《The Smiling Coffin》 Chapter 1 - Chaos Ensues Chapter 1: Chaos Ensues "Jacob, it¡¯s getting late! You¡¯ll miss school at this rate!" Mom¡¯s voice floated from downstairs, gentle but firm. Normally, I would have ignored it a little longer, maybe stayed in bed, pretending I was still asleep. But today was different. Today, I had a plan¡ªa plan that should have already been in motion. I gritted my teeth, gripping the edge of the sink as I stared at my reflection in the bathroom mirror. My heart pounded, my stomach twisted. Everything was set. Everything was ready. Except for one thing. Moler, my father, should have already left for work. He usually did by six a.m., yet for some reason, he was still here. My mother, too, was lingering longer than usual. My plan depended on them both being gone. My fingers curled into a fist, nails digging into my palm. "I have a stomachache," I yelled back, my voice tight with frustration. "What am I supposed to do?" I could hear my mother moving downstairs, talking to one of the housekeepers. I clenched my jaw. Do I have to wait another day? My hands trembled at the thought. No. I had already resolved myself. I had already committed. Today is the day. No more suffering. No more humiliation. No more being their plaything. My breathing grew ragged as I imagined their faces¡ªsmug, laughing, eyes full of mockery. I pictured them contorting in terror, drowning in the pain they so casually inflicted on me. My heart pounded wildly. The anger inside me felt like fire, consuming, endless. "Jacob, are you okay?" My mother¡¯s voice broke through my haze, soft and full of concern. A lump rose in my throat. Oh, Mom¡­ If only I could tell you. If only I could let you hold me, comfort me, tell me it would be okay. But deep down, I knew the truth. There was no going back. I swallowed hard, forcing my voice into something weak and sickly. "I¡¯m okay, Mom. Just a little stomach pain. I¡¯ll be fine in a few minutes and head to school." She hesitated. "Jacob, you sound really sick. Your father already left, but should I call him? Maybe he can help." "No need, Mom. I think I¡¯m feeling better. Don¡¯t worry about me, you¡¯re already late for work." There was a pause, then a sigh. "Alright, my precious Jacob. But call me if you need anything." The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. I didn¡¯t answer. I just stood there, gripping the edge of the sink, staring at myself. This is it. My parents were finally leaving. I let out a slow breath, shaking off the moment of hesitation that had crept into my mind. Like a pre-programmed robot, I walked out of the bathroom, up the stairs, and into my room. Grabbing my bag, I slung it over my shoulder before quietly making my way down the hall. I stopped at my parents¡¯ bedroom door, glancing left and right. The housekeeper, Mesaya, was probably in the kitchen. No one should see me. Slipping inside, I went straight to my father¡¯s dresser. I opened the drawer and found the safe hidden inside. My fingers hovered over the keypad as a memory surfaced¡ªthe day my father had urgently asked me to fetch a document from the safe and given me the code. I entered the numbers. A soft beep, then a click. The door swung open. There it was. A Glock 35. Fully loaded. My fingers curled around the grip as I pulled it out. It felt heavy, real. Powerful. My breath quickened. No turning back. I secured it inside my bag, making sure it wouldn¡¯t shift or be seen, then locked the safe and left the room. As I descended the stairs, Mesaya greeted me. "Jacob, are you okay? Do you need anything?" I ignored her. I couldn¡¯t speak. If I did, I might break. Instead, I walked straight out the door. Outside, the driver, Bernir, was already waiting by the car. "Morning, Jacob," he greeted cheerfully. I climbed in without a word, my hands clenched into fists in my lap. I wasn¡¯t in the mood to talk. Not when my mind was set on something irreversible. The school building loomed ahead as I stepped out of the car. My stomach twisted, but not with fear¡ªwith rage. I walked through the halls, passing students who barely acknowledged my existence. Not yet. They would soon. I reached my classroom, gripping the strap of my bag so tightly my knuckles turned white. I pushed open the door and stepped inside. Laughter erupted immediately. "Look who finally decided to show up!" One of them sneered. "Did you piss your pants and have to go home and change?" The others chuckled, their eyes gleaming with amusement. My suffering was their entertainment. "Hey, Jacob!" Another voice called. "Did you bring your mommy to hold your hand?" My vision blurred with fury. No more. My hand moved to my bag, fingers brushing against the cold metal inside. This was it. The moment I had been waiting for. I unzipped my bag. One motion. One pull of the trigger. That was all it would take. But before I could move, a sharp vibration erupted from my phone. Not just mine. Every phone in the classroom. A chime, a single sound, cut through the room. Everyone instinctively reached for their devices. Confused murmurs filled the air. I pulled my phone out with a shaky hand. The screen was lit up, a notification glowing at the center, which shouldn''t have been possible because I had put my phone in airplane mode. [Link successfully established. Fate successfully entwined. Each Player is linked to a single character. If the character dies, the Player dies.] My heart stopped. My breath caught in my throat. The classroom was silent. For the first time ever, my classmates weren¡¯t laughing. A slow, creeping smile spread across my lips as I tilted my head slightly, my grip loosening on my bag. "Guess I¡¯ll be the first to see if this Link connection is really established or not." Chapter 2 - The World of Entwines 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¡ªthis 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¡ªthe 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¡ªheight, hair color¡ªclicking 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¡ªshould 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¡ªwhich was huge¡ªbut 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¡ªit 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.