June 11, 2028 – 8:08 P.M. – Casa Luna Residencias, Intramuros City, Metro Manila, Philippines
"Life is such a drag."
Lucian Morales leaned back in his chair, staring at the ceiling in existential defeat while the flickering glow of his monitor lit his face. His in-game character had just been sniped in World War IV: Battlegrounds. The kill cam replayed his death in dramatic slow motion as the announcer mocked him mercilessly through his headset.
"You have been eliminated."
Lucian sighed. "Yeah, I want to be eliminated from life too," he muttered, voice flat with practiced misery.
The game had been trending for months, praised for its realism and criticized for the same reason. World War III had only ended a year ago, and now humanity was back to simulating a new one for fun. Lucian found it ironic — people couldn't even wait for peace to get boring.
Humanity's coping mechanisms were wild.
"Lucian, you respawn in thirty seconds. Don't sulk, bro," said Ayesha Villacruz, her cheerful voice echoing through Syncord. She sounded far too energetic for someone who had just lost an entire warzone.
Lucian groaned. "You're too happy for a losing team, Your Highness."
"Positive mindset, Morales. We're rushing the north base next round, okay?" she replied, confidence dripping through her mic like it was her birthright.
A second voice chimed in — deeper, louder, and annoyingly full of life.
"Copy that! I'll flank left. Lucian, cover Ayesha. I'll handle the tanks."
Lucian rolled his eyes. "Ivan, you're a mechanical engineer, not a mechanical tank."
Ivan Cruz, the third member of their cursed trio, let out his trademark laugh — a sound halfway between a wheeze and a choke. "Engineering spirit, Lucian! Everything's possible with duct tape and guts!"
Lucian sighed again, slouching deeper into his chair. "You say that every time before dying in the first thirty seconds."
"Strategic sacrifice!" Ivan countered proudly.
"Strategic stupidity," Lucian muttered.
Ayesha laughed — that soft-but-commanding sound that always made Lucian imagine her smirking behind her mic. "Let's focus. Respawn in three… two… one—"
Their avatars dropped back into the battlefield. Chaos instantly followed — gunfire, explosions, and someone in the global chat blasting a national anthem mid-fight. Typical.
Lucian followed Ayesha's lead out of habit. She was annoyingly good at everything. Whether it was dominating the leaderboard or acing her exams, Ayesha always had a plan — and it always worked. A Psychology student at Universidad de Intramuros, she was born to lead. If there were a subject called How to Command Idiots Gracefully, she'd graduate summa cum laude — not that she wasn't already on her way to that.
Lucian had met her during freshman orientation — loud, confident, with that effortless energy that made people follow her before realizing it. Ivan came later — now a graduating Mechanical Engineering student who once tried to fix a coffee machine in their department and accidentally caused a small explosion. They'd been inseparable ever since, like a dysfunctional family bound by memes, caffeine, and shared trauma.
Lucian, though, wasn't supposed to still be here.
He'd been an Electrical Engineering student in the same university. He dropped out a year ago after his parents' car crash. The inheritance they left behind could keep him comfortable for decades, but grief didn't come with a manual. Classes stopped making sense. Mornings felt heavier. And while his friends kept checking on him, he knew they couldn't really pull him out until he was ready.
"Lucian, are you even paying attention?" Ayesha's voice cut through his thoughts.
"Huh? Yeah, yeah, I'm totally— oh wow, who threw a grenade at my feet?"
Ivan cackled. "Surprise test!"
Lucian's avatar exploded. He leaned back and muttered, "Life's unfair."
"Maybe if you stopped complaining, you'd actually contribute," Ayesha teased.
He grinned. "Maybe if you stopped ordering me around, I'd want to."
"Oh? You want to lead?" she asked, mock-sweet.
Lucian snorted. "I'd rather get hit by a real tank."
"Noted," Ivan chimed in. "I'll build one after graduation."
Their laughter filled the comms, blending with the chaotic background noise of the game. It was easy, natural — the kind of laughter that made Lucian forget his grief and pain.
"Guys, imagine if the world actually ends while we're gaming," Ivan joked between laughs. "Like, boom — apocalypse! And the last thing we did was lose another round."
Ayesha chuckled. "At least I'll die on top of the leaderboard."
Lucian raised an eyebrow. "Yeah? You'll probably respawn as a bee or something."
"And still have a higher rank than you," she shot back.
"Fair."
"Well, I guess I'll be a queen bee if ever then."
The match ended in another dramatic defeat, their team wiped out spectacularly. Ayesha sighed in disbelief; Ivan blamed lag. Lucian just stared at his dim monitor, eyes reflecting its fading glow.
No matter how good Ayesha's calls were, three players couldn't decide the outcome of a twenty-versus-twenty war. They had fought hard, but their team didn't follow her lead — and no amount of strategy could fix that.
Lucian's eyes drifted toward the window beside his desk. Outside, the moon hung unusually bright over Intramuros, bathing the old walls that surrounded the city in pale, silver light. The cobblestone streets were quiet — too quiet for a Sunday night. Even the chirping of crickets and the chatter of students from nearby dorms had faded into stillness.
Lucian frowned. "Huh… the moon looks weird tonight."
"Maybe it's just pollution," Ivan said, yawning.
Ayesha added, "Or maybe it's a sign that you should finally sleep, Mr. Morales."
Lucian grinned lazily. "Yeah, right. As if the universe cares."
He didn't know that, in just four hours, the universe would start caring — a little too much.
"Lucian, it's just a moon," Ayesha reassured. "You're not losing your mind or anything, are you?"
"Very funny," he replied, a smirk creeping back to his lips.
"I worry sometimes, you know," she continued softly. "Life can weigh you down, but you've got your friends, and we're here for you."
"I know," he said, his voice barely above a whisper. The sentiment was genuine, and for a moment, it broke through the layers of his self-imposed isolation.
"Good! Now let's get back to gaming. We have a war to win — or at least a round or two!" Ayesha declared, her spirit infectious once more.
As they readied for the next match, Lucian felt a flicker of something shift within him. In that cramped room bathed in the glow of a screen, amid the laughter and absurdity of digital warfare on a very ordinary night, perhaps this was where he truly belonged — if only for a little while longer.
He couldn't have known that in just a few hours, the world would never be ordinary again.