The sound of typing on a keyboard was pronounced, and the only light in the room came from the computer monitor. In front of it, the light illuminated the tired face of a boy, who wore a grim expression.
He had just made one of the most expensive pulls in the game and had only gotten a measly item. To top it off, the item belonged to a character he didn't even have yet.
"Blood Flower," he said, reading aloud the name of the unfortunate object. It was a 5-star item. The boy knew he had used up all his luck for the day on something he didn't even want.
Now he was intrigued. Should he keep pulling? He hesitated for a moment, looking at the button on the screen that said "x10 Pull." He was trying his luck on the new banner, wanting to be the first to get the new character, master it, and take advantage of the surprise of the new mechanics in the competitive world.
"Screw it, this is what I've been saving for all year!" It was his last pull before hitting zero, but in the toughest moments, hope clouded your judgment the most. He clicked the button hard.
"White," he said, seeing the first color. It was a 2-star item, basic and pathetic. Fortunately, the light began to glow brighter and changed:
"Green." There was something up to 3 stars, which was still trash. It shone again and changed once more:
"Blue." A 4-star, the best among the worst. It flashed again, and the color changed:
"Yellow..." He couldn't believe it, another 5-star. His mind surged with dopamine and adrenaline, seeing the beautiful golden color. But, to his ultimate delight, the gold shone again and...
"Purple!" He shouted to the heavens, a blessed 6-star! He had been playing for five years and only had three items of that rarity. But, incredibly, the ominous purple flickered and shone again!
"RED!" The 7-star, the boy's heart was racing, he was on the verge of hyperventilating. The red light from the screen illuminated much of the room and also the boy's face ominously.
Wiping saliva from his mouth, the boy crossed his fingers and, as the light dimmed, wished with all his might:
'Please don't be an item, please don't be an item!'
The light dimmed, but there was nothing there. No item, no character, just a dead, dark forest with pools of blood on the arid ground. The situation left him puzzled. Did the game break? Would he have to restart? And what if they took away the 7-star item he had won?
Suddenly, a feminine, coquettish laugh echoed through the area, in his headphones, it even seemed to come from the room... As if the laugh had triggered something, the blood pools began to converge forcefully, merging. After a few seconds, they formed a bloody silhouette that, with a "boom," broke free from the blood-red and revealed its interior.
A beautiful girl; very pale, with equally pale messy hair and eyes that glowed red in the dark, looked at him with a mischievous smile.
"WHOA!" The boy shouted at the top of his lungs. It was Nemes, the new 7-star character!
He took a deep breath, trying to calm his violently beating heart but failing.
"I have to try her out!" he said, his face flushed with excitement. He quickly equipped her with "Blood Flower," the 5-star item he had obtained earlier, and entered the first level, the easiest one, to "study" her in peace.
When he clicked the "Start" button, he felt a stabbing pain in his chest. Quickly, the pain turned into torture, and he clutched his chest, trying to ease it, but it had no effect. Knowing it was serious, he reached for his phone with a grimace of pain and managed to call an ambulance.
But before he could do anything else, his vision blacked out, and he felt a terrible dizziness. The next moment, he fell to the floor, unconscious.