They knew me as the Dark Lord—a name whispered in fear, cursed in rage, and revered in awe. I was a conqueror of worlds, breaker of guilds, the legend behind every defeat that left an enemy guild in ruin. In every game that mattered, my shadow lingered like a stormcloud.
But that was only in the virtual world.
In reality, I was just a man. Flesh, blood, and neglect. Hours hunched over glowing screens had left my body hollow, a machine that only obeyed the hunger for victory. When the pandemic swept across the world, it claimed me like it had claimed millions. And for the first time in my life, I lost.
Dying was agony.
It tore me apart, not with steel or spells, but with the weight of air I could no longer draw into my lungs. And yet, after the torment, there was release. Silence. Blackness. A nothing so complete it should have terrified me, yet I welcomed it.
Then came the drums.
A deep, pounding rhythm shook the void, each beat echoing through the marrow of whatever I had left. At first it was faint. Then, unmistakable. We Will Rock You.
I laughed—a raw, impossible laugh. I had no lungs, no voice, no body… and yet my laughter rolled like thunder through the emptiness. The song grew louder, bolder, until it felt as though the universe itself was singing defiance with me.
And then he spoke.
"Welcome back, my friend."
The voice was my own—and yet not. Darker. Sharper. It was the voice that had whispered victory in my ear for years, the voice of the Dark Lord made flesh.
"Who are you?" I asked, though I already feared the answer.
"I am you. And you are me. The mask and the face. The man and the myth. Together, we are whole."
"I'm not the Dark Lord," I whispered. "I was just a man… who died."
"No," the voice hissed, cold as iron. "You are more. You are a warrior. A legend. A shadow that cannot be erased. Your death was only the beginning. Destiny is calling."
The void rippled. Stars flared awake around me, as if the universe had bent its knee. Among them, a single light blazed brighter than all the rest.
"There," the voice said. "Follow. Cross the veil."
The star pulsed like a beacon, and I felt myself pulled toward it. Heat scalded me, brighter and fiercer with every second. My being screamed as fire seared through what little form I had left. Pain, white-hot and merciless, consumed me.
I tried to cry out, but the sound never came.
The light swallowed me whole.
And everything went black.