Quest 50 | ONC 2024 HONORABLE MENTION ✨️✨️

Two:

The connection to the game was flawless. The aliens had mastered technology we'd never seen on Earth. Simply putting on the goggles fully immersed us all in their fictional world, planting our feet within their Fantasy as if we were physically there. Normally, the video world was bright, colorful, and pleasing to the eyes, regardless of the creatures or bosses we were ordered to fight. We'd beat them all in the sunshine. This time, it was dark red, and the cloudy sky glowed with a green hue, and lines of data.

I stared up at the numbers that bounced within the clouds and waited as if a signal or message was supposed to appear. But after a few minutes, I stopped and looked around. The city was gone, replaced by green plains and dying, once lush forests. Shadowed by the skies above, I spotted the black silhouettes of small creatures, demons, that were usually an easy kill for an experience boost scurried from tree to tree. Other players were logging in, appearing within their last quest area as a sparkling mist. I saw the others who quested with us nightly. But I didn't see him.

I turned, passing my hand over my chest. No longer in my comfy purple pajamas, the game dressed me in a black jumpsuit. It was cold under my fingertips, snug enough that there weren't any folds, but loose so I could fight. It reminded me that this was a game and maybe Damon had appeared in a different area of the fantasy world. I know he logged in on time. Damon never missed the deadline.

"Fresh meat," a voice hissed.

I quickly turned as a demon, just a few inches shorter than me, walked in my direction. Their chest was bare. Only a black cloth covered his privates like underwear. He carried two blades in one hand. When he drew closer, he slithered his tongue between the shiny metal. I stepped back.

"Fresh, fresh meat." Its deep yellow skin glowed with the world's red hues. His toes pressed into the grass. When his free hand passed over the skinny pecs and muscles on his front, I took a fighting stance. I'd never seen creatures like him before, but he wouldn't scare me. I fought bears twice his size and took them down with my hands.

He snickered. "You're trying to be chosen."

I lifted my chin. "I'm trying to live."

He twirled the blades until he passed one of them into his other hand. He held them both toward me like he would slice dinner and eat it. I wasn't a meal, not for him, and I wouldn't become one. I learned a lot playing this game. Knives didn't scare me. "Fresh meat," he hissed for the third time.

The demon swung his right hand at me. The tip of the blade nearly hit my nose but I ducked back, preparing to dodge the second hand. It was quick. Slice, slice! But he didn't land a hit.

I brushed my thumb over the tip of my nose, chilled by the gusts of his failed attack. I shook my head. "I've played since day one."

"Day three." He rolled his shoulders back as he grinned at me. "No one was here on day one, or day two. You were all late!"

How were we late if the aliens gave us the equipment on the third day? We arrived when they commanded us to play. Who were we to make that decision?

"Late!" the demon shouted as he lunged at me. This time his knife cut my forearm, but I spun around before he could stab me in the ribs. I swung my arm back and hit his shoulders. He buckled as he stumbled forward. When he turned, I had twirled my hand to expose fire in my palm.

He snickered. "Oh, she wields magic. How ineffective." The demon licked the sharp edge of his blade. Black tar spilled from the wound, falling onto his chest like poisoned blood. With it dripping from his mouth, he came to attack me again. "How will that fight the war?! Huh?!"

War? I dodged his attack again and pressed my palm flat against his back. It burned through his skin, causing the flesh to peel away from the bone. His wound spewed hot black tar between my fingers, and I cried out in disgust, not pain. What war is he talking about?!

The demon straightened and dropped his weapons. He reached for my neck with his hands instead. Perfect. I was better at close combat.

I grabbed at his wrists to get him off of me. When his grip loosened, I tugged his arms to the side. Notification pings went off in my ear as he took damage. He cried as I pushed his limbs to the limbs. To break away, he lifted one leg and kicked me in the gut. I choked and moved back.

But this demon didn't know of my disease. Outside of this game, feeling pain like this was normal. Unable to swallow or breathe came and went as my body succumbed to failure. The demon didn't know that I lived with this daily, and his defensive attack did nothing to me; it was how I woke up every morning.

"I'm not fresh meat!" I lunged at his back, managing to climb him to wrap my legs around his neck. His hot breath made me uncomfortable. Being so close, I noticed his horrid smell, his slimy presence. With my thighs on his shoulders, I squeezed and forced his head to the right so that I wouldn't look into his eyes. He gasped between my legs. "And I am never late—"

I dipped my body to the left, dropping my weight beside him. His body bent awkwardly as I dug my heels between his arms.

"—The aliens were just early!"

The magic within my fingers, the same power the demon called ineffective, coursed through my body and burned him. The two of us were engulfed in flames, so hot we were blue. While he screamed and crumbled beneath me, I felt at ease and one with my magic. When his bones collided with the ground, so did mine.

My body landed with a thud. My jumpsuit remained intact for the most part. My sleeves were brittle at the end; my shoes were ruined. The demon's black blood stuck to me like hot glue, and I hoped that the next time I logged in, it would be clean again. With a disgusted grunt, I pushed away the demon's remains. "Gross..."

"Nina!" My name echoed in the wind.

My head shot up. I knew that voice. Damon! He was here!

I pushed myself up from the corpse dust and searched the red horizon. Demons continued to run around the red fields. The black silhouettes zigzagged between the truth. And it was then, between the creatures of this fantasy night, that I saw him.

Damon pushed forward from the distance. As he got closer, I saw the rip in his suit. He carried a sword in one hand, and when he was close enough, he dropped it. Blood dripped to his hand, but that didn't stop him. He ran to me the rest of the way. "Nina!"

I hurried, pushing off my feet, and met him in the middle of the field. My arms flung around his neck as he wrapped around my waist. We squeezed each other with desperation mixed with relief. And when he dipped my head back to look at me, I saw the same feeling in his eyes. "I thought you didn't log in," he whispered.

He looked beaten but victorious. I only imagined the creature he fought was larger than mine. The cut on his arm confirmed it. Damon was skilled at this game, just as I was. Had he been in a rush? "I thought the same about you." I ran my fingers over the rip in his suit. I saw the wound glistening red. I frowned. "It looks like we both logged in to the same thing."

"You mean landed on volcano grass and fighting one of those little shits?" Damon pointed at one of the silhouettes.

"Yup." I nodded and pointed at the remains of the one I killed.

"Oh, snap," Damon snorted, "good shit."

Good shit, indeed. My hands slid back around his neck. I knew there were more creatures to fight and a possible quest to achieve, but we weren't given directions. This was the night that had the biggest expectation, or so we believed. And because of it, I refused to let Damon go. I needed every second.

The sky above us crackled. Both Damon and I looked up. "We will get a command?"

"Instructions?" I bit my lip as I followed the dark red clouds to the right. They parted, revealing a hologram of an alien. Against the dark red sky, I made out the deep purple of its skin and its yellow cat-like eyes.

Its lips spread into a sinister green. Static distorted its image for a moment before the alien croaked, "Hello, survivors."

***

A/N:

total word count: 3398!
I reached the 2k word count in this chapter, and I am two chapters in!

I would love to know your thoughts if you're reading my ONC entry ^_^
Good luck to everyone participating!