'Oftentimes, even your eyes can be deceitful.'
That was the last word that i heard in my mind, right before my death.
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Yesterday, Earth– Kasamatsu, Japan—
My parents gave me the name Cayde Hess, pronounced the same as Cayed in Decayed.
I lived in japan, but i was born in Canada. I moved around 3 years ago, it wasn't an easy task adapting to a new country, but i managed to get through it.
At the moment, im living my life as a cashier in a convenient store, not a flourishing or eventful life if i have to say. But what do you expect from someone like me.
To be honest, the fact that i managed to step foot in this country is already like a miracle, but thanks to my diligent studies on japanese and also my perseverance, i was able to reach this point.
If i can name one of my pluses.. It would my ability to stay calm in an intense situation, if you want to know, i have that ability because i used to always get pranked on by my classmates in schools.. Now that i think of it, that should be classified as bullying, but it's not like i was being physically attacked or anything.
But it is embarrassing..
.
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"Thanks for your hard work today, get home safely!" Said my boss, he waved his hand as i left the store with my satchel and my exhaustion.
It's saturday.. Finally survived the week, now i just gotta sleep and relax tomorrow..
I walked through the night filled with clouds and street lights. Kasamatsu isn't really a popular choice for immigrants, but i liked the quiet vibes, it's less crowded than Tokyo, and there's a lot of empty roads and shortcuts that i can take.
It's really cloudy tonight huh.. I can't see the moon at all..
Maybe it'll rain?
So tired.. I really don't wanna do anything.. I guess i'll only log into the game and claim the daily reward before calling it a day..
Game?..
Ah.. shit, i just remembered, i have a meet up with that guy tomorrow..
Good grief, i already promised to him– I can't just ignore it huh.
Realizing that i have something to do for tomorrow, i hurriedly walked to my apartment and arrived soon after. The rest wasn't important and i slept quite early.
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Tomorrow, 9:00AM—
It's a new day, and for me, today is the day where i should play games all day, but.. There's someone that's waiting for me.
Step!
Step!
"Yo, Horus." I said as i approached a man that was standing on the sideroad. "Or should i call you, 'StormHorus1'?"
He quickly turned his head towards me and smiled viciously.
"Kek.. This bastard.." He said in an agitated voice. "Whatever, you're a bit late.. Cayde."
This guy's name is Eito Yamada, he's one of my first friend in this country, a native japanese, but also a good english speaker. It was the reason why we were able to become friends in the first place.
He and i first met at an online MMORPG, and after the two of us realized that we lived just a few minutes away. we decided to meet eachother. If i could describe him in one sentence, it would be that Eito is literally my doppelganger in term of personality.
Both of us are a fantasy addicts, and we played too much games in our lives, we'll consume anything along the lines of medieval fantasy, that's why we're kind of inseparable.
It's been a year and a half now since our encounter.
Look at you man, wearing some bullshit again..
Eito's appearance was somewhat leaning more to the handsome side, but there's one thing that would make most people around him walk away, that thing is his hobby of wearing fantasy things in public and acting like a chuunibyou.
"Are you.. wearing a monocle and an steel glove.." I said in disbelief, my mouth twitched for a little bit as Eito smiled.
"How is it? Isn't it cool?" Eito replied in english, his pronounciation was really good that if it weren't for his asian looks and name, i would've thought he was from the US based on his voice alone.
"Ohoo!!.. You really look like a mysterious character, maybe a deceptive manipulator?" I said with excitement.
"Heh.. Tonight, our grand scheme will commence, and no one will be able to stop us." Eito roleplayed and spoke in a villainous voice.
His acting was able to let a chuckle out of me, perhaps even a faint laugh.
We didn't continue our topic much longer though as we soon started to walk together to our destination.
Which is the cafe.
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A few minutes later—
Step!
"Alright, we're here." Eito said in english again as the two of us came to a stop infront of a building, infront of its doorstep was a sign that listed the available menu inside.
"You seem strangely excited to go to a cafe, in the first place what do you even want to talk about.." I replied in slight confusion.
Eito was the one that invited me, he said he wanted to have a few words and chat together in a cafe, and since he looked like he was going to talk about something important, i ended up agreeing and promised him.
Usually he would invite me to go to an internet cafe.. But today he's inviting me to the real cafe instead.. It's a bit strange.
He's going to talk about something serious isn't he..
"Let's go." Eito spoke again, this time he switched to japanese.
We both entered the cafe and sat down, after ordering to the waitress, we waited and eventually received our beverages.
I ordered milk coffee, while Eito ordered Cappuccino.
.
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"So, what is it that you want to talk about?" I started the conversation and immediately went to the main point.
Eito froze for a second, his smile hadn't left his face, but i could tell that he was hesitating.
"Ahh, why do i have to put this act.. Its not really important anyway." Eito replied, in an instant, his face changed. His mouth frowned and his eyes slightly lowered. "Cayde, sorry to let you down, but.. I got killed last night."
Eito's words struck me like a bolt of lightning, sarcastically of course.
"H- huh?!.. You? Killed? By who?!" I said, trying to keep my voice down as to not gather any attention from the nearby customers.
He's talking about his MMORPG avatar right?..
The two of us played the same game, that is.. Edenlord Chronicles.
It's a game where freedom was greatly encouraged, and every system in the game was driven by players, be it the economy, loots, or others, it's all being maintenanced by the players.
And Eito and i.. We are a notorious P.K or player killers.
Going by the name of CaybleZero and StormHorus1, we managed to earn the reputation as one of the most hunted PK'ers.
Everywhere we go, as long as it isn't a safe town, we would always have players following us at every corner, always watching, and always attacking for our head bounty.
We've survived for 2 months without getting killed, and naturally, we racked up quite a huge amount of bounty.
Hearing that Eito was killed, that means all of his bounty, his coins, his equipment, and his inventory, were now gone.
"One of the top clans tricked me, and i wasn't given any chance to escape, logging out while doing PvP is the same as defeat, so there was nothing i could do." Eito replied calmly.
"I see.." I nodded.
If what Eito said was true, then it'll be reasonable why he got killed. But still, it was a bit of his fault too for getting caught by their tricks.
"I was running short on coins, and my main weapon almost ran out of durability, that's when that guy approached me." Eito said, he began explaining about what happened.
"He was alone, and his name doesn't have any brackets to show that he's in a clan, i was skeptical you know, but that guy was wearing super expensive armor skins, i thought he might be a wealthy player—
"He told me that he doesn't care about bounties and already have enough coins, so he offered me some coins in return of me telling him a few locations for a rare equipment unavailable for real money purchase—
"And uhh.. I was quite desperate you know?! If my main weapon broke, i wouldn't have enough attack power to fend off any ambush—
"In the end, i accepted his offer, and brought him to an isolated place through the teleport portal, people would follow if we walked, and since no one can see where your teleport location is, it's the only way a PK'er like us can move elsewhere—
"I brought him to the Dreaded Forest, and after we found an isolated spot, i told him a few spots.. But that's when the unthinkable happened."
My eyes widened for a few moments, and i quickly asked.
"And? You got killed by him?" I said.
"No.. It turns out, a group of top clan members was already waiting for me there. I don't know how they knew, it shouldn't be possible, that guy wasn't in a clan." Eito replied.
Hearing his words, i instantly came up with a few possibilities.
"That wealthy guy, is either in a voice call, or he dm'd that top clan to prepare an ambush for you.. It's a classic, but i guess no one really did it nowadays."
"But i brought him to my spot though, i didn't follow his recommendation, and on the way i also didn't sense any player nearby, even if they're stealthy, i have a skill that detects players in an area you know? I used it multiple times except when i arrived at the isolated spot." Eito responded with confusion, he seems to know about the possibility that i said, but it was still a little strange.
"Hmm.. You're right.. Okay, then there's only one conclusion." I said, delaying my final words for extra dramatic effect.
"Those clan members, they got lucky and guessed your exact meeting spot.. The chances are extremely low, but they're willing to bet on it since there's no real consequences anyway. They can try whenever you're online and is using the teleport portal—
"I assume, they must have been targeting you for a long time and knew about some of the regular spots that you often goes to."
My head turned, and i gazed into the outside world for a moment through the windows.
"Aghh, i should've used that detection skill even after i arrived.." Eito scratched his head in frustration.
Meanwhile, a flock of birds flew by and a bunch of cars passed, it's quite lively, but for some reason, at that moment, my heart felt heavy, especially when thinking about Eito's game death and also, the strangely menacing electric pole that stood at the side of the road infront of me.
I don't know why.. But it's like, im scared for no reason.. What's wrong with me..