Chapter 1: Prologue

The tapping of a keyboard, the screams of rage and laughter filtering through the world's softest headphones. It was supposed to be a chilling session of talking shit and playing a calming game-it was a bit too much to ask for at this stage. Ezra ran a hand through his dark locks, stifling a chuckle as his friend's voice just got angrier and shriller the longer they stayed in the dungeon.

"You're too angry for this game man…" Asmus' voice wavered with a mixture of concern and curiosity.

"Come here, lemme fuck your mother!" Was the reply she got as furious clicking ensued and he had to process what was just said.

"Cyril man, what the hell did you say?!" Ezra needed confirmation, just to make sure he wasn't going senile.

Embarrassed silence was all he got as his friend finally registered what he had shouted at the collection of pixels on his screen, snuffing and ignoring the question completely in favour of dying a bit more inside. Asmus-the ray of hope she was- proceeded to repeat exactly what was said as she fed her sheep on the other side of the map.

"Oh. Why would I expect any different?" Ezra sighed as Cyril snuffled out an apology before going straight back to cursing the skeletons.

Honestly, game night never failed to impress when Cyril and wholesome farming games were involved. The guy had the shortest fuse imaginable when it came to games but somehow was perfect at meditation. He was an enigma. But Ezra was happy that his friend was in such high spirits, probably because he got some new glasses and could actually see again. Asmus managed to get them to sit down and plan a get together again for all of 15 minutes before it just devolved into the situation they're in now. Cyril screaming in the dungeons, Ezra single-handedly causing deforestation to a quarter of the map and Asmus simply being the only benevolent of of the three, feeding their livestock and keeping the farm alive.

He was grateful for the game, its co-op was a godsend to the trio as they didn't live that close to each other and none of them could drive. Legally at least. Asmus was the one who found it first and shared it to them during their weekly voice chats 3 years ago, leading to the other two picking up the game and just going ham. Last year the game had finally brought out a co-op option, which they had welcomed with open arms. The game in question was called Sunshine Adventure, a 3rd person, open world RPG. It was honestly great- hours of story lines you can go through or you could simply run around doing whatever you wish-which was exactly what Ezra had started doing when he began playing. When they created their own server it was all over- they decided to share a plot of land and create a base before branching out. It was going well, until Cyril discovered a dungeon and has been crawling through them ever since. Ezra had first simply gone out to gain levels and trade with the materials collected-but that turned into him simply harvesting everything he came across and selling it off in bulk before buying whatever they needed to continue with the base. Asmus was the only one who regularly tended to their base, creating a farm so they could have a stable food source instead of the guys just killing as many animals as they could before storing it all to be consumed during levelling.

"Jou ma-!" Was the only warning they got before the sounds of abject panic started to be conveyed through squeaks and the scraping of a chair.

"You good bro?" Ezra paused in worry as the scraping got louder.

"I'm okay! Don't worry I'll be right back!" Cyril's voice started fading as the noises got louder as he moved away from the computer.

Ezra and Asmus just paused in silence for a while before continuing with their activities. 'Probably got his foot chewed on by that little lizard again,' Ezra thought

, pausing in his activities when it continued to be silent. He opened his mouth to ask Asmus if they should turn on some crime channel to fill up the silence but his friend's return stopped him.

"I'm okay, I'm fine. I survived the dungeon but lost a shoe despite my best efforts." Cyril painfully let out as the chair scraped again to let them know he was sitting down.

"Rip shoe." Was the only condolence that Ezra could give in that moment.

Asmus piped up, smile evident in her voice. "You tried so hard-"

"And got so far." Came the reply.

"But in the end?"

"It didn't even matter!" The two finished at the same time.

He loved those two, never a boring moment with them.

But sometimes that isn't exactly a good thing.