"And now...the World has spoken, that moment that we all have been waiting for" the announcer's voice boomed with an echo, rolling over a crowd that seemed endless due to its magnitude, lights swept across the vast eSports arena catching every sign, every banner, every tear-streaked fan face filled with a rich enthusiasm to blow ones brain off, "The winner of Global eSports Player of the Year...the one and only... Its_cana!!"
A beat passed as the announcer proclaimed the winner, Then "AN ENEMY HAS BEEN SLAIN"
The whole stadium exploded with mighty screams from the audiences
Red and white lights flared from the stage, confetti rained down like digital snow as the fans screaming at the top of their lungs, some holding up glowing signs that read "ITS_CANA = GOD MODE" "GHOST" and "SILENT BUT DEADLY" The chants grew louder and louder, rhythmic, tribal as more fan boys and fan girls joined in the fuss:
"CA-NA! CA-NA! CA-NA!'
And from the shadows behind the main platforms, a silhoette of a lone figure, slightly tall who seems no much older than 23 years emerges.
He wore a long black coat trimmed in deep silver and matte-black gaming headset rested around his neck, his face was hidden beneath a sleek hood, pulled just low enough to cast a mysterious shadow across his brow, the stitching on his sleeve read one word:"UNSEEN" in vibrant silver hue and below it the word "GHOST" was read in faint silver hue
Arman David, known to the World only as Its_cana, walked towards the podium like he'd done it a thousand times, but this wasn't just a win, this was History in the making, he had risen from nothing, from a country whose eSports influence to the World was very low, from a room with a cracked laptop, to the absolute top, being the best of the best in the whole world
He stepped up as the host offered the crystal trophy, it shimmered like a hologram, the trophy was exactly two controller halves joined by wings with his gamer tag engraved on the base, the moment his fingers touched the crystal, the whole crowd erupted again.
The whole World was watching, the moment itself was breathtaking.
"Cana," the host said, leaning in with a well polished smile and a glowing mic. "You're the first person to win this award without showing their real face, without giving a single interview, without speaking even once on stream, Tonight, you have done the impossible, Is there anything that you want to say to your fans?"
A hushed silence fell over the crowd, even the cameras seemed to pause, It was as if time itself stopped for a moment, Arman looked out over the sea of lights, phones and vibrant faces, his lips up-turned to a beautiful smile exposing his snowy white teeth.
He raised the mic to his lips.
He reached for his hood.
He opened his mouth___
"Arman"
From the multitude of crowds he heard one familiar voice ringing in his ears he searched but didn't find anything, he grinned sharply but before he could say anything else, he heard it again.
" ARMAN!! WAKE UP! DO YOU WANT TO DELAY LIKE YESTERDAY"
The dream cracked like glass
Arman shot up in bed, breathing hard, his blanket was twisted around his legs, the old fan in the corner buzzed like a dying drone ready to explode at any time and a faint morning light poured in through the uneven curtain, outside a daladala (bus) honked violently as if mocking him
"Arman David" his mother shouted from the kitchen "It's 6:30 right now, don't you know its monday and you need to go Uni?"
He blinked once then twice, groaned and rubbed the sleep from his eyes, the echo of the crowd was gone, the shining trophy he was awarded was also gone, just four faded posters on the walls, a desk stacked with books and his secondhand gaming laptop glowing softly with last nights' paused game.
On the screen:
Victory
MVP: Its_cana - 23 kills / 1 death
He stared at it for a long second
There was no confetti, no lights, just the sharp beep of a WhatsApp message coming in, he muttered,"I was that close..."
His mother knocked again, more gently this time "Arman please dont be like your father, wake up early, you are very intelligent but you wont use that bright head of yours if you sleep late, and then, weren't you the one who said that you have a test today, so why are you asleep till this time?" he didn't respond immediately instead he stared at the sticky note on his wall,it was slightly peeling at the edge but still bold: "One Day... They'll Know My Name."
He stood, stretched his thin arms and walked towards the small mirror hanging crookedly on the door, his reflection looked nothing like a champion, skinny frame, dry lips, half-combed hair, a face the World didn't know...yet.
He reached for his cracked phone and checked his messages, one from a teammate, "Bro you on tonight? Big scrim with Kenyan squad, don't ghost."
Arman typed: Of course, I'll be there sharply on time just hit me up 30 minutes before the match starts
Then he dropped the phone on his desk, unplugged the laptop and headed to the bathroom, dragging his slippers behind him like a ghost.
As he brushed his teeth, thoughts of his dream replayed in his mind, the cheers, the trophy, the lights were magical that it felt so real, too real to be a dream, he spat out the toothpaste and stared in the mirror, " One day," he whispered. "One day, it won't be just a dream"
He packed his bag with a few books and his laptop, he shoved in his lunch wrapped in foil, put on his favorite sneakers and tied them losely, bid farewell to his mother and got out of the house, he walked out into the morning sun.
Reaching the university is a 15 minutes ride by bus and a short walk, on his way, he passed kids laughing, a bodaboda (motorcycle) blasting bongo flava and a newspaper stand showing headlines about politics and sports, none of which mentioned eSports but he knew, deep down, he knew the world would catch up, he walked pass it to the bus stand "Eeh Ubungo Mawasiliano gari, External Ubungo" not long after reaching the bus stand he hears the conductor while the bus slowly stopped near him, he boarded the bus together with other passengers and off the bus went leaving behind a cloud of dust and smoke.
10 minutes later, he got off the bus and headed in the direction of the University, walking along the railway line with other people while listening to his favorite playlist untill reaching the perithery of the university
At the top of the gates the words "NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF TRANSPORT" In rich bolded words, he took out his ID and showed it to the gateman while passing through.
He reached in his venue on time and sat for his test which lasted for as long as 30 minutes, the test itself wasn't as hard as he thought it would be, atleast not for him, about 2 hours later he entered another venue where he was having a session, he sat quietly in the fifth row, his teachers barely noticed him, his classmates called him LONER, it was already in the mid of the second semester but he rarely speak to people and mostly secluded himself from most people, the only people who he mostly speaks to are his gaming friends in the whatsapp group and squad, only one boy, Jonas, sat beside him and occasionally asked if he played eFootball, PUBG or Mobile Legends but Arman always smiled and said, "Nah."
By lunchtime, during one of his free times, he was already planning that night's strategy, he scribbled builds in the margin of his notebook, did some calculations that would come out handy during the match, he arranged his schedules well so that they couldn't overlap with his personal timetables, gaming was his escape world.
After classes, Arman didn't linger on the campus for long, went straight to the bus stand and boarded en route to home, upon reaching he found his mother at home, probably came after her office work, helped around with a few chores, washed some of his dirty clothes, ironed the ones he'll uuse the next day on the campus and still managed to squeeze in a 20 minute nap before evening fell.
In the night, together with his mother sat for dinner, the table was served with rice, beans and some veges, he ate silently as his mother lectured him on focus and his coming University Exams, he just listened to her mother silently nodding and speaking only when neccesary, he deeply loved her mother and never once has he disrespected her nor act rude to her, he simply was that type of a child that every parent would want, she didn't hate him gaming, she just didn't understand that for Arman, his son, gaming wasn't just play, it was escape, identity, power and a place to show his dominance.
Later that evening, after finishing chores and watching his favorite show after it, he went for a shower then headed straight to his room, opened his laptop plugged it to power, he checked his worn out contoller, put on his secondhand gaming headset connected it to his laptop then logged in...
The rhythmic background music of Mobile Legends was the only thing that he could hear "Aah! there's no better music I'd love to hear than the background music of MLBB" after logging in, the screen flickered to life, Username: Its_cana, the lobby lit up, he directly sought his in-game friend who was already waiting for him.
Tonight was a regional scrim, Kenyan squad vs Tanzanian underdogs, no webcam, no mic, just skills
He automatically picked up an assasin and equipped him with the build that he had prepared beforehand, his team was comprised of an assasin taking the jungle, a mage on the mid lane, a tank, a long range marksman and an explosive fighter, as the match began, Arman felt the transformation begin.
He dashed towards the enemy jungle and took out the blue monster then to the minor monster, as he was retreating to his jungle, he didn't forget to observe the map, he took out his red monster then dashed to mid lane to support his mage, with a good coordination with his mage by stunning the enemy mage, he came into play and the first kill of the match was snatched away from the enemies as Its_cana executed a perfect blow to the enemy mage, he didn't linger in the mid lane after the kill, he went to take the blue monster.
Upon reaching level 4, he ran towards the turtle where he found the enemy jungler already battling with it, both the turtle and the jungler's health were less than half, Arman counted "1, 2, 3" and also attacked both the enemy and the turtle, he skillful evaded the jungler's attack and used his first skill to inflict damage meanwhile the enemy tank closed in to support his jungler but before he reached, Arman already killed the jungler, as he was finishing the jungler, both the enemy tank and mage emerged, and in less than three seconds
>Double kill
The enemy mage died next leaving only the lone tank who tried to escape the onslaught but fate wasn't on his favor
>Triple kill
He died cruelly without even having a chance to counter, he stroke the keys again shifting his expertise to the turtle who died before the enemy had time to snatch him away
>An ally has slain the turtle
He kept on farming throughout the map, not only his jungle but also snatched away the enemy jungle indiscriminately, the second wave came as the turtle respawned but he wasn't as lucky as the first as the enemies killed it before he could arrive on time, he just kept on farming, grinding so hard increasing his levels.
Across the map, enemies dropped one after another like flies, his fingers danced over the keys, timing, reflex, insticts, and the perfection he was displaying was something that was not supposed to be looked down on, commentators whispered on the other end: "Who is this Its_cana?" he smiled, That's what they all ask.
The match reached it apex with Its_cana and his teammates dominating the map with their perfect teamplay and skill management, they coordinated swiftly and secured enemy turrets and atlast they pushed the enmies to their base where they eliminated them precisely and destroyed their base resulting to their victory.
He heaved a sigh of relief and exited the match's statistics records, they represented the country well with him being the MVP star of the match, his squad congratulated him for his wonderful gameplay.
After the match, he teamed up with two more of his squad members for a few ranked matches and by midnight, he had climbed two more divisions in the leaderboard.
It was then after the last match, his phone chimed up with a ping, a pro Kenyan team thats is well known by its influence in the Kenyan server sent him a private message:
>Hellow Its_cana, are you interested in joining our squad, we are more than willing to sign you in with the best contract we can offer.
He gazed at the message for a few seconds then typed
>No, I'm not interested
He then closed the tab.
Not yet, not until he was truly ready.
He shut the laptop slowly, letting the fan whirr down to silence.
Then he lay back on his bed, staring up at the ceiling where there was a poster showing an eSports trophy, different from the one he saw in his dream, looking at the trophy, he wished he could dream the same dream as the previous night, outside, the city buzzed, distant music, the call of a night hawker, the bark of a stray dog and the honking of vehicles, the full moon on its prime was directly overhead
Inside, only one name echoed in the stillness: Its_cana
And tomorrow, it would echo even louder.