The apartment was silent except for the gentle hum of the computer and the soft clicking of a mouse. A faint blue glow washed over the room, tracing out the silhouette of a young man sitting in front of a screen.
Eli Vance hadn't moved much in hours.Not because he was lazy—but because he was reading. Every line of the new patch notes for Eternal Nexus felt like a secret language written for him alone.
Outside, the city of Hollowbrook was waking up—delivery bikes whirred through narrow streets, car horns echoed faintly in the distance, and the first light of dawn crept through his thin curtains, cutting across the dim glow of his monitor.
Eli's room was small, but it held everything that mattered: a desk cluttered with notebooks, a few empty energy drink cans, a poster of ShadowFox, the world's greatest Eternal Nexus player, and his aging but still reliable gaming setup.
The walls were pale, almost blank. He'd meant to decorate, but never did. Every time he thought of hanging something up, he told himself later. Everything in Eli's life seemed to happen later. Except for gaming—that always happened now.
He scrolled slowly through the Patch 12.0 notes again.
Kael the Riftblade — Base Attack Damage: 65 → 60.Riftstorm (E): Cooldown increased from 14s → 18s.
He exhaled through his nose, a small frown forming."Sixty. Seriously?" he muttered.
To most people, it was just a few numbers. To Eli, it was a world-shifting change. He'd played Kael since Season 5—seven years. He knew every timing, every combo, every quirk in the animation cancel. And now, in two short lines, everything felt different.
He stared at the update a little longer, then leaned back, stretching. His chair creaked.
A patch could break a player—or forge one.
Eli wasn't a professional gamer. Not yet. But he was something that sometimes felt rarer: hopeful.
At twenty, he worked evening shifts at a convenience store, stacking shelves and smiling at customers who didn't look up from their phones. When his shift ended, he'd come home, eat instant noodles, and queue ranked matches until the city outside his window grew quiet again.
He didn't think of it as unhealthy. He thought of it as practice.
He wanted to climb.Not just in-game—but out of the life he was in.
The loading screen of Eternal Nexus filled the monitor with light. The title swirled in vibrant colors, the words "New Season Begins" gleaming in gold across the bottom.
He watched the animation carefully, as if waiting for something to reveal itself.
The music played softly—a haunting mix of orchestral strings and synthetic echoes. He'd heard it hundreds of times, yet it always made his chest feel heavy, like standing at the start of a mountain trail.
In the background, the newest Champion—Liora, the Starborn—hovered above a fractured planet, starlight coiling around her arms. Every season brought a new Champion, and every new Champion brought chaos.
The thought made him smile.Chaos meant opportunity.
Eli's in-game username blinked in the corner: NexusEli.
He wasn't famous. His stream rarely broke ten viewers, and most were strangers from countries he'd never visit. But there was one kid—username "TinyTusk"—who always showed up, typing "gl today bro" before every match.
Sometimes that was enough to make Eli keep queuing.
He opened his notebook, the one with the black cover and worn edges. Every page was filled with notes—damage numbers, cooldown timings, even drawn diagrams of lane control zones. He wrote carefully, like a student preparing for exams that no one else knew existed.
Goal for Season 12:Diamond rank or higher.Stream every day.Don't give up after tilt.
The handwriting was neat at first, then slowly devolved into messy, rushed scrawls as the pages went on. Still, the intent was clear.
This wasn't just a hobby. It was the plan.
A soft chime echoed.A message popped up from his friend list: "Patch day queue? — Rook."
Eli hesitated. He and Rook used to duo together back in Season 9. Rook had raw mechanical skill—fast hands, sharp reflexes—but zero patience. He tilted easily, and when he tilted, he took the whole team down with him.
They hadn't spoken in months.
Eli stared at the message for a long time, then clicked away. He wasn't ready. Not yet.
This season had to be different.
He opened the ranked queue alone. The familiar ping sounded—the matchmaker searching for ten people chasing the same thing: validation, improvement, glory.
He rested his chin on his hand as the queue timer ticked upward.Outside, the sunlight began to brighten, slicing through the curtains in thin gold lines. Dust drifted lazily in the air. The city sounded more alive now—voices, traffic, the faint hum of life moving forward.
Inside this small room, time felt suspended.
Just him, the computer, and a dream.
Match Found.
Eli's heart skipped slightly.The adrenaline always hit early.
He accepted the queue, the sound sharp in the quiet room. The Champion select screen appeared, bright and pulsing with animated portraits. His team hovered over random picks, arguing in chat already.
He muted them instantly.
Then, with a calm certainty, he hovered over Kael the Riftblade.
The character model rotated slowly—shadowed armor, flowing cloak, blade made of broken light. Kael's voice line whispered across the speakers:
"Those who fall once can still rise again."
Eli selected him.
The match loaded.
As the in-game camera panned across the map—the Rift—Eli let himself get lost in it again. The three familiar lanes. The quiet hum of the jungle. The gentle shimmer of water along the river.
He'd played thousands of matches here, yet every time, it felt alive in a slightly different way.
The minions spawned, their synchronized chants echoing faintly through the speakers. The match had begun.
Eli focused. Every movement, every click, deliberate. He didn't speak. Didn't even breathe too loud.
Minutes passed.The early laning phase was even—careful, tense, a slow dance between him and his opponent: "LioraTheLight."
A new Champion.A mystery.
She played cautiously, as if she didn't fully know her abilities yet. Eli pressed for small advantages, timing each auto-attack between minion hits.
The game was quiet. No ganks. No big plays. Just focus.
And then—
A shimmer of starlight appeared in the brush near his lane.Not from his opponent.
From the fog of war.
Something moved.
A figure, barely visible, stepping into the edge of his vision—too early for a jungle gank.
Too quiet. Too fast.
Eli's eyes widened.
The screen flashed.
His Champion's health bar plummeted.
You have been slain.
He blinked."What…?"
The death timer appeared, ticking down. The enemy's jungler—"Rook"—had just typed in all chat:
"Long time no see, Eli."
Eli froze. His hand hovered above the keyboard.
Rook?
It couldn't be—