What's the meaning of life? Is it about finding love? Studying the mysteries of life? Being rich? Or is it about achieving whatever goals you want to reach? For me, the meaning of life is very simple... I grew up studying so of course my meaning of life is... games.
Why would I choose playing games as my meaning of life? Well, playing games is fun and it is the only thing I enjoy. It may seem quite meaningless to a lot of people but to me it's my reason to live...
Haaa... I'm just kidding. I don't have any meanings of life. I just do whatever I want to do and live. I don't care how I'll die either. Well, I do feel bad for my parents... Maybe I should do something before I die?
Glenn was sitting in his room silently. The room was bland and there was nothing much except for the gaming chair and PC. The reason Glenn was reflecting on his life was because it was... 3 AM. His mind wasn't functioning properly.
'Haa... How do I fall asleep like this?' Glenn was clearly tired and sleepy. He slept late and he haven't even slept for 4 hours yet.
Glenn realized his thoughts were taking him to somewhere he doesn't belong and somewhere he doesn't want to be. Your brain doesn't function properly when it's too tired. And Glenn's brain was both overworked and tired. If you include all the hours he spent sitting and playing games... Then his body is probably not in a good shape right now either.
"... I'm not going to fall asleep like this."
Glenn said as he reached out for his "sleeping pills"...
Wait a minute, sleeping pills? When did I ever buy these?..
Glenn barely even goes out and no one in the house comes to his room... He's 98% sure about this. The other 2% might just be that he didn't realize because he was too focused on playing games.
...did anyone buy this for me?... No way, this isn't right. I need to make sure.
Glenn slowly got up and "checked" the sleeping pills... He didn't realize it earlier but now that he's checked it closely... The "sleeping pills" looked "otherworldly?"...
No. They aren't sleeping pills... Wait, isn't this the strange pill looking thing from that game? What was the name of that game?...
Ugh, I can't remember it... I've stored too much informations inside my brain already. I have no space left to remember such an unpopular game...
Wait, an unpopular game...? Which one was it? No, was it even an unpopular game?
I can't remember at all... Shouldn't I just sleep normally? Why was I even searching for sleeping pills? It's not like I ever relied on them to fall asleep.
Glenn retracted his hands from reaching out to the sleeping pills before he reached it. Then he just went back to sleep... And just when he went back to sleep-
A lot of strange noises from nearby prevented him from doing so. They weren't particularly loud but they sounded too unpleasant!
Huh..? Wait, wait... These things aren't really in reality, right?... This has to be a dream!..
Glenn finally recalled what game it was from! It was a "otherworldly" and also a "demonic" looking strange pill said to have been created by a malicious demon... The pill makes you go crazy and become a "slave" of the demon, was it?... It can hallucinate your mind and it'll urge you to take the pill. It's a hallucination you can't escape from through normal means.
...what the hell is this? A dream? No, this is too vivid to be a dream. F*ck, this isn't the world I belong to! No, it's more like these things doesn't belong here...
Glenn tried opening his eyes and closing them repeatedly to see if his surrounding changes...
But nothing changed. Everything is still the same. This is his room and his world as well.
So why and where are these strange noises coming from?! It's making my already worn out mind more tired!
"Glenn!" It was a voice, a familiar voice... And a voice that I've never heard of?...
"Glenn! Wake up!" ...such a pleasant voice? Who did it belong to?
Glenn could hear a particularly loud yet pleasant voice among the strange noises... It was loud enough to clear up all the unpleasant noises!
Glenn felt glad yet worried. What's happening to this world?... No, what's happening to me?!
However, Glenn didn't have much time to worry about such matters... As he fell asleep soon since he was tired. The pill on his table disappeared and then the world shattered. Then he woke up in a different place.
An unfamiliar place..? No, isn't this the world of "Last Stand Of Humanity"? Right... That name. A game about fighting demons, otherworldly creatures and even animals who have turned into monsters.... Basically, humanity have a lot of "enemies" in this world. And ones that can threaten humans to extinction.
Why am I in this place..? I am also I in a hospital bed? Was it because I just got transmigrated here..? Or maybe because of the strange noises from before?
"Glenn! I was so worried, you know?!" The pleasant voice from earlier then came. It was a girl's voice. She was a girl with blonde hair and golden eyes.
"Mary?..." I muttered out.
"Yes! Did you also get amnesiac effects from the hallucination pill?!" Mary said with a worried look.
Why is she so worried about me? Isn't she just a character I played as when I played the game?...
"...I don't know. When did I get here? No, that's not right. When did I get here into this world?" I rephrased my question and asked seriously.
"...ah, you really don't remember anymore. What do you mean when did you get here? You were born in this world and you're Glenn!"
'I'm sure about the fact I'm Glenn, but wasn't that the name I had before transmigration?'
Is this even transmigration at all? A thought entered his mind. It was possible to break a human's mind to the point he'd forget everything and even make him remember things that have never existed with that pill. Worst of all, there's no cure for it.
He recalled the gaming informations he had from when he used to play the game. It was an especially annoying pill to deal with, since in the game your character "forgets" every skills they've learned.
Then he held Mary's arms closer and asked her a question. Their faces were really close.
"Wait, what is my hometown even? And this isn't transmigration, right?" Glenn's face was serious.
"..eh, wait! We're too close!" Mary said as she took Glenn's hands off her arms and distanced herself from him.
"Ah, right... Sorry!" Glenn realized he was impulsive and his face changed to one of embarrassment.
"...your hometown is Blegeria, same as mine. We've been friends since childhood and we're currently second graded protectors of humanity. And yes, you didn't transmigrate... It's an effect of the pill." Mary answered calmly.
Although Glenn couldn't remember any memories of living in this world at all...
Blegeria is the hometown for Mary... that's right. And we're childhood friends? Second graded protectors... That means we're in the third stage of the game. Second graded means we're fairly strong... at least in our own association "Protectors Of Humanity" that takes charges on defending the only and last human city of this world. With about a population count of 30 millions of so...
"Hmm... Childhood friend?" Glenn said with a smile.
"...why do I feel like you've become somewhat perverted?" Mary replied with a disappointed look on her face.
'She could tell?...' I was quite surprised but not really. I knew Mary had an intuition unique to her from other characters... An intuition passive that can tell one's intentions or even predict enemies.
"Sad to hear that I've been friendzoned... " I said with a disappointed look.
"No one's friendzoning you, we don't have the luxury for things like romance in this world." Mary replied calmly.
So that means I have a chance, right? But she's right... Humans in this world are always facing dangers... And you could die anytime. Or lose your mind and memories like me...
"Also, you told me that I was affected by the hallucination pill.. but I am a second graded protector, right? How did I even fall under it's effects?.." Glenn asked seriously.
"... it's because you overworked yourself. I was going to scold you for it but it seems you've even lost your memories from it." Mary said with a gloomy face.
"Don't worry I only forgot things about my life." I replied calmly to reassure her.
"That's the bad thing, idiot!" Mary scolded me.
"Right, I'll have to re-learn everything... And more importantly how exactly did I overwork myself?" I asked.
"...you fought about 3 demons, 2 monsters and 4 otherworldly creatures without resting." Mary replied helplessly.
'I guess that's why my body still feels a bit tired. Why the hell did I even do that?'
"You didn't have a choice since everyone else on your team was injured... And only you could fight them..." Mary added more.
'And Mary was probably on a different team... I guess I didn't die fighting against enemies but I fell asleep immediately after because I was tired.'
"I found you unconscious next to a hallucination pill and you was already under it's effects for minutes when I got there. All your other teammates were also unconscious but only you got affected by the pill most as you were the closest to it." Mary explained the entire situation fully.
"...I see, that's good to hear?" I only realized I had said something unlike myself after finishing the sentence. But it's true that it's a good thing no one else got affected... right?
"At least that idiotic part of yours haven't changed.." Mary said, looking both reassured and worried.