That Flame in His Eyes

Mitchell walked forward and locked the hospital room door from the inside and sat on the metal chair inside. Wincing, he injected the second syringe he had brought along with him through his wrist and he went limp, drifting into sleep.

His hands went loose and the syringe fell from his hand, rolling under the bed Tiara was on. They both looked dead but they were breathing at a slow rate.

The doctor had come back almost immediately and when he tried to pry the door open, it didn't budge. He frowned and pushed harder. "What the…" He looked back and called the nurse for the room keys.

She looked at the locked door in fright, "I'm afraid I left the keys inside…"

The doctor glared at the nurse before turning around and walking away to call the building workers.

The nurse tried to look through the windows but it was spray painted black by Mitchell before he Dreamed. She sighed and took out the keys inside her overall pocket which had been there all along. Slipping it back inside, she took out her phone and dialled a number.

"Hello, Mitchell is in."

A throaty voice from the other side of the phone coughed, "Yes, good. Is the girl in good condition?"

"She is perfectly conscious and so far no problems have occurred with her Dreaming. She might be the one we were looking for."

The doctor on the other side of the phone laughed, "Don't jump into conclusions. We haven't found a Yang Partner for her yet." The nurse proceeded to protest when the doctor interrupted her, "I know what you're going to say. The boy we found that day, right? But he is too rebellious for me. I like everything under my control. You know that right? With that kind of attitude, how will he be useful for the game which requires mental strength too?"

"But he is the only choice for now."

The doctor nodded in defeat, "And there's that."

After two moments of silence, he sighed, "Fine. If Tiara's case is a success, go and get him from his house right away. And take the girl with you too."

"How? She is still in paralysis."

"Say what?" the doctor coughed on his food and moved away the spoon to drink some water. It was afternoon and he was eating his favorite food in the research building cafeteria. Mashed potatoes with ketchup.

"So she has regained only consciousness?"

"Yes."

The doctor ran his tongue along the sides of his mouth and ran a hand through his hair. Eight years he had waited for her to wake up, planned everything in order to make this happen and the subject is cripple!?

"What is it doctor?" The nurse asked, "Her mind is developed enough to handle the strain of Dreaming and at the same time, empty. This is what we wanted right?"

"It's just that…I didn't the think the future of mankind would be a disabled baby woman."

The nurse sighed and held the phone closer to her mouth, "Remember the power of Qi, doctor. It can do wonders. And if anything, your game will help the boy and girl from their current states."

…

Tiara groaned and tried to get up. She had been completely fine a few seconds ago but now she felt as dead as a zombie. She dragged her way to the farm house. By the time she reached there, the timer on her screen had decreased down to 10 minutes more.

Relief flushed through her as she touched the concrete walls of the farm house,

"Wow, it feels so real. Just like a dream."

She got up straight and found a woman in the same rugged clothes as her cooking food.

"M-miss," Tiara croaked, "Can I have some food?"

The woman turned to look at her and smiled. "Why of course."

That's when Tiara heard fireworks in my head and a sound rang through her ears.

"First character interaction! One Potion deposited in Inventory."

She winced and shook her head to rid of the annoying noise inside her head, "Why fireworks for an inventory addition? Ugh."

The woman walked forward and gave me some bread, "I'll need a favour in return, though."

Tiara nodded eagerly and she pointed towards the end of her farm fields. "I let my dog out by mistake and couldn't rein him in. Could you get him back here?"

She frowned and turned to the fields and searched for a dog prancing around. And sure enough, there was one. She flicked the hair from her face and scoffed, "Easy."

The dog stopped running for a while and she sneaked up on it. When the perfect opportunity came around, she jumped.

But her hands circled in the air as the dog escaped. It turned around and glared back at her, growling and baring its canines.

More determined now, she ran forward and the dog did too, biting her hand. She screamed from the pain. Even though it was a game, the pain was too much. A beeping sound echoed in her head and the same screen popped for a second, showing her HP level coloured in red, almost at the verge of empty.

She whimpered forward to try and catch the dog when it barked and a dark black cloud formed around it and it grew bigger and bigger, enveloping her in darkness.

A huge shadow fell over the fields as the dog morphed and grew in to a six headed creature with horrendous torn wings and canines that were taller than the girl herself.

"System," she called out, "Info."

A green screen slipped into her sight and she finally realised what she was facing.

"Level 10 Monster Cerebweiler.

*Disguises as small animals

*Power to kill player"

"Uh oh…" she whimpered trying to stand up. The cerebweiler growled loudly and blew on the woman's hut, driving away its roof and the woman's hat into the distance. She screamed and ran away.

"Hey, my food!" Tiara yelled at her but she ran away without replying. The huge thing swiped the air almost effortlessly and it threw Tiara off her balance. For the first time, she felt how flying would feel like.

That swipe threw had thrown her into the sky and now she watched the fields move under her as she flew over them. She blinked her eyes and saw a pigeon smile at her. Before she could wave a hi, she collided with the wheat field and hit her head on the house wall.

Her head exploded with noises.

"HP reduced drastically. Current HP level, -67. 60 seconds left for Player Death. Regain HP now. Regain HP now. Re-"

"Oh just shut up!" she screamed to the voice inside her head.

"HP Level -102 for screaming."

She looked up at the dog and said sorry to it before closing her eyes and waiting for it to crush her to death. It was just a game after all.

The cerebweiler roared, making the pigeons and crows fly away and jumped forward to crush her.

She flinched as something hit her from the other side. But it wasn't the cerebweiler. She saw a boot and looked up to see who it belonged to. There was a player standing right next to her. He hit her with his boot again and told her to roll over.

Clueless, she did as he was told and once he ensured that Tiara was in safe distance, he closed his eyes and muttered, "Enhance Element, Fire."

He waited in silence for a while as the cerebweiler approached the two.

"Enhance to stage 3," he said again, probably replying to the system's voice inside his head, just like that in hers..

"Confirm."

Once he said that, his hands shot up in flames and he let out a battle cry, the flames growing and surrounding him. For a moment, Tiara saw the cerebweiler and the player nose to nose. They shared the exact same look in both of their eyes.

Rage and respect.

The player's hands met the creature's skin and shouted, "Release!"

And the place exploded in a whirl of flames and golden dust.