It's Just A Game

Anything to lose except everything, if Thalla is correct. There must be some way to activate the pass to gain the glow and buffs, but Thalla said I was already a hero even if I don't have the perks yet. If I die now, I'll be out of the tournament before it even starts.

And the way I see it, I have two options and both of them end in my death. I either try to fight back or I run for my life. But in this open grassland I might as well be a target dummy trying to get away from her.

Desdenia didn't get to the top of the political ladder in Amoria just by being popular. She got popular because she's talented, and these years of playing the despotic monarch have honed her skills at killing players. She's just undeniable good.

But I'm good at some things too.

I run towards her, catching her off guard. The last thing I notice before slamming into her is the confused look on her face. We fall on top of my pink piano, destroying it. We're surrounded by the instrument's last song: the cacophony of all its keys being crushed by our bodies. Now she needs to get away from me in order to be able to shoot me.

While she tries to remove herself from the debris, I start to crawl on the ground, looking for my things. If I can't find what I'm looking for, I'm screwed.

"I'm really going to kill you this time. You ruined my stream," she says, as she regains her composure and does a backflip. The sun has gone down, and a bright trail of light follows her body as she flips backward and lands on her feet.

Scouring through the junk, I cast Water Shield. Now Desdenia is far away enough to attack and she fires, hitting me in my rear and my back. I do my best to ignore the pain. Then I finally find it.

I may be useless fighting other players, but there's one thing I'm good at. I too have unique items I've made myself, after endless hours of trying different materials and enchantments. This one has always been useless, until now.

I swing my Cloak of Wondrous Warps over me, close my eyes, and I hear a deafening crack. The change in pressure has popped my ears.

Still in awe with the game's realism, I open my eyes. Thankfully, the cloak's spell has removed the last arrows she fired at me. The blades of grass tower over me like palm trees, and the grains of sand beneath me are the size of pebbles. I'm the size of one of the ants.

"What the fuck? Mystics can't go invisible. Come out, come out!"

I look up to see Desdenia's Rain of Spears falling down from the sky, around twenty arrows heading towards me. But they're so big compared to my minuscule size that it's easy for me to see where the closest one to me lands. I hear the flick of her bowstring and her heavy footsteps as she keeps firing in all directions.

"Sorry guys, technical problems. I'm back now!" she says.

I have thirty seconds to get away from her before the cloak's effect wears off. I realize I haven't thought this through once I start moving. In fifteen seconds I've only moved about a meter. Desdenia's humongous white boot almost steps on me as my time is about to run out. But then I get another idea.

"I know you're still here. I can track you, you know?" says Desdenia, as I circle around her boot and stand right beneath her.

The countdown reaches zero and I explode upwards, crashing into Desdenia and knocking her to the ground. Before she realizes what's happening, I slam into her again.

Only this time, I take her straight towards the ants.

I manage to let go of Desdenia before I fall on top of her. The ants are quick; in a few seconds they've overrun her. She rolls in the ground, screaming all sorts of improprieties at me. I leave her writhing in pain, and I try to find the golden pass among my things.

It's now dark, and with the moonlight and Desdenia's glow as the only light sources, I can hardly see anything. There's so much stuff around that I don't know what to pick up. The only items I'll be able to take with me are those I can carry on Eugene, if he deigns to fulfill his role as a mount.

There's a bag of bread that Desdenia missed, and I toss it towards Eugene. He's been munching on grass this whole time, and I hope he's fed and willing to carry me now. I grab some of the rare materials I got a few days ago, two robes, and a few other things. The golden ticket is just not here.

Desdenia is still being filmed by the hovering cube. I suppose she had no time to instruct it to shut off. I don't think she'd want her fans to see her like this. She screams and screams as she tries to brush off the ants, but they're all over her, even in her hair. She's too close to the anthill, and the little green creepers keep coming at her.

In the distance, three glowing shapes move towards us. Desdenia's cronies. All the pain I've felt since I logged back into the game is nothing compared to the hollowness in my heart, knowing I won't be able to participate in the tournament if I can't find the golden pass. Maybe Thalla had been wrong, and it was never in my inventory, anyway.

I take one last look at Desdenia. It seems like she's given up thrashing around in a futile attempt to get the ants off her. The small health bar over her head is red and steadily going down. She's probably going to die, meaning she'll be out of the tournament before it even begins.

Eugene nudges me in the arm, and I almost jump away from him. It seems like he's satiated and likes me again, so I swing a leg over him and sit. He doesn't throw me off. As soon as I think about moving, he does so.

Desdenia lets out a whimper. Her health is now close to zero and her friends might not make it in time to save her. It's not my problem, though. She's the one who started this. I feel a little sorry for her, if only because she was once my friend.

"Remember, it's just a game. Don't take it too seriously," I say, and spin Eugene around.

Except, I know that's not true. Some of the companies sponsoring her videos may cancel their deals with her if she doesn't participate. Maybe she doesn't need the money, but how can I know?

"La puta madre," I say, and cast a Water Shield at her. The ants don't like my bubble, and those that aren't headless start to move away from her. That would have been good to know a few minutes ago.

Her health bar stops going down at 5%, but it takes her a while to come back to her senses. As soon as her head perks up, Eugene and I turn around and I will him to run as fast as his two dactyl feet can carry him.