Late at night, a new post was made with an attached video on a forum for all things supernatural. The post questioned the validity of the video, asking 'Is this real?'. It only took a few hours for the post to blow up, the video attached was of a young man, who appeared to be fighting ghosts with an axe. Most of the comments were also questioning if the video was real until someone commented, 'I watched the stream this video came from, and the streamer said it was all real' This one comment made waves throughout the supernatural community, causing the original post to be reposted in multiple different forums and blogs.
Belle woke up the next morning feeling completely refreshed. First, he grabbed a notebook and wrote down all the information he got.
Ghosts come in different levels.Ghosts of higher levels can talk but have rules.The Yin-Yang Eyes allow me to see and touch ghost things.The Common Axe can injure ghosts but it can't kill them.The system can exorcise ghosts. The system lets people see ghosts if they watch the stream. People called 'Exorcists' can also harm ghosts.
There was probably more information, but that was all Belle could remember. The ghost levels and the 'Excorsists' were the most important things to keep track of. The second thing Belle did, was check out the [Store] and [Upgrades] section of the system. The store only had four options available, all the other items had locks. When he tried to click on them the system responded with-
[To access these items you need to upgrade the system.]
The four items that were on the screen were [Talismans] [Salt] [Incense] and [Ultraviolet Flashlight]. 'This is all stuff you can buy at the store, it must be of better quality though' Belle thinks. Each item only costs one Ghost Point except for the flashlight which is two. Belle decides to check the [Upgrade] section before buying anything from the [Store].
[Weapon Upgrades] [System Upgrade]
He clicks on the [System Upgrade] first but it costs 100 Ghost Points, so that's out the window for now. He then chooses [Weapon Upgrades], and the screen changes to show the only two weapons he has; the Common Axe and the Ghost Capsule. The Common Axe costs 10 Ghost Points to upgrade whereas the Ghost Capsule costs 15, Belle chooses the Common Axe. He doesn't know what the Ghost Capsule does, and this lets him have some points left over just in case.
[Would you like to upgrade the Common Axe?]
[Yes] [No]
Belle clicks [Yes] and the system briefly flashes light before confetti rains down the screen.
[Congratulations! You have upgraded your first weapon.]
Belle maneuvers the system to the [Weapons] section and clicks on the axe.
[Uncommon Axe: The axe has a slight bloodstain on the blade, humans will now fear the axe and it will slightly unsettle ghosts. When the axe damages a ghost they can not heal the wound.]
"Ehhh! Wait, why's that so op!" Belle exclaims in shock. If the ghosts can't heal, that makes his job of defeating them significantly easier. Belle leaves his room for breakfast, feeling refreshed and cheerful.
"Woah, you are way too happy for this early in the morning," Liz says, rubbing her eyes. She's wearing her robe and has a cup of steaming hot coffee in her hand.
"Hehe, that's because I got hooked up with a new gig," Belle responds, this seems to pique her curiosity.
"What is it? I thought you'd still be bumming around for a few more months." She teases.
"It's a job as a streamer, I've already made some money doing it." He tells her, it's true, he received the payment the other day and is now a hundred dollars richer.
"Is that what you did last night?" She questions.
"Yep, is that fine with you?" He asks.
"Of course, just tell me next time, okay?" She replies.
"Mhm." He nods. They spend most of the day on the couch watching television. It was the weekend so Liz didn't have any work. In the afternoon, Liz heads out to go on a date with the person from last time. Belle hasn't met them yet but Liz seems to like them a lot. With nothing to do, he decides to check out the side missions of the system. He scrolls down and clicks on the first one, [Bloody Mary].
[Mary was a kind girl, she was beautiful of personality and would always help those in need. However; the people in her life deemed her unattractive, and this caused Mary to hate looking at herself in the mirror. Every time she walked past it, she would see the ugliness of her body and face. After years of bullying and belittlement, it became too much for Mary, and to avoid looking at herself in any more mirrors, she scratched her eyes out with a shard of glass. Now, Mary haunts anybody who calls her name three times in front of the mirror in a dimly lit bathroom. Do you accept this mission?]
[Yes] [No]
He clicks the [Yes] button and the mission details immediately pop up.
[Say Bloody Mary three times in front of a mirror in a dimly lit bathroom, survive for 15 minutes.]
Belle has heard of the Bloody Mary story before, it's a very popular urban legend and many kids tried to summon her at sleepovers. Belle had even tried it himself once, but she never appeared. It seems that she only responds to specific people. He waits till it gets darker outside before grabbing a candle and the camera and turning off all the lights in the house. The system uses the word 'survive' not 'defeat' which means that Bloody Mary is not a spirit that Belle can defeat currently. This means he has to keep his wits about him when facing her. He enters the bathroom and places the candle on the sink, lighting it. He turns the lights off and presses the [Start Streaming] button. The viewer count almost immediately climbs to 50.
"Hello everyone! As you can see, today I'm in a bathroom. I also realize I forgot to introduce myself last stream, you can just call me Belle. Today we will be doing the popular urban legend, Bloody Mary. For those of you who haven't heard of it, you chant her name three times in the mirror under a dim light." He says, holding up the candle to the floating camera. The camera's flashlight is off but the stream still has perfect lighting and quality.
{is this the one?}
{yep! this is the one from the forum}
{does that mean we get to see real ghosts}
{maybe. it hasnt been proven if its real or fake yet}
"Seems like something interesting happened after I finished streaming yesterday, let's get started!" He cheers, turning to face the mirror. He takes a deep breath before he starts chanting.
"Bloody Mary. Bloody Mary. Bloody Mary."
For a few seconds, nothing happened, and Belle is left wondering if it worked.
{nothings happening}
{this is lame}
{was the forum wrong?}
{wait look at the mirror!}
There, in the mirror, Belle's face started to change subtly. His neutral expression turned into a grim smile and then widened even further into a manic one. His eyes widened and blood started pouring out from all his orifices. Belle watched as his reflection changed with wonder, the figure in the mirror began to move closer, eventually putting a bloody hand on the mirror as if trying to break through. Blood started to pour out of the mirror, spilling onto the bathroom floor. His vision went blurry as the intense feeling of miasma spread throughout the room.
'So this is what the system meant, this is an insane amount of power'
The hand that was pushing up against the mirror suddenly reached through the mirror, appearing pale and bloody, it grabbed at Belle. He took a step backward to dodge, but this made his vision blur more and gave him a piercing headache. The candle flickers as the top half of Mary pools through the mirror. Her hair is brown and greasy, spilling around her shoulders into the sink. Her skin is pale with splotches of blood littering her figure. Her eyes are missing, instead, there's a black void with blood trickling down like tears, and red scratch marks line the edges of her eye sockets.
"Ke, ke, ke, I'll cut your eyes out!" She shrieks, and Belle feels a warm trickle flow from his nose. He can see black spots in his vision as she reaches for him, a sure sign that he's about to pass out soon. The room is deathly cold and Belle can feel himself sinking further and further into unconsciousness. Before he can pass out though, a message appears before his vision.
[You have lasted 15 minutes against Bloody Mary, would you like the system to expel her?]
[Yes] [No]
It takes all of Belle's strength to click the [Yes] button, the room regaining its warmth and the miasma clearing as Bloody Mary disappears with a shriek. His knees finally collapse and he falls to the floor, panting.
"Hahaha, that was exhilarating!" His eyes shine as he reflects on the near-death experience.
{...}
{did that just happen?}
{GHOSTS ARE REAL! I TOLD YOU MOM!}
{commenter above do you need help?}
{isnt this proof ghosts are real}
{it could just be a really good production}
{i think i pissed myself}
Belle reads the comments as he gathers his strength, eventually, he stands up, turns the lights on, and blows out the candle.
"Well everyone, that was Bloody Mary, I hope you'll all tune into the next stream as I'm ending this one here. Goodbye!" He says, ending the stream with a wave, catching the camera as it drops.
[This stream had a total peak of 372 viewers and has earned you 37 Ghost Points]
[Congratulations on completing your first Side Mission, you have earned the reward; Personal Skill: Stealthy Presence.]
"Right then, let's see what this does." Belle goes to the [Personal Skills] section, clicking on his new ability.
[Stealthy Presence belongs only to those who truly don't want to be noticed. Lowers your presence around spirits.]
"Oho, this should be useful." He muses, already preparing for new mission scenarios.
"I'm back!" Liz calls out from the front room. Belle exits the bathroom to welcome her back.
"Did you have fun on your date?" He asks her.
"Mhm! It was the best, I really think this one is the one." She replies.
"That's good, you gotta bring them around to meet me sometime."
"I will, but not for a while, I still remember how judgy you were about my last few partners." Liz gripes.
"And they were all huge pieces of shit." He shoots back.
"Whatever, I'm going to bed, see ya in the morning." She says, yawning.
"Goodnight," Belle responds, walking toward his room to put the camera down. He gets in his pajamas and settles in for a good rest.