The Two Edges of Betrayal - Part 1 - [Prologue Three]

It was morning when Luana's phone began to ring, and still hungover and tired, she took a while to get out of the bed.

She didn't want to move, but the person trying to contact her was insistent, and the incessant ringing of the phone represented that insistence masterfully.

— Answer it or turn off that damn thing! — complained the man beside her, covering his head with a pillow.

Luana looked at him with surprise. No matter the noise, Arthur rarely woke up in the morning, let alone was in such a bad mood. However, considering the amount of alcohol they had consumed last night, a little grumpiness was normal, and she brushed it off.

Standing up, searching for her phone in the chaotic room, Luana recalled every scene they had performed from the moment they entered the room and closed the door.

The bite behind her neck, the way Arthur devoured her over the dresser or how she pleasured him on the balcony. The positions they attempted and failed and the pleasure of the ones they succeeded in. She bit her lip with pleasurable remembrance and heat surged along with the moisture between her legs.

For a moment, Luana forgot about the phone and looked at the man who had devoured her all night. Just the memory of the previous night was enough to drive her crazy with desire, but the phone demanded her attention once again, resting on the trousers thrown on the chair illuminated by a rare ray of morning sun of London.

— Ah, you finally answered, ma'am, — said a man on the other end, who quickly identified himself as a police officer. — I'm calling to inform you that there's been an accident involving your partner, Arthur Ashword...

Luana looked at the bed and understood everything. It wasn't just bad news, and she didn't know how to react. All she did was thank the officer for his attention and condolences and hang up the phone. Disoriented, she looked at the floor where most of her clothes were and saw herself naked in a hotel room with another man while receiving the news of her beloved's death, and nothing made sense.

Everything was wrong, and she didn't know how to react or feel. Her mind was completely crowded with questions she didn't want to accept the answers. So, while trying to organize the chaos inside her, she dressed calmly and quietly and left without waking up the monster she saw in the bed.

In the taxi, on the way home, she tried to make sense of everything she was experiencing and attempted to organize her thoughts while deceiving herself with the idea that the police officer was mistaken.

She wanted to believe that when she arrived home, she would find Arthur sleeping. She wanted to believe that she would wake him up with a thousand kisses after taking a long shower. She wanted to believe that when she told him what happened, he would forgive her even if it took a long time for that forgiveness to be true. She wanted to believe that he was alive and waiting for her, but there was no one at home to greet her.

— Calm down, — she whispered to herself, forcing a smile as she held back the tears. — At this time, he's asleep, — she lied to herself as she climbed the stairs with uncertain steps.

That was the longest and hardest walk of her life. At the end of the gray corridor, behind the third white door, there was a truth. However, it wasn't the truth she wanted to believe, but it was the one that hit her when she opened the door and found no one there.

That's when she felt it. The ground seemed to slip from beneath her feet, and the sky felt like it was crashing down on her head. Her stomach churned inside her, and she felt disgusted with herself. The tears she had held back so tightly rolled down her face as an agonizing scream made its way uncontrollably through her throat and echoed lonely through the mansion full of happy memories.

Outside, the sun was shining on one of London's rare sunny days, but within Luana, a storm of despair and pain raged mercilessly as she covered her ears to block out the disturbing silence that surrounded her, echoing back her despair.

With no one to lean on, Luana reached for the photo frame on the bedside table next to the living room couch and clung to it as if Arthur would step out of the picture and save her from the pain that plagued her. And at first, it worked.

Luana breathed deeply as she stared at the beautiful photograph of her and Arthur embraced at the feet of the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro. They were so happy, but that was in the past, and realizing this, tears returned as she pleaded, — Forgive me, Art... — and apologized, — I didn't know...

On that day, Luana cried a lot, enough to no longer be able to shed tears, lose her voice, and then fall asleep on the sheets that still held Arthur's scent. In her sleep, she dreamed.

In her dream, she walked side by side with Arthur. They held each other's hands and smiled as they walked in a random park. The sky had few clouds, so the sun shone, bringing pleasant warmth along with the breeze that made the tree leaves dance.

However, at some point in this dream, Arthur's smiling face faded away, and his face became blurred. Their hands were no longer held together, and hers became dark. Arthur was far away, and even when she ran, she never got closer. Suddenly, she fell into a dark hole, and her eyes opened, red and swollen.

It was morning once again when Luana woke up. The cellphone lying beside her signaled unread messages, but Luana curled up on the bed, clinging to Arthur's pillow, ignoring the phone that would possibly bring more bad news.

Lying there, she simply closed her eyes again. She wished it was all just a nightmare and that, perhaps, if she slept and woke up, everything would be normal again.

The next day, Luana woke up to the noise of her phone, and she ignored it. She was mentally exhausted and didn't want to talk to anyone. She just wanted to sleep and wait for it all to pass, so she closed her eyes, and another day went by.

Two days later, she didn't have the strength to move anymore. She was dehydrated, hungry, and didn't even have a trace of voice left. At this point, she was just waiting for death, but luck was strangely on her side.

That day, Luana was taken to the hospital in time thanks to Mrs. Rosa, who, as usual, came to work very early and found her unconscious, cold as if she were dead, on the bed.

Days later, Luana watched again the replay of Arthur's funeral, considered one of the biggest funerals in the world. Wrapped in dirty sheets, which held only a trace of what was once her beloved's smell, she made the living room couch her new home.

She couldn't sleep properly, she couldn't eat properly, and she didn't even take showers anymore. She didn't want to miss any second that could show Arthur's smile in the few interviews he had allowed himself to participate in.

The TV had become her reason to keep living. But slowly, she was killing herself, and after two weeks, she had already lost so much weight that she had been hospitalized again. Although nothing changed when she came back home. Slowly she was wasting away until one day, someone knocked on her door.

Still in the dark living room, illuminated only by the faint light of the silent TV, Luana was huddled on the couch, clutching the photo frame of her and Arthur. She didn't even blink as she looked at Arthur's frozen image on the screen in front of her, but her depressive concentration was broken when someone knocked on her door.

Feeling too weak, she just looked at the door, which she could only see because of the daylight streaming into the room through the crack under the door. Besides being too weak, Luana didn't want to see anyone and turned her attention back to the TV, where she could keep seeing her beloved.

It had been days since Luana had cried. She couldn't anymore. At some point, she had considered dying, but not anymore. Her mind was completely numb.

It wasn't like she didn't feel pain. The pain existed, but she was so debilitated that the pain was being suffocated somewhere inside her by her existential emptiness at that moment. She was so tired of everything that she didn't even bother to look at the door being broken down.

— Luana! — called the woman with long, curly black hair as she entered the house through the door broken down by her overly tall companion.

Arthur wasn't someone who had many friends. However, there were two in particular who managed to earn that place in his life and eventually in Luana's life as well. They were Minerva and Philip.

As soon as Arthur gained the bad reputation he had as Hades, they became loyal followers and even built a guild for criminal players to obey and serve Hades's purposes. This guild was called the "Scavengers", an organization full of red, purple, and the worst among all criminals, black players.

Following Hades, Minerva and Philip committed the worst atrocities that would be impractical in the real world. Anyway, gradually the three became closer in this master and servant relationship and met in real life.

Minerva, a beautiful nearly thirty-year-old doctor, was an incredibly elegant and sensual woman. Her voluminous black, curly hair perfectly matched her ebony body of exotic sensuality. Wherever she went, she caused envy among women and the passion of men, as well as some fear. Although her refreshing and caring personality was a stark contrast to her appearance.

Philip, a former mercenary from the war in Ukraine, which didn't end well for the Ukrainians themselves, was a nearly thirty-year-old Norwegian with almost six feet and ten inches tall and toned muscles. It could be said that he was a handsome man. Blonde with blue eyes and with some tattoos on his body to cover old war wounds. He had an appearance that caused fear, but in reality, despite his past as a man of war, he was kind and a great husband to Minerva.

It didn't take long for Arthur, Minerva, and Philip to become best friends in real life while maintaining the roles of master and servants in the game. Over time, they also became friends with Luana, who had also started playing Kastigo Online but didn't agree with her fiancé's actions and those of the new friends in the game, and decided to ally herself with Rodrigo, who was second in the ranking.

However, life in the game wasn't as important in real life. Even with the differences in the game, in real life, they met each other quite often, going to movies, trips, or funerals. They were there for each other in good and bad times, like when Minerva's mother had passed away. Philip was away, but Arthur and Luana were there for her. Now it was Luana who needed comfort and help, and they were there for her.

— Luana... — Minerva approached slowly as she entered the living room and saw her friend in that state.

Luana remained silent, staring at the TV. Her lips were dry and cracked as if she were dehydrated, and she had huge dark circles under her reddened eyes. Her straight hair looked like a heron's nest, and she smelled of urine and sweat. Minerva had never seen Luana like that, and it broke her heart.

— My friend... — Minerva hugged Luana, but she just kept staring at the frozen image on the TV. — It's going to be okay. Turn off the TV and turn on all the lights to twenty percent.

With Minerva's command, the TV turned off, and the house lights turned on in a pale light that created a gray twilight inside the mansion. However, the moment Arthur's image disappeared, Luana panicked.

— N-no... Art... Art... — Luana protested in a weak and hoarse voice as she reached out her thin arm.

— Luana, Arthur has been dead for days...

— No... He... Art...

Minerva bit her lip, holding back tears. She knew what it was like to lose someone important, but she didn't dare to think about losing Philip, the love of her life. She couldn't imagine Luana's pain and didn't want to, but seeing her friend like that...

— I-it's going to be okay... — Minerva promised in a tiny voice as she hugged Luana. — It's going to be okay, — she repeated, but this time it was for herself. Then, with tears streaming down her face, she looked at Philip. — Let's take her to the bedroom.