The stench of alcohol poured in Effryn’s nostrils as pushed his way through crowds of drunkards and partying animals. For some reason, everybody decided it was a good idea to have an after party of the parade in the streets right where it ended.

What scum. Effryn thought as he watched the people get pissy drunk in a video game.

“I’m intrigued on whether or not drinking actually affects you here as in the basic reality.”

“Don’t know, and I sure as hell don’t care. I only need to know one thing right now.”

“And that is…?”

Effryn fell silent. He knew the ghost was mocking him for completely changing and forgoing his ideals. So he cursed it under his breath, and searched for that knight in the midst of the party.

“Hey girl, if you live anywhere near my, I could rent us a cheap motel room for the night.”

“Hehe, sure! We can do something like that…”

He heard conversations after conversations of ‘going somewhere private’ practically everywhere he went. Frankly, it started to piss him off on how everyone could be so lustful in a game like this, when they could just go to a bar and do the same thing.

Damnit. I better find him soon or I’ll be stabbing myself to leave this God forsaken place.

As he kept moving, he noticed smoke arising in the distance. From what he remembered, a smaller park was over there. It was his only clue on finding him, even if they continued in the straight path from before.

“Listen everybody! The knights are going to have an announcement coming up soon, so while we wait for that, we have a few bards wanting to perform for us.” a tall elf lady exclaimed while sipping away at a leaf. “And please...get smashing drunk!”

The crowd cheered her, enough so that she raised her arms and did a super jump into the people. Unluckily for her, everybody had the reaction speed of a dead snail, so she landed flat on the ground, splattering her face, along with clear blood all over the floor.

People stared blankly at the incident, only to raise their glasses and shout “to the dead girl!” and drink. The stench of booze only grew.

Walking past that event, Effryn could hear the sound of distant music playing like those in medieval games, like in Elder Scrolls. Based on what he heard from the drunk girl, the knight he was searching for was in that direction, so he followed the sound of the band.

“A-aw, sorry!” Effryn stammered out in a hurry.

“Watch where the hell yer’re going!”

Brushing off the greasy mess of whoever passed him, Effryn sighed at the thought of how much further he had to go, and how many times he had to get bumped into. This is the fifth time now that I have to smell the reek of another man.

The crowd was getting more compact, and with tighter space meant something had to be going on. He was sure of it.

“Listen you fuckers,” a high energied pitch boomed from across a great mass of players, and from an elevated balcony of a pure white church, there stood the knight. He was surrounded by beautiful elves, different from what Nei was as they were covered in white aesthetic instead of green. Maybe snow elves? Effryn thought.

The crowd quickly applauded in excitement, before shutting up to let the knight speak. He continued.

“Tonight, we celebrate the liberation of the estern player board Tonijii, and how much of a long and bastardly battle the men here had while fighting for it. By no means, was it easy, but we knew fate was by our side the whole time, for we are the preachers of a new God!” the knight rambled.

I wonder… Effryn had a spirling thought that made him smirk. He pulled the hood from his robe over his head to mask himself within the shroud of darkness covering the people, as the moon became the only light source available. He disappeared amongst the people, and was forced to listen to the speech as he crept closer to his prey.

“Once we took over, we instilled our teachings onto them, we gave them advancements in places they were lacking! And now, after months of fighting this long war of battles and political fuckyness, we can finally declare that TONIJII IS APART OF GODS KIN!!” the knight put everything in his words, even adding a bonus of unsheathing his long sword and rising it. The Crowd ate it up, even raising their staff or swords, daggers and shields; everything they had, they raised it with adrenaline.

“AND TONIGHT, WE DRINK TILL GOD IS PLEASED!!!” the knight put everything and 200% in his lungs.

In unison, the crowd put 300% in their response: ““YEAH!!!!””

***

From above, the satisfied knight tasted his own teeth in glee as the people clashed their drinks at his speech. Behind him, his snow elves cheered him on. “You’re such a wonderful man!” and the other one, “Maybe later tonight we could find a more private place to drink…”

The first snow elf angrily pouted at the second snow elf, then to him. “You wouldn’t sleep with her when you have me, right?”

The second elf rested her arms under her shoulders, smirking at the clearly angry elf. “And why would he want you? You have smaller boobs than I do, and as I’m the oldest, I have the most experience.” And with that, she motioned her hands over her breast, squeezing them with a teasing sensation.

“T-that’s not fair! And just because you have moon-sized tits doesn’t mean you can pleasure him better than I can! I’m sure I can relieve him faster than you!”

“I really doubt that.” the second elf confidently said, still showcasing her only prized attribute.

“Watch me!” the first elf shouted.

The knight turned around to face the girls. He could clearly see the electricity vibrate between them as they stared each other down. He played it off cooly, and raised his hand to diffuse them. “Please ladies, if you really want me, we can take turns tonight while getting to enjoy each other, so please don’t fight.” But in truth, he was ecstatic that tonight, he could pull off a threesome.

“As long as I get to feel you tonight, I’m fine with anything!” the first elf jumped happily.

The second elf put her hand over her head. “If I must, I’ll sleep with this girl if it means I can have you too.” She covered her blush, as she knew that she had lost the battle in having him all to herself for the night.

“Right! Let’s get to it!!”

Both looking at the first elf, the second turned bright red from her heavy background of white, while the knight hid his lustful expression under his helmet at the sight of her topless.

“Now then…” the first elf bent down to her knees, and slowly crept towards him in a seductive way, with her hips and shoulders swaying from side to side, and her lips plastering a sexy appeal. “...what should we start with firs-”

“Hey! Who the hell--get back here!” the knight recognized the voice, which had been one of his guards since returning from the war. He’d been stationed to protect him and his party, and to keep people from entering the church. So the only reason for him to be yelling was if…

As his mind was churning in thought, a figured appeared in a teal cloak from the inner castle, clearly standing apart from the pure white interior. He was already up the stairs, and before he knew it, already on the balcony, thrusting at him with a measly dagger.

The first elf screamed while covering her top from the sudden intruder, while the second had been too shocked by the sudden intruder to do anything at the moment. He reached for his sword while ignoring his shield knowing that a dagger would only do poor-if any-damage to him. He placed a good grip on his sword, and readied himself for a quick slash, but before he could…

“Flashbang.” the intruder muttered, raising his palm to his face and emitting a bright flash.

Another moment later, he felt a tiny prick into his abdomen.

He fell on one knee while holding covering both of his eyes. They stung with a burning fury of hell so bright that he was sure he could feel as if his real eyes had actually been burned. A liquid brushed poured down between his fingers, but he wasn’t sure exactly what kind of liquid had been coming from his eyes-Tears or blood.

He shouted in pain while swinging his sword at random in front of him. “Son of a fuck!!” He swung with such strength that he felt the air itself becoming a slave to his force, yet, it had been only air. He had missed the intruder.

Knowing the intruder was on the run, he used his sword as a support and picked himself up. He nearly fell over a couple times, but was able to regain his balance before doing so. He leaned against the railings with his eyes still covered, and shouted with all the anger that had begun to fester for the intruder:

“Listen the fuck everybody!!” he shouted, to which the people were caught off guard. “There’s an explosive mage running, and the first one to kill him gets thirty gems on me!”

The drunkards looked at each other, wondering the same question of who the hell is playing that class?

But of course, he still couldn’t see, so he had no idea where the intruder was going, leaving it up to the hands of his followers. And with that, he heard the flow of rapid footsteps, followed by a momentous leap that caused the air to exert. It was his second snow elf, who had snapped out of her daze and was now on the attack. “Cursing frostbite!” he heard her cast spell arrows from her bow. They glazed through from her string, leaving behind a frozen effect in both the bow and the air it touched.

He heard the attack land, but figured it missed when he heard her Tsk!

An explosive mage, he thought about it, wondering who would play such an underpowered class. Not only was it limited to a few spells before being completely drained, but it also had such a skill requiring ultimate that had nothing to show for. He hadn’t even met someone using the class before, except when…

“Well, call me damned...so it’s you.” he laughed under his breath, with a sense of joy overcoming his pain. A smile formed from under his helmet, as he remembered the sweet touch, and fear, of the kids girlfriend, or whoever she was to him. “I’m seriously gonna fuck you up!”

***

Effryn leaped from head to head, from mage to knight to archer with every ounce of fiber in his body. His mind only repeating the same line over. Shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit. Seriously, shit!

After easily slipping past the drunk guards, he made his way upstairs, where unfortunately, there had been one knight too dedicated to their job. So, he had to rush his attack, and break for the roof, where he found the bastard knight. There, he slipped past two white elves, which one had been thankfully nude to give him time to push for his successful strike.

But, one thing had been overlooked during this entire phase…

Screw that noise! Effryn thought as he ducked behind an unaware knight for cover from a multitude of frost arrows. He felt the icy chill corrupt the man's body, along with the sudden twitching of his chest and arms slowly succumbing to the frostbite. They didn’t say anything about a five minute timer in the description!

The running explosive mage dreadfully stared at the message on his screen, reading: Obtaining information…[?/?] Remaining- 4 minutes and thirty five seconds. The timer continues counting down.

But what of the timer? Wouldn’t it be easier to just reset and die, giving him a chance to relax for five minutes?

Well the thought did cross his mind after reading the message. But, his hopes were crushed when the second message appeared…

Warning…!/? If player is killed, or has logged out before process of information finishes, the effects[???] of said weapon will not be granted, and the player will receive no bonuses from weapon.

Scanning over the message repeatedly, Effryn’s only response was shit in his head.

He glanced back to not only see the earlier white elf whose top was still on firing frost arrows at him, but now hordes of players were on his tail, each shooting or wielding their own weapon.

And soon enough, fireballs, electric arrows, even swords were being tossed around as if they were fired from a bow, and all sorts of items were lunged at him in hopes of killing him.

Though for whatever reason, it seemed as if his luck was exponentially greater today. That, or the ghost had blessed him personally with the touch of God.

If I keep this up I can outrun the entire server! he hoped, feeding off the gift of everyone being drunk to their core from partying. Though I could really do without this one…

Behind him, the main one worrying him was that white elf. Sure, his luck was high, but for how long with her? And he could run through crowds for so long until people further ahead got the memo. He needed to think of something else. And fast.

“Come here backstabber!! You’ll pay for what you did to our captain!” the white elf screamed as she leaped into the air, firing off multiple icicle shots.

With fear contorting in his brows, Effryn made a quick judgement to plunge directly right, landing him in an open middle ground of the streets. He looked down at himself to make sure everything was still intact and warm, and gave the mental all clear. He looked back, keeping in mind that if he dodged the attack, someone was bound to get hit. But with a new bound fear, Effryn knew now that whatever she threw at him was nothing like the icicle she shot when they first met.

No, he thought, gazing at a single shrew of ice that pierced through multiple targets without so much as a crack. Blood poured from the poor bystanders, yet, what scared Effryn the most was the fact that the icicle had not a single speck of the stuff. It’s shot was so clean and thorough that it was as if the thing completely skipped it. This is one shot material.

“Argh!!”

Waking him from his daze, Effryn saw a short adventurer swinging his sword from an upward strike. He tried rolling right to dedge, but found himself stuck at the edge of the party. They weren’t paying any mind to him, but they were still in his way. The only thing left to do was…

Damnit, I hate using this magic when it takes nearly all my mana, but if I have to, I will!! Supporting himself with his right elbow, Effryn raised his left arm, opening his palm to ready the explosive. All he needed to say were the final words, and…

“Like hell you do! He’s mine!” An older woman dressed in housekeeping clothing shouted as she stabbed the adventurer in the back with a fork like sword. “I need that bounty, so piss off!”

“D-damn you…” the adventurer squealed in agony as he gripped his side to cover the wound. Blood filled his mouth as he cursed her again, before he fell lifeless on the ground before Effryn.

“Now then little piggy, let’s get this done with so I can finally get some better gear!” a sick enjoyment flickered in her eyes as she pulled out her fork sword. “Now di-”

Splsh!

A small hole appeared where the nose should have been from the girl who had been standing over Effryn. A newfound set of filthy red had been sprayed all over him, bathing him in her blood. The light in her iris died as she fell to the ground.

“Whew! Man, water magic is so underrated!” he heard someone yell in the distance. Effryn couldn’t help but stare at the messed up visual in front of him and think how is this water?

“If you dare touch him, you’re gonna end up just like that bitch!” another voice popped up.

“Oh yeah, test me then!!”

Hearing the birth of a new battle between water and the undead, Effryn wiped the blood from his eyes and darted towards a narrow alley way out from the streets.

“He’s getting away!” a different voice exclaimed, causing the focus of the fighting to momentarily stop, before picking up right where it left off.

Watching the scene of the players, the white elf muttered a curse as she watched them fight amongst themselves. How annoying. She leaped onto a rooftop of a building complex in hopes of getting the high ground on the boy. Reaching out her fingers, she brushed her nails against the rough frost string fitted on her bow, as her mind raced with killing that boy.

If I kill him, will you love me? She thought, reminiscing back to the captain and everything they've been through so far. No matter what I do for you, you always seem to have your eyes on Natalie. Anger filled her expression, but it was quickly swallowed out with excitement, for the thought of being the one to kill him had the chance of bringing the captain joy, and if she were the one to do it… Then he is sure to love me back!

Beaming with joy, the snow elf leapt from rooftop to rooftop, positive that if she killed the traitor boy, then the captain would have no choice but to love her!

Now this is a place I never thought I’d be returning to. Not one I really wanted to, either.

Effryn felt his sides get heavy after running for some time between shops and houses before finding a small cave-like entrance to the sewers. He remembered finding something like this before when he played this before with Evvryn, so he had a good idea where it led to.

He gripped the wheel that opened the gates to the sewers, and began to slowly turn it. He had gotten a pretty safe distance from other players, so there was time to spend on securing a safe spot.

Glancing at the time, it read: Remaining- Two minutes and thirteen seconds.

Great! Now I can just wait here until I get the information, log out, and finally-

A chill ran down his spine as he heard a distant rooftop support a landing. He quickly looked to see who it was, and as horror filled his thoughts, he could see glee fill hers.

“Finally. I found you.” her words left an icy presence as she lifted her bow, taking aim at Effryn. Tiny spikes of ice began to magical form from thin air on the string, and she happily pulled back it back. “Now die.”

Shit shit shit shit shit!!! His mind exploded with the same line hoping, praying, that the sewer gate would open just enough for him to slide through. His eyes filled with hope once a crack big enough for him to slide through opened, but they slowly died out once the sound of string echoed through the night.

Thinking purely on instinct, Effryn stood on his left foot, and twisted his body to face the speed demon of icicles. He raised his right hand up, opening his palm towards the white elf, and muttered his last chance of surviving. “Explosion!” A light crackled from his hand as sparks flitted through the air. He hesitated a second, not knowing what exactly happened, but instantly snapped out of it as he dropped to the ground to crawl through the small space. Not being dead from tiny ice, he figured his on the spur solution was able to prevent such a fate. Though, it took a lot out of him, and it probably gave his position away to other players. But he couldn’t really complain. It was his last option.

I doubt that smoke will last a long time… Effryn figured as he ran down a slanted rocky path. The walls enclosed with each step he took, and the lighting grew worse with each passing second. But he knew, after a little bit more, he would reach this worlds sewer system.

However…

“I swear, just STOP running and accept what’s gonna get ya!” the white elf screamed with her lungs. A chilly presence filled the cave as a dim white light emitted from behind Effryn. He quickly glanced back at the source, only to see the bow drawing in more magical energy for another attack.

His mind raced with fear as its driving force. He knew he could deflect an attack from her arrows, but he only had one more mana in him to do something like it. So, another idea popped in his head.

Effryn stretched both of his hands across the walls of the cave, and pushed outwards on the cold rocks. He muttered his next phrase with a slight hesitation based on how the odds looked of surviving something like this, but it was his last valid option, so he figured it was his best option. “Explosion!”

Spreading out his mana between his body, he was able to manipulate the to flow both ways, causing sparks to fly from a parallel origin where it would usually shoot out. Light filled the dark tunnel as heat radiated from the rocks his fingertips brushed. From the light, Effryn was able to see the white elf, who was charging a shot with a newfound expression of hopeless hope.

“I’ll do this for him! Now, just fucking die already--!!”

Racing to beat the crazed ladies icicle shot, Effryn swung both hands forward, allowing two small cones of explosive energy to burrow in the rocks, and caused the entire roof of the poorly structured caves to rumble and collapse before him.

Effryn sprinted further down easily reaching the sewers. He glanced to the timer on his screen, which read: Remaining- forty five seconds.

Then he looked back, and with a satisfied smile, he leaped into the air from joy. Eat that bitch! Get cut off by rocks and find another path within forty seconds why don’tcha!

As he celebrated, he thought it wouldn’t hurt to get a little further away just for safe measures. Though, he doubted she could hurt him any-

And in the next instant, a bright iridescent light shone from behind Effryn. Some were crushed out from toppling rocks, but one was brighter than the others. So bright in fact, that it even stretched through the pile of stone, and rippling straight through Effryns right leg.

The timer read: Remaining- thirty one seconds.

A sharp, burning burden felt like it had been pounded into his knee, before seconds past, and the pain went entirely away. His leg completely went numb.

Effryn tumbled and lost balance, falling right into dirty water. He could tell the water was filthy, but his feeling of sense made every other feeling void. He tried lifting himself up, but found his leg not cooperating. He tried again, but fell right back down.

Why the hell can’t I get up? He thought as he glanced back to his knee, only to find the upper half entirely frozen. Small shards of ice crystals glistened while he could only watch in horror. Not only was his leg frozen causing him to feel numb. No, it was the fact that everything below his knee had been cleanly whipped off.

“S-s-s-son of a …”

Surprisingly enough there was hardly any, if a single droplet of blood. It must have been frozen tight to prevent anything from coming out. Though, that didn’t really make Effryn feel better.

Remaining- twelve seconds.

Giving up on the idea of using his feet to get away, Effryn resorted to the idea of crawling. He moved from shoulder to shoulder through murky sewage water, while his eyes were glued on the timer. Please please please please, just a little bit longer!

Behind him, he heard the sound of rocks bursting into smithereens. He didn’t have to look back to know it was that snow elf who went on about pleasing him.

Though if he had to guess she was probably talking about that knight bastard, which gave him even more of a reason to survive the time limit.

“Finally!” she exclaimed with an overly joyful burst, “I finally have you in a mouse trap! Now, go to hell!!” She lifted her bow and prepared a series of frost spells, with multiple ice shard arrows flinging to the bow string.

Remaining- seven seconds.

Effryn rolled to the side, causing water to splash and enter his nose. He gagged, but knew that if he vomited now, everything would have been for nothing, so he swallowed the feeling and forced his freezing stomach back into his throat.

Half a dozen icicles nearly skewered him, but he was lucky enough to get by with a few freezing grazes. Effryn hoped that with the remaining time left, she wouldn’t have enough time to pull off any magical attacks before it finished.

Though, he didn’t think to equate physical attacks…

“I’m so sick of you… Just die already!!” her expression changed, now becoming more annoyed with Effryn. Her yells also seemed to match what her face was saying, until that is when she sprint-kicked Effryn in his side.

Bfft!

Effryn flew in the air, with murky water gliding beside him. His earlier suppressed stomach was now uncontrollably coming from his mouth, but with an added taste of iron red.

Remaining- three sec…

-!!

Busy with trying to get himself under control, Effryn was hit with a fist to the gut. More blood and vomit spewed from his mouth and nostrils.

“What the hell do you keep staring off to?! I’m the one…” she seemed extra pissed as she tossed her bow to the side and repeatedly beat Effryn. “...who you should...be focusing on…!”

Effryn’s mind went crazy with pain as she lay on top of him. He wondered many things, like:

It’s cold. It hurts. It’s freezing. It burns. It’s numb. It’s too numb. She keeps hitting the same spot, yet it stopped hurting after the fourth punch. How is she an elf? How much time is left? Is this what dying really feels like? Man it hurts. It really hurts…

The boys mind blanked for a moment while the red elf dug deeper into his stomach, fully embraced in her fun. She laughed and giggled, with her eyes completely enlarged as if she had just found her new drug.

But through the pain, Effryn was able to see one last message before completely fading away into the void of death.

Remaining- Complete! Your data should now be in your inbox, awaiting for you t-

Before he could finish reading the message, the elf slammed her fist against his beating heart, killing him instantly.

***

“Gwahhhh!”

Effryn raised to his feet. He scanned his body out of instinct, finding no scars. But the memory of the pain was still there, and it was deeply engraved within him.

This game takes aspects too serious for what it’s worth. He thought as he tried calming his shaking body.

“You seriously took one hell’ofva beating.” he heard a similar, annoyingly high pitched voice speak by his ear. Well in reality, she was actually practically in his ear. “I’m surprised I was even able to revive you. We don’t usually have the option to bring back those injured as bad as you, but the game must have thought otherwise for you.”

“Where am I?”

Effryn didn’t recognize his surroundings, but he couldn’t say he was entirely in a new area. Their were trees that had a familiar pattern of branches and etchings that paralleled magical streaks. Above him was purely bark, with no sign of the sun or sky, yet light emitted from somewhere.

The tiny girl, or fairy, who saved him, was the bitch from earlier. Her smile held a smirk that she had no care for covering.

“Nice to meetcha again dumbass! Your deep inside the roots of the great tree.”

“The great tree…?” Effryn remembered back to the giant tree his face personally kissed right after he splattered all over it. From covering the bark with his blood, he moved on to randomly waking in its bed. “Why here?”

The fairy’s mood changed, moving into a slightly more annoyed but arrogant girl. “Just know I have zero causes for the decision of reviving you here. This is the healing fairies most precious location after all, so it’s extremely rare to bring an outsider here!”

“So then why…”

Moving in an instant, the fairy was now resting on his arm. She cut him out before even finishing his question.

“Cause if not for us, you’d be getting spawned killed like a boss fighting against maxed out players.”

“S-spawned killed?” Effryn’s head jerked back from the fear of dying, and the amounts of pain brought by it. It was hard enough handling the realistic shock of feeling the feeling from losing a limb or two, but for that to happen over and over again, with the pain still there… “That sounds like utter hell.”

“Cause it is. Shit like it doesn’t usually happen, but when it does, we recommend players to just log out for good. That, or until the entire thing blows away.” her wings lightly fluttered as she began to run laps across his biceps.

“Log out, huh? I mean…!” Remembering what had even caused the reason for spawn killing, Effryn opened up his inbox. There was one new message…

“Whoa.” Effryn was surprised. So much so, he even unconsciously let out a small gasp.

...in the inbox, which contained tons of personal information about that knight, such as address, phone number, work place, spouse, affiliated clubs, and more. Much, much more.

He did it. He had been able to survive the five minutes. So in the end, his efforts and pain were compensated with the address of someone who assisted in killing someone he loved. Evvryn.

“Perfect.” Effryns lips curling into a terrifying smile as he made sure to burn the image of information in his mind. His face showed that of pure delight.

“You’re a creepy guy...you know that?” The fairy merely observed Effryn.

“I’m leaving. Thank you, and goodbye.” Effryn wanted to waste no time with this find, so he booted up the menu and hovered over the Exit Connecto-nerve.

“See ya hopefully neve-”

Her voice cut out as he mentally clicked the exit, and everything went to a deep black screen. A place where even his mind went black for a second...

Darkness embraced Effryn as he felt his mind come to. His senses slowly returned, and Effryn first noticed the touch of something wrapped around his face.

He lifted the headset, and saw he was now back in Eizer’s guest room.

Quickly scanning the room, he felt a bit unsteady at first but was able to fully make sense of his mind. Gale was on his own bed, deeply engrossed in a different book from the last time he saw him. Gale was too deep in his story that he wasn’t yet aware Effryn was awake.

“Hey.” Effryn waved at the reading boy who turned his head like a comet.

“How did you play for that long?” Gale tilted his head to the side, puzzled. “I doubt I could even do something like that for even two hours, let alone six.”

“W-wait, only six?”

“Huh? What do you mean ‘only six?!’ how could someone play data for so long?”

Effryn couldn’t help but ruffle his black hair and chuckle when thinking back to his countless all-nighters. Thinking back on it now, he figured a lot of time was wasted during those nights.

The crickets played their agonizing lullabies as the sun began to hide from the moon.

Gale returned his silent gaze towards his book, and lost himself once more to whatever story he immersed to.

Lifting himself up, Effryn covered himself with his coat. He checked his pockets in search of something, but clicked his tongue when finding no trace of it.

“I’m heading out.”

Effryn lifted the curves of his shoes to comfort his feet when sliding them in, and tapped the soles to make sure they fully fit.

“And to where?” Gale questioned him with a peering gaze.

“To…”

Effryn thought that saying to kill someone would be a little much, so instead he sugar coated the lie.

“...reunite with an old acquaintance."

Feeling the cold touch of metal, Effryn gripped the doorknob and tilted it unlocked. He waited for a response from Gale before opening it fully…

“...”

...but was only met with the silent cacophony of crickets mindlessly stringing their tune.

He left the room, closing the door shut behind him.

“Liar.” the boy muttered, flipping the page as tears slew on the paper, watering the deepened ink that which created the mind numbing stories he so hated.

Running down the stairs, his footsteps patted the creaky floor. Once at the bottom, he dashed straight towards the kitchen for the computer, to begin searching for the address he made sure to never forget.

***

“Is this all the paperwork?”

“H-huh? Oh, y-yeah!”

Newbie detective assistant Watt stuttered when a member of the regulations department came to finalize his review of his report. She was fairly cute, with a charming smile that went along her long strokes of red hair.

“So…” she leaned in to his office space to hide from the other rampaging office workers going through documents like animals. “Is there really gonna be a raid soon?”

“H-how do you know about that?!”

“Hehe, information just flies to me.” she raised a peace sign in her victory.

Phone calls rang. Office workers and police men alike hurried off to different locations, with each having their own important duty to attend to.

“So whose it on?” a curiosity aroze in her eyes as she lowered her head once again. .

“Oh, just some kid the chief really wants find. He thinks this raid would finally put an end to what he called a ‘pointless game of tag’.”

Watt really had no idea why, but for whatever reason, it seemed as if the chief was infatuated with the kid. Effryn, he thought the kids name was. Honestly, much of the station didn’t really care for the boy at all. The chief was the only one with this desire to search for him.

“Any clue on when it is?”

“Yeah!” Watt scribbled off a final signature from his work load, and released the pen he’d been gripping for no less than three hours. He stretched his arms up to wake himself up, to prepare for what was to come. “Midnight, actually.”

***

In the sense of walking in a city during midnight, Effryn had a feeling of exhilaration. Not for the fact of the nightlife, but for his chance to finally get revenge on the bastard who killed Evvryn.

Ack! I wish my phone hadn’t been tossed in the river.

He began to understand the difficulties of people without technology, and sympathized with them. God only knows how they know where to go without Gps.

Effryn was in a small, but quaint gated neighborhood surrounded by nicely toned trees and patches of grass. The houses were quite high class, with each having their own unique and charming characteristics of old fashioned victorian, to others having a complete flip with extreme modernism.

Scanning the houses address number, Effryn would see if the combination would match that he’d written down with his trusty pen and paper. Truly a primitive way about doing so.

Not it. His mind repeated the line, wondering when and if he’d ever find the right house. He was nearing the end of the street name, and there were only a few or so houses left. A two story pink house, with cutesy pink decorations surrounded it. A simplistic yet sophisticated design with glass installed as walls, or a historic house-like mansion, that had been painted over in a deep purple.

He glanced over to the pink house, then to his paper.

Not it.

He glanced over to the sophisticated house, then to his paper.

Not it.

He glanced over to the old mansion...and dropped his paper. There was no longer a use for such a thing when his instincts were practically screeching at him.

Found you.

A giddy feeling overcame Effryn as a twisted smile curled. It was a strong feeling, that of when he was little when he'd finally buy that game he waited on for it’s release date. Though this joy was stronger.

-Way stronger.

“Finally...finally finally finally finally finally finally finally finally…”

He stood on the street before the mansion, repeating the same line over and over.

“Finally…” his brain glossed over his achievement of reaching this point as he dug in his pocket. “...I can feel joy after all this time.”

In his hands, was a pocket flashlight and a kitchen knife. He gripped both items tightly, before blankly walking on the lawn, with a grin as sinister as a blackhole.

***

“Ahh.” came a sigh as the heavy thud of metal crushed the chair with its weight. “Life is good.”

There was no doubt about it--he was the luckiest man alive.

Beneath his high chair of command were the people who loved and followed him endlessly, even if he wasn’t top of the governmental system. And because they adored him so much, there were thousands of people drinking and partying away the night irl.

“Eeeexcuuuuuse me, commandeerrrrr! Can we have fun with each other now?” a beautiful snow elf moved with her legs, inching ever so closer to him in a seductive manner. Like she always had.

“You’re such an impatient brat, you know that? The commander wishes to embrace this moment and to view his accomplishments for now. Then…” his second elf, who was also beautiful and more busty, intervene the first in a manner more proper. “...he can decide what he wants to do with us, and how to use us.”

Yep. These were the perks of being a badass online. Everyone loves you, and you get to use their love for personal pleasures. Take the two sexually eager elves, who wanted to please him in game and out.

“Please…” the first purred.

“Just for a moment, you can take us…” the second rubbed herself, gesturing with her hand for him to come through.

A lustful expression torn the expression in his eyes as he licked his lips. He knew that tonight would be a night filled with plenty of fun and-

Huh?!

Darkness swallowed him. For a moment, it almost seemed as if he’d been engulfed completely.

Damnit. Did the power box give?

Lifting off the headset, the first thing he felt was the business needing to be attended to in his pants. He clicked his tongue in annoyance, adjusted himself so he could properly walk comfortably, and unplugged the power box.

It wasn’t common when things like this happened, but when it did, it was always a pain in the ass to deal with. Though, he was grateful they never happened during an important battle or event. He couldn’t say what was happening was an important event, either, but oh well. He’d be back soon.

He waited for a moment to plug the box back in. Sometimes if he went straight for it, he’d have to wait a few minutes just to retry the whole unplug and plug scenario.

Around him, was his encasing walls of games and figurines. There was a monitor, along with a few consoles too, but ever since the Nervo-connect got revamped, he hadn’t touched them since.

Then, there was the never ceasing darkness that enveloped his room even after taking off his helmet. There might have been light far ago, but those times were forgotten. The television or monitor screen once lit up the room, but those days are long dead.

All he ever needed was his precious headset. The ever inducing stress that work put on him was incredible, and his current relationship was a shitshow, even if it was built entirely from work. And so, whenever he gets the chance, he uses his spare time wasting away at the endless world of destrial.

Crap. I spaced out for a second…

Coming back to reality, he reluctantly connected the powerbox with his headset.

But something was wrong…

The hell? It should be on by now.

The screen remained black. He tried again, but nothing happened.

Figuring something must have been wrong with the power in his room, he got up to flip his breaker in his closet.

But before he could move, he noticed there were no lights out of his room, like the living room, and the kitchen across his.

“Huh?” he winced, and walked in the hallway. “Could the power be out?”

This was confusing. He didn’t hear rain going down against the roof or windows, so he doubted that was it. He reached the hallway, and looked around. There were no light either way down the long single lane hall.

When was the last time the power went out?

He thought back to the last time he went without power, but couldn’t remember a time. Actually, he probably wasn’t alive during time electricity was out of the house other than a storm.

He began walking to the hallway opposite of where the stairs led down, and towards the one leading to a deadend with a single pane of glass covered by a purple curtain.

Is there some kind of blackout?

If there was, it would the first he knew of. But then again, what are the odds of that…

Pulling the curtains off to the side, he saw both of his neighbors houses, both of which were freakishly different with designs. Though for now, they both had one similarity between them-Power.

With certainty, he knew it wasn’t a blackout. So then what…

“Ken, what the hell happened to the power?” his wife yelled from across the hallway. Her expression was confused and she perked her gazed from room to room, wondering if every room was really sucked dry of electricity.

“How the hell should I know? I was in the middle of playing, then it just shut off.”

“Oh, so your game was that important that now you wanna get up? What a lame joke.”

“Beth, not now…”

Ken tried calming his wife down, but like every other time he tried to reason with her, she just exploded.

“Not now? Not now?! You know, ever since you got the mind warping device, you’ve been stuck in your room for months unless work called. Maybe this power is a good break.” she threw her arms in the air.

Ken knew this would happen, but somewhere in his mind, a tiny hope remained in his head that Beth would miraculously get common sense.

So far, every attempt failed miserably.

“If you’re so angry at being taken from your game, then you should just go live inside it than actually being a person!”

Beth stormed off downstairs. Her footsteps beat against each step, until she reached the bottom. There was a moment of silence, until the loud bang of a door slamming filled the house with vibrations.

Through keeping quiet, he was able to finally get his happiness.

She’s such a bitch. Glad I’m done with that. One stressful thing after another today...

With the sudden power outage at his house interrupting his fun times with both Natalie and Salia, or his companion snow elves, he couldn’t help but feel a bit pissed. He couldn’t call the power company to check it out because the sun wasn’t out for a few more hours, so his only option was to sit back and pleasure himself until the power went on.

Screw that. I’m so hard I practically have a blunt weapon right now.

He felt his urges raging, knowing waiting was impossible. Thankfully, he was a man. And being a man meant having more privileges than the teenager he used to be.

Getting his phone Ken dialed the number to his snow elves, first to the smaller chested Natalie. The line rang for a second before she picked.

“Ooooh, so now you come crawling back! What happened? Didya power get cut or something?” she answered excitedly, leaving hardly any room for him to respond.

“A pain in the ass is what happened. Can you come over?”

Ken went straight to the point hardly being able to contain himself any longer.

“Man, you can’t wait for me can you? Fine Fine, I’m coming! In more ways than one soon enough!”

She made the noise of sticking her tongue out, before hanging up the call.

Sweet! Next is…

Salia. She had the best breast he’d have ever seen or felt, and knew how well her body performed. He happily dialed her next.

The line rang a few times, much longer than Natalie, until she finally picked up.

“Ken? Did something happen?”

She sounded worried, like a mother caring for her kin.

“It’s nothing really. The power went out here.”

“Really? When was the last time that happened?”

“I don’t think it ever happened before, but let’s ignore that. Can you come over?”

Asking that question made her hesitate for a bit, before timidly accepting.

“S-sure. But is everything okay over there?”

“I’m fine, really. But please hurry. I need you.”

Salia sighed. Her breath through the phone made Ken even more impatient.

“If you’re alright, then I guess it’s fine. I’m on my way, bye!”

Her line disconnected, leaving Ken with the beeping loneliness and a lustful feeling. Lucky for him, they didn’t live too far away, so very soon he’d be having a legendary threesome.

Hmm. I should get the condoms now before we start.

Ken recalled the last place he put his protection was his bedroom, which was downstairs. He started down the hallway, passing his man cave and kitchen, along with a few other rooms that he hardly ever used. Eventually, he reached the stairs, which went in a circular pattern down, with a chandelier that was wood coated in tiny crystals hovering above the middle. Though with no power, it had little use.

His nightwear gilded as he swiftly sprinted downward into the main living room. There, a large TV stood as some show about cops was playing. Couches and chairs gave it company, added with a soft black carpet that had been implemented from before he moved in. He hated the color, yet Beth had always been fond of it.

The room after was the downstairs kitchen, where more advanced dishes and cooking tech were stashed at, since being the more used of the two. There connected three other hallways, with one leading to his bedroom. He walked down that path to his door, but noticed a problem immediately upon reaching the finely crafted door with its own special lock:

-Beth was inside, and she was likely to be a bitch once he went in. She’d began to ask questions, wondering why he’d need a condom if he wasn’t going to use it on her.

Might as well embrace the beast rather than imagine it. He braced himself for whatever nagging Beth had in store.

The door croaked with hardly any noise being as it’s new. Inside stood a dimly lit candle as the only light source. Ken could hear the flickering of the fire accompanied by muffled heaving. Looking inside, he could see Beth laying face down on their bed, crying.

Again?

It wasn’t the first time he’d seen her cry like this. It usually happened around night time, when he’d come to bed after staying up all night in his world.

“Ken? W-what’re you doing here?”

She must have noticed the door. She slowly lifted her head, and with her croaky throat, asked why he was there.

“Sorry to bother you. I’m here to get something.”

“Like what?”

“Nothing important.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

After their small exchange, neither of the two said another word to each other. These small little exchanges were common for them, though Ken had no problem with them. He thought idle chat was boring with Beth.

Nothing really special was in their room. It was just a bed, table, and a boring girl. Sometimes, he wondered why he ever married her.

Going straight for his table, he pulled out the draw, revealing his rubber stash. A warm sensation ran down his spine, knowing fun was bound to come anytime.

The heaving increased, even if slightly.

“So...you’re playing with your whores again tonight…?”

Great. Here we go again.

“And so?”

“‘And so?’ ‘AND SO?!’” she switched to sniffling shouting as she slammed a fist against her bed table. “YOU HAVE ME! You don’t need other woman to pleasure you if you have me!!”

Ken was slightly surprised. This was the first Beth got mad at him for not having sex with her as it was usually for sleeping with other women, and not specifically the woman.

But even if was different, it wasn’t any less annoying.

“Sorry. I’ll do my best not to do it again.”

“Sorry?! Again?! Ken, you’re still walking to that door with that condom! You’re not even trying to stop yourself…” she curled into a ball, covering her face with bedsheets. “I give up… Just go… Do whatever…”

Her words became muffled along with her tears, and hardly anything else she said was audible.

But Ken paid no mind to her. In fact, he was only thinking about the two girls coming over momentarily. He looked back at the sorry girl, left out the door, leaving behind someone he stupidly decided to marry.

As the door shut, one last cry came from under the covers. It was dead whimper, as if the person who said it was already gone.

“Where did our love go…”

“Can we come in?” One of the girls asked, seductively licking her lips.

“We’ll do anything you want us to in the dark. If you want it, we’ll obey.” another said, already welcoming herself inside.

Ken looked from one to the other constantly, but his lust had trouble telling them apart, so he blindly followed his instincts to let them into his own man cave.

He led them through the main living room into the kitchen, and on the way to the circular stairs leading upwards. He held hands with one of the girls, but couldn’t tell which one. It didn’t matter though; he’d be inside both soon enough.

“You can go ahead. I want to freshen up before we really get down to business.” one of them annoyingly said.

“Aw, c’mon Salia. You look good enough already, and I would rather we not have to wait on you.”

“Heh, I won’t be long.”

Apparently one of the girls wandered off for something. Though, Ken was more focused on the one girl who was still there, whoever she was. The feeling in his pants spread to his thoughts, and soon enough, had been the only thing beating in his mind

“Hurry. Let’s go.”

Ken tugged at whoever held his hand, and continued up the stairs.

“Jeez!” the girl sarcastically exclaimed, pouting her cheeks. “How badly do you want it?”

Natailie expected the typical smart response Ken would give. But instead, all she got was a groan with a somewhat scary remark.

“Hmm. It’s the only thing on my mind right now. Honestly, I don’t think I care about anything else in the world other than your bodies, so please, let’s hurry this up.”

Lust. It practically drove his actions, blinding him to everything logical. He led whoever was with him to his own man cave, getting ready for what he thought was going to be a helluva night.

Hmm, does this look good? Salia thought, comparing a maid outfit and her bunny suit. Maid looks more submissive, but bunny is sure to have more appeal…

She held up both of the outfits in front of her phones flashlight, and checked them based on how she felt, as well as how much pleasure Ken would feel. The bathroom mirror reflected the sexual energy emitting from her, along with the assortments of creams and makeups she spread to ready herself.

Setting her mind on a peice, she put the bunny suit on the counter. I feel the maid would be better.

Happy she picked something, Salia began to slip out of her regular clothing. She couldn’t help but bear a smile knowing how much pleasure Ken was going to feel from her.

Maybe then, he can finally stay with me. We can leave our lives together, and go live to be as one…

Her mind was in a steady daydream. One so mesmerizing that even small noises can go unnoticed.

...we could slowly start our life together, scraping by as two strangers find work to support themselves. If everything went well, and we were able to support ourselves to be stable, we might even be able to support children…

She wished her dream could be real, and not some made up fantasy created as ecstasy for the mind. If only her love could realize her feelings for him, then maybe everything would fall into place faster.

Or so, Salia thought, as a smile greater than life itself spread across her face. She pressed her palms against her cheeks, with strands fo white hair getting caught. There isn’t much time left until the inevitable happens. Only a matter of time…

In the mirror, a dark figure swiftly moved into the room, and off to the left. It waited to strike the moment the girl noticed him, but she seemed like she was off in another world.

The figure thought that if the girl was distracted, then getting her completely off guard wasn’t impossible. But what fun would that be for the bitch that punched his heart out…?

Then it dawned on him. And with it, a wicked expression grew on the sneaking boy.

As Salia began to strip her final pieces of clothing, she felt a sudden rush of weight being pushed on her. Her thighs hit the counter, causing her to yelp in pain, and to limp down against the marble texture.

She tried fighting the force, but found it to be overwhelming. Salia couldn’t move. No matter how much she tried, she couldn’t budge a bit.

And so, she took a deep breath, and readied herself to scream for help. She knew that if she were loud enough, she would more than likely get attention. Maybe the neighbors would even hear if she yelled.

But as she willed herself for air to release, a tight encasing around her throat gripped her. For whatever reason, it caused her to not talk. Or breathe.

W-w-wha…?

Confused, Salia began to claw at her throat, searching for what could be the cause.

Though the more she dug, the tighter the object was around her neck.

She dug more, hoping to fight the feeling. But as she tried, she felt herself getting tired. Salia fought and fought, wanting to see the light from this sudden situation. But that dream grew further away with each passing second that her mind went darker. It became harder to breath until the point to where she thought Am I even breathing any more?

Then the point came to where she wondered if she was alive any more. Her vision grew darker, and the mind lighter. It felt to her as if everything grew calmer, until only one thought remained:

I’m sorry Ken. I’m sorry Ken. I’m sorry Ken…

The thought repeated in her mind, until it became her last thought. A tear branded from her eyes as her iris lost all color.

“Finally!” Effryn happily wiped the sweat from his brow. “It took her long enough.”

His grip gave out, probably due to exhaustion, to what he thought as some kind of kinky bunny suit. He couldn’t tell what the color was, but it’s texture felt silky and smooth. He wasn’t 100% sure, but he had a nagging feeling it was latex.

Well whatever it was, it did the job.

The suit stuck to the girls neck even after Effryn let go, as if it were etched around her throat. Effryn chuckled at the thought of her being attacked by her kink, and left the bathroom as if nothing happened.

He carefully checked every room on the bottom floor, which included a bathroom, a kitchen, a large living room. All of them were clear.

The last room left to check had a different door, with a unique victorian vibe to it. Effryn pressed his ear against the wood in hopes of hearing anything beyond. It was as silent as every other room.

Figuring it was clear, Effryn twisted the metal knob, and the creak gave way as it opened.

The room seemed to be a bedroom of some sorts, with the middle split off, dividing the room. One of the halves were as plain as could be. White walls, white sheets, and white furniture. Whoever made this side doesn’t need much to please him.

And on the opposite, was a completely darker aesthetic, which contained mostly of purple and black decor. The black contrasted with the purple nicely, but not too much as to be an eyesore.

Their bedsheets also looked nice, with the purple sheets and blankets seething into the blackened pillows. It even surprised Effryn how cool the purple had an effect to look like it was actually on the pillows…

Oh shit?! Is that…?

Dazed, Effryn pulled out his knife and slowly approached the figure. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a girl- someone he knew actually, whose hair was the only to match the color purple.

“Beth. You’re on my kill list.” he said, remembering that she was the knights companion in the game, and that she was also there when they kidnapped Evvryn and him.

Effryn raised the blade. It glimmered in the dark from the tiny amount of light the extinguished candle gave. But before Effryn could thrust his blade down her jugular, orange bottles with lids thrown around caught his eye.

Wait a minute.

A suspicion crawled on his back as he noticed they were all empty. Instead of stabbing her, Effryn promptly lowered his weapon and place a finger against her wrist.

Nothing.

Just as he thought. She wasn’t sleeping, she was already dead. Finding no point in being there anymore, Effryn decided to leave. But before he did, he decided to do one more thing.

“I won’t forgive you for what you did, but still, nobody needs to die that way. Goodbye.” Holding back all his spite for her, Effryn bowed. He checked one last time to see the covers looming over her, and left the room, eagerly waiting to finish off the house.

.

***

“W-we should wait for Salia, shouldn’t we? I mean she’ll get pretty angry if we don’t wait up…”

He heard the question, but felt it drift by as his body wanted more of her touch.

“Who? Actually that doesn’t matter. We should just enjoy ourselves.” Ken felt an incredibly strong desire for her body. He peered over her eyes, and saw his own reflection, and could see himself with eyes that practically screamed he was hungry for women. “I mean you wanted this didn’t you?”

Natailie wanted to say something. A twisted feeling of anxiety was born insider her as Ken’s lips forced itself onto hers.

She didn’t feel any pleasure from this like usual. Something was off. Or rather, she had a feeling that something terrible was happening.

“K-Ken.” she pulled away from his grasp, and laughed with a loose facade. “C-can we hold off on this? I’m not feeling comfortable anymore, so we should try to…”

But instead of accepting her feelings, Ken pressed his fist down onto her throat, restricting her breathing.

“Listen here you bitch!” Ken pressed tighter. “You listen to me without talking back, and we’ll all have a fun time here. So how about you unbuckle my pants and get to work…”

“N-No…!” Natailie tried screaming, but hardly any sound came.

The tightening grip hurt. It was pain unlike any other. The one in Destrial could never hurt like this. But there was one feeling stronger than the others surging through her mind.

-The fear was greater than any kind of pain that she could ever feel.

I don’t want to die I don’t want to die I don’t want to die I don’t want to die… The same thoughts repeated, like the sun rotating around the sun, except if the sun were a comet.

“Are you gonna listen to me? Will you obey everything I have to say? Tonights been shit so far, but you’ll make it up to me, won’t you girl?”

At this point, Natalie wasn’t even sure if Ken recognized her.

“I-Arck-!!”

She tried speaking again, but Ken only pressed down harder.

“P-le-a-se...s-t-op…”

Slowly, the pain started to subside. Everything around her began to float away, as if it were drifting off to the sea.

Nausea settled in. The pain was kicked out. And for a moment, Natalie could feel as if she were floating in a world that floated away from her.

…

And in the next moment, the world went black for her.

“Huh? Did the bitch really give out?”

Ken raised his fist from her throat. The girls body slumped to the side, her face blue as the drowned sea.

She was dead.

Ken punched the girls face. Then again. And again. Until he continually smashed out the sorrow tears from her eyes.

“Fuck! Why the hell is this happening to me?! Can’t I have one thing go nicely for once right now?!”

Ken grew tired of hitting her and stopped. It wasn’t like he got anything useful from hitting a dead girl anyways.

I didn’t even have a chance to get off to her, or wait…

A sick, delighted smile replaced his frenzied expression.

She’s still in front of me, isn’t she? So why don’t I just do things myself?

Ken unzipped his pants, and began to rip off the dead girls shorts. They were pretty revealing, as if she wanted to impress someone with them.

He unbuttoned them, and tried sliding them off, but for whatever reason, they refused to come off.

“Goddamnit! Just...come...off already!”

Getting ticked off, Ken shifted his leg in a position where his foot was placed underneath the girls chin. And with a tug, he used the girls leg as a counter force to rip of the shorts.

“C’mon! C’mon! C’mon! C’mon!! I can practically feel her right now…”

The shorts were loosening, and with that, he began using more force in his leg. He even started to kick her, as if he were shooing off a pest.

The piece of clothing made another large nudge, revealing parts of her upper thighs and pelvis. Just a little more and…

“-Arck!!”

Pain, the feeling of being trapped from breathing, and lust suddenly jumped onto Ken as a sharp sting came from his throat.

His eyes peered down as his hands raced up, but both were terrified of what they discovered. His hands gripped something sharp, with blood drenching the blade.

And what he saw was a kitchen knife protruding outwards. Pools of blood fell like a river from his jugular, and he collapsed onto the ground next to the girl.

“Ar-ck...so-n..bitc…”

Ken tried picking himself up to face the intruder, but immediately flopped back down, and he vomited blood as a direct result.

How could I die? LIke this?! He thought.

He writhed on the floor, twisting and churning. The pain was great enough that it even overcame the strong desires of lust.

He was going to die. That’s what he thought. And so, in a last ditch effort in his final moments of life, he pulled out his phone, and dialed a number. It was someone he hated, but that didn’t matter at this point. He had to tell him…

Ken placed the phone against his ear, and heard it ring.

It rang once.

Then it rang again.

Then a third time.

For shit’s sake, answer…!

Click!

“Hello? Ken? What the hell are you calling for at this time of night?”

“B----”

As he opened his mouth to speak, muffled groans was the only thing to come out.

“Brrr what? Don’t eat while your talking dumbass, and if you called me while stuffing your face, then it must not be too much of a problem, so bye.”

“Br---Klah---”

“Huh? Ken, your really pissing me off, so I’m hanging up, bye-”

Before he could hear the rest of what he was saying, the phone lifted from his grip. He struggled with looking over his shoulder, but once he did, he saw someone else had taken his phone.

“Hello sir, sorry about earlier.” the intruder spoke in happy-go manner.

“Br---klah..”

Ken reached his hand out to the intruder, wishing he could beat and kill them for what they’ve done.

“Yeah haha, I can get a little hungry at times, sorry!”

Hearing him talk made Ken wonder how long he could keep up this act. He knew the guy on the phone for some time now, so it was only a matter of time before he would notice something was off…

“Yeah! I was wondering if we could meet somewhere in private. I’ve got some information on the target of ‘Effryn’ here. Of course!. Y-you want me to pick a location for us to meet? Y-yes sir, well if that’s the case, how about the old construction building? That’s fine? Great! See you soon!”

Horror spread throughout Kens face. His boss, who said he always thought of him as a great worker, didn’t recognize his voice.

Was it a lie? Did he say it just to get results out of him? Either way…

“Yay! I’m almost finished up!” the intruder happily clapped his hands.

Ken, with all his force working at it, attempted to flip his body to face upwards in a way to get a look at the intruder before he died.

But alas, he failed, falling pathetically down again.

“You must really be pissed. Sorry dude, and I probably would’ve left you here to die like a pig.”

The intruder casually strolled next to Ken, and kneeled down.

Horror, fear, anxiety, and a face hitting bat of regret hit him all at once.

It was a boy he was ordered to kill once. Part of a pair of teenagers who they had to play against in order to win some game technology that their boss had wanted for ‘fun.’ He killed his little friend, Evvryn, he thought the name was, but the boy had slipped away.

And to see the boy right here terrified him.

“But I can’t.”

Effryn raised his foot, positioning it right above where the blade had been thrusted in his throat.

“Not after what you did to that girl. She liked you, and you repaid that by killing her. You deserve the same death as you did to her.”

“Ack---....!!”

Just...one...more...feel…

Ken sluggishly stretched his grasp for the girls breast, hoping to get one last pleasure in this world.

But before he even got near her, Effryn put all his force into his thrust, and kicked down on the blade encompassing Ken.

He wriggled a bit more, before stopping completely.

Effryn wasn’t sure if he died from lack of blood, or the shock of the pain, but he didn’t care. There was one last person he needed to take from this world. And he is going to take them.

That was a promise to the one he held dearest.