Surviving Olympus: The Sufferings of Eternity

It was a breezy, sunny morning. The birds chirped playfully and the sky was blue and clear, devoid of any clouds as far as the eye can see. Inside a studio apartment stood a man, approximately 5'8" tall, with shoulder length jet black hair that was silky smooth. His eyes were an enchanting sapphire blue, with eyelashes that seemed too long to belong to a man.

He stood in front of a mirror and fixed his tie, dusting off any small hints of dust that could be spotted if anyone took a hard enough look at his suit. The man then smiled at the mirror–a feint and almost somber smile–and then ceased smiling altogether.

His eyes darted towards his single bed, where a video game controller and cover lied idle. "Paradox of The Olympian Gods" was the name of the video game, one Nico D'Angelo had played for countless hours and had gone most nights without any sleep because of it.

It was a relatively popular game that sold over 500,000 copies in only the first week. Within the first month, millions had been playing the game, and have even gone as far as making video gameplays to post on social media.

With each passing day, the game grew more and more popular and more players from different parts of the world began emerging. Nico was just fortunate enough to get the game before it sold out in his country.

Days turned into nights whenever he played the game and if it wasn't for the fact that he worked a 10 hour shift office job, he would've already beaten the game. But after tonight, he would've finally completed the final chapter of the series, allowing him to get the ending he had been fiending for.

But for now, he had to go to work, hence why he had an upset expression on his face. "Time to go to work..." he said in a low voice as he walked out of his apartment and locked the door behind him.

He tightly clutched his bag and began descending down the staircase. His apartment complex wasn't extravagant, but it was in a safe neighborhood with equally nice neighbours. As a 34-year-old shut-in, Nico failed to realise how accommodating it truly was.

It didn't start with his adult life. Since he was 12, he always felt like an anomaly; getting bullied for his baggy under eyes, being scolded at by his parents for spending too much time on video games and also having a terrible relationship with his siblings.

Interacting with people felt useless and overall risky. So, he decided to stick with fictional characters from video games and comic books. He had learnt so many things about friendship, family, love and emotions from people that didn't even exist. To him, this was more than enough.

It would have been nice to have a friend or two to share those moments with, but like most shut-ins, they excluded themselves from society because they were afraid of being hurt or being hurt again.

Nico was no different. Having a job didn't make him an upstanding member of society. He simply had one so that he could fund his obsession with reading comic books and playing games. As long as he met his monthly quotoa and made enough money, he was okay with being a shut-in.

With that in his mind, he kept pushing forward and told himself that better days were ahead.

Upon arriving at work, shady glances caught Nico's attention, which told him that he was probably in trouble with his supervisor. Right as he sat at his desk, as if on cue, his superior immediately appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, and slammed his hand on Nico's desk, slightly startling him.

"D'Angelo, you're late. Again," Victor, Nico's supervisor, said in a low monotone voice, trying to appear threatening.

"... I'm sorry, sir," Nico apologized. "It won't happen again."

"It'd better be the last time or we're gonna have to issue out your final warning. Would it kill you to just get up early?"

Nico didn't respond and kept his eyes on his computer screen. Victor sighed in exasperation and rubbed his temples.

"You're lucky your father got you this job or you would've been long gone. Unlike you, he was a well respected worker and my superiors still praise him to this day," Victor continued. "Why can't you be more like him?"

After that, he walked away. Nico glanced at his co-workers and noticed them softly muttering while pointing their fingers at him. Nico then focused on his screen, endless numbers from various accounts, overdue amounts and lots more filled his computer.

His fingers moved subtly as he began typing down and noting on different sections of the screen. His mind raced with what his co-workers were saying about him. Were they laughing? Concerned? Indifferent?

This was Nico's everyday life. Sometimes he'd get lucky but today didn't seem to be that day. But, as long as he could get through one day at a time, he was okay with being scolded at by his supervisor, who was 5 years younger than him.

But, it didn't matter. After tonight, he would have finally beaten Paradox of the Olympian Gods and he will receive an achievement, along with his name on the leaderboards score amongst all the players in the world who managed to beat it.

***

Hours later, Nico's shift finally ended. He quickly wrapped up his work, clocked out and happily made his way towards the train station. After getting home, he locked his door and boiled some water in his kettle.

Then, he went into his bathroom, quickly freshened up and left wearing his casual home clothes. After cooking some cup noodles, he booted up his gaming system and stared at the loading screen of Paradox of the Olympian Gods.

Once his noodles were finished, he clicked on the [Continue] section of the screen and began gaming. His familiar original character stood amongst the main characters of the game, his snow white hair and red eyes standing out amongst the dark haired characters.

Nico smirked and began the final mission of the game–killing Typhon, the Dragon God. After countless attempts, Nico finally landed the killing blow, ending the great dragon. It collapsed and an ending scene played.

After 10 minutes, the credits rolled and the game was finally beaten. Nico sighed and leaned back on his chair, a sense of relief and some sadness washing over him. As the credits rolled, he spun around his chair and stared at his ceiling.

Various thoughts washed over him. The relief and comfort he feels from playing video games was everything in comparison to the life he was living. He thought about Vortex, his original video game character, and wondered if he could live just like him.

Vortex hunted to survive and made money off fighting bad guys. If Nico was in a similar situation, he's certain he would do just as good a job as Vortex, if not a better one. He smiled softly and stopped spinning.

"I wish I could be just like Vortex..."

After saying that, his eyes made their way towards the computer screen, where a message was being displayed. A holographic box with red hues and chiming gears appeared, making Nico lift an eyebrow in curiosity.

"'Do you wish to continue?'" Nico read the text and squinted his eyes. "What...?"

He assumed the game was over. But, the [Yes] and [No] options were clearly right in front of him. Then, he felt his heart beat faster. There was something sinister about the text. It was all too... sudden. Too soon, even.

But, Nico found himself moving the joystick towards the [Yes] section, where he ended up clicking on the X button. Seconds after, the screen cut to black then returned to the home screen, where a [New Game] section was created.

Then, a notification appeared at the top of the screen, displaying Vortex_7, Nico's gamertag. Nico sighed and crossed his arms.

"Way to troll the-"

Before Nico could respond, he felt a sharp pain in his chest. He grasped it, his heart beating faster and faster with each passing second. Cold sweat ran down his face and his mouth became incredibly dry. His eyes began reddening, almost as if he had snorted an entire pack of jalapeno powder.

[ Beginning synchronisation...

Player merge with original character running...

Player has been successfully merged with original character!

Player: V-777 A.K.A. Vortex_7 has been registered!

Your gods have forsaken you and now, you must live on your own and make your own choices

°Welcome, Vortex_7, to Olympus. Enjoy the culling ]

His vision blurred, and for but a moment, his blue eyes turned white. A second after, his eyes closed. Then, an additional second later, he reopened them and looked at his surroundings.

'Huh?'

Before he could form a single coherent thought, he was punched right in the nose, causing him to stagger back and bleed. His ears rang and his head became light. Right in front of him were two men who charged at him once more and delivered a barrage of attacks.

Kicks, punches, chops, uppercuts. The two men stopped at nothing to beat the living shit out of him. Nico groaned in agony and lied on the ground as they stomped him continuously.

Once his body was beaten and bruised, unable to move, the two men undressed him and grabbed his right hand, allowing it to hover abover one of their hands. Then, two holographic screens appeared on their palms, changing from red to green a few seconds later.

The men cackled and nonchalantly walked away, leaving the bruised and confused Nico on the ground. The poor guy was so disoriented he didn't even notice that it was raining. Slowly, he picked himself up and found himself looking at a water puddle.

His eyes dialled back in pure horror. What was supposed to be jet black hair was undercut white hair, and what was supposed to be sapphire blue eyes were blood red eyes instead.

Nico had transformed into his original character, Vortex.