Sacrificial Regression

It was 3 pm in Melbourne, Australia.

Classes were now over and students were leaving Rupert Public High, one of the numerous high schools in the city.

One of those students was Alex, a 17-year-old young man.

With his long luscious brown hair that fell beautifully on his shoulders, his piercing blue eyes, his slim yet fit and tanned physique, he easily grabbed attention wherever he went.

Although he was not aware of that fact.

He believed himself to be not only average-looking, but average in every possible way.

Alex walked away from the school with a black discreet headset on his head while listening to the album "Nevermind" by the famous band Nirvana.

'Sucks they don't make good music anymore...' He thought while walking.

Alex had a black tank top on, black pants and black sneakers.

His attempt to look as uninteresting and normal as possible obviously did not work well as the black tank top highlighted his round shoulders and made his stomach look even flatter than it was.

As a person, he wasn't arrogant, nor was he insecure. Alex was confident, but just barely enough to not feel socially anxious.

'I should call Chloe... Don't feel like it really. Maybe tomorrow.'

Alex walked home.

Chloe was a beautiful blond girl he had been going out with for a couple of weeks.

She was fun, cheerful, and intelligent. Overall, Chloe was a radiant person. But the most important part for Alex was that they shared the same taste in music.

After walking for about thirty minutes, he arrived home.

Alex lived in a big apartment on the sixth floor of a building.

Even though it was big enough for a whole family to live in, most of the rooms were empty.

On one of the walls, a picture was hanged.

Two adults hugged a young boy.

The three formed a family.

And that family looked happy.

Those were Alex's parents.

He had lost them when he was about 7 years old.

While it was a big shock, Alex was not old enough to fully understand the meaning of losing his parents.

He would usually think that if it happened later rather than sooner, he would not have handled it as well as he did as a child.

Thankfully, his father was a man who did not spend money. He preferred to accumulate it.

Therefore, Alex inherited a sum of money that allowed him to live comfortably.

After making some food and eating, Alex spent the rest of his afternoon listening to music while either lying on his bed or headbanging aggressively.

At 9 pm, it was already dark outside.

'Shit... I ran out...'

Alex made his way outside to go buy a pack of cigarettes.

While he was not an addict, nor did he smoke a lot, Alex enjoyed the occasional cigarette.

As he was only 17, he could not legally buy cigarettes, but a russian store worker would let him do so as long as there weren't other people around.

Alex stood in front of the store.

The lights were out which was peculiar, but it wasn't the first time.

Alex entered while humming a certain song.

"She takes me away to that special place...

And if I stare too long, I'd probably break down and cry...

Whoa, oh, oh..."

Upon not finding anyone inside the store, Alex started walking towards the counter.

Just as he was about to ask if there was anyone, a sharp sound of a metallic object hitting a rock caught Alex by surprise.

Without making a sound, he looked behind the counter.

There, the worker he had been buying groceries from for years was lying on the ground in a pool of blood.

His skull split in two. A cleaver was stuck deep inside of it.

The image was enough to make Alex sick.

Just as he was about to throw up, the cleaver was raised.

Alex finally noticed a green creature on its knees by the unmoving man's side.

The creature was small and looked ugly.

Its back was turned towards Alex.

With pointy hairy ears, green skin, a fat belly and skinny arms, the creature looked like a monster straight out of humanity's nightmares.

It raised the cleaver with both of its hands.

'Stop!' Alex thought, unable to talk.

The next second, it slammed it on the dead man's skull, splitting it even further.

While the horrible picture made his knees weak, a fit of anger like Alex had never felt before took over his body.

In an instant, he jumped behind the counter, grabbed one of the many liquor bottles that were displayed and slammed it on the monster's head.

The glass bottle broke and the creature screeched loudly.

Its head was bleeding, green blood was going down its face.

Just as the monster jumped back with great fear, leaving its weapon deep inside the dead man's skull, Alex ran towards the monster while screaming loudly.

He stabbed the creature with the broken bottle.

The monster took a couple of steps back before falling to the ground.

[You have defeated 1 Goblin.]

[You have gained 5 Experience Points and 10 Gold Coins.]

[You have defeated your first Monster!]

[You now have access to the System.]

The series of digital messages that appeared in front of Alex made him step back.

As his foot hit the dead man's knee, he tripped and fell on the bloody body.

"AAAAHHH!" Alex screamed even louder as he stood up and ran out of the store.

As soon as he left the store, Alex turned back towards it while stepping away.

"What the hell? What should I do? What the hell was that monster... What were those floaty messages?" He asked himself.

Alex turned away from the store.

"Yes... I need to call the police. I left my phone at home." It seemed he was talking out loud to reassure himself.

He ran away.

On his way, he saw cars passing by, people walking on the sidewalks, others entering bars and restaurants.

Everything seemed normal, and yet nothing was to Alex.

As soon as he got home, he took his phone and dialed the police's number.

But an automatic answer was all he got.

(We are sorry to inform you that we cannot return your call. You have been added to the waiting list. You will shortly be connected to our next available line.)

'What the hell? So they're receiving a lot of calls? So I'm not crazy, right?'

Alex looked at his apartment's door.

"I need... to see it again. With my own eyes."

A couple of minutes later, he arrived once more in front of the store.

It was the same view he had seen for years, and yet, a dreadful feeling clouded his vision.

His hand touched the door's handle, but it felt ice cold.

He opened it and entered.

Without making a sound, he looked over the counter.

The next second, he jumped back and threw up.

The body was still there.

Not only that, but the green creature was there too.

The red and green blood between the two bodies was mixing disgustingly.

Just when Alex was about to check the bodies once more, he decided against it.

Instead, he calmly went behind the counter while ignoring the bodies, grabbed a plastic bag and filled it with 5 liquor bottles picked randomly.

Before exiting, he also took 7 packs of cigarettes.

For some reason, he felt like he needed those.

After that, Alex walked home.

He was in a sort of trans, not really sure what was real and what was not.

On his way, a pretty girl even shouted "Are you having a party at your home? Can I come?".

All Alex did was walk away with a disinterested and disgusted face.

To him, the world was divided into two.

Inside that store, and outside.

Alex entered his home, locked the door and went into his room.

After lying on his bed for a bit, he decided to turn on the tv.

He only found the usual programs about cooking or reality tv.

"Have I gone crazy?" Alex muttered as he opened a bottle of bottom-shelf vodka.

His phone buzzed.

Alex read the message he had just received out loud.

"Hi, Alex! You will not believe what my history teacher said today about...."

Halfway through the message, he threw his phone away.

'Why am I the only one freaking out? Was there only one of those green things? What the hell was that?'

Suddenly, the tv program switched.

Alex's eyes grew wide.

"Breaking news! The Melbourn City Police Department urges all citizens to take shelter inside their homes as a very high amount of calls all around the country warn about a potential terrorist attack. The details and validity of the situation are still unknown, but caution is advised."

After a journalist said those words, the previous program about cooking resumed.

"Terrorists? Yes... That makes sense, it's better than a green monster, haha!" Alex said out loud.

But he felt a deep anxiety that made even his stomach feel weird.

'Can I really doubt my eyes that much? Terrorists? Twice I saw that green monster... And those weird floating messages... I guess I could have been poisoned or drugged, but when? That's impossible.'

Alex took three big gulps from the bottle of vodka.

After making a face of obvious disgust, he stood up and started pacing back and forth in forth of his bed.

"No, that was real. What I saw was real. This isn't a game. This isn't a terrorist attack. This isn't some kind of sick prank. This is..." His words were cut off as floating digital words appeared in front of him.

[You have failed to clear the Dungeon Gate inside your area.]

[Dungeon Break is imminent.]