Writer's Recipe vol. 3 (2018)

THE DECIDER

Written by : Muhammad Daniel Haikal bin Mad Jaeh

Zarif Mukris could spend hours playing his favourite video game at home even though he should really be focusing on his studies. It was after all, his last year of secondary school. He had a best friend who also happened to be his video game partner – Petra. Their friends called them the Supernovas because whenever they played together, they would completely obliterate their opponents.

The two of them weren't just good at video games, they were also widely known as two of the most intelligent students in the school. Although they were best friends, they were also bitter rivals at the same time. Whenever their teacher asked a question in class, they would be racing to answer it first.

One day, Zarif watched a video on YouTube about a new game that was quick becoming a craze among teenagers their age. The game was called Legendary Wars. He decided to install it on his smartphone, the Pocophone F1 that his parents had recently bought for him.

At first, he only wanted to try playing for a few minutes, but the minutes quickly turned into hours. Zarif was immediately hooked to the game.

"Petra, you have to play it with me!" Zarif exclaimed excitedly to his best friend the next day. They decided to play together after school at Zarif's house. In the game, they fought against other people.

"Zarif, destroy their turret or we will lose!" Petra instructed.

Zarif tried to fight the enemies but his skills was not good enough. He made a lot of mistakes and were killed time and time again.

"Defeated!" the game announced. With disappointment, Zarif apologised to his teammate.

"Let's try again another day," said Petra before he excused himself and went back to his house. After seeing his friend home, Zarif lay on his bed, thinking of how he could improve his skills in the game.

Just as he was about to doze off, he was awakened by the tone on his phone, indicating that he had received a message. It was Petra. This time, he wanted to try playing against Zarif. Zarif did not think twice about accepting the challenge from his rival. Besides, he wanted to take the opportunity to get better at the game.

This time, Zarif played a character called Zilong while Petra used the one called Alucard. According to the video game guide that he had read on the internet, these two characters were the strongest characters in the game right now.

Zarif used all his skill and tactics to outplay Petra. The match was long and challenging, but ultimately, Zarif got the upper hand and his team was on the verge of victory. However, at the very last minute, something unexpected happened – the game suddenly crashed. Zarif was in disbelief.

"No! I will lose!" he shouted in frustration. Immediately, he tried to restart the game and challenge Petra again. But this time, something bizarre happened. When he launched the game, a bright light appeared from his phone's screen until he could not see anything.

When his vision was back to normal, he found himself in the middle of a strange looking jungle. The plants there were unlike anything he had ever seen and there were buildings that looked like ruined castles in the far off distance. What was even more bizarre was that he was clad in a suit of armour from head to toe like a knight

"Mom.? Dad...?" he shouted in panic. He had an idea of where he was, but it was too crazy to be true. He had been transported into the video game world that he was playing.

"Hello player, welcome to Legendary Wars," a robot-like voice was suddenly aired. "If you want to escape from this world, you need to defeat the enemies win the game first," the voice continued. And then, nothing.

Zarif had played a lot of games but he had never fought for real. He was scared, but strangely enough, he was a little excited too. Besides, it was not like he had any other choice. He was determined to win the game and get back to the real world.

All of a sudden, the deafening sound of a war horn blared. The battle had begun. Behind him, a large battalion of soldiers were charging while chanting their battlecry. The soldiers were arranged in a specific formation – the horsemen were at the frontline, while the foot soldiers were behind them and a group of archers was at the back. They were Zarif's allies.

Ahead of them, an army of monstrous creatures were waiting. Their blood-curdling roar sent shivers down Zarif's spine, but he remained undaunted. Armed with a lance and shield, he charged along with his allies.

To his own surprise, he was exceptionally good at fighting. He managed to slay his enemies one after another. The fight was brutal. Zarif's weapon and armour was drenched in the blood of his slain enemies. He felt unstoppable, until suddenly, an enemy knight appeared and challenged him. Zarif exchanged blows with the knight. They were equally matched, but Zarif fought valiantly to overcome his enemy. Eventually, Zarif defeated the knight and landed the killing blow.

"You have slain the enemy," the robot-like announcer announced.

The monsters fled from the battlefield and the soldiers were cheering, celebrating their victory. Zarif felt the world spinning around him. When he opened his eyes, he found himself on his bed with his telephone in his palm.

"That was some dream," he murmured.

He left his bed and prepared to go to school. He was eager to tell Petra about his exciting dream. When he got to school, he immediately looked for Petra but he had not arrived yet. The bell rang and his class teacher entered the room. She had a sorrowful look on her face.

"Class, I have terrible news to share with you," she said while sobbing. "Petra's parents just called me. They told me that Petra... he... he had passed away this morning."