40 - Broken Nostalgia (Part 1)

I knew I was in a dream the moment I opened my eyes.

My sister stood in front of me, crossing her arms in her usual grumpy manner whenever I wake her up in the morning for breakfast after an all-nighter. She was wearing the same clothes as the day I last saw her.

"Why are you staring? You okay?" She asked as she yawns.

I smiled, missing the way she would naturally show her concern for me as an older sister.

We may not be the close, but all we have left is each other. And now... I unwillingly left her all alone in that miserable world.

I wonder where she is and what she's doing. Does she miss me? Does she regret taking care of me?

Even Ryan, my only real friend. I really wished that he's with me in this new world. I would've kept my sanity longer with his usual jokes and cheery attitude.

As I reminisce about my loved ones, my surroundings suddenly changed drastically. It's like small jigsaw puzzles quickly being piecing the scene together.

I was in a burning forest. The same forest that I had burned and the reason why I'm this strong.

I stood in the middle of the fire, not even feeling the slightest bit of warmth. I walked aimlessly until I find myself in front of the lake where I jumped into to escape the blazing woods. I stepped onto the water and continued to walk forward without sinking.

And there I was, sitting behind the waterfall while talking to Ryan.

I noticed that I had gone limp. It was probably because I logged off the game. I remember being so panicked and nervous because I thought I was going to get banned or get blamed for breaking the game.

I sat beside myself and realized how much I've grown physically. My character used to look so scrawny and weak. But now I could pass off as a Knight or a Warrior class.

All of a sudden, the scene changed again.

But this time, I have no idea where I am.

People are screaming and cursing and there was fighting everywhere.

I could see their names and their levels above their heads. They're Halcyon Dawning players.

They're fighting with all sorts of monsters in various levels.

And then I recognized the burning buildings and the street where I'm currently standing on.

Raveryn. I'm in the middle of Raveryn.

I ran towards Amelie's shop as fast as I could, but it was already in ashes when I arrived.

"Can we still not log out of the game!?" I hear one of the players ask as she swung a sword towards a goblin.

"No! Not even the developers are answering our messages!" A guy answered, landing a devastating blow to an Orc's head.

"What about the death system?" Another one of them asks.

"The people who died keep respawning instantly! We can't get out of the game!" A girl close to tears answered back.

A loud roar echoed throughout the entire city, causing both the players and the monsters freeze in fear.

Even I was both shocked and nervous.

We all looked up and the only thing we saw were giant black tentacles almost covering up the sky.

It's the Sky Kraken.

The so-called "God of the Creatures" in Halcyon Dawning.

Almost 5000 feet in length with its design resembling a pure black octopus, it can only be called "terrifying" by most people.

It has no level, no weaknesses and no known feature on how to beat. It was supposed to be still under development but it was teased to the players on a social media post that this is the Final Boss of the main story of Halcyon Dawning.

What is happening? How and why is the Sky Kraken here?

Nosferatu didn't say this to me. I thought it was only a single man who defeated the entirety of Halcyon Dawning's greatest players?

The earth suddenly shook, sending most of the people and monsters to their knees.

"Everyone! Get up and run!" I hear a familiar voice.

I turned and saw Lastef running around, helping people so they could hopefully get away from the massive creature.

I ran with them, hoping to see whoever was the one responsible for all of this mess.

I need to know who killed my comrades.

I saw Eldiorah, Malo and Siegfried flying in the air in Chimeras, carrying people with them. They're all headed towards the main gates of Raveryn.

I tried all of my spells, but I couldn't do a single damn thing. I feel as helpless as I was back when I was just a normal human.

When I reached the gates, the four leaders united. They kept telling people to run away and let them contact the developers themselves.

"Has anyone seen Blair!?" Lastef yelled, trying to make himself heard over the noise around them.

"Some people said that he just left Raveryn! We don't know where he is!" Malo replied.

What?

The Sky Kraken roared, sounding like a deep monstrous scream mixed with thunder. It was so loud and powerful to the point where it could be clearly seen rippling through the air, breaking the sound barrier.

I could see a few people's heads exploding due to the impact of the sound. The only ones unaffected are the higher level players.

Even the four leaders knelt on the ground in extreme pain, holding their palms over their ears tightly as they scream and groan.

If only I was here that time... Will I be able to do anything at all? Could I have saved them from this monster?

But my ears perked up as soon as I heard some sort of glitching sound, echoing from the sky itself.

I looked above and I saw a man floating just above the main gates of Raveryn.

I frowned as I recognized his face. In fact, everyone stopped on their tracks as they looked up at him in confusion.

Louis Eventide, the creator of Halcyon Dawning, stood there quietly.