Prelude To Disaster

'Kriiiiing!~'

A loud sound from an alarm clock with a silver frame reverberated inside a tidy apartment. Apart from its single bedroom that has a king-size gray-colored bed, a bookshelf that has a considerable amount of fantasy-adventure-action books, and a gaming computer set.

Everything inside the apartment is quite simple, from a bathroom with a shower, to a kitchen with few silver wares, and a living room with only a coffee table set. Nothing noteworthy. Neither there was a picture of what can be called a family nor an indication that he lives with someone.

"Urgh." Said with a deep sleepy voice as an attractive young man in his mid-twenties raise his body from the bed. Slender-tanned hand fumbles at the bedside table to shut off the clock.

From there on, the young man starts his routine for his day. Starting to make himself more awake by washing his face, preparing breakfast for himself, and doing his daily exercises in the northern part of the private village before going back home to prepare for his work.

A few hours later, the young man wearing a gray shirt with an embroidered specific logo and black sleek pants, entered a quiet, spacious yet refined cafe establishment. It was his workplace. From the door, the young man briskly walks toward the counter, passing by the set of polished tables and chairs.

"Cayden, good morning." A brown-haired man in his thirties greeted him along the way. It was his manager. The young man called Cayden just nodded his head in acknowledgment as he put his belt bag on the side.

Neither one of them talk after that again, the sounds of the silverware clucking as they began to work were the only noise that can be heard throughout the space. In the first place, the two of them do not have a specified relationship, just an employee and manager doing a competent job together.

Time passes by as their other co-workers began to enter the cafe as the number of customers starts pouring considerably. Cayden was the one in charge of taking the orders of the people in line as he smiles cheerily at them.

In different scenes, interactions, and situations, there is only one thing that didn't change, it was the emotionlessness of his blue eyes. No trace of energy and enthusiasm can be seen in it. Just like an NPC on those games that he likes to play.

It was already 6:30 PM when his shift ended. He stands there at the bus stop, now wearing a black and white stripe jacket, enduring the cold breeze passing by. And as a bus halted there, he shortly went inside along with the few people waiting there with him.

He found himself sitting a few seats away from the back, his seat near the window. Trying to make himself comfortable and at the same time inconspicuous, he immediately fetches his phone and plugs his earphone.

In his peripheral vision, he sees a pair of high school girls, one has her hair in a ponytail and the other has a messy bun. They sat opposite his seat. In his front is an old woman in her sixties with an eight-year-old boy beside her, latching on to her arms.

A pair of high school boys that seems to be arguing pass by him. The one who has a scowl plastered on his face has blonde hair slicked back and looks like a delinquent and the other boy has black-rimmed eyeglasses with brown hair wearing an indifferent expression.

The pair appears to sit behind his back. He was about to put on his earphones when a shadow looms over him. Accompanied by a rough yet cheery voice.

"Cayden! Nice seeing you here!" Cayden lifts his gaze meeting the face of a rough yet handsome-looking young man. His build was broad yet firm and over 180 centimeters tall. Truly an image befitting for a professional bodybuilder coach.

"You haven't gotten enough sleep." Said the man bluntly with a slight hint of concern in his voice.

"Insomnia, Lukas." Cayden only replied with a deadpan face.

"Of course, you would say that." The man called Lukas said before letting out an exasperated sigh, "Still pay attention to yourself a bit more."

Cayden chose to ignore him and moved to plug his earphones and open his phone. Seeing this, Lukas just let out a sigh while shaking his head and moved forward to sit beside him.

Cayden opens his phone and clicks a particular app. It was then that an excitement surged in his eyes. It was because of his favorite game. The 'Labyrinth Of Chaos'.

It was a game he played for almost a decade. It was nine years ago when it came out worldwide and also nine years when he started playing it.

Labyrinth Of Chaos. It's an MMORPG game that became popular in the world when it was released because of its different and unique characters, countless quests, and the difficulty of each level. Instead of the attribute, it's called talent that will evolve to sub-class, specific-class, unique-class, or hidden-class. That will depend on the player's character or the level of their avatar. The skills that the character has also depend on the player's talent.

The overall quality of this game piqued the interest of the eSports community. The fact it can be played through the mobile phone made it so their audience targets reached considerably.

However, after a year, the number of players plummeted at a massive rate. Its reviews also were terrible. But the reason for that is apparent, the difficulty the game progress is so extreme and complex. That's why most of the players only reached level 30 and the players that were still playing were stuck at level 50. And Cayden was the only one that reached level 100.

That's because, unlike other players, Cayden dedicated almost his whole life to this very game. He found solace in this. Every character's backstory was unique, something that keep him bound to this as it made him feel more human. At every choice and end of the level, the dialogue there expresses the emotion that goes through the character as it progresses. Until now he stayed, and he always will.

Cayden opens the game and furrowed his eyebrows when a notice popped up on the screen.

[« Notice. The Labyrinth Of Chaos is going under maintenance from 3:00 PM - 7:00 PM. An announcement will be made as new parts and features will be integrated after the update. We are sincerely sorry for the inconvenience that we cause your progression. »]

Cayden stares at the top of his screen, looking at the time, it was 6:56 PM already. Willing to wait, Cayden just holds his phone open patiently. On his side, he notices that Lukas seems to doze off, leaning his head back.

After a few minutes, he looks away, gazing at his phone. It was then. The moment the time hits 7:00 PM. A sharp and bright blue light arises — seemingly from nowhere — at the way the bus was heading off. The blue light seems to be swirling, glowing, and sparkling with different hues of blue. And its center was a black sphere size of a boulder, and its flickering ominously, made it come off as more enigmatic and dangerous.

[« Notice. Game update complete. »]

A robotic voice echoed in everyone's ears accompanied by confused shouts and shrieks from the people inside the bus as the vehicle they were on was being sucked off towards the bright light. Like gravity pulling it towards it.

Cayden's eyes trembled as he looks around and keep staring at his phone again. Lukas seems to wake up from his sleep, his eyes were in a daze and filled with confusion.

[« Now entering the Game Server... Initializing engine... »]

The robotic voice continued to reverberate in everyone's ears as the bus continued to be pulled toward the light.

"What the heck is this!?" Someone shouted in a voice filled with confusion, aggravation, and fear. From there on noises of disbelief and confusion filled the vehicle.

"Huh? What's going on?" Lukas muttered in confusion as he too look at the blue light, now that he seems more awake.

Only one person among them has a different reaction. Cayden continued to stare at his screen phone in shock, because...

[« Analyzing data... Loading configuration...! Loading complete! »]

Because the voice message that everyone around him keeps hearing was the text that he was seeing on his phone. The cogs and wheels around his head keep turning until it stops on the only path of conclusion.

'Shit!' He curses inside his head at the realization. And if he was right, they were about to—

Another voice message sounded in their heads at the same the bus was pulled completely towards the blue light.

[« Collecting player's data... Cayden Anderson...

Tristan Bonifacio... Lukas Hayes... »]

That were the only messages they remember before they were pulled in completely by the unknown phenomenon.

[« Welcome to Labyrinth Of Chaos. »]

[« LEVEL 1!

Main Quest: Survive the assault from Wood Trolls for the time duration.

Time Duration: 59:57

Difficulty: -D

Rewards: Achievement Unlocked+, 10+ stats points, 200 Tokens, 1+ Common Type Equipment of your choice.

Failure: Death. »]