1 From NPC into A Player, A Sudden Twist of Fate!

Amidst a great stretch for ruins, that made of broken buildings of one was an exceedingly flourishing city… A single man remained there with his back solid, despite his will bent, and his dreams shattered.

The blows of winds came to arouse a small cloud of dust and rubble, moving quick, it grew in size, like an ice ball, only getting larger along the side street, hitting everything on its way, gathering more debris on its course.

"Not again," that man muttered, as he turned his back to this little dusty storm, grabbed the fragile edge of his cloak, and throwing it farther on his back, forming a double layered protection against this dust and rubble storm, of his tattered and already disintegrating cloak.

"When will this end?" he sighed, while feeling the hard rubble hitting his back, one after another, like needles sent to torture his once suffering soul.

"Sigh, when will this end?"

He muttered again, as he took a deep, long breath, expressing the significant years of the humiliation he had lived through. He, who once was a mighty and well respected NPC, a sacred swordsman who NPCs and players would seek his advice and directions, had been in such a miserable state.

It didn't take five more minutes, until this frequent dust storm passed him, went straight towards another street, and vanished inside it.

He raised up his head, looking to the grayish sky full of dark clouds that never rained. "When will you decide to end this?" he sighed, directing his words to no one but them, those who caused this drastic and tragic shift in his life.

The developers of this game -the Titanic Revolut game -were the ones behind all this. His once successful and glorious life transformed with no prior notice. When the developers felt how bad their game was scoring in their human life, they took a decision and made a twist that might attract new players' attention.

He, Bloom, was a very popular character in the game, with his top rank, and his coded lovable character, who used to help any player or NPC seeking his guidance, was so loved by players.

The developers decided in cold blood to sacrifice him, throwing him off his throne, destroying his entire life; ruining all his strength, wealth, career, and ended up with his city. It was now living as a ruined tombstone, witnessing the demise of such a great man.

Even this kamikaze move didn't yield the desired results. In fact, it did the opposite. This act upset many famous players, driving them out of the game for good.

this decision, instead of attracting more player, created a migratory move towards the other more successful game, the Eternal Glory game.

Just remembering the name of this game made his heart shudder. His body trembled from deep hatred and anger. If not for this game, his life would continue flourishing, and even his current suffering wouldn't be this damned long journey of humiliation.

A distant shadow appeared from far, attracting his attention. He glanced, with little interest, to the coming player, as he guessed what that payer needed; the legendary quest of his revenge, he issued that.

After making him lose everything in a silly, unbelievable plot, they made his own brother in arms, his closest friend, to betray im, annexing everything he once had… his power, his title, and even a city that rivaled his own.

He was left here, amidst rubbles, ruins, and dust to issue a revenge quest to any player who sought him. Even players decided his own revenge, not his two hands, or by his sharp, legendary sword left to rust inside its scabbard.

The day players would fulfill his quest, would be the day of his death, as his coding would stop working, and he would die forever.

"Even death I can't have, isn't there any mercy in heavens?" he muttered with a much depressed tone, arching his already broken back from defeat, as he watched that player coming to be near him.

It was impossible for the current players to fulfil this quest, and with the migration wave caused by the stupidity of the developers, the hope for his death date, his freedom date, was postponed forever.

As he lost in his thoughts, the player arrived at him, as he said in greeting:

"Esteemed sacred swordsman Bloom, I have fulfilled the quest you gave me. Here is the head of the traitor, Ricard, have a look at it. Feast your eyes and quench your thirst for revenge."

The words of the player, the unexpected words, jolted Bloom awake as his body trembled. His dying eyes looked with a revived light of hope towards the player, as he asked, in shaky tone:

"Have you killed him? Have you really finished the quest?"

"Yes, esteemed sacred swordsman, here, check this head out."

The player just tossed a head out of his inventory. Bloom recognized the agonizing face of his dear and long friend. He knew Ricard had nothing to do with the treason he had; the developers and that stupid, silly game of Eternal Glory did.

He didn't feel his tears flowing over his face, welling up from his already reddened eyes. It was such a dream, a final closure to all this suffering, all this pain, to this nightmare. He ambled to touch the head, with his tears flowing over it, cleansing the coagulated red blood and dirt from his best friend's face.

'Sorry my friend, if it was up to me, we would stay living like kings in our great ruined city,' he muttered, paying his respect in silent words to his oldest and closest friend.

"System prompt: player Terry the bold has finished the legendary quest: Revenge of the fallen sacred swordsman. Yo… shoul… gi… h… th… aw…"

The voice of the game in his mind stuttered, and with no notice the entire world in front of him darkened, like a nightfall curtain descending like night seeping on his world. He finally closed this chapters of long misery. It was happening, as if all the lights in this world were stolen away along with his life.

'Is this what death feels like?' he muttered, as he succumbed to his fate, not knowing his fate had already changed.

At the moment he touched the head of his lost friend, and like the mercy of heaven had some compassion for him, a glitch occurred at the game, at the system, at the entire world.

The next moment he opened his eyes, seeing an unfamiliar scene in front of him.

"What just ha…"

He stopped in his own words, as his voice had changed drastically, to be the sound of a teenager, not exceeding sixteen years in age. He jolted awake, standing on the wooden floor, next to a small bed, inside this vast room, where everything related to the world of games.

Posters of many games, the Titan Revolut was one of them, hung on the well organized small pieces of wood and rocks on the wall, met his wandering gaze. Two game capsules were present in this room, with many flyers filling the ground, unorganized, like someone threw them like that on purpose.

"What happened to me? Where am I?"

Bloom muttered, with his strange voice and tone, while he inspected his own, different from usual, body. Instead of the muscular body he always had, he now had a slim body that felt weak, as if he was now living inside a body he didn't own.

As strange as it might seem, that was what just happened to him.

"Who is this… Terry?!"

In the next moment, he had his mind full of memories that didn't belong to him. He even had a sudden throbbing headache pain that forced him to sit on the edge of his bed, trying to endure that massive pain. Things of events and knowledge he never had before occupied his mind.

This didn't last for five minutes, during which he had to close his eyes, trying to meditate and pray that this pain would end. When everything calmed down, he had some understanding of the place he was at, and the body his soul was in.

"This isn't me, this is the body and the life of the player who just finished my quest," he paused, as if he realized how crazy this was, "How can I be in this human's body? How can I have all his memories?"

He didn't know the answer at once, but from the fresh memories in his mind, he knew the true identity of this youngster. A large group of specialists ruled over everything such a spoiled brat of a very wealthy family had. He had no parents, no siblings, living the life of kings, as he didn't reach the legal age yet.

Trying to sort things out, the first thing he did was to go to that laptop, opened it, entered the password he recalled from Terry's memories, and his eyes popped out the moment he logged in!

Seeing the date at the remote edge of the lower bar of the screen that welcomed him rang many alarm bells in his mind.

"N-N-No way… T-T-That's im-im-impossible!"

He stuttered when he read the date, as this was literally seven years before the moment of finishing his quest. It was a memorable date in his mind, as in this night his game -Titans Revolut -and the rival game -Eternal Glory -were launched at the same time. The two games were birthed shoulder to shoulder from the same point at the starting line, despite ending in two different fates.

"Is this even real?"

He couldn't believe himself until he entered the web, looked for the formal page of his game, to find the counter of the release timer showing there were still a few hours until the start of the game.

He took a deep, chilly breath to control his ragged emotions and explosive thoughts. His long desired second chance had come.

The believable twist in fate that would grant him a second beginning had finally arrived, in the most unexpected way ever.

"Thank you, thank you," he muttered, with great gratitude, to no one but the entity that gave him this precious chance. His tears flew down his cheeks without knowing that, and when he did, he wiped them out in a hurry before ruminating on his current situation.

"Should I enter my game then?" he muttered, as he looked towards the two capsules lying on the floor, waiting for him to use them. One was the capsule of his game, with the simple logo of the game on its front.

As for the other one, it was for the rival game, the one which ruined his game, and doomed his past life. He clenched his fists so tight that he even heard a popping sound and felt some pain.

"No," he firmly shook his head, "fate didn't grant me this chance to do nothing regarding what would happen to my game," he added, as he loosened his fist grip, his attention returned to the laptop, and started searching for another site.

The name of the Eternal Glory game appeared in front of his face.

During the long, lonely, dark, and gloomy days of his past miserable years, he had nothing to do but to watch the developers chat inside the game.

They always talked about two things only, the Eternal Glory game's latest developments, and lamenting like losers in their bad luck.

He knew this had nothing to do with luck; the developers of his game made a grave mistake, launching the game earlier than planned, for fear of the Eternal Glory game dominating the game world.

A poor developed game with many mistakes and glitches would be a doomed game, especially when facing a constant comparison with such a giant and well-executed game.

He checked the website of the Eternal Glory game. He knew there were only two hours remaining for the official release. The door was opened for players to enter the welcoming festival. So he signed up using Terry's name, before confirming his registration in the game, and then he changed the name of the character to be his accurate name… Bloom.

He walked in slow steps towards the game capsule of the Eternal Glory game, with the logo engraved in elegant fashion on the outer surface of the whole capsule, in the middle of a large, lifelike, exciting picture of a heated war scene inside the game.

"Even the outer capsule design showed the great difference between the two," he muttered, with no feeling or impression at all, before he touched the outer interface of the capsule by his thumb, to open and find a luxurious comforting game red interior waiting for him.

He didn't delay as he lied down, pushed the closure button of the game capsule, before he watched it closing on his face.

"Let's go inside and wreck this game," he muttered, with a firm resolve as he decided the future plan of his. Fate had given him a second chance, not to live his life comfortably, but to stand up and change everything.

Even if his game wasn't on par with this masterpiece, things shouldn't be that bad for his beloved game, for his home. He took on his shoulders the mission to enter the Eternal Glory game, and be the glitch no one had ever expected, ruining and wrecking havoc of anything that might help that game stand out, to be exceptional.

"Let's see how this game would look like after I finish with it," he murmured, while the flash, bright light obliterated his eyes, and his consciousness seeped slowly and smoothly inside the game.

Author note: I have created a new discord server. Please check it at the synopsis and let's grow up together :)