The Game

Shade's head throbbed like a heartbeat. His consciousness was finally returning to him. He still had little to no idea what had happened. The last thing he remembered was being pushed into the old arcade by the elderly man before the floor caved in beneath him.

Slowly, Shade opened his eyes. To his utmost surprise, he was lying on the ground surrounded by countless trees. It was almost as if he was in a forest.

"What the hell..?" He muttered to himself. "Where am I?"

Shade then proceeded to pick himself up. However, his body was abnormally sore which caused him minor pain whenever he moved. He was at a loss for what had happened. First, he was pushed into an old arcade and now he awoke in some weird forest. There was no way his night could get any weirder.

Yet, this was when Shade noticed something else. Just at the top edge of his field of vision was a green bar with the word 'Beginner' written underneath it. Confused by this, Shade attempted to swat at the weird icons as if he was defending himself from a swarm of bees.

"Bro, give me a break..! This thing won't move..." He complained.

Suddenly, an absurd thought came to him. He had been pushed into an arcade which had led to him somehow being transported to a forest. On top of that, there were now weird icons hovering within his field of vision. His guess was wild but it had a decent chance of being true.

"There's no way that I'm trapped in some dumb game... This is ridiculous!"

The idea was absurd. How was it possible for him to be inside a game? He needed proof that what he was experiencing was truly a game and not some kind of dream.

Wanting to find his needed proof, Shade began to walk through the forest. As he walked, he touched many trees and inspected the grass underneath his feet. Sadly, everything felt real. Even the air that braced against his lungs felt far from fake.

"Tsk... I need more proof. There has to be someone around here who I can talk to..." He murmured.

Just then, Shade heard a terrifying scream followed by an aggressive roar. It sounded as if someone was being attacked by something.

"Perfect!" Exclaimed Shade as he ran towards the commotion.

After another ten seconds, Shade stumbled upon a wolf attacking a girl that looked around his age. Without even a moment of hesitation, Shade charged towards the wolf and landed a powerful kick into its ribcage.

The wolf yelped in pain as it flipped over like a crashed car. As it tried to scurry back to its feet, Shade noticed something else.

Directly over the wolf's head was a curved green bar. This was the proof that Shade needed.

"Okay, if this works like I think it does and I'm able to damage the wolf, the green bar above its head should deplete..." Explained Shade to himself.

Following this, the wolf bared its teeth before charging towards Shade. It then leaped towards his chest but Shade managed to sidestep the attack, saving himself from any harm.

He then landed another kick on the wolf. However, this time he had aimed for its head. The wolf cried in pain as the bar above its head quickly turned yellow, depleting to the midway point.

"Heh- Seems my theory was right. The fact that the bar above the wolf's head depleted after it took damage means that it's some kind of health bar. And health bars are only used in games!"

Unfortunately, Shade had allowed himself to become distracted for a short moment. Due to this, he had failed to realize that the wolf had already initiated its counterattack. It once again leaped towards Shade but this time the wolf managed to sink its teeth into his arm.

"Aagh!!!" He groaned in pain. Since he was in a game, Shade had not expected to feel much pain whenever he took damage. Unfortunately, that was not the case. On top of the pain that he felt, blood quickly spewed from his arm as he desperately tried to shake the wolf free.

"Blood and pain in a game..? This is way too real!" He thought to himself.

Shade punched and kicked the wolf repetitively but it was to no avail. The wolf's jaws were shut tight onto his arm. All he could do was watch his health bar slowly deplete from blood loss.

Just then, a small tree branch was smashed into the wolf's head. The wolf then made one final yelp before falling over— its health bar quickly changing from yellow to red to an empty grey. It had died.

Confused about what had just happened, Shade looked up to see the girl who the wolf had attacked before he had arrived. In her hand was the broken branch which she had used to kill the wolf.

"Are you okay!?" The girl asked promptly.

"Yeah, I am. Thanks for that."

Shade had been so focused on finding proof that he was truly in a game that he had completely forgotten about the girl.

Carefully, he took a good look at her. She looked around 17 with bright blue eyes and dark red hair.

"Your arm, you should get it treated..." She pointed.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. Its teeth only pierced my skin. It didn't tear away my flesh so the bleeding shouldn't be too heavy. I have time to get this treated later."

Following this, Shade walked over to the dead wolf to inspect its body. He had found it weird that the wolf hadn't broken up into pixels and disappeared already. Carefully, he then extended his hand and began touching the corpse to ensure it wasn't some kind of glitch.

"Hey, are you sure it's safe to do that?" Asked the girl.

"It should be fine. It's definitely dead but I find it concerning that its body didn't disappear."

The girl then wore a confused expression across her face. She didn't understand what Shade meant.

"Um... Why would the wolf disappear exactly..?"

"We seem to be inside of a game. When a monster dies, it usually turns into broken pixels before disappearing."

"Wait, a game?! Is that what all of this is?!"

"Yes, are you dumb? Haven't you noticed the health bars and weird icons?"

"Ohh! So that's what those things are... I don't know if I should be excited or terrified..."

Based on the girl's reaction, Shade could tell that she wouldn't be of much help. He needed more information. He especially needed to know if there was a log-out button so that he could get back home.

"So why is it a problem that the wolf's corpse won't disappear?" Asked the girl.

"It's simple really. If this is a game then you're bound to have a few intelligent monsters. They could easily hide among the dead and attack when you least expect it. That's why the corpses need to disappear so that you can differentiate the dead from the living."

Shade then arose to his feet as he decided he had seen enough. Slowly, he began to walk away in search of more information.

"Wait, what's your name?" Asked the girl as she ran to his side.

"It's Shade."

"Hi, Shade! I'm Arora... Do you mind if I tag along with you..? I'm lost and very confused..."

"I do mind actually."

"Please, you saved my life just now! At least let me pay you back!"

"And technically, you saved my life as well. We're even, so leave me alone already. The last time I trusted someone, they pushed me into an arcade, and now I'm trapped in this dumb game."

"Wait..? You were pushed into an arcade too? I was tricked by some old guy who told me that he could help me find a way to make money..."

Shade immediately came to a stop. This girl was also pushed into an arcade just like him? Then there was a chance that he could gain more information from her.

"What did you say your name was again?" Quickly asked Shade.

"It's Arora... Weren't you listening?"

"No, your name wasn't important to me until just now."

Arora sighed. She could hardly believe how mean the person who saved her life was.

"You saved my life... I thought you'd be nicer!"

"Just so you know, I wasn't trying to save your life. I was just trying to gain more information on this world that we're in," he answered nonchalantly.

"Wow! You're surprisingly candid..."

Shade then turned himself around with a slightly serious expression across his face. Slowly, he then spoke;

"I changed my mind, Arora. You can come with me. I want to find out who the hell forced me into this game. And when I do, I swear I'll kill them!"