What's more terrifying?

The only one to know the future and couldn't do anything to prevent the end of it, or the only one to be alive in that future and couldn't do anything to prevent the end of it?

Oscar experienced both.

He stood frozen, watching the world slowly disorient before scattering into multicoloured beams of light.

"So beautiful, pity no one's here to watch it," Oscar muttered, gritting his teeth as he pulled his battered body from the decayed soil.

All around him, dead bodies scattered. A red river flowed, which still shone in death and decay, despite the colourful rays invading the earth and sky.

In the field of a multicoloured ocean, only he stood, staggering as he held his spear tight. Unkempt hair shaded his forehead, a grimace formed on his face as he suppressed the pain of being disintegrated alive.

"So this is the end…" His gaze landed on the mass of a blurry thing with a sigh of acceptance.

They called it Mirage... something that appeared to be attainable but was actually an illusion of that attainment.

Imagine fighting a thing so powerful and unbeatable, without knowing if what they fought for was even real or an illusion.

Oscar raised his fist, slowly rolling each finger until one stood out.

"FUCK YOU..."

And then—nothing. Only darkness...

The world disappeared into nothingness, but the point where Oscar had stood remained untouched.

A jagged breath escaped in the air, fuming as a voice that seemed to come from all directions roared.

"Did he just curse at me?..."

* *

Inside a small studio apartment in the suburbs of Texas, a young man opened his eyes wide, gasping for air. His bulging eyes locked on the tattered ceiling of the room, then shifted toward the paper calendar in the corner.

"21-12-2024..."

Oscar read, his eyes darting toward the clock, which was missing one of its sides.

Fortunately, both needles were still intact on the undamaged portion.

"10:00 AM…"

This day and time he would never forget, even if his brain deleted all the stored memories. The release of the world's first full-dive virtual reality game,The Card Online.

"Stop!" Oscar rose from his bed. "…Isn't me dead?"

The younger body said otherwise. The smell of fresh air…. His nose twitched.

"Here, smell shit…" A rotten egg in the corner accepted his disgust, oozing its stench.

Oscar ran toward his door, which opened to the balcony of a twenty-story, abandoned, almost-collapsed building.

The warmth of the sun defending against the bitter cold of winter was so pleasant. Oscar spread his hands, enjoying the moment. After a few minutes, he watched the tiny forms of humans walking below the building.

Surprisingly, a large billboard was placed atop the opposite side of his building. An image of a young man in a black suit with a thick metallic card glared at him. Oscar took a breath.

"So I regressed!" His voice was plain.

"SO I AM FUCKIN REGRESSED?" And hysterical.

The Earth changed the day the world's first full-dive virtual reality game was released. Within a month, the player count neared half a billion.

A year later, the order of the world economy was disturbed by the resources coming out of the game.

And a year after that, the first person appeared on Earth with powers from the game. As for the world governments, it took only half a year after that to fall.

Proclaimed anarchy replaced invisible anarchy, albeit all humans got the same chance to be a part of it. But, that too didn't last long, as the real world merged with the game world and forced to be part of the Star line.

Oscar clenched his fists at that thought. Everyone, including himself, would be forced into a war that no one knew the reason for, or who they were fighting against.

Only at the end did he see the thing he had been fighting for decades. He let out a dry laugh.

Irony. Only he had actually seen its true form. Not even the powerhouses or that man... the protagonist.

Card Online was an interesting game, with exciting world designs and countless alien races. Everything in the game felt real. Now, thinking about it, everything was real.

At first, one needed at least a VR helmet to enter the game, but that changed after a year when everyone on Earth was forced into the game, regardless of age or gender.

The governments took that long to grasp the severity of the issue, but by then, it was too late and irreversible. The economy of the world twisted and changed, with magical resources becoming the mainstream source of income.

Guilds and groups started to form, and slowly, powerful families hidden in the shadows began to emerge, one after another. Technically, the world was still the same, but it was worse and more dangerous.

Oscar stopped himself from recalling the details after the anarchy began. He thought about the Heart Card he was going to awaken after entering the game.

Every player entering the game would first have to undergo an awakening in the tutorial room. This would summon a card from their heart, which players called a Heart Card.

The number of variables on that card decided how many builds a player could form around their heart. This was called a deck.

Every player had at least one variable on their cards. Oscar awakened one with three variables.

The game focused on players obtaining new cards and developing themselves as they explored the world, bit by bit.

Oscar sneered. No matter how much players developed, they would be rendered powerless against an inhabitant of the same level after the merging.

Except for a few... and Oscar wasn't one of them. At that time, it took him half a year to enter the game, which made him fall behind millions. Very special cards were obtained by others during that time.

He built his deck with mostly useless cards, despite his Heart Card having almost overpowered abilities that he failed to utilize.

The ability to see the future... Oscar sighed again. The only prophet in the game. However, everything was different now.

He was regressed with full memory of the events going to happen. He had time to change all of that, perhaps even the end.

A confident grin started to creep across his face, freezing when a silhouette appeared in his sight.

A man, fully covered in dark clothing with empty eye sockets, floated before him.

"Floating?" Oscar's brain bugged for a few moments until the man pulled a gun from his pocket.

"What...?" His eyes widened as he turned to run, but his feet were rooted to the ground, with only his upper body moving forward before he collapsed.

Through the pair of legs, cut plainly in half in the ground, Oscar saw the man extending his fist toward him.

"Fuck you..." A middle finger was the last thing Oscar saw before darkness engulfed him once more.

What's more terrifying?

' To die on the day of your regression.'

That would be the answer Oscar would've given if he were still alive.

Regrettably, he was dead.

And in a world filled with turbulent magic, a pair of golden eyes opened.