01|тяαρρє∂
He looked at himself in the mirror. His red hoodie zipped up over his aching muscles. Dark circles around his dark hues. Colour was flushed from his face. Hair damp and messy; with jagged clumps sticking out that made him look like a bush.
But did he care? Not at all.
Although many were worried about him, he could hardly give a damn.
When had they cared about him. When had they showed any hint of compassion towards him. Never. Only to seek glory and praise through his amazing talents.
Running his slender fingers through his messy dark locks, he sighed and walking out of the cramp room. Though out of his bathroom, his room wasn't any better. Used clothes scattered all over his room, crumpled paper from previous essay assignments carelessly left on the dark floor, old books collecting dust that he didn't care for, video game cases tossed around. With the lights turned off, giving his room an eerie look, his eyes only trailed to the light emitting from his phone, which laid peacefully on his bed.
The one thing he cared for the most.
He slowly shuffled towards his small twin size bed, and sat at the edge, making the whole thing sag down. Turning on his small device, he unlocked it and hovered his thumb over the app. The corners of his lips curled up into a slight smile. Entering the game, a mechanical female voice welcomed him back.
Admiring his hard work. His 3 months of hard work. 3 months of countless hours glued to this small piece of metal. His avatar stood there. Ready to take on anything she came to face with. The strength and courage that her face showed. Her sword gripped tightly in her small hand.
He had put all his effort into this girl. No warrior. This pix-elated work of art. This game avatar which wasn't even real. But that didn't matter.
He checked her states to make sure if she needed any improvement. After that he entered a battle.
***
This was all she ever did. All she ever known to do. She knew nothing, but only how to wield a sword, and to spar with anyone she crossed paths with.
With waves of glory and power dancing around her small built body, she stood there in front of the three headed hound. Dark red eyes, filled with furry. Hatred, disgust, blood-lusted. With large jagged teeth that could ripped anything in two with one bite. Foam, dripped down the side of it's already drenched jaw and fell into puddles that melted as it touched the scorching ground. Thick metal collars attached to chains were tightly around the wolf's neck and it held the beast down. It's heads swung aggressively back and forth as it threatened to charge towards her. The metal chain strained to hold it down. Barking and snapping as it scratch the ground and made a great effort to break free and kill her in one swipe. It's black fur, jagged and stained with blood.
While as for her. A small girl, with messy long dark hair, that trailed to her waist. She had pale brown eyes that seemed to take away the breath of those who encounter her. Small thin lips that looked like they haven't been shaped in years.
She didn't need a second look to know that this was Ceberus, the three headed dog that guard the gates of the underworld.
After inspecting her opponent, bold red numbers had appeared in front of her. At last, the battled had begun. It was the count down.
3
2
1
GO!
The sound of metal snapping was the indication that the wolf was freed. Though it's head thrusted in every direction, it had one target, and it was her. It ran, heavy paws that shook the ground with every step it took. With no control over her body, she jumped, feeling light as a feather. In a heartbeat, she fell like a rock in water and gripped her sword with two hands, as she dove right in the wild dog's skull. Blood gushed out. Steaming down over it's head and staining it's fur.
Ceberus howled with pain. It whipped it's one head, desperate to get her off and to stop the pulsing pain. She grasped the golden sword and pulled in out. In that moment, static bright lines appeared on her body and weapon. She was back in front of the hound. She slightly gasped as she was surprised to be back in this position
With no thoughts to fill her head, Ceberus' heads rammed into her, sending her flying backwards, crashing into a wilted burnt tree. Pain surged through her. Though she was hurt, she had felt worse.
Body slightly twitching, she stood up and let herself be swept away, she moved her slim legs towards the dog's stomach, slicing right through, with a clean cut. Whimpering, and barking in agony, Ceberus padded backwards a bit as blood poured out of it's womb. It compressed it's body, trying to shrink away. With three more powerful swipes, she had cleanly cut each head off of it's body.
As a soft howl echoed through the dark forest, she stood on the battle field. Blood stained on her sword, her armor, on the ground. Though there was no crowd cheering for her, she knew that her spar had become viral.
With the same red bold font that were from the start, in appeared in front of her which stated,
MATCH COMPLETE
CHALLENGER WINS!
With a blink, she was gone. She walked away as if she had forgotten what she had just done. As if she didn't care. For she didn't know why she had challenged it. Why she had no control. Why she was so confused.
But none of that was on her mind. What had swarmed her head were questions. Questions about those static lines. What were they? Why were they there? Why didn't my attack work the first time? What happened?
But at that moment, the ground below her shook. It felt like an earthquake, which was common where she lived, but this was no earthquake. As the land shook with great force, birds -more like crows- fluttered out of the curved dead trees. The sound of squawking and wings flapping filled the whole area. But there was something different. Something was majorly different.
They didn't have their black pebble eyes. No, they had the eyes of humans. They didn't have their normal claw-like feet either. They flashed back and forth between human hands and feet. Blue and white lines were blazing through the bodies. They were hideous.
There was something was wrong. This had never happened before.
Then there was a cracking noise. Then like hands ripping through a piece of bread, the ground ripped itself apart, swallowing her whole. She fell into the black abyss, eyes-widening. She screamed, but the sound bounced off the walls. No one heard her.
And now she was going to die.
***
His hands jolted and he dropped his phone on the ground, with a thud. The device was vibrating and it slightly crawled around the floor as it made an awful buzzing noise. On the screen, a blue background with white texted appear.
Your device is being hacked, tracked down, or has a virus. Please-
It had wrote no more, since the screen turned black and the vibrating had stopped. It had shut off. Without any contact.
He sighed and once again ran his fingers through his dark locks. He was startled. Yes. And as the rate of his heart beat fell, he picked up his phone. He clicked his tongue. He had dropped his phone a bit too hard, considering there was a large ragged crack across the oily screen. Now he had to get it fixed. With an irritated groan, he shoved the small machine into his pocket and laid on his back, his bed sheets tugging down with him, placing his forearm over his eyes.
He had to wait a week for his phone to get fixed. He had to wait to play his game.
He didn't want to, but he had to. He was forced to do something he didn't want to.
Just like everything he had ever done.
