Awakening

"Okaaaay! Ashley add a few more dandelions into this area." A young and energetic voice gave out instructions to his artifical intelligence system.

[Task completed.] Ashley reported with a robotic yet melodious voice.

What was in front of the eyes of the owner of the young voice was a vast green field filled with dandelions. A few trees were thoughtfully placed here providing a cosy shade and those were the perfect spots to chill and read some books.

(This is the view that keeps appearing in my dreams... I finally re-created this scene...) Kanae thought to himself and let out a deep breath.

Kanae was in the midst of arranging the virtual game scene he had created. He was currently using a fully immersive deep-dive VR device. As a full time game planner, he had the tools and skill available to re-create this scene. He had completed his work for the day and was spending time working on his personal stuff.

The virtual environment was very tranquil and a light soothing tune was playing in the background. It sounded similar to his favourite piano piece from a certain studio G. After some time, unknowingly, Kanae slowly closed his eyes...

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Inside a room, there was a boy lying down motionless inside a capsule. Parts of his mid-length black hair was showing through the opening of the headgear and his average looking face had a gentle expression on it. On his lips was a slight smile, as if he was having a good dream. Unbeknownst to the boy, there was a sudden power surge and visible electrical sparks covered the capsule. He, however, continued to lay motionless...

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"You are finally here again Kanae. What stories do you have this time. Did you have a good day. Come on, quick, entertain me!" A gentle and excited voice sounded in Kanae's ears.

(So chatty but this voice is so fammiliar!) Kanae thought the voice was strangely fammiliar to him. He had a feeling, this was definitely not the first time he had heard it!

Kanae felt his somehow stiff facial expression loosening up and his vision was slowly getting clearer too. In his sights was the game scene he just created. In a dazed state, he bent forward and plucked a dandelion.

(Hmm.. The graphics seems sharper than usual.)

Just as he thought to himself, a light breeze blew past him and scattered the dandelion into the air. He could feel the air brushing past his skin and it felt cool and refreshing.

(Huh? I can feel the wind? Since when did the VR device have this function.)

"Ka-Na-E! Hello hello can you hear me?"

Hearing the same voice again, Kanae finally snapped out of his dazed state and looked towards the girl in front of him. She has a pair of bright blue sapphire eyes, long silky black hair and she wore a traditional costume similar to a hakama but the top has a tighter fit. Her figure was slim and she had just the right amount of volume in the right places. She batted her long eyelashes and her pretty face pretended to look sternly in Kanae's direction.

"Who are you? Why are you in my game?"

"It's me YU-ME! Yume!"

Just as he heard the reply, Kanae felt a splitting headache and his knees collasped to the ground. A blue column of light descended from the sky and enveloped Kanae's body. His originally grey eyes slowly dyed blue and when the last bit of it was completely dyed, an energy shockwave was released with Kanae at the center of it.

[(Tu dum).... System online.] A boot up sound effect followed by a melodious robotic voice sounded in Kanae's mind.

"You.... you have awakened! And this amount of energy release..." Yume let out a surprised voice. There was a look of shock on her face and it was followed by a brief sadness but Kanae did not notice it.

Right at this moment, a visible crack started to spread in the sky. Extending from the edges of the crack, everything began to turn greyscale and it began to spread.

"Ahhh its a nightmare! Your energy release must have attracted it. We have to go now! We must not be caught!" Yume screamed in horror and grabbed Kanae's arm and he was forced to start running.

Strings shot out from the crack and at the ends of the strings there was a single body attached. It landed heavily from the sky and left a big impact on the ground.

The dust settled and Kanae's eyes met with a pair of dim red pupils. It was an frail old man with a malnourished body. The old man was covered in old rags. Terrifyingly, all the body joints started twisting in all sorts of illogical manners and he went down on all fours. With a loud crack the head turned to the direction of the two.

"Kekeke!" Maniacal laughs and gibberish were coming out of old man's mouth. Using all four limbs the old man started the chase.

Kanae felt goosebumps all over his body. He never understood the purpose of horror movies. Why would people pay money just to get scared. The scene in front of him made him recall his dislike of horror scenes.

"I can get us out of here! But I need 3 minutes... No just 1 minute to prepare!" Yume said as she stopped her footsteps.

"Shit! You mean I have to distract that freak on my own?" Kanae was exasperated.

"It is our only chance! That puppet there is under the control of a nightmare and has powerful physical abilities! From your awakening phenomenon just now, you should have an ability, figure it out! I am starting now, absolutely do not disturb me!" Yume immediately closed her eyes and started a ritualistic dance.

Kanae had no time to appreciate Yume's graceful movements. Up until now, he still has not figured what was going on. Was he in a dream? But everything felt so real. He could not point out exactly how but he had a gut feeling that if anything happened to them here, it would be permanant! A sense of crisis rose in his heart.

"I got it, I will distract him! Whatever this is, I can figure it out after we are safe!" In a fight or flight situation Kanae has chosen to fight and he resolutely faced the rapidly crawling puppet. Now he will need to figure out how to deal with the enemy.

The distance between them has been shortened by half in less than 5 seconds. They ran roughly a few hundred meters and the puppet was already closing in! The speed is simply astonishing and beyond the normal capabilities of humans.

(I have an ability? Right! I heard the sound of the game AI system I designed starting just now!) Thinking of the (Tu Dun) sound, Kanae's gaming instincts naturally started to take over. The years he spent playing VR action games has allowed him to take action in this particular situation. The amount of adrenaline being generated in him helped too.

"Ahhhhh. Whatever! I am not sure if this will work but here goes nothing! Ashley! Start battle modules!"

[Command received. Starting battle modules...]