Death - the end or is it ...?

[ Warning: Critically low health ]

[ Player is suffering with bleeding]

[ Player is suffering...

"Where did it all go wrong?"

A young man probably in his late twenties was lying bloodied and fading on the rough concrete road.

He felt his consciousness slowly leaving his body.

With each fleeting moment and his whole life flashing through his eyes, his mind screamed at the heavens a single word - a word that was hidden somewhere up until now in the depths of his thoughts, now rising with haunting clarity-

"Why?" Ray whispered, but no one was there to hear.

"Why was everything taken away from me? What did I do to deserve this?"

His mind teetered on the edge of unconsciousness, yet he had never thought so clearly before. Perhaps the imminent death was making him feel more at peace, more like a sense of home…

"Was it when I thought changing med schools would save me from bullying?" His voice was laden with regret.

"Was it when I couldn't save my father from dying in front of my eyes?"

He could hear blurred sirens of the ambulance that seemed very distant now.

"Ah, I wanted to say sorry to her at least," he murmured, his voice cracking.

With his last few breaths, his final thoughts were of his mother—the only one who had supported him till the end.

Through his blurred vision, Ray could see the billboard on the other side of the road, showing a golden-haired man with a handsome face and an air of great determination.

"Humanity's savior

— #1 ranked in Etherea—Zenith."

His eyes hovered over the billboard filled with regret

'If only I hadn't played this damn game' Ray thought

his welt-up emotions overwhelming him with uncontrollable tears materializing his decade of suffering and pain. At last, his consciousness left his body freeing him from his raging pain.

As Ray's last breath escaped his body, he felt an ominous force gripping his soul. Even in his last moment when death should have offered him solace his soul was sent somewhere else.

Perhaps not even death could release him from his fate.

***

In 2100, a mysterious company, Etherea, unveiled a groundbreaking VRMMORPG named 'Etherea Online'. This virtual reality game surpassed all others with its astonishingly realistic graphics and immersive gameplay that transported players to a seemingly alternate universe.

The game was autonomously managed by an AI named 'Celestia'. No one knew the identity of the game developers. Even the individuals employed in Etherea to maintain the game were hired by a mysterious person with the alias 'Unknown'.

But nearly after 10 years of its release It soon became clear that it was not just a game...

Ray was like many others waiting for the game's release on that evening of 2100 Jan 1 waiting for the release of the much-awaited game. Perhaps it was to escape from the thoughts of changing his med school that he found solace in gaming.

His dad worked at Etherea in lower departments and thought that playing this game could help his son distract himself from his thoughts.

But this very game led to his father's tragic end. Before its release, his father had acquired a small stake in the company in the beginning believing in its potential, initially, he didn't think of them as much, but with the game gaining unimaginable popularity and massive investments, The value of those shares soon rose to millions on dollars.

Until one day the unimaginable happened-

Ray was playing the game while all of this was happening and returned after his gaming session to the living room for dinner only to see something that he never wanted to even think of.

It was a scene straight out of a horror movie. Everything from curtains to the walls were streaked with blood. His whole world turned upside down in seconds.

He followed the blood marks in fear and seeing his father lying lifeless in a pool of blood was something that shattered him to his soul.

He then saw his mother lying on the floor taking painful gasps of air. He ran up to her and saw a big wound on the back of her head bleeding profusely. With shaking hand, he called upon the ambulance and -

"We are unfortunate to say that she is suffering from a brain hemorrhage. Her condition is very severe and we need to start the surgery immediately"

Nobody was able to find the culprits who broke into his house. No clues were left and no money was stolen. Only the shares of Erethrea belonging to his father were missing from his house. The case was left unresolved without getting him any justice.

His mother's medical debt rose to a high level and their house was mortgaged. Ray now had no choice but to do the only thing he now hated the most and was most familiar with- Etherea

In his bleak state, he signed an unfair contract with a guild with the only condition to provide money for his mother's treatment.

He worked like a slave day and night for the guild with whom he signed the contract. He had to play the game doing all kinds of dirty jobs for them day and night to pay back for his mother's treatment

and after a hellish period of 10 years when his contract was about to be over,

Two pieces of devastating news arrived.

The first was that, in his absence, his mother's condition had steadily worsened month by month. Then, one day, she passed away.

And the second was even more surreal: the game had become a reality, with monsters invading the world.

And Ray? He was broken. Utterly devastated

Ray now hated the game more than ever or rather he loathed it now.

First trying to escape the reality and now trying to escape the game, his life was thrown into chaos.

Soon the first awakened players appeared and one by one the skills and experience gained in the game were assimilated to their bodies in the real world.

Ray was also one of the awakened, a person who hated his strength.

But in the final moments before being struck by a truck while trying to save a woman who looked to him like his mother, his strength mysteriously disappeared as if someone had taken back the powers they had given him.

Even in his death the last thing he saw...

Was a billboard showing

" Humanity's savior-

#1 ranked in Etherea - Zenith"