Tupp!
He gasped, his eyes widening as he heard his name called. For a moment, he was stunned and speechless, frozen in place as he realised he was no longer in his room.
"What the..."
Clearly displayed in his eyes, revealing towering trees, swaying gently in the breeze, accompanied by the sound of birds soaring overhead. This is not his room anymore; he is in a strange place, an unfamiliar location... perhaps a forest... enveloped by tall trees and no longer sitting on the edge of his bed but rather on an old, fragile, and damaged log. His heart pounded.
"No...no way...impossible...how can I end up here?"
He stood up abruptly, staggering a bit, and glanced around. It appeared as though he was in disbelief in his eyes. Then, came a gust of wind that struck his face.
"No…this is not a dream..."
"B...b...but how... I was just in my room; I just turned on the game, and then..."
He slapped his cheeks...hard...really hard...until his cheeks turned crimson. His eyes narrowed slightly with pain.
"This is real...wait…it doesn't make sense..."
He began pacing.
"What is this...am I in some kind of hallucination...It has to be."
His breathing quickened.
"How can I end up here? From what I remembered, I slept out just before the game began."
Suddenly, out of nowhere, a foreign voice resounded from all directions, raspy, deep, and reverberating.
[ Welcome, Sayda. You successfully enter Into The Game. ]
He gasped, his eyes immediately turning around, looking for the direction the voice came from.
"Who the fuck is talking... 'enter the game?'... What kind of joke is this?"
His eyes were still looking for the voice while he gripped his palm in utter disbelief.
"I'm in the game? No...no...no...it doesn't make sense; it has to be a dream...nothing more than that."
[ You have got a mission to complete. Press 'OPEN' to find out. ]
"STOP PLAYING WITH ME! Tell me what's happened right now?"
His voice escalated in pitch, expressing frustration with a situation he perceived as mere fabrication. The high pitch of his voice boomed through the odd woodland, prompting birds to chirp noisily from the treetops and scatter in the skies like scared spirits. Feeling a bit short of breath, he quickly inhaled deeply to regain his composure.
"Am I..."
He spoke slowly while exhaling air and suddenly closed his eyes and gazed up at the sky, attempting to come to terms with the imagined reality.The absence of bird chattering silenced the atmosphere, leaving just the sound of the wind hitting the leaves of the trees until one of them dropped and floated in the air, slowly landing on Sayda's shoulder. He promptly opened his eyes upon grasping the leaf; it was neither an illusion nor a mental fabrication, as Sayda discerned the leaf's authenticity.
"So this is real… I'm actually...inside the game..."
The strange voice reemerged, seemingly disregarding Sayda, who was lost in the tide of thoughts, uncertain if this was reality or merely an illusion.
[ You have got a mission to complete. Press 'OPEN' to find out. ]
"That's right...if this is real, I just have to finish this game and everything will be back to normal...right?"
The atmosphere fell into still silence; no answer came..."
Reality, dream, or illusion... doesn't matter."
Sayda clenched his fist.
"This game is just like other..."
He released the leaf from his grasp and allowed it to float freely in the breeze.
"I'll finish it."
"Now...how can I press 'Open' to..."
POFFP!
Without a moment's delay, before he could utter another word, a mysterious chest appeared above him.
"What..."
Dumm!
The chest fell right on top of him, crashing down on Sayda's head with its unexpected weight.
"Ugh...What the hell?"
He groaned in pain.
"I didn't press the open yet... Ugh...my head."
The chest lying on the ground with an ancient-looking box; it wasn't large nor small. Made of dark wood, which is partially decayed, bound with rusted iron, and has an unknown carving across its surface.He rubbed his head as he looked at the chest.
"Where did it come from...was the mission inside?"
He said in full of confusion while seeing the chest that innocently sat on the forest floor, as though it hadn't crushed his head just now. Without wasting a single second, he looked down, trying to open the chest.
When he opened the chest, there was a piece of old paper trapped inside. Without thinking twice, he tried to pull out the paper, but suddenly that paper flew by itself...hovering in front of him. Showing the old writing written in it. Seeing that, Sayda stepped back a little. Showing his slightly shocked face.
"Whoa...whoa…what the hell?"
He then brought the face closer, wanting to read the writing on it.
You Have Got The 4 Main Missions to Complete.
• Find and Meet Elowen
• Find 2 Sacred and 2 Cursed Relics
• Find and Open the Gate of 'Dark, Purely, Light, Disgrace
• Find and defeat Kaelar
Players who fail to complete the mission will be PUNISHED.
He was stunned.
Seeing the task made him speechless, but something caught his attention.
"Elowen...Kaelar... Like the names of people...why does this name seem familiar?"
All of a sudden, the paper curled and crumpled on its own and finally—TOFFF—disappeared, leaving the colourful dust flying into the sky.
"What the...Oi...I don't fully remember yet!"
He rushed and tried to reach the paper, but it was too late since it had already become stardust and was already flying in the sky.
"Tch, dammit."
The voice echoed again.
[To Player: Press 'MAP' to See Your Current Location]
Sayda took a deep breath, trying to calm down.
"If this is real, I need to know where I am now."
He then gazed up to the sky.
"So now how can I press the 'Map'?"
POFFP!
Suddenly, out of nowhere, a piece of bound and rolled paper emerged and fell from the sky. Sayda saw it and acted fast, snatching the piece of paper before it could touch the ground.
"Phew, that was close!"
Wasting no time, he immediately undid the rope and laid it on the ground before unfolding it and making it wide open on the ground. Just looking at the map, Sayda's eyes widened.
"Damn...This world...is huge..."
His voice filled with amazement.At the top of the map is written the word
[Ranar]
"Ranar? What's that...the name of this map?"
He looked at it closely; his curiosity was piqued by the location's name that appeared on the map.
"Mountain dragon? Dragon Palace? Eagle caste? Throne kingdom? ...these names sound exactly like a fantasy game."
That foreign voice comes again.
[To player, Press the chest and names of the 'items' to store it. ]
"This game can store items? Damn, this is becoming more interesting..."
He thought it would make things simpler for him, so he spoke in a cheerful little tone. Sayda promptly rose to his feet at that foreign voice.
"So how can I press it?"
Everything fell into a hushed stillness, as if the system had chosen not to answer the inquiry. Sayda looked around, knowing that the foreign voice would not answer his question, so he assumed.
"Or maybe I should say it? If so"
He took a deep breath before saying it.
"CHEST 'STORE'"
Nothing happened.
"Or maybe... Chest 'Store' 'Map'"
TOFFF!
That map vanished before he could close his eyelids. Seeing that Sayda's behaviour changed instantly.
"Damn, it's work..."
He smiled widely, thinking this will become easier for him.
"So how can I take it back?"
"Chest 'Map'"
POFFP!
Suddenly the map appeared on his hand. Sayda became happier to see something he had never seen in his whole life.
"Whoa...Great...I understand now."
[To Player, Look at your palm to find out how many lives you have left. ]
Upon hearing the foreign voice, he instantly looked at his palm.
"10?... I have 10 lives? ... Yezza... Let's fucking go."
He gripped his hands with a pleased, amazed expression on his face.
"Damn, this game becomes more interesting."
[TO PLAYER, USE YOUR LIVES WISELY. YOU WILL NOT GET AN EXTRA LIFE. ]
"Really? Well... I think 10 lives is enough."
[To player, Use that knife as your weapon.]
"A knife?"
He subsequently turned around until his gaze fixed upon a knife embedded in the log on which he had initially been seated.
"That knife?"
Sayda then walked closer to the knife. Until that voice comes again.
[Warning to player: Don't lose this knife until the end of this game.]
[ If a player fails, the player will be PUNISHED.]
"Damn... It looks like this knife is very important."
He moved closer to the knife until it was right in front of him. Sayda attempted to reach his hand towards the knife handle. A gentle breeze hit his face, but he ignored it. Slowly he approached until finally he reached the knife and pulled it out and...
TUPP!
Out of nowhere, everything became black. Sayda seemed to freeze; he couldn't see or talk as if someone closed his eyes and mouth, but his ear still could hear even though it was completely dark and quiet... Until a voice comes in an agitated tone calling his name.
"SAYDA...YOU DUMBASS... WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"
"YOU WILL DIE, YOU FUCKING FOOL."
"B...Brother?"