"Thank you so much, come back again"
Exiting the game store Takeshi looked down at the new sequel of the game he's been playing for the past year "The Freeborn Saga" a game with nearly infinite paths you can take each with their own story lines and npcs, he's been addicted to this game for the past year, why wouldn't he be addicted to a game that has the largest world building, a thousand customization options, and so many endings and paths.
It helped him escape his miserable reality, his dead parents, his decreasing academic performance, his uncle's abuse, and every little thing in his life since his parents' death.
He wasn't always like this; he used to be happy. He used to be a top student, popular among his classmates and teachers; he had friends, family, and loved ones. Now, though, he has nothing.
When his parents died he was devastated, he abandoned his studies, he pushed away his friends trying to escape the pity in their eyes, he trapped himself in his room trying to avoid everyone everything, trying to escape reality, and then he found "Freeborn saga" The perfect escape from reality.
he put all his focus into the game, throwing everything else away, experiencing different endings and paths and characters; it helped in the beginning.
But as time moved on he realised how miserable his life has become, and he tried to fix it he tried to get his life back on track, to become the top student he once was, the extrovert that loves to hang out with friend, but he always failed, and today was no exception, he tried to abandon "Freeborn saga", to stop having his life revolve around the game, and he was showing progress for a week or so, but then the sequel was released, he tried to ignore it but he couldn't.
Today was just another failure of a day with nothing meaningful achieved.
Sighing, Takeshi put away the game and went home, only to be greeted with an angry uncle, "I just got a call from your school," said Hiroshi. "They said something about your grades decreasing"
Takeshi almost scoffed
'Since when do you care about my grades'
No matter how many times the school called, he'd always just ignore them
'Something probably happened at work, and he is trying to vent his anger on me'
Takeshi thought as he was getting ready for the yelling and occasional beating that normally happened in this situation
"You mind telling me why that is?" said Hiroshi
"I've been trying. It's just been hard to keep up lately," said Takeshi
"Hard? You think life's supposed to be easy? You're lazy. That's your problem. You sit around all day, playing this fucking game of yours"
"I've been studying, I swear. I stayed up late almost every night this week—AND FOR WHAT? TRASH GRADES? DO YOU EVEN CARE ABOUT YOUR FUTURE? OR DO YOU JUST ENJOY EMBARRASSING ME"
A bitter smile formed on Takeshi's face
"Like you care about my future"
"Are you talking back to me, kid? After all what I did, after taking you in my home, paying for your food and school while you sit around doing nothing, you ungrateful fuck"
said Hiroshi while pulling a very familiar baton, one that Takeshi had been hit with one too many times
" IT'S MY PARENTS' MONEY, IT'S MY MONEY," said Takeshi right before getting hit by the baton in his shoulder
"MONEY? YOU HAVE NOTHING, YOU ARE NOTHING BUT A LEECH," said Hiroshi as he hit Takeshi again and again and again.
At some point takeshi tried to grab the baton from him and they fought each other each trying to grab the baton, thats when hiroshi pushed takeshi too had, he fell hitting his head,as Takeshi vision started to blur he looked beside him at "Freeborn saga 2" as he thought 'why did I have to fight back today' he didn't understand.
Normally, he would endure a little beating until Hiroshi calmed down, and then he would continue as if nothing happened, but not this time. Maybe it was because he was frustrated for failing to get his life back on track; he didn't know, but today he fought back, and it ended his life. Slowly, his eyes started to close until he took his last breath
Opening his eyes, Takeshi saw nothing, as if he was in a pitch-black room. "where am I? "
He was confused; it felt like he was in the void, no end in sight, no ceiling,
No ground, no—"wait, no ground?, am I floating, woah that feels wierd" as Takeshi was flailing in the air a screen suddenly appeared in front of him, a white screen with black writing.
[WELCOME TO "FREEBORN SAGA 2"]
[TO START CHARACTER CUSTOMIZATION YOU NEED TO FIRST CHOOSE A PATH]
[EACH PATH HAS VARIOUS STARTING POINTS AND ENDINGS]
[THE PATH YOU CHOOSE IS NOT PERMANENT, AS YOU CAN CHANGE IT WHENEVER YOU LIKE DURING THE GAME BY YOUR CHOICES]
[PLEASE CHOOSE A PATH]
[ACADEMY PATH]
[MILITARY PATH]
[ARISTOCRAT PATH]
[ROYAL PATH]
[MERCENARY PATH]
[HUNTER PATH]
[...]
....
"What the?"