"With a sigh of relief, Styxas waves one final time towards his allies, and activates the bomb planted in his heart."
As the dungeon master said this members of the campaign began to cry and console each other.
"With the bomb that was infused with holy power exploding, the Demon Queen has fallen, and the world is saved. A lot of the party has tragically passed away, but Micky York lives on. He told the stories of the party and the world entered a new era of peace... Guys, I have to say this was probably our best campaign yet."
"Ryan, your performance as a Dungeon Master has been the most important factor to our successful campaign!"
The group of five all turned and gave an exaggerated bow towards a man sitting behind several cardboard screens with various paper clippings with information on monsters on it.
Ryan smiled while he blushed slightly and waved off the compliments.
"You guys were all fantastic. A DM is only as good as their party so let's just all agree everyone was incredible. Unfortunately that does mark the end of the campaign. It'll take me some time to finish polishing the other campaign I have been working on, but it'll at least be a couple more weeks before we can start playing."
Everyone nodded and they began to clean up the table. It was a large raised table that was adjustable. Once the table was cleared and moved, you could see they were all playing around a hospital bed. Sitting in the bed was a young man with various tubes hooked up to him.
The group turned off the speaker they were using to play ambiance sounds and music, which ushered back in the sounds of various machines beeping slowly.
The group however didn't seem to mind, as they still had smiles on their faces and continued reminiscing on the campaign they just finished with each other.
"Hey Norman, we're all gonna head out to that Chinese place downtown, but Millie said she would bring you some after. Text us what you want, okay? Our treat, for our fearless hero!"
Smiling Norman, rolled his eyes at the praise and told them to hurry before the place closes. They all came over to give Norman a hug before heading out into the hallway. Until there was one one person left in the room with Norman.
"You want that duck dish like usual?"
"You know it, Millie."
Millie walked over and gave Norman a kiss. They stayed still for a long time before finally separating. Millie stared into Norman's eyes for a while before asking something that was bothering her.
"You... You'd tell me if something was going on... Right?"
Norman hesitate for a moment before sporting his usual smile.
"Of course Millie. We've been friends for how long now? Have I ever been able to keep a secret from you?"
Laughing Millie tightly hugged Norman one more time before walking towards the door. However when she got there she hesitated for a moment before leaving. Turning her head she looked inquisitively at Norman one more time.
"I didn't know about your plan to sacrifice yourself in the game today..."
She looked at Norman for a while before shaking her head.
"I'll be back in a couple hours with the food. We can watch a movie together when I get back."
"Okay. I love you."
Startled Millie looked at Norman confused before smiling brightly.
"I love you too, Norman!"
She then skipped down the hallway to meet the rest of the group. She was in a really good mood because this was the first time Norman had ever said that he loved her.
However she never knew why. A group of people then walked into the room. Norman looked up from his phone where he had already typed out the message:
[Thank you guys so much for being my friends... I hope to meet you guys in our next campaign. In a bar where six strangers become unlikely friends, to go on a whirlwind of adventures and mischief.]
His parents both came to his side with tears in their eyes and the hospital staff began to prepare the room. A nurse began removing all the tubes from Norman except for an IV in his arm, and his parents began hugging him tightly.
He tightly embraced them back before separating himself and raising his phone towards his mother.
"Can you send this when... You know."
Wiping the tears from her eyes his mother gently took his phone. His father was the first one to say something.
"Do you really not want to tell Millie what's happening? You two have been inseparable since you were kids..."
However Norman shook his head.
"I don't want her last memory with me to be something sad. It was a good day with my friends. That's how I want them to remember it."
At that moment a doctor came over with a small tray. The tray had a syringe and a small bottle. He looked at Norman before looking at his parents.
"It's time."
As if the last thing holding his parents together fell, they began sobbing and gave their son one more tight squeeze before kissing him on the forehead.
Norman was the same, crying and holding his parents tightly. The doctor made his way around and filled the syringe with the liquid from the bottle. He then slowly injected it into the only IV still connected to Norman's arm.
With that the doctor backed up and let Norman's parents continue to hug him. Norman looked up at the doctor and smiled weakly.
"Thank you for taking care of me all these years."
With a sad expression the doctor nodded. Tears began welling up in the corner of his eyes but he stayed silent to not take away from Norman's parents' final moments with their son.
"We love you Norman. We're so lucky to have such a kind son like you... We just-"
However his mother couldn't finish her sentence before she choked on her sobs. His father however maintained his composure, although barely.
"We just hope you find peace... Whatever may happen, we just hope you aren't in pain."
Norman smiled weakly as his consciousness began to fade.
'I wish I was born in a different body... Any body where I could explore the world... I would rather be my blind and deaf character than be cursed to this hospital bed for the rest of my life.'
However the regrets that Norman was feeling began to fade, and he slowly entered his final rest. Closing his eyes the sounds of his parent's cries sounded further and further away until he could no longer hear anything.
Norman Flats took his final breath in his sleep.
Somewhere far away, in a Chinese restaurant a group of friends was happily eating and talking when they all received a text notification.
They all looked down to read it only to drop their phones at the same time. Millie dropped her phone and sprinted out the door.
"Millie wait!"
The group quickly ran after her but she was running down the street already. One of the guys in the group managed to catch up with her and hugged her to stop her from running.
"LET ME GO! LET ME GO! I HAVE TO SEE HIM!"
"MILLIE! It'd take you an hour just to get to the hospital! We can get there faster if we drive!"
They quickly ran back to the car they all came in, and left the restaurant.
A small takeout box with Peking duck in it was left at the table.
****
'I feel stiff... I thought I fell asleep? Maybe the medicine takes a little longer to actually take effect...'
I slowly opened my eyes but to my surprise it didn't get any brighter. My vision was still pitch black, which made me think to myself.
'Did the hospital power go out?'
Concerned that perhaps the power going out meant I didn't get the full dosage of the medicine, which meant I wasn't going to pass away right now, I decided it would be best to let people know I was still awake.
"HELLO? I'M IN HERE! IT DIDN'T WORK!"
I could feel my mouth opening, and my throat going hoarse from shouting, yet I couldn't hear anything. I realized now that I couldn't hear my own voice. This, in turn, made me question if I couldn't see if it was dark or...
As my heartbeat accelerated, and my mind was about to be consumed by fear, a message brought me clarity.
[You said: 'I would rather be my blind and deaf character than be cursed to this hospital bed for the rest of my life.']
[So I made your wish come true.]
[You have possessed Styxas Serrano, when he was 12 years old, right after he was cursed and lost the ability to see or hear.]
[You know the story. You have four years to prevent the first calamity, Balthazar The Inciter.]
Oddly enough as I read the messages that appeared in the empty darkness that filled my vision, I felt a little better about it all. As if because I knew what was going on I wasn't as afraid.
'If this is my character Styxas... Then does that mean my feats exist?'
Feats were much like perks or characteristics for a player. You unlocked a choice of feats at certain levels or could gain them through the DM's discretion, but they were very important.
The ones I wrote Styxas with were [Extreme Mana Sensitivity] and [Extreme Calm]. They were both born out of his curses that were placed on his body.
The curses in question were the reason he couldn't see or hear. However the messages said that I was brought back to before the time when I actually played my character. In three years I would wind up in the village of Huel, where I was supposed to meet the rest of my party and begin our campaign to defeat Balthazar.
If everything went the way it did in the campaign we would barely manage to defeat Balthazar but I didn't know if my party's characters existed in this world. If they didn't then... I would have to gather my own party members.
Of course I would still show up at the time we all met, just to see, but I needed to be prepared for the worst.
As I was lost in these thoughts of the future I felt a touch on my body suddenly.
Surprised I immediately pushed the touch away and pushed myself backwards, where I hit my head on something hard.
Grabbing my head I rubbed it when several hands grabbed me. I fought to resists but whatever held me was much stronger than me. Finally accepting that I stood no chance of resisting I stopped fighting. Eventually the hands let go of me, but one gentle pair of soft hands touched my head.
I felt a warm current flow through my body. After a moment I was helped to my feet and led to whatever I hit my head on behind me. They helped me sit down and I discovered it was something soft. Either a bed or a sofa.
I remembered that Styxas was from the Serrano family, an affluent noble family that later fell into decline causing Styxas to travel the world while hiding his identity.
The family spared no expense to try and discover a cure for Styxas's ailment. This was part of the reason why they were ruined. They even experimented with taboo magic and that was why the kingdom eventually wiped them out.
After a few moments of not feeling anyone's touch on me, I thought for a moment that they might have left the room, but at that moment I heard a voice enter my head.
'Styxas, can you hear me?'
Immediately I turned my head, but then I remembered I couldn't see or hear.
"Is this Telepathy?"
I said aloud. I just hope I didn't stutter or sound weird.
'Yes. Your family was right you are incredibly bright. It makes me wonder though who could have done this to you, and why. I have to spend a bit of time to figure out what this is but-'
"Don't bother. It's two powerful curses... Even the Gods cannot easily remove them."
There was a brief moment of silence before I heard the voice in my head again.
'You seem very sure of that... We will take your word for it then, but what can we do?'
"Nothing. I will just have to live like this... Instead I want to know who I am talking to?"
A soft hand landed on my shoulder and gave it a soft squeeze.
'I am Michelle Holmes. I happened to be visiting your mother, who is a friend of mine, when they heard you screaming for help earlier. We tried to talk to you but you weren't reacting. Then you started fighting and we realized something was wrong.'
I sat in silence as I realized that the room was actually filled with people, but I couldn't sense them at all. It somewhat made me feel incredibly lonely and hurt me to think about.
One life of struggles for another.
However I quickly moved on. Instead thinking about what I needed to do. Styxas was able to gain his independence after he learned to use mana to sense his surroundings. However it wasn't until much later that he learned how to use his unique magic to really change things.
Styxas had [Creation] magic. He was able to create different magical tools to help him. It was a homebrew type of magic I had created based on engineer classes from different games.
However right now I couldn't use magic, and I didn't have the tools to create something incredible yet. However this was before my family fell, and that meant I had an abundant amount of money to my disposal.
"I need someone to teach me to control mana."