In a small. on descript house a middle aged man and woman sat at a dinner table. The man looked to have aged over night, his once well built body began to sag. The clothes on his body no longer fit, they were several sizes to big. The breakfast in front him him was left untouched, the paper he usually read was folded beside his plate. A vacant look was all that could be seen in his eyes.
Across from him the woman was peckish eating her breakfast, she was even slightly humming to herself. The loss of their son had hit the two hard, But deep down she did not believe he was dead. He did not care what G.A.T.E.S had said when they retrieved Guy's pod and body. She did not care that they had already recieved a death certificate. A mother knew, and she knew her son was alive.
Her husband did not have the faith that she did. Over the last month he had taken the news hard, blaming himself for the entire incident. The last words he had spoken were in self condemnation. That was three weeks ago. He had not spoken since. He had not eaten, and only drank water occasionally.
At first he would get drunk every night, spending all of his time at the bar. It did not take long for this to change. Soon he had just began to bring home bottles of the hardest alchohol he could find. He spent almost every waking moment drunk. This came to an end around a week ago.
He just stopped caring. He did not drink, he did not eat. He barely even moved. She could not remember the last time her husband had showered. The musky smell of his body odor perfumed the room in the most unpleasant way.
He had completely shut down to the world, and she knew that it would not be long before he passed. She had tried to get him to go to the doctor, but when she brought it up he just stared at her blankly before walking away.
Things got worse as time progressed. She had caught him holding a pistol in his hands, staring at it for hours before he put it away. The scene had repeated on almost a daily basis. She would have long since taken the pistol away, but she did not know the password to the gun safe.
Despite all of this she was in a relatively decent mood today. She had called the hospital earlier, and they would be sending someone to pick him up. Perhaps they would be able to help him,
perhaps not. Either way it was time for her to make her move. Her brother worked for a research firm in the government, and he had heard whispers about a strange project and a boy. She knew she had to he there. It was time for her to move.
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Daniel stared at his pod. He had not entered the game ever since Guy had died. Partly it was because he was in mourning. At least that is what he told himself. Guy had been his best friend since they were children, and for him to suddenly be gone was a huge blow to him.
The biggest part, the part he didn't tell anyone, was that he was scared. He was scared that maybe he would die just like Guy. The scariest part of it was that no one knew what happened. His death was not publicized. Other than himself and Guy's parents, noone knew him, no one knew he had died.
He finally built up the courage to enter the gamer pod. It had been a long time since he had last played. It had been a long time since he had done anything. Likely everyone was far ahead of him by now, it had been an entire month since he had last played.
The familiar loading screen greeted him as he opened up the game menu. His character, LegendaryFireChef stared back at him. The appearance of his character was just like him, Short and slightly chunky. He had red hair and a lot of freckles. It was like looking in a mirror, but somehow the reflection was more handsome than he was.
He had told Guy that he was a regular class, only to not make him feel bad when guy awoke as the same. When he found out guy had awoken as a unique class it was already to late to tell him the truth. He had awoken as a unique class as well. He was not a chef, but he did have the element fire. His class had awoken only a single ability.
The ability was called devour, and it had a total of five levels. He only had access to the first level currently, which gave him experience from eating. Only from eating. He would gain more experience from eating something stronger, but the catch was he had to kill it himself.
He had spent the majority of the first part of they day unlocking a secondary skill, cooking. Only then would he actually be able to gain experience. From there had practiced the sword, just like had told Guy.
Daniel grit his teeth as he finally entered the world. The world around him seemed to shimmer as he felt a sense of disorientation. When his vision cleared he found himself in the place he had logged out. He was in the middle of a sword training facility, but the training facility was empty. It was not just empty, it was deserted. The once proud targets were in ruins. In the distance he could smell smoke and blood. Something big had happened while he was away.
A notification popped up on his screen, causing his eyes to open wide.