4 Game World 0: Aectaeon Foester (3)

~~~

"You've lost your touch, Eon. I never thought that you will be this much of a disappointment." The man snorted as he looked down on Aectaeon. "You didn't even participate in the training because you were that confident in your skills. Now, look at what you've done. Are you satisfied, huh?"

Aectaeon stared at the man, his eyes filled with spite. However, it wasn't like his words were wrong. If anything, the man was spitting nothing but the truth of the matter. Because of that, Aectaeon couldn't utter a single refute.

"Cat got your tongue? Aren't you even going to say sorry?"

Utterly upset, the man was beginning to raise his voice. The discontentment that he felt from seeing the results were far greater than his composure. His hand, crumpled tightly into a fist, landed heavily on the table in front of him. More than the resentment of losing, Aectaeon's silence irritated him the most.

Fortunately, he still had the slightest bit of self-respect. He didn't want to cause a ruckus by starting a shouting match within his office. The man sighed deeply as he began to massage his temples.

"From now on, don't show yourself here ever again. The hours of training I've given you cost more than a year's worth of your salary. You won't get a single cent from me. I will also send you the invoice for the dormitory fees. Since I know your financial state, I won't implement an interest rate. Be thankful that I'm generous enough to not include your food and travel allowance."

Aectaeon himself didn't wish to spend another second inside the office that he considered damnable. Thus, the very second that his boss was done speaking, he stood up and exited the room. He closed the door with force and leaned back on it for a few seconds.

In the meanwhile, from a distance, someone was observing the resentful Aectaeon. The feelings that were raging inside him bore a resemblance to the man he was observing.

Well, that's because they were the same person.

'Why in the f*ck can I see my ugly a*s face?! What is this sh*t?!'

All of a sudden, the other Aectaeon pursed his lips. He then closed his eyes and drew a long breath. After a brief while, he opened his eyes and looked at the sight of Aectaeon from the past.

'This is a dream, definitely. Otherwise, I've done some weird balderdash or someone is cursing me.'

Although his calm had yet to return, he found a reasonable justification for his situation. Well, it's what he wanted to believe.

'Okay, okay, this is a dream. I'll just wait for this to end.'

For the uncountable time in a row, Aectaeon sighed. He was seeing the time from his past that he didn't wish to remember. It brought him a great deal of pain and regret. Moreover, the repercussions that the incident had inflicted on him and his mom were much too consequential.

He was torn between trying to forget and wanting to make up for his mistakes.

'It's been a few seconds since I left the building. Why is my consciousness still here?'

The present Aectaeon roamed his gaze around the familiar hallway. There was no one else besides him. The place was as empty as the container of optimism in his heart.

'I have nothing to do here anymore. Can I move?'

As he thought of the question, Aectaeon tried to move his feet. However, his body refused to follow the orders of his mind, even losing sensation on his fingertips.

'Damn it! This is such a waste of good f*cking sleep.'

He was only a form of consciousness, yes. Withal, Aectaeon felt as if he was really alive. The episode was a little similar to the vivid dreams that he had been seeing from when he was a child. It's almost always that he would be exhausted upon waking up after having such a dream.

What's different with his present situation was that Aectaeon couldn't fully differentiate it from reality. There was a certain sensation unique to being aware that you're dreaming. Aectaeon didn't get a hold of that sensation right away. Over and above that, it was the first instance wherein there were two versions of him.

'Great, what sh--'

All of a sudden, Aectaeon's surroundings became blurry. The next thing he knew, the backdrop was liquifying. The scene looked as if it was a portrait, but the different colours of paint used to illustrate it were dripping down the white canvass. Some slow, some fast.

Having bore in his mind that it was a dream, Aectaeon wasn't the least bit disturbed. He just watched the happening with discontented eyes.

'What now? Is this gonna show me the time when I was almost hit by a speeding ret*rd?'

In less than a minute, Aectaeon's surroundings completely turned white. He squinted his eyes as the heat of the light was hurting them. The man thought that this was the last part of his dream.

But never had he been so wrong.

Unable to keep looking at the endless horizon of whiteness, Aectaeon tightly shut his eyes. His eyelids weren't sufficient to block all of the light. He could still feel the hotness invading his eyes.

'For heaven's sake! This is annoying! When will this stop?!'

As if to answer his question, Aectaeon sensed that the tingling pain on his eyelids was gradually losing strength. After a few seconds, he attempted to open his eyes and was successful.

It wasn't long before anger began to rise from the pit of his stomach once more. The leather seat that he had spent days sitting on; the computer that he had painstakingly blamed for his faults; the coldness of the air conditioner that bit his skin; the beige colour of the walls that wasn't able to calm his mind; Aectaeon didn't appreciate relieving those details from his past.

He knitted his brows until their near ends were almost touching. He wanted to close his eyes again, but his fury was preventing him.

'Why am I in this prison of a room?!' He said in outrage.

Despite having vivid dreams often, it was the first time that Aectaeon had dreamt of the darkest moment of his life so far. He thought that he could put all of the happenings from that era behind. Though clearly, it wasn't the right time yet.

Without prior notice, the screen of the computer turned on. A bright light was coming out of it, but Aectaeon's glare didn't even budge an inch. He simply poured his hatred on the unknowing piece of his past.

Following that, the screen abruptly became blank. A small grey panel appeared in the middle shortly thereafter. Peculiarly enough, Aectaeon's interest was piqued regardless of the hate that he had been harbouring. He was standing quite far from the screen so he couldn't make out the words written on the panel. Thus, going closer was in due order.

Prior to approaching the desktop, Aectaeon inhaled air and exhaled hatred.

In no time at all, the man was in front of the computer, his eyes still spiteful. He didn't delay any further and read what was on the panel.

[[ ARE YOU READY TO PLAY? ]]

[[ YES ]] [[ NO ]]

'Really? That's it? Ha!'

In a fit of laughter, Aectaeon was reduced to his knees on the ground. He was ridiculing himself for expecting something.

Slowly, the man's laughter died down. He then took a stand and put a hand on the mouse.

'It will always be a no from me.'

As he was about to press the right-click button, the screen glitched and the 'Yes' and 'No' options' positions were interchanged.

However, it was too late for Aectaeon. He couldn't stop his forefinger from moving.

Regret came flooding in his senses within that fraction of a window.

Once he had clicked on the 'Yes' option, everything in his dream merged with the darkness.

~~~