Digital Starfire

Chapter 1 - The Spectre

Before we start, I'd like to say that this is my first time writing something large and fairly public in like, 2 years? I dunno, but want you guys to know that this probably isn't that good, so please ignore my bad writing. Before this starts, I would like to give my friend Brie a shoutout, we know each other in real life, and she sorta inspired me in the first time to write again something huge. Anyways, shall we begin?

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A hunter's job is to hunt something down, it's in the name. Some hunters hunt down animals. I also hunt down things, just not in the way you would think. I hunt down virtual bounties, bringing in virtual honor and glory all for myself. This technically has no real worth, besides landing you on the top five-hundred in the leaderboard for bounties, which my grandma would call "uneducational." Grandma never understood the craze around Virtual Reality, but I digress. I started playing this game because my "real" life was.... not so good. So, I became Spectre_, an infamous bounty hunter in a fictional galaxy called Xephos Horus 16348A. 

Tonight's bounty was particularly special. Most bounties give me only a few thousand credits, but this one was offering me something huge. A special Whisper 17 drawstring for my upgraded compound bow. Whisper 17 is one of the weapon providers for the game, and my personal favorite. They focus on string weapons, crossbows and compound bows. My right hand gripped my bow, numb from how tight it was, the skin around it pale. As my left hand reached out and drew the drawstring, I took in a deep breath, feeling the air become one with me. Both movements were fluid, one holding the bow, one preparing for fire. A perfect Yin and Yang, equilibrium, a plank balancing at the tiniest point on a pivot. As I released, I breathed out, watching as my arrow shined like a star in the black oblivion of space, before piercing my target's heart. I watched as his life bar drop to 0, before his body bursted into thousands of tiny pixels. 

The area I tracked them to was a planet mainly taken over by the jungle. I sprinted away, leaving only footsteps in the dirt behind me. To be able to warp back to my ship, I had to find a clear area with no roof, there was nearly no spaces. I heard more footsteps behind me, sprinting after me, before I heard the sounds of them loading their guns. And then I was hit. I was hit in my elbow, the health bar in the corner of my screen dropping down about one tenth. To make matters worse, I had tripped over a small pebble, which was very conveniently place in front of a cliff leading to a lake.

As I fell, I thought. 'You're dead, never to see that drawstring again.' And then, my body plunged deep into the water, taking most of my health away, before my online character was knocked out, and I was put in a spectator mode. This was it, I was going to die here. I was going to see all my items erased permanently. I was going to see my 500th rank be deleted. I almost hit the exit button, if it weren't for some other person who had dragged me out. I slipped back into my character, seeing bright lights underwater. It felt like rebirth, a phoenix rising out of the ashes. In my blurry vision, I was placed in what looked to be placed in some sort of bed. A sigh of relief, a moment of peace. I decided it was safe to exit out of the game, and so I did.

I woke up with a deep breath, a gasp, like a baby just being born. I took my visor off, the SyntheGear I used to enter this virtual world. As I sat up, I saw myself in the mirror. Messy as usual, my oversized t-shirt wrinkled and stained, and sweatpants the same. My jet black hair was tumbled, and as I touched it, it was moist. I needed a shower after playing the game for 6 hours straight. It was Saturday, an off day where I didn't need to pay attention to any teachers, or run around the track 5 times. As I sat down in the shower, I started thinking. 'Who saved me? Why did they save me? What about my stuff?' Other thoughts and emotions didn't really matter, what mattered was the game. 20 minutes later, I came out of the shower, new clothes on, stepping out of my room into my small lonely apartment. I lived alone, my parents decided I needed to move out. Today's dinner was a small cup of ramen, an easy thing to make. I heard my phone ring, a text message. It was from a friend of mine. "WANT TO DO RAID???!!!" I texted back. "Sorry got captured cant." As I came into my room again, I glanced at my picture of me and my parents. After a while, I almost wanted to throw it against a wall.

When I entered the game again, I sat up from my virtual bed. The room around me looked like a standard room in a ship- wait, I'm in a ship? I sat up, looking at my surroundings. A small metal chair, and a bookcase attached to the wall. As I was about to open the door, It opened from the other side, revealing a person. He was dressed in a familiar uniform, and carried with him some soup. "Good morning, you should be in bed."

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Yep, that was my very bad first chapter. Pls don't hate me, I'm only a small figure. ;-; But yeah, jokes aside, that was my first time writing a web series in years.

- From Author, Tunga Wunga