After Kael woke up, everything has turn dark and he could not recognize where he was again. His world had become a field of raging battles and fights. For the past six years, he has been so engrossed in playing a virtual game called Aethelgard's Legacy, a virtual game so wide and has millions of people living there than they did in their own homes. Kael was one of them. He had his room set up in a not so good gaming chair with alot of tangled wires connecting the black virtual headset on his face to an old computer that glowed with soft blue lights. His real body was calm, but his mind, has gone far away, standing at the edge of history.
In the game, he was not Kael, the quiet man who lived alone. He was Kaelan, the Shadow Blade, a fierce warrior whose name echoes beyond and been feared by other warriors. His armor was a deep, midnight-black, equipped with glowing silver inscriptions he had spent years earning. In his hand, he held soulfire,a blade that glows with a faint, purple energy. And before him stood the reason for his entire journey: Xylos, the broken hearted God, the ultimate boss of Aethelgard's Legacy.
Xylos was a very dangerous God made of crystal and anger. It stood sixty feet tall, having a giant human like figure and structure whose body was a twisting galaxy of rough and uneven black silvers. A single, dreadful eye of pure red light burned in its chest, and every time it moved, the sound was like a huge rock splitting . For three days, Kael and his teammates had fought this monster. For three days, they have always been defeated. One by one, his teammates had fallen, their digital lives extinguished until their digital live timers were hours long. Now, only he was left in the game
His own health bar was a thin streak of red. He had no potions left. All his powerful skills were very low already, waiting to be used again. But the boss's health bar was just as low. All it takes to win and defeat the xylos is a just one last hit.
This was not just about winning. This was about being the first. The very first player of the game to defeat Xylos. A "game-first" achievement was a crown, a mark of ultimate dedication that would be forever recorded in the game's history. It was the prize Kael had long been wanting and playing for, he had sacrificed everything for. He had missed events, ignored phone calls, and lived on just a single meal of instant noodles for weeks at a time, all for this single moment.
Xylos raised a gigantic arm made of crystal substances, preparing to smash Kael into pieces. The atmosphere filled with a lot of energy, the ground shaking beneath his avatar's feet. Kael knew he had only a second. He can't block the attack, and he was too slow to dodge. There was only one path forward. He had to attack first.
He poured every bit of his focus, every bit of his power, into this final action. He remembered the countless hours he had spent practicing, learning every move of his enemy and it body, every pattern of its attacks. He saw the opening he had been waiting for, a tiny flash of weakness in the xylos's form as it prepared its deadly strike.
With a loud roar that was both real and digital, Kael charged forward. He pushed his virtual body faster than he ever had before, a lot of adrenaline in his body,his legs pumping, his legendary sword held high. The world seemed to slow down. He could see the individual pieces of Xylos's body twisting and grinding. He could see the red light in its chest very low for just a moment as it focused its power.
This was it.
His blade, Soulfire, made a quite fierce sound as it cut through the thin air. It sank into the very center of the boss's chest, right where the burning red eye was. For a moment, there was no sound at all. There was only the feeling of his sword sinking into xylos ancient and powerful body.
Then, the world exploded.
A bright flash of golden light exploded from Xylos. A glorious, beautiful sound emerged through the virtual chamber, a sound no player had ever heard before. Before Kael's eyes, a huge, golden letters appeared, announcing his victory to the entire server:
[SERVER FIRST! XYLOS, THE SHARD-SOULED GOD, HAS BEEN DEFEATED!]
[CONGRATULATIONS TO PLAYER 'KAELAN' FOR THIS MONUMENTAL ACHIEVEMENT!]
He had done it. A great joy and a big smile was displayed from Kael, hidden beneath the headset. A laugh of pure relief and joy escaped his lips. The years of effort, the sleepless nights, the sacrifices, it was all worth it. He felt the satisfying rush of experience points and a load of notifications for legendary loot, items of rare power that were now his alone.
As the body of Xylos began to shatter into millions of tiny pieces, glittering pieces, Kael felt a strange sensation. A low sound started to vibrate through his headset, a sound that was definitely not part of the game. It grew louder. A flash of static distorted his view of the golden notifications. He frowned, his moment of victory disturbed which comes with confusion. He reached up to adjust the headset, thinking it was just a minor glitch.
Then came the pain.
The damage was not coming from the game. This was real. A massive, rush of electricity shot out from the headset and into his head. His entire body stood still, every muscle contracting at once in an excruciating pain. He was thrown back into his chair with violent force. The triumphant grin on his face was replaced with shock and pain. He tried to scream, but his voice seem they weren't responding. He tried to rip the headset off, but his arms wouldn't follow his commands.
His perfect virtual world shattered. The image of the crumbling boss and his legendary rewards distorted and twisted, melting like plastic. The beautiful golden light of his achievement was consumed by a new light, a harsh, and terrifyingly white light that seemed to burn directly into his brain. It was the color of pure electricity, the sight of error.
He could smell something burning. The sharp, chemical smell of melting circuits and plastic filled his small room. His connection to the game was cut short, but the electricity was not. It coursed through him, a massive amount of power that his body was never meant to handle. His world, once filled with the sights and sounds of Aethelgard's Legacy, was now reduced to a moment of pain.
And then, just as suddenly as it began, it was over.
The scorching white light disappeared. The agonizing pain disappeared. The humming stopped.
There was nothing.
Not the darkness of his room. Not the gentle glow of his computer. It was an absolute, endless darkness, a complete void where nothing existed. There was no sound, no sight, no feeling. His last thought was not of his grand achievement or the legacy he had built. It was a simple question that moved through his head
What is happening to me?
Then, there was only darkness. Kael, the man, was gone.