Chapter 1: The Final Game.

After yet another loss in the game, I couldn't handle it and threw the mouse towards the door. Instead of hitting the door, it crashed into the wall, shattering into pieces. I watched this happen, feeling anger slowly turning into disappointment and regret over the loss of the device. In that state, I sat on the bed and began to contemplate why I had done it, but instead, other thoughts came to mind.

If someone had been watching me, they would surely ask, "Can one really get so angry over a game?" I would unequivocally answer, yes. It is possible, and very much so. Hundreds of thousands of people play this game daily, and in a month, it amounts to almost a dozen million. Although, considering the world's population, the number is relatively small.

Receiving such a response, a random observer would ask, "What game is it?" The title? I would smirk and say, "Defense of the Ancients," or simply "Dota." And not the first installment, but the second one. I don't know why, but I continue to play it, even though I've long realized that each game repeats the previous one. That's how I kept on thinking, slowly calming down.

No matter how much I pondered over it, I couldn't understand why I got so angry. At the end of my musings, I gave myself an excuse: "I got so angry because of the string of losses, so I should win to get rid of this anger." With that thought in mind, I decided to start searching for the next game but couldn't find the mouse. Realizing that it was gone, I paused for a second until the memory resurfaced that it had shattered against the wall.

Well... what can I do? I'll have to retrieve one of the old mice. Thinking this, I sat down near the nightstand and pulled out a box of old devices from there. Digging through it, I found an old mouse from a brand that had established itself in the gaming world. Upon inspecting the mouse, I noticed that its rubber pad was missing from the left side, but after searching a bit more in the same box, I found it and slowly glued it back onto the mouse.

Having restored the mouse, I quickly connected it to my computer and pressed the desired game search button. On the right side of the screen, I saw the inscription "GAME SEARCH" and a countdown timer that started from 0.

Time passed, but the game still couldn't be found, even though more than 5 minutes had elapsed. Perhaps someone else would have canceled the game search and moved on to something else, but not me. Instead, I diligently watched the search timer.

So there I sat in the dark room, surrounded by chaos, monitoring the timer that provided me with nothing but information about how much time I had already spent, simply waiting for the next game. The thought itself didn't occur to me because I had already immersed myself completely in thoughts of whom I would choose, how I would play, and envisioned the victory I might achieve at the end of the game I had not yet found. Sweet thoughts of victory prevented me from getting bored.

When the timer exceeded 10 minutes, the game search disappeared for a few seconds. Those seconds felt even longer to me than the 10 minutes of waiting. I was about to get angry, when the inscription "ACCEPT GAME" appeared in the middle of the screen. I quickly pressed the emerging button, and the screen darkened, playing the game intro with a list of characters and the words "PICKING STAGE." I swiftly selected the character I didn't want to see in this game.

Unpleasant scenes with various characters flashed through my mind. Is it worth mentioning one unpleasant or difficult character? Of course not. There are dozens of unpleasant or, in other words, detestable characters, but I could only block one. As mentioned earlier, I quickly chose him because he is the most obnoxious character in this game, though it is purely my personal opinion.

Perhaps some of you are wondering whom I ultimately blocked. And I am ready to answer you. It's the Miner. A very obnoxious character. Need initiation? He has it. Need slowing down or damage? He has that too. Need to defend the base? He can do that because he has mines. There's a reason why he's called the Miner.

The character blocking stage ended, and to my surprise, the Miner wasn't blocked. I already felt uneasy about the possibility of him appearing in this game. Well, what can I do? I'll hope for the best.

Time passed, and my allies chose their characters. As always, if Pudge isn't blocked, he will be picked, as my ally did, with my full support. Well, what can I say? I'm not surprised. As for the partial support, he chose Spirit Breaker, the one who runs around the map.

After my allies and opponents had selected two characters each, I finally saw who would be against us. Unfortunately, the Miner and Earth Spirit, or in other words, Earthshaker, were there. Now knowing that the enemy had the Miner, I had to play even more cautiously to avoid being blown up by his mines.

It's time to choose two more characters for both sides. This time, I'll be playing with the player in the third position. Quickly glancing at his character choice, I decided to pick Zeus. If you ask why him, it's simple. The player in the third position chose Legion Commander, and Zeus is a good counter to her. Now, what about the enemy team?

It's straightforward. They picked Underlord and Ember Spirit. It will be a bit challenging for me to face Ember Spirit in the lane, but I have a chance. As for Underlord, he can be troublesome, but I can tolerate it. We just have to wait for the last two characters. Let's move on to them.

Our first position character turned out to be Phantom Assassin, while the enemy team picked Anti-Mage. It's safe to say that it will be very, very difficult for me to play. We'll have to finish the game as early as possible; otherwise, we might lose.

Let's stop the chatter and focus on the game because the countdown is underway. At the top center of the screen, there's a countdown that started at 28 and is ticking down to 0. However, when the timer reached 0, the screen went blank as if it turned off, and I was brought back to the main game screen. For a brief moment, I felt anger, but I managed to restrain myself and pressed the green button that said "Return to the game." Although, it seems like there was something else written on it, but it doesn't matter, I thought. However, right after that thought, I lost my vision and possibly consciousness.