Damian woke up early, his heart racing with excitment.
Sun was just rising, and city still sleeped, but who cared?
He pulled his computer chair and sat down, his eyes shining like stars. "Today is the day! I have been waiting for months."
He pushed the open button, and his computer turned on, illuminating the room with RGB lights.
When the login screen opened, he typed in his password lightning fast.
"I am just a couple of steps away!" He quickly dragged the mouse on the only icon on the screen. "Beasts & Demons. The infamous open-world survival game is known for its impossible difficulty. Today, I will end you!"
Damian stood before a menacing, massive double door at the end of a giant, black stone gothic bridge above a lava river.
His character wore magical power armor, protected by shiny enchanted plates and adorned with mechanical wings.
Damian cracked his fingers. "I killed twelve of the demon lords, defeated the twin guard gargoyles, each rumored to be stronger than a demon lord, and now, I am coming for you!"
He pressed the 'F' key, and his character slowly opened the doors.
"The rumored throne room of the demon king. Only a thousand players reached here, and only 95 killed you." Damian moved closer to the screen, his grip on his mouse tightened.
"And I will be 96th one!"
An onyx-skinned giant with goat legs and twisted horns welcomed him.
"Today is your last day."
The cutscene cut short, and the battle began. Demon King roared, his burning eyes locked on Damian, and unleashed a flurry of magical attacks in the form of raining meteors.
Each meteor exploded brightly on impact, lighting up Damian's room.
"My uncle's writings already warned me about this!" Damian grabbed his sunglasses and approached the screen even closer.
His fingers skipped between his main keyboard and the modified keyboard filled with potion and buff macros in a captivating rhythm, countering the demon king's moves.
And after a long dance, one left the arena alive.
His computer screen glowed golden. "Victory!" Written on it.
"I did it." Damian fell to his knees, clutching his fists with a big dumb smile. "For years, I grinded for this victory. Ever since my good-for-nothing uncle started my addiction to it, I dreamed of this day. Suck it, uncle!" "I just wish you were still here to see this."
Damian sat back in his chair and approached the computer. "Well, he would probably mock me, saying I could have done it much easier with a different strategy, but even that would be nice."
A small icon box was under the victory screen.
"Start the real game, Y/N." He smirked, nose high. "This should be a secret mode previous winners never told anyone. Of course, I accept such a generous offer!"
The second he pressed it, the victory screen flickered, and his entire computer whirred louder than ever before. The RGB lights on his tower flashed wildly, and his usually silent fans roared like industrial ones.
"What the hell?" He reached for the power button, but his screen went dead before he touched it.
Damian stood still, eyes wide open, hand mid-air. An eerie silence filled the room.
He slowly turned to his computer. "Don't tell me you broke down now."
He glanced at his equipment. "They still work. Maybe it's just a software problem." He leaned in, just about to press the power button, when the screen lit up again with a blinding golden glow. The light pulsed and swirled, forming intricate, rotating runes around the edges of the screen.
Before Damian could react, the screen seemed to stretch outward, bulging like a balloon. The air in the room shifted, vibrating with energy as the glow sharpened into a perfect circle. "Wait, is that a?"
A sudden, powerful gust of wind blasted from it, scattering his strategy notes and knocking over his empty soda cans.
The golden glow swirled into a vortex, its pull yanking papers, soda cans, and even the air itself toward it. Damian's stomach flipped as his feet left the floor.
"No! No, no, no!" He clawed at the desk, his fingers scraping uselessly against the smooth surface. The light consumed him, and for a split second, he felt like he was falling in every direction at once.
The reality warped around him as he passed through a seemingly endless tunnel of infinite colors before fainting from sensory overload.
***
Damian slowly opened his eyes, sitting on warm golden sand, still barefoot and in his pajamas. "Where is this place." He pushed himself up.
"It is blurry." He squinted his eyes with his elbows.
The sun beat down from a perfect blue sky, and waves gently hit the shore in a rhythm. The sand he stood above was warm.
He was undamaged, still in his pajamas and slippers.
"This is nice, but where am I?" He turned around.
Beyond the beach, black smoke clouds covered the town.
Flames covered entire buildings, and columns of fire spiraled into the sky.
A giant blue gemstone statue, cleanly cut in half, stood at the town's entrance.
Damian shivered as a scream blasted like a bomb in his head, pulling him back to reality.
"No way," he whispered, eyes wide. His heart raced, and he recognized the town from mere moments ago.
Unknowingly, he was taking steps back.
"This has to be a dream..." The familiar cobblestone streets, the stone temple, two floored houses, and the statue of a goddess of the sea. "I am in the Lyrian starter town- Agh."
He was so focused on the town he tripped on a driftwood and hit the ground.
But before he even processed the pain, a piercing screech came from the sky. Massive winged beasts were leaving the town in groups, their scales radiating an acidic green glimmer.
"A- ar- are these Deathwings?" He focused on them.
Not just one, but a pack of them, enough that they blocked the sun with their bodies. "Where are they going... no this isn't my problem."
Damian waited for them to leave sight before he got up, slowly accepting the situation.
He turned to the town, eerily quiet. He weighed the risk on his head. Could there be dangers still lurking there? Damian shook the thoughts. "I can't waste more time. There still could be survivors."
It didn't take much time for Damian to reach the town's entrance, where the blue gemstone goddess statue cut in half stood. Here, he smelled a weak stench. "Left behind by those monsters." He glanced towards where the Deathwing pack flew before moving forward.
Damian approached the statue and touched it. "Nautia, goddess of the sea, why would anyone attack your statue." He looked at the cut. "It is too clean for a beast to do."
He shook his head. "This is a bad omen, but it can wait."
House after house, Damian looked for people, but his search had no avail.
He stopped on the stairs of the temple. "Statues here are also destroyed."
A bluescreen appeared before him. [New Quest: Investigate the temple.]
"I do even have quests like Beasts&Demons." He started climbing, with each step unlocking more of the destroyed town.
"Destroyed buildings, puddles of corrosive goo, and debris." He closed his nose. "And this unbearable smell, what a grim sight."
When Damian reached the final step, he froze.
Temple doors broke open inside the temple as if something rammed them from outside. Above the doors, a deathwing, feasting.
"Larger others, heavily damaged wings, cracked or missing scales, and a body covered in scars."
Damian slowly backed down. "This is above me."
When he nearly reached it, the bluescreen appeared once more. [Quest Update: Investigate The Temple -> Survive The Deathwing Attack.
Rewards: Finish the tutorial
On Failure: DEATH]
"What-"
As he processed the quest, a thundering roar echoed, and the ground shook as the beast emerged from the temple. Its eyes locked on him.
Damian sprinted, ignoring the pain of running on cobblestone.
Deathwing followed him down the stairs. Claws tore through the stone, and its massive body picked up an impossible speed.
He passed through several houses until Damian found one with an open door. He rushed inside and to the stairs.
Behind him, the Deathwing emerged from a building, its body bulldozing through the stone brick wall, scattering debris around.
Barely slowed by the building it just crashed through, The Deathwing burst from the dust, its eyes locked on Damian.
"Shit." Damian hastened and reached the second floor just in time as Deathwing came crashing through the building, a wave of scraps and dust flying behind.
It took down a support beam and opened massive holes in the first-floor walls, and only managed to stop by stabbing the ground with its claws and drifting like a car, leaving massive marks on its path while adjusting its position towards the building Damian was inside.
Damian fell to the floor after the Deathwing attack but quickly recovered. He grabbed the rails at the end of the stairway and got up. "I can't stop, not now."
He began running to a balcony at the end of the corridor. "The next building is not too far. I have a chance."
He slammed through the balcony door, and the wooden lock holding it shot out the air. Without wasting any momentum, he dashed to the railing and leaped to the next building, arms stretched forward, praying.
Mid-air, the building behind him crumbled, scattering stone and wood as dust lifted into its place. The Deathwing got stuck after some debris but managed to shake it off. The beast roared, its movements sluggish, acidic saliva sizzling wherever it fell.
Drops that hit the ground started sizzling and corroding, releasing a green vapor.
Damian put his arms forward, shielding his body as he entered the next building through crashing wooden shutters, scattering splinters all around.
He rolled forward and quickly got back up, not slowing down, not even checking his arms cut by wood.
A massive ball of green goo hit the wall he entered, destroying it and eating through everything it scattered on.
"I can't just escape. I need to do something to defeat this monster-" The building shook as the Deathwing entered the first floor.
A memory flashed in his mind, a battle won through environmental elements. He smiled.
"All large beasts should have a charge ability of sorts. If this world mirrors the game, I think I know a way to defeat it." Damian looked around the second floor, searching for something to make noise as the Deathwing tried to climb through the stairway but only crashed the wooden stairs and cracked the stone walls.
After several rooms, with nothing useful, he found a bell next to a small statue of Nautia on a dresser decorated like a small altar. "Thank you, the person who lived here!" He grabbed the bell and climbed down from a window.
On one corner of the house, he started ringing the bell and yelling. "Over here!"
The Deathwing quickly stopped trying to get to the second floor and charged towards the source of the noise.
Damian smiled as he stepped away from the corner. "Strong but dumb, my favorite type of enemy."
The Deathwing burst out of the support corner and started looking around, but Damian was out of sight.
"Here!" Damian gave his position once more.
This game continued until the final support column inside the house.
The building creaked, and dust was falling from the second floor. Damian stood before it, his heart raced, and sweat dripped from his face. "It is about to fall. I hope it works."
Deathwing charged once more, angered, uncontrollably scattering its corrosive saliva.
When the beast gathered enough velocity, Damian dashed towards the exit, leaping forward only inches from the Deathwing claw.
As the building crumbled down on the raging beast, he barely threw himself out, then crawled into a ball as debris and wood rained.
When things settled, he got up and looked at the old Deathwing, buried under debris, struggling to no avail.
Panting heavily, Damian moved closer to the creature. He smiled uncontrollably, giggling like a little child, his heart beating as if trying to escape his chest and his arms shaking. "I won!" His voice echoed through the desecrated settlement.
A deep, otherworldly voice broke the silence. "Bravo, magnificent!"
"Who are you-" Damian spun around, his eyes widened when he saw the figure.
It had the silhouette of a human but lacked any features, a living fire inside a bright red suit, and fine leather shoes.
"Pardon my behavior. I was so impressed that I momentarily forgot my manners." The flame creature bowed slightly, flames making his body flickering. "My name is Diablo, vice-moderator, and your guide in this cruel world to the end, 96th." It raised its head. "Welcome to Beasts&Demons."