Violet ran as fast as she could, pushing her legs, body and everything else she could manage to muster to its utmost limits.
It was a long hallway she found herself in, no matter how much she ran, it just kept on stretching and stretching. Adding to her dilemma, Everything was dead silent except the sound of Violet's clumsy footwork echoing throughout the deserted hallway, drowning it in all its cacophonous glory as she desperately struggled to put distance between her and her pursuer.
"Goddamit! Leave me alone!" She heaved, tears pooling beneath her eyes as she screamed.
"Violet, darling..." Responded a concerned woman from somewhere far behind, the venomous edge of her smooth voice plunging her deeper into horror.
Gods knew she had to get away. If that thing, woman, whatever it was got a hold on her....
The memories of what happened to the others flashed in her mind, making her stumble and fall face first onto the hard floor.
"Help..." Violet groaned as she struggled to push herself off of the ground.
It was indeed quite a predicament she had somehow found herself in. Involuntarily and almost begrudgingly, Violet found herself reminiscing on how she had ended up in such a situation in the first place.
Well, it all went wrong about an hour ago, about the time she got transmigrated.
***
The day had been very normal... Maybe normal was a stretch, but Violet hadn't noticed anything unusual while going on about her usual routine of eating, binge watching dramas and playing games.
Her shut-in life was uninterrupted, abundantly fulfilling, and undeniably lacking in sunlight.
In-fact, she was more than happy. Since she was completely engrossed in a game she had been playing for the last week. The furious clicking of her game controller drowned every other noise in the dark room. The only thing that lit up the room being a small TV, illuminating a hunched figure that sat in front of it.
Violet was wrapped in a very comfy blanket. Her brows scrunched together, and her face a mask of pure concentration as she subconsciously performed some actions, most likely mimicking the ducking and weaving from the game. But much to her dismay, she looked more like a wet chicken having a seizure.
"Hmmmm...." Unbothered by outside perspectives, Violet doubled down on her current task, squeezing every last bit of concentration into completing the final level of this damned game.
It was her 99th attempt so far, and if she managed to beat it this time, Violet would be the first ever person to beat 'Slayer of Dragons: The Fantasy', SOD in short.
The hardest, and most complex game in the world.
"Come on...come on... just one more hit" She mumbled to herself through closed teeth, beads of sweat were starting to coalesce on her forehead from the exertion.
"Just... one... more.... "
"hmmmmm..."
"YES!" She jumped up from her seat and threw her hands up in the air, a triumphant grin stretched across her face as she continued to punch the air.
"Finally!"
The tv screen displayed a big 'congratulations' written on it in flamboyant letters, with a rain of confetti streaming down from either side. Cheerful music enhancing the mood as Violet celebrated her victory.
She had finally done it, weeks of hard work had finally paid off and Violet had now at last, finally conquered this godforsaken game.
"I might have to retire after this" She groaned once the ecstasy wore off and leaned back on her couch. Only to straighten once more when she noticed something peculiar on the tv...
It was showing something else on the screen now, a pop-up message stretched on top of the end screen instead of the usual credits roll.
[Congratulations challenger! You have done the impossible!]
[You have conquered the dragons, the gods, the heroes and everything that dared to stand between you.]
[But alas, your journey is not over yet]
[Would you like to continue onto the next stage?]
[Yes/No]
Violet blinked, utterly dumbfounded for a moment.
"Huh?!"
"What do you mean next stage?! That was only the first stage?! All that torture!?"
However, the display couldn't reply, or if it could, it chose not to. Remaining utterly static as Violet gawked at the audacity.
A moment of tense silence passed before Violet let out an exasperated sigh, completely defeated, and sank further back onto the couch. Readying herself.
"Sure... I guess" She clicked the large, obnoxious 'yes', still slightly reeling the blow off a message. No matter what, she was set on seeing the end to this game.
But only if she knew what would have happened next, only if she could stop her stupid, ignorant, impulsive past self from making such a bad decision.
The transmigration itself had been dreadfully smooth. No colorful outburst, no flashing light, not even a death. Violet was sitting on her couch one moment and the next, she was suspended in the air. Surrounded by some weirdly dressed people, all chanting in some unholy language.
Thankfully, the chanting stopped once she hit the floor with a loud thud, followed by an ungrateful yelp. A chorus of sympathetic hisses followed her yelp, all sharing her pain and simultaneously basking in the absurdity of the situation.
It took her an awkward moment to regain her bearings, and the first thing she saw when her vision refocused was an obscenely handsome face, flashing her with all its charm.
Such a great start to her new life... yeah...
"Are you ok? We didn't mean to hurt you"
The man, a priest from the looks of it, offered her a hand.
"This way please... I will explain everything in a moment, we got one more person due"
Still holding her hand, the priest led her into a corner of the large rectangular room, giving her a reassuring smile before walking back to the people dressed in strange garbs. He gave them a nod, and the chanting begun once more.
'What in gods earth...'
Before long another person appeared out of thin air, and this time it looked to be guy. Unlike Violet, the man was already on his legs, so there was no falling on his arrival. The guy also had different kind of aura, instead of the awkwardness from the arrival, Violet could practically feel the wonder and admiration oozing out of the people that circled.
The priest led the man towards Violet and let out a small sigh before he spoke.
"So, both of you might be wondering what is happening"
'Not really...'
"Yes." The Man, her companion... Accomplice? seemed to be more polite than her.
...and there was also something else. Violet couldn't exactly put a finger on it, but she was sure she had heard that voice somewhere before.
'Where did I...'
In the meanwhile, the priest gave a Violet a questioning glance and took off into a winded speech, most likely of very important things, but she already had gotten the gist of what was happening.
And just like she had predicted, the priest had taken off into a long-winded speech, talking about summonings, magic and heroes.
"It was a prophecy from our most important seer... The Dragons... Demons... War... Heroes...blah...blah...blah" Violet couldn't be bothered honestly, she already knew everything.
In her defense, it was just so blatantly obvious that this was the world of SOD. She had already been in this room a thousand times already, the annoying final fight had always respawned her avatar in this room, making her walk all the way back onto the arena.
She let out a sigh and took a good look at the man standing next her, pretending to pay attention to the rambling. She already knew who that was as well...
Once the priest finished his tale, Violet gave the man a surreptitious nudge and asked in a low voice.
"Andrew?"
He turned to her, surprise clearly written on his bright blue eyes, only to be replaced with recognition a moment later.
"Violet?"