The air on that June night held the weight of numerous bittersweet farewells. Two figures sat in the low-light environment, their silhouettes obscured by the blackness of the night. It had been several hours since the sun had descended past the horizon, the glow of the bright, full moon radiating down upon what would normally be a pitch-black suburban neighborhood of San Francisco. There was minimal lighting coming from any of the houses in the vicinity, and a peaceful quiet permeated the night, only interrupted by the occasional chirping of crickets nearby. Shoulders touching one another, a young man and woman sat together–side by side–on the front porch steps of a green-painted house in complete silence. The only noise that they could hear was the soft buzz of the dim porch light above them, shining a beacon into the otherwise murky road. The two of them stared into darkness, neither saying a word, yet thoughts racing in their minds all the same. The young man's, Nico, mind flashed with seemingly endless memories, a melancholic warmth filling his heart; memories of laughter, secrets, and shared dreams intertwined with a cold, bitter reality. The already-spoken agreement that the two of them came to be replayed over and over, though it only occurred a few minutes ago; yet the decision had already been decided weeks prior to this moment. The first to make a movement in several minutes, Nico turned to look at the girl beside him, his raven-black hair illuminated by the glow of the porch light, and she turned around to look at him. "Miyoung, is this really goodbye?" His voice came out with a crack, laced with sadness he had not experienced ever before. Nico stared into the girl's–his now-ex-girlfriend–sable eyes, seeing a misty blend of doleful nostalgia in them. But even before the words left his lips, Nico already knew the answer to the question he had posed; it was goodbye, and there was nothing either of them were going to do about it. Though he had grappled with these thoughts many times before, confronting them in the moment where reality struck was a much more difficult task. In the distance, the cityscape of San Francisco's bustling nightlife twinkled on the horizon, a stark contrast to the glum serenity of the night. In Nico's mind, the contrast was representative of him and Miyoung's diverging paths and he took a deep breath as the black-haired girl opened her mouth to respond. "Seoul is on the other side of the world from New York," She let out a sigh, "but I really wish it didn't have to be this way." Her voice too was sorrowful, and it pained Nico to see the person he loved in the same pain he was feeling. Though Miyoung's face was shadowed by the directly overhead light, Nico could still make out the features that he had stared into so intently for the over-a-year duration that they had been together. "I'm glad we had a good last night, though." Nico responded, his eyes once again drifting into the distance as he reflected back upon the time they had so far. The girl remained quiet, though he could tell that she was just as fine as him–that is, not so much. The last few days of Nico's life had been filled with immense emotions, all of them good, yet it made him wistful to think about. Prom was ten days ago, and high school graduation followed it a week later; now, it was a few days after he was no longer a high school senior, but an incoming college freshman. The thought almost made him chuckle, as his life in San Francisco was all he knew, yet it was being uprooted so suddenly, and no one was ready for what was to come. Memories of every senior's most memorable night–prom–flashed in Nico's mind, as he remembered the phenomenal slow dance with Miyoung, the electrifying after-party that was hosted by a multitude of students from all of the district's high schools combined into a truly massive event, and watching the sun rise with all of his friends at lookout spot that oversaw the entirety of San Francisco's skyline.Nico knew that the memories he made the past year would follow him for a lifetime, and that the chapter was unfortunately closing. To his statement, Miyoung only nodded wistfully before putting her head back on his shoulder, a sensation that he never thought he would miss before it even went away. The pair of them experienced the oh-so-common event that happened to couples of their age–Nico even knew some others who were going through the same things that he was currently experiencing. He had always known that goodbyes were a part of life, but the heartbreak of such a mutual and peaceful separation hurt even more, as there was no one to blame but their situations. Miyoung, the girl that he had been with since junior year of high school, was headed off to Seoul for university, where her family was from, and on the other hand, Nico had already committed to a private institution in New York City, in the heart of Brooklyn particularly. His permanent resident had always been America's West Coast for the entirety of his life, and although he considered himself to be well-traveled, Nico could always count on this place to come home to. However, this could very well be the last time he was a permanent settler in San Francisco, as he did not know where his life after his initial college years could take him. And although they had talked about this decision, the one to split ways, beforehand, it was never as serious as in this moment, because they both agreed to stay together until school was officially over. The weeks leading up to this day was laced with a silent, unacknowledged resignation for both of them, yet each could tell what the other was quietly thinking; wanting to make the last, fleeting echoes of such a good relationship last, they pushed down their doubts and fears and lived in the moment as much as possible, which Nico would have to commend himself for having succeeded at. He thought about all of the milestones they had shared together, such as getting into their respective universities, achieving academic success, and overall celebrating life goals together throughout the time they had shared. Making a promise to himself to forever cherish these memories, Nico took in one last deep breath and told himself that it was about time to part ways–this time being seemingly forever. They had mutually agreed upon the notion of going no contact, knowing that they had the rest of their lives in front of them and not wanting to hold the other back. Plus, Nico knew that he probably could not handle seeing Miyoung with anyone else, at least for the time being, though he could not think of a moment where he would be able to do such a thing. Though part of him hated that their last time together was spent with such unpleasant thoughts, these had been brewing inside him for so long ever since they agreed to put off this talk. It was also mutual to spend the summer apart, as they both knew that having this time without the stress of starting school once more to heal could be crucial to them returning to a normal state again. After all, no one could have a time limit on healing from a heartbreak. Finally, after many more moments of deliberation and steeling himself mentally to do the hardest task he ever had to do, Nico opened his mouth to speak, possibly to Miyoung for the last time. "I think... I think it's time." The words came out at barely a whisper's volume, but the girl, whose ears were very close by, picked up every sound. And with the slightest hint of a crack in her voice–a pain that Nico hated to see on someone he loved–a lock of black hair was brushed out of her face as she removed her head from his shoulder, most definitely for the last time this time. "I'll always love you." She muttered, even quieter than Nico had, and her eyes began to brim with tears. Not wanting to make this any harder on himself, he took in a quiet breath and pulled in the girl tighter than he had ever held her. And in that moment, he knew that when he let go, he would never hold her again. The thought was enough to make him teary-eyed, too. But after what felt like an eternity, a part of him desperately not wanting to let go, Nico knew that they only had so much time, and that time was unfortunately up. With one last hopeless squeeze, which was reciprocated, Nico slowly pulled away and Miyoung did the same. He planted one final soft kiss on her forehead, a testament to their amicable split, and it was sealed. "I'll always love you." This time, the words came out of his mouth, and he put every ounce of meaning he possibly could into them, and before she could say anything else, he wanted to make the moment as easy as could be for her, so he stood up without another moment's hesitation, their separation now a foregone conclusion. So with a simple, "goodbye," Nico's legs moved on their own as fresh tears began to spill from his eyes without a second's hesitation. The walk down the light-less neighborhood could seem scary to an outsider, but Nico had known these streets for years, having grown up around this area, and having walked down them countless times. He resisted the intense urge to look back, to turn around and run back and embrace her and call everything off, but he knew that the reality was something they would both have to face eventually. Still, just because they both concluded that it was inevitable does not mean it was made any less sad or agonizing to do the hardest thing he had ever needed to do–which was to leave the girl he loved and vice versa. As Nico continued down the cement path, he could see the light from Miyoung's porch, the only source of light other than the dimly-lit street lamps, fading with each echoing step. The absence of city lights cast a long shadow on the pavement, each time his foot planted on the ground reminding him of the difficult task that was ahead of him–the recovery process–and his mind was already replaying snippets of their conversation, trying to relish the last memories he would have of her, the smell of her perfume lingering on the tip of his nose. Forcing himself to not turn around and sneak a glance at the green-painted house, longing to reclaim what he had so suddenly lost, Nico continued trudging down the road. All of a sudden, his phone lightly buzzed in his pocket, and for a fraction of a second, he half-expected half-begged the universe for it to be a message from Miyoung; of course, it was a simple notification from a random app, nothing worth noting. Sighing, Nico put the phone on the Do Not Disturb mode, sliding it back into his pocket to make sure that instances like that would not occur again for the rest of his walk home, at least. Having made this walk more times than he could possibly count, Nico didn't care that he was walking in the pitch black, which could potentially have been dangerous if it weren't for the relative safety of the neighborhood he was in.Mind deep in introspection, Nico's solemn train of thought was immediately cut off when he heard a voice that could only be described as a cosmic boom thunderously in his head."The tutorial has begun."A jolt of surprise ran through his body as he halted in his tracks, his mind kicking into overdrive. It was not everyday that your inner monologue was interrupted by a bellowing tone that you knew could not belong to anything on this planet, not in the conventional sense, at least. But before Nico could even move another muscle, his entire body was utterly engulfed in searing pain, the extent of which he had never felt in his life. It felt as if every cell and nerve in his body was rupturing all at once, momentarily paralyzing the boy. To an outsider, the scene would have looked something out of a horror show; body convulsing as he fell to the ground instantly, Nico twitched in pain yet no noise came out of his throat, even the muscles of his diaphragm spasming, rendering him unable to make a single sound. The scene would have normally been serene, if not for the convulsing boy laying on the cement, seizuring and almost passing out due to the immense pain he was undergoing. To Nico, his brain was assaulted with so much stimulation and agony that it almost temporarily shut down, but not after his entire nervous system sent the entirety of the pain to his head, processing every single bit of misery that he went through. But before he could pass out after what felt like an eternity trapped in endless physical torture, the pain subsided as abruptly as it had began. Nico's senses returned to him, and though there was no lingering feeling of distress, he was still mentally trying to recover from the experience. Gasping for air like he had been suffocating–he in fact had been–Nico slowly but surely recovered from the residual shock. But even though his body was intact, his mental capacity was now firing at a million miles an hour, trying to comprehend it all. His mind was even relatively free of thoughts, just trying to grasp the information overload that had been placed onto him.The thundering voice, the torture-like agony, and now the... before he could think of anything else, or even begin to process what had just happened, the streetlights began flickering right in front of his eyes. By now, Nico's internal thinking was going out of control, almost shutting down because of how much there was to take in. He felt like a passenger in his own body, lacking control and simply watching things as they unfolded. From deep inside himself, an inexplicable energy began to hum softly, radiating small ebbing echoes of rippling vivacity throughout his body. The empty street began to feel a lot more eerie than the quiet, peaceful night had once portrayed a few seconds ago. Suddenly, something materialized right in front of Nico's eyes.Witchblade. Welcome, Player> The boy's eyes bulged as he read the words on the light-blue screen that projected what could only be seen as a notification right in front of him. However, for some reason, the surreal nature of the event did not shock Nico as much as he would have assumed it was going to, as somewhere in the back of his brain, beneath the myriad of confused thoughts, it was like a small part of his consciousness knew what was happening and accepted it easily, even.The video game-like screen appeared to be like an augmented reality proclamation and seemed to signal an impending change in Nico's life that he could not have been the least prepared for. But before any amount of cognitive processing could be done, the eerie feeling around him grew and grew until Nico saw it.Emerging from the shadows underneath the poles of the streetlights, an ominous presence came into being–a creature that Nico recognized, making him even more shocked at the revelation. Forming out of the surrounding gloom, the imposing figure made itself more visible as it manifested into the physical realm; with the deepest shade of dark-gray fur as dreary as the abyss and an imposing canid-like physique, the creature appeared to be a cross between a Tibetan Mastiff and a North American gray wolf, being almost double the size of either creature's biggest individual specimen. Nico immediately identified the creature to be a Shadowmaw, a hulking wolf-like beast with jagged claws and razor-sharp fangs. Its body, covered in thick, matted gray fur, making its sinister red eyes glow with a malevolent crimson in the black of night. These were nocturnal, darkness-loving monsters, being skilled ambush predators that cloaked themselves in near-invisibility when interacting with the shadows, hence their namesake.The problem was that Nico had seen plenty of Shadowmaws in the past–as a matter of fact, he had not only seen a lifetime's worth of them, but he had slain so many that he could not count the amount. That was because everything that was happening to Nico right now came straight out of a video game, particularly an old MMORPG that he played years ago, and one that he had ceased to touch for what has felt like forever.The class of Witchblade was a unique, ultra-powerful class that Nico unlocked after countless of hours of dedication to the character that he had truly maxed out in that game. But there was no time to think, as the problem at hand was much bigger than Nico could manage right now. If there was one thing he knew, however, it was that the creature in front of him was no video game figment–it was a real, tangible beast that was radiating intense malice, and it was on the hunt. Every part of his human brain signaled to Nico that this Shadowmaw was most definitely a threat to his survival. With no time to think as the beast suddenly lunged forward, serrated claws outspread, Nico's fight-or-flight response kicked in and his body coursed with a great deal of adrenaline, and his legs moved on their own, barely leaping out of the creature's path as it landed onto a part of the street that was not illuminated by the light. In a quarter of a second, the Shadowmaw blended into the darkness, rendering itself unseen to the naked eye. And that was when Nico's instincts kicked in, almost like an autopilot mode had switched on internally. It was as if he just knew what to do, and Nico let the reflexes play out. Before he knew it, his right hand–the dominant one–felt heavy as his fingers curled, feeling the cold leathery handle of something. Nico's eyes glanced down for a split second, and he saw the outline of something that made his heart skip a beat. In his right hand laid the most basic form of his class-exclusive weapon, a magic scimitar, and Nico recognized this ever-evolving blade to be the one that his character used in the game, a sword named Tear. It seemed to Nico as if this new phenomenon had granted him the most rudimentary abilities of something that came straight from the old MMORPG he played when he was younger. With no time to waste, the Shadowmaw appeared out of the murkiness again, teeth bared this time. Within that heartbeat, time seemed to slow down for Nico. And out of nowhere, it was like everything clicked. Without thinking or any cognitive input, Nico assumed a fighting stance, his blade outstretched behind him, ready to be brought forward at a moment's notice. Letting his instincts take over, Nico channeled the energy that had once hummed softly inside him, which was now coursing in junction with the adrenaline that filled every corner of his system. Because he was not just an ordinary player of that video game, Nico happened to be the number one ranked player that the game had ever seen with his Witchblade character named Luminoir. And as battle reflexes kicked in, Nico felt himself coursing the buzzing hum into the bottom half of his body, his legs now itching with intense potential energy. What he was doing was channeling magic. And so using the skill that he had mastered and called upon innumerable times in the virtual world, Nico cast his first skill, [Flash Step], for the first time in the real world. All of the fibers in his lower body were flooded with excitatory magic, and he tensed the muscles in his leg. All of a sudden, time seemed to revert back to normal, and the Shadowmaw's fangs could be made out to Nico's now keen eyes. Small particles of the creature's saliva flew out into the air as it sprung forward, jaws opened wide. But as if a miniature sonic boom went off, Nico activated the tensed muscles in his legs, propelling himself forward at speeds unreadable to the naked human eye. Before anything could be processed, the curved longsword that was in his right hand was now being gripped with all ten fingers, shoving itself into the chest of the beast still in motion.Nico felt–for the first time–metal meet flesh as the smooth sensation of the blade sinking into the Shadowmaw's chest with a might that he did not know he could muster. The trajectory of the monster was met and overturned with Nico's pure physical force, slamming the canid into the ground. Abruptly, the body of the Shadowmaw began to disintegrate into light-blue pixels, the same hue as the notification that had alerted him to his class just mere moments ago. And at that second, the autopilot mode turned off, and Nico felt like his consciousness was snapped back into his body, feeling all of the physical changes at their full capacity this time. The recoil from his morphed physique, as well as the unfamiliar backlash of the ability that could only come from a fantasy world, sent Nico to the ground, right where the Shadowmaw's remains fully dispersed into blue pixels that vanished into thin air, the echo of its demise only existing in the mind of its killer. It was like nothing had happened, and the surroundings of the neighborhood seemed to return to normal. The lull of nighttime had not been so much as blemished by the altercation that just took place, and Nico was left with a serious set of questions that he was not sure could be answered. beginner quests. Do you accept?> Out of nowhere, another blue screen materialized in front of the collapsed black-haired boy, now portraying more of the video game-like features that had invaded his world just now. There was a big yes and no button on each side of the bottom of the screen, presumably for him to give his consent. Without even thinking about the situation, Nico took a deep breath and thought to himself, "yes," before the yes button on the screen was highlighted for a moment, like he had pressed it physically. Then, the notification faded, leaving Nico underneath the glow of the street lamp once more, like nothing had happened.