1 : Waking Up in an Unfamiliar Place

(Ah, Saturday mornings. The best part of the weekend. You wake up early to do nothing but chill all day. No school. No homework. Absolute bliss.)

I get up out my bed and walk out into the kitchen to grab some breakfast.

"Good morning Ryuki."

"Good morning mom. Where's Nishi?"

"He went to work early today so it's just you and me. How about this afternoon, we go out and do something? It's been a while since we have and I feel like we haven't been doing things together as much lately."

My mother has been working more often these past few years. That's why we haven't been out as much. That and I'm usually cooped up in my room playing video games whenever I get home from school. Nishiki, my brother, recently reached the age of 20 and became a game designer. For me, I'm planning to become a professional gamer. My mom thinks it's a stupid goal although she supports me on it but it's something I think I can really gain success from. I have a group of friends who I usually game with and we all planned to start a group once we finished high-school. Yeah, I don't know them past the screen. I have zero friends in real life, as sad as that may sound. Though I did have one best friend. We were best friends for years before sh-)

"Ryuki! Did you hear what I said?", my mother raises her voice a little snapping me out of my thoughts.

"O-Oh Sure, I'd like that a lot actually."

"Great! Be ready by this afternoon then."

"Yup!"

I scarf down the rest of my eggs and bacon before putting my plate in the sink and grabbing a water bottle.

"Also Ryuki, make sure you finish your homework. I will see you after work alright? Love you."

"I will. Love you too mom."

I walk back into my room, sit down in my chair, and turn on my computer.

(Gratsudale Online. The only game I play. A fantasy MMORPG game. I truly love this game, ever since I started playing it five years ago. I love this game so much that I have more than over fifty-thousand hours on it. Crazy right? What's even crazier, well not really, is that I'm on top of the leaderboard. The name 'Tetsuki' stands tall in the number one spot in nearly every leaderboard in the game, except for a few. If you play this game, you'll eventually see my name. All those hours were completely worth it.)

I click on the game and wait for it to load up.

(Alright, time to claim my daily rewards- huh.)

As I waited for the game to load, I felt my vision fade to black and back to normal but what I saw was not my room, but clouds.

"What th- AHHHH!!!!!"

I drop straight down the clouds.

(OH GOD, OH GOD, IM GOING TO DIE!!!!!!! WHAT IS THIS????!!!!)

…

.….

(W-What happened?)

I fully regain my consciousness and try to sit up.

(Urgh! My back! It hurts like hell! How the hell am I still alive?!)

I slowly open my eyes and find myself in an open field.

(What the.. Where am I? I was just in my room right?)

I get up and look around. The area is very green. There's mostly just grass and only a couple of flowers around. Surrounding the area seems to be a forest. The sky is still blue and the sun is coating its light and heat around the field. I admire the view for a while when I hear footsteps coming from behind me. I turn around to see a small girl walking over to me.

(A kid..?)

Without saying anything, I stare directly at the girl for a while. I eventually give in after 15 seconds.

"Nice to meet you..?"

The girl reaches into her pocket for something. She pulls out what seems to be an envelope and hands it over to me. It's a map that shows a line from a forest to a building and the name reads, "Gratsudale Academy."