Rocky scrolled through his phone as he occasionally looked at Owen right in front of him.
He was currently watching Owen's MeTube video of him farming the area 'Claw Of Cataclysmic Corruption'.
Seeing his friend absolutely dominate a game he just recently recommended, Rocky had a proud expression plastered on his face.
His thumb flicked through the screen as he continued to read the comments.
=====
> BananacaekEater : Ivory11 is at it again, cleaving through areas I took weeks getting to.
> A_Guy_With_Unknown_Purpose : You know.. AC might as well make him a boss lmao
> 2WhoPlayer : How? How does this man do this? Is he even human? Tf?????
> TheresEasterEggsLol : ivory11 is def a god. or in the process of being one.
> ICantThinkOfAUsername : Such a cool game... i hope the coma incident doesn't affect the future AC games (T^T)
> AttackedByOstrichAtAge7 : My butt is itchy.
=====
"..."
Rocky stopped scrolling and looked at his friend eating potato chips.
"Dude, why do you always feel the need to tear any game I give you to shreds? It's been like, two days since you played! You could have at least enjoyed the game before catching up to my level and eventually surpassing it." Rocky placed his phone on the counter as he complained in a friendly banter.
"I need to keep pumping content so that I can get the algorithm to show my videos. And you have to admit that the kills were satisfying." Owen said with a shrug.
"Sure, yeah, they're satisfying.. But you should be aware that many of the souls community are condemning people like you who just blitz through the game." Rocky happened to read some of the comments yesterday and felt the need to tell it to Owen.
"It's probably because I spoil the story." Owen smiled without caring. It was the same smile of contentment that he had after seeing AC's invitation.
This smile was quite suspicious for Rocky.
"Hmmmm…. You seem…. Quite happy for some reason. Got something to brag about?" Since Rocky has been with Owen for so long, he could already smell that his friend had something to say.
Rocky thought of quite a number of scenarios why Owen would be happy about something. This only happens during family matters or things regarding gaming.
But since he didn't hear anything regarding Owen's family recently, he thought of a single possibility.
"Did you get hired by Fromhardware or Abyssal Confinement or something?" Rocky asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Yep." Owen didn't underestimate his friend's keen intuition. "Am I that obvious?"
Rocky snapped his fingers.
"I knew it! But seriously? You got hired?" Rocky wasn't expecting this revelation. After all, both companies were responsible for the most popular games of their time.
"By AC, yeah…. I wasn't expecting that. To be honest with you man, I was shook." Owen recalled how excited he was after hearing their invitation.
Despite the good news, Rocky still had some concerns. "But before you go and start printing money at AC for yourself, are you sure it's the greatest idea to work for them even after the coma incident? It's getting worse and no one knows why it's happening."
"Like, hundreds of people are getting comatose. Fifteen even died because of accidents that happened after they went white eye. I remember reading a news article about that one guy that was cooking and then he got struck by the comatose crap which resulted in the stove burning crap around the house. Also, ignore thay I said crap too much." Rocky added.
Owen did have some concerns with the comatose incident.
But, since the cause of it wasn't overworking, it was chalked up to different reasons like poisoning or anything with chemical influence.
With a potato chip in hand, Owen replied, "But the base of operations where those devs worked is far away from here. Hemptonburg is separated by Tonurte, Gotteslope, and New Lorten before reaching Redvonne City."
"Not to mention the mountainous region of Gotteslope. There's no way a chemical spill or something would reach here that easily." Owen added.
Rocky said with a shrug. "Good point. But if the working conditions aren't worth it, ditch the place immediately without a second, third or fourth thought."
"Of course. What do you think I am? An idiot?"
"Yes." Rocky chuckled as he grabbed a potato chip and ate it. "Have you seen your grades? They're the exact opposite of your epic gaming prowess… Kinda miss how you stayed as the top student back in the day."
Owen slapped him lightly on the back of his head. "There's a tradeoff in every aspect of life. The universe had to weaken me for being this skilled."
Rocky laughed it off and fixed his hair that was ruffled by Owen's slap.
"So? After this, what's your plans? If I were you, I'd buy a lot of garlic fried chicken from Dreymund's Diner. They make hella' good stuff there." Rocky also said, "Make sure to treat me to some if you're like, rich rich. Ya know?"
"Pssh, why not? I haven't asked what Melvin wanted though. It's probably something weird like a banana jumpsuit." Owen gave out a light laugh.
Who's Melvin you may ask?
Melvin is Rocky's brother and also Owen's friend. He mostly stays home since he doesn't feel like walking quite a distance to get to where Rocky works.
*Ding!* The bells on the door rang.
"Hmm?" Owen and Rocky turned to look at the entrance at the same time.
"Hehey! What's all my boys doing?"
"…"
A man with long brown feathered hair walked inside. He has quite a rectangular face shape which does complement his eyes, nose and mouth nicely, making him look quite appealing. Also, he does have quite the build when it comes to his body composition.
He wore black shoes, a white tank top, black shorts and a jacket. He also carried a bag with him.
Owen raised his hand to greet him while Rocky reached his hand out for a fist bump.
"Sup bro?" Rocky picked up the bag of chips and offered some to Melvin.
Melvin sat down, grabbed the chips and ate some. "Ogh– you knowgh…" Melvin munched on the chips as he spoke. "Just got back from training… Although our coach was quite ehm, strict as usual. Nothing new, nothing big, nothing small."
"It's a good habit to keep up with your routine. Look at you, you're getting stronger as the days go by." Owen turned his head to Rocky. "Chips please."
Passing the bag of chips back to Owen, Rocky also said, "By the way, Owen got some good news for us."
Raining his eyebrows, Melvin asked curiously, "Oh? What kind of good news? Did Steph finally agree to a relationship?"
Owen almost coughed out the chips he was chewing.
With a stifled laughter, Rocky shook his head. "Nah, not that… pfft– I mean, he got an invitation from Abyssal Confinement."
"Ooooohh!? Abyssal C? Owen, please don't forget us when you're rich." Melvin sat down and patted Owen's back.
"Why do you keep calling Abyssal C? We told you, it's AC." Owen raised two fingers representing each letter.
Waving his hand dismissively, Melvin replied, "Psssh.. AC sounds a lot like air conditioner. Abyssal C is way more understandable."
"That's why we call it AC. It's because it's meme-ish." Owen picked up another potato chip from the bag, only to find out that it was empty.
He got up from his seat and threw the trash.
"You know, I never managed to get the meaning of you two with your gamer lingo." Melvin shrugged. "Maybe that's why I stuck to boxing."
"That's exactly why you stuck to boxing. You couldn't even beat a single level of the surprisingly easy games I gave you." Rocky laughed as he recalled Melvin struggling with the controls back when they were kids.
"Same here." Owen also remembered how Melvin wasn't able to get far with the games he recommended.
Rocky gave him a judging expression. "To be fair for my brother's sake, the games you play are always beyond normal human ability."
"Yeah man…." Melvin nodded at Owen. For someone who looked so tough, Melvin has quite the attitude of a golden retriever.
Melvin added, "... If I had your reaction speed, my wins in my boxing record would've been all perfect."
"Not only that Melvin, our friend here can beat the hardest games blindfolded. Blindfolded! He memorized the entire game and proceeds to tear everything to shreds as if he's going on a leisurely stroll, on his way to buy some fish from the market." Rocky waved his hands beside his head as if to imitate an explosion.
Melvin got out of his seat, "Hey actually, wanna spar? I want to see if you still have your superhuman instincts or something."
Owen obliged. "Yeah, why not? Some exercise would benefit me."
Owen also got up from his seat and went in the middle of the room with Melvin as Rocky sat down leisurely with his legs dangling from the chair.
Now, the two of them were settled and ready to spar.
Melvin got on a classic stance, his feet were light on the ground, his arms were raised in front of his body, ready to guard against any incoming attacks.
Owen on the other hand, had his right leg forward and his left leg on the back. He was just looking at Melvin seemingly without a goal in mind.
Melvin blinked and exhaled a small amount of air. He stepped forward quickly and threw a straight left jab.
Owen leaned to his left.
Melvin followed up with a right hook, but Owen merely leaned backwards alongside with a single backstep and avoided the punch easily.
Melvin stepped forward and punched forward once again, but Owen being Owen already weaved away from it.
That was the recurring pattern of their spar.
Melvin would punch and try to set up a combination to trap Owen, but Owen would just step to the back, the left or right and easily avoid anything that would touch him.
Seeing this go on pointlessly, Melvin sighed and stopped. "All this skill and he doesn't train at all."
Rocky nodded. "He memorized your attack patterns like you're a classic enemy mob."
"Heh, he's always been like this." Melvin shook his head as he put his boxing gloves back in his bag.
Owen passed him the gloves he was wearing as he sat down.
Rocky both gave them water from a dispenser in the corner of the room. "Here, have some of these H2O to revitalize your dehydrated molecules."
"Thanks." Owen drank some water and asked Melvin, "And um, what did you mean by me always being like this?"
Melvin put down his glass after drinking. "C'mon Owen my guy, you have the reaction speed, reflex, memorization skills and the looks to top it all off. You used to be the weird quiet kid before."
"I guess I was just born with it. It's not skills that I developed nor is it something I worked hard to get. It kinda makes me feel abnormal at times." Owen smiled wryly as he had a flashback.
He stared off into the distance as he recalled the past.
— 14 years ago…
Owen stood in front of an open court in the park. He was watching kids play with each other with large smiles on their faces without a care in the world.
It was something that was foreign to Owen.
He just stood there, watching them unblinkingly.
Owen couldn't understand why they were wasting energy and huddling up closely to each other. The concept of playing isn't something that he had grasped yet.
Before, he used to play with the neighbors' kids, but he could sense that he was the weird one. Especially when they played games like dodgeball, tag or anything that includes some level of skill, but kids being kids would play it quite terribly.
But they had fun, that's what matters the most for kids their age.
… Except for Owen.
In his perspective, the kids he played with looked wrong. The way they ran, the way they threw a ball, the way they even moved all looked wrong for Owen.
All inefficient, all flawed.
If that kid ran without looking back all the time, he wouldn't have been tagged. That girl when they played football, she should've just anticipated the ball's direction through the kicker's foot in order to predict and block it in advance.
Unlike them, Owen was gifted, he was special.
He soon figured out that he was the only one who could see these mistakes and correct them. This allowed him to be the best when it comes to playing games with them.
Of course, they noticed this eventually.
A brown haired kid saw Owen approaching them, clearly here to play again. "Hey Owen, can you not join us for today?"
"Huh? Why not? I wanna play too." Owen was confused. He tilted his head, replying almost mechanically.
"You always beat us anyway, why don't you just catch the ball for us?" A black haired girl with pigtails said.
"Yeah, you're just too good at this game." A skinny kid added.
As a young child with an immature mind, Owen interpreted this as rejection.
He walked away and thought to himself deeply.
'What was wrong with what I did? I played the best way possible, I did everything perfectly, so why am I being rejected?'
'These people around me… They're so confusing.'
He went straight back home.
Opening the mesh door, he went inside and walked towards the living room after leaving his rubber sandals on the doorstep.
After entering the living room, Owen stepped in the middle of the space as if he calculated the perfect distance where it was the optimal spot to look around the room without exerting much effort.
He then found the TV remote laying flat on the floor next to the sofa.
'Jazmine…' Owen narrowed his eyes slightly.
Owen went closer and grabbed the remote with one hand before examining it closely.
'I wonder what the reason for watching television is except for information.' Owen wondered to himself.
He only felt curious because he felt that it was necessary.
A necessity to fit in.
He knew that by fitting in could he get more food, more resources, and higher chances of survival.
It was never because he longed for it.
No.
It was purely analytical and pragmatic.
He pointed the remote to the TV and pressed his thumb on the power button.
The TV sparked to life and the channel it was showing is a kid's show.
There, he could see young children playing and having fun. A female teacher in a TV show then spoke with a classic lighthearted tone,
"Hey kids! Do you want to have fun? Games are one way to have fun with friends. After all, if you play all alone, it might not be as enjoyable as you think."
"You need to be kind to your friends, give them gifts, help them when they fall over and most importantly, compliment them with a bright smile!"
Owen opened his mouth in realization.
'Ah, so this is what's wrong… I get it now.'
Owen continued watching the show, he practiced and imitated how the kids talked to each other. He looked upon a mirror and smiled.
It was a happy smile. His eyes moved accordingly as he remembered what the kids in the show looked like.
He practiced his tone.
It sounded more genuine and…
… Human.
He kept practicing secretly for days.
"…"
— A few days later…
Owen was in his room with a mirror in front of him.
While practicing as he usually did for now, his cat jumped on a shelf and knocked down something.
*Bam!*
The cat ran away from the room and left Owen with the mess.
He turned around expressionlessly, without the smile that was previously on his face.
What the cat dropped was a handheld console. Out of curiosity, he turned it on.
It was something Isabella got for his birthday, but he never gave it any thought whatsoever.
Since he was practicing to fit in, he turned it on and was welcomed to a game.
This was the first game that he played.
It was a 2D platformer with basic opponents, puzzles and some bosses. Of course, Owen saw a lot of things wrong with them. He could clearly see them as if he was looking at cracks in a mirror.
Although the game looked riddled with imperfections, Owen started beating the game easily. He slowly focused his mind more on gaming and less on his studies.
Why? It was the first time he felt a semblance of enjoyment.
Video games felt like a safe haven for him. No matter how much he exploited what he saw was flawed in the games, no one complained. Instead, they even congratulated him for doing great.
It became his new distraction.
And here was when 'Owen' was truly born.
After a month or so, while he was focused on killing a boss as he sat on a bench, a ball suddenly came hurtling towards him.
Hearing the ball bounce and fly towards him, Owen quickly paused the game, stretched his arms out, and caught it easily.
Melvin, the one who threw the ball to the wrong angle, came running forward.
"Sorry for that man, didn't mean to bother you." Melvin scratched his head apologetically. "We were playing basketball and I didn't manage to get a good throw."
"No worries." Owen spoke kindly and smiled as he rehearsed before passing the ball forward.
The basketball made a firm sound on Melvin's hands.
"Woah." Melvin felt that the pass was quite good. He slowly looked towards Owen, only to see him back to his game.
Melvin hesitated for a few seconds and said, "Hey, do you want to play with us?"
Owen paused.
He looked up and was trying to figure out what the best course of action to take was.
"Are you sure that you want to play with me?" He tilted his head, looking confused.
With a shrug, Melvin replied, "Why not? We could use another player."
Owen didn't answer and just stared at Melvin for some time.
"Sure."
Later…
Melvin walked up to his friends and waved while he was still far. They were looking at Owen and were about to ask who he was.
But, Melvin was quick and introduced Owen before they could raise their questions.
"Hey guys, I got someone to play with us. Now our teams are even." Melvin gestured with his hand, presenting Owen to all of them. "This is Owen. He'll be on my team."
"Cool, I'm fine with that. Hi Owen, I'm Mark." The tallest kid named Mark stretched his arm out.
"Owen." The way he replied was quite short, but this time, he wasn't as bland as before.
"Very well then, shall we play? You do know how to play, right?" Mark asked as he held the basketball in his hands.
Owen didn't even nod and just gave a short reply. "Yes."
"Let's get this over with, I'm getting bored." A kid with a lazy looking appearance complained.
That kid was Rocky.
"Yeah, let's start." Another kid added.
After that, they all started playing. Obviously, they were complete amateurs and all roughly equal in terms of skill, so there was barely any advantage to both teams.
In the middle of the game, the ball bounced and Owen managed to catch it.
"Over here!" Mark raised his hands for Owen to have a clear opening to pass the ball.
'There it is again….' Owen thought to himself. He felt the mistakes and errors in this game. All of them were showing the flaws that he only saw.
Owen jumped, threw the ball and made the shot across the small court.
Silence…
That shot was unbelievable for them.
It's not NBA level, but for a kid? Might as well be.
Owen sighed to himself. 'I knew it… Maybe people do not find it well it if you do it perfectly? Maybe I have to intentionally show flaws..'
"Woah! How did you do that?! That was an awesome shot! What???" Mark freaked out, shaking Owen out of his daze.
"H- Huh?" Owen was speechless. This wasn't what he was expecting.
"I thought you brought a complete amateur… Melvin, do you have powers to see who the good players are?" A kid came up and asked Melvin.
Naturally, Melvin didn't let this opportunity pass. "Yep, I have that superpower. None of you will believe me, so I hid it."
The group laughed and kept playing. Only for Owen to score again and again for a while.
They even made him switch teams, but that didn't stop Owen from repeatedly scoring a point.
Eventually, they were all tired and sat down together.
"Man, you are a beast! You should come here tomorrow to play with us." Mark said with a warm smile.
"Yeah, I didn't expect you to be that good at basketball." Another kid added.
Owen was still adapting to their reaction. He was really not used to being praised for doing so well before. "Do you guys really find that good?"
"Hm? Of course it is! You seem not to believe in yourself that much, huh?" Melvin patted Owen in the back.
"Ah, ok then.." This was the first time Owen felt accepted by other people of his age.
It was an understatement to say that he was astonished.
He saw that his friends were tired, so he took out his handheld console from his pocket and asked, "Do you guys play video games?"
"What's that?" Rocky asked. He previously underestimated Owen by how he looked. But now, he was friendlier to him.
"Here, let me show you…" Owen powered on his console and began his demonstration.
And that was how their friendship began in the first place.
— Back to the present time…
"Oh shut up with that self loathing… No negativity must be in my proximity at all times." Melvin crossed his arms. "You are a cool guy, with skills that many people desire. Don't throw it away, just leverage off of it."
Melvin then smiled. "After all, life is just a single chance shot, since you got a head start, make sure to squeeze that dry to your advantage."
Owen sighed at Melvin's optimism. "I guess that's the right way to look at it…"
Rocky opened another bag of chips. "Actually, he made full use of it alright… I bet two weeks later, he's already beaten Unguarded Sheath." He then grabbed a bunch of potato chips for himself and ate them all.
"... Want some?" Rocky offered it to Melvin and Owen.
"Sure." Owen took a potato chip.
"Yummers." Melvin also got some for himself.
As the three of them sat and talked with each other, they were oblivious of the massive body of a woman made from porcelain with six arms wrapped around Owen from behind. Her feather dress coiled around his body like a restless snake.
One pair of arms extended from the sides of her body, one pair from her back, and a pair that normally existed on a human body. The ones that extended from her back covered her eyes, and her main arms prayed devoutly, leaving the arms extending from the sides of her body empty.
Two pearly white skulls and a bitten heart floated around her head that was covered by two of her hands. The leaking water from the cracks of her skin seemed to be nonexistent for the three of them. And despite her hair flowing down towards Owen's face, he didn't notice it at all.
Moving slowly, her left hand stroked Owen's throat. Her fingers moved with eloquence as her fingertips touched the protruding part of his neck.
"Hck!" Owen grabbed his neck with a pained expression as he choked on something nonexistent.
Rocky and Melvin stopped to look at him.
"You alright?" Rocky asked with his head tilted to the left.
"Yeah… I just felt something sting my throat." Owen still held his neck because of the sudden pain.
Unbeknownst to him, the woman pulled her hand away from his neck and was currently stroking his face gently like a loving mother tending to her child.