigate in the dark. And what better time than now to use such a method without any vision at all. After all, when one of your senses is removed from the equation, it enhances the strength of the other four senses. With that, I started making a clicking noise that reverberated throughout the tunnel. In my mind, this created an image that the current place I was in right now extended for quite some distance. I checked the time, 20:07:46. I had already wasted around 10 minutes and made absolutely no progress whatsoever. I could not waste any more. I started pacing down the tunnel, making sloshing noises as I waded in god knows what. This continued on for some time until I reached what seemed to be like a junction as my clicks started to travel in two opposite directions. Ugh. How annoying. I was going to have to guess which way to go and hope that I¡¯d get it right. In the end, I decided to go left which actually led me to a dead end, clarified by the sound of my clicks reflecting against a wall. I went back the other direction, running to make up for lost time. All of this occurred for what seemed like an eternity; running into dead ends, running back, trying to find the boss room. All the while running out of time and patience as I grew increasingly frustrated. Eventually, the sound of my clicks started to expand all around me, indicating that I was in some sort of clearing. This was it, I realized, I finally made it to the boss. I checked my status. [tr]
Status Window
Name:CianAlignment:Neutral
Level:201Class:None
Race:HumanGender:Male
Titles
None
Health:1800 / 4020
Mana:1500 / 2010Stamina:1270 / 2010
Movement Speed:Up to 161
To my despair, I saw that just over half my health had already gone and I lost stamina at an alarming rate due to excessive running in the tunnels. This wasn¡¯t going to be a good fight. As I entered the clearing, the atmosphere instantly chilled. The silence here was almost unbearable, creating such tension made my nerves go on edge, waiting for whatever was going to come next. Then a voice resonated through the darkness. ¡°All alone¡­¡± ¡°Your point?¡± I tried to sound brave but my voice came out as more of a stutter due to the cold. ¡°Are you afraid of the dark, challenger?¡± ¡°I-¡° Without warning, a searing sensation spread through my right shoulder as claws suddenly raked through my upper torso, causing me to cry out in pain. ¡°Such¡­weakness, and you hope to defeat me?¡± I didn¡¯t reply as the pain was simply too much. I could imagine the raw mess that was my shoulder, and the amount of healing that would have to be done. That was if I got out of here. Right now, I was writhing around in pain, as if that would somehow help to ease the feeling. This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. God, it wasn¡¯t this painful when I first fought Nocturne. I clenched my teeth and got up on my feet. I can¡¯t lose more health fighting this guy or I won¡¯t be able to make it out alive. I don¡¯t have enough time either. So many things I needed to take into consideration but I gave none of it any thought. I only knew one thing. I would not die so easily. His attack pattern relied on my loss of vision, by taking advantage of this weakness, he¡¯d charge and strike at my position. However, he did not know that I had overcome my lack of vision by using sound instead. In preparation, I drew out my main weaponry, daggers which I had coated with poison from the vials I had bought earlier. Before I could do anything else, Nocturne charged at me once again but this time I sidestepped him with ease since I could see in my mind something approaching at me with high speed. As I did so, I threw one of the daggers in my hand at him, causing a shriek of both pain and surprise as it found its target. In all the RPG games I played, this tactic was most often known as ¡®kiting¡¯, which was to bait the enemy into attacking you but dodging at the last second and hitting them back. As a result, I removed his strength to fight in the darkness, rendering his ambush attempts useless. He could not use my weakness against me. This strategy of mine seemed to continue to work well for some time until I realized that Nocturne wasn¡¯t moving. Strange. That¡¯s never happened before. ¡°Hahaha¡­ You think darkness is your ally¡­¡± His voice echoed throughout the area. ¡°But you merely adopted the dark; I was born in it, moulded by it.¡± ¡°Hey¡­you know Batman wins in the end right?¡± As I was saying this, I noticed two objects coming at me at a rapid pace from two different directions. What the hell is this? There are two of them? I sidestepped the first one but this caused me to run straight into the other creature that consequently sliced the air, his claws arcing towards my right leg. I crumpled instantly, the pressure from the wound created proved to be too strong for me to stand. As I lay there on the floor, the two different entities backed off, ready to charge at me again. That really sucked, considering my right leg was now useless as I struggled to stand up on just one leg. My mobility had been significantly reduced as a result. The situation was starting to get somewhat dire. I had one last attempt at defeating them. One of the entities started to elongate, forming a spear-like shape from which I could guess he was intending to impale me once and for all. However, an idea popped up in my head. This has to work otherwise I¡¯m dead. Two birds, one stone. I positioned myself in between both of them so that they were at opposite ends from me; one to my right and one to my left. Breathing deeply, I was ready for my final move. ¡°Come.¡± Needing no more words, they converged towards my position, laughing as they did so. Wait for it. I heard the whistling of the air as they grew ever closer, eager to end my life as quickly as possible. Wait for it¡­ As they were about to hit their target, everything seemed to instantly slowed down. Time seemed to trickle down like slow motion. In this fraction of a moment, I ducked, landing on my back as my legs were unable to support my body. As soon as I hit the ground, I heard the shrill cry of the two creatures above me. The collision between the two entities above would leave one of them hopefully impaled, theoretically ending the life of the entire creature, since one half could not live without the other, not when they shared a single mind. Skill Learned! [tr]
Skill Name:Skill Rank:Skill Level:Skill Experience:
StandstillBeginner120%
Description: Able to momentarily slow down time
There was a sickening squelch and I felt the slimy remains of the creature drop on me, making me shudder. The area suddenly turned humid, enhancing the gorgeous smell of the waste around me. I guess Nocturne''s presence changed the atmosphere in the vicinity. Several notifications popped up on my screen. Skill Acquired!
Skill Name:Skill Rank:Skill Level:Skill Experience:
ParanoiaBeginner10%
Description: Terrify the minds of your enemies...
Skill Acquired!
Skill Name:Skill Rank:Skill Level:Skill Experience:
Shadow CloneBeginner10%
Description: Twice the presence, twice the fear
Title Acquired!
Name: Slayer of the Shadows Description: You have defeated Nocturne, the Eternal Nightmare. Effects: People are incredibly unlikely to notice you anywhere you go.
Class Acquired!
Revenant
Type:UniqueRequirements:Level 200+, Slayer of the Shadows
Description:The night is darkest before the dawn...
Do you accept this class [Y / N]
I did it. I beat him. However, these were the least of my worries as I still had to get out of this place and with my hp reaching critical levels, it looked closer and closer to being impossible. I decided to equip the class once I got out. I tried standing up but instead it ended up with me collapsing again. My constant attempts at trying to upright myself were in vain as it was too strenuous an effort. In the end, I resorted to half-crawling, half- limping through the sewer trash but these were acts of desperation. My health only remained at a measly 5%. There I see the light! I don¡¯t know if I was delirious from all the pain or if it really was beams of moonlight being casted down the manhole. 2%... Crawling through all the sludge, I placed one hand on a ladder rung. The light casted upon my body really did make it seem as if I was ascending to heaven. To be honest, I didn¡¯t really mind if I went to heaven. 1%... -- Got the early development out the way! Now on to the more exciting parts of the story. Chapter 4 -- Awakening A/N: Some *sensitive* stuff in this chapter. Also trying out a different writing style. But anyways, hope you enjoy it and feel free to leave a comment/review/feedback. Note: Cian is pronounced like the color ''Cyan'' -- I bolt awake, my memories returning to me in a haze. My head hurts like hell and I instinctively rub it, wondering how I managed to survive the previous night. Butterflies flutter in my stomach, making me feel queasy but I bear with the feeling nonetheless. Then I squint in the bright light. Where am I? Rays of sunlight beams into the unfamiliar room from the slanted windows, colouring the room into a creamlike colour and white curtains ruffle in the wind. Nearby, there is a mahogany table where a book lay alongside a quill and some ink. Vases consisting of a multitude of flowers are spread around the room, their scent wafting to my nose, a nice sweet smell. I move slightly, only to realize I¡¯m in a bed filled with blankets and pillows. I blink, once, twice, trying to shrug off the disorientation for a moment. Did I die? This room really doesn¡¯t really look like the fiery pits of hell though. What happened? I remember crawling through human waste, fighting Nocturne, then passing out somewhere. I looked down at my legs, bandages wrapping around my right leg covering so much of it, there was hardly any visible skin. The rags of my armor were gone, replaced by simple clean clothing. Who changed my clothes and cleaned me? I gingerly touch my leg and wince, knowing I won¡¯t be able to move around much. My hair seems to have been scrubbed clean of any waste and excrement as I use one hand to comb through my hair. The door suddenly creaked open, startling me and interrupting my thoughts. A girl, around 17 or so peers inside. When she sees me, her face brightens, a bundle of happiness and joy as she bustles in to the room. ¡°Hey, I see you¡¯re awake, I''m Lily by the way. Mom found you unconscious and covered in¡­uh-¡° She gives me a quizzical look. ¡°Yeah I know. Don¡¯t ask, I really don¡¯t want to talk about it. Oh, and the name''s Cian.¡± ¡°Okay¡­ Well, rest up. You¡¯ll need it considering the state of you when we found you. Then we can talk.¡± With that, Lily left me to my own thoughts. It wasn¡¯t until a couple of days later when I had fully recovered that her curiosity finally got the better of her and she couldn¡¯t help but question me. ¡°So¡­ how did you manage to end up nearly dead?¡± I looked at her impassively. ¡°Do I need to tell you?¡± ¡°You don¡¯t, but when you¡¯re living under someone¡¯s roof, its common courtesy to not keep secrets from one another.¡± Given any other situation, she was right, but this was something far different than usual and I could not, would not, tell her about what I was doing that day. Instead, I gave another explanation. ¡°I got attacked by boars and they outnumbered me. I was helpless and couldn¡¯t defend myself.¡± I said, trying my best to not sound sarcastic. She gave me an incredulous look. ¡°Really? You got attacked by boars, which never leave their homes in the forest and are actually non-hostile to players and NPCs unless provoked? Either they were looking for food or you were being an idiot.¡± I said nothing. She muttered under her breath. ¡°You were definitely being an idiot.¡± Before I could respond, Lily grabbed me by my arm and led me out of the room. ¡°Well. Whatever. Let me show you around the house.¡± It seems as if though I was lucky enough to be brought into the care of a good noble family, namely Bellatrix. From what I know, nobles in this world are incredibly obnoxious and arrogant and love to flaunt their authority everywhere they go. I¡¯m just glad that this family wasn¡¯t one of those otherwise I¡¯d have left without a moment¡¯s hesitation. Not that I wanted to bond with them anyway of course, I had much more important things on mind. Instead I followed Lily around her house or mansion more like, her showing me just how lavish it was, with all the decorations and such. When she finished giving me a tour of the place, she turned around and faced me. ¡°You aren¡¯t considering leaving so soon are you? Besides, you still have to pay for all the accommodation we provided for you, so you can¡¯t leave yet. I doubt you¡¯d survive out there anyway, you look like you aren¡¯t even level 10 yet.¡± Really? So much for looking like an assassin when I can¡¯t even fool a simple girl. ¡°Of course, I¡¯m grateful for everything you¡¯ve done for me but I can¡¯t promise that I¡¯ll stay here permanently. Once I repay my debts, then I¡¯ll take my leave.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± I couldn¡¯t help but notice a twinge of sadness in her voice. ¡°Well, I¡¯m going to go to the market for some food to make dinner later. Mom says we¡¯ll be making curry so um¡­ I guess if you want to help out, just meet me by the front door at four.¡± Her eyes were downcast as she said this. I hate to disappoint her even more but going around shopping for groceries wasn¡¯t exactly the top of my list of priorities at the moment. I also did not want to get close with anyone in this world, as I¡¯d have to leave them behind sooner or later and I¡¯ve had my share of pain in this lifetime. I replied nonchalantly, ¡°Sorry, I¡¯ve got other things to do. I¡¯ll see you around.¡± She shrugged at my response and began to walk away, leaving me alone in an unfamiliar place and without a clue on what to do and where to start. Servants who were walking by gave me weird looks, as if they were wondering what the hell I was doing here. To be fair, I didn¡¯t know what I was actually doing either. Ack. I suppose we have to start somewhere. ¡°Miss Lily!¡± She paused mid-step. ¡°I am in need of some new equipment so I suppose this would be a good time for me to go along and visit the market and see what they have to offer.¡± What am I doing? ¡°Well, I guess it¡¯s decided then! I¡¯ll see you at the front door at four.¡± I could tell she was trying not to react to what I said but the side of her mouth twitched, and it made her look like she was smirking at me. It was as if she had¡­ I mentally facepalmed myself as the realization struck me. Sometimes I really did feel like an idiot. **** Before I met up with Lily, I remembered I still needed to accept the class I got from my fight with Nocturne. If I remembered correctly, the effect I got from that class were far superior then any other effects from other classes, as it needed to be, considering the amount of effort I went through obtaining it.
Revenant
Type:UniqueRequirements:Level 200+, Slayer of the Shadows
Description:The night is darkest before the dawn...
Do you accept this class [Y / N]
Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. I selected yes and equipped the class. Skill Acquired!
Skill Name:Skill Rank:Skill Level:Skill Experience:
DeceiveBeginner10%
Description: Not even you will know who you are...
Ah, how glad I am to have you back. Deceive was an ability that allowed me to change my appearance to anybody in the game, whilst not as powerful as some of other classes'' abilities, the utility of this skill was beyond comprehension. After I finished preparing, I made my way to Lily and we proceeded to *walk* to the market, even though it was ridiculously far away from her home. The reason for doing so was less to do with me wanting to be inconspicuous at being seen with a noble but more so with Lily¡¯s futile attempts at trying to befriend me which I simply ignored. The marketplace we were going to was what some would call ¡®business¡¯ and others ¡®illegal¡¯. It was a mixture between actual vendors and people who sold... objects, in other words, young girls, so I was quite uneasy about having Lily with me. If anything did happen to her though, I wasn¡¯t sure how I¡¯d react to the situation. I¡®m not a hero for god¡¯s sake, and I¡¯m certainly not her damn bodyguard. Even as I thought about this prospect, out of the corner of my eye I saw she was browsing the various food on sale but she had certainly attracted some unwanted attention in doing so. I couldn¡¯t help but notice several strange looks Lily had garnered from other people in the market, especially the shady looking ones who looked at her with some feigned interest. I looked back at Lily and saw her laughing with the vendor about something but the smile that he returned in response was void of any warmth. Instead it seemed like he was smiling about something else entirely. I groaned inwardly. Something¡¯s about to go down pretty soon and I¡¯m not going to be here when it does. Suddenly, three people from a nearby stall selling potions began walking towards Lily, all of them equipping short swords as they did so. Just as they were about to reach her though, she spun around and landed a roundhouse kick which sent one of the men flying into a stall. This didn¡¯t deter the other men however and two more came from other stalls making it a total of four people who were slowly closing in and surrounding their prey. Right now, I was talking with a clothier from whom I had bought a hooded robe made of white shimmering satin trimmed with blue thread, the elegance and simplicity of which had peaked my interest. At the same time, I was looking on at the situation, unsure of whether to take any action or not considering it really did not involve me. I¡¯m sure she has it covered, I reassured myself. Showing my power off this early was something I did not intend to do. Lily was about to pull out the stiletto she always carried as a sign of precaution from her inside pocket when strong arms from behind wrestled it out of her grip; belonging to the shop vendor she was talking to not less than a minute ago. ¡°Don¡¯t move little girl, wouldn¡¯t want to hurt ya.¡± He grinned to the other four. ¡°This one¡¯s worth quite a bit.¡± I sighed. I felt some sort of detachment at the current predicament after having gone through it so many times myself as well. But, my life was owed to her and a life debt is a life debt after all. I activated [ Standstill ], causing everything around me to slow down to a mere fraction of what it previously was. The people around me became living statues, unable to move or do anything of significance. From here I used [Deceive], disguising myself as someone else who I would later use as my double in future endeavours. Donning the robe I had just bought, I brought the hood up to cover my face and I approached the men. I drew my daggers out of their sheaths. **** The stall vendor was sure he¡¯d make some hefty profits from today¡¯s capture. Her beauty was something men would drool over as soon as they lay their eyes upon her, and her body¡­ he shivered. Instead he hoped he could keep her for himself rather than selling her to the filthy, grubby noble that he worked for. Just as he was going to get a feel of what she was like underneath, he noticed a movement in the corner of the eye coming towards him. ¡°Go take care of¡­ whoever that is.¡± He signalled to the four men. These were veteran bandits, he thought, they¡¯d been doing this business for years, of course they wouldn¡¯t fail so easily. He wouldn¡¯t let anybody take his prize away, not this time. The vendor watched as a man cloaked in a blue and white robe walked toward his men with no fear, weapons and no armor to protect himself. He smirked. He wondered to himself if this guy was either a lunatic or an idiot for even trying to bother fighting him. Probably an idiot, he mused, he definitely looks like one. He yawned, too tired to think of what he¡¯d say to that pesky noble about what happened today when a figure clad in white popped up right behind him. ¡°Have you ever felt¡­ what it¡¯s like to be¡­ helpless?¡± A deep voice emanated in his ears. ¡°No? Then let me show you what it feels like.¡± -- People who were coming to the food stall to investigate the commotion being caused nearby, only managed to find five people lying on the ground, pools of blood spilling out underneath them, one of which had his expression frozen with his mouth forming an ¡®O¡¯ shape, as if he was in the middle of a yawn. **** ¡°Cian!¡± Lily rushed towards the clothes stall. ¡°You wouldn¡¯t believe what just happened.¡± ¡°Why, what happened?¡± I replied, no emotion in my voice whatsoever. ¡°The person I was buying food from called in some of his friends and they attacked me and were about to take me away when some white robed guy came and killed all of them.¡± Her face was flushed as she continued speaking. ¡°Yeah, no chance.¡± I responded back. ¡°You might not believe me,¡± She pouted. ¡°But I definitely knew what I saw. He was like a blur, moving so fast between all of them, it¡¯s like he was an unstoppable force.¡± Her face shone, in what seemed like a moment of awe as she recalled the event in her head. ¡°Hmm¡­ You¡¯re right actually.¡± ¡°See? I knew you¡¯d trust me eventually.¡± I turned away and started walking back towards home. ¡°You¡¯re right that I don¡¯t believe you.¡±