1 Prologue

In the province of Mordent, there lives a little girl and her aunt, their names were Shina and aunt Miranda. Shina was a very playful and joyful kid who lost her parents when she was just 6, while Miranda is a supportive and caring mother, but sadly, when she was just giving birth, her baby passed away, and it's also the reason why she and her husband divorced. Miranda couldn't handle the pain she felt and just at that moment, an incident happened, her friend Carlita and Carlita's husband were found dead inside their house, only a little girl was found alive so the ambulance rushed in to rescue the little girl. Miranda saw the incident and planned to adopt her friend's daughter. that's the only way she can cope with the guilt and regret she felt.

That was their past.

Moving on to the present.

Shina was having her time as a waitress at her aunt's restaurant when suddenly she was approached by Miranda. "meet me at the back of the alley" she randomly said. "for what mom?" Shina confusingly asks.

It took a second for Shina to decide, as she was holding the customer's drinks ready to be delivered. she saw Mike who is also a waiter in her aunt's resto coming closer to her to take over her job. "Mrs. Miranda told me to take over yours," he said.

Shina couldn't refuse or even say a thing, and "what ifs" are coming to her head considering how her aunt Miranda just gave her a meeting place and just suddenly disappeared without any explanation. "go!" Mike whispered.

Shina was walking through the kitchen, and as she is getting closer, she saw another person in front of Miranda talking to her and it made her feel unease, but it only last a minute until she arrived. "here she is!" Miranda said when Shina just got into the scene.

"Hi, I'm Kalix" the stranger introduce himself in front of Shina, but Shina just smiled and bowed down to him as a sign that it was nice knowing him.

"I was looking for a member to fill up my team slots and your mother referred me to you" Kalix explains.

Shina wasn't processing what was happening, and she doesn't know what team he was talking about. "Shina" Miranda called.

"There is an FPS game out there where you can earn money, but you have to bet, it's basically gambling. but don't get me wrong, I am not encouraging you to gamble. instead, I wanted you to experience something new, I don't want you to grow up here working for hours like a doll". Miranda explained, "There's much more to this world that you haven't explored yet" she added.

"Mom, but I don't know how to play it nor interested in it" Shina refuses.

"Shina, if the only way I can make you go with them is to cast you out in my house, then I will do it," Miranda said without any traces of regret on her face.

It was the very first time Shina heard such a voice from her aunt that she treats like her real mother, it broke her heart and tears started coming out of her eyes, she couldn't contain her emotions after hearing that, and she looked down crying and just accepted what Miranda wanted for her.

"Now you will gonna live on a small apartment he bought with his own money, and don't worry, he's 18 years old and not a kidnapper, he also has his Avatar Card validated"

It was hard for Shina, she was packing her things and wanted to say goodbye before moving, but Miranda hurt her feelings and it stop her from saying it, she just kept her mouth shut until they finally left without any goodbyes nor giving looked at each other.

"Goodbye," Miranda whispered with guilt.

The next day was new and they were out on the Oval field to make an Avatar I.D for Shina. "Do you want to stop by and eat?" Kalix asks. She declined and wanted their main purpose to be done quickly. "Okay, let's go," he says. They arrive at a vending machine that has a screen on it. "This is called Avatar maker" Kalix explains. He drops a coin onto the coin slot and pressed the red small button next to the screen. In seconds the screen flashes and is now ready to be used. "There are many choices here, but I can't choose for your avatar. so you choose and I'll click, okay?" He says. Shina just nodded. She picked a wolf-cut hair with a yellowish-green palette. The same goes for her shirt and pants, she chooses a black crop-top hoodie painted with a yellow palette on the middle and pants similar to soldiers. After making an Avatar, a sound of a sheath of paper was extracted and an I.D came out of the Avatar maker. Kalix took it and he thanked the Avatar maker.

"I thought you would pick a more girly design" Kalix muttered. "Now, let's bring this to the verification shop on our right side". They run fast and they arrive at the front door breathless. They step inside and a female shopkeeper greets them. "Hello," she says. "Here for validation?" she added. Kalix handed out the Avatar I.D and they waited outside where a small bench resides. In just a minute they were called out, the validation was finished and Shina was officially a player of the Tactical Online Battlegrounds and can play anytime as long as she has a team which is she had. "Take care of that" Kalix says.