It was 2999, the world was on the brink of a new era. Every country in the world has developed to the point of no return, humanity has solved every global issue that has existed throughout its civilization, and everyone seems to be prepared for any new threats that come their way. Or so they thought...
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"Hey, hey! Come on, ya grump! It's New Year's Eve, why the long face?" -Samuel said as he kept patting William's back, the patting got harder every time.
"Oi! Stop it, that hurts, you brute. I'm just tired alright? I didn't get enough sleep and now I'm here in this crowded place counting down..." -William grumpily pushed Samuel's hand away, his back aching as time went on.
"Hahaha! Sucks to be you then, I had plenty of sleep just for this occasion!"
"I hate you guys so much! Partied like animals and still got the strength to go to this countdown, while I'm still hungover..."
The crowd suddenly got louder, scaring William awake from his half-asleep, hungover state as he looked at the giant hologram which had a countdown time on it. Willam squinted his eyes to see the time clearer through the snowfalling.
"Oh my goodness, dude! Get ready to count, I'm so excited!"
Samuel's excitement couldn't be contained anymore, that said a lot because he's a giant person. He kept hopping slightly, keeping hold of the small fireworks he had kept in his coat pockets since the beginning.
"You better not fire those at my ear, I don't want to go deaf going into the New Year..."
"Yeah yeah! Don't rain on my parade now, shorty!"
"Why you-!"
"Shut up! It's starting!"
Samuel's excitement was contagious, but William was too hungover to care. Still, he felt his heartbeat pick up as the hologram's countdown began.
"5!"
The giant screen flashed with an overwhelming brightness, almost blinding through the falling snow.
"4!"
William's nerves jolted awake. Was it Samuel's excitement or something else creeping into his chest? He couldn't tell.
"3!"
Samuel was practically bouncing now, gripping his small fireworks tightly. "2!" William's breath quickened, unsure why he suddenly felt... uneasy.
"1!"
[Preparation completed.]
That line appeared on the hologram, but why? It should be Happy New Year then a bunch of fireworks would go off. The murmur started getting louder as the people in the crowded city street were dumbfounded about what just happened. The time was then two minutes into the new year, yet nothing happened. Everyone just stood there, curious as to maybe something went wrong then it happened.
"Um...William? Are you seeing what I seeing?"
Samuel asked, his voice laced with worries as he looked in front of him, a screen had popped up. William just nodded and stared at the said screen, murmurs turned into loud talking amongst the people, asking each other if the others were seeing what they were as well. William's eyes widen as he read what was written on it.
[Let the annual Game of Survival commence]
'Game of Survival? What the hell?'
William thought to himself but before he could say anything, above in the sky, scarlet lightning struck through the sky, followed by another. Then a barrage of thunder roared and shook the sky as it split in half but it paved the way to nothing. Things were silent once again as the people in the street started to worry about what else was to come then the previous screen popped up again for everyone.
"Good luck? Wh-what the hell is-"
William looked over to Samuel to see if he understood anything but what he saw was only half of Samuel's body. Stood beside him then was a dark, gigantic monster with scarlet horns and thorns throughout its entire body, it stood there, munching on Samuel's top half. William was stunned, he stared at Samuel's dead eyes for a while, hearing the crunch of bones and flesh, too shocked to comprehend what just happened. This must be a joke, right? Did my best friend just keel over before my eyes?
A gulp was heard and William was no longer looking at Samuel's cold, lifeless eyes anymore but stared at the blood droplet dropping down from the monster's mouth onto the ground. Time stood still at that moment, silence of fear and shock engulfed the atmosphere, and you could barely hear anyone's breathing at that time.
"Aaaahhhh!!"
One scream, two screams, then a huge uproar of yelling and screaming melding with one another creating a symphony of terror as the scene unfolded before William's eyes was that of pure chaos. More monsters of different sizes started appearing out of the shadow of the night and gnawing down on the helpless civilians. Blood splattered everywhere, painting the snow crimson red and giving the city square a makeover of human leftover pieces, bits here and there. It was Hell on Earth that day.
William's body couldn't move even if his brain kept firing warning signals to run or do something to escape from here, there was nothing his body could do as he stared into the eyes of the monster that ate his best friend. Its eyes were white as the moon, staring straight into William's soul. It raised its clawed hand high, readied to smash him flat down to the ground yet William kept staring at it as if he had accepted his fate.
"Hey, you freak! Pick on someone your size!"
'Huh? That voice...'
William got pulled back into reality thanks to the voice, he looked back and there he saw, Samuel, alive and well with a battle axe?
The monster stopped whatever it was doing and looked toward Samuel, it was stunned, someone it had eaten was standing there, all armed and well. It let out an ear-piercing howl and lunged at Samual, bearing its claws and fangs.
"Barbarian Skill: Critical Chop"
Samuel's entire body began to glow a red-orange hue, his battle axe started having little sparkle of yellow lightning. The moment the monster came near him, Samuel struck down, cutting the monster in half cleanly.
William's mouth was wide open, shocked to see his best friend not only alive and well but killed that giant monster with zero effort. His knees then gave out and he kneeled hugging himself, trying to calm his shaking body.
"Woah woah! William! You alright?"
Samuel rushed to William's side and kneeled with him, placing his hand on William's shoulder to show, trying to figure out what was going on.
"Dude! Snap out of it!"
"H-How...how are you still alive...I saw you died..."
"I'm not the only one...look"
Samuel nodded his head to his right, turning William's attention toward what was happening then. Monsters dropped like flies, and people with magic? weapons and armor? Even the ones that William saw that got eaten alive were standing there, getting revenge on the monster that supposedly killed them.
"Wh-What?! That doesn't explain anything, you idiot!"
"Our lives got turned into a game, William, remember what that screen told you?"
"Game...of Survival?"
"That's right...and we got limited lives as well..."
Samuel pulled his shirt collar down and showed William. There it was in front of William, a blurry line that went around Samuel's neck as if it was a mark placed by an executioner for a future head chop.
"Apparently...we got three lives...the more lives we lose the darker this circle gets..."
"And what happens after our last life...?"
Samuel's face darkened, he was reminded of something, something far too scary and traumatizing to even speak out loud. He then spoke with a tremble in his voice
"I...rather not think of such a situation..."
"But...where did you get all of this"
"...When I died...the screen popped up again but that time, it was giving me tips, like a tutorial from a game. It showed me a bunch of information that, as it said, would benefit me to not die so easily again or the higher-ups would be upset."
"Higher-ups?"
"Look..."
Samuel looked up and William did the same. Before his eyes, he saw shadows of people up in the sky, looking down on them. Some shadows were laughing hysterically because they kept twitching out of place, and some were just still shadows, with no movements at all.
"Seems like we got...dragged into something more grand than we thought..."